A/N:

Okay! This story isn't dead! I swear. I still work on it, just bit by bit. University and work and been killer so my time has been limited to a singular story, basically whatever is on my mind. Recently it has been Rebirth of a Legend but I'm hoping to be more versatile when I update. This story is struggling a little with Super's hiatus. I don't really want to end the story at the Tournament of Power. Doesn't feel like a satisfying end to me, so I'm stuck thinking of a good endpoint so I can work towards it.

Without further ado! Here's the chapter!

Chapter Ten: Signs of the Super Semblance

"Finally!" Ruby cried as the team entered their dorm room after a long day of classes. "I can sleep! I can't believe how much more difficult classes at Beacon are than at Signal. Everything is so boring!" she groaned as she flopped onto her bed.

Despite it being their first official day of Beacon and missing two classes, the team of four finally managed to return to their quarters for a night of rest. While combat class had been their first class, and arguably their most exciting one, they went on to attend three more classes before the day was officially over. Yang had slept through most of it, while Blake attempted to do her best to learn, but found her concentration wavering considerably as the day came to a close. Ruby had tried to entertain herself at every opportunity but ultimately ended up staring into space, boredom clear in her expression. The only one who had paid attention and took everything in was Weiss, and even then it was difficult for her to stay focused.

Winter had constantly lectured her on the importance of maintaining a good academic standing, and the doctrine had been burned into Weiss' mind. It was vastly important to be knowledgeable and informed when it came to tackling certain issues, and as a Schnee, she would be put into situations that would require improving her skills in public relations. Weiss knew for a fact that her combat skills wouldn't help her there, and that was all the motivation she needed to force herself to focus.

Unfortunately, her teammates did not seem to have a similar mindset.

"What did you expect?" Blake drawled in monotone. "Beacon isn't all about fighting, it's about learning how the world works. We aren't just going to be fighting Grimm when we graduate, there are criminals and other lowlifes out there that we'll have to deal with," the black bowed girl finished as she hopped up onto her bed and pulled out a trusted black book from under her pillow. Lazily she opened the page she had bookmarked and immediately lost interest in the conversation.

"I know that!" Ruby weakly defended with a sigh, not noticing that Blake had stopped listening. "I just thought that… ya know, the other classes might have had a little bit more of a, eh… practical side to them? Sitting for hours on end writing things into textbooks is just so freaking boring!" she complained. Yang rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"At least you got to fight Weiss today! Blake and I had to sit on the sidelines and watch! We didn't get to do anything, and yet you're complaining about having to sit through all those other classes. You are so annoying when you complain like that, you know?" Yang retorted off-handedly. Ruby shrugged, completely ignoring the insult that Yang had tossed her way. Her older sister often got like that when she was grumpy. It seemed like something she shared with Raven.

"Oh yeah!" Ruby grinned, turning to Weiss who was sat at a wooden desk. The silver-haired Schnee had taken out a textbook and was currently revising the notes she had taken during the day. If she couldn't fully absorb what was said in class, the best she could do was write down what the teacher was saying and review it later. "You said you were going to show us your semblance, Weiss. We only got to see it for a few moments. Come on!" the little reaper cheered. Weiss immediately felt a cold sweat form on the back of her neck.

"I… guess I did say that," Weiss mumbled, a look of apprehension in her eyes. "Do I really have to? I'm kind of tired. My semblance is quite draining."

"We are in our room," Blake pointed out, rejoining the conversation now that something this interesting was on the table. "If you feel tired after showing us, you can lie down."

Weiss thought about it for a moment. She wasn't exactly confident with the transformation, and she found it was very easy for her to lose her temper whilst in the form. She could recall several instances where she had smashed or put her hands through walls out of frustration when normally she would have much more restraint than that. Much to Winter's dismay, her older sister had to pay for a lot of repairs when Weiss was training by herself. The conversations had been awkward to explain, and it never got easier over time.

"Alright," Weiss sighed, standing up. "I guess showing you guys can't hurt."

"Oh man," Yang grinned as she sat cross-legged on her bed, eagerly anticipating the transformation. "This 'ought to be good."

Weiss positioned herself in the middle of their room and slipped into a stance as she began to search for the trigger to activate her semblance. It was much harder to find under light-stress scenarios like this one. Her semblance seemed to come to her a lot easier when under moments of intense stress. When she had transformed against Ruby, she had been in a tight spot and loathed the idea of losing to a girl who had managed to catch her off guard. Although, with all the training she had been doing, finding the trigger wasn't that difficult. It was like a small flame inside her needed to be lit.

