Big boy chapter my dudes prepare your reading organs.
While they are somewhat similar, there are a few notable differences between Paladins and Crusaders. Paladins are, typically, lone religious knights who are blessed or otherwise empowered by a 'good' god or goddess. They use holy magic, calling power directly from their divine patron.
Crusaders are more simple in a way. Crusaders are religious knights known for their fervor and extremely zealous belief. They can function as priests and religious figures, and some positions of crusader require vows. With an affinity for healing and buffing magic, crusaders fight as one large force, like an army, as opposed to a typical Paladins 'lone wolf' style. While crusaders worship the same gods as most paladins, they draw their magic from angels, aasimar and the like. Their positive relation with the angelic community is what les to their use of Angelic magic, as opposed to a Paladins Holy magic.
Now, both of the aforementioned types of religious knights follow the 'good' entities. The gods of light and love and culture.
But Hell has its own knights too. Directly contrasting Paladins, Infernal Knights use Hell magic, drawing power directly from the Nine Hells, not reliant on any divinity or force of power.
And directly contrasting Crusaders are the aptly named, 'Darkrusaders', knights who use demonic magic, calling upon demonic lords and figures for power and strength.
Jaune Arc was a deacon in the 142 Legion of Darkrusaders, trained from early childhood as an infantry man, specializing in melee combat and pyromancy. While only a deacon, the second rank in the Darkrusaders, he was very skilled and powerful for his age.
Which is why he was almost insulted by these petty street criminals. Pommel met face as a distinguished deacon of the 142 Darkrusader Legion bashed in the skull of a basic robber.
Turning to the last one, Janue looked to his side, seeing a young girl in a red cape weilding a massive scythe cocked a strange handle on the shaft of the weapon.
"Worth every cent, truly," a human dressed in a stark white suit muttered from behind a mass of orange hair and black bowler hat, "Well Red and Black, I think this is where we part ways!"
The human flicked his cane upwards, and a strange attachment appeared, looking almost like the sights of a crossbow.
'Oh.' Jaunes eyes widened.
The end of the cane exploded, and a small fireball raced toward the young woman next to him. Throwing himself forward, his shield intercepted the projectile, where it promptly detonated, and sent him flying. He landed flat on his back, the tough stone-like road tearing at the back of his tabard and scratching his armor.
Suddenly, the girl was next to him, helping him up, somehow getting all the way across the street in an instant, far too fast for a non-magic user should be able to. He gratefully reached up to take her hand.
"Dust you're heavy…" she groaned as she helped him up. Jaune quickly thanked her, and sheathed his sword.
"Are you alright miss?" He asked, quickly looking her over.
"I'm fine, thanks." She said, before turning to a rooftop, and pointing at the rapidly fleeing form of Roman Torchwick, "Wait! He's getting away!"
"Don't worry, I can handle it," Jaune grabbed her shoulder and gently turned her toward the shop, the front of which was a mess of bodies and broken glass, "I need you to make sure none of these guys get away, alright?"
Receiving a nod from her, Jaune sprinted toward the roof Roman had retreated to, and scrambled up the metal ladder that hung off the side, the ill-forged iron groaning under the weight of him and his armor.
"Persistent…" Jaune heard the criminal say, before turning to the knight. As soon as he saw him, his eyes widened.
"Jaune?" Roman asked.
"Roman." Jaune replied, keeping his sword sheathed, "What are you doing here?"
"You know how your boss-" Roman began, only to be interrupted by Jaune.
"King."
"Yeah, King…" Roman restarted, "You know how Acererak and I came to an agreement, where he would take care of Cinder and I would stop the whole mob guy thing?"
"I am aware," Jaune looked over the edge of the roof, at the red cloaked girl, who was currently restraining the unconscious robbers with a length of rope, "and I think I know where you're going with this."
"Smart," Roman clicked his tongue and continued, "Well as you've probably guessed, you guys haven't taken care of her yet, and I can't exactly go against her until you do so."
"Makes sense." Jaune sighed, broken out of his interruption by two things, the noise of a bullhead, and the noise of the young girl somehow leaping onto the roof.
"That was quick…" Roman and Jaune muttered at the same time. Jaune drew his sword and shield, and Roman turned to jump off the roof, only to rise up seconds later in a bullhead, looking at the pair from the open door of the ship.
