Chapter 45: Sparking the Flame

Standing opposite Winter in Beacons Amphitheatre, Pyrrha took a slow, controlled breath as she held her sword at the ready. She's had dozens of spars with Winter by this point, but things were going to be a little different today.

Today they were finally going to put their respective Breathing Styles to the test.

"Begin!"

Taking a breath, Pyrrha built up a large amount of strength in her legs before taking off in a sprint towards Winter. With her shield mounted on her arm and both hands on her blade, she pulled it back and swung it in a wide arc.

"Flame Breathing: Unknowing fire"

Turning to face Pyrrha's attack, Winter held her sword out and tilted it slightly. The two swords collided, but instead of one overpowering the other, Pyrrha's blade slid upwards, missing Winter entirely.

"Frost Breathing: Unforgiving Breeze"

Now having an open shot at Pyrrha's body, Winter brought her sword back, before lunging forward in a thrust.

"Frost Breathing: Frozen Peak."

Not planning on taking Winter's attack, Pyrrha brought her shield down, managing to block Winter's sword. Unfortunately for her, she was still hit by the full force of Winter's blow and sent stumbling backwards.

Regaining her balance, Pyrrha regarded Winter with a little more caution. Glancing up at the Aura meter, she saw that her Aura had only dropped by a tenth. If she hadn't blocked Winter's last jab, it probably would have been a lot more than that.

Deciding to play the long game and give her Aura time to recover, Pyrrha stepped back, only for Winter to suddenly make her move.

Charging forward, Winter unsheathed the second blade hidden within her sword. Upon nearing Pyrrha, she moved to slash her with both blades. One from above and the other below.

"Frost Breathing: Icy Maw"

Jumping back to gain more space, Pyrrha threw her shield at Winter, only for it to be deftly avoided. Seeing that she had no other choice than to try and counter Winter's technique, Pyrrha took a deep breath and prepared herself.

"Flame Breathing: Blooming Flame Undulation"

Swinging her blade in a spiral motion, Pyrrha managed to block one of Winter's swords while even landing a solid blow on the Atlesian Specialist, but it hadn't come without sacrifice as she'd taken a direct jab from Winter's other blade.

Locking blades for the first time since their duel started, Pyrrha searched for anything she could use to give her an edge. Finding just what she was looking for, she gave one final heave against Winter's blades before backing off.

Raising her sword high, she took another focused breath as she built up strength in her upper body. Watching as Winter lashed out, attempting to land a blow on her unguarded body, Pyrrha activated her Semblance and tugged her shield towards her.

The metal disk shot towards her at a high speed and collided with Winter's leg, throwing her off balance while also giving Pyrrha the perfect opportunity to land one of her techniques.

"Flame Breathing: Blazing Universe"

Bringing her blade down, it collided with Winter's shoulder, throwing her to the ground. Sparing a quick glance towards their Aura meters, she saw that Winter's was a bit over half full.

Raising her blade again, Pyrrha aimed to land another heavy hit on Winter's downed form, but failed when Winter swept her legs, knocking her to the floor as well.

Attempting to get up, Winter knocked her back down again, not willing to give Pyrrha the chance to gain a better vantage point.

As they were at a deadlock, the spar was called with Pyrrha being the technical winner due to having a little more Aura than Winter.

...Breathe...

"That was fairly impressive," Ozpin noted. "If I didn't know any better, I would have believed that Ms. Nikos was a fully fledged Huntress."

"Learning a Breathing Style will do that," I replied. "Each time they use a technique they're forcefully increasing their strength and speed. It can use a lot of Aura, but that's what Total Concentration Breathing is for."

"I can see why you chose to teach that breathing technique first," Ozpin hummed. "But do you believe that it will be enough for those missions?"

"Maybe one of the less dangerous ones," I shrugged. "One of the things I've learned while training was that when I was forced into a difficult situation, I adapted and grew stronger. Going on a mission might help them master their Breathing Styles a bit faster."

I did want both Pyrrha and Winter to master Total Concentration Constant first, but at this point, they were probably more than ready to take on a few of the stronger types of Grimm out there.

