Hey there guys. Been a while since I updated this story right? I am sorry for the wait but hopefully it was worth it.

Let's just get straight into it!

Jaune's first day started off with him having the life scared out of him by a sharp screeching whistle. Jaune's battle readied instincts got to work immediately, causing him to jump out of his bed and arm himself with the closest weapon so he was valiantly ready to fight the unknown threat!

This translated into reality as Jaune panicking. He fell face first to the floor from the safe confines of his bed, his sheets wrapped around him in a tangled mess like a sleepy time straight jacket. After a couple seconds of embarrassing struggling he rose to his feet wielding the most dangerous weapon he had on him at the time. This just so happened to be the small makeshift doll given by his sisters, uselessly flopping around in his grip like a wet noodle.

After a couple of seconds of spinning around on the spot, ready to whack whatever was attacking with the baseball headed doll he realised that there wasn't a threat to his or his team's safety in the room. After a few more seconds of his eyes refocusing he saw the culprit of his early wake up call. One Ruby Rose, a bright smile beaming and fully clothed in the school uniform. Complete with her signature red cloak flowing behind her.

"Wakey wakey Jaune! It's time to start the first day of beacon life with a bang!"

Jaune's brain took a moment to process the words that came from Ruby's mouth, a couple more seconds passed before his brain came up with the correct response to give her.

"Where did you get a whistle?"

True to Jaune's word a shiny silver whistle was dangling from Ruby's neck on a red piece of string. Jaune gave the accursed item a heated glare, the distorted reflection of Jaune's face in the metal staring back at its creator.

"Oh this is Zwei's dog whistle! I got this after the first one I bought didn't work, stupid thing wouldn't make a noise no matter how hard I blew into it."

Taking a moment to pray for the dog's abused ears Jaune's slowly awakening brain demanded another question be answered

"WHY do you have a whistle?"

"Oh that's my dad's idea! He said that if I was ever in trouble that I should blow my whistle and shout 'STRANGER DANGER!' not sure how that's going to help if I'm in trouble with the grim. The loud noise would only attract them quicker. Anyway Jaune start getting ready! I want to make a team announcement once everyone's dressed!"

With that Ruby walked away, turning her attention to the other girls in the room. The fact that Ruby's father gave his daughter a rape whistle without telling said daughter it was a rape whistle was quickly burned out of Jaune's mind. With a sigh Jaune started rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he turned his gaze to the homemade doll in his other hand. With a mutter of "You're so useless…" he placed the doll back on the bedside table that it had claimed as its perch, returning it to its (worthless) role of bedside protector.

Stretching his arms out in an effort to get a crick out of his back he looked over to his other teammates to see how they fared with the early morning wakeup call. Weiss didn't have Ruby standing over her when the whistle was blown but that didn't mean she escaped the rude awakening. Her usual side ponytail was instead unbound and flowing down her back as she gave Ruby a nasty glare, with said girl completely oblivious to the icy stare sent her way.

Pyrrha however seemed to be a heavier sleeper than the rest of them. Jaune could clearly see that she had only just started to wake up, her movement sluggish and almost non-existent. Funnily enough at some point during the night Pyrrha had wrapped herself up with the duvet, which made her look like a cocoon ready to hatch into the beautiful butterfly that Pyrrha was.

"Wait where did that analogy come from?"

Noticing that the other girls weren't making a move onto the room's bathroom yet, (He figured that Ruby had already showered this morning.) Jaune decided that chivalry could take a back seat this morning. He grabbed his wash items along with his uniform and slinked into the bathroom to take his shower while hot water still existed.

As Jaune washed himself under the downpour that his shower provided he took a moment to focus on the events that followed the end of the test yesterday. After painstakingly making their way up the cliffside back to Beacon (turns out rock climbing wasn't a skill that Rapture prepared him for.) they had been greeted by Professor Goodwitch. Reliving the group of their "relic's" (with Nora very reluctant about handing over Mr Cuddlebuns Jr) Miss Goodwitch lead the group back to the school. The group barely had a moment to catch their breath before they were dragged into the main auditorium.

What happened next was a long and boring speech given by Ozpin before he started listing off the brand new first year teams. Jaune barely remembered anything about the speech, apart from a somewhat morbid joke about how nobody had died in this year's test. As the first names were called out Jaune's brain tuned out completely, He wouldn't be surprised if he had managed to fall asleep standing up during the ceremony. It was only until the last few names when his brain took notice.

"Lie Ren, Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna and Nora Valkyrie. You four were able to obtain the white Knight pieces. From this moment onwards I christen you team Ribbon (RYBN)! Led by Lie Ren!"

Jaune didn't remember much about the ceremony but he did remember the small 'fuck my life' expression that crossed Ren's face as Ozpin announced his leadership position. And to be honest Jaune couldn't blame him. Having to try and wrangle the destructive personalities of both Yang and Nora was not going to be easy. Also the name Ribbon wasn't that great of a name. Too feminine for Jaune's taste. As Ren was glomped by his partner in congratulations a silent prayer went out to his fellow male, wishing him luck in his task.

"Oh well, better him than me I suppose…"

"Ruby Rose, Jaune Ryan, Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos! You four were able to secure the white Rook pieces! From this moment on I christen you team Arson! (RRSN) Led by Ruby Rose!"

Jaune didn't register that Ozpin had finished calling out they names straight away. It took him about halfway into Ozpin's follow up announcement to realise that yes, they had just been given a team name that made them sound like a bunch of criminals.

"Is he seriously not aware that we sound like a team that should be on Remnants Most Wanted?! Can he really call us that anyway? Ruby's last name doesn't even start with an A! No other team has their starting letter not match their word so why does ours?!"

Jaune's mini tirade was put on hold however as a look to his right showed him his team's reactions to the team layout.

Ruby's face gave away her nerves at being appointed the important position. She seemed to be looking at Ozpin with a why did you say that expression. Pyrrha's however showed a much more caring and supportive image. Pyrrha tried to congratulate her brand new team leader with a firm pat on the back, which nearly backfired when Ruby almost stumbled offstage because she wasn't expecting it. It was Weiss however that had the best reaction. It seemed that she had expected to become the team leader out of the four of them, so when it turned out that she had been passed over for someone that was 2 years younger than her it clearly hadn't sunk in properly yet. Weiss had that I'm just going to keep smiling as the joke will be over soon look to her, a kind of smile that was forced and clearly faked as to not cause a scene. A face that Jaune found rather hilarious.

