Jaune found himself lying down in a wheat field. It looked to be some kind of farmer's field. Surrounded by wheat, Jaune felt as though the place was familiar to him. Up above him were dark clouds covering the skies with light penetrating through that shade. It had a warm and comfortable feeling here that Jaune would lay down here if there was a mountain of hay somewhere. Sadly, there was not.

In the middle of that field, there lay some kind of banner. It had a spear-point at its tip. The color was dominantly white with golden edges. The cloth ends in a V-shape, going outwards. The designs there were unfamiliar to Jaune and yet somehow, he felt as though he should. It was as though it was drawing him closer to touch it. To hold it. To raise it. To rally others behind it.

When Jaune's fingers touched the flag, he was flooded with visions. Images were rushed in Jaune's mind that he could only make sense of a few things. A battle. A series of battles. Metal clashing against metal. Screaming men and horses. The rhythm of cannon fire. All of them had one thing in common though, Jaune could see the flag being waved. Soldiers, he assumed, were being rallied around it and pushed forward against another group of enemies. Oddly, there was no Grimm considering the amount of negativity that definitely exists.

Then, there was a fire. There was fire all around Jaune. He tried to get away but could not. Tied to a post, Jaune activated his aura to protect himself from the flames. The flames continued to burn all around him. There was crowd, Jaune could see. He could not make out what they were saying but their faces spoke of condemnation. Vile and horrid expressions as they looked at him like some horrid criminal.

Jaune then fell back, the banner was still there in the field. There was a girl there now, clad in white dress with blue tie, wearing a white hat. She felt familiar somehow, like Jaune had known her. Almost as much as he knows himself. She had blonde hair too.

Her mouth was moving but Jaune could not hear what she was saying. Then, her hand reached out. Jaune, not knowing what else to do, took it. She seemed happy about the gesture and moved her mouth again. Everything then began to fade.

"Hey, wait!" Jaune reached out to the girl was now getting farther and farther. As everything faded into white, the best that he could grasp was the banner. He held it tight as he tried to reach out to the girl. As everything around him ceased to be, Jaune kept his hand stretched.

/-/

The lights on JNPR's room was the first thing that Jaune had seen upon waking up. The second thing was that his arm was outstretched; the same arm he used in the dream. Thirdly was the dampness of the pillow.

"Well," Jaune said as he sat up. "That was a thing."

The day went on as normal. The only exception was during lunch break when it was Jaune who had a dream to retell rather than Nora.

Everyone at the table had different reactions to different parts of the dream. Yang and Nora were more interested in the action and wanted to know more there. Pyrrha was concerned that Jaune was burning. Ruby wanted to know more about the girl. Weiss was busy polishing her nails. Blake was on her books. Ren silently listening throughout.

"Jaune," Pyrrha asked, concerned. "Are you sure everything is alright? Do you want to go to the nurse's office?"

"I don't feel anything wrong," Jaune replied. "It was odd. Like, everything there felt familiar somehow, yet not. They're like memories,"

"Like another life?" Yang asked. "One where vomit-boy was a girl?"

Nora gasped. "You mean like one where Jaune-jaune is some dragon-slayer! Or maybe he is the dragon! A dragon witch!" Nora then did her best impression of JNPR's leader. "This is the howl of a soul filled with hatred! Rawr!"

"Nora." Ren sighed. "Jaune never said anything about a dragon. In fact, there wasn't even any mention of Grimm."

"Jaune," Ruby said, more curious about the girl. "You said she was a hero or something. You sure on that? Why was she being burned if she was a hero?"

Jaune shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, she looked like one. She had to be if those military campaigns are anything to go by. Maybe something went wrong."

Suddenly, a loud crash silenced the cafeteria. All of team RWBY and JNPR turned to see that the upperclassman, Velvet Scartalina had tripped. Nearby was Cardin Winchester. There was no sign that he tripped her, he wasn't close enough for that to happen. Still, Nora was just about ready to pounce on the bully when Cardin was getting closer to Velvet only to be stopped by her leader.

"No, wait," said Jaune.

It came as a shock to them when Cardin helped the fallen girl up. Even going the extra mile to pick up her tray and what was left of her food. Not much could be saved from the food. Velvet was the most shocked of them all. Unable to move and seemingly expecting something harsh from the boy.

"Watch yourself," was all Cardin had said, pointing at the wet floor sign. "Floor's wet."

Jaune watched the whole thing in contemplation. His lips then curved upward. Ruby and Pyrrha did the same. They knew what had happened. Weiss knew that too but didn't show it for very long. Her lips curved upwards for only a moment.

Cardin noticed him watching for a second and tutted. He probably didn't think it was that special. But still, Jaune couldn't help but be proud of the guy for turning over a new leaf.

