a/n: Something I began a long time ago, originally was supposed to be a giant oneshot kinda deal. I need time to formulate the ending again, so it's going to be a two-parter. (Or three-parter? Who knows)

Ruby's POV, set at Beacon, where pretty much everything is the same, except they're all kind of just ghostbusters hahaha.

But this story, focuses on a girl and her faithful companion.

It's my first day at Beacon Academy and I'm totally excited!

…

Iiiiis what I would like to sound like, but to be honest? I'm a little creeped out. I mean, don't get me wrong, the school is super nice and all the buildings are so tall and big and they look sort of new, I guess. But there are tons of rumors about this place. Like, really, tons of them.

Beacon Academy is a school that trains hunters and huntresses, and we exterminate evil spirits. Demons, poltergeists, banshees, phantasms, take your pick! It's one of the most prestigious schools in the world. Yeah, I know, right? It's a pretty big deal.

But the thing is, my sister Yang, who's been attending this school for a couple years, told me that it's… *gulp*… haunted.

That's right. Beacon Academy is haunted. The school that trains professional ghostbusters is actually overflowing with them! Or, um, so they say. But really, when people say stuff like that, there's gotta be a reason, right? Apparently there are ghosts that appear around campus, and weird stuff happens at night, especially in the dorms. Yang even told me that one girl from her first year got so scared, she dropped out after the second week of classes. Crazy, huh? Ehehe… yyyeah.

It can't be that bad though, right?

Right?

Okay, so I said that the campus looked new, and it does! But, there's a lot of Victorian era architecture around here and it's cool and all, I mean it must be really nice during autumn, but it definitely adds to the idea that this is just one big giant haunted house. The buildings painted a dark color, and I appreciate the mood they're going for and all, but really? They couldn't have gone for a more cheery color? One that doesn't spell out 'ominous, scary home for ghouls'?

Oh, Yang's coming this way. Phew!

"Rubes! Gotch'yer bags right here. Want your big sis to show you to the dorms?"

I scratch my head and crack an embarrassed smile, "Yeah, that'd be cool. I'd probably get lost on my own, and I would rather not do that here."

"Aw, don't worry, I won't leave you hangin' then. Oh, do you already know who your roommate is? I picked up your room assignment for you on the way out here. Take a look."

She tosses me a folded up piece of paper, and I open it up and run my eyes across the page.

"W… Weiss? Schnee. Weiss Schnee. Huh, that's a pretty name."

"You've heard of her, right? Daughter to a big fancy schmancy company? I dunno Ruby, she sounds like a handful already."

"Well, maybe? But maybe she'll turn out to be super nice. I guess I'll find out when I get there," I cast my gaze to the ground and kick at the concrete walkway with my boot, "Yang, is it… uh…"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Is it really.. haunted? Beacon, I mean. Have you ever seen a ghost? That you weren't killing—uh, fighting, I mean."

My sister just picked up my bags and started toward the dorm buildings.. is she avoiding the answer? I'm about to ask again when she turns back around to me with a big silly grin on her face, "Heck yeah it is!"

Great. Totally great.

Oookay. Going up the stairs… up the stairs.. turning the corner to the residence halls.. No sign of paranormal activity: check.

Oh, we had a chandelier in the foyer, didn't we? I've seen enough movies to know those things mean trouble. Lemme just turn around really quick and look to see if… nope, chandelier shows no sign of movement: check.

"And we're here!" Yang turns the knob of my dorm and we walk inside.

I'm checking around the room, and it's actually kind of normal. Two beds, two desks, two closets, and zero ghosts. Whew. I think the coast is clear for this room, at least.

Yang drops my bags on one of the beds and plops down right after them, "Guess the Fan-Schnee girl ain't here yet?"

I give her a look. "Fan… Schnee?"

"Yeah, Fan-Schnee! You know, like, fancy and Schnee put together. Ah? Aahhhh?"

"Ew, Yang! That one was so bad." I shake my head as I inspect more of the room; more specifically, I head straight for the closet to check on something.

"What?! That one was gold and you know it."

"Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that, Yang.. now let's see. And.. hup!" I swing open the closet door and take a peek inside.

"Mind telling me what you're doin' over there, sis?"

I look inside both closets, just in case. "I'm checking for that thing that's usually in the closet. It's like a square hole in the wall, and it has a removable panel and it always leads to some dark, dangerous place but the main character goes in there anyway!"

"Uh. Say what now?"

I look at my sister's dumbfounded face; seriously? We literally just watched a scary movie two nights ago, and it had one of those things! "The secret compartment! You can't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about."

Sometimes Yang can be so—

The coldest chill I've ever felt in my life just ran up my spine. S-something just bumped my leg.

I must've stood there frozen for a long time, because Yang waved her hand in front of my face, trying to get me to snap out of it.

"Ruby? You.. okay?"

I spring up and latch onto my sister's back for dear life, "Y-Yang, something's here! It hit my leg!"

I probably scared her too, she was spinning around the room with her fists trying to find whatever it was I was talking about, "Where?! What is it?!"

"I-I don't know, but it's gonna eat me! It's probably some awful, scary ghost thingy and it's mad that I know about the secret closet compartments!"

After a few more seconds, Yang slowed her spins to a halt before putting her hands on her hips, "Ruby. I don't see anything."

She's unhooking my arms from her neck, nooo! "B-But I felt it, it ran right past my leg, I swear!"

She sighed. Noo, no I hate it when Yang sighs, it means I'm right about something.

"Listen, Rubes, I'm sorry I told you the school was haunted."

I stop panicking and look into her eyes, "So.. it's not haunted?"

"Oh, no. It totally is."

