White Knight

by The Inner Hollow

A shield? Okay admittedly I don't know how to use a shield. But a sword? That I know how to use. Jaune P.O.V.

10. Chapter 10

This one's for you Monty. You will be missed.

---

There were sounds echoing through my ears, the fragmented words trying to rouse me from my slumber.

"..d …une … sh… …e …est…"

But I was bloody tired.

And had a splitting headache.

"Wh… …a… …at? …y … h.. …all?"

Whatever it was, it could wait.

"… …ar on… Ja… m… …ell …s."

Why must you people talk so loud?

Go away and let me sleep.

"…r we….mply… …o this!"

SPLASH

By all that is, that's bloody freezing!

"Damn it Old Man!" I roared on instinct flinging my now soaked blanket away from me as I turned to face him, my free hand rubbing the water out of my eyes. "I am going to tear you a ne…" My promise of bodily harm died mid-threat as I found myself staring into the eyes of Professor Goodwitch instead.

The narrowed eyes of professor Goodwitch.

Uh-oh.

That is not good.

I then took notice of the area beyond the focused gaze of the professor and quickly found my fears to be realized.

I was in the med bay.

Again.

I bit back a groan.

This is truly beginning to become old.

Okay Jaune, think, why are you here in the med bay?

Don't feel any particularly painful bruises or other injuries, other than this blasted headache.

So, not a fight.

Probably.

So that leaves…

Uh…

What does that leave?

Wait no, it's coming to me now, I was at the dance, I was wearing a suit...

I paused for a moment and looked down to find I was now for some reason wearing a dress.

The dress.

Why was I wearing the dress again?

I paused for a moment before my mind filled in the blanks, remembering going back to my room to change out of the suit and change into the dress.

Okay, so I was at the party.

All was well, had a few dances, went to go get some drinks was walking back and then…

I gasped and a hand went to grasp my head as the pain intensified, what was once a dull burn, now a blazing inferno searing me from within.

"I-I saw…" I stammered, my mind reeling from what I had remembered.

Suddenly a weathered old hand clapped down on my shoulder. I turned to see the Old Bastard staring at me from the side of the bed, seated comfortably within his chair as always.

"Laddie? Speak up will you? It's hard enough to hear you as it is."

"I saw her." I breathed out, the shock of what I had said reaching my mind. "I saw my mother."

There was silence for a moment, no one saying a word in the face of my revelation.

Who else is here?

We've got Goodwitch, The Old Bastard, Peter and Professor Ozpin.

What the heck happened to me last night?

"A memory, my boy?" Peter inquired gently, trying to get some more perspective on what it was I had seen.

I ran the hand that had been clutching my forehead through my unkempt hair. "Yes. Maybe. I don't know." I sighed shaking my head. "It was just a glowing outline. I couldn't see any actual details, but I knew it was her. She said…" I felt my brow furrow as I tried to remember the words from my memory.

'Live well, Jaune.'

"She told me to 'Live well'. And then I was falling." I said finally looking up to a series of serious faces staring back at me.

The Old Bastard let out a grunt. "Hm. Well it's something at least. Something new for you to remember her by." He said patting me on the shoulder. "Now laddie, how about you go see your team, I'm su…"

"There was someone else there."

There was silence as that statement cut off Tob's words. I realized now that they were my words.

"There was someone else there." I repeated, as if affirming it to myself. "I couldn't tell you what they looked like. To my memory it kept changing over and over again, like it couldn't decide on a shape. But there was one thing that was always there. That was constant."

There was piece of paper on the stand next to my bed, some kind of indecipherable medical jargon printed across the front of it, but the back of the sheet was thankfully blank. I picked up the pen that was beside it and carefully sketched out the shape that had been present in my memories, which had been the only part I could make out of the other person in the room.

The Empty Heart.

Ozpin's eyes focused on the sheet, staring at the symbol now emblazoned upon it. "Not exactly a common symbol." Ozpin mused, a finger going up to push his spectacles further up the bridge of his nose while he picked up the sheet of paper. "I'll make some inquires. But you Mr Arc, should return to your teammates. They were quite worried about you, you do realise?" He asked rhetorically a small smile on his face as he did so.

I nodded, my mind already conjuring images of how me being dragged away to the med-bay again had been taken by my team.

A heavy hand clapped me on the shoulder, and Peter chortled. "Not to worry Jaune my boy, we'll be back there in no time." He said with a grin, before stopping and making a show of examining my outfit. But something tells me you might want to change into these," Peter picked up my combat gear from where it had been hidden out of sight behind him. "Before you make your way back." Peter suggested innocently, the tiny quivers of his moustache betraying the mirth that was barely restrained.

I glared lightly at him, put still muttered a thanks for retrieving my clothes and bringing them here.

If he hadn't the walk back could have been altogether far more awkward then it should have been.

Then again there is rarely a time when a male teenager over six foot can walk back to his room across a student heavy environment in a dress and it ever be considered anything but awkward.

Tob let out a dry laugh at that before his wheelchair turned around and started approaching the door, Professors Goodwitch and Ozpin already making their way out with a stern nod and a slight wave respectively. "We'll leave you to it then laddie. And later after you've gotten your team assignments, come find me with the rest of your teammates." He paused in the doorway twisting slightly to face me. "Something to deal with your whole 'seeing without looking' dilemma." And with that he rolled away, following after Ozpin.

Where are they off too?

I was jolted from my train of thought by Peter's hand cuffing me lightly over the back of the head. "Task at hand, Jaune my boy." He chided, gesturing at the clothes now laying on the bed before he too made his way to the door. "I'll be waiting for you outside."

I sat there in the bed for a moment, before I threw off the covers and stretched, letting out a series of loud cracks as I did so.

And also reminding me of how very tight this dress was around the chest area it was by the fact I could no longer breathe.

I swear by all that is, every time I wear this blasted dress, it always ends badly for me.

Granted I've only worn it twice but I'm two for two at this point.

After frantically extracting myself from the cursed piece of clothing I quickly changed into the clothing that Peter had bought round for me, relishing in the feel of clothing that wasn't drenched in sweat.

I cracked my neck as I tried to work all the kinks from my impromptu nap out of it before spotting my scroll from where it had probably been underneath it all.

There were a lot of missed calls there.

I winced as I imagined what was to come.

May as well get it over with.

I walked over to the door, making sure the laces on my left shoe didn't come undone again, before I opened it and stepped outside to where Peter was waiting. "Well then, shall we?" I asked, strapping Candidus Mors to my side.

"Certainly, my boy."

---

Near the top of Beacon Academy Tower rests the Headmaster's office for Beacon Academy, normally a quiet room save for the endless clicking and whirring of the massive cogs and gears above.

Today however it was the location for a rather heated discussion regarding the events that occurred yesterday.

"They were here..." He began, his fist clenching in frustration at the undeniable fact. "Ozpin, they were here!" General James Ironwood exploded angrily, slamming a fist into Ozpin's desk as Ozpin himself let his head sink into his hands for a brief moment as he sat behind the desk, idly watching as James and Glynda got into yet another heated debate.

Just like always.

'Today's certainly shaping up to be a difficult day.' Ozpin mused silently before bringing his head out of his hands to watch the proceedings once more.

Glynda as was quick to step forward in Ozpin's defence. "We're very much aware of that! Thank you, James." Glynda retorted not looking pleased at all with Ironwood's tone.

The general however was not appeased by Glynda's response in the slightest. "Fantastic! You're aware!" Ironwood responded, hands gesturing constantly as he did so. "Now are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's right in front of us?!"

Their heated discussion was cut off however when the familiar alert sound of someone requesting access to the headmaster's office emanated from Ozpin's desk from the elevator. Professor Ozpin stood up, the doors to the elevator sliding open as he did so. "Come in." He requested calmly.

From the elevator out stepped Ruby Rose, looking particularly awkward and slightly intimidated as she stepped into the domain of one of the most powerful individuals of Remnant.

"Sorry it took so long." Ruby apologised, the words almost blurting out of her mouth without her control. "Someone accidentally hit all the buttons on the elevator on the way up here." Ruby paused for a moment as if realising the obvious thought of who might have pressed it. "It wasn't me."

"Aye it wasn't the lassie." A grizzled old voice grunted out, The Old Bastard wheeling into the room behind her. "That'd be my fault. Figured you could use the extra time to finish your little 'discussion' with Jimmy here." Tob explained, his hands coming up to make invisible quote marks at 'discussion'.

Ironwood's gaze narrowed at that and he spun, rounding on Tob about to reply to the remark when Ozpin spoke first, cutting the general off before he said anything rash in front of the student.

"Thank you for coming, Ruby. How are you feeling?" Ozpin asked kindly, subtly reminding James why the young girl was here.

Ruby walked forward, clearly unsure of how she should act in this situation. "Okay, I guess." She said simply, thinking on what to say. "I'd feel better if my bad-guy-catching-record wasn't O-for-three." She joked miming the numbers with her fingers, giving off a nervous laugh as she did so.

Tob let out a quiet snort at that but the rest of the room was otherwise silent as they gazed at Ruby.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head embarrassed at her attempt at a joke. "Okay, so that's the tone we're going for, got it." She mumbled, taking note of the seriousness the others were giving this situation.

"Ruby, I feel it's appropriate to let you know that what you did last night was exactly what being a Huntress is all about." General Ironwood praised, placing a hand on her shoulder and commending the young huntress in training. "You recognized a threat. You took action. And you did the very best you could." He summated bluntly, clearly of the thought that she had done the right thing."

"Thank you, sir." Ruby said in gratitude, slightly overwhelmed by the praise given to her.

At this Ozpin spoke up again, directing the conversation back to the task at hand. "Now, the general here is already informed of most of the events that..." Ozpin paused, trying to find a way to put the situation delicately, "transpired last night, but now that you rested, we were wondering if you have anything to add." Ozpin finished, looking at Ruby over his spectacles.

"Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?" Professor Goodwitch pressed Ruby, stepping towards her as she did so, trying to see if any new information concerning the infiltrator had been remembered after a night's rest.

"I..." Ruby hesitated thinking back on her encounter with the woman in black. "I don't know." She admitted, slightly ashamed at the fact. "She was wearing a mask, and she never said anything to me. But I know she fought with glass. I don't think that was her Semblance, though. Her clothing lit up when she attacked." She added, trying to give as many details about the woman she thought as she could.

"Save for the glass, that sounds like the woman I fought the night we met Ruby." Glynda suggested thoughtfully, thinking back to her encounter with the flam wielder who'd been obscured by the shadows of the Bullhead's interior.

"Embedding Dust into clothing is an age-old technique." The General disagreed shaking his head. "It could have been anyone."

Tob nodded his head. "Aye, I'll have to agree with Jimmy here. Imbedding dust into clothes may not be prominent in the world of today but by no means it a forgotten technique. It's archaic, but it still has its uses.

"Wait." Ruby interrupted drawing the focus of the room back onto her. "You think that this girl is connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?" She asked firmly, gesturing slightly with her arm as she did so.

Both Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch remained silent and looked to Ozpin to allow him to reply to Ruby's question.

