A/N
So here's the next chap, and I've finally decided I'm actually going to commit to this fun little story. The next chap should be out much sooner than this one was, seeing as I'm going to borrow a little from the Forever Fall episodes as I can't pass the chance up to use them. They'll play out a little bit differently here.
Please review. Please criticize.
"Students. Tomorrow we'll be taking a break from the combat trials to visit one of Vale's most striking landmarks. The Forever Fall. I'm sure many of you will welcome to the opportunity."
Weiss sat completely straight, hands clasped in front of her as Professor Goodwitch paced back and forth across the floor of the lecture hall, tapping occasionally on a scroll she held in her grip.
A few moments later tiny lenses fixed to the four corners of the wooden board behind her taking up most of the wall winked on, clicking to life and projecting a series of slides.
Weiss blinked twice, marvelling at the vibrant reds and crimsons of the leaves constantly falling in each slide, covering the entirety of the forest floor in a carpet of red so thick it made her eyes hurt a little just looking at it.
Next to her Ruby drew in a small intake of breath at the same sight, prompting Weiss to fold her arms and give a little smirk. "That forest has got your name written all over it, Ruby."
Ruby answered with a series of eager nods, her mouth hanging open in awe at the natural beauty of the forest.
Weiss rolled her eyes, before noticing how terse Blake had become on her other side. She arched a eyebrow at the guarded expression on the raven-haired girl as Professor Goodwitch continued moving through the slides.
"Now, during the trip we'll be collecting a few samples for Professor Peach's alchemical classes..."
She fought to keep her attention, noticing that Ruby was reaching her foot down under her desk and tapping Pyrrha on the shoulder. "Hey, Pyrrha? Have you talked to Jaune yet?"
The red-haired girl's green eyes flicked up at the disturbance as she shook her head. "I tried." she muttered, looking down at the back of Jaune's head and the edges of a couple of bandages rolled around his shoulder, visible through the gap in his collar.
Pyrrha loosed a breath and looked away, staring down at her lap.
"Psst!"
As the slides changed on the classroom's far wall, Pyrrha felt Nora's finger poking her shoulder. She arched a eyebrow and turned to the bubbly girl.
"Has he broken his legs yet?"
"No."
Nora grumbled something and sat back in her seat again, next to her, Lie Ren kept his attention on the front of the class.
"Everyone will report to the auditorium first thing tomorrow morning. From there one of the Sky-Flyers will take us to the Forever Fall and you'll separate into your respective teams for the day." Her laser-focused eyes scanned the bored and unimpressed faces of Team Cardinal clustered in the right-wing seats of the room, also including the members of Team Juniper and Ruby as well. Glynda Goodwitch focused on Jaune for a few seconds. "I will supervise the more... volatile... teams."
Murmurs went up across the classroom while she cleared her throat loudly, creating a echo in the room. "As such today's lessons will be ended a hour early. You have free time until sunrise tomorrow. Be sharp and on time. Dismissed."
Everyone in the room started to move towards the exit at the top of the stairs while Pyrrha sat still, noticing that Jaune flinched as Cardin and his team moved past him, sinking even lower into his seat. She grimaced with a scowl directed at the brute, only to notice him glaring in her direction with a fire she hadn't seen before.
She returned the look with the same intensity, before picking up her books and following Lie Ren and Nora as they moved out onto the steps behind Ruby and Yang.
"Ms Nikos." Pyrrha stopped in her tracks, sharing a glance with Lie Ren and Nora before turning and moving down the steps, noticing that Jaune had already left the room.
She approached Professor Goodwitch's neat and organized desk, a far cry from how Professor Oobleck had it arranged during his lessons. The intense woman bent up from adjusting a pencil and leveled a glance at her. "Professor Ozpin would like to see you. Come with me."
Pyrrha came to a stop as Professor Goodwitch continued past, stopping by the side of Ozpin as he sat in his chair, fingers clasped under his chin with a steaming cup of coffee in front of him.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
Ozpin inclined his head to her, looking at the empty chair on the other side of his desk. "Please, sit, Ms Nikos."
She slowly gave a nod, walking forwards and pulling the chair out, the legs scraping a little on the deep green carpeting of the office. She sat down, hands crossed on her lap as she kept a calm expression on her, inwardly wondering what he wanted to talk to her about.
"Professor Goodwitch told me about your impressive performance during her combat lessons, against a wide range and variety of opponents. Not to mention your consistently good grades when it comes to Professor Port and Oobleck's subjects." The tinges of a smile appeared on his wiry features. "Well done."
