Disclaimer: Fate/Stay Night is property of Type-moon, RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. This work is purely fanfiction and as such earns me no income.

*May receive some edits in the future and maybe additional dialogue.

I'm not really sure how popular Jaune is. Although I do know how popular WhiteRose and BumbleBee is.

Also, whose excited for the start of RWBY volume 3?!

The sounds of the clash of blades rang through the air of the large backyard of a recently purchased estate. Tension hang in the air as three faunus surrounded the Servant Saber in a triangle formation.

As one, they all attacked with sudden momentum with their swords at the lone girl. Their blades were easily repelled by Saber without problem. For them, it felt more like they had just tried to slash a boulder. Not that they saw how, due to the speed the girl had swung the practice sword in her hand.

"Again!" said Saber, as she positioned her sword perfectly straight in front of her form.

"Give us a break… please!" begged Thomas, who was now breathing rather harshly and had his sword pointed down.

"We're already too damn tired," said Rud.

The sound of a rumbling tummy came out from underneath Eugene, who was lying face down on the ground. "I'm hungry…" he mumbled.

Saber stabbed her sword on the ground and had rested both her hands on its hilt in order to talk to them in a strict voice, "After getting a feel for your skills, I can confidently say that your current strength is lacking. In order to boost it, we must keep training all of you until you reach a level I approve of."

The surrounding faunus sighed tiredly at that.

"We're really all not that weak," claimed Thomas. "You're really just too strong, I think."

The other two faunus nodded their heads in agreement.

"Despite myself being a Servant, I can still see the need for training to sharpen one's skills," said Saber. "Being strong is a continuous battle because there will always be someone stronger." She held her right hand in a fist to her chest whilst looking far into the sky.

'If there's anyone stronger than you out there, we'd probably just run, hide, or give up,' thought all the tired faunus. They knew they weren't Huntsmen material and were perfectly okay with that.

"We will continue fighting until we are completely spent," stated Saber. "There are no breaks on the battlefield. This way, we can simulate what it actually feels like to be in actual combat." She readied her practice sword once more to face them, which caused the surrounding faunus to groan in response. "Negligence is our enemy."

Suddenly, the sweet wafting aroma of freshly baked goods assaulted the noses of Saber and the faunus. They turned towards the direction of the smell and noticed the upcoming figure of Sakura and Kelly carrying trays of food and drink.

"Everyone, I brought some snacks and refreshments!" she called to them.

Another sound of a rumbling tummy was heard. This one coming from the direction of Saber, rather than Eugene's.

"Ehem," coughed Saber into her hand, whose face was slightly red. "Hunger is also our enemy, therefore, we should strive to strike it down while we have the chance to do so."

Rud and Thomas gave her accusing looks.

"I won't say no to that," said Eugene, who was now running to intercept the two women. "That's the kind of enemy I can fight all day."

"Hey! Leave some for us!" shouted the other two faunus.

Meanwhile, in one of the estate's office rooms, Roman Torchwick was sitting down on a nice well-padded chair writing and reading forms and documents that were spread all over his mahogany table.

He was currently busy managing the finances and assets that they had recently acquired, and being familiar with fraud and other criminal enterprises, making sense and organizing all of it made it easy for him. Knowing that Roman was unable to betray or steal from them, Rin had put the criminal towards the tedious amount of work that all paper pushers deplored.

"How in the world did I get stuck with this job," he complained, while he audited the amount of liens going into their bank account. His eyes were scrutinizing every single amount of lien that was coming in and out from their new business.

The criminal had been left alone to deal with all the paperwork while Rin was busy down in her workshop working on a big project using the remaining Dust crystals they had after selling some of it to cover the cost of their recent operations.

Normally, Roman would probably be doing his current kind of work half-assedly or not at all, but due to the contract he signed, he was obligated do his best at the job.

The purchase of the estate they currently housed in had cost them a good amount of money. Most of it HIS money when it actually came down to paying for it. Since he was a criminal, Rin had unfairly decided that the illegally obtained cash he had saved up would be better put to use for their convenience.

Of course, he argued that just because he was a criminal that doesn't automatically make his entire savings into ill-gotten gains. Unfortunately, when they asked him if it wasn't ill-gotten, he couldn't lie to them due to his contract once more, which pretty much made his argument of the matter moot in point.

Roman sighed and put his scroll down, deciding to take a break.

While taking a drink from his tea, his mind wandered off to some of his former compatriots. 'Wonder how they're doing without me?'

While he wasn't made entirely clear on their plans when he was hired on, he did know for a fact that they had been planning something really big for the City of Vale. And now that he was effectively missing, he wasn't entirely sure what would happen with that plan.

