It's been well over a month since Sera woke up in the Forever Fall Forest. She's gotten used to the routine of being a Beacon student. She goes to classes, spends time with her teams, and generally has fun just being in the school. For the first time (as far as she knew) she felt comfortable.
Port's class ended up being her favorite, despite being unbearably boring. It wasn't fun until the first time she volunteered to fight one of the professor's caged Grimm. She liked it because she got to show off and work on her swordplay.
Then in Goodwitch's class, she mostly learned about how to fight other huntsmen and properly gauge her aura. She didn't do too bad against her fellow students, surprisingly. The only ones she really had trouble against were her own teammates. Everyone else could barely keep up. Her favorite team to spar against was CRDL—mostly because they were assholes and had it coming. She wanted to try to fight them all at once, but Goodwitch wouldn't let her.
Plus, she disliked Cardin, for obvious reasons.
Despite enjoying her time at Beacon, a few things were still bugging her. First and foremost, during her entire time at the academy so far, she still remembered nothing. Sera hoped that at least something, anything would come to her, and yet, she couldn't even remember the slightest hint of a memory. As far as she knew, Ozpin hasn't found anything, either.
The second thing that bothered her was that she still hasn't found out what her own semblance is. She's tried everything she could to bring it out of herself, yet she always came up with nothing. At least she wasn't the only one—Jaune doesn't know what his semblance is, either.
The final thing that bugged her? Qrow still hasn't kept his promise about finding her a new weapon to use for ranged attacks. She's tried to contact him, but she never gets a response. Sera assumed that it was because of his "top secret mission."
She still made the best of everything, though. Her, RWBY, and JNPR were pretty good friends now. It's like they were all one big team rather than two that shared a member.
Sera still didn't have a freakin' bed, though.
Now, the nine of them were in Professor Goodwitch's class for combat practice. The idea was that students would face off against each other in tournament-style one-on-one battles to practice for the upcoming Vytal Tournament. Currently, Jaune was on the stage facing off against none other than Sera's least favorite member of their student body, Cardin Winchester.
Unfortunately, Jaune wasn't doing a very good job of representing team JNPR. He was missing his mark, failing to block attacks from Cardin's mace, and generally screwing up.
Just like in tournament battles, their auras were displayed on the large overhead screen with pictures of their faces and names. Cardin's aura was still comfortably in the green while Jaune's was almost in the red.
"Y'know, after being with you guys for these last few weeks, I thought that Jaune would have gotten at least a little better at fighting. But uh… he's not doing so hot," Sera said with an awkward expression.
"Yeah…" Pyrrha gave a smile that was somehow even more awkward.
Cardin slammed his mace into Jaune's chest and knocked the blond across the stage. He was about to bring his mace down on the team leader, but Goodwitch rang the buzzer to interrupt him.
"That's the match!" she announced. Cardin groaned and relented, stepping away from Jaune. "As you all can see, Mr. Arc's aura has dropped into the red. In a tournament duel, he would have been declared unable to continue, and therefore lose the match." Then the professor turned to Jaune with a disapproving frown. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat to gauge your aura for future reference."
Jaune groaned and got to his feet.
Professor Goodwitch addressed the other students. "Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! Soon, students from the other kingdoms will start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to compete will be representing all of Vale!'
The bell rang, and all the students began to leave.
"Hey, Sera," Ruby said, tapping her on the shoulder.
"Yeah, what's up, Rubes?" she asked. They were in the hallway now, walking in a group towards the cafeteria.
"Are you gonna compete in the tournament?" she asked excitedly.
The amnesiac faltered. "I don't know how I could. Right, guys? How would that work?"
"I don't know, actually," Weiss responded.
"Maybe something will be worked out so that she can compete?" Yang said.
"Yeah, like if one of us gets injured or something," Nora added.
"But the question is, which team will she compete with?" Ruby asked.
That brought them to a halt. Sera felt like she was in the eye of a storm, and the storm was about to explode in a fiery inferno.
