Alright, next chapter. Once more, big thanks to GamerJay, SwapAUAnon and Gladsome Praetorian for Beta Reading this chapter.

With that said, BlazBlue is owned by Arc System Works and RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth. Please support the official release.

Chapter 15: Training Arc

"Man, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat." Jaune said as he stretched his arms. It was near the end of the day and he and the rest of his teammates were walking back to their dorm room after a long day of classes. They were currently in the school courtyard as the sun set.

"So, when you say beat, you mean as in tired, or as in 'I got my butt wupped.'" Ruby joked with a giggle.

"H-hey, I was not expecting her to be that fast, alright!" Jaune sheepishly tried to defend himself. Sure, he wasn't a very good fighter, but he also wasn't expecting Weiss' Semblance to let her do that.

He then felt a hand on his shoulder and Ragna's voice said, "Ruby, you and Noel go back without us. Me and Arc here need to have a talk."

Jaune really wasn't liking the tone in his voice.

"Sure, we'll meet you guys there." Ruby said as she and Noel briefly waved goodbye to both of them.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Jaune turned to Ragna and asked, "So, Rags. Can I call you Rags?"

"If you want to get punched in the face, then go ahead." Ragna grunted as he glared at him.

Jaune awkwardly laughed to diffuse the possible anger his teammate may have had and continued, "Uh, anyway, what do you need?"

Ragna crossed his arms and said, "Simple, you suck shit at fighting."

At his statement, Jaune looked down and grumbled, "I know that already. Why do you have to bring it up?"

"Because I'm gonna train you."

Jaune became shocked and looked up to his taller ally, before slowly saying, "You want to...you want to train me?"

"Yes. Now don't make me have to say it twice." Ragna bluntly told him.

"D-do I want to know why?"

Ragna went silent for a couple moments before saying, "You're this team's weak link. We get into a scrap, you'll either be the first to die, or the first of us that needs to get saved. And I'm not going to put up with that shit, so we're gonna work to make sure you can actually fight worth a damn."

Jaune was at a loss for words. On the one hand, he was being offered to be trained, and by Ragna, which is kinda shocking in its own right considering his...personality. And given what he saw Ragna accomplish at initiation and during the sparring matches, he could help him become a really strong fighter. Maybe even a great hero.

On the other hand...

"Sorry Ragna, but I'm gonna have to say no." Jaune said melancholically, "I want to be a good hero, and I want to be able to reach that point on my own. What good would I be if I couldn't get there myself? I just hope you understand."

Just before he could turn, Jaune felt a hand grab at the back of his uniform shirt and he found himself hoisted up.

"You don't get it, do you, Arc." Ragna said, this time with a frustrated twinge to his voice, "When I say I'm going to train you. I'm going to train you. You don't get a say in this."

Jaune then found the next few minutes of his life encompassed by getting forcibly dragged away across campus against his will while his protests fell ears that very deliberately ignored him.

Jaune and Ragna stopped on the grassy areas in front of the building that housed their dorm rooms, Roughly close to where Ragna usually slept.

"Alright, here's how it's going down. When I was training, my master would have me go all out and try to land a hit on him in a fight while he did everything to stop me. So, we'll do the same."

"How does this, uh, help, exactly?" Jaune asked.

"Simple, besides improving stamina and physical combat, it'll let me gauge how much work I have to do to get you to actually fight competently. So..." Ragna then took on a fighting stance. "Ready..."

Jaune looked nervously around, "Uh, wait, we're not using our weapons-"

"Now!"

The next thing Jaune knew, he was reeling on the floor as everything felt fuzzy. He could here Ragna sigh and grumble, "We'll try that again, just actually be ready this time."

"So," Ruby said as she performed maintenance on Crescent Rose, "What do you think Ragna needed Jaune for?" She had changed into her pajamas a few minutes earlier.

Noel sat cross-legged on her bed and wrote in the same book that she hid underneath her mattress. Unlike Ruby, she was still wearing her uniform, though she took off the overcoat and tie. "Maybe he needs help with schoolwork or something?" she said.

Ruby pondered on that before she shook her head, "Not likely. Ragna's doing decently in class. Nothing outstanding, but he's doing okay. Maybe he wanted to help Jaune with something?"

While Noel went silent in thought, Ruby could have sworn she heard something from outside. Just to make sure, she asked, "Noel, are you hearing what I'm hearing?"