"So," Yang said, a thought coming in her mind. "Think that Cardin might be there in this other life of yours?"

Jaune shook his head. "I don't think so. It be really ridiculous if he was."

Soon enough, the cafeteria returned to their routine. As the teams were about to leave, Jaune heard a voice.

"—ter!" it said.

Jaune turned around. No one seemed to be calling him and yet Jaune was certain that was the case.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.

"Maybe she's calling you, fearless leader!. She is in big battle and needs your help, Jaune!" There was no stopping Nora's imagination. "Battling a bunch of demonic pillars with other heroes from different times and is calling you to help them! The last of humanity is battling for survival and they—" Nora went on and on.

/-/

Classes resumed as normal and with Combat class at the end of it, Jaune could not shake that feeling from earlier. Someone had called him. He was sure of that. While Professor Goodwitch called the other students to spar, Jaune's mind was elsewhere.

"Mas—"

"Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester, the two of you will be the last for today." Glynda Goodwitch snapped him back to reality.

"Go get 'em, Jaune!" Ruby cheered. "You'll get him this time!"

It didn't take long for them both to change into their combat attires. As the two went onto the ring, Jaune had realized something wrong.

"I forgot to train with Pyrrha last night." He groaned. "Ah crap, now what do I do?"

Professor Goodwitch wasn't about to save him. "Now I expect that the two of you would have improved from the last time you had sparred." She was staring at him the entire time she said that. "Begin."

Cardin readied his mace. Jaune raised his shield. In bracing for the attack, Jaune blocked his own vision as he hid behind his shield like a turtle. It was a mistake as Cardin simply moved to the side and swung at him there where neither sword nor shield was present. Jaune flew a few paces to the side and nearly fell from the ring. Fortunately, he was fine. His aura was still pretty high but it had taken a significant hit from Cardin's swing.

Oddly, Cardin did not press the advantage like he had before. He just stood there with his mace ready. Was he taking it easy on him? The two locked eyes as Cardin tapped his own arm. It took a moment for Jaune to notice that his shield was lowered. Was he coaching him mid-fight. Raising his shield, Jaune received a nod from Cardin. So he was coaching him.

Deciding to take it for what it is, Jaune charged at Cardin, sword swinging. It must have been telegraphed as Cardin simply side-stepped and swung the Executioner, hitting Jaune straight in the face, falling on his back and getting a choir of "oohs" from the crowd.

This time, Cardin had chosen to punish Jaune further. With a massive swing, the Executioner fell straight on Jaune's face again. Jaune rolled and was nearly singed by the fire Dust in Cardin's weapon. Getting back on his feet, Jaune and Cardin resumed their positions.

It went on like that. Jaune and Cardin would do a single exchange. Most of the time, it was Cardin that was winning that exchange. Being more trained and conditioned than the blonde knight, the obvious conclusion could be seen a mile away. The only thing that was most intriguing to the class was that there was no malice behind Cardin's swings. They lacked the usual aggression and opportunism that usually came from the bully, especially when his opponent was Jaune.

Jaune, on the other hand, was taking it in stride. His aura levels were depleting in chunks while Cardin's were more chip damage. The decrease lessened in each exchange as the two were silently communicating with one another. Cardin would punish Jaune for any of his openings and Jaune would take to heart, or in this case, everywhere on his body.

It was a slow dance of two fighters with an increasing tempo. The time between each exchange would shorten. Cardin's usual tendencies become more common and Jaune would slowly come to match him as well. It wasn't enough, though as Jaune fell down due to another swing. Now losing his shield, Jaune could only brace the impact as Cardin leapt in the air and brought down Executioner, fire Dust burning bright. Jaune activated his aura to brace the impact, overloading it all on where it would strike the downed blonde.

"Master!" Jaune heard suddenly, followed by the clang of metal clashing against metal. His eyes were then filled with smoke when a deafening boom was heard next to his head.

Jaune hadn't had much time to process as the next thing he heard was the sound signaling ring-out. Had he been knocked out the ring? Jaune was still laying there inside so that must mean that the one who ringed-out was Cardin.

As the dust settled, Jaune could see that it was indeed Cardin who had gotten the ring-out. His weapon was right next to Jaune's head, along with a spearhead. Wait, a spearhead?

Jaune traced the spearhead to the cloth wrapped around a pole to the person using it. Jaune's eyes widened as he recognized the blonde hair on the girl. She wore blue now and had pieces of armor on her person. Most striking of all however was when she turned around, her hand offering to help him up. There was no mistaking that face.

It was the girl from his dream.


AN: While writing this one, I thought "Did I write Jaune and Pyrrha actually training last chapter? *Checks previous chapter* Oh, I didn't. Oops"