"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" Nora said as she bounced up and down on the bed. "I can't believe we get to hear Jaune Jaune's voice again!" Right now everyone was in NPR's dorm getting ready to call Jaune again. Blake and Ren returned an hour ago with the good news. Ruby wanted to make sure everyone was present for the big moment. Well almost everyone.

Weiss, Blake and Yang all had something on their mind about Jaune. However they kept quiet because Ruby was putting so much effort into trying to reconnect with him again they didn't want to shatter her optimism. At least not yet. One thought lingered in three fourths of RWBY's minds: Would Jaune even accept the call?

After what they did to Jaune, would he even want to talk to RWBY again? Not to mention, he changed his scroll number for a reason. They would get if he kept in contact with team JNPR too, but the fact that he didn't wasn't a good sign.

"All right guys, gather around!" Ruby called as she waved her friends over. She had her scroll out and was practically squealing with excitement. Everyone circled around her closely and all eyes were locked on the scroll. "Blake, if you would please." The cat Faunus nodded as she took out her own scroll. Ren took out his as well.

As Blake called out the numbers, and Ruby typed them into the phone, the tension in the room continued to fill. When the final number was called out, everyone in the room held their breath in anticipation. Ruby pressed call.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

Four rings.

Five rings.

There is a click, and then a robotic voice answered the call. "Please your message for…" Then it was Jaune's voice.

"Jaune Arc."

There was a beep and everyone just looked at each other confused. Ruby hung up and looked around. Her team was mostly confused, but it was NPR that seemed to take the hit hard. Ruby came up with an idea to hopefully cleanse any sorrowful thoughts.

"I'm sure he's just busy!" Ruby blurted out. Everyone looked at her and the younger girl gulped. "I mean it is a new school! He's probably meeting his teachers right now. After all, classes start tomorrow!" Yang looked at NPR to see they were unconvinced. Not that she could blame them. Still though, her big sister instincts kicked in and she decided to help Ruby.

"Ruby's right," She said. "And that's assuming they start classes the same time as us. For all we know Vomit Boy's already having classes."

"That's a fair assessment," Weiss commented. "Maybe we should wait until later in the evening."

"Can you just try again?" Pyrrha asked. "Please?" Ruby looked at the other red head and could tell she was missing Jaune a lot. She couldn't blame Pyrrha though. It's been almost a month since they last talked to Jaune. Ruby presses the redial option on her scroll and puts it on speaker again.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

Four rings.

Five rings.

Again, the voicemail message plays again. You could almost hear the exact moment NPR's heart shattered. Of course Ruby wouldn't let them stay sad for long. "See!" She exclaimed. "I'm sure he's just busy with something. He'll call us back eventually. We can even try again later at night."

NPR looked at Ruby and saw her innocent, optimistic eyes and they couldn't help but smile at it. "All right," Pyrrha said. "We'll come back in a few hours. Hopefully Jaune will be done with whatever it is he's done with."

"Yeah and if not," Nora started. "We'll go all the way over to Vacuo and break his legs for ignoring us!" Nora said that with her normal enthusiasm that they could tell she was joking. Mostly.

"We'll see you all in a little bit," Ren said. With that, NPR left the room. When they did, Blake closed the door behind them and turned to Ruby.

"Ruby," She said. "Are you sure that Jaune's busy? How do you know he isn't ignoring us?" Much to everyone's surprise, Ruby answered right away.

"Well his phone rang for the entire time right? If he was ignoring us he would have ended the call right away."

Weiss, Yang and Blake all shared looks. While Ruby was right, they all still had a feeling that he was actually ignoring them. Why else go through the trouble of changing a scroll number? Still, Ruby still had hope for Jaune. Right now that was good enough for them to play along. If he keeps this up though, someone's going to have to tell Ruby.

None of them wanted to do that.

Jaune was walking around the Shade hallways looking for something to do. After the phone call with that scammer he watched a little bit more of the gamers and decided to not sit in his dorm any longer. While he didn't know what to do, he was sure something would pop up. Hopefully not another ambush.

"Hi Jaune!" a familiar voice called out. Jaune looked around and saw Gwen walking behind him. Next to her however was a guy he's never seen before. He was a creamed skinned guy who looked a little older than him. He had short wavy brown hair, green eyes, and a small goatee around his lips. He was wearing a plain grey t-shirt and black cargo shorts. His arm was snaked around Gwen's waist with his hand on her hip.

Jaune smiled and walked over to the two. "Hey Gwen," he said with a smile. He pointed at the guy next to him. "Let me guess, you're Gwen's boyfriend?"

