HEEELLLLLOOOOOO!

Been awhile since this one was updated, huh? I bet some of you thought that this story was dead in the water! Well it's not! I busted out my Necronomicon and necromancied that shit!

I'm not gonna keep y'all from this chapter any longer! WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, ON WITH THE STORY!


He sat by the young squire's bedside and watched Jaune sleep.

"What will you become?" He muttered to himself. The sleeping boy didn't answer.

Hazel Rainart rubbed his chin thoughtfully as Jaune continued to sleep. The boy looked peaceful, content.

Exposed. Vulnerable.

Hazel had been sure to slip into the hospital when none of the boy's friends were near. The Gryphon was off hunting, and his fellow students were at the Academy. The large man had snuck into the hospital through an emergency exit left partially open with its alarm disabled by one of his agents. The security cameras were currently experiencing a convenient malfunction and were showing nothing save static. No one would know he was here. No one would interrupt him.

He reached a hand into his overcoat, pulled out a dagger...

and slipped it under the boy's pillow. He pulled out a folded piece of paper next. "You're lucky," he grunted to the sleeping boy as he placed the paper by his bedside. "If it weren't for my agents in this hospital Salem's assassins would have sunk a dagger into your unsuspecting throat."

Salem didn't know he had ever been here, nor would she. As far as she knew it was Ozpin's agents protecting Jaune. As far as she knew Hazel was a loyal servant to her and her goals.

And he was. To an extent.

"Maybe you will actually defeat her," Hazel said as he stood up. He opened the door to the room and left, shutting it silently behind himself.

"Or maybe you won't."


Jaune's eyes widened as he read the note. It had been left on his bedside, marked only as 'from a friend.'

Champion,

You don't know who I am. If I wished it you would never learn either, but as a show of friendship I will give you my name. I trust that you will keep it to yourself.

My name is Hazel Rainart. My ultimate goals are my own, but may align with yours at least for now. At times, they may align with Salem's goals.

Jaune's mouth dried.

My agents are located throughout the hospital. Your doctor, Albus, is one of them. They have been making sure that Salem's assassins don't reach you. As far as Salem herself knows they are Ozpin's agents. She has no idea I've acted against her, and I need it to stay that way.

It's possible that my agents may not be able to stop every assassin, or I may have to remove them from the hospital. I have stashed a dagger under your pillow. If you come under attack it will serve you better than your halberd within the confined spaces of your room.

He reached under his pillow and withdrew the aforementioned dagger. The blade was 8 inches long and wickedly sharp. Jaune was glad that this Hazel hadn't decided to use it on him in his sleep. If nothing else it showed that Hazel truly didn't want him dead. At least for now. He tucked the dagger back under his pillow and went back to the letter.

I wish to end this letter with a warning: under no circumstances should you trust Headmaster Ozpin. You may think he's on your side, but he is on no one's side save his own. Ozpin's goals and yours align for now. When his goals and yours diverge, and they will eventually, Ozpin will turn on you like he has so many others, and attempt to eliminate you when you become a liability.

If you don't believe me, then look at what happened to the Fall Maiden.

Jaune lowered the letter and leaned back. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Holy shit..."

Okay, that was a lot to take in. This Hazel had been in his room, and despite never laying eyes on him Jaune could tell that he was a dangerous man. Lady's sake, his doctor was a spy for this man! Jaune wondered who else in the hospital and the rest of Vale worked for him. Could he have agents within Beacon itself?

No, Jaune decided. Ozpin's hold on Beacon itself was too strong. The headmaster would never allow an enemy agent to infiltrate the school directly.


Sitting in her room and plotting the demise of Beacon, Vale, and Jaune Arc, Cinder Fall sneezed.


Speaking of Ozpin...

Jaune re-read the portion of the letter about the Headmaster. Could he really believe the word of a stranger, one who had snuck into his room while he was asleep and defenseless, over that of the Headmaster of Beacon?

If you don't believe me, then look at what happened to the Fall Maiden.

What did that mean? Did Ozpin have the Fall Maiden taken out? If that was the case why would his man Qrow save her?

Logical thinking told Jaune that he could trust the Headmaster. After all, he had done nothing to harm Jaune or his friends in any way. He had even allowed the squire to enter Beacon when he knew Jaune's transcripts had been faked.

However Talon had taught Jaune to never look at a situation just from the logical viewpoint. "Your instincts, like those of anyy animal, exist for the purpose of keeping you alive. If your instincts are telling you something is wrong, then at least heed them and act cautiously. Never ignore them outright, lest you find a dagger in your back."

Right now Jaune's instincts were screaming at him that he was missing something vital.

The door to his room flung open. "DUDE!"

Jaune yanked the dagger out from under his pillow and held it up as five figures barged into his room. They stumbled to a halt and backed up. "Whoa man, chill!"

Jaune lowered the dagger, his heart pounding in his chest. "Oh my god Sun, you guys almost gave me a heart attack!"

Sun, Neptune, Scarlet, Sage, and Ren stood uncertainly by the door of his room. Jaune realized he still had the dagger in his hands and put it down. "What do you want?" he snapped. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sorry guys..."

Sun, bless him, laughed it off. "It's cool bro! If I had the White Fang out to get me I'd probably be a bit paranoid too."

A week ago the Vale branch of the White Fang had publicly declared that Jaune was a threat to their organization, and to all of Faunus kind. The declaration hadn't gone over well with most people, both human and Faunus, but a few radicals in the city had taken their words to heart and on occasion protests popped up around the city that usually turned violent.

If nothing else, it made being stuck in the hospital a bit more interesting. Whenever protesters gathered in front of the hospital Talon chased them off shrieking and snapping like a mad beast, though he never laid a paw on anyone. The protesters complained of course, but the police weren't about to step in and tell the massive cat bird to stop chasing off the terrorist sympathizers. damn if that didn't sound weird out of context.

However faced with the new information granted to him by Hazel Jaune had forgotten all about the White Fang until Sun had mentioned them.

"So what brings you guys here? Not that I can complain about having some male company for once." Jaune hadn't failed to notice before that the vast majority of his friends were female. At first he hadn't seen a problem with this, few men would after all, but two weeks into his hospital stay Jaune had noticed that one of his nurses had changed the color nail polish she used and had thought that it clashed with her skin tone. At that point he decided it was high time he find some more male friends for both himself and Ren. It wasn't an easy task to do while bed ridden, but team SSSN was a godsend for the both of them, and Jaune already knew one of their members, even if his and Neptune's relationship was a bit... rocky, to say the least.

Sun grinned conspiratorially as Sage held up a duffel bag. "We're busting you out bro!"

Ren rolled his eyes. "Say it louder Sun, I don't think the people in Vacuo heard you."

"Oh, right," the monkey Faunus leaned closer to Jaune and whispered, "we're busting you out bro."

Jaune looked at Ren over Sun's shoulder. "And you're going through with this?"

The ninja shrugged. "I didn't really have a choice. They came out of nowhere, said something about a guys' day out, and dragged me the whole way here."

A guys' day out? While Jaune would have loved nothing more, there was just one problem. "I'm not strong enough to walk around on my own yet. Unless one of you is planning on carrying me, I hope you brought something for me to lean on."

"Pshh, dude, we thought of everything." Sun laughed. "Neptune, hit it."

Sage opened the duffel bag and pulled out items as Neptune called them out. "We got you a stylish walking cane." The cane's top was silver and shaped like an eagle's head, while the wood was black and polished to a sheen. "Some kickin' threads." Sage pulled out a white overcoat with gold trim, followed by a white dress shirt, black slacks, and a navy blue vest also with gold trim. "And some rocking shoes to tie the whole outfit together." The final item to come out of the bag was a pair of black dress boots that went halfway up his forelegs. The top of them was also trimmed with gold.

