Hello, everybody! First let me thank everybody who favorited, followed and reviewed the first chapter! The reviews gave me very useful insight, and I already tried to fix the elements that needed to be. This chapter is quite longer than the first and is therefore closer to what you should expect in the future. Future chapters might be even longer, the reason why will be explained in the notes post-chapter.
Anyways, good reading!
"All students are to report to the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest in 30 minutes for initiation."
Jaune was walking to the cafeteria when he heard the intercom message for the third time that morning. Do they really think our information retention time is only ten minutes? Are we just a mass of walking and talking goldfish to them? Jaune had been woken up by that same message half an hour ago, as well as by the shouts of a guy taken by surprise by the shrill voice coming out of the intercoms. Jaune sympathized with the future team of that light sleeping teenager.
Jaune had plenty of time for his morning routine, so by now he was ready to fill the deep pit he found in his stomach. He found his way to the cafeteria by following the cardboard arrows pinned on most of the walls of Beacon. Most of the other initiates were already sitting all over the massive room, some in small groups and others alone. The cafeteria was mostly empty still, Jaune assumed that was because only the first years were present, the others scheduled to arrive later in the day.
The blonde boy went to get his food and scanned the room for a place to sit. His gaze stopped on a familiar face near the exit of the cafeteria; Ruby, who was rapidly shoving cookies by the handful in her mouth while waving at Jaune with the other hand. Jaune grinned at the young girl's enthusiasm and made his way to her, seeing that she was sitting with her sister.
"Hey Jaune, good morning! Are you ready for initiation?" Ruby greeted him warmly, having ingested enough sugar to send a normal human her size to the hospital.
"Morning, Ruby. Yeah, I should be ready, assuming I don't suffer a panic attack beforehand." He made sure to keep a smile on his face so Ruby would understand the humor of his words. He sat on Ruby's right, while her sister was seated directly in front of her.
"Wow Rubes, you hadn't told me your white knight was also an amateur humorist." Ruby's sister had a teasing grin plastered on her face while making her comment.
"Yaaaaang, stop that." Ruby's skin tone had become impressively close to her cape's color. Jaune simply smiled at the banter between the siblings.
Yang laughed lightly. "Well Jaune, my name is Yang and I am Ruby's older sister if you hadn't made the connection yet." Yang extended a hand to him which he happily shook.
"Yeah, Ruby told me about you yesterday. I'm glad to meet you." Jaune got his hand back from the crushing grip of Yang and tried to hide the pain of his fingers. "So, are you girls also ready for today?"
"Of course!" Ruby had finally finished her plate of cookies. "But I am wondering how the teams are going to be formed. I really hope we can choose our teammates ourselves." The girl looked apprehensive, something he could relate to.
"The teachers will probably want to get us out of our comfort zone, so I doubt anybody will be able to just pick their friends as teammates." Yang's grin was swapped for a pensive expression while she talked.
"You're probably right." Jaune nodded softly. They wouldn't want to make my life easy.
"All students are to report to the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest in 20 minutes for initiation." The intercom again relayed its message. The timing was perfect since Yang and Jaune had just finished their breakfasts, and were ready to get their equipment from the lockers.
The three teens made their way to the lockers, Jaune separating from the sisters once in the room to get to his own equipment. He put on his breastplate and bracers, which he had taken from the armory of his father, and attached the sheaths of both his swords to his back.
The blonde knight then made his way to the exit, where a blonde teacher was pointing Ruby and some other students to where the cliff was located. While he walked to the teacher, his attention was grabbed by two girls talking to his right. The two were gorgeous, so much so that Jaune was stopped right in his tracks.
One had her long silver-white hair in a side ponytail. She wore a white dress and her snow-white complexion was counterbalanced by her startling blue eyes. Jaune remembered her from yesterday; she was the girl Ruby had exploded in front of.
The other girl also had a ponytail, but the similarities ended there. Her hair was a bright crimson, her eyes a vivid green, and she wore a complete set armor Jaune assumed was made of bronze due to coloring. Jaune thought he might have seen her somewhere before, but couldn't remember where.
He was taken out of his thoughts when somebody grabbed his arm and started dragging him to the exit.
"Come on, vomit-boy, it isn't polite to stare at girls." Yang's voice was full of the teasing intent Jaune was already getting good at recognizing. His face turned beet red at her comment.