Once she found it, all it took was a pull, and pull she did. In the space of a second, a wave of heat started to drift off the Schnee, which only served to excite her three teammates. Their curtains started to sway in an impossible breeze. Weiss was locked in concentration as she continued to pull on that hidden power inside of her. The added pressure of the three watching her made the process harder, and performing under pressure was something she wasn't quite used to yet.

Despite this, she activated the trigger.

With a slight grunt, a golden aura burst from her body. It surrounded her, the bright yellow flames burning the space around her. Her hair once again shone a golden blonde, while her eyes faded from sapphire blue to sea green. Her hands were balled into fists so tightly that her knuckles went white. She forced herself to stay under control as the transformation immediately began to tax her upon completion. After a few moments, the golden aura vanished, and she was left in a normal transformed state. Weiss exhaled deeply as she looked up at her teammates, who were currently gawking at her physical changes.

"Whoa…" Yang mumbled. "Seeing this up close is crazy!" the charcoal haired girl exclaimed. She leapt from her bed and walked over to Weiss who gazed at the girl strangely. Yang walked around Weiss, examining the full changes of her body. Weiss was slightly more muscular but still retained her feminine shape. Her golden blonde strands of hair had changed all the way down to the roots and not one of Weiss's teammates could figure out why.

"Can you feel that?" Blake whispered. Weiss, along with Ruby and Yang turned to her with a fair bit of confusion. She couldn't quite explain it but it felt like Weiss's aura had grown exponentially since she had transformed. Weiss's very presence in the room felt more… obvious and overwhelming. Cold sweat started to form on Blake's neck as she narrowed her eyes at the girl's new physical changes. The blonde hair and tail, the piercing green eyes. She felt a lot more intimidating than she did a minute ago.

"Feel what?" Ruby asked quizzically. Blake watched with mild amusement on her face as Yang started to play with Weiss' golden hair. The Schnee outcast seemed slightly disgruntled by it but allowed her to do so. As weird as it felt, it did bring back some memories of Winter doing her hair. However, Yang seemed to be more intrigued by how her semblance affected her physical form. The only question running through the young Branwen's mind was how silver hair had changed to pristine gold! "I don't feel anything."

"Damn… so unfair," Yang murmured bitterly as she stepped back. "I love yellow. I would kill to have hair like that, you know?"

"Uh, thanks? Anyway, back on topic," Weiss stated hotly, turning back to Blake. "What do you mean, feel? Has something about me… changed? Apart from the physical features, of course. I wasn't aware of any other changes apart from the obvious," she finished. Blake seemed to have trouble putting it into words. Was it really her aura that she was feeling? It was definitely something, and it was bugging her ever since Weiss had changed. There was something about the girl that was much greater than before.

"I-I'm not sure… it's weird. I can't really put it into words. All I can say is that you feel much stronger," Blake explained slowly. Weiss raised an eyebrow at this while Ruby and Yang exchanged looks of pure confusion. The two half-sisters had absolutely no clue what their black themed faunus teammate had said. Weiss, on the other hand, was intrigued by her teammate's strange observation. It was no secret that after the limited times she had used the form, she had discovered that her semblance increased her strength, speed, reflexes, aura, and overall power multiple times over. It was why she never wanted to use it against anyone. There was no thrill of the fight while in that form, and it was only ever used to get her out of tight spots.

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, or made of wet paper.

Fighting wasn't fun because nobody could beat her. Not even Winter, and that had been made clear in their first spar. Weiss had shattered the head of a Grimm Goliath with nothing but her fists. The Grimm Goliath's head was known to be the strongest armor the Grimm were capable of forming. It made sense that it was on the biggest of the dark monsters. Weiss had shattered it like it was made of glass. That kind of strength was terrifying, even to her.

Honestly, she was surprised after the hook that Ruby had taken, that the girl's head was still on her body in the correct position!

"It's rather scary how accurate that feeling is, Blake," Weiss started, noting the shocked look on the amber-eyed girl's face. "My semblance increases my physical attributes and senses multiple times over. While I struggled against Ruby without this form due to her innate talent for speed, I'm afraid to say that while using this form, I could probably beat all of you with a hand tied behind my back," the Schnee finished with an impassive look on her face. Ruby went wide-eyed, the prospect of a new obstacle to overcome exciting her, while Yang and Blake looked offended.

"Excuse you?" Yang growled slightly. Blake said nothing but scowled in Weiss's direction. The semblance-enhanced girl threw up her hands, a terrified expression crossing her face.

