Chapter III: Escaping Beacon

They were on a strict timer. Blake and Ren rushed to get the supplies the latter had stowed and Ruby and Jaune headed off to grab their gear. Stealth was no longer an option for them as the longer they took the more likely teachers would be involved, so they did not have the time to take this slowly. That was why Jaune and Ruby burst into the Beacon locker rooms, praying no one was changing. They got lucky and sped off to their lockers.

Jaune took a moment to consider his armor. From what he knew, there were many pirates forwent armor and it would only slow him down right now. He left it, just grabbing his sword and sheath, hoping that his shield would be enough. The straw hat now placed on his head, his hoodie, and his jeans were all he had at the moment.

He went over to Ren's locker, inputted the combination Ren gave him, and got his friend's stuff. Cardin mentioned already having grabbed his own gear ahead of time. His team was not as jumpy as JNPR or RWBY. Jaune met back up with Ruby who was in her gear and holding Blake's. They nodded at each other and off they went.

Ren and Blake's job was far more difficult. Speeding off with a full crate was not easy, so they had to cut the majority of the contents. Ren took charge, pointing out what was vital and what could be left behind.

They were halfway through when Cardin showed up. He was wearing his armor with his mace at his side. Looking between them he mentioned knowing they would need brawns to lift supplies. With him there, they replaced some of the items they had taken out and made their way to the bullheads.


"I cannot say I was expecting to see you today, Mr. Xiao Long. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Ozpin sipped his coffee.

"Qrow here —" Taiyang turned, and stopped when he noticed no one was next to him. "Where the hell did he go?"

Ozpin paid very close attention. "Mr. Xiao Long, please be calm. What is it that you are here for?"

Taiyang growled, dropping down into his seat after he had stood up. "Qrow did something, and I want to know what he did."

Ozpin quirked an eyebrow, "What makes you think that?"

"He was drunk last night and said something about convincing Ruby to leave Beacon in order to be a pirate."

The change in Ozpin's demeanor was stark and sudden. He stood so fast that his chair fell behind him, and he slammed his hands down on his desk.

"This is grave news," he remarked to himself. "We must stop this at once. Luckily, I have them watched —"

The elevator to the office opened and a girl with deep, red hair tumbled inside.

"P-professor Ozpin," Pyrrha shouted, "He — they — they're —"

"Miss Nikos." Ozpin rushed around his desk to her. "Calmly now. Has something happened with Mr. Arc? Perhaps Miss Rose too?"

Taiyang stood at that last question, and Pyrrha nodded. "I-I don't know why, but Ruby and Blake are with them now. Yang and Weiss are shopping, they took our scrolls, and Ruby threw some sort of smoke bombs. They ran off and Nora's looking for them, but — b-but —"

Ozpin gripped her shoulder firmly. "Thank you, miss Nikos. We will handle this from here. Taiyang, if you wish to stop your daughter from doing something reckless — well, even more reckless, I suggest you help."

Taiyang was already headed to the elevator. "You don't even have to ask."


Jaune was not surprised to see someone waiting for them in front of the bullheads. He was surprised that it was just Nora. He could only guess that either Pyrrha was looking somewhere else or she had gone to get someone. It was a tense scene, one he did not like. His friend, someone close enough to call family, stood between him and his goal. He and Ruby were armed, and he could hear the others approaching. They would be armed soon enough as well. Nora was not.

"Nora, please step aside," Jaune asked her. "We don't need to fight. You can even still join us if you want to."

She looked him up and down, then her eyes found Ren, who was taking his gear from Jaune, and locked on him. She seemed to gather the strength to speak. "Why are you abandoning me?"

"W-we're not abandoning you," Ruby insisted. "Jaune's right, you can come with us. We're just trying to do the right thing."

Nora sniffed, "If I wasn't here, would you have still said that? Or would you have just left, not giving me a single thought."

Ren tried to speak, "Nora —"

"Don't!" They were starting to draw attention. "If you're going to leave, you'll have to go through me."

Cardin strode forward. "Fine by me."

Jaune caught his arm. "She's a friend, we're not going to do it like this."

Cardin glared at him, "Friend or not, she's standing against us. If we have to push through her, that's what we do."

"I'm captain, Cardin."

Before Cardin could retort, loud footsteps echoed over the yard as someone ran. Jaune expected anyone that joined to be coming from the school, but instead they came from their target.

