In this chapter: we meet some other characters and a few oc space marines. Please enjoy.
Chapter 1 - rough start
The journey to Vale and Beacon had been long and hard.
Jaune was on the final part of his trip to Beacon and it could not be over soon enough. He had believed the trek through the woods at night had been the worst part. Now Jaune faced his greatest obstacle ever: a trip on a flying bullhead.
Jaune regretted he had eaten some of his packed lunch before boarding. Now it was attempting to escape his stomach…. but not through the back door.
He had tried using all the tricks his mother had teached him to deal with motion sickness. Problem was that those tricks were meant for land travel.
Somehow he managed to keep himself from making a complete fool of himself. But it was a delicate balance, any disturbance would set him off.
…. So of course someone had to bump into him.
Jaune had never been as embarrassed as he was then. Accidentally he had thrown up on some girl's shoes.
Jaune learned his first lesson at Beacon then: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Eventually he managed to convince her that it had not been on purpose.
When the bullhead finally landed Jaune made his way out as fast as he could. that means he slouched forward slowly as not to repeat what happened during the flight. Some gave him odd looks. The girl he had accidentally angered even told him not to throw up on any more people's shoes. She was not going to let it go.
After his stomach had settled after some time on solid ground he finally looked around. Almost all of the bullheads' passengers had made for the banquet hall. Only a few others remained.
An explosion made him focus on two individuals in particular and they seemed to be arguing. A girl in white, black and red. He did not know of what they argued over but at the end the girl in red was on her back alone. He made his way over to her.
"Uhh, hey. I'm Jaune." he held out his hand, offering to help her up.
"Ruby." she answered and accepted his help. "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"
Jaune sighed and prepared himself to explain just how common motion sickness was as they moved along. He had made his first friend at Beacon, who gave him the name vomit boy. He countered by calling her crater-face for the small crater he had found her in.
It turned out Ruby was a special case, of the the good kind. Apparently she had been permitted by the headmaster himself to enroll at Beacon a few years early. Jaune was amazed by her story, how she had thwarted a robbery and chased the criminal over the rooftops until he had barely gotten away by bulkhead.
"Well the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet rolls of the tongue. The ladies love it."
"Do they?" asked Ruby sceptically.
"They will. I hope. My mom always says that..."
The image of his probably worried mother sprang to mind. Dust, she must be worried sick by now.
"... You know what, never mind."
The silence was awkward. Then Ruby got an idea for another line of discussion.
"Well i got this." Ruby said and held out a block. With the push of a button it changed into a huge scythe.
"Is that a…?"
"Yes, and also a high impact sniper rifle."
Jaune felt woefully unprepared. His family shield and sword did not measure up the the scythe. He tried to come up with something to say but could only come up with a "uuhhh".
"It's a gun." Ruby clarified, misinterpreting Jaune's lack of words.
It did give Jaune a chance to recover his posture. He took out his weapons and deployed them. She had shown hers, now he showed his, it was customary. Jaune was really glad he didn't say that out loud.
"Oh, they are…" she searched for the right words.
"Ancient." Jaune offered.
"No, classical. Not many people appreciate the classics these days." she said and tried to keep a straight face.
"Yeah, classics." His weapons were just like classics, outdated and belonged on a in museum. The idea that coming to Beacon was a mistake became stronger.
"So where are we going?" Ruby asked and put away her oversized scythe.
"I don't know. I was following you."
Jaune's time at Beacon was off to a rough start.
Jaune and Ruby eventually able to find all the other would-be students after an embarrassing long walk around the ground. It was a rather large crowd of people Jaune did not know. He was happy to at least have Ruby for company.
"Ruby, over here!" someone called out. A blond bombshell of a girl waved at Ruby.
"I saved you a seat"
"I gotta go. See you after the ceremony." Ruby said and ditched Jaune.
"Oooh, where am I going to find another quirky girl to talk to now?" Jaune said in dismay.
Sure, Ruby was quirky but she was someone to talk to. Now he stood alone in the huge crowd and it was very awkward. At least Ruby got into some conversation with some other people.
Then the speakers turned on and everyone turned their heads towards the far end of the room. A man with silver gray hair and a cane stood on a scene with a blonde woman. No one had notice them as they stepped up on the elevated scene. Not wanting to miss anything important they all stepped a bit closer. The man cleared his throat and began to speak.
"I'll keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to make the first step."
And just as quietly as he had come the man left. His female companion remained and stepped forward to address the young ones.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."
Jaune looked around. He had listened to the man's words with a blank face. It was the face he donned when he did not understand what he was hearing but did not want to interrupt. He was also prone to daydreaming when he did it. Jaune had ended up a bit closer to Ruby and her 'associates' and was close enough to overhear their conversation.
"He seemed kind of..." started the blonde girl.
"...off."
"It's almost like he wasn't even there."
Jaune assumed they had talked about him. He had been daydreaming, he could not deny that. Still, he did not like them talking about him behind his back so he approached them.
Before he could come up with something intelligent to say he saw the third girl in the group, dressed in all white. She was very pretty. Despite growing up with seven sisters Jaune had no idea how to talk to girls. The only advice he had was from his father saying that all one needs is confidence.
Before he could stop himself he blurted out "I'm a natural blonde, you know."
The girl in white just facepalmed.
Jaune's start at Beacon remained rough.
It was the day of the entrance exam and everyone woke up ahead of schedule. Not because they wanted to but, not because they had set their alarms to early, not because the sun woke them but because a girl with red hair…. okay, orange hair might be more accurate, and a pink skirt kept yelling 'It's morning!' over and over again to her friend. The man must have had the patience of a saint because he took it all with great stoicism.
