Dusty's P.O.V.
I woke up in my bed, finding my brothers hovering over me. "Hi," I said, being a bit suspicious.
"You know what today is," Trev asked, having the widest smile stretching across his face. His coffee colored ears wiggling with excitement atop his head of shaggy chestnut locks. Onyx was no better. He could barely contain his excitement. It was very evident in his lime colored eyes.
"No... Should I?" I sat up as I ran my fingers through my this raven hair. Sleep still filled my golden eyes. They both let out an exaggerated groan and dramatically rolled their eyes. I swear they're girls underneath that manly figure.
"Today we're going to BEACON sis! How can you forget that?!" Oh, yeah... that. I rubbed the back of my neck. I felt like my stomach was getting knotted up. I was nervous like crazy. I'm going to Beacon at the mere age of fourteen. Aunt Ruby was fifteen when she was first accepted into Beacon. Aunt Weiss, both of my moms, Aunt Pyrrha, Aunt Nora, Uncle Jaune, and Uncle Ren were all seventeen. She stood out like a sore thumb.
"Oh right, that," I said sheepishly. My brothers looked at each other, not sure how to take my reaction.
"Uh, Dust? Aren't you excited," Onyx questioned. I just looked at them both, feeling a bit down. I let out a sigh.
"Don't you remember the story Aunt Ruby told us when we were growing up? When she first started at Beacon? She was the youngest, moved two years ahead just to get into Beacon with the okay from Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch. I feel like I'm just like her. I'm fourteen when you're sixteen and seventeen. Can't you see why I'm nervous about going to Beacon," I said as I stressed my point. Their lips formed in the shape of an "o", realizing why I was timid.
"Dust, you got us to look out for ya. We aren't gonna let you get picked on by the other students. Plus, mom wouldn't be too happy if she found out if something happened to you," Trev said with a comforting smile. Onyx ruffled my already messy hair. I narrowed my eyes at him, only to get a laugh out of the two of them. Then they bolted out of my room so they can finish packing. I let out a solemn sigh. I swung my legs over the side of my bed, keeping my head low. Someone knocked on my door softly. There was only one person in this house that did so. I looked up to see mom standing in the doorway.
"Can I come in," she asked softly. I nodded and she casually strolled in, taking a seat next to me on the bed. Her arm wrapped around my shoulder as she pulled me closer to her. "I know it's scary Dusty, but you're going to love it there. Remember all of the stories I told you about me with the team and my friends?" I nodded while giving her a gentle smile. She kissed the top of my head.
"Mom, can you help me pack," I asked shyly. She gave me one of her loving smiles and nodded, followed with a soft kiss against my forehead. I got out of bed while she grabbed a suitcase for me. I started to gather some of my clothes and neatly placed them on my bed. That's when she came back with a fairly sized suitcase in her hand, placing it on the bed and began to put away what things I've picked so far. I looked over at my nightstand, just staring mindlessly at the picture frame sitting on the wooden surface. I walked over to it, taking it in hand. It was a picture of all of us. I was on Trev's shoulders as Onyx stood to the side next to my mother, my human mother, while my mom planted a sweet kiss upon her wife's cheek. All of us were smiling. That was seven years ago, before the accident. Of course, mom had makeup covering her scar she received in battle while on a mission which turned out to be the last mission she would ever take. Mom was still a huntress, went on missions and all. So when she was gone, grandpa would come stay at the house with us. He would tell us great stories by the fire.
I wiped my eyes as they began to fill themselves with tears. I had to take this with me. I couldn't leave it behind. It was one of the last things I have of my mother before she died. Mom took notice and hugged me. "I miss her too Dust. A day never goes by when I wish that she was still here with us." She took the frame from my hands and gently placed it in one of the netted pockets for safekeeping. It was only a few seconds before she walked out of my room. I heard her footsteps traveling up the stairwell. I wonder what she was getting from upstairs. When she came back down, she held an orange scarf in her hand. I was confused. "She would've wanted you to have this Dust. You'll always have a piece of her with you while you're away with your brothers." I took it in my hands, remembering when mom wore it around her neck. It was always with her huntress attire though. I guess it was part of her gear. I wrapped my arms around mom, hugging her tightly.
Then I went to my closet, pulling out my huntress attire. Black, white, and orange which gradually faded into yellow. It was a black cropped leather jacket that went over a slightly longer cropped white tee with a hint of gray coloring the bottom hem, a pair of black short shorts, followed by a pair of stockings that went from black to white to orange to yellow at the bottom. I had a pair of worn leather combat boots, they were manufactured that way. Now with mom's scarf, it added the finishing touch to the entire outfit. Mom was proud of me. She watched me grow from just a shy little girl that was afraid to put up a fight to a girl who stands up to a fight.
