So this update is kinda late, I'll get more into the why of situation below the chapter, but for right now, I kinda want to take a moment to address a theme that seems to be going under the radar in the last few chapters. and that would be Jaune's mental state in the story.
Up to now, Jaune has been under incredible mental strain at the school due to various events around him, his father becoming a terrorist, his mother losing a leg, the loss of two sisters. That would weigh heavy on people. Under the surface, I have been writing Jaune with another theme in mind, a sort of low key depression that affects how he handles things. I had been laying a few hints of this hear and there, Jaune for example has not been taking proper care of himself, letting his facial hair grow out, and his hair getting longer for example. He's also demonstrated a lack of care for what happens to him personalty in a few places in the story to this date. I decided to be less subtle about it in this chapter than in previous chapters, just to see if he comes more off as a typical Fanfic emo kid, or as someone battling with feelings he doesn't fully understand and chooses to push forward despite it.
I mean, that's what hero's do right? Push forward despite the odd's and overcome obstacles laid out in front of them? but if it comes off as over the top in this chapter, let me know and I'll scale it back down to where it had been before moving forward. Like I said, I have more to talk about at the end of the chapter, but that's for the end of the chapter. It has nothing really to do with the story itself, and talks more about outside factors affecting my ability to get chapters up, and honestly you could skip it if you want. with that being said, until next time.
It was late in the evening, Jaune stood in the atrium staring down the teal glowing eyes of one of the schools many training drones, Jaune's arms felt heavy from swinging them, his body ached with minor burns and bruises that his Aura struggled to keep up with.
"Honestly, I'm starting to think the school should just throw a few dozen of you at the Grim and see what happens..." Jaune muttered under his breath.
The drone responded by cycling through a list of pre-programmed weapons and fighting styles settling on a simple long sword and took a ready stance before charging at Jaune, Jaune blocked the drones swing and went for a straight punch with his own Katar, only for the drone to catch his arm with it's free hand and push it aside leaving Jaune wide open for it to kick Jaune in the stomach and ram it's sword into his chest.
"Spar time till fatal injury due to destruction of heart: 12 seconds" The Drone said in a monotone deep mechanical voice.
Jaune stepped back rubbing his chest, the hard light constructed blade didn't actually cut into his chest, but it still hurt being hit by it. Nearby Ozpin stood watching Jaune practice with the drone.
"Again." Ozpin said in a detached tone.
Jaune resumed a fighting stance, just another sore spot for a long night, that had been attempt twenty eight to fight and defeat the drone. Jaune watched the drone cycle through it's random weapon listing landing on a simple Tonfa weapon.
Jaune sighed and charged again...
Hours earlier, just as the day was winding down, Jaune and his team walked through the courtyard of the school, they had, as a group, decided to spend some time outside to relax from a rather Hectic day.
"So are you going to tell us about Neptune?" Weiss asked in a deceptively friendly manner.
Jaune just shrugged his shoulders, the haze he had been struggling with since the morning never quite shook itself off, and he was only quietly thankful that Glynda had not called on him for combat class.
Yang just slapped Jaune on the back "Hey, you better throw us a bone here or were going to speculate on your relationship with him."
Jaune stopped and glared at Yang "Seriously?"
Yang smiled "I'm picturing that you were th-" Yang was cut off at this point when her mouth was covered by a heavily blushing Blake. "Lets not finish that sentence Yang" Blake said.
"Blake, are you letting her read your books again?" Jaune said, sounding a bit more like him, but still tinted with layer of exhaustion.
"Just... Just tell Weiss already or we'll never hear the end of it." Blake said.
"Good lord I got all three of you dog-piling me about this now?" Jaune sighed out.
"Yes you do." Weiss chuckled "Now spill, what's the story between You and Neptune!?"
"Think of him as a childhood friend..." Jaune said folding his arms.
"Is that all your going to give us?" Weiss said also folding her arms.
