The Phantom Nevermore: New Moon Waltz

Chapter 1: Migratory

Once upon a time, Jaune Arc's uncle had told him, "Life is full of ironies, both large and small."

At the time, he'd been young, too young to really give the quote any thought beyond confusion. Yet, as he sat overlooking the city of Vale from his seat upon the airship, bound to Beacon Academy, the quote made sense all at once. It felt like so long ago that he'd dreamed of being in this very position, fantasized about it. Now that he was here, however, with changed circumstances, all he could think about was how long it would be until he could leave. His hand reached forward, taking the can of ginger ale off of the tray table in front of him and he took a sip, washing out the remaining taste of Dramamine from his mouth. Air sickness was a bitch, and he didn't feel like making a fool out of himself by throwing up all over himself on his first day.

Blue eyes flickered forward, looking over the rows of seats, to see a holographic image of a stern looking blond woman, gesturing with a riding crop as she spoke. Jaune couldn't hear a word she was saying; he'd been listening to his headphones since he'd gotten on board. Whatever it was, he was sure it couldn't be anything important. He turned his gaze back down to the school issued scroll and frowned, pocketing it. Another scroll, a matte black one, was pulled out and opened up, revealing a conversation in progress.

[X-Ray]: So, everything should be all set. If you've come this far, the forgeries were accepted. I still would be on guard though; Old Ozpin is far too clever by half. He might already know, but accepted you under his own agenda.

Jaune grimaced slightly to himself as he took another sip of ginger ale, the fingers of his other hand typing out a quick response on the scroll's holographic keyboard.

[Vav]: K. Was it a good idea to use my real name tho?

He placed the scroll down on the tray in front of him, glancing over to a group of prospective students standing around chatting. With the music in a temporary lull, he could overhear a pair of girls, one a buxom blond girl and one, a petite girl with black hair with red highlights and silver eyes, talking to one another. Something involving knees, if Jaune's hearing wasn't deceiving him. The vibration of his scroll against the tray alerted him to a new message and Jaune turned his attention back to it.

[X-Ray]: It'll be fine. You've been gone for four years, and the chances of that exact same Jaune Arc appearing at Beacon using his real name like nothing ever happened? It's too coincidental for anyone to believe. More than likely, people will just assume you to be someone different with the same name.

Jaune frowned slightly to himself. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't concerned, but if his uncle said it'd be fine, well, the man hadn't steered him wrong yet. Said frown turned into a smile at his unintentional joke. To say that Thaddeus Aurelius Arc hadn't steered him wrong was like saying that the Faunus of Remnant were in a much better position than before their past rebellion; Technically true, but so very, very wrong in spirit.

[Vav]: So use the burner scroll to chat w/ you?

Once again, Jaune typed out his message and sent it, placing it before him as he glanced once more out the window. Already he could see the majestic parapets of Beacon rising above the horizon, the Emerald Tower shining high above the rest. The view was picturesque, but Jaune's focus was squarely upon the top of the Emerald Tower. Within that small area, his entire purpose for being at Beacon lay. With any luck, he'd be in the history books by the next year. The buzz of his scroll alerted him once more, and Jaune picked it back up, opening it up and scanning the message within.

[X-Ray]: Yeah, but for a little extra security, we should have code words for public and private conversations. I'm thinking...Rutabaga and Asparagus respectively.

Jaune's face contorted in distaste.

[Vav]: Ugh rly? Your codewords suk.

Thaddeus' response was almost instant, as though he knew exactly what his nephew was going to say:

[X-Ray]: At least I can type correctly. :D

Jaune began to type out a smarmy response, smiling to himself. The relationship between his uncle and himself was a relaxed affair. His uncle was both mentor, and friend, giving him a chance that his entire family had seen fit to prevent him from having. It was all thanks to him that he wasn't currently trapped in the middle of nowhere, or even worse, ending up in the belly of a Beowulf. A slight feeling of queasiness ran through Jaune, causing him to pause. It was one of life's many ironies that he was airsick; his usual profession had him flipping around, performing feats of acrobatics that would impress even the strictest sporting judge. Yet, the very act of the Bullhead landing, even with medication to quell it, still had him feeling slightly nauseous. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, erasing the message he was about to send, typing a new one instead.

[Vav]: Bullhead is landing. TTYL?

