Chapter 2 - Letters of Despair

DING DONG DING DONG

"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."

Jaune kept his eyes closed, wishing he was still asleep. It had been hard to get any rest after all the carnage of the previous day, but he had somehow managed to, although he felt just as tired as before he went to bed.

He simply lay there, feeling nothing but his skull buzzing inside his head. What reason did he have to get up, to face another day? Penny was dead, as were Coco and Yatsuhashi. His faith in the Ultimates, in the strength of the group, had clearly been mistaken. They were still stuck inside that horrendous game, and Monokuma played dirty, always managing to come out on top.

He thought about getting up and going to breakfast, but what was even the point in it? Clearly team-building hadn't worked for them, so spending time together was just a way to make yourself a target. On the other hand so was locking himself in his room, but one of those two possibilities was effortless. Instead of walking around, facing his feelings and interacting with his classmates, he could just pretend it was all a bad dream, sticking to a place he knew was safe.

With that in mind, he ignored the announcement and went back to sleep.

DIIIIIIIIIING DOOOOOONG

The boy sprung awake, his head propelling out of the pillow without command. He looked around, feeling temporarily confused, but the realization of where he was soon sunk in once again.

Still in this damn school, obviously.

DIIIIIIIIIING DOOOOOONG

He stared at the door with pleading eyes, as if the wooden contraption would take pity on him and stop ringing. When it didn't, he got up from the bed and walked over to the heartless thing, turning the handle around.

"Hey, Pyrrha." He had expected her to be the one outside, and she looked worried.

"Good morning, Jaune. How are you doing?" She was polite and subtle, but it was obvious that her question was meant to pry deeper into his feelings.

"Fine, considering." Horrible, I want to throw myself off a window if that's what it'll take to get away from this school, but I can't even do that because the freaking things are barred. "Sorry I missed breakfast, I wasn't very hungry."

Her green eyes pondered for a second, most likely wondering if she should call out his lies. Then, having made up her mind, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the room.

"Well, you'd better be hungry now because everyone is waiting for you."

Huh? Waiting for me, why? D-did someone else die and I slept through the announcement? He kept his thoughts to himself, and allowed her to drag him with her muscular arms, silently praying nobody else had been taken away.

The red corridor became the white hall, and not long after they were at the door to the cafeteria. She dropped his hand and pushed the door open, so he could walk in by himself.

"Took you long enough."

He did his best to ignore Yang, as well as the ten pairs of eyes staring intensely at him, grabbing a chair and sitting down in front of the table.

Twelve of them, that was all they had now. Number-wise it didn't seem like such a decrease, but three people had gone, and that was more loss than he had thought he'd ever experience in the timespan of a week. Penny Polendina, the shy and tortured girl, incapable of sharing the secret of her metallic body. Yatsuhashi Daichi, the stoic swordsman, a stalwart of strength and honor until the end. Coco Adel, the eccentric model, driven to do unspeakable things for the love she had for her family. Those were the names of those taken away from them, and Jaune would not forget them until the day of this death.

They were only twelve, but that did not spell the end just yet. They had numbers, and they had each other. Despite it all, he wanted to believe they would pull through it all. If he didn't, then all hope was gone, and the headmaster had already won.

"You know, shutting yourself in your room isn't good for your health. Ask Penny."

"Em..." Sun sounded unamused, which was telling of how bad the joke was.

"What, too soon?"

"You were all waiting for me, why?" Jaune changed the subject abruptly.

"Because we like you and want to make sure you're alright?" Ruby's attempt at being nice fell on deaf ears, no one paying her any mind.

"Monokuma wanted to speak to everyone again."

"Another motive?" He turned to Blake, who had given a decent answer.

"Oum, I hope not." Everyone nodded in agreement with Pyrrha's statement.

Right on cue, the dreadful bear walked in through the door with a smile on his twisted mouth. "What's with the gloomy faces? Y'all look like someone d- Oh, oops, my bad."

They didn't respond, waiting impatiently for the reason for being summoned to that place.

"You guys are a bore." Monokuma seemed disappointed about not getting any displeased reactions. "Anyway, now that everyone is here, I have an announcement to make. The second floor is now unlocked."

"What?"

"Second floor?"

"Can we believe him?"

"Maybe there's a way out up there!"

"What are we waiting for?"

The headmaster cleared his throat, demanding to be given attention.

"Now that's the kind of excitement I want to see. Upstairs you'll find new commodities to make your life here more interesting, as well as a plethora of new ways of attempting graduation. Call it a reward for surviving the first trial."

