The simulator buzzed quietly before him, the door open wide as Jaune fiddled with the screen outside it.

He was trying to figure out how to set up a training session inside the simulator, and seeing as he had only really played video games before coming to Vale, his familiarity with most super-high-tech devices like these was… Lacking...

Luckily, it was pretty simple to figure out. Especially once he figured out the UI. Eventually, he brought up a list of known Grimm types and noted that the button for a 'Leviathan' was currently lit up blue.

Assuming that being lit up blue meant it was 'active', he tapped the button, graying out the 'Leviathan', and a message appeared in the bottom right of the screen. 'No Grimm Selected. Would you like to activate Aura Training subroutines?'

He could take a swing at what they might be, and if he was right, then it was what he was looking for. Pressing on the 'yes' button that appeared under the message, the screen with all the Grimm options vanished, being replaced with landscape shots.

This list was even more obvious than the Grimm list, and Jaune noted that the 'Aura Training Subroutines' auto-selected a specific 'map', a seemingly flat, gray box. 'Oh well, it's not like I know any better than the machine does. May as well…'

There was a big yellow 'confirm' button in the bottom right corner, and he pressed it, hearing the simulator start to buzz even louder. After a moment, a loud 'KACHUNK' echoed throughout the room as something inside it adjusted, and when it was done, Jaune climbed inside.

Closing the door behind him and slipping the gloves back on took only a moment, and with a flash of white, he was once again sitting in the cockpit of an Ark. Focusing intently, he was able to look around, noticing that the gray area around him was blank other than a subtle white grid pattern on the walls and floor.

"Welcome. You have started [Beacon Aura Pilot Training Subroutine V1.7.3.] Initializing test. Please follow all instructions to the best of your ability."

Ozpin's voice in his ear scared a scream out of him before he realised that it wasn't actually Ozpin… but it was still terrifying. He took a few deep breaths as a floating circle of light appeared in the ground in front of it, a pillar rising out of the floor to about half of the mech's height.

"Approach the wall. Please speak the name of your personal weapon, as listed in Beacon's records. Alternatively, select one from the list in front of you."

Jaune didn't have a personal weapon like Ruby did, so when a holographic list appeared within the cockpit, he glossed over it for a moment, before tapping on the one.

A sword and shield appeared in the hands of the mech as he stood in the circle of light. Maybe not the most modern of weapons, but it felt right to be holding them. Not that any of this was truly comfortable, his aura feeling weirdly uncomfortable within the mech's systems, but that was probably just something he was going to have to get used to.

A sword and a shield. His father, Argent Arc, had apparently used them, as had his father, and his father before him, according to his mother. Not that Jaune's mother was the best source of information, having spent most of Jaune's adolescence trying to stop him from being a pilot…

"A practice dummy will be created for you in a moment. Use your aura to move the body of the Ark, and destroy the dummy."

But it didn't matter what his mother thought, anymore. He was here at Beacon now, however it may have happened, and he was going to become a proper pilot, and save people from Grimm. He felt the hands of the mech clench around the hilt of the sword, moving with a smoothness he hadn't felt before, and he couldn't help his smile.

He had an alarm set to make sure he wasn't late to the fireteam reveals, giving him about 4 hours to train like hell. No one had said Beacon was going to be easy, but to keep his spot, he already knew that he would have to push even harder than he had thought he would need to, even just a day prior.

'Time to get started!'

'Shit, shit!'

Jaune sprinted around the corner of a building, grabbing onto it to help keep some speed as she swung around it, the Amphitheater was now in sight, a grumpy-looking Glynda Goodwitch looking up from her tablet as he ran up the steps two at a time.

"You are very nearly late, young man."

The glare he was receiving from the woman was indication enough that she didn't like him for some reason. He just hoped that reason wasn't because she knew he had cheated his way into Beacon.

"I'm really sorry, ma'am, I was in a simulator and underestimated how loud the practice courses could be… I didn't hear my phone's alarm until it had already been going off for a few minutes."

He had been right to mention that he was almost late because of training, it seemed, because his expression immediately softened slightly as she shook her head, mumbling something he didn't catch. "I see. Well, it can't be helped, then, especially on your first day. Get inside, now, or you really will be late."

Jaune thanked her and jogged inside, his eyes gazing over the crowd and spotting the pink stripe of hair that belonged to Ren. He was about to head over and talk to him when he noticed that the boy was already deep in conversation with a short redhead.

