Jaune stared at his lunch absentmindedly, it'd been a few days since the Cardin incident and he had thought everything would have gotten better. He should have really known better. Instead of smoothing over, things had gotten far worse. Cardin's crew hadn't bothered getting physical with him, but instead opted for a more roundabout approach. They'd started leaving notes here and there, scribbling on his locker, throwing insults when they didn't think the others were listening.

He just sort of took it, it bothered him, it frustrated him, but it wasn't something that would have any real lasting effect on him. At least it shouldn't have anyways. He'd done his best not to show any change in his demeanor, not for Cardin's group but for his friends. He didn't need to worry them, didn't need them to get in trouble on his account. He knew they'd actually break Cardin's legs if they found out, he knew they'd end up. And while that'd be really amusing, he didn't want them to well get in trouble for it.

Unfortunately though, the hits to his emotional and mental state had been getting worse and worse. So keeping up the act had become far more difficult than he'd like to admit. "Jaune…"

Turning towards his partner he found her emerald eyes peering into his soul. "Yeah Pyr?"

"Jaune… you know you can talk to us right?"

It was then he noticed that all of his friends had been looking at him, all of them except Weiss whose attention was on her food.

"I…" He really couldn't lie anymore, "No… sorry I'm not."

"Jaune… we need to talk." Pyrrha turned towards the rest of her group, specifically his sisters. "Just the two of us."

They obviously took offense to that and wanted to say something, but she'd apparently given them a look that caused them to stand down. He really didn't like where this was going, he didn't like putting his emotions out there… on purpose anyways.

The conversation died when they heard someone crying out in pain. "Ow! Stop please!"

"Those freaking jerks!" Joan stood up instantly, she hated when people picked on others, and seeing as how Cardin was getting physical with that second year she wasn't going to take it sitting down.

Everyone stood up along with her, Jaune himself was surprised at how quickly he'd gotten up all things considered. At least, he thought everyone stood up, "Weiss? You're not coming along?"

All eyes fell onto the pale girl, "No… no I will not. You… you all can't just… she should be able to handle it herself. She shouldn't need our help as she's a second year. You'd just make her look bad anyways, and if she can't help herself then maybe she deserves it…"

"SERIOUSLY!?" Yang's voice caused everyone in the cafeteria to suddenly stop. "She deserves it?! The hell Weiss that's messed up thinking!"

"Look, I'm just saying… she's a huntsman she came to this school to get stronger. She should be able to stand on her own. She shouldn't need us barging in for her, and if she can't do that on her own then maybe she doesn't need our help…"

Yang looked as if she was about to go off before Nora cut in, "Alrighty! That's enough of that! Why don't we cool down, we're all friends here!"

"But we're not… I'm not any of your friends, I don't know why you'd think that… I don't know why any of you would even think that..." Despite the haughty attitude, there was an obvious tone of sorrow in her voice. One that Joan picked up on, though by the looks of it so did Nora. And with that the Heiress took her leave, not waiting for anyone to even try to stop her.

"That self entitled little brat!" Joan was surprised at how upset Yang had gotten. He hadn't seen her that get that mad ever!

"We're… we're her friends right?" Ruby's meek voice pulled everyone's attention to her.

Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, now that theft thought about it, they hadn't really interacted with Weiss since they'd gotten there. She was always prim and proper, almost like she didn't want to belong with them.

"Joan?" Joan turned towards Nora who had walked up to her, "Can you talk to her please? I'm not the best when it comes to handling emotional things… and as embarrassing as it is you're probably the closest to her out of all of us."

Joan simply nodded her head, "Yeah… yeah I will… but… but we do need to see about including her more. I can kind of see where she's coming from."

Everyone nodded except Yang, who was pouting slightly, at least till Ren placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure she has her reasons Yang. It's not easy for everyone to open up."

The blonde girl relaxed, "I… yeah I suppose your right."

"Would you like to talk about it by the way?" Everyone looked at her, she obviously felt embarrassed by her outburst.

"I… maybe later… if you'd be willing to listen?"

"Of course."

