A/N: A bit later than usual. Got sick. Harder to write and my head feels like I have Donald Trump building a wall between both hemispheres. Har har, funny joke. Har har, my head feels like a karate masters roofing shingles –broken and split in half after repetitive pounding.

Someone save me!


Chapter 9 - His Headache's As Big As Mine


A nice clock hung on the wall of Ozpin's office.

Well, it would have been more apt to say that it was the wall.

And Jaune certainly took notice of it as he stepped into the room, the early rays of the morning bursting through the massive and transparent frame. He squinted, one hand naturally rising up to shield his eyes, though it did little to help as the smallest crack allowed the sunlight to scatter through his pupil.

"Good morning." He heard Ozpin's curt voice sound from across the room somewhere, and while he couldn't pinpoint exactly where it had come from, Jaune still threw out a reply.

"Morning to you too." His voice was noticeably groggy, though he tried his best to hide it. He was slowly beginning to damn himself for not bringing the miracle juice with him –coffee, that was.

"Perhaps you'd like to take a seat before we began?"

Jaune nodded, blindly reaching around the room, just barely catching the silhouette of a desk and its adjacent seat through the corner of his eye. He made his way towards it and plopped himself down, rubbing his face with one hand as he willed the blindness away.

"So, have you spoken with your council?" Jaune asked, trying his best to keep the edge off his voice. Then again, he doubted it would have even been noticeable through his groaning. "It's been a little over a week, surely there's been news."

"Well," Jaune heard Ozpin take a long, drawn out sip from some cup, and as the familiar smell hit his nose, Jaune felt a bubble of jealously rise up in his heart. The bastard was holding out on him! He entertained the idea of stealing Ozpin's cup but was cut short when Ozpin continued speaking. "The council wishes to meet with you personally now. So congratulations are due I suppose..." If congratulations were due, Ozpin wasn't going to be the one giving them it seemed. His voice was as emotionless as ever and now opening his eyes fully, Jaune could see his expression only matched his level of enthusiasm.

"Is that a bad thing?" He worriedly asked. Had Ozpin somehow failed and turned the council against his plight? Or maybe that had been his purpose in the first place! He knew he shouldn't have trusted him so-

"Depends on how much you like long and boring meetings."

"...So you're saying I should start by plugging my ears and gouging both eyes out." Jaune blanched, yet feeling much more comfortable at the same time. He could deal with boring, however much he despised it. "Sounds awful..." He admitted.

Ozpin chuckled at his plight. "Perhaps, but it's the price you pay to get your audience." He poured himself another cup of coffee and through the haze of jealously that clouded his mind, Jaune couldn't help but wonder how healthy that could be... Bariq could only be taken once a day and coffee seemed to have similar affects. Ozpin was already on a second cup it seemed, though looking at the pot he poured from, it was more than likely more than that.

And though it was also supposed to give a massive boost in energy, Ozpin seemed quite subdued. His movements slow and even lethargic, a complete 180 from Oobleck.

Thinking of Oobleck brought back to mind one of the reasons he had come here. Stories and myths that he wanted cleared up along with some other misunderstandings.

"Oobleck told me something strange just a little while ago, though I'm sure you know by now." Jaune was under no delusions that Oobleck told him that story for fun and games. Ozpin was clearly more than he made himself to be and he didn't doubt for a second that Ozpin told Oobleck to explicitly tell that tale to him. "Left quite the impression on me." Jaune kept his face as still as he could, doing his best to keep his thoughts to himself and off the table for the pensive professor to read.

"Oh?" Ozpin settled his cup down onto the table before him and folded his hands together, leaning an ear for Jaune to speak to. "How so?"

"Are these your Gods?" Jaune asked with a reticent stare. "Or, more aptly, are these the stories you people made for your Gods?"

"Gods?" His eyebrow twitched a tad and his lips parted into a small smile. "Well I don't know if I'd call the maidens Gods by any means."

"Perhaps the wizard then?"

