"Ignoring Ruby and her team was necessary!" Jaune said to the other Jaune. Jaune A, who will be called Emotion, looked like Jaune in every aspect. The difference was that he was wearing a red version of his Pumpkin Pete hoodie, and was pacing around the room, hands curled into fists. He was pacing around his side of the room. "Not to mention Pyrrha thought we were weak! Out of all the time it took for us to get here, now they get the courage to try and find our other scroll number? And for what?! Because they thought we died in a fucking bar fight!"
"Maybe the fact that they did that was because they were worried," the second Jaune said. This Jaune, who we'll call logic, had a yellow Pumpkin Pete hoodie, along with a pen sticking from his right ear. He sat calmly at the wooden table that was positioned in the middle of the room. One side of the room was messy with comics, weapons, and an unkempt bed on it. The other side was clean, had a wooden bookshelf, and was orderly.
"They weren't worried a month after we got kicked out!" Emotion yelled. "They found our scroll number so easily so what stopped them from calling earlier?"
"The fact that we just disappeared of the face of the Remnant is probably a good reason!" Logic slammed his hands on the table but stayed seated. "We made it known that we didn't want them to contact us and we stayed below the radar for the days we stayed hidden in Junior's bar! So it makes sense that they would be worried when they see us in the news after initiation!" Emotion glared at logic and opened his mouth to say something, but Logic put his hand in the air. "Not only that, how do we know it didn't take them the three days we sent here to try and find our number? Maybe they were arguing amongst each other about what to do."
Emotion couldn't argue. Logic usually wins these arguments. Emotion sighs and sits down at the table. "I'm sorry… I know you're right. I just think it's a bad time for us to deal with this right now."
"When will be a good time E?" Logic asked. Emotion threw his hands up in the air.
"I don't know! Maybe after we got used to Shade? Besides should we even talk with them again?"
"They are our friends." Logic glared intensely at his counterpart. "We shouldn't have ignored them in the first place."
"Our friends?" Emotion scoffed. "Was Ruby and her team our 'friend' when they ignored us? How about the fact that Pyrrha Ren and Nora didn't even see how close we were to ending it? Cardin was. Cardin Winchester was the one who made sure we didn't do anything stupid."
"They knew!" Logic actually stood up in his chair and looked down on Emotion. "They but how were they supposed to approach us huh? 'Hey Jaune, we know you've been feeling depressed and we don't want you to commit suicide so buck up chum!' You would get angry at that!"
"No I wouldn't!" Emotion slammed down on the table and stood up. The two of them glared into each other's eyes, neither of them backing down. "I would be happy that they were worried, and then you would come in and say 'they were only doing it because they think you're weak' and like an idiot I would believe you! That would make us angry and do something stupid!"
The two entities stare at each other for what seemed to be hours. It was almost like whoever lost this staring match would lose their life. Both of them began to drip a little bit of sweat just from staring. Eventually Logic closed his eyes and gave in.
"Whether we want to admit it or not," he started as he sat down. "When I think of something you will always be a part of it, and when you react to something…"
"You will always be a part of it as well..." He finished. The two sigh as Emotion sat down. At least they came to an agreement. The two look at each other and say the same thing.
"So, what do we do next?"
Emotion leans forward. "Well maybe we should just focus on Shade," he said.
"Yeah," Logic said as he scratched the back of his head. "But what about Pyr Ren and Nora? Should we really cut them off?"
"I don't want to Lo. Still, we got some of Shade on our ass just for being here. The guy who attacked us and Malcolm are to name a few. Having them call us already threw us out of whack for today, imagine trying to do that for the rest of the year!" Logic hummed knowing that Emotion was right. Having to try and keep up with Pyr and the gang back at Beacon would be a hassle, especially now that he didn't have a team and was an operator.
"We should still keep some form of communication with them. Texting like this is sure to keep them satisfied until we're ready to actually talk with them."
"Yeah but how often are they going to be texting us? We'd rather not have to deal with these emotional issues in the middle of class." Logic chewed on his thumb nail.
"We need to think of something that makes it so we don't appear harsh…" Logic mumbled. He continued to chew his thumb as he thought of excuses. Emotion had a though of his own but… "Just say it E, I know when you're thinking about something."
Emotion looked at the ground. "What if we just tell her to leave us alone?" Logic looked at Emotion as if he was insane. He put up his hands to defend himself. "Not like the way I said it! Look we already said that Shade's been a little rough for us. So let's just say that the classes are a little harder and that us texting them will be sparse while we focus on school." Logic took a moment and nodded his head.
"All right, we'll try it your way. Speaking of Pyrrha… can I ask a question though?" Emotion quirked an eyebrow at Logic's question. Logic had a very tough one and didn't want to set off Emotion. "Did you notice how Dew kicked our ass in training today?"
