CHAPTER ONE;
❝i only wanted to be part of something.❞

setting: pre volume 1
published: 26/01/25
word count: 5679

━━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━━

"Let the match between junior competitors Pyrrha Nikos and Myx Schwartz, commence!"

Jasper Clarke, a considerably tall, green eyed boy with brown fluffy hair, was sat comfortably on his living room couch, sipping on a glass of lemon iced tea as his eyes remained glued to the television. His sister and her teammates (who had been staying over) were out, and his mothers had gone to bed early, making the Clarke home awfully quiet... and peaceful. Jasper was enjoying every second of it.

The youngest Clarke had always been interested in watching any junior competitor matches on tv, but over time he'd grown to favour watching the matches between the Mistralian cousins. Pyrrha seemed to be a fan favourite, there was no doubt about that. Everytime she got the upper hand, the crowed erupted with cheering... and that seemed to be the case no matter who she was fighting. His eyes moved to the green haired girl, Myx, who seemed to be more of an under dog. She still had a lot of fans, but her cousin was the favoured one.

The front door to the Clarke residence suddenly opened, and just like that the peace was over. Juno Clarke, was the first to enter the home, though her teammates Amaya Nightingale, Yvonne Noir and Dakota Stevens then piled in behind her.

Jasper didn't know a whole lot about his older sister's team... except that Amaya was the first faunus he had ever met, and was perhaps the shortest person he had ever seen. And also that Yvonne and Dakota seemed to be a couple so toxic, it made him relieved to be single.

"Guys, take off your shoes." Juno demanded Yvonne and Dakota, who had carelessly entered the home with their shoes still on. Amaya on the other hand, removed her shoes and left them by the door.

"They're not even dirty." Yvonne snarked as Amaya glanced at the taller girl, "It's polite to remove your shoes when entering somebody's house." The Nightingale reminded them. "Okay, Mum." Dakota sassed before himself and his girlfriend approached Amaya and took off their own shoes, leaving them beside the silver haired faunus'.

Jasper glanced at Juno, his blank expression displaying annoyance for his peace being ruined. Juno offered an apologetic look in response. Dakota then moved to sit himself on the couch, beside Jasper. The taller boy looked far from pleased, but tried to compose himself as he didn't want to seem rude. Yvonne then moved to sit beside Dakota.

"What are you watching, kid?" Dakota asked as Jasper hesitantly answered, "I was watching the match between Pyrrha Nikos and Myx Schwartz." He answered as Amaya tilted her head, "They're known to be two of the strongest fighters in Mistral." She stated, "Was it a good match?" Juno then asked as Jasper nodded, "Yeah it was!"

Juno glanced at the screen, watching as Pyrrha had been crowned the winner and was being interviewed while Myx smiled sadly at her cousin. Though there was no way viewers had any idea what the Schwartz was really thinking... that her loss meant she was going to go home to an aggressive, violent parent.

"I'm glad you got to see your celebrity crush on screen again." Juno joked, causing Jasper to suddenly blush. "Stop saying that!" He responded awkwardly as Amaya seemed amused. "Oh yeah? Someone has a crush on Pyrrha?" Dakota questioned.

"... Myx, actually." Jasper corrected him, though he didn't seem comfortable to continue talking about it. "It's fine, everyone has celebrity crushes." Juno added as Jasper sighed, "Can we stop talking about this?" He asked, growing embarrassed.

"Fine... let's talk about how absolutely divine Pyrrha looks right now." Dakota spoke, though it was the the tone in his voice that made everyone go quiet. Yvonne looked mad, while Juno, Jasper and Maisie all shared uncomfortable looks. "And the crowd goes mild... thanks Dakota!" Amaya spoke up, breaking the silence as Jasper seemed a little amused suddenly by Dakota's expression.

"You're just mad that I know how to speak to girls, and you do not." Dakota spoke cockily as the Nightingale rolled her eyes, "I've seen the way you talk to your own girlfriend... I can assure you, you don't." She responded, which caused Maisie and Dakota to instead start arguing, as Yvonne joined in as though to defend the dark haired boy.

Jasper just glanced up at Juno with an annoyed expression, to remind his sister that they were disturbing his peace. Juno cleared her throat, "What part of my mothers are asleep, we gotta be quiet did you guys not understand?" She questioned her teammates as they fell quiet.

