HEEELLLOOOOO! I'm glad y'all enjoyed the last chapter! I don't have much to say here except that we're almost at one hundred follows, which is AWESOME! I kinda wish my other story, "The Vagabond", had so many follows (hint hint nudge nudge) but I'm glad to see that there are no major complaints, which tells me I'm doing a pretty good job. Please enjoy this next chapter of "Jaune Arc, Gryphon Knight", in which we will be wrapping up the events of volume 1.


Jaune hastily deflected a strike from Nathaniel as he backpedaled out of the knight's reach. He circled the man warily, looking for an opening in his guard. There wasn't one. Jaune stepped in and jabbed Brillant Mors at Nathaniel, who sidestepped the thrust and swung the blade of the halberd at Jaune. It caught him in the temple, knocking him over and making him thankful for aura's protective properties. The air was driven out of Jaune stomach as the spearhead of Nathaniel's own halberd nailed him in the stomach. Jaune hastily scrambled backwards, narrowly avoiding another thrust from Nathaniel and pushed himself to his feet with one hand and thrust the spearhead of Brillant Mors at Nathaniel with the other. The spearhead hit Nathaniel squarely in the face plate of his helmet and knocked the knight back with a curse. Jaune leaped up and whooped with joy. That was the first time he had ever landed a solid strike on Nathaniel in the past two weeks since he had begun training under the knight.

His excitement came to an abrupt end as the hammerhead of Nathaniel's halberd slammed into his side with enough force to fling the boy to the edge of the roof. Jaune groaned in pain and attempted to push himself up and bring Brillant Mors to bear, but a steel boot slammed down on his hand with enough force to hurt him even through his aura, and when Jaune looked up he saw the spearhead of Nathaniel's weapon in between his eyes. The old knight pushed the face plate of his helmet up and stared at the boy with a raised eyebrow. "Now, what did you do wrong?"

Jaune sighed and laid back, waiting for Nathaniel to move his foot off of his hand. The older man stayed right where he was. "I didn't follow up on my attack after I caught you with that jab." Jaune finally said.

"And why didn't you?"

"I was... too busy celebrating."

"And what will celebration on the battlefield make you?"

"Dead?" Jaune guessed.

"Precisely." Nathaniel moved the halberd from between Jaune's eyes and his boot off of the boy's hand. The blonde pushed himself to his feet as Nathaniel walked over to where their water bottles were and slipped his hand under his shirt to gingerly press a finger against his side where Nathaniel had hit him. He winced.

Oh yeah, that's a bruise.

Jaune caught a flash of red and gold out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Pyrrha practically running towards him. He sighed and shook his head, but didn't try to stop her. Ever since Nathaniel had taken over his training she had been acting overprotective. She insisted on accompanying them every time they trained on the roof, which Jaune supposed was fair, but during the first couple days of training she would interrupt them if Nathaniel's halberd so much as grazed Jaune. Eventually she had calmed down, but she still badgered him during every break and after training was done with constant questions of whether or not she was sure he was okay. It had gotten to the point where he welcomed the next fight and dreaded the breaks after every sparring session.

She placed her own hand against his bruised side. "Are you okay?" she asked anxiously. "Is anything broken?"

Jaune pulled her hand away and pulled down his shirt and hoodie. "I'm fine Pyrrha. It's just bruised. My aura will have it healed up before the break's over."

"Are you sure? Maybe you should take a longer break this time, just to be sure."

Before Jaune could respond Nathaniel spoke up. "Girl, if you keep coddling him like that and he'll never get better. Bruises in training are better than a gaping chest wound in battle." Nathaniel took a swig from his bottle and wiped his lips, some of the water dripping down his beard.

"With all due respect sir, Jaune is my partner and team leader. I'm simply doing my job as his teammate to look out for him." While the statement itself was polite enough it was laced with venom. Jaune didn't know what Pyrrha's problem with Nathaniel was, but he wished she would just get over it. In the past two weeks of training with Nathaniel Jaune's prowess in combat had improved dramatically. True Nathaniel's rough training had meant he had gone to bed sore and bruised on many occasions, but it was more than worth it. If things continued the way they were Jaune would hopefully be on the same level as his teammates by the end of the semester. Which frankly was all he currently wanted. The end of the world wouldn't come for another ten years at the very least. For now he just wanted to focus on being up to par with his peers.

"It's fine Pyrrha, really." Jaune reassured her. "Nathaniel's right. He might be rough, but I'm getting better every day." He bumped her shoulder playfully. "Who knows?," he joked, "maybe by the end of the year I'll be able to take you on."

That made Pyrrha smile. "I would like to see that." The smile faded, and she leaned in and whispered to him. "Though I wish he'd be a bit more careful. I thought you were going to go over the edge of the roof back there."

Jaune laughed and waved off her concerns. "If I fall off then Talon will just catch me." He waved to his Gryphon, who was curled up on an adjacent area of open roof. "Won't you buddy?" The Gryphon's wings rose and fell in what Jaune had learned was the equivalent of a shrug.

