Chapter 10, a double feature with 9

Arc of Revelation

It was lunch now as Yang and Blake sat with Pyrrha and Jaune.

The red head gave a sympathetic look to her friend. Yang's hair seemed to be mirroring her mood, lacking its usual bounce and luster, looking messy and disheveled. She would have asked why, but she knew why, it was the same reason that her sister and the Schnee girl weren't here.

Ever since the battle Yang had spoken about how she'd tried to repair the lines of communications of XSBR, but they remained quite severed. The two had both resigned to ignore the other's presence completely as Ruby lost herself in the world of gaming and Weiss buried herself in her studies.

Frankly, Pyrrha was counting her lucky stars her own team's cohesion was nearly immediate.

"Really," Jaune said as he pocked at his vegetables, "I don't see what the big deal is. I mean Ruby's cool and Weiss is… nice. Why can't they just get along?"

"You haven't been around them like we have." Yang said miserably. "They're like cats and dogs. I don't know if it can get much worse."

Jaune finally skewered a piece of broccoli and ate, looking thoughtful. "How'd things got so bad?" he asked before swallowing. "I mean back in the forest they worked together, and it's only been a couple of weeks since then."

"Weiss is as high-strung as a violin and Ruby's childish tendencies have caused the former to blow up on the latter." Blake said, as she quickly devoured a piece of sushi. "But Ruby hasn't taken it lying down and retaliated, causing the friction between them."

"And now that the two have shut down, the only thing I can do is give them space until I come up with a plan." Yang said, shaking her head wearily. "Oh which, I have none."

Jaune looked thoughtful again. "You know, it's weird, when I watched them spar the other day, it didn't really feel like they hated one another."

Everyone looked to him. "What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, voicing the question the three had on their minds.

"Well," Jaune started, putting a hand to his chin. "It's just, it didn't feel like two girls who really hated one another. It felt more like they had stuff bothering them and they just took it out on one another. Like their anger just needed someplace to go." He then shook his head, now unsure. "But I don't know, maybe I'm just imagining it."

"I'm more surprised that you remember anything after that knock to the head Pyrrha gave you during your match." The ebony haired girl said dryly.

Yang perked up at that, giving a small smile. "Yeah, what was that like twenty seconds before she had you flat on your butt?"

The blonde boy's face hated up at that.

"It wasn't that bad!" Pyrrha said, perhaps a bit too quickly as Yang's gaze shifted o her. "I mean, he did his best."

But Jaune just shook his head. "Yes! I mean no, no I didn't I was just… feeling off, that's all. If I was feeling good, I could take on anyone."

Yang shifted her gaze back as an eyebrow raised. "Anyone?"

"Anyone." Jaune affirmed confidently.

Blake jabbed a thumb behind her where Cardin and his crew were eating lunch. "How about Cardin?"

The blonde boy looked over Blake's shoulder as the orange hair boy laughed obnoxiously at something. "Piece of cake."

The red head looked to Jaune and then to Cardin and back again. "Jaune, I don't think that's such a good idea. Cardin may be a bit… much for you."

Jaune scoffed, waving her off with a hand. "Oh, come one. How tough can he really be?"

Jaune rolled out of the way as another crushing blow from Cardin came at him. The blonde stood up as the orange-haired boy gave a smug look of satisfaction. Okay, Jaune thought, maybe he was a little tougher than he thought.

Cardin came at him again, mace in hand and Jaune ducked beneath it as he rolled out of the way again. "C'mon!" Cardin said. "Fight me like a man!"

The blonde picked himself up again, raising his sword and shield, blocking the devastating blow with the later while striking with the former. Cardin's blow contacted the shield and Jaune felt his arm go numb as his nerves lit on fire. The blonde' blow landed but lacked any power as Cardin shrugged it off with his aura.

XSBR and the remining members of PVAR sat together in the stands. Ruby and Weiss sat on opposite sides of Blake filled the middle between them. Yang was herself between Ruby and Pyrrha who both looked worried for Jaune. Nora and Ren sat beside Pyrrha, grimaces on their faces.

