Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY

Chapter 6: Nora's First Rule

The first rays of morning's light shone through the window and into the dorm of the newly-minted Team VLAN. The dim light was just enough to illuminate room and the four beds within. Of the four beds, three were currently occupied but only two had sleeping teenagers.

Both Ren and Jaune were fast asleep, which wasn't surprising given the early hour. The green ninja was tucked neatly under his blankets while the blonde knight was sprawled out over his bed with the blankets falling off.

Nora wasn't asleep, instead sitting on her bed with her legs crossed. Her eyes were closed, and one could have easily mistaken her for being asleep, but the truth was that her mind was very active at the moment.

Living in the Wilds had ensured that Nora learned how to sleep very lightly. Using meditative techniques that Lady Salem taught her, Nora could remain alert while still resting her mind and body. She only needed around four hours of 'real' sleep, so she had been effectively awake for some time.

Pyrrha's bed was the one that was empty this morning. She had gotten up almost an hour ago and after quietly getting dressed, had left the room.

Nora had been laying down in her half-awake state when Pyrrha had left and she had wondered what she was up to. As the leader of this team, was she supposed to keep track of them or something?

The reminder of that fact that she had somehow gotten made leader despite her efforts not to was what caused her to sit up and start meditating.

She couldn't believe the she had screwed up like this right out of the gate. She was supposed to be her Lady's hidden trump card; how could she be that when she was front and centre as the face of Team VLAN?

In one form or another, her mind had been racing with the implications of this and how she could possibly still fulfill her mission.

She needed to make this team into an asset rather then a liability. Having three people who, by Beacon's own rules, had to follow her orders could be quite useful. She had to be careful what she told them and not give any hint that she meant harm to Beacon or Vale.

None of them were even close to her level but they could still be of use to her. Her past friendship with Ren made him quite amenable and loyal to her.

Jaune had proven less then competent as a fighter but he had noticed the Deathstalker's weakness before her, so he may be good for analysis and planning. Plus, he seemed rather weak-willed, so making him follow her orders should be a simple task.

That just left Pyrrha…

Speak of the devil, the door to the dorm was slowly opened. Opening her eyes, Nora saw that it was the red-haired Mistralian. She seemed to have worked up quite a sweat and was attempting to tip-toe into the room. She stopped when she noticed that Nora was up and sitting on her bed.

"Oh, you're awake. I didn't wake you up, did I?" she asked concerningly.

"No…I just woke up a few minutes ago; I'm a pretty light sleeper. Where have you been?"

"I was out doing some light morning exercises" Pyrrha answered, keeping her voice low. "Just a couple of laps around the school, nothing special".

Nora simply nodded and closed her eyes again, placing one hand under her chin. She didn't see the small frown that had formed on Pyrrha's face.

The Mistral Champion was confused; shouldn't this be the part where Nora gasped in awe at how athletic she was? Then she would praise her for being so diligent in her training and Pyrrha would shrug it off as being a simple thing for her; after all, she was the Champion of Mistral.

Pyrrha silently shook her head; she shouldn't be thinking in those terms anymore. She had come to Vale specifically to get away from people who would only fawn over her. She was here to make friends, not find more overbearing fans. That was the one thing in her life that she was sure she was missing.

"Well…since we're both up, should we perhaps wake the others? An early start is a good start, as I've always been told" Pyrrha suggested, switching to a more joyful frame of mind effortlessly.

"That sounds good. Don't want to be late or anything on our first day." Nora got up and walked over to Ren's bed. She remembered how he had fallen asleep so oddly in the auditorium last night. It appeared he was okay now, but she was a little concerned. She leaned the bed to get a closer look at his face, rising one hand to check his forehead and make sure he wasn't sick or anything.

It was at the time that Ren woke up. He was a fairly light sleeper himself and thus woke when he sensed someone leaning over him, rising up slightly. It was quite a shock for him to be seeing the girl he had been dreaming about a moment ago leaning over him, her face close to his. Her lips were right there, almost like she was about to kiss…

Ren's mind went blank as his face turned red. He fell back onto his pillows, out like a light again.

