We're With You This Time

by X-RHODEN-X

Breaking a golden rule, he decided to tell them what his semblance was about. Not like they ever believed him anyways, and they were about to die. As he wakes up for the three thousandth time, Jaune Arc is drained of will. Nothing worked, and he always failed. He once again tries to manage it all by himself. Except this time he won't have to. This time, RWBY went back with him.

3. Chapter 3

A/N: This chapter's longer than usual, but I wouldn't get used to it. My standard length will still be 10k.

---

Chapter 3 - Initiation

---

It had been hard work, but she went through each day of her hellish training with an unbreakable determination. She and Ruby trained every day with Qrow at Signal Academy while Weiss and Blake had opted to continue training in the forests of Patch, a place where they had permanently lived for the past eleven months. The training was difficult, and it was a new experience for her, since she had never been this dedicated to improving last time. But every time she had thoughts of quitting she simply remembered the bright flame heading toward her, the look on her sister's face, the resignation on Jaune's. She wouldn't let it happen this time. In fact, she was confident enough to say that she felt a whole lot stronger this time around, even more so than she had been when she fought Cinder.

She turned her head enough so that she could send a glance towards Weiss and Blake, who were awkwardly attempting to stare out the window from their respective spots. This time travel business was hard. How were they going to perfectly re-enact each moment anyways?

Her recollections and reflections were interrupted by a small tap from her little sister. Right. She was supposed to recreate the timeline so that Jaune wouldn't grow suspicious. She gave playboy a glance as she prepared to begin the old conversation, having forgotten a lot of the words, but still remembering the motions. He was all the way at the far end, away from them., although something about him caught her attention. Why wasn't he wearing his armor?

She cleared her head and looked to Ruby, trying to remember roughly how this moment had gone down last time. She smiled as she recalled how she was supposed to gush over Ruby going to Beacon and give her a big hug. That wasn't so bad!

"I can't believe you're going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!" she exclaimed as she pulled Ruby into a crushingly tight hug.

"Please stop…" she heard her little sister mouth. She remembered what she was supposed to say next too.

"But I'm so proud of you!" she exclaimed as she kept her arms around her adorable little Ruby. She didn't exactly remember what happened next, but she was sure there was nothing wrong with keeping the hug.

"Yang… can't breathe… please." Oh. That's what Ruby meant when she asked her to stop? She smiled sheepishly as she plopped her baby sister down. Nervously running a hand through her locks as Ruby gave her an adorable pout. Fortunately, she was saved by the news screen playing in front of them.

'The robbery was led by nefarious criminal and child assaulter, Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities despite the majority of Vale demanding his arrest. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, for the sake of your children, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you Lisa.'

Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights Protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. Between that and the angry mobs of citizens demanding Torchwick's arrest, the VPD certainly have their hands full. This development…'

Yang almost burst out laughing at hearing Roman had been accused of child assault. She hated the thief's guts, yet found some small pleasure in knowing most of Vale's citizens felt the same way. It took an especially low manner of criminal to stoop to that level. She focused on the screen as Professor Goodwitch popped up, reciting the same words as last time. Words she remembered.

She placed a hand on her Ruby's shoulder as she paid attention.

'Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it…'

The words caused a burning anger to well up within her. She knew the words were a lie. Did Beacon's professors not watch the screens? Did they not see the news of the White Fang and Torchwick which aired just a moment before? Her hand clenched, gripping hard onto whatever soft and warm thing it happened to be resting on. She closed her eyes for a split moment, the ruins of Beacon and Vale below, Cinder standing victorious. Her hand clenched further, not this time.

She turned to look at her sister, expecting to see the same determination in her eyes as well. Except she saw tears. Watery silver eyes locked onto her own, almost pleading for her to stop. Wait, stop? She finally looked to where her clenched hand was resting.

She gave her sister a nervously apologetic smile as she hastily pulled her hand off Ruby's shoulder. She had a feeling Ruby wasn't happy about that, as the little girl glared daggers at her.

As the airship neared Beacon Yang was greeted by a familiar sight. The view of Beacon and the rest of Vale.

"Yang look, we're home." she heard Ruby say. They were home, and this time she'd make sure it stayed in one piece. Glancing to her side she saw Ruby, a fiercely determined look on her face as well. She couldn't resist poking her adorable little sister's cheek.

---

As they left the ship and walked onto the Main Avenue, Yang spotted Jaune out of the corner of her eyes. She wouldn't dare think of making eye contact with him yet, but she was certain that he was looking at them, observing them. She nudged Ruby lightly, intending to get the message across that they needed to recreate her being left alone. She smirked when her little sister got the message.

She paid no heed to the words but instead smiled at Ruby's top-notch attempt to feign being interested in the weapons of random students passing by. She responded to the best of her ability and smirked when time came for her to get carried away by a crowd of her friends from Signal. Being popular was pretty fun sometimes.

She extended her arms wide in preparation for the coming crowd. Ten seconds passed, which slowly turned to half a minute as despair slowly mounted on Yang's face at the realization. She had no friends this time.

Her daily hellish training had estranged her from all the people who knew her. What was she supposed to do now? She visibly gulped at the effect this would have on her reputation. Ruby owed her one, she thought, as she walked off. Straight into a random group of students she had never met before, trying her best to blend in and appear like she knew them.

One of them turned around, meeting her gaze and giving her the most awkward of looks. She felt like shooting herself. "Can I help you?" the girl asked.

"Hey! How've you been!? It's been sooo long since we caught up." Yang attempted to bluster, her face red with embarrassment.

"Uh… do I know you?" The question shattered whatever self esteem she had left. She quickly glanced to where Jaune was to see him still standing, no doubt looking at her. She needed to keep up this charade until she was out of his sight.

"Don't be like that! It's me don't you remember?!" She stammered out an awkwardly drawn out laugh. "You were always such a joker." she mouthed, patting the girl on the back.

The girl nervously looked to her friends for an answer, but before she could ask them, Yang dove in for a sure-fire killer.

"Are you and that guy still dating? How was he anyways?" the question seemed to have its preferred response as the girl's face lit up with tales to tell. Phew. She barely dodged a bullet on that one. Opting to ditch the group as soon as she turned a corner near the Auditorium.

She nervously wiped the sweat off her forehead, hoping that Weiss and Blake were faring better.

/-/

Weiss steeled her nerves as she carted her supply of Dust along with her. She didn't have her father's hired help to do it for her this time, yet she felt far better than she had last time. At first, she had run into trouble with maintaining her supply of Dust out in the wilderness, having no reliable source of it. She almost gave up on training her Dust use, until Blake offered her some 'assistance'. It took a lot of whining, fussing and attempts to maintain her dignity before she reluctantly agreed to learn the 'art' of borrowing things from Dust stores. It still bothered her, but she reminded herself that it was for the greater good.

She stepped forward, visualizing the scene in her mind. She needed to get Ruby to explode. How come nothing sane ever happened to her?

She confidently walked towards Ruby from behind, certain that things would play out as they did last time.

She was impressed. Ruby's state of surprise was masterfully executed. She almost found herself doubting whether it was fake. It wasn't.

Her dolt of a leader was surprised once more, bumping into the case and causing a cloud of Dust to spill onto both of them, knocking them down. Weiss groaned as she attempted to get up, except she inhaled a breath full of Dust.

/-/

Blake was confident. Having watched many Atlesian soap operas in preparation for her role. She knew just how to act it out like last time. She kept her facial expression as normal as possible as she approached the two.

She was slightly surprised to see both Ruby and Weiss knocked down, but chalked it up to a masterful performance on the Ice Queen's part. If anyone knew how to act, it was Weiss Schnee after all. With a confident stride Blake stepped forward.

If Weiss had decided to do things slightly differently, then it meant she needed to do so as well. Sure, things were slightly off plan, but what good actor didn't know how to improvise? Confident in her acting skill, she stepped toward them, just outside of where the blast radius from last time would be.

Perfect, she was going to nail her role in an award-winning performance. But why were both Ruby and Weiss about to sneeze?

BOOM!

The deafening explosion sounded across the Main Avenue which had gone awkwardly silent. She opened her eyes to see herself covered in black soot as well. How on Remnant had they managed to mess up a simple scene this badly?

She shook the soot off herself and glanced to where Jaune was supposed to be. No doubt he had seen through them.

Except he was gone.

Why?

---

He didn't have the time to care about their antics. It was only halfway through Yang's weird act that he had reminded himself of such. He couldn't afford to care, and he couldn't afford to get attached. Staying for a moment longer would only have lead to him helping Ruby again.

Admittedly it was interesting to watch Yang flounder about and attempt to get away from Ruby without any friends to save her, yet he knew it was a waste of time. All the new changes in this repeat could be traced back to the insane cult that had invaded Remnant. A cult with an agenda he needed to discover.

