I don't own RWBY or Skyrim.
Jaune hated airships.
He was currently hunched over a trash bin near the back of the airship, trying in vain to fight his newly discovered motion sickness. After unloading the contents of his stomach, he stumbled over to a bench and took a seat, hoping to stave off his queasiness.
'How the hell can I ride a dragon and feel perfectly fine, but a fucking airship gives me motion sickness?' Jaune thought. The boy laid an oilcloth over his lap and unholstered Dragon Song to start disassembling and cleaning it, like he always did when he needn't to keep his mind and hands occupied. He noticed that some of the other passengers were giving him odd looks, but they all turned there attention to a hologram projection of a blonde woman in a white blouse, black business skirt and a black and purple tattered cape. She started speaking.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are one of the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace,"
Jaune let out a soft, bitter chuckle at that. He knew better than most of these kids that there is no peace. Only the absence of conflict, and that never lasted long.
"And as future huntsmen and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task. And now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."
The hologram vanished, and Jaune frowned at her last words. How could these people protect the world if they were totally ignorant to one of its biggest threats. A single dragon could wipe out an entire village in minutes. He knew that from experience. Once he'd cleaned his pistol, he got up to take in the view, the sight of Vale and Beacon seemed to help, before he had to rush to a trash can to puke again.
'FUCKING WHY?!' He mentally demanded. His scroll started buzzing, so he answered it to hear Azura. "Hello Jaune, would you care to explain what I found on your bathroom counter?"
"Um, that depends on what you found, Azura." He walked over to a corner, knowing how loud the woman could yell even over the phone.
Meanwhile, a raven-haired cat faunus in disguise watched him while looking over the book in her hands. She heard him argue with someone over the phone.
"So what if I left my toothbrush? I can get one in Vale after initiation...Okay, you and I both know that fire was not my fault... Oh, oh, you wanna go there? Do I have to bring up the trading post in Vacuo?... Oh, believe me, I would dare...Alright, alright, I'll talk to you later. Tell the guys I said hi...Goodbye." The boy hung up and walked towards the doors as they opened to the landing pads of Beacon. The girl got up as the other students exited.
Once he found a spot in a garden to sit on and settle his stomach, he let out a tired sigh and ran a hand through his blonde hair. He noticed a koi pond a few feet to his right, and stood to walk up next to it. He watched as the fish swam away from his shadow. Since he was alone, he spoke aloud, "Raan."
His animal allegiance shout made the fish much calmer, they swam more fluidly. One even swam up and allowed Jaune to touch its side. Jaune quickly stood straight up when he heard an explosion coming from the direction of the docks. He mad his way there and saw two girls as a cloud of smoke dissipated.
One girl had black hair with red tips at the ends along with silver eyes and a red hooded cape. The other seemed to be yelling at the red girl and was dressed in nearly all white, with white hair that was done in an off center ponytail and had icy-blue eyes. As he made his way over, another girl with black hair and a bow on her head showed up.
The white and black themed girls soon left, and the red girl flopped onto her back while muttering, "Welcome to Beacon." Jaune, being the good samaritan with a side of badass that he was, walked over to her and held out his hand.
"Hey. I'm Jaune." He said as the girl took his hand. "Ruby. Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"
"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on. I didn't even know I had it until that airship ride."
"Look, I'm sorry. Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind."
"Yeah? Well, what if I called you Crater Face?"
"Hey! That explosion was an accident."
"Well, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue."
As Jaune and the girl, Ruby Rose, walked on through a courtyard, Ruby said, "So...I got this thing." She then proceeded to pull out a giant-ass scythe.
"Woah! Is that a scythe?" Jaune asked for some reason.
She nodded. "It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle."
"That is awesome." Jaune said in awe.
"What about you?"
"Oh, I've got these." He said, pulling out his pistols. "This is Dragon Song and Greiving Widow. One can shift into a tomahawk and the other can turn into a dagger."
Ruby gawked over his weapons before he holstered them and pulled out his bow and sword. "I also have Nightingale and Crocea Mors. They don't transform into anything, but I like them all the same."
"Ooohh. Did you make them?"
"I made the pistols, but Nightingale was a gift from a friend and Crocea Mors is a hand me down." Jaune smile flickered off for a moment, "My grandfather gave me it before he died." He put them back in his duffel along with Grieving Widow.
"Oh..." Ruby said. Eager to change the subject, Jaune asked, "Do you know where we're going?"
"No, I was following you."
"Oh. Do you think there's a directory anywhere? Maybe a food court? Some kind of memorable landmark?"
As Jaune and Ruby finally found the auditorium, They looked around until Ruby spotted her sister waving at her and abruptly left. Jaune, not wanting to bother with pushing through the crowd, opted to lean against the back wall and try to not stand out. Contrary to what he'd told Paarthurnax, he didn't feel like talking to a whole bunch of people or getting involved in other people's matters. Or any matters of any nature. He'd gotten lucky with Ruby. She was quirky, and that was always fun. He was pulled out of his thoughts when, coincidentally, the black themed girl from earlier took a spot a few yards away from him. Jaune could've sworn he saw her looking at him. Soon enough, Professor Ozpin himself stepped on stage and approached the single microphone.
"I'll keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you are 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."
