Author's Notes:
Another week, another chapter.
As of posting this, I've only just finished the plan for Chapter 8 so it'll be a little longer before the next update; I want to be at least 2 chapters ahead of the curve before posting the next. If you're constantly tuning in to this story, I hope you'll understand. We're almost at the end of Initiation, though! This chapter and the next should be all she wrote.
Deeper into Initiation we dive.
Enjoy the chapter.
"It's you..."
Jaune's voice was quiet, slightly shaky, even. Pushing off the flaking remains of what was once a fully grown Beowolf on his chest – now cleanly sliced in two.
Her raven hair flowed from her speed, landing in an almost unsettlingly silent crouch, bending a single knee with one palm resting on the floor and the other outstretched – holding out her weapon after following through with an obvious strike.
If Jaune's landing from earlier was a superhero landing, this figure's was a ninja landing.
Speaking of figure, this one was definitely female. White zip-up shorts made way for black tights that blended into purple near the shins and similarly-coloured boots that folded down at the top. A parted black waistcoat – buttoned with a single white button – exposed the lower part of her midsection and her ribboned forearms seemed to follow the flutter of the strand of cloth wrapped around her weapon.
And those piercing golden orbs and midnight bow atop her head.
Rising, none other than Blake Belladonna stared directly into Jaune's eyes. And with amber meeting sapphire, the bond was created – the bridge was built. Fates were sealed.
Souls were intertwined.
/-/
Somewhere atop the side of a cliff, Ozpin took a very loud sip of his mug.
Normally, Glynda wouldn't give it a second glance, she was too busy monitoring all of the students' whereabouts and informing Peter and Bart about potential altercations that may be arising.
The `altercations` ranged from menial – such as a student giving up Initiation (which she understood wholeheartedly; the world of huntsmen and Grimm weren't for everyone) – and the more severe. Such as the deliberate sabotage between students or a student being in mortal danger.
However, her old teammate was taking a precariously long swig of the contents within his precious mug. One second turned into five which turned to ten – making Glynda question how it even fit that much substance inside of it.
Eventually, she grew slightly concerned for her employer. If something happened to him, that just meant there would be even more paperwork on her desk.
With a sigh, Glynda turned to Ozpin, "What's wrong, Professor?" It took maybe another second or two before the silver-haired headmaster's lips left the rim of the white mug.
He let out a breath, inclining more towards a groan than a sigh, and muttered under his breath with his eyes shut, "I spent all of last night thinking of those team names… it even matched her actual– " Ozpin let out another wishful sigh. "Glynda?"
Standing at full attention, she responded, "Yes, Headmaster?"
"How do you feel about the name `Jazzberry`?" Her face twisted in visible disgust at the very concept of such a name. "No? I felt the same way; let us hope it doesn't come to it, then. What about `Rubine`? `Whirlpool`?"
And so, the esteemed headmaster of Beacon Academy began to rattle off brainstormed ideas to his vice principal, all the while she still dutifully monitored her students and deeply breathing in and out in an almost primal-like manner.
"Perhaps even `Ribbon`? Has a certain charm to it, wouldn't you say?"
/-/
"It's you..."
Despite his low volume, Jaune was heard. And while Blake began to walk towards the collapsed bot, she spoke, "Yes, it is. And it seems as though we are now partners, partner." Now next to Jaune, she offered her free hand, the other holding her overly complicated-looking weapon.
The blond reached out a hand, twitching backwards for half a second, before he grasped it and pulled.
Being dragged to his feet, Jaune thought that he might as well have made the best of his situation. He'd count his small blessings where he could, hoping they wouldn't burst aflame first, of course.
"Welp," he groaned as he was dragged upwards, "I guess it could be a lot worse." Jaune gave a slightly coy smile, "You could have been Yang."
To his surprise, Blake chuckled softly, letting go of his hand as she put that hand to her back – sheathing her weapon on her back in a singular motion. "Believe me," she said, "I completely get the sentiment."
At least someone else understood how terrifying she was, even if it was the girl opposite him. "You, too, huh?" Her only response was a nonchalant shrug with a small smile of her own gracing her features.
Jaune hummed, more so to prevent him saying something he would regret later, patting down his vast amount of equipment on his person – making sure he didn't lose anything. It wasn't that he was careless with how he strapped everything in – a little roughing up wouldn't undo his belts - more so just out of habit after things just disappearing from his arsenal out of nowhere while travelling with his mentor.
Crocea Mors' blade still lay flat on the ground near his feet from when he let go in surprise, thanks to the Beowolf. He'd have to work on keeping a hold of his weapon when it mattered, too. It was human nature to sporadically move muscles in a panic, but losing your weapon when you needed most could spell death.
His assortment of gear shuffled as Jaune bent onto a knee to examine the sword. As always, in perfect condition. Wrapping fingers against the royal-blue hilt as he slid it into the sheathe on the outside of his forearm and, with a satisfying click, he stood back up and looked for his pistol…
Oh no.
Jaune's eyes widened.
Blake, like himself just a few seconds earlier, was bent down over a familiar-looking item. It was nothing other than Jaune's very own customized handgun. She slowly ran a hand down the barrel to feel the surface of the black metal before picking it up by the handle and turning to meet its owner.
At the sight of his expression, her own amber orbs widened, switching her grip from on the handle to the barrel with a seemingly practiced flick of the wrist. Perhaps because her own weapon was possibly a gun and she was likely well-versed with it.
Surely.
"Sorry," Blake apologized, not quite meeting his wary gaze, "I forgot that you didn't like people touching your stuff." She pushed the handle of the gun closer to Jaune, taking a single step closer.
Jaune took a half-step back, cursing as he realized what he was doing. Instead of following through, he took a full step forward, and slowly retrieved the weapon in Blake's hands. She was only half right in her assumption, after all.
