The Semblances We Keep: Volume One, Chapter One.

Ozpin nursed his ever-present mug of coffee as he looked out the large windows of his office, watching as an airship full of new students came into view. As always there were a few that were sure to be worth watching.

Pyrrha Nikos, the invincible girl and champion of Mistral, who had chosen to attend Beacon instead of her own kingdom's academy, Weiss Schnee, well the girl's surname spoke for itself really, and Yang Xiao-Long, a very strong brawler from Signal with an even stronger personality.

Then there were students like Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, and Blake Belladonna. Glynda wasn't exactly happy with him for admitting those three.

Ruby Rose, daughter of Summer and Taiyang, with genes like those she was sure to be one of Beacon's strongest, even if she was two years younger than her peers. Ozpin had already been considering letting her in early after the incident with Tortchwick, but seeing her silver eyes when he meet her in person only solidified his decision.

How was it that Qrow had never thought to mention that his niece inherited Summer's gift? Ozpin wondered if Qrow hadn't left that detail out intentionally, to protect Ruby from the headmaster and their secret war. Qrow was as loyal as they came, but family still came first it seemed. Even if that family wasn't technically blood.

Blake Belladonna, the ex-terrorist. Despite what the young faunus probably believed, Ozpin did know about her falling out with the White Fang and thank Oum Glynda hadn't found that out. Miss Belladonna hadn't even bothered to change her outfit for the entrance exam. Did she really think Atlas security droids didn't have cameras? It's a good thing for her the Atlas military doesn't like to share information with the Vale Police Department. Ozpin however, had one rather highly placed ally within the Atlesian ranks and luckily for Miss Belladonna the headmaster had made the decision to secretly wipe the records after watching them.

Finally, there was Jaune Arc, at first glance, an underwhelming boy from a more notable family. Ozpin had allowed him into Beacon with only a recommendation from the local sheriff and a promise from the young man's father that he had been trained up to a level satisfactory for Beacon. The Arc name aside, this was hardly enough to earn him a place at Vale's prestigious academy. However, some of the things in the sheriff's letter had been...interesting, to say the least.

Ozpin glanced back out at the airship as it landed. Yes, Mr. Arc certainly seemed like the kind of person to leave a big impression.

Hidden away in the airship's bathrooms for the entire flight, Jaune Arc was busy vomiting into a toilet.

"It's a much more common problem than people let on." His mother had always told him.

Yeah sure, that's why I'm the only one not by the windows enjoying the view. As the infernal motion ceased and his insides settled down, Jaune rose up off his knees and left the stall; moving over to the sinks to wash up. Well at least no one saw me, that wouldn't have been the best way to start meeting new people.

Jaune stepped off the airship a few minutes later, following well behind the last few students as they moved across the stone courtyard. One girl however, didn't seem to have a very good sense of direction and was walking back towards him instead of the school. Maybe she's lost?

"She is walking back towards the ship she just came from." Another part of his mind put in. "She is intentionally moving away from all the other students, she is avoiding them on purpose."

Jaune winced, "I really don't want your input." As usual, his inner voice didn't respond. The amber-eyed girl moved past him, long black hair swaying as she walked.

"She walks with casual caution, like someone accustomed to stealth." Jaune ignored the voice and moved on towards the school. He stared up at Beacon's many towering spires with awe. He couldn't believe he was actually going to become a huntsman. Distracted, he nearly walked over some red luggage someone had left lying around.

"Welcome to Beacon." The luggage murmured to itself. Jaune did a double take. Oh it's a person. Why on Remnant are they laying in the middle of the path?

"Socially awkward." The traitorous voice in his skull stated.

"Hey, I'm Jaune." He said, leaning down and offering a hand out to a little girl in a red hood.

Ruby was having one heck of a bad day.

First, her sister had ditched her. Then, she tripped over some crabby girl's luggage and then got yelled at by the girl and then Ruby literally exploded and then the crabby girl had yelled some more! Next, when Ruby thought she might be able to make friends with that dark-haired girl, they had ditched her too!

Finally, when she did manage to make a friend, it was only because he had thought she was some kind of magical talking luggage and nearly tripped over her! Ruby didn't know much about talking to boys, but from what she had heard from Yang, getting called baggage probably wasn't a good thing.

