Saving a Life

Beacon Academy was just as stunning as its exterior—at least judging by the amphitheater Atrament and Ruby had just walked in. The afternoon sun shone through the glass dome that served as a roof, illuminating the large, student-packed area that led to a wooden stage with an ornamental backdrop. On the sides were raised bleachers protected by a blue forcefield. The whole place was a shining example of fine Valean architecture, both impressive in its grandeur and humble in its simplicity.

"—and the recoil dampeners are custom-tuned," Ruby was saying, her hands moving in animated shapes as she tried to illustrate mechanics in midair. "So when you fire from the scythe form, it actually stabilizes the blade rotation instead of throwing it off."

Atrament was starting to really enjoy Ruby's presence. Her enthusiasm for her craft was genuine, unburdened by the pretensions that usually accompanied skilled combatants. When she spoke of Crescent Rose, she did not boast; she simply loved the machine, with a purity of affection matched only by her knowledge in the most obscure parts of weapon engineering. Plus, she was far from displeasing to look at, and Atrament found his gaze lingering upon her with an interest that had little to do with weapon schematics.

Ruby was small—petite, even—with a slender frame that belied the considerable strength required to wield Crescent Rose with such effortless grace. Her skin was fair, almost porcelain, with a faint rose flush across her cheeks that seemed perpetually present, as though she had just come in from a brisk autumn wind. Her hair was a striking contrast of midnight black and crimson red, and Atrament noted that the color was not the product of dye but appeared natural. But it was her eyes that commanded the most attention: large, luminous, and an arresting shade of silver that seemed to shimmer with an inner light. They were wide and expressive, capable of shifting from fierce determination to childlike wonder in the span of a heartbeat, and they fixed upon him now with an earnest, unguarded warmth that he found unexpectedly disarming.

"Ruby! Over here!" Atrament and Ruby both turned to see a blonde girl with a brown jacket and very large... lungs. "I saved you a spot!"

"Oh!" Ruby started to move towards Blonde, before quickly turning to Atrament. "Hey, I-I gotta go."

"No problem," he replied. "We can catch up later."

Atrament watched Ruby vanish into the crowd, her diminutive figure weaving toward the blonde girl with an energy that seemed to part the sea of students around her. He wandered as well, noting the almost-late entrance of a tall, scraggly blond boy.

Atrament's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a throat clearing and a microphone hissing. "I'll... keep this brief."

He turned his head towards the stage, where two people were standing—a really tall silver-haired man with dark green clothes and black glasses, and a much more pleasing to the eyes blonde woman dressed in black and white with a purple cape. He knew who they were: the deputy headmistress and the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Glynda Goodwitch and Ozpin... Actually, Atrament didn't know his last name. Or even if Ozpin was his first or last name. Odd.

"You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." While Atrament was musing to himself, Ozpin had continued his introductory speech. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." That was... not where he expected the speech to go. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Well. That was certainly... something. Atrament wasn't sure what exactly to make of it—although it might have been the point. Certainly, it encouraged reflection. As Ozpin walked away from the microphone, he was replaced by Professor Goodwitch. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your Initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

Beacon Academy was kind enough to provide their future students with sleeping bags. Atrament had put on his sleepwear—simple comfortable dark blue pants and an open dark blue dressing gown with a parchment-colored belt—and was almost ready to sleep, when the blond boy from earlier, now dressed in steel blue pajamas and matching bunny slippers, pointed to the place next to him. "Hey man, it this place taken?"

Atrament shrugged. "Not to my knowledge." Now that he saw him from closer, he recognized the boy from the Airship, as the one that vomited during the flight. His airsickness had to be quite intense to overpower his Aura to this point.

"Cool." Airsick Boy sat down on his sleeping bag and held out his hand. "Name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." Did they, now?

"A pleasure," Atrament replied. "My name is Atrament Vellum." He accepted the handshake, noting the softness of the boy's palm. Not the hand of someone who had spent years swinging a weapon. Curious. He wanted to know more. "So what weapon are you using?"

"Crocea Mors," Jaune responded. "It's a sword, with a shield that can get smaller. It's a hands-me down, my great-great-grandfather used it in the War."

