The sunshine had pierced through the mess hall windows of Beacon Academy, however it was the hustle and bustle of the students that woke Jaune up. The embittered yawn that escaped his lips as he rose seemed to fall on deaf ears as the students continued to mind their own business, ignoring their volume. Jaune slumped forward in the coat, stretching his arms to regain his motor functions. He needed to get ready, Nick was somewhere on campus with his stuff and he needed to prep for the initiation as well.

Jaune rose from his bed, snatching his small duffel bag, putting on his unbuttoned dress shirt as an act of modesty and leaving Ruby and Yang to snore in their respective cots. Blake's was missing, but it didn't matter. They'll meet again. He exited the large cafeteria, walking the halls for his desired location. Damn, he should've grabbed a map. The halls were ornate, like a mansion or a stuffy dinner party with a murder mystery waiting to happen. However, after jostling around for a couple minutes, a small weight had made itself aware of Jaune's senses in his khaki pocket.

A series of numbers. #129: 01-19-88.

Jaune stared at the numbers for a minute, when did he get this? Was it during the speech? He couldn't remember much when a gentle hand had carried so much force to a simple slap. However, his concentration was broken as he realized what it meant. The Lockers! Of course. He didn't really pay attention, he just grabbed a piece of paper off the table that everyone was at. Well, if he was in the neighborhood, he might as well check.

With the thought, he planted his heel, doing a complete 180 turn as he made his way to the lockers. Maybe they had what he needed there. His dress shoes left a domineering sound as he walked, seeing something quite…. Interesting. A redhead bombshell, a real dime of the dozen of the other huntsmen and huntresses walking the hallways, looking for their own lockers. The closer he got to her, the giddy he became aware of her locker number: 133. As he reached his locker, he decided to turn on his trademark Constantine charm.

Jaune began to fiddle with the lock, glancing at the paper and returning to fiddle with it.

"Damn it all, just work. C'mon." he muttered, futilely playing with the mechanism.

Four lockers down, Pyrrha Nikos was humming her own tune while examining her new locker, her mind pulled out of the music when she heard a mutter from her locker neighbor. He seemed to have trouble. She assessed whether helping or not, but relented. He was a high seven from her perspective, the unbuttoned shirt revealing a well taught body riddled with unusual tattoos.

"Excuse me, did you need help?" she asked, gently approaching to see what was wrong.

"Ah, sorry. I was just having trouble with the combination" Jaune replied, gesturing to the paper and the lock.

"Oh! Let me help you with that." she said, taking the initiative and inputting the combination.

A resounding click notified the duo that the locker was unlocked. Jaune clapped his hands together in praise and bowed.

"Thank Goodness! I was wondering if I was going to have to go a whole year without it. I'm Jaune. Nice to meet you." he praised before extending his hand forward to the woman.

She accepted the handshake with a smile, however, oddly silent. A detail not ignored by Jaune. With the break of the shake, Jaune leaned forward.

"Your name?" he asked

Pyrrha backed up, surprised at the question.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I thought you already knew my name." she sheepishly said, apologizing.

"I'm known for being quick witted, but I'm not psychic" he joked, alleviating the awkward situation.

"Well, my name is-" Pyrrha failed to answer as a booming familiar voice came from behind Jaune.

"Pyrrha!" Weiss exclaimed, shoving Jaune into the locker walls.

Damn, doesn't this woman let up? I faked being crippled once and it's like I spat in her food. Jaune mumbled as he reoriented his position by his locker. Weiss had passed Jaune and taken to Pyrrha's side, wearing a face of disgust as she saw Jaune's appearance.

"What are you doing with this conniving fiend?" She asked, venoms basically dripping from her tone like saliva.

"Oh, we're locker neighbors and he was having trouble opening his locker." Pyrrha explained.

"Oh, yeah." Weiss said, sarcastically, "Being blind really makes it difficult, I assume"

Jaune rolled his eyes. Talk about the vindictiveness on her.

"Look, I lied to get out of trouble. I don't see why that's such a problem."