His old employers will certainly be most unhappy with him if they ever find him.

"Heh," he chuckled. "At least, I'm glad I won't be seeing Cinder anytime soon."

He put down his cup and once more tackled the mountain of paperwork on his desk. "No point of thinking about what's past."

During the night, with only the light of Remnant's shattered moon shining on the ground and trees, a lone woman in black stood in the middle of a ring made of the dozen corpses of Beowolves near the outskirts of the city's borders. The weapon in her hand dissolved into tiny light particles starting from the Nail to the ends of its chains.

Rider had just finished clearing out the last of the newest pack of Grimm that had come close to the city. It hadn't been taking her and the other Servants as long as before once it was made abundantly clear to the other creatures of Grimm that they would be slaughtered without a doubt if they got too close. Even then, there was still the occasional packs that would roam by without care for their survival.

Occassionally, she and the other Servants would go farther to clear out larger concentrations of Grimm to thin out the herd. Everyone and her Master had agreed that leaving the creatures alone for too long would be too dangerous. Sakura herself was most adamant about protecting the city once Rin explained to everyone that the Grimm were attracted to negative emotions borne from people.

Having been the container for the corrupted Holy Grail and almost giving birth to Angra Mainyu, who was the embodiment of "All the Worlds Evil," Sakura felt most that she was to blame for the city's current swelling problems with Grimm.

Rider had made sure to slaughter as many of the creatures as she can afterwards. She resolved to make sure that there would be no reason for Sakura to blame herself, if the city had no problems concerning the congregating amount of Grimm in the area. The body count of Grimm she had during her turn with weeding out the creatures was quite a bit higher than that of Saber or Shirou.

Slowly, Rider turned to face the sky on her left. She could feel the presence of one of the many remote controlled drones that had been scanning the surroundings of the city. Rider hid herself among the trees to avoid detection, doing her best to conceal her presence.

The drone arrived and hovered for a few minutes among the bodies of the dissipating Grimm. It seemed to be taking a great deal of interest in them and the surrounding area, before it decided to leave and head back towards the city.

Rider watched it carefully, as it left. 'Those drones are moving farther and farther from the city,' she thought. She and the other Servants had noticed them the first time they went out at night along the borders of the city scanning for any dangerous activities. Usually the drones would just hover a few moments around an area they had cleared near the city before moving on, but recently, the Servant's had been seeing them pop up from time to time whenever they went out on their deeper trips out of the normal range of the drones.

'They've been trying to follow us,' mused Rider. That would certainly make it a little more complicated for them if they were to be discovered. Rin was particularly clear with everyone regarding keeping themselves out of sight and out of mind when it comes to the locals. To which, Rider agreed wholeheartedly, considering it would best keep her Master from harm's way.

She thought best to inform the others about this once she gets back. 'Sakura, I'm heading back,' she mentioned through their mental link.

'Good work, Rider,' came her Master's reply. 'Did you have any problems?'

'No. However, there is something I want to discuss with the others once I get back.'

'Okay, I'll inform Neesan and the others so we can talk about it over dinner. Is there a particular dish you'd like to request?' asked Sakura.

'Tonkatsu,' answered Rider promptly.

Briefly, Rider could sense over the mental link her Master giggling at the immediate answer.

'I'll be sure to make a lot of it then. Make sure to come home early though because I'm not too confident I can keep the others at bay for too long.'

Rider acknowledged that statement. She knew well just how fearsome the others could be when it came down to eating time. Too many a time had she come home from her duties to find that most of her favorite dishes had been devoured by the faunus, Saber, or even Rin. Sometimes, Sakura would be able to hide a few of the dishes from the others. But unfortunately, her senses weren't the only ones that were sharper than others.

The faunus could sniff out any hidden morsels about as well as the animals they got their traits from. While Rin had now gotten close enough to her sister to tell when she had something to hide. Sakura would do everything she can to save her some but that would only be stalling the inevitable.

Quickly, Rider dashed from tree to tree towards home. She hastened her speed enough that she had started leaving noticeable damage on the branches she lept from as she moved.

Truly fearsome what the power of delicious food can do.

On a bright morning, the City of Vale was busy with activity for the weekend, as the people moved about from place to place to shop, eat, or find some other form of entertainment. There was a bright air of cheer among the people as they went along with their mundane activities. In this bright and happy atmostphere, a single person stood out.

Walking glumly down a particular part of the city street, the leader of Team JNPR can be seen sighing ever so often as he made his way to his destination.

