Main theme: Can't Trust Anybody Now by Jeff Williams
Arc Theme: Shadowkeep from the Destiny 2: Shadowkeep soundtrack
Theme: Eden from the Destiny 2: Shadowkeep soundtrack


To put it bluntly, Headmaster Ozpin's speech was, well, just that. Blunt.

"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."

Honestly, that sounded like it spoke more to some than others. Mostly Jaune, though.

"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 take the first step."

Yep, mostly Jaune then.

Or maybe it was just him being biased.

Who knows?

Around him, everyone else- The other Huntsmen and Huntresses-to-be, numbering in the hundreds within the auditorium around them- Seemed to be thinking along the same lines as well, muttering to themselves in confusion as they tried to figure out what it was that the Headmaster was talking about as he strolled away from the front of the stage, and allowed Baobhan to walk forwards and seize the microphone from its stand.

"Wise words as always, Ozpin. Very charismatic. Very encouraging for our youthful new generation, wouldn't you say?" this was enough to get some in the crowd to laugh, and others to chuckle, as Baobhan swept her gaze across them and smiled at how she had been able to raise their spirits just a little bit, "Right then," she continued on, "Remember to gather in the ballroom tonight, where you'll be sleeping for the night. We'll provided you a sleeping bag if you don't have one, but regardless, make sure to be well rested for your initiation tomorrow. We wouldn't want any of you failing just because you wanted to have a lie in, do we? So don't stay up too late trying to sneak in a quickie with your lovers now, would you?"

And now everyone was uncomfortable.

"...Wow, major buzzkill," she shrugged, before finishing off with, "Before that, though, go and explore! Beacon Academy is your oyster for today! Your playground! Go explore, go make friends and connections! Make a place for yourselves within your future home! Oh," she smiled cheekily, "That's if you make it through initiation, after all. But until then, be at the ballroom by nine o'clock on the dot. No fashionably late nonsense from any of you! And with that, enjoy the rest of your day!"

With that, she left the stage, and allowed the gathering of trainee Huntsmen and Huntresses to commingle with each other, scatter off into groups, pairs, and singles, and move to venture around the massive campus that was Beacon Academy.

Next to her, Nana Shaula tilted her head to the side, and said, "Well, he seemed nice."

Jaune knew who she was talking about, "He's just stressed, is all," at least, that was what he told himself, "He's probably been under a lot of pressure lately."

"And the best way to relieve that stress is to bring all of us down?" Nana asked.

"I... I don't know," he shrugged.

WE ALL HAVE OUR VICES

"We all have our vices," he finally continued with, "That might just be his."

"In that case, then he needs a better stress reliever," Nana retorted with as she turned herself around to look at him, "Maybe try knitting, for instance."

Jaune imagined Ozpin at his desk, knitting a cosy little scarf for himself, and couldn't help but chuckle at the imagery.

Nana laughed in turn, and then patted him on the shoulder, "Hey, what are we still doing here?"

"Er-"

"Come on, new friend. Let's go explore," Nana went as she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along, "I really want to find the armoury to this place. I've got a few idea in mind for new guns."

"Ah, er, o-okay then!" Jaune said as he allowed himself to be pulled along by his newest friend.

Oh well, like his adoptive mother always said, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.


And Nana really wanted to become his friend, it would seem.

"Here we are!" Nana said as she and Jaune entered through the heavy looking iron doors in front of them, and closed them behind themselves, looking around the wide hall of stone floors and arching brick walls, glass chandeliers and overhead lights, metal ovens and forgers, and cooled stoves and furnaces, with tools of all kinds hanging off of racks on the walls, accompanied by shelves of weapons and armour pieces lining those same brick and metal walls as well.

The armoury of Beacon Academy looked positively medieval, with old forge hammers and metal benders, lit over open flames that weren't alight at the moment, leaving the room cool and dim with forging activity. A dramatic contrast to the rest of Beacon Academy. The only activity around here were the various Huntsman and Huntress trainees that were looking around the wide hall, moving around its rows of desks and shelves covered with tarps, and paying mind to the older Huntress in training that was moving between them- Maybe a year or two older than them- Being a Faunus with rabbit ears, long brown hair and eyes, a brown and black-coloured outfit with gold pauldrons, cuffs, belt, and trim, all finished with a brown and gold camera attached to her waist.