As for Jaune himself, He honestly didn't care that he hadn't become team leader. If anything he was slightly happy because that meant that a ton of extra work wasn't going to fall on his shoulders. Sure if he had been made leader he wouldn't of complained but he was happy to just go with the flow. Maybe that was because it was what it was used to, taking orders from people was something he had done his entire life. Except that now he had a choice to follow them or not. That still didn't mean that he was happy with the team name.

A rapid knocking on the door broke Jaune out of his memory as someone (Weiss) started reminding him that there were other people that needed the bathroom this morning. Quickly drying himself and changing into the uniform provided by Beacon, Jaune stepped out into the dorm room to take on his first day as a student.

"Ok troops! As the leader of team RRSN I have decided that the first order of business should be a true team bonding exercise!" Ruby Rose exclaimed as she marched back and forth in front of the small troop she now lead. Said troop tiredly watched her from their position sitting on the one of the freshly made beds. Pyrrha annoyingly seemed fully awake, her shower kick starting her day. Jaune and Weiss however were still half asleep, their tired bags in their eyes clear to anyone that saw them.

"And what, oh glorious leader *yawn* is said exercise? And why was it deemed important enough that we needed to wake up two hours earlier than we have to in order to do it? " Asked Jaune, rubbing sleep from his eyes as for once Weiss nodded her head in agreement.

"Well I kinda woke up really early today as I was a little bit worried about my first day as a leader. So as I'm getting dressed I'm looking around the room and I realise that wow, this place looks really boring!"

Jaune took a moment to look around the room and he had to admit that Ruby did have a point. Now it wasn't to say that the room was bad by any means. The accommodations provided included four not quite single but not quite double beds, each with their own bedside cabinet. The room also came with a couple of bookshelves and wardrobes, a couple of worktables, their own built in bathroom just inside from their front door and even a small kitchenette. But apart from that the room was empty, the walls a plain cream with a grey colour accent on the bottom third of the walls. The room was also devoid of any sort of decorations lining the walls, and apart from a few personal effects already out, (such as the useless dream protector sitting on its perch on Jaune's cabinet.) The room looked very standard and mass produced.

Basically the room lacked any sort of personality.

"So I decided that our first act as team RRSN would be to give the room a much needed personal touch! I mean we all still need to unpack our bags right?"

The groups attention turned over to one of the corners of the room to see the preverbal mountain of luggage still left unpacked. To be fair over half of the cases were a stark white colour adorned with a big snowflake symbol. An obvious indication to who owed them. The group collectively looked over to Weiss, who in turn took a moment before she became aware of the stares she was receiving to respond with a huff.

"Don't look at me like that! I need a lot of spare dust to use my weapon! I probably have just as much actual luggage as the rest of you!"

With a sigh Jaune stood up from his seat on his bed before addressing the room. "Let's just get started. Ruby's right anyway, we'll need to start this sooner or later so let's get it out the way now."

With the rest of the room agreeing the team of four commenced their first mission as a team, no matter how lacklustre said mission was.

Two hours later into their first mission Jaune was ready to call it a massive success in his eyes. He was pretty sure that the others would agree with him as well.

The four had decided that they should each handle decorating their own area of the room first before asking the others if they needed any help. This meant that Jaune had finished much faster than anyone else. This was because of his general lack of luggage. Apart from some sets of clothes and toiletries Jaune didn't have many personal effects on hand. His personal big daddy had been set on his pillow, guarding the bed for his master's inevitable return. He also placed his personal tape recorder inside his bedside draw along with a collection of tapes to play on it. He did receive some odd stares as he placed an old beaten up monkey wrench on top of the bedside table but was able to wave them off when he said it was "A sentimental item." All in all, Jaune didn't have much.

Thankfully Ruby and Pyrrha didn't take much longer that he had. Both had unpack and decorated very quickly, giving the room a lot more character to it. Posters had been hung up of movies, a band that was very popular called the Achieve men and a classic cat poster proclaiming you should just 'Hang in there!' Ruby had also claimed one of the worktables as her own, spreading blueprints all over the wooden surface detailing plans for upgrades to her baby. Pyrrha meanwhile had placed a mannequin head by her bedside that housed her tiara when not on her head. She also placed a small armour polishing station ready to start maintenance when her armour became scratched

Weiss on the other hand was the polar opposite. Now true to her word most of her luggage wasn't just clothes upon clothes. She still ended up having the most amount of clothes out of the lot of them but that didn't amount to that much more than anyone else. But it truly boggled Jaune's mind at how much dust Weiss had. There was so much of the stuff that one of the bookshelves had to be repurposed into a storage rack for the many vials and crystals. Help was offered to stack the shelves but Weiss turned down the assistance, (with a heated I WILL STAB YOU stare given to Ruby at her offer). The main reason that they ended up taking so long with the decorating was because of Weiss's insistence of having the dust in a certain order. Now Jaune could understand having the same types of dust paired together, but different qualities depending of the fineness of the granules for each kind of dust? That was a little too precise for his patience.

Finally after Weiss had sorted out her industrial vacuum's worth of dust into an acceptable order the group stepped back to examine their hard work. The once barren looking room now looked properly lived in. The dust giving off a glittery effect as light shone off it from the window, which in turn gave the room a sparkle that seemed to bring it to life.

"I think that our first mission was a complete success!" Cried Ruby as she pumped a fist into the air, marvelling at how the room now looked.

"I have to admit, this was a good idea…" muttered Weiss as she joined in on looking around the room. A calm smile forming on her face

"The place does look a lot homier now." Agreed Pyrrha as she gazed out at their hard work

Jaune just gave the room a wide smile before raising a hand to the smaller leader at his side, high fiving the girl on a job well done.

"So what's next oh glorious leader?" asked Jaune, turning fully to the young reaper.

