Once everyone was rested and watered up, they double checked to make sure they had all of their supplies. Once they knew they had everything, they decided to discuss where to go.
"So where do we go from here?" Octavia asked.
"I say we just we go to one direction and stick to it," Nolan suggested.
"Obviously," Roy said playfully pushing Nolan. "But the question is which direction do we head?"
"Well I say we head north," Gwen said. "I think I woke up at one point during the ride here and heard them say something about putting us south of Shade."
"Well it's something to go by," Brawnz said. "But what if we're wrong?"
"If we're wrong, we'll at least find some kind of town or mining camp right?" May asked.
"Yeah, then we should be able to know where we are," Dew said.
"Might even have a map for us," Nebula said. However as they all discussed about going north, Jaune had the compass out and was looking from where the grimm came from. It was pointing west. He closes the compass and heads back to everyone.
"So we all agree that we are heading north?" Nebula confirmed.
"Actually I think we should head west," Jaune said as he got to the group. Unsurprisingly, this got him scowls and frowns.
"Why should we?" Nolan asked.
"The grimm came from the west." Jaune pointed to the grimm tracks as he said that. "That's where I want to go."
"Okay 'leader'," Dew said with air quotes. "Why should we go where the grimm came from?"
"Grimm are attracted to negative emotions right?" everyone nodded. "Well animals can also feel negative emotions, and where there are animals, there is usually shade and water nearby." a couple of the students nodded in agreement. "Of course, there is the chance that they were attracted to humans as well."
It took a minute for people to realize what he meant. But they knew he was right. Either way, it would either be a survivable hole, or a landmark or settlement they recognize and can get directions from.
"Any objections?" Brawnz asked around. Surprisingly, no one voiced their opinions. "All right then." Branwz turns to Jaune. "You lead the way." Jaune gulped but nodded his head. He strapped on all three bags and began walking, following the grimm tracks, with the two teams following behind him. He looked at the horizon to see that it was dusk. Which meant if they walked for about an hour or two, it would be night, perfect conditions for traveling the desert.
One Hour later:
While it had gotten a lot cooler, the sun was still up. From the tracks it seemed they were getting nowhere but Jaune felt like they were close. However he could tell everyone was getting exhausted from walking for the past hour, despite everyone being quiet.
He knew most of them wanted to voice their opinions about him about how what they are doing is a terrible plan. Honestly he knew the risks of following a grimm trail. But he felt the reward would be worth it. He stops and sets the three bags down, grateful having the heavy burden off his shoulders.
"Let's rest here until the sun goes down," Jaune suggested. All of them sigh with relief and gain small smiles.
"Best plan he's had all day," Octavia whispered to Dew. The two girls giggle, which doesn't go unnoticed. Brawnz was going to chew them out but he saw Jaune shaking his head no at him. Brawnz wanted to protest but sucked it up and nodded his head. Jaune then takes out his sword and flips it so his handle goes into the sheathe. He then takes a piece of rope from the supply bag and ties it sword his sword to keep it in place.
"What are you doing?" Roy asked.
"I'm trying to make shade," Jaune said. He flips his sword and stabs it into the ground deep enough to have it stay still, but also shallow enough so that the sword stood decently tall.
He looks around at everyone and then points to Dew. "Excuse me, Dew?" the blonde girl glared at Jaune. "Can I see your spear for a second?"
"Why do you need my spear?" She asked.
"I need two long supports to hang the sleeping bags to make a tiny shade spot." Dew could see what he was doing and it made sense. She tosses the spear to him and he plants it into the ground about ten feet away from his sword. He then takes out some more rope, two sleeping bags and begins setting up the shade spot. Meanwhile, no one was helping him and they were all relaxing and drinking water.
Brawnz walked over to Roy and handed him a water bottle and they both sat down. "Brawnz," Roy said after he was done taking a drink. "You trust this guy, right?"
"Almost as much as I would trust you guys," Branwz said. Roy looked down in the sand, a small feeling of guilt came to him. He looked over to the blonde to see him struggling to put up the makeshift shade. He hands his water bottle to his leader and walks over to Jaune. Brawnz gains a small smile. This was the start of his friends starting to trust Jaune.
Roy walked over to Jaune and helped lift up the sleeping bags. He already unzipped them, now he just needed to tie them to the two poles and each other. Jaune turns surprised and sees the dark skinned student nodding to him. "Need a hand?" he asked.
"Yeah, thanks," Jaune answered back. He began tying the sleeping bag to his sword's sheathe. As he did so, he made small talk. "So how do your saws come back to you?" Roy looked at Jaune with interest. Not a lot of people asked about his weapons, they thought seeing as it was simple.
"Well, I have a small lining of gravity dust inside the middle of the hole of the saw. I then have another attached to my wrist guard. When I activate it, the two dusts connect to each other and then the gravity dust pulls the saw back to me." Jaune let out an impressed chuckle.
