I do not own RWBY.

Thanks to Katana for the script once again.

Amelia was keeping her eyes on the vision that was beginning to show on the wall. She had yet to see much of her child and she was hoping that this next vision might give her a better understanding of who her boy was.

Although none of them said it out loud, the other parents of team JNPR were hoping for something similar, to see more of their children's actions.

We see Cardin Winchester with his mace perched on his shoulder and Jaune opposite him with Crocea Mors drawn, leaning on his weapon as if exhausted, in the spotlight shining on the Beacon Academy auditorium stage.

He looked at Cardin, who laughed at his opponent's tiredness and Jaune gathered his strength to charge forward and swing his blade at Cardin, only for him to jump out of the way. Jaune looked back, surprised, as Cardin's mace sent Jaune's shield - and himself - flying back.

Amelia flinched at the sight of her son being knocked across the arena he was in. Although that reaction was immediately followed by sending a look towards the laughing huntress on the other couch. The blonde mother doesn't keep the look up for long though, she knew that it wouldn't mean anything to the red-eyed woman.

Now only armed with his sword, Jaune continued to try and attack, but was blocked by the mace's hilt. Their weapons locked, Cardin forced himself up, towering over a struggling Jaune.

"This is the part where you lose." Cardin said

"Over my dead-!" Jaune started, but was cut short as Cardin kneed him in the gut, making Jaune drop his sword and fall to the ground in pain.

There was an audible gasp released from both Amelia and Stavros as they saw this, though none of the people in the room who had dealt with combat had any real reaction.

Raven's laughter was continuing as Glynda removed her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose. "Any student with even basic training should not have fallen for that."

"Now, Glynda," Ozpin responds to his assistant's comment, "no one is perfect, simply give the boy a chance to learn."

Almost everyone in the room felt like Ozpin was just trying to make Glynda not murder him for admitting the kid.

Cardin raised his mace and was about to slam it down on a worried Jaune just when the buzzer rang, the lights came back on and Glynda's voice caused him to stop. "Cardin, that's enough!" She shouted. He relented and walked away as she came onto the stage, tapping her tablet.

"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match." She explained while Jaune still laid on the floor in defeat and Pyrrha looks sad.

"Oh, I hope he's okay." Amelia gasps out.

"The kid will be fine," Qrow responds from across the room, "it's just training, and his aura is still there, so at worst he'll have some bruises that'll heal really quick."

The relief was visible on the mothers face.

Glynda turned her head to look at the losing warrior as he pulled out a smaller tablet with his low, blinking stats and that of his entire team. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat." She instructed.

"Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?" She lectured.

"Speak for yourself..." Cardin said.

Almost everyone in the room frowned at the words that just came from the boys mouth.

Taiyang was the first to speak up, "That's just not right."

The look on Summer's face was as stormy as anyone in the room had seen yet, "That isn't something that a hunter should say, in training or not."

The deepening frown on Ozpin showed his clear agreement with the team leader, even if no words came from his mouth. Even Raven was giving the boy a look of disapproval, though her teammates were unsure if the disapproval was aimed at the boy for wanting Jaune dead, or for wanting the Grimm to do it and not by himself.

Even after years at Beacon, her life as a bandit made her worldview radically different from the rest of her team, even her twins worldview had come closer to Tai and Summers over the years.

"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!" Glynda reminded the seated and standing students, such as: Yang, punching the air in anticipation; Weiss, shaking her fists with an excited smile; and Ruby, shaking her entire body with enthusiastic energy while squealing softly.

The bell rang and students started leaving while Pyrrha continued to frown sadly. Jaune, still sitting on the floor, hung his head in shame as the scene went dark.

"Ninety percent of the time, only the first years enter the tournament," Qrow said, "The older years prefer to use the time for practice or jobs."

The civilians all looked towards the young huntsman before Stavros spoke up, "That would explain several things about the festival I always wondered about."

The episode came back to a zoom-up of Nora's turquoise eyes as she told an unbelievable story to her audience...

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..." She said dramatically.

"It was day." Ren corrected off-screen.

"We were surrounded by Ursai..." Nora told Blake, who was paying no attention as she was lost in her book and Yang, who was hanging on her every word with her hands cupping her face.

Laughter was being heard from several people in the room, half from the girls blatantly false or exaggerated story, and the other half from the boys deadpan corrections.