"…All I'm saying is that you were lying in the middle of the path and all of us new students are moving in so there was a lot of it going around." Jaune said sheepishly.

Ruby laughed nervously, as much as she loved finding someone as awkward as her, she needed to change the topic to something that didn't involve comparing her to a suitcase. "So… I got this thing." She said, whipping out Crescent Rose. Talking about their weapons, that's a safe topic. She could handle that much, right?

"Whoa!" Jaune shouted, clearly in awe of her baby. "Is that a-"

Ruby smiled inwardly, not many huntresses could use scythes. She didn't even know if there was anyone other than her and her Uncle that did. She waited for him to finish the obvious question…

"-customizable high impact sniper rifle?" Jaune finished.

"A wha-" Ruby said, dumbfounded for a moment, not noticing Jaune as he winced at her reaction.

No one ever asks that first. I mean he must know about weapons and stuff since he's attending Beacon, but they always ask about the scythe first. I guess the scythe part must be kind of obvious though… Still, if he noticed what kind of gun Crescent Rose was that fast he must really like weapons! This is great! I can't wait to see what his looks like!

"So what've you got?" She asked excitedly.

"Oh-uh, I got this sword." Jaune responded, holding up a simple looking blade.

Well it's no Crescent Rose, but I bet it does something insane, like shoots lightning out of the end! Or maybe he can set it on fire with the press of a button! Ruby couldn't wait to find out. "Oooooh." She said with interest, waiting for him to continue.

"Yeah, and I've got a shield too!" Jaune pulled out the other half of his gear. It was a clean white metal with two golden slivers on the front. It matched the sword well, but it was pretty basic. Like really basic for Beacon, or even Signal.

Okaaayyy… Ruby was starting to have doubts, but if he knew exactly what kind of rifle she had, surely he must have built in some really neat features. "So what do they do?" She could barely contain her excitement at this point.

Jaune pressed something and the shield folded and unfolded as he whirled it through the air, well not whirled so much as fumbled and then dropped. "The shield gets smaller." Jaune said happily, picking it back up.

Ruby stared at him blankly waiting for more. "…and?"

Jaune looked at her awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. Ruby's hopes shattered and died. It gets smaller? T-that's it!?

"Well uh, I guess I did go a little overboard designing mine." She said, trying to salvage the conversation.

"Wait, you made that?" Jaune asked. He honestly looked surprised that she would even be able to do so.

"Of course! Didn't you make yours? You seem to know a lot about weapons. You noticed my sniper rifle right away." Ruby was getting confused now. This guy made no sense.

"It's a hand me down." Jaune explained. "My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Sounds like a family heirloom to me, I like it!" Ruby tried to sound encouraging, wanting to make Jaune feel better and figure him out at the same time "but why not build your own?"

"W-well uh, " he started slowly "…I'm not really that familiar with building crazy weapons. I just uh, like reading about them, yeah."

"Didn't your last school make you learn how?" Ruby was both mildly offended and proud that he would call Crescent Rose 'crazy'.

"I didn't actually go to a hunter school before this. I'm from a small town a ways outside of Vale itself, so my father taught me instead." He said a little more quickly, but he still sounded nervous.

Well that certainly explained most of what he had said. He likes weapons, but doesn't know how to build them. Hmmmm… Internally, Ruby rubbed her hands together like some kind of comic book villain. If I help him build a new weapon I can tell Yang I'm spending time with a new friend, all while getting to build more babies. She cackled to herself…

"Uh, Ruby, are you okay?" Jaune asked nervously.

Uh-oh, had she cackled out loud? "Oh, I'm fine, ignore me." She shuffled her feet. I just have to find a way to ask him if he wants to build a new weapon with me.

"I'd love to be able to build my own and I'm sure my family would feel better if Crocea Mors was back in Ansel." He said, gesturing to the sword and sheath at his hip.

Or that could happen. Do I have mind powers? "I mean if you needed help, I suppose I could…" She trailed off, hoping her newfound powers would help out once more.

"I wouldn't want to trouble you. It sounds like that would take up a lot of your time."