"Was it really so blatant?" Jaune sighed and got out of the muscled girl's hold.
"Oh yeah. In fact, I found it insulting. Why wouldn't you look at me like that?" Jaune honestly wasn't sure if the girl was joking anymore.
"Hum, sorry?" Jaune tried to resolve the situation. Yang just got into a laughing fit.
"Relax, Jaune, I'm just teasing you. Besides, a red tone like that really doesn't compliment you." Yang's grin remained on her face.
The duo quickly rejoined with Ruby and they went to the cliff where the initiation was to start. Jaune's stress really started to make itself present. After all, this initiation would determine if his life's goal could finally be realized.
The teens finally arrived at the cliff. From here they could see a forest stretching some impressive distance. The headmaster was already standing in front of a line of grey platforms, he was quickly rejoined by the blonde teacher Jaune saw earlier. The teacher was a woman probably a little younger than Jaune's mother. She wore glasses and a dress to which a cape was attached, giving her the appearance of a witch.
When the last of the students arrived, the headmaster started talking.
"For years you have trained to become warriors. Today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."
"Now, I am sure that many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams." The blonde teacher continued. "Well, let us put an end to your confusions. Each one of you will be given teammates. Today." Jaune heard Ruby whine at this revelation.
"These teammates will be with you for the next four years." The headmaster continued talking. "So it would be in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person with whom you make eye contact once in the forest will be your partner for the next four years."
Well, that might be the best possible outcome for me. Jaune only knew Ruby and Yang at Beacon, and if they could choose their partners the sisters would probably have gotten with each other. Jaune would have had to ask a complete stranger to team up with him, not something he would have looked forward to. Since the partners were chosen in a more or less random manner, he wouldn't need to convince anyone.
"You have to get to the northern end of the forest. There you will find a temple containing several relics, each pair must grab one. Afterwards, you will make your way back to the top of the cliff. There will be opposition along your way, eliminate it or you will die." The headmaster's words made Jaune gulp audibly.
"Now, prepare to be launched." Launched? "You will need to use your own landing strategy."
Landing strategy, those were foreign words to the ears of Jaune Arc. He looked around him to see the reaction of the other students. Most of them were taking out their weapons, determined looks on their faces. An orange headed girl on the edge of his vision attracted his attention. On her face was one of the biggest and most disturbing smile he had ever seen. How could she possibly be happy in such a situation? Everybody else he looked at seemed determined, tense or at best confident! But that girl what chatting away with the black haired guy to her side like the situation was hilarious. Saying she was chatting at the boy might be more on the spot actually, since he looked like he paid her almost no mind.
Concentrate! Having your head in the clouds won't help you now!
He knew he had no way of surviving any kind of fall barehanded, so he needed to use his swords. Setting fire to the forest from the sky would only diminish his chances of survival, if that was even possible, so Red Dawn was definitely not a good option. He would need to use Grey Dusk, a good thing since it was the only sword he knew some commands to. Now, a tornado wouldn't do him any good, and wind slashes either. Jaune tried to remember something useful from his sister's notes he had read last evening. And then he got it.
"Windscreen." Jaune said in a whisper, confidence suddenly taking hold in his mind.
"Huh?" Ruby, which was on the platform on Jaune's left, was confused by his sudden outburst.
"Don't mind me, I just discovered I might possibly survive the fall." Jaune smirked at the young huntress.
"I just hope you react better at flying on your own than on an airship." Ruby smiled and prepared Crescent Rose. "Otherwise, I don't want to imagine how the Grimm below you will respond to being puked on." As Jaune let out a nervous laugh, the students on the leftmost platforms were launched one by one.
Jaune pulled on the hilt of his sword, grabbing the steel barehanded midway through the motion so he could more easily unsheate it all in one go. "Grey Dusk, activation." The sword started glowing a dim white, and he was launched.
The view was impressive. Even from such a height most of his vision was full of trees, a testament to how massive the Emerald Forest was. Sadly, he didn't have much time for sightseeing. It took about 20 seconds for him to get to the highest point of his trajectory, then he started falling down. He brought his sword in front of himself, pointing the trees below, and said the command.
"Activate Windscreen!" Jaune yelled as loudly as he could, adrenaline flowing through his veins.