"Really? How unusual. Most primary combat schools have their students forge their own weapons. Where did you study?"

Jaune chuckled uneasily. "Oh, it was a really small school, I doubt you'd have heard of it."

Even if Atrament wasn't raised by a lawyer, he would have been able to see through this lie. "You never know. Why don't you try me?"

"Well... Where did you study, huh?"

A blatant attempt at redirection, one that would never have flown usually. However, pushing Jaune too far would make him clamp down, or even flee, and Atrament was curious about his situation. "Pharos Academy. It's the main primary combat school in Vale's vicinity—the city of Vale, not the whole kingdom."

"I see. And what did you study there, exactly? The specifics, I mean, I've been to a combat school too."

Sure he did. Still, Atrament had to keep the conversation going if he wanted to learn more. "Oh, the curriculum didn't deviate from the usual—Aura unlocking, basic combat training, weapon manufacturing..."

"Aura?" Jaune sounded confused, and Atrament felt a growing sense of dread. This was no longer idle curiosity.

"You... do know what Aura is, right?"

Jaune scoffed and darted his eyes away. "Of course I do! Do you know what aura is?"

This was exactly what Atrament feared. He didn't know what the Initiation would entail, but he was aware that it included fighting against live Grimms, and if Jaune went as he was now, he would die. Atrament would not let that happen. Fortunately, he had a plan. A simple plan, true, but an efficient one. Overcomplicating plans only introduced more points of failure, after all.

Not letting Jaune be witness of his inner turmoil, Atrament simply replied to his question. "Aura is the physical manifestation of one's soul. It allows people to accomplish great physical feats, to wield the power of Dust, and even to shield themselves from injuries."

Jaune's eyes widened in understanding. "It's like a forcefield!"

Atrament frowned. "More like an energy source that can be used to power a forcefield, but it's not an inadequate description. It's also the fuel for Semblances."

"And... remind me again, what's a semblance?"

Hook.

"A Semblance is..." Atrament thought quickly. Somehow, he felt like the philosophical explanation would fly over Jaune's head. "...a superpower, unique to everyone. Mostly." Some Semblances were hereditary, like the Schnee Family Semblance, but explaining that would only confuse him.

"I see. And what's your superpower... I mean semblance?"

Line.

"It's... Well, it's rather difficult to explain. To put it simply, I can reveal certain characteristics of various things by writing on them. Perhaps a demonstration would be more instructive, if you're interested?"

"Sure. Lay it on me." On these words, Jaune held out his hand.

And sinker.

"Of course. Here." Atrament pulled out a simple ballpoint pen from his gown's pocket and wrote Atrament's on Jaune's hand. As he didn't have an activated Aura, the cost was negligible. Immediately, Atrament gave his usual orders. "You can use yourself as you would normally, barring any contradicting order from me." It wouldn't do for Jaune to faint because he wasn't allowed to breathe, after all. Atrament needed him conscious for the rest of the plan.

"Huh. I... didn't know that you owned me," Jaune weakly said.

"Indeed. Now, let's circle back to you. How did you get in here with no Aura, no training, and no basic knowledge of how Huntsman Academies even work? The truth this time, Jaune."

Jaune sighed. "I guess you have the right to know. The truth is... I used fake transcripts to get into Beacon. My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all heroes, and I wanted to be one, too."

Atrament was incensed. Being a Huntsman was an incredibly dangerous profession, requiring intense and lengthy training, and this idiot thought he could treat it like a game for his childish fantasies!? "And you thought you could just waltz in here with no prior training and become a hero without putting in the work?"

Now Jaune was the one that seemed offended. "Hey, I'm ready to put in the work! It's just, I thought Beacon was where I would get the training. No one mentioned combat primaries or whatever they're called in the school I went to—or anything about aura and semblances. Just that Hunters went to Beacon Academy to train."

That was more palatable. At least, he was ready to work hard to achieve his dream—or he believed he was. Atrament supposed that Jaune grew up in a small settlement, with not much information on the wider world. Not an uncommon experience. Though that raised another question. "Then, if your father is such a great warrior, why didn't he train you to achieve your dream?"