"Ren? Ren? Back to sleep again? He sure is an odd one" Nora commented, stepping back from her partner's bed.

"Maybe he's narcoleptic or something?" Pyrrha suggested.

"I hope not. That would cause a lot of problems." Nora said, resuming her thinking posture. "Can you wake Jaune?"

"Sure. I'll…how exactly should I do it?" Pyrrha may have suggested waking their partners up but wasn't sure what the best way was when it came down to it.

"Just give him a swift kick or something; he'll be fine" Nora answered, not caring if her teammates got a little roughed up.

"I couldn't do that!" Pyrrha exclaimed, shocked that her leader would even suggest something like that. It was too…rude and unkind.

Nora shot Pyrrha a sideways look. "You were plenty rough with him back in the forest"

Pyrrha was about to retort when she remembered that she had slung Jaune over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and dropped him to the ground without warning.

"Oh God. Jaune! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" Pyrrha apologized loudly, bowing repeating toward the sleeping Jaune.

Having someone yelling a belated apology in his ear was apparently all it took for Jaune to wake up. Startled at the loud noise directed at him and already tangled up in his blankets, Jaune ended up fall out of bed and hitting the floor.

Nora watched with an amused half-smile as Pyrrha tried to help Jaune up while continuing her profuse apology. It looked like Pyrrha really didn't know what she had done to him during Initiation until well after the fact. It seemed she could get intensely focused on a task to the exclusion of everything else around her. That could be very bad, depending on the situation.

"You do morning exercise a lot, right?" Nora asked, "That sound like a good idea. We can start doing exercises as a team before and after classes each day. It would let us know each others strength and work on any weakness…"

"Oh, there's no need for something like that. It would be completely pointless." Pyrrha said, as she finally got Jaune to his feet.

"What do you mean?" Nora asked, unsure of what Pyrrha meant.

"Its just that anything you do or come up with would be a useless and a waste of time…"

A long moment of silence passed.

"…Excuse me?" Nora growled. She wasn't useless…she wasn't!

"I…" Pyrrha stammered, realizing what she said, "I'm sorry, that came out wrong."

Pyrrha paused, thinking for a second about how to put what she was trying to say in a better context. She quickly moved towards Nora, accidentally catching Jaune's foot with her own and tripping him. The blonde boy fell back onto his bed with a quiet yelp, with Pyrrha completely unaware of what she had done. She stood in front of her team leader and placed her hands on the shorter girl's shoulder.

"You were up early because you were busy thinking of all the responsibility you now have being team leader, right?"

Nora nodded slowly, her grimace turning into a small frown. Technically, that was true; she had been thinking a lot about this leadership predicament and how it impacted her mission. She hadn't lost sleep over it yet, but it had been weighting on her mind.

"Well, you don't need to worry; because I'm here! I'm the best at what I do, and I swear to help you and this Team succeed. All you have to do is leave it all to me and just focus on the simple things you can do. That way you don't have to worry about the burden of leadership, and we can all have fun here at Beacon. Everyone wins, right?"

Pyrrha couldn't help it, as she was significantly taller, but at the moment she seemed very much to be looking down at Nora. And the smile she was giving, the bright one of a Mistral Champion she gave to the cameras, looked nothing less then condescending at that moment.

Nora didn't say anything, only narrowing her eyes and clenching her fists.

Pyrrha either didn't notice or chose to ignore it. "Okay? Great. We are going to have an absolutely lovely first day. Oh, I heard a new café opened downtown; we should head there on the weekend. We can discuss that after class; I'm going to a shower now. After that, we can get ready to start our day."

With that Pyrrha turned and walked towards the bathroom, bright smile still on her face. She walked into the bathroom and locked the door. The sounds the shower was the only thing heard for several minutes in the otherwise dead quiet dorm.

