Chapter One: In-Flight Procedures
Authors Note:
First Fanfiction ever for me! Please leave a review! (: Enjoy
"Hello Jaune" A girl's voice spoke softly.
Jaune flinched. He wasn't supposed to be here. He had no real right to be on a ship to Beacon, he'd cheated and lied to get here. One thing at a time Jaune. He spun around to locate the voice. A curious girl with sapphire blue hair, much like the deep blue waters of the sea, met his eyes.
He couldn't see her properly, the light from the sun behind him was glaringly bright, but her smile was one of accomplishment; she had made it. Jaune knew this because he made the same smile after finishing one his mother's dreadful cookies. The girl was shortish, about 5 and a half feet if Jaune had to guess. By her side was a simple sheath and sword, the tip was messily tinged a dark aqua hue, as if it had been dipped in liquid blue. It almost looked like Crocea Mors. Did hers expand into a shield too? Jaune wondered.
She probably knew how to use hers a lot better though.
Proceeding with only slightly rehearsed introductions, Jaune greeted the girl in front of him.
"The name's Jaune A- Wait how do you know my name?"
The girl's smile faded suddenly, and her head turned slightly, probably admiring the view from the ship's large glass windows. And it was an amazing view. Jaune turned his own head to look out at the magnificent city of Vale, the many multitudes of busy buildings, bustling shops, plain schools filled with yawning students already wanting to go home. It reminded Jaune of home ironically, despite growing up in the outskirts of Vale, he still felt a connection to this place.
"Bin's on the left" She gestured to the corner of the room, where a few others were standing near some rather ominous looking trash cans.
"Hmm? Bin?-" Jaune felt a sudden wave of nausea envelop his senses. Rushing to said bin, he bid his breakfast a mental goodbye as chunks of his favourite cereal were deposited in the trash.
"I guess the view's not for everyone" He heard someone say.
Jaune felt eyes burn into him. Thankfully he had managed to avoid a death-by-embarrassment situation, but he hadn't even arrived yet and he was already starting to doubt coming.
He had no training. No fancy weapon. No super duper semblance that could destroy mountains or levitate objects. Did he even have a semblance? Hell, he didn't even know how to use dust! Looking around the room, Jaune was pretty sure he didn't belong.
Was it too late for an escape pod? Did this ship even have escape pods?
"We'll be arriving at Beacon Academy in twenty minutes" The robotic voice of an announcer droned.
And this girl... How did she know my name? Jaune let out a dizzied sigh. Weird things were happening in the life of Jaune Arc. Making his way to the bathroom to wash his mouth, he spotted the blue haired girl now sitting near a television screen. The screen showed a news reporter with white hair, and behind her was a symbol he recognised as the White Fang's trademark copyrighted all rights reserved terrorist logo!
Members of the white fang... blah blah... Jaune thought to himself. He had enough troubles without groups of mindless extremists ruining his day.
Checking to see he still had Crocea Mors strapped to his belt (a habit he'd adopted to avoid losing it), Jaune stepped inside of the bathroom. What could possibly go wrong?
Surprisingly, nothing did. Despite Jaune's skill of causing himself trouble, he'd managed to enter and exit the bathroom, without a problem.
Silently congratulating himself, Jaune returned from his first adventure unscathed, and not learning his lesson, he took another look through the extensive glass windows spanning the ship's decks, this time, letting his fingers rest against cool glass. It was simply breathtaking. He could see all of Vale from here, including his new school.
Wow... I knew it was big, but this is just...Jaune stared mouth agape at the school.
Beacon Academy. An enormous stone tower stuck up right in the middle of vast marble courtyards, lit pathways, multi-storey buildings for classrooms and dorms. The place had its own streets with post-lamps. Undoubtedly hidden from view were the large halls and gardens Jaune saw on his scroll earlier. Jaune remembers his father saying something about 'communications', but he wasn't paying attention that time – too excited; he was going to become a hunter!
Jaune looked back on his foolish thoughts, it felt like yesterday that he had that kind of optimism, probably because it was yesterday.
Eyes drifting around the room, he noticed the blue haired girl sitting by herself.
Might as well make a friend ? If I screw it up, no big deal, my social life will end, and I'll probably be laughed at until the end of time...
Jaune wandered over and sat on a bench a short distance away from the girl.
Upon a closer inspection, she was reading a book.
Beside her were a stack of thick textbooks, Jaune peered over curiously, hoping to find a topic of conversation. 'Advanced political history', 'Basic Battle techniques' and an even thicker "Great book of Grimm'.
Jaune recognised the last one. He had read the first section on Beowolves, but then fell asleep before he got through the Ursai section. Books without pictures were for nerds anyway, or so his friends at home had always told him.
"Uh hi, I'm Jaune" He reintroduced himself cautiously, ensuring his mouth's weather forecast didn't include chunks of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow cereal. It would be nice to have at least an friend for a short time. Except he was fairly sure that friends at least knew each other's names. Maybe an acquaintance? Come to think of it he hadn't spoken to anyone here yet, and she seemed to know who he was. Was this person spying on him? Or had she done research on every single person currently on the ship?
