Cover art - Mike (I know him, so that's all that matters)
Chapter 3 - Baleful Awakening
Jaune did not open his eyes right away when he woke up, desperate to savour any remaining vestiges of sleep he had left.
He shifted his head to try and get into a more comfortable position. His pillow felt weird. It wasn't as soft as what it normally was. It was rougher and prickly for some reason.
A shudder ran up his body as a chilly breeze blew past him. Somebody must have left the window open last night. Probably Nora.
Okay, screw it, he couldn't sleep in these conditions. With his eyes still closed, he swung his legs out of bed to stand up.
And then he was falling.
A plummeting drop was his wake-up call. Screaming, his hands frantically grabbed hold of his bed before gravity could claim him. His feet dangled in midair. What the hell happened to the floor?
He opened his eyes.
"What the hell!?" he shouted.
Looking all around, he realised that there was no floor! In fact, he wasn't even in his dormroom at all! He was in the courtyard, hovering above a patch of green grass. Looking up, he saw his arms gripping onto a tree branch. A freaking tree branch!
Why in the name of the righteous Arc lineage was he sleeping in a goddamn tree?
But before he could find the answer to that burning question, a more pressing matter came into light: how was he supposed to get down?
He looked down below. He wasn't scared of heights, but from where he was it did seem like a pretty long drop. His landing strategy was nowhere near perfected, so if he let go of the branch he was still gonna break something, even with his aura. Letting himself fall was out of the question.
"Help!" he shouted out to empty space. "Somebody help! I'm in a tree! Help!"
His cries went unheard. Or if they were heard, everyone was ignoring him because it was too early in the morning to deal with this crap.
Jaune groaned. Looks like he was on his own on this one.
Feeling like an idiot just hanging there, he hoisted himself up so that he was sitting on the branch. How the hell did he end up in this situation? He remembered sparring with Pyrrha yesterday evening, brushing his teeth, getting into his onesie, then finally crawling into bed.
Now here he was, still in his onesie sitting in a tree branch. It was - as Ruby would put it - a gosh-darn mystery.
"Oh, Jaune. Didn't expect to see you here too," came another voice.
Jaune turned his head and saw Blake sitting in another tree a few feet away from him. Like him, she was also dressed in her nightgear- a black yukata that didn't look warm enough to handle the cold morning air. She didn't seem to care though.
"Blake?" he cried.
"Good morning," she casually greeted him.
"It's not a good morning! Waking up in a tree is a sign that it's not a good morning!"
"Hmm, I guess not," she said. "Alright, morning then."
"What are you even doing here?"
"Don't sound so judgmental. After all, we're both in the same position here."
"No, no, no, I'm not supposed to be here!" he said, defending himself. "I'm supposed to be in bed fast asleep, possibly drooling on my pillow! I am not, repeat not, supposed to be in a tree!"
Blake shrugged. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not exactly too thrilled to be here either. But that's the way life is sometimes, so here we are."
Jaune hugged onto the branch for dear life. Was he sleeping here the entire night? How did he not fall off?
"You're a lot louder than what you normally are," Blake noted. "I take it this is your first time waking up in a tree?"
"I'll give you five seconds to figure that out!" he barked.
"Only asking. Just trying to help."
"And what do you mean 'first time'?" he said. "Are you telling me this often happens to you? Is that why you're acting so nonchalant about all this?"
Blake nodded. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't used to this by now. I've been waking up in trees ever since I learned how to walk. I go to bed, get all nice and snug, then the next morning I'm picking leaves out of my hair. Mind you, there are times I've just found myself in a tree without having gone to bed. Don't ask me how I get up there, because I haven't a clue."
"And you don't find that disturbing at all?" he asked her.
"Not really," she said. "As I said, I'm used to it. But this is the first time I've met someone else in the same situation. It's quite nice. It's like we're cut from the same cloth."
Jaune sighed. "Well, as much as I'd love to sit and chat about how horribly wrong this is, I really wanna get down. How do we do it?"
