Light – Chapter 3

A/N: Well... *SPOILERS* I managed to get over Pyrrha's death and worked on this. Man was that rough. Though I hope she makes appearances in the show, whether that be as a voice in Jaune's head or a Resurrection of some sort, I don't really care, I just want more ;_;. Anyways, here's the 3rd chapter and tell me what you all think (eg. Leave a review ;) )

Jaune

The elevator dinged, signalling that I reached the top floor. The doors opened and I saw Ozpin filing various papers at his desk. He must have seen me come in, since he stopped his work and motioned for me to come in.

"Ah, Jaune. Please come, have a seat," he said as he put his paperwork aside.

I slowly walked up to his desk, nervous as ever. I mean, I've only spoken to him once, and that was during initiation. He wasn't the most 'approachable' person, and I've tried to avoid him because of the whole 'I cheated my way into beacon thing.' But I was going to have to talk to him eventually.

"Is there a reason you wanted to see me, sir?" I sat down in the chair across from him.

"Yes, a few reasons actually. First, I'd like to congratulate you on your recovery. You fought well on your mission, and thanks to you and your team's efforts, the mission was a success."

I straightened up my posture and puffed my chest out a little in pride. "Thank you sir, we tried our best."

"And I hope you continue doing so. Both team JNPR and team RWBY have demonstrated excellent teamwork when on the field. I hope you continue being role models for the rest of the students. I have high hopes." He smiled a little and sipped his coffee.

"Thank you professor, I'll be sure to pass that message along to my team, and Ruby's as well." I beamed a little. This was our first real accomplishment as a team, and we were praised by the headmaster no less! I couldn't wait to tell them.

"And another thing Jaune." Ozpin leaned forward on his elbows.

I was quickly pulled from my thoughts as Ozpin began to talk again.

"I was recently contacted by your parents and they-"

"MY PARENTS!?" I fell over in my chair. I quickly got off the floor and sat back on the chair. "What do you mean my parents? How'd they-"

"Find you?" Ozpin finished my sentence and was smirking at me. "You think this is the first time some teenager ran away from home so they could become a hunter? I'm fairly old Jaune, I've seen this happen far too often."

"But you don't understa-"

"Though it is rather strange isn't it?" I was cut off again. Okay for future reference, never interrupt Ozpin in a conversation.

"What is?" I asked. He seemed to be hinting towards something.

"How can someone of your background suddenly disappear without anyone noticing? Surely it must have been on the news by now." He said. He sipped his coffee again. Is that thing never ending or something?

"My background…?" Wait… he couldn't possibly know who I am, could he?

"You think I wouldn't immediately notice when you have that last name?" He cut me off again. Okay, I get it. "Next time you forge your transcripts Jaune, do try to be more subtle."

I fell out of my chair again. "That chair seems to have a faulty leg. I really should get someone to fix that." I heard him sip his coffee while on the floor. I could practically feel that smug look on his face.

I immediately got up after the initial shock wore off. "You knew!?"

He chuckled. "Do you honestly believe that I wouldn't immediately doubt the validity of your transcripts the moment I saw them? They were even comparable to the ones of your partner. Though it was only speculation until I saw your initial performance when I launched you off the side of that cliff." He had a point there. Anyone with two eyes and half a brain could see that I had faked my way in. So then why…

"Then why didn't you kick me out?" I wasn't scared. If Ozpin wanted me gone, he'd have kicked me out on day one. But for some reason he let me stay, and I wanted to know why.

Ozpin gazed absentmindedly into his mug. "Why didn't I…? It would have been the most logical thing to do, yes. But over my years, I've learned that being logical isn't always the best option. I went with my gut on that decision. I saw potential in you; potential I don't see very often. It would have been a mistake to have let you go." He sipped from his coffee. He sounds strangely similar to Julius. I guess I actually might have more potential than I give myself credit for.

"So you let me stay because you saw that I had potential?"

He nodded. "I was also curious to see how someone with such little combat experience would fair here." He chuckled and sipped from his never-ending coffee mug. I bet this is all a game to him. "That, and I may have owed your father a favour and I believe this makes us even now."

I couldn't believe my ears. This lunatic was our headmaster? How the hell did he even know dad. There's only a few people I know of that are friends with him. I decided I wouldn't pry any further though, for the sake of my own sanity.

"Oh and also, when I debriefed team JNPR and RWBY while you were unconscious, they had said that you may have found your semblance. Care to share?" He sipped from his mug again. Is this guy's semblance coffee or something, what the hell?

