Ascendancy

by Titanmaster 117

War never changes, merely the adversaries. Jaune Arc's dream was to be a hero, not a soldier. But now, as the Grimm rise up under a new master, he finds that he has little choice in the matter. Darkness will flood over Remnant as the Second Great War begins, and not everyone will live to see the light at the end of the tunnel... (Dark RWBY fic. Minor and major character deaths)

27. Jaunedice part 2: Pretty Little Lies

Main theme: Metro Exodus rap by Jt Music, featuring Andrea Storm Kaden
Arc Theme: Through The Valley by Shawn James (The Last Of Us 2 trailer edition)
Theme: I Am by Jorja Smith

---

My team leader is laying in the GVMC, comatose. A vegetable.

He got on my nerves, you know. Always telling me what to do. It wasn't that I was a lone wolf kind of person, I just didn't like it. I went along with his orders, sure, but I didn't have to like it.

If I had known what was going to happen, I would've shown my appreciation of him more.

It was shortly after the Initiation Massacre, at least a day, where we were doing sweeps of the burnt out Emerald Forest. He had told us to be cautious of these new Grimm, but, of course, we didn't listen.

We didn't see that surviving Grimm aim its gun up and shoot him in the head.

Somehow, it didn't kill him. It might've well have, because now, he's just laying in a bed, in a dusty corner of the GVMC, unresponsive, and kept on life support.

I have considered turning it off. The doctors have said that there is no way that the brain damage that has been done to him can be reversed or repaired. His mind is broken and shattered, unable to even compile a thought. Surely death would be much more preferable.

This is how I know that I am a coward.

Because I cannot bring myself to do so.

Journal extract from an unknown Hunter

---

Sunday had been the same as always for them.

Jaune had attempted to keep his team together, to no avail (As always).

Melanie had tried to keep her team together, to no avail (As always).

Ruby had been dragged away by Weiss to do god knows what for god knows why (As always).

Monday would be no different as any other Monday.

{BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP}

Melanie lifted her head off of her pillow as she yawned, and shut off her beeping alarm as it rang out. Nearby, Neon and Flynt groaned in their beds, and, as always, Ciel let out a quick yawn and rose up from her bed.

Melanie looked up at the time on her alarm. 5:30AM. Good. Time for her to get up and get ready.

"Get up", ordered Melanie as she got up from her bed, pulled the quilt off in order to air it out, and then opened the blinds, letting the still dark, but ever so slowly brightening morning light enter into the room, "I'm getting showered and washed, then I'll be out of here by 7. Classes start at 9, so I expect all of you to be here when I get back at 8, unless you want to join me."

A groan from both Neon and Flynt was all that she got in response.

She kicked the side of Flynt's bed, "Get up", she ordered, more sternly this time, even though she knew that it wouldn't work. They had been through this enough times to know what would happen. Perhaps one day the 2 of them would actually listen to her. Perhaps one day Ciel would listen to her as well.

Perhaps one day they could be a proper team instead of a bunch of acquaintances who happened to share the same room.

"We're going to finally be doing team exercises when I get back at 8, all the way up until 9, so I expect you all to be washed and fed and ready by the time I get back", Melanie spoke like a drill instructor as she collected her towel that she kept near the side of her bed, and grabbed a neatly folded workout uniform from that same side and said, "Understand?"

Silence was her answer.

"I said, do you understand?"

Ciel didn't say anything, and all that Neon and Flynt responded with was a sleepy groan.

Melanie just rolled her eyes and made her way to their bathroom. Her teammates were as useless as ever. One would think that they would've learnt to follow orders by now, but no: A month and a half in and they still held no respect for her at all.

By the time that she had gotten out of the shower, gone on her morning exercises, eaten her breakfast, and returned at 8:00AM, her team's room was empty.

As always. Flynt and Neon had buggered off to who knows where, and Ciel was standing outside of Team RSBL's room, no doubt waiting for her employer, "Ciel-"

The door to Team RSBL's room opened up, and out stepped Weiss Schnee, looking as affluent and regal as ever. A quick nod of the head, "Let us go, Ciel"-

"Of course, ma'am."

-And they were off down the corridor.

Melanie snarled, "Ciel, don't you dare-"

But it was too late, and they both disappeared down the corner at the end of the hallway.

Melanie's eye twitched, and she just slumped onto the wall and let out a frustrated groan. How the hell was she supposed to lead a team if they didn't even listen to her in the first place? It was an utter shitshow, and she wasn't afraid to say it. She had a right mind to go up to Ozpin's office and tear him a new one just because of it.

Verbally, of course.

She gritted her teeth. No, Ozpin was cleverer than that. Much smarter than that. And more condescending and arrogant too. He'd just sit there and twiddle with his stupid mug and smile and subtly mock her for not being able to control her team and act like a smug condescending prick who liked to pretend that he had all the cards and lorded himself over all of the other plebeians underneath him like he was their god.

Ahem.

Melanie didn't trust him. She wanted to, but she just didn't trust him.

She looked over to the door to Team RSBL's room.

She had a good reason as to why.

---

Jaune's mornings started out the same as usual.

"Wake up, Renny!" cried out Nora as she jumped off of Jaunes bed and onto Rens, waking them both up as Nora pulled Ren out of bed and chirped, "We've gotta hurry up before the cafeteria runs out of pancakes!"

Ren, being dragged out by his hand, sighed and looked like he had resigned himself to his fate, but Jaune, in a tired voice, pulled himself out of his bed and went, "Nora-"

"Can't talk, Fearless Leader, need pancakes!"

"But Nora-"

"Pancakes pancakes pancakes~"

And like that, she was gone, taking Ren along with her.

All Jaune could do was just sigh, and look to the bed of their 'Team's' 4th member.

As always was the case with every morning, Pyrrha Nikos was gone, having disappeared with Eri to do whatever the hell it was that they did. He assumed that it was training.

Groaning to himself, he saw that there was no point in keeping himself in bed anymore, and got himself up, taking off his sleeping wear, and moving to change into his school uniform. However, before he did that, he looked down over his abdomen, and remembered that he had physical therapy after his regular lessons, just like every other weekday.

He traced a hand over the spiderweb patterns and traces of scars and rugged pale skin that stood out against his more naturally shaded white skin. It had been more than a month since he had had his side ripped out by the Daughter, and a full month since he had been stabbed in that exact spot by that Neopolitan Butcher girl. Both of the wounds, thanks to that nifty little thing called aura, had pretty much healed now, and, thanks to the blood packs that he had been receiving from the GVMC and Beacon infirmary, he was running at optimum blood power.

Still though, there were the aches, and there were the occasional pains. Velvet Scarletina and Lavender Nera, and the lead nurse Medico, all 3 of them working in the infirmary had been a massive help, as had Melanie as they went through physical therapy together, as well as a few other people, but still, there was the occasional blunt pain in his-

Ouch, there it was again. He rubbed his side, and felt the dull pain, like a blunt bat being pressed into his waist, simmer and still. Walking into the bathroom, he took out a paracetamol tablet and swallowed it.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he ghosted a hand over his arm. He was slowly beginning to build up his muscle mass once more, and his skin was finally returning to its natural colour instead of its previous pale shade. The pressure ulcers that had covered his back were now on the verge of completely healing, possibly thanks to his aura, leaving only a few purple bumps now, and the bags under his eyes were wearing away. He didn't look like the walking dead anymore, at least.

He traced his hand over his face, and realised how lucky he was that he hadn't had any scars on his face. A lot of people weren't as lucky as him because of that.

A lot of people were dead as well.

Jaune swallowed a lump in his throat, and made a move to put his uniform on, the dull pain in his side fading away thanks to the paracetamol. He looked over his team's dorm room and sighed. Every single day for the last month, it had been like this. For the first few days as a team, they had woken up and seemed to act like such, but soon, Pyrrha would disappear more and more to train, and Nora would drag Ren out to wherever she wanted to do whatever she wanted, and they would begin to leave Jaune on his own more and more, until a month ago, where they had entered the same pattern of him being left alone by the time that they had woken up, with Pyrrha leaving first before anyone could say anything, to Nora dragging Ren away, to Ren just letting it happen, to now Jaune on his own, with not even Eri to keep him company.

He sighed to himself. He had no idea how to corral his teammates. He really didn't.

This is why he had never wanted to be a team leader in the first place: Too much added on stress and work, especially with teammates. He already had enough of that as it was.

He really was considering just hopping it over to Haven like Reese had said. At least then, he might find a way to escape all of this stress.

No, that's too selfish. He had a duty at Beacon now, and he'd be damned if he didn't see it fulfilled.

Supressing a groan, he finished putting his uniform on, and picked up his scroll, still on the page where he had been researching about the Cataclysm (He didn't know why Melanie had told him to use incognito mode when looking it up), Pocketing it, he then walked out of his dorm room, and locked it behind him as he entered into the hallway.

Nearby, he spotted Melanie leaning against the wall with a tired expression on her face, and he nodded to her, "Hey."

She nodded back, "Hey."

"Still having problems with your team?"

It was her turn to sigh, "They won't listen to me."

He nodded once more, "Same here. It's like they don't even know that I exist. Not anymore."

"Mm", Melanie grunted in turn, and the 2 of them went to leaning against the wall next to each other, the both of them looking as exasperated at their teammates as the other, "We should split off."

Jaune shot her a questioning look, "What's that?"

"We should split off from our teammates and make our own team, our own crew", Melanie explained, moving her hands through the air like a rainbow as she then said, "The 'Malachites', or the 'Jaunesquad', or whatever-"

"Please don't call it the second one."

"-Right, then the 'Malachites' then. You, me, Ruby, and all of the other team leaders with idiot teammates. We'll form our own crew, and we'll actually do stuff like a team. Y'know, like, working together, and stuff, and not acting like total asshats all of the time to our leaders", she pressed her hands together and pointed them both at her, "It'll be amazing, trust me."

"You really think that?"

"We already trust each other, don't we? I'm not afraid to say that I trust you and Ruby more than my own teammates. The same can be said for our fellows with incompetent teammates as well."

Jaune paused, tapping his chin with 2 fingers, before going, "Isn't it a little egotistical to name a group after yourself, though?"

"Can't a girl be self-confident?"

"I thought you admitted on Saturday that you were one of the weakest fighters here?"