Deciding to leave them to it, Jaune turned to plunge into the crowd to find a good spot, but before he could, he felt a shoulder slam into his own, throwing him to his left, being caught by someone.

He caught a glimpse of a large orangey-brown-haired boy sneering at him as he walked past, but he was more worried about whoever he had landed on. Turning to them, he remembered the black-haired girl from the first meeting at the Amphitheater.

"Ah, thanks for the catch. Sorry about that."

She helped prop him back up on his feet, nodding at him, but otherwise said nothing, turning to stare at the stage, waiting for the meeting to start. That left Jaune in a bit of an awkward silence… Until he was smothered by a blast of Rose petals for something like the third or fourth time today.

He'd kinda lost count already.

"So, Blake… Oh, hey Jaune! You've met my partner already?"

Jaune couldn't help but smile at the shorter girl's infectious energy as she wrapped an arm around Blake's shoulder. Jaune just shrugged at the question. "I got bumped into her a second ago, and she caught me. Other than that…"

Ruby nodded rapidly at that, picking up what he was putting down, and in another burst of Rose petals, he found Ruby's arm around his shoulder as well, bringing both him and Blake down to Ruby's height.

"First friend Jaune, meet Blake, my partner for the next 4 years!"

Ruby was an excellent social lubricant, it seemed because now he had a shot to properly introduce himself instead of just falling into an uncomfortable silence. Holding out the arm that Ruby wasn't pinning to his side, he smiled. "Hey there. Jaune Arc. It's nice to meet you, and thanks again for the catch."

Blake glanced at Ruby and sighed, clearly understanding the fact that she was unlikely to escape without at least giving an introduction back. She reached out and shook his hand, a short, sharp up-down that made him feel like he had just applied for a job.

"Blake Belladonna."

Ruby let the both of them go at that, the girl's goofy smile practically its own light source. "Don't worry, she's a bit quiet, but she's actually really nice! I'm sure you two will get along once you get to know each other!"

Spotting the glare that Blake was giving Ruby at that, Jaune laughed awkwardly, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his vest and rocking back and forth on his heels. "I'm sure, I'm sure. Now-"

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted when the lights shut off suddenly, and a quiet piece of music started playing, as footsteps echoed from the stage. Walking into the circle of light on the stage was Admiral Ozpin, with Miss Goodwitch and two teachers who were unfamiliar to him following him.

"Man, they really love the whole 'light in the darkness' metaphor, don't they?"

Jaune couldn't help but snort at Ruby's whispered question but stayed focused on the stage as best he could. Ozpin reached the middle of the spotlight and tapped his cane, the entire hall falling silent.

"Not a single failure. Not a single person here failed their first test of the year! Congratulations! It has been quite a while since we have had a batch of first-years that have pulled that off, so you should be very pleased with yourselves. But not too pleased with yourselves, of course, as this was quite literally just the beginning."

A sly smile appeared on his face as he rolled his shoulders. "Now, I don't want to annoy you all with another long-winded speech today, so I will be handing it off to Miss Glynda Goodwitch, Doctor Bartholemew Oobleck, and Professor Peter Port, who will be announcing the fireteams you will be a part of for the next 4 years."

He was honest about not speaking for long this time, as he immediately stepped backwards as the spotlight grew in size to cover the entire stage, and bright screens blinked into life above the staff members.

Doctor Oobleck was the first one to step forward, a tablet in his hands. "Right, let us begin immediately! To start us off, we have a fireteam-"

Unfortunately, while Admiral Ozpin hadn't talked for very long… that didn't mean they weren't going to be there for a while. There were a lot of students in Beacon's batch of first-years, and Oobleck was prone to distractions.

Luckily Glynda seemed to be aware of such, cutting him off as he started to go into a tangent about the history of fireteams after announcing the second or third fireteam… By literally picking the man up with her semblance and moving him back next to Professor Port.

None of the fireteams so far had included someone that Jaune knew, and he felt himself hoping to at least get Weiss or Ruby, and their partners, in his fireteam. It would be nice to be on a team with a friend.

As if she could read his mind, Ruby bumped his side with her elbow, and when he leaned down slightly to hear her better, she whispered in his ear. "Who do you think we'll be on a team with?"