She looked... Familiar.

Where had he seen her before?

"Hey there," Nana waved to the older girl as she and Jaune walked towards her, "Just looking around, don't mind us."

"A-Ah," the older girl said with a slight stammer to her, "A-Alright then. Don't mind me either, I just- I'm just looking over the forge. Waiting for my teammates to... To get here."

Her rabbit ears sagged slightly as she scrunched up into herself.

CUTE

VERY CUTE

EXTREMELY CUTE

Jaune quickly tapped the side of his head, and then looked over to the woman in question as he teetered his head to the side and looked at her.

The older girl looked to him, "U-Um, can I... Help you?"

"...You look familiar."

The girl blinked, and then spared a few moments to look at him inquisitively as well, "So do you... Oh, I think you talked to my team a week ago. In Vale."

"Oh yeah," Jaune said back to her after a few moment's pause, "I was asking about-"

"About the outfits for Huntsmen and Huntresses, yes," the older girl with the rabbit ears seemed to be steeling herself now, as she stood taller and took a step over to him, "I- We- Never caught your name."

"Ah," Jaune hummed to himself, before answering with, "It's Jaune. Jaune Arc."

The older girl put a hand on her chest to indicate to herself, "Velvet Scarlatina," 'Velvet' introduced herself as, before stepping back and asking, "Are you, um... Are you doing well?"

Jaune blinked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, from last week, and the..." Velvet looked away, "I saw on the news. The live feed."

Ah.

So it was back to that.

Jaune took a step back (On his bad leg, in fact, a wince of pain shooting up from his ankle and causing him to wince) And put his arms up for show, "No, I mean... I'm fine. I'm fine now. I'm- I'm doing better."

Around them, the dozen trainees and would-be Huntsmen and Huntresses that were joining them for the initiation tomorrow turned their heads towards Jaune, and sneered.

"That's him?"

"The one who survived the Gris Square shooting?"

"One of them."

"Providence's lackey."

"Fucking mercenary."

"We can take him."

"He doesn't look so tough."

"How did he survive anyways?"

"Cowering like a pussy, that's how."

Jaune felt himself scrunch up at the voices around him, and looked down at his feet, allowing the voices to continue around them as he did his best (And failed) To ignore them.

Seriously, why were they so angry at him? Why did they hate him so much?

Did they seriously hate him for not dying, but surviving?

IGNORANT, ALL OF THEM

"Hey," Nana patted him on the shoulder, and drew his attention to her, "Don't listen to those jerks, okay? They're just jealous. Testy. Prideful. Their words don't mean anything at all."

Jaune believed that it did, though. What did he have for them to be jealous of? What did he do to make them so testy? Was it the initiation tomorrow? If so, then what did they have to be prideful over? Something to do with Providence? Why did it always seem to go back to that? Go back to a group of mercenaries?

"Actually, that was why I wanted to come down here. What I wanted to come down here for," Nana said as she pulled Jaune closer to her and looked at Velvet, "I wanted to get this guy better armour."

Jaune looked at her, more confused than ever, "Huh?"

Nana looked at him, and explained, "She's not the only one, you know. Velvet, I mean. She's not the only one who saw the live feed from Gris Square. You got shot in the foot, and then shot in the head. You're my friend- My newest friend, in fact- And I won't let any of my friends go out into the big bad world filled with big bad baddies and villains without the appropriate amount of protection, wherever it be aura or armour," she shrugged, "Or guns, in fact," before saying to him, "If you're willing to listen, after all."

"...Um," Jaune paused, "O-Okay then."

"Splendid!" Nana patted him on the back, "Knew you'd make the right choice! Had a feeling in me, I did."

"Hahah... Hah," Jaune sighed out awkwardly, before going, "I just... Do you do this with all of your friends?"

"Just the ones that I like," Nana said to him, "Lucky for you, I quite like you," leading him along, she then turned to Velvet, and asked, "Is it alright if we go look at the armour in this place? Body plates and helmets and stuff. Is it alright if we go look at them?"