"Wow, I mean you obviously had to go through a couple of prototypes before perfecting it right?"
"And a couple of visits to the infirmary." The two let out a chuckle. Jaune was done tying the knot on his sword and began tying the sleeping bag to Dew's spear. "What about your weapon?" Jaune looked shocked. He then pointed to him with an "are-you-serious" look on his face. He then laughs.
"What's to tell? It was my family's sword from generations ago. It was passed down to me. That's pretty much it. No new stuff no nothing."
"And now you are using it as a support pole." Roy and Jaune look a his sword and then look at each other.
"It's my sword I can do whatever I want with it." the two share a laugh again. They finish setting up the shade spot and they let out a satisfy grunt.
"All right, all done," Roy said.
"Yep," Jaune said. he is silent for a moment and then turns to Roy. "Hey, thanks for the help, I appreciate it." Roy waves his hand off.
"No problem." He is silent for a second and then speaks again. "Give everyone some time. I'm sure you'll grow on them." Jaune looked at Roy, a little stunned by what Roy said. But he then smiles at him.
"Thanks. It means a lot that someone other than Brawnz said that to me." Roy nodded his head. However the small moment was ruined by Nolan shouting.
"Hey, is the shade up or are you just doing nothing?!" Jaune sighs. Roy could tell he was annoyed, maybe even angry. But Jaune sucked whatever emotion he could and just answered back.
"Yeah it's up!"
"About time!" Gwen said. Everyone started to head over there and noticed the small shade spot. It looked like it could only shade two people possible three.
"What the hell is this?" Dew asked annoyed. "This is all you have?" Jaune is silent.
"I can't believe it, this was a waste of time," Gwen said. Brawnz again was going to do something, but Roy beat him to it.
"Hey,' the saw user started. "If you don't want I'll gladly sit in it." He then motioned for Brawnz to hand him his water bottle. Brawnz nods and tosses the water bottle to Ry. Roy uncaps it and then sits down under the homemade shade spot. He took a big gulp and wiped away any sweat. A full minute passed of everyone looking at Roy. Well everyone, except Jaune. Jaune just left them to deal with it themselves. He tried to find the softest spot on the ground and sat down there waiting for the sun to go down.
"I call next five minutes," Nolan said.
"Hey I deserve the next five minutes!" Dew argued "It has my weapon supporting it."
Jaune could hear them bicker and grew a small smile. Granted they still think it's a horrible idea, but at least they'll use it. It's something, right?
Thirty minutes later:
Orange filled the sky as it slowly turned darker and darker. Jaune was sweating buckets, but he had a bottle of water to keep him hydrated. He continued to stare out into the distant, hoping that there may be some sign of life beyond all of that sand. He didn't care if it was grimm people or animals, some sign that there was shade or water nearby.
He heard the sound of footsteps on sand closing in on him. He then noticed something was thrown to his side. He looked at it and saw it was another water bottle. The footsteps stop and he hears someone grunt as they sat down next to his side. When he saw grey in his peripheral he knew who it was.
"You should drink up, you're bottles almost empty," Brawnz said concerned.
"Has everyone else gotten one?" Jaune asked. Brawnz let's out a chuckle.
"Yeah they have." There is silence for a while but Brawnz speaks again. "Despite them hating you, you still care about them don't you?" This time it was Jaune's turn to chuckle.
"Like it or not all of us are in this together. No point in making it any harder than it already is." Jaune had his goofy grin on his face. Brawnz smiled and put Jaune in a chokehold.
"There it is!" Brawnz said as he choked Jaune. "The Jaune goofy grin! I remember when I first saw it, you really pissed me off when you had it."
"Brawnz, you're choking me!" Jaune choked out. Brawnz lets go of Jaune, who let's in a big gulp of air. They look at each other for a second and then laugh. "I actually remember the first time you saw it too. You wanted to bash my face in."
"Yeah, I did." The two reminisce on how they first met outside of the battlefield, the first time Jaune had his goofy grin plastered on his face.
An hour after JNPR and BRNZ match:
Brawnz was travelling around the fairgrounds looking for something to eat. He would usually eat with his team after a match but he was too angry and didn't want to snap at them by accident. To lose by a single blow of the hammer. Just thinking about it made his blood boil.
He heard laughing and looked up and saw the same leader of the team that won. He had a grin on his face as he saw a couple of girls from Haven fawn over him. He just waved them off and they left. However one of them blew a kiss to him and he turned red and scratched the back of his head. Brawnz made his hands into fists. He then began to walk to the blonde boy.
"Hey!" Brawnz yelled. Jaune looked over to him with a confused look on his face. "You think that just because you had someone do all of the work you think you're all that now?" Jaune put his hands up and had a slightly scare dlook on his face.
"No!" Jaune said. "I don't think that at all!" Brawnz stopped until he was about two feet away from Jaune.
"Really? Then what was with the smug grin?"