After the silver haired man's oh-so invigorating speech, he left and the lady from the hologram on the airship stepped in.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
"Great pep-talk. Really feeling the positive vibes." Jaune muttered. He made his way out to find the locker room.
After stowing his things in locker...crap, he couldn't remember his locker number! Oh well, a problem for another day. Jaune was dressed in a cyan tank top and black gym shorts. He carried a bedroll and a thousand year old book entitled History of Nirn: A World long forgotten. Azura had kept quite an impressive stash of these books from the old days.
He found a window sill that was about five feet off the ground. the alcove had the perfect amount of space for him to sleep comfortably without fear of falling off. As he sat there, one leg dangling off the edge, he put on his reading glasses. Jaune quietly read a few passages to himself.
"Nonvul bron, dahmaan daar rot. Nau revak frod drey faal Bronjun Gjalund krif voth ahkrin ahrk mah nol liiv nin do fahliil ronaaz. Naal kunsevurii mu nir un paalu wah laat. Nid fahliil drey lahney. Kronaan naal krosis drey aarre do Gjalund daal Ahrolsedovah, kolos rok fent unslaad praan."
The direct translation being: Noble Nord, remember this word. On sacred battlefield did the Jarl Gjalund fight with courage and fall from wither sting of elf arrow. By light of his valor we hunt our foe to last. No elf did live. Conquered by sorrow did servants do Gjalund return Hill of the Dragon, in which he shall ceaseless rest.
He flipped a few pages to one very memorable part.
"Lingrah vod ko goraan bokselein, norok dovah Numinex drey rel pah Keizaal. Zofaas zoor al sahsun, ag suleyksejun, ahrk krii unslaad Bron. Nid suleyk ko Taazokaan ronit sunvaar.
Nii tahrodiis tiid ko Keizaal, fah junaar win ahzid keinsekulaan. Faal Bronjun nis aav wah kriin dovah, fah ov nis siiv naal naan."
Translation: Long ago in young ages of the world, fearsome dragon Numinex did ravage all of Skyrim. Dreadful drake destroyed entire villages, burned cities and killed countless Nords. No power in Tamriel did rival the monster.
It was troubled time in Skyrim, for bitter war of succession did rage between holds. The Jarls could not join to conquer beast, for trust could not be found by any...
Before he knew it, the black themed girl who he was starting to think was stalking him came along and took a spot a few feet to the right of Jaune's. Being suspicious as he was, Jaune whispered, "Laas."
As he looked toward the raven-haired girl, he saw two small triangles on top of her head, where her bow was...
So, she's a faunus. That meant she may have heard him mumbling in a thousand year old language that 99% of living, sentient beings on this world didn't know existed. Fortunately, she didn't try talking to him and pulled out a candle to read her own book.
Jaune managed to get perhaps ten minutes of peace and quiet before he heard a girl say, "Hello!" As it turns out, it was a blonde girl pulling Ruby by the hand over to the black themed girl.
"I believe you two may know each other."
"Aren't you that girl that exploded?"
"Yeah, my name's Ruby. But you can just call me Crater...Um, actually you can just call me Ruby."
"Okay."
"What are you doing?" The blonde girl asked. "I don't know, help me."
"So, what's your name?" The girl let out a small sigh of annoyance, something Jaune could relate with. "Blake."
"Well, Blake, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister. I like your bow."
"Thanks."
"It goes great with your...pajamas."
"Right..."
"Nice night, don't you think?"
"Yes, it's lovely. Almost as lovely as this book." Ruby and Yang somehow didn't take the hint.
"That I will continue to read." Still nothing. "As soon as you leave."
"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause." Yang told her sister. Ruby asked, "What's it about?"
"Huh?"
"Your book, does it have a name."
"It's about a man with two souls. Each fighting for control over his body."
"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The three girls turned to Jaune, who was now just realizing those words had left his mouth. He kept calm though, and looked up from his own book. "It's a good read."
"Oh, hey Jaune. I didn't see you there." Ruby said after recognizing the boy.
"So, this is Jaune." Yang said, eyeing his lean but muscular figure. She and the other two then noticed the multiple scars on his arms, legs and neck that looked like claw marks, accompanied by several old burn marks and smaller cuts on his hands. "Evening." Jaune greeted calmly before going back to his book.
Noticing that Jaune didn't want to talk, the two sisters turned back to Blake, who found that a bit irritating. "I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed, stories of heroes and monsters. They're one of the reasons I want to be a huntress."
"Why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?"
"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like the heroes in those books. Someone who fought for what was right and protected those who couldn't protect them selves."
"I see. That's very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale." Jaune narrowed his eyes. That was a voice of experience. 'What's your story?'
"Well, that's why we're here. To make it better." They heard some chuckling and turned to the person, who happened to be Jaune. "Let me know how that turns out for you." He commented.
"What in the world is going on over here? Don't you people realize that some of us are trying to sleep?"
The white haired girl that had been yelling at Ruby in the courtyard stomped over angrily. When she saw Yang, they both yelled, "Oh, not you again!"
"Sshhh, guys, she's right. People are trying to sleep."
"Oh, now you're on my side?"
"I was always on your side."
"Hey, what's your problem with my sister? She's only trying to be nice."
"She's a hazard to my health!"
The room suddenly went dark as Blake blew out her candles. Jaune put his things away and went to sleep, wondering what the headmaster had planned for initiation.