"We got dibs," Yang ventured.
"Uh-oh," Sera muttered.
"THAT'S SO NOT FAIR," Nora erupted.
. . .
Ten minutes later, the nine of them were in the cafeteria arguing over their lunches. Except for Jaune, who was idly playing with his food and not really paying attention to the conversation.
"WE HAVE DIBS," Ruby shrieked.
"I DON'T CARE, SHE'S BELONGS TO BOTH OF US!" Nora rebutted.
"Don't I get a say in any of this?" Sera groaned, leaning onto the table and holding her head up with her hands.
"NO!" both sides yelled.
"Guys!" Pyrrha banged her hand on the table. "We can settle this later."
"Gods, please," Sera agreed. "What if I don't want to compete? Have you considered that?"
All eyes turned to her.
"You're not competing?" Yang asked.
"I mean, I want to, but what if I didn't want to?" she replied.
"…But you do want to," Ruby said.
Sera sighed and took a bite of the apple from her plate. Desperate to change the subject, the amnesiac tossed the apple onto Jaune's plate and interrupted whatever he was doing. "What's wrong, Jaune? You haven't even touched your food."
She already had a feeling she knew what was wrong, and it had to do with Cardin. The guy's been messing with Jaune almost relentlessly since near the beginning of the school year, and it was never subtle. That was part of the reason why she disliked Cardin so much, but it wasn't her place to fight Jaune's battles for him.
"Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked, more sympathetically than Sera had.
"Huh? O-oh, yeah! Why?" the team leader asked.
"Because you seem a little not okay," Ruby said.
When all eyes were on him, Jaune seemed to buckle under their stares. "Guys, seriously! I'm fine."
Speaking of Cardin, when the nine students heard laughter near them, they turned to see the tall boy and his team standing around a lone Faunus girl with long brown hair and rabbit ears sticking from the top of her head. Cardin was pulling one of her animalistic ears while laughing at her.
"See, I told you they were real!" Cardin laughed.
Sera tried to get up, a rather scary look on her face, but Yang and Pyrrha pulled her back down before she could go give CRDL a piece of her mind.
"Not yet," Yang said in a quiet voice. "Not here."
"Why not? It might do him some good to get embarrassed in front of everyone," she replied.
"Jaune," Pyrrha said, getting back on point. "He's been picking on you since the first week of school."
"Who, Cardin Winchester?" Jaune said, trying to play it off. "Nah, he just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes and all that!"
"He's a bully," Ruby said.
"He's a dickhead," Sera mumbled.
Jaune scoffed. "Name one time he's bullied me!"
"He launched you off campus in a locker!" Pyrrha said.
"I didn't land that far from the school!" Jaune rebutted.
"Jaune, you know if you need help, all you need to do is ask," Pyrrha said empathetically.
"Oooh! We'll break his legs!" Nora stood abruptly and announced all too happily.
"Say the word and I'll go break his legs right now," Sera said in a serious tone.
"Guys, it's fine! It's not like he only picks on me, he's a jerk to everybody," Jaune said.
"I'm serious, I'll put him through the wall and break his legs with his own mace," Sera said, still stuck on the 'break his legs' bit.
Then they heard the Faunus girl yelp in pain as Cardin tugged her ear again.
"Ow! That hurts!" the Faunus grimaced.
"What a freak!" one of Cardin's teammates guffawed.
"Yep, breaking his legs," Sera got up. This time she was faster than Yang and Pyrrha. Then again, this time they didn't stop her.
"Atrocious," Pyrrha balled her fist. "I can't stand people like Cardin."
Sera marched over to them with an angry look on her face. When one of his teammates saw her, his eyes widened, and he tapped Cardin's shoulder. "Boss," he said. When Cardin saw her, he let go of the Faunus's ear, and Sera took the opportunity to shove him away when his hand was free.
"What's your problem?" the team leader demanded.
"My problem is you and your goons messing with people who don't deserve it!" she replied. "You wanna fight? Go do it in the training rooms and leave people alone."
