Jaune woke up feelings refreshed and ready to take on the day. At least as much as there would be to take on on a Saturday. He was glad that his first day at Beacon Academy was on a Friday. He hadn't been overwhelmed with classes and with having to meet a ton of new people right from the start. He'd been allowed to settle in, get his bearings, and at least have a little bit of time to get comfortable with what would become the new normal in his life.
For a room as normal-sized as this one, it seemed surprisingly empty. Maybe it was because there were four beds in it, and only one of them would ever be occupied. After all, no one in their right mind would have boys and girls room together with zero supervision at their age. That would just be asking for trouble. Still, looking at those three empty beds, Jaune couldn't help but feel a little bit lonely. He'd come from a huge family where there was almost never a minute of personal alone time, and now here he was with all the alone time he would ever need. Maybe it would come in handy during things like studying.
He heard and felt the rumbling in his stomach, and with that a decision was made. Jaune was hungry, and he needed some breakfast. He'd brought no food with him to school, but part of him was considering stashing some snacks away in his dorm for just such an occasion. Headmistress Ozpina had said she would spare no expense for his comfort, so he wondered if he would be able to ask her for a mini fridge. Would that be abusing her generosity? He couldn't say. However, for now, he would venture out into the wild in his search for the cafeteria and breakfast.
Getting dressed in his casual attire of blue jeans and his signature black Pumpkin Pete hoodie, Jaune looked at himself in the mirror positioned behind the room's lone desk. His messy blond locks made it look like he'd just rolled out of bed, and he in fact had. He could take a shower later after he ate, but right now he was ravenous and didn't feel like waiting any longer.
After slipping on his shoes he opened the door to the hallway and stepped outside. Almost immediately his vision was filled with passersby in the hall. Girls who'd probably just woken up themselves and had the same idea as him.
He stopped, feeling the sudden weight of their long, curious gazes upon him as every girl within sight honed in on him. Jaune swallowed hard, feeling like a rabbit in the wild who'd just been targeted by a pack of wolves who were hurriedly surrounding him on all sides.
"Oh my gosh, that's him!" he heard a girl whisper harshly.
To Jaune it felt like he was some famous movie star who was out in public. Was he really that much of a celebrity because he was the only male in the school who could use Aura?
"So that's Jaune's room?" another girl whispered. "That's good information to know."
"I know, right? We could make a killing selling this info to the other girls!"
"Screw the other girls, I'm using this info for myself!"
"Not if I use it first!"
"Hey, sharing is caring! We can totally share!"
Jaune didn't know what they were talking about or why knowing where his dorm room was so important. It was just a room, after all. The same room as everyone else. However if people seemed excited to know where he was going to be staying, he wouldn't rain on their parade. For now though he really needed to go out and find which building the cafeteria was in.
Passing through the gaggle of excited and chatty girls, Jaune heard the indistinct whispering and squeals as he strode through the hallway. He'd almost made it to the end before a door on his right opened up and another girl stepped out. Clad in a black beret and sunglasses, she lowered the latter from her eyes to reveal a pair of chocolate-brown orbs which looked upon him with discernible interest.
"Whoa, hey there, big boy," she purred. That alone may have been enough to stop him in his tracks, but the fact that she'd reached out and grasped his upper arm halted his progress immediately. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
Jaune smiled. The girls here at Beacon sure were friendly. It felt like he's already made a dozen friends after being here for only a day.
"Oh, hello. I was just going to see if I could find the cafeteria and grab some breakfast. I'm starving."
The brunette girl looked him up and down, licking her lips as she peered back up into his eyes. "Feeling hungry for an early morning snacc, huh? Me too. You should come to my room. There's an all you can eat buffet going on if you wanna dig in to what I have to offer."
Unbeknownst to him, the girls he'd passed in the hallway were all standing behind him, and a collective squeal went up from all of them. Jaune looked back to see several of them swooning, leaning up against the walls seemingly unable to hold themselves upright anymore.
"That's our Coco for you," one said.
"She's such a girl Chad!" another commented. "I wish I was as cool as her!"
"It's not fair for someone to be that sexy and confident! She's gonna get Jaune for sure!"
Jaune had no idea what they were talking about. If they'd wanted to invite him out to a friendly breakfast all they needed to do was ask.
Still, it was surprising that Coco had that much to offer in her room. Maybe his plan to ask for a mini fridge and stash food in his own room wasn't such a bad plan after all. If Coco could offer him an all you can eat buffet in the privacy and convenience of her dorm, it must have been totally okay for you to do so.
"Really?" he asked Coco, getting back on the subject at hand. "You have all that in your own room?"
Coco flashed a hungry grin. Her pure white teeth seemed sharp and predatory, like a ravenous beast who'd sighted her prey. "I've got all that," she said knowingly. "More than you can imagine. Normally I prefer the company of women, but for you I'll make an exception. It's not every day you meet a guy who can use Aura. I bet your stamina is top notch..."
Jaune couldn't say for sure. His mom had said that he possessed much more Aura than other people, but he wasn't sure if that was just her being nice. Only being able to compare himself to his much more experienced sisters, he didn't know what most other people had to offer.
Still, he didn't want to sound arrogant or speak on matters he wasn't familiar with. However, there was one thing which Coco had said which he could agree with.
"I know what you mean. Back when I went to a normal school I usually ate with the guys. I was just more comfortable around them, you know?"
Another collective cry went up from the girls around him. They seemed even more excited than before, but Jaune couldn't understand why. All he'd said was that he had male friends back before coming to Beacon.
"He's into guys? I wanna be his first girl!"