"I think Jaune may have bitten off more than he could chew this time." Yang said as she leaned back in her seat. "Cardin's looking much better than when I fought with him at the last regionals."

Nora frowned as she held hands with Ren. "Jaune's running out of steam, Cardin's gonna come finish him off if Jaune doesn't do something."

"Jaune's not out of this yet, he could still pull it off." The red head defended, though her tone lacked confidence, something everyone present noticed.

"Jaune is losing confidence in this fight. I fear he may have realized himself, that the disparity in their abilities is too much to overcome." Ren observed sadly.

"Don't talk like that guys." Pyrrha said, looking to her teammates. "If his teammates don't believe in him, who will?"

"The real question is, does Jaune believe he can do it?" Yang asked.

Jaune continued to move around Cardin, trying to find an opening but the orange haired boy just turned with him, as if daring him to try and attack.

Finally Jaune charged him and Cardin brought down his mace, as Jaune rolled out of the way and jumped to try and attack Cardin's exposed side. But the orange hair boy smirked as he brought his mace around again and smacked Jaune in his shield.

"Augh!" He said, dropping the shield to the floor.

"Here it comes." Blake said.

"It's all over for him." Weiss observed dryly.

Cardin came with his mace lowered and knocked the sword from Jaune's hand before raising his mace up high and swinging it around, using the moment to his Jaune in his chestplate, knocking the air out of the boy as he was sent into the air before landing on his back, hard.

"Goodnight sweet Jaune." Yang finished sadly.

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha said jumping to her feet as she approached the stage, the rest of the group minus Weiss right behind her.

"The winner is Cardin Winchester." Glynda announced as Cardin's face center in the screen, winner now appearing beneath it. The Orange haired boy raised his mace, as cheers from the class, especially his own boys, went off.

Pyrrha climbed up on stage and rushed to Jaune's side. "Jaune! Are you alright?" She asked kneeling down beside him.

The blonde boy sat up slowly, gritting his teeth as he stood to his feet. "I'm… I'm fine." He said, faltering as he nearly fell to his knees.

Pyrrha moved to support him, allowing him to lean on her. "Jaune, you're hurt, you need to take it easy."

The blonde moved off of her. "I said, I'm fine."

The red head moved to try and help him again. "Jaune… please you need-"

"I said I'm FINE!" Jaune said a little too loudly as Pyrrha suddenly backed away, her eyes flying open with astonishment, the same astonishment evident on the rest of the group.

He looked to her, wanting to say something, then to the rest of the group, then he turned and walked off the stage and out of the room.

Pyrrha, regaining her sense ran off after him as everyone else watched, surprise still event on their faces.

Jaune hunched over the roof's edge, his elbows resting on the carved edges of the building as he watched birds fly, the sun setting in the distance.

He heard the roof door opening behind him but said nothing, just continuing to look on into the distance. Pyrrha came up and hunched over the edge, same as Jaune, though a bit of distance away. She said nothing and after a few minutes, Jaune finally sighed. "Is there something you want?" he asked wearily.

"One of my teammates ran out from his last class of the day. I thought I'd come up to check on him." Pyrrha replied as kind as ever.

The blonde looked away from her. "I… I'm fine. Just fine."

He noticed a feminine hand on his shoulder and turned to Pyrrha. "No, you're not. And I want you to talk about it with me."

He gazed at her for a moment before looking outwards again. "Maybe I don't."

The red head pulled on his shoulder until he was facing her and looked him in the eye. "I'm your leader, Jaune. I have to know what's wrong with you."

Jaune looked in her eyes seeing she wasn't going to let this go and he let his shoulders drop, sighing. "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"The truth.' Pyrrha said, curtly, earning curious look from the blonde. "There's been a number of things about you Jaune that simply don't add up." He opened his mouth to reply, but she held up a single finger. "Don't bother spinning another tale, just listen. You didn't know what aura was, you have only the barest of understanding about hunter culture, and while you may have some potential at fighting it's still a far cry from what would be the bare minimum to enter a prestigious school like Beacon, so I will say it one more time. Tell. Me. The. Truth."

