Chapter 8: Jaune's Arc


The next couple days saw the huntsmen in training, well… training. They had been helping their friends and teammates with improving themselves and teaching them new things. On Monday, they went to classes as normal. However, Jaune grew distant from team and friends nonetheless, often avoiding them or not interacting with them. This obviously caused concern between his friends, especially his teammates.


On the night before the field trip to Forever Fall, team JNPR was in their room, but without their leader, and discussed their worries about him.

Pyrrha sat on one of the desks looking out the window with a regretful, saddening look on her face, worried for her leader and partner, and fascination. Nora jumped on her bed, expelling some of her endless energy, while Ren cleaned and inspected his weapons, named Stormflower, which were two Green automatic pistols with large blades protruding downwards at their front.

"How come Jaune gets home so late?" Nora asked innocently, still hopping on the bed.

"He's become rather scarce ever since he's been fraternizing with Cardin." Ren added in concurrence, as he checked the sights of his weapon.

"That's weird." Nora replied. "Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow?" After a moment, she began to twirl in the air after her last jump. "We need our rest!" She said upon landing on the bed on her back.

"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing." Pyrrha said with frustration. She knew that Jaune was going through something, and that what Steven said was right, but that didn't mean she liked it.

Ren and Nora looked at each other, exchanging worried looks with one another.


None of them noticed their door cracked open slightly, and close quietly after that, as Jaune quietly closed the door outside in the hallway.

After closing the door, Jaune was startled when Ruby came out of nowhere.

"Hey Jaune!" She said in her usual upbeat attitude. She was wearing her PJ's, a black tank top and white sweatpants with pink roses as well as her blindfold on her head, as she was about to go to sleep. "Long time no see!" She added, Jaune was now facing her. "Did you lock yourself out again?"

"Oh, uh… nope! Got it!" He said with a fake smile, as he held up his scroll, which was also the key to his room.

"So… where have you been lately?" She asked. She had been as concerned as her friends about Jaune's recent strange behavior, and she wanted to know what was going on.

"I uh…" He began, trying to think of an excuse. He finally gave up with a sigh, "I messed up." He said defeated. "I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin's got me on a leash, and now Pyrrha won't even talk to me." He explained. He gave another sigh before admitting, "I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea." He said with a look of defeat and regret. He then hit his head against the door before sliding down the door until he was sitting on the floor.

Ruby's posture and expression hadn't changed through his explanation, giving him a smile and attention to make sure he knew she was listening.

"I'm a failure." He said, even more depressed.

"Nope." Ruby said.

"Nope?" Said Jaune, confused at her unexpected reaction.

"Nope." She repeated. "You're a leader now, Jaune." She continued, walking towards him slightly. "You're not allowed to be a failure."

"But… what if I'm a failure at being a leader?" He continued with skepticism.

Ruby hummed in thought as if she had to think about his question before answering once again with "Nope."

"Y'know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."

"Nope." Ruby agreed, and was now sitting on the floor next to him. Jaune hit his head against the door again. "Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid," She began, prompting Jaune to sigh and slump down the door further. "you may have even been a failure the first day we met," She continued, prompting another groan from Jaune as he slumped even further. "But, you can't be one now. You know why?"

"uuuh… because…"

"Because it's not just about you anymore" She answered for him. "You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do. And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us. We need to put our teammates first…" She said as she stood up, putting her hands on her hips, "and ourselves second." She explained. "Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune, and I think that can be you." She reassured him, making him smile. She opened the door to her room before saying "Have a good night Jaune." And disappearing into the room to go to sleep.

Jaune got back up, some confidence now within him. Though he soon remembered the situation he was in when his scroll rang. Jaune took it from his pocket and held it in front of him to answer it, extending it to answer the call.

Jaune tapped on the screen to answer a call from Cardin.

"Hey!" He greeted in a falsely friendly voice. "It's your buddy Cardin! I know you're probably busy with that dust project I gave you, buuuuuut I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier Wasps." Jaune gasped, not liking the task he was just given. "And make sure they've got some reeeally big stingers." He added. "It's important, so don't screw this up!" Jaune then collapsed the scroll before sighing and walking off to perform his task.


The next day, everyone going on the field trip met Professor Goodwitch at the landing pads, ready to go to Forever Fall. Once they had gotten their and touched down in a clearing, almost everyone was taken aback by the strange beauty of the strange forest. The trees were plentiful, dark gray, almost black trees with blood red leaves made it appear like it was always fall here, which is what probably gave the forest its name, as it was always looking like it was fall…. Forever…. You know… The grass was also the same crimson red as the trees. The wind blew through the leaves and branches, giving the forest life with the sound. It almost made the forest appear normal.

As the group walked through, being sure to follow their professor, they couldn't stop gazing at the beauty of it all.

"Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sightsee." Goodwitch explained. "Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." She finished as she turned around to face teams RWBY, JNPR, Steven, and CRDL, with Jaune struggling to keep up behind all of them, carrying various cases and jars, all of which were the things of team CRDL.

He walked into Cardin by accident, stumbling back in surprise and fear as he gave him an angry look, baring his teeth. Jaune innocently whistled to the side, trying to get Cardin to stop.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap, however this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates." Goodwitch instructed. "We'll rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!" she said, ushering the students to go out on their own with each other.

Cardin gave Jaune a look, then put his hand on Jaune's back. "Come on, 'buddy'! Let's go." Jaune looked down in sadness, before looking back up to his team. Nora was running excitedly into the forest with Ren walking calmly behind her. Pyrrha stood behind them, looking at Jaune expectedly and hopefully. Jaune simply looked down, breaking their eye contact with a look of regret before he turned to go with team CRDL. Pyrrha then looked away, looking down and giving a sigh of frustration and disappointment. She really hoped that Jaune would be able to solve this problem on his own like Steven said he would, but at the moment it didn't appear like that would happen anytime soon.

Steven put his hand on her shoulder, and gave her a look of reassurance. He then went with team JNPR to temporarily fill the void Jaune is leaving.


Team CRDL sat around relaxing while Jaune obtained all of the sap they needed, and returned with six full jars, one for each of the five students, but with one extra.

When he got in the middle of all of them, he stopped, dropped the jars on the ground, and fell forward in exhaustion.

"Hey! Great work Jauney-boy. Now that wasn't too hard, was it?" Cardin said from his tree he was sat up against.

"I think I'm allergic to this stuff." Jaune said in a stuffed up voice.

"Great, great, great." Cardin said, disregarding Jaune's statement. "So, Jaune… I bet you're wondering 'Why did my buddy Cardin tell me to collect six jars of the sap, when there's only five of us?'"

"That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes." Jaune replied, still on the ground before sitting up.

"Well, come with me, and you'll find out." Cardin answered, prompting a groan from Jaune.


The five of them lied down on a small ridge overlooking everyone else not far below. They were all busy collecting their sap, and none of them noticed the group not far away.

"Cardin, what's going on?" Jaune asked worried, unsure of why they were spying on their classmates.

"Payback" Was all he said after a moment with a determined face.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune said under his breath, looking back over to his partner crouching down with her back turned to them, trying to collect more sap. "What're you-" Jaune began, but was interrupted by Cardin slamming his fist on the ground with a thud

"That's the girl. Red-haired know-it-all thinks she's so smart. Alright boys…" He began, taking a box with a large 'W' on the front out from behind him. From the box resounded a loud buzzing noise. "Last night, ol' Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps," Jaune looked at it in horror, now realizing what Cardin was doing. "And now, we're gonna put them to work." He finished. One of the other boys of team CRDL put his hand on Jaune's shoulder in a way that said 'good job'.

Jaune laughed nervously.

"Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things looove sweets. I'm thinking it's finally time we show her a thing or two." He finished. He then helped Jaune up from the ground. "And you're gonna do it." He said, shoving the sixth jar of the sweet sap into Jaune's hands.

"Do what?" asked Jaune, unsure.

"Hit her with the sap." He said in a stern voice. "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon." He threatened.

Jaune looked at the jar of sap in his hands, thinking over what he could do. He looked at team CRDL before turning towards Pyrrha. He then got in a stance, ready to throw the jar. Was he really going to go through with this? Was doing what Cardin said, all just to keep his secret about his fake transcripts really worth the tradeoff of hurting his team? Was it really worth it to be so selfish, even if his secret would potentially mean the end to his lifelong dream? NO. It most certainly was not. Jaune is a team leader, and his duty is to protect his team and give them direction and someone to look up to. Not only that, but if he failed to do his duties, what good would he be? His team would fall apart, unable to function at the fall of their leader. Jaune had finally decided that enough was enough. He was done with Cardin, and he didn't give a damn what the consequences were. No one was going to hurt his team, his friends, if he had something to say about it.

"No." He said, the jar still in his hand ready to throw it.

"What did you say?" Cardin asked threateningly to Jaune, who now brought the jar down to his side.

"I said… NO!" He turned around and threw the jar at Cardin, smearing a bunch of the sap on his chest armor. Jaune quickly realized his actions however, and saw that Cardin was now very upset with him.

"Oh-hoho, you've done it now." Cardin said with an angry chuckle.

Jaune was then taken in the arms of Cardin, and punched violently in the head, forcing him onto the ground. Cardin then proceeded to pick him up by the collar before punching him once more in the face, bruising it under his right eye.