"I.. guys, these clothes are really nice." Jaune ran his hand over the shirt. While he was no expert, he was pretty sure it was made from silk. "Where did you get them? How did you afford them?"

None of the members of SSSN answered. Neptune looked away, Sage suddenly found his shoes to be very interesting, Scarlet was focused on brushing a nonexistent wrinkle out of his shirt, and Sun was staring as the ceiling, whistling.

Jaune's eyes narrowed. "You didn't."

Sun laughed nervously. "I mean... I've always thought 'steal' was such a strong word. I prefer 'liberate'."

Jaune's hand collided with his face. "Guys..." he groaned.


Sun knocked on the door to Jaune's room from outside. "You almost ready?"

"Just about!" Jaune called back as he struggled to get the overcoat on. He had insisted they leave the room while he changed. He wanted to see if he could manage it on his own. Though it had taken awhile and his sides were killing him, he'd managed to get totally dressed on his own. He considered it a personal victory.

The young squire looked at himself in the mirror of the small bathroom of his hospital room. It had been four weeks since the Battle of the Breach, and in that time Jaune had changed. He had allowed his hair to grow out and it now hung down a couple inches past his shoulders. He smiled and flicked a lock of hair behind his ear. The greatest changes had been to his eyes and the rest of his body. His eyes glowed dimly with power and glowed a bit brighter everyday, and if one looked close enough they would see blue flames flickering within the irises. Despite being stuck in the hospital for weeks and being unable to train his body had not suffered for it. Instead he was grown several inches and he had put on considerable muscle mass. The changes had confused him at first and totally befuddled the doctors, but Talon had explained what was happening to him.

"You're Ascending," the Gryphon had explained, "It happens to all Gryphon Knights eventually. When a warrior of the Order performs their first act of Unmatched Valor the Lady blesses them and their body begins to grow in stature and power. It's a sign of her favor, and the mark of a true knight of the Order. Most knights typically stop Ascending when they reach about seven feet in height and are strong enough to lift a blacksmith's anvil with one arm and hold it up with ease. You however will probably grow beyond that. Cailan's Ascending happened before I met him, but he stood at eight feet tall and could fling a boulder several hundred feet if pressed. I would not be shocked if you wound up being the same, if not stronger."

"Do you know what Cailan's act of Unmatched Valor was?" Jaune had asked.

"It was during the siege of Caerdinia's city fortress, Athenius. Caerdinia was an honorable warrior Queen and was highly respected by her fellow monarchs. Salem sent an army of Grimm ten thousand strong to devastate her holdings. When Caerdinia called for aid the other surrounding nations ignored her call for aid, fearing Salem's wrath. At the time Cailan was virtually unknown and had no followers, but he answered her call. Her city held out for months against the horde, but through weight of numbers the Grimm eventually breached the gates and began to overrun the defenders. Alone Cailan held the gates and bought time for the defenders to rally. For three days of unbroken combat Cailan led the defense of the gates without rest, until reinforcements from the far off nation of Spartanias arrived. Caerdinia's cry for help had reached them and they came to honor an ancient agreement created when both cities were the capitals of empires, and their lands had been much closer together. The Grimm were all put to the sword and Athenius was saved. It was the battle that spread Cailan's legend across Remnant and where he began to build an army."

Jaune had been able to feel the wistfulness radiating off of the Gryphon. "You miss him, don't you?"

"Everyday of my life," the Gryphon confirmed. "But it's not so bad. I have you and Nathaniel now, especially you."

The War beast had been silent for a moment, then had said, "you remind me of him. You're more like Cailan than you realize. You have his drive, his zeal, his unconscious charisma. If he were here now he'd be proud of you."

"Which is why you worry me."

That had shocked Jaune. "Why would me being like Cailan be a bad thing?"

"Because he died Jaune," Talon had snapped with such mental force that Jaune had winced as though struck. "You don't know what it's like for a Gryphon to lose his or her bond mate. For a Gryphon Knight the pain is excruciating, but for a Gryphon it's uncomprehendably worse. We are made specifically for our riders, each and every one of us. When our Knight dies and the mental link is severed the agony is unbearable. It drives us insane in seconds. When Cailan died Marusus was fortunate enough for us to have reached the sanctuary. When the mental link was severed I was overcome with bloodlust. Had Vaya not put me to sleep then and there I would have killed Marusus. Even through my long sleep I could still feel the agony for thousands of years. I will not go through that again. I will not lose you too, not even if it means the world suffers for my decision."

"Yo dude!" Sun knocked harder on the door. "You alive in there?"

Jaune jumped as he came back to reality. "I'm coming!" He looked out the still smashed window of his room. Whenever the hospital staff tried to cover the hole or replace the window Talon just smashed through it again.

"I will not lose you too, not even if it means the world suffers for my decision."

Jaune tucked the dagger under his coat and picked up the cane. "Don't worry buddy," he whispered, "I'm not going anywhere."

He stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind himself. Jaune grinned at the others. "Where to first?"


Weiss Schnee hummed to herself as she walked down the halls of Azure Memorial hospital, a stack of books in her hands.

In the weeks that had passed since the battle of the Breach Weiss had taken it upon herself to tutor Jaune while Nathaniel was away. Her reasons for doing this were two fold. It was a way of thanking Jaune and repaying him for everything he'd done for her. It was also to help Jaune prepare for the charity ball her father was hosting.

A day after Jaune had invited his team, her team, team CRDL, and Nathaniel to what had originally been a dinner between Jaune and the Schnee family her father had decided to up the anti and turn it into a charity ball to help pay to repair the damage caused during the battle. The social elite of the four nations had been invited to attend with the promise of meeting Jaune.

Of course if her father was at all actually concerned with repairing the breach Weiss knew the Schnee Dust Corporation could have paid for the entire repair operation with little effect on their bottom line. Or her father could have just paid for it all out of pocket. It wasn't like he didn't have the money for it.

It was all a PR front. Weiss didn't think for a second that all of the money raised would go to the repair efforts. Some of it would go to the purpose it was raised for, perhaps about half of it, but the rest would line the pockets of corrupt officials the SDC wanted to look the other way on some of their less legal activities, or would be used to fund other overly extravagant events.

But then raising money was only a small part of the purpose of these events. The true reason anyone attended was to see, be seen, and make or break connections.

And at the party all eyes were going to rest firmly on Jaune.

Which is why Weiss had taken it upon herself to tutor him in every subject he would need to know for the ball. From knowledge on the Dust trade to knowing how to hold a spoon Weiss wouldn't let Jaune walk into the deep end of social elite politics without knowing how to navigate those treacherous waters. The slightest slip up, the slightest mistake on his part, and the sharks in those waters would tear him apart. She knew all too well from personal experience.

Aaaaand if she was being honest with herself being around Jaune was... nice. Now that she could see the person beyond the inane flirting Weiss could see what Ruby and Pyrrha were attracted to. He was nice, funny, unconsciously charming, and far more intelligent than she had given him credit for. Though he hated all of the "courtly intriuge" she was making him learn he was absorbing and retaining the information remarkably well.

There was something else about him too. Something about him that was buried deep within that had never come out before, but had been unleashed at the battle of the Breach. Whatever it was had changed Jaune permanently both physically and mentally. His body had grown in size and muscle mass, and his eyes literally glowed and burned with blue fire, to say nothing of the messy blonde hair he'd allowed to grow even longer and messier.

But the greatest change was to his personality. It was nothing immediately obvious, and she doubted the others had noticed it yet, but Weiss had recently begun to spend more time around him as his tutor, taking three or four days out of a week to teach him everything he needed to know for the ball. The changes weren't anything considerable, but sometimes Weiss thought that there was another person in Jaune's skin. On occasion she could swear that when she looked at his face she saw another face overlaid on his, but it disappeared after a split second.

