Beacon Academy was the most prestigious and overall best Huntsman Academy in all of Remnant. While this was a sentiment that was mostly echoed within Vale itself, the superiority of Beacon Academy was backed by more than just local pride.

  Beacon simply had a reputation that the other three academies couldn't match. Not only was it run by Ozpin, the one man who could claim to be the most powerful person in all of Remnant, Beacon simply produced the best results out of all the Academies, in terms of the quality of their Huntsmen. Even if the other continents liked to claim that they could match or outdo the performance of Beacon students, there was a reason why most people bet on a team from Vale to win the Vytal festival, assuming they were actually putting their money on the line.

  Perhaps an even stronger indicator of Beacon's superiority could be seen in the student demographic itself. Beacon was somewhat of a melting pot of cultures, and while the idea of whether that in and of itself was a strength or not was a subject of controversial debate, the multicultural population of Beacon was still an irrefutable symptom of its superiority. Atlesians dominated the student population of Atlas Academy, with the same being true of Mistralians for Haven Academy, and Vacuans for the other one, but Beacon was a melting pot simply because prospective Huntsmen from around the world knew that if you wanted to be worth anything, Beacon was where you went.

  Perhaps this reputation was cyclical in nature, where Beacon would only produce the best Huntsmen simply because the best students would be inclined to graduate from there, but regardless of how they'd achieved it, it was always assumed that Beacon students were an elite class above the rest.

  Pyrrha had come to Beacon with a similar assumption in mind, but after less than a week of being a student there, she had to wonder if her assumptions had been wrong, since it seemed like half the school couldn't even walk properly.

  "Oh no, I tripped!" a supposedly elite Beacon student said, as she practically threw herself forward in a direct path towards her twin brother's chest.

  Though Pyrrha might not have been able to react if she hadn't been prepared for it, after a week of similar "accidents" happening around Atlas, she was quick to step forwards to intercept the student.

  There was a soft thud as the student hit her chest, and though the student fluttered her eyelashes up at her for a brief second, the hazy look in her eyes quickly faded into confusion when she seemed to realise that she was staring up at an entirely different Nikos than she had been expecting.

  "Oh my," Pyrrha said. "Are you alright?"

  The student blinked a few times, and though the student gave Pyrrha a polite nod, Pyrrha's eyes narrowed dangerously at the sound of the student clicking her tongue quietly in disappointment.

  "I'm fine," the student said, as she stepped away from Pyrrha to stand back on her own feet. Or at least she tried to.

  Keeping a firm grip on the girl's shoulders, making sure to angle herself in a way that hid her face from Atlas, Pyrrha didn't let the girl escape, keeping her close against her. Though the student scrambled to regain her footing, when she realised that Pyrrha was purposefully stopping her from doing so, she looked up to glare at her.

  Any demands that she might have had to let her go seemed to die on her lips when she saw Pyrrha's expression.

  While Pyrrha could barely see anything, with how her narrowed vision was painted with a dangerous tint of red, with how close the girl's face was to hers, she could still see her own twisted smile reflected in the girl's wide eyes.

  "Careful," Pyrrha said, her voice calmer than she felt. "You may pass out if you stand up too fast."

  The girl blinked a few more times, as if trying to figure out what was going on, but whether her brain managed to catch up with the situation or not, it seemed that her body instinctively recognized the danger that she was in, as Pyrrha felt every single muscle in the girl's body tense up.

  "Don't worry, I'll let you go once I'm absolutely sure you won't accidentally trip and get yourself hurt," Pyrrha said, her "smile" widening as she spoke. "We wouldn't want that to happen, would we?"

  The girl shook her head quickly.

  "Good, good. I'm glad you understand," Pyrrha said, her grip tightening on the girl's shoulders even more. "Well, I'm sure you'll be fine soon, but why don't we get to know each other a little better while we're here? What's your name?"

  The girl remained silent, either not seeming to realise she'd been asked a question, or simply being too terrified to answer it.

  "I asked you a question," Pyrrha said, her voice inadvertently taking on a sing-songy tone.

  That seemed to snap the girl back into reality.

  "Violet Enbridge, ma'am," she whimpered.

  "Violet, huh," Pyrrha said. "I haven't seen you around Beacon before, Violet. Why is that?"

  "I'm a second year student, ma'am," Violet said quickly. "We don't have the same classes."