"You know that wasn't very smart Jauney-boy." He then picked him back up by the collar again. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny. Tiny. Pieces!"

"I don't care what you do to me." Jaune replied, no discernable emotion on his face or in his voice. He then straightens his limp head up to look Cardin in the eye, "But you are not messing with my team." He finished with a determined look and a determined expression to match.

"What, you think talking like that makes you tough?!" Cardin asked, now dangling Jaune off the ground. "You think you're a big strong man now?!"

Jaune's limp head, at first an emotionless expression, excepting his fate, then gave way to a small smirk while looking off in the distance with a shrug and a silent chuckle.

This angered Cardin more than anything, seeing that his victim all of a sudden doesn't care about what's going to happen to him because he's 'protecting his team'? Well Cardin wasn't going to let Jaune off the hook so easily, he was going to teach him another lesson. Cardin pulled back his arm for another powerful punch, and threw it at Jaune's head.

In a flash of blinding white light, Cardin recoils his hand in pain, now throbbing. Jaune falls to the ground. Upon sitting up, Jaune sees his arms pulse with his white aura around him for a few moments. The bruises and injuries he had previously sustained are now gone, fully healed. Jaune used his aura defensively without realizing it, saving him from Cardin's blow.

Jaune's dumbfoundedness towards what just happened was rudely interrupted by one of Cardin's teammates kicking him in the back, forcing him onto the ground oncemore. Jaune looked up at Cardin with determination and defiance in his eyes.

"Let's see how much of a man you really are." Cardin said menacingly.

However, before Cardin could do anything, his angered stated was quickly interrupted by a loud growl behind him. Quickly turning around, they saw that the cause of the sound was from a giant Ursa. Easily over a hundred years old, with spines all across its back, and bony plates protecting its neck, shoulders, sides, and arms. It was easily an alpha Grimm, and it was something way out of the hunters-in-training's abilities to take down on their own.

The Ursa charged out of the forest, stopping just as it got into the small clearing they were in, and stared down Cardin with a low and menacing growl. It then stood up on its hind legs, making it clear that it was more than twice the height of a full grown man. It sniffed the air, looking for something, before it focused on Cardin's chest plate, covered in the sweet red sap from the trees. It then went on all fours, focusing on Cardin, and roared right in his face, its head easily larger than Cardin's own torso, and he was the tallest man there.

Cardin looked at the two teammates to either of his sides, before they both ran away in the opposite direction along with the third member of team CRDL like the real cowards they were, leaving Cardin and Jaune on their own to face the Ursa on their own.

Cardin looked at the beast with a scared look on his face before the Ursa swiped his right arm into his left side, throwing him away to the ground.

Jaune, who was sitting up at the time, watching from behind Cardin, was now face to face with the Grimm, looking it in the eye. The moment was brief however, as the Grimm moved his head towards Cardin, before moving on the bully, still on the ground, as it was more attracted to the scent of the sap than the smell of Jaune's fear.

The Ursa was now right on top of Cardin, right at the end of his feet. Cardin put on a defiant look and brought up his mace to protect himself from the Ursa's next blow. His face soon returned to helplessness however as the Ursa swiped the mace out of Cardin's hand, sending it in front of Jaune, who was across the small clearing.

Jaune weighed his options. He was the only other person there that could do something, and who knows how far away help is? He could either help Cardin, his bully, or he could run away, and leave him to his fate.


In the distance, NPR, Steven, and RWBY could hear the sound of the alpha Ursa in the distance, their silent, peaceful sap collecting interrupted by the menacing sound.

"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby asked nervously. Before anyone could respond, the three team members of team CRDL ran through the forest away from the scene.

"Ursa! Ursa!" One of the two said as he kept running, but was abruptly stopped by Yang, who picked him up by the collar.

"What?! Where?" She asked, trying to get the man to focus.

The coward then pointed in the direction in which they ran from before saying "Back there! It's got Cardin!"

Pyrrha dropped her jar of sap on the ground upon hearing his words. She knew what that implied considering Jaune was not among the three that were running away. "Jaune!" she said with a worried tone.

Ruby went into leader-mode. "Yang! You and Blake go get professor Goodwitch!" Yang released the coward, letting him resume his running.

"You two, go with them!" Pyrrha commanded Nora and Ren. "There could be more!"

Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose, and Pyrrha took out Mil ó, while Steven chambered a round in Der Befreier, and Weiss readied Myrtenaster, and they all ran into the woods to try and help.


Cardin tried to run away from the Grimm, but as he ran, the Ursa jumped over and in front of him with incredible speed and agility, before swiping his arm over Cardin, knocking him down and cutting off his escape route. He quickly turned over on his hands and knees and tried to crawl away. "Crap! Crap! Crap!" He yelled as he tried to get away.

Pyrrha, Weiss, Ruby, and Steven arrived at the edge of the clearing, now watching what was going on.

"Oh no!" Pyrrha said upon seeing the Grimm advance on Cardin, who was now on the ground, curled up and holding his chest in pain, but with Jaune nowhere to be seen. Cardin turned onto his back to watch the Ursa swipe at him once more.

Cardin closed his eyes in anticipation for the blow, but was shocked when he felt no pain, and instead heard the loud 'thud' of the Ursa's hand connecting to metal. When Cardin opened his eyes, he was shocked to see Jaune standing in front of him, his shield up against the Ursa's paw, protecting him from the Grimm. From the edge of the clearing, Pyrrha was amazed to see what Jaune was doing as well, holding off the Grimm's attack from his bully like he was an expert.

The Grimm pushed on Jaune's shield with its arm that was on it, bringing up its right to strike at Jaune.

Weiss brought up Myrtenaster in her arm in a ready stance, but was stopped when Pyrrha told her to wait.

Jaune pushed back on the Grimm's arm with his shield, forcing it off, and then swiped his sword in his right hand across the Grimm's unprotected chest, stumbling it slightly. The Grimm then retaliated with a punch with its right arm that was supposed to pummel into Jaune where he stood, but it only connected with the ground, sending red leaves into the air from the force, as Jaune dodge rolled to the side. The Grimm then retaliated by swiping at Jaune with its left arm with a low blow to Jaune's legs, which he jumped over expertly. The Ursa then threw its right arm into Jaune's stomach as he was still in the air from the jump, and was unable to block the attack, sending him back across the clearing. Jaune immediately got up from the ground, stumbling slightly as he ran back at the Ursa, jumping at it with his sword ready to strike. The Ursa sidestepped, making Jaune miss, and hit him in the back, sending him in the direction he was originally going, and to the ground with force. Jaune rolled a couple times before stopping, getting up on his hands and knees and standing as quickly as he could. His face showed determination, and no fear. He looked down at his scroll, only to see that his aura was in the red, just like in his match with Cardin. But he couldn't stop fighting now. He didn't know Pyrrha, Steven, Ruby, and Weiss were watching from the edge of the clearing, giving him the impression it was just him, as Cardin was still on the ground watching Jaune. He believed it was now or never, and as the Ursa began charging at him, stopping several feet in front of him to taunt Jaune with another roar, Jaune charged at the Ursa, bringing his sword back behind him, but leaving his shield at his side like a novice. The Ursa ran at him in response, jumping slightly as it brought up its right arm to strike Jaune, leaving its underside exposed.

Time seemed to slow down as they were getting closer. Jaune brought his sword up, beginning his strike. However, as the Grimm brought his clawed hand down on Jaune, Jaune hadn't placed his shield correctly, having it slightly too far away from him to be able to effectively absorb the strike, but he didn't notice. Simultaneously, Jaune brought his sword from above him, down and under him, beginning his slice.

Pyrrha saw Jaune's mistake. With the way he had his shield, he wouldn't be able to take the impact of the Grimm, whose strike was going to connect before Jaune's, and he would get seriously injured or killed.

As Jaune got closer to connecting his strike, he unknowingly pushed his shield away from him and below him, making it useless against blocking the Grimm's attack.

Pyrrha extended her hand, before it glowed black around it with her aura.

Jaune's shield then glowed black as well, which Jaune and Cardin didn't notice, but everyone else did. Pyrrha made a minor adjustment, and brought Jaune's shield up to a position where it can block the Ursa's swipe, before releasing her control.

Time sped back up as the swipe on Jaune from the Ursa slid across his shield, which was now placed above him, causing sparks to fly off of it with the distinct sound of scraping metal. Jaune planted his foot in the ground, and then finished his swipe upwards and across the Grimm's neck, cleanly decapitating the Grimm. Its head flew off in the direction opposite of the blow thanks to Newton's laws, and the body of the headless Grimm fell to the ground with a thundering 'thud' as it hit the ground, lifeless and limp, sending red leaves into the air.

Pyrrha's hands stopped glowing, and she retracted it back to her side, and lightly smiled upon seeing what Jaune was able to do as, for all intents and purposes, he believed he did it all on his own, which is exactly what he needed to do to prove to himself that he can be the hero he wants to be.


Steven looked at her with a raised eyebrow, curious as to what she just did and why from behind Ruby, who was now looking at Pyrrha with confusion as well.

"Uhh… what?" Is all she could manage to say.

"H-how did you…" Weiss began. All six of their eyes were trained on Pyrrha.

"Well…Ruby has her speed, Steven has his shapeshifting, you have your glyphs… my semblance… is polarity." She explained.