"I am, but I'm self-confident enough to know that I can improve."

"You really believe in that?"

She smiled, "More than you do, Lover Boy."

The 2 of them shared a smile and a laugh, leaning against the wall in fresh mirth, before narrowing their eyes on the front door opposite them, and letting a sad frown occupy their faces.

"Do you know why she's been acting so... Cagey?"

"So secretive, you mean?" Jaune asked, getting a nod from Melanie, "I don't know. I mean, I would put it down to trauma, but... But her entire team's been acting that way, haven't they?"

"Secretive, yeah", Melanie responded with, "They're hiding something, and I'm confidant that our dear old headmaster has something to do with it?"

Jaune quirked an eyebrow at that, "You think that Ozpin's given them something to hide?"

"Quick question: Do you trust Ozpin?"

He was caught off guard by the question for a moment, but then gave a proper thought to it, and said, "I don't know. Not really. I mean, I used to trust him a bit, since he's, you know, our headmaster, but after, er-"

"After you and Winter had a falling out after sending that Bree Huntress to prison?" Melanie asked. The council had been gracious enough that they hadn't put his name out on the news when Harriet Bree had been exposed as a serial killer, but it hadn't taken Melanie long to figure out that Jaune and Ruby had had something to do with it.

"Well, yeah", he paused, and his tick of scratching the back of his head returned, "I mean, after all of that, it turns out that trust is a lot more... Well, it's, I don't know, expensive, or something... I need a better analogy, but whatever, you get my point", he gestured a thumb down the corridor, as if Ozpin was standing right there, "The point is that Ozpin hasn't given me a reason to trust him, not to mention whatever he's said to Ruby makes it look like he's trying to give her a nervous breakdown, and so I don't. What about you?"

"Same as you, I guess", she shrugged, "I don't like him. He's just kinda a condescending prick, in my eyes, you know", she shrugged again, and then looked to him, "You did that research yesterday, right?" she whispered that last part to him now, "On your personal scroll?"

"In incognito mode, yeah", Jaune responded, trying to ignore how dirty what they were whispering about sounded right now, especially now that they were whispering.

"And?"

"Nothing", Jaune shrugged, "Nothing about what happened to my ancestor, Joan of Arc. Nothing about the Cataclysm, other than what we already know. Nothing about King Ozymandias or Ozma. Nothing about Salem... Nothing", he looked to her, worried, "It's like... It's like someone's scrubbed history of anything relating to them."

When Miltia had told them the names 'Ozma' and 'Salem', and had mentioned the Cataclysm, it had sent both Melanie and Jaune into a research frenzy. Soon, almost every section of the library had been scoured by them, almost every book read and researched themselves, every name beginning with O and S cross-referenced and fact checked, every reference to the Cataclysm in the First Great War looked up on the internet, and so on, so forth. The both of them were determined to find out and understand what Miltia had been talking about before she had taken part in her assisted suicide, and understand why she had allowed herself to die.

And so far, after more than a month of research ever since Jaune had woken up from his coma, they had nothing to show for it. There was no reference to anyone called Ozma or Salem, and there was no further information that they could access anywhere relating to anything else about the Cataclysm, outside of what was regularly taught in the schools and available on the internet, being only the intended facts. It was as if someone had completely written over history, cutting away anything other than the intended narrative, and leaving everything else under lock and key.

"We know that Ozpin and King Ozymandias are related", Melanie smacked her fist into her open palm, "It's obvious. What we don't know is how Ozma is related to all of this... Could it be a nickname for the King, back when he was in charge of Vale?"

"I doubt it", said Jaune, "Seems like a bit of a strange nickname."

"True", Melanie nodded, reminding him to keep his voice down, before going, "And you're sure that there's no mention of Joan of Arc? She's been completely scrubbed like you said?"

"Almost completely. Her name is only mentioned a few times in passing. It's the same of when I called my family about it. All they know is that she existed and passed Crocea Mors down to my great-great grandfather, Michael Arc."

"I knew it", she muttered to herself, "I knew it, they had to be connected. They have to be connected. Why else would whoever's been wiping the history of the Cataclysm target her as well?"

"But how, though?" Jaune asked rhetorically, "Joan, Ozma, Salem, the Cataclysm... How are they all connected?"

"Ozpin's got something to do with it", Melanie responded with, "He's got something to do with it, I swear. His family lineage must be focused on wiping away the truth, whatever that truth is."

Jaune nodded, "Just need to figure out what, though."

"Mm", Melanie hummed along.

"Are you sure that there are no other books in the library that we can look through?"

"Only a few that we haven't reviewed yet, and they're in my bag. The Myths and Fables of Old Remnant, and all that."

"Hm."

"Yeah, hm."

"Well, it's better than nowhere."

"Yeah, because if we don't find anything in there, then that's it. We'll have no new leads at all. Salem and Ozma will forever be lost to us."

Jaune bit the insides of his lip.

"I know."

---

Ruby had long since gotten used to nightmares.

When Patch had fallen and she had been pulled away from a burning wooden house into a red and black portal by a woman wearing a Grimm mask as their father was dragged far far away right before her eyes, she got used to the nightmares.

When a pair of hands slivered across her body and did things to her that she still could not speak about, she got used to the nightmares.

When a Faunus died right in front of her, and half of her skin melted and boiled red, she got used to the nightmares.

And when flesh uncurled from the arm of a smiling killer and a thin blade stabbed at her in a burning warehouse, she got used to the nightmares.

So, when she had woken up from another nightmare about the Brother of Light ranting about how it had tortured and killed her mother, all she did was sigh, and lay in her bed in silence, looking up at the ceiling with open, unblinking eyes. She didn't need to look around to know that none of her teammates were here with her, nor had they offered her the curtesy of waking her up earlier.

After finally finding an excuse to get out of bed (You've got classes today, ya dingus, she'd thought to herself), She got out of bed, yawned, and got herself into the bathroom, combing her bedhead and brushing her teeth. She'd find an excuse to shower later.

She paused after washing out her mouth, and looked into the mirror, past her strapped pyjama top with a heart shaped Beowolf's head printed on it, and onto the left side of her body, down her arm and the left side of her face, where she had her hair combed over.

Still red. Still completely red from the heavy scarring that had been inflicted on her by the Blind Worm's acid rivers around the Grimm Tidings back in the Initiation Massacre. She swept the hair that covered the left side of her face aside, and looked to her now usually hidden eye. The dull, pure milk white pearl looked back at her, such a contrast to her right eye, still its pure silver. Thank goodness she had been pulled out of the acid quick enough that the most damage that had been done to her eye was simply the loss of colour and not her sight, otherwise she would've been in big trouble.

(She sometimes wondered what would've happened if the same damage had been done to her other eye. Maybe then she would be free from all of this responsibility that had been given to her all because of a genetic trait that had appeared as the colour of her eyes.

She sometimes hated her mum for that.)

Biting down a cry of frustration, she changed out of her pyjamas and into her school uniform. She wished that she still had her cape with her, and it wasn't just reduced to a sash on her combat outfit, but she would have to make due as she grabbed her new hoodie, coloured silver, almost white (Ozpin seemed to almost have a panic attack when she had come into his office wearing it once, so she didn't wear it like that around him anymore), And tied it around her waist, before taking her necklace with a cross pendant attached to it (In remembrance), And laying it around her neck and over her uniform.

Outside her dorm room, through the door, she could hear hushed voices. What they were saying eluded her, but the sounds of the voices (One more than the other, but only slightly) Were very familiar.

She smiled. Another reason to get out of bed had presented itself.

Pocketing her scroll, she walked over to the door with a fresh spring in her step. Opening it up, she spotted her 2 current favourite people in the word. Were they waiting for her? They shouldn't have. They must've had much better things to do with their time than just stick around here for her. She felt like such a waste of space now-

"Heya, Ruby", Jaune smiled and waved gently to her, seemingly in a poor mood before, but had now been flushed away. The same as Melanie as she delivered her hellos as well with a smile and a pair of crossed arms.

"Hi guys!" Ruby chirped as she skipped over to them, adjusting the black gloves on her hands as she then asked, "Were you guys waiting for me? You really shouldn't have."

"Hey, don't sell yourself so short, Rubes", Jaune went as he playfully ruffled her hair, "Of course we'd wait for you. Friends care about each other, right?"

Ruby blinked, thinking back to her partner and the rest of her teammates, and then back to Kay Nin and Yang, and then nodded, "Yeah, that's what friends do..."

"Exactly, so don't worry about it, okay?" he then asked, "You had a good night sleep, Rubes?"

She paused, and then said, "Yeah, it's been... It's been alright. I had an alright sleep", not a lie, it had been alright, nightmares aside.

Melanie looked at her and frowned, "Ruby, if there's something bothering you, you can talk to us about it. We're here for you, after all", the way she spoke, it reminded her of a mother addressing her child. Ruby found that she liked it.

Ruby wished to tell them. Oh gods, she wanted to just air out her worries and concerns to the 2 closest people to her in this entire school, and tell them of her fears and the pressure and all of the truths that she had learnt from Ozpin about Salem and the maidens and the relics and the Grimm because goddammit she didn't want to be alone and she wanted these guys there with her.

But she couldn't. Ozpin had sworn her to secrecy about all of it, and she had promised him not to tell anyone at all. Whatever had convinced Salem and this new Ascendant Court to attack the Emerald Forest during Initiation had completely thrown him for a loop, and now, secrecy was more important than ever. No one else could know about these truths. No one at all.

(Nobody still knew why the Ascendant Court had chosen to attack the initiates, all those weeks ago. Melanie had aired out what she thought the reasoning was to Ruby during one of their team leader meetings, being the very same theories that she had told Jaune, but Ruby had remained unconvinced. She just felt that there was something... More, that the Ascendant Court had wanted during the Initiation Massacre.

Ruby had seen on the Dropship away from the Grimm Tidings, before it crashed, that the Daughter seemed to be fixated on Jaune, but he had played it off as just happenstance, and surely not something that would necessitate a Grimm invasion of the entire Emerald Forest, but Ruby hadn't been sure.

There was something else going on, and she just didn't believe that it was as simple as an act of destroying faith in the kingdoms like Melanie had explained.)