That's the whole point you idiot! Drat. No mind powers it seems. "Really, I wouldn't mind." She tried again.

"I wouldn't want to be a bother." Jaune said, crushing her dreams once more.

"Please, Jaune. Let me help. Please. Please. Please." She looked up at him, doing her best Zwei impression.

"What?" He seemed confused at her sudden change.

"I mean uh…" Ruby realized she'd given herself away and gave up. "I like weapons more than people!" She shouted.

Oh no. That came out all wrong. Now he'd think she was weird. He'd make an excuse and wander off like everyone else had being doing to her today. She'd be back down to zero friends. Beacon was going so badly. How was she ever going to make anyone be her friend?

"Okay." Jaune said, pulling her out of her internal breakdown.

"What?" She said dumbly.

"I'll let you help me." He said with a grin.

"R-really?!" She asked timidly.

"Well as long as you're sure. Are certain you want to spend all of your time making high-tech mecha-shifting weapons though?" Jaune was grinning wider now. He had clearly enjoyed her outburst.

"We are building you a new weapon, and that's final!" She declared in what she thought was a very adult tone. Jaune kept on grinning. Ruby wanted to get mad and pout at his teasing, but she was just too giddy to care. Already she was thinking about what kind of weapon he might like. Mumbling to herself about caliber sizes and blade types Ruby nearly missed his next question.

"Hey, where are we going?"

"Huh? I was following you." She said. Maybe there would be a directory near by...

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Called a girl who seemed to embrace the word 'sunny' a little too much, based on her bright hair and sunset scarf.

"That's her sister." The voice inside said.

"That doesn't even make sense. She looks nothing like her." Jaune wondered if he weren't coming down with something if this was the conclusion he'd come to.

"Ruby got moved ahead two years and has been with you almost the entire time at Beacon so far. She is too socially awkward to have any friends not in her own year." Jaune could swear the voice sounded smug, even though that shouldn't have been possible.

"I'll see you after the ceremony!" Ruby called, already moving off towards the other girl.

"Hey wait!" He sighed, "Great. Where am I supposed to find another nice quirky girl to talk too?"

"Five steps back and two steps to your left." The voice chimed in.

"I'm going to make friends the normal way, thanks." Jaune glanced at the 'nice quirky girl' in question. She had beautiful long hair, as red as blood, that hung down in a ponytail and a kind face with bright emerald eyes that moved to stare back at him. Jaune moved off quickly before the girl would think anything of it.

"She noticed you not noticing and she liked it." His inner voice purred.

"How!? Who likes being ignored?" This was too much to deal with right now. Jaune wandered off to find a quiet corner, away from the attractive yet strange woman who got off on being neglected. A tall man with a cane stepped forward on the stage shortly after and moved towards a microphone to address them. As the headmaster began his speech, Jaune spotted Ruby and her apparent sister among the crowd of students in front of him.

He still wasn't sure how to feel about Ruby helping him make a new weapon, even if she really really wanted to. It wasn't so much that she would be giving up her time for it, it was more that he had already known she would agree. It felt manipulative using his abilities like that. He did need a new weapon though. Crocea Mors wasn't exactly cutting edge technology and he'd need all the help he could get to catch up with the other students. Still, you were supposed to find out what people were interested in by talking to them, not with stupid Semblances.

Jaune's Semblance was one of those annoying, uncontrollable, passive ones. It had no on switch and, sadly, no off switch. He was just hit with instinctive conclusions that someone could have been come up with if they really thought about it. Like Blondie being Ruby's sister or that Ruby's weapon was a customizable high impact sniper rifle or that tall redhead's fetish…

Okay, maybe it was a little stronger than just clever deduction. Jaune sighed and leaned up against a wall as the headmaster continued his speech. "…But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction..." The grey haired man spoke with a mysterious and wise air to his voice.

"He wants to make you all his pawns." His Semblance remarked, making Jaune question his sanity once more.

"It's like a big slumber party!" Yang said to her sister, crashing down next to her.

"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though." Ruby didn't even look up from her letter as she spoiled Yang's fun.