Anyone else would probably have jumped out the window thought Jaune. He quickly abandoned such thoughts after he had had coffee. Now he was too embarrassed for almost spilling his entire cup on himself to be annoyed at the redhead. Although it had been her shenanigans that almost made him spill his coffee as she kept at it with the dark haired boy.
The pair's one-sided conversation continued even in the locker room. Jaune had quit paying them any mind some time ago. He was having problems of his own.
He knew he had put his gear in a locker but couldn't remember which one. He was almost panicking. He stumbled by someone, maybe it was Ruby and her sister. He didn't have time to check.
"There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday! I would've remembered having to count that high! Why does this have to happen today?"
He needed his gear today, damn it!
He passed by some other people. He thought he recognized the girl with the white hair from the day before. He looked up from his map. This would be a good way to fix the first impression he had given her.
Unfortunately, a good night's sleep had not really helped him learn from the last day's blunder. Without any plan in mind he stepped in between the white haired girl and the girl she was talking to, a red haired one. Had Jaune seen the other girl before? He could not remember.
"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." He said with a smile.
"You again?"
"Nice to meet you, Jaune!" the other girl said.
"Hi." he said nonchalantly and turned back to Weiss.
"So, Weiss, couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"
"Don't worry! No need to be embarrassed! So, been hearing rumors about teams! I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?"
"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so-" the red haired girl tried to interject.
"You don't say." Jaune turned to the red haired one.
His father had once given him some advice about women. 'All you need is confidence.'
With his father's wise words about women and confidence Jaune's mind sparked an insane idea in his head. If he appeared to be confident while courting another girl in front of Weiss maybe she would show interest in him. It was a strange and convoluted plan but then again, Jaune thought girls were strange.
"Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team."
At this point Weiss stepped in but not for the reason Jaune had hoped.
"Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"
Jaune looked confused from Weiss to the other girl, then back again.
"Not in the slightest, snow angel."
"This is Pyrrha!" exclaimed Weiss like the name was supposed to mean anything to him.
"Hello again!" Pyrrah waved, a bit embarrassed.
"She graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"
"Never heard of it." It was the truth. Jaune had hardly kept up with what happened outside his village before he left for Beacon apart from the really big news.
"Winner of the Mistral Region Tournaments! For four years in a row!"
"The what now?" Jaune was just getting more and more confused. If the girl was such a big deal, he should have heard of her. The keyword was 'should'.
Weiss was now flailing angrily. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" she spat out in anger from being forced to use such an example.
Realization hit Jaune like a brick.
"That's you? Bu-, bu-, but they only do that for stars and cartoon characters."
Realising that he had just compared her to a piece of fiction Jaune backed away a bit.
"Sorry for comparing you to a cartoon character!"
"It's okay and yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't good for you."
Pyrrha waved away. She had tried it sometimes but it had made her stomach turn on her. And it made her blood sugar skyrocket for a whole day.
Weiss kept up her inquiries.
"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?"
"I guess not... Sorry..." he said, his brief moment of confidence over.
"Actually, Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader!" Pyrrha said.
"D'oh, stop it!" He meant it. He did not need another inflation of his ego only to have it pop again. But it sure would feel better than wallowing in self pity.
Weiss on the other hand did not share Pyrrha's sentiment.
"Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!"
"Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune. Spots are filling up quick!"
Jaune decided to let his ego grow again. It was a new feeling for him and he kinda liked it.
"Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?" he said leaning in.
He tried to emulate the act of a salesman he had seen some years ago.
Unlike the salesman, Jaune did not have years of experience practising the act.
"All right, that's too close!" Weis said as she leaned backwards. "Pyrrha, a little help, please?!"
Jaune turned to the apparently famous Pyrrha only to see something long, red and bronze colored dart towards him. Whatever it was it lunged him into a wall.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha said.
"Don't be." Jaune managed to utter. He knew that he had overstepped.
Like his father once had said: 'hindsight is 20/20'.
The speakers came to life as he pulled himself of the wall. It was the voice of the woman from yesterday that came out of it. They were being summoned to Beacon Cliff for initiation.
The girls started to head out, leaving Jaune to brush bits of plaster of himself.
"It was nice meeting you!" said Pyrrha just as she stepped outside.
"Likewise…" Like hell it had been! He had been an ass.
He was brought from his melancholy by Ruby and who apparently was her sister, Yang. Jaune saw the similarities between them but it was not like the similarities between the Arc sisters.
"Having some trouble there, lady-killer?" The blonde asked with a smirk.
"You could say that. So much for dad saying all women look for confidence! Where did I go wrong?"
"Calling Schnee 'Snow Angel' was probably not the best start." Yang said.
Ruby decided that now was a good time to save Jaune from her cruel sister. "Come on, Jaune, let's go."
They made their way to Beacon Cliff. Some were already there, others were running late. Jaune looked around. All others had fine weapons that almost screamed 'projectile weapon' or were simply brimming with confidence. Unlike him.
He did not belong here. Jaune considered turning around and leaving Beacon altogether but he would not be able to bear the shame. Maybe if he was lucky he could just sneak away into the forest during initiation and just disappear. For now he just focused on the gray haired man with the coffee mug.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors…."
Jaune wished that was true.
"...and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."
The blonde woman by his side stepped forward.
"I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about being assigned "teams". Allow us to put an end to your confusion. Today, each of you will be given teammates."
This made Ruby groan. Jaune did not know why.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time at Beacon. It is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."
