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Chapter 3: Not All Is As It Seems
Summary:
Ruby and Jaune head into initiation. Their goal: find their partners first and get their teams back together!
But they will be confronted with the revelation that this might not be as easy as they hoped.
Meanwhile, Roman Torchwick, laying low since his initial robbery, is struck with his own revelation.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Jaune slept fitfully that night, he tossed and turned and fretted. What would tomorrow bring? Would he be able to find his partner in the forest? Would she accept him if he did? Eventually he accepted there would be no more sleep that night, and got up while the rest of the students were still mostly asleep.
He had arrived at the armory early; initiation wasn't for another hour. But, there wasn't much else to do after waking up before dawn.
Students eventually started making their way into the room to grab their gear. Ruby and Yang came in together, chattering away. Ruby gave Jaune a friendly wave and a smile. Ren and Nora made another pair. But finally, Jaune spotted who he was looking for.
Pyrrha did nothing to be noticed, but the moment she entered several students gawked at her, their conversations temporarily put on hold. Pyrrha handled the attention well, but Jaune knew she was only pretending to ignore it. She had always been hyper aware of her status.
Once she found her locker, the attention died down, and for half a moment Jaune considered introducing himself.
But his hesitation meant that Weiss beat him to the punch as she strolled confidently over to meet Pyrrha. Weiss had already retrieved Myrtenaster, and Jaune noticed that she had picked out a set of expensive dust cartridges for her weapon today.
Weiss struck up a conversation with Pyrrha, attempting to act nonchalant, but from Pyrrha's tone it was clear that she knew within the first few sentences that she was being recruited. Jaune stared openly at the interaction. He hadn't really listened in the first time, too concerned with trying to make himself look good in front of Weiss. Now, that was the furthest thing from his mind.
What would Pyrrha think of him? Maybe he should've worn something other than his hoodie. And- and, it was rude to interrupt a conversation. Wouldn't want to give the wrong impression, after all. There would be other times he could talk to her. It didn't need to be right now.
Jaune had nearly convinced himself that really, it was fine if he didn't talk to Pyrrha, falling on his face was actually a great landing strategy, when he was suddenly pushed from behind.
"Woah!" Jaune stumbled right into Pyrrha and Weiss' conversation. He glanced back to see Ruby giving him a thumbs up and a grin as she left with Yang. The two girls whose conversation Jaune just interrupted blinked a couple of times and stared at him, unsure of what to make of this blonde fool.
"Uhm, may I help you?" Pyrrha spoke up.
"Oh uh- yeah! Sorry about that! Haha-" He willed his brain to work, to form sentences, or at least come up with better words. Right! Introductions! Tell them his name! "You're Jaune, nice to- wait no, I'm Jaune." Weiss scowled at him while Pyrrha seemed almost confused at the display.
"It is nice to meet you, Jaune. My name is Pyrrha." She replied. Weiss crossed her arms and made the barest of motions to acknowledge him.
"Weiss Schnee." She said.
Jaune ignored the frigid reception from the ice queen. All three stood for a moment in silence. He had to say something quick to keep things from becoming even more awkward. "So… I heard you talking about teams. Think the two of us would make a pretty great one." Jaune cringed internally upon hearing himself. Now they knew he was eavesdropping too…
Pyrrha exchanged a glance at Weiss, who only motioned towards Jaune as if tell the redhead that he was her problem. "Uhm, yes. I believe teams are composed of four members each."
"It'll be better than your team at Sanctum then." Jaune blurted out, regretting it immediately. It was one of the things he learned while training with her the first time around, that she didn't have a team at Sanctum, back when they would practice on the roof and cool down by just chatting with each other before going back to the dorm.
Pyrrha had been slow to share things about herself then, real things about herself. Things that weren't public, even if you decided to snoop. The first few times they trained Pyrrha just gave Jaune pointers regarding his training, and taught him the basics of aura meditation. But as Pyrrha got more comfortable with Jaune, she opened up. She told him of her loneliness at Sanctum, how she felt disconnected from everyone there, how much it made her feel like her thoughts and feelings didn't matter. Even back then, dense as he was, Jaune knew that the best thing he could do was listen, and help her feel heard.
"That's what I like about you, Jaune. When we first met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me like anybody else. And because of that, I have made friendships that will last a lifetime."
Pyrrha's expression became rigid. It was still friendly, but now she knew. "You know who I am, don't you?" She asked.
