A/N: Next chapter here we are! Wasn't as short as I had feared, clocking in at 5.4k words. Either way, I hope you enjoy Jaune's first night at Beacon!

I DONT OWN RWBY

Night One

The air in the security room progressively got less and less dusty as time went on, courtesy of Jaune turning on the ventilation system. The dull humming was a soothing melody to his nerves, letting him calmly flick through the cameras to view the entire academy building. The cameras were actually pretty decent in quality unlike the ones you saw in movies, where everything was all low resolution and static-filled. However because of the low lighting, there wasn't much to look at.

His watch beeped for the second time as it reached one in the morning, making him sigh lightly as he rested the tablet on his lap. A full hour had gone by of him simply sitting in his chair, staring at the screens to the point his eyes started to hurt. Thankfully he wasn't locked in pitch-black darkness due to the lone light that hung above him, but it still wasn't preferable for his eyes to stare at a screen for hours on end. He rubbed a hand over his face, muffling his groan as he arched his back, getting several satisfying pops.

''Maybe... I can wander around a bit?'' He mumbled to himself uncertainly. Cinder had said he wasn't to leave the building until six in the morning... but she didn't say he needed to remain in the security room. Maybe because she expected him to eventually want to walk around and maybe have a look at the animatronics up-close. It wasn't... overly appealing, but he couldn't deny he was curious about them and wouldn't mind a closer look. With that idea in mind he pushed himself out of his seat and picked up his flashlight in his right while holding the tablet in his left, careful not to drop it.

Instantly after leaving the security room the temperature difference became noticeable, with the air becoming slightly chilly. He peeked back inside and noticed a radiator mounted on the wall behind his chair, which he hadn't noticed before. Good thing he did though, otherwise he could've fallen and bashed his head on it, which definitely wouldn't be good. That information in mind he nudged his seat forward a little bit before leaving the office, instead making his way down Hall A2. The clean burgundy carpet muffled his footsteps slightly, making them nothing more than soft pats as he walked. He paused briefly to look inside the boxes, only to find the majority of them to be sealed tight or for them to be empty. They weren't much bigger than an old-fashioned box television, so there couldn't be anything very big in there anyway.

He shivered slightly as he entered the near-barren lobby. The temperature was even chillier due to the expansive nature of the room, several lights hanging overhead but all turned off, one of them even had the bulb broken. The corners of the rooms had small piles of boxes in them, all also sealed or empty. Seeing nothing of interest in the lobby, he moved into Hallway B. The wooden door to the bathroom was closed and upon opening it was met with pure darkness, the air downright freezing, prompting him to close it with haste. The utility tunnel door was quite imposing when you looked at it - eight feet tall and of pure black steel with hints of grey on it. Just by touching it he could feel the cold straight down to his bones, like an arctic winter.

Much like the lobby, the second he entered the cafeteria he could immediately feel the difference in temperature. It wasn't helped that the cafeteria had high windows, several of them shattered and letting the howling winds come in. He didn't understand why they were broken, since nobody would be able to climb in unless they had a two-storey step-ladder to just get in, not even counting the landing method. Maybe he should notify Cinder of that tomorrow? He considered it before putting the idea on hold - he couldn't tell her right now, after all. The tables were grey in colour with red plastic seats attached on, periodically spread out throughout the room. The kitchen was adjoined onto the cafeteria, a small silver wall acting as a barrier, probably where food was placed for the student's selection if the small box-shaped gaps were anything to go by.

He entered the kitchen, pushing the plastic door open, the quiet bang it made when it hit the wall startling him slightly. He watched it swing closed behind him, barely visible without directing his flashlight directly on it. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness gradually, so combined with the white plastic and dusty silver of the kitchen it wasn't overly difficult to see, even if only a few feet ahead of him. The kitchen, while rectangular in shape with ovens, worktops and other cooking utilities lined the walls the centre was obscured by a wall. His footsteps echoed as he walked, the carpet no longer present to soften them as he explored the old kitchen. As he expected most of the cupboards were empty and what was still there was long since expired, even the canned food had expired nearly five years prior.

