First Day

Note: I changed the team; now its team JWPB (pronounced "jibe"), lead by one Jaune D'Arc.

*FLICK

"Ow!" Jaune said, as he put his hand to his flicked forehead.

"That was for making me worry like that!" Ilia said, putting her hands on her hips. She and Jaune were currently on the balcony of the dorm building, with Jaune hoping he'd be able to get some answers out of Ilia, but so far, Ilia was apparently too angry to give any.

"Come on, everything turned out fine, din't it?" Jaune asked, rubbing his sore spot.

"Yeah, after you were nearly eaten by an Unagi," Ilia responded, glaring at him.

"Come on, stop looking at me like that," Jaune said, as he leaned on the railing. He felt like bringing up how she wasn't actually there to help, but thought better of it. The prince suspected that she felt bad enough about it without him reminding her of it.

"By the way, I was wondering, just what is the deal with you and the initiation?" Jaune asked, "I take it you didn't get launched into the air yourself."

"Well, I was going to, but when my turn came, the professor didn't launch me into the air," Ilia explained, "Ozpin explained that the king wanted me to remain by your side, but that he thought it would be better for you to do this on your own."

"I imagine my dad will want to have some words with Ozpin later," Jaune said.

"I'd guess," Ilia agreed with a nod, "But anyway, between that, and how teams are supposed to have four members, the professor gave me a choice: I could either join up with a completely new time, or I could try flying solo during my team in Beacon."

"You can do that?"

"In exceptional cases, and I guess this counts."

"Yeah, I guess it does," Jaune said, "So, you're just going to be going through Beacon on your own?"

"Well, I might tag along with you some times."

"Meaning, you'll be jumping in constantly with my team to make sure everything is going well."

"Yep, and you know exactly why," Ilia said, with a slight smirk. The prince just smiled in return; he indeed knew why.

"Well come on," Jaune said, as he gestured slightly "It's getting late. We need to be fully rested for tomorrow." With that, he lead his friend back down to the dorm hall, until they came up to Team JWPB's room.

"So, I'll be staying two rooms down," Ilia said, pointing to a door further down the hall, "If ever you have trouble, just yell, and I'll be there in a heartbeat."

"Thank you," Jaune said, before grinning playfully, "Brave Dame Ilia." The chameleon just socked her friend in the shoulder, before making her way to her own room. As she did, the door opened, revealing a rather ticked off looking Weiss.

"The impudence," Weiss said, putting her hands on her hips, as she glared down after Ilia, "She does realize that she's talking to a prince, doesn't she?"

"Trust me, she does," Jaune said, as he rubbed his shoulder, "Why do you think she did it?"

(I) (I) (I)

Ruby stretched as she pulled herself out of bed, eager to start her first day at Beacon. She then pumped her fist.

"Alright Team RYNR!" she said, "Time to…."

"WAKE UP!" Nora suddenly declared as she appeared in front of Ruby, "We got Grimm to slay, days to seize, and asses to kick!" While the other half of the room was already long awake by then, Ruby now suspected the entire hall was probably also awake. And, despite herself, the red-head couldn't help but pout slightly at her thunder being stolen by her partner.

"Finally met someone who can beat you in enthusiasm?" Yang said, tussling Ruby's hair slightly. The younger sister just waved her hand off, as she moved to get dressed. Once she was in her uniform (along with her cape, which she would sooner be caught dead than without), Ruby made her way out of the room, only to bump (literally) right into the Prince of Vale.

"Sorry," Jaune said as he took a step back, "Are you okay?"

"Your Highness!" Ruby said, as she curtsying slightly.

"You really don't need to do that," Jaune said, holding ups his hand, "'Jaune' is fine."

"Oh right! Of course!" Ruby said quickly, trying not to be too awkward (and probably failing miserably at it). But how was she supposed to interact with a guy like this? He was a member of a family that controlled an entire country, while the most Ruby's family controlled was their small stretch of property in a small island off the coast. After that brief "exchange", there was a period of silence, which go so thick Ruby felt she could cut it with Crescent Rose.

"So…how's the room?" Ruby said, though had no idea why she said that. Maybe some talking was better than no talking?

"It's…. good," Jaune said, apparently confused by the question, which was something Ruby really didn't want to become a thing.

"I take its a bit different from living in a palace?" Yang jokingly asked as she came out of the room as well.

"More than a little," Jaune said, scratching the back of his head, as he laughed slightly, "Actually, it's almost a bit of an improvement. My room in the palace was so big, it actually could get overwhelming at times, not to mention a bit drafty."

"Right," Yang said, looking a bit offset by getting a sincere answer to a sarcastic question.

"Well, we were going to get some breakfast."