Jaune slowly sat up. He didn't know half of what had just transpired but he had a gut feeling that something wrong had just occurred. Pyrrha was a nice girl, all the times she dropped or tripped him notwithstanding, and there hadn't been any malice or such in her words, but they just weren't right.

Nora was standing still as a statue, the slow rising of her chest being the only indication that she was alive and breathing. Alive, breathing and very angry, as seen by her hard glare at the bathroom door.

"Nora?" Jaune spoke up nervously, "Is everything, umm, alright?"

He winced as those hard, violet eyes turned on him. He found it difficult to breathe for a moment before her gaze turned back to the bathroom.

"No…things are not alright." She said, her voice low and steady. "We have a problem here. But don't worry; where there's a problem, there a solution. Pyrrha just needs a simple lesson in the first rule of this team."

Nora looked back at Jaune and gave a small but very unkind smile.

Jaune felt very, very sorry for his partner.

The day went on, with Ren eventually waking up and getting ready with the rest of them. It was a very tense morning, with Pyrrha being bright and cheery and Nora calm and subdued. Ren had no idea what had transpired but Jaune did and it worried him.

Having seven sisters ensured that Jaune knew how vicious girls could be in a fight with each other and he wanted to avoid that. When his sisters got into it, it always ended up with him in the middle with several new bumps on his head.

The issued seemed to be about the usefulness of team training, so during breakfast Jaune tried to bring the subject up himself. If he was the one to suggest it, it would at least start the conversation again and give the two a chance to talk things out.

Pyrrha shot down him down immediately, instead suggesting that they use their time to hang out. She apparently had all sorts of plans laid out for after-school and the weekend, suggesting several diners and café to try and stores to shop at. She was more then a hundred percent onboard with being good friends with all of them but was completely uninterested in doing anything Huntsmen-related with them.

It was frustrating, made more so that Pyrrha was being very sweet and kind about it. She really thought that this was okay and that she wasn't being rude or anything at all.

Ren gave no preference at all, so long as Nora was okay with it. Team VLAN's leader was very calm and collected all morning long, eating her pancakes very slowly and readily agreeing with Pyrrha. Jaune knew that she was keeping her anger contained and it was just a matter of time before she exploded.

The day wore on like this, with the first classes being uneventful. Team RWBY was almost late for Grimm Studies, reaching the door just as the bell sounded. Ruby immediately rushed to sit as close to Nora as possible, intending to chat with her new best friend. A hard glare from Port and a quiet word from Nora that they'll talk later put that on hold and the class began.

Jaune barely paid it any mind; even if it wasn't mind-numbingly boring, he was still too preoccupied with the impending conflict that was brewing between his partner and his leader.

He was so absorbed in his worry that he barely noticed the little fight Weiss had with a Boarbatusk in front of the class and completely missed the byplay going on between her and Ruby. The other classes passed by in a blur too, with Jaune only catching the most basic information of what was in store for their first-year.

The last class was Combat Training with Professor Goodwitch and the students filed into the theater-style classroom. Jaune was still trying to think of what to do; he was considering talking to Ren in private and seeing if he knew what could be done. If not, maybe he could ask Ruby if she knew anything that could help.

Goodwitch began her lecture, which was mostly just an overview of what this class was about and the features the of the Combat Class Arena.

"Okay, that's just about wraps it up. We'll be diving right in next time, so be prepared." Goodwitch stated, her hard gaze making it clear she wouldn't accept any slacking. "Now, since we have some time, we will have a short match between two randomly chosen students, so you can all can see what future matches will be like."

Glynda tapped several buttons on her extended Scroll and started the randomizer program on it. It took several seconds for the program to run and select the two candidates. When it did, Goodwitch could only frown.

The students were all confused, wondering what was taking so long and why the teacher was seemed noticeable upset.

"The match will be…" Goodwitch paused for a second before continuing, "Nora Valkyrie against Pyrrha Nikos, both from Team VLAN."

