章 3: CHAPTER 2

RUBY ROSE POV

Ruby watched in fascination as Pyrrha started to unlock Jaune's aura.

Of course, she had seen how Aura is unlocked before when her father unlocked her and his big sister Yang's aura.

Or when she unlocked Zwei's aura because he was injured by a Grimm.

But this was the first time she was seeing someone else aside from her father unlocking the aura of another person. This was so cool.

Her expression then changed into confusion as the bright light coming from Jaune continued to increase with each line chanted by Pyrrha.

She looked at her partner (and hopefully her friend) and asked "Is this normal?" Because she couldn't remember such a bright light coming from either her or Yang when their aura was unlocked.

Sure they glowed a little bit but it was nothing compared to the blinding light coming from Jaune at the moment.

Weiss shielded her eyes with her hand and frowned "Of course it isn't you dolt. This is… I don't know why this is happening."

Then the both of them had to close their eyes as the blinding light filled the entire area and Pyrrha finally finished her chant "…and by my shoulder, protect thee."

Then there was a thud and silence.

She scrunched up her brow and peeked through her fingers, hoping that the blinding light had gone away.

Her heart leapt in her throat as she saw Pyrrha fallen on the ground, unresponsive while the still brightly glowing Jaune bent down over her to check up on her.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked in worry as he lightly shook the unconscious girl on the ground. Both her and Weiss went to them and saw Jaune taking Pyrrha's pulse.

"She's alive." Jaune said in relief as he put a finger on Pyrrha's neck before he turned to look at them in confusion "What happened to her?"

She didn't know. She never knew that awakening someone's aura could knock you out like this. She hoped that Pyrrha was alright.

"She exhausted her aura." Weiss said in a quiet voice. She turned to Weiss and saw her looking at Jaune like he was a particularly interesting specimen in a zoo.

"Does this happen often?" Jaune asked and Weiss shook her head.

"No. This is very unusual. The most that should have happened to her was the lessening of her aura and a slight moment of weakness."

"What does this mean?" she asked.

Weiss stopped looking at Jaune with that strange gaze and turned to look at her with some irritation "This means that Jaune has a lot of Aura. Like… a really large amount of it."

"Oh… okay." She said even if she didn't understood all of it.

"Will she be alright?" Jaune asked as he picked up Pyrrha in a princess carry (squee, they look so cute) without any effort. She had to wonder if he was generally this strong or if he was this strong because of aura. Maybe it was a semblance?

Wait! What about his shoulder injury?

Weiss nodded "She has exhausted her aura. She's alright but it'll take her a while to wake up." Then she paused "I'm not sure she'll be able to wake up before the end of the initiation test."

"Jaune." She said, gaining the attention of both him and her partner. She fidgeted under their attention before speaking "Your shoulder. Is it okay?" but what she wanted to ask was 'How are you even able to move that arm let alone pick up Pyrrha without any difficulty.'

Jaune blinked, as if just remembering that he had an injured shoulder before pushed aside the Red cape that her mother had left with her before she…

She shook her head to remove the sad thoughts from her head and then gasped as Jaune's injury or the lack of it was revealed.

Because the area with the deep stab wound in his shoulder a few minutes ago was healed, as if he had never been stabbed in the first place.

She knew that aura healed wounds as it healed her bruises and cuts all the time. But the healing took time. And she had never seen someone heal such a large wound so easily in such a short amount of time.

She moved forward to poke at the area, making sure that her eyes were not playing tricks with her and got a chuckle from Jaune in response, her face turning red as she realized that she just touched a boy's naked skin.

She looked down in embarrassment but was brought out of it when Jaune spoke to her.

"Ruby. Can I borrow your cape for a while longer?" Jaune asked.

She frowned, wondering what he needed it for but then understood when she saw him put the unconscious Pyrrha on his and tying her to him with the cape.

It didn't look like the Cape will be able to hold Pyrrha's weight but it somehow did without any problem.

Jaune picked up both Pyrrha and his own weapons and turned to her and Weiss "I think it's time we get moving."

Both she and Weiss nodded and then the ground shook as a group of Beowolf moved in their direction.

She readied her Crescent Rose and smiled.

It was finally time to show her partner and friends her true capabilities.