Jaune didn't sleep the night. His mind was in constant panic and anxiety for what was to come.
He didn't want his friends to find out about this, but now he has no choice, today is the day.
Morning rolled by and his team woke up, yet he didn't sleep even a tiny bit.
As the day passed by, his team, and even team RWBY picked up on his state.
They were in the middle of Professor Port's class, and everyone was either asleep, talking amongst each other, or taking notes.
However, RWBY and NPR were too busy focusing on Jaune.
"He looks awful..." Ruby whispered to Weiss.
"He does seem exhausted. Did he not sleep last night?"
"Doesn't seem like it, normally I wake him up, but this morning he was awake before me! And he should be asleep by now..." Pyrrha said.
"This isn't good. Whatever is bugging Jaune is now affecting him even more. We need to find out what's wrong, fast." Weiss said, and everyone nodded in agreement.
The class ended and the seven watched as Jaune slowly stood up and walked off. They quickly got up and followed Jaune.
They caught up with Jaune as he exited the main building, and now was walking through the courtyard, towards the Bullhead docks.
"Do you think he's going to Vale?" Ruby questioned.
"Doubt it, he's still in Beacon uniform." Blake said.
Jaune made a stop once he reached the docks, and that's when the group decided to approach him.
"Jaune?" Weiss called for him.
He turns his head towards the group, and they can see the bags under his eyes, showing he had zero sleep.
His eyes went wide when he realized his friends were there. He knew that they would learn about what was going on, but he didn't want them to find out right now!
"Guys?! What are you doing here?!" He asked.
"What are we doing here? More like what are you doing here? You went off without a word and now you question us?" Weiss questioned him.
"You can't be here! You have to go, now! Before he gets here!" He tried to get them to leave, but another voice spoke up.
"And why is that, Mr. Arc?" The voice asked.
Jaune froze in his spot before he slowly turned around and saw Headmaster Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch standing there, with Ozpin holding his ever present mug.
"Professors! W-what are you doing here?" Jaune asked nervously. He was not liking the crowd.
"I was in my office when I was sent a message by an interesting fellow, and they told me to come to this location. Tell me, you are all here, so you must be here for the same reason, am I right?" Ozpin asked.
"We were following Jaune, so he must be here for a reason." Yang said.
Jaune paled, all eyes were on him? they wanted answers, and he didn't know how to tell them. As seconds passed, he saw a Bullhead on its way.
"Looks like you're about to find out..." He said sadly as he pointed towards the oncoming Bullhead.
They watched as the Bullhead made its way closer to Beacon. It soon slowed down and went for a landing.
It touched down on the open area and with the sound of gears working, the door slowly opened.
A figure could be seen inside. When they stepped out into the light, the figure turned out to be a tall man, blonde hair and cobalt blue eyes.
He walked down the ramp and made his way to the group.
"Jaune, who is that?" Pyrrha asked, looking at what seems to be an older, but manlier version of Jaune.
"That... is my dad... Nicholas Arc..."
The man, now identified as Nicholas, walked up to Jaune.
"Hello Jaune..." He said sternly.
"Hello dad..." He responded.
Nicholas looked behind Jaune and saw the group.
"Who are they?" He asked.
With a sigh, he responded.
"This is Nora, Pyrrha and Ren, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang. The first three are my teammates, and they are all my friends." Jaune said as he introduced them.
Nicholas looked at the group, and then specifically his team.
"Which one is the leader of your team?" He asked.
"Oh that's easy! Jauney here is our fearless leader!" Nora answred, excited to see Jaune's father's reaction to his son being the leader.
To everyone's surprise, Nicholas wore a frown and turned to Ozpin.
"You made him a leader?" He asked Ozpin, which shocked everyone.
"Yes I did. Is there an issue with that?"
"Of course there's an issue with it! You made a weak person a leader! He isn't fit to be a leader, he isn't fit to even be in this school."
Jaune's hands clenched into fists, knuckles turning white as he took the verbal abuse.
"How did you even let him in?! His transcripts must've been very lacking!"
"Actually, they have alot to say here." Ozpin said as he took out his scroll and showed Nicholas Jaune's transcripts.
"What is this? This is obviously fake! He didn't attend "Feather Academy", that's not even a real place! He didn't even attend a combat school to begin with! This document is clearly forged!" Nicholas shouted.
Pyrrha tensed up. She knew of Jaune's transcripts, but the others didn't, and Ozpin was there with them.
"Jaune, is this true?" Ren asked.
He didn't respond.
"No matter, he won't be able to fight now. Jaune, I'm sure you remember what I said in the letter I sent you. Crocea Mors, now." He said strenly.
Hesitating, Jaune took out his scroll and called in for his rocket locker.
It landed beside him and opened up. He grabs Crocea Mors and holds it in front of him, inspecting the weapon.
He then turned from his locker and walked towards Nicholas, and handed him Crocea Mors.
His friends looked at him in shock as he just gave his weapon to his father.
"Jaune, what's going on?! Why are you giving him your weapon?!" Ruby asked.
Jaune tensed up and didn't turn around, nor answer the question.
"Wait, you didn't tell them? And you're their leader?" Nicholas questioned.
Jaune gave no response, and merely stayed still.
"Well then, allow me to explain. Jaune Arc, my son, has zero training. I refused to train him when he showed no promise of becoming a Huntsman. So he faked his way into Beacon, stole Crocea Mors and ran off." Jaune stayed silent, refusing to turn around in fear of everyone's reactions.
His friends were shocked, they all knew he wasn't the strongest, but this explained everything.
And there was more.
"And so, me and my wife have come to a decision." He says as he faces Jaune, and their eyes meet
"Because of your actions and failiures, Jaune Arc, as of this day, you are no longer an Arc. You are disowned from the family, and unworthy of wielding Crocea Mors." Nicholas announced for the group to hear.
Everyone looked at each other, Goodwitch held a glare at Nicholas, and it was now that Ozpin spoke up.
"Nicholas, perhaps you are being rash."
"No. This is final." He responded before looking at Jaune again.
"You're gonna wish you hadn't run away..." Nicholas said in a low voice. before turning away and boarding the Bullhead.
It soon took off, leaving the group to look at Jaune.
They couldn't see his face, but he was trembling.
"Jaune, are you okay-" Weiss tried to ask him but he just ran off as fast as he could.
"What do we do now?! He's worse now than ever!" Ruby questioned in a panic.
Weiss looked around, she was still processing the events that just occurred.
"I... I don't know..."
WELL THAT WAS A DOOZY