A black similar in darkness to Blake's own outfit, the metal on his gun was obviously worn and rusted in some areas, but the key feature of the gun itself was the faded double yellow arc that was painted around the barrel. Just something that he thought to add when he got it custom made. Some personality never hurt anyone.
Unless it came in the form of a tacky, tattered cape that you commonly got yourself tangled into. That definitely hurt people.
A lot of people.
"No, don't worry about it; it's fine," Jaune responded, the weapon shifting into a smaller version as he hung it onto his thigh-belt. His eyes met Blake's once more. "Thanks."
Blake nodded silently, but moved past Jaune and pointed into the foliage behind him. The boy turned to look in the same direction.
"While I was in the air, there was a large clearing in the forest," she started, "Another cliff-side and a large castle ruin. If we head in that direction, I'm sure that we'll come across the relics that Professor Ozpin spoke about."
Jaune stared into what he could only describe as a deep mass of green and nothing more. His sense of direction never really was the best in the first place and `travelling` in the past year was more akin to wandering around aimlessly until they stumbled across something that was useful and then claim it was intentional.
"I see." He didn't see anything other than loads of trees. "Well, lead the way, Blake." Jaune gestured generally in the pointed direction, to which Blake nodded her head and did so without much more prompt.
/-/
The journey was mostly in silence, at least verbally.
Audible crunches of forest litter and the occasional sound of Grimm stalking the woods filled the void between them while a professional air of mutual understanding came between the two to deal with the problems that arose.
Grimm were easily enough dispatched between the two. Ursa, Boarbatusks, Beowolves – no Majors, Empors or Alphas at all – were either cut through cleanly with a well-timed slice of Crocea Mors or a slash of Blake's gun-whip sword thing that Jaune still thought still had way too many components to be practically useful.
He couldn't complain, however. As long as it cut the horrific creatures of Grimm down to shreds with enough ease – it was good in his eyes. And Blake definitely knew how to make her weapon tear them to tatters.
With scary amounts of natural agility, Blake flipped and jumped, dislocating her pistol from the blade and using it as a… a… ballistic chain whip-scythe that went through Beowolf and Ursa alike in deadly and elegant patterns. While Jaune used his innate strength and trained dexterity to finish Grimm with drilled-in technique, his new partner's speed and movement almost made him dizzy – and he wasn't even the one spinning around. It was enough to make him jealous, at the very least.
Stupid flashy weapons.
Diving under an Ursa's wide swing, Jaune got extremely close and personal with the large Grimm while it stood on its hind legs. Crocea Mors sang as it slashed through the exposed neck of the creature in a backhanded strike. Ripping the head clean off, Jaune knew that the rest of the Grimm were being handled by Blake and took the time to stare at the Arc legacy's pride and joy – a weapon passed from generation to generation. One that he stole from his father on the night he ran away.
Flashy weapon, huh?
If only I could make it happen again…
"Blake?"
"Yeah?" Blake stood atop the corpse of another Ursa, her pistol-whip being jerked free from the hindquarters of the beast with a tug of the connecting ribbon.
"How close are we to the ruins you were talking about?" At his completely reasonable question, Blake gave him an incredulous look with a raised eyebrow. "What?"
A single finger pointed to Jaune's side, revealing a part of the forest where the tree line abruptly ended.
"Oh." Ruined - fragments of stone became pedestals for differently-coloured objects that, because of the distance, weren't easily decipherable by the eye. Squinting, Jaune tried anyway, "Can you tell what those are?"
With an air of easy indifference, Blake responded, "They're chess pieces. And they're probably the relics." As she hopped off of the decaying Ursa, she began to walk towards the ruins that were easily over a hundred meters away from them.
Jaune followed swiftly behind, tightly grasping Crocea Mors in his right hand. His earring jingled at his movement, the sound filling his ears. And as he walked, his eyes were like cold and narrow, pointed directly at the back of the girl's skull.
Blake could certainly see quite far, couldn't she?
/-/
Ember Cecelia rammed into the open stomach of yet another poor, unexpecting Ursa. If the force of her raw strength alone wasn't enough to send it packing, the subsequent shotgun shell exploding from the barrel of it certainly would.
"Rrraagh!" Yang yelled, sending the Grimm launching back into a faraway tree with a burst from her gauntlets. The sickening sound of mushy flesh told the blonde brawler that the beast definitely bit the dust with that one.
Her dad always taught her that using her voice was a good way to strengthen her strikes. Something to do with air or breath or something…?
She forgets.
"Take that!" Yang fist-pumped the air, "I swear, I couldn't bear you for another second!" She said with the utmost charisma, now placing both hands on her hips and giving a cocky smile.
It was aimed to nobody in particular, but that didn't stop Yang from improving her stand-up improv; she had a reputation to uphold, you know? Yang – Queen of Puns, Empress of Entertainment, Warrior of Wordplay.
Some people just didn't appreciate art, was all.
Her joyful expression turned downcast, then a small scowl as she clicked her teeth. Where did Ruby go? Without a doubt, to find Jaune, but Yang would rephrase the question.
Why did Ruby go? Maybe she laid it on too thickly for the first day? Maybe she had enough of her older sister's motherly protection.
Yang sighed, opening one of her right palm and looking into it. "Ruby's a big girl now, Yang," she advised herself quietly, "you shouldn't coddle her too much. What if your mom always stood over you, watching your every move?"
Her eyes widened, lilac pupils moving around her hand before they steadied themselves once more. "Stop being an idiot, Yang, let her make her own friends." Expect Jaune. The blonde closed her hand into a fist tightly.
Not Jaune.
Rising her head to look forward at the tree she punched a Grimm into, Yang reflected on why exactly she didn't like Jaune. Really, it was probably a mixture of confusion and envy – both feelings were mild and petty, she knew, but it didn't stop her from feeling them.
