Coeur Al'Aran was the beta for the original Auburn and helped me immensely during a period when we were both just getting started. Cover Art drawn by confections101 and a link to it is on my profile page. Jefardi is the one who finally kicked my butt into gear to do something about this story I had almost given up on.
Auburn
The Emerald Forest
Jaune was about done with these tasks.
They had just been through Hell and back in that cave and they were supposed to do more? Just how many things did he have to go through in order to even be fully accepted at this school? Maybe the headmaster knew he had faked his transcripts and was just screwing with him at this point?
"I don't want to have to fight other students…" Grimm were one thing. They wouldn't laugh at you when you lost. They would just eat you. He'd prefer that to the humiliation of getting his face beaten in by another student with one of their high-tech custom weapons.
"We might not have to." Blake finally spoke up after several moments of silence. She had been inspecting the map on her scroll very carefully. "I think I found a path that will get us to the team with the same piece we have while avoiding any team of the opposite color." Well that sounded promising.
"Well what are we waiting for then?" Jaune's tune changed. "Let's go meet our teammates!" At first, the idea of more allies sounded exciting. But as Jaune and Blake ran to meet them he began to have doubts about teaming up with others. Blake had turned out okay but what if the others couldn't stand him? What if they thought he was holding them back? He didn't want the others to think he was a burden. What if they convinced Blake of the same? No, that was ridiculous. They had a bond now. What exactly that bond was, Jaune couldn't be sure. However, it was undeniably there. He just had to believe he would form it with these new teammates too.
With these hopes and doubts in mind they kept moving forward.
Blake frowned at her scroll, checking it every so often to make sure they were still on the right path and that no students of the opposite color were sneaking up to try and eliminate them. "It looks like they might have taken a detour. They're moving in a pretty odd pattern, I suppose they ran into Grimm."
"Should we hurry to help?" If they were in trouble, Jaune wanted to help immediately. No better way to make a good first impression. It seemed to have worked with Blake at least. She shook her head in response but her eyes widened slightly and darted off into the forest. For a second he almost thought he saw her bow twitch. "Blake, what's wrong? Grimm?" He unsheathed his sword and expanded his shield.
"No. Another team is barreling towards our direction fairly quickly." Blake brought her hand up and rested it on the handle of Gambol Shroud. "They'll run into us at this rate… we should hide. They have a black piece so we'll have to fight."
Jaune was about to nod in agreement when he heard what sounded like something crashing through the forest. Whatever it was he was hearing couldn't possibly be human which meant it was almost certainly a Grimm. "They're being pursued?"
She nodded. "Judging by the sounds, I would guess an Ursa. A big one."
Great... more big Grimm.
He sighed and resigned himself to what he had to say next. "We gotta help them. Enemies or allies. I would feel horrible if they got killed because we ignored them."
Blake smirked. "I figured you would say something like that. You're too nice." Despite saying this she made no movement to go hide and instead readied herself for battle.
"Thanks, Blake." He knew he could count on her to support him.
"Don't thank me yet. You've got an Aura now, so I'm expecting more from you." Jaune gulped. He wasn't exactly used to people expecting things from him. Rather, people never really wanted or needed him to do anything. It was a terrifying responsibility that he wasn't sure he was ready for. Yet he couldn't help but feel a tinge of happiness. For the first time, someone was depending on him. He couldn't afford to let her down.
Nor could he let down those in danger. Two of their classmates came bursting through the brush at full speed. One was a rather tall, muscular boy with a mace. The other was lanky and had an unusual green mohawk. They paused for half a second when they saw Jaune and Blake. A terrible roar from just behind kicked them back into gear no later than that. As Blake had predicted, an Ursa that was easily twice as big as either of them thrashed into the clearing.
Jaune raised his sword and gave a throaty battlecry. The Ursa paused its pursuit. It tilted its head as if sizing up its new adversaries. Realizing that they were more of a threat than its previous targets, it turned to them and raised a claw. The white nails gleamed menacingly off the sunlight. Jaune was nonetheless proud to admit it didn't cause him to lock up in fear as it would have not even two hours ago. Apparently four near death experiences made you a little braver. Or maybe just numb to the fear? Regardless, instead of backing off, he charged and raised his shield.