"Er," Velvet looked apprehensive for a moment, but then stepped to the side and allowed them past, "Sure... Okay."

"Thanks," Nana said to her, before walking to the side, towards a long row of armour pieces and fragments that were lining a piece of wall nearby. Tapping her hand against Jaune's chest armour, she said to him, "From what I've seen through the live news feeds last week, you favoured your shield a lot, didn't you?"

"Er... Yeah?" honestly, it wasn't something that he was proud of.

"Well, that means that for now-"

"For now?"

"-You should stick to a more defensive style of fighting, to make up for any lack of offensive capabilities," Nana ignored his interruption as they walked up to the shelves of armour pieces against the wall, "That means that you'll be needed a full suit of armour in order to do that. Well, I say full, but at least enough so that it doesn't restrict your movements," she smacked her hand three consecutive times against Jaune's chest plate, "What you've got on right now- Chest plate, pauldrons, and a little on the lower arms... That's better than most, but it's only a start. Not good enough."

"H-How do you know so much about this?"

Nana shot him a raised eyebrow, and then gestured to her own full suit of armour underneath her trench coat and belt-cape, the helmet clipped to her belt suddenly standing out more than ever.

"...Right."

"Dumb question?"

"Dumb question."

"Mm hm," Nana nodded back, before patting the helmet on her belt, "Well, the first thing that you're going to need is a helmet- Ahbupupup!" she raised a finger to Jaune's questioning face, "Do not ask why you need a helmet. It is fairly obvious as to why you need a helmet. Helmets are essential head protection, and will stop- Or at least lessen- And cranial injuries that you receive in a fight. Same as any kind of armour."

"Ah," was all that Jaune could say in response.

"Next up, leg armour," Nana gestured to his legs, "You got shot in the ankle, right? Well, considering the lack of protection around your legs, that's to be expected. Same as your arms and torso. There's nothing over them. Perfect places to be shot in. That needs to change. So," she stepped forwards, and picked up a piece of what looked like thigh armour from the shelves in front of them, "What kind of armour configuration do you want? Something light and not covering all of the body as to stay mobile, or the opposite? Heavy and completely covering your body? Either way, if you're favouring a defensive style of combat, it'll need to be protective enough to make sure that you aren't killed for it."

"..."

"What?" Nana looked at the silent boy in confusion, "Was it something that I said?"

"Oh, it's- It's nothing, I just..." Jaune paused, and took in a breath, "You're very... Insistent about this. About me having armour."

"About having more armour, yes," Nana nodded, "Like I said, I only do this for people that I like, and you're one of the few who seem to actually be listening to what I have to say."

"W-What happened to the people that didn't listen?"

"They died," she shrugged, "They relied on their aura too much. When that ran out... Well, they weren't my friends anymore. They weren't anything, anymore."

OKAY THEN...

Jaune didn't know how to respond to that.

He just...

He didn't know how.

How could he- How could anyone- Respond to a statement like that, in face of someone's death? The death of someone that she knew. Someone that Nana had once considered a friend. Many friends. How was he supposed to reply to such a cutting response of her own?

Nana didn't give him anymore time to think of a response, "Let's just leave that for later," she said as she put away the piece of thigh armour, and then turned her head to Velvet across the hall, and called out, "Hey, Velvet, can we place an order for armour for tomorrow morning?"

"Huh?" the shy rabbit Faunus blinked in response, before looking down for a moment in thought, and called back, "If you- If you file a request into the main office before nine o'clock tonight, yes."

"Splendid," Nana said, before leading Jaune across to the other side of the armoury hall, and gesturing to the opposite wall, lined not with armour, but with weapons, "Next up, weapons."

Jaune was confused by her statement, "I already have a weapon."

"You have a sword. You need a gun."

"Why?"

"Because you lack anything with range on you, and you'll need to change that."

Jaune looked down at the sword and sheath attached to his waist, "I'm not going to have to... Build them into my sword, am I? Forge them together?"

