GUESS WHO'S BACK!

Sorry about the extended hiatus, I know it's been a while but i want to assure you guys that i have never stopped working on this for the last couple months and i'm back now and i got many ideas. And having finally chewed the cud on Vol6 i conclude that it was kind of a let down near the end, so this chapter will actually have one of the first changes i'm gonna make to the story, but rest assured it will all eventually go in the same direction. thank you so much for sticking around you guys are great.


"Paradise on my right, Hell on my left and the Angel of Death behind."

Jaune stood slightly shaking as he stared down his opponent. He was bigger, and stronger then him, and vastly more skilled then him. But he couldn't afford to back down now. If he was going to be a huntsman he need to rise to any challenge no matter how difficult.

Jaune stared at His opponent trying to gauge anything from him but that winged helmet starred right back in what seemed utter indifference. The battered look of the armor spoke of it's regular use and for what ever reason made it all the more menacing.

'Maybe i should have bought more armor.' He thought to himself. But he couldn't have, he had spent most of his money getting into beacon and as such he hadn't the funds to properly invest in equipment. But this guy, was clad almost head to toe in forest green armor. His winged sword held in one hand pointed down at the floor

A bell chimed and faster then Jaune could think he was upon him, sword held in two delivering devastating blows. Luckily Jaune instinctively raised his shield in defense and for a solid fifteen seconds was battered to his knee by the other boy. he stood back and kicked the shield sending him rolling back. Jaune recovered and then went on the attack.

His first strike completely missed, as did the second, the third he redirected into the ground and smashed him in the side of the head with the winged cross guard of the sword. Jaune staggered and brought his shield up to block another blow This time he felt hands grab his shield and was swung around forcefully enough to tear the shield from his arm and send him flying the edge of the arena. Rising to his hands and knees he scrambled forward and recovered his blade and stood again.

He felt weak and he knew he had to do something or he would lose.

His attacks became more and more desperate, an over head strike was easily blocked blocked and the two stood there for a moment locked together. A static crackle came from the helmet facing him. "This is the part were you lose." He said with something between contempt and amusement. Ever the defiant one Jaune looked back into the red lenses and said "Over my dead body."

"As you wish." And for his trouble jaune took a knee to the stomach and sent him reeling back again. He regained his composer and straightened up and took a stance again. He razed his sword, reversed it, and drove it point first into stone of the floor and walked forward leaving it there standing up.

He came upon him unarmed.

Understanding what he intended to do Jaune raised his sword again and charged. Azrael caught his wrist mid air and Jaune was forced to release his sword when he felt pain surge through his wrist. Helpless Azrael turned and pulled Jaune over his shoulder slamming his back onto the floor. Jaune wheezed as the air was driven from his lungs he felt his aura dissipate and the sense of fatigue washed over him. He laid there unable to summon the energy to move.

His opponent however had retrieved his sword and now had it's point under his chin.

The bell chimed again signalling the end of combat.

"Azrael, that is quite enough." At her admonishment Azrael sheathed his sword and stood down as Glynda strode onto the sparing floor and addressed the audience. "Students as you can see Mr Arc's Aura has dropped into the red. In a tournament style Duel this would indicate that Jaune is unable to continue and the official may call the match." She then directed her gaze to Jaune.

"Mr Arc it's been three weeks now, please try to refer to your scroll during combat, gauging your Aura can help you decide when it is appropriate to attack or when it is better to move to a more.. defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf now would we?"

From the audience Cardin Winchester who had been laughing at the conclusion of the match spoke between gulps of air. "Spe-Speak for yourself."

"Bu-But i didn't see him check his scroll ether." Jaune said in his defense. Azrael turned his gaze to him and spoke. "My helmet shows me everything i need, i can monitor me and my team with a blink of my eye."

"Remember everyone." Glynda began again, her voice carrying to the entire room. "The Vytal festival is just a few months away, it won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in vale, so keep practicing. Those who are chosen will represent all of vale."

