Hello one and all, a new chapter coming at you. Am literally falling asleep even as I type this, so I'm sorry if it isn't up to scratch. I hope you enjoy it.
Jaune arched his back until it popped as he stepped off the dust-ship and onto the solid ground of Beacon's sky-dock. The flight hadn't been nearly as bad as he had expected, given that his unruly body had only ejected the contents of his stomach twice. The sky was blazing a bright orange as the afternoon wore on towards sunset. Streaks of cloud ran across the sky lit up as though they were on fire by the sun's dying light.
Jaune caught a brief flash of pink off to his right leaving him with barely enough time to brace himself. Nora impacted and wrapped her arms around him in a tight bear-hug nearly taking him to ground. Her arms felt like bands of steel crushing the very life out of him. He weakly wrapped his arms around her in return knowing she wouldn't let go unless he did.
She let him go and he swayed slightly, Pyrrha giggling behind him, and drew in lungfuls of air as though it were the most precious thing on earth and might disappear at any moment. Which with Nora in a hugging mood, it may just do.
"Hey Nora, Did you and Ren have a good Dustmas?" he asked, still a little out of breath.
"You bet we did! We made the biggest snowman ever! And then the whole town got together for the biggest snowball fight ever and Jauney, my team won!" she gestured wildly with her hands as she spoke, unable to contain her excitement at seeing her teammates after the three week holidays.
Jaune clapped her on the shoulder with a smile, genuinely glad to see the hyperactive Valkyrie even after spending three weeks with his hyperactive sisters. Having greeted Nora, Jaune stepped over to the stoical martial artist and took a place at his side watching Nora obsess over Pyrrha's cape.
"So how early was it this year?" Jaune asked with a smirk. Ren sighed and looked at his leader with an expression somewhere between distress and a frown.
"Early implies she ever went to sleep. She insisted on staying up the whole night. She was simply too excited to sleep."
"Well Pyrrha was the same, it was odd. All night she was tossing and turning, I guess with it being her first Dustmas it's to be expected." He smiled.
Pyrrha and Nora stepped over to join them smiles on their face as they swapped their respective Dustmas stories. Pyrrha had seemingly lost her calm demeanour as she chattered enthusiastically about her holidays with Jaune's family.
The team made their way back to their dorm room, wild smiles on their faces at being reunited once again. Jaune phased in and out of the conversations, contenting himself to take a back-seat role and let his partner do the talking.
"But then Jaune had Marron topple the snowman onto his sisters and we all jumped out throwing loads of snowballs at them!" She waved her arms wildly to illustrate her tale. Nora listened avidly, her icy blue eyes wide as the Champion spoke. Ren walked beside Jaune chuckling at the story's outcome.
Jaune cast a brief look down at the red carpeting of the residential wing. A trail of what seemed to be pine needles littered the deep pile. Perhaps most perplexing was that the trail led down the hall and straight for their dorm room. The blonde leader knew something was up as he used his scroll to unlock their room door and a part of him felt anxious.
He pushed open the white wooden door to reveal their dorm room. Leant crudely in the corner was an overly large fir tree, the very top was bent over at ninety-degrees to the rest of the tree as it was forced against the ceiling. From the very end dangled a golden glittery plastic star. The tree was decorated in a haphazard manner with tinsel strewn this was and that throughout the branches in snaking patterns lacking in an semblance of order. The multi-coloured fairy lights blinked on and off in a pattern so fast it irritated their eyes and had the leader fearing a seizure. The base of the tree's formidable trunk was splintered badly and stabbed into their carpet and Magnhild lay next to it, seemingly Nora had 'cut' their decoration down with a few delicate swings from her hammer.
The poor tree wasn't the only thing to have been decorated, tinsel of pink, and green had been used to decorate both Nora and Ren's beds respectively. Jaune and Pyrrha's shared one had yellow and red intertwined in a spiralling pattern all around the frame, looking as though multi coloured sparks were leaping out of the woodwork and frozen in time.
From behind him stared two equally shocked faces, but Nora looked on with a mixture of pride and joy her eyes wide.
"Nora, was this you?" Jaune asked, his eyes wide.
"Yep! I made it Dustmas again!" She giggled mischievously
"I...Yeah...You did..." He replied unsure what to say. He walked into the room and set his rucksack down in the corner against the wall before taking out a couple of small parcels and setting them under the tree. Pyrrha followed suit setting her own gifts for their teammates under the tree and packing her bags away in the wardrobe.