He had walked away, barely sparing a glance to Weiss leaving the airship, carting her own Dust for the first time. It interested him, just not enough for him to stay. He'd have to ask her where she acquired the Dust later. Perhaps one of the cultists had helped her acquire it?

As he walked to the Auditorium he recalled how he had helped Ruby to her feet last time. Although he was for the most part, quiet, he couldn't help but remember how the simple act of helping her up had sparked the friendship between them. Even after the event, throughout the year, she never seemed to mind his anti-social behaviour and odd quirks. She had come to accept him. The thought struck a dangerous feeling inside him, one he simply couldn't afford to allow. He sighed as he entered the Auditorium, the recollection having drained him.

Except, he caught sight of a figure near the entrance. A person that always made him smile when he was down. Somebody who always helped him cope after particularly crushing repeats.

Jaune had a delighted smile on his face as he spotted his buddy Cardin. The boy was facing the other way, talking to someone, bragging about his accomplishments no doubt. But he'd make the time for his old pal Jaune right? Of course he would.

With a big smile on his face he walked up behind Cardin and shifted his weight just enough so that his 'friendly bump' caused the boy to go tumbling down onto the other guy he was talking to. As Cardin attempted to scramble to his feet Jaune 'playfully stepped' on Cardin's hand. He heard something crack, but unfortunately couldn't stick around to keep playing, instead disappearing into the crowd of students right after. Cardin really was a good sport.

As he walked to the back of the Auditorium he laughed to himself hearing the eruption of yelling and blustering coming from where he had been a few moments earlier.

Messing around with Cardin was always a fun pastime.

---

They had made sure to stand where they had last time, with Weiss having planned to come in later and with Blake in her spot, away from the rest. Ruby felt bad at seeing Blake all alone in the corner and thus decided to send her a quick smile, one that cheered her teammate up.

Her own smile quickly fell however. Recalling the differences had made her uneasy. Why did Jaune not help her up this time? Why wasn't Jaune wearing his armor? Why was he all the way at the back of the Auditorium away from everyone else?

She looked to Yang, maybe her older sister could help her figure it out. She nudged Yang, looking up at her once she got her sister's attention.

"Yang… why is Jaune acting so weird this time?" she asked her sister in a whisper.

Yang looked down at her, thinking about what to say. "Well… maybe he doesn't do the same thing every time?"

She nodded at hearing this. If they had changed so much and done things so differently this time, how could she expect Jaune to be any different? Yet, the fact that he hadn't helped her this time still pricked away at her.

"But he didn't even help me up this time, and he isn't wearing his armor either." she explained to Yang. "Nobody changes their gear just like that."

She saw Yang's eyebrow raise at her points. She was about to say something if not for Weiss coming in from behind. She knew this moment, she had to leap into Yang's arms and make a show, and leap she did, straight into the hard floor.

She landed on her rear, glaring up at Yang who seemed lost in thought and noticed far too late.

"Uh… oops?" she heard her sister attempt to console. She glared at Yang before standing up and looking at Weiss. A certain part of her was relieved that Jaune was too far away to hear them. That way they could get away with not actually fighting.

"Okay Weiss, let's do this." she said, prepared to take whatever her partner was about to dish out. All they had to do was make it look like they were arguing.

"Oh, I'm improvising. There won't be a need for that now." she heard Weiss reply. What on Remnant was her partner saying? They had to argue to keep Jaune's suspicions off them.

"What do you mean there won't be a need? He's going to see right through us if you don't! You're Weiss Schnee, you're supposed to be getting angry at me!" Ruby exclaimed, exasperation in her voice.

"What do you mean I'm Weiss Schnee and I'm supposed to be getting angry? I'll have you know that I would never lecture somebody else for something I too made the mistake of doing! I am not a hypocrite!" Weiss berated her. Her partner could be so stubborn at times, much to her annoyance.

"I'm not saying that you are! But we need to make it look like we're arguing!" she returned at Weiss. If her partner thought she was going to stay shut and comply on the issue, she was dead wrong. Ruby Rose was not a pushover.

"No, we do not!" Weiss exclaimed. The both of them turned to Yang, who had an annoying amused look on her face.

"You know it looks like you two are fighting anyways right?" Yang commented, much to the ire of Weiss who gave the blonde a sharp glare. Looks like Ruby won this round.

Before Weiss could fume and launch a rant at Yang, Ozpin grabbed the attention of the crowd, about to begin his speech. She never really understood what he had meant the first time around, yet this time when the headmaster spoke, she could finally understand.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." She had the knowledge of what would happen this time, yet the memories by themselves would never help her win. It was up to them to take the first step. Up to them to take the initiative and make things right this time. Jaune had the knowledge, yet even with the amount he knew, he could not do anything to stop what was to come.

She nodded at the headmaster's words of wisdom, having finally received the meaning behind them.

---

Ozpin sighed. Having to make up a random meaningless speech every year was a trying task. Make it too short and the students would see through the obvious farce, make it too long and they would fall asleep. Striking the perfect middle ground was difficult. A middle ground where the speech was long and vague enough so that each student could draw their own meaning, yet short enough that they wouldn't get bored. He sipped his coffee as he sat in his chair. Glynda, Peter and Bartholomew seated across from him.

He decided to quit delaying and get the meeting started. After all, it wasn't every year that they received such an interesting batch of students.

"I must say, it has been an interesting start to the year." he remarked, hoping to get the discussion started. "Let us have a word about this year's candidates. Of particular note are four, very talented and special young ladies."

"Indeed, why, when I first heard of this Yang Xiao Long I was taken aback! A Huntress of such skill and prowess is a rarity in these days. Did you know she was top of her class at Signal Academy?" Peter began the discussion as Ozpin pondered the words. Miss Xiao Long was interesting. She along with her sister had drawn his attention eleven months ago when Qrow informed him of their newly found dedication to training.

"Yes, Miss Xiao Long is interesting. In fact, Qrow tells me that she trained very hard in the months leading up to Beacon. A dedication we encourage in all our Huntsmen and Huntresses." he replied.

"Admirable qualities. If her test scores and spar records are to be believed she is likely skilled enough to meet and exceed third, and I daresay, even fourth year qualifications." Bartholomew added. He was right, it wasn't often his school received aspiring Huntresses of such a high caliber. He had no doubt that Miss Xiao Long would do well, and in time, come to be a valuable asset to Vale and its people.

They all nodded to the words, all in agreement as to Miss Xiao Long's skill and bright future.

"What about this Blake Belladonna? A Faunus girl with no verifiable history before the entrance exam, yet who humiliated her examiner in a shocking display of skill." Glynda asked, steering the discussion onto their next candidate of interest.

"While I have some concerns about where she learned to fight, I have no doubt that Miss Belladonna will be a fine candidate for Beacon. Her history is of some concern; however, I shall be keeping an eye on it." He replied, attempting to assuage her concerns. Beacon had in the past, accepted students from varying backgrounds, and he saw no reason to deprive Miss Belladonna of the opportunity.

"I see no fault in your decision Headmaster, but what of Weiss Schnee?" Bartholomew asked him. A good question, and one that needed to be discussed seeing as Jacques Schnee had bombarded him with calls the moment she set foot onto the airship for Beacon.

"I see naught but a very skilled and determined young woman." he replied, hoping to leave it at that. He sighed, realizing that his deputies likely wanted to know more on the issue between her and Jacques. "While I am not aware of why Miss Schnee has chosen to distance herself from her father, I am also in no position to turn her away from Beacon. She displayed remarkable skill in her entrance exam, skill which more than qualifies her to be given a chance at attending Beacon."

"What of Jacques Schnee? What if he decides to demand the return of his daughter?" Glynda asked him.

"Then he shall have to answer to myself and the Council of Vale as to why he thinks abducting a young woman against her wishes is acceptable." he curtly replied, no hesitation in his voice. There were certain lines Jacques would not find so easy to cross.

"Of course Headmaster, but I do worry about the publicity her appearance at Beacon will receive." Glynda replied, it was a good point. "I'm certain neither of us want a horde of reporters showing up at our port."

"I will admit that I was not expecting Miss Schnee to suddenly appear and apply for Beacon. Yet it is a burden we must bear, after all, we happen to have the famous Pyrrha Nikos applying as well." he said, realizing that certain hardships could not be avoided.

"I see, and what of this Ruby Rose? I trust you had good reason for inviting her to Beacon two years early?" Oobleck asked.

"Miss Rose is skilled enough to foil a robbery by Roman Torchwick, nearly prevent his escape and engage an opponent on the level of a professional Huntress. Alone." Glynda added. A light smirk crept onto his face at her words. Impressing Glynda was something very few could claim.