"It's plausible." The headmaster acknowledged, one hand going up to grasp his chin in a pondering manner. Ruby looked away at that revelation clearly stuck by the news. "But we still lack the required evidence that links the two together." Ozpin added wryly, taking care to look at Ruby as he did so.

The General turned to face Ozpin at this, clearly puzzled by his last sentence to the young girl.

Ruby took the hint, suddenly adding further details in response to Ozpin's statement. "Actually, I think I remember her saying something about a hideout, or something, in the southeast. Just outside the Kingdom.

Ozpin blinked, a small smile forming as he did so. "Interesting." He stated simply in response to Ruby's addition to the information.

Glynda however had other thoughts in mind. "I thought you said the intruder never-" She started before Ozpin stepped forward, flicking a subtle look to his right hand as he did so.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby. Why don't you go and spend some time with your team? You have a big day ahead of you." Ozpin suggested kindly, giving a slight nod of thanks to the young prodigy.

"Anytime." Ruby replied casually, turning back to the door to make her way towards the lift.

"And Miss Rose," Ozpin called after her, waiting until she had turned to face the four adults once more. "Please try and be…discrete about this matter." Ozpin said pointedly, a knowing look in his eyes.

Ruby's casual nonchalance faded away at that, the young student giving a nod to the Headmaster's request. "Yes sir."

With that Ruby left the room leaving the four to silently contemplate what they'd been told, the sound of Ruby entering the lift out of sight and the lift descending reaching their ears.

"The south-east eh?" The Old Bastard grunted finally, one hand going up to scratch his beard. "Well we certainly won't be low on places to search now will we?" He said dryly, the vast wilderness to the south east being a smorgasbord of possible hide-out locations. And that was without including the necropolis that was once called Mountain Glenn

Ironwood walked behind Ozpin's desk facing out to wear the south-east border lay on the horizon. "Well there we have it." Ironwood said firmly, "We send as many troops as we can into the southeast, find out exactly what's going on, and eradicate any forces that stand in our way."

Glynda shook her head in frustration, affixing Ironwood with a glare. "Why must your answer to everything involve a triumphant display of military bravado!?" She growled out, waving her riding crop as she did so. "You treat every situation like a contest of measuring d-!

"Glynda!" Ozpin called out reproaching from where he sat behind his desk, raising a hand as a request for her to stop before anything more was said before it couldn't be taken back, turning to face the two as standing by the window as he did so, Tob's wheelchair silently wheeling around his desk to join them, his expression serious.

"Well, he does." Professor Goodwitch added bluntly, crossing her arms as she did so.

"She's right." Ozpin stated, agreeing with Glynda. "As much as I too would love to end this situation once and for all, we must remember that this may go beyond Vale. Beyond Beacon." He added, trying to remind Ironwood of the possible scale of the situation at hand. "And if this truly is part of some master plan for which we know not the final move, we mustn't be so bold. Nor can we risk the spread of panic."

Ironwood's expression darkened, slowly approaching the seated Ozpin. "I have served you faithfully for years..." Ironwood acknowledged, before pointing accusingly at Ozpin. "But if you mean to tell me that your plan is to hold the defences, and wait-"

"It is not!" Ozpin snapped back, jumping up from his chair at the accusation pointing back at him before he sighed, forcing himself to remain calm, to remain rational. Outbursts of anger would help no one here. "You're a general, James. So tell me, when you prepare to go to war, which do you send in first? The flag bearers, or the scouts?" Ozpin asked finally, trying to make his old ally see reason.

"Jimmy, your fancy armada is in possession of a great many skills but subtlety is not among them." The Old Bastard said, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "We send your forces in and they'll be spotted from a mile off, and you know it." He wheeled over to Ironwood's side, patting him on the arm reassuringly. "We'll get the bastards. But we can't waste our only lead either."

The General bought up a hand for a moment as if to argue before he sighed and bought a hand to his brow. "You're right." He sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose as if to stave off a headache. "This situation has me on edge, but that's no reason for me to lose my temper. I apologise." He said honestly, looking up to face the others.

Ozpin waved off the apology. "James I know you only have the best of intentions at heart." He said with a soft smile, James giving a wry smirk of his own in response.

Suddenly James stopped, bringing a finger up to touch the implant above his right eye lightly. "Go ahead." He answered before listening to a conversation the others couldn't hear. "Understood. I'm on my way." The general turned to face the others apologetically. "My apologies, Polendina apparently requires my presence, something to do with upgrading the Paladin hardware an additional 14% or along those lines." He said with a roll of his eyes, an old hand at dealing to the genius' antics.

Ozpin let out a chuckle. "Best be off then. We both know how he gets when he's tinkering with something." He said with a grin on his lips.

The Old Bastard scoffed at that. "I'd hurry if you still want your fancy flying paperweight to be in one piece Jimmy."

Glynda gave a light cough, drawing the attention back to her. "I'm afraid I'll have to be on my way as well. I need to make some last minute checks of the missions to be put on the board before they go up. Just to be sure." She said firmly, already bringing out her scroll to go though the list of possible requests for the first years to take.

"Well then, shall we?" Ironwood asked politely, a roguish grin on his face as he extended an arm for Goodwitch to take.

Glynda glanced down at the arm before letting out a 'humph' and striding past him to make her way to the elevator, a chuckling James following after her.

The remaining two waited in silence until they were sure the others were gone before turning to face each other.

"They still don't realise you already know about them?" Tob asked, gesturing to where Goodwitch and Ironwood had just walked out.

Ozpin chuckled and shook his head, retaking his seat behind his desk. "I've got to keep myself entertained somehow." He said with a raised brow before the mirth faded away from his face as he bought out the piece of paper that Jaune had drawn on earlier and placed it on the table. "But unfortunately it seems that this is not one of those times." He said quietly, staring at the damning symbol on the page.

Tob glared down at the symbol. "I should have known." He snarled out, a whoosh of air leaving him explosively as his fist clenched so tightly Ozpin could start hearing the bones grinding together. "I should have bloody it was them." He swore, slamming a clenched fist into Ozpin's desk with such intensity that it shook, even bolted to the ground as it was.

Ozpin sighed and let his head sink into his hands. "It would not be beyond their standard routine," Ozpin agreed finally before lifting his head, eyes darkening behind his glasses. "Although if they were able to find even her, their reach is even greater than I feared."

The Old Bastard swore and massaged the bridge of his nose. "So, all in all, it's probably them. And if it is them, whoever they bloody are," The Old Bastard growled enraged, gritting his teeth, "Not only were they able to find someone that even you, even all these years later, have no idea where to find they were able to take her in a fight."

Ozpin closed his eyes, taking a long draw of his coffee. "We can't be sure it was the same group." He bought up finally, forcing himself to play devil's advocate.

"The laddie damn near went into cardiac arrest from remembering the damn thing, and then he drew that" He said bluntly, a finger coming down to tap on the piece of paper. "Well if that's not confirmation I don't know what is." He finished grimly.

---

I stood before the door to team JNPR's room, the repair work from where Nora had been imbedded in it clearly distinguishing it from any of the others.

Okay so all I've got to do is just open the door, go inside and face my teammates after I apparently did my very best impression of dying in agony at the dance.

Fun times.

Just knock on the door, Jaune.

Raise your hand and knock.

Easy.

Or…

I spun to face Peter, forcing a smile onto my face. "I've just got to go to the toilet. See you later Peter." I said confidently and started striding away.

At least until I found myself lifted from the ground by the scruff of my collar and dropped in front of the door once more.

"It didn't work when you were ten Jaune, my boy." Peter said chidingly, one hand reaching out to the door handle as the other one ensured that I remained in place. "What made you think it was going to work now?"

I struggled with Peter's grip with a minute before I gave up on the futile endeavour, slumping my shoulders in dejection.

Well there goes that idea.

"Desperation?" I answered honestly, letting out a sigh as I did so.

Peter rolled his eyes at that.

Then he opened the door, threw me inside and shut it behind me.

So much for avoidance.

"Jaune!" I heard a voice cry out and I found myself picked up off the ground and embraced in a crushing hug, driving the air out of my lungs. "You're alright! Oh thank heavens I was so worried!" Pyrrha exclaimed releasing the death grip she had around my ribs and pulling back to look at me.

Wow.

Pyrrha looked like a mess, her hair was more unruly than I'd ever imagined possible outside another incident involving Nora's PPG exploding again and her eyes looked red and raw as if she'd been crying.

Oh jeez.

Now I really feel like an ass.

"Hey, I'm okay honest. Just my aura acting up again, you know how it is." I said with a light smile on my face, patting Pyrrha on the shoulder reassuringly, forcing myself to sound light hearted and utterly unaffected by what had happened.

"It is NOT okay!" Pyrrha exploded back at me, slapping my arm away and grapping me by the front of my shirt, her knuckles visibly tightening at the edge of my vision as I continued to stare gobsmacked at this sudden outburst by my partner. "You were dying Jaune! You kept thrashing and screaming and I couldn't do anything!" She half-screamed at me, almost hysterical before she seemed to collapse into herself, her head resting on my chest as she shuddered from the intensity of her emotions. "I'm not having someone I care about die in front of me. Not again." She murmured, tears flowing silently out of her eyes.

My arms came up instinctively and curled around her comfortingly, hugging my crying teammate even as internally my mind struggled to make sense of what I'd just learned. Obviously I must have missed something rather important regarding Pyrrha's past. But how could I have missed something this big.

I tore my gaze away from the crying crimson amazon that was my partner, finding Nora looking on with a heartfelt expression, obviously having gone forward towards me but held back by an upraised arm by Ren.

He must have seen this coming. The outburst anyway, and he wanted it to be resolved as soon as possible. Seemed like Ren. Although he may not speak as much as some of my other friends, he has the uncanny ability to say more with a single look than most do with a mountain of words. He had an uncanny insight when it came to matters such as these, something I was yet to define as either a blessing or a curse on his behalf.

But that's not the issue at hand right now.

What the blazes am I supposed to say in response to that?

When in doubt laddie, make it up as you go along.

Well I haven't got any better ideas.

"Pyrrha." I said quietly when my comrade's cries had seemed to abate slightly. "I'm sorry I worried you so, both yesterday and undoubtedly the other times I seem to have found myself in the med bay as well." I said with a self-depreciating chuckle, drawing a teary smile from her. "I won't promise you that I won't die Pyrrha. I don't make promises I can't keep." I said lightly, one hand going up to brush a tear that was running down her cheek. "But I will say this. I promise you that I'll do everything I can to stop it from happening too soon." I said both my hands moving to rest on her shoulders. "Deal?"

"Deal." Pyrrha agreed, wiping her face with one arm in an attempt to bring her appearance back in order before a pink gloved hand pulled her hand away, Nora using her usual 'subtle' techniques to move Pyrrha over to where Nora's bed through the ancient art of manhandling her towards it..

Ren twitched his head subtly to the other side of the room and took a seat at the far wall, a deck of cards falling out from inside Ren's seemingly empty sleeves which he quickly began shuffling, dealing out a hand for him and myself.

