Beacon:
The city of Vale is suffering. Huntsmen are no longer being trusted, half of the city is still in ruins, and the hunters in training are beginning to lose faith in themselves and the title itself. Yet, Ozpin is somehow keeping the students together. A few days after the breach, he gave a speech that stopped some students from leaving the school. The cafeteria was a testament to that.
The cafeteria was as lively as ever, despite the missing students. Not only were students from the other schools gone, but the school itself suffered a drop in student enrollment due to the attack on Vale. Some of whom were because families were refusing to pay for their child to go to a school that let a fraud in deliberately and because of what the voice said at the festival. How could Ozpin let a fraud in, have a student break another's leg with no remorse and be okay with it? Students themselves were leaving for the exact same reason. Some left because they didn't trust the school anymore after letting Beacon get attacked twice now, and some left because the students couldn't handle the stress of a huntsman after seeing the city attack two times.
Despite all of that, it was as if none of that happened. At a specific table that sat seven familiar students was a testament to that. Ruby Rose sat and chatted with her teammates, Yang Xiao Long, who is also her sister, Weiss Schneee, the ex-heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, and Blake Belladona, a former White Fang member. The four girls sat and chatted with each other, with Weiss doing some early studying.
When Yang made a joke, it was met with groans around the table, except for one Nora Valkyrie, who yelled out "Boo!" Sitting next to Nora was Lie Ren, her best friend, and Pyrrha Nikos, team NPR's (Nipper) leader. After Nora's input, Yang flipped her off with a smile on her face to clarify that she was joking, causing the table to laugh.
As soon as that was over, Pyrrha's scroll went off. A few seconds later, Ruby's scroll went off as well. Pyrrha read hers and then told everyone what was on it. Apparently Ozpin wanted to see her team. Ruby said she got the same thing. Confused, both teams decided to not keep the headmaster waiting any longer.
Along the way to the elevator, they all discussed what it was Ozpin wanted. Weiss suggested that it was going to be a mission to help Vale out to keep the fragile string that connected citizens and huntsman from breaking. Ren agreed with that statement as did Pyrrha. Yang hoped that it would involve fighting people, with Nora going into details about how she would plan to break their legs, arms, and other parts of their bodies. Blake thought it would be something about the White Fang and Ruby didn't care, as long as they got it done. She said that they needed to show Vale that the students were on their side still, so no matter what, they had to give it their all. Yang smiled and ruffled her sister's hair as they reached the elevator.
After a few trips, all of them were up in Ozpin's office. The man stared at the two teams. He took a deep breath. "I am glad all of you are here," He said. He begins typing on his computer. "Now then, I'm sure all of you remember what happened the weeks following the attack. Specifically, to Mr. Arc."
When Ozpin brought up Jaune, the tone in the room changed from curiosity to dread. How could they not remember? All of them flash back to the days that followed the attack.
The crowd that gathered in front of the school was a mix of angry citizens, students' parents, and even some Huntsman. All of them may be angry at different things, but all of those things came from one place; Beacon. Whether it was anger at a certain blonde, or distrust of the students, everyone had a reason to be there in their own eyes. Some were even here about how Ozpin was playing favorites since he let Ruby Rose, the nephew of a close friend, in a couple of years early.
It was a shame. The festival has to be postponed for a few days until they can clear all of Vale of grimm as well as the arena. Hopefully by then the protesters will see eye to eye with Ozpin's choice.
A couple of students were looking out the windows of their classes and saw the crowd. One of those students was Jaune. He couldn't stop blaming himself for the crowd that was forming. The professor saw that the students were distracted by the window and closed it so they could continue doing their lecture. It didn't stop Jaune from thinking about it though.
When the class was over, Jaune would quickly try and get to his next class as soon as he could. Today was not going to be one of those days. An upperclassman grabbed Jaune's shoulder and began dragging him around the corner of the hallway. He felt the upperclassman grab Jaune's neck and lift from the ground, causing Jaune to choke.
"Where do you think you're going?" He asked.
"My… next class…" Jaune choked out. The upperclassman shook his head as he increased his grip.
"No," he said. "You don't deserve to go to your next class. You don't deserve to be here at all!" The upperclassman raises their fist and Jaune closes his eyes, expecting to feel the punches come. Fortunately a voice stopped Jaune from getting a beating.
"Let him go or I'll make sure you get sent to the infirmary permanently," a strong voice called out. Jaune and the upperclassmen look to their left to see Jaune's seven friends standing there, staring the upperclassman down.
