"Hey Pyrrha!" Jaune said, smiling as his teammate arrived at their table. "Who's that guy you were talking to? It seemed like—" he realized a little too late that Pyrrha's expression was less cheery than usual, "you looked like you were having a, uh, interesting conversation…" She smiled back at him, though she still looked a bit distracted.
"It wasn't important." Pyrrha said lightly, sitting down across from him and immediately reaching for a tray of chicken.
"Wasn't—wasn't important!?" Weiss exclaimed, pointing back at the purple-eyed boy Pyrrha had been talking to, who looked like he was in the middle of scooping some salad onto his plate. "You were fraternizing with that—that fiend! What on Earth could you possibly have had to say to him?" Weiss' eyes narrowed. "Does this have to do with you 'owing him' something?" She demanded.
"Ah… well…" Pyrrha was looking distinctly uncomfortable, which made Jaune uncomfortable. He was her leader, and Weiss was being so aggressive—but he liked Weiss!
"We'd like to know too, Pyrrha." Nora said, quietly. Her and Ren were staring at Pyrrha as well, something like distrust in their eyes—which was even worse than Weiss' disapproval. Why was everyone so upset with Pyrrha talking to some student she knew? He glanced over at Ruby, Yang, and Blake, but they were all looking between Pyrrha and Weiss like some sort of a fight was about to break out. Luckily, Jaune noticed a distraction just in time.
"Hey, look, Professor Ozpin's up on the stage!" He said, pointing to the far end of the hall. At the same time, the professor tapped his microphone three times to get everyone's attention. Jaune quietly sighed in relief. Weiss shot one last suspicious glare Pyrrha's direction, but then turned to face Ozpin's podium.
"Good afternoon, students. I have a brief announcement to make." He paused, taking a sip of coffee that the microphone sent reverberating around the room. Everyone winced.
"I'm sure," Ozpin continued, "that many of you have noticed some students in your classes who were not present at initiation. As it happens, we have four first year students who were regrettably unable to arrive in time; they have, however, been admitted and assigned to their own team, and will continue to participate as members of your class. Could Suzaku Kururugi, Kallen Stadfeldt, C.C., and Lelouch vi Britannia please stand?"
Murmurs and whispers broke out after that last name as the two—wait, three?—students who had been sitting with the boy Pyrrha had been talking to, and the boy himself, stood up.
"From this day on, for the next four years, you will be a part of team—" Ozpin paused for a moment, sighed, and continued, "limerick…s."
The silence following that was deafening. Jaune blinked, twice. That… that couldn't be right.
"If you're wondering, the team name will be spelled LCKS, and the team will be led by Lelouch vi Britannia. Welcome, team LCKS, to Beacon. That is all." Ozpin said, leaving the stage a bit faster than was strictly necessary. The newly christened team LCKS stood awkwardly for a second longer before the black-haired boy began to sit and the others quickly followed suit.
"Aren't… aren't limericks a kind of poem?" Jaune asked.
"Yes." Blake, Weiss, and Ren said simultaneously, before glancing around at each other in surprise.
"But… aren't all the team names supposed to be colors?" Nora asked.
"Limerick is also technically a shade of green." Weiss said, matter of factly.
"Wow—how did you know that, Weiss?" Ruby asked.
"Long hours of tutoring." Weiss said, looking proud of herself. It was pretty amazing how much Weiss knew.
"Still, even if limerick is a color, the plural wouldn't be…" Blake said, thoughtful.
"I'm not sure there are many, if any colors that correlate to L, C, K, S." Ren said.
"I mean, there has to be something! Maybe…" Ruby started to say, then looked a bit sheepish as she became the center of attention. "L…licks?" Everyone stared at her for a moment.
"No." Weiss said. "It's probably the best name possible with those letters. If they wanted better, they should've gotten here on time, when it was still possible to have a team with a more recognizable color name. It's not like it matters that much, anyways."
"Hmm, I don't know, Weiss… maybe that's just your ozpinion?" Yang said, grinning. The table members collectively groaned. "Oh, come on—that one was pretty good!"
"Ugh, Yang, you're the worst!" Ruby said, tugging on her cloak.
"Aw, Rubes—Don't go sistabbin' me in the back like that!" Yang said, grin growing wider.
"Alright, stop that." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "Now, I believe it's time we resolve our previous topic of conversation." She looked pointedly at Pyrrha. Jaune felt the atmosphere begin to tense up again, and glanced back and forth between Weiss and Pyrrha, who had folded her arms too and was evenly meeting Weiss' glare.
"Respectfully, Weiss, it's hardly any of your business." Pyrrha glanced around at the rest of the table, and sighed. "But, I can see that you're all curious. It's just… it's not a story I particularly enjoy telling."
Jaune wanted to reach across the table, put his hand on her shoulder, and tell her that she didn't have to tell them it if she didn't want to… but would that be too presumptuous? How would she take it? If it was just him, he didn't think he'd necessarily take the chance, but wasn't it his responsibility as team leader?
Before he could do anything, though, Ruby beat him to the punch.
