Emerald Sustrai wasn't exactly sure how things had lead her here. Sure, she knew the sequence of events leading to this point, but that wasn't what she meant. Looking down at her feet she could see a large, square sheet of metal which had the symbol of Beacon Academy stamped onto it. She had to hold back a snort upon seeing that. How egotistical. Looking up before her was the edge of a large cliff, at the bottom of which was the aptly name Emerald Forrest.
The sea of trees that surrounded the academy were quite the marvel. A true natural wonder. Emerald cared little for things like that, she was always more focused on the tangible. Resources. Money. That, and the power that came from such things. Once those were secured then you could focus on the niceties, the decedent pleasures that came as part of the deal.
For now though, she simply sighed as she listened to the blonde witch and then the old man explain the initiation to the collected group. As he mentioned partners she started to listen more closely, as this would be important to her mission. It was imperative she was partnered with someone who would be easy to deal with during her time here. She had picked someone out already, a simple looking blonde boy. Emerald had tagged him at first sight, he would be a perfect mark for her. If she had seen him on the streets of Vale he likely would have found himself soon bereft of his wallet.
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."
"WHAT!" A silver eyed girl exclaimed from down the line, obviously not happy with the reveal.
Emerald felt herself smirk at the information. Good. That meant that she could easily make sure that she and the blonde doofus ended up as partners. Looking down the line she saw as the boy looked distressed, either from the information they just learned or something else she wasn't sure. Looking at him it could have been any number of things.
Out of the corner of her eye Emerald caught another person also studying the blonde. A shock of red hair pulled back in a ponytail, striking green eyes and a tall, lithe frame that was adorned with armor colored like brass. The thief knew this girl, if only by name and look. Pyrrah Nikos. The so-called "Invincible Girl". Bleh. What a load. What was the spartan's interest in the knight?
In the end it wouldn't matter, if the girl thought that she could take her mark from underneath her she had another thing coming. Emerald sighed once again as she thought of how the whole thing was becoming a huge headache. You're doing it for Cinder. Doing it for Cinder. She repeated the mantra as she waited for the test to begin. She didn't have to wait long as less than a minute later everyone was launched.
Emerald took a moment to allow herself to enjoy the sensation. She closed her eyes to better feel the cool wind as it rushed by her, the sense of weightlessness as she soared upwards, before finally gravity kicked in again. Her eyes shot open to survey the scene. She had work to do. Turning her head, she spotted as the man that would be her partner was tumbling through the air, feet over head, as she heard a strangled cry come from him. Good god. This was going to be worse than she thought wasn't it?
The other person she tracked was Nikos, who appeared to be flying towards the ground below her now. She watched as the girl smashed her way through some trees with her shield, landing on a large branch at the end, before turning and hurling the spear she held across the sky. With amazing accuracy Emerald saw as the point caught the blonde's hood as he disappeared below the tree line and out of sight.
Drawing her own weapons, a pair of pistols with fold-out blades attached, she quickly let loose a length of chain that they contained. With a swing of the weapon it was easy to wrap a length of chain around a nearby branch, allowing her to swing and adjust her movements without ripping her arm out of the socket. With deft motions she quickly was swinging towards where she had seen the blonde teen had landed. Or well, not landed so much as was probably saved, pinned against a tree somewhere. Dropping lower and lower eventually Emerald allowed herself to drop completely, grunting as she rolled against the ground.
Starting a brisk jog Emerald start to make her way through the forest, though not straight towards where her would-be partner was. Instead she moved on a diagonal so that she could intercept the Nikos girl as she also made her way. It wouldn't do for the red head to snap the boy right out from under her nose, so she would make sure it didn't happen. After a few minutes of dodging trees, roots and rocks she found her, casually strolling by. Quickly making sure that no one else was near she drew closer to the girl, settling in only a few paces behind her.
Going into her pocket Emerald retrieved a small, black cube barely the size of her thumb. On the top was a small red button and the side was painted with a stylized cursive W. The little device would temporarily short out any electronic equipment within fifty feet. While her Semblance, which could generate targeted illusions, allowed her to distract and confused people with ease, it had no effect on electronics. Cinder had seen to fix that weakness by supplying her with this, a gift which she didn't take lightly.
Emerald knew that the staff must be watching the collection of students as they made their way through the forest, no matter what they had said about them dying. It was just a scare tactic to weed out the weak-willed participants. The device would allow her to work without the need to worry for spying eyes, at least for a bit. With the preparations in place she started to concentrate on the girl before her.
She felt as her Semblance went to work, and she set it to generate another scream that would sound like the blonde. For Nikos it would sound like the boy had let out a cacophonous shriek of agony but coming away from the direction that the blonde should be. The girl stopped to look in that direction and as she did Emerald made her move.