"What about it?"
Logic swallowed the lump in his throat. "Why could we beat Pyrrha when she was going all out when we couldn't beat Dew in a regular sparring match?" Logic could see E's face change to anger.
"Don't you dare," Emotion warned his counterpart. "Don't you even suggest what I think you're suggesting. The only reason we lost was because we were sore, tired, and hadn't picked up Crocea Mors in a while."
"Even so, when we asked Pyr to go all out we could at least last a little bit. Now during a sparring match we had trouble against someone who lost in the first round of the festival!"
"Then we just have to work harder!" Emotion was yelling again. "Pyrrha did not go easy on us when we asked her to go all out. End of story!" Logic let out a small growl. When Emotion gets like this, nothing can calm him down. The only way to show him is for him to experience it. Fine, Logic will drop it for now. These two were not done discussing things, but for now, it was time for them to rest. The light in the room began to dim. Logic and Emotion slowly began to go to their beds. They said goodbye to each other, and closed their eyes.
Line Break
Jaune heard his scroll alarm go off. The jingle had become annoying for him to hear, which sucked because he actually like it when he first heard it. Now it was just a reminder to leave the comfortable bed. Jaune groaned as the jingling echoed in his head. He knew he had to get up but wanted to savior as much bed time as he could. Unfortunately the last time he did that he was late to classes back at Beacon. Reluctantly, Jaune got up and out of bed.
Jaune saw that he only had forty five minutes until class started. That meant putting on a lot of deodorant, a quick breakfast of toast and a glass of whatever was in the common area fridge and heading to class.
As Jaune headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth and put on deodorant, he noticed the burn scar on his stomach again. He shakes his head and tries to ignore the sense of failure he felt, failure to defend himself and beat something as simple as a bandit leader. Jaune reminded himself that the scar he got was for protecting someone, and that was good enough for him.
When Jaune got dressed in his normal hoodie and jeans combo, he looked at his armor that was strewn about, along with Crocea Mors that was in sword and shield mode. He didn't really have a rocket locker so the only way to keep track of these things was to wear them. As Jaune straps the pieces of metal on him, he had to get used to the extra weight on him. Not to mention how it made some of his sore spots ache a little more. He switched Crocea Mors to sheath mode and then strapped it to his back. Jaune fought through any soreness he felt, grabbed his backpack full of school supplies, and tried to get on with the school day.
Line break
Jaune entered Sarid's Dust class and took a look at the students who were in the room. Some of them were chatting with their teammates and friends, others were sharing notes, and Jaune swore he saw at least three people sleeping already.
Jaune was a little worried that he wouldn't know anyone in this class, but a saving grace snuck up behind him.
"Boo!" a familiar female voice startled. She gave Jaune a slight push which made him jump a little bit. He turns around with a frightened look on his face to see the smile of a purple haired leader. "Jeez you scare easily you know that?"
"It's a natural response to being scared!" Jaune blurted. He slightly pushes her in the arm. "Besides you tried to scare me!" Nebula innocently put her finger to her mouth and hummed. She and Jaune started walking to one of the desks as they continued their discussion.
"Did I purposely try to scare you? Yes, yes I did." Jaune gave her a glare. "In my defense though, you look really adorable when you're scared." Jaune's eyes widen as his cheeks turned pink. He lied down in his arms and mumbled.
"I'm not adorable. I'm manly as hell." Nebula giggled and playfully shook Jaune. Nebula took out her dust Textbook from her backpack and Jaune gave it a side glance. "Guess I'll have to ask Mr. Sarid for a textbook huh? Mind if I bum off you for today?"
Nebula gives a soft smile and slides her textbook over so Jaune could get a better look. She begins to explain some of the material that they have been going over for the first year. Most of it was pretty much the same over at Beacon just a couple of new stuff that Jaune didn't learn, such as "Introduction to Theory of Dust Creation," and then one that Nebula said they were starting, "Auras, Dust, and You."
As Nebula continued to explain the class, Jaune had a question that was bothering him. "Where is the rest of your team?"
"Miss Nyx made sure the teachers scheduled the students so they aren't with their team twenty-four-seven." Jaune had confused look on his face, so Nebula continued. "When I asked some of my teachers, in a nutshell they said it was so we don't just talk to our teams."
"Why wouldn't you want to talk with your teams?" Nebula waved her hand in a dismissive manner.
"It's not that they don't want us to talk with our team, they just want to make sure we don't just talk to our team. Ya know?" Jaune scratched his head in slight confusion but luckily a nearby student clarified for him.
"Basically so you don't become a team of loners that only talk with each other." Nebula pointed at the student who helped her out.
"Yeah that," She said. Jaune nodded in understanding and the two got back to the textbook. Unfortunately the bell rang and Sarid walked out of his closet carrying a bunch of Dust vials and containers. Nebula leaned over to Jaune. "You said you met Mr. Sarid before this right?"