Jaune Arc felt tired. The dark eye bags he had, made that quite obvious to anyone who saw him. Lack of sleep from doing all of Cardin Winchester's homework on top of his own had most certainly deprived him of any down time he would have had. Even now, his weekend was being spent on doing an errand for the school bully.

Jaune let out another large sigh. "Why do I have to do this?"

Of course, he remembers all too well exactly why he was stuck being Cardin's errand boy. The fact that the bully found out about Jaune's not so legal application to Beacon Academy, had left him no choice but to obey Cardin's every wish. If he chose to not to, his secret would be exposed, and then he would likely be expelled at best, or imprisoned at worst.

"Maybe I should just quit…" he moaned. "Cardin is never going to leave me alone, and all I'm doing is dragging down my own team with me."

His teammates had been worrying about him for some time now. Pyrrha especially, but was still keeping herself somewhat distant from him, ever since he rejected her offer to help him. They had commented on his recent "friendship" with Cardin, but he made no mention of the true circumstance regarding it. He did not want to drag them further into his problems.

He looked at the piece of paper in his hand which detailed Cardin's list of things to get at the new café that recently opened. Apparently, Team CRDL had gotten themselves banned from the shop due to their openly rude treatment of the faunus staff there. Their disgust for faunus aside, it looks like the food there was exceptional enough that even Cardin had now resorted to asking someone else to get him take out for a chance at tasting it again.

"Where is this place anyway?" he grumbled to himself. Jaune looked around to see if there was anyone he could ask.

Up ahead of him at an intersection, he could see a young blonde girl with some groceries in her hand waiting for the pedestrian light to signal go.

"I guess it's better to ask then get lost." He walked up to her. "Excuse me, do you mind if you can help me a little bit?" he asked her.

The girl turned around and tilted her head in question at him. "Is there something I can help you with," she said.

"Uhhh…"

"Are you alright?" asked the girl.

Jaune, who was left momentarily speechless by the girl's appearance, managed to regain some of his senses to stop himself from openly gawking. He thought the girl was very pretty, although not as pretty as he thought Weiss was but still pretty darn close. Remembering just what he was doing, he asked, "Do you happen to know if this place called Radix book café is close by? It looks like I may have gotten myself a bit lost."

Later on, Jaune and the girl, whose name he know knew as Arturia, was walking together towards the café. He found out that the girl was one of the café's employees and was making her own way back after she had been sent out on a few errands for more spices and foodstuff. She had told him that they were a few blocks away from reaching their destination and that he was welcome to walk back there with her to prevent him from getting further lost.

"Thanks," he said, as they both walked. "I'm really glad I found someone who knows the way there. I'm certain Cardin messed up the directions on purpose just so he could make me go around in circles."

Arturia made a small smile at her walking companion. "It is no trouble. Please don't concern yourself too much. It is a simple matter for me to just guide you there." She looked at him curiosly and said, "Although, it seems to me your friend might have gone a little too far if you had managed to end up that far away from your destination."

Jaune sighed, trying hard not to think too much about Cardin. "He's not really my friend. More like an enemy, really."

"Then why do you follow his orders then?"

"It's complicated," he mumbled.

Arturia looked at him seriously. "Did he defeat you in battle?"

That question made Jaune stumble. "No! I mean… yeah, he did but… not really."

The girl stopped in her tracks and looked at him questioningly, determined to let Jaune explain himself more clearly.

Jaune made one of the many other sighs he had been making and said, "He knows… a secret of mine that will get me in serious trouble if others were to find out. If I did whatever he wanted, he promised me he wouldn't tell anyone else about it." He was currently looking at his feet, trying find something more interesting in it than the current confession he was giving a stranger he just met. "To be honest, I feel like I should just let him tell my secret, just so I don't have to be a burden on my teammates anymore. They deserve a better leader than someone like me," he slumped his shoulders after admitting so.

"You are a leader, you say?"

Jaune nodded his head, while still looking at his feet. "I'm not even sure why they picked me in the first place. Pyrrha would have made a great leader, rather than some chump like me."

"Stand up straight and face me!" came the sudden loud command of Arturia, which Jaune quickly followed.

He was now staring straight into the eyes of the girl he thought earlier was kind and delicate. All he saw now was the look of a superior commanding officer who was scrutinizing every single detail of his existence.

"If you are a leader, then you must stand and face me like one. Do you understand?" she questioned strongly, while still holding the paper bag of groceries she had to her chest with both arms.

Jaune lowered his shoulders a little. "But I just sai-,"

"What did I just say?" said the cold voice of Arturia who narrowed her eyes dangerously at him.

