The moment of truth has come. If you saw the title of this chapter some of you will realize instantly that things are about to get real and others will simply be confused. That being said, I ask that you read the chapter in its entirety before passing judgment.
As always leave a review and let me know your thoughts. I'm still looking for experience writers to act as my editor for my stories so if you're interested and have previous experience, send me a PM.
Beacon – RWBY Dorm
Yang would be the first to admit that, when it came to her Uncle Qrow, the endless amounts of "life advice" he often shoved off onto Ruby and herself was typically useless. However, if you paid attention you could often glean small nuggets of wisdom from the drunken old Huntsman, advice that would later serve you well when the situation arose. One such lesson she'd learned the hard way was how easy it was to apply permanent marker to a person's face without disturbing their sleep. The degree of success often depended on just how heavy a sleeper the victim was but, in most cases, it didn't take a great deal of pressure to apply the black ink. Just light brush strokes were all that was needed and before long the artist had painted a masterpiece on their sleeping canvas.
It often helped if you could prevent the victim from looking in a mirror or stop others from pointing out what had happened. The longer you could make them go without realizing what you'd done, the better the laugh once they finally discovered the truth. In Weiss' case, this didn't come until the next morning. Too exhausted from her trip to the Zoo, the heiress had been all too eager to fall into her bed, putting off taking her shower until the following morning. Yang couldn't help but snicker all night long, dreaming of what the girl's reaction would be like the following morning. She didn't have to wait very long as Weiss stumbled into the bathroom, half asleep and in desperate need of a shower. The momentary pause before the Remnant shattering scream had Yang falling out of her bed and onto the floor laughing. Unfortunately, this made it that much more difficult to run away once Weiss began chasing her, looking like a banshee from Hell with her frazzled hair and streaks of black marker strewn across her face.
/-/
"You didn't notice it at all?" Pyrrha asked after Weiss had recounted the entire experience.
"No, I was too tired to even take a shower. I saw the black streaks on my pillow this morning but I assumed they were from my mascara. It was only after I saw my reflection in the mirror that I noticed what that she-devil had done," she snarled.
"Totally worth it," Yang said with a smirk. "I'm surprised Jaune didn't try to warn you ahead of time. I tagged him as well as you."
"To be fair Pyrrha warned him beforehand," Ren replied.
"Speaking of, where is he? I thought he'd be here by now," Ruby asked.
"He and Jade are out in the gardens. He's not quite sure but Jade may have unlocked her semblance and he wanted to test something."
"Really? What can she do?" Ruby asked excitedly.
"She can communicate with animals, apparently," he replied.
"That's so cool," she squealed, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"It'll be even cooler if she can use that to give them commands. Then she can have her own pet army and rule the world," Nora said, raising her hands over her head as she cackled manically.
"I don't think that's how it works," Pyrrha replied, glancing over at her friend.
"Can she give them commands, though?" Yang asked, curious.
"We're not quite sure. Jaune only just noticed it recently so, assuming that's what it is, he wants to test it out a little to see what it's capabilities are and how far she can take it. It maybe that she can talk with them telepathically and vice versa or she may even be able to force them to follow her commands. It's interesting to think about," Ren mussed.
"And a little disconcerting," Pyrrha added. "There's no telling just how dangerous or harmless any one person's semblance can be until you've taken the time to understand what its limits are and how useful they can be."
"Sounds like you're speaking from experience there P-money," Yang pointed out.
"You're not wrong. When my semblance was first discovered, it caused a great deal of controversy on the competitive scene. There were… concerns I might use it to cause undue harm to opponents who had prosthetic limbs."
"That's a bit of a leap, isn't it?"
"Not really. Every semblance has the potential to do great good as well as great harm. It's one of the reasons the Huntsmen Academies created an ethics course centered on the moral use of one's semblance. It's important to instill the belief that our semblances should be used for ethical purposes and in the betterment of mankind as a whole," Weiss lectured.
"Oh, so that talk Uncle Qrow gave us when we were kids," Ruby said.
"Pretty much," Yang agreed and, seeing everyone's looks, added, "our dad and Uncle are teachers at Signal. They made sure we knew about using our semblances responsibly when we first unlocked them."