Noel nodded and said, "I didn't know if I was just hearing things, but it looks like I'm not."

The two of them moved to the window and opened it. Ruby saw Ragna and Jaune in what looked like a fight. Jaune kept attacking, but Ragna always dodged or blocked everything the blonde threw at him while retaliating in kind. Each attack from Ragna knocked Jaune back and left him in pain, but he seemed determined to keep at it.

"What are they doing?" Noel worriedly asked.

"From the looks of it, I think they're training." Ruby surmised.

They both silently watched their partners continue in the admittedly one-sided sparring match. Ruby couldn't help but be impressed with how brutal and effective Ragna fought without his weapon. Sure, she loved weapons and Ragna's blade was magnificent, but she also admired how some people could make their entire body into a weapon in and of itself. Just because she couldn't fight well unarmed didn't mean she couldn't admire those who could.

And speaking of, Jaune seemed to share that deficiency with her as well, seeing as every punch and kick he threw was rather crude and easily telegraphed. But what really impressed Ruby was how, despite being out of his depth, he kept at it and would not relent. Sometimes good determination was just as impressive as being a good fighter.

"Wow, they're both really working hard." Noel said.

"Yup." Ruby responded with much emphasis on the 'p'.

Noel then backed away from the window and said, "When they're done, they're gonna need something to help them get back into shape."

Ruby turned to look at the blonde gunner with an inquisitive look while Noel appeared lost in thought as she placed a hand under her chin. She then lit up, as if she had an idea.

"I know! I'll prepare a nice meal for when they get back!"

Ruby couldn't fully understand why, but Noel's statement made a massive pit of nervousness form in her stomach. Earlier, Ragna did tell her and Jaune about what Makoto told him regarding Noel and the kitchen, but they didn't really take it seriously or understand what Noel's friend meant by it. Now that Noel was declaring her intent out loud, however, it made Ruby feel...disturbed for some reason.

"A-are you sure that's a good idea?" Ruby asked nervously. She didn't even know why she was nervous.

"Yup. All that exercise will work up an appetite, so I need to make sure that their bellies are full to get them back up to snuff." Noel then ran to the closet and reached for something. She pulled out what looked like a chef's hat and proceeded to put it on, but it was marred with black spots as if it was on fire at some point.

The nervous pit grew larger with each second.

"Be right back, Ruby! I got a meal to prepare!" And before Ruby could move to stop her, she was gone.

Ruby just sat there in silence, before stating, "This...this isn't good."

She had no idea how right she was.

Blake had already changed into her sleepwear and laid on her bed, reading one of her novels. This was not Ninjas of Love, but one of her...tamer novels. She would only reserve those for when she had some alone time.

Right now, she was in the middle of reading Corpse Doctor. A classic tale on the dangers of mankind learning the horrors and responsibilities of creating that which was not meant to be made.

Unfortunately for her, the rest of her team was here. Makoto was still fully dressed in her uniform and lying down on her stomach, headphones on and listening to music. Blake could hear it from her position, and from what she could tell, it sounded like that one tune, Alexandrite, if she remembered correctly, that she heard once while flipping through radio channels.

Beside the team BRNN leader was Nora, who had swapped to her pajamas and was now jumping on her bed, much like how a happy-go-lucky ten-year-old child would.

Ren, meanwhile, was busy in the shower.

Either way, Blake was about to finish the next chapter...

"The forbidden one has entered the sacred land."

Suddenly Makoto stood up completely ramrod straight and spoke in an emotionless, monotone voice and had a face that could only be described as horrified.

"Makoto, what's-"

But before Blake could get much out, Makoto grabbed her and Nora before either of them could react. She then ran straight for the bathroom and threw both of them in there. Blake felt pain as she landed face first into the wall while she heard Nora go "ow".

While she collected herself, Blake heard Ren move the shower curtains and turned to see his head peaking out from behind. "Uh, do you three mind? I'm kinda busy."

"No time. Gotta board up before she finishes!" Makoto somehow managed to get some wooden boards, a hammer, and several nails and proceeded to blockade the crap out of the bathroom door, locking them inside.

Before any of them could get an answer, she then shut the lights out, muttering to herself about "Can't give any indication that we're here" or something. Since Blake could still see just fine, she saw Makoto enter a fetal position in the corner while Nora started to aimlessly walk around.