  "Oh, that explains it," Pyrrha said. "I don't wish to brag, but I'd say I have a very good memory, Violet. I was afraid of the possibility that I'd been rude and had forgotten one of my dear classmates' names, but if we haven't shared a class, I suppose that explains why we haven't been introduced before."

  Pyrrha giggled, and Violet nodded violently despite there being no question, almost bashing her forehead against Pyrrha's with how close they were.

  "Speaking of introductions, I've been quite rude haven't I? I'm sorry. It may be a little arrogant of me to say this, but it's just that I'm so used to people already knowing who I am that I forget to bother introducing myself at times," Pyrrha said, her narrowed eyes widening, though her mouth still held the curve of a smile. "Do you happen to know who I am?"

  "You're Pyrrha Nikos," Violet managed to say.

  Pyrrha waited for a moment, still staring into Violet's wide eyes.

  "Go on," Pyrrha said, once Violet didn't continue. "You know the rest."

  "The invincible girl," Violet whimpered.

  "Ah," Pyrrha said, letting her smile soften, though she didn't let her grip on Violet's shoulders slacken. "So you do know who I am."

  "Yes, ma'am," Violet whimpered.

  Pyrrha smiled down at her for several seconds in complete silence, not letting her expression shift in the slightest, even as a thick sheen of sweat ran down Violet's face as her eyes darted around, as if searching for something that would tell her what she could do to escape.

  When Violet's eyes seemed to land on something directly above and behind Pyrrha's head, Pyrrha gave her a wide smile and turned her own head to look directly at Atlas, who was peering curiously down at them.

  "Oh Atlas," Pyrrha said. "My dear twin brother. It seems I've made a friend."

  "I admire your charisma, dear twin sister," Atlas said, nodding his head seriously. "May I ask something?"

  "Go ahead, Atlas," Pyrrha said.

  "Emerald forbids me from hugging others without their explicit and prior permission," Atlas said. "But I did not see any such exchange between you and your friend, I can only assume your new friend had communicated her consent without needing to resort to words. Is it possible to learn this power?"

  Pyrrha shook her head.

  "You misunderstand, Atlas," Pyrrha said. "This isn't a hug."

  "Is it not?" Atlas asked. "I must admit, it certainly looks like one."

  "It might seem like that, but the context is not quite the same," Pyrrha said. "I'd compare this more to a medical procedure. She nearly tripped and hurt herself, so I'm simply keeping her secure until I can be absolutely certain that she won't place herself in a situation where she might hurt herself again. Speaking of which-"

  Pyrrha looked back down at Violet, who flinched back and looked away.

  "I'm sure Violet here has recovered from her fall, hasn't she?" Pyrrha asked, lifting her hand to grab Violet's chin and force her to turn back to her.

  Seeing no way to escape, other than to quickly agree, Violet tried to nod, only to be stopped with Pyrrha still holding her chin.

  "Yes, ma'am," she said instead, sounding like she might cry.

  Pyrrha kept her eyes locked with Violet's for several long seconds, not blinking until finally, she turned her head and let out a long sigh.

  "I just can't help but worry about you, Violet," Pyrrha said. "I'm sorry for being rude, but you were rather clumsy. I'd hate for you to have any more accidents, just because I'm not around to catch you."

  "It won't happen again, ma'am," Violet whimpered. "I promise."

  Pyrrha glanced back at Violet, keeping her narrowed eyes locked with hers for several long seconds until finally, she gave her a smile.

  "Good girl," she said, gently slackening her grip on the girl's shoulders and helping her up to stand back on her feet. "I'll see you around, Violet."

  Violet nodded twice, and turned around to sprint away as fast as she could. Pyrrha kept her eyes narrowed as she glared down the hall until the echoes of the second-year girl's footsteps and sniffles faded away completely.

  "Damn girl, you scary," Yang said, cutting through the relative silence.

  As if triggered by Yang's voice, most of the students surrounding them seemed to snap out of their frozen state, and hurried towards their next class, eager to get away from the scene as soon as they physically could without outright running from it.

  "I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Yang," Pyrrha said, turning to the blonde girl with a polite smile.

  "Whatever you say, ma'am," Yang said, with a grin. "And here I thought I'd mastered the shovel talk. I gotta step up my game."

  "And when have you used the shovel talk before?" Ruby said, glaring suspiciously up at her sister with her hands on her hips.

  "Oh look at the time," Yang said, looking down at her wrist. "We should head over to class if we don't want to be late."