The class' enthusiasm faltered a bit at the reminder that they were still part of a cruel mutual killing game. They glanced amongst themselves, wondering if it was okay to see the upstairs area if it meant discovering new murder weapons, and putting themselves through that torment again. Had once not been enough for that sadistic mascot?

"What are you waiting for? Start leggin'it, kiddos."

"Huh... How do we get to the second floor again?" Nora looked confusedly at the stuffed animal.

"What do you mean where is it, the stairs are right next to the gymnasium! You have been there before!"

"I don't remember any stairs there..."

"So what, they're there and they've been there since Chapter 1! It's not like I retconned them in or anything."

"Now he's just spouting nonsense." Weiss made her voice heard, clearly displeased with what was going on.

"Should we just go?"

"Yeah, let's."

The twelve students got up and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving the monochrome bear by himself. They crossed the length of the school's first floor, hoping the new territory would bring them a break. There was some idle banter, trading ideas about what they hoped to find upstairs, but mostly they were just walking as a group. Whatever the prize was bound to bring them, the mere promise of novelty, of a possibility of escape, had already succeeded in kick-starting their will to continue. It was what they did in those troubling circumstances, when all was but on the verge of breaking, they clung to whatever hope was left, picked up the pieces and continued fighting.

The stairs were exactly where the bear said they would be, a large gap in the wall by the left side of the gym with two sets of steps leading up. The metallic bars that had once been barring them were nowhere to be found, permitting access deeper in to the school.

Jaune felt his breath shake in anticipation, stopping to stare at the staircase with the rest of his classmates. He glanced to the sides, and saw others do the same. There was a possibility, however small, that it had been a trap set by the mastermind, and they were about to walk into nothing but more suffering.

Ruby was the first to move forward, ignoring the hypothetical danger and placing her small foot on the lowest step. When there was no explosion, nor spears being fired from the walls, the rest followed suit.

What they found on the second floor was, honestly, a tad disappointing. It looked just like the first one, plain walls with plenty of artificial lighting, but none natural. There were a couple of doors visible from the hall they were standing in, the one that started at the staircase, and surely others waiting after the two corners in the hall. Simply put, it all reeked of familiarity, of more of the same, and the same, well... it hadn't exactly pleasant thus far.

Still, deprived of all else, that flickering ember of hope was all they had left in them, so the class marched onwards.

Shortly after its beginning, the corridor forked to the left, leading into a small space featuring a door with grey stained glass. The sharpshooter, still in the forefront of the group, walked up to it, intending on entering.

"Should we split up?" Jaune spoke up, hoping the red-hooded girl heard him, as well as all the others.

"Maybe that's a good idea, we cover more ground." Velvet nodded in agreement, the omnipresent flash of her camera veering dangerously close to becoming an annoyance.

The group begrudgingly accepted the proposal, leaving Ruby, Sun, Neo and Ren to investigate that first door, while the others checked the rest of the floor. The eight of them walked away from the alley, and moved to the fork in the hallway. Right at their left side were the stairs to a third floor, blocked by metallic door just like the ones to the second floor had been before. Nevertheless, they group of classmates ran eagerly to them, and attempted with all their might to move the blockade, but to no avail, even with the help of the muscular students among them.

Disappointed, they left the stairway behind and moved on to the right-hand of the hall, knowing that the upper floor would wait for them to kill again. They reached a small square of empty space, where, by the closest wall, were two small doors labelled 2-A and 2-B. Emerald approached the first one and peeked inside.

"Another classroom. Great."

"We should check it anyway, there could be clues inside." Weiss spoke with a demanding tone, her usual. She walked into the room, and the green-haired magician followed her, but not before dramatically rolling her eyes towards the rest of the class.

"Guessing the other one is a classroom too." Yang noted, pointing at the next door.

"Probably, yes."

"C'mon, let's go the two of us. I want to have a talk with you." Nora grabbed the boxer's arm, and pushed her towards the second classroom, giggling all the while. Yang didn't question it, guessing what was about to come. Jaune shuddered at the thought of the havoc those two could cause together, and vowed never to know what was about to happen in that room.

"I guess all that's left is that one door." Blake pointed behind them, to the farthest side of the square, where there were, in fact, three more doors near the corner.

"What about…"

"Bathrooms."

"Oh, okay."