"I-" Jaune knew he couldn't lie to her. "Yeah, I know who you are." Pyrrha let a frown take over, and Weiss grabbed her arm and started to guide her away from the latest crazed fan trying to get her attention so they could continue their conversation before he barged in.
"Could we- could we spar sometime? I really admire you, and- and I think I could learn a lot from you." Jaune quickly added. Pyrrha looked taken aback, but her a natural smile returned.
"I think I would like that very much. Would you like to join Weiss and I? We were just about to leave."
Jaune quickly jogged over to Pyrrha's side. The moment she looked at him next to her, he felt so overwhelmed. He was grateful that he would have another chance to be a part of her life. He had failed her last time, but nothing would stop him from saving her this time.
---
"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ozpin explained, his back to the forest.
Ruby was positively giddy with excitement. She was already positioned on her spot when Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha showed up together. Pyrrha was telling Jaune about some of the finer points of how her javelin transformed into her rifle, and Jaune listened intently.
Ruby was so happy that Jaune had managed to connect with his partner, now she just had to do the same! Sometimes the best approach was the most direct! Ozpin finished his explanation, and it was time for launch. Yang gave her a wink as she put on her aviators, and in the next moment Ruby was flying.
Ruby enjoyed the free fall before unsheathing her weapon and firing it below her to slow her momentum. Once she was low enough to the ground, she let her semblance guide her to the forest floor. She glanced around, quickly orienting herself.
The forest meant that some nasty grimm could sneak up on her pretty easily, and she would have to be alert for that. Of course, once confronted, the fight wouldn't be hard, but her main goal was finding Weiss before anyone else.
She had roughly seen the direction in which her partner was launched, and Ruby briefly considered just using her semblance full throttle to get there as fast as possible. She quickly decided against that, as she could unwittingly run into someone else on the way by accident, or miss Weiss entirely.
In that case, would it be better for her to just run and shout for her? I mean, maybe people would find it really weird that she was screaming for someone she barely knew, but maybe Weiss would come towards her?
There wasn't time to hesitate, and Ruby decided that it was best to find Weiss as quickly as possible. She started shouting for her partner, and dashed off in the direction where she was.
"Weiss!!! Weiss, where are you!?!"
She tried to move in a straight line, but navigating when she was moving so quickly was always difficult. She kept running, and only paused when she thought she heard a response. She emerged into a small clearing surrounded by dense underbrush and stopped to listen again, but she heard nothing.
Just as Ruby was about to keep moving, she heard a growl coming from behind her, and an Ursa pounced on her. Without thinking she quickly wheeled around and felt her silver eyes flash. The grimm melted away, and as the light faded panic quickly took hold.
Ohhhhhhh crap.
She hadn't meant to use them! It was an accident, an instinct. She hadn't tried to test them yet, but clearly they were still working just fine! Ozpin probably saw that too. He told them they were all being watched and graded. How was she going to explain that to him?? Glynda too!
Her mind was racing, trying to figure out how she would explain what just happened. Even though she was panicking when another bush rustled she quickly turned to face it.
A figure stepped out of the bush and locked eyes with Ruby. Her mouth was open, eyes wide, and her weapon was at her side, prepared to defend herself if she needed it. Her bow stood tall as she addressed Ruby.
"How did you do that?" Blake asked.
---
Weiss Schnee had dreamed of this day. Today was the day that she would form her own team, at Beacon, in Vale! She would be made team leader, and together she and Pyrrha Nikos would rise through the class rankings, an unstoppable power couple.
… Maybe not that kind of couple. Not that she would mind. But before that, she had to find the girl.
Weiss trekked through the underbrush of the forest. She had already dispatched two small grimm that had crossed her path, obliterating both in a fiery rain. Off in the distance, she could swear she heard someone calling her name. It was faint, and not from a voice she recognized. Probably just someone looking to take advantage of her status. Weiss promptly turned away from the direction the voice was coming from and continued walking.
Shortly after coming across a creek, another pair of grimm, boarbatusks this time, blocked her path. They rolled into balls and charged at her continuously, and each time they came to a crashing halt, she made surgical strikes in between their bony plates. Slowly but surely she was whittling them down.
She was about to make another such set of strikes when the tree line exploded. A girl with blond hair burst out, screaming, running at the grimm with weapons blazing. Weiss was taken aback by the sudden entrance, as were the grimm.
Before one could even process the new target, the girl had smashed it into a pulp with her bare hands. The other turned to roll into her, but Weiss quickly switched to ice dust and froze the ground in front of it. When the grimm rolled, it quickly spun out of control and missed the girl entirely, hitting a nearby tree head first instead. Weiss lunged forward and impaled it with her rapier, before it melted away.
