Well, my weapon is sharp, my clothes are spiffy, Fanfic!Me has 6 months to train up and be able to tangle with Cinder... what could possibly go wrong?

Oh, and something I've been forgetting to mention, RWBY is a trademark of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.

Oh, right, and all assorted references are a trademark of their parent companies/creators.

Chapter 10: Jaunedice and Homesickness

"One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered." ―Michael J. Fox

Swing high. Miss.

Duck!

Back off, back off!

Jaune Arc was in a helluva bind. Panting with exhaustion, he stabbed his sword into the ground to hold himself up. Every muscle in his body was aching from the fight, despite how short it had been.

It's been, what four minutes? Geez, it can't just be four minutes! It's felt more like ten or so!

Across the sparring ring, his opponent stood defiantly cocky, his massive mace hefted up on his shoulder. Cardin Winchester chuckled darkly. Jaune knew that while he was already winded, Cardin had yet to break a sweat. Guy must be made or rock or somethin', no way he could not have broken a sweat if he was normal.

Of course, Jaune had processed the idea that perhaps it was simply that Cardin's Aura had been trained and was probably being used to mitigate his physical strain.

Jaune felt a hint of annoyance at the massive brute. Setting loose a triumphant yell, he lunged at Cardin, hoping to get an overhead swing in on the massive mace-wielder.

With unprecedented agility, Cardin ducked under the attack, swinging around Jaune's right and bringing his mace up for a counterattack. Before Jaune could fully register the sudden turn, a cross-swing from Cardin sent Crocea Mor's shield flying out of Jaune's hand, as well as knocking Jaune off his feet.

The Arc boy, however, was not one to give up. In a solid second, he was on the attack again, brandishing the antiquated blade like a claymore, again attempting to attack from overhead. Cardin's mace met Crocea in a blade lock, the two Huntsmen-in-training vying for dominance over the other. Sadly, Jaune was not a musclebound jock like Cardin.

"This is the part where you lose," Cardin snidely commented as he began to overpower Jaune.

"Over my dead―!" Jaune never got to finish his sentence, as Cardin's armored kneecap made impact with Jaune's stomach. The shock and pain was enough to knock Jaune flat on his side, clutching his stomach in agony. Jaune was only able to look up as the form of Cardin towered over him, mace hanging over his head to deliver a killing blow.

BZZT!

The buzzer sounded off, and the overheads cut out. "Cardin, that's enough."

Cardin Winchester started and quickly relented in his attack. The telltale high-heeled footfalls of Glynda Goodwitch announced her return to the stage. Tapping her Scroll several times, the large overhead monitor soon displayed A pair of bars, each one below the school's pictures of Jaune and Cardin respectively. While Cardin's bar was colored green and was completely filled, Jaune's bar was flashing red and had dropped down to a tenth of the size.

"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match."

In other words, I fail again.

He looked around at the assembled crowd. While Ruby, Yang and Weiss were there―They had not reacted much to his fight, especially his Snow Queen, Weiss―Pyrrha had also taken a seat near the front beside Ruby.

The disheartened face she made didn't exactly help his mood.

"Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?"

Jaune could just make out Cardin muttering, "Speak for yourself," under his breath.

Glynda immediately turned her attention back to the rest of the class. "Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"

Jaune spotted Team RWBY getting excited, pumping their fists and shaking in excitement, while Pyrrha simply sat there with only an echo of a smile for them, only for it to be suddenly replaced by a frown when her gaze fell on him. He could tell her frown was for him; if anything, it was a frown of pity.

Great, another person he's disappointed.

He hung his head in defeat as the bell for class to end rung loud and clear.

On the opposite side of the bleachers from Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Pyrrha, Jacob breathed a heavy sigh. Having taken a seat not far from the front, he was more than able to see how the fight between the two went down outside of the meagre snippet shown in Jaunedice, and he had been certain to take mental notes of both's fighting styles.

Suffice it to say, the show itself did not leave out much.

The fight only lasted four or five minutes give or take, and for the most part, Jaune had played on the offensive far too much. Several times during the fight Cardin turned Jaune's own attack energy back at him in a strange blend of a more brutish Tai Chi with a mace instead of fists. The result was a brutish, heavy-hitting and patient fighting style.

Not unlike the style he had picked up with Cadia. Or at least attempted to pick up.

As the class dispersed, the rest of Team JNPR met up with their leader at the foot of the stage. Jacob was soon to join them, offering Jaune a handshake and a smile in the hopes it would at least be of some support. They shared a few words before the lot of them were on their way to the mess hall for lunch.