The class was shocked; matches between teammates were allowed? Jaune was dumbfounded and was about to jump up and tell Goodwitch to call this off. A fight between those two right now would be a disaster.

"Guys, I really think-" he began to say, half raising out of his chair.

"Don't worry Jaune" Nora said, her eyes more so then her words stopping him in his tracks. She turned to look at Pyrrha, a small smile on her face. "This is just a simple spar between friends, right?"

"Yes, of course." Pyrrha replied with a bright, and innocent, smile of her own. Both stood up and nodded to Professor Goodwitch before heading to the locker room to change.

While the rest of the class chattered excitedly among themselves, two people could only worry about what was going to happen. There was Jaune of course, but the second was Glynda Goodwitch herself, praying that she hadn't made a mistake in letting this match happen.

Flashback

"Well, I say that we have quite an outstanding crop of students this year" Peter Port said, scrolling through the profiles of each of the new teams.

"Yes, yes. We'll have our work cut out for us this year" Oobleck commented.

Glynda nodded as she looked at her own scroll. The three of them were in Ozpin's office going over the results of the Initiation and the final team compositions. The Headmaster himself didn't seem to be paying much attention, instead turning what looked like a damaged silver coin over in his hands.

Glynda eventually scrolled to the student she had the most apprehension over; Nora Valkyrie. There was only the most basic information available, just the things she filled out on the Beacon Application. Everything else was a blank; before and after her time at the Hollow Orphanage. Even the reports about her life there were scant and most of what they knew came from the reports and details that Lie Ren had given at the time of incident.

That lack of details had worried Glynda, worry that was increased when it was made clear that this girl was claiming to be someone who had been thought dead for several years. She wanted to immediately pull her from the Initiation and get to the bottoms of things, but Ozpin had overruled her. If she passed the Initiation, she had earned her place no matter who she was, and they could get to the bottom of her past and identity later.

Glynda still didn't like it; not one bit.

"Ozpin? Professor Ozpin!" Glynda had to raise her voice slightly to get the man's attention. "I still have reservation regarding Miss Valkyrie."

"Yeah, her background information does leave a lot to be desired and we can't be sure she is who she said she is." Oobleck spoke up quickly as he often did. "She may be here for selfish reasons and the world doesn't need any more disreputable Huntsmen around."

"Ah, but she acted with nothing less then true bravery and selflessness during the battle." Port said in Nora's defence. "She saved both Ren and Jaune from being injured when Grimm had them in their sight. She put herself in harm's way to protect young Arc and helped Team RWBY out in their battle; in quite a spectacular fashion, I may add."

"Yes, she didn't seem to hesitate to help others" Glynda conceded, "and Lie Ren reactions to her seem to confirm that she really is Nora Valkyrie but something about all this seems off."

The three Beacon instructors lapsed into silence. This situation was out of the ordinary even for a Huntsmen Academy, and there was no easy answer. They turned towards Ozpin; this was the part where he would tell them what the right course of action was in his usual sagely manner.

The headmaster was silence for several moment, heedless of the attention on him now, and continued to flip the damaged coin in his hands.

"Both Nora and Ren originally came from Anima, specifically a small but prosperous village called Kuroyuri."

The others remained quiet, not a sure what Ozpin was getting at.

"When Lie Ren enrolled at Beacon, I asked Professor Lionheart at Haven to find and transfer all files relating to Ren and Kuroyuri to me. Those files take on a new light now, as they are also the only information we have about Nora Valkyrie."

"Ren was born and raised in the village, living with his parents. Nora appears to have been born elsewhere; how she came to Kuroyuri and who her real parents are remains a mystery. Kuroyuri was destroyed in a single night; the reports states that, alongside a horde of the regular variety of Grimm, a single powerful Grimm was responsible. Ren and Nora were the only survivors, discovered clinging to each other among the ruins. The authorities gathered as much information as possible from the two and then did the responsible thing; placed them in the care of a 'respectable' orphanage."

Ozpin looked up, a humorless look on his face. The others could only frown; it still disturbed them all that such a hideous scheme could have been perpetrated right under all of their noses.