"Hey, nice one!" The girl called out to her, a grin on her face. "I'm Yang Xiao Long! Nice to meet ya!" Weiss took a moment to compose herself, she was still panting slightly while Yang looked fresh and ready to fight another round.
"Weiss Schnee. Thank you." If she was annoyed that her plan to have Pyrrha for a partner was foiled (and she was), she wasn't going to show it. "Come on. Let's go."
Yang shrugged and followed her. The girl wasn't what Weiss was expecting, but Yang seemed to be competent at the very least and willing to follow her lead.
Oh well, not everything could go as planned. At least her partner was easy on the eyes.
---
The excitement and adrenaline that Ruby had been feeling moments ago was quickly being consumed by panic. She was supposed to find Weiss, and now Blake was here, and oh my god my sister is going to be so mad at me for stealing her partner and- and how do I explain my eyes?!
Blake stared expectantly at Ruby, waiting for her answer. Ruby couldn't brush it off as her semblance, not only because if there was a semblance that could instantly destroy grimm everyone would already know about it, but because there would be no way Ruby could keep her actual semblance a secret. Her sister already knew her semblance, and if RWBY was back together, there would be no way to fool them both.
Ruby took a couple calming breaths and glanced around, scanning for grimm.
"It's safe. There's nothing around us." Blake supplied. Ruby trusted Blake's enhanced senses.
"I um- I'm not sure? It just… kinda happened. I was in danger and the next thing I knew, the grimm was gone." It wasn't the strongest lie, but hopefully Blake would be okay with it for now. She mulled over the response for a couple seconds before nodding.
"You should be careful with that; you can never be sure who is watching." She said warily.
"I'll try to be careful."
Ruby gave a nervous laugh and walked over to Blake. For a moment she seriously considered hugging her. She was pretty sure that Blake would actually jump out of her skin if she tried though.
"So… partners?" Ruby asked. Blake gave a stoic nod.
"Partners. Which way to the temple?"
Ruby tried to remember the topography from when she was in the air. From there she could easily tell where the relics were being stored. It wasn't that hard once you knew what to look for. That being said, she really didn't know what direction they were facing…
"Can you scale one of these trees?" Ruby asked. She explained to Blake what to look for. Blake raised an eyebrow, but once Ruby finished explaining, she quickly scaled one of the nearby trees.
"Can you see it from up there?" Ruby shouted up to her. Blake nodded, and pointed in the direction they needed to go. "Thanks Blake!" She landed back on the ground, and together they set off to grab their relics.
Ruby chuckled to herself. Of course Ozpin called them relics.
The trip over was uneventful. Ruby kept sneaking glances over at her new partner.
That would take some getting used to. Blake Belladonna, Ruby's partner. And, they could still be Team RWBY! Yang and Weiss would just have to find each other, and then she could make sure they brought back matching relics.
Besides, it's not like she and Weiss wouldn't spend time together just because they weren't partners. I mean, she and Blake had formed a strong friendship in the previous past and they weren't partners, there was no reason she and Weiss couldn't do the same!
Yeah, this wasn't at all what Ruby expected, but she could work with it!
---
'Ruins' was actually an accurate description of where all the relics were. The stone structure was in the process of eroding away. On several of the pillars stood black and white chess pieces. Ruby automatically gravitated toward the white knight piece and plucked it without a word. Where she might have expected Weiss to comment about her impulsivity, Blake only nodded with approval.
They had been the first pair to arrive, judging by the number of pieces that stood on the other pillars. They had made a slight detour on their route to avoid what Ruby suspected was the giant nevermore nest that she and Weiss had disturbed the first time around, but other than that their journey was peaceful.
Blake leaned up against one of the stone columns and watched as Ruby paced. "Do you want to head back now?" She asked.
"Huh? Oh! Can we wait a few more minutes? I want to see if we can head back with some other students, for safety." Ruby replied.
Ruby was really hoping she could at least meet up with Weiss and Jaune, and whoever their partners might be. If she picked the wrong piece, her and Weiss might not even end up on the same team.
The pair didn't have to wait long before another set of figures appeared on the outskirts of the clearing. Ruby recognized them by their dual shields as Pyrrha and Jaune. She breathed a sigh of relief that at least this was going better for Jaune then it was for her.
As the two approached, they put away their weapons. Jaune waved to Ruby, but as he got closer, his jaw almost dropped as he saw Blake.
"Jaune? Is something the matter?" Pyrrha asked him.