"Jaune?" the door to his room creaked as she pushed it open. "It's me. Are you ready for your less-" Weiss gasped as the books slid out of her arms to the floor.

Jaune was gone.


"Hey man, you alright?"

Jaune looked away from the ocean at Neptune. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. Just feel like I forgot something. Whatever it is can't be too important if I forgot it though, you know?"

"Good point," Neptune laughed as he took a sip from his hot tea and looked back at Scarlet as the red head continued his story.

"So then the squirrel runs off taking my underwear with it, and I'm still missing my eyeliner..."

Jaune chuckled as Scarlet continued his story about the time he'd try to cook breakfast for the team, though the squire's attention wasn't entirely on the story. He winced as he felt the mental pull on his subconscious again and glanced at the open square from the balcony they were all sitting on.

After Ren and team SSSN had snuck him out of the hospital they had gotten a cab and taken him to what was commonly called the shopping lane. It was a street lined with restaurants and shops of all kinds, and was widely considered to be a prime tourist location. Their first stop was a tea shop where Jaune could get some food that wasn't hospital 'food'. However the moment they had arrived Jaune had felt an odd tugging sensation and a compulsion to go to the town square. Something was calling to him.

"You've begun to feel their call then," Talon said as he swooped down and landed on the roof of the building opposite of the tea shop. The Gryphon ignored the people below who were shouting in excitement and pointing up at him. Several pulled out their scrolls and began snapping pictures.

Jaune subtly moved his chair back from the edge of the railing to keep himself hidden from the people down below. Their waitress was already freaking out over Jaune being at the cafe. He didn't need the whole street asking for his autograph or trying to get selfies with him. "What is it?" Jaune asked.

"I don't suppose you've heard of Sigmund the mighty?"

"I can't say I have, no."

Jaune could almost hear Talon sighing. "I thought not. People today are so uneducated about their history. It seems that while Salem failed to wipe out human and faunus kind she succeeded in destroying your knowledge of the past."

"When the world was young and woman kind first walked Remnant women did not know war. Women cared for Vaya's lesser creatures and cultivated the land. When Salem sent her Grimm hordes they were unprepared for the onslaught. Thousands died in the first weeks of the war and Vaya herself took the field to defend her children, but she couldn't be everywhere at once, so She trained women in the arts of war and metal working so they could defend themselves. For years women fought tooth and nail to defend their homes. They struck the Grimm from hidden fortresses and disappeared just as quickly to make the most of their natural speed and agility, but it wasn't enough. Whenever the Grimm found a settlement there was little they could do save flee to the nearest settlement and hope that one would remain hidden. On and on it went until it became clear to Vaya that without more help women would be unable to survive."

"In a mountain fortress far to the north Vaya took up her hammer and began forging a new breed of warrior: man. When Vaya made woman kind she made their bodies from soil and clay and their souls were made from the fire of the hearth. When she made the first man she forged him from steel and and his soul was made from coursing and violent lightning. This man, the first man, she named Sigmund, and gifted him a mighty war hammer infused with the power of lightning. One hundred other men she made this way, each of them gifted with a war hammer, though only Sigmund's held the power of lightning within it. Ten thousand more men were crafted from stone and armed with an assortment of weapons, and at the head of his army Sigmund marched from the frozen north to aid Remnant. Side by side men and women drove the Grimm back, Sigmund at their head wearing a circlet of lighting upon his brow. Eventually Salem and the last of her Grimm retreated into the darkest places of Remnant and awaited the time when they could return. With the Grimm defeated Sigmund married his love, a warrior queen named Allaria, and the two ruled together as the first king and queen of Remnant within the first great city of Remnant called Vallis. When he died he was buried in the tomb that held the remains of his warriors that had fallen in battle against the Grimm. Sigmund and Allaria had their palace built over the tomb of his warriors. His was the last body buried within it."

"Thousands of years later settlers established a city upon the ruins of Vallis. This city was named after the ancient city that had originally resided there, as a reminder of all we had lost in the past. The new city was named Vale, and it has stood ever since."

"That pull you feel? That's the lingering souls of Sigmund and his warriors calling to you. They refused the warm embrace of Vaya and chose for their souls to linger within their tomb, awaiting the time when Remnant may need to call upon them one last time to drive back the shadows."


Weiss paced back and forth as she waited for the call to go through. "Yes, hello? My name is Weiss Schnee and my friend Jaune Arc is missing from his- what? No this is not a prank call! I am actually Weiss Schnee! I would like to report a missing person! My friend Jaune is missing from his hospital room and you need to send out a search party! What do you mean you can't send out a search party until twenty four hours has passed?! Do you know who I am?! If anything happens to him because you refused to send out a search party then I will bury the entire Vale Police Department under so many law suits you'll need a shovel the size of Remnant to dig your way out! I will-" the call disconnected on the police department's side.

The heiress howled in frustration and flung her scroll at Jaune's empty bed. "Stupid useless police! Fine! I'll find him myself then, even if that means I have to tear Vale apart to do it!" She snatched her scroll up and stormed out of Jaune's hospital room. "I swear if he's not in trouble and did something stupid like sneak out I will kill him..."


Jaune bit back a sigh as the waitress repeated her question for the fifth time.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can get you?" She bit her lip and tilted her head. "Maybe some dessert... to go?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Jaune said with forced politeness, "I am absolutely sure I'm fine ma'am, but thank you regardless. You've been a great hostess." Jaune made a mental note to leave her a sizable tip. Even if her constantly asking if he 'needed anything sweet to put his lips on,' had gotten on his nerves pretty quickly she was clearly dedicated to her job. She deserved a good tip.

As the hostess walked away Neptune's face fell into his hands and he groaned as though he were in pain. The others, even Ren, were staring at Jaune like he'd grown a second head. "What's everyone looking at?" he asked defensively. "I was polite to her, wasn't I?"

"You..." Neptune sighed as he looked up from his hands at Jaune disbelievingly. "You're serious, aren't you? You seriously missed the message she was sending you?"

Jaune blinked. "Message?" Over their mental link Talon groaned and hung his head.

"She was interested in you," Ren explained, "romantically."

Jaune's face began to turn red. "Oh..."

"I mean," Sun shrugged, "she's pretty cute, and obviously interested. Why not give it a go?"

Neptune perked up and looked at Jaune. "Hey, yeah! Why not give it a go? The worse thing that can happen is it doesn't work out."

The squire laughed nervously. "I-I'm not really interested guys," he said, "but thanks though."

"Are you sure?" Neptune pressed, leaning a bit closer to Jaune.

For his part the blonde boy leaned back and looked at Neptune with a raised eyebrow. "Yes Neptune, I'm sure."

Neptune leaned back in his chair. "Aw, alright." He looked... disappointed?

Jaune frowned. "Neptune seemed oddly eager to try and convince me to pursue the waitress."

Talon snickered over their mental link. "As much time as you spend around Weiss I should think he'd be downright desperate for you to spend more time around other ladies. Though Cinder certainly seems to be spending plenty of time with you..."

"Shut up," Jaune snapped over the link, his cheeks turning red. "She's just a friend."

"And how long will she remain 'just a friend'?" Talon shot back. "You're attracted to her, and Weiss is currently taken so you can't use your feelings for her as an excuse."

"You know why I can't be with her, or anyone. Anyone I get close to is-"

"Yes yes I know. anyone you get close to is in danger and Salem will use anyone you love against you. Though that hasn't seemed to stop you from spending time with your friends, or keeping in contact with your family."

Jaune winced. "I-"

"Face it Jaune. You're being a little fool. Even if you were to just run away in some misguided attempt to protect your loved ones that wouldn't stop Salem from targeting them if she wished to. Instead you should be grateful that her attention seems to be focused on you, and not on attacking those closest to you. Salem, fortunately, lacks an understanding of love or empathy. She doesn't understand that the best way to hurt you is to target those close to you."