"Oh, yeah? Well how about I fight you?" he laughed.
"You sure you wanna do that?" she got in his face. "Because last time you tried that, it didn't end too well, did it?" Sera turned from him and began to walk away. Then she turned back to him. "And if I catch you doing something like that to another Faunus or anyone else, I'll break your fuckin' legs."
Then Sera returned to her friends, pushing a tuft of hair behind her ear while she calmed herself down. Someone suddenly appeared at her side, and she looked to see that it was the Faunus who was being picked on.
"Oh, hey," she greeted, her tone much kinder.
"I just wanted to say thank you for that," the Faunus said sheepishly. "Those four are menaces."
Sera noticed her accent and wondered where she was from. "They just need their asses kicked one good time to show them they're not in charge," Sera laughed wryly.
"I agree. If my team was here, it would've been different," the Faunus said. "I'm Velvet," she put her hand out while they walked.
Sera kindly shook it and smiled warmly. "Sera."
"You're that girl who's the fifth member for two teams, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, that'd be me," the amnesiac shrugged.
"There's been a lot of talk about you through campus," Velvet said. They were almost back to where RWBY and JNPR were sitting, and Sera's friends were watching with interest.
"Oh, yeah? Maybe you can tell me about it later. I, uh, have to get going," she nodded towards her table.
"Oh! Right, sorry. I won't hold you up. Thank you again!" Velvet waved before walking away.
"No problem," the amnesiac called after her, then took her seat between Yang and Pyrrha.
"You handled that rather well," Ren complimented. Blake nodded approvingly, a small smile across her face.
Sera raised her drink in their direction before draining the can of Pumpkin Pete's Sugar Blast soda.
"And it looks as if you've made an ally out of Velvet Scarlatina," Blake noted.
"You know her?" the amnesiac asked.
"Not well," Blake shrugged. "I know that she's tired of being treated unfairly simply because she's a Faunus, though."
"I don't blame her," Yang said. "Prejudice against the Faunus has been going on for too long."
"Agreed," Jaune nodded.
"You're not off the hook yet, Jaune," Sera told him. "What are you gonna do about Cardin? No offense, but despite what I just did, this is your battle and I'm not going to fight it for you. But we'll help, if you ask for it."
"Guys, it's fine. Seriously," Jaune said.
Sera let out a sigh. You can only help someone if they want it.
Pyrrha bumped their shoulders together, flashing a determined expression. The amnesiac understood it well enough: we'll get through to him later.
. . .
Sera was sitting in class later that day, watching in awe as a hyperactive professor zipped around the classroom in the blink of an eye. He had wild green hair and his circular glasses seemed to constantly reflect the light.
Professor Oobleck was giving a lecture about the Faunus Rights Revolution to a class full of students who desperately tried to keep up with him. Oobleck spoke at a million miles a minute, and it was all the amnesiac could do to understand what he was saying.
"Has anyone here been discriminated against solely because of their Faunus heritage?" he asked. Several hands in the classroom raised, including the hand of Velvet Scarlatina. "Dreadful. Just dreadful," Oobleck shook his head. "You see students, it's this kind of ignorance that breeds violence! Just look at the White Fang!" he sipped from his coffee mug, as if he didn't already have enough caffeine. "Now, which of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"
Weiss's hand shot up. "The battle at Fort Castle!"
"Precisely! Who can tell me what advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"
Cardin Winchester flicked a piece of paper at Jaune, who had been napping, and woke him up.
"Hey!" Jaune exclaimed.
Oobleck suddenly appeared in front of Jaune, his mug in hand. "Mr. Arc! Finally participating in class, I see! Excellent! What is the answer?"
"Uh—I—uh—" he stammered. Behind Oobleck, Pyrrha was trying to signal the answer via hand motions. She mimicked holding something up to her eyes, and Sera assumed "binoculars." Coincidentally, Jaune thought the same thing.
"Binoculars?" he said uncertainly, yet with confidence.
