Chapter 1: Out Hunting
The snowy forests outside of the Atlesian capital were well known for their Ursa population. The larger bear-like Grimm are much more suitable to live in the harsh cold that plagued the Atlesian wilds than most other Grimm. Recently, the good people at the Schnee Dust Company have been feeling that this population has been growing too large.
That was why Ruby Rose was now lying in the freezing cold snow, trying to locate the last of the large pack of Ursa they had been tracking through the scope of her rifle. They had been following this pack for about a week now, picking them off one by one. Once the Grimm had taken proper notice of their dwindling numbers, they had made more of an effort to cover their tracks.
Not far behind her stood her trusted partner and strategist, Jaune Arc, who was keeping an eye out for any Grimm that might try to sneak up on them.
"See anything yet?" Jaune asked, his back facing towards Ruby. The question made Ruby shake her head and sigh.
"No Jaune, I have not seen anything in the 30 seconds since you last asked me." She said dryly.
"Alright no need to be like that. I was just asking." Jaune said defensively.
"You could just turn around and look for yourself." Ruby said still looking down her scope.
"I could do that… but then who would watch your back?" Jaune asked.
"It's not like Ursai are quiet creatures, Jaune. We would hear them if they were behind us. Also, we would sense them with our aura." Ruby explained. Jaune raised a finger in preparation for a comeback, but slumped forward in defeat when he realized she was right. Ruby smirked, knowing that she had won without even looking at her defeated partner's expression.
Now that Jaune conceded defeat, he had turned around and looked off into the distance. Right now the duo were positioned atop a high cliff to give them the best vantage point to scout for the Grimm. Jaune decided to lie down next to his partner. Once he was on the ground, he tried his best to lean over and see if he could get a peek through Ruby's scope. The closer he got, the more aware of him Ruby became. Eventually, when Jaune was practically hovering over her, Ruby put down her weapon and looked over at her partner.
"Can I help you?" She asked with a goofy grin on her face.
"Oh, ah… I was just trying to get a look through your scope." Jaune said sheepishly.
"You know you can do that without basically lying on top of me right?" Ruby asked.
"How would I go about that?" Jaune asked. Instead of saying anything, Ruby simply held up her weapon, offering for Jaune to take it. Jaune was quite surprised by this gesture.
"Wait really? I can hold Crescent Rose?" Jaune asked.
"Yeah go ahead." Ruby said nonchalantly.
"Are you okay? You never let anyone hold Crescent Rose." Jaune said.
"Not true." Ruby said.
"Well then why is this the first time in almost seven years of knowing you that you are letting me hold it?" Jaune asked.
"First of all, Crescent Rose is a her, not an it. Secondly, you have held her before, you just never got my permission." Ruby said. Once again, Jaune found himself stumped by Ruby's very simple logic.
Jaune reached out and took Crescent Rose from its owner. He held the weapon the same way he'd seen Ruby do it countless times and peeked down the scope.
"Please be careful with her." Ruby said, refusing to take her eyes off Jaune while he handled her weapon.
"Oh don't you worry Ruby. I know how to show a lady a good time." Jaune said suggestively. Ruby could not help but burst out laughing at his silly remark. The sound of her laughter made Jaune look up from the scope and smile at her. Once Ruby had calmed down, she took in a deep breath before speaking again.
"I'm glad to see that all the stuff we've been through hasn't changed your crappy pick-up lines." Ruby said.
"The world may change everyday, but the irresistible charm of this man will never change." Jaune said jokingly. His comment made Ruby begin to laugh again.
"Oh yeah, Jaune. I feel soooo charmed by you right now." Ruby managed to say through her laughter.
"OH MY GOD JUST KISS ALREADY!" Shouted the voice of their teammate, Nora Valkyrie, into their earpieces. This made both Jaune and Ruby begin to blush.
"Um Nora? Have you been listening to us this whole time?" Jaune asked.
"...Noooooooo." Nora said. Jaune let out a loud sigh and Ruby face palmed.
"In Nora's defense, you guys both left your mics on." Spoke the calm voice of Nora's partner, Lie Ren.
"Alrighty then." Ruby said while letting out a nervous chuckles. "Thank you for letting us know, and we'll let you know when we spot something."
