"Reko Permista," Nora replied.
What a strange name, Jaune thought. However, his name was not important. What he was doing in an abandoned part of Vale was. He was alone, without his team, trying to take on Roman Torchwick? Did Ozpin allow this? Why did he look so... homeless at first? Questions raced through Jaune's mind as they carried him through campus.
"Jaune?" He turned his head, and saw the familiar face with gray hair.
"Professor Ozpin!"
"I see you've returned from your reconnaisance mission. Who is this?" He noticed the boy being carried by both Jaune and Ren. The color of his clothing was unrecognizable to him, and his face was hidden by the broad shoulders of the boys. He took note of his small complexion.
Ren and Jaune were fast to retaliate his question. Should they tell him he snuck out of the academy to go on a death wish mission alone without his team? Perhaps Ozpin sent him out as a scout to warn Team JNPR of oncoming threats? They didn't want to take the chance of Ozpin getting upset at them for any reason.
"He's... an outsider! We found him on our way back from our mission, and he was really hurt. Would it be alright for us to nurse him back to health? He'll be gone ASAP!" Pyrrha responded. She was quick on her wits to realize the situation, and replied faster than the other members of the team could.
"An outsider? It might be best for the nurses at the office to heal him-"
"We can assure you, Professor Ozpin. Before we arrived here, he awoke and told us that he doesn't trust anyone else to heal him than us, since we were the first ones to arrive to him since his injury..."
..."You aren't like the others I've met out here. You're nice, you're helping me. Please... Take care of me. You four alone..."
"...Something like that!..." After Pyrrha's attempt, Nora chimed in.
"You wouldn't want him to wake up and just start attacking the nurses due to shock, right Professor?"
"... I suppose not." Ozpin took a sip of his iced coffee, the cubes swirling around in his cup as he shook it.
"I give you permission to care for him. However, since he is an outsider, this technically isn't allowed. I will make an exception, albeit he is now your responsibility." He pointed his cane at Jaune, and continued to point it at the eyes of every other member.
"If I hear about a random boy causing mayhem inside of my school, I won't be held responsible if Glynda took appropriate action and gave reasonable punishment for you four."
Even after hearing the risks, Team JNPR looked as ecstatic as ever.
"You won't regret this, Ozpin!"
"Thank you for having this trust in us, Professor." Ren gave a slight bow. They walked past him, making sure they had a firm grip on the boy so he wouldn't fall. They walked him to the team's dorm room, staying extra careful incase anyone across the dorm room heard the noise.
They placed him inside Jaune's bed, and Pyrrha took a glance at his wounds.
"They are really bad. The biggest problem is that it's internal bleeding. Although his clothing and aura blocked the blow, it was still a direct hit from Roman's cane. It might take him a couple of days to heal." Ren, being the health-freak of the group, began concocting recipes in order to quicken his healing. Nora watched with intent, so starstruck to see Ren working hard. She booped him on the nose before walking out of the dorm with Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Nora, let me see his wallet again." Searching through it, Jaune isn't able to find anything else about him.
"Did he have his scroll on him? Maybe it'll tell us more?" Jaune turned to Nora. She shrugged in response. At this point, Ren had stepped outside too to join the conversation.
"Okay, let's go over the basics."
"His name is Reko. He's apparently a student at Beacon, yet has no scroll. He's small, and yet-"
"Formidable. He's easily a trained fighter, and not some amateur." Ren placed his hand on his chin, with a concerned look on his face.
"We need to help him."
"With what, exactly? Last time I checked, he kept his true nature in the shadows until he had to save Jaune from Roman!" Pyrrha expressed discomfort.
"... Well first things first. We need to help him back onto his feet. Then we can deal with this claw menace."
"What claw menace?" The door had opened up across the hall, and a black haired figure stepped out.
"Eep!" Nora let out a squeal and jumped into Ren's arms. He quickly let go of her.
"Blake! Hey!" Jaune tried to stay cool.
"What's... up?" Jaune asked. Blake gave them all a cold stare, and proceeded to speak.
"The sky?... Okay, whatever. Just tell me, what claw menace?" Before Jaune could think of an answer, Ren intervened.
"There was a new species of grimm spotted on the outskirts of Vale. It had claws and apparently it attacked several people."
"That sounds horrible." Blake showed slight sympathy.
"Exactly. Our efforts to capture one ended up with failure. However..." Ren, suddenly, was out of ideas.
"...However, Professor Ozpin said we'll continue to monitor the monster and eventually catch it!" Pyrrha finished his thought. For some reason, she was always quick to finish the lies Team JNPR piled up on themselves.
"... I see. Well, if you need any help, my team can assist you in these missions."
"I think we'll be fine on our own! I mean, we ARE a very wide cast of characters!" Nora turned to look at Ren, the ninja, Pyrrha, the idol, and... Jaune?
Stepping back inside of their dorm after finishing their conversation with Blake, they realized something. Reko was missing from Jaune's bed! They suddenly found him rummaging through their food, before stopping to stare at the team.
"... Welcome back?"
"We never left." Ren pulled up a seat, as did the rest of Team JNPR. Reko stopped eating their snacks and joined them at the table.
"I suppose you guys want answers."
"Of course we want answers! Who are you? Why were you after Roman? Where-"
"Where's your claws?" Pyrrha interrupted Nora, which surprised Reko. They carried his claws in a pouch on their way back to Beacon, which they laid at the foot of Jaune's bed. It was now open, and missing the weapons.
Reko stood up, and faced his palms outwards. With a quick flick of his wrist, his palms now facing downwards, his claws suddenly slipped out of the cuffs of his arms and into his hands!