I sighed, might as well try and explain it to him. He might know more than I do. "Yeah, though I don't remember very much. All I remember is Pyrrha being injured, and then everything after that is a haze. Next thing I knew, I woke up in Beacon's infirmary."

He looked me dead in the eye. "Are you sure that's all that you remember?" It was almost as if he was calling me out. Like he knew what happened… He just wanted me to tell him.

"Well… I was in this dream, or was it a dream? I don't really know. I talked to one of my ancestors. Julius." Ozpin raised his eyebrows in interest and drunk more of his coffee. He signalled for me to continue. "And he explained to me that my semblance is hereditary, and that when I activate it, I become a manifestation of light, or something like that…" I paused for a moment, making sure I carefully remembered every detail of our conversation.

"And then he said something about a danger approaching our world. He didn't explain much, but that's most of what he said."

"Interesting, and what do you think of this?" Ozpin asked me.

I stopped. I didn't really know what to say. That I'd be a hero and save the world? Yeah right.

"I don't really know…"

"Let me rephrase that; what do you feel?"

"What do I feel…?" Ozpin nodded.

"I don't feel like I'm ready, or rather, I don't feel like I will be. I feel like I'll just end up disappointing everyone."

"Very few, if any, are ever ready for this kind of conflict, Jaune." Ozpin stood up and turned towards the windows overlooking the campus. "But that doesn't mean you should stop trying. Is it better to die without resisting, or to go down kicking and screaming, never turning back?"

"I'd rather die trying than die wondering."

Ozpin chuckled. "Well said." He turned towards me. "I've made my decision."

I raised my eyebrows in question. "I've decided to let you stay at Beacon." The way he said it almost makes it seem like he was pondering kicking me out. "But on one condition." He turned around. "Don't ever give up striving for excellence, and in exchange, I won't give up on you. Do we have a deal?" He held out his hand.

I was taken aback a little but quickly recovered. I took his hand and gave it a firm shake.

"Great. That's all I needed to speak with you. You're free to go. I'm sure your teammates would like to make up for that lost week."

"Okay, I'll see you later sir." I gave my farewell and went back to the elevator. I sighed. That was a lot to take in. Not only did Ozpin know about my transcripts, but now my parents know where I am.

It's only a matter of time before they show up...

I finally got back to the dorm building. It was already 2 pm and it felt like I just woke up. 'Gotta make up for that lost week.' I opened up the door to my room and was surprised to only find Pyrrha.

"Hey Pyr," I said as I walked into the room.

"Oh, hello Jaune. How did the talk go?" Pyrrha looked up at me from her desk. She was still in her armour; I should probably be expecting a training session soon.

"So uhh… Ozpin knew about my transcripts the entire time," I said as I rubbed the back of my head and smiled sheepishly.

Pyrrha started coughing and looked at me with wide eyes. "What, he did!?" She rose out of her chair and almost ran up to me.

"Yeah, he pretty much knows everything about me, including my family. Though he still let me stay. "

"That's great! But your family? That doesn't seem like such a big deal, right? I mean, just about everyone has a family." It only seems natural for that to be her reaction. Most people had normal families whereas mine… was different to say the least.

"Pyrrha my family is different… they have a lot of, I guess 'influence' you would say." I tried to not tell her much. The less people knew about my background the better.

"Influence? You mean like Weiss's family?"

"Yeah, something like that." I sighed. "Pyrrha, I'm sure you'll find out everything about them when they visit, and from my guess, it'll be sooner rather than later." She nodded, seemed like it was good enough for her.

"Now come on, I think it's time to test myself, don't you think?" I signalled for her to follow me as I made my way out of the dorm and into the hallway.

"Right behind you!" I heard her grab her sword and shield and she quickly caught up to me.

Once we were there, I stood at my corner of the sparring ground. "Let's just skip the warmup for today. I wanna get right into it."

Pyrrha chuckled at me. "Eager as always. Okay then, best of 7's to begin?"

I nodded and unsheathed Crocea Mors. She did the same with her weapon. The sun was still fairly high in the sky, I could practically feel the energy emanating from it.

"You ready?" She asked me. I nodded back at her and got into my fighting stance. For some reason, I could feel everything through my eyes. Like none of my other senses mattered, my eyes were doing all the thinking.

She decided to take the first move and rushed me. I was seeing it in slow motion. I tried to move my sword to block her attack, but I couldn't move it fast enough. She had already landed the hit. I took the hit in stride and prepared myself for the onslaught that was soon to follow. This time I was ready as she twirled around and was about to hit me with her shield. I ducked out of the way of the curved edge and attempted a counter-attack.