The four of them, Velvet, Blake Phyrra and Jaune, walked over to the last uninvestigated room of the floor, and entered together. The library was ample, a little over half the size of the cafeteria, and probably five times his already too large room. He thought of his father and his mother, and what a headache the two of them would have cleaning up the extent of that place – it would be a task without end. Remembering his family, of course, brought him nothing but sorrow, so he tried to distract himself by inspecting the inside of the room.

There were brown wooden bookshelves around the entire length, covering every wall from the floor to the ceiling, some even perpendicular to the rest, looking quite like walls of their own. Some of the shelves had thin matching ladders leaning on them, to allow the students access to the uppermost books that would otherwise be out of reach. Nine tables were disposed in the empty floor between the bookshelves, almost like alcoves where one could find respite with the company of quality reading. On the opposing side of the library was a clearing with another six tables perfectly arranged orthogonally, and a thicker desk in the back, with a petite lamp atop it. Chairs were evenly distributed among the furniture, betraying the room's ability to house a small platoon.

Makes sense, there were supposed to be more classes besides us.

He had never been too fond of libraries, too septic and forcefully quiet, but there was a sort of nostalgia to it now. Missing being a normal student, with essays and exams, wasn't at all strange considering the school they were in. However grueling, any five-page paper on the history of Remnant seemed desirable when compared to the trials of death they faced.

Moving closer to one of the shelves, Jaune eyed the titles on the countless covers adorning it. "The Four Maidens: Folklore and Rumors in Remnant", "Myths of Creation and Other Nonsense", it all seemed bulky and academic, not at all the kind of thing he'd be interested in. Sadly, the library didn't look like it would have anything with flashy pictures in it.

"I bet Blake is going to flip when she sees all of this." He did not realize he as saying it out loud until he heard a chuckle way in the distance. He turned around, and, surely enough, the cat faunus was already sitting isolated by a table, barely visible behind a humongous pile of books.

As he faced back, he noticed Pyrrha walking up to the farthest wall, where a small door was infused near the desk. He followed after her, curious about the possibility of a new section, one that wasn't so dull. She flicked the handle, and opened it.

It was near pitch black inside, a small square, closet-like compartment with no windows or other light sources. The boy hurried to fetch the desk lamp, but verified that the cord only stretched up to the very entrance, the small lightbulb struggling with all its might to cast away the darkness.

"Can you see anything?"

"More shelves. It's hard to tell what's in them, apart from being books." She looked back at him, the surrounding void making her face look like a twisted grinning monstrosity, instead of the apologetic smile he knew she was certainly displaying. "Sorry."

"That's okay." He left the room with the redhead in tow, and placed the lamp back in its place. Upon doing so, the boy saw Velvet scouring through the drawers in the desk. Her brown eyes seemed lit up, like she had made an important discovery.

"Found something, Velvet?"

"I think so." She said timidly, for once not handling her camera, the black gadget laying rigidly over the top of the table.

The rabbit-eared girl reached into one of the drawers, and retrieved from within it a flat rectangular object. She gently put it on the desk where the other two could see it.

"Is that a laptop?"

"Looks like it, yeah."

The Ultimate Luckster almost ran up to it, yearning to see what was inside it. As his fingers were beginning to touch the lid, however, he looked at the brunette, asking her with his eyes if it was okay to handle the object she had discovered. Velvet nodded.

He smiled eagerly, and lifted the cover of the computer. He had missed the feel of his own hardware set up, a modest machine that had kept him company through countless hours. The blond boy pressed the power button, and reveled in the sound of gears turning and energy being distributed through the various systems. The screen came alive soon after, displaying a dark-green surface, with four lighter-hued words in it.

"Please insert your name."

He typed in 'Jaune Arc', and pressed enter. A spinning shape appeared, indicating it was loading, and after a short wait they were greeted by the contents of the laptop. Maintaining the dark-green color, two bars showed up on either side of the screen, separated by a thin barrier in the middle of the area. It was all too familiar, even though it was not what he expected to find.

"Is this… Pong?" The two girls didn't answer. He touched the arrow keys, and surely enough, one of the bars moved up and down, confirming his suspicions. Upon touching the enter key, however, he got a bright flash straight to his eyes.

"Velvet!"

"It wasn't me!"

"Was it the computer?"

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud 'Ding', and the game began.

At the very center of the screen, a ball was summoned, except it wasn't really a ball. It was a pixelated render of Jaune's head being thrown around the field, the target of the bars on each side. It even left a trail of pixelated blood in its path, adding to the absurd yet disturbing aesthetic of the game.