Joan couldn't help but think of how cute they were.

"Psst, I'm totally onboard with that ship."

Nora's soft whisper nearly caused her to jump. Though, once she got the chance to think about it she was definitely onboard with that little ship too. "You know you'll need to talk to her too… I think we should go together."

The smaller girl seemed reluctant at first before nodding.

Though before that they needed to handle team CRDL, though looking back apparently the second year had taken the chance to scamper off after their little interruption. Cardin was glaring at them something fierce.

"Okay… well that was taken care of I guess… we'll have to find them later or something. Anyways… we're going to go talk to Weiss. You guys try not to get into trouble." Joan stared at Ruby specifically when mentioning this.

"I'm not going to do anything I swear!"

"Right well… we're going."

And like that both girls headed out, Pyrrha decided that this was as good of a time as ever to have a talk with Jaune. Though… she wasn't sure how to do it, it's not like she was great with person to person interactions after all. She only really ever fought—that summed up her entire life.

And just like that she realized the best way for them to actually talk. "Follow me…"

"Wha!?" He didn't get the chance to really react as she pulled him along.

"Welp… what now?" Ruby was at a loss at what to do now that her entire team was gone.

"We eat." Was all Ren gave her.

"Oh okay!"

When the duo finally made it to Pyrrha's choice of destination Jaune found himself to be utterly winded. "Hah… hah… okay… okay why are we here exactly?" Here was in the training room, which thankfully was empty all things considered.

"We're here because we're going to talk, now let's get our gear!"

"Wait what?"

"Go get your gear Jaune." Pyrrha made sure to give him a warm smile, one that told him he should actually get to it they didn't have all day.

Once the boy himself headed off she too made her way towards the women's locker room. Returning after a few minutes she was threaded in full gear and ready for action.

Jaune himself had returned shortly before her, as she approached him she took the time to note his figure. He was well toned and quite muscular, it showed how much effort he put into becoming stronger and how he's definitely worked out. His figure was also more of an athletic build unlike his sister who was more of a lifting build. His toned muscles and lithe body were impressive, he was smaller than some of her previous competitors, but well that wasn't a bad thing. Her face grew hot as she realized what she was currently doing. Snapping her attention back she continued drawing closer.

"So… what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to talk about your combat problem."

She watched him flinch at her words, this was going to be far more difficult than she'd anticipated.

"I… I don't have a problem."

"Jaune… It's… I've seen you hesitate when you've tried to strike someone."

Once more he winced at her attention to detail. "I uh… guess I can't really get anything past you huh?"

"No… well maybe. Either way, from what I've seen you're an amazing fighter! I've seen you analyze your opponents, though your fighting style is more meticulous you're great at running down your foe. But you have trouble actually dealing a blow, why… why is that?"

"I… I'm not great or good though… I'm just weak… just weak pathetic me!"

Pathetic? Why did he think he was pathetic or weak? That was stupid! "Why would you even think you're weak or pathetic? So what if you're weak?! So what if you think you're pathetic?! None of that matters! You just need to get stronger, you need to work harder for it Jaune!"

"All I can really do is fail though. I've tried, I honestly have. I've worked so that I can improve, but… being told that you don't belong all your life wears on you! I… I can't match my sisters, that much should be obvious, it's frustrating, but I do want to keep trying! I just don't know where I can go." He paused, his fists clenched into a fist, "besides it's not like you could understand how it feels to fail anyways."

Pyrrha definitely caught that last part, she would need to talk to him about that, but for now. "What would I know about being a failure? Is that what you think? That I'm perfect? That I'm invincible?" She scoffed out that last part, "I hate that moniker, TheInvincible Girl, the undefeated! No one bothers to look up the truth, no one bothers to check on what I was like before I forced myself to be stronger, to claw myself up to the top." Rolling down her long gloves, she showed off her muscular arms. However, what really caught Jaune's attention was the long line of scars and gashes. "You're not the only one who's had to work harder and harder, Jaune. I'm not invincible, I've fought my entire life to be as good as I am. And I damn well pushed myself to the limit. These aren't my only scars, I've plenty more that I keep hidden."

