A/N: I edited chapter 2 a teensy bit, so you should maybe check that out to get some more context for where these next few chapters are going to work out.

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Everything sucks. That was the conclusion I came to as the bullhead I was in rocketed through the air on its way to the Forever Falls, seemingly managing to hit every spot of turbulence on its way there.

"It makes no sense!" I whined out loud, hunched in my seat and clutching my stomach. "I'm perfectly fine on boats and only a little queasy on trucks! Why does flying suck so much worse?" We were seated in two rows on either side of a heavily modified bullhead. The middle walkway being far smaller than normal, and instead of the usually rather comfortable benches, we were strapped into straight-backed armchairs by cross harnesses set two to three feet apart.

We were seated at random, and I found myself wedged between some kid with the ugliest green mohawk I had seen and one highly anxious red reaper. She kept sneaking glances over to me as if she wanted to talk, but every time she decided against it. What gives, am I right? I was only doing my best to match the color of punk-rock's mohawk two feet or so away from her.

After twenty agonizing minutes of transit, a loudspeaker on the bullhead crackled to life. Headmaster Ozpin's voice then spoke out over the intercom. "At this time you will be approaching the Forever Falls forest. Keep in mind that though you will be monitored, the staff have been instructed to not interfere with your exam. If you do not use every tool at your disposal, you will die." A round of concerned murmurs passed through my senses. This Ozpin guy really knew how to hype people up, huh? "That said, the first part of your exam will not be surviving the forest," he continued. "The first part of your exam will be surviving the landing."

A pin drop could be heard in the bullhead as a stunned silence descended over the initiates. Even my motion sickness seemed to be too stunned to mess me up at the moment. "Oh, what the fu-!" I started to shout, but was cut off when my chair abruptly jettisoned itself out of the side of the bullhead.

So there I was, in free fall, motion sick, and strapped to a chair. Beacon was going great so far.

((()))

Careening through the air thousands of feet above the ground feels rather freeing. The wind in your hair, the feeling of weightlessness, the vastness of the sky all around you. It all feels surreal, like you're detached from worldly concerns and for those few minutes, truly free. Or at least that's how it goes when you're in control of your descent and those few minutes of freedom may not very well be your last.

I was scrambling to undo my harness as the chair I was in flipped and tumbled through the air in its all but smooth descent to the forest floor. My body being shaken and tossed within my chair by the sudden turns caused by wind catching parts of my chair were not helping. Giving up on undoing the clasp of my harness, I pulled one of the throwing knives from my shoulder and began slicing through the straps holding me to the chair. Unfortunately, the material of the harness was smooth, and my knife was struggling to find purchase to begin cutting.

After a moment of frantic sawing, my knife finally found purchase, and I was able to quickly saw my way through the strap. I only needed to cut the straps holding my shoulders, since I would be able to shimmy my way through the last two straps, time permitting. That thought complete, I began putting work into cutting the other strap, my aura flaring occasionally as the turbulence caused me to jab myself.

After working through the second strap, the rest of the harness was far looser around my body. Pulling my legs up, I shifted my butt so I hovered slightly off the chair and slipped the rest of my body through the harness. At this point, I heard a cacophony of gunshots around me as the other initiates began deploying their landing strategies. Crouching on the back of my chair, I looked around me to check how the others were doing.

Since the bullhead didn't slow down and ejected us at random, initiates were raining from the sky in a random pattern. Some of the initiates were right next to each other, others far away from anyone. I saw a few unfortunate souls still struggling to exit their chairs, and a few who had long since escaped. Turning my attention back to the rapidly approaching ground, I began to remember the lessons I was given on landing strategies.

((()))

I stood on the roof of an abandoned apartment building in the manufacturing districts of Vale. The wind whipped through my hair and I impatiently fiddled with the bracers Roman had given me a few weeks prior. "Where is that bastard?" I grumbled, wrapping my arms around myself and tightening my jacket. "I've been standing here for ages! It's fucking cold!" Just then, the acrid scent of cigar smoke, cologne, and whiskey assaulted my nostrils.

