Feeling the vibrations in the haul of the Bullhead as the departure doors and walk-off ramp hummed open, Ruby nervously took in a breath to calm herself. She was wearing her favorite red cloak overtop a black long-sleeved blouse with a high-collar and red trim over the sleeves and hem of the skirt; red lacing gave it the impression of frills. Thick black stockings over her legs led to a pair of heavy combat boots with similar red trims, laces, and soles. There was a theme here, but Ruby refused to acknowledge it.
Red was the colour of passion and courage, and she was going to need a lot of that going forward.
Anxiously, Ruby schooled her features when she felt Yang's suspicious gaze continue to scrutinize her.
Yang was wearing something of a yellow theme. Well, it was mainly her long blond hair, Ruby digressed, but the point still stood. Outside of Yang's hair, she wore a tan jacket with an exposed midriff and puffy sleeves. A belt hung over her waist attached to a simple survivor pouch which Ruby was sure Yang always kept a certain digger inside. A pleated brown piece etched with a flame symbol she found cool hung off the right side of her belt where she wore black compression spandex shorts that only reached her upper thighs beneath.
She'd decked herself out to look both appealing and confident at the same time. Other than looking 'cool' for the boys, there was likely another reason as every time her eyes weren't on Ruby, she'd be scouring Beacon's crowd for someone else. This was something Ruby wished Yang would be doing right now rather than staring at her again.
Obviously, reality always seems to differ from what we want, and what we receive.
"You didn't even respond to my Bee's knees, joke," Yang muttered with a frown.
Ruby squinted. Bee's knees?
Yang shook her head. "You weren't even paying attention earlier, were you?"
"W-What do you mean? Of course, I was! I'm just excited is all! This is Beacon!" Ruby interjected, trying to inject as much bubbly enthusiasm as she could. However, there was a stark difference between trying to be bubbly, and being bubbly.
Yang inwardly scowled, figuring that Ruby was hiding something from her, but not prying too deeply as she was also guilty of hiding things. Still, Ruby was at that age, and she swore that if it was a boy who couldn't take no for an answer…
Yang sighed, placing a hand over her face and shaking her head while she, Ruby, and many other passengers disembarked from the Bullhead and into Beacon's school grounds.
The place was beautiful, opening into a white central plaza with an open fountain at the center. The gardener and décor designer of the place must have been of exceptional quality to even include a marble statue of a Huntsman at the middle of it all.
In any case, sight-seeing was the furthest from Yang's priorities. She rolled her eyes, and noticed that vacantly vigilant, almost pensive expression on Ruby's face again.
So much for excitement, right?
"Excited, are you?" Yang raised a brow, Ruby's features stiffening as she caught herself.
"Y-Yeah, how can I not be?" She stammered hurriedly.
"Even if you're the odd one out on special admission? You know, the bee's knees?" Yang repeated what she'd said earlier, and this time she knew Ruby processed it as she nearly tripped over her feet.
Oh. Oooh, that's what she meant by bee's knees. O Brother Gods.
"B-But I don't want to be the bee's knees," Ruby tucked her neck into her shoulders, glancing at the people around her and praying that none knew that she was younger than all of them. She didn't want to stand out. Just because she was on a personal mission didn't mean she'd cured her poor social skills. "I don't wanna be any kind of "knees"! I just wanna be a normal girl, with normal knees- Yang, now you made me think about it! Nooooo!"
Yang paused. This was the reaction she'd been expecting now that Ruby was actually listening. Then again, it meant that beforehand, Ruby had indeed been too hung up over her thoughts. There was something she was obviously not sharing.
Yang's eyes narrowed darkly, her lips pursing. It really might be a boy…
Knowing Ruby's skills, big sis might have to step in. Besides, it was a reprieve from all the heavy stuff her uncle Qrow had stressed to her about secrecy.
She paused in her steps and cleared her throat, not noticing the cloud of dust kicked up by a crowd of people behind her like Ruby.
"Ruby," Yang began, only to be cut off by a swarm of her prep school friends dragging her off. "Ack, no wait, guys we can catch up later, my little sister needs me! Guys, c'mon! She's having boy prob-"
Yang's voice drowned out before Ruby could catch on, which in itself was a blessing as she had too much on her shoulders already.
Biting down on her lower lip, Ruby let out another long breath.