"Aha!" Blake beamed. "Now that is the tricky part. In all my seventeen years of doing this, I still haven't properly figured that out."
"You cannot be serious," he gasped.
"I'm not as good at making jokes as Yang, Jaune. I'm completely serious."
"But if we don't get down soon, we're gonna miss breakfast and be late for lessons! Worse, the whole school could see us! We look stupid up here!"
"There is always that possibility," Blake mused. "Still, I don't know what you expect me to do about it."
"Haven't you got a working landing strategy? Just jump down and help me!"
Blake shook her head. "I'm afraid that's impossible. I can't describe it, but it's like trees have their own different rules on how gravity works. You fall out of one of these things, and there's not a thing you can do to stop your bones getting pulverised. Believe me, I've tried it before."
"But then that means…"
"Yeah, get comfy. We're gonna be here a while."
Jaune groaned, burying his face into the bark. This could not be happening to him.
"Hey, come on, don't act so glum," Blake said. "At least we won't miss breakfast."
"What are you talking about?" he whined. "We can't get to the canteen if we're up here."
"We don't need to. There should be a sandwich a few branches above you. Just eat that."
A sandwich… in a tree…
Somehow, it wasn't the craziest thing his mind had to comprehend. His growling stomach gave him the motivation to climb a few branches to find this supposed sandwich. He had a mini heart-attack every time his foot lost balance for a second. Climbing was not his strong suit.
He was about to climb down to his original branch until he saw something that made his jaw drop.
Resting on a branch was a chicken and bacon sandwich contained in a plastic tub. The thing looked freshly made, not a spec of mould sullied the bread.
Jaune would've rubbed his eyes if his hands weren't holding onto the branch. This was ridiculous, stupid, insane…
Delicious…
"Well, if lien doesn't grow on trees, sandwiches might as well," he sighed, grabbing the tub and making his way back down to his branch. He could ponder about the craziness of all this after he had eaten.
When he returned to his branch, he saw Blake munching on her own sandwich. She turned her head. "Oh good, you found it," she said in between bites. "What flavour is it?"
"Chicken and bacon," he told her.
Blake moaned. "You got lucky. Mine's just plain old ham and cheese. I really need to stop making such boring sandwiches."
"Did you plant that sandwich there for me? Did you know I was gonna wake up here?"
"No, I've got sandwiches prepared on every tree at Beacon," Blake explained. "I never know which tree I'm gonna appear in, so I like to have something ready for me when I arrive."
"When I get down from here, I'm gonna cut down every single tree I see," Jaune vowed. "This is not becoming a habit for me."
"Professor Peach might give you a year's worth of detention for that."
"As long as I'm on solid ground, I can live with that," he grumbled, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
It was unclear how long the two of them spent up there, but it was amazing how getting some food in his belly helped him relax and accept his situation for what it was.
Blake even had bottles of water prepared in another branch for when he got thirsty. She wasn't kidding when she said she came prepared. The whole thing felt like a really bizarre picnic.
"So, how do you normally get down?" he asked.
"Sometimes I can do it myself," she said. "The reason I have the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud is so I can climb down when I get stuck."
"But you don't have your weapon on you right now," he said.
"Yeah, but don't worry. My team will help us when they wake up. They're used to this too. I've actually left them a map of all the trees I'm likely to turn up in. They'll show up, laugh at us for a bit, then Weiss will let us down with her glyphs."
Team…
"I have an idea," he said. He reached into his pockets, praying to find his salvation in there.
Hallelujah! He had left his scroll in his pocket overnight. Praise be to his scroll, and praise be to his onesie for having pockets!
He dialled Pyrrha; the most reliable person he knew. He felt a bit bad calling her at such an early time, but this was kind of an emergency. He'd buy her something nice once this was dealt with.
"Please pick up, please pick up," he muttered to himself.