There was silence for a moment, the two of us looking over our cards, rearranging them into our own unique order before the first hand took place. "How bad was it?" I murmured to Ren, both of us seemingly directing our attention on the cards, as the first few hands passed without notice.

Ren raised a brow lightly at my question and laid down a joker atop the ace that was already down, drawing another card from the remaining deck as he did so. "It looked bad. Like a full on seizure. Cardin had to hold you down so you wouldn't hurt yourself."

I let out a low whistle at that throwing down a two to reset the count. "Remind me to thank him." I said lightly to which Ren nodded minutely. "Anything else happen while I was out?" I asked, curious about what might have happened after my little 'incident'.

Ren let out a 'hmm' at that as if pondering which card to put down before finally deciding on a seven, forcing me to waste my last two in the process. "Something happened by the CCT tower. But whatever it was they're keeping quiet about it."

I let out a contemplative grunt at that. The CCT tower? Can't really imagine what anyone would want with that. I mean if you took it down it'd be annoying, sure, but to my knowledge little else.

It just…didn't make sense.

I heard footsteps approaching us from behind and looked over my shoulder to see Nora and Pyrrha gazing over my shoulder, Pyrrha now looking pristine as she usually did, taking a look at my final few cards and the massive pile that sat between myself and Ren. "Who's winning?" Pyrrha enquired, sounding much like her normal self now, calm, collected and utterly sure of herself.

I shrugged my shoulder's flicking my gaze from my remaining cards to Ren's unflinching poker face. Let's see if I can shake that. I slapped down my last ace, and I grinned, sure in the knowledge that all the aces in the deck were already down. "Me." I said with a grin, waiting for Ren's reply.

That's check, Mr Lie.

What now?

Ren in return, simply curled his lip in a slight smirk and placed another card on top of it.

Joker.

Blast.

Two jokers in a deck, not one.

Now I'm in check.

I cursed and picked up the grand majority of the deck that had served as the play deck as Ren watched on with unspoken amusement sparkling away in his eyes. "Him." I sighed, trying to sort through the many cards that now made up my hands.

Ren simply help up a finger as if to tell me to stop before he laid down his next few cards. A ten.

Followed by another ten.

Followed by another ten.

Followed by the final ten.

And then to top it all off he laid down his final card, a three.

The buggar just finished me with the weakest card in the entire game.

"Definitely him." I said with a sigh, shaking my head ruefully. "Last time I let you shuffle."

Ren let out an affronted gasp at that, bringing one hand up to his heart as if mortally wounded. "Jaune I would never do such a thing!" He said, shaking his head sadly, "For you to have so little trust in me…"

At that Nora's hand whipped out and grabbed Ren's arm and stuck her hand out the sleeve pulling out a hand full of aces and tens.

I narrowed my gaze at Ren, who chuckled nervously as Nora looked on triumphantly and Pyrrha gave a light giggle at our antics.

He swallowed as he saw the hilt of my sword slowly begin edging away from its sheath.

Oh you are about to have your ass kicked Ren.

"Will all first-year students please report to the amphitheatre?" Professor Goodwitch's voice echoed throughout the school's speakers, interrupting the aforementioned asskicking.

In the instant my eyes had turned in the direction of the voice emanating from the speakers Ren was already moving, shifting with his incredible agility around me to lean casually against the frame of the door. He cocked a brow at me slyly, smirking as he did so. "Too slow fearless leader." He mocked, waving a finger admonishingly.

Oh that is it.

I smiled broadly at Ren, seemingly laughing alongside him.

Then I surged forward barging past him, Ren spinning to the floor as I called out over my shoulder, "Guess who's winning the race to the amphitheatre?" laughing as I did so.

There was silence for a moment before Nora gave out a hoot of laughter and followed after me, Ren quickly flipping up and chasing after us.

The three of us rounded the first corner neck and neck, bumping with every step before I realized it, flicking a quick look over my shoulder only to find bewildered looking students looking after us.

Where the heck was Pyrrha?

As I went to look back a flash of bronze caught my eye and I swore, seeing Pyrrha zooming by in the air on her shield, clearly making use of her semblance to do so.

Knew I forgot something.

Time for drastic measures.

As my red headed partner pulled away from the pack, I went through my options as well as which ones were least likely to get me crucified by Goodwitch afterwards.

The Grimm studies classroom appeared as we rounded the next corner, approaching the stairs.

Bingo.

While Ren and Nora both jostled for the lead as Ren slid down the rails nimbly, while Nora simply forwent running down the stairs by leaping from one landing to the next, I instead chose to crash through the door to Peter's classroom, and made my way for the window that led to outside, leaping up and catching the top of it with my hands and making use of my momentum to flip myself up on to the roof.

I landed with a thump and turned, dashing along the roof towards the amphitheatre.

You see the other routes have all sorts of other obstacles, little things like people, stairs, walls and the like. But Pyrrha's approach inspired me.

Why go through all that when you can just avoid it?

I leapt from one rooftop to the next, giving a jaunty wave to Pyrrha as I leapt over her, who looked up with a dumbstruck expression before seemingly doubling her efforts, her flying shield picking up speed.

Okay Jaune last step, any final thoughts?

Well if I screw this up I'll probably be too unconscious to care?

Screw it.

I drew closer to the edge of the roof and instead of slowing, pushed myself faster, I was going to need every shred of speed if I wanted to pull this off.

I reached the edge of the roof and launched into the air, soaring away from the building, my hands already bringing up the sheathed Candidus Mors. I extended the sheath into its shield form, bringing it down to my feet to slide part of my shoe into one of the grips I would typically use to hold the shield.

The wind whipped past my face, the grass of the sloping hill drawing closer at a frightening pace.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Now!

Candidus Mors struck the hill with a thump that sent a shudder racing up my entire body but I'd managed to get the angle right and right now I was surfing down the hill on my shield at blurring speeds, zooming past Ren and Nora as they emerged from the front entrance of the building.

I felt the vibrations of each errant bump through every part of my legs but I remained upright, bent low to keep my balance and reduce the drag from further messing with it.

I saw the lip coming in the grass ahead and grinned, bending in preparation as I jumped just before we left it, sending me soaring through the air once more towards one of the wide open doors of the amphitheatre.

I turned to give a passing salute to Pyrrha as I overtook her and claimed victory in stunning fashi-

SPLAT

I felt my not so inconsiderable speed go from soaring to stopping in an instant, as my body slammed into something that was certainly not the open entranceway to the amphitheatre.

That hurt.

I opened my eyes to find that I'd apparently been off slightly in my calculations.

I'd missed the door.

The window however?

Nailed it.

And from the look on the wincing people inside, it must look at least half as painful as it currently feels.

And oh look there's Professor Goodwitch standing on the amphitheatre looking as if she's trying to think of where she can hide what's left of my corpse when she's finished with me.

The window screeched loudly as I slowly slid down it, finally reaching the floor and coming off of it with an audible 'pop' to find the rest of team JNPR looking at me with trepidation, seemingly unsure of what to say after my failed entrance.

"That looked like it hurt." Nora put finally, gesturing to where I had impacted with the window.

Oh hey, there's actually an imprint of me on the window from where I hit it, that's kind of neat!

I bought up a hand, coughed once to clear my throat and then went into great detail about how I was currently feeling.

"Ow." I gasped out, feeling like I'd left my lungs up on the window I'd been stuck on.

That seemed like such a good idea at the time.

As most of my ideas annoyingly have a habit of doing.

Pyrrha clapped me on the shoulder, sending a fresh wave of pain rippling down my body. "Just look at the bright side Jaune." She said with a giggle. "At least you stuck the landing."

I groaned at that, as did Nora and Ren as we walked into the amphitheatre. "That was just weak, Pyrrha." Nora said pityingly, shaking her head as we walked inside. "The whole world of window related humour and you let it pass you."

Pyrrha pouted at that, shrugging her shoulder's in disbelief. "I thought it was funny." She said, defending herself.

Ren rolled his eyes. "I would have gone with a 'god only opens the window after he shuts the door first' approach." Ren mused, nudging me as we went to take our places.

I went to retort for a moment before I stopped and thought about it for a moment. "Not bad." I admitted, giving him a nod of acknowledgement before turning back to scold Pyrrha. "I mean Yang, we'd expect it from but you?" I tutted disappointingly.

"Jaune!"

Speak of the devil.

I turned to see team RWBY approaching us, Yang in the lead. Wait, no not agai-

CRACK

Argh!

By all that is, my SPINE!

The gauntlets make it so much worse.

Yang pulled back, coughing as she seemed to have realised she just tried to crush my spine. "Uh, you gave us a bit of a scare there." She said awkwardly, rubbing a hand on the back of her head.

"Was it an allergic reaction of some kind?" Weiss asked curiously, concern clear in her eyes. "I've read about reactions like that before."

"It seemed to be a lot more than that." Blake noted, her yellow eyes scanning me as if I was about to collapse all over again.

Weiss seemed to go on to say more before Ruby suddenly appeared from where she'd been putting down her backpack.

Since when did Ruby have a backpack?

"Jaune!" She said surprised to see me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I reassured them, holding up my hands placatingly. "Just my aura acting up again that's all." I said giving a small smile as I did so, trying to convince them.

Nora eyed me at that but said nothing, although she did purse her lips slightly.

Before any further conversation could take place a familiar voice echoed out over the speakers.

"Quiet! Quiet please." Professor Goodwitch called out through the microphone on the raised platform at the front of the room, silencing the various conversations that had been taking place around the amphitheatre. "Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin."

With that Professor Goodwitch walked away off the stage and Professor Ozpin stepped forward to the microphone, his cane held before him with one hand as he gestured with the other

"Today we stand together, united." Professor Ozpin began, his raised hand stretching out to indicate each of the four distinct groups before him. "Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four Kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than when borders fell or who traded with who, but the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the countless destruction of all forms of art or self-expression. And as you are all aware, that is something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that they refused to tolerate this oppression, but neither were the generations to come. And it was a trend that was held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity." Ozpin continued on.

I hummed thoughtfully at that. I'd always kind of wondered just how it was so many of the names of people had something to do with colour.

"As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of this world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it."

At that a series of screens began raising from the walls of the hall, one on each side, each one depicting different locations and a variety of different tasks to take place within them.

"As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the Kingdom for several days. Others will work the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

With that Ozpin stepped away from the microphone as applause broke out in response before the various students that had been listening began to disperse either walking towards one of the many screens on the amphitheatre's walls or walking back out the main doors into Beacon proper once more.

I turned to the others, stretching my arms out as I did so. "Okay guys, any ideas how we want to approach this?" I asked indicating to the swathe of various jobs around us.

Almost immediately Ren spoke up, a hand going up to grab my shoulder. "Jaune and I will take the left side of the hall, Nora, Pyrrha you to take the right side and we'll reconvene at the doors and discuss what sounds interesting."

I blinked, a bit shocked at the sudden answer before nodding my head. "Sounds reasonable. Any objections?" I inquired, turning to my two other teammates just to be sure.

Pyrrha and Nora both shook their heads, with Pyrrha quickly being dragged away by an excited Nora towards the right side of the hall.

Alrighty then, let's see what the left side of the hall has in store for us.

