The Will to Act

by Anthony Gritchin

Shortly after reaching Mistral, team JNRR (RNJR, whichever you prefer) decide to split up in an attempt to search for any information about Cinder. While out and about, Jaune comes across a man dressed in black fighting off a Grimm and decides to intervene. However, there's something very strange about this man's reaction towards his intervention...

This is an idea I came up with after watching season 4 of RWBY; after watching the "training" scene with Jaune and "Pyrrha" in episode 2 of season 4, I remember thinking to myself (much like many others) "oh Jaune…you can't do this to yourself, man". Then I remembered and re-watched the "Will to Act" scene from the movie Batman Begins with Liam Neeson and Christian Bale and was immediately inspired to write something. There are a few spoilers in case anyone hasn't seen the series so read at your own risk.
Also, I don't own RWBY or Batman Begins; RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth, while Batman Begins belongs to DC Comics and Warner Bros.

Walking through the woods was a tall man in his mid-fifties dressed clad in black, sporting a gray goatee style mustache, with short combed back brown hair carrying a backpack on his back along with a sword in its scabbard attached to his back underneath the backpack. He stopped in his tracks as he felt as if he was being followed by something…big. He removed his backpack calmly, held his bag in his hand, and unsheathed his sword. "I know you're following me, so there's no use in hiding anymore. Come on out, Grimm." He said in a deep voice with an Irish accent. Almost on cue, three Ursai Grimm appeared forth from the bushes. He merely shook his head and said to himself, "you will never learn". As he dropped his bag, the first of the three Ursai charged at the man; as soon as the bag hit the ground then man rolled to the side and cut off the front right paw of the Ursa. The Ursa screamed in pain and turned toward the man with a thunderous roar, only to be interrupted by the man's sword lodged in its skull with the man's sword protruding upward from the bottom of the jaw. He then pulled the sword out of the first Ursa and watched as the beast dissolved into nothing. The second and third Ursa then charged at the man; the first one that reached him attempted to bite the man, but the man in black jumped up onto the Ursa's head, used the momentum to jump onto the its back, ran across the body, jumped into the air towards the other Ursa, and sliced the head off of the Ursa as it stood to swat the man out of the air. The man landed on his feet and turned to see the final Ursa turn around to face him and proceeded with caution this time. The man then took a single step forward, causing the Ursa to flinch. The man then looked at his sword, then at the Ursa, shook his head, and threw his sword to the side, "I don't even need my sword to finish you as you are." He then lifted his hands, about to take a boxing stance, when all of a sudden a man with yellow, scraggly hair and wearing a black hooded sweater with white and gold armor covering his upper body and sporting a red sash that hung at his hip appeared from the woods and stood in front of him.

"Don't worry sir, I've got this," the young man said as he readied himself against the Ursa.

The man in black, with a confused look on his face, looked behind him then in front of him again and said in confusion, "what do you think you're doing?"

With confusion now in his voice Jaune replied, "Umm…saving you? From the Ursa?"

"Why?"

The blonde man then turned to face the man to continue the conversation, "Because…I'm a Hunter…and saving people from Grimm is what we do. And because that Grimm knocked your weapon out of your hand."

"Saving? Knocked my weapon…oh no, no, no, no…son that Ursa didn't knock my…" he stopped mid-sentence as he was observing the man that stood in front of him. For the most part he was unimpressed with what he saw…but then he noticed the emblem at the bottom of his shield. He squinted as if trying to remember where he saw that crown-like appearance on his shield before. His face then, subtly, came to a realization as to where he had seen it before. "I see," he thought to himself, "so this is that boy…" He then calmly said out loud, "Alright". He then walked toward his sword, dusted it off, and sat down on a giant stone that was protruding from the ground. "The Ursa is all yours."

Even more confused than before the blonde man simply said, "Uh…what?"

"You said you've 'got this' did you not, Mr. Hunter? The Ursa is all yours to slay. So what's the matter?"

"Nothing, it's just that…you're taking this situation way too calmly."

"What do I have to worry about? I have a Hunter ready and willing to slay this Grimm that was attacking me."

