I don't own anything from RWBY, that honor belongs to the fine people at Rooster Teeth.

Chapter 8:The Calm Before the Storm

Today was the day.

The day Pyrrha headed out to find the Vampire that had dared to take their lives and had kidnapped Ruby. She had been training hard for the last three days with Jaune by her side, training both herself and him to deal with vampires. Despite not getting off to the best start, Jaune was a quick learner and while there was still a lot left for him to learn, Pyrrha was at least confident that he would be able to play a much stronger role in whatever awaited for them.

Besides, Jaune's real strengths didn't lie in his combat. Despite all his strength and the many abilities his vampire nature offered him, Pyrrha could easily tell Jaune's real strength was in playing defensive. After observing the way he fought, she found that defense came much more naturally to him, especially after seeing the way he botched some of his attacks against her.

It was a unique experience, and one Pyrrha was sure was going to come in handy when they headed off on their quest. At least after they managed to make sure Jaune wasn't in any risk of dying by starvation. Heading over to Ren and Nora's house with him, she could tell he was feeling the need to feed.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, leaning against Pyrrha as they trudged along.

"I get the feeling I should be asking you that question instead." She said, with a smile, as she put his arm around her neck.

"A little tired and sore, I'm pretty sure it was how badly you managed to beat me." Jaune remarked sarcastically.

"You do realize you are a vampire, right? I think that gives some grounds to push you to your limits, seeing as you technically don't have any." Pyrrha remarked, playing into the game.

"Hahahaha, just don't hit my shins again, please?" Jaune said, with a bitter laugh.

"Oh, come now, it was an accident! I even apologized for it!" Pyrrha replied.

"Yeah, you did. At least seven times."

"Felt like five at the time."

"Hahahaha, anyways can we both agree you're freakishly good at training? Like even for a regular human?" Jaune laughed, which in turn made her smile.

"I've been trained all my life Jaune, it comes naturally to me."

"And yet, you still needed me to tell you when to stop."

"Well, slowing down is harder. And for what it's worth, I'm grateful for you being there." She admitted, slowing down her pace, as they approached closer.

"It's the least I can do. After all, you accepted me into your life… even though you didn't have to. You bothered to put up with me and my admittedly frustrating behaviors." Jaune also admitted. "And you actually took your time out to help me become better. Thank you… for all of it."

"You're welcome Jaune." Pyrrha said, blushing intently upon hearing Jaune's praise. "We're here."

Knocking on the door, the two were almost immediately greeted by Nora, who seemed to be fully healed, as was evident by the way she greeted them.

"Hey guys!" She said, bounding with energy as she nearly slammed open the door. "How are you both of you?"

"Doing great Nora. We're here for getting the blood bags, we're gonna head out soon and meet with Oobleck for the rifts." Jaune replied, as Pyrrha helped him into a couch.

"Why look at you two, all ready for an adventure." Nora commented as she went to the altar where Ren was still working with his blood magic. "Ren! Pyrrha and Jaune are here!"

After getting a response, Nora returned to the two of them carrying a blood bag in her hand. Setting it down on the table, she left it for Jaune who quickly grabbed the bag and began to drink it down.

Turning away from Jaune, Pyrrha faced Nora who had gotten some Mistralian tea for her in a flower decorated cup.

"Soooo, how's training going? Hopefully, it's better than the first time we visited you and Jaune."

"Oh definitely, Jaune had proven to be quite the… tough partner."

"Oh, you mean, he's managed to last longer than I did?"

"Indeed. His vampiric nature tends to make for much hardier skin."

"Ooooh, then why is he holding his legs so gingerly?"

"Oh, I might have hit his shins by accident." Pyrrha said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Pftttt. Hey at least you didn't break his legs."

"Oh goodness no. I would be horrified."

"Oh relax! He's a vampire! He's probably gonna heal back from it in like what? Ten minutes?"

"Five actually."

"Oh, you did break them?!"

"No! No! He fell into a ditch." Pyrrha admitted, sheepishly. "He's doing much better! He's improving steadily."

"Uh huh, Sureeee." Nora said with a teasing smile, after pouring out the tea. "Seems like you got your work cut out for you, once this whole thing is done."