Ozpin laughed quite openly at that, his voice ringing around the room as he spoke with a sparkle in his eye. "Definitely not." He seemed to nod to himself more than anyone and Jaune couldn't read the expressions flashing through like lightning.

"So what is your God then?" Jaune asked.

"Why the sudden interest?"

He shrugged and mimed taking a cup for himself. Ozpin took no offense and even poured one for him himself before lifting it up and passing it into his hands. "Curiosity more than anything. I've noticed that Beacon doesn't have religious undertones at all and well, it seems like most of the city doesn't either to be frank."

"You'd be correct," Ozpin affirmed while taking a quick sip, "the Kingdom of Vale has laws governing the separation of church and state." Jaune recoiled a fair bit, eyes widening at the revelation. Ozpin clearly noted the reaction and metered out his next words a bit more carefully, nodding each one in slowly. "Unlike Shiloh, I gather?"

Unlike Shiloh indeed. "You'd be correct." Jaune mirrored with a sigh. He felt some trepidation enter his heart again... Separation of church and state seemed -no, it was strange. How did they keep everyone on the same level? How did people connect if they didn't have a common goal to work towards? The mere fact that Vale wasn't on fire and in chaos boggled his mind. Then again, it wasn't like violence wasn't unheard of. And Yang... Oh yeah... He glumly reminded himself. He looked up at Ozpin and spoke carefully and slowly. "There's a-a situation I need cleared up." He stuttered, avoiding naming Yang for the moment. "Do huntsman...fight civilians?"

There was a pause there, and Jaune felt like he could see a ghost of a frown forming on Ozpin's lips if he squinted hard. But the moment left as fast as it came and Ozpin tapped his fingers upon the rim of his cup. "Circumstantial I'd say."

"Circumstantial?" Jaune repeated in a bit of an incredulous voice, one brow climbing steadily up his forehead.

"Yes, a bit of a grey area." He sighed. "Huntsman can indeed fight civilians under the right circumstances." He acquiesced, his tapping coming to a full stop.

Circumstances. A word that no one ever really liked to hear when being given an explanation, and this was no different. Jaune grimaced and continued his line of dialogue, still hesitating since he knew he might not like the answers that could be given. "What sorts of circumstances?"

"Battery would be one such circumstance." Ozpin took a generous sip of his cup as he explained.

"Battery?" He asked, not understanding what power sources had to do with the situation.

"The damaging of a person's physical wellbeing." Ozpin clarified with a light cough, watching him closely for a reaction.

Jaune tried his best not to give him one.

"I see... So how far is a huntsman allowed to go in the name of self-defense?" Jaune wanted to sniff at the idea but was forced to give it some credence. After all, every civilian back at home knew attacking a Templar would incur quite the immediate and permanent punishment. But civilians attacking members of the Templar Order was unheard of. Sure, he hadn't exactly lived a long life to be exact, but zero attacks in seventeen years was still quite the accomplishment.

"Hm..." Ozpin stroked his chin as he entered deep thought. "Well I suppose it would depend on the scale of the attack. A huntsman can't exactly pop a man's head off for bumping into him." He snapped his fingers, as though he were doing that exact action.

"But would there be a point where they could?" Jaune insisted with a frown. "Can a huntsman kill a civilian?"

Ozpin stopped taking sips of his coffee, frowning into his cup as he chose to swirl around the dark liquid with the gentle motion of his hand. After some seconds of silence, he spoke up again. "I suppose they could..."

Jaune grimaced. Clearly huntsman weren't what he thought they were. Their freedoms were far greater than he was used to, either that or their responsibilities simply extended past his own as a Templar. "That's... I don't think I could be a huntsman." Jaune admitted freely, though he was sure both of them already knew that.

"Why do you think that?"

Why do I think that? Jaune thought a bit more than incredulously to himself. He shook his head and chuckled at the headmaster. "Just not used to that kind of freedom."

"The freedom to stop criminals?"

