Just a reminder about the poll on my profile. Do you want omakes or not, or don't you care at all?
These omakes would be released once the current story arc is over and would not have any real impact on the story. Essentially, they would be filler while I figure out where to take this story after this arc.

Oh yeah, things are finally happening!

Chapter 23: Smoke, mirrors and visions

It was finally time. It was finally time for the singles matches to begin. The doubles matches had been concluded earlier that day, leaving only the fighters proceeding to the singles round.

The remaining fighters stood on the arena for all to see.

Eight in total.
There was Penny of Atlas. Sun and Mercury of Haven Academy, Pyrrha and Yang of Beacon Academy as well as a few others that Jaune didn't know of.

He couldn't hear from what academy they were from over the noise of the crowd.

Jaune was worried for Pyrrha looked worried. He had never seen her worried about a match before.
He hoped that she would not get picked for this evening's match. He did not doubt her skill or chance to win but he wanted her to be at her best, not distracted by whatever bothered her.

"And now, to decide the first pair of combatants for the singles round." said the voice of Peter Port and the big screen of the arena began to show the match-up.
The crowd held its breath, the whole world held its breath until finally the fighters were selected.

"Mercury Black and Yang Xiao Long!"

The crowd cheered.
"Woohoo! Break a leg, sis!" shouted Ruby as the other contestants left the stage.

Jaune just eyed the silver haired young man on stage with suspicion.
This man would confront Ruby, but why?

He looked away from the arena when he saw Pyrrha walking towards him and sat down next to him.
"Hey, you okay?"

Pyrrha nodded and just looked at the arena, not even caring about the popcorn Nora was offering.
"Jaune." she said quietly.

"Yes?"

"I told Ozpin about your vision."

"That's okay. What did he say."

"That he would keep an eye on it."

"That's good." said Jaune and squeezed her hand gently but she didn't seem to respond.
"Now let's cheer on Yang."

On the arena Yang and Mercury were getting ready.

"You better not go easy on me." said Yang tauntingly.

"That's my line." he answered with a smirk.

"Three! Two! One! Fight!"

There was no delay in the fighters' response.
Yang punched and Mercury kicked, the two blows blocking each other. Mercury was tossed back but rebounded fast, engaging her in hand-to-hand. They both landed some blows with the aid of their weapons.

They disengaged and Black shot himself away from her with his boot-held weapons. He grinned, happy with being outside of melee-range.
…But he wasn't. Yang did not relent and began blasting away with her gauntlets at him.

Mercury did not remain at range for long. Fast as a snake being hunted by starving hedgehogs, he made for Yang. He kept on dodging her attacks. They were easy enough to predict.
He got close and began throwing blow after blow at her. She blocked them all but he slid underneath her arm and landed a solid blow on her, sending her backwards. She landed on her feet and wasted no time in propelling herself at Mercury with a blast from Ember Celica, hoping to get the jump on him.

She did not get the jump on him. Instead Mercury began dodging her blows and launched counter after counter at her.
Yang just barely managed to dodge one that broke the floor underneath them.

Yang retaliated and started shooting at him. He dodged at first until she finally hit him scare in the chest. He went flying, across the field, out of bounds.
Yang was just about to raise her fist high in victory but then Mercury blasted himself back with his weapons.

They continued their melee for a while until Mercury began kicking wildly into the air, not even close to hitting Yand and shooting out projectiles while doing so.
"Um, I stopped dodging. Isn't one of these supposed to hit me?"

"No!" shouted Mercury.

"What do you mean "no"?"

"As in not yet!"

"What are you- ooohhhh." Yang looked up and around her.
The shots Mercury had fired were drifting around in the air around her. there must have been tens of them. There was no escape.
"Well s##t."

With a final shot Mercury sent all the projectiles at Yang at once. The boom was deafening.
'Hmm, maybe I should name that one? What would sound cool? Maybe something with 'Hell'? Perhaps the morons from SSSN could have helped me with that.'

He turned around, dusted himself of and began to walk away.
'You did good Merc. You did good.'

That's when Yang decided it was time to let loose the dogs of war.
Unleashing her semblance she got back up, eyes red and surrounded by fire.

She dashed at him, dodging his futile attacks to keep her back. He tried to hit her in the head with a kick but she caught it with her right hand. With her left, she started hitting him hard.

