Pardon, ended up a day late on this one.

Finished it so late that Jj hasn't even had a chance to look this one over yet, so there's fair chance this'll be updated some days after release to tidy up any issues it may have.

Ah, and cheers, we made it to 100k word count on a single story. was it just past 2 mil, the longest here? We can set the next goal to 3 mil then.

Hope you enjoy!


Ye Olde Faithful Advisor - Jjpdn

Chaptter 13 - On the Prowl


"You both may return to your seats. I apologize but I'll ask that you leave changing for after class as there is an announcement I must give."

And at her words the students left the arena, murmurs already being mumbled among the class.

Seeing that she sighed. "Now, now, this'll only be a few moments, and I'll get to it immediately."

As all else became silent around her she began. "As you may have heard, be it from your seniors or just general gossic, Beacon sends you on missions as part of your practical courses, starting from first year's second semester."

"However, as of recent, a decision was made to pull forward this year's missions to the first semester, two weeks from now to be precise." Quiet mumbles rippled through the ensuing silence after her pause. She gave them a moment.

"Yes, Mr. Norman." She then turned to the student raising a hand.

"Do we get to, like, pick them, or?"

"Under normal circumstances yes, you'd have the freedom to choose, if from just a handful of missions. However, with how you'll be taking them far earlier than normal, we'll be assigning them to you instead." She would not relent on that whatever Ozpin said.

"Otherwise it'll be as we usually proceed, with your teams each shadowing a huntsman on these missions. After classes today there'll be an assembly in which the headmaster himself will cover this and any other details you will need to know." And with those words came the ring of the bell.

"You may take your leave now. Get some rest and take some time to think through this prospect. You will be informed of the specifics of your missions a day prior to them."

Students stood up as they all began to take their leave, excitement and nervousness both evident as they were all discussing the one thing on their minds.

"Grimm extermination!" Nora announced.

"We're not sure whether that'll be the goal of our mission yet though." Replied Pyrrha.

"What else could it be though?" Questioned Yang. "The only other thing I can think of is being escorts."

"Either way it's going to be awesome! Oh, oh, you think we'll get another one in the second semester as well?" Nora's look was one of expectation.

"I, uh, don't think so." It made Jaune feel a bit bad about shooting her down. "I mean, they said they're pulling them forward, so I think it's just them and that's it. Just a bit earlier I guess."

"Aww…"

As bickering and guesses continued to dance around what task they might be getting, Jeanne felt a hand on her shoulder before she was lurched to the side.

"Wah!" She turned to two amber eyes. "Blake?"

Then she noticed Yang up beside them as well. "You guys go on ahead, we'll catch up with you in a bit."

"Alright! So, as I was saying, we can so totally…" Nora's voice drowned out in the distance soon enough.

Jeanne turned her attention back to Blake and Yang, as much as she could while 'he' still kept focusing on Nora's grand proclamations.

"We… have to talk." Began Blake. "Though first I'd prefer if we could go into one of the empty classrooms. A bit quieter than the corridor."

And so they did, noon passing and there being enough quiet corners in Beacon currently.

"So what's wrong, Blake?"

She stood silent for a while, sighing. "I-"

"Cat got your tongue?"

She looked annoyedly at Yang.

"Couldn't resist. Maybe next time you'll tell me too." She smirked.

"I did."

"A week or so after Jeanne."

"I decided to take it step by step."

"Well, I can't argue that you've been more open with us." She smiled gently. "Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy with that. And proud too, our partner is finally growing up, right Jeanne?" She grinned her way.

Jeanne couldn't deny it, as silly as Yang put it. Blake had told her? It seemed she was indeed becoming more forthcoming with the team. Nothing to complain about for sure.

"Alright, alright. In any case, there's something else I wanted to talk to you guys about."

"The real reason you've been losing sleep?"

Now that she mentioned it Jeanne noticed Blake still had semblances of bags under her eyes. Not too pronounced, yet they were there still. Again becoming slightly more pronounced after Forever Fall even..

"..." Blake sighed yet again. "Yes."

Yang's hand found itself resting on her shoulder. "Hey, we're here. Partners, right?"

Blake looked at her for a moment, then at Jeanne who also gave her a small smile and a nod. "Right, partners."

"The White Fang. I've been thinking about them, about their recent activity."

"Concerned about them?" Yang asked. "There've been a lot of dust robberies. We don't know who did most of them, we know some of them were by that Torchwick guy. He's definitely going to be responsible for some of the unsolved ones, but he couldn't have done them all."

"You think they're connected?" Asked Jeanne.