"…Ok there's something REALLY OFF about you…"

As Jaune was talking to the man, the man looked behind Jaune and saw that the Ursa was becoming irritated that it was being ignored. It then decided to charge at Jaune as the man in black said dryly, "Son, the only thing that will be off will be your head if you don't do anything about that Ursa that's charging you."

"Oh right, the Grimm!" he said, finally remembering about why he had intervened in the first place. As Jaune charged the Ursa, the man in black brought out his scroll from his backpack, pressed a few buttons, placed the scroll back in his bag, and leaned forward from his position to observe the young man's fighting style.

"Let's see what it was that you saw in him," he thought to himself.

Back at the blonde man; he rolled out of the way of the charging Ursa, charged the Ursa from behind and took a swipe at its leg…only for the Ursa to lift it at the last second. The blonde Hunter stumbled and rolled in front of the Ursa and stood his ground. The Ursa then stood on its hind legs and roared at the young Hunter. The blonde Hunter then sighed, glared at the Ursa, shouted a war cry, and rapidly swung his sword in every direction with each hit connecting with the Grimm. He looked up; the Grimm stood still for three seconds and finally fell to the ground in defeat. "Haha…works every time," the young man gloated to himself.

He then heard a slow clapping sound coming from the man who sat on the stone; the man stood up from where he sat and slowly made his way to the dead Grimm that lay before them. "Congratulations young man," he began to say, "you were able to slay a single Ursa on your own."

"Thanks, it was nothing."

"Your form is a bit sloppy and unorthodox…but results speak for themselves I guess." As he said this and before the young Hunter could protest to that last comment, an airship landed behind both the man in black and the blonde man.

Even more confused than before the blonde exclaimed, "What the…how did it know where we…"

The man in black interrupted, "I called for an airship while you were fighting that Grimm. Are you coming or not?"

"Uh..sure…" he said hesitantly, remembering how he puked his guts out during his first time on this particular type of aircraft. He caught up with the man in black and introduced himself, "by the way, my name is Jaune. Jaune Arc." He stretched out his hand in order to shake the stranger's hand, only to receive a glance of inspection from the tall individual. He lowered his hand in defeat then heard the man say as he walked towards the ship, "Ducard."

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Henri Ducard, Mr. Arc."

Jaune then smiled as he entered the aircraft, "Please, call me Jaune."

As the aircraft took to the air, Jaune looked for the nearest chair that wasn't by a window so as to avoid repeating what happened the first time. He quickly found a chair and sat down with a sigh of relief.

"I take it you're not a fan of flying?" Ducard asked the young Hunter jokingly.

"Kind of…I had an embarrassing experience when I first arrived at Beacon."

"You were a student at Beacon? I'm surprised you're not resting at home after what happened."

"After what happened at Beacon I couldn't just take it easy, my team and I walked almost all the way from Vale to get here."

"You walked from one continent to another?" raising an eyebrow at this detail in Jaune's story.

"Oh no, we didn't walk ALL the way here…we flew in on one of these aircrafts."

"I see…if you don't mind my asking, what business do you have in Mistral, Mr. Arc?"

Sighing after hearing 'Mr. Arc' once again from the man and for remembering his reason as to why he decided to undertake this mission, Jaune once again continued his story, "we're looking for a person who murdered my teammate."

"You seek vengeance?" he said as he cocked an eyebrow upwards.

"No, not vengeance…well…kind of, I guess," he said defeated.

Ducard already knew exactly who this blonde man was, but he asked one more question just to be certain, "what is your team's name?"

Sighing with sadness this time, Jaune replied to the man's question, "it used to be named JNPR, but now we're still trying to figure out how to name our team with a new member, and good friend, accompanying us."

Ducard having realized who sat before him stood up as he said, "I knew it."

"Huh?" Jaune said perplexed.

"Jaune Arc, former student of Beacon Academy…you were the LEADER of Team JNPR, were you not?"

Jaune noticed this and started to become suspicious and slowly started reaching for his sword, "Wait…I don't recall mentioning…"

"Pyrrha talked about you a lot in her letters," he said solemnly.

Jaune's hand stopped reaching for his sword; his jaw dropped, and immediately covered his mouth. A tear streaked down his face at the mention of his dear departed friend's name that loved him. He weakly said with his hand covering his mouth, "Pyrrha…" He then looked at the man before him, removed his hand and with a cracking voice, "how do you know that name?"