The audience could see her demolishing Mercury's aura level with every blow until finally she let go of him with her right and brought it down into his gut.
Mercury hit the floor about as hard as his aura hit the red.

The buzzer sounded and the audience cheered. Yang Xiao Long had won.

"What a way to start of the finals! Don't you agree, Oobleck?"

"Indeed Peter. No doubt the first of many interesting matches to come in the finals."

"Also, you owe me a hundred Lien."

"Oh, stuff it somewhere you old coot!"

"Way to go sis!"

"You go Yang!" shouted Blake and high-fived Ruby.

"Heh, better luck next time." said Yang to Mercury as she made for the exit.
She eyed him for a moment. Jaune had been worried that this guy would go after Ruby? Yeah right!

"There isn't going to be a next time, Blondie!"
Yang saw Mercury get up and readying a kick for her head. She wasn't going to let him.
She had won, fair and square. If Mercu-bitch couldn't live with that then she would have to teach him some manners.

Yang spun around, striking. The blow hit and Mercury went down. Mercury grasped is leg and bellowed like an injured animal.
"My leg! My leg! Aaaah!"

The audience went silent. The feed from the cameras were cut but it took longer than Oobleck or Port would have liked. The whole world saw hop Mercury was cradling his broken leg, screaming his lungs out.

Yang looked around.
What was happening? She had just defended herself. Why was everyone booing at her?
Her eyes met those of Emerald. The girl was glaring at her.

Was it because of what had just happened? But what had happened?

Before Yang could even ask anything was she surrounded by Atlas droids, all with their weapons trained on her.

It wasn't right. The way all kept glaring at her. The way Mercury was screaming at her. How she was being taken away like some criminal.
It just wasn't right.

It wasn't right.
The final blow had been all wrong. Everything was wrong!

Jaune was going over what he had just seen.

Yang had struck Mercury for seemingly no reason or provocation. But her body language had been wrong.
She had swiped with her left as to block and combined it with a strike from her right.

She had struck as if to defend herself whereas Mercury had done nothing!

Mercury was screaming like there was no tomorrow as the medics came to take him away.
"Why'd she? Why did she attack me!?" shouted Mercury before being put under by the medics.

The way it seemed Mercury was seemingly badly hurt. The sort of hurt you don't walk away from.

And that's what was wrong.

Jaune did not know of all the circumstances around what he had seen in his vision but he knew it would happen soon. Sooner than Mercury's leg would be able to heal.

Something was up and Mercury Black was most certainly part of it.

Jaune felt his dad's hand on his shoulder. The loving father's usually calm expression was replaced by a serious one. When he spoke it was not the family man Augustus Arc who spoke, but the huntsman Augustus Arc.
"Son, now is the time to act."

"Yeah, I'll have to make a few calls."

"Shit." muttered Gaius.
"Can't those morons shut of the cameras already. Don't they realize this panic will attract the grimm?"

Shit! Jaune had not thought about that.
Maybe… maybe this would be what brought the grimm to Vale and Beacon. Maybe this is what would lead the astartes to come down and fight!

Now Jaune knew that he had to act, in whatever way he could.

Jaune would not be able to do much that day. It was already nighttime but he could get ready for the next day. He had to get everyone ready. And it would be a hell of a day.

Jaune saw medics rush out to the arena to move Mercury away. Soon he was taken away and rushed to a hospital.
Jaune would have to see if that was actually what happened with Mercury but right now he had other things to handle.

"Give it to me straight, doc. Will I ever walk again?"
His voice was sorrowful and his tear were crocodile tears.

Say what you will but Mercury Black could have made a name for himself as an actor. Well, maybe more likely as a stunt man but he wasn't bad at acting.

Too bad for Mercury, his performance did not win him an award but rather a punch in the shoulder by Emerald.
"Shut up. You're making my head hurt. One mind I can deal with but two…"
Emerald did not feel like talking.
She felt like downing a can of painkillers and a bottle of booze but he didn't have either of those.
Her only consolation was the praise from her boss.

"You all did very well today. You too, chauffeur." said Cinder from her seat as co-pilot of the craft. She ditched her disguise and took her leave of the three pretenders.
The girl in the pilot's seat just smiled and landed the craft. They disembarked and hoisted Mercury up on a table with a toolbox.

Cinder turned on the small TV in the safehouse. It was time to see if their little ploy had worked or not.