It swung at him and he knocked its claw aside with a bat from the shield. Blake appeared next to him and blocked the second strike with Gambol Shroud. Jaune stabbed the Grimm in the stomach. It roared, mouth gaping wide and attempted to take a bite out of his head. He pulled his sword out and in perfect sync with Blake jumped backwards. They landed out of harms way and the Grimm's blood spilled on the ground in spurting heaps.
"Jaune! Give me a boost." He made eye-contact with his teammate for only half-a-second and understood her intent.
"You got it!" He bent down and raised the shield over his head. Blake jumped up and the moment her feet touched his shield he pushed up, propelling her into the air and high above the Ursa.
It gave another roar and charged him. Jaune got back to his feet and blocked one strike with his shield. It swung at him again and he deflected it with his sword. The force of the blow put him off-balance. He wasn't going to be able to respond if it swung again. Before it could, Blake descended onto its back, burying her blade into its spine. It collapsed and Jaune had to backpedal to avoid being crushed. When it hit the ground the earth shook and it continued to roar in defiance.
So he stepped forward and finished it, sword swinging down and gouging the back of its neck. With a sickening pop he decapitating the Grimm. Its head bounced once and then rolled to a stop where its own blood showered it like a geyser. Then it began to disintegrate. The whole fight had lasted only about thirty seconds and was the first time Jaune had faced a Grimm and not thought he would die.
"Not bad." Blake climbed off the back of the Ursa and gave him an approving smile. It turned to a frown as she regarded the other two students. Jaune turned to them just as they pulled out their scrolls. He pulled out his own and saw a message had appeared while they had been fighting.
'Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna possess the White Knight piece. Cardin Winchester and Russell Thrush possess the Black Bishop piece. As mandated from the previous instructions, these two teams must battle. The winning condition is render your opponents unable to combat further or until the other team surrenders. If either teammate flees the scene of the battle it'll be considered automatic surrender.'
He and Blake looked up from their scrolls at the same time, locking eyes with each other and then turning to the two they saved. They were staring them down and were reaching for their weapons. Blake stepped forward before anything could be officially done on either side. "You really intend to fight us after we saved your lives?"
"No one asked you to do that!" The one Jaune guessed was Cardin spit at them. "We had it under control!"
"I could tell that by the looks of fear on your faces as you fled." Blake taunted, causing both boys to glow red in the face.
"Blake…" Jaune nudged her. He didn't want to have to fight them if he didn't have to but he also wasn't comfortable with her so openly insulting them. He probably would have fled too if he didn't have such a competent partner by his side.
Blake may have picked up on this because she gave his shoulder an empathetic squeeze. "If they don't back down Jaune, we have no choice but to fight them. It's them or us. I'm sure you're not gonna choose them?" She was right and he knew it. So with great reluctance he nodded and stepped towards them as well.
"You saw how easily we dispatched that Ursa! We don't want to do the same to you!" Jaune held his shield up and readied his sword. It still gleamed with the blood of the creature behind them, some of that red liquid dripping off the tip and onto the glass. Blake planted Gambol Shroud at her feet in a show of support.
Cardin sneered and pulled out a giant mace from his back. "I'll make you losers eat those words!" He slammed the mace into the ground. It caused an explosion that launched hunks of dirt and rock right at them. Jaune stepped in front of Blake and let his shield block all the debris.
"You take him. I'll handle the dagger-wielder who's hanging back." Blake assigned roles.
"Alright, but just incapacitate him. I don't want anyone to get hurt more than necessary." He was still against this but they really had no choice anymore. So with reluctance, he charged. Blake ran just a couple paces behind.
"I'm going to leave a clone in front of you. When he swings at it, take the shot. Don't pay any mind to it getting hit. It's not me." Jaune wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that but he could only nod and agree to her plan. There was no time to get details as every second brought him closer to the boy that was quite a bit taller than him. He raised his mace high above his head, prepared to bring it down on anyone foolish enough to get within its reach.
Just before they got to him, Blake put on a burst of speed and dashed around Jaune. She charged right at Cardin with Gambol Shroud raised. He didn't hesitate to bring his mace down right on her head. For a split second, it looked like he landed a clean shot and that Blake was all but a goner. Jaune held onto the memory of her earlier warning and sure enough the doppelgänger in front of him faded from existence, leaving a stunned and confused Cardin.
Jaune didn't hesitate to use this to his advantage and bashed the taller boy in the mouth with his shield. He toppled to the ground but managed to hold onto this mace. Jaune flicked at it with his sword, disarming him before raising the blade to his throat. The bigger boy froze in fear and Jaune took the opportunity to see how Blake was doing.