Nora saw the wrapping paper and immediately dashed over to investigate delicately lifting the labels and investigating which ones were for her. Ren entered the room closing the door behind him and sitting on his bed calmly although his eyes flitted to the packages under the tree at regular intervals. With a final growl of frustration his curiosity overcame him, he got up and dashed over to the tree collapsing to his knees and investigating the parcels that had been placed there, picking up one and giving it a light shake when he believed neither of the Arkos pair were looking.
Satisfied that they had established which of the four gifts were addressed to who both Ren and Nora made for their respective bed spaces and retrieve small wrapped objects themselves and set them under the tree with triumphant grins.
"Before we start, does anyone fancy a drink? Tea or coffee?" Ren asked as he made for the kitchenette, having regained his composure once more.
"Yes please Ren, Tea for me." Pyrrha answered with a smile.
"Coffee please!" Jaune and Nora cried in unison before high-fiving enthusiastically earning a giggle from the Champion and a sigh from Ren.
The lotus disappeared into the kitchenette, before long the smell of fresh coffee and steeping tea wafted into the main room amplifying the team's thirst tenfold. Ren re emerged carrying a tray laden with four mugs, fresh steam drifting from them in delicate wisps. He set the tray down on the room's desk and set about handing out the drinks to his teammates.
"There you are Nora. Twelve sugars, just how you like it." He chuckled shaking his head and took his own mug, moving over to sit on his bed.
"Jauney~?" Nora dragged the name out as a small child might when they want something.
"Yes Nora~?" He smiled playing along.
"Can I?"
"Go on." Jaune laughed as she dashed over to the tree and retrieved the five parcels and came back distributing them all between the four of them excitedly with a mile wide grin. She sat back next to Ren on his bed.
"Who's first?" Ren asked.
"I think we should let Nora go first before she goes totally crazy." Pyrrha giggled watching the Valkyrie shift restlessly in her seat, champing at the bit and raring to go.
Nora gave a whoop and tore into the red wrapping paper of Pyrrha's gift, shreds of paper flying up into the air in a cloud of gift wrapping destruction. From the ruins of the once delicately wrapped gift she held up a wooden slab, a sheet of clear plastic was set into each of its faces. On the inside was carved the most complicated looking maze any of them had ever seen. A small bright ball bearing was set within the maze, the objective being to guide it into the middle. Every so often along the way a hole was drilled through into a second maze on the other side heightening the level of difficulty for the puzzle. The puzzle itself was hand carved and crafted, making it unique to any other in Remnant.
The hyperactive redhead stared at the puzzle, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth in pure concentration. She barely moved save for her arms rotating the puzzle block. The only sound that came from her was that of the ball bearing sliding around inside the maze.
She remained that way throughout the rest of the gift opening, pausing only to open her other gift and to watch Jaune and Pyrrha open theirs from her. By the end the team sat next to a small pile of gifts each.
Pyrrha was gifted a unique shampoo from Ren and Nora's home town, flipping open the cap she was hit with the pleasant aroma of summer fruits; strawberries, blueberries and black berries all in perfect balance and harmony together. Nora smiled as she sat taking in the smells of the hair product. From Ren she received a complex looking multi tool with over thirteen implements including a socket set. She admired the smooth metal of the pocket toolkit and smiled. It was often Ren's prerogative to buy useful gifts for his teammates, and the multi tool would certainly come in handy for field repairs and maintenance on her beloved Miló.
Jaune was given a new set of hoodies (to replace his others which he had lost through training or anti-Grimm excursions with Goodwitch) although these ones were different, rather than just plain black with orange lining, these newer ones were marked up on the back with J.N.P.R, each letter was set on top of his teams respective symbols. Underneath in bold white lettering were the words; 'Team Juniper, Leader.'
He looked at it with a film of tears in his eyes knowing just how much the personalisation would have cost them.
"T-thanks you guys..." He sniffed.
Ren received a pancake maker because as Jaune explained;
"Making pancakes in the amounts that Nora eats means you do it on an industrial scale. This should make things a little bit easier"
The team finished their drinks and packed away their gifts before settling down to enjoy the rest of their day. Pyrrha set out Miló on a soft cloth and put her new multi tool to use. She stripped her beloved weapon down to its working parts and set about cleaning and oiling each one. Once done she reassembled it and went through the motions to ensure that all of the working parts functioned smoothly without sticking or jamming.
