Wanna know what a roller coaster of emotions sounds like? Do I look like the kinda guys who knows the answer to that?

Chapter 6: Ghosts of Futures Past

For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. -Ecclesiastes 1:18, King James Bible

"Ah, Ms. Nikos, Mr. Arc, glad to see you could stop by. I was just welcoming Mr. Muller to our Academy."

Oh for fuck's sake, be still my beating heart.

As if today couldn't shatter Jacob's perception of normalcy any further.

Rounding the doorframe, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos came into view. The two of them were beaming brightly, more than obviously happy to see him.

He however was reeling something terrible.

"Hello again!" Pyrrha called out.

And just like that I'm that much closer to crying.

Fighting back the urge to panic again, Muller plastered a fake smile on his face as best as he could. "Hey, Mr. Arc, Ms. Nikos! A pleasure to see your happy faces again!"

Jaune waved back a hello before noticing the headmaster. "Oh, Professor! I, uh, What are you doing here?"

Ozpin's stoic face hardly changed as he simply replied, "After some personal... discussions with Mr. Muller, I have decided to allow him to attend Beacon; From what I saw during the Initiation, he has some good potential as a Huntsman, even if he is rather rough around the edges. Granted, he will probably be in need of significantly-more training if he is to be on par with the rest of the student body, but I have a feeling he'll be up to the task. Am I to understand that correctly?" The arched eyebrow of Ozpin drew attention back to Jacob, against his wishes.

"Uhm, definitely. Believe you me, this is a challenge I welcome." A weak chuckle escaped his throat, seeking to lighten the mood of the room.

"Glad to hear. I'll return to my office and see if perhaps there is a spare dorm that we could use for your accommodations. I might also recommend you look into perhaps a new wardrobe; All things considered, those clothes of yours aren't good attire for... well, anything now, honestly."

"Huh?" Jacob looked down at his clothes, silently thanking that he wasn't in a hospital gown or something embarrassing like that; sure enough, his white t-shirt was coated in dried blood, forming a macabre white and red tie-dye pattern. The lower hem has also been ripped off by Blake to wrap his arm, leaving his lower torso visible. Meanwhile his jeans only received what looked like a fine mist, probably not enough to warrant throwing away, just some insane levels of scrubbing with detergent in the wash. All that was left was his jacket—he found it draped over the side of the headboard of the bed, spared blood splatter but sporting a well-placed, almost decorative diagonal scratch across the back—and his back... pack...

Wait. Where is it?

"Where's my backpack?" He began to frantically search around for it. He remembered he had it on as far as up until the Cliffs but after that... Shit, where is it!?

"Uh, it's right there," Jaune deadpanned as he pointed to the foot of the bed, "you dropped it when you went and... y'know, took that attack for me."

Muller reached over for it, ignoring the protests of pain coming from his ribs. However, instead of opening it up in the presence of so many and potentially compromising his position, he instead opted to simply move it over closer to him. "Thank you Jaune. As much as this situation is unprecedented, I'm at least happy that whoever took me was kind enough to leave it with me." Reaching over to his jacket, he traced the cut in the leather with his index finger, noticing how jagged the cut had been; That must have been one hell of a dull claw.

"What do you know," Jacob muttered under his breath, "Must've made that 6+ t-shirt save after all."

"Pardon?" Pyrrha asked, clearly having not heard him correctly.

"Nothing, nothing."

At that moment he noticed that Ozpin had already left the room, and Glynda had clearly followed behind him. Honestly, Jacob couldn't help but feel she was attached to Oz at the hip, and not just from the perspective of as a co-worker. Makes me wonder how she felt about—or, rather, will feel—about his... his...

He couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. The pit in his stomach told him to hold his tongue for a little bit longer, even if it was in his head and all. And that led his mind back to the tall redhead currently standing by the side of his bed, beaming brightly.

Here she was, in all her glory.

Pyrrha Nikos.

The Invincible Girl.

And none the wiser of her impending doom. Her battle with Cinder...

Her death.

Some sad sadistic fuck in the back of his mind began to play the opening chords of "Cold", but was promptly banished before the song could bring the tears it so thirsted for.

"...So... I guess I'm gonna end up a classmate of yours, huh?" Jacob asserted as he tried to smother the rising emotions in his mind.

"I suppose so," Pyrrha said, "Though I wonder how you'll do without a partner, let alone a team."

"Eh, I'll wing it like I always do," Jacob feigned calm, in truth pondering the exact same thing. "Numbers aren't everything to a good scrap." As to punctuate his point, he lightly tapped his head with his middle finger just above the temple.