"...-ible tragedy took place this afternoon in the one-on-one rounds of the Vytal-"

The channel changed.

"... what Beacon is teaching its students, but that was disgraceful! Completely uncalled -"

"... local authorities are still calling on any available Huntsmen to aid in suppressing the spike in Grimm activity."

Oh it had worked alright. Cinder shut of the TV with a smirk.

"Hey! I was watching that!" complained Mercury whilst trying to fix his legs. Nuts, bolts and other components were already removed and put away in a orderly manner for reassembly.

"Anyway, what's next?" asked Emerald.

"You and I will make sure the next match goes the same way. You remember how the Atlesian's weapons work, right?"

"Microscopic wires and a metal body and Nikos' semblance is polarity. Not a good match at all."

"Excellent."

"What about me?" asked Mercury.

"You get to relax until the final scene. Enjoy the moment but do not let anyone notice you. We wouldn't want to anyone see you up and about yet, now would we?"

Mercury smirked. "No, no we wouldn't."
He would still get a good seat for what came next. He would just have to move unseen, that's all.
And going unseen would be easy, all thanks to Emerald. Too easy in fact.

The next day - RWBY's dorm

"I am sorry but your actions leave us no choice." said General Ironwood with no sign of being sorry in his voice.
"As of now you are disqualified from the tournament."

RWBY was distraught. Yang was devastated. The whole world had seen her attack Mercury Black for no reason but she had seen him get up. She had seen his attack.
She didn't want to think that she had done it. Her team didn't either. Ruby and Weiss believed her when she told them of what she had seen. Blake had been hesitant but eventually she too believed Yang's story. At least that was what Blake said.

Yang's uncle Qrow had come by to visit her. Their discussion had not been a happy one. He had suggested that either Yang was crazy or lying about what she had seen.
Then he had brought up the matter of her run-away birth mom.
One bad part of her life was added onto her worst day of her life. Yang's mood soured.

There was a knock at the door. Ruby opened it and was greeted by Jaune.
"Hi Rubes. How is she doing?"
The words were kind but there was a seriousness behind them.
Ruby thought she could hear more people behind him but couldn't see past his wings.

"Not too great. Look, now is really not a good time. Me, Weiss and Blake are going to head out, let Yang be alone for a while. Maybe you would like to tag along?"
She made to walk past him but he showed her back in. Before anyone of Team RWBY could stop him Jaune entered the room and walked over to Yang.

She looked at him fiercely, her eyes turning red. Jaune didn't flinch.
"What do you want."

"I want to talk about what happened."

"If you're here to tell me that I'm sick in the head you can just fuc-"

"Yang, I don't think you did it." he said, cutting her off.
"At least not knowingly. So will you please tell me what happened? What you think happened?"

Yang nodded and began talking, happy to have someone who believed her.

"... and then he was on the ground and the Atlesian assholes had their guns trained at me!"

Yang finished her story and Jaune just nodded.
Her account matched that which Jaune had gotten from Coco and Yatsuhashi.

"Just like for Coco and Yatsu." said Jaune quietly.

"What do you mean? What is going on?"

"I don't know what is going on." Jaune said and tapped in a message on his scroll.
"But whatever it is, it has to stop."

The the finals would continue this evening. Maybe Pyrrha would have to fight then. If something happens to her then... Jaune didn't want to think about that.
"I'm putting together a squad. They should be here soon."

"A squad? What for and with who?" asked Weiss.

"Everyone." said Jaune.
"Everyone I can trust and all who trust me. As for what: saving Vale."

Soon enough the ones Jaune has sent for arrived.

First came his own team, then CFVY and even CRDL. SSSN came soon thereafter. Augustus Arc followed by Gaius Arc who just came along with his son with the words "once a huntsman, always a huntsman".

Almost tripping over themselves came the Arc sisters, having gotten word of their dad's intentions. Trying to keep them out of this would be impossible. Jaune knew that from experience.

Last but not least came Taiyang Xiao Long who had come to Beacon to see his child for her actions.
"Hi little dragon." he said to his daughters and gave Yang a playful punch on the shoulder but got no reaction.

RWBY's dorm was soon packed to the brim with people.

"So, care to tell us why you have called us here?" asked Coco as she planted herself in Fox's lap in order to save space.

"Yeah, you made it sound important." agreed Sun, hanging upside-down from by his tail from one of the bunk beds.