"Thank you." Pyrrha didn't voice her curiosity as to why he was telling her something she already knew, knowing from experience that it was not her place to do so. She waited in silence, watching as Glynda Goodwitch looked away from the window at Ozpin, nodding to him before looking at her.
"We called you in here to discuss your team leader."
Pyrrha's eyes widened a moment before she glanced to the side. "Yes." she muttered, shaking her head and looking up. "What is it?"
Notably, Ozpin stayed silent while Glynda took out her scroll. "I am concerned about mr Arc's aptitude as a huntsman-in-training at this academy, to put it frankly."
She didn't say anything, having seen every sparring match Jaune has been in and watching the exact same outcome. Pyrrha nodded.
Glynda clutched the scroll in both hands. "His combat ability is lacking in several aspects. He does not or can not summon up the required focus to pay attention during academic classes. And his knowledge of weapons and armor is sub-par compared to the majority of the class."
Ozpin piped up, tilting his coffee cup and peering into its depths before swirling it around and having a sip. "But he does have a substantial aura. Am I correct, ms Nikos?"
Pyrrha hesitate for a moment before nodding quickly. "I've felt it myself, and I-"
"Do you believe he belongs in Beacon's ranks, ms Nikos?"
Surprise and shock filled her as Glynda's frank tone reached her ears.
"I-" She wanted to say that she did, with every fiber of her being, that she knew that Jaune was a born leader, that he could lead them through any crisis, within or without. But instead she narrowed her eyes, staring down at her lap with a forlorn expression. "... I believe so." She finally said, scared that she had just lied.
"And what do your base your opinion on?" Glynda stopped fiddling with the scroll, holding in her hands as she placed them behind her back and patiently waited for Pyrrha to answer.
This time her voice was quiet. "He's our leader." She glanced at Professor Ozpin, trying to work out the guarded expression the headmaster wore. "Do you not agree with Professor Ozpin picking Jaune?"
At this Ozpin raised a eyebrow, his chair creaking a little as he turned to glance at Glynda. She returned the glance with a hint of a scowl, turning her eyes back on Pyrrha.
The veteran huntress stopped a moment to push up her glasses before giving a stern nod. "Ms Nikos, it is my belief that Jaune Arc is not fit to be Team Juniper's leader. However, you are perhaps more suited to the role. It has always been a belief of mine."
Ozpin took over from there, clearing his throat as he picked up his coffee cup and took a swig of the steaming brown brew. "Is it yours as well, Ms Nikos?"
Pyrrha's hands tightened on her lap, forming fists. She shook her head, leveling a look between the two of them. "No. Jaune might not be leader material in your eyes, but to me and the rest of the team, he is. He proved that. And we don't need anymore evidence than that." She narrowed her eyes. "You might not be aware but he's going through a rough time. I believe in him."
With that she stood up. "Am I dismissed?"
"...Yes." Glynda nodded, exchanging a look with Ozpin while Pyrrha turned her back on them and left the room.
Ozpin held a amused smile as he laced his fingers together. "Good."
Jaune loosed a sigh, tipping his head back against the wall and looking up at the stars. He searched them in silence, several minutes going by as he somehow managed to pick out the shapes a few of them made, in particular settling on a collection of stars shaped like outstretched wings, sitting on either side of a oval body of four stars with one star sitting on its own at the top on one end, and two on the other.
He grimaced at the sight, remembering the Nevermore and the Deathseeker. How he actually took charge for the first, and only, time in his life. How for once he actually felt worthy to be called a Arc. Jaune gritted his teeth in frustration, standing up and pushing away from the wall, violently looking away from the stars and moving down the steps off of the roof.
His eyes found a loose stone and his foot sailed into it, sending it skittering through the gaps in the baroque styled railing and into the open air, dropping away from sight. He made his way down, a grim frown on him as someone yelled in surprise and annoyance in the grounds below the building.
"Hey, watch it!" The voice floated up to Jaune, making him freeze in his steps for a moment.
He shook his head and peered over the side at a guy rubbing his head. Despite the state he was in, Jaune weakly waved down to him. "Sorry! Foot... slipped." His words faltered as the guy turned away without a word back into the vast hall, its windows lighting up the grounds and bursting with bustle and noise.
Turning away from it as he reached the bottom, he found himself following the path towards the front of the grounds, moving past the vast and sturdy dome housing the auditorium, functioning as the entrance to Beacon's inner grounds. He wound up using the path that circled its ribbed walls, not caring to use the place where he had been constantly humiliated as a shortcut to the other side.