"Uh, I don't get it," Jaune deadpanned.

Jacob and Pyrrha shared a look before they shared a giggle from her and a snicker from him. For but a brief second the room was bright and warm as their laughter echoed about.

"Uh, hey," Jaune said to get Muller's attention. "I just... I wanted to say thanks for what you did back there. That was... that was a pretty risky thing to do, especially for, y'know, a complete stranger." He moved in for a handshake, open palm extended out to meet his in the middle.

Jacob hesitated for but a brief second before closing the gap, giving Arc's hand a firm grasp. "Ah, every man's gotta get his battle scars, am I right? Just a shame I got mine so early on, eh?" He patted his arm where the Ursa's teeth had sunk in for emphasis, grunting as he realized that the pain of the wound was far from gone. Jesus, don't these people have painkillers?

"All things considered, that was a dangerous position to be in without an active Aura."

Jacob glanced aside at Pyrrha for what felt like solid minutes. "Uh, yeah... Aura." Crap, do I even HAVE Aura?

"You are aware of what Aura is right?"

"Uh, yeah, I have a basic idea: Extension of the soul, acts like a second layer of armor, can have 6th sense capacities, can be used in offensive measures with proper training, et cetera, et cetera. Though that is probably horribly oversimplified."

Pyrrha seemed at ease with the fact that Jacob was actually aware of the capabilities of Aura, though she did retain a mild look of concern. "Than you understand why in the role of a Huntsman you will need the have it at full strength. And that also means actually having it awakened."

Jacob's heart skipped another terrified beat; at this point the little morbid jackass in the back of his head was joking if this world would kill him through cardiac arrest before the Grimm would be given the chance to sunder flesh from his bones.

"...And by awakened you mean?" He hesitantly quandried.

His answer came when she moved in close, placing a hand on his chest and her other hand on his cheek.

Jacob felt cold; Both the song returning to his mind and the sudden shock stealing away what warmth lied within him.

He heard her speak to him directly, giving him the exact same instructions as she gave Jaune.

"Just close your eyes and concentrate."

Oh God Almighty, why do you test me so? He bit back the urge to cry as he did as she asked. As he began to focus, Jacob began to notice something...

There was a faint tingling in his body at first—hardly anything to think about at first—but then he felt it.

The tiniest spark of something... inside of him. He'd swear the feeling was manifesting within his chest, right on top of his heart if anything. He could almost see it in his mind's eye...

A faint spark in the heart of a ocean of shadows.

And then Pyrrha began to speak.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality..."

The spark began to glow brighter, slowly at first, but he could see the change, ever so slow as it may have been...

"Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all..."

The spark caught a fuse, and the faintest candlelight began to illuminate the scene, driving back the shadows as they seemed to cower from it. It began to grow, becoming much more than a simple fire from a candle.

"Infinite in distance and unbound by death—"

For a brief second, the flame shrunk back at the word "death", the shadows regaining a foothold as his mind flashed the silhouettes of Cinder and Pyrrha when she... No. He wouldn't let that consume him. He refused to let that shadow cloud his mind. It already had once, he wouldn't let his emotions act irrationally again.

The flame halted its retreat,as if it had caught upon something revelationary.

"—I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."

The flame caught its second wind, roaring its defiance as a lion would. The shadows fled in terror, singed by the newly-born inferno. But the flame grew and grew, and about that time began to take on a blue tint, a deep mid-morning sky blue that licked at the shadows and sent them scurrying.

He himself felt the fire within him, his whole body feeling energized and invigorated. It was like taking a shot of espresso with an injection of adrenaline straight to his heart on the side.

But before he could let this newfound strength and energy get to his head, he opened his eyes to find Pyrrha doubled over, looking for all the world like she had been on the receiving end of a headrush.

"Easy, Pyrrha," Jaune said as he place and hand on her shoulder, obviously ready to brace her.

"Woah, you okay?" Jacob moved to grab hold in case she fell down. "Here, sit down before you go and fall down."

"Thank you," Pyrrha replied as she moved to take a seat, "I must confess that it is..." she paused as she performed some deep breathing, probably trying to counteract her malady, "...somewhat taxing, but your Aura should be ready for combat."

Jacob was about to arch an eyebrow up in questioning only to spot something out of the corner of his eye. In particular on his outstretched arm.

His arm was glowing. Not in the sense like if was soaked with water and catching the the light in a shine, more in the sense that he was encircled within a... barrier of light, in a way. He looked over himself in awe and wonder as he drank in the sight; The glow was a distinct color he swore he recognized, a vibrant medium blue, almost the color of an early morning sky.

