Jaune realized he had precious little to his name. Such a daunting realization came after the rest of his team had cleared and packed away their belongings. That left a pitiful little amount of stuff in their room when he glanced around. His X-Ray and Vav poster took up a good portion of the wall next to his bed, but the collection of affiliated comic books did not even take up half a row on the bookshelf he shared with his partner. The entirety of Team JNPR had neatly made their beds, fluffed their pillows, and pulled the quilts over without so much as a crease. Their window had its velvet curtains pulled back to reveal a streak of sunlight that rested in the center of Pyrrha's bed. And yet, despite how clean and clinical everything had become, Jaune found himself missing the colorful messes and strewn clothes and books Nora often left lying on the floor until Ren reprimanded her.

This lifeless room didn't feel like theirs at all.

"So," Pyrrha started, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, "I guess this is really it."

Ren sighed. "I suppose it is. I still find it hard to believe how much has changed in less than twenty-four hours."

Nora frowned, her lips twitching down like it was an expression she was unused to making–probably because it was. "I can't believe they're breaking up the band like this."

"Band?" Jaune couldn't help but ask, even in the somber atmosphere.

"Me on lead guitar, setting the place on metaphorical fire, while Ren uses his bass to fight off all my groupies and keep me all to himself. He absolutely hates sharing, you know." Ren rolled his eyes fondly. "Pyrrha would be a badass on the drums, keeping the rhythm and then going for some funky beats when nobody expects. And then, there'd be you, Jaune. With the voice of an angel that would rival even Weiss, you'd lead us to crush our competition at the battle of the bands. They'd cheer our names until they shut the power off and police in tactical gear forced them off the scene. We would be magical!"

Pyrrha sniffled, and Jaune turned to her expecting her to show a crack in her polite facade after hearing Nora's silly tale. What he got instead was the supposed Invincible Girl wiping underneath her emerald eyes with enough ferocity to leave an imprint. He was over by her side in an instant, wrapping her up in a hug. She rested in the crook of his neck while he gently ran his fingers through her hair. "Oh, Pyr…"

He was glad when the other two had joined them because currently, words were failing him. Wanting to comfort someone was all well and good, but it was difficult to do when he didn't even know how to soothe himself. How was he ever going to manage throughout the Vytal Festival without his actual team beside him? The ones who had accepted him as a critical member of JNPR, despite his obvious flaws. Even when it came out that he faked his transcripts to gain admission into Beacon, they never doubted him nor left his side.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and strained against the little tension in his chest. "It's funny, isn't it? I know that all of you are just going to be down a different hall, but it feels like it's so much further."

Pyrrha laughed, the vibration tickling him. "Sorry that my sappiness is rubbing off on you, glorious leader."

"Hey, you can't just steal my nicknames!" Nora animatedly complained, poking the redhead's bare arms. "That's copyrighted and trademarked, so don't make me come after you with my fancy lawyers in suits!"

"Don't all lawyers wear suits?" Ren asked, his small smirk betraying his deadpan inquiry.

"Duh, Renny. But obviously, my lawyers are going to be going in layers. No less than two suits per lawyer. Otherwise, I'll sue them too!"

That was the final straw that broke the camel's back. They all broke into laughter at just how ridiculous she was being. Sure, they weren't stupid enough to believe it wasn't simply for show, but they would take what they could get.

Ren was the first to have enough of the comradery or maybe he had enough of Nora's incessant death grip. Jaune could hardly blame the quiet boy there; the bruises on his ribs must have had bruises for how much it suddenly hurt to breathe. Untangling himself from Pyrrha, he forced himself to look away from her forced smile. Many people may have thought he was a dolt–the exact words his unrequited crush used–and not clued into people's intentions, but even he could tell she was taking this harder than everyone else. Sure, he was less than thrilled to have his friends ripped away from him and be forced to prove himself to a new team, especially when he lacked any such skills besides metaphorically sticking his foot in his mouth on a daily basis.

His partner, however, was acting like the very world around her was crumbling. How could that be, though? She was a regional tournament champion, the Invincible Girl that everyone admired. Hell, he admired her more than most thanks to her awesome Pumpkin Pete sponsorship deal, and that was before he even knew how badass she was.

How could he prove that to her?

He scratched his chin, a little scraggly from having neglected to shave in the morning, and hummed to himself. He really was never any good at this kind of thing. With his oldest sisters, he would always simply lend an ear to their problems and offer a solution if they wanted it. No matter how much he pushed though, Jaune doubted that he would get her to admit her true feelings. That polite facade she wore as a mask could give Weiss a run for her money. On the other hand, his younger sisters would always want a hug and some assurances that everything would be alright. Although now they were too old to admit such a thing anymore, and he would have to disguise it as something he needed. Such were the sacrifices of being a big brother, he supposed.

However, that did nothing to help him with Pyrrha. They already had done the whole group hug thing, and he figured she had no burning desire to be in his arms for any longer extended period. Nothing was springing to mind, and the entirety of his team was already grabbing their bags and loitering in the doorway. Great, now he was clueless on how to give them the send-off they deserved and help give Pyrrha a little nudge forward. But then again, what if he combined the problems? What if there was a unique approach to Pyrrha that would also benefit Team JNPR as a whole? He strolled over to stand across from them and gave what he hoped was a charming smile tinged with a hint of melancholy.

Nora tilted her head to the side. "What's going on with your face? You gotta take a poop?"

Damn it.

Deciding he had enough of making a fool of himself, Jaune aborted that specific mission. His team already knew what a dork he was and putting on airs for their departure was silly. He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I just want all of you to know that you're always welcome here. I mean, obviously, it's our room, after all, but I guess it's not actually our room at the same time. Not that we ever owned the room or anything, considering it belongs to Beacon You know what I mean, or actually I guess what I'm trying to get at–"

"We'll be sure to come see you," Ren mercifully cut him off.

