Venom

A Shining Beacon

Jaune Arc paced on the bullhead, his nerves and instincts screaming at him to find shelter. But how could he, inside a crowded, metal, flying deathtrap? There were too many people around the bullhead. He was nervous, which was making him agitated...which made him want to lash out and bite. A soft hiss escaped his lips as a white Aura flared around his body.

The only son of the Arc family paced before bringing out a clear medical container and popping the top off and stretching a plastic film tightly over it, much to the interest of the blonde brawler-Yang Xiao Long, her little sister Ruby Rose, and a black haired girl with a bow in her hair; Jaune, too agitated to pay attention to his surroundings thanks to the numerous sounds and smells assaulting his senses, opened his mouth. Two long snake fangs took place of his upper canine teeth with the gums around the fangs blackened as he bit into the plastic film, a clear liquid being poured out of the fangs into the cup before he took off the plastic, stuffed it into a pocket, and placed the lid back onto the container while putting it into the other pocket. Gazing into amber, silver, and lilac eyes, Jaune stiffened.

"Are you...a Faunus?" The black haired woman said, reaching up to pull her bow off-revealing cat ears on her head to the shock of the other two girls.

"Yes..." Jaune said, "I got it from my mom. My Dad's a human. " Seeing the black haired girl narrow her eyes, he raised his hands defensively, "No! No! No! Not like that! They're happily married! I have seven older sisters- a mixture of humans and Faunus." The Black haired girl let out a sigh of relief.

"So...why'd you drool into a container?" Ruby asked.

"I know I'm drool-worthy, but not literally!" Yang joked with a wink, making him let out a soft laugh as he started relaxing.

"I'm a snake Faunus, Black Mamba if you want the exact species. Unfortunately, my Faunus traits are the fangs and venom." Jaune said, "It's...instinct...when I get really agitated that I feel the urge to bite something...so I collect the venom to use on throwing knives against Grimm or make antivenom in case someone accidentally cuts themselves with my throwing knives."

The blonde and black haired girls looked at him with understanding and a little awe.

"Did you say throwing knives?!" The silver eyed girl said with a wide, excited look on her face. Jaune reached down and opened a Kunai pouch to Blake's shock as her hand drifted unconsciously to her "Ninjas of Love" book. He drew what looked like ordinary kunai inspired throwing dagger with what looked like a syringe-like opening at the tip of the blade.

"I put some venom into it, and the opening has it flow across the blade." Jaune said, pulling out a more ornate dagger that's hilt was a rearing King Cobra; also with the syringe-like opening. "This is Mort Noire (French for "Black Death"). It's a custom dagger I built with guidance with my mom when cornered with no other options. My go to is my Family Sword; Crocea Mors, a basic sword whose sheathe becomes a shield...and by the way...shouldn't you introduce yourself before taking advantage of my nerves to get me to talk?"

"I'm Ruby Rose!" The silver-eyed girl said, "I'm Yang's little sister! I'm fifteen and I built my baby Crescent Rose!" She said, deploying a red scythe, "It's also a high-impact sniper rifle!"

"I'm Yang Xiao-Long! I love adventure, Charmer." Yang said with a wink as Jaune blushed mouthing the word 'charmer', "Get it, snake charmer?" She chuckled as Jaune deadpanned. "I have my shotgun Gauntlets, Ember Celica!"

"Blake Belladonna. Cat Faunus. I use the gun katana Kusarigama Gambol Shroud and...I really like...Tuna..." Blake finished with a small blush as she put her bow back on.

"I'm Jaune Arc...I am a sucker for meals with chicken..." He said, looking at his feet as Yang and Ruby giggled at him.

"So...besides being a snake and having venom...what is a Black Mamba?" Ruby asked curiously. Jaune smiled and pulled out his scroll, showing a gunmetal gray snake with a white underbelly and a mouth ajar, showing the inside of it's mouth was jet black.