The upperclassman growls and drops Jaune, but not before he got his final word in. "Your friends won't be able to protect you forever."
With the upperclassman storming off, everyone else came up to Jaune and helped him up.
"Thanks guys," he said.
"Don't mention it," Pyrrha said with a smile.
"Yeah," Ruby said. "We'd never let anyone do that to you. You're our friend Jaune." Little did any of them know that Ruby would be lying.
For the past two weeks whenever the students had to go out and either help rebuild Vale or get supplies, they would get hounded by the media and paparazzi. It eventually got tiresome, especially for two teams of first years.
Yang had come back from a club with a few of her friends, but instead of the normal happy party girl look, she had a more somber look on her face. This did not go unnoticed by her team. When questioned about it, Yang said she need to talk with her team about team JNPR
"My friends gave me a suggestion and I have to agree to it. At least to a certain degree," Yang said. When questioned about it, she took a deep breath. "They said we should… stay away from JNPR for a while." The reception she got was… mixed.
Ruby of course was upset, angry and confused, Blake was angry that they were turning their backs on friends, and Weiss actually could see where Yang was coming from. The argument went on for ten minutes.
"I can't believe we are discussing this!" Ruby yelled as she crossed her arms. "They're our friends Yang! Jaune was my first friend here!"
"He shouldn't have been in the first place Rubes!" Yang replied. "Besides, I'm not saying we ditch them all together. Just… until the media get bored and finds something else to report on; something that doesn't put us in the spotlight."
"Yang's right Ruby," Weiss said. "We already have enough bad publicity as it is. My father denounced my rights to the company, Yang is still getting flak for break Mercury's leg, and people want to get you expelled because you're too young! The only person here they haven't reported on was Blake, and the minute they find out she was part of..." Weiss took a look around as if there were camera's in the room. She even covered up her next sentence to make sure no one could decipher what Weiss meant. "That group, the press will have a field day."
"It doesn't matter," Blake said. "Who cares? As long as we do our job, people will trust us."
"Not everyone is going to see it that way Blake," Yang said. "You of all people should know that." The cat faunus, though taken aback from her partner's comment, knew that she was right. The blonde brawler turned to her little sister and grabbed her shoulders. "Ruby, I don't care what the public thinks of me. I am only suggesting this because being a huntress is your dream. I only made the suggestion to make sure that you had the best chance of becoming one. I don't want Jaune to be the reason you fail to become a huntress. I know you don't want to either."
Ruby wanted to retaliate but couldn't. She knew Yang was right. The team was already on thin ice, adding JNPR's controversy into the mix wasn't going to do them any favors. Ruby looked her sister in the eye. "Promise me it is only temporary," Ruby said. Yang looked at her with a confused look on her face. "Promise me that we will only ignore JNPR for a little bit."
"Of course," Yang said, hugging her sister. "I promise you Ruby, on my life that it will only be temporary. It will be over when the festival is done in three weeks."
Even if it was only temporary, the plan was almost enough to drive Jaune over the edge.
Jaune huffed as he slid down the wall. The sparring match with Pyrrha has ended. She walked over and offered Jaune a hand. He shook his head. "Just let me rest here for a minute… or for the rest of the night," he said. Pyrrha giggled and sat down next to him.
"You've been improving a lot these past few weeks Jaune," Pyrrha said, putting a hand on his shoulder. What she said was true; Jaune had been improving at a faster paste after the festival.
"I have to prove that I belong here," Jaune said once he caught his breath. He frowned as he remembered everything that has happened to him since the festival. From the protests, to the increased bullying, to even his sister team ignoring them, it seemed as though on certain days Jaune's resolve was stronger than ever. Jaune got so caught up in his thinking he forgot to mention someone that helped him along the way.
"Of course, you've helped a lot too." He put his hand on Pyrrha's and gave it a little squeeze. "If it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't even be improving as much as I am right now." Pyrrha smiles and places her head on Jaune's shoulder, both of their hands still intertwined. His shoulder was a little wet from the sweat but Pyrrha ignored it. The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while and Jaune spoke again. "I'm so close to proving it. I mean I lasted a full five minutes against you when you went all out!"