From what he had read in his sister's modification journal, the Windscreen created a powerful shield of wind in front of the sword. The shield was not able to stop bullets, merely slowing them, but it was sufficient to stop thrown objects like knives or a chair. Mostly because these objects normally travel at lower speeds than bullets, and offer a bigger surface for the wind to push on. The shield could also make it harder for enemies to attack the wielder in melee.
But the best thing for Jaune in this situation was that the shield also created a gigantic amount of wind resistance without adding any weight. Thus, he slowed his descent by a considerable amount.
He might just survive, as long as he kept a hold on his sword. But, he was still going too fast for a smooth landing. The trees were getting close and Jaune prepared for impact, keeping the windshield in front of himself.
He hit the highest branches of a massive tree, shattering them with his body after the wind had bent them. Jaune grunted in pain but managed to hold on to his sword.
And then he hit the tree itself.
"HUMPF!" Jaune's sword lodged into the tree, and he finally came to a stop. His stomach struck the pommel of his sword, stopping his momentum and taking all the air from him at once.
Jaune slumped on the branch he had managed to get onto, still holding Grey Dusk. He took a few seconds to recover and mentally check the structural integrity of his body. He was alive. Somehow, he was alive. He had been catapulted from a cliff by a mad headmaster and hadn't died on the spot.
"I'm alive." Hearing the words come out of his mouth confirmed it for him. His grin of relief was only somewhat diminished by the concurrent grimace of pain he still wore.
Now that he knew he was still in one piece, he had to make certain it would stay that way. The first step was to get out of that tree. He looked at his position and at his surroundings, seeing that he was quite high in the tree. If he fell from there the best outcome would be a pair of broken ankles.
Jaune then looked at his sword, which was lodged in the tree. The Windscreen seemed to have been deactivated, probably because of the violent impact on the sword, but the Dust was still glowing. The teen pulled on it, barely managing to get it out of the tree.
"Grey Dusk, deactivate." Jaune did not want to waste any of his Dust.
The young knight located a branch about halfway between him and the ground. He jumped onto it, shoving his sword into the trunk to keep his balance, and then let himself fall to the ground. Jaune winced at the impact but managed to stay on his feet.
Well, that could have gone worse, so I'll consider myself lucky.
Jaune heard some shuffling in the bushes in front of him and raised his sword instinctively to prepare for the menace. He didn't feel like fighting his first Grimm moments after his first near-death experience, but he would rather fight than die without having at least tried to defend himself.
Then, Jaune heard something that brought a smile to his lips.
"Come oooon! We're supposed to be partners." Ruby's voice was nearing Jaune's location, she was obviously talking to someone.
"There is no way I will accept such a childish individual as a partner." The white-haired girl Jaune had seen in the locker room came out of the underbrush, followed by Ruby.
This new girl turned her head in Jaune's direction, finally seeing him. For a moment nobody talked; the white-haired girl and Jaune were looking at each other. Then, she came up to him, extended her hand and talked.
"Greetings, my name is Weiss Schnee, and you shall be my partner." Her tone was terrifying, like the one used by a Mafioso who knows you can either accept the offer or die a painful death. While he doubted Weiss would just kill him like that during initiation, he decided not to incur her wrath.
"Hum, ok… I'm Jaune Arc, glad to meet you." He shook her hand powerfully and smiled as confidently as possible.
"Very well, let's start moving, we need to get to the temple." Weiss's voice was still quite cold.
"Hum, what about me?" Ruby looked quite uncomfortable, being abandoned by Weiss.
"As you are not a member of our team, what you do is not of our concern." Weiss had already started moving. She looked at Jaune with a dangerous glint in her eyes, as if daring him to challenge her opinion.
"The best thing for you would probably be to stay near the landing zones to find a partner." Jaune tried to help Ruby without antagonizing his new partner. "I'm guessing that the closer we get to the temple, the less likely we are to find others without teammates."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Ruby smiled lightly at him. "Good luck with her." She whispered that last sentence to him. Jaune sighted.
"Good luck." They waved at each other and Jaune went back to Weiss.
Yeah, good luck Jaune… He was going to pass 4 years of his life with what seemed to be a beauty queen with the temperament of a tiger. He had no idea how to feel about that. Terrified? Exited? Nonplussed? For now, he was going to keep a calm façade, at least until he managed to understand Weiss.