"I-I meant no offense! I swear! Look it's… I don't like using this form alright?" Weiss stuttered depressively. "I love fighting, and the feeling of a challenge motivates me like nothing else. Ruby should have won that fight because I couldn't quite keep up with her. I feel like I'm cheating when I use my semblance. This form feels like everything moves in slow motion! Not only that, but everything feels like it's made of wet paper! If I'm not careful I could kill someone! I almost killed my-" she cut herself off as a look of absolute horror crossed her face. Her hands started to shake as she immediately reverted from the golden form. Her silver hair, and sapphire eyes returning in a split second.

Ruby was at her side immediately as Weiss stood up and took a few steps back, before sitting down on her bed. Yang and Blake exchanged a brief glance at the sudden shift in the atmosphere. Weiss had said her family situation was undesirable, and the fact that her sister took her away from her abusive household was enough to give the pair an idea on what had happened. Ruby sat next to Weiss with a hand stroking the girl's back in a reassuring manner.

"It's alright, Weiss. We know you didn't mean it like that. You were just trying to give us an example of what your semblance did!" Ruby smiled. The silver-haired girl turned her head to her smiling partner, a brief look of happiness crossing her face. Ruby leaned in for a hug and Weiss shakily returned it. Yang rolled her eyes dramatically while Blake remained unmoved by the action. So Weiss had this amazing power and she was too afraid to use it? While Blake could kind of understand where she was coming from, she didn't like that Weiss wasn't taking any steps to move past her obvious fear.

"Well, I think our first team goal is pretty obvious," Blake voiced suddenly. "Helping our leader gain confidence over her semblance. Sorry, I know you probably have conflicted feelings over whatever happened in the past, but you can't let a power like that go to waste. I won't allow it," the amber-eyed girl declared. Weiss stumbled to find her words only to see both Yang and Ruby slowly nodding their heads in agreement. Weiss knew she had confidence issues with her semblance, and mostly in general, but she did well to hide them! How had she slipped up so easily!?

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked timidly. She suddenly felt self-conscious as the entire team's first goal revolved around her controlling and gaining the confidence to use her semblance. It wasn't even something Winter was able to accomplish. "Really, you don't need to trouble yourselves with such a trivial matter. We have many other things to focus our attention on, not-"

"Nope!" Ruby cut off with a smile. Weiss suddenly found herself being pushed towards her bed by her partner. "Like Blake said, it's up to us to help you master and control your semblance. We're your teammates and there's no way we're going to leave you hanging. That being said, I think it's time we head to bed. We have combat class first thing in the morning!" the girl grinned in excitement. Blake and Yang shared a knowing gaze at each other, knowing for sure that they would meet in the arena tomorrow.

"I guess that's fine. As long as you guys can take it. I don't want to cripple any of you."

"Bah!" Yang scoffed. "We'll be fine. If Ruby can take a hook from you in that transformed state, then any of us can."

Weiss just sighed.

"I hope you know what you're getting yourselves into…"

=/=

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"Yang Branwen and Blake Belladonna are next. Could you both make your way down to the arena," Ms. Goodwitch requested with a hesitant sigh. If these two were anything like their teammates, then she genuinely wondered if there would be a classroom left after this 'mock' battle.

Just like Ruby and Weiss, Blake and Yang made their way down the stairs toward the arena with two amused and excited expressions. Yang was much more stocky than the rest of her team, so common sense assumed she was the strongest out of the four. Blake was a lot leaner like Ruby, so Glynda assumed the girl would be quite fast. She also pertained a certain look about her. The way she carried herself and observed with a judgemental eye. She was a tactician… that much was obvious. Despite the difference in strength, Glynda actually was expecting Blake to win.

However, she couldn't rule out Yang just yet. The girl was the daughter of Raven Branwen, one of the smartest tactical minds to ever come through Beacon. A prodigy in adaption in the midst of battle. There was no doubt in Glynda's mind that Yang would have inherited those traits. They had been in Yang's transcripts from Beacon. Qrow being himself hadn't written much in her files, only stating that she 'fights like Raven but without the sword'. Glynda couldn't help but wonder what that was going to look like.

"I've been itching to cut loose since initiation," Yang smirked as she cracked her knuckles. Blake remained quiet as she took in Yang's form across from her. "Don't be surprised if I don't go easy on you."

"If you go easy, I'll make you regret it," Blake shot back. Those words only served to fuel Yang's hot-blooded excitement.

