"Guys, really, its fine!"

Lie. Anyone could tell that he was not fine, but it was nice to see that they cared enough to ask.

"Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone"

Truth. Not a kind one, but somehow between dragging his feet in classes and being a total heel, Cardin had managed to piss off most of the freshmen class in some way. Along with anyone else unfortunate enough to shy away from the brute's gaze the first time they met him. The moment he found a weakness, he would ruthlessly exploit it. That, or simply overpower them with sheer force.

Say what you will, Cardin does have an eye for people. Only a bully would know who to pick on without expecting much resistance.

Jaune had long since finished his lunch, and he was halfway up to leave when he heard a cry coming from one of the tables in the back.

"Ow! That hurts!"

A quick glance only confirmed his theory: Cardin was being a tool again, and the entire lunch room was ready to let it happen, if only to let him get his daily dose of stupid of the way. It was strange how everyone seemed to agree that bullies were a blight on every facet of society, and boasted about how they alone would stand against whatever bullies they saw. Yet there she stood, a lone girl being dragged along by her ears as the four jerks heckled her in front of the crowd. Maybe if they stopped staring their feet they would do something. Maybe…

"Please stop…"

Team CRDL finally let the Faunus girl go, laughing as she turned and fled. His friends were saying something, probable complaining about the ginger brute again, but Jaune was too far gone to hear them.

Sapphire eyes followed the girl as she headed towards the exit, eyes dry but cheeks colored red with embarrassment. She seemed familiar, but she wasn't a freshman; He hadn't seen her at all during orientation, though to be fair he was too busy sweating bullets to pay attention at the time. His transcripts weren't up-to-par, or even real per-say; the blonde had simply gotten into contact with the right people, and they had refurbished some old transcripts with his personal details. The documents were official enough to get him through the door, and even if Beacon suspected him of lying, they hadn't said anything. He still had the chance to prove himself, to become the man described in those false papers. He didn't need to become the mightiest of heroes, but he still had a long way before he was ready to save anyone.

Getting there sounded easy enough; train hard, workout more, maybe pay more attention in class…CLASS! That's where I know her from! She sits in front on me sometimes in in Professor Oobleck's class.

("DOCTOR Oobleck," the energetic historian suddenly cried out mid-sip, slamming a hand on the counter and startling the others dining in the Teacher's Lounge. He suddenly remembered where he was, and retreated behind his thermos. "...my apologies...")

Lost in thought, Jaune let his body wander as memories finally clicked together to form the picture he was searching for. Yeah, she's pretty quiet, and her ears sometimes block the view when Oobleck writes on the bottom of the board, but she seems to do pretty good class-wise. She also carries around that strange wooden chest sometimes. What is that thing anyways? School supplies, maybe her weapon? Another part of the puzzle he was missing, but it wasn't a big deal. They had hardly exchanged words, let alone names.

The blonde boy had left the dining hall a while ago, his feet unconsciously carrying him on a familiar path towards the training rooms. There was more than an hour before his next class with Professor Port, more than enough time to slide in a quick workout. Or a long workout; Oum knows I needed to work harder than anyone else if I'm ever going to catch up. Minutes later, the blonde had already slipped into his favorite hoodie and signature Half-plate armor, Crocea Mors singing as it slid free of its sheath. Jaune moved into one of the practice rooms and drones whirred to life at the sound of his footsteps, a small grin on his face.

"Hey guys. Ready for another round?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

By the time his scroll's alarm went off, Jaune had already worked up a good sweat fighting against two of the practice droids. The best way to improve as a fighter was to get into fights more often, but the blonde was not nearly brash or stupid enough to just go out into vale and start punching people. Instead, he fought the mannequin-like androids that the school provided and set their programming to slowly increase in difficulty. He was building up the strength to win, and whereas one droid was once a challenge, he was close to moving on to the next level of programs, such as multiple opponents and adaptive training droids. He needed to trim his movements and find a style that suited him, so constantly fighting against slightly better opponents through the droids really helped him gain insight on how to close the gap. His stamina had also improved if his alarm rang before he was forced to limp over to it and take a break.

Just as the blonde finished wiping up his sweat in the boys locker room, he spied Cardin and his cronies giggling like maniacs as they changed out and chucked their gear into the lockers. Idiots. The boy quietly gathered up his things and headed out, hoping to avoid being made a target once they saw him. He almost didn't notice Cardin struggle to fit everything into his locker, before finally giving up and dropping the rest of it unceremoniously on the floor, but the loud thud as a large box and a couple of books spilled out echoed through the air. Geez, with all the money he spent on that stuff, one would think that would take better care of it. As Jaune headed down to Port's classroom, he swore he could *hear* the knuckleheads smirking to themselves.

"Man, I can't wait for that animal to realize her precious toy is gone. seriously who bri…"

Jaune couldn't hear the rest. It was the same arrogant braggart nonsense, so he ignored it in lieu of deciding his next step. The group had already caught up to and even passed him by the time Jaune knew what to do, though the jerks still took the chance to shoulder check him on the way. He could guess who Cardin was talking about, and with classes starting soon Professor Port was sure to chew him out in front of the class if he didn't make up his mind. And then it struck him.

She is a bit of a stranger…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Velvet was starting to get upset. She had accidentally left her camera behind somewhere after combat class with Professor Goodwitch, and only after lunch did she realize that it was not with her gear when she changed back into her uniform. That was at least two hours ago, and nobody had seen anything in the Lost and Found or in the Combat halls; it was like it just up and disappeared. It wasn't just that her weapon was missing; her grandmother had used that camera back when she was an explorer and travelled across remnant, before passing it down to her children. It was a family heirloom, and now it was missing. Suddenly, she heard quickening footfalls, as if someone was running towards her through the crowd. Using her ears, she quickly found the source to be a tall blonde running with a bundle in his arms.

"Hey! I think you lost something!"

The blonde called out to her, and stopped just a few steps away. He looked familiar, and he had a stupid grin plastered across his face. She didn't like it, it reminded her too much of the grins on Team CRDL's faces whenever her team split up during the school day, leaving her alone. Still grinning, the blond looked down and unwrapped the bundle the reveal a large wooden box...HER box.

WHY YOU LITTLE…!

"I found thi…" Jaune was unable to complete the sentence, as Velvet has already launched a vicious hook into his temple, before ripping the box from his hands. Jaune toppled to the floor, cradling his jaw before looking up at the glaring faunus before him with darkened vision.

"Why would you steal my camera?"

"Stea..WHAT! I was returning it to you! Cardin was the one who took it!"

…

…

"Sorry?"

CHAPTER END

Hello again readers. It may seem kind of weird that I am suddenly releasing a lot of fics today, but this is simply because of two things: I am going to try my hand at being a Beta on , and to be an Official Beta through the site, one must jump through a couple of hoops. I figure that in order to make good on my word to help someone and because I am having one heck of a weekend regardless of my current workload, I might as well bite the bullet and get everything done today. Seems kind of dumb, but inspiration hits me at the most random times lately, so might as well put it to use.