I positioned my shield in front of me and went for the shield bash. She already reacted however and jumped over me, to my backside. It felt like my eyes were reacting fast enough, but my body was just too slow. Before I could turn around, she had swung at me legs and knocked me down.

"We need to work on your speed." She gave me her hand helped me up off the ground.

"Yeah, for some reason I can read your attacks way ahead of time, but my body just won't keep up."

"Read my attacks…? Jaune, just before the mission you could barely keep up with my attacks. You were always reacting near the last second."

"I know, I know it sounds crazy, but every time you come at me, I can see your attacks in slow-motion. I know where you're going to attack and how, but I can't keep up." I sighed.

"Is this because of your semblance…?" Pyrrha still seemed skeptical.

"I think so, I'm still not sure of what it does actually."

"You know, you never actually told me what it does to begin with." Pyrrha crossed her arms.

"Oh right! Well, I'll just start from the beginning." I paused. "You may want to take a seat, this could take a while." We sat down, her beside me.

I explained my 'dream' to her. About how I met my ancestor Julius, about my hereditary semblance, and about the warning he gave me. It was still very new and strange to me, though I explained as best as I could.

"So your semblance is light?" Pyrrha was very intrigued as she talked to me.

"Yeah, exactly. But there's also another side to it where I have a connection to my ancestors, which lets me draw upon their memories and aura."

"So… like an aura reserve?" She asked.

"Yeah something like that." I smiled. She was still staring at me in in that 'cute' but in shock sort of way.

"Well, I guess the part about light makes sense here. Your brain and eyes probably process light much quicker now."

"Yeah, well there's only one way to test that theory. How about a few more rounds?" I got up and held out my hand. She smiled and took it as I helped her up.

We sparred for a good hour or so until Pyrrha decided to finish it up. I had gotten surprisingly good according to her; my form was perfect, it was just a matter of physical fitness, something she said we would focus on from now on.

Now came the part that I really didn't like. Aura training. I mean, I had lots of it and everything, but it was just so hard to control. Pyrrha said it had been hard for her as well before she unlocked her semblance.

"Alright now remember, clear your mind of all doubts and project your soul outwards. Control it, mold it." I could hear Pyrrha walking around me, directing me. "Concentrate that aura into your hand."

I heard her gasp. I opened my eyes to see myself holding a small ball of aura that was flickering. It was unstable, but it was a start.

"Great work Jaune! That's much better than what you could do before." She gave me a firm punch to the shoulder. She always did that whenever she got excited. It was cute. "You'll be a master of aura control in no time."

It disappeared shortly after and I got up, dusting myself off. "I think we should call that a day, don't you think? It's getting pretty dark out."

"That seems like enough for today, come on, we should go inside and get you caught up on that week of classes that you missed." I groaned as she giggled and I followed her inside.

Holy crap do I love my semblance right now. Every time I read something I memorize it. Each chapter, each little sentence is ingrained into my memory. I didn't know this of course until Ren and Pyrrha began quizzing me. They were surprised to find that I answered every question they threw at me correctly, even the ones that they had trouble working through.

It must be the light from the books. Everything I read or see is etched into my brain, almost like a photograph. Though I still have to work out the limit to this ability; like how long do these short-term memories last? I don't want to read weeks before a test only to find out that I've forgotten everything.

I got caught up to a week's worth of work in a few short hours. I would be lying if I said my teammates weren't a little jealous. Pyrrha tried to seem happy for me but I knew on the inside she was thinking 'you lucky S.O.B'. "Hey, this means I can finally help you guys in all the classes!" I tried to be optimistic for them but they were still a little salty. Eh, they'll get over it.

Eventually, it came time to sleep and we each went to our respective beds. I said good night to everyone as they said the same and turned the lights off and drifted to sleep.

Where am I…? Is this a forest? I looked around and saw massive trees I've never seen before. They seemed to be as tall as skyscrapers. I heard a low growl from behind me. I turned around and gasped to see a massive beowolf, easily three or four times as big as the ones that I've encountered.

I turned and ran, the beowolf chased after me. Panting, I ran as fast as I could through the forest. It felt weird, almost familiar… and for some reason the front side of my body seemed heavy. I looked down and noticed one… er two things that usually shouldn't be there.

'What the hell why am I a girl?' I shouted but no voice came out. I kept running and didn't seem to notice the tree in front of me as I tripped over one of its roots. I landed on my back just to see the beowolf pounce on me.