Jaune began to buckle up, strapping himself in as the Bullhead's twin rotors began to move from a vertical orientation to a more horizontal one, and it began its descent. He opened up his scroll once more, to see Thaddeus had sent one last message.

[X-Ray]: Gotcha. Send me a message once you're done with initiation and you're in a team. We'll discuss things later.

With a click, Jaune closed the scroll one last time, stowing it away in his pocket and removing his earbuds. "Now landing. Welcome, prospective students, to Beacon Academy." The automatic announcement coming in from the speakers through the ship caused the students to chat excitedly among themselves. Excited about taking their next step in becoming a fully fledged Huntsman, the tension in the air palpable. For Jaune, however, that tension was felt for an entirely different reason.

With this first step, the theft of a lifetime would begin…

[Beacon Academy - Bullhead Landing Zone]

Seeing Beacon at a distance was certainly picturesque, but even Jaune had to admit that it was nothing compared to the majestic view that Beacon provided up close. The massive towers, the main hall, the well kept gardens and grounds; all of it seemed almost surreal in nature. It was like something out of a story book. Jaune, despite himself, could only stop and stare in awe. Nothing he'd ever seen in his life, even Vale, could compare to the sight. He hoisted his duffel bag over his shoulder and patted his hip. Strapped to either side, he could feel the familiar weight of the two Kukri blades he'd brought with him for his Huntsman weaponry. His uncle had made sure to train him in at least two forms of combat; both gun and knife based. He would never call himself a combatant, but he wasn't defenseless.

In his line of work, defenseless meant capture, or death, and he wasn't sure which was worse.

Shaking his his head, he tore his gaze away from the gleaming white walls of the Huntsman Academy and started to make his way down the cobblestone steps. Students all around him chatted busily; newer students nervously trying to figure out where to go, or like Jaune, in awe of the surroundings, and older students reuniting from time spent away from each other over break, happy to see their fellow teammates. It was peaceful, calming even. Jaune closed his eyes and allowed himself a bit of time to simply relax. Life however, was nothing if not an utter bitch, and it hadn't even been thirty seconds after he closed his eyes that a sharp voice could be heard, cutting loudly above the ambient noise.

"You dunce! Watch where you're going! Do you have any idea what kind of mess you could have made?!"

He winced. Someone didn't sound happy. Despite his personal misgivings on getting involved, curiosity won him over, and he'd turned to face the commotion. Two figures stood distant, one of them in a red hooded cloak, looking particularly chastised. He recognized her from the airship, discussing something about knees or the like. The other was a figure that Jaune recognized immediately. There were few people on Remnant who didn't know of Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the most powerful company in all four kingdoms, the Schnee Dust Corporation. A faint smirk played about his lips, almost imperceptible, but what was there was a touch malevolent. Not the kind of smile that one with honest and pure intentions would sport, certainly. Already his gaze was flickering about the scene, noticing the almost comically large suitcase that he was certain was filled with valuable Dust. Not that he'd want to cause a scene so early in his career, but information could be just as useful as physical goods. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, the tall, thin boy made his way toward the two, adopting a completely innocent expression.

He paused halfway to approaching. He had to blink twice to make sure what he was noticing was correct, but his eyes didn't deceive him. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation was shaking a bottle of what looked to be Dust, and if the faint red cloud coming from the bottle was any indication, she hadn't bothered to seal the container. Jaune might not have been an expert in Dust, nor would he say that he would know more than Weiss would, but he was smart enough to know a possible danger when he saw one. His discretion was rewarded when he found himself distant enough from proceedings to avoid the sudden explosion that occurred when the hooded girl sneezed.

For the second time in the space of five minutes, Jaune found himself wincing once again, but for an entirely different reason. With a sigh and a shake of his head, he strode forward once more, catching the last parting complaint of Weiss'. "Ugh! You idiot! Look what you did!" With that, she huffed, stomped her foot and turned on her heel, storming off with her luggage wheeled behind her. The other girl, who'd been knocked to the ground from the force of the explosion, simply sat there, hood pulled up over her face, her expression hidden, but body language screaming depression. Jaune paused, took one look at the advancing Weiss, and shrugged. He could deal with her another time; they were going to the same school, after all.