"End of the line you two!" He shouted, throwing a red crystal at them. Thinking fast, Jaune moved to intercept with his shield, but a purplish runic symbol had already formed above them, shielding the pair from the explosion.
Turning around, Jaune and the girl saw Miss Goodwitch, using her riding crop as a wand, weaving runic symbols in the air, sending a wave of force toward the bullhead. Just before it reached the flying vessel, a wave of fire snaked out to meet it, canceling both out.
Next to Torchwick was a woman, dressed in red, flinging fire like a pyromancer with a power complex, launching waves, blasts and jets with almost reckless abandon, the unfocused manner in which it was conducted making Jaune question whether or not she was really in control.
Despite the superior raw power of her opponent, Goodwitchs skill and experience won out in the end, redirecting a jet of fire directly toward the bullhead, washing over it and nearly knocking it out of the sky, before it righted itself and flew off.
While the girl in red began asking Goodwitch questions, Jaune made a mental note to try and find Torchwick at some point, before the Beacon professor snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Jaune." She didn't seem too angry.
"Lady Goodwitch," Jaune gave a small bow, "Great to see you again."
"Thank you Jaune…" She responded, the slightest hint of a smile creeping at the corners of her mouth and a very faint reddish tint forming on her cheeks. "But neither of you are supposed to be here." She said, the smile gone.
Jaune gulped.
"Stay here!" Morrigan shouted to Raven as her massive black wings lifted her into the air, crimson eyes smoldering in cold rage as she moved toward her target.
Swearing like a sailor, the nevermore flew toward her target at alarming speeds, swiftly reaching the bullhead, its retreat having been halted by the 30 foot undead raven currently tearing it to pieces. Edgar swooped down, his monstrous bone talons tearing a series of huge gashes down the topside, forcing the ship to reel back from the force, presenting Morrigan with a perfect view of the cockpit.
Swinging around, she brought her armored feet forward, and smashed right through the aircraft grade glass, unintentionally demolishing the co-pilots seat. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone in the co-pilots seat, but its not like the pilot could do anything about it.
Not hesitating for a moment, Morrigan drew her bastard sword in the same movement, and brought it down toward Qrow. Releasing a rather unmanly shout of surprise, the human warrior jumped back, drew his sword and swung it toward the undead woman, just avoiding her sword and bringing his across her side, scraping against the plate armor she wore.
She reached out with one hand, grabbing a fistful of Qrows unwashed shirt, and threw him into the side of the airship and following quickly with a thrust. Her opponent swiftly jumped, sending the blade straight through the bullheads wall. Qrow landed on top of her sword, and aimed his, now in shotgun configuration, at Morrigan, and fired. Just like before, Morrigan took the shot, this time the blast this time clipping her neck, the pellets tearing through her pale flesh, sending dark blood flying.
The force of the attack sent her flying into the opposite wall with a metallic thump and a nauseating crunch, her body making a dent in the wall and her left wing breaking with the impact. From her place in the wall, Morrigan reared a hand back, casting Vitriolic Sphere, and threw it, catching Qrow dead center with the ball of acid.
Feeling his aura dissolve and the slight burning increase, Qrow decided it was time to abandon ship, and leapt out the back, transforming himself into a crow in an attempt to rid himself of the smoking acid, an attempt that seemed to work, and only a few traces drops of the substance remained, quickly steaming off his feathers as they tried to eat away at him.
Ozpin would need to know about this.
"Torchwick?" Cinder called out to the mob boss, her falsely kind voice carrying a biting undertone of seething anger, "Your scroll judge received a very interesting call from Adam Taurus."
"It did?" He asked, internally panicking, 'So that's where I left it…'
"It did." She affirmed, her tone moving from mock politeness to confident accusations, "He said something about, and I quote, 'Getting rid of the bitch and her pets'. Any idea what that could mean?"
Knowing exactly what that meant, Roman stalled, and could see Neo creeping up behind Cinder and her two cronies, parasol blade drawn.
"Nope." He said, popping the p. And he would have continued to stall, had a literal rotting corpse not charged out of the darkness of the warehouse and flung itself at Cinder, who promptly incinerated it.
Silence permeated the empty building for a second, before Cinder was launched offscreen by a jet of sickly green energy, crashing through the flimsy wall of the storage building.
Acererak stepped through the hole, his monstrously large frame having to crouch down to fit through. He tilted his head, and a series of cracks and pops came from his neck as he viewed the woman with disdain.