Talon stood and spread his wings. "I would encourage you to pursue a relationship with someone. Lady knows you have enough options, though you somehow remain blind to most of them. Try to have yourself figured out before Nathaniel and the others return." With that the Gryphon took to the skies and flew back to the Emerald Forest to hunt, much to the disappointment of the people gathered below.

"Uh, hey guys..." Scarlet held up his scroll. "So I just got an alert on Squeaker. You're going to want to see this."

Jaune and the others gathered around Scarlet and read the squeak.

"OMG! I just served #jaunearc at Bill's Tea Shop on Amethyst street! #theheroofvale #hisbiggestfan

"Huh, there's even a picture of us," Sun said, "I wonder when she took that."

Jaune's eyebrows raised in surprise. "I have a hashtag?"

"Two, actually," corrected Scarlet. "The hero of Vale hashtag is also about you."

"Oh... wait a minute, are you following our waitress on Squeaker?"

"Nope. It's the number one trending squeak right now. Pretty impressive considering that it was just uploaded a minute ago."

"Wait," Neptune looked up. "The number one trending squeak?"

"Uh... yeah, dude, I just said that. I got an alert and everything."

"Then... that means everyone with squeaker got that same alert, right?"

Sun peeked over the edge of the balcony railing. "Guys..."

The others peered over the railing. The crowd below, drawn by the presence of Talon and probably already thinking Jaune was somewhere nearby, were checking their scrolls and almost certainly reading the tweet. One young woman looked up from her phone at the tea shop. Jaune ducked his head under the railing, but he was too late. She had seen him. "There he is!" she shouted as she pointed at the tea shop.

"Uh oh," whispered Scarlet as the crowd started making its way towards the tea shop.

"What do we do?" asked Sun.

Jaune and Ren looked at each other. Silently they reached an understanding and nodded to one another. Jaune picked up his cup, finished off the tea, and put it back down. He smiled charmingly at the boys of SSSN. "It's simple men."

"We run like cowards."


Weiss pulled out her scroll as it buzzed. It was just an update from Squeaker. She almost put her scroll away without checking it until she saw one part of the tweet.

#jaunearc

"What?!"

She read the squeak in its entirety, then saw the picture beneath it.

Jaune was sitting with the boys of SSSN at a tea shop, laughing and generally just seemed like he was enjoying himself. He was also wearing a very classy suit.

"I'm going to kill him," she hissed.

In fact, she was going to need some help with amount of punishment she was going to dish out on him.

She dialed in the number in her scroll and waited for the person on the other end to pick up. A few seconds later it did. "Hi Pyrrha! You saw the squeak too? Great, get Ruby and come meet me at the hospital. We're going to drag him back here and strap him back into his hospital bed."


With Jaune in Sage's arms the boys of SSSN and Ren leapt over the railing of the balcony, sailed over the head of the crowd below, and took off running through the streets. A loud commotion behind caught Jaune's attention and he looked behind them. "They're following us!" He yelped.

Sure enough the crowd was chasing after them. Fortunately the boys were trained huntsmen, and thus in far better shape than any civilian. Unfortunately none of them were familiar with Vale, and in their panicked retreat they managed to get lost rather quickly.

"Great, we're lost," Scarlet groaned as the six boys walked through the streets. Jaune was walking on his own two feet with assistance from the cane, but he could tell the others were keeping their pace slow for him. He looked at their surroundings. The buildings were older and dilapidated, mostly apartment buildings, with a few people on the streets, though they gave the six strangers a wide berth. More than a few people stared at him with interest and whispered to their friends. He wasn't sure if it was because of his fame, or his clothes, but it made him uneasy.

"Wait a minute," Neptune said as he stopped and looked around. "I think I know where we are."

"Really?" Ren asked. "I'm almost afraid to ask why you're familiar with this part of town..."

"It's nothing bad," the bluenette said defensively, "when Yang and I were investigating into the White Fang's activities she brought me out here to a club owned by an information broker she ah... knows. I don't think we're too far away from the club."

Jaune frowned. "This... isn't the club that Yang destroyed, is it?"

Neptune shrugged. "I mean... they didn't exactly seem happy with her when we arrived."

Jaune sighed. "Well, at least we can get some directions there."

Scarlet's scroll dinged. He pulled it out and looked at it. He winced. "Run."

Sun frowned. "Run?"

"THERE HE IS!"

The six boys turned around and saw a massive wall of people barreling towards them. Jaune leapt into Sage's open and waiting arms. "Right then! To the club! RETREAT!"

The six of them took off at a dead spring following Neptune's directions. "Left here!" They turned left down the streets and the fans turned with them, but once again the six boys quickly outpaced them, even with Sage having to carry Jaune. A few minutes later they arrived at their destination.

"Wait, it's literally just called 'The Club'?" Jaune frowned as he leaned on his cane. "That's not very inventive."

"It still does pretty well," Neptune replied. "It was packed when Yang and I were here."

"Looks pretty empty right now," Sun remarked.

Sage opened his mouth and-

"Probably because it's a night club. It's the middle of the day. They're probably getting ready for tonight and taking care of the odd customer or two."

Sage sighed and closed his mouth. Ren patted his arm understandingly.

Jaune looked around nervously. Some people were staring at them, a couple of them whispering to their friends. He was pretty sure he heard his own name once or twice. "We should get in before people start taking photos and posting about us on Squeaker."

The others agreed and Neptune led them inside.


Hei Xong Junior didn't like blonde huntsmen and huntresses, for one very obvious reason.

The damage that girl had caused had taken several months and a whole lot of lien to repair fully, and Hei had been forced to call in more than a couple favors to make sure less... legitimate businesses didn't become common knowledge. Technically Hei Xong was a totally legitimate man now, and for the most part he was, but at the end of the day he was an information broker. As such he did work for people on both sides of the law, and those that tended to straddle the line. He was effectively a neutral party, and knew information on almost everyone of prominence in Vale. Sure, he could tell the White Fang that Councilor Stratus, whose platform had been very anti-faunus for the past twenty years, had a fetish for cat girls, but leaking that kind of information would bring the Councillor down on him like a sack of bricks. By that same merit he could inform Beacon Academy or the police about the locations of multiple White Fang cells operating within Vale, but that would only bring the White Fang down on him like an equally large sack of bricks. So he kept the most juicy bits of info for himself, and gave out just enough details on the various factions in Vale to keep things interesting, and to keep them fighting one another and not wondering just how much he knew about their own activities.

However there was one individual who he knew more about than most people might think: Jaune Arc, the hero of Vale.

Hei had been the one who Jaune had approached for his forged transcripts for Beacon. Forged documents had been something Junior had dabbled in a few years back, but after a close run in with the law that almost saw him locked up for good the information broker had decided to drop that particular activity before he wound up in a situation he couldn't bribe or talk his way out of. However the kid had offered him a pretty penny for the documents and had seemed pretty desperate, so he had made the documents, though he had done his best to be sure they couldn't be traced back to him.

He had thought that the kid was just another dreamer with little real training hoping hard work and determination would be enough for him to make it through initiation. Clearly he'd been wrong. The kid had almost single handedly stopped a Grimm invasion in the middle of the city. He wasn't called the Hero of Vale for nothing. Hei had toyed with the idea of using the information on Jaune's forged transcripts to gain some leverage on him, maybe make him do a few favors for Junior, but the information broker had decided against it. The kid was cleary hell bent on fighting the Grimm and even the White Fang, and that could only be good for Hei, Vale, and Remnant as a whole. Messing with that wouldn't do anyone any favors.

Besides, the last time Junior had had the bright idea to try and use information as leverage on someone in Beacon fully a quarter of his informants had wound up dead on his doorstep in a not so subtle message. Junior wasn't about to screw with Beacon a second time.