Ruby groaned even more, throwing glances at Weiss.
The gray haired man spoke up.
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."
Ruby's response perfectly summarized everyone's thoughts with a loud "Whaaaat?!"
The only one not to be bothered by this seemed to be the girl in the pink skirt who was practically glued to the boy with a strand of pink in his hair.
The man continued.
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in you come across... or you will die."
Jaune laughed nervously. Was that last part directed at him?
"We shall monitor you through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair will choose one and return to the top of the cliff. Are there any questions?"
Jaune raised his hand with a question. "Yeah, um, sir?"
Jaune was simply ignored.
"No questions? Good! Now, take your positions."
Everyone started to get ready, eager to get going. Their weapons were ready in their hands.
Jaune was still keeping his hand raised, hoping to get answers.
The others were being launched away around him. Seeing that his raised hand was being ignored he decided to voice his concerns instead of waiting for an answer. But just as he was about to speak the man tapped his scroll with a smirk on his face.
Jaune felt like the weight of a mountain was crushing him and then it stopped. He was in the air, gaining altitude.
Now Jaune was not the sharpest knife in the kitchen drawer but he knew that what goes up must come down. And the higher something goes, the more likely it is to go 'splat' once it hits the ground. And Jaune was very high up.
He screamed like a little girl as he felt his trajectory change downwards.
Pyrrah Nikos had been among the second last group to be launched from the cliff. That meant her target was not far behind. She was already making her decent down to the ground. She held her shield Akuó raised and ready and slammed into a tree, then another and another until they had slowed her down enough.
She brought forth her sword Miló and changed it to its rifle form and began her search. It did not take long to find her quarry as he was screaming his lungs off. Quite understandably really.
Pyrrah let Miló change again into a javelin and readied herself to throw. She took her time estimating the distance and speed of her target. She had to make this one count.
With an experienced motion she threw the javelin at her target.
Jaune's life was flashing before his eyes.
In the corner of his eye he saw something vaguely familiar. It was red and bronze colored, long and was heading straight towards him.
Jaune braced for impact and felt himself get pinned to a massive tree. He had been saved.
"Thank you!" he shouted in the direction from which the javelin had come from.
Jaune saw Pyrrha waving some distance away.
"I'm sorry!" she shouted.
"Don't be." Jaune answered.
He looked at the javelin that was looming over his head. A few inches lower and his head would have been skewered. The javelin had caught his hood and pinned him to a tree trunk, undoubtedly saving him. He tried to pull out the javelin but it was not able to make it budge. It was stuck.
"Huh, guess one doesn't become a champion for nothing."
If this was any notion of the level of skill Beacon's students were meant to display then Jaune should just have listened to his parents and sisters all those years ago.
He was outgunned, outmatched and way out of his league.
He might as well head home. His parents would scold him and his sisters would remind him of his failure for the rest of his life. That would be nothing new. They had been doing it pretty much all his life already, almost two decades now. What difference would a few more decades be? But before he could go back home he had to get down from the tree. He tried to free himself.
His paused trying to free himself when he heard something approach. Was it a grimm? Was he going to end up like grimm-food, served on a spit and all?
Fear of death gave Jaune a much needed boost of adrenaline. He started to tug even harder to free himself, occasionally throwing a glance to where the sound was coming from.
Jaune almost wished it had been a grimm that had come for him when he saw who it was. Weiss Schnee looked at him, annoyance written all over her face. He gave a weak wave of his hand but she just turned around, leaving him hanging. He thought he could hear Ruby now as well but he hoped she did not come his way. Having been seen in this state by Weiss was bad enough.
With a sigh he turned back to the spear. There was another sound of footsteps.
"Jaune?"
He looked down to see Pyrrah.
"Do you have any spots left on your team?" she asked with a small smirk.
"Very funny." he answered acidly. Then he remembered what an ass he had been to her previously, and she had saved his life.
"But yes, I do." he said with a weak smile.
Pyrrah leapt up to the trunk and grabbed the spear with both hands, her feet solidly against the trunk. With proper leverage she pulled the spear out with ease. Jaune fell to the ground and landed on his ass with thud.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. It could have been much worse. The only thing hurt is my pride."
Yeah, it was quite battered.
The duo, Jaune Arc and his now partner Pyrrha Nikos, had set out towards the end of the forest. The grey headed sadist as Jaune called the headmaster had told them that they needed to gather a relic from an temple there.
Pyrrha had taken the lead. Jaune did not mind. She had seen more of their surroundings while airborne than him. They were making rather good and steady progress. The sound of gunfire made Jaune turn around.
"What was that?"
"Gunfire" answered Pyrrha, matter of fact.
"Seems like some of our comrades have encountered the enemy. Come, they might need our help."
Jaune resisted the urge to groan. It was obvious to him that he was worthless in a fight. Nevertheless, they headed for the source of the sound. The vegetation was dense in this part of the forest.
Pyrrha pushed away a branch and let it go as she passed, certain that Jaune knew of it.
He didn't.
He felt a sting on his cheek as his mouth was filled with leaves. He fell backwards and began to spit out the leaves.
"Ow." was the only thing Jaune said when he touched his cheek. There was definitely a wound there. Pyrrha look perplexed at him, like she was having trouble understanding his actions.
"Why didn't you activate your aura?"
"My what now?"
"Your aura."
"Gesundheit."
Pyrrha massages the bridge of her nose. "Do you even know what aura is?"
Jaune huffed. "Of course I do. Do you?"
She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow and gave a smile.