And so, she kept herself quiet, and kept them in the dark. It was for the best, of course, but that didn't mean that she didn't regret it as she smiled and said to them, "No, no, everything's good! Everything's fine! It's just- It's just team leader stresses, you know! Teething problems! It's really nothing to worry about."

Melanie and Jaune looked to each other, and Ruby knew that the 2 of them didn't believe her, and Melanie responded with, "You sure?"

"...Yeah. I'm sure."

"...Alright then", Jaune came out with, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder as he then said, "Just let us know if you need anything, okay. We'll be there for you if you do."

Ruby smiled, and placed her hand on his, "And I you..."

The 2 stayed connected like that for a while, enjoying the sensation of each other's company.

Melanie took a step to the side, letting the 2 of them enjoy their moment with a smile on her face.

The 2 of them then looked over to her, almost expectantly.

"..."

"..."

Melanie looked at the both of them in confusion.

"What?"

"..."

"..."

"Oh, right, I was- Sorry, I'll be there for you guys as well, it's just..."

"..."

"..."

"...You guys were having a moment, and I didn't want to...", she waved her pointer finger between them, "Didn't want to interrupt."

The 2 of them hummed in confusion, before looking at each other and realising that they were both still connected to each other. They both yelped in surprise, Ruby retching her hand away from Jaune and Jaune releasing Ruby's shoulder, and they both began to babble apologies to each other.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable-"

"No no no, it's my fault! I should've been paying attention and not latching onto you like that-"

"-No no, you're my friend, and I shouldn't have touched you like that-"

"-Yes but you're my friend as well and I shouldn't have done that-"

"-I should've been more aware of what I was doing and-"

"-I should've known not to try and do something like that and-"

"Oh my god you guys are such dorks and I somehow both love it and hate it at the same time", Melanie smiled at the 2 of them as they gave her a weak glare, but she shut it off as she patted them on the back, and said, "Let's get moving, shall we? We've got classes soon."

---

As Pyrrha pelted another AK-130 training droid (The Poser variant instead of the Maya) With her double bladed spear, she scanned her eyes underneath her helmet towards the screen nearby, towards her aura count, seeing that hardly a scratch had been taken out of her.

Not good enough.

Up above, her little drone known as Eri was trying to whistle something to her, but she couldn't hear it as she buried one side of her spear into the head of the Poser AK-130, and cartwheeled to the side as a pair of Maya AK-130s opened fire on her, spraying dud bullets across the training room's walls and ground.

With no sign of hesitation, Pyrrha called for Eri with a tap to the side of her helmet, and, somehow reluctantly, the drone complied, and clipped onto her back, allowing Pyrrha to dash right between the 2 Maya AK-130s, twirl her double bladed spear, and cut off both of their heads at the same time.

Using the momentum that she had acquired from her drone enabled dash, she leapt up into the air and sliced her way through another Maya AK-130 that was aiming up at her, pushing her aura into the tip of her blade and strengthening it tenfold as it sliced the robot in half, not blunting at all as she then threw it into another Poser AK-130, square in the head, and then grabbed it and twisted it out, ripping apart the head of the droid in the process. Black oil wept out and Pyrrha tried not to think about fire and forests and failures.

She wheeled around, and saw an AK-135, armed with a riot shield, converting its single arm into a cannon, and Pyrrha pulled up her rounded shield as it formed from a single triangle on her arm into a fully round shield, extending out even further as she used it to block the blast, before folding up her double bladed spear, putting it on her belt, and pulling out one of the 2 pistols on her hip.

They were custom heavy pistols, coloured in red and gold. A rare sort that she had asked from her father after the destruction of her old weapons, Miló and Akoúo̱, back during the Initiation Massacre. Her father hadn't like it (Father did not like many things now more than ever), But he had obliged to do so anyways.

He had already named them for her. Indominable and Indestructible. Not anything to do with their Mandarin heritage.

Pyrrha hadn't said anything about it.

Pulling the trigger, the heavy pistol roared and let out a stray shot into the shield of the AK-135, but all that it did was spark against the thick metal of its shield and embed itself there. Seeing as how her current tactics were-

Not good enough.

-She decided to use Eri to jump high into the air and launch herself right over the AK-135, letting her shield disassemble on her arm and pulling out her other pistol from its magnetic holster, shooting down at the robot as it began to splutter and its joints wheeze, before she landed on her feet and emptied the last few rounds of her pistols into the back of the AK-135, its lights going out as it collapsed to the floor.

Pyrrha scanned her pistols across the training ground, and found no more AK-130s or 135, Posers or Mayas, coming towards her. The room was empty.

She didn't like it. She needed more practice, "Computer", she called out to the Dumb A.I. that controlled the robots and the training arena, "Activate more training droids."

"NO MORE TRAINING DROIDS AVALIABLE AT THIS TIME", the computer rang out with.

"Explain."

"ALL 50 CURRENT COMBAT UNITS ARE NO LONGER FUNCTIONING."

Ah, right.

She looked around, and scanned her eyes over the dozens of AK drones that littered the floor, all of them in various states of disassembly, wires and black oil and stray shards of metal scattered everywhere that reminded Pyrrha too much of the Emerald Forest yet again.

Pyrrha bit her bottom lip in shame. Robots didn't come cheap for anyone, this she knew. Even poor quality models like these ones were expensive things to own, especially in times like these, and here she was, wasting them by the dozens. Or at least, the ones available for this combat arena.

"Computer, end combat simulation", no point in keeping it up and running as the combat lighting around her faded and was replaced by proper illumination, sweeper bots rolling in and beginning their process of cleaning up the mess that she had left behind, as she then asked the computer, "What is my level of improvement?"

"ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT YOU HAVE IMPROVED BY 1.18% SINCE YOUR LAST SESSION YESTERDAY. A REMARKABLE IMPROVEMENT."

Not good enough.

Pyrrha grimaced, but sighed away the annoyance and reattached her heavy pistols to the magnetic holsters on her hip. Thinking about sending a quick prayer to the Mandarin god, she decided to save it until she visited the school's shrine for them in a moment, as she began to walk out of the training room, making sure to not trip up on any of the stray thousands of shards that covered the floor as she entered the women's changing room.

She hadn't noticed Eri clipping herself off of her back until she had went to take off her helmet and noticed her floating right next to her, as she pinged a message to her helmet's HUD.

ಠ_ಠ

"Eri", Pyrrha began, "You know I don't like it when you send me those icons", Eri then flipped over in the air and let out a long string of whistles in what she assumed to be frustration, "...You know I also don't understand you when you start whistling like that as well."

┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ) (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

"...Okay, you're frustrated, I can tell that much", she sighed as she kept her helmet on, whilst also putting away her weapons and clipping off the armour around her waist into the locker in front of her, "If you're annoyed at something, then just say it. Don't waste time making gestures like that."

(＃°Д°) ┗|｀O′|┛

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, "Alright then, what is it?" she felt the urge to apologise for her snappiness, but decided against it. The Grimm wouldn't be waiting for her to apologise for anything, this she had harshly learnt in the Emerald Forest and around the Grimm Tidings, so neither should her opponents.

(⊙_(⊙_⊙)_⊙)

"...What?" she asked in confusion. Thanks to all of the time over the last month and a half ever since she had been given Eri from Nora, she had slowly been getting used to all of the emoticons that she used instead of speech, due to learning of the exact intentions behind them whenever they were used, but still, there were some times, like now, where the little drone's usages of them completely stumped her, "What does that mean?"

(⊙_(⊙_⊙)_⊙) - （⊙_⊙）= (⊙_(⊙_⊙)

"What does that even mean?" Pyrrha was just getting even more confused now, "Does that mean my fans? I'm becoming too detached from my fans? Is that what you're saying?"

(´ｰ ∀ｰ `) (´ ｰ∀ ｰ`)

"Is that a no? Is that meant to be you shaking your head, I mean...", she paused, and then restated, "What do you even mean?"

(⊙_(⊙_⊙)_⊙) - （⊙_⊙）= (⊙_(⊙_⊙)

"...You mean my teammates, don't you?"

\( ^0^ )/ d=====(￣▽￣*)b

Pyrrha sighed as she slipped the armour on her arms and legs off, "Eri, you know why I can't hang out with them more. Why I can't hang out with them at all. Not now, at least."

?

"Don't play coy, Eri."

( •̀ ω •́ )✧ the emoticon popped up on her screen as soon as Eri did a cute little whirl in the air.

Pyrrha was beginning to lose her patience, "Eri, please, I can't just... I'm not good enough for them."

(⊙_(⊙_⊙)_⊙) - （⊙_⊙）= (⊙_(⊙_⊙)

"Stop it Eri. I mean it. I'm not-"

(⊙_(⊙_⊙) + （⊙_⊙）= ＼(((￣(￣(￣▽￣)￣)￣)))／

"I'm not strong enough for them, Eri!"

Pyrrha ripped her helmet off of her face, and stared right into the single glowing green optic of the drone. With a growl, she pointed a finger at the drone, and began to rant.

"Do you know what happened in the Emerald Forest, Eri? Around the Grimm Tidings, before you were built? I was beaten. More than that, I was humiliated. Me, the Invincible Girl, the 4 time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournaments and paragon for young Huntresses out there, was beaten and bloodied and humiliated. And more than that, I was mocked for it. The Daughter of the Ascendant Court, straight to my face, whilst she was- Whilst she was trouncing me, mocked me for my inability to beat her. If I had been stronger, if I had been better- If I had been more!- Than what I already am now, then maybe I could've beaten her, maybe I could've stopped her! Maybe I could've killed her and stopped the Ascendant Court and this entire war from happening in the first place!"

She finally noticed that Eri had hovered a few feet away from her when she realised that she had been subconsciously using her semblance to bend all of the metal around her, twisting it into alien and broken positions, the metal on Eri bending just a little bit as the little drone whined in discomfort, something that it shouldn't even be able to do in the first place. Nora built it- Her too well. Better than she ever could.

She growled at that, and hated herself for growling at it.

"That's why I have to keep training, Eri. That is why I have to keep getting better. I won't have Jaune and Nora and Ren and everyone else who looks up to me have a weak paragon- A weak teammate."

Inside of her, something whispered, Is that what you believe, or is that what your father believes?

Pyrrha knew. She knew a lot.

She had more than just that for being here.

Her scroll vibrated in her locker, and she pulled it out to see a text from Eri on it.