"You know," Jaune spoke up, catching the attention of the girl, who very quickly wiped her sleeve across her face and looked up at him, silver eyes blinking, "You'd think that the heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation would know better than to keep her Dust in unsealed vials, and even more so not to shake them around." He spoke while watching Weiss continue to leave down the cobblestone path, then turned to the girl on the ground and extended a hand with a smile. "Don't blame yourself; it's not your fault that she knows more about business than being a decent human being."

The girl, obviously despite herself, couldn't help but giggle as she grabbed ahold of Jaune's hand and he helped lift her to her feet. She dusted herself off and smiled. "Well, it was kinda my fault...I-I mean, I wasn't looking where I was going…"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Pft. Who would blame you? This place is incredible. I've lived all over the place, and I haven't seen anywhere like Beacon before."

"Right?! It's like a fairytale…" She trailed off, looking up at the school once more before shaking her head, turning back to Jaune. "S-sorry! I got distracted again. My name's Ruby Rose! What's yours?"

"Hm? Oh, it's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue; ladies love it." He grinned, although the grin faltered quickly upon seeing the look on Ruby's face, a look that made it obvious that she was trying not to burst out laughing.

"Do they?"

Jaune sighed, his shoulders slumping. "No. Maybe one day though."

Despite herself, Ruby couldn't help but break out laughing at Jaune's reaction. She caught herself shortly afterward, looking embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry…"

Jaune snorted. "Don't be. This whole 'confidence' thing is trickier than it looks." He chuckled, then added, "Feeling better?"

Ruby nodded. "Thanks for that. At least someone was around to help me...my sister decided to just abandon me to go hang with her friends…"

"Oof. Sorry to hear that. Can I walk you to the auditorium?" Jaune asked.

The silver eyed girl smiled. "Sure! Erm...I don't know where to go though."

Jaune shrugged. "It's an auditorium. Can't be that hard to find, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Right!" The two of them fell into step, Jaune strolling casually to avoid making the shorter Ruby strain to keep up. The both of them had fallen into silence, which, while Jaune found to be relaxing, only made Ruby feel more awkward. After a minute of silence, Ruby cleared her throat, and pulled something from her hip, hefting it up. "S-so, have you seen my baby?"

"Hm?" Jaune turned, only to recoil slightly when Ruby, with the flick of a switch, unfolded a massive scythe nearly twice her size. "Wha-?!"

"Isn't she amazing? Her name's Crescent Rose! What about you? What's your weapon?"

Jaune blinked, caught off guard before grinning sheepishly, reaching down and twirling two long Kukri blades in a circle. "Nothing nearly as fancy as yours…don't really have a name for them either."

Ruby gasped. "No name? Weapons are a part of who we are as Huntsmen! It'd be like...like...like not giving your baby a name!"

"...eh?" Jaune's expression was incredulous at the sudden passion in Ruby's voice. "I...guess I just never thought of it?"

Ruby, as though suddenly struck with the realization of how off she had acted, recoiled in on herself, cheeks nearly as read as her cloak. "Sorry...m-my sister was right, I am a dork…"

Jaune laughed. "If it makes you feel any better, I can say the same for myself. I love comic books."

Ruby giggled again. "Wow, you might be a bigger dork than I am…"

"H-hey! Comic books are just as good as normal books! They're modern mythology!" He protested, earning only a fresh round of giggles from Ruby.

"Suuuuure they are!"

"Hey, at least I'm not a weapon freak!"

"Weapon freak?! Why don't you go and play with some action figures!"

Silence fell, then was broken by the sounds of the two laughing merrily as they walked inside the great double doors to the entrance of Beacon Academy proper…

[Beacon Academy - ?]

"...we're lost."

"We're not lost, we...just don't know where we are!"

Jaune stopped and turned to Ruby, cocking an eyebrow. "Isn't that the definition of lost?"

Obviously embarrassed, Ruby turned away to hide her blush, crossing her arms. "Fine, then you lead us out of here, mister!"

Jaune shrugged. "I told you I didn't know where I was going…"

"But I was following you!" Ruby shot back.

"...and I was following you. Talk about the blind leading the blind…"

"Excuse me!" A stern voice caused the two of them to jump in surprise and wheel around to see a blond woman in glasses, holding a riding crop in one hand, her green eyes narrowed. "If you are new students, you should be in the auditorium!"

Ruby began to stammer, but Jaune cut her off. "Sorry, we got turned around; this place is bigger than we're used to. Could you possibly lead us back to the entrance hall?"