"It is." said Jaune and took center stage on what little free space was left.
"Something very bad is about to happen and I need your help to deal with it when it happens."

"What will happen?"

"The grimm will attack Vale in large numbers. Their attack will reach Beacon itself."

All gasped. How could such a thing happen?

It was Gaius who continued.
"It's already happening. With what the people saw yesterday they are scared. That's why the grimm are stirring all around the city. They are being drawn to the city like flies to honey. And with no real numbers of huntsmen at hand, the city can't just drive them off."

"I better explain everything." said Jaune.
He had told some of the people there a rough outline of the situation about his worries for the grimm and Mercury's, and his team's, involvement in it.
It was time to bring more people into the know.

"But first: Cardin, make sure no one is listening in. Sun, check that no one is outside the window."

"Yes, lord Primarch." said Cardin and did as he was bid, earning a few odd glances for him and Jaune both.

"Sure, ain't no one outside but some dusty old crow." said Sun.

And so Jaune told them of what he had seen in his visions.
He spoke of how he had seen Mercury Black confront Ruby and how the grimm would attack the city but also Beacon in his visions.

He also spoke of the astartes and that they would fight the grimm as well.

"I'm sorry, but who?" asked Neptune, reeling at the truths being dropped on him. His usually cool demeanor was gone.
"And what's so special about them that they have got you so worried?"

Jaune sighed.
"Guys, the astartes are like nothing any of you have ever faced before. I guess the closest you have ever come is me and well, right now I'm a runt compared to them. They are bigger, stronger, and flat out better than I am."

He took another sigh and stepped to the window and looked up to the sky. His sons were up there somewhere, waiting.
"My father, the Emperor, once spoke of the astartes, of what they are."

"And what did he say?" asked Yatsuhashi, speaking for the first time since Jaune had called for the meeting.

Jaune closed his eyes and dived into his other memories, soon finding the words he was searching for.

"They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mold them, and in the furnace of war forge them. They will be of iron will and steely muscle. In great armor shall I clad them and with the mightiest guns will they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease, no sickness will blight them. They will have tactics, strategies and machines so that no foe can best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines and they shall know no fear."

Jaune opened his eyes again, seeing the worried looks on everyone's faces.
"That is what the astartes are. And if they think that they have to intervene in our fight then you can all bet that it will be a fight for our lives."

All were silent. this was some heavy stuff they had just learned. Only the Arcs and JNPR were taking this a bit better than the others as they had learned of all of this earlier.

"I know this a lot to take in but I'll say it again. I have no way of contacting them and asking them to reveal themselves ahead of the attack. The only thing I can say for certain is that if they have to come down then shit must have really hit the fan."

All nodded and they began to surmise what they knew.
Some real shit was about to go down and it would most likely have something to do with the finals of the tournament.
They didn't know how it would happen but they knew the how it would kick of: their enemy had someone who could manipulate minds.

"The question is who this someone is?" said Yatsuhashi.
"I doubt it's Black. I was keeping him busy when Coco thought she saw me by her side."

"It would have to be someone that also benefits from the scheme." pointed Blake out.

"And knew of the plan." noted Sage. "Otherwise they would just screw up."

"That means it was one of his teammates." said Ruby hesitantly.

"So then it's Emerald or Cinder." said Weiss. "I really do doubt that it is their fourth member."

"It's Emerald." said Yang, hands balled into fists.
"I saw her glaring at me after I hit Black. She didn't look sorry, surprised or angry. She just scowled at me."

"But she has left with the rest of her team with Mercury for Haven so that he could be with his family." said Ruby, voicing her concern.
"That's what the news say."

"I don't know where they are right now, Ruby. But I can tell you where they are not right now: Haven." said Jaune sternly.
"Mercury cannot be at Haven for he will still show up at the arena before all this is over. I doubt his accomplices are far away either."

"Oh right. I forgot about that."

Ruby thought about all of this for a while. Jaune had told them that he believed all that would happen and all that had happened to be connected.
Was there anything else that they could have missed?
"Oh! What about the CCT getting hacked? Could this have something to do with this?"

"The CCT hacked? When was this?" asked Coco angrily.
The CCT was the heart of everything. Why hadn't they known about this until now?

"It happened on night of the Festival Ball. The noise over the speakers was my astartes warning us about it. Ruby ran into the intruder when it happened." said Jaune and stroke his chin. Maybe it wasn't a coincidence.
"Maybe it does have something to do with this. What do we know about it, Ruby."