"Who dares to-"
"I dare." Acererak affirmed, his necrotic green eyes glowing with cold indifference. With a flash of sickly green light, a monstrous greatsword appeared in his right hand. A gigantic sword with a huge, thick, six foot long blade of some black steel like substance that radiated death and promised no mercy to those that meet it in battle.
It seemed absurdly heavy, with a rectangular blade ending with a wicked spear point near the tip. The black blade had a large cutting edge which ended with the single, wide fuller, which formed a deep line as it snaked its way up the blade, ending about a quarter of the length from the point. The fuller was engraved with foreign runes which glowed with a strange green light.
Right where the blade met the hilt, there was a silvery metal dragon skull with glowing green eyes, which faced toward the point, and was made so to seem to be swallowing the blade. At the base of the skull, the metal head melted into the crossguard, which featured two, straight, triangular quillons which were twisted into coils and topped with two metal spikes. From the skull, two silvery metal horns protruded and loosely coiled around the quillons, before splitting halfway across them and turning into two downward and two upwards spikes.
The handle was long enough for him to fit his two hands comfortably, and was wrapped in smooth, jet black leather. The pommel was shaped like a human skull, and was eerily accurate. The bony visage had its mouth hanging open in what was either laughter or a death scream. The entire piece was carved out of a single chunk of the glowing green crystal on his armor, and glowed dimly in the night.
Just as the ten foot lich took a step toward Cinder, both Emerald and Mercury leapt at him, firing revolvers and launching a kick respectively. As expected, the barrage of gunshots simply pinged off the necromancers heavy armor, and Mercurys flying kick was met with a solid left handed punch that impacted his stomach, forcing his lunch back up to the world.
The force not only stopping his decent, but reverting it, the power of Acereraks strike kept him in the air, where a rising slash from his monstrous greatsword, catching him in the chest and sending him higher into the night sky, before a quick sidestep and downwards slam caught him directly in the back of the knees, and smashed him into the asphalt.
Feeling Emerald attempting to influence his mind, he turned to her, the real body, not the illusion she thought he had seen. Acererak reached his hand out, and performed Sustained Force and Bull Rush in quick succession, dragging her towards him and shoulder bashing her hard enough to send her reeling.
Acting before she could get her bearings, Acererak delivered what would normally be a lethal knee strike, but what turned out to be a terribly broken nose and a serious concussion, even through what was left of her aura.
Following through with the knee strike came a swift kick, his inhumanly large metal boots impacting her chest and sending her flying. She came to a rest next to Cinder, and a barely conscious Mercury soon joined them, courtesy of a light throw from the lich.
Roman looked on in awe, eyes and mouth wide open at the display of skill and strength he'd just witnessed. In under 10 seconds, Acererak had basically beaten down Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, the third of which had both his prosthetic legs neatly sheared off at the knee. Not below or above the knee, directly through the knee, and seeing as how the sword had shorn through the toughest part of the atlas grade bionic legs with minimal resistance, flesh would be of no concern
"I would have liked another moon or so to plan this, but it seems you've unintentionally forced my hand, Roman." Acererak spoke to the mob boss, sending shivers down his spine.
"Yeah, sorry about that I guess," He scratched the back of his head as the White Fang began to file out of the building, "looks like you really didn't need it though…"
Wordlessly, Acererak strode over to the down group, and wrapped a single massive hand around Cinders throat, who was too stunned to really do anything.
"Let me make this clear, Cinder Fall," The harsh and aggressively cold voice stopped her struggling, "the White Fang are under my protection now. If you so much as cross us again, I-" He would have continued, but Cinder had launched a huge fireball into his face, point blank, cutting him off.
"I will make you wish you had never been born." His booming voice echoed out of the smoke, now sounding like he was going to tear her limbs off slowly. The smoke cleared, and she could see the damage that had been done, and it was devastating.
The entire left side of his face was gone, flesh and muscle incinerated down to the now charred and soot coated bone, showing his white teeth, curved fangs, jawbone, nasal cavity, and even his empty eye socket, the ocular organ having been completely destroyed.
"Scared?" He said, the faint clack of his bones audible. If he was smiling, she couldn't tell, but judging by the right side of his face, he absolutely was. His empty eye socket blazed to life, an orb of green fire roiling about in his skull.