"Nothing! Just- saw something I didn't expect."
He looked over to Ruby, expecting some sort of explanation, to which she just mouthed 'later'.
Jaune turned around to see Pyrrha looking over the relics. Her hand rested on the other white knight piece.
"Actually- can we choose this one instead?" Jaune hastily said, grabbing the white rook. Pyrrha give him a quizzical look, but accepted his choice. After, she went back to watching the tree line, scanning for any grimm. It was only a few moments before she got their attention.
"There's something in that direction." She gestured with her rifle, aiming into a section of the forest. Blake came to stand by her side.
"Someone's fighting an ursa." She said.
"Should we… go and help them?" Jaune asked. The sound was rapidly growing louder, and soon they might not have a choice as the front trees came crashing down and an ursa limped into view, limbs flailing. After stumbling a few steps, it collapsed in a heap.
"Yeeehawwwww!" Nora's high pitched screech echoed and she tumbled off the grimm. Ruby had forgotten that this was how Nora had made her entrance into their lives. The image of her riding the ursa without a care in the world was so out of place with what she had become accustomed to that she couldn't help but almost laugh.
Ruby looked over at Jaune, he was excited to see Nora again, and she suspected what he really wanted to do was rush over to her. It wasn't just Ruby who was getting her family back today after all.
For her part, Pyrrha looked aghast that someone would dare to ride a grimm through the forest, while Blake outwardly looked as impassive as ever, but Ruby could tell that she was at least amused by the sight.
Was that unfair of her? That she could tell her teammates emotions far better than she really had any right to. It wasn't Blake's fault that Ruby just knew what to look for, a product of spending years together.
Maybe, but after all the unfair circumstances that the world had put her through, she was going to use any advantage she could get to make things right.
Nora hurriedly grabbed the other white rook relic, cementing team JNPR. Weiss and Yang were still nowhere to be seen, and Ruby was starting to get worried. There were some other people that were in the initiation with them, what if Weiss and Yang weren't paired together? Would she have to choose between her sister or her…
Her what? Weiss wasn't her partner anymore. They had been close, extremely close some nights, but they had never put a label to what they had together. Nothing beyond partner. But now…
"Hey… are you okay?" Blake looked up at her. Apparently Ruby had been frowning too much if Blake noticed something was wrong.
"Yeah, just- hoping my sister gets here soon." Blake hummed in response.
"She will." She replied. Ruby blinked a couple times, it was rare for Blake to offer such open comfort. She smiled back at Blake.
The pair stood in comfortable silence as JNPR made their introductions to each other. Jaune didn't seem to be in any rush to leave either, for which Ruby was grateful.
Fortunately, none of them had to wait long, as Weiss and Yang came running through the underbrush towards them all. The reason for their haste was quickly apparent once the death stalker that was chasing them crushed a number of trees underfoot and bounded after them.
Ruby grabbed the other white knight piece and ran towards the pair.
"Yang!" She called out to her sister before throwing the chess piece towards her. Yang caught it without breaking stride, and the whole group rushed towards the death stalker, ready to fight. They were just about to engage when a piercing shriek rang out from the sky. In their haste to get here, apparently her sister and her sister's partner (ugh, that was going to take some getting used to) attracted the nevermore that Blake and Ruby had studiously avoided.
Ruby and Jaune exchanged a glance, Jaune tilted his head towards the cliffs where they were able to dispatch the grimm the first time. Ruby nodded and called out to her team.
"Yang! Blake, Weiss, follow me. We need to get out of these trees."
Weiss looked like she wanted to protest, but didn't once her partner started following Ruby. Jaune was similarly wrangling his team, and together the eight of them ran through the forest.
The nevermore howled as it lost sight of them, but the death stalker continued its pursuit relentlessly. Finally, they emerged back out of the forest, and were faced with the imposing cliffs that stood above the Forest of Forever Fall.
Above them, the giant nevermore perched on a stone tower in the center and let out another shriek. The death stalker wasn't close behind and rushed them, claws clacking.
Jaune started shouting out orders to his teammates. "Ren, circle around and distract it. Stay mobile. Pyrrha, stay with me. Nora, find some higher ground!"
Nora exchanged glances with Ren, who shrugged. "Uh, you got it captain!" Nora mock saluted Jaune before falling back.
Pyrrha and Jaune engaged the grimm head on, taking turns deflecting and parrying the sharp pincers.