Jaune's eyes widened as he saw who it was. "Blake, you and Ruby took their scrolls, right?"

Bitterly, she nodded. "It must be why she's unarmed. She was distracting us while Pyrrha found a scroll."

Yang and Weiss were now standing by Nora's sides. Weiss looked pissed, but Yang's expression was worse. Ruby knew why, and so did Blake. Neither could quite reach her eyes.

"You're not leaving," Yang growled. "Even if I have to break your legs to make you stay."

It looked like a fight was starting, but Jaune knew that would put them in the worst position. Cardin and Ren were both carrying crates of their supplies. If they had to leave those behind, they would have nothing for the Grand Line.

"Change of plans," Jaune snapped. "Cardin, Ren, get to the docks through the Emerald Forest. Don't stop no matter what. Blake, cover them and make sure they get there safely."

The three nodded and rushed off. Yang went to stop them, but Jaune had his shield out by then, taking the force of her swing with it.

"Ruby, you're with me. We'll distract them to buy time, then join them when we can."

Yang threw another swing, this one hitting harder and causing him to skid back.

"It's not wise to dictate your plan in front of everyone," Weiss admonished, staring down Ruby.

"It's sometimes necessary," a new voice joined in.

Jaune turned and his world froze. It was a man: tall, scraggly, red eyes and black hair. Even in this dire situation, he felt himself smiling, and Qrow returned it in full.

"U-uncle Qrow?" Yang had lost her momentum. "Please tell me that you're not still delusional like you were last time. Or say that you were drunk! Ruby's trying to leave me, stop her!"

Qrow calmly walked forward, pushing Jaune's hat farther down on his head, "Glad to see you kept it all this time, kid. Now go run off. It's going to get worse soon, so you'll want to scram. You too, Kiddo. Make sure your captain doesn't do anything too stupid."

Yang let her jaw drop open as Qrow let the duo run off behind him. She refused to believe this was happening right now. This had to be some sort of bad dream.

Qrow sighed, "Listen Firecracker, I know your heart's in the right place, but this is something Ruby needs to do. I —"

"What is wrong with you?" Yang snarled. "You just let her leave! Are you on their side?"

Qrow opened his mouth, but snapped it shut and swung his blade forward right as Taiyang dove at him. He ducked under Qrow's swing, grasping at his shirt, and pulling to grapple him. Qrow knocked his elbow down, dislodging Taiyang's hands and letting himself surge backwards.

"Where is she?" Taiyang barked. "Where's Ruby?"

Qrow wisely decided this was not the time for humor. "She's already setting out with the others. They'll be gone soon."


"None of these boats are good enough," Blake called out. They were causing quite the scene, but subtly, like stealth before, had long been thrown out.

"What's wrong with them?"

"They won't be able to get us far enough away," Blake answered. "However far out we can get with any of these, they'll be able to get to us faster with a bullhead."

Cardin shrugged and said unhelpfully, "Then let's just get us a bullhead."

Ren looked over the docks. "Jaune and Ruby are meeting with us here and there won't be any bullheads in this area. We need to figure out somewhere close we can get to once they join back up."

After thinking for a moment, Blake's head snapped up. "I have an idea. It's dangerous and reckless, but all of this already is. You'll just have to trust me."

It was just in time as the two they had been waiting on burst onto the docks. They looked rushed, so likely their teammates were close behind. Blake mentally prepared herself for her plan.


This was not a fight Qrow could win, he figured that out quickly. Throwing Goodwitch, let alone the other teachers, into the mix was iffy in its own right. He had not expected Jimmy metal-boner to show up with the ice queen herself. That with the kids running off to go get their friends sealed the deal. He gave up pretty quickly and hoped he had bought those brats enough time.

"Ozpin, care to explain what situation you called me into? I thought Qrow was your subordinate?" Ironwood stood next to Beacon's headmaster, watching the various huntsmen and huntresses surround Qrow.

Ozpin looked less than pleased. "I thought so as well, James. It seems that I might have been mistaken. As for the situation, four students have gone rogue."

Ironwood was baffled. "Rogue students? I dare hope you have the situation under control."

Ozpin gave a bitter chuckle. "It has been proven to me that I might have been blind to the sides people stand on. That failure has led to two precautions falling through. At this point, I can only hope that they do not have a trick up their sleeves. They are only headed to the docks."

Ironwood nodded in understanding. "Might I help in detaining them?"