"Not much. The woman I saw wore a mask and she didn't say anything. I only know she used a bow and had black hair. I don't think I would recognize her out of her outfit. Sorry."

"That's not much to go by." said Blake gloomly.
"So I guess that's a dead end."

"Not necessarily." said Russel Thrush with a smug smile.

"Wut?" said Sun, surprised by Russel's sudden confidence. Not to mention that of all of Team CRDL.

"We might know who did it." said Cardin smugly.
"Cinder Fall."

"Explain." ordered Jaune.
It would make sense for it to be Cinder but he wanted to know why Cardin suspected her.

"We ran into her by the ball. Cinder arrived hella late. Like we-late, and we only arrived late because we were busy making sure that you got your suit didn't get stolen from that tailor. Anyway, she arrived late smelling of sweat and of used dust. Soon after that, Atlas goons crashed the party looking for someone."

It fit. It all fit perfectly.
And that worried Jaune. All had most likely gone according to that damn bitch's plans. It was obvious what one part of the plan was: fear.
No doubt Cinder wanted fear for it would bring the grimm.

That was the point of Yang's, not to mention Beacon's, fall from grace. To make people worried and stir up the grimm.

A fall from grace. That is what they had done to Yang.
Could they be planning that for someone else of the finalists?
The thing with that sort of thing was that the greater the grace, the greater the fall.

"Pyr, I don't want you to fight in the finals." said Jaune.
"I don't want you to be targeted like Yang."

To have her reputation ruined was a fear of his but Cinder's actions indicated far more nefarious ends. Jaune feared for Pyrrha's life.
The whole room burst into an argument between those who supported the notion and those who were against it.
They got nowhere until Jaune silenced them. He had stated his wish but the choice was not his to make - it was his partner's choice.

She was silent, almost gloomy, with her head full of thoughts.
"Pyr, what do you say?"

She seemed uneasy but she looked up at him.
"I'll fight." she said.
"Whatever their plans might be, they'll have to be there to enact them. If I don't show up, if I say that I'll not fight without a proper reason, then they'll know something is up. If I do this we might be able to catch them and do something about all of this. And if it isn't me then they'll just find someone else. If taking this risk means that I can protect others then I'll do it."

"Spoken like a true huntress." said Gaius approvingly.
"But that doesn't mean we will let you go without a plan. Right grandson?"

Jaune was uncertain. He did not want to risk Pyrrha getting hurt, or anyone else.
If he could then he would take her place. But letting her compete might be the only way to lure out Cinder and her goons.
"If you say that you'll fight then that's what you will do." he said and smiled.
It was a brave thing she did.

"That means the rest of us will have to be on lookout. I doubt the regular security will keep the enemy out, seeing as they couldn't even catch Black's fake injury. With someone who can make people see things, I'm sure they will find a way in."

"But how are we supposed to catch them then? Won't we get tricked as well?" asked Weiss.

Jaune contemplated this for a while. Then he shrugged.
"Only one or two of us will be tricked at a time, perhaps. I doubt that our illusionist can fool that many minds at once. Even my - or rather - Sanguinius' brother, Magnus the Red, the Sorcerer-King of Prospero, had his limits and he had power that was second only to Father's. Believe me, he could pull more than just rabbits out of his hat." said Jaune confidently.

Indeed, despite Magnus having been a primarch he had still had his limits, albeit much higher ones than for mortals.
If said limits were scaled down to a mortal's level then the task of catching the bastards they were after became much more possible.

All agreed to be on lookout.
They would spread out in order to cover more space and be ready to catch any of the targets.
If it came down to a fight then Augustus and Gaius would be ready to help the audience get away.
The Arc sisters agreed to help with the audience. Not by fighting but helping the audience get out.

Ruby asked if they should tell Ozpin or General Ironwood about any of this but was told no.

"We already have." said Augustus Arc.
"We told him first chance we got and he didn't believe us. He simply said he would keep an eye out. For you young ones, that's official-speak for doing nothing."

"But why wouldn't he do anything?"

"Because the general and Ozpin don't trust me." said Jaune, shaking his head.
"Can't say I blame him really but it makes things a lot more difficult for us."

