Well, it was a little over the month, but here it is. It took more time than I thought to fix a lot of mistakes. I keep trying to keep everything flowing, but it always seems to abruptly end and move on to the next topic. Beginner writer problems I suppose. I need to definitely learn from vocab and grammar. I may just find a beta reader to help edit and sort out mistakes and help the story seem smoother. Some parts will definitely feel rushed and I apologize for that.

Anyways, before you read, I do want to say, Makoto will not have his original Evoker, with him. This is not saying he won't get something like it later on, but just at the moment, he doesn't have one. He will still use a gun to the head type summoning to bring forth his Persona for most of this Fic. That said, he can summon without one in Remnant, only it takes a bigger toll on his SP or his soul or mind whatever you want to call it.

With that out of the way. Enjoy.

Makoto, in his time traversing Tartarus and battling shadows, had endured many life-threatening injuries. Burns, frostbite, gashes and lacerations, electrocution, blunt trauma, stabs, and bullet wounds. He was able to walk away from all of that, none worse for wear, thankfully, using the power of Persona. Día skills were a blessing.

Somehow though…he doubted he would be okay if he became a splat on the ground. There would be no coming back from that no matter how good the skill Salvation was.

Which is why Makoto was in a bit of trouble. The rapidly approaching forest, aka certain death, was coming fast. Questions, on where he was, and how he had gotten so high up, were inconsequential at the moment and were pushed aside. He needed to figure out a way to survive the next 5 minutes.

But what could he do? There was no way to get out of this. He had no parachute, no safe way to slow down his approach. His Persona came to mind, but he quickly squashed the idea. This wasn't the Dark Hour. His Persona would not be able to be…

Perking up, he reached inwards. There! That familiar feeling. He could feel it. He could grab it. He didn't know why, but he knew. If he tried summoning a Persona now, it would definitely work. No time to ponder the reason, he had to save himself before he couldn't ponder it later.

His hand reached down, going towards his to the front of the left part of his waist, only to grab nothing. He looked down, noticing that the holster at his waist sat empty.

Well, that complicated things. Without his Evoker, his options were rather limited. He looked back down; time was running out. He quickly ran through other ideas in his head before sighing and realizing he had only one option. He had never liked doing this. Summoning without an evoker always left him with a major headache. It's why he always left it as a last resort, a way to defend himself, in case he ever lost his Evoker, or a shadow was trying to go for a killing blow.

To summon a Persona, the user must induce the stress of facing their own death, accepting their own mortality. It is the reason why the Evoker was shaped like a gun. By putting the gun to the head, and pulling the trigger, a person accepts and faces death, induces the stress necessary, and the Plume of Dusk inside the Evoker helps summon the Persona.

Without an Evoker, he just had to recreate the necessary requirements. He had to induce stress on his mind and spirit by coming face to face with death.

Makoto looked down at the approaching trees. They came closer…and closer. As he neared the ground, he felt his heart start to rapidly accelerate.

The trees were getting even closer, he didn't have a lot of time left. He felt his breath hitch, his heartbeat, now resonating in his ears.

If he wanted to do anything else, anything, it had to be now, he was about to pass the point of no return. Soon, no matter what tried to do, he would crash into the trees at terminal velocity.

His eyes glazed over, he let out his breath and inhaled slowly. The rushing wind and approaching trees slowed to a snail's pace.

This was it. He was passing the point of no retrun. 3…2…1…

He felt a surge of energy, a large smile, creeping onto his face without his knowledge, his silver eyes, lightly glowed for a second.

"Per…so…na." He whispered out.

In that moment, he recognized the blue smoke surrounding him, heard the sound of glass breaking, and a familiar presence rush out of him.

Almost as if appearing out of nowhere, Orpheus, the master of strings, formed in front of him, residual trails of ephemeral glass shards floating around him.

Makoto, the rush of summoning a Persona dying down, thought out a command, and Orpheus followed.

He turned around, his metal frame covering Makoto's as he grabbed on, trying to slow down the descent. After a moment, he felt a crash and subsequent ones afterward. They had finally crashed through the tree line.

Makoto felt the crashed within Orpheus's arms, and felt scratches and scrapes from the branches on the parts of his body not protected by Orpheus's own. The crashes were doing a wonder on slowing down his fall and soon enough, they slowed to a stop.

Makoto peeked his head out and noticed, they had stopped, just short of the ground.

He sighed in relief and hopped out of Orpheus's arms, landing on solid ground. He surveyed himself, taking in the extent of the damages. His Gekkoukan Uniform had certainly seen better days. It was scratched and torn at many places, blood peeking through some of the tears. Besides that, his injuries were rather minor. Nothing a quick Día couldn't fix.

Makoto closed his eyes and looked inward. He only had a couple seconds at best. Calling to a Persona that could heal him. One answered, a relatively weak one compared to ones he had hosted before, which he let comes to the surface. Weak was good right now, he didn't need to put any more of a burden on his mind.

As he opened his eyes, he saw Orpheus's form waver for a bit, before, in a bright light, shrinking down to a figure that could fit into the palm of his hand. As the light died down, he saw the familiar form of Pixie, staring back at him. The little Persona giggled before bringing her arms up in front of him. A green light glowed in her hands, before Makoto felt a warmth envelope him.

He looked down to see the cuts on his skin sealing shut, the blood which had stained his shirt and skins start to dissolve and evaporate. Even his uniform, made out of special material that was designed for Persona users, started to knit itself back together. Once the warmth died down, Makoto was once again 100% healthy.