"I know I do." Yang purred back. Sometimes Ruby could be such a downer. Yang wasn't sure if Ruby was ever going to take an interest in such things. Not that Yang liked the idea of her sister going anywhere near someone of the opposite gender. Yang stared across the ballroom at said shirtless boys as one more entered her vision. He was holding what looked like a blue blanket. Odd. She continued to stare at his bare chest when the boy glanced her way.

"Hey Ruby, isn't that the guy you were with earlier? John?" Yang asked. She didn't know how to feel about Ruby's first friend at Beacon being a boy, but beggars couldn't be choosers and Ruby was definitely in that category when it came to meeting new people.

Her sister glanced up. "It's Jaune, not John." Ruby whispered to Yang as she waved the boy over.

Aaaand now a shirtless guy is coming over to talk to my little sister. Why did I do that?

"You must be Ruby's sister. The name's Jaune Arc short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it!" The tall boy declared confidently as Yang and Ruby stood up to meet him.

Oh hell no! This was the wrong kind of guy to be around Ruby. He was way too suave to be near her sweet innocent baby sister. Yang needed to shut this down quick.

"How did you know she was-" Ruby started.

"Do they though?" Yang cut in, filling her voice with doubt.

"T-They will." He stammered back. "I mean I hope they will. I mean my mom always said that…" he trailed off looking down at his feet, "…never mind."

Oh hell yes! Jaune wasn't suave. He was just as awkward as Ruby. She'd just been tricked by his smooth line and admittedly nice chest…

"Yang!" Ruby hissed, "You're staring."

Thankfully, Jaune didn't seem to have noticed Yang's wandering gaze, having just recovered from his stammering. Yang decided to press the advantage. "So lady-killer, I hear you and Ruby are going to be making a baby together."

Jaune sputtered and stammered in absolute shock and looked at Ruby. "W-what?!"

"Yaaaang!" Ruby threw a corgi pillow at her face. Totally worth it though, this guy was like a tall blonde Ruby. Maybe Jaune was secretly another of her half siblings, given his hair.

"She meant you and me making your new weapon!" Ruby explained with a flushed face.

"I see…" Jaune said, recovering a bit. "You weren't kidding when you said you liked them more than people." He finished, raising an eyebrow.

Yang laughed. Someone who wasn't totally freaked out by her sister's unhealthy obsession was good enough for her. Still though, she couldn't let him off the hook just yet and her curiosity was getting the better of her. "So what'cha got there, hot stuff?" Gesturing to the blue cloth in Jaune's arm.

"Oh, my pajamas." He said, showing them a fuzzy blue outfit with bunny slippers. It was adorable and horrifying at the same time.

"Why aren't you wearing them?" Ruby asked, tilting her head. Clearly missing how emasculating they would have been.

"Someone told me I would get weird looks if I did." He looked embarrassed and seemed annoyed at whoever had told him.

"Well whoever it was, they did you a favor." Yang turned her head back to Ruby. "Well he seems real enough, there you go! Plus one friend!"

Ruby muttered something about negative friends and then seemed to notice a girl sitting in the corner. "You know her?" Yang asked.

Ruby shook her head, "Not really, she saw what happened this morning with the angry girl and the explosions, but left before I could say anything."

Before she had a chance to escape, Yang dragged Ruby towards the girl in black pajamas and a matching black bow. Jaune followed after them, seeming unsure if their conversation was over or not. "Helloooo!" Yang sung out. This was great! Ruby was about to make two friends in one day!

In retrospect, Yang should really have known better. This was her sister after all.

/-/

"…Almost as lovely as this book…" The girl even looked irritated at the very effort of talking. "…that I will continue to read…as soon as you leave."

"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause." Yang made to walk away in defeat. One friend a day seemed to be what Ruby's upper limit was.

"What's it about?" Ruby asked.

"Huh?" The girl, who they now knew was Blake, looked surprised. Yang was suddenly filled with a tiny amount of hope. Ruby loved to read any adventure books she could get her hands on. Maybe this could still work, maybe they'd have a break through with a common interest in literature.

"It's about a man with two souls." Jaune responded, before Blake could answer Ruby's question. Damn it. I forgot that there are two of them now. Yang growled in frustration. How was she supposed to set Ruby up with friends when there was a second, larger and more masculine version of Ruby hanging around that was just as bad at talking?

