Vale, Three Days Later
3rd Person POV
Phoenix walked through the town of Vale, moonlight gleaming off his hood as he headed down the street, enjoying the fresh night air.
Spotting a store called From Dust till Dawn, he started walking toward it, deciding to purchase a few dust rounds. Before he got there, the window shattered as a man in a black suit with red glasses was kicked through it by a young girl with black hair, the tips dyed red, wearing a black and red skirt along with a red-hooded cape.
Standing up, the girl unfolded a massive scythe, silver eyes gleaming, as she faced the robbers in the store.
Phoenix was surprised to find Roman Torchwick standing there, several thugs at his side.
"Okaaay," Roman muttered. He glanced at the henchmen around him. "Get her."
The five men rushed the girl, attempting to overpower her, but she spun on her scythe, knocking the first one back. Throwing herself through the air and landing lightly, she pulled the trigger on her weapon, throwing her into a spin that launched her into a second henchman, sending him flying. Slamming a third henchman with her scythe, she dodged a round of bullets before kicking a fourth henchman into the air. Spinning, she twisted midair and slammed the henchman to the ground before landing neatly.
The fifth henchman charged her from behind, but before he could strike, a silver blur sliced through the air and slammed into him, knocking him into a wall. With a metallic ring, the bladed chain retracted back into the shadows.
Roman and the girl turned as Phoenix emerged from the darkness. "You know..." Phoenix drawled, a gleaming sword in hand while black embers swirled around his other one. Flames burst to life and formed a long, elegant blade made of obsidian. "It isn't very nice to gang up on people, Roman."
"I'm a criminal," Roman replied. "Nice isn't in the job description."
"And you're robbing a dust store," Phoenix stated, both blades gleaming in the moonlight as he raised an eyebrow. "A little cliché, don't you think?"
"Gotta make a living somehow," Roman replied. Sighing, Roman glanced down at the defeated henchmen around him. "You were worth every cent, truly you were," Roman muttered, before looking up to them. "Well, Red, Black, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I would love to stick around...." He raised his cane and pointed it at them. "I am afraid this is where we part ways." The bottom popped open, revealing a crosshair sight before he fired, sending a flare flying toward Phoenix and the girl.
Drawing back his obsidian sword, Phoenix hurled it at the oncoming flare, intercepting it and causing a large explosion to erupt between them.
"Guess we're doing this the hard way," Phoenix muttered as the smoke cleared. Shaking his head, he looked over at the girl who was watching him in awe. "Are you alright?"
Shaking herself out of her stupor, the girl nodded. "I'm fine." She turned to the shopkeeper. "You okay if we go after him?"
The shopkeeper nodded, and the girl took off after Roman, who was hastily climbing an escape ladder to the roof.
Looking up at the roof, Phoenix darted toward the wall and jumped, kicking off a windowsill before flipping on top of the roof, right next to the girl in red, who used her scythe to propel herself to the top.
"Hey!" the girl shouted, and Roman paused at the edge of the roof.
"You two are persistent, aren't you?" Roman muttered. "Well, as much as I would love to stick around, I have a ride to catch."
With that, a bullhead flew up behind Roman, side doors open.
Roman entered and turned, holding up a red dust crystal. "End of the line, you two!" he called and threw it at their feet. Taking aim, Roman fired at the crystal.
Before the crystal could explode, a woman landed in front of them, summoning a purple shield of energy with... a riding crop? Shaking his head as he recognized the woman, Glynda, from a few nights ago, Phoenix nodded at her and pulled out Arbiter, the girl following his lead and changing her scythe into a large rifle. The two of them opened fire while Glynda waved her riding crop, unleashing a blast of energy at the bullhead.
"We've got a huntress!" Roman yelled and ducked inside the bullhead, a woman wearing a red dress taking his place, face covered in shadow. Raising her hand, the woman sent a fireball blasting toward them, only for Glynda to raise a shield of energy and block it, shattering it.
The woman raised her hand, and the pieces of the 'fireball' exploded, knocking the three of them back.
Raising her riding crop, Glynda waved it and manipulated the debris caused by the explosion into a jagged spear. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it flying toward the bullhead, only for the woman to incinerate the fragments in a blast of fire.
The girl and Phoenix fired at the woman, but she deflected each shot, amber eyes gleaming brightly. The woman waved her hand, causing the ground that the three were standing on to erupt into flames, knocking them back.
Waving away the smoke, Phoenix looked up just in time to see the bullhead fly away, taking the mysterious woman and Roman with it. There was something familiar about that woman, but Phoenix couldn't figure out what.
"Are you a huntress?" The girl asked excitedly, turning to Glynda. "Can I have your autograph?"
"Oh, brother," Phoenix muttered.
Timeskip brought to you by Phoenix driving Goodwitch insane
Phoenix and the girl from the robbery sat in an interrogation room while Glynda paced in front of them.
"I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, you two," the huntress berated them. "I hope you know what you've done!"
"Oh, you know... Stopped a robbery, faced off against one of the most dangerous criminals in the world. Gee, I wonder what we could have done?" Phoenix commented dryly.
Glynda glared at him. "You put yourselves and others in great danger."
"They started it!" the girl protested.
"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home..." Glynda stated. "With a pat on the back..."
The girl looked hopeful.
"And a slap on the wrist." She smacked the table with her riding crop for emphasis, earning a yelp from the girl while Phoenix rolled his eyes.
"But... there is someone here who would like to meet you," Glynda sighed, and Ozpin entered, bearing a plate of cookies in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
"Ruby Rose..." he said. "You... have silver eyes."
That's not creepy at all, Phoenix thought sarcastically.
"Um..."
"So! Where did you learn to do this?" Ozpin asked, gesturing to a scroll, which showed the encounter between Ruby, Phoenix, and Roman.
