Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was done. Years of her life spent on this goal. Now he lay on the floor, choking on his own blood, the life leaving his eyes just as he had done to her years ago. She had finally avenged her. She fell to her knees, holding the wound on her stomach. Of course, the cretin managed to land a last hit on her, and she could tell it was devastating. Her insides were leaking into the outside. Li-Ming could only close her eyes as she felt her body grow colder and colder. From somewhere, she heard a wolf’s howl. She opened her eyes again, and now three wolves had surrounded her. She let out a deep sigh. Would the afterlife be kind enough to the faunus, allow her to view her lover one last time before it threw her into her rightfully deserved damnation? She could only hope as she fell forward, closing her eyes forever.

“All passengers, please be advised, we are now landing at Vale Airport. Please, do not forget your belongings and thank you for choosing White Eagle.” , a voice woke the faunus up. She shook herself awake. Li-Ming had her hat held tight against her belly. Her long, red robe rested softly against her skin as she stretched herself. What a weird ass dream. Her panda ears flickered to her side as she heard movement. Right, she should probably head out now. She grabbed her kimono and put it on properly. She stood up, quickly putting her hat back onto her head as she grabbed her long black hair and pulled it into a tight ponytail. Vale, hum? Li-Ming wondered how similar it would be to Mistral. She grabbed her bag and stepped out.

Walking into the airport, she could see quite a few faunus walking around and enjoying their lives. That was a good sign, indeed. As she looked around, she found security relatively quickly. Good, she wanted to be done with this. She felt naked without her weapon.

“Name and reason for entering Vale?” A grumpy-looking man was sitting behind a glass cubicle. Reinforced, Li-Ming assumed.

“Li-Ming Sapphire, Student,” she answered, handing her passport and letter of Beacon. The Officer nodded, reading her passport and grumbling something to himself. She could not make out what he was saying despite her enhanced hearing, so she was not even sure he was speaking words.

“The Red Bear? That orphanage is still running?” the man spoke up, causing the faunus to open her eyes wide.

“Y-You know of that place?” The raven-haired woman inquired.

“Yeah. My wife comes from there. You know what, kid, well done. For an orphan to become a huntress is inspiring. And even get an invitation to Beacon? Well done, Miss Sapphire,” he said with a wide smile. Li-Ming couldn’t help but blush, looking away. She was not accustomed to being complimented, so she didn’t know how to respond.

“Well, Miss Sapphire, welcome to Vale. The next air-ship to Beacon Academy takes off tomorrow, and if you want to eat, downtown has many great places.” he handed her the papers back. She could tell that meeting her had made his day considerably better, and she could feel herself feel elated by it. This was a lovely welcome to Vale.

As she walked out to get her luggage, she could hear some commotion up ahead, with people shouting loudly. She looked outside the airport, and her mood quickly soured. The Human Alliance, a fascist, close to being a terrorist cell, group of human puritans, were doing a demonstration. No doubt they were doing this here and now because new faunus students were coming to attend class in Beacon. What a waste of time. If faunus were to run away because of a small and impotent demonstration, they would be unfit to become hunters in the first place. If anything, they were doing Beacon a service. Shaking her head, she continued walking, undeterred.

Heading to the baggage retrieval area, she had to wait. Grabbing her wallet, she inserted some Lien into a vending machine and grabbed herself a soda. She leaned against the wall and pulled out her old scroll. She really wished it would allow her to play any games, but that model was too outdated. For now, she decided to look through her photos. She knew she shouldn’t do this; one photo here would hurt her tremendously, but she had nothing else to do. As she scrolled through her photos, she eventually came upon the dreaded one. It was a picture from her youth. She couldn’t have been older than 8 at the time. She had such a big, innocent smile on her face. But the real heartache was the woman embracing her. She had clear, blue eyes, a beautiful smile and long, blue hair that she had bound into a ponytail. Li-Ming could feel her eyes fill with pure sorrow as she quickly looked down, wiping her eyes. Great job, idiot. Crying in the airport, that sends a good message about who will be the next few hunters, she mentally chastised herself, as she heard the belt finally rotate.

It didn’t take long for her sword to arrive, but as she expected, it was quickly taken away by customs. She grabbed her other baggage, a small, blue thing, and headed inside the customs office. She spotted four guards around her, all wearing military gear, as well as a woman with a sword and a gun attached to each other. She could tell this was a huntress, but considering how old the woman looked, she might be a retired one. She could still kick ass; her confidence alone told Li-Ming everything she needed to know. It was a confidence that one cannot fake, a confidence built upon years of facing death and surviving it.

“Li-Ming Sapphire. Huntress-in-training. That Katana belongs to me” , she pointed at her weapon that was wrapped in a lot of Styrofoam. She handed the agent on the desk more documents she had made in Mistral. The faunus sighed. Hopefully, her preparations had been adequate. She did not want to be stuck here for longer than necessary.

“It says here that you registered this weapon 7 years ago. That would make you 10 years old, is that correct?” the agent asked. Oh, she would be here a while. And why did that woman have to have such a shrill voice? Her ears pressed against her head hard.

“That is correct, Miss.” , the raven-haired woman asked, her green eyes scanning the room for any way out of this situation. Not without giving up on her weapon, and she would rather lose an eye than that.

“How is that possible?” the agent questioned.

“It’s a family heirloom.” Li-Ming flatly stated. She had a feeling where this line of questioning was heading.

“But it says here you are an orphan.” Li-Ming’s eyes caught the huntress in the corner, slapping her face hard.

“Yes, that is normally what happens when one’s parents die.” The Faunus replied calmly, trying her hardest to not show any emotions. She succeeded, mostly. Her eyes did narrow a bit.

“Oh yeah, I agree. Just that your documents state that you became an orphan at 3 months old. So why did you hide your blade for so long? Is it even your blade?” The agent was interrogating her, trying to prod a reaction, and it was working.

“If you actually bothered reading my documents, it would state that I was adopted after that. That is where the blade comes from. ” Li-Ming couldn’t help but growl. This woman was pushing all her buttons, but the most annoying part was that she had to listen to this woman’s obnoxious, loud voice. The woman’s eyes narrowed as she shook her head.

“I am sorry, Miss Sapphire, but that is not what is stated here. We will have to confiscate your weapon. Please stay here, the police will-” the woman couldn’t continue further, as an equally shrill voice interrupted.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? This is my job, Sophia! ” The same woman appeared from the employee-only area. Li-Ming’s eyes darted from the redhead in front of her to the redhead coming closer. They looked identical. As she was not paying attention, the woman in front of her, now named Sophia, grabbed all of Li-Ming’s documents and started to shred them. She was quickly stopped by the police, who tackled her to the ground. Li-ming’s gaze snapped to the papers that flew around in pieces. It would take forever to bind them back together.

“SISTER! How dare you? You can stop these filthy animals from coming in here, and you let most of them through?” , Sophia screeched, causing Li-Ming to grab her ears and force them down. After a bit, the woman was being dragged away.

“I apologise so much, Miss Sapphire. You really shouldn’t have to deal with this mess,” the actual agent sat down at her desk, grumbling to herself as she looked through the shredded documents.

“Was she from the human alliance?” Li-Ming asked softly. The redhead nodded. That was enough for the Faunus; everything made sense now.

“Well, everything seems to be in order. Again, apologies for this.” , the woman said, grabbing the weapon and handing it over to the faunus. Li-Ming could probably sue the airport for this mess, but really, she had bigger fish to fry. A lunatic was not worth the headache.

