Cinders little dragon

by Thezebraking123

I love mama Cinder aus I love fairytail and I love RWBY so this is were my first attempt at a fic came from I hope you enjoy. [OC x Blake].

13. Chapter 13

"Achoo!" Jaune sneezed into his arm, covering his runny nose as it attracted some views of his nearby friends.

"Eesh, you okay?" Nora wondered, checking in case it was contagious.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied in a slightly muffled tone, "just a bit of a runny nose this morning."

"I suggested you to get some rest this morning, you don't want to spread it around do you?." Ren asked.

"I'm sure he can handle anything he wants to on his own." Pyrrha commented, having absolutely no tone or care to even look at him as she spoke.

Out of the numerous comments, hers probably struck the worst despite having little to no emotion to it. Given what happened yesterday, with Jaune's rather abrupt and harsh comment about wanting her to stop bothering him with his struggles, it was little surprise to him that she was still angry over it. Compared to most other people who would've possibly lashed out in return to his comment, she simply accepted it and left him to his own matters, leaving just moments before Cardin made his presence known from the dorm they were atop of.

That's when Jaune's day went from worse to bottomless. Before the argument, Jaune had confessed to Pyrrha and accidentally Luna about how he illegally gained entry into this prestigious academy of Beacon, the place where only the best of the best were accepted. Regardless of how he gained entry, Pyrrha and Luna tried to encourage him and offered to help him with his problems, most notably his bullying with Cardin and his lack of skills when it came to the many different fields of study the students were being taught, only to be brushed away by Jaune's frustrations getting the better of him, all the while two of the three were completely unaware of Cardin being present below them.

Immediately following Pyrrha's and Luna's absence Cardin made his presence known, and his discovery about Jaune's illegal entry. Like any good person like Cardin, he made an offer that Jaune was to afraid of refusing: be his guinea pig and servant, taking care of his various tasks like doing his homework and such, or have Cardin tell Glynda, about it and result in him getting expelled. That was his one and only ultimatum.

And being his servant was the best option compared to what he had Jaune do next.

Following the little ordeal, he was tasked with doing something to the other team Jaune hung out with, Luna Fall. All he simply had to do was offer her a drink that Cardin slipped something into and be on his way, making sure to have another drink himself so as to not arouse suspicion. And to ensure he followed through, not knowing it until he left the hooded girl in the library, Cardin spied on the two until the ordeal was over.

That was when Jaune realized he truly was nothing more than a coward, his heart aching with every beat along with a raincloud of guilt pouring over his head since the other day. Luna was a rather whacky student, to say the least. Everything seemed so new to her, she had a rather bizarre backstory with being the child of shady buisness people, as well as being secluded from the world most of her life, being stuck at home most of the time.

But the one thing she was that hurt Jaune the most was, She was a nice and sincere girl who did her best around the school, in front of her friends at least. She always wanted to do what was right, she always stuck out for people when they needed it, and she wasn't afraid of making a scene and standing up to someone like Cardin when he was picking on other students, especially her fellow Faunus like Velvet. There was no reason to poison her, nothing to justify his reason for doing this, there wasn't any karma Luna had hanging over her that made her earn this. She was just an ordinary student of Beacon academy, training every day to be a hero like she's always wanted to be, and the only person who was a constant nuisance to Cardin himself.

So it was no surprise Cardin picked her out out of the many students he could've gotten back at. Granted, it wasn't like everyone else was safe from his wrath, he still owed a good deal of payback to others like Pyrrha and Blake who humiliated him in class the other day. Out of the several though, Luna was the only one to have the gall to threaten him when he was pulling on Velvet's ears. That humiliation added to how he was forced to back down when he was nearly scared shitless his pride would never let down.

Which is what worried and troubled Jaune the most. Not only did he have to deal with being blackmailed by Cardin for possibly the rest of his life, he had absolutely no idea what was laced inside the drinks he shared with Luna. It could've been poison, it could've been some deadly strain of virus, a whole number of things. Only to make matters worse, he had yet to see Luna all day since the Library yesterday. Granted a great deal of that had to do with how the room was verily dark, since the spotlights were positioned over the center stage for another sparring exam, but that did little to ease his worries.

It was only now that he realized another reason why Cardin wanted to sabotage Luna today of all days, the sight of Glynda Goodwitch walking on stage with her scroll in hand.

"Today's exam will be another sparring match between several students." She announced, typing into her scroll as the two screens above the stage came to life. There was a large enough space for a student's image and the bar representing their remaining aura. "The first set of matches will begin immediately. First up, Cardin Winchester." Within the large spotlight of the small arena, Cardin walked into view, the casual smug grin on his face as he prepared for his opponent. Surprisingly, there was a large array of applause and cheer for him. It was hard to say how many of them were from people unaware of who he truly was, simply didn't care and were just being respectful, or those who were bullied and feared him who did it in the hopes of them not getting picked on for it after.

Needless to say, there was no applause emanating from the small group that consisted of Team JNPR and Team RSYBL clustered together. All with the exception of one particular student.

"Luna Fall." Glynda spoke again, the crowd cheering casually as they did Cardin, this time with the addition of several members from both of the two teams. Even Weiss was sincere enough to give a small clap of encouragement as they waited for Luna to appear.

And waited.

And waited...

And waited...

And wai-

"Luna Fall," Glynda announced again as the crowd began to silence, "please report to the stage for your exam."

With what light the students were gifted with thanks to the spotlight, the teams looked amongst themselves as they noticed the absence of a tiger faunes girl. Their faces and looks of worry were only pitiful compared to the panic and worry that overwhelmed Jaune's mind.

"Hey, where is she?" Nora asked over to Ruby.

"Mmh, she said she needed a few minutes this morning, she said she had a minor headache." The cloaked girl stated, growing worried as the absence of their teammate.

"She was kind of out of breath this morning too when she woke up." Blake added.

"Was she sick?" Phyrra asked, earning a shrug from the warrior.

"She did seem a bit out of it, but she practically ordered us to go on ahead and she'd be right behind us in a few minutes."

This just filled Jaune's overflowing mind with more and more worry, as well as confusion. None of this made any sense! Cardin said whatever he put in the drink wasn't anything close to poison, but even then, that shouldn't-

Oh yeah, how could he possibly forget? Cardin, future leader of the Bully's Association, told him that. Jaune trusted the words of a bully whose done nothing but pick on him and every other weaker student within this school. He had a much better chance at getting a pathological liar to tell him the truth before someone like Cardin Winchester would!

"I'm here..." A groggy voice suddenly called, catching the attention of the audience again as all views focused on stage.

"Hey, there she... is..." The optimism in Yang's voice slowly dwindled as the faunes girl entered the stage from the left, opposite of Cardin.

Nothing about her resembled the young Luna they all came to know and trust. Compared to the usual Luna, this one was along the lines of a ragged and sickly-looking fellow given her posture. Her entire uniform was all rugged, she was wobbling as she walked onto the stage, and by the time she raised her fists she raised her head and the look of exhaustion on her face was nightmarish, her eyes were practically glazed over, she had beads of sweat dripping from her forehead, and her cheeks were flushed red. Nothing about her seemed to be lively, if anything she looked more dead than not.

"Something is definitely wrong with her." Ren announced as he examined her stance.

"What the heck happened to her? She seemed perfectly fine when she went to bed last night!" Nora said, feeling sorry for both her figh buddy and her number one person-who-can-make-an-adorable-tiger-Grimm friend.

'Mmh..." Jaune couldn't prevent the small moan and look of worry from growing on his face, one that unfortunately went noticed by the fellow girl who already had anger towards him.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha spoke as she began to grow slightly suspicious.

"Luna Fall." Glynda spoke again, eyeing the girl. No matter what she thought of the student, she knew Luna, under normal circumstances, shouldn't have been anywhere like this. She was usually chipper, hyperactive, easygoing. The Luna right before her looked like she just ran a marathon twice before coming here. Maybe it was just the nerves? This was going to be her first non-written exam since coming here, and a display of her skills at that. "Are both students prepared to fight?"

"Heh, you bet." Cardin grinned with a nod, easing his mace on his shoulder. This was going to be all too good for the head bully. This was going to turn out even better than he thought, he just knew it!

"I'm... I'm ready..." Luna huffed.

"If... If you're sure." Glynda said as she backed into the shadows from the stage. "The match will end when one person either forfeits or their aura drops to the red zone. You may begin when ready!

And just like that, Luna ride to someone fire only to produce a puff of smoke. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with herself. Her whole body felt ready to fall asleep at any given notice, her body weighed nearly a ton, and her vision for crying out loud! Everywhere she looked, everything seemed to be twisting and turning, She could only wobble side to side as she slowly walked forward, a slight bit of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth which upon closer inspection students could see it was lava. And the only thing she wanted to know right now was why were there three Cardins at once?

"Ok seriously, something is wrong with her." Yang mumbled, feeling a little tense as she watched this. Luna was definitely sick and feeling weak. Cardin was somebody that would love to take advantage of any situation like this. It was a match made in Heaven from a god with a cruel sense of humor.

'Hmph, you feeling okay there?" Cardin chuckled with a teasing grin. It took Luna another several seconds until she was finally up close to Cardin himself, forcing her head up to look at him and his smug reaction at her face. "You're looking a little pale there, bud."

"Tell you what, since I'm such the noble sort of guy, I'll let you have the first shot, ok?"

"You...You asked for it..." She huffed as she brought her fist back. Doing something as simple as that was taking all her strength, her arms wobbling in place as she struggled to stay in a fighting stance. A snail's pace still would've been more than enough time to dodge, because by the time Luna managed to take so much as a single strike in front of her, Cardin sidestepped to her left with ease, watching the girl herself practically fall forward as she stumbled a little ahead.

The sight of such a sloppy display started earning a few chuckles and laughs from the audience, something her friends started to worry over. If it wasn't going to get her into any sort of trouble, Yang would've loved nothing more than to knock the lights out of these jerkish students. Laughing at someone losing a fight was insulting enough, doing it to someone who was obviously sick and losing was flat out horrible.