"Oh gods, he's even hotter now!"
"Challenges are so sexy!"
Coco herself didn't seem unfazed by the comment, but at least she managed to keep her composure. Her arms folded across her chest, and with that smug smirk of hers she leaned in even closer to him, so close that he could smell the cocoa-scented shampoo she used to wash her hair.
"So you've only... eaten with other guys, huh?" she asked. Jaune nodded. He hadn't had many female friends back then, only his sisters. "Well then, tell ya what. You try out some of Coco's cooking and we'll see if you ever wanna go back to eating with the boys again. How does that sound?"
Wait, when Coco had invited him to an all you can eat buffet in her room, did she mean that she was actually offering him her own home cooking? Was Coco actually some kind of talented chef in addition to being a Huntress? That was so cool! Maybe one day he would take her up on her offer, but for today he wanted to familiarize himself with Beacon and all it had to offer. After all, it wasn't as if he could count on enjoying Coco's home cooked meals every day.
"Oh, that's really nice of you and all, but for my first time I think I wanna see what the cafeteria has to offer."
Coco hummed a small laugh, tilting her head as she continued to smirk up at him. "Playing hard to get, huh? I can respect that. I've been known to break a few hearts in my day. But don't think I'll give up that easily, okay? I will be your first taste of a woman's home cooking, and none of these other girls are gonna stand in my way." She brushed past Jaune without waiting for his response. A second later, he felt something smack him on the rear end, and he jumped and yelped in surprise. Turning around, he saw the wicked grin of Coco before she turned to walk away with a wave of her hand. "See ya around, stud."
She sauntered away without another word, and one of the girls who'd been watching the entire ordeal unfold bled from the nose before she slid down the wall and collapsed in an unconscious heap. She should probably go to the school infirmary and check that out. Luckily it seemed as though her friends were there to tend to her, and Jaune wouldn't have to overstep his bounds and give her a piggyback ride to the nurse himself.
"What a nice girl," Jaune said aloud to himself, reflecting on how Coco had offered him a free breakfast in her own dorm room. Jaune pulled his scroll from his pocket and checked the time. It was almost nine, and he was still feeling ravenous. "But I should hurry before the cafeteria closes."
Leaving the group of girls behind him, Jaune made his way down the rest of the hallway and the stairs before pushing the doors open to step out into the beautiful sunny day which greeted him. With a spring in his step he began his search for Beacon's cafeteria where he would hopefully be able to find a nice, filling breakfast.
Ruby and her team took their seats at their usual table in the cafeteria. It was time to start an awesome Saturday morning. With no classes, no responsibilities, and no worries, she knew she had to start her day out right. Luckily for her Nora had hooked her up with the goods, and the plate she'd managed to carefully balance all the way to the table held the secrets to all of the energy that she would need to get through an entire day of fun and excitement.
Twelve pancakes, six waffles, six mini waffles, two sliced up apples, three sticks of butter, and three pounds of bacon were all stacked atop a bowl of cereal and doused in both maple syrup and chocolate syrup. Yes, Nora may have been a little nutty, but she definitely knew how to prepare a breakfast. Ruby eyed the veritable buffet eagerly as she licked her lips and prepared to dig in.
Apparently one of her teammates was less than enthusiastic about the meal, and Weiss cast a sideways glance at her partner and her breakfast. "Are you seriously going to eat all of that?"
Ruby stared at the food for a few moments before turning to Weiss. "Yeah, I'm gonna try. Nora called it 'The Valkyrie Challenge', and I'm not one to refuse a challenge."
"You're seriously going to gain weight if you eat all of that."
Ruby didn't think so. She burned a lot of calories, especially when she used her Semblance. Besides. "I'm still a growing girl," she stated proudly, jamming a thumb against her chest. "I drink milk."
"Yeah, I don't think that's where all the fat's gonna be going," Yang pointed out. "If it was, I think the Ice Queen here would go on the same diet to help... pad her out a little more," she added with a smirk.
Weiss cast a glacial glare across the table at the buxom blonde bombshell. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"She's implying that you're flat," Blake explained, her nose not leaving the book she'd brought to the breakfast table and held in one hand.
Weiss sputtered out a protest, her hands slamming onto the table in protest. "Well I never!" she gasped.
Ruby laughed at the antics of her teammates. There was never a dull day at Beacon with them around. She let out a happy, content sigh, and she was about to dig in to her food before her wandering eyes caught sight of something. Or rather, someone.
Over across the cafeteria, she spied the only male student in the school. More importantly, she saw that he was sitting alone. How awful was that! The poor guy. Here he was, the new kid in town, and he was all by himself in the cafeteria?
Ruby wouldn't stand for that. As somewhat of a social outcast herself, as well as being two years younger than everyone else in school, she knew all too well the pain of being eating alone. Considering how friendly he'd been with her yesterday, Ruby wasn't about to let this slide.
Ruby slid out from her seat, grabbing her heavy and wobbly plate of food, and turned to walk over to where her new friend sat.
"Ruby?" Yang asked, giving her a questioning eye. "Where are you going?"
Without her free hands, all she could do was motion with her head over to where her destination was. "I'm gonna go sit with Jaune. Wanna come with?"
Weiss folded her arms together with a harrumph, and glanced away from her. Well, that was one 'no'.
"Yeah, sure," Yang agreed. "The poor guy's all by himself? A perfect chance for me to swoop in and be his Yang in shining armor."
"Down, Yang," Blake urged with a deadpan tone to her voice.
"Yang refuses."