She was just teasing her sister, as she normally did, only for Ruby to run off and come back with a blond-haired, blue-eyed male teen. That in itself wasn't much of a problem, if the dude was decent enough she'd be all for Ruby making some good guy-friends.
However, Jaune didn't seem decent.
It wasn't even that she caught him staring at her. Better guys have tried back in Signal and each one of them got beaten to a pulp. And while she would definitely like to give Jaune a solid sock to the jaw, she just couldn't bring himself to. Because Ruby liked him. And it seemed as though Jaune did genuinely care some for Ruby.
Yang told herself it was something in his eyes. His demeanour was normal enough, like any other hormonal teenage male – but eminently different, in a way. His eyes, those distant blue eyes, they hid something that screamed danger. Her instincts told her to be careful, to be… afraid. And while she wasn't afraid - far from it, really - Yang didn't want her sister to be caught up in something bigger than she was.
She even mentally blocked out the obvious joke there. Maybe these were her overbearing motherly instincts acting up again. They haven't been this bad since Summer first left. Yang knew that. Maybe they were taking over her actions once more, all these years later amidst the crowds of oestrogen in her bloodstream, to an extent.
To what extent Yang didn't truly know. However, as long as Jaune respected Ruby and her wishes, she would attempt to tolerate his presence. Attempt being a keyword. Because if that sucker got a little too close to Ruby in the wrong way…
Yang slammed her closed fist into her other hand, creating a satisfying thud against the glove.
Death would be the least of his worries.
The sound of another growl belonging to yet another Ursa came from behind Yang. Her resolved expression formed into a vicious grin as she spun around, Ember Cecelia cocked backwards, letting empty shells fly free from their cage as the brawler brought her figure down into a recognisable stance.
"Guess you Ur-saw what happened to your buddy back there and you want some too, huh?" Yang smirked. Man, she was on a roll.
It roared, coming in on all fours and ran towards Yang – unknowing that its demise was fast approaching in the form of rocket-powered…
Javelin?
Not even a second after the Grimm had committed to its furious charge, a spear from the heavens – coloured in scarlet and gold – made Yang jump back in surprise as the spiked tip pierced the Grimm's skull.
It was like a damn shooting star! "Wh- what the hell was that?" She managed, whispering in awe to herself, "Where did it even come from?"
The next sound to grace Yang's ears was a small cough, breaking through her initial shock. "Um. Hello, there!" The voice was feminine, graceful – yet strong – and with a slightly shaky undertone despite the jovial pitch.
Spinning on her boot heel, the brawler couldn't help but feel like she had been combat-blue-balled as she saw a figure emerge from the shrubbery. It was a girl with hair that reminded her of Ruby's cloak and was clad in beautifully patterned bronze plating – fashionable and practical, Yang noted. Her hands became interlinked in front of her and she smiled, though her eyes didn't do the same.
Yang knew as she had saw them. Her eyes. Wait-
Lilac met emerald, brawler met champion and huntress met huntress. The bond was established; the bridges were built. Fates were sealed – and souls?
Intertwined.
The blonde brought a single hand to the top of her head a scratched it lightly, trying to shake off the slight irritation. It wasn't personal or anything, this girl just wasn't Ruby or Blake. Though, she supposed it could have been worse.
It could have been Jaune walking through the bushes.
Though she decided to make the best of the situation, and since this girl looked slightly apprehensive to approach – what better way to break the ice than with a pickaxe made of puns? A pun-axe.
With a wide smile, Yang jerked a thumb the red javelin, embedded deeply into the dirt – the body of the earlier Grimm already faded to dust, "Hey, is that yours?" She asked, "Well, you're in luck, it just so happened to drop in a few seconds ago! Eh? Eh?" Her eyebrows wiggled furiously.
The quite-literal redhead looked surprised before her eyes lit up with a green glint, moving a hand to stop a giggle from escaping.
At least someone appreciated art around here.
"Yes," she spoke, walking forwards toward her new partner. "that does appear to be mine. Thank you for taking care of it. My name is Pyrrha, and you?" She offered a leather-gloved hand politely, to which Yang took with swiftness – taking the other slightly aback at her forwardness.
It was a good way to make friends, she had learnt.
"Pyrrha? That's a cool name. The name's Yang Xiao-Long, nice to meet you, partner!"
"Likewise," she smiled. And Yang liked to think she meant it that time.
Pyrrha began to trek with more of a stride in her step than when she first appeared from the surrounding greenery towards what Yang thought was her weapon. She was proven correct as the taller girl reached for the middle and pulled it forth, displacing some grass with the action. With a motion, it span around her wrist as it holstered onto her back where a similarly-coloured shield lay resting too.
She linked her hands politely once again and turned to address her blonde partner, "So, Yang-" Pyrrha stopped her trail of thought. "What's wrong?" Her voice took on an inquisitive edge as the other girl was staring into the parting canopy above them.
"You, uh, didn't happen to drop anything else on your way here, did you?" Yang asked.
Pyrrha shook her head confusedly, "No, I didn't… Yang, are you alright?"
"Maybe for now," she noted ominously, a nervous smile breaking on her face as one of her fingers slowly extended towards the sky. Pyrrha followed the line of sight created, her own emerald orbs widening as adrenaline rushed through her blood. "But I don't think that's gonna last."
What was in the sky was a massive Nevermore. For some, that would be enough to make them wet their pants but that wasn't what had the two girls shaken. It was because the Nevermore was currently nosediving on a collision course directed on the ground that they just so happened to stand on.
And it looked pissed.
Its large beak was wide open, letting out a bloodcurdling screech, that had Yang drawing in a deep breath.
