RWBY: LUCID

Jaune barely had time to catch his breath before Nora and Ren took point again, moving through the dream-warped streets with the practiced ease of people who had walked this realm countless times. They weren't just explorers here—they were professionals: trained, efficient, and deliberate.

Jaune managed to keep pace well enough, though he was sure they were moving slower than they usually would.

"So… you're both Rank 1s?" he asked, jogging up beside Ren.

"Correct," Ren replied without looking back. "Though we haven't reached the peak, yet."

Jaune tilted his head. "How do ranks work, exactly? What does 'peak' mean?"

"There are tiers within each rank," Nora called from up ahead. "Rank 0 is where you start when you first enter the Nightmare Realm. After reaching the peak of Rank 0, you evolve your Rune Skill into a higher form. That triggers a physical transformation too—it's how your body ranks up into a higher rank."

Jaune glanced behind him. Oscar trailed quietly, still radiating the nonchalance of a teenager walking through a park—despite being in the middle of a dying cityscape under an alien sky.

"What about him?" Jaune asked.

"Oscar?" Ren said. "He's Rank 0. A protégé. We're responsible for him."

"Protégé?" Jaune echoed.

Nora turned back with a grin. "We're a squad—Team RNO, pronounced as RENO. He was assigned to us for training and protection. He also joins us on patrols through the city."

"I see... so your team name is just your initials? Ren, Nora, and Oscar?"

"Exactly that," Nora nodded cheerfully.

Ren raised a hand. "Questions later. When you wake up. You'll get your answers in the real world. For now, we need to finish your exit."

That shut Jaune up—for now. There was too much to process, and his brain was already stretched thin. He hadn't even recovered from the shock that they were real—here with him. That they'd known all along. That they were part of something bigger.

He looked over at Ren. "That scorpion—uh, Death Stalker, right? It came out of this weird mist. It looked like a gate. Before, it only spawned weaker Grimm. This time, that thing showed up."

Ren's pace slowed slightly. He sighed, probably realizing Jaune wasn't done asking questions. "That would've been a Nightmare zone. They tend to get stronger over time. Also, the Death Stalker wasn't a Rank 1 Grimm."

Jaune raised a brow. "It wasn't? Then what Rank was it?"

"Still Rank 0. But it was at the peak of it. Strong, but not yet evolved."

"In any case," Nora added, resting her hammer over her shoulder, "that Nightmare zone's our problem. We'll take care of it. You don't got to worry about it."

There was something about the way they said it—like it was just another night on the job. But Jaune could see the weight in Ren's eyes, and the fatigue both of them tried to mask. This wasn't just something they did.

It was work.

They had to escort Jaune, protect Oscar, quell the Nightmare, and continue their patrol route before they left. Jaune kept quiet after that. He didn't want to upset either of them.

Finding a Grimm apparently, wasn't hard when you were in the company of two Rank 1s which was why, it didn't take long before they found one.

A lone Ursa.

It lumbered through a derelict construction yard, its massive frame hunched as it sniffed through debris, claws scraping against rusted scaffolding. Its eyes glowed with that same crimson light Jaune now instinctively recognized as dangerous—pure, unrelenting hostility.

"That one will do," Nora said, spinning her hammer once.

"I'll subdue it—" she began.

"Wait."

Jaune stepped forward.

They both turned to him.

"Let me handle it."

Ren's brow furrowed. "Jaune, you don't have a Rune Skill, and your weapon isn't even regulation gear."

"I've fought an Ursa before," Jaune said, drawing Crocea Mors. "Alone. I killed it. I can do it again."

"I'm not sure…" Nora hesitated. "For a Rank 0—especially one in the early stage—an Ursa is dangerous."

"Even better." Jaune leveled his blade. "Let me prove I'm not just some anomaly."

The two shared a glance.

Then Ren nodded. "We'll stand by. But don't take unnecessary risks. If it pins you, we intervene. No debate."

Jaune gave a firm nod, then stepped forward.

The ground crunched beneath his shoes as he entered the clearing.

The Ursa turned.

It roared—a guttural, earth-shaking bellow that vibrated through the bones of the dream world. Its massive limbs flexed, claws curling as it spread its arms. Its glowing eyes locked on him and—like thunder cracking—it charged.

Jaune didn't move.

He counted in his head. One. Two. Three—

Then he moved.

He ducked left. The Ursa's claws raked through the space he'd just vacated. Its mass crashed through a stack of rusted girders, sending metal shrieking in every direction.