The woman's expression didn't change. "You have a map on your scrolls, if you'd bothered to check them."

"And we're very sorry about that. It's our first day and it's not everyday you get the chance to join a school like Beacon. We'd forgotten that the maps were there."

"Y-yeah!" Ruby chimed in. "We're really sorry, Ms. Goodwitch!"

The woman pushed her glasses up and sighed. "Fine, but don't make a habit of this. In the field, such missteps could mean the difference between failure and success. Follow me." Without another word, Glynda turned on her heel and strode away. Ruby and Jaune exchanged glances, and Jaune rolled his eyes. Ruby stifled a snort, smacking Jaune with a playful glare. They continued to follow the stern woman closely, not wanting to speak up for fear of drawing her ire. However, it was when they passed by a pair of restrooms, indicated by the signs in front of the doors, that Jaune broke the nervous silence.

"Excuse me, Ms. Goodwitch, but I've got to use the restroom real quick. You said there was a map on our scrolls?"

The woman stopped and nodded. "Yes."

"I'll catch up after I'm done then." Jaune explained, trying to ignore the look of betrayal Ruby shot his way for leaving her alone with the strict, slightly terrifying authority figure. He ducked into the restroom as he heard Goodwitch telling Ruby to keep up, and shook his head. He'd have to apologize to the girl later, but he'd more important things to take care of. He waited a few moments by the sinks, then opened the door up, poking his head out. The hallway itself was silent. Most of the students must have either been in the auditorium, or in their dorms. He poked his head back in and made his way to one of the stalls, closing the door. There was a long silence; then:

"Really? The restroom? You couldn't have found a more appropriate place?" A voice similar to Jaune's, but with an audible sneer spoke up, from what sounded like the stall next to Jaune's.

"Don't complain; it's quiet here, and the hallway outside is dead. Look, if you wouldn't mind-"

"Yes, yes, I know, you needn't explain everything. This isn't my first time, mon ami."

There was a sigh from Jaune's stall, then, "That's not what I'm worried about. Causing a scene now would be a bit of an issue."

A slightly deeper laugh. The second voice sounded like someone who could have been related to Jaune, a brother perhaps. "Do you think I have no self control? I mean, I am y-"

"Fine, fine! I get it. Look, just...get a good idea of the school, alright? Don't sneak into any place that's more heavily guarded than a gas station store. And if you get caught-"

A groan. "What are you, our mother? I've done this before. Relax, would you? You just put on your nice face, and I'll handle the rest."

Jaune sighed. "Alright." The door to one of the stalls opened up and Jaune stepped out. "Let me leave first to make sure everything's clear, then you can take to the buttresses." With that, Jaune threw open the door to the bathroom, and stepped out, looking down the hallway to the right. Everything looked clear. He turned to his left and nearly leaped out of his clothing when he found himself nearly face to face with a white-haired man in green clothes, a cane in hand. It was none other than the Headmaster of Beacon Academy himself, Ozpin. "H-Headmaster Ozpin! You scared me!"

Ozpin chuckled warmly, a small smile across his features. "My apologies. I tend to be a bit quiet when I'm lost in thought. Shouldn't you be at the auditorium?"

Jaune forced himself to calm down and smiled awkwardly. "Ms. Goodwitch already read me the Riot Act."

"Hm, as she is wont to do. Then again, I can't blame you for needing to use the restroom. Anyway, we should be on our way, Janus."

Jaune froze. "Sorry?"

Ozpin chuckled again, shaking his head. "Sorry, Jaune. My memory isn't what it used to be."

Jaune blinked. "You...know my name?"

Ozpin nodded. "Well, you do have the same name as the boy who'd disappeared from the storied Arc family. I found that to be a very interesting coincidence...unless you are him…"

"Eheheh, no, I'm afraid not. Not the first time I've been mistaken for him though." Jaune replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I thought not." Ozpin replied. While he sounded convincing, something in the back of Jaune's mind told him that the Headmaster didn't completely buy his story. "Well, shall we?" Ozpin gestured to the empty hallway before them, and Jaune nodded.

"R-Right." With that, student and Headmaster walked down the hall, Jaune allowing Ozpin to move ahead of him to get an idea of where to go. The two turned a corner, and were gone from sight. The hallway became silent once more…

...until the door to the restroom opened up.

"Now, let's have a bit of fun, shall we?"