"Wow, really great move there." Cardin complimented sarcastically. "My turn."

WHAM*

"Grah!" It was almost hard to watch the scene as Luna grobbled in pain. With one solid swing as if he was holding a baseball bat, Cardin smashed the side of Luna's face, sending the sickly girl stumbling a good several feet away as more beads of sweat leapt from her face.

"Luna!" Blake called out, nearly taking a run for it until Weiss grabbed her shoulder.

"You can't interfere with a match or else Glynda will mark it against the entire team!" She warned. Blake muttered to herself with disgust. She wanted to help Luna more than anything, marks be damned. But she didn't want to risk the chance of ruining the scores or grades of the rest of her teammates if they didn't want to ruin their grades.

Which was the sad yet ironic dilemma crossing all of their minds. Looking at one another, all four of Luna's teammates wanted to help but stayed for the exact same reason. They wanted to help but they didn't want to risk ruining the score of their fellow teammates. Even if they announced that they should help it, if someone didn't want to, they might simply agree with it out of pressure, practically forcing them to cooperate even if they didn't want to.

Which was ironic since they all did.

At the same time, Luna sluggishly pulled herself to her feet, arms still drooped over as she panted.

He knocked her away from him letting out a cocky laugh. Sticking with one of the lessons Hazel always taught about never backing down, she looked up at Cardin and much to everyone's surprise she smirked, ready to fight Cardin hand to hand until she won.

"Pffft, are you serious?!" Cardin burst out with laughter, growing louder as he saw Luna wobble forward with each step. "You gotta be kidding me, I mean really gotta be kidding me." Luna didn't care how much he laughed or the students around the arena did, she just refused to back down. With all of her might, and a deep breath, she pulled back her fist and struck as harsh as she could toward's Cardin's face.

Which he easily sidestepped again and ended with kneeing her right in the center of her stomach.

"Urgh-!" Luna grobbled as she clenched her stomach

"You got to be kidding me here, you think you can beat me?, look at you your just a weak, useless….." Cardin paused kneeling down toward her "…..animal"

Luna smirked again ignoring the pain the best she could as she got up "hehe think what you want Cardin….." she wheezed holding her stomach "but I will not lose to an asshat like you"

Reaching into her back pocket she grabbed a red dust crystal "I wanted to save this for a real problem but sadly for you, YOU, PISSED, ME, OFF!!!" She ate the dust crystal feeling the energy rising in her

"THE HELL are you crazy eating that I'll kill you"

Luna's eyes began to glow red and Blake felt a familiar feeling looking at this, Luna's skin on her face and arms began to change taking on the appearance of scales and Cardin could have sworn he saw a dragon standing behind her as she stared into his very soul.

"What the hell the poison should be making it impossible for her to fight" Cardin thought fear slowly rising as he looked at this flaming tiger faunes staring at with the intent to kill

Leaping toward Cardin shooting fire from her feet Luna punches him straight in the gut cracking his armor and sending him flying off the stage looking up at the screen she saw her worst nightmare Cardins aura meter wasn't in the red.

The crowed was speechless not only did Luna turn things around and throw a punch that hard but she also did the impossible and ate a fricken dust crystal those thought were quickly replaced with that of disgust

As the energy started dying down and the poison began taking affect again Luna grobbled as she clenched her stomach, Luna could feel the bile rising from her stomach as it slowly crept up her throat, trying everything she could from losing it.

She failed.

"Blaarrgh!" The shock from the audience quickly turned to disgust as Luna lost her previous dinner, and perhaps some bits from her lunch, on the floor before her. The only one taking any joy out of this sight was Cardin himself who was lying off the stage injured. Everything was going beyond what he anticipated, and the more laughter this girl earned, the more embarrassment and humiliation it would bring later.

"Dude, that's sick!"

"I can't believe she threw up in front of everyone!"

"Why is she even in this academy?"

All around them the murmurs and gossip continued to grow as the members of Team RSYBL and JNPR were forced to watch as there friend suffered.

Luna tried to stay conscious trying her best but in doing so she forgot to try stand causing her to fall on the floor, Cardin took advantage of this hoping back on the stage walking up to Luna

"Be sure you spread the message to anyone else with bright ideas." He ordered, preparing to strike across Luna's face like a golfer. "Anyone who cross me, gets CRUSHED!" And with an inner rage erupting, he swiped across Luna's face as hard as he-

whap*

"Yeow!" Cardin yelped with a sudden jump as something slapped his arm out of nowhere. Much to his surprise, and that of just about everyone else, especially Luna, there was Glynda Goodwitch herself, with her recently-used riding crop in her right hand and her scroll in the other.

"The match is cancelled, Cardin." She announced as she quickly turned the settings off. With the lights coming on and the screens going blank.

"Oh come on, you can't call it off just because she puked!" Cardin complained. He was just seconds away from bashing her face in and, granted it wouldn't have been as severe with her aura protecting her, getting away with it! "I bet she's just faking it!" There were several moans and boos going along the crowd which the teacher ignored, squatting down to her feet as she felt around her face for a temperature.

"That's definitely a high temperature..." She commented to herself as the sound of running footsteps could be heard

"Luna!" Several of her friends called over as they ran to her side. Immediately, Blake helped her up to her feet, preferring to keep her standing straight in case carrying her resulted on her throwing up on herself. The result didn't appear to matter too much though as she let out a disgusting dry heave, covering her mouth with her open hand.

"Oh god..." She groaned, trying to keep the room from spinning in her vision.

"I can't believe you would try to attend a physical exam in your sickened state like this, miss Fall." Glynda said with a disappointing tone. "If you were sick, you should've just said as such."

"Mmh..." Luna mumbled to herself for a short while before turning her attention to the teacher. "You wouldn't have believed me if I did." Said Luna trying to pull off a cocky smirk "I mean the fire maniac with a temperature, who'd believe that hehe….. Oh god!!"

"Ah-" The student made her speechless. She wasn't ignorant to the prying eyes she had, she wasn't surprised at finding out Glynda had it out for her. She knew about it all and tolerated it up to this very day, There was no saying if she remained silent just for appearance sakes or to throw Glynda off, she knew everything the teacher had against her and didn't show any signs of resisting because of it, all for the sake of keeping her, what she believed to be, purposes there a secret. "Urgh-!" Luna groaned as she felt another try heave, this one feeling accompanied by a bit more this time.

"I'll go get a bucket." Ruby said as she quickly ran off to the side to find something in case Luna threw up again.

"Come on, I'll help you guys back to the dorm." Yang offered as she lead the way with Luna!s friends trailing behind her.

"I suppose I should call a janitor..." Glynda mumbled with a small sigh.

All of them had their worries about her, even those that didn't show it like Weiss herself. For any student to come out like this, even if they were sick, Weiss had to give respect for. Granted, if she was sick to a point as disgusting as throwing up everywhere, she would've stayed in bed to rest, but the idea was still the same. Luna had a bit more determination in her studies than she gave her credit for.

Out of the many feet that walked alongside Luna though, Pyrrha was the one to notice a missing pair walking along the rest of them. Looking back as she walked, her eyes widened slightly at the sight of a downtrodden Jaune standing alongside the smug-looking Cardin, the bully harshly patting his back while Jaune looked away, sneezing again, with regret. It didn't take a genius to put the dots together, adding up Jaune's strange behavior this morning,

There was no way. There was no way she could believe it. Had Jaune really done something to cause all this? Was Cardin so intimidating to him that he actually double crossed everyone and tried to poison a friend of theirs? Or was it worse than she thought? Did Jaune actually try to befriend Cardin just to do anything he said in the hopes of getting him to stop picking on him? That was the worst way to do things!

Then again, maybe he was just desperate? He didn't want anyone else's help anymore, and Pyrrha decided to respect his wishes with that. If this was his way of dealing with his own problems, then maybe she was wrong about someone like Jaune. On second thought, why should she care anymore? He betrayed his friends with his own two hands, and all he had to blame was himself from this point forward.

She wanted nothing more to do with him.

"Blaaagh!" The sound of Luna throwing up could be heard from the other side of the doorway to the bathroom. Luna's friends and teammates looking on at the door. some with concern, others disgusted, all of them confused. The only one capable of comforting Luna at all was her somewhat-tiger-mother, Corrán. It was days like this Corrán hated the most, unable to do anything for her young cub except rest by her side as Luna lied against her fur, occasionally licking her in the hopes of comforting her young one.

At least this time Luna made sure the door was locked, not wanting a repeat of a month ago.

"There's no way Luna could've gotten sick so conveniently before her match with Cardin." Yang scowled crossing her arms.

"What? You think he poisoned her somehow?" Ruby wondered.

"I doubt it would've been that simple, " Weiss added to the conversation, "he would've had to get close without arousing suspicion. There's no way he could've slipped by her."

"How about you Blake? Was Luna usually sick like this?" Nora asked her friend. As the groups became closer to one another, Blake delved a little into her past and relationship with Luna. While she only detailed half the facts compared to what she told her team, she did reveal enough to let the others know that she and Luna almost grew up together, meeting at least twice a month.

Sadly, Blake could only shrug as she leaned against the wall. "I wouldn't know to be honest. I only hung out with her over a weekend every month. She only ever got sick at least twice during one of our hangouts, and with nearly six years worth of visits, that's not that often."

"Blaaaaagh!" The sound of Luna's barfing interrupted the small meeting the group was having.

"Hey Loony, you okay in there?" Yang asked slightly worried, knocking on the door a couple times.

"I can taste this morning's breakfaaast! Ooph-! Blaaaaagh!"

"Yeah she's okay."

"So what are we going to do about Cardin?" Pyrrha asked around. "It's fortunate Luna was allowed a makeup exam after tomorrow, but that doesn't mean he won't try to do something like this again."

"Well, you shot down breaking his arms and legs, so I say we break his neck!" Nora suggested with as much as excitement as yesterday's leg-breaking suggestion.