"Run!" She howled, already bursting past Pyrrha with a simultaneous explosion erupting from Ember Cecilia. Pyrrha gave the giant Grimm a lingering look before doing as yelled to, turning tail and hiking it the same direction as her partner.
Yang's light-brown leather boots landed on the floor for a millisecond, the surface area of the two objects barely grazing each other, before she let off another explosion. Her head snapped behind in the air time to check on Pyrrha, only to find the red-haired teen nowhere to be found. "Pyrrha?! Where are you?!"
"Right here!" Pyrrha responded, running right beside Yang.
Who was currently manoeuvring via rocket-powered explosions.
She had to shift her lilac eyes between the two positions, behind and next to her, until she ultimately donned a huge grin on her face. This girl was pretty good!
"Keep up the pace!" Yang yelled, her gauntlets roaring in response to her command – even if it wasn't specifically for them, "or people might never see more of my beautiful face!" It wasn't her best material, she would admit.
The ear-splitting screech enclosing behind them seemed to agree.
"Do you always go for the low-hanging fruit?" Asked Pyrrha, having no trouble keeping up with Yang with her pure horsepower alone, jumping over and ducking under thorny bushes and spiked branches alike.
Another burst of her gauntlets. "What can I say? I'm just winging it at this point." Replied the blond, her grin not leaving her face.
That would soon change, however, as the avian Grimm above them blacked out the sky – the sun's light dimmed with the black feathers of the night.
/-/
"Huh… you good with this one?" Jaune's index and thumb were at the opposite ends of a horse-figured chess piece – a knight.
It was ironic, really. He spent so much time thinking he would eventually become one, coming to Beacon as anything but.
He flipped around to Blake, showing her the golden piece, rotating it around for her to inspect. Her response was an indifferent shrug, with no malice behind it, just to indicate that she didn't really mind what they got, as long as they didn't outright fail.
Jaune flicked the chess piece upward, catching it with a swipe of the palm and secured it into one of the endless pouches on his belts.
"So," he asked, "what now?"
Blake folded her arms and put weight onto one of her legs, making the other bend. "Well, I imagine that we wait for Professor Ozpin to call off Initiation. You have a scroll on you, right?"
"Yeah, of course. Why?" A scroll was essentially a must-have device in this day and age with the CCT's plotted in each of the four kingdoms. Messages, phone calls, worldwide news, cute cats – you name it and its probably lurking somewhere around the C-Net.
Blake gestured one of her hands forward, "Maybe the headmaster will contact us with it."
It left the question on how he would know they completed it, only for Jaune to internally facepalm at his own enquiry. The headmaster of Beacon Academy would, of course, have some sort of surveillance system in his Grimm-infested backyard and use that to keep tabs on Initiation. It made logical sense.
Jaune nodded in agreement, "Let's hope it's soon, then."
The raven-haired teen hummed in agreement.
…
As silence came over the two, Blake slowly made her way to a solitary pillar, snapped at the top half with what seemed to be its fragments of stone scattered around it neatly. It was close enough to the main ruin housing the relics that Jaune could keep an eye on Blake from where he was stood but chose to follow.
The girl leant against the pillar and put the sole of one of her boots on it as she shut her eyes, crossing her arms once more. Taking his own post, Jaune took a seat on one of the many boulders around the singular obelisk and propped himself up with both his arms behind his back.
Leaning back, he looked at the very clear sky above; the ruins themselves were quite some ways away from the main thick of the forest.
…
Man, this silence was awkward.
At least when the two were making the trek towards where Blake correctly guessed where the relics were, the deafening silence between them was filled with the sweet sound of stripping Grimm flesh and shouting warnings and call-outs.
Now, all there was between the two was the spine-chilling lack of words that Jaune felt would even make that elusive headmaster feel like coughing was a bad idea.
Hell, even now Jaune was eyes were as wide as plates and his cheeks were compact as he stared into the clouds – wondering what on Remnant they could talk about.
Granted, he hadn't really had the best first impression on her, what with the whole suddenly yelling at her for no apparent reason but damn it, that was a mistake in the moment. Jaune knew that he had to make effort in repairing this relationship.
Especially because they'd be spending the next four years together as partners.
"Hey, uh…"
"Yes?" Blake opened a single eye, her pupil moving to the side to meet Jaune's gaze.
He would be the first to admit that single action was mildly intimidating and definitely not helping him mend the apparent problems between them.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry."
Another second of silence. Blake opened her other eye, not yet facing Jaune's direction, but it was enough movement to tell him that she was giving him full attention. "For what?"
And Blake definitely wasn't the forgetful type. Nor was she seem stupid. She knew exactly what he was apologising for but just wanted the teen to elaborate on it further.
Jaune would do his best not to, "For my outburst back before Initiation. I know it was unexpected and you didn't deserve that kind of treatment; for that - I'm sorry." He didn't always stumble on his words. More often than not, he was normally quite well-spoken. You had to be when you were normally communicating on behalf of a swear-slurring radical drunk half of the time.
He also learnt that the ability to speak was one of humanity's greatest assets. Funnily enough, not against the Grimm – but against themselves. Jaune still didn't understand why the people of Remnant still sought to destroy each other instead of the obvious option. You know, working together to solve the problems of the world? Instead, organizations like the White Fang twist and contort to conform to the brutality around them.
Oh, and it did also help slightly that he could sense Aura to an extent – partly giving him the ability to sense the true feelings of individuals. Yeah, that helped.
"Why?" Was Blake's reply. She didn't verbally accept the apology – not yet, at least.
Jaune fiddled with his left earlobe, freeing the crooked cross ornament from his flesh. Holding it the palm of his right hand, the teen made a display of moving it around in his glove.
"I remember telling you it was from someone important to me." Not entirely false. Vul was important to him, but not in that kind of way. Guy was still a douche. But the next part was entirely true to Jaune, "Without him, I wouldn't be the person I am today."