“I have a question about huntress-in-training carrying weapons...” , Li-Ming queried, as the redhead looked up.

“Can I walk around with it unbound, or should I keep it wrapped up? ” The panda faunus waited patiently as the agent reviewed the documents and attempted to connect the pieces.

“Right, you were in a school before. So while you are technically allowed to run around with your blade unbound, I would recommend keeping it wrapped up. It is a legal grey area for students who have not yet started their curriculum. Considering that you were selected to enter Beacon, I doubt anything in the city would cause you any problems anyway. When you are a student, and you have your proper scroll, you can carry your blade around without any worries. ” The tone of the agent was much kinder, and she seemed to purposefully not scream at her. The faunus nodded. Not what she wanted to hear, but she can survive one day without having her blade out. She let out a breath she didn’t even realise she was holding in before she headed out.

Vale was nothing like she had imagined. She was so accustomed to Mistral architecture that nothing here looked remotely similar to it. In fact, she had never imagined houses could be built this way. So many bricks instead of wood. And the houses that didn’t get smaller as they went up, but continued all the way? She could feel her lips flick upwards. Such a difference. She had so much to see still. Maybe her time in Beacon would allow her to see even more sights, but then again, Li-Ming knew that this was but a stepping stone in her path. She had to become the best swords-woman there was. The Sapphire name depended on it. She had to rip the title away from him. But that did not mean that she couldn’t enjoy her journey until then.

It was late afternoon as she was walking around Vale. She had eaten a Vale speciality, some sort of sausage in a sauce she had never heard of before. She would give that six out of ten at best. She would eat it again if she had to, but it had nothing on some good old fried noodles. As she was cleaning her teeth with her tongue, she heard something again. It was coming from the docks. From what was told her, she should avoid the docks if she could. A lot of questionable people congregated there; even for a huntress, it could be dicey. Not because they would be in danger, but because most people did not realise how strong a huntress actually was before they got sent through a wall. And when it came to Hunters versus civilians in court cases, the civilians almost always won. Shrugging, she continued walking before someone grabbed her wrist.

“Sister, wait! ” A goat faunus had held her wrist. Sister? Oh, she knew exactly what he was. She did her best to hide her anger in a confused mask.

“Come, come! ” He started dragging her by the hand, smiling happily. Li-Ming waited calmly, looking around. When they got close to an alley, she grabbed the goat faunus by the head and threw him into the alley. He had no aura, so she had to be very, very careful. The man looked confused, but he quickly found her foot smashing against his belly. She looked down at him, growling as she stomped on his stomach again.

“Listen here, little terrorist and listen well. I have and never will have any interest in joining a band of murderers like you. So you better tell them that this panda will kick their asses to hell and back if they try to recruit me again!” , another kick on his stomach.

“M-Mercy! I-I-I have kids! ” he begged, and her foot came down. He closed his eyes, but as nothing happened, he opened them again. She had purposefully missed his head by mere centimetres.

“She begged just as you did, but you fucks did not miss her head!” , she snarled, grabbing her sword again and walking away. Disgusting band of cowards and murderers. Shaking her head free from her anger, she walked up to some police officers.

“There is a White Fang meeting happening at the docks. I was approached by one of their recruiters.” , Li-Ming stated, and the officers just nodded. It was up to them if they did anything to stop them or not; the faunus had done her job. She sighed and started heading out. She needed to find a place to sleep before night fell over the city.

Eventually, Li-Ming just headed back to the airport. She found a public shower and had cleaned herself, but all the hotel options were too expensive for her. She didn’t mind sleeping here, and at least she wouldn’t miss her flight. So, after she ate a rather unfilling and honestly dreadful, but very cheap burger, she brushed her teeth in the airport bathroom and lay down on multiple chairs. Soon, the exhaustion of the day caught up to her, and she felt herself close her eyes.

For once, her mind was merciful to her, and she could sleep normally. She wasn’t rested, gods no, sleep never really rested her, but at least she hadn’t woken up screaming. She stretched herself softly, letting out a disgruntled sigh as she stood up. Looking at her scroll, she could see that it was almost time for her to head to the gate. Her ship would leave in two hours, so she should probably eat breakfast before she headed to Beacon. She grunted and stood up. The same restaurant that had given her the awful burger also seemed to have a breakfast menu. And equally as cheap.

Well, the breakfast stuff was much better than the burger she ate yesterday. For once, she got her Lien’s worth. Cleaning her mouth and ignoring her still hungry belly, she looked around for the people who would soon join her in Beacon. At least the ones that arrived early. Some were alone, while others were accompanied by their families and friends. One particular one caught her eye. A lady in snow white clothing. She could tell who she was immediately. Weiss Schnee. Heiress of the biggest dust company in all of Remnant. And also one of the more infamous ones. Though she did not remember that scar in the posters the star had all over the place. She wondered if that was a new addition or if she had always used makeup on the shows to conceal it. In any case, it didn’t matter; she wasn’t going to ask her. Although the SDC had not taken any action against her personally, they had rightfully earned their reputation. If she didn’t have to associate with someone like that, great.

She continued to look around until her eyes landed on someone she wished she hadn’t seen. Cardin Winchester. The Winchester name was infamous within the faunus circles and for good reason. One of the oldest families in Vale, they are unwilling to change and have hindered the progress for faunus equality around Vale and Remnant. They are known to support the Human Alliance, although no one can actually prove it. He was chatting with some other people, laughing. She quickly moved her eyes away from him. She had sworn to not draw her blade until she entered the Beacon, and the longer she stared at him, the more she struggled with the urge. Maybe she would beat him in combat. After all, someone like Cardin probably used his family influence to get to Beacon. His armour was shiny and new, after all. His weapon looked somewhat used, but she could see he didn’t care for it. No aftercare, no counterbalance. The mace was a tool for him, nothing more, and that pissed her off to no end.

Dragging her eyes away from the boy, they fell on a girl. She was wearing glasses and had her blonde hair in two pigtails. She had cat-ear headsets on and a light, purple-dyed jean jacket on top. Li-Ming had to assume that something was written on her black t-shirt, because her other option was that it was just random scribbles. Further down, she saw that the girl was wearing purple yoga pants and excellent boots. She was going for a mix of urban and battle-ready, and she had to admit, the girl rocked the look. Her eyes wandered to the side and saw a blonde man and woman standing close to her. The resemblance was uncanny; they had to be her parents. What surprised her was that one of them was a faunus. Interspecies relationships were not outlawed, but they drew the ire of both the White Fang and the Human Alliance, at least from the more fanatical splinter-groups. Despite that, they looked happy. There was a small boy who was hugging the girl tightly, and he also had some lion ears. Li-Ming couldn’t help but smile. The raven-haired faunus had a feeling she would get along flawlessly with this girl.

Her eyes fell on the girl’s weapon, and that took her by surprise. It was an axe, a two-handed one by the looks of it. Tall and painted black, it looked like it would hurt being hit by them. But the bizarre thing about them was the guitar strings that were attached from the head of the axe all the way to the shaft. There were things written on the axe-head with white Sharpies, but she couldn’t read them from a distance.

Li-Ming let her eyes wander again before stopping on two other girls. One had a red cape, black hair with red tips, and something she couldn’t see on her back, while the other girl had massive blonde hair. That girl would have had to have been growing her hair for years. Such dedication made the panda nod in appreciation. And not only that, she could tell the girl worked out. Her muscles were in top shape, and her abs were a testament to it. Her eyes shot back to the girl in red. She looked... young. Very young. Perhaps a prodigy who moved forward a few years. That got the fighter’s spirit pumping. That meant she is an exceptional fighter. Even if she could not see the weapon the girl carried, she knew this girl was strong. Shaking her head again, she kept looking around. She had promised herself to not draw her sword until she was on the air-ship.