"Sure thing bestie! Nora Valkyrie signing off!" Nora said triumphantly. Ruby reached up to her ear and pressed the button to mute the mic on her earpiece. Once she heard the beep, she let out a sigh.
"Oh Nora. What are we gonna do?" Ruby said.
"Yeah I know right! I mean, she wanted us to kiss. How ridiculous is that?" Jaune asked, making a noticeable effort to avoid eye contact.
"Yeah right… I mean it wouldn't be that weird, would it?" Ruby asked.
"I guess not. We're both single, young, we have stuff in common." Jaune said.
"We have the same line of work, we've slept in the same bed together a couple of times. It's not like it would be the weirdest thing that has happened to us." Ruby said.
"And it's not like I haven't ever thought about it. We have been partners for years now and you definitely are attractive." Jaune said.
"I appreciate you saying that. I guess you are attractive as well. You know, in a knight in shining armor kind of way" Ruby said.
"I'm flattered but I don't think it would work out too well. I mean, you're my leader and that might make things weird between us." Jaune said.
"Yeah that would be kinda compromising wouldn't it? It would make fighting a lot more difficult when you add those emotions into the mix." Ruby said.
"Not really. I mean, Ren and I make it work." Nora said, chiming into the conversation again.
"Nora!" Ruby exclaimed.
"What? It's not my fault Jaune hasn't muted his mic yet!" Nora said. Ruby looked over at Jaune with a deadpan expression on her face. Jaune chuckled nervously as he looked over at his leader and slowly reached up to mute his mic. Ruby gave him a quick smack to the head.
Once Jaune recovered from his light punishment, he looked back down the scope of Crescent Rose. His eyes widened as he noticed something moving in the distance. He got Ruby's attention and handed Crescent Rose back to her. Jaune pointed to where he saw the movement and Ruby looked down her scope. Sure enough, she spotted the pack of Ursa in the distance. Ruby unmuted her mic.
"Guys we found the rest of the pack. They should be south-east of your position. Give us the signal as soon as you are ready for us to move in." Ruby said.
"Finally! And here I thought we would just be listening to you two embarrass yourselves all day. Let's rock!" Nora said. Ruby muted her mic again and stood up, offering a hand to Jaune to help him up. Once they were both standing, they looked off into the distance.
"Soooo uh, good talk?" Ruby asked. Jaune laughed a little.
"Yeah… good talk." Jaune said.
"I guess all that's left is to wait for the sig-" Ruby was cut off by the sound of an explosion in the distance. From where the sound originated there was a pink heart shaped cloud floating into the air.
"And there is the signal." Jaune said. "Lets go."
"After you." Ruby said, gesturing towards the cliff. Jaune smirked as he unsheathed his sword and expanded his shield.
"I'll see you at the bottom." Jaune said. He took a few steps backwards before turning to face the cliffside. He then broke into a sprint and jump off the cliff. Ruby peeked over the edge and saw Jaune riding his shield down the cliff face like a snowboard.
"Show off." Ruby said before taking her turn to jump into the battle below.
Ren ducked under the swing of an Ursa's large black paw. He unleashed a flurry of bullets at the beast making it roar in pain. The beast retaliated by swinging again which Ren easily dodged with a back flip. He fired at the Ursa again, quickly finishing the Grimm off.
"That makes three now." Ren said out loud to himself. A small explosion drew Ren attention. He saw his partner Nora finish crushing the head of another Ursa with her hammer.
"Make that four!" She said enthusiastically, giving him a thumbs up. Ren simply nodded in acknowledgement. He looked back towards where the rest of the pack was emerging from. Two more Ursai showed themselves. Before they could advance forward, the sound of a battle cry could be heard getting louder. One of the Ursai looked over in the direction of the sound with confusion. Suddenly, it spotted Jaune surfing on his shield towards them.
Once Jaune was close enough, he used his feet to fling his shield forward as he jumped off of it. The shield rocketed towards the first Ursa and impaled its throat, killing it quickly. Before the second Ursa could properly register what happened, Jaune had closed the gap. In one fluid motion, Jaune sheathed his sword into his shield, removing it from the first Ursa's body, and turned his weapon into its greatsword form. He continued running at the second Ursa and held his sword low to the ground. The Ursa let out a roar before running to meet its opponent. But the Ursa stood no chance. Jaune swept his sword low, cutting the Ursa's leg and tripping it. Jaune used this window to take his greatsword and stab the downed beast in the back of its neck, ending its life. The whole display had left Ren quietly impressed while Nora was bouncing as an outlet for all her excitement.