"Dunno. Can't really tell, I mean, it's dust. For good or bad, anyone can make use of it, from everyday stuff to us using it as hunters to a thief wanting it or a terrorist group needing it. At least I don't think that both of them stealing it is a guarantee that they're in cahoots. But it does make it a possibility."

"They're not like that." Both of them looked to Blake. "They… they weren't always like that. They've been changing - for the worse - but they had started out as an activist group simply trying to help their fellow faunus and fight back discrimination."

'...I'm sorry." Yang brought a hand onto her shoulder yet again. "They must've meant a lot to a lot of faunus before they changed, then. But they don't seem to be up to anything too good right now."

"I know. That's why," Blake turned to Jeanne. "I wanted to ask you for a favor."

"If it's anything I can help with, then of course."

"Then… that bartender, back at the club. Yang told me he was supposedly the best information broker in all of Vale. Can you arrange a meeting for us?"

"I mean, I guess we can go there and talk. You're right, he might've heard something about the White Fang. We could probably even go later today if you want. Oh, I could always just call him too."

"No. This is better discussed in private. But yes, I'd be grateful for that. And I would prefer we met sooner than later."

"That's our evening then," Yang grinned. It turned slightly sour a moment later. "We're not taking along Weiss and Ruby, are we?"

Blake frowned in her own right. "Sorry, I don't think I'm ready yet."

"Step by step, I understand. Weiss… I've heard of things about the SDC, hard not to. I know... but you can tell she's not like that, right?"

"I know. I'm sorry, I just need some more time."

"Alright, I understand. Still though," Yang smirked. "Make sure you don't tell her last or you'll be in for it. Then again, it might be scarier how many more pouts you'll have to deal with if you left Ruby for last."

"I'll keep that in mind." Blake returned a smile of her own.

"Um, guys," Jeanne finally piped up again. "Sorry but what things about the SDC?"

Both of them just stared at Jeanne for a long moment. Said moment was broken by Yang's snickering, Blake joining in as well.

"Nevermind." Blake began. "I think it's best we got moving now. The others are already probably annoyed at us being so late." She moved to the door.

Jeanne couldn't quite say if they were, even if she'd guess the same. After all, they'd already reached their dorms. JNPR wasn't quiet with all its debates over its upcoming mission though.

"Yang?"

"Working on it… Yeah."

"Guys?" Jeanne brought back her attention to the two stalling by the classroom door.

"Yeah, we should've probably seen this one coming."

"What?"

"...We're locked in."


The sun was slowly retreating in the distance as lightly was slowly beginning to trickle less and less so above the horizon.

The streets were still busy with people regardless, as the night life would soon make up for what crowds would usually flood in during the day.

Among them walked three familiar younglings.

"Sometimes I'm really glad we have your semblance, Jeanne."

"Still glad you ended up having time for that shower, Yang?" Blake amusedly asked.

"Damn right! Right after combat class too, I sure as heck did need one."

Blake then turned to Jeanne. "So he's fine with this?"

"Yeah, I wrote him that we're coming. Well, I wrote Melanie, but she said it should be fine."

In not too long they were already at the club's doorstep, and not bothering to waste time they went in.

Music was blaring as usual, though it wasn't a bad tune.

They made their way to the counter.

Surprisingly, it was one of the bouncers that was there instead of Junior.

"Huh. Guess we should ask?"

"You'll have to wait, he's got an important meeting now."

"Oh, hey Miltia."

"Out for more late night crime fighting?" She smirked Jeanne's way.

Of course they weren't... were they? Now that Jeanne thought about it, they were here, looking for information on the White Fang… that sounded more like a reckless vigilante though.

"You can say we're out searching for something, I guess."

"Mysterious." She deadpanned.

"You know, for someone mostly in a club, you can be a real downer, ya know?" Yang smirked at Miltia's annoyed expression.

"Whatever. Anyway, I'll go to Melanie, we have a guest of our own to entertain and she can be rather a… handful. Not sure when the meeting will be over but, eh," She shrugged. "Gotta end at some point, right?" And with that she left.

"What's got her so sour today?" Yang then shrugged as well. "Anyway, you know what that means!"

"Means I'll sit down and have some tea or coffee while we wait." Blake walked past her.

"Oh come on," Yang turned to walk after Blake. "Geez, since when is going to the club no fun no more?"

Jeanne was going to follow after before she felt a tap on her back. Turning, she saw a small girl standing before her. About as tall as Ruby or Weiss, so she was obviously around Jeanne's age if seemingly a bit younger. Dressed in mostly white, though with a black corset, gloves and pants, and her coat had several pink accentuation on it.

