Winter Memories
Chapter 2 - Dream (2)
Jaune hummed a tune as he looked over the equipment in his lockers. Crocea Mors, his armor, fingerless gloves, and some shoulder/arm guards.
Oh how he wished he had a ranged weapon… But, he could only dream.
For now, that is.
He heard the sound of the locker beside him opening, a girl with a long red ponytail gave him a small smile and greeted him. "Morning."
Jaune nodded, greeting her back before going back to equipping his gear. He slid on his armor with ease, flourishing Crocea Mors to refresh his feeling for it. Clicking the button on his sheath, he grinned as it popped open into the shield.
Jaune smiled at that, sheathing Crocea Mors to his side again. Doing it all in just a few seconds—something he felt he'd practiced for years, but not actually recalling any of it.
"A sword and shield… quite simplistic." Jaune blinked and turned to see the girl beside him observing, "You made it yourself?"
"Ha, no. I would have to be a genius and a rich man to have made something as sturdy and weird as this. Crocea Mors is a family heirloom, for all that it looks simplistic, it doesn't exactly have the easiest materials to work with in creating it." Jaune said, chuckling,
"And if I were to make one, I'd have probably made some sort of gun or something. That is, if I even succeeded in creating it at all." he shrugged, smiling as she chuckled.
"Yeah… anyways, I don't think I've met you before—I'm Jaune Arc." he said, offering a hand for her to shake.
She smiled and shook it, "Pyrrha Nikos, nice to meet you Jaune."
"Nice to meet you, Pyrrha! Also, I just realized that you were that girl in the pumpkin pete cereal box, I love that cereal."
Pyrrha laughed, "I see, though the cereal isn't too healthy for you."
Jaune shrugged and waved his hand, "Eh, it still tastes good to me. Anything that tastes good is good in my eyes. Though I definitely wouldn't overeat it. Too much good is bad." he said, before looking to the weapons she held in her hands. "Sword and shield? Nice. Though I guess it's a gun too, right?"
"Yes, a rifle to be more precise." Pyrrha said, before transforming her sword to become a rifle. "Lastly, it can become a javelin. That's all, really. My shield's less fancy than what you have."
Jaune chuckled, "Sure, but you have a sick sword/rifle/javelin combo. What's it called?"
"Well, my sword-rifle-javelin is called Miló, while my shield is Akoúo̱." Pyrrha said.
He nodded at it, "Interesting… Speak and listen huh? Pretty cool."
Pyrrha's eyes widened at that, before she blinked and shook her head, "I doubt it, yellow death seems to be a better name to me."
Jaune laughed, shaking his head, "I didn't think anyone would actually catch that."
"Neither did I. You're familiar with the old tongue?"
Jaune shrugged, "A bit, though not quite as fluent as my sister."
Pyrrha nodded at that, "I see." she said, and before she could continue talking with him, the clicking of heels made its way towards them, making them turn around to see Weiss.
Pyrrha smiled at her, "Good morning, Weiss."
Jaune waved at Weiss, "Hello again." he said with a smile.
Weiss just nodded at the two of them before raising a brow at Jaune. "I'm guessing you're not too familiar with her either?"
"Other than her being a cereal mascot? Nope." Jaune shrugged. "Like I said, I'm a bit oblivious."
Weiss hummed, glancing at Pyrrha for a moment, before turning back to him. "So you probably don't know how teams are formed either…"
Jaune just smiled and scratched the back of his head, "No, I don't, sorry."
"I understand, I doubt anyone knows about it anyway." Weiss said, before looking to Pyrrha and talking to her about teaming up.
Jaune just watched as they talked, not really interested in the topic, but more just focusing on Weiss. She was so… proper and business-like. It should have pushed him away, honestly, but somehow it only made her more interesting to him. At least, that's because he could see that this really is just how she was.
Eventually though, he headed off on his own, feeling a little out of place in their conversation.
That, and a bit antsy.
Before he could go out of the locker rooms, however, he heard his name called out—specifically by Weiss.
"Yes?" he replied.
Weiss frowned, "I was going to ask you if you were interested in joining a team with us."
