Our leader is rubbing off on us, Ren thought as he looked around the empty gym. Nora had ended up curious about how much their leader trained and had brought the rest of the team to track Jaune down. The knight had been surprised at first, but seeing as they were all dressed to exercise he couldn't see any reason for them not to join him at the gym.
Of course, Nora had also been extremely interested in Jaune's workout regime and decided to keep up with her leader despite his objections. The valkyrie brushed off his suggestion and powered on through, matching Jaune with every exercise he did.
Jaune sighed and gave in, showing Nora all the weights he did and how to do them. Both Ren and Pyrrha were surprised at the intensity that Jaune's workout held, and Pyrrha was even more surprised to see Nora keep up at Jaune's pace since she seemed petite compared to the knight.
This wasn't to say Jaune and Nora's partners were slackers in the gym, rather that their exercise focused on more than just lifting and moving around incredibly heavy weights.
Ren and Pyrrha both also found out exactly why Jaune had suggested Nora to not mimic him, since by the end of their workout Nora had turned into a limp puddle of soreness.
"You seem surprisingly fresh compared to Nora," said Ren over the loud moaning coming from the Nora-puddle.
Jaune scratched the back of his head, "Well I'm just used to it I guess, and I'm using aura to speed up muscle recovery,"
Ren's brow shot up, "That requires a very extensive amount of skill in aura manipulation,"
His leader shrugged, "I started training in aura at a young age, and I've always been talented when it comes to aura manipulation,"
"Quite impressive from someone our age, I hope you won't mind teaching me what you've learned. I've managed to enforce my strikes with aura for further efficiency, but that the extent of my aura manipulation if we're not taking into account semblances,"
"You're no slouch yourself Ren, I've seen how well you can fuel your attacks with aura. You're one of the only other students to use aura in fights other than to protect yourself."
"You've noticed me fueling my attacks with aura?" Ren asked, "I was under the impression that it was unnoticeable to any onlookers,"
"Well yeah, but while I can't see you using aura I can see your aura meter go down and the visible difference in how your opponents react when you strike them," Jaune responded.
"You're quite observant," Ren said.
Pyrrha thought the same thing as she kneeled next to the pile of moans that was Nora, kneading her shoulders and giving a small smile at the noises that came out of the Nora-puddle.
"We should probably get ready and head out now. I hope breakfast snaps Nora out of her soreness, otherwise, we're going to be dragging her around for all of the morning," stated Ren.
Pyrrha gave a small laugh as Nora mumbled something into the floor, "I'm sure she'll get back to herself soon, she'll learn to pace herself next time,"
"I'll teach all of y'all how to speed up muscle recovery soon enough, it won't get rid of all the discomfort of training in excess but it helps it last less. However, I can do something for Nora I can not do for myself.," said Jaune as he walked over to Nora, hands glowing a soft golden light.
Ren and Pyrrha looked on in confusion.
Jaune glanced over to the rest of his team, "Oh it's my semblance, I can boost aura, it'll speed up Nora's natural recovery and get rid of the discomfort."
With that, he placed a hand on Nora's shoulder.
The small groans turned into a fit of giggles as Nora shot up with a wide smile, "Ohoohoo, Jaune that feels really funky! I'm all better now!"
Jaune chuckled, "Well it looks like it worked better than expected, I haven't used my semblance that much due to it being so focused on support. Anyways, we should probably hit the showers before breakfast,"
The rest of his team agreed unanimously.
Ren entered the gym locker room with Jaune. Nora and Pyrrha preferring to use their room's shower. He grabbed a towel and entered a shower, setting the water to a comfortable temperature and cleaning his body. Rubbing soap over lithe muscles capable of extreme bursts of power, attractive even compared to other huntsmen.
Once clean he exited the steaming stall and donned the school uniform he had prepared beforehand. Ren looked over his shoulder when he saw that Jaune had finished his own shower, glancing at his leader's bare chest.
Jaune defied what most people expected huntsmen to look like, built stockier and bulkier. It makes sense that he's going to be bulkier, thought Ren, Jaune is the tankiest huntsmen I've seen. He also had a surprisingly little number of scars on his body, even Ren had more scars from fights and training than Jaune.
