HEEEELLLLOOOOOOO!

What's this? Two uploads roughly within a week of each other? It's a miracle! Truly the gods smile down upon us all!

I like to think that I'm actually starting to get better at sitting down and writing most days. While I don't always make a ton of headway on whatever I'm working on, be it my original story or one of my fanfics, or whatever one shot/crack fic that has decided to invade my mind, that I'm making headway at all is a definite boon.

In this chapter classes begin! How will things go for our intrepid hero and his, ah... merry(?) teammates, who totally don't have any interpersonal conflicts or plots to murder everyone at Beacon at all.

Nope, not even a bit. Totally 100% functional team.

Well with that lie out of the way, ON WITH THE STORY!


Ruby knew trauma. Not from personal experience, but what she could remember of her father's condition after her mother had died and what Yang had told her. He'd more or less shut down as a person. Yang had had to take care of them for awhile until he'd gathered himself enough to take care of them and make up for lost time. That had been a long time ago, but Ruby could still remember the look of profound loss and pain on his face, a look that sometimes still overcame him.

Jaune had worn that same look on his face, but with fear mixed in. Ruby still didn't know much about Jaune, and she couldn't help but wonder at what he must have suffered through to give him such a look at such a young age. She wondered if he even knew himself. She couldn't even imagine what it must be like to be missing most of your memory, to suffer through half recalled nightmares of your past.

"Are you alright?"

Ruby jumped a bit as Jaune's shoulder bumped against her. Well, his bicep really. Their height difference was enough that he was a bit more than heads and shoulders over her. "I'm alright," she said, "just thinking."

Jaune looked better now than he had before his shower. He seemed unconcerned and unbothered, and if Ruby hadn't seen it for herself she wouldn't have believed he had more resembled a scared animal than a person this morning. "Glimmer- lien for your thoughts?"

"Glimmer?" she asked, thoroughly confused.

"Slip of the tongue," he responded, slightly sheepish. "Don't worry about it."

"Oookay, well I was just thinking about... our classes today."

Jaune stared at her for a few moments, and she could tell that he didn't buy it, but he took the lifeline for what it was. "Well, I for one am curious. I don't even know what classes we'll be having, if someone could fill me in?"

"Our first class of the day will be History with Professor Oobleck," Weiss said as they walked. "After that is combat classes with Professor Goodwitch, lunch, then biology with Professor Peach. Our final class of the day will be Grimm studies with Professor Port, which will end at four o'clock. After that we will have the day to ourselves to do what we like, although we will have to put aside time for homework." Weiss looked sidelong at their team leader. "A lot of our free time is going to be spent on you. We're going to have to get you into shape physically, and we are going to have to fill the gaps in your memories."

Ruby frowned. Since when did Weiss get to decide what they were going to do with their free time? Sure homework was important, and Jaune would need some help, but it wasn't like he was incompetent. He'd led them through the Emerald Forest after all. Before she could say anything in his defense, Jaune spoke up.

"You're absolutely right, Weiss," he said, shocking Ruby. "It will be a heavy work load, and I am aware that much of that work load will be helping me, but I'm sure we can manage."

Weiss beamed with self satisfaction. "I'm glad you see things my way." Her eyes slid from Jaune to Ruby, and her smile went from satisfied to smug.

Wait, was she doing this to spite her?

"Of course we'll need to make time for team exercises too, and partner drills."

Weiss's smile became less smug and more rigid, like a hard enough blow might shatter it. "Partner... drills?"

"Of course," He said calmly. "If we're going to work together as a team we're going to have to learn to work together as partners. That means you and Ruby, and Cinder and I, will train with one another, learning each other's strengths, weaknesses, and how we can complement them. We'll train as a team too of course, but for now I want to focus on each pair of partners."

"I know that not all of us get along, but like it or not, we are a team now, and as the leader I intend to see us come together as one." His tone made it clear he would not allow any argument with him on this matter.

Not for the first time, and almost certainly not for the last time, it struck Ruby just how odd Jaune was. He seemingly came from nowhere, waking up in the Emerald Forest with amnesia right in the middle of initiation, his body too weak and frail to be that of a Huntsman, but he assumed command of them as though it was simply natural that he lead, and the only one who'd really complained was Weiss. Even then she hadn't protested as hard as she would have if it had been Ruby who'd tried to lead them.

