In this chapter: is someone doing drugs? A Teachers-meeting and some made-up aspects for Port's character. We earn that Jaune is not completely hopeless, just almost. Also, the teachers gamble with lives. Goodwitch tries to get involved.
He sat down on his chair. The air was cool and stank of rot.
The lights flickered, barely lighting up the shabby room.
He exposed his skin and cleaned it with a cotton swab and alcohol. He didn't want it to get infected. He knew how he could end up then. He had seen it happen too many times in his past.
Some of the tattoos on his skin was a reminder of that.
He grabbed the syringe, filled with the precious drug. Brothers, it cost him lots of lien to keep this up but he just couldn't do without it.
He stilled himself and pressed the needle to his skin.
'Come on, just a small push.' he thought as the needle went through his skin.
His eye twitched as he felt the liquid go into him. It was done. He could feel the stuff taking effect.
He grinned.
"Yeah, that's the good stuff."
Another day, another insulin shot.
"I swear Peter, why do you always have to look so damn grim when you take your insulin? It is quite unsettling." said Peter Port's coworker Oobleck.
"What can I say, I hate needles. Besides Barty, you are a huntsman, seeing me take my insulin should not bother you this much."
Port opened the fridge in the teacher's coffee room and picked out his lunch. He was having a simple salad today with some chicken.
He closed the door with haste. Glynda's potato salad from last week was starting to smell really bad. He almost tripped over a stack of papers on his way back to the table. It was rather hard to see in the room.
Out of all the rooms at Beacon, the teacher's coffee room was the one that saw the least amount of upkeep. That included the changing of the fluorescent tubes.
The reason: Ozpin never visited it. He enjoyed his lunch in his very lavish office.
"So Barty, when are you going to throw out the garbage? It is starting to grow fur I think."
"I will take out the garbage when it's completely full and not a moment sooner!"
"Damn it, Barty! It will attract mice! What will we do when they eat all of our food and infect us with disease?"
Glynda Goodwitch sighed. There was not enough coffee in her bloodstream for her to put up with one of her colleagues arguments today.
"Something the matter Glynda?"
"Just having some difficulties with some of the first years."
Port shook his head. "Glynda, you must not push them too hard. Not all can be like miss Nikos."
"Or like young Schnee." Oobleck shot in.
"She too is an example for all."
Glynda nodded. Indeed, this year many talented students had arrived at Beacon. Rose, Schnee, Xiao Long, Belladonna, Nikos, Lie and Valkyrie were all talented future huntsmen.
Then there was Arc. The student with forged transcripts that had suddenly sprouted fangs. Those fine teeth had only made Ozpin more curious about the boy.
There was talk among the students that he was in fact a faunus. This was however utterly false as far as the teachers were concerned. The Arc family was known to the school and to the headmaster - or so they had believed.
There was not a drop of faunus blood in that family. The teachers knew this with certainty. And while the Arc family had many virtues, adoption was not one of them.
Ozpin had even dug up the boys birth certificate to prove Jaune's supposed heritage.
But the fangs were not what bothered Goodwitch. It was the boy's obvious lack of skill. No matter how many times she put him up for a match he lost. Even when he seemed to make progress he would just freeze up, wide open for attack as his mind seemed to drift away. He either lacked focus or something kept distracting him. Either way, it was no good.
"I swear, if it wasn't for Opzin's orders I would have Arc booted out."
"Ah, yes, Arc. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I think you will find a few blunter knives in there as well - but not many. Sure he sometime zooms out but otherwise he is doing… relatively well. I can think of worse students in my class." stated Oobleck.
Well, not entirely true.
During these past few months there had been few students as difficult as Arc. Still, the boy tried. That was more than could be said about many others.
"I concur. Why just look at what he managed to do today."
Port pulled out his scroll and looked for the right file. Recording the students' performance was not uncommon at Beacon. It helped the teachers find and show the students' faults.
The clip showed Jaune Arc facing off against a very juvenile Griffon.
"Peter! Why are you letting a first year face a Griffon? Alone? That thing will- uh, would tear him apart!"
In the clip the boy was being pushed back, just barely dodging the monster's talons.
Port sneered.
"Relax Glynda, I stood ready to intervene if things went bad. Now hush, the good part is about to start."
