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"... Uuuuuuuuuuuck!"

She couldn't believe it.

Even the fact that she, a proper lady of the Schnee family, cursed like a sailor was more believable than what happened after the initiation.

"Are you okay, partner Weiss Schnee?" Her blonde partner looked in her direction with surprise and worry.

He was effortlessly lugging his large backpack over one arm and a few of her own suitcases in the other.

Good. It was his fault too!

"How in all circles of hell did Ruby Rose become this team's leader?!" She barely managed to contain herself to whisper shouting instead of outright screaming, observing the other pair of the team Brass (B.R.A.S [And wasn't that an unfortunate acronym.{And wasn't the leader's name supposed to be first?}]) that was leading them to their dorm room.

This was ridiculous!

That girl was like a child, obnoxiously loud and unprofessional! She could see how that brat was 'ooh-ing' and 'aah-ing' about their fourth member's weapon, asking a million questions a minute with the black haired girl looking both surprised and weirded out.

"I do not understand. What's wrong with friend just Ruby being our leader?" The big blonde idiot asked with that 'confused puppy' look on his face. He didn't even break a sweat with how much he was carrying and she was sure that there were quite a few heavy things in her luggage.

At least he proved his strength by taking down two elder Grimm in seconds. In seconds! She sincerely doubted that there were more than a few licensed Huntsmen that could do such a thing.

"Because I'm much more qualified for that position! I was prepared and tutored for my whole life for it!" I explained in hope that he would see the problem and help me alleviate it.

Maybe if we convince that Belladonna girl to give us her support we could petition to change the leadership!

Yes, that's a good idea!

"But… aren't we in this school to learn things like that? If you are already prepared for the role, partner Weiss Schnee, then shouldn't friend just Ruby be given a chance to learn how to be a leader too?" The blonde dolt asked once more. If he wasn't reminding her of a confused puppy with his happy demeanor she would throttle him right now.

And trice damn him for making sense!

She didn't need 'sense' right now! She needed allies!

Entering their dorm room she couldn't help but feel cramped. Back home she had walk in closets that were bigger than this, and she was going to share it with three other people for the upcoming four years.

"This is so awesome! It's going to be like a super long sleepover!" Their 'team leader' exclaimed, zipping from one corner of the room to the other in a flurry of red petals that thankfully disintegrated into nothingness even before they could settle on the ground.

"Hmm… it's quite spacious. Could use a few more shelves to store books though…" The Belladonna girl commented.

Spacious? It was bordering on claustrophobic!

"Where do you want me to place your luggage, partner Weiss Schnee?" Her smiling partner asked while still standing with the suitcases in hand instead of just putting them on the floor.

Looking around the room she quickly surmised it could be easily split in between their pairs.

"Let's get the left side, our teammates can take the right." Following her instructions immediately, Jaune set down everything that he was carrying onto the floor near one of the two large wardrobes in the room. The second one was on the opposite side of the room, now belonging to Blake and Ruby.

"Hey, Jaune! Could you help us?" Speaking of Ruby, the young girl called for her partner with a wide grin on her face after discussing someone with her own partner in hushed whispers.

"Of course friend just Ruby!" And the lunkhead trotted to her like a puppy… Great.

"Could you lift this bed over the other? We want to make bunk beds with Blake to have more space in the middle." Gesturing wildly, the young girl said something that sounded mildly dangerous.

The sole man of the group eyed the bed he was supposed to lift for a few seconds, then he looked back at the bed that would be the lower bunk in what looked to be contemplation.

"I don't know friend just Ruby… such contraption wouldn't be stable and could be dangerous." Looking apologetic, Jaune tried to discourage the much smaller girl.

"Pfff, it wouldn't!" Waving away his worries, Ruby looked up at him with wide and sparkling eyes, enacting a strategy that her older sister dubbed as 'adorableness overload'. "We are friends, right? Friends help each other…"

Narrowing her eyes at the scene, Weiss saw how her partner stiffened all of a sudden.