Li Ren was staring at the screen wondering how his child put up with the girl next to him, while his wife had broken down in laughter at their interactions.

"They were Beowulves." Ren contradicted, holding a coffee cup.

"Dozens of them!" Nora screamed this as she stood at the table of both Team RWBY and JNPR, where Weiss was ignoring Nora and filing her nails, Ruby and Pyrrha were listening politely and Jaune was messing with his food.

"Two of 'em." Ren countered.

"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora finished confidently, crossing her arms while Ruby and Pyrrha now looked at a distant Jaune with concern.

Amelia was felling two conflicting emotions at this point, she was feeling both entertained by the girls obvious false story, and worried about her upset child.

Stavros looked over at the worried mother before turning back to the image, gods knew nothing would calm him if a child of his were as downtrodden as the boy.

Ren sighed "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now." He explained.

"A month?" Tai asks in shock, "How is he putting up with that girl retelling the same dream over and over again?"

"Practice," Raven shrugs, "like how I put up with Qrow's face day in and day out."

Qrow nods in agreement before realizing he was insulted and shooting a glare at his now grinning twin sister.

"Jaune? Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked, looking at her leader.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?" Jaune asked, snapping out of it, turning back toward them.

"It's just that you seem a little... not okay..." Ruby said.

Jaune looked around as the others stopped their distractions and stared at him. "Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" He said, holding up a thumb while laughing nervously until his attention was focused on the members of Team CRDL, standing around a girl with brown rabbit ears jutting from her hair as Cardin laughed at her and Sky Lark held up his hands to his head in a mock interpretation of her unusual features.

The actual growl that came from Ghira was both expected and surprising. Expected, because everyone in the room knew that he would be angry at this sight, and surprising because who knew he could growl like an apex predator. "Why is no one doing anything about this?"

Ozpin had a look of severe disapproval as he responded, "Bystander effect, they all think that someone else will do something so no one is," he then sighs, "as for why none of the staff are intervening, unfortunately we can't be everywhere, and we can't know about something if it isn't reported."

Ghira's growl abated, "I don't like it, but I understand what you are saying."

Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha said.

"Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!" Jaune tried to laugh it off.

"He's a bully." Ruby said.

Jaune scoffed. "Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me." He said, air quoting "bullied".

Jaune was seen on the way to class as Cardin was going the other way down the hall. When the two passed, Cardin knocked his arm into Jaune and made him drop his book, then continuing on his way with his hands out as if daring anyone to challenge him.

"Ah, come on!" Jaune grumbled.

"Eh," Tai said, "I've seen worse than that when it comes to bullying, this kind isn't hard to deal with."

Jaune and Cardin were about to pass through a doorway, but Cardin clicked on Jaune's sheath and extended it into its shield form as he was going out, causing him to run into his own defense and have it block the exit.

"Come on...!" Jaune grunted in frustration as he tried to lift his shield back out.

"That, meanwhile," Summer speaks up as the people in the room grow more worried, "Is a little more cruel, depending on where the trigger is, he might have needed help to get out of there."

Glynda was in the locker room with several students, gesturing at the devices.

"Each of you will be assigned one rocket-propelled locker to store your weapons and extra armor. Additionally, your locker can be sent to a custom location based on a six-digit code." She explained.

Hearing this, Cardin looked at Jaune - standing between him and the only open locker in the room...

... And the cliché played itself out as Cardin quickly pushed a shocked Jaune into the small dark space and closed the door on him, pressing random buttons on the pad right after that.

"What?! No, wait, wait! You've gotta get me out of here! Please! Don't! Don't! Don't do it!" Jaune pleaded, but it was too late to protest when the locker scrunched down and launched up with a burst of blue fire coming from its base. Cardin watched as the locker slowly soared across the sky.

"Ahhh, coooome oooooooon...!" Jaune's scream was still heard from within the locker.

"Okay, what the hell?" Qrow asks as many faces in the room turn to shock, "That goes beyond bullying and almost into attempted murder territory!"

"Glynda," Ozpin speaks to his assistant, "remind me when we get back from this to start looking into ways to not let that happen."

"Of course Professor."

The others were totally focused on him now.

"I didn't land far from the school!" Jaune attempted to laugh it off.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask." Pyrrha told him.

"That's not gonna work."

The room looked over at Taiyang in confusion as Ozpin nodded sadly in agreement.

