Jaune hung back and stood next to Ren as their two groups reunited on solid ground. Nora surged forward eager for details and to dole out praise. Yang and Weiss preened under the attention while Blake smiled and accepted gracefully. When the details of Ruby's contribution came up however Yang reached over and pulled her front and center from behind her back to her young sister's endless embarrassment.
"It was tough going for a minute there yeah," Yang started, "but Rubes here pulled us all together. That move at the end there with Blakes's ribbon? That was all her."
Nora spun to face the smaller girl, "That was you!? That was amazing!"
"I'll say!" Pyrrha added stepping forward, "Such a maneuver was inspired.
Ruby's ears and neck burned, "T-thanks everyone. It was nothing really. Just something I thought of on the fly. Haha."
Pyrrha clapped her hands, "Even so it was quite the photo finish you all pulled off."
"Uh-what about you guys? How'd your fight go?" Ruby asked, eager to change the subject.
"We showed that Deathstalker who's boss alright!" Nora piped up, raising her hand.
"Indeed!" Pyrrha grinned and met her halfway in a high five.
"Things got kind of rough near the end though. Jaune got snatched up in its claws," Nora went on.
"What!?" Ruby spun around to face Jaune.
"Yeah, and then he blew up!"
Weiss scoffed, "He looks completely fine to me."
"I know right? We were surprised too."
All eyes turned to Jaune who began to feel a bit uneasy. "What?" The stares continued and he felt himself being put on the back foot.
Pyrrha came to his rescue, "Well, putting that aside for now I daresay we must be going. After all this, we must be the last ones to arrive. Plus, I need to retrace my steps a little as I did not retrieve a relic before our battle broke out."
On hearing this Nora's eyes snapped to Jaune who held her gaze. She looked from Jaune to Pyrrha and back again almost pointing with eyebrows. "Hm? Jaaaaune?" The pitch of her voice went higher and higher as she dragged out his name.
"I got it." He waved her off and Nora took a big step back to give them a little breathing room. "Here, Pyrrha." Jaune said as he pulled out the other chess piece he'd secured.
"O-oh!" Pyrrha gingerly took the relic, "Thank you, Jaune."
Jaune shrugged, "Don't mention it. I grabbed two so we could head back right after we dealt with the Deathstalker. You ended up coming to us though."
"After running a marathon," Pyrrha laughed.
He grinned, "You were still going strong even towards the end there."
Nora popped up from between them and threw her arms around their shoulders and pulled them in close, "Aaaaalright! Mission nearly complete! Partners: found, relics: secured, and super massive Grimm: out for the count. Next stop Beacon!" She shot a grin at her two captives, both leaning forward awkwardly due to the height difference. Pyrrha returned the sentiment with a grin of her own. Both girls turned to Jaune whose face was lightly squished against Nora's.
"Heh, next stop beacon," he echoed, a small smile playing on his lips. Nora cheered and swiftly began leading the charge back to the school with her war hammer pointing the way. She reached out and snagged Ren's hand who easily fell into step beside her.
"We're heading back too! Come on, Ruby." Yang called out as she wrapped an arm around her sister.
"Wha-Yang? Hold on a sec!"
Yang pulled Ruby close and spoke softly, "We're still in initiation, Rubes. Once we pass, you'll have plenty of time to talk later."
"But I've been trying to talk to him all day! What's the big deal?"
"The big deal is that I'm not going to wait around for you!" Weiss marched ahead of the two sisters. "One of our goals is to return with a partner and I'm not about to fail such a trivial task. In short, let's get going!"
"Pleeeeease, Weiss. Just five minutes?"
"Absolutely not!"
Ruby looked from Weiss to Yang who just shrugged. "Ugh, man! Jaune!" Ruby yelled, grabbing everyone's attention, "Uh, talk to you soon!" With that she sped up to catch up to Weiss who hadn't bothered to slow or turn around like the rest.
:X:
"Jaune, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren. Henceforth together you shall be Team JNPR. Your leader: Jaune." Ozpin finished his declaration as the students gathered applauded. Jaune took a deep breath and quickly exhaled as Nora bumped into his side, the cheery girl grinning wide. Pyrrha clapped her hands and beamed at him while Ren offered his own measured nod. Below the stage Ruby clapped enthusiastically, her eyes wide and seeming to glow in the dim light. Once the ceremony ended, Jaune glanced at Ozpin as he was joined by Glynda Goodwitch where the two professors then watched him depart the stage before turning back to the rest of the students as a whole.
