Ch. 8 Before the Big Event

"ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz"

The eardrum shaking snore of Daemond's big sister is as loud as ever as it fights with the other snores in the Ballroom to see who is the loudest.

The early morning sun is barely peaking in through the windows but a few people are already up or stirring awake. The weight of what the day brings weighs on a few less determined souls.

Daemond's eyes flutter as he remembers where he is and why his left shoulder and hip feel stiff. He can't stay still when sleeping, tossing and turning ever now and then. He mostly does it without waking up.

Rolling to his back he stares up at the skylights showing off the early morning sky as the morning sky pushes back the darkness.

After a few minutes he sits up and sees a few people heading towards a side room. Next to the open double doors is a sign saying breakfast with an arrow beneath it pointing towards the doors.

Stretching his left arm up he grabs his elbow with his right hand and stretches. A few of his joints pop as he looks down at his sleeping bag and is reminded of his attire.

"G-good morning…" A meek voice says behind Daemond.

He lowers his arms and quickly looks over his shoulder as he turns to face Seraphina.

The girl is sitting on her sleeping bag holding her legs close to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. A rosy blush on her cheeks as she looks at Daemond. The wings on her back are semi-relaxed and semi-enveloping her. Her light brown hair doesn't look messy at all, Daemond knows Yang would be jealous.

Daemond relaxes his shoulders as he sits facing the girl. "Good morning Seraphina, did Yang's snoring wake you?"

Seraphina looks at the sprawled out blond next to Daemond. "No…"

"Then why are you up?" Daemond raises an eyebrow.

The girl tightens her hold on her legs as she lowers her head.

Her Seeing the discomfort Daemond lazily waves his hand. "Anyway, I'm a morning person so this is around the time I usually wake up. I'll wake these two up in a minute to get some breakfast, you're free to join us if you want"

Seraphina nods her head a tiny bit.

Daemond nods and leans over to Yang. He puts his hand on her shoulder and shakes her while whispering. "Yang, time to wake up if you want to be able to fix your hair for today"

Yang's snoring stops as she rolls over. "5 more minutes…"

Daemond's right eye twitches. He remembers how she used to wake him up when they were younger, she would grab his blankets and ball him up as she dragged him out of his bed. "If you want to skip breakfast and rush your hair routine on this important day you can continue sleeping"

"Ughhhh" Yang groans as she flops over, somehow taking up even more room than before. "Fine, I'm up-"

Yang pauses as her memories from the previous night load. "Oh, it's you Seraphina. Thought an Angel was coming to take me away"

Daemond shakes his head as he goes to Ruby who is sleeping on her side inside her sleeping bag as she holds one of her pillows. "Ruby, breakfast"

"Cookies?!" The young girl excitedly says as soon as she heard breakfast. "What's going on?! Everything's dark! I've gone blind! Ah-!"

"Ruby! Sleep mask! You're wearing a sleep mask" Daemond facepalms as Ruby stops squirming in her sleeping bag.

Ruby slowly moves the eye mask as she gives a shy smile. "Oh"

Daemond drops his hand and deadpans. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Whoopsie?" Ruby takes the sleeping mask off and sits up. "Sooooo, cookies for breakfast?"

Yang finished laughing to herself and also sits up. "I don't think they'll have cookies Ruby, but they should have pancakes"

"With chocolate chips???" Ruby asks intensely.

"They should also have fruit" Daemond points out.

Ruby gives her brother a strange look. "You want fruit in your pancake?"

"Wha- Ruby. What do you think?" Daemond returns his sisters expression.

Ruby taps her chin and looks to the side. "That this wouldn't be the weirdest thing you would do?"

"Hahaha!" Yang couldn't hold it in as she tries control her laughter not to wake up the other still sleeping students around them.

Daemond stands up. "I meant that they should have fruit. Separately. Not to put in pancakes or anything else. Just a bowl of fruit or something"

"Does that mean that they tainted the strawberries???" A shadow comes over Ruby as her mood drops.

Daemond shrugs. "Probably? Probably not? Guess we should see what they have for us before we get our hopes up or get bummed out"

"Right! There's no way they would waste strawberries by mixing them with lesser fruit!" Ruby jumps to her feet in an instant as she clenches her left hand into a fist while still holding her pillow in her right hand. It was as if she was never sad to begin with.

"Guess this means we should go raid the food before others wake up" Yang gets to her feet and stretches.