"Fine." Dakota began. "When are we going on this mission, m'lady?" He spoke to Juno in a joking manner as Amaya rolled her eyes. "Ssh, my parents definitely have no idea about this." The older Clarke reminded them, as she didn't want either of her (assumably asleep) mothers to overhear and question them.

"What are you guys about to do?" Jasper asked curiously. "We received intel that some members of the White Fang have been harassing people in Vacuo." Juno began, "We don't have names, but managed to find a location, so we'll be tracking them down." Amaya continued.

"The White Fang..." Jasper trailed off, as he knew a little bit about them... she same thing everyone else knew: that they were a faunus run organisation that seemed to want to rule the human race. The Clarke wasn't sure how true it was, but he hadn't really heard anything else about them before.

Juno then thought about something before she finally aired her question, "Would you like to come with us, Jay?" Jasper glanced up at his older sister, seeming surprised by her offer. Would their parents be happy that Juno was potentially including Jasper in one of her team's missions? Absolutely not. But while Juno was becoming a huntress, her brother tended to be on the sidelines. She wanted to inspire him to be more curious about the world, despite how sheltered their mothers had made him... and she knew deep down he was itching for an opportunity to use his bow and arrow in combat.

"Won't your kid brother just slow us down?" Dakota questioned, as Juno side eyed her teammate for the condescending comment. "Believe me, he won't." The older Clarke decided. "Plus he has a much better aim than you when it comes to long range." The brunette added as Amaya tried not to laugh too loudly, as she was reminded of her teammate's awful attempt at using one of her guns, when she'd lent it to him.

"It was one time!" Dakota complained as Juno ignored his whining as her eyes remained on her younger brother. "I... will grab my bow and arrows." Jasper decided, though he couldn't deny he felt a little scared, he trusted he'd be safe with Juno. "YES!" Juno tried not to be too loud, despite her excitement.

━━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━━

Being on the run was supposed to offer the chance of a new beginning... sisters Delilah and Winona Bright were after a new start, but their plan of fleeing Vacuo came to a screaming halt when they were suddenly attacked by a trio.

The trio in question, loomed over them as they discussed their next move. "Well, what now?" Isabelle Taurus, a chaotic bull faunus, questioned as Enzo Lopez glanced at his girlfriend, "We can't question them right now because they're unconscious." The orange haired fox faunus responded, as though it was obvious.

"I'm already tired of waiting." The redheaded girl added before the third member of the trio, Kahel Fabbri, a horned lizard faunus, spoke up, "Well the plan was to capture them and threaten some answers out of them... but you decided to nearly beat them into a coma." He pointed out. "Whoops... I'm just a girl." Isabelle offered her rebuttal.

"Uh right now... you're just a pest. But if you're still looking for a fight, you could be our lookout while we question these two?" Enzo asked, making sure to ask his favour in a manner that was rather sweet. Isabelle nodded suddenly, as everytime she'd been the lookout with Annihilation, there'd been a hectic fight coming their way and she'd always taken the first shot.

"Thank you Is." Enzo responded as the Taurus suddenly lurched forward to kiss her boyfriend's cheek. With that, she took hold of her weapon and was on her way. "You think we're being followed?" Kahel asked as Enzo nodded before he turned to glance at the other orange haired boy, "I could be wrong... but I feel like Adam is breathing down my neck."

Enzo and Kahel were without a signature weapon, though they were cycling through a bunch of different and very stolen weapons, and trying to work out what kind worked best for them. The Lopez reached into the bag of stolen things he'd been carrying, as he pulled out two pistols before handing one to Kahel. "Thanks." The Fabbri responded.

"As for my next question... what is it you want out of these two?" Kahel questioned, feeling as though Enzo had been barking orders without explanation. While himself and Issy had no qualms in fighting alongside him, some answers would be nice.

"I want their methods." Enzo responded. "That is... cryptic." The lizard faunus responded. "Look... if I want to achieve my goal, I need the other members to be much stronger. Supposedly, the Sheikah tribe are some of the strongest fighters in Vacuo." The Lopez said, motioning to the half sisters.