"Uh, Ren? Do you need anything?" Asked Jaune, his usual smile tinged with self-consciousness as Ren stared at him so intensely.
Ren shook himself out of his thinking, "No, sorry, just thinking."
Jaune nodded and threw on his uniform as well, the pair of young men leaving the gym to meet up with their partners at breakfast.
Ren noted that Jaune waved a few hellos to the upperclassmen. It made sense since Jaune had probably interacted and even made friends with a few of the students at Beacon other than the ones in their grade since he had lived here longer than the rest of them had been at Beacon.
Team RWBY made their way through Beacon's halls as they went to lunch. Yang gave a large stretch after coming after Professor Port's class, while team JNPR might have taught them how to take notes in that class it didn't make it any easier for Yang to suffer through Port's long tangents and stories.
Ruby was talking next to her about an upgrade she was looking to put on Crescent Rose, going at speeds that could challenge Professor Oobleck.
"The new model scope can zoom in three times more than the one I have right now and is fifty percent more effective!" She exclaimed.
"Didn't you just get a new scope?" Asked Yang.
"Three times more zoom and fifty percent more accuracy!" Responded Ruby.
"Fine, fine, you're going to have to convince dad to buy you it since I don't have money right now,"
"Not anymore I don't! I just have to convince Jaune to buy it for me!" Ruby said, "He gets money from Beacon every two weeks and has his own bank account, and he said he'd buy me whatever I want if I got good grades!"
"He did?" Asked both Yang and Weiss.
"Well, no, but I bet he would if I ask him nicely and got good grades." Answered Ruby, "He's susceptible to my adorable charms."
Yang sighed, very aware that Ruby only had to flash her puppy eyes for Jaune to cave for whatever she wanted. "I mean if he says yes I don't think there's anything wrong with it, the weekend is coming up and we can go to Vale for supplies."
Weiss sputtered, "Absolutely not, I'm not going to have my leader seduce someone else for money. It'll look bad on all of us."
Ruby made a face, "Eww Weiss, Jaune's like a big brother to me, I'd only be asking nicely."
"If he says yes you should see if you can get his card, I also want to buy some new books," said Blake.
"Don't encourage her!" Weiss hissed, "Look, we can't rely on another team that much, it'll look bad on us, if you really want to buy something I'll give you my card."
Yang snorted as Ruby's face went from downtrodden to ectatic at Weiss's news.
"Yay! And thank you for letting me use your card, I don't know where I would have gotten a thousand and five hundred Lien," Ruby said before zooming ahead with her semblance.
"Wait- how much is that scope?!" Weiss yelled.
"Can I still get my books?" Blake asked.
Weiss kneaded her eyes, "Yes, Blake, as long as they don't cost the same amount as that scope."
Yang rolled her eyes "Y'all are ridiculous, You're going to end up spoiling Ruby,"
"I know, but it's better we do it than Jaune. Can you think of how embressaring if Ruby starts expecting Jaune to pay for her things? People already think she's immature, we don't need to add fuel to that fire,"
Blake's partner bristled, "She's not immature, she's just young."
Weiss rolled her eyes, "Of course, I know this, but others don't, and we're going to be working with teams other than JNPR in the future. We can't have them thinking Ruby is some kind of child,"
"I doubt Jaune would mind," said Blake, "He dotes on Ruby all the time,"
The WBY of RWBY entered the cafeteria, going towards Ruby and JNPR at their table. Weiss waved at Jaune and Pyrrha since Nora and Ren were currently distracted by Ruby, "We'll talk about this later."
"Are you getting used to taking notes in Port's class?" Jaune asked Yang once they sat down.
Yang yawned, "The trick is not falling asleep,"
"Pft-, he's not that bad," Jaune said.
"You're the only one that thinks that Vomit-Boy,"
Jaune rolled his eyes, "I'd complain about the nickname if I didn't know it was useless,"
"See, you can learn!" Yang said with fake enthusiasm.
Both teams waited for the lunch line to go down before getting their food. Jaune actually got a dish made specifically for him by the lunch ladies, even though he flushed and swore that they didn't need to do so. Yang couldn't help but laugh as the staff assured him that he deserved it for helping around so much.