Indeed it did. On the screen Jaune Arc was becoming increasingly frustrated with his opponent. They watched as Jaune finally let out a shout of anger and blocked a swipe from the claw, spun around and struck the monster in the side. The grimm screamed in pain as it reared up only for Jaune to get under it and start gutting its belly.
The boy dealt the grimm many wounds but none were fatal.
"That fool, even a glancing hit from those claws could kill in that place."
"Wait, we are still not at the best part."
Jaune stepped away from the Griffon's belly and from outside its field of vision severed its wing.
"Only angels may fly!" he shouted.
The grimm turned to the offending party, intent to put an end to it with its sharp beak. It only managed to impale its throat on Jaune's sword.
"Well, I'll be… That's not a tactic I have ever seen." Oobleck admitted.
"Yes, I was quite surprised myself." Port took away the scroll.
"Quite a sweet battle cry as well. Haven't heard one of those in a while."
Glynda however was not convinced - confused if anything.
What Peter had shown her had just been a momentary success for Arc, just like during combat class.
For some reason he had just not frozen up against the grimm like against his fellow students.
"It was only one juvenile Griffon. Hardly anything to go by." she said.
"Don't you realize what danger he is in? The life of a huntsman in training is not a dance on roses. The unprepared are not let in here without reason. If this keeps up he will end up dead in a ditch."
"Wanna bet?" said Port grimly and with a wicked smile.
"What?"
Oobleck quickly took out a notebook and started to jot down what his colleagues were saying. He felt a betting pool coming on.
"I asked if you want to bet on that." Port leaned over the table.
"50 lien says that Jaune Arc will turn out for the better before this year at Beacon is over."
"Professor Peter Port, are you gambling on one of our student's life?"
Glynda was shocked at the man's behavior. She knew the less honorable parts of the man's life but this?
"Don't we all do it with all our students? We teach them, train them and then send them out in the grimm world hoping that they will succeed. And that wager, Glynda, is for our future, the future of Remnant. Now are you in or not?"
He held out his hand to seal the deal. Glynda shook it. It would be easy money and she had expenses to cover (don't ask what sorts). They handed their shares of the bet to Oobleck and finished their lunch.
The bell sounded, signaling that class was going to start soon. Peter Port got up, thanked for the company and wished Oobleck good luck in managing the betting pool. Before he left however he turned around, a smirk on his face.
"Now remember Glynda, it is our duty to help our students reach their full potential, regardless of our personal stake in the matter. Ta-ta ."
The cup in Glynda's hand shattered. Oobleck fled the room as various objects began to levitate around a very angry Goodwitch.
"That bastard."
Port had tricked her.
She and Port were duty bound to do her best to help the students, all students. With a bit cunning Professor Port had forced Glynda to work against her own interests.
What's more, Port now had a valid and indisputable right to meddle in the bet as much as he possibly could. And it would all be for his benefit. And for Arc's as well Glynda supposed.
"Ouch!"
Pyrrha saw Jaune winch as he sat himself down. Once again he had been picked by Goodwitch to take part in a match.
It had gone like it usually did. He would try to put up a fight, get pushed back only to switch to the offensive.
But then, just as victory seemed like a reality he would freeze up, a pained expression on his face. Then he would lose. Badly.
It was odd, thought Pyrrha. Jaune would demonstrate the same behaviour in grimm class, the only difference being that he would not freeze up. Rather than stop himself he would get angry and almost slaughter the grimm.
"You did rather well." She said, trying to sheer up her partner.
As Jaune was self trained he would not have many sparring partners. Plenty of grimm to fight but no human opponents but even so he would not be able to risk any proper engagement with grimm without anyone to watch his back.
Thus his problems in fighting either humans/faunus and grimm alike.
Maybe he just wasn't used to how much a person with aura could take, she wondered.
Hell, he had never been thought what aura was. Perhaps that was why he hesitated against humans.
"Well, I still got my ass handed to me. Again."
Jaune sighed and fished up a bottle of water from his bag. The fight had not lasted for that long but he was still thirsty, like always.
"Well, you are improving, slowly."
A bit too slowly but there was some improvement.
"Thanks Pyr, I appreciate that."
Damned by faint praise, he was! It did his mood no favors.
'Good grief, he was gloomy these days.' thought Pyrrha as she turned to watch the next match.