While JNPR began heading off in the direction, Jacob hung back a couple yards or so as he mulled over the last few weeks.

My my, how things have changed.

It had been 5 weeks since Jacob's escapade in the world of RWBY had begun, and already he was beset with worrying thoughts and fears. In the first week of classes, he had been focused on getting back into the swing of being a full-time student, something he hadn't touched upon in around two years. Sure, most would say that's no time at all, but for Jacob that felt like ages ago. He had set to the academic portion of Beacon with no trouble, having been a 3.6 student in his high school years and even into his college years―his one failed semester at the local university notwithstanding. Admittedly, he had fallen into his old habits of keeping to himself, as in comparison to those first few days he was in less contact with his dormitory neighbors now. But then again, letting them see too much and know too much would no doubt compromise the mission.

Mission. Jesus Christ, listen to me, I sound like a fucking MI6 agent. 'Oh, Q, how goes the repairs to the hover-car? Oh, and when you see Agent Bond again, inform him that I have a new mission from M.'

Bemused musings aside, Jacob had realized that he had stepped into a much bigger picture than he could have imagined back home; world-ending MacGuffins, superpowered heroes, ancient evils... Normal people should not be as accepting of the situation as he was.

Thankfully, he never really saw himself as all that normal; more or less on the crazier side of the razor blade that is sanity, if anything.

Even then, by the end of the first week, he was already finding himself homesick. He was never one to stay in an unfamiliar place for very long; When he first moved a few years prior, waking up in a place he was now supposed to call home that he was not at all familiar with had taken a lot out of his sense of security. Hell, the longest he'd ever been away from home was 2 weeks in Florida for his high school graduation, and even then he had started missing home.

It was even worse now that it occurred to his mind that he was, well, on another planet.

He couldn't talk to his old friends.

He couldn't talk to his coworkers.

He couldn't talk to his family.

He was on another planet, maybe another galaxy, possibly another Universe. A man without a planet.

He was pretty much the loneliest person on Remnant.

The first time he realized that was... not pleasant. In fact, it was hyperventilation-inducingly, chest-crushingly, stomach-upsettingly terrifying.

Jacob shook his head at the memories, the tightness in his chest reminding him to avoid having a panic attack while out in public. A few deep breaths set his mind at ease.

Don't focus on that, don't focus on that, that thought leads to fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. "Thank you, Master Yoda."

He continued on, watching the young wards of this world's future continue to train and prepare for the dangerous task ahead of them. He saw plenty of faces that were recognizable, and plenty whom he was certain were naught but black silhouettes in the show. It was certainly...something.

Regardless, Muller had to focus on the task ahead of him. Priority one: train like hell.

Not even considering figuring out a way to save Pyrrha from Cinder, he would still need to be able to go toe-to-toe with Grimm, and that meant hitting his peak physical prowess... or at least as close as he could.

Thus far, he had spent most of his time training solo, trying desperately to get the hang of his new blade. While the pistol form was comfortable and easy enough to use―and also delightfully bearing a resemblance to the "MEQ"-dropping, or "Marine Equivalent" for those uninitiated in 40K lingo, Hellpistols of Cadian Kasrkins―but the sword forms... well...

Okay, he sucked with them.

His swordplay was awful at best. He found his swings either too hesitant or too wild, never hitting a level on par with even Jaune. If the two of them went into the sparring ring at that every moment, Muller would really have no choice but to backpedal and hope to stay out of Jaune's reach.

And that was just considering the cutlass form; He found the chainsword form―similarly designed to the "Hell's Teeth" chainswords used by Space Marines―even more difficult to use. While the weapon was intimidating with its roaring engine and spinning, serrated teeth that were visually straight out of the mouth of a dinosaur, keeping control was actually really difficult; his practice kill of a basic Creep nearly turned dangerous when he found that he wasn't prepared for the kickback. After that, he mentally made it clear to only rely on swinging strikes while Cadia had her teeth out. Poking the enemy would have to be reserved to cutlass form.

A shame that for a world where Rule of Cool applied to most weapons, he remained bound to the laws of practicality... bearing in mind what his weapon even was.

Outside of his weapon, he himself was a far cry from most of these kids. He was built on endurance, not agility; He certainly was not doing flips and kicks with his weapons, and he wasn't exactly outrunning Nora on her morning jogs around the school. His strength? Ha, He could hardly bench more than 50 or 60 pounds on a good day before, though his time in the gym on-campus was already seeing him add an additional 10 or so pounds to that.

