What about an AU where everyone had somehow been under the mistaken assumption that Ruby was a professor at Beacon? For a laugh, Ozpin rolls with it whenever he's asked about it.
Becoming :: mod lilac :: Part 1 out of 2.Â
What about an AU where everyone had somehow been under the mistaken assumption that Ruby was a professor at Beacon? For a laugh, Ozpin rolls with it whenever he's asked about it.Â
âYou cannot be serious, Headmaster!â Goodwitch burst into the room just as Headmaster Ozpin made his offer of early entry into Beacon. Ruby couldnât help but grimace at the Huntressâs words - they hurt, especially since they came from someone she admired so.Â
âOh? But werenât you singing praises about young Miss Rose earlier?â Ozpin spoke with a hint of joviality. âWhat was it? Amazing potential, excellent coordination, sharp eyes, animalistic instinc-â
âAll of what I spoke is what she could become in the future,â Goodwitch objected, âSheâs still too young. Hasnât even completed her training back at Signal. If you bring her to Beacon, sheâll just be building on an unstable foundation - who knows when sheâll topple over?â
âThereâs too much sheâs lacking in, â the Huntress continued, âShe hasnât developed the muscle mass to fully control her weapon. And her situational awareness is poor, especially when she tunnel visions like what she did tonight.âÂ
Ozpin nodded his head at Goodwitchâs assessment. The gesture made her feel like a rock settled into her stomach, and the manâs following words didnât help.
âExcellent points,â Ozpin agreed before he turned his head to her, âWhat do you have to say Miss Rose?â
Her eyes were like a deer in headlights, open and wide. She couldnât lose this chance. She wanted to fight against the Grimm. And a day sooner she got into Beacon was a day sooner sheâll become a Huntress. She could stay at Signal, but...Â
âI know Professor Goodwitch is right,â Ruby agreed hesitantly, âIâm lacking in a lot, probably so much that I donât even know what Iâm lacking. But Signal... Signal wonât help me.â She closed her eyes and sighed, âIâm tired of watching from the sides because the teachers are afraid Iâll break my fellow studentsâ confidence.â She trembled before gritting her teeth, âIâm tired of being left alone because the teachers think Iâm already in a good place and thereâs so many others that need help. They just tell me that everything will come with time and to practice on my own.â
âThereâs only so much I can do learning through books and training by myself,â Ruby quietly said, âAnd my dad and uncle are busy with Hunter business and teaching. I canât take too much of their time just because I want training.â
She shifted her feet uneasily before repeating, âI know Iâm lacking, but Signal will not help me find those things. So please let me into Beacon.â
âAll I ever wanted was to fight the Grimm. I want to become a Huntress. I never wanted anything else,â she bowed her head quietly, not able to meet either of them in the eyes, âPlease give me a chance.â
The silence in the air was palpable, almost as if it could be sliced. It lingered, and she could feel Professor Goodwitchâs gaze pierce through her. Seconds felt like minutes as time dragged on, and before she could speak to get rid of the unnerving quiet, Goodwitch spoke first.Â
âBeacon Academyâs Initiation will start in two months,â Goodwitch sternly stated, rapping the table with her riding crop. The woman looked straight into her eyes. âYou will inform your family and then report to Beacon Academy tomorrow. Be forewarned that if you do not have what it takes, I do not want to hear anything more about early entry. Understand?â
Ruby lifted her head, eyes shimmering in excited tears. Professor Ozpin looked both amused and perturbed as he looked over at Professor Goodwitch and then herself. Professor Goodwitch looked every bit the strict disciplinarian waiting for her answer.
âYes, Iâll do it! I wonât let you down. Thank you Professor Goodwitch. Headmaster Ozpin!â
Metal barrels and chunks of asphalt flew swiftly through the fields, trying to tag its red-clad target. Meanwhile, bullets shot through the air trying to pierce into her Psychokinetic assailer.Â
A sniper bullet managed to avoid her barrier of floating debris, forcing Glynda to step back to dodge it, the air in its wake stinging her eyes. Clearly, Miss Rose was getting used to this level of attack - the local masonry was no longer adequate. It seems that after three weeks of training this girl in the guise of testing sheâll yet again need to bring another element into play.Â
The Disciplinarian - her weapon - swung towards the ground, her Aura channeled deep within the earth.Â
The red-cloaked girl stumbled half-way from the miniature earthquake that was created. Large chunks of dirt and rock, larger than Miss Rose herself, floated into the air courtesy of her Psychokinesis before rushing to crush the girl in their midst.Â
And just as she expected, Miss Rose performed marvelously.Â
The girl quickly found her footing and bounced amidst the floating debris. A slice subtly cut through one of the boulders, so fine that she failed to see it at first - followed by a bullet from her blind spot. Glynda had already moved to duck under that follow-up bullet, and she couldnât help but mentally complement Miss Rose's tactics, which were only inadequate due to not knowing the depths of her opponent. Had she been a student at Beacon instead, that wouldâve been a fight-ending blow.Â
Miss Rose wouldâve been wasted at Signal. This girl was not meant to be a greenhouse flower, safely nurtured until she was ready to be brought out in the world. She was a wild rose, meant to grow in hardship and become all the more beautiful for it. Her presence in Signal - the other teachers mustâve sensed it somehow - was detrimental to the class; to them, she was like a weed that had to be kept in check lest it strangle the rest of the greenhouse.Â
She knew this because she was the same way when she came into her Semblance - Psychokinesis - and became all too aware of the differences in capabilities between Hunters.Â
Two more years at Signal wouldâve ruined this girl. They wouldâve dulled the girlâs sharp instincts like when she and Miss Rose first met.Â
...Truthfully Beacon might not be the right fit for her either.Â
âArgh, shit Glynda. Is beating on me really that fun?â the girl yelled accusingly as she bounced off against a floating rock.Â
Oh whoops she was smiling. Glynda shifted her expression to something more neutral, but she couldnât help but internally grin.