"A black Mamba is one of the world's deadliest venomous snakes. As you can see, it's scales are usually brown or gray. They are named for the jet black coloration for their mouths. They are active during the day and hunt birds or small mammals by actively hunting or ambushing prey, and can fully digest prey in 8 to 10 hours. The longest living black mamba in captivity lived for 11 years. It's venom is VERY potent. It delivers 100-120 mg of a mixture of neurotoxic and cardiotoxic venom. Without treatment, the venom can cause a human to collapse in 45 minutes, and death would occur in 7 to 15 hours. A bite from a black mamba causes initial neurological and neuromuscular symptoms that may commonly include headache and a metallic taste in the mouth, eventually leading to asphyxiation, cardiovascular collapse, or respiratory failure...usually it's heart failure that does the envenomed victim in." Jaune said, putting the image away as Ruby turned white. "However, Black Mambas are really timid and nervous around crowds and humans. Their instinct is to first escape the area using their speed and agility, but if they feel threatened, they will bite."

"Well...Talk about a deadly kiss!" Yang joked as she tried to ease the tension in the area, "How'd your dad get 8 kids outta your mom with that kinda kiss?"

"Well...We're immune to our own venom, but each person has a specific venom. Mom said that when she started dating dad, she injected him with her venom WAY below lethal doses and gradually increased dosage until his body built up an immunity to it. She did the same for me and my siblings and took my venom to do the same to her, dad, and my sisters and injected me and my other sisters with my sisters' venom. No two individuals have the same venom after all." Jaune said, making Yang and Ruby blink in shock.

"Could you...could you do that to us?" Yang asked, "Just so we don't have to worry about an 'oops' moment."

"While I would love to..." Jaune said, "It puts the arm I inject the venom into out of commission for 13 hours...and I have no idea what our schedule at Beacon would be like. I'd hate to hamper your progress."

"I don't wanna worry about my new friend!" Ruby said, covering her mouth, "Sorry...I shouldn't assume we're friends!"

"My mom said 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet'! So of course we're friends!" Jaune said, staggering back as the young Huntress flung herself into his arms as Yang approached him and threw her arm around his neck.

"That means you have me for a friend too!" Yang said. "And thank you for befriending my little sister." She whispered in his ear.

"Me too." Blake said, before ducking her gaze down back to her book. A toothy grin spread across his face, revealing his fangs. He quickly closed his mouth, but kept smiling.

"You know what? If we DO have weekends off...I'll work on making you and my teammates immune...with medical staff nearby." Jaune said, making Ruby cheer, "This can only be done once a month...and may take YEARS to develop a full immunity."

"Seeing that my sister would be safe is worth it...no matter Xiao-Long the wait is!" Yang joked, making Jaune chuckle as the other two groaned. The tension was broken.

"So this is Beacon." Jaune said, having changed into his pajamas after the really brief introduction from Headmaster Ozpin. His pajamas consisted of black sweatpants and a dark green t-shirt with a cartoon snake outlined in black with the words "Don't Tread On Me!" Yang was laughing, as the back of the shirt read "I'm the crazy SNAKE GUY your mamma warned you about!" Some guy once tried getting Yang's attention by grabbing onto her hair, but was scared off when Yang's angry, now red, eyes glared at him as Jaune literally hissed at him. Yang and Ruby laughed as the guy literally ran to the other side of the room before he heard a girl yell "PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!"

With that, Jaune let out a huge yawn, turning to Yang, Blake, and Ruby, as he flexed muscles in his jaws and made his jaw stretch wide before going back in place, showcasing the black section of his gums around his fangs-showcasing his Faunus species's namesake as a Black Mamba Faunus, and bringing his legs up to his chest and curled in what looked like a ball with his eyes closing and his head propped up on a pillow.

"Okay...that's kinda cute." Yang said as she laid down while Ruby sketched her new friend's pose in her letter to her father and friends in Signal.

"IT'S MORNING!" A girl's shrill voice made Jaune leap to his feet with a threatening hiss as he saw others around him. His hiss died down as he saw an excitable seemingly pestering a black-haired boy with a magenta stripe in his hair. Jaune paid in no mind and got a breakfast of chicken and waffles with plenty of syrup; his species's natural hunting of birds affecting his choice of food, and sat down as the girl continued talking to the boy.

