"...depending on the type of Dust I infuse my glyphs with, I can create solid platforms, propel objects, increase my speed, and manifest elemental projectiles or barriers. My sword—" Sable spoke his weapon's name at this point, but Jaune could only make out something between a gargle and a growl, "—also serves as a conduit for rapid Dust deployment, and can store up to six different varieties. So, what can you do?"
"Uh..." Some time into their hike, Sable had stopped giving Jaune the silent treatment and launched into a lengthy description of his weapon and 'Semblance', whatever that was. Internally, he was freaking the hell out. Were Beacon students supposed to be able to do stuff like that? He was dimly aware that his dad and some of his sisters had special abilities, stuff that made them a bit stronger or tougher by the sound of it, but these 'glyphs' sounded ridiculous. Elemental projectiles, barriers, and actual haste spells? Was his partner some sort of video game wizard?
"I've got this sword." Jaune offered. "It's called Crocea Mors."
"Does it do anything special? Besides cut things?" Sable asked.
"It's also a shield." Jaune expanded the sheath to demonstrate. "My great-great-grandfather used it in the war...I guess you could say it's a family heirloom." He silently thanked Ruby for teaching him that phrase. It sounded a lot more impressive than 'hand-me-down', for sure.
"That's...quaint." His partner did not sound impressed, however. "Of course family history has its sentimental value, but I'd recommend upgrading to something more modern. That sword looks well maintained for its age, but mechashift technology has come a long way since the Great War. Combining melee and ranged capabilities in one weapon is the standard practice these days—"
So much for appreciating the classics. Then again, Ruby did say that not many people did these days. Still, Jaune was half tempted to defend his family's honor. Crocea Mors was the pride of the Arc line, the ancient blade that Louis Arc had wielded when performing his many heroic deeds. Jaune didn't actually know what heroic deeds his ancestor had done, but he was sure Crocea Mors had definitely...killed a lot of people? Oh gods, that was what happened in the Great War, wasn't it? Suddenly he felt rather uncomfortable holding it like that.
"Ow!" He was distracted from brooding on his family's possibly problematic past, when Sable pushed a branch out of his way, and it rebounded right into Jaune's face. He put a hand up to his cheek, and it came away bloody.
"What? Oh, come on!" Sable chided. "There may not be Grimm around, but you should always keep your Aura up. Don't tell me you've got trouble maintaining it? That would explain the bloody nose come to think..." His eyes narrowed. "What are you even doing here if you can't manage something that basic?!"
"Aura? Or a what?" Jaune replied blankly, still dabbing at the fresh cut on his face.
A moment later, Jaune realized he'd screwed up royally. Sable briefly stared at him as if he'd grown a second head, and then his expression turned to utter fury. Jaune gasped as he was lifted off his feet, and slammed against a nearby tree.
"AURA!" his partner screamed in his face, showering him with spittle. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT AURA IS?!"
Holy crap holy crap holy crap! The Schnee's eyes had been icy before, but now they resembled two balls of fire threatening to burn him to a crisp. Seeing as Sable was apparently some kind of Dust wizard, maybe they actually could. He suddenly remembered a factoid he'd heard somewhere, about blue fire being the hottest kind. It wasn't helping.
"Of—of course I do! Who doesn't, am I right?" Jaune desperately tried to take back his words. He pictured Sable reducing his body to a fine ash, leaving him to fertilize the Emerald Forest and serve as a warning to any would-be transcript fakers...
"Do you?" Sable snarled, clenching a fist. "Then put it up! NOW!"
"Wait—OOF!" The fist went right into Jaune's stomach, and the blond dropped like a sack of potatoes, coughing and wheezing.
"Nothing..." Sable choked out, staring down at his fallen partner. His left hand held his sword in a white-knuckled grip, twitching dangerously. "But—Beacon—finest Academy on Remnant—the best Huntsman prospects on the planet, in this forest, right now...AND I FOUND YOU?!"
