"Please train me!" Jaune pleaded, on his hands and knees, his eyelids nearly letting his tears break through.
Pyrrha scanned the form of her friend; it was a different one than she was used to. Different that the one she had met and instantly been attracted to when she first came to Beacon.
It was different from the clumsy leader that had coordinated their fight against the Deathstalker.
It was different even from the person she had discovered just earlier that night.
"Get some rest," Pyrrha responded as she pulled her friend to his feet, holding him firmly as he seemed ready to fall. The redhead's statement made Jaune realise that he was tired, really tired, and with this realisation, his knees gave in and he fell.
Rest... I could use some rest.
xXx
The next morning, at about 4am, the team JNPR leader was woken up by an ice-cold bucket of water. The cold shock made him jump out of his bed suddenly.
"Good morning," Pyrrha said pleasantly to Jaune, already dressed in her armour.
"Oh hey, Pyrrha," he responded in confusion, "Did you… happen to see a bucket of water lying about anywhere?"
"No," Pyrrha answered innocently, "Did you lose yours?"
"Oh, just forget it."
"Follow me," she said with a small smile as she walked with him and led him to one of the training rooms. A few seconds later, a bucket which was held up by Pyrrha's Semblance fell to the floor.
"Welcome to Pyrrha's combat school," she said jokingly, "You said you wanted me to train you right?"
"Pyrrha," Jaune said, surprised, as he approached the Sanctum Academy alumni, "Tha-"
His thanks were interrupted by a strike to the chest which sent him stumbling back unto his butt.
"From the moment you step into this room, remember that you are to be ready, no slacking off, no letting your guard down, no jokes. Listen to every word I say, and no interruptions."
Being a celebrity, Pyrrha was familiar with people prostrating themselves to her. Nevertheless, she was uncomfortable in those situations always embarrassed on their behalf.
"I understand," Jaune said seriously.
"Okay then," she responded happily, "The first thing to get out of the way is Aura and Semblances (sorry this is basically just going to be an info dump.)"
"Aura is the manifestation of one's soul. It protects us and bears our burdens. The nature of Aura is fairly complicated, but I'll try to explain it as best I can.
"Aura has two distinct natures: a passive nature and an active one. It's passive in the sense that it's always there once unlocked, and there are certain abilities one possesses always. For example, someone who has unlocked their Aura will exhibit heightened perception, increased strength, reflexes, speed and so on; also they can use their Semblances. One's Aura can be as signature as one's appearance or scent, as one can identify you from your Aura, another passive trait. Although it can actively be manipulated to hide or exaggerate one's character, intentions and so on."
"The active nature of Aura refers to something known as Battle State. The same way a person's heartbeat rises during activity or with the presence of danger, one's Aura also changes from its passive coat, to a more armour-like coating either consciously or subconsciously with the threat of danger. In this state, all abilities exhibited during while the Aura is passive, increase exponentially, but it is draining and one needs to practice Aura control and have a lot of stamina to use it for any substantial time. For example, a friendly person generally has an approachable presence as a result of their Aura, and malicious intentions can be manifested in one's Aura if they do not actively attempt to conceal it. In other words, a person's 'presence' is both active and passive as it is always there, but can be altered or suppressed."
"Moving on to Semblances," she continued, not noticing that Jaune had something he wanted to say, "A Semblance is an ability that is tied to an individual's Aura and usually unique to the person. Meaning it's hardly hereditary, though there are some exceptions, like in the case of the Schnee family. A Semblance is also of two types."
"Firstly, there is what is commonly called a Rudimentary Semblance. These are abilities that can be gained from mastery of Aura, such as enhanced speed, Aura manifestations etc. It is possible to use these abilities with a good enough mastery of one's Aura."
"Secondly, there are mystic Semblances which can't be gained simply from mastery of Aura, the Schnee Family's Glyphs or my Polarity are perfect examples. No one truly understands these Semblances, but they are often attributed to tales of magic and that people with some sort of connection with ancient magic have these mystic abilities."
