Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. If I did I would get the top five most popular RWBY fanfic writers and hire them to work on episode scripts.

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"(Y/N) Grey."

I feel my face heat up when I look at his picture. Oh Oum he's gorgeous! Shaking my head I berate myself for thinking that. Come on Winter! This kind of behavior is not why General Ironwood choose you as his replacement. Focus! Looking back over the application I realize there is a lack of information on him. All the basic things such as height, weight, schooling, etc are all present and accounted for but information like semblance or weapon type are all blank. Even the family section is left blank except the next of kin which has only one person named. Usually an application this empty is not even considered for a job like secretary let alone one of the suggestions for lieutenant/assistant to the headmaster of one of the four best schools in the entirety of Remanent. Yet here it is. Looking down at the bottom of the paper I see a note saying "recommended" on it and is signed by Ironwood. Flipping through the other applications I notice that none of them have a note like (Y/N) does. Why would General Ironwood recommend this person above all these others based on a blank application? Well whatever is going on I must still keep a level of professionalism and not just pick this (Y/N) character based on his looks. No matter how much I want to run my hands through those beautiful (H/C) locks. My checks gain a blush at the thought. Pull it together Winter! You are the headmaster of Atlas Academy! Act like a headmaster! I look through the rest of the applicants and find two others that are very much capable of being the lieutenant/assistant. I place them on top of (Y/N)'s application and then get comfortable in my chair. I sit there and fidget in the chair for a little bit. Just one more look at (Y/N) wouldn't hurt right?

Time Skip A Couple of Days

I walk into the battlegrounds and my eyes narrow in on (Y/N) instantly. Oh Oum he's better in person! I regain my composer I check out- LOOK OVER his attire. He wearing the basic Atlesian soldier uniform just without any colored highlights. Instead of having a sword or gun like your average soldier has and in its place is a... cord? Odd but to each his own. My eyes move to the applicant to his right and look him over. His wild mane of brown hair runs almost all the way to the ground. His attire is that of the traditional samurai. His two swords are at his side and as I approach he bows. To the left of (Y/N) stands a black knight. He rests his hands on the hilt of his sword. The weapon is large enough it could be considered a club instead of a sword and the sheath is so large it can act as a shield. Both of the two are a head taller than (Y/N) and are built larger too. In hindsight this may not be a fair fight for (Y/N). Maybe I should have just chosen these two for this tryout. Oh well too late now. If he fails he fails. Time to start this.

"Attention!" At this, all of them shot to attention. "You are all here to try out for the role as my lieutenant and assistant at Atlas Academy. Your very first test is a "trial by combat". Whoever wins this will move on. If that person fails then the other two will be called back here and go through this trail again until I have my lieutenant. Understand?" The brown haired samurai shouts out first.

"Understood." Then his counterpart follows suit.

"Yes, ma'am." (Y/N) simply nods. I narrow my eyes at him.

"I said understand?" He nods again without uttering a word. "You are on thin ice soldier." He doesn't flinch or even blink at my words. He may be insubordinate but at least he's standing his ground. "Fine then. Each of you will stand at different ends of the room and when the signal is given you will fight." The knight spoke up.

"What is the signal?"

"You should know when it happens." With that I head off to the observation deck. Once there I see that (Y/N) is at the northern wall, the knight in the south-west corner, and the samurai in the south-east corner. Once everyone is settled but before they can ready their weapons I throw an explosive into the center of the room. All three show various levels of surprise before jumping to action. The samurai pulls his katana from its sheath and a bolt of lightning shoots out in an attempt to hit the others. The knight blocks it with his shield and (Y/N) jumps out of the way of the lightning. Then the samurai rushes forward and the knight goes to meet him though is weighed down by his armor. I am surprised however that he is moving as fast as he is. I will have to take note of that. The two's blades meet and sparks fly. From the way the two are glaring at each other from across their blades I assume that they are not strangers to each other. The two are caught off guard when a cord wraps around the two blades and pulls. The knight's grip is too strong for the blade to be pulled from him but do to his weight from the armor he topples forward. The samurai's katana however is yanked for his hands. (Y/N) catches the katana and successfully uses it to block a couple of bullets fired from the sheath of samurai's wakizashi. (Y/N) with the katana in hand moves to the side and makes his way out of the way of the now upright knight's attack. Samurai then raises his arm and the sword is pulled out of (Y/N)'s hands before he can do anything. The katana then lands back in Samurai's hand and he rushes forward to fight the others. Knight has (Y/N) cornered and is constantly swinging his sword at (Y/N) in an onslaught. (Y/N) is currently dodging each attack surprisingly well. I lean forward gripping the rail in the observation deck. Knight is able to bash (Y/N) with his shield. When his head meets the wall behind him I grip the rail tightly. Wait why am I getting so concerned about him? He is just like any other applicant. Shaking my head I go back to the match.