Strategically in combat, he was hardly anything compared to most of the rest of the student body. While he saw the likes of Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss―even guys like Cardin and Ren―practically dancing with their combat styles, Jacob found his style to be basic and crude.

Granted, he was trying to train on his own, as he was what he found out was called a Lone Wolf, a rare title unofficially given to Academy students across Remnant who attend the Huntsman Academies without being assigned to a team.

On the one hand, he was exempt from official team-based events and assignments, giving him more time to train up.

On the other hand, he was trying to act solo against people who had teammates to back them up, and in Jaune's case train them.

Just like back home, he was kinda in short supply of friends.

"Well," he said to himself, "At least RWBY and JNPR don't mind me... mostly."

Muller picked up his pace to catch up with the two teams.

"...So, there we were, in the middle of the night..."

"It was day."

"We were surrounded by Ursai..."

"They were Beowolves."

"DOZENS OF THEM!"

"Two of them."

Jacob let slip an amused chuckle. Even though he had heard it before through the show, it was a special kind of hilarious to hear it straight out of the character's mouth, in person no less.

"But they were no match. And in the end Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa-skin rugs!"

Ren let slip an exasperated sigh as he balanced his mug in the palm of his hand. "She's been having this dream for nearly a month now."

The two teams and their tagalong 9th wheel sat in the dead center of the cafeteria, most of them only armed with a lightweight lunch of some kind. While the kids had taken seats on the benches, Jacob had commandeered a fold-up chair from the back room to sit closer to the main body of the group, taking up an awkward point at the head of the table. Ruby had downed most of hers already, save for her cookie, Pyrrha and Yang had lightly dipped into some simple salads―contrary to Jacob's anticipation that Yang was a bit more of a carnivore―Jaune had gone for a basic plate of Beowolf-shaped chicken nuggets and a pile of mashed potatoes, and Weiss, Ren and Blake were pretty much done with the first filing her nails, the former finishing a cup of tea and the latter... reading as usual. Jacob's plate was half-consumed, having instead taken the Chef's salisbury steak with some mashed potatoes and green bean casserole as well, and was currently finishing up a biscuit he had managed to grab before anyone got their hands on it.

However, Jacob was a bit more preoccupied at that exact moment with Pyrrha and Ruby; the three of them stole worrying glances at one another and Jaune as well, who had touched very little of his plate. His fight with Cardin was still bothering him.

"Jaune, are you okay?"

Pyrrha's question took a few seconds before Jaune's mind properly registered it. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Why?"

Ruby piped up. "It's just that you seem a little... not okay."

Jaune took a second to look around the table. Now, everyone sans Blake had their eyes trained on the poor boy. Jacob shot him an arched eyebrow.

"Guys, I'm fine, seriously. Look!" He flashed them a cheesy and unconvincing smile coupled with a weak chuckle.

Jesus, and I thought I had bully problems in middle school, Jacob lamented to himself. About that time, laughter chimed up farther down the cafeteria. Just as canonically happened, Cardin and the rest of Team CRDL were harassing Velvet...with no sign of Coco or the rest of Team CFVY, oddly enough. Where the hell are those guys?

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha exclaimed as Jaune looked off to the side.

"Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"

"He's a bully," Ruby replied, her brow scrunched up in a scowl.

"He's an asshole," Jacob chimed in, doing his best Marty McFly imitation.

The looks he received from around the table ranged from mild shock from Yang and Blake to peeved looks from Ren, Weiss and Pyrrha.

"Uh, sorry, adult language. But my point stands, Jaune."

"Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me."

In Muller's mind, he at least listed off the ones shown in the show, along with about another 9 or so times he had observed from the last two weeks alone. "Okay, how about the locker incident on the first week?"

The silence at the table was deafening.

"I didn't land that far from the school!" Jaune said, attempting to wave it off.

"Letting the bully get away with it only gives him the fuel to keep doing it," Jacob growled in exasperation.

"Jaune," Pyrrha continued, "you know if you ever need help, you can just ask."

"Oooh," Nora suddenly piped up, and Muller immediately knew what she was going to suggest: "We'll break his legs!"

A diabolical grin found its way to Jacob's mouth. "I can think of a lot worse things to break then his legs, but it would be rude to say them in polite company," he said rolling his eyes at Weiss. He found no response from her.