"Hey, what gives Makoto? I can't see a thing! Whoa!"

The orange-haired girl then tripped and fell right into the shower, with Ren still inside.

"I'm just gonna tune out that cavalcade of embarrassment." Blake muttered to herself as she took a seat next to Makoto, all while she could hear a high-pitched squeal that could only be described as a completely embarrassed and probably scarlet-faced Nora.

"Makoto, what's going on?" Blake asked her partner.

"One of the most horrific things to ever show itself on this or any world," the squirrel Faunus muttered with complete horror, "Death Dinner."

Weiss had just finished studying for the day, and had decided to take a load off by doing her nails. Currently, she was painting them the same shade of white as her hair and making sure they were done as precisely as she could manage.

After finishing all the nails on her left hand, she looked to the rest of her team and saw that Yang was lying on her back, reading a magazine while Tsubaki and Pyrrha were currently adding photos to the wall. She remembered when Yang took them earlier that day after classes as the four of them posed for each one.

Looking back, a wall of memories was a pretty heartfelt idea, and she was glad to be a part of it. It was...liberating, getting to make goofy faces and silly poses for pictures. Weiss struggled to remember when she had that much fun.

The last time was back when Tsubaki, Jin and I all played together. Weiss reminded herself. It was so long ago and so marred by what came after that the memory was sometimes fleeting.

She saw the pictures that the two redheads were adding and recognized a few of them from Pyrrha's match with Ragna during combat class. Weiss didn't remember seeing Yang pull out the polaroid camera during then, but then again, she was pretty focused on the fight itself.

Weiss still struggled to believe that Pyrrha could have lost that fight. She was Pyrrha Nikos! The Invincible Girl and Pride of Mistral! Undefeated in all her battles, yet some uncouth thug with a sword that was clearly compensating for something and a monstrous Semblance swoops in and defeats her?

The Schnee heiress just found it hard to accept that someone like him could have truly won against a fighter of Pyrrha's pedigree.

She shook her head and decided to waste her thoughts on that brute later. Right now, she had another hand of nails to paint over.

"Tsubaki? Tsubaki, what's wrong?" Weiss heard Pyrrha say. She turned and saw that her friend was now standing completely straight and seemed almost frozen in place. She walked over to get a view of her face to better understand, and it looked like she was staring off into the distance. Her face was completely frozen in terror as her eyes looked to a place so far that it may very well not exist.

Just as Yang got up to check on her, Tsubaki immediately ran to her bed and picked it up over her head. She then ran straight to the door and turned the bed onto its side, as if trying to barricade the doorway.

All Weiss could do was stand there, completely perplexed while holding out her hand to let her nails dry as she struggled to figure out just what had gotten into their team's leader.

As soon as Tsubaki finished barricading the door, she then moved to the room's windows and proceeded to lock all of them. At this point, Weiss was getting tired of the confusion and just decided to walk up to Tsubaki.

"Tsubaki!" She said, grabbing her friend and forcibly turning her so they stood face to face before shaking her from side to side, "Snap out of it!"

Tsubaki blinked before she seemed to calm down and Weiss released her, though she still seemed very frightened. "Right. Sorry." She said before she grabbed her shoulders and tried catching her breath.

"Seriously, what's gotten into you?" Yang asked.

"Noel has entered the kitchen. I can sense it." Their leader said in an ominous tone.

Weiss and the rest of Team TSYP just looked at each other, not understanding why that was invoking such a reaction from their leader.

"Okay," Pyrrha spoke up, "Maybe I'm missing something, but what's the big deal."

In the blink of an eye, Tsubaki was right in front of Pyrrha and grabbed her by the arms, looking her in the eye with a face that looked like it had stared into Hell itself.

"You don't understand true nightmares until you witness what culinary monstrosities she births in the kitchen!" Tsubaki spoke, sounding much less like the refined leader they knew, and more like a crazy homeless person.

"Okay, now I know you're talking nonsense." Yang said as she moved to the barricade, "And with that, I'm outta here."

"NO!"

Tsubaki suddenly ran in front of her and blocked Yang off, much to everyone's surprise.

"Until I am certain that the horror has passed, no one gets in, or out, of this room."

All of them just awkwardly stood there. Seeing as Tsubaki would not budge on this, Weiss simply sighed and said, "Well, I may as well finish my nails. Yang, any chance you can help me with my toes?"