Stiffening his posture with his hands on his side in a flash, Jaune said, "To stand up straight and face you, Ma'am!" The current situation was certainly confusing for the young man but something about the girl's presence was demanding that he follow the command.

Arturia looked at him carefully. "Good," she said, nodding to herself, after making sure he was standing at perfect attention. "A leader must stand firm in his responsibilities. You're posture must reflect that. Confidence is key if you are to command the loyalty of those you lead, and showing that begins in how they view you."

Jaune couldn't figure out what was going on right now, but he figured he didn't really have much of a choice right now, so he decided to just shut up for now and wait for the girl to finish whatever it was she had to say.

"You told me you did not choose to become a leader," she asked him. "Regardless of your choice, you are now a leader of your group." Arturia stated this firmly. "As a leader, you must guide your comrades to the best of your ability. If you are lacking in that ability, then you must train yourself so that you may be able to do so. It matters not if you are failing right now. You are their leader, and you must struggle to become what a good leader should be." She paused, a slight hint of sad nostalgia in her eyes. "Trying to throw away that responsibility is a cowardly act. It insults not only your honor, but also those who followed you. In the end, the only thing you can do is to make sure you have done your best to lead them, regardless of the outcome."

Staring dumbly at the girl, Jaune realized that she was giving him advice. "T-That's… actually pretty good advice."

Arturia let go of her stern look and gave him a warm smile.

"Thank you. I hadn't really thought much about what it means to be a leader." He would seriously mull over this later. "But… uuuh… can I move now?"

Blinking at that question, Arturia said, "Of course."

Jaune collapsed on his butt on the ground at that, having locked his knees so hard from standing straight, his legs finally gave out. "You seem to know a lot about being a leader," he exhaled.

He caught a brief look of sorrow in Arturia's face.

"There is nothing like experience to bring one's mistakes out to bare," she replied, solemnly.

"I-I see," said Jaune. He decided not to inquire any further, since that would be a bit too rude. Although, inwardly, he was more than a little curious how someone who looks to be about his age could have such an experience.

Noticing what she might have said sounded a bit suspicious, Arturia quickly made an excuse. "I am a lot older than I actually look," she told him with a straight face.

Jaune had trouble believing that but he did guess that there were people like that. She could be as old as his mom for all he knew, and asking about a woman's age is never a good thing, especially if a guy was the one doing the asking.

Arturia held out a hand for Jaune to help him up. She picked him up quite easily, to his surprise, while she still held on to her paper bag with one arm. Together they continued their walk to Radix book café.

At the Beacon Academy dorms, Jaune Arc stood in front of Cardin Winchester. He held out the paper bag containing all of the food Cardin made him buy using his own money.

Cardin quickly took the food and looked over its contents. "Nice work, Jaune," he said, mildly impressed. "Thought you'd get here much later but you actually managed to get back early." Giving bad directions, he thought that Jaune would be lucky to find the place before dusk.

Jaune was annoyed just how blatantly obvious Cardin was of giving him bad directions. He made no show of it, considering what he was about to do.

"It's over Cardin."

The bully looked up from the paper bag to give Jaune a raised eyebrow in question.

Jaune took a deep breath and said, "I'm not going to follow your orders anymore. My team needs me to be there for them and I can't do that while you keep dragging me around like your personal assistant. You can go ahead and report me if you'd like but I'm not just going let you order me around anymore."

Cardin made a growl at that. "You know they'll kick you out, once I tell them about your dirty little secret, right?" he threatened.

"Go ahead," said Jaune, defiantly. "They'll expel me but at least I'll know I did my best at trying to become a good leader and a good Hunstman." He turned his back on Cardin and walked away from him.

"You're going to regret this, Jaune!" Cardin shouted.

Jaune stopped, which made Cardin smirk in triumph. The leader of Team JNPR only did so to look back at the bully and said, "No, I won't." With that, he continued to walk until he was out of sight of the angered bully.

"Oh, you will," mumbled Cardin, ominously to himself. "You and your whole team are going to regret ever humiliating me." He took out his scroll and dialed his teammate. "Hey Russel, is the field trip to Forever Fall still on?"

A/N:

Well, this chapter turned out to be pretty slow. Setting things up is a real hassle. I really wish I could just write all the fun stuff like big clashes and etc. But then the story would probably never make sense.

At least I'm fairly sure the next chapter may be a fun one. After all, it's going to be set at Forever Fall. We'll get to see Team JNPR and RWBY.

Hopefully.

There is a low probability of it changing depending on how the story happens once I write it out.

As always, please read and review. It will help me if you can point out some mistakes in spelling and grammar as well.

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