Oobleck simply sipped from his mug while the class erupted in laughter, but none were laughing as hard as Cardin Winchester.
"As if he knows the answer," Sera rolled her eyes at her taller classmate.
"Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin! Perhaps you can tell me the answer, since you seem to find this matter so amusing?" Oobleck said.
"Well, I know that animals are a heck of a lot easier to train than soldiers, so—"
"You're not the most open-minded individual, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha glared.
"What? You got a problem?" he demanded.
"No," Pyrrha shook her head. "I have the answer. It's night vision. Everyone knows that most Faunus have almost perfect eyesight in darkness."
"Correct! Very well done, Miss Nikos," Oobleck commended.
"That makes a lot more sense than binoculars," Sera mumbled to herself.
"General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His army was outmatched, and the general was captured," Blake said, then turned to Cardin. "Maybe if he paid attention in class, unlike some, he wouldn't be remembered as such a failure."
Cardin clenched his fists and got out of his seat, and Sera nearly did the same to face the brunette.
"Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat," the professor ordered.
Jaune made the mistake of laughing.
"Cardin and Mr. Arc can join me after class for additional readings. Clearly, you both need it," Oobleck sipped from his coffee.
Jaune groaned.
"Uh, can I stay too, Professor? I need some additional studying as well," Sera raised her hand.
"Very well! I always take pleasure in seeing a student eager to learn," he nodded approvingly.
Jaune shot her a look, but she waved it off.
After class, everyone except for Jaune, Cardin, and Sera left. Out of the corner of her eye, the amnesiac saw Pyrrha standing just outside the door.
When everyone was gone, the professor gave Jaune and Cardin a rather strict talking to. In short, he told them that they needed to do better since they had worked so hard just to get here. When he was finished, he told them that if they couldn't learn from history, they'd be doomed to repeat it. Then he assigned them an essay to do, and Sera was grateful that she wasn't in Oobleck's line of fire. Then he apologized to Sera for not being able to spare the time to speak one-on-one.
"…I expect that essay on my desk by next class! Dismissed!" he took a sip of coffee, then disappeared.
The three students grabbed their things, then exited the classroom. Sera out first, then Jaune, then Cardin. Then Cardin shoved Jaune in the back, and the blond boy bumped into Sera and knocked them both to the floor.
Cardin laughed like he was some sort of comedic genius at the two of them. Sera shot to her feet and was about to pummel the unintelligent boy, but Pyrrha appeared out of nowhere and put her hand on her shoulder to stop her. If she wasn't secretly afraid of Pyrrha, she would've shoved her off, but instead she clenched her fists and stepped away.
When Cardin left, undoubtedly thinking he won some sort of battle, Pyrrha helped Jaune to his feet. "You know, I really will break his legs."
"I tried to, you stopped me," Sera mumbled.
"I have a better idea!" Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's hand and ran down the hallway, pulling him along.
"Uh, what?" Sera said, watching the pair hurry down the hallway. "Screw it," she muttered, then followed after them. Pyrrha led Jaune up to the roof of the dorm building, and finally, that was the end of their journey. Sera braced against the wall just inside of the door leading onto the roof to listen in on their conversation.
Jaune was upset about something, and his voice was getting louder and louder. Then she heard something interesting.
"I got ahold of some fake transcripts, and I lied. I'm not supposed to be here, I don't deserve to be here," Jaune rambled.
Then Pyrrha reached out, trying to console her leader, and he shoved her away. Moments later, Pyrrha burst through the door and found Sera.
"Oh! I—How much of that did you hear?" she asked, not-so-subtly wiping tears away.
"I didn't hear anything," Sera said.
"But—"
"Pyrrha, I didn't hear anything," she said quieter and put her hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Now come on, I think he could use some time alone."
"Yeah," she agreed. "Seems like he needs it."
"He'll come around," Sera patted her teammate on the back while they walked back to JNPR's room. "Besides, it's not like anyone else is going to find out about his little secret."