"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."

Jacob knew this was exactly as he said in the canon... but he could not abide by that logic.

The laughing continued from Cardin and his goons.

"Ow, that hurts!" cried Velvet.

Uh oh, the logical part of his mind noted.

He looked back at Team CRDL. Sure enough, the bastards were pulling Velvet's ears, forcing her to hunch over lest her ear be in more pain.

A slow boil was felt in Jacob's veins. Again, he began to wonder since when was he one for anger. In the past, anxiousness was a closer companion than anger ever was, even on days when his temper was short. He was starting to wonder if he was coming into the Muller Family Temper; only question was, would he have his mother's firecracker temper or his dad's volcanic temper.

"I told you they were real!" Cardin laughed.

"What a freak!" came the voice of one of his goons―Russel Thrush if he remembered right―the venom in his voice palpable from here.

Jacob's fist came down on the table. He began to rise out of his seat , his mouth opened wide to shout a solid string of curses at the fatherless fucks...

Only for the logical part of his mind to speak up.

You can't deviate too far from canon. Cardin will get his comeuppance, but not from you.

Fuck.

Muller sighed before returning to his seat. "Another day, another place, he'll get the asskicking he deserves... but not now. Not here," he said to no one in particular. He watched heartbroken as Velvet fled her tormentors, head down to avoid the looks of others.

Jacob's eye caught the slightest shimmer in her eyes.

A teardrop escaped her eyelids.

Muller felt like he was the one who tugged on her ears in the first place. He scooted his plate out of the way only to introduce his head to the table in exasperation.

"I'm a horrible person." He felt Ruby's tiny hand on his shoulder, patting him ever so slightly to reassure him.

"Atrocious," Pyrrha said, glaring at Cardin. "I can't stand people like him."

"He's not the only one," came the venomous verbal scowl of Blake.

You referring to the Schnees there Blake... or your boyfriend Adam?

"It must be hard to be a Faunus," Yang sighed with her arm holding her head up.

Muller lifted his head, locking eyes with Blake, but she soon broke her gaze with him, the nervousness evident only to those who knew how to spot it. And fortunately, Jacob had trained himself long ago to spot the subtle differences in body language.

Already Jaune had left his seat and was heading out the front door, Cardin grinning ear-to-ear from his spot amongst the wooden tables.

Jacob felt a scowl cross his face, cursing Cardin mentally with every imaginable swear in the English language.

Even if I have to wait 'til after Cinder's dead, I'll be more than happy to beat his skull in one of these days...

Two hours later, the majority of the first-year students were attempting to catch as much as they could of Professor Bartholomew Oobleck's History lecture for the day. Just as he remembered it was like in the show, Oobleck was more or less quite the messy professor; In a competition to see who had the messiest workspace, Muller's old desk at home couldn't even compete with the Professor, and that's saying something considering the paperwork on Jacob's desk reached a solid 6 inches high and covered most of the surface area. Oobleck himself was quite something: no amount of watching the show could prepare Jacob for the mental concept of a spazzy history teacher with the voice of Red vs. Blue's Caboose.

He looked around the assembled class, noticing most were either awake and on high alert―like Pyrrha and Blake―or were close to dozing off... like poor Jaune.

Muller took a spot near the corner of the class as he usually did, giving him a fairly decent view of the board, Oobleck and the class. Even then, it was an ungodly task trying to get all the notes from this guy. Granted, Muller on occasion would stay after class to make certain he got everything and to confirm with Oobleck; hell, he and Oobleck were starting to get along pretty well despite the two being on the polar opposite sides of the energy spectrum.

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution―more popularly known as the Faunus War―humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." Bartholomew zoomed about the room, pointing to the the southernmost continent on the map. "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!"

The White Fang was certainly the first thing to come to mind in Jacob's head.

"Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

Several hands near the back of the room slowly rose overhead. Jacob's eyes focused on Velvet as she hesitantly raised her hand. He could spot the tremble in her hand from a mile away, and he could swear he saw some redness in her eyes from crying.

He shot Cardin a murderous look. Cardin simply shot him a cocky smirk back and continued to lounge off.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" Muller and Oobleck in tandem took another sip from their respective mugs. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang!"

Muller's eyes darted over to Blake. If she was feeling anything from having the White Fang mentioned in her presence, she was doing a bang-up job of concealing it.

"Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"

Weiss' hand shot up before Jacob even had the chance to register his question. "The Battle at Fort Castle."