The new first years were then ushered by the staff out as soon as the headmaster finished his address and the school was made available to them entirely. Finding their assigned dorm rooms wasn't too difficult after breaking away from the crowd of older students eager to take stock of the new arrivals. The dorm was plain and bare but with plenty of real estate for decorating. Once inside they found that all their luggage had been moved in advance and was placed neatly along the wall as soon as you entered. Folded neatly on one of the beds was a set of four school uniforms.
"So~," Nora said after collection her own uniform, "Anybody got any preferences for a bed? CauseIcalldibsonthisone!" Nora slung her suitcase onto the nearest empty mattress and jumped in after it, going spread eagle while she buried her face in the pillow.
Pyrrha giggled, "I'll take whatever bed remains."
"Forgive her," said Ren. "Nora has too much energy at the best of times." Ren chose the empty spot on the left side next to his partner.
Jaune went next and sat down on the closest available bed next to Ren with Pyrrha taking the remaining spot next to him. For the next several moments the newly formed Team JNPR began unpacking and settling in. Ren and Nora had two small suitcases to their names with nothing but the essentials, so they were done relatively quickly. Pyrrha on the other hand had the most luggage of all of them. Sure, it was just one suitcase, but it was packed to the brim and she felt a smattering of embarrassment at just how much she'd brought with her in comparison. Jaune of course had nothing save the clothing on his back.
His weapons were safely stored away along with his bracers in the locker assigned to him. While his teammates went about their business folded his hands behind his head lay back as he stared at the ceiling. Honestly, all he really felt like doing was turning in but despite the day's trials sleep eluded him.
"Did you not bring anything with you, Jaune?" Pyrrha took a moment to ask in the middle of her own unpacking.
"They must have misplaced my suitcase," he said, not skipping a beat.
"Oh no! If you like we can go find a teacher to complain."
"That could work! Oh, but the school's so big. Even if we do bring it up could take all night to find a single bag." His tone of voice conveyed concern but stayed leaning back completely relaxed through it all.
"I'll help!" Pyrrha fired back. "We'll complain and then you and I could go searching."
Jaune slowly sat up and looked at Pyrrha only to be met with genuine concern etched on her face. So much so that he felt a pang of guilt for leading her on. He glanced to his right and saw Nora shooting him a curious look while Ren just glanced at him cooly. "Uh, Pyrrha? They didn't misplace my luggage. I didn't bring any to begin with."
"Oh." Her entire posture relaxed as if she really had been moments away from searching the whole school. "Then you really didn't bring anything from home? How come?"
Jaune shifted in his bed, "I don't want to talk about it."
"…Alright." Pyrrha finished unpacking while an uncomfortable silence fell on the group. Before long, Ren walked around his bed and offered Jaune a grey box with his name written on it in neat cursive.
"What's this?" he asked.
Ren tilted his head, "It was on the dresser when we came in. I didn't see a note."
Curious, Jaune weighed the box in his hand. It was small and rectangular, fitting neatly in his palm. The top slid away from the rest and Nora and Pyrrha leaned in to get a better look. Inside was a small rectangular bit of metal with a yellow diamond in the center. He recognized it at once.
"Woah!" Nora yelled. "Did someone you get a scroll as a gift?"
Jaune wordlessly activated it and peered at the screen. Everything booted up normally to its default settings. It wasn't quite fresh out the box though as two messages were already waiting for him in the inbox. He finished reading the short blurb and investigated the second message before promptly closing the scroll.
"…WELL!?" Nora yelled out causing Ren to wince at the proximity of it.
"What?"
"I'm also curious," Pyrrha added.
"…I don't want to talk about it." Jaune winced as Nora groaned and fell back onto Ren's bed. Pyrrha also looked disappointed while Ren's expression didn't change at all though that only seemed worse.
"At least tell us how you were okay after being snatched and crushed in that Deathstalker's grip and then blowing yourself up." Nora stared at the ceiling as the question hung in the air. "I played it cool back then cause I didn't want to waste our one chance, but I was really worried. Pyrrha was too."
Jaune sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. She was being uncharacteristically serious and while he'd just met her, he thought that the frown that marred her features didn't fit on her usually sunny face. He hesitated at first but then got to thinking. This was Beacon and at Beacon all future Huntsmen were part of a team. If they were going to work together then they'd piece it together eventually. "I used my semblance, of course. It's called Amplify."