He stared in shock at the laptop, failing to comply with the objective of the program. It was such a stupid and cruel prank that he couldn't process what was happening. He heard Velvet laughing behind him, a shy chuckle at first, but then evolving into a burst of laughter. He glared at her confusedly, and saw Pyrrha do the same.

"I'm sorry, it's just so… silly!" The photographer hid her mouth with one hand, trying to contain the giggling. Whether she was laughing at the game or at him, he did not think to ask.

"Can I?" The redhead asked for permission to approach the computer, and he got out of her way. She pressed Escape, and the screen reverted to the initial state. When she inserted her name, the flash appeared again, and then the game started again, this time with a cutesy image of Pyrrha serving as the ball.

"Is there nothing else in it?" They tried all the keys, pressed the mousepad repeatedly as if trying to unlock an obscure secret mode, but no result came to pass. "Guess it was just that bad joke."

"I thought it was funny…" Velvet made a puppy-eyed expression, and so he forsook arguing with her about it. There was no point after all, the laptop was a bust that he would do well to forget.

"I guess that's everything in here?" Pyrrha traded glances with him, and they decided to leave that place behind. On the way out, he noticed Blake still deeply immersed in her reading.

"You sure do love books, don't you?" He tried his best no to sound accusing, but she saw through him like glass. She had been a key player in the trial, providing immense help, but today she had done next to nothing for their shared struggle.

"Did you find anything?"

"Not really."

"Because I did." There was a sort of victorious tone to those words, the cat faunus enjoying rubbing in his face that she had accomplished something while he hadn't. She stretched out a hand, revealing a yellowing envelope with the seal broken.

"What's that?" Velvet asked from behind his back, perking up her nose with curiosity.

"Read it. It's quite… fascinating."

Jaune retrieved the papers from within the envelope, and unfolded it, presenting the letter in a manner that all three of them could read at once.

"Dear Headmaster Ozpin,

I do not care how many safety nets you placed down, flinging your students off the top of the school buildings is NOT within Health and Safety Regulations, as Mr. Black surely agree. The poor boy is never walking again, and I'm sure you understand that not even the most prestigious academy of this nation is immune to scandal.

But I digress. This has not been the first infraction, and the Council's patience has run thin for your eccentricities and overall disregard for the wellbeing of your students. I am required to hereby communicate to you that Beacon's Peak Academy, along with its Talent Program, are to close its doors for good, effective at the end of the current school year, by official order of the Council of Vale.

We understand that a school as famed as yours will appreciate discretion, so we leave to your responsibility the communication with the public about these matters. I wish you the best of luck.

Respectfully,

Councilwoman Glynda Goodwitch.

PS: Please refrain from addressing me as 'scrublord' in any further correspondence."

"What... The school closed?""

"It couldn't have, we got acceptance letters."

"Unless they were fake." The terrorist answered Pyrrha while maintaining eye contact, her golden irises filled with certainty.

"You mean..."

"I mean that if we believe this, there are only two possibilities: one, this letter is old, and the school was closed without the public's knowledge, meaning the invitations we received were forgeries." She raised a finger in the air, ignoring their mortified reactions, and then lifted a second one. "Or two, this letter is recent, the school was about to close when we arrived, and in that case, we just found out the identity of who's behind this sick game."

"Who?"

"The headmaster, Ozpin. He would have the means and money to pull such a thing off."

Jaune pondered on those words, having no answer for them. The line of thought made sense, too much so. It felt like the clue was too easy, like it had been planted there for them to find. Could they really trust such a thing?

"The rest of the group should see this." Pyrrha's voice interrupted his thinking, and he nodded in agreement. There was nothing else for them in there, but maybe the rest of the class had more luck.

Velvet followed them outside, but the cat faunus decided to stay behind. Back in the hallway, the three of them ran into Emerald and Weiss leaving the classroom they had been inspecting. Apparently there had been nothing of worth inside, and he suspected Yang and Nora hadn't discovered anything as well, although they were nowhere to be found. The best hope they had of further clues was the grey door at the end of the second floor, and that was exactly where they moved to next.

Just as they were turning into the small alleyway where the door lied, Jaune was surprised to see the four that had been investigating that area exiting to meet them. Well, it was not their presence that was surprising, neither the extremely convenient timing or the fact that all of them had a wet glimmer on their hair, but what they were wearing, namely the two girls. Sun looked the same as always, the jean shorts and open white vest, and Ren had his well-toned body for display, wielding a pair of green shorts and a soft-pink towel around his shoulders, but the lucky student had already seen him in a state of undress before, so it did not come as a new experience. Neo and Ruby, however, were another case entirely.