"Also remember when I told you how I might have kids out there?" Jaune said with a faint blush
All three girls were in his face with wide eyes and attentive looks on their faces, they spoke as one when they said "Yes?"
"Well... Cut the Might part out of that sentence... and it was with his older sister..." Jaune said not making eye contact.
The three of them took steps back away from Jaune in shock... none of them said a word for a few moments until Yang asked "So your saying you knocked up his sister?"
"Yeah, as it turns out, just found out this morning." Jaune said in a sort of dismissive way.
"Jaune, that's pretty major, does this mean you have to leave school or pay child support or.." Weiss said as she became increasingly frantic.
"No, that's not how it works." Jaune waved off her concerns "The caravan raises any children born in the caravan as their own, and unless I wanted to join the Caravan, I don't have any rights to claim them under our people's laws..."
"That's rough man..." Yang said as she thought about it.
"That's what happens when your species is dying out Yang." Jaune said as he kept walking. "Hell I might have half siblings out their for all I know from before my parents got married"
The rest of the group fell in with Jaune as he kept walking. "Are you okay though?" Asked Weiss.
"Yeah I'm great, I did my part..." Jaune said in a distracted manor.
"Yeah I mean I get that bu-" Weiss cut her self off as the sound of jet engines raced across the sky drawing the eyes of the group upward as a pair of what looked like military jets raced by over the school.
"Those were..." Jaune started to say as the pulsing drone of large engines also filled the air.
Weiss looked off in the direction of the sound as a flight of large airships started to appear over the treeline. Jaune would count 6 ships, one large ship, he guessed a flagship, one that looked like a carrier, and 4 smaller escort ships.
"What in hell are those?" Jaune asked out loud.
"That... looks like General Ironwood's personal Airship and escort fleet!" Weiss said with a hint of excitement.
"Why in the hell is Atlas sending a fleet to Vale?" Jaune said, his voice wavering as he spoke. in his pocket his Scroll vibrated as he received a message.
"Why in the hell did you bring an entire fleet to Vale?" Glynda shouted at James Ironwood as they stood in Ozpin's office, Ozpin quietly laid his scroll down having just sent a message to his latest initiate in the conspiracy.
"Glynda, it was not my choice to make, in light of the sharp increase in acts of terror against Atlas holdings and property in the borders of Vale, I was not authorized to leave the homeland without military escort." James barked out in reply.
"Still, you understand this will make what was supposed to be a more clandestine meeting, far less so." Ozpin stated.
"Officially, I'm here under the invitation of the Kingdom of Vale to assist in putting an end to the Dust Eater terror cell operating out of Vale, and bring order back to our two kingdoms..." James said to Ozpin.
"Is that to imply that your Kingdom lacks the confidence in Vale to handle it's own affairs?" Glynda barked out an agitated reply.
"It is the truth that we have far fewer issues with Dust Eaters and Faunas terrorists in Atlas than Vale has..." James said to Glynda in a measured professional sounding tone.
"Fantastic, but none of this is important at the moment... James did Atlas intelligence learn anything about the Fall Maiden's attackers?" Ozpin said as he stood up trying to bring the meeting back to order.
"No... And it's not difficult to imagine that Atlas would have little intelligence on something that doesn't officially exist to most people outside of this ro-" Jame cut himself off as the door to the headmasters office opened.
Jaune poke his head in. "I apologize Headmaster, I got word you wanted to see me?"
"Yes Jaune, come in." Ozpin waved the student in "Please continue James."
Ironwood stopped and paused as the tall unkempt young man entered and stood next to him. "I take it your the Student Ozpin was bragging about? the one with the Potential to be our new Maiden's protector?"
Jaune said with a worn out but confident tone "I suppose that would be me yes."
James Ironwood looked at Ozpin. "Is he aware the responsibility were putting on him? The kid looks like he'll collapse in a stiff breeze"
Jaune scoffed "Stiff breeze better be the name of the main gun of that rust bucket floating over the school."
