004

The Ghost and The Darkness

Jaune had been in some odd situations throughout his life, one time he dressed as a nun for free pancakes with Saxon. Once he walked in on Blake when she was "reading" Ninjas of Love...alone...under copious amounts of blankets; he hadn't seen anything, but the things he heard were permanently ingrained into his brain. Once he even got caught attempting to make out with a Beowulf while he was drunk off his ass.

But this situation, being chased around by a larger than average Deathstalker with Pyrrha Nikos while one of his best friends and four other people just watched, was by far the strangest and also the least fun. Jaune never really fought many Grimm back in the White Fang and never really learned how till he and Blake shacked up at Adventurer's Hall, it turns out that Saxon and Rio had spent four years at Haven, Mistral's version of Beacon, before opening the inn. Jaune remembered how whenever business got slow Saxon or Rio would take a Huntsmen job to supplement their income but really, they just wanted a quiet life in the forest with their family. The blonde found himself missing them already, which wasn't exactly a thought he should be having when he was being chased by a giant death scorpion.

Jaune dive rolled as the Deathstalker's claw snapped at him, almost cutting the lion faunus in two and causing Jaune to screech out, "Blake! Help me! Blake!"

"Just kill it like Saxon taught us!" Blake shouted as she cupped her hands around her mouth where they acted like a megaphone, but didn't at all hide her smirk as Jaune and the redhead avoided the Grimm.

Jaune groaned, Saxon had always just said hit it till it dies. He couldn't kill this thing by himself...or could he. That question was answered when the Deathstalker bitch slapped him across the glade he and Pyrrha had been running around in an attempt to tire out the Deathstalker. Jaune grunted as he slammed into a large oak tree, now he was pissed, no one bitch slaps Jaune Arc in front of attractive woman and lives to tell the tale. Except Saxon...and Rio...and Blake…and Leo, but besides them, no one!

Jaune stood and growled, feeling his tail twitch as he bared his teeth ever so slightly. Blake had gotten very good at hiding her faunus side, her animal emotions and desires, but Jaune never had to do that. He was content with everyone knowing he was a lion faunus, he didn't want to hide who he was, he didn't want to be stuck in a cage. Sure, he could deal with the discomfort of having his tail down his pant leg, but that wouldn't really be living. Jaune wanted to live, he wanted to release the beast.

So he did.

Jaune reached down to his thigh and gripped his three throwing knives, before they were really only used for slowing human opponents down but now that he had access to a semblance like Polarity; he had an idea. Jaune tossed the three knives into the air in front of him, where they spun end over end before stopping after being surrounded by a yellow energy and after Jaune's eyes began to glow a brilliant emerald green. Jaune flicked his hand forward and the knives rocketed forward, towards the Deathstalker that was currently engaged with Pyrrha and two others from the group while Blake ran away from a giant Nevermore with Ruby, Yang and Weiss Schnee.

The Deathstalker screeched as the knives impaled themselves into the Grimm's beady red eyes, Pyrrha's head whipped to the side just before the green faded from Jaune's eyes and he charged forward, "Follow them! Strength in numbers!"

Pyrrha simply nodded before following him and the stoic boy followed without complaint while the orange haired girl saluted Jaune before following after him, the group ran for a while before arriving at a stone bridge with massive stone columns along the side of it that expanded over a deep chasm, a stone bridge that lead to the cliff where Ozpin awaited his students to return with their relic, a stone bridge where Jaune saw his best friend fight a giant black chicken from Hell along with a twelve year old, a bombshell blonde and a cold heartless bitch whose biggest problems was the fact she's shorter and flatter than the twelve year old and her experience with minorities didn't extend past taking her skinny soy vanilla latte from the faunus who worked the drive-through window at the coffee shop…

And people said Jaune shouldn't come to Beacon…

Jaune spun to see the Deathstalker was hot on their trail albeit a lot slower, most likely using it's other senses to follow them. Jaune reached out, his eyes shining emerald as the knives rocketed back to him before the Deathstalker let loose a blood curdling screech. The orange haired girl smiled as she held her warhammer at the ready, "Got a plan fearless leader?"

Of course he did. It was a plan formed by a man much more skilled than him, a plan specially formulated to destroy Deathstalkers. Jaune drew and raised his Corcea Mors towards the sun as a smile painted his face and his tail lashed in excitement, "HIT IT TILL IT DIES!"

Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark," Ozpin said as Beacon's student body watched the forming of the brand new team, "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"

The auditorium rumbled with applause as CRDL walked off the stage as Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora padded up the steps onto the stage. Jaune spotted Blake watching him out of the corner of his eye before the biggest of the new team, shouldered him and almost caused him to lose his balance. Great, a racist.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR," Ozpin announced, applause filling the auditorium as Nora hugged Ren and a panicked look was plastered onto the stoic boy's face, "Led by... Jaune Arc!"