"Pyrrha, if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay." She said, smiling softly at the red-haired girl. "We can wait for another time, if you even want to share it at all." The brown haired girl stared up at Weiss for a moment, and it looked like the two were having some sort of battle of wills.
"Well—fine." Weiss said, throwing up her hands in irritation. Pyrrha at least looked relieved.
The rest of lunch was quiet and a bit tense, though he and Yang did their best to keep up the conversation. Weiss and Pyrrha went out of their way to not look at each other, Nora and Ren continued to be unusually solemn, and Jaune felt uneasy about the whole thing.
Finally, lunch being over, they headed to their next class—their first one taught by Professor Goodwitch. It was at the practice stadium, a pretty long walk away from the mess hall. To Jaune's dismay the awkward atmosphere continued to hover over them like a thundercloud no one wanted to mention. Ruby and Blake at least contributed to the conversation, but with half of both their teams remaining silent it just felt really off. It was a relief when they all shuffled into the benches overlooking the stadium, and Professor Goodwitch began to speak.
"Welcome, students, to your first day of Sparring 101. In this class, you will compete against each other as if you were fighting in a tournament. Each battle shall be a duel, with one combatant chosen automatically by myself and the other combatant chosen by the first. You will fight until one of your aura's has been drained into the red, as is indicated by the meter on your scroll—on the off chance you have not yet downloaded one of the applications that does so, I've sent you all a link to the program I prefer." Jaune could've sworn she'd directed that last comment at him. It even seemed like she'd glared directly at him, although he supposed it could've been anyone on his side of the room… still, his palms began to sweat a bit. There was no way she could know, right?
"Now, since it's the first day and I understand how this could be lovely stressful, I won't force one of you to go first if you don't have to. Are there any volunteers?" Glynda said. There was a pause for a moment.
"Heh. I'll go." Someone said.
"Cardin Winchester, very well. I appreciate your enthusiasm. Who do you choose as your opponent?" Glynda asked as Cardin stood and scanned the room.
"Her." He said, pointing to a dog-eared faunus girl Jaune didn't know.
"Lucille Herra, do you accept his challenge?" Glynda asked. Lucille stood.
"I do." She said, and her and Cardin were directed down to what Jaune presumed were locker rooms.
It was the first fight between hunter and huntress Jaune had seen at Beacon, and it was exilerating—and also a bit intimidating. Cardin clearly had the strength advantage; he was pulverizing the ground with every hit. The faunus girl had the advantage in speed and agility, chopping at Cardin with twin hand axes from unexpected angles and getting in her fair share of hits as she dodged and rolled around her much larger opponent. Ultimately, though, Cardin finally managed to get in a good hit, an overhead crushing blow that Lucille hadn't managed to roll out of the way of in time. Jaune winced as her aura dropped from high yellow into low red.
"That's enough. Cardin has emerged as the winner of this contest—well done, both of you." Glynda said. Cardin smirked.
"Heh. That was easy." He said, turning his back on the faunus girl, who glared daggers at him. Jaune frowned. That wasn't the way you were supposed to treat a fallen opponent in a tournament—even someone like him knew that.
Several more fights went by, each pretty similar to the first one, though none of them ended as rudely. He even got to see Ruby and Nora compete, which was fun, though he was beginning to seriously dread being called on. His nervousness had sprouted into full-on anxiety by the time Glynda was preparing to call on the last bout of the day. Being the last would be terrible—the last thing anyone would remember would be him getting his butt kicked.
"The last name on our roster for today is—" Glynda paused, checking her clipboard, and Jaune could barely bare to wait—"Weiss Schnee."
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief as the white-haired heiress stood from her seat. He was close enough to make out her expression, and was alarmed to notice that she had a look of fierce determination on her face.
"I challenge Lelouch vi Britannia." She declared. Oh… well, this was going to be interesting. He really did admire how bold she was. The class exploded into whispering, and Jaune swore he could see a few people exchanging money. Were they seriously taking bets?
"Quiet down, class." Glynda said, smacking her riding crop against her hand in an innocuous sort of way. The echoing sound was enough to make everyone freeze, however, even Jaune—and he hadn't moved or said a thing. Glynda turned to where the black-haired boy sat.
"Lelouch vi Britannia, do you accept this challenge?" She asked. The boy sat for a moment, and then stood. He looked pretty frail, Jaune thought—though, then again, Weiss looked pretty delicate herself. Looks probably weren't the best judge of fighting strength.
"I do." The boy said.
"Very well—you both have a minute to prepare yourselves." Glynda said, smacking her palm again for emphasis. As soon as they were certain she'd stopped talking, the whispering began again. Weiss began to make her way past them.
"You can do it, Weiss!" Ruby said, smiling at her. Weiss gave her a small nod.
"Good luck!" Jaune said, receiving no such nod.
"Kick his butt, Weiss-cream!" Yang said.
"Stop calling me that." Weiss said, without much actual hostility.
Weiss disappeared down the stairs, and their two teams began to speculate immediately.
"Think she's going to win?" Yang asked.
