(Chapter 21)
(Flashback-Three Weeks Ago)
After calling his father to validate the information Jaune had, Whitley found himself leaving his room. His partner was in the library studying, Kobalt was meditating in the courtyard, and Ivori was out shopping somewhere in Atlas. The teen didn't want to disrupt any of his friend's activities, so he found himself leaving his team's room, and soon enough was wandering the streets of Atlas.
Measured steps carried him aimlessly, until eventually, the youngest of the Schnee siblings found himself at the park. Individuals exercising, couples having picnics on blankets, and families sharing a day together dotted the vibrant green grass. When the young team leader turned his head, he saw elderly men and women playing chess in the shade, and kids playing all manners of games together.
He debated leaving; perhaps he'd find himself at a café that served crêpes, or at some place where he could just enjoy the atmosphere. Yet, he didn't. Instead, he went further into the park, and out of the corner of his eye, noticed a tall group of trees and shrubbery near a corner enclosure. He'd looked around and didn't see anyone nearby, and with a curious look on his face, decided to explore a bit.
As he got closer, he could hear water; something akin to a pond or maybe a river. He looked for a way to get to the other side of the thicket, and debated just walking through it, before he noticed the thorns and moss that had accumulated on the branches and decided against ruining his state of dress. Thanks to his hesitation however, he caught sight of what looked to be a somewhat concealed path through the brush, and after a moment of thought, began to make his way through.
What awaited him on the other side was stunning.
There was a large pond full of beautiful water clear enough for him to see through, revealing rocks, dirt and sand at the bottom near the edges, while in the center was a deep black that he saw the occasional fish spring from or retreat into. The area around the hidden glade was not maintained by anyone so it seemed, but the unchecked bit of nature the greenery held a certain peace that the youngest Schnee could appreciate.
As he stood there admiring the serenity of the area, the white-haired teen missed the sound of footsteps approaching the glade.
"Oh! Look's like someone else beat us here."
"Indeed, though it makes me quite curious. Most people ignore this glade since they don't know what's behind the brush."
The white-haired teen turned around to see two men in casual wear standing at the entrance to the glade with appraising looks. One of them was unnaturally tall and slender, with pale, almost ivory skin. Most interestingly about the tall man however, were the series of marks going down the center of his face.
His friend Whitley could only assume, was someone more normal in comparison. He had lightly tanned white skin and brown hair, but despite his rather plain appearance, he seemed to radiate a sureness of himself that came from years of experience or good fortune.
"My apologies, I didn't mean to encroach on this place. I was just curious is all."
The teen received a chuckle from the brown-haired man and was waved off as the two began to walk towards the large pond in the center of glade.
"No need for any of that. This place is as open to you as much as it is to me." The older man stopped for a moment before he seemed to study the white-haired teen from head to toe, questioning him when he felt sure of his answer.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be a student at the huntsman academy, would you?"
The white-haired teen nodded in response and while he introduced himself, the two men whispered amongst themselves before they proceeded with their own introductions.
"Well, nice to meet you; I'm Clover, and he's Vine."
The teen's face scrunched up in response to hearing Clover's name, lost in thought. The two men looked at him strangely for a moment before shrugging off their confusion and moving about the glade, all the while Whitley was trying to discern why the brown-haired man seemed so familiar.
He watched as Vine settled into a nice patch of grass with his eyes closed and his legs crossed, breathing calmly but measuredly as he began to meditate. Clover on the other hand, had retrieved a collapsible fishing pole from…somewhere, and had begun to cast a line. It was after a few moments of him watching the deceptively plain man that he realized why he thought he may have known the man.
"You're Clover Ebi, leader of the Ace Ops!"
Where most men would have been startled at the outburst from the teen in the midst of doing something that required patience and focus, the man only laughed as he tugged the line he'd cast into the pond out of the water to reveal a large fish on the other end, flailing hopelessly as it debated what decisions had led it to now.
"So, I guess it's safe to say you've heard of me then."