"maybe," the Gryphon thought mischievously, "after you threw up all over my back I may not".

Jaune rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "Talon said yes."

Jaune had been practicing his flying with Talon after he was finished sparring with Nathaniel. The first few times he had thrown up, though usually he had been able to turn his head to the side to keep it from splattering all over himself and the war beast. However there had been a couple moments when he hadn't moved fast enough and wound up making a horrible mess. Fortunately as he got used to flying his airsickness had begun to lessen. He still got queasy at times, and he had actually thrown up three days ago, but it was a marked improvement.

Typically the path that Jaune and Talon would take would lead over the roof tops of Beacon and then over to Emerald forest for the Gryphon to hunt both food to eat and Grimm to fight. Jaune was still having trouble with mounted combat, but fortunately the sheer might and power of Talon was typically enough to protect them both if Jaune made a mistake, which he was thankfully doing less and less often. Whenever the two of them took to the air a crowd of students would gather outside to watch them fly.

At least, they did until one of Jaune's moments of projectile vomiting had hit some poor girl named... Java, or something like that. Her name had something to do with coffee, but for the life of him Jaune couldn't remember what exactly it was. Now most people watched through open dorm windows that could be hastily shut in the event of projectile vomit.

Nathaniel tossed Jaune his water bottle. The blonde opened it and took a grateful drink. Suddenly his scroll starting ringing some techno song that he recognized at Ruby's ringtone. He pulled the scroll out of his pocket and accepted the call, holding the phone up to his ear. "What's up Ruby?"

"Hey Jaune, its Blake. Last night she and Weiss... well..."

"Had an argument?" guessed Jaune. "We heard it on our end of the hall."

"H-how much did you hear?!"

Jaune frowned at the panic in Ruby's voice. Why would she be worried over what he heard? "Nothing specific. Just the sound of arguing filtered through, but we couldn't really make out individual words."

He heard Ruby sigh from the other end of the line. "Okay, well she didn't come back at all last night, and I was wondering, if you're not busy that is..."

"You want Juniper to help?" He guessed. "Say no more Ruby. We're always ready to help our sister team."

"Thanks Jaune! Just meet us at the bullhead landing pads. We'll talk more about it there."

"Got it. See you there." Jaune hung up his scroll and slipped it into his pocket. When he looked up he met three sets of curious eyes belonging to Pyrrha, Nathaniel, and Talon. "Blake's missing. She left team Ruby's dorm room last night after her argument with Weiss and didn't come back. Ruby wants Juniper's help searching."

"Of course we'll help," Pyrrha said determinedly, "Blake's our friend. I'm sure Ren and Nora will say the same thing."

"I know they will," Jaune said with confidence as he finished typing up a message to the two of them on his scroll, "which is why I've told them to meet us at the bullhead pads. That's where Ruby said we should meet."

"Take Talon with you," instructed Nathaniel, "It'll be good for the people to see him and get used to his presence."

The citizens of Vale already knew of Talon's existence. It had been impossible to hide his presence from the students of Beacon, so Jaune, Ozpin, and Nathaniel hadn't even tried. Of course news of the Gryphon had spread fast to the city, though no one outside of Jaune, Ozpin, and Nathaniel knew exactly what a Gryphon was. This would be the citizen's first time seeing the war beast.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," said Pyrrha.

"I'll be fine Pyrrha," Jaune assured her with a pat on the shoulder, "I've gotten a lot better at riding him, and if I do fall Talon will just catch me like always."

"Can't I come with you?" she asked, no practically begged Jaune. "That way if something does happen I can just use my semblance to stop you from falling off."

Jaune wanted to say no. He didn't mind spending time with Pyrrha, but flying was an experience he was finally starting to enjoy. If she came along then her constant worry over his slightest shift in the saddle would make it harder for him to enjoy himself and focus on the task at hand, but that look in her eyes... it was unnervingly similar to what Ruby did when she put on that adorable pouty face of hers. Just like against Ruby's pouty face he couldn't say no. "Let me talk to Talon," he sighed. He turned to face the warbeast, but before he could even say anything over their mental link Talon spoke.

"Absolutely not."

Jaune sighed and held up his hands imploringly. "Why not? She hasn't insulted you, and it's not like it'll be just the two of you. I'll be up there too."

Talon tossed his head regally, turning his beak up in the same way a human would turn their nose up at someone they found displeasing. "She doesn't like me. She thinks I'll get you killed. She doubts my ability to fly and ensure the safety of my rider."

By god, or Vaya, or whatever could his best friend and his mount just get along? Jaune shrugged. "She's just worried about me is all. If she came with us she would see how much I've improved as a rider and how capable of a mount you are."

"Her constant badgering will distract both of us. We might miss something in our search for the faunus."

Jaune blinked. "The what?"