"PROBLEM!?" she asked, raising her voice, "You destroyed 10,000 lien worth of Dust with your two lien lighter and could have seriously injured or killed the three of us!"

*Snrk*

Weiss' tirade against Jaune was interrupted by a single snicker coming from Pyrrha Nikos. The silence was deafening before the dams broke.

"Bwahahahahaha! Weiss! That actually happened? Oh my Goodness! I thought that was just some tall tale you made up!" Pyrrha said, unable to contain her laughter.

"He….he...hehehe" Jaune began to cautiously before losing control, "Hahahahahaha HAHAHA"

The hall became an echo chamber fulfilled by the harmonious laughter of Jaune and Pyrrha. Both figures hitched over in laughter while their audience, an embarrassed Weiss stands between them, red in the face from the embarrassment. Her huffing did little to cease the action. However, after several moments, the laughter died down.

"Have we had enough?" Weiss asked, folding her arms.

"Oh, Jaune. You are quite the character, I might say. I hope to see you soon." Pyrrha praised, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Alright, pleasantries over. Pyrrha, do the thing." Weiss commanded, getting a nod from her acquaintance.

Jaune was still arched over when a spear had come flying, sending him down the hallway and planting itself in the wall. Never minding the potential concussion that he might have now, he lifted his head to spy the two figures he was talking two appear to be significantly smaller and harder to hear.

"Sorry!" a faint voice echoed.

While rubbing his eyes, the spear gently moved, an action Jaune didn't pay attention until his shirt suddenly fell faint as a large gust of wind blew past his cheek. Opening his eyes once more, the spear was gone along with Pyrrha and Weiss. Neat Trick, he compliments internally. Pyrrha. What a nice girl. It'll be good to see how the cogs of fate will turn in his favor regarding her, like usual.

"There you are, you barmy wanker!" the voice of his old friend broke the silence of contemplation.

Jaune turned to see Nick, his old friend. The geezer was dressed in a green dress shirt along with white khakis, the legging on his left, barbarically cut at the thigh, showing off his softwood marionette leg. His greying hair was styled into a bedhead look with an unhealthy amount of texture paste, along with a buzzcutted five o'clock shadow. He was carrying a leather messenger bag, seemingly weighing him down from how jam packed it seemed.

"And good morning to you, you airy fairy skiver." Jaune greeted back, raising his body from the floor.

Jaune buttoned up his shirt, fretting about the spear tip sized hole now in the collar. Could this day get any worse? Scratch that, it was only morning. Better to not jinx yourself. Either way, Jaune tidied his clothes, pulling his trenchcoat from his duffel bag and placing it on his person.

"So, you got my stuff?" Jaune asked.

Nick unequipped the bag from his person, handing it to Jaune. Jaune opened the bag, inspecting the contents. Gauze, antiseptic, multiple dust crystals, a notepad with pencils, and empty glass bottles. It wasn't much, but considering how Nick packed it specifically for the initiation, Jaune wasn't going to complain.

However, something glaring was missing. Something REALLY important was missing.

"Oi, Nick." He stated, getting his attention "Where's my weapon?"

Nick merely looked away, mumbling something under his breath like a child would if caught in a lie. Jaune wasn't having any of it, kicking Nick's wooden leg, causing it to dislodge, sending Nick tumbling to the ground.

"You bloody muppet pikey! You realize that without a weapon, my ass will be served on a silver platter! You trying to get me killed, you nutter!" Jaune shouted.

"Off it, mate! I forgot it and when I realized that, I was already on the bullhead." Nick reasoned, grabbing his leg and wedging it back into place.

"Oh, right on, bud. And you mind telling me there's enough time to go back and get it?" Jaune asks.

A crinkle of muffled audio covered the halls as a short mechanical jingle before an announcement played over the P.A.

"First year initiates, please continue towards Emerald Forest for the initiation to begin."

With a closing jingle, the revelation left the duo in a more compromising position than before. In layman's terms, he was absolutely fucked. Nick stood up, adjusting his position to compensate for his leg as he began to dig in his pocket. He had something that could help, if not slightly. Moments later, Nick pulled out a small blade from his pocket, extending it to Jaune.