"If she is as good as you say, then I have no doubt that she will fit into Beacon well." Oobleck replied, nodding his head in approval.

"Yes, although I do need to ask a favour of you Bartholomew." he added, remembering the issue that needed to be discussed further at Beacon.

"Ask and I shall see if I can oblige." the doctor replied.

"Miss Rose may have gone through a rather… stressful situation during her fight against Roman Torchwick." he said, unsure of how to word the issue.

"How so? Wait… you don't mean to say that…"

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. Torchwick's most heinous crime happened there. For her sake, I would like for her to attend counselling with you." he asked, concern on his face for the young Huntress who would in time, grow to be far more important than she knew.

"Consider it done." the doctor replied.

"Thank you, Bartholomew. Now then, if there is nothing to be added, let us adjourn for the evening." Ozpin said as he gestured the teachers to depart his office.

They bade him their farewells and left, leaving him all alone with the files on his table. Four of them opened to show the four girls that had been the subject of their discussion. Yet beneath the four, there lay a fifth one.

Titled 'Jaune Arc'.

He had initially thought of reviewing the young man's file, yet upon hearing of the four other candidates he changed his mind. With a sigh, he placed the file in the pile with all the other candidates who were not particularly noteworthy.

Jaune Arc was just another applicant.

---

Ruby tried to look as nonchalant as possible while pretending to pen words down. Not sure of whether Jaune was looking or not she decided to play it safe.

A tap on the head from Yang broke her out of it however.

"You can quit your performance now, he's asleep." she heard her sister mouth. Finally. Having to remember exactly what she did last time was a tiring exercise in futility. She was certain she fumbled a dozen details between now and Professor Ozpin's speech.

"I don't get it, why's he so different this time?" she asked, hoping Yang would have an answer for her now. "He looks… tired."

"I don't know Ruby… but I thought about it, and maybe he's tired of losing." Yang replied. What did she mean losing?

"Well, you've seen how he acts right? There's no way he's new to this." Ruby began to realize the horrifying point Yang was making. "I think he's tired of losing all the time."

The thought made Ruby cringe. How many times did Jaune try and fail to save them? The moment he spoke of his semblance right before their death, she knew he had been doing it for a while. Yet the thought of how he felt each time never really struck her.

She wanted to go over and wake him up, break the good news to him. Yet she knew she couldn't. Causing a scene in the ballroom would lead to problems that could spell disaster for them all.

The feeling of being unable to help caused a strange feeling to well inside her. Frustration.

She shook her head, dispelling the strange thought. Everything would be fine. They would break it to Jaune tomorrow after Initiation.

Her train of thought was interrupted by Yang once again. Was her older sister this annoying last time?

"Do we have a plan for Initiation?" Her sister asked.

"How about we have a team meeting about it?" she replied.

"Let's talk to Blake and Weiss. Maybe they can help too."

They got up and headed for where Blake was sitting. Leaning against the wall, she was reading the same book as last time. Ruby was impressed. Blake had really planned this re-enactment out. Well, besides getting blown up alongside her and Weiss. Good thing Jaune didn't see that.

"He's asleep. You don't have to read the same book again." Yang greeted her partner.

"I never finished it." Blake replied with a smirk. "So, I assume you want to talk about something?"

"Yep! We need a plan for tomorrow." she quickly parroted.

"Okay… you remember where you landed and what you did right?" Blake asked her.

"Uh… the details aren't important?" she sheepishly replied.

"They are." Weiss's voice sounded from behind. "I don't know where you landed last time, but I was headed north. That means you were too." Weiss explained.

"North. Got it." She mentally noted.

"Good. I assume you two also know where you're meeting?" Weiss asked.

"I was the one who found Yang, so you can leave my side of it to me." Blake replied. "Just be sure to do what you did last time." she said to her partner.

"So, we all know where to meet, but what about confronting Arc? We can't just do that anywhere." Weiss explained. Good point, they needed a place where there were no cameras or people, but was there such a spot in Beacon?

"I know a place. It's an empty classroom behind Professor Port's class. It has no cameras." Blake replied.

"How did you hear of it anyways?" Yang asked Blake.

"Coco told me." Blake replied.

"Oh really, what do they use the room for?" Yang asked the girl.

Ruby raised an eyebrow at Blake uttering a cross between a cough and a sputter. "It's not important."

"Right…" Yang drawled, doubt in the blonde's voice. "Anyway, we need to get some sleep for our big day tomorrow."

Yang was right. Tomorrow was an important day for them. Tomorrow would decide everything, their teams, their plans and their future. They couldn't afford to be tired when the morning came.

Stifling a short yawn, she nodded to Blake and Weiss and turned for her bedroll, even though she knew she wouldn't be getting any sleep.

---

His eyes simply opened, a habit he had acquired after a few hundred repeats. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing, but it did grant him the benefit of being able to wake up without a noise.

He had a good night's sleep.

When he had first started this looping business, he had been paranoid, unable to get any sleep, always on guard and constantly stressed for the time he would wake. He had learned roughly two thousand lives ago that it wasn't worth it.

Stress or no stress, whatever happened would occur as it always did. The lesson had been learnt through much death, pain and frustration, but it stuck. If you're going to die, why throw away a good night's sleep over it?

He scanned the room and looked to the light streaming in through the window. Everyone else was sleeping. Typical. He always tended to wake up early compared to everyone else. His last life had been an interesting case. Where he would normally use the early mornings to laze in bed, or simply grab an early breakfast, last repeat had been the opposite. He had used each morning to train hard, determined to prevail, giving every waking moment his utmost. Yet he had failed.

Pointless.

He certainly wasn't going to be training now that he was awake, thus his mind drifted to the next, more tempting option. Grabbing an early breakfast.

He quietly got to his feet, stepping down the Ballroom floor in complete silence. He knew where his friends were sleeping. As he walked he could see them out of the corner of his eyes, yet he dared not look. He wouldn't make the same painful mistake he had made so many times.

His eyes focused ahead, to the exit, the only thing on his mind being his breakfast.

His vision moved of its own accord. He cursed his lack of self control as his eyes traveled to the sleeping forms of his friends, his team.

Pyrrha, nothing out of the ordinary with her. Although if anyone thought that was the norm for the rest, they were in for a rude awakening.

Nora, sprawled out across her bedroll, almost unconsciously pulled toward Ren, her arms wrapped around the quiet boy. Ren himself was snoring normally, albeit with a slight frown on his face. How Ren managed to put up with the hyperactive Nora was a secret he had never truly understood throughout his lives.

His eyes then floated over to Team RWBY, each of them sleeping in their own, unique ways. Yang was sprawled out across her bedroll, her face obscured by her golden locks. Blake was snoring quietly, her bow collapsed atop her head, yet rising ever so slightly every once in a while. Her face held a slight frown. Strange. Blake never held any frowns on the night before Initiation.

He pacified his mind with a simple explanation. The cult had done something. All changes this time could be traced back to them.

He held back a yawn as he looked to Weiss, the former heiress snoring with a tired look on her face. Weiss usually slept well before Initiation, yet a few times had managed to get nervous enough to skip sleep altogether. That must have been the reason for her exhaustion Jaune thought.

He finally looked to Ruby. She was turned away from him, barring any proper look at her face. Though, it did strike him as odd at how she was clenching her pillow tightly. Strange.

As he neared the exit, his viewpoint finally hit the angle where he could view her face.

She was… stressed? Her normally uplifting and energetic expression was instead replaced by one of worry and exhaustion. That wasn't right. Ruby Rose never let Initiation get to her that badly.

Something was off, and he didn't know what. The thought frustrated him. He was always in control, always. He always had an answer to everything, knew exactly what would happen even if he couldn't do anything to stop it. This was a new experience.

Well, not exactly new, but the revisiting of an old one. An event he had stopped experiencing after his first hundred lives. The feeling of not knowing.

It caused anger to well up within him. This cult was going to have hell to pay if they had done something to Ruby.

He took a deep breath, letting it out along with his barely leashed anger. He needed to grab breakfast.

/-/

The Dining Hall was mostly empty save for a few cooks preparing breakfast behind the counter. A sight which had always held true each time he woke up before everyone else. He idly strolled over to the counter, grabbed a plate, and slapped some scrambled eggs, bacon and a slice of toast onto it. As he did he heard one of the cooks jabber on about how nobody woke up this early. He had heard it a thousand times. Still, it was refreshing to see that not everything had changed.

He took his plate and went over to a table near the exit, facing the wall. He had tried that last time, but Ruby had dragged him over to her and Yang's table. His punishment for helping her up he supposed. Good thing he hadn't done it this time.