"Cmon, what are we waiting for?" Ruby quickly makes her way towards the double doors.

Yang throws her arm up around Daemond's shoulders. "Guess we should have brought the child leash Huh?"

Daemond watches Ruby as she jumps near the doors waiting for her siblings to catch up. "We should have gotten that years ago Yang"

Seraphina is left stunned by the siblings. Her nightmare completely forgotten, but her worry of being left alone spikes as she looks at Daemond and Yang's backs.

Just when a tear was about to fall down her now pale face Daemond looks over his shoulder.

"You coming? Ruby has a bad habit of not slowing down for others" Daemond sees Seraphina's eyes shine with emotion as she quickly nods and stands up.

"Let's get going then" Yang releases her brother and takes Seraphina's hand and Daemond's as she drags them towards the door.

"Hey-" Daemond does his best not to step on anyone as Yang marches on, he lets Seraphina take the easy path.

Seraphina follows behind Yang. Now she understands why Daemond talks about them so greatly.

——————

Daemond is alone at his locker in his usual outfit finally. His cloak back in its rightful place as he hooks his book under his weapon.

He grabs his Polaroid camera and reminisces about how he got this advanced piece of technology that is based on something so old. A moment later he puts it away under his cloak.

"…well, not together-together"

Daemond hears a certain energetic voice. Walking past him is Nora and Ren.

Ren meets Daemond's eyes and gives a nod in greeting as he continues walking, not waiting for a response.

Nora gives a puzzled look as she stares at Daemond. "Do we know him?"

Ren continues walking with Nora at his side. "He was in the boys showers last night when you-"

"OH!" Nora claps her hands together. "I have no idea who he is"

Ren sighs. "Then why act like you remembered him?"

The pair continue on their way, Daemond can't hear the conversation for too long as he decides to go meet up with his sisters.

On his way towards where they should be Daemond notices Jaune looking around confusedly.

Jaune looks down at his crumpled piece of paper with his locker number on it and then looks around. "Ridiculous!"

Daemond tries slipping past, Jaune can manage this on his own. He was fine enough last night when he was singing.

Jaune scratches the back of his head. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 9E9 yesterday! I would've remembered having to count that high! Why does this have to happen today?"

Daemond can see his sisters when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns around and sees Jaune with his bright blue eyes.

"Hey man! Think you can help me out?" Jaune pleads while holding up the wrinkled paper.

Daemond squints. He grabs the paper and holds it flat to get better light. "Jaune"

"Yes Daemond?" Jaune nods, looking at the piece of paper. He flinches when he sees his piece of paper upside down.

"You know you're an idiot, right?" Daemond shakes his head.

Jaune slouches his shoulders. "I know"

"Do you still need my help?" Daemond asks while rotating the paper 180 degrees. It's not 9E9, it's locker number 636.

Jaune crouches down and moves his pointer finger across the ground. "Yes…"

"Then let's get going" Daemond starts walking.

Jaune stumbles as he stands up and follows. "I still don't remember 636! This is crazy"

Daemond looks at the passing lockers. "What's crazy is how messy your handwriting is"

"That's not how it usually is…" Jaune tries defending. But it truly was terrible. He tried writing it down but it was so late and dark last night.

A few minutes go by and they can't find the locker, but they're getting close.

"So, heard the rumors about teams yet?" Daemond decides to try and start a conversation.

Jaune points at his ear. "I'd have to be deaf not to have heard any"

The conversation flips and Daemond can't think of anything else to talk about.

"Hmm... I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may"

Daemond hears a voice from around the corner.

"Well... I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together" The voice of a certain Ice Queen comes from around the same corner.

Daemond stops just before passing the corner, he isn't exactly wanting to deal with Weiss right now… or ever.

*Thump*

Jaune bumps into Daemond and nearly falls back on his butt. "What's the holdup?"

"Well, that sounds grand!" The first voice awkwardly says.

"Great!" Weiss cheerily says.

Jaune looks around the corner and sees the heiress and a redhead he's never seen before.

Daemond also peaks and shakes his head. "We should keep g-"

But it was too late. Jaune was already walking up to the girls.

"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you" Jaune introduces himself as he moves between the girls, clearly trying to talk to Weiss.

"You again?" Weiss annoyedly remembers a certain bunny man from the previous night.

