Author's note: The conclusion of the Loner Arc, at least for now. I got a bunch of great suggestions on the reviews for the last chapter, and it just tells me people have expectations from this story. Well, I'll try my best. ;)

Chapter 7: Like a Dragon

The Bullheads landed in Beacon's airfield, and students began to disembark from them. Weiss Schnee was among them. Getting off the ramp, she took a moment to relish the feeling of the fresh air as a light wind blew. The sun was setting, bathing the field in orange, as the horizon reddened. It had been so long since she'd actually, properly looked at a sunset, she found herself staring at the sight, nearly entranced. As she continued to look, her eyes fell on a blond youth who got off another aircraft. She felt a slight twinge of something she couldn't name in her heart.

Jaune was stoic as usual, and as expected, not accompanied by his team. He too looked at the sky for a second as he stretched. After the encounter with the Archer Grimm, the two had returned to their teams, but separately.

Weiss' attempt to restore her bond had failed. Not even the shared experience of defeating an enemy who could invade their minds had been enough. Despite his earlier statement that he wouldn't be cutting her off, after the battle, he might as well have been a stranger. He asked if she was all right, with concern even, but this was the concern of fellow human being, or a comrade. Not a friend. It spoke volumes about how much the past few weeks had changed him. Where had barely been able to speak without stuttering around her earlier, he was now casually able to lie to her. His earlier reassurance had simply been to get Weiss' mind focused on the immediate danger.

The boy who had been kind to her, had been her first real friend in this place, was gone entirely. It hadn't been the Cardin incident that had done it. The more she thought about it, the more she realized while he had gone a little overboard, they were all reading more into it than there was. No, it was the fact that everyone he had considered close to him had all done nothing to help him when almost the entire school was against him.

He didn't know how to lie before. We taught him that, she thought.

"You should return to your team. They'll be worried about you."

"And what about your team?"

Jaune had taken a moment to reply to that. Weiss had realized that this was because the past few weeks had made it abundantly clear to him that his team didn't have his back. He hadn't been able to rely on them, or anyone else. With a sudden pain, she was struck once more by the wrongness of it all.

"They have their orders. I'll return in a while. Your path should be safe. I don't sense any more Grimm in the area."

"Why? Why do you do this to yourself?"

He hadn't answered the question. Ignoring it entirely, he repeated what he had said earlier.

"Go back, Weiss."

In that moment, he looked so entirely distant.

Tearing her thoughts away from the memory, she turned her head. Even looking at him hurt now.

I lost completely.

Ruby saw how troubled her partner was, and also saw the reason why. This situation was getting out of hand.

She would need to deal with it soon.

Cardin walked out of the shower, towelling his hair dry as he put on his dorm wear. The rest of the team had decided to hit the town and stock up on some grub. While he liked having them around (it was a perpetual party), he was sort of relieved to have some time to himself. Throwing himself onto his bed, he grabbed his Scroll and started up a new game he had started playing recently, Tekken.

Shortly into his first match, he heard someone knock on the door, and decided to ignore it. None of his teammates would have knocked, meaning this was someone else, and he wasn't in the mood for anyone.

A second series of knocks came, this time harder and more insistent. Annoyed, he decided to get up and answer, because it didn't look like whoever was there was about to leave on their own.

He made it to the door just a third series of knocks was beginning, swinging the door open forcefully.

"The hell do you-"

The words stopped dead in his mouth when he saw who it was.

There were three visitors, the middle of whom smiled, thin lips curling upwards in amusement.

"Hmm? You had a question, Cardin?"

The boy looked down, afraid to answer.

"Seems not," said the visitor. "How about you let us in? We've come all the way here. Could at least get us a snack or something."

Wordlessly, he moved aside, letting them enter, all the while dreading their presence.

The three of walked in, looking this way and that, and picking up and examining several of the team's personal belongings before finally settling down on their beds. Cardin said nothing. These three were third years, and connected.

