Bryce, Ruby, and Jaune finally entered the Auditorium after a solid 12 minutes of searching which wasn't the most unbearable 12 minutes of his life which he'd never admit.
Now in the room brimming with future huntsmen, Bryce was scanning the crowd not even noticing Ruby left to meet her sister.
"Hey wait, Ruby, I guess it's just us Bryce. Bryce? Remnant to Bryce hello?" Jaune asked trying to get the brunette's attention.
Bryce looks focused on something while tuning out Jaune. "Target acquired."
Bryce then walks into the crowd leaving Jaune alone.
"Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice person to talk to?!" Jaune says defeated.
Jaune walks away revealing a certain red-headed spartan watching him walk away.
With Bryce, he was walking through the crowd with a purpose before he got to his destination.
Unbeknownst to Ulrick who was talking to some girls making them laugh and spitting his game before Bryce came up from behind him.
Ulrick ears twitched "He's right behind me isn't he..."
The girls nod before walking away one of them giving Ulrick a piece of paper.
"Having fun..."
"Listen about earlier before you deep fry my ass. don't because you can't show off in public remember."
"You are right but he didn't say anything about me punching the hell out of you."
"Listen how about you not embarrass me in front of the women here, I'm sorry I left but you know I don't like anything to do with the SDC including the Schnee Family," Ulrick stated.
"Fine but you owe me a favor." Bryce sighs.
"Fine Fine so changing the subject who were those people you were walking around with?" Ulrick asked.
"Just some friends I'll introduce you later," Bryce states.
"Wait dude some people are arguing let's go watch."
"You are just changing the subject again."
"No comment."
Bryce and Ulrick only caught the last parts of the argument between Weiss and Ruby.
Weiss held an SDC pamphlet. "You really wanna start making things up to me?"
"Absolutely?" Ruby replied.
Weiss forces the pamphlet into Ruby's hands. "Read this, and don't ever speak to me again."
The blonde standing next to Ruby finally spoke up. "Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"
Ruby puts the pamphlet away. " Yeah! Great idea, sis!" holding out her hand as she clears her throat. "Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"
Weiss seemingly enthusiastic response. "Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, Brunette, and handsome over there!
Bryce sneezes.
Ruby looks happy. "Wow, really?!"
Weiss glares at Ruby. "No."
Everyone's attention was suddenly drawn to the stage, where Professor Ozpin was readying his microphone, with Glynda and the silver-haired girl from earlier standing beside him.
Ozpin speaks "I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, and direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.
Goodwitch steps onto the microphone. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
Ulrick scratches his head a bit confused. "I know Finn said he'd be cryptic but that was something else."
"Yeah let's go get something to eat since we're all done here I'm hungry." Bryce walks off with Ulrick in tow.
_____________________________________
On the first night at Beacon, students are splayed out in sleeping bags Ulrick was waiting for Bryce to come back when someone walked over.
"Hey is this spot taken?" A girl with green eyes asked him.
"Only the corner is taken but everywhere else is free," Ulrick responded
"Thanks, I'm Natalia Grey but, you can just call me Nat nice to meet you," Natalia stated.
"I'm Ulrick Connors, nice to meet you as well Nat what brings you to Beacon."
"I want to be a Huntress like everyone else here, I'm sure it's the same about you."
"A bit like that so where are you from?" Ulrick asked
"Argus how about you?" She asked.
"An Orphanage in Mystral," Ulrick responded.
"No city?"
"Nope, same as my friend speaking of which. What's taking Bryce so long."
"I'm sorry for asking this but do you want to be friends I was supposed to go with my twin sister but she chose to go to Haven instead last minute," Natalia confessed.
"Sure I don't mind being your friend but you don't find my ears strange? I didn't think I'd meet someone who would want to be friends with me." Ulrick stated somewhat suspicious of her intent.
"I personally think Faunus are cool I mean having those extra features makes you special more unique from us," Natalia stated.
Ulrick raised a brow he'd never met anyone who'd accepted he was a faunus other than Bryce, Finn, and Sara this was the first time he abandoned his hood but to meet someone other than those he was close to gave him conflicted emotions.
Noticing the awkward silence Natalia decided to break the ice. "hey I noticed you were on your scroll before I came over here I was a bit curious."