I gasped and stood up, only this time, I was somewhere else. I heard loud gunfire and shouting. There were flames everywhere. A hail of arrows fell like rain from the clouds. "Commander, what do we do!?" I turned to see some guy with a sword and shield. There were people everywhere that were dressed the same and they all had weapons. 'Holy crap… this must be a war.'

"Commander, we have to hurry or we'll lose more men!" I heard the man shout again. I went to say something but I heard someone else's voice. "Form three squadrons! Two will attack their east and west flank while I take a squad and do a frontal assault. Wait until for my signal before attacking from the flanks!" It came from my mouth without my control. The voice was very familiar though, like I've heard it somewhere.

"Alright men, move!" I began running with a group of men behind me heading straight for the front lines. I ran faster and faster, my shield in front of me. I came closer and closer to the enemy. "Now!" I sprinted the remaining distance and rammed into the soldiers.

"Jaune…" Whose voice was that? "Jaune…" It was getting louder. "Jaune!" I jumped a little and sat up straight.

"Wha…?" I looked around and noticed Pyrrha standing there, concern etched on her face.

"Jaune, you were shaking and mumbling in your sleep, is everything okay?" She squeezed my shoulder gently.

"Hmm… Yeah, I just had a weird dream I guess." I said. I was still a little drowsy. "What time is it? Did I wake you?" I groaned.

"No, you didn't. It's only around seven-thirty, though Ren and Nora decided to get breakfast and let you rest."

"Shouldn't they have woken me up? Don't we have school?" I asked.

"It's Saturday, Jaune."

"Oh…" I sighed and lied back down on my bed. I rolled over. "Then give me five more minutes."

"Jaune…" I heard her say and felt the covers being lifted up.

"No, no! Stop! Don't expose me to the cold!" I yelled and tried to grab on.

"Stop being lazy and get up!" She tugged harder. I had a surprising amount of strength this morning.

"NO!" I gave one final, almighty tug. I pulled to hard however, as I sent Pyrrha tumbling into the bed. "They're all mine now." I snuggled back into the covers.

I felt Pyrrha shuffling beside me and I realized the position we were in. I felt my cheeks burning as I felt her fingers ghost over exposed skin around my torso. What is she…? My eyes shot open. Oh no. But it was too late. She had already begun her assault.

"Wa-HAHHAHA-PYRHHAHAHAHAHA STOP!" Curse my ticklishness.

"Are you gonna get up then?" She was giggling at my misery.

"NEVAHHAHAHAHAHA!" Alright, two could play at this game. I flipped over and before she could react slid my hands under her nightshirt and started tickling her back.

"JAUNEAHHAHAHAA!"

"Not so fun being on the receiving end isn't it?" I laughed.

"PLEASAHAHAHAHAHA."

"Will you stop trying to force me out of bed then?"

"YES! I PROHAHAHMISE." I stopped and let her catch her breath. Throughout the exchange I didn't realize that Pyrrha had squirmed her way on top of me. Now, she was panting heavily while laying on my chest. This would be a really bad time for someone to walk in. I didn't try to move her though, hell, any teenage boy in their right mind would do the same.

Once she caught her breath she placed her hands on both sides of me and lifted herself up. She was staring down at me now. Her hair wasn't in her usual pony tail, instead she let it cascade down her back and around her shoulders. Her cheeks were red from all the laughing and probably from something else. Man, she was extremely beautiful. Like holy hell, how has someone not asked her out before?

"I missed you." I was cut off from my train of thought. "I really, really missed you." I felt tears dripping from her eyes. She brushed stray locks of her hair out of my face. "The week you were away, I realized that if anything were to happen to you, I'd die inside. There's… There's no way I could ever live without you." I grabbed her face and wiped her tears with my thumbs.

She buried her face into the sheets next to my neck. "Please… please promise me that we'll both live together, no matter what happens."

I was shocked… I didn't know it had affected her this much. I wrapped my arms around her and I felt her stiffen up. I squeezed tightly and stroked her hair soothingly. "Don't worry, I'll live… I'll make sure that I live no matter what. For you guys."

She seemed to like that answer and nodded. I felt her hot breath on my neck and shivered. "Good, cause this," she leaned her head up and kissed my jaw as she brought her arm up and wrapped it around my head, her hand resting in my hair, "is mine." I looked over and she had fallen asleep.

I guess five more minutes wouldn't hurt.

A/N: Well there it is. Tell me what you all think by leaving a review or even messaging me. Thanks! Hope you all enjoyed. Until next time, later :P