Padding forwards almost completely silent she held her weapon tightly before striking. Without warning the blow smashed into the back of Pyrrah's head, not even allowing her the time yell. Taken off guard there was no defense, not even her aura coming to absorb the attack. While you could do a lot with aura it only helped if you were ready and able to detect the attack and react to it. The girl simply fell forwards, unconscious before she even hit the ground. She would wake up in a few hours with a splitting headache but fine otherwise.
Standing over the now crumpled form of the "Invincible Girl" Emerald debated on what to do. For a small moment she considered killing the girl, but just as quickly dismissed the thought. There was no merit in it, she wasn't a threat, and to do so would be suspicious anyways. While she had killed before it wasn't something she was keen on. There was a large difference between a fight for survival and cold-blooded murder. The only other exception was if Cinder ordered it, as such she would had no choice.
Stepping over the girl she pushed her from her thoughts. It was time to focus on the task at hand, which was now ensuring that she found her partner and acquired a relic for themselves. After travelling a few minutes away from where she left Nikos Emerald deactivated the jammer, confident that no one would tie the two together. A few more minutes of walking and the thief broke through the trees to find a small clearing.
Looking up she could see him, the blonde who was still pinned to a tree from the spear embedded in his sweater. His feet dangled as held onto the spear above his head, hanging over ten feet from the ground.
"Hey… could I get a little help? I'm kinda stuck up here!" The knight seemed to notice as she entered the clearing, calling down to her.
Without a word to him she unclipped her weapons again, drawing the chain loose once more. With a spin of her wrist she sent the blade attached to the end of the gun into a controlled twirl and after a few moments launched it towards the boy. He winced as the blade embedded itself just beside his face, letting out a small cry in response. With a quick tug to ensure it wouldn't pull loose Emerald thumbed a switch to start reeling in the chain, bracing her legs against the tree as it pulled her up to him.
Ten seconds later she was almost straddling the boy who hung there, now face to face with him. The first thing she thought was that he had startlingly blue eyes. Light blonde hair was atop his head, the messy locks cropped short. Tracing his features, she could see the soft edges that filled his face, ones of a boy who had yet to harden into the man he would become.
A half breastplate covered his upper chest and shoulders, underneath which she could see a black hoodie. He wore light blue jeans below, with a sword sheathed on his hip and black sneakers on his feet. The brown gloves he wore rounded off his look, which in all honesty seemed like someone just slapped armor and a weapon on what they usually wore. It was workable, she supposed.
"Ah…hey! Thanks for coming up and…um…checking me out?" He laughed nervously as he said this, making her eyes roll without thinking.
Grabbing the spear, she gave it a strong tug, pulling it free and the blonde attached let out a small "Woah" before he dropped from the tree. Emerald heard him grunt as he hit the ground, tumbling sideways. It did little the endear him to her, but that wasn't the point here. She didn't need to find someone who she liked, she needed someone she could stand and would remain oblivious.
Pulling the blade loose Emerald let herself drop back to the ground, concentrating aura on her feet as she landed with a low thud. Walking over to where the blonde still laid on the ground she put out a hand, crafting a friendly smile on her face as she did so. She was surprised at how large the boy's hand was as it gripped hers, engulfing her in its warmth.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Emerald, Emerald Sustrai. I guess we'll be partners for our time here." She flashed him a smile as she introduced herself, seeing as a small blush appeared on his face as he looked her up and down.
"Ah, yeah. The name's Jaune. Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it."
"Oh, do they?" Emerald arced a brow as she stepped closer to Jaune, allowing a hand to rest against his chest. "Maybe you could show me all about that sometime then." She had to bite her tongue to suppress a chuckle as she watched the boy sputter and stammer at her. Perhaps she might be able to have a little bit of fun with this after all.
"Come on, let's start heading north and go grab a relic."
Spinning on her heel Emerald turn towards the northern edge of the clearing, scanning the trees for any threats as she did so. She paused though as she heard Jaune grunt in pain behind her. Turning back around she saw as the knight appeared to be leaning heavily against a tree, his right leg held off the ground. Had he injured himself from when she had dropped him from the tree?
"Hey, are you ok?"
"Ah, yeah, it's just I think I may have sprained my ankle when I landed." The words were tinged with a small amount of pain as the blonde tried to rest his weight against the foot once more. He almost toppled before Emerald stepped forward to catch him without thinking.
"Didn't you use your aura to land? Even if you didn't it should have taken care of something like that easily." A small amount of panic filled the thief's voice as she asked him.