Jaune rolled, sprang to his feet, and slashed across the Ursa's shoulder as it turned.

Sparks flew. Dream-blood sprayed.

It wasn't enough.

The beast spun, backhanding him with one massive paw. Jaune blocked, his sword catching most of the impact. He rolled with the blow, landing hard but staying upright. His upgraded Body stat dulled the pain—translating what should've been a bone-shattering hit into a manageable throb.

The Ursa roared again—and charged.

Jaune charged back.

He ducked under its first swing, slashed upward across its chest, then drove his blade deep into its abdomen. The sword bit in, anchoring him. The Ursa bellowed, thrashing wildly.

But Jaune held firm.

Gritting his teeth, he climbed.

He used his embedded sword like a ladder, pulling himself up through blood and bone. He ignored the pain, the stench, the wild flailing limbs. He scrambled onto the Ursa's back, yanked the sword free—

—and plunged it into the back of its neck.

The Ursa gave one last, gurgling roar before its body began to unravel.

Just like the Death Stalker—it turned to ash and scattered into the wind.

A soft chime echoed in his mind.

.

.

DREAM AUTHORITY EXIT: GRANTED

.

[Rank 0 Beast, Ursa, Slain]

.

.

Jaune turned to face Ren and Nora, chest heaving but smiling, triumph still ringing in his veins. They were both watching him silently. Even Oscar looked surprised. Nora was the first to speak.

"That was pretty good," she said, flashing a grin. "You're definitely an anomaly, alright."

Ren allowed a faint smile and nodded in agreement.

Jaune let out a breath and wiped sweat from his brow. "Felt like it took forever…"

Ren stepped forward and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"You should go now. And make sure you come to school on time tomorrow," Ren said, his tone suddenly serious. "Don't run away."

Jaune blinked. "What?"

Ren's expression didn't change. "Just be there. We'll talk then."

Something about the way he said it sent a ripple of unease through Jaune—but he nodded.

"I'll be there."

Nora gave him a double wave. "Sleep well, Dreamstrider~!"

Oscar smirked and offered a lazy wave. "Try not to get mauled next time."

Jaune gave a tired grin—and then willed himself to leave.

His vision blurred. The forms of his friends faded.

And just like that—

Jaune jolted awake.

.

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(Ruby POV)

The skies above their patrol sector, were still shrouded in endless red-tinged darkness of the eternal night. They always were, in the Dream Realm. The broken blood moon that loomed overhead, casted an eerie, crimson glow over the ruined buildings and shattered roads. .

Ruby darted forward, her silhouette sliced through the darkness with an accelerated boost. She barely touched the ground, propelled by her Rune skill's kinetic force that left a red trail in her wake. A small nevermore shrieked ahead of her, its skeletal wings flared wide. She responded with with a precise arc of her scythe-blade, cleaving through its chest with a burst of velocity.

The Grimm disintegrated into black ash and mist, its death as silent as its arrival.

Most of the flock they encountered tonight had been weak—low-tier remnants from a nightmare zone. Rank 0s, likely stragglers that hadn't been fully cleared after the zone in this sector had been purged by a Rank 2, a few days prior. It was routine cleanup.

Still, the flock had quite the numbers. And unfortunately, one of them wasn't like the others.

She lifted her gaze toward the crimson-lit sky. A larger Nevermore—wings broader, body plated with faint white-obsidian scales—circled above them. Its beak glinted silver in the moonlight, and its eyes glowed with residual Rune energy. This was a rank 1 creature, very likely at the peak of rank 1.

Fortunately, they weren't here to deal with a full Nightmare Zone breakout. Not this time, at least.

The objective tonight was observation and mop-up. A live patrol to keep the sector from slipping again. Ruby hated the thought of these things regrouping.

A deep thoom shook the rooftop behind her, followed by the sound of pulverized Grimm bone and scorched air. Yang, of course.

Ruby turned just in time to see the armored form of her sister deliver a rapid salvo of punches into a shrieking, larger sized Nevermore. Each strike from her Impact Gauntlets landed like a drumbeat of thunder. The air shimmered around her fists, yellow rune patterns flaring as energy discharged with each blow. With a final uppercut, a grimm burst into black smoke, scattering like burnt feathers in the wind.

Ruby was sometimes jealous of Yang's Rune Skill, Kinetic. It could absorb force and build power until Yang decided to unleash it in one brutal attack.