The girl tore her eyes from Jaune, looking over the castle surrounded by a gorge in the distance. "They must mean a lot to you." Something in Blake's voice made him reminisce the year he was essentially kidnapped to spend with the man he called his mentor. It was distant, as if remembering a past memory. Though, even with his partial Aura sense, he couldn't tell if it was fond or not.
"They do," he replied.
And Jaune found much more truth in that statement than what he initially thought.
"I see," Blake closed her eyes once more, returning to her original position. "Then I'll take your word for it. Apology accepted."
For the first time with this girl, Jaune felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Hopefully, it would last. He gave himself a pat on the back and felt the creeping shake in his legs escape along with the rising sense of Blake's suspicion in her Aura.
Even if he knew what to say, it didn't make it any easier to say them – especially when who you were speaking to definitely knew something was up. Doubly especially if that something could spell disaster for many people, including himself.
Fastening his earring back on, the steel went through his flesh in a pre-pierced pinhole – though he would never get used to the feeling of putting something through his skin voluntarily. With it securely back in place, Jaune felt more at ease with his position and let his muscles relax.
If only life would treat him that easily.
Blake shot up from her position, leaning forward as her eyes flickered to the distant treeline.
Jaune made to stand up, lowering himself as he slowly made his way towards the fully alert girl, "What is it?" he asked.
"I don't know… but it sounds like heavy footsteps, around three pairs," replied Blake, her eyes focusing on a specific part of the forest they came out of. "Coming from over there."
Three pairs of passive footsteps? If anything, Jaune did trust Blake's sense at the very least. "You think it's a Grimm?"
"Do you have to ask?" Her tone of voice was flat and spared her partner a single glance.
Jaune shrugged, some of his equipment shuffling with the action, "I don't know," the teen answered, "maybe it's a pack of exceptionally large people."
"At that point, I'm unsure whether or not that would be better or worse," the girl joked. And Jaune found himself laughing softly while she wore a small smile.
Blake's head twitched upwards but a blur of red kept Jaune's attention at the forest edge. And it was getting closer at an alarming rate. That couldn't have been. No… no, it couldn't have.
But the rose petals were a dead giveaway.
"Jaaauuuunneee!" Ruby's voice was panicked and in a frequency that Jaune thought that the Beowolves would shy at the sound of.
"Ruby?!" He yelled back? The blond took a step back, afraid that the Ruby Express was on a one-track course straight though Jaune Station. Lucky for him, that wasn't the case and he was spared a flowery demise as the speeding haze of roses burst past him yelling only one thing, "Ruuuuuun!"
"Eiieeeee!" A second voice shrieked at an even higher pitch. How the hell was that even humanly possible? But in the fraction of a second that he had to set his eyes on Ruby, he could have sworn that she was carrying Weiss along with her.
Jaune's gloved hand darted to his thigh-belt once more, quickly grasping at the second device that he had on hand. It's whirling revealed it to be not much larger than a pistol, but with somewhat similar properties.
What made it different however, was the large metal hook attached to the end of the barrel and a circular reel near the backend of it.
Once again, it was a customized piece. Black paintjob, some of it coming off in flakes to reveal a greyer material underneath, with a double yellow arc around the barrel.
A grappling gun. Or grappling hook or hook-shot, take your pick, really. Vul did once suggest calling it a snatch-and-grabber but he was completely off his rocker at the time, so Jaune didn't take it seriously. Not like he would have if he was sober, anyway; that was a horrible name.
And as Jaune lined up the shot, which was thankfully quite easy since Ruby was moving a completely straight line, he took a deep breath and fired the trigger – aiming right at her big, puffy cloak.
His shot was true, the hook handing directly within the hood itself. Trust Lady Luck to be on his side some times.
"Oop-" Ruby noticed that her momentum all but grinded to a halt and the crippling realisation what was going to happen dawned on her. Jaune let go of the trigger he was holding down, prompting the cast line to come shooting backwards, dragging the cloaked girl with it. "Aaaaahhhh! Oof!"
"Owch!" Weiss tumbled across the floor, rolling around in the grass as Ruby let go of her during the entire sequence. "Watch it, you dunce!"
The red-cloaked girl rubbed her head, knees spread apart on the ground before she came to, "Sorry, Weiss…" she shook her head violently, as if to get herself back on track. Putting both of her palms flat on the grass below she started to ramble, "Jaune! We gotta get moving! Me and Weiss-"
Weiss was already on her feet, dusting of her dress, "-Weiss and I," she muttered angrily.
"-were going into this huge cave because it looked like where the relics were but, really, there was just this huge Deathstalker just… stalking there!" One of her hands began to animate her story more so distracting rather than useful. "Then we tried fighting it and I used Crescent Rose and we were super cool!"
Weiss coughed into a fist.
"Oh, and Weiss was there too."
She facepalmed, dragging it down her face as she groaned.
Ruby payed no attention, "Anyway, we kept on fighting until suddenly this awesome girl with a hammer came charging in riding on an Ursa with this guy." Jaune opened his mouth to interrupt with how unbelievable that sounded but the energetic girl kept the story going, "But then she jumped from the Ursa to on top of the Deathstalker and starting to ride that thing as well! Isn't that crazy?" The girl threw her hands in the air to punctuate her anecdote's end.
His head creaked towards Weiss for answers, who widened her eyes and flicked her light-blue pupils to the side and back – almost like she was surprised that Jaune had made eye contact with her. The blonde's expression was telling of what he wanted to know.
"It's true," She sighed. Weiss' body folded slightly, seeming annoyed at that fact.
Slowly, Ruby's arms backed down – their short-lived job completed. "So… that's what happened. Oh, hey, Blake."