Just like it was written, she found herself alone moments after she'd left the bullhead from Vale to Beacon. Granted, it wasn't because Yang abandoned her this time, and more because Yang's prep school friends had dragged her off to catch up with each other. Yang had refused to attend school with her hair cut off by their father, and as such hadn't seen a lot of her friends since then. It was just another minute change in the timeline Ruby had read.
Regardless, the day had come.
Here it was, the 'Shining Beacon,' as it was labeled in her future diary.
Beacon was both the beginning and the end of many events, large and small. She couldn't understand it quite well, but her future self had written the importance regarding it with the terms 'Maidens,' 'Relics,' and 'vault.' She had the information, and her older herself clearly understood what it all meant further down the line, but as for her present self? The meaning wasn't quite so clear to the point of being able to fully wrap her head around it.
It was like having the pieces of a puzzle, but missing the context or language required to understand it.
It made her feel like she was the main character in her own comic book meant to be the hero, but she was lagging from the start, and wasn't that a terrifying feeling? If anything went wrong, it would surely be her fault.
She shuddered, doing her best to blend into the crowd and robotically walk along before splitting off at a certain point.
What she could see in the future was limited in the event that she changed anything. After all, what good would a future diary be if it depicted a future that's already changed? Given enough time, Ruby discovered that the contents of the diary would shift to accommodate almost like a 'new' future Ruby was writing the diary. Of course, the implication that these changes meant that a future Ruby was still desperate enough to send a diary back in time, was a bleak feeling. Then again, the diary wasn't all knowing.
Her future diary wasn't a static book of entry posts, but was dynamic in that it showed her recent changes only up to a couple hours ahead.
Ruby was unaware of any technicalities, but it didn't mean the diary wasn't profound.
Technically, the amount of magic energy required to continue reading between the lines of parallel futures was enormous, and may only be able to be fueled by someone who could tap into the power between worlds. Just being able to see a few hours ahead after making a change was already a boon.
Think of it like this. Once Ruby makes a change, the contents of the diary prior turn into blank pages that are gradually filled out, practically leaving nothing of the original behind.
A blank slate, a new road not yet crossed.
It was here in Beacon where Ruby would meet her strongest allies and life-long friends. It was also here where she could influence future outcomes the most while everyone was still in their growing phases- the most important figure of which, that needed to be fostered to end-game level as soon as possible for the safety of everyone, should be arriving about…now.
Ruby found herself waiting by a Beacon side-hall where she outstretched her hand, and made a grabbing motion to an unsuspecting person quietly trying to sneak past the vicinity of the first-year crowds.
"Ack, no!" Said person immediately panicked in alarm, flailing his arms to no avail while caught on the hood of his hoodie.
Meanwhile, Ruby was all smiles.
"Hello future bestie!" She proclaimed, barely concealing her excitement.
To say she wasn't acquainted with the boy would be a lie. In fact, they were once even comrades on the same battlefield.
"T-That voice," the thrashing figure paused incredulously, revealing a disheveled Jaune Arc trying to process everything. "Ruby?"
Jaune wore a black short-sleeved hoodie with a Pumpkin Pete logo hidden behind a diamond-shaped chest plate cut off above his lower abdomen. The inner lining of the hoodie was red, and on his legs were a pair of blue jeans with a white patch placed on the left knee. A sword strap and belt hungover his waist, while on his feet were a pair of sneakers with the letters 'R' and 'L' written on the soles as if he was still a child. A prank from one of his seven sisters surely.
In any case, he looked like he'd rushed and pulled on anything convenient on hand before arriving at Beacon which wasn't a far-fetched assessment. Ruby knew this clearly. It was shared by a future Jaune Arc regarding the circumstance to his Beacon admission to a future Ruby who wrote the entry into her diary.
"That's me," Ruby smiled and answered brightly.
From what was written, she and Jaune were the bestest of friends, bonding over their shared love of comics, hero worship, and their social awkwardness.
To be fair, she wasn't supposed to meet up with Jaune until later in Beacon's initiation test, but she saw in her diary how Jaune had snuck into Beacon from the side of the building.
Low and behold, here he was.
Not only did she decide to meet Jaune earlier because he'd become her best friend, but also because of the type of figure he'd become. From what she'd read, so long as his banner was raised high, the hope of all allies fighting under it would never die. He was an essential player in the original future she'd read, and the sooner he reached his end game build, the better. Many injuries and tragedies could be averted through the strength of his Aura, Semblance, and tenacity.