"That was awesome!" Nora exclaimed.
"Aww, thanks Nora. You really think so?" Jaune asked.
"Of course I think so! " Nora exclaimed.
"Guys we can talk later. If we focus we can get this over with quickly." Ren said.
"Ren's right. Let's meet up with Ruby and finish the rest of them off." Jaune said.
"Hey wait, where is Ruby anyway?" Nora asked.
Jaune tilted his head in confusion. Now that he thought about it, Ruby should have landed by now. It was then that Jaune thought he heard a rustling sound nearby. Jaune looked around for the source of the sound but did not see anything moving, until he looked up. Above him he saw Ruby hanging by her hood from a tree branch. She appeared to be trying to use her scythe to cut the tree branch, but could not seem to do it without putting her precious cloak at risk.
"HEY GUYS! A LITTLE HELP UP HERE!" Ruby called out. Both Jaune and Nora began to giggle at the sight of their leader stuck up in the tree. Ren simply smiled at the sight.
"OH YEAH. REAL FUNNY." Ruby said, clearly unamused by the situation.
"I'M JUST GETTING THE FULL JAUNE ARC INITIATION EXPERIENCE." Ruby remarked. This made Jaune stop laughing while Nora laughed even harder.
"SERIOUSLY THOUGH, CAN SOMEONE GET ME DOWN NOW?" Ruby asked, starting to sound desperate. Ren finally acted, throwing one of his bladed guns up at the branch. The weapon severed the branch from the tree, causing it to fall and take Ruby with it. On her way down, she hit four branches, each hit causing her to make a cute but painful "oof" sound.
She eventually reached the ground, landing face first in the snow. Her teammates ran over to where she landed, all standing around her.
"Are you alright, Ruby?" Ren inquired. She slowly lifted her arm up giving a defeated thumbs down.
"My face is very cold." Ruby said, her voice slightly muffled by the snow. Jaune got closer and reached down, picking up his leader and getting her on her feet.
"Do we need to go over landing strategies again?" Jaune said jokingly. Ruby gave his chestplate a playful punch. She was grateful that the cold on her face was hiding her blush.
"Alright you two, we should get going and finish off those Ursai." Ren said. Jaune and Ruby both nodded and the team headed deeper into the snowy woods towards their target.
It was not long before Team RNJR found the rest of the Ursa pack. They tracked them to a small clearing in the forest and were using the foliage as cover. Ren was also using his semblance to mask their presence from the nearby Grimm. The cold had started to put the team a little on edge, so Ren felt it was a necessary precaution.
"Alright guys, I'm counting four baddies ahead. One of them is a Major. How do we wanna play this?" Nora said after taking a look at the clearing.
"Right now we hold the element of surprise. If go we go at them fast and hard they won't be able to fight back." Jaune said. "Nora, you go left. Ren, you go right. Ruby and I will go center so we can split off if one of you needs help."
"That makes sense." Ren said.
"Alrighty Team RNJR, let's do this." Ruby said excitedly. The team stood up and each member went to their planned spots. Ruby unsheathed her scythe and brought the blade behind her. She looked at the Ursai ahead and then nodded to Jaune. He nodded back.
With that confirmation, Ruby pulled the trigger on her scythe, shooting her forward towards the nearest Ursa. In one fell swoop, she swung her scythe around herself, placing the blade of her weapon behind the Ursa, and pulled the trigger, severing the Ursa's upper half from the rest of its body.
At this point, the other three Ursai had been alerted of their presence. One began to go towards Ruby, but got staggered by one of Nora's grenades. The ginger girl leapt at her target, launching it into the trees with a swing of her hammer. She gave the flying Ursa a little wave goodbye as it shrank into the distance.