Pyrrha's smile dropped a little, but not enough for Jaune to notice. Jaune didn't want Pyrrha to hold back for this sparring match. He wanted to fight Pyrrha at her full strength. However, Pyrrha thought it would disheartened Jaune that he was nowhere close to Pyrrha. At least, not strong enough to last five minutes, so she continued to hold back. Granted, she did make it increasingly difficult, but she still wasn't giving it her all. Pyrrha didn't like lying to Jaune, but he was taking everything pretty hard. Especially since team RWBY was ignoring all of them.
"Hey, Pyr…" Jaune said which gained the redhead's attention. "You can go back to the dorm. I want to do something alone up here." Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. For the past few training sessions, Jaune has been staying behind. Pyrrha didn't think anything about it at first, but now she was curious. She didn't want Jaune to do anything… drastic.
"What are you going to do?" Pyrrha asked with a strong hint of concern in her voice.
Jaune smiled and said "Just some thinking. I'll promise I'll be down." Pyrrha was not pleased wioth that answer. Jaune stood up, helped Pyrrha up, and gave her a hug. "I promise I'm fine. I'm glad that you're worrying about me though."
Pyrrha returned the hug. She trusted Jaune. She said goodbye and went back to the dorm room. When Jaune knew she was out of sight, his smile faded into a frown. He walked over to the ledge of the building. His first words he spoke to Pyrrha up here rang throughout his head.
"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now but I'm not that depressed."
Right now, he was wondering if he really is that depressed. The little voice in his head that told him too wasn't helping matters either. The more and more he thought about it, the better that solution seemed to be.
First he lost what little respect he had in the school after the festival, then it seemed the entire country was after him, then it seemed as if the teachers were even doubting him, and now even his first friend is ignoring him. Would the world truly be in a better place without him?
"It isn't going to solve your problems dumbass," a voice said. Jaune looked around to see where the voice was coming from. He looked over the ledge and to the left to see Carding sitting on the ledge of his window staring at Jaune. Instead of the typical arrogant smirk, Cardin had a serious look on his face. "If anything, it's just going to prove everyone that they were right."
Jaune's frown softened up, but his tone was still hard. "What do you want Cardin?"
Cardin shrugged. "I guess to actually be a huntsman for once." Cardin stands up and begins scaling the wall until he reaches the roof. When he does he dusts himself off and walks over to Jaune. "And I'm doing that by making sure an idiot doesn't make the biggest mistake of his life."
"I wasn't going to do it." Cardin raised an eyebrow. He wasn't convinced.
"Nah of course you won't," Cardin says sarcastically. "You only look down every time you're up here and keep staring longer each time."
Jaune opened his mouth but the words won't come out. He knows Cardin is right. He was staring in the abyss far more often. He turned away from Cardin. "Why do you even care?"
Cardin, surprisingly, goes over and puts a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "I care, because if anyone deserves to be a huntsman it's you," He said in a calm, yet stern tone. Jaune looked away. He had to have a moment to process what just happened. Cardin Winchester, originally the school bully, the one who made Jaune his bitch-boy, and the one who Jaune saved, said he deserved to be a huntsman.
"Jaune, despite everything I did to you, you still protected me. You had every right to leave me for dead. You were weaker than the Ursa, you hated me, and I would have deserved it for all of the things I did to you and the others at this school." Jaune looked to the ground. "And yet you still saved me. Not only that, because of you saving me, I turned a new leaf. That pretty much embodies a huntsman in my book."
All of it was true. After Jaune protected Cardin from the Ursa, he wasn't bullying anyone anymore. Granted he was still an arrogant prick, but he wasn't going out of his way to make people's lives miserable. "Besides, if you do it, than who will prove everyone wrong?"
Jaune was silent for a minute. The only thing that could be heard was the howl of the wind. Cardin waited patiently for Jaune's answer. He could see Jaune shift uncomfortably. Another minute of silence passes. Cardin spoke again.
"And what about your team? Your sisters? How would they react?"
This seemed to shake something inside of Jaune. If he were to do it, some of the only few people he still cares about would be heartbroken if he did it. He takes a deep breath. "You're right," He finally said. "I can't put my team through that pain, and I couldn't even imagine what my sisters would go through." Jaune turns around and Cardin can see a few tears still dripping down his face. "You're also right about me being the only one that can prove them wrong."
Jaune walks over to Cardin and stops in front of him. He flashes Cardin his signature grin. "Thanks Cardin."
Cardin grins at him and he held out his hand. Jaune and him slap their hands together and tighten their grips. "Any time Jauney boy."
