Author's Notes:
Hello? Is anyone there? Yes, hello, I'm here. I'm writing. Man, the whole self-isolation quarantine thing seems to be getting to everyone. Some people more so than others. Personally, I've just been being a general potato and working on stuff. Quite obviously, that didn't seem to include writing. But we're here now and that's what matters.
Since it's been awhile, some might not remember what happened last chapter so I'll give you a short refresher. Ahem.
Nicholas and Raven meet. It was kinda awkward and it's pretty obvious that they don't like each other. The tension was high, and no - not the sexual kind.
Truth or Dare happened and the conclusion of that was way more awkward since Jaune doesn't know what discreet means. The tension between him and Blake is high, and no – not the sexual kind.
Qrow makes his first present timeline appearance and Ozpin seems to be asking for a favour in the form of a text to a certain blond teenager he may or may not have had a hand in training.
Now that you're surely caught up, I would personally like to thank the returning readers for… well, returning and continuing to read despite the updates sometimes being wack. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm still getting back into the swing of writing this story but I hope it's up to standard for you all.
Let's see what our hero's up to now, hm? Enjoy the chapter.
Jaune was getting pummeled again and again. A rain of elbows coming down onto his face, to which all he could do was hold his arms up in a pitiful excuse of defending himself. His sword and shield lay scattered on the hard mat, way out of reach of the poor boy – leaving him with only his bare hands.
His assailant roared like some sort of animal, yelling obscenities; a horrid symphony that accompanied the onslaught he was subjecting his victim to. Clad in a full-suit of patterned and engraved armour, it was obvious that getting out from the straddled position would be near impossible for Jaune if the aggressor didn't let up their assault.
Watching from the sidelines, silver orbs could do nothing but plead for it to end. It looked brutal, so brutal, as punches were thrown into the mix, hitting Jaune from the side of the head and through the gaps in his arms. Similarly, her teammates looked onto the carnage with expressions of disbelief and disgust as the only boy on their team seemed powerless to end the suffering he was subject to.
"What is he doing…?" Pyrrha muttered from the seat next to her. "Jaune wouldn't let himself get... overwhelmed like this."
Even Yang had a snarl on her face, seemingly offended at the sight on the mats below them. "The hell? Why isn't he throwing anything back? He's going to lose if he doesn't do anything..."
She didn't need to tell Ruby twice. While the younger sister heard the comments of her friends around her, the urge to get down there and stop the whole thing herself was hindered by something stronger. Something that told her that doing so would be a bad idea. Her begging eyes prayed harder.
Do something, Jaune!
/-/
"Hello, again!" A certain tiara-wearing redhead greeted as she sat down at the table where the rest of her team and RASB resided.
"Hi," Jaune replied nonchalantly, sitting opposite her and picking at his pancakes with little to no intent of actually eating them. He had gotten so used to living and working off of nothing that suddenly having a pile of freshly-cooked, buttery and syrupy goodness on his plate kind of seemed surreal.
Pyrrha began to dig into her own breakfast, an assortment of berries and oats within a bath of milk. It wasn't Pumpkin Pete's but it the stuff wasn't exactly good, good for you, so Jaune didn't really blame the girl. You know, even if she was on the cover. "Last night sure was an experience," she said, spoon full of granola. "Don't you agree?"
He shrugged in response, eyes drifting over the rest of his teammates. "It was an experience, that's for sure."
Laughing softly, the girl opposite seemed to agree, already finished with the spoon's contents. "I, for one, thought it quite fun. I haven't had a sleepover with friends in… well, ever!"
"Why's that?"
To Jaune's raised eyebrow, Pyrrha's laugh took a nervous edge as she waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it."
Lie, while her mouth could, her Aura could not. Jaune decidedly dropped the topic, however. It wasn't really any of his business and neither didn't it seem very serious. In due time, perhaps, she would open up to him. "If you say so, Pyrrha." His left hand picked up the knife on the table and cut into his stack of pancakes before shoving it into his mouth and savouring the sweetness.
He could get used to this – the whole, having actual food and not out-of-date, stale rations thing.