He nodded to himself and looked back to Pixie, who had just been flying in place. She let out one last giggle before dissolving into a blue shade of glass fragments that floated back to Makoto himself.

He waited, sure that the headache and fatigue he was expecting to rush him at any moment. Nothing happened. Makoto knit his brow in confusion. That was new. Every time he had used that summoning technique, he always felt as if Junpei had taken a swing at his head with his baseball bat. Hell, he was the only one who could use the technique and still be left standing, the others having tried and passed out subsequently afterwards.

He waited a bit longer and still nothing like what he expected came. He definitely felt more drained than usual, but even then, he could feel the power, his power, still there within his reach. If he wanted to, he could call on them again. Why? What had changed? Not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth, Makoto sighed in relief, before closing his eyes and concentrating.

He searched inward again, expecting his Soul. He felt the familiar power of various Persona around him. His knitted his brow in confusion as he felt a disturbance. Several of his more powerful Persona seemed to be out of his reach. Try as he might to call them, they didn't respond, most just slightly off. He wasn't connecting to them. He knew that when he gained the Universe Arcana, his soul had expanded greatly. After all, one doesn't just get the power to create miracles without being able to hold that power. He could feel every Persona that he had ever held in his Soul but couldn't reach or feel some of them.

Something was definitely wrong. That was for sure. And it wasn't just that. He felt…something foreign. Something that wasn't his in his Soul.

As he tried to brush against it, it retreated away. He compared it to a scared animal. Whenever he tried to reach out to it, it moved away, as if running away from him. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it didn't come from him. It was like someone had implanted something into him. He opened his eyes. That was worrying thought.

Putting his hands in his pockets, Makoto took a look at his surroundings. Trees. As far as the eye could see. He was surrounded by them. He was definitely in a forest of some kind. Looking up, he saw most of the tree reached a rather high peak.

The state of his Soul aside, how had he ended up here? Or, rather, up in the sky, falling into a forest? Makoto tried to think of the last thing he remembered.

He remembered Aegis's smiling face, looking down at him, his eyes growing too heavy to keep open. He remembered feeling peaceful and drifting off into sleep. He felt like he had a dream. A dream about his friends, trapped in their own dorm, forced to face their own grief and regrets. Then the dream ended, and his memory stopped for a while. He then remembered a white expanse…he remembered meeting someone.

Try as he might though, Makoto for the life of him couldn't remember anything after that. He remembered meeting them, but not who they were, what they sounded like, what they looked like, or what they did.

Had they caused this? Were they the reason he was here? He felt like there was truth in that train of thought but he couldn't confirm it.

One thing was for sure, he was not in the Great Seal anymore. And that in in of itself, was a worrying thought as well.

Makoto was pulled out of his musings by the sound of rustling and a twig snapping. He looked to his right, tensing up and reaching out for his Persona.

There, looking at him with mild surprise, was a young woman, donned in what looked like old Greek armor, her crimson hair tied back into a ponytail. There was a circlet around covering her forehead that was wrapped around her head.

Her green eyes stared at him, before widening in slight horror. Makoto arched one of his eyebrows at that.

She bit her lip, looked to the grown before sighing and looking back up to him. Her eyes now held resignation.

"I suppose this makes us partners now." She said, a sad smile on her lips.

Makoto's eyebrow was, once again, raised in slight confusion

Ozpin was many things. He was smart, strong, kind, firm in his teachings but fair. He also liked to think he was cautious, though many believed otherwise. So, it was no surprise to himself that as soon as he saw a young man literally appear out of nowhere, in a flash of light, that Ozpin's first thoughts were on the safety of his students.

Who was this young man? Was he friend, or foe? Was he here to in any way in danger his students?

Those thoughts flew out the window the moment he noticed the boy was falling towards the forest, unconscious. Now, he feared for his safety.

He had half a mind to have Glynda go and fetch the young man so that he could question him in person as soon as possible.

Then the young man came to.

Ozpin expected screaming. He expected panicking, flailing of the arms. He expected freezing out of fear, eyes widened in horror. He expected some kind of surprised reaction, which is why Ozpin was understandably confused when the young man showed none. No panic, no surprise, no fear. Only a blink and mild confusion.

And so now, Ozpin was very confused, but more than that, he was…intrigued by the unexplained guest. The two feelings battle inside of him. Does he err on the side of caution and apprehend the young man, or does he let his curiosity win out and keep observing.

Curiosity had, of course, won out, which is why he had called out to stop Glynda from rushing off saving the young man from his fall.

She had, naturally, protested and looked about ready to ignore his request until he explained his observations to her. She had taken a look back at the screen, her eyes knit with indecision on whether to let the young man continue to fall in hopes that his cool demeanor meant he had a plan, or to not risk it and save the boy.

In the end, her curiosity had won out as well, and she stayed put, continuing to stare at screen. He did note however, that she still looked rather ready to bolt out and help should the need arise.

So, they waited and watched with bated breath as the young man continued to fall. Nothing happened. He kept falling, lower and lower.

Ozpin feared he might've mistaken the boy's calm face for apathy on life. Glynda had kept glancing in the direction he knew he was at, once again, indecision plaguing her face. Just when it seemed to be enough for Glynda, something finally happened. Only it wasn't what Ozpin thought would happen.

