Desperate Measures
Jaune ran as fast as his combat-weary legs could carry him through the Beacon halls towards the JNPR dorm. The Grimm invasion had slowed down and the few remaining White Fang were being taken care of by the other students and teachers. But Jaune wouldn’t rest until he made it to his room and saw that Pyrrha was alright. Up until moments earlier they had been fighting side-by-side felling any Grimm or White Fang that stood in their way, but when they noticed that other students needed help they had decided to split up. Jaune had told Pyrrha to meet back at the room once they had everything under control.
But when Jaune pushed open the door to the JNPR dorm, instead of any familiar face, he was met with an empty room. Pyrrha was nowhere to be seen, but there was a piece of paper on his bed. Slowly Jaune walked over to his bed to pick up paper that was sitting on his pillow. It had his name written on it, and it was in Pyrrha’s handwriting. He skimmed the letter once, then read it again much more intently. It all sounded so unbelievable, but there was no way he could possibly have misread it. He quickly folded the letter and rushed out of the room. The letter had told him to go to the headmaster’s office. He had to hurry.
Jaune reached the elevator that would take him directly to Ozpin but just when he was about to open it—all thoughts of knocking lost in the urgency—it opened to reveal the Headmaster himself.
“Mister Arc,” the grey-haired man took a sip from his coffee cup, “I take it Ms. Nikos left you a letter, and judging by your expression it led you here and to me.” The words were spoken in the same way as the opening speech that he gave when Jaune had first arrived at Beacon.
“What’s going on?” Jaune demanded. “I mean, I got the note, but what is this? Why does it have to be Pyrrha?” His voice rose in volume as he spoke, until he was close to yelling.
Ozpin kept his expression, as if one of his students wasn’t near-panic in front of him. “It will be much easier to tell you on the way down,” he said, “Now have you made your decision or are you just going to stand there?”
“I made my decision. Take me to Pyrrha.”
The Beacon Headmaster entered the elevator, Jaune following, and the two began their descent. On the way down Ozpin explained everything. He told Jaune the story of the Four Maidens, summarized the results of the attack on the Fall Maiden, and clarified that it was his decision to select Pyrrha to undergo the Aura Transfer to try and protect as much of the Fall Maiden’s powers as possible. Ozpin assured Jaune that becoming the Fall Maiden had been completely up for Pyrrha to decide and she had chosen to undergo the aura transfer.
“Jaune, I wish to ask a favor of you.” Before the young man had a chance to take all this in, Ozpin was speaking again, “The Seasonal Maidens have great power, but the world is a dangerous place. In recent years, Maidens have traveled with other Huntsmen or Huntresses. These Shadows, as they’re called, act as traveling companions as well as bodyguards to the Maidens, should something… go wrong. Ms. Nikos does not have a Shadow assigned to her at this point. I was hoping you would take the job.”
“I’ll do anything if it means I can stay by Pyrrha’s side.” Jaune’s eyes glinted in determination. “I promised her I would.”
The elevator dinged and the doors opened as it reached the lowest floor of the academy. As soon as the two left the elevator, they were greeted with the slight odor of whiskey.
“Yo, Oz. The Aura Transfer just started. She should be ready in a few minutes, so you might want to hurry up. You’re gonna have some explainin’ to do when she gets out.” The black-haired man leaning on the wall drawled. He seemed to notice Jaune then, and asked, “This her partner?”
“This is Jaune Arc, Ms. Nikos’ partner, team leader, and her new Shadow. Which also will make him your apprentice Qrow.”
The man—Qrow—walked up to Jaune, staring intently into his eyes into his. After a moment, he nodded. “Training will start once Nikos is through with the Transfer.” Qrow extended a hand towards Jaune, “Qrow Branwen. You pal around with my nieces.” So this was Ruby’s Uncle Qrow? He wasn’t what Jaune had expected.
“My name is Jaune Arc. I’m the leader of team JNPR.” With all that was going on, it was nice to have something familiar to fall back on, even if it was just his team name, “Now what exactly is this Aura Transfer?” At that moment, a noise came from further down the hall.
“I’ll explain later. All you need to know right now is it just finished up. You might want to put your hood up,” Qrow added over his shoulder as he strode down the hall, “we still have no idea what the Aura Transfer does to a person’s mind. Seeing someone close to part of her might cause her psyche to tear itself apart.”
Jaune didn’t like the sound of that, but he lifted his hood over his head and walked down the corridor with the two older Huntsmen. After a short, silent walk, they reached a room with two pods in the middle. One pod contained a woman with brown hair and a scar on her face. The other was Pyrrha. As the trio approached the ominous setup, the pod containing Pyrrha was opened and its occupant stumbled out coughing like she was trying to get as much air into her lungs as possible.
Ozpin was the first to speak, “Do you remember anything?”
She shook her head, and Jaune’s heart plummeted. “I don’t even think I know my own name.” Pyrrha—or the woman in her body—closed her eyes for a moment, then said, “There is a word that stands out to me though, Autumn.” She shrugged. “I guess that is as good of a name as any right now.” Jaune stared at her in disbelief. This woman, this Autumn seemed so different from the Pyrrha he knew.
“I don’t have much time to explain what is going on Autumn, but we need your help.” Ozpin stepped forward, extending a hand toward the stranger who looked like Pyrrha, “You have some of the Fall Maiden’s powers and the rest is right outside. Follow me and I will explain on the way.” Ozpin turned and Autumn followed closely behind. As they walked past Jaune and Qrow, Jaune tried to make eye contact with Autumn to see if there were any sign other than her body that Pyrrha was there, but she didn’t even acknowledge him. Once they left for the elevator Qrow started walking down a different hallway towards a door at the end of the hall.
“Kid hurry up, your training is starting now.” Qrow called out from the end of the hall.
Jaune caught up with Qrow outside a metal door with a clock face embedded on it. It gave off a strange feeling Jaune couldn’t quite place. Qrow opened the door and allowed Jaune to enter, then he followed and locked the door behind them.
The room seemed far too large for the small door that they used to enter. The area they were standing in wasn’t unlike an ordinary apartment, but beyond that stretched a vast and empty space. A clock on one of the tables caught Jaune’s attention. It appeared to have stopped; he watched it for at least a minute, but the second hand hadn’t even twitched. Qrow must have noticed Jaune’s fixation with the clock and quickly explained.
“It’s not stopped,” he said brusquely, as he made his way to the apartment area, “It just runs on the time outside rather than the time in here.” He removed the cape that draped over his shoulders and hung it over a chair.
“What do you mean it runs on the time outside?” Jaune asked, confused. Qrow, who was already sitting down replied, “This room is special. Oz made it when he was tinkering with Dust and his Semblance. A year in here only takes about four hours out there. This is where I am going to train you to be that girl’s Shadow.”
Qrow took the clock and set an alarm for when 4 hours had passed outside and drew his sword. “I hope you’re ready kid.”