Jaune hung up his new hoodies in the wardrobe and sat watching Pyrrha's work on her weapon, he was fascinated seeing the interior build-up of the very weapon which had been responsible for causing him countless aches and pains and had given him hundreds of cuts and bruises.
Nora sat on her bed with the same perplexed expression as before as she worked to solve the ball bearing maze. She had been in that selfsame position for the past hour and a half. The Valkyrie had hardly made a sound or even moved, every ounce f her concentration directed towards the complicated maze in front of her.
Ren was reading silently on his bed, he had borrowed a book from Blake (a clean one) and was enjoying the rare opportunity he had to indulge himself in some literature. With Nora's constant hyperactivity it was a hobby he rarely got to enjoy. Despite this, his eyes flicked up from the pages and over to his parter on occasion, just to be sure she wasn't up to any mischief.
They sat in this manner for a sizeable portion of their evening, the only sounds were the clicks of Pyrrha's weapon, Ren turning the pages of his novel and the ball bearing whizzing around in Nora's maze game.
Quite suddenly however their scrolls all went off at once shattering the silence and making them all jump at the wholly unexpected sound. Jaune retrieved his from his pocket and opened up the new message.
'Announcement: could all first-year students please report to the auditorium in ten minutes for a special briefing from Headmaster Ozpin. Full uniform will be expected. Many thanks,
Professor Goodwitch'
The four teenagers looked at each other with curious expressions before changing into their school uniforms and making for the auditorium
Just as it had been in the build-up to the Vytal festival all those weeks ago, the auditorium was jam packed with students from the first year. Team RWBY were all there near the front of the crowds. Jaune led his team through and they took their places by their friends.
"Hey guys! How was your Dustmas?" Ruby chirped.
"It was really nice thank-you." Pyrrha answered, wrapping an arm around Jaune and looking at him adoringly. Ruby's smile faltered for a brief moment at the sight of the happy couple. The blonde saw but dismissed it as a trick of the brain and paid it no mind.
Up on the stage Ozpin stepped out into the spotlight, his silvery hair shining slightly in the light. Steam rising up from his ever present coffee mug. He leant on his cane and cleared his throat cutting short any and all noise from the assembled first years.
"Good evening students, I hope that each and every one of you enjoyed the recent holidays. Dustmas is a chance for us all to spend time with our friends and family to foster a spirit of togetherness. Now, I don't think I need to tell you that after the upcoming New Year's celebrations at the end of the week, you will only have six months before the end of your final exams as first-years. Those among you who study hard this upcoming year will graduate into the second year without issue. However those of you whom do not taken these exams seriously and fail will find yourself back at initiation and resitting the entire year from scratch and I'm sure you don't want that. Try your best and I have every faith that you will prevail. Train both your bodies and minds in equal measure for a huntress with only one or the other isn't destined to last very long out in the field. The very best of luck to you all."
The silver haired Headmaster concluded his speech and was met with polite applause. He stepped off of the stage and out of site allowing Professor Goodwitch to take the to the mic. She had her usual sour expression etched into her features. She pushed her spectacles back up to the bridge of her nose with a small huff of annoyance. Her appearance was the very epitome of order, not a single lock of hair was out of its place.
Taking out her large holographic tablet, she tapped around on it for a few moments before looking back up to address her audience. The students waited with baited breath. Usually Goodwitch's addresses resulted in them all having to take part in extra training sessions or study sessions.
"Students, as Professor Ozpin said, you're are fast approaching the end of your first year here at Beacon, I would advise you all to begin studying now for your final assessments. You will be tested on both your combat prowess and everything that you have learned academically since the beginning of the year including the physiology of Grimm. We are training you to keep people safe so we need to be sure of your abilities, as such you shall be expected to demonstrate a marked improvement to the skills you exhibited during initiation. Best of luck, you are dismissed."
The students applauded once again as the Professor left the stage. Once she had gone nobody really left the hall, they stood milling about digesting the information that they had just been given. Most smiled confidently as they slowly filed out of the school's auditorium.