"Good. I wouldn't have it any other way," Yang slipped into a stance. Blake continued to stand, a hand slowly drifting toward her sword. Glynda eyed both of them warily. Once again, she had no doubt Ozpin had tuned in to watch the fight. The two girls waited patiently for the go-ahead, and the longer Glynda took, the more the atmosphere of anticipation grew. The entire audience was silent as Ruby sat giddily in her seat. Weiss sat completely still, her hands on her knees and her back straight, giving off the typical Schnee royalty image. It was something Winter had drilled into her.

"Let's see how strong you two are," Weiss thought to herself.

"You may begin."

The moment the words left Glynda's mouth, Yang exploded into the air, Blake holding a defensive position. Using her gauntlets, she propelled herself forward. Upon reaching her target, the crimson-eyed teen slammed her leg down atop of Blake. Surprisingly, her attack went right through the cat-like teen. Blake's form shimmered and vanished leaving Yang momentarily alone in the arena. In an instant, Blake appeared behind Yang and cleaved the girl's back with her sword, taking an impressive chunk of her aura with it.

Yang stumbled forward, confusion taking control of her mind for a brief moment before she gathered her bearings. She turned to see Blake retreating slightly, her partner's amber colored eyes narrowing on Yang, unblinking and sharp. Seemed like Blake wasn't as straightforward as she thought. Balancing herself, Yang once again went in for a more controlled assault on Blake. Keeping her senses up, she threw various attacks, all ripping through the ghostly visages Blake left behind when dodging. After a few attacks, Yang was starting to understand exactly what was happening.

Blake was using her semblance.

Some form of afterimage left behind while she temporarily escapes using her speed. Brief invisibility, plus the ability to leave behind a perfect image of herself to fool her opponent. Yang would have to be careful about how she attacked. If she wasn't, Blake would take advantage of every opening and this fight would be over almost as quick as it started.

"Interesting semblance," Yang commented as Blake appeared to her side. Yang sidestepped a swipe, years of honed instincts screaming at her to avoid the razor-sharp weapon. She deflected another slash off her bracelets, using the temporary parry to step into Blake's guard and exploit the opening. A direct punch to Blake's chest sent the girl skidding backward. "Too bad I've already got you figured out."

"Please," Blake scoffed. "This is just a warm-up. I'm barely trying."

"Same here."

Their lips curled as they circled each other like two predators. Unlike Weiss and Ruby, these two seemed more restrained and fought with a lot more precision, but there was no doubt they were capable of the same kind of destruction as their two teammates. Blake suddenly vanished and immediately Yang jumped, spinning to kick the space behind her. Blake appeared exactly where Yang was attacking but blocked the devastating kick with her forearm. A grunt escaped the cat-girl's lips as Yang's gauntlets cocked.

An explosion sent Blake barreling backward while Yang chased after her. The agile girl landed on her feet much to Yang's surprise and launched back at her partner. Blake slammed her shoulder into Yang, using her partner's momentum against her. Yang found herself momentarily winded and unable to breathe. The cat-faunus took this opportunity to deliver a combo of attacks, both unarmed and with her sword. Yang's aura was chipped away little by little until the girl finally recovered. When she did, Blake flipped backward to gain some distance.

"You're durability is something else. I'm finding it hard to inflict damage directly," Blake commented with a small smile. Yang wiped a small trail of blood that seeped out of her mouth, mirroring Blake's smirk. Aura didn't protect everything, but it did soften the blows of a lot of attacks. It seemed like Blake had only slightly broken through Yang's aura and done some very minor damage to her. A cut lip wasn't anything to worry about in her case.

"You're a lot like my mother. You value tactics over brute strength. You assumed from my showing off during initiation that I brute force my way through my enemies," Yang chuckled as she straightened up. "You're not wrong, but there are other sides to me as well that you haven't seen yet."

"Oh?" Blake commented with a curious expression. "Care to indulge me?"

"It would be my pleasure," Yang smirked. In a moment, Yang was in front of Blake. The cat-girl's eyes widened at the sudden increase of speed. A bone-crushing hook was delivered to the girl's jaw, knocking Blake backward, turning her entire body into a ragdoll. Landing on her knees she moved immediately, leaving a shadow clone behind in her wake. However, much to her dismay, she found her path blocked by Yang as her clone vanished, completely ignored by her opponent.

"Predictable!" Yang roared as she rammed her knee directly into Blake's stomach. The girl fell backward, but her ankle was grabbed. Tossed into the air by Yang, the stocky teen followed up with a devastating air combo which drained Blake's aura all the way down to the end of the yellow zone. Blake was kicked into the ground, cobweb-like cracks forming from her impact. She looked up briefly to see Yang barreling towards her. Blake growled as she sprung to her feet and launched herself straight towards her opponent. Yang had been expecting her to dodge, not retaliate instantly.

