This War of Mine

by Erithemaeus

It was a selfish wish, eliminating those who had in turn killed the individuals that I could relate to as friends. But for me, nothing was impossible. For this war of mine has just started, and I would not stop until I see it till the end...or until I die.

2. His Cynical Mentor

[The Cynical Mentor]

I thought that it was over when Professor Acht found me on the rooftop, being coerced by Cardin to work under him. For all I knew, he had been eavesdropping for the entire conversation, and there was no way for me to prove that he did. After all, he could just take my testimony and get me kicked out of Beacon. It was official: I was screwed, whether I like it or not.

"Winchester, see Ms. Goodwitch by tomorrow or you'll be getting an eviction notice plastered on your room." I felt Cardin's grip on me loosen, sending me sprawling on the ground as the taller guy made his way down with a pallid expression on his face. I could still see the bruises on Cardin's arm, and I was reminded of our earlier class with Professor Acht. The sound of an Aura-coated hand meeting against Cardin's armor was still ringing through my ears, and I winced at the imaginary sound of armor being dented inwards. The Professor had a mean right hook, that's for sure…

"Get up, Arc."

"Yes sir!" I squeaked out, and I tried to push myself up while meeting his gaze. Those dark orbs seemed to stare through the depths of my soul, and I was honestly surprised that I haven't wet myself yet. Professor Acht seemed to be one of those no-nonsense people that were like Professor Goodwitch, and so I was actually expecting him to drag me to the Headmaster's office at this hour and force me to sign my own resignation letter. If he was allowing me to explain myself, then maybe I could– Wait, was I flying…?

…Ow. My whole body hurts. I didn't even see Professor Acht move from his position, yet judging by the fact that I got some airtime for a few seconds before being kicked back down, it meant that he had somehow closed in on me while I was distracted, kicked me up into the air, and slammed me back down before I even noticed. In any case, it still hurts.

But if Professor Acht was going to knock me around a few times…I needed to find an escape route. "Why…?"

"You were accepted into Beacon with fake transcripts." He stated, and I involuntarily winced. Of course, I had thought it to be a good idea at the time, seeing as I was desperate in proving that I could be a Huntsman, but…I was out of my league here. Everyone is stronger than me; everyone is faster than me; everyone is better than me. It's as if my only job here was to be the comic relief… "What you need to do is prove your transcripts are genuine."

I blinked, watching Professor Acht drop into a casual stance with one hand inside his pocket. Wait…so I wasn't getting beat up? "Now get ready. I'll be putting you through absolute hell."

…My mind thinks that escaping should be a better priority now. The smile on Professor Acht's face just feels so wrong. But I couldn't jump down from a five-story building and still live, given that I still haven't recovered my Aura from Ms. Goodwitch's class, and I sure as hell can't go through the doorway since Professor Acht was standing guard…You know what? Screw it. I'll take my chances.

Once again however, ow. "Now then", the dark-haired professor said, placing a foot on my back as I groaned in pain. There's no need to do that, though, since I literally can't move. Or was he just trying to rile me up? If so, then it's working a little bit too well… "What do you think you did wrong?"

My lips pursed, and my mind flashed back to what I had done a few seconds ago. From a third-person's perspective, it was an idiotic idea– charging a fully-trained Huntsman prodigy in a frontal attack that is. Was…was Professor Acht actually trying to help me? "I charged at you with no plan whatsoever–" Except for escaping from my current situation, which ended up with me being pinned to the ground by a single foot, "–And you were able to trip my foot out under me."

"So what do you need to do?"

He was actually trying to help me. A spark of anger rose up from my chest, and I was tempted to lash out at him, saying that I didn't need any help, but…What do I need to do? I can't get stronger just by doing so cardio and hitting a tree over and over again. Not if I'm facing a human opponent, and certainly not when I'm facing a Grimm. I needed someone to train me. My mind immediately thought of Pyrrha, but…I just pushed her away, thinking that she was pitying me for this.

I looked towards Professor Acht's eyes, seeing no trace of pity on his gaze. Instead, what I found was a cool curiosity and a little bit of sadistic glee in seeing me helpless under his heel. Was Professor Acht actually some sort of deviant– and no, I am not going in that direction. I've had enough imagination for a day, thank you very much brain. Still, seeing that the professor wasn't looking at me with nary a look of pity, I…answered him. "Well, since you're a more experienced Huntsman than me, I should've looked for a way to distract you while I rushed towards the door."

"Good", he replied with a nod, and I immediately squashed down the sense of accomplishment that followed. Did Professor Acht out of all people praise me? No, that was clearly my imagination. "Your skills with a sword and shield seem to be sub-par– nay, nonexistent– but you have a decent head on your shoulders." He released his foot from my back, and held out a hand for me to take. "That means you're not as hopeless as I thought, Arc."

The…was it a compliment? I think I'll take it as one. The compliment brought a smile on my face as I took his hand and let myself be hoisted up with just a quick tug. It's not even funny when the teacher that's shorter than you and has arms like a noodle could just pick me up from the ground. Actually, I find it equal parts humbling and humiliating. "Now, go back to your room– it's already past curfew. We'll meet again in the back gardens tomorrow, at the same time. Got that?"

My mind froze, my body tightening in anticipation as I voiced out the question that was on my lips, "What?"

"Congratulations, Arc." Professor Acht said, placing a hand on my shoulder and giving me a reassuring squeeze. It didn't stop my face from paling though, since I swore I saw a sadistic smirk on the man's face. "You are the very first Hunter-in-training that I'll be giving special attention to. Given that this is my first time mentoring someone, I'll give you a heads-up on our next lesson for tomorrow: dodging, parrying, or blocking. Good night."

And just like that, I stood stock still as the professor made his way through the doorway and began walking down the stairs. For a few minutes, I just stood there like a statue, the halted gears in my mind slowly turning once again before everything clicked into place.

"Just what have I gotten myself into…?"

[The Cynical Mentor]

It was hell on earth.

Currently, I dug myself into the earth for some semblance of support, putting all my weight into the shield/sheathe that housed Crocea Mors. Professor Acht just stood a few meters away from me, doing nothing but stare at the moon with a smirk on his face, and it was with that infuriating gesture that I forced my tiring body to stand back up once again.

Professor Acht wasn't kidding when he said that our next lesson was on dodging, parrying, and blocking. In fact, I do think that he was joyed by the lesson plan itself, which involved me running around all over the place with my Aura in the red, making the best out of my limited Aura as I tried to keep myself alive. Seriously, I thought that those kunai things in those Scroll videos weren't real, but after seeing one nearly graze my crotch…I took them too seriously.

Much to Professor Acht's amusement, for sure. If I could just hit that bastard…

"Heads up."

I yelped, immediately dropping to a low crouch as something whizzed past my hair, knocking off a few blonde strands. My instincts kicked in, and I immediately rolled to the side, just in time to see a kunai embed itself into the loamy soil of the gardens. I kept my shield up, which I needed to rely on in order for me to find some sort of relief from the incoming buzzes of death, but my eyes bugged out when the metal on my shield suddenly dented. As in, dented.

Oh well. Time to run for my life now.

My eyes scanned my nearby surroundings, taking note of the various dents that began appearing on my shield, and found a hedge to be less than five meters away. From that distance though, it was already no-man's land for me, since I'm sure that Professor Acht could pump my back with at least three to four kunai before I could get there. However, if I just stayed here, then my shield would be wrecked beyond repair, and I'd have to spend the next few days without it while waiting for the metal to be repaired. "Oum, give me strength."

And so, I made a run for it. In fact, I was pretty sure that Professor Acht wasn't expecting that at all, since he hadn't immediately shot me with a kunai when I started sprinting. Once I got past a meter however, my instincts screamed at me to duck, resulting in a kunai flying over my head and embedding itself into the hedge. In response, I put my shield across my thighs, making sure that they were angled in such a way that any kunai thrown at the shield would be deflected by my breastplate, or just fall harmlessly on the ground. I focused on pumping Aura through my shins, praying to whatever gods that existed that it wouldn't hurt as much, and my prayers were answered by a dull pain by my right leg.