Kahel glanced at the pair, before he noticed Delilah, the slightly younger of the pair, started to stir before her eyes suddenly shot open. "NONA—" The colourfully haired girl blurted out, before she sat up, to see that her sister was beside her, but still unconscious.

The Bright looked at the thick rope that was restraining the pair against a dead tree, but as she struggled against it, it suddenly shocked her. Delilah tried to calm herself down as she felt herself beginning to panic. She then glanced at the two boys, "Who are you people?!" She demanded.

"I'm Enzo Lopez, a name you're bound to remember." Enzo began, "It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." He added, not moving to introduce Kahel, though the other boy didn't seem bothered by it. Kahel instead tried not to look strangely at Enzo for his odd change in behaviour... the Fabbri was still getting used to how the fox faunus would twist his demeanour to aid him in getting whatever he wanted.

"Well the feeling isn't mutual..." Delilah mumbled in annoyance, as she looked around as though to try and conjure an escape plan. She didn't have a weapon on her, and she couldn't use her semblance because her aura was depleted... but Winona had a weapon, regarding the trio didn't remove it from her.

As though Enzo could read her mind, he picked up the sword-nunchuck hybrid that belonged to the older Bright, "Pretty cool weapon you have here." He spoke. Delilah sighed at the realisation, "What do you want from us?" She then demanded.

"Hey! You put those down, asshole!" A rather angered voice erupted from the body beside Delilah, which was now very conscious. As the multicolour haired girl had expected, with nightfall arriving Waverly was now present instead of Winona. "Woah, you're much more brutal than before." Kahel blurted out.

"Let us out of here!!" Waverly tried to struggle her way out of the restraint, only for the pair of sisters to be shocked by the rope. "I will, providing you give me some answers." Enzo insisted as Delilah spoke, "That depends on what kinda questions you're gonna ask." She decided. "I want you to tell me about the Sheikah tribe."

Waverly suddenly laughed, in a way that was rather mocking. Kahel frowned before he looked to Enzo to gage how he felt by this response... the Lopez was pissed. "We're not telling you a thing!" Enzo suddenly aimed his gun at Delilah before he looked at Waverly, whose eyes widened. "How about now?"

Meanwhile, Jasper and Team JAYD were armed with their signature weapons, and discussing a plan of attack while they followed Juno. The older Clarke held her scroll in one hand, seeming to follow a map while she was flipping her weapon in her other hand, a katar that could easily shift into a shield... though due to upgrading it, it now had a compartment that could shoot dust ammunition.

Reaching a clearing, the five spotted Enzo, Kahel, Delilah and Waverly. As they kept out of view, Amaya seemed focused on something. "There's another faunus with them." The wolf faunus pointed out. "How do you know that?" Jasper asked, seeming amazed. "Because along with my wolf ears, I have really good vision and sense of smell." The Nightingale explained.

"Enough with the dumb questions, let's charge in and attack already." Dakota insisted as Maisie narrowed her eyes at the raven haired boy, "That wasn't a dumb question." She assured him. "But you know what is dumb... your plan. If we charge into battle, the other faunus could attack us before we even reach either of those boys." Juno piped up.

"So you think the last faunus is on lookout?" Yvonne asked as Juno nodded, "I mean... it makes sense that they'd have someone on lookout if they're pulling some sort of interrogation, because it adds a layer of security." She thought aloud.

"Well Cap, whaddaya want us to do?" Dakota then asked. "Amaya and Jay, I want you guys to find and take down their lookout person. Dakota and Yvonne, we'll deal with those two guys once it's safer to do so."

With that, Maisie and Jasper snuck away from the group, as the werewolf faunus focused on her sense of smell in hopes it would lead them to Isabelle. Jasper cautiously looked around, holding an arrow in one hand to be prepared.

"Have you decided on a name for your weapon yet?" Amaya asked quietly as Jasper seemed a little unsure. "I'm not fully sure yet... I keep coming back to the name Sorpresa, because some of the purposes for these arrows tend to surprise people." He responded, keeping his voice down.

Maisie offered the tall boy a smile, "You should name it that then." She replied. "Juno tells me you're always making new types of arrows... it's a cool and well thought out weapon." The Nightingale added. "Thanks." Jasper responded, a little awkwardly as he didn't really know how to take compliments.