The man proceeded to let the fish on his line return to its home in the dark abyss at the center of the pond before casting out another line and waiting. Meanwhile, Whitley stood a few paces away from the man as he struck up conversation.
"Of course! Though, most of what I've heard has been from word of mouth."
Clover gave him a questioning look as he began to absentmindedly reel in yet another poor, unlucky fish, prompting the teen to explain.
"A friend of mine, my squad mate actually, talks about your team from time to time. Jaune tells me stuff about you and your team occasionally, but most of what he's told me about you has been things he's been told."
The man seemed to come to full attention at this, and after locking eyes momentarily with his second fish of the afternoon, released it into the pond before giving Whitley his full undivided attention.
"Hold on, did you just say Jaune? Like the kid that's been training with Marrow, Harriet, and Elm? He's your squad mate?"
The white-haired teen nodded his head in confirmation, though was inwardly surprised to have learned that his blonde friend had been full on training with members of the Ace Ops, meanwhile, the two older men to look between each other before Clover continued the conversation.
"Well, how about that? I've actually been curious to meet him and his squad after General Ironwood told me he was doing a test run with the squad system this year. So you're his squad mate, huh?"
The white-haired teen adjusted his collar before answering the brown-haired man.
"Yes, I'm actually the co-captain for the squad alongside him. I lead team WICK."
The two older men seemed surprised by that info, something that caused the less spoken member of the Ace Ops to voice the question on his mind.
"You seem rather young in comparison to the other first years, or am I mistaken?"
Whitley brushed a stray bang out of his eyes as he sighed.
"No, you're correct. I'm fifteen, but my father pulled strings so that I could be admitted to the academy early."
The two men shared a glance again, and the youngest of the Schnee family watched as the two seemed to think to themselves for a moment; Vine taking deep breaths with controlled breathing in his meditative position while Clover continued to fish, his eyes looking up to the sky seemingly lost in thought.
A few more minutes went by, before Clover retracted his fishing line and stretched until a satisfying crack was heard. He turned to the white-haired teen before making an offer that the teen never would have expected.
"Say, how would you like to train with Vine and myself?"
Whitley's shocked expression was plenty comical to the two older men, but he was quick to respond.
"I-I beg your pardon!?"
Clover snickered at the wording the young teen chose in addition to his sputtering it out, before he schooled his expression, never losing his calm grin as he repeated himself to Whitley.
"I asked if you wanted to train with Vine and myself. It's a yes or no ques-"
"Yes please!"
The loud interruption from the youngest of the Schnee family startled the two Ace Ops, or rather, the volume and conviction did. This time, it was Vine who spoke up in response.
"Why?"
The two turned to look at the ivory skinned man as he stood with his hands behind his back in an impossible natural, and seemingly comfortable, parade rest. Just as Clover was about to ask what had gotten into him, Vine gave a glance to his leader, who after a few moments of eye contact, nodded and cast his line out again, listening to what the white-haired teen would say. Whitley took only a few moments to look at the sky as if thinking before he began to speak.
"I came to the academy with very little training. I didn't earn my way in like everyone else, my father pulled strings to have me admitted early, to test me, to see if I would quit. I ended up being named leader of my squad, just like Jaune. I owe it to him, and to my friends to work as hard as I can so that I can be the teammate they need, and I won't let them down."
The two older men were silent for a moment, the only sound filling the clearing was the heavy breathing that followed Whitley's declaration and the sound of Clover reeling in another catch.
"Then sit down and do as I do."
The icy-eyed teen watched as the slender man sat down in the grass and entered a meditative position, eyes open to observe and correct the young teen's position if and as needed. As Whitley settled into the grass and had his posture corrected, he was introduced to a unique perspective on aura and semblances, never seeing the approving look of Clover as he glanced behind him.
(Present Time-December)
To say that the weeks after the squad was filled in on the plans that Jaune had for the Vytal festival were fruitful would be putting it lightly.