He needn't have worried. In a dazzling display of skill she quickly overpowered her opponent and brought him to his knees. Jaune couldn't help but grin. Thanks to Blake's little tactic, they had won without almost any resistance. He was honestly starting to feel like the two of them could do anything.
Unfortunately for him, he let his gaze linger just a little too long and Cardin took advantage of his distraction. He grabbed Jaune's foot and threw it backwards, causing Jaune to flail for balance and stumble. "Oh, crap!"
"Jaune!" Blake turned but was too far away to react.
"Have some payback, you punk!" Cardin, still on the ground, grabbed his mace and sat up while swinging. Jaune had no way to bring his shield around.
It was going to hit him!
Time seemed to stand still as the mace inched closer. Jaune racked his brain for a way out but nothing came to mind. If it exploded when it made contact, would he die? Probably. Either way, he was about to find out. The mace hit him dead in the chest and his vision flashed white.
Everything after that was blank.
Did he die?
Everything was white and blank so that seemed like the most logical explanation.
But what was this sensation he was feeling all over his body? It kind of felt like tingling. He focused in on it and realized at once that it was pain. It caused him to gasp and suddenly he was assaulted by several senses at once.
His vision began to return, but the world around him was nothing but a blurry mess. He could make out a lot of green and brown, but not much else. Then his eyes registered movement from several different people, but he couldn't even tell how many there were.
What happened again exactly? That was right. Cardin's mace must have exploded on contact when it hit him. He must have been launched backwards and if he had to guess, right into a tree. It would explain the horrid back-pain he was feeling. Not that there was a part of him that didn't hurt.
As he waited for his vision to return he focused on his other senses. He smelt... smoke. Was he covered in burns? His ears were working but the only thing he could hear was a really loud ringing, almost as if someone had set off an alarm clock inside of his head. The last thing was the strong taste of copper in his mouth. He could even feel the blood dribble down his chin. Needless to say, he was in really bad shape.
Finally, his eyes quit swimming enough for him to make out the people that were dancing around in his vision. Cardin and Russell were pushing Blake back. That was kind of weird, he thought. She was probably skilled enough to take them both so why was she having trouble? Then he noticed that she kept glancing over to him, probably wondering if he was dead. Then it hit him: She was worried about him and wasn't able to focus properly on the fight because of it. How long had he been sitting here like this? Had it just been a few seconds, or several minutes? There was no way to tell.
It looked like she might be calling out to him but his ears were still ringing too loudly to actually hear anything. He had to let her know he was alright, but how could he do that? He couldn't exactly call out and moving seemed a little out of the question. He was propped up against a tree in sitting position. So maybe he could use the tree as support? He needed to get some kind of response from his limbs first for that to work.
He looked down at his hands and noticed a couple things at once. First, his shield and sword weren't anywhere near him. A quick glance told him they had been blasted about half-way across the clearing in either direction. The second thing he noticed was that he was covered in white energy that could only be his Aura. Once he realized what it was he also realized that every second he felt more of his senses return and the pain lessening. He was being healed!
Thank the light for Aura. He couldn't be more thankful to Blake for having unlocked his earlier than he was right now. It had literally saved his life. He would have died beyond a shadow of a doubt without it. Still, it wasn't going fast enough for him. His partner was in trouble and needed him now.
So he focused all the energy he could into his hands. At first he didn't get even the smallest of a response. Then, he felt his fingers twitch. His movements were returning! Soon, he was able to move his whole arm. Then the other arm and soon his legs. Slowly but surely, using the tree behind him as support, he pushed himself up to his feet.
Blake caught sight of the movement and her face lit up in relief. She knew he was alive. He was going to make it. That is, if Cardin didn't have anything to say about it. He saw Jaune standing now too and immediately tried to make a break for him. Blake wasn't about to have it and attempted to impede his progress. Russell managed to hold her off long enough for Cardin to get some distance away.
He shouted something that Jaune assumed was threatening and raised the mace above his head again. Jaune grimaced and pushed himself off the tree. He wasn't in exactly tip-top shape and he was also unarmed. He didn't know much about Aura but he guessed it wasn't infinite and if he took another hit like that he was probably going to die for real.
In short: He was in serious trouble.