"Nora, that's gonna kill him." Ren remarked with a slight roll of his eyes.

"Oh... Then we break his spine!"

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea..." Yang mumbled to herself. "Look, whatever happened, all we need to do is keep Cardin away from Luna until the next exam is over. I doubt he'll bother with her after unless he has an audience."

"But that doesn't help us if we don't know how he did it to begin with." Weiss pointed out. "He managed to somehow poison her without any of us knowing, so whatever he did he could easily do again."

Suffice to say, that was an extremely well-made and troubling point. None of them could figure out how Cardin managed to do this in the first place. He used nothing but brute force constantly to bully and harrass people around him, and with somebody like that there's no way he had some sort of semblance that gave him some sneaking advantage. It was just as unlikely that he had some other semblance that could make her sick either, otherwise he'd be using it constantly to bully anyone around him, even Yang.

knock*

knock*

Like moths to all eyes were brought to the sound of someone knocking on the front door. Being the closest to it, Pyrrha took it upon herself to check out the mystery knocker was, opening it just wide enough for herself to see, only to grow surprisingly disgusted by the sight of the person.

"Uhh h-hey Pyrrha." Jaune greeted nervously. "There's some medicine for Luna-"

WHAM*

In the blink of an eye, Pyrrha snatched the mysterious green bottle out of Jaune's hands before slamming the door shut, not giving Jaune a chance to let so much as a toe within the dorm's room.

To him, it was because of how he acted yesterday. He knew he was a huge jerk, perhaps half as much as Cardin, after he yelled at her about bothering him and wanting to deal with his own problems. In reality, he was completely unaware of Pyrrha's suspicions that he was somehow responsible for what was wrong with Luna.

She could tolerate his annoyance and refusal to accept her help. She would never tolerate the idea of someone poisoning one of her friends just because someone told her to.

"Who was at the door?" Ren asked before noticing Pyrrha's stern look.

"Wrong door." She sputtered, earning some curious and confusing looks from those around her as she walked over to the bathroom Luna was occupying. "Luna? I got some medicine for you." She said rolling the bottle under the door's frame. She didn't want to risk the chance of anyone seeing the tiger present behind Luna herself, provided she wasn't well enough to actually send her away at the moment. Even if she did, she'd rather not enter the room or open the door to the smell of fresh vomit going off every several minutes.

"Thank you..." She could be heard replying. The group waited several moments to see if there was some sort of reaction from from the sickly girl. What they got wasn't too surprising. "Bleeegh! It tastes like a jar full of sweat! Blaaaagh!" She whined throwing up after.

"What the heck was that stuff?" Yang asked curiously.

"Some sort of nausea medicine," Pyrrha replied, "I think it'll help her with her vomiting."

"I"m more concerned she knows what a jar full of sweat tastes like?" Weiss commented, briefly pondering the reason in her mind before shriveling with disgust. "On second though I don't wanna know..."

"Did the person at the door give it to you?" Blake looked back to the entrance as she asked. "Who was it?"

"Hmph, no one important." Pyrrha put it bluntly. Her response raised more questions than answers, but nobody cared for it. They were just glad Luna had some form of medicine at this point to deal with her constant throw-ups.

At the same time, Jaune kept his head down as he heard the conversations beyond the door. Pyrrha was really mad, there was no way he couldn't see it. He felt like such a screw-up at that moment. Not considering the fact she knew he was responsible, she had every reason to be mad at him. It wasn't enough for just the previous reasons either. Right now he was too afraid to confront the entire group and tell of him of his problems. With everyone in the room at once, there was no way he'd be able to keep from confessing what Cardin tasked him with.

Even if he somehow managed to keep his composure, there was no way he wouldn't be able to tell everyone about Cardin. They knew he was a bully and he wanted nothing more than to see him get his comeuppance. He just couldn't risk the chance of him ratting out Jaune's secret to Glynda and getting him expelled!

He spent his whole life admiring and wanting to follow in his family's footsteps. Growing up with such heroes, he would hear on and on about the heroic exploits of his father, the grand adventures from his grandfather, and the tales of epicness of his great grandfather! What did Jaune have compared to any of that? Nothing! He had absolutely nothing!

He wanted to make a name for himself, being known out there in the world. Everywhere he went he wanted to hear people say "Hey look, it's Jaune, the Hero of Vale!" or something like "Is that Jaune? I heard he took down seven Nevermores without breaking a sweat!", and the works. Out of all of this, he just wanted someone to give him a little recognition.

Maybe that's what drove him to be Cardin's lacky? Maybe it was greed? He was so desperate to do anything to stay within Beacon that he would turn on his friends. Maybe it was loneliness? No, scratch that. How could he feel lonely before this started? He had great friends that supported him, faults and all. They liked him for who he was no matter what he did or how many times he screwed up. No matter how many times he failed, they always praised his determination and courage.

But he couldn't look at himself now, or his runny nose. He had nothing. He felt like nothing. And as far as he knew, he was nothing. So he did the only thing a nothing like him could do, and walked down the hallway in shame.

To nothing.

"Yes students, the Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful." Glynda went on as she lead the students through the beautiful red forest.

The next day was like many of the other ones the students of Beacon were greeted to, with another class and another field trip like they usually took once a week. Today's trip was more literal in the field of things as today they found themselves exploring through the beautiful forest of Forever Fall, the name given for it's Fall-colored leaves year-around.

Thankfully, today also started much more brightly for many of the students, especially Team RSYBL's members. Bright and early, first thing in the morning, Luna managed to greet her friends with the same enthusiastic happy smile on her face that she always greeted with, as well as the quirky shenanigans that usually ensued that morning. Needless to say, given the amount of vomiting she went through the previous day, losing a day's worth of contents from her stomach, she was starving that morning. Fortunately, she managed to keep everything down just fine. Whatever medicine Pyrrha took from Jaune proved to be super effective for Luna's ailment.

He wasn't off the hook with her though. All throughout the morning breakfast, she didn't so much as glance in his direction as they spoke, even though Jaune remained silent for most of the morning anyway. When it came time to question him about his whereabouts the other day, he went on with how he was just busy gathering everyone's homework that afternoon since the seven students were caught up with Luna's sickened state. It was believable for the most part, although they were confused as to why it took him till late in the evening to return, Jaune being forced to go on about how he forgot everyone's classes and had to relook. Many of his friends acknowledged this reasoning whereas Pyrrha just scoffed.

The only amount of decency she had for him was what kept her from blowing the lid on Jaune's secret involvement with Luna's sickness. She hated him more than anything for it, but she couldn't bring herself to rat him out like that. If he did it again, then of course she would've been more than happy to but she was still too respectful of him. She knew for a fact he'd end up with several bruises from both teams if any of the others found out about his secret, and despite everything he's done up to this point, she didn't want to be responsible for any injuries he suffered in turn.

That was the level of cruelty that Cardin cherished, one she would never stoop to.

"But we are not here to sight-see." Glynda continued. "Professor Peaches asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside the forest. And I'm here to make sure you don't die while doing so." After another minute's worth of walking she finally came to a halt in the middle of the clearing, the perfect spot to view all of her students as they went about their tasks. "Each of you is to gather a jar's worth of red sap. However, the forest is full of creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates"

Luna wasn't really paying attention to what Glynda was saying all she knew was Get tree sap for the assignment as well as for Corrán and maybe get back at Cardin for the embarrassment he caused her

That was the one dilemma she had to face all morning. Throughout her day, thanks to the mysterious illness she suffered the other day, she's been getting teased and made fun of nonstop. From "Vomit Girl" to "Drooly", the insults and names never ceased. That's not even counting the near hundreds of random people just snickering in the hallways as she passed as they poked fun of her, all of which Luna was too aware of.

She didn't let it get to her though. Not out of self-respect or anything, she was just aware and predicting this sort of reaction from her fellow Hunters and Huntresses. Nothing but scum who would go around and poke fun of people for reasons beyond their control, whether or not it embarasses them. They were worse than animals in a way, at least they didn't go around making fun of their own kind due to some disability or something.

Not counting cartoons, anyway.

Seeing Luna zone out Blake patted her friend on the shoulder "Hey Luna you ok"

"Yeah, I'm good Let's go Blake!" Luna quickly said, grabbing Blake by the wrist before pulling her along in a running sprint.

"W-Wait, not so fast!" Whatever was up with Luna she needed to find out. Given how spaced Luna was acting though, they definitely needed somewhere unoccupied.

"Huff, I can never get a read on that one..." Glynda sighed to herself as she returned to the rest of the class. "We'll rendezvous here at four o'clock. Stay safe, and have fun."

Fun was what most kids did, and fun was what most of them planned on doing during their time there. For some, it came from simply hanging out with their teammates and others around the schools as they explored a little of the woods while doing their assignments. For others, it was Cardin enjoying the sight of Jaune carrying his stuff for him along with the rest of his team's jars.

It didn't matter to Pyrrha how much Jaune refused to stand up, she still felt a little sorry for how pushed he was getting. She explored the woods for a few seconds until she found the leader of Jaune's team, the leader herself being assisted with Yang as she carefully filled the jar at a measured level.

"Excuse me, Ren?" Pyrrha called as she approached.

"Yes Pyrrha is something wrong?" Ren asked as he continued gathering his sample.

"Aren't you the least bit curious or worried as to why Jaune's helping Cardin with the assignment?"

The question earned her a few heads turning her way, specifically Yang's and Ruby who was approaching the group with more jars.

"We don't know what's going on either, but he said he could handle it on his own." Ruby replied, trading her empty jar for the next full one Weiss handed her.

"And you let him go just like that?!"

"It's not like we wanted him to or anything." Ren retorted as he organized the box of jars. "But he kept insisting he needed to do it."

"He wouldn't even let me deck the guy in the gut." Yang growled irritated. "I know that guy had something to do with Luna getting sick, I wanna smash the truth out of him!" It was fortunate the three were preoccupied with their assignments, otherwise the small frown growing on Pyrrha's face would've drawn suspicion.