He took out his scroll and activated the compass function. The headmaster told them all to get to the north of the Emerald Forest did he not?
"So, we're supposed to go north, but north of here we only have that mountain." Weiss looked at him, then at his scroll as if to confirm he wasn't wrong in his directions.
"We could try to get around, but that may take a while. The best thing might be to get near the mountain and look for a path, if there's nothing then we shall take the long route." Weiss stopped walking suddenly.
"What are you doing?" Weiss glared at him and pointed at her ear. Did she hear something?
Jaune stopped as well, listening closely. He heard Weiss unsheathing her rapier, and he heard a growl. Oh no. He put his scroll back into his pocket and unsheathed Grey Dusk in as fluid a motion as he could manage, preparing to use it as it was meant to be for the first time.
"Grey Dusk, activate." Weiss was already in a sparring stance, she looked calm and confident. She definitely had a lot of training before. Jaune had no idea what stance to use, so he simply followed his instinct. He grabbed the handle with his two hands, lifted the sword over his head and pointed it in front of him. His hands were on the right side of his head.
Several Beowolves came out of the vegetation but didn't attack right away. They stared at the two teenagers with soulless red eyes, their long tongues hanging down from their maws and dripping black saliva on the ground. They barely did any noise, only growling slightly.
"Prepare your Dust attacks. There are not a lot of them so it would be a waste of time to engage them in melee." Weiss' voice was still calm, so he decided to follow her plan. Wind slashes were his best option.
The Beowolves charged. One was immediately seared from shoulder to groin by a fire attack launched by Weiss. Another jumped at Jaune.
"Slash!" Jaune slashed his sword in front of him and a blade of wind materialized itself in front of his attack. The Dust formation moved at high speed and hit the jumping Beowolf in the chest, disturbing its momentum and making it crash to Jaune's right.
The knight moved in for the kill, expecting the monster to be badly injured. The beast surprised him by slashing upwards suddenly, managing to nick his left arm between two pieces of his bracer. Jaune yelped in pain but swung his sword by reflex, cutting the Grimm's right arm at the elbow. Jaune then swung his blade downward, cutting deep into the monster's throat, killing it. The creature had a deep gash on its chest where his Dust attack had hit, but it obviously wasn't enough to incapacitate it for a considerable amount of time. He would need to remember this.
The cut on his arm was shallow, but it hurt nonetheless. He turned to his partner, preparing to go help her. Weiss had things under control however, three Beowolves were already dead on the ground, their wounds cauterized by the girl's Dust attacks. The final monster was frozen to the ground, and Weiss quickly delivered the killing blow. She removed her rapier from the beast's heart and turned to look at Jaune. She seemed rather unimpressed.
"Is that really the extent of your abilities? That Grimm caused you more problems than it should have." Weiss' words cut deep, but she was definitely right. This might have been his first fight against a Grimm, but that was not what he had wished to project.
Jaune was about to try to divert his partner's attention away from him by complimenting her skills, but she talked first.
"Is that blood?" Weiss now seemed furious. "Are you seriously telling me you didn't use your aura?"
"It's a little more complicated than that." Jaune nervously scratched at the back of his head. "You see … my aura still hasn't been unlocked." Weiss' frown deepened and she clenched her fists.
"I cannot believe this." She was massaging her forehead with a hand while the other still held Myrtenaster. "How could anyone be expected to hunt Grimm without an aura? Even training would become difficult if you cannot heal your bruises easily!" Jaune simply stood there, looking at his small injury, located on his forearm. "Do you even know how aura works?" Her anger seemed like it was being replaced by disdain.
"Yeah, it's basically a force field that can also heal you." Jaune answered in a defiant tone. "And, before you ask, there's a reason why I don't have it unlocked; my father wouldn't allow me to be a Hunter." Jaune was frustrated, not only because his new partner assumed right off the bat that he was an idiot, but also because of his father.
"Your father did not want you to be a Hunter, and yet here you are." Her expression had softened, and she seemed lost in thoughts.
"And yet here I am." He nodded glumly. "If you don't mind I'd prefer not to talk about it." Weiss nodded stiffly in response. He deactivated his sword and went back to walking northward.
"Wait, we can't just go like that. We need to activate your aura. Otherwise, you won't be able to endure any kind of hit by a Grimm. The only reason you didn't lose your arm right back there is because he simply grazed you." She was right of course. "Now, get over here, close your eyes and concentrate. We don't have all day."