"Yea, because someone almost burned the house down when she threw a tantrum," Ruby snarked.
"Better than ramming my face into the wall every five seconds," Yang shot back.
"You what?" Weiss asked, trying and failing to hold back her laughter.
"Yang~" Ruby whined.
"This little speed demon kept ramming into the walls when she first unlocked her semblance. She could barely take a step before she'd speed off into the wall."
"At least my hair didn't set the carpet on fire and almost burn down the house," Ruby replied.
"I had an unfortunate incident with our family's knife drawer," Pyrrha admitted with a blush.
"I got struck by lightning," Nora interjected, causing everyone to pause and look at her, confused. "~Crazy Thursday~."
/-/
Jaune pulled apart the breakfast bagel he'd taken from the cafeteria, breaking it into small pieces before dropping them into Jade's waiting hands. Taking his portion, he tossed them onto the grass before taking a bite of his sandwich and waiting. It didn't take long for the local birds that inhabited the trees planted all over Beacon's campus to start making their way down for the free meal. While they were used to people, they were still wary of them and kept their distance while scarfing down the small crumbs of bread.
"Alright, can you talk with these guys the same way you did the wolf?" he asked, looking towards his sister.
"I think so," she replied, sounding a little unsure.
"Just relax and do your best. We're just testing it out. If it doesn't work, don't worry. Not everyone can master their semblance so easily. It takes time and practice," he assured her.
"Okay," she replied, sounding a bit more relaxed.
He waited patiently, watching his sister do her… thing. He wasn't quite sure what he was waiting for to be honest. Part of him still wondered it what had happened at the Zoo hadn't been a fluke. Of course, he found that difficult to believe given how it had occurred. Rather than just drive himself mad wondering about it, he instead decided to take Jade outside to give it a bit of a test run. If she had unlocked her semblance and if she was able to communicate with animals from what he'd seen, then perhaps they should start out small like communicating with the birds.
Several moments passed as he watched Jade stare intently at the little birds. After a while he wondered if perhaps he'd been wrong or if maybe it only worked with specific animals, like it allowed her to communicate with mammals but not birds, fish, and the like. Soon after, though, her face lite up as one of the tiny birds took notice of her, hoping towards her cautiously. Excited but keeping herself contained, Jade lowered her cupped hands full of bagel bites down to the grass. The bird hopped over, leapt onto her fingers and proceeded to eat.
"Hi," Jade said, smiling down at the tiny bird.
Rather than fly off, Jaune was surprised to see the bird look up at her and start tweeting, almost like it was speaking back to her. Whatever was said, Jade somehow understood it as she giggled at its response.
"You're welcome," she said.
"Jade, are you talking with it?" he asked, curious.
"Yep," she said, looking up to him.
"How are you doing that?"
"I don't know. I can hear him in my head and I talk back."
"So you can communicate telepathically," he mused.
"Huh?"
"Never mind. What's it saying?"
"It was thanking us for the snacks. They really like the bagels."
"Huh," he replied, somehow unsurprised by the response. "Are you able to speak with the others?"
"Hmm," she said, looking back towards the others with a look of deep concentration. "Nope, just him," she said, nodding to the little bird on her hands.
"I see," he said, taking note of her semblance's apparent limitations. "Was it the same way with the wolf?"
"Mmmhmm," she said, nodding in unison.
That answered a few questions but brought more up as well. Was there something unique about those particular animals that allowed her to communicate with them? Was it merely a limitation of Jade's semblance, one that would enable her to communicate with more and more animals as it developed? Was it limited to communicating with them or could she exert some sort of control over them as well?
The last question made him feel a little nervous. Assuming it was limited to communicating with them still opened up a myriad of possibilities, especially if she could establish some sort of relationship that allowed her to use them in battle against the Grimm. However, if she could control them that also brought some interesting possibilities to the fore but also brought up a few concerns as well. If anything it meant he'd need to take the time to properly train Jade in the use of her semblance, especially the moral and ethical uses as well. He could already see how easily a semblance like hers could end up being abused and, given that these animals appeared to have personalities and feelings of their own, it wouldn't be a bad idea to instill the belief of treating them like any other person into Jade's mind.