Hers, in contrast, was Accel, a kinetic force propulsion rune that allowed her to accelerate in controlled bursts. It left trails of glowing red light when activated, making her attacks impossible to trace by eye alone.

Ruby turned her head to the side to see her third squad mate, Weiss Schnee, standing very poised in her armored form, near a broken lamppost, eyes narrowed as a glowing circle of fire burst to life around her. Her Rune Skill, Element, could channel controlled bursts of ice, wind, water and flame through a conduit, which was her blade. She launched flames in streaks of geometric precision. They burst like miniature sun flares wherever they struck the flock in front of her.

The last and most mysterious member of her squad, Blake, flickered in and out of existence—one moment behind Weiss and the next, on a rooftop. Her black armor, accented in deep violet, seemed to blur the light around her. That was her Rune skill, Phantom, in effect. She could create short-lived clones that mimicked her movements. One split off to intercept a nevermore's dive, vanishing just before the creature's sharp claws touched it. The real Blake appeared a second later, scything her monomolecular katana through its midsection in one fluid, silent motion.

Ruby turned back to her sister, just in time to watch as she tanked a claw swipe to the chest and then, without hesitation, slammed her gauntlets together. A concussive pulse exploded outward, sending the grimm flying back before it even had time to scream.

"Eyes up," Ruby called to her squad. "That big one's circling lower."

"I see it," Blake replied.

"I'll get its attention," Yang added.

"I'll pin it down with ice," Weiss remarked coolly.

Ruby sighed despite herself. Their squad wasn't too friendly with each other. They worked fine in combat settings but both Weiss and Blake refrained from trying to get closer with either Ruby or Yang.

Sometimes Ruby wished that she was assigned with Nora and Ren instead. After Yang and her started hanging out with them more, Ruby found that they were fun to be around. It was just a shame that they had to mentor Oscar.

She supposed she couldn't be too mad, however, perhaps once Oscar reached Rank 1 she might get a chance to be reassigned?

Ruby wasn't sure. In any case, they had a Rank 1 to kill. Those grimm had their own rune skills too which made them vastly more deadly.

The air crackled, thick with tension and grit. Above them, the crimson glare of the shattered blood moon pierced the haze of dark night, casting long, jagged shadows across the fractured cityscape.

Ruby barely had a second to breathe before she caught the gleam of movement from the sky — a silver flash against red clouds, a gust of wind slicing downward.

The massive Nevermore tucked its obsidian wings and dived.

"Yang!" Ruby cried, seeing her sister still on the rooftop.

The giant Grimm shrieked as it descended like a meteor, its beak aglow with baleful red energy. Dust and glass spiraled around it in a whirling cone of pressure.

Ruby's instincts kicked in.

Accel Rune.

With a thunderclap of displaced air and a sonic burst of red lightning, Ruby vanished from the street and reappeared at Yang's side in a blink. Her boots cracked the rooftop beneath her from the force of her landing. She didn't pause to explain.

"Hold on!" she shouted.

She grabbed Yang by the waist and launched off the rooftop just as the Nevermore impacted.

The building was crushed inwards. Concrete and rebar crumbled like dry parchment beneath the monster's weight. The adjacent building also collapsed with it, buried in the shockwave and a cloud of choking debris.

The pair landed hard on a neighboring rooftop, far on the other side of the cracked street, skidding to a stop. Yang grunted, rolling to her feet, face scrunched in frustration and mild disbelief.

"Okay," Yang exhaled, brushing rubble from her shoulder, "that was close."

No sooner had she said it than Blake and Weiss materialized beside them in synchronized flashes of motion — Blake landing with the grace of a shadow and Weiss arriving in a sharp glimmer of cold air and light.

The beast emerged from the rubble like an ancient god of death. Its feathers, sleek and layered like overlapping blades, rippled with a red-tinged aura that casted hellish light as it spread its wings to full span. The thing was enormous — nearly fifteen meters from beak to tail, with a wingspan wide enough to blot out the sky. Its body was plated in white-obsidian, armored. Its eyes pulsed with corrupt hunger and malevolence.

From the rising dust, its feathers launched outward in streaking volleys of black and crimson — hundreds of them, each one glowing with red tracer trails, honing in like guided missiles. It was using its innate rune skill.

"Incoming!" Blake shouted.

Weiss didn't hesitate.

"Ice!" she commanded, her Rune flashing through her rapier.