One and a half meters left, and I ducked low, missing a kunai that had been thrown at my nape. My blood chilled for an instant, but I shifted my focus back towards my legs as I curled them up in preparation. Another thump echoed from my shield, but I was already moving, jumping through the air and directly into the hedge–

…Firstly, let it be said that going through a hedge is more painful than one would think. Second of all, I am never watching Spruce Willis movies ever again, seeing as I was scammed by them. And finally, ow. "Arc, rule of thumb. If you're thinking about doing what Spruce Willis does in the movies, don't. I'm sure you can see the consequences."

"Yeah…clearly." I replied back, disgruntled at the fact that Professor Acht threw a kunai at my forehead. I managed to block it with my Aura just in time, but the pain still hurts. I shot him a withering glare, to which he replied with the same old infuriating smirk. Once again, he proffered his hand towards me, and I took it, letting me be dragged out of the crumpled heap that I was in–

Wait. "Wait a minute. Did you watch any Spruce Willis movies, Professor Acht?"

He flinched, glancing away from me so that I couldn't see his eyes. Did he really think that I would disregard that sort of reaction? "I liked the 'Buy Lard' movie, but that's just it. The rest of the movies is clearly just to pander towards twelve-year olds who are currently living out their fantasies in their backyards. After all, 'Buy Lard 2' just panders to the audience itself, and doesn't necessarily give Spruce Willis the right amount of characterization required for him to be a complete and rounded character by the time that the climax rolls in…"

I watched as Professor Acht buried himself deeper and deeper with each sentence he spoke. It was a test, to see if the raven-haired professor was actually a fan of such at thing, and the fact that he had replied with a detailed analysis of the series that Spruce Willis was most famous in was actually more than enough evidence for me to consider that he was a (excuse me for the pun here) a 'Buy Lard' fan. Which I was as well. "Professor, you can stop now…"

"Besides, everybody knows that Spruce Willis wouldn't just go around playing with little kids, especially during that airport scene. I mean, he was on a race against time to disarm that lard bomb! He shouldn't even have enough time to talk to a kid! But no, he just has to stop, kneel in front of the kid, and say some inspiring words because it makes him feel more like a hero! You know what being a hero is all about? Stopping that goddamn lard bomb! If he had just ignored the kid and just went on to disarm the bomb itself, then the movie would've ended without me having to watch the abomination for more than thirty minutes longer than necessary…"

My lips pursed, trying hard to keep myself calm in the wake of Professor Acht's outburst. Who knew that he was such a Buy Lard fan?

[The Cynical Mentor]

"You improved, Jaune." Pyrrha said, withdrawing her spear as I crumpled to the spot, with mouthfuls of air leaving out of my lungs. No, she didn't make out with me. No, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have feelings like that. No, I'm pretty sure that Professor Acht is watching somewhere and is using this as blackmail for the next time that I meet him. Although, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to train my stamina just to catch up…

…Damn it. "Well, I had to survive anyways, so it's definitely a given…" I said, nudging my head to the side while I scratched my cheek. A chill crawled up my spine, and out of instinct I turned around and placed Crocea Mor's shield/sheathe in between me and the entrance, only for me to sigh in relief as there was no Professor Acht to torment me.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Pyrrha asked, and I immediately yelped and jumped around, my nerves getting the better of me for an instant. Emerald eyes stared at me with concern, and I waved it off by laughing nervously and sheathing my sword. "You looked like you saw death for a second there…Is everything alright?" Her gaze moved towards the various scrapes on my neck courtesy of a few close calls with some of the kunai, and she frowned. "Jaune, you can talk to me about this."

"We're getting late for the field trip at Forever Fall, Pyr", I replied, smiling at her as I began walking towards the door that led out of the sparring arenas. My scroll waived the door open, and I took a step back in shock as dark orbs framed in equally black frames stared back. "Oh, Professor Acht", I greeted him, giving him a smile while he raised an eyebrow towards me, "You were going to use this for your next class?"

"No actually", he said in the same monotone voice that he usually speaks with, but this time I could see that there was a hint of annoyance within it. Hard to find when you're just staring at the surface, but after spending two grueling weeks in his so-called 'training', you get to have a very keen attention to detail. It kept me from being run through by a kunai, so it definitely works. Now if only there was some sort of nonlethal option in order to do it… "I'm here to check out some stragglers, but it seems like it's just the two of you here." He glanced at me with an unknown gleam in his eye, and I scowled back in reply. I knew he was going to insinuate that. "Now onto the Bullhead docks you two. I don't want to get my paycheck docked because I let some lovebirds be when they're supposed to be having a fieldtrip."

Despite what I thought, I found myself blushing at the implication, and I immediately kicked the professor in the shin as he smirked at me. He didn't seem to suffer from any damage, so I can only curse him in my mind as I led the way towards the Bullhead docks with Pyrrha in tow. However, it was only after a few moments of walking through the winding hallways of Beacon did I find out that there has been someone following us…or actually, a professor following us.

"What's those stares for?" Professor Acht said, raising an eyebrow at the flat stare I gave him while he crossed his arms behind his head, "I'm escorting you guys to the Bullhead. And I do suggest that you walk faster, since Glynda is a little bit annoyed from having to deal with the Headmaster for the morning."

"Not to offend sir, but why are you following us exactly?" Pyrrha asked, her brows furrowing in confusion as Professor Acht hummed at her before picking up his pace.

"I'm another one of your chaperones for the trip", he said nonchalantly, turning around another corner that we had to actually walk a little bit faster just to catch up with him. "Since I saw Glynda looking stressed by the cafeteria earlier, I tried to volunteer by watching over you guys instead, but she insisted that she be along for the ride since I can't take care of myself apparently. So here I am, back-up chaperone for the day."

Suspicious. Really suspicious. If my understanding of Professor Acht's personality was correct, then he would give Ren a run for his money for being the laziest person imaginable. There was no way that Professor Acht would just willingly give his services for free, unless he had something to go with it.

Then again, I might be wrong.

[The Cynical Mentor]

My brows furrowed at the Ursa in front of me while I drew Crocea Mors from its sheathe with a sharp rasp of steel. A clawed hand swung in from the left side, and I angled my shield upwards, the initial impact making me take a step back in order to fix my stance. The Ursa was still unbalanced however, and I immediately went for a thrust straight through the Ursa's heart, piercing it with a wet squelching sound that I didn't want to hear again. I struck the sword's pommel with my shield, breaking its balance as it fell on its back. I quickly took the sword from the Ursa's decaying corpse, and my eyes scanned around for more enemies.

Everything was actually well and good. We had just collected the last amount of sap that we were supposed to get, Cardin threw a bottle of sap towards me, and I managed to block the damn thing in exchange for covering the entirety of my shield in the thick pink liquid. Then the Rapier Wasps came, and I threw the shield into the bush, praying to Oum that it won't get lost in the forest.

Of course, I knew that it was Cardin and his teammates that threw the jar of sap at me. A keen eye for detail was required for me to even attempt to dodge those ridiculously fast kunai of his, so I spotted team CRDL's entrance from a mile away. Of course, I didn't get involved, even though there was already my mini-Professor Acht screaming at me to take revenge on the ones that bullied me before. Was it weird that a mini-Professor Acht was my devil figure? No. Because that is exactly what he is.

I was content in letting the team to get away with their misdeeds, but it turns out that the sap attracted the wonderful attention of an Ursa. Well to be more specific, an Ursa and their posse. So here I am, currently defending Cardin from a veritable wall of Ursae, and cursing my life decisions for being this stupid to go here without making a plan. In fact, I could already hear Professor Acht telling me to 'move' unless I don't want to die–

–My whole body ducked out of instinct, just in time for my vision to be obscured by a gust of wind. I closed my eyes, waiting for the localized windstorm to die down, and I opened them once again to see Professor Acht standing in front of me, his face half-turned towards me while wearing the a smirk on his face. I was tempted to curse him for that; I really do. But considering that he's the only one standing between me (and Cardin) and certain death, I was a bit more relieved to see that someone professional was on the job.

"So, how was my landing? Rate it from one to ten."

