"Legends. Stories scattered through time."

He stopped for a moment to adjust his glasses, and clear his throat, making sure to be discreet so his current "audience" wouldn't be disturbed.

It was a warm night, in the Akaba Manor, for people more accustomed to lower temperatures maybe unbearable, especially when trying to sleep; like the teen so intently reading in the middle of night, this however marked the beginning of summer and a day closer to the commencing of classes at Beacon Academy.

"…" He quickly resumed his story when he noticed the boy's stare, breaking him from his lull.

"Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past."

He knew what verse came next. Honestly, he's known this particular tale from memory probably since he had been Reira's age. There was no real need to hold the book, but he liked having his hands occupied. He was no performer or storyteller; he wouldn't have known what to do with his empty hands otherwise. While he didn't particularly enjoy playing the part, he was willing to entertain his little brother for now.

It wasn't like he was going to get any sleep, anyway, if he retreated into his room.

"Man, born from dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful, but he was born into an unforgiving world."

He briefly wondered how long he could continue this sleepless routine before his parents or anyone started to notice his growing spacing-out, along with the dark circles around his eyes that were growing more pronounced and harder to conceal.

"An inevitable darkness — creatures of destruction — the creatures of Grimm - set their sights on man and all of his creations."

Clearly, the reason behind his lack of sleep was because he had yet to receive his acceptance letter. Maybe there were too many applicants this year; even as he tried to assure himself, he knew it was ridiculous. Of course there were too many applications; it was Beacon Academy, but he had never known they took so long to respond back to all the applicants. Then again, their applications and selection processes have never been made public, so he wasn't really sure what they were doing.

He didn't like it; he never liked it not knowing stuff. After submitting his application he had nothing to do but wait, and he did. It had been an exercise for anxiety, an emotion Reiji could say it was foreign to him. He didn't like the feeling. For days he tried (and failed) to keep it out of his head, but as the days transformed into weeks and now nearly a month, he couldn't help to repass everything he knew about Beacon, and all he had deemed worthy to input on his application. Maybe he had missed something? Unlikely. Either way, he wasn't worried about it; there was nothing to be worried about.

"Brother." Once again, he was snapped out from his thoughts. He briefly looked at Reira, and by his curious stare, rather than his intent one, realized that he must have paused for longer than needed, even for dramatic effect sake:

"I apologize, I'll continue now…"

"These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness…"

"Brother."

This time, Reira's voice caught him off guard. He wasn't outspoken and he couldn't remember the last time where he would have interrupted Reiji on anything, least of all on something he expressively asked from him.

That's when he heard it; the constant beeping on his scroll, half-forgotten on the night's stand of Reira's room. Sleep deprivation must have really done a number on him to have missed it; he gently put down the book to check the message. It read:

"WE ARE PLEASED TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR SUBMISSION TO ATTEND BEACON ACADEMY HAS BEEN APPROVED…"

That was the part that mattered; he was sure there was more to the message than this simple phrase, but for now he couldn't muster the interest or the energy to read every scope of information contained.

"Brother?"

For the first time in weeks he felt the drowsiness of sleep taking over him.

He felt a tiny hand tug at his sleeve. It was Reira, of course, and he was now sitting up on top of the covers having moved closer to him, no doubt curious as well. He closed the scroll before his keen eyes picked up the message; this could wait.

Right now he really needed to sleep. And so did Reira. He really didn't want his unhealthy habits rubbing off on him. But as he looked over to him he realized he was stealing glances to the book on the bed.

"Go back to bed, Reira." For a moment he looked downcast, until he opened the book, picking up where he left off.

Reiji was tired, the good kind for once, but tired nonetheless. Looking over to his little brother, once again tucked in the covers, he allowed himself a smile, still, he could indulge Reira for a little while.

"These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness…"

...

"…was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void."

A young lady with twin pigtails, allowed her ominous tone to sink in before continuing, while the other young man on the room, aided with a lamp made an elaborate shadow puppet show for the three children scurried together on the center of the dark room. He managed to make an incredible imitation of a Beowolf's roar.