For the second time, Blake slipped through Yang's defenses entirely and nailed the girl in the gut. Yang coughed, crying out in a bit of pain before falling back to the arena, landing on her front while Blake landed on her feet. Blake wasn't about to let Yang regain the stamina she had lost. Equipping her sword, she shot forward to end it, only to have Yang push herself onto her back and catch the oncoming attack with her hands. She tugged and pulled, ripping the sword from Blake's grasp. Before the girl even knew what happened, Yang tackled the girl and a wrestling match had started.

"You know," Yang growled through their intertwined bodies. "I thought fighting you would be easy, considering I fight my mom on a regular basis, and she can teleport-!" Yang grunted as Blake tightened her grip on Yang's arms, Blake coughed as Yang slammed her knee into her side multiple times to try and force Blake to give up her hold.

"I'm not a pushover," Blake hissed.

"Clearly," Yang retorted, labored breaths hindering her normal way of talking. "This is actually one of the hardest fights I've been in for years. Everyone at Signal was weak and fragile… but you're nothing like that!" Yang once again rammed her leg into Blake's side. The cat-girl respond only by tightening her grip on Yang's arms. The two locked stares as Blake finally pushed Yang off and the two backed off from each other. Both of their auras were in the yellow zone, and soon the battle was going to come to a close. "Something tells me you're going to be a good partner."

"Right back at you."

The two once again charged each other, Blake having been disarmed. She knew that with Yang's weapons she was going to have to hit extra hard if she was going to do any damage, while Yang knew she was going to have to strike hard and fast for Blake not to use her semblance and dodge. The two threw out their fists, their knuckles meeting each other in a devastating standstill.

A shockwave erupted from their clash, splitting the ground beneath them apart. Cracks formed across the entire arena from the force of the blow. Neither of the two combatants seemed to have been affected by the cataclysmic result of their sudden clash.

For a split second, Yang's hair flashed blonde.

As did Blake's.

Weiss' breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening.

"Was that…? No… it can't be."

Ruby, on the other hand, looked more confused than shocked.

"Did Yang's hair just change color? I'm not seeing things am I?" Ruby questioned. Clearly, her focus had been on Yang, because she clearly missed Blake's brief change as well. It happened at exactly the same time and Weiss had seen both occur. She was too far away to see if their eyes had changed as well, but it was only for a split second. The two combatants seemed to notice the change as well. They had momentarily paused, looking at each other strangely, then spared Weiss a quick glance.

"Was I seeing things?" Yang thought in slight confusion.

"Her hair changed," Blake mused. "Just like Weiss'. Did mine also change? She seems confused as well."

However, as quickly as that surprise came, it was gone, their focus returning to the fight at hand.

A few mirrored attacks later, and somehow the fight ended with Blake and Yang knocking each other into the red-zone at the same time.

"Both fighters have fallen into the red zone. I will conclude this match as a draw," Glynda stated as she turned to the two girls. "Ladies, please return to your seats. We have many notes to take after today's performance."

As Blake and Yang returned to their seats, Weiss and Ruby couldn't help but think about what happened.

How could they be showing the same signs of having the same semblance as Weiss? Especially for Blake when she thought she had already unlocked her own?

=/=

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"So… you're saying we can turn blonde as well?"

Weiss exhaled for possibly the hundredth time. This conversation had been difficult to have and she knew it was going to be troublesome the moment they all sat down in the cafeteria. Both Blake and Yang had been eager to figure this out the moment they exited the training room. They had their lunch break straight after, so Weiss thought it would be the best time to discuss it. The four of them were sat at a table with countless empty dishes around them.

Surprisingly, all four of them had unexplainable appetites, which Weiss and Blake did better at hiding than Yang and Ruby. To say they drew the attention of every student in the cafeteria would be an understatement. With the way the four girls were eating, they had practically stunned everyone into silence as Blake and Weiss tried to civilly hide their monstrous appetite, while Ruby and Yang obliterated anything that was in front of them. Needless to say, they were quite the outliers when it came to Beacon Academy's first year teams. Although, that had been quite clearly established since day one.

"I know what I saw and I'm pretty sure Ruby saw it too. You both turned blonde for a split second," Weiss explained as she gazed at the two. "I've always had my doubts about my semblance because the Schnee family's semblance is supposed to be hereditary. Despite who my father is, I know my mother is a Schnee by blood. I should have the same semblance as my sister, but I don't," she finished. Blake and Yang shared a questionable gaze as Blake cleared her throat.