Most notable to Jeanne, however, was her half-half brown and pink hair.

"Oh, uh, hey there. Um, can I help you?"

She made a few quick motions with her hands.

"...Huh?"

She mimed something.

"...Oh, singing?"

A nod and a grin.

"You sing?"

For a moment the girl just stood there, blank stare as she gave Jeanne a deadpan even Blake couldn't hope to match.

She shook her head, then mimicked singing again and pointed at her.

"Oh, you mean you saw me singing here before!"

A grin and a nod.

She followed up with a few more gestures after.

"Uh, are you trying to ask if I'll be singing again?" At yet another nod Jeanne continued. "Sorry, not tonight. Though I and my, uh, brother do come here on the weekends to sing sometimes. Not every time, but yeah." She scratched the back of her head.

This was the first person to actually speak with her about their performances she realized. Yes, he'd shared it with their teams, but this was the first time she was approached by a fan.

Wait, either of him had a fan? That was an interesting notion to let sink in.

"So, I'm Jeanne. What's your name?"

She waved a finger in the air, and it took Jeanne a few moments to realize what the action meant.

"Oh, uh, can you do that again?"

She repeated it, slower.

"N-ay-oh?"

A shake of the head.

"N-yo?"

Well now she was just frowning, hands on her waist.

"Neo?"

Finally she gave a nod as she crossed her arms.

"Sorry, never really was good at charades."

She shrugged.

"So, you come here often?"

She made a so-so gesture.

"I, uh, see." 'Way to hold a conversation, Jaune…'

Perhaps seeing her difficulty in steering the conversation, Neo pointed at her back, more precisely what was on it.

"Oh, this?" Jeanne unlatched her spear to give her a better view. "I'm a hunter-ess- a huntress in training, and this is my weapon. So yeah, the singing thing is more of a hobby. A part time job more so, maybe?"

Neo shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm not the best, it's not for no reason that I'm not trying for any career with it. But," She smiled goofily. "It's fun to do, and seeing that there are people who enjoy it makes me happy that I got a chance to have it as part time. I'm glad you've enjoyed it too."

Neo held a curious look towards her for a short moment before she grinned. She then brought a finger to her lips for a moment, seemingly in thought, before then making a drumming motion.

"Oh, you want to play music with m- us? Since you mimed drumming is that it? And we wouldn't mind, though it's Junior you'll have to ask about it."

"Neo! There you are!" Before either of them could carry on any further they turned to the voice of Melanie, a few octaves higher than usual, Jeanne noticed. She could get yelly, under proper circumstances, usually Yangish ones, but Jeanne couldn't help but feel her voice was slightly more panicked than what she was accustomed to.

"You shouldn't go running off like that." Miltia stepped up beside her sister. Though Jeanne could've sworn her smile seemed strained. "Now won't you come with us? You guys'll have to be going in a bit, in a rush."

Neo nodded along as she slowly moved their way, hands clasped behind her back. Jeanne couldn't help but wonder why they seemed so tense.

"Hey again, Miltia, and hey Melanie, you know Neo?"

"hey, Jeanne. Yeah," Melanie looked at the ominously smiling Neo who walked past her. "Yeah, you can say that. She's with the guy having a meeting with Junior?"

"Like his kid?"

"Sure, let's go with that." Replied Miltia. "Anyway, we'll have to be off now."

"oh, alright. Then see you guys later. Was nice meeting you, Neo."

Neo gave Jeanne a wide smile in reply, much like Jaune's little sisters would, with a slight bit of mischief to her expression that couldn't quite be hidden. She waved back to her as she carried on past Miltia and Melanie, the two finally letting out a breath as they followed after her.

Jeanne returned her wave and smiled back as the three disappeared within the back rooms.

She then turned, only to meet face to face with Yang barely an inch between them.

"Y-Yang!" She flusteredly recoiled back.

"Careful on the brakes there." She grinned.

"Uhm, Where's Blake?"

"Malachites told her she can go talk to Junior. She asked me if she could discuss it alone. New friend by the way?"

"Huh? Oh. I guess? I think I had a fan, surprisingly. She was quite talkative, uh, in a sense."

"Oh, using your fame to woo her, along with cheesy lines like 'do you come around here often'? First Weiss, now her, the petite type, huh? Should I be worried about Ruby?"

"Y-Yang!" Jeanne sputtered, fighting off a blush.

"Pff… Pfhaha!"

"Not funny."

"Sorry, sorry, couldn't resist."

"Am I interrupting something?" A third voice intervened.

"Back so soon, Blake?" Yang turned to her.