Ozpin continued. "They apparently were only kept in Mistral for a few months before being moved to Hollow, where they spent the next few years before the whole operation was shut down and Nora disappeared."

"The report Lionheart sent states that Nora and Ren survived the destruction of their village was because Lie Ren had unlocked his Aura and Semblance and used it to keep both of them concealed from the Grimm. That would appear to contradict the records from Bonfire Academy, which state that Ren didn't have his Aura when he first enrolled and didn't unlocked it until his second year. The only explanation would be that his Aura somehow re-sealed itself."

Silence reigned in the room as veteran Huntsmen and Huntress thought about what that would have to entail. Ozpin looked at each of his colleagues in turn before asking the question they were all thinking.

"What could cause one's Aura, which is meant to harden our hearts and bear our burden, to retreat back into one's soul?"

Another moment of silence before the Headmaster gave the answer they all knew.

"Nothing less then absolute hell on Earth; to a small, orphaned child no less. Young Ren lost all his memories of Kuroyuri, of his family, of any good and happy times. Only in the last year has he been able to remember his life from before all this and then only after many years of therapy.

"Lie Ren can generously be called anti-social, with bouts of depression and a whole host of emotional scars that haven't heal. But, of all the children who spent any amount of time in those orphanages, he has probably done the best so far. Many of those children have lapsed into violent or criminal behavior. Several have attempted to take their own lives… and more then one has succeeded."

Ozpin frowned deeply, shaking his head slightly before resuming.

"Ren had a lot of help getting to where he is now; a safe home, supportive adults and an overall good environment. Nora had none of these, from what we can tell. What little she has divulged so far seems to be that she as taken in by a rogue Huntsmen or Huntress and was raised in the Wilds, away from all civilization. Life there is hard for even for trained adults, but for a child with a traumatic past, it should have been unbearable. Yet, here she is, trying to be a Huntress and passing the Initiation with flying colours."

"But…Ozpin" Glynda finally spoke up, "If she has all these emotional issues, then isn't that an even more valid reason to take action. Even if she doesn't mean to, she could still cause herself and her team harm. At least we should insist she see a therapist and get to the bottom of where she's been these past eight years."

Port and Oobleck both nodded, seeing the logic in that plan. Ozpin shook his head and grabbed the coin in his hand.

"Beacon is here to help people not only be the best Huntsmen or Huntress, but also the best person they can be. I will not condone any action that would bring any more emotional harm to this girl." Ozpin held up his hand to cut off the other's protests. "Yes, we will act if it looks like someone is in danger of being harmed and we will encourage Nora to seek help if she needs it, but we will not force Nora to reveal her past or do anything she doesn't want to. We will get to the bottom of this mystery, but we will be patient and take our time.

"I ask that you all give Nora the space that she need to get accustom to life here. We will need to perhaps be more lenient then usual with any infractions she may do. This is a delicate situation and we will handle it delicately. I feel that Nora has immense potential, and this is the best way to bring that out"

Ozpin's voice held a note of finality, ending all discussion on the matter. They all still had misgivings about this but were willing to trust Ozpin; he was Headmaster for a reason, after all.

Glynda Goodwitch, despite all her years of teaching and fighting the Grimm, couldn't fully suppress her unease. She was well within her rights to have ignored the random result and choose two other students. It was Beacon policy to avoid pitting teammates against each other in their first year; they were supposed to focus on bonding and working together after all.

But Ozpin had told them to give her space and be more flexible with Nora. She also couldn't deny that she was curious at how Nora would act in this situation. The more they could observe Nora in action, the more information they could gather and from there get a cleaner picture on who this girl really was.

Both girls returned from the locker rooms with weapons in hand and dressed in their combat gear. Nora had chosen not to wear her duster for this match and Goodwitch wondered why that was. The two teammates approached the stage from opposite directions, both wearing small smiles on their faces as they took the stage.

Those smiles were for very different reasons.