"Okay, you see that large tree ahead of us?" Maisie asked as Jasper nodded. "If you look up, you can see a girl hiding in it, and she has a sniper aimed around where those two boys are standing." Amaya explained quietly. "I see her." Jasper replied, his eyes landing on Isabelle.

"I want you to startle her with one of your arrows." Amaya spoke as Jasper nodded before he placed the arrow against the bow and pulled back its string, as he aimed towards the girl. Letting go of the string, the arrow fired suddenly towards the tree and landed right near Isabelle's knee.

As expected, the redhead flinched before she took Annihilation and jumped down from the tree. She looked between Jasper and Amaya as she held up her gun, and moved it between the pair. "I see you two have a death wish." The Taurus taunted.

Jasper reached for another arrow while Maisie already had Seitoshi, her two star shaped shurikens, ready to throw. "Not particularly." Maisie responded before she thrusted her left arm forward, throwing one of the ninja stars as it sliced through the bull faunus' shoulder.

Isabelle looked mad now, as she aimed her gun at the silver haired girl and fired a shot, though the Nightingale dodged it, moving away from Jasper. The Clarke then fired the arrow at Issy, who tried to dodge it but got struck in the palm of her hand. She let out a grumble and ripped the pointed end out of her hand before she tossed the arrow aside.

The werewolf faunus then pulled Hakai, a lavender and silver coloured pistol from her back pocket, and fired a couple of shots at Isabelle, as one got her leg, while the second she evaded by jumping back. The redhead rushed forward before digging her weapon into the ground. She then gained momentum and swung her body around it before kicking Amaya over. The silver haired girl fell, but held onto Isabelle's ankle, taking her down with her.

As the pair tumbled to the ground, Isabelle reached out for her weapon, but Maisie took one of her shurikens and stabbed it through the top of her hand, before she could touch it. Isabelle grit her teeth before she used her free hand to throw a right hook at the Nightingale's face, managing to push the small girl off of her.

"Maisie!" Jasper blurted out, as he quickly hurried over to offer her a hand. "Woah." Amaya laughed with surprise, "That's probably the first time someone's ever really landed a good punch on me." The Nightingale admitted, seeming to be full of adrenaline now. "How cool!" She added as Jasper looked concerned, "... What?"

Isabelle got to her feet and took hold of her weapon, though her eyes were fixed on the deep cut on her hand, as she was expecting it to heal quicker than it was. "Maise, I wanna help more but I've never thrown a punch in my life." Jasper admitted quietly, as he held an arrow against his bow, aiming it directly at the Taurus. Meanwhile, Maisie had her shurikens ready to throw.

"That's okay, your job today is to fire arrows. I'll happily throw hands." Amaya replied, also speaking quietly. "Though later, we're gonna have to teach you how to punch." She decided as Jasper quickly nodded, feeling relieved. When his semblance involved physical fighting in order to work, but he had no idea how to actually fight... he felt kinda useless. Fortunately, his skills in archery had made up for his lack of throwing hands.

Isabelle turned to aim her gun at Jasper, but the brunet had already fired an arrow at her. The point of the arrow only bumped her shoulder before suddenly it opened up and a barb wired net expanded out of it, covering the redhead. "No!" Issy hissed, dropping her weapon as she tried to remove the net, though the barbs had already embedded her skin.

Issy seemed unable to get out of the net, causing Amaya to raise an eyebrow. "That's some net..." She admitted before she glanced down the hill to see how her teammates were coping, and the short answer was: they weren't. Juno and Dakota were individually fighting Enzo and Kahel, while Yvonne seemed to be kinda useless.

"It looks like they need help... think you can keep an eye on this one?" Amaya asked, as Jasper glanced at the net containing Isabelle, as she seemed to have given up trying to escape. Considering her initial eagerness to fight, it felt unsettling... but perhaps her aura was close to depleting. "I should be able to handle it." Jasper decided, as he quickly glanced at his quiver to make sure he had a decent variety of arrows left (he did, and he'd checked several times before even leaving the house).

