A/N: Edits: Small addition to the Pyrrha interaction. Slight change in initiation, previous one too passive in nature to be written well.

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I rapped my knuckles on the post of a large, red tent in the middle of the Fang outpost, a folder tucked under my arm. "Come in," I heard a gravelly voice call out from inside. I pushed the flaps of the tent aside to walk in, and looked at the familiar insides. Bulletin boards lined the walls, each crowded with heavily annotated documents. On the far wall was a map of Vale, with angry red lines streaking its surface to mark supply routes and equally red push pins where SDC mines and loading stations were placed.

In front of that map was none other than Adam Taurus, general of the Vale sect of the White Fang. He wore a black trench coat with white a white and red rose design on the back along with black gloves, pants, and boots. He wore a specially designed porcelain mask over his eyes, helping to accentuate his red and black hair. His prized weapons, Wilt and Blush, lay leaning on the side of his chair, never far from his person. He looked up at me from the large wooden desk he sat at, and a large smile broke out on his face. He stood up, walked over, and wrapped me in a short hug. "Good to have you back, Jaune." He said, patting my shoulder. I simply smiled in return. "Can't get rid of me that easily. You haven't repaid me for my comics yet."

Adam barked out a short laugh. "I told you it was an accident!" "Some of those were collector's edition!" I whined back, before breaking into a grin. Adam walked back to his desk, a small smile still on his face. "So, let's talk business," he said, his face shifting into a more serious look. My face shifted as well, and I placed the folder on his desk. Opening the folder and spreading out the documents, I revealed a collection of timetables, addresses, and identification codes.

"I managed to get a pretty big haul this time," I explained. "The SDC, cheap as always, had severely outdated security systems, so I was able to snag the documents pretty easily." Adam leaned over to look at the documents with me as I pointed to a few lines of text. "Some of these shipments are supplies to the mining camps, so we're gonna leave those alone, but what's important are these three trains. They're scheduled to come weeks apart, but they hit more mines than average. I think it's because the new year for the huntsman academies is starting in a few months, and the SDC is rushing to push more stock." I explained. Adam hummed in acknowledgement as I took a highlighter from my desk and highlighted the identification numbers of the aforementioned trains.

Walking past Adam to the Map, I referenced the documents in my hands to the markings on the board, and replaced a few red push pins with green ones. "These are the stations they're gonna pass, so I would suggest planning the raid between these two stations for maximum yield," I said, placing two blue push pins on the map. "This also means the SDC is going to become aware that their train was hit sooner, so the message gets out quicker." Adam looked at me through his mask, a slight smile on his face as he absorbed my plan.

I looked at him for a second before letting out a sad smile. "You don't have to wear that around me, you know. I was there when you got it." I said. Adam's smile dropped, and he let out a sigh. "I know. It's just…" He trailed off, running his fingers gently over the right side of his mask. "Hey, don't force yourself, I get that it's a pretty big deal. Hell, it's the main reason we're both here. We saw how bad it got firsthand, worked the mines ourselves, lost family and friends to the SDC. You just got the shorter end of the stick in your experiences." I said. Adam grunted and looked off to the side. "Hey, at least you got aura out of it. I mean, you're out there on the front lines, fighting the good fight, and auraless me got stuck as the sneak thief and strategist." I said as an admittedly poor attempt at consolation.

Adam looked up at me with a slightly sadder smile. "I wish you could join me out there Jaune, fighting for our people alongside me, but we only have four or five aura enhanced in this camp, myself included, and none of us know how to unlock another person's aura." He stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder. "But whether you have aura or not doesn't change a thing. You're my brother in all but blood, we survived the mines together, survived the world together, and we'll make this world better together as well. You are just as important to this fight as I am, Jaune. Don't forget that." I let a large smile adorn my face. "What can I say? Every good general needs a good strategist. Now, want to hear about something I found that's a bit more juicy than trains?"

((()))

The dream faded, and I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. I stared at it for a few seconds contemplating the dream, the vivid recount of memories of a life left behind. Nausea and guilt pooled in my stomach as I recalled the role I played, and the satisfaction I got from a job well done, even without knowing what truly went on on those jobs. I slowly rotated my head to take stock of my surroundings, and saw a sea of bodies sprawled out in different positions before me.

"Right, I'm in the Beacon auditorium. Initiation's today. Initiation's today!" That had me sitting up. I took a quick look at the windows to see that the sun had just begun to rise. I let out a low groan. Waking up at sunset was one of many habits I had yet to kick from my time in the Fang, and easily my least favorite one.