"So, Cardin. Let's talk a little, man. You've been lying a little low the past few weeks, haven't you? What's up with that?"

The brown-haired boy grimaced, but had to answer. Ignoring a direct question was a bad idea.

"I… ran into some problems…"

"So we've heard. And by problems, you mean that blond kickboxer dude. Guy fucking whooped your ass!"

The trio laughed, clearly enjoying his discomfort.

"Made you his bitch, he did. Say, are you calling him daddy at night?"

Once more, the three of them laughed, even louder now.

Cardin clenched his teeth, powerless to do anything. Not only was every single one of them far above him in terms of combat ability, they outnumbered him. Even if, by some miracle, he could touch them, he'd be dead before the week was out. These were high up with the extremist human groups. Once more, he regretted the decisions he'd taken when he was younger.

At first, it had been casual involvement. The community Cardin lived in had been… segregated, to say the least. Faunus stuck together with their own kind, while humans did the same. The situation was tense, and both sides were extremely cautious about their behaviour, lest violence break out. Conflicts still occurred, of course. As years passed by, the younger generations forgot the origins of the feud. All they cared about was the feud itself, hate for the opposing side ingrained into them by conditioning.

In contrast to the previous, conservative generations, the new ones were heavily in favour of a more active approach, and several youth gangs sprung up on both sides. Cardin had grown up seeing the anti-Faunus gangs in his neighbourhood live like kings. Opposing them meant you were beaten down as a race traitor, or, in the worst case, killed. Joining up with them meant being able to flaunt their influence and power.

It reached the point where even parents began to say that a strong son ought to "join the struggle".

So, Cardin had gotten involved with them.

As years passed by, he'd been disillusioned greatly. There was no pride or honour among the gang. It was just another way of amassing power and riches, and the smartest and most ruthless ruled. He himself was just a grunt in the ladder, and always would be. Heck, he even found himself questioning his hatred for the Faunus.

He'd met as many Faunus with real guts as he'd met human scumbags.

But sin builds on sin.

By the time Cardin got to Beacon, he had all but accepted that he would never be able to change his ways. Even if he did, no Faunus would ever forgive him. And besides, he couldn't forgive them for what they'd done to so many humans.

So, hating himself, and hating everyone else, he continued, a halfway thug lacking genuine cruelty, or the courage to do what he knew was right, and thus, always stuck in the middle.

"Hey, you listening? Don't get carried away."

Cardin forced himself to listen to the hated voice.

"You screwed up royally. But maybe it was actually an opportunity. You see, that little White Knight now has the entire school on his ass. And it was all over that Faunus he was standing up for. We play our cards right, we can not only take him out, we can stick the blame for everything he did on those damned animals. Two birds, one stone."

"What do you, Cardin? Help us out or what?"

It wasn't a question, of course.

RWBY Dorm:

"Weiss. Are you going to even tell us what happened?"

The heiress candidate closed the book she had been trying, and failing, to study.

"Don't you all feel even a little guilty?"

Her teammates turned to look at her, surprised at the outburst.

"That. That's exactly what I'm talking about. You act like you don't know what I'm talking about. He lives next door, for crying out loud!"

None of them were able to reply, struck by the vehemence and directness of her words.

"You know this isn't right. Don't act like this isn't our problem. He's our friend. You don't just eat with someone one day and then stand by and do nothing while he's getting ostracized the next. It doesn't work that way!"

She got up and started to pace frantically.

"I… let it come this far. I should have helped him out right from the start. Stopped these rumours from even spreading. Yeah, he beat Cardin up, destroyed his weapon. They're calling him the bully? Do people even remember why the fight happened in the first place?"

"People remember, Weiss," Ruby began uncertainly. "I'm not saying he was wrong. It's just… the way he did it freaked everyone out. He was scary."

"You don't know the life he's lived," Weiss snapped. "He's… from a different world than us. I'm sure this was normal to him. Lenient, even."

"What sort of life has he lived, then?" Yang asked, eyebrows raised.