"Now run home, run home to your master with your tail between your legs." He dropped her, and she began scrambling backwards, before shakily getting to her feet, "You are weak. It is as simple as that."
"Emerald, get up!" She whispered at the mint haired girl with some force, "Grab Mercury, we need to go."
"But if you cross me again," He stopped, and held his hand out toward the red garbed woman, his fist open, before he closed it slightly.
"I will tear you apart." Cinder felt a pain, a suffocating pain, deep in her chest, like her heart was being crushed. Then, as soon as it appeared, the pain disappeared.
"Leave."
They did.
"Well that was dramatic," Roman said, breaking the tense silence after a few seconds, "and I don't mean to rain on your parade, but why did you let them go?"
"Killing a few pawns, however powerful they may be, accomplishes nothing." Acererak responded as his monstrous sword disappeared from his grip. "This will send a message to their master, one I hope I made clear."
"Makes sense," Torchwick shrugged as he looked at Neo, who mirrored the gesture, "always works for me."
"So...Jaune." The mob boss said, trying to alleviate the terse mood.
"What of him?" Acererak said, his voice somewhat distorted by the sounds of his grey flesh growing back over his face.
"Good kid, but what is he?" Roman asked, attempting in vain to ignore the nauseating sounds of an eyeball squelching into a socket.
"Jaune is...a few things." Acererak began to stride into the warehouse, "By some definitions he an aasimar, by some a demon, but by most a cross between the two. He takes from both sides, the more human appearance of aasimar, the strength of a demon, the golden glowing eyes of an aasimar, and the fiery powers of demonkind."
"So a half-breed?" A white fang grunt piped up.
"A possibly offensive definition, but not incorrect. And of course, his existence was disliked by both aasimar and demonkind, so his orphanage was rather expected."
"You're adopted?" The young girl asked, having pried a little too far into Jaunes life for his comfort. Of course he wasn't mad at her, she was just a kid, but he knew he shouldn't reveal anything too sensitive about him.
"Come with me." Glynda said as she appeared in the doorway, motioning to the girl sitting next to the knight, drawing an inaudible sigh of relief from the blond. Jaune tried to pass the time by himself, with his breathing exercises, and trying to listen in on the conversation.
Giving up after a few minutes, Jaune decided to check his scroll, and activated it to see a few messages from both Acererak and Morrigan, one telling him to meet at a warehouse in town, and the other giving a description of a spiky haired, red eyed man with a sword and an alcohol problem, and to avoid him at all costs.
Quickly explaining his situation to the two, Jaune swiftly received two responses; 'Understood. Meet with me as soon as you can.', and 'Aww, being a hero already? So proud!', from Acererak and Morrigan respectively.
"It was awesome to meet you Mister Ozpin!" The girl said as Glynda led her out of the building, waving to Jaune as she was guided outside. Once she was gone, Ozpin poked his head out of the room and waved Jaune inside.
"So it seems you've met Ruby." The headmaster said once the knight was seated, an empty plate on the table in front of then
"I have," Jaune affirmed, nodding, "she's nice. A little hyper, but a good person."
"Indeed," the grey haired professor said, nodding in agreement, "but do you think she can make it at Beacon?"
"I'd bet she has the skills to make it there, but I cannot judge her fully yet." The knight answered honestly.
"I assumed you'd say something like that…" Ozpin muttered, before waving Jaune out, "anyway, that is all. Glynda can take you back to Beacon when you wish."
"Actually Sir, I've a question for you." Jaune turned back to the headmaster before he left the room, "I overheard your conversation with Ruby, and you mentioned her eyes. What does that matter?"
After a few moments of silence, the man responded.
"Do you mind if I tell you a story?"
"Morrigan, explain." Acererak said as the nevermore stepped off the heavily damaged bullhead, Edgar on her shoulder and the zombified pilot walking out after her, the twin puncture wounds in his neck speaking to what had happened.
"Someone's onto us," She growled, her cheek and neck healed from her quick blood drain of the unfortunate pilot, but her red eyes still leaving contrails in the air as they smoldered in anger, "The man I described, Qrow Branwen, brother of Raven Branwen."
"Is it possible those two are working together?" The necromancer asked, his green eyes scanning the hole in the warehouse wall. He stepped back inside, the electric lights flickering back on.
"No. Raven explained to me their history, and suffice to say, while she isn't our enemy, we may still have an issue." Morrigan calmed down, the trails of red light fading from the air. "This Qrow is in league with Ozpin, the Beacon headmaster."