The blonde boy grimaced, turning back towards the sky. "Where do I even begin…" he said more to himself than to her.

"You could try the beginning." Pyrrha offered, taking her hand off his shoulder and lacing her fingers together over the edge. "That's never a bad place to start."

"You'd think, huh." Jaune said, sounding somewhat bitter now. He lowered his head, his hair falling over his eyes. "What I'm about to tell you, you can't tell anyone else."

Pyrrha nodded. "You have my word, Jaune."

"I guess I'll begin when I was a kid." He said, turning around so he was leaning against the edge. "I grew up with a large family, in the north, like all the way north."

"Atlas?" Pyrrha asked, "But you don't seem…"

"I know." Jaune replied. "It took a lot of work to make it that way. Anyways, my family, we were once really important guys, or so my dad and granddad say, but we kind of fell out of favor when…" He shook his head. "Ah… that part doesn't matter, point is no one really liked us. Local kids would tease me and my sisters, other high rankers would look down their noses at us, stuff like that. So then, after a while, I get this idea that, my name doesn't have to define me, like the way everyone else in Atlas thought. I'd go out and make a name for myself, come back and prove them all wrong. Raise my family name from the muck." He then hung his head low. "But it wasn't that simple. I got across to Vale by stowing away on a boat, but when I got here, I had no idea how I would get to Beacon."

"You didn't think it through?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well, I was only thirteen at the time." He replied,

Pyrrha's eyes lit up at that. "Did you say thirteen?"

"Yeah, hard to believe right?' Jaune said with a slight chuckle. "So, there I was thirteen years old on the north end of Vale, but I had to make my way to Beacon, so I could become a great warrior. With no money and nothing to my name I worked odd job after odd job, doing stuff that not many other people would want to. For years I did this, until I had enough saved up that I could finally make my way to Vale, the uh, city this time. Then I got here and well, things didn't quite go to plan."

"What do you mean? You got here and you got into Bacon, I don't see…" Pyrrha trailed off as realization dawned on her. "You didn't, did you? You didn't get in."

"How could I have?" Jaune asked. "One of the most prestigious hunting schools in the world and I didn't for a second consider that I lacked any sort of qualifications. No training, no teachers, no school, nothing. There was no way I'd get in, at least not the… traditional route."

"You snuck into Beacon?" Pyrrha said, not for the first time in the conversation surprised. "How? Beacon's got to have one of the best screening processes imaginable."

"Oh, they did. I tried a number of times to get in myself, but I was no forger." The blonde explained. "So, I went to some seedy parts of Vale to seek some… expert advice. And I found this guy, he was amazing, new name, background, credentials, anything I could need and more. Hell, half the stuff I don't even know about he was so through."

"That can't have been cheap." Pyrrha noted.

"It wasn't, cost me nearly every lien I had just to get my foot in the door here." Jaune informed. "But now that I'm here, I've found nothing but trouble. Classes I barely understand and people who have been training for this kind of life since they were old enough to walk." He hung his head. "But what can I do? I got nowhere else to go, and if I fail here, or worse yet if anyone found out how I got here, that'd be the end for me."

Pyrrha shook her head in disbelief. "I… have to say Jaune, that's a lot to take in."

"Well," he said sheepishly. "You asked. So what now?"

The red head gave a smile. "Now we got to make you into a fine warrior."

This time it was Jaune's turn to look surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Jaune, you may not have come here through… ehm… traditional means, but if what you're saying is true, you've been through as much hardship as anyone here to try and achieve your dream." She started, grasping his hand. "And as your leader and friend, I only want to help you achieve that dream." His curious look grew as she continued. "Let me help you, I can train you to fight, help you use your aura and unlock your semblance. I can also work with you on your studies." Her smile grew. "What do you say?"