…Once again, I am astounded as to how I can stand being around the eccentric professor. "Seven. You weren't supposed to say such a thing, anyway." I am disgusted with myself for even replying to his question. Really, I should be keeping my shield up instead of engaging with banter. There might be some Ursae who might be getting past Professor Acht's defenses, and so I need to make sure that Cardin's safe–

"Alright, that's done", the professor's monotone pierced through the air, and I blinked as I stared at the scene behind him. Fifteen Ursae corpses stood on their backs, their chests punched through by a fist, and they were slowly disintegrating. Professor Acht was cleaning the black dust that he had gathered from his fingers, by which he was wiping them onto his pants. I stared at him dumbfounded, my mouth spluttering out words to which he replied with a roll of his eyes, "Really, Arc? You were so caught up while you were thinking of ways to defend your spot that you didn't even see me kill the Ursae. Better work on your spatial awareness next time. How about we do that for our next lesson?"

There goes the smirk again. Seriously, the fact that he hasn't let up with the sadistic gleam in his eyes means that I'm going to become inured to them sometime soon. I heaved a tired sigh, swearing to myself to make sure that I step up my stamina training just as the bushes parted open and Professor Goodwitch strode forth, her glasses gleaming in the afternoon light. "Don't worry, Mr. Arc, Mr. Winchester. We are here to…save…you…"

"Cavalry's here." Professor Acht dryly remarked, snorting at the late entrance as he hauled Cardin up, tossing him towards Professor Goodwitch, who caught him with her Semblance. She snorted at the smirk on his face, before turning towards the other students and ushering them back towards the area where we were dropped off.

"You did good." I jumped, quickly whirling around to see Professor Acht smirk at me. He patted my shoulder before following the other first year students back towards the Bullhead landing zone, "No one could simply just jump in front of an asshole like Cardin and try to protect him against the Grimm." My gaze turned towards him, noticing the upward twitch to his face, and I focused my attention back ahead, trying hard to stop the smile from forming on my face.

"You're welcome."

[The Cynical Mentor]

"Professor Acht!" I screamed, slamming the door towards the infirmary open with my team hot on my heels. Before they could catch up, I immediately sprinted towards the professor, who was staring at me with dark orbs filled with mirth. "Are you alright? What happened!? Did Torchwick get you somehow!?"

"Relax, kid", he said, his voice rasp as he moved his gaze to the side, where a glass of water sat. Never missing a cue, I immediately snatched the cup of water and helped him drink it, the fluid causing him to hum before he finished all of it in one gulp. I placed the glass back on the counter before turning towards my mentor, who was staring at the rest of my team with a calculating gleam in his eyes. "Seems like you have a wonderful team with you. How about you just leave this old man alone for today and spend it with your team?"

"But–"

"Jaune, please." I froze. Not only due to the fact that he had actually called me by my name, but also due to the word 'please' in his sentence. My eyes turned to gaze at him, and he just looked at me with a patronizing smile and a nod, jerking his chin towards the rest of my team as he did so. "Spend the rest of the day with your teammates. I…might've been using up too much of your time." I was about to speak, but Professor Acht held up a hand, "Relax, kid. It'll only last until this afternoon. I'll be back training you by tomorrow."

Somewhere from my team, I heard Pyrrha gasp, and I winced at the 'subtle' words that my mentor said. I nodded, my face growing dark as I moved out of the infirmary with the rest of JNPR in tow, with my feet leading me everywhere but in a specific direction. A few minutes pass with just me and my friends wandering around the halls of Beacon, before I felt a hand on my shoulder and I stopped. I turned around, seeing Pyrrha stare at me with a worried gleam in her emerald eyes, and I promptly broke her gaze.

"Jaune, it's time that we had a talk about a lot of things."

I sighed, letting Pyrrha take the lead as JNPR made their way towards the cafeteria. Ren hadn't gotten one of his green smoothies, and Nora hadn't even gotten a single pancake. "What did Professor Acht mean when he said that he was training you?" Pyrrha started, her eyes narrowed in order to see my reaction. She leaned forward, pumping up the intimidation factor, but I simply disregarded it by keeping a neutral expression while slowly eating my food. A trick that I learned from observing Professor Acht. "Is he the reason why you always come back late at night with scuffles all over you?"

"Yes, mom", I replied without much gusto, taking a stab of my foot and trying to skewer it with my fork. I was about to lift it up so that I could eat it, but the fork wouldn't budge, gaining a gray glow that shimmered around it. The fork stuck to the bottom of the plate, and with a frustrated growl I reached out for the glass of water…only to be frozen in place, my armor gaining that same gray glow. My eyes shifted towards Pyrrha, who was staring at me with a cool determination in her eyes, and I tried to hide the flash of anger than went through me. "What?"

"What did Professor Acht do to you?" She asked, her voice as cold as the dark-haired professor. My eyes moved towards Nora and Ren, who were staring at the two of us with a calm façade, yet I could see the worry in Nora's eyes and the anger in Ren's own. I sighed. "You're not spending much time with the team nowadays, instead ditching us after dinner until midnight. I've also spotted you spending that time with Professor Acht. Considering your…tendencies–" Her eyes moved towards Ren and Nora, "–I'm worried that he might've done something to you."

"Like what, blackmail?"

The reply killed the mood, the stagnant air making it heavier for the rest of us to speak. Pyrrha looked like she'd been hit, with wide emerald eyes looking at me in genuine surprise. I could already see it on the news: Jaune Arc finally grows a spine. Yeah, a perfectly acceptable headline, and one that would make the front page no less. "Relax", I replied, "I'm fine. Everything's dandy. Professor Acht is just giving me some supplementary training on the side."

"If this training consists of activities that Cardin would pull on you–"

"Cardin wouldn't do anything." I snarled, making sure to gaze at team CRDL, who seemed to be having the same desolate atmosphere without their leader present. They didn't talk to one another; they simply ate in relative silence, which was weird considering that they were one of the more raucous teams in the cafeteria. My attention turned back towards my team, whose expressions were even more surprised that I was able to snarl in the first place. Due to Pyrrha's inattentiveness, I was able to move again, given by the fact that I was eating once again.

"Jaune, if anything is wrong…We're here for you. Remember that." Pyrrha's voice piped up after a minute or two, and I stared at her olivine eyes, the hurt clearly written on her face. She stood up from the table, grasping her tray with more force than she needed, and shot a gaze towards the other members of our team. "I'll…be right back."

The feeling of a knife being twisted in my stomach was hard to forget, but I still soldiered on. No matter what my teammates would say, I wouldn't let them talk about Professor Acht in that way. His pained smirk flashed through my mind, and the grip on my fork tightened. On the rooftop, he didn't call me out on my fake transcripts, but gave me training instead. It was one favor that I knew I would be forever indebted to.

If being a good Huntsman was the least I could do in order to help him, then be a good Huntsman I would be.

[The Cynical Mentor]

"Why are you on a wheelchair?"

"Bucket list", replied the monotone voice of my mentor. I stared at him with a blank expression on my face, and he coughed, "I wanted to try being one of these things. Also, it provides a handicap for you to exploit. For now." My eyes widened, blinking at his reasoning, before I was forced to get on with the program by Professor Acht holding up a kunai. Where does he even get those things?

"Let's move on from blocking, parrying, and dodging. I think I've traumatized you enough for your muscle memory to act unconsciously." I shivered at the various 'training sessions' that we had over the past two months, but there was also a part of me that nodded at the way he had praised me for getting something right. Somehow, it felt good. "Now that you've mastered the way to block and parry with your shield along with dodging out of the way, it's time for you to learn some offensive techniques."

Professor Acht's eyes narrowed, stepping out of the wheelchair. From a distance, it would seem like his walking pace was unchanged even after the incident at the docks, but I could see that he favored his left leg more often than not. A few seconds later, he reached my position and proffered a hand out towards me, and I took his hand with a raised brow. "Not that hand. The sword, you idiot", he chided, and I immediately grimaced as I drew Crocea Mors from its sheath and handed it towards him hilt-first. One of the first things that the dark-haired professor ingrained into me was weapon safety, after all.

