A/N: Assume nothing. Read carefully. Canon drops off slowly.
A Nevermore decapitated, enough gunfire to cause popcorn to give him the heebie-jeebies, and several mercy kills later, he wanted to go home. The world came and went in clear static, with the screams of amputations and stitches still echoing and reverberating underneath the setting sun. 204 had shrunk to 132 and falling, airship after airship circling returns and departures. He stared for minutes on hours at the line to Vale, at the bloody bandages.
Pyrrha watched, tending to her own minor scrapes. A ways off, the ginger devoured bowls of soup, whilst the boy in green laid in a patch of grass, half in or half out of the waking world. "Jaune, are you sure that you wish to continue? I assume that though it will be less mentally taxing under the supervision of licensed Hunters, I do believe tha-"
"It will only get worse."
"You took the words out of my mouth. Would you like a bowl of soup? They're still serving."
"I should go help retrieve the fallen."
Her eyes widened. "Are you strong enough to do so?"
"If I can't even help in the aftermath, who am I to be there now?" He pulled himself up from the dust, his joints crying for mercy.
"Then," She swallowed the last of her water. "Let's get to work."
A arm. A broken sword. Hastily written letters home. A scroll that had recorded last wishes. Three bodies. A great scraping and scuffle carved before the barrier, and in a tree, a girl still breathing. And a very angry Boarbatusk to both their sixes. All returned and filed away to personal effects or simple paper caskets before the edges of the broken moon crept into view.
And he wondered when or if he'd have to do this again, as he dragged his blistered feet into the gymnasium where this all started, and would begin again tomorrow for another round of hopefuls, Her stride wavered besides his, leaning on his shoulder, the bandages on her thigh soaked through.
"Good evening!" The green haired man with the shakes sipped at his thermos "Please have any wounds and personal matters attended to as soon as possible! The celebrations begin promptly at six in the morning!"
"Do...we stay together? Do we-" She had already padded over to the medical table, the ends of her hair sullied and tangled.
'I'll find a pair of cots...' His stomach turned. 'And maybe something easy to eat.'
"As of today, you are no longer Initiates, but Huntsman in Training. I expect the very best out of all of you."
He rolled his aching shoulder, that sentence ringing in his ear. 'The best may be dead by now, and I sure as strife ain't it...' The weight of the suitcase colored suitcase that he scavenged from Mom's attic wasn't helpful. Nor was the ginger's light-speed conversation. Or rather, her attempts at making one, as the subjects and predicates sailed over both his and Pyrrha's heads, with solely the black haired boy's occasional commentary for context. Things would take time to get used to. Lying his face off would take time to get used to.
The rabbit eared girl from the cliffs lead them into a nearby dormitory, patient with the scuffling and trips of aching feet. "You'll be served breakfast, lunch and dinner at the mess hall, but supper and anything else is up to you. You'll receive a monthly stipend from today for food and personal effects, it's on your bed. If your weap-"
A pair of footsteps lagged behind as Lie Ren set Nora onto his back.
"If your weapon requires maintenance or upgrades, we have a smithy available. For free. Whatever the case is." Doors opened and closed and opened before she stopped before facing doors in a side hall. "You'll be here, no, you do not move every year. If further privacy is necessary for any reason, then you may request partitions. Any repairs or issues, call the number on the back of the door. Good night."
The quartet watched her go, looked each up and down, and pressed into the apartment.
Four beds, each with three sets of uniforms and a 500lien set at the foot. A kitchenette, with a fridge stocked with the bare necessities. Two bathrooms. Desks. And tucked around a bend to each side, two empty but shelved alcoves, scented by years of incense.
"OH WE'RE HERE? THIS IS AWESOME! MUCH BETTER THAN THE HALFWAY HOUSE!" With the finesse of a ricocheting bullet, she toured the dorm, squeaking and squealing herself into a whirlwind, landing in a coral colored heap upon the closest bed, snoring into her money.
Ren heaved a sigh, dug into his bag for shampoo and soap and headed for the bathroom. Pyrrha peeled off her armor.
He stood in the middle of the floor, counting blessings and ceiling tiles. And his sisters, and the times Pyrrha saved his ass. 'Thrice in the forest the first time, one on the way out, and we both missed that pig Grimm. How could I be so stup-'
"Jaune. Could I please have your assistance?"
His suitcases hit the floor. So did his jaw, as the once angry welt from the Boarbatusk was now a raging, bleeding bruise peering through her shredded tights. "It's healing but conventional means are helpful as well. Would you..." Her cheeks softly reddened. "...please tend to it? "I understand if it is uncomfortable bu-"
"It's fine, Pyrrha," He washed his hands and sat behind her, pink tinging his cheeks as well. "It's a wound, not a wedding band."
'Don't look at her ass.' Bruise cream. 'She has nice skin.' Light gauze wraps. 'Does she have other scars? Does Aura fade scars?' A small safety pin.
"Thank you." She looked him up and down. "Say, let me see those gash." He shrugged out of his chest plate, then the hoodie and compression shirt. What was a large and scattered web of bruises studded with deeper cuts with was now a litany of small and disappearing marks. "All that Aura is really on your side. You'll be fine come morning."
"If I'm not dead by morning."
"I'm sure you'll be fine." She hid her pain in a wince. Have confidence."
