Chapter 9

The morning of the initiation came with a spring in Pyrrha's step. As was becoming the norm for Pyrrha, her dreams had only been a blurry mess, there were no pleasant imaginings of her and Jaune together, but none of that mattered today. Today was the day. Her team would be reformed, Jaune would be her partner, and then she could salvage the mess she'd made the night before.

Weiss made no comment about it, too excited for what was to come. Pyrrha didn't begrudge her joy, or her ponderings on what her team would look like. She was still insistent that Pyrrha would be on hers, not aware she didn't have a choice. None of them had known how teams were selected, though putting the pieces together after the fact wasn't hard. Opposite colour chess pieces, simple enough to ensure that she had everyone grab the right pair. Make a suggestion to Nore about being the queen of a castle and she would happily follow along.

"So Pyrrha, are you feeling ready? I can't lie, I'm so excited yet so nervous. What if I get partnered with someone terrible? What if my teammates are slackers on their homework?"

Pyrrha smirked. There would be teething problems, but team RWBY would become inseparable in time, Weiss had good things coming to her. Pyrrha fitted her final armour piece, a pauldron that she tightened in part with string, but was in fact mainly done through her polarity, tightening internal metal joints to hook together in place. She'd taken to forcing herself to use it more often as a continual source of training, allowing her to use it longer and with more force.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Jaune appear with his weapons and armour, looking noticeably uncomfortable in his gear compared to the other students around him. How much had Jaune actually practiced by this point, his training had obviously been limited but he'd worn it all a few times at least right? No matter, she'd help him get better as she knew he would.

Remembering this day, she paused and waited for Jaune to make his presence known. His pickup line on Weiss was awful but amusing in retrospect. And hey, she could swoop in immediately after to show interest. So she waited.

"Are you ready to go?"

Weiss was waiting patiently for Pyrrha as she made a show of doing final checks, yet Jaune didn't appear. She caught sight of him seeing the two of them, considering walking up to them, and then turning away. Her eye's furrowed in confusion, and she wondered why he hadn't approached.

Last night.

He must have still been spooked from the night before, uncomfortable lying about his training. A twitch of her fingers was the only outside sign of her anxiety, but Pyrrha covered it as best as she could, smiling to Weiss and the pair moving on even as Pyrrha's mind whirled. Ok, so things were looking slightly different, that was okay. It wasn't like this was an interaction that deeply mattered, and Weiss finding Jaune less annoying would make life a bit quieter at least. No problem.

When they reached the platforms at the cliffside though, there was a slight problem. Pyrrha wasn't paying attention to the speech from Glynda, who was taking over from Professor Ozpin who was apparently busy in his office, no doubt still following up on all that Pyrrha had told him. But, when the order came for them to take their positions on the platforms, Pyrrha hesitated.

Did she take the same spot she had last time? Or should she move towards Jaune and get closer to him? Her hesitation cost her, and Pyrrha watched in horror as Cardin took her original spot, and Ruby moved next to Jaune. Quickly, she grabbed the next best place by Ruby's side.

"Are there any questions?" Glynda's voice only vaguely resonated in the back of her mind, already she was trying to adjust her plans.

From the angle she'd been thrown last time, and where Jaune had been hurled past her, she could figure out a rough trajectory for where Jaune was going to land. But she didn't know where her pad was going to throw her. She tried to wrack her mind and remember who had stood here originally. Was it Cardin? Had they swapped places? No, he had been near Ruby but not next to her, it was… Yang? It made sense that she would stay near her sister, but the two hadn't even been remotely near each other during the initiation challenge.

The first launches had begun, and Pyrrha began to panic.

Ok, this was salvageable, most of the landings had been decided by their strategies, right? So Pyrrha needed to try and adjust herself in the air and get closer to Jaune, so she wasn't too far away to grab him from the ground. Not to mention she still had to pin him to a tree.

Cardin's pad launched as Jaune was speaking to the professors, not paying attention but the ticking clock was booming in Pyrrha's head. She had the makings of a plan, but with no way to execute it. How could she make herself move in the air to get closer to Jaune? There was a tick underneath her pad a moment before she was thrown, the same tick coinciding with her realisation.