He began to chow down his breakfast, recalling the period of his lives when he had been incapable of eating even a quarter of what he currently had on his plate. The period he had been depressed.

He was a physical and emotional wreck back then. Two thousand futile attempts at saving your loved ones and dying each time tended to do that to a man.

Strange eating habits, weird sleeping patterns, complete apathy to everything? He had it all and was a wreck at that time.

He hadn't even been aware of what he was going through himself. It had finally taken an accidental slip-up leading to an appointment with Doctor Oobleck, to get him to realize what was going on. The good doctor had quickly seen through all of Jaune's lies and attempts to explain away his self-destructive behaviour.

The doctor told his team, and he was placed under their stringent care afterward. Some of the best memories of his lives.

Although he eventually failed as usual, he decided to take the initiative and deal with his quirks from that repeat onwards.

Eating normally had been quite the chore, as had been getting his sleep under control. And while he managed to get most of his issues under control, he was certain he still suffered the problem of being lazy and apathetic to most things, alongside a host of other problems. Yet, he had done the best he could with what he had.

Staying in a depressed stupor wouldn't have helped him in any way, and thus, it was with a glimmer of pride that Jaune Arc could say, he was mentally fine for the last thousand repeats. Mostly. Although he couldn't have done it without turning to something else for help.

At first it had been base desires, things such as alcohol and physical pleasure, yet the remedial nature of those had faded after a hundred lives. He then turned to things of a deeper, more emotional nature. He had sought meaningful relationships with people. He had initially tried going after those he cared about once more, the very trap that had lead him into his former depression. Although, as expected, he had his heart broken once more. Still, he would not give up, instead opting to try relationships with strangers, people he never met before. A pointless endeavour. None of them gave him what he truly wanted, no matter how hard he or they tried, they could never be what he was looking for. Still, he had one more thing he could always turn to.

After the flames of love had burnt him once more, he turned to other things. Things lacking in emotion, yet cathartic and deeply satisfying in their own way. His good buddy Cardin was one of those things. The boy was always a good sport and just loved messing around with his pal Jaune, and what other way to repay such a great friend than by reciprocating the friendly games? For the next nine hundred lives Jaune had always made sure to spend quality time with his best pal.

Unlike the dangerous consequences of falling in love, nothing bad could come of taking this particular outlet of his too far, right?

The answer came to him in the form of vivid memories of his tortures of the White Fang, of him torturing her.

He nearly choked on his food as the recollections entered his mind. His plate was mostly finished, yet he couldn't be bothered to clear the rest. With an exhausted yawn, he left the table and made way for the exit, intending on heading to the locker rooms to grab his gear before any of them could show up.

As he exited the Dining Hall and was about to turn the corner to the Locker Rooms, he caught a brief sight of Blake. It was typical, she was always the earliest riser among her team. He turned the corner not intending on sparing her a second look. Although, from the corner of his eyes, he could have sworn he saw her eyes widen in panic.

Must have been his mind playing tricks on him.

As he strode down the hallway he caught sight of his best buddy. Cardin was in a playful mood today, hence the boy tried to give Jaune a shove as he walked by. Cardin, what a joker he was, now how could Jaune let his pal go without returning the friendly gesture?

Jaune smiled as he brought his left foot out while angling his shoulder forward. He knew just where to return the playful shove.

With a clatter, his best buddy fell onto his face, the noise of his armor ringing throughout the hallway. He smiled as he stood over the boy. Was Cardin trying to get to his feet? He knew just how to make his buddy's day better.

Putting his hands in his pockets, Jaune hooked a foot under Cardin's supporting leg and pulled it out from under him. The result being another clatter as the boy fell to the ground. Cardin growled, about to turn and look to his assailer, about to rise again, when another foot pulled out his supporting hand, sending the boy back to his knees.

The debacle went on for a full minute, Cardin attempting to rise, and Jaune swiftly kicking out his supporting limb. The boy's breaths grew faster and more desperate, being sent back to his knees each time he attempted to get up was having its effect on him.

Cardin grunted, about to attempt getting to his feet once more, although being expectant of Jaune's moves.

Jaune simply smiled and took a few paces back as a group of students turned the corner and came upon the scene. Cardin's already red face contorted in a strange manner at seeing them.

Almost on cue Jaune loudly announced. "You alright there buddy? That was a pretty hard trip you took."

"What do you mean trip?! You…"

"Are you telling me an aspiring Huntsman like yourself was somehow defeated in a hallway? I mean the only other person here is me. I couldn't hurt a fly and my hands are in my pockets." Jaune interrupted.

Cardin's face went red, stopping himself from yelling. He attempted to say something, to get up and sock Jaune in the jaw, something he was about to do until somebody else came along.

Turning the corner was Glynda Goodwitch. Her arrival caused the group of students to immediately clear as she stepped toward Jaune and Cardin who was still on his knees.

"Would anyone care to explain what is going on here?" Glynda, always the strict disciplinarian.

"I…"

"He tripped." Jaune interjected.

Cardin was about to contest that, but some sense of rationality seemed to enter his head at the last moment as he decided against it. The alternative explanation being far more humiliating.

"I… tripped." the boy barely stammered out.

Glynda looked between Cardin and Jaune a few times before reluctantly nodding. "Then you may wish to get yourself off the ground Mr. Winchester, it is not befitting of an aspiring Huntsman to go around tripping in plain hallways."

Jaune smiled at Glynda's honest words. She really did have a knack for offering accurate observations. Cardin's face turned red from the remark. No doubt the boy was grateful for Professor Goodwitch's constructive feedback.

He turned and began to walk off toward the Locker Rooms, and as he did he spoke. "You going to stay there all day buddy?"

"What's it to you?!" Cardin venomously spat.

"Whoa, easy there. I was just being nice. I mean, it's okay if you do that. I won't judge." Jaune said as he walked off. "Didn't know you liked getting on your knees." he announced loudly.

He smiled to himself as the sounds of raucous laughter could be heard behind him. Cardin always brought a smile to Jaune's day.

---

His little quibble with Cardin had cost him time. Time he might have been able to use to slip in and out of the locker rooms without seeing his friends. He sighed, walking past Nora and Ren who were engaged in their usual banter at this time.

He didn't intend to look or care about it however, instead simply opting to walk ahead.

Walking past Ruby and Yang he overhears the familiar conversation from last time, although something was off. He knew what Ruby and Yang sounded like. That wasn't their genuine tone. Were they hiding something? No. It must have been the cult he thought, they changed this aspect of the timeline too. He needed to move fast to discover their aims, preferably right after Initiation.

As he strode to his locker he saw Weiss and Pyrrha engaged in their typical conversation. Although Weiss's face looked… forced. Although that was the least of what caught his attention. Why were there random people talking to her?

/-/

Her original plan had been to recreate as much of the past conversation with Pyrrha as possible, yet that plan had gone to hell as quickly as it took these random students to come up to her.

In hindsight, she knew running away from her father would have consequences, yet she didn't expect them to show up here of all places.

"Aren't you the missing Schnee heiress? You were all over the news a year ago." one of the students said.

"Yeah, everyone was wondering why you were missing." The other one added. "So, why were you missing?" the nosy girl prodded.

Weiss's hands clenched into fists. There went any attempt at recreating the timeline. She turned to the nosy strangers with a glare that could freeze fire solid. Naturally befitting herself of course.

The glare seemed to have its intended effect as the students awkwardly shifted around, and instead focused their attention on Pyrrha.

Could this day get any worse?

She forced down a nervous gulp as she spotted Jaune coming their way. He would see right through her pathetic farce. She nearly began sweating until she realized that he had walked right past everyone else without so much a batting an eyelash. The situation could still be salvaged as long as he didn't pay too much attention.

In fact, it looked as though he was planning on walking past them too. That was wrong. Why wasn't he starting a casual conversation with Pyrrha?

Perhaps he did things differently each time, she rationalized. Excellent. That meant he wouldn't pay attention to her terrible acting. The random strangers could still be chalked off to her celebrity status from running away.

Perfect, now all he had to do was keep walking, hopefully nothing would change that.

/-/

"You're the famous Pyrrha Nikos! I'm such a fan!" he heard the student mouth. The one thing Pyrrha hated, being reminded of her celebrity status. Seeing the rabid fan idolize her made him want to punch the idiot.

But no, he had resolved to stay away from them this time. He wouldn't have even had to go through this if he didn't mess around with Cardin.

He stared ahead about to walk past the enthused fan just when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Great.

"Hey, did you know that this is Pyrrha Nikos?! And that's Weiss Schnee!"

"Who?" Crap.

It was too late. The words may have been uttered through complete reflex, but the damage was done. He didn't need to meet her eyes to see Pyrrha's contemplative gaze upon him. Now she wanted him as her partner. Just flipping great.