He couldn't let that stop him now. He had just dodged death for the fifth time that day and wasn't about to take it for granted. Blake was counting on him now too. It was his goof-up that caused their current predicament. So it was up to him to fix it.
He raised his fists up to his face and took a boxing stance. It must have looked like a last-ditch effort to Cardin because he bust out into laughter, not that Jaune could hear it. Still, it pretty much was. There wasn't time for another plan as Cardin was upon him.
He swung the mace down and Jaune did the only thing he could think of. He threw dirt in his eyes.
He had been sure to scrape up a small patch when he was getting to his feet and it had saved his life. Cardin swung the mace too far to his left and hit only air as he coughed and sputtered while attempting to wipe his eyes clean.
Jaune didn't hesitate to use the opening to sock Cardin right in the nose with his bare fist. The bigger boy stumbled and Jaune punched at his wrist, disarming him once again. Cardin sneered defiantly and Jaune felt something inside of him snap. He couldn't be sure why. Maybe it was because the guy had almost blown him up? Maybe it was because he had been tag-teaming his partner? Maybe it was for the simple reason that the guy just plain seemed like a jerk. Regardless, his vision swam with red and he unleashed a vicious series of punches that the bigger boy simply had no chance of defending against. After nearly fifteen seconds of his relentless assault, Cardin fell backwards and didn't so much as twitch.
Jaune stood gasping for breath as his rage subsided and he realized that he was able to hear again. There was still a small ringing but even that was disappearing. Man, Aura was really something special if it was responsible for this kind of a speedy recovery.
"Jaune!" He looked up to see Blake running at him. Russell was also on the ground. He started to rise his hand for a high five but she quickly and brutally swatted it down. "I thought you died!" She snapped, jabbing him in the chest with an extended finger.
"Who? Me? Nah, I'm good." He attempted to joke about it but his voice came out hoarse and rough. It also didn't make his words sound convincing, but he pressed on anyways. "Thanks to you unlocking my Aura I am, anyways."
She didn't look pleased at all, but just then their scrolls updated. 'Congratulations to Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna. You've won the duel and are allowed to continue the exam. As a bonus for winning, I'll give you a hint to find your teammates. Look up.'
That was all the message said.
"...Look up?" Jaune didn't understand. Blake and she only shrugged before pointing to the sky. They tilted their heads up and saw something rapidly descending towards them.
Rather than something... someone.
"Ruby!?" Jaune gasped as he recognized the person that was quickly entering a collision course with the ground.
"You know her?" Blake had also spoken briefly with her last night but had not expected to meet her again like this.
"Jaune! Blake! Help me!" Ruby was within earshot now and was desperately flailing for something to grab onto.
"...I'm going to regret this." Jaune grumbled and ran to where he was approximating Ruby would land.
"A little to the left, Jaune!" Blake called out helpfully.
"Left…" Jaune looked at his hands to figure out which way was left and then shuffled directly under Ruby in just the nick of time. He caught her/she crashed into him and they both ended up a pile of arms and legs on the ground. Fortunately for Ruby, Jaune had wound up on the bottom. "Damn... I think that's it for my Aura." He groaned.
"I owe you one." Ruby groaned too. Her Aura combined with landing on Jaune had definitely mitigated the fall but she was still pretty sore.
"So you're supposed to be our teammate?" Blake asked and extended a hand to help her up.
"How do you figure that?" Ruby pulled out the chess piece she was hiding and it was revealed to be the other white knight piece.
"We got a hint for beating up those two." Blake hiked her thumb behind her towards Cardin and Russell.
"Here's ours." Jaune recovered quickly enough even with low Aura and held up their piece. Ruby's eyes lit up in excitement as she realized that they were in fact on the same team. "By the way, where's your partner?" The excitement was just as quickly replaced with fear.
"Oh no... she's gonna kill me. Oh no, oh no!" Ruby began pacing in place and looked back into the sky for something.
"Ruby, calm down and tell us what's going on." Jaune placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Who and where is your partner? Also... why did you fall from the sky in the first place?" There had been so much going on the past few minutes he had forgotten how weird it was at all for people to just dive-bomb out of the air.
"Giant Nevermore. Weiss. Still up there! Angry!" Ruby spoke in broken panic that Jaune couldn't hope to decipher. So he turned to his partner.