"Hm? What? No, no no no," Nana shook her head, "Nothing of the sword."

"But everyone else has some kind of weapon that's part gun."

"Not me," Nana pulled out the two handguns from her waist, and twirled them in her hands, "I don't need mecha-shift weapons, and you don't either. Mecha-shift weapons might be the running trend right now, but they're also unreliable. Expensive. Hard to maintain, and difficult to replace or find additional spare parts for. Not when every mecha-shift weapon is unique to each other, and sometimes utterly, completely different. Not to mention expensive to all hell and back."

She lowered her handguns, and allowed him to look over and inspect them.

"But these guns, though? They don't use mecha-shift. Don't need to. I've already got knives on me to handle any melee fighting, and my pistols cover any ranged enemies. There's no need for me to forge them together into a complicated mecha-shift weapon, and they're also cheap and easy to maintain and replace should they be damaged. Cheaper still since they don't use any kind of dust at all."

SHE'S GOT A POINT, MECHA-SHIFT WEAPONS ARE EXPENSIVE AND USELESS, MOST OF THE TIME, IN ONLY SPECIFIC SITUATIONS. HARDLY WELL-ROUNDED TOOLS. BETTER TO USE SOMETHING MORE SIMPLE AND PRACTICAL, RATHER THAN ANYTHING OVERLY COMPLICATED LIKE ANY KIND OF MECHA-SHIFT WEAPON. YOUR SHIELD IS MORE THAN ENOUGH

Jaune slowly nodded in understanding as Nana holstered her weapons, and looked up to the weapons on the walls.

When did the voices in his head get so informative?

"Now, in that case, forget the mecha-shift weapons over there," Nana pulled his gaze away from the mecha-shift stuff on the walls, and gestured to the more simplistic weapons on the other side of the shelves, "And focus on these. From the looks of it, Beacon Academy just brought a surplus of weapons from various sources, including Providence. I also remember seeing you use a pistol in Gris Square. Do you know what designation it was? The pistol that you used? What was it called?"

"I..." Jaune paused, "I don't know. I mean... I think it was one of the guns that those Providence guys used, so..."

"Ah, so an ML-17, then," Nana nodded to him, "That's pretty standard issue, those heavy pistols. Easy to replace. What was it like when you used it?"

"Huh?"

"How did it handle? How was the recoil?"

"Oh, well... I mean, I was nearly thrown onto my butt by the recoil, so, yeah, there's that. It's almost flew out of my hand, as well."

"So no shotguns then? Right. Those things are heavy on the recoil. Same with repeater guns," Nana nodded again, putting a hand up to her chin and tapping it, before going, "So, pistols are the name of the game. Luckily for you-" she reached up, and pulled a pistol off of the wall, accompanied by a holster attached to a belt next to it. The pistol looked identical to the one that he had used in Gris Square, "-You've already used an ML-17, so you're familiar with it. Subconsciously, at least. That's better than nothing."

She turned herself to Jaune, and held the gun out to him.

"You... Want me to..."

"It's not loaded," Nana laughed, "You really think that a school like Beacon would really allow a bunch of children to play around with armed weapons?"

"...Yes."

"...Oh."

Nana looked over the weapon in her hands, and then checked the ammo magazine on it.

"Okay, good, it's not loaded," she said, before handing it to him, "It's not loaded," she repeated, "Get a feel for it."

With reluctance, Jaune carefully took the heavy pistol from her hand, and held it in his own. It was much lighter than he remembered. Probably due to the lack of ammo in it.

"Why it called a heavy pistol anyways? It's doesn't weigh much to me," he said anyways as he lifted it up and pretended to aim it at a random part of the wall.

"It's not to do with its weight, but how much of a punch it packs," Nana began to explain, "Heavy pistols are basically just cut down rifles with the amount of firepower that they pack in them. Regular pistols don't have a lot of physical impact and blow to them, due to their smaller size, but like my handguns, heavy pistols are much more focused on superior firepower, and condensing the physical impact of a regular rifle into a much smaller package."

"Ah," Jaune hummed to himself in thought as he lowered the gun, pointing it to the ground and taking his finger off of the trigger, "Well, if that's the case, then why doesn't everyone just use more of these if they're that much better than a regular rifle."