"I… I don't know… It could be dangerous…" He stammered, looking everywhere but at the young girl who didn't let up on her assault.

"Preeeetty please? I'm sure that Blake would be grateful too, right Blake? Even grateful enough to become friends!"

"Yeah… Sure…" The Black haired girl replied, a ghost of a smile greeting her lips at what was happening.

"Don't you dare give in to that …" Weiss murmured to herself, narrowing her eyes at her partner who was still trying to look away without looking away…

XxX

"I can't believe you!" His partner shouted once again, clearly aggravated. "I thought that you were a rational individual! Why did you agree to create those…. Those… those abominations to furniture all around the world?!" Yeah… She seemed angry…

"I… I'm sorry…" It felt rather… bad. He didn't want to make his partner so angry. "Friend just Ruby asked me to help, and I've read in a book that friends need to help each other… Friend Blake wanted those bunk beds too…"

"Couldn't you talk them out of it? You don't need to agree with everyone's requests like that!" Weiss countered, her voice still angry but much more controlled.

"I'm sorry…" I apologized once more, hoping that she could forgive me.

"Ugh… How am I supposed to be angry at you when you look like a kicked puppy?!" The heiress exclaimed, rubbing her face with her right hand.

"You made sure that those death traps would be structurally sound at least… silver lining I suppose…" The petite woman beside him murmured to herself after a short silence. Maybe she wouldn't be angry at him for too long.

Walking slowly with his whole team to the cafeteria, Jaune observed everything around. It was so exciting to be in a place like Beacon.

It was quite a surprise to learn that this Academy was established so long ago and that the Kingdom of Vale is a 'kingdom' in name only.

Miss Huntress Glynda Goodwitch was really helpful and explained everything to him, just after Headmaster Ozpin allowed him to join the initiation process. He was such a nice man, even saying that there was no need for identification documents because he would just give him some.

'I wonder why Miss Huntress Glynda Goodwitch hit her own face with an open palm after that… Maybe she was tired?' His thoughts veered to the nice combat instructor, the blonde woman being the one that took care of giving him a tour of the Academy and helping with finding his way to the temporary room he was using until the initiation.

After the initiation she also was adamant that I wouldn't use so much force for my attacks in the future and to keep collateral damage into account. The beautiful lady was very adamant to use only the necessary amount of force and not even a bit more. Well… he could do that too.

Sitting in one of the cafeteria benches, Jaune waited for his partner to get her meal, absentmindedly humming one of the songs from his father's playlists.

"What are you waiting for? Go get your food." Weiss commented while sitting beside him, a well balanced meal on her tray.

"Oh, don't worry, partner Weiss Schnee! I'm lecture ready!" Jaune happily replied, showing a thumbs up just like friend just Ruby taught him to convey that everything was okay.

"Hmph… just don't start whining that you're hungry while we're in class." The white themed girl grumbled, not being too used to the ever cherry attitude of her partner.

"Partner Weiss Schnee, shouldn't we have tried a bit more to wake up friend Blake and friend just Ruby?" Jaune asked after a few minutes, seeing that the heiress was finished eating and started to peacefully drink from a steaming cup of coffee.

"It should be the duty of the team leader to make sure their team is ready. I was merely curious to see if our own 'team leader' was taking her duties seriously." Weiss replied, after taking a small sip from her coffee.

"Oh… I'm sure that our team leader friend just Ruby will do fine! She has someone as brilliant as you, partner Weiss Schnee, to help her after all!"

"Okay… I was ignoring it but it's getting ridiculous. Why are you addressing everyone like that?" Setting her coffee back on the table, Weiss asked him with one of her delicate eyebrows moving up.

"I don't understand…" The blonde replied, clearly confused.

"Why are you assigning titles to everyone, or why are you using the full name every time you are addressing someone?" She clarified while rolling her eyes as if he was asking something stupid.

"How are you going to know who I am talking about otherwise?"

To my question the white themed girl looked at me long and hard, her blue eyes clearly looking for something.