"Junior was surprisingly quick to the point. He didn't know much but I got enough clues from what he'd heard. And…"

"Blake?" The both of them echoed.

"...Nevermind, it can wait for later."

"We can't know what the problem is if you don't talk to us."

She sighed. "I'll… explain when we get there."

Jeanne and Yang looked at each other, the former giving an awkward shrug as the latter simply sighed at her reaction.

Yang turned back to Blake. "Fine. So, where we off to now?"

"There's one place I have in mind, but first, we need to go and get some things."


Blake stepped out of a clothes store, one more unique and rarely found in its specific style of merchandise, a blank look on her face though unable to fully hide the slight tinge of red that burned her face.

"Quite the spicy choice, kitty cat."

"Yang…" Her glare said more than her words could.

"Just saying, you don't see many people round these types of stores."

She sighed. "I find myself agreeing more and more with Weiss on how insufferable you are." She then handed each of them an object as she refused to meet their eyes.

Both Yang and Jeanne eyed them curiously, ruffling the fake cat ear attachments they each now held.

"Didn't expect you to be into this, Blake. Rather than Jeanne, should I be worried about keeping an eye on you when around Ruby?" There it was.

"I-It's not that!"

"Sure~"

"Damn it, Yang, context!"

"Also," Yang continued. "I don't recall seeing anything specifically related to cat ears in your books."

She paled. "You read my books too?!"

"You never said not to, and partners share. I shared the hiding space under my bed, you shared the books."

"You found them!"

"Blake, they were under my bed."

"The ones in the library were better hidden," Jeanne spoke up from the side. "But Weiss ended up finding some of them."

"She won't ever let me hear the end of this." Blake gazed to the ground forlornly. "Oh no, did Ruby see them too?" Is that why you're not going to let me hear the end of this too?"

"Oh chill, Blakey. No she hasn't, and don't worry so much," Yang Began. "I told Weiss I saw Cardin hiding them there, you're safe."

Blake sighed. Small mercies at least. 'You've dealt with worse than this. Worse than this.' She reassured herself. "First, they're literature."

"Sure."

She glared at that. "Second, no, whatever you're thinking about the ears, you're wrong."

"I think their yellow matches mine and Jeanne's shade of blonde pretty accurately."

Blake sighed, looking around. They were within an empty alley, beside a store she would never admit to having entered. She raised her hand as her bow fell down. "There'll be a White Fang meeting tonight. With those on hand, all we need now is to get our hands on a few masks. Based on what Junior told me, if I'm right, I think I know where the meeting will be held."

Both Jeanne's and Yang's expressions turned serious at her words.

Jeanne once again eyed the ears. "Will these really work?"

"Everyone should be in masks, and it'll likely be darker rather than not, not to mention they won't pay the utmost attention to anyone individually. Outwardly these look authentic if nothing else, so they should be able to keep up the ruse for at least a few hours."

"So you wanted to crash their meeting."

"No, not exactly. I…' She sighed. "I was…" She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath.

"Blake." She opened her eyes to the both of them. "You can talk to us."

"I know. Thanks. I was part of them. I was once White Fang, not even that long ago." She opened her eyes.

Damn those two. They just stood there, no hostility in their expressions as they patiently waited for her. If only more would have been like them, then maybe…

"Slightly more than a month before initiation I left - I ran away from the Fang. We were activists, but we weren't extremists, not always. But now, I… I don't think - I don't want to think they're going in a worse direction, but they've been involved in dust robberies, and we don't know how many of the recent ones are theirs. I want to see for myself, to find out what's going on."

She looked up at them, hopefully. "I'm sorry, but would you help me with this."

"Do you even need to ask?" Yang simply grinned.

"What are partners for?" Jeanne showed a goofy yet reassuring smile.

They both stood before her, no, beside her, ready and waiting. "So, what's the plan?"

"Alright, so, we..."


Dayling was slim as darkness had begun to engulf the world, a thin shadow blanketing Vale as street lights were beginning to light up one after the other.

A small group of faunus stepped through an alley as they each pulled out a small, grimm-pattern mask, walking on towards the door of what appeared to be a large warehouse where another faunus guarding the door, seemingly acting the bouncer, welcomed them in.

Further away from that entrance three heads remained peeking just over a corner.

"I still can't believe how easy it was to get these."

"To be fair, Blake already had one."

"Yeah, but getting two more wasn't exactly hard. I didn't even need to wear those ears."

"Their eyes never reached as high as your head, Yang." Blake deadpanned.

"You think it'll be fine if they wake up too soon though?"