"I was just happy someone gave me a compliment! Look I know when I sicced Nora on you and your team it was a cheap move." Brawnz's grip lessened a little bit. "Listen, why don't I buy you something to eat? I mean I feel bad for using a cheap tactic to win." This time Jaune had a half smile on his face while scratching the back of his head. There was something about him that made Brawnz relax. That and he was getting a free meal so he can't complain.
"Brawnz Ni." The tanned grey haired leader reached out his hand and Jaune shook it.
"Jaune Arc."
A few minutes later they were at the noodle shop that JNPR ate at before the match. Brawnz was downing a gigantic bowl of noodles and Jaune just watched with awe.
"And I thought Nora had a big appetite…" Jaune commented.
"Shut up," Brawnz said with a mouth full of noodles. He slurps and then swallows with a big smile on his face. "Okay, so would mind telling me why you and your team were talking in the middle of our match?"
"We… mixed up our combined attack names…"
"Wait what?!" Brawnz asked with an amused smile. "You have got to be kidding me! How do you mix them up?"
"I don't know!" Jaune said with mild amusement. "So we spent the time trying to figure it out! Than when you yelled at us I just figured we should have ended it as quick as possible without embarrassing ourselves further." Brawnz laugh. Jaune laughs along with him. Brawnz takes another mouthful of food and swallows.
"Look, I was hard on you," Brawnz said. "I know it's a fight and you have to use every advantage you can get, even ones that don't seem fair. I guess I was just too angry and embarrassed by the loss to think thoroughly."
"It's fine, I wouldn't blame you." The two smiled and continued their conversation talking about various things.
In present day:
The two reminisce about how their first outside of battle meeting went. "I am so glad you didn't kick my butt that day," Jaune said after taking a swig from the water bottle.
"Nah, but I'm going to kick your butt in combat class when you're enrolled," Brawnz said slapping Jaune's back. Jaune looks at the ground, thinking very hard.
"You really think I'll be accepted?" Brawnz sighed.
"Jaune, not this again."
"Brawnz I'm a fake. I'm glad you believe in me but… even if I pass this, who's to say I will survive in the school?"
Brawnz frowned. He invited Jaune to this school because he knows of Jaune's skills. But having him whine about every five minutes was starting to annoy Brawnz. He has tried everything he can to help Jaune.
That's when he realized the problem. It seemed like only Brawnz was supporting him. His family practically dismissed him. His friends weren't really his friends and he cut off all ties with his team. Jaune was alone. And only Brawnz was helping. Brawnz right now was Jaune's only friend.
And Brawnz knew Jaune needed more positive reinforcement. He looked over to the makeshift shade and saw Roy was standing around with a water bottle in his hand, with Dew and May sitting under the shade. Everyone else was standing around chatting.
Brawnz stands up and stretches. "Jaune I know you will survive this school. You just have to believe yourself." With that Brawnz walks away. Jaune sighs and continues looking out to the desert.
A few minutes pass and Jaune hears footsteps approaching again. "Are you going to try and cheer me up again Brawnz?"
"Well you got half of that right," a voice not belonging to Brawnz said. Jaune turns around to see Roy standing next to him with his arms crossed.
"Oh! Sorry Roy." The dark skinned teen laughs.
"It's fine. Mind if I sit?" Jaune nodded and motioned for him to sit. Roy follows and sits with his legs crossed. "So, still having doubts?"
"Of course I am," Jaune answered. "I already told you the 'I'm a fraud' spiel." Roy chuckles.
"That's true. But why do you still doubt yourself? You're already out here fighting to still become a hunter. So why the self-doubt?"
Jaune looked to the ground again. "I'm alone this time…" Jaune said.
"Alone?"
"Yeah, alone. Back at Beacon I had a friend to help me through the first day and then I had my team's help throughout the rest of the year. But now? Now it's just me."
"And Brawnz and me." There is silence for a few seconds before Jaune looks at Roy.
"What?" he asked.
"You forgot about Brawnz and me. We'll help you." Again silence for a few seconds. "Of course, you'll have to want our help." Jaune frowned.
"Why would you help me? I thought you said I didn't belong here? Just like the rest of them…" Jaune said the last part sadly, which caused Roy to get a little angery.
"We say you don't belong here because you act like you don't." Jaune was taken aback but what Roy said and turned to him again. Roy had a stern expression on his face. "Despite being exposed as a fraud you are here and doing your best. Fucking act like you belong here." Roy stands up and walks away. However he turns over his shoulder to Jaune again. "Maybe when you do, getting everyone to trust you will be easier." He said a softer voice. He then continues to the others.
Jaune looked at Roy walk away and then looked at the ground. He looks at his open hand. "Act like I belong?" he mumbled. He makes a fist, cracking his knuckles in the process. "They're right. I need to act like I belong here." Jaune then gains a confident smile. "I do belong here. Now it's time to prove that I do."
To be continued.