"Her partner is Weiss Schnee. Somehow, they got on a Giant Nevermore and Ruby here jumped off, leaving her dear partner behind on it. She's quite understandably very upset."
"Ah." When Blake put it like that it all made sense. Well, it really didn't but what did anymore? Their scrolls updated once again as they scanned the skies for the massive black bird and Jaune decided to check it quick.
'Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, and Ruby Rose. You've technically completed your fourth task but seeing as you need four members to continue onto the next one, I am assigning you a bonus task. Find Miss Schnee and save her from the clutches of the Giant Nevermore. When you're successful, you'll be given your final task.'
"I swear this guy hates kids." Jaune looked to his two teammates for backup. Neither one of them was really paying much attention to him as they continued to scan for the Nevermore. He was going to join them when they heard a mighty Caw from behind. They all spun around to see their target descending right for them. Rather, it was likely coming for Ruby.
"You must have really ticked it off." Jaune grumbled as it got closer and closer. He turned to Blake. She had pretty good vision. "Can you see Weiss?"
"Yeah, I see her." Blake nodded and Ruby let out a sigh of relief. "And she does not look happy." Ruby cringed. Blake's eyes narrowed and she frowned. "I think it's preparing for something…"
"Like what?" Jaune wasn't exactly sure what the Nevermore could do to them without coming down to the ground. If they were going to have a chance to rescue Weiss, they were going to have to wait for that. He looked back up at it just in time to see it launch a barrage of feathers at them. Feathers that looked really, really deadly.
"I'm guessing it was preparing to do that." Ruby pointed out not-so-helpfully.
"There's too many of them, we'll never be able to dodge! We gotta get clear!" Blake shouted and grabbed them both by the elbows.
"We'll never get clear in time." Jaune shook his head and searched the clearing for the one thing he knew could save them.
"Then what do we do? We don't exactly have a way of blocking them." Ruby took a nervous step towards him.
Finally, his eyes spotted it. "We need to get to my shield! It can protect us!" Without waiting for a response he began running. Blake, who was still holding his elbow was yanked along and in turn so was Ruby.
"Jaune! Are you sure about this?" Ruby didn't sound very convinced.
It was Blake who responded. "That thing took a strike from a Deathstalker without even denting! It'll work!"
"That's if we make it!" Jaune kept glancing anxiously between his shield and the oncoming feathers.
They were way too close now.
If they made it at all, it wasn't going to be by much.
He put on a final, adrenaline-filled burst of speed and reached for his shield.
The feathers were just above them. "Get beneath me!"
A mere five feet until impact and they would all be punctured to death.
He brought it above his head. Blake and Ruby huddled as closely to him as they could and the sound of feathers spearing the ground reached their ears. With several jarring thuds he felt them hit and ricochet off his great grandfather's shield. After several seconds the attack ended and the only sound that could be heard was their erratic breathing.
"D-did we make it?" Ruby peeked around Jaune's shoulder and he could only nod numbly in response. A miniature garden of black feathers taller than they were surrounded them. If one of those had hit them it would have skewered them completely through. In other words, they had almost died... again.
"That's the sixth time this day that I really thought I was going to bite the dust." Jaune's knees wobbled and he would have lost his balance if not for Blake and Ruby still clinging tightly to him.
"You're keeping count?" Ruby sounded surprised. Wasn't it common to count every time you thought you were going to die? It made living seem so much more worth it when you thought of all the horrible, violent deaths you had nearly been through... okay, maybe it wasn't all that normal. Or healthy.
"I don't think its realized we survived yet." Blake brought them back on track as she finally stepped away from the protection of Jaune's shield to view the Nevermore. "It's flying rather awkwardly. I think it's trying to debunk its passenger."
"We gotta get up there and save her!" Ruby ran a couple paces away and knocked down some of the feathers as she tried to determine the best way to get back on to it.
"We need a way to bring it down to us." Jaune mumbled. He lowered his shield and raised a hand to his chin. "If we could just clip its wings, we could finish it off on the ground…" He trailed off as he thought of ways to do that. If they could just get one of them up there while the others distracted it, that person along with Weiss could each damage a wing enough for it to collapse.
"Looks like you've got a plan?" Blake asked and he nodded.
"I'm going to hate this but can you get it's attention, Ruby? We need to get it as low to the ground as possible. I'll hop on it and together with Weiss will bring it down. Once it's on the ground it'll be up to you two to finish it off." He expected them to rebuke his plan on the spot so was utterly shocked when he got the reactions that he did.