It got a chuckle out of Jaune, and he smiled at her. "I'm hoping to get either you or Weiss, and you're probably hoping to get Yang, right?"

The speed at which Ruby nodded in response to that made him worried for her spine, but she seemed to be fine. "I am, yeah! But I hope you're on my team, too, Jaune. Then all my friends can be on one team together!"

The pure smile she sent his way had him freezing for a moment, and he could have sworn his cheeks felt a little warm, but he ignored it. Or, to be more accurate, he was distracted from it by hearing his name.

"Jaune Arc and Lie Ren! Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long! And finally…"

Jaune broke out into a probably stupid grin as he heard that he would be having Weiss and Yang on his team, and when the final two names were announced… Well, then he was sure that it was a stupid, goofy smile.

"Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna! Congratulations to team JSBYRR, which will be led by… Jaune Arc!"

And that was where his smile froze, his enthusiasm grinding to a halt, even as Ruby jumped on his back with an ear-splitting shout of joy, shaking him back and forth in excitement as he gave her an impromptu piggyback ride.

"WOOHOO!"

Ruby's cheer echoed over the crowd, and there was a soft snort of amusement over the microphone from… one of the staff members, but they moved on quickly, calling out other teams.

Ruby leaned over his back and met his eyes, an almost manic smile on her face, only slightly tempered by a clear undertone of disappointment, likely at not having been picked as the fireteam leader. That didn't seem to slow her enthusiasm down at all, however. "How great is this, Jaune! Best case scenario! We all get to be a team with each other! And Congrats on being chosen to be the leader!"

That was excellent news, and at any other moment, he would be cheering right alongside her for getting to be on a team with friends, even as new friends as they were, but right now, he was distracted.

Out of all the competent and awesome people on their team… Weiss with her smarts, Ruby with her talent, Ren with his skill… He didn't know much about Yang and Blake but they were probably really awesome too…

How on Remnant had they chosen him as the leader of the team?! Him! The cheater! Had he made his transcripts too good, somehow?! He didn't think he had overdone it, but clearly, something was wrong because they were making him the LEADER OF THE TEAM!

And the worst part was that he couldn't decline the position without raising suspicion as to why, and the last thing he needed right now was suspicion towards him…

'I guess I'm the leader of Fireteam Jasper, then. Good gods above, please don't let me fuck this up…"

The silence was killing him.

Team JSBYRR, or Team Jasper, as it was said out loud, was being led through the first-year's dorm building by what Jaune could only describe as a very tall roomba. It trundled along slowly, which was probably so that they could learn how to get here on their own, but it also made it tedious.

And that wasn't even talking about the fact that none of the team had said a word since they'd all met up to be guided to their dorm, other than Yang and Ruby, but that was just to each other.

It made him feel awkward, which was a familiar feeling over the last day or two, it seemed. Were they upset that he had been named the leader, and not one of them? Blake was busy ignoring everyone, not just him, Ruby seemed more than happy, Yang seemed happy if Ruby was, and Weiss had barely even looked in his direction since the announcement.

The only person who seemed to be completely fine with his appointment as fireteam leader was Ren, who, other than spending the entire walk with his head in his scroll texting someone, didn't look too fussed at all about who was the leader. Jaune was grateful for that, at least.

He was also quite curious about who had so much of Ren's attention, however, and had peeked at the scroll, but when he saw a head of orange hair in the profile picture of the person, he assumed it was the girl from before.

Their group was stopped suddenly as the guide robot let out a 'beep' and paused in place, turning 90 degrees until it was facing a door with the number '115' on the plaque attached to it.

"Attention Fireteam J-S-B-Y-R-R. You have been assigned to room 1-1-5. Please present your ID cards to the lock for registration."

They all fumbled to grab out their ID cards when prompted by the robotic voice, touching them to the code-lock on their door, each one prompting a flash of green light and a 'beep' from the machine.

Once all six of them were registered, the guide robot backed off. "All of your belongings were moved here previously. Unpack and rest for tonight, as classes begin tomorrow."

The door swung open after that, and Ruby darted inside in her petal form, with Yang sprinting in right after her. Blake and Ren just walked in, their heads in their scroll and a book respectively, and Jaune caught Weiss before she could enter.

She turned to look at him, an annoyed look on her face. "Yes, fireteam leader? Was there something you needed?"