Ah, he chuckled and shrugged, "Well, I would, but… since we don't really know how the teams are going to be determined, I'm just going to see what happens. Good luck to you two though. See you guys in Initiation."
"I see. Good luck then."
"Thanks." Jaune said, before heading to the Beacon Cliffs.
Really though, he just didn't want to get his own hopes up. After all, like his father said… its better to be safe than sorry.
Wind.
Jaune opened his eyes as he felt the ground come closer and closer, unsheathing his blade in time and driving it into a tree trunk, quickly sliding down as he carved his blade into it. When his feet hit the ground, he immediately searched the area for Grimm.
He frowned, staying cautious and alert as he surveyed the area around him, finding nothing so far.
Feeling nothing.
He let out a breath, and lowered his shield, looking around one more time before heading North.
Feeling. That was always how it was for him when he did things related to combat, especially when it revolved around his Aura. It was always instinctual—enough to the point that even his parents were surprised. They'd ask him where he'd learned all these techniques and styles with his sword, but he could never answer them, for not even he knew.
It wasn't always like this, of course. When he'd first taken up a sword, he was far from being a master. In fact, he was horrible at it. Was horrible at it for many years… until he unlocked his Aura, apparently.
In that one night when he found himself sleeping outside the house…
Presence.
Jaune nearly paused, instincts fighting each other as he tensed then calmed in a second. Eventually,, he made up his mind, and continued walking as though he hadn't felt anything.
That was another thing he found weird, a lot of what his body did seemed to be instinctual, but also not. It was like he had some muscle memory in him that conflicted with the way he was thinking. It confused him, but he was able to fight nonetheless.
Rustling.
It was still unclear to him. He couldn't quite pinpoint what it was that he was detecting yet. A Beowolf, most likely, but he couldn't be sure of how many there were… regardless, he prepared himself for a fight, knowing that they would come out and ambush him any moment.
Growling.
Jaune bent down, dodging a Beowolf that had been aiming for his head and cutting it down as he spun and raised his blade. Then, he brought uphis shield, bashing the Beowolf that was trying to ambush him from behind. Promptly, he cut the beast down, only to find that two more closed in from both sides.
His Aura flashed, and he smiled, feeling a sense of calm come upon him even as he quickly moved around, cutting down Beowolves left and right.
Contrary to how one would usually fight instinctually, how he fought was far from being wild and chaotic, instead, it felt almost practiced, perfected, calculated and done with finesse.
So, he supposed it only made sense why he'd been able to get such high marks in the physical exam for Beacon…
As he cut down more and more of the ambushing Beowolves, they started to back away—but he didn't stop, instead, he pushed his own assault towards them, turning the would be preadtors into his prey.
One particular Beowolf was farther than the other ones though, and as Jaune was about to give chase, he felt a presence from above.
Weiss Schnee.
The Beowolf didn't stand a chance, as Jaune expected. He found himself chuckling at that, walking towards her. "Like an angel that drops from above… thanks for the assist, Weiss."
Weiss rose from the ground where she'd plunged down her blade, her eyes turned to him.. For a few seconds, they just stared at each other, Jaune slowly feeling unnerved by it, eventually, she sighed. "I suppose we're partners now…"
Jaune could only shrug at, "Yeah, well, sorry for not being the one you expected or had planned in mind."
Weiss just rolled her eyes, "I suppose I'll have to live with it then. At least you're polite."
"Thanks… I guess?" Jaune said, not really knowing what to say, "So where do you think we should go? I wasn't able to get a clear view from above lately."
Weiss just glanced at him before walking towards a direction, "Northwest. I've spotted some ruins there, it might be close to where the relics are."
Jaune nodded at that, following her as she walked towards the ruins. "Got it."
As he followed her from behind, he felt a nagging feeling on the back of his mind that something wasn't right.
He shook his head. He was probably just overthinking things again.
Right?
A/N: That was fast. Except... not really.
Thanks for the support so far, and uh, well. I can't really say what the pairing will be, just know that whoever it is, Weiss and Winter are still going to be very important in it. There'll be love for both sisters to go around. And... what exactly happened to Jaune is unknown as of now, so you can just speculate on what it is. I'll just say that it involves Winter somehow... somehow.