No one else really caught her eye as she felt someone approach her. Quickly turning her head, she realised it was the blonde rocker girl from before. She seemed to be grinning ear to ear, and her purple eyes followed suit. Up close, she could see that the girl had a small gap between her two front teeth.

“Hello, there! I haven’t seen you around, and considering the clothes you are wearing, I can tell you are not from Vale. Figured you could use a local to help you find yourself around here. Amely Lupine” , the girl spoke in a thick Valesian accent. Li-Ming couldn’t help but let her lips form a small smile.

“Well, been here since yesterday, but yeah, I have barely seen anything. I could use a local to help me out. Maybe I can stop eating at the McOzz if you can tell me a better place to eat. Li-Ming Sapphire, at your disposal.” , she put her right fist into her other hand and then bent down slightly. The rocker looks at her, confused for a bit, before she smiles.

“Oh, I’ve seen that before! That’s from Mistral, right? Oh man, that is so cool! How do you do that? Do you have to spread your legs or?” , the girl enthusiastically repeated the motion. Too fast and hectic to do it properly, but the faunus couldn’t help but blush softly.

“W-Well, a bit slower than this, but yes, that is correct. How do you greet each other in Vale? I never imagined people having different ways of greeting each other.” , the panda clicked her mouth. At least she did this faux pas with someone who didn’t seem to mind. Amely just extended her arm and held it in front of Li-Ming.

“With a simple handshake.” , she was still grinning. Amely was a fountain of happiness that never seemed to run out. Li-Ming simply nodded and shook her head. The girl had calluses all over her fingers, no doubt from playing her instrument all the time. After a bit, they let go, and they heard something from the speakers above.

“All students, the air-ship to Beacon is about to board. Please, stay in line. Boarding will commence soon. ” With that announcement, everyone jumped to their feet. Finally, it was here. Amely quickly nodded and headed back to her family, saying her final good-bye for now as she headed back into line. Everyone waited patiently as their passports and their letters were examined. Quickly enough, though, everyone entered the ship. Li-Ming let out a deep sigh as she grabbed her sword and started to unwrap it. Amely had sat down next to her, and on her other side was the girl in red from before, with her blonde sister beside her. Slowly, almost ritualistically, Li-Ming unravelled her sword from her styroform prison. Oh, by the gods, she missed it so much. Her blue blade. The hilt was wrapped in beautiful black leather. The oval shape of the handle was to help with edge alignment, though Li-Ming didn’t really need to worry about that. The guard was a delight, silver-coated and purposefully broken apart, like the moon. Further down was the sheath, her personal addition to the blade. It had a red flower stem curving over and over again all around the cover, ending in a Red Spider Lily at the very end. She had made extra precautions that nothing would impede the true oddity of the sheath. An opening, with the sharp blue blade sticking out. The opening was exactly where she would put her index finger while the blade was sheathed.

“Oh my god, this is the most beautiful sword I have ever seen! ” the red girl squealed, causing Li-Ming to chuckle. That was not the first time she had heard that. She looked at the small girl and her grey eyes. She was vibrating, and flower petals were flying from her body.

“Do you want to examine it?” Li-Ming simply asked, and the girl’s eyes went wide. Slowly, the faunus pulled the sword from the sheath. Blue steel reflected every light that hit it, showering it in the same colour. She carefully handed it over to the girl in red. She took a moment to look at it, her eyes going from pure giddiness to wonder and awe.

“It’s ancient. I can tell. And it’s... not normal steel.” , she said, running her fingertips against the flat of the blade.

“Correct. It is said to be a piece of the moon that they reforged into a weapon centuries ago. It has been in the Sapphire family ever since. I am the latest owner of the blade.” , the raven-haired girl answered softly, looking at her own blade before she looked at the blonde girl in the back. She could tell she was less into weapons than her sister, but even she was somewhat impressed.

“A Moon-blade, hum? Man, that is so cool! ” she said, her grin similar to Amely’s. The blonde brawler let her eyes wander to the blonde rocker, and it went wild.

“DUDE! I LOVE THAT BAND! They are the best!” , she grinned wildly as the rocker nodded to her as well. Seems like Li-Ming’s worries for Beacon were unfounded. She would fit in here much better than in her old school.

“How rude of me! You probably want your sword back, right? I can understand. I can barely imagine being separated from Crescent Rose! ” She smiled softly as she handed the sword back to the panda. “Oh, what is your weapon called?”

“Crescent Moon” , Li-Ming answered politely. She had quite a few things in common with this girl, huh? “But speaking of Crescent, may I see your... ” she stopped herself real quick. She was about to say ‘rose, ’ but that sounded really wrong in her head.

“I mean, may I see your weapon? I am Li-Ming, by the way. Li-Ming Sapphire.” , she course corrected, though a raised eyebrow from the blonde sister signalled she recognised something.

“Oh, I am Ruby Rose! And this is Yang, my sister! She is the best, and also the worst.” , Ruby laughed as her sister stuck her tongue out to her. Siblings. She had wondered if she would have had them if her parents had lived. But that was a moot point now.

“Hello there! I am Amely Lupine!” the blonde rocker threw herself into the conversation. Yang and Amely seemed to have hit it off perfectly, both joking around and having a great time. Li-Ming, on the other hand, was busy looking at the scythe the girl was showing her. The girl had to build it herself? What a work of art. There is no other way to describe it, really. She could tell this girl loved her weapon, probably even more than she loved her own blade, though Li-Ming would rather be caught dead than admit that. As they chatted amongst themselves, Li-Ming’s eyes spotted something to the side, and they all stopped.

They had arrived.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

Li-Ming had some ideas about how Beacon would look, and in some ways, she was right. Beacon was tall, massive and in some way slightly terrifying. But all her ideas bore fruit from where she came from, in Higanbana. So she imagined tall, but relatively flat buildings. Beacon was anything but flat. Everywhere she looked, she saw towers that seemed to poke the heavens. The grey colour scheme, mixed with the bright and multicoloured flags, was a nice touch. But, looking at she might, she could not see the flag of Vale anywhere. She had looked into it, and she did recognise the flag in Vale, but there seemed to be none in Beacon. A peculiar choice, for she could swear Haven had Mistral flags all over them. At least it did in the pictures she had seen.

Stepping out of the airship, the first thing she noticed was a boy looking for a place to clean up what she assumed was vomit on his shirt. Well, she doubted most people here would let this incident die quietly, so she somewhat felt for the blonde, just a little. The sisters decided to split up from them. Yang had said something about ‘having Ruby go out and socialise’, which the red girl clearly did not like, but Amely seemed to nod with sympathy to Yang. Perhaps they understood each other on a deeper level, as both were big sisters.

“I should probably do the same. Go out there and meet some people.” , the blonde rocker pointed at the crowd with her thumb before she lifted her closed fist to Li-Ming.

“It’s a fist-bump. Just do the same thing back.” , Amely explained before Li-Ming could even ask. The panda blushed a bit before she did just that.

“Is this how they say good-bye here in vale?” the Faunus asked, and the rocker just shrugged.

“It is in my circles! That you are now a part of, cutie! See ya later, alligator!” The blonde smiled and dashed into the crowd, ready to start her new life in the academy. The Faunus let out a sigh and followed suit, purposefully going in a slightly different direction and trying really hard to get rid of the blush on her face.