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  "What are you looking at? You don't even have a watch," Ruby said, right before Yang started to sprint down the hallway. "Hey!" she shouted, before she started to chase after her.

  "Regardless of her intention, Yang does have a point," Ren said, seeming completely unbothered by everything that had happened in the past five minutes. "We should get going to class."

  "Eh, it's Port. Not like we'd be missing out on much," Mercury said.

  Though there were a few mumbled agreements in the group, with no real reason to drag their feet any longer, the large group minus Ruby and Yang made their way towards their next class.

  "Is something wrong, Weiss?" Pyrrha asked.

  "Huh?" Weiss said, seeming startled by the sudden attention as she perked up at Pyrrha's presence. "Nothing's wrong. Why would anything be wrong?"

  Pyrrha frowned, wondering if she should suggest that the girl should go to the school infirmary instead of class, but not wanting to be rude, she refrained from doing so. While she couldn't help but be a little concerned for Weiss's health, given her propensity for her entire face to devolve into a feverish red at the strangest of times, like now, Weiss herself didn't seem eager to draw attention to her own condition.

  With Weiss's showcase of skill in Port's previous class, handling a Boarbatusk with barely any effort, Pyrrha supposed that she should respect Weiss's skill as a Huntress enough to trust her to take care of her own health, but with how she had to nurse Weiss to health from a near unconscious state during their first meeting, it was admittedly difficult to ignore the strong first impression it had made.

  "If you say so," Pyrrha said anyway.

  Pyrrha trailed behind the group with Weiss, partially because and because she wanted to make sure Weiss was okay and partially because her emotions were still running a little too high after threatening the second-year student to want to interact with others in a significant way.

  "Would you do that to me if I tripped into Atlas?" Weiss asked, in a quiet enough voice that Pyrrha was almost convinced that she'd imagined it.

  "Hmm?" Pyrrha said, not entirely sure what Weiss was talking about, but when she looked down at Weiss, and at the way the small girl was drawn into herself, her hands folded and her shoulders drawn tight together as she hunched down awkwardly, she realised what the small girl was talking about.

  "No," Pyrrha said. "You don't have to worry about that."

  "Really?" Weiss asked, with more surprise than Pyrrha might've expected initially. Pyrrha could swear there was also a little bit of disappointment in Weiss's reaction, but she decided that she was probably imagining it.

  "Indeed. I know I've been a little harsh when it comes to protecting Atlas from those girls," Pyrrha said, unintentionally hissing at the memory, but quickly gathering her wits as she smiled back down at Weiss. "But you're different, Weiss."

  For some reason, Weiss's eyes widened at that. "I am?" she asked, like she was utterly baffled by the suggestion.

  Pyrrha couldn't help but giggle quietly at Weiss's sheltered reaction. She supposed it made sense given that she was as close to a literal princess that you could get in these modern times, but it was still a little amusing how Weiss didn't realise that those girls weren't actually "tripping" into Atlas's chest.

  Pyrrha felt a wave of amusement travel through her, despite the guilt she felt at the realisation that she had inadvertently scared Weiss so badly by making her think that she could get angry over a trivial mistake like that. Her guilt deepened a bit, when she realised that Weiss was probably more worried about tripping randomly, given her unexplained condition seemed to make her go weak at random times.

  "I wouldn't be angry if you tripped into Atlas, Weiss," Pyrrha said, trying to appease the sheltered girl's worries as explicitly as she could.

  "Are you sure?" Weiss asked, somehow sounding hopeful and remorseful in equal measure.

  "Positive," Pyrrha said. "I'm sure nobody else would mind you tripping into them either."

  Weiss suddenly went stone-faced, despite her skin flushing with an even angrier red.

  "What?" she asked, her voice flat, as if she couldn't even fathom the idea.

  Pyrrha gave a sympathetic smile to the sheltered girl, wondering what sort of life she must've led up until this point for her to think that anyone would get angry at her for a simple mistake.

  "I certainly wouldn't mind," Pyrrha said.

  The only warning Pyrrha had for what would happen next was a quiet gurgle, before the petite girl's legs seemed to fail her and she started to topple to the floor. While Pyrrha hadn't been expecting it, her reflexes were thankfully sharp enough that she could rush forward and catch Weiss.