[Beacon Academy - Auditorium]

Ozpin had left to go up on stage once he and Jaune had arrived through the double doors to the large room. He'd done so without a word, which made Jaune feel a lot better, all things considered. Their walk there had been quiet, but the kind of quiet that was born from news unspoken. He had no reason to believe that Ozpin knew of his reasons for being there, but simply being the only male scion of the Arc family was problematic enough. The last thing he wanted to do was arouse suspicion, especially this early in the game.

Jaune looked around the crowded room, packed to full with countless new students, each one eager to start their career at Beacon. Not wanting to look like an outsider, Jaune scanned for a familiar face, and to his delight, found Ruby chatting animatedly with a busty blond girl. Wanting to avoid looking out of place, he quietly approached the two from an angle. Getting within listening distance, he could hear Ruby's voice over the din of the other students, recounting the tale of her explosion with the Schnee heiress. Before he could make himself known, however, a familiar figure stepped in front of him, cutting him off. "You again?!"

"AAH! It's happening again!" Ruby jumped up into the blond girl's arms, obviously frightened by Weiss' appearance and less than pleasant demeanor.

"Do you have any idea what kind of disaster you could have caused back there? You need to learn how to be more responsible!" Weiss snapped, waving a pamphlet in Ruby's face.

"Woah, woah, calm down Ice Queen," The blonde shot back, dropping Ruby. "It was an accident. Let's not fight and just get along."

"Y-yeah!" Ruby added, "Let's be friends!"

Weiss huffed. "Oh, sure, and we can do our nails and talk about boys like tall, blond, and scraggly over there."

Jaune's expression turned sour behind Weiss' back. Not that he was surprised; such conceited behavior was something he'd expected from the SDC Heiress. To be personally insulted by her though, before they'd even spoken? His lips turned upward. If she wanted to play that way, he could have a bit of fun. Slowly he approached her and leaned forward to the side of her, smiling from ear to ear. "I couldn't help but notice you mentioning me, Snow Angel."

Weiss jumped in surprise, not having noticed his approach. Slowly, she looked disgusted before giving a huff and stomping away, muttering something about 'dunces,' as she did so. Jaune watched her walk away and stuck his hands in his pockets. As she disappeared into the crowd, Jaune couldn't help but start laughing to himself, turning on his heel to see Ruby and her compatriot staring at him in confusion. "Huh. Did I come on too strong?"

Ruby suddenly looked nervous as she coughed and looked off to the side, as if worried about offending him. The blonde girl, on the other hand, seemed to suffer no such compunction. "With a line like, 'Snow Angel?' Yeaaah, just a bit." She looked amused as though enjoying the obvious blunder on his part.

Jaune, however, grinned from ear to ear. "Really? Perfect."

"Wait, what?"

With a laugh and a shake of his head, Jaune retorted with, "Come on, you don't really think I was being serious, did you? I might not be Cassanova, but that's bad even for me…"

"Wait, so you're saying you badly hit on her on purpose?" The blonde asked, smirking in amusement.

"Well, maybe next time she'll think twice before insulting someone within earshot." Jaune murmured, shrugging his shoulders.

The blonde snorted. "Getting back at someone by using a dorky pick-up-line. Can't say I've seen that one before. Anyway, I'm Yang Xiao-Long. Who are you?"

Jaune began, "I'm J-"

He was cut off by Ruby jumping in, excitedly exclaiming, "He's Jaune! He helped me up after I exploded and we got lost trying to find the auditorium. Then he abandoned me to that scary Mrs. Goodwitch!"

"What?! I had to use the restroom!"

"A likely story!" Ruby pointed at Jaune. Yang, however, just laughed again.

"I see. Thanks for helping out my baby sister. She needs all the help she can get, being such a dork."

"Hey!" Ruby shouted indignantly, "Weapons aren't dorky! Not like...like comic-"

Before Ruby could finish her statement, the sound of a microphone's feedback cut conversation off nearly completely, with only a few very hushed whispers remaining. Ozpin had taken stage, standing before the microphone. Everything fell silent…

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

With only that, Ozpin turned on his heel and walked off the stage, the sound of his cane clicking against the stage punctuating every step. Without missing a beat, Glynda Goodwitch stepped forward to take his place and upon seeing her stern expression, the room once more fell into silence, but this time more out of fear than respect. "For today, you will remain on campus until sundown, upon you will be expected to return to the Great Hall to sleep. Tomorrow, initiation begins at 8am sharp, with breakfast starting at 7am. Students caught wandering about after hours will be disciplined."