A massive wall of glacial ice erupted in front of them, sculpted in angular curves to deflect the incoming barrage. The first wave struck with the sound of explosions, crimson blasts tearing across the top of the roof. The second wave cracked the barrier. The third wave shattered it entirely.

Ice rained down in jagged pieces as Weiss hissed a curse, shielding her eyes. "Definitely a peak Rank 1," she snapped. "Be ready!"

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Yang grinned, cracking her gauntlets. Sparks snapped across her arms as she charged up kinetic energy.

Ruby's heart pounded. Her fingers tightened on the grip of her rifle as she and the others began to circle the Grimm like wolves around a bear. The Nevermore landed in the middle of the street, its talons raking the pavement like wet clay, its screech shaking nearby streetlights.

They opened fire.

Rounds of high-caliber tungsten slugs pelted the beast's torso and wings. Sparks burst and shallow wounds gouged at its plated feathers, but it wasn't enough. The Grimm advanced through the storm of bullets like a tank, unfazed.

"Not penetrating deep enough," Blake called. "We need a plan."

"Get it grounded, and I'll lock it down," Weiss said.

"Then I'll punch it out of the sky." Yang's smirk widened.

Blake vanished in a flutter of afterimages.

Ruby watched her leap—directly onto the Nevermore's back mid-flight as the creature attempted to rise again. Blake's armor blurred with Phantom energy, clones flickering around her, racing across the Grimm's back like phantoms. They clustered around its eyes, slashing and confusing its vision.

The Nevermore shrieked and thrashed.

Ruby didn't need further prompting. "Now, Yang!"

Yang launched upward, rune flaring gold across her gauntlets and bracers. She'd been building up her kinetic charge.

With a thunderous battle cry, she slammed both fists into the Nevermore's back.

A concussive shockwave erupted, flattening cars and windows on both sides of the street. The Nevermore's wings stuttered. Its form crashed to the ground, wings crumpling beneath its own bulk.

"Trapping it!" Weiss called.

She raised her rapier and stabbed it down. Spikes of ice erupted from beneath the asphalt, impaling and chaining the beast's limbs and tail.

Blake disengaged, leaping backward—her clones drawing feather fire missiles as cover. But Weiss was already moving, stepping behind Ruby.

"Now, Ruby. Go."

Ruby stepped forward.

She was at the far end of the street now, rifle slung behind her back, the muzzle of her scythe gleaming under the broken moon. The pavement cracked underfoot as she triggered the first burst of Accel.

Then the second.

Crimson energy screamed from her armored boots and calves. Her Rune flared like a miniature supernova. She crouched low, narrowed her eyes, and launched.

Sound tore apart.

She streaked across the street in a blur of pure speed. Time seemed to fracture around her. The entire world blurred into crimson streaks and the monstrous Nevermore's head loomed impossibly large in her vision.

At the last second, Blake's final clones took the brunt of a new volley of feather-missiles. The blast passed just behind Ruby, shaving off microseconds from impact.

She slashed.

To an observer, it would've looked like she missed — a flash of motion, a blur of color streaking past the monster's head.

Ruby flew forward uncontrolled, speed too fast to stop. She rag-dolled, tumbled end over end, colliding with an upturned car and a cracked barrier wall.

Yang was already there. She caught her sister with a grunt and fell back a step, armor absorbing the brunt.

"Got you," she muttered, gritting her teeth.

Ruby coughed once. A small smear of blood touched her lips. Her breath came fast, but she didn't speak.

Her silver eyes remained locked on the Grimm.

The Nevermore stood still, its form poised mid-roar.

Then its head slid clean off, tumbling in slow motion before dissolving into ash. Its body followed a heartbeat later, fading into curling black mist and fragments of red light.

Silence followed.

Then, came the chiming pulse of the System in Ruby's mind.

.

[Rank 1 Ascended Beast, Nevermore, Slain]

[Runes received: 10]

.

She let her head rest back against Yang's chest and smiled faintly, the blood on her lip already drying in the night wind.

One more down and one less to threaten the waking world. But somewhere out there… more were waiting.

Not tonight, however.

Later, once the crimson haze of battle faded into the background hum of the dream, Ruby stood still atop a crumbling overpass. She watched the last motes of a disintegrated Ursa scatter into the night like fireflies in reverse—ash becoming nothing.

She flexed her fingers once, then turned back to the others. "That was the last one in the patrol route," she said quietly.

