HELLO HELLO!

Very happy to be back with another Remnant Light! I hope you all enjoyed Fake Out (The KnightShade one-shot I posted the other day) and I hope you all enjoy this, too!

Jaune's scroll was way too far out of service to get any kind of signal.

But that didn't stop him from checking it every minute or so out of boredom as he strolled through the forest they had been dropped in. From constantly checking the clock, he knew that he had been away from the Supply Crates for about 57 minutes, meaning that he was almost perfectly on time as they came into view.

As did Weiss, who was already back at their landing sight, sitting atop one of the Supply Crates with one leg crossed over the other, the air around her somehow feeling as if she was atop a throne despite being in the middle of the woods.

He chuckled at the sight, but raised his hand in a wave as he approached, her head snapping in his direction as he intentionally moved through a bush quick enough to rustle them. "Hey, Weiss. I'm back."

She nodded back to him, a small smile on her face. As he approached, he saw she wasn't just sitting and waiting for everyone. Atop her crossed-over leg was a small notepad, and she was… Drawing on it?

Before he could reach her, however, she hopped off the Supply Crate and stepped towards him before pausing, looking hesitant for a second. Jaune frowned at that and stopped in front of her.

"Everything alright, Weiss?"

His addressing of her hesitation snapped her out of it, and she immediately returned to her more confident posture, her gaze feeling as if she was looking down at him, even when he had a major height gap on her.

She held out the notepad she was working on to him, and he took it off her, taking a look at her drawings. Was she asking for him to tell her what he thought of them? He wasn't much of an art guy but- Wait.

"Is this satisfactory for this stage of the assignment?"

As he looked closer he realised that it was a crude map of the area she had been travelling in, with annotated landmarks -which included a funny-shaped rock and a river- as well as distance markers, and it included her starting point as well as notes about which direction had which person scouting it.

Looking up from the map, he saw Weiss slightly fidgeting while obviously trying to not do that. He smirked, doing his best to stifle any laughter about how obvious she was. "This is fantastic, Weiss. I was thinking more of a verbal 'report,' if you wanna call it that, but as usual, you went above and beyond."

He had said the right thing, as Weiss' small moment of worry turned into full-on preening, her eyes closing and a happy smile making its way onto her face and she placed a hand on her chest.

"Yes, well, I suppose I do put quite a bit of effort into things. But that's just how a Schnee works."

Jaune snorted softly, just enough for her not to hear him over what was likely her singing her praises in her mind, and perked up a little as he heard branches breaking alongside other noises coming from the… North. "Oh, hey Ruby! Welcome back."

He took a quick step to the side to dodge the wave of Rose petals that wooshed past where he was just standing as Ruby stopped in place once she reached the Supply Crates. The girl seemed excited, but also a little out of breath.

"Hey, Jaune! Hey, Weiss! There's so much cool stuff in the forest! I saw a bunch of Deer in my direction and there were these cool black vines with white thorns all wrapped up in one of their horns! It was wicked sick."

Jaune smiled at her enthusiasm but noticed her face fell after she spoke, her shoulders drooping slightly... Weiss seemed to notice it as well and mentioned it. "What's wrong, Ruby?"

Ruby's shoulders dropped even further somehow, and she let out a long sigh that had a whiney tinge to it. "It's just… They were really cute and I know we're likely going to have to go hunting for them later if we want to eat…"

Jaune felt his rural ancestry boiling in his blood and almost involuntarily made a comment to this 'city-girl' about how that was unfortunately just the cycle of life, but Ruby continued speaking.

"And like, I know we gotta, but it still sucks, y'know?"

Jaune's mouth snapped shut at her words and he did nothing but join her in nodding sagely as Weiss watched on, giving them both a look that he knew meant she thought they were odd. Ruby perked back up a second later, shaking off the downer mood.

"Anyway, they actually reminded me of when I first unlocked my Semblance. I chased some deer around the forest near our house for hours. Dad had to climb a tree and get me down because I got stuck in some branches."