"Maybe. But in the end, I think it will be worth it. "Pyrrha said, smiling as she watched Jaune fumble with the blood bag.

"Well no matter what happens, just know you'll have mine and Ren's support through it. Good luck Pyrrha and make sure to break some legs for me will ya?" Nora said, putting away the kettle and giving Pyrrha a reassuring smile.

"Thank you, Nora." Pyrrha replied, grateful for Nora's never-ending support. It was something that was often very hard to find and she was lucky beyond the stars to have it.

"Nora! Tell Jaune I wish to meet him!" Came a voice from the staircase, which belonged to Ren.

"Got it Renny! I think Jaune's gonna like this one. Ren's been working all night over it." Nora said. "Are you ready for a visit to the blood doctor, Jaune?"

"I would really prefer if you didn't call him that Nora." Jaune admitted, his teeth clenching slightly.

"Awww, but where's the fun in that?" Nora asked, before taking him down to where Ren would be expecting him.

Walking down the stairs over to Ren's altar, Jaune wondered about his mission. He was fully aware of the things Pyrrha had been saying to Nora and he knew that in the end, Pyrrha was absolutely right. He was by no means qualified for this and while he certainly was a… bit more skilled than before he met Pyrrha, he was still nowhere near her level. And was probably never going to be. He lacked so many of the traits that Pyrrha exemplified when it came to her training and preparedness.

In fact, at this rate, he was wondering if he should even be going on this quest or not. It was very clear that Pyrrha could easily handle herself and seeing how much he seemed to be bungling things… maybe she would be better off on her own? Without his incompetency to cope for, maybe Pyrrha would have a better chance of completing this quest on her own.

Maybe in the end, Jaune really wouldn't be needed.

Pondering over these thoughts, Jaune finally reached the entrance to the Altar where, as he was expecting, Ren was working on some experiment. After looking for Nora for confirmation, to which she nodded, Jaune entered the room with Nora closing the door behind him. The air of the Altar was surprisingly clean. It didn't feel thick, neither did it stink with the smell of blood.

"Wondering why you haven't felt the urge to drink the blood here?" Ren asked, barely turning from his experiment which seemed to be orbs of some sort.

"Kinda? Although I did drink the entire blood bag you guys gave me, so I don't think I would be feeling thirsty for a good amount of time."

"You're not wrong on that account, but the real secret is that I've enchanted this place. Normally the blood taken from the living tends to cause an addiction to it, which if left unchecked can fling a vampire into bloodlust. In order to prevent that from happening, I enchant first, making sure it's safe for people like you to drink." Ren explained, facing Jaune and giving him a thin smile.

"That's very thoughtful of you." Jaune responded "Thank you."

"My pleasure. It does not do to have one's friends turn into raging monsters purely for the purposes of magic." Ren responded.

"Sooo? What have you been working on? You know, the reason you wanted to bring me down here?"

"I've been working on a ring. More specifically this one." Ren replied, holding up a ring that was embroidered with a vine like design. The intricate detailing was something beautiful. Watching as all the curves, and lines came together to make a truly beautiful design. "This ring, assuming I got my experiments all right, has the power to prevent the vampire that turned you from being able to control you Jaune. While I suspect you don't even know it yourself, from the reports I heard there was one thing I hadn't been able to make sense of for a long time."

"Which was?"

"How you manage to resist a call from the vampire that turned you. Normally some vampires would flinch or break or at the very least shake slightly. But not you. You seemed to have had complete control of yourself despite the Schnee vampire having you at her mercy."

"Oh, I guess I wasn't really feeling much back then, more so I was just paralyzed with the fact that a girl I knew, had come up from out of nowhere and threatened with her rapier."

"Maybe so, but Nora and I found something strange about your aura. In fact, I would go far as to say it's easily one of the most abundant I've seen in a long time."

"Oh, that's good?"

"Very, it means you can take a lot more hits in combat and perhaps even more importantly means you'll have better control of yourself assuming someone attempts to use your vampiric nature against you."

"So why are you giving me this ring?"

"As a backup option, in case worst comes to worst, this ring will make sure you can keep control of yourself even if the Schnee vampire attempts to use her abilities against you while your aura is down. Alternatively, if you wish to take things a little riskier, you could theoretically channel aura into the ring to use it to strengthen your attacks."