The large man sighed as he wiped down another glass. As exciting as being an information broker could be, most of the time it was pretty monotonous, as was running a night club. More often than his biggest concern was making sure there was enough liquor for all of his patrons, no one was slipping shit into the drinks of pretty girls, and keeping dumb ass teenagers from over dosing in the middle of his dance floor so their rich mommies and daddies didn't sue him for everything he had.

Though as one of his hired goons directed his attention to the entrance Junior realized today was going to be a bit more exciting than normal.

Six young men, clearly huntsmen and two of them blonde, unfortunately, had just entered. The muscle around the club eyed them warily, their hands drifting closer to their weapons. Miltia and Melanie both inched a tad closer, looking at Hei for orders. Inwardly the bartender cursed. The only ones who could handle huntsmen, even students, were himself and the twins, and the three of them had been taken apart by one girl. Granted the three of them had put greater focus on their training so it wouldn't happen again, but he doubted they could handle all six if they decided they wanted to start trouble.

Then his eyes widened behind his glasses as he recognized the one in the fancy clothes.

Jaune Arc. The Jaune Arc.

Hei waved over Melanie and Militia. "What's Jaune Arc doing here?" Melanie asked. "I thought he was still in the hospital."

"I don't know," Junior said, "but we're going to give him the best of our hospitality. Melanie, Militia, go greet him. Give him your best."


Ren nudged Jaune's side. "Looks like we've attracted some attention." He gestures to two women making their way over to them. They were dressed in high end clothes and were very beautiful, but it was impossible to miss the weapons they carried. These girls weren't just pretty faces.

Jaune blinked. "Is that... Melanie and Miltia?"

The others looked at him, surprised. "You know them?" Ren asked.

Jaune winced. "I wouldn't say I know them..." Melanie and Miltia had been with the man who had supplied Jaune with his forged transcripts, Hei Xong Junior. If they were here, then that meant... ah, crap.

The bluenette smirked. "Leave this to me." He sauntered over to them. "Ladies, so good to-"

"Whatever," they said in unison as they walked right by him. They walked up to Jaune and inclined their heads respectfully. "Welcome esteemed customer," they said in unison.

"Hei Jong Junior, the owner of this fine establishment," the white one continued-

"Would like to offer you a private table," the red one finished. "I am Miltia."

"And I am Melanie."

In unison they said, "and we will be your servers for the day." They smiled dazzlingly at him, stepped to either side of him, and looped their arms around his. A red faced spluttering Jaune was led to a table off to the side that was cordoned off by a velvet rope with two men in suits and sunglasses flanking it. At the table sat a large man in a similar suit and sunglasses, the Hei Xong Junior in question.

"Wait, what about the rest of us?" Sun asked as the two ladies guided Jaune away.

"It's not fair..." Neptune mumbled despondently, his head hung low. "He didn't even try..."


"R-really, girls, there's no need for this," Jaune said nervously as he was guided to the table. He was unable to ignore the fact that they were pretty much pressed up against him on either side. It was equally impossible to ignore how warm their bodies were where their hips were pressed against his, and his body was reacting accordingly.

"Nonsense," the girl in white, Melanie, said with another dazzling smile that made his face go redder.

"It is our pleasure to host the hero of Vale," Militia said with an equally stunning smile. "Without you, we would be out of a job after all."

"Having Grimm in the establishment is bad for business," Melanie added.

"Ha, yeah... I guess..."

The girls led him to the table and helped him into his seat. Jaune winced as the movement bothered his sides, but said nothing. The girls sat on either side of him, uncomfortably close.

The man before Jaune was almost as tall as Nathaniel. He held up a glass to the blonde.

"Mr. Arc. It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Heh, hey Junior..."

The large man pushed a glass full of an amber liquid across the table. "Vale Whiskey, right from my own personal stock. Go ahead, try some."

"Uh, I'm still healing. I don't know if I should be drinking anything alcoholic right now," he said apologetically, "but thank you for the offer."

Hei shrugged, seemingly unconcerned, and picked up the glass. He downed the contents in one gulp. "Hey, more for me then. Melanie, go get him a glass of water."

Melanie stood from her seat and made her way to the bar, but brushed her hand over his as she stood up, making Jaune flinch in surprise, then grunt in pain as the sudden movement made his sides twinge with pain. Junior didn't miss this. "I'm surprised you're up at all," he said casually. "From what I understand you were on death's door for a little while."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't fun." Melanie slipped back into her seat next to him and held out the glass.

"Here is your drink, Mr. Arc." Jaune went to reach for it, but she pulled it back at the last moment. The white clad girl tapped a finger against her lips, as though in thought. "Come to think about it, you're still injured, aren't you? I'm no nurse, but even I know an injured man shouldn't be feeding himself. Perhaps I should hold it up to your lips for you."

Jaune had over time begun to grow used to people treating him differently because of his newfound notoriety, but he still wasn't used to this much physical contact with an attractive woman (barring Cinder), let alone two of them. When Jaune had met Hei for his forged transcripts the two girls had paid little to no attention to him. As Jaune's face began to heat up a part of him wished that he could go back to the two girls ignoring him. Another part of him disagreed. It was a problem he'd been having when it came to attractive women who were attracted to him. Cinder, for example. One part of him said no, while another part screamed yes.

Jaune looked at Junior, silently pleading for the man to control the two girls, but the large man simply watched with an upturned eyebrow, and Jaune swore he could see the corner of the man's mouth twitching upwards in amusement. Lady dammit, there'd be no help from that quarter evidently. He turned to take the glass from Melanie. It was a simple movement, but even that was enough to make his side twinge in pain, and he winced. Melanie and Miltia didn't miss this. "I think that means yes sister," Miltia giggled. The white clad sister raised the glass to his lips and her sister held it up with her. Begrudgingly Jaune opened his mouth and let them press the glass against his lips. He told himself that he'd done his best to deny them, but he knew he was lying to himself. On the edge of his mind Jaune could feel Talon chuckling at his expense. Red faced, Jaune mentally told Talon to shut it as the girls lowered the glass.

"So what brings you here?" Junior asked after refilling his own shot glass. "As you know I have all kind of services I can provide." One eyebrow crooked upwards. "There's not a problem with your transcripts are there?"

Jaune chuckled nervously. "Actually... Ozpin knows they're fake. He probably always knew."

"No kidding." Junior downed the whiskey in one gulp and poured another. "Well I suppose that's not too surprising. There was always the chance he'd find out."

Jaune spluttered. "Y-you knew he'd find out?"

"No, I knew he could find out. By my estimation the chances of the transcripts working were about... fifty/fifty, if I'm feeling generous. Though if it's any consolation the fact that Ozpin decided to keep you even after he found out says a lot about you." He held up his glass in a salute to Jaune.

"I..." Jaune sighed and shook his head. His transcripts weren't why he was here. It wasn't like their authenticity mattered much anyway these days. "I'm not here about the transcripts. Honestly my friends and I came here to ask directions back to Azure medical. We're kinda lost." He admitted sheepishly.

Junior grunted. "Well that's a new one. Can't ever say I've had someone come to my door asking for directions." He shrugged. "I'll have a car brought around. It'll take you and your friends back to the hospital. Unless there was anything else you wanted?"

"No I-" Jaune was cut off as the girls raised the glass to his lips again, though the pause did give him time to realize something. "Actually, there is something," he said after the girls had lowered the glass again. "You know just about everything worth knowing, right?"

Junior grinned. "Kid, I either know it, or I know someone who knows it, or I can find it out. What do you want to know? Just so you know I don't work for free. My information comes with a price."

"I don't really have much money," Jaune admitted.

Junior shrugged. "There are other kinds of payments. I often trade information for other information, so you can pay me in that way."