She put her hand on his right cheek and started talking, her voice resonating in his whole body.
"For it his in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder; protect thee." Weiss backed off of him, panting.
"Weiss! Are you alright?" Jaune made to reach to his partner.
"Yes, don't worry." She swatted his hand away, but her tone for once was friendly. Almost friendly at least. "I unlocked your aura using my own, but the energy coming from you is now your own. You have a surprising amount of it."
Jaune smiled weakly, and feeling a strange tingling on his left arm, he looked at it. The cut closed itself rapidly, the only reminder that it was ever there being a spot of red on his ruined sleeve.
"Wow." That would really be useful. His own protective shield.
"Stop gawking at your arm and start moving, we must not waste time." Weiss was already back to her spiky self.
Let's go then.
It took the duo several minutes of rapid walking to get to the mountain. Upon arriving, they immediately spotted the entrance to a cave.
"Do you think this leads to the other side? That would make the perfect shortcut." Jaune probed his partner for her opinion since he himself had no idea.
"Maybe it leads nowhere, but I still think it's worth a try. If there is a path then we should get to the other side in 10 minutes, going around would be much longer."
"Yeah, and even if we get into a dead-end then we won't have lost too much time." Weiss nodded her affirmation. Jaune took out Grey Dusk. "We'll need a light source; my sword will probably have enough power."
"Very well, we can use our scrolls if you happen to run out of Dust." Jaune activated his sword and the team was on its way.
Weiss still wasn't much of a conversationalist, so they walked silently through the cave. Grey Dusk emitted a sufficient amount of light to see in front of them, basically equivalent to a torch, but it did nothing to counter the creepiness of the place. After about five minutes of walking and a few turns, the two partners finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
"Yes, we made it! High five!" Jaune extended his hand happily to his partner, who only rolled her eyes and continued to walk towards the exit. Well then, I tried at least.
Jaune started following his partner to the exit, only stopping when he saw another path in the tunnel. A little further down this second path Jaune clearly saw something glowing.
"Weiss, wait a second, there might be something interesting here." Jaune asked, not wasting any time before turning on the new path. Using his sword to illuminate in front of him, the teen moved closer to the new light source. What is that thing? And why is it… moving?
"Stop you dolt!" Weiss yelled from behind the knight. "Run away from the stinger!" The stinger?
Jaune, who had turned to look at Weiss at her scream, whipped his head back around. The moving and glowing object was now mere inches from his face, and his sword illuminated a gigantic creature who had moved forward during his confusion. Now he could clearly see … numerous yellow eyes disposed on a massive white face. A Deathstalker.
He turned on his heels and ran. He ran without looking behind, only making sure that Weiss ran as well. He sprinted out of the tunnel, into the forest, but did not stop. He clearly heard the monster running into a wall behind him. His partner was now running beside him, and a massive sound made her turn her head.
"He's out of the cave! Don't stop running you dunce!" She was furious, so much so that he wouldn't have considered stopping right now if she ordered it.
How could he be so stupid? A glowing object in a cave, how could that be safe? Now he might have doomed his life and his partner's. No! He could not think like that, not while they might still outrun it. The duo ran until Jaune's legs could barely hold him, and then they ran some more. He could hear Weiss pant as she started to reach the limits of her stamina, just as he did. The Deathstalker was way too close for comfort now, if he stopped running it would not take two seconds for the creature to reach him. They continued until they got out of the forest, and Jaune glimpsed something that gave him hope. A group of teenagers armed to the teeth. There were six of them assembled around a formation of columns, looking at the sky.
"RUBY!" Jaune yelled with all the power his exhausted lungs could muster at the red-caped girl he could have recognized from a mile away. She immediately turned her head towards him and waved, before letting her arm fall down as she saw what was following them. She turned to the others around her and suddenly the running duo started receiving support fire. Jaune heard the Deathstalker behind him screech as a volley of Dust bullets and what he guessed was a pink grenade fell down upon it.
Weiss took advantage of the action to turn around and face the slowed down scorpion. Jaune stopped to her side, unwilling to let her stay behind for any reason. He then saw what she was doing. In a surprisingly quick action, the white-haired Dust user activated a mechanism on her weapon, making it turn blue as she shoved it into the ground in front of her at an angle. A vast amount of ice formed almost instantly. The ice covered some ground and quickly hit the Deathstalker, encasing its pincers in a cocoon it immediately started to try and break.
