Chapter 4 – Intimidation

As promised, here is the next chapter, posted early to make up for my tardiness last week. This actually marks the halfway point in the story, as previously mentioned it only covers season 1 of RWBY. I'm already working on the follow-up, though, provisionally titled 'The Gathering Storm'. Hopefully, this weekend I'll actually have time to do some writing!

Huge bouncy thanks to Arnel for beta reading.


Jaune felt himself falling, his body tumbling through the night sky and causing his stomach to churn. Below him stretched a ruined wasteland of rock and sand, although it looked like no place he'd ever seen before. The landscape was littered with strange outcrops of purple rocks that seemed to give off a luminescent glow, which turned the low clouds a sickly red colour.

Downwards he tumbled, although strangely he felt no fear that he was falling. Instead, it was the twisted landscape that evoked terror within his soul. This place was wrong, he just knew it. It took a few moments for Jaune to realise that he was not falling straight downwards, but rather at a sharp angle. He flightpath seemed to be deliberate, like he was heading towards something, although what he could not guess.

He didn't have long to wait to find out. As he shot through the chill night, a structure began to become visible below him. As he approached it, a shudder rang through him. He was rapidly approaching a large, ugly building that featured a huge spire jutting from its center. The place was a twisted, gothic monstrosity, with massive stained glass windows and stone representation of Grimm lining its roof. The spire itself must have been hundreds of feet high, and was cast in a silvery light by the shattered moon above. An evil seemed to radiant from the very stones of the building.

Panic gripped Jaune as he flew closer to the colossal structure, for he instinctively knew only pain and death awaited him within its walls. He struggled and tried to alter his course, but he relentlessly plummeted towards its walls. There was something there… something to be afraid of.

Jaune watched in horror as a giant black shape appeared from behind the spire. It had gigantic ragged wings that beat lazily through the air, and burning red eyes. Although he could make out the shape of the beast, its black form was largely invisible in the night sky, something Jaune was glad of. Somehow he knew that to gaze upon the monster was to invite madness. He tried to close his eyes but he just couldn't. Something commanded him to look at the monster flying towards him, to gaze upon his own, approaching death.

He heard himself start to scream as the beast came closer. Nearer and nearer it flew, its eyes burning into him and filling his vision. Then, a new point of light became visible, just below those terrible eyes and Jaune realised it was a flame. The beast was breathing fire! He was going to burn! A fear so powerful it made his stomach cramp gripped him as just a moment later his whole world turned to fire. His hair was burning and he could feel the flesh melting off his bones…

And from somewhere he heard a woman laughing…

"Jaune? Jaune! Wake up, you're having a nightmare!"

The urgent voice slowly entered into his consciousness and he became aware of strong hands gripping him. Where was he? What had happened? Was he alive or dead?

Slowly it dawned on him that he was in bed and had probably had a nightmare. One of his sisters must have come to wake him up, Rose perhaps, or maybe Violette…

"Jaune, are you alright?"

Slowly it dawned on him that the young woman holding him wasn't one of his sisters, and he wasn't at home. Memory came flooding back to him and he remembered that he was at Beacon Academy, which meant the girl who woke him was Pyrrha.

"Uhh… yeah, I think so," he managed to mutter. In truth, the dream had terrified him and he was still feeling shaky.

"Do you often have nightmares?" Pyrrha asked him softly.

"I haven't had for years," he admitted while trying to calm his racing heart. "I used to dream about that night… you know… my sisters. But this… this was something else."

"What did you dream about?" Pyrrha's voice was gentle and sympathetic. Jaune found that it had a calming effect on him.

"Black wings," he spluttered. "Black wings and fire."

"Oh!" Pyrrha said, sounding a little shocked. "Perhaps it's because of the initiation. Heaven knows, the sight of that Nevermore was enough to unsettle anyone."

"Do Nevermores breathe fire?"

"Not that I'm aware of," she replied doubtfully.