"Here. It may not be much, but it's better than nothing and your 'talent'." he added.

Jaune took the blade and lifted it for examination. It was a small blade, shown by how it had fit in Nick's pocket. The hilt was a golden hue, with tiny claws of gold extended outwards. The blade was stainless, it's metal almost self sharpening in its appearance and upkeep. On the blade were several symbols in a line, mimicking circular shapes, ending up with a full circle at the end. Oh, shit. Jaune remembered what this weapon was.

"The Moonblade" he muttered, remembering the blade.

"Yep, I keep it on me whenever I go on errands during the day." Nick added.

The Moonblade was an artifact that Jaune had bought 4-5 months back. The origin was unknown, but the sword had an unusual ability. A weapon-based metamorphosis. During the day, the blade is the size of a dagger, but come nightfall,the blade grows to the length of a longsword. It had cost a pretty penny, but money wasn't a concern for Jaune. He had his ways of quick cash.

Too bad that it's 10:30 in the morning. But, like Nick said: It's better than nothing. Jaune placed the dagger into his bag. He sighed, might as well get this over with.

"Thanks, Nick. I appreciate it, really. I'll see you after the team ceremony." Jaune said, walking away towards his desired location.

"Make sure to snag a hotty like I did!" Nick yelled as the distance grew greater between them.

Jaune could only smile at the advice, offering a thumbs up which was reciprocated by Nick. Now, which was was to Emerald Forest.

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The cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest was well kept, a mass of students occupying it as the headmaster and his assistant stood to instruct them. Jaune had approached the mass, greeting Ruby and Yang as they reunited to listen to the instructions. The instructions were fairly basic, having a set number of students enter the forest at once to play a game of Snatch and Run. He didn't hear all of the instructions as he diverted his attention to organize his contents in his bag.

"Will be joining us for this exam?" Ozpin asked, snapping Jaune out of his bag.

Everyone was on these metal platforms, save for one right next to Ozpin. They began to snicker and laugh as Jaune stood alone. Jaune wiped his nose in embarrassment, stepping on the platform like he was supposedly instructed.

"Does anyone have any questions?" Ozpin asked, somewhat rhetorically as he stood beside Jaune.

Jaune raised his hand, mainly to remind him of the entry method.

"Hey, Ozzie. Remind me, what was the method of entry?"

Ozpin smiled, taking a sip of his coffee. This was going to be fun.

"I believe my words were clear enough. Just make sure you have a landing strategy." He answered, a faux smile on his face as he lowered his hand to the control.

"Have a safe trip, Mr. Arc." he whispered as he pressed the button.

Upon activation, the platform below jaunt whirred for a moment before a sudden force below the platform had launched Jaune into the skies above alongside several other students. However, besides the dense whirring of the wind against his ears was the second loudest sound he was hearing as his screams of terror had damn near made him deaf.

Ozpin stood at the cliff, smugly sipping his coffee, looking at his scroll.

"Favorite part of the job" he chuckled.

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. Fuck. Mr. Arc. How did he know? Did he slip up? Maybe he was hearing things. Whether Ozpin knew a last name was Jaune's last worry at the moment as terminal velocity was about to bodyslam him to an early grave. His body in a free fall, he was about to pierce the trees and hit the ground when a whirring red object had struck Jaune, planting him to the large tree, suspending him 30 feet above the ground.

"He. hehehe. HAHAHA!" Jaune laughed, almost deliriously. Fate saves his ass once again.

However, fate was not always pretty. That and Jaune felt a weird tugging sensation, noticing that it didn't come from his clothes. Jaune looked up to assess where the tug was coming from.

Looking up, the red object that saved him was the same spear that pierced his shirt less than an hour earlier. The issue was with where it was planted. The spear was lodged in the middle of Jaune's right hand, piercing his palm and into the tree. Upon the sight, all the pain that was missing began to shoot into his nervous system at once.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" The birds of the encompassing trees began to fly at the sudden shouting.

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Ozpin and Glynda winced at the injury, almost disgusted at the sight.