"Well…" started Ruby as she pulled out a timetable of the day's lessons, giving them a quick once over. "Our first lesson today is Grim studies with Professor Port and that starts at 9am. So I say we head down to breakfast…"

"Uh Ruby?" interrupted Pyrrha, looking at her scroll. "The time now is 8:50…"

"WHAT!" yelled Weiss as she turned on her leader, her burgeoning smile dying as quickly as it came. "You made us waste that much time on making our room look nice!?"

"But the reason we took so long was because you needed to sort you're…"

"DON'T! I don't want to hear about any of your excuses! I refuse to be late to the first lesson of my beacon career!"

With her piece said Weiss stormed out of the room at a rather impressive speed, a tailing Ruby following after with cries of "Wait for me!" Pyrrha followed, pausing just outside their dorm room to shout that the class was in the other direction before following the pair going the wrong way.

This left Jaune standing alone in the room, looking at the open door with slight disbelief on his face. With a sigh he started jogging out the room after his teammates, shutting the door behind him as he tried to catch up to his team.

"Well there goes that moment of team bonding. Perhaps a lesson of Grim Studies will help replace the lost progress?"

Team RRSN barely made it to their first lesson without arriving late. The bell had just started to sound off as they sat down in their seats. They felt slightly better knowing that their sister team RYBN was just as late as they were, joining them just as class started. The classroom in question was a big lecture hall. Students entered in from the top and filled in seats that lined all the way down to a central flat stage where the professor would conduct their lesson. What was interesting was that the centre stage was quite large, almost the size of a small fight arena. The back wall of the stage was covered with white boards that each had detailed drawings of various grim. As the final bell rings faded away one of the sets of double doors burst open and their professor strolled in.

Jaune's first impression of the man was that he seemed like a hunter that was way past his prime. The man seemed to be coming into the early stages of old age. Greying hair covered his head as well as his face in in the form of a moustache. A moustache so glorious mind you that that hid any traces of a mouth that the man might have had. The man was also overweight, every step showed his rotund belly shake behind the burgundy jacket he wore. As the man walked over to a desk to place down some paperwork he was carrying (passing a metal bust of himself to do so) he turned around to face his class with a speed so quick it grabbed the attention of every student in the room.

"Monsters, demons, prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grim have many names. But to me they go by only one name. Prey. And by the end of your time here at beacon you lot will think of them the same!"

Now the fresh batch of students currently listening to Professor Port weren't properly forewarned about one of the professor's most defining features. Despite Port being an accomplished huntsman with several dangerous missions under his (straining) belt the man was infamously known for another reason.

The man waffled on about his successful hunts excessively.

Within about 5 minutes of starting the lecture the man was lost in storytelling (The story today? The Big Bad Wolf vs The Bigger Badder Port) and had therefore lost the interest of his students almost immediately. Some, like Yang and Nora decided to try and catch up on lost sleep. Others like Ruby and Blake has decided to entertain themselves in other ways, Like Doodling drawings and reading books behind the official textbooks. There were a few brave souls like Ren, Pyrrha and Weiss who valiantly tried to take notes, faces straining from the effort. (Apart from Ren. Guy knew how to keep a poker face up.)

To Port's credit however, he did have one student enthralled by his tale.

Jaune watched the professor animatedly describe his viscous dismembering of a pack of Creeps, smiling as the teacher acted out ripping open the mouth of one that had clamped down on his arm. Jaune was enjoying himself as he listened to the portly professor's tale of the past. It reminded him of a time where he would just find a safe corner away from danger and just listen to a plethora of recorded messages of people rambling to themselves. A pastime he still enjoyed to this day if he was being honest.

Did that mean he thought the current story was completely 100% true however? Not a chance!

Now he wasn't going to call his teacher a liar, but he would call the man an embellisher. Jaune was sure that the man was slightly exaggerating how deadly the fight actually was to make it a more interesting retelling, not that it did him many favours due to the numerous bored and asleep faces around the lecture hall.

So it was a shame that they were missing out on tips on how to fight the Grim in his storytelling.

"The gang of creeps were quite the wall to get past! But a shot from my good old blunderbuss scattered them quite nicely, allowing me to easily dispatch them!"

"A group of creeps can be quite the problem. Split them up into smaller groups first for a much easier time."

"The head Beowolf charged straight at me while my back was turned, but it didn't account for the cloud of gravel that was thrown into it's eyes! That caused it to lose its balance mid charge and tumble to the ground!"

"Don't fight fair. The Grim won't give you the courtesy so why should you with them? Use any trick in the book while fighting them."

The further and further into the story he got the more lessons about fighting grim he found sprinkled into the words. Jaune realised that the stories were just Professor Port's way of teaching his class. It wasn't the best way to do it considering the rest of the class weren't/couldn't pay attention but it was working for himself so Jaune wasn't going to try and change it.

A nudge from his side pulled him away from the story to focus on his team leader next to him. With a smile on her face she showed Jaune a semi crude doodle she had made of the teacher. A more rotund than usual Port was stood back straight inside a basket. Several big 'Blah's were flying out of the man's mouth, the hot air rising and being caught inside a big hot air balloon. The drawing got a small chuckle to escape his mouth before he managed to control himself. Looking over at Ruby's desk revealed that wasn't the only drawing she had made. He particularly liked the doodle that showed port fighting off a horde of grim… by using his gift of gab to send them to sleep.

"And so!" Port exclaimed, breaking Jaune and Ruby's attention away from Ruby's doodles as he finished his story "I pulled my weapon out of the wounded chest of the barrel chested beowolf and swung my weapon straight through its neck! Cleaving off the head and slaying the beast once and for all! I returned back to the village a hero with my head held high!"

"So the moral to take from this? A true huntsman must be honourable! Dependable! And they must have the strength and the smarts to overcome any obstacle! So now I ask you this, who among you thinks that they have what it takes to become one of the huntsman greats?"

"I DO!"

Jaune resisted the urge to jump as Weiss's voice rose to meet Port's question. Weiss's arm had also shot straight upwards so fast it was a wonder that her arm didn't rip out of her socket from the force. Jaune noticed the furious look that Weiss wore on her face as she stared ahead at Port, though it didn't seem like Port was the reason she was furious…

"I wonder what put her in such a foul mood…"

"Oh ho! It seems we have a high spirited volunteer willing to give a demonstration for us! In that case Miss Schnee please grab your combat gear and get yourself ready to fight! Meanwhile I will prepare you your challenge."