"You are serious, aren't you?" She asked after a few more seconds passed.

Confused about the question I nodded, causing my partner to let out a sigh of resignation.

"I don't even know why I'm still surprised by anything in this kingdom any more…" Weiss mumbled out, running a hand through her long hair.

"I'm not from Vale. I'm from northern Solitas." I explained, making her pause.

"You are from Atlas?" Her surprise was clear, especially with how she started to stare at me.

"Well, Atlas is the name of that large city, right? I lived much further north, beyond a mountain range." I tried to explain. Not that she would be able to find my home even if she knew where it was.

"Wait… Wait a minute… You are telling me that you are from the Badlands? That's impossible! Even Grimm isn't able to survive in those conditions!" Weiss exclaimed, gaining the attention of other students that started to show up for their breakfast.

"It isn't that bad really, but I need to admit that I like the Kingdom of Vale a bit more. The colors and life all around is fascinating."

"Well, no duh! Badlands are famous for being even more unforgiving than the Grimmlands!" Weiss exclaimed, getting agitated for some reason. "The temperature is always freezing, there's barely any wildlife and even only the most ferocious of Grimm are able to survive there! How did you survive, let alone live there?!"

"Well… our home has a geothermal generator and is rather deep underground so the temperature and power never was an issue. Father also had a quite sizable hydroponic garden, so we only had to go out hunting a few times a year. We mostly stayed home and I helped father with his work, until he passed away." I explained, gaining a rather disbelieving look. At least until I mentioned my father.

"O-Oh… I'm sorry for your loss… It had to be quite hard for your family after that." Weiss said after a few moments, playing with the cup of coffee in her hands.

"Not really. It was easier and less time consuming to take care of only my needs. I had problems with the garden though, it was a bit of an adventure but the botanical books we had at home proved useful." Smiling a bit at the memories I replied but it seemed that what I said made things only worse.

"You want to tell me… that you survived on your own in the Badlands of northern Solitas? How… How long ago did your father pass away?" The white themed girl asked tentatively.

"Hmm… Five years, seven months, thirteen days and nine hours. Give or take twenty minutes."

"Y-you…you lived alone since you were twelve?" It seemed that whatever I said only made Weiss more sad and uncomfortable, judging from her wide eyes and slightly trembling voice.

"Well…" I started, but thinking about it, it would probably create more questions if she knew that I was only six years old by that time. "Something like that."

"I… I'm sorry to hear that… it must have been awful." Weiss said in a low voice, her sad eyes falling down to the cup of coffee she cradled in her hands.

"Please, don't be. Father knew that he wouldn't be able to live much longer, his passing wasn't out of nowhere. He taught me everything I know and prepared me for the road ahead as best as he could. He was the best father one could hope for." Saying that, I ran a quick, light diagnostic of my body, thanking my father for all of my abilities and functions.

Both of them fell into a rather comfortable silence, Jaune just happy that he was able to talk with his new friend while Weiss dreaded that any further questions would lead to answers as sad as what she already learned.

Comfortable indeed.

"Ouch! Please stop!" A sudden yelp of pain and a whimpered plead took their attention to a table just a few seats down where a meek looking rabbit faunus girl had her ears pulled by a large, burly student with ginger hair.

"See guys? Those things are real! What a freak!" The ginger haired man laughed to his friends who bursted out into laughter while the faunus girl already had tears running down her cheeks, probably from pain

"Despicable…" Weiss muttered. "Someone should do something."

"Okay!" Jaune happily replied, getting up from his seat and walking up to the group before the heiress could react in any significant way.

"Hello there! Can I ask what you are doing?" The blonde's chipper voice rang loudly through the cafeteria, garnering a lot of attention.

"Why do you care? Are you a freak lover?" One of the laughing boys asked, clearly nervous.

"Nope! I'm just curious!" Still in a loud voice, Jaune replied while the group seemed to be taken aback.

