The Second Step: Chapter 1

Duel

A/N: Well, lets see if you people like this. If this story is well received, I may just keep writing.

However, a few things first:

One: This is a continuation of RWBY. It is done in the style of Monty Oum, does not contradict the canon of season one at any point, and relies heavily on extrapolation from the existing canon or where that fails, fan consensus on what should occur. You can more or less consider this RWBY Season 2.

Two: I have no intention of supplementing the actual canon. Once Season Two comes out, you can more or less consider this entire story and any stories based off of it non-canonical.

Three: THIS IS NOT A TYPICAL RWBY FANFIC! This fanfiction has no overarching plot or main arc, it is merely a series of mini arcs that focus on completing the characterization and backstories for teams RWBY, JNPR and CRDL, along with other characters. In later stories (and there will be later stories) I will write in a more serialized style, but for right now, I just want to gift the characterization and back stories for Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Yang, and CRDL. Other characters will appear, with Original Characters, both created by myself and borrowed from my friend Ttran2323, present. Bear in mind, I am working very hard to avoid Mary Sue's and people blatantly stronger than Canon.

And that is all I have to say about that.

Note: This fanfiction does not represent the canon of RWBY. Furthermore, I Agent Washington, can attest that the writer does not own RWBY, Roosterteeth, or any Intellectual Property associated with Roosterteeth. Special thanks to Ttran2323 for beta reading this and H'te Rarpee for being my test audience, this story wouldn't be its high quality without them.

Red like roses fills the sky and led them to the place they'll die.

White is cold and for her lie, the stars are gone, the end is nigh.

Black these beasts did steal their might.

Yellow beauty killed their light.

The Near Future:

Ruby gulped, her knees finally giving out underneath her. Her friends, teammates, even a choice selection of her enemies were standing around. Yang was staring at the oncoming doom, with blank, terrified eyes. Jaune and Blake were kneeling and praying to whatever gods they could conceive of to intervene. Nora was hugging Weiss like her life depended on it. Weiss herself seemed almost serenely composed, but her grip on Myrtenaster was tenuous and shaking. Ren was having a fairly decent conversation, a little talk about the end of life as everyone present knew it, and the level and rational words might have been comforting, had he been speaking to anyone at all. Pyrrha sat and just wept in fear.

'Why are we here, if we couldn't stop this? We were supposed to win.'

A wave of gray Ash and orange Dust washed up the sides of the tallest mountain in the world, while a deathly red sky glowed painfully above the summit. The storm of crystal and powder swung up the precipice that she and her allies occupied. Just as the tempest cleared the rim, a thought flitted through Ruby's mind.

'How did this happen?'

(Monday)

"Sorry kiddo."

"WHERE'S MY MOM!?"

RINGRINGRINGRINGRING-SLAP!

Ruby groaned as she shut off her alarm clock and pulled her pillow over herself, shutting out the light. The cool softness of the pillow brought her morning exhaustion welling back up. She started to drift off again…

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" Yang ripped Ruby's blankets off her bed, pulling the poor girl off with them. Ruby groaned again, wanting to get back into the rhythm of sleep. 'Just a few more hours,' she thought. 'Please? Somebody? Anybody? Ugh.'

Ruby pulled herself off the floor. Around her, Team RWBY was already getting into the full swing of the day. Yang was back to cooking in the corner kitchenette, Blake was in her bed reading, and Weiss was yelling about how her clothes kept getting mixed in with someone else's. Today it seemed that her clothing had been entangled with four green tailcoats with gold trim. Ruby herself was soon dressed up and raiding the fridge for milk when she saw it.

Creamy white frosting. Delicious red and gray highlights. Succulent sweet strawberries. It was… HER BIRTHDAY CAKE!

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou." Ruby flashed over to her older sister and was hugging her like it was going out of style, disregarding her sisters plea's to stop and let her put down the hot frying pan. Or to stop and let her breathe. "Is the first really that close!?"

"Well, Yeah, Ruby. Put me, Down, Please." Yang was summarily dropped by her younger sister and, with the constricting arms off her chest, allowed to inhale. "It's just this Sunday. But you'll have to wait until then for your cake Ruby. Mwuh ha ha ha ha!" Yang laughed at her sisters food invoked agony. "Just imagine those delicious, scrumptious, sensuously chocolate coated strawberries, all wrapped up in that velvety cream and toppings, all for you- and you can't have it!" Yang gloated over her sister, while Blake tried to figure out if the scene before her was more suited to Make Out Paradise or Ninja's Of Love, and Weiss tried to keep herself from yelling or laughing at their antics.