Ruby almost laughed at the thought of herself leading. She was good at a lot of things, but leading just wasn't one of them. Heck, it had taken her two days just to make one friend, and in that time she'd also managed to make an enemy, who was now on a team with her for the next four years of her life. And wasn't that ironic?

As far as Ruby was concerned Jaune was the best choice to lead them, hands down.


Being mortal again had come as a complete system shock for Jaune. Everything felt reduced, like he was less than half the being he'd used to be. It was an accurate analogy, as Jaune's physical form was reduced. His strength, endurance, and dexterity now were nothing compared to his Stormcast body. He was fortunate that his mind retained its alacrity and his many hundreds of years of experience. That at least would help somewhat in bridging the considerable gap between himself and his peers, but all the experience in the world would mean little if he lacked a body capable of taking advantage of that knowledge. And even then all that knowledge related almost solely to fighting. Remnant's various cultures, customs, religions, and politics were still a mystery to him, one that he would have to unravel over time. Meanwhile he would have to work on getting in shape and re-learn how to be human and the various requirements that entailed.

For example, eating regularly. Stormcast did eat, however they did not have to eat as regularly as mortals. Or sleep for that matter. Jaune had in the past gone whole days without eating or sleeping because he became too wrapped up in things or was on campaign. Stormcast still had their limits and at a certain point they would have to stop for rest and food, or they'd wind up dropping from exhaustion like any mortal man or woman. It would just take a whole lot longer for a Stormcast.

Now however Jaune's stomach was loudly and angrily demanding food, and he was of a mind to indulge it.

The sheer amount of food available at the Beacon cafeteria was frankly astounding. Every aspect of the food pyramid was present and accounted for, and there was enough material here to make a literal food pyramid so large that it would make Nagash and his black pyramids self conscious.

His stomach rumbled impatiently as he placed a cut of sausage on his plate, thought about it, and placed three more links to join it. His plate was piled high with food and it was starting to get difficult to carry, so he took that as a sign that he had enough. Ruby was in front of him still putting food on her plate, and Weiss and Cinder had already filled their plate and gone to find seats. The crimsonette didn't have nearly as much as he did and seemed to be favoring a more balanced breakfast.

That is, until she reached sweets. One cookie became two, then three, and Jaune stepped in before it could become four.

"Think you have enough?" he asked as she reached for the fourth cookie. Ruby jumped a bit and retracted her hand.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "I just really like sweet things."

"I can see that," he chuckled. He scanned the buffet line and nodded his head to the fruit section. "Why not hold off on that extra cookie and grab some strawberries instead? They're your favorite."

Ruby looked further down and visibly brightened when she saw the bright red fruit for herself. "Ooh, I didn't see... those..." she looked back at Jaune curiously. "How'd you know strawberries were my favorite?"

... Huh.

How did he know that?


This was certainly surreal, Cinder decided as she munched thoughtfully in her muffin. Here she was, a servant of Salem who was duty bound to destroy Beacon and to take the Maiden's power that was hers by right... and she was surrounded by children.

Her plans were still in motion, but that didn't make her current situation any less aggravating. The blonde, Yang, and the ginger, Nora, were chattering incessantly at one another and generally making enough noise for everyone else at the table. The Champion Pyrrha was trying to follow their conversation, and failing miserably if the confusion on her face was any indicator, while Ren simply ate and tuned them out, a skill undoubtedly honed by years of application. Emerald looked like she was trying and failing to follow Ren's example, Mercury was on his scroll, and Neo was happily munching away at her breakfast. Cinder was almost shocked by how much the small mute could put away. Blake was reading a book, something about a man with two souls if the unimaginative title, "The Man With Two Souls", was anything to go by, and Weiss sat next to the Fall Maiden straight backed with her elbows off of the table, quietly eating her food, the picture of etiquette. Jaune and Ruby were still in line getting their breakfast.

Not for the first time Cinder reflected on how weird her team was. What should be a cohesive team under her command was instead a hodgepodge of a spy, an heiress, a little girl, and a scrawny amnesiac. Things... certainly could have been better.

As she was rambling Yang glanced up from Nora and waved her hand. "Over here guys!" As if Ruby and Jaune would somehow miss them all.

