The Phantom Nevermore: New Moon Waltz

Chapter 3: Tailwind

"...do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path. Your partner for the next four years will be the first person you make eye contact with." Ozpin explained. Before him, standing in a row upon a cliffside overlooking a picturesque forest, the prospective students of Beacon Academy stood. Ozpin had revealed their mission; to traverse the Emerald Forest for varying relics and return to the cliffside to complete initiation. Everything had seemed so far, so good for Jaune. Search and return safely? Now that was something he could do in his sleep. He could even avoid the Grimm through stealth, assuming that whoever his partner was wasn't some bloodthirsty combat maniac, or didn't have some sort of hero complex. Jaune looked down, a wry smile stretched across his face. Being launched into the Emerald Forest via pneumatic catapult wasn't exactly how he wanted to start his morning, but there he was.

Countless repetitions of parkour courses set up by his uncle however, had given him an edge when it came to finding things like 'landing strategies,' so he wasn't worried about that. It was trying to find his way through unfamiliar territory with a minimum of conflict that was forefront in his mind. Plus, he had to find himself a partner, and preferably one who not only wanted to avoid conflict as well, but would give him enough space to do what he came to Beacon to do without sticking their nose in his business. All in all, his work was cut out for him. Even as the first few students were launched into the air, Jaune was making a mental note of the students he'd want to watch out for. Weiss was insufferable, and as entertaining as being near her and taking advantage of the situation would be, it would quickly grow tiring. Pyrrha seemed well known if word through the locker room and Weiss' opinion were anything to go by, and that would attract scrutiny. Plus, if her behavior in the lockers was anything to go by, she was unpleasant to be around as well.

More students were launched. A quiet boy in green and a girl in black looked both viable; they weren't vibrating with the absurd energy people like Ruby were. He watched as one, then the other was launched, making a note of where they might land. Closer and closer the catapults came to him, when a thought suddenly occurred. "Headmaster Ozpin?"

"Yes, Mr. Arc?"

Jaune paused, watching a couple more people flying off into the distance, then turned back to Ozpin. "Our mission is to simply retrieve a relic and return, right?"

"Indeed, Mr. Arc."

"So, if I were to say, sneak my way through the Emerald Forest without encountering any Grimm and return, I'd technically still pass, right?" Jaune queried.

Ozpin sipped on his drink, the ghost of a smile playing about his lips. "Indeed, Mr. Arc. If you can succeed on such a thing."

Jaune smirked, watching the catapults firing closer and closer as he tensed his body, took a deep breath, and with the sound of a pneumatic piston firing off, was flung into the air. The wind howled around him as he flew through the air, his mind already trying to calculate the approximate area he'd land and how he'd land without taking serious damage. Mental note to self; thank Thaddeus again for the parkour training. Actually, I don't think I could thank him enough for that. Jaune shook his head, clearing his thoughts. The landing was coming quicker than he'd thought. The treetops came at him closer and faster, Jaune tucking his body into a ball before he pierced the treeline, small branches snapping under his figure. He unsheathed his knives and as a much thicker branch came into view, reached forward to stab the branch. His trajectory abruptly changed and he flipped around the branch back into the air directly above it. With practiced movements, the lanky blond landed atop the branch and balanced atop it.

Well. That's one challenge down. Let's see if we can't keep it to just that. Jaune glanced about at the forest floor, observing his surroundings. Sight, sound and even smell told him he was alone. He sheathed his knives and began to make his way across the treetops, jogging at a light sprint and jumping from branch to branch. It could have been his uncle's training, or perhaps it was because he wanted to avoid combat, but Jaune's travel was quiet, his footsteps inaudible over the ambient noises from the forest around him. Pausing every so often to check his Scroll for direction, Jaune made a beeline right for the clearing where Ozpin had mentioned the relics lay. However, the easy travel only lasted for so long, until eventually the treeline broke, leaving a large clearing with a number of Beowolves loitering about. Jaune sighed, frowning. So much for not running into Grimm. They don't look too hard though. If I'm careful, I could probably take out a couple of them before they even notice me.