He should also ask his friends and teammates about their experiences with unlocking and mastering their semblances. Given that he'd yet to unlock his own and Jade had already her own, using their experiences as a baseline for what they should expect from their own moving forward as well as how they should go about developing them. Things were bound to get more interesting, that was for sure. Needless to say he was both excited and a little nervous to give everyone the news.
/-/
Combat class, despite its name, encompassed more than simply sparring matches and critiques on one's form or abilities. Every other class was spent in a classroom where they were instructed on team tactics as well as went over more in-depth battle tactic theories, including semblance use. Jaune hadn't had time to speak with his friends regarding Jade's abilities but, given the nature of their class, he was certain that he would be able to learn something that might help to better understand his sister's new abilities and perhaps even help her to developed them. Of course, there was also the matter of unlocking his own semblance but that was something he'd worry about when it finally happened. Semblances awoke of their own accord and in their own time. Attempting to force their emergence could often lead to… problematic situations.
"Semblances are popularly believed to be a manifestation of a person's soul to the point that they reflect a person's true nature or their inner desires. While there's little evidence to support such a belief, it is nonetheless prevalent given how unique they are, how diverse they are in their abilities as well as how useful they can prove to be in either a combat situation or a more subtle approach, and the fact that there are no two semblances that are quite the same," she said before glancing over in Weiss' direction and adding, "with very few exceptions.
Due to the fact that a person's semblance is a unique entity and is not something that can be predicted nor something that can be manufactured, it has led many researchers to the belief that it is nature's way of balancing things by ensuring a person can't choose what sort of semblance they'll unlock or obtain. This has naturally led many to determine that there are semblances which are more useful than others, though the thought that there are semblances which are completely useless is something that is frowned upon by the Huntsman community. More often than not, a semblance that was at one point considered a complete waste or that had no tactical value whatsoever were proven to be otherwise indispensable when used in the right situation or pared with the tactics.
Of course, there is also the matter of people comparing semblances to weapons, bringing up the point that every semblance comes with its own strengths and weakness. A speed semblance may allow for strikes in quick succession but if those attacks lack the power needed to overcome an opponent's defenses or if they completely fail to take advantage of a person's weak points then it lacks a great deal of combat potential. The same can be said for a semblance that gives its owner incredible defensive capabilities but restricts movement or is only capable of offering undaunting protection for a short period of time. What's more, allowing one's self to become over reliant on the power of their semblance can lead to an imbalance of strengths and capabilities. As such it is important that you never become over reliant either on your semblance, your own physical strength, or your intellect. Balance is a key component to achieving victory and when using all three of these in unison you will ensure victory.
Now, are there any questions?"
Jaune's was the first hand to shoot up. Cocking an eyebrow, Glynda nodded to him, curious as to what the boy had to ask.
"Miss Goodwitch, you spoke of semblances that have a greater use in an offensive and defensive capability but what about semblances that fit more into something of a support role?"
"An excellent question. Can you elaborate Mr. Arc? Given us an example," she encouraged.
"Well, my teammate Lie Ren's semblance allows him to suppress his emotions as well as the emotions of others. He's used it well when sneaking up on Grimm and allowing either himself or our team to avoid conflict with the Grimm when it would otherwise prove detrimental to our current mission. While it doesn't have any direct use in combat against people, it can still be of great use to us in other situations, especially where the Grimm are concerned."
"Indeed, you are correct," Glynda replied, giving him a quick, albeit rare smile as she continued, "this is exactly what I meant when speaking of no semblance being useless or devoid of purpose. Every semblance, no matter how mundane it may appear, can still be used to great effect when either dependent on the situation or on a person's own adaptability. While often overlooked, support based semblances are just as useful and often times prove to be more beneficial to a mission than semblances catered to combat or defensive properties."
"What about semblances that have a more unconventional approach?" Jaune continued.
"How do you mean?" she asked, curious.
"What if you unlocked a semblance that allowed you to communicate and request the aid from noncombat personnel?"
Glynda gave him a curious look, obviously unsure of what he was asking. "If you're referring to clairvoyant semblances that allow for nonverbal communication between teammates, such semblances, while rare, have been documented in the past but I'm guessing you're referring to something else entirely."
"Something like that, yes," he replied. "What if your semblance allowed you to speak with animals?"