There were so many people here. Much more than she expected, really. However, at the same time, she was certain the classes could not accommodate that many. Li-Ming had heard about the initiation process in Beacon. Not everyone made it. Some in a more literal way than others. But if that were ever going to stop here, she would have never actually landed in Beacon. Walking through the crowd, she heard a commotion again. Snapping her head over, she saw a familiar red reaper on the ground, with a pale girl shouting at her. Tsking, the Panda makes her way over to both of them.

“What seems to be the problem?” Li-Ming walked up to Ruby, standing right next to the girl. Weiss looked up at the faunus, and the panda saw it. That small reaction. Eyes slightly wider, body moving back. The reaction many people had to a faunus. The swords-woman narrowed her eyes as well. She shouldn’t have expected anything else from Weiss Schnee.

“This dolt ran into all the luggage, which is packed full with the most pristine Dust in all of Remnant! She could have caused a massive explosion!” the heiress shouted, but Li-Ming was disinterested. Dust never really interested her, since she was so poor she could barely afford any. Shaking her head, the panda rested her fist against her face.

“If your dust could really cause that, Princess, it would have exploded on the transport. One would think that the heiress of the SDC would have a little more trust in her own packaging, no?” , the faunus countered, clearly pushing some buttons in Weiss’s head. The girl opened a luggage and shook a fire dust vial in front of their faces.

“Am I talking to two barbarians? It doesn’t matter how good the packaging is, if enough force is applied, the Dust will activate!” Weiss continued to shake the vial in their faces, and the inevitable happened. Ruby sneezed, causing Weiss to explode. Li-Ming shielded her face. As she watched the heiress be covered in soot, she had to try really, really hard to not laugh. Her eyes had to wander away, and they found something. A small patch of the grass was burning. The Dust vial shattered on impact, sparking a small fire. The panda left the heiress and the reaper behind for a bit, both of them looking at her. She pulled her sword out and quickly swiped it at the dust. The fire died down immediately.

“Wait, what did you do?” Weiss moved over, bending down and examining the dust. It had lost its red pigmentation completely.

“Neutralised it. You can send me the bill if you want. It was your dust, after all.” Li-Ming sheathed her sword again; years of experience with her blade and sheath made her avoid cutting herself on the exposed blade.

“No, that won’t be needed. I have never seen dust behave like that...” The heiress was scratching her chin as she walked away, deep in thought. Well, at least she wasn’t in debt with Weiss Schnee. Shaking her head, the panda looked at the small reaper.

“I’ll make it up to you!” , Ruby screamed after the pale girl as she looked up at Li-Ming.

“Well, I couldn’t have made it much worse if I tried, hum?” Ruby said quietly, but the panda just shrugged.

“Eh, not a person you really want to mess with, but also not one you want to be friends with.” Li-Ming shrugged, looking around as she spied a girl. Raven hair with a bow on top... wait, why did she look familiar? As she took a step towards the girl, she turned around and vanished. If she was who Li-Ming thought she was, the faunus needed to follow her.

“See you around, Ruby” , the swords-woman said and rushed after the girl, leaving the reaper alone in the middle of the plaza.

Getting to the girl was tricky. She was excellent at evading people. After a few minutes, the panda had lost the girl. Grunting to herself, she looked around, but maybe she should have been looking down as she felt her foot hit something hard and the earth approached her rapidly. She let out a moan of pain as the earth and her collided, shaking her head a bit before she looked back. A girl was sitting on the floor. She had huge bags under her eyes, massive, round glasses that covered most of her face. Her brown eyes looked at the faunus on the floor, her pierced lips raising into a smirk.

“First day of school, and I already have girls falling all over me. I told Justus I had it in me.” The girl shrugged softly before turning back and looking at her scroll. Shaking her head, Li-Ming slowly stood up, looking at the student again. She had cut her hair similar to Ruby’s, but slightly longer. One eye was entirely covered by her brown hair, which she for some reason tucked right behind her glasses. She was wearing what looked like a yellow raincoat with a turquoise T-shirt under it. Both these colours were so bright that they actually hurt Li-Ming’s eyes a bit.

“How did I even manage to not see you?” the faunus sighed as the girl just shrugged.

“I dunno, but you did kick me really hard. In any case, I have to get back to this...” , she continued fiddling with the scroll before she jumped up, smiling.

“PERFECT! I knew it would work! Now, let’s see who we have here...” , the girl cackled to herself and dove her nose into her scroll.

“What are you doing?” Usually, Li-Ming would just be on her way, but that laughter did catch her attention.

“Oh, I hacked into the central servers of Beacon Academy. I am finding out who is joining us in the Initiation...” She quickly scrolled through the list, smiling. The Faunus had to stop for a second and think. Would she get any benefit from knowing who she’d be up against? Probably not.

“Well, I will let you have your fun. See you around?” , her voice went up as the panda tried to find out just who she was talking to.

“Nice try, buddy. If I tell you my name, you can tell the teachers, and I will get into trouble.” The raven-haired girl nodded to herself as if she were brilliant.

“Or I could tell the teachers to look for an obnoxiously dressed girl in shrill yellow and turquoise...” Li-Ming simply stated back, crossing her arms. She could see the wheels turning in the other girl’s head.

“I really should keep my mouth shut more often, shouldn’t I?”

“Yeah, you should.”

“You won’t tell anyone what I did if I tell you my name?”

“Correct”

“Olivia Sagebrush”

“Li-Ming Sapphire.” The panda decided to leave the girl to her own devices; she didn’t want to know what Olivia had found out anyway. She decided to head into the main building.

This was something Li-Ming was expecting from Beacon, but at the same time, the execution was significantly different. She expected a large hall, but the design was something she had never seen before. If she were to call it, she would call it... Vale-like. As she walked into the big room, she felt a new, foreign feeling she had never experienced before: Homesickness. She really ached for the familiar architecture and design Mistral had given her. With a sigh, she continued walking before she heard something.

“Wait, is that the Blue Spider Lily?” a female voice shouted loudly through the entire room. Blue Spider Lily? That is a title she hadn’t heard since she left Mistral. Turning around, she saw a redhead with green eyes storming at her, while a black-haired boy with a magenta streak in his hair was slowly walking behind her.

“OH MY GOD, REN! IT TOTALLY IS!” The girl was just as loud as before, but for some reason, the swords-woman didn’t mind the noise as much as she did with the Human Alliance woman. Probably had to do with how shrill that woman’s voice was.

“Haven’t heard that name in a while. I assume you are from Mistral, then?” Li-Ming took a second to look at both of them. The girl was wearing a black vest with a white sleeveless shirt underneath. A heart was cut out in the front, hinting at the barest bit of cleavage, but still very tasteful. Her hands were adorned with pink fingerless gloves. There was an unusual amount of metal on her body, perhaps related to her semblance. She had a cute pink skirt as well, showing off her long legs, something Li-Ming had to quickly avert her eyes from, ere she started blushing.

Her eyes fall on the boy next to her. If the girl hadn’t screamed her Mistral title out loud, she would have guessed that he was from Mistral in a heartbeat. His green outfit made her smile. She felt like she was back at home. It did soothe her aching heart somewhat.

“You were a great inspiration for us, you know? Having another orphan like you being out there and kicking names at these wannabe rich people!” Nora was still shouting, waving her arms in the air as if the attention she was gathering was but hot air. Might as well be for the girl. The Faunus laughed softly, shaking her head. She couldn’t help but blush, looking away at the girl who complimented her.