Just as Ozpin had left after his brief speech so too did Goodwitch, leaving the students standing around in the hall, murmuring to each other. Jaune turned to Ruby with a wry grin. "Think she was talking about us?"

Ruby, who's cheeks nearly matched the shade of her cloak, pulled the hood over her face and mumbled something. Yang snickered. "Aw, already in trouble, Ruby? You're just like your big sister!" Ruby mumbled something angrily, but her voice was drowned out by the surrounding students. "Come again, sis?"

"At least I didn't get into a bar fight!"

"Meh." Yang shrugged. "You'll get there eventually."

Ruby looked horrified. "I wouldn't!"

Jaune cut in, chuckling. "Sorry to interrupt, but there's a story here, and I've got to hear it!"

Yang turned to him, smirking and raising an amused eyebrow. "Oh? Well, we're stuck here for a while, so I might as well turn this into storytime…"

[Sometime later]

"...and so I looked over and the bastard had torn out some of my hair!"

The three of them had made their way to the cafeteria and sat down as Yang explained her outing at a local nightclub slash underground informant named Junior's. Ruby, who'd sat next to Yang, recoiled away. "Oohhh no…"

"Don't tell me," Jaune interjected, shaking his head, "That was the wrong move?"

"I lost my shit," Yang clenched her fist as she confirmed the statement. "I had it up to here with him, so I activated my Semblance and really let 'im have it!"

Ruby frowned. "It kinda sounds like you started it though…"

Yang looked to the side, for once looking chastised. She rubbed the back of her neck, grimacing. "Okay, so I might have gone a bit overboard. What else was I supposed to do though?! You can't let guys like him think you're weak! Right Jaune?" She glanced at him with an almost pleading look.

Jaune stared back, silent for a moment, before pulling out his scroll, opening it and holding it to his mouth. "Note...to...self: never go to Junior's with Yang in tow…" Jaune ended his mock dictation with a playful smirk in Yang's direction.

Said blonde reached over and smacked his shoulder, pouting. "Hey, you're supposed to be on my side here! Hasn't anyone told you how to treat a lady?"

"Yes, but my definition of 'lady,' doesn't involve property damage." Jaune murmured, rubbing his shoulder while trying (and failing) to hide a wince.

Ruby began laughing and Yang turned her scandalized gaze upon her. "Betrayed by my own sister?"

"I'm...tee-hee...I'm sorry! Hehehe!" Ruby clutched her sides, laughing uproariously.

Yang turned back to Jaune with a mock glare. "Turning my sister against me, huh?"

Jaune, playing along, stood to his feet and stepped back, putting his hands up. "Aaaaand that's my cue to leave!"

Ruby stopped laughing, suddenly looking a bit off. "Already?"

"Well, I want to stake a claim for a decent corner of the Great Hall, so I don't end up by the restroom or something." Jaune explained. "I'll catch you guys later?"

Ruby nodded and Yang smiled. "Sure thing. It was nice meeting you, Jaune."

Jaune turned on his heel and walked away, giving a nonchalant wave over his shoulder. Yang waited until he'd walked out of sight to turn to her sister, a devious smirk slowly dawning on her face. Ruby, who'd been watching Jaune leave, didn't notice until she turned her head to see her sister's ear-to-ear smug smirk. Ruby recoiled, eyes wide. "W-what?"

"Awww, my baby sister made her first friend." Yang sing-songed, causing Ruby's cheeks to go pink and to have her pulling her hood over her face.

"Yaaaaaaang!" Ruby whined.

"I better watch out, soon you'll have your first cru~ush!"

"Yaaaaaaang!"

[Beacon Academy - Hallway]

"Oof!"

Jaune, his face buried in his school scroll, hadn't noticed someone else in the hallway to the Great Hall, bumping into them and knocking them, along with himself, to the ground. His gaze snapped up and he found himself staring at a rabbit eared, long haired brunette girl, wincing at the impact.

An odd look passed over Jaune's face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared, and he quickly scrambled to his feet, extending a hand. "S-sorry! I was paying more attention to my map than where I was going!"