Yang gave a satisfied hum, rolling her shoulder with a wince. "Good. I'm running low on aura. Another minute and I'd be down to only using Body."

"You already do that half the time," Blake muttered.

Weiss didn't respond. She just pressed a hand to her temple as if trying to will away a headache. The glint of her depleted aura still shimmered faintly across her face.

Together, the four made their way back toward Beacon. Or what passed for it here.

As they approached the boundary of their designated territory, Ruby's breath once again caught in her throat. Every patrol, she expected to see the school just as she remembered it—gleaming towers, the cliffside view, the carefully maintained courtyard.

But the Dream Realm version of Beacon wasn't that. Not anymore.

Everything surrounding the area was in ruins. Collapsed highways and skyscrapers twisted like broken ribs from the skeletons of buildings. And yet, in stark contrast, Beacon stood untouched.

Massive steel walls circled the base perimeter, layered with angular steel plating and humming with protective runes. Watchtowers dotted the curtain walls, staffed by soldiers in black armor with glowing visors. Trucks and mechanized walkers moved in and out of checkpoints. Drones flew overhead, scanning the area. This wasn't a school anymore. It was a war base.

Ruby swallowed, the sight never failing to give her pause. "Its still kind of' weird to see," she murmured.

Yang gave her a side-glance. "It's pretty efficient. Keeps the real freaks out."

Together, they passed through security and checked in at the main terminal hub just inside the outer perimeter. The mission console glowed with familiar blue text. Ruby keyed in her ID and waited for the chime.

[PATROL ZONE C-19 CLEARED. REWARD DISTRIBUTED.]

[TEAM STATUS: COMPLETE.]

Mission done.

They stepped away from the terminal as Blake and Weiss gave curt nods, already turning toward the exit gate.

"We can send our report later at HQ." Weiss said without looking back.

"Sure," Yang replied, a little too brightly.

Blake offered only a wave—half-hearted, disappearing into the dark veil of her exit authority.

Ruby raised her hand but let it fall limply. "Bye..."

And then they were gone.

Yang clapped a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Don't take it personally. Weiss and Blake are like oil and water. Throwing you and me into the mix just makes a whole weird soup."

Ruby sighed. "I know. I just thought maybe after all these patrols, we'd be... something more than mission partners."

"Give it time," Yang said, then pointed ahead. "Hey. Isn't that Nora and Ren?"

Ruby's attention snapped forward. Sure enough, near one of the interior logistics tents, Nora and Ren were standing rigidly before none other than Glynda Goodwitch.

The blonde woman looked every bit the same as in the waking world, except immaculately dressed in standard issue armor now. She was sharp-eyed, with an air of no-nonsense command. But in the Dream Realm, there was something more about her presence. She radiated authority like it was a living force. And right now, she looked... stressed.

Ruby and Yang slowed, not wanting to interrupt.

"I hope you understand how impossible that sounds," Miss Goodwitch was saying, her voice clipped, not quite shouting but barely contained. "We're not in the business of entertaining dream-born myths."

"We know," Ren said, voice calm but firm. "But we saw it."

Nora was uncharacteristically quiet, her lips pressed into a tight line. Her hands were clenched at her sides. Serious Nora. That wasn't a good sign.

Ruby looked to Yang. "Do you think something happened?"

Yang frowned. "Looks like a debrief. But it seems way too intense for a normal report."

They waited until Glynda gave a terse nod and stepped away, likely to file her report with the upper command structure. The moment she was out of earshot, Ruby and Yang moved forward.

"Hey!" Ruby waved. "What was that all about?"

Nora and Ren both turned. Their expressions were far too grim for comfort.

Ruby's stomach tightened. "Someone didn't... die, right? Is Oscar okay?"

Ren shook his head. "Oscar's fine."

"Okay," Yang exhaled. "Then what's with the funeral faces?"

Nora glanced at Ren, then said quietly, "Something major's happened."

Ruby flinched at those words. They never meant anything good. Her breath caught. "What kind of major?"

Ren hesitated.

Then, with a seriousness that stole the breath from the moment, he said,

"Jaune's entered the Dream."

Silence.

Ruby blinked in confusion. "Wait, what?"

Yang looked equally stunned. "Jaune Arc?"

Nora nodded. "The same."

The two sisters stared at them like they'd grown extra heads.

Yang snorted. "Okay, are we talking about the same Jaune here? Tall, kind of dorky—new transfer and our new friend—that Jaune?"