Team RASB and PYRN were clad in their uniforms, not yet in combat gear for their class with Miss Goodwitch in the afternoon. Weiss had told them all, quite informingly in the morning, that they had World History with Professor Oobleck in the morning after breakfast. Speaking of…
Turning his head to the side, Weiss was daintily taking sips from newly-ground coffee from the counter with a plate of small sandwiches in front of her. More notably, however, her regular white scrunchie was missing from her hair – letting it all flow down naturally like snowfall in mid-winter. It was the result of Ren's dare from last night, he knew.
Jaune expressed as much to himself when he had first laid eyes on her but, really, Weiss was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on. And while the second part of his initial impression conflicted that notion (that being she seemed like a pretty bitchy girl), the easiness of her hair being down was doing things to him.
Those things were easily spotted by a grinning Yang over the table.
Her lilac eyes were on fire with her internal plotting as she basically yelled across the table, despite them being less than a metre away. "My, my, Jaune. Didn't know you had a thing for the short, icy and cold types."
"W-what?" Damn it. He was still a growing teenager, for the love of all the gods. Despite everything he had done and been through, one could forgive the boy for the rising heat under his collar and the dots of pink forming on his cheeks. "What are you taking about?"
"Hm?" Weiss looked up at him for second before turning to Yang – straight, long hair flowing like a frozen waterfall. "Did you say something about me?"
Jaune's hazy eyes were on their hands and knees to Yang's two lilac arbiters. Ultimately, she shrugged and dismissed the white-haired girl's concern. "Nah. Just saw Jaune checking out some random chick walking by."
"Huh? No I wasn't!" His face twisted into deeper embarrassment; that wasn't much better, damn it! He felt the urge to wipe the satisfied smirk off of Yang's face with Crocea Mors, lamenting over the fact that she wasn't with him right now.
Without even looking up from her book, Blake dully noted, "Didn't know you were the jealous type, Yang. Did his heartfelt confession make you grow an attachment you aren't telling us about?"
"S-shut up!" Yang retorted, pushing off the laughs of Pyrrha and Nora with her own voice. "It was a damn game…"
Despite the other conversation, Weiss simply rotated her head painfully slow towards him and doled out a look of disdain before going back to her breakfast. Not a great reaction but, then again, not the worst. Jaune slumped slightly, taking what he could get and mumbled to himself all the while.
A small nudge from his other side revealed a smiling Ruby – strawberries and cream in a pretty arrangement on her plate while a glass of milk resided next to it. "Sorry about Yang. Though, if she's teasing you, that kinda means that she's warming up to you." She looked hesitant before shrugging nonchalantly. "Kinda."
"Right…" Jaune replied. Sure didn't feel like it. It is what it is, though, he had to conclude.
Last night wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He slept on one side of the room, near Ren, while the girls slept on the other side. Honestly, he would fully admit that the foreign boy was quite the confidant. They talked about quite a lot. Nothing too intrusive about his past, of course – Ren immediately seemed to notice that it was something of a sore spot for Jaune and preventing from asking any more questions, which the blond was thankful for.
They did talk about their pasts though. He came from a Mistrali village, destroyed by Grimm, and was one of the survivors. Unfortunately, both his parents died – but he did seem to have Nora with him and, to him, that seemed like it was enough. They survived by themselves for the longest of times, never really having a place to call their own. Doing such made Ren quite detached, somewhat emotionally distant and he actually theorises that Nora built her own personality around the fact to fix that about him.
It was amazing, honestly. Some people were just dealt a shitty hand but never folded. And for people like Ren and Nora, it appeared to pay off.
In return, Jaune shared stories about his family. Nothing about Vul or what came after or even him running away. Jaune just wanted to reminisce the simpler, easier times. Something that Ren understood and went along with.
If there was anything to take away from that night, it was Ren really was like the brother he had always wished for. Despite them only knowing each other for, what, three or so days? That spoke volumes about their chemistry.
The more positive memories of last night shifted to more skeptical and precarious ones. Jaune chewed slightly harder on the pancakes in his mouth before swallowing, all the while thinking about what Blake said in response to him in that single round of Truth or Dare.
'No. Of course I haven't.' The face can be a mask to the heart – but your soul will always remain true. It was a fundamental rule of Remnant. Blake was lying, he knew that much. It was only confirming his suspicions from the day they first met at Beacon.
And the message that Vul sent him…
He tried calling the number back in the morning. Met with the 'not in service' treatment, of course. Trust his mentor to be off the radar like that. Though, it made Jaune question why exactly Vul wanted to out a spy in Beacon. He was a graduated huntsman from here, sure, but it didn't really answer his question – at least that was what Jaune thought.
