Chapter Text
(Listening to Left Hand Free, from alt-J)
Sunlight poured into the academy halls as it bustled with young men and women, most of them no older than eighteen.
Boys in school suits leaning on lockers, chatting up with girls in uniform plaid red skirts. The entire hallway was filled and splattered with individual colors and ethnicities.
Ruby Rose had her black and red-accented headphones on her head, the speakers completely covering her ears as she listened to the song she had up, walking and slinking through the crowded passage.
Seventeen-years-old and she was one of the brightest students in this campus, passing her classes and earning herself an above average Grade Point Average.
Though, her absolute favorite classes were self-defense and acrobatics, which gave her a surprisingly slim but fit body. All of that by learning how to do flips and swing around a wooden pole, and she was good at it, thanks to her uncle; whom trained her off campus.
The best part was it was required to take classes to defend yourself, and she got to do kick the snot out of everyone every Monday through Wednesday.
The girl faintly hopped as she adjusted her backpack over her left shoulder, which was the only strap it had, since the other one fell off.
That resulted in one of her long bangs to fall over her eye.
She brushed back the strand of her short choppy black hair with scarlet-red highlights to the side, allowing her a chance to pull her phone out from her blazer pocket, causing her to watch her legs stride as her skirt swayed with her, the edge of the cloth barely covering the ends of her black thigh-high socks.
In her peripheral vision, the girl watched her jet-black tie swing slightly from side to side as she unlocked her phone.
Ruby: Do you know where Uncle Row is? Others are saying they haven’t seen him all day…
Yang: Uncle Row?
Ruby: Qrow.
Ruby: Stupid auto-correct…
Yang: Beats me.
Yang: Dad hasn’t seen him.
Ruby: Well, let’s just hope he makes it in time for class.
Ruby: Really don’t want another up-tight substitute.
Yang: Port and Oobleck aren’t that bad.
Ruby: I was talking about Goodwitch.
Yang: Oh, she’s the worst. But hey, have a nice day.
Rose locked her phone and slipped it back into her coat pocket, her silver eyes lazily scanning over the scenery as she passed by.
She spotted a group of girls huddled around each other, catching up on the latest gossip and any rumors flying around the school.
Ruby did indeed have friends, she just didn’t have a lot of them. In fact, she only had four.
There was Pyrrha Nikos, one of her closer associates. Beautiful and strong, both physically and mentally. She had such vivid red hair, one could spot her even in this crowd. She was the kindest soul anyone could ever know, but despite her looks, she still had the time to be a straight A student.
Not only was she blessed with beauty, she was also a gifted fighter. The only one to ever beat Ruby at her own game, forcing the younger girl to strive for refinement.
Unfortunately, those combat skills didn’t translate to Genesis. She claimed she was terrible at the game, and Ruby has seen it. So many respawns with so little kills.
There was also Jaune Arc, the more platonic and mutual relationship. Jaune was a nice guy and all, and he didn’t look half-bad when it came to looks. He was just very awkward and anti-social, which Ruby could relate to very well.
He wasn’t necessarily smart either. Not to say he was stupid, he just keeps saying he doesn’t understand the material, which made Ruby his life-line.
Though to add onto the list of cons, he wasn’t very good at fighting. That guy went home with more bruises and black-eyes than anyone in the school, which didn’t help with his popularity. The poor guy was constantly bullied by this jock named Cardin Winchester and his lackeys.
Nonetheless, in a fight, a shield was a no-brainer for him.
And then there was Penny Polendina, whom Rose would consider the oddball. She was cute and all, especially with her tangerine curly hair and freckles. Her actions just seemed very animated most of the time, despite being the adopted daughter of the headmaster, Ozpin.
Not a lot of friends either, which gave Ruby a good rep with the headmaster. Despite her loneliness, with Rose, she was the friendliest person alive. She was always making sure that the headphone wearing girl how her day was and if she was okay.
However, her fighting skills were astounding. To everyone’s surprise, she had mastered multiple forms of martial arts and weapons, making her a dangerous girl to confront.
Last, but certainly not least, was Coco Adele.
She was the full-tilt diva of the group, except she was actually nice. Her stunning bob-cut chocolate brown hair and chestnut eyes hid very powerful martial arts experience and an abundantly clear marksmanship.
Truth be told, Ruby was actually surprised that her intelligence was as sharp as her sense of style.
But, she also had a mouth on her. In other words, she had a very opinionated way of viewing things and wasn't exactly afraid to say what was on her mind. In fact, it had almost gotten her kicked out of the Academy on more than one occasion.
Thankfully, the number of times that had happened hasn't gone past one hand...
...yet.
Ruby gradually brought herself back to reality, resuming her stroll towards her last class of the day, which led her outside into the indoor courtyard.
Wishing she hadn’t, Ruby spotted a couple making out in front of everyone.
The walking girl averted her gaze and shook her head, blinking her eyes several times in attempts to erase the image from her mind.
Ruby really didn’t have a problem with dating, it’s just that there were a few things that just kept her from dating.
One, she really wasn’t into men. She had found that out a couple years ago when she spotted a cute girl walk by, making her blush.
Two, no one actually knew that she was gay. Her father, sister and friends knew, but everyone else didn’t and just assumed she was straight, which she was okay with.
And three, she was never asked out. Yeah, being the anti-social emo-ish girl kind of had that effect on people.
Ruby shook her head again, reminding herself that she had somewhere to be.
After a few minutes of walking, she found her room and pushed open the door, revealing the enormous size of the lecture hall.
Row after row of seats were placed behind long slabs for counters, with various students speckled about the area.
Rose then spotted Penny, whom was waving to get her attention. The girl climbed up the steps and slid into the seat next to the redhead, taking off her headphones.
“I was transferred to this class,” Penny explained, “Can you remind me what it is again?”
“Mythology,” Ruby answered kindly, shrugging off her backpack.
“And who’s the professor?” the friend questioned.
Just then, the door violently swung open as a seasoned-looking man walked in.
He had a strong jaw-line and midnight black hair, with a few hints of greying strands in the back. He had a stubble of a chin-beard that traced over the angles of his jaw, making it look like he had mutton-chops.
He had a black waist-coat over a grey dress shirt, having the top couple of buttons undone and his blood red tie loose, which exposed his sideways facing cross necklace; and with that, the cuffs of his sleeves were rolled all the way up to his elbows, bearing his hairy arms.
The soles of his dress shoes clacked against the floor as his dark-grey slacks swished off each other with each step he took.
The man then carefully placed the palm of his hand over his forehead and ran it down his face, signifying his drowsiness.
“My uncle,” Ruby replied.
“Alright,” Qrow announced, his voice deep and gruff, “Class is in session.”
He then flopped into his chair behind his desk, leaning back as he hung his head over the frame as he lifted his legs onto his desk.
“Okay, kids,” the old man said, his speech slightly slurred, “I have a hangover, can you tell me what that means?”
“You’re drunk?” a student responded, sounding unsure of his answer.
“No, it means I was drunk yesterday,” Branwen refuted, “But good job for trying.”
And thus, we dive into the adventurous life of Ruby Rose….