"Hiiiiii!" Ruby cried as she slid into the open space beside Cinder, turning the criminal mastermind into a barricade between herself and her partner. With a nearly inaudible sigh Jaune sat beside Weiss.

"Good morning everyone," he said with a smile.

"Good morning!" Pyrrha all but sang as her eyes lit up upon seeing him. "How did you sleep?"

There was a minuscule pause before he answered, so short that she was almost sure no one but her noticed it, but she did feel Ruby tense slightly beside her. "I slept well," he responded, his voice just a bit too calm, "and you?"

"Quite well," she said cheerily.

Cinder watched the exchange, and the look on Pyrrha's face, with interest. Her gaze on Jaune was nearly unwavering, bright and eager. Did she have a crush on the boy? Surely not so soon after first meeting him, and certainly not on him? But that look in her eye... Cinder filed the information away for later. You never knew what might come in handy.

"How are things in your teams?" Jaune asked Ren and Yang, his fellow leaders.

The blonde girl gave a thumbs up, "sho far sho good," she said through a mouthful of food. Cinder didn't need to look at Weiss to know she was staring at Yang in disgust. After swallowing whatever she'd been eating, Yang continued. "I think we're all getting along pretty well, right girls?"

"Indeed!" Pyrrha said with a grin.

"Mhm," Blake grunted noncommittally as she continued to read. Neo...

Wait, where was Neo? She'd been sitting next to the champion girl.

"Uh, hello again?" Jaune said uncertainly. Cinder looked over at him and sighed heavily. Neo had her arms thrown over his shoulders, one wrapped loosely about his chest, her other holding his fork with a piece of sausage impaled on it up to his lips. "I assure you, I can feed myse- ermph."

Neo took the opportunity he'd unwittingly given her to stuff the fork in his mouth. This time the amnesiac's response was more pronounced. His eyes widened and Cinder was pretty sure his cheeks reddened, presumably from embarrassment.

The thief pulled the fork out of his mouth and Jaune grudgingly chewed and swallowed the sausage. He stared at Neo over his shoulder for a moment. "You realize, of course, that this means war."

She nodded, though the thought didn't seem to bother her any if the sultry smile on her face was any indicator. With a weary sigh Jaune opened his mouth and raised an eyebrow at her as though to say, "well? I'm waiting."

Cinder pretended she didn't notice Ruby blushing furiously red beside her, or how Pyrrha had a white knuckled grip on her utensils. Yang and Mercury both were staring wide eyed with eager grins, chins resting on their hands as they waited to see what would happen next. Nora was likewise enraptured, though being far more vocal about her interest, Weiss was trying to pretend she wasn't staring, and Ren and Emerald were staring incredulously, one eyebrow raised in silent judgement of what they were seeing.

Neo speared another piece of sausage and brought it up to Jaune's lips-

Only for him to snatch the fork out of her hand and push it into her mouth.

Neo blinked in surprise and looked at the fork in her mouth, then at Jaune. "I told you this would be a war," he said, a faint curl to his lips.

She considered this for a moment, then swallowed her own piece of sausage. With a mischievous grin she pecked him on the cheek and skipped back to her seat next to Pyrrha. Cinder's lips curled in a faint smile. It seemed Neo had found herself a plaything. Hopefully she wouldn't break him too quickly.

Jaune pointedly took a napkin and wiped his cheek with it, pretending not to notice Neo sticking her tongue out at him petulantly. "And you, Ren? How are things on team Lemon?"

"Well enough," he said neutrally. "Although one of us needs to remember that not everyone is as used to her late night antics as I am, and some people may have found it hard to sleep last night." Ren didn't name anyone in particular, but he didn't need to. All eyes were on Nora. Come to think of it, Emerald and Mercury had both seemed a bit ragged this morning before they had gotten some coffee in their system.

"What about yours?" Ren asked.

"There's a few kinks that need to be worked out," he said as he scooped up grits in his spoon, "but I'm sure we're going to figure ourselves out soon enough." He said it neutrally enough, but Cinder remembered his words when they had all been coming to breakfast. She squashed her burgeoning agitation. He seemed hell bent on getting them into fighting shape. Well, better that she not be a detriment to that goal then. The sooner he felt like they were an actual team the sooner Cinder wouldn't have to worry about him butting into her business.


Jaune was trying his best to follow what the green haired man was saying.

Really, he was!