It hadn't taken Weiss long to get herself ready. This meant the white heiress had to wait 'patiently' for their teacher to return as he left the classroom to prepare the challenge. Weiss focused on the double doors that Port had walked out of, poised for whatever might come back out. With the lack of a teacher in the room to control it the amount of idle chatter between students rose up, louder than even the moustached teacher had reached.

"So what do you think this big challenge that the Prof's preparing is eh?" Asked Yang as she lent down from her higher seat to talk to her baby sister.

"I bet that teach is gonna ride through those double doors with a pack of beowolfs! And then the lesson will be learning to ride them into battle!" Interjected Nora, leaning down alongside her teammate to give her answer

"I doubt that the Professor will bring in a pack of unrestrained beowolfs to the lesson…" Interjected Pyrrha, trying to not crush the wild hopes that Nora seemed to have about the upcoming surprise.

"I wouldn't put it past him…" Muttered Blake flipping a page over of her now blatantly exposed book, having not moved an inch since Port left.

"Well whatever it is I hope it's more entertaining that his stories. What dad would have given for that kind of snooze material back when you were growing up Rubes." Said Yang, ruffling up Ruby's hair just to annoy her sister.

"First off I don't see why people are complaining about his stories. They were entertaining enough and they had actual lessons inside them if you look hard enough. And secondly wouldn't bringing in live grim while we're unarmed be a bit unsafe?" posed Jaune

"Yeah but it's not like we're not used to it already." Ruby explained as she broke free from her sister's hair ruffling attack. "We started doing the same with grim back in Signal! Didn't you do it at your prep school?"

"Er…"

"TALLY HO CHILDREN!" Exclaimed the professor as he kicked open the doors for his grand return. The sudden action jolted the students back into their seats, including the prying teammates that was asking awkward questions. Jaune gave a quick sigh of relief before returning his attention to the stage, or more specifically at the giant cage Port was lugging into the room.

Pulled on a little trolley was a very large cage that was easily big enough to hold a human inside. The cage itself was covered in a dirty red blanket, which was large enough to cover the cage in its entirety as the professor dragged it into the room. Whatever was in the cage certainly didn't want to be inside, as every couple of seconds the cage rattled as an unseen force crashed against it from the inside. Port positioned the cage on the other side of the room facing Weiss, before walking away to his desk.

"Inside that cage is a grim that you will need to fight. Originally I had a boarbatusk lined up for this lesson nice and ready, however due to certain… 'Complications' I had to put the beast down.

As the teacher reached his desk he took down from its mount on the wall what looked like the man's weapon. A simple in design blunderbuss with a cushioned stock. Said stock also boasted a double headed axe that still allowed Port to aim the blunderbuss against his shoulder. After a practice aim port grabbed the gun just underneath the widening barrel and started his way back over to the cage.

"Now that left me scrambling around to find a creature for today's lesson. Luckily while on the hunt last night I happened to stumble across a herd of these creatures not too far from forever fall. Luring this one away from it's herd was no picnic but I managed to do so and trap it in this cage."

Reaching the cage at this point he reached for the red cloth and pulled it off the cage. It still didn't help in identifying the creature as the inside of the metal bars was coloured an unnatural pitch black.

Small wisps of black smoke filtered from the bars as the rattling of the cage died down.

"Now Miss Schnee. When I unlock the cage you will be on your own. I will be making sure that the beast doesn't try and attack your classmates. I will only step in if I think you truly need it. Are you ready?"

With a simple nod from Weiss the professor positioned himself to unlock the cage.

"Go Weiss! Kick that grim's butt!" Ruby shouted as she leaned over her desk to cheer on her teammate.

"Not now Ruby I'm trying to focus!" Only to be shot down by her cold blooded partner as she readied herself for the fight.

"Alright, Began!"

With a heavy downwards swing of the axe the lock was easily smashed to pieces, causing the cage door to swing widely open. Everyone held their breath as the grim decided to not charge out straight away, rather the creature revealed its glowing red eyes from amidst the black fog. Weiss only tightened her stance in retaliation, narrowing her eyes as she readied herself for the onslaught.

Suddenly the black smoke burst out of the cage at a frightening speed, the smoke screen covering any details about the grim from discernable eyes. Unprepared at not having a clear target to strike Weiss awkwardly stabbed at the black mass while focusing on dodging out of the way of the charge. The sound of scraping bone told of the ineffectiveness of the attack, while Weiss was nearly bowled over from the charging black cloud. Rolling out of the way Weiss looked behind her as the smoke cloud seemed to skid to a stop just short of hitting the back wall. The cloud seemed to turn itself around to face Weiss once again and just for a moment the black haze parted to reveal what was inside.

The beast stood on 4 strong pitch black legs, all covered with spotty bone armour and ending with a white hoof. The horse body that it was imitating was made of pure muscle, the slightest twitch visible beneath the black skin. Bone armour covered larges areas of its flack and sides with large exposed ribs accenting its defences. Its face like most grim was covered with a bone mask. This one resembling a horse's skull that the stallion seemed to wear like a helmet. But its most defining feature was the hair of its mane and tail was replaced with a thick black smoke imitating the hair. This along with smoke coming from just above it's hooves created the smoke screen that covered the mare from sight. It's piercing red glare focused of Weiss before it reared its front legs, a haunting whinny filling the air. The smoke clouded over once again and the horse grim made another charge at Weiss.

Weiss readied herself in a fencing stance as the cloud raced towards her, rapier poised to strike. She steeled her nerve as the looming cloud of black reached closer and closer. Just as the cloud threatened to consume her she jumped to the sides, sinking her rapier into the inky black for a strike. Unfortunately the attack did little to hurt the beast inside as once again the distinct sound of scraping bone was all she received for her efforts.

This kind of exchanges continued to repeat several times. Each time Weiss tried to strike into the cloud she failed in her attack, either by missing her mark or by striking bone once more. Meanwhile the grim was getting closer to running over its quarry with every pass. Something that Jaune was becoming aware of.