"Aye, aye." Ruby saluted and pulled out her weapon which was still in gun form.
"You're going to need your sword if you're going to do anything." Blake pulled it out from behind her back and handed it to him.
He stared at it in disbelief. It had been on the ground on the other side of the clearing last he had seen it. "When did you-"
"I've got quick reflexes."
Before he could ask further, Ruby began shooting and the Nevermore responded with an angry screech. It turned back to them and once again descended. "Welp, I've got its attention! Now how do you plan to get up there?" That was actually a great question. He hadn't exactly thought that far ahead. But he had already pitched the idea and they were running with it. He had to get onto it now. There was no other option.
"I don't suppose your scythe could be used to give me a boost?" He looked to farming tool and almost immediately regret the question when she gave an almost intimating smirk, unfolding the weapon and causing the blade to gleam off the light of the sun.
"You bet it can! My baby can do anything!" She readied the weapon against the ground. Blake transformed the katana of Gambol Shroud to take over distracting the Nevermore. "Get ready, Jaune." Ruby licked her lips in anticipation and the sinking feeling Jaune had only got worse as he stepped up to the weapon. Tentatively, he placed his foot on the bottom of the blade, resting a hand on the shaft to maintain balance.
"You're really sure this is going to work?" His voice quivered and cracked as a sense of vertigo took over despite the fact that he was still mostly on the ground.
"Oh yeah. You ready?" Ruby's grin turned absolutely wicked as she reached for the trigger, silver eyes scanning the Nevermore for the perfect timing.
Jaune followed her gaze up to it and only then seemed to realize just how high in the air it really was. "You know what, I've changed my mind. I'll fight it after it's grounded. Blake, swap places with me."
"Sorry, Jaune. You're dealing with the Schnee Heiress." She smiled, not even having the dignity to turn and face him as she did. "Good luck." With that, Ruby pulled the trigger and the scythe kicked forward, whipping Jaune off of it akin to a slingshot.
"Ruby!" He screamed like a girl as he rocketed skywards. The wind beat viciously at his eyes but it wasn't anything he hadn't already dealt with before. He'd gotten through this type of thing once and he could do it again. His target was much higher off the ground... and was a violent monster hell-bent on destroying humanity. Okay, he'd handled that before too. Now he just had to handle those two things together this time. Falling and fighting Grimm... great.
That was if he landed on it at all. After reaching the arc of his flight, he began falling towards the Grimm but realized with fear that he wasn't getting nearly close enough to it. He had to find a way to slow down his fall so he would have enough time to make it closer. So he extended his arms and legs and let the wind grab him. It worked a little but not nearly enough. He still wasn't going to make it! If he missed, there was only the clearing beneath him too. He would die. Unless Blake or Ruby caught him?
All these thoughts became irrelevant as he landed smack on what he could only call a platform. "What the heck?" He pushed down on it and found it felt as sturdy as glass but somehow managed to not hurt at all when he had hit it. It was a white circle with what looked like a snowflake filling out the middle.
"Jump, you dunce!" That sounded like Weiss. He turned to see the Nevermore just starting to pass under him. He didn't need to be told twice and for the first time time that day willingly made the jump. He only fell half a dozen feet before landing on the back of the Nevermore, right next to Weiss. "What were they thinking when they sent you up here to help me?" She cried out and gave him the most disgusted look she was probably capable of.
"No need to thank me Snow Angel. I volunteered to save you myself." He gave her his most charming smile and felt one of his teeth twinkle as it reflected the sunlight.
"My hero." She rolled her eyes. "I hope this means you at least have a plan to get us down?"
"As a matter of fact, I do." He paused for dramatic effect which she responded to by glaring at him. "We clip its wings."
Weiss continued to glare at him as she waited for him to continue. When it was obvious that he wouldn't she finally said something. "That's your big plan? You know the feathers of a Giant Nevermore are among the sturdiest defenses known to Grimm? Not just any blade can cut it. Myrtenaster might be able to do it but that's only one wing. We'll spiral out of control if you can't hold up your end."
"You're just gonna have to trust me. They're waiting down there for us to ground it." He was beginning to have his doubts about this plan now too, but they were already here. The more they delayed the more danger they put Ruby and Blake in. For their sake he had to do this.