Muller barely stifled a laugh at the name. Fort Castle, how unoriginal can ya get!?

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Unseen by the professor, Cardin flicked a paper football at Jaune's head, causing him to wake up. Jacob spotted it but was too late to do anything.

"Hey!" Jaune cried out, catching the Professor's attention. "Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"

"Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... that the Faunus... had over that guy's stuff..." He looked to Pyrrha, as she desperately motioned the answer.

He never picked up on it.

"Uhh... Binoculars!"

The laughter that rang out from the class made Jacob cringe on Jaune's behalf, while both he and Pyrrha shared a facepalm. Over the laughter of the rest of the class Jacob easily made out the chortling of the Winchester boy.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc! Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"

Muller shot Cardin a look again. I swear Cardin, you say exactly what I think you'll say and I will beat the shit out of you, even if I have to fight―

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier."

Muller's grip shattered the wooden pencil he had been taking notes with.

―AS DIRTY AS HELL IS FUCKING HOT AND HEAVEN IS FUCKING BRIGHT, his thought finished with no regards for decency. He and Pyrrha shared a scowl before she decided to address the Goliath in the room.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?"

He shot her a nasty sneer. "What? You got a problem?"

"No, I have the answer! It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark."

At that point Blake chimed in. "General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured."

Jacob also joined in on the conversation, unable to interject with some of his own experience in both strategy games and the 40k tabletop community. "If I may interject, Professor, it's the perfect example of brains versus brawn; Even if the larger army throws everything he's got at his foe, often times his foe knows just where to make his opponent crumble with a well-placed shot." Oobleck let slip a slight smile, content with Jacob's comment at least as far as Jacob was aware.

In the meantime, Blake turned to Cardin as well, joining in on the collective scowl being thrown his way. "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

Cardin began to get up, fists clenched and no doubt looking for a fight. Oobleck, however, was able to assume control of the situation. "Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat."

Jaune snickered at Cardin's embarrassment but was promptly quieted by Oobleck's sudden appearance in front of him. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings."

The audible groan of disappointment from Jaune could be heard from across the room. Jacob could only sit and pity that Jaune was stuck after class with Cardin no less.

But then again, it was probably better for Cardin that Jacob wasn't staying with them.

"Now! Moving on!" And thus the class continued at Oobleck's breakneck pace.

Class ended with little to nothing to report afterwards, a basic homework assignment to take care of when he got back to his dorm, but otherwise not much else. While the members of Team RWBY in the class had already left for their dorm, Muller hung back with JNPR, opting to stay with Pyrrha in waiting for Jaune.

"You go on ahead, we'll wait for Jaune," Pyrrha ordered to Ren and Nora.

"Are you sure? I mean, Pyrrha I understand, but you Jacob?" Ren asked the man as Jacob took up a leaning position on the wall outside the class.

Jacob was loathe to say much, mainly due to him plotting how to get back at Cardin on behalf of both Velvet and Jaune alike. "Eh, I don't mind. 'Sides, I think Jaune needs some encouraging words, and I think I've got something in mind for him."

Ren was about to say something before Nora grabbed his shoulder and in turn grabbed his attention. The two shared a look before following Pyrrha's orders and heading back to the dorms.

Boop egged it's way into Jacob's mind; if there was one canonical couple that Jacob hoped now would survive the series, it was definitely Renora. Those two couldn't be described as anything else other than attached at the hip.

A mild pit formed in his gut at the prospect that Miles and Kerry would be so bold and foolish to dare hurt either of them from Season 5 onwards. The bastards were sadistic enough at times that it would be no surprise.

It was at this point that Muller realized he was alone with Pyrrha, waiting for Jaune.

Alone. With Pyrrha.

If sweat were bullets, Muller would be looking like an Ork Meganob's weapon cache.

The two sat in silence for a solid 3 minutes, the only sounds being the distant murmur of passing students and the sound of the air conditioning.

In his panic, he decided to plug in his earbuds to his phone and place them on random shuffle. As the tune of Beer for My Horses by Toby Keith began to play, Pyrrha surprisingly payed him no heed at the time.

In the meantime, Jacob was furiously thinking about the upcoming future. The tournament in just over 5 months―5 MONTHS, his mind screamed to itself, to come up with a way to save her!―not to mention all the other chaos that would be on its way.