Right now, though? He was far from the image of his future self, pointing a finger at Ruby in shock, awe, and a tad good bit of accusation.
"I haven't seen you since Mt. Glenn!" Jaune accused, dusting himself off and breathing a sigh of relief that it was Ruby and not one of those rabid fans that had nabbed him. "You don't even show up in the editorial magazines for the Rose Mercenaries either!"
"Sorry, I've been busy," Ruby made an excuse which Jaune didn't really care about as he began to calm down. He was just glad to see a familiar person, you know minus the fact that Ruby was no longer wearing a mask this time.
She had a charming face, making Jaune feel self-conscious about staring at it for too long.
Ruby didn't even seem to notice as she continued beaming at him in silence, seemingly not realizing that prolonged silence was making things more awkward.
"Soo," Jaune tried to make light banter. He was never quite good at those, but he still tried. "I thought Ruby was your Mercenary name?"
Ruby blinked. "Why would you think that?"
"Scarlet, Emerald, Neapolitan, that orange haired guy, the wanted Ms. Blond Kickass posting on every comment thread…" Jaune began absently listing with his fingers.
It was a fair point, but from there, the silence returned as the both of them stewed in their poor social skills.
"So, uhm, did you know Beacon has teams?" Ruby owlishly tried to put her agenda forward, her actions almost cringe-worthy in her version of nonchalant.
"Oh, of course I did. It's not like I was evacuated here- or anything like that! Totally not," Jaune blustered for a moment before puffing up his chest and brushing the dust off his shoulders. "Still, should I take this as a proposition for your application to join the winning team?"
Ruby just stared before she let out a giggle, deciding to put off her request in her mind.
"Yup, still a dork."
The description in her future diary was a hundred-percent accurate.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?! And hey- where'd everybody go?"
Jaune blinked, realizing that after his attention focused on Ruby, only the two of them were still in the area where all the first-years had been before. The massive crowd was practically nowhere in sight, and Jaune wasn't going to admit he didn't know where he was going so easily.
Watching Jaune, Ruby had a vague smile play on her lips. "Let me guess, you don't know where you're going now that everyone's gone?"
"H-How did you…?"
Ruby inwardly cackled, knowing full well that she could at least change the part in her diary where she had ended up wandering randomly and missed the opening ceremony. Because of this blunder, her future self had written a detailed post about how to get from where to where in Beacon through its landmarks.
She refused to let something so embarrassing happen, and was pleased that she'd prevented another chapter in her dark history of blusters.
"It's this way."
With this proof of change, Ruby reassured herself that everything would be alright if she worked hard on it.
Those…those heavier things in her diary that she couldn't accept.
She wouldn't let them happen. She swore.
Beacon's opening ceremony was as boring as Ruby's future diary had depicted it to be, but it didn't really matter anyway. What could be done in the middle of the ceremony was far more limited than the true battlefield later the same evening where everyone was gathered together in a large auditorium before bed.
There was no official segregation between boys and girls, but rather an implicit understanding between them where the boys crowded on one side, and the girls on the other. The middle zone where the two met was the ambiguous area where boys who slept shirtless showed off their muscles, and confident girls revealed no shame in ogling.
Where was Ruby, and what was she doing? Well, she was trying to persuade her sister not to set up their bedrolls in the ambiguous zone for 'free eye-candy,' as Yang had put it.
Suspiciously, Ruby had half-a-mind to believe that it wasn't really the eye-candy Yang was going for by wanting to set their bedrolls closer to the center of the room. Simply by being at the center, visibility to survey the room was wider at the center then at a far corner.
"Yang, I'm warning you. I'll tell dad. Your hair won't last a second shaving if he finds out what you're doing," Ruby warned, being unwillingly dragged by Yang closer to the center of the room.
Yang stilled at the threat. Nowadays, she keeps her hair long not for sentimentality, but because she hoped it would make her look beautiful to the person she wanted to attract.
She didn't want to lose it again, and ever since her father noticed how effective a threat it was to prune her hair, it became a repetitive yet effective threat.
Compromising, Ruby and Yang ended up in the middle zone, not too far, but not as close as Yang had hoped.