"Sure," Ruby said, before trying to remember her manners, and curtseying again, "I mean, we would be honored to eat in your… royal presence?"

"Why not?" Jaune said, though he didn't seem entirely enthused by the way Ruby said that.

"Did I say it wrong?" she called, as the prince made his way down the hall, "I mean, I can work on it if you need me to!"

"Simmer down, Rubes," Yang said, shoving her sister slightly, as she made her way down the hall after the prince. Ruby just sighed as she looked down.

"As a common courtesy, I'll give you a little advice," Weiss said as she emerged from the dorm as well, "Before trying to engage with His Highness, I would recommend studying on some proper etiquette first." Ruby pouted again as the heiress followed her teammate, before sighing and following as well.

(I) (I) (I)

Ilia was already up and at 'em when she heard the knock on her door; being part of the Royal Guard generally meant waking up earlier than most. She paused from brushing her hair, as she opened the door, revealing her royal charge standing there.

"Hey, Ilia," Jaune said, holding up a hadn't with a smile, "We were going to get some breakfast, if you want to come."

"Sure," Ilia answered, "I'll meet you down there." Once the door was closed, Ilia set her hair brush on the table, before she gathered her uniform. She frowned slightly at the (in her opinion) drab look of the uniform, before sighing, and putting it on. Once it was on, she checked herself in the mirror, her frown not going away.

"Best get used to it," she said to herself, as she tied her hair back, stowed Lightning Lash, and made her way down to the dining hall.

As she made her way into said dining hall, she was greeted by the busy sight of all the students coming together to get their breakfast, though anyone would find themselves more drawn to the sight of the white-armored soldiers ringing the room. The role of the Royal Guards wasn't to directly protect Jaune; rather, it was to patrol the school grounds, and keep eyes open from any potential threats, or in this instance, keep an eye on the prince in a crowded setting (one thing any guard learned in training early on was that crowded areas could be dangerous). Ilia couldn't help but chuckle of the sight of the rigid warriors, trained to take on some of the worst threats Remnant had to offer, watching over the room fully of rowdy students, and while she did so, she lost her attention, and accidentally bumped into the person in front of her.

"Sorry," she said, as she looked up, briefly turning red in embarrassment. The other girl, who looked maybe a year old, turned to smile at her, causing Ilia to notice she was also a Faunus, with a pair of rabbit ears sitting atop of her head.

"No, it's fine," she said in an accented voice, and a smile, "Are you okay?"

"Uh… yes, I'm fine."

"That's good, wouldn't want anyone getting hurt not he first day," the Faunus said with a smile, as she moved away, to which Ilia lightly blushed, noting how pretty she was. One thing Ilia was kind of hoping for while here was to find a nice girl. The D'Arc girls were very nice to be sure, but there were two issues: they were princesses, and (more importantly) Ilia knew they all saw her as little sister, meaning none of them were really interested in anything more intimate. But Ilia had seen a few cute girls in Beacon in the couple days she'd been there now, one of whom was her charge's partner.

"Ilia!" Speaking of which, the chameleon's attention was drawn to the prince's voice, who was sitting with his team a couple tables down.

"How's it going?" Ruby asked, smiling at Ilia's approach.

"Fine, I suppose," Ilia said, as she quickly looked for a place to squeeze in. That was when she noticed the Schnee girl sitting beside the Prince, to which Ilia's brow furrowed, as she reached a leg in, and inserted herself between Jaune and the heiress.

"Pardon me," Weiss said, sounding annoyed, which gave Ilia a little satisfaction.

"Just doing my job," she said with slightly mocking grin. Now Ilia hadn't "experienced" the Schnees the way other Faunus had, something which she was very grateful for, but she heard of their reputation, and wasn't about to let this white-haired princess wannabe get her claws into Ilia's prince, though she didn't doubt Weiss would still try. Ever since King Alistair prohibited the SDC from trading with Vale unless they agreed to amend their labor policies, the Schnees were chomping at the bit to get any kind of foothold in the kingdom, and now that the heiress was on the same team as the prince, Ilia could only imagine the CEO's elation. But it wasn't going to happen, not while Ilia Amitola was on the job.

(I) (I) (I)

After getting breakfast, the first class had been Grimm studies, which Weiss thought would've been potentially interesting if not for the teacher having a tendency to go on… tangents. Actually, "tangents" was too light a word as was "digressions", because what Professor Port had a tendency to do was go into long and detailed stories that seemed to get less and less relevant to the course they had. Weiss suspected she would have to learn how to filter the relevant and irrelevant parts in order to thrive in this course.