The ensuing laughter did not sound remotely humorous, or sane, for that matter. Jaune curled into a ball, trying to shield his vital parts with his shield. SWEET GODS ABOVE I'M SORRY I FORGED MY TRANSCRIPTS PLEASE DON'T LET ME GET MURDERED BY MY OWN PARTNER IN THE WOODS I JUST WANT TO GO HOME—
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"
"—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"
"Renny! Do you hear that?" yelped Nora Valkyrie. "What do you think it was? Ooh! Maybe it's some sort of undiscovered Grimm!" She cupped a hand to her ear. "You know, it sounds like a sloth call, just louder! I always wanted to fight a giant sloth Grimm!"
"Nora, we've been over this, the Megatherium isn't real." Lie Ren said tiredly. "It sounded more like a person to me. I take it someone is having a bad time..."
"—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"
Blake winced as the piercing scream assaulted all four of her eardrums. She covered her human ears, but sadly, flattening her other set against her skull was not an option at the moment.
"Wow, someone's pissed!" her new partner, Yang Xiao Long (was her name Yang, Yang Xiao, or Xiao Long?) exclaimed, looking up from a dissolving Ursa. "Guess not everyone's bearing things as well as us, eh Blake?"
The pain in Blake's cat ears intensified.
"—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—"
"Aah!" Ruby broke off from her intricate description of Crescent Rose's barrel with a surprised cry. "What was that?"
"Don't ask me." Weiss had her face in her hands. "I definitely have no idea who...who or what that could have been."
"Oh no! What if someone's in trouble?" Ruby ran around in circles. "Weiss, we gotta go help them!"
"Ruby, no one's in serious trouble." Weiss said dismissively. "Well, not in trouble with Grimm, at least..."
"You don't know that! You even said you didn't know what it was!" Ruby pointed in the vague direction of the screaming. "I say we do the Huntress-y thing and head that way as fast as possible!"
"CAW!"
"CRAP!"
"—aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—"
Pyrrha paid the faint noise little mind. Her day hadn't improved much after escaping the locker room. For starters, she hadn't seen a single pair of eyes in this forest, whether human or faunus or Grimm. She was ready to accept any partner at this point...even a Schnee...well, perhaps not any partner. Even a fight with a Beowolf or twenty would've broken the monotony, but so far initiation was nothing but a lonesome stroll in the woods.
Also, she was lost. Hey, the Mistral Tournament had been for fighting, not woodland navigation!
She hadn't seen that cave before, had she?
"Our last pair has been formed, sir." Glynda Goodwitch reported. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy...I can't possibly imagine those two getting along."
Ozpin took a sip from his mug. As much as he appreciated his deputy, Glynda's imagination could be rather limited. Those two would do much more than 'get along', if his millennia of experience with unresolved sexual tension was worth anything.
"And Pyrrha Nikos will be the odd one out. I suppose if any student can handle going unpartnered it would be her."
"Indeed." Sip. Let the chips 'fall' where they may, hmm? Ahh...how many Fall Maidens had he subjected to that bit of wordplay? It never got old, seeing a living force of nature wince at a terrible pun.
"As for Jaune Arc, I don't care what his transcripts say, he isn't ready for this level of combat."
Sip. An accurate assessment...for now. The boy greatly resembled his famed ancestor, now that Ozpin thought of it. Oh, how Louis Arc would have raged to see his spitting image hold Crocea Mors so clumsily.
"—aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—"
Glynda stared at her suddenly shrieking Scroll in bafflement. "...and, I would suggest submitting Mr. Schnee for psychiatric evaluation."
Sip. Oh dear. If only old Siegfried could see his descendants now...
Why is my sword in that tree?!
Sable stared in confusion at the sight of Schwarzfeuer impaled in a tree trunk like some oversized dart. His throat felt oddly sore, and his head pounded. There was a blond boy on the ground, holding a shield in front of him with frightened eyes.