He was just talking so Sigmar damned fast.

Jaune's pencil all but flew across the paper as he scribbled down what Professor, er, Doctor Oobleck was saying. The subject was obviously one he wasn't familiar with, but then that was hardly shocking. The topic they were covering on their first day had to do with the events leading up to the faunus revolts.

Faunus...

People who were born with certain animal characteristics. They didn't exist in the Mortal Realms, or at least if they did Jaune had never heard of or met any. The only thing in the realms that compared in any way were the Beastmen, the twisted children of Chaos, part man and part animal. However that was an ugly and unfair comparison to the faunus.

Or was it...

Without initially realizing he'd done it, then not caring he had when he realized what he was doing, Jaune's notes and thoughts began to deviate from the lesson to his own musings.

Fact: Beastmen are the children of Chaos. They can be created through procreation between a male and female beastman, an abandoned mutant child, or a full grown human transforming from Chaotic influence.

Theoretical: Are faunus a strand of Beastmen?

Doubtful. Beastmen are known to be extremely hostile towards all other races. They would not mingle with humans willingly, nor humans with them unless they were twisted by the Ruinous Powers. While there are faunus who are adverse to humanity this is likely due to the harsh treatment of faunus throughout the history of Remnant, rather than the hand of Chaos. However it should be noted that Chaos has used such sentiments in other organizations to infiltrate them and twist them to more nefarious ends. A kind of more 'generic' mutant then? Potentially. Cannot be confirmed as fact without more information. Should be noted however that faunus mutation, if indeed it is mutation, seems purely biological.

Fact. Daemons exist in Remnant. Known as 'Grimm' to the people of Remnant, the chaos entities seem to take on the guise of animals, albeit on a much larger scale with various bone spikes and plates as natural armor. They are just as numerous and vicious as 'regular' daemons, however there are many notable differences between Grimm and daemons. Daemons require rituals to be summoned into the material, and a continuous flow of chaotic energy, usually in the form of mass sacrifices or other kinds of vast bloodshed such as battle, is needed to keep a Daemon in the material for any extended period of time. Grimm however do not seem to require this to remain in the material upon Remnant. According to all known information on Grimm they exist all across Remnant, a constant threat to humanity's existence. They are drawn to negativity, and supposedly feed off of it. This may go some way to explain how the Grimm continue to exist, but it is doubtful that the population of Remnant could create enough negative emotions to feed all the Grimm in existence unless they were in a constant state of fear or panic, which does not seem to be the case.

Jaune frowned and scratched out the word fact at the beginning of this new musing and wrote theoretical above it.

It is more likely that Grimm are some kind of daemonhost or mutated animals, but this does not explain why their bodies dissipate into nothing when they are felled in the same manner as daemons. It is also important to note that what little I have seen of Remnant thus far lacks chaotic corruption, at least to my eye. I am no Witch Hunter, and do not possess their ability to sniff out the taint of Chaos wherever it is hidden, but the Grimm have existed on Remnant as far back as history goes. Such long exposure to chaotic beings should have twisted the flora and fauna, but insofar as I can ascertain nature upon Remnant seems normal, untainted.

Perhaps-

Out of nowhere a loud ringing echoed through the classroom. Jaune's head snapped up as he was yanked out of his thoughts.

"Well children that is all for today," the doctor said as other students snapped out of a note taking fugue and looked around as though trying to recall where they were. "Make sure you go over your notes this evening, as you will be quizzed on the material we have covered today. Mr. Oathblade, good note taking. Mrs. Rose, please try to pay more attention next time."

Jaune looked at his notes, then at Ruby's. About half way through they devolved into his own ruminations. Sigmar alone knew how much information he'd missed. As for Ruby, she'd made it maybe a quarter of the way before her 'notes' turned into scribbles and drawings. There was a crude drawing of a man with an over sized tie and glasses and a mass of unruly hair atop his head, almost certainly Doctor Oobleck, with a speech bubble next to his comically large mouth going, 'blah blah blah'. There was another image of a girl in a dress with slanted angry eyes and over sized fangs hanging out of her mouth. She had a side pony tail and the word 'MEANIE' written next to her in big capital letters. Jaune was willing to bet the remnants of his soul that it was Weiss.