Ren jumping back and forth, alternating between quick bursts of gunfire and light slashes with his blades. The relentless assault was wearing the Ursa down, but the Grimm would not be dying without a fight. As Ren closed in, the Ursa crouched down and headbutted Ren, knocking him back. Ren grunted as he managed to land on his feet. He brought his guns up and shot at the Ursa, but the attack simply bounced off the Grimm's bone plating. Now with a sudden second wind, the Ursa roared at Ren and began charging towards him. Ren entered a defensive stance, channeling his aura into his arms and bracing for impact.
Once the Ursa was close enough, it swung at Ren. His aura absorbed most of the damage, but he was pushed back a little by the attack. The Ursa swung again and Ren again blocked the attack with his aura. Ren was starting to feel his aura fade. But suddenly, the feeling was replaced by a wave of strength. He looked at his arms and saw they had a white glow. Ren looked to his left and saw Jaune with his hands up, activating his semblance. This time, when the Ursa attacked, Ren used his new found strength to push back against it. He deflected the attack, staggering the beast. With this new window of opportunity, Ren leaped at the Ursa. He planted one of his blades deep into the monster's shoulder, making it roar in pain. Ren used his other blade to slit the Grimm's throat. The creature's roars turned in a gurgles as it slumped to the ground, dying.
Ren looked over at his teammate who was giving him a thumbs up. Ren gave his teammate a small smile and a nod, a silent thanks. The boys attentions were drawn by the sound of another roar. Ruby and Nora had already engaged the Ursa Major. Nora was pelting the beast with grenades while Ruby was dashing around with her semblance and taking shots. She was making sure to never stay in one spot too long to try and confuse the Ursa Major, but despite their efforts, the Grimm only seemed to get angrier with each hit it took. It showed no signs of going down any time soon. Eventually Ruby dashed over to stand next to Nora who was reloading. Ren and Jaune ran over to join them.
"This isn't working. We need a new plan." Ruby said. She looked over at Jaune who was looking at the Ursa. Suddenly, the look on Jaune's face changed. Ruby recognized that look very well. Jaune had a plan.
"Alright, I've got it. Ren, I need you to keep that thing distracted. Try to keep it from moving." Jaune said. Ren nodded in acknowledgement.
"Ruby, you see that tree?" Jaune asked, pointing to a tree at the other end of the clearing.
"Yup." She said.
"I need you to be ready to take it down." Jaune ordered.
"You got it!" Ruby said, giving a mock salute.
"What about me?" Nora asked enthusiastically.
"Once Ruby is ready, we are doing Heaven's Heart." Jaune said.
"Yeeeees! I love Heaven's Heart!" Nora exclaimed, pumping her first in the air. Suddenly, the Ursa Major let out another roar as if to remind the team that it was still there.
"Alright guys. You know what to do." Jaune said.
Ren was the first to act. He began to run circles around the Ursa Major, firing a barrage of bullets every few seconds. The Ursa kept trying to turn to keep its eyes on Ren, but he was too fast and the beast was too big for that kind of mobility.
With the Grimm focused on Ren, Ruby was able to use her semblance to sneak over to the tree that Jaune had pointed out. She called out to Jaune that she was ready and Jaune looked over at Nora.
"Are you ready?" Jaune asked. Nora had a wicked grin on her face.
"I was born ready." She said.
Jaune position himself in front of Nora and held his shield above his head. He looked back over his shoulder at Nora and nodded. Nora jumped up onto Jaune's shield and she peeked over and nodded. Together, Jaune pushed his shield up while Nora used her hammer to launch her sky high. As she rose higher, she shifted her hammer to grenade launcher form and took aim at the Ursa Major. Once she reached the peak of her jump, she unloaded her entire clip of grenades, making a heart shape as they flew towards to unsuspecting Grimm. Ren recognized the sound of Nora's attack and retreated towards Jaune. Before the Ursa Major could figure out why, it became enveloped in a cloud of pink smoke and shrapnel. The smoke slowly cleared to reveal a small heart shaped crater with a very angry, very burnt Ursa Major. It let out a pained roar.
"RUBY NOW!" Jaune shouted. On cue, Ruby used her scythe to cut the tree. The tree creaked as it slowly began to fall. The Ursa Major turned just in time to see the large tree come crashing down on top of it. Once the dust settled, Ruby let out a cheer.
"Nice work team!" She exclaimed. Nora and Jaune had huge grins on their faces. Even Ren was smiling a little bit.