"Dickwholaunchedmeintothewoods say what?" Jaune asked curiously as he leaned forward as his voice was drowned by the sound of applause.

"Congratulations young man." Ozpin said with a smile.

Jaune laughed awkwardly, this was a mistake. Jaune wasn't a leader. In the White Fang, Adam had always led him and Blake and when he went on hunts around Adventurer's Hall to keep Grimm away, he always let Saxon or Rio take point. He was far from a leader, Jaune slowly backed up, he needed to get out of here. He needed to run, to get away, to breathe. Jaune began to turn around before of the corner of his eyes saw Blake, smiling at him. Jaune found his breath evening out, he didn't quite understand why but Blake's smile calmed him down enough so that he could manage to get off the stage with his team without running.

"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long," He motioned to the four girls who mown stood on the stage, "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"

Jaune clapped as Yang suddenly hugged Ruby, lifting the small girl off the ground as Schnee looked absolutely shocked and appalled at Ozpin's decision. Jaune felt a rush at the girl's distress, it didn't make up for everything his race had been put through but the little victories had to count for something.

Blake tossed and turned in her new bed as the light sounds of Ruby snoozing were drowned out by Yang's snoring, she should have accepted Weiss' offer for earplugs. Darkness blanketed the room while only a small sliver of moonlight made it's way through the curtains, giving her something to stare at. She couldn't sleep. Something felt missing, something important.

Blake couldn't read unfortunately, a flashlight might wake up someone from her team and a candle wouldn't be enough for the thick darkness that surrounded team RWBY. She doubted she could even read, she had zero focus on anything other than thinking about what was missing. What was it?

Jaune.

Blake sighed softly, of course it was Jaune. She'd slept next to him every night for the past year and a half, she had become dependent on his presence. His soft snores, the way his tail wrapped around her wrist or ankle, the way he whimpered when he was having a nightmare or the way he smiled when he was having a good dream. She had began to need all of that.

God, she was pathetic. Even when they weren't on the same team or even in the same room he was annoying her. Blake sighed, she'd just have to wait till she fell asleep. It wouldn't take that long right?

Jaune couldn't sleep. He felt like a major part of his night time ritual was missing. Was it Blake telling him to move over because he was taking up half of her sideboard the bed? Was it Blake slapping him whenever his hands slipped and accidentally touched places not meant to be touched by friends? Was it Blake humming softly as she read her most recent to novel to him, seeing as how he detested reading but enjoyed Blake's voice? Yes, no, maybe so.

All Jaune knew, was that he couldn't sleep. Jaune sighed as he set his head back against the roof, the same tier of roofing where he met Leo the night before. Jaune groaned, Leo, how could he have done that to Leo? Jaune claimed Leo was like his brother but abandoned him because of what? Blake? She's a big girl, she could have survived on her own. He had practical forced Leo to join the White Fang with him and how did he pay back his "brother"? He abandoned him. Left him to the wolves.

Jaune wasn't entirely sure Leo completely forgave him, he wouldn't be surprised if the dark haired lion faunus harbored a small bit of resentment towards him. He wouldn't blame Leo either. He needed to find a way to make it right? Jaune couldn't help but wonder what said, "Sorry that I thought with my smaller head and chased Blake and didn't ask you to run with us."

Chocolates? No, Leo hated sweets. Flowers? No, Leo wasn't a pansy. A card? He'd probably just kick Jaune's ass on principle alone for that one. Jaune huffed, sending the hair that had fallen over his eyes in all manners of directions, Leo had always been difficult to buy gifts for and the circumstances for this one made it that much more difficult. Why couldn't Leo just like sweets? Hell, some part of Jaune deserved his hate. After everything he has done to Leo, he definitely deserved it.

"Looks like you're deep in thought."

Jaune yelped in pure fear as he bolted up and spun around to see Leo standing in the same spot he had been the night before, beside the metal door with a lite cigarette in his mouth, "Never do that again!"

"Why?" Leo asked before he took a drag of his cigarette, illuminating his face and hair as he exhaled smoke.

"Because I was so scared I thought I was about to go visit my father!" Jaune shouted as he stood, realizing that Leo was in different clothing than the day before. He was now wearing a black, leather jacket with a black fur collar and a white V-neck underneath. He also wore dark blue, denim jeans held up by a simple brown belt, with a silver chain attached from the belt to his back pocket, and black boots. He also wore a silver ring on his right ring finger, "What's up with the clothes?"