The girl gave an easy laugh. "Oh, it's okay, I-" She paused in mid speech as she looked up, her smile faltering.

Jaune frowned. "Is something wrong?"

The girl blinked, then asked, "I'm sorry, but...have we met before?"

Jaune shook his head. "Nope, can't say we have. I think I'd remember a pretty face like yours." He finished his line with a wink. The girl sat there, silent. Said silence continued on for an uncomfortably long time before Jaune sighed, hanging his head. "Sorry, that was bad. Day one and I'm already two and oh."

The girl suddenly broke out into a giggle. "I'm sorry! Really, it wasn't terrible…"

Jaune shook his head. "No, no, no need to spare my dignity; it's not like I've got a lot left."

The girl smiled, and reached up, grasping his hand. Jaune pulled her to her feet and she smoothed out her shorts, before looking back at him once more. "If I'm being honest, it's actually refreshing to be hit on for once...usually it's Coco who gets the attention, when it isn't some weirdo hitting on me, anyway…"

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, grimacing. "I think I fall under that category."

"Do not. Oh, I'm Velvet Scarlatina. You are…?"

Jaune shook his head, snapping himself out of his personal thoughts. "Oh, I'm Jaune Arc."

"It's nice to meet you, Jaune! Sorry about earlier, you just looked familiar, but I don't think you're at all who I thought you were." Velvet explained. "And don't worry about the accident; I was just more surprised than anything. You said you're new?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, I'm fresh meat."

"I'm sure you'll do fine. Initiation usually isn't as hard as people make it out to be. I hope everything goes well for you though!"

"Thanks. And...um...again, sorry about the…" He trailed off, his cheeks slightly red.

Velvet laughed. "It's fine. I'd much rather have a cute underclassman hit on me than…" Her expression fell. "Well, let's just say that being told I'm pretty is far from the worst thing I've heard."

"I can only imagine. Thanks for being cool with me though." Jaune replied. "I've got to go stake a claim on a decent area in the Great Hall though."

Velvet nodded. "Oh, I understand. When I was here, I was lucky that my current partner had taken me under her wing and got me a nice spot away from everyone. Didn't want to end up by the restroom…" She trailed off, giving a small shudder. "Anyway, I've got to catch up to my team anyway. It was nice meeting you Jaune, and I really hope I get to see you around!"

Jaune smiled and gave a small salute as Velvet strolled past him. His gaze followed her until she turned the corner, then looked down the hall, making sure no one else had arrived. He leaned against the wall upon noticing that he was once again alone, and opened up his school scroll once again. He tapped onto an icon, and a map opened up. "Well, that could have gone better…" He fell silent once again, as though listening to someone as he tapped at the scroll, zooming in on certain rooms and hallways. Then, abruptly, he spoke up again. "...shut up. If you're not going to be helpful, then at least focus on the task at hand." He pulled out the matte black scroll from his pocket and opened it up with his other hand, putting the two next to each other and tapping the black scroll's screen. A bar popped up, and when it filled, the black scroll had an exact replica of the map on his school scroll.

More silence. "Yeah, I've just downloaded the map. I'll draw down some potential routes through here. Still, you'd think there'd be more cameras around here. Ozpin must believe this place is impenetrable because of all the Huntsmen." He stowed the school scroll and began to fiddle with the black one, his fingers drawing lines across the map. As he did so, he began his route to the Great Hall, occasionally looking upward to avoid any more accidents. "...no, put that back...I don't care." He sighed. "What did Thaddeus say? ...yeah, Gentleman Thief. So put it back." Jaune groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing the scroll and stowing it in his pocket with his other hand. "Look just...exit stage right for now, okay? We've got a decent amount of information, and we'll probably be here a while. I'm gonna go find a decent spot to sleep."

With that, Jaune shook his head and found himself approaching the Great Hall. With a heave, he opened up the wide double doors, and to his delight, found the room to be filled with only a few students. His eyes zeroed in on a spot against the wall, situated just so where the sun wouldn't wake him up, and hefted his duffle bag further up his shoulder, approaching the spot and sliding down against it with a sigh. The hard marble flooring would make for poor bedding, but it would have to do for that night. With any luck, he'd have an actual bed the next day. He reached back into his pocket, and withdrew his black scroll again. A flick of his wrist and the scroll opened up once again, as Jaune continued to draw further upon the copy of the Beacon Academy map.