As he turned around to explore the other side of the kitchen, he flinched as he caught sight of the two animatronics he saw on the camera, the bunny and the fashionista. Both were still in the same positions as he had expected, but it was still slightly unnerving to see them up close. Yet despite being unnerved, his curiosity got the better of him and approached, moving towards the bunny first, the tablet coming to rest on the countertop. He shined the light on her, but instead of the light shining off of her, it reacted like as if her skin was genuine skin. Her hands were by her sides, so with growing curiosity he reached out and gently touched her bare hand.

He released a sigh of relief when the animatronic didn't suddenly turn on and react. Call it what you will, but he was curious. Her hand felt surprisingly soft, not to mention it felt genuinely real and not mechanical with faux-skin over it. He poked her cheek, gently caressing her face with his free hand. It felt so real - he could almost feel the bones underneath, her cheeks depressing inwards if he pushed lightly on them, her nose able to be pinched lightly. The one thing that defined her from not being human though was that her eyes didn't dilate when he shined a light into her eyes, something that he was silently relieved for. He lowered his hand to pick up his tablet-

CLANG!

His heart leapt out of his chest and he very nearly jumped into the air when the sudden clang of metal reached his ears. His head snapped around, the flashlight sporadically flickering around the whole of the area behind him. His eyes quickly locked onto an old scoop spoon laying on the floor, rocking gently back and forth on the tile floor. He relaxed at that, taking several deep breaths to calm down before he reluctantly turned his eyes back to the bunny-girl. Something soft under his hands drew his attention before his face lit up bright crimson, his hand having fallen and grasped her modest chest in his panic. The machine hadn't given any response to the action, yet he had a feeling had it been a real person he'd be getting slapped, hard.

'...it's so soft...' The thought came to him, his blush only darkening as he retracted his hand, mentally slapping himself, 'Bad Jaune! If anyone saw that they'd think you were a pervert!'

Jaune raised his gaze up to the unseeing eyes of the machine, awkwardly smiling at it, ''Eheh... sorry.''

'Great, now I'm talking to an inanimate object... robot... whatever.' The higher part of his brain deadpanned.

He sighed, conceding to that as he walked past the bunny-eared robot. He paused in front of the other robot, briefly but much more hesitantly examining her - making sure to keep well away from her chest. However his embarrassment faded as his curiosity came back, the oddly realistic nature of the animatronics surprising him. Most places that had animatronics were either of animals or, like these ones, of people - but the thing was they weren't nearly as realistic. Maybe because those were cheaper ones, with only the appearance of a person instead of the feel of a person.

Exploration of the kitchen down, he quietly made his exit, the glowing circle of light from his flashlight alerting him of anything he might trip over. As he re-entered Hall B his footfalls softened in noise and the air quickly became warmer by a few degrees. Of course the temperature dropped back down as he entered the spacious lobby, but he ignored the varying temperatures and went up the stairs on the right, finding himself in a moderately long hallway, two doors on each side. If he recalled the four animatronics were in the far right door while the others were empty, so he headed towards it. However he paused outside the door, a shiver going up his spine as he heard a quiet, almost inaudible creak that wasn't made from his own footsteps. Hesitantly, he raised his tablet and flicked to the bedroom cam.

He froze.

The red-and-black one was no longer sitting on the bed, but was instead stood ramrod-straight directly in front of the door, staring at it with an impossibly wide smile and an intense gaze. Instantly the 'flight-or-fight' blinkers in his head went blaring off, and he didn't even hesitate before turning and flat out bolting it away from the door. Any semblance of soft footfalls were abandoned completely, the fast thudding of his steps echoing around him as he pushed himself to his limit, taking three steps at a time down the stairs and covering the length of the lobby in a handful of seconds, throwing himself down the corridor and very nearly diving into his office. His hands frantically yanked the tablet up to eye-level and he flicked to the systems tab, immediately activating the security doors. Two heavy yet sleek metal doors fell down in either doorway with a loud slam, separating him from the rest of the building.

