"EWIC! EWIC NO GO!" bawled a little two year old girl latching on to her brother's arm like a koala.
"Come On Heather, don't make this harder…." begged Eric, looking vexed as he tried to soothe his little sister in the middle of the Airbus terminal.
People passing by looked at the teenager's situation with a mix of both sympathy and amusement as they watched the teen attempt to pry his arm loose from the stubborn crying toddler.
"Nuuuuuu!!! No Go! Ewic Pweeeeaaase! No Go Pweeeeaaase!!!" Heather continued to wail prompting Eric to look pleadingly at his mother who was just recording and taking pictures, giggling a bit.
"Mom…. Please…."
Ruby let out a small laugh as she pocketed her Scroll and went to help pluck her screaming toddler off Eric.
"Nuuuuuu!!!!" Heather cried, making grabby hands at her brother but Ruby held her tight.
"Sorry Hazy, but Eric's gotta go to school to become a strong Huntsman like Daddy," Ruby said, bouncing her little girl in her arms.
"Staaaaay!!!"
Eric gave a soft smile as he ruffled Heather's locks. "I promise I'll call you as soon as I can, Hazy. I'll come back and visit next break alright?"
Heather's wailing quieted down to whimpering as she pouted and nodded, hugging her brother's hand.
"Ewic Pwomis?"
"Pinky Swear," he assured holding up his pinky which Heather clutched with her tiny hands.
Suddenly an announcement for final boarding to New Beacon Academy chimed over the system, prompting Eric to pick up his luggage.
Ruby gave her son a big kiss to his forehead before placing a hand to his face.
"You're gonna do great, Eric. I love you~"
"Thanks. I love you too, Mom~" the teen replied with a smile before kissing his sister as well. "Will miss you Hazy~"
"Ewic Miss!" Heather said loudly as she gave her brother a kiss on the cheek.
Eric smiled as he went to board the airbus as he waved to his mother and sister one last time.
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Soon the airbus had taken off as Eric found his seat.
He was both nervous and excited. He finally was old enough to enroll in a Huntsman Academy and of course, his first choice was his mother's Alma Mater, Beacon Academy.
Of course, now it was called New Beacon Academy after it was rebuilt a few years after the tragedy of its fall.
"Eric!" A male voice behind Eric said. Eric turned his head around and saw his childhood friend, Luke Vasilias. Luke had white hair with light blue highlights, grey eyes, and a pale complexion. Eric knew Luke was going to enroll in New Beacon too for the same reason.
Eric beamed excitedly as he waved his friend over. "Luke, come over. I saved you a seat."
Luke walked up to Eric with a small smile. He was wearing his usual navy blue jacket, white dress shirt with a black tie and black dress pants. As he took his seat next to Eric, he couldn't help but notice just how excited his friend looked as he was practically vibrating with anticipation.
"I see someone's eager to start the school year."
Eric looked to Luke as if he said the most obvious thing in the world.
"Well yeah! We're going to New Beacon to become Huntsman!" Eric said with a bountiful of excitement. Luke slightly chuckled.
"Well if I have to be honest, the prospect is pretty exciting, " Luke said with a small grin.
"Ya Damn right, it is! " Eric huffed proudly, making Luke chuckle again as he patted Eric's head.
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2 hours later
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Eric and Luke stepped out of the airbus
and on to the New Beacon's dock.
"Wooooooooooaaaaaaaah….. " Luke said in awe, eyes widening the instant he say the new and improved Academy.
"You've never been here?" Eric asks with a confused expression. Luke's expression turned to an expression of shock.
"When were you here!?"
"My last birthday," Eric answered matter-of-factly. Luke just gave an "oh" with raised eyebrows and a slight shrug.
"Lets go to orienta-" Luke started but he began to sniff the air. "heads up, I smell popcorn."
Smelling it himself, Eric suddenly froze in his tracks, his eyes growing wide with terror.
"ERIIIIIIIC!" a female voice shrieked excitedly before a body slammed into the teen's back.
