Phantom of Beacon
Chapter 2:
Jaune slowly turned around, eyes still closed. As he slowly opened them, the first thing he saw was a black bow. "Blake? This isn't what it looks like! What did you hear?"
"Oh, not much, just you talking about going full ghost, and then the obvious seeing you in complete reverse color scheme." Blake looked him up and down. "Then there was that green beam of energy that you launched out of your sword when you were with Ruby."
Jaune stared, open mouthed. "You saw that? Were you following us?" He asked, crossing his arms.
"I was reading, and a giant green arc of energy is a bit hard to miss. So Jaune, I ask you this: What aren't you telling me about you? Are you a ghost? A spirit lingering in this world?" Blake questioned.
Jaune shook his head. "Nothing like that! I'm still very much alive, see?" A white ring appeared around Jaune before displacing up and down his body, changing him back to normal. Blake stepped forward, taking Jaune's wrist in her hand.
"His heartbeat is pretty quick." Blake thought, before looking at the boy to find him blushing. She dropped his wrist quickly, before looking at him again. "Jaune, if you're alive, then what are you?"
"Well…I was an assistant in a lab back in Arcadia about six months ago. The head scientist was attempting to break the barrier between the world of the living and the dead."
Jaune checked his watch, 60 seconds until activation time. "This portal could change Remnant as a whole!" He said, grinning at the machine. He was in the epicenter of the lab, having been a technical assistant in building the portal. Taking one final look, he noticed a plug was loose inside.
An alarm went off, signaling a 30 second warning time.
"Not a second to lose!" Jaune dashed forward into the portal, and he began working the plug back into place. Just to Jaune's luck, the plug wouldn't quite reach the socket. "Oh come on!"
"TEN SECONDS UNTIL PORTAL ACTIVATION. PLEASE STAND CLEAR." An automated voice announced.
Jaune struggled, putting all he had into stretching the plug, finally getting it into the socket. "Yes!" He cheered just as the lights flickered on in the portal. There was a flash, a bang, and Jaune's world went green.
He stumbled out of the portal, burns all over his body. An alarm was sounding, and footsteps of security could be heard running down the hallway. Jaune struggled his way to the emergency exit, hobbling up the stairs and through the field.
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Jen Arc was in a lab of her own, working on a new dust generator for her staff, when she heard a rustle outside. Heading out, she saw Jaune, injured and half conscious fall to the ground.
She ran forwards, checking his pulse and trying to tend to the burns. "Dammit Jaune! Mom's gonna kill me for this." She said before she placed her hand over his heart. For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."
Jen gave off a faint glow of blue as she unlocked Jaune's aura. He began to glow white, before a flash of green emanated from his body. Jaune began to change, his hair turning white. As his eyes flickered open, Jen noticed they were glowing green.
His wounds healing, Jaune slowly sat up, looking at his sister. "Jen…what happened to me?"
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"After that, Jen made me swear to keep what had happened a secret. She helped train me in my aura a bit, and that helped me start to get control of this 'ghost' form. I don't really know what happened to the lab after that. I went by a few days later and everything had been cleared out." Jaune explained as the two walked, keeping an eye out for Grimm.
Blake stopped, looking at Jaune. "So you don't really know what happened to you at all?"
"Well, my sister ran a DNA test on me. It was a mixture of human and…something else. Not Faunus, and Grimm don't have DNA, so it wasn't that either. We took it to assume it was ghost, and that I guess I'm now half ghost or something. Blake, I've got to ask you to please not tell anyone about this. If Ozpin and the teachers found out…" Jaune paled at the thought, his stomach wrenching.
Blake looked at Jaune with concern, before making a decision. Jaune, you've got to trust me with this, so I suppose I'll give you a reason to trust me, but it's a secret as well. Can I trust you?" She asked, before receiving a nod. Her hands went to her head, untying her bow and revealing a pair of cat ears.
Jaune blinked at her, before speaking. "You're…a Faunus?"
Blake nodded, preparing herself for the worst.
"Awesome!" Jaune exclaimed.
Blake's mouth dropped in shock. "Y-you're not disgusted by me? You don't see me as some kind of freak?"
"Blake, you just saw me turn into a ghost, fly through the sky, change back into a human, and then listened to my horrific tale of being a half ghost. If anything, I'm more surprised you don't see ME as a freak. As for being a Faunus, well, it doesn't bother me. I grew up in a pretty evenly balanced human/Faunus community, so everyone was, for the most part, pretty kind to one another." Jaune grinned at her. "Plus, they're pretty cute."
Blake blushed as red as Ruby's cloak at Jaune's final sentence. "Cute? No one's ever called them cute before! I mean, even Adam just looked at them like they were nothing out of the ordinary. Guess Jaune's different.
"Blake?" Jaune asked, waving his hand in front of her face. "Blaaaaake?"
She shook the images out of her head, tying her bow back on her head. "Well Jaune, now we each have something to keep secret for the other. Can I be trusted now?" She stuck her hand out to him, pausing at his moment of uncertainty.