Confidence was not going to get him through the thick textbooks and even thicker workbook that piled up in his backpack. It was old but sturdy leather, much like the rotund man that waddled towards him. "Mr. Arc. It has been a few weeks into the semester and I am increasingly concerned about your level of engagement in my class. You nod off," I know. "you can't answer questions," Are you telling me to quit? "and most importantly," He slid him a stack of fanned out stack of essays stamped late, but marked A-, A, B+, A+. "excellent, detailed, well thought out battle strategies against foes of all types. I am deeply impressed."
"You...think so, Professor?"
"I know so, in fact," He slid him yet another textbook, titled Advanced Paradigms for the Management and Maintenance of Armed Forces against both Grimm and Intelligent Threats. Thick enough to press herbs. "I am giving you this book. Read it. Learn well from it. And come back when you need another."
"What? You can't be serious."
"My boy, not every fight is physical. Nome of them last five minutes. If you can see the war and not the battle, then you are of a needed much breed- excuse me- kind of Huntsman."
Blue eyes stared at well, grey eyebrows. "You know?"
"Your yawning. Classic."
-.-.-.-. * -.-.-.-.
"Atrocious, I can't stand people like him."
Cardin and his lackeys stretched the joke paper thin, still chortling over the fact that "freaks" were enrolled. Even a lonely moon into the term, his "jokes" wore thin, grating, and racist.
"It must be hard to be a Fauna." Blake pushed around a pallid tray of fish and rice, 'Hard isn't the beginning or the end.' If the dining hall wasn't chopped into teams, it was split down race lines, decades after the Revolution. 'My great grandfather would be howling in his grave right now; you change the system, you can't change people so quickly, especially if Cardin has anything to sa-'
The ringing in his pocket cut off his mental tirade.
"I'll be back!" Around the corner, down the corridor, away from prying ears.
FATHER. In crisp letters in his oscillating slab.
He breathed.
"Afternoon, Father." His Fauni was shit and growing shittier by the day. It's better that way.
"So, you left your mother and sisters defenseless?" He snarled through the phone. "Who's making money? What happens if the Grimm come?"
"That is exactly why I'm at Beacon. To learn. I don't have claws or talons like you or Grandmother. I have to do what I can."
"Go home. Before I BRING you home."
And his father hung up.
"Well, well, well, you're one of them aren't you?"
His blood ran cold in his chest. A hand crushed his shoulder into a spin and another fist landed in his eye.
"Freak, hiding among us. What, your dick is spiked or something?" The huge boy lumbered towards him, "You can change color? Breathe fire?
"Leave me alone, Cardin." He stumbled to his feet, face swelling quickly. "Nobody wants to start anything with you."
"Ah-ah-ah~ Not so fast." Cardin pressed the green button on his Scroll. A perfect replay of his supposed to be secret. Gibberish to most Humans. Enough for the most racist to flay him alive in the dining hall."You'll be out of here shortly, I'll make a appointment with Ms. Goodwitch. She'll see you out of here for falsifying records. And I'll blast your secret across all of-"
"NO!" The birds scatter to the winds.
"Then I expect my homework for the next three days done."
"You think I need help?" He patted his hair down. He needed the mop cut but, as his mother said, time and speed are sisters.
"No...no. That's not what I meant." Pyrrha backpedaled for the third time in a evening. "Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You've made it to Beacon; that speak volumes to what you're capable of.
"You're wrong."
"That's a terrible thing to say, of course you do.
"No! I don't!" A bird in a tree fled.
Her mouth fell open. 'So he can speak in more than a nasally whisper! Wait, did he...growl?'
"I belong back home. I got here by the polish on my shield. The kid before me tapped out last minute. I didn't go to combat school, I just learned from television and what little my grandfather left behind. I should be home with my sisters. And my mother. Who I lied to, in order to get here."
"What...why?"
"Because this is always what I wanted to be. A Huntsman. Not..." He paused. "My father, my grandfather and his father before him were all warriors! I wanted to be one too. I'm just...not enough of anything."
"Then let me help you."
"I don't want help!" He all but slapped her hand away. "I'm tired of being the cat stuck in a tree whilst his friends fight for their lives! Don't you see? If I can't do this on my own, then what good am I?" She reached out for him and he turned away, towards the door. "I'll hang in here by myself or fall off the cliff by myself. I can't take you down with me."
The door groaned. The wind blew cold. She watched the broken moon heave through the sky.
She was alone.
"Hello, Pyrrha." Or so she thought.
She sank into her fighting stance and whirled about, to find nothing but Cardin's smug face.
"I couldnt help but overhear you two from my dorm room. So, Pyrrha, would you like to hear the whole story?"
"I-I don't know what you mean." She stepped back. He stepped forward.
"Jaune is one of those godsdamned freaks. And I have proof." He retrieved his scroll and played the stolen conversation.
She couldn't make out a single word. But she had heard enough to know it was Fauni. And it was Jaune speaking.
"So," He stepped into her space. She backed up. "Unless you want your leader thrown out for not only being incompetent, but lying all over his records that he's Human, we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."
"I-I don't understand."
And she found herself backed into the wall.
"And, I'll tell the world your little secret too." And there Jaune and her were, poised as if to kiss. Embedded into the looking glass. "If you don't want everyone to know you're in with that toothless whelp, you'll...pretend to be my girlfriend for a week or two. A few selfies. A messy, public, breakup. And we're done here."
"And how does this even benefit you?"
"Easy," he stepped back over the half wall, legs dangling over the edge. "I get to 'date' Pyrrha Nikos. The rumor mill will handle the rest."