So, this is the esteemed Beacon Academy, with its skyscraping towers and beautiful fountains and other such niceties. Professor Ozpin has certainly outdone himself in creating this school for Huntsmen and Huntresses. I can't wait to meet some fellow students...
I could certainly wait to deal with them, though. It's really tough to talk to anyone when they all think you're too famous or too cool to even look their way. Sigh... Yes, I sighed and said 'Sigh'. I'm good at that. Hush.
Ohmygod, this crowd will be the death of me. I can hear them already, passing by me and spazzing out at the sight of the 'Legendary Pyrrha Nikos' going to the same school as them.
I survey my fellow first-years for awhile to pass the time until the Headmaster begins his speech and we're all herded into dorms or a cafeteria or something. A tall, lanky boy with a green mohawk that looks ridiculous if he looks right at you, a girl with long and flowing gold hair and chic wrist gauntlets that are very probably weapons, a dapper young man with black hair with a streak of bright pink, clad in a green formal coat and pale white pants.
A blond boy in white armor and blue denims talking to a short girl in a red hooded cloak tore me away for a moment. God, he's cute. I bet he's an incredible fighter. Oh, look, the cute little redhead just abandoned him.
"Where am I supposed to find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?!" I hear him say. 'Right here, Sword Guy!' I long to reply, but that would be informal, and decorum delegates that I show some... well, decorum. A tap on the stage's microphone directs our attention toward the front of the auditorium.
The famed Professor Ozpin delivers a short welcome speech to all, but I notice as he speaks that he seems withdrawn... as if he isn't actually here. His small eyeglasses and wispy silver hair, the walking cane he kept at his side, his soft but commanding voice... the Headmaster's reputation preceded him. We are dismissed for the evening to wait for our initiation exam the following day.
\/\/\/\/\/
"So, Pyrrha, I hear we're being divided up into teams. Have you thought of who you might want to team up with?" The white-haired beauty asks me. Weiss Schnee, the exalted heiress, the White Beauty, the daughter of the leader of the largest Dust company in the world... She possessed many titles, but whoever had bestowed them upon her had forgotten to add the most annoying person in this entire locker room at this moment in time! Just because she knows my name and a few facts about me, she suddenly comes up to me and starts grilling me about who I want to be teamed with and other such nonsensical things. I'm just trying to live through the entrance exam, seeing as they'll be launching us headlong into a forest full of Grimm.
"I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may." I politely answer.
"Maybe we could be on a team together?" Dust, why won't this girl stop talking to me?
"I think that would be wonderful..." I can see the ideas storming in her mind. I know the only reason she even wishes to associate with me is that I'm likely to be the strongest girl in our entire class. She fancies herself the smartest in class, it seems. I just want to leave.
And suddenly, he appears again, the blond boy with the sword from yesterday. Is this my chance? Get him, Pyrrha! ...Yeah, like that'll happen.
"So, Snow Angel, I'm hearing talk of teams. You and me on a team? I think 'Yes.'!" The beautiful boy tells the white-haired beauty. Of course, he looks right past me. PFFT!
"Um, and you are?" Weiss returned.
"Jaune Arc. So how about it?"
"Actually, I hear the teams are comprised of four members," I mention nonchalantly. He slips over to me.
"So, hot stuff, you want in on Team Jaune, too?" Oh baby, do I ever.
"Do you even know who you're talking to?" Weiss scoffs, Jaune's expression answering her question. "This is Pyrrha Nikos, the highest-marking student in Sanctum!"
"No idea what that means." She spouts off another fact, and he stares at her blankly.
"She's on every box of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes!" Something clicks in his mind, prompting him to ask me about it.
"It was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't so healthy."
"So, yeah, you have no room to ask her to team up with you," Weiss complains, tempting me to throw Akouo at her mouthy little face.
"Actually, Jaune, I'm sure you'd make a great leader," I reply, suppressing my urges.
"You heard her! Slots are filling up quickly. I'm not supposed to, but I could pull some strings, I think!" He tells Weiss, who makes a sorrowful face at me to ask for assistance... so I swing Milo off my back and hurl it in his direction, knocking him into a locker and sticking him there while taking care not to actually harm him.
"I'm sorry," I tell him as I leave the room. Oh, please, let us be on a team together. 3 3 3
\/\/\/\/\/
"So I'm sure you've heard rumors about teams." Professor Ozpin tells us as we stand on launch pads and wait to be thrown into the forest. "Well, let me lay your suspicions to rest. You will be divided into teams... Today. Once you are in the forest, the first person you lock eyes with will be your partner for the next four years, so try to find someone you can easily coexist with..." That settles it. I have to make sure I get to Jaune first. As Ozpin talks on about landing strategies and whatnot, I prepare myself for the launch.
The next thing I know I'm flying through the air, bouncing off of treetops aided by Akouo. I smash into a tree, shield-first, and roll onto the first branch I can find. I shape Milo into its spear form, use its sniping capabilities to take aim at my beautiful blond boy (who is currently barreling through the sky in a panic) and fire off the spear.