James looked at the younger man and shook his head "Anyways, to answer the rest of the question, no, we are no closer to learning who the people who attacked the Fall Maiden are, then we were before I put the Atlas intelligence service on the case."
"If I might ask, was the Fall Maiden even attacked on Atlas soil? Atlas never struck me as being very outward facing in light of internal problems they have had over the years." Jaune chimed in.
"A fair question, and observation, but no, she was attacked while in Mistral, after she left Argus, which you might be aware has a sizable Atlas Military base nearby." Ozpin spoke up.
"I have a sister who's a huntsmen out of the Argus area, if you want I could ask her to ask around for us." Jaune said
"I don't think so, the fewer people that know about this the better." James said in a commanding tone.
"We already had another associate of ours, Qrow, already looking into that angle." Glynda said to Jaune.
"Right..." Jaune said defeated and trying to hide how overwhelmed he is at the moment.
James spoke up "The kid does bring up a good point, the group that attacked the Fall Maiden had to have had training to do so, might be worth checking with Leo in Haven to see if he had heard anything, it also didn't help that the Spring maiden went missing out that way as well."
Jaune looked shocked for a moment "Wait, we have a missing maiden?"
"Concern yourself with your current role Mr Arc" Ozpin chimed in. "For now I want you to focus on getting yourself ready for your future role, James, if you'd be so willing to use the resources you have on hand to ensure that the upcoming tournament goes off without a hitch a-"
"So one of the main reason's I'm here." Ironwood interrupted
"And try to see if the opposition has any ties to the White Fang in the area..." Ozpin added
"I might be able to help with that... if your all willing to turn a blind eye to a few things..." Jaune states sheepishly.
"Like?" Glynda asked.
"Well one of my team members carries a grudge against them. I'm also sure Ruby's team will also want to look into them as well in light of recent events... I can gather Intel for you guys under the guise of supporting my teammate in their own personal vendetta against the Fang." Jaune said with an unusually cold and calculating tone.
"I couldn't help but notice the obvious benefit this would have for your team as well." Ozpin asked.
"Did you expect me to not want to help my team out, I am the leader after all."
James, Glynda and Ozpin exchanged glances, Glynda was the one to speak up "Just don't do anything that will make the school look bad, or endanger your classmates."
Jaune shrugged "No Promises, but I'll try."
"Alright, well good Meeting, Mr Arc, please update me if your team decides to perform any independent activities so I can make it a point to have security turn a blind eye, and we will talk again later, dismissed!" Ozpin stated as everyone got ready to leave.
Jaune was the first out the door.
a little while later in another part of the school, Weiss, Yang and Blake were all gathered in the library with Ruby, whom they dragged along as well under protest, the four of them under the pretense of playing a board game, wasted no time as they all began to voice their concerns.
"So we all agree Jaune is acting off?" Weiss said.
"I don't think I've been told to mind my own business more times in a single day than today" Blake said. "It's also weird how quickly he left after the airships arrived."
"He has been worrying me a bit yeah" Ruby said.
"I agree with Blake that he's hiding something from us, and I don't like that one bit." Yang declared
Weiss sighed "Of course he's been raised almost his entire life to keep secrets, so i'm not sure we can coax the answer out of him by just asking him..."
"You said that you heard him get up in the middle of the night and not return till close to early morning?" Yang said to Blake.
"Yeah, and it was pretty clear he came back tired." Blake said
"I still can't believe you thought we were... Doing things... Yang!" Ruby added with an embarrassed blush on her face.
"Well your going to discover boys eventually, and that day is going to cause me to start getting gray hairs Rubes." Yang said in reply.
"So what do we do? do we keep an eye on him? he won't just tell us if he's asked." Weiss asked.
"I'll keep an eye on him..." Ruby said to the team "I mean I'm his best friend, I might be able to get him to let me in..."
"I'll help you then" Weiss said "I do need him to clean himself up before the dance anyways..."
The four girls nodded in agreement and started to actually play the game they brought with them. None of them noticed the blonde boy that was in the next isle over doing "research"...