The pad launched her up into the sky. Sunglasses like Yang's would have been handy, but she'd have to make do. Eyes shut, she began to focus, and reached out with her polarity. A black aura appeared around her armour as she soared, and with a gentle tug she tried to push herself towards Jaune.

It was a mess, immediately sending her into a spiral. Her tug hadn't been uniform, with plates shifting and not pulling on her body in unison. She'd never practiced such a thing like this before and it showed, turning what would have been a controlled guide into a ragdoll like Jaune, who she could hear screaming from behind her.

Recover! She commanded to herself and tried to flatten herself out, this time without her polarity. Her descent became more controlled as she came closer to the trees, and Pyrrha managed to land on a branch with much less grace than last time, but just as successfully.

Her eyes instantly searched the sky, following Jaune's frightened screams. She found him, spinning head over heels, just as before. Miló came into her hand, transforming into her javelin as she tracked her target, and then threw.

Then, she waited.

"Thank you…!"

Jaune's distant cry of gratitude took the weight off her shoulders that she hadn't realised she'd been holding. Finally, she had him. Leaping from the tree she began her run towards Jaune, excitement beating in her chest.

Nothing could go wrong now.

_/\_TIG_/\_

"Wait! Where are you going? We're supposed to be teammates…"

Ruby's whines fell on deaf ears as Weiss pushed on through the brush. Weiss was adamant, she was not going to be going through Beacon partnered with a child who was clumsy, immature, and an explosive hazard near dust. No thank you. So the rules said that the first person she saw was meant to be her teammate, but Weiss was not inclined to follow them at the moment. She may have had a fondness for rules and guidelines, but clearly there had been a mistake. There was some leeway she could leverage; in fact, she was quite certain she hadn't even looked Ruby in the eyes. That's right, no eye contact, no partnership. She still had her choice.

And as she broke through the foliage, she found her second choice. Impaled against a tree by his hoody, and completely failing to free himself, was the blonde boy she'd seen before. She'd made a passing remark about him, and he'd come over to inform her he was a natural blonde, even the memory making her roll her eyes. But she forced herself to calm down. Pyrrha had told her to be open minded, that the students here could surprise her, that they would rise to the occasion when the situation demanded it. Pyrrha may have had some… intensity issues with spars, but Weiss trusted her. She was a champion fighter after all, that meant she must be a good judge of character.

"Ahem." She cleared her throat to grab the boys attention, and he stopped struggling long enough to notice her. "It appears that we are now partners, and that you require some assistance with getting down."

"Uhhh, no, I can get it." He resumed his thrashing around, grunting and muttering curses. "Come on you stupid thing."

Ruby pushed through the brush behind her, looking like a lost puppy that had just been rejected. "But- but we're meant to be teammates!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I have my partner right here." Weiss held her hand up high, pointing at Jaune who promptly fell from the tree and slammed into the floor. She adjusted her hand down without a word.

Ruby pouted before stomping her foot onto the ground, crossing her arms and turning away from the girl. "Fine! I didn't want to be your partner anyway! I bet I'll find someone who's nice, and won't yell at me every time she sees me."

"Good, I'm glad!"

"You should be!"

"I am!"

"I'm hurt…" Weiss heard Jaune moan from the floor. With a scoff, she helped him rise, noticing how he hadn't removed the javelin that had impaled him, in the end he'd just ripped his hood and fallen. She also couldn't help but notice the slight nosebleed that he had gotten from the impact.

"Wait, why are you bleeding? Why didn't you activate your aura!?"

He winced sheepishly, looking away for some kind of distraction but not finding anything. "Uh, well I um… you know, I don't have one. Better for training you know, helps with… muscles."

It was nonsense, complete nonsense. Weiss slapped her hand to her forehead, reconsidering if she'd made the wrong choice in partner. How was it possible that he had made it into Beacon without his aura unlocked? Had his training really been done without aura? He certainly didn't strike Weiss as being well trained, in fact she'd call him an imbecile to his face if she wasn't too frustrated to speak.

There would be time for all of that later. Her ponderings and calling him an imbecile.