Jaune snorted at the mental image of a younger Ruby clutching at a tree branch super high up, and even Weiss had to cover her mouth to stop a small tinkle of laughter. They fell into a comfortable silence after that, but only for a few minutes, as the other three started to file in.

Blake was the next one to arrive, and did so nearly silently, only giving Jaune a brief explanation about what she'd found. It wasn't a whole lot, just some berry bushes and some Wild Boar tracks that she thought might lead to a den, but what Jaune noticed during her 'report' was her attitude.

She seemed… Calmer. Less stressed?

Whatever the case was, he was glad to see it and hoped that it would make her all the more likely to open up to them when Yang and he sprung their intervention on her. Ren arrived next, without anyone noticing until he tapped Jaune on the shoulder to begin reporting back, and Jaune jumped practically his height again into the air while letting out a shriek.

Ren gives him a more detailed report and Jaune makes a mental note to check out the area to their west a little bit as they travel and collect some of the nuts that he had found, as they were good for you and lasted long enough that they would keep for most of the trip.

Yang was the last one back, and she was crying when she returned. Jaune would admit to being scared for a moment before Ruby asked her what was wrong and Yang turned around to show them a large stick that was tangled up in her hair.

Ruby had gotten to work untangling it from her hair without tearing or cutting any of it while she scolded Yang for scaring them with her dramatics, all while Jaune and Weiss tried their best to not let Yang see them rolling their eyes at her for fear of the repercussions.

[PICTURE]

Now that everyone was back together, though, and with some initial information about their surroundings, Jaune called everyone together around the Supply Crates. "Alright, everyone! Now that we've established where we are and we know where we're headed, let's unpack the Supply Crates and start moving. We've got a lot of walking to do and the earlier we leave the earlier we get back."

The others surrounded him while he unlatched the locks on the top of the Supply Crate closest to him, cracking the lid open. His forehead creased slightly as he saw the contents, but he understood that this was an assignment, not a camping trip.

Having one crate only be filled with tarps and clothes was probably just to make sure that they were paying attention in class when Professor Peach went over creating shelter.

He couldn't help but let out a small snort of laughter as the others groaned from behind him at the sight of the items either, clearly understanding what they meant as well. Opening the lid fully, he let it fall behind the Supply Crate, only stopped from falling by the hinges it was attached to.

Moving over to the next Supply Crate, he struggled with one of the latches for a bit. It was… Slightly melted? Grumbling under his breath about shoddy craftsmanship, he eventually forced it open, however, the part of the latch that was defective snapped off from his Aura-enhanced strength.

As the lid crashed open, Jaune blinked. He was met with the sight of more clothes, and more tarps, and… Nothing else. Was… Was this a joke? A small kernel of panic burst into existence in his chest as he realised something was wrong with their supplies.

He almost scrambled to the final crate as he heard the gasps of surprise and mumbled conversations from the others as they saw the inside of the Supply Crate. He didn't even bother fiddling with the latch this time.

Instead, he drew Crocea Flos and crowbarred the crate's lid open with it, the superior metal not even bending as the latches exploded off. The small flame of panic grew into an inferno as he laid eyes on the neatly folded rows of clothes and tarps inside the third Supply Crate.

"G-guys… We don't have any food or water."

As one might predict, the reaction to his words was… Less than calm.

Jaune is assaulted by a barrage of words and shouting as each of them reacts to the information that they have no supplies at all. He does his best to shout and get their attention again but his voice is overshadowed.

Thoroughly ignored, he starts to panic himself. They had no food. None! And this was meant to be a week-long trek! What the fuck had happened? Was this an extra part of the assignment? Or was it a mistake?

What should they do?

With instincts practically etched into him by years of school and housework, he looked around for someone to tell him what to do next, only to freeze at the realisation that as the Fireteam Leader, HE was supposed to be the one people looked towards for orders.

He almost vomited right there and then from the panic gripping his chest, but held himself together by a thread. He flared his Aura around his stomach, hoping that it would help soothe his stomach issues even just a little, and as his abdomen started to softly glow, he smacked himself on the cheeks.