"I never said that they were," Nana replied with, "And rifles have their advantages over pistols, range being one of them," she then took the pistol from his hands, and pushed it into the holster in her other hand, testing it for a moment, before putting them back on the wall and looking back over to Velvet, "Can we order these as well."

Velvet looked at Nana for a few moments with an expression that, once more, Jaune couldn't read, before answering with, "Y-Yeah. Sure. If you fill out those forms as well, and pay for it all."

"Great. I'll sort it all out," noticing a magazine on a table nearby, displaying all that was available in the armoury of Beacon, she quickly snatched it away and skimmed through the pages, before looking up to Jaune and going, "We can look through this on the way around. You want to go explore Beacon some more?"

"Er," Jaune quietly hummed, "What was that about paying for all of the-"

"Don't worry about it. I can cover the costs," Nana shrugged.

"Wait, I don't think- I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, I just- You should've have to buy all of this stuff for me. I should be the one paying for all of it."

"Hey now, don't be like that," Nana smiled to him, "Most people don't look a gift horse in the mouth, you know."

"W-Well, I just- I- I don't feel like I should-"

"Hey, Jaune," Nana walked up to him, "I like treating my friends, okay? I like treating people that I like this," she booped him on the nose for good measure, "So let me do this. Please?"

"I, um... O-Okay?"

"Awesome," Nana said as she pulled him along and out of the armoury hall, "Now come along. Let's go explore a bit more."

"Oh o-o-okay!"

SMOOTH

And with that, they were out of the armoury, and off to walk around Beacon Academy, looking through the magazine and talking about armour sizes and order numbers along the way.

(Velvet looked to the front doors of the armoury/forge hall with concern across her face, just as her team leader, her mecha-shift weapon Gianduja at her side, walked up to her and gave her a pat on the bum for good measure.

"Nice as always, bun-bun," Coco Adel smiled to her, before noticing her concerned expression- Barring the momentary interruption of embarrassment at the pat on the butt- And asking, "Okay, what's eating at you?"

"That boy from before," Velvet said to her, "From Vale. Jaune Arc."

Coco raised an eyebrow under her sunglasses, and asked, "Yeah, I saw him. Good to know that the kid's doing well after last week."

Velvet said nothing to that.

"...But that's not why you look so worried, is it?"

"It's the girl that he was with."

"Ooh, is someone jealous?" Coco smiled slyly.

"Wha- Coco, I barely know him, and we've barely interacted in the space of five minutes," Velvet shot back with, "It's not that, trust me. I just... I'm just worried."

"About the kid?"

"For him," she answered, "The girl that he was with... I didn't catch her name, but she seemed really... Forceful. Controlling, even."

Coco hummed, and then said to her, "I don't think so. Honestly, it reminds me of when we first started out as a team. When I was trying to break you out of your shell, of which I am still unsuccessful..."

Velvet ignored Coco's closing comment, and said, "Yes, but back then, you always gave me a choice in what we were doing. You were always trying to make me feel more comfortable in what we were doing. Trying to make me feel welcome. That girl, though. She seemed controlling. Authoritarian. I just- I think she's trying to force him- Coerce him- Into agreeing with whatever she says."

"I think you're just being paranoid," Coco finished with, stepping backwards and saying to her, "We've both seen other Huntsman and Huntress pairs like that. They either work or they don't. Same with us, same with them. He'll be fine."

Velvet sighed, "I wish that I shared your certainty."

"Yeah, me too sometimes," Coco smiled, before patting her on the shoulder and going, "Let's go. We're supposed to be waking up the little kiddies tomorrow, so let's go find Fox and Yatsu, and make what little of a day we can of it."

Velvet frowned, "Do we have to be the ones to wake them up?"

"What, and miss their funny faces as I wake them up? Nope," Coco said as she walked off, before turning to Velvet and going, "You coming?"

"...Yeah."

It didn't settle Velvet's unease, though.

Then again, not much really did.)


"What're you writing?"