Summoning semblance are few and far between, nowadays, the Schnee family line and their Glyph semblance was the only one that came to mind, but what he was looking at…

It had to be his semblance, right? It had to be…so why did he feel doubt when he looked at it? There was no other explanation for what had happened. Perhaps he was just tired…

The summoned being turned around and covered its summoner with its body before crashing into the tree line. Glynda finally let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her body. The semblance had looked to be slowing his descent as well as taking most of the damage from the trees.

They slowed to a stop, coming very close to hitting the ground but floating just short of it.

That's when he noticed something odd. The young man was injured. In multiple places. Scratches adorned his body, likely from the trees he crashed through. This shouldn't be something odd that would stand out and warrant further thought normally.

Normally…

Ozpin closed his eyes and took a long sip of his coffee.

However, the question of why he had those scratches was what bother him. Not everyone has their aura unlocked for certain, but this young man had most definitely used his semblance…or whatever it was to summon his robotic companion. Which meant that he had to have had his aura unlocked. He had to have full control of his aura to use his semblance, or at the very least unlock it.

Yet here the young man was, covered in small scratches. Had he not activated it? If he hadn't it was rather fooling. Even being protected like that, if they had crashed into the tree, the blunt force would still transfer over and hurt the young man. Ozpin wouldn't have taken the chance. Was it just blind confidence from being young? No, even his youngest students knew to keep their aura up during dangerous situations.

There were too many questions and not enough answers.

He opened his eyes and looked back to Glynda's screen to see that the young man had touched ground and was now examining himself. Ozpin nodded, approving the young man's direction of thought. He was checking the extent of his injuries. On the other hand, it only proved that the young man was no stranger to injuries or dangerous situations like what he had just experienced, which in turn only made Ozpin wore wary of this new appearance…And more curious. He thought he couldn't get even more curious than he was now.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Ozpin's eyes, and Glynda's eyes he assumed, snapped wide open as the robotic being suddenly grew small and changed form into a small little fairy. His semblance had changed. Once again, his thought turned to the Schnee family and how they could also use different summons, perhaps this young man's semblance was something similar?

That thought went out the window when the little fairy raised her arms and enveloped the young man in a green light. Ozpin heard Glynda stutter out a confused sound, and he could blame her. HE almost dropped his mug in surprise as well.

The green light was healing the young man. Not only that, it was repairing the young man's clothes as well. Any tear or hole that was there before was closing, as if being stitched closed.

Ozpin could accept a summoning semblance; he had seen them before. He could accept a healing semblance as well; he had seen them before too. Both together on the other hand…

While some semblance did indeed have many uses and different ways to use them, these two abilities were too different. While not on opposite ends of the spectrum, they were too different abilities that wouldn't normally intertwine in one semblance…At least he hadn't seen something like it before.

Yet, it was what he was staring at. His simple curiosity was gone…It was now full-blown curiosity, a need to know, a desire to understand. A wild card had just dropped into his land, and by damn he was going to figure out how to play it right.

Said subject of his curiosity continued to stand there, a look of puzzlement on his face. Abruptly, the young man turned another direction, likely hearing something.

Ozpin sighed as one of the worst possible situations came to happen. One of his students had now met with him. Thankfully, it seemed to be a student who could take of themselves, but there was still a part of him that worried. This young man was an unknown, not enough information to accurately state whether the young man was friend or foe.

Though, it looked like he wasn't the only one who was having worrying thoughts as well.

"Wait, Glynda." Ozpin called out.

Glynda stopped moving but didn't give Ozpin a chance to speak. "No Ozpin. This young man appeared out of nowhere, summons something that looks like it came out of one of James's secret labs, turns it into a fairy performs some sort of healing spell."

She turned around to look at him, her tablet still in her hand but the other one now held her riding crop. "We don't know if that is all he can do, or whether or he means harm or not. I'm not taking that risk with a student."

Before Glynda could turn around and go after said man, Ozpin stopped her. "And what would you have us do Glynda? Rush in and accost him? Ask him to him to accompany us back to Beacon? You're right, we don't know whether he is harmless or a risk but appearing before him and forcing him to comply could make him defensive at best. If he did come here planning to do harm, he could very well take Ms. Nikos hostage."

Glynda face flashed a brief moment of hesitation, but it was all Ozpin needed.

"We don't know the full extent of his abilities at the moment. If we rush in too quickly the situation could potentially change for the worse. While Ms. Nikos can certainly defend herself, I won't take the risk that he could be stronger and put her in harms way." Ozpin finished and took a sip of his coffee.

She narrowed his eyes at him, slightly irritated. "So, you would have us do nothing?"

Ozpin nodded. "For now. As I said, we don't know the full extent of his abilities, only that he can summon two beings, and heal himself with one. Taking into account his familiarity with the healing as well as some of the survival instincts he has shown, he likely has some experience in combat. Yet, for all that, he hasn't taken one step to confront or antagonize Ms. Nikos."

Ozpin once again took a sip of his coffee and gave a small nod towards the tablet in Glynda's hand.

She looked down at it, noticing the two figures seemed to be talking, the young man giving the Mistral Champion a confused look.

Glynda bit her lip. "I…suppose you're right."

"I'm not saying we simply leave Ms. Nikos to deal with him herself. Should he pose a threat to her or to the safety of the other students, we intervene. But for now, we wait and watch, gather as much information as we can. Possible strengths, potential weaknesses." Ozpin said walking up next to her once again.

Glynda stared hard at Ozpin. "…A potential recruit, perhaps?"

A sip of coffee answered her question. Glynda sighed, shook her head, but acquiesced, nonetheless.

"Alright. I trust your judgement Oz." She said as she looked back to the monitor.

They both quieted down, listening to the conversation still taking place.