The professor hummed, taking the sword and slashing at the air in front of him. He tapped the blade against his left shoulder, and my eyes trained on the way that he held onto the blade. So he was left-handed, then. It might be a bit difficult if I were to actually fight him with a sword… "Catch." I perked up, my eyes tracking the flying sword as I immediately snatched it by the hilt, and Professor Acht looked at me with a bemused nod.

"Your blade has good reach, made out of good material and would stand strong for a long amount of time. If I do remember my history, it was your great-grandfather's blade during the Great War, correct?" I nodded, and he hummed in realization. "…Throw it in the trash. Or keep the blade wrapped up. It's not suited to your style."

"What?"

"Before you get angry, let me explain", Professor Acht said when he noticed my clenched fists, holding up his arms to mean that he meant no harm. "Look, let's face it kid." My brow twitched at the nickname. "You're improving well, but with your large Aura pool and your shield, counterattacking is the most efficient way for you to fight. Since your stamina's improving day by day, it means that you're able to outlast the enemy long enough so that they'll screw up sooner or later, and you can capitalize on that to end the fight quickly. Which means your primary way to deal damage should be fast and quick, since windows of opportunities like that usually last for less than a second."

He held his hand out in front of me, and the wind shifted around us. The hedges of the garden began to rustle, and a low-pitched whine began to ring through the air. I raised an eyebrow at my mentor, wondering what he was doing, and he simply glared at me with the same emotionless eyes that he had. "Oh, quell it, brat", he said, once again making my brow twitch, "It's hard to try and manipulate Aura when you barely have any of it in the first place."

Soon, a dark gray blob formed just a few inches away from his outstretched hand, which slowly morphed into a long spike just shy of a meter long. The blob now resembled something like a weapon, with a bladed tip, hilt, and a simple handguard, but the rest of the blade that led up to the tip was nothing but a smooth cone with no edge whatsoever. "This", Professor Acht said, snapping me out of my observation, "is a rapier. You know what it does; the Schnee uses it quite frequently, after all. However, it's quite heavy, so it's more or less a shorter lance. Quite useful for your predicament." He held out the weapon towards me, and I raised an eyebrow at him and grasped the gray…thing. My eyes widened when it registered as solid.

"How…?"

"Attain enough marks in Aura Manipulation, and you can summon objects from your Aura", Professor Acht replied, a smirk on his face as he let go of the gray lance. Immediately, I felt my right arm be pulled down by the weight, but I quickly shifted my stance so that my base was wider. "Good. Dancing makes you have a more flexible sense of balance, which you could use." I froze. How did he…?

"I filmed you dancing here about last week. Nice moves, by the way."

It was a stupid decision to charge at him, I knew that. But if he ever spread that sort of video among the student body, then…! Ah well. I was knocked down to the ground, anyway. By Professor Acht's bad foot, no less. Was it too late to just give up on life now? "Let's see here. If you can hit me before midnight, I'll delete the video on my Scroll right in front of you. You alright with that deal?"

My mind froze. Professor Acht. Deal. Those two words immediately raised alarms in my head, and my mind strained to comprehend the various loopholes that he could've added onto his terms. A few seconds later, I frowned and took hold of Professor Acht's proffered hand, his strength pulling me up from the ground.

"Deal", I said, at the same time where I tried to bash his face in with a shield.

[The Cynical Mentor]

Sometimes, I go onto the rooftop right above CRDL's room, staring at the skies there. It helped me remember my roots, where my life changed when Professor Acht offered to train me instead of ratting me out to the Headmaster. My newly-minted rapier, named Schnellenteich, was sheathed, and I opened the door to the rooftop to begin my daily stargazing activity. There was a time where I could do the same thing with my team, but…Times change.

However, the first thing that I noticed when I opened the door to the rooftop was the overpowering scent of alcohol.

My nose immediately scrunched up in disgust, and I quickly looked around to see who could've been the cause for such a thing. I found the answer to my question a moment later however, and my eyes widened as I took in the visage of Professor Acht, drinking from a flask and staring at the sky with a glazed look in his eyes. A thin smile was plastered on his face, and I immediately pinched myself in the arm to make sure that it wasn't a dream. The act of seeing Professor Acht smile would naturally mean that I was under some kind of illusion, but it seemed genuine enough.

Just what the hell was I looking at!? "Ah, kid", his voice piped up from his position, with glazed gray eyes turning towards me with a smirk on his face. He raised his flask in my direction, tipping the lid so that I could see the amber liquid inside. Judging from the stench, it was most certainly alcohol. "Care to drink with an old man?" I raised an eyebrow at him, and my eyes narrowed to see the light flush on his cheeks.

Great. A drunk Professor Acht. This would certainly be prime blackmail material if it wasn't me doing the recording…Wait a minute, this is prime blackmail material. I immediately seated myself beside him pushing the flask away from me, and I pulled out my Scroll from my pocket and trained the camera on the dark-haired professor, making sure to keep it steady while it began recording. "No thanks, but I do appreciate the company", I said, a fake smile on my face as I stared at the stars. Do I blame my mentor for the fact that I could fake a smile now? Yes. Yes I do.

"Alright then, kid. Suit yourself", he replied, stowing away the flask inside his vest and returned back to staring at the stars. He began humming a tune, but it was so off-key that I had to step in so that he wouldn't bury his reputation in my mind even more. The fact that he was a diehard fan of Spruce Willis and having a bucket list notwithstanding.

"What kind of song was that?"

"Vacuan folk song", came the immediately reply, with glazed gray eyes turning towards me with a smile. "Sang it with my team when we were away on missions. All of us couldn't sing to save our lives, so most likely some Grimm would come to us due to how bad we are at singing the song." Professor Acht pulled a dagger out of the holster on his left thigh, and with a quick press of a lever, it sprung out into a shortsword. "Then we killed them. Pretty good way to relieve ourselves of boredom. You have no idea how boring it is to be saddled with hunting down an Elder Grimm. You have to wait for hours and hours until the damn thing shows up, and then it escapes in just a few minutes. Had to spend the time somehow, so we sang." He turned towards me, a flash of intelligence coming across his glazed eyes, "What about you, Jaune? Have you done anything with your team lately?"

I tensed up. How could he have known that? "Drink", he said, and I glanced downwards to see my mentor handing me his flask, "Drink, and then let it out. It's the way that it was done in our team whenever one of us had any problems. Maybe it could help with yours."

My eyes gazed at the flask for a few long seconds, before I sighed and snatched the flask away from my mentor. I brought the flask opening up to my lips, taking a sip of it…and quickly gagging out the rest that may have gotten into my system. "What the hell!?" I screamed amidst the various gagging sounds that I made, holding out the flask towards Professor Acht while he roared in laughter. "Is this what alcohol tastes like!? I'm surprised that you could even drink this stuff!"

"Me too. Did you know that I only drink this during special occasions?"

The way that he worded it made my eyes narrow. "Then what's the special occasion, then?" Professor Acht simply smirked at my question, capping his flask once again before storing it into his vest. He leaned back against the wall, letting out a tired sigh, before bleary gray eyes stared back towards the night sky, now tinged with melancholy.

"Nostalgia day." The answer made me blink. Nostalgia day? "It's the day where I remember my teammates' memories, indulge them in their various idiosyncratic requests that they would coerce me to do for quite some time. That, and copious amounts of alcohol to kill an elephant." His eyes turned to gaze at me, and I suddenly fell on the spot. My lips were suddenly dry, and I was forced to gulp when I can see the sheer lifelessness that emanated from the parts of his eyes that weren't enclosed by his glasses. Was that the reason why he always wore them? "What do you know about the Vacuan Academy for Gifted Students?"

My mind flashed back to Dr. Oobleck's class, wherein I tried to remember the various amounts of information that the green-haired professor just dropped onto my lap. If I do remember, the Vacuan Academy was based somewhere on the outskirts of Vacuo, and was overrun by Grimm about eight years ago…

Blood paled from my face as I turned towards Professor Acht, the gears in my mind clicking into place. The smirks that he gave me all made sense now; he couldn't smile– or at least, he couldn't smile normally. The smirks were a product of what he had gone through– the scars that appeared during the incident where Grimm had overrun that school itself. For the time being, I had wanted to use the Scroll footage to blackmail Professor Acht, but as of now…I can't help but purge the damn thing from the depths of my memory.