"The faunus. Blake is her name correct? The quiet one who reads all the time."

Jaune frowned and shook his head. "That's her yeah, but she's a human."

Talon stared at Jaune uncomprehendingly. "No she's a faunus. A cat faunus to be exact. She hides her ears inside the bow? You can't honestly tell me that you can't have noticed. It's rather obvious, what with how the bow twitches occasionally, and how she smells faintly of cat."

Jaune's mouth opened, then closed. "W-wait. Blake... she... why didn't you say anything before?!"

Talon huffed irritably. "I thought you all knew, though I suppose it should have been obvious that you wouldn't. Humans aren't nearly as observant as I."

Jaune's mouth hung open. Blake? A faunus?

Come to think of it though she did like tuna a lot...

Though this did clear up some of the mystery of why Blake left. Considering the Schnee Dust Company's strained relationship with the faunus it made sense that Blake would decide to keep her heritage a secret with Weiss on her team. If her secret had come to light then that certainly explained why they had argued, and why she had decided to leave.

"Well," Jaune muttered, "that's a thing I'll deal with later, but we need to get back on track. Can Pyrrha fly with us?"

"I've already said no. She'll just be a nuisance. Besides you can't allow her to continue to baby you the way she does. Nathaniel is your mentor now, and she needs to accept that."

Jaune gritted his teeth. He didn't like Talon talking about Pyrrha like she was dead weight. In truth the blonde knew she was far more useful than he was, but he knew Talon was at least a little right. "If she came with us she would see that she wouldn't have to worry so much. In the long run it'll be better for everyone. She'll see that I'm doing fine, and that you're a perfectly capable mount."

Talon preened himself. "You're right about me being perfect at least. Very well, she may fly with us, but if she causes us any trouble I will land and she will have to dismount."

Jaune sighed in relief. If Talon had continued to refuse he would have been forced to resort to threatening Talon with Ruby's pouty face, but he'd prefer not to resort to such low tactics. He turned to Pyrrha. "Talon's okay with you flying with us, but only if you promise not to cause any trouble or distract us." He quickly backed away from the champion as the look on her face turned to one of anger. "Hey his words, not mine okay?" He leaned in close to Pyrrha and whispered, "consider it a chance to prove to him that you're as awesome as I know you are."

This seemed to brighten the redheaded girl up considerably. She flashed Jaune a smile that could have melted snow with its warmth. "I would be delighted to fly with you Jaune."

"Great!" Jaune said. "Let's head to the Bullhead pads. The others are probably already there waiting for us."


"Here comes the dunce now," Weiss said with a sigh as she watched the Gryphon fly over the rooftops of Beacon towards herself, Ruby, Yang, and Ren and Nora. She did not feel comfortable knowing that a beast like that was in the hands of someone like Jaune. It was an absolute recipe for disaster. One or both of them would be inevitably killed, and while his death would make her life a lot easier Weiss didn't dislike the boy nearly enough to wish him harm.

After all, it wasn't his fault that she was an heiress. All any boy who had ever shown any interest in her had ever really been after was her money. They didn't care about her.

Beside her Ruby jumped up and down and waved at Jaune and Talon as they came in for a landing. Weiss couldn't tell what their leader or Pyrrha saw in the blonde dunce, but Weiss wished that one of them would just hurry up and confess to him so Jaune would leave her alone. The Gryphon glided down and skidded to a halt a few feet in front of them. To Weiss's surprise Pyrrha hopped off the back of Talon and jogged over to them. Jaune remained on his mount as Talon walked over to them. Like she always did when she saw the big bird Ruby zipped over to Talon and started petting him. "Is he going to help us search?" asked Ruby.

"He is," confirmed Jaune. "Nathaniel thought it would be a good idea so that the people of Vale could get used to his presence."

"Provided you don't throw up on anyone," scoffed Weiss.

"I-it was only one time!" protested Jaune, "besides I'm sure Java has forgotten all about it."

"Her name is Coco," corrected Weiss, "and no, she hasn't. She's sworn she'll kill you the first time she lays eyes on you." She smirked at the blonde boy. "She asked me if I wanted to help her, but blood is hard to wash out of my clothes, so I unfortunately had to turn her down." If that didn't get the message of how little she cared for him across then Weiss didn't know what would.

"Awe!" gushed Jaune, "I knew you cared Snow Angel!"

Then again Jaune Arc was widely considered to be the densest person in the academy for good reason...

Weiss had already gotten her hand on Mrytenaster before Ruby managed to jump in and stop her from drawing it and freezing the insufferable dunce to his over sized chicken. "Weiss come on!" whined Ruby. "We need his help to find Blake!"

Ah yes. Her.

Weiss didn't know what to think of their missing teammate. She had been a member of the White Fang, an terrorist organization that was not only severely anti-human, but had also been at war with her family for years. Weiss had every right to be glad of Blake's disappearance, regardless of what Ruby and Yang thought.