Moments later Jaune found himself stalking the halls feeling the weight of the dark haze that had been affecting him as of late. He knew he had a damn good reason for not wanting to tell the others about his meetings with Ozpin. But knowing the others were now questioning him as well troubled him greatly. He found a good wall to lean on and just let his brain rest.
"Well this is a fine mess I got myself into..." Jaune thought to himself. "Now I just need to think how to get Blake to allow me to help her out with the White fang, while trying to make it so I don't have to reveal that I got into a conspiracy with Ozpin, an Altesian general, and several teachers to bodyguard a mostly dead girl hidden somewhere on the campus."
Jaune blew out a feeling of doubt and an overwhelming mental pressure he felt at the idea of this, he also couldn't shake the dark mood he had been in since they go out of patch, it was bad enough that he almost didn't catch the trio that was speaking to him.
Jaune shook it off and asked "I'm sorry I didn't catch what you said?"
The girl with black hair and a striking pair of orange eyes repeated her question with a disarming smile "I was asking if you knew where the guest dorms were, the three of us are a team from Haven who just arrived today, and were a bit lost."
Jaune shook his head for a bit. "Yeah, uh, your on the wrong end of campus, head back down that hall to the other side of the Atrium and you can't miss it."
Jaune took note of the gray haired man and the green haired woman behind who he had guessed was the leader as she spoke up again "Oh I see, Thank you... I'm sorry I didn't get your name."
"Jaune, Jaune Arc... first year." Jaune replied finding himself lowering his own guard.
"My Name is Cinder, Cinder Fall, and this is Emerald and Mercury my teammates." Cinder said putting on a warm smile for the young man she was talking to. "It's a pleasure to meet you, maybe we'll run into each other again?"
"Maybe we will Cinder" Jaune said with a polite smile.
As the trio of students walked off towards the guess dorms Cinder thought to herself "So that was Julius's boy... I can see us turning him to our side... with some persuasion that is..."
Back in the present Jaune dragged himself back to his knees holding his stomach from where the drone just pummeled him the floor with the drones summoned great hammer weapon.
"Spar time till fatal injury due to shattered rib cage and multiple punctures to the lungs: 20 seconds" the Drone said as it took a step back.
In frustration Jaune punched the floor and stood back up and took a ready stance. he had been at this for hours, and this was the longest he had been at it. that was his thirty second attempt, and like the thirty one before it, it had ended in another painful loss.
Off to the side, he could hear Ozpin say "Again!"
Jaune forced himself into a ready stance, maybe attempt thirty three will be the charm.
Okay, I'm going to create a bunch of dead lines here so you can click off if you don't want to hear about another Fan fic writer complain about his life t so bear with me.
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Still here? Okay! So, I'm not going to really beat around the bush, I have been pretty slow to upload chapters as of late, I know at one point I was posting two to three chapters a week, and now I got slightly over a week at times to post one. It is kinda embarrassing to mention this, but it's because I've been having to do extra side activities in my spare time to earn extra income to keep my family happy. Which has cut into my writing time quite a bit, and I'm often doing so much extra work, sometimes as overtime at my job, or doing Amazon Mturk jobs, that I often barely have the energy to do more than play video games, or more often than that, just watch a couple YouTube videos before bed.
Honestly? I'd rather be writing, I enjoy writing, it lets me get idea's out there, and I just don't have the patience to sit and do surveys for 10 hours for 10 cents a survey just to be able to make sure I'm hitting all the bills on time. I'm been exploring options to set up some kind of tip jar, but from what I have been reading, that's a real legal gray area, and I'm think is not allowed by the website itself, but I'm open to reader feedback on the idea, Shoot me a PM if you have any experience in that department, tell me how you went about it, or call me an asshole for even thinking it, I don't mind, I'd love to here your thoughts, Just don't comment on the story about it, I'll delete any non story related comments, I'd prefer the comments to be about the story, not my bitching about being broke.
Anyways, until next time!