Jaune finally came to a stop a few moments later, in the shadow of a vast and magnificent fountain and the statues lording over it.
His eyes roamed over the pure white marble, and the more he stared at the armored man and hooded woman standing proudly on top of a boulder together, the more he sunk, further and further. Jaune focused on the armored man, loosing a sigh at how his outstretched sword seemed alive in his grip, even being made of stone like it was.
By his side the woman stood resolute, calm in the face of the ferocious beowulf snapping and snarling at the base of the rock as it shielded itself from them. The huge battleaxe standing in front of her, like it was part of her, only made him think more of how terribly he held his sword, how unnatural it felt to him.
"You remind me of them." Jaune squeaked and whirled around to see a girl standing there, taking a few steps back in surprise and pushing the tips of her fingers together. She hanged her head, her long brown hairs sagging a little. "Sorry!"
"Uh - it's... I'm-" He sighed and rubbed a hand down his face, blinking twice when he noticed the timid girl, remembering her. "I was just clearing my head. We have the same class together, don't we?"
Her cheeks colored as she slowly nodded, her ears moving back and forth. "Um. We do. I'm Velvet."
"Jaune. Jaune Arc-" His words fell away as his eyes flicked up at the statue. Jaune stiffened for a moment, before closing his eyes and opening them with a tight smile at the Faunus girl.
"Actually, I've been wanting to talk to you. I know that you've stood up to Cardin and his brutes."
"Yeah. 'stood up'." Jaune grimaced, wondering exactly who else knew about the curbstomp he recieved at the hands of Cardin, most with him lying flat on his face.
"I think you were brave for trying." She blurted out in a rapid-fire string of words. Suddenly the girl turned away for a few moments, before slowly looking over her shoulder at him. "So... thank you."
He thought about telling her to say the opposite, to just leave him alone, when she nodded and moved off without another word, smiling back at him. Wordlessly he watched her go, seeing a far cry from the girl in the mess hall having her ears pulled.
With a sigh he sat on the smooth edging of stone ringing the fountain and the statues, slumping forwards and staring at his hands, counting the bruises and scratches still healing on them.
"So, I'm guessing you've been here the entire time?"
He started at the sight of Weiss standing there, a hand placed on her hip and head cocked with a unimpressed look on her. "Weiss? What are you doing out here?"
'Ruby might have - sort of - definitely, ordered me to come up here and talk some sense into you." Weiss arched a eyebrow and tapped her foot impatiently as all she got was silence from Jaune. "This whole Cardin thing has gone on for too long, you need to-"
"It's not Cardin." He averted his eyes and rubbed his bandaged shoulder underneath his hoodie. Staring down at the bricked path he narrowed his eyes, resisting the urge to turn and look up at the statues once more. He closed his eyes and loosed a sigh, before looking up at Weiss. "...I faked my transcript. Lied my way into Beacon Academy."
Immediately his thoughts screamed at him as a flicker of annoyance came Weiss's features. She slowly unfolded her arms, leveling a cold stare at him that froze the boy.
Jaune gulped.
To his surprise Weiss rolled her eyes and came over, sitting down next to him with her arms folded and chin turned up. Her eyes flicked towards him. "I should be reporting you to Professor Goodwitch and professor Ozpin."
Weiss's words were left hanging in the nighttime air as Jaune immediately nodded. "You probably should." he muttered, knowing that Pyrrha might have already done it by now. He buried his face in his hands.
"Hmm." Weiss looked him over, and promptly elbowed him in the side.
"Ow!"
"Be quiet. I know how you feel, Jaune."
He blinked twice, glancing at her. "Huh?"
Weiss crossed her arms and looked away from him, her face hardened. Jaune could easily see the faint scar over her eye, lightly obscured by her fringe. "I... well, you and pretty much everyone across Vytal know my family. As a Schnee, from the day I was born great things were expected of me. I was given everything. All the toys I could ever want or imagine, all the knowledge I could ever ask for, all the best tutors the world could provide. Just because I was born to the head of the Schnee dynasty. Quite a lot of pressure for a little girl to handle."
Jaune stared at her for a few seconds, in particular the scar over her eye, somewhat marring her refined features.
She caught his stare and quickly brushed her fringe over the scar, hiding it. "There a few things we have in common. A few."
He shook his head and nodded. "Uh huh."
"So you'll only hear this from me once; Get your act together, Jaune. Your team's counting on you."
With that she stood up and left, leaving him alone on the fountain with those words.