"Okay, now I can show off what I can really do" Pyrrha thought to herself as she readied her weapons. "But I need to make sure I don't seriously hurt Nora or anything. I also don't want to her to feel bad when I win; that would could ruin our weekend plans. I need end this fight quickly; a couple of blows to drain her Aura just enough to win."

Pyrrha knew her victory was ensured, because she was Pyrrha Nikos. She was one of the best fighters of her generation and she knew it. Her record victories at the Mistral Regional Tournament and her top marks at Sanctum were proof of that. Sure, she didn't have a choice in being that best, it was her destiny after all and so she had been pushed onto this pedestal, but she still owned that pedestal with her abilities.

Since she couldn't run from it, she instead embraced her situation. She loved being the best, at proving that she was at the absolute top. She didn't like hurting people, she wanted to be a Huntress to save people, but she couldn't deny the thrill she felt when she defeated a foe. It didn't matter how much weaker or lesser her opponents were, so long as she ended up on top.

Pyrrha mentally chided herself; she needed to stop thinking of people like that. Sure, being the best automatically meant everyone else was beneath her, but that didn't detract from who they were as people. She had left Mistral because she was tired of all the fawning fans and she came here because she wanted to make some real friends.

She had assumed that she would be made leader of her team and shocked when she was passed over. But thinking for a moment, it made sense; a leader was usually someone who stayed in the back and coordinated, which wasn't suited for a peerless warrior such as herself. Nora had proved herself in that respect and she was grateful for getting rid of those small Deathstalkers. Spiders and spider-like things were the one thing she had…mild difficulty with.

This arrangement would work fine; Nora would deal with all the simple and mundane affairs while she stepped up for the important work. Her teammates future at Beacon was secure as long as she was with them; She would do all she could to pull they up with her. Now if only Nora and Jaune would drop this silly notion of team training; it was completely pointless for her and an utter waste of time. The only thing they needed to do was let her handle things.

"Nora. Pyrrha. Are you both ready?" Goodwitch asked, standing off to the side. With the two girls nodding, the teacher pressed a button on her Scroll that project their names and Aura on the display above the arena. A second button sounded the bell and the two teammates rushed forward to fight.

Pyrrha effortless dodged under Nora's wide swing and attempted a strike to her side. Nora blocked it with the shaft of her hammer and pushed Pyrrha back. She raised Magnhild over her head and brought it down in a powerful swing.

Pyrrha smirked as she activated her Semblance. She made it so that the hammer's head just barely missed her and instead embedded into the floor. With her weapon stuck, Nora was wide open and Pyrrha took the opportunity to bash her in the face with her shield. Nora staggered backwards, letting go of her weapon while Pyrrha pressed the attack.

Pyrrha unleashed a flurry of blows onto Nora; a series of elegant and precise kicks, shield bashes and sword strikes all struck home. The Champion took a step back, figuring she had done enough to both impress the crowed and deplete Nora's Aura. She quickly looked up at the display to check that she hadn't accidently taken Nora's Aura down too low.

She was shocked to see that her Aura meter had only dropped by a small percent. Sure, she hadn't been hitting as hard as she could have, but Nora should have been in the yellow at least. There must be something wrong with the equipment and Pyrrha was just about to call the referee over when Nora counterattacked.

Pyrrha had never been hit by a freight train before and hopefully she would never have to experience that, but it probably felt very similar to how it felt to have Nora's fist rammed into her gut. Pyrrha's Aura did its job and prevented her insides from being liquified, but it couldn't stop the wind from being knocked out of her. The undefeated Champion of Mistral was forced to drop her weapons as she bent over double, clenching her stomach and trying not to black out from the immense pain.

A sharp blow to the back of her head set her sprawling on the floor. She wasn't there for long, as Nora grabbed her by the back of her outfit and threw her straight up towards the ceiling. She impact the top of room, breaking and bending some of the metal supports before she began her descent back to the ground. Before she could reach terra-firma, her chin got acquainted with Nora's fist as the Dark Valkyrie unleashed a vicious uppercut. Pyrrha spun completely around in mid-air before landing on the floor face first.