He couldn't help but stare at her as he replayed The End of the Beginning over and over in his head without relent or remorse to his consciousness. The arrow in her Achilles' tendon―Brave, brave Achilles―glowing like a hot ember, the gloating smile and speech from Cinder Fall, the arrow―

He couldn't finish the thought. It made him want to vomit, thinking about her final seconds in life.

No, he mused to himself, you won't let that come to fruition.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Pyrrha asked, cutting through the sound of country music.

Jacob quickly came to the realization he must have said his thoughts aloud. "Oh, it's nothing of importance," he quickly course-corrected. Silence consumed the hallway again as they awaited Jaune's leave from Oobleck's office.

"Jacob," Pyrrha began, "I... I actually have wanted to ask you something."

He felt his stomach flutter a bit. "Uhm, sure, sure, w-what's on your mind?" he asked as he stopped his music.

She walked around to the opposite wall from him, hands behind her back and looking at him with an inquisitive eye. For a brief few seconds Jacob was expecting her to ask about why Ozpin let him into the school when he was already the equivalent age of a class senior at Beacon and untrained as fuck, why he appeared in the Emerald Forest all those weeks ago out of sheer luck, so many potential questions bounced about his mind.

"You seem particularly enamored with our group, both JNPR and RWBY, and that had me thinking for a moment; surely you can't have left nothing behind back home, wherever home is. Doesn't your family know about this? Friends back home? You even mentioned you had co-workers, what about them?"

Jacob felt as though he was walking on eggshells. He couldn't tell her the whole truth, that every weekend morning more that he was here he desperately wanted to see his family again, see his old buddies and co-workers as well. He couldn't tell her the whole truth that he was from another world, probably another Universe entirely or something like that. He couldn't tell her that he had seen this world's future and how it would have come to be.

Another lie to add to the list. His mother would have blown his eardrums out lecturing him about lying again, but what choice did he have?

"I... I kinda... can't really contact most of them. Let's just say that, now that I remember things a little more... they're someplace too far for me to contact." He looked down at the ground, the loneliness threatening to consume him yet again.

And for once, it was legitimate loneliness; not that faux-loneliness he encountered at university or the like.

He was alone.

He was well and truly flying solo.

"I'm... alone... as it were."

Pyrrha had some experience with loss in the past, mainly through those acquaintances she had back in Mistral. Lost pets, lost grandparents, heck one of her old classmates lost her mother in an automobile accident. Pyrrha herself had encountered loss when both her sets of grandparents passed in their respective times. Usually these were from old age or disease, save that one instance, but Death was a familiar face in her life. She even knew she would flirt with him upon taking up the mantle of Huntress, perhaps even meet him prematurely as was not uncommon for Huntsmen and Huntresses to do during their time in the field.

But what Jacob said...

It gave her a chill.

He was alone?

Pyrrha's logistical side began to assess the situation, putting together an explanation for his statement. Perhaps the village where he was from had some individuals that were still alive, some people that he could talk to, perhaps he had family that was still alive and surviving elsewhere.

Meanwhile the shock of the statement struck her heartstrings hard.

Muller had been accepted to the Academy on a whim, practically jumping into it as it were; perhaps he had suffered some retrograde amnesia and his subconscious had pushed him into the Huntsman life. His was a desperate gamble, a once-in-a-full-moon kind of scenario. But he had no team.

No teammates to be there for him.

He was a Lone Wolf.

Literally.

And to make matters worse, he was not a trained Huntsman-to-be. He was inexperienced with anything other than a sidearm, as she had seen when she followed him to the auditorium a week ago; she had noticed that he swung wildly, more like a feral animal than a graceful fighter with massive cleaving swings and brutish shoving strikes with his free hand... or at least that is what she figure he was attempting to try.

He was fighting an insanely uphill battle.

Just like her team leader...

"... I... I don't even know..." she couldn't even finish her sentence she was in such shock.

The young man continued to look down at the tile floor, no doubt the weight of reality feeling insane at this point.

"Do... do you know what happened?"

Jacob shifted uncomfortably. from his position against the pillar. She had dug too deep.

"I'm sorry Jacob, I-I didn't―"

He held up a hand to stop her. "It's alright, Pyrrha," he said with a waver in his voice as if he was holding back a sob, "I, uh, I'm sorry to say that I... I don't really want to talk about it. Maybe later, but..." She heard the waver in his voice. The very thought cut deep, whatever happened.

It was clear that Jacob didn't want to talk further about it. But it did give her what she thought was the answer to her question.