Ruby looked over to Yang as they both laid in their sleeping bags, now changed into their pyjamas, as was everyone else in the ballroom as all two thousand initiates crammed themselves like sardines into the giant chamber, almost like an assembly hall, and changed into their sleeping clothing, some of the stuff that they were wearing being too much...

Sometimes not enough. Brr…

Luckily, the nudists and almost nudists were herded away into another room, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Some people, dang it.

Ruby shook the horrifying memory from her mind, and turned back to the letter that she was writing, "I'm sending something back to the gang back at Signal. Or, at least to my teachers... Or at least to Uncle Qrow and Dad. They deserve to know what's going on- How my first day out of the hospital is going. Plus, I'm sure that they'd want me to tell them about how Beacon's going for me."

"Hmph, sure thing," Yang smiled, "And what about all of your friends back at your old school?"

Ruby looked at her, then looked down, and quietly sighed out, "What friends?"

"...Hey, c'mon, don't be like that," Yang went as she patted her on the shoulder, "You'll make some friends here. Heck, everyone in here is a potential friend. You just haven't met them yet."

"That's easy for you to say," Ruby pointed out without any real bite, "You're Yang Xiao Long, super duper popular girl who gets along well with everyone! Heck, you even get some of the friends that you had in Signal over here, now!"

"Oh come on, Ruby, they were your friends too."

"No, Yang, they were your friends. I was just the tagalong little sister."

"Hey, don't sell yourself so short, squirt. Look, if I just call them over, I'm sure that- Oh, speaking of which!" Yang looked up and pressed her hands to her mouth, and went, "Hey Sky! Dove! Russel!"

The three boys in question all looked at her, smiled, and waved, and it was the one with the neon green mohawk- Russel, she believed his name was- Who then called out and said, "Hey, Yang! How you doing? Looking for some-"

"Still not a chance, Russel!"

"What, why not?!"

"The mohawk, dude!"

"...", he patted his mohawk sadly, "It's my signature look, man. I can't just get rid of it, it's like, my one defining trait as a person", Dove just patted him comfortably on the shoulder in sympathy.

"Ahh, those guys", Yang wistfully muttered, before looking at Ruby and innocently going, "What was it that you were saying, sis?"

"...Forget it", Ruby said in a grumpy tone, before looking to the side, to see a crowd gathering in the middle of the room.

In had strutted Pyrrha Nikos, 4-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournaments and Pumpkin Pete mascot, apparently having been looking for a place to sleep as well, what with the sleeping bag in her hand and in her nightly clothes. However, a crowd of eager Huntsmen and Huntresses, including a very eager looking ginger jock, began to accost her and try to grab her attention. The ginger jock was especially enthusiastic.

He was... Looking quite forceful about it.

But, ultimately, Pyrrha, looking rather uncomfortable at the attention she was getting, just smiled (It looked fake), Said her apologies, and walked away, and out of the room, trying to lose the crowd that was following her whilst also trying not to show that she was trying to loose them. Behind them, a white haired girl in a blue gown had tried to talk to her, but failed, and slunk her head down, before going back to her sleeping bag.

They..., Ruby began in her mind, They both looked so sad...

"Pyrrha Nikos, huh?" Yang Xiao Long went as she eyed her retreating form, before smiling and going, "I can take her, easy."

"Yang..."

"What, I can! Do you really- Hey!" Yang went as that ginger jock from before, fresh bruises and faint red marks covering his face, stomped away to his spot right before them, almost stepping on Ruby's unfinished letter- In fact, it looked like he had been aiming his foot down at it, but missed- And trotting off with a growl, "Jerk", Yang muttered to himself.

Ruby turned to her, "Do you know him?"

"No, but I know his type, already", Yang went, "Dumb lug with more brawn than brains. Has a constant need to prove his own masculinity by acting like a dick-"

"Swear."

"-To everyone. In other words, the typical school bully", Yang growled again, "You'll find those guys everywhere."

The door to the ballroom opened up, and Ruby wasn't sure as to why her attention had been drawn to this instead of all of the other times, but when she looked up, she felt both pleased and saddened by who was coming through.