Jaune laid on the floor, panting and eyes wide, the mental image of the animatronic standing away from its original position doing nothing to calm him down. However it was the realisation that it indeed did move that prompted him to pull up his tablet, flicking through the camera back to B2-3, only to his horror to find the wooden door wide open, gently rocking back and forth. He flicked through the cameras - lobby, Hall A1 and A2, Stairway 2 and then ending on Hall C2 where he found her. The nameless animatronic stood in the middle of the hall, completely unmoving with her wide smile still stuck on her face, her head tilting to stare straight into the camera, silver eyes glowing brightly in the darkness.

He didn't dare take his eyes off of her, to move the camera off of her and give her the chance to move without him knowing. So he didn't, instead he just stared. One minute turned into two, then to three, then to ten. Soon he noted that his power consumption was fairly high, so he reluctantly open his doors again to reduce the cost. The black-and-red girl didn't move, yet he wasn't willing to look away after what he'd already seen.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard his watch beep, the digital clock switching over to two in the morning surprisingly fast. He nearly sighed in relief, but before he could a near-deafening BANG echoed throughout the building, startling him and nearly making him drop the tablet in surprise. Immediately he noticed something was wrong - the gothic-lolita-clad girl had turned her head to her right, as if she had heard something in that direction. He flicked through the cameras, paying no more than a second to each camera before he moved on. He stopped when he reached Hall C1, where he found something that certainly wasn't meant to be there.

The ginger girl he had seen before in the bedroom B1-3, the top-right room on the left hall. The door was swinging off its hinges as the robot girl stood in the middle of the hall, but unlike the red-and-black one, she wasn't completely still while the camera was on her. Instead, she turned towards the camera with a look of childish mischief on her face, and winked.

'...I'm not seeing things, am I?' He deadpanned, 'Nope, yep, she just winked at me. A fucking robot just winked at me.'

However he was broken out of his state when, mere moments after the animatronic winking at him, she suddenly bolted. He expected her to move slowly, but no - she borderline broke out into a sprint. He flicked the camera to the lobby, only to realise she was halfway across it. Instantly he flicked to the systems panel, activating the power to the left door, and not a moment too soon. Less than a second later a loud THUD hit the door, matched with a scarily realistic cry of pain from the person who hit the door. He turned on the camera for the hall outside, and true to what he expected the ginger-haired animatronic was sat on her rear, rubbing his head from where she had ran into the door.

''Why'd you do that?'' The animatronic whined, her voice as real as a normal person.

Jaune nervously glanced out the other door, keeping an eye out encase she tries to flank. ''Well... uh, you... scared me?''

There was silence for a long moment, before the a surprisingly sad reply came, ''Oh... I'm sorry.''

Silence fell again, although this time it was awkward. Any surprise or fear he had previously felt was now at the back of his mind, instead his social awkwardness shining through as he tried to find something to say. Idly he pulled up his camera again, flicking through to see if any other animatronics decided to go walk-about. The fashionista and the bunny were still in the kitchen, the crimson Spartan was still in the same position and the other three in B2-3 were still in the same positions. However the gothic lolita girl was gone from the hall... and every other camera. He even checked the utility tunnel and listened to the audio from the bathroom, but he couldn't find her.

That was unsettling.

''Um...'' He spoke up, looking down the open hallway nervously, ''Do you, like, have a name I can call you, or...?''

''Nora.'' The ginger animatronic sounded... elated? ''What about you, Mr. Jumpy Guard?''

''Jaune Arc.'' He smiled, honestly considering opening the door... although the creepy smile the gothic one had given him wasn't too enticing, since Nora might just be trying to get him to open the door. Speaking of which... ''What's the name of the gothic girl, by the way? Wears red and black, has silver eyes a big smile?''

''Oh, Ruby?'' Nora cheered happily, ''She's the most active of all of us! She just has endless energy, but her wiring gets a bit weird when she first wakes up. She's waiting to meet you too!''

''She seems a little... scary.''

''Ruby? Nah~! She just likes to smile a lot! Isn't that right Ruby?''

Jaune froze as a pair of soft arms suddenly wrapped around his neck, a weight suddenly pressing down on his back and soft breathing brushing against his ear. He turned slowly, almost reluctant to even move lest he face death. His cobalt eyes met silver ones, a face-splitting grin plastered onto her face that made her look equal parts cute and terrifying.

''Hi~''

He did the only thing he could do in this situation.

He fainted.

