Just a fair warning, barely any Jaune in this chapter. Enjoy


Pyrrha landed gracefully on the broad tree branch. Shifting Miló into Rifle Form, she scanned the sky for Jaune.

Flailing and screaming, he wasn't hard to miss.

After having shifted her weapon into a spear once more, she carefully took aim, calculating his continuous flight path, and threw.

Everything was going to plan. She would pin him into place and henceforth secure their partnership. Hopefully, they wouldn't be teamed up with whoever had the displeasure of having Weiss Schnee as a partner.

She was brought out of scheming when Jaune suddenly stopped screaming and began to stabilize his fall. Time seemed to slow down, she held her breath. Milo was about to hit its mark when Jaune abruptly jerked sideways, her trusted spear narrowly missing.

"No," she gasped, her hopes getting crushed before her eyes.

She'd come to Beacon for a fresh start, hoping to leave behind the fame of her past achievements in Minstral. It seemed to go well for a while, no one recognizing her until the Schnee came along, boasting about how they would make the perfect team. Thankfully Jaune had saved her from her monologue, presenting her with the perfect opportunity to escape Weiss's clutches and gain the ideal partner as a bonus: someone who had never once heard of her before, and was kind of cute to boot. Everything had gone so well until he somehow evaded her spear, leaving him who knows where in the forest.

In the forest. Alone. In a forest full of Grimm.

Oh no, she thought. He is out there all alone and I'm wasting time bemoaning my failed selfish plans. This really wasn't how it was supposed to go...


Gotta find Yang, Ruby thought. Gotta find Yang, gotta fiiind

"Yaaaaaanng!" She began sprinting in the direction where she thought she'd seen Yang fly. "Yaaaaang!"

Ugh, this is bad, this is really bad! What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first?

She was about to begin contemplating other potential partners when she happened upon the most bizarre scene. Vomit Boy, lying face first in the dirt, feet entangled in a bush. And Weiss, none the wiser, about to trip over him.

"Oooff"

Ruby chortled slightly to herself, hiding behind a tree.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

Poor Jaune, Ruby thought while Weiss continued her verbal tirade. Better get out of here before she spots, just to scream at me again.


"Whoohooo!" Yang jumped from tree to tree, ending in a smooth roll, perfectly transitioning her downward momentum into a run. "Nailed it."

"Helloooooooo? Is anyone out there? Hellooooo?" She threw her arms up in the air. "I'm getting bored here."

A rustle in the bushes behind her drew her attention. "Is someone there?"

She was about to investigate when a rather loud pain filled scream reached her ears.

"Vomit Boy?" she mumbled to herself and began sprinting in the general direction.

She was about to give up when she noticed the redhead spartan girl, Pyrrha Nikos, hiding behind a few bushes, intently observing something in the distance.

Yang carefully began sneaking up on the unsuspecting redhead, grinning all the while. This should be fun, she thought, just a little bit closer.

Gotch– Loud masculine laughter echoed from behind their bush cover. She craned her neck up to see Weiss lying above Jaune, a hand draped across her back, both laughing like crazy.

Oh Jaune, you naughty, naughty boy, she thought. Guess the Snow Angel line worked after all.

She turned sideways to gaze at her fellow voyeur. Oh boy, this just gets better and better. Beside her, Pyrrha had a noticeable scowl on her face, her jaw clenched. Just the second day of school and already a love triangle in full force. She couldn't wait to tell her friends and most of all, Ruby. A shit-eating grin on her face, she was brimming with excitement.

"Whoaa" Pyrrha flailed about, landing on her buttocks. She looked up to Yang, her face matching her hair in color, her mouth closing and opening like a fish caught out of the water. "I, I..."

"Shhh!" the blonde shushed her, pressing a finger to her lips, smirking all the while. "Don't wanna interrupt Lover Boy over there now, would we?" she whispered, raising her eyebrows.

Pyrrha's gaze darkened noticeably at the mention of said blonde. "I have to go," she replied, picking herself off the ground.

Yang sobered up at the sudden rejection. Her playful mood vanished, she followed the redhead away from the clearing. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make fun out of you." This was her partner now, and partners were supposed to have each other's backs, didn't they? "Look at the bright side, better he learns his lesson now and gets burned. Or rather, iced, hahaha..."

While Yang proceeded to laugh at her own joke, the spartan had a contemplative look on her face. A smile slowly crept up her face. "Thank you", she voiced, turning around to face her partner. "I think you're right. It seems I got a good partner after all."

Yang extended her hand. "Yang Xiao-Long, at your service."