Right, his name was Jaune Arc. The first person he'd made eye contact with after landing. His partner for the next four years. Who didn't have his Aura unlocked.
Oh. Oh, that was why his sword was in a tree. Sable vaguely remembered breaking into hysterical laughter, screaming like a loon, and skewering an unfortunate pine. And now the pressure was building in his skull all over again, and red was dimming his vision and—
NO! Calm down calm down calm down... He had to break out of his negativity-loop, before every single Grimm in the Emerald Forest came down on them. Focus on the mission. He just had to make it to the temple, grab a relic, and get out; but so did his partner!
"Grrrrr..."
Shit. Sable wrenched his sword free. Two black-and-white Beowolves emerged from the trees in front of him, and there were fainter noises coming from behind.
"Grab onto a branch and stay out of the way." he ordered, forming a black glyph under Jaune. The blond was launched into the canopy with a yelp, and didn't come back down. Good, at least he was capable of that much. One less thing to worry about.
Schwarzfeuer slashed out, and the Beowolves yipped in surprise when a wall of ice suddenly froze them in place. Sable rotated the chamber over to Fire Dust, swinging his arm in an arc as he spun right. A streak of flame lashed the two additional Beowolves who'd been lunging at his back. The Grimm cringed back, screeching in pain.
"Die!" He pressed the attack, driving the bastard sword up into one Beowolf's jaw and out the top of its head. "Die!" The other Beowolf moved to pounce on him, but found a red glyph blocking its way, before it took a concentrated fire Dust blast right to the mouth. The Grimm crumpled to the ground, head cooked from the inside out, and Sable found his mood surprisingly brightened. That was what it meant to be a Huntsman, eradicating the creatures of Grimm with great prejudice. Not Weiss's prattle about networking and first impressions, not straining to hold his temper while dealing with the idiots of the world.
"On your left!" a voice called from above...speaking of idiots...
"I don't need your help, Arc!" He manifested a glyph anyways on sheer reflex. There was a heavy thump, and he saw an Ursa behind the shimmering white snowflake, pawing in annoyance at the strange barrier in its way. Forming another glyph below him, Sable launched towards the bear Grimm.
"DIE!" With the Ursa still distracted by his first glyph, Sable aimed a heavy two-handed blow at the creature's head. Schwarzfeuer cleaved through the bone mask and skull, and the black-haired boy kicked off the dying beast to land gracefully.
While Sable executed the two still-frozen Beowolves, Jaune dropped out of his tree. "Hey...I-I get that you might still be mad, but that was awesome how you—"
"Don't talk to me." If the dunce thought flattery would make up for his woeful ineptitude, he was mistaken. "We're just going to keep walking north, and get this sorry exercise over with."
"GRRRRRR..."
The growls had returned, even louder than before. Sable was perfectly calm and rational now, so what negativity was still attracting the Grimm? He glanced over to Jaune. Slouched shoulders, downcast eyes, trembling lip...oh no. Apparently, the blond hadn't taken Sable's entirely fair and accurate assessment of his usefulness very well.
"Never mind that. We're going to run."
Sable and Jaune made a mad dash north, hacking through bushes and vines. Several times they heard growls and rustles ahead, and had to detour around the Grimm concentration. To make matters worse, Jaune was starting to show signs of fatigue, visibly gasping and panting. Twenty minutes in he actually stopped in the middle of the trees, hands on knees.
"You idiot! Don't stop!" Sable barked. "Do you want to die?" With a grimace, the Arc resumed his run.
Without Aura, Jaune had nothing to power him except his natural stamina, and based on his scraggly physique, Sable didn't think he did much jogging. To his credit, he really did try and keep up, legs continuing to churn despite his obvious pain, but the inevitable was coming.
He's not going to make it, Sable thought with trepidation. Gods knew how much further it was to the temple. Were they even running the right way, after all the times they'd had to change course? It finally came to a head forty minutes in. Jaune Arc tripped on a tree root, pitched forwards, and didn't get back up.