Of course.

"But I'm sorry if me telling you that ruined your chances of being comfortable here. I promise, nothing bad's going to pop out in the middle of the day."

I widen my eyes at her sentence, but she corrected herself before I can voice my worry again.

"In the middle of the night either! Okay? The school may be haunted, and yeah, there are definitely some weird things that go on, and I won't guarantee that you won't feel like you're being watched sometimes, but there aren't any hostile spirits on campus. We woulda taken care of 'em by now, you know?"

I look around the room again before sighing and telling her, "I guess so."

She smiled weakly, probably feeling sorry that I was already so afraid of the place, "Alright well I'm gonna go to the mess hall to meet up with Blake. Once you're settled in here, come on down, yeah? I'd.. well, uh, I'd really like for you to meet her."

Ah yes, the mysterious Blake. Yang talks a lot about her, all the time. Really, she actually never stops. Heh, it's kind of adorable. Shaking myself out of my previous scare, I try to be the best supportive sister I can be, "Oooo, you two roommates again this year?"

"You know it! You're lookin' at the admin's favorite girl. They always give me what I want."

"Must be nice to feel so cozy in a place like.. this," I open the bags on my bed one by one to start unpacking before Weiss shows up, "I'm just gonna get this done and I'll meet you up, okay?"

"Alrighty! See ya there! Oh, and, say hi to Fan-Schnee for me, will ya?"

"Can you quit it with that one? It's not working, I'm telling you," Yang's puns are really good sometimes, but other times… It's.. they're not..

"Yeahhhh yeah, if you say so!" I hear her shout from down the hall. Wow. She's fast.

Finally I can start unpacking my stuff. It's not a lot of stuff, really, but if what Yang says is true, then Weiss might be a little picky about how our room looks. After all, she might be.. Fan-Schnee.. yeah, nope, doesn't work.

"Let's see, clothes, books, scythe-polisher, cloak…"

Bzzt bzt

The lights flickered. They.. they just flickered.

….Okay, Ruby. Calm down. Surely it's just some short circuiting or something, right? Psssh, yeah. Definitely. Lots of students are coming in and turning on their lights, it's probably happening in the room right next to me. Let's just get back to unpacking this stuff. Quickly.

Clackclack clack

I shoot straight up. The desk.. the desk just rattled. I'm not imagining it, am I…?

I walk over to the desk to investigate the noise, when—

Thud!

"Wh—!" Holy crap, something just crashed against the closet door! Didn't it?! I run over to the closet to catch whatever the hell it was that's pulling these pranks on me; I mean, it's p-probably mouse, right? Heh heh… a really, really big mouse..

I run my hands over the smooth surface and check for any signs of wear.. but there's nothing. There's nothing here. "Maybe it's just my nerves acting up." Hanging my head in shame, I turn back around toward my bed to finish setting my side of the room up, and there's a Corgi sitting on the bed, and man, I sure am hungry, maybe I'll just meet Yang up right now and—wait, what?

I stop mid-step, dead in my tracks. My eyes shift slowly to the little black figure on my bed. There's… there's a dog, and it's on my bed. There wasn't a dog here a second ago, that I am one-hundred percent sure of.

I'm standing there staring at it for a few moments, before I raise my hand up to wave at it, "H-hi there, puppy! Was that you making those noises?"

"Bark!"

"Okay, I'll take that as a yes." Awesome, it's just a cute puppy. Maybe he wandered here from one of the other rooms? Yang didn't tell me pets were allowed at Beacon. I head toward the bed in hopes of petting the little guy, heehee, I bet he's so soft and..

…

Trans…lucent?

"Arf, rruff!"

My hand went straight through his body. He stood up and barked something at me, and my hand is.. right. Through. His. Body.

"W-WWAAHH!" I stumble backwards into the desk, knocking off all the books and items I'd just placed there.. but seriously, CAN YOU BLAME ME!? THERE IS A GHOST DOG ON MY BED. I REPEAT: GHOST DOG. ON MY BED.

"Ruff ruff!" Oh thank you, two little ghost barks out of you is not enough to make me feel better, thanks!

It feels like my eyeballs are popping out of my head, I'm staring in disbelief at this little dog, and he's.. he's staring back, but, w-what the heck?!

The little dog twitches his ears towards the door of the room and listens for a moment, before hopping off the bed and.. disappearing?!

"I.."

"Excuse me, is anyone in here?"

A beautiful girl with snowy white hair walks into the room with a few suitcases of luggage, "I'm told I'd be sharing a room with someone addressed as Ruby?"

I'm still tangled up on the desk, kind of off it, but kind of not. "Y-Yeah, that's me."

She looks at me with questioning ice blue eyes, "..Are you always so intimate with your furniture?"

I struggle to pull myself up, dust myself off and extend my hand, "Uh, no, this was just.. I'm Ruby. It's nice to meet you, Weiss."

My hand is hanging in the air there for a moment, but she eventually decides to shake it out of obligation.

"Well, Ruby, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking this side of the room, since you have already laid claim to that clearly very attractive desk." She whips past me and lugs her suitcases onto the unoccupied bed. "It's nice to meet you too, by the way. Oh, and was that you that screamed just a moment ago?"

"Oh! Oh, no, of course not. Must've been the wind, hehe."

She narrows her eyes at me, but shrugs and goes back to unpacking her stuff. Crisis averted.. I think.

But seriously, what was with that dog?

a/n: What'cha think? You guys like a Beacon Academy that trains ghost hunters?

Though the whole alternate universe kind of thing is still just a backdrop of what I'm trying to portray with this little thing. I hope I can remember how I felt when I started it.

As always, please let me know!