Autumn Arc
All right readers, it's time for every fanfiction writer's worst nightmare when it comes to RWBY AUs…
Initiation. (dun dun dunnnnn!)
The challenge here becomes "How do I make this different and unique?" as it has done so many times by writers in so many different stories. Well, we'll just have to see if what I've cooked up fits the bill.
Enjoy!
Panting, Jaune took a moment to survey his surroundings. The room was lit only by a few dim lights, reminiscent of a dark alleyway in Vale. Here and there, a flicker of movement would show up in the corner of his vision. Not yet. Then, moments later, a figure descended to his left. There!
Taking his stance once more, Jaune advanced, swinging Rubens Vitae vertically. Upon hitting his target, he made a half-turn and brought the other end up in a low arc aimed at the ribs. Activating the white dust crystal on that end, he blew the training dummy away, only for another one to fall into place behind him. Pivoting, he threw a low roundhouse kick, knocking out the "feet" of the target from underneath it, following up with an upward strike aimed at the neck. Upon impact, he once again blew the dummy away with wind dust. Once again, Jaune found himself waiting, poised and ready for whatever came next.
Moments later, a klaxon alarm sounded, and Jaune immediately turned in the direction of the sound. A small turret popped up, and laid out a spread of rubber bullets. Backing away, he blocked the first volley, before ducking away from the second. Step by step, he started moving closer to the turret, blocking or dodging the projectiles headed his way. After ducking out of the way of a pair of bullets headed towards his face, Jaune made to close the remaining distance and hit the button to shut off the turret.
Unfortunately, he stumbled just a bit, his footwork not quite holding up under the pressure. The next wave of bullets came, and after blocking a few of them, Jaune was pelted by the rest in rapid succession. Although they were only rubber, on his unsteady feet the force of the barrage was still able to cause him to stumble further, catching himself on one knee.
A beeping sound signaled the end of the exercise. Sighing in mild disappointment, Jaune put his staff away and stood up. "And I was so close too."
"That was great though! You've never made it that far before during this drill!" Amber's voice sounded quite pleased.
That's true. I'm improving, bit by bit. Jaune thought with some satisfaction. Every since the fight on the streets in Vale, he had pushed himself even harder. Conditioning, drills, technique, Jaune had done his best to improve in all of these categories. Knowing that there are people out there who can do what Melanie can do, no, those who are even stronger than her…I have a long way to go.
Walking over to a nearby bench, Jaune picked up a water bottle, taking a few gulps. Picking up his scroll, he noticed a new message, and opened it. It was a reminder from Professor Goodwitch about today's events. "I guess that's about as much time as we'll have today. I should go get ready."
"Probably a good idea. I imagine after all that, you probably wouldn't smell very pleasant to anyone you met today."
Jaune nodded. It really was odd. Despite being another person entirely, Amber was limited by Jaune's perception and senses. So just like how he couldn't smell his B.O. much after working out (because he was used to it by this point), neither could Amber.
It also did make things somewhat awkward at times though. Since she could see anything he saw, certain daily tasks became more embarrassing for both parties involved. Such as taking a shower, for example. It was unavoidable however, so for the time being Jaune just did his best not to look down in the process. Gathering up his things, Jaune began to walk back to his dorm in preparation to shower.
"Are you looking forward to your first day?"
Throwing his gym bag on the floor, Jaune picked up a change of clothes and his towel. "Honestly? I'm pretty nervous. Team CFVY has been nice to me, but now I'm going to be meeting people who could be on my own team for the next four years. Who knows if I'll end up getting along with them?"
The imagery of a comforting smile floated in his head for a moment. "You'll be fine! Remember, you know at least one person out there! Kind of."
Scratching his head, Jaune laughed a bit. "In retrospect, perhaps it would have been a good idea to get a general idea of what Yang looks like from Ruby."
"I'm sure she wouldn't be that hard to figure out. They're sisters, so they'll probably look something alike." After a brief pause, she continued. "No matter who ends up on your team, you can make it work. Sometimes, you get the perfect team right off the bat. But sometimes, well, you just have to let the team grow into itself. Either way, there isn't much of a point to worrying too much about it right now."
After a moment, Jaune laughed. "You always have to have the right answer, don't you?"
A light chuckle could be heard echoing in his mind. "I'll try my best to keep to that standard."
Later, after showering, Jaune was packing everything back up in preparation for moving out. Since the dorms were decided based on team selection, he had to get everything and put it into storage with the rest of the student luggage for the night.
