CHAPTER ONE

AIRSHIP LANDING ZONE: BEACON ACADEMY

James is the last off of the airship to Beacon.

"Ahhh, it's nice to have my feet on solid ground again." He says in relief with his eyes closed, feeling the nice cool breeze. James isn't one for flying, as he prefers to use his cheetah speed to get him places. In front of him, a girl with long black hair and a bow stiffens and turns around slowly.

"James, is that you?" The girl asks curiously. He opens his eyes.

"Blake! Wow, you've certainly changed." He exclaims excitedly.

"So have you," she responds slowly. "And you were right about Ad-" She stops and turns as a girl in a white dress and white hair walks by. "James... do you know who that was?" Blake says frowning.

"Yeah, anyone can see a Schnee from a mile off." James responds.

She stares off after the white-clad girl. "I've got to go," she says, seemingly distracted. "Meet me at the library after the speech." Blake says as she walks off after the Schnee. James follows from a distance and watches as a young girl causes a dust explosion, by frigging sneezing, that envelopes the heiress. After thatincident he uses his scroll to find his way to the main hall, and is surprised to see Ozpin standing on the stage. He listens as Ozpin starts to speak.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge." James gets distracted by the raccoon faunus on his right.

"Not again, Greycube!" The raccoon faunus lamentably exclaims.

"Uhhh, what's the problem?" James inquires politely.

"My weapon is on the fritz... again."

"I know a thing or two about weapon tech, let me take a look at it afterwards."

"Really?" The faunus' ears perk up. " I mean, I don't want to waste your time, it would simply be an inconvenience...".

James smacks himself. "How rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm James, James Greenwood."

"Jon Gunmetal. Nice to meet you." The faunus says.

"Nice to meet you too, Jon," he replies. James feels a tap on his shoulder, turning he sees Blake. "Jon, it was nice meeting you but I gotta go. See ya later." They fistbump and James departs with Blake.

"It's been awhile, Blake."

"Too long," she agrees.

"Oh, by the way, got a couple of things for ya." James suddenly remembers.

"You do?" Blake says very much surprised.

"Yup, one sec." James replies He reaches into his cargo pocket and pulls out a book. He looks around before handing it to Blake. " It's the special dust version," he whispers, shifting his glance from side to side. Accepting it, she takes a look at the cover and immediately her eyes go wide.

"Y-you bought me the special dust version of Ninjas of Love?"

"Yeah. I made sure it had the poster, too," James replies. Suddenly, Blake starts laughing, leaving James standing there confused.

"Tuckson must've had a field day when you bought it." Blake elaborates between bursts of chuckling.

"Hey, if the girl I like is into smut novels of that caliber, who am I to judge?" Blake looks down and blushes.

"So... what's the other gift?" she inquires shyly. James grasps her chin gently and kisses her. Blake's eyes widen before they close in acceptance.

"Hey! Take that somewhere private you too!" Some girl shouts after a few moments. They step apart and turn around to face the same girl in white as before. Recognition washes over James as he recalls the familiar voice. "Hey, Weiss. Been a while." Weiss' eyes narrow at his casual greeting. James "So, uhh... don't you owe me that favor from all those years ago?"

Weiss continues glaring at him. "What do you mean, favor?"

"Oh, so you don't remember how I saved you from getting into a fight with two White Fang members as I was going to negotiate on behalf of the faunus, of which I might add were working under deplorable conditions under the Schnee Dust Corporation."

Weiss steps forward in indignation. "That's my father's company you're talking about, so whatever words you pick, make sure they're in recognition of how good the corporation is."

Sensing the challenge, James raises an eyebrow. "Well, we can talk about all of the wonderful borderline slavery you're company's responsible for all day, but we both have better things to do, don't we?"

If looks could kill, James would have fallen dead on the spot. After a few moments of a stare ridden with tangible indignance, she turns on her foot and huffs away.

James smirks. "So much for that."

Blake gazes at her scroll for a moment. Closing it, she looks to James. "Meet me at the library in ten minutes, alright?"

"Got it." He waves as she walks away.

"That's some girl you've got there James." A voice says behind him.

"That she is, that she is," he says triumphantly. "So, how's it going, Jon?" James says, turning around. "By the way, ain't your Momma ever told you eavesdropping is wrong?"