Jaune slowly unsheathed one of his kukri blades and licked the finger of his other hand, holding it aloft to check the wind direction. He smiled; he was downwind, which gave him an advantage. He could still give himself away via sound, but he hadn't been trained nearly nonstop for four years by his uncle to give himself away to a rookie mistake. He dropped down to the forest floor without a sound, approaching closer. There were five Beowolves in total, two of them close by and the other three more distant. One of them might have been able to see him, but between the glare of the sunlight above and the darkness of the treeline, it was unlikely. He'd have enough time to take out the two closest, assuming he wasn't clumsy. With measured footsteps, he carefully approached the closest Grimm, unsheathing his second knife as he did so. He very slowly filled his lungs with air, tensed his body…

..and leaped forward, plunging one of his kukri blades into the base of one Beowolf's skull. Before the other one could so much as utter a sound, the other kukri knife flashed silver and separated the beast's head from its shoulders. Unsurprisingly, this didn't go unnoticed by the three other lupine beasts who zeroed in quickly, growling. Jaune sighed, slamming the butt of both knives together with a metallic 'click!' The result had the knives conjoined, blades facing away from each other. With a quick twirl and a flick of his wrist, Jaune tossed the knives, causing them to fly forward spinning, a flash of silver in the midday sun that removed the head from one Grimm before it even knew what was happening. The knives continued flying across the clearing, and began to bank right, making its way back toward Jaune like a boomerang. Unfortunately, the closest of the three Grimm had gotten too close to Jaune for him to let the knives finish it off as well. Instead, with a slight grimace, the blond rushed forward, ducking underneath a swipe of razor sharp claws, and clamped a hand down on the creature's shoulder, flipping himself over the beast and landing behind it, just in time to reach out and grab the flying knives with one hand.

A growl and a mass of black fur alerted him to the third Beowolf bearing down on him. Jaune smirked, ducking down under another swipe, then rose quickly to his feet as his kukri blade sliced through the air, then through the beast's head, removing it with ease. He flipped the knife in his hand and turned a quick 180 on his heels, ready to bury the knife into the third Beowolf-

CRACK!

A gunshot echoed through the clearing, making Jaune jump with surprise, a small hole opening up in the Beowolf's skull. The beast slumped forward, turning quickly to smoke. Jaune himself froze and gazed about, trying to figure out who had taken the last kill. Blue eyes glanced about the treeline as he advanced toward the gunshot, when they abruptly locked onto an emerald green gaze. "Oh, hello again!"

...Fuck. Jaune struggled to keep his face impassive and not reveal his displeasure at finding himself locking eyes with none other than Pyrrha Nikos herself. Instead, he drew his lips into a thin line and sheathed his blades. Both his and Pyrrha's scrolls made a beeping noise, and when Jaune drew it out, he noticed a message on it confirming his dread. 'Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc: Partners; confirmed.' He sighed and put the scroll away before turning back to Pyrrha, who was standing slightly awkwardly with a smile still on her face. "I could have gotten that, you know." He muttered, his expression flat.

"I-I'm sorry. I just wanted to help, that's all." Pyrrha explained. "It looks like we're partners now. It's nice to work with you." With that, the champion extended a hand, still smiling warmly. Jaune looked down at her hand, then back up at her.

"Sure." Jaune replied flatly, turning on his heel. Pyrrha stiffened, looking uneasy. "Let's be on our way then, yeah?" He began to walk away from Pyrrha, who stood in place momentarily, frowning. Had she offended him? He'd seemed so friendly earlier, but now... She shook her head and took a breath. They'd be partners for the next four years, so she'd make this work…

[Emerald Forest - Center]

Things couldn't have gotten much more awkward, Pyrrha had decided. Since they'd began their journey forth, Jaune had only responded to her tentative attempts to start conversation with the occasional grunt or short response, killing the attempt before it could gain steam. Eventually, she'd given up, instead following close behind him as they made their way through the forest proper. There was one thing that Pyrrha noticed almost right away, and that was Jaune was exceptionally stealthy. His footfalls were nearly inaudible, just from the way he moved, and he seemed to take paths that cut through dense foliage to hide himself. It wasn't a bad idea, but something about it felt wrong. They were Hunters, were they not? Shouldn't they be walking through the forest with confidence, striking down the Grimm left and right?