A spike in the essence of the air surrounding him caused Jaune's attention to snap forward and to the side. Blake sat with a book in hand, casually scanning the pages with her glowing eyes of gold.
What? Was he just being paranoid?
No. There was intent of something present for a split second, that was a fact. Jaune pulled his gaze back down to the plate in front of him, trying to emulate the same sentiment as his partner: nonchalance.
Interestingly enough, they weren't sat next to each other. Nobody seemed to really realise apart from the pair themselves. Jaune knew that Blake was at the very least suspicious. Whether it was because he was getting closer to her true nature or because he was simply curious was a different question entirely.
It was first thing in the morning and yet he could feel the pit in his stomach grow, making the pancake he just swallowed pass right through. Undoubtedly, there was now a tension between the two. And, right now, Jaune didn't know what to do about it.
"Hey…" Nora reached over the table, arms stretched and flat on the surface as her voice was squeaking like some sort of mouse. "You gonna eat that?"
Jaune's head rose to meet the teal gaze of the ginger before following her line of sight towards his own plate – a half-finished stack of glazed dough. Pushing it towards her, he conceded with a small laugh. "Go for it, Nora."
She lit up, swiping the tray that was moved closer to her greedy little paws. She gasped. "Thanks, Jauney!"
"No problem," he replied, relieved at the distraction that Nora unintentionally gave him. She was unknowingly reliable in that sense.
"Hey! Can you please stop?"
A chorus of laughter as a cocky voice, one that pissed of Jaune despite its source being unknown to him, responded to the female-sounding plea. "See, lads? Told you they were real! Haha!"
"Ew, what a freak!" Dumb said.
"What's even the point in having two sets of ears, anyway? It's just unnatural." Dumber moaned.
"Guys, do we have to do this? Like, for real? What's she even done to us?" An actually reasonable voice asked.
The interaction was enough to have Jaune look over his shoulder, laying eyes on a team of four boys. They looked vaguely familiar though nothing particular about them really rang a bell. If anything, the sight of the team bubbled some of the purest anger he had felt in while.
A fierce glower decorated his face as he saw the largest of the boys hold a rabbit faunus by the ears, pulling on them without any sort of concern for the poor girl he had his grimy clutches around.
"Idiots…" he found himself whispering under his breath, drawing the attention of Ruby – who swivelled in the same direction.
In contrast, the largest boy, the one with short brown hair, seemed to almost yell back at his teammate. "Her kind's done enough, Sky. They're animals. Beast people," he spat. "The world would be a whole lot better without them, don't you think?" Seemingly asking his victim, the boy pulled the faunus' ears once more and earning a yelp in the process.
"Cardin…" The boy, assumingly Sky, almost pleaded. So Cardin was his name? Sounded like a moron's name, at least to Jaune.
Wincing, the girl begged again, "P-please just let me go. I don't want any trouble."
Cardin scoffed, "Yeah? Funny. You should have thought of that before waging a whole damn war on us humans, you dirty animal." Idiot. Doesn't he realise that people like him are the reason that the White Fang even exist? And if the White Fang never existed he wouldn't have experienced half of the torture of the past year. So many people would have remained living. People like… people like Lyn.
The jaded line of thought snapped as Cardin's voice repeated, more surprised than before. "Hey, who the hell are you?"
Jaune himself snapped to his side, only to see a flutter of rose petals floating down onto the cafeteria floor. Attention ripping back to where the faunus girl was, there stood Ruby Rose – defiant and proud. Not exactly stood tall, but there she stood nonetheless.
"What the- Ruby!" Yang stood, hands on the table and ready to launch off – only to realise a second later that someone else was on the case.
All the while, a burning amber intensity stared down the situation with the utmost attention to detail, just barely peaking over the brown cover of a book.
/-/
"Leave her alone!"
"What was that, kid? Sorry, but it's a little hard to hear you down there. Not like I'd take orders from some brat who snuck into Beacon, anyway.
Gah! Who did this guy think he was? She didn't sneak into Beacon
Ruby stood facing the four boys and their victim. She wasn't about to let this poor girl suffer just for being who they were. It's not like they could control what they were born as – they don't deserve this kind of treatment! Just because you have a tail, or an extra set of ears, or even a particularly fluffy head of hair, nobody should have the right to act like this towards you.