I walked up to the first board examining the job within it, an 'ESCORT' type mission when Ren pulled me aside. "Jaune I need to ask you a favour, it's important." Ren said quietly, his eyes focusing on mine.

I stopped at that.

In all the time I had known him, I had never known Ren to ask a favour.

This must be important.

"Sure Ren, what do you need?" I said after a moment's hesitation, directing my focus towards him.

Ren seemed to hesitate for a moment before sighing deeply. "I need to get to a certain village. There's something there I need to do." Ren stated, slowly walking around alongside the wall as we did so.

I shrugged at that. "Sure, we'll just go there the next free day we have." I responded, nodding my head. Seemed simple enough.

"It's not that simple." Ren disagreed shaking his head. "Time is of the essence, and the location isn't exactly one we can get into easily, not without good reason at least."

Aha.

"Like per say, shadowing a senior hunter in the area?" I suggested, catching on to where Ren was leading me.

Ren nodded silently, waiting for my response.

I was silent for a moment before turning to face my friend. "Ren I have to ask." I said frankly. "Why do you need to go to this place?"

Ren looked conflicted at that. "I can't tell you." He said haltingly, as if unsure of how to put it.

I blinked at that, confused. "You can't?" I repeated dubiously, arching a brow at that.

Ren raised a hand to rub his brow. "Not like that." He said wearily, "I don't know why I'm going there exactly either."

I blanked at that.

Wait, what?

"How does that work exactly?" I ventured, gesturing with my hand to try to get Ren to make more sense than he currently was.

Although at the rate he was going it would be hard for him to make less sense.

"I received a message from…well not a friend…more of a familial acquaintance than anything else." Ren spoke, a slight grimace on his face as he seemed to recall the person he was talking about. "We're not close by any means, but they wouldn't ask this of me unless it was important."

Okay then, that does sound pretty important.

"Okay fine, we'll go." I agreed finally, Ren letting out a sigh of relief as I did so.

I went to walk to the doors where Pyrrha and Nora were no doubt waiting only for Ren to grab me again by the arm, preventing me from any further. "One last thing." Ren added, his tone deadly serious. "You can't let Nora know."

I felt something critical in my mental processes fail internally at that, as I struggled to come to terms with this latest request.

I mean Ren hiding something from Nora of all people?

'We're together but not together together' Nora?

"Can I ask why or do you not know the answer to that one either?" I asked dryly, one hand palming my forehead as I went to stave off the headache this request of Ren's was sure to cause me.

"Nora's parents have met the person in question. It didn't end well, for anyone involved." Ren explained his eyes turning to focus on Nora as she appeared through the crowd. "If her parents ever told her about them it'll be…" Ren seemed to struggle to find the right word for the situation. "problematic if they meet."

This does not seem to be boding well for me.

Or Ren if Nora finds out afterwards.

"Fine." I relented eventually as we approached the door, "But for the record, this is a terrible idea."

Ren let out a laugh at that. "You're not the only one to think so." He agreed before cutting himself short as we came to a halt before the girls, various other students milling about as they entered and exited the hall.

"So did you two find anything interesting?" Pyrrha asked us, as Nora bounced lightly on the balls of her feet energetically, clearly looking like she was in need of lunch right about now.

"I saw a mission that seemed pretty interesting. I'd heard Jaune talk about how Freshwater didn't have a sheriff of its own" Ren lied seamlessly, casually gesturing back to where we'd been walking. "And when I saw a mission that had us shadowing a sheriff in a nearby village it seemed rather intriguing."

Nora squealed in excitement. "Wow! We'd be like real life sheriffs!" She said happily, her eyes filled with sparkles. "Maybe we'll stop a train robbery! Or chase down outlaws!" Nora seemed lost in her fantasies at this point.

Pyrrha giggled lightly. "Sounds like we're decided then." She stated, nodding her head.

Okay then.

Looks like we're going to be following a sheriff.

Ren dashed back to the screen, which was a blessing in disguise for me because I had no idea where the one with the sheriff job was on and quickly typed in our team name. He returned with a slight smile on his face.

"We leave tomorrow." Ren informed us and we all began walking out of the doors leading back to the outside, the clear destination of the cafeteria already in mind if the chanting of "Food, food, food" by Nora was any indication.

I felt my own stomach rumble loudly at the thought.

And I am pretty damn hungry myself come to think of it.

Time to eat.

---

"I can't believe you ate the whole thing in front of me!" Nora repeated for what felt like the millionth time as we walked along the main path, Pyrrha bringing a hand to her face in a way that mirrored my own exasperation with the current situation.

"You had already eaten three of them Nora." Ren interjected calmly, still somehow continuing this conversation ever since it started back at the cafeteria. "I don't see what the problem is."

"But I wanted four chocolate muffins!" Nora said with a pout, puffing out her cheeks. "And the only ones left looked like chocolate chip but they were raisins! RAISINS!" She yelled, throwing up her hands.

Oh here we go again.

If I have to hear Nora rant about the raisin abominations one more time, so help me-

"Is that team RWBY over there?" Pyrrha interjected, cutting the raisin rant thankfully short.

I looked ahead.

So it was.

"Looks like they're already leaving for their mission." Ren remarked turning his attention away from his discussion with Nora.

"Let's go see them off." I suggested, not only because it's polite but it would stop this argument from extending any further than it already had.

"Looks like we're going off to save the world with Doctor Oobleck, okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse." Ruby said despondently the girls of team Ruby all bowing their heads.

Nora seemed to have heard that. "Save the world?" She called out loudly, the girls of team RWBY turning around to face us.

Wow looks like Nora's really hamming it up this time

"You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt... sad! Maybe a little hungry?" Nora's stomach gurgled loudly at this point. "That last one's not your fault, though, Ren..." Nora finished, growling at our resident martial artist.

Oh come on we just finished the last one, don't start another argument.

Ren thankfully remained silent, crossing his arms and turning away from the indignant Valkyrie.

Act fast Jaune, before Nora gains any momentum.

"You're certainly quick off the mark." I said, cutting off any further "Where you all headed?"

"Oh, just outside the kingdom..." Ruby said nonchalantly.

Nora perked up at that "Hey! So are we!" She replied, bopping up and down as she did so.

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village." Pyrrha said, placing her hands on her hips as she examined the girls before us,

"We set out tomorrow." Ren added finally, filling in team RWBY on where we were headed.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" a familiar voice offered behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Neptune with Sun in tow, both of them casually approaching the rest of us. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges." Neptune said trying to play it off as just something normal but betrayed himself with his excitement about the badges.

I bit back a laugh at that. The kleptomaniac monkey following a crime specialist?

This can only lend badly for Sun.

Which might not be that bad of a thing honestly.

"We normally go to the city with you guys." Sun started, pointing at the girls of team RWBY. "Which means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know..." Sun thought about it for a moment. "normal." He decided on finally

"Well-" Ruby started before a new voice called out from one of the landing pads where the bullheads docked.

"Four minutes, ladies!" Professor Oobleck cried out from by the bullhead before blurring inside of it with his usual speed.

Ruby grimaced at that, looking rather embarrassed by the fact that they were shadowing Professor Oobleck.

From what little I've heard Peter say about him in a fight, I think that'll soon change.

There was an awkward silence for a moment as we all stared at each other, seemingly unsure of what to say next.

Or at the very least I was unsure of what to say next.

Don't get eaten by monsters doesn't really have much of a cheerful tone to it.

Ruby spoke up finally breaking the silence, pulling at the straps at her backpack as she did so. "Well, uh..." Ruby gave us a thumbs up for lack of anything more to say. "Wish us luck!" And with that team RWBY turned and made their way over to the bullhead that awaited them, which promptly disembarked the moment they were inside.

As we watched the airship fly off, Sun punched me on the shoulder lightly. "So, what are you losers up to now?" The monkey faunus asked, thankfully avoiding the subject of my collapse at the dance. "Want to head down to the city?"

I went to reply when the X-ray and Vav theme song promptly broke out on my scroll. I bought it out of my pocket and expanded it to see Peter's face staring back at me. Why's Peter calling me?

"Jaune, my boy! Are the rest of your team with you by chance?" Peter asked jollily, moustache bouncing away.

I nodded.

"Splendid!" He cheered, nodding his head. "I've leant Tob my classroom for him to use for his little training exercise of his. He even got me to chip in a bit."

Oh boy.

So now Peter's adding to it.

Yay.

Now we're almost certainly going to die.

Peter ended the call at that, his face vanishing from the screen.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I turned to face Sun and Neptune. "You're welcome to join us-" I began before I took in the scene before me.

Sun had gone a deathly pale and seemingly frozen in place, not moving an inch, while Neptune in comparison was curled up in the foetal position on the ground rocking back and forth.

I winced.

Yeah, almost forgot about that training session.

Granted they kind of deserved it after the stunt they pulled at Amelia Academy but still.

I turned to face the rest of team JNPR.

"Looks like it's just us then." I said brightly, forcing some enthusiasm into my voice as my team looked at me incomprehensively.

Those poor, poor souls.

They'll soon learn.

---

We showed up outside Peter's classroom, which he had obviously donated to the Old Bastard for today's activities as he stood outside the door. "Over here everyone, jolly good!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

I made a show of turning around, trying to spot the Old Bastard or the twins. "Uh, no offence Peter, but isn't Tob supposed to be here?" I asked scratching my head as I did so.

Peter chortled heartily. "Quite right my boy, he's waiting for you inside along with the twins." He answered me, before he reached behind his back. "But before you all go in, you need to put on these first."

With that Peter bought his hand back towards us to reveal four equally uniform lengths of black cloth, ones that bought quite the reaction from Ren.

"Where on Remnant did you get those?" He gasped, acting as if the simple pieces of cloth were instead made of diamond instead of…

I frowned and narrowed my eyes as I stared closer at the fabric.

What the heck is that made of?

Peter's eyebrows raised in shock for a moment before settling again. "Ah, yes, well, let's just say it's a legacy of a misspent youth with Tob shall we?" He chuckled lightly before his gaze seemed to focus on Ren for a second. "Although I am quite surprised that you know what these are, Mr Lie." He said quietly.

Ren flinched back, his expression flickering for a moment looking…

Remorseful?

What am I missing here?

Peter coughed lightly, drawing my attention back towards him as he gestured towards the strips of cloth. "These are called…" Peter hesitated for a moment, his gaze wavering towards Ren again before he shook his head, "Well it doesn't really matter what these are called. What matters is what they do."

Peter gestured me to come forward and I did so, and he placed the fabric over my eyes, quickly tying a knot in the back to ensure it wouldn't slip.

Whoa.

I mean I know this is supposed to act as a blindfold, stop me from seeing anything and all that, but I didn't think it would be this effective. I can't see anything. It's like every light source beyond this blindfold, from the bright lights to the radiant sunshine has simply vanished, like someone just flipped the switch off.

I heard Peter's voice speak up again, apparently having moved along to place the blindfold on the others after placing my own by the sound of his voice. "The fabric has a rather strange ability in that it is an extremely effective absorber of all forms of light. If someone places it over one's eyes for instance then it is utterly impossible for any light to reach them, thus rendering them, for the most part, utterly useless." He lectured, the sound of his shoes clacking on the floor filling my ears, before the unmistakable sound of the door creaking open reached my ears.