"I see..." Ozpin trailed off. Tapping his cane against the ground, he stood. "As much as I like these morning conversations of ours, I will have to cut this one short. The new students will be arriving today and unfortunately that leaves me with a large amount of work."

New students?

"I would actually like to invite you to see them during presentation. They'll be arriving here in the late afternoon," Ozpin continued. "You could sit up there in the stands without anyone being the wiser."

It was a little odd that Ozpin wanted me there, but at the same time, I did want to see everyone arriving. "Sure... I'll be there. It won't be a problem if I bring Pyrrha and Winter, will it?"

"None whatsoever," Ozpin hummed, seemingly happy that he had convinced me to come. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have some work to get back to."

Nodding as Ozpin left, I made my way down to where Pyrrha and Winter were resting, aiming to ask them if they wanted to see Beacon's new students.

…Breathe…

Staring up at the massive, castle-like Academy, Ruby felt equal parts of excitement and nervousness running through her veins. Technically speaking, she shouldn't be attending Beacon for another 2 years, but Ozpin had invited her to attend earlier due to everything that happened back in the Schnee's new mine.

Apparently, learning about Salem and being a potential target for said ancient Grimm queen was enough of a reason for her to attend early… Not that she was complaining. She got to attend Beacon because of it.

Now all she needed to do was…

Letting out a yawn, she suddenly felt like she needed to take a nap.

"Doing alright there, sis?" Yang asked, sounding a little concerned.

"I'm fine," Ruby said, covering her mouth as she fought off another yawn. "Just didn't sleep great last night is all."

"Nightmares?"

"No," Ruby lied, laughing awkwardly. "I was just a little too excited… I mean, it's Beacon… Look at it," She said, gesturing towards the massive school. "It's the best Academy in the world and we're going to be staying here."

"If you say so," Yang replied, not quite believing her. "Just know that I'm always here if you need someone to talk to… Even if we don't end up on the same team."

"Thanks Yang," Ruby smiled.

The truth was that she had been having nightmares. They had become recurring ever since she started learning how to use her eyes. She wasn't entirely sure, but it might have something to do with how she triggered her silver eyes.

But it wasn't like she was going to stop using her eyes. They were too useful. There was no way that she would stop using them because of a few bad dreams… Besides, in those nightmares, a lot of the bad parts would have been avoided if she had just been able to use her eyes properly.

Then Yang wouldn't d…

"Oh hey," Yang said, interrupting Ruby's thoughts. "It's Weiss. She mentioned that she was planning on coming to Beacon, but I didn't think we'd run into her so soon." Waving towards the Schnee heiress, Yang walked up to her while Ruby followed closely behind. "Hey Weiss, long time no see. It's ice to see you."

"Yang," Weiss replied. "And… I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"Uh… Ruby. Don't you remember me? We met back at that mine. I was there during the cave in. Coal had to carry you because…"

"I remember," Weiss interrupted, her face turning red at the memory. "I just forgot your name. We didn't really talk much back then." She took a moment to recompose herself before continuing. "Besides the terrible pun, it was nice to see the both of you again. I still have to see that my luggage is handled properly… Perhaps we can meet up a little later," She suggested, trying to sound disinterested, but failing.

"Whenever you want, Weisscream." Yang grinned as she clicked her fingers.

Smiling despite the horrible pun, a nauseating smell washed over them, putting an end to the moment "Ugh, what is that smell?" Weiss asked, pinching her nose closed as a blonde knight ran past them, rushing towards the school.

"Yeah… One of the guys on our airship had motion sickness," Yang replied, shuddering. "It wasn't pretty."

"He almost threw up on Yang's shoes," Ruby added. "Luckily, Maria saw what was happening and managed to pull him to a bin in time. It worked, but then he slipped and had to climb out of it… There was some splash back and he…"

"I really don't need to know the details," Weiss said, cutting Ruby off, looking visibly disgusted. "Wait, if Coal's grandmother was with you, where is she now?"

Ruby and Yang glanced at each other.

"Probably finding a bathroom," Yang shrugged. "She didn't exactly come out of that unscathed. Vomit boy managed to get some on her sleeve when everything went down… Or should I say up." She smirked.