"Just as we had though, we saw they had no aura when you easily knocked them out." Blake replied. "Even if they were to wake up quickly, they won't be able to untie themselves."

"Shouldn't we have called the police?"

"...I… They could be - they are civilians. They could be desperate ones, coming to a Fang meeting for the first time."

At Yang's raised eyebrow she continued. "I know that's not good in itself, but… maybe we can leave it with this. It'll be a scare for them, for better or for worse. We…"

"I understand." Jeanne interrupted. "We can let them off this time."

Blake looked surprised for a moment before then looking to Yang.

She simply shrugged. "I can understand where you're coming from. Guess we can let them go on our way back."

She gave them a nod and a small smile.

"So, once more, the plan's just to go in and listen to what they have to discuss and say, then leave."

"Right." Both Yang and Blake nodded.

"Gah, this'll not work out well for my hair." Yang grimaced as she ruffled the cat ears into her hair until they were no longer quite so obvious, at first glance anyway.

Jeanne followed up with the same, setting hers in place, though without the complaints.

"Stay to my side and let me be between the guard and you. I'll slow down just at the entrance so you can move past me before he has as much time to focus on either of your ears in case he decides to be more vigil."

A few moments after, the three had dawned their masks as they made their way into the building, slipping past the guard with no trouble.

"There are a lot of people here." Whispered Jeanne.

Yang herself held back the desire to whistle out in surprise of her own.

"This is too out in the open of a place." Blake Clarified. "Relatively inconspicuous but still too dangerous for them. There are so many since this is more of an introduction, a recruitment drive. Likely more than half of them will pretend like nothing ever happened after they leave tonight."

"I see." It still didn't stop Jeanne from gazing just over how many had decided to come, even if just to see what the Fang's about.

"Then they won't be too loose-lipped with too much, huh?" Yang questioned.

"Definitely. We could've found this place by word of mouth if we asked the right Faunus. Thanks to Junior we found this a lot faster than like that, however. But if we want anymore we'll have to hope for some clues from here."

"You think we can corner one of their leaders here?" Asked Yang. "Follow whoever starts talking and catch them after the meeting?"

"That's a possibility. We can't be sure though. We- The White Fang has division commanders. They're still just on a need to know basis though, and they often have lieutenants, at least one or two. If it's just a lieutenant of a division commander here to try and recruit, there'll be very little they could give us." She frowned. "Still something, but little."

"Brothers. Sisters." The three drew their attention to the stage as a rather tall masked man stepped onto the stage, unlike the crowd he was dressed in a mostly white uniform, much like the guard at the door. The White Fang uniform. Behind him a lizard-like tail slowly swayed from one side to the other.

"I can see many have come indeed, it is good tiding indeed," He began, voice booming. "A show of how many are willing and brave enough to fight for our freedom, to stand against the farce of equality given to us."

"And also grim tiding," He then spoke just an octave lower, his voice just a tad gentler. "A show of how even here in Vale, here where we are supposedly accepted second only to Menagerie, yet so many of us truly hurt and gathered to defend ourselves."

He took a few steps forward, frown on his face as he spread his arms wide. "And how many more? Afraid to step out too often out of the confines of whatever small bastion of a home we have. How many more of us lay cornered by this world humanity has built to exploit us?"

Just then Jeanne realized how much even she'd become focused on his speech. She now noticed how many shouts of confirmations were going his way. How many nodded their heads with angered expressions.

"We do not do exclusively nice things. We cannot take pride in all of our actions. We are not as pure as a charity." With each statement his voice grew weaker.

Then it boomed again. "But we take pride in what we fight for, who we fight for! We choose to accept condemnation from the world if we must, even from our very selves if it means doing what's right!"

"We choose to fight against the system, for it is built against us." His voice was now measured, though with obvious underlying rage. "Choose to extend a hand to those repressed even when stamped the criminals for it."

"Choose to wear the faces of monsters" He raised a hand, gripping his mask. "If it means showing them we won't let ourselves yield, let those we love be enslaved before our eyes all over again."

"We spoke of peace. Nothing changed. We won a war. Nothing changed. We rose in protest, yet lacking in hostilities. We were branded monsters. So then so be it!"

Then his voice boomed. "But we shall not please them, not let them have their way yet again! We'll not become the mindless monsters they constantly try and portray us as!" And brought his voice down to a measured level yet again. "But we will become monsters. Like the dragons of myths, we will become the noble monsters that accept to bear such foul a title as we choose to protect our people with just as much ferocity as in legend!"

The speech carried on for a while longer, before finally he and what seemed to be three other Fang members began beckoning people to come.