"Makes sense, Ozpin's got eyes all over the place." Roman agreed, with Neo nodding affirmatively next to him, "Only reason he hadn't busted my operations up until now was just that he had much more serious business to deal with."
"That is an issue." Acererak mussed to himself as he heard footsteps pounding towards the building, "Because we're far too committed to simply pull Jaune out of Beacon at this time."
"Speak of the devil…" Morrigan smiled as the young half demon aasimar himself entered, his tabard a little roughed up and his face streaked with soot.
"Hello Lord Acererak," Jaune bowed to the giant lich, before turning to the nevermore, "Hello Lady Morrigan, I apologi-"
"Hey Jaune!" Morrigan shouted, almost bounding over to the young man and scooping him into a motherly hug, "I got your message, are you alright?" She cooed, drawing a heated flush of embarrassment to Jaunes face as the undead swordsman wiped the slot off his cheek and fixed his tabard with a simple spell, and drawing a smirk to Acererak as he chuckled to himself.
Despite Jaunes position as a deacon in the 142nd Darkrusader Legion, one that lent itself to extended periods away from home, Morrigan and 'Jauney', as she called him, had a very close relationship. While respecting the maternal instincts of Morrigan, who had been stripped of the chance to have children of her own when she died, (something she had always and still does want) Acererak still felt she doted over him a little much, a topic she constantly fiercely debated with him, much to the chagrin of those working at Acereraks palace.
"Don't torment him too much Lady Morrigan," Acererak interjected, internally snickering when Jaune shot him a look that meant 'thanks', "we've still much to discuss."
"Correct, my Lord," Interjected Zalthar, who had just appeared, literall having melted out of the shadows, "And I come bearing good news."
"Just what I've been looking for, Sir Zalthar." The lich nodded to himself, before turning to the table next to him, "Let's discuss what to do next."
"Please stop…" came the strained voice of Ruby Rose, who could swear she felt her spine cracking.
She knew Yang wasn't trying to hurt her, but when your sister is strong enough to punch apart rocks, overzealous sibling hugs hurt.
"But I'm so proud of you!" came the voice of the blonde responsible for her sisters plight.
"Really, sis, it was nothing."
"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees!"
"I don't wanna be the bee's knees. Okay? I don't wanna be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."
"What's with you? Aren't you excited?"
"Of course, I'm excited. I just… I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."
Yang raised an eyebrow before shrugging and throwing an arm around her little sisters shoulders. "But you are special. A lot of people may only see you as just small and helpless. They may see you as just a child. But they'll be surprised when a warrior soon runs wild."
The argument made sense to Ruby, but unfortunately only made her more nervous.
With an interruption that mercifully spared Ruby from having to respond, a television flickered to life on the screen. "The robbery was led by the nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick who continues to evade authorities."
"If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."
"Thank you, Cyril," said a woman with violet hair. "In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted—"
Cutting off the newscast, another woman appeared, this time, Ruby recognized her as the woman from a few nights before. "Hello, and welcome to Beacon."
"Who's that?" asked Yang.
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch. I'm a professor at Beacon."
"Oh."
Professor Goodwitch continued, "You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntsmen and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it.
"You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task. And now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The television flickered off
"Oh, wow!" said Ruby, rushing over to one of the windows on the ship, getting a wide, scenic view of the entire city. "You can see Signal from here," she said to Yang.
"I guess home isn't too far after all."
"Beacon's our home now."
"And you're gonna love it!"
She was not currently loving it.
Yang had sped off and abandoned her, and in the space of three seconds went from excited and a little nervous to on the ground surrounded by suitcases being yelled at by some white haired girl with a sword in a dress.
In between picking herself off the ground, frantically apologizing, and being yelled at, Ruby sneezed mid rant, birthing a monstrous fireball into existence, sending smoke into the air and soot all over the place.
"Unbelievable!" shouted the girl in white. "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"
"I'm really, really sorry!" said Ruby, looking at the ground.
"You complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"
Ruby stammered awkwardly.
"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practicing, you know. We're here to fight monsters, so—watch where you're going!"
"Hey! I said I was sorry, princess!"
"It's heiress, actually," corrected another girl, this one dressed in blacks and whites. She walked up to them. "Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."
"Finally! Some recognition," said Weiss, her voice confident and assured.