He wasn't kidding. I've had better vision on moonless nights in the middle of Freshwater Forest than I have right now.

"Since you're so reliant on your eyes, Tob and I threw together this little makeshift recreation of one of our own training techniques to help you to shall we say, break the habit, before it becomes any more pronounced." He continued again, walking forward to where I presumed the door remained unless it had somehow moved in the time I had the blindfold placed over my eyes.

"Your task is simple. Walk into the classroom, collect the relic that shall be waiting on one of the desks and return again, without being waylaid by anything that might be lying in wait within."

I felt a shiver run down my spine at that.

Oh God.

The Old Bastard and the Twins.

Working together.

This did not bode well for us.

"When you fail the first time, and rest assured you will fail the first time. We'll step back, review what you did wrong and take steps to address it." Peter said firmly before he paused and I swore I could feel a sunny smile came over his face. "And then we'll do it all over again until you get it right." Peter said brightly, eyes no doubt beaming away.

I fought back the urge to swallow loudly.

The last time I'd heard Peter sound this happy about my training he'd thrown me off a cliff.

An actual cliff.

I still bore the scars from that encounter.

This might not have been my brightest idea.

May as well get it over with.

I walked forward slowly, my previously quite footsteps now sounding like thunderclaps as I blindly advanced trying to construct the image of the classroom in my head.

Okay, Jaune let's review.

At the front of the room is Peter's desk as well as the bust of himself that we gave him for his birthday.

The door is to the right of that when exiting so as we're going into the room, now it's on our right. Seems easy enough.

The desks are four rows deep, staggered upwards, with a staircase in the middle splitting the two cleanly in half.

A few mock Grimm heads mounted around the room.

Chalkboards at the front, Peter's Blunderaxe in its cradle above the wall.

What else?

The steps of my other teammates reached my ears, informing me that they too were inside this impromptu maze with me.

"Any ideas where this relic might be?" I murmured quietly, trying to discern who was where.

The heavy, flat footed steps are unmistakably Nora, the very sound of it baring all the trademarks of her usual subtlety.

Namely, none at all.

The second set was quieter, but still easily audible to my ears. That in itself may not have given much away but the rhythm to the steps was perfect, unerring in the slightest even now.

Pyrrha in all likelihood.

But it was the final set that gave me pause. Mostly due to the fact I couldn't hear any.

There may have been all four of us in this room, put it was damn near impossible for me to put a location on Ren.

I'd always known that he could be quiet, I mean he was a naturally quiet guy most of the time, but I guess it didn't really sink in much because I'd still been able to see him.

But now.

It was damn near disconcerting.

Maybe Nora's claims of Ren being half-ninja weren't as far off as I first thought.

"Presumably somewhere we'd be able to instantly spot with our eyes." Ren's voice manifested behind me, my body nearly swinging around to attack him on instinct as he 'appeared' behind me.

"The desks perhaps?" Pyrrha's voice put forward, hazarding a guess.

I shrugged before quickly remembering that no one would be able to see me do it. "Sounds like a plan." I said causally under my breath, stepping forward once more.

KA-KLICK

Uh-oh.

I know that noise.

And I know what comes next.

"Down!" I yelled tackling whoever it was nearest to me to the ground as I felt my hair ruffle as the bean-bag round glanced off my ear.

Man, that stings.

Hurts even more when it hits you.

Okay so I know the Old Bastard is in the room with me.

With a few bean-bag rounds, can't forget those additions.

I know where the first shot came from but there's no guarantee that he's still there.

He can be a stealthy son of a gun when he wants to be.

And something tells me he wants to be.

I pushed a hand against the ground to push myself up only to freeze as I felt the ground beneath it give way slightly.

Blast.

This is probably going to be unpleasant.

SPROING

And with that I was sent spinning through the air as the springboard under my hand released, sending me to collide with a thump with…something.

A feminine 'oof' following the familiar sound of someone colliding with something at speed led me to guess that either Nora or Pyrrha had been sent flying as well.

A wheezing groan sounded out that I took to be Ren's before the familiar sound of a body crumpling reached me as well.

So three of us down, that leaves the one left as either Pyrrha…

"WHEE!" I hear Nora's voice squeal happily before I heard the sound of what I guessed was a table breaking in half fill the room.

Scratch that, it's definitely not Pyrrha.

But on the bright side we're now four from four and we just got our asses kicked.

So, not really much a bright side at all really.

"Well. That was pathetic." The Old Bastard's voice growled out, seemingly musing. "I mean it wasn't unexpected, but it was still blasted cringe worthy watching you fools stumble about. Kids these days, what are they teaching you?"

"To be fair, I usually only start teaching this to my third year classes." Peter's voice echoed out in response to the Old Bastard's grumblings.

I pulled the blindfold away from my eyes, flinching away from the harsh sudden reappearance of light, blinding in its intensity before it faded again.

Looks like the Grimm Studies classroom has undergone a bit of a makeover since the last time we were here.

Makkuro and Mashiro had gone to town on this place, trip wires attached to noisemakers, buckets full of dubious contents, impromptu barricades formed of their 'Super-Silly String' placed seemingly at random around the room, one of which had Pyrrha entangled within it, who in trying to extract herself from it had succeeded in only further tangling herself within it. Makkuro and Mashiro were currently spraying her down with the solvent that caused it to easily break apart.

Ren was hanging upside down from what appeared to be a rudimentary snare trap, but the variety of different coloured bean bag rounds and the way his hands were holding his crotch gave me more than a slight idea of where the Old Bastard may have tagged him.

And Nora looked raring to go again as she brushed splinters off her dress as she pulled herself from the broken remains of what was once Peter's desk.

The Old Bastard made an effort to roll his eyes before wheeling himself back to the top of the room. "Set it up again, and try not to fail quite so pathetically will you Laddie?"

I groaned in response.

This was setting up to be a loooooong training session.

---

Hours later after darkness had fallen I stumbled in through the door, half of my face coloured a shocking neon green and with my right shoe stubbornly sticking to the floor with every step I took before I collapsed onto my bed with a groan. "Ow." I muffled out through my pillow.

Ren stumbled in behind me, still detangling one arm from some Super Silly String he'd been caught in on the last attempt. "I second the motion of Ow." He snarked before falling onto his own bed.

Pyrrha stepped in behind him, straining some kind of foul smelling concoction from her hair as she did so, one of her shin guards lightly smoking. "That was…an experience." She put finally, lying down on her bed with a thankful sigh.

Nora came in last, a wide grin on her face and peppered with bruises from where she'd essentially been assaulted with bean bag rounds at the end by the Old Bastard. "Are you kidding, that was awesome!" She cheered bouncing into the room.

I chuckled at that, pushing a strand of green hair out of my face. "Never change Nora." I said with a laugh before grimacing as some of the green paint came away onto my hand as well.

Great.

"The person I watched die was my father." Pyrrha's voice spoke up suddenly.

I pushed myself up from the bed, turning to face her as she leant against the headboard of her own bed.

"My father." Pyrrha breathed, her shoulders shaking once as she said it but straightening as if she was forcing herself to. "It was my father."

There was silence for a moment Pyrrha closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again

"When I was a girl I was…very much different to how I was now. I was stronger and faster than any of the other children my age, and I knew it." She started, sounding ashamed of it for some reason.

"My mother was my hero, a huntress, a warrior that went off to fight the monsters like a knight in shining armour. But being a huntress is a very demanding job, you can be assigned almost anywhere, be gone for long stretches of time." She continued on focusing on a seemingly empty spot on the wall as she did so

"So while my mother was certainly my hero, it was my father who raised me. My father wasn't a huntsman. No I don't think he'd ever thrown a punch in his life. He was an inventor, the son of the smith who made the armour and weapons of my family. He kept trying to push the boundaries, to not just reverse engineer lost tech, but to make something entirely of his own, something new. Through that job he met my mother and they fell in love. Father was a good man, kind, noble, gentle and above all a loving father."

I smiled lightly at that. Sounds like we've just learned the reason Pyrrha's always been such a nice girl.

"But I didn't care."

Or maybe not.

"In my young deluded eyes, my father was an idiot, a coward, someone who refused to go out there and be a hero, to be like my mother. He was weak and worse, a pacifist. As a result of my misconception I was rather…cruel regarding my interactions with my father. With anyone that wasn't my mother." Pyrrha confessed pausing a moment. "Heartless even."

"I was arrogant, self-entitled and above all else an ungrateful little brat of child, who had no idea as to the true value of what I was so casually wasting. But despite all that, despite all the utterly horrid things I subjected my father to, he'd simply smile, pat me on the head, and tell me that he loved me."

Sounds like a good man.

"Until one day when I decided that since I was my mother's daughter I should be out fighting Grimm too, so I snuck out of school and went looking for trouble. And I found it."

Oh no.

"It was an Alpha Beowolf, without a pack thankfully, but still it seemed positively terrifying to me. I froze in sheer fear. I was helpless before it, just another snack to be eaten."

I could just imagine it, a frightened child before the monster, terrified.

"And then my father saved me. Scooping me up off the ground and flying into the air, placing me out of the monster's reach. He was wearing some sort of jetpack that I'd never seen working before, something he'd always been tinkering away with but never got to work. He looked down at the Alpha Beowolf, then back at me before he hugged me tightly and placed me atop one of the branches in the tree. 'Pyrrha. You be good for me while I'm gone okay? I love you.'"

I closed my eyes.

I can guess what came next.

"And with that he left me there atop the tree and charged the Grimm below, zooming in like a human rocket and when he did…he…"

Pyrrha stopped here for a moment, apparently finding it too hard to say what fate had befallen her father. I went to approach her to try and comfort her before she held out a hand, drawing in a deep shaky breath. "The jetpack exploded, all the dust within it unleashing the full force of its potential in that instant. When the light had faded away the only thing left was a smoking crater, no monster, no father. Nothing."

Nora gasped, tears in her eyes while Ren had a sadden look upon his face as well.

Blast it.

That was a situation I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.

"Mother found me shortly afterwards and the next few days were…emotional for all of us. I didn't leave my room for days. Until I received a package in the mail. From my Father. He'd sent it earlier in the week, trying to surprise me. Inside of it were Milo, Akoúo and this." Pyrrha said, indicating her bronze circlet headpiece. "From that day on I strived to become someone worthy of my father's love, and well the rest is history."

There was silence for a moment as we all thought over what had been said, what had been told to us by Pyrrha, how very vulnerable she looked right now.

Nora and Ren looked at me, obviously expecting me to say something to Pyrrha.

Which would be fine if I knew what the hell I'm supposed to say in a situation like that.

'Sorry your dad died for you?' didn't really seem to cut it.

I coughed lightly clearing my throat as I cantered my thoughts. "Pyrrha." I started, drawing her attention towards me. "I don't know much about who you were back then, or what you might have done. But I'll tell you what I do know. I know that you, Pyrrha Nikos, are without a doubt one of the kindest, loyalist, bravest and all around best people I've ever had the fortune of meeting." I said finally, Pyrrha blinking in shock at my admission. "I may have never met your father but I can guarantee you, he must be the proudest father there is looking down on you."