Jaune Arc, the boy that she had met in Vale a week ago, and survived alongside on that same day (And met his psycho friend as well). His white cloak fluttered behind him as he walked alongside a woman in armour and a trench coat, someone that Ruby hadn't seen before. He was hugging his rolled-up sleeping bag- Which looked like a Beacon-issued bag- Closed to his chest, and looking around wearily. It was as if he was expecting something bad to happen, though the woman next to him seemed to be trying to ebb his worries.

Jaune gave a quick glance, to Ruby, and silver met blue met silver. He looked away, his face troubled, and he rapped his knuckles against his head as if he was trying to loosen a memory or forcefully recall something.

"I swear, I feel like I know it, but I... I'm sorry, but I've never heard that name before."

Ruby blinked, and then felt her own face sadden as well.

She shouldn't have run away from Jaune earlier in the day. She shouldn't have done that to him. That was a terrible thing to do. She should've stuck around more. Running away like she had done... That had been a terrible reflex, brought about by negative emotions.

As it turned out, the topic of her mother was a sort of trigger for her, at least when it delved more into the morbid than the positive. In her experience, Ruby had always found it easier to just... Not talk about it. To just focus her mind on other things and other people.

It was just easier that way.

Ruby bit her lip, and then made a move to get up. Wherever he knew his mother or not, Ruby still wanted to talk to Jaune. To at least ask how he was doing after the Gris Square shooting (As well as everything that was happening between him and that Emerald girl). He deserved that much.

Yang's hold on her arm stopped her.

"Yang-"

"He's not worth it, Ruby. The bastard isn't worth it."

"Yang-"

"He knows something about Mum. I don't care how many times he tries to deny it, but-"

"I don't think he's lying about Mum."

Yang looked at her, "What?"

"He was earnest, Yang. When I were talking to him, he was being earnest. He was telling the truth."

"How do you know?"

"I just..." how did Ruby know? Why was her gut telling her that he was telling the truth, even though there wasn't any evidence to support it, "I just do."

"...I don't," Yang muttered as she pulled her down, "I already told him that if he's lying, he dies."

"Yang!"

"He's wearing your fucking insignia, Ruby!" she hissed to her younger sister, "Down to the exact same details, and he's wearing the same type of cloak as Mum did! I don't give a shit as to how many times he'll lie about it! Tomorrow, I'm getting the answers we want, even if I have to beat the shit out of him to do so."

"Yang, you can't just-"

"It's our mother, Ruby!"

"Yang, you can't just-"

She was stopped by the sight of the ginger jock from before, with a brutish snarl on his bruised face, approaching Jaune angrily, only for the girl next to him to step forwards, flex her fingers, and flash him the guns at her hips. The jock growled, but settled for quickly picking up the bag that Jaune had dropped onto the floor, and throwing it at him, only for the girl to catch it in her hand, and make a swinging gesture with it. An unsaid threat.

The ginger jock, realising that she would not back down, huffed in annoyance, but realised that they were in a room full of people, and so stalked away, content with what he had already done.

No one stood up to stop him, or help Jaune and the girl next to him.

"Ugh", Yang went as she kept Ruby where she was, "I hate people like him..."

Then why aren't we doing anything about it? Ruby thought, Aren't we meant to stop people like him from doing that kind of stuff? Or is this something that I'm just too young to understand?

And yet, Ruby did not move.

"Go to sleep, Ruby", Yang went, "We'll talk more about this in the morning."

And she did as asked, as she watched Jaune find a place in the corner for himself, tucking himself away into his sleeping bag and continuing on whatever talk that her was having with that girl as she laid down next to his bag, now more frightful than ever.

And yet Ruby did not do anything. She simply laid in her sleeping bag, and stared up at the ceiling.

Why hadn't she done anything? Why wasn't she doing anything? Why was she still just laying in her bed, letting injustice continue on? Wasn't she supposed to be a hero? Isn't that what she was here for?

Would this continue on? Would she stay like this?

If a person needed help, would she stay true to her morals and help them?

Or would she turn the opposite way?

Ruby curled herself up into a ball, and, not for the first time, felt so helpless because of decisions of her own making, and, despite her sister being there with her...