Silver eyes looked warmly to the brown-haired girl's chocolate ones. They were surprised and filled with another indiscernible feature. Thanks? Concern? Ruby wanted it to be hope.
"She hasn't even done anything to you!" Ruby reasoned, leaning forward. "What's the point in making her life miserable? Is it somehow making yours better?"
"Yeah, Cardin," a grey-haired boy agreed meekly. "I say we just leave it be. I don't wanna get into any trouble."
The bigger boy, Cardin, looked at his teammate in disbelief before hardening his gaze. "Sky, shut up, man." He brought his eyes back to Ruby, their two heights becoming very distinct as time passed. "What is it to you, huh? Why would me letting this… animal go matter to you?" As if to emphise, Cardin yanked once more on the faunus' ears – earning a yelp.
Undeniable fury burned in the little girl at the sight. She was going to be the best huntress Remnant has ever seen; how could she do that if she couldn't save one person right in front of her? "Stop that!"
An arrogant smirk crawled onto Cardin's face – squirming up disgustingly. "Or what?"
"Or I'm going to have to call for Miss Goodwitch and, really, nobody wants that – do they?" A casual, male voice introduced itself without any trouble. It was familiar, it was calming, it was-
"Jaune?"
Jaune gave her a subtle wink before standing next to the red-caped girl and starting a chain of reason of his own. "Now, you're free to have your own opinion - whatever that opinion may be. It's none of my business, really." The register of his voice was monotone and apathetic-sounding. Trailing the hands of Cardin judgementally, he seemed to quite obviously not approve of the slightly larger boy's actions and conveyed so as he spoke again, "Really, it isn't. Though, taking it to the level of physical harassment isn't something I'd advise. In fact, I'd say it's breaking school rules – probably a few standardised laws, if not that."
"What are you talking about?" Cardin squeezed out, an annoyed scowl on his face.
Shrugging, Jaune continued, "All I'm saying is that if Miss Goodwitch caught wind of this, you'd be lucky getting off with a suspension. And, again," he leaned in, almost mockingly. "We don't want that, do we?"
"Why you-"
The boy was cut off as one of his teammates, one with a green mohawk grabbed his shoulder. "Cardin…" He nodded to Jaune's hip, where he kept that blade of his tucked under his belt. If Ruby remembered right, it – sorry, her – name was Crocea Mors. Guess he kept it on him like she did her hood. "He's the one that killed that Emportusk, remember?"
Cardin's eyes seemed to widen slightly, coming to the recollection of yesterday's lecture with Professor Port. Snorting, he pulled his shoulder free from the skinner boy's hand and whispered, "Beginner's luck… hey, wait a second. You're that scrawny kid that thought he could get away with charging Sky yesterday."
A quiet shriek from the girl as his grip tightened on her brown ears. Ruby felt the urge to just barge through the larger boy like a rose petal covered train at the mere sight. Apparently, Jaune could tell that was her immediate plan – barely able to prevent her from doing so by tugging slightly at the hem of her cape.
"Pretty sure I apologised for that," Jaune replied. Silver eyes were drawn to his leather-gloved hand as it placed itself onto his hip.
Teeth showing, the slightly taller boy didn't seem to care for the blond's reasoning. "First you disrespect me and my team, then get lucky in class – only for you to stand up for this… animal? Bet you think you're something special, huh?"
A grey-haired boy seemed to gain a sudden fright; fear flashing across his features. "Cardin?"
Both Jaune and Cardin ignored him, locked in something of a stalemate. Cloudy sea-blue eyes held firm, however, as the blond answered the other's rhetorical question. "Not particularly. But you're no different from me, in that regard."
"Cardin, dude…" Sky, if Ruby heard correctly from earlier, tried weakly once more to gain their leader's attention. What had him so terrified? Similarly, the other boys seemed to back away ever so slowly from their boss.
"I'm leagues better than you," Cardin growled like some strange, wild beast. Quite ironic, really. Yes, Ruby knew what that meant. No, Weiss was not rubbing off on her.