"Please," Ozpin sighed, not liking asking for help.

Ironwood turned his attention to his subordinate. "Specialist Schnee, call for airships and have them search for any ship sailing in an unusual manner. Only monitor until they can be identified as the 'rogue students' that Ozpin is searching for."

She saluted and gave a sharp, "Sir," before marching off to follow his orders.

Ozpin took that time to approach Qrow, and queried, "Would you be honest if I asked why, Qrow?"

The man in question laughed, "Sure, why the hell not. I did it because I know the joys and pains of that sea first hand. Things need to change, Oz."

The headmaster turned away. "Then why not encourage them to be marines?"

"That wouldn't work. I saw that first hand while I was still a student," Qrow said, shaking his head.

"Hold on." Taiyang approached them, his confusion slowly overwhelming his fury. "When was this all happening?"

"During our fourth year. I used my crow form to fly back and forth, so you all didn't really notice. I'm not sure why Raven never portaled to me, but she didn't, so it was my secret. I was a pirate during that time. It continued on for a while too, up 'til when Raven left you. I decided I needed to be around more after that. Oh, Port was actually on the crew as well." The last part was quickly added as a jab to Ozpin. Not one, but two men he had trusted had done this right under his nose.

The pompous man had been left out of the fight due to Ozpin's warryness to include him after his choice words to Jaune Arc. It seems that choice had been right all along.

"Pirates?" Ironwood asked no one in particular, completely lost.

"You were a pirate?" Taiyang asked. "Is that why you were so happy Ruby's becoming one? Qrow, I'm not sure I can forgive this one."

Qrow sighed. "It had to happen. Besides, her captain has the will of D. I'd have a little faith in them."

"The will of D?" Taiyang looked more confused than angry now.

He was not alone in his confusion. Of all those present — Goodwitch, Oobleck, Ironwood, Ozpin, and Taiyang — only Beacon's headmaster understood what he meant.

"So Miss Belladonna was right," Ozpin mused to himself. "He is headed to the Grand Line. That would make perfect sense if his name was Jaune D. Arc."


"What are we doing at a warehouse?" Cardin asked.

Blake was leading them through the halls in the back, behind a makeshift stage. "Just trust me. We'll get a bullhead here. I'm not sure if we'll find them first, though."

"Find who?" Jaune asked, but his question was quickly answered.

"You just can't leave this to the adults, can you Red?"

Jaune was absolutely sure that this was the Roman Torchwick. As in the most infamous criminal in Vale and not someone Beacon students should be fighting. He knew that team RWBY had some run-ins with him already, but they had been lucky every time in his humble opinion.

"We're not here to fight, Torchwick," Blake assured him.

"Oh, really?" Torchwick gasped, putting on a show of twirling his cane then leaning onto it after he planted the tip on the ground. "Then what are you here for? I'm sure you know about the rally on the other side of this wall. You found so many others after all. I know you're not here by chance. If you're not here to fight, are you here to talk? Oh, are you here to tell me the error of my ways? Trying to get me to see the light?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "No. We're robbing you."

That gave Torchwick pause. "You're robbing me? Are you trying to take the dust I've stolen back?"

There was a loud, "Found it!" and they all turned to see Cardin's head poking out of a door.

"How did that brute sneak around me?" Torchwick wondered to himself.

Blake began walking forward and the rest followed her. "We're stealing your getaway bullhead."

Torchwick sputtered, "Hey! As if I'll just let you take that! You —"

"You should be getting ready," Jaune called back, "We've got some more Beacon students tailing us and trained huntsmen are likely to follow. I'd make myself scarce if I were you."

Roman chased after them, but calmed when he saw Neo guarding the bullhead. He had expected fighting to have started already, but she seemed as taken off guard as he was. Never in his life had a group of students tried to steal his getaway. Who in their right mind does that?

"She's been trying to tell me something," Cardin informed the others.

Jaune walked up to the pink and brown haired girl and studied her expression. She made a few hand motions and he nodded as if he understood. "I think she wants to know why we're taking the bullhead."

Torchwick groaned, "Neo, just put them down already —"

"We're headed to the Grand Line," Jaune proudly told her. "I'm the man who is going to become king of the pirates!"

Torchwick could not stop his hand from slapping his face. "That has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Neo, just stop them already!"