Jaune looked at her, watching as her bow slightly twitched, before he took her hand in his and shook it. "Trust. Oh! I just realized! We're partners now, aren't we?"
Blake froze, staring at him in the most deadpan way possible. "Jaune…you're seriously just now realizing that?"
"What?! Oh no…I was just joking! Funny man here!" Jaune leaned one hand onto a tree, before his arm went intangible and he fell right over.
Blake smirked, before going to her partner and helping him up. "So I take it you don't have full control over your powers? I mean between this and the pants incident…"
Jaune blushed at the memory. "Well, for the most part I actually do. Just sometimes if I get flustered, well, you saw what happens."
"Well if anything, it's a one of a kind gift. Never be ashamed of it, Jaune. Now, as nice as it is chatting out here, maybe we should find the relic?" Blake suggested, taking a look around the clearing.
Jaune nodded, glancing around as well, before looking at the sky. "Well, it looked like there were some ruins to the east of the cliffs, and if the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, then we should head this way!" He said, pointing east.
Blake nodded in agreement. "Lead the way, Jaune."
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Jaune and Blake stepped forward into the ruins, seeing various pillars containing chess pieces. "Think this is it?" Jaune asked, earning an eye roll from Blake.
Blake looked at the pillars, mentally counting how many were left. "Some of the pieces are missing. Guess we weren't the first ones here."
Jaune stepped forward, taking a white knight piece in his hand. "How bout a knight? It's like me!" He grinned at Blake who raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh yes, the white knight. Wielder of a sword and even more ghostly than a sheet." She joked, finally getting an eye roll back. "Oh, so you do have a sense of sarcasm!"
Jaune grinned, storing the relic in his bag. "Well sure I do. Just most of the time I hide it away, like my pow-Ruby!"
Blake blinked, turning towards the forest. Ruby and Yang had just charged in, a few Ursa on their tails.
Yang leaped over one as it charged, slamming her fist down into the top of its head with a satisfying crack. She landed and made to charge at the other, before a red blur shot past her and a suddenly headless Ursa was in front of her. "Oh come on Ruby, I had that one!" Yang shouted.
"Yang, we're partners now! And as your partner I think I should get to kill SOME of the Grimm!" Ruby cried, flailing her arms nonsensically. She turned back towards the ruins, and grinned. "Jaune!" She started to run forward before her hood was grabbed by Yang.
"Easy there, little sister. Don't want you overexerting yourself. Blake! Ladykiller! Hey!" She waved, casually walking to the duo, Ruby in tow. "Nice to see you made it. Xiao Long did it take you two to get here?" She grinned.
Blake groaned at the pun, while Jaune just chuckled lightly. "It wasn't too bad actually. Up until you two got here, we didn't actually see a single Grimm. It was kind of weird! Convenient, but weird!" He said, grinning at the blonde and the reaper.
"So, you and Blake eh? Well, I guess there is only one of Jaune to go around, so I GUESS I'll be fine with Ruby as a partner." Yang joked, causing Ruby to elbow her in the ribs.
"Yang! Totally not coo-"
BOOM
"What in the world was tha-" Blake was cut off as the trees near the edge of the clearing burst forward, a Deathstalker charging out. On its head was a ginger haired girl with what appeared to be a grenade launcher. The beast stabbed its tail at her, only to have it knocked aside and the grenade launcher slammed onto its head, knocking it out.
"Aww, it's broken." The ginger haired girl said.
Pyrrha rushed out of the forest, noticing Nora atop the now unconscious Grimm. "Nora! Please, don't leave me behind like that!" She took a moment to catch her breath, and Nora was gone.
"Ooooh!" Nora cooed as she looked over the pieces, grabbing the white rook piece. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She sang to herself.
"Nora! Please!"
"Ehehe, coming Pyrrha!" Nora skipped back to her partner.
Blake blinked at the two, before turning to Jaune. "Did she just ride in on a Deathstalker?"
"Oh come on Blake, not the strangest thing you've seen today." Jaune mumbled to her. She rolled her eyes in the usual way as a loud screech was heard.
Weiss and a boy in green came running out of the forest as a Nevermore came soaring over the clearing. "Hurry up! Run!" Weiss ordered as the two ran for their lives.
"Blake, time we left! We only need to get the relic back to Ozpin, so I say we run away and live!" Jaune said, getting a nod from Blake, Yang, and Ruby.
Ruby ran and grabbed the other white knight piece, as Weiss grabbed the other white rook. The Deathstalker began to stir and started to charge the teens.
"Oh man, run!" Jaune shouted as the eight began to run for the cliffs. The Nevermore took off after them, soaring ahead and sinking its talons into the stone bridge at the base of the cliff.
"Nora, distract it!" The boy in green shouted.
Nora nodded, grabbing her grenade launcher and firing a few rounds at the Nevermore. The Deathstalker rushed at her, before it was blocked by Green and Weiss.
