[ → Bumblebee ← ]

  "Beacon Academy"

03

Beacon Academy.

A school that gave Taeyeon nothing but questions.

Taeyeon knew about the school, but also didn't. If you really wanted to be specific, the only thing she did know was that Tiffany attended the grand academy.

Normally, Taeyeon didn't care about school or anything like that, her job being an obvious factor to this fact. Taeyeon had dropped out of high school in her last year due to her sufferably awful grades : results from her considerably broken family. She was a good person and all, but she found that education would be prioritized after her family's wealth problems.

Unfortunately for Taeyeon, her skills and experience could only land her a job in a small coffee shop just outside the district of the upper-class. As hard as she tried, no other job would hire her.

This is also the reason why she worked considerably long hours and nearly every day. She wouldn't lie and say it wasn't exhausting, but seeing the smile she brought to her mother when she came home with food to feed them always refreshed and humbled her heart greatly.

It wasn't until Tiffany did Taeyeon think about school again.

It was another Monday morning for Taeyeon. Even if it's been shortly a month since the two have taken their first step in their friendship, Taeyeon couldn't seem to stop the fuzzy feeling whenever she thought about Tiffany. She knew what the feeling was and without hesitation, the barista knew she was in love.

Sitting and spinning herself around the chair, she waited for customers -- specifically Tiffany.

Minutes passed, clouds moved, and just slightly above the normal time Tiffany would walk in, she didn't.

The barista tried to suppress herself from showing any signs of disappointment, but she found herself more restless as she watched the clock tick by. People came in, but not the wonderfully sculpted person she hopelessly waited for.

The clock mocked Taeyeon as the arms ticked passed 9 o' clock, giving Taeyeon the complete reassurance that Tiffany would not come today.

Weekends were the worst for Taeyeon because Tiffany would only come in during the weekdays. Waiting 48 hours for her definitely proved to be an exhausting task for Taeyeon, and she was even more disappointed that she did not show today.

But her disappointment soon turned into feelings of distress as Taeyeon scratched her head wondering what could have happened. Before getting into any outrageous theories, she called the girl to see if she would answer. And surprisingly enough, she did.

"Hello?" Not focusing on her physical traits, Taeyeon just realized how soothing and husky Tiffany's voice actually was. Taeyeon noticed from the beginning that Tiffany wasn't much of a talker. She would hold conversations properly, but always liked to cut it short. In addition to all that, she realized this was the first time they've talked on the phone.

"Hey," Taeyeon dumbly said. "Uhm, it's Taeyeon."

Taeyeon gripped the edges of her phone tightly out of pure nervousness and curiosity. She felt the silent moment a little too long that she tried to fill in. "Uh, this..this is Tiffany right?"

A small chuckle was heard on the other side. "Of course. Good morning Taeyeon. I presume you're calling because I didn't get coffee today?"

Taeyeon smiled brightly as she snuck into a corner in the kitchen. "Haha. I don't mean to be obsessive or anything, I'm just calling to see if everything is alright."

"Thank you." Tiffany's voice melted Taeyeon's heart that for the duration of the call, Taeyeon felt she couldn't breathe. Was her voice always this soothing, or was it because they were on the phone? Taeyeon decided to mentally remind herself to listen and compare when they were to meet again. "Everything is fine, I just caught a fever over the weekends. I thought I was going to be well enough to go today, but my team mates demanded that I stay in bed. So other than that, I'm skipping a few classes until I get better."

Taeyeon bit her lip, worried about her sickness. Though it was a simple fever, she couldn't help but feel she must reach out to her. "I have your coffee right here."

Tiffany laughed again. "Thanks, but my team mates have been making me drink herbal tea until I get better."

This was the second time Taeyeon recognized the word team mates. She had never seen Tiffany with any other students at their school and it definitely raised a brow on Taeyeon's face when she repeated the word once again. Team mates? Why not simply say classmates? Once again, another question Taeyeon added to her mental list.