"Wow… you can control poles…" Said an awestruck Ruby, who didn't have an idea as to what polarity actually meant, but she wasn't entirely wrong about it.

"No you dunce, it means she has control over magnetism." Weiss explained.

"Magnets are cool too." Ruby said, still awestruck,

Pyrrha then turned to leave the scene, and began walking away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, we gotta tell them what happened." Ruby added.

Pyrrha turned back to them with a small smile. "We could… or perhaps we could just keep it our little secret." She said.

Now that Jaune had proved to himself that he could still be a hero despite how he got here, all he needed to do was confront Cardin after saving his sorry ass, and Pyrrha knew that was exactly what he was going to do. Steven saw this, and agreed with her.

"Yeah… what they don't know won't hurt them." He added before turning back and walking away with Pyrrha, giving her a subtle thumbs up.


Cardin had finally sat up, and he wore a regretful expression, which was made for several reasons, only one of which being his failure to kill the Grimm himself.

Jaune walked over to him, his face bruised and cut from the fight. He wore an unamused look on his face that was mixed with some aggression towards Cardin.
Jaune extended his hand to Cardin to help him up.

Cardin accepted it, and stood up in front of Jaune. "Holy crap Jaune!" he tried to say, pretending to be his friend.

Jaune didn't let go of Cardin's hand even though he had no trouble standing up anymore. Jaune looked into his eyes with fierce seriousness and determination when he said, "Don't ever mess with my team… my friends… ever… again." Cardin looked at him with regretful eyes, how honest they were no one knew, while Jaune's expression didn't change. "Got it?!"

Cardin didn't say a word.

Jaune let go of his hand, lightly throwing it back at Cardin, before walking off into the forest towards the rendezvous point to get back with his team and class.

From when he reunited with his classmates all the way to the night, Jaune still distanced himself from his team. He didn't hang out with Cardin, he wasn't doing Cardin's homework, nothing like that. He was refraining from reuniting with his friends and team because he was ashamed of himself for doing what he had to do in order to save his now seemingly dumb secret. He acted selfish, and he realized it. He was aware of it the whole time, but the true reality of it hadn't hit him until now.


That night, Pyrrha went looking for him, trying to find him in order to talk to him. After not being able to find him in any classrooms, the cafeteria, or any of their rooms, she went to Steven to aid in her search. He thought for a moment before asking her if she thought to check the roof top where they had their conversation the first time, the one that Steven 'eavesdropped' on, which he still denies when she brings it up with him because he justified it as more of a 'listen-in on someone's conversation without them knowing because he cared about them' kind of deal. Pyrrha had to admit that she had never thought of that. The two decided to go and check it out together, but Steven told her to wait for a couple minutes before she went outside, so he could check to make sure he was there to begin with.

"Now how do you plan on doing that?" She asked.

"You just let me worry about that." He replied. Steven then opened one of the windows to his room and put half of himself out the window frame.

"Steven what are you-!" She began, but Steven interrupted her.

"Don't worry," He reassured her. "I'll message you on your scroll when I find out if he's there or not." Steven then flashed red for a moment before turning into a large bald eagle, perched on his window frame.

Pyrrha understood what he was doing, happy and relieved that he wasn't about to jump out the window. She gave a nod to him, showing she understood what he meant.

Steven then turned around and flapped his wings, allowing him to simply jump off the window frame and fly off.

Steven flew around in a circle for a minute nearby, getting his bearings and a feel for the wind before ascending upwards towards where the two partners were not long ago.

As he flew over the spot, he saw Jaune standing there in his uniform near the edge of the roof, staring off into the city of Vale. Jaune didn't notice Steven, or the Eagle itself for that matter, as it flew above him, and silently landed on the edge of the roof behind him, above the door to the roof.

Now on something remotely flat, Steven let go of his scroll which he had been carrying with him in his talons, and placed it on one of the shingles, which would prevent it from sliding off the roof thanks to its rough texture. He then scooched over a little bit before retracting his wings to his body, before he leaned over and began pecking at his scroll to send a message to Pyrrha.

'He is here. Don't respond, I'm right behind him on the side of the roof. He'll hear the scroll go off.' Is what his message said.

Pyrrha was relived and grateful that Steven was willing to go to such great lengths, albeit strange ones from time to time, to help her and everyone else out. She began to type 'ok', but then remembered that he told her not to respond.

Steven saw that Pyrrha was typing something in response on his own phone, and though 'No, don't you do it!' before it went away.


A couple minutes later, Pyrrha silently came out onto the roof. Steven remained perched behind them, and she looked up to him to see he was there. He gave her as good of an encouraging nod as he could as an Eagle, which Pyrrha thankfully understood.

Jaune was unaware that Pyrrha had come onto the roof, but was not startled nor taken aback as she made her presence more known with her audible footsteps from the heels or her school uniform.

"No Cardin tonight?" She asked as she walked up next to him, turning towards him. "I thought you two were 'best buds'." She said in as little of a mocking way as possible, trying not to sound angry or upset him.

Jaune hadn't changed his gaze until she finished her sentence. His look changed to an apologetic one as he slowly turned to face his partner. "Pyrrha…" he began. "I'm sorry. I was a jerk, and… you were only trying to be nice, and…I had all of this stupid 'macho' stuff in my head-"

"Jaune." Pyrrha cut him off, grabbing his attention and returning his gaze to her. "It's okay." She assured him, and brought a small smile to his face. "Your team really misses their leader y'know." She added, returning his smile. She then turned back towards the door, and began to walk back to their room. Raising her voice so Jaune could hear her from behind, she added "You should come down! Ren made pancakes!" she said with a slight singing of her words. "No syrup though, you can thank Nora for that."

Jaune thought about saying something, he didn't want her to leave just yet. As she got close to the door that led back inside, Jaune quickly stopped her.

"Wait!" He called out, raising his hand in objection. Pyrrha turned around to face him. Jaune let out a sigh before continuing "I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but… would you… still be willing to help me?" He asked shyly, holding his right arm with his left, until looking her in the eye with some confidence, "To help me become a better fighter!" He smiled, but as Pyrrha gave an unamused expression before turning her back on him, his smile quickly turned into a sad frown. He thought that he didn't deserve her help after everything from that.

However, as Pyrrha turned around, and once her face was hidden from his view, her neutral expression quickly turned into one of happiness, and excitement. She was overjoyed, and struggled to contain it for the fear of showing it. She would get the opportunity to help the one she cared about as more than just her porter or her teammate, and along with it, a chance to get to know him, and a chance for him to get to see her on a different level that was more personal, which would allow for her to begin placing the building blocks to a relationship with Jaune.

'He was right.' She thought. 'Steven said that Jaune only needed time to figure things out before he came back, and then asked me to help him. How did he know that, I may never know, but I'm overjoyed that he is right.'

Pyrrha closed her eyes before adopting a wide grin. She opened her eyes, and without tilting her head as to give off to Jaune that she was showing positive emotions like this, gave Steven a stare that said 'thank you.' With immense gratitude. She didn't want to make herself obvious to Jaune about her true feelings for him just yet. She didn't want to scare him or worry him, and wanted to make sure he felt the same way towards her before she tried anything too big or bold.

Steven made sure Jaune wasn't watching before he closed his eyes, and bent forward, bringing his right wing in front of him in a bow that said 'It was my pleasure'.

When Jaune saw Pyrrha begin to turn around, having her face return to its same neutral one, he kept his apologetic expression. He thought she was going to scold him, to yell at him, or at least give him some stern words. As she walked back over to him, he kept eye contact, trying to read her expression, but couldn't. When she was right in front of him, she immediately shoved him to the ground, which Jaune was certainly not expecting at all.

"Oof! Hey!" He said as he hit the ground.

"Your stance is all wrong." Pyrrha began. "You need to be wider, and lower to the ground." She explained with her hands on her hips.

Jaune looked at her confused, but understood what she meant when she extended her arm to help him up off the ground, realizing that she would help him, even through what he did. That spoke volumes of his teammates to him, showing him that they were always with him through whatever he did, just because they were teammates, and they cared about him. There was also another hidden motive behind Pyrrha's reasoning, but for now that would remain hidden to him for some time. She'll tell him when she thinks he's ready.

Jaune took Pyrrha's hand and she helped him up off the ground. "Let's try that again." She said. The two stared into each other's eyes, and Jaune gave Pyrrha a grateful smile, which Pyrrha returned with her own. She had to fight really hard at hiding her blush from the moment, but she was able to keep it down thanks to the cool breeze from the nighttime wind.


Steven watched on as Pyrrha began helping Jaune. He hoped this would eventually evolve into something more for the two of them in the long run. Steven took the opportunity of the two being preoccupied to fly off unnoticed with his scroll in his talons once more. He flew back into his open window before returning to his human form. He decided to go to sleep. It had been a long day, and it had ended on a high note. It was also kinda late, and luckily he had already done his homework, so he didn't have anything he needed to do. Team RWBY was probably already in bed anyways, and Ren and Nora would probably soon follow. Steven went over to his dresser to retrieve his PJ's. After putting them on, he began to walk over to his bed, but stopped next to his desk. He looked at the completed blueprints for something he had been thinking about ever since he fought Ruby a few days ago. It was going to be the solution to the multi-staged problem he had of being disarmed by his opponent, and being able to block and grab onto an enemy's weapon and disarm them.

