Chapter 4
The wind blew her past her as she was flung through the air. Ruby tried to see where her sister was falling to try to get closer. A bird collided with her making Ruby shriek in distress. she shook her arms trying to get feathers away from her face "Sorry, birdy" ruby said as she activated her weapon to catch herself.
Ruby landed safely and shook the rest of the feathers off of her. She looked around nervously, She ran into the forest frantically. "Yang, Yang" Ruby yelled out hoping her sister could hear her. Ruby silently hoped that she could find Yang before anyone else. She had wanted to be on a team with her sister but it seems that would not be the case. She brushed off another feather from her Coat.
Ruby shook her head. "Just my luck, I'm sorry birdy" Ruby said and hoped it was okay. "I need to find a team member." She said looking around. She would have been fine with Jaune. He was cool. Blake seemed mysterious and she liked books and Ruby didn't think she would have been a bad partner.
Ruby ran through the brush calling out trying to get someone's attention. "Yang, Yaaangg, Jaune" Ruby yelled into the forest. She stopped because she could hear someone's footsteps. She rushed towards the noise. Hoping it was someone she knew. Anyone would be better than a stranger, right. Ruby felt her heart drop to her stomach then to her feet.
"Hi Weiss, how are you doing?" Ruby said slowly waved feeling a little more confident now she had her baby Crescent Rose with her.
"Oh, it's you" Weiss groaned she pointed at Ruby "pretend you didn't see me and walk the other way please"
Ruby watched as Weiss walked away she was still mad about what had happened "What is your problem" Ruby said frustrated
Weiss looked at Ruby still annoyed, Ruby clutched her weapon and gulped mustering up the courage to speak "I want to prove to you that I belong here" She said closing her eyes as she spoke.
Weiss sighed, putting her hand to her temples "fine, but don't get in my way" She turned around and walked the opposite direction.
Ruby breathed a sigh of relief and raced after Weiss. Ruby glanced at Weiss' weapon curious. "Oh is that a dust Revolver Rapier, that's so cool, It looks custom made" Ruby then began to ask Weiss tons of questions about her weapon.
Weiss's patience began to thin with each question. "Be quiet," Weiss snapped. "We are supposed to be looking for our objective, not going on a leisure stroll. she glared at ruby "and I am not here to babysit" Weiss said pointing her finger at Ruby.
Ruby was frustrated. "Hey I can take care of myself, I am fast." Ruby disappeared in a flash. Rose petals floated down to the ground where ruby was. Weiss was shocked. That was quite impressive.
"Suitcase Girl, I don't have time for this come back" she began to tap her foot as she looked around trying to find where her forced partner was. There was no sound. What happened? "Hey where did you go?" Weiss said worried.
Weiss pulled her rapier out, being ready. A couple of Beowolves began to emerge from the bushes. She readied herself selecting the dust she wanted to use "fire should do the trick" she thought to herself. She lunged at the nearest Beowolf's eye. Using her Dust to burn it.
Weiss gasped Ruby out of nowhere, slashing at the Beowolf just right before she struck. She redirected her rapier in an attempt to not stab her. The tree she hit with her rapier burst into flames. "What were you thinking? '' Weiss screamed at Ruby "I could have hit you,'' Weiss said while blocking a Beowolf that tried to attack her and she sliced at it annoyed.
Ruby killed the closest Grimm "It was a surprise attack, Wouldn't that help" she said confused.
"No you Idiot a surprise attack doesn't work If I don't even know where you are."
The tree that Weiss hit succumbed to the fire and landed on the last Beowolf it dissipated into dust.
Weiss began to storm off away from ruby, now regretting having run into Ruby "Anyone would be a better than you"
"Hey come back" Ruby chased after Weiss as she walked into the forest.
Weiss grumbled as she was being followed by Ruby close behind. A scream broke the brief silence "Help" She recognized that voice taking back what she said earlier, she turned around very quickly and headed back in Ruby's direction. Ruby seemed to be a better choice than that idiot.
Ruby nudged her "Hey isn't that Jaune, lets go help him"
Weiss grabbed Ruby's arm and pulled her back. "I take back what I said earlier, I would rather not be on a team with that Idiot."
"Shouldn't we go help" Ruby said, concerned about Jaune.
"He will be fine" Weiss said sarcastically Ruby not noticing the sarcasm.
"I guess we will be partners, my name is Ruby" Ruby said putting out her hand.
Weiss shook her hand. She hoped the four years would go by quicker. She didn't know if she could survive. "These are going to be a long four years." Weiss grumbled to herself.
Ruby didn't hear what Weiss said she was still walking into the forest blissfully unaware.