Though Jaune tried to put up a merry demeanor it was obvious that something was eating at him. Was it the nightmares perhaps? He had started to scream a lot less since he started with his dream journal. Instead he woke up and wrote in the journal.
He had written quite a lot it seemed. In fact, maybe a reason why he shouted less in his sleep was because he was constantly writing in the notebook at night? She had tossed him a look or two sometimes when he wrote. It was almost like seeing someone sleepwalk.
"That's all we have time for today. Miss Nikos, a moment of your time, if you would." said professor Goodwitch when the match ended.
"What do you think it's about?" Nora asked.
"Maybe cereal-girl is in trouble?" joked Yang
"Don't let it get to you." said Jaune.
"It's probably nothing. We will make sure to save you a seat for lunch."
"Thank you."
The words were welcome and reassuring.
Pyrrha doubted she was in trouble.
The teacher would probably just babble on how much Beacon appreciated having the Invincible Girl among its students.
It was insufferable for Pyrrha, really.
When everyone else had left Pyrrha and Goodwitch were the only ones left. Pyrrha was offered a chair and even a cup of tea from a thermos bottle.
"Um, what is it you wanted to discuss Professor?"
"No need for such formalities Pyrrha and you need not worry. You haven't done anything wrong."
"Then why am I here?"
Goodwitch lowered her cup sighed.
"Tell me Pyrrha, what are your thoughts about Arc, about Jaune? As a student that is."
Pyrrha hesitated with her answer. Where was the professor going with this? Was she trying to get Jaune kicked off her team? Not if Pyrrha could help it.
Goodwitch noticed her concern and gave a small nod.
"I'm referring to his skills Pyrrha."
"He tries, very hard. I suppose he is doing rather well for someone self thought."
'Self thought, so that was the boys cover story.' thought Glynda as she took another sip of tea.
"I suppose so. But have you perhaps noticed that his performance is a bit strange?"
"How so?" Pyrrha had noticed, even as recently as during class.
"His combat, Pyrrha, his combat. We have both seen how it goes. He struggles, then he steps it up only to start holding back at the least opportune moment."
Pyrrha nodded. It was just like that.
"But why? He would do so much better if he didn't hold back."
"That is what I wanted to ask you about. Do you have any idea as to what may be the cause to his hesitation?"
Pyrrha shook her head.
"No, not really"
She did not mention the dream journal, maybe it would shed some light on the mystery but it would not feel right to just hand it over.
"Well, maybe. I think it's because he has never trained against humans or faunus before. He doesn't want to hurt them."
"But they have aura."
"Well, he didn't really know what that was before I unlocked his. And he doesn't seem to have the same problem with grimm, not to the same extent at least." Pyrrha said remembering the look on his face when he tried to hide his ignorance during initiation.
Goodwitch nodded.
'That's right. The girl had done that for him.' she thought.
"A possibility but I doubt it. He takes serious hits on a regular basis and he has also seen his fellow students take hits. He should be aware of aura's protective properties by now."
"What do you think, professor?"
Glynda sipped some more tea.
"I have a theory, no, just a hypothesis at this point. I believe Jaune has erected mental blocks to prevent 'accidents' from happening."
"But doesn't that go against what you previously said?"
"Not necessarily. An accident can be more than someone getting a bruise. No, I think Arc is trying to hide something or keep something hidden."
"Is he holding something else back?" wondered Pyrrha aloud.
Glynda admitted that it was an interesting thought.
She and Ozpin were currently operating on the assumption that Arc was a plant of some sort. Maybe Arc was holding something else back, not wanting to reveal all his cards just yet?
Regardless if that was the case or not, Arc's hesitation would have to stop.
"Thank you, Pyrrha. That will be all." She gave the girl a small smile.
"Now don't keep your friends waiting."
"Thank you professor."
As Glynda watched the red haired girl exit the room she emptied her cup.
Was the boy holding something back? It was possible but if so, what was he holding back? Oh well, eventually it would come out. Either way, the girl would try to help her partner. Glynda could not help but smile.
'What a kind heart she has.'
Goodwitch's mood turned darker. What could Arc be hiding?
She did not enjoy distrusting her students but with the circumstances around Arc, she could not afford to be too trusting.
She would get to the bottom of things.