Knowing that Pyrrha had called his lousy excuse for a bluff he sheepishly admitted that he didn't know what aura was. She helped him up and began to explain.
"Aura is the manifestation of our soul." she began. "It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. With practice, our Aura can be our shield. All have it, even animals."
"What about grimm?"
"No, for they lack souls. They are creatures of Grimm, anonymity made flesh. They are the darkness, and we are the light."
"And that's why we fight them." Jaune had never cared for philosophy but he had the notion that light and dark ware always clashing.
"It's not about why; it's about knowing." Pyrrha corrected him
"Understanding dark and light helps us manifest our Aura. We all have some of both. By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. Our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting."
"So it's like a force field!" Jaune said, proud of his own conclusion.
"Sure." Pyrrha said with a hint of doubt as she walked up to him. Jaune was learning, but not necessarily the right thing.
"If you want to look at it that way."
She gently raised her hand towards him.
"Close your eyes and concentrate."
Jaune complied hesitantly. He soon felt an odd tingling sensation. He felt her put his hand on his chest. It felt odd but he went along with it.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."
Jaune opened his eyes and looked at his hands. There was a faint glow around them. He looked up to Pyrrha who was hunched forward in exhaustion.
"Pyrrha? You okay?"
She straightened herself.
"I'm fine, just a bit winded. I used some of my Aura to unlock yours." She looked at his cheek and saw the wound vanish in a few heartbeats.
"You sure have a lot of it."
"Thanks Pyrrha. I'm sure this will help." he said in amazement. "So what now?"
"Now let's go help our comrades."
Glynda Goodwitch and headmaster Ozpin watched the trials from afar. So far things were going well. All the students had found a partner and none had died. At least not yet.
Ozpin hoped it would remain that way. He did not like having to send letters of consolation to the dead ones' families.
He took another sip of coffee. No kids dead yet and there were no major complaints. All was good.
His colleague did not share his good mood.
"The last pair has been formed. Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. Poor boy, how is he supposed to keep up with her? Oh well, at least he is better of than Miss Nikos. I can't think of a worse possible partner than Arc."
She huffed in annoyance.
"I still can't understand why you let him get this far. His transcripts were obviously forged. He is not anywhere near ready for what Beacon has in store for him."
The headmaster just calmly sipped his coffee. He had had one primary and personal reason for it but it had been overruled by another, more concerning one.
"I let him get this far Glynda because his forgeries were able to get this far. We have safeguards in place to prevent forgeries such as his from even getting to us. The fact that he has gotten to where he is now must mean that someone or something is pulling for him."
"And you are just going to let them get away with it?"
"Hardly Glynda. I intend to show them that Beacon Academy is not to be trifled with or mocked. We will launch an investigation to find out who or what is behind this. Letting Jaune Arc in might help us figure out how and why without them knowing of our suspicions. Besides, here we can keep an eye on him and help him develop as a huntsman."
Goodwitch snorted.
"If he even get that far. All the teams should be nearing the temple shortly."
Librainan Amaretto of the Blood Angels was making his way to his superior and mentor Varon.
He had had a vision of sorts. All Blood Angels had visions, when they first joined the ranks of their brothers in the chapter and as they descended into the madness that was the Black Rage. They all experienced the life and death of their primarch Sanguinius.
As a Librarian Amaretto was very familiar with these events. His latest vision, if it could be called that, had something to do with it. He had not seen the fate of his gene-father but instead heard a chant, a poem, in what sounded like Low Gothic. The words did not seem heretical but neither were they the words an astartes would chose to use. A bit of poetry did not worry Amaretto as he was a Blood Angel and as such lived in splendor as per his gene-father's decree.
What had him worried was that it almost behaved like the usual visions. Amaretto hoped that Varon would have answers for these visions.
As he marched forward he acknowledged his fellow battle brothers. These were warriors he had fought and bled together with. He knew their hearts and minds. Today they all seemed, off. The difference from their daily ritual was small, almost unnoticeable, but an astartes could notice it. Had they also felt the vision?
Amaretto arrived at his mentor's station and made ready to request entry. Before he could the voice of Varon spoke out.
"Enter, Librarian."
Amaretto did as he was told.
"No need for ceremony Amaretto. You would not have seeked me out like this unless it was a matter of great importance."
"Indeed, I have had a vision and our brothers are behaving strangely."
Amaretto nodded. He had noticed the change as well.
"I have noticed this as well. Tell me of your vision, leave no detail unmentioned."
Amaretto obliged. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death."
Varon cut in and finished the poem. "I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee. Indeed brother, I have had the same vision as you. Most likely have your fellow Librarians had it as well."
"What does it mean? It is though the words came from the same source as the other visions we see."
"I do not know." said Varon bluntly as he turned towards the entrance to the room. "Enter."
A fellow Astartes, Ecanus, came in to the room. "Chief Librarian, I have grave news."
"Seeing as you have left your post by the Death Company it had must indeed be grave news." Varon said.
The Death Company, the company comprised of those who the Black Rage had taken. It was an eternal madness and the only cure was death. But putting down their fellow battle brothers like feral dogs was not the way of the Blood Angels. Instead the Death Company was kept in waiting for being let loose on their final battlefield.
Until then they waited in silence, speaking only a few word even for astartes.
"It concerns the Death Company, Librarian. They are speaking with us and one another."
The librarians were intrigued by this. "Of what do they speak?"
"Of old victories and glories. They speak of better days, before the Black Rage overtook them."
Varon nodded. "You did well in bringing this to our attention. Return to your post and keep us updated of any and all changes."