"The same company," continued the newcomer, "infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."
"Why you—! How dare—!"
With a derisive huff, Weiss stormed off, her servants dragging and carrying her luggage along
Despite the catharsis of seeing her tormenter get talked down like she did, Ruby's kind hearted nature won out in the end.
"I promise I'll make this up to you!" she called. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day.
"So…" said Ruby, shifting back to the dark haired girl, and stopped once she saw that she had already left.
For the second time in 10 minutes, Ruby collapsed to the ground. "Welcome to Beacon," she grumbled to herself. Now lost in her hopelessness, she barely realized another person was standing over her.
"Are you alright?" The person said, holding out a gauntleted hand to the down girl, which Ruby gratefully took.
"We've met before, but I am Jaune," He said, giving a small bow, "Jaune Arc."
"I'm Ruby Rose!" She piped, before realizing who he was. "OMIGOSH! You're the guy from the robbery!"
"Yeah, I am." Jaune chuckled a bit. "Glad to see you made it into Beacon."
"Thanks!" She beamed, before calming a little, "Uh, do you know where we should go?"
"Yes, the auditorium is this way." Jaune said, as the two walked off, their chat eventually coming around the the topic of weapons.
"Aww, Jauney's already got a friend!" Morrigan giggled to herself while Acererak sighed in disappointment. Fortunately, the lack of magic in not just Beacon but this world as a whole allowed Acereraks wraiths free reign to spy and go wherever they wished.
The nevermore guided the wraith down from the top of the building, and observed as it phased through the ceiling, its smoky form and red eyes watching over the whole school.
"My Lord, the first prototypes have been completed." Spoke a skeleton, dressed in the black robes of scholars, the slim, almost form fitting cloak marked with soot and smudges.
"Excellent," Acererak boomed, motioning for Morrigan to follow him, "I am looking forward to using these, 'guns'. They seem to be quite powerful."
"They are indeed Lord Acererak," The skeleton affirmed, his bleached white skull forming a deathly grin, "I hope you will enjoy them." The undead finished as they entered the room, currently packed with about a dozen other skeletons and three or four White Fang.
Acererak strode forward, and grabbed the handle of a gun sized for him. Its design was offensively simple by the standards of Remnant, but style and flair were understandable sacrifices when making prototypes.
"A bit lighter than I assumed, but and impressively comfortable grip…" The lich trailed off as he hefted the absolutely massive pistol that had been resized for him. Measuring at least a foot long, the block, greyish black pistol felt rather nice, even through his thick metal gauntlet.
Raising the gun, Acererak took aim at a target that had been set up, using his memory of how the white fang used the devices to guide him. Once he lined up the crosshairs with the target, he pulled the trigger, a primal emotion stirring within his dead heart at the satisfying bang and kick of the weapon.
He smiled as he lowered the gun, smoke drifting from the end of the barrel. He set it down on the table again, and looked over at the paper target, a neat hole slightly off of its center.
"Excellent, these will soon be very useful."
It had taken some time, but Ruby managed to track down Yang after Jaune showed her the way into the building. She was going to try and introduce him to her sister, but it looked like he had wandered off too.
It was then that Weiss reappeared.
"Pyrrha, I didn't think I'd see you here!" Jaune said as he approached the champion, "Congratulations on making it in."
"Oh, hi Jaune." She smile back at him, gently waving. She looked around the expansive room, and at the headmaster standing on the stage.
"Jaune, is he supposed to be doing something?" She asked, referring to Ozpin.
"I'd assume so." Jaune replied, "Sir Ozpin isn't one for wasting time."
"Do you...know him?" She seemed confused.
"Not really," The knight scratched the back of his head, just below his blonde ponytail, "I got to Beacon about a week too early, so I've been staying here."
"How did you get to Beacon?" She asked, rather puzzled, and only getting more puzzled by his answer.
"I walked." Jaune answered truthfully, before he heard a voice behind him.
"Read this, and don't ever speak to me again."
"Look…" interjected another, more friendly voice, "it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"
"Yeah! Great idea, sis. Hello, Weiss. I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies." Said Ruby.
"Yeah! And we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and make a study group!" The voice snarked.
"Wow! Really?"
"No." Jaune could feel the apathy.