"Nice to meet you, Jaune!" The redhead moves more towards Jaune and gives him a wave.

Jaune brushes her off and solely focuses on Weiss. "So, Weiss, about yester-"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Weiss stomps her foot as she looks at another uninvited guest approaching.

Daemond walks up with his hands in his pockets. "Oh right, I was supposed to leave you alone for the rest of your life wasn't I?"

"Guess it's not that easy…" Weiss' eye twitches as she remembers Daemond's words from last night.

Hearing her mocking words Daemond shrugs. He looks at the redhead, a bit surprised as she is more than an inch taller than him.

He can't help but look at the one and only Pyrrha Nikos. Her red hair is up in a waist length ponytail. Compared to her younger years her outfit has made some drastic changes. Where she used to wear actual armor she now wears clothing that allows for more agility.

Pyrrha is wearing a brown corset with a vertical strip of light brown leather going down the center of the corset.

That's it. That's all that covers her torso besides her weapon on her back.

Covering her legs are elastic short-shorts with a red sash around her waist. Said sash basically covers her shorts and drapes over her right hip down to near her ankle. Like her younger self she still wears armor, greaves and cuisses, from her mid-thigh down to her brown boots that went up to the middle of her calf. And of course her boots had heels, because reasons that Daemond has given up on figuring out.

She has a pair of black opera-length gloves with a bronze bracer on her left forearm. There are also good jewelry, such as a circlet with green jewels beneath her hair, a gorget around her neck which is basically fancy armor, and a small metal plate on her belt.

Pyrrha tilts her head. "Are you a friend of Jaune and Weiss?"

Daemond blushes a bit since he was staring and before he can speak:

"Yes" "No"

Jaune and Weiss say simultaneously.

Daemond looks at Pyrrha who seems confused. "It's complicated with Weiss, like everything usually is"

"Hey!" Weiss stomps her foot.

Jaune moves closer to Weiss. "No need to get worked up! So, been hearing rumors about teams! I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?"

Pyrrha speaks up with some enthusiasm. "Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so we all-"

"You odon't say" Jaune cuts Pyrrha off as he moves closer to her. "Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team"

Daemond cringes a bit. Jaune is laying it on a little thick.

Weiss moves between Jaune and Pyrrha as she glares at the blond. "Jaune, or whatever your name is. Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, snow angel" Jaune purrs.

Weiss flinches momentarily. "Firstly, never call me that again. And secondly, this is-"

"Pyrrha Nikos" Daemond interrupts.

This causes Pyrrha to have a look of realization. Since Daemond knew who she was it makes sense that he stared. She assumes he's like the other people who get caught up on her title like Weiss.

Weiss holds up a finger. "THE Pyrrha Nikos"

Jaune gives a puzzled look. "Who?"

He turns to Daemond. "And how do you know her?"

"The better question is how do you NOT know her?" Weiss is baffled as she steps forward. "Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

"Never heard of it" Jaune deadpans.

"Congratulations" Daemond says with some respect. Sanctum is one of the harder primary Huntsman Academies. It's similar to Signal, which Daemond and his sisters attended.

"She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row! A new record!" Weiss exasperates.

"The what?" Jaune asks, completely lost on what Weiss is getting at.

Daemond taps his foot on the ground as he explains: "It's an annual tournament held in Mistral where young Huntsmen and Huntresses in training compete in 1v1s to see who the strongest is. It's similar to the Vytal festival but held yearly and for the primary academies. It is only held in Mistral but everyone is welcome to join the tournament if they meet the age requirements, and it's rules are less strict compared to the Vytal Tournament"

Jaune scratches the back of his head. "Riiiiight…"

"That's.. not wrong…" Weiss mumbles to herself before shaking her head. She gestures to Pyrrha with both arms. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

"Wha?!" Jaune gasps and points at Pyrrha. "That's you?! But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

Pyrrha holds her hands behind her back as she smiles. "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you"

Daemond remembers Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box, he had it once and that was it. Way too much sugar without any nutritional value… Ruby loved it though.

"So, after hearing ALL of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?" Weiss takes Daemond out of his thoughts.

"I guess not... Sorry..." Jaune hangs his head while a gloomy shadow overtakes him.

"Actually, Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader!" Pyrrha moves next to Weiss as she tries to cheer Jaune up. And she meant what she said.

"Ditto" Daemond pats Jaune on the back.