Still, she remained silent. Things already seemed tense between the two of them for reasons that eluded her. In the training ground, he'd seemed so open and friendly, but now...was he simply just that focused upon their goal? Was he nervous? Pyrrha followed silently behind, trying to match his pace and not make any sound herself, her mind a whirl of thought. Her eyes flickered back and forth through the trees, seeing nothing. The path that Jaune was taking them through was bereft of Grimm entirely. Maybe he'd noticed signs of Grimm passing and he'd simply avoided it all? As she continued to watch for signs of any approaching Grimm, her eyes happened to fall upon the back of Jaune's hoodie, noticing a large hole in his hood. It hit her at once.

"U-Um...Jaune?" Pyrrha quietly spoke up.

"Hm." Jaune grunted, brushing aside an errant branch in his path.

"About earlier…"

Jaune paused and glanced over his shoulder, his expression unreadable. "What about earlier?"

"I...I'm sorry. I-I hope I didn't hurt you…" Pyrrha murmured.

Her apology was met with silence. Jaune began to move forward once more, shuffling slowly through the foliage. Pyrrha followed once more, feeling even worse than before. She'd apologized, but it appeared as though he were unwilling to mend things. Then, just barely above the sound of the surroundings, Pyrrha picked up Jaune's voice. "Then why the hell did you do it?"

"I-" Pyrrha started, surprised. She sighed, then, "I did it simply because Weiss had asked and acted on reaction."

Jaune froze once more and turned to look over his shoulder at Pyrrha, but the look on his face had Pyrrha stiffen. It wasn't anger, but it was still unpleasant, almost a look of disgust or disdain. "Oh, that's why?" He rolled his eyes and turned back around, moving once again, but now at a faster clip than before. Pyrrha winced. Things were not off to a good start at all, and Pyrrha sighed once more. All she wanted to do was to make a friend, but she only succeeded in driving one potential person away because she couldn't say 'no' to a fan. There had to be some way to come to terms though! She steeled herself and moved faster through the bushes and trees to catch up to Jaune.

"Jaune, I-" Pyrrha started once more, but was abruptly shushed by Jaune. He'd stopped a third time, pressing himself against the trunk of a large tree. Pyrrha went quiet as well, listening out, when a sharp crack echoed through the trees, and her body instinctively tensed up. "A gunshot. Our allies are in trouble." Pyrrha unsheathed her spear and shield, facing the direction the sound came from.

"You're not." Jaune replied, glancing at her with ill disguised irritation.

"Excuse me?" Pyrrha blinked, confused.

Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, I don't know if you haven't figured it out from the past fifteen, twenty minutes or so, but I'm not much one for conflict and I'd much rather not go running through the forest and attracting every Grimm between here and wherever there is."

Pyrrha blinked, her expression slowly turning incredulous. "You can't mean to say you're just going to abandon a fellow Huntsman!?"

"Huntsman." Jaune emphasized. "Trained in combat and most likely with another partner. If we go trapezing all over the forest to go play hero, we're going to attract any number of Grimm." He explained slowly, as though to a five year old. "If we stop to fight them all, we might be too late anyway, and if we don't, we're only bringing Grimm to another person's problem." Pyrrha opened her mouth to retort, and Jaune quickly cut her off with more, "And, that was what, a single shot? For all we know, it was simply an errant Beowolf."

Pyrrha frowned deeper. "This is...absurd. They might need our help! It could be an ambush!"

"Alright, have fun." Jaune muttered. "My plan is to get in, grab the relic and get out, and I don't plan to change that."