"But why-"

"Because he and general Ironwood both saw Yang break Black's leg. For all they know he really is hurt and on his way to Haven. Seeing is believing and he saw what Cinder and her servants want him to see."
Jaune sighed deeply.
"Besides, I'm a reborn primarch with astartes ready to come down and throw down. I haven't showed Ozpin anything to put him at ease about it. Hell, for all Ozpin knows, I'm planning a coup on Vale."

That was a tough pill to swallow for some who truly looked up to the headmaster, especially for Ruby.

"But there is another reason why we can't tell Ozpin. If the officials know of our plans and move to 'assist' they won't be able to move stealthily. Cinder would see them coming from a mile away." said Blake, well versed in acting in secret from her time with the White Fang.

There was however one more problem for them to deal with: their weapons.
Only the Tournament fighters were allowed to bring their weapons to the arena. And while their enemies probably could sneak weapons into the arena, they couldn't.

The use of the rocket lockers was suggested as they should be able to punch through the shield above the arena.
Augustus and Gaius decided to store their weapons in the students' rocket lockers. They would all simply be ready to summon the lockers if it came down to a fight. Somehow one of them would have to make sure that the lockers got past the barrier separating the arena from the outside world but that was a problem for later.

With the meeting concluded the various teams headed out. They did not have much time to act or prepare but they intended to make the best of it.

As all the teams decided to head put so did a certain dusty old crow. It had been resting its wing and grooming its feathers calmly by RWBY's window.

It had been there for long enough and it had heard enough. It let dive from its perch to gain speed and then it pulled up. With a few wingbeats it made its way to the top of Beacon Tower.
It circled around for a while and then dived for an open window.

Through the window flew the crow. At the floor landed Qrow Branwen.

"Oz, I've got something for you."

"Is it about Arc and his alleged suspicions?"

"Yeah. They are going to be on the lookout for Cinder Fall and her team. Oz, it's them. It has to be."

"For dust's sake Qrow." sighed Ozpin.
"What he claims will happen he could only have foreseen by magic and we both know that sort of magic no longer exists. Please do not tell me you're actually buying into it."

"Oz, if what he says is true then we can't-"

"That is probably what he wants us to think." interrupted the general.

"They want us to think that we have to act accordingly. We have confirmation from Leo's people at Haven that Mercury has arrived for treatment. The story Arc is trying to come up with is simply there to make us move men away from where they will be needed once the astartes come. We will not fall for that. We will proceed as planned."

"For dust's sake tin-man! You can't fight the astartes! They are-"

"Qrow!" Ozpin shouted.
"Enough! While I do not blame you for worrying about the prospect of what Arc has suggested I never expected you to be fooled like this. Maybe Winter was right about you. Maybe you are compromised."

Qrow was stunned. Was Ozpin suggesting that HE had gone over to the enemy? He, who practically had been married to this job for years now?
"Oz, you can't be serious."

"I am dead serious, Qrow. You will leave that matter be and be at the ready for whatever might befall us. If you must, you can keep an eye on them and keep me informed of what Arc and his posse are up to. Once we have dealt with the tournament, once we have fended of the astartes' assault and Amber's power is safe with Nikos we will deal with them and get some hard answers from Arc and his whole family."

Ozpin tapped his cane against the floor, indicating that this discussion was over.
Whatever Qrow had heard that would be of use but didn't conform to Ozpin's views would be discarded.

Qrow nodded, even if it was reluctantly. This wasn't right. Ozpin was talking crazy-talk.
Had the stress made him snap or was it just the man's cautious nature speaking?

But in the back of his mind he got an idea.
If he could bring Ozpin proof in time, solid, undeniable proof, then he might yet convince his old teacher otherwise about all of this.

Said proof might be Mercury Black himself, the lynchpin of both Arc's and Ozpin's reasonings.

Qrow knew he couldn't find Fall or her cronies in time.
Ozpin had had him hunting them for weeks over the kingdom after the attack on Amber but that had turned up nothing.

Now he had even less time and Vale was full of places to hide in.
Not to mention Sustrai's supposed semblance.
If a single individual wanted to find them said person would be out of luck.

But Qrow didn't have to search for them. If Arc was right then he just had to wait for the silver haired bastard who had framed his niece to confront Ruby.

It would be by the skin of Qrow's teeth but by the Brother's he would do it!

Qrow didn't pursue this query because of his loyalty to the secret circle or Ozpin. This he did for family. This he would do for Ruby and for Yang.
…and Summer.
In fact, he worked for Ozpin for the girls' sake. By keeping Remnant safe he would keep them safe. In part at least.