"Oof. Almost makes me sorry for him." Ozpin noted, taking another sip from his cup.

"It looks like Ms. Nikos is heading that way, her tracker moved twice as fast at the scream." Glynda noted, looking at her scroll.

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It had hurt enough that he had a spear through the middle of his hand, but gravity decided to play it's game as well. The longer Jaune was there, each bounce added to the spear's blade upward bisection between his middle and ring finger. WIth a final bounce, the spear had completed its job. Jaune fell to the ground, a loud thud accompanying it. Damn, this must be a speedrun to shit falling apart.

"Jaune! Oh My Gosh! What happened!?" the voice of Pyrrha broke through the resounding pain.

Jaune used his divided hand to point to the spear, his hand split in two and gushing blood.

"I found your spear. Thanks for that" Jaune muttered, rolling his body over to get on his knees.

The chaos was a blur, just an onslaught of apologies from Pyrrha as she retrieved her spear. He once again showed the hand to Pyrrha.

"How bad is it?" He asked, not wanting to look at the final product.

"It's….." Pyrrha said, unable to finish her sentence.

Fuck, this was really bad. If it takes you longer than three seconds to find a proper adjective, it must be really fucked. Looking at it reminded him of a reindeer in some aspects, his arm being the neck and the split hand acting as antlers.

"We need to head back to Beacon. This is serious!" Pyrrha said, fretting over Jaune's health.

"It's fine" Jaune lied, "I'll just patch this up and we can finish the test. Like he said: Snatch and Run"

Using his left hand, he pulled out the antiseptic, gauze, and a single fire dust crystal. He handed the gauze to Pyrrha as he opened the antiseptic, pouring the liquid on his hand. It stung like a bitch, but it's better than an infection. After letting the antiseptic rest and using his shirt to wipe off any left over liquid. Using the crystal, Jaune placed it on the ground, using a nearby stone to smash it to a fine powder.

"Hold my hand together." he commanded.

The simple command was met with a reluctant Pyrrha gently grabbing the left and right side of Jaune's hand and pressed them together. Jaune began to coat his hand with the crystal powder, pulling out a lighter.

"No matter what happens, keep them together." he said, flicking his lighter on.

With a gentle and slow approach, Jaune pressed the lighter to the powder, igniting it along the line where the hand split. Jaune dropped the lighter and began to bite into his left hand as the burning pain began to grow into a fluctuating numbness as the flames died out.

"Here." Pyrrha said, taking control.

She gently applied the gauze to the now burnt, but cauterized hand. In the end, the hand looked fine, if not looking like a mummy. Jaune played with his fingers, mildy stretching them in exercise. Jaune looked at them, then to Pyrrha.

"Thanks." He praised.

"You're welcome. Partner." Pyrrha said, squatting down to get closer.

Jaune cocked his head in amusement towards her.

"Partners? Says who? Not that I object, but you didn't make the best first impression on the battlefield." he joked.

Pyrrha laughed, if not somberly. His hand was hurt because of her. However, an alternative thought came to her. Jaune had a cigarette planted in his mouth, but was halted from lighting as Pyrrha looked back at him.

"Why didn't your Aura stop it?" She asked, confused.

"Oh, I ain't got it. That's all." Jaune replied, lighting his cigarette.

Oh.

.

.

.

.

Wait

"You're at Beacon and your Aura is still locked!?" She shouted in shock.

Jaune applied his hand to his ear to save it from the shouting.

"It's not locked. I just don't have any." He answered.

"But, everyone has aura, locked or not."

"You'll learn soon enough that I'm a special case, in more ways than one."

Jaune stood up, contorting his neck to pop a crick in it. He offered his uninjured hand to Pyrrha, almost angelically in a way.

"Now." He stated, "Lets get whatever that old geezer wanted." Jaune said.

It may have been the tone, but Jaune's resolve had caused a smile to encompass Pyrrha's lips. She grabbed his hands as he hoisted her up. Together, they began to walk deeper into the forest for the test to begin.

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A/N: Two chapters in one year? I'm too kind aren't I?