The last one took him a bit to piece together. It was a girl in a dress with a large scythe, undoubtedly Ruby, next to a man with a two handed sword, himself, he realized, smiling and laughing with dead Grimm strewn about them with cartoonish xs over their eyes, a near universal sign of death.

Jaune tried to pretend his heart wasn't melting in his chest. Had he not seen it himself he would have never believed this little girl was the same one who'd carved her way through Grimm with a scythe longer than she was tall yesterday.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly when she noticed him staring at her notes.

Jaune tried to give her a stern glare, failed miserably, sighed, and patted her on the head. "Just pay more attention next time, alright?" He was fully aware of the hypocrisy of his words, but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"I will!" She said brightly, and Jaune had faith that she would.


Combat class.

At least this was something he had an intimate understanding of. No more second guessing himself, no more wondering what the hell people were talking about. Just him, his blades, and the task he had existed to perform for centuries.

Though his lacking physicality left him worried. All the experience in the world meant little if he was too physically weak to put it to good use.

"As huntsmen and huntresses, our primary duty is to combat the Grimm," the fairly stunning blonde woman in front of the class stated as her calm green gaze swept over the class. He'd seen her before, during the team naming ceremony, standing behind Ozpin. From what Jaune had heard she was the deputy headmistress of Beacon, and thus in charge of enforcing discipline in the school.

Maybe that was why a riding crop was her weapon of choice?

Jaune idly noted that she was stunningly beautiful as he listened to her detail what was expected of them in combat class. If he was about ten years older... well, physically that was...

He grinned to himself. "If I was ten years older she'd probably still shoot me down. She doesn't strike me as the type to put up with much."

"However, we as hunters must also combat more mundane threats. The Grimm are not the only threat on Remnant. There are those among our fellow humans and faunus who choose a life of crime and banditry. And there are those among their number that are as capable as huntsmen, those of our number who have gone rouge, or individuals who have lived their entire lives in the wilds and have survived, becoming dangerous men and women. We must be ready to combat these threats, and the goal of combat class is to prepare you for this. By battling your fellow huntsmen and huntresses in training you will be better prepared to fight any threat that comes your way, be they human, Faunus, or Grimm." Her gaze scanned across the crowd. "For your first class, we will be doing one on one duels. You will get to choose your opponents today, but other times combats will be randomly determined, or I will choose the contestants." Her green eyes, and they were very pretty eyes, scanned the room. "So, who will be first?"

"I will."

Jaune's eyes tracked across the room until they rested on a tall boy in partial armor, with a mace slung over one shoulder.

"It's no Starsoul mace, but I bet getting hit with that thing would leave a mark." Jaune thought as the boy, Cardin, if he recalled correctly, walked down the aisle between the seats into the ring at the center of the room. He bled arrogance from every pore of his being, and Jaune immediately disliked him. "Someone needs to get knocked down a peg," the Stormcast muttered to Yang, who was sitting beside him, "or three."

"Tell me about it," his fellow blonde agreed as she eyed him. "You want him? Cause I was thinking about taking him myself."

Jaune grinned. "He's all yours."

Before Yang could stand however Cardin's mace swept out and pointed at them. "I'll take the pipsqueak."

For a moment Jaune thought Cardin meant him, and was about to get out of his seat.

Then Ruby let out a squeak beside him.

Jaune looked at the young girl as she stood up stiffly and walked onto the stage, her back as straight as though there was an iron rail in it.

"What wrong with her?" Oxford's leader asked Typhoon's leader.

Yang gulped. "Rubes uh... isn't great in the public eye. Or in one on one social situations most of the time. In fact, she tries to avoid socializing as much as possible, usually."

"She seemed fine in the Emerald Forest."

"Yeah, because she was in her element then and had other things to worry about, like finding the relics and not getting eaten by Grimm. Here she doesn't have any of those distractions."

And on top of that she was on stage with several dozens of her peers watching her, having been called out by the largest and most physically intimidating person in the room... oh dear.

"That bastard," Yang growled as she got to her feet. Jaune swore he saw her eyes flash red for a brief instant. "I know his type. He's a bully, likes to pick on people he sees as weak marks. He just wants an easy win to make him look good. Well I'll take Ruby's place and show him not to mess with my baby sis-"

"We can't do that," Jaune interrupted hurriedly in an attempt to derail her. "You can't fight all of Ruby's battles for her. She's here to become a warrior after all, and she can't do that if she isn't allowed to grow. Even if she loses, she'll learn from the experience and become all the stronger for it. And if Cardin tries to humiliate her? Well, I won't say anything if you decide to corner him in a lonely hallway and teach him some manners."