'This weekend.' He thought. 'This weekend I'll go grab some parts.'

Steven then walked over to his bed, lied down, and went to sleep soon after.


The rest of the week went smoothly. Jaune finally returned to hanging out with his team, team RWBY, and Steven once more. It was great seeing him return to his normal self, and everyone showed it. Cardin didn't bother him anymore either, much to everyone's delight. During classes, Jaune sat next to Pyrrha once more, and no longer isolated himself. At nights, Jaune and Pyrrha would practice some more, and had created a schedule around it. Everyone knew that Pyrrha was training him, but Steven, Ren, and Nora were the only ones who knew her extra motive. Pyrrha hadn't told them about her feelings for her leader, but they could easily see them, and she didn't really have to. They supported her through it, and they made sure to show her when they could.


During lunch on Thursday, two days after the Forever Fall trip, the nine of them were sitting at their usual table. Steven sat on the end next to Jaune, and diagonal from Blake. Everyone was dressed in their combat gear, as Professor Goodwitch's combat class was right after lunch. They were all talking about how much they either liked or disliked the project that Dr. Oobleck had given them just before lunch.

"This project is bogus! How are we supposed to just pick a random event in history prior to the Second Vacuan Famine that is somehow related to the Faunus Rights Revolution?" Yang groaned. She had no idea how to start something like this.

"Well there's always the riots that you could talk about." Ren put in.

"Yeah, but he said that we can't use any events covered in class." Blake reminded him.

Nora tried to say something, but no one could understand her with the pancake hanging out of her mouth.

Ren pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head in disappointment.

"There's still plenty of events to choose from Yang." Weiss said. "He didn't prohibit us from using events in our textbooks that he didn't go over y'know." Yang's expression didn't really change, she only grew slightly more distressed

"You haven't been reading the textbook, have you Yang?" Blake asked her partner.

"Noooooo" She groaned.

Steven laughed at Yang's predicament. It reminded him of some people he knew from Earth.

Yang looked up at Steven with a bit of fury in her eyes.

"Woah," Steven began, putting his hands up in defense. "No need to get yang-ry with me now." He said with a shit eating grin on his face. Everyone burst out laughing. Yang even began to chuckle at his joke. She was a good sport, which is good, as she does this to everyone all the time. It would be a shame if she couldn't take it herself.

Once everyone's laughter died down, she responded to him. "Alright Steve, if you think you're so sharp…" She began, pointing at his weapon on his back. She then began looking at everyone's face for their reaction, going "huh? Huh?" trying to see who liked her comeback. She thought it was pretty clever, but apparently no one else did. Everyone was silent. Yang deflated a bit.

Ruby put her hand on her sister's shoulder to reassure her. "You tried." She said.

Steven chuckled.

"Anyways…" Yang began again. "What event are you choosing if you think you're so smug?"

"I've decided to go with the Black Desert Prison break in Mistral, 6 years prior to the onset of the war." He told her.

"Why'd you choose that one out of all the other events you could've chosen?" Weiss asked curiously.

"I'm glad you asked. There are a few reasons to my decision. Firstly, it's one of the events less likely to be chosen by everyone else. Second, it's the same prison break that freed General Lagune, who would be a major part of the war, which brings me to my third reason. Thirdly, it will be easy for the reason that it has a direct impact on the conflict. If the General hadn't escaped, then the war wouldn't have necessarily happened the way it did." He explained.

"Interesting." Pyrrha said with actual interest. "I like your methodology."

Steven gave her a smile before turning to Weiss. "What event have you chosen?"

"Well, I'm still deciding between the relationship between the Faunus and the council of Vacuo, and the-" She began, but was interrupted.


As she was about to give her second reason, Steven was hit by a hard object in the back, causing him to arch his back inwards from the unexpected blow. He shouted briefly in pain at the sudden impact, having hit him right in his spine on his lower back, where his armor doesn't reach.

Everyone looked behind him to see Cardin and his cowardly thugs laughing like crazy. Their aim was right on the mark too, as they were clearly not aiming for Jaune with the solid coconut they had somehow obtained.

Jaune slammed his fist against the table, and turned around, about to get up and confront Cardin, who went against what Jaune said. He was stopped before he could do so by Steven, who put his hand on his shoulder, and forced him to sit back down.

Everyone looked at Steven, waiting to see what he would do. Steven didn't give Jaune eye contact as he forced him back down. He was looking at the table, his right hand in a fist on top of it, his left on Jaune's right shoulder. Steven then looked up when Jaune was sitting down. He looked at everyone with an innocent look, his fist still clenched though.

"Excuse me for a moment, I'll be right back." Steven said, standing up and exiting the table bench.

Everyone's head followed him as he took the long way around the cafeteria, and walked up behind Cardin, who hadn't noticed him leave the table as he was laughing so hard.

The whole cafeteria went silent when they saw Steven walk up behind the school's thugs, who were still oblivious to his presence and the now silent cafeteria. Steven had a look that was unreadable, looking both forcibly happy, but furious. No one could miss the fire in his eyes.

Steven stopped right behind Cardin, just off to his side a little bit.

Steven clenched his fists, ready to do what should have been done a while ago.

Steven growled behind him, much like a tigers, which was thanks to one of the abilities his semblance gave him.

"Hey Cardin!" Steven shouted from behind him, bringing team CRDL out of their laughing fit, and surprising Cardin. "Square up!" he said.

Steven gave Cardin no time to react. As soon as he finished speaking, Steven immediately brought his right arm low, and swept it under Cardin's legs, impacting his arm with the back of his knees, forcing his legs out from under him. Steven then immediately brought back up his arm, continuing it in the direction it was going, and grabbed his right wrist with his left hand, before shoving his right gauntlet's elbow guard right into Cardin's abdomen with as much force as he could, all while Cardin was still in the air after his legs being taken out.

Cardin hit the ground with a loud thud, and an audible groan from him after a moment.

Steven just stood over him, adjusting his gauntlet, then crossing his arms, looking down on him.

Cardin didn't seem like he was in any state to retaliate, so Steven just stood there for a moment. He looked at Cardin's 'teammates', who were all just looking at him wide eyed and with expressions of fear.

Steven narrowed his eyes at them, and faked them, stepping forward and bringing out his fist like he was about to punch them. The three of them recoiled back immediately and put their hands up in a helpless defense.

"HA!" Steven laughed aloud as he recovered and began to walk away. "Pathetic". He said aloud.

The whole cafeteria erupted in laughter at this, some of them even applauding Steven, who casually walked back the way he came, back to his seat. The cafeteria had calmed down, and Steven sat down, and folded his arms, reclining back slightly and giving a relaxed expression.

"Much better." He said.

The table erupted in laughter.

"Remind me not to mess with you anymore." Said Yang, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't pull something like that on you guys." He motioned back at Cardin with his thumb over his shoulder, who was only now being pulled up by one of his teammates. He had an expression of pure shellshock as he looked at Steven's back. "You'd have to truly piss me off to get me to do that to any of you guys. You're all my friends, and I couldn't possibly hurt any of you." He explained.

"Awwwwwwwww! Stevie wuvs his fwends!" said Yang, prompting another spur of laughter at the table.

Steven couldn't help but to chuckle at it himself. "Yeah, you guys are awesome." He admitted. "You may not be the same friends I had back on Earth… but you guys are certainly on the same level as they were."

"Aha! So you admit we're better!" Yang quickly accused, trying to press him on the matter.

"Okay…" He began with a roll of his eyes. He then leaned back into the table from his comfortable position, unfolding his arms. "First off, none of you could replace my old friends. Not because I don't like you all, but because they were all my friends, and have a special place in my heart. If the situation was reversed, and I ended up on Earth, and I met them second, I'd say the exact same thing about you to them. However, I view all of you as equals to them. Second, I've known them for years, and I've only known you guys for just a few months. However, I am confident that those months will easily turn into years."

"That makes sense!" Ruby said, not at all offended or anything with what he said, but was actually happy with his answer, as was everyone else. Honestly, she'd probably say the same thing if she were in his position.

Everyone else thought the same thing as well, and agreed with her statement.

With that, everyone finished their lunch, and went to Professor Goodwitch's class together.


Steven was overjoyed when he caught Cardin looking at him with revengeful eyes, only to be brought to a state of fear when Steven simply gave him an evil grin from across the room, bearing his teeth at him, which turned into fangs for a few seconds (another benefit to his semblance), before returning to his normal teeth, making Cardin's expression all the more satisfying.


On Saturday morning, Steven got dressed a bit early, as he was going to go to Vale to grab some weapon parts for his latest idea. He grabbed the Lien cards the school gave each student as a sort of 'weekly allowance'. It wasn't much, but it was so students could go out to town and grab supplies they needed, or to go and have fun. Every student got the same amount of money, regardless of age or year. However, on birthdays, each student was sent a cupcake and some extra lien, which was very nice of them. It wasn't Steven's birthday however. His birthday wouldn't come for another few months.

Steven put his Lien that he had been saving into his wallet, and began to walk down the hall after locking his door towards the entrance, so he could go catch a shuttle down to the city.

Steven walked by team RWBY's room, who's door was wide open, but was halted when Ruby gave him a friendly greeting when she looked up to see him walking by.