"When you're crossing into a Kingdom where you're legally legally dead, it doesn't hurt to change up your look." Leo said before he flicked his cigarette off the roof and Jaune watched as the lit butt, spun through the air before bursting into flames on Leo's command.

"You had been wearing those clothes once you were thirteen," Jaune said before grinned at the shorter lion faunus, "Not your fault you haven't grown since then."

"Oh, you can go suck the fattest of dicks," Leo muttered as he walked forward and crashed down next to Jaune, "And i've grown two inches since I was thirteen...so bite me."

"Am I attempting to suck my dick or biting you? I can't do both, Leo." Jaune said before Leo promptly punched him in the shoulder, sending the lion faunus over and onto the roof floor.

"Cut the shit, Arc. I came to see how the initiation went, I heard that Beacon's initiation was brutal." Leo muttered as he leaned back onto the palms of his hands, cool wind making his black and crimson hair dance.

"I was launched into a forest full of killer Grimm and forced to be partners with the first person I see." Jaune groaned, even before he and Blake had come to Beacon they heard how rough Beacon's initiation was from the Huntsmen who passed through the inn. Turns out they sugar coated it.

"Jesus, what's he gonna do when you graduate? Set you on fire?"

"Probably."

Blake wasn't spying.

She was just worried for Jaune.

She wasn't spying.

She wasn't watching him talk to Leo because she had become fed up with laying down and decided just talking to Jaune would be enough for her to go to sleep. She wasn't watching him talk to Leo because she had knocked on his door and got no response where she then picked the lock on his door to find every member of JNPR sleeping except Jaune.

She wasn't spying on him.

That'd be ridiculous.

She was just concerned for Jaune. He was talking to Leo. Leo! A White Fang Agent who specializes in stealth and mass fighting. She couldn't believe that after all the work they put into hiding the White Fang found them the second they came to Beacon, if Jaune made it out alive they'd have to leave. Wait, they were doing something.

Both Jaune and Leo had climbed to their feet and had dropped into boxing positions and Blake watched from the shadows of the roof as the two lions began to fight. But there was something different, odd, Jaune laughed. Jaune laughed as Leo flipped him over his shoulder and slammed him onto the ground. He laughed as Leo uppercutted him. He laughed as Leo swept him off his feet and he collided with the stone of the roof. But something that confused Blake even further happened, Leo laughed. Leo laughed as Jaune kneed him in the face. Leo laughed as Jaune punched him hard enough to possibly loosen some teeth. Leo laughed as Jaune headbutted him.

"What the hell?" Blake whispered to herself as the lion faunus fought, trading blows with each other. It wasn't even a fight, more of a contest of pain. As if they were competing to see who could survive the most pain before tapping out. She needed to hear what they were saying, she needed to get closer.

Blake snuck through the shadows as the two teens kept fighting, still trading blows, but to Blake it wasn't much of a contest. She knew Leo would win, the katana he had always worn at his side was just for show, Leo was a brawler and Jaune was a swordsman. This fight was over before it started but all things considered, Blake was surprised to see that Jaune had a very high pain threshold. They weren't using aura to strengthen their blows or make them lethal, it was as simple as a normal fist fight between two people without Aura.

"Okay okay, I quit!" Jaune shouted from his odd position of kneeling while having Leo's legs wrapped around his neck and head as the darker lion faunus's fist froze mid-punch with his shoulder blades on the ground with the rest on his body suspended in air

"Ha! Stuff it, Arc." Leo muttered after punching Jaune one time before he unwrapped his legs and rolled back and into a crouch.

"Ow." Jaune groaned and he climbed to his feet and Leo soon followed, they both looked worse for the wear, Leo's clothes were dusty and now his jeans had a few rips on them and Jaune's pajamas were in tatters.

Both the faunus sported new bruises Leo's were mostly centralized on his face while Jaune's seemed to pepper his entire body, his revealed body seeing as how his tank top was basically strings hanging off him and his shorts were basically rags. Blake couldn't help but stare at all the bruises...yeah...the bruises.

Jaune laughed slightly as he winced, "And here I thought I needed to give you a gift to clear the slate, turns out you just had to kick my ass."

"Well, i'm heading home tomorrow morning so I figured i'd see you again before I left Vale in my rearview." Leo said as he dusted off his jacket and jeans, pulling a crushed pack of cigarettes out of his inner jacket pocket before sighing and tossing them over the edge.

"Look after our moms and my sisters." Jaune commanded, his tone changing in a way that sent chills up her spine. She didn't know Jaune could sound so...serious. So protective.

"I will, Jaune," Leo said with a carefree smile, "You look after Blake, she needs you more than I ever did."