"You are correct Mr. Xiao Long, bullied students rarely speak up about their issues," Ozpin sighs, "regardless of any attempts by teachers, or friends, to make them come forward."

"Ooooh!" Nora cried as she got up from the table. "We'll break his legs!" She presented her diabolical plan with a not-entirely-sane grin.

"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone." Jaune reasoned.

They all looked over as the laughing grew louder, mixed in with cries of pain from the rabbit girl when one of her ears were tugged on by Cardin.

"Ow! That hurts!" She cried out, then stopped struggling and grimaced. "Please, stop..." She asked.

Cardin continued laughing as he turned to his cronies. "I told you it was real!" He told them.

Kali had to quickly calm her husband before he snapped in anger at this sight.

"What a freak!" Russel Thrush laughed, still guffawing with his teammates.

Cardin finally relented and the girl stood up and hurried off, her head bowed and hiding her face from the watching table of heroes.

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha said, disgusted.

"He's not the only one..." Blake said angrily, staring daggers at the bully.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus." Yang said sadly, leaning her head on her hand.

Having gotten up from the table, Jaune looked back at his friends and sighed to himself before moving on with his tray table. He didn't realize that Cardin was watching his walk of shame with a sinister grin when the scene cut to black.

We return to see a uniformed, sleeping Jaune with his head resting in his hands while a constantly-zooming and fast-talking Professor Bartholomew Oobleck was in the middle of his hyperactive lecture, educating Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha, Velvet Scarlatina and a leaned-back Cardin Winchester directly behind Jaune.

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution-more popularly known as the Faunus War-" Oobleck lectured as he zoomed up to the front of the class and the map covered in papers behind his desk. "-humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." He explained as he pointed at the map of said-area with his stick, then zoomed off to the side for a sip of his coffee before appearing in front of the desk.

Team STRQ stared at the blurring man with wide eyes, wondering how the students were keeping up with the man.

Looking around the room, Summer gave a small sigh of relief that they weren't the only ones surprised by this. While Jacques seemed to have long stopped paying attention, and the professors seemed unfazed, somehow, the other non hunters in the room all seemed just as surprised as the four students did.

The leader of team STRQ was starting to wonder if the school had any normal teachers for the next generation.

Although, considering Qrow became a teacher, even if not at Beacon, she was thinking not.

"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" He noted as he zoomed around the classroom more, sipping his coffee again before continuing to zoom and talk. "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" He asked.

Some of the silhouetted students raised their hands. Velvet, after a moment, did the same.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" Oobleck told them as he took another sip of his coffee. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?" He asked. "Yes?" He called to the student as a hand was raised.

"That mans ability to change topics so quickly is as amazing as it is disturbing."

The fact that it was Raven who said that gave her team a shock. The fact that for once the whole team agreed on something was surprising enough, that Raven was the one to actually admit what she thought had her brother choking on the water he had been drinking.

"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss answered.

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" Oobleck asked again.

Unseen by the professor, Cardin flicked a paper football at Jaune's head, causing him to wake up. "Hey!" Jaune cried out, looking around.

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?" Oobleck asked, zooming over into Jaune's face.

"Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... that the Faunus..." Jaune dragged out, stalling for time as he looked behind Oobleck's focused face at Pyrrha, who coughed and motioned to her lips as she gave him the answer. "...had over that guy's stuff..." He drew out more as he saw Pyrrha cup her hands around her eyes and went for the most obvious answer. "Uhh... Binoculars!" He answered.

This singular word from Jaune caused two simultaneous reactions.

First, half the room slammed their hands into their foreheads, and second, Raven burst out laughing maliciously once again at the kid.

"I can't believe an idiot like this got into Beacon!" she laughed ignoring the angry glare of the blonde mother on the other side of the room.

Said mother was holding herself back from attacking the dark haired hunter for two reasons, the first, and most relevant, being that she knew she wouldn't even succeed at landing a single hit on the hunter.

The second, and debatably most important, reason was that Raven would probably send her to the ground if she tried. So the blonde simply bit her tongue and turned away from the laughing huntress for the moment.

While Jaune looked pleased with his answer, the class laughed at him and Oobleck, back at the front of the class, sipped his coffee. Pyrrha sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead as Cardin pounded his fist on his desk while chortling.

Oobleck zoomed back behind his desk. "Very funny, Mr. Arc! Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!" He asked the bully.

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." Cardin said.