And yet...

Ever since their first day at Beacon Blake could have killed her at any time. It would have been easy too. All she would have had to do was strike while Weiss was sleeping, and the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company would be dead. It would be a huge victory for the White Fang over both the SDC and the four kingdoms. Despite this Blake hadn't harmed her in the least, and had actually worked with her throughout the school year.

Weiss released her grip on her rapier. "Very well," she sighed. "Let's get moving then."


"Nothing," Jaune sighed, "We've been searching for most of the day and haven't even found a trace of her." For the past several hours Jaune and Pyrrha had flown over the rooftops of Vale in search of the missing member of RWBY. On occasion they had landed and the partners had asked people if they had seen anyone who matched her description. No one had.

Predictably the people had been astounded by the sight of Talon. Though news of the Gryphon's presence at Beacon had spread like wildfire through the city, as had videos of him and Jaune flying over the school, none of the civilians had ever actually seen the war beast, and on more than one occasion valuable search time had been wasted explaining what a Gryphon was and telling people that they couldn't ride him. More than a few people had been afraid to even approach the war beast, but they hadn't been shot down by the police or military, so Jaune was taking that as a sign that it was okay for him to fly over the city.

"She's got to be somewhere in the city," mused Pyrrha from her position sitting behind him as they flew over the city. "Where haven't we searched yet?"

"Between the three of us and the others we've pretty much searched high and low. The only places we haven't checked have been nonresidential areas like the docks." Jaune looked up at the dark sky above them. It was night, and even with streetlights their ability to spot their friend would be compromised by the dark. On top of that Talon was growing tired of flying across the city pointlessly with two people on his back. Jaune was just about to suggest to Pyrrha that they call the others and suggest calling off the search until tomorrow morning when an explosion rocked the air. Talon squawked in surprise and looked towards the source of the explosion. Black smoke billowed up from the docks miles away, marking the location of the detonation.

"What are the chances Blake's there?" asked Pyrrha.

Jaune sighed, "our luck? Probably really good." He twirled his halberd and couched it under his arm. "Head towards the smoke Talon, and be ready for a fight."


Jaune slammed the hammerhead of Brillant Mors into the stomach of the White Fang member, knocking the poor faunus into a cargo container where he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Talon headbutted another who collapsed immediately, either unconscious or having enough sense to not get back up. "We would be doing much better if you'd just let me kill them."

Jaune sighed as he slammed the pommel of his weapon into the temple of another White Fang member. "I told you, we are not killing them! I don't want human blood on my hands, or your beak, or whatever! No killing!"

At that moment three White Fang members went sailing past as Nora nailed them with her hammer. Jaune couldn't help but wince as they slammed into the cargo container, clearly hearing bones break from the impact. Not for the first time Jaune was glad the ginger was on his team. Her power was unholy. At that moment three White Fang members armed with swords came around the corner and skidded to a halt when they saw the Gryphon. Immediately they turned to run, but Talon took off after them, clearing the distance with a few powerful strides. He grabbed the first in his beak by the terrorist's collar and flung him aside as Jaune smashed Brillant Mors's hammer head into the knee cap of the other two terrorists. He winced at the sound of bones breaking and their screams of pain, but it was preferable to killing them.

The two crippled men collapsed and Talon spread his wings and took to the air. Mount and rider scanned the docks, looking for any enemies that they needed to deal with. It looked like they were all either down, or being dealt with by Ruby and the ginger haired girl who Jaune had never seen before that had shown up with Ruby and the other members of JNPR. Ren and Nora were tag teaming a group of White Fang, while Pyrrha was taking on ten all by herself and barely breaking a sweat in taking them down. Ruby and the ginger haired girl were dealing with a group of White Fang who just didn't have the good sense to back down. Yang and Weiss hadn't shown up, and it was looking like by the time they did all of the White Fang members who hadn't escaped with Torchwick would be dealt with.

By the time Jaune and Pyrrha had shown up on Talon Roman had already fled, and all that had been left for the two of them to do was to help Ruby, her friend, Ren, and Nora (who had shown up earlier) mop up the remaining White Fang who hadn't cut and run. Jaune didn't even know what Blake was doing at the docks. Why would she be at the scene of a major heist by a group of violently radical faunus? Sure she was a faunus, as Jaune had learned earlier that day, but that didn't mean she had any ties to the White Fang.

Right?

"I think that's all of them," said Jaune, "let's land and group up with the others." Talon swooped down and landed next to the other members of JNPR. Jaune hopped off of the Gryphon's back. "You guys okay?" he asked, directing the question at both his teammates and Ruby and Blake.

"We're fine," responded Ruby as she helped Blake over to a crate where she sat the girl down. "Blake and her monkey friend are tired and a little out of it, but its nothing some rest won't fix." the monkey faunus limped over and sat on the crate next Blake. The two shared a tired smile as they leaned against each other for support.