"Well... W-What would you have done if someone else had did it?" She asked uneasily.

"Trust me, when it comes to Yang, it wouldn't matter." Ruby responded in turn looking back. "And honestly, i wouldn't blame her. None of us are going to be fine until we figure out how Cardin poisoned Luna."

"Yeah speaking of being fine, you might wanna go check up on Luna." Yang suggested pointing down a path. "I think somethings wrong. I think she said something about a tiger?"

"T-Tiger?!" Pyrrha eeped. None of the three could catch a glance of the panicked expression on Pyrrha's face before she dashed down the pathway towards her remaining team. All this did do was grow curious faces on the three members left behind.

At the same time, coming up along the path, Pyrrha was greeted with the sight of a frantic Luna and a nervous Blake trying to keep the situation under control. "What's going on?"

"Nnngh, its the sap!" Luna squeaked. It was at that time Pyrrha could finally see bobbing up and down with her hands on her shadow. It was as if she was doing push ups with magic. She didn't need Luna's following explanation to understand what was behind all this. "It's driving Corrán nuts!" As if to confirm this, there was a brief sight of ears popping out of Luna's shadow, followed by the pleading whine of a tiger begging for a treat.

"I thought you had her under control?" Blake began to worry as she attempted to keep the tiger in Luna's shadow, just like how Luna was doing everything in her power to do the same.

"I usually do, but she goes crazy for this sap whenever she's near it!" Luna yelped "Someone really needs to give her some, like now!"

"I sent Nora off to get some a few minutes ago. She should be coming back anytime soon now." Blake stated, looking around for any sign of her returning.

"Wait, you sent Nora out to collect the sap?" Pyrrha questioned, earning a slightly worried look from Blake.

"Yeah... Why?"

Uuuuuuuuuuurp!*

"Ah, that hit the spot." A satisfied and happy Nora sighed, wiping the remaining sap from her mouth.

"Noraaaa!" Luna mumbled. "I needed that stuff for Corrán!" The mere mention of the fluffable tiger made Nora's eyes bug out.

"What? Corrán? Is she alright?!" She panicked.

"Yes Nora, she-" Luna paused as a sudden idea came to her mind. "I-I mean no, she's not, she's terribly sick!"

"Terribly si-mmph!" Blake's repeated confusion earned her a hand covering her mouth as Luna continued.

"Seriously, she's incredibly sick! She needs the sap stuff to make her all better!" Pyrrha understood where Ruby was going with this as she saw the humorous state she put Nora in.

"OHMIGOSH! Why didn't you say so!?" Nora screeched pulling her hair in a panic. "Hang on Corrán, I'll be right back!" Faster than they could blink Nora vanished from their eyes, leaving only a trail of dust in her path as she disappeared into the forest.

"That girl really is motivated when she needs to be..." Pyrrha commented as she went back to Luna.

"Anyway, is there anything we can do to help?"

At the same time, the four key members of the Bully Society were lounging around under the majestic Forever Fall trees, having the time of their life. There was nothing like the nice comfort that came from being able to lounge around all day while someone else did all the work for them. They could just rest, lay back, enjoy the finer things in life, and know that no matter what sort of assignments were given to them, they could always rely on somebody to take care of it for them.

That person was Jaune Arc.

As shocking as it was to say, Jaune was a little less for wear when it came to their tasks. Numerous homework assignments needed, sharpening and cleaning their weapons, paying for all the snacks they requested throughout the school day, all of it was becoming a bit too much for the young desperate boy.

And that was just the stuff he was forced to do this morning! Don't get him started on the nightmares he had to endure yesterday from Cardin's team. As of right now, he was just returning after a long and grueling process of collecting tree samples for Cardin's entire team, including himself. To make the process more annoying and irritable for him, he also had to acquire a sixth jar for an unknown reason, the process still taking nearly five minutes at a time to collect each jar.

It was a process that was slowly turning his mind to mush, and not helping the allergies building up in his already running nose. By the time he got back to the group he was nothing short of exhausted, collapsing in the spot in the middle of the clearing Cardin's team was relaxing.

"Ugggh!" He groaned as he fell.

"Hey, great work Jauney boy." Cardin congratulated as he walked over to his fallen servant. "Now that wasn't too hard, was it?"

"Ngh... I think this stuff is making my cold worse..." He sniffled.

"Great, great, great." Cardin completely ignored his state of being. "So Jaune, you're probably asking yourself, "why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there are only five of us"?"

"That is among the various questions I've been asking for the last several days, yes." He moaned getting back to his feet achely.

"Well, come with me and you'll find out." The grin growing on his face told Jaune what he was already aware of.

"Oh..." This was bad.

It was only a few short yards before the remainder of Cardin's group lead Jaune to the cliff of the hillside they were on, staying low to the ground as they kept themselves hidden behind some of the tall red grass. Cardin was the only one of the four who stuck himself up a little higher as he looked closely over the hill, all waiting on their dependable Jaune to crawl over to his side, where Jaune caught a glimpse of what excited them so much.

The same excitement would be replaced by fear for only him.

Below the clearing, he saw the numerous and friendly faces of his fellow teams and friends, or friend-ish on some cases for those who were still mad at him. Up ahead he could see Ren, Yang, Ruby and Weiss diligently working as they collected the last of the samples. With Weiss at the head of the order, she wiped the sweat from her brow as she nodded back to Yang, confirming their completion of the task at hand. At the same time, Luna, Phyrra, Blake and Nora was a little less than prepared. The poor faunes girl seemed to be frantically pushing down her shadow, as Blake and Pyrrha stod close in the hopes of trying to help her.

"I swear I'm starting to get a work out from this!" Luna whined as her face twitched, just audible enough for Cardin's team to hear.

"Well what do ya know? Little Fall giving into her animal instincts." Cardin chuckled, not knowing the true extent of Luna's dismay. "This is going to be fun."

"Um... fun?" Jaune gulped. Cardin always meant the opposite to whenever he said something was going to be fun, it really wasn't. It was going to be terrible.

"Payback-fun, Jauney boy." He specified, practically whacking Jaune as he patted him on the back.

"You... want to get back at Pyrrha and Blake for class the other day ago..."

"It's like I told you before Jaune, no one gets away with humiliating me." He glared back at the trio of girls who were still waiting for Nora. "It's time someone taught the red head and the Faunus-lover what happens when you mess with me. It's just now, we're going to get a three-for-one special with all three of them in the same place." And with a look of satisfaction, he pulled out another small box from behind him.

"Alright boys, last night ol' Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of rapier wasps. And now, we're going to put 'em to good use." Only now was Jaune regretting the multiple times he was right in his life. Every time he was, it usually ended up being bad. All he could do was chuckle nervously and pray this wasn't going as expected. "Now, according to the essay Jaune wrote for me a few days ago, these nasty little things loooove sweets. So I'm thinking, why let the animal have all the embarrassment when we can give it to all three of them!"

"Heh heh, with all the bees chasing them around the forest and the sap covering them, nobody will let them live this down for a long time!" Russel commented as he laughed.

"And that's where you're gonna come in, Jauney boy." He announced, looking back to the one tool that would make this all possible. "We're gonna teach them a lesson they'll never forget." He tossed the sixth extra jar into Jaune's hands. "Now, hit 'em with the tree sap! Either that, or I'll have a good chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

This was it. This was where it was all leading up to. What choice did he have anyway? None! The answer to all this was pretty simple, right? All he had to do was throw the jaw at the trio of friends, all of whom were already frantic and panicking as they tried to help their beloved friend, Luna, the girl who had already suffered humiliation and embarrassment from yesterday's sparring session, and the girl who seemed to be having some sort of reaction to the surrounding tree sap within the woods.

He didn't need to think that hard on it, right? It was either continue doing what they wanted, or be expelled for good and not only be considered the one failure of his family, but tarnish the rest of his family name with his illegal entry. It wouldn't just ruin his life, it would destroy the work and credibility that the rest of his family worked so hard to build.

Besides, they all deserved it, right? He just had to keep thinking of every reason behind it as he prepared to throw. First there was Luna, the hyperactive mystery girl who was rather unusual in her own way. From social mannerisms to her history for the last few years, there wasn't the least normal thing about her. And being normal was a sin around here...right?

Then there was Blake, the best friend who always stuck by Luna's side through the bitter end. What a horrible thing for a person to do! To be so loyal to another friend that they would stay by their side no matter what, always being with them and supporting them through their most troubling endeavors.

And then there was Pyrrha, the worst of them all. The girl who was always nice, the girl who surpassed most of her studies, both mental and physical, and the only one to ever offer her assistances to Jaune in person, going out of the way of her own work to help him in his time of need. What did you call that? Decency. And decency was the absolute worse thing for any Hunter or Huntress in the world to have!

...Oh who was he kidding?

"...No." He turned away still feeling shameful. These weren't reasons to throw at them, they were the complete opposite! And all of it started out because Jaune was too afraid to say no to his constant bully, the only one whoever did deserve to have this jar thrown at them.

"What did you say?" Cardin grumbled walking over. There was no way he heard what he thought he heard.

"I said... No!" Jaune repeated. Cardin was bigger than him, stronger than him, and tougher than him. But there was no way he was going to betray his friends again. With nothing more than anger in his heart, at those who bullied him and himself, he tossed his problems away behind him, along with the jar.

Only to realize too soon of the Cardin the jar landed on.

Naturally everyone was speechless. It was about time someone like Jaune had the guts to do something, and he had to go and waste them by doing something as stupid as this. Rubbing the sap a little to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, what was supposed to be Cardin's rage was replaced by a look of wicked glee. He didn't care what Jaune did, only that he now had an excuse for what he had to do next.

"Ohhh, Jauney boy... you shouldn't have done that." He warned. Jaune thought all too correctly at what was going to happen next as Cardin's friends grabbed him.

This was going to hurt.

Nsudndyd d

WHAM!*

"Oof!" Jaune groaned in pain as he was smacked to the ground again.