Weiss grabbed his arm and dragged him to the temple, scolding him all the way.
"Don't you ever think before you do something? You could have killed us in that cave! In fact, we might still die when that creature gets out." She seemed more disappointed than angry, however, so he took his chance to answer.
"Listen, I'm new at this whole monster hunting thing, but I am determined. I agree I was really rash out there, but I'm already beating myself mentally for it, so I don't need your insults to add to mine. I promise you to do my best and think before I act, but please be a little more comprehensive." His words didn't seem to make her angry, so that was a definite plus already.
"I know you probably put a lot of efforts in what you do, it shows on your face. I simply want you to communicate more before acting and I will try to be less… difficult." Her expression was almost soft now, just like it had been after she unlocked his aura. He could not have hoped for more.
"I would love to see more of this team bonding, but you should really get a relic and get moving with us or this will not end pretty." Jaune could have recognized Yang's voice simply by the teasing edge it still held. She was right, they needed to move away from here.
Jaune took a moment to look at the six teens they had just met. There was obviously Yang, but the girl on her side, probably her partner, was a stranger to him. She was a pale skinned and black haired girl with impressive amber eyes. She wielded a sword in her right hand and some other kind of weapon in her left hand. The group also contained Ruby and the redheaded beauty Jaune had seen earlier in the locker room talking to Weiss. The two sticking close together probably meant they were teamed up. This girl still wore her bronze armor, but now Jaune saw her weapons: a shield on her left arm and an odd looking spear in her right hand. He was pretty sure that spear had fired Dust bullets earlier. Finally, there was the odd duo Jaune had noticed when on the cliff. There was the bubbly orange headed girl wielding a grenade launcher as pink as her skirt, and the black-haired ninja-looking guy with guns in his hands. Of course, those ended up as teammates.
Weiss did not take any time to observe their group, however. She immediately went into the temple and got out with a white chess piece, a knight to be precise. Ha, that's fitting. Jaune smirked and looked around him, catching a glimpse of something in the sky. His smirk dropped dead.
"Please tell me there isn't really a giant bird flying over us." Jaune could not hide the nervousness of his voice. He looked around the group, only seeing small shrugs until he got to the pink-clad huntress.
"It's a Nevermore! It's gonna be so much fun! We could break its wings and have him crash to the ground!" She was ecstatic at the idea of fighting the creature, much to Jaune's disbelief. "What do you think Ren?"
"Nora, we don't have to risk our lives by fighting these Grimm, our objective was to grab the relics and get to the cliff." Ren, Nora's black-haired teammate, was calm and collected, and he made a good argument.
"Run and live, that is something I can get behind." Jaune said as he looked to Weiss for confirmation. She nodded to him and he smiled. "Let's go then."
He then heard a massive crack as ice flew everywhere like shrapnel would.
Well, let's go then…
Voila, now I think a little explanation is in need. I explained before the first chapter that I wanted to make use of the butterfly effect, and that is exactly what you can see here. Basically, Jaune's weapons are more complex in this reality, thus, Ruby took more time to observe them while in the courtyard. This is why the duo almost missed the speech. The effect of this is that Ruby did not talk to Weiss in the auditorium, and Weiss did not describe Jaune as, and I quote: «Tall, blonde and scragly». This fake compliment is what pushed Jaune to start flirting with Weiss in the show, thus by removing it I remove the interactions between the two. That way, in the forest, Weiss had no reason to reject Jaune as her partner instead of Ruby. I hope this is clear :)
Second thing, Jaune knew about aura in my universe, simply because the family swords originally used the wielder's aura, as explained in the first chapter.
Third thing, the chapters might be longer in the future, nearing 8000 words instead of 5500. This chapter was shorter because Weiss really needed her first POV chapter, which will be chapter 3.
Fourth thing, the narration is always from the character's point of view, so some things might not be accurate. Example, Jaune thinking that Ren pays no attention to Nora while on the cliff. That is not necessarily true.
So, now that everything is said, I will see you in the next chapter, which should come out in less than a week. You will be served the end of the initiation, fight included, and the creation of the teams, all from Weiss's point of view.