This question earned itself a wide range of reactions. A few people were surprised by it while others got a good chuckle out of the outlandish use of such a semblance and what it might offer when it meant communicating with dogs, cats, and the like. A few more even went so far as to offer some racist comments when referring to "animals" but kept quiet enough that they weren't overheard by Miss Goodwitch.
"That is certainly an unusual semblance though not one without some possibility for tactile use. I take it you believe you've unlocked yours Mr. Arc?"
"Not mine, Miss Goodwitch," he said, "my sister's."
"HA, leave it to animal to unlock such a useless semblance," Cardin Winchester scoffed.
"Mr. Winchester, detention this weekend," Glynda snapped, cracking her riding crop in the same moment to silence the classroom. "I will not tolerate such blatantly racist comments here or anywhere on Beacon's campus."
"When do you believe she unlocked her semblance?" she asked, returning her attention to Jaune.
"This past weekend, when I took her to the Vale Intercontinental Zoo. While we were at the Ice Wolf exhibit, I think she managed to communicate with one of the wolves. It approached the glass and seemed almost to interact with her. It was very strange considering its one way glass so the animals shouldn't have been able to see her."
"And you're certain this was when it was unlocked."
"It is," he replied.
"I can corroborate his claim, Miss Goodwitch," Weiss pipped in. "I was there, along with at least a dozen patrons and their children. It caused quite a commotion."
"That is not surprising. Given their nature, semblances have a way of pronouncing themselves in a manner that is difficult to ignore. Have you learned anything more regarding her semblance since then?"
"It appears to have around a ten meter range of influence and is very particular regarding which animals it can affect."
"What do you mean by particular?"
"Well, there were little less than a dozen wolves within Jade's sphere of influence, yet only one was able to communicate with her. Likewise, I took her out this morning to test it with the birds that live in the trees on Beacon's campus. There were a handful out today and again only one of them noticed her semblance's influence. From what I've seen either certain factors have to be in play for her to have any affect or her current fledgling abilities have her limited to only animal at a time. I've yet to test it against other animals but it doesn't appear to have any bias when it comes to species so it won't only work on mammals or birds or reptiles."
"Indeed, it appears you've gleaned a great deal of information from just a few observations. Dr. Oobleck would certainly be proud. Now, you mentioned using this type of semblance in a support role. Could you elaborate on that?"
"Of course. Given that her semblance isn't something that can be used directly in a combat role, focusing instead on her creating a relationship with another animal or animals could render her as an indispensable asset when it comes to things such as infiltration, information gathering, or even escort missions. Huntsmen and even the Kingdom's militaries have utilized animals in the past in various support roles and having someone who's better able to communicate and coordinate with the animals could prove vital to the missions overall success."
"So, what, you suggesting we start training cats and dogs to start killing Grimm?" someone asked.
"Why not?" Ruby pipped in, looking around sheepishly as she realized her outburst had drawn everyone's eyes towards her. "I mean, my family's dog Zwei has his aura unlocked and he's killed loads of Beowulves and even a few Ursa. It's not that difficult to think other dogs could be trained to do the same."
"At the risk of stepping into Dr. Oobleck's area of expertise, both Miss Rose and Mr. Arc raise valid points. Animals, not just dogs but horses and various birds, have been used in some capacity by our Kingdom's in the past, whether it was in times of war or in actual combat against the Grimm, numerous examples can be found to support their claims. Mr. Arc, I'd suggest continuing to look into your sister's capabilities and learning as much as you can regarding her semblance. I believe you may have stumbled upon a very lucrative field of training that could prove pivotal to her development as a Huntress in the future."
It was shortly after that class ended and the teams began making their way back to their dorms. Dinner would be starting soon enough, giving them time to study, hangout, or get in some quick training sessions before they ate. Teams RWBY and JNPR headed back to their dorms with Jaune being absent as he went to pick up Jade from daycare. While they didn't often discuss what they had learned in class, the revelation regarding Jade unlocking her semblance had certainly earned the team's attention.
"That's so cool Jade can talk with animals. I kind of wish that was my semblance. I could talk to Zwei all day log and know what he's saying whenever he starts barking."