"Her window of opportunity keeps getting smaller with each pass. Meanwhile Weiss keeps repeating her same strategy. Surely she must realise that what's she's doing isn't working right? Or is her pride not willing to admit that she needs to change her approach?"

Jaune watched the fight between the heiress and grim with a frown marring his features, meanwhile the Professor had started explaining about "Knightmares" to the rest of the class in the background. Now Jaune didn't doubt the Weiss's ability to strike at the stallion's weak points, but if she couldn't see where she needed to aim her precision blow then that skill was useless. So the main problem that needed fixing was getting rid of the cloud of smoke it was obscured with. Something that Weiss wasn't coming up with any on her own. So Jaune decided that he needed to help think of a way...

"Weiss! Blow the smoke away with some wind dust!"

Apparently his team leader was a little ahead of him with coming up with a fix for the problem. Jaune turned his head to see his friend leaning over the edge of her table, her wide sliver eyes starting at her white partner as she dodged another pass of the sentient fog monster. Whatever response Ruby expected to get from her partner was nothing like the pissed off scathing look that Weiss shot back at Ruby.

"Ruby shut up! I'm trying to focus here!"

However it looked like the damage had already been done. Ruby's helpful advice had distracted Weiss enough that she had failed to remember that the grim was relentless with its assault. A quick shout from Ruby was all the warning she received before the horse charged into her, barrelling her out of the way and causing her weapon to fly out of her hands and across the room. Weiss recovered from the hit and run assault by rolling on the ground into a kneeling position. She quickly rose to her feet as she scanned around the room to try and find her weapon. The rapier had flown surprisingly far from the impact, ending up embedding itself into the wooden table of the professor's like a strange parody of the sword of the stone.

Seeing where her weapon had ended up Weiss sprinted over to the table, barely getting a head start on the grim as it started chasing her from behind. Reaching the table Weiss didn't even slow down in her stride as she jumped on top of the table and grabbed her sword with the intent to pull the blade free. She did so with little effort, using the rest of the momentum to back flip off the desk. Just in time for the Knightmare to charge straight through the wooden desk, causing splinters, sheets of papers and the metal bust to fly into the air like confetti.

Ignoring the small whine like cry of "my desk…" Weiss jumped backwards away from the destructive smoke cloud and raised her rapier's blade in front of her face. Spinning the revolving chamber until it rested on a green colour she waited for the grim to pull itself out of the wreckage of the desk. After a moment the smoke cloud whinnied before it charged towards Weiss once more. Stabbing her rapier towards the cloud she spawned a gale force wind to shoot forward. This wind easily dispersed the smoke surrounding the grim, revealing the Knightmare for what it really was. With a target now visible Weiss prepared her lunge, and just as the horse was about to trample her she dodged to the side, sticking her rapier into the knee of one of it's front legs.

The leg buckled as the stallion sped past, the limb struggling to function as the tendons connecting the muscles severed. This caused the Knightmare to awkwardly stumble as it fought for balance while working with one leg down. However the rapier got stuck inside the bulky knee during the pass, causing the sword to be ripped out of Weiss's hand as the horse sped past Weiss. Weiss's face dropped as she found herself without a weapon once again, only this time Myrtenaster was being "wielded" by her enemy.

Without waiting a moment longer the grim turned back towards the heiress and charged, albeit a tad slower due to its dodgy leg. Without a weapon Weiss backed away from the horse, stopping in place as her back foot collided with something on the floor. Looking behind her Weiss's eyes widened at what she saw, but quickly turned around to see that the black stallion had jumped into the air with the intention of landing on top of her. As quick as she could Weiss kneeled down and grabbed what she had nudged with her foot. Then as the beast was about to collide with her she sidestepped out of the way and swung with all her might the heavy metal bust of Port straight into the Knightmare's face.

Now Port spared no expense when it came to matters of the ego. So the solid brass bust turned out to be quite the effective makeshift mace. Add on the fact that despite Weiss being one of the more physically weaker huntresses, she still had more strength that the average non aura wielding person. In short the heavy clang sound vibrated all around the classroom. A collective "oooh…" was given by the students as the beast fell like a sack of bricks from the brutal attack. The horse's face and mask cracked and caved in, the slight indent of Professor Port's visage imprinted on his face. Dropping the now dented bust to the ground Weiss pulled her weapon out of the barely conscious Knightmare's knee. Then stepping back from the downed horse she focused as a familiar glyph spread from beneath her. Twirling the rapier around she stabbed the ground and from the middle of the Knightmare's body sprouted a large imposing spike of ice, cleaving the beast in two. Weiss let out a breath of air as she stored her weapon away, watching as the two horse half's dissolved into black mist while receiving applause from the class. Port made his way over to Weiss once the grim had completely dissolved.

"Bravo Miss Schnee, Bravo. Despite a rocky start you were able to figure out a strategy for how to defeat the beast, striking at a vulnerable point and successfully clearing away the fog. Although next time you participate in a practical lesson for my class leave my bust and table out of it." Said the professor, using his warped bust as a pointer while he gestured to the pile of mahogany firewood his desk had become.

"RING!"

"And there goes the bell students! For preparation for the next lesson read pages 1-15 of the Grim habitat textbooks assigned to you! Remember class, stay vigilant!" Spouted Port as the entirety on his class started to pack up and leave the classroom in a hurried manner, lest he start another yarn about his hunting days. Weiss followed suit, leaving the large man to stare at the larger ice spike that currently stood proudly in the middle of his classroom.

"Now how to get rid of you…" could be heard muttered under his breath.

Weiss quickly stormed out of the classroom, blanking any attempt to grab her attention given by her team and RYBN. After ignoring a blatant call form her partner she passed by the rest of her team and friends out into the hallway leaving the group to confusingly look at each other

"What's her deal?" voiced Nora asking the question on everyone's lips.

"Hey Weiss! Wait up!" Called Ruby as she sped down the corridor to catch up with her partner. Trailing behind her was the rest of team RRSN, a noticeable jog employed to keep up with their leader. Weiss continued down the hallway, not acknowledging her partner up until she zipped in front of her with barely a hair out of place.