Attached to the text was a picture from their group chat that Nora had taken just after they had been made a team.

It was what Nora called a 'Selfie', of all of Team JNPER's heads pressed together into a single frame, Nora making a silly face, whilst the rest of them looked on in sudden confusion at being pulled together for said selfie.

It was a heart warming image, and once, when they had just been made a team, Pyrrha had smiled at it.

But now, all she could do was grimace at it.

Before the Initiation Massacre, she had come to Beacon for something as simple as a friend, a way out of the image of the Invincible Girl.

Now, she had finally realised how pathetic that was.

She couldn't have friendships. Not anymore.

All they would do was hold her back.

"Drop it, Eri", Pyrrha glowered at the drone, "I mean it", and she continued to get changed, dressing into her school uniform as Eri whined in sadness, but she ignored this as she walked out of the changing rooms, into the main hallway, and found Weiss Schnee and Ciel Soleli waiting for her, as always.

Internally, also as always, Pyrrha sighed, but she didn't let this show as she put on her best smile and said to Weiss, "Good day, Weiss. How was your sleep?"

"And a good morning to you as well, Pyrrha. I must admit, for once, it was quite pleasant", Weiss smiled back to her, whilst Ciel stood off to the side with her hands behind her back, her face as impassive as ever. Weiss continued, "Though my team is still as rambunctious as ever. I swear, it's like I'm living with a bunch of children."

Pyrrha wanted to say something about that, but deigned not to, on the grounds of being called a hypocrite.

"I mean, seriously, Blake obviously hates me and everyone else for some reason, Leadpipe is the only one she likes and that's only because he's too passive and needy to do anything against her, and my team leader is an actual child!" she threw her arms in the air as emphasis for her annoyance.

"Well", Pyrrha hid the awkwardness in her voice as they began to walk, "She is only 2 years younger than us-"

"Exactly, a child!" Weiss said as if she was reinforcing her point and not trying to contradict it, "And she acts even younger than it as well, is completely unable to even try to stand up for herself, and she's obviously has mental damage, and yet Ozpin decided to put her in charge of an entire team! Ugh, I know that Ozpin is wise, and has been the headmaster of Beacon for years longer than anyone else, but I cannot help but feel like this has been a major jump in his logic!"

Pyrrha could tell that Weiss was holding out on a few things, but decided not to press it as she then said, "Well, perhaps you're being a bit too harsh on Ruby."

"Pyrrha, being harsh is the only way I can treat her! It's tough love!" she spitted out in an exacerbated manner, "Excessively angry love, if that! I need to be harsh on her, because she's got so much going for her, and... Ugh!"

Weiss finished off her short-lived rant with a grunt of annoyance, which still sounded as ladylike as she put herself out to be. Pyrrha felt like there was something more to it than just that, seeing as how she had said that Ruby had a lot going for her.

From what she had learnt of the Schnee heiress in the short time that she had known her, for her to say that about someone else, especially someone whom she considered to be inferior, was extremely out of character. For her to even give the briefest hint that there was someone out there who should be her lesser and yet was somehow, in some category, more than her, was rather startling.

"Weiss", Pyrrha began, "What do you mean by that?" above her, Eri looked down in equal confusion, though it was harder to tell considering that she had no face, and thereby no facial features to express it.

Weiss immediately caught onto what she was asking, and waved it off, "Never mind about that Pyrrha, we have classes soon", she looked at her with an earnest smile, something that she had never given anyone else in this school, not even Ciel, "That reminds me, after classes, I was wondering if we could have a little study group between us. I know that we were unable to become partners in the Emerald Forest and are stuck with our... Respective partners", she said those last 2 words like they were an insult to said partners. They probably were, "So I would very much like to make up for it as best as I can."

Pyrrha was unsure of what to think of Weiss and her continuous offers and attempts at an impossible partnership. On the one hand, Weiss had seemed to grow attached to her and genuinely enjoyed her company, so it would be rude just to shrug her off. On the other hand, Pyrrha couldn't say that she was particularly fond of the girl, since she clung to her like an overly attached fan with a crush.

(Perhaps Weiss did have some sort of a crush on her. She wouldn't have been the first fan to get attached to her in such a way. And surprisingly enough, she wouldn't have been the pushiest of them.)

"Well, that sounds lovely, Weiss", she lied, and then spoke the truth, "But unfortunately, I have to continue my training, so I must decline", above her, Eri seemed to throw something of a fit, but she ignored it.

"Ah, of course", Weiss said, flattered at the supposed complement, "I completely understand. Our paragon for young Huntresses everywhere can't be nothing sort of perfect now, can she?"

Pyrrha winced at the chosen words used and wondered if it was some kind of dig at her, but remembered that this was Weiss, so she banished the thought, "Well, thank you, Weiss", they found themselves to the door into the school's Mandarin God shrine, and Pyrrha turned to Weiss and said, "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

"Ah, of course, by all means", Weiss said unctuously, sending her off with a wave, "Go, do what you must. I'll be out here", her smile wobbled, "Faith is an important thing after all..."

Pyrrha paused at that for just a moment, but then figured that it was more things that she didn't need to know about, and wondered into the shrine, silently hoping that Weiss would leave with her bodyguard/peer whilst she was in here, but knew that it wouldn't happen, so shuffled it away.

The shrine itself was a bronze coloured room, with a red carpeted floor and a brilliant white light that shone in the centre of the ceiling (Pyrrha suspected that either her fame or her father had something to do with the colouring). The sides of the room were filled with stone pillars that only served as decoration, each one with a stone carving of an ancient Mandarin warrior, whilst in the middle of the room, on a bronze coloured pedestal, stood a small statue of Azama, the god of justice and war, and the central Mandarin god, flanked by smaller statues of the lesser gods known as Ishtar and Inanna. the God of Love and the Goddess of Peace respectively.

(Many people believed that the similarity between the names of Azama and the Faunus god of Azul Primus wasn't coincidental. Pyrrha believed otherwise.)

Lighting the few candles that surrounded the 3 statues, Pyrrha fell to her knees and began to hum her prayers. She had never been particularly devout before the Initiation Massacre, but, of course, things changed, and she had a lot of catching up to do.

As she almost spoke in old Mandarin, "Dóso ta dékata tis kalís týchis kai tis dóxas mou sti thélisi ton Azama, Inanna kai Ishtar. Eíthe to lampró sou fos na deíxei ton drómo mou, kai i dýnamí sou na efthygrammísei ti lepída mou, kathós ékopsa tous antipálous mou kai na epidióxo veltíosi gia ton eaftó mou sto ónoma sou, oiménoi theoí tis dóxas", her mind wandered back to the subject of her team...

And back to the subject of Jaune.

She knew that Jaune was failing as a leader. She knew that Jaune wasn't cut out for all of this. She knew that he wasn't doing well at this whole leadership thing.

A problem of which was partly her fault, seeing as how she constantly flaked out of him for her own training, and...

Well, for giving him the leadership position in the first place.

Pyrrha had promised his elder sister, Viola, that she would tell Jaune about her talk with Ozpin and how she had flaked off leadership to him once he had woken up.

But she had not. She still had not told him.

It was better that way. Better for her than for him.

It was selfish, yes, but it was also another possible failure avoided.

And Pyrrha hated failure. It was a hatred that her father had taught her.

She finished her prayers, got up, and blew the candles out. With a brush of her skirt and stockings, she blew out the candles on the desk, and made her way out of the shrine, seeing that Weiss and her bodyguard, of course, had not let her be, and that Eri as well had been waiting outside for them, possibly annoying Weiss by just being there and hovering near her.

If Pyrrha was a lesser person, she would've laughed at that, but she was not, so she brushed it aside, and, with Weiss and her bodyguard following, as well as Eri above them, she made her way down the hallways once more.

For once, her training wouldn't make her late for classes.

---

Nora Valkyrie had decided that Professor Peter Port was her favourite teacher.

The other Professors were all kinda just butts. Professor Ozpin was cool and old and wise and all, but now he was a lot more skittish and paranoid than what she'd thought that he'd be. Professor Goodwitch was strict and mean. Professor Rainart was grumpy and moody all of the time. Professor Oobleck was so fast that even she could barely keep up with him (And that was saying something. Or maybe it was just because history was boring). Professor Mulberry was too focused on flowers to be of any interest to anyone at all, despite being the person who was supposed to be in charge of weapon's crafting and upkeep. Professor Greene was too sneaky for her own good. Professor Heliotrope was too obsessed with 'Rules and regulations' down in the Forge to be of any fun. And Professor Watts was just creepy.

Professor Port, though? Now that man knew how to spin a tale!

"-Monsters! Demons! Prowlers of the night! These monsters may change their form, but the ugliness of the inside will never change! And I should know! Why, in my younger days, when I was but a sprite young boy, I once cut open an Alpha Megoliath with nothing but a brave trio of utensils in the shape of a spoon, a fork, and a spork, just to see what was on the inside! It was a fair day in the lonely tundra of Solitas, where the cold would freeze a weaker man! But I was far from a weak man, as I covered myself in fire dust and lit myself on fire, just to keep the cold from taking me-"

Best.

Story.

Ever.

If only everyone else could feel the same.

Around her, she could see almost all of her peers in the exact opposite state as her. To her one side, she could see the members of the all girl Team VAKY, or Valkyrie (Led by Vi Maru, and made up of Akuma Nile, Leo Keith, and Mini Yukari (Excellent naming choice of the team, by the way. That was why she liked them so much)), Resting their heads against their desks and dozing away in la la land, except for the ever emotionless Akuma, who had put her hands together and was staring off at the professor in avid concentration. To her other side, she saw Ren jotting down notes on any snippets of information that he could get from Port's story-

Ah, ever dependable Lie Ren, as always!

-And around her, from up to down, almost every other student had either nodded off to sleep or was in the process of nodding off to sleep. Boo! So unappreciative! The man was giving them some of the best stories that she had ever heard, free of charge! They should at least be grateful of that!

At least Jaune-Jaune and Melanie were paying attention. Well, sort of paying attention. Actually, no, they weren't paying attention at all. They only looked like they were listening into what Professor Port was saying as they wrote down note after note into their books and notepads, constantly sharpening pencils and refilling multicoloured pens as they filled their pages with highlights and words and all sorts of mumbo jumbo that Nora couldn't even begin to understand.