"Pyrrha Nikos," she replied, grasping the proffered hand, "but you probably already knew that."

They walked in silence for a while. "Do you know where we're going? I think the temple is the other way."

Looking down, Pyrrha's face flushed slightly. "I know. It's just, I kinda lost my weapon and need to retrieve it first."

Yang perked up on that, grinning. "Oh, let me guess, you were deep in a skirmish with a pack of Beowolves, but when you heard Lover Boy scream back there, you dropped everything to rescue him."

"Y-Yes," the redhead stuttered, "yes, exactly as you said."

This is just too easy, Yang thought, smirking inwardly.


Blake silently jumped from tree to tree, her eyes never leaving their prey.

She had spent the day contemplating her potential partners and had decided to watch the blonde for a short time, preferably gauging her combat skills. Even though their introduction hadn't been the most pleasant and Yang had been kind of rude and loud, there just weren't any better options.

Ren and the Nora girl were obviously a fixed match, and whoever got in between them would regret it for the rest of their time at Beacon. The heiress was no option for obvious reasons. Pyrrha would have been the perfect partner if it weren't for her fame.

She had come to Beacon for a fresh start, to escape from her life at the White Fang, and to use her talents to help people for a change. Being partnered with Pyrrha would put her in the spotlight and it was then only a question of time before her past was brought to light.

Not that one had to look hard to find out who she was, with her father being the chieftain of Menagerie, and the Belladonna name not being very common.

It wasn't that she was ashamed of her heritage. She just wanted to get to know her team first and let them know her for who she was and not for what she was.

A terrorist, she thought bitterly.

A scream echoed through the forest, drawing her and Yang's attention. She jumped out of her cover within the trees and sprinted after Yang in an attempt not to lose her.

It was no use, however. Despite being good at running away, she couldn't keep up with the brawler.

When she finally caught up with her, she was crouching next to Pyrrha Nikos, spying on something out of Blake's sight.

She climbed a tree to get a better view. So, Jaune is out of the race now too, she thought. Not that she had had any inclination for teaming up with him, to begin with.

This only left Ren, Nora, and Ruby, leaving the latter as the preferable choice. Her mind made up, she began making her way back to the two Ursai she had spotted earlier.

The scene that greeted her surprised her a little. In a good way. Ruby stood there, Scythe deployed, facing off against the aforementioned Ursai.

With incredible speed, she hooked her weapon around the first one, shooting her weapon, the recoil was enough to sever its torso from the rest of the body. Using the generated momentum she swung her scythe in a mighty arc, burying it deep inside the second Ursa's body, causing it to drop dead in its tracks.

Blake used this moment to make her presence known. "Impressive."

"Whoaa," Ruby whirled around. "Oh, hello Blake," she replied, smiling. "Guess, that makes us partners."

"Guess it does," she echoed. "Those were some impressive moves, and I've never seen a weapon like that before. Where would you learn to use it?" she fished for information on her newfound partner.

"Hehe, thanks. This here"–she indicated her weapon–"is my baby, Crescent Rose, a customizable high-impact sniper rifle scythe," she exclaimed proudly. "My uncle Qrow taught how to use with it, he's a teacher at Signal Academy."

It seemed like she had underestimated Ruby, having disregarded her solely on the point that she was younger than everyone else. But there were always two sides of the same coin. In order to get accepted early into Beacon Academy, one had to be exceptionally skilled.

She had done exactly what she feared others would do to her. To judge the book by its cover without looking inside first.

"Do you want to see my weapon?" She reached behind her back to retrieve Gambol Shroud.

Ruby squealed like the little girl she was. "Yes please!"

Blake's lips quirked up slightly. Even though a fighting prodigy, Ruby was naive and ignorant of how the world really worked. But at the same time, this meant that she would aspire to see the good in everyone and not judge her harshly on her past.

Maybe she found the right partner after all.


"Ugh, can't decide, can't decide," Ruby yammered, speeding from one chess piece to the next.

Blake let out an audible sigh. "Just pick anything."

"But what if this is important," Ruby insisted, "Professor Ozpin wouldn't let us choose if it weren't important." A horrified look came upon her face. "What if–"

She spotted two figures emerging from the woods.

Waving animatedly, she screamed, "Jauuuune."

All thoughts of relics forgotten, Ruby rushed towards the pair, leaving rose petals in her wake.

"Hey Jaune, hey Weiss." She chuckled slightly, remembering how Weiss had tripped over him.

"Ruby," Jaune voiced softly, a smile on his face, eyes shining with unshed tears. He disentangled himself from Weiss and engulfed Ruby in a tight hug. "You're alive."