Ulrick relaxed a bit. "uhh oh that I was reading the latest issue of the Awesome Arachnid-Boy."
"You like comics?" Natalia asked.
"Yep well Bryce is the one who introduced me to these kinds of things he's the comic book geek."
"With how much you speak about him you must be close."
"Were rivals ever since that day we vowed we never stop challenging each other to push our to go down in history as the greatest Huntsmen in history." Ulrick held his fist as he spoke passionately about the two's relationship while Natalia watched with a smile.
It brought her back to when she and her sister used to be close but, she shook those memories away deciding to change the subject "Well what was that issue you were reading about."
"Well it was about-
"Was I interrupting something?"
"Gah!?"
"Dude don't do that!?"
Now Bryce was standing before them in a brown Horned Owl onesie causing both Ulrick and Natalia to hold in a laugh hoping Bryce didn't catch it.
Bryce raised a brow before eating one of his chips. "What is with you guys."
Ulrick snickers. "Bro what took you so long."
Bryce eats another chip. "I was fighting a vending machine moving on who's your friend."
"Right Bryce this is Natalia Grey, Natalia this is Bryce Rosfield," Ulrick stated.
"Hi."
"Sup."
"I'm going to head to bed now nice to meet you, Natalia."
"Night bro."
"Well, it was nice to meet you."
Bryce disappeared into his sleeping bag drifting off into a deep slumber as Natalia and Ulrick's voices grew fainter and fainter.
Bryce woke up in his combat gear in a strange space with embers and ashes floating around him.
"What the- where am I."
Bryce stood amidst the ruins of a burnt fortress as debris fell around him. He looked up and saw a large bird statue, larger than a Nevermore, impaled by a spear that appeared to be a part of a Grimm. The statue was charcoal in color and chained up.
"What type of dream is this..." Bryce thought to himself
P̸̡̨̡̜̻̬̭̗͊͌̾̂̀̓͌̿͆́͝͝ḩ̸̮̞̹̬̭͍̠͈̫͂͗̚͝ͅǫ̸͉̝͉̘̤̩̬̼̥̱̰̉͠e̵̳̟͚͇͎͇̦̺͌̊̑̅̀͐͑̿͋̿̍͝n̸̡̦̰̙̗͚͈͗͜ĩ̷͙͙̬̰̓͘ẋ̶̨̛̛̙̟̘͙͕̩̮͚̖̫̮͖̿͂̎͂̄͒̐̅͗̀̈́̚.̵̖̉̒͝.̶̪͍̮̳͍̬̞̺͙͉̼͕̦̓̐̓͒̒͊͒̉̇̂̅̚͘͜.̶̞̤̍̌̉͝
"What the hell who's there!?"
P̸̡̨̡̜̻̬̭̗͊͌̾̂̀̓͌̿͆́͝͝ḩ̸̮̞̹̬̭͍̠͈̫͂͗̚͝ͅǫ̸͉̝͉̘̤̩̬̼̥̱̰̉͠e̵̳̟͚͇͎͇̦̺͌̊̑̅̀͐͑̿͋̿̍͝n̸̡̦̰̙̗͚͈͗͜ĩ̷͙͙̬̰̓͘ẋ̶̨̛̛̙̟̘͙͕̩̮͚̖̫̮͖̿͂̎͂̄͒̐̅͗̀̈́̚.̵̖̉̒͝.̶̪͍̮̳͍̬̞̺͙͉̼͕̦̓̐̓͒̒͊͒̉̇̂̅̚͘͜.̶̞̤̍̌̉͝
Bryce holds his head suddenly getting a piercing headache causing him to drop to his knees in agony.
Now his entire being begins to hurt as Bryce writhes in pain on the ground, cracks begin to form on the statue, and flames seep through.
Nothing could match the pain he was going through screaming at the top of his lungs begging for a mercy that would never come before sudden his and the statue's eyes matched in ethereal blue.
then he woke up with a cold sweat drenching his face he looked around only to see he was in the dark ballroom like everyone else. He looked to his right to see the sleeping figures of Ulrick and Natalia.
Shortly after calming himself down, he went back to sleep unsettled at what the hell just happened. All he knew was that wasn't a normal dream no it was too real that pain was too real.
Deciding it was a topic for another day he let his exhaustion drag him to sleep once more hoping the next time he awoke it was the morning.
________________________________________