Without wasting more time, Ruby slowly and carefully made her way over to where Jaune sat. The sound of her heavy plate hitting the table alerted Jaune, who seemed to be daydreaming in his own little world, to her presence. He peered up at her, a noticeable change from how she would normally have to do so with him when they were both standing.
"Mind if we sit here?" she asked with a smile.
Luckily he smiled back at her. "Not at all. Please," he said, gesturing with a hand.
Ruby, Yang, and Blake all pulled their chairs out and took seats at his table. Suddenly he looked a lot less lonely. However, sitting here, Ruby realized that they were far from alone. The hushed whispers all around them were audible and mostly indistinct, but occasionally Ruby was able to pick out a few words and phrases here and there.
"She's so forward," one girl commented.
"I wish I'd been brave enough to do that," another said.
She paid the other girls no heed, however. Right now this was all about Jaune and helping him to be happy and comfortable. As such, introductions were in order!
"So this is my sister Yang," she started, motioning to the blonde who sat next to her.
Jaune smiled and nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Yang."
She flashed a grin, leaning in toward him when she spoke. "The pleasure's all mine, Jaune," she practically purred. "Must be kind of hard being the only guy here at school, huh?"
He shrugged softly. "Kinda," he admitted. "It's hard to believe that only a few months ago I was just some normal guy with just a normal future ahead of me. Then one day I find out I have powers I never thought I'd have, and now I'm here."
"Mmm, poor baby," Yang said, not at all apologetic. "But don't you worry, Yang's here for you now. Yang will take good care of you. She'll even train you if you want. She could use a new sparring partner to get physical with."
"Yang also needs to stop speaking in the third person," Blake said, still not looking up from her book. "And to stop looking for new people to grope."
"Yang refuses."
"M-moving on!" Ruby blurted out. Now that Blake had spoken, it was the perfect chance to introduce her. "And this is one of our other teammates, Blake. She's Yang's partner."
Blake offered a hum as a greeting, her attention still focused on the pages in front of her rather than the boy. Typical reserved, antisocial Blake.
"Nice to meet you, Blake," Jaune said all the same. "What are you reading?"
Ruby saw how Blake's bow twitched, and how this question was the first thing which actually sparked her interest in something other than her book. "It's The Man With Two Souls. It's a book about-"
"A guy with two souls?"
Blake lowered the book from her face, and Ruby saw the shocked expression on it. "Yes. How did you know? Are you familiar with it?"
"A little bit," Jaune admitted. "I have seven sisters, after all."
That explained everything.
Ruby frowned. It was good that Jaune was getting along with other girls and all, but he was getting a bit too comfortable around Blake, for her liking. Glancing around in a panic, her eyes focused on the food in front of her, and an idea sparked in her brain.
"S-so, Jaune," she hurriedly said. "I have a lot of food here, and I don't think I can eat it all. Do you want to try some?"
Jaune briefly glanced down at his own totally normal-sized breakfast and then to hers. He smiled and offered another shrug, though his answer made it clear that he was anything but indifferent. "Sure, I'd love to."
Ruby smiled with glee and pushed the plate so it could sit in the middle of the table between them. Jaune took his fork and dug into it, extracting a large chunk of pancake and waffle moistened with syrup. He took a bite, earning more gasps and whispers from the girls who sat around.
"He just used his own fork," someone said. "When Ruby eats it too it'll be an indirect kiss!"
Silver eyes widened in realization of this. W-wait! That wasn't what she'd intended at all! They were just assuming things that weren't true!
"Pretty sneaky, sis," Yang smirked. "You really are one clever girl."
"I- I didn't mean it like that!" she insisted. "I'm completely innocent!"
"Wow, this is really good," Jaune said after he'd finished swallowing. "You really know how to make a breakfast. I'd eat your food every day if I could."
More gasps, and Ruby's eyes widened even further. Had he... had he just...
"Y-you really mean it?" she asked, her face growing warmer. "Are you saying that you wouldn't mind... eating my cooking every day?"
"If it tasted anything like this, then yeah!" he agreed enthusiastically, reaching in and taking another forkful. "This is the best!"
It was too much for Ruby to bear, and she pulled her red hood over her head and closed it as much as possible over her face. She knew that they were friends and all, but to make such a bold confession like that... and in public no less...
"Oh it is on now," Yang growled playfully. "Here I thought you were just my sweet, naive little sister, but you're a really devious girl, Rubes."
Ruby shook her head wildly, pressing her palms against the sides of her head. "It's not like that! I sweeeeeeeeeear!"
"It's not like what?"
Ruby's attention was drawn to behind her, where a familiar and friendly face stood. Standing there clad in leather and bronze, the four time Mistral Regional Champion stood tall and proud, her presence hovering over them like a demi-goddess in the presence of mortals.
"Oh, hey there," Yang greeted. "What's up P-Cashliendollarpoundyenmoney?"
The Amazon Spartan Hoplite smiled serenely at the scene before her. "Oh, nothing much. I just came over to say hi." She turned her attention to the lone boy at the table. "Hello, Jaune."
His blue eyes widened as he looked up at her. Of course, that made sense. Pyrrha Nikos was a world famous combat champion, after all. Who wouldn't know her? She needed no introduction. Still, to be polite, Ruby would introduce her to him the same way as she had the others. Pyrrha always wanted to be treated like just another girl, after all.
"Jaune, this is Pyrrha Nikos. The four time-"
"My childhood best friend!" he finished for her.
Ruby's heart suddenly dropped into her stomach. "What?"
"Pyrrha is that really you?" he asked. "It's been so long! Five whole years since I've last seen you!"
She nodded. "It is indeed me, Jaune. Trust me, it was just as big of a surprise to see you yesterday as well."