Makoto stared back at the red head. He blinked once. Then twice before answering the strange statement.

"What?" Makoto answered.

She raised her eyebrow at his questioning look. "You know…Beacon's initiation? The first person who you lock eyes with is your partner?"

Makoto once again blinked. "I don't understand."

Taking his statement for some sort of answer, the girls gave out a little laugh. "I don't understand it either, but I suppose the headmaster knows best about these things."

Initiation? Headmaster? Was he near a school? It seemed the girl confused him for a student of some kind. He needed more answers, not more questions.

Just as he was about to fix the misunderstanding, the girls slowly walked up to him and held her hand out.

"Well, it's nice to be working with you." She stated, waiting for him to reciprocate the handshake before she tilted her head quizzically. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't remember seeing you back at Beacon."

Makoto, not forgetting his manners, took the hand without really thinking. He shook the girl's hand and for the lack of anything else to say in the moment, he introduced himself.

"…Makoto Yuuki." Makoto stated, his face impassive as ever.

The girls eyebrows raised slightly before going back to a puzzled look.

"Strange…I thought for sure I was the only one…" She mumbled, letting go of his hand.

Makoto had almost not heard it. Before he could ask what she meant the girl shook her head before looking back at him, a smile once again adorning her face.

"It's a nice name." She said before looking down at the ground, a hand reaching for her other arm, "I don't know if you know me, but my name is Pyrrha Nikos."

As soon as she finished introducing herself, she looked up at him, a small look of …fear flashed trough her face. What she would have to fear, he didn't know, but he was sure he hadn't heard of her before.

"I see. Nice to meet you." Was the only thing he replied.

The girl eyes widened slightly before once again, staring at him in slight confusion.

"I though you…I'm sorry but aren't you…Aren't you from Mistral?" She asked him, confusion evident even in her voice.

Mistral? That wasn't a place he was familiar with. Even more questions he needed answers to.

"Mistral? No, I'm not from there." Makoto replied coolly.

"Oh! Then, do you…" She hesitated slightly. "Do you perhaps not know who I am?"

Makoto stared at her as he considered her question. Her vibrant red hair was stunning, followed by her cute face and her vibrant green eyes. She could be a model, or idol with a face like that. Honestly, Makoto would be more surprised if had forgotten her. Not that he had ever seen her in his life anyway.

Makoto shook his head at her question and the result was instantaneous. Her entire body seemed to relax, from her head to her legs. Even her face, which was somewhat stiff, relaxed into a more carefree smile.

"I…see." She giggles slightly. "That's great! I mean, good. That's good. I'm sorry I assumed… The way your name is pronounced is usually unique to parts of Mistral."

Makoto raised an eyebrow at her relief. Was it really that great or amazing to not be recognized? Or was it one of those cases of celebrities not wanting attention drawn to them? He wasn't quite sure.

He was sure of one thing though. He had no idea where he was or what he was doing here, and this girl may have answers.

"Well then, once again, I'm glad to be partners… with you… Makoto." She said, starting off brightly, before slowly coming to halt.

"Partners..? About that-" Makoto started before he was interrupted.

"Oh gosh! I forgot about…I'm sorry Makoto but could you follow me somewhere? I have some…business to take care off." Pyrrha said before she hurried off to his right.

Makoto held up a hand to try and stop her, his mouth opening to form a word, but held back. He let his arm fall to his side and closed his mouth.

Things just hadn't been going his way since he woke up. He didn't know about this partner thing this girl was talking about, but it seemed he now had a companion that didn't seem to want to separate from him entirely. He supposed he didn't need answers right this second.

Thinking carefully, he thought about the possibility of not even bringing up his lack of knowledge. For all Makoto knew, he could be in some restricted area or a place outsiders like him weren't supposed to enter. Perhaps it was better like this? Let her believe what she wants for now while he gathered more information before completely trusting her with his situation.

Yet…the name Beacon…it had brough up rather strange feelings inside Makoto. He felt that he could put his trust into it, like it brought some peace of mind, despite not knowing why, or what the place was anyway.

Either way, he definitely needed more information before he made any big decisions.

With this in mind, Makoto put his hands in his pockets, took one last look around him, and calmly walked in the direction of his "partner".

He didn't know exactly what Pyrrha had forgotten or what business she needed taken care of…but…

A guy glued high to a tree by a spear stuck to his hood was not what he was expecting. The guy seemed to be struggling to try and find a comfortable position, looking to have given up on trying to remove himself from the tree. Hearing their approach, he perked up and looked in their direction. He noticed her first and his faced lit up for a bit.

"Pyrrha! Thank goodness you're hear. A little help? It's starting to choke a bit." He choked out, one hand at his neck, the other pointing up at the offending spear.

"I'm sorry, I'll get you down right away!" She yelled up before turning around.

Taking a running start, she, rather impressively, jumped up and used the tree next to the one the other guy was stuck on to propel herself higher and back towards him. Doing a front flip in the process, she reached out, grabbed the spear as she passed by and yanked it out in one go before landing in a crouch, gracefully. Makoto was impressed by the gymnastic display.

The guy, apparently not expecting to suddenly start falling, fumbled around to try and stabilize himself, without success, and ceremoniously, landed on his face. A simple groan of pain came from his fallen form.

While Pyrrha seemed to be full of grace and competence, this guy seemed to have all the grace of a newborn deer.

Makoto walked over to the fallen lad, hearing another apology from Pyrrha as he bent down and offered a hand.