The first thing that Jaune heard was the dull humming of the ventilation system, followed by feeling the blinding light of the overhead light burn through his eyelids. Reluctantly he opened his eyes, raising a hand to cover them as he pushed himself up. He took a glance around himself and immediately registered several things; firstly he was sat in his chair, secondly his tablet was in the hands of Ruby and thirdly the animatronic was currently in his room, sat in the doorway.

Did he mention the animatronic was sitting in his office?

He didn't dare move, lest he attract her attention and result in his own death. However she seemed to have notice him wake up somehow, her head rising as she faced him. The wild smile was no longer present, instead an almost nervous yet apologetic smile was on her face, looking more like a little kid than a machine.

''Um... hi.'' Ruby smiled awkwardly at him, ''Sorry about scaring you...''

''It's... fine?'' Jaune said hesitantly, his response only making Ruby laugh nervously. It was very human-like, and that was what was unnerving to him about it. Cinder had said they were old deactivated animatronics, yet here they were acting like real human beings. He was just surprised he hadn't made a complete fool of himself. Well, that and that they hadn't slaughtered him over it.

''Yeah...'' She mumbled, looking away, ''I didn't mean to be all... um...''

''Creepy and psycho?''

She winced, ''Yeah... my programming makes me do that, until I can break through it that is.''

''Break through your programming?'' He asked in confusion, ''What do you mean?''

''Well, we're programmed to do certain things and we can't really control our reactions or facial expressions. I-I can't explain it very well but the best way I can is... like I really wanted to come to the office, a-and nothing else mattered as long as I made you afraid... I just wanted to see you scared. It's... weird.'' She explained, stuttering several times and pausing frequently.

Jaune frowned, ''That... sounds messed up.''

''Yeah. It's your first night so I got to break out of my programming pretty easily, but each day it'll get harder and harder, so like... don't let me near you, okay?'' Ruby practically pleaded, ''I don't want to hurt you.''

Jaune silently nodded, gulping slightly. While the friendly Nora and now-friendly Ruby was a pleasant surprise, the possibility of them wanting to hurt him... wasn't very nice. He took her warning to heart, mentally noting it down. Despite the ominous warning, he couldn't help but ask other questions.

''So uh... what's it like being an animatronic?''

''Horrible.'' She stated with shocking venom, her fists clenching at her skirt, ''We have to stay in this dusty old building for days on end until a new guard appears, then we go through the same routine before either the guard dies or he leaves by the end of the week.''

...

...

''Oh...'' Was all that came from his mouth. What else could he say? Thankfully, he found something better to switch the conversation to, ''Where's Nora anyway?''

''Still here Jaune!'' Nora's voice came from the other side of the door.

He jumped slightly, looking at the door in surprise, ''Uh... Nora?''

''Yes?''

''Why are you still... y'know, on the other side of the door?'' He asked in bemusement.

He got a giggle in return, ''Well you said you didn't want me to scare you, so I'm waiting out here until you decide to let me in!''

'That's... surprisingly considerate.' Jaune blinked, not having expected her to actually wait for him. With only the slightest amount of hesitance he opened the door, revealing Nora sitting with her legs crossed, looking like a little kid. Her eyes lit up happily when she saw him, scooting into the room with a smile on her face, sitting next to Ruby and both staring up at him cutely, like a pair of kindergarteners staring up at their teacher.

''So... uh... are any of the others that will be trying to hurt me?'' He asked the duo, who nodded to his worry.

Ruby was the one to speak, ''Weiss is up, but her programming doesn't ever wear off... so don't let her near you, alright? She's the one in white that lives in my dorm.''

''Got it.'' He nodded, noting that down, ''What about the others?''

''They won't be active until later nights.'' Ruby replied, rocking slightly. He was silently thankful for that - what had happened so far was equal parts terrifying and unusual, so having to deal with only Ruby, Nora and Weiss was a relief. Idly, he began to flick through the cameras until he found the white-clad girl. Unlike Ruby or Nora, she didn't have a creepy grin on her face, instead stood in the centre of the lobby with a stoic expression, staring coldly into the camera, unmoving.

''How many of you guys are there?'' He asked quietly, ready to close the doors when needed.