"I'm just checking if those freaky ears are real. We couldn't believe something like this really existed and that anyone would willingly carry those things around." The ginger haired one replied with a cocky smile while still holding the faunus's ear.

"It's it fun?" Jaune continued to ask, confusing even Weiss who was silently getting ready to step in. It wouldn't be a good thing if her partner was beaten up even before their first day.

"You bet! Wanna try?" The bully asked with a big grin.

"Sure!" The blonde replied, reaching his hand out to the two.

Clutching her eyes shut the faunus girl tried to prepare herself for pain that would inevitably come, flinching terribly when she heard her own scream of pain.

… Which didn't come.

Opening her eyes she saw that strange blonde guy was holding her bully's ear in a vice-like grip between two fingers, the appendage even changing color and sparking a bit of Aura from the force.

"Hey! Friend Weiss, look! His ear is real too!" The blonde boy called to a white themed girl that was trying to hide her smile behind a mug of coffee.

"Are you sure? Check again." The soft and melodic voice of the girl reached them, followed by a happy 'okay' from the blonde man and a yelp of pain from the ginger haired bully that was now desperately trying to get out of the grip.

"Arghhh! Fucking help me here!" The ginger shouted in between the grunts and yelps of pain, causing his group to react.

Before the faunus girl could react one of the bully's friends swung a haymaker into the side of the blonde's face, resulting in a solid and meaty thwack resounding across the hall.

In the next second the attacker was on the ground, cradling his arm that even with the Aura protecting it looked bruised.

Her savior on the other hand barely moved, looking down at the writhing man near their legs with a quizzical look.

"Do you require any assistance?" He asked, still holding the ginger's ear that was slowly turning purple from the strength of the hold. The bully looked ready to cry, still trying to get away.

"F-fuck you!" The one on the ground replied, trying to get back on his feet.

"That's not very nice to say." The blonde said back, his face scrunching slightly.

"AHEM!" An irritated voice boomed from the entrance, causing everyone to look at the newcomer.

"What is happening here?" The most feared teacher in the academy asked, her glasses glinting dangerously in the light.

"This lunatic attacked us out of nowhere!" The ginger bully shouted first, whining pitifully on the floor.

"Mister Arc?" Professor Goodwitch prompted, rising an eyebrow

"Cardin Winchester here was grabbing Velvet Scarlatina by her ear so I asked why he was doing that. He said that he wanted to confirm if it was real, that it was fun and that I should try it so I did by grabbing his own ear. Dove Bronzewing then tried punching me in the face but my subdermal layer blocked the attack without issue." The blonde recited, surprising Velvet that he even knew her name.

"I see… Could you release Mister Winchester? I think that he learned his lesson." The disciplinarian replied, turning her sight to the rest of the team CRDL.

"You four, with me. We are going to have a talk about Beacon's policies regarding mistreatment of Faunus." Professor Goodwitch announced, immediately snuffing out any attempts at protests with a glare.

"Thank you." Velvet thanked her savior after the team of bullies was escorted away.

"No problem! Friend Weiss asked me to do something so I did. You should thank her too." The blonde replied with a big smile.

"Ummm… can I know what your name is?" The bunny girl asked.

"Oh, of course. I'm Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you Velvet Scarlatina." He replied, extending a hand for a handshake.

"Likewise… um… how do you know my name? We haven't even started lectures yet." Velvet asked, equally curious and confused.

"Oh, I just compared your facial structure and defining attributes to the Beacon's student files." The now named Jayne replied with the same big smile as if he didn't just admit that he went through the mentioned files.

"Oh… okay…" Not knowing how to answer to that, Velvet just stared at the unblinking blonde before her.

"Jaune, let's go. We don't want to be late for our first class." The same melodic voice from before called out to him, gaining his attention immediately.

"Of course, friend Weiss! See you later, Velvet Scarlatina. Please have a good day!" The strange blonde waved to her as a goodby, following after the petite girl in white.

Civilians often said that Huntsmen were a strange bunch. She somehow could understand them after all that happened.

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