I hear the thud of the point colliding with a tree, and I think I hear a faint 'Thank you', responding "I'M SORRY!" at the top of my voice. Now, off to find him!
...And there he is, dangling from a tree, the boy who only knew me from the cereal box. "So, Jaune, is there still an open slot on your team?" I ask, attempting not to sound too condescending about it. I really need to get the hang of this talking business. He begrudgingly giggles and apologizes before I help him down from the tree.
\/\/\/\/\/
So, after plunging into a cave and disturbing a Death Stalker, battling said Death Stalker and a giant Nevermore alongside four girls who would eventually become Team RWBY, we ended up on the same team, alongside Lie Ren, the boy in green with his Stormflower guns, and Nora Valkyrie, a longtime friend of his with bright orange hair and an enormous hammer that could morph into a compact rocket launcher. At the ceremony that followed, we were bestowed the name Team JNPR, with Jaune as our leader. I knew he'd make a great leader... Though over the next semester that compliment I'd made when we first met began to seem like empty words.
Jaune suffered in Professor Goodwitch's combat class, given his limited knowledge of his own aura, and when I'd offered to help he turned me away, revealing that he'd not been accepted into Beacon on his own merit. Another student, a miserable creature named Cardin Winchester, had heard him tell me that he'd cheated his way into Beacon and used that knowledge to keep him on a leash until a supervised mission in the Forever Fall. Jaune had proven himself by casting down an Ursa that Cardin could not... with a bit of outside assistance, though he still doesn't know I used my Semblance to help him. Even so. Jaune used that act to stand up to Cardin, who by then was groveling at Jaune's feet. He hasn't bullied my friend since, and he'd best not try.
I've been sparring with Jaune for awhile by this particular night, and he's gotten pretty great at physical combat. He still cannot stop me from sweeping his legs and knocking him over, but he's improving swiftly. "Very good! So are you ready to move onto Aura?"
"Actually, could I skip out on Aura tonight? I've been dealing with some things lately..." He answers quietly, his face turning dark.
"What's wrong?" I ask, placing my hand on his shoulder. He remains silent. "Jaune, you know you can talk to me."
"It's... Weiss." The name pierces my heart as it leaves his lips.
"What... about her?" Is all I can muster without sounding mean.
"I really like her, but she won't give me the time of day." Then maybe you should give it a rest, eh? I mean, there's a perfectly wonderful girl right in front of you, and she'd give you every day. Of course, I'm too afraid of the repercussions to ever tell him that.
"I believe the saying goes 'There's plenty of fish in the sea'..."
"Easy for you to say. There's probably guys trampling each other to ask you to the dance." Yeah, because I'm so great at talking to people and have never been famous and loved from afar by everyone because they think they aren't good enough for me. I know he has no clue how that feels, but this fact doesn't make my urge to slap him go away.
"You'd be surprised, Jaune."
"Pffft! Pyrrha, if you don't have a date to the dance, I'll wear a dress." He walks away, leaving me alone in our little rooftop sanctuary. What do I have to do to make him notice me? Why are boys so ridiculous? Whatever, I'm going to sleep.
\/\/\/\/\/
Dust, Jaune, did you tear Ren right out of the shower? You could have let him dress before begging to talk to him about girls. Ren doesn't know how to 'girls' any more than you do. And with Nora in the room?! You know she's all about him, even though she repeatedly says they aren't together together. I really like you, but you are so stupid sometimes.
I resist the urge to shake my head and tell him so. I've just overheard him talking up Weiss again, after asking Ren for girl advice. Ren is incredibly wise in many regards, but dealing with people isn't his strongest suit. He often stays silent as Nora babbles and spazzes for hours at a time.
"Jaune, tell her everything you just said, that you like her and think she's totally amazing and beautiful," I tell him, setting aside my own feelings for the sake of my friend. My own desires need not be fulfilled if my teammates and friends are unhappy because of it.
"But, what if-"
"Jaune, you can't get it wrong if it's the truth!" I insist. He thanks Ren and me for my advice and Ren's 'talk' and makes for the door to go get the girl of his dreams. I turn to face the nearest wall, unable to watch him leave.
"Practice what you preach, Pyrrha..." Nora whispers. Ren says nothing. I contemplate taking one of Ren's Stormflowers and using the blade to stitch Nora's cute lips shut, even though she's only trying to be helpful. I just don't wish to hear any advice right now, especially not from this girl who loves a guy who doesn't seem to notice her affection or does not wish to return it.
It's just a formal dance, anyway. I'm sure I can find something better to do...
\/\/\/\/\/
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((Author's note: Pretty much every fic that ends up here I wrote for a RWBY art challenge, and they're all one-shots. Some of them will be connected though, and I'll mention that in the descriptions as I go. But yeah, enjoy?))