Realistically, there wasn't a whole lot to pack, as Jaune had been taking most of what he needed straight from his bags. Right now, he was just stuffing his things back from where he had taken them. Originally, his clothes had been folded neatly, so now Jaune was finding it difficult to fit everything back into it's place.
As dull as it may have seemed, the process did leave Jaune a little time to gather his thoughts. For the past few days, he had been wondering about something. After finally getting that suitcase closed, he decided it was time to voice his concerns. "Hey Amber?"
"Yes Jaune?"
Sitting down on the bed, Jaune looked towards the ceiling. "Ever since you've been…merged with me? Fused with me? Well since you somehow got sucked into my mind, you've been nothing but helpful. You've been helping me to achieve my goals, and encouraging me every step of the way." Leaning back, he continued. "And there's no way I could ever thank you enough. But I can't help but wonder…what about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you've done all of this to help me. But you're still trapped." A frown crossed Jaune's face as he continued. "You never so much as asked me to try and help you out, to figure out how to return you to your own body. Why is that?"
Amber was silent for a few moments, before sighing. "I can't say it wouldn't be nice to be back in my own body again…but we don't even have the slightest how this happened in the first place. How are we supposed to fix it?"
"We could ask someone-"
"Jaune, it's fine for now." Amber chuckled softly. "Besides, you can't exactly go around telling people you have someone in your head that you want to set free. They'd think you were crazy."
Standing up, Jaune nodded reluctantly. "I suppose you're right." Picking up the last of his bags, he walked out of the door. Despite Amber's words, Jaune didn't feel any better about the situation.
Amber may be right, but that doesn't change the fact that she's trapped, and we have no idea how to fix it.
As far as prisons go, Roman had seen worse. The cell was clean, the bed was surprisingly comfortable, and his high-tech security cell had a decent amount of room to stand up and stretch in.
Not that Roman had spent much time in jail, mind you. But back in his earlier days, before he became one of the most prominent criminal outfits in Vale, he had been a member of a small-time mob scene. From time to time Roman had been captured by rival mobs, who sought to make him cough up valuable information. Their methods were far from subtle, and were it not for aura's healing properties, his face and torso would have been riddled with scars from those days. Being captured by the police was infinitely preferable to being captured by a rival gang.
Luckily, Roman avoided death each and every time, eventually rising to the top. At times, it was due to some creativity and resourcefulness on his part. No one ever had made it this far in the criminal business without knowing how to look for opportunities, after all. That being said, Roman knew that he would not have lived nearly as long had it not been for the help of a certain partner of his.
Suddenly, the lock on his door clicked. Sitting up from his bed, Roman was just in time to catch a pair of objects tossed at him from the open door. Speak of the devil, and she will appear. Taking his hat, which had been one of the projectiles, he put it on. The other object, his weapon, Roman made a quick check of it before standing. "Looks like my little vacation is at an end."
Rolling her eyes, Neo gave him a somewhat accusing look.
"Well it's not like I tried to get captured. I just happened to have some bad luck. Ran into some of the wrong people during my last operation." Striding past her, Roman twirled Melodic Cudgel around his fingers. "Did you happen to check on Junior's operation before you came here?"
Neo nodded.
"They still have all of the dust from the operation?"
In response, Neo shook her head, but made another gesture with her hands, framing the air and then separating her hands.
"Fair point. Since none of our…associate's minions have dropped by, it'll be on us to collect before they change their minds." Roman turned his head, noticing a guard lying on the ground. The angle of their neck indicated they weren't getting up anytime soon. "I assume you retrieved the key from them?"
Neo nodded in response, her eyes lighting up momentarily with a vicious glee.
"I also assume you've done something about the cameras as well."
Neo rolled her eyes again, her expression seeming to say 'what kind of amateur do you take me for?' Motioning to the only camera in the room, she indicated a small device hooked up to the wires leading into the wall. I see, so the cameras are being fed a loop right now. Should take them a while to figure it out.
Roman shrugged. "Figured I'd ask. Alright, hide the body somewhere it won't be found and come back."
Puzzled, Neo lifted the arm of the corpse, vanishing into thin air. Moments later, she reappeared, tilting her head questioningly.
"Just trying to make things a bit harder for forensics." Roman walked over to his cell, and closed the door. "Alright, let's go."
The reasoning was simple. Roman wanted as few people to know about Neo's abilities as possible. As it was, come morning, the police would find that he had vanished into the air. Perhaps it would be impossible for them to figure out what really happened.