Sighing, Yang grouchily snorted at Ruby for ruining her plans. Still, she was curious about what had happened to Ruby after her friends had dragged her off. Ruby's weird behavior as of late hadn't actually left Yang's mind.
"Ruby, where have you been all day? I noticed you talking earlier with a…boy?" Yang narrowed her gaze, something Ruby didn't notice as she was too preoccupied with searching for her sleeping wear that she'd packed. Yang hadn't been able to see a clear view of the boy's face, but coupled with Ruby's earlier mood, she was already suspicious.
"Oh, that's a friend," Ruby answered over her back, tossing folded clothes to the side until she found her favorite pajamas buried at the bottom of her luggage bag.
"A friend?" Yang reeled back perturbed. "Someone from Signal Academy you used to know?"
"No, we just met again today."
"T-Today?" Yang couldn't believe it. It was Ruby. When was the last time she made friends on first meeting? No wait, maybe-!
The cause of Ruby's present troubles?
"So, it's him, huh?" Yang's eyes were strangely infuriated, her knuckles cracking as she balled her hands into fists. "What's his name?"
"Jaune Arc," Ruby answered while slipping on her PJs.
"So that's his name. I'll have to keep it in mind," for his tombston- No no wait. Hold up. Yang snapped her head up. "Did you say Jaune Arc? That Jaune Arc? The famous one?"
"Yeah, the one I met on Mt. Glenn with Archer."
Ruby peeked over her shoulder to see Yang suddenly brooding. She was definitely still salty that Ruby hadn't thought to invite her on that mission with Archer so long ago.
"Then where is he? I don't see him anywhere here?" Yang inquired after a moment.
"Funny that?" Ruby scratched the side of her cheek, bemused. "He has special accommodations that Ozpin arranged."
"Why?"
"Crowds or something. He didn't elaborate. Looked terrified." Ruby shrugged.
Knowing that Jaune really was a friend Ruby had made in Mt. Glenn, Yang dropped her suspicion on the Arc being the source of Ruby's troubles. In the end, Yang realized that she just had to hope that Ruby would share what was troubling her eventually. For now, Yang had her own priorities and concerns.
Glancing at Yang, Ruby noticed her elder sister begin to subtly scan every corner of the room while pretending to go through her usual sleep routine.
"Looking for someone?" Ruby inquired, sitting herself next to Yang.
"Yeah, a special someone who once promised me he'd be here…"
"Who?"
Yang curled her lips. "Not telling."
Ruby wasn't fooled in the least. Instead, she decided to call Yang out on her airs. "Oh, look, Archer!"
"Where?!" Yang's gaze snapped in the direction Ruby specified so fast that Ruby could have sworn it wasn't human.
Of course, when Yang noticed there was nothing there but a bunch of strangers staring back at her, she grew flustered and pretended as if her outburst didn't just happen.
"Not cool Rubes." Yang snorted, puffed her cheeks and turned away in betrayal. In any case, it seemed like Archer really wasn't here, so she lost her motivation. Getting into her bed roll, she faced her back towards Ruby and pouted.
In the meantime, Ruby herself began looking around. Soon enough, she found her first person of interest.
[Blake Belladonna: Calm cool, ninja cat friend. Likes to read books she insists are for plot]
This was the apt description in Ruby's future diary. Nothing too detailed, but she at least got the 'cat' part which let her locate the only cat Faunus in the room. She labeled the Faunus as Blake in her mind.
Blake's cat ears were perked up, her night clothes consisting of a soft white yukata that left the thighs of her left leg exposed as she sat at the far corner of the room. Oddly enough, Blake was staring intently at Ruby with a discerning eye.
The two made eye contact. Blake had the 'I'm on to you' sort of expression on her face, minus the hand motions and all that, but the point still stood.
Even if they were friends in the future, it didn't mean they were friends now. No matter what, randomly staring into a stranger's eyes for too long is just weird.
Ruby nervously shied away from the staring contest with Blake and shifted her attention elsewhere by wandering off to her right and bumping into the person setting up her bedroll nearby.
"Sorry!" Ruby apologized, waving her hands in front of her only to freeze as the face in front of her morphed into outrage.
"I-Its yooouu!" A yell resounded.
That screeching voice.
"No! It's the banshee!" Yang curled on her side and covered her ears.
"Excuse me, what?"