"Ruby, he's a corgi. He's not exactly difficult to figure out. At best he's saying I'm hungry, I want to be outside, and I wants belly rubs," Yang pointed out.
"Yea, I know, but it would still be cool."
"I wonder if it's something she can consciously do or if it's more passive," Ren mussed.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, my semblance is passive in that it's continuously being used regardless of my intent or not. It's what allows me to keep my emotions in check and even remain undetected by the Grimm. I can even expand it to cover other people as well. The only problem is that it can be rather troublesome at times when I'm meant to react to a situation and my semblance keeps me completely balanced to the point of being emotionless."
"That's Ren speak for can Jade turn her semblance on and off or does she hear animals talking all the time?" Nora clarified.
"Oh, that makes sense," Ruby replied.
"What do you think Weiss? You were there to witness the big moment."
"I can't say for sure. From what I saw it looked like it was a conscious action on Jade's part, like she was actively attempting to speak with the wolf. On the other hand, when it awoke she might have taken notice of him and was too excited to be able to interact with the wolf to realize it was unintentional. I'll need to ask Jaune for clarification when he comes back."
"Indeed. It does raise some interesting questions. It also makes sense why he was absent from breakfast the morning. I wonder if this means he'll be looking to get Jade a pet soon, if only to help nurture that bond and start training her in the use of her semblance," Pyrrha added.
"Does Beacon even allow pets?" Weiss asked.
"They can't exactly say no if they don't know about it," Yang replied, giving the heiress a cocky grin when she scowled back at her.
"Just as long as it's not a dog. I detest dogs," Blake grumbled, finally joining the conversation despite having her eyes glued to her scroll.
"Better a dog than a fish, otherwise you might try to eat it like that tuna fish sandwich you had for lunch," Yang replied.
"That's racist Yang," Blake snapped.
"No, it's an astute observation of my partner's eating habits, along with several others that align with the feline persuasion," Yang said, giving Blake her best impression of Weiss.
"Guys, can we not fight out here? Oh, look, mail!" Ruby said excitedly, zipping down the hallway to their dorm where a long, cylindrical package sat leaning against their door. "Yang, we got a package from dad."
Thea teams all piled into RWBY's dorm, eager to see what they father had sent them. Everyone was a little confused by the letter that said he'd sent along saying there was enough dog food for their dog Zwei as well as the dog itself. Tipping the package towards the floor they watched as at least two dozen cans of dog food fell into a neat pile before a furry black and white cylinder fell out as well. It wriggled for a moment before expanding into a full grown corgi. The dog took stock of its surroundings before seeing Yang and Ruby and letting out an excited yip in response.
"Zwei!" they cried happily.
"He sent your dog!?" Blake cried, instantly leaping off the floor and onto the precarious perch of Ruby's bed.
"You know, this isn't helping to disprove my earlier argument," Yang said, giving the cat Faunus a wicked smirk as she glared down at their dog.
"Does your father do this often?" Pyrrha asked.
"Do what often?" Yang asked.
"Go on missions or send your dog through the mail?" she asked.
"Yes," was her only reply.
"Oh, I can't wait to introduce him to Jade. She's going to love him," Ruby cued excitedly.
"You can't be serious. You can't actually expect us to live with this… mutt, do you?" Blake argued.
"It's only until dad gets back from his mission, calm down Blake," Yang replied.
"Weiss, help me out here," she pleaded.
The heiress said nothing. Currently, she was preoccupied with having buried her face in the dog's fur, speaking in incoherent sentences and using words that would more often be heard when speaking to an infant rather than a full grown dog as she cuddled him.
"Looks like another person has joined team Zwei," Yang announced triumphantly.
"Gods, I'm in hell," Blake moaned.
"Chill out Blake, you're being more of a drama queen than Weiss."
"Hey, I take offense to that," she snapped.
"Just because you find it offensive doesn't make it any less true," Yang shot back.
In the midst of their arguing, a knock sounded at the door. With everyone currently preoccupied either with showering Zwei in attention or, in Blake's case, avoiding him like the plague, Ruby went to answer the door. Consciously she prayed it wasn't Miss Goodwitch. While Zwei was difficult not to love, she had doubts that their strict combat instructor would make an exception for him. Thankfully, it was Jaune, having returned from his trip.