"How did you know?" the guy chuckled. "Is it my dashing good looks?"

"I think the fact that you have your arm around her waist and she's not breaking it is a good sign." Everyone laughed at Jaune's joke. Jaune sticks out his arm. "Jaune Arc."

"Oh I know who you are." The guy shakes Jaune's hand. "I'm Brandon. I have ot say you're pretty infamous here Jaune." Jaune let out a sigh. He knew where this was going.

"I'm assuming because of I'm the fraud?"

"That and the fact you beat up someone in a bar brawl." Jaune's eyes widen when he heard that. As far as he knew the only people who knew about that were team BRNZ, Mason, and himself. Well there was also the staff at the bar, the guy he was beating up and the bar patrons…

"Someone recorded it?" Jaune asked aloud.

"Dude it's a bar fight, people are definitely recording that shit." Jaune sighed. Just what he needed; even more bad publicity. Luckily Gwen spoke up.

"I-it wasn't anything bad or anything like that!" She squeaked. Jaune looked up at her quizzically. She looked up at Brandon who nodded his head.

"Gwen's right, in fact it kind of paints you as a hero," Brandon said.

"Glad to see one of the gods is giving me a break," Jaune joked. Brandon hummed at his joke. "So what are you two doing?"

"Well we were just going to hang out for a little bit. Since she was with you at the initiation we haven't hung out for a while." Jaune put his hands up.

"I understand. I won't third wheel." Jaune lets out a tiny chuckle. "Besides if I did, I might make you jealous." Brandon quirked an eyebrow.

"Why's that?"

Jaune gestured to Gwen. "Well Gwen said you get jealous pretty easily." Brandon looked over to his girlfriend.

"Did she now?" Jaune swore he heard a tone shift in Brandon's voice and saw Gwen's mood change a little bit. Despite it being very small and very quick, Jaune took note of it. Brandon looked back up to Jaune. "Anyway, we won't take any more of your day. I'll see you around man." Brandon raised his fist and Jaune fist bumped it.

"I'll see you Brandon." Jaune then nodded to Gwen. "I'll see you Gwen." Gwen gave Jaune a quick wave and a small smile. The couple walked away With Jaune walking in the opposite direction. However, Jaune had a weird feeling and turned back around. He saw that they were still walking away, but Brandon's arm seemed to be a little tighter around Gwen's waist than when they were talking with him. Jaune stared at them for a little while longer. When nothing happened as they turned the corner he continued with his day.

At Shade's Gym:

Jaune found himself in the gym of the school. He figured he should get a little bit of training in before school takes up most of his time again. Luckily he didn't mind if the stuff he was in would get a little sweaty. He was about to hop on a treadmill when a voice called out to him.

"Yo Jaune!"

Jaune looks to see a familiar looking blonde with her spear resting on her shoulder. Jaune waves at the girl and walks up to her. "Hey Dew," He greeted. "What's up?"

She had her spear resting on her shoulder while she wore the same outfit that she had during the Vytal festival. "Well I got done with some exercising and I was about to see if anyone would spar with me. Haven't found anyone yet and you just showed up so…" Jaune put his hand to his chin to think about it. True he hasn't really sparred with anyone in a while.

"What kind of sparring?" Jaune asked. Dew quirked an eyebrow and waved her spear slightly.

"Dude, I'm holding my weapon. Do the math." Oh, right. It has been a couple of days since Jaune picked up Crocea Mors. With classes starting tomorrow he would need to at least get used to swinging a sword around again. Jaune agreed to it and Dew did a tiny fist pump. "Thanks man. Grab your weapon and meet me in the arena." Jaune nodded and with that the two of them went off.

A few minutes later:

Jaune walked into the arena with Crocea Mors strapped to his hip. The last time he was here he had to convince the teacher that he belonged at Shade. Now he's having a friendly sparring match with a friend that hated him before they went on initiation. Life's weird.

Jaune looked around to notice that he wasn't the only one in the arena. Various students from different years were fighting in the giant arena and Jaune even noticed some people in the bleachers. They were cheering for their friend, teammate, or whoever they thought would win a fight.

He looks around and notices a black haired girl who took a big hit from a brutish man was lying on the ground. The man had a big grin on his face and sheathed his longsword. However as he turned his back the girl hopped back up, took out a dagger and jumped the student's back. She then proceeded to stab his back, which was thankfully being protected by his aura, many times until he hit the red.

The girl hopped off the back of the student's and began to gloat to anyone who could hear her. She said things like she fought two fourth years row and won both times. Once she started to gloat Jaune tuned her out.