The sharpshooter had a simple red skirt on, that cut off a little above her knees, but her legs weren't covered by the usual black thighs and boots, replaced only by a pair of summer sandals. Likewise, her red sweater was nowhere to be seen, showing a lot more skin than usual around the black bikini top she had on. The girl instinctively crossed her arms over her chest to cover herself when she noticed the approaching crowd. Neo didn't. The mute students was too wearing a bikini, lilac bottoms with an oddly appropriate pink and brown top, but no other form of clothing. She merely smirked at the newly-arrived batch of classmates.

Jaune tried his best not to stare, completely failing to recall why he had come there in the first place. Luckily, Weiss stepped in for him.

"What's going on here?" Her tone was slightly accusing, but at the same time curious.

"We found a pool." Ren spoke first.

"It's pretty damn cool, if you ask me." Sun placed his hands behind his head in a carefree manner.

"I didn't. Wait, are you telling me all of you went into the pool… at the same time?"

Ruby was the one to answer, still not taking her arms away from her chest. "There are separate changing rooms this time, so boys and girls can go in all at once."

"That's the second bath we find in two floors. Almost feels like someone is trying to send us a message." Pyrrha giggled at her own joke, quite adorably so.

"That's right, I am!" Monokuma came out from the glass door, bringing a megaphone in his little bear paw. He proceeded to raise the item to his bear mouth, and shout into it. "TEENAGERS ARE SMELLY!"

The class glared at him annoyedly, wishing his presence away with just their gaze.

"Fine, fine, I'll go." The bear back-pedaled into the door and disappeared.

"Anyway…" Sun shrugged his shoulders. "The changing room doors are unlocked using the Scrolls, just like the rooms. So, we shouldn't need to worry about anyone peeping."

"I bet that comes as a disappointment to you."

"Hey, Ice Queen, I'm a thief, not a creeper! Pretty big difference."

"What did you guys find?" Ruby changed subject, eager to see the age old confrontation stop.

Pyrrha retold most of what they had found, and Velvet provided the headmaster's letter for anyone that wanted to read it. The frowns and looks of confusion returned, the peace disturbed once again by the school's mysteries and schemes, but no one had anything to add. It was simply another puzzle for which they did not have all the pieces yet.

The crowd scattered, most of them returning downstairs to have dinner. Jaune gestured for Pyrrha to go on ahead without him, and went after Weiss, who, unlike the others, had opted to inspect the library. She was closing in on the entrance when he found the opening he was looking for.

"Hey, Weiss?"

The girl stopped, and he quickly jogged up to her. She faced him with an icy stare, not saying a word.

"I just wanted to say... You were really great at the class trial. Thanks for the help."

She waited silently for a couple of seconds, ensuring he had said all he wished to, and then finally addressed him directly.

"Look, Jaune, just because I saved your pitiful ass during the trial, that doesn't make us friends. My life would have been on the line too if the class voted wrong, that's all there is to it."

Jaune suppressed the instinctive recoil of his body at the hostility in her words. She wasn't just her regular cold and distant - she was purposefully pushing him away.

"So, are you done? I have places to go."

He nodded.

"Well then, try not to get yourself killed. I won't save you next time." Was that deeply masked care or merely pure unfiltered hatred? He simply couldn't tell.

The singer walked away from him, and her graceful figure disappeared from sight when she closed the large wooden door to the library. He stood in place, dumbstruck by the interaction that had just taken place.

"What did I do to deserve this?"

"Nothing." He turned, surprised at the sudden voice behind him, and saw Ruby standing just a little bit further from where he was. She strutted up to him with a compassionate smile. "She does that with everyone. She's so lonely that she thinks letting people in is a threat."

"Really? I thought it was because of my talent..." It was relieving in a way, although no amount of explanation would crush the feeling that she despised him more than the rest. "How do you know that?"

Ruby opened her mouth and closed it again, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. After a little bit of pondering, she finally spoke. "I might know a thing or two ab-"

"There you are, little sis! Been looking all over for you."

Yang stomped her way to them, seemingly having come from nowhere, and stared at the two students with a toothy grin. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"No, no, we were just about to head for the cafeteria." He never took his eyes off her fists as he hurriedly spoke. The last thing he wanted was to unleash Yang Xiao Long's fury, especially after witnessing firsthand how much hurt those hands could cause.