Not that she particularly wanted to either, seeing as she had much better things to be thinking about. Like how long it would take her to gorge all of the pancakes in the cafeteria, or how long it would take her and Renny to climb up the side of the school, or how many new electro combinations she and Voltage could make together (Near her, she exchanged giddy waves with the doozy Techion in question before he drifted off to sleep as well. Okay, she was probably going to have to deduct friendship points for not paying attention in story time classes as well! Ungrateful, he was. Ungrateful all of them were!), Or how many new songs she could make with Neon and Flynt and the rest of their band.

(Anything to stop the nightmares...)

Still, the only other people who were (Trying) To pay attention were Weiss and Ruby. Blake had retreated to reading her book under the table-

Blake was always kind of a jerk, to be honest. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was a Faunus and was terrible at hiding her ears under that bow, but she was just so mean to everyone that wasn't Leadpipe, always disregarding their opinions and acting aggressively when anyone disagreed with her. She didn't know why she had made an exception for Leadpipe, but Nora suspected that she thought that he couldn't take care of herself and wanted to mould him into something controllable, or something like that. And considering how passive and docile the Techion was, she wouldn't doubt it as a valid reason.

-Whilst Leadpipe had dropped his pencil and pressed his hands against the side of his head, whining in frustration as he couldn't understand anything that the Professor was saying and had given up on trying to figure it out on his own by taking down messy notes.

Weiss was at least paying some attention, but was more focused on getting Ruby to pay attention, as she continuously scolded the younger girl for not paying attention for even a fraction of a second, spitting hushed, barbed words at her for not giving it her all at every single moment. Occasionally, Melanie and Jaune-Jaune would look to this and frown, but Ruby would wave them off and go back to being scolded harshly by Weiss.

Nora frowned at this as well. Ruby's team was a toxic one. Weiss was bossy and had seemed to have usurped leadership from Ruby, the poor thing was too timid and anxiety ridden to do anything about it, Blake was too confrontational and mean, and seemed to take pleasure from other people's arguments- She noticed how the girl in question turned her eyes up to Weiss and Ruby every now and then, and offered them the slight smile of pleasure at their disagreements- And Leadpipe was also too timid and shy to do anything about it, or want to do anything about it.

She looked over to the side, to see a mane of blonde hair glaring down at Weiss with red eyes.

Ah, Yang. She had completely forgotten about her.

There was Yang, glaring daggers at the Schnee Heiress, her teeth grinding together, and her blood boiling as whispers of flame and ember flickered off of her once young now short, flayed out hair, her eyes a blood red instead of their normal lilac, the metal in her back, shoulders, and arms heating up as the glowing lines that covered her body changed from purple to red, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the desk beneath her-

{CRACK}

-As she broke the desk beneath her, sorry.

Next to Yang, Razor tried to calm her down, but the brawler shook it off. The 2 of them exchanged quiet swear words with each other as Yang continued to try and master a laser eye semblance so that she could burn a literal hole into the back of Weiss' head.

Not that she blamed her for it.

She blinked, and then realised that she had been zoning out, and had missed Professor Port's story. Dang it! She was really looking forward to it as well. Black mark on her book. Oh well, at least she could catch the tale end of his story...

"-And in the end, the Wyvern was no match for my sheer tenacity, as well as a cold dip in that entire lake of frozen melon juice that I had freshly prepared, and I made my return to the city of Vacuo as a celebrated hero of legend!"

Awesome!...

Professor Port pumped a closed fist against his chest as he then waxed poetically with, "The moral of this story? A true Hunter must be honourable! A true Hunter must be dependable! A true Hunter must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Weiss and Yang looked like they were about to jump out to their seats, Weiss to make a show to Ruby about being a proper Huntress, and Yang to prove a point to Weiss, but before they could do anything at all, Professor Port turned his gaze downwards and said-

"Ms Malachite! Mr Arc! Perhaps you could give show us what it means to be a Hunter?"

The 2 team leaders in the bottom pew of seats were broken out of their thoughts and their notes as they looked up in confusion, blinking as Melanie then said, "Er, wha'? Sorry, what was the question?"

"I said, perhaps one of you could show us about what it means to be a Hunter?"

The 2 of them blinked once again, before Melanie coughed and asked, "Um, er, what do you... What do you mean by that?... Er, sir? Professor? Whatever..."

Professor Port didn't catch the last dismissive word as he then pointed to-

Oh look, there was a cage in the middle of the room.

Cool.

"Woah, is that a cage?"

"Has that thing got a Grimm in it?"

"What the what?!"

"Is that safe? Is that legal? Hell, is that ethical?"

"How did we not notice that before?"

Now, the students were beginning to wake up again at the sight of Professor Port gesturing singlehandedly to the cage whilst also talking to Jaune-Jaune, Melanie, and the rest of the class as well, "Inside this cage is... Well, not a Grimm, seeing as how we don't have our good old fashioned beasts readily available now anymore-"

Around her, Nora could hear a lot of her peers let out sighs of relief. The wounds of the Emerald Forest were still raw. Too raw for Nora's liking.

"-So instead, we have a dastardly training droid cooped up in this fine old cage, created by me! Why, I remember when I made that cage, on a hot summer's day in the settlement of Sumire against an evil swarm of Sulfer Fish Grimm-"

Everyone else groaned. Nora was ecstatic. More story time!

"-But, alas, that is a tory for another day."

Everyone else was ecstatic. Nora Groaned. No more story time?!

"So, in this cage is a coiled AK-BX combat droid, ready to spring out and attack any would be Huntsman and Huntress who would dare come near it! All for training purposes of course."

One student- Steam, she remembered his new nickname being, with his pet robot bird Hammer perched on his arm- Raised his other arm and asked, "Wait, sir, you have a robot trapped in a cage?" a nod from the professor answered that, "But... Why not just keep it out and not waste the time or space in the room by cramming it into that cage and shoving it into the middle of the room?"

"Why, for dramatic entrances of course!"

"...I'm not sure what else I expected."

"Anyhow!" Professor Port said as he looked back down to Jaune-Jaune and Melanie, "Now then, would either of you like to show us what it means to be a Hunter?"

Nora's eyes widened as he realised what he was doing. He was calling them out for not paying attention. Worse yet, he was calling them out for them because they were showing that they actively weren't planning on paying any attention at all and were too focused on their own work. Now they were put on the spot, and everyone was looking at them expectantly, and it wasn't like they could go against a teacher's orders.

Melanie looked on now with an annoyed look when she realised that she would be unable to continue her work, closing the book that she had on her lap- Before the Dawn, a follow up to the novel After the Fall- And then moving to get up and accept Professor Port's challenge, when Fearless Leader Jaune-Jaune put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Melanie, don't. I'll take the die."

"You sure?"

A nod from Jaune-Jaune was his answer to her.

"...Alright then", and with that, she was back in her seat.

Nora blinked at this. Melanie didn't seem like the type of person to back down from a challenge like that, and she didn't seem like the kind of person to just hand over a challenge to another person, so to see her do something like that was strange indeed.

Maybe she trusted Jaune-Jaune enough to handle it on his own.

If that was the case, then why didn't she trust her team?"

Jaune-Jaune left, and then soon after returned, dressed up in his awesome looking white, black, and golden armour, and with all of his weapons attached to them. Even with his helmet on, Nora could tell that he wasn't really up for this, not in attitude, but in strength. Nora didn't hold anything against him, but he was the weakest person in their year, after Melanie herself. She wasn't really sure what kind of a fight this would be, but she imagined that this one would be in the lose section than the other.

She reached down and stroked her little drone known as Eri, whom was resting on her lap, a cable attached to a rechargeable battery pack connected to her as her lights were reduced to a single blinking red light in her singular optic.

Nora liked Jaune-Jaune. She liked him a lot. Not like-like, of course, but still, he was nice. He was funny. And he also put up with her attempts at being fun. Well, he'd never said anything about it before, had he? And he never looked like he held anything against her when she got up to her more... Destructive hijinks, or when she left and took Renny with her to pass the time and have fun, so he was great in her books.

He wasn't a good fighter for a reason, though. She could tell that he'd never had any sort of advanced training or lessons in how to be a Huntsman, or even a fighter on top of that. He had a good eye for tactics and decision making, that was true, he wouldn't have been able to lead them through the Initiation Massacre without them, but he definitely wasn't a fighter, and the webs of scars and cuts of old, yet still fresh injuries didn't help. No doubt that he was still getting aches from it all, if the paracetamol bottles that they had in their bathroom were any indication.

Still though, it would be a good fight at least, and she still had faith in Jaune-Jaune to come out on top. She poked Renny on the side next to her, and whispered, "Look, Renny, Jaune-Jaune's going to do Team JNPER a proud!"

Renny hummed, "I'm sure that he will", but it was clear that he didn't quite believe it himself. She knew that like her, he liked Jaune-Jaune as well, and had faith in him, but knew about his poor combat abilities and didn't have that much faith in him in a fight. Silly Renny! Have a little more faith, will you?

"Right", Jaune-Jaune said out loud as he stood to the side of the open part of the classroom below, "I'm ready", he was lax, but then looked over himself and realised that he wasn't in a battle stance, "Wait, hold on", he shifted around his legs, and held out one of his arms, electrostaff broken into 2 and held as electrobatons in both of his hands, purple electricity dancing along them as he folded out the shield on his arm and moved it over his body, "Alright, now I'm ready."

If there was one compliment that Nora could throw at Jaune-Jaune's fighting skills, it was that he was quick to learn new skills and areas of battle. Not quick enough to be on par with everyone else, but still, he was hungry to learn, seeing as he had been quickly picking up more Hunter skills at a faster rate than anyone else, so maybe he really would surprise them.

"Excellent!" Professor Port called out, walking to the side of the cage with his weapon, Blowhard, in hand as he prepared to open it, "Allllright! Time to show everyone what a true Huntsman is made of!" he raised his blunderbuss axe as he then cheered, "Let the games... Being!"

He swung it down and broke the lock on the cage. The door opened and the AK-BX combat droid within uncurled itself and sprung out, leaping high into the air and lunging down.

Dramatic entrances indeed. She loved it!