"Well, whatever it is, it's not a semblance, because I already have mine. I can leave afterimages behind to take hits for me. I can even infuse dust into them if I'm quick enough. Whatever this… transformation is, it's not semblance related," Blake stated. "It's something completely different. If Yang and I do have the ability to tap into the power you possess, you have to teach us how," the girl finished, jumping straight to the point. Weiss recoiled slightly, a frown crossing her face.

"Now hold on a second! I-I'm not sure if I can do that… I mean," Weiss trailed off, a fearful tone slipping into her voice. "It took serious emotional pain for me to even tap into it and even then it took me months to learn how to control it. It's not something I can just teach, even if you guys can access it as I can."

"Emotional pain?" Yang questioned with a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I had a fight with my sister. There was some screaming and I… sort of tapped into it without even knowing. I almost killed her. I felt like I needed to teach her a lesson. I needed her to feel the pain that I had felt," Weiss explained as her head fell into her hands, tears threatening to escape her eyes. However, she clamped down on her emotions and refused to let any fall. "The power just sort of came and I overpowered her in seconds. It just sort of happened for me. I don't know if I want any of you to experience something like that."

"Yeah… that doesn't sound too nice," Ruby added. "Sounds to me like this ability came to you in your time of need. Maybe it's triggered by some kind of need? What were you two feeling when you were fighting each other? I mean, it didn't happen to me when I fought Weiss, but then again… I was just having fun and I didn't really mind who won. I just wanted to try my best," Ruby explained. Weiss had to admit, she didn't share the same feelings as Ruby. Her inner pride refused to let Ruby win, thus triggering her transformation for her and allowing her to break free of Ruby's hold.

"I wanted to prove I was stronger than Blake."

"I wanted to prove I was better."

The two girls statements each had some kind of element of desire to them, but it clearly hadn't quite been enough to push them over the edge towards the transformation. Weiss thought on this for a few moments. Her feelings were crystal clear that day when she fought with Winter. Her emotions had been running wild but if there was one thing she knew, it was that she needed Winter to understand the pain she endured while her sister was away. While practically even in that fight, Weiss had a feeling Winter would be stronger than her, so that need to beat her pushed her into that state.

From the looks of it, Blake and Yang were basically equal.

"Perhaps you need someone stronger than you to give you the extra push? I'm not quite sure what else to say. I'm still honestly shocked that you two have shown the ability to transform as well," Weiss stated as she turned and looked at Ruby out of the corner of her eye. "I wonder if you can as well?" Weiss finished. Ruby didn't seem particularly thrilled at the idea based on what Weiss had already said. The red-caped girl merely shrugged. Before Ruby had a chance to say anything, team JNPR had come over and sat down next to the four girls.

"Hi Weiss, is it okay if we sit here?" Pyrrha asked politely. Weiss returned the good-natured question with a smile. Her first impression with Pyrrha the other day before initiation was -in her sister's well put words- satisfactory. The redhead was kind and well spoken, so there wasn't much else Weiss would have expected from the girl. In fact, anyone who was even remotely nice to her, she was willing to give a chance at friendship. God-forbid she would be subjected to the isolation she endured in her childhood.

"Sure. We could use the company. How have you guys been?" she replied. The blonde in their group seemed to be the one about to answer her. Weiss recognized him immediately, but for some reason, the boy's name had slipped her mind. She did recall her first impression of the boy not being as favorable as Pyrrha's.

"We've been getting to know each other. It's rather… interesting sharing a room with girls," Jaune replied nervously. Nora chuckled mischievously while a light blush crossed Pyrrha's face. Ren, on the other hand, seemed completely neutral. Blake found his lack of reaction to be rather interesting. His quiet demeanor showed that he was well in control of his emotions, both visibly and internally. Blake had a feeling he was much stronger than he looked.

"You don't mind that we're faunus, right?" Yang questioned hesitantly. She spoke from experience. Normally when most people sat next to them only to see the tail, they would move away. Those were in her younger years however and she came to realize quite quickly as she grew up, that children were ignorant and selfish. Tolerance and understanding of differences came with age, and even then some people couldn't seem to accept it.

"Oh!" Pyrrha exclaimed suddenly, raising the eyebrows of the entirety of team WBRY. "Of course not. I view faunus and humans equally. I don't see any reason to treat them differently."

"That's good," Blake replied. "We would have had problems otherwise."

Pyrrha eyed Blake nervously. Her stand-offish tone didn't seem to lighten the mood. Fortunately, the lighter of the group laughed, breaking the tense atmosphere.