"Then that wasn't what I dreamed of. Look, thanks for waking me, Pyrrha, and I'm sorry if my thrashing about woke you up. I'm okay now, really. You can go back to bed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, and thanks again."

"You're welcome. Sleep tight, Jaune."

"You, too."

The warm hands that had gripped his arms vanished and he saw the outline of his partner returning to her own bed. Truthfully, he was more grateful than he could say to her for waking him from that terrible nightmare. He would have to do something nice for her to make up for it, he vowed.

Jaune lay in his bed and stared at the ceiling. Try as he might, sleep would not come again that night.


Jaune stood in line for breakfast feeling strangely detached from reality and not a little irritated. The nightmare from the previous night was fading rapidly from his memory but he was still left with lingering traces of the horror his visions had induced. It had been years since he'd had such a bad dream and this was the first time it hadn't featured his younger sisters' untimely death.

His team had been great though, he had to admit. It appeared Ren and Nora had also heard Jaune thrashing about and Pyrrha's efforts to calm him. Nora had taken command of events after they had awoken and done her best to distract him by maintaining a constant chatter about the most ridiculous of things, and constantly dragging Jaune into the conversation. Her partner, Ren, was more stoic, but had offered a few sympathetic words. His eyes, however, seemed to contain an abiding sadness whenever he looked at Jaune. Perhaps Ren was no stranger to bad dreams, himself. Pyrrha was the most physical in her support, walking close beside him and occasionally rubbing his arm or back.

Currently, his three team mates were holding an enthusiastic debate about the merits of their favourite breakfast items. Nora's dedication to the pancake was already well known, but Jaune was a little surprised that Ren seemed to share her devotion. Pyrrha was fighting a losing battle with regard to convincing them a more healthy option would be a good idea. Jaune briefly considered coming to her aid, but as he fully intended to tuck in to an enormous plate of eggs and bacon he felt he might come across as a bit of a hypocrite.

He had nearly reached the end of the line to get served when suddenly he felt a hard shove against his back and he was knocked sideways. Irritably, he looked around and saw that a large, young man dressed in plate armour had pushed into the line in front of him.

"Hey, excuse you, asshole," Jaune snapped.

"Watch it, wimp, or you'll be eating breakfast through a straw!" the new arrival snarled, before deliberately turning his back on Jaune.

Maybe on a better day Jaune might have let this slide, after all, it was too early in the morning to want to get into a fight, but he'd been feeling irritated even before this jerk had started throwing his weight around. Without thinking, Jaune reached over and grabbed the neckline of the guy's armour and tugged hard. The line-jumper was caught unaware and off-balance. He stumbled backwards with his arms flailing, although he just managed to keep from falling over. He glared at Jaune with fury in his eyes.

"Hey, back of the line, buddy!" Jaune yelled, causing nearly everyone in the immediate vicinity to look over at what was happening.

"Oh, you are so dead," line-jumper growled. "Boys, get over here and help me teach this shrimp a lesson!"

A few seconds later, line-jumper was joined by three other young men. At this point Jaune remembered seeing the group before at the ceremony yesterday to announce the teams, but he hadn't really being paying attention to them. One of them looked scrawny to Jaune's eyes, and had a shaved head with a small, punky green Mohawk which looked ridiculous. Nearly as stupid looking was the next guy, with grey swept-back hair cut short at the sides. Even the only relatively ordinary looking one of the three rather spoiled his potential normality by affecting a permanent squint and a facial expression that made him look constipated.

What a bunch of freaks, Jaune thought.

"Okay, dumbass, me and the boys are going to teach you some respect," line-jumper spat, balling his fists and stepping forward. Not caring that it was four against one, Jaune growled and also raised his fists, but he was halted by a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, so you think you can just intimidate people by ganging up on them, do you?" Pyrrha asked the group of thugs while still keeping a firm grip on Jaune's shoulder.

"What's it to you, cutie pie?" line-jumper sneered. "You'd better get lost if you know what's good for you."

"If you think I'm going to stand by while you try and gang-up on my partner, you're very much mistaken. I don't know how they act where you come from, but I think you're an absolute disgrace," Pyrrha snapped.