Pyrrha gave a huff and gazed into the distance toward the gunshot, but heard nothing more, neither positive nor negative. Finally she shook her head and sheathed her spear and shield once again. "Very well. But...please, let's not dally too much?"

Unsurprisingly, Jaune fell silent once again. Instead, he simply turned away from Pyrrha once again, and began to make his way at a sprightly clip through the forest once more. Pyrrha stayed on his heels as the two made their way through the forest. Another gunshot sounded out, scattering birds out of the treetops and causing the duo to freeze in their tracks momentarily. Silence followed and Jaune, with a sigh, continued on his way through the forest…

[Emerald Forest - Ruins]

The two had arrived to the moss covered stone ruins a bit faster than Jaune wanted, and a lot slower than Pyrrha desired. Jaune's desire to avoid as much conflict as possible had taken them on a direct course to the ruins, away from roads, but also not much faster than a snail's pace to keep his footfalls quiet. Pyrrha had managed to follow in like fashion, only creating noise a couple of times and earning nothing worse than an irritable wince from Jaune. Like before though, he made no attempt at trying to strike up conversation with her. Pyrrha hoped that this was just professionalism trumping social niceties, and that he'd be more personable back at Beacon proper.

When they'd emerged from the thicket, Pyrrha stood up straight for what felt like the first time in ages. The two had been hunched over for much of the trip in order to keep a low profile, and it had worked. "Well, that was...anticlimactic." Pyrrha replied, finishing her observation hesitantly.

"Good." Jaune replied shortly.

For Jaune, he couldn't have been more irritated. He knew that being partnered with Pyrrha was one of the worst people he could be shackled with during his stay at Beacon, no matter how short or long. Ignoring her popularity and fame, Pyrrha didn't seem to be the type to appreciate caution or stealth. She was the type to go out of her way to 'save' others. In short, a busybody. In addition to that, she seemed to be far too curious for his own liking, constantly trying to to ask personal questions during the walk to the ruins. Worst of all though, was the simple and undeniable fact that Pyrrha Nikos, for all her fame in combat, appeared to be spineless. She seemed to simply accept his short behavior toward her, and seemed willing to do whatever anyone asked of her lest she offend them, if her acceding to Weiss' demands proved anything.

While that last point might make his true mission at Beacon Academy much easier, he found people like herself to be grating. Trying to ignore her behind him, Jaune walked toward a group of pillars still standing after centuries, covered in moss and plant life. Inside of them, a group of other students could be seen, holding objects aloft. Jaune assumed they were most likely the relics Ozpin spoke of, and smiled. He approached the group, noticing Yang chatting animatedly with the black haired girl with the bow he'd been scouting earlier. "Hey, Yang!"

"Arc! You made it!" Yang grinned, waving back to him.

Jaune put a hand to his chest, faking injury. "Yang, I'm hurt! To have such little faith in me?"

"Ooh, and I see you've managed to snag Nikos as your partner! Nice." Yang winked playfully.

Jaune's expression fell momentarily as he glanced to his partner who'd caught up with him, standing next to him before shrugging. "Sure. Anyway," Jaune continued, brushing aside Pyrrha's presence, "These are the relics?"

Yang glanced at Pyrrha and cocked an eyebrow, Pyrrha simply smiling nervously and shrugging listlessly. "Yeah, those are." Yang affirmed, following Jaune to the pedestals.

Jaune stared at the chess pieces, tapping his foot. "I wonder if this is some extra test," mused the blond boy, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Aren't you overthinking it?" Yang asked.

"Maybe." Jaune shrugged and grabbed the nearest piece; a white rook. "So who'd you grab as your partner?"

Yang pointed a thumb over her shoulder to a black haired girl standing off to the side looking quite aloof. "Blakey here."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Please don't call me that."

"Aw, come on Blakey, live a little!" Yang teased.

"I already do that; I don't need a terrible nickname to do so."