That seemed to calm Yang, at least a bit. "So we just sit here and do nothing?"

He grinned. "Hardly. We can cheer her on, show her she's not alone. Just because you can't fight her battles for her doesn't mean you can't have her back."

Yang grinned at him. "I like the way you think." The brawler turned to her teammates. "Alright ladies, you heard him! On your feet, I want to hear all of you screaming at the top of your lungs for my baby sis! Except you Neo, you get a pass. However you are still to express as much excitement as possible."

Jaune turned to his own remaining teammates. Neither Weiss or Cinder seemed particularly willing to cheer their teammate. "You should encourage her," Jaune said kindly to Weiss. "I know you two have your differences, but you're partners. You've got to have one another's backs."

"Its unseemly to leap up and down and wail like a banshee," Weiss said dryly as Yang did just that beside him, as though driving the heiress's point home.

"All I'm asking is a show of solidarity from both of you for a teammate, nothing more."

Weiss thought about it, then sighed and stood. "I suppose that I should at least encourage her."

Jaune's eyes slid past her to Cinder, who was still sitting down. He raised an eyebrow at her. She raised one back. Then she too sighed and stood. "I'm not exactly a fan of Winchester anyway."

"BREAK HIS LEGS!" howled a voice behind Jaune, who nearly soared a foot in the air and turned to see what unearthly abomination had made such a roar.

It was Nora, as it turned out, so his initial assumption of a terrifying monster was pretty close to the mark. She had one arm locked around Ren's neck, who was taking the physical abuse with the laissez-faire attitude of one used to such. "Go team," he said wryly as he shook a fist halfheartedly, then adjusted himself in Nora's headlock so he could breathe. Mercury was leaning back in his seat with his legs slung over the head rest of the one in front of him and clapping, a lazy smile on his face. Emerald was trying to dodge Nora's other arm. She failed, and met with the same fate as Ren.

His eyes traveled to team Typhoon. Yang was, predictably, the loudest person present as she urged her sister on to greater and more ridiculous acts of physical violence to perform on Cardin, and was leaping up and down. She was, for obvious and bouncy reasons, drawing the attention of many of the male students in the room. Pyrhha was cheering and clapping beside her, but restrained herself to bouncing up and down lightly on her heels and simply encouraging Ruby to do the best she could. Blake and Neo were saying nothing, but both were clapping and were wearing what Jaune considered to be genuine smiles. Jaune could tell that Ruby had far more support in her ring than Cardin did, whose primary supporters seemed to be his own team with the occasional encouragement here and there.

The Stormcast turned student could also tell that none of it was getting through to Ruby, who was standing still on the edge of the ring, as though paralyzed.


Ruby felt every eye in the room on her.

And no, that wasn't an exaggeration. Everyone was looking at her. Professor Goodwitch, her teammates, Yang's team, all of the other students, everyone.

She shouldn't be here. And no, she didn't just mean this stage. She shouldn't be here, at Beacon. Everyone else had at least two years of experience on her, more training, and were bigger. Heck, even Jaune belonged here more than she did!

She'd never wanted this kind of attention. She'd always just wanted to be like any other huntress in training with normal knees. She'd only agreed to come to Beacon because she'd been swept up in the moment and hadn't even thought about saying no! She hadn't realized it would mean leaving everyone she knew behind except for her older sister, who wasn't even on the same team as her now!

"I don't belong here, I don't want to be here. I wanna be back at Signal with the people I know. I wanna be home with dad and Zwei and training with Uncle Qrow. I wanna be that girl that watches videos of kittens all day on the internet. I wanna-"

"Ruby."

Maybe it was because it was her name, maybe it was because it was stated instead of shouted, or maybe it was because of the note of of calm serenity in the voice, but that one word cut through Yang's shouts and the maelstrom in her own mind. She turned to look behind her.

Jaune was leaning on the partition separating the seats from the ring, a kind smile on his face. His unnaturally bright cobalt eyes were serene, relaxed. "You've got this." He said it as though it was a statement as obvious and factual as telling someone that the sun rose in the east.