He did not hear the sounds of clashing metal. Instead, he heard the bullhead engine come to life. His head snapped up to see Neo and the students on it. What in the world was she doing? He rushed forward, but it was already taking off. He was left, awestruck as his most trusted partner in crime flew off with who should have been their enemies.

"Um, s-sir, the crowd is getting antsy. Are you finished back here?"

Torchwick turned to see one of the White Fang members looking nervously at him. "Does it look like I'm ready?" He asked, marching back to the warehouse.


They had failed. There was no other way to explain it. Yang, leading the charge, had come to a dead end, and their friends were nowhere to be seen. Her sister was gone.

"Dammit!" She yelled, punching the nearest thing. It was luckily a wall and not the terrified man that scurried away.

The others with her were in similar states of mind. Weiss tried not to show her emotions, but she stared at the waters like it had stolen something from her. Pyrrha was numb but was also trying to comfort Nora. Nora looked like she could not decide between crying or going on a rampage, and only Pyrrha's soothing hand kept her from either.

After letting the situation sink in, Pyrrha spoke up, "We should head back. Professor Ozpin will want to know that we were not able to find them."

Silently, the other girls followed her. As they walked back, Pyrrha felt her numbness bleed into something else. It came when she made a decision: she was going to drag her friends back and fix whatever was happening. Determination swelled in her, she stood taller, and her footsteps became much more purposeful. By the time they were at the bullheads, she had a fire burning inside her. Without a doubt, she was going to save her partner from himself and the others too.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed when they had made it back to Beacon. Her feet led herself out into the courtyard, where the headmaster and others still were. Her eyes narrowed at Qrow as they got closer. According to Yang, whatever was going on in Jaune's mind, this man had allowed it instead of helping.

"Miss Nikos," Ozpin greeted. "By those with you, I take it you were not successful?"

She shook her head, "No, sir."

Ozpin clasped his hands behind his back, "That is unfortunate. I guarantee that we are doing everything in our power to retrieve them. For now, I suggest that you all return to your dorms. It has been an eventful day at the end of a tiring week."

Pyrrha led the march back to their dorms, but they stopped when Taiyang approached. He said nothing, but knelt and hugged Yang. Pyrrha watched the scene and placed Ruby in her list to bring back. She already was, of course, but Jaune and Ren had been at the top. Seeing Yang like this put the little reaper up there with them.

"Sir!" They all turned at Goodwitch's shout, "He's gone!"

The spot where Qrow had stood in defeat was now vacant. It was just more salt in the wound at this point. All of the precautions Ozpin had set into place had failed him, and the silver lining he had grasped just slipped through his fingers.

"Miss Goodwitch, he is capable of turning into a crow. Were you not watching him intently?"

Her face grew a slight pink hue. "I glanced for a moment, sir. I never even heard a sound, so I assumed he was stationary."

Ozpin frowned, but did not question her further. He was well aware of her skills and knew it would have been difficult to evade her in Qrow's position. Her semblance made even flying away nigh impossible.

"James, please meet me in my office with your specialist once you have a report."


"Isn't she a criminal, Jaune?" Ruby asked, nervously staring at their cheery pilot. Neo had seemed all too pleased to go along with them, which was lucky for them since they were severely lacking in any flying skills to get them over the ocean.

Jaune shrugged. "Technically we're all criminals now. We're flying a stolen aircraft and soon we'll be taking a boat in international waters without permission. That alone is a crime. Then we'll have to fight marines and all that."

"I would like to add that she seems too excited to be a pirate for us to need to worry," Ren joined in

She was nodding and swinging her head as if listening to some silent music. Cardin mumbled, "I think it's actually kind of off-putting."

"Whatever the case, she helped us escape when things were getting sketchy for us. She even went against Torchwick for us. That much at least deserves a chance."

They seemed to accept that much. Ruby tried to make herself comfy, still anxious and somewhat torn up inside. Cardin polished his armor and weapon to pass the time. Ren went to go over their inventory while Blake went up front to help navigate with Neo. Jaune stared out the window, trying to ignore the growing feeling in his stomach. It was not any of the emotions Ruby was feeling that made his stomach do flips.

He watched over the ocean, following the blurring, blue waves with his eyes. The light foam blended into the deeper blues, occasionally breaking for a darker speck. Then he noticed a small object floating in the sea. Upon closer inspection, he thought it might have been a boat. He made to point it out, but he quickly became occupied when opening his mouth broke the dam. Ruby saw what was happening. The other's heard her scream in horror before they realized what Jaune was doing.