A very, very slight hesitation as Jaune made to retort. Eyebrows quirking upwards for a fraction of a second, his surprised expression morphed into one of smug satisfaction. "Maybe. But are you leagues better than-"
He didn't even get to finish as a feminine voice shrieked like a banshee from behind them, forcing Ruby to almost fall on the floor in sheer shock. Instead settling for stumbling forward with her hands over her ears, the voice yelled, "VELVET! Outta the way, freshmen-" A brunette, wearing a very stylish beret combined with a pair of sunglasses pushed past Ruby and Jaune. In contrast to herself, Jaune seemed to expect the intrusion, stepping to the side before the new appearance even had the chance to shove him out of the way.
Ruby wasn't so lucky. The force of the new figure's push had her off balance, doubly-so as her hands were to her ears. Before she fell flat on her face, her friend caught her by the hood and hauled her back upright. "Phew…" Breathing a sigh of relief, her metallic orbs looked to Jaune, only to see him putting a finger to his lips and nodding back to where the girl went.
"Who the fu-"
Cut off – Cardin didn't even get to finish his rude inquiry as the undeniably fashionable girl stepped around, wrapped her claws around his fabric-covered forearm and slammed her palm down onto his elbow while pulling at the other end. Suffice to say, it was enough to get him to remove his grip from the faunus' ears.
Yikes, Ruby winced. Jaune crossed his arms, appearing very pleased with this turn of events. His blue eyes were soft, almost laughing at the situation at hand.
Cardin screamed. Very loud. The new girl pulled down her sunglasses, as if looking at a piece of mud staining the cafeteria floor as the significantly larger boy was brought to his knees while cradling his very much broken arm. "If I see your grubby little mitts on Velvet or my team, again, you're going to get off with a whole lot worse than a broken arm, got it?"
"M-my arm! You broke my arm!"
Even if Ruby couldn't exactly see her face, she could basically feel the eye roll. "You've got Aura, don't you? Spit on it and rub a little. In fact, I can help you out with the first one if you really want."
Man, this girl was absolutely brutal! And Ruby found herself in awe of her controlling pressure despite being in the conversation for little over a minute.
"Y-you…" Once again, Cardin didn't even get to finish his sentence as his team hauled their leader up and took the un-broken arm over their shoulders as they dragged him away. A pitiful sight, to be sure. Surprisingly, nobody else seemed to bat an eye at this whole interaction. That in itself made Ruby question whether to feel relieved or furious.
She settled for relieved, letting out a breath of the emotion as the fiasco came to a close.
"Coco…"
"Shh. I don't want to hear it." The girl named Coco silenced her friend, most certainly a member of her team. If she was the leader, that would surprise the caped-girl; she definitely seemed to have the spirit to be one. She twisted her head away, more disappointed than angry for whatever reason. Turning her head slowly towards Jaune and herself, she said menacingly, "As for you two…"
Realising she was talking to them, Ruby flinched backwards involuntarily, mouth quivering and incomprehensible wobbly sounds leaving her lips. "Aw-w-wha?"
It was a reaction that the beret-wearing girl seemed to find quite amusing, though. As she chuckled, her shoulders sagged and a lopsided grin came to her face. "Relax, kiddos. I saw what you guys were trying to do for my girl here. Don't worry. And, thank you." Her gaze flattened as she brought her plastic-covered eyes to her own friend, to which the other fidgeted and refused to reciprocate. "Velvet here isn't exactly the best at standing up for herself. Sometimes I wonder if she even has a spine…"
In response, the rabbit-eared girl – Velvet – muttered under her breath, "I just don't like unnecessary violence…"
Coco snapped her head back to Ruby and Jaune. "See?"
"It's fine," the boy next to her said, taking a step back. "If anything, it's her you should be thanking."
"That so?" Her grin came back, somewhat reminding Ruby of Yang, as the ivory shine was pointed directly at her. Wait, her? "Well, thanks, kid. Real appreciated."
"Y-yeah! No problem!" While she didn't think that she did much rather than show up in the first place when someone was getting bullied, the smaller girl took the compliment in stride. Offering a hand, Ruby introduced herself as: "Ruby Rose! Soon to be awesome huntress and leader of Team RASB! Oh, and this is Jaune."
"Hi," Jaune put a hand up in a small wave.
"Ruby and Jaune, huh? Nice to meet you, freshies. Name's Coco Adel. My partner here's Velvet. Say hey, girl."
"Hey, girl," Velvet quite aptly answered.
Coco nodded thoughtfully. "Should have seen that coming, really."