"Okay, any questions?" Pyrrha asked after her lengthy speech.
"Uh, you know I went to combat school. I know all of this already," he said with mild amusement.
xXx
A few hours later, the two walked out of the training room, Pyrrha's bright disposition contrasted deeply with Jaune's exhausted gait. Pyrrha turned a corner just to see Mercury and the rest of team AMEN outside their dorm room door.
She pulled out Milo', ready to engage, although she did note that it was strange that mercury was bowing in the direction of the door.
"Hey Pyrrha, what's up?" Jaune asked as he turned the corner, tensing up on seeing Mercury and his team at their door.
Immediately Jaune arrived, Adam pushed Mercury forward slightly towards the pair.
"I'm sorry!" Mercury said earnestly, bowing deeply and earnestly.
"I have no excuse for my earlier conduct, but I hope you can forgive me for it."
"...Of course," Jaune responded, disallowing Pyrrha her 'less than polite' response, "We're guys, stuff like this just happens sometimes... no hard feelings."
This response apparently set Mercury at ease, as he retreated with the rest of his team, with more and more apologies.
"For someone who got into Beacon through lying, he's pretty terrible at it don't you think?"
xXx
"What were you thinking?" Pyrrha asked angrily as the two stepped into the dorm room.
"Pyrrha, listen," he said calmly, "Whether I forgive him or not is irrelevant."
"What do you mean?"
"He knows that I got into Beacon using fake transcripts... In other words, he has leverage over me, it's in my best interests that we are amicable, or at least apparently so."
Pyrrha watched her partner as he spoke. He whispered his explanation, not wanting the sleeping Nora and Ren to hear them, but despite his volume, his body spoke fully; his darkened brow, his quivering lip, his clenched fist. One thing was sure, he hadn't forgiven Mercury.
It was almost as though every time she looked at this young man, there was something different. It was like a painting; there were layers she discovered with every gander.
"I-I understand," Pyrrha responded calmly after hearing the explanation, "Either way, I'm going to take a shower."
"Pyrrha," the fourth generation Arc warrior said as he held Pyrrha's hand, causing her to pause, "I know after all the stupid things I said and did, I don't deserve your help. So, thank you, it means a lot to me that you'd do this for me...that you believe in me this much."
"Jaun-" Pyrrha's sentence was interrupted by a pillow hitting her square in the face.
"We're trying to sleep here," Nora, the one responsible for the pillow, said shouted sleepily.
"Sorry about that," Pyrrha apologised, as she headed for the shower.
"Ever notice those two sleep together?"
"Yeah," she whispered back to Jaune, "I just thought it'd be impolite to ask."
xXx
Through a lonely, dark wood, the fragmented moon shone, barely putting a dent into the copious darkness beneath it. With the sparse lighting, one would think that the darkness was alive, and they'd be right.
The darkness charged forward, taking the form of fangs and tusks and claws. Marauding the landscape hungrily. They had the appearance of beasts, but they were much worse; their bright eyes did nothing but enforce their dark presence.
The darkness was known as the Creatures of Grimm, enemies of humanity for as long as anyone could recall. The hoard of the most fearsome creatures in Remnant ran; they were running… away from a girl in pink?
"Here's Nora!" shouted the girl as she bounded with her great war-hammer and descended on the fleeing hoard whose chilling growls and roars had started to sound more like frightened yips and whimpers. The entire hoard seemed to dissolve once she landed amongst them.
The inky flood that resulted rushed forward, as though it was also fleeing from the fearsome girl.
It stopped suddenly though and began to churn and merge.
The transformation was disgusting and unnatural, like the school's lasagna. However, instead of nauseous smells and digestive tract infections, a group of humans emerged from the grotesque mass. They were bold-looking men and women, giving off the aura of warriors saving one detail; they had the faces of Grimm.