"S-Signal Academy," the girl now known as Ruby said.
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" Ozpin asked dubiously.
"Well, one teacher in particular," Ruby admitted.
"I see..." Ozpin said, setting the plate of cookies down.
Ruby immediately started tearing into the cookies, a scene that Phoenix watched in amusement.
"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before," Ozpin recalled. "A dusty old Qrow."
"Mmmm! Thash muh unkul!" Ruby said, her mouth full of cookies.
"I don't think they caught that," Phoenix commented dryly, a smirk on his face.
"Sorry," Ruby apologized. "That's my Uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now I'm all like—"
She made a series of ninja motions, accidently hitting Phoenix in the head. "Sorry!"
"It's fine," Phoenix sighed. "It's not like you almost gave me another concussion. Totally fine."
"I see," Ozpin said in amusement. "And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well... I want to be a huntress," Ruby admitted.
"You want to slay monsters?"
"Yeah," Ruby said. "I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a huntress, and I'm trying to become a huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, 'Hey I might as well make a career out of it!' I mean, the police are alright, but the huntsmen and huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and really, gosh, you know?!"
The other three occupants of the room were silent for a moment.
Okaaay, Phoenix thought awkwardly. That was... something.
"Do you know who I am?" Ozpin asked.
"You're Professor Ozpin," Ruby replied. "You're the Headmaster of Beacon."
"Hello."
"Nice to meet you."
"You want to come to my school?" Ozpin asked.
"More than anything," Ruby answered immediately.
Ozpin exchanged glances with Glynda before nodding.
"Well, okay," Ozpin said.
Ruby squealed in excitement, causing Phoenix to rub his ear.
"As for you, young man," Ozpin said, turning his attention to Phoenix. "Have you considered my offer?"
"I have," Phoenix replied. "And I have decided to accept."
"Wonderful," Ozpin said. "As such, your conditions will be met. I look forward to seeing the two of you in class."
Timeskip brought to you by Phoenix setting Ozpin's coffee on fire
Phoenix stood in the airship to Beacon, leaning against the wall as he gazed outside at the passing foliage below.
"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me!" A girl's voice exclaimed. "This is the best day ever!"
Glancing over, Phoenix raised at eyebrow at a blonde girl hugging the life out of Ruby.
"Please stop," Ruby begged as the girl who Phoenix assumed was her sister set her down.
"But I'm so proud of you!" her sister protested.
"Really, sis, it was nothing," Ruby complained.
"What do you mean?" the blonde girl exclaimed. "It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees!"
"I don't want to be the 'bee's knees,' okay?" Ruby complained. "I don't wanna be any kind of knees; I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."
"What's with you? Aren't you excited?" the blonde girl asked.
"Of course, I'm excited..." Ruby sighed. "I just... I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."
"But you are special," the blonde girl assured her, wrapping an arm around her. Then she noticed Phoenix off in the corner. "Hey, who's that?"
Ruby glanced over, and her eyes widened. "That's the guy who helped me with the robbery a few days ago," she said excitedly.
"Really?" her sister asked. "Then let's go and talk to him!"
"Wait!" Ruby's protests were cut off as her sister dragged her over to Phoenix.
Hearing the commotion, Phoenix looked up to see the blond girl dragging Ruby toward him.
"Hello~" she greeted. "You're the guy who helped my sister with the robbery, right?"
"That's me," Phoenix replied. "And you're Ruby's sister, right?" he asked, tilting his head at the blond.
"Half-sisters," Ruby corrected. "Same father, different mothers."
"When Ruby told me about some guy helping her, I wasn't expecting someone as hot as you," the blond girl said with a flirty wink.
"Yang!" Ruby complained.
Phoenix grinned cheekily. "You're not so bad looking yourself," he replied.
The blond girl grinned. "I think you and I are gonna get along just fine." She held out a hand. "I'm Yang."
"Phoenix," the mercenary replied, shaking her hand.
"So, Phoenix," Yang said, "mind showing me what's under that hood of yours~"
"Wouldn't that defeat the whole point of a hood then?" Phoenix asked with a laugh. "Maybe some other time."
A voice spoke up, getting their attention.
"...The robbery was led by nefarious criminal, Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities," a news reporter said, getting everyone's attention. "If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."
A female reporter appeared on screen along with a photo of animal-eared protesters holding signs saying, 'We are not animals.' "Thank you, Cyril," the woman said. "In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted—"
The newswoman disappeared, replaced with an image of Glynda, whom Phoenix had learned by now to call Miss Goodwitch... Like that was going to happen.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon."
"Who's that?" Yang asked.
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."
"Oh."
"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy," Goodwitch continued. "Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntsmen and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." With that, the hologram vanished.
"Wow!" Ruby suddenly ran over to the window and looked out. "Look, you can see Signal from up here!"
Phoenix and Yang walked over and looked out as well.
"I guess home isn't too far after all," Ruby commented.
Yang placed an arm on Ruby's shoulders. "Beacon's our home, now."
"Very poetic of you, Yang," Phoenix commented.
"Why, thank you."
A blond boy stumbled past them and ran to a trash can, throwing up.
"Well... I guess the view isn't for everyone," Yang commented.
"It was a nice moment while it lasted," Phoenix noted dryly.
"I wonder who we're gonna meet," Yang said. "Well, aside from you, Phoenix."
"Gee, thanks," Phoenix muttered.
"I just hope they're better than 'Vomit Boy,'" Ruby mused. Then she noticed something on Yang's foot. "Oh, Yang, gross, you have puke on your shoe!"
"Grossgrossgross—"
"Get away from me, get away from me, get away from me!"
As the two sisters started panicking, Phoenix wondered, What in the five flaming circles of Hell have I gotten myself into?