Creepy...
"Yes hello Jaune." An eventual reply jerked him from his thoughts.
The girl still had her eyes glued to the book, seemingly disinterested in the blond guy sitting next to her.
"So... what's your name? Jaune asked with an awkward smile, both hoping to hide his nervousness, and appear friendly. Usually what Jaune tried didn't work, but he was praying for a miracle. Jaune felt like he'd be needing to call in a lot more miracles in the near future.
"Iris" The girl replied lazily, still intent on her book. "My name is Iris".
She turned the page. The sound shuffling of the paper felt like chalk down a blackboard.
This is bad… Jaune thought in panic.
"That must be an uh... interesting book you're reading?" Jaune noted from her side.
The girl closed the book.
"What do you want Jaune?" She turned to face him, a puzzled expression filling her expression.
Jaune choked. The girl looked like his sister. It was his sister. The same face, the same nose, everything. Except she had blue hair... and she was well… alive.
"Mabel?" He whispered, eyes widened, staring stunned in disbelief.
"I can see why you would think so…" Iris said slowly. Her features softened, her face sympathetic. "But I am not your sister. Mabel is dead Jaune, nobody can change that".
"Then… who are you? And how do you know so much about me?" He replied in confusion, questions filling his head. Who is this Iris? How does she know about my sister? Why does she look like my sister?! And how did she know I was going to puke before I even knew!
If this was a miracle, Jaune was not impressed so far. He hadn't even arrived at the school, and weird things were already happening to him. And weird, weird things were happening, not 'Why are my shoelaces made of spaghetti weird'. It was closer to finding out 'All shoelaces are made of spaghetti'.
"It's about time we talked about this anyway, we might not get a chance once we arrive" said Iris, taking a deep breath. "You might not believe me at first, but listen to the end and everything will make sense."
"Okay…" Jaune said hesitantly, leaning back on the airship bench, only to fall backwards.
"Oomph-" Jaune's head hit the floor with a resounding thud. These seats didn't have backs apparently. He got back up quickly looking around the room as he did, nobody had noticed, thank god. Well except for Iris- wait what?
"Don- d- th- J- ne" Iris spoke shakingly. Jaune stared again.
She was just flickering, like a broken dustbulb?! Was this a hologram of sorts?
He reached out to touch her face, and embarrassingly enough, he touched a face. Jaune quickly retracted his hand.
What? But how did, she just, do the thing- what!?
"I'm very real Jaune, just not in every way" Iris explained with an annoyed look. "It's hard to tell you, but avoid attracting attention, I'm using my energy to divert attention away from both of us"
Is that your semblance or something? Jaune asked, mouth agape. He had heard of semblances from his father, and felt proud to know what they were.
What an OP semblance! You could sneak into movies for free and stuff! And probably get away without doing the homework. Not to mention sneaking up on Gri-
"No it's not Jaune..." She spoke dubiously, unsure of how to proceed.
"So it's like a dust device thing?" Jaune suggested, face once again filled with confusion. Seems like confusion was the new normal for Jaune now, and classes hadn't even begun! God dammit, why did these things always happen to me-
"I am your semblance Jaune."
"Uh, say again? I thought you said you were my semblance." Jaune laughed a little at the end.
Her face was deadly serious.
"You heard correctly" She said, eyes not faltering from his. "I am your semblance."
They need to invent a new word that means confused, but like, times 100… What on earth…
"You're my semblance?! But you're real and a person and speaks English and you have a face?!" Jaune's mind failed to properly comprehend the things he was saying. It felt like trying to put more water into an already full water balloon, except he was more of a watermelon to begin with.
Watermelon or not, Jaune's mind was at its peak of confusion. The dam of weirdness had collapsed and the flood of questions had poured into his head, so many questions.
"We'll be arriving at Beacon Academy in under two minutes" The robotic voice of the announcer droned once again.
Jaune opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly interrupted.
"Look Jaune, there isn't much time left. Don't talk to me unless we are alone, they'll send you to an asylum. I cannot be seen by other people at this time. In a way I'm invisible, if you'd think of it like that." Iris quickly explained.
"I'll answer your questions later, but for now, just stay safe. Oh and don't you dare die during initiation. Do you have any idea how long I had to wait for you to turn seventeen?" Iris added with a huff.
"Wait, what's initiation?" Jaune asked, a horror adorning his face.
"We are now landing at Beacon Academy. Thank you for flying Air Vale, we wish you the best of luck, future hunters and huntresses." A less robotic captain said over the loudspeaker.
"We've run out of time Jaune, good luck" Iris said, her ocean eyes seeming to blend in with the wall as she spoke.
They were blending in with the wall, and in a sort of mesmerising way, she had disappeared without him even realising. He had been staring at her the whole time, and she had somehow disappeared... He wasn't sure how, but there was certainly something odd about Iris. Many things odd actually. Still, he couldn't help but feel glad that he'd made a friend… sort of. The words 'Don't you dare die during initiation' floated around in his mind.
Perhaps acquaintance was the better word after all.