But why not make it a little harder by throwing in a few extraneous variables? If the guard was also missing, they might jump to the conclusion that they were the one responsible. This would fall apart if they ever found the body, but Neo's ability allowed her to dispose of things in places where they would never be found. As for the hacking device for the camera, it wouldn't trace back to anyone in the area.
Perhaps they would never figure out what really happened. But if they thought that they had a lead, it would waste more of their time and bring them farther away from the truth.
Walking over to Neo, Roman put one hand on her shoulder. Time to get out of here. The two of them vanished without a trace.
After stowing his gear in his locker, Jaune walked outside, and began to wander around. Amber was being uncharacteristically quiet as he walked around the courtyard of Beacon. That's fine, I need a little time to think anyways.
Walking up to a tree, Jaune put a hand on its trunk. This tree is alive...but it has no freedom. It has no choice but to grow here in this spot. Shaking his head, Jaune continued to pace along the pathway. Just like Amber.
Amber's situation continued to eat at Jaune. When it had first happened, Jaune had been too shocked about the implications to even consider what it meant for Amber. Then, as she began training him, he had accepted it and was simply grateful that she was there to help him become a better fighter. Not to mention how her powers were able to save him in the fight against Melanie.
But now Jaune was beginning to understand what this all meant for Amber. Maybe she's right, that there's nothing else I can do at the moment. Yet no matter how often he told himself that, it didn't make him feel any better. I've done nothing but benefit from this arrangement, and she's lost her freedom because of it.
Jaune's pacing began to pick up speed as his thoughts continued. I guess for now the best thing I can do is keep an eye out for anything that might be able to help. Vaguely, he could make out the silhouettes of students walking on either side of him as he continued. That's all I really can do for now…although even that doesn't seem like enough.
Suddenly, Jaune's face lit up as he thought of something. Perhaps I can't set her free. But I could see if there's anything she would like to do. Like hobbies she does to keep herself busy, or any shows or books she likes to entertain herself with. That way, he could help Amber keep up with some of her favorite activities. It's not much, but it's better than nothing.
Relaxing a bit, Jaune nodded. The problem was far from solved, but if he could make this situation more bearable for Amber, that would be a good start. Now I just need to worry about getting through the first day, then I can figure out the rest.
"Wait, Jaune, watch out where you're walking!" Suddenly, Amber spoke up, startling Jaune and making him jump slightly.
Unfortunately, this warning came a bit late. Jaune found himself crashing into a pile of silver suitcases, knocking them all to the ground. "Gaaah!"
Not two seconds after Jaune hit the ground, a nearby girl stalked over to him. "What do you think you're doing!" She was dressed in all white, with white hair to match.
Great, way to make a good first impression Jaune. Real smooth. Coming to his feet, Jaune stammered "S-sorry! I didn't mean to…"
"Sorry? Sorry isn't good enough!" The girl picked up one of the cases and opened it. "Do you have any idea what you knocked over?!" Picking up a jar, she began shaking it angrily at him. "This is dust! Mined from the quarries of the Schnee Dust Company. It is VERY expensive and EXTREMELY volatile. So if you could avoid knocking over all of these dust cases like an idiot, that would be wonderful."
Jaune winced. "R-right, I'm sorry. I'll be more careful in the future." Suddenly, his nose began tickling. "Let me help you with-ah.. ahhh."
"Oh this won't end well."
"CHOO!"
After just stepping off of the ship used to transport students to the school, Ruby looked around. Wow... The school was every bit as impressive as she had imagined it. Though Ruby had seen it from a distance from Vale, as well as having seen pictures, none of them compared to the view up close.
From behind her, Yang whistled, echoing her thoughts. "The view from Vale's got nothing on this."
Looking around, Ruby could see that many other students had disembarked as well. Many of them seemed to be admiring the scenery just like they were. And of course, each one of them was here to become Huntsmen and Huntresses. That meant... They'll have some cool new weapons I've never seen! Ruby began whispering at each new one. "A fire sword...a collapsible staff...ooooh! A bow that's also a gun?" Ruby suddenly blinked, finding herself much closer to the weapon than before. The owner was giving her a strange look. Awkwardly, Ruby backed away. "Uhh, umm..."
Yang laughed nervously, grabbing the back of Ruby's hood. "Sorry about that..." She dragged her away, leaving the weapon owner shaking their head in confusion. "Try to relax sis! There are people attached to those weapons, you know?"