"Are you okay?" Makoto asked, his face impassive as ever.

The boy laid there, face first on the floor for a bit before pushing himself up and looking up at him, a hand covering his face.

"I…I think I broke my face." He squeaked out.

Well…If he could make jokes like that, then he didn't get hurt too bad…Makoto hoped so anyway. The boy grabbed the offered hand and pulled himself up to fully face him. The boy towered over Makoto, nearly a head taller than him. He has long blonde hair, not quite as long as Makoto's own, only going to about the middle of the boy's face, and instead of covering one eye, the boy's hair parted for both his brilliant blue eyes.

He wore some armor; a breast plate, shoulder plates as well as bracers over his hands and forearms, with a black hoodie underneath it all, a regular pair of jeans and boots as well. That had him wondering though. What kind of place was this that people needed to wear armor like Pyrrha and this guy?

"Thanks…person I don't know." The guy, muttered, staring at Makoto while softly rubbing his nose.

Makoto blinked twice at his statement, before nodding. "Makoto Yuuki."

"I'm sorry, what now?" The boy asked, staring back at him in confusion.

Makoto rolled his eyes slightly, before clarifying. "My name."

Realization swept across the boy's face before nodding and motioning to himself.

"The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it." He introduced.

Makoto stared back at him, taking in the sentence. His mind brought up a memory of Junpei's introduction. While Junpei had been entirely too friendly, some might even say nosy, his introduction was relatively normal. Junpei's introduction of himself was one thing...This was something else entirely.

"How long did it take you to come up with that?" Makoto asked, curiously.

"Haha…Way too long." Jaune laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "It's not lame is it? I thought it would be a good way to introduce yourself, you know?"

The way panic had seeped into his voice brought a chuckle to Makoto as he shook his head at the boy's question. Ridiculous introduction aside, it did help break the ice, that's for sure.

Pyrrha walked up to them, her weapon…

Her weapon was shifting. No, it was transforming. What was once a javelin now resembled more of a short sword in her hands as she sheathed it on her back.

"I didn't mean to have you stuck up there for so long Jaune. My apologies." Pyrrha confessed.

Jaune shook away her concern. "No worries Pyrrha. If anything, you probably saved my bacon there."

He looked back and forth between the two, Makoto's eyes still stuck on Pyrrha's weapon.

"I… take it you guys are partners already?" Jaune asked, a little hopeful.

Makoto shifted his eyes away from Pyrrha's sword to stare back at Jaune, but he kept his mouth shut. For now, it was better to let Pyrrha answer those questions less he messes up they figure out he doesn't know a thing about where he was.

"Yes. Our eyes met a little way away from here. How about you Jaune? Though I assume the fact you were still up there…" Pyrrha trailed off.

So, looking into someone's eyes first meant that a partnership had formed between the two? Pyrrha had said that they were in initiation of sorts. For a place called Beacon. Makoto wondered why…

Why did the name Beacon sound so nostalgic to him?

Jaune nodded, slightly looking a little sad. "Yeah. I saw Weiss, but it looked like she had partnered up with Ruby first. Other than her and you two, I haven't seen anyone."

Makoto felt his heart stop at the mention of the name. Ruby…Why did that name give him such strong feeling of anxiety? His heartbeat rapidly increased as he thought about it. Was something wrong with him? Ever since he had woken up here, it had been one thing next to another.

"I see. That's unfortunate. You're more than welcome to follow us. I assume more people will be getting closer to where the relics are going to be. You might just find your partner there." Pyrrha offered.

Jaune brightened up at the offer. It seemed he dreaded trying to go at it alone.

"That would be a load of my back. Thanks, guys." He grinned.

Makoto nodded at his thanks, deciding not to ask his questions. For now.

Pyrrha smiled back at him. "Well then, let's start going, shall we? I believe north is this way."

Pyrrha pointed in the other direction before she unsheathed her sword and shield and started walking.

That didn't bode well. The fact that she looked prepared to fight along with the fact that Jaune also had a weapon strapped to him, meant he was in a place where they might be attacked…By what though, he didn't know. He needed to stay on guard. Reaching into himself again, Makoto could still feel the power of his Persona, even feel their energy. It was strange. He knew that if he tried right now, he could probably summon them forth. Probably a good idea to keep it as a last resort. While it didn't give him a bad headache last time, it did drain him more than usual.

Keeping one at the forefront of his soul, Makoto followed after the two.

It was only a couple meters away that Jaune had slowed his pace and matched his own, walking beside him. He looked over at him and Jaune nodded at him, an awkward smile on his face.

"So…." He started, just as awkwardly as his smile. "I met Pyrrha today and everything, but I didn't see you today or yesterday. Since we're gonna be classmates and all, I figure we should get to know one another."

Makoto raised an eyebrow.

"…And, honestly, you're the first guy I've actually talked to that hasn't brushed me off or teased me about my pajamas…" He finished.

Pajamas? What?

"So, where you from?" Jaune asked innocently.

Makoto eyes widened a fraction. He supposed he should have seen this coming, but he hadn't actually had time to come up with a reasonable explanation or story. Judging by the way Pyrrha had also perked up at the question, he guessed she was also curious. Natural, considering they were supposed to be partners.

Though, this was a chance to gain some info as well…

"Do you know where Japan is by any chance?" He might as well start as vague as he could be.

He expected slight confusion, maybe even surprise. After all, Makoto had assumed that he was somewhere foreign, but also had a Japanese as a main language. After all, the two people who he had met, looked nothing Japanese like.