The very next day during their training sessions, both teams had begun devising countermeasures for their possible opponents. Among the other members of the squad, a grudge had also started to develop towards the knightly teen's former friends, which led to each member of the squad putting their all into joint training sessions, one of which they were just finishing with.
Team WICK waited for a moment, before their leader let out an exhale of relief, the rest following suit, targets destroyed all around the training arena. The youngest of the Schnee family brought the back of his gloved hand to his forehead, wiping away a bit of sweat from the effort him and his team had been putting in.
Ever since he'd gotten ahold of his sister and her team's training footage, Whitley had spent hours looking at them from every angle, dissecting their team attacks and individual weaknesses. If he was fortunate enough, and he prayed to whatever god that may be listening, he and his team would face team RWBY during the Vytal festival.
The youngest of the squad watched as his teammates made their way towards the benches where water and a bit of time to rest awaited them, before he turned to see his squad mates from team JCKP discussing their new team formations and tactics.
He shifted his focus from his fellow leader to the welcome and waiting water bottle being held towards him by his partner with a ghost of a smile on her lips. Accepting the bottle with a nod, he began to suck down the contents before pulling the bottle away with a semi satisfied sigh.
The sound of footsteps approaching drew the pale teen's attention to see team JCKP making their way to the benches as well. As Jaune stood next to Whitley, the younger of the two leaders started a little chat with his blonde friend.
"How's the training coming along?"
The blonde sucked down a bit of water greedily from his bottle before he answered.
"Good, we have a few different formations to test, and I'd say one of them might even be combat ready, besides that we're also trying to come up with team attacks. What about you guys?"
"Our team attacks are developing well, as far as formations however, we only have one and it's yet to be tested."
The two shared a nod as they looked towards their squad mates chatting together as they went to compare progress, but before they could, they were interrupted by the sound of everyone's scrolls receiving a message simultaneously. The group looked amongst one another, before they all retrieved their scrolls to see what was happening.
"General Ironwood wants all the first years to assemble in the auditorium by 1700."
Whitley checked the time on his scroll in response to Jaune's comment before packing up his gear, causing his team to follow suit.
"Then that only leaves us with fifteen minutes to get there. We should have enough time to drop our bags off in our rooms and get there if we hurry."
With that, the group shared nods before rushing away from the training rooms towards the dorms. After leaving their training bags in their normal resting spots, the teens managed to arrive at the entrance to the auditorium walking in behind the large group of students that had arrived a bit before them.
Taking their seats in the front row of the auditorium, neither the group nor the students had to wait long for General Ironwood to stand center stage as he took a moment to look over his first years. He coughed into his hand, silencing all private conversation as he pulled out a remote and clicked a button, bringing up a holographic projection.
"Good Evening. I'm sure some of you were busy with class assignments, training, or otherwise, so I'll get right to the point. The reason I've summoned you all here is this." He held his non-gloved hand up to gesture towards the projection before continuing.
"Your finals for this semester. Two weeks from now, your Monday and Tuesday will be spent completing exams for your classes. Wednesday will be a rest day for all of you to recover and prepare." He let the sentence and its implication hang in the air for a moment, almost as if he were daring any brave enough to inquire as to why before he resumed speaking.
"Thursday, you will all be sent on your practical finals. You will all be sent outside the walls to complete various assignments under a graduated huntsman who will serve as a proctor; there to observe and judge both your progress and potential."
The man looked down to where teams JCKP and WICK were sitting and motioned them to join him on stage with a soft nod of his head. The group not being ones to keep the militant man waiting, made their way up to the stage briskly before standing behind the older man while he addressed the other first years.
"I'm sure all of you are familiar with the members of this squad. Among you, they are the best, and it is for that reason that their assignment will be more difficult. However, they will also be the only squad whose mission will take them away from Solitas this semester."
This earned surprised looks from the squad on stage, save for Penny, who was more excited than anything. The man pressed a button on the device in his hands before the scroll of every first year was sent the details of their finals, before he dismissed them and left the room himself.
(Two Weeks Later-Wednesday)
The first two days of final exams had come and gone relatively quietly for teams JCKP and WICK.