"So uhm.." She didn't know what else to say. If she could, she would honestly take care of Tiffany herself. But she felt that their friendship wasn't quite at that level yet. Nevertheless, Taeyeon decided to try anyway. "Is anyone taking care of you?"

"My team mates all have classes to attend to..so I'm just in the dormitory alone for the time being."

"And you're alright?"

"Not bright, but I can manage myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Not really."

Taeyeon didn't know whether to laugh or sigh at their rotating conversation. She decided to be straight and strong about it, just like the time she mustered up enough courage to give Tiffany her number.

"Can I come over?" Taeyeon simply asked. It was a sentence of four words, but damn did it take Taeyeon a lot of power to say it. The moment it escaped from her lips, she felt the same sense of regret when she first taken the job. She could only hope that it would be worth it.

Tiffany, on the other side of the phone, felt her body tense up with the question. Before anything, Tiffany knew Taeyeon had something for her. How could you not? Nobody writes their numbers on coffee cups for the sake of just being friends. She looked at her small clock in her room that showed it was just past 9 in the morning. Her team mates wouldn't be back for a couple hours, 3 at the least. And Tiffany knew herself she wasn't exactly strong enough to go to the cafeteria herself and grab her own plate of food if her stomach were to grumble. As nice as a school Beacon was, they did not baby sit their students.

With the circumstances chaining Tiffany down to the bed, she would have said Yes in a heartbeat. But things were more complicated than that. First off, Tiffany didn't even know if normal people were allowed at the campus. Though she had seen multiple occasions of common civilians walking around the gigantic school, it was either because they were workers or accompanied by someone.

Secondly, how?

Beacon Academy is a world of it's own. Literally. In order to get to the place, you had to ride an airship. Not only that, but the place was nearly a town city big. Tiffany had a year to get use to the school and she would still get lost.

With the clash and thoughts in her head, Tiffany could only say : "You can certainly try."

And so Taeyeon did.

"Holy...sh..." Taeyeon nearly dropped her bag at the sight of the academy. In front of her laid out Beacon Academy.

Beacon Academy?! More like Beacon city!!

Taeyeon twitched when she heard a large crowd burst into laughter behind her, getting off the airship just as she did. After she got the rest of the day off, thanks to her boss, she asked her boss mindlessly if she knew how to get to the academy. To her surprise, her boss said:

"Going to Beacon? I went there myself!" Yang grinned.

"Went there.." It didn't hit Taeyeon at first but she realized soon after. "Like..you were a student?!"

"Graduated a few years back, my wife is still fighting at the frontlines. I'd fight with her too, but she wants me to stay here to take care of our kid until she's old enough." Yang ran a finger under her nose and sniffed. "It gets lonely and boring, but I just opened this cafe up for the sake of being productive. Plus I'm sure my wife would like it after she comes back."

"When is she coming back?"

"Next year. That's when our daughter gets old enough to attend Signal Academy. Then she can come back home and we'll just run this business together."

"I see.." Taeyeon kindly smiled. She had never known this about her boss before and it actually relieved her. "Do you mind telling me how to get to Beacon?"

"Sure thing. You just head over to the docks and take an airship there. I don't know if they'll let you in though, they've been strict about non-students going to the school when schools in session. I'm not surprised, we have enough to worry about, we can't protect everyone."

Protect? The word echoed. Just exactly what do the fighters fight for? And...airship..?

"Simplest way to get inside is just to say you're visiting as an interested student. Of course you'd be lying but if you're desperate to get a peek.."

"Okay..but..an airship..? Is Beacon that far from here?"

"No, but it's high up for sure."

And her boss was right. When the airship took off, she expected it to head somewhere far away, but instead, all the airship did was gain altitude. The ride wasn't long, but as they cleared through the clouds, she found Beacon Academy ontop of a waterfall surrounded by a forest and the rest of the continent.