"J-Jaune?" came Pyrrha's groggy voice from the other end. It was obvious he had just woken her up.
"Hehe, uh, hey, Pyrrha. Good morning," he said.
"Why are you calling me- wait a minute, where are you right now? Your bed's empty!"
"Okay, so, I'm gonna need you to not ask too many questions, because I'm still a little confused by this myself. Basically, I'm stuck in a tree and I need your help."
"You're what?" she cried.
"Remember back in initiation when I got stuck in a tree because of your spear? Think of it like that, only without the spear."
"I don't understand. How did you get stuck in a tree? What are you even doing in one in the first place?"
Jaune sighed. "Trust me, Pyrrha, I've already asked myself every question you're thinking right now, and I haven't got a single answer. I just woke up this morning and here I was. I must have fallen asleep here last night.
"That's not possible, I saw you go to bed in our room last night!"
"I know, I know, I'm just as confused as you are, but this is what's happening. Blake can vouch for me on this."
"Blake?"
"Oh yeah, she's here too."
Jaune raised the scroll towards Blake. "Morning, Pyrrha," Blake shouted at the scroll.
Jaune put the scroll back to his ear. "I dunno if you heard that, but she says hi," he said.
"And is she…?"
"Stuck in a tree too, yes. It's a double emergency."
"I… I'm not sure I'm properly awake," Pyrrha said. "Jaune, is this real? Are we actually having this conversation, or am I still sleeping? It's honestly hard to tell."
"No, no, no," Jaune said frantically. "Pyrrha, whatever you do, don't go back to sleep. I assure you, this is real!"
"You have to understand, this doesn't feel real. I think I might have had too many of Ren's health drinks..."
"Pinch yourself if you have to. This is real. Me and Blake really need your help. Please, I'm starting to get dizzy up here."
"Alright then, hold on. Let me just put on some- hold on…"
There was a pause on her end.
"Uh, Pyrrha? You still there?" Jaune asked, a little worried.
"Huh? Oh, nothing, it's just… did you and Blake wake up in the same tree together?"
For some reason, her voice had shrunk down to a shy mumble.
"No, she's stuck in her own tree about a few feet away from me. Why?"
"Oh, no reason," Pyrrha breathed. Why did she sound so relieved about that? "Alright, stay put, I'm coming to get you. Let me just put some clothes on first."
"Thank you, you're a life-savour," he said eagerly. "We're in the courtyard. You can't miss us; we're the two idiots stuck in trees. You're the best partner ever, Pyrrha!"
"It's fine," she said. "Oh, and just a heads up, you might want to avoid Nora for most of the morning. Our conversation has just woken her up, and she's glaring at the scroll. Yeah, she's not happy with you."
"I'll treat to some pancakes when this is done," he said. "Tell her I said sorry."
"I don't think that's a good idea- no, Nora, put your hammer away! He said he was sorry for waking you... yes, I do know what time it is… that may be true, but you still can't hit him in the-"
The call cut off before Jaune could hear what grim fate awaited him when he got down. Maybe he'd be safer if he just stayed in the tree?
"Just a heads up, I recommend having the fire department on speed dial," Blake said. "In case this happens again and no one you know can help, those guys are really useful. It's like they're trained for situations like this."
"This won't happen again," he grumbled. "And even if it did, like I'm really gonna do that. It's not like I'm a…"
Cat stuck in a tree…
He never said the phrase out loud. Not because he thought Blake might find it offensive, but because of a memory from yesterday. He looked down at the hand where Blake had bitten him. The marks were fading, but he could still see them. Still feel them.
What was it Cardin had said?
Speaking of Cardin, he saw the bully in the distance. He was wearing a vest and a pair of black shorts. He must have been out for a morning jog. Cardin saw him too. Silence passed as the two of them stared at each other.
Cardin's lips curled into a disgusted frown. He shook his head, turned his back, and jogged silently back to the school.
Suddenly, Nora's threats of violence seemed like the least of his worries.