Indignant, the girl stormed towards Yang and Ruby's direction.
White hair the color of snow, and fair doll-like features revealed the face of Weiss Schnee. She was furious, the white corset dress she called sleeping wear appearing far too tight to be comfortable. She pointed a finger at Yang, utterly ignoring Ruby.
"If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have been able to escape that barbarian camp!"
"And who needed me to free her first?" Yang quipped, regret mixed in her tone at the consequences of her actions then. "Maybe it would have been better if we'd actually stayed…" Yang whispered before shaking her head and turning her full attention on Weiss. "Did you need something, or did you really just come to yell?"
"I'll have you know that I was rudely bumped into," Weiss crossed her arms, chin raised high.
"I apologized!" Ruby defended herself.
Yang gave Weiss a deadpan. "So you just came here to scream?"
"..." Weiss had nothing to say at that. She just saw Ruby and Yang, and all her frustration and rage from her earlier capture just came flooding back at her would-be saviors who practically abandoned her. "Hmph," she snorted and walked.
"Geez, what's her problem, right? Don't mind her Rubes." Yang whistled before settling back down.
Ruby stiffly nodded, but also knew that Weiss wasn't all that bad from what was written in the future. She was just in her prissy phase. She apparently mellows out later.
Shifting her attention back towards looking at the crowd around her, it didn't take Ruby long to find another person she knew.
Emerald Sustrai. She was seated and sulking at the corner, hands resting beneath her chin while she muttered curses under her breath.
Next to Emerald was a girl Ruby had admittedly never seen before, but knew of from description. She had mismatched hair, pink and brown, and was wearing a loose T-shirt and baggy sports pants to sleep. Unlike Emerald who didn't notice Ruby glancing her way, Neo's senses were sharp and she gave a toothy grin and wave at Ruby, playfully making a cutting motion across her neck.
[Neopolitan. Rose Mercenary: Dangerous. When she's smiling at you, run. Likes Neapolitan flavored Ice Cream. She and Ranger Orange might be together-together.]
Nervously, Ruby waved back and promptly pretended Emerald and Neo didn't exist in the same room. She was just a teensy bit unnerved by Emerald's choice of company was all.
Further away and glaring at anyone that tried to approach was another familiar woman.
Vernal.
Vernal was particularly easy for Ruby to spot as no one dared set up their beds near her, making her alone within a ten-foot radius. Ruby wasn't too clear on Vernal's reasons for being here as her future self hadn't been so chummy with her, but Vernal certainly had her own reasons.
Other than the people she spotted, Ruby could find no one else nearby that she'd read about prior. Heading back over to Yang, Ruby finished laying out her bed roll and made herself comfortable.
Putting a Valve comic in front of her and pretending to read while actually having her future diary in front of her, Ruby began to re-read some entries in case she missed any new details caused by her actions.
Speaking of new details…
"Is that-!"
Ruby pressed her face closer to her future diary in shock.
[Ectoras Verdant kept mainly to himself out of consideration for the look he'd seen on Pyrrha's face when they met moments before Beacon's opening ceremony.]
Ector's here! How, why?
Wasn't he supposed to have gone to a closer Huntsman Academy near Mistral?
What changed?
No! This is just further proof! Her actions in one place could change the future in another!
This was another positive change.
Where was he? He had to be in here somewhere, right?! Moreover, pull Jaune out from whatever special accommodations Ozpin had set him up with, and the Mt. Glenn gang was back!
Ruby shot her head up and began looking through the crowd agan, but by now, a lot of people had turned in for the night and covered themselves up with their blankets.
Giving up after not being able to find Ector, Ruby's enthusiasm still wouldn't die down.
Her eyes sparkled, but she had no one to share her excitement with since Yang was sleeping and Shirou was in astral form and couldn't really interact with her like normal. The best she could do was communicate, but that meant opening a can of worms concerning how she knew things she shouldn't? Like how Ector was even here, or the reason for her odd behaviors.
An idea abruptly clicked.
M-Maybe she could convince Shirou with some sort of prophetic ability like in the Valve she was reading? Wait! She could do that, couldn't she?!
'Shirou.'
"Yes? Finally willing to tell me what's troubling you?"
'I know the future.'
Not the response Shirou was expecting, but he'd work with it. "Go to sleep."