The dock was laid out directly in front of the school. Once the platform leading to the exit opened, Taeyeon felt as if she couldn't move.

Arriving alone, spread out in front of her was a long and wide avenue leading deeper into the school. The road was flagged with the school's proud banners, it's walking ground laid with snow colored tiles with each details extraordinarily taken well cared for. The grounds back at the district she lived in was dirt compared to the road here. Surrounding the road were large gardens that came together in a specific way.

Surrounded by more fascinating buildings, one building stood out the most.

It was a tower, the most prominent of the academy buildings. It shined a bright green and looked to be at least be 50 meters tall. From afar, it looked like a beacon..

Everything fashioned with high elegant taste, seemingly too perfect;

This was Beacon Academy.

A frown spread across Taeyeon's face as reality slightly panged in her heart. After getting off work, she headed home to get the best change of clothes she could get, but in comparison to the golden lined uniforms of the students that populated the place, Taeyeon felt incredibly small.

She clung onto her ragged bag she was given as a present 13 years ago before looking around and realizing none of the students had bags of their own.

Instead, they carried around weapons.

Real weapons.

"Woah!" Taeyeon took a step back nearly falling on her bottom when a much taller student walked beside her. It wasn't his height that surprised Taeyeon, but the obviously colossal greatsword he carried on his back.

A real sword.. Taeyeon gulped. She wasn't kidding when she said this school is for fighters..but I didn't expect this!

After shivering to herself for a few minutes, someone approached her. "Are you waiting for the next airship or..?"

"Ah.." Taeyeon bit her lip in order not to cry. A million thoughts went through her mind and without a doubt, she deeply regretted ever coming here. She regretted asking Tiffany if she could come over. And moreover, she began to regret meeting Tiffany in the first place.

Taeyeon had never felt so out of place in her life. The obvious difference between her and the rest were too much to bare. Taeyeon was poor, and Tiffany was rich.

She knew it now but she still insisted on going after Tiffany, a girl league betters than her.

"I-I'm here as an interested student." She managed to say. The woman tilted her head and stuck her lips out. "A bit late aren't you? It's already midway into the semester." Taeyeon flustered to think for something to reply, but the woman waved her hand and said. "Whatever. Just keep going and you should see the main building. It won't be too confusing from there. But just make sure not to bother any of the classes taking place, or punishments will be served." She scarily mentioned. "On your way now." Despite Taeyeon's legs objecting, they moved forward, just a bit closer to Tiffany.

Walking for a while, Taeyeon had to stop and take a breath. Just the scenary herself tired her out as she tried to look at everything she could. Everything was a new experience for her. The school she had attended was a simple public one, two small buildings with one garden that students often destroyed for fun. Over there, students would wear backpacks to hold their things, but here, the only thing shes seen the students carrying around were weapons ranging from guns to melee equipment. Taeyeon wasn't the only one not wearing the uniform, other people were too, but instead of regular clothes, they were wearing armor of some sort.

She shuddered as she heard what seemed to be a gunshot from a classroom she passed by in the hall. Once again, Taeyeon found it extremely difficult to believe Tiffany attended this school.

A bell rang causing electricity to run through her tired veins. Slowly, students came out of their classrooms crowding the hallway. A few gave Taeyeon some suspicious looks, but didn't say anything. She noticed however, how commonly the students all seemed to group up into the numbers of 4.

Last to exit from a classroom, three girls, all formally wearing their uniforms, were walking Taeyeon's way.

"Ugh, you dolt! You're a hazard to my health!" A high pitched sound of annoyance rang Taeyeon's ear. She looked up and found herself staring at what looked like a princess. An annoyed princess anyway. Off to the princess's sides were two other girls, one who had a bright red cloak flowing behind her, apologizing to the princess yelling at her, and another one that looked much more laid back like a country girl with her stunning blonde hair.

"I said I'm sorry.." mumbled the girl in the red cloak. "I was just trying to help!"