Jaune couldn't help the wince he did at her venomous tone. Her words made it abundantly clear that she was upset about him being the team leader, so at least he knew where he stood currently.

"I'm sorry. I can tell that you were hoping for the position, but I can't give it to you without explaining to the staff why I don't think I'm fit… and you know why I can't do that."

Weiss huffed, and he was grateful to see that the combative body language she had loosened slightly. "Yes, yes, logically I know that. I'm likely going to be at least a little bit upset about this for a while, mind you, but I know it's not your fault."

With that, she upturned her chin at him and very calmly stormed into the room, a contradiction that he was having a lot of trouble wrapping his head around. 'Whatever. As long as we're okay… I owe her so much, and I'd hate for her to hate me.'

Shaking his head, he took a deep breath and entered the room. Before promptly pausing in shock at the sight of Ruby somehow having turned the six beds they'd been given, and which the room had plenty of space for, into three sets of bunk beds.

She was currently kneeling in front of a very cross-looking Weiss, who was seemingly scolding her for turning the beds into bunks, and Ruby looked so much like a guilty puppy dog that had just chewed up some shoes it was hilarious.

Still, the hilarity of the situation aside, what he was more focused on… How in the Gods' name had she done it so quickly?! "W-what the…"

His clear shock got a laugh out of Yang, who appeared beside him suddenly, leaning on his arm. "That's just Ruby for you, Vomit Boy. And don't worry about it too much, I made sure they weren't going to fall and crush any of us, at the very least. She did a pretty great job, to be honest."

Jaune didn't really have a response to that and could tell that he had just frozen up. Yang pushed off him, giving him a light punch to the arm. "C'mon, it's better to get proper exposure to her brand of crazy sooner rather than later, right? Especially since you're gonna be team leader and all."

He noticed the slight shift in her tone and frowned, turning to make eye contact with her. "Are you alright with me being the leader? I don't want you to be upset as well that you weren't picked."

Yang laughed, patting him on the shoulder. "Nah, I didn't want to be the leader. Was kinda rooting for Ruby, but she seems fine with the outcome, so I'm fine as well. Actually, just realised, I might have to upgrade you."

Jaune cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Upgrade me?"

Yang just smirked at him. "Yeah, from Vomit Boy… how does 'Chief' sound, Chief?"

He couldn't hold back the groan he released at the new nickname, causing Yang to laugh again, sticking her tongue out at him. "If you hate it that much, then I clearly chose right, haha! Anyway, I'm gonna go unpack my shit now, Chief. You should do the same."

He nodded to her as she walked over to the middle bunk and jumped up to the top bunk, before realizing that his stuff was the only stuff left in the middle of the room, all of the others having claimed their beds already.

Blake was the only one who had finished unpacking, however. Already she was sitting on the bottom-right bed, the one most tucked into the corner, reading a… Book…

Was… Was that Ninjas of Love?

He was hit by a flashback to himself at about 9 years old, spotting the book in Saphron's room and attempting to read it, only for her to snatch it from his hands in a panic and tell him that it was for adults only. The fact that she wasn't one at that point hadn't mattered, apparently.

He realized he had been staring, his cheeks slightly red when he glanced upwards and made eye contact with Blake, who for a single instant looked confused before her eyes darted down to her book.

Her entire face went bright red as she practically threw the book down the side of her bed, tucking it under her mattress, before looking back to him and running her thumb over her throat, the threat clear.

Jaune looked away as he nodded subtly, glad to notice that none of the others had seen their interaction. Looking around, he sighed. Ruby, Yang, and Weiss had all taken the top bunks, the Top-Left, Top-Middle, and Top-Right respectively, which left Ren with Bottom-Left, Blake with Bottom-Right, and himself with Bottom-Middle.

He didn't really care about where he slept, to be honest. Living in a crowded house with 9 sisters kind of inoculated you to the discomfort of sharing space. Plus, It was already around 8 pm, and he was exhausted.

He would have thought having his Aura now would make him more energized than ever, and it kind of had, to be honest. But the fact that his soul was now something he could use seemed to tire his body out a lot, as he wasn't used to it yet.

So with that in mind, he mumbled out a 'goodnight' to the rest of the team, his team, only getting mumbles back from the rest, other than a 'Goodnight Jaune!' from the ever-chipper Ruby…

And promptly passed the hell out.

The AO3 version of this story has chapter/character art! Check it out as well!