"However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change…"

She tried to communicate the now uplifting tone of the tale, trying very hard not to laugh at the silly figures on the wall. Yuya, no doubt, was trying to make the shadows look like people and not doing a very good job at it. Thankfully, the kids seemed to be buying his performance.

"…and in time, man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds."

Now if only Yuya wasn't trying to twist his hands on impossible angles in order to make a castle-like form with thunders surrounding it and making angry noises that sounded rather goofy. Ok,ok, she could continue now:

"This power was appropriately named'Dust'.'"

She made an attempt at a grandeur gesture similarly to the picture images of the tiny men surrounding a gem-like figure, and she actually felt proud at managing it. Oh great, now he was holding the lamp to his face (to add to the drama she assumed). Unfortunately, where Yuya was gifted roaring like a beast, he wasn't so good at making non-funny gestures.

The mood was broken and while Ayu and Tatsuya tried to dissimulate their giggles, Futoshi was now holding his stomach, while trying and failing to stifle his; still she tried to get them back at the story.

"Nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness, and in the shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, life."

God help her, if Yuya didn't stop fooling around (he was now holding a ball and pretending to do lighting sounds which sounded more like whistles). She resisted the urge to throttle him and continued with the storytelling.

"But even the most brilliant lights eventually…"

Someone was really going to get hurt if he didn't stop (why was he dancing now?).

"…flicker and die. And when they are gone..."

She felt her eye twitch when he once again picked up the lamp and played with it like a staff. This whole setup was his idea in the first place!

"…DARKNESS WILL RETURN!"

The laughter finally died when seemingly out of nowhere a paper fan smacked Yuya from behind on his head. The lights went out (the lamp lied broken when it landed on the hard floor), but the kids didn't need the light to know Yuzu had finally had enough of Yuya's antics.

"Oi, Yuzu what was that for?" came Yuya's voice from (she assumed) the floor; the lights were still out so she couldn't know for sure.

"…I should be asking you that." She then proceeded to light up the room. Yuya had gotten up, and the kids had wisely left the room with hurried whispers about getting more snacks for everyone. "I don't remember the "World of Remnant" having dances and flashlight tricks on it!"

"I wasn't dancing! It was…a…one man show?" He seemed to deem it a good enough explanation as he continued to rub his head, pouting at her.

"Yuya! This was your idea, along with the sleepover…" She knew she was taking it out on him a bit too much. It was harmless goofing off, but she couldn't help herself. "If you wanted to make a fool of yourself so bad, you didn't have to drag me along."

"Come on Yuzu, I just wanted to lighten up the mood!" He smiled and then sighed. "Seriously, that tale is boring and gloomy anyway. Whoever thought it would make a good children's book should reconsider their career."

"Funny that you mentioned it, after all I'm pretty sure you loved it when we were Ayu, Tatsuya and Futoshi's age." She would have taken him more seriously if it wasn't for the fact that his own career chosen path origin was plastered in the book he had just insulted. "Or maybe you're just already thinking up excuses, you know in case you don't-"

"It's nothing like that!" Yuya's eyes were now hidden up with his goggles. That was never a good sign. She reached out to him.

"Yuya, I didn't…I'm sorry, that was uncalled for." Of course it was about that. After all, neither them nor Gongenzaka had been able to think of anything else for the past couple of weeks…until they got their letters. Yuya was the only one missing out his. "You'll get your letter soon, I'm sure of it. After all, you're the Shooting Star Yoko's son. If Beacon can't see that then…" even as she tried to comfort him, her own words sounded empty. After all, what did she know? She had gotten hers that very afternoon. It was the whole reason Yuya had the sleepover settled up: as a celebration for her. He didn't need empty promises; he needed a real reassurance. "They can suck it. If they can't value your accomplishments then I don't want to have anything to do with their lot anyway!" she huffed.

It hurt more than she thought to make such promise to him. This was her dream goal too, after all. But how much could she value it if she had to leave him behind? She immediately felt guilty for thinking so negatively. After all, Gongenzaka hadn't broke a sweat making the same promise to both of them when his letter arrived the past week.

"Yuzu, I could never ask you or Gongenzaka to do that." At least the goggles left his face, and he smiled. The smile only made Yuzu feel even worse for doubting her promise; for doubting him about not making it to Beacon.