Nora caved in, falling to her knees in terror at the sight of these hybrids, the courage and carefreeness with which she had chased down the Grimm hoard had evaporated, leaving a terrified little girl instead.
Suddenly, hands grasped her from behind, pulling her into the darkness of the forest as she screamed and kicked in her terror.
"Nora!" shouted Ren, who was holding her from behind, and rocking her desperately.
"It's okay."
Nora's frenzy was ended with a gentle tune the brunette hummed into her ear, her body slowing becoming laxer and laxer in his arms.
"What happened?" asked Pyrrha and Jaune who had just finished their training and barged into the room.
"Well," Ren sighed, as he lay Nora back down to sleep, "She's been having this recurring dream."
xXx
"Men with faces of Grimm?" Pyrrha asked as she and Nora cued for their breakfast.
"Yeah," Nora answered spritely, apparently excited by the food, "I've been having the dream for ages; nothing to worry about."
Nora's reassurance did nothing to allay Pyrrha's worries.
"Is that why you two sleep together?" she whispered with the realisation, "Because of the nightmares?"
"That's part of it I guess," Nora said as she stacked her tray up high, "Though that kinda started because it took up the least space and we could keep each other warm."
Pyrrha gave Nora an empathetic look, though she decided not to pry because although they were teammates, they weren't all that close.
Clang.
The sound of tray falling to the ground knocked Pyrrha out of her thoughts.
"Everything okay?" asked Ren who was next to Jaune when he dropped his tray.
"Yeah," he said after a few seconds, absentmindedly, "I must not have been paying attention is all."
You know, you're a terrible liar, thought Ren, although he didn't voice his thoughts, since he and Jaune weren't all that close.
"Is everything okay?" Pyrrha asked worriedly, as she walked up to Jaune.
"Yeah, though I think I'm going to head to the infirmary; I'm not feeling all that well."
"Oh, okay then. I'll take notes for you." Pyrrha called out to his departing figure.
xXx
"Dust," shouted Mr. Oobleck, "By far Remnant's most important resource. We use it in our weapons, in our homes, at some point or another, it is present in every facet of our lives."
"But," he added after a pause, "How much do we really know about Dust? Its origins till this day unknown are mere speculation, and that's what we're here to study as disciples of history; after all, most of history is mere speculation about what was. Moving on, many tales, poems and epics have been written to explain the existence of this magical resource."
"In fact," he declared, "Many ancient works that would have been considered irrelevant in history have earned their place in Remnant's largest museums because they made allusions and references, albeit vague, to the origin of Dust."
"The most common explanation is one that speaks of an ancient civilization that went to war against some ancient pantheon or another, wielding the power of magic, some profess this ancient civilization's victory while other speak of their loss, although that is a small point, the important thing is that almost all agree that the world was scarred and devastated and that from this tragedy, Dust was born."
"Would anyone like to expand on this? Providing at least one historical document to support your answer of course."
"Well," a student, seated at the back responded, "Many historical texts speak on the origins of dust, but the oldest and one of the most important of all these is a tragic poem named 'The Soliloquy' which I'll read with your permission:
I talked to myself in a tower high
Till he came and he whisked me away
I was ensnared by his charm and his beautiful smile
But I should've known that he wouldn't stay
But still, I grasped the cold shell of the man I loved
I trekked and made offerings and implored the gods
But they laughed
And I scorned and I cursed
But they laughed…"
"Linguists and pragmatists have made attempts to translate the following part of the text, but it's still unconfirmed, do I have your permission to skip to parts of the poem that have been confirmed?"
The student continued on seeing Professor Oobleck nod of approval:
"The fractured moon, scarred beyond recognition
Could no longer keep the darkness at bay
They blocked out the Sun and claimed the horizon
A shower of dust fell down from the skies
As a stream of tears fell from my eyes
I waited for the gods' laughter, but it never came
And so, I walked on my own and I talked to myself once again."
"Excellent!" exclaimed the green haired professor, "Of course, that is a romanticised version of the original poem, but it still serves the purpose of this class. Now, who can tell me some of the important inferences that can be made from this poem."