Henri Ducard then walked toward a nearby window and explained to the young Hunter, "Before Pyrrha became the celebrity that everyone knew her for, before she won the Mistral Regional Tournament four consecutive years in a row…she was just a student at Sanctum Academy." He turned away from the window to face Jaune, "The same Academy where I taught her everything she needed to know about combat."

Jaune's eyes widened at this revelation; this man who stood before him now was the very man that taught Pyrrha how to fight? Well that would explain why he was so calm when that Ursa was attacking…but that didn't explain, "Wait, if you taught Pyrrha how to fight…why did you let me take down that Grimm?"

Ducard cocked an eyebrow then answered to boy's question, "As I said earlier, Pyrrha mentioned you a lot in her letters. I wanted to see if you were that same Jaune Arc that Ms. Nikos spoke so highly of."

"How did you know who I was when we met?" he said questioningly.

Ducard noticed that it was his turn to start answering questions, and so he did. "I noticed the emblem at the bottom of your shield; the golden crown that resembles the one Pyrrha always wore. As soon as I saw that and took a better look at who stood before me, based on your description in Pyrrhas's letters, I knew exactly who you were."

Pain of sadness struck Jaune as he asked his final question; "So if you knew Pyrrha…does that mean you know about…" he never finished his question as Ducard interrupted his question.

"I am very well aware of Ms. Nikos' death," He said solemnly.

Tears started to swell in Jaune's eyes at those words; he quickly wiped away the tears that kept forming. "How?" Finally getting the word out.

"After the fall of Beacon, General Ironwood, Glynda Goodwitch, and Qrow sent out emergency projections to the other Kingdoms informing everyone of what happened. Pyrrha Nikos was listed as one of the warriors who fell in battle."

The tears started to make their way to Jaune's eyes once again; he did his best to hold back the tears, but some managed to streak down his face. He wiped his eyes the best he could. He then felt the man walk towards him, he looked up and saw the man take a seat in front of him once again. Ducard then asked him, "I know it might be painful for you to recall such an event, but if you don't mind my asking…how exactly did Ms. Nikos perish?"

Jaune stood up, walked towards the windows of the aircraft, looked up towards the sky and let out a heavy sigh. "It's not something I like to recall…" he felt Ducard's hand grab his shoulder gently.

Jaune turned to face Ducard and saw in his face the feeling of understanding as he said, "I won't force you to tell me if it's too painful."

Jaune simply nodded his head in appreciation, looked back up at the sky, and then sighed again. This man standing beside him was Pyrrha's teacher, and the fact that she wrote to him often meant that she had a deep respect for him. He knew then that it wasn't right to deny this request to a man that meant a lot to Pyrrha. He sighed again and began his story: about how he first met Pyrrha while trying to flirt with Weiss Schnee, how they both teamed up with each other during their first exercise, how they were selected to be on the same team as each other, how she offered to break the legs of a bully who relentlessly picked on him, how he showed up to the dance in a dress to fulfill a promise to her, and even how often they trained together in private, and how she was the first person at Beacon to believe he could become something great. Eventually, Jaune talked about his final moment with Pyrrha; how she was determined to take down Cinder despite having absorbed the Fall Maiden's powers and killing Ozpin, the first and only kiss the two shared with each other, and how she used her semblance to throw him into a rocket-propelled locker to send him far away from the battle. Jaune also mentioned the pain and the hatred he felt towards himself, as well as the guilt of not being able to do anything to either help or stop her, after breaking out of the locker and having to call on members of Team RWBY in order to help Pyrrha. He told Ducard that he wasn't there for Pyrrha's death, but it was his friend Ruby that informed him how Cinder shot Pyrrha through the heart and disintegrated her into ashes.

Jaune looked up to the sky in defeat, causing Ducard to ask another question, "Do you still feel responsible for Pyrrha's death?" Jaune said nothing, but only tilted his head downwards in defeat. Ducard knew his answer; they turned away from the window as Ducard said, "come". The aircraft had finally landed at a destination; the doors to the aircraft opened, and the two men walked onto a terrain completely covered in snow and ice.

"Umm…Mr. Ducard, sir," Jaune said in awe and confusion, "Where are we?"