No, it couldn't be right? There was no way that what she was thinking was right. Jaune would have to be either insane or just plain stupid to come to Beacon if it was true. It was his next words however that had the blood draining from her face.
"Aura? Oh… yeah, I like, totally have my aura. It's just… a little slow to act sometimes."
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
Emerald staggered back, hand coming to rest against her forehead as she heard the words. While she was good at spotting a liar, she doubted even a child would have been convinced with his words. What kind of absolute MORONIC IDIOT would try to become a Huntsman without their aura unlocked. In fact, how did he even get into Beacon with that being true? A small whine escaped her lips as she cursed her fate.
This was karma, right? It had to be.
"Are an idiot or just suicidal!? Don't you realize how easily you could die out here? What if a Grimm had appeared before I got here. You would have been DEAD!" The girl shot Jaune a fierce look as she said this, allowing her true thoughts to slip through. It was just too much. She saw as the boy winced at her words, his face falling as he looked away from her, ashamed.
"I know that it's just that… I never got a chance to get it unlocked before I got here. I was planning on fixing that soon, but then this all happened so fast, there was no time!"
She could only let out an exasperated sigh on hearing this. The knight had all but told her that he had no plan and was just going to trust it to luck. On top of that she now knew that he would have little to no training, since anyone that went to a prep school would have had their aura unlocked there. This was turning out much worse than she initially imagined it would be. Mercury would be killing himself laughing at her if he was here.
The thought of the silver haired boy was enough to push her over the edge. A frustrated growl echoed through the clearing as she decided what she had to do. She had to unlock his aura if there was any hope of the blonde surviving here.
"Ok, fine! I'll unlock yours for you now. Just sit down against the tree." Emerald couldn't stop a little bit of her irritation from slipping into her tone. Jaune it seemed could tell as he quickly moved to obey her, setting himself down so that he now sat with his back to the tree. Emerald kneeled beside him and once again placed a hand against his chest. "Now just close your eyes and concentrate."
The thief and the knight both closed their eyes and after a moment Emerald prepared by taking in a deep breath. Tapping into herself she felt her own energy, her own aura, and she grasped it easily and pushed it into her hand. As she did so a pale green glow began to emit from her, bathing the area around the two in its light. Letting out her breath she slowly pushed her aura out from herself and into the boy before her.
She could feel a slight resistance from Jaune as she did this, but it quickly disappeared and as if a gate was opened her energy flowed freely into him. The words came to her without thought, even if she had never spoken them before she knew what to do, what she had to say.
"For it is in action that we achieve immortality. Through this we become an agent of our own fate to act against an unjust world. Infinite in potential and unbound from destiny, I release your soul and by my shoulder empower thee."
As she finished intoning the phrase Emerald could feel as Jaune's aura exploded out of him. She could feel as a huge amount of energy was released from the knight, colored a blinding white that she could see even through closed eyes. The energy flowed back into her, the two of them mixing, hers in him and his in her.
Suddenly she was standing in a large open space, a swathe of darkness around her. The pitch black made it impossible to tell anything out around her, it was if she was floating in a sea devoid of any light. After a few seconds though she could see as a bright white light started to glow from behind her, and she turned to find the source. She found Jaune standing there emitting the light, his entire being cutting through the darkness.
It was beautiful.
In that moment she knew who Jaune Arc was. He was kind, loving and hopeful but also fearful, ashamed and desperate. There was more there but it all mixed together in ways that made it impossible to separate. Then just before she could understand what had happened, she was back. She looked down to the blonde knight sat against a tree, her hand still against his chest.
The two met gazes are Jaune's eyes opened and the boy seemed to glow with the energy she had unlocked in him. Emerald felt herself slump forward slightly before she caught herself against him, momentarily drained by the act. So drained in fact that she didn't hear the snarl of a Beowolf heading towards them until it was too late.
With a panicked cry she rolled backwards as it lunged, stopping it from taking her head off, but placing herself flat on her back it as it landed above her. Emerald could feel and smell as it's hot, putrid breath washed over her face. The Grimm reared back in preparation to attack her, but it never managed to do so.
Watching out of the corner of her eye she saw as Jaune stood, now seeming to tower over the two of them. With a yell he unsheathed the sword at his waist, slashing forward with the longsword and catching the Beowolf across the throat. A reddish-black ichor flowed from the wound and she had to crawl backwards to stop it from covering her. The Grimm tried to stand for a moment before with a winging gasp it slumped to the ground, either already dead or dying. Almost immediately the body started to dissolve away in great black flakes.