Jaune gasped as he felt the wind knocked out of him again. He had no idea how long he'd been trying to land a hit on Ragna, but the only thing he did know was that he had yet to actually succeed.

"Again." Ragna called out while he stood in a fighting stance.

Through his growing frustration, he managed to sluggishly push himself and charged yet again. Once more, he failed to land a blow and was kneed in the stomach by Ragna. This time, he was able to fight through his pain and used his position to elbow Ragna in the back. This didn't seem to get a reaction out of him though, but he did cease fighting and said, "Take five."

Jaune collapsed onto the floor and panted. He felt like he was drenched in sweat as he gasped for breath. He thought fighting against Weiss was taxing, but simply sparring with Ragna felt like a weight class of its own.

"How...long...have we...been...here!", Jaune panted out as his lungs desperately took in air.

"Two hours." Ragna stated.

Jaune found himself with energy from the sheer nonchalance of Ragna's statement and his own surprise. He bolted up and looked around, seeing that it was now nightfall and that the sun had almost completely set. The broken moon hung over the sky.

"How the hell did I not notice that!?"

"Simple," Ragna said as he shrugged and stood in front of him, "You were too busy trying to land a hit that you didn't notice time go by. Happened to me a few times."

Exhaustion took hold of Jaune again as he slumped back down to the floor. "Ragna. Look, I'm really grateful that you want to help me out. But I don't know if this is gonna work. Maybe I should just train on my own."

"Do that and you'll get nowhere." Ragna bluntly told him, "You've already noticed this, but you fight about as bad as a blind old lady, which is pretty fucking...", He then stopped and gained a look as if he just remembered something and continued, "No, wait, I take that back. I KNOW a blind old lady that could kick my ass, so you technically fight even worse than that."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Jaune deadpanned.

"Why do you even want to get better on your own anyway? In case you haven't noticed, none of us are self-taught, so what the hell makes you think you can mentor yourself?"

Jaune looked away from him. He didn't know how to say it. He just wanted to belong at Beacon, something he knew he didn't deserve. Cheaters didn't deserve to belong at this place, so he felt he needed to earn his place here and do it of his own achievements. It was the only way he knew how to feel like he could truly belong here. But he couldn't say that.

"I..." Jaune started, "I just...I want...", He sat himself up and looked to the floor, finding it easier to talk to than Ragna, "I just want to belong. Everyone here is a skilled fighter. You, Ruby, Noel, Pyrrha, but I'm just...just the worst! I need to get on your level. To show that I can make it here, but if I can't do that on my own, then what does it matter!? I'll just be piggybacking off of someone else if I do that. It needs to be my own success. That way, for once in my life, I can look at myself in the mirror and say, 'Great job Jaune, I'm proud of you', but I don't think I can do that if I constantly need help!"

He just sat there in silence as he felt like he was going to cry. He just felt all of his emotions explode out of him all at once. He half expected Ragna to just tell him to 'stop whining' or something like that. Much to his surprise, he heard the grass crunch right next to him and Ragna just sat down beside him. His face seemed uncharacteristically less glowering than it usually was.

"Jaune," Ragna started, speaking for once in a calm tone, "Who are you trying to prove yourself to? Yourself? Or someone else?"

Jaune didn't know how to respond. Firstly because of how Ragna was acting towards him now, and secondly...well, how do you respond to that?

"I...I don't even know anymore." Jaune admitted, "I come from this big line of warriors and heroes. All the way back from the Great War. I wanted to be just like them, but I could never go the distance. Mom and dad didn't think I could do it, and I don't know if I can now. Guess I'm just the rotting branch on the family tree that's waiting to fall off."

Everything just went quiet as Jaune wrapped his arms around his legs and sat there. But then, Ragna spoke up.

"Jaune. I'm an orphan. I grew up with a little brother and sister that got adopted into their own families while I stayed behind. I never knew where I came from and as far as I can tell, I never will." Ragna's words made Jaune turn to face him, shocked with how the normally aloof member of the team was opening up to him, "I'm about as close to a nobody as you can get. If bloodlines determined shit like you're talking about, then who do you think would be on the floor after all that?"

Jaune just remained silent as all of this sunk in.