However, he didn't get a response. After a few seconds of only the dull thrum of the fan for noise, he raised his head from the camera to look at the two animatronic. To his surprise he saw Nora with a look of heavy reluctance and slight guilt, and Ruby with a haunted look in her eyes. The change was so sudden it floored him, the prospect of Weiss coming to his office momentarily forgotten. When one of them spoke, it was Nora who did.

''...We can't tell you.''

He blinked, hesitantly replying, ''Why?''

''Because bad things happen if we do.'' Ruby responded quietly, suddenly pushing herself to her feet. Without another word she just suddenly walked out - not stormed, not ran, not trudged - just walked calmly away like nothing happened. Jaune turned his gaze onto Nora, who was staring out the door Ruby had left through with a sombre expression. She met his eyes a moment later, sombreness quickly being replaced by repressed sadness, a faint smile coming to her lips.

''Sorry... she doesn't like remembering it.''

''I-It's fine, I probably shouldn't have asked.'' Jaune wondered internally, while externally just shook his head, 'It? What is 'it'?'

Before he could ponder what 'it' could be, however, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye before a sudden weight landed on his lap. Jaune's cheeks turned red as he realised only a moment later that the weight was Nora, and said weight wasn't actually that heavy for an animatronic - she was only a little heavier than his sister, and that spoke volumes of how light she was. Despite the limited space on the chair Nora seemed to be determined to get comfy, completely unaware that gave him the perfect view of her chest. Either uncaring of the embarrassing position or intentional, Nora just gave a wide smile full of good-natured mischief.

''Uh... Nora?''

''Mm?'' The animatronic hummed questioningly.

''Why are you, y'know...'' He trailed off, gesturing randomly.

''You're comfy.'' She smiled, lying against him as her eyes drifted to the tablet, ''Ooh~ Weissy is on the move~''

Immediately his eyes went to the tablet, and true to her word Weiss was moving in a slow but elegant walk towards Hallway A1, the one to the left side of the office. He didn't take any chances, switching to the systems panel and closing the right door. Weiss didn't stop walking, even though she clearly noticed the closed door judging from how her eyes flickered to it before staring straight ahead again. She came to a stop in front of the door, briefly trying to walk through the door, only for the laws of the universe to register and her lithe frame to lightly bash against the frame, as if testing its existence.

''Let me in.'' Weiss stated, voice chilly. Not cruel, but just frosty, like you just pissed her off.

''Don't.'' Nora whispered in his ear in response.

Jaune took her words to heart, remaining silent as Weiss repeated the command in varying tones and rapping her knuckles on the metal harshly. Several minutes passed, Nora and Jaune remaining silent as they sat in the swivel chair, waiting. It must've become apparent to Weiss that the door was not opening no matter what she said, so she gave a quiet huff and turned on her heel, storming away. Jaune watched from the cameras the whole way, watching her enter the lobby, then cross over to the library. The old wooden doors squeaked as she pushed them open and silently entered, briefly throwing a glare over her shoulder towards the camera before she disappeared within. Unfortunately for Jaune, there was no camera in the library, thus no way to track her.

After re-opening the door his attention was grabbed by two things; the first was his power level at a reasonable 70% and the second was that his watch beeped over to five in the morning, something that surprised him given it wasn't even three last he remembered. Time must've flown when he was out. He checked around on the other animatronics but they were all in their normal locations, sans Ruby who was alone in B2-4, sitting on a dusty old bed and staring at the wall blankly.

Nora interrupted his thoughts, ''She knows you're sorry, she just needs time.''

''If you say so.'' He murmured, adjusting his position slightly and looking Nora in the eyes, ''Tell her I'm sorry though, alright?''

''Aye-aye captain!'' She nodded resolutely, saluting for emphasis to his amusement.

His eyes went back to the tablet as they fell into an admittedly comfortable silence, the last hour of his shift ticking by quickly. Every so often he'd glance at the time, seeing the minutes fly by. Ruby remained in her spot for the majority of the night and Weiss didn't leave the library. Nora hummed a wordless tune in his ear during that time, occasionally running a hand through his messy blonde hair or tracing the seat with her finger. Despite the curiosity he felt, he did not question further what Nora and Ruby had eluded to - he already made Ruby upset, he didn't want to test Nora's patience.