Blake didn't respond with words, instead only pointing upwards with an indescribable expression of either disbelief, fear or reluctance to accept. Perhaps a mixture of all of them was an appropriate descriptor.
Both blue and silver pairs of eyes turned upwards to lay eyes on what had Blake so enamoured.
Jaune's face began to morph into the same one his partner wore. An explosive sigh left his lips, body slightly drooping at the thought of what was to come. He didn't even want to address it, but couldn't help but ask, "Is that-"
The red-cloaked reaper, true to nature, beat him to it, "Yang!"
Indeed, falling out of the clouds was none other than Ruby's very own sister – Yang. The very same one that very clearly expressed a certain distaste for him – specifically – and the girl he developed a small phobia of.
It was a joke, but Jaune wished it really was.
"Watch out!" She shouted below her, landing on a single knee and slamming her fist onto the ground in an absolute comic book rendition of a superhero landing. The dirt and rock gave way to her force and as she pushed herself up she greeted everyone with a smile, "Hey, guys! Jaune."
She didn't even break any bones. The world truly was unfair.
"I'm flattered…" Jaune deadpanned with a teensy amount of snark.
"You should be," Yang flashed him a grin, showing no obvious antagonism. "I'm in a good mood today. And because I'm in a good mood, I brought a gift." The brawler looked pleased with herself, putting her hands on her hips and closing her eyes expecting showers of thanks from the small gathering around her.
…
"Are we supposed to see something or…"
"Shh…" Yang pushed a finger against Blake's lips, much to the obvious discomfort of the latter. Her golden eyes crossed as she looked at the offending finger with extreme prejudice. "Wait for it."
…
"Aaaaany second now."
…
Weiss folded her arms and turned to Ruby, "I'm starting to think your sister's delusional," she stated flatly.
In response, Ruby shrugged nonchalantly, not seeming to understand what her sister could have even been referring to. In all fairness, even Jaune was starting to doubt Yang's state of mind. What could she have even been-
A large crash, even louder than when Yang had collided with the ground, kicked up untold volumes of dust in the air – blowing back Jaune's hair and forcing him to bring up his arm to block out the dirt.
"Finally," Yang complained, moving from Blake to whatever just decided to land in-between all of them. "You were starting to make me look bad, Pyrrha. Whatcha doing here? Just dropping in?"
"You made that same joke not five minutes ago, Yang." The voice emerged first from the dust, and soon did the figure as well.
It truly was Pyrrha that began to rise from the crater she had manufactured in her powerful landing, coming out completely unscathed. What, did Jaune just land wrong or something? Why did everyone seem to pull superhero landings off better than him?
As Yang leant on the red-haired girl's shoulder, her eyes met Jaune's – making them widen slightly. Pyrrha smiled slightly, giving a small wave with a hand, to which the blond currently not invading her personal space returned happily.
Blake seemed glad that Yang was off her, even if it meant leaving another unfortunate soul to her mercy. "Well," she said, crossing her arms and putting most of her weight on one leg, "now that we're all together, do you mind telling us what you were doing – just falling through the sky like that?"
"Oh, you know, just a Giant Nevermore," Yang replied like it was a question she was asked every day and answered with an equally nonchalant tone.
Weiss wasn't taking it. Raising an eyebrow, she pressed on, "So you were up there… because of a Giant Nevermore?"
"Yep," With a pop of the `p`, Yang continued, "Pyrrha said that she saw her javelin get knocked up into the Nevermore's wing, or something, and that made it chase after whatever slashed it."
The white-haired girl's eyes drifted to the redhead next to Yang, "How did that even happen?"
Jaune was interested as Weiss seemed to be. His own sapphire orbs came to Pyrrha for answers, meeting emerald for a split second before the girl tore her eyes away. Her eyes were wide before she composed herself to answer the other's question.
"Oh, you know, just… I just love to throw things!" She laughed nervously.
Weiss' eyebrow raised further, "I thought Yang said it was knocked-"
"Knock! Just sure like to knock things!" Pyrrha was quite obviously desperate to hide something – he didn't need to waste energy sensing her Aura to tell. If her pitchy voice and nervous laughter weren't enough, the girl's obvious reluctance to look Weiss in the eyes was telling. Jaune was silently pondering what she could have done.
At least until her eyes flickered to him for a nanosecond before snapping back.
Oh, fuck me.
Jaune paled, slowly averting his guilty gaze from the crime scene. Something that Weiss picked up on remarkably well despite the overall discreteness of the action itself.
Her normally perfect posture dropped, "You have got to be kidding me. Somehow, I already knew you would have had a part to play in this."
The blond didn't blame her. It seemed as though, as of lately, wherever he tended to go or do – bad things tended to follow. Quite inconvenient, and painful, really.
"In my defence," Jaune shot his hands up in surrender at the girl's icy glare, "it was going to impale me."
All eyes turned to Pyrrha, even Ruby – who still hadn't yet gotten herself off of the ground, seeming quite comfortable sitting in the grass.
The red-haired girl flinched back at the sudden attention, before laughing nervously again, "I just… love to throw things, haha!" It wasn't working. Pyrrha looked downcast, head dropping to the side as she mumbled, "It was going to go through your hoodie, not you…"
Jaune all but copied the movement, "How was I supposed to tell…?"
"In any case, hey – come on, get up," Weiss dragged Ruby up from the arm, the other girl gasping in surprise, "if you somehow got here via Giant Nevermore, where do you suppose it is now?" She placed her hands on her hips aggressively as her voice cut through the air toward Yang.
And Jaune almost fell over when she saw the bigger girl flinch backwards. For her small stature, Weiss certainly had a way with words and actions – much better at interrogating than Vul.