And then it well and truly registered in his mind what he was just given:

This is Aura. MY Aura.

He felt an invigoration so thrilling he couldn't help but let out an amused laugh. "Check it out..." His amusement was contagious as he heard Pyrrha let out a giggle and Jaune a bemused sigh.

"Wait a minute," Jacob started as his memories of the FNDM reared their paranoid heads again, "I thought that Aura Awakening like that was a rather intimate action... At least from what I heard back home."

Pyrrha and Jaune looked at him with confusion, before glancing at one another for but a brief second; the faint blush on Pyrrha's face told perhaps much more than she had wanted. "Well, I've honestly never heard that before," she stumbled over the words, obviously trying to hide what Muller had concluded to be a ludicrous statement on his part. "It's not intimate persay, but it is more often practiced amongst close friends and family back in Mistral."

Muller nodded in contemplation as he stored away the information for later. "Huh. Regardless, I uh... I just, uh... Thank you, Ms. Ni— Pyrrha. This means a lot to me." He flashed a small grin her way.

"Oh, that reminds me," Jaune started as he reached into his pocket, "You dropped this back at the Cliffs." He fished out the Bersa that Muller had found in his pack, scratched up and a little worse for wear, but at least from cursory glance it was still operational.

"Ah, thank you!" Jacob cried out with relieved joy. "Looks like no major damage to report..." He tested all the mechanics, finding nothing wrong, though the finish had received its fair share of battle damage, considering how little it had seen actual battle.

"But, uh, I don't think just a pistol will do for being here, y'know."

"Fair point, Mr Ar—Jaune, sorry. But yeah, fair point. Everyone here seems at least somewhat melee-oriented. Hope there's some spares floating around or something—"

At about that point, the sound of a fluttering cape and a massive gust of wind and rose petals signaled Ruby's return. By the time Jacob had blinked, she was directly in his face, grinning widely.

"Did someone say they needed a weapon!?"

"Y-yeah, melee for me, myself and I—" About that time Jacob's stomach bellowed in anger; 2 days or so without food is not healthy, even if you were hooked up to an IV.

"But first, let's get something to eat."

Pyrrha Nikos was not expecting her year to start out like this. Already 3 days in and she beginning to find herself in good—and strange—company. It was so strange, all things considered she had spent most of her time alone at Mistral. After all, when you're at the top, everyone just refuses to let you step off the pedestal even for a second. The tournament victories, the sponsorships, the constant demand to stay at her peak, when she was offered the chance to attend Beacon Academy instead of Haven, she had practically lept at the offer. A new place to start fresh, away from the fame and glory; even then it still shadowed her every move.

First, there was obviously her team, and at the head of her team was Jaune. On the one hand, he wasn't necessarily the most capable fighter; How he even got into Beacon was beyond her. But, he was a competent strategist so far as she had seen, and he was a genuinely good person. She even could admit to herself that she found being around him comforting. It's... strange to say the least. Why do I feel like this around him?

Then there was Nora, and Pyrrha honestly had no idea what to think about her; she was a bubbly one, obviously not tied down by the gravity of her future occupation. In combat her style of fighting was heavy-hitting, more or less with the intent of hitting her target once and not having to hit again. Then again, wielding a grenade launcher-warhammer tends to lead to that kind of fight-style. But she was already taking a shining to Pyrrha, and only after two days of being on the same team.

Then there was Lie... or Ren as he preferred to go by. Silent, stoic, constantly calm even in sparring practice, he was a polar opposite to Nora. How those two knew each other prior to Beacon was beyond Pyrrha's comprehension. Despite that, Ren was an agile fighter, focusing on mobility and precision to fight, and his weapons certainly helped that out.

Of course, there was also their sister team RWBY, but Pyrrha had yet to make much of an introduction with anyone outside of Weiss and Ruby. Weiss was certainly of the Atlesian stock, much to Pyrrha's chagrin, and her status as the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company only put Pyrrha more at odds with her attitude as she tended to pull strings profusely. Ruby on the other hand was a lot more friendly; a shy girl to be sure, but being enough of a combat expert to be able to skip two years of primary Huntsman school did kind of explain it. Sacrifice social time for training? Not something Pyrrha would have agreed with, but to each their own.

Then, of course, there was Jacob. Well Mr. Muller, where do I begin with you...