"Lovely," Weiss muttered sarcastically.

"Well, I can see you have a lot to do, so we'll just leave you to it," Yang continued. "See you later, Weiss."

Glancing towards her luggage and the staff that were busy loading it onto a cart without any issue, Weiss let out a sigh. "I may as well go with the two of you. If I stay here any longer, I'll risk being late."

"Late?" Ruby hummed. Looking at her Scroll, a wave of panic washed over her. "Oh crud! Presentation begins in like ten minutes. We have to hurry."

"Ruby," Yang called out, stopping her sister before she took off. "The Amphitheatre is that way," She said, pointing in the opposite direction Ruby was intent on heading.

"Right, I knew that," Ruby replied sheepishly.

…Breathe…

"You know, it's quite strange… Being on this side," Pyrrha commented, watching as the students finished filing into the Amphitheatre from her spot up in the bleachers. "It wasn't that long ago that I was planning on being a student here."

The light had been turned all the way down in the stands. The main area of the Amphitheatre where all the students stood was dimly lit with the exception of the stage that had a single beam of light illuminating it, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible for anyone to see the two of us.

"I know what you mean," I said softly.

"You do?"

"Of course," I hummed. "There was a point where I was planning on joining Beacon, but it just… Didn't pan out. I kept getting stronger and realized I could do a lot more good outside of an Academy than in one."

Smiling, Pyrrha shifted closer towards me, only stopping when it was physically impossible for her to get any closer. "I once mentioned that I believed I had a great destiny ahead of myself and with everything that I've learned it's become increasingly clear that I was right." Leaning against me, she let out a short happy hum when I wrapped my arm around her. "I'm glad that I'm walking this path with you, Coal."

"And I'm happy to have you at my side," I replied.

Content to sit in the darkness and watch as the last of the students trickled into the Amphitheatre, I glanced through the crowd and spotted a handful of familiar faces. Ruby, Weiss and Yang seemed to have found each other and were happily chatting with each other.

Blake stood a little further away from the trio, somehow managing to look both apathetic and a little bored. Further in the mix of students, I found the person who I assumed was Ren standing next to an orange haired girl who was definitely Nora.

A few other people stood out, namely Cardin and his soon to be team, but oddly enough Jaune was missing.

That brought up an entirely different line of thought. Pretty much the entire reason why Jaune was able to attend Beacon in the first place was due to Pyrrha... Who would no longer have any obligation to help him. She helped him study, helped him train. Hell, she even helped him survive Beacon's initiation.

Without Pyrrha to carry him, Jaune didn't really have much of a chance… In fact, he was actively in danger. He might not live past being launched into the forest.

I could always ask Ozpin to pull him from the initiation, but I didn't want to do that. While he was woefully underprepared, he had a good heart and a more than useful Semblance.

"Hey Pyrrha," I began. "Do you know how to unlock a person's Aura?"

Humming, she looked up at me, her green eyes barely visible in the dark of the stands. "I do. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering how it's done. When Maria unlocked my Aura, I was kind of unconscious."

Jaune wouldn't have anyone to carry him this time, but he would have a fighting chance, especially with that Semblance of his… Assuming that it passively amplified his Aura without him knowing it.

"Oh. It's actually fairly simple," She replied. "All you have to do is place your hand on the person who's Aura you want to unlock and pour your Aura into their body. Most people use a mantra to help them focus their Aura which helps, but..." She paused when Ozpin stepped onto the stage.

Coughing into the microphone, the Amphitheatre quickly quieted down, allowing Ozpin to give his speech.

"I'll… Make this brief..."

Tuning Ozpin's speech out, I once more began to search through the crowd, looking for Jaune, but I couldn't seem to find him. I'd made massive changes to the timeline, but I didn't accidentally stop Jaune from attending Beacon… Did I?

Part of me said no, but a much larger part said that it was possible. Jaune's family could have prevented him from coming here… Assuming that nothing bad had happened to them. There had been a massive panic when Hazel and Tyrian woke that Ancient Grimm in Mistral. All that negativity would have attracted more than a few Grimm.

