A Song of Ringing Steel

Beginnings
Annie, Roger, and Yara were all together when their airship arrived at the landing pad. Stepping onto real ground, the trio of friends viewed Beacon Academy for the first time.

"Well, this is a view that I could get used to!" said Roger. After a few seconds passed, Roger said, "Yep. I'm used to it."

Yara rolled her eyes while Annie chuckled a bit. "How could you get bored already with this level of engineering?!" asked Yara.

"What? It's just a bunch of stone and brick."

"You obviously don't know the effort that went into this."

"We have Dust nowadays."

"Dust has nothing to do with design!"

Annie was about to stop the argument when an explosion occured a few meters away from them. As the friends turned around in surprise, Roger said: "An explosion now? Well, this year is looking good already."

Yara sighed in exasperation. "If you ask me, it's going to look bad for this whole school..."

Annie chuckled again. "True, Yara. Explosions are a sign that something isn't good... Or just another argument taking place." Annie sighed while the other two took a double take at the two charred girls bickering inside the smoke, one wearing a red outfit and the other donning an elaborate white skirt.

"Wait a second..." murmured Yara. "That's Weiss Schnee."

"The heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?" questioned Roger. "Gah, it really is her!"

"Now don't do anything risky, Roger..." warned Yara.

"... Especially when your target's the daughter of one of the richest people in the world!" finished Annie. As they held Roger back, another figure, cloaked in green, passed by.

Grayson had made some friends already, but they didn't really make him feel special or welcome, for some reason. He had heard rumors of teams, and it wasn't likely that any of his current buddies would end up on the same team as him. As he talked, he wondered: ''Hmm, I wonder who I'll be teamed up with, if there are teams at all. Of course, everyone else is thinking this as well. Grayson sighed inwardly. Well, I'll just have to wait and see...''

"Try not to pull something like that off again, Roger. You're quite stronger than the two of us combined," said Yara.

"Goddamnit, that bitch needs to know what her parent's company is doing to their workers! I'm not going to just stand around while she goes all over the school acting like she's queen!" ranted Roger. The trio had seen Weiss' scolding to the unfortunate girl in red, lecturing her about Dust.

"Come on, you two. We're going to be late for the orientation," said Annie. They headed down the stone pathway to the colossal oaken doors that opened up to a crowd of people. As the Signal graduates took their places, Professor Ozpin approached the microphone.

"Now who's that geezer with the cane?" wondered Roger.

Yara facepalmed, then jabbed him in the ribs. "That's Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of this school! You should have known that a long time ago."

Annie shushed the two as the headmaster began his speech. After it was done, Glynda gave the crowd of future Hunters their destination for the night.

Nighttime Thinking
"Hey, Roger?" asked Yara.

"Hmm?"

"How exactly do you plan to free your guardians from their poverty?"

"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure about that. I guess I plan to rise to fame as a Huntsman and raise enough money to save my family."

Yara sighed. "Roger, try not to count your chickens before they hatch."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Try not to predict everything and expect it to go your way. There are other variables-"

"Don't bother me with your science mumbo-jumbo."

"Roger, please. This is for your guardians' sake."

Annie joined in. "We're your friends, Roger. We truly care about you. And that includes your business as well."

Roger sighed. "I guess you're right."

The trio of friends had already prepared for the night and now were talking with each other about their lives, as well as their futures, as they waited for sleep to take over.

Or maybe not.

"Hey, isn't that the girl who exploded?" said Roger, looking at the raven-haired girl from the argument from before. She appeared to be talking to a blonde-haired girl.

"Oh, her? That's Ruby Rose. And the blonde laying down next to her is Yang Xiao Long," informed Yara.

"Yara... " Annie said in exasperation.

"What? You know me. I like to be informed!" Yara exclaimed.

Annie just shook her head and fiddled with her flute.

"Oh yeah, those two girls are also sisters," continued Yara.

"Well, I'm getting an eyeful already of the blondie." Roger licked his lips.

"Oh, Roger." Yara laughed.

A while later, Annie woke up. All the others were asleep, oblivious to her shuffling as she relieved herself. When she went back to her sleeping bag, she suddenly thought she could hear a sweet tune playing outside. ''Now who would be playing at this time? When people are sleeping?''

Careful not to disturb the others, Annie made her way to the balcony, where she could see a cloaked figure playing a violin. Annie shrugged and joined in with the flute.

The person cloaked in green started and almost dropped his instrument, removing his hood in the process.

"Holy- Try not to sneak up on me, please. Especially when I'm performing in private," said the figure.