Jaune had to admit, this boy had the patience of a saint.

"Nora." The boy finally spoke, revealing the girl's name.

"Yes Ren?" Nora said, revealing the boy's name.

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise." Ren said with a small chuckle. Jaune tuned them out as Nora continued to talk, getting dressed and quickly scarfing down the cooked chicken tenders and waffles with a nervous hunger. While snakes could go an average of a week or two without eating; it wasn't the same case for a Faunus. Their naturally improved vision and...extra appendages caused them to need more calories to make it through the day...with even more needed for those who produced venom like he did.

This was due to a special gland in his skull producing proteins and toxins ready to inject into a threat at a moment's notice. He would be naturally producing venom constantly until he died, and this meant he had to take more energy in to counteract his body using more. Finally, he moved to the bathroom to wash his hands and face and moved between what seemed to be a minor argument between Yang and Ruby about teams.

"Ridiculous. I would have remembered counting up to 636 yesterday...though that may be due to my nerves." Jaune said, moving between a pretty girl with white clothes and hair and a girl in bronze armor with red hair and emerald green eyes.

"Excuse me! People are talking here!" The white haired girl snapped. Jaune took a deep breath, letting out an agitated hiss that made both girls step back, "And now you're sounding like an uncivilized animal!" Jaune's fist pounded against his locker as his pupils narrowed to cat-like slits as he felt his venom glands ready to push venom through his fangs at a moments notice with muscles around his skull tightening in agitation on order to direct the venom.

"Is that what you call a Faunus...You certainly live up to your name...Schnee." Jaune hissed out, turning with his fangs exposed, clear liquid dripping from his fangs onto his chin. "The only reason I'm even BY you is because this is where my locker is!"

The Schnee heiress quickly composed herself, glaring defiantly at Jaune. "Do you have any idea who I'm talking to?!" She said, hoping her angry words hadn't affected her chances of teaming up with a celebrity.

Jaune gazed at the redhead, closing his mouth and wiping the excess venom on his sleeve. "Nope." The redhead's emerald eyes widened in a hopeful expression.

"This is Pyrrha Nikos!" Weiss said, scandalized by his...lack of knowledge.

"Hello!" Pyrrha said in a sing-song tone as Jaune waved at her, before turning to Weiss and shrugging.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class as Sanctum!" Weiss said.

"Neat." Jaune said, pulling Crocea Mors and his dagger pouch out of his locker and strapping them to his body. Pyrrha's smile was growing wider at this nonchalant attitude. Many (like Weiss) had wanted to use her skills and fame...and this man came out of nowhere and made no attempt to do either!

"She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments for four years in a row!" Weiss scoffed.

"Wouldn't that get boring?" Jaune asked.

"Kinda." Pyrrha shrugged...deciding that she HAD to get him as her partner!

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Cereal box!" Weiss shouted as she flailed her arms in anger.

"Huh. So that's why she's familiar...unfortunately I don't eat those a lot, I need a lot of protein throughout the day-including the morning." Jaune said. Pyrrha could almost hear her destiny screaming at her to not let her new partner escape.

"Like a scoundrel..." Weiss muttered, and Jaune hissed at her while bearing his fangs.

"Don't. Corner. A Black Mamba." Jaune said sharply, turning and walking off.

"For years you've honed your skills, and you will be evaluated on your prowess." Ozpin said as the potential students lined up along a cliff overlooking a forest. "That being said. You will be getting partners...today." He could almost taste the despair coming from Ruby and glanced at Yang; with Pyrrha catching his gaze. Pyrrha took a good look between Jaune, Ruby, and Yang.

If something DID prevent her from being his partner...she would do her darn best to get on his team! He knew the young girl in black and red, and the lovely blonde girl. They would be good replacements in case Jaune's partnership spot got snatched by one of them.