Her face bright red in embarrassment, Ruby pulled her hood up in a feeble attempt to hide it. "Sorry...I just get so excited when I see new kinds of weapons."
Yang pulled Ruby's hood back down and ruffled her hair affectionately. "Why not try to use that energy to meet new people then?"
"Because I'm no good at talking to new people." Dealing with new weapons is easy. They don't judge you, you don't have to worry about being awkward with them.
A worried expression crossed Yang's face, before being replaced by the usual smile. "You'll never get any better at it if you don't try." Then, she snapped her fingers. "Oh! Why don't you start with that Jaune guy you met the other day? Sounded like he was friendly enough."
As usual, it's impossible to get her to drop something once she's started going on about it. Still, all things considered, perhaps that wasn't a bad plan. Ruby didn't really know much about Jaune, but he seemed nice enough. At least, he wasn't likely to make fun of her if she screwed up somehow. "That's not a bad idea." Ruby admitted. "Of course, we'd need to find him first."
As if on que, Ruby heard a muted boom off in the distance. "Uhh, did you just hear that?"
Yang's face took on an interested expression. "Sure did. You think someone's already gotten into a fight or something?"
"On the first day?" Ruby didn't like the sound of that. I'm already nervous about meeting new people. I don't want to have to deal with someone like that!
Yang pointed further down the courtyard. "It sounded like it came from over there. C'mon, let's go see what happened!"
Coughing, Jaune shook his head to clear the ringing from his ears. Explosions seem much quieter in the movies… Looking up, he saw the girl with the dust still standing there, her white dress now coated in soot.
And if she didn't look pissed before, well now she was livid. "Unbelievable! How could you possibly be this much of an idiot? I just TOLD you how dangerous this was!"
"Wha-She was the one who was shaking it around like that! This is her fault!" Amber's voice sounded angrily in his mind.
Upon hearing her words, Jaune's mood shifted from guilty to angry as well. "Well maybe you shouldn't be throwing it around like that then!"
"Excuse me?!" The girl glared at him accusingly.
While before, this might have cowed Jaune, right now he was too angry to care. Staring her straight in the eye, Jaune practically hissed the next words out of his mouth. "The only reason I sneezed was because you were spraying it in my face!"
Almost childishly, the girl stamped her foot on the ground. "Well, I wouldn't have been waving it around if you hadn't been bumbling around like an idiot earlier!"
Equally as childishly, Jaune threw his hands in the air in frustration. "Well-raaggh!" Unable to form a proper reply on the spot, he just started walking away. I don't have to take this from her!
"Don't you just walk away from me, you-!" Jaune tried his best to ignore that last statement and continued to walk away, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.
"Well that was...something." Amber sounded like she was trying to calm down from her own episode of anger.
Sighing, Jaune nodded. "Well, whatever it was, it's over now." Not exactly the best start however…
"Hey, Jaune!"
Turning, Jaune saw a pair of girls, one of them waving at him. Who's that? …wait, Ruby? "Ruby?"
Walking up to him, Ruby smiled. "Good to see you again!"
"Nice to see you too." Jaune smiled back. Nice to have someone here I can talk to at least. "What are you doing here? I didn't know they let relatives come visit on the first day."
Ruby chuckled softly. "Well, about that…since then, Ozpin kind of invited me to come to Beacon early."
Jaune's eyes widened. "Two years early?!" Amber made a whistling sound at that. "Wow! That's awesome!"
Ruby seemed to blush, and retreat into her hood at that. "Oh no…I'm nothing special."
"Don't be so modest, sis!" The other girl put Ruby into a friendly headlock. "You've always been pretty talented."
Jaune could see from Ruby's squirming and gasping that perhaps the headlock was a little bit too friendly for her liking. "You must be Yang then?"
Beaming, Yang dropped Ruby to the ground and extended a hand. "Nice to meet you Jaune! Looks like we're all going to be classmates together at Beacon."
"Okay I was wrong. These two look nothing alike."
Taking her hand, Jaune did everything in his power to not wince at the strength of her grip. "It would seem so."
Ruby dusted off her clothing and stood up. "So what happened over there with that girl?"
Now Jaune did wince. "I kind of tripped over her luggage, and she started yelling at me."
Yang's eyes narrowed. "Are you telling me she blew you up because you knocked over her stuff?"
"No, that's not what happened." Jaune let out a sigh, some of his earlier irritation returning. "She started shaking around a jar of dust, and some of it got into the air around me. Then I…sneezed."