Well way to go Jaune, you finally have something to be proud of. You stuck to your guns, stood up against your bullies, and faced one of your many fears! He could tell in the future, he was going to look back on this day and tell his own kids how he heroically stood up against his bully, showed his guts of steel, and triumphed over the day!

Too bad, Cardin was most likely going to rip them out of him now.

There wasn't any fairness about it either, though if you were to ask Cardin he would say otherwise.

For once in both their lives, he wasn't about to beat the living snot out of Jaune for disobeying him.

He gave him the one simple order of throwing a jar of Forever Fall tree sap over Pyrrha, Blake, and Luna, the latter of who appeared to have some kind of reaction to it in the form of atracking the ground. Not to mention the fact she was already suffering embarrassment and ridicule from her fellow classmates for reasons Jaune was still trying to comprehend. Her embarrassing display at yesterday's sparring exam would never be lived down.

To them at least.

And what did Jaune do instead of that? He stood his ground for the first time. He couldn't go through with it. How could he? None of those girls were mean, none of them deserved any ounce of the tree sap over them. If anything, Jaune was the one who would rather poor it over himself if it meant sparing them. Instead of that, he did something he nor Cardin had ever expected, which entailed throwing the tree sap over at Cardin himself, covering his chest with the sticky pink substance.

So hooray for that! That was a proud milisecond moment of Jaune's life. Unfortunately his one moment of pride was cut short by the violent thrashing of Cardin and his goons. The smug bully was actually taking more enjoyment out of this than he thought he would. Thanks to Jaune splattering the sap on him, it gave him a very reasonable excuse to continue his beating quota.

With another cheesy grin, he lifted Jaune by the collar of his shirt again before smacking him down once more. "You know that really wasn't smart, Jauney boy." He said cracking his knuckles. By now Jaune's face was covered in bruises and a cut lip, none of which mattered to the young Arc as he continued to stand his ground. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny, tiny, pieces."

"Ngh..." Jaune grunted as he grabbed Cardin's hand weakly. "I don't care what you do to me anymore, I'm not gonna let you mess with my friends anymore!" Out of the many faces Cardin made throughout this beating, this was the first one that looked relatively surprised.

"You think talking like that makes you tough?" He yelled smacking him back down to the ground.

"I'm going to show you exactly what makes a man tough, Jauney boy."

This was going to be painful.

Meanwhile, at the same time, Luna was having her own predicament to deal with. Coming to Forever Fall forest was a pleasant experience at first after all the trouble she's had to deal with since yesterday. Of all the times for her to get sick, it had to have happened on the same day she had a sparring exam in front of the entire school. She felt dizzy, nauseated, unbalanced, hot, sweaty, and delirious all at the same time. It would've been enough to just deal with that, but out of all the hundreds of students she had to go against, it happened to be against Cardin Winchester him, the number one bully of the school.

Not surprisingly, he didn't take her state of being lightly, or show any sympathy or mercy to the sickened girl. He pounded her across the small arena throughout the exam, gloating and teasing her at every corner as she weakly tried to fight back. She did get the really good punch in but that took all her power.

Eventually it got to the point where her sickness caught up to her, thanks to the assisted energy drain that dropped her to her knees. With little willpower to fightback, she collapsed to her knees as she lost her breakfast, yesterday's dinner, and part of yesterday's lunch all over the floor from her mouth, right in front of hundreds of students, her friends and teammates included, who continued teasing her and poking fun at her sickness all morning.

Of course, all her friends were suspicious of these turn of events. For Luna to just coincidentally get sick right at the same time for her match with Cardin was all too perfectly timed. All of them assumed correctly in that Cardin had something to do with all of this. The only thing one of them, Pyrrha, did know though was who was responsible for directly poisoning Luna.

Jaune Arc.

She wished endlessly that what she saw was just her mind playing tricks on her, that she was just getting ahead of herself since she was more preoccupied and worried for her friend. The way Cardin praised Jaune after the match, the guilty look on Jaune's face as RSYB and NPR helped their sick friend to bed, there was no way he wasn't a part of it. Sure, Cardin indefinitely bullied Jaune into doing it somehow, not knowing about Cardin's eavesdropping on the rooftop the day before the match, but that was still no excuse. She hated herself for ever thinking Jaune was different than the rest of them, thinking he was more professional than the rest of the everyday students at school. To think she actually cared about him for thinking he had troubles of his own to deal with.

And here she was, thinking incorrectly. She saw Jaune as someone different and he immediately proved her wrong. He gave into the bullying, he gave in to Cardin's demands, and he went as far as to follow along with whatever plan he pulled that involved poisoning Luna. Now, she couldn't care less about what happened to Jaune, no matter how much it hurt her.

Besides, right now, he wasn't the one that needed help, not that she knew at least. Apparently, the trees within Forever Fall Forest had a strange attraction for the numerous Grimm surrounding it. They loved the smell of the sweet sap, the bitter sweetness it gave with each taste. It was like bringing a bucket of fish to swim in a pool filled with worms, the bait was endless and the temptation plentiful. There was no way any of the creatures could resist the alluring scent of Forever Fall tree sap.

Unfortunately, that included a certain Grimm by the name of Corrán, Luna's guardian and pet since childhood that's literally been a part of her since she merged with Luna's shadow. No matter how much willpower Luna exerted, the orders she constantly threw at her, she wasn't staying at bay. She wanted the tree sap, she NEEDED the tree sap, it was just too good to resist! It was taking a combination of Luna's physical and willpower, along with Blake's and Pyrrha's assistance in trying to push it into the shadow. She had enough willpower to keep her from appearing from her shadow, but there was only so long she could maintain control before losing it.

"I'm back!" Nora quickly announced, panting out of breath. The only one who loved the tree sap almost as much as Corrán was Nora Valkyrie, the hammer-weilding powerhouse of team JNPR. She loved the sweet-tasting sap, she craved it. The only other thing she cherished more though was the adorable bag of hugs known as Corrán, the kitty she would do just about anything for for it's love and affection. So it was no surprise that she returned with nearly a dozen jars filled with the delicious sap, only half of them half empty due to the irresistible urge Nora had to taste some of it.

That alone was nothing short of shocking given Nora's love for the sap. It didn't really help that in order to get Nora to get the sap and actually return with full jars that Luna had to lie and tell her Corrán needed it for medicine. "Is Corrán okay?!"

"Urgh- She's... NghhhAhhh!" Luna yelped as Corrán finally burst out of her shadow, Blake and Pyrrha both getting thrown back themselves. Normally the sight of any Grimm suddenly lunging at a teenager would terrify any youngster. Like everything else with Corrán, Nora just embraced it with an excited smile on her face, one that slowly dwindled as she realized the cat was about to body slam her.

THUMP*

"Ugh... Nora!" Luna shook the small dizziness that built up in her head, all her will returning to her in a rush, as she quickly checked on Nora herself.

The sight of it wasn't at all gruesome or terrifying. It was actually more of a sight of relief. There Nora lied, pinned down by Corrán, as she continued to chuckle and giggle as the tigers ticklishly licked around her. The jars were just about your everyday variety of jars, possibly more durable than the rest. Due to her haste of wanting to save Corrán as quickly as possible though, she failed to supply any way of actually closing the jars herself, and with the simple tackle of an excited tiger, the jars were tossed several feet in the air, splattering the jar's contests everywhere around and on top of Nora herself. Thankfully Corrán was more content with just licking the sap, whether or not Luna's own will played a factor in it, as she just licked up the tasty tree residue as opposed to possibly gobbling it along with Nora who continued to squirm.

"Ah- hahah- st-st-stop that tickles!" She squeaked, flailing her arms and kicking her legs top stop the monstrous creature. With the deed done and still enough jars lying around with just enough sap in most of them to complete the assignment, Luna let out a sigh of relief as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Phew, finally. I don't know how much longer I could've lasted with Corrán squirming." She commented.

"Tch-pfft -haahahah! Sp-ahaha-sp-speak for yourself! Hehehe!" Nora chuckled, doing everything she could to contain the immense laughter. There was little doubt anyone coming across the scene of a tiger having another student pinned down would incite a panic. Even with it's tail wagging with joy, it was still a Grimm, notorious enemy of Hunters and Huntresses everywhere.

"Well least she's finally calmed down." Blake smiled a little as she scratched the content tiger behind the ears.

"Do you think we should maybe keep some of the sap for her?" Pyrrha wondered scratching her chin in thought. "It might be a reliable way to keep Corrán under control in case something unexpected happens."

"I don't see why not." Luna nodded with a smile. "Besides, she loves this stuff, so it'll be a nice treat for her once in awhile." The trio's attention shifted back to the sight of Corrán as she finally let up from Nora, letting out a cat-like yawn as she stretched along the ground.

As for Nora herself, she was about as much as you could expect given what just happened to her. Getting back to her own feet, she was covered from head to toe in drool running across her entire body. Her eyes were practically bugged out along with her hair which was risen on all ends, all sticky from a mixture of the cat slobber and what little remains of the tree sap still in her hair. While most people would've been rather disgusted after what happened to them, Nora was more than thrilled at what just transpired, finally finding a means to get Corrán to play with her from now on instead of running away in fear.

"Huff... That was awesome." Nora squealed, still excited, as she wiped away what she could with the drool.

"Yeah, you might wanna find a way to dry off before we get back." Pyrrha replied as she examined Nora. "Otherwise you're going to need to find a way to explain why you're soaking wet..."

"Heh, I have a solution." Luna chuckled as she heated up her hands will smiling at Corrán. "Alright Corrán you got your treat, let's go." With the cubs command, having finally finished her stretching, the tiger stood up again on it's paws as it prepared to follow her command. But just as she was about to, Corrán's head shifted to the side as she gazed up the nearby hill, staring at it for a few seconds before grinding her teeth angrily.

"Grrrrrr!" She growled. Both Blake and Pyrrha were taken back slightly by this, being the first time they've ever seen the Grimm angry about something.

"Corrán?" Luna questioned, walking to her side to pet her head calmingly.