The two teams had shown him companionship and compassion almost instantly. Pyrrha and Jaune had saved him, he in turn saved Jaune. Pyrrha awakened his Aura, now he was offering to help her with other such things as the welfare of her own team's leader.

Even Pyrrha herself wasn't sure on why they were so welcoming of him en totale, how they were so willing to throw him a lifeline with so little reason.

Curious...

Before the two could continue though, Oobleck's office opened and out walked a sullen Jaune. Oh dear, that's the look of an extra essay if I've ever seen one. Oobleck himself came zooming by at speeds to rival Ruby's Semblance, making Pyrrha wonder just what did the Professor spike his drink with.

And last but certainly least came Cardin, lumbering along like an angry gorilla. It didn't even take a second before Cardin shoved Jaune to the ground and walked off, chortling with sadistic glee.

Jacob and her both moved to pick Jaune off the ground. "You know, I really will break his legs," she assured to Jaune as she took a second to glare daggers at Winchester before he skulked off.

"Really, the legs? I'm thinking of breaking something between his legs," Jacob said with a strange snarl-grin on his face. The two of them hoisted Jaune back on his feet in no time.

But Pyrrha was already thinking about other things. Namely finding a way to train her leader and their Lone Wolf compatriot.

But like a lightning bolt striking, she mentally found her solution in the blink of an eye.

"I have an idea, come with me!"

Without warning the two of them, she took off like a Nevermore out of hell, dragging the both of them along for the ride.

The unlikely trio soon found themselves on one of the rooftops of the dormitory, overlooking the main campus of Beacon with an amazing view of the Tower. It was high, about 5 stories up give or take, and much to her chagrin there were no guardrails to protect someone from falling over. A few basic pipes and such dotted the edge of the ground, but otherwise there was nothing else but stone tiles and grout.

Pyrrha looked up into the night sky; the sun had only gone down in the west a meagre 30 minutes or so prior, leaving some light to be seen obscuring the stars. She felt a hint of a smile cross her lips; She and her mother used to gaze up at the stars at night, naming constellations of their own.

Those memories... they felt like they were so very long ago... back before she began training, before the tournaments, before it she even wanted to be a Huntress...

"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not that depressed. I could always be a farmer or... something."

Jaune's comment snapped her out of her nostalgic trance. Huh?

She looked down where he had looked down a second prior.

Over the side of the building, down to the concrete below.

Her stomach lurched ever so slightly before she pushed him back away from the edge. "N-no! That's not what I meant, and not why I brought you here!"

"Jeez Jaune," Jacob chimed in as he walked up to her side with crossed arms, "I don't think Pyrrha's the type for suggesting friggin' suicide."

"Jaune," Pyrrha continued, "I know you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, and the same for Jacob, at least for the latter, so... I want to help you! Both of you!"

"Wh-what?"

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us! All three of us!" The contemplative look on Jacob's face told her that he was already on board with the idea, though she could tell that he was still nervous about... something.

Maybe it was her?

"You think I need help?"

Again, Jaune caught her off guard with his question, as he at there, looking as though she had verbally berated him. "N-no! No, that's not what I meant."

"But you just said it."

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

He turned away, looking out over the Academy grounds with a forlorn look in his eyes. "You're wrong, Pyrrha. I-I don't belong here."

For the second time in a day Pyrrha was shocked by the words coming out of someone's mouth. Didn't belong here? Of course he did, what kind of crazy talk was that? "That's a terrible thing to say, of course you do!"

Jaune Arc whipped back around, his brow arched downwards into an angry look.

"No I don't!"

Pyrrha couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her partner, her leader didn't think that he belonged in Beacon? What was going on in that head of his?

"...You didn't get into Beacon by... conventional methods, did you Jaune?"

The Nikos girl whipped back around to look at Jacob. His eyebrow was arched upwards in an inquisitive look, as though he was questioning a suspect in a crime investigation.

"What do you mean?" She asked him.

"He means that I didn't earn my spot here," Jaune continued. "I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests. I didn't earn my spot at this Academy!" He looked back around at her, the signs of tears starting to show themselves in his eyes as his voice escalated in frustration. "I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied!"

...Lied?

Jaune turned to Jacob, his eyes scouring their older compatriot. "And you. You knew, even since The Emerald Forest, since Initiation. How?"

Look at Jacob, she could tell he was ating being put on the spot right then and there. Despite the nervousness, Jacob piped up, "I... I kinda got that vibe that you weren't... necessarily... combat-savvy in comparison to the rest of our band of merry misfits. I figured it out pretty quickly, but I was concerned on your behalf and I didn't want you to freak out, so I kinda shut up on my end."