“T-That’s great to hear. Normally, all I heard were those same people trying to figure out what my semblance is, since they were convinced I was cheating somehow. But please, just call me Li-Ming Sapphire,” the swords-woman declared after cleaning her throat. Before Nora could continue, a voice interjected.

“Sapphire? Is the Sapphire family still intact? What wondrous news! The Chrome can actually take their revenge on them!” the boisterous screamed throughout the halls. Turning around, Li-Ming saw her. A girl dressed in green is standing on top of a table. She had long brown hair, which she had tied up in a ponytail that reached to her hips. Her red eyes stared at the panda with apparent delight and open hunger for combat. The brunette had a spear on her side, bigger than herself. The head was triangular in shape, but Li-Ming could see that it probably had a more rounded opening. If the reason was to cause even more damage when it penetrated or if something was hidden inside the spear, she could only guess. She took a closer look at her dress. It looked regal and militarily aligned. It covered her entire arm, with the trim and stitching decorated in gold. She was wearing gloves that entirely covered her hands, the same colour as her hair. The centre of the dress opened up, but the girl had decided to wear a frilly shirt under it that puffed her chest a bit. Her trousers were very similar to her top, so Li-Ming’s eyes wandered to her dress again, where she noticed a pin.

An orchid with multicoloured petals. Red, Green, Yellow, White and -one that must have stung her pride the most- Silver. She knew the legends of the Chromes. They had defeated every great family in Vale in honourable combat, earning their petal one by one. But one family had always defeated them. The Sapphire were always victorious. And for the longest time, the silver petal stayed on their insignia and pins. A reminder that they were not yet the strongest family of hunters in Vale. The girl looked the panda up and down before her eyes stopped at her ears. She tilted her head in confusion.

“Forgive me this blunt question, but were the Sapphires not human?” the chrome girl asked, and Li-Ming was taken aback. Not for what the girl was asking, but her tone. The Chromes were not known to be kind to Faunus, but this girl had no vitriol in her voice and demeanour. She was genuinely curious.

“I was adopted,” the swords-woman answered, and the girl just nodded.

“Well, no matter, Li-Ming Sapphire! Remember the name that will defeat you and finally grant the blue petal to our family. My name is” the brunette wanted to continue speaking, but someone had other ideas.

“EMMA CHROME! Get off the table this instant!” The stern voice of an older adult echoed through the loudspeakers as the girl jumped off the table and looked towards the podium

“We... We talk later.” , the now named Emma was blushing slightly.

The speech from the headmaster was... something. Not exactly what she expected, but that could be the catch-phrase of all her experience in Beacon. After the speech was over and everyone was looking for a place to sleep, Emma approached the panda.

“I... have one question. It is a bit of a personal question, so if it is too much, please tell me, and I will back off.” The girl spoke softly, as if she was aware she would cause pain to Li-Ming, but had to ask anyway. She cleared her throat and looked at the black eyes of the faunus.

“Isabella... is it true she died a hero? She died defending people?” , Oh, this was a very personal question. Li-Ming’s eyes shot wide open, the panda hugging herself to try and gather any type of warmth to her body. She could still see. Her mother was on the ground, defending herself as the people stomped on her body. Her people. She was holding two human children in her arms, protecting them. Li-Ming felt a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry I asked. Please, forgive me.” Emma was gulping hard, looking away, ashamed of herself for asking such a personal and raw question. Li-Ming just shook her head.

“I-It’s fine. You... you are correct. She laid down her life protecting two children...” Li-Ming gulped down the hard knot in her throat, trying to not cry in the middle of the hall. Emma raised a soft smile and nodded.

“Thank you for telling me this. Eventually, would you mind telling me where she is resting? The Chromes would love to honour such a valiant woman, even if she was our rival.” Emma’s hand moved to her chest, smashing against it softly a few times. After so long, her mother has always just been one more casualty of that day. At least now, maybe she will get more visitors. She might get lonely now that Li-Ming is in Beacon, after all.

“I-I will. But not today, if you don’t mind.” Soft tears were barely held back by the Faunus as she was saluted by Emma and then left alone. Gods, what a day. Feeling emotionally and physically drained, she headed outside, realising that night had fallen. The shattered moon graced the sky, illuminating the school for all its glory. But today, Li-Ming couldn’t look up. Her eyes stayed fixated on the ground, strolling to the garden of this academy... or so she assumed. Sitting down on the grass, she looked up at the flowers. So many different ones. Some bloomed proudly, while others were already declining. She stopped for a moment to smell them, her enhanced sense of smell making them feel exceptional. She could feel a small smile rush onto her lips as she sat down, looking at them. The Orchids smelled the best. The roses were a close second, but that is where her knowledge of flowers ended. These flowers must be regional to Vale! They had such a unique smell. Oh, she could tell, this would be her favourite spot.

The next day came quickly. Much, much quicker than she expected. Grunting softly, the panda scratched her back. She would go and take a shower, but she really didn’t want to take two showers today. She would smell a bit, but then again, she is here to become a huntress and being a huntress is not exactly a clean job. Putting on some basic deodorant, she headed out onto the cliff where the Initiation would begin, with a sandwich in her hand. Something called PB&J, whatever that was.

Although she missed her rice, this sandwich was an excellent substitute. Quickly cleaning her face with a napkin, she walked up and stood next to Amely, who was speaking to Yang. The two seemed to have hit it off. As the panda moved closer, Amely had a massive smile on her face and extended her first. Remembering what she taught her yesterday, she gently smacked her fist against the rockers.

“Good to see ya finally awake! Ol Ozpin is about to explain how this all will work...” Amely smiled, and as if on cue, Ozpin cleared his throat

“ Greetings, everyone. As you are aware, we are about to begin the Initiation. I will remind you all again that this is a test of your skills. We will not intertwine. There are Grimm in the forest. We have seen students die in this exam. This is your last chance to back down.” Ozpin stared at each and every one. He was trying to see if their resolve would break. But no one who was here wouldn’t be ready to look death in the face. So everyone stood their ground. With a slight smile, he took a sip of his mug and pointed at the launching pads at their feet.

“You will be all shot from where you stand. Once you land in the forest, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years.” , he casually explained. Li-Ming almost took a step back. E-Eye-contact? Eye-contact? This is how your partner was determined? That seemed... ludicrous! But then again, Headmaster Ozpin had been at this for a while. Maybe he knew something she did not. She desperately hoped so.

“Your goal is then to find relics at the very north of the forest. Each pair is to grab a relic and deliver it back to the air-ship at the end of the forest. Are there any questions?”

“Ahm, Professor. A question! How will we... land?” , the vomit boy spoke up. Li-Ming had a feeling what the answer would be as she fiddled with her side pouch.

“That is up to your capability and discretion.” The headmaster confirmed the panda’s intuition. Grabbing a small, white crystal, she held it in her hand and waited.

“Alright, the initiation starts now!” And the first few students began to fly through the air. Vomit boy was trying to say something, but he was shot far up into the air, much higher than any of the other ones. She heard a mechanism click and readied herself. Soon after, she felt the floor push her upwards and send her flying. She wondered if she would have enjoyed this feeling if she were a bird faunus, but right now, she just desperately wanted to have firm earth under her feet. She pulled her sword out and waited patiently. She needed to wait for the perfect moment... She saw the ground come to her faster and faster until...