"Okay, red, if that's the way you want it," line-jumper replied, leering at Pyrrha in a way that made Jaune's blood boil. "It's still four against two, and I guess we can have a little fun with you after we pummel old blondie here into dust!"

"Wow, he's dumb!" Nora's voice came from behind them. "Look, Ren, this guy's so dumb that he can't even count to four!"

"Indeed, he doesn't seem to realise that there are four of us here," Ren's calm voice agreed.

"Yeah? Well… you don't seem to have noticed that we're bigger than you, and we're all guys! I don't think we'll have much trouble polishing off a team with two girls in it," line-jumper growled, although he sounded much less sure of himself. This comment caused Nora to burst into howls of laughter.

"Really? You think we're weaker just because we're girls? That's hilarious!" Nora yelled. Practically the whole of the canteen had stopped what they were doing to watch the confrontation, and quite a few of the female observers were now scowling at line-jumper fiercely.

"Yeah, I do," line-jumper confirmed, perhaps demonstrating that he had some sort of death wish. "So what you going to do about it, little girl?"

"Well, if I wanted to I could probably break all of your legs without raising a sweat," Nora replied, grinning evilly, "but I might just let Pyrrha deal with you for making those sexist comments. Oh, you do know who this is, don't you? Pyrrha Nikos, three time Mistral Tournament Champion and undefeated in the arena. Perhaps you'd like to explain to her why you think girls are weaker?"

"What?" line-jumper gasped, looking at Pyrrha in horror. His three stooges all took an involuntary step backwards.

"Hello. I would say that I was pleased to meet you, but we both know that would be a lie, don't we?" Pyrrha said, her eyes glittering with malice. "I can't abide ignorance and stupidity, and you seem to possess both of those things in spades!"

Line-jumper glared at them for a few moments, presumably weighing up his chances against the group. He hesitated for a few seconds, before turning on his heels and stomping away, his goons close on his heels.

"This isn't over," he yelled as he headed off.

"Wait a minute," Nora suddenly shouted, pointing at one of the group. "Oh my gosh, has that got a mullet? He has, he has his hair in a mullet! That's so funny! Ha, ha, ha!"

The guy with the swept-back, bluish hair spun on his heels and glared at Nora, apparently fully aware that it was him she was talking about.

"It's not a mullet!" he yelled in a strange, warbling voice. "It's just my natural style."

"It's… a… MULLET!" Nora howled, barely able to speak because she was laughing so much. Quite a few people were now openly laughing at the unfortunate young man, whose face was rapidly turning red. He turned and hurriedly ran after his comrades, sniffling loudly.

"What a bunch of jerks," Jaune said as they vanished from sight.

"Indeed, but you shouldn't drop to their level, Jaune," Pyrrha advised. "Starting a fist fight in the middle of the cafeteria really wouldn't have been a good idea."

"Maybe not, but punching that idiot in the face would have been very satisfying."

"Yeah," Nora agreed passionately. "Perhaps some kicking, too. Giving him a good kicking would definitely have been a good plan."

"Let's forget about them," Ren said decisively. "Lessons will begin shortly and we haven't eaten yet."

"Yeah, breakfast is more important than worrying about those idiots," Nora confirmed.

"I guess you're right," Jaune said. "Come on then, team, we've jointly vanquished our first opponents, let's get something to eat to celebrate."

"Yeah!" Nora cried. "By the way, Ren? If you ever cut your hair like that guy we'll have to stop being friends. Never do that, okay?"

"But you're the only person who ever cuts my hair. You won't let me get it cut by anyone else," Ren protested.

"I'm just saying," Nora said, folding her arms and giving the young man a hard stare.

Jaune just smirked and picked up a tray. These next four years were definitely going to be interesting.


"Blah, blah. Blah, ba-ba-blah, blah. Blah blah, Grimm."