Jaune chuckled slightly, stopping quickly. Not out of fear of offending Blake, but out of the realization that he could have had someone quiet and unassuming like her as a partner instead of… Blue eyes glanced over to see his new 'partner' standing off to the side, looking awkward and he sighed. "Well, that was to head back. You coming with us, Yang?"

"I'll catch up, I kind of want to wait for Ruby to make sure she's okay."

Jaune nodded. "Not a bad idea. I'm sure she's fine though-"

CRASH!

The sound of snapping branches and huffing breath alerted all four in the clearing and the four all turned to face it, weapons drawn. What they expected was a Grimm, and they weren't disappointed. What they weren't expecting was to see said Grimm, an Ursa, being used as a means of transportation by a ginger haired girl. Nor were any of them expecting for the Ursa to come to a stop and proceed to fall over, the girl jumping off of it's back gracefully with a frown. "Aww, it's broken!" she complained.

"Nora, please, wait up!" a boy's voice called behind her

"Jeeze, keep up Renny! We really need to work on that stamina of yours!" Nora replied, arms akimbo.

Jaune sighed and shook his head. Were all Huntsmen just insane, or was it just him? He watched as the ginger skipped over to the pedestals and picked up the second White Rook, her teal eyes lighting up. "Ooh! I'm Queen of the Castle! I'm Queen of the Castle!" Nora singsonged, holding the piece aloft and twirling.

"Riiiight. Anyway, I'm heading back now. I'd rather not stick around incase something particularly nasty shows up-" Jaune began.

As if the universe had decided that today was when his accumulated bad karma was to be paid back in full, he wasn't able to finish his sentence before a black shadow passed over head, blotting out the sun, and a girl's voice shouted, "Look out!"

Jaune looked up and had only just enough time to catch someone falling out of the sky, who upon closer inspection was revealed to be one Ruby Rose. "Ruby?"

"Thanks Jaune! Wait, Weiss is still up there!" Ruby replied, hopping out of Jaune's arms with worry written all over her face.

Jaune, despite every nerve his body saying not to, glanced upward to see it. A Nevermore. The biggest he'd ever laid eyes on, and to make matters worse, it was flying low enough to have seen them, and for the gathered Huntsmen in training to notice one Weiss Schnee clinging to its feathers. Her grip must not have been too tight on it, however, as she seemed to slip off the creature's back and tumble to the ground below. Jaune heard Ruby shouting something, probably Weiss' name, but he couldn't tell. He was already moving the moment she slipped off the creature's back. He was a blur as he rushed forward and took a flying leap, catching Weiss in mid air. His mind and heart racing, he bent his legs and as the two hit the ground, knelt down to absorb some of the shock, wincing as pain shot up his legs. He thanked his Aura that he avoided breaking something.

"Jaune?" Weiss asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, yeah, don't make a big deal of it." He replied, letting go of her. "We should get to cover."

Weiss blinked and shook her head. "Right." The two of them rushed back to meet the rest of the group.

"Weiss! I thought I lost you!" Ruby shouted as she rushed up to meet them.

"That's why I told you not to mess with that thing, you dolt!" Weiss screeched.

Jaune sighed. "I hate to agree with you, but you've got a point. Why did you think messing with a Nevermore the size of a Bullhead was a good idea Ruby?"

Ruby frowned. "But we're Huntsmen! We're supposed to fight Grimm!"

"Well," Yang started, catching up to the three, "Looks like we've really don't got a choice now do we?"

"Alright then, good luck!" Jaune replied, starting to walk away.

"Excuse me?!" Weiss shrieked, stomping her foot. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"Weiss is right," Pyrrha replied, frowning now, "You can't just walk away!"

Jaune blinked, and gave a deep, theatrical sigh. "All right boys and girls, here's a quick combat lesson from yours truly. You see this?" Jaune pulled on of his Kukri blades from his pocket and waved it in front of his face. "This is called a knife. Now, I don't know if you know what knives are used for, but they're used for close ranged combat. Now yes, I can throw them to give them some distance, but these are small blades, so unless that thing has an allergy to titanium alloy that I haven't been made aware of, I'm as useful as tits on a bull!"