"No, Templar are permitted to stop criminals in their tracks should they witness one occur, but more often than not they don't have to. The Chaplain Order tends to resolve issues fast enough as it is."

"The Chaplain Order? There's more than just a one Order in Shiloh?" Ozpin mused.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Of course, they're like... well I thought they were like your police, but clearly they aren't since your police seem a bit ineffective." He felt raw bile form somewhere in his stomach, an unpleasant reminder of burnt bone and seared skin. He pushed it away though and was surprised to see an expression of guilt marring Ozpin's usually placid face.

"That was..." Ozpin ruminated heavily, allowing silence to take the place of his words. Jaune could see, in small flashes only, a mixture of feelings crossing Ozpin's mind –remorse, anger, shame, and sadness dominated most of it. Finally, after some time, he finally spoke up again. "That was a mistake. They never should have gone out to confront a man like Torchwick on their own."

"And who should've?"

"Us." Ozpin replied in a curt tone. "Hunters are meant to deal with enemies such as Roman Torchwick. He used to be a hunter himself after all."

So Torchwick was a hunter... It should have surprised Jaune but it really didn't. Vale was so... so chaotic compared to what he was used to. How did anyone keep heads or tails over anything when everything was so muddied and unbalanced to begin with? "So hunters fight both Grimm and man?" Jaune summarized with a sigh, leaning into his seat. "Sounds like a bad system if you ask me..."

"Bad?" Ozpin sounded genuinely curious at his conclusion. His lips parting to take a sip but he held it off, instead lowering the cup and raising an eyebrow at Jaune. "Perhaps you could expound on that...?"

"You're using soldiers as peacekeepers in your own cities." Jaune said pointedly with a nod. "How is that okay?" Seriously... How did Ozpin not see the issue? To Jaune it was as clear as day. Ozpin didn't seem to see it though, cocking his head to the side while gesturing for him to continue with the raising of his cup. "Wouldn't you say one should exert all their efforts when battling the Grimm?" Jaune started with a question.

"Well of course." Ozpin replied smoothly.

"Exactly, you fight for your life to kill your enemy, don't you? Fighting Grimm means killing Grimm, and killing Grimm takes every ounce of your strength and being." Long nights and even longer days reminded Jaune of that. The days could go by slowly as one slogged through wave after wave of Grimm, the grimy covering of blood and dirt slowly building up with every encounter. It could be suffocating. "Sure, maybe you don't need to struggle to kill the lone Beowolf, but the point is that the end goal is to slay every black beast that rises from the dirt in front of you." And that was the issue that Jaune couldn't help but see. Fighting Grimm meant killing Grimm ruthlessly. Holding back? Someone couldn't simply hold back against mankind's greatest threat. "Whether you want them to be or not, hunters are soldiers against the Grimm first before all else."

"I suppose so, but we do teach our hunters how to hold their strength in check."

"Strength in check?" Jaune gawked. "You can't be serious..."

"Hunters have a great responsibility that they hold themselves to quite well."

"So Torchwick then...?" He reminded with a raised brow.

"Most hunters..." Ozpin amended with a sigh. "But to be clear, are you telling me that you don't think it's right that hunters fight civilians?"

"I think it's dangerous." Jaune said. Big distinction between right and dangerous. "I can see why it might be necessary at times, but wouldn't it be better to have specific hunters trained to handle the general population?"

"Something your people do, right?"

"Exactly."

Ozpin sighed into his cup and closed his eyes. He tipped the cup just slightly, letting in a faint amount of coffee between his lips. "Do you not trust yourself to mitigate your own strength against civilians?"

"A trained man could literally kill someone by flicking his forehead..." Hell, Jaune had seen it happen once!

"Well, I suppose all I can ask is that you trust us. Hunters are indeed trained to hold their strength back and there are few reported incidents of civilian deaths occurring by hunter action."

"I see."

"Yes, well then." Ozpin clapped his hands and nodded to a clock on the wall. "I believe it's about time to head out then."

"Wait, what?"