Jaune desperately tried to pay attention to the rambling teacher's supposed lecture, but after twenty minutes of Professor Port's endless monolog on his Grimm killing exploits, every word had begun to merge into the next. Honestly, at this point it was struggle to recognise the speech as even being in English. Was this really what Beacon was going to be like?

Letting his thoughts wander, Jaune saw his partner diligently paying attention to what was being said, but even her normally vibrant green eyes looked like they were about to glass over. Seated just beyond her, Nora had given up completely and was happily sleeping with her head resting against the desk. Ren was instead devoting his attention to the text book in his hands, so was probably the only person in the room actually learning something useful.

Slightly below from where they were seated were the members of Team RWBY. He'd missed seeing them at breakfast and judging by the way they'd all barrelled into the room just as the class was about to start, they had been running late. As team leader, Jaune had at least made sure his group were present before class actually started, but timekeeping clearly wasn't something Ruby excelled at. Never mind, she'd soon learn. His tardy friends were all displaying about the same level of attention as Team JNPR were, with the Weiss Schnee mirroring Pyrrha's role as the diligent student and Ruby mimicking Nora's sleeping habit. Unsurprisingly, Blake had a book in her hands, too.

"… well educated, and wise. So, who amongst you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do, sir!"

Schnee's loud declaration roused Jaune from his daydreaming and caused him to pay attention. It even awoke Nora, who raised her head and blinked owlishly.

"Well, let's find out, then. Step forward and face your opponent."

Confidently, Weiss rose and walked down to where the Professor was standing next to a reasonably large metal cage. Jaune watched in stunned surprise as the eccentric teacher literally smashed the padlock off the cage with his weapon and a Boarbatusk came charging out. Clearly, Professor Port liked his lessons to be a mix of extreme boredom and unexpected danger.

Weiss, however, clearly seemed to be a match for the angry beast, and used the Glyphs he'd seen her use during the initiation to stun the small Grimm before dispatching it with her thin blade. Despite one close shave when she momentarily lost her weapon, Jaune was extremely impressed by the beautiful girl's performance. He was less impressed with her attitude, though.

Throughout the fight, Ruby had been shouting encouragement and advice to her team member, something Weiss didn't seem to appreciate. She angrily snapped at her team leader, despite the fact that Ruby's suggestion to go for the Boarbatusk's belly had been a good one. Schnee had glared angrily at Ruby after the fight had finished, and the moment Port had declared the class over she had flounced out of the room with a haughty expression on her face. Ruby, on the other hand, looked downcast. Jaune's heart went out to the young girl. It must be hard to be the leader of a group of older and apparently more experienced fighters.

Still, Weiss's reaction was inappropriate, Jaune thought. In combat, it was vital that you followed orders and fought as a unit. While he could understand why someone like Schnee would rankle at having to take orders from Ruby Rose, she had to learn discipline. Weiss would need to understand the importance of subjugating her own urges and desires, and learn to operate as part of a team. From the little he knew of her background and how she was raised, Jaune doubted that would be easy for the girl. Shame really, Weiss was stunningly beautiful and clearly talented. She would have been just his type if she hadn't had such an attitude to everything.

"Jaune, are you coming?"

He looked up to see Pyrrha on her feet and looking at him expectantly. Grinning ruefully, he rose to his feet and followed her out of the auditorium.

"Weiss certainly seemed upset, didn't she?" Pyrrha commented as they walked.

"Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think that's her default setting," Jaune responded.

Pyrrha actually giggled.

"You might be right, Jaune," she agreed.


Dinner that evening came as a welcome relief. Fortunately, after Professor Port's class the standard of teaching went noticeably up, and Jaune and his new friends had lessons on world history, military tactics (which Jaune had loved) and even map reading. Ruby had proved rather poor at the latter subject and the remaining members of Team RWBY and Team JNPR all vowed never to put her in charge of navigation.

Weary and glad their first day of classes was over, the eight of them all headed to the cafeteria to eat. Weiss was clearly avoiding her team leader and was spending most of her time talking to Pyrrha, who seemed a little uncomfortable with the whole thing. As they took their seats, Jaune managed to manoeuvre himself between the two girls in an effort to give his partner some peace. Pyrrha clearly noticed what he had done and offered him a grateful smile.

