Caution: this story contains themes of substance abuse.

Hey there! new story! I have 10 chapters pre-written, and will try to upload at least weekly, perhaps twice weekly (nothing's in stone quite yet). My job may take me away from wi-fi and render me unable to update the story at times. I may even miss multiple uploads. Unless I specifically say i'm done with the story, it's safe to assume it will continue eventually. I encourage feedback and constructive criticism, just please don't be a jerk about it.

Ruby Rose stood at the gates of the prestigious Beacon Academy. The first twenty one years of her life weren't exactly filled with the happiest memories or the greatest choices, but she was ready for a fresh start. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, feeling the sun and the energy of the college environment wash over her. Her smile faltered when she felt the world shift beneath her.

Oh crap…

The world wasn't shifting, she realized. She was. Ruby had leaned a little too far, aided by the weight of her duffel bag, and now it was too late to stumble onto her feet. This is gunna hurt… To her surprise, she didn't fall directly onto the concrete walkway. No, Ruby managed to take someone down with her in her clumsy spill, just to her luck. And, just to her luck, she managed to tick off the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Ruby was stuck sitting on the ground as she admired the girl, who was already on her feet.

Even ruffled from the fall, her bright white hair shined brilliantly in the sunlight, and her white and blue clothing helped paint the image of an angel in Ruby's head. Her icy blue eyes seemed to sparkle and the clumsy girl would have even wagered the beauty's features were soft and angelic. When they weren't twisted into anger like they were now, accompanied by harsh words Ruby barely registered.

"-Are you even listening to me!? Are you dense and clumsy!? What do you have to say for yourself!?"

"Who are you…?" Ruby couldn't keep the wonderment from her voice. The beauty looked over the clumsy girl in amazement. She had dark red hair, black jeans with a hole in one knee, black 'skate' shoes, and an unknown top under a worn red hoodie (which she wore despite the heat) with only the left sleeve rolled up. How did she even get into Beacon? She must have impressed someone… somehow…

"She's Weiss Schnee." A dark dressed girl with equally dark hair spoke over her book from a nearby bench where she sat. Ruby recognized her as her sister's friend, Blake. "Daughter of the patriarch of one the most powerful and influential companies on Earth, the Schnee Mining Company."

The beauty, Weiss, smiled. "That's right."

Ruby frowned. Crap, she's rich? There goes any chance I had… she's probably wondering how I even got into Beacon…

"The same company that's fighting the Dust Regulations Act just to keep a few dollars in its pocket, despite the rising number of Dust abusers." Blake continued, injecting a subtle venom in her voice.

"My father has genuine reasons to oppose that bill! It's not our responsibility to keep people from poisoning themselves with Dust's less reputable properties!" Weiss shot back defensively.

"It is your responsibility when your system has so many holes for the dealers to smuggle unrefined Dust out of!" Blake pressed on.

Weiss was red in the face and at a loss for words. With a hmmph! she turned on her heel and stomped away.

Ruby watched the angry angel recede into the distance, unable to look away even as she worked on getting to her feet. A blonde figure sidled up next to the redhead, watching her watch Weiss. "Total lady boner." The blonde tactlessly teased.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled her face flushing. Sigh "Whatever. Not like that's ever gunna happen, especially after I knocked her over…"

"Ah, well." Yang brushed off, laying an arm over Ruby's shoulder. "Can't win them all, little sister. Need help finding your dorm?"

"Nah, I think I'll be okay." Ruby answered. Yang nodded and took off with Blake.

Blake and Yang had been friends since almost the moment they met, when they shared a dorm here last year. Blake was over almost the entire summer and the two recently learned they'll be dorm mates once more, much to their enjoyment. They had already spent a whole year defining and compromising on dorm rules between themselves, and they had not looked forward to repeating that process with total strangers.

Ruby decided she wouldn't immediately head to her dorm. She wanted to walk around, try and meet new people. She encountered a few interesting characters on her mission. A boy named Jaune was vomiting in the bushes, a little overwhelmed by the public transportation he took here. There was a duo of one boy, Lie Ren, who looked like he needed coffee and a girl named Nora who looked like she had way too much. Ruby also encountered Penny, a girl she would have sworn was a robot if she didn't know better.