Jaune was suddenly cautious. Ever since he'd met Nathaniel Jaune had learned a lot of information, much of which would be dangerous if it became common knowledge. He though of Amber, hidden beneath Beacon. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"How about you ask me what you want to know, and I'll ask something that I consider to be of equal importance."

"You realize that I may not be able to give you the answer you want?"

Junior shrugged again. "That's a risk I'm willing to take. Go ahead, ask me what you want to ask me."

Jaune thought about it. If Junior asked him about something that Jaune couldn't divulge the information broker would probably not be happy with him, but the blonde had five huntsmen in training and a Gryhpon to call on if things went sour, even if he himself was in no condition to fight. He decided it was worth the risk.

"Alright, that's fair. I need information on a man named Hazel Rainart."

Junior frowned. "Hazel? I know the guy actually. Well, at least I used to. Why would you want to know about him?"

Jaune almost answered, but he clamped his mouth shut as a thought struck him. "Wasn't the deal a question for a question? If I answer that you won't get what you want to know."

Junior stared at Jaune over the rim of his sunglasses long enough that Jaune thought he was going to have to call Talon to come crashing in through the roof to save him, but the large man cracked a smile. "You're good at this kid. Yeah, that's right. I'm curious about why you want to know who Hazel is, but I also want to know the answer to my own question. If you have anything else you want to know you can ask me, so we'll be at an even two for two, or I can just get the info I really want. It's up to you."

As another thought occurred to Jaune he nodded slowly. "Yeah... actually I just thought of something, so two for two sounds fair. As for why I want to know about Hazel..."

Jaune leaned forward and pulled the folded not Hazel had left for him out from an inner coat on his pocket. "Hazel snuck into my hospital room and left this for me." Junior reached for it, but Jaune pulled it back and tucked it back into his coat. "Sorry Junior, but I wasn't showing you that for you to read. What it says is for my eyes only." He shrugged apologetically. "What I want to know is what kind of person Hazel is. I want to know whether or not I can trust him over... certain people in power."

Junior sighed. "Eh, that's fair I suppose." However Jaune didn't miss how his eyes lingered on where the Champion had tucked the note. "But to answer your question... when I first met Hazel he was a wreck. His sister had just died, and it had messed him up pretty bad. He was looking for work, and I took pity on the big guy and hired him as a bouncer. He spent his time not working drinking himself into a stupor, but he was always professional on the job, and had a knack for looking out for the girls who came to the club and dealing with any scumbags who tried to screw with them. Hazel was with us for... oh, about a year. In that time he cleaned his act up and got himself straightened out, though the death of his sister still stayed with him. When I last saw him Hazel said he'd found someone who would help him get his revenge on the one responsible for his sister's death, though he wouldn't say who. That's been years ago, and I haven't really heard from him since. Though I can do some digging if you like and forward anything I find to you."

Jaune nodded. "I would appreciate that. Do you need my scroll number?" he asked. As though on cue Jaune's scroll began buzzing. He went to pull it out, but Milita beat him to it, her hand reaching into the pocket of his pants and pulling it out. Though she 'accidentally' grabbed something else before she got her hands on the phone. Red faced and stammering Jaune took the scroll and looked at the caller ID. It wasn't anyone he recognized. "Eh, sorry. Let me just take this." He hit the accept call button and held the scroll up to his ear. "Hello?"

"That won't be necessary kid," Junior said with a smirk as he held up his own scroll from under the table. He hit the end call button, and Jaune's call disconnected. "Like I said, I either know it, I know someone who knows it, or I can find out."

Jaune made a point of slipping his scroll into a pocket of his jacket to avoid anymore 'accidental' gropings. "Fair enough. I still have one more question though."

Junior nodded. "Ask away."

Jaune sighed. "Has Ozpin ever been mixed up in anything... shady?"

Junior actually took off his sunglasses, a sure sign that Jaune had his full and undivided attention. "Well, I think I know at least a little bit about what that letter contained," Junior said with interest. "But if you must know... kid, part of being a huntsman is walking the fine line between a law abiding protector and a vigilante. More than a few cross over to one side or the other, but the best manage to walk that line. As headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin is always mixed up in something shady. Maybe not necessarily immoral things, but at least some of what Ozpin has going on is illegal. It's the nature of his job." Junior sighed and knocked back another swig of whiskey. He refilled the bottle. "But that's not what you're asking. You're asking if you can trust Ozpin. To that kid, I say hell no."

Jaune blinked in surprise. "Why?"

Junior swirled his glass. "You know that's technically another question, but you're still new to this, so I'll let it slide. Kid, I'd say you can trust Ozpin about as far as you can throw him, but considering some of the crazy feats of strength you pulled off at the battle of the Breach I think you could throw him pretty damn far, so I'll just settle for saying that you can't trust him, period. And here's why. Ozpin is a clever man, whose ruthlessness is just as great as his cunning and his ability to hide that ruthlessness. Ozpin will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, and will throw as many people under the bus as it takes to get the job done. That man has more blood on his hands than some of the most notorious bandit tribe leaders."

Junior knocked back his shot glass and refilled. Jaune would have been impressed by the man's constitution if he hadn't been so focused on what he was saying. "You remember earlier when I said that Hazel wanted revenge on the one who got his sister killed? Well that man was Ozpin. Hazel never talked about it sober, but I was able to pry the info out of him after a particularly hard binge drinking session. Basically Ozpin convinced Hazel's sister, Gretchen, to attend Beacon academy. He told her how much potential he saw in her, how strong she could be with the right training, how she had it in her to become a famous and loved huntress and blah blah blah." Junior chuckled dryly. There was no humor in the sound. "Thing is though, that all turned out to be a lie. Ozpin didn't want Hazel's sister, he wanted Hazel himself. Unfortunately for Ozpin Hazel never wanted to be a huntsman. He was his sister's sole provider and without him she'd never be able to make it. So when Ozpin realized he couldn't bring Hazel to Beacon directly he did so indirectly. He fed Gretchen his honeyed words and convinced her to go to Beacon, and where Gretchen went Hazel followed. It was somewhere in their second year when Gretchen died on a training mission. She got separated from her brother and overwhelmed by Grimm. There wasn't even enough left to bury. Hazel blamed Ozpin for her death and left the school behind. I don't know who Hazel's working for now kid, but whoever they are if Hazel's with them then you can bet they're no friends of your headmaster, and you shouldn't trust him either. I've heard all kinds of stories about Ozpin. Most of them are just rumors, but from what I know about the man I wouldn't be surprised if half of them were true."

Jaune sat back in his chair, many of his concerns about Ozpin becoming realized in that moment.

If what Junior was saying was true, and Jaune had a gut wrenching feeling that it was, then... by the Lady, Pyrrha...

"Well now that I've dropped that knowledge bomb on you, I believe you have to answer a question of mine now."

It was enough to bring Jaune back to reality, but much of his mind was still lingering on what Junior had just told him. "Oh, right. What do you want to know?"

Junior stared at Jaune intensely. The power of his gaze was enough to make Jaune begin focusing on the large man.

"Are you and Weiss Schnee in a relationship?"

And that was enough to bring Jaune all the way back. "W-what?!"

"You and the Schnee heiress. You two in some kind of secret relationship?"

Jaune spluttered, his face going even redder than when the twins had helped him drink his water. "After everything I asked you, that is what you want to know?"

Junior chuckled. "Kid, there are journalists out there who would kill to find out whether or not the two of you are in a relationship. There are plenty of tabloids out there claiming you two are in some sort of secret relationship, that her father has arranged your marriage, that she's already pregnant with your kid, and so on." Junior waved his hand lazily as Jaune's face turned scarlet and his heart began pounding in his ears. "Fortunately no one with any sense ever reads those things, but they're kicking up enough dust that you should probably do something about it. If you can tell me yes or no I can tell the right people, and they can start putting those wild rumors to rest. Mostly, at least."