Turning around with a slight scowl, I watched as Roman opened the roof access panel and stepped outside with his usual cocky swagger. "Heya, Fleas! Didn't keep you waiting, did I?" He quipped, knowing full well he was twenty minutes late. "Roman." I grumbled. "I didn't come out here to get my tail frozen off, what did you want?" My bad attitude only seemed to cause Roman's smirk to widen, and he put up his arms in a gesture of surrender, his cane, Melodic Cudgel, hanging from the crook of his elbow. "Relax, Fleas, I'm not tugging your collar for nothing." My tail swished back and forth agitatedly, both at the cold and the nickname. "Since the lovely and kind me gave you your aura and gear, I figured it would be nice if you learned how to use them." He continued. "You're an investment, kid, and I'm not about to have my prize poodle die because its too dumb to swallow its food properly."

"Did you come out here to patronize me, or to help? Because I'm not seeing much of the latter." I grumbled. Roman smiled and took out a cigar. He made a show of lighting it before turning to me with a smug grin. "Alright then, kid. First lesson of being a huntsman: situational awareness."

As he finished his sentence, I felt one of my legs get kicked out and my arm positioned behind my back. I stumbled slightly and was swung by the arm so I was partially hanging off of the roof. Looking back, I saw Neo materialize out of thin air and throw me a playful wink. "Hey Neo," I said with a nervous chuckle. "Mind, uh, mind letting me back up?"

Roman walked into my field of view with a shit eating grin. "No can do, kiddo." he said, Neo accompanying his statement with a mocking frown and shake of her head. "You remember what I told you about those little gadgets on your wrist?" He asked, to which I replied with a nervous "Yeah." His smile widened, and with a particular glee he said "Good! Second lesson of being a huntsman: figure out a landing strategy." With that, Neo threw me a saucy wink, blew a kiss, and pushed me off the building.

((()))

Coming out of my flashback, I flexed my wrists and felt the bracers expand into their active form, the plate attaching to the back of my hands and the rings forming around my fingers as the firing mechanisms shifted into place. Scanning the distance, I saw a particularly large tree, and crouched a bit lower on the back of my chair. Tensing my legs, I waited until I was oriented in the direction of the tree before pushing off of the chair and launching myself in the direction of the tree.

Making rapid pace, I extended my left arm, flexed my wrist, then clenched my fingers. I felt the firing mechanisms engage, and a small bolt fired itself from a barrel located on the lower part of my forearm. The bolt flew out and embedded itself in the bark of the tree before expanding to lock in place. A long, thin wire was connected to the bolt, and was connected on the other end to my bracer, forming a long tether between myself and the tree. As the bolt connected, my thoughts screamed out "Please let this work, please let this work, please let this work, please let this work-"

Flexing my fingers again, I felt myself pick up speed as I began getting reeled towards the tree by the mechanisms of my bracer. Stopping before I reached the tree, I let myself swing from the line, the mechanism giving a bit of slack at the apex of my curve to allow for more distance. A quick flex and the bolt detached itself from the tree and reeled back into my bracer. Reaching out with my other arm, I repeated this process over and over with progressively smaller trees, gradually losing speed as I did.

Waiting until I was at a comfortable speed, I released my line and fell the remaining distance to the forest floor, tucking into a roll on impact. I felt a wave of relief spilling over me as I managed to avoid becoming a blonde stain on the forest floor.

Coming out of my roll, I took stock of my surroundings. All around me was a lush forest of leaves the color of sunset. The early morning sun peeking through the canopy cast a dappled shadow on the thick foliage of the forest floor. Judging by how thick the foliage was, we were dropped deep into the forest, far from any settlements. "They're serious about this, huh?" I mused.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I decided that my best bet was to find a source of water, ASAP. Straining my memory, I tried to see if I could recall having seen any sources of water during my fall, but I ultimately drew a blank. Letting out a sigh, I walked over to the nearest tree and clambered up, situating myself on a particularly sturdy branch. I began jumping from branch to branch with practiced ease, having done similar motions many times in the past while staking out more remote locations. If I couldn't remember where a water source was, then I had better start looking.