"Didn't I say the council wanted to meet with you now."

"You mean right now?"

"Is that unacceptable? I could ask them to-"

"No!" Jaune felt the word leap out his throat, into the air. "No, I think that's great!"

Ozpin smiled at him and stood up. "Good, do you have a scroll yet?" He asked, eying him for such technology. Jaune shook his head though and Ozpin simply reached into his own coat, pulling one out and handing it over to him. Jaune took it with care and looked to ask a question but Ozpin beat him to it. "I understand it'd be difficult for you to acquire one on your own so..." He gestured for Jaune to use the device. "Message your team, let them know you'll be absent today."

"Right."

"..."

"..."

"You don't know how to use it, do you?"

"It'll take me a moment, just... wait..."

"Just give it here for now." Ozpin sighed. "I'll send the message for you for now."

Jaune did just that and with a few quick taps, the message was sent and the two were on their way. Jaune couldn't help but wonder what their council would be like.


"-adjutant to the governing body of the unknown city located south past the borders of Vale, henceforth to be referred to as Shiloh. Accompanying Jaune Arc is the current headmaster of Beacon Academy-"

Jaune's head slipped forwards, only for him to quickly whip it back into upright position with a bleary blink. He struggled to keep his yawns at bay as a man in dressed up in a fine, black suit intoned oodles of background information for this 'hearing' as they called it.

"Coffee?" Ozpin offered in a tersely. Jaune was flummoxed though to see how well Ozpin was dealing with the proceedings, sitting up straight with no slouch in posture like himself and completely at attention. Either the man had been through this often enough that he just knew the patterns of what they said, or he wasn't paying attention at all. His exhausted blue orbs couldn't muster the strength to take a closer look.

Nonetheless, Jaune accepted the warm cup graciously and took a generous gulp, feeling the buzz of a second wind soon after.

"-for this hearing to adjourn pursuant with the legal jurisdiction vested within this Council of elected representatives, each one representing a distinct district of Vale. Each district being-"

"Are they usually this talkative?" Jaune whispered to his side, mulling over the idea of simply walking out and simply doing anything other than just sitting there.

The headmaster shook his head. "No, I'm actually impressed for once..."

"That it's so long?" Jaune groaned, placing his head into his hands as non-suspiciously as he could manage.

"What?" Ozpin's eyes opened just a fraction wider than normal and he let his precious cup of super liquid part further away than usual from his lips. "I'm surprised it's so short."

Jaune nearly slapped his face into the table but caught himself immediately, playing it off as though he had simply wanted to take a closer look at the wood furnishing.

"How do you're people get anything done when they have to sit through this every time they want to make a large decision?" He couldn't help the raising of his voice. The man speaking shot him a dirty glare but he expertly ignored it by positioning his hand over the respective side of his face, blocking view of the man. If he couldn't see him, he couldn't muster up the emotional energy to care or at least something like that.

"More peace, more time." If Ozpin could have worded that simpler, Jaune wouldn't have been the one to know. Guess it made sense though, at least to him. The math checked out and Vale was a generally peaceful place it seemed, at least when it came to Grimm attacks. He couldn't speak too highly of their civilian... rowdiness.

"Well I don't have much time or peace, so is there any way we could hurry-"

And just like that, Ozpin interrupted him and pointed towards the speaker.

"Seems like he's almost done. Listing off each member usually occurs near the end of the introductions." Right on time, the man finished listing off each council member, prompting the two of them to hold their breaths.

"So without further interruptions-" he gave Jaune and Ozpin and honestly scandalized look, which the blond couldn't help but reciprocate with a withering one of his own. As though it was their fault the man had the vocal inflections of a dead cat. "-we will now begin this hearing. All rise."

They stood up and Jaune took another look at the room around them with newly determined eyes.