The same student who had just answered the previous question raised his hand as he stood up to speak again.
"Several inferences other than the obvious mention of dust can be made from this poem."
"Firstly, the line that mentions a 'fractured moon' implies that the moon is now different from how it once was, this is supported by works like Sonja Frost's 'Beautiful Moon' which describes the moon as a 'silver hole in the sky'."
"Also, the lines that speak of a 'darkness' likely refer to the emergence of the creatures of Grimm. Lastly, the writer speaks of gods whom apparently laughed at her, but could not be heard after the tragedy, which gives credence to some writers' claims of the ancient pantheon being driven away by the ancient civilisation."
"Keep this up and you may just get my job," Professor Oobleck praised, "Mr…?"
"Oh no," the student responded, "I don't have a name, the author thought it'd be more organic if someone besides the main cast participated in the class, so he wrote me in."
"Then why didn't he give you a name or a description, because quite frankly, you look like a background character from Volume One."
"Well, giving a character a name and a description is a sort of promise to the readers that the character will appear more, and the author doesn't really have a place in the story for me, and doesn't want it to seem as though he forgot me if I don't appear in the future."
"That makes sense," Professor Oobleck noted, "Either way, this conversation will continue later during the field trip to Vale's own Blutvesten Mines once the period is over."
"Actually," Adam raised his hand, "That's scheduled for a few weeks from today, today's activity is the trip to Forever Fall."
"Is that so Mr. Vulpes? In that case…" Mr. Oobleck ran out of the classroom frantically, neglecting to finish his sentence.
"And that's how to get a free period!" shouted Adam as soon as Mr. Oobleck left.
"How come Professor Oobleck blitzed out of the class like that?" asked Ruby who had, at some point, ended up beside him.
"Because he thinks that he booked a tour of the mines with the Valean History Conservation Association today."
"He thinks he did?"
"Yeah, I noticed the mistake a couple weeks ago when I was sorting some of his files, and I already called them to reschedule."
"Then why did you allow him to run around trying to fix it?"
"Because, that way he gets his morning exercise and we get a free period."
"Oh no," Ruby said, trying to dash away, knowing 'free period' meant 'more training' in Adamspeak. Adam held her by her hood and dragged her to one of the training rooms.
xXx
Meanwhile, Jaune wandered the halls aimlessly; he grabbed his hand, noticing that it was shaking,
This doesn't make any sense, the team JNPR leader thought, It's been two weeks since then.
"Hello, Mr. Arc," came the gentle voice of Principal Ozpin, "Shouldn't you be in class right about now?"
"Oh. Yes... I'm supposed to be in class," he responded confusedly, "But... could I talk to you for a bit?"
"Very well, follow me to my office."
xXx
"So Mr. Arc," he said as he passed a cup of coffee to him, "What seems to be the problem?"
"It's, it's dumb... I can't understand it, but I got into a fight with Mercury a couple weeks back."
"I heard, you took quite the beating," Ozpin commented, earning a rueful smile from Jaune.
"Either way, he apologised, we patched things up, and I've been training with Pyrrha ever since and I'm stronger."
"Yes I noticed, I'm rather impressed with your growth."
"But, I don't know; I saw Mercury today- somehow we had managed to avoid each other these past two weeks- but he wasn't doing anything serious, Weiss Schnee was just apologising to him I think… but it shocked me."
"What exactly shocked you, Mr. Arc?"
"His smile; how quickly that was able to transform into something sadistic while we fought, how he was able to turn from friend to foe. And I thought: 'What if he suddenly turns on me again?' What do I do then? I know I'm not ready to face him."
"So, what do you intend to do about it Mr. Arc?"
"I... I know I'm not ready to face him, at least not at the rate I'm going, but I know that I'm ready to do whatever it takes... I'm asking if I can still go to Shade Academy."
The grey-haired principal simply sipped his coffee in response.