Bloody Rose

Chapter 3 Ice Queen

"Hey! Ready for the big test?" Jaune asked, running up to Ruby who was settling her snow white cloak around her shoulders. Turning to the tall blonde, the much smaller girl turned back to her locker and took out multiple magazines for her weapon and left them safely tucked away in her small bag slung across her body. "Are you ignoring me?"

'Just ignore him, Ruby. He'll find another girl to annoy.' She thought, closing her locker and taking out her scroll to check the time.

"Come on, you're my only friend." He groaned, watching her sit down and make something weird appear on her scroll. "If you don't say anything, we're officially best friends!" He exclaimed, still not even getting an exhausted sigh out of her.

"Wow... look at the time," she turned her back to the blonde, "I have to go eliminate a blonde idiot that wears a bunny onesie."

"A blonde idiot?" He mumbled, watching the cloaked girl start walking away. "Wait... Are you talking about me?" He asked loudly enough for everyone in the locker room to hear him.

With a sigh, Ruby pivoted on her heel and faced Jaune, consequently making her cloak flutter in around her. "Jaune, you're nice and all, but please, for the sake of Remnant, focus on bettering yourself. For Oum's sake, I can barely sense your Aura!" She shouted, stepping toward him with every phrase she spoke.

Nearly sweating, Jaune put up a shaky smile and asked, "Um... What's Aura?"

At this, Ruby (and several others) groaned from his pure ignorance. Putting her hand on Jaune's chest plate, Ruby brought up her own Aura, conjuring crimson energy around her palm. "Aura is the energy that protects and heals Huntsmen and Huntresses. It can be used in other ways, but I doubt you'll learn what those are." She spoke, channeling her energy into Jaune's chest, bringing out his own pale yellow energy. "Since you just unlocked this, be careful. You're not even close to invincible and your Aura depletes the more you use it. That simple enough for you?" She asked begrudgingly, pulling her head away.

"Yeah, but..." He paused to watch the energy that had been pulled out of him fade away. "Why did you just teach me that?"

Pulling down her hood and turning her back to the blonde boy, she muttered, "Cause you'll die otherwise."

"What was that?" He asked, but she already began walking out of the locker room.

From behind him, someone started to pat him on the back in an attempt to comfort him. Looking back, he saw a redhead in glistening armor, decorated ornamentally. Putting on a smile, she stopped patting his back and walked past him in the same direction Ruby went.

Shaking his head, the tall blonde followed the two girls with his own smile plastered on his face. Unfortunately, that expression had faded once he had caught up to the two girls and faced a cliff overlooking a forest. He had earnestly hoped this wasn't the testing site since he could already see giant black birds flying over the treeline, but with both Ozpin and Glynda standing close by, there was no mistaking the location.

Approaching the blonde witch, he meekly raised a hand, which she paid no mind to. Nevertheless, he still asked the question on his mind, "What exactly is this test?" Still, she ignored the awkward blonde and viewed over the vast treeline beneath her.

Rushing up to the pair of professors, another student by the name of Weiss Schnee cleared her throat and asked, "Professor, what are we supposed to do?" To Jaune's bewilderment, Ozpin actually turned around and began to answer her question.

"Ms. Schnee, please stand on one of those platforms and we'll explain the test once the last two students arrive." He explained before turning around and sipping the unknown drink from his mug.