"It's not a sacrifice, Yuya. We all said we'd go there together, remember? How could I be happy leaving you behind?" That's right; there was no way she could even begin to consider it. They could always apply next year…she hoped. For a fleeting moment it looked like Yuya wanted to protest, but he knew her too well to do that.

"Hey! Yuya, Yuzu!" Ayu's voice came from the kitchen. Before she could open her mouth, a burnt smell reached the rooms… damn it! The popcorn! Both reached the kitchen and were welcomed by three guilty looking boys and a burnt black …thing which was meant to be their snack for when Yuzu's dad arrived with the movies.

"I don't think I want to know what happened here…" came a deadpan voice from the door. A man wearing an orange and yellow tracksuit came into the house, looking exhausted. "Wait, is that…popcorn?"

"Well…it used to be," said Tatsuya, looking sheepish. All three kids had assembled behind Yuzu and Yuya, wondering what punishment would wait for them now. After all, they were told to watch after the kids.

"Yuzu! Is anybody hurt?" he asked. After her negative, he merely sighed and then flashed a huge smile. "Well! What you gonna do? This sort of behavior is to be expected from young kids…" he paused. "Not to mention a couple of huntress and huntsman in trainin-" He was smacked with Yuzu's fan before he could say anything else. Jeez, didn't her dad know it was still a sore subject to bring up in front of Yuya? Well, like father, like daughter, she supposed.

Instead of defending himself he merely held up his scroll…No wait it wasn't his; her dad would never let anything happen to it. This one looked worn out and scratched in several places. It was Yuya's.

Rather than wonder what he was doing with it (Yuya tended to lose sight of it often enough anyway), they all looked at the Beacon Academy emblem glowing on the screen.

"WE ARE PLEASED TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR SUBMISSION TO ATTEND BEACON ACADEMY HAS BEEN APPROVED. IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS YOU WILL RECEIVE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE OF DEPARTURE FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR.

AS A REMINDER FOR OUR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS, HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS WILL BE PROVIDED, SO MAKE SURE TO BRING ONLY NECESSARY ITEMS."

Nobody dared to break the silence for many minutes, by now the burnt smell almost faded away when…

"YUYA!" A roaring voice was heard from the front door, a voice everyone knew. The moment Ayu opened the door, a huge mass of body darted in his direction, and a pair of huge arms enveloped him in a hug.

She looked at her dad who was sheepishly scratching the back of his head and said. "I may have taken the liberty to text him on the way back…"

"I, the man Gongenzaka, could not be happier for you!" He roared while lifting Yuya from the floor. Somehow, he managed to cry tears of joy and still look completely dramatic and manly at the same time. "I knew my faith was not misplaced when the three of us promised to walk the same path!"

"Let…go," came Yuya's small, strangled voice. A thump was heard when he was deposited on the floor again, but as soon as he stood up, another mass of (thankfully) smaller bodies and arms came at him.

"Yuya!" The three kids wailed around him. "We are gonna miss you so much!" said Ayu, almost choking in tears. "But we are so happy for you!" said Futoshi, whose heavier body pressed his legs rendering him helpless against their onslaught

"All of us we'll be cheering for you…no the three of you when you leave," said Tatsuya, trying to hold back his tears.

"Make sure to live up to the good name of Signal Academy!" said Shuzou from behind. However, his "teacherly" mood was short-lived as he too broke into tears, hugging Yuzu.

"I can't believe I won't be seeing my favorite students anymore!" he wailed. "Not only that, but I will be deprived from my daughter's dazzling cuteness!"

"Dad…" attempted Yuzu, but she couldn't muster the energy as she too felt tears in her eyes. She hadn't realized how heavy her heart had been for all those weeks until the weight was finally lifted and replaced with an overwhelming feeling of relief.

...

"So you may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called 'free world', but take heed... there will be no victory in strength."

Well this is the start of my RWBY AU Project, I've actually been working on this for quite a while, hope you like it.

I want to thank AnimeGirl 144 (my beta reader) for the corrections and editing. You're awesome.