Jaune grimaced. "Dad... didn't really want me to risk my life like that. He always refused to train me, and he refused to enroll me at Beacon, and I think he hoped I would give up. I didn't, in case that was not obvious."

Atrament sighed. Indeed, Jaune hadn't given up, and probably wouldn't give up after that, unless Atrament decided to make his ownership permanent, and Jaune was nowhere near important enough (and Atrament wasn't attracted to men) to justify that. He had to handle the problem in the long term. Plus, he saw enough similarities with his own experience to give at least a lifeline to the boy. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. Tomorrow morning, you will not go to the Initiation. Instead, you will take your belongings and take the Airship back to Vale."

Jaune seemed dejected, but Atrament soldiered on. He was saving his life, after all. Besides, he wasn't done. "Once you're in Vale, you will start to train, harder than you've ever trained in your life, hard enough to compensate years of formal education you've missed. I'll leave the details to you—find a dojo, or a retired Huntsman, or anything like that. Just don't try to fight a Grimm on your own, or you will die. Next year, once you're ready, you will apply back to Beacon—properly this time. Since you didn't go to a primary combat school, they will probably make you pass a test of your skills in order to make sure you won't just jump into the fray with no actual training." He might still be a mite irritated at Jaune's naiveté. At least, he was aware of the risks. "You will be a year older than most of your classmates, but I assure you that the Academy won't reject you just because of that. Hunters are too important to the survival of the Kingdoms for that."

Jaune nodded very seriously. "Got it. I won't disappoint you. Just... Do you know how to get this aura stuff?"

Right. He wouldn't know how to unlock his Aura and no one would unlock it for him—a civilian with Aura was just a more attractive food for the Grimms, and outside of combat schools, Aura unlocking was very restricted because of that. And if he left him to his own devices, Jaune would undoubtedly attempt the other method for activating one's Aura—getting in life-threatening situations and hoping for the best.

"I'll take care of that. Just don't make me regret it."

Jaune nodded seriously. Atrament stood up. "Follow me. It's going to be a light show, and we don't want to be noticed."

Once the two had found an isolated corner, Atrament placed his hand on Jaune's cheek. "Now close your eyes and concentrate."

As Jaune complied, Atrament let loose his own Aura, sending it out to touch Jaune's soul. "For it is in cunning that we achieve success. Through this, we become a paragon of precision and justice to rise above all, infinite in duty and unbound by failure. I release your soul, and by my hand unleash thee."

The blue glow of Atrament's Aura was soon joined by a pure white glow, this one emanating from Jaune. Atrament let go of Jaune and stumbled slightly. Jaune seemed alarmed. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Atrament replied, still dazed. "It just... took a lot out of me. It was the first time I unlocked someone else's Aura, and I might have gone a little overboard. So, how does it feel?"

Jaune looked at himself, like he only just noticed that he was still glowing. "So... This is..."

"Your Aura, yes. And I have to say, your reserves are quite large, especially for someone who just unlocked it. Sure, it might be in part because you're older, but with some more training, you'll have truly impressive quantities of Aura to spare."

"Wow." Finally, he stopped glowing. "Now, what?"

Atrament yawned. "Now we go to sleep. I have a big day tomorrow, and I need to replenish my reserves."

"Alright boss. Good night."

As they walked back to the ballroom, Atrament thought of one last thing. "Oh, by the way, I have one last order for you, Jaune."

He nodded. "Lay it on me."

"What I wrote on your hand." He pointed to his name that was still written on Jaune's skin, the ink barely dry. "Don't erase it until you're in Vale."

"You got it." The two lied down in their respective sleeping bags, and Atrament started to reflect on the day. Claiming Jaune like that had felt... right. He had always been worried about abusing his Semblance, but what he just did had objectively been a violation of Jaune's free will, and Atrament now saw that he had been making a mountain out of a molehill. His Semblance had saved Jaune from a certain, self-induced death, and opened a path for him to actually accomplish his dream. He could help people with it, he could do so much good if he didn't futilely restrain so much. And if he used it to reward himself from time to time... Well, he was allowed to be a little selfish as long as he didn't go overboard, wasn't he?