"Here here." Ren said quietly, a small smile on his face as he nodded.

"Ya-huh" Nora agreed, nodding her head rapidly. "You're good people Pyrrha. And you always will be."

Pyrrha blinked again at that, before a wide grin appeared on her face even as tears slid down it. "Thank you." She whispered quietly, closing her eyes as she did so.

I just leant my head back against my pillow and smiled softly.

Oh that's right I never got around to talking to the others about what I saw last night.

"After I collapsed at the dance last night I remembered something." I said speaking up, my mouth suddenly dry for some reason. "I saw my mother." I said softly, still in disbelief at that fact even now.

Silence.

And then…

"Wait, WHAT!?" Nora squawked falling out of her bed as she spun to face me.

I saw Ren sit up suddenly too, a look of concern on his face.

And Pyrrha?

Pyrrha lifted me from the bed and levelled a death glare at me, causing me to swallow nervously.

Maybe I should have mentioned this earlier.

"Talk." Pyrrha enunciated slowly, her laser like gaze not moving in the slightest.

And so I told them.

Told them about the shining white figure that had been my mother.

Told her how she had been fighting to protect me from another figure who I could only describe as dark, either as small as Ruby or as big as a house, and the one mark that remained constant the whole time.

Of my mother's final words to me.

And then of falling.

"So yeah, that's all I remember." I finished, one hand going up to move the particularly stubborn green strand of hair that insisted in going over my eyes.

Ren's eyes were unfocused, his mind clearly going over what I'd said.

Nora looked as if she'd finally understood what had been bothering her all day, but didn't look particularly happy now that she had that knowledge.

Pyrrha had released the hold she'd had on my head at some point and had sat down next to me on the bed as I'd talked. "Jaune…I-"

"It's late." I said, interrupting her, turning over to face the other way. "And we've got a mission tomorrow.

I knew what I was doing wasn't exactly mature, but honestly?

I didn't care at this point.

I felt exhausted, like I'd run for days.

I needed the rest.

And before I even knew it I found myself drifting off to sleep.

---

"X-RAYYYYYYYYYYY AND VAAAAAAAAAAAAAAV-"

I blindly picked up my scroll from my bedside table, my bleary eyes taking in who was calling me at…three A.M!?

Ruby Rose?

She's still on her mission right?

I answered the phone with a yawn, forcing myself to stay awake. "Ruby?" I asked sleepily, one hand going up to rub one of my eyes.

I pulled the phone away from my ear as an ear splitting shriek rang out of it followed by some garbled static before the call abruptly ended.

What the?

I hit the redial button only to promptly be informed that Ruby's scroll was currently unavailable to reach.

I frowned at that, placing the scroll back on the table and laying my head back down on my pillow.

Granted not being able to connect to Ruby's scroll was not exactly unexpected. Last I checked they were headed out to Quadrant 5, and the harsh ruins of Mountain Glenn weren't exactly filled with stable connections.

But still…

"Why did you call me Ruby?" I murmured, staring up at the ceiling.

Something felt…off.

---

The next morning freshly showered and fed, team JNPR began making its way to the landing pads where the bullhead waiting to take us to our mission awaited.

"I'm sure their fine." Pyrrha said reassuringly as we walked towards our transport towards the village, the four of us still talking about why Ruby may have called last night.

"I don't know." I hemmed, the disconcerting feeling that had been floating in my stomach not having faded an ounce since last night.

Nora shrugged. "Probably a bad dial." Nora suggested, sounding unconcerned but her eyes did drift towards the unusually tense Ren.

"Team RWBY has always performed admirably in the field." Ren said tersely, his gaze not hesitating in the slightest. "We should be focusing on our own mission."

Whoa.

Focus is one way of putting it.

Nora jumped forward in front of Ren spontaneously trying in her own way to get her old friend to untense from whatever it was this mission seemed to bring up in him.

Something thumped into the back of my ankle, reminding me of the other people seeing us off to the Bullhead. "Quit worrying over things you can't change laddie, and focus on what you can." The Old Bastard said bluntly, spitting a wad of something into a bush as we passed it. "Keep your heads on straight out there you hear? This is no time to be playing games."

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. "I know, I know." I acknowledged, running a hand through my hair. "I just…I've got a bad feeling." I admitted, feeling immature even as I said it aloud.

"Jaune-" Pyrrha admonished but whatever she was going to say as a sound came from the direction of the city and we all turned to face it, all conversation dying.

Smoke.

There was a massive plume of smoke rising from the city.

Fire?

Then came the sound, the sirens blaring loud and constantly, seemingly burring into your ears and into your brain such was the intensity of it.

I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice.

I knew that siren.

I'd heard it once before.

In Freshwater.

Grimm.

I spun turning to face the Old Bastard. "Tob-"

"Get going laddie." He roared pointing towards the bullhead, as his wheelchair spun on a dime and zoomed back towards the academy.

"New mission." I said bluntly, leaving no room for discussion for the matter as I sprinted towards the ship, my teammates keeping pace with me. As Ren went to step aboard I stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Ren, we'll have to make it out to the village another time." I said, half stating, half apologizing for the delay.

Ren grimaced but nodded, fully aware of what those sirens meant.

I thumped my fist twice on the pilot door, signalling we were all aboard. "Take us into the city! Now!"

The bullhead roared off the tarmac, the pilot pushing the machine to its limits as we soared towards the city while the rest of us readied our weapons.

I breathed in deeply before exhaling, my hand tightening around the grip to my sword.

Again.

Even here, in mighty Vale, the Grimm can pierce through the cities defences apparently.

I just hope we get there in time.

Grimm kill fast.

"There!" Pyrrha called out, spotting the head of a King Taijitu raising out above the buildings.

I spotted a group drawing the Grimm's attention on a raised platform, buying the citizens time to make it to the shelters.

Wait a second is that…

"I think I found out what Ruby was calling about." I called out over the rushing wind, seeing colourful flashes of dust and gunfire explode around the clearing.

Ren's eyes scanned the battlefield before focusing on the giant snake Grimm currently dominating the landscape. "Nora! Can you take care of that?" He called out, pointing out to the massive beast as he did so.

Nora grinned. "I got it!" Nora called, Magnhild extending into Warhammer form with a twirl, Nora quickly standing on the hammer's head.

Pyrrha and I ducked down and extended our shields into a shield wall against Nora's hammer, Ren standing behind us and affixing himself to the floor of the Bullhead with an application of Aura.

"Good hunting." I called out, Nora simply grinning before she pulled the trigger launching herself like a bullet towards the giant Grimm.

As Nora soared the bullhead banked around a murder of giant Nevermores before coming up on a relatively clear space on the battle ground, perfect for a drop off point.

I banged twice on the door. "Thanks for the lift!" I called out before leaping from the ship and hitting the ground with a roll, to bleed off the acceleration.

I turned to face the others, Nora casually somersaulting back to land next to us after flattening the King Taijitu's head. "We need to keep them focused here! If we let the spread out the wave of fear from the citizens will send them into a frenzy!" I shouted out, remembering those first fatal moments at the breach of Freshwater's wall.

The others nodded, weapons raising up as the Grimm finally began to acknowledge our presence on the battlefield.

"Let's move!" Pyrrha cried out, and like that we were away, diving into the seething mass of monsters that was the outpouring of Grimm before us.

A fast moving Creep zoomed towards me, talons outstretched before I backhanded it away with my shield towards Ren who promptly kicked its squealing form into the rest of the pack that had been attempting to ambush us.

That was easy.

A heavy thump sounded behind me and I spun to see an Ursa Major towering over me, before it bent down and roared in my face.

The last time I fought one of these one on one I ended up in the med bay.

Candidus Mors erupted from the top of the Grimm's head like a shiny white horn before I yanked it out from where I'd impaled it through its chin, leaving the Grimm to collapse bonelessly behind me as I moved on to the next target.

That being said, last time one shoulder was dislocated, I didn't have a sword and had to stay in a straight line.

Now who's next?

I leapt off a crumpled wreck of what was once a car to slam both my feet into a Beowolf's spine, sending it crashing to the ground with a whine, before my sword spun in a murderous arc, disembowelling the startled pack around me before slamming it into the skull of the twitching monster beneath me before surging forward once more.

Well I say one thing we certainly weren't hard pressed to find new enemies after the old ones were dead as they poured out of the ragged hole in the ground, charging in every direction in search of fresh kills.

I heard a screech as I looked up to see a Creep descending from the skies, somehow having leapt up to attack from the roof before suddenly Ren appeared next to it in mid-air in a blur of motion and crashed his foot into it.

At which point the being went being a single object, into a bloody mist with a drizzle of bloody chunks.

I swallowed at that.

Honestly why does Ren even use Stormflower?

I heard a shriek and turned to see someone trapped in front of a storefront, obviously trying to have made a break for it and fallen short.

It was a dark skinned boy, a civilian by the look of him holding up a metal baseball bat with both hands as an improvised weapon, his legs shaking but keeping the much smaller form of his younger brother kept firmly behind him, and not one but two Ursa Majors roaring at him.

I blurred forward, hurdling an errant swipe from a Beowolf as I approached them from the side, raising up my shield and crash tackling the massive bear Grimm from the side, slamming it into its companion and sending them to the ground with a crash.

I pushed myself from up off the ground where the push had left me, turning to face the now frozen civilians before me. The door to the storefront unlocked and the door was flung open, a much larger version of the two boys in front of me pulling the two inside before locking it again.

The two elder Grimm had picked themselves off the ground now and threw themselves at me and I didn't have any more time to worry about the people in the shop as I fended off a flurry of slashes from claws and weaved out of the way of the jagged bone shards extending out of their backs as they charged by me.

I managed to block the first Ursa's charge as it rounded on me again with my shield, but was forced to block the oncoming slash of the second with my sword, the two pressing against me but so far unable to reach me, the two of them locked in place just as much as I was.

I cursed as I saw an elder Beowolf round the corner as I struggled with the two Ursa Majors in front of me. The Grimm's eyes glowed as it spotted me, unable to respond to it without opening myself up to attack from its bear brethren and crouched down in preparation to leap at my immobile form.

Damn this could get a bit dicey.

The Beowolf's front legs had just left the ground when its skull exploded without warning, a ragged bloody mess left where its head used to be.

Who was that? I glanced quickly across the battlefield to see everyone else engrossed in their own conflicts.

A second later a familiar cracking sound split the air as the sound of the bullet firing finally caught up with the bullet itself.

Took your time, you Old Bastard.

I grinned and threw myself back into the conflict, letting the arm holding Candidus Mors fall limp before disembowelling the Ursa in front of me as it suddenly found itself stumbling forward while I deflected the swipe of its other bear-like friend before it sat back with a howl as the arm it used to strike me was blown away at the shoulder. The beast's cries were silenced as I cleaved its head from its shoulders, landing with a thump behind it.

I turned to leap towards another group of enemies when I spotted a Nevermore that had been flying overhead suddenly plummet to the ground and smash into its unsuspecting comrades with all the grace of a collapsing building, a bloody void where it's eye used to be.