"ACK!" went Eric as he and the new body went flying forward into a tumble, rolling over each other until he ended up sprawled face down a good distance away from Luke while the attacker sat on his back beaming happily.
"Hey Cuuuuuzzzzin!" the attacker, revealed to be a female Faunus with a long, thick, dark yellow tail and long honey blonde hair.
"Hi Honey…."came Eric's blunt muffled reply, already having resigned to his fate.
Luke gave a whistle as he walked over to the two wheeling his and Eric's luggage.
"20 feet, I think you just set a new record."
Honey gasped as her big amber eyes saw Luke, prompting her to jump up and hug him.
"Luuuuuuuke!!!! It's been forever!"
Luke chuckled as he returned the hug.
"Oh don't mind me, I'll just be one with the floor…."they both heard Eric mumble sarcastically before the two realized Honey was still standing on Eric's back.
Tightening his hold on the girl, Luke lifted Honey off his friend and put her down before they helped peel Eric off
the ground.
Eric looked unamused at his cousin as he dusted himself off as said cousin sheepishly grinned.
"Hehe…. Hi?"
Eric rolled his eyes as he replied with a big bear hug, picking Honey up in his arms as he spun around with her making the girl squeal with laughter. "Great to see you again Honey!"
Honey giggled, hugging Eric as soon she was put down.
Luke smiled as they separated before getting a good look at Eric's cousin.
"Honey Xiao Long, how you've grown!" Luke exclaimed with pride. "Last time I saw you, you were just hitting puberty!"
"Right? Check out my girls now!" Honey exclaimed sticking out her-
"HONEY! For the Gods! We're in public!" Eric exclaimed in hushed appallment before grabbing his stuff. "Enough with this! Lets go!"
"Right!" exclaimed the other two as they did likewise, the trio quickly power walking towards the orientation hall.
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As the trio began to see the orientation hall door. "All I'm saying is-" Luke started but he interrupted because he knocked into a dark gray haired guy and fell to the ground.
"Oh hey, are you okay!?" The guy asked.
"Yeah, no thanks to yo….. " Luke trailed off when he saw the guy offer his hand to help him up.
He was the most attractive man Luke had ever seen. Spiky dark grey hair pushed back by goggles only served to draw attention to his gorgeous electric blue eyes, brought out by his pale complexion.
Luke's eyes could not help but travel. He appeared to have on a skin tight black shirt with electric blue accents. Clearly the guy was well built, but his black motorcycle jacket made him look a bit more slender than his structure implied. He also appeared to be wearing gloves.
He had low riding dark grey tactical pants which only gave Luke a slight peek at the defined bone structure of his hips.
Luke was so busy staring he had not realized his jaw had hung open a bit.
The other guy tilted his head a bit in concern.
"Uh…. You ok?"
Luke quickly snapped to reality and took his hand. "Uh-yeah! Thank you!" he said hurriedly as he let himself get pulled to his feet.
"Sorry about that again," the other guy said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh nonononono, It's fine! Absolutely fine! You're fine! Wait- what?!"
The other just chuckled. "I guess I'll see you around!" he said good naturedly sending him a slight finger gun before adjusting the strap of his tote bag and walking off.
Luke just sighed before he realized Eric and Honey standing either side of him with shit eating grins.
"What?"
"Noooothing~!" the cousins chimed together as they skipped ahead.
"Seriously what?!"
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"Welcome future Huntsmen and Huntresses of New Beacon, " Glynda Goodwitch, the headmistress, said.
Although visibly much older, Glynda was still the beauty she was in her youth. Just like the saying goes, she aged like fine wine. Her disciplinarian tendencies had not faltered either as she cracked her crop, sending a loud snap throughout the hall, prompting those who remained inattentive to finally pay attention.
The trio were varying in their reactions . Luke was paying rapt attention, clearly in awe of Glynda's command. Honey seemed unfazed as she looked bored while Eric…
"Oh my gods! Oh my Gods! It's Glynda Goodwitch! It's Glynda Goodwitch!" Eric whispered excitedly, his silver eyes practically having stars in them.