While certainly not a proficient fighter, he certainly had held his own amongst them during the Initiation. With proper Huntsman training that would be even still rather impressive. Without training performing the same feat was astonishing; Being a meagre civilian with no awakened Aura and no formal training?

He should not have even survived, as much as Pyrrha hate that kind of mindset.

Yet here he was across from her, chowing down on a plate of ham, scrambled eggs, potatoes and toast in the cafeteria. Actually, wolfing it down was probably the better word for it.

"Oh my God, after three days of no food, this is like Manna from Heaven!"

The Beacon cafeteria was for the most part empty, only a few stragglers floating about the place grabbing a quick bite to eat on the way to classes or sparring or whatever they had planned for the day. It was closing in on 10:30 when she, Jaune and Ruby had left the infirmary with Jacob in tow to get him something solid to eat, and fortunately it wasn't that far of a walk. The chef had heard of the new student—no doubt courtesy of Professor Ozpin—and had prepared something basic to get something in Jacob's stomach.

"...What's Manna?" Jaune asked under his breath. Pyrrha simply shrugged, chalking up to perhaps a local food from... actually, come to think of it, she hadn't asked where he was from.

"Excuse me, Jacob?"

He looked at her, swallowing hard what he had in his mouth before addressing her. "Sorry, what's up?"

"I wanted to ask you about something. Where are you from, exactly?"

Jacob held a look that she wanted to say was him processing her question, but before he could answer the rest of Teams RWBY and JNPR made their way over, led by Nora and Ren.

"There's the nut with a hard head!" Nora came barreling up, scooping up Jacob in a crushing hug. Pyrrha was still amazed by Nora's raw, unfiltered strength as she once again held him aloft in her hug despite him standing a good 3 inches taller than her. "That was absolutely insane what you did! I like it!"

"Well, someone's gotta take the hard punches, right? Although," he wheezed out, "You're crushing my chest, Nora... again."

"Nora, please," came Ren's calm and collected voice, "He's been through a lot the last few days, I don't think he needs to spend anymore time in the infirmary."

"Oopsies, sorry." Nora set him down back in his seat, giving Jacob the opportunity to catch his breath. Pyrrha couldn't help but giggle.

"Nah, nah, s'okay. I like your enthusiasm, I can tell nothing slows you down." Nora beamed before slapping him on the back. Surprisingly he didn't falter on that one, even though Jaune had been knocked flat on his butt by that same move the day before. Probably had to do with him sitting down or something like that.

Then came the voice of Weiss Schnee as she walked up to the table with the rest of Team RWBY in tow.

"Insane is exactly what I'd call that! You actively wander into the Emerald Forest DURING Initiation, get lucky a few times during the fighting and suddenly are a student here, With no formal training, nothing much more than basic weaponry and not even a functionally-active Aura!? How in—"

"Geez Weiss, lighten up!" Yang lamented to her sister's partner. "What he did back there was honestly pretty hard core, especially for a civie." She turned and took a seat on Jacob's left side, giving him a playful nudge in the shoulder. "You're alright in my book, kid."

Jacob seemed to brighten as the blonde backed him up. "Why thank you Yang, but 'kid'? At last recollection, I'm the old codger here at 20 versus your lot's 17. Hell, who's the only man here sporting some facial hair?" He emphasized by pointing to the fairly-short goatee he wore on his face. Wait, he's 20, Pyrrha suddenly noted in her head, Awfully late to be starting on Huntsman training.

"Whatever," she huffed with bemusement. Jacob began to laugh only to suddenly cut himself off with a sharp hiss of pain as he clutched his head.

"Hey, you OK?" Both Pyrrha's hands and Yang's right hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder; for a split second he looked at Yang's arm in nearly-invisible shock before it subsided. ...Odd, Pyrrha thought to herself.

"Damnit all, I completely forgot about my morning tea; I don't get it in my system by about midday usually I start feeling like my head's in the middle of a civil war." Muller got up to grab a mug and hot water, leaving the two teams to have some time to talk about upcoming classes... and their new acquaintance.

"Unbelieveable," Weiss piped up in annoyance as she took a seat at the table, "I have to go through seven kinds of headache just to get myself to come here instead of Atlas Academy, and yet he essentially waltzes in and is handed it by the Headmaster no less!? What gives?"

Ruby took a seat across from Weiss. "Well," she meekly began, "I'm sure Professor Ozpin has good reason to allow him admittance."