I basically combined both huntress outfits my moms wore. I didn't expect that to happen but it did. I wasn't complaining. It was an outfit that expressed who I was. Once I got everything that I would need, mom left to make breakfast for us, the last one we'd share as a family for a while. I went upstairs to take a shower, having my huntress outfit in hand. I neatly placed my clothing on the sink counter before I grabbed a towel. I locked the door so neither of my brothers would pull a prank on me and turned on the water. I let my pajamas and underwear fall to the floor carelessly before I climbed into the shower. Like always, I took a fairly quick shower. I wrapped the towel around my body as I stepped out, only to meet a room full of steam. It was comforting actually. I wiped the mirror from the vapor and began brushing my hair. The brush flowed through it like it was nothing even though it was thick. I used the blow dryer to get rid of the remaining water still in my hair. Once it was dry, it was soft to the touch. I threw the towel into the hamper and soon began pulling my clothes over my body. My fingers curled around mom's scarf and brought it up and over my head, resting it appropriately around my neck. It was a bit big but I knew I would grow into it. It smelt like... cinnamon. It brought a wave of comfort over my body. I closed my eyes as I breathed the calming scent. Just before I decided to leave the bathroom, I put my hair into a perfect braid that ended at the middle of my back. Once I was pleased with my appearance, I went back downstairs and joined everyone at the table. When Onyx and Trevor laid their eyes on me, they dropped their forks, having them clamor against the plates. "What? Did I go overboard?" I was really nervous by their reaction.
"No, it's just... Wow. You almost look like mom," Trev admitted in a surprised voice. Did I really look like her? Like I know I look almost identical to mom, my faunus mother, but did I really look like my human mother?
"You really do sis. You look like mom a lot, in a good way," Onyx stammered. 'Like that helped my confidence right now Onyx.' I sat down at the table and slowly started to eat my breakfast. I stayed quiet as everyone else talked amongst themselves. I wasn't in much of the talking mood. I didn't know what to expect when I get to Beacon. What if I don't get on a team with one or both of them? Or my cousins? Yes cousins since Aunt Nora and Uncle Ren have Peter, who's Onyx's age, and then their other son Richie, who was a year older than me; then Aunt Ruby and Aunt Weiss had twins, Noelle and Justine.
Before I knew it, it was already time to leave to get on the transports to the Academy. I only ate half of my breakfast but it was better than nothing. The three of us grabbed our suitcases and met mom at the car. She drove us to the nearest boarding dock for the transport. I just stared out the window, watching everything I was familiar with vanish before my eyes. I had my weapon, Forbidden Darkness, on my back. It was a sword that could transform into a gun and scythe. Like all students at Signal, we had the opportunity to design our weapons. Onyx had a lance that could transform into a sword with a long blade, which he called Destiny Destruction. Trevor had a staff that could either be two katana swords and a sniper rifle, which was bestowed the name Flame Strife. We were all proud of our weapons. "You'll be fine Dust. You'll make friends there before you know it. Like Uncle Jaune once said, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'" Mom's words were a sense of comfort. Uncle Jaune was right. If I remember correctly, it was his mother that told him that from what Onyx has told us. A smile crept on my face, giving my mother a sense of comfort from seeing her little girl smile just before she left to start a new journey in her huntress training.
It took us no more than thirty minutes to reach the boarding dock. I grabbed my suitcase after Trev handed it to me. Mom placed a loving kiss on each of our foreheads. "Take care of each other, understand? Even if that means you're all put on different teams," she said to us. We all nodded then said goodbye to her. Trevor took my free hand in his, squeezing it slightly to reassure me that everything will be alright. I gave him a smile and we stepped onto the transport. I looked over my shoulder one last time to see mom crying as she watched her three children walk away from her another time. It broke my heart to see her like that. She hardly cried in front of us or in public. The last time I saw her cry like this was when mom died in her arms. Then the transport doors closed behind us.
***
It wasn't a long ride to Beacon. I walked to the window, looking at the world below us. Onyx and Trevor joined me. "Hey Trev! Onyx! Dust!" A familiar voice called our names. We all turned our heads to see our cousins, all of them, walking over to us. Richie and I were the closest than the rest of us combined. He hugged me and lifted me off the ground. I just laughed as he spun me around in the air. Everyone else laughed too. I was finally happy again. I was surrounded by family. It comforted me.
"I see that Aunt Blake gave you Aunt Yang's scarf," Noelle pointed out. I nodded, feeling a sense of pride overcome me. "It looks nice on you. Goes with your outfit perfectly." I knew she was just being herself, so judgmental and picky. Justine elbowed her sister in the ribs, gently though. Noelle wasn't pleased and gave her sister a glare. It wasn't very intimidating in my opinion.
"So, what's the plan? Are we trying to stick together for teams," Peter asked everyone.
"That's what we hope to happen. We're all probably will be launched at the same time tomorrow at initiation," Trev spoke.
"Just to be uplifting here, Dust, I think you got what it takes to be a leader," Richie encouraged. Did I really have what it takes to be a leader? He gave me a soft smile while almost everyone just kept blank expressions.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves Richie. We don't know what the headmaster is going to do," Onyx stated. My brother had a point. We didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow. It was then when a message from Glynda Goodwitch, yes she's still at Beacon after all this time, welcoming us to Beacon Academy. It was only minutes later when our transport came to a dock for us to exit on. We all grabbed our bags and walked out together. I took in a deep breath and walked with a slight sense of confidence filling me. This was it. I was now a student at the prestigious school known as Beacon Academy.