Jaune was amazed that he had survived; it had been a miracle. His armor that he had been wearing had changed directions mid flight and he landed safely in a tree. Jaune hung there for a moment he looked down and gulped trying to not fall. He was stuck in an awkward place. He yelled for help seeing if there was anyone around.
"Just, great" Jaune said as he started to climb down.
"Are you still looking for a teammate?" Pyrrha asked.
The sudden question startled Jaune, he missed the branch was going to use as his foothold and tumbled to the ground in a crash landing painfully. "Ow," He said as he tried to get up, rubbing his forehead.
Pyrrha rushed over to see if Jaune was alright. "I'm so sorry," Pyrrha said, trying to apologize. She noticed that Jaune had a cut that was bleeding from his fall. She helped him up, why didn't his aura protect him? She was curious as to how that happened.
"Why didn't your Aura protect you?" Pyrrha asked curious
Jaune reached for his forehead noticing the blood, "What was Aura again?" He asked, trying to remember what it was in his grandfather's stories.
Pyrrha was surprised "It's the energy from our soul that protects us from harm and allows us to fight the Grimm everyone has Aura, even animals, the only one who don't are the Grimm"
"Oh, Yeah I remember." Jaune said, trying to remember more details, "it was like a force field that gave you superpowers, right?"
"I guess that's one way to put it," Pyrrha said laughing kindly.
Jaune chuckled trying to think about how to tell his partner he didn't know if his Aura worked or not.
"I can unlock it for you if you would like?"
"That would be good considering that we are in a grimm infested forest" Jaune said he chuckled, remembering his first encounter with a grimm.
"That would be great, so uh, what do I do first?" Jaune said unsure of what to do.
"Sorry" Pyrrha said as she put her hand on Jaunes shoulder.
"Uh"
Pyrrha realized that she forgot to tell Jaune anything "sorry I am trying to concentrate."
Jaune quickly got quiet and waited. Pyrrha's hand glowed with a warm light red color. It grew warmer and the warmth began to spread all over Jaunes body. He could feel a tingling sensation in his fingertips and toes. He felt a warm feeling come into his chest. Jaune gasped, It felt as if he always had been cold and now was suddenly warm. Or a fish that had been drowning and just breathed for the first time.
He could feel Pyrrha's hand come off of his shoulder. Jaune looked at Pyrrha giddy. Pyrrha didn't respond, He reached out and grabbed her before she fell.
"You, okay Pyrrha?"
"Sorry," she said, sitting down to catch her breath. Pyrrha had felt as her entire Aura reserve had been drained out of her. She was happy that Jaune caught her before she fell. "You have a lot of Aura!" she said, surprised.
Jaune chuckled "I guess that's a good thing."
Pyrrha laughed "yeah that's a good thing" Pyrrha had never met anyone with such large Aura reserves. Jaune was the first person she had unlocked so she didn't have anything to compare her experience with. Aura was said to be a representation of the strength of someone's will and soul. Pyrrha looked at Jaune, smiled and marveled for a moment thinking about how she chose the right partner.
Pyrrha put her hand out, asking for help up, Jaune helped her up "so where is north" Jaune asked, trying to figure out some bearings.
Pyrrha pointed in a direction that was north.
"How can you tell?" Jaune said, looking around for some landmark that would help identify North.
"It's a secret. I can tell you later" Pyrrha said.
"Well let's go," Jaune said, walking North with Pyrrha following.
Yang was very bored not much had happened yet. Getting thrown off of the cliff had been the most exciting thing that had happened today. She looked at the temple and observed the chess pieces. "I think these are the objective" she said, picking one up to look at it. "Which one should we grab Blake?"
Blake looked up "you can choose." Blake said not really interested.
Yang thought for a moment and put it back "I think I will wait for my sister, if that's fine with you" Yang said looking into the forest "I hope my sister is ok, knowing her she probably is getting in trouble right about now"
Yang played with her hair and did a couple jabs at the air to pass the time.
Yang could her screams come from the direction they had just come from. "I think some girl is in trouble."
Yang watched as the forest shook and birds quickly began to fly off in the opposite direction. The ground began to shake and a couple of rocks on the temple fell over.
Yang looked into the forest and smiled. "Ruby did something"
Weiss was regretting teaming up with Ruby. She had not expected to be running for her life so early in Beacon. They were being chased by a Nevermore. Ruby had the bright idea of attacking it and it's nest. A shadow crossed over them and Weiss dodged a couple of sharp feathers. She looked to her right to see Pyrrha pass her, she looked back in confusion.
"What would make Pyrrha run?"
She looked back to see Jaune on top of the largest Deathstalker followed by the largest amount of Grimm she had ever seen in her life. Jaune was holding on for dear life as he was shaken like a ragdoll. Weiss picked up the pace now having even more motivation to run.
"I will never listen to you again Ruby" she said.