Weiss was about to respond, when she clamped her own mouth shut.

No.

She had seen those memories because of the Archer Grimm's psychic manipulation. Jaune had never intended for her to know about his past. He certainly hadn't intended anyone else here to know. It wasn't her secret to tell, and she wasn't going to betray him a second time.

"Ask him yourself," she replied. "All I can say is, this isn't right. What, you're telling me none of us have gone too far in a fight in our lives?"

Blake said nothing. Deep inside, she knew of course exactly how that felt. She had spent most of her life going too far in a fight. And then, she had run away.

Run away from the White Fang, and her past.

Now, she was running away from Jaune.

Even though he had fought to stand up for a fellow Faunus, she hadn't been able to support him. Afraid that being associated to him might do more harm for the community? Maybe. But mostly just because she was afraid her own past might come to light. That somehow, getting involved might make things even worse for her.

"It's not like we can do anything to help now. It's already too late. They're dead set on seeing him like some kind of villain," she said.

To that, Weiss had no answer.

How were they supposed to change everyone's opinion?

And… even if they did, how were things supposed to go back to normal between them. Could such a thing ever happen?

Later that night:

As usual, Jaune grabbed his food and began to make his way towards one of the unoccupied tables to eat alone. He ignored the whisperings and glances, having gotten used to them. As he began to eat, however, they began to grow in volume, and he realized something was different this time.

Looking towards the front of the hall, he saw Cardin standing there, along with some third years he knew by face but not name.

Everyone appeared to be looking at them, murmuring to each other about what they might have to say. One of the third years grabbed an input wire connected to the Dining Hall's sole screen, which mostly telecast announcements and a few sports channels, and plugged it into his scroll. A moment later, a rather poorly recorded, pixelated video began to play on the screen, in clear view of everyone in the Hall.

Jaune nearly face-palmed.

Well, this might be problematic.

The video showed a blond male around Jaune's size, beating up a brown haired boy who might have been Cardin. The video was recorded so poorly, it was hard to tell, but given the context, it wasn't hard to guess what everyone's assumption would be. Jaune, of course, knew the video was a fake.

But he was one of the few who did. Within moments, an uproar broke out in the Hall, as everyone began shouting. Several people even threw food towards Jaune, who casually raised an empty chair to shield himself.

"Well, there you see it," said one of the third year trio. "This is starting to be a problem. This guy comes here to Beacon and thinks he can just push our buddy here around! Go on, Cardin, tell everyone what's been happening. Tell them the truth!"

Seeing Cardin, whose fists were clenched, shoulders hunched, and eyes facing the ground, Jaune immediately knew this was not a situation he wanted to be in. He had been forced into it by these so-called "friends" of his. Not surprising. Bullies work in chains. Above each thug, is a bigger thug, who drives him with fear.

This is a shame. I had hoped my actions would get you out of this life.

A failed thug was no thug at all, and Jaune had hoped his beatdown would deter Cardin from doing the same thing again. He had not considered the possibility that whoever was higher up on the chain than him would simply take it as an opportunity to use him even more.

Seeing Cardin up there, he knew for certain that if he did as that third year asked, and testified to support the fake video, his life was as good as over. He would remain a puppet and a slave for life. For the first time, he regretted his actions against the boy. While Cardin had been in the wrong, and Jaune had wanted to make him pay for what he had done, he hadn't wanted to destroy his life completely. Only discipline him.

Protect the innocent.

Cardin wasn't innocent.

But then, was there anyone in the world who was truly innocent? Jaune didn't know.

If he were to waste time considering that question in detail, he would have failed entirely at his task. But, in the here and now, he knew what was happening was wrong. And so, he rose up to intervene.

So be it. If I'm already a villain, I'll simply have three more victims. I'll free you from this shit life, Winchester.

He began to walk towards the group, fully intending to take the blame before Cardin could say anything, and then proceed to beat the three seniors as close to death as Beacon rules would allow.