Ren's expression didn't change. "Yes."

Ruby blinked several more times. "I don't understand?"

Yang added, "He's been awakened this whole time? But he never showed up at HQ." Yang then waved her hand to deny her own conclusions.

"No... wait. He didn't even feel like a Rank 1. How does that make sense?"

Ren and Nora gave each other a look before looking back at the sisters. "He awakened recently. Not at fourteen."

Ruby's mind spun in circles. The words echoed in her head like a warning bell that refused to stop.

Jaune has entered the Dream.

.

.

.

Jaune felt a cold, quiet jolt—like his body had been unfastened from another reality and dropped back into bed. His sheets were twisted around him and oddly stale sweat clung to his brow.

But more than anything... there was this strange, creeping stillness inside him. A hum that hadn't been there before.

He had just seen Ren and Nora. The dream-versions of them.

It was... somewhat surreal. Part of him was still expecting his own mind to be playing tricks on him. Like they were simply a figment of his imagination.

But it wasn't.

He wasn't sure of many things, but this, was one thing that he was confident about. The real Ren and Nora were aware, awake, and operating within the same dreamscape he had thought was simply a private hell, built just for him.

The realization hit harder now, in the stillness of his room. The idea that this place, the Nightmare Realm, wasn't just his burden to bear alone, or some cruel anomaly of the universe... it was shared.

When he saw Raymond and the masked man, this feeling had also been present, but... not as pronounced as it had been, this instant.

His world felt bigger, now. And heavier.

Still, Jaune had no time to dwell on his thoughts. Reality didn't care if you spent the night fighting dream monsters.

He threw off the sheets and dragged himself into his morning routine. Shower, teeth and clothes. Nothing glamorous, just going through the motions with an almost mechanical focus. His brain was still sorting through everything Ren and Nora had told him.

A Great Relic or rune or whatever it was called hadn't noticed him. He had slipped under its omniscience and apparently wasn't supposed to be in the dream at all.

And yet… he was.

Still buttoning his shirt, Jaune stepped into the kitchen and found a plate of scrambled eggs and toast waiting on the counter—left behind by his dad, who had already left for work. Jaune scarfed the meal down quickly, mouth still half-full when his phone buzzed across the table.

He picked it up.

REN (MOBILE) – Incoming Call

Jaune wiped his fingers on a napkin and answered. "Hey."

"Morning," Ren said. His voice sounded calm, but there was a stiffness under the surface, like he was a little too composed. "How are you feeling?"

Jaune rubbed his eyes. "I'm fine. I—it wasn't just a figment of my imagination right? You and Nora were there... in the...."

"Yes, we were there. In any case, hurry up and get to Beacon." Ren him.

"It's still quite early."

"I know that you usually leave in about an hour from now, but you should take the next ride, if you can."

Jaune frowned. "Okay, creepy."

"I pay attention."

There was a beat of silence.

"Listen," Ren said, "I'm serious, you should come in early. Get here as soon as you can."

Jaune blinked. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Ren didn't answer immediately.

"There's just… a lot we need to go over," he finally said. "And it's better we do that before classes start. Privately. And... well, someone wants to meet you."

"Someone wants to meet me? Who? You're acting really weird, Ren. " Jaune said, half-laughing.

"Please, Jaune."

The way he said it wasn't stern or demanding. Just quiet a quiet, weighted, resignation.

Jaune sat back in his chair.

"Okay," he said at last. "I'll come. I'll be on the train in 15, tops."

"Good. We'll be waiting."

The call ended.

Jaune stared at the screen for a second longer, brows furrowed. Ren hadn't sounded panicked, but something in his voice told Jaune this wasn't a casual meeting.

Anomaly. That's what they kept calling him. But what did that even mean? He was older than he was supposed to be—sure. But so what? He didn't feel like a world-ending glitch.

He sighed and grabbed his bag. Whatever it was, he'd face it.

The train to Beacon was quiet. No loud commuters or rush of people. Not that there usually was, a big rush of people but since he had taken an earlier train, there were even less commuters in the cabin than what Jaune was used to. The silence gave him a lot of space to think. Every time he blinked, he saw the crater the Death Stalker left behind, Nora's hammer slamming down with inhuman force, or Ren's sharp gaze boring into him with too much knowledge and not enough context.

And then there was Oscar, barely fourteen, walking beside them like this was routine. Jaune had once believed that the dream realm was his curse. Now it almost felt like he had stepped into someone else's war.