So utterly alone.


Jaune was familiar with the feeling of being alone.

For the better part of a decade, it had been his closest friend. Even when he had been brought into the Arc family and given a new name, he felt alone. Horribly alone in a place that was meant to make him feel safe.

And Jaune was so very used to being alone.

It was clear, from such a young age, that he was... Different to all of the other children his age.

The voices in his head- The spectres in his vision- Had always been there, always there, always talking, always muttering away.

And when he was younger, he used to speak back to them.

He had become known as the freak with the imaginary friends. That one weirdo who would talk to himself blissfully in the middle of the day, who would ask people about friends that he promised were right besides them. He became known as the attention seeker. As the lonely kid who caused trouble (He never did) All because he wanted people to notice him. The bad egg. The one that spoiled.

His teachers hadn't helped at all in those regards.

And then, the spectres of friends that his mind had made faded away into nothingness.

Now all that was left were voices. Voices, voices, and nothing but voices. All of them maddening, all of them proving them right, no matter how sweet and caring their words were.

The children around him called him mad. Insane. A lunatic. That one freak with the personality disorder.

And nobody wanted to be with the freak, less they catch something. His own sisters had been the only company that he had had, and even then they would give him those strange looks that even now he couldn't understand.

He had gotten used to bullies as well. That ginger jock? That was nothing-

He slapped the sides of his head, breaking his trail of thought.

"Stop it, stop it, you idiot", he muttered to himself, raking his knuckles against the sides of his head as he then went, "Goddammit, get over yourself. There are other people out there that have had it worse of than you. That gives you no right to wallow in your own misery like a pathetic piece of garbage."

It was true though, wasn't it? Jaune wasn't that naïve to not know that there were terrible things happening across the world to people that paled in comparison to him. Children being made orphans by horrible attacks on their homes. Families loosing their loved ones. Families being hurt by their loves ones. People being abused just because of their race, and so much more.

What was his problems compared to theirs? Nothing, so why should he bother mopping around about it? He was going to help them, just like his ancestors did. He couldn't weight them down with his own issues. They didn't deserve that.

BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THEY'RE NOT WORTH TALKING ABOUT...

Jaune winced, "Go away...", he muttered. Why were they so talkative now? Why now? Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

JAUNE-

"You're not real."

PLEASE JAUNE. LET US BE THERE FOR YOU

He hiccupped, "Just go away. Please..."

There was silence in that pressing weight on his mind, and then there was nothing but silence once more.

Sometimes he really hated the voices in his head.

He curled up onto himself and hugged his jeaned trousers close. He hadn't changed into his bunny onesie. That would've been even more social suicide now than ever.

Next to him, Nana Shaula- His newest friend in Beacon, and by far the most helpful out of all of them- Slept soundly, her body still, and sucking in silent breaths.

He had to think of a way to repay her later.

His eyes closed, and he finally drifted off to sleep.

He wanted to see Emerald again.

(A hand stroked over his sleeping form, and the one whom it belonged to smiled.

"Hello again, master.")


Reviewer response time:

Xealchim: I don't gamble at all! I like having money, thank you very much!

bosterflaming: I'm not trying to make it seem like her obsession with Raven, just jacked up to a hundred. Remember that back in canon, she trashed a nightclub because they didn't get her any information on Raven. Compared to that, what she did to Jaune last chapter is pretty tame.

firewyrm2: Oh yeah, they would definitely be spoilers indeed.


More recycled content, hurray!

Before I finish off, Nana Shaula's outfit is based off of two different sources. First off is Claire from Gleipnir, with the trench coat and the short black hair, but with blue eyes instead of red. The other inspiration- Inspirations, actually- Are from the Bad Batch, with her armour being a mixture of Crosshair's, Echo's, and Tech's modified Katarn-class armour, with Echo's helmet and kama, Crosshair's rangefinder and colours, and Tech's leather brown straps across his armour. Other modifications are of my own design, including her insignia.

But with that, I shall end this for now, and in the meantime, please leave a review, follow and favourite, and I shall see you all next time!

Titanmaster117 out!