"What's wrong with her now?" Pyrrha asked, growing concerned about the Grimm's sudden aggression. Luna looked off in the same direction as the mighty tiger, having seen this kind of reaction numerous times, perking up her ears listening as best she could she figured out what Corrán was angry about.

"Something's wrong." Corrán merged back into Luna's shadow as Luna herself ran up the hill. The remaining three members looked at each other with unease before trailing along behind her.

A Grimm was something to be wary of, always being a symbol of death and destruction to those around them. So when a Grimm found something it's own self considered a threat, that could only mean trouble...

"Ought-!" Jaune coughed onto the ground, his cold making bits of drool slide a little down his chin. He didn't care anymore what happened to him. Cardin could beat him, heck, beat him to death at this rate, and he still wouldn't relent. He was going to be a true Hunter for once and stand face-to-face with his problems for the first time ever. If only it didn't hurt in the process, that would be a huge help.

"Oh Jauney boy, why must you be so difficult?" Cardin teased again with another crack of his knuckles. Any time Jaune took more than ten seconds to get back to his feet, Cardin's own teammates "helped" him up, standing him up by his arms until Jaune regained his balance, just so Cardin could knock him down again. It was really fun at first, at least to Cardin, yet even he was starting to get annoyed with Jaune's stubbornness. "All you have to do is throw the stupid sap Jaune.

Is that so hard to do? Hey, Russel, am I being unreasonable here?"

"Tch, doesn't seem unfair to me Cardin." He joked with a smug grin back.

"Gee, really?" Cardin crossed his arms in a playful manner.

"Hey Sky, Dove, do you think I'm being unreasonable?" Just like Russel, they replied with a joking demeanor.

"Not to me boss, I think you're being more than fair."

"If you ask me, I think Jaune's actually taking advantage of you myself!"

"Wow, what a mean thing to do Jaune." Cardin mocked, pretending to shake his head in a disapproving manner while lifting Jaune by his shirt's collar. "So I'm going to give you one last chance to redeem yourself Jaune. Do it!"

At the same time, Luna and her friends had gathered along the edge of the hill, only far enough for their heads to pop out and more than enough to see what was going on. While they didn't know the reasons behind all this, they could see enough to figure out what was causing Corrán to suddenly act aggressively. Apparently, whatever they were talking about, there was a lot of anger and frustration growing from the four bullies who continued to beat up the guilt-ridden Jaune, their negative emotions being sensed by the tiger Grimm moments ago.

While the majority of the group couldn't tell the reasoning behind this other than simple bullying, Pyrrha was the only one who truly found herself at a cross. Even after all that's been done, everything Jaune did that affected Luna and the rest of her team in turn, she just couldn't bear it. She couldn't stand the sight of watching another helpless student getting beaten up by the school's head bullies, watching them as they continued to laugh and torment someone weaker than them just for standing up to them. That wasn't stupidity or pride getting to him, that was someone full of regret that was trying to make amends.

That, was a Hunter.

"What the hells going on?!" Luna nearly growled, trying to contain her frustrations. It was one thing to watch Cardin pick on someone, it was entirely something else to watch a group of no-good Hunters pick on one single person.

"Oooh, I knew I should've broken their arms!" Nora grumbled. "That's it, new plan: I'm breaking their ribs!" She announced as she prepared to stand out. Much to the surprise of her and the rest of people there, she was halted by Pyrrha grabbing her wrist.

"Wait, Nora, girls, we can't rush in there." She stated, earning natural confused and perplexed expressions from her three friends.

"Why not? We could seriously save him in seconds!" It was the odds that Blake knew were in their favor. Each of the two members of team RSYBL and JNPR had skills that complimented each other, CRDL's only strength was brute force, so putting the two together made the odds very favorable.

"That's just it, he's not going to want our help." She retorted. "It's a pride thing, he's trying to stand up for himself."

"So what? We should just wait until they kill him before we help him?!" Luna stammered. She knew Hunters were trouble, but this was a far low even by her standards. Not only were they proving themselves to be cowards at this point, they didn't even care about doing the work anymore! At least with the people who only helped in front of an audience to show themselves off actually got the work done!

"No, I'm not saying we shouldn't help him, I just..." Pyrrha paused looking back to the fighting. Screw whatever Jaune's preferences were. if she couldn't think of anything else to do at this point, she would've more than gladly broken their arms by now with the help of her friends too. Cardin's bullying was going beyond her expectations, which were saying a lot since they were at the bottom for someone like him to begin with. She just needed another few moments to finally have a moment of revelation, a plan being organized within her own mind. "I have an idea!"

While said idea was being explained to the rest of the party, Jaune was struggling to stand before the bully himself. Every time he smacked him down he refused to lose conscious. Every time Cardin threatened him, he scoffed and spat in his direction, his spit now being mixed with a little bit of blood from his bleeding lip. Yet he stood his ground, breathing weaker with each and every breath. Cardin was actually surprised by how long Jaune was maintaining himself, his own knuckles actually starting to irritate him with all the beatings.

That's why it would be all the more satisfying once Jaune begged on his knees for forgiveness.

"Now, I'm going to ask you one more time Jaune, and for your sake, your answer better be "Yes sir"." Cardin warned, squeezing Jaune in his grip. "Do. It."

"Fuck... off..." Jaune muttered quietly. Whatever he said would determine if he survived the next few minutes or not. Cardin only grumbled at this as he shook Jaune awake some more.

"What was that?" Like before, Jaune squeezed his hands around the one Cardin was gripping him with, albeit weaker than before in all regards.

"I said... FUCK OFF!" Jaune shot back. "I don't care what you do to me, how long you plan on beating on me, I don't care for any of that. I am not going to end up as Trash like you!"

Silence. Sometimes it was a blessing in disguise, for others it was a result of the unexpected. For the five Hunters present, the four who became shocked at the words spoken, their silence was the only thing heard as they processed Jaune's exact words. Only now would Jaune see Cardin's bad side, the veins on his forehead tightening as his teeth clenched as tightly as his grip on Jaune.

"Well then, Jauney boy," Cardin said, pulling back his fist tightly, "let me show you what happens to Trash that plays on the curb!" And with a sudden roar, he launched his fist directly at Jaune's face, the latter preparing himself for all things to come.

Yet, what did come wasn't the painful reaction of Cardin's fist colliding to Jaune's skull. In fact, strangely enough, there wasn't any pain to come at all. Instead, for the first time since his beating started, he actually felt...okay. He actually started feeling less pain as a sudden light engulfed the rest of his entire body, the flash blinding the several nearby bullies and Cardin himself, as well as those of team BL and NP who were about to pull off their plan before the unexpected happened. It only brought warmth to him, blindness to those staring directly at it, and a strange high-pitched ringing sound that followed.

The only thing Jaune felt after was his back falling to the ground as the light diminished once more.

Compared to the numerous times he was too weak to get up on his own, he found his strength returning to him as all pain faded into nothingness. Looking at his own two hands, the weak and battered things that soaked up the first half of his beatings trying to defend himself, the bruises slowly disappeared to be replace by a comforting warmth. All pain had faded by the time the last of the blueness was over, all injuries present disappearing with the blinding light. The only thing that remained was his cold, as well as his future beatings that were sure to come.

"Agh!" Cardin yelled in pain, rubbing his sore hand. Jaune was about to enter a brand new world of pain that Cardin had decided to put off till now. Why was that? Because aside from every reason Cardin had till now, colliding his fist onto Jaune's face brought absolute pain to his whole knuckle, feeling like he just punched a wall made of bricks. It wasn't enough that it hurt his hand in the process, he didn't want to think about what it would've felt like if he didn't have his own aura protecting what little it could of Cardin's hand. At least unlike Jaune, he was going to enjoy the next bout of pain he was about to bring, kicking the fellow Hunter back down as he tried to get up. That didn't stop him from rising to his knees, looking on as he saw Cardin and the rest of his cronies in glaring down at him. "Let's see how much of a man you really are now, Jaune." His threat came all too soon at the sudden sound that followed.

"Grrrrrrrrr!" All Grimm sounded similar. Some had a higher pitched, others had a reverberating echo to their tone. This was one they had yet to hear before. This was a Grimm that towered at least twice in height compared to the rest of them, that took the form of a giant bear that slowly crept closer to the group of terrified students.

Back with the previous team, they all watched with expectancy and mild curiosity as Luna worked her magic, Blake staying close by to keep comfort and calm as Luna concentrated.

During the years Luna had stayed in Salem's domain more Grimm than just Corrán attached to her shadow one of them being a giant Ursa by the name of Freddie.

"Can you really control him all the way from here?" Blake asked. The last thing they needed was for Luna to lose control and have a monstrous Grimm devouring several students.

"Mmhh...ngh..." Luna moaned a little, pushing her hand against her head as she did. "Sort of. I can't control him step-by-step or anything like that, but I can direct him in what I want to do and everything. Like this!" Blake looked back at the bear the minute she said that. No sooner had Luna finished talking, the bear suddenly growled as it swiped it's paw at Dove, sending the teammate flying through the sky as his arms flailed, landing with a resounding thud and following groan upon immediately hitting the ground. "He still has full control of himself, but I can send him orders for what I want him to do with my will if I focus hard enough. Long as I keep sending him impulses like this, it'll be fine... but it gives me a growing headache the longer I do it like this."

"Don't worry, just stick to the plan and it should be over soon." Blake assured, trying to ease her friend's pain.

The plan continued to pull off as Pyrrha instructed and prayed would continue to go off. One by one, Cardin's teammates were either sent flailing several yards away from him, or sent screaming as they ran for their lives past the hidden girls, completely unaware of their presence. After Dove's flight, the next to get batted away was Sky, the teammate actually trying to strike at the bear from behind only to have Freddie swiftly dodge and return the blow with a kick. The third to finally be blown from the battle was Russel himself, Cardin's righthand man. Whereas the other two were batted away, Russel lost all bravery and courage as he ran away screaming after barely dodging the next two attacks from the terrifying Freddie, the other two beaten Hunters following behind him as they screamed for their lives.