I looked around to see that a handful of students had risen with me. Some tall girl with red hair, a black-haired cat faunus who wasn't fooling anybody with that bow, and a few other students I hardly took any notice of. Standing up, I stretched my back until I got a few satisfying cracks, then straightened my tail until I got the same result.

I moved over to the locker room to start my day. After a quick shower, I found where I had put the duffel bag that contained almost everything I owned. Almost being because they made me stash my weapon in a locker before going to sleep. I let out a slight chuckle as I remembered Ruby throwing a fit once she was told to separate from her weapon. I had gotten her to do it, but only after she promised me a gruesome end if her weapon got damaged. What is it with short people and being terrifying?

Opening the bag, I pulled out the modified leather armor Roman had given me as payment for one of my earlier jobs. He had given me job after job, paying me in different pieces of huntsman-level equipment that I quickly learned not to ask the origin of, before paying me with the greatest and final gift to send me on my way as a huntsman, my aura. Only an idiot would try to sneak into a huntsman academy without aura. Even then, they'd most definitely die on their first day.

I slipped on the armor, consisting of a light grey leather chestpiece that covered down to mid-stomach, leather vambraces that transitioned to elbow pads, and leather greaves that went up my shin and transitioned to integrated knee pads. The chestpiece lacked any form of shoulder protection, instead housing a series of holsters for throwing knives on the left shoulder and along the ribs. The vambraces and greaves were triple-layered, with small steel plates wedged between strips of leather for additional protection. The vambraces also connected to my chestplate with harnessing material, and had sockets on the outside of the forearms.

The entire ensemble fit over a navy-blue, long-sleeve, dust-infused protective shirt and huntsman-grade jeans tucked into combat boots. I wore a three-fingered archer's glove on my right hand and a fingerless glove with carbon fiber knuckles on my left. I also wore a sleeveless, navy blue, hooded longline waistcoat underneath the chestpiece. Overall, I looked like an edgelord, but that hardly mattered to me since with my colors, I would blend into the dark whether my target was human, faunus, or grimm.

Finishing the final fittings on my armor and slipping on my jacket, I both heard and felt my stomach cry out for sustenance. Guess my next course of action is decided. I stashed my bag in my locker and headed out to where I remembered the cafeteria being.

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As I walked through the hallways of Beacon, I decided to admire the hallways in the early morning light. The high ceilings, red carpets, and giant windows painted the picture of this place being more of a castle than a school, but it fit well with the overall aesthetic. Staring out a window as I walked, I muttered out loud to myself "All I need to do is survive today, and I can see these halls every day."

"I sure hope you survive, Mr. Arc. Though you may be putting the bar a little low for what counts as a successful initiation." I heard a calm baritone voice speak from close behind me. The hairs on my tail puffed out and I let out a hiss as I jumped forward. Hitting the ground, I pivoted into a crouch with my teeth bared and my hands in claws. Standing before me was headmaster Ozpin. He looked at me with a mixture of curiosity and poorly disguised amusement at my reaction.

"My apologies Mr. Arc," he drawled. "I had no intention of startling you." Snapping out of my surprise, I straightened out and regarded him cautiously. "No…" I replied hesitantly. Something about him just felt… off. "It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention." Ozpin gave me a slight smile and brought a cup of what was probably the strongest smelling coffee on Remnant to his lips before taking a small sip. "That's quite alright. I understand seeing the school for the first time can be quite awe-inspiring. That said, I would appreciate it if you did not assault any students in the future for simply startling you." His eyes took on a strange shine. "You never know which actions can be taken the wrong way. Especially with someone of your disposition."

With that, he simply turned on his heel and walked away, cane clicking with every other step. I watched him walk away for a few seconds before continuing on my way, a sense of unease gnawing at my gut . As I had reached the cafeteria doors, I could smell a delicious variety of breakfast meats, cheeses, fruits, and a few particularly aromatic vegetables. As I heard a few pots and pans clanging in the background, the reason for my unease finally clicked. "How the hell did he sneak up on me with a drink that strong and a cane that loud?"

((()))

I sat down at one of the tables 10 minutes later, a veritable feast before me. One of the benefits of getting here early was there was no line to pressure me into just grabbing something, so I took my sweet time preparing what was about to be the most nutritious meal I had eaten in years. Beacon was going to leave me spoiled.