"Yeah." Jaune managed an honest smile. "And how about all of us hanging out next weekend? We could check out the mall to grab some stuff for the dance or go to a club or whatever other crazy thing we want to get up to."

"Like hunting for the elusive big-footed sloth?" Nora asked.

"Nora…" her best friend warned.

"Alright, alright. Jeez, some people just don't know how to have any fun."

Pyrrha simply shook her head and laughed lightly. "I think that sounds wonderful, Jaune. And who knows? Maybe we'll spot the big-footed sloth along the way."

"That's the spirit!"

Ren sighed deeply. "I don't know why I even bother."

Jaune chuckled at his small misfortune, internally congratulating himself on a job well done. With this pretense, although they really did need to grab some dressier clothes, he'd have the chance to coax out whatever was troubling her then. While he had a long road ahead to being the best partner he could be, it was a start to repaying her for everything she had done for him.

A knock at the door startled him out of his thoughts. Ren moved over to answer it, revealing a flurry of colorful rose petals, a flushed face, and an equally red cape. Her eyes widened, looking first at Jaune and then over the rest of Team JNPR. "Sorry, I told Yang I should probably wait until you guys had enough time to say your goodbyes and everything, but she was all like, 'It's right across the hall from our room, so go check at least.' I wasn't convinced, though, so I ran around the campus a bunch to get some nervous energy out, and then I was all like that had to have been half an hour or so. It clearly wasn't enough though, and now–"

"I wonder if it's a requirement for leaders to be able to talk in circles?" Nora asked.

Now it was Jaune's turn to blush at his mortifying experience a few minutes earlier. Ruby, unaware of the context, just muttered a few more apologies and something that vaguely sounded like she'd be back later. Pyrrha put a hand on her shoulder, smiling down at the much shorter girl. "It's fine, really, Ruby. We were simply delaying the inevitable."

"We really should get going before the professors decide to raise a fuss. We're already a few minutes over what the schedule laid out," Ren pointed out, glancing at the alarm clock atop the dresser in between the beds.

"Right, I guess this is it," Jaune said. "Make sure you guys drop by, ok?"

"Will do, glorious leader!" Nora shouted before barreling into the hallway an armload of hers and Ren's luggage combined.

He pinched the skin between his brow and gave Jaune a ghost of a grin. "I better go after her, but we'll see you around. Don't forget our plans for the weekend."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

When he left the room, Pyrrha smiled at him. It failed to reach her eyes, but it was the best she seemed to be able to manage. "I'll miss you."

Jaune shuffled, as he noticed Ruby disappeared around the corner to give them a little more privacy. "I'll miss you too, Pyr."

"We'll continue to train at night and eat lunch together, right? Oh, and sit together in class as well. And we can't forget to maintain our group chat."

"Of course. Nothing's going to change except that we'll have some more friends at the end of this." He grinned. "My mom always said that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

Her laughter filled him with a warm feeling. "That's a nice perspective to have. I hope that's what ends up happening for us."

"You're amazing. Who wouldn't want to be friends with you?"

Her face darkened for the briefest of moments, and Jaune found strong arms ensnaring him in a hug. "Thank you."

She fled a few paces after saying that and kept her back to him. Jaune wanted to say something else, something to help his partner out. He wouldn't, though. There was nothing else he could do right now when he could see she was trying hard to push past her negativity.

"See you later."

"Until later, Jaune."

And just like that the door closed behind her, leaving him alone in his room. He supposed he was fortunate to be the only member of his team to not have to move, but the loneliness felt overwhelming. Shaking his head, he reminded himself that Ruby was still waiting to talk to him. Jaune pushed outside of the room and found the girl waiting a few doors down in the otherwise empty hallway, writing her cloak in her hands.

"Ruby?"

She darted over to him and bounced on the heels of her feet. "I really am sorry about intruding."

"It's fine. Like everyone said, we were finding it hard to leave anyway. But what did you want to talk about? It looked like you needed something."

A blank stare was his response. "Well, yeah. I wanted to check to see if any of our other members had arrived yet and to start moving my stuff in."

Moving her stuff in? Now, it was Jaune who shot her a blank stare. "Did we get assigned to the same team?"

She chuckled and punched his shoulder. "Vomit Boy didn't check the memo, huh?"

He laughed. "I must have forgotten to in all of this excitement. The others told me that I'd be keeping the room, so I guess I was more worried about helping them pack up and stuff."

Jaune pulled out his Scroll from his back pocket and flipped through the menu to get to his school messages. Sure enough, as Ruby had said, there was a brief summary of the meeting from the previous night and then a list of his teammates. Ruby was listed first, followed by himself, with May and Mint next. Mint? That was a strange name, and her last name–Neapolitan–certainly wasn't doing her any favors either. There was no mention of a team leader anywhere, and he wondered whether that meant the headmaster was leaving it up to themselves to decide for their temporary teams.

"I'm a little surprised they put the two of us together. I would've thought they would have a person from each academy on a team."

Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "There are more Beacon students here than there are others, so the teams are going to be a little weighted towards us."

"Ah, that makes sense. Anyways, let's get your stuff in the room, and we'll keep an eye out for our teammates. Sound good?"

She nodded, and they headed toward what had once been RWBY's dorm. Weird how his closest neighboring team would now be full of strangers. With any luck, though, his mother's adage would come true.

I wanted to get this up yesterday but better late than never, I suppose. Next chapter we'll get to start to see the dynamic of Jaune's new team and get a feeling for all the issues they bring together. I mean, Neo alone has enough going on for quite an interesting dynamic. Anyway, I appreciate any follow, favorites, and reviews! Enjoy!