"Fine, come here. I shall unlock your aura, and then we can move on." She stepped closer and put her hand on his chest, sniping at him not to be weird when he blushed at her touch. "For it is in success that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of perfection and dignity to rise above all. Infinite in supremacy and unbound by others, I release your soul, and by my hand, grace thee."

His aura bloomed into life, set free by her actions, and bathing him in golden light. There was a lot of it. Weiss had to admit, she was surprised. Perhaps that was why he had been trained without aura? Did it allow his potential to grow? More to look into later.

"Right, now that that's over we can continue."

Before she could even take a single step, the brush rustled again, and Weiss prepared her rapier for her first Grimm to face. Only it wasn't a Grimm at all, but rather a familiar face.

"Pyrrha!" Weiss greeted her happily and almost danced towards her were she not in the company of others. She allowed herself a small mental dance though. "It's good to see you, did you encounter any Grimm on the way?"

"Uh, no, I didn't. I didn't expect to see you here." She looked at them all with a strange amount of tension in her body. "You came here?"

Weiss nodded, holding her hand out towards Jaune. "A certain someone was stuck in a tree and needing help, so I came to lend a hand to-…"

"Jaune."

"-Jaune. Now we're partners."

Pyrrha froze, utterly still as she heard those words, not even reacting as Ruby strolled up to her with a friendly smile. "Um, so I guess that makes you and I partners right? I'm Ruby, nice to meet you Pyrrha."

Pyrrha snapped out from it, looking from Ruby to Weiss to Jaune and back and forth. "But- wait, no, you- aren't you two partners?"

Weiss and Ruby looked to one another, anger quickly rising in the both of them as they shouted back in unison. "What!? NO!"

"I would never be partners with a child like her!"

"Why would I ever be partners with someone as mean as her!"

Pyrrha continued to look between the two of them, a slight panic rising in her chest as she breathed faster and faster. "No that's not- but you're meant to be-"

A growling from the brush signalled the arrival of a Grimm. A single Beowolf at first, then two more beginning to circle them. Each was focused on Pyrrha, her internal panic unnoticed by her comrades, yet felt all too clearly by the Grimm.

"Jaune, stay out of my way." Weiss' rapier came up, preparing herself to strike. Yet just as she lunged, Ruby blurred in front of her, sending her line of flame flying wildly off into the trees and bushes, igniting a small fire that caught quickly on the dry tinder.

"Ruby! What are you-"

Pyrrha's shield slammed into the first Grimm, striking it with enough force to slice straight through its neck and decapitate the creature. Pyrrha herself struck the other two Grimm, her spear stabbing through one and punching the other, a black aura shimmering around her gauntlet as she struck. The crack of the Beowolf's mask was cacophonous, the bone shattering and exploding as its head was caved inwards.

Pyrrha stepped back, eyes wide at the flaming bush in front of her. Then she turned and ran.

"P-Pyrrha? Wait!" Ruby chased after her partner, leaving Weiss and Jaune alone in the small clearing, surrounded by disintegrating Grimm corpses.

The pair stood in silence after Pyrrha's sudden flight, and Ruby's anxious pursuit. "Um, is she… is she okay?"

Weiss rounded on Jaune, personally insulted on behalf of her friend. "Of course she's fine, she'd Pyrrha Nikos! She must be hurrying on with the rest of the initiation, just as we should be too."

With a blast of ice dust, she put the fire out and sheathed her rapier. Putting her hands on her hips as she glared at Jaune in frustration. "Now, if you're done wasting time, we need to continue."

"What? But you-" It was useless, and Jaune cut himself off as he watched Weiss push her way deeper into the woods, seemingly in the general direction of where Pyrrha had went. Jaune was quickly regretting his excitement over Weiss choosing him as her partner. "But she's so pretty…"

He mumbled to himself as he trudged after her.

_/\_TIG_/\_

Pyrrha's rush through the trees masked her hyperventilating. A root tripped her to her feet and she hit the ground, flinging herself against the base of a tree and hugging herself. This couldn't be real, there was just no way. She'd fucked up. There was no other way of phrasing it, she'd fucked up completely. Pyrrha didn't like to swear but nothing short of a runaway train of curses was streaming through her mind, fighting for domination against the flashes of fire that screamed behind her eyes.