Ruby's head was spinning. So not only did Jaune and Pyrrha know each other, but they were childhood best friends? Sure, Ruby may have been Jaune's first Beacon friend, but how could she possibly compete with a real, genuine, childhood best friend? She couldn't explain why, but this made her sad for some reason. All she could do was sit back and watch this disaster unfold before her.
"Wait wait wait," Yang interrupted. "Hold the scroll here. How do you two know each other?"
"Well, my family goes camping in Mistral every year," Jaune explained. And it just so happens that one of those times we also went up to Argus to stay for a few days. I met Pyrrha there, and we became friends almost immediately."
"It's true," Pyrrha agreed. "Though we only got to see each other for a few days, we became best friends in no time."
"Yeah, and I never got to see her again after that," Jaune lamented. "Until now at least! Wow, I can't believe this. After five years I ran into my childhood best friend out of nowhere. How have you been?"
"You mean you... don't know about anything?" she asked hesitantly.
"Nope!" Jaune said enthusiastically. "Why, what's been going on?"
"Pyrrha here is the four time Mistral Regional Champion," Blake explained. "She's one of the most well-known celebrities in the world, and probably the top student here in our grade."
"Oh, wow," Jaune gasped. "That's... really incredible, Pyrrha!"
"It's nothing too impressive," Pyrrha deflected in that oh so humble way of hers.
"Yeah, she's even on the box of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes," Yang added.
Jaune gasped, his hands coming up to his cheeks. "Wow, that's you?" he asked in pure amazement and wonder. "Wow, I can't believe I didn't even recognize my own childhood best friend on my favorite cereal's box!"
"It's not that big of a deal," Pyrrha said again.
"Well to me it is! Wow, this is awesome! I can't believe we'll be going to the same school together! We have so much to catch up on! We should totally hang-"
"That's enough!"
Another interruption earned Ruby's attention, and she saw Weiss standing behind them with her arms folded across her chest. As usual she didn't appear too happy, and not for the first time her ire was being directed at the boy whom she barely even knew.
"First you dare show your face at our school, and now you're trying to get close to Pyrrha?" she snarled. "I refuse to stand for this any longer!"
"Hey, what's your problem with him anyway, Weiss?" Yang said, standing up both physically, and standing up for the boy at the table.
With Yang in the picture now, this had the potential to get very bad very quickly. Ruby's sister was a bit of a hot head at times, and once her eyes turned red, it was almost a sure sign that blood would be spilled that day.
"It's not right!" Weiss insisted. One of her hands lashed out to point at the boy at the table. "He doesn't belong here! Boys shouldn't have Aura and Semblances! They don't deserve them!"
Jaune was the one to stand this time. He had to have around a foot of height on Weiss, but despite that the girl wasn't backing down at all from the physical demonstration. "Hey, I don't know why you don't like me, but you barely even know me."
"I know enough!" Weiss argued. "Enough to know that you shouldn't be at this school! Therefore, I'm challenging you to a duel!"
The entire cafeteria erupted into chaos at Weiss' declaration. Here was a trained and experienced huntress challenging a new student to a fight. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. Someone had to stop this.
Someone needed to intervene for Jaune and protect him. Ruby would be that girl.
"I-"
"I accept!" Jaune interrupted, ruining Ruby's plans before they could even unfold.
Weiss nodded. "Good! And if I win, you have to leave the school!"
Ruby was shocked. How could Weiss even dream about imposing such conditions on Jaune? She had no such authority. More importantly, even if she did, how could she ever expect him to agree to them? This was his very future they were talking about here. Jaune wouldn't risk it over some petty little spat with a girl he just met.
"Fine with me!" Jaune agreed.
Ruby wanted to scream.
"But if I win, you have to tell me why you hate me so much!" he followed up.
Weiss flipped her hair over her shoulder with her signature arrogance. The faintest ghost of a smirk curled her lips upward. "As if you would ever stand a chance of beating me. However, I accept these conditions. In the extremely unlikely, nearly impossible event that you managed to defeat an A-class Huntress such as myself, I will tell you anything you want to know."
Jaune nodded firmly. "Good, then it's a deal. When are we doing this?"
"How about today at noon? We have no classes, and I want you out of this school as soon as possible."
"Fine with me. I'll see you for our duel, Weiss."
With that, Weiss spun on a heel and stormed off. This was bad. This was very bad. Jaune had no idea what he was getting himself into.
Weiss may have been small, but she packed a punch well beyond her size. If he lost this duel, then he would have to leave school. That was the worst possible outcome to any of this. Ruby didn't want to lose her new friend. Maybe she could still talk him or Weiss out of it.
She had until lunchtime to do so.
"Weiss, you don't need to do this!"
Standing on one side of Beacon's combat classroom, Jaune saw how Ruby stood in between himself and Weiss. Here she was, straddling the line between her two friends, trying desperately to halt their impending duel. It was no use, however, and Weiss would not be convinced.
"Get out of the arena, Ruby," Weiss ordered. She pointed the tip of her thin, silver blade outward, and although it was directed at Ruby, Jaune was sure it was actually pointed at himself. The other girl was simply in the way. "This duel must happen. It's already been decided."
"No!" The younger girl insisted. "It doesn't! None of this needs to-"
"You're wrong, Ruby," Jaune cut her off, prompting his friend to turn toward him now. "She does need to do this."
The look of confusion was evident on her face, and Ruby's lips quivered for a few seconds before she was finally able to muster the willpower to speak.
"What?" she lamented softly. "Why? I don't understand."
