Pain or Redemption

Chapter 4: Initiation Begins

Third Person POV

Jaune: "So, Ruby. You wish to explain what happened back there?"

Ruby: "It was an accident!"

Jaune raised an eyebrow.

Jaune: "I know that. What I want to know is what occurred that led to such an explosion."

Currently, Jaune and Ruby were walking side by side and chatting. Around five or so minutes had passed since Jaune helped the silver-eyed girl off the ground, and he was curious about what led to the explosion he heard. He knew it had to be due to Dust since he saw the girl with the bow holding a vial of Dust before it was snatched by Weiss.

Dust had always been a looming mystery to the people of Remnant, along with the origins of the creatures of Grimm. Jaune doubted that he would have any luck figuring the two out, even if he wasn't a former Omnic reborn into a human body. Where does it come from? Why does it apparently lose its power when it gets farther away from the surface of Remnant? How many types of Dust are there? This new world probably held secrets that one could only dream of, whether or not Jaune discovers one of these secrets-well, he guessed he'll have to wait and see.

Ruby: "Like I said, it was an accident. My sister left me, and I got disoriented, which caused me to bump into Snow Princess."

Jaune couldn't help but chuckle inwardly at Ruby's little nickname for Weiss; he had to admit that was a good one.

Jaune: "Nice pick with the nickname."

Ruby smiled.

Ruby: "Thanks, but anyways, she started yelling at me, shaking a vial of Dust in my face, which caused me to sneeze."

Jaune raised an eyebrow.

Jaune: "You set off an explosion... by sneezing?"

Ruby's cheeks became a little pink from embarrassment as she looked away, rubbing her arm.

Ruby: "Y-yeah..."

Ruby was a little afraid that Jaune would just laugh at her, calling her stupid or something. However, after a minute of silence, she looked at the blonde-haired boy and noticed that he had a look of curiosity.

Ruby: "J-Jaune?"

Hearing his name being called snapped Jaune out of his thoughts as he looked at Ruby.

Jaune: "Hm? What?"

Ruby: "You... not gonna laugh at me?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow.

Jaune: "Should I?"

Ruby: "N-no! No! It's just that... I expected you to laugh because I caused an explosion by sneezing."

Jaune merely shrugged his shoulders, not really sure if he was supposed to laugh at Ruby or not. Like, she just told him vital information about what happens when you sneeze around a cloud of dust. That didn't sound foolish to the former Omnic General, especially if he plans on using Dust in the future.

Although he designed his weapon based on his original one back from Earth since it was what he was used to wielding, he hasn't had the chance to experiment much with it or what happens when he adds Dust crystals to it. Jaune has high hopes that it won't just end up exploding in his face; it took a lot of effort and many sleepless nights to design his weapon, and he refuses to have it be destroyed in such a manner.

Ruby: "So... I got this."

She then pulled out a massive red scythe, which pierced the ground.