Silence fell over the clearing, marred only by the sound of the Nevermore screeching overhead. Yang turned to Weiss. "He's got a point."

"Ugh!" Weiss groaned. "Fine! Just stay out of my way! Useless…"

Jaune's glare sharpened. "Should have just let you fall…"

"Hey!" Weiss snapped back. "...and aren't you supposed to be in love with me or something?"

Jaune may have had a retort, but whatever it was, it was cut off when there was a sudden gust of wind and Jaune leaped back, a massive spear-like feather piercing the ground where he had been standing. "Okay, screw that, I'm out of here! You all have fun fighting a living aircraft."

Ren and Nora exchanged glances. "You know, he's got a point. Both you and I aren't ranged specialists either. It might be best to simply retreat using the forest canopy as cover."

"But what if the Nevermore follows us back?" Ruby cried out, glancing upward to see the beast in question circle around, no doubt ready for another strafing run.

"Follows us back where?" Jaune asked, "Back to the Headmaster and Headmistress of Beacon Academy? If that thing even gets within range of sight to those two, I'd put money on that thing being taken down inside of five minutes. Right now, only you, Weiss and Pyrrha have the Semblance or Weapon designed to fight at such range, and unless that thing decides to play fair and land, we're all going to simply be no help. Besides, nowhere in our mission statement does it say we needed to kill any number of Grimm. It was get in, grab a relic and return."

Ruby and Weiss exchanged glances. It was Yang who spoke up though. "I hate to admit it, but Jaune's got a point."

Ruby sighed. "We're Huntsmen though...we can't just abandon people if Grimm are too had to kill."

"And no one's life is in danger right now Ruby, at least no one who should be smart enough to avoid that thing." Jaune explained, now growing more antsy the longer they stood in the clearing. As if to punctuate his point, he began to start walking away before further discussion could continue.

Pyrrha looked up at the Nevermore and with a small noise of irritation, began to follow Jaune. Nora and Ren exchanged glances, Nora shrugging and they two followed close behind. Yang and Blake rushed off, and finally with a huff, Weiss stomped her foot again and stormed off, with Ruby racing to catch up to her. Above them, the Nevermore gave a loud screech as its soon to be prey vanished into the treeline…

[Emerald Forest - Overlook]

"...Jaune Arc?" Glynda Goodwitch repeated, eyes slightly wide in mild shock. "As in the lost scion of the Arc family?"

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee as he watched said blond figure making his way through the brush once more, and by the expression on his face, he didn't seem to happy about it. It may have had something to do with the fact that one Nora Valkyrie had seen fit to make a commotion around him, and if his earlier behavior had been any indication, the boy prefered the stealthy approach. "Who is to say? The boy is seventeen; by Valian standards, he's independent. His paperwork checked out and while unorthodox, his methods are effective. Besides, in the event we're wrong and this is simply coincidence, I don't wish to give the Arc family false hope. Surely if he is the missing Arc, he has his reasons for having left his family."

Glynda's lips turned downward. "They're good people, Ozpin. Losing their son was a major blow for them."

"Would you be the one who wants to explain to them why we brought their hopes up if Mr. Arc turns out to not be their son?" Ozpin slowly cocked an eyebrow, punctuating his question with another sip from his seemingly bottomless mug. Glynda's only response was to sigh, drawing her lips into a thin line. "Aside from that, another concern does come to mind."

"Is it about Amber?"

"Atop her, I'm afraid. An old friend has decided to come back to Vale. His timing is far to coincidental for my tastes."

"You say the world 'friend' like an insult." Glynda mused.

Ozpin's eyes narrowed as he scrolled through more camera feeds. "As it's meant to be."

"Do you think he's here for Amber? Or…?"

Her unspoken query was met with silence as Ozpin continued to watch the video feed on his Scroll with interest. Finally, "I should think not. Still, him arriving at such a time, and with everything that's been going on, it's still cause for concern. If I had to guess, I think he's decided to start teaching himself a protege."