Eventually the redhead decided it was time to look for her dorm. The problem she quickly ran into was that she indeed needed help finding her way around the massive campus. "Yup, totally lost…"

Weiss Schnee was sitting on the right-side bed of her dorm, waiting to unpack. She was uncomfortable doing so until she had a chance to talk to her dorm mate about any dorm rules between them. Except the sun had already set and they hadn't shown. Are they late? Are they lost? Who would let themselves get lost without finding their dorm first? That girl, probably… wait… no… The door opened and Weiss's worst fears were realized. Ruby Rose stepped into the dorm, with nothing but an over-large duffel bag.

While Weiss was concerned to be dorming with the clumsy girl, Ruby saw the rich girl and saw her second chance to make up for earlier. She had to try at this point, if they were going to be stuck together for the year. Ruby tossed her duffel on the free bed and turned to the white-themed girl. "So, you like the right bed? That's cool, I kinda like the left side. I'm even left handed!"

"It's not like you can choose that." Weiss berated, and saw Ruby's face fall because of it. She probably feels bad for earlier, and I did react quickly. If I'm stuck with her, I shouldn't make her an enemy. With those thoughts and a sigh, Weiss stood and spoke again. "I would know. I'm left handed as well."

"Really?" the redheads eyes lit back up. "Then put 'er there!" She stuck out her left hand for a handshake. Weiss took it reluctantly. "My name's Ruby Rose! Sorry about my klutz attack earlier…" Ruby apologized when they finished shaking. "I'll try not to knock you over next time, promise!"

"So there will be a next time?" Weiss shook her head.

"Most likely…" Ruby admitted. "So, I just have my duffel. I didn't think the room would be this big… I'm used to sharing anyway, I'll just take the dresser and desk closer to my bed and you can do whatever with the rest of the space."

"Are you sure? What about decorations?" Weiss asked, turning her back to Ruby to unpack.

"I might bring stuff from home during a break, but I honestly don't have much. I think I can fit it all over my own bed and desk." Ruby turned back to the white girl and decided to try a bit of flirting. "I don't mind looking at white and blue anyways. They're surprisingly pleasing to the eye…"

Weiss stopped her unpacking and turned back to the redhead, who had already turned around herself to open the duffel. Weiss had been hit on in the past, she worked hard to look good after all. But that was… really good… Why was her heart beating like this? Just shock… I mean, who ever thinks their roommate will be gay?

Thank you, Yang, Ruby thought as she felt Weiss stop short from her comment. Ruby herself was a little surprised it went so well. She resolved not to try flirting again for a while. She just raised the bar high on herself, and with her luck, would stumble headlong into that bar next time she jumped.

The first day of classes was mainly introductions to the courses and how that particular teacher would handle their class. She noticed she shared an arithmetic class with Weiss, though she didn't think Weiss saw her. At lunch Ruby ate with Penny, but after classes she made time to hang out with Yang and Blake. She found them sitting on the grass, leaning against a tree.

"So how was your first day?" Yang asked as she saw her sister draw near.

"I got classes, college, a dorm, a new friend and a crush. I feel… normal." Ruby responded with a smile. Normal was perfect.

"Crush?" Yang asked quickly.

"Who's the new friend?" Blake covered the blonde's blunt question equally quickly.

Ruby looked to Blake, answering her question first. "My new friend's name is Penny! I think she might be a robot… Yesterday I thought it as a joke, but I ate lunch with her and now I'm not so sure…"

"And what about this crush?" Yang asked again, not letting it go.

"Well… guess who I ended up with as a dorm mate?" Ruby eased into the answer. "Weiss Schnee! The girl I knocked over yesterday."

"You have a crush on the daughter of a Dust magnate?" Blake asked.

"I don't think that should matter. It's behind me." Ruby deadpanned.

"So, you swear up and down you know an android and you have a crush on a girl whose only social interaction with you was to yell at you." Yang summarized. "Are you sure you're not back on you-know-what?"

"Yang!" Ruby shouted, her face horrified.

The blonde immediately realized her mistake and jumped up to hug her sister. "You're right, bad joke. I'm sorry Rubes…"

Ruby returned the hug and they broke away. "Look, no one at Beacon has to know about that stuff, especially Weiss. Please." The redhead asked them both, grabbing her right arm with her left hand and nervously rubbing a spot just below the inside of her elbow with her thumb.

"You got it." Yang promised. Blake nodded in agreement.