Monday's exams had been dust and combat while Tuesday's were history and Grimm anatomy. Elective classes like leadership, which for first year team leaders was mandatory, S.E.R.E, and medic training don't have finals as these classes, while helpful, were more for personal development.
Whitley, Flynt, and Penny aced the dust finals, but to everyone's, save for Flynt's, surprise, so had Neon. The highest performer in combat went to Penny, and most improved over the semester was a tie between Jaune and Whitley, both of whom had managed to climb into the top eight alongside the other members of their squad.
Tuesday saw Ivori, Ciel, and Penny receiving full marks on their history exam, while Jaune, Kobalt, and Penny got perfect grades on the semester test for Grimm Anatomy. The lowest grade among the group never fell below a mid-B, and to no one's surprise, Penny seemed to be the star of the year with her impressive intellect, and incredible fighting skills.
After the test had been completed, the group found themselves back at the cafe they had visited after their midterms to celebrate. The older man they'd seen last time was sitting at the bar while a teen their age with somewhat unruly hair and glasses could be seen serving him coffee.
The man tasted it before nodding to his apprentice with a smile, only then noticing the group of hunter students standing at the entrance to his shop. Upon finding out the group had passed their exams, the older man decided to let them celebrate there for the evening, serving them his signature coffee and curry.
The rest of the day after that went by smoothly, and soon enough Wednesday had come.
Jaune and Whitley's squad were content with wasting the day away as they lounged around in team JCKP's dorm room, waiting for the timer on their scrolls to finish counting down. In just a few moments, they would finally be given the full details of their assignment; where they would be going, what their objective was, and the identity of the huntsman who would be accompanying them.
Jaune leaned back against the wall from where he sat on his bed as he observed the room. His partner was seated next to him and was speaking animatedly to Neon and Ivori from across the room, Kobalt seemed to be meditating, or trying, but the constant movement from the tail of the faunus skater seemed to be a bit distracting, and Whitley was holding a conversation with Flynt about dust.
The blonde was shaken from his observations when the sound of a notification came from his scroll. All eyes around the room looked to him as he nodded back to them before shuffling forwards a bit on the bed so that he was seated on the edge. Jaune pressed a button on his scroll activating the projection function to display the file sent to them by the general to the rest of his squad.
"Let's see…so our assignment is an escort mission…in Anima!?"
Penny's eyes widened after hearing Neon's yell of surprise and was immediately excited at the idea of once again getting to travel somewhere foreign to her, even if it was only for a mission. The rest of the group chuckled at the android girl's antics before continuing to read with Whitley opting to vocalize the important details as he read them.
"Tomorrow, we'll take a bullhead to Argus. From there, we'll need to board a train that will take us straight to Mistral. We'll meet with the mission requester there, and escort them back to Argus, then to Atlas. The estimate for how long this will take is about one to three days."
After hearing the main details of the mission, Neon decided to pipe up with a question she'd been holding as she impatiently read a bit faster than Whitley could vocalize.
"Who requested the mission?"
The youngest of the Schnee family reached out towards the projection and scrolled further down into the details before vocalizing the information.
"The woman's name is Maria Calavera. It says that she listed herself as a former huntress who was active almost fifty years ago. She sustained an injury to her eyes which caused her to retire, and the reason she requested this mission was because her optical implants are starting to malfunction and need maintenance. Honestly, she could probably make this trip alone but chose to do this as a precaution."
The group nodded at this and next it was Ivori who questioned the younger teen.
"Do we know who our huntsman tagalong is?"
The teen scrolled down further until a picture of a familiar dark skinned, green haired faunus greeted them, drawing surprised expressions from the group.
"Apparently, we've been assigned a member of the Ace Ops; Marrow Amin."
As the rest of the group processed this info, the blonde made a mental note to send a message to his parkour trainer before the day was over before clearing his throat, gathering the attention of his friends.