The place where he and Ozpin were located was a simple table with two seats, both facing towards the front of the room with a large, empty floor separating them from the council members. The council members themselves were sat at a pulpit unlike any other Jaune had ever seen. It dwarfed the High Templar's own, though most likely out of necessity than anything. For the pulpit ran across the entire width of the room, giving each council member ample space to themselves should he or she need it. Particularly noticeable were the flags presented before each one. A dazzling series of different colors and symbols were presented on each, presumably representing each member's district.

"Jaune Arc!" He looked up slowly, not allowing the booming voice to startle him. "It's good to finally meet you!" The man speaking was old. He had a beard long and wiry with the color of age tinting it gray while the top of his head remained barren and lifeless. He smiled cordially at him, spreading his arms wide with glee. "Certainly a historic moment to be meeting someone from so far away."

"Thank-" He started but never got to finish,

"And so private at that!" The woman next to him urged, leaning forwards with a hungry look on her face. "To think you'd choose to meet with headmaster Ozpin before us!? Perhaps you could open my own –and the councils as well of course- eyes as to that particular route?" Her voice was tinny and felt like needles across his skin. Jaune opened his mouth to reply but was beaten to it.

"Bah!" Far end of the table, where a younger man sat loosely, his form draping over his seat more than any of the others. "We all know we'd have never even met the boy had it not been Ozpin who brought him up. How many people ask to meet the council because their special?" He snarked. His lips pulled back to show off an impressive row of pearly white... fangs. Jaune could distinctly see the sharp edges upon his teeth as he clacked his jaw with every word. "You need to stop being so bothered Gloria!"

"And you'd do better to keep silent Leon." Gloria sent him a sharp look, but it went ignored.

"Now now..." The older man gently tapped a gavel against the desk. "We have more important matters to discuss currently. Primarily Jaune Arc's most unusual request. Ozpin gave us a small rundown, but I believe it'd be better to hear it directly from the source." He lowered his voice, directing his attention firmly onto the young man in question.

It was now or never, and Jaune could only hope that it wouldn't end up being never. He took a deep breath before beginning. "My home city of Shiloh has existed for many centuries, long blocked off from your civilization due to the mountainous terrain." History was always a good place to start, at least that was what he had been told by his father. "Lacking the natural barriers you have here, Grimm incursions are far more common, day to day in fact." He stood up slowly and took a few paces forwards so he was in front of the desk, and more importantly, in front of Ozpin himself. Sitting next to him could give the impression that he was being led by the man, a misunderstanding he couldn't afford here. "However, incursions are short lived, fleeting moments of terror. The Grimm come, the Grimm die, and the days march onwards."

"Exactly how often do incursions occur out there?" Leon asked with a grimace and a cough.

"At least once a day." Jaune shrugged. The council gasped in surprise, earning a confused look from him. "How much less does it happen out here?" He asked.

"Incursions are a rare event." The center man said. "The last incursion to actually come to Vale happened years ago." The man tapped three times on his desk willfully. Nothing happened for a few seconds and Jaune nearly started to talk again but he was immediately interrupted by the floor itself lighting up, projecting a massive, topographically accurate, map of the continent. The supposed leader of the council extended a hand and spoke. "Show us where Shiloh is exactly. I need to visualize just how far you must be to be experiencing such horrifically chronic attacks."

Jaune didn't bother arguing this time, knowing this would have had to happen sooner or later. Though he would have preferred certain people not being there. He carefully walked over, hiding his amazement as he passed through the strange, floating image. He finally reached the general location of his home and placed his palm over it. "Here. Roughly at least."

The man nodded and tapped twice more, the place Jaune's hand was over began glowing a bright red.

"Forget being past our borders, that's past any outposts we have!"

"How have you survived out there?"

"The Grimm must be unending!"

And so are the comments. Jaune patiently waited for the chatter to die out. He locked eyes with the center man, his coal colored orbs digging into his blue. The crow's feet surrounding his eyes deepened as his eyes squinted, peering at him in a different light. Jaune didn't know what he was looking for, but either he had found it or he had given up since he began tapping his gavel, once again vying for silence. "Allow him to continue, we've not got all day." The clock behind them rang in similar sentiment, gonging deep and loud as it hit noon.