"Hey Jaune."
"Hey Ruby, what's going on? No one was in our dorm when we returned and I heard people arguing in here."
"Yea, our dad sent us a package. He's on a mission right now."
"Oh? What did he send- ?"
His eyes immediately locked onto the furry bundle currently wriggling its way out of Weiss' arms to come and say hello to him. Rather than bend down to pet Zwei, he gazed down at him with a hollow look in eyes, confusing the dog as it put its forepaws on his legs in an attempt to get his attention.
"Ruby, you have a dog in your dorm," he stated.
"Yea, he's our dog Zwei," she said warily, immediately recognizing the shift in the atmosphere.
"Why do you have a dog in your dorm?" he asked.
"Our dad's on a mission. He sent him through to mail while he's gone. Jaune, is something wrong?" she asked, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck beginning to prick up.
"Ruby," he said, taking a moment to shut the door securely behind him before starting, "you can't have this dog here. WE can't have him anywhere near our dorm."
"Why not? Zwei isn't bothering anyone," Yang argued, her temper beginning to flare.
"That's not the point. Having him here is going to cause problems and I need you to move him elsewhere for the time being until your dad comes back."
"Jaune what's going on?" Pyrrha asked with obvious concern.
"I'll explain everything later. Right now, we need to move him before- "
He was cut off as the door to their dorm clicked open and Jade pushed her way inside. Jaune's eyes receded into his skull, obviously aware of something they weren't, and he was moving before they could react.
"Brother, I'm hungry- "she started and then her eyes caught sight of Zwei.
Child and dog saw each other. Dog, excited for a new friend, bounded towards her with obvious enthusiasm. Child, surprised and uncertain of how to react, fell back onto past experience and reacted accordingly.
"AAAAHHHHHH!" she screamed, her reaction catching everyone off guard and causing Zwei to stall.
It was enough to allow her to sprint into her brother's arms before he scooped her up and made a beeline for their dorm.
"Close the door! Close the door!" he ordered, holding a hysterical five-year-old in his arms.
"Jaune, wait, what's going on?" Ruby asked, closing the door behind her before rushing to her friend.
"I can't talk now," he said, doing his best to console Jade as she wailed in his arms. "We'll talk later once Jade's calmed down. I'll explain everything, I promise," he said before slipping into their dorm and shutting the door behind him.
Despite having two doors and a halfway between them, the muffled cries from Jade could still be heard. The rest of team JNPR had made their way back, both to support their team leader as well as find out what had caused Jade's horrendous reaction to Zwei. Once they were gone and team RWBY was left to their lonesome, the magnitude of the situation they were in finally settled on them.
"What the hell just happened?" Yang finally asked.
/-/
"Jade finally stopped crying just before we left," Pyrrha said, her usual smile absent in light of recent events. "Jaune's refused to leave her, though I doubt she'd give him much of a choice. She's been clutching him and her stuffed wolf equally tight."
"Did he tell you why she reacted like that to Zwei?" Yang asked.
"He did and it's…" she trailed off, her eyes falling to the table as she spoke.
"If this is all some stupid joke, I swear I'm going to smash his face into the wall," Yang said, her eyes turning red as she jumped to her conclusion.
"Yang, calm down. Jade's reaction wasn't something that could be faked, especially by a five-year-old," Weiss said, interjecting.
"She's right. It wasn't a joke," Ren agreed. "Jaune told us what happened to cause this reaction."
"And?"
"It's bad," Nora said, her seriousness completely throwing everyone off. "It's hard to imagine but it makes sense."
"Then what happened?" Yang asked, tired of the trio beating around the bush.
The three exchanged looks before Pyrrha finally said, "It'll be better if Jaune explains it. We'll all talk with him after dinner."
The usually lively mood of their meal was much more dour. No one said anything with the range of emotions being anxious and worried to downright pissed. The moment they were done they all marched back to the dorms, eager to find out exactly what had occurred. Cautiously, Pyrrha opened their dorm and stepped inside. Hushed voices could be heard from within before Jaune stepped out a moment later, giving them a tired smile as he gently shut the door behind him.
"Jade's asleep right now. Pyrrha's going to stay with her while we talk," he said, motioning towards their dorm.