"You will be recovering relics from the ruins, and the first person you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner." Ozpin said, before the launch pads under the student's feet started activating. He saw Yang lean back, wink while putting on a pair of sunglasses, and launch forward. Jaune took a deep breath, and his stomach entered his throat (not literally) as he was launched into the sky. His nerves supercharged his venom production as his pupils narrowed into slits with the muscles in his face tightening. Scents assaulted his nose as he grabbed a couple of throwing knives and stabbed them into a tree-one in each hand-like a snake's fangs as he slid down.

The bushes rustled as Jaune bit into the throwing knives in his hands; the clear venom dripping down and over the blades. A glimpse of yellow made Jaune stop biting into his knives and put them away as Yang emerged, brushing leaves off her coat. "Hey! What do ya know...blondes DO stick together!" Yang said. Jaune held out his hand with a smile as she grabbed his, and then pushed her aside as an Ursa charged at him. Yang stumbled as she activated Ember Celica and turned just in time to see Jaune duck under a swipe and grab onto it's right arm and, panicking slightly, bit it. It let out a loud roar as Jaune quickly and seemingly moved silently over in front of her while drawing Crocea Mors with an almost fluid grace. The Ursa stumbled as it's arm went numb. The Ursa started to quickly pant within a few minutes and curled into a ball as she saw a clear liquid on the bite mark. The black fur seemed to start dropping out and a single "finger" on that hand fell off and dissolved into dust.

Jaune just stood in front of her, hissing at the creature with his arms outstretched in front of his new partner. "Well...that was...different." A voice said as they saw Pyrrha standing nearby with Ruby next to her. "When you said Black Mamba, I didn't expect...well...venom!"

"Okay! I panicked. I saw it approaching my partner from behind and just...reacted." Jaune said as he scratched his head nervously.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing." Pyrrha said with a chuckle, "I'm kinda glad you weren't in the Mistral Tournament...I might have had an actual challenge!" Yang gently nudged him to break him from his thoughts.

"My mom taught me a lot, having graduated from Beacon with my dad. When I was little, besides building up an immunity to my mom and sisters's venom, mom trained me on how to use my venom and natural...agility to my advantage." Jaune said, nervously scratching at his arm, "Snakes...especially venomous ones...are often misunderstood because they are more...primitive in mindset. Because of this, they are called evil...but my mom...she was an example of what I want to be... I want to go beyond that stereotype. I want to prove that, despite being a Black Mamba Faunus, I can do GOOD in this world...to be someone who uses his skills to help others...Possibly even...a Hero!"

"That's a nice goal." Yang said, feeling dare she say...inadequate...as her goal was to find answers to WHY her birth mother abandoned her. Pyrrha's gaze locked onto Jaune, before drifting between Ruby an Yang.

"Why don't we group together. I heard we're supposed to get into teams of four after initiation." Pyrrha suggested, letting out a sigh of relief as the others agreed. After a while, the four arrived at the ruins and picked up two white knight pieces for the two teams of two. They stared in disbelief as Nora rode out on an Ursa with Blake hanging on for dear life as Ren and Weiss walked out of the bushes. "I'm queen of the castle~!" Nora sang out, grabbing the white rook piece as Weiss grabbed the same piece. Just as Nora was about to say something, Ren covered her mouth and said "Don't jinx us." She just nodded.

Ren pulled his hand back and she poked his nose, saying "Boop!" as she did so.

"Cardin Winchestor. Russel Thrush. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. You four brought back the black bishop pieces." Ozpin said with the four standing on the stage, "From now on, you are Team CRDL (Cardinal) lead by...Cardin Winchestor." The four fist bumped each other and walked off as Jaune nervously glanced at Yang and Pyrrha standing at either side of him. His pupils narrowed and he closed his eyes, trying to force the muscles in his face to relax.

"Blake Belladonna. Lie Ren. Weiss Schnee. Nora Valkyrie. You four brought back the white rook pieces." Ozpin said as the four students walked onto the stage. "From this day forward you will be...Team BRWN (Brown) led by...Blake Belladonna." Weiss's jaw nearly hit the ground as Nora cheered and Blake reeled back in shock as Ren bowed slightly to her. "Even if previous experience says otherwise, you can be a conduit of change, Miss Belladonna."