That only left the most troublesome of bullies behind, Cardin, who fell to his back after backing away slowly in fear. He didn't even have to get back to his feet as Freddie pinned his paw down on top of his legs, just gentle enough to keep them from breaking, but more than needed to make it painful and horrifying for the fear-strickened Hunter who couldn't even scream. All he could do was stare directly into the massive red eyes of the hideous creature, seeing a small bit of his reflection screaming back at him as Freddie gnashed her teeth.

"Ok, you're doing good Luna." Pyrrha said with a smile, Nora enjoying the show right next to her.

"Now just do something to make Cardin terrified and then send Freddie into the woods so you can get jim after! ...Luna?" Some form of worry crept in the back of her mind as Freddie continued it's menacing growl, to showing any signs of hesitation as it brought itself closer to Cardin's person.

"Ngh...I... I can't!" Luna yelped, worries growing from each of student's minds.

"What do you mean you can't?" Nora fretted, looking back between her and Freddie every other second. "Just call her off or something!"

"I'm trying to but I can't!" Luna shook her head as her focus waned. "Something's distracting him, he won't listen to me!"

"What?!" Blake's eyes widened with fear as the group turned back to the giant bear.

It wasn't any of their faults that they didn't know about it. Honestly, they thought the entire reason Cardin was beating up Jaune was just Cardin being Cardin. They didn't have a single ounce of the truth at hand, nor were they aware of the fact that Cardin had any sap sprawled across his chest. In any other situation, Freddie would've listened to his master's orders without a second thought. He was loyal, dependable, and caring for his leaders cub. But the scent of the tree sap were messing with his emotions, as well as any orders that followed.

On top of that, this was person was scum. This was the very scum that harmed his precious master the other day and brought turmoil and misery to her being. Even with her sickened state, Luna still managed to take full control of all her Grimms will and held all three at bay all throughout her sparring exam with Cardin, the one who inflicted a bruise or two upon her. She didn't lose a single second of concentration as she did, adding to the amount of exertion her already-sickened body was going through. By the time she got back to her own dorm yesterday with the help of her friends, only then did she lose control of her will when she entered and locked the bathroom, immediately heaving as she threw up into the toilet. Freddie was just gratful his leader was smaller than him to aid his master in her troubled time.

Of course, he was unaware. He didn't know the concept of these sparring exams, what reasons they had to exist if it was only meant to hurt one another. The only thing he cared about was that his master suffered because of this person, the very one now fearful of him. This scum would prove to be a useful example of people who cross his master, injure his master, torment his master. It was going to be more than enough to rip the entrails from this student's gullet. He decided not to even eat them, not wanting just tasteless flesh in his own stomach. But he would relish every moment of it in turn.

Whack!*

"Auuuuu!" The bear yelped in pain as Jaune bashed it's head away. Freddie shook his head before growling at the other creature standing before him, Jaune standing at the ready with his sword and shield hand in hand. It was the only opportunity Cardin had to back away slowly, still too paralyzed with fear to stand yet. "Grrrrr!"

"Get away from him!" Jaune yelled back. Yeah, he was terrified, and a part of him really wanted to leave Cardin as much as the rest of his friends had. But his dream was to be a Hunter, a True Hunter. And no matter how scared he was, how likely he was to die, he wasn't ready to back down.

The very same sight brought unbelievable worry and fear to Pyrrha. her so-called plan to help Jaune was officially going to result in his death.

"Jaune..." She muttered to herself, quickly looking back to Luna in worry. "Luna, do something, he's going to get himself killed!"

"Mmh...Hang on, I'm workin on it..." Luna mumbled to the others as she rubbed her head.

Thankfully with the distracting scent no longer keeping Freddie's attention, all Luna needed was for another minute to regain full control of Freddie's entire being.

A minute they possibly wouldn't have at this rate.

It wasn't too surprising that Jaune was getting beaten about by the massive bear, it's massive size giving him a great advantage. Even with every blow he blocked, it was still more than enough to push Jaune several yards away, at least several times off his feet. But not one of those blows were directly towards him. Each and every one of those strikes were blocked successfully with Jaune's mighty shield. Sure, it still numbed his arm more and more blocking each decisive blow, each capable of possibly taking half the torso off of any regular person, but with his shield combined with his aura, he stood steadfast and at the ready of this fearsome creature.

And for every blow that Jaune was dealt, he delivered another several strikes in turn. None of them had yet to scrape the beast itself, only getting as close to cutting off a few tuffs of fur every couple of strikes, but the longer the fight last, the more Jaune adapted to the fight, just like he remembered to his lessons. He watched and studied every single strike the creature made, it's maneuvers whenever it dodged and struck Jaune, and every way it narrowed in on Jaune with each passing blow. Even his cold wasn't enough to distract him from the harrowing fighting that took place, no matter how annoying it became to deal with while fighting the beast.

Then it happened.

After exchanging blows back and forth, or at least attempted blows from Jaune's part, did he finally manage to strike the creature. It wasn't anything to brag about, anything lethal that would've killed the creature, just enough to make his own mark against the beast. Waiting with anticipation for the creature's next swipe, Jaune managed to slide right under the creature's enormous leg, bringing his blade along with him and striking across the base of the creature's paw, leaving a large gash in it's place.

"Grrrr!" Freddie growled in pain. It wasn't much of a strike, only covering above half the size under Freddie's paw, but it was enough to make the bear limp. It wasn't able to put it's full weight on the paw without wincing from the pain it brought, a small bit of black ooze dripping just slightly from it's bleeding paw. It wasn't anywhere near enough to distract it from the rage it had building up, growling more fiercely with built up anger growing in itself. "Grrrrrr!"

"Luna, any day now!" Pyrrha peeped. She's seen that look numerous times in the Grimm she's fought in the past. Whenever a Grimm was injured enough, when it was aware of it's losing state, it would start getting aggressive. From here on out, it would do nothing else until it's prey or attacker lay dying at their feet, feasting on the dead opponent with satisfaction and victorious.

"Just a little longer..." Her frustrations were way beyond Pyrrha's. Dealing with a plan that's already going awry along with a headache that continued to progress was the worst combination of things to deal with. Mix that in with her own worries for Freddie and doing everything she could do to influence Freddie into not killing Jaune outright was the biggest literal pain she ever had to deal with since coming to Beacon.

Back at the fight, Jaune's moment of victory was cut short by the loss of his weapon. Trying to follow along with the same plan he had before, he was caught off guard completely as immediately following another dodge under one of it's paws, Freddie added to the attack by head butting Jaune.

With his own armor and aura protecting him, it did little more than push him several yards away, leaving him completely fine and without consequence. At least that's what he thought until he realized he was one sword short, finding the blade having flung out of his hands and several feet behind Freddie as it embedded in the ground.

Now there was only him with his shield, and an angry and limping Freddie who wanted to complete it's previous task of devouring the still terrified Cardin who was off to the side. If there was a time for every hero to make a name for himself, this was going to be Jaune's. Shouting himself with his own rage, ready to risk everything to get his sword back, Jaune did the unthinkable and charged straight for the beast, the Grimm charging headlong at Jaune in turn as the two prepared to exchange a final blow to one another.

Jaune's plan was risk versus reward, and one he desperately needed. With his amount of skill and what tools he had left on hand, the only way he was going to kill this Grimm was with his sword. As the beast charged Jaune, maw first, that's when Jaune prepared to strike back. With a mighty yell, he raised his shield slowly, preparing to bash the beast's jaw away from the himself, and heave the beast away all at the same time. There was only one disadvantage Jaune had compared to the bear.

He was still learning to fight. If he had adjusted his position or shield by a mere degree, his plan would've gone off perfectly without a hitch. With how it was now, there was enough open space between Jaune's exposed arm and the shield for Freddie to tear at it, ready to rip Jaune's limb from his body along with the rest of him later in the fight if needed. It would take Jaune an official miracle now to realize his error and correct it within the split second that the two were about to exchange blows.

And said blessing came in the form of Pyrrha Nikos. She knew his fault and the error in strategy, and took it upon herself to correct it as she raised her hand. Gathering her own focus like Luna was trying to muster, her semblance kicked in unknowingly to Jaune or the mighty beast, his shield glowing a black aura around it as she adjusted it's scale perfectly to match Jaune's strategy. That one little hitch, the boost he needed to make his plan work, was all it took to follow through. Just as Jaune had planned, the beast bashed it's face into the side of Jaune's shield as he slammed it. Thanks to the injured paw the bear was limping from, it was off balance and off scale, unable to support itself against the ground as the rest of Jaune's plan came to fruition. With a mighty yell, taking advantage of the beast's uneven weight, Jaune pushed the beast ahead of itself as it tripped, throwing the beast several feet to the side as it crashed to the ground, long enough for Jaune to gather his weapon once more before the beast rose to it's injured feet.

With the sight of Jaune regaining his weapon, Pyrrha could finally smile as she lead the rest to him. He truly was learning what it meant to be a True Hunter, something he wouldn't need to do if Ruby would just hurry up. "How much longer?" She asked, still worried for her fellow friend.

"Mmmh!" Luna grumbled to herself in annoyance. "Ok that's it. Plan B."

"Plan-" Blake didn't have any time to ask what she meant by it. Within a few seconds, with Luna's supposed semblance kicking in, the remanning members of the group of friends found Luna suddenly dashing in front of Jaune, cloaked in lightning, much to Jaune's relief.

"Wha-Luna?" He practically yelped, her sudden appearance almost making him jump. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey Jaune," Luna smirked back with a three finger wave, "just thought you could use some help."

In truth, this was nowhere near what she was planning. As she expected, the giant bear Grimm finally snapped back to it's senses at the sight of his beloved master. Up till now, it was completely unaware of how savage and erratic it's been acting, unaware that the multiple senses it was feeling were from Luna trying to exert his own will again. Not even the sight of Cardin's sap-covered chest could distract him away from his master, finally realizing the orders Luna was secretly sending to him at long last.