He looked to Weiss to see a weird combination between panic and shock. That bit was explainable however. She just didn't want any extra attention on her after running away from her father he thought.

Without a single word, he shoved past the idiot and headed for the exit as the speakers sounded with Glynda's voice.

'Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately.'

It was a decent excuse for leaving that situation abruptly in case anyone asked. Not that he needed it.

Unfortunately for him, the voice of a familiar hyperactive girl sounded from behind.

"Ren did you see that guy?! He just walked away like one of those Atlesian action stars! Maybe we should meet him!" He inwardly scoffed at her characterization of him. Hero? Maybe in an alternate universe where he managed to gain some super power and save everyone on the first try. Not in this nightmare.

He turned around and looked Nora in the eye, as nonchalantly as possible, trying to convey that he wasn't interested in whatever she was selling.

"I'm Nora, this is Ren, what's your name!?" he heard her exclaim. Great, now not only was Pyrrha interested in having him as her partner, but he had caught Nora's attention too? Of all the lives in which he could have drawn unwanted attention this had to be one?

"Jaune." he replied, with as much lack of emotion in his tone as he could muster.

Nora seemed taken aback for a moment at his response. Good. Just what he wanted. Except, her eyes lit up immediately after.

"Oh my God! You're almost as cool as Ren!" A fact he would pointedly disagree on, but with Nora as the judge, a fair ruling was out of reach. "Were you trained by ninjas? Are you some former criminal out to redeem his past? Oh my… are you… are you a time traveler?!" His eyebrow visibly twitched at her question.

Nora was scarily competent at seeing right through him at all times. The only options when it came to throwing her off were, dodge the question, or simply stay silent. At the moment, the latter option was looking very appealing.

He silently stared at her, a bored expression on his face.

"See Ren, he's just like the guy in that Atlesian spy film, what was his name? Pond? Something Pond." Okay, he was nothing like that guy. He turned to walk away, realizing that Ren wouldn't have saved him from Nora anytime soon, being in the half-dead state of sleep deprivation that the boy was in.

As he walked away he inwardly cringed at hearing Nora declare to Ren how they had found someone who was, as she put it, 'crazy-cool'.

He released an exhausted sigh as he approached the locker room exit. Holding it in was an exercise in futility and suffering. The sickeningly addicting feelings he held toward them. A dangerous emotion which had always hurt him more often than not. Something he thought he needed to get rid of if he wanted to finally win this game.

At least his buddy Cardin was there to provide moral support. He saw his pal talking to a group of kids who would never pass Initiation, his mace slung over his shoulder. Jaune smiled as he quietly walked toward Cardin from behind while pulling out a small pin he kept in his hoodie's pocket.

When was the last time his buddy had changed the Fire Dust Gem on his weapon anyways? Oh well, Jaune was only doing his pal a favor after all.

He walked past the boy from behind and stuck the pin directly into a specific fissure in the gem. Cardin never noticed the move, his mace slung over his shoulder.

As Jaune left the locker room he inwardly laughed at the sound of an explosion ringing behind him. Cardin owed him one.

---

He stood on his launch pad, eagerly awaiting the feeling of being shot through the air. Flying without a vehicle was a rather uncommon experience for him, and Initiation was the only time he ever really got to savour it. Well, besides the few hundred times Cinder had throw him off the CCT. But he hadn't really enjoyed those flights.

He had memorized the landing locations of each pad, knowing exactly where he landed for each one. It also gave him the ability to essentially pick his partner each time, since he could veer over to anyone's landing location after touchdown. Yet, lately, for the last few hundred repeats he had been sticking with his original launch pad. He saw no further reason to play around with the placement of teams any longer. Breaking team RWBY or his own team apart felt unnatural to him, even though he got along well with just about any combination of teams.

The clomping of heavy boots on the grass cut off his thoughts. He would recognize those steps anywhere. It was good old Cardin.

The boy hastily ran to the launch pads, taking heavy breaths the entire way as he approached Professor Goodwitch.

"Professor… I got delayed, my Dust Gem blew up." Cardin barely breathed out, his lungs going through a dilemma of their own.

Glynda looked Cardin dead in the eyes with a glare that nearly made the boy quiver in his boots. With a sigh, the professor ran a hand over her face. Pure disappointment evident in her expression.

"I heard." she mouthed. "Blowing up your fellow candidates due to your own callous disregard for maintaining your weapon is not a good first impression Mr. Winchester."

Jaune lightly smirked. Glynda really was the best teacher at Beacon. Who else could provide such concise and helpful feedback?

Cardin's face fell at her words, unable to find a proper rely he simply hung his head low and walked over to an empty launch pad.

As Jaune watched his pal take a spot he decided to help him out. What kind of man wouldn't help his buddy out in his time of need?

He craned his head forward and gave Cardin a smile.

The boy turned his head to fix a glare at him, still breathing deeply from his last-minute run.

"Those are some deep breaths. You might want to work on your cardio buddy." Solid advice. The best way to help his good chum. The fact that he had loudly announced it to the rest of the candidates and caused sniggers and barely concealed laughter was just a bonus.

Cardin's glare was nothing short of fatal. He looked as though he was caught between wanting to murder Jaune, or murder everyone else who had laughed at the comment.

Jaune held the smile and gave Cardin an enthusiastic thumbs up to reassure him for the coming test. What kind of person would he be if he didn't provide moral support to his best bud when he needed it the most?

For some reason Jaune's gesture caused Cardin's face to turn a bright red, almost as though he was barely concealing something. He knew what it was. It was the flame of inspiration of course!

He broke the gaze while smiling to himself for being able to get his pal all fired up with his inspirational gesture. No doubt Cardin would perform much better now.

He involuntarily glanced to his side for a quick look at Ruby. Did she just cast an awkward side glance at him? He decided to look to make sure he wasn't seeing things. If anyone warranted a closer look this repeat it was Ruby Rose.

/-/

A nervous bead of sweat rolled down her forehead as she barely held a straight face at Jaune's scrutiny. She needed to avoid looking at him, and she needed to keep a straight face. Yet, she wasn't sure of how long she could keep it up without cracking. She needed a distraction and she needed one now.

She rigidly moved her gaze to the sky and called to her sister.

/-/

"Yang look! What nice clouds we're having today!" he heard the girl exclaim, turning away from him and to her older sister.

He raised an eyebrow at seeing Yang join in as well, appearing far more passionate than he thought her capable of.

"Wow! Those are some good-looking clouds! I give them a solid eight out of ten!" he heard Yang reply.

He had never figured Ruby and Yang as being the type to gush over clouds, and in fact, they had never gushed over clouds at all before. It was slightly odd, but then again, they had been brainwashed by an insane cult, so by this point, anything was possible when it came to them. Perhaps the cultists had a weird ritual involving clouds? He would get to the bottom of it soon enough.

He looked away as Ozpin began his routine exposition about the test alongside Glynda. He had heard the speech thousands of times, yet one part always scared and intrigued him.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"See? I told you!" Nora was scary. To this day he still hadn't discovered the answer to how she knew that along with a slew of other things. Perhaps she had another semblance alongside her electricity absorption? He never found out, and from the looks of it, neither had Ren.

As Ozpin finished the rest of his instructions Jaune sighed. This repeat was exhausting. Between the constant pulling of his desire to meet them, the constant fear of dealing with their loss and the introduction of these crazed cloud loving cultists, he was beat.

Out of steam, out of will and out of craps to give. He knew that was the reason he hadn't looked into things too closely, the reason he hadn't gotten his armor, and the reason he hadn't bothered to meet his friends. His flame was out.

Jaune Arc had no motivation to try. He knew it, and his actions reflected it. He knew that if he had looked into things closer from the moment the cult showed up he could have found something.

He shook his head clear of the thought and instead looked to the sky. What was Ruby thinking? The clouds were plain today.

Whatever, he had a flight to enjoy.

---

Blake soared through the air with practiced elegance, touching down the way she had last time. Recalling her memories, she dashed off in Yang's direction, intending on finding her partner before anyone else did.

She smirked at hearing the familiar sounds of shotgun gauntlets in the distance. Yang was nearby.

As she idly walked to the edge of the clearing she caught sight of Yang utterly demolishing scores of Beowolves and Ursai effortlessly. She almost moved into action as the last one was about to attack her partner from behind, yet stopped as soon as the blonde brawler turned around and massacred it in a single punch.

"And you didn't even help with the last one." Yang mouthed off. "Some partner you are." Blake raised an eyebrow in amusement, she wasn't that easy to bait.

"You had him." she replied with a smirk.

"Damn right I did! And you know the best part?" Yang asked. "It didn't even touch my hair this time." she rolled her eyes at Yang's self glorifying expression.