"I'm doin' well, thanks. And wait a minute, weren't you the one eavesdropping on me back in the main hall?" Jon protests.

"Relax, Jon, I'm joking! Geez, take a chillaxitive or something," he said sarcastically. Just then, James noticed someone familiar in the corner of his eye. "Yang? Yang Xiao Long?" She turns at the sound of her name. "James?"

"Hey Yang! What's goin' on?" He turns to Jon. "That's Yang Xiao Long, one of my old Signal Academy buddies. We used to be pals for a long time."

She wasted no time with greetings. "So James, when are we going to spar?" she asks brazenly.

He gives Yang a look of confusion. "Once our teams have been formed..." Suddenly he returns to his typical state, grinning. "Don't worry, now, I'll take it easy on you." She scoffs at the notion, as she knows James never takes it easy on anyone in a sparring match.

Suddenly, James remembers something. "Oh, before I forget..." He gestures toward Jon. "Jon, meet Yang; Yang, Jon."

Jon gives a meek wave. "Hey."

Yang gives her usual enthusiastic greeting. "Hi!" She calms down as she realizes Jon is socially awkward, just like someone else she knows. "Ahh, no reason to be shy. I won't bite... hard." James partially shrinks into himself as Yang keeps talking. "You know, I can help you with your social life. Don't even bother fighting it, you'll learn all sorts of social nuances when I'm done with you." James whistles, stunned at the offer Yang just made to Jon. She usually just stays with her group of friends, not really reaching out to people outside of it.

"... I don't want to be a hassle to anyone though!" Jon says firmly.

"You won't be, I've got this thing called downtime and I'll help you then. James, you'll also help." Yang insists.

"You'll get no argument from me... this time." James replies.

Yang gives Jon her scroll number, winks at him, and leaves to chase down her weapon obsessed sister who flies down the hallway chasing after a guy with a mace. "Jon, my man, you just got the number of the second hottest girl here."

"Who's the hottest?" Jon asks curiously.

"My ex-girlfriend, Blake." James replies.

"Should've known." Jon says. James and Jon say goodbye and James heads to the the library. He finds Blake reading Ninjas of Love and sits next to her, trying not to disturb her.

"James, I gave it some thought... and I want to be in a relationship with you. Though I want it to be a gradual ease in, not like the first time... that was... not right." Blake says bluntly as he sits down.

He looks at her, stunned."Where in the name of Remnant did that come from!?" He asks, very much surprised.

"Well... you did kiss me ten minutes ago, not to mention you tried to save me from myself all those years ago," she responds.

"I also like you, but isn't this ru-" James tries to says as Blake leans over to kiss him, effectively shutting him up. They share the moment until Blake breaks the kiss and inquires about what happened to James after they parted ways. "After Adam banned me for life, Ozpin got me a spot at Signal Academy."

"Wait, you got kicked out? I thought you ran away!" Blake says surprised.

"Yeah, all because of the White Fang civil war," he replies. "Adam started it to be with you.."Blake shudders violently.

"Thank the semblance I left him." She responds. She leans over and suddenly kisses him. "James, you've got a good heart, and that showed in the White Fang Placement Test. Before you try to humble yourself, remember that." She pauses. "Look, I enjoyed this, but it's getting late and I want to get some shut eye for tomorrow." With that, Blake gets up and leaves. James, too, leaves the library as a girl appears in a flurry of rose petals. James was pretty sure it was the same girl who caused the explosion earlier in the day.

"Hi, my name's Ruby, can I see your weapon? Can I can I?" The girl says excitedly. Laughing, James hands Raycaster to the girl causing her to squeal in delight. She hands it back as Yang, her sister, appears. James makes his way to the sleeping bag he put out earlier.

"Finally, some peace and quiet." James says as he lays down.

"Hey, James." Jon says, "James?" Jon only hears James breathing quietly.

"He slips into sleep easily, and is a heavy sleeper." Blake says as she walks over. Jon unrolls his sleeping bag and slips into it.

"I hope we can be friends, I hate being the outcast." With that, Jon too falls asleep.

(A/N: Whew, that was a lot in this chapter. I know somethings seem rushed and glossed over, but that will be addressed later in the series. Please let me know if you have an OC you want to see in this fan fiction. I will have chapter two out sometime this month, or possibly next month. As always leave reviews to improve the content of this series.)