Jaune shook his head, still scarlet faced. "N-no, we're just friends, really. Weiss has just been helping me prepare for her father's party is all. We're just friends, really."

Junior nodded as his eys slid past Jaune to look at someone behind him. "Well that's good. The woman behind you doesn't strike me as someone who would share you anyway."

"Hello, Jaune."

Jaune turned his head, making sure to keep his torso still.

"Cinder?"

the onyx haired woman smiled at him. "I must say, this is the last place I expected to find you."

"Yeah, same here. Why are you here?"

"Truthfully?" Cinder held up her scroll. "People have been squeaking your every move since the tea shop. You've probably got a horde of fans headed this way right now."

Jaune looked at Junior. "I don't guess that car is ready?"

Cinder cut in before the large man could reply. "There will be no need. I've already called a cab." She smiled charmingly at Jaune. "I took the liberty of calling one for you, as I thought you would wish to enter Azure Memorial the same way you exited it, silently and without drawing attention to yourself."

Despite himself Jaune felt his face heating up far more simply from Cinder smiling at him than the very physical attention of the Malachite twins, who were glaring viciously at the onyx haired beauty. "Uh, thanks Cinder." He realized he was staring at her and looked away. "I'll uh, let the other guys know."

Jaune did go to call them over from the table they had procured for themselves, but a hand on his stopped him and set his heart to pounding in his chest. "Actually Jaune, I was thinking that it would be better if it was just you and me. Alone." Her charming smile took on another quality that set Jaune's heart to hammering so hard his chest hurt.

Well, it wasn't like they couldn't find their way back, right?

Surprisingly the others, especially Neptune, supported the idea. They volunteered to be the decoys and take a separate cab, convincing people that Jaune was still with them, while Jaune and Cinder's cab went the opposite direction towards Azure Memorial Hospital. With a quick thank you and good bye to Junior and the Malachite twins (who pointedly ignored Cinder) Cinder led Jaune outside to where the cab she'd called awaited. By this point Ren and the boys of SSSN had left and taken the vast majority of the people who had been camping outside with them, clearing the way for the two of them. As the two stepped outside, Jaune leaning on his cane for support and politely declining Cinder's offer to help him, Jaune saw the cab waiting for them, though cab wasn't the right word for it.

It was nothing short of a proper limousine with windows tinted dark enough so that people on the outside would not be able to see who was within the vehicle. Or what they were doing, a treacherous part of his mind added. Jaune looked at Cinder. "I thought it was just a cab?"

Cinder smiled at him, setting his heart pounding again, and brushed a lock of onyx hair aside. "Well, I may have understated just a bit, but its the same basic concept. Albeit a bit more extravagant and... private."

Red faced, Jaune allowed Cinder lead him to the limo and helped in him into the vehicle. He didn't miss how her thigh pressed against his as she sat as close to him as possible, despite the fact that there was more than enough room for both of them in the back. She told the driver their destination, and they set off.


Cinder wanted nothing more than to run her dagger into Jaune's throat here and now.

the only thing stopping her is that the list of suspects would be extremely short, namely just her. Even if she killed the driver too, hid both bodies and the car, she would still be the primary suspect as she was the last person seen with him. Normally she wouldn't mind having to go underground, but Cinder still didn't know the location of the Fall Maiden. She couldn't afford to make any rash moves that would jeopardize her plans. She knew that Jaune was now a part of Ozpin's inner council, and Cinder would bet that he knew the Fall Maiden's location. So Cinder would wait, bide her time, and get into Jaune's good graces. And his pants, if she could manage it. Though it wasn't Cinder's first choice of information gathering, nothing made a man talk quite so well as sleeping with him.

Though he seemed to be distracted and troubled. Despite their proximity Jaune had a far away look in his eyes as he stared out of the windows. Cinder hadn't caught most of whatever it was that he and Junior had been talking about, but she had been present for the part regarding Weiss. Cinder doubted that teenage romance drama would be enough to give Jaune the serious look he wore on his face. She reached out and brushed her hand against his. "Jaune?"

The boy in question jumped and turned to look at her. Cinder noted with delight that Jaune didn't pull his hand away from hers, which still rested atop his. "Oh, sorry Cinder. What's up?"

"You seem distracted," she said, putting on a false layer of concern over her words. "Is something bothering you?"

"Kinda," he admitted, "but I'll be fine, really."

"Is it something Junior told you?" She asked.

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, but like I said, I'll be fine." He smiled at her, which was admittedly charming. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"Mmm, I bet." She bit her lip, rewarded by Jaune's face turning red yet again. "But if there's anything you want to talk about, I'll happily listen."

Jaune visibly relaxed. He stared at her for long moments, then shrugged as though he had come to some kind of decision. To Cinder's surprise he turned his hand over so that his was palm up and curled his hand around hers. "You've been a good friend these past few weeks Cinder. Thank you."

Cinder looked at her hand in his, resisted the urge to set his hand alight, and smiled deviously at him. "How very forward of you Jaune. If I didn't know any better I'd say that you were coming onto me."

"Who says I'm not?" Jaune retorted with a grin, though his cheeks were still a tad red.

Despite herself, Cinder laughed. This was an admittedly refreshing change, and there was nothing to stop her from enjoying herself before she had him killed.

Jaune's eyes widened. "Cin-"

With the screech of tires on pavement and a feeling like being bowled over by a cannon Cinder's world was turned upside down before she felt a sharp pain in her forehead and everything went black.


Jaune groaned and shook his head, trying to clear the dizziness. "By the Lady..."

One moment Jaune had been talking with Cinder, well flirting really, and the next...

The next he'd seen an eighteen wheeler bearing down on their limo. He hadn't had time to really even react before they had been slammed into. Jaune was thankful that he had been keeping his aura active in order to expedite the healing of its ribs, and damn if those didn't hurt like hell right now, for if his aura had been down he didn't even want to think about what it would have done to his already weak torso.

As Jaune's eyes began to focus again the first thing he saw was Cinder slumped over in her seat, blood trickling down her face from a gash on her head. She wasn't moving. "Cinder," he gasped as he reached out to her. Carefully he titled her head up, and with a sigh of relief saw that she was still breathing. He looked through the small window that connected the front of the limousine to the back. The driver was slumped over in his seat, also not moving. From here Jaune couldn't see whether or not the man was breathing.

He heard the indistinct sound of people moving and shouting outside. Jaune tried to open the door on his side, but the impact had wedged it shut. With a grunt Jaune slammed his foot into the door as hard as he could. It went flying off of the limo's frame and clattered to the ground a few feet away. Jaune looped both arms around Cinder's chest. She moaned and her eyes began to flutter open. They were glassy and unfocused, and Jaune feared that she may have suffered a concussion. "Don't worry," he whispered as he dragged her out of the limo, "I've got you. You'll be alright."

The Champion laid Cinder on the ground and looked up at the people gathering around the wreck. "Someone help the... driver... oh no."

The roughly ten people gathered around the wreck were not there to help, or to even stand and stare.

The White Fang soldiers raised their rifles to their shoulders. Jaune threw himself in front of Cinder to shield her form as the faunus opened fire.


Nothing had gone right after the Bullhead had crashed.

Cardin's mace slammed into the howling maw of the Beowulf, flinging it through the air for several feet. It hit the ground and did not get back up. The newly anointed squire turned on his heel and smashed another Beowulf into the dirt even as Russel darted past him and cut the throat of a third Beowulf that had tried to jump the large ginger boy from behind. Cardin nodded his thanks to his teammate and surveyed the rest of the battle.