People did indeed step forward. Many seemed hesitant, yet just as many were not.

Two of the members began guiding them into lines.

Jeanne turned to Yang. "I don't think we'll make the tryouts."

""Yeah, it might be a better idea to get out for now and observe from afar."

"Where's Blake?" At her words, Yang also began searching their surroundings. Where had she gone?

"Within earshot." Came the whisper of a third voice.

"Where were you?"

"I surveyed the building, or at least as much as I could. I had to move slowly through the crowd so no one took particular notice. I've only had the chance to look around most of this main room. Speaking of, there's two more here aside from them and the one at the door. One behind that corner and the other is hidden behind that far side of the crowd." She pointed.

"So at least seven." More than double what they'd fought last time around.

This time they had their weapons though, or Yang and Blake had anyway. They had to go to Junior's bar again since it was the closest safe place she could leave her spear at, as a non-collapsing large and visibly hunter-like spear with an Atlas-Tech logo on its side was not the best tool to conceal, unlike her partners' far more concealable weapons.

Yang and Blake had been ready to question the sanctity of said safe haven of a club, but Jeanne had reassured them that their worry was needless.

"It's best we slip out with one of the larger groups leaving for now."

"And we ambush them outside?"

"That's our best bet. Too many civilians here."

Once they were out they found themselves talking over their game plan yet again.

"You guys sure you're fine with this? I'm supposed to be the leader, yet…"

"It's fine," Yang reassured. "You don't have a weapon on hand, and it'll be better to have someone release those two sooner now that the meeting's over."

"Don't worry, they'll slowly disperse, I and Yang will get our chance to capture the lieutenant."

"...Alright, just be careful and call if anything's wrong. I'll try and get in contact with you guys when I get back to the club and get my spear."

The three split from there.

In only half an hour Jeanne found herself already in the club, having released their impromptu prisoners along the way.

Before she could call them, however, she'd already received a message from them. Meet them at the bullhead docks, it stated.

Another long walk after she found herself there.

Would it have been better to go after them? The message had come so soon she couldn't help but worry. Had things gone wrong? But where would she begin searching?

No. She was the leader. Her team trusted her. Their teams trusted him. He needed to do the same.

The bullhead docks weren't exactly too big, so she could just sit in one place and catch them when they came by, still she found herself pacing around them instead.

Luckily, in ten or so minutes familiar figures caught her eye not too much a distance away.

"Blake, Yang, what-er, did everything go right?"

Not too likely by the frowns they wore.

"They caught wind of us." Blake couldn't help but peek at Yang as she said that.

"Those cat ears get way too itchy." She seemingly brushed it off, thought she didn't seem any less displeased.

"They were smart. The moment they realized they were followed they dashed out of the alley, ducked into crowds." Blake began. "One by one we lost them before we could even choose who to follow. We lost the lieutenant early, and eventually the others as well."

"Sorry."

"Don't be, it was our mistake in being too careless." Blake sighed. "They were at least careless at first, so I was able to overhear some things, even if not much."

"What'd they say?"

"They talked about some operation in the south-east, but didn't reiterate further. It was one of them asking if they'd begun setting up said operation since it was seemingly decided upon a few days ago, but whether it's in the south-east of town, of the region of Vale or elsewhere, they didn't specify."

"Well, we'll have to make sure we find out more next time." Blake and Yang both looked at her.

Saying that it was 'at least something' or 'at least not nothing' would've been empty lies. That much Jeanne could see. She wouldn't try to stir them on like that White Fang lieutenant.

"We managed to get this close before. We'll just have to do it again and find out more next time around, right? I probably should've called Ember too now that I think about it, since she lives not too far from here."

"True enough." Yang gave a smirk as she began moving towards the bullhead.

Blake smiled in her own right, following on after the two.

"We should hurry though, if we're any later we'll miss the last bullhead. I don't think Miss Goodwitch will be too happy then."

And so the three sailed off on the ten o'clock one, the last for the evening. Needless to say, they were still too late for Glynda's liking.


Nearly two weeks had gone by since that day. A relatively quiet and uneventful time, Jaune thought.

Blake had yet to speak to their other teammates about her former allegiances, and her heritage, though he supposed it had still been only about two weeks. She'd said she'd try to come clean after the missions, so Jaune trusted her to muster up the courage till then.

And speaking of, today was the big day. Well, the day before one anyway, but significant no less.

Tomorrow were their missions and today, as per the headmaster's instructions from two weeks back, they'd been asked to wait in their rooms from ten to eleven, a Saturday so no classes to be lost, still late enough for them to have slept in some and had breakfast.