What Makoto hadn't expected…was a complete and utter lack of knowledge on his home country. From Jaune perhaps, but when Pyrrha also answered that she had never heard of the place, and if it was anywhere near the four kingdoms…a pit settled into his stomach.

He knew geography. It was something he had once studied with Mitsuru and she had made sure to drill him on place around the world.

But…He couldn't remember any place at all that had four kingdoms…Nor any places that still made people wear armor like that or go through initiations in a forest.

When he denied being part of the four kingdoms, they both looked back to him in surprise.

"Then, you're from a village outside the Kingdom's protection?" Jaune asked, his eyes wide.

Not knowing whether it was a good or bad thing…Makoto took a chance and nodded.

"Amazing, I hear some villages don't survive for long outside of them. A tragedy for sure, but your village must have found a way." Pyrrha responded.

Couldn't survive? What did that mean. Why couldn't a village survive?

"Yeah, I mean, no offense Makoto, but it's hard to believe anyone in Remnant wants to live outside a kingdom." Jaune remarked.

"…Remnant?" Makoto parroted, quietly.

Remnant? He wasn't familiar with such a place. He made it seem like it was an entire continent, but he was positive no continent or country in the world was called Remnant.

Having heard Makoto quiet whisper, Jaune gave a little laugh. "Yeah, I never understood why someone would name a planet Remnant. Kind of a downer, really."

Makoto stopped his in his tracks. Jaune and Pyrrha both looked back at him questioningly. He was aware that they were saying something, more than likely asking him something, considering they were directing puzzled faces at him, but he couldn't hear them.

He was in shock…Confused…Mind blown. A first for him. He was usually the voice of reason, a picture of calm…but his mind couldn't wrap around the concept of being in another…

Remnant wasn't a country or continent like he assumed…It was the entire planet. A new world.

A planet that was not Earth… A world that was not his own.

The realization of that sent him reeling. What were the circumstances for his arrival here? What happened to the Seal? Why did he wake up here?

No, he knew what happened but for some reason, that part of his memory remained clouded, like he could see it, but not reach it.

What was going on?

He was brought back to reality by Jaune putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You alright man?" He asked, concerned.

Makoto took in a shaky breath in an effort to calm himself down. "Yeah…Just feeling a little…homesick."

Jaune's concern turned to understanding at his lie. "Ah, gotcha. Yeah, must been a big culture shock coming here huh?"

Makoto shook his head. "You have no idea."

They really, really had no idea.

Pyrrha looked back at him, a small, lonely smile on her face. "I believe I understand. I haven't been gone for long, but I miss home as well."

Makoto didn't say a word, instead only giving a nod. It seemed to be enough as Jaune put a hand on his shoulder and motioned Pyrrha to continue. He followed not too far behind.

"Soooo," Jaune started, "It's been kind of bothering me, but…You don't have any weapons on you."

He looked up to Jaune and saw Pyrrha, once again, looking in his direction as well, waiting on him to answer.

That's right. They both carried weapons. This initiation seems to test combat ability too. If would definitely be strange to have no weapon at all here. But, the fact of the matter is, Makoto doesn't have a weapon on him.

Most of his weapons, he presumed, were back on earth. Considering he traveled worlds, it was a little surprising he even had any of the things he did have. Hell, come to think of it, he had died on earth. How did he have a body again?

Questions for later. Right now, he had a weapon dilemma he had to sort out. He didn't have any actual weapons on him, but he did have his Persona. Could he get away with that? No. His Persona was his trump card. IF for whatever reason they turned on him he would rather have the power to rely on. Not that he thought that they would, but it wouldn't do it for him if he didn't at least consider the possibility.

If not that then what? Well…He was versed in many weapons thanks to his Persona, and thankfully, one of them didn't necessarily need a weapon.

Makoto looked up to Jaune and raised his fists. Jaune and Pyrrha both widened their eyes in surprise, clearly not expecting that answer. He pulled from his mind, a Persona with more physical strength, the sound of breaking glass signifying the change, and threw out a quick jab.

He didn't expect that the simple punch would have enough force in it to throw out a shock wave of his Persona's power though…It flew and slammed into a tree, creating a small indent in it. Makoto blinked at it before turning to them. They were staring at it, Pyrrha silently appraising it while Jaune stood there surprised.

He looked down at his hands. What was that? He knew that this place was strange the moment he could feel his Persona out on the edge of his Mind when he first summoned Orpheus. He knew he could summon Persona in this new world, but now, even the benefits that a Persona user would receive during the Dark Hour, like enhanced physical strength and defense were starting to show here as well. Even more, it seemed they were being amplified slightly, even going as far as being able to affect the waking world.

Just what was this place? Even more questions for the pile.

"Holy…You did that with a punch?" Jaune asked, astonished. "Remind me never to get you angry."

"Indeed. It seems you pack quite a bit of power." Pyrrha said, nodding satisfied.

Makoto nodded at them and put his hands in his pockets once more. She seemed like she still wanted to ask something but was interrupted by the sound of gunshots.

Jaune looked around, clearly distressed. "Did you hear that?"

Pyrrha was the one who answered. "Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy. We need to press on."

Enemy. Just what kind of enemies did kids like these have to face? His mind brought up the image of a shadow, repressed manifestion of human desires. Could it be possible? His Persona power did indeed work here…but for some reason, that train of thought seemed wrong. He didn't know why he felt this way, it was just that, a feeling. Yet, he knew he could trust that feeling.

Whatever Pyrrha was going to say must have not been important as she continued on, pushing a branch out of the way.