It was Glynda's turn to narrow her gaze. "Oh wonderful. That's exactly what we need now."

"Hm." Another sip. "I hate to say it, but he's the least of our concerns at the moment. When all this is over and the Fall Maiden is back in our hands we can focus on him, but until then, we continue to focus upon more pressing matters."

"Then why bring it up, sir?"

Ozpin's lips twitched. "Simply just telling you to keep an eye out." The old man watched as eight Huntsmen made their way back to cliffside, ready to make their way up with Jaune at the head…

[Beacon Academy - Auditorium]

"...Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna; you will form Team RWBY, as led by Ruby Rose!"

"Way to go!" Yang shouted, clapping her sister on the shoulder. Weiss Schnee gave a very brittle smile and Blake simply gave a wry smile, as though simply accepting the turn of events.

Ozpin cleared his throat and the applause in the auditorium died down. "Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren...you shall form Team JNPR, as led by Jaune Arc!" More applause.

Jaune froze. He could hear Nora yelling something and felt Pyrrha's hand on his shoulder, but his entire thought processes came to a screeching halt. Him? Leader?! No, this would not do. This would not do at all. He had a job to do, and being the leader of a team would put an undue burden on him as well as plenty of unwelcome attention. Hell, being part of a four man cell was going to be difficult enough to juggle with his true profession, but having to lead them as well? Was Ozpin out of his mind? He'd ran away from the battle with the Nevermore and even convinced the rest of the prospective Huntsmen to do the same! As his mind raced, he didn't seem to acknowledge Pyrrha's concerned and confused words, nor did he react to Nora jostling him as she shouted in excitement.

It was only when Ozpin and Glynda began to walk away from the podium where the student teams had been announced, and all the other students began to make their way back to their dorms, when Jaune suddenly moved, startling Pyrrha and Nora in the process. He ignored their cries and jogged off to catch up to Ozpin. "Headmaster Ozpin! Headmaster Ozpin!" Jaune exclaimed, causing both said Headmaster and Headmistress Goodwitch to pause, turning to face him.

"Mr Arc? Is something the matter?" Ozpin asked, raising a single eyebrow.

"There's been a gross misunderstanding. See, I don't know how much of the whole Initiation you saw, but I am the last person who should be Team Leader."

"Oh? Why would you say that, Mr. Arc?"

"Instead of standing my ground and fighting like a Huntsman, I decided to avoid a Giant Nevermore and convinced others to do the same! I-I mean, obviously someone who'd flee from combat wouldn't make for a good leader, right?"

"Is that what you called it? That's not how I saw it. I saw a young man accurately gauge the situation, make an informed decision and convince others to do the same. The mission was to simply get the relics, and you did so with a minimum of fuss and conflict. We are warriors, yes, but if we went chasing every Grimm we ran across, there'd be very few of us left. We have need of Huntsmen of every skill." Ozpin explained, sipping on his coffee with a small smile. "No, Mr. Arc, I have watched your every move since you've arrived here at Beacon Academy, and I can safely say with confidence that my choice was made with consideration. Now, if you'll excuse me Mr. Arc, I must be off. You might want to leave to your Dorm Room; you're the only one with the location of it on your team."

With that, Ozpin began to walk away, leaving Jaune standing in the hallway, jaw hanging open with his expression torn between disbelief and anger…

A/N: Yep, I'm back. Check my profile for more info.

Okay, so real quick here: This is NOT a Pyrrha bashing fic. I understand that might be what it seems like, but I want to make it 100% clear here, Jaune's behavior isn't supposed to be seen as a good thing. Yes, he does have a point when it comes to Pyrrha's behavior, but being as big an ass as he is isn't supposed to be good. There's a reason for this, and I promise we will get into this, but I want to remind people that I do not hate Pyrrha, and in fact hope to do more with her character in this, than the show did with her.

Signing off for now, this is LaughingLefou.