"Hey Steve!" She greeted him, looking up from her comic book while lying on her bed, and putting it aside after folding the corner to mark where she left off. "Where you headed so early?" She asked curiously.

"I'm just goin down to Vale. I'm gonna look around for some weapon parts for an idea I have." He explained. He looked around her room to see that she seemed to be the only one in the room, which was surprising. "Hey, where's everyone else?" he asked.

Ruby responded, "Weiss went to go help Professor Peach with an extra credit assignment, and Blake went to the training area to practice her moves and stuff. Yang's in the bathroom working on her hair."

Steven chuckled before quietly asking "How long does she usually take to do that?" with his left hand on the side of his mouth so Yang couldn't hear him through the bathroom door, which was on the left.

Ruby giggled before answering him, mimicking his action with his hand, "It takes her almost an hour sometimes, so we force her to let us in the bathroom before she goes in there."

Steven chuckled at her answer, but it did fit her profile, being so protective of her golden mane.

An idea then popped into his head. "Hey Ruby, you doing anything this morning, or are you just going to be reading comics all day?"

"Nope." She said with a pop of the 'p'. "That's all I've got planned for today. Why?"

"Wanna come to Vale with me? I could use the company." He said.

Ruby suddenly lit up. "Sure! I'd love to go! I've been meaning to go down there and get some parts for Crescent Rose anyways. Might as well get them now!" Steven smiled. He liked having company wherever he went, regardless of where or who it was with. Ruby then enthusiastically jumped off her bed, and grabbed her scroll and Crescent Rose, putting it on her back.

"You should probably let Yang know we're leaving so she doesn't get worried about you." Steven suggested.

"Ooh, you're probably right!" She said. Ruby then walked over to the bathroom door and knocked on it a couple times to get Yang's attention.

"Yeah?" Yang asked in a muffled voice through the door.

"Hey Yang, I'm gonna go with Steve to Vale for a while, ok?"

"Ok! Have fun! And stay safe!" She answered, once again muffled by the door.

"Want me to get you anything while we're out?" Ruby asked her sister.

"Uuuuuuuh….." She said while thinking if she needed anything. "If you find any of those shells I like, could you grab some for me? I'll pay you back!"

"Sure! Anything else?"

"Nope, I'm all set. Thanks sis! Have fun!"

"Thanks Yang! I will!"

Ruby then took her money off of her desk and put it in her pocket.

"Ready?" Steven asked her.

"Yup." She said, closing the door behind her and locking it for her sister's privacy. "Let's go!"


The two then went down the hallway beside each other towards the landing pads to go catch a shuttle.

The shuttle didn't take long before reaching the terminal below the cliffs of Beacon. When they left the ship, they walked through the bustling terminal, full of tourists and everyday commuters. They walked by a spot in particular that was familiar to Steven.

"Wanna know something kinda funny?" He asked.

"Sure." Ruby answered enthusiastically.

Steven pointed over to the bench he fell asleep on after he took his test to Ruby. "I fell asleep right there after I got here from my combat test. The funny part of it is that I remember you standing right over there, looking really anxious and excited. I fell asleep for probably about an hour, and was awoken when Yang finally came here, and you practically jumped on her" He said with a chuckle. "And then we met over at the shuttle gate for the first time."

"Oooooh yeaaaah, I remember that!" She replied. She then giggled. "Sorry for waking you up I guess."

Steven chuckled at that. "Heh, don't worry about it."

The two continued out of the terminal and walked down many of Vale's streets, on their way to Vale's greater weapon shops, which were all mostly conveniently condensed into one general location.


The two talked about may things on their way. They gossiped a little about their friends, told stories about themselves that weren't too personal, thought about what life will be like when they graduate Beacon and what they were going to do, and plenty more.

A few questions in particular were on Ruby's mind, but she waited for the right times to ask them.

"Hey, Steven, could ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"So, about your semblance; what are some of the animals you turn into? I've seen you turn into some of the animals that live on Remnant, like your husky and that one time you turned into a Grizzly Bear in Professor Goodwitch's class, but I've never seen any of the other creatures you've turned into before." She finished.

Steven smiled. "Ironically, some of the creatures I've turned into live on Earth as well as Remnant, such as the husky and the Grizzly. The other creatures are also native to Earth, even the colossal beasts that you've seen me turn into. The large reptilian creatures I've turned into, you remember when I turned into a Tyrannosaurus in the Emerald Forest, or when I turned into a Triceratops during my fight with Yang and with you?" Ruby gave a nod. "We call them dinosaurs. There are thousands of them, but they don't live on Earth anymore."

"What do you mean? Did you kill them all?" she asked innocently.

"No, nothing like that. Humans actually came after the dinosaurs went extinct. You see, Earth is over 4 billion years old, and has had life evolving on it for only about a quarter of that time. It started at microscopic, and eventually got bigger. It changed into plants and other organisms, and life began to flourish. About 300 million years before my time on Earth, the dinosaurs began to emerge out of the vast oceans and began to walk on land. All the way up to about 65 million years prior to my time, the Dinosaurs flourished across the planet. Life boomed at certain times, giving way to thousands of different species of life, each different from the other. Some were colossal beasts that ate plants, while others were small predators that worked together to take down large prey. They are truly fascinating. We know about them today because we have been able to find many of their remains buried beneath the Earth, allowing us to know what life was like back then." He explained.

"Woah. That's so cool." Ruby said. "I can tell you really like dinosaurs by the lengthy description you gave too."

Steven chuckled again, "Yeah, you could say that. They were an obsession of mine when I was a kid. I wanted to grow up to be a scientist that dug for and studied them." Steven then pointed to his emblem. "My emblem is a dinosaur, actually. It's a Velociraptor. They were fast, cunning, clever, and deadly. They worked together in packs to take down large prey with ease. Not to mention they look wicked awesome." He finished the last part in his Boston accent, which he actually hadn't used ever since he got to Remnant, which he instantly realized and thought it curious.

Ruby laughed before asking, "Why did you say that so funny?" while giggling.

Steven couldn't help but chuckle once more. "That's actually my accent. I haven't spoken with it until now actually, not since I arrived here. I'm from an area that is around one of the major cities in my region, called Boston, and people around it tend to develop a 'Bostonian accent', which makes us pronounce our a's more significantly, sometimes there are silent h's in some words, and some of our o's to come out over exaggerated too." Ruby giggled again. "In fact, we have a famous quote that we say that sort of proves we have it." Steven chuckled before saying it in a near perfect Boston accent, "Pahk the cah in Havad Yahd, or, Park the car in Harvard Yard."

Ruby began laughing again, which caused Steven to chuckle even more.

After a minute or so, Steven added on, "Another thing about my semblance; apparently Ozpin thinks I have a sort of secondary power. When I get really angry, my eyes glow red and I gain strength, and according to him I become like a Grimm, minus the color change. I'm sure you've seen it, but I'm always in control, unlike when… you know…."

"Yeah" She quickly answered, not wanting to wander into that territory.

The two walked in silence for a few moments before Steven broke it. "Any other questions? I'd be happy to answer them."

"Yeah, I've got a few…" She began, thinking of which one to ask first. She had one in particular in mind, but thought it would be a little too personal, so she refrained from that one. "So what was that idea you mentioned you had back at Beacon? Is it an upgrade or another weapon?" She asked with great enthusiasm. Ruby loved weapons in all respects.

"You'll just have to wait and see." He said with a grin. Ruby whined, she didn't like being left out on a secret that involved a potential weapon. "I'll show it to you when it's done."


The two made it to an intersection, and waited for the walk light before crossing. The stores they were heading towards were just across the street and down the sidewalk a ways.

The two then walked into the weapon parts store. The store owner welcomed them into his store, and the two began browsing. Ruby stayed close to Steven, however, watching what he was grabbing for parts, so she may be able to get an idea as to what he was making. Steven bought some pieces of steel that were shaped in various ways, some leather, some hard plastic, a few pins, some springs of various design and size, some glass discs with varying magnification, and more. Ruby grabbed some parts she needed for Crescent Rose, either for a spare part or to replace some parts that were failing or old. She also made sure she got some oil so that her weapon could easily function. She also grabbed the latest issue of her favorite weapons magazine. Then they both checkout at the counter, purchasing their respective items.


The two then walked down the side walk a few stores down, and entered an ammunition shop. Ruby immediately went over and took a look at the different types of Sniper ammunition. Steven first went over to the AR ammunition, and took a good look at the 5.56x45mm ammo. There was a lot of different types of ammo for that size he noticed. There was the typical ammo he used currently, but there was also high explosive, incendiary, high velocity armor piercing, ice, and electric rounds, among others. The cogs immediately began turning in Steven's head. He thought about how militaries often mixed different types of ammunition on a machine gun belt or in an aircraft's weapon, alternating with each shot. 'Well, why not think it could also apply to rifles?' Steven thought. Steven decided to grab a few boxes of each, which surprisingly were not all that expensive at all.

Steven then walked over to where Ruby was to discover she was gawking at the many types of sniper ammunition.

"Looks like you're in heaven." Steven spoke up.

Ruby didn't look at him, she kept staring at the ammunition, trying to decide on what to buy this time. She only nodded to his statement, which confirmed it. She looked just like a kid in a toy store who was told they could get anything they wanted as long as it was under a certain price.