Neither team Juniper or RWBY moved, the eight teenagers stayed behind after everyone else had left. Their voices ringing out around the empty hall as they spoke. They chattered between themselves for over an hour, catching up with each other and swapping stories about their respective holidays Including one incident involving Yang, Ruby, a bottle of Rum and an interesting rendition of 'Drink up me hearties'. Jaune sat throughout the stories on the empty stage with his head in his hands, he barely cracked a smile nor spoke a word. He thought deeply about what both Ozpin and Goodwitch had said and it scared him more and more the longer he pondered their words.
Failing to graduate through to the second year, being made to repeat the first again, losing his team. It was something he wanted to avoid at all costs, but his worry wasn't combat based anymore. Pyrrha had seen to it that he could hold his own with the majority of the first-year students. No, the issue was the academical side of things, his knowledge was severely lacking and his grades were barely enough to keep afloat save for in Goodwitch's class. He couldn't concentrate on Port in his lectures and couldn't keep up with Oobleck in history class.
Yet a part of him both knew and resented the fact that it wasn't his teachers whom were to blame. It was he, who wasn't putting in the effort. If he was having trouble he had his teammates and friends that he could ask for help, he just simply didn't and he knew the reason why. His pride. Plain and simple. Just as it had stopped him from training with Pyrrha initially it stopped him admitting that he needed help. It was something he would have to address.
"What's wrong Jaune?" Ruby asked sitting down next to him tearing him from his musings.
"I-It's nothing." He replied with a slight stammer. He put his best brave face on and looked around at his friends. Every one of them seemed confident or even excited for the challenge of their finals, and he was just sat there panic swirling around in his heart like a tempest, unstoppable and seemingly insurmountable.
"Cheer up Vomit-boy!" Yang shouted giving him a somewhat solid punch to his shoulder. Sending pins and needles right down his arm.
"Argh! Yang, please don't do that." He pleaded, massaging his bruising shoulder wincing slightly.
"Awh, is Vomit-boy delicate?" Yang teased cackling maniacally.
"Leave him alone Yang." Ruby warned, shooting Jaune a brief smile which he returned.
"Does Ruby have a crush on our blonde friend? I'd be careful if ya do Rubes, you'd have to fight off the Champ herself." Yang switched-fire onto her younger sister waggling her eyebrows suggestively. The young leaders face flushed a bright red as she tried to stammer a retort to her sister's attack. Jaune laughed, relieved that someone else was the target. He felt a little bad for thinking so selfishly but he justified it given that Ruby was more used to dealing with Yang and was better equipped to deal with it. In truth he wasn't in the mood for company, he just wanted to go to bed and forget all about his exams mountain he was inevitably going to have to climb.
"It's getting late and I'm kinda tired after today's trip so I think I'm gonna hit the hay." Jaune said as he stood up giving a long yawn. He smoothed out his uniform and made for the door. His feet shuffling against the hard-wood floor as he desperately tried to sell the idea that he was tuckered out.
Once out of the hall and out of sight he broke into a run, bolting back to the dorms before anyone could decide to follow him, he wanted to be alone with his thoughts at least for a while. He burst in through the door panting hard, it had been a miracle that he had unlocked it and turned the knob before he plowed into it face first.
He staggered over and collapsed onto his and Pyrrha's shared bed, the gravity of his situation setting in. In little over six months he would have to learn, no, memorise an entire years worth of studies whilst at the same time keeping up with his nightly combat sessions so as not to fall out of practice. The situation seemed hopeless.
The blonde closed his eyes, fatigue and stress flowing over his body and invading his mind. He concentrated on slowing his breathing.
'Breathe in...2...3...4 and out...2...3...4' He repeated over and over in his mind, his heart slowing down as the maelstrom of negativity was drawn from his mind as poison is drawn from a wound. Slowly yet surely sleep engulfed him and he drifted through the world of his dreams.
He didn't stir, he slept on undisturbed by his teammates entering the room nor even by his partner climbing into bed next to him and curling up to him, her warmth being added to his own. In the depths of his mind he knew that when he woke up the next day, it would be time to study.
There you have it. Jaune is in trouble now. Ohh drama! Only a couple more story Arcs before I finally bring this piece to a close...and start work on its sequel piece. As always please do favourite and follow if you enjoyed this. Please leave a review and let me know just what you think of my work.
As a final point please check out my second fic 'A Rose for the Champion' link is on my profile. Thank you all.
I'll see you all in the next chapter.