[Beacon Academy - Hallway]

"Are you sure you're alright, sir?" Glynda Goodwitch murmured, pausing in mid-stride. Next to her, Ozpin stood, frowning slightly. He'd been quiet most of the morning, and even now he was staring off into space, an odd look on his face. He slowly shook his head and turned to Glynda.

"I'm...quite alright. Sorry. Things have been hectic lately and I've been lost in thought."

Glynda nodded. "Of course. I understand. I've given James the update...he's pushing for us to make the transfer sooner, rather than later, and I'm fearing that he might be right. Our enemy could be under our noses as we speak."

"Hm." Ozpin gave only a small noise of confirmation as he continued walking forward. Glynda followed close behind him, her fingers dancing across the holographic screen of her personal Scroll. The two walked in silence as they made their way toward the Emerald Tower, their pace comfortable, but with purpose. It wasn't too long, however, before Glynda had noticed that Ozpin had stopped again, but this time, his gaze was up into the darkened rafters above, the area shadowed by the setting sun. A small frown was drawn across his lips, and Glynda followed his gaze upward, only to see an entirely empty ceiling.

Slowly, Glynda turned her gaze to Ozpin, her expression growing slightly more worried "Sir?"

Ozpin's frown slowly grew into the smallest of smiles and he started walking once more. "Nothing, Glynda. Just realized I'll need to make a couple of calls. By the way, I found it to be interesting that one of our new students happens to have the same name as the missing scion of the Arc Family. An interesting bit of trivia, hm?"

Glynda's eyes widened. "Shouldn't we inform the Arc Family, then?"

Ozpin continued to walk as he spoke. "For now, no. We've more important matters on our hands, and he is of independent age. Of course, I wonder where he's been all these years, if he is our wayward Arc?" With that, he fell silent once again, almost in his own world, unaware of the frown on Glynda's face, nor the way she looked back up into the rafters above, her frown deepening. She sighed gently, and brought her attention back to her scroll as she prepared for the busy day ahead…

Spooks: Lefou's writing is like constipation, agonizing, slow to come, but oh-so-satisfying when it does. :D Fo real though, I'm super excited for what Lefou is doing with this. You guys haven't seen the outline, the scene ideas he's bounced around, but man, you guys are in for a treat.

Assuming Lefou can get it out, of course ;)

A/N: Hooooooooly Carp, that was a while to get out. I apologize once more, but my work has had me working overtime, and 10 hours at a factory, for a few days in a row kicks your ass, so I was too tired to even do much gaming, much less do any writing, but here we are.

I wanted to touch bases with everyone real quick on a topic; that being, "Why did I choose Jaune Arc to be the Phantom?"

Well, it's for three reasons. The first reason is that, well, when I first started writing the Phantom Nevermore, (and writing fanfiction in general) I'd noticed a lot of people writing "Jaune becomes a criminal" fics, but each one seemed to have him becoming some sort of edgy, or depressing figure. And it's Jaune! He's not edgy and even with losing Pyrrha, he's been handling himself pretty well. I found it all to be a little silly, and wanted to make a fic that had Jaune acting as, well, Jaune. Someone who was having some fun instead of being a mopy sack of edge to rival Adam.

The second reason is a little more complex. See, to me, a Phantom Thief is over the top, bombastic, full of energy and not just a little absurdity. They're a comic book character come to life. They need both drive, and energy to be successful. Their motivation needn't be greed, but the desire to be famous, to be known, or simply for the challenge. Characters like Ren and Blake might have the drive and talent, but lack the energy or bombastic nature. On the flip side, Nora and Ruby would have the energy, but not the focus or willingness to commit criminal acts to pursue fame. Jaune on the other hand, has shown a willingness to break the rules to become someone, has both focus and energy, and would embrace the cliches of a Phantom Thief. Of course, then again, one could make the argument for Sun.

That leads me to my third reason, which is, I like Jaune more than Sun.

So hopefully that clears up why I use Jaune, beyond simply, "I like the character." People might disagree with me, but this is just a case of differing character interpretations.

In other news, I do apologize for the slow pace of this chapter, but this is the beginning of the Beacon Year, and not every chapter can be high-octane, over the top thievery. For every Jack Sparrow, there must be a Will Turner to balance things out, or the over the top stuff becomes boring.

Besides, I like character development.

Signing off for now, this is LaughingLefou.