I had 3 different plates, one stacked with more types of sausage and bacon than I knew existed. I mean, did you know that there are more than six different types of bacon? Did you know that they make sausages out of everything? I didn't! I'm getting off track. Anyway, I had a mound of eggs on another, and on my last plate... Oh, my last plate was a masterpiece.

On my last plate I had a stack of pancakes that went past my head even when I was standing next to the table. I wasn't sure if the cafeteria was going to have enough syrup for it all, but when I asked the cook, a lovely catfish faunus with a set of whiskers on her face, she simply laughed and handed me a gallon jug. "This is barely a dent in the reserves," she said with a grin. "Some of the kids here are crazy about these kinds of things, so we learned to keep ourselves stocked. Enjoy yourself, out there, kid." With that, I moved myself over to a corner and set out to do Oum's work making the mother of all pancake stacks.

I began tucking into the plate of meat, occasionally shoveling heaps of eggs in my mouth, savoring every taste of the sometimes salty, sometimes savory meat and the texture of the eggs. As I was ravaging enough food to feed a battalion, I felt more than heard an approaching presence. Looking up from my feast, I saw an excited Ruby bounding toward me with a plate of strawberries and cookies. Looking past her, I saw that she was dragging a shambling corpse that looked suspiciously like Yang holding a bowl of oatmeal behind her.

She plopped down in front of me with a radiant smile. "Hi Jaune!" She cheered. "Hey Ruby," I replied, a small smile coming to my face as I absorbed a little bit of her positivity. She stuffed an entire cookie in her mouth at once before seemingly swallowing it whole. How? I'm not entirely sure, but it happened. "Are you excited for initiation?" She chirped, before inhaling another cookie at speeds I almost couldn't track. "I wouldn't say excited," I responded honestly. "More like incredibly nervous and trying to drown it in six different types of bacon."

"I get that, but it's okay!" She leaned in and whispered loudly. "Me and Yang have a plan!" I swallowed a bite of egg and cocked an eyebrow. "That so? Mind if I get in on it?" In response to my question, Ruby gained a teasing grin. "What was it you said to me? Oh! 'I'll tell you after initiation.'" I let out a chuckle. "Okay, I deserve that one. But we should finish eating, yeah? We want to let this settle for as long as possible before initiation."

Ruby nodded enthusiastically and went back to vacuuming up cookies. "Does she have a black hole for a stomach? Is it her semblance? Can I do that?" I attempted to copy her and almost died to a sausage link. "Guess not. Semblance it is."

We sat there eating for a few minutes, Yang having finally gained enough fine motor control to lift her spoon to her mouth and crack a joke or two, before more students started pouring into the cafeteria. I initially paid them no mind until I heard a loud shriek ring out from across the cafeteria.

"REN! LOOK AT THAT!"

Looking up from my plate in alarm, I saw a girl with orange hair dressed in pink who appeared to be manhandling a girl?/boy?/person? in green with a pink strip in their jet black hair while pointing directly at my magnum opus. I could tell even from this distance that she had a large grin on her face. She literally dragged her green-clad captive through the lunch line at record pace before practically teleporting to the table Ruby, Yang and myself were sitting at. She radiated energy from every fibre of her being, and was vibrating in place as she sat her captive down at the table. She looked me directly in the eyes before producing a stack of pancakes from Oum-knows-where and slamming it on the table.

To say her stack dwarfed mine would be the understatement of the century. Even more so than calling an ursa major 'mildly dangerous and a little temperamental.' I had to crane my neck from my sitting position to view the buttermilk behemoth before me. The ginger girl gave me a grin. "Mine's bigger."

Her green-robed hostage looked calmly at all of us and spoke in a moderately deep voice that cemented them as a male. "I apologize for Nora, she gets a little overexcited, especially when it comes to pancakes. My name is Ren, it's a pleasure to meet you." I peeled my eyes off of the Nora girl's pancake stack to look at Ren's peculiarly pink eyes. I gave a polite smile. "Nice to meet you too."

Nora sat down and began talking animatedly to Ren about what the initiation might look like, coming up with all sorts of insane theories. I think my favorite one was that they were gonna throw us off a cliff and force us to work with whoever we made eye contact with. That one got me to laugh out loud. Then, after a slight push from Ren, she began eating.

The horrors she inflicted on that stack of pancakes will stick with me for the rest of my days. If I thought Ruby had a black hole in her stomach, Nora could eat that black hole and ask for thirds. It sent shivers all the way to the end of my tail, and I tucked it around my waist subconsciously.