Ever since Taiyang had told him of what the Emperor showed him Qrow had been having hopes for Arc.
He hoped to Dust that it would not come to it but if it did he would not stop the kid.

Team JNPR moved over to their own dorm for a while to rest for a bit, plot or not, one of their teammates could very well have a fight that evening. Some of Team RWBY came in to whish Pyrrha good luck if she was selected to fight that evening.

"Pyrrha, enemy plot or not, I hope you will fight well." said Ruby and gave her a victory sign.

"Yeah, win one for Beacon." agreed Blake.

"I guess I'll do my best." said Pyrrha with a thin smile. It was clear something was bothering her.

After various attempts to get Pyrrha to drink various 'healthy drinks' or 'power snacks' did JNPR decide to go out for some air. Despite the grim mood in the air Nora managed to remain energetic.
Her mood infected the rest of them and soon they were all telling jokes like in the good ol' days.

All except for Pyrrha. She walked with them, then a bit behind them until finally she wasn't with them. She began to wonder off on her own.

A choice was weighing heavily on her mind. Not whatever or not to compete for that she had made up her mind about before the tournament started. She would she the tournament through, as far as she could, no matter the possibilities.

It was the other choice that was bothering her. To accept the mantle of the Fall Maiden and keep the power safe and risk losing herself in the process, or chose not to and risk the power falling into very bad hands.

She soon found herself outside the dining hall alone.
The weight of her thoughts brought her down to the ground and she sat down to lean against the wall. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head against them.

A maple leaf was blown towards her. It was colored by the season of fall. She could not determine if it was a reddish brown or brownish red. Maybe there was a sliver of yellow on it. She didn't know.

The one thing she knew was that she could become it: Fall.

Dust, why did it have to be her who Ozpin had chosen? Were there no others?
Surely there had to have been others! More prepared, better suited, less doubtful!

But Ozpin had said that he believed her to be the one. The decision was hers.

They didn't know what it would do to her. She would get the power but at what cost?
Her very self? Her life as she knew it?
She had had a good life, she reasoned. She had success, fame and admiration that many others would envy.
She had friends, good friends who saw her as herself and not as some idol to be worshiped.

Would she still have those if she went through with it? She had always wanted friends and now she had them. She had had them for less than a year and now she might lose them all.

She was brought out of her dark thoughts by something brightly pink on the edge of her vision. Turning her head she saw that it was cotton candy and it was Jaune who was offering it to her.
"Hey. Mind if I join you?"

She didn't object and so he sat down next to her, spreading out his wings along the wall to keep them off the ground.
She didn't say anything. She wanted to say something but what could she tell him when Ozpin had told her to keep the matter of the Maiden a secret?
Why had the headmaster had to convince her of the need to keep quiet of these things?
She was certain that Jaune wouldn't be a threat.

'Buuut whaaat oooffff hiiissss leeegiiooonnn...?' asked a voice of doubt in the back of her mind.

"Pyrrha, do you remember what I told you on the night of the dance? About you being the first one ever to believe in me?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sure you remember then that even my parents never had any faith in me either."

"I'm not sure I understand what you mea-"

"I suppose... I'm trying to say that... you've always been there for me... even when I was at my worst. And now I suppose that it's time for me to be here for you. I can tell there's something bothering you. So... I'm asking, what can I do for you?

Pyrrha smiled, letting some of her worries fade away. That's true, she wasn't alone anymore. She leaned towards him and rested her head at his shoulder.
"You're already doing it."Soon she felt one of his wings envelop her as if in a hug. She let herself forget her worries for a while, just enjoying the serenity of the moment.

Pyrrha's peace of mind lasted until another leaf, in the same colors as the first, landed in front of them.
Her mood darkened again and she got up to begin pacing back and forth.
"Jaune... I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore."

"Is it about the fight? Pyr, we won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

"That's not-... Jaune, do you believe in destiny?"

He furrowed his brow at the question. What did destiny have to do with any of this?
"Um, Pyr, in my past life I basically foresaw my death. I don't know if that question is even valid for me."

She shook her head.
"For me, destiny isn't a set fate one can't escape. Instead I think it's... some sort of final goal, something that one works towards one's whole life."