Jaune brightly smiles with a slight blush. "D'oh, stop it you guys!"

"Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!" Weiss points at Jaune trying to get Pyrrha to understand.

"Sounds like Daemond Pyrrha are on board for Team Jaune. Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?" Jaune once again tries to flirt… or whatever he's trying to do. But he steps too close to Weiss and she whispers something to Pyrrha.

Jaune looks over to Pyrrha just as a red javelin with golden accents comes flying towards his face. He could t even react before it was too late.

*Fwoosh!* *Smash*

Just as the spear was about to hit Jaune's hoodie Daemond grabbed it.

He wasn't able to stop it, but he did change its direction ever so slightly. The javelin missed Jaune but still dragged Daemond and imbedded itself into the wall. Daemond was holding the spear with his right hand as his back rests against the wall.

While it may have looked purposeful, it was quite the opposite. He wasn't anticipating the javelin to have so much force behind it. Daemond knew Pyrrha's semblance but this was his first time experiencing it.

The color on Jaune's face drains as he steps back and looks wide eyed between Daemond and Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha quickly apologizes and lowers her head towards Jaune. She threw Milo, her Javelin, on instinct upon Weiss' request for help.

Jaune gives a weak smile. "It-its fine"

Pyrrha runs over to Daemond. "Are you alright?"

Daemond let's go of the spear and rubs his right hand. "Yeah, I'm good"

"I'm truly sorry" Pyrrha visibly relaxes. She effortlessly pulls her javelin from the wall and puts it on her back beneath her shield.

"Don't worry about it. I should actually thank you before I forget" Daemond puts his hand in his pocket. If it wasn't for his Aura he may have shattered his wrist.

"Why?" Pyrrha can't comprehend why she would be thanked. She expected him to react in a few different ways, this was not one.

Daemond shrugs. "I told myself if I every saw you face to face I would thank you. Your performance at the Mistral Tournaments were outstanding"

"Oh…" Pyrrha isn't sure why he is thanking her, but lots of people talk to her about her accomplishments.

Daemond did enjoy her performance, but he only went to the first tournament she participated in. His Uncle attended all 4, however, he watched from the darker side of Mistral. The Black Market was no place for a 11 year old after all.

With how drunk Qrow would get it still took a lot of convincing. But eventually Daemond convinced him to not only take him to the tournament, but to also bet on a random girl not getting hit a single time and winning the tournament.

This is a secret that Qrow and Daemond have kept for years. Their fortune couldn't be compared to the Schnee's, however, it would last them each a few lifetimes.

This is what funded Daemond's research for his weapon. With how much the materials cost he would have been extremely limited without the extra cash.

And his Polaroid camera isn't cheap either. It's durable enough for him to not have to worry about it breaking under and Ursa's weight.

The intercom system buzzes to life.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately" Glynda's voice sounds out all throughout the building.

"Guess it's time to go" Daemond says, thankful he can get out of this awkward situation he finds himself in.

"Hmph!" Weiss walks off after giving Daemond and Jaune a disapproving glare.

"Again, I'm sorry" Pyrrha apologizes to Daemond before following Weiss towards the exit.

She waved to Jaune and gives him a friendly smile. "It was nice meeting you!"

Jaune returns a small smile and wave. "Likewise…"

Weiss and Pyrrha exit the building and Jaune slumps to the ground, leaning his head back against a locker.

"Having some trouble there, lady-killers?" Yang jokes while she walks up to the duo with Ruby right beside her.

"How long were you watching?" Daemond asks.

Ruby grins. "Not long, but long enough"

"Great…" Daemond wonders how the situation looked from their point of view.

Jaune looks down at his hands. "I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?"

"'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start" Yang confirms that they watched from the beginning.

"Haaaaah…" Jaune sighs and looks up at the ceiling.

Ruby extends a hand. "Come on, Jaune, let's get going"

Jaune takes her hand and stand up with her help. "I still have to find my locker"

"We can-" Ruby starts.

Daemond cuts her off. "You two go to the cliff. We'll meet you there"

"Don't be late little bro" Yang play punches his shoulder as she walks past Daemond.

"We'll save you both a spot!" Ruby shouts as she runs off.

Daemond watches his sisters leave and then looks around. "Where's Seraphina?"

Jaune moves next to Daemond. "Who?"

"Nevermind. Let's hurry and find your locker" Daemond starts searching for the locker again.