After committing crimes against humanity on her poor pancakes, she turned her attention to us. "So! What's your story? Ren and I are orphans, we grew up together, but not together-together, like a brother and sister, you know? Hehehehe." I didn't need enhanced senses to smell that crock of shit, but decided not to comment. Ruby piped up next to me "Yang and I grew up on the island of Patch with our dad! We both graduated top of our class at Signal!" Yang nodded in confirmation before pulling Ruby into a tight hug "I still can't believe you got in two years early!" "Ah! Normal knees!" Ruby squeaked out, trying to free herself from the hug.

Nora turned her eyes to me next, and I immediately began to sweat bullets. Now I know what you're thinking, "But Jaune, aren't you a stealth operative and basically a super spy? How can you be bad at lying?" I'm bad at lying because I've never been caught in the first place, so I've never had to lie my way out of anything!

I swallowed thickly before my mind came up with a brilliant plan. "If you can't lie, don't tell the full truth." "Uh, I grew up in a small town in Atlas with my seven sisters, and made my way to Beacon to make a better life for my family." Was my response. Ruby was gobsmacked. "Seven sisters?!" She practically shrieked. "How did you deal with that? I can barely handle one!" This earned her a light smack from Yang.

I simply shrugged. "We were a poorer family, all we had was each other. Most of my gear was earned doing odd jobs for a friend of mine." Ren shot me a look I couldn't quite decipher, before he gave a small nod. "Wanting to improve for your family is a noble cause, I commend you." After a short pause, Ren regarded me again. "By the way, you wouldn't mind sharing any of your food, would you? Nora didn't give me any time to select food of my own while she was getting ready to meet her new 'pancake buddy.'" I shrugged and pushed my plates closer to him, pushing the pancake plate closer than the others. After witnessing hurricane Nora go hog wild on a stack, I was having trouble looking at them the same way. With that, we all settled down to finish our meals, sustaining the atmosphere with occasional bouts of talking and companionable silences.

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The first conclusion I came to a few minutes before initiation was that someone had to be messing with me. The lockers were organized completely randomly, and I was pretty sure mine didn't actually exist. I had been walking around for fifteen minutes and locker 636 still was nowhere to be found. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure the locker numbers went that high when I last checked.

I let out a low grumble as I passed by, asking multiple people if they had seen my locker. I got a few polite 'no's, one 'sorry,' and one ginger kid tried to spit on my shoes. I had to physically strain to avoid rearranging his face. Enhanced strength or not, he looked like he was built for open confrontation and an ambush predator like myself wasn't winning that fight. So I soldiered on in a worse mood than I started in. On the bright side, most people were either disinterested, or the bare minimum required to be polite, a welcome change from my time in Atlas.

I continued walking down the hallway, looking for all the world like a kid lost in the supermarket, when I finally noticed my locker. That red-headed chick from this morning was standing next to it, digging into her own locker. As I made my way over to my locker, the Schnee of all people parked herself in front of it and began chatting up the redhead. From my distance I couldn't really make out what they were saying, but it didn't really matter. I had five minutes before we would be called out for initiation, and didn't have time to wait for them to finish their conversation.

Walking up to my locker, I cleared my throat. Neither of the two women seemed to hear me, so I did it a bit louder. The redhead told the Schnee that she was "going to let the chips fall where they may." Whatever that means. I cleared my throat even louder, making sure that there would be no way to mistake my attempt at gaining their attention.

The Schnee whirled to glare at my chest with a snap. "What! Can't you see we're trying to have a conversation here?!" She readjusted her eyes to look at my face, and all at once I saw her expression change from one of frustration to one I couldn't quite read. "Oh," she said, her voice taking on a more professional and detached quality, "it's you." The redhead gave me an odd look before looking back to the Schnee. "Do you… know him?" she asked.

"No, we don't know each other." I responded. "She's just standing in front of my locker, and I want her to move." I wasn't mad at her anymore, but my tone made it very clear I didn't want to talk to her longer than necessary. Her eyebrows creased ever so slightly and she moved out of the way of my locker. "Thank you," was my simple response before digging into my locker and pulling out a broadsword, a small pouch, and a pair of small, metallic bracers.

Strapping the bracers into the sockets of my vambraces, I watched them expand outward into two complicated firing mechanisms on my arms, with plates attaching themselves to the back of my hands and small rings attaching to my fingers and thumbs. I flexed my wrists and watched the firing mechanisms engage in response before giving a satisfied nod. I placed the pouch on the belt at my hip, then placed the broadsword on my back before unsheathing it.