I shook the thoughts from my head. Thinking that way wouldn't do me any good. I could always look them up after this, but for now I had to focus on the present moment.

"And now for a few words from a guest speaker. Mr. Coal Calavera."

"Say what now," I muttered.

A murmuring broke out throughout the Amphitheatre as potential students whispered to each other in an excited cacophony.

"I didn't know that you were going to be giving a speech today," Pyrrha said.

"I didn't either," I replied. "This is the first I'm hearing of it."

"Oh."

"Mr. Calavera. If you could please come to the stage."

Sighing, I stood and made my way down to the stage. When I'd told Ozpin that people grew the most when they were put on the spot and forced to adapt, I didn't mean something like this. I was referring to combat.

Trying to come up with something to say to the prospective students, I ended up drawing a blank. Ozpin had given me precisely zero time to prepare anything.

Stepping onto the stage, I glanced over the students and saw that more than a few had their Scrolls out and were recording this.

Moving away from the microphone, Ozpin patted me on the shoulder before going to stand next to Glynda. Rolling my eyes, I stepped up to the microphone and glanced over all of the students. Looking up to where I knew Pyrrha sat, I took a single breath.

"Tomorrow you'll be taking the first step to becoming the future protectors of Remnant. To be a Huntsman or Huntress is to be the first line of defense against the Grimm and the final hope for the darkest hour."

I took a moment to look through the crowd to see if everyone was paying attention, I briefly locked eyes with Ruby.

"There will be moments where you're pushed to your absolute limit… Where you will feel as if you're not enough. When those moments come… stand tall, dust yourself off and set your heart ablaze. No matter how impossible it may feel, keep moving forward. If you can do that, you'll find that you've gained something irreplaceable… A heart that can weather all storms."

Feeling like I'd done the best I could with what little time I'd been given, I turned to leave. Giving a nod to Ozpin, I glanced over to where Pyrrha was and pointed up, gesturing for us to meet back at our room before leaving the Amphitheatre.

Making my way down the hallway to avoid the rush once the new students were moved to the Ballroom for the night, I grabbed my Scroll and began paging through it. Ozpin had granted me a lot of access here at Beacon and I wanted to see if that extended to the students list. I wanted to see if Jaune was on it. If not…

"Oh thank goodness," A male voice called out, sounding relieved.

Smelling a faint scent of bile and hearing the rushed sound of footsteps racing towards me, I turned around and found myself staring at the blonde knight himself.

Coming to a stop in front of me, Jaune panted, leaning on his knees. "Sorry… Really tired… Been running around all day in heavy armor," He apologized, breathing heavily. "Need to find the… Amphitheatre… For first year students."

"I was just there… It's probably over by this point," I explained.

"Aw, man… I'm gonna be in so much trouble," He muttered breathlessly.

"If you're gonna be in trouble, then you might as well take a moment to catch your breath," I said. "I'll show you where you're expected to go next."

Nodding, Jaune leaned against the wall, taking a few moments to cool down. "Thanks," He said, already breathing easier. "The name's Jaune Arc. Short. Sweet. Rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it," He finished, offering his hand.

"I'm sure." Letting out a short laugh, I shook his hand. "I'm Coal… Coal Calavera," I said, immediately regretting shaking his hand. Hearing something moving a little further down the hall, I glanced towards it.

"So, are you some sort of upper year?" Jaune asked. "You don't really look that much older than me… Although, it could be the tattoo."

You know what, I somehow wasn't surprised that Jaune didn't recognize me. I mean, this was a guy that only recognized Pyrrha due to her sponsorship with Pumpkin Pete after all. So long as I wasn't on a cereal box, I was unrecognizable to him.

"Not exactly," I replied. "So I couldn't help but notice that you don't have any Aura."

"Gesundheit?"

I took a deep breath. Okay, I should have seen that coming.

"Aura is a type of energy that comes from the soul. It acts like a force field that protects you from harm and also increases things like the rate at which you heal along with your strength, speed and stamina," I explained. "You can't exactly be a Huntsman without Aura… In fact, most preparatory schools unlock it for you when you're young."