Ecanus turned around want went to carry out his orders. "This warrants investigation." Varon said. "Gather a squad and prepare for embarkation. I shall inform the chapter master of this."
If all of the Blood Angels had been affected, if all the librarians had heard the same words and if the Death Company came out of their madness at the same time it could not be coincidence. Varon did not know what was going on but he knew it had to be important.
Jaune and Pyrrha had tried to follow the sound of combat. Before they could find anyone the noise had stopped. Either had their comrades won their bout or lost. They both hoped it was the former.
The walk had not been a complete loss though. It had taken them in the direction they would have gone anyway.
Now they were faced by a problem: terrain.
Their destination was behind a mountain surrounded by dense forest and ragged rocks.
Neither of them were keen on taking on such a hike. Jaune because his legs already hurt from all the walking. Pyrrha did not want to go because she wore heels.
Jaune had decided not to bring up the question why she did that.
Fortunately they had found a cave that seemed to go under the mountain. There was a draft so it had to lead somewhere. They headed inside, not minding the odd symbols on the outside as they were bleached by rain, wind and sun.
They did not seem to resemble anything, least of all a warning. They were just some odd markings.
Filled with new confidence after having his aura unlocked Jaune took the lead after handing the torch over to Pyrrha.
"Are you sure you won't need it?"
"No, I'm fine. Apparently aura does wonders for one's night vision. Man, this would have been great when I trekked through the woods on my way to Beacon. Are you sure you really need the torch?"
Pyrrha shook her head.
"Jaune, aura doesn't affect our night vision." she tried to tell him but her words fell on deaf ears.
Jaune's ears were clogged up by foolish pride and excitement. It would probably lead to him walking right into danger. Even right then danger could be in front of them.
She pointed this out for Jaune but he scoffed. Better to take the fight to the danger he said rather than the other way around.
Pyrrha shook her head. Jaune was being foolish but at the same time Pyrrha was beginning to doubt her own words.
Jaune was waltzing around in the dark with no problem at all! She on the other hand struggled to keep up despite being the one with the torch. Several times Jaune would tell her to watch her step or tell her not to trip over a rock or something the like.
When she brought the torch closer there had indeed been a rock or a hole just where he said there was.
How could he see so well? Had it been her unlocking his aura? Preposterous!
A particularly strong gust of wind blew out the torch. Even with his recently enhanced sight Jaune found himself stumbling in the complete darkness.
"Did you feel that?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah, kinda wished I hadn't."
They continued onward, following the breeze. They couldn't be too far from the exit now.
"Hey, I think I see a light!" Jaune shouted only to regret it immediately afterward. The cave echoed and amplified his words right back at him. Nonetheless he briskly moved forward, a hand outstretched as not to bump into anything by mistake.
"Are you sure? I can't see anything."
"Come on Pyr, I think I found something."
The Mistralian champion furrowed her eyebrows.
"Pyr"? Had Jaune given her a nickname already? None had done that before. It was always 'Miss Nikos' or 'Champion' with others.
She did not mind. She had hoped for something like this when she had gone after Jaune at the cliff.
She mentally scolded herself for losing focus and got her head back in the game.
Pyrrha found her partner standing in front of something shiny, suspended in the air.
"See, I told you I found something. Oh, do you think this is a relic?"
He tried to grab it but it moved away but not fast enough. He managed to grab on to it and tried to pull it down only to get pulled up himself. The thing glowed brighter.
Pyrrha felt a slight tremor through the cave floor. In the brightening light she could see dirt, undisturbed for ages, beginning to move.
A huge pair of red eyes revealed themself along with a giant pair of pincer claws.
Pyrrha realized what is was. A Death Stalker, a very dangerous scorpion-like grimm. And this one must have been ancient.
She leaped past a attacking claw and made for the exit. This was not a good place to fight for her. The grimm turned to follow her outside while Jaune held on to the stinger and screamed for dear life. The sound of his screams must have been heard for miles.
The light of day stung her eyes as Pyrrha made it out but they quickly adapted. She could hear the Death Stalker burst out from the cave, shattering the rock and stone in the process.
She turned around to face her foe, now on better grounds where she had the liberty of movement. Her partner was still clinging to the stinger but that could work to her advantage. Maybe he could restrain it somehow. Unfortunately the grimm was ancient enough to understand this as well.
With a wave going through its entire body it flung the human away from its tail.
Pyrrha watched her partner 'fly' away, looked back at the grimm and simply said "Nope".
She darted away, following Jaune's trajectory. The grimm gave chase. It had been stuck in that cave for too long without bloodshed to let this human get away.
The situation did have a silver lining for the humans though: they were going in the right direction.
Jaune went through the air the second time that day.
For some odd reason it did not bother him as much this time. The grimm had not thrown him that high up and he was headed for soft vegetation that could break his fall. He remembered watching something on television about daredevils surviving things like this by rolling as they hit the ground.
Even so he tried to control his flight as much as he could. He had a nice bit of foliage targeted. If he only could stick the landing he would be mostly alright, after all, he had aura now.
…. If only he knew how it worked.
Then, out of the litteral blue sky, came Ruby and slammed into him. He was knocked off his trajectory and he and the girl slammed into a tree.
"Ohh, my head, I'm seeing stars." she said dizzily.
"Eh, Ruby, you okay?" he asked.
"I'm okay. You?"
"The flight was not so bad. It was the landing that hurt. But at least I didn't break a window this time."
"Wait, you have done this before?"
"I..." Jaune hesitated, trying to remember something but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"... maybe." he said and helped lower Ruby to her sister on the ground.