"You've read it?" Blake asked, suddenly interested in Jaune.

"No, why?" Jaune asked obliviously. What kind of question is that!? You just told us what it was about, and Blake clearly would know if you had lied. Sweet Oum, these two are hopeless!

Blake just stared at Jaune looking equally confused. Thankfully, Ruby came in to save the day. "I love books." Her sister said, drawing the attention of Blake once more.

Yang soon lost interest in the conversation now that Ruby seemed to be having a bit of success and decided to indulge in a little Jaune watching while he was distracted. He was acting rather odd. The lanky boy was staring at Blake's bow with a frustrated expression, before rolling his eyes and muttering something to himself. Yep, he's as weird as Ruby. Still though, why say you hadn't read a book just after explaining the plot?

Ruby and Blake seemed to be finishing up their conversation and Jaune seemed suddenly eager to leave. "Well it was nice to meet you all, but I think I'm off for the night." He wandered away quickly.

"It was nice to meet you Ruby, Yang." Blake said and blew out some candles, plunging them all into darkness.

"What I don't need to break out of my shell that's absolutely-"

"Ridiculous!" Jaune finished for Ruby, passing by her with a smirk. Sometimes he just couldn't help himself. Yang and Ruby looked confused, but he was sure they'd chalk it up to a lucky guess like most people did. It wasn't that hard to figure out what Ruby was going to say even without a Semblance like his.

Now, I wonder what locker I put Crocea Mors in?

"Six three six." His Semblance was actually being helpful for once and not trying to set him up with crazy green-eyed women. Speaking of the devil…

Nope. Nope. Nope. He was walking right past that minefield. Jaune hurried past her as she talked to some pretty white-haired girl.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." His Semblance was happy to inform him. "Also, that was locker six three six they were standing next to."

Jaune hit his forehead twice against one of the metal weapon lockers in frustration and turned back to the duo. The cute Schnee girl seemed to be plotting the end of the world as he slipped in between them to get his gear.

"Excuse me! What do you think you're doing?" The heiress asked. She sounded affronted that he dared to approach them.

"Just getting my stuff." Jaune turned away and began pulling gear out of his locker. The Schnee was pretty and all, but it wasn't worth the risk talking to her with crazy girl right there. He strapped Crocea Mors to one of the belts at his waist and began to close the locker. Now if he could just finish up quickly enough…

"Nice to meet you! I'm Pyrrha." The Amazonian said cheerily. Damn it, too slow.

"Jaune." He nodded at her and kept his voice neutral. He didn't dare to be too rude, lest she try jumping him right there in the locker room. He moved in between them again, trying to escape.

"Jaune, is it?" Weiss said, catching his arm. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?" He asked hopefully. Maybe she likes what she sees.

"She doesn't like what she sees." Jaune's Semblance quickly informed him. Jaune slumped internally, so much for that idea.

"Well, yes." Weiss replied, clearly pleased to be recognized, despite how she may feel about Jaune himself. "But I meant Pyrrha." Weiss gestured to the girl just behind him.

"Hello again!" Pyrrha waved.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum." Said the voice in his skull. Was his Semblance seriously trying to play matchmaker right now?!

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum." Weiss echoed unintentionally.

"Never heard of it." Jaune responded, refusing to acknowledge his meddling Semblance.

Weiss sounded a little miffed and made a precious little scoffing noise. "She's won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row, a new record!" Weiss and his inner voice said together in perfect harmony.

"The what?" Jaune asked, pretending to hear neither of them. Weiss started screaming something about cereal boxes and Pyrrha's face, all while waving her arms up and down like a hummingbird. Jaune decided he couldn't let the snow angel suffer any longer.

"Oh, that sounds familiar." He lied. Jaune hadn't really been listening all that closely to be honest. It was hardly his fault. Weiss was pretty when she was angry.

"So do you really think you are in a position to just rudely walk off, without even talking to her?!" Weiss demanded.

"Because she likes to eat cereal?" Jaune asked. Surely that doesn't make her all that special right? I eat cereal too.

Weiss screeched. Pyrrha swooned. Jaune ran away.