'Okay, Jaune. You're out in the middle of nowhere with practically no supplies, and 5 other people. You are the most experienced in this. This is your thing!'

He took a deep breath, and let it out. Inhale, Exhale. Inhale, Exhale. He felt the panic start to lessen as he forced himself to calm down, and his mind whirled. 'What would mum do right now, if our supplies were destroyed while camping?'

As memories of his mother's words from all the years of camping trips flew through his mind, he took one last deep breath. He grabbed the sword part of Crocea Flos and expanded the sheath into its shield form, and smacked the blade against the shield a few times.

The sound of metal banging against metal was enough to break through the cacophony of noise, getting the other's attention. They looked at him and he could tell that they were all panicking, and he still was too, but they needed someone to rally to.

It was time to finally earn his place as Fireteam Leader.

"Blake! Ren! I need you out hunting, now! Boar, deer, something else, it doesn't matter. Just bring back enough for all 6 of us. Yang and Weiss, I need you to start making us some shelters so we don't freeze out here at night. Ruby, you're with me, we're going to go get some water to bring with us, just in case we run out between rivers."

They stared at him for a moment, frozen as he yelled at them, so he shouted again. "Go! We're burning daylight here, you scoundrels!"

Ren, Blake, Weiss and Yang darted off to start their assigned jobs, even as they sent strange looks his way as they did so, seemingly surprised by his sudden burst of confidence. He coughed into a hand, his cheeks slightly red at calling them 'scoundrels'.

'Maybe there are some things mum would do that I shouldn't.'

He was mainly just glad that they were too confused about his confidence to question it because it was entirely put on. Somehow, being out here with no supplies was scarier than fighting a literal Grimm in his mind. Did Beacon mess up his priorities or was he just stupid to begin with?

Shaking his head, he motioned to Ruby, who had stayed by his side as the others burst into action, and reached back into the Supply Crate next to him, grabbing out a couple of the tarps and laying them on the ground.

While he was down there, he also took out the shoelaces from his shoes, laying them next to the tarps as he placed the sheath of Crocea Flos on the ground next to his and started to cut at the first tarp with the sword.

Ruby seemed confused at that, looking almost worried about his mental state as she looked at him. "What on Remnant are you doing?"

"Giving us some 'rope' to tie up these with."

He held up the bit of tarp he had cut out, and then folded it into a pouch, before cinching the top and using one of his shoelaces to tie the top up tightly. He then used the excess shoelace to tie it to his belt.

Ruby's silver eyes widened at that, and he could practically see them glowing with excitement as she immediately caught on to his plan. "Since we don't have bottles, cause we thought they would be supplied…"

"... Then we'll have to make our own. Exactly!"

Ruby met his eyes and nodded resolutely at that, immediately drawing her Warscythe and slashing away at the tarps with more precision and speed than he could hope to match, swiftly creating 4 shapes of the same size as his pouch had been.

Jaune had the first one and a second done by the time the girl was finished with hers, and he just shook his head in awe at the skill someone who had actually trained for years could showcase.

Still, he tied the shoelaces around the tops and cinched them closed quicker than she did, so he mentally declared it a tie. Not that they were competing since they all needed water but… It just felt right to call it a tie.

With their pouches created, he picked up three of them and started to run towards the river he had seen on Weiss' map, knowing it was the closest to them. Ruby immediately caught up to him, like he knew she would, with a smile on her face.

"It's okay, Jaune. We're gonna be alright, I'm sure of it. You were pretty cool back there, y'know? Chucking out orders left and right. It was very Leader-y. Good job!"

Jaune couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped him at her words. To be honest, they weren't even that funny, but with the stress they were all under he would have laughed at a toilet joke right now.

Patting her shoulder and nodding to her, he smiled. "Thanks, Ruby. I appreciate it."

She just nodded back, a grin on her face, before she darted ahead with her Semblance. Knowing he couldn't keep up with a dedicated speed-type semblance but not wanting to waste any time either way, he sent more Aura into his legs and started to sprint after her, his legs glowing softly the whole way to the river and back.

The fire crackling made for good background noise.