Blake sat down and began reading as usual, still managing to keep up with the conversation, something Pyrrha thought most couldn't do. "He found himself in an impromptu combat scenario and pulled off some actually impressive feats for someone in his position. Most people wouldn't—rather, shouldn't—be able to do that well." On a side note, Pyrrha swore she heard some edged nervousness hiding deep in Blake's voice, though why was beyond her.

"I say give him the benefit of the doubt!" Yang beamed brightly, more than happy to take Jacob's side.

"...I suppose I should, after all he is going to be our newest classmate," Weiss said with a huff.

Ruby copied her sister's reaction, both two rays of sunshine on an already crystal clear morning, their smiles delightfully infectious. Just then Jacob returned, a piping hot mug of tea in hand.

"Thank the Lord they have Earl Grey! I was worried I would be left floundering on options," he chuckled as he took a seat and a particularly large gulp from the mug.

"You? a tea drinker?" Weiss said with the slightest incredulity in her voice.

"Only way I get my caffeine; Coffee I tend to drown in sugar and or chocolate." He shrugged and took another gulp.

The look on her face was indescribable, a combination of shock, pleasant surprise all rolled into one. How she managed to do that was beyond Pyrrha's comprehension. It didn't help that Muller was giving her a smug grin of comeuppance as he continued to take in his morning brew. Meanwhile Yang was doing her best to halt the snickering laugh clawing its way up her throat, and Blake had begun to show signs of a grin on her cheeks.

"Anywho, you had been asking me something Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha wanted to consider asking him again, but something in the back of her mind said that there would be time to ask those questions later. Right now, he had a dorm to claim, a lot of preparation ahead of him for classes...

And he still would need a proper weapon of some kind.

"Oh, nothing important, Jacob."

After another half hour of chatting and getting to know each other, Jacob decided to take to his new dormitory; Fortunately he had been given a dormitory just down the hall from JNPR and RWBY's dorms, much to Pyrrha's surprise.

"I think Oz is exercising his sense of humor to extreme degrees," Jacob said with a tone of bemusement. Entering the dorm, it was no different from the rest of the student dorms, though it was a lot roomier due to the lone occupant of the room.

"Well, it's gonna need some decoration here and there, but nothing I can't scrounge up. I've had much more spartan accommodations than this in the past." He looked around at the basics, a bed, a desk with a lamp, a bookshelf and a basic trunk. "Thank God there's personal bathrooms... Ooh, nice, showers too."

"Well, I suppose I should let you get comfortable here," Pyrrha said as she decided to give him some time alone with his thoughts; Even though he was good at masking it, she could see he was a mental whirlwind of emotions and thoughts.

"Right, right. I, uh, I hope to see you guys in class, though Ruby's offered to help me with making a melee weapon of some kind; Between you and me, I think she wanted to make my gun some kinda funky shapeshifting gun like her's."

That got a laugh out of Pyrrha: if there was one thing that Pyrrha knew about Ruby, it was that she was obsessed with weapons, perhaps to a bit of an extreme. "I don't necessarily see anything wrong with that idea."

"Ah, maybe, maybe not, I'll figure it out; I always do someway or another."

"Alright, well I will leave you to your devices."

She turned to leave, but was stopped when she heard him call out her name.

"Pyrrha, I uh..."

She turned to find him looking flustered and obviously mentally stumbling over what to say.

"...I just wanted to say... thank you. For the Aura bit and all that. That means a lot to me, really."

She couldn't help but smile at him, "It's not a problem at all. Hope I see you in the sparring ring!"

"Right back at you!" He let out one last confident smile and cheery laugh as she left the room and closed the door behind her.

Though about 5 seconds later she swore she heard something like groans coming from his room...

"I was so not fucking prepared for that!" Jacob screamed into a pillow on the bed as his emotions came to a head, the memories flashing back to him; Pyrrha's death, Penny's death, Yang's dismemberment, Blake's wounds, Ruby's despairing face, Jaune's sorrow...

For several minutes, he felt like his head was going to pop off his neck and roll about on the ground like a droideka. Coupled with the urge to cry as the little gremlin in his mind dared to start playing "Cold" again, he was lucky that no one else would enter the room at the moment, lest they think him a madman.

What have I gotten myself into... Oh Lord on High, what have I gotten myself into?...

Well, that was a fun experiment in writing new dialogue for existing characters. *Feels like passing out*

Well, next chapter's gonna be a little different, mostly just our protagonist on his own with his thoughts and emotions. Will he make a girl a promise he can't keep?

A always, reviews are welcome, critiques I only ask are of a constructive intent, and I hope you continue to enjoy this series.

Until then, I'll see you guys... in the next chapter. Buh-bye~!