Yang and Ruby both looked at him for a moment, then turned to look at each other.
And simultaneously broke out into laughter.
Jaune glared at them, but after a moment, couldn't help but join in. It was infectious, the way the two of them laughed together. Yang's loud cheery laughter blended well with Ruby's higher, more musical peals of joy. And I guess it is kind of funny, now that I think about it.
A giggle could be heard in his head as well, indicating that Amber had joined in.
"Hah…ohh that's fantastic." Yang grinned. "Here I was thinking someone had started a fight or something."
Jaune shrugged. "I did start yelling back at her after that, so that's not far off."
"Yeah, we saw that part." Ruby shook her head. "I agree with you though. That was her fault!"
"Probably wasn't great to make an enemy of her on the first day though." They did have four years in the same school together, so maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to tell her off. After all, I did knock over her things in the first place.
Yang shook her head. "Naw, it was better for you to stick up for yourself. Otherwise, Ice Queen would have just walked all over you. Now at least she knows you won't be pushed around."
Jaune gave her an amused look. "Ice Queen?"
"First thing that came to mind. Must be all of those snowflakes on her dress or something." Yang shrugged. "If it bothers you that much, I'm sure you'll have a chance to sort it out with her later."
Ruby looked at her scroll. "We have to be at the auditorium soon." Looking around, she scrunched up her face in confusion. "But where is it?"
"Don't worry about that." Jaune motioned for them to follow him. "I know where it is." After spending several weeks here on school grounds, Jaune was more or less aware of where the major buildings were.
Yang mock saluted him. "Lead us to victory, Captain Jaune!"
Ruby rolled her eyes at her sister's antics, but followed her. The three of them walked in a group, with Ruby in the middle.
As they rounded a corner, Jaune heard Amber's voice. "All and all, I'd say making two friends more than makes up for making one enemy."
At that, Jaune couldn't help but grin.
Yang reached over Ruby and poked him in the shoulder. "Most people would find it pretty weird if you just start smiling out of nowhere for no reason, you know."
Ruby shouldered her away. "Maybe he just remembered a funny joke or something."
At that, Jaune grinned. As odds would have it, he actually did have a joke. A silly, nonsensical joke"Why couldn't the newborn Ursa advance its musical career?"
Yang immediately responded. "Why?"
Jaune was too happy to respond. "It could only play Minor chords."
Ruby's expression suddenly looked horrified. Yang's face, on the other hand, went completely deadpan. After a moment, she leaned in, whispering loudly. "That joke was simply unbearable."
Ruby groaned loudly. "Really sis?"
Jaune laughed, a little bit at the pun but mostly at the look on Ruby's face. Amber's reaction was nearly identical to Ruby's, a groan that seemed to echo in his mind.
Turning to him, Ruby shook her head. "You only think it's funny because you haven't had to live with her making these puns for your whole life…"
Yang laughed and patted Ruby on the head. "You just don't have good taste in humor, Rubes. Jaune here gets it."
As Ruby and Yang started bantering back and forth about whether puns were funny or not, Jaune suddenly remembered something. Words which had been spoken to him as a child by his mother.
Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.
Looking at the two people beside him, chatting it up with him like old friends despite having only met recently, Jaune found he could see the truth in those words.
Hurray! Jaune made some new friends!
First impressions tend to have a profound impact on how a person perceives someone else. In the show, Jaune started showing interest in Weiss because he thought he overheard her showing interest in him. Even after it became obvious that this wasn't the case, it still colored his view of her. In this story, since his first impression is of Weiss yelling at him (first for tripping over her luggage, then afterwards for something that wasn't even his fault), he won't be showing that same interest.
The subject of teams will be coming up soon. I won't be spoiling anything, but I'll just say that they will not be the same as they are in canon. Many things have changed, and this has resulted in changes in how initiation will play out.
In many a RWBY fanfiction, pairings have been done based on the partners for each team. At least, it seems that way sometimes. I would just like to clarify that the partners for each team do not indicate that they will be paired up in this story. As a matter of fact, there aren't currently any planned pairings for this story. Certainly, there may be points where characters will show interest or develop crushes on other characters, which is only natural, but nothing is final in terms of the story "pairing". I may change my mind later, but this isn't a romance story, and I won't try to shoehorn any romance into it if it doesn't contribute to the overall plot. That being said, parts of this story have already developed and deviated from the original plan, so who knows?
Regardless, I'd be interested to hear what you think the teams will be! Let me know in a review, and favorite/follow this story if you're enjoying it!