It was his turn this time to offer her a hand and she was lifted to her feet as she took it. She was surprised at the strength that the boy seemed to have, first slicing through the Beowolf with ease and then pulling her up such that she was almost floating for a moment. Was this an effect of unlocking his aura? Or maybe he was just naturally strong. It was hard to tell with what Jaune wore but perhaps underneath he was more heavily muscled than he seemed.
"Ah, yeah, thanks for the save." Emerald panted lightly as she sought to catch her breath. While a single Beowolf wouldn't even cause her to blink normally the situation was far from normal at that moment.
"Yeah, I mean it's the least I could do for you." Jaune smiled brightly at her as he said this. The emotion was so sincere and straightforward it made her look away. How could someone be so unguarded? The knight looked down to study himself, amazement on his face as he flexed his hands. Your aura unlocking was something you tended to remember… even if you didn't want to.
Brushing herself off, the thief scanned the edge of the clearing, ensuring that they weren't going to be caught by surprise again.
"Let's start moving, we still need to collect a relic and get back before too long."
Jaune nodded and started stocking forwards, his footfalls sounding heavily against the ground as he walked. Emerald had to hold in a sigh as she rolled her eyes. While the idiot was more prepared than he had been before, it seemed unlocking his aura hadn't have improved anything beyond his raw physicality. She followed after him, wincing at each crack and snap as he loudly pushed through the surrounding brush.
Jaune was amazed at how today had turned out. This morning he had woken up in his onesie like normal and now he was stalking through a Grimm filled forest. He flexed his hands experimentally once again as he and Emerald made their way through the trees, feeling as the power swelled within him. Ever since she had unlocked his aura it was if his entire being was exploding with energy. His steps felt lighter, his body more solid, even the weight of Crocea Mors seemed less. Holding it in his hand Jaune gave it a small flourish, blown away that it felt effortless now.
Thinking back now at what Emerald had said before she unlocked it for him, he realized what she meant. It was like night in day between then and now, and he imagined it would only be more pronounced as he learned to control his aura. Amazing. This was an opportunity that he couldn't waste if he wanted to prove himself.
His eyes moved back to the tan girl who was walking before him. Emerald Sustrai. The girl had an exotic beauty about her, the rich brown skin, mint green hair and dark red eyes so different than many of the other girls he had met. Jaune couldn't help but shudder as he thought of the girl's eyes. So far she had been kind to him, baring the frustration he could hear from her about his lack of aura, which was probably the right reaction. Emerald had smiled at him when they first met, but something about it seemed a bit off, as her eyes never seemed to change.
She was probably just nervous about initiation. That must be it! While she seemed calm and cool as she had saved him from the tree he had to guess that she was actually nervous, just like him. The girl had seemed shaken after unlocking his aura, but he couldn't be sure if that was something that always happened. He had never seen someone's aura unlocked before. Thinking back on this Jaune recalled the strange vision that he had experienced as Emerald had done it.
He had been concentrating on Emerald as she had started to try and do whatever it was she did. The words she spoke had sounded fluid or practiced, like some kind of poetry or music. The next thing he knew there was an amazing amount of energy flowing into and then out of him, as if some dam within him had burst. He had in the next moment been floating in an infinite white space, so bright he almost had to squint. From the corner of his vision he had picked out a soft green glow suffusing the white space.
Looking around he had turned to see who he thought was Emerald, but she had looked different than earlier, as if she was younger. Her hair was longer and bundled into a low ponytail he had noticed, but the most striking difference was the eyes. Still the same blood red color but within them he could see fear. Just before the vision ended it was like he had gotten an understanding of her, one more intimate than Jaune ever had before this. Emerald was confident, playful and determined, but all of this was overshadowed by her fear, loneliness and desperation.
The vision had ended soon after, leaving only the same girl as before. Jaune pondered this for a moment, following the girl with his eyes as she walked confidently through the trees. He didn't know what to think exactly, but for now all he could do was trust her. They had the next four years to grow closer and learn about each other. A small smile crossed his face at this thought.
Jaune had never been the most popular of people when he was back home. It was a consequence of his large family he suspected. Being the only boy among seven sisters had caused them to baby him, treat him as someone fragile. While the sentiment was nice it did end up being a bit annoying at times, always being mothered and smothered with affection. The knight could fight his own battles when he needed to. That was part of the reason he had come here, in order to prove himself as both a man and a warrior.
After around ten minutes of walking, with Emerald blazing a trail through the forest in which he could only presume to be north, they finally entered a large clearing filled with soft grass. In the distance Jaune could make out what looked like some sort of circle of stones, obviously cut and set together almost like an ancient shrine. Calling to the green hair girl he pointed to it and she simply nodded in response, turning towards it.