The returning of Ghira's displeased growl told everyone in the room exactly what he thought of Cardin's answer.

As a matter of fact most in the room agreed with the growling faunus, with what little they could hear from Goodwitch making them glad they weren't that boy.

The only exception to the disapproval coming from Jacques Schnee, who was nodding in agreement with the boy, ignoring his glaring wife as he did so.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha asked with a glare as Oobleck shook his head.

"What? You got a problem?" He asked.

"No, I have the answer! It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." She explained as Cardin growled at the correct response.

"General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." Blake explained before she turned to Cardin. "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." She said.

The laughter that came from Qrow at this comment was felt by almost everyone, as even the most straitlaced of those watching could enjoy the sight of an entitled fool getting smacked down.

"That brat deserves being chewed out." Ghira growls out, still angry from his comment before.

Cardin got up from his seat, fist clenched. "Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat." Oobleck told him. When Jaune laughed at his tormentor's embarrassment, Oobleck zoomed up to him. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." He said as he took yet another sip of his coffee.

"Oohhhh..." Jaune groaned, shoulders slumping.

"Now! Moving on!" Oobleck continued, zooming away.

When the lesson ended, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren came out of the classroom, only for Pyrrha to stop near the doorway.

"You go on ahead. I'll wait for Jaune." She said as they looked back inside as the after-class talk occurred to the two boys.

Oobleck sipped his coffee. "You two have been struggling in my class since day one! Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest, or just your stubborn nature, but whatever it is..." He started as he took a longer sip of his coffee. "It stops now! You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school and we only accept the best of the best, so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it... you're destined to repeat it. Pages fifty-one to ninety-one! I want an essay on my desk by next class! Now! Run along." He instructed.

With that, he zoomed out of the classroom and past a waiting Pyrrha in a green and white blur. Jaune came out first and Cardin emerged behind him, pushing him to the ground, emitting an "Ow!" from him that made the bully laugh before walking away.

"You know, I really will break his legs." Jaune sighed and Pyrrha looked like she was struck by inspiration. "I have an idea! Here, come with me!" She said as she grabbed a confused Jaune by the arm and dragged him along as she turned down the corridor.

"Aww," Amelia cooed, "it's so cute that she cares so much."

While the majority of the room looked at her confused, Stavros simply sighed, having seen this kind of thing in his wife. The blonde saw two people who looked cute together, and was ignoring almost everything that she had just seen in favor of fantasizing, likely amplified since one of them was her child.

He wished he could do the same, but he had a bad feeling that what comes next wasn't going to go well.

A dejected Jaune and Pyrrha came onto a rooftop of one of the buildings, with a clear view of the glowing green orbs in the central tower of Beacon.

"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not that depressed." Jaune said as he looked over the edge of the roof, to the confusion of Pyrrha "I can always be a farmer or something..." He said, still looking down.

Pyrrha looked over the edge herself, realization hitting her with horror. "N-n-no!" She cried out, dashing to push Jaune away from the edge. "That's not why I brought you up here!" She said. The camera panned out to show the two on the roof as they talked with Cardin leaning in his windowsill right below them.

"Oh no," Tai mutters, "I can already tell that this isn't going to end well."

The silence from his teammates told him that he was probably right.

"Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so... I want to help you!" Pyrrha explained.

"Wh-what?" He asked.

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!" She explained.

"You think I need help?" He asked.

"N-no! No, that's not what I meant." She said.

"All she's doing right now is digging herself a deeper hole." Qrow comments.

Stavros frowns, as much as he would like to say otherwise, the black haired huntsman was correct. His daughter was indeed making a bad situation worse with her verbal fumbling.

"But you just said it." He said sadly.

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!" She assured him.

"You're wrong. I-I don't belong here." Jaune said sadly, turning away from her, lowering his head and voice.

"That's a terrible thing to say! Of course you do!" She said.

"No, I don't!" He snapped, turning back around, now angry. He sighed as Pyrrha looked bewildered. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon..." He revealed the truth, turning his back to her so he didn't have to face her.

"Wh-what do you mean?" She asked.

Everyone kept silent, the whole room feeling tense, barely willing to even breath too loudly. Partially due to tenseness in the room, and partially from the returning feeling of anger coming from the female Branwen twin.

"I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests. I didn't earn my spot at this Academy!" Jaune admitted, his voice going higher and higher as he confessed, looking at her again. "I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts and I lied!" He told her.