"I am sorry, ok" Ruby said quickly.
Weiss could swear that she saw a girl in pink that was holding onto one of the ursas' back and was riding it as if it was a horse. She seemed to be enjoying herself, the boy behind her didn't though.
Weiss shook her head. She noticed a clearing and booked it.
The deathstalker shook itself trying to get the annoying thing that was latched onto it off. It launched Jaune into the distance. Pyrrha was ready and caught him. She carried him bridal style while still running away.
"Thanks," he said looking back at the Grimm.
Pyrrha didn't respond as she was focusing on running away. "Sorry"
Yang watched as she could see Ruby and her partner burst from the trees. She laughed as she saw Jaune being carried by Pyrrha of all people. She was never going to let Vomit boy live this one down. She got ready seeing what was chasing them. Blake began to shoot at a couple of the smaller Grimm trying to thin the numbers.
Yang looked at her sister in amazement "What did you do to get in this situation?" Yang laughed, finding the whole situation funny.
Pyrrha let Jaune down and yang went over to Pyrrha and nudged her arm. "I think you are being a little too quick, you should date him first. Pyrrha blushed a bright red and turned looking away from Jaune.
Jaune shook his head looking at the situation. He yelled to everyone "We need to leave now" Ruby pitched in "how are we going to deal with that?" she said pointing at the swarm of Grimm.
"There are too many to fight, we need to somehow split them up first." Jaune said
"We can take care of Nevermore" Ruby said, feeling a bit responsible.
Ruby shot at the nevermore to get it's attention and then Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss ran into the trees away from the temple. The Nevermore screeched following them flying above the forest.
Jaune surveyed the surrounding looking to see if there was anything Pyrrha and him could use to their advantage. Jaune saw a bridge that crossed a large ravine to the left of the temple.
"Pyrrha," He said, pointing to the bridge, "we are going to direct them in that direction. I will try to lead them over the bridge and you can collapse it at the right time."
Jaune reached for his belt that had some dust and he tossed one to Pyrrha.
Jaune ran for the Cliff having the deathstalker follow him. Jaune ran on the side of the ravine. He gulped as he looked over the edge. The deathstalker followed closely, not really paying attention to its surroundings. Jaune watched as one of the Ursas on the deathstalkers left began to change directions.
A girl held up a large hammer and smashed into the Ursa "whoo hoo, Nora is here." A girl named Nora yelled with a smile on her face enjoying the moment. The Ursa crashed into the deathstalker, forcing it to smash some of the smaller Grimm. The deathstalker began to slip into the ravine below. it began to claw at the bridge trying to get back up.
Pyrrha seeing an opportunity threw her shield hitting the deathstalker. The deathstalker fell down the ravine along with the other Grimm. Nora jumped off from the Giant Grimm Bear before it fell.
"That was so much fun, Ren let's do it again"
A boy ran up to the group out of breath. It looked as if he had fallen off into some brush because he had some leaves sticking from his hair.
He looked at Nora who was still smiling "next time let's not jump onto the raging Grimm.
Nora nodded, then ran over to Jaune. "Hi my names Nora, what yours fearless leader"
"I wouldn't say fearless, but my name's Jaune."
Nora laughed, "You're silly you lured a deathstalker off a cliff that was pretty fearless in my book." Nora said not really realizing that she was the one that knocked the Grimm off the bridge.
"I think so too," Pyrrha said, patting Jaune on the back after retrieving her gear.
Jaune laughed agreeing he stared down the ravine hoping that the deathstalker died. If it was alive it would probably be very mad right about now.
There were feathers littered on the ground. Ruby and everyone waited under the trees out of sight of the giant Grimm bird.
Ruby turned to everyone with enthusiasm "Ok here is the plan, kill the bird."
"Ruby I don't think that is a plan" Weiss said concerned
"Yes it is, all we got to do is bring the bird down to us and kill it" Ruby said, baffled that Weiss didn't think that was a plan.
"And how are you going to do that?" Weiss said, trying to figure out what the plan was going to work.
"Um" Ruby looked at her sister, her eyes pleading for help, Yang shrugged.
"Ugh, you are no help" Ruby looked at the Nevermore as it flew overhead searching for its prey.
Ruby perked up and grinned ear to ear an idea coming to mind. She pointed to the sky "I have an idea"
Yang saw Ruby's face and smiled knowing exactly what her plan was.
Weiss gulped as she saw Yang's excited face, "we are doomed"
Hello again, It has been tough writing this all by myself so if someone wants to beta read that would be greatly appreciated.
I wonder what Ruby is going to do to kill the Nevermore. You will find out in the next chapter.
Please leave comments and suggestions for change. I am trying to find a good balance for pacing and story progression. I am learning a lot and will continue this story. A special thanks to those that helped with edits.