He looked around for his sparring partner and saw her leaning against the wall with a bored look on her face. Next to her was a male cat faunus, as the ears were a dead giveaway, trying to flirt with her. Jaune walked over to them and Dew noticed him. Jaune could see the relief on her face as he got closer.

"Come on cutie!" the cat faunus implored. "It's just one night out!"

Dew placed her hand on the cat faunus's chest and pushes him away. "I'll make it simple so you understand," she started. "I'd rather date a grimm than date you. So leave me alone you pathetic creep." If Jaune hadn't got to know Dew, he would've thought her an arrogant bitch. He learned that she was really only the latter, and it was only to people she disliked. "Now if you'll excuse me, my sparring partner is here and I'm done with this conversation." Dew stops leaning on the wall and walks over to Jaune a smile on her face. The cat Faunus sees Jaune and is astonished by the fact that Jaune is sparring with her. he rolls his eyes, accepting defeat and then continues with whatever it was he was doing. "Sup partner."

"Don't wanna bring your boyfriend with you?" Jaune joked. Dew elbowed Jaune at the joke causing him to groan a little bit. The two find an area that wasn't crowded with other trainers and stood about eight feet apart from each other. Dew twirls her spear in-between her fingers, as Jaune unsheathed his sword.

"Count of three?" Dew asked. Jaune nodded and put his sheath into shield from. "Okay, one…"

"Two…" Jaune continued. Just as they were about to say three, Jaune felt his scroll vibrate, along with the ringtone to it going off. "Wait wait hold on!" Dew quirked an eyebrow as Jaune put the sword in his shield and took out his scroll. She rolled her eyes at the fact that he just got a call as they were beginning. She knew it wasn't Jaune's fault, it was just the timing of it kind of ticked her off.

Jaune looked at the number and his pupils shrunk in horror. The caller's name was Ruby Rose. So many thoughts whirled through his head. "How did she find this number? Do the others know? Was the scammer earlier part of it?"

Jaune's change in behavior did not go unnoticed by Dew. Normally she would've shouted at him to put the phone away since he was wasting her time, but she saw fear in his eyes. No, not fear. There was a little bit of it, but not enough for it to be true fear. There was also a little bit of sadness in there as well.

"Everything all right Jaune?" Dew asked with a concerned voice. Jaune snapped out of his trance and looked back at Dew. He chuckles awkwardly as he messes with his scroll and pockets it again.

"Yeah! Yeah everything's fine." Jaune stretches his neck a little bit and unsheathed his sword again. "We ready?"

"I am, are you?" Jaune nodded his head. Dew gives him a skeptical look but shrugs it off. She ready's her spear and Jaune gets in a stance. Again, Jaune could feel his phone vibrate and he had to take every ounce of free will to not check it. "Okay, three, two , one…"

"Go!" Jaune yelled. Jaune's sudden yell surprised Dew, as well as how fast he was closing in on her. The next thing she knew she was plowed by his shield. She would have been sent flying, but she stuck her spear in the ground to use the friction to slow herself.

Dew let out a low growl as she looked back at Jaune. He used his shield to cover most of his torso, as if he was expecting a counter attack. She wouldn't disappoint him as she charged back, the blade of her spear pointed to the side. She closes the distance and then swings low. Jaune had to jump to avoid getting hit. He knew that staying in one spot was suicide so he tried to land his shield on the ground and tried to roll away. He succeeded but Dew was a lot faster at comboing her swings together because the minute he stood up he was stabbed in the chest twice.

Jaune stumbles but regains his balance. Dew went for a side swipe but Jaune blocked with his shield, and used his other forearm as a support on the shield. Dew's spear collides against the metal shield as a sharp ring echoed slightly. Jaune parried the spear, causing Dew to take a step forward to not lose her balance, but it was just enough to put her in striking distance of Jaune's sword. He moved his sword arm from the shield and swiped at Dew, just grazing her enough to cut down her aura.

Dew her spear into the ground next to Jaune. In one swift motion she jumped and used her spear as a pole and kicked Jaune in the face causing him to stumble back. She follows up by taking the spear out of the ground and then jabbing him with the blunt end of her spear. She finishes with a swing to Jaune's sword arm, hoping to jab him with one of her sharply pointed cross guards. Jaune was able to raise his sword just in time to block Dew's spear. Her cross guard was an inch from Jaune's neck, causing Jaune to instinctively suck it in to try and keep it away from the point.