"As much as I would hate to ruin the mood," said Ren to Blake and the monkey faunus, "could the two of you please explain what happened here, and why you were in the middle of it?"

Blake looked around as if to be sure there was no one else around, then she reached her hands up to her head and placed them on her bow, right before the monkey boy placed his own hand on hers. "You don't have to if you don't want to you know."

She smiled at him. "It's alright Sun. I trust them. They're my friends." The monkey boy Sun thought about this for a second, then removed his hand. Blake removed the bow, and in its place were two black cat ears that Jaune wasn't afraid to admit he found slightly adorable. Everyone except for Sun and Jaune gasped in shock when they saw the ears. "The reason I was here at the docks is because I... used to be a member of the White Fang." Another gasp of shock, and this time Jaune joined in. "It was before I joined Beacon though, so no one there knew about my past. When I got into that argument with Weiss it just kind of... slipped out. I ran, and ran into Sun here. We spent a couple days together-"

"Wait!" shouted Nora as she leaned in close to Blake, her face only a couple inches from the cat faunus's. "When you say together..." she cupped her hands around her mouth and spoke in a whisper that was still loud enough for everyone to hear, "do you mean together together?"

Jaune had to bite back a laugh as Blake face went from bewildered to shocked, and then embarrassed. "N-no! Nothing happened! We are not together! Not like that anyway. W-what I mean to say is..."

"That's enough Nora," said Ren calmly as he dragged his partner back.

Blake sighed, her face crossing the line from pink to red while Sun grinned victoriously and gave Nora a thumbs up, which she returned. "As I was saying, we spent a couple days together, nothing happened, and then I told Sun about my former involvement in the White Fang, and how I was hoping to prove that they weren't behind the string of dust store robberies over the past months. He suggested that we stake out the docks because of a large shipment of Schnee Dust Company dust which would be a likely next target of the thieves so we could see who the robbers were. So we did, and I think you can probably piece the rest together."

"Why didn't you come to us Blake?" asked Ruby, who looked absolutely downcast.

"I... didn't think you'd want to see me again," admitted Blake.

"Of course I would!" shouted Ruby as she took Blake's hands in her own. "You're my friend and teammate Blake, and I'm sure Weiss and Yang will say the same thing when they get here. We don't care how many ears you have, or who you used to associate with. You're a member of team Ruby now. You're one of us."

At that moment Yang and Weiss showed up. Both of them rushed over to Blake and wrapped her in a tight hug. "I don't care if you're a faunus," said Weiss, "but next time there's a problem I want you to come to us instead of some- instead of someone else. Okay?"

Blake smiled and hugged them both back, "okay."

As team JNPR witnessed the heartfelt moment between team RWBY Jaune leaned over to his teammates and muttered, "do you guys ever feel like we're side characters in some sort of story? Like team RWBY are the main characters, but we're the highly beloved secondary team that, while we're not the main characters, we're just as popular?"

"That's a rather specific example," responded a bewildered Pyrrha.

"I know," replied Jaune, "but it just kind of came to me. Like team Ruby always does the wild and crazy stuff, and we're just kind of along for the ride."

"You know," said Nora thoughtfully, "I sometimes feel the same way. Though I always kind of figured we were a bit more popular than the main characters cause we are way more quirky and funny."

Ren sighed and patted Nora's head. "Of course you'd think that Nora."

Jaune shrugged. "It was just this weird kind of niggling feeling I had you know? But that's silly. At the end of the day we're our own main characters in our own stories."

"Right?"


Three days after the dock incident Jaune was in the headmaster's office along with Nathaniel. Mentor and student stood across from Ozpin and Glynda, who was seated at his desk with his cup of coffee and with Glynda standing at his shoulder. "So let me be sure I have this right," said the headmaster as he refilled his mug, "you want to remove Mr. Arc from his regular classes and tutor him privately?"

"Yes," confirmed Nathaniel, "While Jaune's combat ability and physique have progressed at an acceptable rate this past two weeks he could improve at a dramatically faster pace if he was wholly focused on his training with me."

"What of you assisting Glynda during combat classes?" questioned Ozpin. When Ozpin had been looking for a suitable placement for Nathaniel in Beacon Glynda had suggested that he assist her during combat classes as his fighting style was wholly melee oriented while hers focused on fighting with aura at range. Together the two of them were able to give a more thorough break down on fights and instruct students on how to better themselves. There were only four combat classes in the week, one for each year of students.

"Jaune can accompany me," replied Nathaniel, "he would benefit from watching older students fight, and he would still participate in first year combat class. I don't seek to shirk my duties here Ozpin, only improve Jaune's capabilities. You know we need him to be ready as soon as possible."

Ozpin nodded thoughtfully, taking another sip from his mug. "You make a fair point, but what do you want to do Mr. Arc?"

Jaune jumped in surprise, not expecting Ozpin to ask for his input. "Me, sir?"