"Anyways, on the topic of incursions, I take it Vale has never experienced a Black Night?" Jaune asked. He received a series of shaking heads. "Well then, let me introduce you." Jaune traced his way around Shiloh, using a single finger as a guide as he came full circle. Quite a large one at that. "Once every half century or so, Shiloh is assaulted by a swarm of Grimm that paints the landscape black." The circle he drew extended far past the city, delving deep into the surrounding forest. "An unending assault by the Grimm, this is no incursion. Numbers have ranged into the upper millions before, showering our landscape with their pitch bodies."

"Millions..." Some of them whispered in shock.

"That's impossible. Grimm don't congregate in those sorts of numbers." Gloria shook her head dismissively, not allowing his words to impact her like it did the others. "We've never seem them organize anything resembling an army or organized front like you're saying."

"That's because it isn't an army." Jaune readily agreed. "It's a swarm. Bound together with only one goal and one purpose; to kill men. They don't line up their 'soldiers' in formation and they don't use strategy. They come en masse, sometimes the larger ones stomping their smaller brothers down into the ground."

"And how do we know you're being accurate...?" She accused in a haughty voice. "How do we know this is even true?"

Luckily he was prepared for such a question. "Of course," Jaune snapped his fingers and produced from inside one of his pockets, a small disk. "It's primitive compared to what you have, but on this disk is a small, recorded piece of the last Grimm invasion." He tossed it to the center man, who held it up to the light, turning it this way and that. There were no letters on it, Jaune had inspected the damn thing multiple times and knew every surface of it like the back of his hand. Eventually the man put it down onto his desk and cleared his throat.

"We'll review the elements within on a future date, for now, let's cut to the chase." he pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen. "What's the official request?" He tapped the pen rhythmically on the desk, waiting for Jaune's response.

The reply came swiftly. "We need fighters, and plenty of them."

"Vale has no standing-"

"Hunters then. That'll be fine."

"Oh, and how do you intend on convincing any hunters to take this sort of mission?"

Jaune paused at the question, confused to hell. What did he mean by 'convince'? "We-Well, the plan was that we'd just hire them. You may not take our currency, but we planned on trading commodity goods in the form of dust." It was a risky ploy to be honest, knowing that they'd more than likely have to pay rates far greater than usual, after all, dust wasn't an exact substitute for money. However, they all shook their heads, rejecting his offer.

"That doesn't answer the question. How do you plan on getting hunters to accept your mission?"

Accept his mission? Well he just said he'd pay for their services through a commodity trade to their governing body! Jaune's face scrunched in confusion. "Accept? What do you mean by that?"

"Hunters cannot be forced into a mission they don't wish to partake in, that's one of the basic tenants of being a huntsman."

Wait...

Wait, WHAT?! Jaune looked back at Ozpin with an open mouth of honest surprise. He thought hunters could just be hired! That they chose their own missions was completely unexpected to him! Why hadn't he been told of this earlier! Ozpin merely raised his cup to him, prompting him to look forwards. Jaune did so shakily.

"We can offer no guarantees, but we can put out a mission board for you, perhaps even promote it extensively. After proper vetting of course." Leon replied in a steady voice. No doubt they could all see his seething anger at the headmaster.

Jaune swallowed whatever words first came to his mind –mostly curses- and replied with a strained smile. "Of course, I can accept that."

"Well, then it's settled." Jaune didn't even listen to the man finish his sentence, opting instead to glare balefully at Ozpin, who ignored him and drank his coffee.

The two of them were walked out in silence, though Jaune was quickly thinking of ways to strangle the man striding next to him.

"Well, that could have gone better." Ozpin hummed.

"So... Hunters can't be directly hired." Jaune narrowed his eyes and reached for his sword, only to remember he had left it back at the school. A mistake, costly at that. Ozpin chuckled at the attempt and shook his head.