When he reached the gates of Beacon, his heart sank.

They were all there.

Ren and Nora stood at the front, flanked by both Ruby and Yang, who looked like they had been waiting too. All of them were in their school-casual wear—hoodies, jackets, their usual weekday look—but their expressions were far from casual.

Solemn. Perhaps almost reverent. As if they were witnessing something unreal. Their eyes locked on Jaune the moment he stepped off the walkway.

'Interesting... could it be... that both Ruby and Yang are awakened too?' Jaune analyzed in his head.

They neither waved nor smiled. Just stared.

"…Okay," Jaune muttered to himself. "Time for answers I guess."

He adjusted his bag, walked the final steps to close the distance, and tried to keep his voice steady.

"Uh… morning?"

"Morning," Ruby said, soft and uncertain.

"Sup' Jauney. Quite the interesting night you had eh? Im surprised you're even here." Yang however, gave him a smile.

"Course I'm here," Jaune said, awkwardly. "Ren told me to come early. Kinda stressed me out, not gonna lie."

Yang raised an eyebrow and glanced at Ren. "Did he now?"

"Don't act like you weren't all in on it," Jaune said, glancing between them. "What's with the whole... welcome committee thing? You guys look like you're about to tell me I'm adopted."

Nora stepped forward, eyes scanning him like she was trying to find something invisible.

"You really have no idea," she said, softly.

Ren sighed. "We didn't want to make a scene. But… they had to be here."

"Why?"

"Because they're like us," Ren answered. "All of us are awakened. All of us share this... burden, so to speak."

Jaune was quiet for a bit as he processed the information. He looked at each of them carefully, before responding.

"Yeah, I figured as much. Are the two of you are also at Rank 1?"

Ruby gave a hesitant nod. "We've known about each other for a while now, Jaune. You're the only exception here, technically."

Jaune narrowed his eyes. "I... see. But... you're acting like I'm a prophecy come to life or something like that."

"Well, from what Ren and Nora have told us... it's not what you are, but rather, what you're not." Ruby explained.

Jaune blinked. "That's… cryptic."

Yang crossed her arms. "You need to understand something, Jaune. We've had dozens of kids enter this world. Hundreds of thousands of millions of them over the long-long time that the nightmare realm has been around. All of them are subject to the rules of the realm. They awaken at fourteen, get tracked by the Relic and get picked up by others like us."

"You're the first," Ruby added, "to fall through the cracks. Cracks which should have been non-existent."

"You're sixteen, Jaune," Ren nodded at her words. "No one awakens at sixteen. And not even on your sixteenth birthday either. "

"The fact that you did?" Yang shrugged. "Let's just say people upstairs are gonna want answers."

Jaune opened his mouth. Closed it again. He looked at them, this strange half-circle of students—no, soldiers—with solemn faces and quiet eyes.

"I didn't ask for any of this," he said finally.

"I know," Ren said. "None of us did, but you've already survived worse than practically all trainees ever do. Alone. Im not even sure if that's simply luck or just pure skill. In any case, it's not normal."

Jaune exhaled. "You guys are really bad at making someone feel welcome, you know that?"

Nora gave him a big toothy grin at him. "Don't get us wrong, Jauney. It's not that we think you're weird, its simply that there are implications surrounding your existence that now have to be thought about by the higher ups."

Nora slung an arm around his shoulder and pulled him along. "Come on, aren't you excited to finally join our club?"

"Your club?" Jaune question, curiously. "I thought your club was that psychology and... dream... oh."

Jaune felt a little stupid for not realizing it sooner, but in hindsight, how was he supposed to know about that? The only one that really gave anything away was Ruby. Jaune supposed that she wasn't very good at lying.

"Yeah that makes sense I guess. So that whole thing with the headmaster having to invite students personally... those are all awakened students too?"

Ren stepped and patted Jaune's shoulder just as Nora was dragging him to the club buildings.

"You got it in one. There are actually quite a few of us here in Beacon."

Jaune gave a tired grin.

"I'm starting to realize that."

.

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AN: Super wordy chapter because I had to go back and an add extra p.o.v. shift for Ruby. Wanted to test my p.o.v. shift skills. Let me know if its bad and you all do not like it. Also, tomorrow will be the last chapter for this volume, then I'm going on a short break, so no daily uploads. Just be aware of that, my faithful and cute, audience.

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