After all, I had accidentally stumbled into a landmine.

[The Cynical Mentor]

"It would be best if you made up with them and cleared all misunderstandings."

"That, I'll do, but I might need your help in fleshing things out." I replied, causing Professor Acht to blink at me in surprise. I was under the temptation to smile, yet I managed to push it down when a flash of a memory came to mind. That of Professor Acht standing in the middle of a Grimm outbreak, his teammates all but slaughtered by mankind's greatest enemy. It was a haunting image, and I was sure that whatever I can think of would pale to what he actually experienced. "In fact, we might as well start now."

"Uh, sure", he replied, with nervousness evident in his tone as he glanced towards the side. He scratched his cheek with a stray hand, and his lips pursed. It was the first time that I've seen Professor Acht this…expressive. Was it because he had just come from a drinking session, or the fact that he forced a minor to drink? Granted, it wasn't exactly forced, but I do think that I'll go with that story if one of the professors (sans Professor Acht, of course) were to catch me under the influence of alcohol. "…I thought you might've protested more, but I guess my worries were unfounded."

If it were any other time, then I would've protested. But after what I learned of the dark-haired professor last night, then I was more than willing to hear him out. No doubt that he must've gone through the same thing as well, since he flinched ever-so slightly when telling about his beginnings in the Vacuan Academy. "Let's go then–"

"Wait", he said, grabbing my arm before I could turn around the corner, "If we're going to talk to your team, does that mean that we're going to Pyrrha too?" I could feel the apprehension in his voice, as if he didn't want to talk to her. Considering how easy he made it look while dismantling her during our first class, it didn't make sense that he was actually scared of my partner…Or was it something else?

"Why wouldn't you talk to Pyrrha?" I asked with a raised brow, and Professor Acht flinched, showing his hesitation as clear as day. I'm seriously thinking that this is how he actually feels beneath that cold mask he always wears. Maybe it's because the alcohol still hasn't gotten out of his system yet. I saw him sigh, massaging his temples with his brows furrowed in irritation. A few seconds later, he reached into the inside of his vest and pulled out a crumpled piece of photographic paper, and handed it towards me with a finger pressed against his lips.

I slowly unfurled the paper, my breath hitching at the familiar shock of red hair that I often saw on my partner. My eyes were immediately drawn to the blue eyes that smiled at the camera and the bronze spear that she held proudly for all too see. The blue, white, and gold clothing that she wore made her stick out amidst the yellow sands present in the picture, and her smile showed perfect white teeth… "Who is she?"

"Tyre Nikos. My Huntress partner, and Pyrrha Nikos's older sister", Professor Acht replied, and my eyes immediately shot up to meet his. Once again, I was treated to his smile, one that showed how broken he truly was, and I gave back the photograph towards my mentor, who stored it back into the inside of his vest. "I couldn't ask for a better partner than her. Always had my back, even when I was nothing more than an intern joining a third-year team due to my so-called 'tactical prowess'." A flash of emotion went across his eyes, and his smile looked even more broken than before. "When the Grimm had overrun the Academy however…I couldn't even save her."

He closed his eyes, heaving a deep sigh. A second later, he opened them once again, and I flinched at the fact that the cold mask that he usually wore was once again plastered on his face. "This is the main reason why I couldn't just go up to her along with you. She doesn't seem to look like it, but she shares more traits with her sister than she thinks." Professor Acht gripped my shoulder and gave me a reassuring squeeze, but his grip was weaker than most of the other times that he did so. To avoid breaking the masquerade, I just chalked it up to my mentor having just indulged in alcohol last night. "…Take good care of her, Jaune. Do what I couldn't."

My lips pursed, and I nodded, making sure to avoid looking at his face as I did so. I felt a wellspring of determination fill my body just as Professor Acht let go, allowing me to go towards my dorm room, one that I shared with my teammates. I still have to apologize for my past actions, after all.

Although, I just hope that they'll actually listen to me for once, instead of making their own assumptions.

[The Cynical Mentor]

"I don't think that this is a good training method." Pyrrha commented, watching me from the sidelines as Professor Acht simply shimmied away from my attempted strike, the frame of the wheelchair creaking in response to the maneuver. I growled, with irritation seeping into my actions as Schnellenteich was brought into a crushing sweep. The damnable wheelchair was safe however, since my mentor simply used his strength to lift the wheelchair out of my attack's coverage. I didn't know how he did such a thing since I was pretty sure that it broke some fundamental laws of physics, but I just assumed that I would be able to do such a thing when I eventually catch up to his level.

Also, did I mention that my whole team was watching me train? It's quite embarrassing to see your strikes miss all the time while they just cheer you on. "Go Jauney!" Nora screamed, her expression more bloodthirsty than I had expected, "Break his legs!"

"Go Jaune. You can do it." Came the emotionless cheer from Professor Acht, who even raised a thumb at me in encouragement. Of course, the damnable smirk was on his face, so I pushed myself even harder to hit him, which resulted in my rapier piercing through the gap between the spokes of the wheelchair. A grin was plastered on my lips as I yanked the wheelchair to the side, but the smile quickly fell as Professor Acht somehow kept his balance on the damn thing. He was already fiddling with his nails.

Yes, we've been training for the last hour or so. "I do think that this should be enough for now." My mentor's voice said, and I sheathed Schnellenteich as I shot a baleful glare towards Professor Acht. The rest of the team came up and tried to console me for not meeting my objective, with Pyrrha going so far as to pat me on the shoulder for my hard work, and I simply smiled at them in thanks. It was…hard, trying to make up with all of them while making sure that I didn't blurt out details about Professor Acht's past, but I managed to make do. Still, they had their suspicions, so they suggested going with me during my training sessions with my mentor.

I was honestly tempted to rub it in their faces when they realized that he was actually just training me instead of just using the training as an excuse to beat me up. Well, I also neglected to say that he did do such a thing until he came up with this new regimen, but I'd like to keep that to myself…Oh Oum. I'm already scheming against my teammates' backs. I do think that Professor Acht has been affecting my thinking process as of late.

"That last attack was good, brat", he said, smirking in that same infuriating manner while my brow involuntarily twitched. It was already a reflex by this point. "By catching the spokes of the wheelchair, you've effectively asserted control over where you want it to go. So technically, I was already stuck, but you seemed keen on trying to hit me when you rapier when you have a perfectly good weapon over there." He nudged his chin towards my heater shield, and I winced at the insinuation that I wasn't using my shield properly. After two months of trying to block and parry attacks with it, I was finding it hard to reconcile the fact that it could also be used as a weapon. "You could've just smacked me with the tip of the shield, and you would've hit me. I guess the trauma's still there, huh?"

"What do you mean trauma?" Pyrrha asked, her gaze immediately turning suspicious as she turned towards my mentor, and he stared at her with a blank gaze. After spending so much time with him, I could equate Professor Acht's blank gaze to 'I don't know how to reply to your answer without revealing something important'. It makes sense, given that he still has some sort of guilt complex with letting her older sister…meet an untimely end.

"I just chucked some kunai at him in order to train him to teach him how to defend", he replied in a smooth tone, and his dark orbs turned towards me with an almost-instantaneous flash of emotion. I couldn't help but wince in my mind; he can't even talk to her properly like this?

"Well, I got better after that", I piped up, and as Pyrrha's attention turned towards me, I could see a hint of gratitude in my mentor's eyes. "After Professor Acht managed to teach me how to defend effectively, he's now trying to teach me on how to actually retaliate back." The rest of my team turned towards me with looks of suspicion, and I rolled my eyes and pointed towards the wheelchair, "Yes, the wheelchair is actually important. Unless I can't hit him while he's on a wheelchair, I can't move on with my lessons." I revisited the terms that Professor Acht had stated before we started the 'lesson', and I could clearly remember him saying that…

…Oh. I found a loophole. "Brat–"

Professor Acht's eyes widened as I immediately tried to pierce through his forehead with Schnellenteich, but a glint of amusement was present in his eyes before he managed to put out his right arm in a hasty guard. The black metal inside glinted, and the sound of metal ringing and the sight of sparks made my eyes bug out at the sudden buckler that had just appeared from his gauntlet. After my failed attack, he unclenched his right fist, and the buckler segmented before collapsing into the part of his gauntlet that covered his forearm.