After a minute of smiling at the thought, and Ruby not changing at all, Steven decided to ask her a question.

"So, Ruby. You use a sniper rifle with your scythe, so what kind of ammunition would you recommend to someone?" Steven's question was curiously out of nowhere, as he had an assault rifle, but he had his reasons to asking beyond striking up a conversation.

She also saw how strange it was for him to ask such a question considering what he used, but she pretended not to. She turned to him and began describing the different types to him with enthusiasm.

"Well, you've got many different calibers of ammunition at your disposal, which are all useful in their own way. First you have your .308, which has a high velocity, and has some decent power behind it. It's also very accurate, and it can easily penetrate some thinner armor on a Grimm. Then there's my personal favorite, .338 Magnum, which is extremely high power, but also keeps a high velocity, and accuracy. It's able to easily penetrate through a Grimm's armor, and even sometimes from when it's behind cover. I use that in Crescent Rose. Then there's .50 Cal. rounds, which have even more power, but have less velocity and a bit of a lower range. However, it has tremendous stopping power and armor penetration. There's plenty of other calibers, but these are the main three you'd see in a sniper. In addition to calibers, there's also the different types of ammunition, which I'm sure you're aware of. I personally love the reverse gravity rounds, which I use to propel myself around with Crescent Rose, which is special because it pushes the user around while still firing the bullet, instead of forcing the target back when the bullet impacts." She finished, not even winded.

"Interesting…" Steven said genuinely. He then surprised Ruby by taking a small box of .50 Cal sniper rounds, even though he didn't own a sniper rifle.

"Why do you need those?" She asked very curious.

"Oh, no reason." He replied, making her even more curious.

Ruby then grabbed various boxes of her own ammunition that she finally decided upon, and moved with Steven to the Shotgun ammunition area. Ruby spotted some of Yang's favorite ammunition, some extreme high explosive shotgun shells, which she used in her gauntlets. Steven looked at some similar ammunition, and decided to grab a box for himself, much like he did with the sniper ammunition. Now Ruby was downright suspicious. Why was Steven grabbing ammunition for a weapon he didn't even own? No one she knew of out of their friends owned a sniper or shotgun outside of herself and Yang, but he's grabbing ammunition that they can't use in their weapons. It was downright strange of him, especially with him being so secretive about it. Ruby's energetic mind raced around, trying to draw conclusions and reasons. Several absurd reasons came through her mind. She knew it wasn't for his 'idea', because he grabbed parts that were mostly all incompatible for firing shotgun rounds or sniper rounds, so that wasn't it. He didn't own either type of weapon either. The only somewhat logical thing she could think of was rather strange, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. 'Maybe he has a special someone in mind from Beacon that he wants to find a gift for.' She thought. It's not surprising that she thought of this either, as she was only 15, and 15 year old girls like her usually think about those sort of things whether they mean to or not from time to time, it's just what they do, it's human nature. And for one thing, it would explain why he always leaves or zones out when they start talking about things like love at the cafeteria table or when they're hanging out. Whenever he's in team RWBY's room and they start talking about boys, he always has to 'go to the bathroom', and doesn't come out until they're coincidentally finished. 'Maybe he gets nervous around girls." Ruby thought. The other's figured the same thing, but then why does he act so casual around them? 'Maybe he's only like that around girls he's attracted to?' they thought, among many other things.

One thing they never thought of, however, was that he may have had someone back on Earth. Steven didn't blame them, and he certainly wasn't upset about them talking about a subject that made him uncomfortable about, who was he to tell them what they should talk about? If he was like that, then what kind of friend would he be? Forcing his friends to talk about a subject that he alone is uncomfortable with. Plus, the reasons behind his discomfort it not their faults, it's no ones. Well…. That's not entirely true. From how it appeared to him, it was the voice in his head that one time that caused it, but he can't let that eat him alive, or he will cease to function altogether.

Ruby grabbed some of Yang's preferred ammunition. After a few moments, Ruby spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Ok, I've got everything I needed to get."

"Ok. I'll be ready in just a sec." he said. Steven walked over to the pistol ammunition, and only needed to glance at the box of the ammunition he wanted, and grabbed several boxes of normal dust rounds that were .50 caliber Action Express rounds for handguns. Steven smiled at the sight, and put them in his shopping basket he grabbed at the entrance. "There we go." Ruby was so confused now. "All right, I'm all set now."

"Okay!" She replied.

The two then went to the counter and checked out their items before leaving.

"Now what do you want to do?" Ruby asked Steven.

"Hmmm." He hummed, putting his hand to his chin in thought. He then brought it down and looked at his scroll for the time, 12:38. "Let's go grab some lunch, shall we? I think I saw a nice restaurant on the way here."

"Ok! Sounds good to me!" She said with a wide smile.

The two then walked down the way they came for just a couple blocks before Steven found the place he was thinking of.


"Ah, there it is." He said pointing to a restaurant named 'O'Reiley's' It looked like a sports bar kind of place, that had some nice burgers or steaks and whatnot. Luckily, that's exactly what it was. It had a heavy Irish influence to it, but that's how Steven sees it, as this isn't Earth. Here, it was a West Mistralian culture that was a minority over there and a small majority here. Vale was a diverse place to begin with.


The two walked in and were immediately seated at a small booth for two people. Steven ended up ordering a bacon cheeseburger with fresh lettuce and tomato, and a side of fries. Funny enough, Steven actually called them French Fries when he ordered them to the waitress, who was really confused to say the least. Quickly realizing his mistake, he pretended like there was something in his throat before violently 'clearing it of obstructions', before correcting himself by saying just 'Fries' this time. Ruby ordered a turkey and cheese sandwich with a side of fries as well.

When the waitress left, Ruby waited until she was out of earshot before bursting out laughing at how Steven handled the situation. Steven merely shrugged with a smile. He wasn't used to a situation like that, but he had to admit, he did go a little overboard with his correction.

After calming down finally, Ruby couldn't help but redirect her attention at the ammunition that Steven had bought for some reason. Her adolescent mind couldn't get over the thought that Steven might have a special someone in his mind, and she really wanted to know who it was.

Her curiosity quickly got the best of her, and it easily showed on her.

"What is it?" Steven cautiously asked Ruby, who now had a sort of devious smile on her face.

"I've got a bit of a… personal question for ya."

"Ok. What is it?" he asked, cutting to the chase, but he didn't like where it was headed.

"So… I noticed that you bought some ammunition that none of us, especially not yourself, uses in their weapon. Now, don't ask how I got to this conclusion, but I'm starting to think you're buying it for someone else." She hinted at him.

Steven wasn't exactly seeing where she was getting at with this. "What are you getting at?"

"Well… I dunno… I was thinking that maybe you had your eyes on someone." She said, smiling innocently. Steven raised a questioning eyebrow, still unsure of what she was getting at, but only because he hoped she wasn't getting at what he did think she was getting at.

Seeing that Steven wasn't really getting it, Ruby let out a sigh. "Look, whenever you're hanging with us or team JNPR, you always excuse yourself from the conversation when we start talking about boys, and assumed it might be a touchy subject for you, cuz you get really shy when you don't leave at those times. So we figured that maybe you have a special someone or someone you admire out there." She said sincerely. "And I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but we're all concerned for you. When we talk about it, your personality makes a 180, and you become unrecognizable until we change the subject. Ren doesn't care when we talk about it, and Jaune seems more than happy to include himself in these conversations when he's around us, so we kinda worried about you, we being Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, Nora, myself, and even Weiss when she partakes in our conversations." She explained.

"No, it's fine. I know I'm like that and I thank you for looking out for me, but I assure you that I am fine. Nothing is wrong, and there is no 'special someone'." Steven quickly said.

Ruby wasn't convinced, however, and gave him a stern questioning look.

Steven sighed in annoyance. "I'm telling the truth. There's no one on my mind like that at the moment."

Ruby crossed her arms, her expression unchanging otherwise.

Steven realized that he was fighting a losing battle, so he gave up, but didn't divulge too much information. "Ok. Fine. First of all, all of the ammunition I bought is for me, and me only. Second, there is someone on my mind, but I can't tell you who it is, as you might not understand, or you would think it silly, or-"

Ruby interrupted him. "Oooooooooooh! Steven loves someone!" she said childishly.

Steven sighed, annoyed. "You see, this is why I didn't tell any of you before."

"Sorry" Ruby said. "Well, who is she?" she pressed on further.

"I said I'm not going to tell you."

"Playing hard to read, huh? I see…" Ruby began. "Is it Weiss?"

"What?! No!"

"Nora?"

"No!"

"Pyrrha? I've notice you give her some looks from time to time."

"No, I've just been helping her with some things."

"Oh, ok. Some 'things'. I gotcha." Ruby said with an over exaggerated wink, followed by a giggle

"Jesus Ruby, nothing like that! I would never do such a thing! And why are you thinking these things? You're 15!"

Ruby laughed. "I know, I'm just teasing ya! Don't worry!"

Steven gave her an unamused expression.

Ruby began pressing on with the possibilities. She gasped upon realizing who was left in their group of friends, herself and Yang. She intentionally skipped herself in the questioning line. "Do you have feelings for my sister?!" she said rather threateningly.

"No." he said, plain and simple.

"Then who is it?"