"Don't let it get to your head." she replied, cutting off her partner's enthusiastic high. "We have a temple to get to."

"Oh yeah. Aren't we the only ones who just… you know? Walked there?" Yang asked. Yang was right. Out of all the other people she saw at the temple, only her and Yang had actually arrived the normal way. Jaune and Pyrrha lead the Deathstalker to the temple, Ren and Nora rode an Ursa, and Ruby and Weiss flew in on a Nevermore. Blake couldn't help but silently thank fate sometimes. Out of everyone, she had the sanest partner in Beacon.

"Good point." Blake agreed. "I don't particularly feel like riding an Ursa or a Nevermore to the temple."

"Yeah… but it could be fun!" a glare from Blake cut that line of thought. "Fine, fine. You're no fun." Yang pouted. "If we're going to grab a relic on time, we might as well get walking then."

Blake nodded, and the two set off.

/-/

She had dreaded spotting the red speedster once, opting to walk away when they made eye contact. In hindsight, she realized how wrong she was. Ruby was the best partner one could have. Energetic, uplifting and reliable.

She held out a hand as she spotted her partner's telltale red visage speeding towards her, smiling when their hands smacked together.

"Took you long enough, is it just me or did you get slower?" she poked at Ruby, smiling at her leader's pout.

"I did not! I made it here in ten seconds this time! Which is way faster than the minute it took me last time." she heard Ruby protest. "Although… I might have forgotten which way North is." Ruby sheepishly replied. Weiss ran a hand over her face in disappointment, yet, she couldn't deny that Ruby had improved. She knew she was far faster this time, but ten seconds? That was impressive. Clearly all that semblance training she had done on Patch was worth it.

"Right. So, do we fight these Beowolves and find the Nevermore?" she asked, gesturing over her shoulder to the pack that was forming.

"Yep!" Ruby enthusiastically added while drawing Crescent Rose.

Weiss smiled as she drew Myrtenaster. It had been a few weeks since she last fought any Grimm. This would be a good warm up for her.

In a flash of white her Rapier rose as she immediately charged into a Beowolf, piercing its skull in a single thrust, and following with another slash that killed its brother. Another group of four approached her, intent on overwhelming her through sheer numbers, yet she saw them coming and launched a blitz of thrusts toward them, skewering all four in less than a second.

She turned to see Ruby smiling at her, already done with her share.

"How's that for fast?" Ruby asked. She smiled and raised her hands.

"Not bad. Looks like all your training paid off." she replied. It better have if they were going to stand a chance against Cinder this time. Her grip around Myrtenaster tightened.

"Let's go find that Nevermore."

"Huh… never thought you'd be telling me that." Ruby replied.

/-/

Awkward was the right word to describe the dynamic between them. Pyrrha had thought that his cluelessness in regard to her fame was a good reason. She hadn't seen any better candidates after all. Unfortunately for her, that thought had gone out the window as soon as she made eye contact with him.

He had not uttered a single word in the five minutes since their meeting, the only exception being his name. He had instead chosen to communicate in short grunts, nods and gestures. And it frustrated her to no end. Was this going to be her partner for the next four years?

"So… Jaune. How are you liking Beacon so far?" she asked, hoping to break the ice for the final time.

Her face fell when he simply gestured a 'so-so', with his hands without even turning around to look at her. Great camaraderie.

As they approached what looked to be a mountain, Pyrrha saw a hole leading into the mountainside and decided to approach it. She was surprised at hearing his voice from behind.

"I really don't think the temple's in there." she heard him speak, breaking his streak of wordlessness.

"Oh, you finally spoke…" she attempted to joke. It died the moment she met his completely bored gaze. "Uhm… it was a joke, you know, about how you weren't speaking and…"

Okay, this was awkward.

She needed something, anything to escape this hopeless situation. The answer appeared in the form of the cave ahead of them. She normally wouldn't consider entering such a place, and her approach had been only to examine it. But something made her enter, if only so that she could forget this painfully cold interaction.

She heard a long sigh leave his mouth as she entered the cave, hearing him enter a few paces behind her. She continued moving forward until she saw what appeared to be a glowing light, and the feeling of something sticky beneath her feet.

She immediately knew something was wrong and began to dash out of the cave as the glowing light began flailing around wildly after her with a roar.

Was he outside already?

She rolled out of the way of the pincer headed for her and got to her feet beside him.

"Nice job on finding the temple." she heard him jab. He made a joke, that was progress. She smiled and stood her ground, shield raised as she stood beside him. No doubt he too was preparing for battle in a stance.

She turned to look at him. Her face twitched in a way she didn't think possible.

He had his hands in his pockets and stood lazily, looking toward the sky or trees every other moment.

"Um… Jaune? We're in the middle of a fight, maybe you want to get ready?" she asked, bewilderment in her tone.

"Oh…" he drawled. "Right." Just what was this man?

Before she could reflect on it any further the Deathstalker barrelled toward them, specifically toward him. Normally she would evade, or brace her shield for impact, but he was too far for her to get to in time.

Taking a deep breath, she jumped.

/-/

He nearly leapt into action at seeing her get knocked into the sky by the massive pincer. But he couldn't. He needed her out of the fight after all, although having to make it happen stabbed at his conscience rather hard. Yet, he knew she would be fine due to her Aura.

It had been a calculated move. The exact spot where she could attempt a leap that would leave her exposed, yet too far for any of her usual defensive moves. The luxury of time and repeated practice allowed him to pull off insane tricks like that regularly nowadays.

He still had one more problem to take care of before he could deal with the oversized Grimm however.

He angled himself just right, anticipating the exact force and velocity of its pincer heading for him. He raised his shield just enough, yet angled it ever so oddly, making it look as though he had tried to block.

He smiled as he was knocked through the air, straight into Ozpin's camera. The crunch of metal and glass against his back signalling its destruction.

Physical pain had become an abstract concept for him over the years. His physical body felt it, and he was certain his brain received the signal as well, yet he simply didn't care about it.

He rose to his feet immediately as the Deathstalker attempted to shoot its tail out at him. Utterly predictable, as with all Grimm. No matter how big or tough they were, even the Dragon Grimm was a nuisance to him. Albeit a nuisance that took ages to kill.

He sidestepped the stinger by millimeters as the wind force it produced caused his hair to ruffle. With a yawn he took two long steps straight into the reach of its pincers and placed a hand on top of its head.

Aura manipulation was a blessing against the Grimm. Even the toughest of them could be killed with a pulse of Aura sent into their weak points, although some took more than others. The repeat in which he saw Ren kill a King Taijitu using it had been more than enough to convince him to begin learning it.

Unlike Hunters and his enemies, Grimm had no Aura, and hence had no defense against the technique. Thus the skill had quickly become one of his most commonly abused tricks against the mindless beasts. The fact that he carried the knowledge and mastery of it over each repeat was just an added bonus.

He flared his Aura into his palm, sending the finishing pulse into the Deathstalker's bone plated head while casually ducking as a flailing pincer attempted to knock his head off and began to walk off to where Pyrrha was.

A few moments later a shriek sounded out across the forest followed by a sickening, splatter-like explosion.

/-/

She cut her way past the thick underbrush while mentally berating herself for allowing such a thing to happen. She had been knocked out of the fight and left her partner to face off against the Deathstalker alone. A small part of her felt betrayed. Why would he just stand there like that? His unpreparedness caused this to happen.

She shook her head free of the thoughts as she neared the location of the fight, just in time to see Jaune waving at her, the same old expression on his face.

"Jaune! Are you okay?" she called out as her pace quickened. Although from the look on his face she surmised that there were no physical injuries.

"I'm fine." he replied curtly. Was he always like this?

"The Deathstalker, what happened?" she inquired, curious to know how exactly he had managed to get rid of that thing.

"It ran off."

"Uhm… could you repeat that?" she asked. It must have been the wind.

"It. Ran. Off." he mouthed slowly, making her sound like an idiot.

"How did… uhm… never mind." she stopped as soon as she saw the most emotionless look on his face. How could somebody be that apathetic to everything?

"Are we headed for the temple or what?" he asked, cutting her thoughts off. Right, she needed to secure a relic first, and ask questions later.

"Lead the way." she replied.

"I was following you." Was he? She honestly got the feeling that it was she following him the entire time. A strange and stupid notion that she couldn't logically justify, yet it was present.

"Right, let's go then."

---

He lazily strolled behind Pyrrha as the two of them arrived at the temple. It was as dull and grey as he remembered. An insignificant place he never saw past Initiation. He began to contemplate just how lonely the place must have been throughout the rest of the year, when there weren't any students or teachers watching over or visiting it.

An important realization struck him at that moment.

When the hell had he started reflecting on things so much?