"I'll keep this brief. You've travelled here today in search of knowledge—to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you've finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see… is wasted energy, in need of purpose." The headmaster spoke, finally going up to the podium. His voice sounded across the room, drawing the attention of the crowd.
"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only take you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
At that, the headmaster exited and Glynda took his place, giving further directions.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed."
"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang shouted as she flopped down onto a bedroll, stretching out and taking up much more space than she needed.
"I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys though," Replied the younger sister, writing on a sheet of paper.
"I know I do!" Yang said, observing the multitudes of bros and dudes all flexing and doing dude things, giving her a fairly nice gun show. "Anyway, what's that?" she said to Ruby, referring to the writing she was working on.
"A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."
"Aw! That's so cute!"
"Shut up!" squeaked Ruby, batting her sister away with a pillow, "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school. It's weird not knowing anyone here."
"Staying close to your friends is very important," Came the voice of Jaune from behind the two sisters, "I still keep in contact with my brothers, and I've not seen them for a few months now."
"Brothers?" Ruby asked, as Yang checked him out. He was wearing a pair of tough looking denim like pants, with a simple grey shirt, the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. "I thought you said you were an only child?"
"Oh, not like that." Jaune clarified, "My closest friends all refer to ourselves as each others brothers."
"Hate to interrupt this heartfelt moment, but who are you?" Yang interrupted, breaking up the heartfelt moment.
"Oh yeah!" Ruby piped up, turning her half written letter over, "This is Jaune, he's the guy I told you about!"
"Really?" Yang cocked and eyebrow, "You're the 'Black Knight' Ruby won't shut up about?" Drawing a small shout of indignation and a quiet muttering of 'language'.
"Yeah I think so," He reached a hand out to Yang, "Names Janue Arc."
"Yang Xiao-Long, and same." She took his hand and shook it, eyes flicking down for a split second when their limbs touched. The reason for doing so was that his body temperature was so incredibly high she worried he was on fire.
"Hey, you alright?" Jaune asked, a little concerned.
"I'm fine," Yang removed her hand, now a little flustered at being called out like that, "You're just really hot."
"Yaaaaang!" Ruby groaned, putting her face in her pillow, much to the now increased embarrassment of Yang, who was quick to clarify herself.
"Not like that, Ruby," Yang poked her sister jokingly, "Like temperature wise, although you're not too bad looking." The blonde brawler finished, giving Jaune a playful squeeze on the thigh.
"I, uh, I mean…" The knight stammered nervously, his face flushing, as Yang just made it worse.
"Also I like your ears," She stood up and tapped the organs in question, "They're pretty cute~"
And that did it. Now the reddish tint spread from his cheeks to his slightly pointed ears, his entire body heating up considerably beyond its already abnormally high point. Tiny amounts of steam began rising off his skin, and he could tell a few sparks were dancing around in his long ochre yellow locks, and a faint trail of smoke wafting from his nose and mouth.
"Oh, you've got a fire semblance?" Yang asked.
'Great, she noticed'
"That's pretty cool!"
'Alright, she's fine with it.'
"So Jaune," Ruby asked, both wanting to stop the exchange and Jaune to stop smoking, "Know any good stories?"
"Any good stories?" His eyes widened, "I thought you'd never ask."
He took a seat, sitting cross legged next to the two sisters, who settled down on their bedrolls, prepared to listen.
"This is the story of a great hero," Jaune began, the sparks and smoke gone, his long golden yellow hair framing his face, only his slightly pointed ears poking through, "a brave adventurer named, Erandiel."
Acereraks eyes opened, for the Lich was momentarily stirred out of his meditation at the feeling of what he thought was a long dead emotion, longing.
He attempted to return to his silence, but it had been irreversibly disturbed, and all he could process was him. Or rather his soul.
And the deep aching it felt, like his heart was collapsing in.
He ignored it.
Nice, 6k+ words. Only took me two damn months. Next one should be coming a little sooner than that, sorry for the wait friends.
As you may realize, I am taking some liberties with my interpretstion of the D&D magic system, so not everything is as literally translated as it could be. I'm doing this mainly to try and make it more fluid within the story, and more adaptable to it can be used more specifically, if ya catch my drift.
Also, pls bear with me if I misuse any spells. I'm far from a D&D expert, so all pointers and corrections are welcome.
Ps, Kenmadragon, I'll be explaining shortly why I had Jaune use Greater Restoration.
Thanks for sticking around!
-Athk0r3