Ducard walked ahead of Jaune, turned around and answered, "This, Mr. Arc, is the outskirts of the Wind Path. This place in particular is where I have trained only a select few of students; students such as Ms. Nikos." Jaune then realized what was going to happen; with a determined look on his face, he continued to follow Ducard to an undisclosed location.

After walking for what seemed like an eternity in the snow, Jaune and Ducard finally reached their destination; a frozen lake surrounded by small hills covered in snow. Jaune and Ducard walked to the frozen shore of the lake and set their bags down; Ducard removed his coat to reveal a black gi. Ducard opened his bag and clothed his hands with black combat gloves and covered his forearms with black spiked gauntlets. He then pulled out an extra pair of spiked gauntlets and threw them towards Jaune, "Put these on your forearms. You'll be needing them."

Jaune inspected the gauntlets and asked Ducard, "What are these?"

"Those gauntlets are as good as any shield, if not better, to guard yourself from any bladed weapon. And even go so far as to use as another weapon themselves."

Ducard then started walking towards the frozen lake; Jaune noticed this and attempted to stop him, "wait, you'll fall through the…" before he even finished his sentence, Ducard stepped onto the frozen lake and began to walk across the surface with ease.

Jaune just looked on in amazement as he saw this man walk carefully across the frozen surface until he reached the area where he wanted to train Jaune; he then shouted back towards Jaune, "Remove your armor and shield and bring only your sword and the gauntlets I handed you. All of that weight you currently have will only increase your risk of falling through." Jaune nodded and did exactly as Ducard commanded. He then grabbed the gauntlets that Ducard threw to him, slipped them onto his forearms, grabbed his sword, and carefully walked across the surface of the frozen lake. Jaune never walked on ice before and it showed; every time he placed his foot down, he would slip to one side and he had to force himself to keep his feet from doing it again.

He eventually met Ducard in the spot where he waited and questioned him, "Mr. Ducard, sir, not that I'm not grateful that you've decided to train me like you did Pyrrha…but why are we here?"

Ducard replied back, "because Mr. Arc, you have learned to bury yourself within your own guilt. I will teach you to confront it; help you face the truth. You have also learned at Beacon how to fight a single Grimm by yourself…I will teach you how to engage six-hundred."

Six hundred Grimm…by himself? Was it even possible? He then remembered the fighting styles of his other friends that he made while at Beacon…people such as Ruby, Yang…and even Pyrrha. They were able to take on multiple creatures of Grimm by themselves without even batting an eye…especially Pyrrha. Not only Grimm, but he also remembered that Pyrrha was able to successfully defeat multiple people in a fight all by herself without any help. The man who stood before him was the very person who taught Pyrrha how to do all of that…he knew he couldn't let his guard down for a single second. Jaune steadied himself as best as he could on the slippery surface, walked in a circle in one direction as Ducard did the same…waiting for an opening.

Jaune swung first with a downward slice while Ducard spun out of the way while blocking the sword, then swung his sword at Jaune who blocked the attack. Jaune shoved Ducard off of him, swung his sword for a downward strike only to be blocked, swung his sword to the left only to be blocked, then to the right only to be blocked again. Ducard then shoved Jaune off of him, as there was an echoing sound of rocks falling in the distance, causing both fighters to stop in their tracks…readying themselves to move in case the ice broke. Ducard regained his focus first and struck at Jaune again from above, causing Jaune to slide back and fall onto his knee. "Always mind your surroundings" Ducard said. At this, Jaune lunged forward and swung his sword upward only for Ducard to lean backwards to avoid it. Jaune swung downwards again only for Ducard to use the momentum to push in a different direction away from him. Ducard then aimed for the head only for Jaune to block Ducard's sword with his own, causing Ducard to swing for the ribs while Jaune blocked again. Jaune swung towards Ducard's head only for Ducard to duck under the swing and walk away from the young Hunter. Jaune, confused, only tilted his head sideways and thought that it was the end of the exercise…only to be disappointed and filled with rage when he heard Ducard say, "Pyrrha's death was not your fault."