"Alright Team RNJR, let's move out."
Whitley Schnee stood before the young team with his hands behind his back. Ruby had never really liked him because of what he did to Weiss all those years ago, but she knew deep down that it was mostly her father's doing. Despite her disposition towards the young CEO, Ruby was still very willing to accept job offers from the Schnee Dust Company. After all, they paid quite well for jobs like these.
"Excellent work once again Team RNJR. I'm glad that I can always count on you to perform well." Whitley said. Whenever Ruby heard the sound of Whitley's voice she felt annoyed. It was something that went beyond her dislike of the guy. There was just something condescending about the way he spoke that made Ruby feel like she was below him. It was a feeling shared by her teammates as well.
"We are always happy to help. You should have no problem sending out research teams into that region." Ruby said, a forced smile plastered on her face. While she was honestly happy to help with making it safe for the researchers, she did not like being bossed around by Whitley Schnee. She much preferred to work for Winter Schnee, his older sister and recently appointed head of security. She was much more like Weiss than he was.
"Now, I unfortunately will not be able to see you out as I have a meeting to attend to. I wish you safe travels. My head of security is waiting for you by the entrance with your payment." Whitley said. Ruby almost let out a sigh of relief when he said that he had to go, but she managed to refrain from doing so. She did not want to offend someone as powerful as him.
With that out of the way, Team RNJR made their way out of the building. Just as Whitley had said, Winter was waiting by the entrance to the building holding a small envelope. Once Winter had spotted them, she approached them and handed Ruby the envelope.
"The Schnee Dust Company thanks you for your services." Winter said politely, giving a small bow.
"At ease soldier, this isn't the army anymore. You can be informal with us." Ruby said. She noticed the tension in Winter's shoulder.
"I appreciate that, however do keep in mind that I am an official representative of the Schnee Dust Company. I must remain professional at all times." Winter said.
"Yeah yeah blah blah blah. Come here you old softie." Nora said as she made her way over to Winter. Nora wrapped the woman in a light hug, which made Winter cringe a bit. Regardless, she soon gave in and reciprocated the hug.
"Glad to see you haven't changed at all." Winter said. She then gave Ren a look and he separated Nora from the hug, much to her disappointment.
"Have you all been well?" Winter asked.
"As well as you can be when you're freezing your butt off in Atlas." Jaune remarked. Winter smiled, but Ruby could tell that she did it to be polite and not because she was amused. Much like Weiss, Winter was not so fond of Jaune.
"I see. Well, I guess you'll be heading back to Vale then?" Winter inquired.
"Indeed we are. Our flight leaves tomorrow morning." Ren said.
"Well then I wish you all the best. Hopefully I will see you again soon. You are always welcome here." Winter said.
They all thanked Winter and then began to walk out together, but before Ruby could get anywhere, Winter placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I was actually hoping to speak to you. Privately." She said.
"Oh uh sure thing." Ruby said. She told her teammates she would meet them outside and they exited the building.
"Now that they are gone I must ask, have you heard any news about Weiss?" Winter asked. Ruby's expression dulled. She had figured that this is what Winter wanted to talk about. Ruby shook her head which made Winter sigh.
"I just wish she would come home." Winter said. Now it was Ruby's turn to sigh.
"I miss her too Winter, but we'll find her. She's out there somewhere and I know that she is innocent. If I hear anything, you will be the first to know." Ruby said solemnly.
"Thank you Ruby. It's nice to see that you still believe in her." Winter said.
"Of course Winter. She was my best friend after all." Ruby said. She began to walk out looking back to wave at Winter before she exited the building.
Now that Ruby was gone, Winter let the tension out of her shoulders. She walked over to the electronic bulletin board in the lobby and gazed at the pictures until her gaze landed on one particular image.
A wanted poster for Weiss Schnee.
Hello readers. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this new story. I am always open to both positive and negative feedback so please feel free to leave a review or send me a private message if you have something to say. I'd like to thank to my friend who did the editing for this chapter. I'd like to thank deviantart user kariavalon for providing the cover art for this story. I'd also like to thank all of you for giving up some of your free time to read my story. It means so much to me. Hope you have a great day and stay tuned for the next chapter.