Jaune returned her smile, but his was weak and faltering. "I… I can't." he said finally, turning away and pulling his hand from her grasp.

"But why?" She asked.

"What I've done, I've done myself, for better or worse. If I succeed here, I want it to be because I did it on my own, with my own strength." He then looked off towards the horizon. "And if I fail, it's because I wasn't good enough, and I was never meant to be a great huntsman."

Pyrrha's smile faltered to a frown. "Jaune, no one 'makes it on their own' everyone gets help from time to time."

"Did you?" He asked. "When you won all those tournaments and were setting records or being on cereal boxes or whatever, did it happen because people were helping you do those things? Or did you work hard to get where you are, where you were?"

"Of course I worked hard." Pyrrha replied, her voice filled with sympathy. "But that doesn't mean I-"

"Look, Pyrrha, you're trying to help, and I'm grateful." Jaune interrupted, still looking off into the distance. "But I want to do this on my own, so please, just go and don't mention any of this to anyone."

The red head wanted to say more, but could see that he, at least for now, would no longer be swayed by her words. "Alright Jaune, if that's how you want it. Just know, I'm always here when you need help."

Jaune heard the roof door open and close and found himself alone with his thoughts.

For about four seconds.

"Well, well, well, isn't this a surprise." Came an entirely obnoxious and unpleasant voice that Jaune instantly recognized.

"Oh no…" Jaune said turning around to see Cardin, his arms cross as his trademark sneer donned his face. "Cardin!"

"The one and only."

"What are you doing here?" Jaune seethed as his somber attitude ignited with anger.

"Well, I'd heard through the grapevine that you were sulking on the roof after out little bout earlier today. I'd hoped that maybe you'd come up here to bawl your eyes out and I could get a recording of it." He then held up his scroll. "But what I got instead? So much better."

Jaune felt the color drain from his face, taking a few steps closer to the orange haired boy. "Cardin, please, if there's even a trace of a good person in you-"

"Then what?" He asked. "I should delete this recording and forget what I've heard? Now Jauney-Boy that just wouldn't be responsible of me, I mean to know that a student faked his credentials to get into the school and do nothing about it? Why, it would go against every ethical obligation I have. I mean what if this person is a dangerous criminal or something?" He shook his head. "No, no, I'd better show this to Ozpin immediately." He said turning on his heel and reaching for the door.

"WAIT!" Jaune said, falling to his knees. "Don't… please… this is all I have…"

"Outside of somehow making your way back to whatever ice hole you crawled out of in the north, right?" Cardin asked, stopping just short of turning the handle to the roof door. "Well, I suppose you seem like a nice enough guy… oh what they hey, consider my lips sealed."

The blonde couldn't believe his ears as he looked up to Cardin. "Thank you… thank you so much…"

Cardin walked until he was standing right before the kneeling boy. "There, there Jauney-Boy, what are friends for?" He knelt down so he was eye-level with Jaune. "In fact, I'd like you to do you another favor. See, the classes they have here? You were spot on; they can be really tough. So though in fact, some people might need extra practice. Don't you think you could use some extra practice?" Jaune was about to speak but Cardin cut him off. "So, here's the thing, me and my team? We'll give you all the extra practice you need, you're going to do all the homework from all our classes for the rest of the time you and I are here at Beacon."

Jaune felt his heart sink. "But… you can't… that kind of workload's impossible!"

Cardin nodded his head. "I see, I see. Well, I wonder if Ozpin would feel the same way, in fact," he stood up turning back to the door. "let's go ask him, shall we?"

"STOP!" Jaune said relenting again. "I'll do it. Your homework. From now until graduation."

Cardin smiled maliciously. "Ah Jauney-Boy, I knew you were a good guy." He then opened the roof door. "Welp, see you tomorrow, buddy." He said, cackling as he descended the stairs.

Jaune, still on his hands punched the ground, gritting his teeth as he seethed with frustration.

Done. Please Review.