Jaune had gone with the spaghetti and meatball option this evening and was happily wrapping the pasta around his fork when a cry of pain made him look up. Across the hall, line-jumper and his pals had surrounded a rabbit Faunus and the big jerk was pulling her ears while the others laughed about it. Fortunately, Jaune had managed to avoid the group of thugs throughout the day's lessons, and it looked like they had now found a new victim to try and terrorise.

"That moron again," Jaune snarled.

"His name's Cardin Winchester," Blake supplied. "The guy's a total pig."

"Disgraceful behaviour," Pyrrha agreed.

"We should definitely break his legs," Nora added.

Jaune stared at Winchester and felt anger brewing inside him. He hated people like that, bullies who always preyed on those weaker than themselves or made sure they had numbers on their side before they started picking on anyone. The guy was obviously a coward, not to mention a racist idiot. Before he could stop himself, Jaune grabbed the first thing that came to hand, which happened to be a plastic pot of red jelly, and threw it hard at Cardin. Jaune's aim was true, and it hit the boy square on the back of the head.

Winchester gingerly felt the back of his head, before staring at his jelly-covered fingers in disbelief. He then turned and looked around the hall angrily.

"Who threw that?" he demanded. "Come on, tell me now or there'll be trouble!"

"Hey, Cardin, can I wipe my bread across your head? I could just go for some jelly about now," Jaune called out loudly.

"You!" Winchester snarled and immediately started to head in Jaune's direction. Jaune rose to his feet, eagerly anticipating the coming fight, but Cardin's progress was suddenly halted by a stern voice.

"What's going on here?"

All heads turned to see Professor Goodwitch striding towards them, her ridding crop in her hands and a furious look on her face.

Cardin smirked. "This guy's causing trouble," he said, pointing at Jaune. "He started throwing food around like a little kid."

"Maybe I just didn't like the way you and your goons were picking on that Faunus girl over there," Jaune spat back.

"What? What are you talking about? Me and my team were just having a friendly chat with the girl, weren't we?"

The other three members of Cardin's team immediately started nodding in agreement while Cardin shot a predatory stare at the Faunus in question.

"That's bullshit," Blake cried out, rising to her feet. "You were pulling the poor girl's ears and laughing at her!"

"Miss Belladonna, please, restrain yourself," Goodwitch said in a tone which left no room for argument. "Miss Scarlatina, come here if you would."

The rabbit Faunus gingerly rose from her seat and stood before the professor. Jaune wondered if the girl would have the courage to admit that Cardin and his goons had been bullying her, or if she would be frightened into silence.

"Miss Scarlatina, were these boys harassing you, or were you just chatting as they claim?" Goodwitch asked.

"No, they are definitely picking on me," the girl confirmed, her voice quivering with anger. "I was just sitting there minding my own business when they surrounded me and started insulting me. Like that girl said, they were even pulling my ears. It hurt and I asked them to stop, but they wouldn't."

"Well, Mr Winchester, what have you got to say for yourself?" Goodwitch demanded, turning on the boy angrily.

"That's a lie," Cardin snapped. "You can't believe a word these animals say, anyway."

"Why, you…" Blake exclaimed and made a lunge at Winchester, but Yang was quicker and managed to restrain her partner.

"I see," Goodwitch said, her voice colder than a winter in Atlas. "Mr Winchester, you and your team are to accompany me to the Headmaster's office immediately. This school has a zero tolerance policy with regards to bullying and racist behaviour. You, young man, are in a great deal of trouble."

Cardin snarled angrily, but sensibly held his tongue. His three team mates all at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed. Goodwitch then turned to Jaune.

"And you, Mr Arc, need to exercise better judgement. You are a team leader, remember, and should be setting an example. Throwing food around was not the correct way to deal with this situation, no matter what provocation you believed you had. I want you to complete a four page essay on what are the proper standards a team leader should be setting by the end of lessons tomorrow. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Professor," Jaune agreed meekly.