Jaune nodded grimly. "I may not understand why Weiss hates me or why she feels the need to do this, but it's clear that this is something that means a lot to her. Therefore I support her, even if I don't agree with it. I'll fight for her right to feel the way she feels."
Ruby's shoulders slumped visibly, knowing that she was defeated. Both parties wanted this, and neither was going to back down from this fight. The last, best hope at being an arbiter had failed, and Ruby slunk away from the arena to join her other teammates in the stands.
A smug smile spread across Weiss' face, and she slashed her slender rapier through the air a few times, making audible whipping sounds as she did so.
"Oh my, what a generous admission, Jaune," she said, bringing her sword upward in front of her face. "Being the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, I will return the favor in kind. If you agree to forfeit now and leave Beacon Academy forever, I will spare you the pain and humiliation of having to duel the great Weiss Schnee in one on one combat."
Jaune gripped the blue leather handle of Crocea Mors tightly, and brought his white heater shield up closely to his chest. "I can't do that, Weiss," he spoke with every ounce of determination inside him. "I agreed to this duel, and an Arc never goes back on his word."
Weiss harrumphed, leveling her blade at him once again in threat and challenge. "Have it your way, then. Sync your scroll to the arena's Aura meter and let's end this farce."
Jaune did exactly that, and on the screens above Jaune saw how his and Weiss' pictures, along with two full, green Aura meters, hung over the arena like an executioner's axe waiting to come down on them. Whether he was truly ready for this fight or not, he was prepared to see it through to the end.
His first battle at Beacon Academy was about to begin.
A three second countdown began, and when it hit zero, an alarm sounded to signal the start of the match.
Jaune kept his shield up and rushed to close the distance between himself and his opponent, but Weiss did something he hadn't expected before he could even get close.
Spinning in place in an elegant circle, Weiss conjured some sort of glowing blue energy, along with a number of snowflake-shaped glyphs in mid-air. Blue beams shot forth from them, slamming into Jaune with such speed that he hadn't even had time to process the attack before it had hit him.
The boy suddenly found himself stuck in place, unable to move his arms and legs which had become bound by those blue beams.
"What?" he yelped in surprise.
No sooner had he spoken had Weiss propelled herself into the air, rising far above him thanks to the power of another one of her glyphs, and using yet another one to drive herself down toward him with almost impossible speed.
She led with the tip of her sword, striking Jaune hard and true, causing him to grunt in pain. Weiss stabbed again and again, wide-open body exposed for each and every one of her strikes. After half a dozen her hold on him finally gave out, and Jaune stumbled backwards before falling down to the floor on a single knee.
Jaune grit his teeth and pushed himself back to his feet. The sounds of Weiss' mocking laughter earned both his attention and his ire.
"Ohohohohoho!" she laughed, the back of her right hand covering her lips as she looked down on him with irritating haughtiness. "I'm surprised you can still stand after such an attack. Perhaps I may have underestimated you."
Jaune stood tall and proud, ready for whatever she decided to throw at him next. "This is far from over," he promised her. "I'm just getting started."
Weiss harrumphed, pointing her sword at him once again. "It doesn't matter. Whether I underestimated you or not, you'll still fall all the same in the end. I'm only getting started as well. Now you will dance for me!"
She brought her slender sword up before her face once more, and with a pair of fingers on its blade, white glyphs appeared both behind and below her. She springboarded off the one beneath her and catapulted herself off the one behind her. Jaune raised his shield up to defend himself, but found that Weiss shot straight past him. When he turned he barely had time to see her rebound off of yet another glyph, and soon enough Weiss was bounding from one to another all around the arena. Jaune's quick feet were skilled thanks to his sisters, and he spun around trying to keep track of the girl who was bouncing back and forth with blinding speed.
"That's right, dance, commoner!" Weiss yelled as she passed by him again and again. "Dance to the waltz that Weiss Schnee is playing for you."
Jaune had no idea what her goal was until it finally hit him. After he'd been spun in circles enough times he was starting to get dizzy, and that's when Weiss struck. A blade struck him in the back, causing him to stumble forward. Another strike hit his right shoulder, spinning him around. Yet another slammed into his chest, knocking him back a few feet. Again and again Weiss struck him with pinpoint precision, earning grunts of pain from the boy as he couldn't help but dance to her tune.
By the time it was over Jaune was hunched over and breathing heavily, while Weiss stood a safe distance away, posing elegantly like a ballet dancer. She definitely had the grace and poise, as well as the figure, to be one. Yet for all of her elegance, she was proving to be a capable and deadly warrior.
"You're finished, Jaune," she growled, exhibiting none of the sophistication that her fighting style displayed. "Give up now and save us both the time."
Jaune glanced up at the Aura meters, and saw that despite all of the hits he had taken, his bar had barely moved. A smile formed on his lips, and he stood up straight and tall once more.
"What's so funny?" Weiss demanded. "Do you find satisfaction in the pain I'm dishing out to you? I haven't even hit you in the head, so we can't blame that for this sudden bout of insanity."
"You're not wrong," he admitted. "You've hit me plenty of times and dealt out a lot of pain, but if you think that's enough to keep me down then you're mistaken."
"You're mad," she argued, taking an angry step forward. "You haven't so much as even swung your sword at me, much less landed a hit. Do you really think that this fight will end how you think it will?"
Jaune sheathed Crocea Mors into his still-deployed heater shield, and placed his right hand on his opposite arm. Both began to glow with the purest light. "I've come too far to back down now," he snarled. "I can't lose here, there are people who believe in me, and I won't let them down!"