The first weeks of school had gone by quickly for the new students. By now that had settled into the new and some what familiar routine. For the most part Team ANGL had worked together but there was a tension that came from the fact that they were now strangers living together. There was a healthy distance and they hardly interacted with each other outside of classes and what was necessary. Ironically Luis made the most progress, with his teammate. They had over the course of a few days gotten to know each other over their mutual love of the arts. She was an entertainer and a gifted painter, while Luis knew enough to be competently gifted in everything from poetry to sculpting, to weaving and casting. Their collective endeavors would only grow in scale and ambition.

Gianna on the other had was a different story, somewhat. She was almost as taciturn as he was and she was every guarded about where she came from. Azrael didn't exactly know how to even approach her. He pondered this as he was eating lunch with his team, Across the way teams RWBY and JNPR were chatting away.

"She's been having this dream for the last month." Ren said as Nora had finished her tale of the two of them selling grimm rugs.

"Jaune are you ok?" Pyrrha asked when she noticed he wasn't eating his food. He looked up from his plate. "Huh, Oh yeah, why?" Ruby pipped in. "It's just that you seem, not okay."

Jaune looked incredulous. "Eh- guys, i'm fine.. Seriously."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes. "It's about what happened earlier isn't it."

"What? No, it was a close thing, nothing to be upset about." He said. Ruby snickered.

"Jaune, you didn't even hit him." Jaune's fist tightened. "Just who is that guy?"

Suddenly, Yang of all people interjected. "His name is Azrael, we wen't to school together." Now all eyes were on her.

"Really, what's he like?" Asked Pyrrha. Yang gave a shrug. He's quiet for the most part, only hung around with that kid Luis. He was a prodigy back at Signal No other student in the school was better at sword fighting then him, He placed in the top five with me in the class."

She gave Jaune a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry about it to much, you never really had a chance." It would have been a scathing rebuke but by now they, and many others were already familiar with Jaune's lack luster skills in combat, and academics, and really almost all aspects of huntsmen training.

Back over at team ANGL they started their own conversation. "You did good in your spare, but i think you over did it." Said Luis.

Azrael turned to look at him. "what do you mean?" He asked.

"I mean what you did at the end, that wasn't very respectful of you to do." Luis continued.

"I wanted to see how far i could limit myself, i don't need to tell you i was pulling my hits in that fight." He said.

"Yeah but why?" Luis asked.

"He's hiding something." Azrael stated.

"Really, he's hiding something?" Asked Narissa.

"I believe so, ever since i meet him something struck me about him. He dosen't fit in with everyone else, He dosen't strike me as a fighter like the rest of us."

"How so?" Gianna asked, genuinely interested to see where his reasoning was going. Azrael folded his hands together.

"there is a certain confidence that people who are trained carry themselves with, everyone in this school that I've seen have a kind of surety in their skills as a fighter. Jaune however is timid and submissive there is hesitation in everything that i see him do. On top of that his fighting style is pathetic. As someone who trained under the best at signal i saw tons of red flags."

"What kind?" Luis asked. "well for starters i was able to dodge his attacks so effectively because i watched him step before he struck. Qrow had to train me for days to strike before i step." Everyone at the table nodded their agreement.

"So what do you think he's hiding?" Gianna asked.

"I don't know, but i'm gonna find out."

"OW, please stop it."

Many eyes in the cafeteria became fixed on a table where several boys were surrounding a girl. Azrael recognized. She was a Second year Ab-human, her name escaped him. He watched from his seat as Her long fur covered ears were pulled, and yanked by one of the boys. He recognized him easy enough, Cardin Winchester.

"What an ass." Gianna said.

"It's not our problem." Azrael said, much to the surprise of everyone around him.

"What?" Luis asked incredulous

"We're here to learn how to help people, how can we help others if we can't help ourselves. What she needs to do, she needs to do for herself."