"Here, you can borrow this too." Maisie said, handing her pistol to the Clarke. "A... Are you sure?" Jasper asked as Maisie nodded, "Here's how you hold it." The silver haired girl showed him before she pretended to pull the trigger, "Use this to fire." Amaya then handed the pistol to Jasper, "Thank you." The Clarke responded, as Amaya offered him a smile before she ran toward the hill's edge and suddenly jumped. Jasper blinked in surprise before he moved closer to witness the Nightingale slide down the hill before pretty much throwing herself into battle, and surprising the hell out of Enzo and Kahel.

Jasper took another look at Isabelle, who wasn't seeming to move. The Clarke took this moment to hoist himself into the tree, to get a view of the fight below while staying hidden.

Watching the battle below, Juno and Yvonne seemed to be fighting Enzo while Amaya and Dakota were fighting Kahel. Juno quickly glanced around, realising there wasn't enough greenery around for her semblance to work, so she had to stick to using her weapon.

Enzo rushed at the girl, and went to throw a left hook, but Juno quickly lifted her shield to protect herself. The Lopez tried a second time, before Juno charged at him and managed to knock him over using just her shield. The brunette then shifted it into the katar, and moved to hold the blade towards Enzo's face.

"Yvonne!" The older Clarke called out, as the other brunette rushed over. She stared down at the boy, as she activated her semblance, "Why are you tormenting the people of Vacuo?" The Noir asked, as Enzo seemed almost compelled to answer. "These girls might be able to help me achieve my goal." He answered truthfully. "Not sure how they're gonna help you achieve anything when you depleted their auras." Juno pointed out.

Nearby, Kahel had landed an uppercut on Dakota's chin, knocking the raven haired boy off his feet. The Stevens stopped for a moment, feeling a bit shaken by the punch as he was running out of aura. "And what is your goal?" Yvonne continued to question Enzo. The lizard faunus suddenly caught wind of what was happening to his friend, and gathered that Yvonne's semblance was making him spill the truth. Before the Lopez could share anything else, Kahel took his pistol and started shooting at Yvonne.

"Asshole." Yvonne hissed, as a bullet pierced her arm, "I am busy!" She added before she moved to avoid other bullets Kahel fired, though she moved straight into Juno, knocking her off her feet. "Ahh— Yvonne!" Juno replied, unaware the Noir had been shot, though as the Clarke was on the ground she noticed Enzo moving back onto his feet. She quickly took her weapon and fired electrical dust ammunition at him, which knocked him back down. Yvonne on the other hand, rushed at Kahel to fight him instead, leaving the faunus to try and fight both Yvonne and Amaya as Dakota still needed a minute.

It seemed like JAYD had the upper hand, before Enzo activated some sort of stolen grenade looking weapon from his bag, which emitted some form of gas that once inhaled, rendered the team confused.

"Hey dipshit! That was such a useless weapon!" Waverly taunted in the background, as herself and Delilah were trying to reach for Divine Intervention, which just seemed out of Lilah's reach as she had her leg outstretched to try and pull it toward them (all the while hoping they wouldn't get shocked again).

"That felt underwhelming." Enzo admitted, as he had expected the weapon to cause an explosion. "Now is our chance to knock them out." Kahel reminded the Lopez, before he charged at Dakota upon taking an instant disliking for the Stevens (much like everybody else reading this, i'm sure).

Enzo didn't argue the idea, before he turned to attack Juno. "Junie." Jasper exhaled suddenly before he pulled another arrow from his quiver and fired it at Enzo before he could even think about it. The fox faunus cried out in pain as the arrow pierced through his lower arm, though with the arrow piercing his skin, it suddenly lit on fire.

"Yes!" Jasper cheered to himself, as Enzo's aura seemed to have depleted, but he was also excited to see that his fire arrow had been successful as it was his first time using it

"Enzo??" Kahel blurted out upon hearing Enzo in pain, though he grew more confused when he realised the arrow had lit the boy's arm on fire. The Fabbri's eyes widened before he rushed towards the taller boy to help rip the arrow out of his arm, but he was suddenly stopped by Amaya, who had snapped out of her confused state.

"Not gonna happen." The Nightingale hummed before her irises suddenly turned lavender. "What the..." Kahel's irises also turned lavender, before his eyelids closed. His body then fell to the ground, as he was now asleep. "Nighty night!" Maisie chirped, leaving the lizard faunus to have some bizarre dreams... though it was only a matter of time until the girl started to feel drowsy— a drawback to her semblance.