Alas, for the luck of the cake, and Ruby's sixteenth birthday party, the warning bell rang not a moment later. What followed was the throwing of clothing on and food into mouths, and a mad dash to Oobleck's history class.

Yes, just the beginnings of another peaceful day for Team RWBY in Beacon academy. Well, not really. If it was peaceful, the author would be out of a job.

"I'm telling you Weiss, red is the new black."

"Then pray tell Ruby, why do you wear black?"

"Because black is awesome. Why do you wear white?"

"My coat fades into blue, and has a red lining. The balance between these elements improves my appearance overall. You just have solid black and red tonalities, you don't have any gradation, your appearance is too…differential."

"…I think it looks nice," Ruby said with blank eyes. Weiss surpressed a groan.

"I lost you didn't I?"

And here folks, is where Weiss's social refinement goes up against Ruby's, err, lack thereof. The pair had been separated after Oobleck's class and had met back up for their lunch hour. Now they were heading back to their dorm.

"Maybe around the part about balance," Ruby chuckled. Her hand scratched at the back of her head.

Weiss groaned again. "Color balance is very important for clothing. It can be the difference between the identification as a prim and proper young woman such as myself, and, ugh, you."

Ruby's swelled up with tears. Sput balled her fists underneath her mouth. "What's wrong with me?" she whimpered.

"For one, your clothing. It doesn't have color gradation. For another, your attire overall is skewed to the left. It sends all the wrong signals."

Ruby's eyes cleared up and she visibly straightened. "So, nothing important then."

Weiss's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets, as if the mere concept that your appearance was meaningless was alien. She just put a cold fist to her forehead and counted back from ten. "No Ruby. Nothing important at all."

The two girls walked on in silence, Weiss enjoying the lull in the conversation. If there was something you came to appreciate after spending time with Ruby, it was-

"Hey Weiss?"

-silence.

(Huff) "Yes Ruby?"

Ruby twiddled her thumbs, for once uncharacteristically abashed. "Well, you know, I was wondering..."

"Yes?"

"Why do you change in the bathroom?"

Weiss blinked. Ruby gave a little grin. The grin practically screamed; "I can't believe I just said that."

Weiss rested her hand on her forehead. Sometimes Ruby was insufferable, and sometimes she was plain mad. And she had no talent with segues. "Why? Do you? Need to know?" She bit out.

Ruby shrugged, now committed. "I don't. I just want to know. We've been sleeping in the same room for three months now, and we haven't once changed in the same room. Don't you trust us?"

"Well, yes. Its just that I'm a proper lady."

"What does that mean? You think we're all boys?" Ruby smirked at the reaction she invoked in her teammate.

"No. Not at all. I'm, I'm, modest." Weiss gestured to herself. "I've spent years refining myself. I'm just modest."

Ruby cocked her head quizzically. "Oh come on. Me, Yang and Blake are fine with it."

Weiss subtlety twitched. 'Am I really having this conversation in broad daylight?' To Ruby though, she said, "You three can do whatever you want. I just prefer my modesty."

"But it'll help you bond with us."

"Thank you, but no thank you. Now can we stop talking about this Ruby?" Weiss folded her arms, indicating the end of the conversation.

"Oh come on."

Well, indicating the end of the conversation to anyone but Ruby. "Please stop talking about this Ruby. It's not something you talk about in public."

Ruby blinked. Then; "You have never been to Mistral have you?"

Weiss shrugged. "No. Why would that be relevent?"

Ruby shrugged and tapped her chin. "We really don't care about modesty in my home city. We just do what we want. Or at least, we used to. I haven't been in Mistral in..." Ruby counted out on her fingers, then held up two for Weiss to see. "- two years. I haven't been to Mistral in two years."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Fascinating Ruby. We have different cultural standards of modesty. Oh, woe are are we, those who change with me."

Ruby clapped appreciatively. "That was really good Weiss! Can you come up with poems like that on the fly?"

Weiss shrugged, ending that particular line of conversation.

Silence returned. Weiss enjoyed it, for however long it lasted. Ruby would probably just blurt out her next question without any particular segue into the topic. In fact, Ruby would start talking in exactly three, two, one...

"You wanna fight?"

Weiss rose an eyebrow. Come again?"

"Do you want to fight?" Ruby had that look in her eye. Not the 'I know how to kill that Nevermore' look or even her 'let's paint our nails' look, but her 'I have a great bad idea' look. "We'll fight. We'll blow off steam. You know, just some fun practice. We have some time before our next classes, so we can really go to town on each other. What do you say?" Ruby had been watching Weiss all morning. After returning Ren's shirts, Weiss had proceeded to suffer through Yang's breakfast and Oobleck's history class. And after the class, had given her notes over for Ruby to study. The red girl could see her friend had some stress to work out of her system, so what better way the a fight.