Save for his nightmare, he usually didn't bother to reflect on things that much. Yet this repeat had been strange. He thought on things all the time. Perhaps it was the cloud cult's invasion.

Yes, that was it. All problems could be blamed on these dirty cloud loving scum.

He walked over to the relics to see Blake and Yang already present and the expected white knight piece in Yang's hand. He picked up his own white rook piece while musing to himself that the pieces were in fact golden, and not white. Why Ozpin insisted they were was beyond him.

As he did, he heard the familiar sound of Ruby falling to the ground. A part of him felt a prick of guilt at letting her keep falling, realizing that he was the one who broke her fall last time. Yet he also knew that the fall wouldn't do much to her Aura, and Yang would save her.

Except she didn't.

He stared at Yang who had the saddest, most confused expression on her face, clearly unable to decide on what to do. Saving her sister wasn't a hard choice, what had gotten into her head anyway? He could have sworn the blonde gave him a quick expectant glance.

He slightly cringed as Ruby fell flat onto her rear, the ground shaking as she did. Ouch, he was sure that one took a lot out of her Aura.

"Yang! Blake! Why didn't you save me?!" he saw Ruby pout. Expecting her sister to save her was natural. Expecting Blake to save her? Either Ruby uttered the word mistakenly, or she and Blake had somehow grown close enough for whining.

He stared curiously at Ruby as Weiss came down shortly after. The girl's face twisted in an awkward way, unsure of what to do. Strange, the Ruby he knew would never hesitate when it came to saving her partner. In the repeats where he had partnered with her, she had never hesitated to do the same for him.

He looked to Pyrrha to see her readying her shield, about to do something.

It was unnecessary.

He had expected as much. Weiss was somehow far more skilled in this repeat, and seeing her use her glyphs to slow her own descent came as no surprise to him.

As he watched her land he thought he saw the slightest hint of panic on her face.

One odd reaction might have been a coincidence, but this many together? No way. He decided to approach them for the first time, perhaps he could get some answers about what was going on.

"That was a pretty smooth landing. Where'd you learn that?" He raised an eyebrow as she simply turned away before he could get a look at her face. Weiss wasn't normally that rude.

"None of your business." That one was unexpected. What was the matter with her? Was it the brainwashing?

Without another word he watched as she calmly grabbed a golden knight off its pedestal, considering the entire time why she seemed so relieved when she had done it.

Just as he was about to contemplate why, a crazed Ursa charged into the clearing. A crazed beast mounted by an even crazier girl. He watched with a bored, but guarded expression as Nora got off the Ursa.

That girl was dangerous.

His bored expression nearly broke when Nora's gaze turned to him.

"Ren look! It's Jaune! Hi Jaune! Which piece did you take?!" she exclaimed across the clearing. He would ask himself how she knew about that specific team formation bit, but he had long given up on trying to come up with an explanation for the Nora.

With a resigned look, he raised his hand to show the golden rook to her, nearly cringing in horror when her face lit up with a devilish smile. He watched her prance over to the golden rook, uttering her usual words about being 'queen of the castle'.

He looked over his shoulder to Pyrrha who simply shrugged at the turn of events.

His team was weird.

The flapping of wings cut his thoughts off. He looked to the sky to see the familiar Nevermore charging towards them, evidently fed up of their nonsense and at being ignored. Or at least that was what Jaune told himself. Ascribing human qualities and problems to Grimm was something he had learned from Nora. An outlet for him.

"A Nevermore, and it's headed straight for us." Ren announced, keeping calm as usual while assessing the situation.

"Great. Let's shoot it." he added.

"Shoot it?" Pyrrha asked.

"Why not? We've got five guns and a grenade launcher here right?" he countered. Pyrrha saw his point a moment later as she immediately drew Milo and took aim at the Nevermore, opening fire.

"I told you he's a time traveler Ren! He knows what Magnhild can do." He really needed to watch his mouth around the hyperactive girl.

A moment later they were all opening fire on the Grimm. Ruby, Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora. A veritable hail of bullets and explosions rocking the airborne beast. As more and more shots began to pelt it, alongside more explosions, it began slowing down, its wings appearing to tire. With a shot from Crescent Rose the massive Grimm fell to the ground.

Jaune stood in place as the rest of them rushed over to where it had landed, intent on finishing the job, only to find it had already been done.

"It's… dead?" Pyrrha asked.

"We did have five guns and a grenade launcher hitting it at the same time." he answered. Honestly, what had they expected? With no Deathstalker to draw their attention the combined firepower they possessed was more than enough to always kill the Nevermore. Although it had gone much faster than it normally had in past lives.

One of the key benefits of his semblance was that each time he died, mental attributes such as intelligence, muscle memory and reflexes carried over with him. He would have given up long ago without it.

It was the same benefit which allowed him to keep track of each shot in near slow motion. He had seen Crescent Rose hit the Nevermore's head multiple times in a row, speeding along its demise. Well, now was as good a time as any to prod at her.

"Nice shooting. Where'd you learn to use that sniper rifle?" he asked.

/-/

'Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact.' she kept telling herself as she stayed facing away from Jaune. Why did she need to keep up this lie? They had already formed teams and the reason for keeping it a secret was over.

A sideways glance from Blake urged her to keep it shut however.

"Uh… thanks. I learned from my uncle." she said while refusing to turn around whatsoever.

Beside her, Yang cast a nervous glance, unsure of what to do next, and she could see that the look on Weiss's face was no better.

"Well, I believe we're done here. We should head back to the cliffs now." Pyrrha said, saving them from the corner they were backed into.

Her team awkwardly followed her lead as she feigned a stumble and began to walk behind Jaune and his team, intent on not allowing him to get a look at them. This was going to be an awkward walk back to the cliffs.

After a few minutes of silence she caught sight of Nora looking back at them, her gaze flitting between them and Jaune, over and over, a contemplative look in her eyes.

"So…" Nora drawled. "Why are the four of you awkwardly avoiding Jaune?" she nearly choked at hearing the words. Did Nora have a hidden second semblance for this sort of thing?

Her and her team's reactions didn't help matters, all silent, further fuelling the girl's conspiracy theory.

"Oh! I know! Is he your ex or something?" she nearly turned red in embarrassment at hearing that. Yang had told her what an ex was once, and despite what stupid Yang and her Dad implied, it wasn't like that between her and Jaune.

"No wait… I think I know!" Nora had reached a solid conclusion no doubt. "Are you… part of his harem?!"

She heard the rest of her team choke on empty air at hearing that. What was a harem anyways? If the line Nora was taking was any indication, it was nothing good. Probably some kind of romantic relationship.

Good thing Jaune wasn't close enough to overhear their conversation, instead he was placed farther ahead alongside Pyrrha. Although from the looks of it, the interaction between the two was as non-existent as Nora's sanity.

"Nora… I don't think they appreciate comments like that." Ren interjected, saving them from the wrath of the Valkyrie. Bless him.

"Oh… sorry!" she added quickening her pace to meet up with her team. As she left she muttered to Ren. "I don't think they're over him yet."

---

"Led by... Ruby Rose!" Ozpin had exclaimed as he congratulated the team and its leader.

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year." He had said to himself as he walked off the stage back to his office.

This year's Initiation had certainly been something he examined curiously.

The candidates he had initially considered interesting were certainly still so in his mind. But he had taken sight of a new interest. One that had appeared 'average' to him at first.

The interest being the reason why he had chosen to call the boy up to his office. He stared curiously as the young man simply walked up and took a seat without asking. He could not find a better word to describe the expression except; bored.

"Jaune Arc. Newly elected leader of team JNPR. I trust the day has been treating you well?" he asked, attempting to start a conversation with the boy, who, despite being in the presence of himself, showed no change in expression whatsoever. Interesting.

He raised an eyebrow when Jaune simply shrugged in response.

"Not one for idle conversation are you?" he asked. He might as well get to the point. "Mr. Arc, do you remember what transpired during Initiation?"

"We picked up some golden chess pieces you insist on calling white?" He nearly allowed a smirk at the words.

"Chess technicalities aside, that wasn't the answer I was hoping to receive." he quickly clarified, not allowing the discussion to be derailed any further. "Mr. Arc, do you recall coming across a cave alongside your partner Miss Nikos?"

"Oh right." the boy answered. "I told her we wouldn't find the temple in there, but she decided to go in anyway." Interesting, was he dodging the question?

"I would have assumed the giant Deathstalker would be the first thing to enter your recollection, yet it seems I was wrong."

"Eh, don't sweat it, we all make mistakes." Jaune's tone made him reconsider his initial analysis. Jaune Arc was not just another applicant. Speaking to the Headmaster of Beacon Academy so informally was something most students would dare not think. Yet the young man seemed to carry on doing it, with no signs of stopping.