As he approached, Cardin's eyes met his own. It only lasted a few seconds at most, but so many thoughts were exchanged in that single glance, it felt to them both like it had lasted an eternity.

Cardin saw the boy who had humiliated him completely coming forward. If he had wanted to beat him up again, he wouldn't have been able to fault him for it. But, as he looked into his eyes, he couldn't see any anger in them towards himself. Once more, he was ashamed of himself.

If he was coming up here now, it meant he wasn't backing down from the fight, even against three seniors and an entire school. The monumental courage that took blew Cardin away, and for an instant, he saw a glimpse of what it must be: a life lived on one's own terms, without fear or remorse. A life where one lives true to one's principles.

And, in that same instant, he saw the choice before him. To be silent now, and live the rest of his life as a coward… or to reach out, and grab that vision.

He began to laugh. Softly at first, but growing louder. The three seniors looked at him, perplexed by his strange behaviour. As his laughter grew yet louder, everyone in the Hall grew silent. They stared at him as he threw his head back, thinking he'd gone mad.

Even as he laughed, tears streamed down one eye, because he knew his life was as good as over.

"All y'all… are fucking pathetic."

If a thunderbolt had hit the Hall at the time, it couldn't have stunned the people gathered there more.

The three anti-Faunus thugs stared at him with eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.

"It's crazy," continued Cardin, speaking on, unable to stop now. "There's like a hundred people in this room, and a grand total of only one pair of balls, and they're hanging between his legs." He pointed at Jaune, who was, for the first time since his arrival at Beacon, truly at a loss for words.

"Like where's the stones? Where are your spines? Where's mine? Did we all leave them behind before we came here? Resorting to fake videos and shit?"

He continued, pointing to the people gathered around them.

"You all saw what I did. Yeah, I messed with that Faunus. I knew what I was doing. None y'all came forward to stop me. He did. Whooped my ass fair and square. And then, you have the audacity to blame him for it? Make it out like he's kind of thug? DON'T INSULT ME!"

He shouted the last bit, and almost everyone recoiled slightly.

"I fought him fair and square and I lost. Yeah, I'm a bastard. But where I come from, that means something. A fight means something. Heck, it's the only sacred thing in the world back in my home. Power."

He clenched his fist.

"I thought I had it. Thought I was real baller. So I did whatever I wanted. Got away with it, too. You didn't do a thing to stop it. Think I didn't know how fucked up this stuff is? Humans messing with Faunus. Pissed off Faunus joining the White Fang and messing with humans. It goes on and on and on. Never ends. I thought it'd never change. And yeah, a little bitch like me couldn't change it. But I'm glad I came here. Yeah, before they shoot me dead in my bed someday for saying all this, I'm glad I saw at least one man who stands up for what he believes in…"

Cardin smiled.

"... and has the strength to fight for it."

Turning to the ones who had held his leash for so long, he raised a middle finger at them.

"Now, I'm ready. Warren Wallows, James Redarm, Lowell Lenny. You all heard it here first. They're all part of the Anti-Faunus Group."

The three seniors nearly frothed at the mouth from anger. They had been exposed.

"You little punk!"

One of them stepped forward and shoved Cardin back, hard. Before he could hit the ground, however, he felt a strong hand supporting his back. That same hand clapped him on the shoulder as Jaune stepped past him.

Had the blond always been this tall?

"I misjudged you. My humble apologies, Cardin. You deserve to be here as much as anyone."

Turning his head to look at him, he nodded slightly.

"Also, my thanks."

"Huh? What for?"

"It's not everyday I see a koi fish become a dragon."

He turned back towards the three thugs.

"Now hang back a while. I have some trash to take out."

The leader of the trio laughed, though his eyes look fit to burst, and a vein pulsed on his temple.

"Oh, is that so? We're trash, is it? I'll show you who's trash!"

He rushed forward, in full body armour, his battle gear. Jaune himself was clad in his shorts and a t-shirt, his dorm wear.