Their relationship had gotten a lot more casual a week in. Politeness tends to go out the window when exploding barrels were involved.Â
âIâm only happy that Iâll be sending an inadequate student back to the institution she needs to go back too,â Glynda replied in a deadpan, flinging a volatile-marked barrel into the battlefield.Â
âWhat do you think, Peter, Bart?â Glynda said almost proudly as if introducing a prized student to an audience. Peter gazed upon the red-cloaked girl amidst the pack of Beowolves, many of which were turning to smoky wisps from her scythe blade. Even at this distance, she could see the girlâs every move, every strike an efficient take-down.Â
âIâm feeling sorry for those Beowolves. Did you teach her how to be so...?â Port said quizzically as he saw the girl flip onto the back of a Beowolf, scythe at its neck - a single click later, and the Beowulfâs head was sailing over her.
âSo?â Glynda questioned.
âSo vicious. Sheâs really not scared about close combatâ Peter commented, âBit unusual, given her weaponâs part sniper rifle.â He observed as the girl rolled underneath a Grimmâs legs, only to swing the scythe from underneath. Urk. He squeezed his legs together at the phantom pain brought from that strike - Bartholomew did the same.Â
âIt wasnât me. She came like that,â Glynda shrugged her shoulders, snorting briefly at the malesâ sympathetic reactions, âHonestly, I didnât expect this when I let her loose.âÂ
â...She was born to Hunt,â Bartholomew commented as he sipped from his thermos, âProbably more than me and either of you. Look at her face. Sheâs smiling.Â
â...Sheâs smiling,â Glynda said quietly.
All three pensively watched as their soon-to-be-charge gleefully tore through the Grimm with a grin on her face, scythe reaping through them like they were wheat on the fields.Â
âHow do you feel?â Headmaster Ozpin asked with a smile, âI heard you had an exciting two months.â Ruby and the Headmaster were standing together at the landing hall, observing the other students arrive for orientation.Â
âLike coming out of a dream,â Ruby sighed happily as she hugged Crescent Roseâs folded form. âIt was everything I wanted and more.âÂ
âI wouldnât have thought you would look fondly on what other students call Professor Goodwitchâs Ego-Crushing Disciplinary Course,â he chuckled, âOf course, those students have far less friendly names for it.â
He couldnât help but feel perturbed though when Ruby stared at him in confusion.
âWhy wouldnât I like it? She pushed me to my limits and more,â Ruby stretched, âSame with the other professors.â Her gaze shifted away from him, a little hesitant and guilty, "But Iâm having a feeling that Beacon regularly isnât that exciting.â
âNo, it isnât,â the Headmaster said, âBut youâll be provided opportunities to go into the field as needed, though youâll still be required to join a team and interact with them.â
âThose never did go well back when I was at Signal,â she grumpily said.
âYouâre speaking as if that were ages ago. Youâve only been in Beacon for two months,â Ozpin chuckled.Â
âIt felt so much shorter. Guess time flies when youâre having fun,â Ruby laughed before rubbing her hand against a silver badge on her chest. Â
âHmm, whatâs that?â
âBar- I mean, Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port were joking about how I deserved a reward for surviving Professor Goodwitch,â Ruby laughed, âSo they gave me a badge that's been defunct for a while, back from when Vale determined the seniority of a Hunter based on Grimm kills. Apparently this is the highest accolade.â
âOh, should I be worried then about my position, Professor Rose?â Ozpin quirked an amused eyebrow.Â
âMaybe~ I donât know. Iâd rather be out in the field. Never did like the classroom, â Ruby grumbled, âEven more so now...Hopefully, being with the other students wonât be too bad.â
âLooking down on your peers already, Professor Rose?â
âStop calling me that, Headmaster,â Ruby hopped up and down angrily, âPeople might get the wrong idea. And itâs not that Iâm looking down on them. Iâm just not used to competent teammates. Donât worry though. Professor Goodwitch stressed to me the importance of a team. No good Hunter hunts alone.â
âWise words. Perhaps you should hold some classes.â
âStop joking around.â
âWho said I was joking?â
Little did the fuming Ruby know that there were some people that caught bits and parts of their conversation and that they were prepared to take those words very seriously.
âHoly shit. Did you see that video of that girl decapitating that Nevermore?âÂ
âYup. Canât decide whether the Deathstalker kill by Team JNPR or the Nevermore kill from Team RWBY was better.â
âProbably team JNPRâs kill, since theyâre actually a bunch of students. I heard team RWBYâs leader is already a professor here.â
âYouâre fucking with me.â
âNo joke. They say she just canât get full professorship because of her age. Apparently sheâs a combat prodigy from Signal, and she came to Beacon two years early to fast-track into a professorship. I mean, do you think the team being named after her is a coincidence?âÂ
âHey, guys! Youâre talking about Professor Rose, right?â
âSo I personally heard the Headmaster call her Professor Rose before. A lot of people have during orientation actually. Itâs just that itâs all supposed to be on the down-low. Sheâs on first-name basis with all the professors. Heard her call Professor Goodwitch by her first name when theyâre in private.â
âShe has balls. If I called Professor Goodwitch by her first name, Iâd probably end up missing both of mine.â
âI didnât need that imagery thanks. But if you want any proof, take a look at her badge. Thatâs an official Vale Hunterâs badge if you search online for it. Bit old and dated, but it exists.â
âGuess I shouldnât ask to copy her homework then. Can I copy yours?â
âNo. Go do your own.â