Sadly, no update today, instead, you get delicious but short interlude that will fill the gaps between chapters. All of them is plot relevant in one way or another, just that I feel they don't fit the tone or theme of main story.

Enjoy


JWMM - The Story of Love, War, and Redemption

By ZeroXSEED

Disclaimer:

RWBY created by Monty Oum and owned by Rooster Teeth


INTERLUDE 1 : Ozpin's Class, First Week
Timeline: Same Day as Chapter 2


Miltia and Melanie looked around to see few if any students left. There are few others, including the pretty boy from Team Apple. Trying to attend extra lesson not required by academy curriculum might be embarrassing, but as the twins completely lacked the knowledge of the basic, they have no problem swallowing their pride.

This extra-hour class, dubbed Hunter 101, is taught by none other than Headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin.

"Welcome to the class, children. I suppose most of your friends think this class is unimportant. However, the fact that you are here means you have the drive to learn something seemingly trivial." Ozpin smiled, and then suddenly...

He stood in the front of chalkboard, there was explosion of chalk debris, and then there's drawing of anatomically accurate male and female, with detail so impressive that another chalk artist would take minutes to accomplish.

"WAH?" the twins balked in disbelief. Did Ozpin drew that just that in the time span of FIVE SECONDS?!

They squeezed their eyes to focus and channel their aura to their vision, and they finally see as Ozpin's afterimages ran around and scribbled wildly on the board, while the solid body of them man doesn't move an inch.

"He's faster than Dr. Oobleck on his coffee." Ren muttered in shock, "Is that his semblance?"

"Now that's just bullshit." Someone claimed from behind him, and Ren almost wanted to agree.

"Now, now, children please pay attention." Ozpin clapped his hand, his afterimages absorbed back to his body as he walked from the podium. "Do you know what makes you different than any other youngsters around your age? Miss Malachite?" Ozpin called when he saw Miltia raised her hand.

"We awakened our aura and trained with it?"

"Exactly." Ozpin raised his cane and tapped the chest of male and female figure, "Aura, the projection of one's soul. Every single one of you has had it awakened, in one way or another. But that's not important. With awakened soul, humans and sometimes animals are capable of breaking the physical limits imposed to them by normal biological laws. And by that, I mean everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything." Ozpin smiled, "Do you know how old exactly am I?"

"Umm, fifty? Maybe sixty?" Melanie raised her hand and threw a hazard guess. Though Ozpin's hair visibly graying (and not like Schnee who naturally white) his skin still look as smooth as someone in the late twenties at worst.

"Close, but no cigar." Ozpin put his cane in front of him, rested both his hands on it's handle. "I was born before the Great war, I leave to your guess when."

MY GOD HE'S OVER EIGHTY! Malachites and Ren both stood up.

"WHAT?!" Ren called out aloud, which caused everyone to switch attention to him. Ren coughed and flushed his face before he sat again, "My apologies Professor, please continue the lectures."

"To put it short, Aura also increases your biological lifespan. In contrast to natural cell regeneration, which severed the telomeres-"

Malachites and other students gave a blank look. What the hell is a telomere?

"-at much quicker pace, aura induced regeneration reduces the severity of destruction in our genetic code. That means it's very unlikely for an active hunter to suffer from cancers, despite what Tv Dramas or B-horror movies want you to believe. Naturally, hunters with an early start like you students are blessed with extra-natural longevity. A prolonged youth, so to speak."

The students nodded approvingly.

"Awakened aura also heightened all forms of physiological function, that's why the first time you got your aura awakened, you feel invigorated... born anew. The endorphins-"

Malachites lost it again, they really, really need to shape up in their basic biology class. Ten minutes later...

"-the physical and mental component of this change is the reason why, all of you are very, very vulnerable and emotional. well, only a bit worse than most teenagers at least. Those of you with awakened aura prior to puberty, or long after it, usually have very little problem adjusting to this change."

"Even so, this resistance to behavioral change is only external. Inside you-" Ozpin tapped his chest, "There's a ticking time bomb, a brewing volcano, ready to explode anytime. It's best for you not to be tense when facing your problems, and if you have problems you can't solve, the teachers of Beacon will welcome you with open arms and help provided they have capacity to do so."

"Someone with awakened aura has their conscious and subconscious state of mind heightened, and broadcast it everywhere. The difference between a lantern and a lighthouse, so to speak... and does anyone understand where am I going?"

Ren raised his hand, "We attract Grimm even more than normal humans."

"Excellent, Mr. Lie. What you said is true." Ozpin smiled, "Hunters are the most desirable Grimm bait to exist. Provided there are a hunter and a civilian, it's more likely the Grimm will notice the hunter first... however, at the same time, a civilian is more likely to experience heightened state of negative emotions than you are."

"The moral of this story? Keep calm and carry on. Your greatest weakness, is also your greatest strength." Ozpin's voice become more stern and slightly roused, "Courage, resolve, and all sort of beneficial emotion is also heightened. When you fight the enemies of humanity, be sure to carry a positive outlook in battle, no matter if the odds are against you. That, my children, is what it means to be a hunter."