What? Blake sputtered in the darkness, thankful that her faunus vision was perfect in the dark so that she could see as Jaune's skin turned bright red in embarrassment, why was he embarrassed?

"But if ever need me, call." Jaune said, earning a frown from Leo, who reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll.

"I will, once I get your new number." Leo deadpanned causing Jaune to chuckle awkwardly, Jaune and Blake had gotten new scrolls after they left the White Fang to prevent them from being tracked.

Jaune rattled off a numbers before chuckling and rubbing the back of his head, "...Listen, i'm still sorry for what I did and I know there's no real wa-"

"Stop," Leo demanded before his crimson eyes softened and he smiled, "I did way too much meditating and ate way too many weird plants to be as cool with what you did as I am now and I won't have you ruin it by talking."

Jaune smiled and Blake remembered, they were friends. Jaune and Leo had entered the White Fang together as friends, family. Leo smiled as he began walking backwards towards the edge of the roof and gave Jaune a mock two fingered salute that turned into a peace sign, "Later, Jaune. Later, Blake!"

Blake froze and stiffened as Leo fell off the roof and Jaune spun around and narrowed his eyes to see Blake hiding inside shadows of the roof, casted off by the moonlight above them, "Blake?"

Blake huffed, of course he had seen her in the shadows. Blake stepped out of the shadows, arms crossed under her chest as she narrowed her eyes at Jaune, "Mind explaining why Leo was here and why you didn't tell me?"

"He defected." Blake was shell-shocked. Leo Ignis defected from the White Fang? No, he was a loyalist through and through. The things she had seen him do, there's no way he could detect.

"He's a liar." Blake insisted, taking a step closer to the lion faunus.

"Leo wouldn't lie about defecting, Blake." Jaune insisted as he also took a step closer, feeling his anger swell in his chest. Leo was his brother, he wouldn't lie to Jaune. And he didn't care who insulted Leo, he would make sure they'd never do it again.

"He's a loyalist! You saw the things he did, the people whose skin he melted off their bones!" Blake shouted in Jaune's face, she was seeing red, how could Jaune be so stupid?

"He did them for me!"

"W-what?" Blake asked, not able stop herself from stuttering. Blake wasn't sure why she stuttered, because of what Jaune had said or because of the fact he shouted at Blake; something he never did despite Blake doing it herself more than enough.

"Leo joined the White Fang and killed, because I asked him to…" Jaune muttering before he sat in the rooftop and held his head in his hands, "He didn't want to, he was all for equality but he didn't want to hurt people…not like I did."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Blake asked as she crouched down near Jaune and placed her hand against his shoulder.

Jaune shot up, anger brimming his eyes as he began pacing back and forth, "Because i'm a fucking monster, Blake! I threatened Leo! I threatened his mother! I abandoned the single person who has always had my back! Why doesn't he hate me?"

"Jaune, I-" Blake began before standing and watching as Jaune continued his pacing, slowly and slowly becoming more unstable, "I'm so sorry, Jaune."

"You should have iced me two and a half years ago…"

Blake gasped, she knew the exact situation Jaune was talking about, an incident when there was a mole in their chapter of the White Fang and Jaune was a prime suspect and was almost executed by Blake.

Anger flooded Blake and before she knew it, she lashed out. Her hand whipped across Jaune face, leaving jagged cuts from her nails on his cheek. Blake couldn't stop herself as she lashed out again, his other cheek now with matching cuts. Jaune blinked as he held his red cheek and Blake glared at him, "Don't you dare say that. I would have been lost without you, Jaune."

"You're a big girl, Blake. You would have figured it out." Jaune shot back, still cradling his slapped cheek.

"Who says I would have defected without you? Who says I would have had the courage to do it without you?" Blake asked as he stepped closer to Jaune, speaking up at him.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Blake. You've always done what you wanted, i've just been along for the ride." Jaune growled, his tail thrashing as Blake's bow twitched sporadically.

"I can't deal with you when you're like this." Blake stated, storming off while muttered something that Jaune couldn't hear, Jaune was pretty sure she was calling him all manners of names.

"Yeah, that's right. Run. Just like you always do." Jaune muttered to himself, unaware that Blake was still close enough to hear him, unaware that a tear slid down the cat faunus' cheek as she slammed the metal door behind her.

AN: Ahhh drama and conflict, a love story isn't complete without it. I know their argument is stupid, it's supposed to be. In other news, Jaune went straight savage on Blake and Volume 4 drops tomorrow for FIRST members like myself and on Sunday for everyone else I think. I think. So, Drama, conflict, savagery, Volume 4, follow and favorite to stay up to date on the story and leave a review telling me what you thought. Keep it real.