Weiss seemed to reach the same conclusion and sighed rather loudly. "Fine. If we die, I'm blaming you!" With that she began crawling her way towards the right wing. He made his way towards the left. It took both of them only a couple seconds despite the force of the wind threatening to knock them off at any second. Once he was in position, right where the wingbone met the body, he turned to see if Weiss had made it too. She had.
They nodded at one another and pulled out their respective blades. He watched carefully as she raised the hilt of her sword above her head, the blade pointed down. He mimicked the action. Her sword began glowing red and she took the plunge, sinking it into the Giant Nevermore's flesh. It screamed out in pain so loudly Jaune had to fight the urge to cover his ears. Instead he followed suite and brought his sword down. Only for it to be deflected off of the feathers.
That wasn't good.
"Uh oh." He grabbed onto the feathers for support and not a moment later they began to spiral out of control. The wing Weiss had cut bent back unnaturally and no longer supported the Nevermore properly. Instead it acted as a hindrance to its balance.
"I thought you said you had it!" Weiss screamed as she was nearly flung off the side. She had barely grabbed ahold in time. To make matters worse, they were careening wildly and there was no way she was going to make it to this side to repeat what she had done.
"Technically, I only told you to trust me!" He regretted shouting. All the twisting and flailing the avian-Grimm was doing was starting to cause his motion-sickness to act up.
"Do something you dunce or we're both going to die!" She was right. He fought back the urge to barf and looked at the spot he had failed to stab earlier and made another attempt. It came out weak and sloppy as he couldn't get a good angle with all the constant twisting and turning. For a second they flipped upside down and he saw they were getting uncomfortably close to the ground. They flipped back upright and he nearly lost his grip and got separated from it.
"Jaune!" Weiss was pleading now.
"Damn…" Jaune grit his teeth and focused on his blade. This thing had been through countless battles. It had killed humans and Grimm alike. Some much more fearsome than this thing. Yet in his hands it was just an old relic. A hand-me-down that he didn't even deserve. He actually felt kind of bad for it. Did it hate him for ending up in his incapable hands?
As he continued to stare at the sword a white glyph formed at the bottom of the hilt, right above where his hand held it. It looked like the one that had saved him from falling earlier only much smaller. He looked to Weiss and she nodded at him. "Do it! That glyph will add the force to your strike that you need! Just please get us off this thing!"
Jaune nodded and realigned himself with no small amount of difficultly. He brought the sword up and drove it down. At first he met the same resistance as before. Then after a moment his sword seemed to push in on its own thanks to Weiss' glyph and he sliced into the tendon.
The Grimm lost control of that wing too and it naturally straightened itself out, both wings flapped back at an unnatural angle. It was just in the nick of time as they felt it crash into the ground and slide across it for several hundred yards. Trees were bowled over in its wake, causing hunks of bark, leaves, and branches to rain down on top of the two aspiring students.
After felt like an eternity, it skid to a stop. Jaune didn't move for a full thirty seconds. "Is it... dead?" A horrible screeching was its response. He and Weiss scrambled to their feet which turned out to be a poor decision as the Nevermore also chose that moment to stand. They were flung from its back and onto the hard dirt trail it had left from its excursion across the earth. It turned around and glared down at them, wings hanging limply at its sides. The two of them could only groan in pain as they tried to recover from their tumble.
"Now, Blake!" Ruby yelled and appeared to the right of the Nevermore's head. Blake appeared to the left. They swung their weapons simultaneously into its neck. Jaune watched in awe. They appeared to be suspended in midair as they attempted to cut through it. They screamed loudly in exertion as their weapons snapped through all at once. They met in the middle and their weapons clashed, popping the Nevermore's head clean off and sending it falling... right towards where Weiss and Jaune were.
"Ah man!" Jaune scrambled to his feet and dove for Weiss who was still hadn't recovered. He barely reached her in time but managed to roll them both away from the severed head. It hit the ground with a loud thud, followed only a moment later by its body as it toppled over. He looked at the dead Grimm with wide-eyes and gasped desperately for breath.
"Weiss…" Jaune poked the heiress that was laying unmoving on top of him. "...you okay?" His answer was an uppercut to the chin.
"Am I okay!?" She shrieked and quickly scrambled off of him. "Do I look okay to you!?"
"I'd say you look fine." Blake answered and landed nimbly next to her. "Rather chipper actually for having just been on a Nevermore for an extended period of time."