"Yes you Mr. Arc. For all intents and purposes whatever you choose here will affect your future. It's only right that you should make the final decision."

"Well..." the blonde scratched the back of his head. He wanted to say no. He wanted to stay in his normal classes with his teammates, even if that meant suffering Port's lectures. On top of that he knew his teammates would want him to stay too. They would be up in arms against Nathaniel if he took anymore of Jaune's time away from them, and in Nora's case she might literally be up in arms, as in with her hammer.

But this wasn't about what he wanted, or what his team wanted. He had told them about the Order of Light, and his own role as its eventual reviver, but they didn't know about Salem, or her return, and they were better off not knowing. The sooner Jaune completed his training the sooner he could revive the order, and the better equipped humanity would be to battle Salem when she returned.

"It doesn't matter what I want," Jaune replied with a resigned shrug. "It's about what's best for everyone. I'll do it because even though I'd rather stay in my normal classes with my friends and teammates it's my duty to do it."

Ozpin smiled sadly as he put down his mug of coffee. "Mr. Arc. I want you to know that if I could I would make it so that you were blissfully unaware of the true dangers this world faces, but I cannot do that, and you are right. We must all do things we don't like for the sake of all Remnant. Which is why I have decided to show you something we have kept hidden underneath the school."

Glynda and Nathaniel's eyes widened in shock. "Ozpin! Are... are you sure?" asked Glynda. "I understand he's already involved in all this, but showing him that?"

"I... I have to agree," said Nathaniel carefully, "I don't know if that's the wisest decision. If he should accidentally slip up and say something in front of the wrong people..."

Jaune frowned in confusion as he tried to follow the conversation. What were they talking about? What was being kept under the school? Some sort of weapon?

"He won't slip up," said Ozpin with confidence. "I have long since learned to trust my instincts, and my instincts are telling me he needs to know." The headmaster stood up from his desk, mug in one hand and cane in the other. "If you will follow us Mr. Arc, there is something you need to see." With that the headmaster of Beacon walked towards the elevator with Nathaniel, Glynda, and Jaune close behind. The four of them entered it, and when the door slid closed Ozpin wrapped his cane on the floor of the elevator in a pattern. Beneath the button for each floor a panel slid back, revealing a palm scanner. Ozpin pressed his palm against the scanner, which lit up green. "I'll be sure to give you the necessary security clearance and code needed to access the palm scanner in case you should ever need to in case of an emergency," said Ozpin to Jaune. The elevator started moving downwards. The numbers descended as the elevator descended, until the number on the display read zero, and the door opened. First to walk out was Ozpin, then Glynda, Nathaniel, and finally Jaune, who hesitantly stepped out.

The elevator had put them out in a massive hallway that reminded Jaune of the sanctuary, but far less decorated. Realizing the others were already walking on Jaune rushed to follow them. "What is this place?" he asked when he caught up.

"The vault," replied Ozpin after taking another sip of coffee. "This is where one of the greatest secrets of mankind is being kept."

"What is it? a weapon?"

"Not exactly, no" chuckled the headmaster. "Tell me Mr. Arc. Did you ever read fairy tales as a child?"

Jaune shrugged, the pommel of Brillant Mors clanking against the metal floor as he tapped it against the ground nervously. "A little bit, though I don't remember any of them very well. The only stories that ever really stuck with me were the ones my grandad told me about great Arc heroes."

"Do you recall a story named 'The Four maidens'?"

Jaune frowned in concentration. That certainly sounded familiar... "I think so, yeah. It's about some old man who gives magic power to these four sisters." His eyes widened in shock and he spun towards Nathaniel. "Wait a minute, those maidens you told me about back at the sanctuary. Are- are they the ones in the fairy tale?"

Nathaniel nodded, "the very same, though at the time I was unaware there was a fairy tail about them."

Jaune gulped. "So I assume whatever's down here has to do with them?"

"Exactly so," confirmed Ozpin, "the Gryphon Knights may be the world's greatest hope for victory, but as I've said already, I have a few cards of my own to play." He stopped walking and pointed his cane at something in front of them. Jaune had been so caught up in his conversation with the headmaster that he hadn't realized they had reached their goal. "This is one of those cards."

Jaune looked forward, and had to stop himself from tripping over Brillant Mors when he stumbled backwards in shock. Before them were two metal tubes with glass canopies. Within one of the tubes was a brown skinned woman with short brown hair and what looked to be burn patterns across her face. Jaune would have almost thought she was sleeping peacefully if it weren't for the fact that she was barely breathing. "Who is that?" he whispered in shock and horror.

It was Glynda who answered him. "That is the Fall Maiden, Amber. She is currently in a state of suspended animation. That tube is the only thing keeping her alive."

Jaune stepped forward and put his hand on the glass, directly over the heaviest part of the burn mark adorning her face. "What happened to her?"