Even with Ozpin's vaguely tangential lecture, that was indeed a fruitful class. The Malachites shared a glance and smiled.

They will surely attend his future classes.


INTERLUDE 2 : SHAMEFUL AWAKENING
Timeline: Set between Chapter 6 and 7


It's not a great secret that plenty of hunter academy students still have a firm grasp of childishness, however, most of them rarely show it, let alone indulge themselves in it. After all, they're supposed to be protectors of humanity, staking their flesh and blood in an existential war against horde of soulless monsters hell bent of destroying human civilization and its product.

However, all it takes is a small spark of innocence to lite the powder keg, and five minutes after the chaotic mess in the student dorm, four students ran out of the dorm laughing and screaming, intertwined with high pitched sounds of electric motors coming from the toy cars in front of them.

"Hahaha you suck Cardin!" Yang was leading ahead of them all, a yellow car roared ablaze in front of her. The golden haired bimbo uncharacteristically sported a wide-eyed childish grin, in contrast to her usual sultry and mature upbringing.

And Cardin, too, in contrast to his usual cocky, domineering attitude, is a lot more flustered as soon as he joined everyone in their childish ordeal. "S-shutup, I'm not a brat anymore!"

"No, you just suck like hard vacuum, later!" Yang winked and increased her speed. Two other students shortly followed, leaving Cardin behind.

"Wait for meeee!" Ruby yelled as she finally caught up with everyone, "Stupid battery short-circuit-"

"Whoa!" Jaune gasped when Ruby instantly overtook his car, "That was fast!"

"When it comes to speed, you can't beat me!" Ruby cackled manically as she reached Yang's position, "BLITZER SONIC! GO!"

However, Ruby's toy car skidded and shuddered as the straight corridor leading from the outside of the dorm to the mess hall already ended, replaced by 90 degree corner leading INTO mess hall itself. It's speed and light weight made the car unstable and spin, slowing it down tremendously and forced the control chip to reduce the engine rotation. "NOOO!"

"Later, pintsize!" Cardin waved at her.

"Speed is useless without Finesse." Jaune hummed as his race-tuned car beautifully slid between the tables, "Witness my Jaune Festa!"

"Gah!" Yang yelled, "Don't give up, Leo!"

"Plebs and their fancy two-shaft motor." Russel snorted as he suddenly appeared beside Jaune, his black car appeared from the shadow of the tables. "All power and no essence."

Ruby's red aerodynamic car, unable to strike a proper route through the tables, decided another approach. It jumped over the table and began to hop from one table to another, spun it's body to reverse downward force into aerodynamic lift whenever it's airborne. "That's my darling!"

"BULLSHIT!" The other four shouted in disbelief.

"Pushing the ability of GP chip to it's maximum is important, what are you amateurs?" Ruby wiggled her fingers cockily, "Your car is the extension of your body, just like your weapons."

"Over-engineered everything, that's my sister alright." Yang sheepishly commented, beads of sweat rolled down her chin.

"OH SHIT! WATCH OUT!" Cardin slipped and crashed into one of the table, his uncontrolled strength threw the four meter wooden furnishing sky high, toward the still moving cars. Almost everyone managed to recover their toy before the table was near, but Yang and Jaune's were far ahead of them.

Yang cried in fear of her car's safety, "NO! LEO!"

"FESTA!" Jaune raised his hand forward in reaching motion, desperately to save his toy out of instinct. A blast of light came out of his palm.

They yellow supercar shined and spun itself into reverse motion, before it shortly switched the gear forward and jumped at incredible velocity. The sheer amount of power it carried stopped the table mid air, much to everyone's disbelief. The car and the table shortly dropped to the floor with resounding crash, the table leg broke while the toy wasn't scratched in the slightest, though it's switch turned off from impact.

A glyph Jaune was exceedingly familiar with shone under it's pitch black plastic chassis. He could tell his aura was bleeding into the car even before he touched it.

How?

Everyone knows how to reinforce something with aura, you have to grip it strongly beforehand. But it's been minutes since the last time he held it, so even if he accidentally injected it with his aura back then, it should've dissipated by now.

"Woah that was awesome!" Ruby approached him, "I don't know Mini-4WD can do that."

"I am certain it can't do that." Jaune looked at his palm, the same glyph manifested there and began to dissipate and finally disappear.

"Hey let's fix the table or Goodwitch will hang us on a flagpole!" Russel called them out, everyone hurriedly responded and did their best to repair it with nearby materials. Five minutes later, it was mostly fixed and the five students leave quietly, already forgetting about what transpired inside, for their childhood spirits had almost ran out of juice.

Jaune's mind however was still preoccupied with something more important...

Did he just unlock his semblance in a stupid toy competition? He will never live it down, had others known, so he decided to keep quiet.


Inspired by RTX Australia character Skype that revealed how Yang unlocked her semblance: she stubbed her toe