Jasper watched as Amaya tried to shake Juno out of her confused state, meanwhile Enzo was trying to pull the arrow out of his arm, which was still on fire. The Clarke then turned back around to face Isabelle, who he hadn't heard rip the net out of her skin. A crimson glow surrounded the girl, as her aura healed the cuts on her body.

"Uh oh." Jasper blurted, as Isabelle was quick to fire a couple of gunshots at the boy. "You didn't think I'd actually give up that easily, right?" The Taurus questioned mockingly, revealing that her plan all along had been to get Jasper alone. The brunet rolled out of the way to avoid being shot, but essentially fell out of the tree. Fortunately landing on his feet, he pulled an electrical arrow from his basket before firing it at the redhead. In the same moment, she fired a bullet.

The Clarke felt the bullet pierce his shoulder and quickly went to remove it, hoping to heal his wound using his aura. Isabelle on the other hand, had been electrocuted by the arrow and cried out in pain. Instead of removing it, she had another idea. She charged at Jasper and basically launched herself onto him.

Jasper was thrown to the ground, losing his weapon in the process. The redhead dug one of her knees into his stomach while she kept her hands on his shoulders, and suddenly the boy was affected by the electricity also. "AAAH— What the hell?!" Jasper tried not to yell too loudly, though he hadn't expected to be electrocuted as tried to struggle out of her grip. "Doesn't feel good, does it?" Isabelle asked rhetorically before she balled one of her fists and went to punch the boy in the face.

Using his now free arm, Jasper somehow managed to roll, pushing Isabelle onto her back instead and causing her punch to completely miss him. Jasper hurried to sit up and move away from the girl so the electricity would stop affecting him, but he soon realised she had an iron grip on his sleeve as she pulled him back onto the ground, beside her.

The Clarke then noticed Isabelle reaching for her own gun which was lying nearby. He quickly kicked Annihilation out of her reach, causing her to let out an annoyed hiss before Jasper suddenly moved to rip the arrow out of her arm, to stop its effect on the both of them. The Clarke let out a relieved sigh, as he'd worried his aura was going to deplete, before he ripped his sleeve out of Issy's grip.

"I'll admit... that was well played..." Jasper admitted before he got back onto his feet, and this time reached for Hakai. Pointing the gun at Isabelle, he moved to collect his weapon off the ground at the same time. "You've never been in a fight before, have ya?" Issy asked, getting onto her feet also as she kept her sniper aimed at the boy. Jasper didn't answer her question.

Meanwhile at the bottom of the hill, Kahel had finally regained consciousness after having some unexplainable dreams and Enzo had removed the arrow, but by then they were surrounded and had all weapons pointed in their direction.

"It's not looking good for you guys." Juno spoke up, as Kahel reached for his weapon to realise Amaya had removed it from him. "Not to be a downer but... I don't think this is a fight we're going to win." He then muttered as Enzo groaned openly, realising he was right. And if the boy's earlier theory was correct, their time here was limited.

"And now, it is time for our disappearing act." The Fabbri decided, as the ground suddenly began to shake slightly underneath everyone's feet as the boy activated his semblance. Suddenly, rocks and boulders surrounding the area began to fly in all different directions, as JAYD tried to avoid them. During this time, Kahel and Enzo took their bag of stolen goods and ran away.

The duo approached Isabelle and Jasper, who had fought more during this time, and Isabelle was trying to untangle herself from yet another net that had escaped from an arrow (fortunately for her, this one didn't have barbs on it). Currently the Clarke had his guard up, as he had an arrow ready to fire.

As Enzo and Kahel approached, Jasper turned to aim his arrow at them. While Kahel's eyes searched for Issy, Enzo instead looked angrily at Jasper as he had a realisation, "You're the fucker who shot me!" The Lopez suddenly snapped, before he went to charge at the archer.

"May I remind you, that you basically have no aura." Kahel spoke up, as Enzo stopped in his tracks, and kept a harsh glare on Jasper as he seemed to debate whether to listen to his friend or completely ignore his statement. Jasper remained quiet, but kept his arrow aimed at Enzo as he was waiting for the boy to take another step, so he could release the string.