"Of course a full-fledged hunter can't be directly hired." Ozpin sipped, raising an eyebrow at the younger man. "When did I ever say otherwise?"

"When we first met!" Jaune gasped in exasperation.

"Oh?" He put a finger on his chin and closed his eyes. "I remember telling you they were expensive to hire and that I could provide a larger cohort if need be. Where in those two statements did I ever say you-" he nodded at Jaune with a smile, "-could hire hunters directly?"

"You mislead me!?" Jaune cried out in shock. "You-You..." He seethed with bubbling anger, feeling the ugly emotion come up into his throat.

"Jaune, the council could never help you with a problem such as this." Ozpin lamented in a fake voice. "But like I said before, I can, and am absolutely willing, to help you."

"How could I ever believe you?" Jaune snapped, utter disbelief marking his face. Ozpin seriously thought that he would trust him after this? He had known all along and yet he hadn't told him or warned him! Why? Why would he do that?

"Well, really it's not a matter of trust." Ozpin sighed, pouring his coffee out of his cup and onto the sidewalk. He checked the insides, looking for residual amounts of the liquid before addressing Jaune once again. "You just don't have many other options that to work with me now."

Jaune snarled viciously, teeth bared while he backed away from the man. "I can find help elsewhere, I don't need you're-"

"Oh? And who will?" Ozpin teased in a quiet voice, pausing his steps. "The council can't help you and you've already accepted their ridiculous proposal." The way he spoke made Jaune want to find his sword and stick it through his smug face. His hand itched over the side of his pant leg as he desperately searched for something sharp and pointy, sadly it found little but lint and fabric. "Truly, how much time do you have young Arc? Months? Weeks?"

Months at best... Jaune stared into the ground beneath him. It was so pristine and clean, nothing at all like the old cobblestone roads near his house or the dusty dirt paths at the barracks. He thought it was great when he had first seen it, but now he hated how clean and unsullied everything had looked. All it did was hide the vipers it seemed. "I-I can... I can figure something out." He reached for desperately.

"You don't have that time, Jaune." Ozpin shook his head. "We both know that, so how about we make a new deal, one where both of us can come out with what we want." Jaune had no doubts that whatever Ozpin wanted wouldn't make him any happier in life –hell, it'd probably make his stay in Vale even more miserable than it had just turned out to be.

But...

But what the hell else could he do? He didn't know how to get to other Kingdoms and even if he did, how long could it take for them to respond? Ozpin, for all the lies he told, wasn't wrong in saying Jaune didn't have time to waste. "I... I..." Jaune took in deep breaths, willing himself to come to a decision, even if it was one he didn't like. Seconds turned into minutes though, he looked up to see Ozpin staring at him through it all with that unflappable expression. Finally, Jaune resigned himself and grunted out his reply. "Fine then, let's renegotiate." He hated how the word tasted.

"Well perfect!" Ozpin clapped his hands together. "How about we get some coffee and mull over it!"

The headaches were far from over it seemed.


A/N: Ozpin's an asshole!? Not really, not in my opinion. Just smart enough to take advantage of a situation at someone else's expense if it means helping the whole. Lots of leaders do that. Lots of leaders SHOULD do that. Keep in mind, Jaune's people really aren't Ozpin's people. At least not in this story.

Also, I do stocks. Not trading. I don't like day trading. That's how fucking morons lose money. I do investments and I have really long term picks for my portfolio. Up over 100% this year. Yay me!

If you're interested in building up a retirement portfolio, MAX YOUR IRA CONTRIBUTIONS!

If you already do that and still want to try and make gains that actually matter, hit me up I guess? I'd like to have other people to work with.

Primarily doctors since I do biopharma a lot.

Tech would be okay but I'm already in that as an engineer.

Also, please have read some basics. I don't want to have to teach you what the differences between a limit order and a market order is.

Bye now, time for some sleeping medications and taking the damn day off.

Day 5 of feeling like someone's been rubbing a cactus through my brain.

Next Chapter: April 1st

...

...

...

Or is it?