It was truly a work of art, and the only part of my ensemble I had the pleasure of actually designing. It was about a meter long scimitar-style broadsword with a rounded gold handguard and flat pommel with two knobs on bottom. The handle was covered in a synthetic blue rubber material for better grip, and the thick yet razor sharp blade gleamed in the light. Clicking a small button on the underside of the handguard, the blade split down the middle along its back to become two, and the handle split down the middle. Pulling the sword apart, I held up the twin blades and tested the weight.

Putting them back together, I sheathed them in the scabbard over my shoulder before shutting my locker and turning to the redhead. "Sorry for interrupting your conversation from before." I said, "My name's Jaune, what's yours?" She wore a very complicated expression. "Do you… not know?" She asked. "Was I supposed to?" I responded, cocking my eyebrow. "No!" She almost shouted, before regaining her composure. "I'm no one important, don't worry about it. My name is Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos" She finished with a smile. She reached out to shake my hand. When I grabbed her hand, she placed her other hand on my forearm and proceeded to shake my hand for a strangely long stretch of time.

"O...kay… Nice to meet you Pyrrha." I responded, thoroughly confused. At my response her smile seemed to grow wider, and she gained an odd twinkle in her eye. "Well, I guess you and the Schnee can continue your conversation. I'll just… be on my way…" I said before awkwardly shuffling out from between the two and walking away.

((()))

We all stood at a cliff with Headmaster Ozpin and Deputy Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch standing before us, with holding a tablet and Ozpin holding his ever-present mug of coffee. Ruby stood directly to my left, with Ren and Nora a few tiles down. Ozpin had us all step on a metal walkway at the edge of the cliff. I could hear Nora continuing to spout theories in Ren's ear and Ruby's nervous shuffling beside me.

Ozpin cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention, and took a small sip of his coffee before speaking. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your skills will be put to the test." Ruby and Yang shared a conspiratory look and waited for the next sentence. "Under normal circumstances, I would send you all into the Emerald Forest to test your skills. But this year, we have more students than anticipated, so there were not enough relics for everyone to pass. That being said, this year, we have decided to change initiation." Yang looked like she had been slapped in the face, and Ruby's yell of "WHAT!?" scared birds out of the nearby trees and set my ears ringing. Ozpin hid a small smirk behind a sip of his mug, coming to the same conclusion I did, but taking far more enjoyment out of it: Ruby and Yang knew what the initiation was supposed to be, and this flipped whatever plan they had on its head.

As the Ruby-induced tinnitus began to wear off, I noticed a low rumble slowly approaching our position. Ozpin continued "This year's initiation will have you students finding yourselves scattered across the Forever Falls, where you will need to begin the trek back to Beacon. If you're quick, it should only take you about four or five days. Your goal is to survive those four or five days, and eliminate any grimm you see on your way back." At this point spoke up. "Regardless, during those few days, you will not only find both your partners, but your teams." At this, a series of murmurs went across the initiates at the platform. continued. "You were each given school-assigned scrolls upon entry to the school. Using those scrolls, we will be monitoring your progress and interactions with other groups in order to decide teams. As for partners, the first person you aid on your journey will become your partner for the next four years."

As she was speaking, the low rumble I had been hearing was getting progressively louder, until I noticed other initiates beginning to notice it as well. As she finished her last sentence, the rumble grew loud, and a series of bullheads made their presence known in the distance. Quickly closing the gap, the bullheads lowered themselves to be parallel with what was now understood as a landing strip, and ramps descended down to the platform we were all on. This was the tipping point for me.

"We're flying?!" I cried out in anguish, as the rest of the initiates were guided onto the bullheads.

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And that's all for this chapter! I decided to take a different spin on initiation so I could have more time to showcase some aspects of the new Jaune and build more meaningful pre-school relationships. His armor was inspired by a mixture of Connor from Assassin's Creed 3 and the Thieves' Guild Master armor from Skyrim, but navy blue so it would blend in better with the night sky and keep at least some semblance of his original color scheme. I also established a few things in this chapter. 1) A brief glimpse into Jaune's past and his role in the Fang, 2) why he didn't have aura before last chapter, 3) he does not know Blake, and finally, 4) he relies on an ambush/hit-and-run style of combat, which makes sense considering he would have been trained to fight without aura. Also, I took a bit of inspiration from Avatar: The Last Airbender for his twin swords, since part of the inspiration for stealth Jaune was the Blue Spirit. Anyway, that'll be all for this chapter, see you in the next one!