"You were distracting me incredibly! How do you expect anyone to focus when you're on the sides screaming commands? You think you can just tell me everything you want me to do?!"

As the scene began to heat up, the blonde girl stepped in between them, towering over the other two shorter girls. "Alright alright, you guys need a break, how about we go to the cafeteria and grab a quick bite before our next class?"

"Hmpf, I refuse to eat with this peasant."

"Hey! I am not a peasant!"

They began bickering once more that the blonde exploded. Honestly exploded. Her hair erupted in flames and her eyes turned into a dark crimson red. "Can you guys stop fighting for two seconds?! We're a team for crying out loud!"

"Ugh, I wish Tiffany was here." The red one said.

Wait..did she say Tiffany? If Taeyeon's idea was right, students seemed to have formed a four member party of some sort. Seeing how they were only three and one mentioned Tiffany's name..

"Hi! Uhm!" The girls looked at Taeyeon with an awkward stare. The princess in particular, giving a stare with the intensity of a thousand suns. Taeyeon shut and bit down, trying to keep her tears at bay. She was nothing but frightened.

"Yes?" The blonde one said, her eyes now normal.

"Do you guys happen to know Tiffany..?"

"Tiffany?" The princess replied. "Tiffany Hwang?"

"Ah.." Taeyeon couldn't reply an answer. She had just realized she hadn't known Tiffany enough to know her last name. Once again, she felt farther away from her dream. She described Tiffany to them to the best of her ability.

"She's apart of our team." Princess said with a 'matter-a-fact' kind of tone. "And she's sick. Do you have business with her?"

"I do.." Taeyeon bowed her head down feeling inferior. "Uhm, I-"

"Wait a minute!" Taeyeon could have sworn she heard the voice a few feet away only to gasp in surprise when the red cloaked girl appeared next to her in a flash of a second. Thankfully, there was a wall that prevented her from embarrassing herself. She tried her best not to shake in fear when the girl stared at her intensely. But to her pleasant surprise, "Ah! You're that Taeyeon girl aren't you!"

"E-eh?" A flush of red erupted and spread throughout Taeyeon's face. "Y-yes."

"That drink girl or whatever?" The blonde stepped in. "You work at that bee store or something?" Before Taeyeon could reply to anything, they all crowded around her.

"Bumblebee.." She corrected. "I'm a friend of Tiffany's.."

"Oh we know." They snickered. "She talks about you a lot."

Taeyeon blushed again. "R-Really?"

"Yeah, but anyways, I'm guessing you're here for her?"

"Ah, yeah." Taeyeon straighted her posture and explained. "She told me I was sick so I offered to take care of her.."

"Oh, then what are you doing in the combat facility? She's at the dormitories."

"Y-yeah but I, uh," Taeyeon lowered her head again. "I don't know where that is.." She mumbled.

"Well, we were going there anyway. C'mon, we'll show you the way."

Taeyeon smiled. "I'd appreciate that."

ok hey guys! it's megustasnsd here. Kind of a long chapter hopefully you enjoyed reading it. Mainly a chapter to describe Tiffany's school Beacon Academy which is P.S the school from RWBY which may i add, I do not own that series or anything. I'm just a big fan :D. The chapter's photo is a rough sketch of the academy from the show. This is the animated verison : http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130902150618/rwby/images/c/c9/Episode2_00005.png cr. RWBY wikia.

The reason I talked a lot about the school is because it's going to be important to the plot. Oh, did I mention this wasn't a normal love story? Nah. Nothing I make is normal. MUHHAHAHA

Anyways hope you all enjoyed. I hope I didn't go overboard with the Beacon thing, it's just a really good school and I need to stick that on you guys lol.

can anyone guess who the three girls are? :p

Apologize for any mistakes, only read through once so yeah! Thanks for reading! Upvote and leave me a comment

if anyone would like to make this story a poster I'd definitely love that!

More TaeNy moments next chapter!