My team stared at me with horror. Professor Acht stared at me with grudging acknowledgment. Although, it disappeared when he smirked at me a second later, "Finally figured it now, huh?" He asked, a thin smile on his face, and I both felt insulted and praised at the backhanded compliment. I readied my rapier and shield, and a grin formed on my face that was on the wrong side of vicious.

"Uh, Jaune? You alright there, buddy?"

"Nora, prepare to attack", I said, and as the rest of the team stared at me with various looks of confusion, I sighed and explained my train of thought, "Look, Professor Acht told me that I'd complete my lesson if I manage to hit him or he steps out of the wheelchair." When they still stared at me with puzzlement, my expression fell and I looked at my teammates in a brand-new light. "…The loophole there is that he didn't specify whether or not I need to do the task alone."

Like lightbulbs had been switched on, my team's faces suddenly lit up in realization. "Jauney", Nora said, pulling Magnhild out from her back, the grenade launcher immediately shifting into a warhammer, "You. Are. A genius."

I suppressed the urge to whine. The wheelchair glowed a dark gray courtesy of Pyrrha's Semblance, watching as the metallic construct was flipped over in mid-air. I cheered, my faith in Hunters restored, but my happiness was quickly washed away when I still saw Professor Acht standing upside-down with a grin on his face. I was also pretty sure that the rest of my teammates save Ren were currently looking at the scene with their jaws hung open.

"You know", my mentor said, his grin morphing into an infuriating smirk that just stoked my anger, "Aura Manipulation has its various uses. Sticking onto surfaces like a ninja is one such example." My gaze moved towards Ren, who was staring at the scene with the detached look of an observer, and he even had his hand rubbing his chin in thought. Pink eyes glanced towards me, and he answered the unanswered question.

"It's theoretically possible", he remarked before pulling out Stormflower, aiming the guns towards my upside-down mentor. Pandemonium broke out as the rest of my teammates tried to bring Professor Acht down, while I simply stared on with a dead look in my eyes.

My faith in Hunters has been thoroughly wrecked.

[The Cynical Mentor]

"Pyrrha?" I asked, shocking my partner out of her reverie as she quickly moved towards her bed, her eyes red from what I could assume to be tears. My lips pursed, before I sheathed Schnellenteich and made my way towards her. "Hey Pyr, what's wrong?" I placed a hand on my shoulder, my brows furrowing as my partner, the Invincible Girl of Mistral, hugged me and began crying into my shirt. My eyes glanced towards the crumpled photograph that was by her nightstand, the lamp illuminating the visage of a young Professor Acht, alongside his teammates…Ah.

So he finally told her the truth, then. "It's alright, Pyr. It's alright; I got you."

I…didn't know how to comfort girls. Sure, I had some semblance of dealing with them in the form of my sisters, but whenever they cried all I had to do was promise them to cook up their favorite meal, play with them for a while, or accompany them somewhere where they would run free and cause havoc. I knew how to comfort them because they were family, and thus shared the same interests at heart. Pyrrha wasn't one, but she was close enough to qualify; however, it still meant that I didn't know what to do when she starts to bawl her eyes out. As of the moment, she wasn't the Invincible Girl that everyone knew her for…instead, she was simply just a little sister who had found out some less-than-stellar news about her family.

"J-Jaune", she said, her words interspersed by hiccups and sniffles, "It…it makes sense now. He– Professor Acht, he always calls me by my name, a-and acts like he knew me from somewhere, but I don't know when. It…it actually makes sense. S-Sis always brought me to Vacuo sometime back in the past, introduced me to her teammates and everything…H-How could I just forget them?" She wailed, and her grip on my hoodie tightened, "They were…they were my friends; my family. And I just…and I just forget them…?"

My lips pursed, not minding the slowly-growing stain that was spreading through the front of my hoodie. I could always wash it later. "Just keep on talking, Pyr. I'm here."

Pyrrha sniffled and snuggled deeper into my hoodie, but I just passed it off as her still getting over the realization that she once knew the enigmatic professor. "I-I remember him now, you know? He was the one that always took me out for some ice cream in the middle of the desert…Didn't mind that he had to carry me for more than two kilometers just so we could get to the city proper, all the while fighting the Grimm on his trail. I was always amazed by him, and it grew even more when S-Sis said that he was the weakest one on their team…and I thought to myself back then: c-could I be strong like him?" She pulled back, and my partner gave me a sad smile. "H-He always pampered me back then, more so than my s-sister…They even had an argument about it, all the while I was watching along with their teammates. They…My s-sister and P-Professor Acht are good people…So why did they have to die?"

"Professor Acht's still here."

"T-That's not the point, Jaune." Her emerald eyes flashed in indignation, and I winced at the amount of fervor in them. On the bright side, she wasn't crying. On the other hand, I was possibly dealing with an irate Pyrrha Nikos…I do hope that Professor Acht's training would be enough. "I knew him, Jaune. He always had that lifeless look in his eyes every time he took off those glasses, but he always felt comfortable around my sister and the rest of her team. It was as if they were his oasis. When I confronted him earlier however, he was just staring at me with the same patronizing smile that he always had…But it felt lifeless. Like the life had been snuffed out of him ever since…ever since the fall of the Vacuan Academy." Her eyes began tearing up again, but she wiped them off with an arm. "I…I was there, you know, watching the Scroll along with my parents as a live video of the Academy was on the screen. T-The Grimm back then…they completely blotted out the Academy. Even from that far out, I was scared. Scared that my sister would be dead. Scared that Professor Acht might be dead. Scared that the rest of my sister's team was dead." Her voice cracked, and she fell silent for a few moments before she spoke up once again, her voice now more subdued than before. "…When my sister's body was delivered to my parents, I…I expected the worst."

"I should be angry…I should be angry at Professor Acht for letting my sister die." Her emerald eyes narrowed, but her tired voice ran contrary with what she was currently saying. "But when I try to accuse him of that, I could see the hurt in his eyes when he told me that he was on the same team as my sister…when he told me that he was one of the few survivors of the Grimm attack on the Vacuan Academy." Pyrrha's voice grew sullen, her shoulders drooping as she leaned into me and took a deep breath, "…Now, I'm starting to think that my sister was lucky that she died during the attack."

My eyes closed, waiting for my partner to continue on talking. When she hadn't, I opened my eyes to find her softly snoring, with sleep apparently overtaking her while she cried. Carefully, I laid her out on her bed, tucking her in whilst I glanced outside the window. Once again, it would seem that Professor Acht strikes again. It would've been better if he was here beside me to give me some advice on what to do, but…most likely, he was at the rooftop once again, drinking his sorrows away.

…After all, coincidence or not, today is one of his so-called 'nostalgia days'.

[The Cynical Mentor]

The image of Pyrrha crying flashed through my mind as I imagined my opponent going inside my guard. I grunted, countering with a quick stomp to the ground, and I kicked my imaginary opponent back just as I pierced through his heart with Schnellenteich. The pitch-black blade of the rapier stopped in mid-air, courtesy of me panting harshly, and I returned back to my original position a few minutes later, ready to start again.

Professor Acht had put an indefinite hold to our training sessions. Pyrrha seemed a lot more lifeless nowadays, and seemed to swing between anger and regret whenever Anti-Hunter Combat class goes around. Their faces flashed through my mind once again as I parried an imaginary slash aimed at my gut, the blade flying high as I charged in with shield in tow and bashed my opponent on the chest. Dazed, I imagined him stepping back a few paces, and a quick pierce towards his dominant shoulder was enough for me to claim victory.

My mentor told me to rest and focus on the basics first. To try and predict the flow of battle, and how to affect its rhythm. Imaginary sparks and swings filled the air of the backyard gardens, my rapier and shield working in tandem as they broke through my opponent's guard and quickly finished them off with a quick pierce. At this time, I saw through my mentor's thinking of getting a rapier. With its customized length, I could easily retaliate when the enemy breaks through my guard, and also manage to deflect some strikes that would be unsuitable to parry head-on. It was a good pick for my style, which now that I thought about it, mainly involved a copious amount of counterattacking. A good pick for facing human opponents for sure…but what about when I'm facing a Grimm?