(Y/N) is now slouched against the wall undoubtable unconscious. Looking at the still standing competitors I see that they are in a heated struggle for dominance but neither seem to be able to gain any ground. Then Samurai knocks Knight off balance and knocks the shield/sheath away. As Knight is tumbling Samurai goes in for a kick sending Knight into a wall. Wait that's where (Y/N) is! But where is he? Looking around I can't find (Y/N) anywhere. Samurai seems to notice the absence too and turns around with his back to Knight. This gives Knight the perfect opportunity to regain his composure and strike back. He aims his club like sword and it's tip folds back revealing that it is also a cannon. He fires a shot at Samurai and Samurai just barely dodges the cannon ball but loses his short sword. Once the two are at even footing they charge once more at each other. Once they have locked blades again sparks begin to fly once more. I sigh thinking that this will be a long and boring match given that the two are so evenly matched and that (Y/N) is already out for the count. I still wonder what happened to him. Just then as if responding to my thoughts (Y/N) swings down from the ceiling from his cable and kicks the two into while they are off guard. They stumble and (Y/N) follows suite with a punch to the sides once he is one the ground. If he was striking to do damage I would call him a fool but if he is just taking advantage of their respective discombobulation then I would say the hits had their desired effect in send the two stumbling to his sides. While they are trying to stand back up (Y/N) uses his cable like a whip and hits the two. He is trying to get them mad I can tell that much. First with playing dead, then sucker punching them both after swinging in from nowhere while kicking them, and now this little show before me. He is most definitely trying to make them mad but I don't see what his follow up will be. Once the two are good and mad he lightens up just enough for someone not in the heat of battle would know that he is planning something. Unlucky for his competitors they don't have that luxury. Samurai sheathes his blade and Knight readies his cannon. I don't see how there could be more than one round in that thing but he aims anyways. Just as Samurai pull his katana out unleashing another bolt of lightning Knight fires his cannon but this time what I can only describe as a blast of darkness comes out. Both projectiles are aimed at (Y/N) who has stopped whipping the others and is just standing there. When the two projectiles hit they cause an ear shatter and ground shaking explosion and when the dust clears (Y/N) is gone again. Sneaky devil but they will not fall for that again. All three of us look up to find (Y/N) standing on one of the rafters. What are you doing?! It's like you are not even trying to hide! Unless...

Before I can finish my thought the two on the ground began firing into the air. (Y/N) dodges their shoots and they hit the roof causing some ruble to fall to the ground. I follow two of the rocks as they plummet to the ground and watch as they... crush Knight's shield and Samurai's short sword! He tricked them into making it so that they can not regain their lost weapons. Once the two are good and tired (Y/N) comes back down to the ground. The three stare each other down for a few minutes. Then (Y/N) flings the end of his cable at the knight and hit him directly in the face while Samurai dodges to the left to avoid the cable. The knight then falls backwards and doesn't get back up. Just as Samurai lands from his dodge the cable wraps around his waist and pulls him forward. He goes flying and is only stopped by (Y/N)'s fist meeting his opponent's gut. I hear the air hastily vacate Samurai's lungs and see the shock on his face before he falls to the ground. (Y/N) untangles his weapon from his fallen foe and moves back to the same place that he stood when I first entered the arena.

For an unknown amount of time to me, I stand there awestruck at what I just witnessed. This scarcely armored soldier with one of the most basic weapons that I have ever seen just took down the two best applicants from the folder. Not two of the best I mean the two best applicants. Now he is just standing there as if nothing has even happened. Finally coming back to reality I make my way down to the arena. When I am nearing the area I slow my pace and calm myself down a little. When I enter the area I see that the two fallen fighters trying to stand up. (Y/N) stands there eyes forward and standing at attention like any other Atlesian soldier. Does he even know what he just did? Shaking my head I find my voice.

"Fine job soldier." Understatement of the week there Winter. "You have passed the test. As for you two." I turn my attention away from (Y/N) and towards the samurai and knight. "You fought well. If this soldier over here fails his future trails then both of you will be the first contacted. Other than that you are dismissed." I turn my attention back towards (Y/N). "Follow me." And with that we make our way out of the arena and towards the dorms. The walk is silent with only the occasional pant from (Y/N). So the fight was not a complete cakewalk as he tries to make it seem. Either he is too prideful to admit he struggled or he doesn't want to make others worried. Or perhaps there is some other reason he tries to hide how tired he is. Whatever the reason I need to make a note of this habit for a later query. We finally arrive at his temporary living quarters. I turn to him and speak. "This will be where you will call home for the time being. I suggest you get a good night sleep for tomorrow." I then step aside so that he may enter the room. "If you have any questions then you may ask them now." He nods his head and makes his way towards the room. Angrily I grab onto his wrist. "From now on I want to hear you speak. Understood?" Then I finally hear his heavenly voice.

"Yes, ma'am." I let him go so that he can enter his room which thankfully he does. Oh Oum. I feel heat rising in my cheeks after hearing his voice. I clear my head and make my way towards my office. I have things to prepare for tomorrow.

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Second chapter done. What did you think? Fun little fact I actually got the idea from reading someone else's Winter story. I thought it was pretty good but I did feel it had a lot of unused potential so I decided to make my own. I did put some references in the past two chapters to that story and a couple of future chapters will have have references to that story. When this tale is over I will probably tell what story that I am referring to but until then maybe you could try and figure it out. Sorry I just thought it would be fun. Anyways have a great day/evening depending on when/where you are reading this.