((()))

Glynda Goodwitch stood beside Ozpin as he was signing paperwork at his desk. He had a holographic monitor up on his screen showing a topographical map of the Forever Falls. On the map were a large number of randomly spread green dots, some dots moving erratically, some dots staying in place, and a small number of them turning from green to orange then to red before winking out of existence. Glynda's heart ached with each disappearing dot. She knew death was an inevitability in the life of a huntsman, but it didn't make watching children get sent to their deaths any easier.

She turned her head to regard Ozpin for a moment. "Was this really necessary? Those children were fresh out of combat school, don't you think we should have given them a bit more time to prepare?" She asked. Ozpin looked up from his paperwork, the look in his eyes one of a resigned sorrow, but at the same time hardened determination. "With the attack on Amber a month ago, we may not have any more time to prepare. I don't want to do this either, Glynda, but with Salem on the move we can't have the unprepared and naive on our front lines." He looked at the screen, sounding all for the world as though he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince her. "This is necessary."

Glynda bit back a sigh. "Yes. Yes it is."

((()))

All things considered, my trek through the Forever Falls was going pretty well. I had yet to encounter any grimm, and I wasn't feeling particularly tired. As I hopped from branch to branch, I praised Oum for aura. It was clearly passively enhancing my stamina, as under normal circumstances I would have had to stop to rest multiple times within the past hour. Seriously, how unfair is that? I could have had it so easy if I had gotten it unlocked earlier!

As I jumped through the canopy, ears straining to hear anything resembling running water, I decided to let my thoughts wander a little bit. It had been a while since I had been in the Forever Falls, the White Fang camp I was stationed at being near an abandoned coastal settlement on the forest's edge. I quickly shook off that train of thought when a pang of guilt pierced my chest. Letting my mind wander once more, I thought of Roman and Neo.

When I left the Fang months ago, I took up working for the Xiong crime family, stealing information and acting as a spy in exchange for room and board. Eventually, my services were hired by Roman, and he had me do a few odd jobs here and there in exchange for my gear. I'd like to think we got close, since his slurs and remarks lost their edge around the three month mark, and recently he had begun dropping them altogether. Honestly, he was like the cool uncle I never had. As for Neo, well, she scares me. I'm pretty sure learning the bare minimum defense techniques with aura was only a fringe benefit of her "training," which was code for popping up at random times with varying levels of lethal force.

I let a soft smile stretch across my face at the memories of my time in Vale. Then, I was shaken from my thoughts by the sight of a rather tall hill rising from the forest floor. On one side of the hill was a shallow cave. "Score!" I mentally cheered, before dropping from the treeline to investigate.

The cave entrance stood a good five feet tall and ten-or-so feet wide, With a slight dip at the front so from the side the entrance was shaped like a wave. It had grass growing on top of and around the entrance, and the hill it was in blended into the forest floor after a few feet. Inspecting the cave further, my fortune increased when I saw that the inside inclined the further in I went, meaning it was safe from rain. The inside of the cave stretched out almost fifteen feet back and widened slightly to be about twelve feet across.

After inspecting the ceiling and finding it to be reinforced by tree and grass roots, I nodded in satisfaction. Reaching into the pouch at my hip, I produced a four inch long dart. It looked like an all-metal broadhead arrow with only two feet of shaft before ending in fletching. Gripping the fletching, I watched as the metallic shaft extended into a full-length arrow. Taking my collapsable arrow, I then dug it into the wall of the cave, where a small green light located at the back of the shaft began blinking.

I pulled out the scroll the school had provided me, opening an app that I had downloaded onto it prior to initiation. The screen briefly flashed an image of a sleeping jaguar beneath a pair of twin crescents before changing to show a map of my immediate area. I showed up as a yellow arrow on the map, and right next to me on the map was a bright green dot. I marked the dot as "home" before closing the app, and with a satisfied grin, stepped out of the cave.