"Of course." he replied. "But, I did not call you here to hear your articulate words of wisdom Mr. Arc."

"My charming personality then? I've heard tell that I'm great at parties. You aren't inviting me to one of your social events are you?" Ozpin allowed himself to smile at that one. It wasn't often that he met a confident young man like Jaune Arc.

"A tempting proposition. Unfortunately, there are no social events in the immediate future." he returned, allowing himself to enter the banter for a mere moment. "But, allow me to 'cut to the chase' as they say. Mr. Arc, what happened to the Deathstalker that came out of the cave and attacked you and Miss Nikos?"

"It ran off." His glasses nearly fell onto his nose at the response.

"Mr. Arc, while I appreciate a sense of humour and joviality, Grimm do not simply run off." The young man was hiding something, and he was interested in finding out what.

"What do you want me to say? That it exploded at a single touch from me?"

"No, I suppose you are right." He had to concede. Expecting a first-year applicant to best a Deathstalker was a little too far fetched for his mind. "Very well Mr. Arc, if that is all you have to add, then you are free to leave."

"Yep, see you around Ozpin."

A smile crept onto his face as Mr. Arc left his office. He had received no answers and knew that the young man was hiding something, but he didn't know what. He still had questions for him. Why he ran from home, how he trained, and his attitude. But he could leave those for later. For now, he was content to keep him under his watchful eye in his school.

What an interesting young man.

/-/

He walked down an empty hallway, wondering what had gotten into him. He would normally have feigned confusion, panic and some respect for authority. Yet when he spoke to Ozpin he had none of that, instead speaking as himself. Why had he done it? The answer was simple. He didn't care anymore.

He was certain he had drawn the man's attention now. After all, it wasn't every day that Ozpin came across people like him. Yet, he found himself uncaring about the situation he was in. Perhaps due to the fact that whether or not he drew Ozpin's attention, he would still inevitably die.

He shook the depressing thought from his head, wallowing in negativity was something he had tried to avoid ever since coming out his depression. He had more important things to focus on. The most immediate of which was investigating the cloud cult's motives and identities.

Who were they?

His thoughts were cut off as he hears the patter of four familiar pairs of feet from behind him. What was team RWBY doing here of all places?

He was about to glance over his shoulder to have a look, except his instincts screamed out at him. He sharply turned just in time to see the four of them about to tackle him.

He had no room to dodge. They had smartly negated his speed advantage, almost as though they knew how to take him down.

To him they moved very slowly, he saw them coming easily. Yet he could do nothing as they approached, no room to move, and while he might have trained his speed, he wasn't nearly fast enough to strike the four of them down before they could reach him.

He grunted as he felt the four of them brutally tackle him down to the floor. There was still hope, he could still strike at them to get free. He attempted to raise his hands to do just that, except they had hands latched onto them, in an iron tight grip, refusing to let go.

Ruby tightly latched onto his left arm while Weiss locked onto his left. He attempted to wiggle his legs free, but to no avail as Blake and Yang had a firm hold on them, and he wasn't strong enough to contest their full body strength on each limb.

He attempted to struggle further as he was dragged into the empty classroom behind Port's class.

As they furiously attempted to open the door his mind finally kicked in ushering his thoughts inside. What the hell on Remnant was going on?!

It didn't take him long to come to a solid conclusion, one he had been suspecting all along.

The cloud cult had brainwashed them all! They were going to use him as a human sacrifice weren't they?! His mind raced with thoughts as he was dragged inside.

/-/

Okay, things were mostly going to plan. If abducting a student in the hallways and forcing him into a room typically used by the older students could be called a plan. It was a room used for quick sexual escapades, mostly by the third and fourth year students, particularly due to the fact that it had no cameras. Although Blake doubted the Headmaster would do anything about it even if he knew.

As she and Yang opened the door she cringed.

Two partially undressed students were going at it, hard. She turned around quickly, trying to shield Ruby, but was relieved to see Weiss had already done the job, placing a hand over her leader's eyes.

"You didn't tell me they used the room for this!" Weiss exclaimed.

"I wasn't expecting anyone in here on the first day!" she countered, suddenly shifting her gaze to the pair of excited idiots going at it. With a lethal glare, she quietly spoke. "Out."

They smartly complied and hastily headed out. Although Blake was certain the girl had given her a wink as she left. She inwardly groaned at the implications of that, trying not to let the thought get to her head as they securely tied Jaune to a chair in case he tried to escape. Not because they were about to do anything!

She looked to Jaune, no doubt he was panicking at the abrupt change of events. His gaze bored straight into her soul and sent shivers down her spine. Although behind his eyes she could also see traces of fear and panic. She was right, this was just as harrowing for him as it was for them.

Uncertain of what to say she was about to speak, only for her leader Ruby to cut in.

"Now I know what you're thinking…"

/-/

"No, you don't." he interrupted, shutting the poor girl up. "You abducted and dragged me into a room typically used for private activities, and have me tied to a chair. So, I'm pretty sure you aren't thinking what I'm thinking. Or what your teammates are thinking." he said, ignoring the awkward stammer coming from Weiss, or the blush on Blake's face.

"Wait! This isn't that!" Blake quickly defended.

"Then what else is it? If you aren't about to steal my virtue, what exactly are you doing? Demonic sacrifice? Insane cult rituals?" Subtlety had gone out the window. This was unexpected enough for that. He couldn't waste time bandying words.

As Jaune spoke he began to untie the ropes binding him. Blake was good, probably one of the best at it, but she wasn't nearly good enough to hold him.

The others were noticeably silent, having apparently decided to let Blake do the talking.

"Jaune wait… just hear us out." he heard her say. Fat chance of that happening now that they had kidnapped him and tied him to a chair. No. He was frustrated, and it was beginning to spill. He always had things under control. Events never caught up to him this early at Beacon.

"Who sent you?!" he asked in a low tone, barely concealing the frustration welling up within him.

Control had all but left him. Was this one of Emerald's illusions? But that was impossible, she never came to Beacon this early. What the fuck was going on?

The answer came out of nowhere. Her words caused his mind to enter a state of shutdown as they left her lips.

"Jaune, we came back with you."

/-/

She was scared and uncertain of what to say or do, which was frustrating since she could see that his mind had officially shut down completely. Even worse than her Dad when her Mom had left.

This was bad. She hadn't expected him to take the revelation this horribly. She looked to his eyes to see a strange mixture and flurry of conflicting emotions. Shock, fear, panic, yet beneath was a weird undertone of joy. His eyes constantly widened and narrowed, unsure of where to settle exactly as he looked at nobody in particular.

Ruby didn't like seeing him like this. When they had planned on breaking it to him, she had expected that Jaune would have all the answers, that he would be the one guiding them. But to see him at such a loss for words? It hurt. It hurt her to se him like this, and she had to do something about it.

She suddenly noticed the life coming back to his eyes. He was about to escape his bindings! She saw Yang about to stop him, but she reacted before her sister could get there. Her hands reaching him before his own could move any further., pulling him into a hug.

She smiled as she felt his heartbeat calm noticeably.

She felt his hands on her shoulders, slowly pushing her away. His head rose as he finally looked to her eyes and then to the others.

Jaune was back.

/-/

He didn't think it possible to have such a terrifying meltdown inside his own head. Yet, it had happened. Three thousand years of this madness, and a single revelation could do that to him? Well, to be fair, it was the combination of many things. His frustration, his attempts to stay away from them, and his hidden joy at hearing that they had come back with him, an emotion he attempted to brutally squash down. He had never had such a mixture of contradictory emotions enter his mind before.

He still refused to believe this madness, a small part of him wondering whether it truly was one of Emerald's illusions or not. Yet that small part surrendered when he recalled the feeling of Ruby hugging him. He knew what that felt like, and Emerald could never come close to imitating that.

His head was now racing with possible plans, contingencies and steps for the immediate future. No matter what he came up with however, one thing simply had to be done.

"I'm not sure whether this is real or one of Nora's dreams but… let's talk."

The flame had been relit.

---

A/N: Sincere apologies for the delayed chapter. It was supposed to be out a day earlier, but due to reasons explained below it wasn't.

Rant (You don't have to read this): This chapter would likely have come out a full three days earlier if I hadn't suffered a bad case of writer's block. Once that subsided I decided to take a shot at it, finally outlining all the filler and scenes. Except when it came to actually writing the scenes, I was immensely dissatisfied and went through multiple rewrites. I then finally discovered that this was a seriously long chapter, and hence needed more time to write it.

Anyways, apologies, for the delay and for the rant.

Minor Microscopic Retcon: A news reporter in the first two chapters was named John. It has been changed to Cyril to properly stay attuned with canon.

Next chapter: July 12th.