"I know what it's like to feel weak! I know what it's like to constantly look up to people, to have them look down on you!" She grabbed her weapon and dashed forward without warning. She'd taken him by surprise as she jammed her shield against his chest forcing him back. In an instant she attempted to trip him, her left leg sweeping behind his right. But he countered with a splendid ukemi. His body rolling to the side before she could jam her blade through his chest. "I know what it's like to be told you can't do it!"

She dashed forward again, Milo in gun form as she shot him a few times in her advance forcing him to pull up his guard. "You aren't the only one who goes through these things!" To her surprise he pressed forward, cutting her timing off forcing her to dodge his shield smash.

"I don't know what it's like having so many sisters! I don't know what it's like having family tell you you're great but the world says otherwise! I know I can't get that!" The two continued to exchange blows, their shields smashing into one another. He was constantly on the defensive, but never at a disadvantage. He kept himself in position to counter attack when necessary but never fell through with it. She would bring him to his knees, knock him back, and push him away. She would get him close to the edge, nearly take him down. But he never gave an inch, he never let himself fall, he kept on coming back at her. His frustrations were driving him and she loved it!

She would attack, he would defend, she would counter attack his defense and they would repeat over and over. "Are you happy with that though?!" Her shield nearly met his face but he defended himself. "Are you?!"

"No! Of course not! I hate it! I hate it so much!" Another blow came towards him as he backed up nearly avoiding a spear to the face.

"Are you trying to prove those people wrong?! Or do you care more about how you feel?!"

Once more she pulled back, quick gun fire made its way towards him as he blocked pressing forward in advance.

"I don't know! I DON'T KNOW!" He didn't know! He didn't know if he wanted to be happy, or if he was doing it to please other people.

"You should know! You shouldn't have to rely on what others are telling you or saying about you!"

"I know! I know! I know I shouldn't care, I know that I should only care about how I feel! But it hurts! It hurts to always be looked down upon!" To his surprise in his frustration he actually struck with his blade. In his confusion she blocked it, he didn't miss the smile on her face.

"Are you happy with feeling like you can't get anywhere?!"

"GGN! NO! No I'm not!" Finally he spoke, he'd been there, taking her attacks, and blocking her. Preventing her from being able to even land a blow despite her flurry of attacks.

"Good! Then don't let them! What matters is how you feel! You're not a coward! You're not a weakling!" She jumped back putting distance between the two. In that moment she prepared herself, Jaune came flying after her, a flash of dust erupting from behind his shield. With a slight movement she moved to the side, behind her shield she made a distinct hand movement. In a brief instant Jaune veered to the wrong side sending him crashing out to the ground in a quick stumble. He caught himself before he slid out of the ring, despite the incident despite feeling outclassed he got back up.

"How can you even say that?!"

"Because a coward and a weakling wouldn't get back up after that. Because you wouldn't fight your preconceived destiny! Like I said I've been there, I've clawed my way to the top despite the naysayers, and I know you have too. I know you've tried over and over, our scars are proof of that! So I know Jaune, I know how it feels. So your sisters are talented? So you can't compete with them? Who cares!"

She knew he wanted to say that he did, but she didn't let him. "You know who you need to compete with?! With yourself!"

"What?" His dumbfounded face, covered in sweat and confusion was oddly adorable.

"The you of today wouldn't lose to the you of yesterday. That's what you need to do, keep going forward, who cares if it's not at your sisters pace! Who cares if you can't strike someone with your sword? There is more to that! The shield is a mighty weapon! And you know what?!"

"What?" He'd calmed down, he wasn't yelling, he wasn't in his frantic messed up mindset now.

A ding set off, "That was 30 minutes Jaune… you lasted 30 minutes in a fight with Pyrrha Nikos, the 4 time Mistral Champion. There are very few that can do that." Her smile was genuine, her pride was in full bloom, but not just in herself but in Jaune, her partner.

"I pushed you harder and harder, little by little, and you kept up with me. Even if I brought you to your knees you kept on getting back up."