"She was attacked," responded Nathaniel. "Agents of Salem ambushed her and overwhelmed her. Somehow one of them had the power to actively steal the power of the maiden from her while she was still living. Normally the power is only transferred when its current host dies, but when it's transferred the current possessor of the power must have a young woman, a maiden if you will, in her last thoughts. If she does not then the power would go to any young woman anywhere in Remnant. Salem's agents undoubtedly used this mystery process to ensure that the power would pass to who they wanted it to."

"Did it work?" Jaune asked.

"No," replied Ozpin. "One of my own agents, a man named Qrow who you will meet eventually, showed up in time to halt the process and chase off the attackers. Unfortunately he didn't get a look at their faces, but we know that two of the attackers were women, and the other a man. We estimate that our enemies were half way done with the process when they were interrupted. Had they completed it Amber would have undoubtedly died."

"Let me guess," muttered Jaune as he stared at Amber's marred face. "If she dies, the rest of her power will go to whoever did this to her."

"Precisely Mr. Arc, which is why we've kept her in a state of suspended animation until we find a suitable candidate to inherit the rest of her powers."

Jaune turned around at that. He met the calm and collected gaze of his headmaster. "Candidate? Didn't you say if she died the powers would go to whoever held the rest of them? How can you transfer the powers to someone else?"

Ozpin pointed his cane at the other metal tube. "With that."

Jaune looked at the other, empty tube. Now that he was paying more attention to the machines themselves there were a number of wires and tubes connecting both tubes. His eyes narrowed as he started to piece it together. "You found out a way to transfer a Maiden's power to whoever is in the other tube."

"Yes, and no," said Nathaniel. "The Maiden's powers are connected to Amber, to her very soul. We can't disconnect the Maiden's power from her soul."

Jaune's blood turned to ice as he finally realized what they were saying. He backed away from the tubes fearfully until Nathaniel's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Her aura," he whispered in horror, "you would transfer her aura, her soul to someone else."

"Yes," the knight said solemnly.

Jaune spun around and faced three adults. "But, but that would kill her! Wouldn't it? Wasn't the whole point of putting her in here to save her life?"

"One way or the other she will die Mr. Arc," responded Glynda sadly. "If we removed her from the tube, she will die. If we leave her in there long enough she will die from her wounds eventually anyway. At least this way her death will not be in vain, and the remainder of the Maiden's powers will be inside a stable host. Whoever stole the Maiden's power would undoubtedly look for the new host, and when she found her that would give us an opportunity to obtain the remainder of the Maiden's powers from our enemies. This is the only option available to us right now."

Jaune wanted to argue, but they were right. If she was going to die anyway then it made sense to ensure that the power went to a woman they trusted. But then that would mean that they would have to have a candidate for the new Maiden. "Who is it?" Jaune asked. "Who have you picked as your new Maiden?"

"We haven't settled one anyone yet," responded Ozpin, "but we've been observing the most promising women from each academy. The one we choose must not only be a talented and gifted fighter. She must also be able to handle the power on an emotional and mental level. She must be able to control her newfound abilities and not allow it to consume her. There has been more than one instance of young women who became maidens going mad with power. In these dark times that cannot be allowed to happen."

Jaune turned to look at Amber again. He leaned on his halberd examining her face. A talented and gifted fighter who wouldn't let her newfound power change who she was. In that case it would have to be a woman who was humble and caring, who would always put the needs of others before herself...

The ice in Jaune's veins spread to his heart, clutching it with frozen talons.

"No. No no no not her. Anyone but her."

Before Jaune even realized what it was he was doing he had spun around and grabbed Ozpin by his collar, yanking the taller man down to his level. Nathaniel shouted at Jaune to back down and Glydna raised her riding crop at him, a menacing purple glow surrounding her. Jaune barely even registered it. His focus was solely on Ozpin.

"It's alright Glynda," said the headmaster calmly, "He's simply worried for his friend. Let him get it out of his system."

"You can't!" Jaune snarled, "you can't pick her! Not Pyrrha! Anyone but Pyrrha!"

"I never said we would choose her Mr. Arc. We haven't made our choice yet. It could be any young lady in any of the academies."

"We both know it'll be her," Jaune spat. "You'll pick her because she's the smartest, the strongest, the kindest, and won't let the power get to her. In your mind she's the perfect candidate, but you cannot pick her."

"Why is that Mr. Arc?"

"Because she won't want it, but we both know she'll take it!" snarled Jaune, "she won't want this power. All she's ever wanted was to be normal, to fit in with the others and have friends who care about her for her. That's already hard enough for her. How much harder do you think having these powers will make that for her? Huh?! Did you even think about that you white haired bastard?!" Jaune shoved Ozpin away, his chest rising and falling in massive breaths as his heart worked over time. The ice in his veins and heart was gone, replaced by a raging inferno of anger.

Nathaniel cautiously stepped between Ozpin and Jaune. His own halberd was gripped in both hands, but was aimed upwards. "Jaune," he said calmly, "let go of Brillant Mors."