They stepped inside, each of team RWBY's members taking seats around the room while Jaune pulled up a chair to sit down in front of them. He sighed heavily, running his fingers through his hair, looking much older than he should have been. Cautiously, Zwei crept up to him, wary and uncertain of how he'd react to his presence given their previous encounter. Jaune took notice of him, looking at him for a moment, before leaning over and putting his hand out for Zwei. The corgi, understanding the gesture for what it was, sniffed his hand before licking it in an affectionate manner. An easy smile crept onto Jaune's face as he scratched him under his chin and around his ears, Zwei's tail wagging rapidly at the affection. The tense atmosphere quickly dissipated at the sight with Yang and Ruby feeling especially grateful that Jaune held no hostile feelings towards their family's pet.
"I don't blame Zwei for what happened earlier, I just want to make that clear," he said as he continued to pet him. "I don't blame you two either. I know neither of you had any idea about what's happened in our past. Haven't had much reason to bring it up but now we have some things we need to discuss."
He sat up straight, looking Ruby and Yang in their eyes to ensure they knew how serious the situation was. If they hadn't figured it out before, his mannerisms now made it abundantly clear.
"Jade has cynophobia," he said.
"Sino-what?" Yang asked.
"Cynophobia," he corrected. "It's a fear of dogs."
"Oh," Ruby said, everything beginning to make sense now.
"How, uh, what, um," Yang tried and failed to ask, wanting an explanation but knowing it wasn't going to be a pleasant one.
"Life outside Vale's walls is never easy and our journey here was even less so. You all recall how Jade and I had bad experiences with some of the members of those settlements, enough so that we had to leave for our own safety?"
The girls all nodded, bracing themselves for the inevitable blow that was to come.
"In one case they were downright hostile," he said, taking a moment to collect himself before continuing. "It isn't uncommon for the town watch to have dogs trained to bark and howl when Grimm are near. Given that they don't have the facilities nor ability to have an alarm system installed to warn everyone, they instead use dogs for that purpose. It's proven to be very handy. Unfortunately, some people trained their dogs with another purpose in mind.
Despite what we may think, much of the bad blood that existed before and after the Faunus Rights Revolution still exists in some places. Call it ignorance or racism, doesn't matter, people have reasons to hate other people and some of them take that to whole new levels. One of those occasions included a pair of brothers who'd trained a large Doberman to track, hunt, and even kill Faunus."
"What?"
"That's terrible."
"Why?" Ruby asked.
"Simply put? Sport."
They were speechless, unable to say anything but their expressions were enough to show how disturbed and infuriated they were by this revelation.
"They didn't see any Faunus, regardless of age, as people. They even went so far as to brag about it too."
"That's barbaric! How did they even get away with that?" Weiss demanded.
"Lack of evidence," he replied simply. "Their dog made sure there was nothing left to identify the victims nor any evidence that could be linked back to them. The local sheriff was competent enough to ensure they didn't bother us while we were in town and stomped down on any attempts to rail us or harass us. Once we left the safety of the town, however, his jurisdiction ended and we were on our own.
We had walked for about a mile when we heard the barking. I didn't stop to question what it was and just picked up Jade before I tore off into the forest. My only thought was finding a place to hide or losing its trail or hopefully finding some evidence of civilization and help. Unfortunately, our pursuers knew the terrain better than we did. The dog caught up with us easily enough, sank its teeth into my leg and bore me to the ground in a frenzy. Had I not had my aura unlocked I probably would have bled out right then and there. Instead, I managed to fight it off, got my sword out, tackled it to the ground when it went for Jade, and stabbed it with my sword until it stopped moving."
Jaune's hands were trembling by this point, his nails were digging into his palms, causing his aura to flare. Zwei had retreated to Ruby's bed and had taken shelter underneath. The girls were all in various states of shock with Blake being the one most in control while Yang looked infuriated and Weiss and Ruby were speechless. It took a moment for Jaune to calm himself down, taking a shaky breath before continuing with his story.
"By the time its owners caught up I was covered in the dog's blood, shaken by the experience, and clutching my sword so tightly my hands had an impression of the handle for a while. The dog didn't look much like a dog anymore and that infuriated the bastards but I didn't care. Up to that point I hadn't ever killed anyone but I was more than ready to add them to my kill count."