"There's so many people," she whispered, almost whimpered, to her shame. "They're all older, stronger. He's stronger than me."

Jaune did the most unexpected thing. He laughed.

"No he isn't. He's an arrogant braggart. He thinks that you're an easy win because you're smaller and younger than him. I've seen you fight, I know what you can do. I know Cardin Winchester doesn't stand a chance in hell against you." He reached across the barricade and tapped her on the forehead. "But you've got to be in the right mindset. Right now your worst enemy is yourself. You're letting your doubts and your fears take control. If you fight him like this Cardin's going to win because you've let him win."

"You belong here Ruby. You belong on this team. Look, they're all cheering for you, even Weiss. They've got your back. I've got your back."

The crimsonette's eyes slid past him, and she saw that he was right. They were all cheering for her, even the people not on her team. Her eyes settled on Weiss, who was standing demurely and clapping. The heiress's eyes met hers, and to Ruby's shock the white haired girl smiled.

"You good?" Jaune asked.

Ruby swallowed, nodded, and tightened her grip on Crescent Rose. The comforting feeling of her signature weapon, crafted by her own hands and as much a part of her as her own heart, helped steady her further. "I'm good."

He grinned widely at her. "Good! Now go win this for team Oxford and for yourself."

Ruby turned back to the ring as Jaune returned to his seat. She took a step, then another, until she was in the center of the ring facing her opponent with Goodwitch standing between them.

"Are you ready, Mrs. Rose?" The professor asked.

Ruby looked past her to Cardin. Her opponent's face was twisted in a derisive sneer, his mace slung lazily over his shoulder.

"You belong here. You belong on this team."

Ruby brought Crescent Rose up into position. "I was born ready."


Yang watched Jaune return to his seat beside her. "What'd you say to her?"

Her fellow blonde leaned back in his seat and grinned. "Just what she needed to hear."

Yang couldn't help but be impressed. "You've got a knack for this leadership thing. Usually when Ruby gets like that it takes moving heaven and earth to snap her out of it. Have you led a team before?"

He shrugged and tapped his head. "I wouldn't know." Yang winced. It was hard to remember that he had amnesia when he acted so normal. Then, Yang hadn't ever met anyone with amnesia before, so she didn't exactly have a basis for how they might normally act.

"Begin!"

Yang's attention was yanked back to the ring as Glynda's cry rang out.

Cardin made the first move. He darted forward and brought his mace down in a devastating two handed arc. Ruby darted back before it could connect and the mace slammed into the concrete floor with enough force to crack it. Cardin charged forward again and swung again, now in an upward arc. This time Ruby didn't dodge, but actually leapt up and into the swing, bringing Crescent Rose up to shield her from the impact. She was sent sailing into the air, but not out of control.

Yang knew what her sister was up to and grinned. Ruby wasn't a grand strategist, but she was quick and adaptable, changing tactics on the fly to respond to the situation at hand. She knew she couldn't overpower her opponent...

So she'd use his power against him.

As Ruby's ascension reached its apex Crescent Rose shifted to its rifle form, and she hammered Cardin with large caliber rounds. The larger boy staggered back under the barrage as his aura dropped rapidly, and his mace drooped for just a couple seconds.

It was all the crimsonette needed.

Ruby shifted her weapon into its scythe form, but the blade extended until its curved blade was pointing ahead like a glaive, and with the power of her semblance she shot down to the ground spinning like a top, the tip of her weapon held out before her and aimed right at Cardin.

Yang and Jaune jumped to their feet with wild yells as Ruby's strike slammed home. Cardin was driven to the ground and sent skidding across the arena as Yang's little sister kicked off of him and landed nimbly on her feet.

"The match is over!" Glynda called, "Ruby Rose is the winner!"

Yang looked at the board displaying the aura of the contestants. Cardin's was in the red. Ruby hadn't lost so much as a sliver of her aura.

"Did you see that?!" Ruby squealed as she rushed towards her sister.

Yang's face was split in a huge grin. "I sure did! Come here and give your big sis- eh?"

Ruby, as it turned out, wasn't running to Yang. She darted right past her.

And leapt into Jaune's arms, who caught her.