After that, had been history class, taught by Professor Oobleck, which went by quick enough, though Prince Jaune didn't seem as enthused by it. Weiss supposed she could understand that much; chances are he had the best tutors in Vale, if not Remnant as a whole, so this was probably all old information. That was certainly something the heiress could empathize with, among other things; she would know, she was keeping a literal list.

"'Not interested in history'," she muttered softly to herself, as she scribbled down the information while listening to Oobleck drone on. She thought it was efficient to know good and bad conversation starters in this instance; it would help make engaging with the prince easier. That was, of course, if she ever could really engage him, considering the chameleon who was always around him.

Though the heiress could understand, and appreciate what the was doing Weiss couldn't but be annoyed. That Faunus stayed so close to the prince, she may as well have been a member of their team. The reason it frustrated Weiss the way it did, was because it meant getting one and one time with Prince Jaune was practically impossible, which she could really use, considering how relations between the Schnees and the D'Arcs had become a tad… fraught as of late. It was a long story, but it essentially amounted to how the king refused to allow the SDC to do business in Vale unless they met certain preconditions, which (according to Weiss' father) were completely unreasonable. Since then, the two families. But now Weiss had a chance to build a rapport with the son of the D'Arcs, which, if she played her cards right, could maybe help get her in good graces with the king. And if she got in good graces with the king, it opened a treasure trove of possibilities, all of which imagined her father would be quite pleased with.

In all, Team JWPB was proving to be one of the better ones in Weiss' not so humble opinion. Of course you had the prince and heiress themselves, but they also had the Champion of Mistral on their team as well. It was the perfect combination of resources, intelligence, and skills, which could lead them to becoming the most popular team in Beacon if they were crafty. There was a proverbial fly in the ointment though, namely one Blake Belladonna.

As the team (plus Amitola) was sitting at a stone table during a class break, Weiss was trying to go over her notes of the day (both related to school, and about the prince), and she couldn't help but sense a pair of judging eyes going over to her every so often. The heiress glanced up, just to see Blake's eyes dart back to her book.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Weiss asked cooly, setting her pen down, while arching an eyebrow.

"No thank you," Blake answered, not looking up from her book. Weiss took a breath to calm herself at that.

"If you have any issue with me, get it out now," she said bluntly, "Just get it over with."

"Guys…," the prince said, as he started to raise a hand.

"I have no issue with you right now," Blake said plainly as she turned a page on her book, which Weiss saw right through.

"Now, listen close, my family's company does what it needs to in order to make ends meet," Weiss said, "And I'll have you know we give the same benefits to both our human and Faunus employees."

"Gee, what an accomplishment," she heard Ilia mutter, though when the white-haired girl looked at her, Ilia was still tinkering with her weapon.

"Now let's all just take a breath and calm down," Pyrrha suggested, "We won't get anywhere by stressing ourselves out like this."

"Oh, that I understand," Weiss said, feeling a tad irked how her partner wasn't backing her up, "I'm just trying to defend my family's good name." Blake actually looked at her like she had something to say, as her eyes narrowed, setting her book down.

"If it make it any clearer, would you expect His Highness to just let you ride over his own family name?"

"Uh," the prince suddenly grunted, "Can I interject briefly?"

"Can we maybe… avoid talking about my family here?" he asked.

"Of course, Your Highness," Weiss said, before returning her glare to Blake, "So long as she refrains from talking about mine." The black-haired girl just glared at Weiss again, before snapping her book shut.

"I'll see you all in class," she said, as she got up to return to the classroom. Prince Jaune sighed, as he also got up.

"I'll talk to her later about this," he said, as he followed his partner.

"Glad we have this understanding," Weiss said with a nod, as she went back to her notes. If this was going to be a trend, this would be a long four years.

Just get through it, Weiss thought to herself It'll all probably be worth it in the end.

Note: I meant to mention this last chapter, but it turns out I missed a generation with Jaune's ancestors; it was his great-great-grandfather that fought in the war, and since I'm trying to keep the family line relatively consistent, I went back and edited the prior chapters to reflect that.

This chapter was pretty simple, just establishing Team JWPB and some of their dynamics, as well as their time at Beacon. I hope for the next chapter to offer a bit more substance.

On the matter of Ilia, I'm going to make a real effort to avoid using OCs in this story, unless when really necessary. Though I think this'll be a bit easier than my other, as this concept make's it a bit easier to make this setting more my own without adding new characters. To that end, I didn't want to give Ilia her own team of OCs, and I've got a plan for some other characters, so I decided to make Ilia a free lancer.

Be sure to comment. I recently posted a poll on which character Jaune could end up in a relationship with. In the previous poll I did for "Of Gods and Losers", Ruby dominated it, so I'm curious to see what the trend for this one will be (again, Ilia is not an option).