"It's no one you know, I can definitively say that."

"Come ooooon! Tell me! I won't tell anyone else, I promise!"

Steven took a moment to respond, thinking for a moment. He hated keeping secrets from his new friends, but sometimes secrets must remain hidden from time to time. However, Ruby is really trustworthy, and telling one other person wouldn't necessarily hurt.

Thankfully, he was saved as their food came.

"Look, let me think about it, and maybe I'll tell you later."

"Okay!" Ruby said, happy she got him to at least consider it.

The two then ate their lunch. Steven's was absolutely delicious, perhaps the best burger he ever had, or at least the best he's had in a long time. They sat and ate for a while, enjoying their meals, making small talk in between bites. Most of it was Ruby asking about the food on Earth, which is highly similar to the food here.

When they finished, Steven paid the check, claiming that Ruby didn't need to pay, and considered it to be a sign of good friendship, and that he was doing it purely because she was a great friend of his. They then began walking back to the terminal to head back to Beacon.


On the way back, Steven thought deeply about whether he should answer Ruby's question or not. On one hand, it would mean someone else knows, bringing it to a grand total of two people, which isn't bad, but Ruby would probably eventually tell Yang or something, and then the rest of team RWBY, who would tell the rest of team JNPR, and then all it would take was Nora's big mouth before the whole school knew. 'Great. The possibilities are certainly wondrous, aren't they?' he thought. Then Steven thought about why she was so curious about it. Her being the way she is with her hyperactive personality and whatnot would explain it, but only up to a certain point. The reason honestly evaded him; he couldn't figure it out for himself. Well, there was one way to figure it out, but that would require him telling her, and then asking her why she wanted to know so bad.

"Alright, fine." He thought out loud.

Ruby immediately knew what he was talking about, and was overjoyed at his decision.

"But!" he added, "You tell no one. Got it?"

Ruby nodded eagerly.

Steven took a minute to gather what he had to say. He didn't want to go into detail, as little as possible preferably, but enough to get Ruby to stop.

"Back on Earth… I had someone who I loved very much." He started. Ruby's face grew sad at the news very quickly. "And she loved me back just as much." Ruby's sad face intensified. "Her name was Jenny, and we had a great life ahead of us, but now I'm here, and she's still there for all I know. So for now, I'm not letting go of her just yet, and am maintaining my status as taken until I've come to terms with it. The reason I shy away when you all talk about boys and love and what not is because it reminds me of her, and I don't want to tell anyone about it because I don't want everyone's sympathy, it's too much for me. It'll make me want her back even more. That, and I don't like feeling needy or vulnerable when I get so upset." He finished, not going any further into details. He kept the photo of his a secret too, hoping to god she didn't remember the second photo like Pyrrha did.

After a few moments, Ruby could only manage to say "Oh… Steven, I'm sorry I brought that up, I had no idea…"

"Don't be. You couldn't have had any idea. It's not your fault." He assured her.

"Well… You always have us. Not like that," She hastily added. "But as friends. We'll always be there for you if you need to talk about something, and I'm sure team JNPR would be fine with it too. And if not, then you've got me. I'll listen to you if no one else does." She says.

Steven unexpectedly hugged her, causing her to blush again, but she was able to hide it, and returned his friendly hug. She only reached up to his chest with her head due to her short height oddly enough. She was just under a foot shorter than him.

"Thank you Ruby. That means the world to me." Steven thanked her. "And if you ever need someone to talk to, say you have something that Yang can't help you with, or something you need a second opinion on, or even if you just want to talk, I'll be there for you as well."

"Thank you Steven."

They stood there for a minute until Ruby broke the embrace.

"We should probably get going; we'll miss the next shuttle if we're not careful." She reasoned, looking up at Steven.

"Good call."


On the way back, Steven felt like he should ask her an equally personal question. It's only fair, isn't it?

"Hey Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"I got a question for you myself that's equally as personal."

Ruby didn't like where this was going, but she didn't really have a choice now, did she? "Sure, what is it?"

"Who do you have a thing for? Like who are you attracted to, if there is someone."

Steven kept looking ahead, and thank dust that he did, otherwise he would've seen Ruby's nervous look on her face. In all honesty, she was unsure about how she felt about several people. She had only recently met three boys who are now really good friends with her, and on a level that no other guy has ever known her on before other than her father and her uncle. She had no true answer as to how she felt about Ren, Jaune, and Steven. She thought differently about all three of them. And since she was still going through puberty essentially, she was very conflicted, as is normal, and has a hard time figuring out her own emotions. She knows it's a part of the process, but she wished it wouldn't be now out of all times in her life.

Ruby didn't want to admit her possible feelings for Steven as well as Ren and Jaune, especially since 1, she was unsure about them, and 2, because of what he just told her. If she told him, who knows how he would react?

So instead, she decided to give him a little white lie. "Umm, now that you mention it… I don't really think there is someone on my mind like that to be honest."

"That's fine. You're still young as it is. You'll find someone, I'm sure of it." Steven reassured her, unaware of her reaction to his question.

"I know." She said in her normal cheery attitude. "I can wait."

The two made their way back to the terminal in time to catch their return shuttle to Beacon. They talked about other things along the way and on the shuttle. For a while it was Ruby asking about Earth, or Steven about Remnant.


When the two rounded the corner to their hallway, they stopped in front of team RWBY's room.

"Thanks for taking me with you Steven. It was a lot of fun!" Ruby said to him.

"No problem! It was my pleasure. Besides, I like having the company."

Ruby smiled back at Steven.

As was procedure, Ruby knocked on the door, making sure that is was safe to come in, just in case someone wasn't decent.

"Come iiiiiin!" Yang sang from the other side of the door.

Ruby opened the door to see Yang relaxing on her bed reading a book. Weiss was at her desk working on homework, and Blake was on her bed reading as well.

"I'm back!" Ruby said to them before entering the room.

"Hello Steven." Weiss greeted him.

"Afternoon Steve." Blake said, looking up from her book.

"Hello everyone!" he returned.

Yang put her book aside before jumping down from her bunk bed. "Steve, you can come in you know. No need to be so formal." Yang said with a small laugh.

Steven chuckled. "Sorry, old habits die hard, I suppose." He said as he walked in, closing the door behind him.

"Well, aren't you a gentleman." Weiss said half sarcastically.

Steven smirked at her and chuckled lightly.

"So where did you guys go?" Blake asked the two.

"We went to Vale for the day. We went to a couple weapon parts stores and some ammo shops." Steven told them.

"Oh, speaking of which, here you go Yang!" Ruby said as she reached into her shopping bag and took out Yang's special ammunition.

"Aww sweeeeeet! Thanks Rubes!" Yang said excitedly "How much were they?"

"Just give me 15 Lien and we'll call it even." Ruby answered.

"Man, ammo is getting cheaper these days! I love it!" Yang said, taking 15 Lien out of her wallet and giving it to Ruby.

"Where else did you go? You obviously went somewhere else; otherwise you guys would've been back a while ago." Weiss interjected.

"We went out to lunch before we came back is all." Steven added.

Yang immediately adopted her signature mischievous grin again.

'Oh no. Here it comes.' Steven thought to himself.

"Ooooooooh! You two went out on a date now, huh?" Yang said. Weiss and Blake became interested, and listened intently, curious as to how this would play out.

"Seriously Yang?" "Yaaaaang!" Steven and Ruby said at the same time.

"I didn't know you had a thing for my sister Stevie." She said, now advancing towards him.

"Yang! It's not like that! Leave him alone!" Ruby tried to reason with her sister, but she was having none of it. Ruby was internally panicking. She didn't want to force Steven to tell everyone in the room what he told her earlier, as it was clearly difficult for him to tell her what few details he did.

"No, no Ruby, I think the adults need to have a little chat here." Yang insisted, now standing in front of Steven, with her hands on her hips.

"Yang, seriously. We're just friends." Steven insisted once more.

"I hope you treated her right, Steven." She began, completely disregarding what Steven just said. Steven sighed and rolled his eyes. "You'd be her first you know. And just so you know, if you break her heart, I'll break a lot more of you in return." She threatened him.

"Okay, is this really necessary Yang?" He said, trying to get her to stop embarrassing the two of them. By now, Steven had put down his shopping bag on the ground and folded his arms. "We. Are. Just. Friends." He repeated.

Yang disregarded him once more, continuing on, "And if I ever," she began, pointing an accusing finger in his face, "ever catch you touching her where she shouldn't be touched, may dust help you-"

"YANG!" Steven and Ruby yelled at her in unison. Ruby now felt slightly violated, and shrunk where she stood. Steven noticed this, and realized he needed to stop this before it could get any worse, if that was possible.

Steven placed his hands on her shoulders. "Yang! Seriously stop! You're making Ruby feel super uncomfortable! Look, we're just friends, and we were just having a fun day out together! We have no feelings towards each other in that way and we've both addressed that with each other. We were just having fun!" He insisted once more before retracting his hands from her shoulders.

Yang took a moment, crossing her arms. After a second, she said "Prove it."

"Seriously Yang?!" Ruby said, completely done with her sister being 'big sister' at the wrong time, and walking over to her trying to pull her away, but she wouldn't budge.

Steven stood there. He clenched his fists angrily. He only had one thing to prove that he was telling the truth in all honesty, and it was the one thing he was struggling to hide.