"Wait aura channeling?" He asked, putting on the ring.

"Ah, I see Pyrrha hasn't taught you that yet. Well think of it like forcing your aura into a concentrated space. I'm unfortunately not by any means a teacher, but I try to imagine it as flowing energy throughout your body into a compact region like say your hand."

After allowing his aura to become more fluid as Pyrrha had taught him earlier, Jaune took a deep breath and tried to imagine a current of aura flowing in his left arm. Imagining it flowing through his body, he tried to force it all into his hand, which started to make the carvings on the ring glow and flicker as he noticed his entire arm was glowing.

Unfortunately, he didn't exactly know how to handle it for too long and as such, his concentration slipped, and his attempt was stopped.

"Not bad for your first try, I'll admit it took me a lot of tries before I managed to do it for even a second. It seems that your overabundance of aura has given you some extra gifts." Ren admitted. "Don't be disappointed, it might take you some time before you get the hang of things."

"Thanks Ren. Uh, before we go, can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure."

"Uh, I know I am not really the best at this whole huntsma-"

"Jaune stop. Please." Ren firmly said, making him shut up. "This is your first mission, if anything I wouldn't expect myself to get the hang of things the first time."

"Yeah but, seeing how important this mission is… I don't want to mess this up. I don't want to risk Pyrrha or Ruby's lives again." He continued, sitting down by the steps.

"I can't say for sure what will happen on this mission. Nor do I know how you'll impact it. But there really is no point to it Jaune." Ren said, sitting down besides Jaune. "If all we do is encumber ourselves with the fear of the unknown, we may never truly see our potential."

"I know, it's just… I can't shake off the feeling that in the long run, I may be more of a liability than an actual ally on this quest."

"Now, I can't say whether or not that's true. But I can tell you that compared to who you were, when you showed up at our doorstep on that night, you've changed a lot. And we all are proud of who you are and what you've become." Ren said, helping Jaune up to get him above the stairs.

"Thanks Ren." Jaune said, giving Ren a hug, which surprised Ren, given by how long it took for him to return it. Long enough for the door to ring.

"Let's move Jaune. I would prefer that we didn't keep our guest waiting." Ren said, before opening the door and heading up the stairs.

Looking back to the ring that now rested comfortably on his finger, clenched his fist accidentally making aura flow through his palm. Feeling a surge of energy pass through his fist he quickly unclenched it.

"Oh, you may want to make sure you don't accidentally charge up the ring. Unless you want to cause a shockwave to go through the next thing you touch." Ren said, without even turning.

Embarrassed, Jaune simply followed Ren up, nervously patting his hand, a little more confident that this quest wasn't going to be a complete mistake.

Pyrrha had always known Riftmaster Oobleck was always a little strange. With his almost incomprehensible speech and his odd fascination with all things caffeinated, it wasn't hard to see why anyone really thought of him as anything other than strange.

But despite that odd exterior, inside Pyrrha knew lay one of the greatest minds to ever grace Vale, as Oobleck's abilities with rifts had proven vital in saving hundreds of lives and in turn making huntsman missions safer and much more easier in terms of traversal throughout the lands. Undoubtedly, Dr. Oobleck was a true master of his craft.

But despite his achievements, Pyrrha couldn't help but wonder, if it was even possible for him to create a rift out of a piece of insignia. After all, she could tell that the Schnee Vampire herself was no slouch when it came to magic. Given how easily she was able to take away Ruby and cut her way through a pack of werewolves on her own, she wondered if what if the vampire had taken measures to cover her tracks?

Upon hearing the doorbell ring however, Pyrrha simply let out a sigh as she waited for Nora to open the door. And as she expected, Dr. Oobleck came through the door, taking a generous swig of his thermos, of which Pyrrha could only imagine the contents of.

"Why good evening Miss Nikos and Mrs Valkyrie! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hello Dr. Oobleck. It's good to meet you as well." Pyrrha said, standing up and bowing before the Riftmaster.

"Now! Now! There's no need for that! After all we're here to discuss quest plans! Not sit around for tea! Isn't that right Mrs Valkyrie?"

"Of course! Although if you want, I could probably make you something. Ren taught me all his secrets after all."