"Calm yourself you dolt!" Luke hissed, smacking Eric on the side of the head, prompting him to shrink a bit.
"Before we proceed I have some news. I will, regrettably, be officially retiring as of next term. Until then, I will still be running this school alongside my successor. Please welcome your new headmaster, Oscar Pine," Goodwitch announced. Oscar stepped up to the stage, waving to everyone.
Eric managed to catch his father's eye as they both waved to each other. The teen gave his father a reassuring smile and thumbs up.
Honey smirked but raised her eyebrows in surprise as she folded her arms. "This is going to be interesting," she quipped only to be quickly hushed by Luke.
Honey simply responded by casually flipping him off while Luke just raised an eyebrow at her.
Goodwitch stepped aside, prompting Oscar to take his place in front of the microphone.
"Thank you Ms.Goodwitch for that lovely introduction, " Oscar said. He then looked to the crowd, visibly nervous.
"Hello everyone, I am Oscar Pine…" Oscar said; losing the words he wanted to say when he realized all eyes were on him.
'How did you do this every year Ozpin? Wait, I can actually answer that question myself.' Oscar thought.
"You think he's got stagefright?" Honey whispered to Eric only to receive a small elbow to the arm.
"Give him a minute!" he hissed not looking away from Oscar who cleared his throat.
"Dear student, you have all arrived here to seek the knowledge and skills required to be capable Huntsmen and Huntresses. As cliche I am aware it sounds, I do sincerely believe that each one of you has the latent potential to be someone greater than you yourselves believe you are!" Oscar spoke with a hand over his heart."As the next Headmaster of New Beacon, I hope that we will be able to help each other grow as student and teacher. I look forward to seeing what this new school year will bring. Thank you."
At the end of his opening speech, claps were heard all around the hall as Oscar gave a small bow. He looked up a bit and smiled in amusement as he could see his son clearly clapping enthusiastically next to his cousin and childhood friend.
Straightening up, Oscar continued.
"As per tradition of Beacon; Tonight, you shall be sleeping here in the hall. I advise you all to get acquainted with your future schoolmates. it just might give you an added advantage for tomorrow's initiation," Oscar grinned. "In the meantime, feel free to get familiarized with the facilities of New Beacon. You are all dismissed."
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Students began flooding out of the hall to explore the school while some remained behind to designate an ideal spot for nighttime.
The Trio was among those who remained behind as they all scanned the area for a place the three could set up shop.
"Ooh-Ooh! How about there?!" Honey pointed excitedly to a corner next to the large windows framed by pillars.
Before the boys even had time to reply, Honey had made a beeline for it. Luke and Eric just looked at each other with resigned looks and shrugged, following after her. By the time they got there, Honey had unfolded a large rack from her bag and had tied a purple hammock to it before she dived into it, completely satisfied as she swung back and forth.
"Looks like you're all set up," commented Eric in amusement, rolling out a sleeping bag next to her hammock stand. Luke did likewise next Eric.
"What can I say? Me likey my sleepy times~" a satisfied sigh floated from the hammock as the boys could only see Honey's tail curling and swaying in time with the swings.
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The trio was at the locker to get their weapons. Eric was full of happiness when he reunited with Gentleman's Rose. He embraced the cane. "My Baby! I missed you!" Eric dramatically wailed as he embraced his cane.
"Luke, if ya find yourself in a relationship like Eric and his cane's, stay in it…. " Honey said with a dead panned expression which earned her a glare from her cousin.
However, Luke wasn't paying attention. He was stealing glances at the grey haired fellow from earlier, standing in the corner straightening his goggles in shiny reflection of his locker plate. This did not go unnoticed by the cousins.
Honey whistled casually as she sidled next to Luke as she teasingly leaned on him.
"You knooooow…..I could always be your Wingwoman if you ever need one~"
Luke bristled looking flustered with a small scoff. "What are you talking about? We just bumped into each other earlier!"