"Yang, you're crossing over a line you do not want to cross…" Steven warned her.

"Try me." Is all she said, her expression unchanging.

"Yang, I think you're going too far with this…" Blake tried to reason with her. Yang ignored her.

Steven's eyes pulsed red for a moment in extreme anger, but he quickly recomposed himself. He didn't want to do something stupid. Yang's did the same thing, thinking he was trying to intimidate her.

Steven had enough of this. He saw no other way out. "Fine. You want to see some hard proof?! Fine." Steven put his hand in his pocket and quickly took out the picture of Jenny and himself, and shoved it into her face without letting go of the picture. "HAPPY?!"

Yang's expression instantly faded away, realizing what it implied.

Blake, Weiss, and Ruby all tried to look at the picture themselves, but Steven put it away before they could see it on purpose.

Yang was utterly speechless. "I… Steven, I… I'm so sorry I didn't kno-"

Steven raised his hand. "Stop." He interrupted. This apparently hit Yang hard. Everyone else could only look on; waiting to see what Steven was going to do. Steven took a moment to calm down before he continued. "Look, Yang, I know you are overprotective of your sister. I get that, I understand that you are concerned for her in regards to everything. You constantly protect her from things that could harm her, and you are always there to be her big sister when she needs you, and I get that. But it's another thing when both of us say it's not what you think and you keep going. I understand that when it comes to this subject, you are going to be extremely protective of her in that situation, but you went way too far when you got too into detail. She's fifteen for crying out loud! I would never do what you implied to her to begin with, and that was just crossing the line to begin with. Look, I know you're just doing what you think is right, just please, next time think before you act. That's all I ask. I think of all of you as really good friends, team JNPR included, nothing more, nothing less."

Yang took a moment before responding. "Steven, I'm so sorry. I had no idea about…. That… and I didn't mean to go that far. I'm just really protective of Ruby after what happened to us and…" Yang's eyes began to tear up.

Steven put his hands on her shoulders again, this time reassuringly. "Yang. I understand why you did it. I hold no ill will or grudge against you for it. Just please be careful with what you say next time." They stood there for a moment before Steven added "and I accept your apology."

Yang breathed a sigh of relief, breaking the tension in the room finally. "Thank you Steven. I'm so sorry I did that." Yang then turned to Ruby, who was still a little shrunken down from what Yang implied back there. "And I'm sorry for doing that to you too Ruby. I didn't mean to give you those… images…" She finished before hugging Ruby.

"It's okay Yang. I forgive you." Ruby spoke up.

"To be honest, we probably would have straight up told you if we were the way you thought we were Yang." Steven said. "We wouldn't want to keep something like that secret from you, not that we thought we would be able to do that to begin with." Steven joked, prompting Yang to laugh.

"Heh, you're damn right Stevie." She said with her grin again.

"Please don't call me that. I don't like that name."

Yang only grinned.

"He's right Yang, we'd probably tell you immediately, we wouldn't want to hide it from you." Ruby added.

"Thank you." Yang said.

After an awkward moment of silence, Steven was able excuse himself.

"I'm going to work on some stuff in my room now. If anyone needs me for something, I'll leave my door open."

Everyone nodded, allowing him to leave with his things.


Steven got into his room, and instantly gave a sigh of relief. He dodged one helluva bullet that shouldn't have been fired to begin with. He left the door open as promised, and sat down at his desk. He cleared some things to give him a little extra space to work. He then took out the contents of his shopping bag, placing the parts he purchased on the desk, and putting the ammo he bought on his bed to put away later.

Steven had nothing left to do today, so he decided to work on his little project the rest of the day, only going to the cafeteria around dinner time to do anything else. At the dinner table, Team RWBY and Steven pretended like nothing had happened which is exactly like they all wanted it to be.

When they got back from dinner, Steven continued to work on his project into the night. He kept his door open regardless, but was careful not to be too loud as it got later.

At around 10, Steven was actually finished with his project already, minus a few main components. But those wouldn't take too long to do. Not realizing exactly what time it was, he only took a small break to stretch and change into his PJ's before continuing his work, determined to finish it then and there.

Well, it only took him about another hour and a half to finish it surprisingly. Steven took his project in his hands. It was beautiful.

What Steven had built was a Desert Eagle handgun that fired the legendary .50 Caliber Action Express cartridge, which is legendary for its power and kick. This would allow him to have a backup weapon should he need one in battle. Not only was it a handgun however. It was more than that. With an identical switch on the back of the pistol grip as on his M4, a flip of the switch showed a successful transformation from giant handgun to war axe.

In the transformation, the grip straightened out with the slide and barrel, but didn't obstruct the slide's action, bringing the hammer inside of it, protecting it. The grip then lengthened and rounded out, and the black plastic that covered it expanded down and around the handle. The trigger guard disappeared, and the trigger itself retracted into the handle, making it more of a button. The barrel rounded out further as well, then extended, forming the rest of the handle of the war axe.

The problem however, was that the axe blade wasn't on the gun yet. Steven hadn't decided how he'd implement it yet, so currently the gun only created a hard two-foot staff that shot bullets out the end. Steven quickly figured it out though. Because he already made the blade, all he had to do was attach it. The blade was shaped in a particular way. It extended out at the top, then curved sharply downwards. The bottom part of the blade then came back in, but went back towards where the blade began, creating a space between the blade and handle, which Steven intended to use to help him grapple and disarm his foes. It was light weight, and it gave Steven options, which he liked.

He attached the blade in a way that made it fixed. Unlike all of the other parts of the weapon, the blade would always remain in the position it was attached in, much like Ren's StormFlowers.

While it was in its pistol form, the axe blade stood just like Ren's StormFlower blades did. Steven added a hinge to it so it wouldn't stab his hand when he was firing the weapon, and when he turned it into a War axe, the blade would actually rotate 90 degrees forward to form the blade.

Steven was proud of his work once again. He placed his weapon down to look at it.

Its look was scratched and crude. He was going to paint it, but he decided to let that wait until tomorrow. He also needed to create a custom holster for it with the leather he bought, but he'd have time to do that tomorrow too.

Steven decided to call it a day, and was finally about to turn in for the day. He backed out his chair from his desk, but was stopped from standing up when he heard someone knock on his door.

Steven looked over to see Ruby dressed in her PJ's in the doorway.

"Hey Ruby." He greeted her, getting up.

"Hey Steve."

Steven motioned her inside. She walked in, and Steven closed the door behind her.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Nothing much. I just wanted to thank you for taking me with you today is all. I had a lot of fun." She said sort of embarrassed.

"Well, thanks for coming with me. I had a lot of fun too, even with what happened afterwards, but I'm over that."

Ruby laughed nervously. "Heh, sorry about that. Yang can get that way. It's not the first time she's done something like that, and it certainly won't be her last."

"It's cool. I completely understand how she feels." He replied. "I'd probably be the same way if my sister was younger than me."

Ruby giggled at the thought. "Yeah, I can imagine you now." She said.

Steven chuckled at her comment.

After a moment, Steven was surprised with a hug from Ruby. "Thank's again Steven, for taking me with out, for buying me lunch, everything. It was a lot of fun. And thank you again for being so understanding."

Steven returned her hug. "It was my pleasure, and you're welcome."

With that, they broke their friendly embrace, and Ruby and Steven walked back to the door.

Ruby looked at his desk momentarily, seeing his project he had, but decided not to comment on it right now. She'd save it for the morning. Steven opened the door for her, letting her leave on her own.

She turned around when she was outside the door. "Goodnight Steve."

"Goodnight Ruby. Sweet dreams."

"You too." She smiled. Ruby then left him alone, and returned to her room.


Ruby opened her door, revealing that Blake was in the shower down the hall and Weiss was in their own bathroom, getting ready for bed. Yang was on her bed, already ready for bed. Ruby saw this as good a time as any to talk to her older sister about something, not sure when the next time they'd have time to talk would be.

"Hey Yang?"

"Yeah Ruby?" She responded, putting her book down again.

"Can I talk to you about something real quick while we have a little time to ourselves?"

Yang jumped down from her bunk bed again. "Sure Rubes. What about?"

Ruby took a moment to gather herself. "It's about Steve…"


As Jaune is finally able to see himself as a true leader, and someone who is fit to be at Beacon, now with the tutelage of his partner and secret lover Pyrrha Nikos, his power and abilities will only increase as time goes on.

Ruby discovers she may have feelings for the guys she is friends with, and is conflicted with them. Consulting her sister while she can about them, will she show feelings for our hero? Or is she just confused?

And soon, Steven and Team RWBY will find out what it means to be a hunter/huntress, as evil rears its ugly head. Will they be able to stop them? Or will something tear them apart? They'll need all the help they can get, which will come in some surprising forms. New friends will be made, and old ones will be reunited next time in Chapter 9: New and Old Friends.


Hey guys! sorry it took me awhile to update this, I went super overboard with the chapter again. It's really good though, and it's the last chapter I have until we get into some real action! next chapter will take place during chapter's 15 and 16 of Volume 1, but with some little twists of mine which im sure youll all like.

As always dont be afraid to send in a review. If you have any questions, I'll be sure to answer them at the beginning of the next chapter, or before hand should time allow me to do so. Have a good day everyone, and thanks for reading!