Nora sat up and scooched next to Ren on his bed who was promptly joined by Pyrrha, all three paying rapt attention.
"Simply put I can dial the effects of my aura up to eleven. For example, I can strengthen the shield that protects us at will and lower how much damage I take. That's not all though. The percussive force we can generate through aura is also something I can amplify making an already powerful blow even more impactful but that's not how I use it." To illustrate his point Jaune held up the case the scroll had come in flat in his palm. Then he activated his semblance.
Immediately his deep blue eyes sharpened and glowed with energy as the aura surrounding his arm became visible and gave off dim light. The three spectators watched as the box began to float a few inches from his palm and then leaned back as electricity sparked from his arm. "The aura that coats our bodies repels objects at the point of impact. That's also something I have control over. By channeling aura through my sword, shaping it along the edge, and then amplifying the repelling properties of the shield I can increase my cutting power. Basically, if I can scratch it, I can cut it."
As his explanation continued, Jaune couldn't help the smile that stretched across his face. Honing his semblance had taken countless hours of practice and thinking back on how far he'd come and what he'd achieved made him swell with pride. The details of the training came surging back as well though and soon the smile melted away. Training under Raven had been painful but somehow worse than that was the fact that she never had a kind word for him. No matter the progress he'd displayed she was never impressed and always pushed him to dig deeper.
He cut off his semblance and the box fell back into his hand. "So yeah. That's the long and short of it."
"Woah!" Nora leaned forward, "So getting blown up is nothing to you, huh? That's super handy. Can you shoot lightning too?"
"What?"
"The sparks. Can you channel lightning too!?" Nora was fidgeting so much it looked like she could jump out of her seat at any second.
Jaune cracked a smile, wide and genuine, "No. I can't shoot lightning. That's just how my semblance takes shape.
"Aww. That would have worked out great! Are you sure?"
This time Jaune laughed, "I am. Trust me. You have no idea how long I spent trying to make lightning bolts shoot out of my fingers."
"Bummer," Nora fell back on to the bed.
"You're telling me," Said Jaune.
"I'm glad it worked out so well in the end. I was afraid I- "Pyrrha yawned suddenly in the middle of her sentence. "Oh, pardon me."
"Now you've done it." Ren said as he covered his mouth as he stifled his own yawn followed quickly by Nora. "Well. I suppose now is as a good a time as any to turn in."
"You said it, Renny." Nora hopped off her partner's bed and grabbed the covers off her own before wrapping herself in them and catapulting onto the mattress. "Night everybody. It was really great meeting you all today and I'm real excited to be on a team with you."
"Likewise," said Pyrrha, "I look forward to our time here together."
Ren threw open his covers and quietly shuffled into bed, "I feel the same."
Jaune stayed silent throughout the exchange as everyone settled into their bed.
"Hey, Jaune?"
"Yeah, Pyrrha?"
"Forgive me, but could you get the lights?"
He looked over and saw her nestled in her blanket completely cocooned save for her face peeking through. She pleaded at him with her eyes and Jaune sighed as he stood up. He padded over to the light switch and flicked it off cutting off all the save for one other source.
Nora rolled over, "Could you get the curtains too?" Jaune almost laughed again. This whole situation was ludicrous. A few months ago, he'd be gearing up the ship out with the tribe. Either moving their entire camp once again or preparing to raid a village for their resources or both. Now he was in Beacon helping his roommates get comfy. Once again, he crossed the room and pulled the curtains shut. "Thanks, Jauney." Nora's voice was a hair above a whisper, but he heard it clearly enough. Now, only a thin sliver of streamed into the dorm from the seams where the curtains parted.
Jaune returned to his bed and undid the belt and sash at his waist before shrugging off his robe. Left in his sleeveless undershirt, he wrapped the sash around his arm and pulled the covers free before sliding in. The covers were cool, and he sighed, the tension in his shoulders he hadn't realized was there melted away. He rolled onto his side facing Pyrrha as his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Hearing springs creaking he peered over and locked eyes with Pyrrha. The dim light catching off her deep green eyes seemed to make them glow and when he blinked her eyes were shut and face was still and serene. She looked so peaceful he wondered whether he imagined it.
"Goodnight, everyone." He uttered as sleep finally took hold.
:X:
Author's Note: Hey all. It's been too long since I've written anything and entirely not by my choice I'll have you know. I hope you enjoyed and see you next time.