Flying down, the AK-BX slammed its fists into the ground, and forced Jaune to bounce to the side as he swung one of his electrobatons down and hit the AK-BX square in the head, shocking the droid with purple electricity and leaving it twitching and spluttering for a second, but it was only for a second, and too quick for Jaune-Jaune to take advantage of as it wheeled back a fist and slammed it into his helmet, knocking his head back before sending an open palmed strike into his chest and launching him backwards, almost onto the floor.

Both blows were easily avoidable, and could be counter by a bit of manoeuvring and grappling from Jaune-Jaune, but, again, since he didn't have the proper training to be able to counter it, he was left vulnerable to the droid's attacks.

He was adapting quickly, though, as he brought his shield up and blocked a blow from the AK-BX, before coupling both of his batons to his side and pulling out his sword, sending a swipe to the head of the droid, missing it, before he took another swipe at the chest of the robot, this time hitting it and sending it back a step, before jabbing at it with his sword yet again and throwing a swipe at its neck, obviously trying to cut its head off.

Nora was concerned at first at the fact that he hadn't just shot the robot. He had never said how he had lost almost all of his guns after those team leader internships a week after he had woken up, but he had gotten them all replaced now, and had a spanking new shotgun folded up on the back of his waist now, which was something that she was just so eager to see him use. And yet still, he wasn't.

Then, Nora remembered all of the sighs of relief that had gone off when Professor Port had said that there was no Grimm in the cage, and looked around. A few people were getting jittery, obviously not comfortable to the loud noises, but from the looks of it, were sucking it up and powering through it.

That's when she realised: He was being considerate. A gun going off would create a louder noise than was necessary, and it might trigger a few people, and Jaune-Jaune didn't want to hurt anybody so he resolved to do it the old fashioned way.

Nora smiled. That was why he was their Fearless Leader.

However, it seemed like that kindness was going to be the death of him (Not literally, of course), As the AK-BX lunged forward, almost ripping the shield off of his arm and forcing him onto the ground, grabbing him by the neck with both of its arms and seemingly throttling him.

And that was the match, she guessed. Jaune-Jaune lost. A damn shame, in her opinion. He looked like he was doing really well, and he probably could've surprised them with some incredible new tactic or skill or something. Professor Port guffawed in a jovial manner, and was about to call the match, before-

Jaune-Jaune twitched. From the looks of it, something inside of him snapped.

He slammed his shield into the side of the robot's head, knocking it off of him, he seemed to growl under his helmet as he delivered a kick into the head of the downed AK-BX, and left it lying down on its front.

Nora's smile went wide. He was back for round 2!

Sheathing his blade in his shield, and letting it folding into its sheath, he clipped it to his waist, and brought his 2 electrobatons out and pressed them together, letting them form together into his electrohammer. Nora smiled even more at the sight of another hammer buddy, and then her eyes went wide as she watched it dance with purple electricity.

Shut up, she was just asking for her to be his best friend!

He swung it down, and let it slam against the chest of the droid with a satisfying {THUNK}, purple electricity dancing over and shocking the AK-BX into submission. A few people around her shivered, but she didn't notice as she watched Professor Port laughed again, and went, "Amazing recovery, Mr Arc! Whilst I must say that-"

Jaune-Jaune didn't pay him any attention though, as he swung his hammer down again- {THUNK}- Into the droid, this time drawing droplets of oil to splatter out from its chest, like black blood from a wound.

"Um, Mr Arc. The battle is-"

{THUNK}

He was ignored again as Jaune-Jaune slammed his hammer down for a 3rd time onto the droid, this time an ugly growl leaving his lips underneath his domed helmet as he did.

He then swung his hammer down again.

And again.

And again.

And again-

Holy shit he's having a fucking flashback!

Around her, students began to quiver and shake. A few curled up on themselves and began to rock in their seats. Some began to cry. Nora's side started to itch, as did her back, but she ignored it as she jumped up from her seat- Almost knocking Eri off of her lap as she put her on the table- At the same time as Ren, Pyrrha, and Melanie, followed by a few others, and Professor Port made a move to him first to calm him down-

A flutter of rose petals lifted themselves up from a seat below and slowly faded away, like they never existed in the first place.

-But it was the intervention of Ruby Rose wrapping her arms around his stomach and pulling him into a tight hug that cooled him down, "Shh, Jaune, it's okay, it's okay, it's dead... It's dead."

He began to lower his hammer gently, letting it tap on the floor as its purple glow faded away, and his other arm swung uselessly to his side.

"We're not in the Emerald Forest anymore", Ruby half-whispered to him, "We're not around the Grimm Tidings anymore... We're not in the dropship, and we're... And we're not in the warehouse-"

Warehouse? What the hell happened in a warehouse?

"-We're safe... We're safe... We're safe and sound, back in Beacon..."

Jaune's hands began to twitch, his breathing still erratic, "We won?" left his mouth, and through his helmet, in an almost pathetic whimper.

"...Yeah", Ruby breathed out, her voice now just as shaky and broken, "We won..."

Jaune's hammer slipped from his grasp and cluttered against the floor, and he looked around, now back in reality. In the rows of seats, many students had been listening into Ruby's words and had calmed themselves down as well, though some still stayed curled up on themselves.

Beneath them, the AK-BX laid in a crumpled mess, black oil weeping from it and pooling on the ground below it like blood. It's chest was shattered into pieces and caved in, revealing wiring and motors that looked too much like guts and gore for anyone's liking. It's head had been destroyed in a hammer strike, and it's internals and wiring had been scattered on the floor. The thing that used to be a fully functioning robot made one last series of twitches, before it let out a pathetic whine and went limp, the lights in its body going off as it was reduced to nothing more than spare parts.

He must've blinked repeatedly at the sight of the dead droid beneath him, as he then turned to Professor Port and said, "I-I really caused a mess, didn't I?" he paused, then rubbed his armoured side as he then said, "I'm sorry, can I- Can I go, please?"

He left before Professor Port could answer, grabbing his hammer off of the floor and clipping it to his back as he speed-walked out of the classroom. Nobody questioned Melanie when she packed up her notes and quickly followed after him.

The rest of Team JNPER didn't share the same curtesy.

Professor Port held his hands together and looked to the rest of the class apologetically, "Children, I am... Sorry about that. I had forgotten that the wounds of the Emerald Forest are still raw, and... I let myself get carried away with such a pointless gesture."

The students grimaced. At least he was apologising for it.

He looked around, and then said, "Perhaps it would be best if we... Ended the lesson here."

He didn't need to say another word, as the students got up and began to tend to those that were still curled up, soothing them and helping them out of the room, those same students still shaken up themselves. Weiss squawked as Yang practically dragged Ruby out of the room, and squawked again as Blake left, utterly disinterested in the world around her, Leadpipe awkwardly and hesitantly following along behind her.

Up in the rows of seats, Nora took Eri into hand and began to stroke the inactive red and bronze drone, before tugging on Ren's sleeve and gently began to pull him out of the room. Jaune could take care of himself. He was their fearless leader after all. He could take care of anything. She just needed to worry about herself and Ren.

So, she gently pulled him out of the classroom, Eri in hand, and decided to go and see what Voltage was doing.

No one noticed Pyrrha looking on with a sad, scrutinising gaze.

---

Yang missed her mane of hair.

She was angry that her hair had been cut. When she had woken up, the doctors had said that they had needed to cut it in order to get to her injuries, like her pierced spinal column, as well as check for head injuries from the crash that she didn't even remember, and then the surgery that allowed her to still walk and control her motor functions.

It didn't stop her from punching out the lead doctor's lights out, though.

Or, at least trying to. Her new cybernetics were still fresh and finicky, meaning that she couldn't properly control her own motor functions that well, leaving her in the care of the doctors at the GVMC.

(She was even angrier after that when they revealed that she would've needed to cut her hair anyways, as when they had performed surgery on her, they had had to remove her entire spinal column just to replace it with a metal one, as well as the metal joints now in her arms and legs that were connected to her new spine, and since her semblance turned her hair violently hot, that would've melted and damaged her metal spine, leaving her limp on the floor and unable to do anything.)

That was when she realised that there was truly something that she really hated. The feeling of powerlessness.

It was a powerlessness that she continued to feel even to this day, this moment. Her 'Teammates' of Team RXOR treated her like glass, like she was fragile, like she wasn't capable of kicking their collective asses on a good day. Razor was always condescending about it in his own way, but Omega and Rancor were a very different kind of beast. They meant well, but fuck, they coddled her. They stifled her, always pampering her and making sure that everything in their room was soft with no sharp edges, always trying to make sure that there was nothing that she could possibly get angry about, always trying to make sure that she was stress free, always putting her on the backburner for fights and telling her to not get too involved in pulling her own weight and shit because they were worried that she might break in 2 or some shit.

It was fucking annoying.

She clenched her fist, and imagined the gears and cybernetic joints in her body shifting at the motion as the purple lights that lined her body glowed a steady lilac shade, the same as the irises in her eyes.

She wondered if the cybernetics in her body made her a Techion now. Probably. She was technically a cyborg now, considering that her spine had been replaced with a mechanical one, and that the metal joints running down her arms and legs and side, and even into her cheeks, had been keeping her nervous system and motor functions alive. She would still be a quadriplegic without these things, in a hospital bed, just wasting away and waiting to die.

She wouldn't be able to move, or even feel, without these things.

Like how she could feel Ruby, her younger half-sister, worm her way out of her tight grasp as they entered into a disused classroom, Yang closing the door behind them as she then tried to make a joke and said, "Heh, er, bring's back memories, doesn't it?"

"Don't- Don't even joke about that, Yang", was Ruby's stuttered reply.

She bit the inside of her lip, and sighed, "Sorry, I- Sorry", she responded with as she folded her arms together and looked at the floor, "Just- Just trying to make light of the situation, is all."

Ruby paused in turn, and then said, "What's up, Yang?"

Yang grimaced internally. Their relationship... Wasn't the best. It was a far cry from the bond that they had had before the fall of Patch, but then, of course, that had happened, and they had been thrown into some half disused orphanage together with the occasional visit from Uncle Qrow, and then that... Mess, that had happened with Iris Marilla happened, and that had destroyed their bond even more, and now...

Now she didn't know what was left of their relationship.

Time to see if there was anything left to salvage.

"Quit your team."

Ruby blinked, "What?"