It was a few hours since they had discovered their lack of supplies. They had started on their trek back to Beacon the instant that Ren and Blake had returned, the corpse of a deer -the only mark on its body being the lack of one of its eyes- held over Ren's shoulders

They had walked for hours, collecting berries and nuts and the occasional fruit or two they found as they travelled through Vale's wilderness, but as darkness fell, they had found a spot to set up camp for the night.

Jaune held the stick in his hands steady, as to allow the slabs of Deer meat it impaled to cook evenly over the fire that Weiss had insisted on creating by herself earlier.

A small grin grew on his face at the sight of Weiss refusing to use Fire Dust to start it and instead trying to get it going without for 20 minutes or so before finally succeeding and practically demanding their praise for it. Not with words, of course, she was far too proud for that, but the look in her eyes had told him and the others that if they didn't clap and compliment there was gonna be hell to pay.

Speaking of Weiss… He looked over to where Yang and Weiss were setting up their shelter for the night, having connected a bunch of tarps together for the other layer and lining it with the clothing inside it to help insulate it. It was only enough for three tents after a couple of mistakes had ruined some materials, but they were flying blind here so he didn't blame the two for it.

He just wished they were quieter about their arguing.

"No! We need to build the internal supports like this or it will fall over when it rains!"

"Excuse me? Are you saying that the traditional Xiao-Long tent pole setup is weak?!"

"Yes, I am! This is terrible engineering! How many times did you wake up soaked to the bone or dead cold?"

"Hey, it was only like six or seven times!"

"Six or Seven?! Surely you see how silly you sound?!

He looked away from the two girls as their arguing turned into a brief scuffle that ended with Weiss' coat getting dirty and Yang being pinned to a tree by a Glyph. He chuckled at their antics and saw Ren -who was sitting across the fire from him- do much the same.

"Their argument seems more for morale than any actual issue."

Jaune raised an eyebrow as Ren spoke. The boy didn't speak often, usually content to be quiet and efficient when he did his work, fought, or relaxed, so it was nice to hear him speaking up. Still… "How do you mean?"

Ren hummed, silent for a moment longer as he slightly turned his own piece of Deer meat over the fire, before speaking again. "I have been watching them, and even as they argue about practically nothing and scuffle… They have been working together to build the shelter in the same manner, the same style. They argue because it is fun to listen to, not because they are arguing."

Jaune's eyes were drawn to Blake and Ruby as Ren motioned towards them and saw that Ruby was laughing and cheering Yang on as she and Weiss scuffled, lightly bumping Blake -who was reading, of course- with updates on the fight.

Jaune was almost angry at the girl again for ignoring Ruby but it was quelled when Blake looked up from her book for a moment, said something to Ruby that was too quiet for him to hear, and then returned to her reading until she was bumped again, on repeat.

He couldn't help but smile at that, and Ren nodded as they both turned their focus back onto the cooking of their dinner. "She does seem better, too. I have noticed she was out of sorts the last few days, but it seems that the forest has taken the stress off her mind at least a little. Mother Nature is good for things like that, if cruel in many other ways."

Jaune nodded in response. It was always good to get back out into nature. Even living on a farm had its more… Modern stresses, and their family camping trips had always felt like a bit of a 'reset' when it came to them. A chance to just exist without the trappings of modern life weighing on you.

He was glad that it was doing as much for Blake, too. And not just because Blake being in a better mood meant that they were going to be able to corner her and demand what had been wrong from her easier, but because he cared about her, and it was good to see her without her eyebags seeming so intense, her body language so jittery.

"You're very observant, Ren. Is that why you're always so quiet… Because you're watching people?"

Ren nodded his head slightly but also moved it side to side in a 'so-so' movement. "Partly. But my Semblance also deals with emotions. I have always felt more… Able to read others than most my age or older. Nora was a good way to learn how to read people. She is like a storm, and her emotions are a tempest, even if she likes to play the fool with her words. I wanted to be there for her, and that meant being able to glimpse past the excuses and see her."