"The staff really likes you don't they," said Pyrrha, "I mean I know you grew up here, but everyone appreciates you a lot, Oobleck even used your worksheet as an example of what to do,"
Jaune shrugged, "I like to help, and it's a little unfair to compare my work to everyone else's in our classes, I've been spying on lectures since I was small so I know a lot more than you all,"
"Yeah! Jaune is going to give us the answers to all the tests!" Exclaimed Nora, "We have the best leader!"
Ren sighed, "Nora I'm sure he'll help you study, but I doubt he's going to have the answers to the tests." The face that flashed on his face betrayed his real thoughts, however.
"You have the answers to the tests!" This time it was Yang's turn to yell, much to Weiss' and Jaune's embarrassment.
Jaune winced "I wouldn't say I have the answers, but Oobleck makes all his tests himself, and he was one of my teachers when I was little. So I've picked up on his habits when it comes to assignments." Once he saw the wide eyes of his friends he continued on, "And no, this is one of the things I'm not going to teach you about Beacon, since I practically have this year's course memorized it doesn't mean much, but you guys still need to learn things. Plus I'm great at helping you study, right Nora?"
Nora nodded, "Yeah you are,"
"Ow!" Cried out a voice, "Please don't! That hurts,"
The source was a brunette bunny Faunus, her ears being yanked on by Sky Lark, the halberd-wielding member of Team CRDL. The rest of his team laughed on cruelly, except for Cardin, who was simply eating his meal without even a glance at what was happening.
"Wow! They are real," Sky laughed cruelly, "I can't believe they let you in the school with these, aren't they just something else for the Grimm to bite?"
Team RWBY watched on in disgust, JNPR doing the same.
Except they didn't, or, one of them didn't.
Yang watched as Jaune walked over to CRDL's table. Face set in the same small smile he always had, except his eyes were now set in the darkest expression Yang had ever seen on Jaune's face.
Sky didn't see him coming up from behind him, but he felt Jaune's hand land on his shoulder.
"No- Jaune you don't have to do anything!" cried out the Faunus.
Sky looked over his shoulder to the taller male, "Yeah man, what's the deal? She's just a Fau-"
"A friend. She's a friend of mine." Jaune said, his voice betraying the false look of relaxation on his face.
"You're friends with an animal? I can't believe you'd lower yourse-AH!" Sky yelped as a crunch rang out through the cafeteria. Jaune's hand was still on his shoulder, except Yang could see that his grip had increased tremendously.
Jaune leaned over slightly until his face was almost touching Sky's "If you want to use your arm whatsoever in the future, you're going to let go." Azure eyes filled with fire stared into Sky's, the pressure on his shoulder increasing as Jaune stared into his eyes. The knight's eyes glanced over to Sky's hand still grasping the bunny Faunus's ears, signaling for him to let go before something else happened to him.
"Ow-Ow-Ow, fine I'll let go, just stop hurting me!" Whined Sky, letting go of the bunny Faunus.
"Yeah bro, chill the fuck out will you?" Said Lark, before being shut up with a glance from Jaune. Dove getting the same treatment before he could even think of speaking against the knight.
"Don't tell him what to do," Cardin said, standing up from his meal and approaching Jaune "I'm his leader, not you,"
Jaune ignored Sky, turning his gaze to Cardin, "Then I suggest you control him better," squeezing Sky's shoulder one more time before letting go.
Team CRDL's leader met Jaune's smiling face with a glare "Suggestion noted" his glare turned to a new target, "Sky, you ever embarrass me like that, you're losing a hand. Got it?"
Jaune nodded at Cardin as he sat down, forcing his hand on Sky's other shoulder to force him down as well. The gray-haired boy slumped down onto his seat with a hiss, head turned away from everyone and a hand clutching his injured shoulder.
"Are you okay Velvet?" Asked Jaune.
Must be her name, Yang thought, looking on as Velvet and Jaune talked between themselves, their conversation being too quiet to make out from where she was sitting. Velvet left the cafeteria with an embarrassed look on her face after she was done talking with Jaune.
Team JNPR's leader returned to their table, completely ignoring the silence that had fallen over the cafeteria and the stares he was getting.