Yang grimaced for real this time, "Quit your team, Ruby, they don't deserve you. I can try to get you on my team, but, fair warning, Omega and Rancor can be a little coddling but that's not anything that you can't get used to."

She had suspected that Ruby might comment on the double negative, but she didn't, as she then said, 'I-I can't just- I can't quit my team, Yang. I'm a team leader, now. I have-"

"Ruby, your teammates have done nothing but treat you like shit ever since we started!" Yang almost yelled out, "That princess bitch has been abusing you for every little thing-"

"She's not abusing me..."

"She's been hitting you for every little thing that you do! That's abuse!"

Ruby winced, and Yang felt a pang of guilt, but she swallowed it down. She needed to hear this.

"And I know for a fact that that Techion guy had done nothing to stop it, which makes him a bully by association as well, and I've seen that Blake girl even smiling when you get hit by Weiss! SMILING! Like she enjoys it or something!"

Ruby winced again, "They- They're fine, Yang. I just- I just need to be a better team leader, is all. I just need to be a better teammate for them-"

'Ruby, they are abusing you!" she pointed dramatically to the door as if they were there, "They have been doing nothing but taking advantage of you and treating you like a piece of shit for weeks! There's team teething problems, and then there's this!" she rubbed her forehead, and sighed, "I've already made a complaint about it to the headmaster-"

"Yang!"

"Don't pretend like I'm the only one! I know for a fact that 30 other people have made the same complaints to Ozpin, but for some reason, the old fart isn't doing anything about it! Come tomorrow, when we've got our first team exercises, they will abandon you! Those teammates of yours will leave you behind! I know this for a fact!"

"Yang, I don't need you coddling me all of the time!"

"I'm not trying to coddle you! I'm trying to look out for you!"

"I'm not quitting my team!"

"Why not?!"

"You wouldn't- You wouldn't understand..."

"If it's concerning my sister being bullied and beaten down by her own teammates, then I think that it'll be damn well easy to understand!"

"It's too important!"

"What's too important?!"

Ruby paused, and she went still, a look of shock coming over her. It was like she had realised what she was saying. Or possibly, what she was about to reveal, whatever that was.

"...Ruby-"

A split second and a flutter of rose petals later, and her little sister was gone.

"Ruby!" Yang called out as she followed the flurry of fading petals out of the unused classroom, through the suddenly opened door, and into what she thought was an empty hallway, now covered in crimson petals that slowly faded into nothingness.

She winced herself, and tweezed the bridge between her eyes, a tired expression growing across her face as she sighed.

"Dammit..."

She wished Uncle Qrow was still alive. When they had been given the melted remains of his weapon, the Harbinger, Ruby had completely broken down and bawled her eyes out. Yang didn't particularly like Qrow that much, but she knew how much the dusty old crow had meant to her sister, so she wished that he was still alive and kicking, if only for her sister's sake.

That, and he might be able to teach her out to treat and solve these messes.

Behind her, as she leaned against the wall for support, she heard 2 pairs of footsteps approaching her, and, much to her annoyance, she realised that it was Rancor and Omega, as the latter's nasally voice ringing out with, "Hey, we heard an argument. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Omega."

"You sure, because if you're hurt or anything, then we can get you like a neck brace, or a pillow, or-"

"I'm. Fine."

But she really wasn't fine.

---

"Was that really necessary?"

"Was what really necessary?"

"All of that back there."

"The training room."

"Yeah. I don't- I don't know much about your style of fighting, but all of that was- It was too much. You're meant to be defeating your opponents, Blake, not humiliating and trying to mutilate them."

"Miss Goodwitch told me to fight them, and I did. And I won. What does it matter as to how I did it?"

'Because what you did back there was excessive to the highest order. It's called- Dammit, it's called 'Restraint'."

"That's not how I used to do it. Back where I come from, we would've called that 'Weakness'."

"Where're you from, Vacuo?"

"Something like that."

"That kind of mentality can't apply here. This isn't Vacuo. This isn't some 'Survival of the fittest' camp, or- Or whatever. This is Beacon. We're training to be Hunters and soldiers. We need to know-"

"Are you saying that I should make myself weak? Are you saying that I should weaken myself?"

"N-No, I-"

"Are you saying that I should accommodate for lesser people just because they're weaker than me? Are you saying that I should make myself vulnerable just so that I can let a few people get a potshot on me and feel better for themselves about it?"

"No, I-"

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"..."

"Let me make this clear to you, Leadpipe: I will not accommodate myself for other people just to make them feel better about themselves. I'm not here to make friends, so don't start acting like I should."

"...If that's the case, then why do you let me hang out with you?"

"..."

"Blake?"

"Simple, really: I need a helper, after all."

"Is that why you don't like it when I hang out with anyone else?"

"..."

Leadpipe broke himself out of his thoughts as he continued to rub a finger along the little metal scar in his arm, his body rocking back and forth and his legs gently kicking over the side of his bed as he continued to sit upwards, waiting for Jaune's turn to be examined and tested in the shared physical therapy session to be finished, so that they could head on over to the gym down below. It was the evening now, and all of their classes were finished, all of them uneventful now, or at least, not as eventful as Port's had been.

Blake... Confused him.

She was a mystery to him. She seemed like she wanted to be a mysterious girl, and yet she carried herself with a self imposed weight above everyone else. She never talked about her past, especially about why she was so insistent on covering up her Faunus ears all of the time, even in the previous pictures that she had seen of her-

When he had been helping Miss Goodwitch to carry some student documents to her office one time, he had decided to take a look at Blake's profile from before she had come to Beacon, and found that even then, she had been wearing that bow over her head to cover her ears. She must've been incredibly shy about it if she sought to cover it up and pass herself off as a human all of the time.

-And he really didn't know why she didn't like him talking to other people (As incredibly rare as that was), Or what kind of a connection that she saw in him to that 'Ilia' girl that she had mentioned back around the Grimm Tidings, though he figured that there definitely must be one if she was so willing to let him hang out with her all of the time. And he definitely didn't know why she was so aggressive and haughty about everything all of the time. Seriously, bring up human and Faunus relations, and she'll start acting like she's the smartest person in the room, and that only her points matter and no one else's.

And also how she seemed to take enjoyment out of the arguments between Weiss and Ruby... That part about her scared him.

The point was that Blake confused him and he didn't like it. However, he just chalked it up to nerves of the new year, as well as the fact that they were, well, at war now, had just survived one of the biggest battles since the First Great War, and had been told, by Headmaster Ozpin, about the existence of an evil witch queen of the Grimm that had been manipulating everything behind the scenes, and was more than likely the person responsible who had triggered the Initiation Massacre and the beginning of the Second Great War.

Salem... He didn't try to think about that too much.

Suppressing an involuntary shudder, he looked over to Velvet, a notepad and pencil in her had, who was now walking over to Jaune, and gesturing for him to take his shirt off, as she then said, "I heard you had an... Well, an episode in class earlier today."

"Er, yeah, it's nothing to worry about", Jaune said as he took his shirt and stuff off, revealing his bare upper body and all of the webbing and scarring that covered it.

Leadpipe felt queasy looking at it, and turned away, surrendering himself to eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Something like that would definitely be something to worry about", Velvet snarked back as she ran a stethoscope over his chest to hear his heart beat, and then, after nodding to herself and writing something down, before turning to Jaune, with a serious expression on her, and going, "You have been going to your therapy sessions, right?"

"Er, yeah."

"Have they been helping?"

"..."

"Jaune?"

He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly after putting his shirt (And stuff) Back on, a nervous tick that Leadpipe had learnt to associate with the guy, "Miss Goodwitch isn't exactly..."

"She's not the most approachable person, Velvet", Melanie said as she continued to read her book, The Myths and Fables of Old Remnant, before poking her head up, and going, "Sorry, Nurse Scarletina, sorry."

Velvet laughed it off, "That's Nurse-in-training Scarletina, thank you very much", before turning back to Jaune, and going, "Sorry about Miss Goodwitch, she's not meant to be the school's therapist. That role used to be for Professor Peach but she's...", she paused.

'She's dead", Melanie finished off for her, before going, "I've heard good things about her. A lot of people were- Are- Sad to see her go."

Velvet nodded, "Me too...", before shaking it off, and then going, "Anyways, could you please lift your leg up?" he complied, allowing her to note something down, before going, "Right, and the other one", he did, "And lower them", he did, "Right, now lift your left arm up... Good, now your right... Good, and now lower them."

He nodded and did just that, flexing his fingers, wrists, toes, and ankles as well.

"Right, all good across the board", Velvet said as she continued to note things down, "Right, well, there's been no change to reaction times, thankfully, which means that nothing has been slowed down or delayed in any significant way. How about your waist, around the areas where you were stabbed? Have there been any changes or recent pains?"

"Just the dull ones, as usual, though I'm still taking painkillers- Paracetamol for those", Jaune replied as he rubbed the side of his waist subconsciously (Leadpipe presumed it to be subconsciously), And continued on with, "In moderation, of course."

"Right, well, remember to keep it that way", Velvet said as she continued to write stuff down onto her notepad, "It's not as unusual as you think for somebody to overdose on painkillers, just to, you know, kill the pain."

Jaune nodded, "Yeah, I've heard."

The door to the infirmary opened up, and Scrapster walked in, accompanied by the head healer in the school, the white and red Techion with a glowing blue visor called Medico, as he patted the member of the self proclaimed (By Skipjack) Constructors on the wheeled shoulder, and said to him, "Well, you've adjusted fine to your new body, and your internal organs have meshed well with the shell around you, so it's safe to say that your teething troubles are over. However, I would advise keeping to these physical therapy sessions for the time being, at lest until we can be certain, understood?" a nod from Scrapster later, and he then waved him off with, "Well in that case, you're good to go. Just make sure to be back here for next session, yeah?"

"Sure thing, doc", Scrapster nodded, before turning to the door, "Thanks", and with that, he was gone.

Medico then turned to Velvet, and said, "Velvet, what's taking so long? You were supposed to have sent these guys out 5 minutes ago", he swept his arm over Leadpipe, Jaune, and Melanie, "Lavender and I have been waiting for you to catch up."

"Ah, just give me a minute, I'm almost done", Velvet said as she finished noting a few more things down after performing a quick strength test on Jaune's arms by having him lift a heavy stack of papers, and then said, "I was just working on a few things beforehand."