"That's harsh Azrael, even for you." he said. He made to get up but Cardin had released the girl's ear enabling her to run from the room.

Luis felt his blood boil at the scene the edges of his vision darkened and his face flushed red. He was about to go over to team CRDL with a butter knife when a firm hand held him back.

"Luis, control yourself." Azrael spoke low and firm. He'd had many opportunities to practice restraining Luis when his blood was up and he found talking low and calming was better then yelling.

The school bell chimed and Azrael patted him on the shoulder. "Come on, we don't want to be late for class."


Not for the first time or the last Azrael was thankful for the trivial uses he got from his Semblance the ability to keep up with the speed of which professor Oobleck rattled off lessons was a boon not only for him but for his team if they ever missed anything. The caffeine fueled diatribe that he inflicted on his students had become something of a legend in the school. He had just finished reciting the history of the Faunus Ab-humans that inhabited this planet along with humanity. They were a curiosity that had vexed him since he first learned of them. They were strange compared to familiar ab-humans so close to humanity that they could go unnoticed by the population at large and appear passably human. Azrael found such a thought disturbing that rogue elements like the white fang could use this to plant sleeper agents into the kingdoms. The logical thing to do was what the kingdoms already tried, Remove and isolate the faunus from human society. And the reading he did do on the war was putting it mildly, disappointing. It was a war wagged by the desperate against the overconfident, the inept, and painfully stupid.

He finished writing down the relevant notes to listen in on What Oobleck was saying through periodic sips from his mug of coffee.

"The repercussions of the uprising can still be felt to this day. Now has anyone here been subjected to discrimination due to your faunus heritage?"

The room became silent and all eyes were now on the pitifully few faunus students in the class room and most tentatively raised there hands.

"dreadful, simply dreadful. Remember children it is ignorance like this that breads violence."

The chair next to him creaked as luis leaned over and whispered. "Are you following any of this?"

Azrael nodded. "Barely, you need notes?" he asked.

"Yeah, i fell behind a couple paragraphs ago." Azrael slid his notebook over to Luis.

"Now then, who can tell me what theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year"

Faster then you could blink weiss had her hand up. "The battle at fort castle."

Azrael heard Luis mutter. "Redundant much Redundant."

"Precisely. And who can tell me the advantage the faunus had over general Lagune's forces?"

Azrael got his note book back from Luis and was ready to start raze his hand when Oobleck shot across the room to stop at who else but Jaune.

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent, excellent. What is the answer?"

Azrael was to high up to see, but he imagined his face was like a deer in the high beams of a car. "Uhh. The Answer. The advantage of the Faunus.. Had over the other guy's stuff." Playing for time when suddenly called out. "B-Binoculars!"

Azrael was caught off guard by how ridiculous the answer was that he couldn't help joining his classmates in laughing.

"Very funny Mr Arc." Oobleck said sounding disappointed as well as unamused.

Cardin who was laughing the hardest out of everyone in the class became the next focus of Oobleck's attention. "Cardin, Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject?"

He didn't even pretend to think. "Well i know it's easier to train an animal then a soldier."

Pyrrha was the first to speak up. "You're not the most open minded of people, are you, cardin?"

"What, you got a problem?" he shot back.

"No, i have the answer. It's night vision. Many faunus are known to have near perfect sight in the dark."

The girl sitting next to Pyrrha with a black bow continued. "General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the faunus while they slept. His massive army was outmatched and the general was captured."

She continued. "Perhaps if he paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

'A fine sentiment, if ever I've heard one.'

Like the meat head he was Cardin got out of his chair like he was going to fight her.

"Mr Winchester please take your seat. You and Mr Arc can both see me after class."

After class they all filed out of the room, it was on their way back to their dorm that Azrael however decided to hang back for a while.

"You guys go on ahead. i need to get something" He said not waiting for a response. He then walked back to Oobleck's classroom He found Pyrrha waiting outside the classroom and without being seen he slipped into the shadow of a pillar, and then he watched and waited.