"D-did you?" Ruby stammered.
"No," he replied, much to her relief. "We'd made such a commotion that a passing Huntsman had taken notice and came to investigate. The moment he appeared I knew we were saved. The dog's owners attempted to paint themselves as the victims, claiming that I had butchered their dog after it scared Jade. However, he took one look at me and Jade who was in tears and managed to figure out that something wasn't right. I told him everything, about how they'd harassed us in the last town and had been chasing us as soon as we left. Once I was finished he told me how to get to the next town and said he'd take care of it before letting us go."
"What did he do to them?" Yang prodded.
"Don't know and, honestly, I don't care. So long as they paid for what they did," he said with a tired sigh.
"Since then Jade hasn't liked dogs and, honestly, I can't blame her. I've considered trying to buy her a pet in the past but she's been very nervous around anything that looks even remotely like a dog. Except wolves, those seem to be the exception. Lexi has been working with her as well. The trip to the Zoo was a therapeutic experiment, one meant to see how she'd react to something somewhat related to a dog. Given our experience there it gave me some hope but, unfortunately, you can't predict everything."
"So what are we going to do?" Weiss asked, knowing that things had become much more difficult as a result.
"For now I think its best if we keep Zwei out of sight. I know he's a good dog," he said, scratching him behind the ears for emphasis when he came out from his hiding place, "but until we've reached a good middle ground, I don't want to take another chance of having an episode like what we experienced earlier occurring again."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Yang said.
"Honestly, I'm not quite sure," he said with a heavy sigh. "I've been doing everything I can to be the best guardian I can be for her. Every time I manage to solve one problem another one seems to rear its ugly head, turning our lives upside-down. I'd just like a moment where everything is tranquil, where nothing was going wrong, the world wasn't on fire, and I wouldn't have to worry about what sort of bullshit the universe was going to throw my way this time," he said, the group uncaring about his cursing in leu of the situation.
He let out a deep sigh, having expelled much of the stress he'd built up in the last few hours. "So, if we can I'd like us to agree to at least keep Zwei out of sight whenever Jade is nearby. As long as we keep him in your dorm she'll be fine."
"Is there a chance she'll be able to be around him without having an episode?" Yang asked, her natural older sister instincts flaring up as she spoke.
"Not in the near future, no. Until Lexi gives her okay I'm not going to purposely put Jade in a position where she'll end up feeling terrified. Even when she does, I'll make sure Jade understands what's going on and step in should the situation start turning south. I don't want to end up causing more harm than good."
"We understand," Weiss said, knowing she spoke for everyone in that moment.
"I'm going to go get some sleep. I'll need to drop Jade off early so I can bring Lexi up to speed. I'll see you all at breakfast."
No one said anything as he got up to leave. Zwei retreated to Yang's legs as he left, knowing without having to be told that he wasn't supposed to follow. Jaune had made it to his dorm door when Ruby finally got up the courage and sprinted after him.
"Jaune I- I- "she attempted and failed to say anything.
With a soft, tired smile, Jaune turned back around and brought his friend into a hug. Caught off guard by the gesture, she quickly relaxed as Jaune stroked her hair reassuringly. "None of this is your fault, Ruby. None of you could have known. The only people I blame for this were already punished and even then their handiwork still remains. I'm going to do everything I can to help Jade recover but I'll need your help as well. It's going to take some time for her to fully overcome this and I'm not sure I can do it all on my own. Can I count on you guys to help me help her?"
"Of course you can," she replied instantly. "She's one of us."
At the time I'm writing this I've yet to upload this new chapter but already I can feel the HATE you're all seething. Honestly, I feel a little giddy to see what you people put in your reviews. For the record though, I didn't do this to Jade simply to be mean. I wanted to subvert expectations and introduce something that would shake things up while also taking advantage of a moment to give Jade some character development. This isn't a one off thing either. I didn't give her Cynophobia just to forget about it right after. I have plans for this to crop up later after the whole fiasco with Beacon so expect to see it rearing its ugly head later on.
That all said, I'm betting most of you by now understand what the title of the chapter was referencing. I had the inspiration for it pop up the other day and knew it would be a perfect fit.