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"Yang Xiao Long, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren. You retrieved the white rook pieces and shall hence forth be known as team PLLN (Platinum). Led by Pyrrha Nikos."
Ruby cheered for her sister's new team as the last first years were assigned teams for the rest of their time at Beacon. Once they were up, they approached the headmaster and stood as the audience cheered and clapped.
"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc and Weiss Schnee. You four recovered the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team JSBR (Jasper). Led by Jaune Arc."
"Say what now?" The boy asked. Weiss also seemed displeased with Ozpin's decision.
"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin said with an amused grin. "It seems that things are shaping up to be an...interesting year."
"Well, this day was thoroughly exhausting." Jaune commented as his new team entered their dorm room and picked the bed closest to the window.
"You didn't seem tired when you were killing all those grimm." Blake said as she picked her bed. Jaune raised a hand into the air for emphasis, "Adrenaline works wonders, my dear partner." Weiss stood at the end of his bed with her hands on her hips. "Ahem." Jaune ignored it, hoping she'd just scamper off.
"Ahem!" That did not appear to be the case. Jaune got up and leaned back on his elbows. "What?"
"We need to change."
"Okay..."
"And we need privacy." She then moved slightly to give him a view of the bathroom.
"Alright, alright. I'm going." He went into the bathroom and closed the door, performing his nightly duties before sitting and waiting for the girls' go ahead to leave the small, tile-floored room. For twenty minutes. "Guys, can I come out now?" No one answered. "Guys?" He opened the door a crack, then all the way and saw everyone sleeping in their beds. "Oh, screw you all." He muttered before climbing into his own bed and falling asleep.
I wonder if I'll get to really sleep this time...
"Dovahkiin" Oh boy, here we go. "Dovahkiin, mu lost ni tinvaak ko orin aan ol.(We have not talked in quite a while)."
"Yeah, I've just been weeping in your absence, godzilla." Jaune spoke to the inner voice that invaded his dreams.
"Foolish mortal. You would show me respect if your tiny mind could even comprehend my power. Now my soul has been forcedly merged with that of a puny blonde brat, and you won't believe how long it took to gather enough energy to make a connection to that small brain of yours."
"Yep. Too bad you're stuck in my head, Durnehviir." He responded to the bodiless dragon soul that was merged with his own. "So, any particular reason you decided to forcefully penetrate my mind?"
"Your wit never ceases to amuse me."
"Noted. Now, shall we get down to business?"
"What's the rush? You and I both know time is fluid here."
"Yeah, but I'd like to get some actual sleep while the night's young."
"Fair enough. You should know that dark times are approaching."
"Woah there, dude. Slow down. I can't handle all those details." He heard a growl echo through his subconscious.
"I hate you."
"Love you too, darling."
"I speak of the one's in possession of Sheogorath's...mistakenly bestowed Lah(magic)"
"Ugh, I'll deal with that when it comes. Besides, I'm sure Azura and Paarthurnax can handle them."
"Perhaps," Durnehviir said, "Perhaps not."
"Why do you say that?"
"..."
"Durnehviir?"
"Durnehviir?" The dragon's disembodied voice did not respond as Jaune began to hear the crackling of a campfire. But the crackling soon turned into the roar of a wildfire, mixed with the screams of villagers and his grandfather yelling at Jaune to take his sword and run...
"Jaune!"
Jaune immediately sat bolt upright, causing his teammates to jump back in alarm. He was panting and sweating slightly as he noticed their concerned faces.
"What?"
"We've been trying to wake you up for fifteen minutes. Ruby even started slapping you and we have the school nurse on stand by!" Weiss explained.
"Oh, that explains why my face hurts." Jaune sighed as he rubbed his cheek. He could never tell how much time passed when he was talking with Durnehviir. When he dreamt, minutes in his dream world could be hours or only seconds in the real one. He told them it was just a bad dream and managed to reassure Weiss and Ruby, who went to get changed. But he saw that Blake looked the most worried. "What's wrong, Blake?"
"You kept talking in your sleep." Jaune raised an eyebrow. "You kept saying stuff about fire, Jaune. How it was burning everything." Jaune sat up and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Blake. Like I said, it was just a nightmare." She didn't look convinced, but left it alone and headed into the bathroom to change. Since it was Sunday and classes didn't start until tomorrow, they didn't have to put on their uniforms. Jaune just put on a pair of jeans and his black hoodie.
Once everyone had clothes on, Jaune asked, "So, what do you guys want to do? Classes don't start until tomorrow, so we got some time."