"So… Where were we? Something about me being a good tutor right?" Jaune said, as if he hadn't had a stand-off with a whole team.
"Ah-yes," Pyrrha said, "You're quite adept at teaching others, I'm sure Ozpin and the rest of the staff are quite proud of that fact."
Jaune chuckled, "Yeah I guessed the rubbed off on me."
And as if nothing had previously happened, Jaune lured everyone into the conversation once again, his act of heroism going unspoken but not forgotten. Jaune stretched and popped his back, glancing at his scroll and the message it contained.
It read 'Can we talk?: From Velvet'
He shot back his answer, saying that he could and if Velvet had any preference of where they should meet up.
The knight got Velvet's response quickly, telling him to meet her near the library. Jaune began his trek towards his destination, luckily he was close enough that he didn't have to traverse the whole school to arrive at the library.
Velvet had apparently been closer, seeing as she was already waiting for Jaune.
The bunny-girl locked onto Jaune the second he turned the corner, walking speedily towards him.
"Hello Velvet, how are you-"
"You can't tell Coco about what happened at lunch today!" Velvet interrupted, "She'll react horribly!"
"Velvet.." Jaune's voice rang out in disappointment, "You can't ask me to do that."
"Yes, I can! She'll freak out, and then she'll tell the rest of the team and it'll make an even bigger mess than it already is,"
"Even if I don't, which is a big stretch, it doesn't mean that she won't find out through anyone else." Shot back Jaune.
Velvet's gaze was unchanging, "If that's the case I can just deny it, but if you tell her she'll take your word for it over mine."
The blonde eyed boy sighed, "She wouldn't need to if you just put those idiots in their place in the first place,"
"And how would you suggest I do so? Through violence? And reinforce all the negative stereotypes about Faunus?" Velvet hissed, though her tone changed towards the end to something more pleading, "Please Jaune, you have to promise me that you won't tell Coco anything,"
Jaune paused, "Fine, you have my word. If Coco finds out it won't be from me. Is that good enough for you?"
Hazel eyes wavered as they stared into Jaune's cold eyes, "Y-yes, yes, that's good enough. Thank you, Jaune,"
"Don't thank me, I'm just repaying you for all the favors you've done for me."
"I'm still going to do it anyway," Velvet said, before reaching up and pinching Jaune's cheek, "Thanks for this Jaune, I'll see you around,"
With that the Faunus turned and left from their short interaction, leaving Jaune to contemplate the promise he had made. Once out of sight Jaune pulled his scroll out of his pocket, going to his contacts and clicking on the name that said 'Coco'.
Team CRDL's room was silent, although Cardin was normally quiet, he suspected that the rest of his team was quiet for a different reason.
He stared up into the ceiling, thinking about nothing and everything at the same time, merely waiting for his body to become restless enough to go to the gym. Cardin scratched the scar that ran up his profile lightly, using the edge of his nails so as to not disturb the ancient burn mark. The silence is nice, Cardin thought, Might even take a nap. Of course, as he said that the quiet began to reverberate with an unspoken tension.
Finally, Russel broke the silence, "We can't let him get away with that, I mean he punked us in front of half the school!"
"What can we even do?" Dove asked, "I mean he's the son of Ozpin for brother's sake!"
"He's his ward, I doubt he'll care if we ruffle Jaune's feathers a bit," Russel snapped, "I just want to punch his stupidly smug face! You can't tell me you don't want to wipe that idiotic smile off his face,"
Dove pondered for a second, "Fine, let's say I did want to get back at him. How would we even do that?"
"We just have to wait for the perfect opportunity, that blonde bastard is good, but he isn't that good." Said Russel.
Cardin's eyes opened at this, he sat up in a rather lethargic pace before turning his gaze onto his subordinate, "You're wrong."
Dove and Russel both turned to look at their leader, "Huh?" They both said.
"I said, you're both wrong. Can you idiots not hear me or what?
Russel scoffed, "Come on man, you can't tell me you aren't tempted, I mean he stood up to you in front of everyone just like he did to us."
"Yeah, if anything you should be with us on this," Dove said, "I know Sky is going to be down to plan something with us."