"...What? but... why?" She couldn't even process this new information properly. The rug had been thoroughly pulled out from underneath her as it were.

"'Cause this is always what I've wanted to be!" he shouted, turning around to face the campus. "My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."

Pyrrha could practically hear the anguish in his voice; a legacy of heroes? To have to live up to that and feel subpar... she couldn't just let her leader feel this way, even if she had never felt that way before. "Then let me help you! Let us help you!"

Jaune pulled away from her as she attempted to lay a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

She felt like she had insulted him again. The heartbreak she was feeling was unnatural for her. "Jaune, I-"

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot," he interrupted, "stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own... then what good am I?"

Pyrrha attempted to reach out for his arm and console him even perhaps give him a hug, but he leaned back from her touch.

"Just... leave me alone. Okay?"

Jaune's words cut deep. He didn't want help. He didn't want anything else right now than to be alone. "If that's what you think is best..."

She began to leave only to turn around as her mind reminded her that she had forgotten their other compatriot. "The same offer goes out to you too, Jacob."

He stood there in silence, looking off into the night sky. The look on his face spoke volumes of what he was thinking; He wanted to, but... he was hesitant. Something in his mind was telling him to hold off or to wait and decide.

Finally, after about a minute, she had his answer.

"I probably shouldn't being a 'Lone Wolf' and all, but I would be remiss if I turned down an offer like that. Alright Pyrrha, you have yourself... at least one apprentice." He slammed his fist into his other hand's palm and bowed low in a salute, punctuating his point with an amused smile.

Even though the shocks of the last few hours had already drained much out of her, Pyrrha couldn't help but smile in reply before an amused giggle escaped her throat. "Apprentice? I suppose it is kind of like that."

But her thoughts still lingered on Jaune. She turned to look at him only to see that he simply sat there, staring off into the void of the night sky.

The brief levity of the situation suddenly died back down, leaving that echo of somberness. Both her and Jacob looked at him for a few seconds before Jacob spoke up.

"Well, whenever you're ready Jaune, her offer is still open. Come on, Pyrrha, he needs to be alone with his thoughts for a bit."

Pyrrha took one last look back at Jaune before the two headed back to their respective dorms.

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived out front of JNPR's dorm.

"Welp, here we are, Pyrrha. Hopefully Jaune will be along soon enough."

"Do you think he'll be alright, Jacob?" was the first thing to come out of her mouth. "I'm worried about letting him be alone up there."

Jacob suddenly had a look in his eye that spoke of experience with that thought... and part of her didn't want to know how familiar he was with it.

"He'll be fine, he just needs a few minutes to get himself together. Lord knows that I've encountered that thought pattern before, but he's not the type to go and fling himself off a ledge." He placed a hand on her shoulder, despite the fact that she stood 7 inches higher than him. "Trust me, this too shall pass," he said with a smile.

Even with his encouraging words though, Pyrrha was still worried. But rather than let it show, she buried it down deep. "You're right, he'll come around in due time."

With that, the two bid each other goodnight, before Jacob walked down to his dorm and entered without a second glance.

Certainly a motley bunch we are, Pyrrha thought to herself.

...7:00. I've got plenty of time.

Settling into his desk chair, Jacob began to set up his gear for his nightly ritual. Normally in the past he hadn't done anything like this; it took a lot of energy just to do one recording, so one every night was a fascinating challenge in and of itself.

Putting his phone atop the ledge of the wall, he rotated the recording to the inboard camera a la a selfie.

"Showtime."

He pressed the Record button.

"Video Log Entry #35, Current date on Earth is... August 23rd, Anno Domini or A.D. 2017 as per my watch. Current date on Remnant is April 17th, 80 A.G.W., or After Great War."

"Now... where do I begin with today..."

Well, that's a solid 8,000 words right there. At this rate my chapters are gonna start becoming books all their own size-wise.

Sorry this is a bit later than usual, I actually went through several plans for the chapter, including me going after Velvet to calm her down. Mayhaps that shall be in the next chapter, mayhaps not.

But I will say this; "I" won't be going with the rest of the team to Forever Fall Forest, and Ruby and I may have a bit of a heart-to-heart as well.

Reviews are welcomed openly, favorite, follow, do whatever you please and I will see you all... in the next chapter. Buh-bye!~