And so, I trained. I trained in various scenarios that allowed me to picture myself fighting against a horde of the beasts, trying to do my best in order to survive. I tried to imagine the situation in which Professor Acht found himself in during the Grimm invasion on the Vacuan Academy, yet I still can't reach his level. My maximum amount of Grimm that I could face was about twenty before I started slipping up and be overwhelmed. Overall, it was a far cry from what I could do at the start of the year, where I was sure that even a single Grimm could potentially be my end. I'd like to pat myself on the shoulder for such an improvement, but…I'm sure that I'd like it more if my mentor were to be the one that says the damn thing. Oum knows that I need the recognition.

My muscles ached, begging for me to stop, and I humored them as I rested against a hedge, taking deep breaths that more often than not sounded like panting. A few moments pass with me stuck in the same old position, and I figured that I might as well start again, considering that my muscles didn't want to kill me anymore. Before I even managed to stand up however, the end of a stick pushes me back down on the grass, toppling my balance and making me squawk as I landed with an unceremonious thud. "What the–!?"

"Rest." The voice was familiar, and I quickly snapped my head up to see the tired orbs of Professor Acht. A sigh escaped his lips, and he quickly collapsed next to my spot. If he was disgusted by the smell that I was currently emitting right now, then he didn't show it. "Really, if your teammates didn't tell me that you were pushing yourself, then you might've collapsed right here and now. Then when you wake up, you're suddenly pitted against Glynda that had spent the whole night doing your paperwork." A brief shudder ran through his shoulders, and I wondered if he had ever experienced such a thing. "…If you're wondering, then yes, I was stupid enough to do such a thing. Still have the scars to prove it."

"Ha ha. Very funny." I deadpanned, my blank gaze meeting my mentor's own gaze. "And what do you mean I need to rest? I've been doing well, thank you very much." Professor Acht frowned, staring at me with a bit of anger in his gray eyes, and proceeded to poke me in the shoulder. Pain immediately lanced throughout my whole body, a result of my muscles locking up in an instant, and I found myself staring at the stars a second later with my eyes wide open and my mouth in a silent scream.

"Yeah, you've been doing well. That, I can see", Professor Acht remarked with a bit of sarcastic vitriol, his voice stone-cold. Gray eyes narrowed at my body, and a snarl escaped his lips. I swear I could smell the alcohol from his breath. "Ren is getting worried. Nora is practically begging me to go and check up on you. Pyrrha is giving me those puppy dog eyes as an extra incentive to go and confront you about…this, really." He motioned towards me with a hand, to which I replied with a snort, "I'm serious, Jaune. You need to rest. You're going to kill yourself at this rate."

A flash of memory went through my mind, my mentor staring at me with a broken smile and eyes that were filled with unspoken regrets. My brows furrowed, and determination welled up within my body as I spoke. "I can handle myself just fine. And shouldn't you be apologizing to Pyrrha in the first place?"

My mentor narrowed his eyes even further, before heaving a sigh a second later. He shook his head, pushing himself off the ground and shaking off the dirt that had gathered on his pants. "Fine, then. I'll leave you to your devices." He said, the cold acceptance making me flinch as his cold façade settled back in. "Just don't have any regrets when this comes back to bite you in the ass for later."

With that statement, he quickly made his way back to the Beacon grounds. I stayed, watching his back grow smaller and smaller until he finally reached one of the entrances and let himself in. Picking up my sheathed rapier, I used it as a crutch in order to hoist myself back up, with each movement sending jolts of pain all over my body. A few minutes later, I was training once more, using Professor Acht's broken smile and Pyrrha's tears as motivation to push myself forward.

If I'm going to have any say in this, then I'd make sure that they wouldn't make such expressions ever again.

[The Cynical Mentor]

Grimm. There was Grimm everywhere.

I ducked out of the way of a Beowolf's lunge, shifting my position so that I pierced its skull with as little effort as possible. A spike of pain shot up my right ankle, but I ignored it in favor of deflecting an Ursa's blow and immediately embedding Schnellenteich into its heart. The blow was enough to make my whole left arm seize up, but I managed to get it working once again by shaking it until I couldn't feel the pain. A howl came from somewhere behind me, but Nora took care of it with a swing from her hammer.

My lips let out a shaky breath as I collapsed onto my knees, keeping my grip on Schnellenteich tight. For a few moments, I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, aiming to clear my mind of the pain. My eyes snapped open a second later just in time for me to roll to the side, narrowly dodging a swipe from a Creep, and I immediately stabbed it through its mask with my rapier. I can't feel my right hand anymore, but my arm still rang from the strike, and a grimace formed on my face as I continued to hold the line with my team.

Currently, Pyrrha was taking care of her side with relative ease, and Nora was taking care of the left flank. Ren was currently running around and assisting anyone that needed help, and I was in charge of keeping the street in front of me safe from any Grimm that may attempt to pass through. It had been about ten minutes since Grimm started pouring out of Central Vale, but to me…it felt like a few hours had passed by already. Damn, do I need some rest. It's been a week since Professor Acht interrupted my training session, and I must admit that I'm a bit…tired.

Maybe I could just take a break for a moment, seeing as there were no Grimm around…

"JAUNE!" My eyes snapped open, just in time to see an Ursa claw coming straight towards my face. I urged my left arm to at least parry the blow, but it seized up. I tried shifting my balance to the side so that I can roll out of the way, but my legs wouldn't move. My eyes widened, seeing Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren turn to look at me with looks of horror on their faces, and time seemed to slow down as I glanced towards my Scroll, laid upon the rubble beside me. Huh, it would seem that my Aura was in the red…Which must've meant that the Ursa was whaling on me for quite a while now.

…Just how tired was I that I slept through that? Oh right. Tired enough so that I only awoke to see myself die.

Die. Death. Professor Acht's words a week ago rang through my memory, warning me about the potential consequences that might happen if I continued on training. Now…he wasn't here. He was there during the time where Cardin almost blackmailed me. He was also there during the docks incident, where he helped team RWBY chase off Roman Torchwick. There was also that time where an Atlas Paladin ran amok through Vale, where he was forced to be hospitalized for a week due being nearly crushed by the rubble. He was always there, during the most important events. Now, however, he wasn't…and I was supposed to pick up the slack just for these kinds of situations. And I failed.

Oh Oum…I'm actually going to die, aren't I?

My mouth opened in a silent scream just as the shadow of the Ursa's paw began to scrape across my face, but the Grimm's weight was instantly lifted a second later as a gray blur passed through its limb in an instant, turning it into dust. The Ursa roared, turning towards the direction where the blur had come from, but multiple blurs slammed into the bear-like Grimm and tore it open like a hot knife through butter, before eviscerating it from the inside like some sort of sick display. Dark blood and viscera was splattered all over my visage, and through half-lidded eyes I saw a familiar gray vest kneeling in front of me, with dark gray orbs behind black glasses filled with a panic that I had never seen him wear before. A cloak of gray blades fell in line behind him a moment later, and I smiled at the fact that Ruby might've gushed about its coolness when everything was over.

Yes, when everything was over…When Professor Acht didn't have to look at me with a broken smile and a lifeless gaze; when Pyrrha didn't have to cry in front of me…Indeed, when everything was over, maybe I could go back to frantically dodging kunai from coming left and right. Or maybe work together with my team to get my mentor out of his wheelchair.

Oum, did I hate that damn wheelchair…

[The Cynical Mentor]

My eyes slammed open, my body freezing up for a second or two before I forced myself to stand up. A dull pain ran throughout my whole body, but I managed to ignore it in order to focus on the beeping monitor beside me. The whitewashed walls and the sheets reminded me of the Beacon infirmary, but if that was the case, then…My head turned towards the side, where I found Pyrrha dozing off beside my bed, her red hair sticking out from the white sheets. I sighed, smiling at her peaceful countenance. "About time you were awake."