Nora spared her fallen teammate an impassive look before grabbing her by her long ponytail. She hauled her up and threw her off of the stage, over the top of the class and into the far wall. The red-head left a notable crack in the wall as she fell to the floor, unmoving.

The whole room was silent, with everyone not able to comprehend what they had just seen. Had the famous Pyrrha Nikos, Champion of Mistral, just get her ass handed to her from a complete nobody?

While the audience couldn't believe it, the automated scoring system did, and clearly displayed on the screen that Nora Valkyrie was the winner by both Aura level and ring knockout.

Goodwitch was stunned; she couldn't believe that anyone would do something so vicious to their teammate. It was disturbing that she could do all that with such an impassive expression on her face the whole time. Something was definitely wrong with her.

The Deputy Headmistress climbed up the stage and approached Nora, intending to drag her to Ozpin's office and set her straight. This uncaring and violent behavior was totally unacceptable and warrant the harshest punishment…

"Professor Goodwitch!" Nora's call stopped the blonde Huntress in her tracks. Nora turned and looked directly at her. "If you will excuse me and my teammates, we will take Pyrrha to the infirmary."

Team VLAN's leader turned and snapped her finger.

"Ren! Jaune! Get Pyrrha up and let's get her to the school Nurse. Move it!

The two boys jumped out of their seats instantly and rushed to follow her command. Everyone just stared numbly as Team VLAN collected this fallen teammate and exited the class room.

Glynda Goodwitch was left clenching her fist, Ozpin's order for distance and leniency conflicting with everything she had just seen. She had been uncertain about what to make of Nora Valkyrie before and this first class had only increased her confusion.

This was looking to be a very difficult year.

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Jaune. What he had feared had come to pass with Nora and Pyrrha coming to blows. While it may have been a class sanctioned match, the absolute curb-stomp his leader had dished out would certainly destroy whatever team relationship they could have hoped to form and would make this year very difficult and awkward.

The sun was beginning to set as Jaune decided to check up on Pyrrha before heading back to the dorms. She was his partner after all and losing that badly would probably have upset her; supporting her was the least he could do.

He was shocked to see that her bed was empty and that the Nurse didn't know where she had gone. Pyrrha had been completely unconscious when they had brought her in, and it seemed like she may have a fairly serious head injury; walking around was the last thing she should be doing.

Jaune rushed out and started looking for her. He cursed that Beacon hadn't given them their Scrolls yet, so he had no way of calling Pyrrha or his other teammates. He had to search by himself, so he decided to go to the roof and see if he could spot her from up there.

He was very surprised to find his wayward partner there, leaning against the railing with her head down. She was still wearing her combat clothes, though the bronze armour had been removed. Her tiara had been taken off as well, so her hair was undone and flowing down her back and shoulders, which looked to be shaking slightly.

Jaune sighed as he slowly walked toward her; it seemed like she was crying. He had some experience with comforting girls when his sisters were upset over something, but this was quite a different situation. He didn't really know who Pyrrha was except that she was some sort of renowned Champion from Mistral. Being handed a defeat on the first day in front of everyone must be absolutely mortifying. Jaune didn't know what he could do to console her, but he had to be there for her at the very least. Maybe he could take her mind off with something else; he had been meaning to ask her something all day…

Jaune paused as he realized that Pyrrha wasn't crying at all; she was laughing. He walked towards her very slowly, not sure at all now what was going on.

"Hahahaha… yes…Finally! I finally found it!" Pyrrha said to herself, her voice a loud, near-hysterical whisper.

"P-Pyrrha?" Jaune asked nervously.

Pyrrha whirled around, her green eyes wide. "Jaune? Oh Jaune!" She rushed forward and grabbed her partner by the hand. "Jaune, it just so wonderful"

"W-hat is?" Jaune asked. This was not what he expected. Pyrrha was beaming and she would have looked quite beautiful, if not for the white bandage covering her forehead and the wild look in her eyes.