Jaune and Blake began to make a mad dash across the bridge as the Nevermore soared towards them, Ruby and Yang close behind. It slammed into the stone below them, causing Yang to be thrown back and Ruby to plummet towards certain doom.
"Ruby!" Yang screamed, running to jump off for her when she saw a rush of white sail downwards towards Ruby. She looked closer, seeing a clawed gauntlet stretch out towards the reaper, grabbing her hand in his as he sank the claws into the stone beside him.
Ruby's eyes were closed, thinking she was dead. "Well, at least I can open my eyes and see mom…" she thought as she slowly opened one eye. What she saw was not her mother, but rather a white haired/green eyed Jaune Arc, slowly pulling them both back up from the abyss. "Jaune? Is that you?"
"Yeah Ruby, it's me. You okay?" He asked as he climbed. "Hey Blake, lower your weapon down for us! Yang, help her pull us up!"
Blake switched Gambol Shroud into ribbon form before lowering it to the duo, feeling a tug at the end. "Yang! Hurry up! That thing's coming back!"
Yang ran and fired a round from her gauntlets, launching her across the gap. She grabbed the ribbon and pulled with all her might, pulling Jaune and Ruby up over the edge.
"Are you two okay?" Blake looked her partner over, not a scratch on him.
Jaune nodded. "I think Ruby may be a bit shaken up, but she'll live."
"Jaune, what did you…how did you…why do you…" Ruby started, before seeing Jaune shake his head.
"Not the time! We need to take that Nevermore down, now, and I have a plan! Blake, take your ribbon and tie it around those two pillars, like a giant slingshot! Yang, launch yourself into the sling, and fire right at the beast. You knock it down, and then Ruby and I load in for the finishing shot." Jaune ordered, earning a nod from the first two girls before Ruby nudged him on the shoulder.
"Jaune, why are we launching at it?"
Jaune smirked. "We're clipping its wings."
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"Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Weiss Schnee, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you recovered the white rook pieces, and shall henceforth be known as Team Periwinkle (PRWN), lead by Pyrrha Nikos!" Professor Ozpin said.
The staff and students clapped as PRWN was formed. Nora cheered and hugged Ren, while Pyrrha simply smiled. Weiss rolled her eyes at Nora before smiling at Pyrrha as the four were ushered off the podium.
"Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you recovered the white knight pieces, and shall henceforth be known as Team Jazzberry (JBRY), lead by Jaune Arc!" Ozpin announced, earning a cheer from the students.
Jaune pointed at himself in shock. "Me, sir?"
"Congratulations young man." Ozpin said, shaking Jaune's hand before ushering the four off the podium. "This concludes initiation for our new term at Beacon. Classes begin tomorrow, so for those of you who just faced perils, go, find your dorms, and relax."
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Ruby and Yang blocked Jaune as he went to head into their room. "Not so fast, Jauney! We want to know, how did you save Ruby like that?! I mean, before I could even take a step, you were flying down there as a white blur!" Yang exclaimed.
Jaune paused, trying to come up with an explanation. "Oh, well Yang, you see what happened is…"
Yang raised an eyebrow impatiently before Blake spoke up. "It's his semblance. It allows him to pass through walls at his will, though every time he uses it, his color palette reverses itself. Strange, but effective, right Jaune?"
"Right! Sorry I didn't tell you, just uh…the white hair embarrasses me! Makes me look like a grandpa, right?!" Jaune scratched his hair.
Ruby stared at him like a Grimm in the headlights. "You. Can. Pass. Through. Walls?! That's so cool! How does it work? Are there limits? Does that ever mean your food falls ou-"
"Ruby." Yang placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "I think Jaune's a little tired right now. Why don't we all just go take a rest before dinner, okay" She said, looking at Jaune.
He nodded, opening the door for them. "Thanks Yang. So who gets which bed?"
A/N: Wow everyone! I honestly never expected THIS MUCH of a response after the first chapter! I'm thrilled that everyone (well, 99% of everyone) is enjoying it! I know the first chapter was a bit rough, but it's a first chapter! Nothing ever starts out perfect, but hey, I'm trying! So someone actually guessed that it would be Blake who found Jaune out as a ghost so quickly, and I mean, it makes sense. She's been different her whole life, and to see someone else so different, well, she could understand. The teams and pairings were fun to play with after I had Jaune and Blake, and I like how they turned out. I know the acronyms were somewhat stretching, but they fit the CNR! Jazzberry and Periwinkle are valid colors, so boom! And I know there wasn't a whole lot of 'Jaune Phantom' this chapter, but as we progress, we'll see more of his powers and him gaining control. Give me time! Anywho, here's chapter two complete! I'll have chapter 6 of 'Battle of the Bands' up in a few days, and should have chapter 3 of this out promptly! In the meantime, read, review, and enjoy! And please, don't flame review. If you don't like something, be constructive with criticism! Constructive criticism helps people grow! Review! Bye!