"Yeah don't worry the cyborg bits don't bother me." Nebula gave a thumbs up and the two continued with class.
Sarid carefully placed the dust vials on his desk and let out a heft sigh now that he didn't have explosives in his hand. "Hello class. I hope you all enjoyed the Vytal festival at Beacon this year despite the attack. I also hope all of you have been studying as well." A few snickers and shifting eyes gave Sarid an answer. "Uh huh, I thought so. Well then I guess we'll start of the semester with a little review." A couple of groans were heard and Sarid waved his finger at the class. "I don't want to hear it! Everyone open your textbooks to the "Auras, Dust, and You" chapter.
Luckily Nebula and Jaune already had the book open to that chapter so they just had to wait for further instructions. Once Sarid thought enough time passed he continued with the review. "Now then as we all know dust is used in everyday life," Sarid started. "It is used as fuel, used as bullets, and it can be used in its pure form. Now who can tell me why pure dust needs to be activated by Aura?"
One of the students raised their hands and Sarid pointed at them. "Dust is theorized to be a pure physical form of magic. In order to use said magic, it needs a small outburst of outside magic, or in our case aura."
"Excellent explanation Mr. Marston."
Jaune got a good look at the student who answered the question. From what Jaune saw he was wearing a blackish blue vest that looked like the arms had been ripped off. Underneath was a tan collared shirt. He was wearing what Jaune would call a "Cowboy hat" and had a small feather on its brim. Jaune couldn't see below the boy's waist so he had no idea what pants he was wearing. Jaune noticed a small satchel lay on the desk where he was sitting and Jaune assumed it was his.
Marston saw Jaune stare at him. Jaune gave a weak smile with an apologetic wave. Marston glared at Jaune for a few seconds then went back to the text book. For some reason Marston made Jaune nervous.
"Now why would we use Dust in its purest form?" This time Nebula raised her hand and Mr. Sarid pointed to her.
"It is when it's strongest I believe."
Sarid nodded his head. "Another correct answer. Glad to see all of you have been studying over the break." Some of the students, including Nebula, smiled at the compliment. "However to use dust in crystal form is high risk high reward as it can also hurt you if you do not have enough aura or cannot sustain its power." Sarid spent a few minutes talking about the crystal form of dust. Simple things like how careful they had to be to mine it, how powerful two inches of a dust can be compared to one inch and other things like that. After a while Sarid continued with the lecture.
"All right let's get to the nitty and gritty, theories around this subject."
Jaune leaned over and whispered to Nebula. "You guys talk a lot about unknown stuff around here don't ya?"
Nebula leaned over and answered. "Dust is still unusual ya know?" Jaune agreed with her with a nod and the two continued with class. Sarid explained how Dust could be fused into clothing, which was mainly used for aesthetic purposes, and infused with a body. He was the perfect example of the latter. Jaune also remembered a story Blake told him that she used dust to help her with her semblance, so he figured it could be used in other semblances as well.
Semblances… Jaune figured his out so the question is how should he train for it? Half the time it came naturally and the only time he had to summon it he had to try really hard to concentrate. Maybe he'll do it during combat class.
Jaune continued to jot down notes for the rest of class. There were some things he actually didn't learn at Beacon, like the fact that dust can be wrapped around a person if the controller wishes to do so at the price of burning away aura and possibly the body itself if held for too long. Another thing he learned was that Dust seems to lose its power once it leaves the atmosphere.
Sarid also gave some examples of how the dust can actually affect differently depending on what's used on it. For instance using some gravity dust from the same crystal on two things can make the two objects repel and attract to each other, the same way Roy uses his blade. Meanwhile, when it is used in ammo it sends the person who fired flying, instead of the person targeted. Sarid didn't show that he just remembered that from watching Ruby fight.
After an hour of lecturing, taking notes, demonstrations and small talk with Nebula the bell rang for the next class. "So what's your next class?" Jaune asked Nebula.
"I have science next," Nebula answered.
"Aw that sucks, I have history next." With their stuff packed Jaune and Nebula headed down to Sarid to grabs Jaune's textbook. "I was hoping we would still be in the same class."
"Yeah well that's all right, we'll have combat class together. After all first years have combat classes together." Jaune nodded his head as if to say "That's true." Jaune went to Sarid and asked for the class textbook. Sarid grabbed one for Jaune and handed to Jaune. The two students thanked the teacher and headed to their next class.
They eventually had to part ways as their classes were down different hallways. For a goodbye Nebula held her hand in the air and Jaune knew what she wanted. The two shared a high five and then went their separate ways. As Jaune walked to his class, he took a deep breath. From the first interaction with Ms. Camira, Jaune was not looking forward to learning history with the aged smoker.