"What we need to do now is make sure we're all prepared for the mission tomorrow. We should all be stocked up on ammo and dust just in case, but besides that, most of our time on this mission will be spent on some form of transportation, so we shouldn't need to pack much more than that besides maybe some extra rations in case we get hungry."
The group nodded at this and took down mental notes of the blonde leader's words, before Ciel made a comment to the blue brawler of her team.
"Kobalt, aren't you from Argus?"
The teen in question nodded to her as he was about to answer her question with a bit of backstory before a thought occurred to him.
"I want to make a suggestion."
The group looked amongst each other before nodding to the dedicated martial artist who took the signal to continue.
"Why don't we all camp out in one room tonight and get to know more about everyone? Especially since we're going on our first huntsman mission tomorrow. Kind of."
The blue-haired teen's friends all looked amongst each other before making their own sounds of agreement.
(Later that night)
The clock in team JCKP's room read 2208 as the group of teens were all in pajamas seated either on the floor atop sleeping bags or the beds in the room making idle conversation while Jaune was brewing everyone a mug of hot chocolate. Spirits were high after the evening consisting of a squad dinner at the café they had begun to frequent, and a cheesy horror movie from their parents' time that didn't stand the test of time, at all.
As the blonde leader reentered the room, his partner helping everyone to get a cup of warm and delicious milk and chocolate, the chatter ceased to a minimum before Whitley took the chance to speak to his team.
"Jaune, you told us all about how you got here, so we know a little bit about your circumstances. Is there anything you want to add on?"
The blonde looked down at his mug for a moment, before taking a sip and moving the cup away to speak.
"Well, I grew up with seven sisters. Three older, three younger, and my twin. Growing up, I looked up to my oldest sister the most, because despite having problems with our dad, she didn't care; she didn't let any of it stop her."
Penny decided to be the one to ask about the elephant in the room.
"What happened to make your sister and father be at odds?"
"She's a lesbian."
Looks of irritation at family having a problem over something so trivial sprung up from the occupants of the room, but before anyone could vocalize their thoughts, Jaune continued speaking.
"Eventually, when she was old enough that our dad couldn't legally stop her from leaving, she packed everything and left. She met up with her girlfriend at the time, who she's now married to, and moved away from the country to go live in the city, away from the traditions that our dad tried to push onto her."
The blonde downed the rest of his mug while the others in the room sat in silence as they waited for him to continue.
"She had the hardest time out of all of us. He would make her do harder work and chores around the house, all because she liked girls. He did other things too, all to try and make her give into his beliefs. After she left, he changed for the worst I think. He started trying to decide all our futures for us. My two other older sisters, after seeing how hard Saphron's life was, did whatever he wanted."
"He tried to push that onto me, my twin, and even the little ones once they were a certain stage. It worked a bit on my twin, but only because of what he would do to me. I got the same treatment that Saphron got, only it was a worse since I was a boy, and when I started to try and do what I wanted to, he kept taking things further. One night, I overheard him talking to my mom and he brought up putting me in an arranged marriage. I ran away the same night."
The group stared at the blonde with sympathy after having gotten to pull the blinds back on a bit more of the knightly teen's past. A hand found the blonde's shoulder, and he looked to see his partner giving him a smile as she squeezed his shoulder before letting go.
"Anyways, Saphron almost got the same treatment I got in being disowned, but my mom managed to sway our dad off that. When we had heard that she got married to her girlfriend, Terra, and that they'd had a kid, he stopped telling us not to talk to her."
"He's only seen Adrian once that I know of, but he was absolutely in love with the little guy. I still think he has something against my sister, but he has nothing but love for their baby. I think that somewhere under all that tradition and 'Arc Pride', that he has a good heart, it's too bad it was never where Saph and I needed it to be."
The room was silent for a moment, before the blonde nodded towards Whitley, who shared his own story with the other members of the squad who weren't privy to what his home life had been. Flynt spoke next, telling his close-knit group what he'd told Whitley during the midterms, followed by Neon, who surprisingly, didn't really have much to add; according to her, life had been relatively boring in her eyes before she began spending everyday with her partner.