"Get up! Get up! Damn you!" Sable kicked at Jaune with his boot, trying to somehow insult him upright. The growls of the pack were faint at the moment, but they would surely catch up in a few minutes. Unlike blond boys, the creatures of Grimm did not tire. "You want to die in this forest, you moron?"
"Just go..." Jaune hacked, his face an unhealthy shade of scarlet. "Save yourself...I'm just slowing you down...I...made a mistake...shouldn't have come here..."
Was he seriously going to accept his death like that? He looked helpless as a child as he lay there. A child with no Aura, no training and no hope. A child who'd somehow blundered his way into this test of warriors. A child who was about to die a miserable, lonely, death, torn apart by abominations.
What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?!
Make a stand? Against a Grimm horde of indeterminate size, with no guarantee of backup, and a helpless civilian to look after. Sable did not like that fight. Heroic last stands made a good story, but they tended to end with a dead Huntsman, and he had no intention of becoming a statistic today. Make a platform in the air and retreat there? They'd be trapped like cats in a tree, without any way of making it to the relics, and be sitting ducks for any airborne Grimm. Time dilation? Jaune looked completely spent, and speeding up a zero was still zero. Launch him the rest of the way with glyphs? A great way to waste Aura. Just carry him? Ugh, the blond was heavier than expected, and sadly he didn't have a weight-loss glyph in his arsenal. He might be able to move, but even under the effects of time dilation it'd be hell to fight and maneuver with so much dead weight on him.
Dead weight, that was what it came down to. There was simply no good way to carry a six-foot, hundred-fifty-some pound sack of meat and bones for miles across a Grimm-infested forest...but what if Sable didn't have to carry him? What if he could carry himself?
"No. Now pay attention!" Sable made his decision. "I'm going to unlock your Aura!" Damn it, he probably didn't even know what Aura was. He tried to recall how his old teacher had explained it...better to skip the philosophical bits for now. "So...Aura's the physical manifestation from your soul, it projects from your body and shields you from harm—"
"Like...a force field?"
Winter would have rapped his knuckles for referring to Aura in such crude terms, but it was close enough. "Yes. Like a force field. Taking a hit's still going to hurt, but your Aura will prevent a true injury. Now close your eyes, and once we're done, get up, follow me, and don't die. I can't pass if you die in here! Do you understand?"
"Wait, wait, what are you gonna do?"
Ignoring the question, Sable laid a hand on Jaune's shoulder. Step one, close your eyes. Easy enough. Step two, extend your Aura towards the other person. He pushed the familiar blue glow outwards.
Step three, penetrate the other person's very being with your soul, allowing them to transcend their mortal flesh and awaken to the true nature of this world. That step...did not make much sense now that he actually had to do it. Maybe a life-or-death situation in the middle of the woods was the wrong setting to do this for the first time?
Uh...please transcend? Wake up? Wake up! Stop being useless, dammit!
He sensed a flicker of white light through his closed eyelids. The white stabilized, glowing brighter and brighter. It's working, he thought in relief, and then his mouth moved on its own.
"For it is through will that we achieve strength. Through determination we rise above mediocrity and become free. Infinite in desire and unbound by fate, I release your soul, and by my hand, I call to thee."
It was done. Jaune's entire body flared a brilliant white, the boy staring open-mouthed at his hands. Excellent. Now to continue their quest for the relics...after he had a moment to catch his breath. Wait, what? They didn't have time for that, gods knew how close the Grimm were now!
Sable's vision turned black.
Jaune had had his Aura unlocked for a few seconds, but he'd already decided it was very nice. Aside from the cool white glow, the burning in his legs and lungs was gone! He felt like he could run all the way back to Beacon...heck, like he could run to Vacuo. And all it took was a hand on the shoulder and some fancy-sounding words. For a moment he'd been worried it would be something way more intense. Man, did he feel like an idiot for not doing this earlier!