"Y-Yeah." Jaune answered meekly, following behind, still looking around.

Makoto opened his mouth to warn Jaune. He didn't seem to notice that the branch that Pyrrha had pushed would come back to its original position, i.e. where his face was headed.

"Ah. Be car-" Makoto started.

Thwack. He flinched at the sound the branch made as it made contact with Jaune's face. Jaune stumbled backwards in pain, falling on his rear.

Hearing Jaune's groan of pain, Pyrrha turned around, realizing what had happened.

"Jaune!" She said, worryingly. "I'm sorry."

Jaune weakly laughed, covering the right side of his cheek. "It's okay. Just a scratch."

Makoto could see that the scratch itself had cut skin and was now bleeding. Pyrrha walked up him giving him a questioning look.

"Why didn't you activate your aura?" She inquired.

That was another new term. Aura. He heard the word before back in his world, but he knew that the word "aura" was something entirely different here.

"Huh?" Jaune looked back confused.

"Your aura." Pyrrha clarified.

He seemed to mishear her again as instead, he said, "Gesundheit."

Makoto slightly shook his head at the guy.

"Jaune." Pyrrha said slowly. "Do you…not know what aura is?"

Jaune snorted, waving her way. "Of course, I do."

He didn't sound very sure. His voice was even cracking.

"Do you know what aura is, Makoto?" Jaune asked him, deflecting.

Aura. He knew what the word meant. But not the meaning he thinks that they mean. It had a different interpretation here. HE shouldn't know it…and yet did. Something was rising up in his mind. He reached out, brushing his mind against the sensation. When he did, information flowed into him.

"Aura is…" He started, sorting out the info in his head, his eyes slightly widening. "The manifestation of our soul."

Pyrrha nodded at him smiling, content that he had known. Seeing as he wasn't going to continue, Pyrrha took over the explanation. He listened in comparing what he was hearing to the information that had appeared in his head not a moment ago.

Aura was the manifestation of the soul…Just like a Persona was…but different at the same time. She explained that everyone had it, even animals did, and that it came to their aid in a form of a shield.

Then, Jaune asked a strange question. He asked if monsters had aura. Pyrrha denied his question but then brought up another new term he didn't know. Again, he felt a sensation in his mind and he reached out, information flowing into him. The creatures of Grimm. Creatures with no soul. Manifestations of anonymity. Beings of evil. Beings that sounded like shadows, but were again, different than them.

He felt anger start to bubble in him just thinking about them. He didn't know why. Just thinking about them made his blood boil. But he didn't even know them. Yet he knew…

These people, these two and other like them, were trained to fight them. Beacon was an academy that trained people like them to defend humanity. They were the light. The Grimm were the dark. It was funny how black and white it was. It also helped answer some questions he had. These two…

They were not his enemies nor would they be. He could trust them.

Still, it was amazing the way they utilized their power. Aura could be projected outward, both as a defense or something more offensive. Their equipment was finely tuned to help them project and utilize their aura. Somehow, it reminded him of SEES's equipment and how it helped project their Persona's power as well. Honestly, it was frightening how many similarities this world had with Persona's and shadows.

"It's like a force field!" Jaune yelled excitedly, snapping Makoto out of his musings.

"Yes, if you want to look at it that way." Pyrrha said, smiling at his childing side.

She calmly walked up to him, putting her hand gently on his cheek. "Now, concentrate."

Jaune, a bit startled, did as he was told. "Okay."

Makoto watched as Pyrrha closed her eyes as well and started chanting. Her body, along with Jaune's started to glow slightly. Makoto could feel the energy they were both radiating. It was calming, yet distinct. Different…Yet familiar.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Inifinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." Pyrrha chanted, the glowing around her body diminishing as she finished, while Jaune still glowed.

She took a step back, hunching slightly over, looking rather drained.

"Are you okay?" Makoto asked. He hadn't seen her look this tired before.

Jaune looked worryingly as Pyrrha before she shook her head. "I'm fine. I just used my aura to unlock Jaune's."

She looked back at Jaune, or rather, the scratch on his face and smiled. "The energy that protects you now is you own."

Makoto looked at scratch. In an instant, the scratch seemingly healed itself as it closed, the bleeding and skin stitching back together. Truly fascinating.

"You have quite a lot of it." She said nodding at him.

Jaune looked at himself in wonder as the glow of energy around him started to fade. Even Makoto knew that the boy held an abundance of power. He could practically hear it coming out of him.

"Wow." He said before looking back at Pyrrha. "Thank you."

She nodded at him once more and turned to look at Makoto. "I'm sorry for the delay."

Makoto shook his head. "It's alright."

Pyrrha smiled at him before motioning in the other direction. "We need to keep going. We've spent quite a bit of time here."

Both Makoto and Jaune looked at each other before nodding and continuing on. Seeing as how Pyrrha still looked rather worn out, Makoto volunteered to lead the way. She didn't refuse and they continued on.

He was going to come out with the truth. He had thought about it while they walked. He learned quite a bit since he met Pyrrha and was now confident in telling them that he was a stranger here. Perhaps not the whole truth, what with being from another world, but maybe just not from around here. No need to completely confuse and/or make himself look crazy.

Besides, according to this initiation. Those who locked eyes seemed to be partners now. Whether it was for this initiation only, he didn't know, though he had a feeling it meant longer, but he did know that he wasn't supposed to be Pyrrha's. Technically, Jaune was supposed to be. They seemed to get along and they complemented each other rather well.