Weiss thought about it. The chance to fight Ruby, and show off her skills. It took all of her will to not smile. She hadn't always liked Ruby, but Ruby had become her close friend after a few months. Weiss tried to tolerate her friends antics, and Ruby tried to tone down her silliness when she was with her. And in the end, the two had become friends.

Not that that stopped Weiss from saying yes.

Training ground 343 was selected. It was a large, enclosed building with six enormous lights hanging from the ceiling. On the side was a concrete floor. On the floor Ruby took out three magazines and Weiss had some of her private supply of Dust. The duo had agreed to go on the tick of the hour. The clock rolled down. A handful of Hunters in training had agreed to stand aside and watch.

Weiss finished loading rounds of Dust into Myrtenaster. Ruby locked a magazine into Crescent Rose and chambered a round. The clock ticked down towards one in the afternoon. "Last chance to back out Weiss."

"What?" Weiss raised an eyebrow. "We're fighting for the fun of it. Why would I back out?"

"No reason. I just always wanted to say that." Ruby smiled. "Oh and by the way."

Weiss looked at the clock. It struck one on the dot. "Let me guess. This." Weiss twirled and filled the air with Dust. An application of her semblance filled glyphs with the water Dust. In less then a second, six bolts of Dust slammed loose.

Ruby dodged in a surge of movement and retaliated with a shot from Crescent Rose. The round actually hit home, but Weiss's Aura negated the damage. The two struck at the same time, Weiss releasing a surge of flames and Ruby charging fast enough to rocket through the fire.

Their blades clashed with a flourish of sparks. Ruby stopped just behind Weiss and swung her scythe. Weiss half turned and sidestepped, dodging the long armed blow. She stepped into Ruby's radius of attack and with a flash thrust at Ruby's shoulder, only for it to stop dead at her opponents Aura.

Ruby moved like lightning, vanishing and reappearing at the opposite end of their battleground. 'I can't get too close.' A swing buried Crescent Rose into concrete. Ruby aimed and pulled the trigger, reloaded and fired again. Weiss coated the ground in slick black ice and started skating like a pro, constantly adjusting her speed and direction to dodge Ruby's bullets.

"Stop moving!" Ruby shouted.

"Why should I?" Weiss retaliated. A glyph filled behind her and sent her rocketing towards Ruby. The red girl barely removed Crescent Rose from the ground to parry the blow, but a riposte was met with only thin air as Weiss hurtled up and over.

Ruby used her semblance, Acceleration, to close the gap and tried to land a blow. But Weiss didn't consider herself close to perfect because she couldn't dodge. Every step Ruby took forward was a carefully measured step back for Weiss. A blast of acid Dust ate away the ground between them, and one step was a step too far. Ruby tripped forward and only just saved herself from falling face first on to the ground.

That was all the time Weiss need for a devastating blow to the head that took out almost half of Ruby's Aura. Ruby gasped in surprise, feeling the force behind the strike, and reacted with a swing of Crescent Rose that sent Weiss sprawling.

Squeezing the sniper-scythe's trigger, Ruby cleared away from her friend and paused to think. 'There has to be someway to stop her. The moment she sees me, she'll tear me, wait! If, she sees me.'

Ruby loaded another round and blasted out a light. Then another, and another. Six blasts shattered the bulbs and plunged the room into darkness.

Ruby pulled the magazine from Crescent Rose and replaced it. Weiss would need to use Dust to use her sword in a ranged attack, and that would mean that her sword would light up and expose her. Then, all Ruby would need to do was aim.

For a moment, silence was the only thing that existed in the room. Then...

"Oh Ruby." Weiss sang. Ruby raised her eyebrow. "Want to know something?"

Something pricked her back. Ruby's eyes widened. 'How?'

"I can see you." Ruby ran halfway across the room and straight into a wall. Ruby rubbed her head in pain. Suddenly, a glyph appeared underfoot, activating and sending Ruby flying.

Weiss activated her Formic semblance, lines of hard light spiraling around Ruby and encircling her and forming another glyph. Ruby reacted and this time, she cleared the circle of light before it went off.

In the dark, Weiss tracked Ruby. It was phenomenally easy to lead the girl, but she didn't expect her ruse to last long.

Sure enough, leaping from another glyph, Ruby saw the faint outline of its castor. 'Got you.' Ruby planted Crescent Rose, sparks flying as she ground to a halt. That little maneuver gave her an idea.