"That would be wonderful Mrs Valkyrie! But I fear time is of the essence! I simply must meet with Miss Nikos and some vampire named Jaune and inform them of their quest. After all, I believe Young Miss Rose's life is in danger and the sooner we act, the sooner we can guarantee her safety!" Oobleck said, sipping his thermos in between.

"Jaune's here master Oobleck, let me-"

"It's Dr. Oobleck Miss Nikos. Please get it right." Oobleck said, sitting down on the sofa.

"Well then, I guess I'll go call him then." Nora said out, before receiving a response from Ren, from a stairwell to their right.

"No need Nora. We're here." Ren said, climbing out with Jaune following behind him soon after.

"Ren! It's good to see you!" Nora said, jumping him with a hug.

Feeling somewhat jealous, Pyrrha walked over to Jaune and after tugging his arm along, made him sit next to her on the sofa.

"Nora! We have guests!" Ren whispered, as he returned her hug and quickly turned his attention to her and Oobleck. "Welcome both of you, I'm sorry I wasn't able to greet you earlier."

"No need to apologize Ren, whatever it is, I'm sure it was important." Pyrrha said, before realizing the ring on Jaune's hand.

"Oh, it was. Trust me." Jaune said, proudly displaying the ring and then clenching his fist, allowing her to see the ring in full display.

"Why is it that you never make me jewelry?" Nora complained jokingly, booping Ren on the nose.

"The only jewelry that matters to me is the one on you're wearing on your finger." Ren said, with a smile, pointing to her ring, before pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Well, if two of you are done, I believe there's a matter I need to discuss with Ms Nikos and Master Arc." Oobleck said, interrupting the two lovebirds.

"Ah yes, please do, Dr. Oobleck." Ren said, dragging Nora away who was currently still processing what just happened.

"Well, I managed to crack the secret of these glyphs and might I just say, the sheer audacity of the Schnee Mages to not preserve their art in the form of books is simply preposterous! What is the point of knowledge if it isn't preserved?!" Oobleck ranted.

"Sorry, I have strong opinions on these matters, but! That doesn't matter. I've managed to create a rift into the dimension created by the Schnee Vampire, through a little bit of backward working. However, I must warn you, the dimension made by this vampire is unlike anything I have ever seen."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Jaune asked, grabbing his sword and shield.

"I mean to say that, where you're going is completely uncharted territory. If you aren't careful, you run the risk of being overrun by things of which, we have no archives of." Oobleck warned, his tone grave. A stark contrast from his earlier cheery one.

"Archived or not, we chose to become huntsman and huntresses. If it means going up against the unknown, it's what we chose in the end." Pyrrha spoke up, laying her hand on Jaune's shoulder. She could feel the tension in his shoulders fade, as they both faced the riftmaster.

"Very well then. Take these then." Oobleck said, bringing out two keys. "These are rift keys, with a significant amount of aura, you can use these to create a rift. Simply place the key next to a surface and turn it and you shall be transported to your destination via one of my rifts!"

Grabbing it and placing it next to a wall, she used the key and as Oobleck said, a blue rift was created. Much to her surprise however, the key immediately started cracking once Pyrrha made the rift.

"Oh, I forgot to say, these rift keys aren't exactly the most stable but as long as you don't do anything wasteful with the two, you will be just fine! Happy hunting!"

"Thank you Dr. Oobleck. Are you ready Jaune?"

"Ready as I'm ever going to be. Thank you Dr. Oobleck."

"The pleasure is all mine, now show those Grimm the true might of knowledge!" Oobleck said, with a confident smile.

Obliging his wishes, Pyrrha looked at Jaune one more time. Despite it being only a week since they first met, Pyrrha could see just how far Jaune had come. Where there had once been fear and nervousness for the unknown, now lay courage and confidence, that even if his skills may not be the best, he would still try his hardest.

For that, Pyrrha would always be proud.

A/N: I am making this note to inform all of you lovely readers that I shall not be posting anymore chapters until I finish this arc. This announcement comes out of me wanting to have enough time to properly manage my life along with writing fanfics and also to help my mental health as writing fanfics has been rather draining recently. But have no fear! When I finish the arcs they shall be posted far quicker. As always keep moving forward my friends and stay safe.