Line break
Jaune entered the classroom and instinctively looked at the students. This one seemed to have a bit of mixture of every year. He noticed that Ms. Camira was at her desk on her computer with a cigarette in her hand. Jaune's eyes then laid upon two students in particular. One was a red headed guy with a blue vest who had his feet up on the desk, and the other was a blonde girl that kicked his butt yesterday in sparring who was standing next to him.
Jaune walks up to his two friends with a small smile on his face. Nolan noticed Jaune and pointed to him. "Either I'm still drunk and hallucinating," Nolan said with a smirk. "Or I believe that Jaune Arc is in our class Dew!" The comment made Jaune shrink as if to hide from some prying eyes as Nolan was talking pretty loud. Jaune could feel his face flush with embarrassment. Jaune gave a weak wave.
"Hey guys," he said. He sat in the seat next to Nolan that wasn't occupied by Dew. "So is Nolan still hungover or…"
"Nah he's just an idiot," Dew answered with a shrug.
Nolan put his finger in the air and got the attention of the two blondes. "That's why you guys love me." Dew playfully slaps Nolan against the head. Nolan rubs where she slapped. "Ow! What was that for?"
"What? It's how I show love." The two shade students stick their tongues out at each other and Jaune lets out a chuckle. Nolan turns back to Jaune and gave hm a punch on the shoulder.
"Seriously though thanks for at least helping the hangovers a little bit," He told the blonde knight. Jaune nodded his head and had a grin on his face. He was about to welcome Nolan but the bell rang. Jaune noticed that everyone who was standing around and talking immediately got to their seat. Jaune couldn't blame them as Ms. Camira scared him when he met her.
Ms. Camira takes a long drag from the cancer stick and then put it out in an ashtray. She looks around the room and begins taking attendance. As she calls out the names, there is a commotion outside the room. Everyone turns to see a student burst through the door. Jaune's eyes shrunk in fear when he saw who it was.
"I'm sorry I'm late!" Malcolm said. He looked like he had ran a marathon. "My last class held me back for-"
"I don't care for your excuses Mr. Taurus," Ms. Camira said harshly. "Take your seat." Malcolm gulped and nodded his head. He rushed over to his desk and set his backpack on the desk and let out a big sigh. His friend greeted Malcolm and Malcolm gave a curt nod back. He then noticed Jaune staring at him. The two locks eyes for a minute. Malcolm glares and lets out a small growl, causing Jaune to turn his attention back to class. Just what he needed, one of the people who hated his gut the most in one of his classes.
Once Miss Camira was done with attendance, she stood up in class and began writing on the board. IN the middle of it she wrote "Bandit tribes." She then turned towards the class. "Now then," She started. "Who knows how long bandits have been around?"
A student raised her hand and answered. "As long as humans and Faunus have been around?"
"Correct, and who can tell me something that happened to Shade before the walls were built forty years ago?" Nolan raised his hand and Ms. Camira pointed to him.
"Bandit's razed the city."
Ms. Camira nodded her head. "The bandits liked the fact that they could mug anyone out in the desert, and when Shade got built we started cracking down on them. Of course that didn't sit well with them and well… the raze happened."
As Ms. Camira gave more details about the attack Jaune jotted down notes. The Bandit's attacked during the morning as they knew faunus guards could see at night and they had spies say that morning guards were groggy, lazy, and often showed up to shifts late. Most of the night guards would leave before someone filled their position causing a huge lack of defense. Fatal mistake.
With no walls and some innovation and stolen good from Atlas, not to mention the fact that bandit tribes began to work together, Shade had a lot of trouble repelling the attackers. Halfway through the fight grimm showed up and mad eit worst. The only good that came from that was they ate both citizens and bandits.
Through some miracle though, the citizens survived. Despite being somewhat modern, the exact details are funky. Some claim fire rained down from above because of a girl, others said Shade had a dust cache and let it loose, and some say it was the will of the gods. As to what truely happened, no one knows, but they repelled both grimm and bandits that day and rebuild Shade to what it is today.
No one needed to ask why they were studying this. With the attack on Vale it showed that there will always be people willingly enough and/or stupid enough to try these again. In the end it seems humanity always finds a way to bounce back.
The bandit lecture took the entire time as she explained the different resources each side had and how it contributed to the battle. When the bell rung students got out of their seats as per usual and get to their next class.
Jaune said goodbye to Nolan and Dew, the latter of whom said she'll see him at combat class, and they left while Jaune went to grab the textbook for the class. Ms. Camira was a little annoyed that Jaune forgot to mention it when he first came to see her, but shrugged it off and gave him the textbook.
With the second class done, Jaune went to his third class. However the real class he was excited for was his fourth one, Combat class. He wasn't sure what he would do, but for some reason he was filled with excitement.
To be continued.
Beta Reader: TheShadowOfZama