Her plan, her dreams to make things better. She couldn't even get Jaune to be her partner again, how was she ever going to stop Cinder? They were all going to die, Beacon was going to fall, Grimm would run rampant through the streets because she couldn't succeed no matter what she tried. She, she was going to die. Her mind replayed that moment, the burning from inside out and the agony of the arrows in her body. The moment of death, it was coming for her again!

The branches rustled, and Pyrrha's wide eyes looked to see the Grimm that would be coming for her. But it was no Grimm, only a young girl in her red hood.

"Um, hey Pyrrha." Ruby gave a nervous but friendly wave as she looked at the curled up woman. "You ran away pretty fast there; I think you left your weapons behind. Are you um… are you okay?"

Ruby took a step closer and Pyrrha simply looked away, burying her head further into her arms. Ruby hesitated, never having much experience with dealing with sad people, but forced herself to push on and take a seat nearby.

"Was… was it the fire? You seemed pretty scared by it, but um… it's okay. Fire's scary, it's perfectly fine to be afraid." Pyrrha showed no reaction, so Ruby continued on uncertainly. "I get scared a lot. Yang always tells me not to be scared, but my dad said it's fine, that people get scared all the time. You can't be brave if you're never scared. So um, yeah, I'll just stay here if that's okay, but I already think you're brave."

There was silence for several moments after. When Pyrrha finally summoned the energy to unfurl herself, she saw Ruby sitting and waiting patiently, without judgement. There were tears threatening to break out of Pyrrha's eyes, but she held them back and gave Ruby a sad smile instead.

"Thanks Ruby."

The girl perked up, though almost immediately began to look bashful. "It's okay, it's just what my dad says. I probably didn't say it right, I don't think I'm a very good partner, am I?"

Pyrrha almost laughed. It was a reassuring thing to see Ruby just how she'd known her. Young, uncertain, but clearly a good team leader, and already setting to work fixing her.

"You're a very good partner Ruby. You're… I guess you're my partner."

"You don't seem very happy about it. At least you like the idea more than Weiss."

Pyrrha forced herself to stand, her armour clinking together as she rose. "Sorry, I was… I was hoping to be Jaune's partner. I wasn't expecting that we would be…"

"Do you know Jaune too?" Ruby rose and beamed at her. "We're friends, I think. He's really nice, he showed me around Beacon when I got lost! Well, I mean, we both got lost together I guess, but it still counts."

"Yeah, I know him." She knew the Jaune who had been her partner, her support she could lean on. Now… now he was Weiss' partner, and Ruby's was hers. It was different, in a way she wasn't comfortable with. But she looked down to her hands, feeling her fingers against the other, and breathing in the fresh air of the Emerald Forest. She wasn't dead, and she hadn't failed yet. Jaune would still be hers, things would just be… a little different.

Pyrrha dusted herself off and looked back through the mess of broken branches and shrubs she'd made. "I should probably go get my weapons."

"Ooh! I got it!" Ruby disappeared in a flash of petals, returning shortly later with spear and shield in hand, handing them back over to Pyrrha. "I'm really fast by the way, that's my semblance. And this is my baby Crescent Rose!" She unfurled the scythe and stroked it tenderly. "She's a combination scythe and sniper rifle, I made her myself at Signal."

"A fine weapon. This is Miló and Akoúo̱, I made them myself too. I… my semblance is polarity, I can control magnetic fields to move metal."

"Wow, magnets are cool. Wait, is that why you had that black aura around you?"

Pyrrha nodded, holding her arm up to demonstrate with her gauntlet. "I've been trying something different recently, using my polarity to amplify my punches."

"Cool! I think you'll like Yang, she's my big sister by the way, she also really likes to punch things!"

Pyrrha laughed, the two of them beginning their walk through the woods together as partners.

"Well, hopefully one day I'll find something really good to punch. And you can help me Ruby, if you want."

"Sure! I mean, I'm not very good at punching, I'm a bit… small, but I can shoot stuff really good. And like I said, I'm fast!"

She zipped around her in a flash and Pyrrha let out a much louder laugh, Ruby's innocent joy was infectious. It wasn't enough to remove the pain in her heart from her failure, but Pyrrha felt it dull just a little.