'No, I'm serious. Later you'll be-'
'In the same place I am now?'
Ruby choked on an answer to that, unable to come up with one as it was true. If she wanted to be convincing she'd actually have to show proof.
"...I'm going to sleep. I'll prove it to you tomorrow!"
She would be ready for what tomorrow would bring!
Shirou snorted, choosing not to comment on the time aspects within the particular Valve series Ruby was currently reading.
She'd always been rather impressionable.
The next morning came with all its pleasantness shattered by a girlish scream echoing down the halls, followed by the clamorous footsteps of a heated crowd. The noise was so loud that numerous grumbles resounded from the auditorium.
Ruby groggily raised her head and blinked her eyes at the early commotion, but couldn't get the sleep out of them, so she gave up and knowingly curled back into the warmth of her blanket and pillow.
She found that she recognized that scream.
"Good luck, Jaune," she whispered before dozing back off.
/-/
As it would turn out, Jaune Arc would need more than a simple 'good luck' for his early morning troubles. Was it too much that he just wanted to step out of Ozpin's special accommodations to eat breakfast with everyone else like a normal person?
Yes. The answer was obviously yes.
Panting for breath, Jaune felt his lungs burning from exertion as a large crowd chased behind him.
Why did this always happen ever since Mt. Glenn?!
The only thing of value about him beyond the war banner he'd received from a speculated long-lost Arc-family artifact were his looks. Worse, he wasn't even all that confident about himself, nor why the artifact had chosen him.
The origin of the War Banner itself was a mystery no one really knew, but inlaid within the steel craftsmanship of the polearm was the name 'Jeanne d'Arc.' It was from this name and origin that the theory of it being an ancient Arc family heirloom emerged. It didn't help that it's barrier active and strongest passive could only be activated enmass when Jaune was holding it. Otherwise, the banner emitted a healing aura to the wielder which could catalyse the Aura of the holder.
Then go flock to the banner! It's in a locker!
Jaune swallowed down his indignation and pushed himself to keep running. Left unsaid, but after spending a considerable duration of time with the banner, his own Aura had shifted to mimic the aura of the banner.
Having grown habituated to it, he didn't even notice that over his skin and hair was a faint golden shine that exuded a comforting feeling. This would earn him the moniker of Holy Saint in the future 'war' written in Ruby's future diary. Those near him would only ever want to try getting closer, if possible, as everyone has that feeling of yearning within them. He would, in essence, become a lynchpin that could keep even the most irritable placated.
Then again, the future was far off, and not everyone that was chasing him had pure motives. Many were just rabid fans.
Over the years, the Arc family had come to an arrangement with Remnant's Kingdoms for Jaune to help talented youth awaken their Aura in the battle against the forces of the Grimm. Many events were also televised to spread optimism and ward away negativity.
Jaune had unknowingly become a public figure. A celebrity whose level of influence he didn't even reach the standard of comprehending.
What he did understand was that if he ever got caught in a fangirl crowd, his clothes and personal belongings would be stripped. If not for his desperate hold over his underwear, he may as well have ended up buck-naked if he wasn't careful. His sister's had been the one to pull him out of that particular incident, and since then, he'd developed a fear of crowds.
Kicking dust behind him, he picked up his pace before his eyes widened when he noticed a girl who'd woken up even earlier than him in the middle of the hallway he was running through.
Now this wasn't one of those cliché boy-bumps-into-girl moments on TV, but reality.
"Ruuuuun!" He screamed in warning, watching the girl's eyes dilate in alarm at the sight of the crowd behind him.
He might have imagined it, but the crowd seemed to get even more hectic upon seeing the girl who nervously began backing away to no avail.
Jaune had no time to scream anything else before passing by the girl, self preservation his main priority.
It didn't even take a second until the crowd was on the girl.
Guilt welled in Jaune's eyes when he glanced back and saw the girl's arms flailing in the midst of the crowd.
Oh, Brother Gods they really were rabid!
Complexion paling, beads of sweat formed over Jaune's brow before he kicked himself into second gear. Another lap around Beacon's campus forced him into third gear, and by then he was dying, features drooped, and limbs flat. The crowd behind him had also thinned and lagged behind, but there was still a considerable amount.
Hide.
He had to hide. He decided.