"Ahaha… I dunno…" Jaune could have sworn he saw a bead of sweat flick off of Yang's forehead as Weiss stepped closer – forcing the blonde to back away with her palms showing. Slowly, one of them revealed a finger upwards. "Maybe right above us?"
She was certainly better at getting answers out of her interrogate-ee's, too.
A loud caw sounded above, prompting the entire group to shoot their glares upwards to the massive bird-Grimm that certainly wasn't there seconds prior.
"That's one big bird…" Jaune stated.
Everyone turned to look at him, eyes of a multitude of colours looking at him with disbelief or disdain.
"What? It's true."
Next to take their attention was the rumbling of the ground. Jaune flashed a look to Blake, who met him almost instantly, as the raven-haired girl nodded slowly twice. Well, this certainly was going tits-up, isn't it?
What he was expecting was a large, multi-legged Grimm – and to a lesser extent, a party of unnaturally large people. Jaune was largely correct in his expectation.
But he wasn't entirely right.
"Ya-hooo~!" The voice shrieked in something only describable as pure, raw, unadulterated excitement.
Jaune was receiving what felt like the sixth feeling of utter shock of the morning. Honestly, he was surprised at the fact that he was still getting surprised. Beacon was a whole lot different than he was expecting. But, really, that was okay. It was something that Jaune was happy for.
Because even if everything that was happening was completely batshit-insane, at least it was exciting.
It didn't excuse the school for being crazy, though, as the blond whispered – shocked, "Holy-"
"God damn-"
"Cramoly… she's still riding that thing!" Ruby said, vocally succeeding her sister. While the red-cloaked girl seemed excited, everyone but her was anything but that.
Nobody could blame them if they saw a ginger, hammer-waving girl yelling and screaming, at the top of her lungs, on massive Deathstalker in delight while the poor figure of a green-clad teen was being flailed around by the Grimm's giant amber stinger.
…
Though, Jaune had to admit, Beacon was definitely exciting. Maybe if he had somehow succeeded in his fool's errand before he met Vul, he would have had a pipe problem in his pants – though right now?
He couldn't help but get the feeling of adrenaline coursing through his veins as he fought back something resembling a smile.
Atop the Deathstalker, the girl's face dropped as the Deathstalker stopped its multi-legged charge through the forest. "Wuh-oh," she said, as the giant creature reeled backwards in conjunction with its tail and lurched forwards at tremendous speeds, sending both of the teens firing. Straight towards the group.
"So… is anyone going to try catch them?" Jaune asked.
"Catch me!" The ginger girl screamed happily. The boy flying behind her was screaming in an eerily calm way, which Jaune found pretty impressive, and making his own thoughts on the situation quite obvious.
Blake slipped behind the pillar she once rested on.
Yang slammed her fists together and fire exploding from the impact, eyes as wild as her grin. Jaune took a step away from that.
"Do you want me to get crushed?" Weiss replied haughtily, crossing her arms as if she hadn't yet already.
The blond turned his head to the side, "I don't think I'd be that torn up about it, honestly…"
Pyrrha had somehow escaped from Yang's grasp outside of the boy's perception, who was now next to him as she elbowed his side playfully, "Jaune!"
He buckled slightly at the contact, surprised that she was so touchy. It wasn't that Jaune minded, really, he and Pyrrha did have a pleasant conversation before Initiation in the locker rooms. Truthfully, Jaune did only planned to get directions and leave but noticed that her Aura glow felt dim in comparison to Weiss'.
Not shattered like when your Aura breaks, just dim – uncomfortable and saddened.
And he was thankful that he had an ability like that; he certainly wouldn't have been able to tell from first glance. Call him pessimistic or jaded – hell, say that some of Vul's general defeatism came through – but Jaune had a feeling that there was much more to that than some may have thought.
It wasn't his place to pry, not like he was going to anyway, so the teen just laughed off the gesture as he defended himself, "What? Mama raised a truth-teller; the tooth fairy only comes to good boys and girls."
While Pyrrha took the joke well, Weiss clearly established that she didn't – sending him what Jaune was slowly coining her `Weiss-y glare`.
Gods that hurt. Jaune winced internally, getting the feeling that he never wanted to make a pun again.
"Guys…?" Ruby's voice cut in and drew the group's attention away from their party's strange dynamic. Her finger weakly pointed in the general direction of upward as she slowly shimmied to the side, "I think we should catch them…"
"I got it, sis!" Yang called out confidently, her arms spread wide as her legs braced for her inevitable kickback of catching a speeding person. "Come to mama!"
"Woohoo~! Oof!" Jaune knew from the moment that they met that she was a little unhinged, but not to the `ride into battle on a Grimm` kinds of unhinged. Though, he'd be lying if he said he was surprised.
Nora Valkyrie from this morning's boy's bathroom let out a satisfied sigh in the arms of the blonde, "Wow!" Her face snapped toward Yang's while in her arms, "Thanks, you! Hup!" The hyperactive girl leapt out of the bigger girl's grip and placed her hands on her hips, "Let's go again, Renny! Ren?" One of her hands come up to her forehead, searching for her companion, "Renny? Where are you? Oh, there you are!"
"What-" Nora pointed behind Jaune excitedly. "Oh, for f-"
Ren slammed into Jaune with anything but grace and elegance. The slimmer teen hurtled into the unexpecting blond with all the force of a thousand SDC cargo containers and Jaune hoped that the other had the common sense to activate his own Aura before impact.
Because he didn't.
"Oh my gosh, Jaune, are you alright?" A concerned Ruby Rose asked, bending over to look into the face of a collapsed teen with another collapsed teen in a similar state on his stomach.
"Ruby…?" Was it him, or was the sky blue? Weird. "Why are you upside down…? And why are there three of you?"
Yang appeared next to her sister, her golden mane almost ticking his nose as she inspected a very woozy Jaune. She whistled, "He really took a hit, didn't he?"