((()))

I had spent maybe half an hour moving South when I finally heard the sound of running water. Making a sharp turn toward the sound, I picked up the pace. "Sounds like a big stream, that's good. I might be able to find food here too," I thought. I was no stranger to living in the woods, since I spent a large amount of my transit time between missions for the Fang on foot. Reaching the end of the canopy, I was able to see the bank of a rather substantial stream.

As I was moving closer, my mind was already running through the checklist I had built all those years ago for checking water sources. "White water on the banks, so it's fast enough to prevent parasites. Pretty wide, so it might be able to hold fish… don't know how deep it is though. A good few yards of rock between the canopy and the stream, so I'll hear anything stepping near me." Satisfied with the condition of the stream, I dropped down as quietly as I could on the forest floor, using the grass to soften the sound of my landing. Straining my ears for any sounds besides the water, I moved closer to the stream and kneeled down. Cupping water in my hands, I took a deep drink of the stream, letting the water sit in my mouth for a second to see if it tasted off. Satisfied that there was no waste or parasites, I swallowed my mouthful and stood up with a small grin.

I turned around and walked over to the edge of the forest, pulling out another tracking arrow as I did. I planted it at the base of a tree, where it was hidden by a nearby fern, and pulled up my scroll again to make sure I was receiving a signal. As I was confirming the signal, I heard rapid footsteps crashing through the brush on the opposite side of the bank. Turning to look over my shoulder, I tensed my body, waiting for whatever was approaching to burst through the foliage.

I untensed and let a large smile spread across my face as I heard a familiarly squeaky voice cry out from across the bank "Look, Blake! I told you! Water!" Turning fully, I saw none other than the red reaper herself burst out of the forest and run up to the stream. I mentally cringed when she just dropped down and began drinking without checking first. A few seconds later, I saw the same cat faunus from this morning, apparently named "Blake," walk out of the cover of the forest. At least she knows how to be cautious, her eyes were moving left and right the whole time. On the second pass of the bank, she locked eyes with me and froze.

We stood there for a few seconds, her impassive stare boring into my very soul. The prolonged eye contact caused my tail to swish in agitation, and I saw her eyes briefly flick to it. She met my stare again, but this time with an ever so slight curve of a smile on her features. I gave a smile back and turned to Ruby, who was still greedily drinking from the stream. She looked up at Blake and chirped out "Come on! Drink some! We don't know how much longer we'll have access to fresh water! What if we have to walk miles for shelter!"

I called out across the lake "Actually, I found a pretty decent cave maybe half an hour North, if you're willing to share." Upon hearing my voice, Ruby let out an adorable squeak and shot to her feet. She locked eyes with me and her face morphed into a pout. "Jaune! Don't scare me like that!" She squeaked. Her face turned red to match the embarrassment she felt from having me witness her display of attempting to drain the stream. I let a teasing grin form on my face as I was reminded of how my little sisters would act when I caught them doing something embarrassing.

Fortunately for Ruby, Blake took pity on her and stepped into the conversation before I could start ribbing her. "You said you had a shelter?" She asked, her voice keeping a neutral tone. Turning my focus from Ruby, I responded. "Yeah. Like I said earlier, decently sized cave, about half an hour North of here, should fit all of us pretty easily. If you're willing to share, of course." Blake nodded and called back "That would be nice, actually. Here, we'll come over to you, sit tight."

((()))

After launching themselves to my side of the stream with aura-empowered jumps, I told them that I was planning to fish in this stream and asked for help. Blake's face lit up like a Nondescript Winter Holiday decoration, though she quickly reigned it in. She began moving around in the brush to find a suitable rod, attempting to look calm and casual, but still with a noticeable haste to her movements. I found her sudden fervor a little disturbing, and felt her actions were a little stereotypical, but to each their own, I guess.