"I sure did!" He laughed. "That was amazing Ruby! I knew you'd win, but by Sigendil, that was masterfully done!" He released her and she let go of his neck, sliding down to the floor as she talked animatedly. The others were congratulating her on her victory, and even Weiss seemed impressed by Ruby's performance.

But Yang wasn't focused on any of that.

Jaune still had an arm around Ruby's shoulders, like it belonged there or something. It was one thing for Rubes to get all grabby. It was another for a boy to be like that with her sister.

Yang's eyes narrowed. She'd have to get him alone some time soon and have a talk about boundaries and the consequences of crossing them.


Oh dear, looks like Yang might be about to go full big sister on Jaune to protect her little rubaby. Or is that just jealousy from Ruby showing off her success to someone other than her older sister? We'll see...

And Jaune's got it bad, bad, bad. He's hot for teacher!

Seriously though, it does make sense that Jaune would be at least a bit drawn to Professor Goodwitch. She's a grown and mature woman with a take no shit attitude and a rockin bod to boot. What's not to like? Also it's hardly unusual to be attracted to an older woman.

Or would it be a younger woman in this case? hmmm...

While we know Ruby is an exceptional fighter we see in the first season that she really does have difficulty with social situations, so I felt like her freaking out when she was called out my one of the most physically imposing people in their year in front of quite literally her entire class and a teacher made sense for the character. I actually drew inspiration from the RWBY manga by Shirow Miwa for the scene, though obviously I made some adjustments to fit the story.

And here we see even Weiss starting to behave at least a bit cordially towards Ruby. They're hardly best friends by this point, but even in volume 1 Weiss wasn't a complete Ice Queen, though it took her some time to actually open up.

Cinder, of course, is just playing along and hoping that will be enough to satisfy her team leader. Will it be though? We'll have to wait and see (spoilers: I wouldn't bet on it).

GLOSSARY OF AGE OF SIGMAR TERMS:

Glimmer: also known as glimmer rings, glimmer is a form of currency used in Excelsis, the city of secrets (at least I'm pretty sure that's right, I couldn't actually find any references online to confirm one way or the other, so if I'm incorrect someone feel free to correct me). Glimmer is quite literally the raw stuff of prophecy, and can be used to learn information about the future. Usually any information learned is minor things, but the Collegiate Arcane, the college of mages, has a permanent presence in the city mining the Spear of Malus, a shard of the old world from which Glimmer is derived. There are people in excelsis who become addicted to prophecy, becoming Glimmer addicts who use up every shred of prophecy they get their hands on in hopes that the information they learn will help them break free of the squalid conditions they live in. The sad truth is that few Glimmer addicts ever learn anything of use, and if they were to sell the Glimmer Rings they hoarded instead of using them they'd stand a far better chance of getting out of the slums.

Nagash's Black Pyramids: In a time before the eight worlds existed, the god of death Nagash, who at the time was a Necromancer, albeit a powerful one, but no god, built a massive black pyramid to act as a channel for his powers, threatening to make him the most powerful being in the world. He was stopped fortunately, and in time the Black Pyramid was destroyed. However in the eight Realms Nagash gathered armies upon armies of undead servants to build multiple Black Pyramids in Shyish, the realm of death, out of the black sand, the very stuff of death, found at the edge of the realm. When his great work was completed Nagash enacted his master plan, the necroquake, to awaken the dead across all the realms and secure Nagash's dominion over all the realms. However the very foes that foiled him so long ago foiled him again, and the Necroquake would have unexpected side affects for the realms as a whole.

Witch Hunters: the name is pretty self explanatory to be honest. They hunt witches. More to the point they hunt down chaos cults that attempt to infiltrate the free cities, renegade mages, necromancers, and other such entities that seek to infiltrate society. Where the Stormcast and the Freeguild and their many allies are the hammer of Sigmar that crashes down on the enemy, Witch Hunters are more specialized tools that focus more on investigation and countering infiltration. Though anyone who thinks a Witch Hunter is not a deadly opponent is only inviting their own end by underestimating such dangerous men and women. Witch Hunters will go to nearly any length to find and capture or kill their quarry.

Starsoul Mace: as the name implies, these weapons are mighty tools of destruction even when compared to the weapons of the Stormcast. Carried by the Paladin Brotherhoods, Starsoul Maces strike with enough force to vaporize foes in a single swing. Even the mightiest foes of the Stormcast should fear the touch of these weapons.

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