"Yeah... sorry again about that, Weiss." Ruby hid behind Blake's back and nervously waved at her partner.
Weiss clicked her teeth and attempted to glare at Ruby from around Blake. "At least he came up there and didn't abandon me. Unlike a certain partner of mine."
"I told you to jump! You could've caught yourself with your glyphs!" Ruby attempted to defend herself.
"And have put ourselves at the mercy of it's Raining Feathers? I think not!"
"Oh, so you knew it could do that..." Ruby deflated but immediately perked back up. "But it worked out in the end, right? I even found our teammates after I landed."
"More like you landed on your teammates." Blake recalled rather fondly the moment Jaune tried to catch her and only half-succeeded.
"I'm gonna be sick." Jaune interrupted their discussion as he finally managed to crawl to his hands and knees only to puke his breakfast all over the ground.
"Vomit-boy returns!"
"Shut it, Crater-face."
He managed to grumble that before he heaved and spilled more of the contents of his stomach.
"Huh, that's actually fairly clever...and accurate." Weiss seemed to appreciate the nickname Jaune had given Ruby.
Blake walked up to him and rubbed his back comfortingly. "You did good up there."
He responded with a derisive laugh and wiped his mouth clean. "Weiss is the one who did everything. I wouldn't have even landed on it if she hadn't caught me. Let alone it was thanks to her that I managed to cut its wing."
Blake opened her mouth to respond but Weiss beat her to it. "You did fine. I told you that Giant Nevermore feathers are tough. Even with my aide it was a miracle you managed to hold up your end." He wasn't sure that made him feel better.
"What she's trying to say is that without you up there, she wouldn't have been able to cut the other wing at all. Take some credit. It was your plan and in the end you helped see it through." Was that really alright though? Maybe it would have been better if Blake or Ruby had taken his spot. But no, he wouldn't have been able to aid in cutting its head off. Was he just worthless no matter which end he was on?
He then heard the familiar ping as all four of their scrolls updated. He was starting to hate that noise and didn't even bother pulling it out to read. Not when he felt ready to puke again at any moment.
Blake pulled her scroll out and read it aloud for him. "Congratulations Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, and Weiss Schnee. You have successfully formed a team and are ready to face your final task. Located in Forever Fall is an old, abandoned airbase. Make your way to it before sundown tomorrow. There will be an airship waiting for you there. Board it to be lifted back off to Beacon. If you do not get on it you will be left behind and needn't return to the Academy. Best of luck and do try not to antagonize anymore big Grimm."
"Great. No pressure at all." He really did not like the idea of being left behind.
"The map to the base is included in the message." Blake flipped her scroll around so Jaune could see it. It looked quite far away. Getting to Forever Fall alone was going to take them until nightfall at best. Then it looked like they had to hike a full day's worth just to reach the airbase.
"We'd better set out at once if we're to have any hope of making it in time." Weiss took point and set off.
"Wait for me, partner!" Ruby dashed after her, leaving a trail of rose petals behind.
"You fit to travel?" Blake gently helped Jaune back to his feet.
"I'm still feeling a little sick, but I think I'm done throwing up." He hated that he had to look so uncool in front of her. He knew it shouldn't have mattered as she'd already seen him mess up plenty of times in the short amount of time they had been together, but this felt worse than all that. "My dad always said just be confident. Chicks dig confidence. Bu the more this test goes on, the more I feel like I don't actually belong here."
"You belong here, Jaune." Blake locked eyes with him and he could see she was being serious but that only made him feel more guilty. She didn't know about his transcripts.
"You guys coming?" Ruby called back to them.
"We need to go. We're on a schedule after all." Blake's gaze lingered on him a little longer than necessary before she nodded to the younger girl and jogged over.
"Right." Jaune mumbled and followed suite.
He had to at least pass this final test first.
Then he could decide his future here after he made sure they all still had one.
Chapter End
AN: The team is altogether!
I've pretty much covered all the Grimm experienced in the original initiation and as you may have noticed, this one is going a little bit different. I've seen too many stories just redo the Canon version with minimal differences here and there. So I decided to shake things up and change the way the tests went. Keep it fresh. At least, I like to think so.
Next time, the team makes it to their destination but a threat unlike anything they've ever faced stands before them. With time running out, Jaune makes good on his word to ensure the others pass... even if it means he won't.