And your partner paid the price for it, the black-clad form slumped on the ground reminded him. His partner who'd punched him, screamed and ranted at him, looked ready to stab him, and now...apparently burned himself out to give Jaune a chance to live.
Jaune gulped. Even unconscious, the boy still frightened him; he'd exploded a Beowolf's head, for gods' sake, not to mention all that screaming! But an Arc always paid his debts, and an Arc never left a man behind, or so his father said. There were a lot of things an Arc was meant to always or never do; it was kind of a restrictive life.
Carefully, Jaune slipped a hand under Sable's knees, lifting him into a bridal carry—gods but it was awkward to think of it like that. Princess carry? That wasn't much better. He was lighter than expected; despite being an inch or two to taller than Jaune, he had a slender build and wore no armor.
Jaune resumed his run, speeding between trees, through bushes, over gullies, into a Grimm—into a Grimm?! Sadly, yes. After pushing through the umpteenth hedge and bursting into a clearing, Jaune found himself face-to-mask with a Beowolf. He twisted to the side, shielding his partner's body, and took the beast's hit right on his flank.
"AAGH!" Jaune went flying, and let Sable drop. He looked down at his side, but despite the lingering pain of claws digging into flesh, there was no sign of a wound. Aura was really something, he mused, then realized the Grimm was charging at them full bore. He barely managed to regain his feet and was still fumbling with Crocea Mors, when the furry train slammed into him. Jaune shouted in pain as he felt teeth and claws tearing at him.
It's not real...it's not real!
Gritting his teeth, he managed to tear Crocea Mors free from his belt and swing out wildly. Jaune might not have had any training in swordsmanship, but that didn't matter much when there was Grimm flesh in every direction. He hacked at the Beowolf over and over, black blood spraying his face and pained howls ringing in his ears, until the red glow went out of its eyes and it went limp on top of him.
Holy crap, he'd actually killed a Grimm by himself. No one had mentioned what a mess it could leave. Jaune badly wanted a shower, to get all the Beowolf bits off him...never mind, they were starting to fade on their own. Was that supposed to happen? He really needed to go crack some books once he got out of here.
"I see you managed to not die." Oh, and Sable had woken up.
"Sable! Are you feeling all right?" Jaune levered the dead Beowolf of him and offered his partner a hand. Sable ignored it, pushing himself back to his feet.
"Just fine. There's no need to worry over me." he replied curtly. "You had more Aura than I expected, that's all. Now that we can both move again, let's keep going—"
"CAW!"
"DAMN IT! Give me a break!"
Looking up at the sudden cry, Jaune's blood ran cold. A black shape in the sky was getting steadily larger and closer. Two large wings beat on either side, cruelly sharp talons extended downwards, and a splash of white bone was at its center. A massive Nevermore had spotted the young Huntsmen, and was diving. Wait, what were those red and white blobs on top of it?
A shimmering blue barrier flared up in front of them. Moments later the barrier rippled as if struck by a shower of pebbles, and a shower of black daggers pierced the ground—were those feathers? The stupid thing could fire feathers like bullets?
"WEISS!" Sable shouted. He gestured furiously towards the Nevermore with his right arm. "Jaune, get behind me and hold on! I've got an idea."
"What are you doing?" Jaune asked nervously. Sable was standing right in the Grimm's path, sword held in a reverse grip; his blue barrier had blocked the feathers, but it didn't look capable of stopping a full-speed dive.
"Shut up and do it!" Another black glyph formed underneath them. Jaune swallowed hard, and latched his arms around Sable's waist. He wasn't exactly looking forward to being launched a third time that day.
"Two...one...LAUNCH!"
The two Huntsmen popped into the air, as the hard-light barrier shattered and the spot they'd occupied was filled with Nevermore. The bird's back rushed by below them, then something dragged them back and downwards.
Squelch.