As they drew closer the structure became clearer and he could see a series of pedestals ringing the edge of the stone. There appeared to be a series of gold and black objects set alternating on the top of each pedestal.
"Hey, it looks like those are probably the relics over there." Jaune called to Emerald as he pointed at the structure.
"Ah, yeah I can see it. You're probably right. Looks like we made it." She turned to shoot him a quick smile.
It looked like things were looking up for them now.
It was amazing how quickly things could go wrong. Emerald was convinced by this point that she had to be cursed, as there was no other reason for everything that had happened to her. Pick out a simple looking boy for her partner, only to learn he was almost an invalid. Unlock the idiot's aura, only to almost get beheaded by a Beowolf. Easily make their way through the forest and find the relics, only to be almost immediately set upon by a giant Nevermore.
The thief watched as the Grimm circled the area, letting out a deep squawk before turning and diving towards the group that had gathered at the ruins holding the relics. Shortly after she and Jaune arrived a few other pairs had found their way to claim a relic as well. Gathered now was herself and Jaune, a blonde named Yang and her dark-haired partner Blake, the silver eyed girl Ruby and the ice queen Weiss Schnee and finally a ginger girl named Nora and her taciturn friend Ren. Almost immediately after the introductions, most of which was facilitated by Jaune, the Nevermore had come screaming down at them from the nearby mountain.
As the avian monster swept lower Emerald pulled her two pistols, and accompanied by everyone except Jaune, launched a salvo of bullets, shotgun pellets, dust projectiles and even some grenades blasting into it. The knight stood before her as if to guard his partner, shield at the ready. She sighed at the notion. What was he going to do with just a sword?
Something it turned out, as the Nevermore took an array of bullets and explosions it dove too low, catching a wing into the ground and digging a furrow into the earth as it tumbled. The momentum bled from the creature stopping it only a few feet from their collected group. Jaune was one of the first to jump forward, followed quickly by many of the others, herself included. She watched as the boy leapt and plunged his sword upto the base in the side of the bird as it tried to climb to its feet.
The strike was clumsily made but obviously backed by the knight's natural strength, seeing as it cut into the creature with ease. Perhaps with a bit of training he wouldn't be quite so bad. Emerald dashed as she thought this, quickly bringing herself within striking range of the Nevermore, just below it's neck. With a flick of her wrist the blades popped out and locked into place and she went to work, bringing them down against the feathers before her. The thief felt as the feathers and then flesh below was parted beneath each blade, tearing two long lines into the Grimm.
She watched as the others did similar, cutting into, bashing and crushing the creature with ease before it could even rise. Emerald let out a small breath of exhaustion as she watched the others finish their work. With one last warble the Nevermore finally fell silent and she watched as great black flakes began to fleck off the body, breaking down before being whisked away by the wind. She heard the heavy footfalls that she could now attribute to Jaune as he approached.
"Good job, I saw you rip into the feathers with ease," Emerald praised. It would be easier to deal with the boy if they had a good relationship going forward, so she would work on building it.
"Ah… thanks, you were really good yourself." Jaune let out a sigh as he spoke, "At least it's done for now and we have our relic. I'm kind of beat after everything that has happened." The knight let his shoulders drop a small bit, a sign of the exhaustion he spoke of. In truth Emerald felt the same, too much had happened today.
"Well don't worry, the only thing left to do is climb the cliffs over there and then we're home free."
Emerald could only laugh in response to the loud groan that came from Jaune, his face twisting into a frown. With a chuckle she turned and started to walk towards the rock wall, the blonde knight soon behind her.
Hello and welcome to my new fic.
Now this is what I can truly call a crack ship. The pairing here will be Jaune X Emerald or Topaz (which I'm kinda meh on as the ship name).
This was not originally the story I was working on but the idea came to mind and before I knew it here we were.
I think Emerald has the potential to be one of the most interesting villain characters in the show, even thought we know little to nothing about her at this point. As such parts of this fic, which will eventually go into her past, will be completely original. I hope that I can do that without making her seem OoC, but I can only try my best in that regard in general.
As an example in the first draft of this chapter Emerald killed Pyrrah instead of just knocking her out, but I felt that it was a bit much. One, the reaction would have been probably negative and it would be a bit hard to write her back from that. My goal is to make Emerald at least kind of like-able and having her kill a fan favorite character in the first chapter wouldn't help that. Haha.
This will be my first time trying to plot out and write a longer story, and the first time working with so many characters, so please forgive me any small (or large) mistakes. This will be a learning experience for me as I try to improve my writing in all aspects.
My goal is to try and update this weekly, so look for the next chapter either Feb 17th or 18th, but I'll be doing my best to get one out every Saturday.
Thanks for reading!