He was so focused on the pointy cross guard that he didn't really notice that Dew was going to kick him until he felt her heel connect to his face. Dew followed the move by spinning her spear and then slashing at Jaune multiple times. Jaune recovers and tries a downward slash. Dew sidesteps out of the way and then brings her knee into Jaune's stomach. Jaune could feel his aura take a huge hit as Dew's knee continued to drive into his stomach. She stops and takes a step back, and then does another giant kick to his stomach causing Jaune a lot of pain. He could have sworn he was about to vomit up lunch.

Jaune gripped his stomach and began coughing like a seal. Dew stopped for a second and tok a look at him. "You good dude?" She asked as she stood about five feet from him. Jaune chokes out a little bit of spit and then rises. He wipes his mouth and nods.

"Yeah," he moaned out. He gulps down another wad of spit. "I'm good." Dew's eyes blinked. Well… he said he was good so she nodded her head.

"All right."

Dew grips the upper part of her staff and throws it at Jaune. He said he was good, that was enough for her to continue. Jaune was caught by surprise by this. Usually people let him recover when he took a big hit, and apparently Dew wasn't so forgiving.

Jaune ducked backwards to avoid the spear. Just as he tried to get back up he felt a large weight on him and he fell to the ground. He looks to see that Dew straddled him, a frenzied look on her face with her fist raised in the air. She gripped his shirt and then punched down on Jaune's face as hard as she could. She then rolled off of him and went to grab her spear. Jaune's vision was very blurry from the punch that he needed a moment to regain his vision. However he knew he didn't have a minute since Dew would be attacking him again soon.

He rolls over only to see Dew charging at him about to stab him with her spear. Dew stabbed down but Jaune rolled out of the way just enough for her to hit the ground. Jaune pushes himself back up and turns to Dew who just got her spear unstuck. His head was still slightly aching but he ignored it as he charged at Dew.

Dew got into a stable stance and then lunged at Jaune with the intent to stab. Jaune stopped charging and dodge out of the way, losing part of his balance in the process. Dew gained a small smile and hooked Jaune's leg with her cross guard of the spear. She sweeps it causing Jaune to hit the ground yet again.

Jaune was about to stand back up but Dew had her spear right at his throat. He looked up at her to see eyes that dared him to try something. Jaune sighed in defeat and let his head hit the ground. "I give…" he mumbled out. Dew grew a smug smile. She twirls her spear and then sheathes it behind her back. She offers Jaune a hand, which he gladly accepts as he hoisted back up.

"Good spar Jaune," Dew said patting his arm.

"For you maybe," Jaune said as he sheathed Crocea Mors. "The only hit I got on you was a surprise attack. Even then it wasn't a really good one." Jaune took a loot at him self and noticed a couple of cuts on his gear as clothing as well. He forgot that aura can protecting clothing occasionally, but not all the time.

"True…" Dew looked at Jaune with intese eyes. "Even so, you took those hits better than I thought you would have." Jaune looked at Dew with a confused look on his face. Dew smiles at him. "Jaune I don't go easy in spars. Ask my team I almost go all out on them half the time. When I stopped to check if you were all right, if you said you weren't I would have stopped then and there. From the look on your face and from what you were throwing up I could tell I hit you a little harder than I was supposed to.

"Instead of being a big sissy about like some of the guys here, you acted like it was nothing and wanted to continue." She playfully nudges him in the arm. "I can respect that man. Not to mention it made you look pretty tough." Jaune chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head from the comment. He could feel a small blush coming on. "Still though, you are right. You need to start landing more hits. Until then combat class is going to be hell for you." Jaune nodded his head, taking in every word that Dew said. Like she just got done saying, if he had this much trouble with sparring, actual matches for combat class were going to be a nightmare.

"Well now that we're done sparring," Jaune said as he collapsed his shield back into sheath form. "I think I'll head back to the gym and workout some more."

"No you're not." Dew's tone wasn't commanding, but at the same time it didn't sound like she was taking no as an answer.

"What do you mean?"

"Dude, you've been working pretty hard since you got here." Dew put her hands up to make sure Jaune didn't take her the wrong way. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. Here's the thing…" She poked Jaune in the cheek where the bruise he got from the bar fight was. He let out a tiny "ow" and rubbed the spot she poked. "You got that from the fight yesterday," she poked just below his left eye, where another bruise lied. "You got that from the ambush two days ago," she then gestured to all of Jaune. "And you're still recovering from initiation. So, I am ordering you to veg out for the rest of the day."