"Weiss you can't just ignore your friends and teammates when they call out to you. Especially your leader." Chastised Ruby.

"As if you know anything about being a leader…" muttered Weiss under her breath, trying not to lose her cool.

Unfortunately for Weiss Ruby's hearing for that moment could rival a Faunus, as she heard very clearly what was said. "What's that supposed to mean?" she questioned with a tilted head.

And like that the dam broke, unleashing the raging emotion behind it.

"IT MEANS YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE THE LEADER!" Weiss shouted back, drowning out any other noise around them in the corridor. A couple of people passing by stopped and openly stared at the heiress chewing out her partner. Weiss, completely unaware/uncaring of the audience she had gathered continued her tirade. "Ever since you got here you have consistently proven that you don't deserve the leadership role you have been given!"

Pyrrha, ever the mediator tried to calm the situation down before it got too heated. "We have a bit of free time before next period; let's just discuss this back at the room."

Of course both parties ignored her as Ruby stepped up to defend herself. "That's not true! I do deserve to be leader! Headmaster Ozpin said so!"

"Oh really? Because I can think of at least five reasons off the top of my head that say otherwise!"

Without skipping a beat Weiss starting listing said reasons off of one hand.

"1. You're here two years early, and yet you have the discipline of an 8 year old. 2. One of the first things you did when you landed was cause a giant dust explosion in the school courtyard. 3. You rushed ahead recklessly to try and take on an ancient Deathstalker BY YOURSELF! 4. You nearly got your team late for their first ever lesson and when you actually was in the classroom you decide to goof off and mess around, distracting those around you trying to learn. And 5. You kept distracting me in my fight with the Knightmare which nearly got me seriously hurt, or worse KILLED!

By now the one sided shouting match had drawn the attention of practically every passer-by, the collective of students forming a circle around the dysfunctional first year team that was having a full scale meltdown on the first day. Ruby took the abuse with a stunned look on her face, lips trying and failing to get out a retort against the heiress's onslaught. Jaune and Pyrrha were in a similar state, both not expecting the sudden ferocity on display by Weiss

"I can't believe that a man of Professor Ozpin's calibre could make such a grave error as this but then there is always a first time for everything…"

With a cold look Weiss walked right up to Ruby so her next line could be delivered straight to her face.

"I studied and trained hard to get here and I deserve a better leader than you. Ozpin made a mistake… You don't belong here."

With her point made Weiss walked away from her team, ignoring the crowd of onlookers as they parted like the red sea in her presence. This left the speechless remains of team RR_N to figure out what had just happened. Thankfully Jaune was quick to react when he noticed the crowd of onlookers start to mutter to themselves.

"HEY! HAVEN'T YOU GUYS GOT SOMETHING BETTER TO DO?"

The sudden shout dispersed the crowd, leaving the three alone in the corridor as the last dregs of the other students cleared out. With the hallway to themselves Jaune turned his attention to his team leader to make sure she was alright. What greeted him was a teary eyed Ruby, sliver eyes glistening in the light. A couple of sniffles was the only warning Jaune received before Ruby sped down the corridor in the opposite direction of Weiss.

A useless cry of "Ruby wait!" was thrown before Jaune gave chase, Pyrrha following close behind. The left over trail of rose petals as their only trail marker for the chase. A good couple of minutes following the trail lead them to a crossroads in the corridor, the last petal disappearing before it gave no indication on which direction Ruby had gone.

"Jaune I'll take the right hand side, you take the left!" exclaimed Pyrrha before she shot down her path, causing those in her way to quickly move to the side to avoid being barrelled over. Jaune turned the other way and followed suit, running at a speed that would make a charging bouncer proud. A few minutes of franticly searching the corridors finally bore fruit as he saw the slight remains of a petal blow down from a stairway to his right.

Unfortunately his impressive speed did little to help Jaune when it came to dodging oncoming traffic. Before he could slow himself down he collided with a large figure, sending said figure sprawling from the blow and straight to the floor. Jaune was hardly fazed by the collision, having kept his balance from much heavier blows in the past. Sparing a quick "Sorry…" to the floored figure Jaune turned and sped up the staircase, ignorant of the heated glare given from the ginger haired student behind him he had just 'humiliated'.

Jaune continued up the staircase for several flights, thankful that his stamina was on point but also cursing the fact Ruby had decided to flee as high as she had. Jaune followed the disappearing trail all the way up to a set of double doors at the very top. Jaune slowed down and carefully opened the doors to see that the trail had lead him up to the roof of the dorm room building. A quick glance around the roof revealed quite the view. From where he was standing Jaune had a clear view of forever fall off in the distance, highlighted by the large expanse of orange. The forest where they had the initiation test was also visible, he could even see the launch pads that flung them. The roof also gave a decent view of the main courtyard, complete with a view of the statue he found yesterday morning.

But none of that mattered at the moment, as he spotted the figure of Ruby sitting down on the edge of the roof. Her legs dangled over the edge, swinging pitifully as she embraced the red cloak around herself for comfort. Jaune made his way over to the bundle of red cloth slowly, as if not to scare her off. When he was standing at the edge next to Ruby he slowly sat down next to her, keeping his eyes outward to the impressive view. A moment of silence filled the air, filled only by the quiet ambient sound of the other students going about their business below.

"You know Ruby, you picked the right spot to run off to..." Jaune said, breaking the silence in an attempt to get Ruby speaking. Ruby ignored said attempt however, choosing to instead keep staring outwards. Jaune tried to get a look at her face to see if she was listening, but the drawn hood of her cloak blocked off her features to Jaune's eyes. A few more moments passed between the two before Jaune tried again.

"Ok look about what Weiss said. You need to realise that Weiss… Is a bit of a bitch." Said Jaune, looking over to search for a reaction to the blatant swear. No response. "You can't let what she said get to you. She was just annoyed that her strategy wasn't working and that you shouted out the answer before she could figure it out herself. That's all." Still no response. Jaune turned back outwards as he racked his brain for what he could say to get Ruby out of this funk. Before he could try again however…

"She said I was a mistake."

