Chapter 18

"..."

"..."

"..."

Ren, Nora, and Jaune sat in front of me in a circle on the carpet in our new dorm room. They all looked at me with their full attention. Expecting me to have some kind of leader-like plans which, unfortunately...I don't.

'Please, SOMEBODY say something...'

After killing the Deathstalker, I decided to give this Huntsman thing another try. I didn't expect to be made a leader. I'm honored, don't get me wrong, but I can't help but have doubts about my actual ability to lead. I was able to succeed last time because I already had inside knowledge on everyone, but if I'm put in a situation with nothing to work with, who know's what'll happen. Crap, I'd better say say something to break the silence already.

"So..." I said, almost testing out the word. "Here we are...Team ARJN..."

"Yep!" Nora seemed immune to the awkwardness that had permeated the air. "Today's our very first day! I wonder what we're gonna do first!"

'You and me both Nora.'

"Well, I guess we should go in a circle and introduce ourselves to our teammates. Give your name, semblance and maybe something about yourself you want to share."

Of course this introduction wasn't for me. I knew plenty about every person in the room, probably even things that they didn't know about themselves. "I'll go first. My name is Aero Cairn, I like video games and sweets. I don't know what my semblance is and I'm a little unsure about being the leader of this team, but I'll do my best. Nora, your turn."

She intently stared at me and raised her hand.

"You don't have to raise your hand, just...say something."

"Aero, you forgot to mention that you're psychic."

"Wait what?" Jaune and Ren looked at Nora with unusual expressions. "Psychic? You mean you were actually serious about that? I thought you were joking."

Not this again.

"I WAS joking. I didn't forget to mention being psychic, I didn't say it, because it's not true."

Nora put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Liar. You said you were psychic. You knew what Weiss's semblance was before you saw it. You even put it in your plans to stop to the Deathstalker without telling her."

"Now that you mention it..."

The other two teammates turned their gazes at me.

"Lucky guess." I said waving my hand dismissively.

"Aha!" Nora said continuing. "You also knew my weapon was a grenade launcher, that it could shoot lots of grenades at once AAAAAAAAAND that they just so happened to make a heart shape without ever seeing it used! Was that luck too?"

I guess I really wasn't very subtle during the exam was I? Anyone would be suspicious if someone they just met suddenly had a wealth of information on them. Unfortunately, lives were on the line, and me being subtle wasn't an option. I don't see any other way out of this. Either I lie and say I'm psychic or the other option being...

"Fine whatever, I'm psychic."

I know what you're thinking, but honestly what other option is there? Hi guys, your daily lives, life and death encounters and personal struggles are all a form of entertainment for higher beings outside of your universe and perception. Yeah, I'm sure that conversation will go over REALLY well.

Nora happily squealed and lightly clapped her hands. "I knew it, I knew it!"

"Seriously?" Jaune got up to his knees and scooted closer to me, now much more interested in the conversation. Ren remained where he was, but he looked surprised as well. "Does that mean you knew what was gonna happen in the exam?"

"Well...more or less. I knew that the Deathstalker and Nevermore would eventually show up, that Team RWBY would form, and that you, Nora and Ren would end up on a team." What I didn't know however was that I'd replace Pyrrha as one of it's members. "Anyway, enough of this topic for now."

"Oh! Oh! What am I gonna do next?" Nora asked excitedly

"You're gonna introduce yourself to your team, now come on."

"Okay..." She was sullen for a moment but quickly returned to her cheery self. "My name's Nora Valkyrie, I like fighting, and pancakes and..." she glanced at Ren for a moment. "I guess that's it. My semblance let's me get all charged up like a battery and then I can do incredible things!"

"Charged like a battery? So wait, are you like bionic man!?" Jaune asked excitedly.

Well, I suppose one benefit of saying I'm a psychic means I don't have to pretend not to know things. They can just assume: Oh! He knew it because he's psychic.

"Nora can resist electrical attacks and absorbs electricity to boost her body's performance."

"Exactly Aero! You're good at this." Her eyes lit up. "Wait, what if YOU introduced everyone using your psychic skills? Could you imagine how funny that would be?"

Actually that would be pretty funny. "Problem is though, it'd kinda defeat the whole purpose of opening up to each other." Also, I don't think Ren would be too keen about me knowing about his history...

"My turn." said Jaune nervously fidgeting a little. "Hey everyone, I'm Jaune Arc, I came to this academy to be a huntsman. But uh, I guess everyone's here for the exact same reason. Suppose I wanna continue the family tradition, my family's always kinda been heroes. Anyway, I'm not really sure what my semblance is, or what a semblance is for that matter."

"Ah, right. Jaune hasn't unlocked his aura yet."

"WHAT?!" Both Nora and Ren both shouted at the same time. "Jynx!" Nora pointed at Ren and grinned. Ren rolled his eyes and returned the smile before speaking.

"So in the Emerald Forest, Jaune could've..."