Meanwhile, Kahel helped a frustrated Issy to get untangled from the net she was stuck in. "Do you know how many of these nets I've had to escape from?!" The Taurus complained as Kahel offered Issy a hand once she was freed. She took it and got to her feet before she faced Enzo, waiting to see what her boyfriend would do.

Enzo surprisingly took a step back, and moved towards Issy and Kahel. "Let's keep moving." He insisted, turning his head at the last possible moment in worry Jasper may shoot. With that, they were gone.

The Clarke returned to Team JAYD as they were helping the Bright sisters out of their restraints. "We would have totally been able to join the fight if that guy didn't take Nona's weapon!" Delilah complained, as she could have pictured the six of them taking on the duo with complete ease... despite the Bright sisters not having enough aura to fight.

"Are you guys okay?" Juno asked as Waverly and Delilah both tiredly nodded. "Lilah, we need to keep moving." Waverly glanced at her sister, with an urgency in her eyes. Delilah suddenly nodded, "That's right! We were actually heading somewhere before we um... got attacked." Delilah admitted aloud.

Waverly then reached out to gently grab Delilah by the wrist, before she started moving. "Thank you for helping us!" Delilah called out to JAYD plus Jasper, before the half sisters were gone. "... Weird." Yvonne pointed out.

"Those three escaped... I didn't know whether I should have stopped them or..." Jasper trailed off, suddenly feeling nervous by everyone's eyes darting to him. "No, no you did the right thing. One vs three is a very dangerous idea." Juno replied, "We should have easily crushed those guys." Dakota pointed out, as he believed their plan failed because Maisie wasn't fighting alongside them from the start.

"Look, we managed to save those girls. I think that's whats most important." Juno spoke up, before Amaya suddenly let out a long yawn. "Oh god... you're about to fall asleep, aren't you?" Yvonne asked as the werewolf faunus tiredly nodded, "Yep."

As Amaya fell asleep, the drawback of her semblance kicking in, Juno rushed forward to catch her. "We best be getting home." The older Clarke insisted, before she bent down for a moment to pull the smaller girl into her arms.

With that, they walked back to the Clarke residence as Juno asked Jasper about his fight with Isabelle. "And then after I shot her with the electrical arrow, she threw herself at me and I got electrocuted too! I wasn't expecting her to do that." Jasper admitted as Juno was glad he was telling her this while they were no where near the listening ears of their mothers. "Yeah sometimes your opponent can pull a move you least expect." The brunette responded.

"And then the tall guy with orange hair was really mad that I shot him with a fire arrow." Jasper added as Juno responded proudly, "That was a good shot! He really struggled to remove it."

"Oh really? You know... this was all really daunting, but I had a lot of fun helping you guys!" Jasper admitted as Juno offered him a smile, "And you did great! I'm so glad you agreed to come along." She insisted, hoping to encourage him.

"Finally." Yvonne let out a relieved yawn, as they'd finally reached Jasper and Juno's home. "You're telling me... my arms are getting a little sore from carrying Maisie all that way." Juno admitted lightheartedly, as Jasper unlocked the door and held it open for the team. Juno was the first to enter the home (with Amaya), followed by Yvonne.

Once the three girls walked away, the brunet realised Dakota hadn't stepped inside yet. "After you." The Clarke offered. The raven haired boy glanced inside, noticing the three girls were further into the house, before he looked back to Jasper.

"Listen kid, I don't know what kind of ideas your sister is putting in your head... but you would never make it as a huntsman." Dakota spoke, as he made sure to use direct eye contact as an attempt to intimidate the archer. "Goodnight." The Stevens then said, before entering the Clarke's home, and leaving the younger boy alone with his words.

━━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━━

AUTHORS NOTE

Winona/Waverly Bright belongs to SkullPearlQueen
Kahel Fabbri belongs to _soot_
Myx Schwartz belongs to BluFTW

I was NOT expecting an intro chapter to be so long bye. Anyway, here is Jasper's intro chapter! Stella's shall be next. I'm really unconfident with writing combat in RWBY, so idk wtf compelled me to include combat in the very first chapter, but it is what it is 💀 Hopefully I'll get better at it before all the battle scenes in V3!

Also... I was listening to The Emptiness Machine by Linkin Park on repeat while writing this, hence the chapter title 😌