Jaune turned his head around at the quiet words spoken from his right. Ruby's covered head turned ever so slightly, revealing her tear stained cheeks and her crestfallen expression. Ruby's watery eyes focused on him as she fully turned around to speak to Jaune.

"Weiss said that Ozpin made a mistake in making me the leader, she said that he made a mistake in letting me attend beacon two years early. Do you think he made a mistake?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself Miss Rose?"

Before Jaune had the chance to answer the question both students became aware of a third individual joining them on the roof. With a 'clink' of his cane following his footsteps both Ruby and Jaune looked behind them to see the headmaster himself, strolling up to the pair with a small smile on his face.

Both students quickly jumped up from their seats at the sight of the headmaster, Ruby quickly taking the time to clear her eyes of tears as Jaune took initiative.

"Professor Ozpin! How did you know we were up here?"

"Despite being such a large school, unheard gossip doesn't take long to spread. So a rumour about a first year student imploding at her partner in the middle of the corridor in front of a rather large crowd was quick to reach my ears. As for finding you up here? This isn't my first year as a headmaster Mr Ryan. Miss Rose was not the first to use this rooftop as a place to hide, and she definitely won't be the last. Now then, what seems to be the problem Miss Rose?"

Ruby took a second to wipe the last traces of tears out of their eyes, sniffling once before steeling herself in front of the headmaster.

"Weiss said that you made a mistake when you made me the leader of the team, when you let me into Beacon in fact. I just need to know… Did you make a mistake?"

Ozpin kept quiet for a moment as he pondered his answer to the question. Both Ruby and Jaune watched with bated breath as they awaited Ozpin's answer. After a couple seconds wait Ozpin delivered.

"I'm going to let you two in on a secret. Every man, woman and child has made a mistake in their life. And will continue to do so for the rest of their lives. To not make mistakes means that you are not human. With this said I think it's right to assume that I've made more mistakes than any man, woman or child who has ever lived, is currently living now, and that will ever live."

"Wow, he's really bad at these motivational speeches." Jaune thought to himself, seeing the downtrodden face Ruby had gotten from Ozpin's encouraging words.

"However! The decision to invite you into Beacon two years early, followed by the decision to make you team leader were not mistakes. Of that I can be certain."

"But how can you be sure?!"

"Simple Miss Rose, I saw CCTV footage of your fight with Roman's thugs. The way you were able to dismantle them was impressive. Not many students of your age would be able to fight on that level. Forcing you to continue at Signal when you would outclass your peers would have been detrimental to your growth as a huntress. As for making you leader? You were one of my first choices from the start."

Without giving Ruby a change to question or argue the point Ozpin raised his hand as he started listing off the other team members.

"Pyrrha Nikos, four time champion tournament fighter. Undefeated in a sanctioned fight and considered one of the most gifted fighters of her generation. Someone of her pedigree would surely make a fine leader. Except fighting skill does not translate to leadership ability. Not to mention all that singles tournament fighting won't train her to be able to fight in a group. Besides, from my brief interactions with the girl she seems more than happy to follow rather than lead."

"Weiss Schnee, the daughter of the Schnee Dust Company. Most likely given private leadership lessons to help prepare her for the role as heiress and for a leadership role. Add in a decent mind for tactics and we should have a pick for leader in theory. Until you realise that Miss Schnee seems to have skipped the 'people skills' part of her lessons, today being proof of that. I believe Miss Schnee would have treated the team like a business, trying to micromanage every aspect of the dynamic. Someone like that will find themselves leading a team into battle, only to find herself alone when she needs the backup."

"So what about me?" Jaune asked, curious as to why he hadn't been chosen for the role. Turning to regard the student in question for a moment, Ozpin finished his explanation as he returned his gaze to Ruby."

"Jaune Ryan. From transcripts claiming average skill and competency comes a student with many a trick up his sleeve and a surprising sharp mind for tactics. In all honestly the choice for who to pick was between the two of you. That was until Jaune showed that he had trouble keeping his temper in check with Miss Schnee. Something that you were able to do Miss Rose."

"That's the reason I was picked? All because I didn't lose my cool with Weiss?!"

"There were other reasons why you were chosen Miss Rose. You tried to keep the attention of your group focused on the task at all times as well as you allowed Jaune to speak up about his plan while adding in parts where it fell short. Besides, there are more…. Personal reasons that Jaune shared with me as to why he didn't become leader."

Jaune looked confused at Ozpin's answer before the realisation kicked in. Thankfully Jaune's lapse in a straight face went unnoticed by Ruby, who was currently looking down on herself again.

"Doesn't matter anyway. Weiss thinks I'm a horrible leader and she won't listen to me anymore…"

Ruby was broken from her self-pitying by a chuckle coming from the headmaster himself, covering his mouth with the coffee mug in his hand.

"Hardly. Miss Rose you seem to forget that you have been an official team for less than a day. Even the most legendary of huntsman teams bickered and fought with each other in their first moments. Including team STRQ."

The name of the team went completely over Jaune's head. But it seemed Ruby understood what Ozpin was talking about as her eyes widened at the revelation.

"Being the leader of a team isn't just a badge of honour you wear into battle, nor is it a sign that you are any better than the others of the team. It means having a frame of mind to always strive to do your best, to tackle any problem with 110% effort. Because if their leader doesn't take something seriously… why should the team do the same."

Leaning down to stare straight into Ruby's sliver eyes Ozpin continued speaking. "Miss Schnee believes you to be a terrible choice for leader because of your previous actions right? Then your answer to the problem is simple. Evaluate what you did that was wrong, learn from it and take your leadership role seriously. Prove Weiss's assumptions about you wrong and you will have nothing to worry about."

Ruby took a moment to reflect on what see was told before a small but serene smile bloomed on her face. This smile morphed into a determined look as she nodded her head to the headmaster's words. Giving a quick "thank you professor!" to the headmaster Ruby sped off over to the double doors in a flurry of petals, the wind blowing the doors shut with a thud. As the last of the petals touched the floor Jaune turned to look at the headmaster with a raised eyebrow.

"Personal reasons?"

"If you would like I could just tell Miss Rose that I didn't make you leader because I don't feel I can trust you in such a position. Do you wish me to call her back up here? I could easily do it after all. The scrolls we provide all have their numbers connected to my own…"

"No thanks I'm good!"