Ragna continued, "You know how I got that way? My master took me in and trained me. Gave me an outlet and all that other crap. And back when I started, I felt pretty damn hopeless to. So trust me, I know what that's like." He then managed to give off an actual ghost of a smile and said, "Besides, I guess you're not as hopeless as you think. I mean, you did manage to land a hit on me in two hours. Can't even begin to tell you how long it took me to hit Jubei."

"Wait," Jaune asked, "How long did it take you? Uh, just curious."

Ragna pondered as he leaned back and laid down on the grass, "About three or four months."

"Three or four MONTHS!" Jaune yelled in shock.

"Damn straight." Ragna gained an almost nostalgic smile as he talked, "First day of training, I think I spent the whole day trying to land just one punch to that old geezer's face. Didn't eat or sleep a wink, even when he told me to call it quits and just get some rest. At that point, I was just too pissed to give up. I remember when I finally landed a hit after a few months of that crap. Old bastard beat the crap out of me, but his exact words were 'I'll be damned, you actually managed one! Not bad you little brat!'. Probably the happiest I felt in a long time at that point."

He then sat back up and looked Jaune in the eye, saying, "Point is, you actually managed to make more progress in a couple hours than I did in a few months. If you ask me, you got more potential than you're giving yourself credit for."

Jaune was taken aback by Ragna's words. The gruff member of the team was telling him that he actually had potential to be a hero. It felt...gratifying. He felt more confident from the uplifting words and felt like he could keep going. He found himself getting up and returning to a fighting stance.

"Alright, let's keep going then." Jaune said with newfound resolve...until he found himself yawning.

"Yeah, no." Ragna said as he got up, "Sounds to me like you need a breather right now. We'll keep at it tomorrow. Just expect Hell, got it."

Jaune nodded, now feeling prepared for whatever Ragna could throw at him.

The two of them made it back to their dorm room. When they got there, they saw Ruby sitting on her bed with a nervous expression.

"Kid, why do you look like someone just committed a murder and you saw the whole thing?" Ragna asked.

"I...I don't know." Ruby admitted, "All I know is Noel went to go cook something for you guys and for some reason that's making me nervous."

"Wait. Ragna," Jaune began as he turned to the older student, "Didn't you tell us that Makoto told you that Noel should never cook."

"Yeah...you don't think-"

"Oh, you guys are here!" Noel's voice entered the room, "Perfect! I just finished making you two a nice casserole."

Jaune and Ragna slowly turned around, and were horrified by the...the thing in Noel's hands.

It was a plate that contained a mass that she called casserole, but it looked nothing like casserole. The way it wreathed and moved seemed almost out of touch with reality. The color was all wrong, and Jaune didn't even know what color that was supposed to be, or if it even existed. The odor that seeped out smelled like something that would make a landfill full of rotten meals smell like a field of flowers. It was as if this...this thing's only purpose for existing was to be loathed by all. And it was succeeding.

How could Noel. Sweet, loving, kindhearted Noel, create something as grotesque and nightmare inducing as this!?

"I didn't know how much would be enough for two people, so I ended up making enough for all four of us. Hope you like it." Noel said, eyes closed and with a smile, completely oblivious to the evil she was holding in her hands.

"O-oh," Jaune quietly let out, "W-well, who...who wants to go first?" No one answered, "Uh, guys."

He looked around and saw that Ragna and Ruby were gone. He also saw that the room window was open, meaning they likely jumped out of it.

He then looked back to Noel, who looked just as confused as he did over the disappearance of their teammates. "I guess it's just us." Noel said as she held out the...casserole expectantly.

Jaune forced himself to keep looking at it before he sighed and resigned himself to his fate. He grabbed the spoon on the plate, and prepared to take his first bite of what could be his last meal.

"I...think...we're...safe..." Ruby said as she panted between breaths with Ragna right beside her, who was panting and gasping for air in equal measure.

"What...the FUCK was that!?" Ragna yelled as he caught his breath.

"I think we now know why Makoto didn't want Noel cooking. Like, ever," Ruby said, now breathing normally as she stood at full height.

"Yeah, no shit," Ragna looked around and seemed to notice something, "Hey, where's Arc?"

Ruby looked and saw that Jaune wasn't with them. If he wasn't, then he didn't jump out the window with them, which means...

"Oh crap, he's still in the room with the nightmare meal!" Ruby realized.

Ragna gained a look of horror on his face that matched Ruby's in equal measure. Before either of them could get so much as a word out, a loud explosion sound and a wail of pain was heard from where they ran from.