Jaune wanted to argue, but actually had to admit that relaxing sounded kind of nice. After all, Jaune still hasn't used any of the common areas in the dorms, and hanging out there would be a nice change of pace besides laying down in his dorm playing on his scroll.

Jaune accepts Dew's order by saluting. "As you command your highness!" Dew gets a sudden blush of embarrassment as a couple of people noticed Jaune's nickname of her.

"Never say that nickname again!" She threatens with a point. Jaune hasn't seen Dew flustered like this before. If he was being honest, she looked pretty cute like that. Jaune buried that thought in the back of his mind and held his hands up. He nodded his head in understanding and Dew stepped away from him. "Anyway, I'll see you around yeah?"

"What are you going to do?" Dew placed a hand on her hip and placed a hand on her chin.

"Not sure. Probably just chill in my room for the rest of the day." Jaune nodded his head. With his curiosity sated. He waved goodbye to Dew.

"I'll see you around," Jaune said as they parted ways.

"See ya blondie." Jaune gave a small glare that was filled with jest, obviously from the nickname Dew gave him. Dew just gave a shrug with a small smile on her face. The two part ways. Jaune had to admit, Dew's really grown on him. She was the first person to insult him when he first arrived, and she made it no easy task for her to trust him. After initiation though, Jaune could see that she was just cautious.

He could tell from the way she was friendly towards him and her team that she is a caring person. That was poven after she literally commanded him to take a rest. She didn't have to do that, as she could have let Jaune work himself to death. She didn't though, and Jaune could tell it was because she was worried a little bit about him. Something must have happened though that made it so she is very distrustful of people she first meets. Of course Jaune's past didn't help with things. He couldn't blame her for the way she acted, and right now he was happy to have her as a friend.

As Jaune reached the common area on his floor, he began to remember why he didn't like hanging out around here. It wasn't the fact that people were around. Well it partly was but it wasn't them personally. It was Jaune. It's the same reason he thought he didn't belong at Shade in the first place. Self-worth.

Jaune looked at the group of students who gathered in the area and saw how happy all of them were. Some were watching TV, others were playing pool or eating. They were relaxing and enjoying life right now, and Jaune didn't want to ruin their days. Afte all no one wants to hang with the fraud of beacon right?

Yet, as he thought that, another couple of thoughts came back to him. It was the words of encouragement that BRNZ and NDGO shared with him. Even some of the words other students and teachers have told him.

"You do belong here Jaune,"

"I would be proud to have him as one of my students,"

"Act like you belong and you will,"

"I like your moxie kid,"

"I sense a strong will and compassion those eyes of yours. No matter what, you will make a great Huntsman,"

Every word of encouragement he got rang through his head. After everything he's been through, the fact that he can't even relax with a group of students was pathetic. If they don't want to accept Jaune, fine. He's not going to let a few idiots who know nothing about him persuade from hangin around the common area.

The fact that he was hyping himself up to relax was funny to Jaune. He chuckled silently. The blonde took a deep breath, and walked through the common noticed that some of the students saw him. Some glared at him while others shrugged his shoulders. He took his friend's advice and acted like he didn't notice or care.

He decided to watch some TV and walked over to the couches that took up part of the room. While all of the cushions were occupied, Jaune leaned on the back of one to watch what was on the TV. It was a game show where two families try to guess answers to a question that a hundred people answered. Jaune really liked this show since the host was very charismatic.

The next question came up and everyone watching listened closely. "Name a bad job for someone who is accident prone."

"Huntsman," one guy said.

"Police," another one continued.

"Butcher," a girl guessed.

"Doctor," another guy said.

"Chef," another girl guessed.

Everyone began to guess and while most of them were right, no one could figure out what the last one was. Jaune had to think about it and took a wild guess. "Window washer," Jaune said. one of the guys turned to him with a confused look on his face?

"How hard can window washing be?" he asked. Jaune noticed he didn't say it in a mean or nasty tone. He said it in a way that he was actually trying to understand Jaune's reasoning.

"I don't mean window washers who are on ground floor. I'm talking about the ones that are basically rappelling down and using the lifts to clean the windows."

"It makes sense," a girl agreed. "Not a bad answer."

While Jaune's answer didn't make the board (it was glass maker) the others did say it was a good guess. Jaune actually liked this. BRNZ and NDGO were right. Most of the students here were chill, despite some of them glaring at him. Still though, the fact that he can actually relax somewhere that wasn't in his dorm room was a pleasant feeling. So for the rest of the night, Jaune just joined in on the students playing the game.

That was until his scroll got another call.

To be continued.

Beta Reader: TheShadowOfZama