"I found it. I finally found a purpose, a goal to strive for." Pyrrha gripped Jaune's hands tightly with her own and leaned in close, making the blonde knight very uncomfortable. "I came to Vale to get away from all the fame and the spotlight back home. I came here to find what I thought I was missing in my life; real friends."

Jaune nodded; that was certainly a good and even heartwarming goal…

"But fuck that shit, right?" She said with a bright smile "I found something even better; a true rival. I haven't lost a fight in years and everything was getting so easy, so stale. But now I have a real goal to pursue and its something that won't come easy to me. It just so exciting!"

Jaune didn't know what was going on. On one hand, it was good that she wasn't sad or upset at Nora, but this line of thinking was worrying, to say the least.

"So…you don't want to make friends anymore?" he asked hesitantly.

Pyrrha looked at him in surprise. "What? No! This is the best chance I've even had to make real friends and I'm not passing it up. We are going to be best friending all over this city; cafés, shopping trips, beach trips, picnics, the works. It just that it going to be secondary against my purpose of defeating Nora now."

"Pyrrha…you hit your head, right?" Jaune had to ask.

"Yeah, but it just mild concussion, nothing serious."

'Right…ummm…you don't seem mad at Nora or anything."

"Of course not! I lost fair and square. I'm not going to be mad because she was better then me." Pyrrha paused for a moment. "Better then me…better…ohhhh, it so exhilarating; having someone who better then me. I have so much to look forward to at Beacon now."

Pyrrha proceeded to spin the two of them around, laughing joyfully. It would have been a heartwarming and even a romantic moment, if the context had been different.

Pyrrha suddenly stopped in her tracks, letting go of Jaune who stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.

"I have so much to do. I…I need to train. The team training plan…we have to do that now. I need to train with Nora, see how she fights, how strong she is if I have any chance of surpassing her. I need to follow her lead completely, no questioning her orders or plans. She going to be both my friend and rival, so I need to be as supportive as possible until our grand rematch. There so much to go over and plan, I need to write it all down. Oh, this is the best day ever!"

With a truly girlish squeal, Pyrrha took off back into the school, leaving Jaune laying on the ground.

"That great…I'm really happy for you…" Jaune called out, knowing that she couldn't hear him. "So, I guess you'll be too busy to help me with my sword training? Yeah…that's okay…I'll think of something else."

Jaune continued to lay on the ground as the sun set over beacon, heralding the end of this crazy first day.

That's it for this chapter. I'll be focusing on Sisterhood for the foreseeable future, as that story is much more popular, and more people are reading it then this one. I wanted to get these last two chapters out while Vol.6 was airing to give this story a bit of a boost and leave it in what I see as a good spot.

Volume 6 has shown that Pyrrha came from a good and happy home, with all the lonely she felt from being a Champion was an unfortunate effect of her success. For both this story and Sisterhood, I'm going with the notion that her childhood wasn't very happy and that she was pushed to be the best fighter, with this notion of her destiny effectively forced upon her.

In this story, as a mean of coping with all the pressure, Pyrrha learned to embrace her status and become quite competitive and proud. She is still a very kind person who want to make real friends, but she also thinks she better then everyone. This is only a part of her, but in this case, Nora is very much bringing out the worse in her. She going to get a lot worse in this regard before she gets better.

Pyrrha accidentally and unintentionally hurting Jaune will be a recurring bit in this story, alongside her habit of swearing when she get worked up. Jaune himself is a bit more proactive at the start, worrying about team cohesion and thinking immediately about how he might improve his fighting skills.

As it stands right now, the Harem will include Ren, Jaune and Pyrrha, along with all of Team RWBY. Others could be added much later down the line, such as Emerald and Oscar, but the main cast of the show is where the focus will be for the first part.

Thanks again for reading this story and please leave a review or a PM to tell me what you think of it all.