Seeing that Jaune had his team well in hand, Ruby turned back to face the nevermore that was staring down at her. It was once again circling them, and was beginning to swoop down to attack. First step of fighting a flying enemy was always to ground it. She instinctively turned to Weiss, expecting to find her by her side. When instead it was Blake, she mentally corrected herself. Blake was her partner, not Weiss.
"We need to ground it!" Ruby shouted. Weiss took an appraising look at the nevermore.
"Get it on the ground!" She shouted back.
"Yang, be ready once Weiss immobilizes it!" Yang nodded and fell back into position.
Ruby activated her semblance and rushed out the path of the nevermore, circling around to land on one of its wings. On the other wing, Blake had managed to use her clones to climb on as well, and together the two of them got to work hacking and slashing at the grimm.
Soon enough, the nevermore began to waver, and Ruby jumped off the wing before it crashed into the cliff side. Weiss sprang forth, and encased the tail in a block of ice. The nevermore flapped its wings and squawked indignantly, trying to break free.
"Yang!" Blake yelled and threw her weapon towards Yang, who looked over in surprise and fumbled the weapon before grasping it. Blake held on to the other end of the ribbon as she swung her arms to help Yang build momentum. Yang quickly caught on and soon enough Blake launched her into the nevermore. Yang discharged her gauntlets several times before crashing into the nevermore and punching through it.
It yelled even as it disintegrated. Ruby rushed over to her sister who was already excitedly talking about the end of the fight.
"That was awesome! How did you come up with that??" She asked Blake, who shrugged.
"It was a move I used to use with someone else in the past." Blake replied.
Jaune and his team caught up with Ruby and hers. From the looks of things, they had dispatched their target with just as much ease. Ruby gave Jaune a fist bump as the two teams headed back to Beacon.
There, teams RWBY and JNPR were officially created, led by Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc!
Ozpin commented that the two had displayed remarkable leadership. "Indeed, if one didn't know better, it would seem as though you both were already quite experienced leading your respective teams." A small smile tugged at Ozpin's lips.
Jaune and Ruby took the compliment well, both were proud of their teams, and were eager to build them back up into what they had been! Sure, for Ruby everything wasn't the same, but she was never one to give in so easily. Her sister, her new partner, and her old partner were still on the same team. Her family was still together. And sometimes, that's all that matters, that they were together.
---
Roman woke up with a splitting headache. Course that was nothing new. Migraines had never been something he struggled with, but lately it seemed like he woke up every morning with one that was worse than the last.
He rolled out of the luxury bed that he kept in his penthouse, which happened to double as his safe house. He needed to be on his feet, Cinder had requested a meeting-
Well, requested was the wrong word. Demanded, might be better. The sooner he could get her job completed, the sooner she would be off his turf, and he would never have to see her again.
Roman snapped his head as he heard a soft knock on the door. Neopolitan stepped through, looking almost worried. Roman sighed.
"I'm fine, Neo." Neo rolled her eyes, unconvinced. "Really, look, I'm up."
Neo used her semblance to let her hair flicker to black with red tips. The same as Little Red. Ever since Roman had been having this spectacular string of bad luck, or whatever the hell was up with his head, Neo had squarely pinned the blame on his fight with Little Red.
Sure, Glynda Goodwitch had rattled him, she would strike the terror of the brothers into anyone, but the girl barely did anything. Roman was pretty sure he didn't have a concussion, and even if he did, concussions didn't last weeks.
Roman shook his head. "As much as I appreciate your input, Neo, I don't think Little Red could do this if she wanted to." Neo put a hand on her hip, and frowned at him. Roman sighed. "Come on, I think I've got something for lunch around here somewhere."
Neo turned and left the room, eager to eat something before they headed out for their latest tryst.
As Roman was getting up to leave the room, his migraine only grew worse. He put his hands to his head, palms rubbing his forehead and groaned. Okay, maybe he wasn't fine. But he still had a meeting with queen bitch that he had to get to.
His head pulsed again. Roman fell back down onto the bed. Just as it seemed it couldn't get any worse, the pain broke. That should've been sweet relief, but instead his mind was suddenly swarmed by a single thought. A single thought that consumed his mind, pushing out all else in its quest to overwhelm him. A thought that had a single screaming message:
You are going to die.
Notes:
You doing okay there, Torchwick? You should see if your contract with Cinder comes with medical benefits.
Happy one year since the end of volume 8!
Has it been one year already? Wow. Kind of hard to believe. But hey, this year were getting RWBY Ice Queendom, RWBY Arrowfell, and RWBY Volume 9! My excitement has never been higher :)
Thanks to all for reading! Comments are always appreciated.