All eyes turned to the remaining four who hadn't shared. Ciel sighed before addressing her friends.
"I…don't really have much to say. I come from a line of high-ranking officers who've served in the military as well as Atlas nobility. In a way, I guess my upbringing is somewhat similar to Whitley's in that my mother was put into an arranged marriage with my father."
"Since I was young, I've been training so that once I entered the academy, I would be ready for anything. My father passed away before I was born, and my mother wasn't all too fond of the traditions that she adhered to in her youth, so she told me I was free to pursue whatever future I wanted. I came to the academy anyway, wanting to stick with what I knew, but now…I find myself addled with the realization of how much freedom I have."
The girl ceased her backstory and looked to her white-themed teammate. The slender teen took off his glasses before he took the proverbial stage.
"I'm from Vacuo. My family owned a bookstore in the upscale parts of the kingdom. Honestly?"
The teen took a moment to look up at the ceiling in thought before he sighed and continued vocalizing his train of thought.
"I don't think I ever would have decided to be a huntsman when I was growing up if things were a little different. Life was simple and easy; every day I'd help my parents around the shop, and I got to read as much as I wanted. I'm an only child too, so I knew I wouldn't have to worry about my future since all I wanted to do was take over running the store one day."
Kobalt took the initiative this time around and asked his partner a question.
"What changed?"
The suave teen looked somewhat tired as he was obviously remembering something unpleasant, his partner having noticed this, shuffled in place awkwardly and was about to apologize, but before he could, Ivori answered his question.
"One morning we came to the store to open up, only to find it burned down. The windows were broken, and someone had picked the locks to the backdoor, the safe had been straight up stolen from where it had been bolted down, and they torched the place. We could have recovered if they'd just stolen the money. We could have recovered if they'd just smashed the windows and stolen some books."
The well-read teen clenched his hands for a moment before letting them relax with a deep breath as he continued.
"Whoever did it wanted to make sure that we would be hurting from what they did. And the worst part? The culprit was never found, though I think deep down I expected that. After that, times were tough. You see, in Vacuo, there was only so much space inside the walls, which meant there was no guarantee that if they sold the house, that we could get another in a cheaper part of the kingdom."
"Mom and Dad had to work really hard to take care of each other and me, and I was getting old enough that I needed to choose what kind of primary school I wanted to go to. My parents are good people; because of everything that happened, I decided I wanted to be a huntsman, so that I could protect people like my parents."
"It made it easier on them too. I made my own weapon while I was at Oscuro Academy and decided to come to Atlas because we wouldn't have to pay for tuition. Another reason was that the authority in Atlas is the polar opposite of what we have back home."
The teen leaned against the frame of the bed he was near to while on the floor and nodded over to his partner, who took it as his turn to tell his own story. As their eyes met, Kobalt sent an apologetic look to his friend, who waved him off as he closed his eyes and tried to take his mind away from the remembering the smell of burnt books and the vivid image of his family's beloved bookstore scorched black.
"I'm actually from Argus. Growing up, it was just me and my mom. Not really much to say on my end except that I used to be a lot less…in control before I got here."
This earned looks of confusion, maybe even slight disbelief from the usually calm teen's friends as they stared at him, each trying to imagine what that statement meant, but before any of their imaginations could run too wild, he continued speaking.
"Ma and I lived in the poor parts of Argus, and I ended up in a lot of fights growing up. My mom hated seeing me come home with bruises and black eyes, so I wanted to get stronger so she wouldn't have to see me like that, and so that I could protect her once I got old enough."
"I started picking fights with kids older than me so that I could toughen up, and eventually, I told my mom that I wanted to go to a huntsman primary school. She was against it for a while, but eventually she gave in. I didn't really think I could do anything else anyway; education wasn't good in the lower districts of the city, and fighting was really all I was good at."
The tall teen rubbed the knuckles on his left hand as he wanted to wrap up his story, feeling a bit awkward with the rapt attention of all his friends on him.