"You don't think..." Ragna began.

"I do. And I know it was," Ruby finished. The two of them immediately ran back to their room, knowing Jaune was in trouble.

"So, let me get this straight. Your 'casserole' somehow, in some way, caused him to get second-degree burns on the outside of his body! How the fuck is that possible!?" Ragna yelled his question as Noel sheepishly and timidly sat next to Jaune as he laid in the bed of the nurse's room. Much of the burned areas of his body were covered in bandages. Thankfully, much of the damage was mostly external and not internal. Noel was still having a hard time wrapping her head around that one.

Alongside them, Teams BRNN and TSYP were also here with her. Makoto and Tsubaki having come to check on her while the rest were there out of curiosity.

"I-I don't know," Noel admitted as she looked at Jaune, "I was so sure I was getting better, a-and I just wanted to make a nice meal for you two since you guys were training so hard."

"Noel," Tsubaki interjected, "You do remember that Sanctum's kitchen needed to be rebuilt from the ground up from your previous cooking attempt there?"

"Y-yeah," Noel admitted as she looked to the floor.

Makoto looked at Jaune, who seemed to be waking up, and said, "I gotta admit, this is actually an improvement. You're food didn't kill anything this time."

"Wait, your cooking killed someone!?" Weiss shouted out as everyone except Tsubaki and Makoto gained a shocked expression.

"No, no, not a person," Makoto explained, "Her soup killed a Beowolf. So, long story short, I got jumped by a Beowolf and in desperation, jammed a thermos of Noel's soup down its throat to try and break away. The soup made it melt into a godsdamn puddle." she then shivered and muttered, "I can still hear the death screams of that monster."

Blake didn't seem convinced, "Okay, now I know you're just making that up."

"I'm afraid that this is the one story of Makoto's that is 100% factual," Tsubaki chimed in, "I should know. I was there."

"Ugh...what happened?" Jaune said as he came to.

"Jaune!" Noel happily cried as she hugged him.

"Ow."

"Oh, sorry," She apologized as she let go.

"It's fine," Jaune said, "It's really nothing."

"Jaune, I'm so sorry. I thought I was getting better and did everything right this time, and I wanted to make something special for you and Ragna since I saw that you guys were training and-"

"I told you, it's fine," Jaune insisted, "I can walk this off." He attempted to get back up, but found that he couldn't move very much before it looked like he was in pain again.

As Noel put a hand to his head to help him rest, one of the school nurses and Professor Ozpin walked in.

"Professor Ozpin," Pyrrha spoke up first. "Is something wrong?"

"Well, I think I'll let the good news come first." Ozpin said as he gestured to the school nurse.

The nurse cleared her throat and said, "Well, the good news is that Mister Arc looks like he'll make a full recovery. He just needs two full days of bedrest and he'll be good to go."

Noel sighed with relief, as did almost everyone else as the nurse continued, "It looks to be a result of his rather abnormal amounts of Aura. He's recovering at a much faster rate than one would expect."

Noel beamed with happiness as she looked to her partner, who seemed equally relieved and happy. She was just glad that he would be okay and that her failed attempt to make a good meal for her friends didn't permanently hurt him.

"Unfortunately," Ozpin's voice chimed in, "Or fortunately, depending on who you ask, this is for you, Miss Vermillion."

She turned and saw that Ozpin was holding out a piece of paper for her. She took it from him and started reading, sensing her friends lean in behind her to read it as well. After reading the first few lines, she was shocked.

"A RESTRAINING ORDER!" Noel cried out. "I've been banned from the dormitory kitchen!?"

"Well, you would be, but this currently applies to everyone since whatever you did in there has led to us needing to quarantine and disinfect the entire kitchen until further notice."

All Noel could do was slump face first onto the side of Jaune's bed and she let out a whine. She'd hoped she got better at this to the point where this wouldn't happen again. Not helping matters was the sound of everyone else, Jaune included as she heard him wince, laughing good-heartedly at the whole thing.

Still, she couldn't help but be happy that Jaune was okay, and soon she found herself smiling and laughing along with her friends.

(Meanwhile)

Hidden away in a dark laboratory facility, a series of scientists in white lab coats clicked and pattered away on their keyboards and and tablets as they monitored the subject locked away in the massive test tube at the center of a circular room.