"Ruby Rose. Jaune Arc. Yang Xiao-Long. Pyrrha Nikos." Ozpin said, and they walked up. Jaune had relaxed his muscles enough to prevent his eyes pupils from narrowing; which was his tell-tale sign he was about to use his venom. "You four brought back the white knight pieces." Ozpin said as Jaune stared at the crowd, forcing down his instinct to hiss or flee. "From this day forward, you will be...Team RAYN (Rain) led by...Ruby Rose!" Ruby looked shock as Yang pat her back. Jaune nodded in respect and Pyrrha looked relieved that she wasn't chosen as the leader. "Good luck, Miss Rose." With that, their scrolls beeped signaling that they got a message of their room, which was across the hall from Team BRWN.

"Okay! First things first! Unpacking!" Ruby shouted, after they all entered the room.

There was a flurry of activity as belongings were scattered across the room. "Okay...it seemed like we had more room in theory...how about...BUNK BEDS!" Ruby shouted and Jaune had a slight grin at her infectious energy. When they were done, Pyrrha had used her Semblance to bolt metal onto the beds to form the bunk beds; which used ropes to keep them aligned further...

All in all, it was more secure than ropes and books alone. Jaune looked around seeing Yang's belongings by a desk with his on the desk next to it. A similar design was at the other side of the room with Ruby and Pyrrha's belongings on desk. Yang and Ruby had claimed the top bunks, with Pyrrha taking the bed under Ruby and Jaune taking the bed under Yang.

That WAS how they were partnered for initiation, after all!

Posters of X-Ray and Vav, and Achieve Men were on the wall.

In the Fridge in the attached living room/kitchenette were Jaune's "Kobra Energy Drinks", some strawberry sunrises, baking materials (for cookies), milk, water, and tea. Yang had had a good laugh seeing Jaune's energy drink names, and he had rolled his eyes and stated that making venom used a LOT of energy. He gazed at the little figurines of snakes of the Elapidae family; such as the Green Mamba, Black Mamba, King Cobra, Monocled Cobra, Taipan, and Coral Snake. On his desk was a book with a skeleton of a Reticulated Python with the words "Guide to Snakes of Remnant" on it.

"So Charmer...that's a lot of snake stuff!" Yang said, looking over the book and figurines.

"Mom said knowing about these will help me understand my Faunus instincts better." Jaune said proudly, which made Pyrrha giggle at his pose as Ruby snorted as she laughed.

"So...what is with the figurines of the snakes?" Pyrrha asked as Jaune let his tongue flick out for a brief moment and made her cheeks flush.

"As you know, I'm a Black Mamba Faunus. What you may not know is that snakes are divided into different...families...like mammals are. For instance, foxes are in different families than cats. Each family has different traits in common. " Jaune said, picking up the King Cobra figurine. "Black Mambas belong to the Elapidae family. They share this with Copperheads, Brown Snakes, Menagerie Cobra (Egyptian Cobra in our world), Coral Snake, Death Adder, Haven Cobra (Chinese Cobra in our world), Green Mamba, King Cobra, Red Spitting Cobra, Taipan, Monocled Cobra, Sea Snakes, and Tiger Snakes."

"That's...a diverse group with some scary named ones..." Ruby said, "In fact, the Death Adder even sounds like a name that belongs to a Grimm!"

"They are diverse, but they are in the same family because they have traits in common..." Jaune said, thinking back to his lessons with his mom, "All Elapidaes have venom, most lay eggs, most actively hunt, most have long slender bodies with smooth scales, and all of them have hollow fangs fixed in place to inject venom." He set the figurine down and took a deep breath standing in front of his bed before going to the other room to change into his pajamas. He knocked on the door and after ensuring everyone was in their night clothes (his mom and Faunus sisters could get REALLY aggressive if walked in on without permission), dove under the blanket and curled up.

He didn't know why...be he could have sworn he heard his teammates call this...cute. This...that would be a pleasant start of a dream...

After all, no human girl he saw ever called a snake cute.