"And yet, you've been staring at him with heart eyes for 20 minutes, " Eric pointed out, poking Luke's cheek.
Luke pulled out his cutlass, Riptide, and pointed the tip to Eric's chest. "Don't. Touch. Me." Luke growled menacingly.
"Yes sir," Eric quickly said with a hint of fear. Honey chuckled.
"A few days ago you went head to head with 'The Next Torchwick' and you get scared by the guy who once wrote a poem about you, " Honey said while snickering.
Luke's started to blush, looking flustered. "Shut uuuup!!!!!" Luke hissed frantically looking at Eric who appeared not to notice.
In truth Eric was just pretending as he turned his back to them. 'I knew about it all though….well for his sake I'll just keep quiet about this…'
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That night, the entire hall had turned into one big slumber party as students were scattered all over in their sleeping bags and pyjamas. Glynda had already called for Lights Out, but of course as soon as she left, there were a few people who decided otherwise.
Some had already formed friend groups and were whispering away in anticipation for the next day while others were just ready to call it a night.
Luke was one of those people as he slipped into the silkiness of his sleeping bag wearing dark blue pyjamas, his long hair now undone and cascading down his shoulders. He sighed a bit as he attempted to unwind and close his eyes.
"Luke."
Luke stirred a bit but decided to ignore the voice.
"Luuuke…."
Still ignoring.
"Luuuuuuuu-"
"Oh my gods, what?!" hissed Luke sitting up and glaring at Eric who was lying down, eyes wide in excitement.
"I can't sleep."
If Luke's eyes rolled any harder, his pupils would have rolled back into his head. "No shit…."
"I'm too excited."
"You don't say…." he answers sarcastically as he lay down again, ready to fall asleep, this time with a sleeping mask.
"Luuuuuke."
"Shut uuuup…."
"But Luke…."
"Bother Honey…"
"She's asleep."
Luke lifted his mask a bit to look at the Faunus, who was indeed out like a light, lightly snoring in her hammock. Luke just sighed as he sat up again.
"Eric, I'm tired and we have an early day tomorrow, can't you just count sheep or something?"
Eric just stared back at him with large doe eyes. "But I'm not sleepy…"
Luke rubbed his face in frustration before looking sympathetic at Eric. "Awwww poor dear…." he cooed as he patted Eric's head. "You want me to help?
Eric smiled at his friend. "That would be n-"
WHAM!!!!!
Suddenly Luke grabbed his head and headbutted Eric hard. By the time Luke had released his friend, Eric had passed out from the impact and lay down with swirly eyes.
Luke smirked as he finally lay back down and pulled his blindfold back over his eyes. "Good Niiiight Eric~" he softly said in a smug voice as he finally fell asleep with no interruptions.
The night carried on as everyone, including the rebels finally fell asleep, blissful silence falling over New Beacon Academy.
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Meanwhile, all the way at a maximum security prison in Atlas, all was quiet as Atlas guards patrolled the halls and perimeter of the building.
Up in the surveillance room, a couple of guards sat bored staring at the screens as if watching the world's most dullest soap opera. However, bored as they were, they kept vigilance with their surveillance until they noticed their station glow orange briefly.
Curious, they slowly turned around, only to find a giant figure towering over them.
Before they could even react, the figure swung at them
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The silence of the prison was instantly broken when a loud explosion was heard going off. This prompted the guards to quickly run towards the source of the noise.
It was coming from the East Side of the facility, where all the high profile criminals were housed.
A few guards who arrived first could see the door blown off a single cell at the end of the corridor, thick smoke billowing out from it and filling the hallway. Visibility was low, but the guards were able to make out an orange flash through the smoke.
Quickening their pace, the guards arrived to find the cell empty, save for a single metal hoop on the floor. As the smoke began to clear, the nameplate on the door became more visible, revealing the name of the prisoner whose cell it belonged to:
Neopolitan.