"Interested? I designed them myself. When I put them away, each blade of the claw surrounds my wrist. Almost like a brace. I can use it to defend myself from attacks!" Jaune looked interested. Surely Ruby would have been excited to see such a unique design of weaponry.
"And that's not all. I can turn my claws into shortswords." He proceeded to do so, with each blade stacking on top of each other to extend the end of the blade.
"Oh, and one more-"
"Okay, enough!" Nora was losing her patience. She slammed the table and Reko immediately silenced himself.
"Enough showing off, you little twerp! Tell us what you were doing!" Reko looked at the team, and they all had the same expression on their face. Defeated, Reko sat back down.
"...Alright." Reko brushed his black and orange hair aside.
"You know how Roman is a big contributor to the White Fang, right?"
"Correct," Ren replied.
"Well, he's been enlisting the help of helpless and weak faunus into his ranks, sending them into battle when they have no idea what they're doing."
"You think that Roman's enlisting civilians?"
"Well, he's always been doing that, right? I mean, not just civilians. Civilians who've never fought a day in their lives."
"I thought the White Fang train their members." Ren sat back.
"Well, they do. But the ones who don't learn fast enough..."
"...Die in battle," Jaune finished. The team looked at him, then at Reko.
"I want to stop Roman in his tracks. It's cruel for him to use the faunus in such a way!"
"That makes sense, but that doesn't mean you should branch out on your own. You need your team!"
"That reminds me..." Jaune stood up.
"Where is your team?" The question echoed through Reko's mind. He took a moment to breathe, before hearing knocking at the team's door.
"Crap!- I mean- Who is it?"
"... Jaune?" The voice sounded sweet, soft and light. No doubt it was Ruby Rose herself. Reko, in shock, hid under Jaune's bed.
"Reko!"
"Okay, look, I'll explain later. Just... Get her to leave!" They tried to pull Reko out from under the bed, but he let out a slight roar and suddenly, the team backed off.
"What a weird kid." They opened the door and let the red haired girl in.
"Hey guys! Whatcha up to?" She walked around the dorm, never noticing the fact that the boys and girls rooms were seperate.
"I kinda forgot you guys were a coed team."
"Yeah, it's cool isn't it?! I mean, I get to enjoy the company of both Pyrrha and Ren!" Nora replied. Suddenly, Jaune felt left out.
"Ahem." Ruby turned around, and saw Ren in front of her.
"Not that I don't enjoy your company, Ruby, but what are you doing here?"
"Oh! Right! I was wondering if you guys wanted to go get dinner with my team and I! I hear there's tacos in the dining hall." Her mouth started watering.
"That sounds wonderful! However, we've decided to just cook dinner here tonight."
"Well, that works too! Would it be alright if we ate here tonight then?"
Forgive me, Ruby. I don't mean to push you away like this.
"I must respectfully decline. We only have enough ingredients for the four of us. Maybe next time?" Ruby began to look down. Ren knew he upset her, and had to do something.
"Uhm, well, actually, I..." Ren was flustered, and eventually Jaune stepped in to help.
"Ruby! I heard there's pudding downstairs!"
"Pudding?" Ruby started to look back up.
"Pudding!"
"Yup! Nora's been wanting some pudding for awhile now. How about you and her go to the dining hall to get some?" Although Nora was excited for pudding, she felt like she was the scapegoat for Ruby to leave.
"Oh man, I want pudding! Nora, let's go!"
"Okay!" Nora gave her goodbyes to the team, which included a hug for Pyrrha, a kiss on the cheek for Ren, and a punch in the groin for Jaune for making her leave.
With Nora gone, Ren decided to finish cooking dinner for everybody. Reko came out from under the bed, and gave a sigh of relief.
"She's a weird one. Like a little kid."
"You're one to speak!" Pyrrha chuckled. Jaune leaned against the door as Reko stood up.
"Well, thank you all for letting me stay here, but I really shouldn't be here."
"That's right, you have to go back to your own dorm!" Jaune replied.
"No! That's not it. Look..."
"My team abandoned me."
"What?"
"They thought my idea of going after Roman was too crazy for them to go along with."
"So you're telling me, that not only are- were- you the leader of your team, but you were also kicked from it?"
"Yeah. So I've been sleeping either on the couch or in the trees at night." Reko looked down. Although Pyrrha sensed a fault in his story, Jaune felt nothing but sympathy.
"A-anyways, thank you all for everything, but I have to leave." He began walking towards the door, with Jaune still leaning in front of it. Suddenly, Reko felt uneasy, and almost hit the floor if it wasn't for Ren to catch him.
"I advise against that. After your battle with Roman, we can tell you have alot of internal bleeding. Your aura depleted as soon as Roman's blast hit you. You need to rest for a couple of days, at least."
"A couple of days?" Reko looked around.
"No."
"What do you-"
"You guys don't have to nurture me back to health. I'm fine on my own." He pushes Ren away and tries to walk again, however he eventually falls to his knees. Ren and Pyrrha help him up.
"No one knows that you're here, besides Professor Ozpin." The name made Reko flinch, however he gave no reaction after.
"We lied, and told him you were an outsider."
"Look, I know we've just recently met, but you need to trust us." Jaune extended his hand toward Reko.
Reko, taking deep breaths, finally caved to the team's hospitality.
"Okay, but only for a few days."
"That's the spirit." Jaune helped Reko sit down. As he sat, Ren returned to the kitchen before calling out to Pyrrha.
"Pyrrha, could you get Nora back here? Dinner is almost ready."
Nora quickly returned to the dorm, and they all shared a meal together. That night, Reko slept under Jaune's bed, because he had felt so oddly comfortable there. His hood had slipped off during his sleep, although he didn't pay any mind to it.
For the first time in a while, Reko felt the comfort of his friends surrounding him as he warmed up to them.