She let her words sink in, he finally smiled, "I… huh wow…"

"You're not a loser by the way."

He felt his bottled up emotions gather in his chest, the feeling of pride from the words of another filled him. "Thank you."

"I don't care what those actual losers in class say. You keep on trying and keep on improving. And you know what? It may not mean much coming from your family, from your sisters, from your mom. But I'm not them, I know you have a ton of potential, so how bout it?"

His eyebrow popped up as he stared at her in confusion. "You want to train together? I could use a training partner that could keep up with me."

She let him take the time to think, but to her surprise it was very little time, "Yes… please… if you're willing to take your time to help me out. I would love to accept your help."

And it was at this moment that both broke out into laughter, their emotional high finally wearing off as they relaxed, "Excellent! Though… ready for round two?"

"Round two?"

"Yep, I'm going to show you a side of me that the tournaments don't get to see." She made sure to eye all the openings, made sure the doors were shut tight and there was no one else in. "Let's take our positions."

Jaune wasn't sure how he felt about this, he was honestly a little tired. Pyrrha was insane, there was no one quite as aggressive as her in combat. Her flurry of attacks had taken quite a bit of brain power to process. But he did as he was told, he… okay if he was being honest he wanted to see this. He wouldn't admit it, but he'd been watching her tournament recordings recently… not cause she was really pretty and super awesome while fighting. No it was never that… right, well he'd seen how she fought and honestly it helped him deal with her previously. Though he was incredibly curious about her 'true' fighting style. He was about to ask her when her demeanor changed.

Jaune felt a shiver run down his spine as his previously domestic partner now felt like a feral beast on the prowl. Fear clutched his chest as she slowly circled him, he flinched here and there when random bullets would clip against his aura. He knew she was testing him, checking to see what made him, he didn't like this. Before he could properly reposition himself however, he felt another shot, this time aimed at the fingers gripping his blade. He nearly dropped his sword in response. And that was all she needed.

He failed to notice the black aura surrounding her metal boots, in a flash she was upon him. In response he attempted to position his shield between them, only for a black aura to force it down. Using his own aura to over power hers he managed to regain control, only for her left leg to curl behind the metal piece. With great force applied to her own gear, she stomped down, dragging his body with it. In an instant he felt her knee slam into his jaw, his brain jumbling within his skull as he reeled backwards. Before he could even think about regaining his momentum, he felt her move again. Gingerly she stepped upon his shield and used it to reposition around him. Her thigh roped around the back of his head as her thigh slipped between his jaw and around his neck, as her right leg pressed against his chest. In a moment he felt a tremendous weight press down, all of his armor was now used against him to lock his body into place.

He tried to fight her, tried to move, but he felt her semblance pressing him to the ground. He was locked in his own gear slowly losing oxygen as his world started to fade to black.

"AH!" His eyes shot open, how long had he been out? What had even happened?

"Hello again!" Slowly he felt his face grow hot as he realized his current position, laying on one of the benches in the training room, his head placed gently on Pyrrha's lap. He tried getting up, but he felt Pyrrha's hand on his chest, "You don't want to move too fast so soon."

He could feel his heartbeat in his ears, his pulse grew rapid. "Wha… wh… what happened?!" Despite his flustered demeanor he couldn't help but ask what she'd done.

"Aura's great and everything, but like your mother said, there are alternate means of getting around it. I just… happened to take advantage of that." She was practically beaming.

"Wh… where did you learn to fight like that?! That wasn't in any of the reco…" He paused as he realized he'd accidentally let his little secret slip. He was practically a tomato by this point, her knowing smirk didn't help.

"Oh? Did someone look into me? See anything you like?" A lot honestly, but he wasn't going to admit that. He wasn't going to let her teasing get to him, not now!

"I… I thought it would be good to know how my teammates fight. I… I already know how Ruby and Joan fight, so I…"

He felt his anxiety wane as soft giggles escaped her lips. "I'm just playing with you, though… let's just say I've done more than 'tournament' fighting. There are some… not so public places one can learn to fight. And well… I was under a lot of stress, it helped to unwind."