Jaune walks back down the stairs and to his Dorm, and Cardin walks over to the ledge, and scales back down to his dorm. While Cardin's talk did help stop Jaune from committing a stupid act, it didn't help with his resignation.
The festival is almost over. Two weeks of relaxing before students that stayed have to go back to their schools. Two days have also passed since Jaune left the school. Some students were happy that the fact that a fraud was rightfully in his place. Others however, were upset that their friend was gone. Teams RWBY, NPR, and CFVY were part of this group. While all three of them were sitting together at lunch, team NPR was ignoring team RWBY. Team CFVY was there to make sure the two teams didn't rip each other's throats out, and to grieve along with them. Despite Jaune not having a lot of interaction with CFVY, he was a friend of Velvet's and got to know the team a little bit.
"He didn't deserve this," Velvet said hoping to break some tension at the table. Too bad it did the opposite.
"What?" Pyrrha asked with a hint of sarcasm. "Being forced to leave or having some of his friends pretend like he doesn't exist?"
"You can't keep blaming us for that!" Yang said pointing at the red head. This caused Pyrrha to stand up and face her, with Yang doing the same exact thing.
"Would you two quiet down!?" Ruby said, trying to hide her face from embarrassment.
"Shut it!" Yang and Pyrrha said in unison. They turn back to each other and continue arguing.
"If it wasn't for you Jaune would still be here!" Pyrrha yelled. "If you weren't so selfish he would still be with us!"
"Sorry for wanting to keep our skin safe!" Yang yelled. "Sorry for wanting to make sure my little sister and my team could still be huntresses. What were we supposed to do?"
"Think about something other than yourselves!"
As the two continued to bicker, Nora and Weiss began to back their respective teammate up. This was attracting attention from other students. There is a loud slam and the four arguing look over to see Yatsuhashi's fist on the table, with Fox and Ren still quietly eating but with Coco, Ruby, and Blake glaring at them.
"Will you all stop acting like a bunch of spoiled brats?" Coco said with a fire in her voice. It was enough to send a chill down all of their spines. "Is this what you think Jaune wanted? For all of you to fight like this?"
"Jaune left," Ruby said, looking down at the table. "Maybe nothing we do can bring him back, but can we at least make sure it doesn't tear our teams apart any more than we already have?!"
Nora and Pyrrha look at Yang and Weiss, and Weisss and Yang look at Nora and Pyrrha. They all get apologetic looks in their faces. There was no point in fighting. He made his choice. The four of them go back to their respective spot and the cafeteria went back to normal, save for a few hushed whispers about what happened.
"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said. A tear rolls from her eyes. "I just… I miss him."
"We all do…" Ruby said. Everyone could tell those two were taking it the hardest. The huntress who fell in love with him, and the huntress he first made friends with; how else could they take it?
"Perhaps what you should do is reconnect," Coco said. "Just because he's gone, doesn't mean you can't all still be friends."
"Coco's right," Velvet said. "Besides, I don't think Jaune would want us to fight because of him."
All of them agreed to that. Right now, they needed to rekindle their friendship.
Much like a phoenix, the two teams' friendship began to rise from the ashes. Yes, the blame would still be there, and yes, they would continue to remember Jaune, but much like Vale, they were rebuilding.
Having Jaune mentioned from Ozpin was not something any of them were expecting however. It's been three weeks since his resignation, so why bring him up? And both teams asked that exact same question.
"Well… I figured you would want to see how he was doing at Shade," Ozpin said, a small smirk forming on his lips. The students all look at Ozpin with confused looks on their faces. Ozpin turns his screen around to show a news article.
"A Faker's Redemption?" Was what the headline said. A pictured showed of the familiar blonde in a bed, bandages covering his entire body. There was shock at the picture as it looked as if Jaune was barely breathing. Once over the initial shock, all of them began reading the article.
It told of how Jaune got into that situation. It seemed a couple of days ago Jaune got a text on his scroll from Shade that said they were interested in him, despite being a fraud. Jaune took the chance, and the story told of everything that happened within his initiation. How could they know that all of this was real though?
The head mistress of the academy admitted that everything was true, as did some of the huntsman students who were with him.
When they were done reading, no words could be spoken. Silence filled the room. Jaune was a huntsman in training again. Only this time, they don't get to interact with him in any way. None of them knew how to feel about that.
To be continued.
A/N: Welcome to Arc two everyone! Jaune made it in and both RWBY and NPR know he's okay! How will this play out? Stay tuned to find out!