That something had been one of Weiss Schnee's pull glyphs, yanking Jaune and Sable out of their jump and back onto the Nevermore. Sable's left hand stabbed his sword deep into Grimm flesh, the Nevermore cawing angrily. His twin grabbed onto his other, and with one last scramble they were anchored onto the giant bird's back as it rose out of its dive.
"Hi Weiss." Sable said casually.
"Jaune!" another girl's voice yelled.
"Ruby?" The red reaper was perched right behind them, Crescent Rose keeping her in place.
"Sable!" Weiss finished the roll call. "What are you doing here?!"
"I just wanted to go to the temple! Why are you two riding a Nevermore?!"
"It was all her fault! Why did you get on with us, anyways? I wanted to get off this blasted thing!"
"I'm so glad you made it, Jaune!" Ruby said excitedly. "I mean, you didn't look like you were very good in a fight, not that I doubted you, I mean I guess I did doubt you but I shouldn't have and I'm really sorry...um, I guess you two haven't met yet! Jaune, this is my partner Weiss Schnee! Weiss, this is my friend Jaune Arc! We met yesterday right after...um...actually forget that part..."
"Schnee?" Jaune asked. "Are you two related, or something?"
"We're twins." Weiss said tersely. "Save the introductions for later, you dolt! We're in a predicament here, if you haven't noticed!"
"Right!" said Ruby. "Okay...good news, this thing is heading right for the temple." She gestured at a broken stone tower in the distance. "So if we can get off at the right spot, we'll be done. I say we should just jump!"
"What are you? Insane?" "Are you crazy?!" Jaune and Weiss objected quite vocally to that idea.
"She's got a point!" Sable piped up, Ruby looking at him in surprise. "We need to get on the ground somehow, and we can't just tell the Nevermore to land, thing isn't a Bullhead pilot. And besides, we've all pulled off a landing strategy once already. What're you scared of?" Jaune looked a bit sheepish at that comment.
"Yeah!" Ruby cheered. "We can link arms and all jump together! Like skydivers!"
"Skydivers have parachutes, you idiot!" Weiss was still not thrilled with the idea.
"Parachutes." Jaune shook his head. "That's what I said! We should've had parachutes..."
"You've got your glyphs though," Ruby persisted, "and I can use Crescent Rose's recoil to slow us, and Sable and Jaune can...do whatever they do?"
"...I trust you, Ruby." Jaune reached out with a shaking arm, hooking his elbow with Ruby's. Sable took Jaune's other arm, yanking his sword out of the Nevermore and sheathing it.
"Come on, Weiss. Or else we're leaving you up here!" Sable held his left arm out. "Do you want that relic or not?" Weiss let out a sigh, linking arms with her brother.
"All right, team!" Ruby grinned in anticipation, positioning Crescent Rose with the barrel end down. "Count of three...one...two.."
"THREE!" The makeshift team of four bailed from the Nevermore. The Emerald Forest lay below them, a stone circle amidst the trees sticking out like a bullseye. We look so cool! Ruby thought giddily. Diving into the action like superheroes out of some cartoon!
Once Ruby judged they were a safe distance clear, she pulled the trigger on her scythe, aiming to slow down just like before. She felt a brief kick upwards from the recoil, before they continued falling down. On the other end of the line, Weiss pushed off one of her white glyphs, and they lurched to the side. Up, down, sideways, up, down, sideways...the motion made her stomach flutter pleasantly, as if riding a roller coaster.
"I'm not feeling so good..." Jaune groaned next to her. Ruby's silver eyes widened in horrified realization.
"JAUNE NO!"
"BLARRRRGH..."
"AAAAAAAHHH!"
F to pay respects.
It's not quite clear how unlocking someone's Aura works mechanically; it seems to cause some sort of backlash depending on the amount of locked Aura, but not to actually deplete the unlocker's Aura. Our boi is not quite Pyrrha-level, hence the temporary nap.
Don't recall Weiss ever combining fire Dust with a glyph, but based on what it does to Blake's clones I thought 'explosion' would be a reasonable effect.