There was another girl with her. She had raven hair and a bow on her head.
"Yang, did your sister just fall from the sky?" she asked confused.
"Well Blake-"
Before Yang or Jaune could answer they heard a bunch of crashing noises coming their way. It was an Ursa. The girls on the ground got ready for combat but just as the grimm had gotten into the clearing it fell over dead.
"Aww, I think we broke it Ren." said the girl with the pink skirt.
The boy, Ren, panted and responded.
"Nora! Please, don't do that again. EVER!"
His words fell on deaf ears as the girl just walked on to a bunch of pillars and picked up something.
How had Jaune not noticed them before? She picked up one of them and began singing a merry tune for herself. She was soon joined by Yang.
The girl with the bow still looked confused.
"Did she just ride an Ursa?"
Jaune thought back to the strange sight. For a moment he had thought the noise came from the Grimm that had tossed him away from Pyrrha.
"Pyrrah!"
He had left her alone with that monster!
"Jaune!" came a response from the forest. Running in the wake of the Ursa's destructive path was Pyrrha, the Death Stalker hot on her tail.
"Is that a Death Stalker chasing her? Is she leading it here?" asked Blake, more confused than ever.
Jaune could not blame her. So far two people had fallen from the sky, two had ridden an Ursa to death, and one was leading a even bigger beast towards them.
Blake did however take the insanity better than Yang who had had enough.
"ARGH! I can't take it anymore. Can't the world just start making sense? Can't we just take two seconds to take a chill pill?"
Ruby walked up to her sister, looking up in the sky, and tugged at her sister's sleeve. The blonde bombshell looked up and groaned.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me! Why is she still up there?"
"I don't know. I told her to jump." said Ruby weakly.
"How could you abandon me?" shouted Weiss from the huge bird Grimm that held her captive.
"I said jump!" answered Ruby and watched as her partner began to fall towards the ground.
"Dammit!" thought Jaune and dashed forwards, arms outstretched. Weiss was not a heavy girl but anything moving at such velocity would pack one hell of a punch. And oh boy, did it? The impact of Weiss drove him to the ground.
"My hero." she muttered, not impressed by his performance.
"My spleeeen." was all Jaune could say. Weiss may have had aura just like him so his help had maybe not been needed. Still, a 'thank you' would have been nice.
As he pulled himself up he felt something hard hit his back, pushing him down yet again face first.
"I'm sorry! " said Pyrrha and tried to unplant him from the ground.
'ont ie' was all she heard from his still buried face.
"So, the gang's all here, also vomit boy." said Yang.
"Hey!"
"So now we can all die together at the claws of these grimm." Yang finished.
"Not if I can help it." said Ruby, scythe at the ready.
She made for the Death Stalker while firing upon it. The bullets had little to no effect. She let at it with the huge blade but was repelled back. Realising that she was outmatched she made a hasty retreat.
Then the Nevermore appeared again. It fixed its eyes on Ruby like an eagle chasing a rabbit. It flapped its wings and unleashed a rain of feathers at the girl. They almost hit her but her long cloak got pinned down to the ground. And the Death Stalker was still headed for her. Realizing Ruby's peril Weis intervened. Using her glyphs to get to Ruby before the grimm she unpinned the girls cloak.
"You are so childish!"
With her rapier she formed a wall of ice encasing the grimm. It would not hold for long.
Jaune could not hear what the two girls were arguing about but he knew now was not the time for it. He spat out the last of the dirt from his mouth and bellowed at them.
"Get a move on! We can't take them on out here!"
"Sure we can." Yang said.
"We just have to surround the Death Stalker and hit it with all we got."
"No, we can't! Not while that thing is in the air and can provide air support. Hell, it could weather us down at its own pace out here."
Like on cue the Nevermore let go another hail of feathers on Weiss and Ruby who now started to leg it.
"Well, what do you suggest? We can't really get to the damned thing from here."
"We need some cover and preferably high ground to slow the Death Stalker down."
"I think I saw some structures that way." said Ren and pointed. Indeed, a tall stone structure was visible behind the trees.
"We can't just leave!" protested Ruby as she and Weiss joined up with the group. "We haven't completed our mission."
"Yeah, that is our priority." agreed Yang, not wanting to be ordered around.
Jaune rolled his eyes at the two sisters but turned around to grab a chess piece, a golden rook.
"Grab a piece and let's go!" He started for the ruin only to be quickly overtaken by everyone else.
"You are doing great Jaune!" shouted Pyrrha from the front but Jaune was too winded to reply.
They came out of the forest and found the ruins of a great structure. There was high ground there but it only lead to bridges and towers. There were some pillars to hide behind but it was hardly a good place for a fight.
Jaune tried to catch his breath. The Death Stalker was having problems with the trees and the Nevermore had not been able to see them through the leaves. Now however it could see them.
"Scatter!" bellowed Jaune and ducked for cover. He barely dodged the feather that buried itself in the ground next to him. The Grimm flew past them and perched itself on the top of the highest tower. It cawed in challenge to the small ground dwellers that had dared to enter its domain.
"Isn't that just great!" complained Yang only to get more annoyed as the Death Stalker burst out through the woods.
"Run for it!" Jaune shouted.
"Get to the towers!"
Everyone started to move. This made the Nevermore take to the skies again.
"Nora! Distract it!" shouted Ren.
"You got it!"
Nora headed straight for the Nevermore, ignoring the feathers it launched at her and unleashed a barrage of genades at the avian grimm. It retreated away from Nora who did not notice the other grimm heading for her. Ren and Blake intervened, pushing the Death Stalker back with a surprise attack, allowing Weiss to take Nora away.