In the pavilion above them, they and the subject were being monitored by two distinct individuals.

The first was a green-haired man dressed in a black dress suit with a black overcoat and a fedora of the same color. He wore a pair of brown steel-toed boots and was watching the subject at the center with narrowed, almost closed off eyes. He watched with his hands in his pockets, carrying with him an air of indifference that covered something far more sinister.

The second individual looked more extravagant, as if dressed for an opera. He was a man with short blonde spiky hair with a beard stubble on his chin and he wore a golden mask that made his eyes appear blank white. He wore a purple dress shirt with a black line running down the middle as well as white pants with purple steel-toed boots. Said boots also oddly had an adornment that closely resembled Philips head screws. Adding to the extravagance of his appearance, he also wore a flowing purple cloak with a large, popped collar. The cloak was held around him by a cross-shaped buckle.

"Well, looks like Subject 13 is coming along quite nicely," The green-haired man said, his voice carrying a friendly tone, but one that felt like a farce to those who knew him well, "Care to tell me when we can expect it to be ready, Relius?"

The extravagantly dressed man, now known as Relius, turned to his acquaintance and spoke with a deeper, almost apathetic tone, "Subject 13 is nearing its final stages of completion, Terumi. It will soon be ready for combat testing."

"Well then, may as well give sleeping beauty the good news," The green-haired man, Terumi, said as he casually jumped off the pavilion and landed a ways from the center. The scientists close to him reacted with shock and fear, some even backing away as he began moving.

Terumi walked to the center of the lab towards the central tube as the scientists timidly continued their work, none of them wanting to do anything to offend him. Those that did usually were never seen again, and the few that were were always left in gruesome positions.

When Terumi reached the brightly lit tube, his eyes opened wide, which revealed them as almost snake-like in appearance, as he gazed upon the subject and took in its appearance.

The subject in question was a thin female who appeared quite young, perhaps on the verge of adulthood, and was pale skinned with ash-white hair that went all the way down to her feet as it flowed and moved within the liquid. She was wearing a light blue bodysuit that left her arms and feet exposed. Injected into her back were a series of injector needles and tubes. One such tube was injected into where her right eye was. As she was being watched, she spasmed and twitched in her slumber, as if she was suffering from a nightmare.

Showing no care for the girl's state whatsoever, Terumi loudly knocked on the glass and yelled, "Yoo hoo, wakey wakey! Ground control to dumbass doll, wake up!"

A smug smile appeared on his face as the girl's left eye opened, revealing it to have a deep, sunken shade of red. The girl didn't show any sign of reaction to her master's demeanor towards her. In fact, her face gave no emotion at all.

"Good ol' doctor Clover over there says you're almost ready to start getting to it. So how 'bout it No. 13? You ready to start laying waste?" Terumi asked with a smile that bore his teeth.

The girl within the stasis tube gave no acknowledgement to him, only continuing to blankly stare ahead. Terumi's smile faded as he glared at the girl before he narrowed his eyes once more. "Still as brain dead as ever, huh," he then shrugged and turned to walk away, "Well what more can you expect from a mere toy?"

As he walked away, Terumi said out loud to the scientists, "Put her back to sleep and make sure this one doesn't break down! Last thing I need is to scrap such an oversized piece of trash."

Terumi then exited the room and the scientists all worked to put her back into hibernation. As her eye closed, her lips moved, as if trying to say a word. What that word was, nobody knew, or cared to know. But to those who could hear her, it would sound like a cry for help. A cry for someone. She was crying out a name.

"Ragna..."

And that's a wrap on this chapter. Honestly, it was kinda easy to write this one. I started writing it after I finished the previous chapter and I ended up getting most of it done pretty fast. The only thing that was kind of a hurdle for me was figuring out how to end it. So big thanks to GamerJay for suggesting and giving me the idea to shift over to the bad guys and seeing what their doing at the moment.

So now we have this fic's introduction to Terumi/Hazama, Relius, and Nu-13. Hope I did good with them.

Now, I'm planning on next chapter to be pretty divorced from what's currently going on at Beacon. It's mainly gonna help set up another one of the other changes that'll be happening for the Jaundice portion of the series, so just giving a heads up.

As for Ragna's "blind old lady" comment, I think you can already tell who he's talking about.

That, and I'm hoping that next chapter will let me practice writing for things that have some Nightmare Fuel in them.