5 Chapter Five

Ruby was not having a good time.

She got a partner, but she didn't know if that was for the better or for the worse.

Weiss Schnee, the girl she blew up, though that was an accident, at the entrance of the school. Jaune's pad must have malfunctioned because he was launched too far away and last she remembered, she was still in the air when she landed.

And she couldn't find her sister, Yang.

It was too late anyway, judging by how she was in the air again, clutching on a giant feather as her partner screamed at her at the top of her lungs.

She looked down, hearing the voice of what sounded like explosions. It might have been her sister, but since the trees were falling over in a straight line with dust kicking up every time the loud noise sounded, it was distinctly not Yang.

The sound seemed to get attention of Weiss too because she went silent and looked at the source...

A final explosion and she saw a figure barreling towards them, or rather, the giant black crow they were on known as a Nevermore.

Wait, was that...

"Jaune?"

A second after that mutter that went unheard in the wind left her mouth, the said blonde crashed into the nevermore. She jerked, losing her grip on the feather as she fell to the ground.

A scream left her mouth as she watched the nevermore start disintegrating in the air, turning into dust as she and Weiss fell.

She noticed Jaune turning their head toward her before he got too small to discern his expression.

A second later, the corpse of the giant raven jerked to the side as she felt an arm wrap around her waist. Unfortunately, it wasn't a rescue attempt as Jaune seemed to speed up their descent.

She yelled again at a higher volume when white light burst from her left, from Jaune.

And she closed her eyes as the tops of the trees came into her view and the two of the hit the ground.

___

"You good, Crater face?"

I asked as Ruby clung to me like I was her only lifeline. She didn't seem to hear me, her eyes were closed tightly and her arms were tightening around my neck almost painfully.

"Hey! Snap out of it."

I flicked her forehead and she finally let go, cradling her forehead.

"Hey! What was that... For? Jaune!"

She trailed off for a bit before exclaiming, hugging me again, and berating my ears with high-pitched thank you's.

I just patted her head as I looked up, seeing the SDC heiress falling. Should I? Hmm.

I only caught Ruby because she was coincidentally in the way when I aimed for the ground...

As she got closer, I debated whether to catch her or not, but that debate didn't last long as a Glyph, probably her semblance, appeared below her and she managed to stick the landing.

"Hey, Ruby, your partner survived."

I informed her blandly as she managed to detach herself from me and look towards the white-haired girl that seemingly wanted to pull off a snow-white look... literally. The only Isemetrical thing on her was her ponytail, for some reason.

Meh, people were weird.

I was basically a Saber knockoff, who was I to judge?

"Weiss! You're okay!"

Ruby disappeared from in front of me in a burst of red rose petals and crashed into Weiss, hugging her as the white-haired girl tried to get her off.

Well, guess she was a hugger.

I looked back in the direction I arrived from, observing the damage I did to the surroundings, and shrugged nonchalantly. Mother Nature would take care of the damage.

"Get off me you dolt! We still have a temple to find!"

I looked to my left, spotting the said temple where Chess pieces were... Chess pieces? Is that how Ozpin saw us?

I took a deep breath, calming my nerves, and pointed at the temple.

"You mean, that temple?"

The two girls looked over at where I was pointing. Ruby looked sheepish while Weiss just blinked and stuck her nose in the air.

"Indeed, let us go."

An heiress indeed.

Shrugging, I walked behind them as we walked out of the woods, spotting the two figures that were watching us in front of the temple.

One was Yang and the other was a black-haired beauty with a bow on her head... Yeah, there were an extra pair of ears below those.

Humming slightly, I resisted the urge to dash there, grab a chess piece and leave to find a partner.

"Ruby! Did you just fall from that giant nevermore?!"

Yang yelled as she ran forward picking Ruby up and looking her over.

"Yang! I'm fine! Jaune saved me in time! Let me go!"

She wiggled around in her grasp as the black-haired girl walked up, silently.

Too silently.

My eyes narrowed as I kept walking past the two sisters and entered the temple, looking around for a moment. Meh, the rook it is.

Shrugging, I walked over to one of the gold pieces and picked it up. Now, I needed a partner... Where the hell can I get me a partner?

I frowned as my head snapped to the right, hearing the heavy footsteps that were coming through the woods. Beowulf? No, too irregular, Ursa then.

And my suspicions were correct when an ursa burst out of the bushes, dropping dead a second later, what I didn't calculate was the teen riding it.

"Aw, it's broken!"

Yes, it was indeed. My confusion didn't last long, as I looked exactly ninety degrees to the right to spot a giant scorpion chasing a red-haired teen.

... Who was alone!

Partner! Partner! Partner!