Back at the dorms, Weiss was just entering after finishing her last class of the day. Ruby's not back yet. Weiss silently berated herself. She couldn't get the redhead out of her mind all day, and she couldn't fathom why. There was just something about the awkward, clumsy girl that was somehow captivating. She thought over her day. All her classes went well, but she noticed she shared arithmetic with her dorm mate. I don't think she saw me, though… wait, why is that a bad thing? Weiss also noticed an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach when she saw Ruby eating lunch with another girl.

Weiss violently shook her head, trying to shake the girl completely from her thoughts, to no avail. With no studying required after a day of pure course introductions, she resigned to trying to figure out her dorm mate. She was awkward and clumsy alright. Their conversation after unpacking proved her earlier flirt was a fluke. Still, she didn't try to be anything but herself, even around Weiss. It was as if her being rich and powerful didn't bother her… Ruby was treating Weiss as an equal. That's it… Where most people either wanted to share the perks of her name or used it to judge her harshly like the raven haired woman on the bench, Ruby was just acting like Weiss was just another girl. And it was refreshing. It was nice to be treated as a friend.

Later in the evening Ruby returned. Weiss was watching a news report on a large TV she had moved in here to replace the mediocre dorm television. The anchorman sat next to a banner that read 'Dust Devil' with a picture of the multi-colored geode.

"Twenty years ago now, Dust was discovered in massive deposits. Hailed as a unique energy alternative to the dwindling fossil fuels, the unique, self-ionizing crystal soon hit the global market." The anchor man spoke. The upcoming topic was still fresh enough for the new stations to require history lessons for its average viewer. "But in recent years, another use for the unique discharge of natural, unrefined Dust was discovered by less reputable individuals."

"Why are you watching this? Don't you already know this stuff?" Ruby asked, an uncomfortable feeling rising in her gut.

"You would be surprised what one can learn by taking information from all angles." Weiss told her. "I intend to take control of my father's company one day, and want to learn all I can."

"Once finely ground and dissolved in hot water, it can then be injected directly into the bloodstream." The anchorman continued. "The high is described as an 'unbridled bliss' surpassing even MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, in its effectiveness. The substance in this form has been proven as highly addictive."

"Well, can we watch something else?" Ruby asked, not wanting to hear the rest of the report.

"In a minute." Weiss told her, oblivious to her dorm mates unease.

"Despite this, is it still surprisingly easy to get one's hands on unrefined Dust, and it remains popular as a cheap and effective high. Overuse has proven to affect a person's ability to feel natural emotions." The anchorman carried on, also oblivious to his viewer's unease. "And that is where the Dust Regulations Act comes into play. Should it pass, unrefined Dust will be officially classified as a narcotic, making it more difficult for individuals to obtain. At the forefront of the charge against the bill is Schnee Mining Company, which boasts the first and largest Dust mine to date, and whose CEO claims that it will also make unrefined Dust harder for mining and energy companies to obtain."

The screen changed to a video feed of a man with white hair and a large white mustache. Weiss's father…

"The world is still in a delicate transition, both globally and financially, of changing over to using Dust over fossil fuels. We need unrestrained access until that change is solidified." He spoke to a crowd.

"Some would claim that your rushed mining and delivery methods are directly responsible for the high availability of unrefined Dust as a drug." A reporter shouted from the crowd.

"The bad decisions of others are not our responsibility." Mr. Schnee stated shortly before taking his leave.

The screen changed back to the anchorman. "The bill is up for vote-"

Weiss handed Ruby the remote, who flipped over to a cartoon channel quickly, knowing the channel number by heart.

"Cartoons?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"Give 'em a chance, Snow Angel." Ruby replied.

"Snow Angel…?"

Ruby didn't respond that time, afraid of what would fall from her mouth next. After a few minutes of watching, Weiss had another question for her dorm mate. "Ruby, are we friends?"

Ruby turned to meet Weiss's blue eyes. "Do you want to be friends?"

"I don't think I've ever had a friend before… not a real one anyway. Just people who only want access to my money or my body." Weiss admitted, though she wasn't sure why she told Ruby so much.

"In that case, we are definitely friends. You have no choice." Ruby announced. "Everybody needs a good friend. Even rich girls."

Just like that? "Now, wait a minute… shouldn't we talk about, I don't know-"

"No choice, friend!" Ruby shouted, cutting her off.

Weiss smiled and shook her head. "Dolt."

Ruby smiled back. "Snow Angel."