Ruby leapt at Weiss's last known location and swung Crescent Rose, the blade sparking across the ground. In the faint blackness, Weiss's legs became visible, her eyes glowing an unnatural blue from the Aura pulsing through her body. Ruby swung Crescent Rose blindly, using sparks and her pole arms greater length to try for contact. A blue glyph appeared below her.

"Not this time!" Ruby tapped into her semblance and swung her blade with a vengeance. In a surge of force, Weiss was sent flying as her opponents blade caught her midriff.

A beeping could be heard as Weiss's Aura pool finally dropped into the red. The match was over, Ruby had won.

A helpful huntress used her Aura to conjure a flame in her hand as another turned on the spare lights. Ruby smiled as she pulled Weiss to her feet. "Not bad. Really made me sweat." Ruby smile shrunk to something friendlier. "Let's do that again sometime, okay."

Weiss brushed off her friends hand and grabbed Myrtenaster. She thoroughly ignored her friend, and only glanced at the clock. The clock read 1:23.

"We need to go Ruby. We're going to be late to Port's remedial Aura class." Ruby kept on chatting as they left the room, Weiss struggling to maintain her composure and stop herself from lashing out at her friend.

Losing had been a big blow to her, and it wasn't something she intended to repeat.

Remedial Aura class

Professor Port went through role call. "Team CRDL?

"All present."

"Are Luke Timijin and Alex Mace of Team FAIL present?"

"Yes sir."

"Natalie Night and Garnett Ginger of Team GENY?" Natalie Night shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

"Eh, Garnett isn't here. I don't know where he is." Professor Port went down his class roster and marked a dash next to Garnett's name. The bell still hadn't rang to signal the end of the passing period, and he was teaching a remedial class anyway. The boy could afford a moment of lateness, as long as he arrived before the lesson actually started. He continued down the list.

"Jaune Arc and Nora Valkyrie of Team JNPR?" No answer. Port looked over at where the two typically sat and only saw empty seats. He marked them as absent. "Team-."

Ruby and Weiss burst in, panting from the run. "Are (gasp) are we late (gasp) or something?"

"No Madame. You and your friend are right on schedule." Port marked them as present. "Please take your seats and be ready to take notes." The duo scrambled to their seats. Weiss pulled out her notes and a pencil and reviewed her notes as the bell rang. Port finished the roll call with team VALR and began the lesson.

"As we covered yesterday, there are seven classes of semblance; Spotters that can improve their senses, Camo's that can hide their souls from the Grimm, Accelerators that can alter their inertia at will, Formics that can shape solid but weak objects out of their Aura, Metaburners that can regenerate limbs and set fires, Polari that control magnetism, and Leechers that can absorb Aura and use them or move them to others. But we did not cover the semblance signature."

"Semblance signatures are distinct traits of someone's Aura. They do not seem to perform any specific tasks, but are unique to every user of Aura. For example, my semblance signature is lightning." Port folded in on himself and exploded outward ripping his shirt off and Roaring! Lightning crashed! Thunder boomed! The room shook! "Look upon this glorious visage of manhood and tremble!"

Everyone stared at the shirtless Professor.

"...Maybe you're not ready for that." Port went to his desk and pulled out one of a dozen spare shirts. For those of you wondering, he needed a dozen shirts in his desk to replace the shirts he tore on a daily basis. "Now, why don't we see some of your signatures. Any volunteers?"

The class gradually went through the meat grinder of demonstrations. Ruby raced around and covered the room with Rose Petals. Weiss formed a glyph and let it dissolve into white feathers. Argentine covered the roof with her formic Aura and let red rain fall. Cardin Winchester eventually came up and filled the room with golden cracks. Each demonstration was met with Port's approval and a light clap from the class.

Weiss went through her notes as the class proceeded, noting some potential uses for signatures such as indicating when someone had run out of Aura and other general notes. Professor Port looked at the clock, and nodded to himself. "Well class, it seems to be that we have run out of time. Please hand in your essays on Aura and Aura related death at the door."

The class shuffled out and turned in their papers. Weiss put away her notes and set off towards her next class, only to be stopped when Ruby called her over. "Uh, Weiss, could you, you know, lend me your notes? Please?" Ruby gave her teammate and friend a puppy dog eye stare that didn't really do anything, but Weiss handed over her notes for the second time that day. Because that's what friends do for each other.

And speaking of what friends do for each other...

"Hey Weiss, where do you think Jaune and Nora are?"

"I don't know Ruby."

Ruby grinned to herself. "Well, let's go find them then!"

Weiss groaned as Ruby dragged her off on another run around. So much for a bit of peace and quiet after class.

A/N: I can't believe it! Chapter one, is done! Here's to you RWBY and Roosterteeth for making me want to write again!

Be kind, rewind and review.