"Evil!" His voice rang out over the endless expanse of blue. "Vile! Monster! Cruel!"

"Come on," his blond companion chastised. "It's not that bad. See, there's nothing around here. Look, I'll even stick my hand in the water."

Neptune almost fainted when he watched Sun's hand dip into the murky waves. Sun just shrugged while wiping his hand dry on his pants. He stood up and marched to the front of their small boat, placing one foot on the bow and keeping the other on the deck. It was glorious to him, how the wind whipped his hair and made his open shirt flutter like a cape — so much like the movies.

The cries of anguish behind him pulled him out of his fantasy. If only there was some way to get Neptune to let go of his fear of water. At least he did not get motion sick, that would be hell to put up with.

He sighed and sat back down, deciding to talk to himself thinking it would be better company than his current. "I need a cool nickname. Maybe Blond Beard? No, I'd have to have a beard for that. Blond Tail? Nah, doesn't have the same ring. Maybe my crew can be the Dawn Pirates, or something? That would be cool."

"Uh, Sun?" Neptune called out to him.

"Not now. Lament to yourself, I'm thinking about cool things."

"No, Sun, we're in trouble!"

The blond faunus just shook his head, "We're not even to the scary part yet. These are calm waters."

"Sun!"

He finally turned to see Neptune pointing in the sky. His eyes followed the direction and spotted a large, Atlesian airship headed their way. And by how low it was flying, the chances it planned to fly on by were slim.

"Okay, just stick to the plan. We're here because we're excited for the Vytal Festival and couldn't manage to stowaway."

Neptune groaned, "We were already in Vale and we're headed the other way — not to mention that's still a crime. Why is that the plan?"

"Because we can't just tell them we planned on becoming pirates."

"You wanted to be a pirate."

Sun just rolled his eyes. "You try telling that to Atlas when you're right here with me."


Sun had expected trouble, maybe to be told off, but he was just a bit uncomfortable under the gaze of Atlas' general. Ironwood seemed to dissect him with his eyes, a cold glare mixed into it. Neptune, for all it was worth, seemed more calm in the interrogation area they had been escorted to now that they were away from the ocean.

"We have a report of rogue students taking off on an undocumented boat," the general stated.

Sun shrugged. "That wouldn't be us, sir. We were headed to Vale."

Neptune nodded in agreement, but Ironwood's expression remained flat. "You were headed away from land."

"We must have gotten turned around last second, sir. We've been sailing from Mistral."

That got a reaction. Ironwood's eyes narrowed and he called for someone to search records for two missing students matching their descriptions. When Sun gave their names, Ironwood let his demeanor become less strict; however, not once did he let his guard down.

"And why would two Haven students be sailing by themselves towards Vale?"

Sun let himself relax just a bit, "We got excited for the Vytal festival and wanted to be here early. Ya know, to get the lay of the land."

Despite their excuse working thus far, the general's expression told them that they were still in trouble. Just hopefully not prison-level trouble.


"That devil fruit of yours is quite handy, lad!" Port yelled as they got into a boat together.

Qrow smiled, untying the starboard side from the docks. "It really is. Helped me smuggle booze into Beacon for sure. Now, they're looking for a boat, and that's exactly what we're getting on, so let's not get spotted."

Port nodded as he unfurled the sails. "I shall keep an eye skywards." He paused, then with a great smile added, "Captain."

"Man," Qrow said as they began to sail off, "Haven't heard that in a while. Kind of makes me want to get the crew back together. What do you say?"


AN:

If you couldn't tell by now, Qrow is Jaune's Shanks. It's mostly because I like Qrow and I thought having a Shanks that's drunk of his ass would be funny. Also, the first iteration of Jauen's crew has been finalized. More will join later, but it's just them for now. Picking Neo to join was a split second decision I made after coming up with them stealing Roman's bullhead. So far with what I have already written, she's been a chaos card.

This chapter did have a lot more serious tones and moments. This is going to have an actual story, not just be a collection of nonsense. With that in mind, there has to be something to kick the story off, and part of what I intend for it is to juxtapose chaotic fantasy against reality. Jaune's group takes the humor with them, and unfortunately those left behind don't see it as too funny. Don't worry though, they'll be headed out themselves soon enough.

Anyways, next chapter: Sea Legs