"Weiss wanted us to explore the school to memorize where everything is." Ruby suggested. Jaune nodded.
"Alright, but how about we get some breakfast first?" Jaune said as his stomach growled louder than an Ursa. They all agreed, so team JSBR headed out the door. As his team walked down the hallway toward the stairs, Jaune put his hands in his pockets and contemplated what Durnehviir had told him. If the ones who took Amber's powers were planning something, he'd have to find out what. That probably meant talking with Ozpin and Qrow. He shook his head, dispelling the thoughts. There was no need to think about that now. He was training to be a huntsman now.
His team finally made it to the cafeteria and saw Yang wave them over to a table where her team sat. After getting their food, they sat down across from team PLLN. "Morning," Jaune greeted. He saw that Nora was scarfing down pancakes faster than a blood dragon could swallow a fishing boat while Ren was busy monitoring her so she wouldn't choke to death. Jaune then met Yang's eyes, and saw that she kept her threatening gaze on him with a mix of curiosity and anger. Thankfully, Pyrrha was paying attention and willing/able to respond. "Good morning, Jaune. How are you all adjusting to your dorms."
"Fine. Although, I did have a bit of a rude awakening." He replied, turning to Ruby, who paused with a cookie halfway to her waiting mouth. She let out a small, nervous laugh and scratched the back of her head. Jaune rolled his eyes before turning back to the other team. "Anyhow, what about you guys?"
"We're fine." Yang said quickly. They all turned to her and Ruby asked, "Are you alright, Yang? You seem...angrier than usual." She got up and made her way around the table.
"Actually, Jaune and I need to have a little chat. Now." Jaune just grabbed his milk carton as he was dragged out of the cafeteria with a straight face. He saw other students staring at him, being pulled out by the collar while sipping from a carton of milk like he was still sitting at a table. "Nothing to see here, folks. Move along."
Once out of the cafeteria, the girl lifted Jaune to his feet and spun him around to face her. Jaune took a painfully long sip through the straw of his drink, taking a bit of satisfaction as her eye twitched angrily. "So, what's up?"
"What's up? What's up? What's up is that I want to know what you've been doing around my sister."
Jaune narrowed his eyes. Who did she think he is, some kind of pervert? "Care to elaborate?" He asked calmly. She forced him up against the wall. "You know what I'm talking about, Arc!" He slapped her hands off of him so he could actually stand on the ground. "If you're insinuating that I'd do something to harm a teammate and friend, I'm afraid you're mistaken, Xiao Long." That seemed to calm her down as she sighed. "Look, I'm...sorry. But Ruby's my sister. My family. If anything happened to her, I couldn't live with myself."
"I know. But she's got friends now. We'll have her back and she'll have ours." He smiled, she smiled, too. "We'll all help each other." Just then, their teams walked out the cafeteria doors. "Hey guys, you were gone a while so we left to find you." Ruby said as they walked over to the two blondes.
"We're fine, Ruby. Just talking." Jaune said as he slid his hands into his hoodie pockets. "Well, what do you guys want to check out next?" Blake spoke up, "I was hoping to see the library."
"Sounds good to me. How about you guys?" Jaune said, turning to Ruby and Weiss. "Ew, books." Ruby groaned, "Why don't we do something fun? Oh, I know! We can see the forges." The young girl seemed to get more and more excited the longer she thought about a facility dedicated to the creation, manufacturing and maintenance of weaponry. "Well, how about we split up? Blake and I can see the library and you two can see the forge."
"Alright! Let's go, Weiss!" And just like that, Ruby sped off down the hall. Jaune gave team PLLN a quick goodbye and strode down the other direction with Blake following him.
Two large double doors creaked open, giving the two teens a view of the largest library either of them had ever seen due to the fact that Blake had grown up outside the kingdoms, far away from any fount of knowledge this size and for Jaune, it was because Azura's collection was kept in her closet, an area Jaune wouldn't dare venture even if he was suicidal.
"So what do you want to..." Jaune trailed off when he saw a black blur shoot off into the labyrinth of bookshelves. "...look at." He merely shrugged and walked to the first group of shelves. The boy grabbed a book on ways to manipulate dust and sat at one of the small tables. As Jaune cracked the book open, Blake shot over to his table with a stack of various books and sat down across from him. The two partners read in silence, and before they knew it, two hours had passed and Jaune had already finished his book. He checked the clock on the wall behind him and saw that it was just around noon.