"Uh huh, sure."

"I was!"

"Yes, because writing about Cipher's totally broken elbow is surefire work to be doing in an infirmary."

Velvet blushed and sent her boss an angry flustered glare, whilst Jaune and Melanie's eyes widened as Leadpipe turned to her and asked, "Wait, you're... You're Cipher? As in that guy who always writes those stories about us and posts them online?"

"Those fan fiction things?" Jaune continued on with, "You write those?"

Velvet shook her head and then tweezed her nose, "No, I'm not Cipher. I'm his beta. His editor, if you will. He started sending me these scripts and drafts, and I started editing them", she looked between the 3 of them, "You read those."

Leadpipe nodded, as did Melanie absentmindedly, her head still in her book, as Jaune then, with an annoyed grimace on him, said, "Only the parts without me in it... Which is a lot that I don't read of it, I guess."

"Yeah, you do feature a lot in it. I had to tone down some parts of it just to make sure that it wasn't completely about it... Don't like the sound of your own voice?"

"That, and I don't like how he, and by extension you, portrayed me. Seriously, I've been turned into... What's the term? 'Mary Sue'? Yeah, that. I've been turned into a massive Mary Sue. Or Marty Sue, or whatever", he grumbled to himself in annoyance, "And I don't think I can read another sentence where 'Ruby stammered' or 'Neon grinned wildly' or 'Ciel grimly stated' without vomiting, and I think I might've killed myself when he starts talking about my hair as if it were 'Weaved by angels' or something or whatever. And don't even get me started about that extended dream sequence."

Velvet grinned instead of feeling insulted, "You know, you should be grateful. The language that Cipher used to describe you before I started editing it was much more... Flowery, to say the least, and also, a lot more... Sexually charged..."

Jaune's eye twitched, and then, with a groan, he fell backwards, "I hate my life... Why me..."

"...Oh my god."

Jaune shot up and looked to Melanie, "What is it? Have you found something?"

"No, not that, it's just...", she looked up from her book at him with a wide smile, "Do you know what that means?"

"What?"

'With Cipher?"

"What?"

"You, Jaune Arc... Have a fanboy!"

"...What?"

"You have a fanboy, you- Oh my god, Jaune, you- You have a hero worshipper! That's why Cipher writes about you so much! He's hero worshipping you! Oh my god, what if he has a crush on you!?"

"Oh my god!"

Melanie burst out laughing, "This is great! This is amazing!"

"I hate you."

"Bitch, you love me."

He groaned in response.

Velvet, with a smile on her face, sighed at the madness before her, and muttered, "Azul Primus guide me...", and then said to the 3 of them, "Alright, let's get moving down to the gym. We're already burning nightlight as it is, so-"

She was stopped when she saw the serious- Dead serious, in fact- Look coming over Melanie's features as she stared hard into one page of the book in her hand, and then reached over and grabbed Jaune by the shoulder.

"Jaune, follow me."

"Wha-"

"Now, Jaune. With me, now!" and with a cry of, "We'll join you guys in the gym in a few minutes", they were out of the infirmary, and down the dark hallway.

"...I'll go after them", Leadpipe said as he got up from his infirmary bed, and made his way to the door, "I'll see you 2 down there as well."

"Leadpipe, you don't have to", Medico said to him.

This got Leadpipe to hesitate for a second, before he just shrugged and quietly said, "might's well."

"...Alright then", Medico said as they all left the infirmary and locked it behind them, "But be quick about it. Only a few minutes late, got it?" Leadpipe nodded, "Alright then, see you down there", and with that, Medico and Velvet walked down the hallway, and out of sight.

Heading down the opposite side of the hallway, Leadpipe spotted a slightly opened door, and heard voices on the inside, being Jaune and Melanie's. He went to knock on the door to tell them to hurry up, but then stopped himself once he heard what they were talking about.

"-Oever was editing this must've forgotten to take this part out, or overlooked it, because it's still here, and it clearly mentions her name!" there was a harsh sound of a finger tapping against paper, before Melanie's voice rang out again with, "Look here, there it is! The Salem Witch Trials!"

Leadpipe's body froze. His optics under his visor widened, and his mind began to stammer even more than it usually did. They knew. They knew they knew they knew.

This was bad.

"Look here, see. 'Though most of this information can only be found from half destroyed transcripts and records from thousands of years ago, what can be pieced together, is that after the fall of the supposedly called Dark Empire, said to be when the Grimm ruled humanity after the destruction of the fabled Magier Empire, thousands upon thousands of women were rounded up, tried, and executed for supposed relations to, or even suspicions of being, a witch queen of the Grimm called Salem'!"

He remembered the name of the book that she had been reading. The Myths and Fables of Old Remnant.

"Hm", was Jaune's voice this time, "Remember back in the Emerald Forest, when we were in the bunker, before Miltia died... The Brother of Light had mentioned the Mother Eternal. And during the battle around the Grimm Tidings, the Daughter had said something about their 'Empire'."

"Jaune, that's what this is all about", Melanie said, "That must be what this is all about. This Salem lady is the Mother Eternal, and the Daughter and the Ascendant Court are her lackeys! It must be why they're capturing people outside of the walls and not killing them! This isn't about genocide, this is about restoring their empire! They're trying to make a Second Dark Empire!"

He had to get that book away from them. He needed to tell Ozpin, and Blake, and Weiss, and Ruby, and get that book away from them. They didn't deserve the horrors that would come with knowing the truth. It wasn't worth it.

But first, he wrapped on the door, making the 2 within the old classroom that they were in jump, and said to them, "Hey, we've still gotta head down to the gym! Don't be late!"

"R-Right", was Jaune's reply.

"Yeah, we'll see you there soon. We'll just be a minute after you", was Melanie's response.

Leadpipe nodded, mostly himself than to them, and made his way down the hallway, and away from the dark classroom.

They didn't need to know the truth.

Because the truth always had a tendency to hurt.

For now, though, he pushed it out of his head, and focused on the things to come.

Tomorrow, they would be having their team exercises.

And the day after, they would be going on a field trip.

All the way into the Valley of Giants.

---

So, not too long ago, I got a review on this very story from somebody called The Shadow Monarch.

What he had said on his review, essentially, was that I had no idea how to write, and that I should seek help, and also either completely rewrite this story or delete it.

I was offended. I was definitely offended. I still am offended.

However, I can safely say that, no, I will not be rewriting this story, nor will I be deleting it. I have this entire story planned out in my head from beginning to end, and I will not surrender it to the whims of somebody who has the nerve and the absolute gall to tell me that I don't know how to write when they in fact have not written anything at all.

However, I do feel the need to talk about a few things that he, and a few other reviewers, have pointed out, because I feel like these need to be said:

'Pointless details that don't relate to the characters': You mean world building, right? Because I have to tell you, this entire story is one part war fic, and another part experiment in world building. I am trying to create my own unique version of remnant, hence the new editions to the canon of this story, such as the Techions, Dragons, Faunus houses, Cataclysm, pre-Great War history, Coca Wars, and so on, so forth.

'Fodder characters': The reason that I'm putting so many minor characters into this is because I want the world that I'm crafting, and the story itself, to feel lived in. Too many stories focus on just Teams RWBY and JNPR, and not even show how any other teams, OC or not, are doing, and so, I had decided to populate my version of Beacon Academy with actual people, and not just faceless generics and people that are covered in shadow. And when a lot of them died in the Emerald Forest, it was to show the human cost of this conflict, and give more impact to the deaths that are shown. Because, in the end, what is more impactful, even if it is only a little bit: The death of a nameless red shirt, or the death of a minor character with a name and even just a little bit of characterisation?

'This war just coming out of nowhere': That's the point. It was meant to come out of nowhere. It was meant to be shocking and impactful. Too many stories have done nothing with Initiation. It's always been about shuffling along the teams, and fighting the Deathstalker and Nevermore. Is it so wrong that I wanted to do something different with it? And even then, it was meant to set the tone of the story, being a war fic. That's kind of the point. Almost everything right now stems from the Initiation Massacre. All of the important events going on right now would not have happened without it, so if that upsets you for whatever reason, then this story isn't for you.

'Nothing making sense': I assume that this alludes to the things that I have left ambiguous, like character motivations, situations, and other elements. To that, I say: Isn't that the point? If I just revealed everything to you so that it could all make sense, then what would be the point of building intrigue and keeping you invested at all? If I don't reveal a character's reasoning for doing something, or I don't reveal the specifics of a situation or event, so that not everything will make perfect sense, then that's the point. It's meant to keep you interested and wanting more. Not everything is clear, and not everything makes sense, but that's just because all that I have to reveal are massive revelations in terms of story and motivations. Trust me, all will make sense in time, but now, it must remain ambiguous, all for the sake of story buildup.

'You don't know how to write, so get help': I started writing this and on this website since 2017, and I've learnt a lot since then. I've improved thanks to the influence of many other, much better writers on this site, and even then, starting in September of 2019, I started taking a university course in Creative Writing, so I am still learning my trade. However, you'll be pleased to know that I started writing this story before I got into university, and even then, when I submitted my portfolio of creative writing pieces, I got a B grade for it, which I am really proud of. So, while I'm not the best, I am not a terrible writer, thank you very much.

Am I an amazing writer? Are my stories the best in the world? Evidently not, because if they were, then I would be pulling in review numbers and favourites and follows like Coeur Al'Aran and ImSoAwesome. There are many other stories out there- Grimm Tales, Tournament Arc, Tomorrow And Never Again, and the recently started Frozen Rosen Maiden, just to name a few- That easily dwaft me, and a lot of other writers out there, in sheer quality, but does that make me a bad writer? Does that make what I've written bad, just because a few people can't understand it?

I don't think so, and so I shan't think so. It might sound egotistical of me, but I won't think so lowly of myself that I'm the worst writer out there.

So please, criticism and commentary is always welcome, but please, don't tell me to rewrite or delete this just because you don't like it. Criticism is welcome, flaming is not.

If I have offended anyone in any way, then I'm sorry, but I felt like it was something that had to be said.

Anyways, with all of that said and done, leave a (Long and detailed and constructively written) Review, favourite, follow, and I shall see you all next time!

Titanmaster117 out!