Jaune and the others were running after them. Pyrrha firing at the grimm to buy Ren time to get away from it.
"Go! Go!" she shouted needlessly. They would have run either way.
They had almost reached the bridge when the Nevermore swooped down and destroyed the bridge leading over a deep chasm. The group was split up. Jaune had just barely gotten to the far side of the bridge along with Ruby, Weiss, Nora and Yang.
The others were still on the other side with the Death Stalker. With its size and weight the grimm had the advantage over them. They could barely move it while it could easily toss them around.
"We gotta help them." stated Jaune as he turned back to the chasm. It was his idea to retreat here that had caused this mess.
"Let's go!" said Nora eagerly.
Jaune swallowed as he looked down into the abyss.
"I uh, I can't make that jump." he admitted. Unlike the others he could not seemingly defy gravity at will.
"Not a problem." chuckled Nora and let her grenade launcher transform. It was an evil chuckle.
Jaune realized what she was thinking when he saw the weapons new form, a massive two handed hammer. By instinct he raised his shield to take the blow.
"Fore!" shouted Nora and sent Jaune flying at the grimm. He barely managed to turn around in the air in time to hit the grim with his shield instead of his back.
The grimm staggered, surprised by the flying human.
Satisfied with her almost-golf swing Nora put the head of her hammer down on the bridge and fired a grenade, propelling herself over the gap with an explosion. She brought the hammer down at the still staggering grimm.
"Look out!" shouted Weiss. The Nevermore was headed towards them, flying low. It caught Blake in its claws and took off. She cut and tore into it with her weapon, forcing it to let go. She landed at a ruined column.
"This is not working!" said Weiss reloading her weapon. She was starting to run low on dust. She fired at the Nevermore, hoping too keep its attention away from the ones that were dealing with the Death Stalker.
"Then let's take down this birdbrain with all we got!" bellowed Yang whilst blasting the bird with Ember Celica.
"I have a plan. Cover me!" shouted Ruby starting to move closer to the main structure, leading the bird away from the bridge.
Jaune had no idea what Ruby and company were up to. He didn't have time to check. He and the others were in a stalemate with the Death Stalker. They had it surrounded but it would not go down without a fight. Nora and Ren were throwing all they had at the grimm's backside while both Jaune and Pyrrha faced its claws with raised shields. Jaune was holding his shield up and did what little he could, ready to block anything the grimm threw at him.
He saw Pyrrha block and counter, then block and counter again but it was not getting her anywhere. He got an idea. Just as the grimm was about to counter he stepped in its way, taking the hit for the girl.
Pyrrha did not waste time asking why and instead went for their enemy's face, making it lash out with all its extremities in pain. It hit Ren right in the gut, almost throwing him off the bridge. He barely held on to the ledge. Nora moved to help her friend but it left Jaune and Pyrrha alone against the Grimm.
It was wounded. There were cracks in its armour and the tail hung limply over its body. It almost looked like the stiger had been torn away when it had tossed Jaune earlier. It hanged just above the beast's head.
"Pyr! The stinger. Bring it down!"
"Will do!" she answered and threw her shield. The sharp edge sliced through the damaged tissue and the stinger fell down, embedding itself it the monster's neck.
"Nora! Nail it!"
Jaune pointed at the golden stinger and Nora smiled. She launched herself up in the air again and brought down the hammer. Jaune had stopped to watch the finishing blow but instead Pyrrha grabbed him and started to haul him away.
"What gives?"
"The bridge!" she answered. She lifted his shield up and took a strike from the grimm's claw, using the force of the blow to propel them to solid ground.
Just like she had said the bridge gave way. All the fighting, weight and final hammerblow had been too much for the ancient structure. Had they still been on it they would have gone down with the grimm.
"Well done guys." was the only thing Jaune managed as he laid exhausted on the ground.
He was soon joined by Ren who slumped down next to him. Nora, having used a final explosion to propel herself out of the chasm gingerly walked up to them, humming a tune.
They looked up toward the tower where the others were dealing with the Nevermore.
"Should we help them?" asked Pyrrha.
"Nah." answered Jaune.
"I think they have it covered."
In truth he was too exhausted to think. He just sat up to watch as Ruby somehow ran up the cliff with the Nevermore caught in her scythe. With a final burst of speed the birds head was removed from its body.
"Wow. That was something else."
A few hours later the new students of Beacon Academy stood in a large auditorium. The headmaster was presenting the newly formed teams as the audience applauded.
"... shall hence be know as Team CRDL led by Cardin Winchester."
There was a loud boom of applause as Cardin Winchester followed by Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark and Russel Thrush made their way to their seats.
Pyrrha, Nora, Ren and Jaune stepped forward as their faces appeared on the big screen. The pictures looked better than them at the moment. Some of them still had twigs and leaves in their hair. Jaune's face face still covered in dirt even after he had tried to wash it. The instant the crowd saw Pyrrha's face they roared. The noise made Jaune flinsh but Pyrrha, being used to this sort of thing, withstood it.
"Almost like Ullanor, in a way." mused Jaune.
"What's an Ullanor?" asked Ren.
"I, uhh, can't remember." his thoughts were interrupted as Ozpin began to talk again.
"Next are Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos…."
once again the room boomed with noise.
"... and Nora Valkyrie. You retrieved the white white rooks. For your time here at Beacon you shall operate as Team JNPR led by..."