"Good, now, you four! Get moving."

With that sharp command, Winchester and his three stooges marched out of the canteen with Professor Goodwitch at his heels.

"You can let go of me now," Blake snapped at Yang, who still had a restraining arm around her waist.

"Sorry, Blake," Yang replied, letting her partner go. "I just didn't want you doing something crazy and getting yourself into trouble because of that jerk."

"Yes, the professor had the matter well in hand. I'm sure those idiots will get exactly what they deserve," Weiss added.

"Maybe, and maybe not," the rabbit Faunus said, her voice still laced with anger. "It seems whenever there's trouble involving the Faunus, we always end up getting blamed and those responsible always seem to get away with a light slap on the wrist."

"Was that why you didn't fight back when those jerks started messing with you?" Jaune asked. "I mean, I haven't seen you in lessons so you must be a second year, at least. You could have taken those morons, couldn't you?"

"Oh, yeah, with one hand tied behind my back, but it would have only led to trouble. They would have made up some bullshit story and I would have ended up being the one in trouble. Besides, I didn't want any of this getting back to my team. If they knew what those guys were up to I'm sure they would have done something drastic and, like your friend there, I don't want them to get into trouble because of those jerks," the girl explained.

"It's the same old story," Blake spat. "I had hoped Beacon might be different, but it's just the same as everywhere else. Faunus are treated like scum and if they try and complain they're the ones who get blamed for causing trouble."

"Oh, Beacon's not so bad. Those idiots are defiantly in a minority here, you know," the girl explained. "By the way, my name is Velvet Scarlatina. It's nice to meet you all."

"Hey, Velvet. Good to meet you, too," Yang immediately said, offering her hand. Everyone else offered a greeting, as well, as they introduced themselves.

"So, Jaune, that was a pretty good shot," Velvet said after he had greeted the girl. "It was so funny seeing the expression on that dumb ape's face as jelly dripped down the back of his neck. Sorry you ended up getting punished for it."

"Nah, don't worry," Jaune said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Like you said, it was worth it just to see the look on Winchester's face. Besides, I'd already had a run-in with that guy earlier when he tried to jump the line during breakfast. I was grateful for an excuse to mess with him."

"Maybe so, but Professor Goodwitch was correct in saying that wasn't the best way to deal with the matter," Pyrrha interrupted. "People like Winchester love causing trouble for others and he could have turned your actions around on you. There are other ways of dealing with his type."

"Yeah, like ambush him when there are no witnesses!" Nora said enthusiastically.

"No, Nora, that's not what I meant," Pyrrha said.

"It's a pretty good idea, though," Yang said heartily.

"No, you guys just stay out of it," Velvet disagreed. "If anything happens to that bastard now, you'll be the first people the school will blame. Just stay out of the way of those guys, but don't let them give you any crap, either. It's the best way, really."

"So they get away with acting any damn way they please," Blake said bitterly.

"Are you sure they won't give you any trouble?" Ruby asked the Faunus in a worried tone.

"Nah, trust me, once they see me with my partner for the first time they'll think twice before picking on me again. Yatsuhashi can be a little… intimidating if you don't know him," Velvet replied with a giggle. "Anyway, I gotta go, but I hope I'll see you guys later. I'll introduce the rest of my team next time, 'kay? See ya."

Jaune watched the Faunus girl walk away with a frown on his face. Velvet had seemed like a really nice person, and the thought that the likes of Cardin Winchester would label her 'an animal' just because she was a Faunus made his blood boil. Looking back towards his friends, it seemed that Blake felt exactly the same way, and was now sitting glaring at the table top with barely concealed fury. Why she was so angry at the bad treatment of the Faunus was a mystery, but he guessed she had her reasons, and maybe one day she would share them. Until then, he wasn't going to pry.

Whether Blake's teammates would give her the same consideration was another matter, as judging by the way Weiss was suspiciously looking at the dark-haired girl, she was going to start digging for an explanation pretty soon.