As Velvet brought a fist to cover her snickering, Ruby found herself somewhat in wonder of how fast the girl seemed to bounce back into such a cheery mood despite just getting bullied. It subsequently made her wonder if it was something of a common occurrence.
Continuing, Coco didn't let her partner's way with words stop her train of thought. "In any case, I really do gotta thank you two. If you guys need anything and see me around, just holler, kay? Ciao." She gave each of them a side-fist to the shoulder as she passed by the red and yellow duo as Velvet waved happily – mouthing 'thank you' as she followed her team leader.
"You wait 'till Yatsuhashi and Fox hear about this, bunny babe," Coco's distant voice rang out to Ruby and Jaune.
Similarly, Velvet's was audible but also accompanied by the wild waving of her arms in a panicked manner. "No, no, no! Please don't tell them, Coco! They might hurt someone!"
"Sorta the point, honey-bun."
Their figures disappeared through the massive double doors leading out of the cafeteria and only a second tap to the shoulder broke Ruby out of her daze. Jaune was smiling at her, pointing a thumb back to their own table where everyone looked extremely confused and somewhat impressed.
"You wanna head back now?"
Silver eyes drew downwards to stare at her black-leather boots in thought. Not of what was asked of her, the answer was quite simple. Rather, it was of what they were going to say to her and Pyrrha's teams.
"…Yeah."
Bowing down, he gestured both arms to their destination as he spoke, "Lead the way, m'lady."
But it was enough to make Ruby giggle as she very much let the trail of her red cloak do so.
/-/
"World history is a subject imperative to progression! Progression of our technology, civilisations, social ideals and, of course, strategy! However cliché you may think it sound, those who are not aware of history and the grandest failures of our past are doomed to repeat it! Thereby, I implore you all to listen intently in these lectures so that you may all prosper and learn from such mistakes!"
Their green-haired professor zipped left and right, somehow marking the massive chalkboard behind him with every motion and expecting them to take notes. Professor Oobleck was a very passionate man, it seemed. Was it 'Doctor'? If so, Jaune probably missed it and it's not like anybody could really blame him; the man was talking faster than a hoarder would run to a bargain sale.
Jaune's eyes were squinted, pen in hand and trying hard to comprehend anything and everything going on. The man was somehow able to drink from his flask, write on a chalkboard and lecture his class while rolling around at the speed of sound. If anything, that was what was engaging the boy – as opposed to the topic of the class.
Steam rose up from the head of the girl slumped beside him, drool spilling from the side of her mouth as her form began to slowly dip underneath the bench. Weiss was writing furiously, the poor device in her hand being run dry of its ink while her hand moved back and forth at insane speeds, sweat beading down the side of her head to just to keep up. Blake… well, Blake didn't really seem to care. She was listening with intent but refused to take notes.
Whether it was due to her inability or choice was unknown to Jaune but it sure did seem like the right idea.
Team PYRN behind them were undoubtedly struggling too, not like Jaune needed to turn around in order to tell. In fact, within the seconds his eyes darted left and right to his team he had already missed what the next topic of discussion was.
"The Great War!" Nevermind, he thought, bringing his attention back to their energetic teacher in a rare state of stasis. "Undoubtedly one of the most influential moments in history for Remnant as a whole. While I am sure many of you in this class are already aware of what the event entails, it would be a disgrace to my PhD and my profession to deny talking about such a monumental moment in history!"
It was a topic that he had heard of once or twice before, possibly back in middle school at his hometown – Elis. While Jaune wasn't one for academics, he would actually listen in on classes every once in a blue moon. Granted, it caused him to flunk a truck ton of exams but who really cares about that stuff?
His mom. His mom really cared. Boy, did she show that she cared. Juniper Arc was one scary woman when she wanted to be. Jaune shuddered amidst the storm of words being hurled at him.
Doctor Oobleck (with the PhD he was so very proud of) started to move his arm in a blur around the dark green chalkboard to mark it with streaks of white. "The Great War occurred eighty years ago and involved every single nation on Remnant's surface, to an extent." On the board, the words 'Vale', 'Vacuo', 'Mistral' and 'Mantle' were scratched on with a large line separating the two former and latter.
"Mantle…?" Jaune whispered quietly. Considering the other names, it would have made sense to put Atlas as the fourth kingdom. He thought it was pretty confusing, considering how his mind was running at less than a tenth of the speed of their professor's.