The cracking sound finally catching up to the bullet that slew the monstrosity filled the air moments later.

I smirked at that.

Show off.

"Nobody move, Junior Detectives!" I heard a voice cry out, and I turned incredulously to face whoever would be stupid enough to say something lik…and it's Sun and Neptune.

Of course it's Sun and Neptune.

"We have badges so you know it's official." Neptune added, casually bumping fists with Sun as they had their bro moment.

Oho I am going to murder them when this is all over.

Suddenly the air seemed to shake from the force of the loudest engines I'd ever heard. I looked up and had to fight from keeping my jaw from dropping as the flagship of the Atlas airships appeared in the sky, majestic in its sheer immensity, only further complemented by the flotilla of smaller passenger and gunships flying around it.

Lines of tracer fire began descending from on high, cutting into the ranks of the Grimm and unleashing a cacophony of roars and shrieks.

I nearly jumped out of my skin as a Beowolf I was going to attack was suddenly crushed by a descending form, which stood up and was revealed to be an Elysium Knight, the latest unmanned fighter in Atlas' mechanical army.

Reinforcements may be here, but we're not out of the woods yet. The Grimm are still coming.

I ducked under a snarling Beowolf as it leapt at me, spinning around a rolling Boarbatusk only to stab its venerable belly as it bounced off a wall. I stopped for a moment gasping, observing the battlefield. I watched as Pyrrha fashioned an oversized nail out of a light pole with her semblance which Nora promptly used to over-penetrate a screeching Deathstalker's armour, its pincers flailing as it perished.

I saw Neptune of all people here, snapping out with a kick at an Ursa with such force that its head was launched clean from its body, while Emerald went to town on a rush of Grimm with a pair of revolvers.

I heard something creep up behind me, and spun weapons raised to defend myself only to sigh in relief as I found it was only another Elysium Knight, relaxing my hold on my weapons.

Jeez, those things can be quiet when they want to be.

Good thing they're on our side.

The android stopped in front of me for a moment, scanning me for a moment, probably standard procedure or something like that.

I frowned for a moment as I realised that this android differed from the rest in that it didn't appear to be carrying a rifle like the rest of them had been, in fact it was seemingly empty handed.

The robot looked up at me and for a moment I swore I saw a flicker of…something…in the otherwise blank face of the machine.

Then its right arm launched at me, quick as a flash.

I went to bring up my shield but I was shocked, caught off guard and it was a poor block sending me spinning through the air to slam into one of the parked cars on the street, my shield clattering out of my hands.

My vision was blurry as I went to stand up, my head ringing from the impact only to swear and roll out of the way as the Elysium Knight slammed its fist where my head used to be, going through the car's engine block like it was tinfoil.

I landed on my feet, eyes narrowed. I don't know what the heck is going on with this blasted thing, but I'm going to go with the time honoured strategy of kill it before it kills me.

I lashed out with Candidus Mors, aiming to cut its head clean off its shoulders at what looked like a weaker point in its armour on its neck.

Problem solved.

The android's hand whipped up catching my blade between the tips of its artificial fingers and thumb as if it were made of foam, halting my blow in its entirety,

My eyes widened in shock.

Oh you have got to be kidding me.

The Elysium Knight's free hand moved, clenching around my throat as it lifted me off the ground, my feet scrabbling for a purchase that I couldn't find as it wrenched Candidus Mors out of my hand.

I gasped for air, one hand going up to try to loosen the force around my throat while the other clenched into a fist and slammed into its faceplate with all the strength I had, doing little more than causing that blasted thing's head to tilt back slightly and the dark spots at the edge of my vision to extend further.

I pulled uselessly at the death grip around my throat, desperate for air as my feet dangled uselessly, my sword and shield beyond my reach.

If this went on any longer, I wasn't going to lose.

I was going to die.

It was at that point the Elysium Knight's chest exploded, a hand erupting from its chest with a glowing core held tightly within it before crumpling it with horrific force.

The at that point unstoppable android collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut to reveal Peter Port standing behind it after he'd apparently ripped it's figurative heart from its chest to kill it, his Blunderaxe held casually in his other hand.

The hand holding the android's core dropped it and caught me before I collapsed to the floor as I coughed and spluttered, taking in great gulps of air. "Easy there Jaune, my boy, deep breaths." Peter said calmly, holding the entire weight of my body with one hand easily, his eyes locked on mine.

My vision steadied, the frenzied breaths I'd been taking falling back into line with my regular rate as I slowly calmed down, the adrenaline that had been surging through my veins slowly dying down, my wheezes subsiding.

Peter nodded apparently happy with my progress. "Right then, we're just about done here and the last few Grimm are being mopped up as we speak. How about you and I go re-join our comrades in the centre of the park?" He asked, moustache bouncing wildly.

It was at that point the android from before leapt up, gaping hole in its chest revealing whirring gears and pistons, throwing itself towards the back of Peter.

Only for the barrel of Peter's Blunderaxe to meet it mid-leap the resulting explosion from the gun going off reducing the machine's head to a gaping void. The machine stayed down this time.

Peter pulled back his Blunderaxe from where he'd fired it blindly over his shoulder, his gaze not wavering from mine even once the entire encounter.

I blinked. "That…sounds like a great idea?" I ventured still trying to process the offhanded obliteration of the Elysium Knight by Peter who by all means didn't seem to even notice the thing had tried to attack him again.

Peter smiled broadly. "Smashing!" He cheered, even as explosion of flames rang out behind him, a sparking and battle-scarred Paladin crumpling to the floor, with a harsh squealing of metal.

And with that, once I'd collected my sword and shield we made our way towards where the others were gathered near where last I checked there had been a gaping void in the ground spewing forth Grimm now there only being pristine street once more.

Looks like I missed that part.

I fell into place next to Pyrrha who looked at me with a smile, when she realised I was there. I grinned in response before turning to face team RWBY a wry grin on my face. "How is it you four always manage to be in the centre of these things?" I asked jokingly, flicking a nod over towards where Sun and Neptune were standing as they waved hello.

Ruby chuckled nervously. "Uh, we're just lucky?" She put forward, Weiss shaking her head as she did so.

"If that's what you call luck Ruby Rose, then I want no part of it." Weiss said in response, seemingly turning away from her partner but the slight twitch of her lips giving away her mirth.

Conversations broke out at that, people laughing and chuckling as we recounted our own little skirmishes with the Grimm during the fight.

I found my attention drawn away from Yang's retelling of how she'd pancaked a few Grimm with a launched car when I spotted Mercury and Emerald escorting Roman Torchwick of all people into the custody of Atlas androids.

What did he have to do with all of this?

"Oh I can't believe that you caught me, you've really taught me the error of my ways." The master criminal said sardonically before pulling himself away from the grip of one of the Elysium Knights waiting to receive him. "Hey, Hey, watch the hat." He growled as the two high tech androids escorted him aboard.

Emerald and Mercury stepped into place next to Ruby, who smiled brightly at the young thief.

Huh.

Guess they can't be all that bad.

I felt something tugging at my pant leg and looked down to see a tiny dog trying to grab my attention, its little tongue sticking out of its mouth as it panted happily at me.

"Uh, hi?" I ventured looking down at the little canine as it craned its neck to look up at me.

The dog continued to look up, lifting its paw as if to ask me to shake it.

I blinked.

Okay then.

I bent down on one knee and took the little dog's paw, shaking it as I did so.

The corgi let out a happy 'arf' at that before pattering its way over to Yang's side taking a seat as it looked up at her.

I turned my curious gaze to Yang. "So since when has team RWBY had five members?" I asked jokingly, the dog turning its head curiously as I gestured at it.

"Oh, that's right you haven't met Zwei yet." Yang gasped before turning to face the dog. "Zwei, this is Jaune." She began, introducing me to the corgi. "Jaune meet Zwei, our dog from back on Patch."

Zwei barked in greeting once more.

Huh.

So that's a thing.

"How'd he manage to get all the way from Patch?" I asked, looking down at the little guy who had at some point decided that chasing his tail was the best idea ever.

Yang shrugged. "Dad mailed him to me." She said off-handily.

I nodded at that.

Paused.

Went over it again in my head.

"Wait what?"

---

Ozpin sighed as the call from Vale's Government Council finally disconnected, leaving him to silence once more.

"Well that went just about as well as I thought it would." Tob's voice called out, rolling out from where he'd been hiding out of sight of the Council, a glass of scotch already in hand, a second glass extended towards the Beacon headmaster.

"Not without reason." Ozpin answered wearily, locking his fingers together as his mind went over the events of the day. "But I'm more concerned about how the White Fang were able to amass such resources. They've never been lacking in terms of raw recruits but the level of weaponry they possessed? They had Paladins for God's sake, nearly half a dozen of them which Polendina swears were never made by him, or Atlas for that matter. And knowledge of the tunnel to Mountain Glenn?"

"Aye." The Old Bastard agreed, his aged eyes darkening as they went over the facts. "It doesn't paint a pretty picture. But even with all that occurred today, I don't think we've reached the climax of this endeavour yet, only the opening move." He suggested pessimistically, taking a draw from his glass as he did so.

Ozpin took a light sip himself from his own glass, nodding. "Agreed. Whatever they aimed to achieve through this I can't comprehend it, not yet at least."

There was a buzz at the desk and before Ozpin could even go to see who was at the door, it swung open Professor Polendina storming in, hurriedly stashing the lock pick he'd used to open the door in his pocket, shutting the door behind him. "I've been examining our 'defective' Knight that Peter managed to appropriate for us, what's left of it anyway, Peter may have done too good a job here, but what I've found isn't good."

Ozpin leaned forward. "Go on."

"There wasn't much I could grasp from its internal memory thanks to Peter all but obliterating the damned thing, but whatever it was, it went through my firewalls like they weren't even bloody there." Polendina started his report levelling the rather startling news at Ozpin and Tob.

Polendina's computer security wasn't just good, it was the standard for computerized security, hell he helped develop it from before it was even called computerized security.

That someone had been able to bypass with such ease…

"There's more." He reached into his pocket and bought something out from within, the hand of an Elysium Knight.

"There isn't much left of it but look here." Polendina lifted up the robot's left hand, gesturing at the artificial limb. "Somehow the materials making up this robots hand…transmuted…for lack of a better work into a far denser substance, almost as if at an atomic level all the building blocks decided to lock into one single unbreakable form."

"And how did it do that?" Tob asked bluntly, gesturing for Geppeto to get to the heart of the matter.

Polendina looked at them helplessly, shrugging his shoulders. "That's the thing. I can't think of any way it could have done it. I didn't think anything could do it until you bought it too me.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean somehow this robot freely changed its own mass and density while still retaining the same overall form." He said trying to come up with a comparison for what he was describing. "It's like iron spontaneously turning into some kind of mega-steel with no discernible catalyst. I'd be amazed if it wasn't so perplexing. I did some research on it myself, years ago but abandoned it as impossible, could never get the thing to work.