When I moved over to help, Ruby followed close by. "So, Ruby," I asked, bending down to pick up a long stick. "Who's your partner?" Ruby perked up, and she began animatedly gesturing over to Blake. "This is Blake! She's like a super ninja! She has a really cool kusarigama-katana-pistol hybrid that uses a dust-infused ribbon instead of a chain! Oh! And it fires enhanced payload armor-piercing specialty rounds! And the frameseemstobemadeofaspecialduststeelalloytoallowforimpactmitigationwhilefiringand-" She paused to take a deep breath, and I held up my hand to stop her from continuing. "I meant how did you meet and what's she like, Ruby," I said with an amused smile on my face.

Not missing a beat, Ruby simply gave me a small grin. "Oh, we met when I was killing a few grimm in the forest! You should've seen me! I was all 'watchaa!' and the grimm were all like 'grrrrrr!' and I hit 'em with a 'fwoah!' and-" she continued, punctuating each onomatopoeia with various overexaggerated hand movements. I'll be honest, after the first two sounds my brain tuned out entirely since it knew it wasn't going to get any information from the story. I'll just ask Blake herself later.

Bending the branch in my hands, I let out a small frown when it snapped. I turned my eyes to the floor and found no other decent-sized branches. I held up my hand to silence Ruby before calling out to Blake. "I haven't found any good branches for fishing, how about you?" "Nothing over here either." She called back.

I looked at the stream again, putting my hand to my chin. As I did, I noticed the glint of the metal dart on the firing mechanism of my wrist. "Hey Ruby," I said, turning my head slightly to look at her. "Yes Jaune?" She asked, with a slight tilt of her head. A smile broke across my face. "Wanna see what my weapons do?"

Now it was Ruby's turn to light up like a festival. "Of course! Show me! Showmeshowmeshowmeshowme!" She squeaked, bouncing on her heels in excitement.

"Alright, hold your horses," I said, placating her. "Blake, was it? We're doing this thing frontier-style!" I called out. Blake's head perked up at my voice, and I saw her bow twitch, but didn't comment. She then pulled out her katana and unwrapped a long ribbon from the handle.

"What's frontier-style?" Ruby asked. "Oh, we're just gonna stab the fish with our weapons." Was my response. Ruby seemed relieved and nodded her head in understanding. "Well, that's good. I can't really fish, but I can use weapons!" She chirped out, before unfolding her sniper-scythe and running to the edge of the stream.

We spent the next couple hours fishing in the stream. Blake using her katana as a makeshift throwing spear, Ruby on the banks using the pointed counterweight on her scythe as a spear, and myself standing in the stream and firing my grapples at any fish that got in range.

Ruby lost her mind when I fired my first grapple, and I was forced to give her one of them so she could study it while I was fishing. Because of this it was really only me and Blake fishing for a bit. We did pretty well though, a few pounds of fish between the both of us.

After that, we began making our way back towards my cave. When we arrived, Blake began to clean and gut the fish. I watched her for a second and was pleasantly surprised at her competence. Ruby said she'd get some firewood and disappeared into a cloud of rose petals, leaving me and Blake alone.

I began gathering some leaves and twigs in order to make some form of bedding within the cave. Blake continued to clean the fish, and a small silence fell over us as we worked.

After a few minutes, curiosity got the best of me. "So, Blake," I began, gathering a pile of leaves nearby. "What's up with the bow?" I didn't have to be looking behind me to know that she had frozen in place at my question. "I mean, it's your heritage, I'm not gonna tell you what to do with it. But I'm just curious as to why." I amended, hoping that I didn't accidentally end a potential friendship.

After a few seconds of silence, I looked over my shoulder to lock eyes with Blake. This seemed to shake her out of whatever stupor she was in, and she looked at me sadly. "It's… because I'm afraid. I want people to judge me based off of who I am, not what I am. And the only way to do that is to hide it," She slowly admitted.

"I get that," I conceded. "But if they're going to judge you for what you are anyway, finding it out later may make them hate you more." Blake cast her eyes downward at my words. "Maybe," she admitted. "I understand hiding it, makes life a lot easier, but I keep my tail out because I'm proud of what I am. If you need time to feel comfortable letting others know, that's your choice, and I'll support you on it." She let a small smile creep onto her face. "Thank you, Jaune."