Which is why he resolved to tell them…Well it was the plan anyway before they came across a cave. They all stared at it, Makoto taking note of the carvings and drawings against the entrance of the cave. He focused on what seemed to be a giant scorpion being attacked by hunters with spears…He had a bad feeling about this.

Jaune, with some trouble and help from Makoto, made a torch and the three went in, despite Makoto protesting. He relented since he didn't exactly know where these relics would be hidden and he certainly didn't know the layout of the land. For all he knew, the relics could be inside the cave. He did make a note to come clean about his situation as soon as they exited the cave.

Jaune took the lead, holding his torch with Makoto to his left and Pyrrha, his right. Makoto walked slowly, his hands ever in his pockets and surveyed what he could from the light of the torch. It was what he expected. Just a cave.

Pyrrha looked around, uncertain. "Maybe, Makoto was right. I don't think this is it."

Jaune sighed, before looking back at her. "I know it's a stretch, but we haven't even seen anyone else around. I need to find a partner fast before the initiation is over and they may be in here. Plus, we made a torch." He said gesturing to it. "Just…humor me a bit and let's go a bit farther before turning back."

Pyrrha, still hesitating looked back to Makoto. He simply shrugged and gestured onwards. Pyrrha nodded, though she still looked unsure.

"Great!" Jaune said, enthusiastically. "Alright then lets-"

He tripped over his own feet, and stumbled forward. He would have fallen face first if Makoto hadn't reached out and prevented him from it.

Jaune straitened up, a sheepish look on his face. "Haha…My-My bad. Didn't see that…rock there."

Makoto raised an eyebrow but gave a small smile. Jaune started to walk forward before Makoto felt a chill go down his spine.

"Do you feel that?" Pyrrha asked, alert.

"What? Damp and oppressing." Jaune joked, looking around as well.

Makoto mimicked them, taking a look around for himself. Something was off. They were in a cave, yes. But why did it feel…

"No, it feels…" Pyrrha started before Makoto finished her sentence.

"Warm." He stated looking at her.

She looked back and nodded, a serious look on her face.

"Jaune. I think we need to head back." She said.

"What? Come on, you guys just said you would humor me and go in a bit deeper. I know it doesn't feel like it, but I know there something in here." Jaune explained desperately.

Pyrrha and Makoto looked at each other once more. She seemed to be hesitating once again as she looked at him.

"…Fine." Makoto acquiesced "But, watch your step."

Jaune, once again, brightened up and nodded multiple times. "You got it!"

He turned around and continued walking, the other two quickly following behind him, a little closer, both now a bit more alert.

After a couple steps, they came to a bend in the cave and they turned the corner before noticing something bright and yellow glowing a bit away. It floated in the darkness, invitingly.

It sent Makoto nerves on edge. Warning bells seemed to ring off in his head.

"That must be the relic!" Jaune exclaimed excitedly.

He stepped forward but stopped suddenly. He looked down to see that Makoto had stuck his arm out to prevent him from going forward.

"Makoto?" Jaunes asked, quizzically.

Makoto instead continued staring at the glowing orb. It moved in an apparent pattern as if…if wanted to be noticed. It appeared invitingly because it wanted people to approach it. It was trying to lure them to it…Makoto's thoughts went back to the drawing at the cave's entrance and once again, he had a bad feeling.

Only this time, it was a hundred times worse.

He reached out, grabbing the torch from Jaune's hand before whispering to both of them. "Get ready…."

Pyrrha nodded, tensing up at the seriousness of his voice while Jaune continued looking at him in confusion.

"Get ready? Ready for what?" He asked, nervously.

"I don't know." Makoto answered back before tossing the torch ahead of him.

Thankfully, it didn't land on any puddles and it did not go out as it hit and rolled next to the glowing light.

The bad news?

The torch now illuminated what was connected to the glowing orb. A tail. A long tail that was then connected to a giant hardened body, with several appendages holding it up. It had two more appendages near its front; two giant claws that could not doubt, crush a rock in twine. The orb still glowed, but he saw it for what it was now. A stinger.

A stinger for a giant scorpion, like nothing he had seen before.

His eyes narrowed, but before he could call for a retreat, Jaune screamed like a girl. Quite loudly at that.

The creature stirred, and Makoto silently cursed. He needed to trust in his bad feelings more. They were often right, even when he didn't want them to be.

Well? I hope you enjoyed it so far. Originally, I had planned to do the entire initiation before realizing how much writing that would be and the fact that College started back up on the 16th…Well, suffice to say, I decided to cut it into shorter segments. Once again, I'll try to get the next chapter up before the end of the month but no promises.

Also, it may seem that way for now, but Makoto will not be partners with Pyrrha. I wanted to have Makoto meet someone from the cast first and I figured why not them? I know it's a bit of a spoiler for the next part of the story, but I had a feeling that people would be questioning that. Pyrrha X Jaune is still gonna be its own thing. I don't plan on changing that for sure.

I plan to follow the RWBY storyline for a bit before changing small parts here and there that will create a snowball effect that MAY change where the story goes. So far, I have planned out the first volume and some of the second and some more important parts in the story as well as characters. It's one of the reasons why Makoto is getting prior knowledge into his head. You can imply what happened by reading what happened to the seal in the first chapter. Makoto will also not be bound by Beacon or Ozpins rules. Yes, he will ally with them, but he will also have to…at times go behind their backs for somethings. That's all I will say about it now.

If you have any questions let me know. Also let me know your thoughts on the chapter and I hope you look forward to more.