"Oh good, then you won't mind if I steal Rubes from you?" He was about to answer, but she brought a finger up to his face, cutting him short. "Trick question, I can't steal what is not yours. And she's not yours, got it?"

"Yaaaaaaaaaang..."

The boxer ignored her sibling and burst out laughing, pointing at the mortified look on Jaune's face. "Works every time!"

He quietly wondered why he seemed to be the butt of every joke in that school, but somehow felt more at ease than he had been since the trial. There was something soothing about their carefree chuckling, a sense of normalcy that had been stripped from them the moment they had awoken in that school. Given, being threatened by a powerful fighter wasn't exactly routine, but at least things were returning to how they were, and that was enough.

When the two sisters headed to dinner, he followed them, hoping that no more unpleasant surprises lied in wait. And just like always, his hope proved to be his downfall.

The dinner table had fallen quiet, but as soon as their bellies were full the ruckus started once again. The upper floor had been far from what they hoped, but it was undeniable that it brought along some new leisure options, and that was a win, despite the high cost demanded. Yang voiced her desire to try out the pool, and plenty of other voices came forth in agreement. Weiss seemed more interested in the opulent library, as was Blake of course, which was a storm just waiting to happen. Jaune, alongside Neo, Velvet and Emerald, didn't feel that much seduced by the new rooms, but he was happy to see the class healing. Maybe next time he would get something better, although he did not know yet that there would be a next time, or that it would come so soon.

"Aren't you all forgetting desert?"

At this point, nobody felt surprised by Monokuma's sudden appearances anymore. There was an overall sigh of discontent, but unlike before there was no attempt at resistance. They had seen what had happened to Yatsuhashi, and it was enough to dissuade them for good.

Well, there was one person among them who reacted wildly to the headmaster's entrance. Ren glared at the stuffed bear as if his light-ish red eyes could stab and tear the animal apart. They had eaten desert, it had been delicious, and how dare that monochrome toy suggest that the Ultimate Cook would forget any part of the meal. It was insulting to say the least.

"But we already had the desert..." Nora looked confusedly at Monokuma, although slightly intrigued by the mention of more food.

"No, no, no! I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about food for the soul!"

"Ice cream?" Neo raised her notepad.

"Ugh, just spill it out, Monodouche."

"Is that any way to treat... Ahem, nevermind. I have another prize for the lot of you lazy bums, one that you apparently forgot about."

"The letters from our families." Weiss spoke calmly and with certainty.

Jaune was suddenly struck by the realization that he had forgotten all about those letters. The bear had promised to give them the rest of the missives after the first murder, condition that had been met soon after, yet amidst the grief and confusion of the trial they had fallen from memory. He felt his anxiety spark, wanting to know what else his family had to say to him, but a part of him felt like maybe it would be better not to. Monokuma gifted with one hand and slapped with the other, whatever the reason from him doing this was, it probably wasn't good.

"Ding ding ding! You are correct! Unless, of course, you don't wanna know what your families back home have to say..."

"Of course, we wanna know!" Emerald's voice was loudly heard, always the first to boil.

"Just give us the damn things!"

"Upupupupu, fine, if you insist. Just remember, you asked for it." With that ominous warning, the plush threw a bunch of envelopes in the air, and the class sorted through them in a perfect mirror of what had come to pass the first time around.

Jaune opened his with shaking hands, reading it very carefully and slowly. When he was done, he read through it again, struggling to process the words inscribed in the paper. Of all the pranks and cruel jokes the bear had unleashed on them, this one had to be the worst.

"My dear Jaune,

I'm so proud of you for getting accepted into Beacon. You've been searching for yourself for so long, for what makes you unique, and I know you'll find it there. We are rooting for you, you are the future of the Arc family. Above all, I'm glad to know you'll be out of harm's way in there.

Don't worry about us, we're doing fine. The bunker your father built is still strong as ever, and it will keep the radiation away from us. Turns out his post-war paranoia paid off, because of it we have water and food to last a whole year.

Your sisters miss you, but they understand that you're safe and that's what matters. I hope the school treats you well, and remember that a stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet, so don't be afraid to get along with your classmates.

Have fun. Be safe. Be good. Eat your vegetables.

Love,

Mom."

TO BE CONTINUED

Students Alive - 12

Next chapter will resolve that, and then we get more Free Time Events! You know the drill, vote for the three people you want Jaune to be spending time with, and I'll pick from the most voted.

The poll is now closed.