Jaune tightened the grip on his sword, "how dare you," he thought to himself. "HOW DARE YOU!" He lunged at Ducard in an attempt to stab him, but Ducard had already turned around and used his sword to redirect Juane's sword to the ground. Jaune went for a downward strike only for Ducard to block with his gauntlet this time and swung his sword towards Jaune's side only for Jaune to bring his weapon back and block the swing. He then maneuvered his sword on top of Ducard's and slid his sword towards Ducard's face, only for it to be blocked by his gauntlet again. This time the sword was caught in between the blades on Ducard's gauntlets; Jaune tried to move his sword through the gauntlet but Ducard stood firm.

Ducard then moved closer to Jaune with the blade still in his gauntlet causing a metal on metal sound to ring in their ears; the only thing that phased Jaune was the fact that Ducard was standing inches in front of him as he said, "It was her own."

Seeing the look of realization fall upon Jaune's face, Ducard took the opportunity to throw Jaune's sword from his hand away from them; Jaune then struck with his gauntlet toward Ducard's head only for it to be blocked by his sword. Jaune brought the gauntlet on his other hand up towards Ducard's sword and attempted to push him back, only for Ducard to find his footing on the ice. Jaune pulled his arm back and slammed his arm against Ducard's gauntlet, and used his free hand to swing at Ducard's head who only ducked it and kicked Jaune in the stomach. Jaune leaned over in pain and was then effortlessly pushed backwards by Ducard. He slid across the ice writhing in pain and stumbled to get back up to his feet. Jaune swung his gauntlets towards Ducard who easily blocked both swings with his sword. Jaune swung his gauntlet at Ducard again who only dodged it again; Ducard then tried to hit Jaune with the hilt of his sword only for Jaune to block the attack with his arm. Jaune went for a punch only for Ducard to sidestep the attack, grab Jaune's hand and took him down with a wristlock. Jaune yelled in pain as he hit the solid, unforgiving ice that was below them. Ducard looked at Jaune dead in the eye as he was at Ducard's mercy while lecturing, "guilt and self-hatred does not change the fact that Pyrrha's call to her duty outweighed her sense of judgment!"

"Cinder absorbed the Fall Maiden's powers!" Jaune replied back.

"Would that have stopped you from fighting by her side?"

Ducard said as he let go of Jaune's wrist and walked away. Jaune carefully got back up on his feet and replied, "I had training from Pyrrha…I could have helped her!"

Ducard turned around with rage in his face, walked back towards Jaune and slashed downwards at the boy with his swords who could only defend with his gauntlets while Ducard shouted and landing a successful punch to the face that sent Jaune sliding backwards on the ice again, "THE TRAINING IS NOTHING, THE WILL IS EVERYTHING!" Jaune slowly but surely got back up on his feet while trying to keep his balance on the ice and faced Ducard as he said "the will to act." Jaune eyed his sword behind Ducard, formulated a plan, and then acted upon it. He ran towards Ducard, the man in black swung his sword to cut the man in half only for Jaune to slide under the strike and grab his sword. Ducard rushed towards Jaune and swung down only for Jaune to block the strike, and used his legs to sweep Ducard off of his feet and onto the ice for the first time since the training began.

Jaune then held his sword inches away from Ducard's face with a smile on both of their faces as he said, "Yield, Mr. Ducard."

Ducard shook his head with a grin on his face as he said, "You haven't beaten me…you sacrificed sure footing for a killing stroke." Jaune then watched in confusion as Ducard leaned over and tapped the ice underneath Jaune's feet with his sword. It was then that the young hunter finally understood what the man in black was talking about…only for it to be too late; the cracks formed underneath Jaune's feet at an alarming rate.

Jaune then looked at Ducard and with a defeated look on his face he said as he fell through the ice, "I hate you…"

"A lot of people do" Ducard replied back as Jaune fell into the cold water.

Hours passed after the training session between Jaune and Ducard and the latter set up camp far away from the frozen lake; both men sat around the fire pit that Ducard created with Jaune holding and rubbing his arms for warmth. Ducard noticed this and simply stated, "rub your chest, your arms will take care of themselves." Jaune did exactly that as Ducard stated, "Pyrrha trained you well. If she was still training you, I believe you could have surpassed even her."

Jaune looked at Ducard and said, "You don't know that."