Cardin rolled his eyes and threw his legs over the edge of his bed to better stare at Russel and Dove, "Have you two morons even been paying attention to his spars? That 'Blonde Bastard' has never fallen below ninety percent aura, and the only time he hasn't won was when Goodwitch called the match a draw because it was taking so long. And you're telling me you want to tempt him?"
"That doesn't mean anything!" Dove exclaimed, "He's just one guy, there's no way he can take all of us."
"So you'd be using violence?" Cardin drawled, "And here I thought you couldn't get any dumber. Pray tell, what do you think would happen if you idiots beat him in a fight?"
It was Russel's time to interject, "His reputation would be destroyed! And if he went crying to daddy Ozpin it'd be even worse!"
"Let's say that's true, not only do you beat Jaune, you also do it in a way that embarrasses him in front of everyone, what's stopping Ozpin from just expelling you afterward?"
"We're not seeing you come up with any ideas!" Dove cried out, "Come on, you gotta help us out, you're our leader!"
"I don't have to do jack shit," Cardin snapped, "If anything, I should beat both of you senseless for even thinking about this. Actually, this conversation has ended, and if either of you brings this up again Ozpin will be the least of your problems."
Russel's face was twisted in an ugly expression, "I can't believe it, you're actually scared of him,"
This got a reaction out of Cardin, whose hand snapped outwards to clasp onto Russel's neck, pulling him out of his seat and inches away from Cardin's face.
"You want to repeat that again," Cardin whispered, giving a light squeeze to his teammates' throat "I'm almost impressed, so I'll ask you again. Do you want to repeat that again?"
Russel shook his head vigorously, dropping to the floor with a heaving chest as Cardin dropped him.
"Get out." Cardin ordered, turning away to lay back onto his bed "Go visit the other idiot in the infirmary, make sure the kitsune hasn't killed his racist ass yet. And if she has, help her with the body."
Both of his teammates shot his back a sneer, before exiting their room as they were ordered to do so.
Cardin only scratched his scar again, mind wandering once more. He thought of fire and heat and the screams that came from infernos. He also thought of the kindness of strangers with animal features, regardless of what his father and grandfather had warned him about. The last thought that wandered his mind was how his mother and sister were doing, and if his sister would like a new bow for her furry little ears the next time he visited.
Training was an excellent way to distract the team, thought Ren, watching from the sidelines as Nora and Jaune sparred. It had to be on purpose, he thought, he's just ignoring what happened at lunch.
It was smart, that, Ren knew, since he was only now able to ponder what had happened during lunch due to him finally having a break from fighting Jaune. It was almost idiotic how much stamina the knight had, Jaune had been sparring with each of them for close to an hour now. Even Pyrrha was struggling to keep up, her breaths coming up shorter than usual compared to Jaune's even and steady breathing. He wasn't even sweating, Ren realized, the disparity in fitness was disheartening at times, that was until he realized how much time Jaune spent at the gym added with his ridiculous aura size.
Nora was the one that could give him the biggest challenge, since Ren and Pyrrha couldn't quite whittle him down like they normally did with opponents, not before Jaune did the same anyway. The Valkyrie was currently slamming her hammer with enough force to level a house, if not several houses, directly on top of Jaune's shield. It wasn't as if she was aiming for his shield either, since she was constantly looking for a weak point to slip under, and Ren could see her becoming more and more frustrated with Jaune's ability to block her attacks at the last minute.
"STOP BLOCKING MY ATTACKS!" She screamed out, swinging her hammer once more, going for a brutal overhead bash.
Jaune's only response was a chuckle, the smile on his face seeming to have melted into something more genuine than normal, Ren thought.
Magnihild connected with Crocea Mors' shield, the hit resonating with a thunderous ringing. Right after Nora slumped down, using her hammer to prop herself up with her breath coming out in a ragged pattern.
Jaune sheathed his sword and clapped his hands together, "And that's a wrap, extremely good performance for the first time we've sparred together,"
"I-I, I can't believe you beat me," gasped Pyrrha, still out of breath from her spar with Jaune, "Even my instructors struggle more than you do,"
Their leader looked bashful for a second, "Well it's just that my fighting style can nullify a lot of the ways hunters fight humans, and I've also been training under Ozpin and Goodwitch since I was younger than Ruby,"
Ren, having been the one that was the most recuperated, added his own bit of insight, "Nora was the closest to beating you, you're finally below fifty percent aura. It's ridiculous how tanky you are Jaune,"
"You flatter me too much, if this had been a real fight I doubt any of you would have been as gentle with me,"
Pyrrha looked over at Ren and Nora, "Is this how others see me?"