  Pyrrha frowned as she watched Weiss convulse and twitch against her chest, and though she wasn't confident enough in her medical skills to say that Weiss was having a seizure, she could only assume that whatever was happening here wasn't good.

  Immediately, she started to reconsider her previous stance on Weiss's condition. While she had been willing to stay quiet out of respect for the heiress, she couldn't help but worry about what might happen if something like this happened out in the field, while she was surrounded by Grimm. It wasn't a pretty scene to imagine.

  Pyrrha frowned, not knowing exactly how to handle the delicate situation. Weiss's aims to become a Huntsman despite her condition were admirable, but there was a fine line between courageous and foolhardy.

  "Oh no, I tripped!"

  Immediately, both Pyrrha's emotions and her head did a 180 degree turn, as she turned to glare at whoever had taken her moment of distraction to approach her twin brother again. With the event being so typical at this point, Pyrrha had to wonder what went through these women's heads for them to think that they could convince anyone that a Beacon student would so casually trip over their own feet-

  Pyrrha blinked in confusion, her anger dissipating slowly when she remembered that yes, there were some students that were capable of such a thing.

  "Are you unharmed, my friend?" Atlas asked.

  "Y-yeah," Pyrrha's own partner said, giving a sheepish smile up at her brother. "Thanks for the save, Atlas."

  "It was my pleasure," Atlas said, throwing his head back to laugh up at the ceiling, before looking back at Jaune, his face hovering barely an inch away from his.

  Jaune stared up at Atlas for a moment, before he seemed to realize what situation he was in and tried to pull his head back as far as he could.

  "Umm, Atlas?" he said. "You can let go now."

  "Alas, I am afraid I cannot do that, my dear friend," Atlas replied, pushing his head forward to match the distance that Jaune had pulled away. "This is a medical procedure. I must keep you secure until I am absolutely certain that you are not at risk of harming yourself once more."

  "Oh, I guess that makes sense," Jaune said with a nod, though he stopped when he realised that his head was rubbing against Atlas's pompadour with the motion, and turned his head to the side. "Could you at least not hold me so close?"

  "It is possible that may dampen the effects of the procedure," Atlas said. "I must admit, I am not a practitioner of the medical arts myself. I am simply mimicking Pyrrha's action as best as I can."

  Jaune opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Atlas reached up to grab his chin and force him to look back at him. Immediately, Jaune's lips snapped shut and his eyes widened as Atlas stared deep into them.

  It was at this point that Pyrrha started to wonder if she should step in, for Jaune's protection rather than Atlas's, but before she could say anything, she felt her arms flying outwards as Weiss exploded from her grasp.

  "AAAARRRRCCCC!" Weiss roared, as she stomped forwards and grabbed Jaune's collar to somehow rip him out of Atlas's grip.

  "What did I do?!" Jaune cried out as Weiss somehow lifted him up by the collar despite him being more than a foot taller than she was.

  Pyrrha raised her eyebrows, unable to hide her surprise at the amount of power that the petite girl could summon, especially when it seemed that she was still afflicted by her condition. She couldn't help but wonder if she had been hasty in assuming that the heiress's condition made her unsuited for the life of a Huntsman.

  "You get your hands off Atlas," Weiss hissed. "You-you-you harlot!"

  "What?"

  While Pyrrha's initial reaction was similar to Jaune's not quite understanding what Weiss was talking about, it only took a moment for her eyes to narrow with focus as she reconsidered her partner's intentions. She had to admit that it was quite convenient that Jaune had "tripped" into Atlas, right at the moment that she'd been distracted.

  As Pyrrha studied Jaune's face for any hint of less-than-pure-intentions towards her brother, a difficult task with how violently Weiss was shaking him around, the rest of their group looked on at the scene with differing reactions.

  Blake looked at the heiress's violence with disdain, Ren grabbed the back of Nora's collar and dragged her away before she could join in, Atlas studied Weiss's medical techniques with a intense focus, while Chroma continued to snore quietly on his back, just as she had been for most of the day.

  "Hey, Merc?" Emerald asked, as she stared blankly at Weiss as she continued to shake Jaune around in a fit of jealous rage. "Could you do me a favour and get my weapon from my locker? I might lose the will to shoot myself in the head if I go get them myself."

  "Hell no," Mercury said. "What gives you the right to order your team leader around? You want me to execute you for treason?"

  Emerald looked up at the ceiling, not even having the energy to summon a sigh as she reconsidered every single life choice she had made up until this point.