Blake cast her friend a side-long glance. "Are you sure Jaune will be alright without you there?"
Her partner shrugged, kicked up her feet on the table–much to the irritation of Junior–and took a long sip of her strawberry sunrise. "I'm sure he's fine."
Goddammit, he'd never been less fine in his life. And where the hell was Yang? Was whatever she was doing more important than coaching him during his match? He tried to remember whether she had mentioned why she wouldn't make it but couldn't recall anything. If she was out drinking with Blake again instead of supporting him, he would never let her hear the end of it.
And seriously, to think everything had been going so well for him. Sure, he wasn't entirely certain how he felt about all the students–competitors as Weiss liked to call them–from different Kingdoms more-or-less invading Beacon, but he sure as hell liked them during combat class. That was until his luck had run out. Miss Goodwitch had enjoyed pitting them against one another for a while, and, yet, it seemed like she had grown bored of that. It was time to test one of Beacon's homegrown 'heroes' against some random from Mistral. Now, Jaune didn't mean that disrespectfully; it was just that the professor could've grabbed a stiff breeze from Mistral and that would've been enough to thwart him.
He dodged back from another blow from the flail. There were a few shouts, and Jaune was positive that Ruby was mixed in somewhere. Unfortunately, her voice didn't have the sheer volume that her older sister had, and was lost in the sea of increasingly useless distractions. Some were shouting for his demise, a few for his fellow combatant, and there were a few jeers about balls and chains, something or other being kinky, and yaoi? Uncertain what the last one even was, Jaune decided it was in his best interest to use the pointy end of his sword to his advantage. The sweeping motion would have connected across the boy's chest and crossed over his armpit had he not ducked at the last second. Sighing to himself at the obvious overextension, it was only moments until his legs were kicked out from underneath him. The audience lurched sideways, and Jaune exhaled sharply as he fell hard on his side. A chain pushed against the underside of his chin, Aura ensuring that no blood was spilled but doing little to prevent strangulation.
Throwing up his gauntlet-clad arms, he squirmed away from the weapon the best he could in his position. "I give."
His opponent nodded before pulling away the flail and offering a hand. Jaune gratefully accepted it and was pulled to his feet to be met with the unreadable gaze of Miss Goodwitch. Truthfully, the mood, atmosphere, whatever you wanted to call it, he had never excelled at reading. Less so, with the lack of expression that ever grazed her face. That wasn't to say she was unable to show her feelings; he could still remember the earful he got when he smuggled in a taser that Ruby had got for him from god knows where.
No, Jaune just wasn't able to discern how bad his berating was going to be. Probably pretty ruthless with the complete lack of showing he managed.
"Mr. Arc." His blue eyes immediately found her green ones. "While I can appreciate you trying to shore up your lack of aggression from previous bouts, you have a shield on your hip. Use it and strike from behind it. Then, if you miss, your wrist will merely be more sore for it rather than you being taken to the ground."
He swallowed and ducked his head, happy that was the extent of a scolding he received. "Yes, Miss Goodwitch."
Whatever she said to his opponent went unheard as he descended the stairs to merge once more into the crowd of students. He skirted around the cliques that had formed by those within the same academy. The pristine, white uniforms encompassed the militaristic expectations of those hailing from Atlas. Sadly, faunus in the same uniform were off by themselves, a clear distinction of social hierarchy. Mistral students tended to wear grays with a white armband that must have represented something important. Beacon was no better, however, the familiar faces he often passed in the corridors huddling close together and glaring at everyone else. Honestly, the only ones who seemed to be enjoying themselves were the students from Vacuo. They all had that same easy smile that Sun did, and they intermixed and mingled with others while standing out in their colorful array of clothing.
Eventually, he made his way to the back of the group where he knew Ruby was waiting. The others from JNPR and RWBY normally would have been too, but they had split up into separate groups due to the influx of exchange students. As such, it was just Ruby and him all on their lonesome.
Not that he particularly minded spending quality time with his best friend.
She sped over to his side–all-natural, through the power of too much sugar–and elbowed him in the side. He let out a small grunt, that was where he had landed pretty hard on the marble tile. Aura was great in that it prevented the majority of life-threatening injuries, but it sure could have done more for the pain.
"That was a lot better than last time."
"You say that every time I go up there and flounder around like an idiot…"
She rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess I do. It is true, though."
He sighed and gently elbowed her back. "Whatever you say, Crater Face."
Her face turned a pretty pink. "You are not gonna start that up again, Vomit Boy."
They both chuckled quietly, and he vaguely focused on the ongoing fight. There wasn't much he could take away from the two girls who clearly utilized weapons meant for distance, but he didn't dare let himself become distracted. The last thing he needed was to further give Miss Goodwitch a reason to get on his case. After all, the only rules she laid forth were to: give their best and learn from their opponents. He would have enjoyed a rule that enforced silence, but she claimed that the Grimm and other situations were not going to be so clinical. And really, how could he argue with something like that?
A light splattering of applause met the winner of the final bout of the class. They each received their own advice and soon found themselves staring up at Miss Goodwitch from the arena, along with everybody else. She flicked her riding crop to the side, creating a crack that quieted any ongoing conversations. The very air around her seemed to still, and Jaune wondered if that was an effect of the Semblance that had helped repair the cafeteria after their devastating food fight.
She cleared her throat. "All of you are painfully aware that the Vytal Festival Tournament will be starting in just a few weeks from now. However, what some of you seem to forget is that this is a celebration of cooperation and peace. The peace, if you can call it that, between all of you looks like it could shatter in an instant. And in some cases"–she looked over everyone, but her gaze looked to linger on the Atlas students for a second longer–"it is not there even amongst those you work alongside every day."
If anyone felt any guilt at the subtle call out, such a thing was not apparent. In fact, some very brave–and equally idiotic–fool snorted and spoke up. "And what would you have us do to fix that? Keep beating the crap out of each other? Because I don't know how it looks from where you're standing, but that doesn't appear to be working."
"Duly noted." Her tone was cold, and whoever decided to be brave was suddenly much less willing to talk back again. "Regardless, that is hardly the plan for this. Actually, it is not something I can take any credit for. Doctor Oobleck and Headmaster Ozpin decided upon this, and I support their idea."
"A-and what would that be, ma'am?" a shy, high-pitched voice asked.
"Starting tonight, and until the end of the tournament, you will be bunking with others that are not a part of your team." A small, amused smile crossed her lips. "Head directly to the cafeteria, and do not dawdle. Your destiny awaits you."
Jaune winced at the final declaration, trying to process everything while Ruby squeaked out her obvious dislike from beside him. Surprisingly, there wasn't much of a reaction from anybody else. Shock, Ren would explain to him later. Cooler heads didn't have a chance in hell of prevailing without a Semblance like his roommate's; the room erupted into utter chaos.
Hey, everyone! I am back from an extended hiatus due to some unfortunate personal reasons. Now, though, I am finally able to rededicate myself to the stories I had planned out, Let's Stop the Fall! being one of them. This is a shorter chapter than I will normally write, but I just wanted to get some feelers out there to see what people thought. In other news, I will also be starting up Loving My Monster Girl Classmates again, so stay tuned on that end! Hope you enjoy and reviews are welcome!