"Uhh, Jaune," she gasped, barely having room to breathe. She patted him awkwardly on the back, "I'm touched you were so worried about me, but if you keep squeezing me like that your fears might come true after all."

He released her, laughing nervously and scratching the back of his head, all the while balancing his weight on his right foot.

"Blake!" Jaune more fell than walked towards her partner, who had by this point caught up with them, standing beside Ruby.

Blake looked slightly panicked but caught the blonde before he met the ground face-first again. They righted themselves, but Jaune didn't seem to want to let go, hugging her, causing Blake to go rigid. She looked to Ruby, pleading for help with her eyes.

I didn't know they already knew each other, Ruby thought.

"Ahem" she turned to face Weiss. "Ruby, I wanted to talk to you about something," she said slowly.

"Sure."

"Well, you see... uhm, the thing is..." She looked down, swiping her gaze to an fro, not meeting Ruby's eyes, "I had a lot of time to think about... things... and–"

"Aaaand?" Ruby interrupted impatiently.

"Don't interrupt me!" Weiss snapped, causing Ruby to jerk back slightly. She closed her eyes, exhaling audibly. "Sorry, this has been an eventful day and this kind of stuff doesn't come easy to me." She looked up, locking eyes. "What I'm trying to say is that I wanted to apolog–"

Ruby squealed suddenly, rushing over to where Blake and Jaune stood. "Awwwwwww, so cuuute," she gushed. "Can I touch them, can I touch them, please-please-please?"

"Touch what?" Blake replied, confused.

"Your ears, of course," she laughed, "awww, why would you hide them anyway?" She cautiously reached out towards the faunus's head.

Blake scanned her hair with her hands. Not finding the bow but her cat ears there, she looked rightfully panicked now. Trying to get out of Ruby's grasp, she stumbled backward, knocking Jaune over in the process.

"Oww," Jaune cried out in pain, having instinctively tried to regain his balance on both legs.

"It's not what–"

"Because she's White Fang obviously," Weiss cut in harshly, fixing an accusatory stare on the faunus girl. "Why else would you hide what you are? Or is it that you're ashamed of your heritage?"

"That's not it!" Blake protested vehemently. "It's just–"

"It's just that she thinks so lowly of us that she believes we can't possibly want to befriend her or form our own opinions of her because she's a faunus."

"Well it's true, isn't it? Don't tell me don't think differently of me now that you know," Blake retorted defiantly.

"No," Ruby tried to pacify her. "Of course we don't, right Weiss?" She aimed a hopeful look her way.

"Yes," Weiss replied evenly. Ruby looked immensely relieved upon hearing that. "We do think differently of you now."

"What?" Ruby squeaked, aghast.

"We do think of you differently now," Weiss continued. "Not because you're a faunus. But because you hid it from us." She turned to Ruby. "She will be your partner for the next four years. How can you ever trust her, when she was keeping secrets from the very first moment. How can you trust her to have your back and stand her ground when she can't even face the opinions of a couple of teenagers?"

"I, well..." Ruby grasped for words.

"She was right by the way."

"Huh."

"About the Schnee Dust Company," Weiss carried on. "We do have, to use Blake's words, controversial labor forces and questionable business partners. But I'm neither my father nor the SDC and I won't hide who I am just because I don't agree with my father's politics. The same way you shouldn't hide who you are just because there are faunus terrorists out there with whom some people will associate you."

Blake was completely taken aback by that, apparently having expected a very different reaction from the heiress. "Well, about the White Fa–"

"Not to interrupt or anything," Jaune loudly interrupted from where he still lay on the ground, "but could someone be so kind as to help me up?"

"Oh, of course," replied Weiss, embarrassed, likely having forgotten him being there in the first place, she did just that.

Ruby used this to get a private word in with her partner. "So, partner," she began, fixing Blake with a stern look, making her gulp anxiously, her ears lay flat against her head. "Do you have my back?"

The faunus looked at her with a wide smile, teary-eyed. "Yes, yes I do." With that, she engulfed her partner in a tight hug. "I never thought I would say this," she mumbled into Ruby's hair, "but the Schnee heiress is right. I am running, was running, from who I am." Newfound determination shone in her eyes. "But not anymore, I'm proud to be a faunus, and I'm proud to be your partner."

"Hmm-mm," Ruby agreed, nodding, feeling quite happy about her partner after all.


Yeah... I had planned to get Initiation and team building out of the way in this chapter, but got a bit carried away, oops. I hope you liked it anyway. Do you think Weiss is a bit OOC? If so, I'd be happy to explain why she acts the way she does.