"Renny!" Though, despite his state, Nora seemed largely indifferent. She hauled Ren to his feet, the boy instantly regaining consciousness as the blond swore he whispered his desperate cry for help as he was dragged back up.
A hand came to clasp around his forearm and, out of common sense – like a baby grabbing the first thing its hand touches, he did the same around what felt like an arm. The entire world was flipped on his head and the blood sloshed around his brain matter.
Is this what a turd felt like getting flushed down a toilet?
"Bwhaa…?"
Pyrrha managed to sound positive, removing her hand the grip around Jaune's arm as she rubbed the back of her head, "Oh, he'll be fine… just a minor concussion, haha…" Her hand shot back out to grab the boy's shoulders as he almost stumbled over his stationary position, laughing nervously at the looks she received.
Yep, he could feel the rapid shaking of his cerebral cortex slowing down already.
Stepping out of the shadows, Blake's voice was deadly serious – cutting violently into the general lightheartedness of the atmosphere.
"This is great and all, but are we really going to do nothing about that?" The raven-haired girl shot a glance upward to the Giant Nevermore circling the party with deadly intent, ready to feast on the idle prey below. "Or that?" She next sent a pointed glare to the Giant Deathstalker that was bulldozing through the remaining trees that separated the teens from the creature of pure destruction.
Jaune offered the best he could; the situation called for it. With the tactical genius built up over an entire year of blood, blood and a little alcohol, he commanded, "Bwah?"
Ruby rose up, standing on one of the many boulders surrounding the large pillar the group was gathered at, "Jaune's right! We have to get moving!" Her hand fired into the distance, waving to the gorge-surrounded castle not too far away from here, "If we make it to that bridge, we can separate the two and focus our attention on one! Let's go, team!"
The girl's red cloak fluttered as she led the charge, followed swiftly by Blake, Weiss and Yang. Ren was pushed along by Nora while Pyrrha remained next to Jaune, ready to move.
His blond locks shuffled as Jaune was able to grasp onto a semblance of his previous state of mind. Shaking his head lightly, his eyes laid on the marching group, "Ugh… I feel like I died… are they retreating…?"
Pyrrha began to lightly jog forward, "More so advancing. Come on, Jaune, we don't want to get eaten by the Grimm, do we?"
He looked behind him, grimaced and forced Aura into his legs – making each stride equivalent to bounds and leaps. The red-head kept pace quite easily, face hardened into a competitive grin with a furrowed set of brows.
Jaune turned his head, startled slightly at how fast she was. Noticing his look, Pyrrha's steely determination softened to iron, "You aren't the only one who's knows Aura amplification, you know." Her face returned to a smirk as she ramped up her speed to eleven, blazing past Jaune.
His mouth failed to convey words – though, that made more sense since he had suffered immense head trauma just a few minutes prior. Pyrrha's natural leg-strength must have been absurd for her to get that far just from regular old Aura body-amplification. His mouth then turned upwards in a smile of his own.
Well, she knew Aura amplification, but did she have Aura amplification?
The blonde flooded his entire body with Aura, using it to power his Semblance and forcing his own Aura-amped Aura-amp's energy into his legs – sending him rocketing forth to the centre of the party as he kicked up dust and dirt with each slam of the boots.
"Woah," Nora yelled, face twisted in a face-splitting smile, "you're fast, Jauney! How'd you do that?"
"Yeah," Pyrrha came from behind, still running, with a gloved hand over her mouth as she coughed a small bit, "you just came out of nowhere."
Faint glowing of golden-tinted white dispersed around his legs as the boy shrugged, "A magician never reveals his secrets." Though he knew magic wasn't real, he imagined Nora was the type to believe in it. Magic wasn't real. It wasn't.
Nora scoffed, "Pfft, you're not a magician, silly! You're a boy!"
How did that even- in any case, Jaune shook his head and replied with proud tone, "Well, I'll have you know my Mom always said I was magical."
The ginger gasped, taking in a deep breath of air, "That's so cute!"
Ren, who was keeping his own footsteps silent, shook his head with a small smile while Pyrrha giggled.
Jaune was running in front of the trio, directly behind Yang, who was behind Blake, who was then – in turn – behind Weiss, who was somehow keeping up with Ruby at the front. Those three were stuck in their own squabble; Weiss questioning how Ruby even came up with this plan while Blake watched on in tired silence and Yang yelling obnoxiously from the back.
And with the possibility of death looming over the teens' shoulders – smiles and laughter in the face of impending doom – Jaune had only one thought in his mind.
If only he could have been like this all the time.
A structure, the bridge they were aiming for, was in sight – only a few more seconds of running until they hit the worn stone of its surface. The black wings of midnight blacked out the sky. Blacked out the sun. Blacked out the light around. Black legs, coal and heavy, shook the ground beneath them. Shook the earth itself. Shook the souls of the hopeful heroes.
To be a hero wasn't to be a huntsman. Jaune knew that. But if he didn't live to see the morning light of tomorrow, he couldn't prove him wrong. So, Jaune would fight and Jaune would live. With the Grimm encroaching, he had to find a way to live for tomorrow.
Because where else did he have to go apart from forward?
Ending Notes:
Ah, the wonders of perspective.
Many people have noticed that Yang has a certain... antagonistic quality towards Jaune. It was supposed to come off as unreasonable, because Jaune found it unreasonable from his perspective. Hell, even part of Yang herself sees her dislike as unreasonable. Don't think that plot point will be resolved in a single chapter either.
And the entire gang's back together! Though, some part of me thinks the way I made them interact was weird. Hopefully, I'll keep learning through experience.
A few more hints to plot points that I have yet to expand upon too. We'll see if anyone can figure them out.
As always...
Thank you for reading this chapter!