"You're saying you can't alter it?" Tob said alarmed, knowing that Geppeto was one of the people who helped create the Elysium Knight project, for it to be so drastically altered…

"I'm saying if anyone but Peter attacked it, I doubt they could have even scratched the bloody thing."

"Lost technology." Ozpin murmured, Geppeto nodding at the headmaster's conclusion. "One powerful enough to make an individual one of the most powerful forces in Remnant. And it was used to try to assassinate a single boy."

There was silence at that, the three men ruminating on the implications of that realization, of the extent and length of the resources whoever was behind this was willing to expend to achieve their goal.

Geppeto sighed suddenly, rubbing a hand into his tired eyes. "It's late, and I need to finish the rest of Penny's maintenance before I go to sleep. We'll reconvene later, when were all rested and better prepared to examine this."

Tob rolled forward, patting Geppeto on the arm. "Aye, go to your daughter. We're all too bloody tired anyway."

Geppeto smiled softly at this, nodding in thanks to the both of them before stopping at the door, turning to face them again. "As always it was incredible watching you work old friend," He said kindly, nodding at Tob. "Just as good as the old days."

Tob barked out a laugh at that. "Hardly." He remarked, lifting up a pair of reading glasses he had tucked into his front pocket. "Couldn't see a damn thing without them."

---

Interlude 1: Cinder

Cinder looked down upon the pristine park that had only hours ago been the sight of the bloody Grimm emergence from atop the roof of one of the many buildings surrounding it and turned to face her subordinates. "All in all, I call today a success." Cinder remarked, waiting for the others to give their own opinions on the matter.

Emerald looked less convinced "Those stupid kids really made a mess of things." The thief said with a shake of her head. The plan being forced ahead of schedule by their early discovery was going to have consequences.

Mercury agreed "Yeah. A lot of Faunus didn't make it out the tunnels." He added, still sounding utterly uncaring as he spoke of those who had been crushed or left to die in the tunnel below. "You still think the White Fang's gonna listen to us?" He asked Cinder honestly, rather doubting the likelihood of that happening.

"No," a new voice interjected, a red headed figure in a black suit stepping forward, eyes hidden behind the mask of a Grimm, the mask of a White Fang member. "But they'll listen to me." The man declared, completely confident in what he was saying a deep scowl on his face.

For good reason. With his lineage within the White Fang, Adam Taurus was the next best thing to royalty to them.

"What kept you?" Emerald said indignantly only to be flatly ignored by Adam. "Hey!" she exclaimed upset, "don't walk away from me you-"

Her words were cut short, almost literally, as Adam's blade was pressed against her neck, having moved so fast it seemed to have materialised into existence. Emerald's mouth clicked shut and she backed off, the Faunus' sliding his sword back into its sheath as she did so.

Adam Taurus was not someone to be taken lightly. Especially when he was in a mood like this.

Cinder's eyes lit up in realization. "That's right. He's at Beacon right now isn't he?" Cinder said with a smoky voice, smiling darkly as a picture appearing in her hands. "I wonder what he'd think about you being here. Perhaps I should pay him a visi-"

Cinder's next words were cut short by the clearly audible sound of Wilt leaving its sheath slightly, Adam's fist clenched tightly around it. "Do not speak of him." Adam growled venomously.

"The only one who will kill him is me." Adam intoned, his grip tightening around Wilt's hilt. "I will kill the man who murdered my mother with my own blade."

In a flash Wilt left its sheath, piercing the picture held between Cinder's fingertips and slamming it into the pavement, the blade piercing the figure within.

In the impaled picture, a scowling old man in a wheelchair glared up at them.

---

Interlude 2: Neo

Neo pouted, her tongue sticking out of her mouth cutely as she looked upon her latest piece of art, half a frown beginning to form on her face.

It was pretty much done, in her opinion anyway but it was still missing something.

That final little touch to make it perfect.

She'd have finished it earlier on in the day, the blonde haired girl she fought on the train would have made a fine addition to it, but she was sadly interrupted before she could collect her materials.

And after that womanof all people stepped into save blondie…

Neo shuddered.

She didn't like that woman.

She looked upon her art once more and found herself calmed, taking in the clear shape formed upon the reflective surface.

But it wasn't enough.

It didn't show how she really felt about it.

About him.

Then the thought struck her, her eyes lighting up in joy.

She knew she was missing something.

She moved to the side and casually picked up the last of her ink wells with one hand, ignoring the sounds that came from it as she moved it and hoisted it on the top of her masterpiece, the ink slowly dripping down as she did so.

Almost there.

Then without warning, her free hand plunged forward, stabbing a blade so clear and thin it was essentially impossible to see with one's own eyes to pin the ink well in place, a splash of red spurting out and covering her face and clothes as she did so.

Neo shrugged inwardly at that.

She'd long since gotten use to the messier parts of her art, and if it allowed her to create such beautiful pieces of art like this, then she didn't care.

Besides…

She bought up one hand, stained crimson by the ink and placed it before her mouth, her tongue darting out like a cat cleaning itself, a shudder running through her as the taste struck her.

It tasted so damn good.

Better than anything.

Especially fresh.

She took a few steps back to observe the state of her creation.

Neo's canvas of choice was always a mirror, something that was oddly fitting considering her other proclivities. But what was once a mirror was now something much more than that.

It was a bust of someone, a male. He had a mess of hair that stopped before it reached his shoulders, dark eyes and a bright smile on his face.

A chest plate was clearly visible on his front but cut off abruptly as the picture ended, with similarly coloured shoulder armour just visible from this front on view of the subject, with a darker coloured hoodie beneath it.

The portrait was incredibly detailed, depicting even the smallest of details from the slightest of scars, to the strands of his hair.

It was intricate.

A masterpiece.

And monstrous.

The body impaled atop the mirror let out a slow but constant stream of blood, trickling down the mirror only to curve away before it combined with the portrait, following the faint groove that Neo had carved into either side of the mirror.

And even if the exact colour of the individual couldn't be discerned, due to the portrait of the individual being done entirely in varying shades of red, it was fairly easy to ascertain who it was that the portrait depicted.

You only had to turn ones gaze to the mass of photos surrounding it, stuck to the mirror as if it was a pin board, all displaying a variety of locations and situations but every single photo featuring the same individual, the one that was the focus of the portrait of the artwork.

Neo's hand reached out to touch the cheek of her painted man, a small dark smile spreading on her face as she did so.

'You were everything he said you'd be and more.' Neo mused, her tongue darting out again to remove a drop of blood that had shifted out of place on the portrait, removing it with a deft lick that sent another shudder racing down her spine, her eyes shifting colours with every blink. 'Soon you'll be mine.'

She stepped away, taking care not to step on the corpses that had been essential to creating her masterpiece, watching the trickling blood curving around her portrait, forming a macabre love heart around it, slowly staining the floor crimson with blood.

'Jaune Arc.'

---

Interlude 3: Raven

Raven stepped out of her portal into the cold lifeless stone of this nameless place and let out a sigh of relief as she noticed that she was still in complete darkness.

For a moment Raven had thought that she had gotten away with her transgression unnoticed, that she had not been noticed during her absence.

That moment passed the instant Raven heard the unmistakable clack of metal on marble, and suddenly the room was filled with light as archaic metal braziers were lit without any visible cause. A figure in a voluminous leather cloak stepping forth, his face obscured with a mask like her own but unlike hers only one eye was visible, the other long since lost in battle. And just beneath the cloak itself, in the gap between it and the floor were his feet, however one leg was not that of flesh and blood but rather of inhuman metal.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice where you'd gone Raven?" A masculine voice called out from behind the mask, a single blue eye burning with such an inner fire near Raven felt scalded from the sheer intensity of his gaze. "Did you think me a fool?" He asked seemingly calm, but a vast ocean of broiling emotion waiting to erupt beneath the surface.

"Yang was in danger, fighting someone far beyond her level." Raven explained trying to reason with the man in front of her, to make him understand her actions. "Then I tried to explain to her to keep her saf…"

"Raven!" The man snapped, his raised voice cutting short any further explanations. "When you chose to take up that mask you swore to make this duty your first and only priority, to the detriment of any and all others, including family. Regardless of their connections to you they are but one life. We adhere to the needs of the many, Raven."

"But she…" Raven said, trailing off slightly. "She's my child."

"Everyone is someone's child Raven." The man said coldly, stalking forward through the dark corridors, the metal braziers becoming ablaze with flame with his very passing, the dull clank of his metal leg striking the floor echoing out with every step." It does not change the fact that like anyone who enters this life there comes a time when they will leave it."

Raven seemed taken aback at that before her red eyes glowed ominously, much akin to her daughter Yang when filled with rage. "I did what any loving parent would." She spat out, putting none too subtle emphasis on the adjective.

The man spun, a spear formed of glowing dust forming in his hands, the tip halting inches away from Raven's shocked face. "Never," The incensed man pronounced, "speak to me of loving one's children. Speak to me when you hold their broken forms in your arms, when the light fades from their eyes and the last gasp leaves their chests. Speak to me then, Raven, but until such a time comes, remain silent." The man finished, spitting out Raven's name as if it were some great curse before the spear vanished from his hands, the dust breaking apart and being absorbed back into individual containers spread throughout the man's leathery cloak.

Raven flinched, looking away out of shame of her words. "I…I'm sorry."

The man continued to walk on further, the only sound being the constant clack of his metal leg, seemingly ignoring his companion. "The World Tree has picked up some high activity in Vacuo, I'm sending you the details now." He said finally, dropping the previous topic entirely as he moved onto the task at hand. "Go over there find whatever is responsible and then kill it. Understood?"

Raven nodded, knowing this transition of topics was the man's own way of accepting her apology. And if the activity was great enough that the World Tree picked it up then it was time for her to be gone.

"Yes…Odin."

---

Interlude 4: ?

Within a maze of dead trees and a constant rain of ash, two red eyes flicker into existence once more, staring up into the night sky.

CONNECTION LOST

OBJECTIVE: JAUNE ARC LOCATED

LOCATION: CITY OF VALE

PROJECTIONS SUGGEST THAT TARGET IS LIKELY ATTENDING BEACON ACADEMY

DESTINATION SET.

CONSESUS ACHIEVED.

THIS UNIT WILL TERMINATE OBJECTIVE JAUNE ARC ONCE REPAIRS HAVE COMPLETED

REPAIRS AT 64%

---

AN: AND ANOTHER ARC CONCLUDES!

How are you all doing out there? A lot's gone on since the last update, among them the tragic passing of Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY on February 1st.

He will be missed.

Let's do a head count! 206 reviews, 555 favourites and 591 followers!

WHOO!

As always your support is phenomenal guys, thanks a ton.

After this I'm going on hiatus for about a month or so, got to focus on my studies for an upcoming exam but after that I'll be getting stuck back into writing my various other creations that I've been neglecting.

There weren't many questions this time so I'll leave any answers for later, got to leave you guys with something to wonder about I suppose?

As always please leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter!

What did you think about the latest revelations?

What is Tob's connection to Adam?

What does Neo want with Jaune?

Who is this mysterious figure Odin and what is he doing with Raven?

Find out all this and more…eventually…during the next 'Arc' (HA!) of White Knight!