The voice made me blink. Turning around towards the other side of my bed, I saw Professor Acht staring at me from behind a folding chair, his arms crossed over the backrest. Immediately, my eyes narrowed at the small but noticeable changes that happened to him. His eyes were glazed, as if he were drinking, but the dark patches of skin underneath his eyes told me of a different story. His hair was a bit more frazzled than usual, and his clothes looked like they had been unwashed for days. Moreover…his eyes showed panic, relief, and anger at the same time. Normally, I'd ignore such a thing, but given what I saw the last time before I blacked out… "Did I die?"

"…Don't you dare joke about it with me, Jaune." He said after a second, a snarl making its way out of his lips. He stood up, seemingly towering over me, and he pushed me back down with his index finger poised over my heart. "You almost got yourself killed. What were you thinking, you goddamn idiot?"

"I…" My voice trailed off, unable to find an answer. My mind sorted through the information that I had on hand, and now that I thought about it from a more logical perspective, it was a pretty stupid reason to do what I did. "I…didn't want you or Pyrrha to be miserable."

"How? By neglecting your body's needs until you collapse in the middle of a Grimm invasion?" He asked, and my eyes immediately gazed at my sheets, where I found my hands clenched in guilt. "Because the way I see it, your actions seem to make the both of us more miserable." Professor Acht stuffed his hand back into his pockets, and he heaved a sigh before staring at me once again, "I have issues, Jaune. PTSD, regrets…I have a lot of baggage that I have to carry with me for the rest of my life. Individuals that I couldn't save. Towns that I left to their doom. There was a Grimm horde coming towards a village, and we had to raze it to the ground while trying to protect the rest of the villagers. We came out with just thirteen survivors instead of two-hundred and seventy." My mentor looked away from me, and his voice wavered, growing more soft-spoken. If I wasn't sure that it was the trick of the light, I could swear that a tear roll down his cheek. "…Don't make yourself another baggage to be carried, Jaune. Please, that's all I ask of you."

Professor Acht slumped forward, exiting the room with slowness to his step that seemed to be almost deliberate, if it were not for the genuine sadness on his countenance. I reached out towards him, but the door to the infirmary was already closed, and I felt a lump in my throat that couldn't go away. I wiped away the tears that were beginning to form from my eyes, and smiled at my reflection on the other side of the hall, one that carried the slightest hint of being broken. It wasn't on the same level as Professor Acht's, but at the same time…I was sure that if he saw my reflection right now, he'd immediately kick my ass to kingdom come.

Teardrops stained the sheets that I had been covered with, while the steady beep of the machine beside me became my company unless Pyrrha managed to wake up. For the first time in my life, I finally decided to let it out. My regrets in wanting to be a Huntsman. My frustration in wanting to prove to others that I belonged here. My fear of Professor Acht selling me out to the Headmaster at any given day. My uselessness in trying to solve other's problems. As tears stained my vision and my lips quivered in regret, there was still the small spark of hope that resided deep within me, amidst all the doubts and fears that I harbored within.

It was the fact that Professor Acht had started to call me by my name.

[The Cynical Mentor]

It was hard, trying to fix a mistake caused by one's self. After all, you can only actually start solving the problem by admitting that you made a mistake, and that mistake might have an effect on the people around you. I learned it the hard way, when Professor Acht had walked out on me the moment that I woke up after the Breach.

Now…Now, at least I can say that I was making baby steps towards progress. Once, twice, thrice a week I go up to the rooftop with Pyrrha, listening to Professor Acht tell stories about his old teammates and Pyrrha's sister. He told us about the first time he was assigned to their team, when they had looked upon him with disdain and distrust, thinking that he had somehow cheated his way in. He told us about his first mission in their team, wherein he had saved the life of his teammate Roman Torchwick, and how he managed to forge a friendship with him that lasted until this very day. My mentor told us about the shenanigans that he and his team had been through, specifically mentioning the times wherein Pyrrha had visited her sister's team in Vacuo. Not once did he mention something related to the fall of the Vacuan Academy for Gifted Students, nor about the death of Pyrrha's sister. He only mentioned the good memories that he had with his teammates. Of the missions, the frolicking, the battles…all of it, a testament to their overall skill.

Only now did I understand that it was his coping mechanism. The way where he had shared his burden between the three of us, so that the memory of his former team could live on. The stories became something of a weekly ritual, and once a week we would gather around the gardens behind Beacon near the hedges, and Professor Acht would share with us a story of his former team. It became something that we looked forward to, and something that allowed me to peer into my mentor's personality. Soon, I found out that he was actually socially-awkward, unable to talk to other people due to the fear that they might hate him, and that he could only talk comfortably between me and Pyrrha. Soon, he didn't bring his flask of liquor to 'nostalgia day', as he put it, instead telling us one day that he threw it over the cliffs so it wouldn't be a hassle. Soon, he became healthier. More lively. More willing to connect with other students. Pyrrha finally landed a hit on him a few months back, and he treated us to a drink at one of the various clubs around Vale. It turned out that the Invincible Girl wasn't immune to being drunk, and Professor Acht clarified that it was something than ran in the family, which then turned into an impromptu storytelling session about the times wherein Pyrrha's sister did some sort of stupid thing while she was drunk.

As of the moment, the two of us were currently in the locker rooms, getting ready for our two versus two match in the Vytal festival. The first round was pretty easy, since I just held the three frontliners back while Ren took off to eliminate the sniper, and Pyrrha and Nora worked together in order to demolish the rest of the competition. Now, it was the second round, and apprehension coursed through me as I fixed my hoodie, making sure that my armor was snug and still flexible enough for me to move efficiently. "It's alright, Jaune. You can do this."

"No encouragement for me?" Pyrrha teased, and I shot a blank glare towards her to which she replied with a laugh. I swear, Professor Acht was a bad influence to the both of us. We became more outspoken yes, but with it came the tendencies of trying to piss off other people just for kicks, along with having the inexplicable urge to tease someone at their most inopportune moment.

[Calling, Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc to Staging Area 2.]

The PA system blared to life, and I shared a gaze with my partner before we banged our shields together and made our way out of the locker room. Our gaze was clipped yet swift, and we avoided any kind of camera flashes sent our way as we went towards our destination– a waiting room that led towards the arena.

Standing in the middle of that room, was someone that I didn't expect. "You've come far, the two of you", Professor Acht said with a tinge of pride in his tone, evident in the smile that he gave to the two of us. To others it was a creepy smile, one that managed to make their skin crawl, but to the both of us, it was just another quirk of his. In fact, he managed to look even younger while smiling. Not that I would ever say that to his face, though. It seemed that my mentor valued the idea of looking older than everyone else. "One was a bumbling idiot that got into Beacon with false credentials, while the other one was a little kid that was lost in the desert, trying to search for her older sister."

Both of us flushed at our respective first meetings with our mentor, and we promptly cringed as Professor Acht brought out that damnable smirk. Flashes of emotion crossed his eyes for a few seconds before he let us pass, stepping to the side in order to let the two of us through. Pyrrha and I stepped forward, glancing towards each other with small smiles on our faces as we bowed in Professor Acht's direction. He blinked, the sudden action causing his crossed arms to be stuffed inside his pockets, and he stared at us with a single eyebrow raised.

Here's to hope that I didn't screw up my Mistralian. "Thank you very much, sensei." The two of us said in sync, before resuming our pace towards the arena itself. I glanced back towards Professor Acht, seeing the look of shock on his face, and I would've pictured him with a Scroll if we weren't so pressed for time. I smiled at him, and he immediately turned away and placed an arm over his eyes, wiping them clean of any dirt that might've gotten onto them for the past ten minutes. Or at least, that's what I would imagine his excuse to be once we get back.

A second later, he wiped the tears from his eyes and stared at us with a small grin on his face, sending the two of us a thumbs-up. "Give them hell, you two", he said, his voice promising pain if we ever lost this round. Naturally, as his students, we had to respond back in kind.

"Will do, Professor Acht."

And with that, the two of us stepped into the stage of the Vytal Tournament, our gazes locked onto our opponents, and our shields gleaming in the light.

EDIT: Currently stuck with the perspective of the next chapter. I've made a poll by my profile, so just vote there! I'll be checking on it later.

EDIT 2: Poll is finished. Looks like the next chapter would be done from Qrow's perspective.