After all, within this hour each of the first years would be visited by the huntsman they'd be shadowing, giving them the details on what they'd be embarking on tomorrow.

Call him a Nora or a Ruby cause he couldn't stop the excitement bubbling in either of him. Nor the nervousness, however, even more so when he came to think of how he'd be doubling up on all of this.

"I swear, you're being such a child."

Jeanne sighed. "Weiss..." Wasn't she over calling Ruby that already?

"Are you going to pout now too?"

"Come on, Weiss," Ruby came to the rescue. "We're all excited about the upcoming mission."

"Yes, true, but none of us are quite failing at concealing it like she is."

'Wait, had Weiss meant me?'

Jeanne felt her face heat up. "I-uh, I… was I really that obvious?"

"Yep." instantly replied Ruby.

"Like Ruby on a sugar rush."

"Yaaang!"

The five then halted as they heard a knock on their door.

"They're here!" Everyone turned to Weiss. "Ehem, I mean, Jeanne, if you please would, as the leader, welcome in our instructor for our upcoming endeavor."

Her four teammates then gathered behind her as Jeanne opened the door.

"Professor-"

"Doctor."

"Uh, Doctor Oobleck, Sir, hello," She began. "Uh, we'll be shadowing you on this mission?"

"Indeed. May I come in?"

"Ah, yes, of cour-"

"Splendid." Before she'd noticed he'd already zipped in, what appeared to be a large map in hand. "As you're a slightly larger team than average, the headmaster has deemed it fine to give you a slightly more difficult task. However, that should mean no less than all the more preparations be taken. A good huntsman is a prepared huntsman."

"Uh," Jeanne began.

"Now," Oobleck noticed a currently empty desk, unfolding the large map atop it as its edges draped off it. "South-east of the city one can find a former settlement known as Mountain Glenn, one you should already know a fair bit about if you've paid attention to our lessons. We'll be deploying to there as we then embark to…"

"South-east?" Blake whispered under her breath. "Their operations." Her eyes widened. "Could it end up being the same..."

Finding it hard to keep track with the prof-doctor who'd gotten right down to business, Jeanne looked to her team. Yang and Ruby seemed to have given up on trying to keep up as well and Weiss had been surprisingly fast in starting and trying to jot down any key points of what he was saying. Going by her strained expression as she dug her face into her notebook it didn't look like she was managing much either though.

Then 'he' heard a knock at the door, all four members of JNPR bringing their attention to it.

"It's here!"

"Still a day to it, Nora."

"But today's the big reveal, Ren!"

Letting out an amused huff at them, Jaune went up to the door.

A familiar face greeted him on the other end.

"Ember?!"

She smirked at him, though stopped herself a moment after. "May I?"

"A-Ah, yes."

"You know her, Jaune?"

"Yeah. Guys, this is my sister, Ember. And, uh, you'll be our instructor for this mission."

"You got that right."

"Cool! So, what'll it be, prof? Grimm extermination? Escorting a cargo ship through the Grimmlands?" Nora was already hopping on the balls of her feet.

"I'm no professor, just 'miss' will do. And as for your mission," She smiled. "We'll be doing reconnaissance."

"..." Jaune simply stared.

"That sounds wonderful." An overly polite yet seemingly genuinely voice spoke.

"Boo…" The enthusiastic one's wings were cut.

"Nora..."

Huh, tough crowd. Now she could recall why she wasn't a teacher, aside from the whole being too young and inexperienced a huntress for that job thing.

But yeah, six younger siblings had already been too much.

"Now, now, each task has value in itself. Mistral has lost communication with one of its farms since a few days back and doesn't have the manpower to spare currently."

She took out a map, spreading it out on the floor. "It's located at its borders, here," She pointed out a circled location. "And they contacted us just this morning about it. Thus the headmaster decided it'd be the right mission for your team."

"So the headmaster decides who takes which mission?"

"Yes. Make sure you dress warm, the weather there might not be the worst like in Atlas, but it's still frigid, and snowstorms are common. Either those or Grimm can be the reason for the lack of communication, and it's our job to find out exactly that and make sure we secure anyone who may be harmed."

"Now, we'll be leaving early morning tomorrow, like most of the other teams. For now let's cover any further details and plan out how we'll tackle this. If you have any questions, please do feel free to ask."

Both of him gulped. Reconnaissance didn't sound too worrying, yet it wasn't something to scoff at it seemed. And Oobleck had said they'd be leaving early in the morning tomorrow too.

They were coming in way earlier, a semester early at that. But it was no time to hope as to being ready or anything of the sort. Now he, both of him had to be ready.