With a smug smile Ozpin raised his mug in a farewell gesture before walking over to the double doors himself. As Jaune watched him leave however something didn't sit right in the back of his mind. Just as Ozpin opened the doors to leave the roof Jaune's nagging thought got the better of him.

"Professor?"

Ozpin stopped at the doors, turning around to acknowledge the hail.

"You responded to this really quickly, too quickly. You didn't hear about this from the local gossip did you?"

Ozpin didn't reply at first, the smile previously on his lips now flattened straight. After a 5 second stare down he replied.

"I did hear the details of the incident from other students as I walked the halls. I also got a live screening from the security cameras Miss Schnee choose to explode in front of."

"Why was you following Weiss with the cameras?"

"Not her, Mr Ryan..."

"You were following me…" realised Jaune after his realisation kicked in.

Ozpin walked back from the doors, all pretence of this being a friendly chat gone. "Did you think, even for a second that I would let a unknown and potentially dangerous individual just roam the halls of Beacon without surveillance? Then I'm sorry Mr Ryan but you really oversold your intelligence in those fake transcripts."

"Wait, you know about that?"

"Oh please. It didn't take long to do proper background checks once I had my suspicions. I will admit however that your transcripts were some of the best I've seen in a long time. I'm assuming Junior's work?"

Jaune didn't have to respond, breaking eye contact told Ozpin all he needed to know.

"I'm not surprised. Junior does take pride in the quality of his services. But when you've been doing this for as long as I have, you tend to learn all the tricks of the trade."

"Well if you think that I'm such a danger to you school then why even let me become a student here in the first place!"

At this Ozpin had made his way right in front of Jaune, leaving the two alone on the roof locked in a stare down. Both parties stared intensely at the other, Ozpin bearing a calm visage while Jaune's had a more passionate anger boiling.

"Because I believe that everyone that comes to Beacon to become a huntsman deserves a chance to change their life. A fresh start away from any wrongs they made in the past. To atone for their mistakes and turn themselves into a protector of humanity."

"But that's why I'm here! I came here to do exactly that! I don't have a sordid past to atone for! I just want to become a huntsman so I can protect and provide for my sisters!"

"Then prove it. Let's have that talk."

That one word was enough to calm Jaune down straight away. The red in his face from shouting turned white as the reality of Ozpin's request hit home.

"You… You mean right now?"

"Yes Mr Ryan. If your past is such a standard affair then I'm sure you wouldn't mind explaining to me why you felt the need to apply for my school with fake transcripts? Why despite my best efforts to find out information about you there were no personal records to be found until about a year ago? And the most important question, why are you currently wielding my former and most likely deceased partner's ancestral SWORD!"

Jaune backed away from the headmaster's probing questions as they ramped up in volume. His mind stuttering to think of a solution to his problem. A part of his mind wondered why he didn't just tell Ozpin the truth. This thought was quickly squashed however.

Who said that Ozpin would believe the truth?

After all, the truth here wasn't simply a case of him being an orphan child committing petty thief to survive, the truth was something much more… Unrealistic. An underwater city filled with the greatest minds of a generation, mixed with a genetic gloop that rewrote whatever the brothers gave you that ended up destroying itself through civil war? The ramblings of a drunk homeless man would sound more believable.

And even if he did. Even if the slightest chance of Ozpin believing him existed, was that really a good thing? Jaune's paranoia kicked into overdrive imagining every worst possible scenario coming to life. It would mean that his sister's ran the risk of being experimented on for any traces of Adam left in their system. Scientists would try to replicate the plasmids rapture housed, and if they were released to the public then chaos would ensue. Not to mention that the truth also included how Jaune "obeyed" his father's final wish, and that was why the man was no longer alive…

To Jaune the secrets of Rapture were better off lost to the depths of the ocean it called home. The more people aware of its existence meant a higher chance of Rapture's cancerous influence infecting his new life. A life that he worked hard to provide for his sister's.

He was the only experiment that was allowed to escape that concrete fish bowl. Nothing else.

Because of this, Jaune backed down from Ozpin's test, breaking eye contact while sealing his lips shut. Ozpin started for a moment longer before realising Jaune's stance on the offer. With a sigh that sounded disappointed but not surprised Ozpin took a couple of steps backwards, allowing Jaune some breathing room before Ozpin once again started speaking.

"If you are unwilling to reveal your secrets then I'm afraid I will have no choice but to continue monitoring you Mr Ryan. Until the time you answer my questions and explain yourself."

With that the headmaster turned on the spot and once again made his way back to the doorway leading off the roof. Jaune watched him go. A crestfallen look on his face due to that less than stellar meeting with the headmaster. Ozpin maintained his stride, only stopping to open the set of double doors. But as he was about to walk through the threshold he paused. Without looking back Ozpin spoke up one last time.

"Mr Ryan?"

Jaune's gaze looked up to greet the back of his headmaster, his curious expression unseen as Ozpin continued to stare down the steps.

"I want to believe you have no ill intentions in attending my school. I hope that you are just another student willing to become a huntsman to protect those you love. But your existence raises too many questions and concerns for me to just sweep under the rug."

At this the headmaster turned his head around to stare at the enigma on the rooftop. A solemn expression as he stared his student in the eyes, distance be dammed.

"I am a patient man Mr Ryan. But even I have my limits on how long I can wait. Keep your secrets for now, I will continue to keep track of you until you feel like divulging just who you are."

Ozpin's expression hardened for a moment as he finished speaking. "But mark my words Mr Ryan. I will find out why you have Andrew's sword. Whether you tell me, or I force it out myself."

With his piece said Ozpin passed through the set of double doors, letting them swing to a close as he descended the stairs.

Leaving Jaune all alone on the roof. With nothing but his thoughts as his contemplated whether he made the right choice or not.

So it seems that Jaune is being closely watched by Ozpin.

Makes sense. If someone using your best friends weapon strolled into your school a couple of questions would be raised.

Also I hope people liked the new Grim I introduced this chapter. There will be more Grim like it in later chapters so keep a eye out for them.

As always if you liked what you read let me know with a comment. Their the best way I improve and the best motivation.