The realization hit him like a ton of breaks, so she took part in those kinds of tournaments. "How…"

"How did no one know? Well I'm quite good at disguises if I say so myself."

He simply nodded in agreement, not wanting to push the subject further. "So what now?"

"Well for now we'll rest up, then we can work out a training regiment. We'll show those punks just how strong our partner duo is. Because believe me, you are worthy, you know? You're the best partner I could have asked for." She paused, realizing how vain that sounded, "And don't worry what anyone else has to say. You don't have to be worthy of being my partner. This is an equal relationship." Her face grew hot at her own statement. "I mean… you know what… yeah. We can handle things together alright?"

He took a moment, staring at her emerald eyes from his position on her lap. This was nice, it was… it was really nice having someone talk to. He knew he had plenty of problems, that there were other things he needed to work out. But having Pyrrha with him? That… that felt good. "Thank you."

"Hmm? Oh, it's no problem! It's no problem… just if you ever need to talk… if there are more things that you need an outside party for. I'm here for you alright?"

He hummed to himself, "That sounds grand. Just… the same to you okay? I'm here for you too."

Her soft giggle was music to his ears, "That sounds splendid. Thank you."

And like that he was back to being crimson again, "Do… do you mind if we stay like this a bit longer?"

Embarrassment hit him harder as he realized what he asked for. "Sure, I think you earned the rest." A genuine and warm smile crept upon her face as her hands slipped through his ruffled hair. As she began to hum, he felt a few of his worries wash away. He wasn't a loser, he… he knew he could do things with his partner by his side, this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Hey Jerry?"

"Yeah Tom?"

"You excited about retirement?"

"Heck yeah I am! How bout you though? You ready to propose to that girlfriend of yours?"

"Yeah… I'm just nervous is all."

"Don't worry man you got this."

Today was going to be a great day for these two dust shop guards! Everything was going to go fine, there wasn't going to be any attacks, and the shipment would be delivered without a problem.

And then the power in their side of town went out.

"What? What's going on!?"

"I dunno Jerry, but I'll go check the breaker, you hold on alright?"

"Yeah… just be careful Tom."

"Pfft, what's the worst that can happen?"

Unfortunately for Jerry, this would be the last time he ever saw his friend. Unknown to the two, amber eyes watched them silently, the unknown figure had slipped in during the initial chaos.

The feminine figure watched as the two guards separated, her target already clear in mind she followed Tom into the power room. SCHLICK

"Tom? Tom are you there?" It had been several minutes and Jerry's long-time best friend had yet to return. "Tom? This isn't funny man, where are you at?" When he received no response he pulled out his gun, slowly he trailed after his best friend.

Drip drip drip

"The heck is that sound?" His body froze when he felt a warm liquid drip onto his face, as he pressed his fingers against it confusion hit him. It was too sticky to be water, but it wasn't really that much thicker. Bringing it close to his nose he gave it a solid smell, the scent of iron.

It took him a few seconds but his blood ran cold as his gaze fell upwards. In the light of the moon he could make out the hanging body of his best friend, a black ribbon holding his dead form to the ceiling. Before he could screen he felt a hand wrap around his mouth. "Shh, it'll be over now."

He had no time to react to the cruel voice, as the amber eyes kept their focus on him, in an instant his world went black. SCHLICK.

And like that, a black blade ran through his neck, slicing his jugular. The small hand kept to his mouth, keeping him from screaming in pain as the life force drained from his body. Once he fell limp the black figure pulled back. Releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding she felt relief at the completion of the job.

"Get the dust, and let's get out of here." In an instant several men in black and white uniforms, with a three scarred wolf embedded on their clothing and grimm like masks rushed in.

Finally as the moon's light cast upon the lone female figure she took the time to relax. Her golden eyes peered at the fallen guards, only a moment of guilt passed through her as she moved on. Adorning a full face mask, one of red and white, she moved forward vanishing into the darkness. She had other jobs she needed to complete before the night was over.

Thanks again to Selene Sokal for proof reading!

Also I hate FF and it's ruining of my formatting!