Over the next hour both teams were filled in on their mission details, neither of their members able to fully ignore their restlessness until their departure the next morning.


With this we're ready to enter the mission arcs of the story, a semester early at that. What will come of these rushed events happening before their time? What will they change? Find out next time, on- Yeah, I'm going too cringe here.

Oh, and I got an omake for this time around as well. Is it becoming a maybe-maybe not mini series of omakes? Eh, we'll see.

Hope you enjoyed!

Omake:


"Cardin, she's doing it again." Sky anxiously said.

"I know, I can feel the chills from here." He couldn't buckle under this, however.

Weiss Schnee glared daggers at him. He was pretty sure they were impaling him in her mind. He would not relent with just that.

He rose up.

"Cardin, where're you going?" Russel asked.

"To do what I have to."

"Don't be a hero!" Dove screenched.

Everyone looked at him.

"S-Sorry. Haha… was getting too into the moment?"

The three of them sighed as Cardin simply turned and carried on his decided path.

Several steps later he found himself towering over a small girl. One that could have him kneeling if the results of their last spar in combat class meant anything. "We need to talk."

Her friggid glare somehow simultaneously felt as if it was burning a hole through him. "Good." She got up. "There's been something I've been meaning to say to you anyway."

He and Weiss Schnee exited the cafeteria, both her team and JNPR still being stuck in the lunch queue, very likely none of them noticing them.

As they stopped at a more currently empty corner, she turned to him and didn't wait for him to be the first to speak. "Unacceptable."

"Well, sorry, but you'll have to accept it."

"What you do in your own time is for yourself, fine, but to spread it to the school like this."

Was he not to even talk to Jeanne now? He hadn't expected this from her.

"I can understand your feelings. Every time I look too, I can't stop my heart from racing. I-"

"Eww, no. No. I don't want to hear it. Do what you like in your own time, in your own room, but I shall not have you defiling the sanctity of this school." Her glare was fierce.

"And here I thought I could read you like a book, that you were like me, like a kindred spirit. Someone who understood - shared my feelings. But to be so possessive…" He averted his gaze in disgust. "Jeanne deserves better..." He quietly mumbled, too quietly for Weiss to hear.

"Do not insult me by insinuating that our tastes are anything alike!" 'Such vile books, only the most deprived of perverts would enjoy those.' She slightly shivered at the thought.

'So is that it?' His eyes widened. 'She doesn't actually feel for her? Is Jeanne just a fling for her? Could… Could the rumor about Weiss going for both her and her brother be true then? Is she just catering to her fetish when she'd seen twins or something?'

"I see then." 'The faunus were right, these Schnees, they were something else, nothing good though.' "We can't see eye to eye. Remember this, Schnee, I won't let this stand!" And with that he turned and left, not even bothering to hear anymore of what she may have had to say.

"Why that- to force his fetishes on people…" She quietly seethed under her breath. "So be it!" She then proclaimed. "Make no mistake, Winchester, I won't stand for this either!" And with a scowl and scoff she turned on her heel and left as well.


"Yang…"

"Yeah, Ruby?" Yang turned to her sister, welcoming a distraction from the dreary lunch queue. It was particularly bad today. "Hey, what's with that accusatory look?"

"I don't know."

Yang raised an eyebrow.

"I just have a feeling."

"A feeling, you say?" She gave her a small smile.

"Don't laugh! I'm telling you, you've always done something when I get this feeling. You not being sure only makes it more worrying…"

She rolled her eyes at her adorable pouting sister. "Fine, fine, that's sort of fair I guess, I do oof sometimes. Maybe I have oofed yet again. But come on," she huffed amusedly. "Even if I've done something, if I can't even remember it, what's the worst it could've been?"

"...I hope you're right."

"Oh ye of little faith, you hurt me so." Yang jokingly shook as if wounded. "Now let's leave that nonsense behind. Don't think you'll distract me and get the last strawberry pie."

"So not what I was doing! And you can go for the pancakes instead for once!"

"Against Nora? Yeah, right. I'd rather fight Pyrrha over Jaune than Nora over pancakes."

"Why would Pyrrha fight you over Jaune?"

"Aww, you're so adorable!'

"Hey!"

And so the two carried on their banter in whimsy and fun, mood easy as there was nothing to worry over under the Sun.

Until they nearly started a food fight, anyway.

But otherwise all was joyous and pleasing on that day.

Both JNPR and JRBYW's member's couldn't help but wonder why Weiss seemed grumpier than usual though.

Ah well, it was Weiss. It was probably nothing.


Next chapter - 15th April