"I don't know… from what I've heard, Britannian royalty aren't always trained in combat, but when they are, they can afford the best equipment, and the best teachers." Blake said.
"I guess, but Weiss's family's super rich too, right? And she's so strong—I'm sure she can do it." Ruby said.
"I wouldn't be." Pyrrha said—the first thing she'd said in the last hour.
"Pyrrha…" Jaune began, not really sure what to say. He hadn't seen this side of her before—then again, he hadn't really known her for that long, had he?
"I don't mean to say that I think Weiss is weak—I'm sure that she is one of the most capable combatants in our class." Pyrrha looked around at the other's expressions, and sighed. "It's just that… well, I've fought him before."
Jaune wasn't sure he'd heard right. "You… what?"
"It's a long story." Pyrrha said, folding her arms. "I'll fill you in on it some other time…" she looked up at Ren and Nora in particular, who had been avoiding her gaze since lunch but now stared at her in shock. Jaune glanced around at the others, and saw similar expressions. Even Blake looked a bit alarmed.
"It's… it's not a story that I'm proud of. For now, suffice it to say that I fought him in a tournament. I defeated him then, but he was no pushover, and I have no idea how much he's progressed since." Pyrrha finished, now staring down into her lap.
"Huh…" Yang said, frowning a little. "I hope Weiss knows what she's getting into."
At that moment, the stadium doors nearest to them opened, and Weiss stalked out, white combat skirt bouncing and rapier at her side.
The other doors opened shortly after, and the Britannian prince strode out, taking much longer to reach the central platform. His clothes—an unfamiliar military uniform all in black, with a half-cape billowing off of his right shoulder—were a stark contrast with Weiss's, though both had dashes of crimson included as highlights. Jaune was surprised to see a rapier hanging at his side, as well, though unlike Weiss he had what looked like a dagger hanging from the other.
The two combatants stopped at the customary spots in the circle.
"Greetings, Miss Schnee." The Britannian prince said, bowing slightly.
"I hope you're prepared to lose, Britannian." Weiss replied, pointedly not returning the favor. Jaune winced—that seemed a bit rude.
"Are you both ready?" Glynda asked. The two of them nodded. Weiss drew her sword and assumed a ready stance, and the prince drew his blades and did the same. Jaune heard Ruby gasp and say something he couldn't quite make out aside from the word 'cool'.
"Very well." Glynda backed out of the circle. "On my mark: three, two one—begin!"
The word had barely even been spoken when Weiss made a glyph and launched herself towards her opponent. Jaune was shocked and impressed by the speed of that attack—but then was totally flabbergasted when the Britannian prince dodged out of the way. It wasn't even a dodge, exactly—it looked as if he'd stepped aside just enough for her to go past. Weiss stopped herself with another glyph, and launched herself again, but the Britannian pulled the same trick, slipping away just far enough that her blade went past.
Weiss stopped herself again and switched tactics, activating a switch on her blade and plunging it into the ground. A wave of ice sprung out in the Britannian prince's direction, and he was forced to leap aside—but he rolled back up to his feet and began to advance.
Weiss summoned more glyphs, launching herself back and forth between them faster than Jaune could even see, stabbing at the Britannian—but he seemed to dodge or block every strike, even so. His sword and dagger were in the right place every time.
Weiss jumped off of the last glyph and rushed in, stabbing and slashing repeatedly at the Britannian, who parried and parried until Weiss slashed a little too wide—and then suddenly his sword seemed to leap forward out of nowhere, stabbing straight at Weiss' head. Weiss flinched back, backpedalling for a step, and then the boy began his offensive, stabbing and slashing at Weiss just as quickly as she had been doing a moment before as she desperately backed up and blocked.
At last she backflipped under one of his slashes, came up into a crouch, leapt up to a glyph she'd placed just above his head, then launched herself back down at him at lightning speed.
The Britannian prince jumped backwards, hit the ground and then rolled to his feet. Weiss was already charging, having launched herself with a glyph, blade pointed directly at the prince's face. In a blur of movement, the prince rolled to the side, then stuck out his blade.
With a thwack that echoed around the room and made everyone wince, Weiss slammed into the blade stomach-first. She seemed to fold in half around it. Her rapier went flying off of the field, and she slid to the floor, gasping for breath.
"That's enough." Glynda said, startling Jaune. It… it couldn't be over already, could it? But looking up to the leaderboard, Weiss' aura said otherwise. That one hit had drained it almost to empty. Jaune believed it, but… wow. Poor Weiss…
"N-no…" Weiss said, gasping. The Britannian prince offered her a hand, but she smacked it away. "This… this isn't over." She said. The Britannian prince said nothing, but turned to walk away.
"It is for today, Miss Schnee. You've both fought well, but Lelouch vi Britannia is the winner." Glynda said. "That is all for today—dinner should be ready soon. You are dismissed."
Jaune didn't know what to think or how to feel. On one hand, he felt pretty bad for Weiss, but on the other, she'd basically brought this on herself. He glanced up as Ruby rushed by, followed by Yang and Blake. Deciding he could think about it later, he stood, walking with the rest of his team towards the exit.
This had been quite a day.