"Died at any time? Yes. Anyway, a semblance is a unique talent or ability that varies from person to person. You heard how Nora's semblance basically makes her a chargeable battery."

"Oh!" Jaune said snapping his fingers. "So it's like a superpower then!"

"I...guess that is one way to put it, yes. If a semblance is a superpower, then aura is like a force field. That's why Ren was okay when getting hit by the Deathstalker while you could've died. This is kind of why we need to fix this problem as soon as possible."

"I believe I can help with that." Ren said interjecting. He stood up and walked across the room over to Jaune. "Close your eyes, I want you to try and picture something."

"Alright." Jaune said nervously closing his eyes "What am I supposed to see?"

"I want you to try and see an ember, floating in the dark." Ren closed his eyes as well and his body faintly glowed with a soft magenta light. Placing both hands on Jaune's head he continued "A small flickering light that seems like it could go out at any moment, but still burns strong. Can you see it?"

Jaune didn't respond, his eyes still shut as if he were in a trance. Soon after, his body started glowing with a white light, and Ren's aura dimmed down in response as if feeding directly into Jaune. Finally Ren opened his eyes letting go of Jaune.

"It is done, your aura is now your own." Ren let out a weary sigh. "However, I did not expect you to have as much aura as you did." He sat back down in our circle on the rug. "Well, now it would make it my turn to talk about myself right?"

"Yes, your name, your semblance, and anything else you feel needs to be said."

Ren took a deep breath and held it in for a moment before slowly exhaling. "My name is Lie Ren, I want you all to know I'm honored to be able to work with you all. I will do my utmost to ensure the best possible trust and teamwork between each of us." He gave a small smile. "Please take care of me."

"Uh, yeah..." 'That was a little unexpected.' "And your semblance?"

Ren nodded, allowing his eyes to become serious and focused. All of the sudden, the color drained from Ren's body and his clothes until he was a dull shade of gray.

"My semblance allows me to mask negative emotions. This allows the affected to remain composed during virtually any situation. While under this influence, you are far less likely to be detected by grimm. It also has the side effect of desaturating the colors of the affected as well."

"Wait, that's your semblance?" I thought it was invisibility.

"Yes."

It has to be understood that the show isn't always clear on the details that occur. You could see an event that happened, and still misinterpret it. I thought Ren's semblance was simply invisibility. It did seem to fit what happened in the episode he used it. But if his semblance masks negative emotions then I have two gripes. Number one, he can't move while using it. When using his semblance on Nora, and then later on Qrow, both times he didn't move after activating it. If Ren could be invisible to the grimm AND move, then he wouldn't have had such a hard time against the Deathstalker, or any grimm at all for that matter.

Gripe number two, how hell does a grimm's vision work? Ren masking his negative emotions makes him invisible to them? If that's all it really took, then Beacon would teach that shit to their students. To better control their emotions so they'd be undetectable by grimm. Grimm would no longer be a threat, but that obviously hasn't happened. Either I'm not understanding something, or there's more to Ren's semblance than he realizes.

'So, half of the team's semblances are only useful in certain situations, and the other half doesn't even know what their semblances are. I can't say this bodes well for the strength of this team. These guys should at least know what they're getting into by having me on their team...'

I felt a nervous lump rise in my throat as I prepared for this next part. "Okay, guys?" I said after taking a deep breath and turning to my team. "I'm gonna level with you. I'm not exactly overflowing with leadership ability, I don't have that much experience. I'm not even that sure what I should be doing. Just...thought I should let you know."

All of the sudden the room got quiet. As I scanned the faces of my teammates, I saw that they were taking this news...unusually well. Rather than surprise, the three of them looked at me with mild confusion before Nora snorted and started laughing.

"Why are you laughing? This a big problem to have!"

"Okay, okay..." she said trying to stop herself but still giggling a bit. "If anyone here has real experience leading people, raise your hand."

We all looked around the room, but none of us had our hand raised. "See?" Nora said shrugging. "No big deal. It's not like we're expected to be perfect or anything. I mean, I'm a good fighter but I can obviously improve, silly. If we already had all the necessary skills to be a huntsman, then there wouldn't be a point to coming to Beacon in the first place."

"That...actually makes sense..." When Nora puts it like that, it kinda makes me feel stupid for not noticing it myself.

"She's right." Jaune said putting a hand on my shoulder. "Just because you're the team leader doesn't mean we expect you have all the answers, and especially on your own. We'll all do what we can to support you."

'Easy for you to say Jaune, when you were the leader you flipped out at first and started acting like a jerk, cracking under the pressure...'

"Uh guys..." Ren pointed to the clock which read 8:54 am. "Classes start at nine..."

"We're gonna be late for class!" Jaune, Ren and Nora bolted towards the exit, throwing open the door and running out.

"Shit, I haven't unpacked yet!" Not yet having put away Aero's items, I grabbed the entire briefcase and sprinted after the three of them.