"Aw come on, Blake! Lighten up!" Ruby chuckled. "I'm sure these guys are cool with us. They've already seen our tails in class. If they didn't like faunus, why would they bother coming over to ask us if they could sit next to us?" she questioned. Blake merely rolled her eyes and refused to respond. Ruby had a decent point there and Blake's refusal to respond sent Yang into fits of giggles. Weiss was just happy her team seemed to be getting along without tearing each other's throats out. She had heard horror stories around campus before she officially started here. Some teams… had difficulties in that regard.

"I'm starving!" Nora exclaimed suddenly as she sat down next to Yang, Ren taking his place beside the ecstatic orange-haired girl. In moments, she was tearing through her food like a starved dog. Yang watched with mild fascination as the girl devoured her food while her calm and graceful partner ate his food carefully and respectively.

"I like this girl," Yang smirked as she returned to her own food. Weiss paled a bit. Weiss and Pyrrha descended into idle chatter while Ruby focused mainly on her food. Jaune awkwardly sat next to Pyrrha and was glancing back and forth between everyone to see who he could talk to. Yang seemed occupied with her food, whilst chatting with Nora and Ren whenever she didn't have her mouth full and Blake seemed to be stuck in intense thought.

After a few minutes, Jaune opened his mouth to say something, only to cut himself off when a girl cried out across the other side of the cafeteria. A girl seemingly taller than the rest of the first years was tripped over by a stocky male. She had long bunny ears that were very noticeable, stretching almost an arm's length out from the top of her head. Her tray of food had hit the floor, with her following only seconds later. The man responsible for her situation laughed as his team followed him off to sit somewhere else.

This event had seemingly drawn the attention of the table where team WBRY and JNPR occupied.

"Dick!" Yang hissed, unintentionally bending the silver-wear she had in her hands. The rest of JNPR looked appalled at the act, immediately noting that team CRDL was to be avoided.

"Despicable," Pyrrha growled under her breath.

"Can I break his legs?" Nora whispered to Ren. The boy shook his head in disapproval but he didn't look any less displeased by the situation. On the other hand, Weiss Schnee merely sighed in disappointment. While Beacon Academy was mostly free of prejudice, there were always a few that held onto the racist views passed down to them by the previous generation. She tried to convince herself that it wasn't really their fault and the only people to blame were the ones who raised them to be like that.

"There is always one isn't there?" Weiss muttered. Blake seemed unaffected by most of what was going on. It was nothing new to her. She had memories of this kind of stuff happening to her all the time back in Mistral. No one stood up for her. Why should she even bother standing up for this girl? If she wasn't strong enough to deal with it on her own, then that was her problem.

"I don't get it. If you don't like someone, why can't you just leave them alone? Why go out of your way to make their life harder?" Jaune asked, genuinely annoyed at what Cardin had done. Weiss sighed, recalling her own experiences with people stuck in their own stubborn ways. Her father was a prime example of this.

"Some people are just like that. They don't care about other people, specifically faunus in some cases… and they- wait," Weiss cut herself off when she realized her partner was suddenly absent from the table. "Where's Ruby?"

"Oh no," was all Yang said as she saw her sister casually walking over to the four bullies. Before anyone had the chance to stop her, she had tapped Cardin on the shoulder. The boy turned around and scowled at her, as did the rest of his team. However, they were less inclined to pick on her for her faunus trait considering the feats she had pulled off in class the other day.

"You should really apologize," Ruby started, glaring at the stocky male responsible for tripping the rabbit faunus. "That was mean and she didn't deserve it."

Cardin and the rest of his team regarded her briefly. Her furry brown tail waved idly behind her, a detail they weren't stupid enough to miss. However, the memory of what she and her silver-haired partner were capable of in combat class made them think twice about opening their mouths to say something they might regret. The three males, minus their leader, whispered amongst each other while Cardin just scowled.

"Mind your own business," he snarled. Ruby returned the favor.

"You can't pick on other people just because they're different than you," Ruby argued. "I'm a faunus too. I won't just sit around when I see people like me being treated like this just because of the way they look!" Ruby declared. Her voice had risen to quite a degree, enough to draw the attention of most of the students in the cafeteria. A couple of third and fourth-year teams had turned to watch the event as if this wasn't anything new.

"Looks like the new blood are disagreeing over faunus rights again."

"Every damn year it seems…"

"There's always a few teams that are ignorant enough to hold onto old racist traditions."

"Doesn't help that there always seems to be a bunch of faunus ready to get violent the moment someone looks at them the wrong way."