Darting his eyes back and forth, Jaune finally took notice of a supply closet almost hidden between a set of lockers down the hall. Darting towards it, he turned the knob, entered the door, and immediately shut the door behind him, his back pressed against it.
He tensed at the sound of numerous footsteps passing by, and only relaxed when the sound grew more and more distant.
Safe.
Relief flooded through him, giving him the mind to stare at his surroundings. This was definitely a supply closet. A Bucket and mop were on one corner, while on the other side, all kinds of cleaning chemicals and agents lined the shelves.
The thing was…he wasn't alone.
Standing awkwardly silent in front of him was that girl he'd run past, and saw get swallowed up by the crowd behind him earlier. Obviously, she'd taken refuge here just as he did. N-Now that he thought about it, wasn't this all his fault?
"So ugh, nice supply closet huh?" He winced at his own words.
"Y-Yeah," The girl answered stiffly.
The girl before Jaune would definitely stand out in a crowd with her waist-long red hair tied into a ponytail through a loose circlet. Moreover, she was a beauty that would surely draw stares anywhere she went. Her eyes were a verdant green, her awkward smile rather charming if not a little strained.
She wore a brown over-bust corset with a vertical strip of lighter brown in the center. On her waist was a small mini-skirt where a long red sash hung on her left side. Over her arms were opera-like black gloves that contrasted well with her red and brown colour theme going on.
Sensing the silence stretching, it wasn't the socially awkward Jaune that broke it, but the girl who began to relax and appear rather sheepish.
"You're Jaune Arc, right?" She inquired.
All too quickly, Jaune felt his stomach drop. He'd learned to be wary when others called his name out before he even introduced himself, especially when he considered that he was basically stuck in the supply closet with this girl.
"Oh no, please not another one…" He mumbled, raising his arms up in defence when a curious gleam flickered across the girl's face.
"You, you don't know me?" The girl played with the words, as if they were foreign.
Jaune blinked through his raised arms to see that the girl hadn't jumped him and had instead stopped at a respectable distance, mindful of her boundaries. Finally, someone normal!
He shook his head and let his tension ease.
"Am I supposed to?" He asked, feeling something shift subtly in the girl's gaze towards him.
"No," she smiled faintly, offering a hand towards Jaune who'd slid his back over the door into a crouch on the ground.
Jaune looked at the offered hand, and at the girl's earnest expression. He reached his hand out and clasped it in hers, allowing the girl to help pull him up to his feet.
"Sorry, about all this," Jaune couldn't help apologizing before turning around and keeping an ear pressed to the supply room door for sounds of the crowd outside. Faintly, he could still hear them. It wasn't safe to leave yet. "O c'mon, they're still there?"
"Uhm Jaune," the girl called out while Jaune continued to press his ear to the door, waiting until the sound of the crowd fully faded.
"Yes?"
"What did you mean by sorry?"
Jaune started in confusion, shaking his head and gesturing towards the door. "You know, for the crowd?"
The girl wet her lips; her mouth suddenly dry from her own incredulity. No. No way. "You think we're in this situation just because of you?" She asked to clarify.
"Isn't it?" Jaune stressed, nearly pulling at his hair. He'd always thought it would be cool to be famous, but he put his foot down now that he'd dragged someone else into his misfortune. "They cornered you in here because of me."
Silence.
The girl hurriedly raised a hand to cover her mouth, but it was too late. She laughed, the edges of her mouth reaching towards her ears while bemused wrinkles formed at the corner of her eyes.
Jaune thought the girl was making fun of him even if he was being earnest. She didn't understand!
"It's not funny!" He stressed, placing his hands on the girl's shoulders and shaking her back and forth. "You don't know what it's like to be in the middle of that. Hands, hands everywhere. There was one time I spit out a piece of gum and some crazy girl picked it up as if it was a treasure! S-She put it in her mouth, started chewing, and was like 'oooh, I'm eating Jaune…' Y-You don't get it? They're all crazy!"
The girl balked at the information, but for an entirely different reason.
'Not know what it's like?'
"Pft." The girl snorted, her cheeks reddening as she tried to hold another bout of laughter down but failed at Jaune's unamused deadpan.
"It's not funny."
"Hehha, no stop- just stop talking, you're making it worse."
"I was being serious."
The girl clamped her hands over her mouth harder, and even went to the point of turning her gaze to the side so she couldn't see Jaune's hollow gaze. Was that how she looked before she got used to it all? Well, she could relate.