She threw the crystal and immediately slashed after it. As soon as the two collided, the crystal exploded outward, causing Li-Ming to slow her descent considerably. The air Dust had slowed her down significantly. She landed harshly on the ground still, but hey, her Aura was fine. That was all that mattered. Letting a deep, long sigh, she closed her eyes and listened to the forest around her. Was she hearing... music? With a smile, she started running towards it.

She was correct in her assumption. The rocker girl was playing her guitar; blue shock waves exploded from her, hitting multiple Beowolfs and forcing them to back off. As one jumped at her, she quickly twisted her axe and slammed it against his head, the beast evaporating into black smoke. Without hesitation, another one attacked her. Using the momentum of her swing, she continued rotating and slammed the next one. What she couldn’t see was that one of them was sneaking up behind her. Though before he could even jump on her, he found his neck ruptured by Crescent Moon. Amely turned around and her lips were filled with a wide smile.

“I knew I was right! You were the only faunus in our year, so if I made a lot of noise, you would hear me.” , she laughed, and Li-Ming couldn’t help but join her. So, she would be her partner for the next four years? Li-Ming could absolutely live with that. As they laughed, Li-Ming’s ear perked up, and she shoved Amely out of the way, landing right on top of the rocker. A massive Boarbatusk had dashed through the exact spot where Amely was standing. Li-Ming quickly jumped up and readied her weapon. He looked tough. He had armour all over his body.

“Fuck, okay. We have to get to his belly. It should be soft there...” , the rocker said softly to Li-Ming, as if the Grim would understand them, but the panda just shook her head.

“No worries. I got this.” , the faunus smirked as she sheathed her sword again, changing her grip as she put her index finger right over the exposed blade. She calmed her heartbeat, breathing deeply as she dropped her Aura completely. The boarbatusk growled and readied himself to charge at her again. Time seemed to stop when the beast charged. Waiting for the very last possible moment, Li-Ming pulled her sword, cutting into her own finger as her blade got covered in scarlet. Dashing to the side, she could feel it. Or rather, she could not feel it. The resistance against the hard armour of the beast was non-existent. Her blade just slid across his armour as if it were warm butter. The beast crashed onto the ground and slowly faded into nothing. The panda smirked and sheathed her sword again.

“Okay, first off, you just have a semblance that allows you to ignore armour? Yeah, no, absolutely not bullshit at all!” the blonde growled, shaking off any dust and dirt that might have landed on her.

“It has a nasty drawback. Well, ignoring the fact that I have to bleed for it...” , the faunus answered, getting her Aura back up so she could fix the wound on her finger.

“I have to drop my Aura to cut myself. So I have to be careful.” Li-Ming explained softly.

“Alright, fine, that is a pretty bad drawback. Second off, are we just going to ignore the fact that you got to second base with me without ever getting first base?” Amely smiled softly, a teasing grin on her face.

“W-What does second base mean?” The panda tilted her head softly, scratching her chin. Was this a sports thing? Vale did have some sports that were not exactly popular. Might have something to do with that. The blonde just shook her head and put her arm around Li-Ming.

“Oh my dear summer child, let me explain bases to you. First base is kissing and making out. Second base is touching above the waist. The third is under the waist, and the fourth is all the way. And you, you little rascal, just decided to skip first base!” Amely growled, gently poking at Li-Ming’s cheeks.

“I-I-I would have never... done anything so disrespectful to you, Amely!” Li-Ming’s eyes went wide. When did she do that? Oh no.

“Yes, you did, you! When you pinned me down! Hands first on my breasts!” Amely teased again, and the panda had had too much. She squatted down, covering her face with her hat. No way! No way she did that! A small part of her was anoyed she didn’t remember the feeling, but she shut that part of her down quickly. She stood up, grabbed her hat and bowed deeply to Amely.

“I am... so sorry! Please, forgive me!” She stayed there, bowed, as she felt a hand on her head.

“I’d forgiven you the moment you did it. Now, come on, we have to find a relic.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Li-Ming and Amely walked through the forest calmly. They could hear fights nearby, but none of them sounded like the students were losing. The panda took her time to look at the Rocker’s weapon. She had seen her use music to hurt the Grimm before.

“What do you call your semblance? Blood sharpener?” Amely had ripped her focus away. Oh, right, her semblance. It had taken her a while to find a fitting name.

“Yield my Blood. Sharpens any blade to an insane degree, as you have seen before.” Li-Ming explained as she looked at her head. Round winding roads beaten either by students or teachers extended in front of her, guiding her to the tower. As the sound of battle continued to go on in the background, the swordswoman couldn’t help but wonder if Beacon would really allow their students to die. She felt that could be a lawsuit waiting to happen, but maybe there was a clause in the contract she had signed that made any deaths legitimate; she wouldn’t know, as she hadn’t read the thing.

“Oh, so your moon blade is something different? Little Red said that the blade was special.” The Rocker continued, putting her hands behind her head. The soft leaves crunched under their steps.

“Yes, I inherited it. I don’t know everything about it, but I do know that it nullifies Dust when it slashes it. It’s the main reason I don’t use that much of the stuff. Not to mention it’s expensive as hell,” The panda sighs. An orphaned Faunus didn’t have many job opportunities, and considering she had the audacity to be better than the human children, those last few jobs just evaporated. Hunger was a common friend of the Faunus, and the only one who was willing to give her food was the White Fang. She had hated every time she had to rely on White White-Fang for food. It felt like she was betraying Isabella every time, but starving to death would have gotten her mother even more upset when they met in the afterlife. The samurai looked at the axe on the Rocker’s back. Now that she was closer, she could see what the scribbles were. They were signatures.

“So, what about your semblance? I saw you hitting those Beowulfs with something...” the panda asked. Amely nodded and extended her index finger and pinky finger in the air.

“ROCK ON! I can channel music into actual attacks. That’s why I have the strings attached to my axe. My mother was so upset when she found out what my semblance was. I was already a loud kid; now I could hurt people with it?” Amely laughed loudly, and Li-Ming had to laugh along with her. She had such infectious laughter.

“Listen, girl, you gotta chill out. It’s clearly this way.” A familiar voice of the hacker was ahead of her. She was in an argument with someone.

“You enormous doofus, you will get us lost and disqualified. The sun is showing us the way.” The serious voice of Chrome echoed through the forest. Seriously, did the girl have a volume slider they could turn down? The Faunus was sure everyone in the forest could hear her. Li-Ming and Amely quickly shot a glance at each other before they both shrugged. Staying in a group would increase their chances of survival.

“Hello, girls. Whatcha 2 yapping about?” Amely quickly interrupted them both, walking in between.

“My partner here is saying that we should go this way”, Olivia points to the way the panda and the Rocker were going.

“Instead of the right way, which is where you guys came from.” The hacker continued sitting down on a tree stump. How did the girl think the way they came was the right way? That is where we got launched from!

“Well, your partner is right. She did point the right way. You can literally see the tower if you climb a tree.” Amely explained.

“Bullshit. Let me take a look!” Out of nowhere, Olivia’s arms grew longer as she grappled herself up a tree.

“I guess we don’t need to ask her what her semblance is,” Li-Ming stated bluntly as Olivia was seen sliding down the tree, her face flushed.

“Right, what are we waiting for? It’s that way!” She pointed at the correct way.

“HA”, Li-Ming had to cover her ears as Emma had screamed with all her might. The girl’s red eyes shifted to the Faunus.

“Oh, you got enhanced hearing?” The spear-wielder asked. Upon seeing the nod from the Panda, Emma cleared her throat.

“Anyway, let’s move. I heard there is only a limited amount of relics for the vast number of students.” Emma continued, much, much quieter than before.