As he rose, his movement snapped Blake out of her reading and she looked up. Jaune took his reading glasses off and stowed them in his pocket before telling Blake, "I've gotta run into Vale and grab a few things."
"Alright, I'l stay here and keep reading."
"Okay, I'll probably be back in an hour or two, so I might not be here for lunch." With that, he walked away, returning the book he'd read back to where it belonged and heading to the airship docks.
Jaune tried and failed to brace himself for the movements of the air vessel, but his condition beat him and for the next hour, he was hunched over a trash can.
After he'd gotten off that airborne deathtrap, he made his way into the market district to find a pharmacy. He walked around a bit, taking in all the sights of the city. He hadn't been back here in a few months, so it was always nice to see the sights.
Somehow, he'd wandered his way into a huge mall, and, with the help of a directory, made his way to a pharmacy that would have everything he needed. The boy wandered the aisles, grabbing motion sickness meds, a toothbrush, toothpaste and mouthwash. He also bought deodorant and a small kit for cleaning and fixing glasses. It never hurt to be prepared. As Jaune made his way out of the mall, he resumed his walk down the street, only to see a man get thrown to the ground at his feet. He turned to see the bouncer of a pub that had thrown him out, then looked back at the man and noticed the black/gray hair, red cape and the scent of a distillery wafting from him.
The man rolled onto his back as the bouncer yelled, "And stay out!", before slamming the pub door shut.
"Does someone pay you to get thrown out of bars or is it just a hobby of yours?" He asked the man. The old crow finally noticed the young warrior's presence and got up. "Jaune, it's been a while."
"Qrow." He helped the man up and Jaune continued on down the street with Qrow following him. "Have you found any new leads since Mistral?"
"Nothing substantial. We've heard a few rumors here and there."
"Well, I've got bupkis as well. Although I haven't gotten to look into it in a while on account of training. Plus, you know, hunting giant, flying lizards."
Qrow took a swig from his flask, "Seems like we're always going one step forward and two steps back."
"Tell me about it. Nocturnal can't even find a lead. It's like they're all gone, poof, into the wind. Durnehviir said that they were up to something, but he wasn't able to give me the full scoop." Jaune replied. So, the search for the one's who took Amber's power was turning up empty, without a solid lead in almost six months. Qrow decided to try and steer the conversation to a topic less depressing. "So, what brings you to Vale?"
"Oh, you know. The weather's fantastic this time of year. Plus, Vale has a wonderful T.G.I. Fridays."
"Come on, Jaune. You don't come here unless you've got a real reason." He took another swig from his flask.
"Alright, I'm enrolled as a student at Beacon." The older man sputtered and ended up coughing on his liquor. He then started laughing. "That's just golden. Jaune Arc a student at an actual combat school? What happened to all that talk about how school was for wimps?"
"Okay, first off, I was thirteen when I said that. Second, I was really dumb when I was thirteen. Third, I needed information and Beacon seemed like the best place to get it."
Once done laughing, Qrow asked, "So that mean you're on a team?"
"Yep. Leader, actually. And let me tell you, being on a team with three teenage girls is a fucking nightmare."
"Hey, I was teammates with Taiyang and two girls, one of which was my sister."
...
...
"Point taken. But at least you didn't have a Schnee." Qrow chuckled at that one. "Oh yeah, I heard the mini Ice Queen was going to Beacon. So who are the others?"
"Well, my partners alright, she doesn't talk all that much. Weiss's partner, Ruby, is the exact opposite of her-"
"Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait wait. WAIT. My niece is on your team?"
"...Ruby's your niece?"
"Yes. And if anything happens to her, I'll rip your-"
"I got it, Qrow. Yang already gave me the talk, albeit much more straightforward." That seemed to calm Qrow down. If he was one thing, it was protective of his nieces. The man actually started laughing a bit as they walked. "She is a fireball, that one."
"She gets it from you."
"You can't prove that."
"We'll see." Jaune checked his scroll. It was 1:30 and they were fairly close to the docks, so he could either grab an airship ride to Beacon now or wait another hour. He chose the former.
"Well, I have to get going if I want to catch the ship. See you around, Qrow."
"Alright. I'm gonna be headed outside the kingdoms on recon, so, you know, don't assume I'm dead or anything." Jaune smiled. "I won't."
"See you around, brat."
"Jerk."
"Bitch."
"Asshole."
There's chapter four. Thank you to al my readers and make sure to take a look at my other stories! As always, leave reviews.
Fireballmonkey out.