The older boy swung a left hook at Jaune, who blocked the arm by raising his own right, and countered almost simultaneously by driving his other fist right into his solar plexus, the same gut punch he had used against Cardin.

Only this time, the power behind the blow caved in the armour completely, not only driving the breath out of him, but getting stuck in a dented position so tight, he could breathe even a little, while his stomach was forced into a pulled back state, torso nearly completely emptied of air.

He didn't even have time to collapse to the ground normally. Jaune swept low, removing his feet from under him. For a split second, he seemed suspended in a lying down position in the air. Before he could fall, Jaune continued raising the same leg he had used, forming a crescent moon arc, before bringing it down right on his face.

The hammer stomp kick landed with an impact that drove the bully's face clean into the stone floor of the Hall, leaving the marble cracked for several feet.

"WAATAAAA!"

Jaune uttered a power yell in a higher pitched voice, unnerving everyone in the vicinity.

Cardin gulped.

Insane. He was actually taking it easy on me to that extent?

The Shinkin didn't let up. Instead of waiting for the remaining two to attack, he dashed forward, catching one of them with a classic jab in the face, stunning him momentarily, and buying himself a window of time.

He used said window to shoot in low, getting behind the one remaining thug, and wrapping his arms around his waist while getting his hips below him. Popping them upwards explosively, he lifted him off the ground, turning in mid air, and slamming him, completing the suplex.

The boy's Aura shimmered for a moment before giving out completely. The impact had cratered the Dining Hall, a depression a metre in diameter having been formed in the ground.

Less than ten seconds.

To say everyone was stunned would be an understatement.

A freshman had just destroyed three-fourths of a third year team in less than ten seconds, though they were in combat armour.

Jaune took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Well, some exercise now and then is a good idea."

He looked around at the people who were still staring at him.

"M-monster…" someone whispered, and soon, others were saying similar things.

Jaune didn't reply. The moment he started responding to this, he would be distracted from his purpose.

"Tch… even now, goddamn losers…" muttered Cardin.

Jaune shook his head.

"Nah. They're all right. Violence isn't fun. I'd say I am some sort of monster. But… the world needs me. A monster to fight other monsters."

Cardin looked at him incredulously.

"You're okay with this? After everything you've done? It doesn't make any sense… you're some kind of hero! They should be thanking you… I should be thanking you…"

Jaune grinned.

"Now that's just disturbing. But you're welcome, I guess. Why don't you make it worth something by doing some good with your life now?"

Cardin nodded.

"That's a given, but… are you really going to let it end like this?"

"No he isn't," a third voice cut in.

Weiss Schnee had pushed her way through the crowd, to stand next to Jaune.

And for the second time, Jaune found himself at a loss for words.

It wasn't just Weiss. All of RWBY was making its way towards him.

And so was the rest of JNPR.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Jaune muttered. "This isn't part of the plan!"

"You have a plan?" asked another familiar voice.

Jaune turned to see his team, who had taken their place around him as well. He looked at Ren, the one who had spoken. Next to him, Pyrrha had a hint of a tear in her eye, but he couldn't be sure. Nora was smiling fiercely.

"Don't you see…" said Jaune. "You're screwing up everything I worked for all these weeks… these incidents will keep happening. And if you're around me, you'll be dragged into them too."

"We came here prepared to die. Your words, not ours, Blondey," said Yang. "You really think we scare that easily?"

He looked incredulously at them all.

All the doubt that had plagued those faces was gone. There was no more hesitation.

"Are… you sure about this?" he managed to croak out.

"I've never been more certain of anything in my life. From now on, JNPR sticks together", said Pyrrha.

Someone leaned close to him, and he heard Weiss whisper in his ear.

"You tried so hard to push us away, because you were afraid we'd be hurt. You're looking down on me, Jaune, and I can't have that. So from now…"

A hand closed firmly around his own.

"... No matter the difficulty, no matter the battle, let me fight by your side."