“Oh yeah, about half as many as there are pairs. I doubt the staff expects half of the possible pupils to die, but they certainly made sure that half won’t make it.” Olivia spoke with a shrug.

“Did you find that out during your hacking session yesterday?” Li-Ming asked, which caused the other two girls to turn to her.

“Oh yeah. And I know you two will have some competition for the top spot. Pyrah Nikos is joining us this year, as well as Yang Xiao Long. I assume you both know Nikos, but Yang is a powerhouse! Best in her year by far, and her little sis was as well. Considering their family, not surprising really.” The hacker stated, and all the others seemed to be in deep thought. Pyrah Nikos was here? Could she get a try at the champion? And Yang and Ruby seemed to have great potential themselves. She could feel the smile creeping into her face. How could it not? So many strong people to test her mettle with. She could see the same smile plastered onto Emma’s face, her entire body quivering in pure unreleased energy.

“Li-Ming, please cover your ears.” The girl was quaking. That energy needed to go somewhere fast. The samurai just nodded and covered her ears just in time as Emma screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Hear me, Nikos and Long! I will beat you and prove the superiority of the Chrome!”

“You gotta beat me first, Chrome!” Li-Ming drew her blade and got into a stance. With a mad grin, the brunette smashed the butt end of the spear into the ground.

“Bring it, Sapphire. Let me earn my blue petal!” She roared. Both girls were ready to jump at each other, but Li-Ming could feel a sharp pain in her ear as Amely started pulling on it. At least the Faunus wasn’t the only one, as Emma fell the same fate.

“Listen here, both of you. We are in the middle of the initiation, so no fighting each other until we are actual students of Beacon, understood?” Amely was a bit bigger than the other girls, so they had to stand on their tiptoes to avoid her ears being pulled too much.

“Yes, of course, we are sorry!” Both girls said at the same time. The Blonde let them go and started walking.

“Battle-hungry clowns...” Olivia simply stated as both girls glared daggers at her.

Getting to the tower was relatively easy. Emma rushed in to kill every single grim she saw, and Li-Ming followed suit. They both had a lot of amped up energy to burn. As Li-Ming slashed a Beowolf in twine, she took a moment to watch how Emma fought. The girl could not be any different from herself. She prodded with her spear, using her distance as an advantage to goad the enemy into attacking her. Her entire strategy revolved around frustrating the enemy until they overextended, and then brutally finishing them off with a well-placed thrust of her spear. Right now, Li-Ming watched as Emma prodded at a Beowolf, not actually injuring it as much as just pissing it off. As it tried to lunge at her, she jumped over it and slammed her spear into its exposed neck, before yanking the spear sideways, twisting the beast’s neck. Efficient.

Li-Ming looked forward as a Beowolf was charging at her. It didn’t have a lot of armour, so she decided to not use her blood just yet. Li-Ming calmly waited for the last possible second to pull her sword out of her sheath and rush the beast in the middle of his own swipe. She found herself under him as she quickly slashed him twice, opening up his belly, before she continued her momentum and struck him in his back. She didn’t need to look back; she knew she had done the job when she heard his body hit the ground.

“So you wait for the last possible moment to turn the tide on the enemy? What do you do if an enemy is simply faster?” Emma asked the samurai as they both took a moment to recover.

“Have yet to meet anyone who can claim that. And my blade really, really hurts, so normally I need to land three or four strikes, and by the end, I switch styles to just overpower the enemy.” Li-Ming sheathed her sword again, brushing off the Dust on her clothing.

“What about you? What do you do when the enemy has more range than you?” the samurai asked back, and the noble just smirked, tapping a button on her spear as the top fell down, being bound by chains.

“Have yet to meet anyone who has more range than me. Besides gun users. And those, well, with those you just rush them down. We both know that sticking to one style is not always the best.” Emma shrugged and pointed her spear at an approaching Beowolf

“How about we make this a game, Li-Ming? Let’s see who gets the most kills, shall we?” The Chrome rushed the Beowolf as the Faunus let a huge grin shine on her face.

“Oh, you are so on, Emma!” She dashed in, going for quick, brutal kills on the Grimm

“Girls... oh fine, whatever, but stay on the path!” the lion’s child groaned, her blonde hair falling in front of her face.

“We are going to have a lot of trouble dealing with their competitive nature, won’t we?” Olivia let out a deep sigh as she walked.

“Then again, we can just let these two fight. They seem to be having fun.” Amely shrugged and continued walking.

The trip to the tower was quick and efficient thanks to the two fighters clearing the way. Olivia had walked in first, using her semblance to walk up the tower much faster than anyone else.

“Oh wow, quite a few relics are still left here. Were we just fast?” Olivia said as she stared at a vast array of relics in front of her. The samurai could only hope she was right, because the alternative was horrible to think about. A black queen was being held in the air by Olivia.

“A queen. Very much fitting for me.” Olivia stated smugly as the three girls gave her deadpan stares.

“Queen of obnoxious outfits.” Emma bluntly stated as Li-Ming nodded.

“Or she is a Peacock. They are obnoxiously bright with all their feathers.” Li-Ming said with Emma and Amely affirming her statement.

“Had a Peacock friend once. His feathers were about as bright as her jacket when he confessed to me...” Amely stated as she grabbed a white tower relic.

“Oh, you had someone confess to you? Lucky gal.” Olivia stated, clearly unbothered by the comments.

“Yeah, had to break his poor heart, though. Not interested in him. He was not my type.” Amely shrugged.

“What is your type then?” Li-Ming bit her cheeks hard when those words escaped her mouth. Why did she not catch them in time? The Rocker had the biggest chest-shire cat smile on her face.

“Why am I not surprised you asked that, hum?” The Blonde leaned forward as Li-Ming blushed and looked away.

A loud rumble shook the tower as the girls looked outside. Li-Ming could see Ruby and Yang running towards them, with Weiss Schnee and the mysterious black haired girl from yesterday following behind them.

“What was that noise, Ruby?” Li-Ming shouted with all her might.

“Nevermore!”

“What?”

“2 Nevermore!” The red reaper pointed upwards to the sky, where indeed two massive Nevermore were flying after the colourful team.

“Shit, we gotta help them. Let’s get out of the tower quickly. Hold onto me, everyone!” Amely screamed, grabbing her axe and holding it like a guitar. The girls wasted no time and held onto the Rocker as she jumped down. Aiming her guitar-axe to the ground, she started to strum the strings more and more, the shock wave slowing their fall down significantly. It seemed like it was right on time as they saw the other group guide the Nevermore into the tower, causing it to collapse.

“Oh, brothers, that is quite a resilient little bugger,” Emma grunted.

“They can deal with it; we deal with the other one. Huddle, quickly. You just saw my semblance, we saw Peacock’s before, what’s yours, Chrome?” The Blonde asked the other two girls.

“Hey, my name’s Olivia, okay?” The girl said, crossing her arms.

“Mine’s Emma, and my semblance is not one for battle.” The normally proud and loud noble hugged herself. Seemed like that was a sore spot.

“Right, mine allows my blood to sharpen my blade and cut through armour,” Li-Ming explained softly. She had a love-hate relationship with her semblance. It was great when she wanted to cut through armour, but it always caused everyone to be wary of her, since she could always destroy their weapon if she wanted to.

“Right, I can get the attention of the Nevermore. How many ranged options do we have?” The leader looked at Li-Ming, who just shook her head.