Ren paused, a soft smile forming on his face as his eyes closed for just a moment, and he let out a sigh. Glancing up at him, Ren met his eyes and raised an eyebrow at him, moving his head to the side. "I guess I would say it's an acquired skill that I have a particular talent for. Also… You should turn your Deer, you're charcoaling that part."

Jaune let out a yelp as he looked down at the Deer meat on his stick and quickly flipped it over, wincing at the slightly blackened section of the meat. He was gonna have to volunteer to eat that bit for sure since it was his mistake.

"You don't think she might just be faking it? My sisters used to pretend they were okay when they weren't a lot."

Ren hummed, shaking his head. "I believe you might be overthinking about it. I like to think that I can tell an act from an epiphany. Something has definitely changed in her mental state, and likely for the better."

Jaune can't help but feel hopeful at Ren's words, smiling to himself. They remain in silence for the rest of the time they spend cooking dinner, and when they're finished they plate the Deer meat alongside a handful of berries and nuts, complimented by a cup of water, and call everyone over.

Ruby was there in a flash, grabbing a plate off of them and wolfing down her food so fast he thought she might choke for a moment, but she ended up being fine enough to make conversation between bites. Blake eats slower and doesn't talk at all, but that was fine. Ren's words were enough to give him some patience in dealing with the Blake Issue, and Yang seemed to agree when she sat down next to him and he explained it quietly.

Their conversation while they ate was spotty and never stayed on one topic for long, and by the time they had all finished eating, they were quiet, with all of them thinking much the same thoughts. Jaune was the one to break the silence.

"So, I'm just gonna address the elephant in the room. We could just use the Flare. I don't think they would punish us for bailing on the assignment when it was Beacon that fucked it up, y'know?"

No one said anything for a moment. Jaune was surprised when Blake of all people was the one who spoke up first. "I don't want to. I think we can do this."

There was something more to it than that. Jaune narrowed his eyes slightly, making a mental note of the undertone of desperation in Blake's words. She didn't want to go back early. Neither did he or Yang for that matter, even if he had been the one to bring it up, but it seemed like good information to know that Blake wanted to stay out here the whole week, too.

Yang bumped his shoulder as Blake spoke, and that was enough to signify that she had gotten that from Blake's words as well.

Ruby nodded rapidly, hopping to her feet and putting one hand on Blake's shoulder. "I do, as well. Look at how well we've gone on just our first day! We can totally make it back within the week!"

Ren and Weiss both made to speak at the same time, but Ren stopped and motioned for the girl to go first. Weiss nodded in thanks and then said her piece. "I also vote for us continuing. Not only did you say I would be the one to choose if you weren't able to, but can you also imagine the good mark on our records it will be if we not only pass but thrive after such a mistake?"

Jaune looked to Ren as Weiss finished but the boy just shrugged his shoulders. "Weiss essentially made my point. It is a good idea for us to try our hardest to pass anyway. It will do nothing but good for us. We can always use the Flare later if needed."

He couldn't say that he was surprised that the others were all for continuing, but he was glad to hear it all the same. He wanted to push forward not only because of Yang and his plan to corner Blake and get answers from her but also because he really wanted to test out his leadership skills and prove that he could hack it as their Fireteam Leader.

"Then, we'll just keep pushing forward. To Beacon!"

"To Beacon!"

Laughter followed the cheer the others gave in response to his words. With that conversation over and the idea put to the side for now, it gave way to smaller talks among the group until people started to retire back to their shelters one by one.

Jaune was the last one to go to sleep, with Ren volunteering to take the first watch for the night. He was more than happy to let him, but he was also happy to offer himself to take the second watch.

As he lay down in his and Ren's tarp-and-clothing shelter, tiredness from all of the stress of the day allowed exhaustion to strike at him quickly, and he felt his eyes lidding within a minute. The final thought on his mind before sleep was merely a question.

'How on Remnant could Beacon of all places allow a mistake like this?'

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuun!

How will their trip go now that they are without supplies? Find out next time on Remnant Light Ball Z!

Seriously, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Also, you should totally tell me who your favourite member of Fireteam JSBYRR is, in the comments!