Soon his attention was grabbed at the lobby camera, where Weiss exited the library with a piece of paper and a small yet sharp object that glistened in the faint light that fell through the cracks in the building. She stopped next to the library doors and turned to the wall, pushing the piece of paper up against the worn wallpaper and shoving the sharp needle-esque object into it, pinning it to the wall. She cast a glance over her shoulder at the camera, her icy eyes unreadable before she simply turned and walked up the right staircase, disappearing up there. He followed her through the cameras as she went only a little down the hall before entering the room where Ruby was.

The red-and-black dressed animatronic only met Weiss' eye, neither of them speaking a word. A silent agreement seemed to have been reached, as Ruby sighed and climbed to her feet, beginning to leave the room while Weiss had already left, going back towards the room she started in. Ruby cast a faint smile at the camera before following after the white-clad girl, both of them assuming the exact same positions they had when they first started. It was a little eerie, all things considered.

''Hn...'' Nora let out a half-whine, ''I gotta go now, Jauney.''

'Jauney?' He thought in amusement, before verbally responding to her, ''Sure... uh, see you tomorrow?''

''You sure will!'' She giggled, surprising him when she abruptly gave him a peck on the cheek before hopping off of his lap, pausing at the doorway, ''Bye~!''

With that parting word said in a sing-song tune, Nora zipped down the hall, cheerfully humming a tune. Jaune simply sat there stunned for several minutes, surprise locked onto his features as his brain effectively rebooted itself. In the end, it was the beeping of his watch that broke him out of his stupor, alerting him that it was six in the morning now. Shaking off the lingering surprise, he silently took both the tablet and flashlight in hand and began to make his way out of the building, turning the ventilation system off on the way.

'What a weird girl.' Jaune mused quietly in his head, still in mild surprise by her sudden... action.

As he entered the lobby though his eyes flickered to the piece of paper that Weiss had nailed to the wall. Approaching it he saw that the thing that was used to nail it to the wall was a small... thing. He'd call it a toothpick, but it looked so much more refined than that despite being the length of his finger and as thin as a needle, getting larger near the rear end where a cylinder lay. He ignored the strange needle-esque object, picking it out and gently laying it on the floor while picking up the note. It was short, but what was on it made him frown.

He shook his head, folding the note up and pocketing it before making his way towards the open doors. Golden rays of morning sunshine were cast into the large room, illuminating it and making the dust particles become visible, accompanied by a quick but bitingly cold gust of morning wind, making him shiver from the sudden cold. He merely steadied his nerves though, walking out the doors and briefly hesitating, unsure if he should simply continue to the guard post where Emerald presumably waited or to stay and wait for the doors to close. After a few moments of thought, he decided to stay and watch the doors to make sure nobody snuck in.

It wasn't a long wait, although the chilly morning air wasn't a pleasant feeling. Soon the iron doors 'clicked' and began to close, groaning as they inwardly-open doors swung closed, finishing up with a soft click as they shut closed. Assured that the place was locked safe, Jaune turned and began making his way towards the guard post to clock out of his first day on the job. On the way however his thoughts drifted back to the note that Weiss had left, and to a lesser extent, the odd needle she had used to hold it in place.

Pulling the note out of his pocket, he frowned at it.

''I have not lost hope.''

A/N: Bam!

The chapter took a little longer than I had hoped, but at the same time I'm somewhat pleased I actually managed to get a second chapter out so soon. Both a benefit and curse of writing up 6-7 stories in the background; it means if you have writers block on one story you can simply jump to another and try there, but it also means that you have to divide your time over a wider area.

So here's the first night. A look at Ruby, Nora and Weiss so far, along with a slightest hints at the mystery that lays beyond. I went with a bit of suspense/horror at the start and middle, broken by some humour with Ruby and Nora, an inkling of mystery and then ending with a touch of romance and hint of mystery. I hope I did not disappoint.

Thank you to all who reviewed last chapter :D

Also, here's a little hint/fun fact/tease/whatever - there were four active animatronics in the fic, the fourth was very subtle though fufufu.

Anyway, till next time~!