Dove and Sky were working together to bring down the Alpha Beowulf leading this particular pack. Sky used his pole axe to keep the beast at a distance and distract it while Dove darted in and cut it deeply with his blade before retreating behind Sky. Anytime the Alpha took its eyes off of the axe wielder to track the swordsman's movements it paid for that decision as Sky cut deep gashes in its hide whenever it looked away. Eventually their death of a thousand cuts tactic did its job, and the Alpha Beowulf hit the forest floor, dead.

Cardin looked to see if Nathaniel needed any aid, being the only one on his own. As the knight hacked the head off of one Beowulf, gutted another and flung the Grimm over his head and behind him, then smashed the knee of a third before grabbing the monster's neck and crushing its windpipe in his bare hand before bisecting his fourth victim down the middle with one swing, Cardin decided he was doing just fine on his own.

In truth Nathaniel was the only reason any of them were even still alive. Without his skill in battle and experience in living off the land the leader of CRDL doubted he and his team would have made it more than a week in the forest alone, if that.

As the last Beowulf fell to the ground in two pieces Nathaniel pushed the visor of his helmet up and looked at them. He had a light sheen of sweat on his brow, and was just beginning to breathe a bit heavier. Meanwhile Cardin and his teammates were soaked in sweat, gasping for air, and struggling to stand on their own.

"I suppose we should rest here for the night," Nathaniel said as he pulled off his helmet and dropped his pack to the ground. The four boys gratefully collapsed to the ground. As the others spread out on their backs and took in great mouthfuls of air Cardin couldn't help but stare at Nathaniel as the old knight rummaged in his pack and pulled out various utensils.

Their whole day had basically consisted of fighting one group of Grimm after another. From the commonplace Ursa and Beowulves, to more exotic species of Grimm such as a couple Beringels and even a damned Geist. Hell, that could really describe their entire week. Just day after day trudging through the wild lands and fending off the Grimm that consistently attacked them, day after day. Curiously enough whenever the boys of CRDL and Nathaniel set up camp they were never beset by the Grimm. It was as though something was shielding them from the monsters' sight. Nathaniel claimed that it must have been the Lady Vaya shrouding them from the creatures of Grimm to protect them and allow them time to rest and relax. Cardin found that hard to believe, but mainly because until recently Cardin's interaction with the divine had been, to put it simply, non existent. Russel and Dove shared his skepticism, but curiously Sky seemed to not only accept this as a possibility, but fully embraced it as the reason. Out of all of them Sky had been the most receptive to the idea of the Lady, and already seemed to be falling into the role of holy warrior. While Cardin certainly believed that Vaya existed, he had seen and experienced far too much to not believe after all, he found it harder to fully accept and come to grips with his current situation. Cardin... Cardin had questions, he had a lot of questions that hadn't yet been answered, and that made it difficult to simply accept the Lady, and his role in her grand plan.

With that being said Cardin would still do what needed to be done to defeat the Grimm and redeem himself and his brothers. Cardin had seen the true face of the Grimm at the battle of the breach, and learned the truth of their origin from Jaune and Nathaniel. There could be no hesitation, no reservations. The enemy would have no mercy on them, and Cardin could have no mercy on them in return.

After camp was set up and the five of them were digging into their oh so delicious dried rations, Nathaniel continued with the lessons he had been giving them ever since they had set out from Vale.

"It was at the third siege of Caridin's Rest that the Order of Light first revealed their Gryphons. Unprepared for the sudden assault from above the Grimm were overwhelmed by the full might of tens of thousands of Gryphon mounted warriors and slaughtered wholesale. For the next decade the Grimm would be driven back in a series of high attrition campaigns across the whole of Remnant." Nathaniel eyes gleamed with excitement as he spoke. Few things got Nathaniel as excited as talking about the history of the Order, Cardin had come to learn.

"The most devastating of these wars was the Decline of Vacuo. Unbeknownst to modern historians Vacuo was once a thriving and lush land, full of life and vitality. Some of the Order's greatest strongholds were in Vacuo, and Salem attempted to destroy those strongholds using a Death Wind, a terrible conjuration that annhilates all life in a region. It was only through the prayers of Gryphon Knights and personal intervention by Vaya herself that anything at all was saved in Vacuo. The vast majority of the land becoming the rolling desert it is today. Thousands of Knights and Gryphons were killed by the Death Wind, alongside many tens of thousands of innocent people. Even by the standards of Salem devastation on such a level was wicked, and the Order's retaliation was brutal and swift. A year after the Death Wind swept over Vacuo the Gryphon Knights and allied kingdoms had carved a furious path of ruination straight towards Salem's mighty citadel and besieged it. Accounts of the length of the siege state that it lasted nearly ten years itself, Cailan leading the effort."

"Time and time again the United armies of the Order and those kingdoms that aided them assailed the walls of Salem's citadel. Time and time again they were beaten back. The Citadel was where Salem was at her strongest, and priests and warlocks had to strain day and night against Salem's powers, lest she destroy the army with her terrible magics. Oftentimes Salem herself sallied forth at the head of a Grimm horde, and the cost to drive her back was terrible for the besiegers. Eventually the cost grew too high, and they were forced to retreat. This defeat would mark the beginning of the end of the old Order of Light, for after the siege Salem would begin creating the dragons."

"Why didn't Salem create the dragons sooner?" Russel asked as he ran a whetstone over one of his daggers.

Nathaniel shrugged. "Who can say? Perhaps she simply did not think to create such beings until her need became great. Or perhaps there was another reason. Evil or not, Salem is still a goddess. The machinations of her mind are beyond mortals such as us."

"Why didn't Vaya do more to help?" Cardin asked. There was a note of accusation in his voice.

Nathaniel turned his gaze on Cardin. For just a second he swore the knight's eyes gleamed with an amber light, but older man sighed and visibly calmed herself. "What more could she have done, Cardin? Vaya expends so much of herself to give each and every one of us not only a physical body, but a soul. She gives of Herself to ensure that we can make our own choices for ourselves, even if they are not the choices She wants to make for us. She would stand no chance against Salem now, which is why the Order exists. We must protect her children Cardin, we are their shield and Her sword. We are the blazing spear thrust into the heart of darkness. We are the defenders of human and faunus kind."

This time Cardin was sure that he saw an amber glow in Nathaniel's eyes. For a moment the squire could see silhouettes of men and Gryphons standing behind Nathaniel. He looked over to his teammates and brothers, and knew from the fear and wonder in their eyes that they had seen it too.

"We are the Gryphon Knights." Nathaniel said, and it was as though ten thousand voices whispered the words as he said them, like the rustle of leaves in a wind.

"And we shall know no fear."


WOOOOO! WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!

I am so glad to finally be uploading another chapter of this story! This chapter has been through rewrite after rewrite, one thing after another. And finally, FINALLY, it is done! I hope the length and the quality of this chapter has made the wait worth it for all of you. Gryphon Knight will not die, this I swear to all of you. This story will have an ending even if it kills me.

If you haven't already seen I've also come out with a new story: a Warhammer Age of Sigmar and RWBY crossover called Jaune Arc, Errant Questor.

When Jaune Oathblade, Stormcast Eternal and Errant Questor of the Hallowed Knights and defender of the innocent, is cast out of the realms he has known all his life and into a strange world of unusual technology and magic, he sets out to find a way back home. But it quickly becomes apparent that not all is well in this 'Remnant'. Chaos lurks even here, and it may be that Jaune was sent for a purpose. Now Jaune must discover his purpose in Remnant. Why and how has he come to this strange realm? Was it a cosmic accident, the result of wild magic, or has Sigmar sent him to Remnant to save it? When darkness falls on the innocent and the forces of madness and insanity prey on the innocent, only the faithful will stand in defiance...

If you like this story so far then feel free to follow and favorite it! If you have a friend who likes RWBY, RWBY fanfic, or you simply think that they would like this story then feel free to recommend it to them! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions then feel free to leave a review or PM me! I love you all. BBBYYYYYYYYEEEEE!

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