All these murmurs didn't go unnoticed by Ruby or the rest of her team. There were various other whisperings about the matter. It seemed that this was a regular occurrence at the beginning of each new school year.

"Look, stay out of our business and I'll stay out of yours," Cardin reasoned with a hint of danger to his tone. He knew this girl was strong, but he wasn't about to roll over in defeat just because she displayed some amazing feats in combat, for an animal anyway. "So get lost."

"Not until you apologize to her," Ruby gestured to Velvet who had already climbed back to her feet. She shyly turned to the two, avoiding eye contact. She wasn't even sure what to say, so she slowly started backing away from the confrontation. Cardin cracked a small grin as he stared at Ruby's steel expression. Did she think she was some kind of hero?

"What are you going to do, make me apologize?" he laughed. His team supported him by chuckling weakly alongside him. Ruby's expression darkened, something that happened very rarely. She didn't like to think she was a violent person. Summer had taught her far better. However, spending time around Raven had its influences growing up.

"Ruby," Weiss walked up behind her, breaking the girl out of her darkening emotions. "Let's just leave it. It's not worth it."

"Listen to your animal girlfriend," Cardin growled. "Get lost."

Weiss shot him a glare but ignored it. She had been through far worse with her father. She wasn't about to lose her cool over something so small. Ruby, however, balled her fists angrily. She went to reach out, but her arm was grabbed not by Weiss, but by someone else. Turning with a surprised expression on her face, she saw Yang standing next to her.

"Like Weiss said," Yang added, glaring at Cardin. "This piece of trash isn't worth it. Let's go." she finished. Ruby and Weiss glared at Cardin before they turned around and headed off back to their table. Yang spared a warning glance at the boy before she also turned around and started off back.

"What a bunch of bitches," the leader of CRDL muttered to his team, all of them nodding in agreement. Yang froze, having caught what he had said. Weiss and Ruby also heard, causing them to slow to a halt. Blake, from her comfy seat with JNPR tore her eyes away from the book she was reading. A small smirk crossed her face as she watched Yang exhale deeply before her body started trembling in quiet rage.

"Heh," Blake chuckled mirthlessly, drawing the attention of team JNPR. "This ought to be good."

"Hey," Yang turned, stalking back to CRDL. "Asshole. You forgot something."

"What?" Cardin turned around, only to have his face painfully contort from Yang's fist.

An audible crack silenced the entire mess hall.

Cardin's face collided with his soup fast enough to shatter the bowl and splinter the table. The contents spilled all over him, causing steam to rise from his face. His aura protected him from the burns, but that didn't mean the initial punch didn't hurt.

"Uh oh," Ruby whispered.

Weiss only groaned. It was their second day as a team together! Now it was starting to seem like it would be their last...

The entire cafeteria went deathly silent as all the attention was now focused on Yang and the boy who she had just attempted to drown in his own lunch. Yang took a few steps back and crossed her arms over her chest. Cardin slowly rose from the ground and turned, wiping off the hot liquid from his features. He looked absolutely livid with his attacker. Yang, however, seemed completely unaffected by his hateful stare. Without a moment's notice or a single word, Cardin rushed her.

His punch didn't do much damage though, as his fist was caught effortlessly. Everyone watching the engagement watched with anticipation as Yang sighed, her crimson eyes glancing at Cardin's trapped fist.

"Maybe after this ass kicking you'll think twice about abusing other faunus in a school full of people that can crush you into a pancake," she mumbled with disappointment lacing her tone. Cardin's rage burned brighter than it ever had before but unfortunately, it was overshadowed by Yang's immeasurable strength. In an instant, Yang had lifted her leg, bending it back before pushing forward, directly into Cardin's chest.

The boy suddenly found himself weightless as he was flung from the cafeteria and sent crashing through the window at breakneck speeds.

With her captive audience left speechless, Yang dusted off her hands and turned around to head back to her table, only to be blocked by a very scary individual. Ms. Glynda Goodwitch towered above Ruby, Weiss, and Yang with the darkest of scowls the teenager had ever seen.

"I'm in trouble aren't I?"

"Indeed, Ms. Branwen. My office. Five minutes. Bring your team."

Team WBRY was off to a fantastic start.

A/N:

Once again, I'm really sorry for such a long wait. I can't guarantee updates will come very quickly. I'm mostly focused on Rebirth of a Legend and This War of Mine at the moment. I have other stories I'm also working on, as well as an original novel with heavy inspiration from RWBY.

Not much else to say. I am always thankful to read the discussions that happen in the review sections. I eagerly await your feedback! See you guys next chapter!