"What?"

Raven was the one to break the sudden silence. Before the female Branwen spoke up the only action had been Goodwitch turning almost robotically towards her employer, who suddenly found his drink very interesting.

"Headmaster," Goodwitch spoke quietly, but with an undeniable weight, "I know that you are capable of spotting forged transcripts, so please explain to me why you would let someone like that into the school."

No one could hear that statement as anything but an order. Not a question.

"Although the transcripts were forged," Ozpin says after a moments thought, "I saw potential in the boy, he was willing to push forward, and I will admit that his family name gave me the thought that he would be skilled enough to pass. Clearly that was not my brightest moment."

"What do you mean by his family?" Summer asked curiously.

Amelia spoke up, "My husband's family has been hunters for multiple generations, that is likely what he meant."

"Indeed, Mrs. Arc," Ozpin inclined his head, "I likely assumed, based on his name, that his father would have taught him at least something. Although based on his actions clearly I was very wrong."

Raven frowned towards the headmaster, but said nothing as she turned her head back towards the vision, deciding she can complain later to her team.

"What? But... why?" She asked.

"'Cause this is always what I've wanted to be!" He said as he turned away again. "My father, my grandfather and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough." He admitted.

"Then let me help you!" Pyrrha said, approaching him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!" Jaune snapped, suddenly turning on her with mad frustration.

Stavros frowned, as much as he would like to be angry at the boy for taking his anger out on Stavros' daughter, he could acknowledge that the boy was likely stressed from his secret. He also had to keep in mind that the boy had only just entered adulthood, and Stavros was old enough to acknowledge that he wasn't all that much better at his age.

Didn't mean the boy was in the right, but Stavros could see his perspective on things.

"Jaune, I-" Pyrrha started.

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own... then what good am I?" He asked. Pyrrha attempted to reach out for his arm and console him, but he leaned back from her touch. "Just... leave me alone. Okay?" He said.

"If that's what you think is best..." She said sadly with her head bowed. She walked away, her footsteps getting softer and softer until she left the roof.

Goodwitch sighed, "As much as I may be hard on the boy, leaving him alone was a bad idea."

"Correct Glynda," Ozpin spoke up, "leaving someone to stew in their thoughts is never a good idea."

Amelia whimpered nervously for her child, scared about what might happen.

Jaune paced a little until he heard a mocking laugh and Cardin appeared on the roof from his window. "Oh, Jaune..." Cardin said.

"Cardin!" Jaune said fearfully, looking behind him at his bully.

"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room. So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I gotta say, Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel!" The taller knight taunted.

"Please, Cardin, please, don't tell anyone!" Jaune pleaded, taking on a begging tone.

"Jaune, come on! I'd never rat on a friend like that!" Cardin said.

"Friend, sure," Qrow spoke snidely, "what he actually means is blackmailed servant."

The fact that everyone responded with agreement showed that qrow was not the odd one out on his thoughts.

Summer sighed, "This is going to be very bad in the immediate future."

"A... a friend?" Jaune asked, approaching the bully.

"Of course!" He said as he trapped Jaune in a headlock under his arm despite his struggling. "We're friends now, Jauney boy! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." He explained as he finally released Jaune, who gasped as he leaned on the ground.

"That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" He asked with a smirk as he leaned down to rub Jaune's hair and got up with a grin. "That's what I thought." He said as he headed back to hang onto the edge. "Don't worry, Jaune; your secret's safe with me." He said.

And with that, Cardin dropped back down to his room as Jaune rubbed his neck in pain and worry before the scene faded to black.

"So," Raven ground out through clenched teeth, "We saw the kid who cheated his way into Beacon get pummeled, and discover that he lied about ever learning how to fight in the first place."

"Also," Summer spoke up, cutting off her angry partner, "We met the local bully, who's now a blackmailer, and learned that even Ozpin isn't infallible."

"I feel the need to state that I have not once claimed to be infallible," Ozpin interjected, "that others may think that is not my fault."

Summer nodded as she kept speaking, "We are also seeing a bunch of drama begin that promises to be annoying. Anyone else have anything to say?"

The shaking head told Summer that she had covered everything important, and as if it had been waiting, immediately after that confirmation the next vision began to play.

FINALLY DONE!

This one chapter has fought me every step of the way, so apologies for it taking so long. Some of this still feels weak, but I can't see what specifically.

Anyways, Read and Review.