“I can stretch myself, and my dagger can fire as well.” Olivia shrugged, pulling her weapon out. It was a small dagger that appeared to have chambers for Dust, as well as a small gun mounted at the bottom. Emma slammed her spear to the ground, and the blade split open, exposing a barrel at the tip.

“Can shoot with it, but it is better for close range.” She declared proudly. “

“Alright, this is the plan. I will pepper it with my semblance, Li-Ming, and Emma will keep us safe from the feathers it tries to throw at us. When it gets frustrated and dives at us, Emma and Olivia disable its wings. Li-Ming will use her semblance to kill it swiftly. Please be careful, I know you have no aura when you draw.” Amely stated as she began strumming the high notes of the guitar, small shockwaves firing at the Grimm. Wave after wave hit it before it turned around and aimed at the group, his feathers going everywhere. Li-Ming dashed forward and kept slashing at the Feathers that would get close to them. It only took a few seconds for the beast to become enraged and dive after them. On queue, Emma and Olivia fired electric rounds at the beast. With its wing disabled, it could do nothing as it started crashing down on the group. Li-Ming gripped her Blade tightly and moved her hand over the sharp edge, crimson liquid staining the blue blade as both colours fought for conquest. The samurai readied herself as she raised her arm, holding the hilt up and putting the other hand on the back of the blade. She wouldn’t need to provide any force; the crashing Nevermore would be more than enough, hopefully. The beast crashed against the bloodied blade. There was no resistance at first, but as the bird continued to crash against it, the blood evaporated from the heat, causing the resistance to mount. Halfway through, the blood was all used up, and Li-Ming felt the crash of the bird hit her, but Amely and Emma were also holding the blade, allowing it to keep cutting. A second later, and it was over. The bird lay on its side, split open right down the middle, as smoke started to emit from it, and it disappeared.

“Weeee did it!” Amely jumped up in the air and hugged her entire team, as Li-Ming found her face being pressed against multiple bodies, but she didn’t mind. People here were not scared of her. She could rebuild herself here.

“So are we counting that as a double kill or just yours? Because if it is just yours, that’s unfair...” the noble spoke up while being squished by Amely as well.

“How about we count it as four, and we all get a point?” Li-Ming suggested as she saw the smirk on Emma grow bigger.

“10 to 10. Even again. I can tell you will be a magnificent rival, Li-Ming.” The panda grinned from ear to ear. She expected nothing else from the family her late mother had spoken so well of.

“Okay, listen, you are all cute and all, but let’s finish this initiation first, okay?” Olivia stated that they needed to head in the opposite direction.

Eventually, they managed to get Olivia to the right place and were awaiting the end of the speech from Ozpin.

“Next team is Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long as team RWBY with the leader being Ruby Rose.” Ozpin declared. This was a much more loaded sentence than Li-Ming had expected. One, Weiss Schnee has been passed up as leader and seeing the rich brat upset did make Li-Ming somewhat happy. Two, the mysterious girl’s name was Blake Belladonna. Three, her name was fucking Blake Belladonna, daughter of Ghira and Kali Belladonna, the founders of the White-Fang. The panda shot a glance at the faux lioness, who simply nodded, and they both looked at the raven-haired girl in question, who was shaking her head and mouthing “later” to them. Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladona are on the same team. Ozpin must like ironies or blowing teams up.

Li-Ming looked at the team JNPR behind her. Pyrah had been passed up as a leader for someone called Jaune Arc. He didn’t look like a hunter, but then again, not everything was about being strong. He might have a brilliant mind for tactics, but that could only get him so far. He would have to improve significantly. Her eyes wandered to Nora and Ren. Two orphans from Mistral also managed to end up in Beacon. They were the only ones who had actually recognised her, which means they probably knew her reputation, but they seemed to enjoy it rather than fear it. It was a nice chance of pace. Her eyes finally fall on the champion herself, Pyrah Nicos. She could tell the girl didn’t mind not being picked as leader; she seemed like one of those who did not enjoy their fame, not that Li-Ming could fault her. Expectations and rumours had a habit of breaking one down over time.

What she didn’t like to see was that Cardin Winchester had made it. He was the leader of team CRDL, and the smile on his face told her everything she needed to know. Proud, but in a way that said to her that he expected that and would have been upset if anything else was the result. The rest of his team was not particularly worth looking at, but the sneers and comments they made towards her immediately made her hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

“What’s up with that teddy bear?” Cardin whispered to his friends, unaware of Li-Ming’s enhanced hearing.

“I dunno, maybe she ‘hugged’ her way into the team? The Blonde screams Carpet muncher!” The boy with a green mohawk wiggles his eyebrow. Li-Ming could feel her blood boil. How dare they? She would prove them all wrong. Her fists were shaking in fury before she heard the headmaster speak.

“And lastly, we have Amely Lupine, Li-Ming Sapphire, Olivia Sagebrush and Emma Chrome as team ALOE with Amely Lupine as team leader!” Ozpin declared as the four girls made their way up. It made sense. Amely has shown herself to be a true leader. She could see the proud face of Amely and the slightly disappointed one on Emma. But that seemed fine.

“Yeah! Let’s go, Blue Spider Lily!” Nora screamed from the top of her lungs, causing Li-ming to smile. She could see Pyrah tilt her head slightly, seemingly having remembered something. She would have to ask her later. The CRDL seemed to have continued their heckling, but Cardin looked at Li-Ming with disbelief. Could he have known about her? If so, how? Her name wasn’t well-known, except for Mistral.

“Again, congratulations, everyone. Remember, your first class is tomorrow morning. Make sure to go to bed at reasonable times.” Ozpin declared as he walked away, and before Li-Ming could even say anything, Team RWBY and Team JNPR walked up to them.

“LET’S GO, SIS! You’ve got to be Team-leader!” Yang went and hugged Amely hard, who just laughed.

“Of course! Can’t let you down! You told me I would get a leader, after all!” Amely just laughed, extending her hand into the gesture she had done earlier in the forest, which Yang mirrored. Ruby walked up to Chrome together with Jaune, as both interrogated Emma first about her weapon, and then if she wanted to go out on a date (that was Jaune), which she firmly declined. Weiss Schnee actually approached Li-Ming. The girl cleared her throat.

“Your blade. It’s a moon-blade, correct?” the Heiress asked, and the samurai simply nodded, waiting to see where this would go.

“I heard rumours about them. I look forward to seeing it in action. Is it true then that all Dust has an explosive reaction when it gets in contact with your blade?” the pale girl inquired, and Li-Ming nodded.

“Depends on if I slash at it or not. If I just dip my blade in it, it will just drain the Dust, but if I slash or use excessive force with my blade, the reaction is violent. That’s how I stopped my fall in the forest, slashing an air dust Crystal.” Li-Ming stated back. It felt weird to be talking so... amicably to Weiss Schnee out of all people, but the interest in the blade seemed to trump her ingrained racism. Or maybe Li-Ming was just assuming the worst because her name was Schnee; she would be slightly surprised if that were the case, but weirder things had already happened to her.

“Blue Spider Lily. Top of her class in Mistral, not allowed to join the arena because of racism and classism.” A voice interjected itself between the two of them. Pyrah Nikos had joined the conversation. The Heiress seemed to light up as the champion walked up. Li-Ming looked away.

“I never liked that title, really. Just because I was always next to graves when people were looking for me...” the faunus sighed, and she could see a sympathetic look on Pyrah’s face.

“I never liked being called the Invincible girl either. Set’s you up for failure, doesn’t it?” She laughed softly. It seemed like Li-Ming would do fine in Beacon. It was the beginning of her new life.