"But your music is beautiful, better than most professional instrumentalists I'd ever heard. Why don't you spread it to the public, ...?"

"Grayson. I don't feel that the world is ready for me."

"Oh, this world needs music such as yours. I could feel the emotion coming from that melody. I'm Annie, by the way."

Grayson sighed. "I just play with my soul, and the music comes out. I just never imagined that I could make beautiful music to match the quality of other professionals today." She has no idea...

"Stop beating yourself down. You are great. I could have started crying right there behind you!"

Grayson put on a ghost of a smile. "The flattery is nice, but I just don't know..."

Annie put a hand on Grayson's shoulder. "I do have confidence in your music, Grayson. You can shock the world with it. It's getting quite late now. You should go to sleep."

As Annie left, Grayson realized something.

This was the first time he hadn't put Hope Primordial away right after playing.

Initiation
As Annie retrieved Lumos Halo from her locker, she couldn't help but think of what happened last night.

"You seem distracted today, Annie," said Roger. "Anything wrong?"

"No, no. Well, yes, actually. I guess I'm just nervous about the initiation."

"Hmm, true. We know almost nothing about it," Roger said as he amused himself with Soul Singe.

Yara came to the duo. "Well, I just heard the rumors that we're going to be split into teams comprised of 4 members each. We just don't know the selection process yet."

As Yara checked the ammunition on Whisper Stream, Roger and Annie observed a blonde guy trying to hit up on Weiss Schnee and...

"Hey, that's Pyrrha Nikos!" Roger exclaimed.

"Who?" Yara questioned.

"She's graduated Sanctum Academy at the top of her class!"

"Uhhh..."

"She's on the front of every frickin' Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes cereal box!"

"Oh, that's her?"

"You seriously haven't done any research on her whatsoever?!"

"Hey, I can't gather intel on every person at this academy."

"Even so, she's famous across Mistral!"

While this argument was going on, Grayson was inspecting Hope Primordial with the utmost precision, careful not to miss a single nick. He was thinking about what happened last night. ''Maybe I should perform in front of an audience someday. Then again, do I want to expose my story emotionally through music?'' Grayson was seriously pondering for the first time in a while.

Annie had just sorted out the argument when Pyrrha threw a spear at the poor guy, causing Annie to gasp in alarm. However, the blonde was okay, the spear just piercing his hoodie.

The announcement came for the new recruits to report to Beacon Cliffs. As they left for their destination, Yara said, "Poor Jaune."

"Is that the blonde's name?" Roger asked as he watched Ruby carry him off.

"Yes. Interesting, because Jaune is-"

"Poor guy. He doesn't know how to hit up on girls."

Yara rolled her eyes. "Is that all you ever think about these days?"

Roger grinned widely. "You betcha."

The launchpads were full with students when the trio and Grayson arrived. The friends were forced to spread out among the line. As Professor Ozpin began to give an introduction to the intiation, each of them were having their own thoughts.

Well, Grayson thought, this is the beginning of my career as a Huntsman. He took out the piece of uncut white Dust he always carried with him. ''Mother, if you could see me now, you would be proud. I just wish that you were here today. ''As Grayson was launched, he extended Hope Primordial to its full length, remembering the good people that fell to the creatures of Grim, those lifeless, torn corpses on the ground. Time to get to work...

Roger was quite excited at the danger the forest possessed. ''Here's some excitement. Not the explosions I like, but a good replacement. But I need to think of the people I have back home. I need to think about how I'm going to help them in the future.'' As Roger was catapulted, he unraveled Soul Singe to its 2 meter length. ''Whatever. I'll think of something...''

As Annie listened to the intro, she worried about her folks at home. ''Why did I leave them to that corrupt church, blind to the deceit behind that horrible pastor? I became a Huntress for this very purpose: to seek out and purge corruption. But no matter where I go, my morals don't seem to apply. ''As Annie went flying through the air, she snapped Lumos Halo into its bow form. Let's hope I get past this...

''My parents were shamed, and I was forced to watch those dreams burn down. ''Yara recalled the failure of Aeriver Industries as she listened to Professor Ozpin. ''Being a Huntress is certainly exciting, but I do plan on reviving my family's business and redesign it to the point where it shall never fall again. However, I must start small... Yara planned her future as she was thrusted up by the launchpad, taking out Whisper Stream in the process. I know I shouldn't count my chickens, but I do want to make my parents proud of me...''

The disappointments of the past was fresh on their minds as they landed in the Emerald Forest...