Weiss' head tilted confusedly, her eyes narrowing on the display before her. "That Semblance... what are you..." She stopped mid-sentence, and her eyes lit up with amusement. "Ohohohoho! Are you healing yourself, Jaune? Your Semblance is healing? How useless!" She shook her head sadly, and he might have believed she actually pitied him had she not already displayed such scorn for him. "It's no surprise that the only male on Remnant with Aura would have the weakest Semblance imaginable."
Unbeknownst to Weiss, however, Jaune found his muscles being filled with vitality and energy. Strength coursed through his veins. He wasn't merely healing himself. He was using his massive Aura reserves to strengthen and power his body to unimaginable levels.
"Think again, Weiss," he said with a smirk.
"What?"
"The Aura meters," he continued, motioning with his head up to the bars above. "If you think you've done any damage to me, why not check for yourself?"
Jaune watched as Weiss' head tilted up. He saw how her icy-blue eyes widened in shock, and how she unconsciously stumbled backwards a step.
"No... how? That- that's impossible!"
Any damage Weiss had dealt to him had been healed. Jaune's bar sat at a healthy full green, while Weiss' own had been drained about a quarter of the way from all of her own Aura expenditure to power her Semblance.
"My Semblance isn't mere healing," he explained to her. "My Semblance is one that has the ability to go further beyond! The ability to amplify my very Aura itself!"
When Jaune was finished his entire body was bathed in a healthy white glow, and he drew Crocea Mors once more. With each step he took forwards, Weiss took one backwards.
"I don't have to beat you," he told her. "I just need to outlast you. And trust me, with my Aura reserves, you don't stand a ghost of a chance at outlasting me!"
Anger and fury etched themselves onto Weiss' scarred yet beautiful face, and in her rage she screamed at him as she practically flew at him. "I refuse to accept that!" she yelled as she led with her blade for the third time.
This time Jaune was ready for her. Steel met steel, and the strike which had been meant to hit him squarely in the chest was instead blocked by Jaune's shield. In a flash he brought Crocea Mors down on her, landing a blow across her chest and earning a scream from the girl.
Weiss stumbled backwards, hurt but not at all deterred. "This isn't over! You hear me? I'm just getting started!"
A black glyph appeared underneath Jaune, but before he could even contemplate what it was meant to accomplish he found himself tossed into the air. Weiss was launched upward as well, her sword on a collision course with his body.
"You're mine now!" she screeched, the blade of her sword glowing red with some unknown power.
As it was about to connect, Jaune's muscles worked overtime, and thanks to the power of his Aura amplification, were able to move quicker than Weiss'. He battered the glowing blade aside with his own, and letting go of his shield in midair, grabbed hold of Weiss and captured her in a tight bear hug.
"Let- let go of me!" she screamed as she thrashed about in his inescapable embrace.
"You're the one who wanted this!" Jaune yelled as the two began to plummet back to the ground. "And I'll be the one to finish this!"
With her underneath him, Jaune and Weiss fell to the ground where they both crashed with an enormous impact. Weiss was underneath him, both cushioning his fall and ensuring that she took the brunt of the damage. She screamed beneath him, but her Aura had not shattered quite yet. As Jaune stood above her, raising Crocea Mors to deliver the final blow, he suddenly found his arms arrested by some unseen force. He initially thought it was Weiss' glyphs again until he heard the stern voice behind him.
"That's enough!"
His sword clattered from his grasp, and Jaune was forcefully spun around to see the angry form of one of his teachers, Glynda Goodwitch, marching toward him and Weiss.
"This match is over!" she yelled, sending chills down his spine. Held in place by her own Semblance, Jaune saw how Weiss was forcefully picked up off of the ground as well, held at attention by the professor who now stood in front of both of them.
His classmate was injured, but not enough to attempt to sputter out an explanation. "P-professor Goodwitch..." was all she managed to get out before their instructor cut her off.
"An unsanctioned match with no supervision?" she snarled. "Have you lost your minds? What if one of you were hurt? Or worse? What were you thinking!"
Truth be told, Jaune hadn't been thinking. He couldn't speak for Weiss, but all he knew was that he had done what he thought was right. Apparently in the eyes of the faculty, he was incorrect in that assessment.
"You two have detention beginning Monday!" she told them. "If I ever catch either one of you in an unsanctioned match like this again, I will personally make sure you're expelled! Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Miss Goodwitch," both he and Weiss answered in unison.
She nodded sternly. "Good. Now gather your belongings and get out of my sight!"
Her hold was released on both of them, and both he and Weiss began collecting their weapons. The clicking heels of Miss Goodwitch sounded on the pavement, but before she got too far away, she spun back around. Jaune swallowed hard, fearing yet more punishment from the woman.
"Oh, and Miss Schnee," she said, her green, spectacled eyes focusing on the far smaller girl. "Our records indicate that you still haven't received your mandatory flu shot this year."
Jaune stole a glance at his peer, and was shocked to see how her already fair skin had somehow paled even further. Her tiny body went rigid, and he didn't think it was from Miss Goodwitch's chastisement.
"N-no, I have not," she agreed.
"If you wish to attend classes on Monday, you will need to rectify that beforehand. There are certain requirements necessary to attend this academy, and being up to date on your vaccinations is one of them. Dismissed."
With that final word Miss Goodwitch took her leave, leaving a visibly shaken Weiss in her wake.
Jaune was about to go to rejoin Ruby and the others in the stands, but something stopped him. Weiss still hadn't moved from where she stood despite no longer being at their teacher's mercy. Her clothes were slightly scuffed, and a glance up to the Aura meters showed that hers was dangerously in the red.
Making a decision, Jaune moved over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Weiss flinched, her head whirling around to cast an accusatory glare at him.