Both of them nodded.
"All of y'all will catch up soon enough, I'll see if I can teach the three of you how to focus aura on yourself as I do," Jaune said.
Ren perked up, "Jaune, would you mind staying back to discuss aura manipulation,"
"Uh sure, Nora, Pyrrha, feel free to go on without us," Jaune told the other half of Team JNPR. Both of them nodded their heads and exited, leaving the guys of JNPR behind in the quiet training room.
"So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Jaune asked.
Ren responded, "I wanted to know if you could explain how some of the hits we got on you didn't affect your aura."
Jaune looked surprised, "Oh, well that's just because I have armor. Any blows that get through my shield that don't need to be blocked by my aura will just glance off my armor,"
"That's somewhat disappointing, I got ahead of myself and assumed you had some secret way of conserving aura. Nonetheless, that brings me to my next question, Jaune have you considered using your semblance on yourself? I can't help but wonder to what extremes you can take your defense if you were able to amplify your own aura," asked Ren.
"Ozpin thought the same, but there are some roadblocks to doing so," responded Jaune, "We're not sure how exactly it works, but if I try to boost my own aura I hit a barrier of sorts. Any attempts to push through the barrier feels wrong, it's like I'm stretching my soul too thin, and if I do it enough I get sick,"
"Interesting, so I'm guessing you can't turn yourself into a source of everlasting aura?"
Jaune laughed, scratching the back of his head.
Must be a habit of his, Ren thought
"Sadly no, there does seem to be a limit to what my semblance can do. The biggest limit is that I can't target myself, and the other being that the individual I'm boosting must desire for my help, although the rule seems to waiver if they're unconscious."
Ren's brow shot up, "You've used your semblance on someone who was unconscious?"
Jaune froze, "Er-, Yes? I mean it was an emergency, but I'd rather not talk about it, brings up some bad memories,"
The raven-haired boy nodded, knowing better than to push, "How exactly did you discover your semblance?"
"It actually started acting up around the time I went back to Beacon after spending some time with Ruby and Yang when I was younger. I unconsciously started leaking aura, and the people around me noticed that they felt stronger around me. It was actually a major drain on my aura, something I found out when my aura broke the first few minutes of sparring with Ozpin," Jaune said.
"Your semblance works at longer distances?" Ren asked.
Jaune lifted his hand for Ren to see, it containing the same glow from when he had boosted Nora, "Not in the way you're thinking no, normally I need to make contact to ampt someone,"
His hand started to glow in a more sporadic way, sputtering sparks of aura and its luminescence increasing by quite a bit. Ren also noticed his face felt marginally fresher, like a light summer breeze was blowing his way.
"If I do this I can produce a diluted version of its normal use, and you still need to be incredibly close for you to even notice the effect. It also costs me quite a bit," stated Jaune, showing his aura through his scroll, which was burning fast, going from thirty percent to twenty in three seconds.
"The only thing I'm really doing is pushing my semblance to the max,"
Ren's face furrowed slightly, "And you could do this at a young age?"
"It's not as impressive as you think it is, think about how a baby snake can't control how much venom it injects in a bite,"
"Interesting," echoed Ren, "Well then I'm excited to see what you can teach the rest of us tomorrow, we should probably head out before Nora becomes too much for Pyrrha to handle,"
Jaune's soft laugh filled the air, "Yes I think you're right, you have to tell me how you can get her under control so well,"
"Practice, lots and lots of practice," Ren said as they made their way to their destination, talking about Ren and Nora's relationship.
Ren couldn't help but relax when it came to talking about Nora, she was someone truly special to him, and he wouldn't know what to do without her.
Jaune saw this look and gave a goofy smile.
"Is something up?" Ren asked.
"Oh, nothing," Jaune responded as they opened the door into their room, to face the chaos Nora had gotten into while they were gone.