"But I know the grief that has latched itself onto you: that impossible grief that constantly blames you and shouts at the back of your mind that you could have done something instead of standing and doing nothing…when in reality you know deep down that there was nothing you could have done to change things. You start thinking these things until the memory of your loved ones starts to become poison in your veins. Then one day you find yourself wishing the person that you loved had never existed…so you'd be spared your pain." Jaune looked at Ducard with a confused look on his face as if to say 'what happened to you?' Ducard saw this and replied, "I wasn't always a teacher at Sanctum. Once I had a wife…my great love…but then she was taken from me. Like you, I was forced to learn that there are those without decency who must be fought without hesitation and without pity. Your guilt will only hinder you in your fights, and if you let it, it will destroy you…as it almost did me."

"What stopped it?"

"Vengeance."

"Do you really think that can help me? I was always told growing up that revenge doesn't solve anything, it only makes things worse."

"In some cases you'd be right, but the reason why people say that is because people who seek revenge are blinded by it and don't think things through. If you're able to keep your mind clear towards that goal…then you will know peace. Though it won't bring your loved ones back, you will be at peace with the fact that they won't hurt anyone else again."

Having absorbed everything that was told to him, Jaune realized what was happening: Ducard was trying to help Jaune let go of his grief and self-hatred he felt towards himself from Pyrrha's death. One question lingered in Jaune's mind at this realization that he spoke aloud, "Why are you doing all of this for me?"

Ducard then reached into his backpack and pulled out an open envelope and showed it to the freezing young blonde. "Pyrrha wrote to me one last time the day before her final match in the Vytal Festival Tournament. She informed me that a path had opened up before her that could bring about peace, but at the cost of who she was. At first I didn't know what to make of it, but then you informed me about how Ozpin, Qrow, Glynda, and Ironwood had chosen her to become the new Fall Maiden. I always knew she was destined for greatness, but I never imagined she would be selected for a responsibility such as that. She was so distraught and overwhelmed by the situation that she sought my advice on what to do…but by the time the letter reached my hands Beacon had already fallen, and Pyrrha along with it. She knew that her time as a Huntress was nearing an end and asked one final favor of me. That if by some miracle I met you face to face that I would train you in her stead. From what I gathered in our training session today, I've concluded that you do have potential, Mr. Arc. The choice is ultimately up to you though; only you can decide whether to continue searching Mistral with your friends for any trace of Cinder, or to train under my guidance and be more prepared for the coming battle. For now, get some sleep, I will return you to your friends in order to think things over in the morning."

For that entire night, Jaune was unable to sleep, for now it was his turn to make a decision. He had traveled all the way from Vale with his team in the hopes of avenging his fallen comrade, and here he is now…sleeping around a campfire in the snow near the man who taught Pyrrha everything she knew about fighting and was offering him the same opportunity to receive the same training she had. His mind then started to reminisce back to the battles that Pyrrha fought and how powerful and elegant she was. He then started to remember other things about her: her smile, her compassion, and her devotion to her friends. "Pyrrha…" he started saying to himself as he picked up his shield and looked intently at her symbol on it, "I will avenge you. Ruby, Ren, Nora, and I will avenge you…I promise you." He then looked up at the sky with sorrow, "Pyrrha…I'm sorry for not realizing it sooner." Jaune then attempted to fall asleep, unaware that a small smile had appeared on Ducard's face as he was 'sleeping'.

Hours later and Ducard and Jaune had returned to Mistral via the ship they traveled in. Jaune and Ducard exited the ship and began to part ways, but not before Ducard handed Jaune a piece of paper and said, "if you and your team ever need my help, you know how to contact me." Jaune nodded and thanked him for everything. As the two parted ways, Jaune's scroll started ringing; it was Ruby. He answered his scroll to the sound of a loud and worried Ruby on the other side.

"JAUNE!" she screamed, "FINALLY, where have you been? I've been trying to contact you literally all day!"

"Ow…my ears…I'm fine Ruby, I guess I didn't have any reception at all where I was at."

"Well, where were you?"

"It's better I talk to you and the others in person…I managed to find ourselves an ally."

"An ally?"

He looked over at Ducard one last time as he said, "Yeah, someone who'd be more than willing to help take down Cinder once we find her."

End