"Hey! What are you-"
She stopped as soon as her body began to be bathed in white light. Blue eyes widened as she looked down to see it coursing over and covering her body.
"I'm sharing my Aura with you," he explained. "In order to restore yours. My Semblance may not be as flashy and impressive as yours, but it's no less useful."
When he was finished Jaune removed his hand from her shoulder, and Weiss examined her body in disbelief. She moved her arms as if to test them out, and shook her head in disbelief.
"I don't understand," she whispered, finally looking back up at him. "Why? Why would you do that for me after everything I've said to you?"
"It's because you don't know me," he explained. "We're still just strangers to each other, but like my mom always says, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet. Maybe if we got the chance to know each other better, we'd even become friends."
Weiss folded her arms across her chest and looked away with her eyes closed. "No, never."
"That's too bad. I was going to offer to go with you to get that flu shot you're obviously scared to get."
The comment prompted Weiss' eyes to burst open, and she peered up at him with a shaky glare. "I- I'm not afraid of needles!" she insisted. "You're delusional. You're just an idiot, Jaune! A stupid idiot!"
"Are you sure?" he asked as he leaned in closer to her, and lowered his voice. "I won't tell anyone. It'll be between just you and me."
Weiss' lips pressed together tightly as she averted her gaze from his. Finally, using his body to shield her own from their friends, Jaune saw how Weiss' head gave the slightest little bit of a nod.
Weiss' right sleeve was rolled up, exposing her shoulder where one of Beacon's medical staff was applying rubbing alcohol with a cotton ball. Her hands squeezed together in fists, her palms sweating in a most unladylike fashion.
"I'll be right back with the shot," the nurse informed her before leaving the small room.
A room made even smaller due to the fact that a very large boy sat in a chair right next to her. Jaune sat to her left, closer than she would have preferred, and yet somehow his presence felt oddly comforting to her. It was good to not be alone at a time like this with what she was about to go through. Despite her protests and denials, what Jaune had said was true. Weiss was afraid to get this shot.
Weiss was afraid of needles.
It was in part why she'd designed Myrtenaster the way she had. Like a giant needle itself, Weiss intended to strike the same fear she felt into her opponents. Well, obviously that hadn't worked today against Jaune, but he was clearly unlike any other foe she'd ever faced before. Him being male aside, he had refused to give up or give in. He'd fought up until the end, and although their match had ended prematurely, Weiss was sure that she had been about to lose to him before Miss Goodwitch's interruption.
"Hey," she heard him say, prompting her to face her left. Into those warm and caring blue eyes. "You okay?"
Weiss scoffed at the question, doing her best to maintain a straight and confident face. "Don't get the wrong idea," she blurted out at the boy to her left. "It's not like I'm afraid to get this shot or anything! I'm merely allowing you to accompany me because I feel sorry for you!"
"Sorry for me?" he wondered.
She nodded firmly. "Yes, it must be difficult being the only boy at our school." Weiss closed her eyes and tilted her head up to rest against the back of the chair. "As a wonderful and generous philanthropist, it's only natural that I be the one to lend you a helping hand in your time of need."
Never mind the fact that she still didn't like or trust him. He was merely a useful tool at the moment. One whom she would gladly use in her time of need.
Blue eyes burst open when she felt Jaune take hold of her left hand with her right. She shot an accusing glare over at him and saw a soft and caring smile on his face.
"H-hey!" she protested. "What do you think you're doing?"
"One of my little sisters is afraid of needles too," he answered, ignoring her question regarding holding her hand. Still, she didn't attempt to pull it away. "One thing that we found that helped her was to be there with her when she needed to get a shot. We'd talk to her, we'd hold her hand, stuff like that."
Weiss looked away from him deliberately. "Well I'm not a child!" she argued. "I don't need anyone to hold my hand."
"Hey, Weiss," he urged. "Look at me."
Weiss did so, but not for the reason he would have wanted. "You dare order me around? Who do you think you are?"
"I'm just a normal guy," he answered, once more not exactly giving the answer she'd asked for, in part due to the fact that the question she'd asked in her outrage had been rhetorical. "I grew up on a farm. I never asked to be the only guy in the world to have Aura. I was just a normal farmboy, you know?"
Just a normal boy. How wonderful must it have been to be normal? At least for the first seventeen years of his life. Now, however, he was no longer normal. In a way he was almost like her now. Exceptional. Maybe even exceptional to his own detriment.
"And now here I am, in this unfamiliar place. Not just a new school, but just... a whole new world. I never dreamed I'd have Aura before. I never thought I'd be one of the people out there fighting Grimm. It's weird. It's scary. But having friends to help me through it... friends like Ruby and Pyrrha... they make it a little easier."
Friends. They really did make life easier, didn't they? Weiss hadn't had any friends prior to coming to Beacon. Initially she'd rejected Ruby and her efforts to befriend her. She'd only ever attempted to get close to Pyrrha, and that had been for her own selfish reasons. However, Weiss found herself growing closer to her teammates now. They did help ease the burdens she felt. They did fill a void she'd felt her whole life.
Maybe she and Jaune weren't so different after all.
"Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow," the white-haired girl said solemnly. "For the heart has no metrics or form of measure. And all of it... irreplaceable."
Jaune's brow furrowed in confusion. "Weiss?"
"You asked to know why I hated you if you won," she said, her unflinching eyes staring into his own. "And although you didn't win, you didn't lose either. That's more than I would have ever expected from you. As your reward... I will tell you why I hate- why I hated you."