"I think I follow you." said Jaune and contemplated how that would have fitted into his past life. He soon quit. Now was not the time to think of his issues. Now he was helping her. Not the other way around.

Pyrrha tried to find the right words, not wishing to reveal anything of the Maiden to him by mistake.
"What-... what would you do if something happened that you... never had expected? Something that could to stand between you and this final goal of yours?"

Jaune pondered this for a while. He remembered how Konrad Curze had reacted when he had believed his fate wasn't set in stone - by almost losing his mind.
But that was Konrad, not Pyrrha.
"Like what?"

Pyrrha didn't hear him. She was going around in a manner that Jaune had never seen before. It was like she was losing it.
"Or what if you could suddenly fulfill your destiny in an instant, but at the cost of who you were?"

Jaune got up, confused about what she was on about.
"Pyrrha, you're not making any sense."
He tried to reach her, to comfort her, to calm her down.

She swatted his hand away.
"None of it makes sense! Things weren't supposed to happen this way!"

"Pyrrha! Please, help me understand. I'm trying to understand what's the matter."

Somehow Pyrrha calmed down enough to coherently talk to him again.
"I've always thought I was destined to become a Huntress - to protect the world... and it's become more and more clear to me that I was right. But... I don't know if I can do it."

"Of course you can." said Jaune. "The Pyrrha I know would never back down from a challenge. And if you really believe it's your destiny to save the world you can't let anything stand in your way. I will be with you the entire way. I promise."

He spoke the words with confidence but they did not seem to inspire any in her.
She looked more aghast than before. And then she began to cry.

"Pyrrha?"
Oh no, what had he done to make her cry?
He reached out for her but she stepped away.

"Stop…"

"Pyrrha, please, tell me what's-"

"STOP!"
She lashed out with her hand, the power of her aura running through her, activating her semblance.
She felt it grasp hold of his armor and then push him away.

*Crash*

She snapped away from her sobbing when she saw what she had done. Jaune had been pushed into a column, fracturing it in the process.
With a grunt and a flex of his wings he liberated himself from the stone, resisting her semblance and dropping down to the ground on one knee.

She lowered her hand.
"I'm- I'm sorry…" she said and turned away and ran, not wanting to face him.
The tears came again. Stronger this time.

Jaune reached out for her, wishing for her to stop and to explain what was going on. Was this about the finals? Was this about Cinder? He just didn't know.
"Pyrrha, wait!"
She didn't. She kept running and crying.
"What did I say to make you cry…?"

His voice was hollow. This was the opposite of what he had wanted.

He got up. He contemplated chasing after her but decided against it. He didn't know what the problem was but Pyrrha obviously didn't want to talk about it anymore. He decided not to force the issue.
Perhaps he would ask Ren and Nora to support her. It was clear that after what she had accidentally done just now she doesn't want to talk to him so for now he would give her space.

For whatever he had said to upset her, he would apologize once everything was done with.

For now he would let her be.
She knew of the plan and he has faith in her. If he let her be she would do her part. They would try to save Vale and after this exchange he knew that Pyrrha would not falter in this.

"I'll make it alright once what is coming is over with. I promise."

But if he couldn't help her now then he had better focus on his own part.

'But what had upset her in the first place?'
Jaune wracked his brain over the question, going over his interactions with her these last few days. He focused on how she had been around him and if there had been any changes.

'The fight fight between Yang and Mercury! That's when it began. She had just gotten back from her talk with professor Ozpin...'
Ozpin!

Jaune bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. Was the headmaster trying to drive a wedge between him and Pyrrha? Jaune already knew that the headmaster didn't trust him but to do this!
Oh, the headmaster would be in for a rude awakening once the matter with Cinder and her lackeys was over and done with.

Jaune took a deep breath, calming down. Now was not the time to be angry with Ozpin. Later perhaps, but not now.
He had a task at hand and he would see it through.

Oh, boy. This will be a bit embarrassing for me to admit but... there is a good chance that you will have to wait for the next chapter for a bit longer than usual.
For those of you who haven't been with us since the beginning: for about TWO WEEKS I've been throwing these chapters at you with mere days in between them!
So yeah, until now, you my dear and loyal readers, have enjoyed a quite extreme updating schedule for this story.
The thing is that all the stuff that I had written in advance has now been used.
Now I am left with notes (quite detailed notes) about the story and such. However, it will still take me some time to turn it into proper text and add some eventual details.