A good while of companionable silence stretched between us. Suddenly, between the two of us, six ears perked up as they heard the sound of rustling in the bushes at the edge of camp. I stood up quickly, putting a cautious hand on the grip of my sword. "Ruby?" I called out, making sure I didn't ambush my first friend by accident.

"Ummm, not quite." A soft female voice responded, and out of the bush came that Pyrrha girl from earlier in the day. "Room for one more?" She asked, a sheepish smile on her face.

I relaxed and let my hand drop from my sword. "Oh, sure. Though, we didn't exactly get enough food for four…" I responded, trailing off. Pyrrha put her hands to her face in a gasp. "Oh! I'm sorry…" she apologized. I let out a small sigh. "It's fine. You can just have a bit of my share tonight and I can forage a bit tomorrow." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Blake sag in relief when she realized she wouldn't have to give up any of her share of the fish.

Pyrrha noticed the movement too, and turned to look at Blake. I saw some of the warmth in her eyes disappear as she did, replaced with what looked like disappointment. "Oh… I see you've already found a partner…" She said, her voice strained. Blake simply looked at her and pointed off to the left. "No, that's my partner."

In probably the most well-timed entrance possible, Ruby burst out of the forest where Blake had pointed in a cloud of petals. "Hey guys! I got some firewood! There wasn't a lot on the floor nearby so I had to go pretty far to find enough… Who's the new girl?" Ruby had a comically large number of sticks gathered in her small arms, and had to physically turn her body to be able to see Pyrrha properly.

I gestured to Pyrrha. "This, Ruby, is Pyrrha Nikos. And, if I've read the situation properly, my new partner." Had I been looking at Pyrrha when I said this, I might have noticed the radiant smile on her face. What I did notice was the loud growl of a certain cat faunus' stomach, who had quickly pinked at the cheeks and turned to face away from the group.

I let out a small chuckle. "Well, it has been a long day. Let's eat, shall we?" I said, punctuating my words with a clap. We had the fire set up and the fish cooking in a matter of minutes, with Ruby having watched with fascination how I set the fire by spinning a stick onto a cut plank to make an ember to light the fire. Blake and Ruby sat on one end of the campfire, with myself and Pyrrha sitting on the other. I had Ruby tell us the story of how she met Blake, and we spent our meal thoroughly entertained by her storytelling as the sun began to set.

We finished and decided who would get the watches. "I'll choose third watch," I said. "It'll be around when the nocturnal animals are in full swing. As the faunus of the group, my night vision will allow me to see them easier should they get too close." My subtle misdirection about being the only faunus of the group did not go unnoticed by Blake, who shot me a small, grateful nod. "Sounds good!" Ruby chirped. "I'll take first watch then, since I'm not really tired right now." Blake lifted her hand slightly "Second." "And I guess that means I take final watch." Pyrrha said. "Well, now that we have that out of the way, I'm gonna get some shut-eye. See you in the morning, Ruby. See you two in a few hours, I guess." I said, and made my way to the cave to sleep.

As I lay down on the makeshift padding I had built into the floor of the shelter, I let my mind wander. "Y'know, maybe all of this isn't so bad." I thought, as I drifted into a light sleep.

-(0)-

This chapter was soooo difficult to write. I spent so long trying to pace the conversation and story beats so it didn't seem like I was rushing things, and ended up having to re-evaluate how I wanted initiation to go. I even had to edit chapter 2 to make not only this chapter, but the subsequent initiation chapters make more sense. Anyway, this is what I ended up with. As you may have noticed, I had Blake seem more open and friendly with Jaune off the bat once she noticed his heritage. This is because the only time we've seen her interact with another faunus in the earlier stages of the show is Sun, who she opens up to immediately, so I took this to mean she's generally more comfortable around other faunus. This is not to say Blake is bigoted, since she gave Weiss a chance even though she was not only a human, but a Schnee. I feel it shows that without the fear of judgement for her heritage or past, she's generally a lot more open, which we see later in the show. As for how Pyrrha just kinda showed up, I have an explanation for that, and you'll figure it out in the next chapter. Till then, hope you enjoyed. Later!