With a pretend, menacing, growl, the bear hissed once more as it scampered into the forest, Luna smiling to herself as she regained control after all this time.

"It's getting away! I'll get it!' Jaune didn't get a second to open his mouth as Luna sprinted off, chasing after the bear as she seemed intent on finishing it. In truth, like planned previously before everything got messed up, she was just going far enough into the forest until they were both out of sight, merging Freddie into her shadow once they were in the dark. Luckily Freddie's injury was only minor, something that would heal within a few hours while he relaxed in Luna's shadow.

"Luna wait-!" Jaune's desire to chase after her in the hopes of helping were cut down by the next interruption.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha caught his attention, surprised she was talking to him after several days ago. "We heard about the Grimm! Are you guys ok?"

Normally, Jaune would be more than relieved to see Pyrrha and the several other students who definitely could've taken on the giant bear Grimm by working together. Yet, as happy as the reunion was, there was one other detail he had to deal with first, the only thing that mattered to him since he knew Pyrrha's worry for him would only be temporary. He brushed himself past the girls as he walked over to the dumbfounded Cardin, helping him up to his feet as the girls whispered from behind him.

"Shouldn't we tell him you at least helped him?" Blake whispered over.

"Yeah, he doesn't need to know about the Grimm obviously, just your help." Nora added. This only earned a few chuckles from the expert herself.

"Well, we could do that," and the look of determination on Jaune's face told her otherwise, "or we could keep this as our little secret." This was a moment Jaune needed for himself. After everything he's been through, everything he's done, he's deserved this one little moment of encouragement.

"Holy crap Jaune..." Cardin mumbled as Jaune helped him up. The grip on his hands made Cardin wince as it tightened a little, Jaune moving his head closer to Cardin as he glared into his eyes.

"I don't care what you do to me anymore, but leave my friends alone from now on! Got it?" His threat was made clear. Cardin could only gulp silently as he nodded, Jaune squeezing his hand one more time before walking away again.

At this point, Pyrrha was happy. For the first time in the last several days, she was actually happy about Jaune.

She was wrong about him.

"Achoo!" Jaune sneezed once more as he sat on the ledge of the school's rooftop.

It was funny really. To think several days ago, all his problems started right at this exact spot on the rooftops, right after Oobleck's history class no less. He thought he would be too terrified to come here, to the one spot where all his troubles began, where his entire reason for being here was on the line, how everything he wanted in life was put to the test at this very roof. He didn't care about Cardin anymore, and he definitely didn't fear the guy from this point forward. In fact, he almost seemed a little scared of Jaune at times, the hours leading up to this moment seeming like a dream.

Naturally, there were many surprised and confused faces as the remaining students of Forever Fall, along with the teacher, came rushing to the scene a few minutes after, the screams of terrified students yelling about a bear Grimm in the woods putting everybody on edge. One of the very first to come to the scene were the other members of the friendship squad, Yang feeling more than excited to find a Grimm to pummel down, only to become disappointed at the lack of said Grimm when arriving to the scene.

Following a brief explanation to what happened in the clearing, minus-ing anything related to the bullying, the teacher had to call the remainder of the field trip off. While some students were disappointed here and there, not all of them finished with their sample collecting, the option between staying in a Grimm-infested forest where more Grimm were likely to be drawn to the gathering of students quickly shut all opposition. There was only relief when Glynda told them they wouldn't be marked down for being unable to finish any sample collecting since the field trip was cut short by at least an hour's worth of time.

For the rest of the time, Jaune was just silent. He only ever replied to someone from his team if they asked him about what happened, and, unsurprisingly, there were a few questionable looks from them at first when he told them how he heroically fought off a Grimm. It wouldn't have been the first time he exaggerated a story after all. It was only with the assistance and confirmation of Luna and her friends that they started believing him, congratulating him for his fine work while he didn't actually kill the Grimm that mysteriously vanished later.

So here he was. Here he was questioning everything that happened, and everything it meant about being a Hunter, with nothing more than his thoughts, and his loneliness.

At least until someone spoke at this very moment with a revelation that shocked him.

"You never poisoned Luna, did you?" Pyrrha spoke as she approached, dressed in her school uniform like he was.

"P-Pyyrha?!" Jaune nearly yelped. It's rather fortunate he was exhausted from the days events, otherwise he would've jumped from surprise and possibly accidentally slip off the edge of he building. He only had enough energy to muster a small smiles she sat next to him, both admiring the view from up here. "P-Poi-Poison? W-What are you talking abo-"

"Jaune." She shot him an unsurprised look and a grin. He knew there was no point in hiding it.

"How'd you find out?"

"Hmhm, your mannerism at the spar yesterday kind of threw you off. I don't know what you did, but I do know you were responsible for what happened to Luna." Instead of a look of anger or disgusted, she gave him a small smile full of pride. "At least I thought you did at first until I saw you stand up to Cardin back in the forest. Before you left after we found you, I mean." She quickly added before he could question it. "The person I saw there, standing up to Cardin, that's the Jaune I remember from the first day of school."

"Huff, that Jaune never left." He muttered back, staring off into the distance as he remembered the events in the library.

Still, as helpful as that was he could only frown. No amount of comfort would prepare him for what he had to do next. "Yeah, well... I don't know..." He mumbled again.

"Just sleep on it tonight and apologize by morning. Consider it a teammate to captain order." She said with a small salute.

Phyrra began walking away but stopped as Jaune continued

"I just couldn't do it." He confirmed. "I've been through so much to get here, did everything I could to be accepted to Beacon. And it doesn't matter what I did, up until then, I was ready to do it!"

"Buuut..." She playfully trailed off, knowing there was more to his story. He paused for a moment to sigh, followed by a sneeze he covered up, then continued.

"But... I just couldn't. I want to be a True Hunter like my father, like my whole family line. Like Ruby, like you, like everyone around here... well... except Cardin obviously." Pyrrha chuckled quietly at this.

"I just couldn't throw that away by sabotaging anyone, especially someone who didn't deserve it like Luna."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" She knew he was worried about the fight a few days ago, that he was nervous about how Pyrrha would react to him from that point forward after calling her a bother, but if this was the truth, and she knew it was, then he shouldn't have worried about saying as much.

"Honestly? Because I thought I did poison her any...an...Achoo-!" He sneezed again, sniffling a little as he wiped his nose. "Anyway. I was surprised more than any that she was sick the next day, I thought the drink I gave her made her sick or something. I started worrying Cardin laced both of them like he expected this or just wanted to make me suffer too." To his surprise, Pyrrha only laughed at this. There had to be more than just the irony of it, so whatever she was laughing at had to be something good.

"Well, you can rest easy with that, you're completely in the clear as far as being the one responsible goes."

"Huh?" He didn't poison her? Oh what a dear god sweet relief this was! "Then do you know who did?"

"She did." Pyrrha's announcement brought even more shock and confusion at that.

"Huh?!"

"Heh, not intentionally of course." She added, looking up at the stars. "Apparently Ruby and Luna got it into their heads the day before the match to try several dozen combinations of making chocolate Chip cookies, half their recipes involving raw cookie dough in the process. I think you can tell how that ended up." Now to her own surprise, instead of the huge look of a burden being lifted from his shoulders the look of someone overjoyed to hear of their innocence, he only looked more disappointed to himself, looking away as he did.

"It still doesn't change things, Pyrrha. I was ready to do it up until then, I wanted to stay at Beacon more than anything. It was just my cowardice that kept me from going through with it. And my stupidity to force myself into drinking the other waa...waaa...aaaachoo!... The other one." The results of drinking the laced drink only now revealed themselves to Pyrrha and the outcome of it.

Jaune's cold.

"Then I'm glad." What the heck? Was she just teasing him or something? Did she misinterpret or not understand a single thing he just said? She must've, because looking back at her she was just casually swinging her legs over the edge, admiring the ground's beauty with it's fireflies and blooming flowers in the bushes. "That's the very same Jaune I respected before, the one I met when I first came here. Maybe it's good to be scared sometimes from doing something, because when you feel overconfident in yourself, in everything that you can do, that's when you truly change for the worse." And like the shattered moon above, she smiled brightly at him. "And I hope you never change from being the coward we all know right now Jaune. That's the one I became friends with."

"Pyrrha..." He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve this encouragement. It didn't matter to him that he chickened out of the poisoning plan, his resolve to go through with it. He didn't want this sort of encouragement for being someone who just pulled out at the last minute. He was ready to go through with it, he wanted to go through with it!

But he just couldn't. It was just like Pyrrha said, he had no confidence in himself nor his attempts at staying at Beacon Academy. He was just a coward, and an idiot at times... But maybe Pyrrha was right? Perhaps that was a good things at time. Perhaps, if only a single step in the right direction, it was on the path to being a True Hunter like he always wanted. Now all he needed was to take the next step.

Shaking the cloud from his mind, he mustered up what little courage he could, standing away from the ledge as he looked to Pyrrha pleadingly.

"Look, Pyrrha, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for the fight we had awhile ago, and I'm sorry for being such a screw up all the time. So... if you're still up for it... do you think maybe that... that you could still train me?"

This. This was him. This was the real Jaune Arc. The same one Pyrrha smiled to on a daily basis, the one she got to know as time went on.

The very one she walked over to, and the same one ready to express her feelings for.

THUD!*

"Ow!" He yelped, rubbing his head. "Ok, I deserved that..." Of course, he would've preferred knowing what was coming to him instead of Pyrrha instantly throwing him to the ground, but anything that happened to him at this point was only too fair.

At least to him.

"Your stance needs some work. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." The brief silence that filled the air turned to one of joy as Pyrrha smirked to him, both of them chuckling a little as she helped Jaune back to his feet. From here, the next several weeks to months would consist of this, almost every day after school. She would train Jaune, and he would learn from her. "Let's try that again."

In an academy full of True Hunters, there was no better way to bond.

While all this was going on Luna was listening in from the other side of the door smirking to herself

"Good on you Jaune"