"When I got to the academy, things really didn't change. Most of Argus is middle to upper-middle class, so coming to school being poor got me my share of whisper and rumors. If I ever lost during combat class, the other students took it as a chance to mock me; and every time, aura or not, I'd start a fight with them then and there."
"Before I graduated from Sanctum, I really didn't care who or what I had to fight. I wasn't there to be a defender of humanity or someone would change the world; I didn't want to be, the world never did me any favors. I just wanted to get stronger so I could make money to take care of my mom, maybe have a family of my own one day. I don't know; I haven't thought that far ahead."
The group smiled at the boy causing him to look away from them with a cough, causing Neon's smile to transform into a more teasing one.
"Aww, who knew Koby was such a softie!"
The group laughed as the skater girl attempted to reach out and poke the taller teen in the side, causing him to spend a few moments deflecting her hands while Ivori attempted to shift the group focus to being back on track.
"Speaking of softies,"
The teen sent a look towards Penny, the girl looked down at her hands for a moment before she fiddled with her glove for a few moments, until it turned to minutes. The group looked, not expectant, but patient as she tried to find what she wanted to say to them.
"I…I have a secret I want to tell you all…"
Jaune's eyes widened, something that didn't go unnoticed by Whitley or Neon, while the rest of the group nodded slowly. The girl seemed to have great difficulty coming to a decision before she finally sighed and finished her sentence.
"But because of how close it is to me, if it's all the same to everyone…I'd like to wait until after we complete our mission to share it with all of you."
The group all looked amongst each other while Penny nervously met eyes with Jaune, who gave her a reassuring look. The robotic girl met the eyes of the rest of her friends, and they all gave her looks of understanding and nodded, causing her to sigh in relief, thankful to have such understanding friends.
(The Next Day)
The group had met with the youngest of the Ace Ops at 0500 in front of the bullhead station. As they had been boarding, the group waved goodbye and gave various words of encouragement to the few other squads that had been at the plaza, preparing to leave on their own final exams.
The flight to Argus was rather mundane, with idle chatter happening between the squad mates in the back seating of the aircraft while Marrow was up front with the pilot, checking the guidelines given to him by the General so that he knew what to be observing them on.
After landing at the city's bullhead docking station, the two squads and their huntsman proctor disembarked from the metal bird and began planning.
"Alright, I checked the train schedule while we were approaching Argus air space, we have,"
The blonde checked his scroll to see the clock read 0923 before continuing.
"about an hour and a half before the next train to Mistral leaves at eleven. That'll put us getting to Mistral around three, and back in Argus around seven. It'll be pretty late once we get back, so instead of taking the risk of a four-hour flight when its dark, I say we reserve a room for tonight before we get on the train to Mistral, and then back to Atlas tomorrow morning."
The squad nodded back to the blonde, but just as the group was about to discuss what they should do next, something, or rather someone, calling out interrupted them.
"Unca!"
The face drained from Jaune's face, and the group turned behind them to see two women: one blonde-haired with blue eyes, the other, black-haired and wearing glasses. They were standing hand in hand with the one wearing glasses holding a tan toddler boy as she and the blonde whose hand she was holding were looking around. The blonde woman kept scanning all the crowd, until she noticed a familiar shade of blonde hair.
"Jaune!"
'Uh oh.'
(A/N)
Ain't gotta lot to say, hope you enjoy!
Just kidding~
Good to be back, good to be writing again, that whole nine-yards. Anyway, probs only another 2-4 chapters before we're in where RWBY would be at Season 2. Besides that little tid-bit, been beta-reading and letting other author's adopt story ideas from my bio since I have sooooooo many of them, and one of them is actually putting the story out at a really fast pace, and I'm enjoying it alot. Story's called "A Bold Opportunity", which is Jaune and Cardin at have with Arslan and Reese.
Besides that, got a new job, so that's a thing, and I think I'm gonna go work on the next chappie. Discord is below as usual!
/458XnPb3wh
Glad to have you reading,
B.J.H.