Pyrrha i know i'm going through a hard time right now, but i don't think i'm THAT depressed. I can always be a farmer or something-"

"N-NO!" She yelled pulling him back from the ledge. "That's not why i brought you up here! Jaune, i know you've been having a difficult time in class. And that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so."

She paused before continuing "I want to help you."

To her surprise Jaune looked aghast. "W-what?"

She pressed forward. "We can train up here after class where no one can bother us."

"You think i need help?" Was all he said.

"N-no, that's not what i meant."

"But you just said it."

"Jaune everybody needs a little push from time to time. It dosen't make you different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon, that speaks volumes of what your capable of."

Jaune turned from her. "You're wrong. I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say, of course you do."

"NO, I Don't!" he said facing her again. He continued. "I wasn't accepted into Beacon." He said, now he couldn't bare to look at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean i didn't go to combat school, i didn't pass any tests, I didn't earn my spot at this academy! I lied! i got my hands on some fake transcripts and i lied."

Pyrrha was shaken by this confession. "But, why?"

"Because this is what i always wanted to be! My father, my grandfather, and his father were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one too. I was just never good enough."

For what ever reason only she knew Pyrrha came forward. "Then let me help you."

But Jaune's bitterness overpowered any common sense and he lashed out without thinking. "I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! i wanna be the hero!"

She tried to interject, but he wouldn't let her "Jaune I-"

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in a tree while his friends all fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If i can't do this on my own then what good am i?"

She tried once again to reach him only for him to actually recoil from her. "Leave me alone."

He couldn't see how hurt she was she left him there. "if that's what you think is best."

When she was finally gone Jaune was left to his own thoughts, a pang of regret over came him, he made to follow but a voice stopped him cold in his tracks.

"Well now." Shocked Jaune threw his gaze all around the roof until finally he saw a dark figure step from a shadowy part of the roof. His attire was dark and his face was hidden behind a hood. Jaune felt fear go right through him. He was so distracted he didn't see him fallow him onto the roof. The figure pulled back the hood and he instantly recognized who it was.

"Y-you, Azrael." he nodded.

"I must say, i'm used to getting the truth out of people, but that. Has to be one of the most complete confessions I've ever seen." He said slowly walking over to Jaune. "I'm more surprised then anything really. You really had the gaul to actually do what you said you did, and you succeded?"

Jaune swallowed in a dry throat "Y-Yeah."

Azrael gave a low laugh as he stopped infront of him his face as hard as stone. "So you cheated your way in, you robbed a more deserving person their chance to become a huntsmen. Crushed their dream for your own selfish desires."

Jaune had nothing to say to defend himself. "Yes."

"Well then, if i were of the the mind to i would throw you from this roof myself."

Jaune tensed. He knew that even if he wanted to he knew he couldn't fight him. 'Oh god, am i really going to die for this?'

"but maybe not. I have another plan in mind."

Jaune worked up the nerve and moved to leave. "You're right, i don't belong here i'm going to pack my bags and leave."

He hadn't made it five steps before he felt a hand seize him and proceed to lift him off his feet and slam him onto the ground with a groan. Azrael now stood over Jaune. "I don't think so, YOU are not going anywhere! You promised this academy and humanity and soldier to fight the grim and you are not walking away from your obligation. Let me make this clear. If you leave this academy I. WILL. KILL. YOU."

He gave him a moment to take in the magnitude of his situation before he continued. "You and I are going to get to know each other very well over the next couple weeks, and unlike your friend you have no choice but to work with me."

He looked Jaune in the face. "And when i'm done with you, you'll regret the day you were born." And with that conclusion he turned away and walked to the door pulling up his hood

"I am the keeper of the truth, and until i say so your life is mine."

he kept walking until he vanished down the stairs.

Jaune sank to his knees 'Oh god, what have i done?'