The room exploded as all shouted 'Pyrrha Nikos!'. This did make Pyrrha sigh.
She had come to Beacon in order to get away from all that crap.
Ozpin waited until the noise had been quelled by the gaze of Goodwitch before he finished his sentence.
"...Jaune Arc."
The room fell silent though a feint 'the shit' could be heard.
"I'm sorry, what?" said Jaune, just as dumbfounded as all the others.
"Jaune Arc." repeated Ozpin. "Congratulations, young man. We had our doubts but your display of tactical thinking convinced us. Even if your plan was a very rudimentary one."
Even after hearing the headmaster repeat himself Jaune was still dumbstruck, his mouth still open. All let out a small laugh as he had to be dragged away by Nora. He regained enough conscience to experience Ruby being nominated to team leader of Team RWBY. He applauded like all the others but he was still stunned by the surprise of being named leader.
When he had set out for Beacon he had not had any big goals. Getting into Beacon had been his only real target and with his skills even that had been a stretch. How on remnant was he supposed to manage this?
Later on the same evening Team JNPR held their first team meeting in their dorm. Before they even had sat down on the floor, because they would fall asleep on the beds, Pyrrha had run for the windows and pulled down the blinders.
"Sorry but they are always there, always watching and always taking pictures." she said as she sat down.
"Who, the paparazzi?" Nora asked earning a facepalm from Ren.
"Who else could it be?" Apparently even Ren had a limit for the girl's silliness.
"Yes. Back home we have ways of dealing with them, but here… I'm sorry if it bothers you."
"Is it really that bad?" asked Jaune. He couldn't imagine living like that, knowing that there was always someone with a camera spying on you. And Pyrrah had lived with it for several years now.
"No" she answered. "It is even worse."
By Oum, now Jaune felt really bad for her.
"But let's talk about something else. Why don't we all introduce ourselves?" she said with a weak smile.
Jaune nodded.
"Sounds good to me. Who wants to go first?"
"Oh, oh! Us first! Us first!" said Nora while hugging (shaking) Ren wildly.
"Okay, go ahead Nora… and Ren."
"So we have been together since we were kids. I mean not like together-together but you get the idea. We didn't have anyone else, we are orphans you see. Nasty business, don't ask about it. So anywho, we started traveling together and by some odd twists of fate we found ourselves here." Nora spat out leaving her out of breath.
Ren coughed. "So this is my weapon, Stormflower." He held out a pair of guns with blades attached to them.
"And this..." Nora said with worrying enthusiasm. "Is my hammer! Magnhild weighs more than most can lift and is capable of firing grenades. But guess you already knew that."
Now it was Jaune's turn. "So I'm Jaune."
"Fearless leader of team JNPR!" Nora interjected. Jaune looked pleadingly to Ren who shook his head. He would not be able to restrain his friends outbursts.
"Right, so I'm from a small village from Vale. I grew up with my family: mum, dad, my seven sisters-"
"That many! How do you put up with that?" asked Pyrrah.
"With a lot of sweets and even more patience. So anyway…."
He took out his sword and shield.
"This is Crocea Mors. It's been in the family since the Great War."
"So that explains why they look so... vintage?" Ren said, trying to choose his words carefully.
"They look old." Jaune corrected his new teammate.
"You don't need to lie. Ruby already helped break that ice."
He put his weapons away with a heavy sigh, envious of the other weapons in the room.
"So what made you come here?"
"I suppose I wanted to carry on my family's legacy. Try to make my ancestors proud."
They turned to Pyrrha for her story.
"Oh, there is no need. I'm sure you have already heard all you need to know." she said.
Ren and Nora were almost nodding. They knew of the four-time champion from Mistral. Top of her class, adoring fans everywhere, the face for the Pumpkin Pete cereal. Yada, yada, yada.
"Actually, I wouldn't mind if you told us yourself." Jaune said sheepishly. It felt a bit embarrassing to admit that he was not in the know like everybody else.
"I mean, I didn't even recognize you until Weiss all but showed a box of Pumpkin Pete under my nose."
"Wait, you mean you have never heard-" Nora began.
Not wanting to repeat the conversation with Weiss Jaune cut her off.
"No, I haven't. I'm from a small village that mostly keeps to itself and my parents absolutely forbade me and my sisters to ever watch anything combat related. Any news my family cares about is if a catastrophe is coming or if the harvest will be good or bad. We don't really get tabloid papers, and even if we did we would not care about them. The only one in my family who would care is my youngest sister. Sorry if it's a bother but I really don't know anything about you, except from what I have learned today."
Pyrrha was speechless for a moment. Did her partner truly not know anything about her?
"No, it's fine. It's just a bit unusual that's all. Where should I start?"
She really didn't know. Usually the reporters or her agent would be the ones to set the pace for her conversations. He started off awkwardly. He asked about family, how it was like to grow up in Mistral and other things.
It was not questions of what she thought about a match or her thoughts on some baseless rumor or prodings of her private life. He did not poke at her choice of words.
He did not try to find some hidden meaning or hidden truth. And he didn't write anything down! She did not have to worry about her agent calling and complaining about what she had said. It was a huge relief.
For this man, for Jaune Arc, she was just someone else. Not someone to be worshiped at all times or to ask for autographs from. Here she was just Pyrrha, or Pyr as he had taken to call her. She let him, it was less formal than the usual 'miss Nikos'.
Eventually the questions stopped and they started making ready for the next days classes. Alarms were set, turns to the shower predetermined in advance and so forth. Soon the exhaustion from the day's fighting caught up with them. Jaune considered calling home but figured it could wait.