"Sorry, I'm sorry," the girl apologized moments after she recomposed herself. "I know it's a serious matter."
"Good," Jaune firmly nodded. "Now all we have to do is wait a bit in case any come back. We should be safe to leave from the-"
"Hey, I'm Pyrrha Nikos," the girl interrupted, smiling radiantly, showing no urgency despite knowing that they needed to leave to make the initiation on time.
Exasperated, Jaune turned towards Pyrrha and noticed her offering him a hand. This time in greeting.
Well, what did his mother used to say? Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet?
"Jaune Arc," he introduced, shaking Pyrrha's hand like a normal person, with a normal life, and normal goals.
No champion this, or invincible that.
Pyrrha beamed, her earlier depression fading significantly while she enthusiastically shook Jaune's hand, reluctant to let go.
It was the start of a beautiful relationship.
Beacon's initiation was on a cliff overlooking a patch of woods beside Beacon known as the Emerald Forest.
Headmaster Ozpin stood before the crowd of first years, a glint in his eyes while assessing the person beside him who finally agreed to a private talk after initiation. To be frank, Ozpin was looking forward more towards the private meeting than the results of the initiation.
Murmurs spread through the crowd of first-years, many of awe and respect.
A bemused smile crossed Ozpin lips, as he knew the reason why.
"Archer!" Yang called out from the First-Year crowd, grinning from ear to ear.
Indeed. The person in question beside Ozpin was no one else but the famed Mercenary, Archer of Mt. Glenn, who set off the archeological craze for lost artifacts throughout Remnant.
Ruby was practically one of the only ones who wasn't too surprised at the development. She'd read it a couple hours earlier, and Shirou even informed her that Archer was around.
"I see that everyone knows of our guest lecturer?" Ozpin chuckled, leaning both hands over his walking cane. "He is quite famous, isn't he? I'll have you know that he'll be one of your professors in the event that you pass initiation."
"What's he teaching?" Interest gleamed in Emerald's features. It was actually the first she was hearing of this. If Archer would be around in Beacon, then maybe she could actually put up with it?
Ozpin hummed, knowing the effect his answer would have. "A new elective pertaining to certain magic artifacts, their use, and a little practice with them here and there, but that matters little if you don't pass initiation."
M-Magic artifacts?
The first-years were stunned. There was no one in Remnant that didn't imagine themselves wielding the massive blade of light that debuted in Mt. Glenn. It was known that the sword in question was an artifact used by the Huntsman of Red and given to an experienced Huntsman. What was also known was that Archer too had access to these so called magic artifacts.
Did this new elective class mean he'd be sharing them? Or letting others try using them?
Glints formed in many eyes.
The will to pass initiation had never burned so strongly.
"Good. As the Headmaster, I like your spirit. Well then, stand in line over there while I get things ready. As you know, Beacon Academy operates in a team based system. Hence, the colleagues before you now may end up becoming the teammates you'll spend your time with throughout the academy. On that note, the first person you make eye-contact with, will be your partner." Wait what? The crowd knit their brows. "Your objective is to navigate through the Emerald Forest and recover a set of relics within…Good luck."
Ozpin clicked a button, launch pads hidden beneath the feet of students launching them into the Emerald Forest one by one with only Jaune Arc trying to get a word in.
"A-About a landing strategy, we get parachutes, right?"
Ozpin smiled. Jaune smiled back, strained. This was the last Ruby saw of Jaune and Ozpin's interaction as it was now her turn to get launched.
Sailing through the air, Ruby took in a breath and grew determined.
This was it.
Normally, she was supposed to land and meet Weiss during the initiation, but not this time. Too much was at stake, and she needed to do what she could now, rather than later. Besides, she'd already decided who she wanted on a team.
Hearing a girlish scream rip through the air, Ruby noted that it was the signal she was waiting for.
Right about now should be when it would happen.
She took Crescent Rose in her hands and shifted it into sniper form.
'Where was it…There!'
She fired a round from her rifle, knocking a certain spear that would have pinned a flailing Jaune Arc to a tree, off course. If Ruby heard the distant sound of someone cursing at her, she could only apologize sheepishly. This was for the sake of everyone.
She would be the hero. She had to be.
'Shirou! Carry me that way!'
It was time to change the future.
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