"I knew that," Jaune lied. "It's just… I was saving my Aura… For later?"

"Jaune," I sighed.

"Look. Please don't tell anyone, alright. Being a Huntsman's been my dream since I was a kid. I know that I might not amount to much, but I just need to try, you know."

"I'm not going to tell anyone," I replied. "In fact, I was going to ask if you wanted your Aura unlocked."

"You would?" Jaune asked, looking both a little excited and wary. "What's the catch?"

"There's no catch. I just don't want to see someone die due to something that could have been easily avoided," I explained. "Think of it as me giving you a fighting chance. Of course you'll have to learn how to use your Aura properly on your own, but this is a school so you are in the right place."

Jaune might not have Pyrrha to personally teach him, but he would have access to a number of things that would help him out. Beacon had a great collection of various martial arts and fighting styles on its CCT that was available to the students and that wasn't even counting the state of the art training facilities.

"Okay, so how do we do this?" Jaune asked.

"All you need to do is concentrate. I'll handle the rest." I replied.

"Okay."

Placing my hand on Jaune's shoulder, I began to channel my Aura through his body. "To see the world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour."

-5000 AP

Ping!

…

A new skill has been created.

Unlock Aura (Active) Lvl Max
By channeling your Aura through a person's body, you're able to agitate their Aura to the point that it forcefully activates and ejects yours. Cost varies from person to person.

…

"Woah… So this is Aura," Jaune marveled, looking at his hands as a white sheen gleamed just above his skin. "I feel like I could run a marathon."

"With that much Aura, you probably could," I hummed. "Now we should probably get going. You won't want to be late again."

"Ah, right! I almost forgot about that," Jaune admitted. "Thanks for reminding me."

"Don't worry about it," I said, waving him off.

Gesturing for Jaune to follow me, I led him through several different hallways, before finally coming to a stop when I spotted Glynda standing by the entrance to the Ballroom.

"Alright, that should be it. All you've got to do is tell her that you got lost and she'll help fill you in on what you need to know," I explained.

"Thanks again for all the help. I'd probably still be lost if I didn't run into you," Jaune said, heading off towards the ballroom.

Watching as Glynda gave Jaune a hard look, I left before she could begin scolding him for being late. "So, are you just going to continue hiding or are you going to come out?"

"Heh, still as sharp as ever," Maria chuckled. "When did you figure out that I was following you?"

"Back when I just shook Jaune's hand. I heard you moving closer," I replied.

"Speaking off... You unlocked his Aura."

"I did. If he went to Ozpin's initiation tomorrow without Aura, he'd probably die... Best case scenario, he would have ended up in hospital," I reasoned.

Giving me a long hard stare, Maria smirked. "Okay."

"That's it?" I asked.

"Yep. Now which way is your room? Ozpin did leave a room for me to stay in, right?"

"...Yes."

"Great. I'm in desperate need of a shower," Maria replied. "We can catch up on the way. You can tell me all about those Leviathan Grimm in Mistral and I'll tell you about how Yang and Ruby almost became your step siblings... Or is it Aunts?"

Oh, she heard about that. I was listed as the one who took down the Hydra Grimm alongside Pyrrha, so I suppose that made sense... Wait, what the what?

"Ruby and Yang almost became my step siblings?" I asked.

"It's a hell of a story," Maria laughed. "Lead the way and I'll tell you all about it."

Quick note. Since this site seems to be getting worse, I'll likely be making an account for another site. I'll continue to post here and hopefully things will get better, but I'll also post there. I'm thinking Ao3... That seems to be the popular choice for people nowadays. If you have any suggestions for where to post, I'd love to hear them.

Oh Jauney boy... You're way too unprepared, my dude.

We've finally made it to the start of Canon, although things are going to be a little different this time around. Pyrrha and Winter have a short spar, showing how far they've progressed with their respective styles. Ruby, Yang and Weiss meet up early. Coal's ambushed with a speech and Maria makes a return.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 50 on the P word website.

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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.

Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.

The next chapter will be posted on the 10th of March.
See you all then dudes and dudettes.