Suppressing a groan, Jaune turned his attention back to his rapidly cooling spaghetti and meatballs. His father had told him that nothing was ever easy in this life, and Jaune's first few days at Beacon seemed to be confirming this.


Several hours later, the two senior members of Beacon's staff were in conference in the headmaster's office. One of them was not happy.

"You were far too lenient on those boys, Ozpin," Goodwitch raged. "It was obviously that they were not in the slightest bit repentant of their behaviour, and you sent them away with little more than a slap on the wrist."

"Come, come, Glynda, assigning them each ten hours clean up duties around the school is not exactly a light punishment in the circumstances. Besides, we've made it clear that they are being watched now so hopefully they will realise that any further repetition of their previous behaviour will result in expulsion."

"Which is exactly what should have happened to them," Goodwitch argued. "That brat Winchester practically sneered at you when you were discussing Faunus rights with him. That boy is a born trouble maker."

"Sadly, I have to agree on that point," Ozpin allowed. "His father was just the same. Unfortunately, he seems to have passed on his beliefs and prejudices to his son. Even so, Cardin Winchester's actions so far do not warrant expulsion, and I will not judge someone on something he may do in the future. Besides, we don't have so many Huntsmen that we can throw out potential recruits so easily. We must do all we can to mould the boy and the members of his team into something useful."

"I suppose," Goodwitch allowed, "but if he starts throwing his weight around again…"

"We will deal with it in the appropriate way," Ozpin concluded.

Goodwitch looked far from happy, but said nothing further.

"So, what was your opinion of Mister Arc?" Ozpin asked eventually.

"Ah, yes, the pupil you seem to believe will achieve so much," Goodwitch noted sarcastically. "He threw food at another student, Ozpin. Do you really think that's a responsible way to behave?"

Ozpin just chuckled. "It seems like an appropriate action to me. Winchester was trying to humiliate poor Miss Scarlatina, and Mister Arc thought that by covering him in jelly he would return the favour. By the way, remind me to inform catering that we appear to be running low on raspberry jelly. I had to have apricot flavour on my toast this morning."

"Ozpin, this is serious! How do you expect a young man who acts so childishly to become a great leader one day?"

"Well, for one thing I don't think we should judge his potential future actions just by what he does during his first few days of school. You yourself had a few interesting incidents when you were here as a student, did you not? Just look at how you turned out."

"I never threw jelly at anyone," Goodwitch snapped, a little defensively.

"Anyway, I clearly see this incident a little differently than you," Ozpin continued. "For instance, I'm more interested in the fact that out of the whole cafeteria, Mister Arc was the only person who seem to notice Winchester's behaviour and did something about it. There were plenty of other Faunus students in the room, were there not?"

"That maybe so, but he still handled it the wrong way," she replied, although without her earlier heat.

"I agree, but remember, he has been in charge of his team for only a single day. You're being rather harsh on him if you expect Mister Arc to become the perfect team leader overnight."

"If I do it's only because of the expectations you seem to have of him," Glynda noted. "Is this one boy so important?"

"Actually, no," Ozpin replied, smiling over the top of his coffee mug. "In fact, this year we seem to be blessed with a number of other students with remarkable talents and abilities. Miss Nikos is the obvious one, I suppose, and I foresee a very important role for her in the future."

"Understandable," Goodwitch admitted. "Who else do you have your eye on?"

"Miss Rose, of course. I did go to all the trouble of getting her admitted to Beacon early, after all."

"Ah, yes. Miss Rose and her silver eyes. Do you really believe those old legends are true?"

"Actually, I do, Glynda. I firmly believe young Miss Rose will prove to be quite spectacular in time, and combined with Miss Nikos and Mister Arc, I think we are privileged to witness the start of something monumentally special."

"If you say so," Goodwitch said, although there was doubt in her eyes.

"I do," Ozpin confirmed, before taking a large swig from his cup. He may have gotten many things wrong in the past, he thought, but on this occasion he was sure he was right on the money.