The boy smiled, and Weiss felt how his hand tightened around hers. For the briefest moment his eyes left hers, looking past her before focusing back onto her own eyes. "That would mean a lot to me, Weiss."
She nodded and took a deep breath. This wasn't exactly public information. She'd never shared it with anyone. Not even Ruby.
"The men in my life..." she began, pausing briefly to choose her words wisely. "Have never exactly been exemplars of the gender. My father is a businessman. The most powerful man on Remnant. He's cunning, ruthless, and utterly cold. I am his heiress. A girl who he has sought to shape in his image to be the successor to his empire. A girl has never had a shred of freedom prior to coming to Beacon."
She saw how Jaune bit down on his lip. His focus on her did not waver, nor did his grip on her hand falter. "Weiss..."
"My brother takes after my father," she continued. "A spoiled, arrogant brat who seeks to emulate everything that man stands for. I cannot help but believe that he will one day come for my birthright, because to people like him and my father, money and power are everything. The legacy my grandfather built, everything the Schnee name should stand for, they mean nothing to men like them. For them it's all about taking. It's all about control. Greed. Selfishness. The destruction of lives for the sake of their own advancement."
Weiss squeezed back harshly on Jaune's fingers. If her clenching grasp caused him any pain, he showed no signs of it. He made no attempt to pull his poor digits back. It was good that he didn't. Weiss needed something to hold onto as she poured her heart out to the stranger whom she'd only first met the day prior.
"Every suitor I've ever been introduced to, every prospective marriage match, all of them had nothing but greed and lust in their disgusting eyes. They want me not for me, but for my family name. For their own status. For my..." she began to say, but closed her eyes, blinking away tears. She couldn't tell Jaune that they wanted her for her body. To put a baby in her and produce their own heir that they would mold in their own cruel, selfish image. "They were utterly despicable and repulsive in every way imaginable. Imagine being a pawn in a political game, Jaune. Your very life not being your own. No decision would ever truly be your own. Even now I am only living on borrowed time. Soon enough I will need to return to Atlas to take my rightful place as my father's heir."
Somehow, allowing these words to spill from her lips helped to alleviate the pain she felt inside. Though her face burned with embarrassment and anger, and her eyes stung with the tears which welled up inside of them, she still felt better after getting all of this off her chest.
She had the boy next to her to thank for that.
"And that, Jaune, is why I dislike and distrust men," she said. "If not for the memory of my grandfather, and the butler who raised me as a child, I would have written the gender off as a complete lost cause."
"I see," Jaune said, nodding in understanding. "I get it now. But it looks like you're done."
Weiss' eyes widened in anger. What... after spilling her heart like that, he had the gall to tell her that she was done? That he was done listening? The nerve of that boy!
"Excuse me?"
"Your shot," he said, motioning to her other side. "Your shot's done. It's over."
Weiss looked to her right, and saw a small bandage covering her right shoulder. She hadn't even noticed that the nurse had come back. She hadn't even felt the needle pierce her skin.
She turned back to Jaune, who smiled knowingly at her.
"One of the best ways to help someone who's afraid of needles get a shot is to distract them," he explained. "You actually got it a couple minutes ago, before you even told me about your family."
She shook her head in disbelief. "But... that means... you listened to me for nothing? Even after it was over?"
Jaune smiled warmly at her. "Of course I did. I said I'd like to be your friend, didn't I? What kind of friend would I be if I didn't listen to you when you had something you wanted to say?"
Weiss was speechless. She knew he'd gone and asked her a rhetorical question now, but she didn't know how to respond. What could she even say to someone who'd done something so kind for her after she'd been nothing but horrible to him?
"You're strong, Weiss," he said. "Not just as a Huntress, but as a person. I can't imagine what you've been through already, but you're still here and you're still standing. You're still moving forward, and that speaks to how strong and wonderful of a person you are. I know you'll be able to achieve your dreams if you put your mind to it. I may not know you all that well yet, but I can tell that's the kind of person you are. Someone who will do what it takes to succeed."
Fresh tears threatened to spill from Weiss' eyes, but she held them back. No, she would not be reduced to a blubbering mess here in front of Jaune. She needed to remain as strong as he said she was. She could not appear weak in front of him after her fear of needles had been exposed.
"I don't know about you," Jaune said as he stood up, forcing Weiss to finally relinquish her grasp on his hand. "But all this fighting has got me starving. What do you say about grabbing some lunch with everyone?"
She was too stunned to argue, even if she didn't feel like eating with him and her teammates. Weiss nodded numbly, earning another smile from the boy.
"Great. I'll message the others and tell them to meet us in the cafeteria. Meet me outside when you're done in here, okay?"
She nodded once more, and Jaune exited the small room, leaving Weiss by herself.
That boy... just who was he? How was someone like him even possible to exist? How was someone who was the very antithesis of the men she'd encountered in her own life someone who was so very close to her here at Beacon?
It wasn't just the unconditional kindness he'd shown to her either, when she'd shown him nothing but scorn. It was his unwillingness to give up. Weiss couldn't help but admire qualities like those, for they reflected her own. Her own unwillingness to give up on her freedom. Her unwillingness to give up on her family name. Her unwillingness to live up to the legacy which her grandfather had created.
Weiss placed her left hand over her chest. Why was her heart racing, and why was she looking forward to spending more time with Jaune today at lunch?
Author's Note: BRUSH UP ON MY COURAGE, MY HEART SPARKLES ONCE AGAIN TODAY, THE NEXT FUTURE HAS ALREADY BEGUN!
This is stupid.
Why do you like this? Why do I like this? Why do I giggle like an idiot when I think about this story?
Thanks. I mean it.