Jaune looked down and saw to his surprise that Brillant Mors was clutched in both hands, and pointed directly at Ozpin behind Nathaniel. A part of his mind told him to put down his weapon and calm down. The rest of him told to keep Brillant Mors right where it was. "Make me," he hissed at Nathaniel. The old man's eyes hardened with determination, and he began to lower his own halberd, but Ozpin's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Mr. Arc won't attack me Nathaniel, and even if he were to do so I am perfectly capable of defending myself. Step aside, and let me talk to him." With clear hesitation Nathaniel stepped to the side, but kept his halberd at the ready. "Mr. Arc," said Ozpin gently, "please lower your weapon. You are among friends here. I know you are concerned for your partner, and I do understand, but this accomplishes nothing."

As the red fog in Jaune's mind cleared his grip on Brillant Mors loosened until the weapon slipped out of nerveless fingers and fell to the floor. His whole body felt heavier than normal, like it often did whenever he thought of the task that had been set before him. "I just want to keep them safe," he whispered as he stared despondently at the floor. "I just want to protect my friends and family. That's why I accepted the task of becoming the Knight-Lord. That's why I've kept Salem a secret from my friends. I just want them to go through Beacon happy and healthy and not worry about the future. I don't want them to stay awake at night, thinking about the coming storm like I do." He looked up and met Ozpin's eyes, "this will drag Pyrrha right into the middle of it. She'll never be normal. She'll have to worry about people targeting her, trying to take the Maiden's powers for her whole life. She won't be able to settle down and have a family, she won't be a normal huntress."

To everyone's surprise it was Glynda who stepped forward and placed her hand on Jaune shoulder. "Your concern for your friends is beyond admirable Jaune; it is a mark of a true leader, but this is a war. Right now our enemy holds the upper hand, and we need every advantage we can get. That includes the Maidens. As Ozpin said we haven't made our decision on who it will be, but Pyrrha is one of our top candidates. I know you want to keep them safe and ignorant of what goes on behind these closed doors, but it may be necessary that Pyrrha must be given the choice, no matter how much we don't like it."

Jaune's breathing evened out. He bent down to pick up Brillant Mors and leaned against the ancient weapon, using it to support himself. "It has to be a woman?" he asked.

"We believe so," said Ozpin. "In the traditional process the power was always passed onto a young woman. Theoretically it may be possible that we could transfer it to a man with these machines, however I would rather not risk it unless we have absolutely no other option. As it stands there is already a large amount of uncertainty on whether or not the process would work at all. Adding a man into the mixture would only throw in another unknown variable."

Jaune nodded. That made sense. "Then I guess I don't have a choice."

Ozpin's eyebrow raised in interest, "I'm sorry?"

The blonde boy straightened up, his halberd clenched firmly in both hands as he planted it firmly against the ground before him. "I'll throw everything I have into my training with Nathaniel. I will become the Knight-Lord, I will resurrect the Order of Light, I will be Vaya's champion, and when Salem rises, I will be ready. When she marches out of the Grimm lands with her horde she'll find that Vaya's champion will be standing against her at the head of an army of Gryphon Knights. I will fight her, I will kill her, and we will never needs the Maidens. Pyrrha will have a normal life. All of my friends will."

The three teachers stared at Jaune in silence, and then Ozpin began to laugh. It was not a mocking or insulting laugh. It was a laugh of true joy. With real mirth in his eyes Ozpin smiled at Jaune and lifted his mug in a toast to the young knight before him. "Mr. Arc, in all my years as headmaster of this school you are the first student who has ever managed to surprise me. I believe you can do what you have just set forth to do Jaune. Indeed, I believe you are the only one who can. No other man is strong enough, no other soul is indomitable enough, to accomplish that task, but you are. I have long since put my hope in small, simple souls, you are not one of those. You are a great soul, one filled with passion and ambition to safeguard those you love from all evils of the world."

Ozpin downed the last of the coffee in his mug, and smiled at Jaune. "Now go and see your friends Mr. Arc. Starting tomorrow you will not be Huntsman in training Jaune Arc. You will be Knight-Lord in training Jaune Arc, and I suspect those two men are very different beasts."


And thus Jaune's involvement in the secret war for Remnant grows, as does his determination to defend his loved ones. I do hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and were okay with the things I changed, such as team JNPR being involved in the search for Blake and subsequent fight (and that little fourth wall break afterwards), and were okay with how I made the changes. I also hope you're okay with Jaune's rage breaking when he realized they wanted Pyrrha as the new Maiden. I feel like had he known about the whole situation before her his reaction would have been something like this as he desperately tried to protect his friend.

As always please follow and favorite if you haven't already. If you have a friend who likes RWBY and RWBY fanfiction then please request this story to them. If you have a question, suggestion, complaint, or just want to tell me what you think of the story so far then feel free to leave a review or PM me!

I love you all. BBBYYYYEEEEEEE!