"Yes, Mantle," whispered Weiss with fire. Her hand didn't stop moving across her notepad as she explained in an obviously annoyed fashion. "It was the former capital of the region to the north. It's Atlas now while the original city resides underneath it."
"Huh." Yep. Confusing.
The sounds of the steam rising off of Ruby's head were a soothing reminder to get back to listening to Doctor Oobleck; the man started to add to the board at ever-alarming rates. "Of course, the conflict originated between Mantle and Vale – where the two were on shaky terms to begin with. Mantle wished to control the population's emotional expression in order to control the presence of the Grimm." Drawing a line from Mantle, the doctor wrote 'suppress' in large, bold letters.
"Mistral, being steadfast allies with the northern kingdom, decided to implement their strategy to try and achieve the same goal – stopping the threat of the Grimm – by removing the majority self-expressing arts." Doctor Ooblecks arm outstretched between the two kingdoms' names, placing 'allies' over the line he created. "The Kingdom of Vale was not fond of such ideals but did not see fit to create a large-scale conflict about it at the time – what with it seeming over excessive. However, that all changed once attempts to expand territory turned into the unexpected escalation of what would be later dubbed 'The Great War'."
Some from the front row rose their hand meekly, to which the green-haired hyper-speed speaker noticed in an instant. Nodding his head and giving his permission, the person spoke, their rabbit ears popping up from their prone position. Velvet? The voice proved Jaune's intuition true as Velvet asked, "What about Vacuo?"
Was Velvet supposed to be in the year? Doctor Oobleck didn't seem to find it strange as he replied with the epitome of energy – more so than even Nora. "Great question, Miss Scarlatina! While I will delve into the Kingdom of Vacuo's eventual involvement, they remained neutral for a majority of the war until pushed to take action. Now…" With the question answered, the green blur zoomed back to the chalkboard and wrote down words like 'tension' and 'expansion'. Slamming his palm onto the green of the surface, he continued, "Finger pointing and childish arguing has made it so that we do not truly know who struck first but, as mentioned earlier, territorial expansion caused both Vale and Mistral to invade islands from the East Coast of Sanus – our continent. Quite clearly, the rising tensions between Mantle, its ally Mistral, and Vale made it so that when the two nations met - something snapped."
Doctor Oobleck crushed the chalk in his hand, causing the white particles to fly in the air and for the majority of the class to shrink. "Just like that, the two sides fought with sword and spear over some menial chunks of rock in the middle of the ocean." Pulling another piece of chalk from god knows where, he turned back to the board. "What is both the intensely tragic but equally intriguing aspect of this skirmish, however, was the fact that every single soldier sent to conquer the islands perished. Dead." Ignoring the scarce gasps of surprise, the professor scrawled 'phenomena' onto the green slate and pointedly circled it several times. "In fact, the leaders of the respective regions were not even aware of the battle between them until scouts were sent to witness the sea of dried blood and the corpses that floated amongst it."
If Jaune didn't have a reason to be interested in the topic before, he sure did now. Truly, as the messily-dressed man in front of them said, that was intriguing. Two entire armies dead? That sounded insane; the blond boy found himself taking notes avidly with relative ease to prior.
Come to think of it, Crocea Mors used by his great-great-grandfather in this exact war. The blade felt slightly heavier under his belt while Jaune morbidly wondered how many lives stained the its edge from that time. Hopefully, it wasn't as large a number as him, though – considering the scale of the war – the boy would have been hard-pressed to believe it.
For some reason, that relieved him. It was nice knowing that he wasn't solely responsible for sullying such a pristine weapon – however macabre that may have sounded to another.
"Evidence was there to suggest there had be natives to those islands before the forces of Vale and Mistral had arrived, though there are no records of who they were or how advanced. Many theorise that they, too, unfortunately perished in the crossfire." That made Jaune stop taking notes, just to reflect on the words said. Innocents massacred in the wars and conflicts that mankind create… it was a tragic reality that existed to this day. Jaune would have known first-hand, of course. The voice of rising Oobleck made his pen move once more.
"This would not be the only time that such a mysterious event was to occur, I might add." Slapping his hand against the word 'phenomena', the very motion knocked over the erasers on the holder on the frame. "They began to happen again and again. Battles against Mistral and Vale or Vale and Mantle, the battlefields would regularly end with both sides leaving heavily injured with nothing gained until, one day, such devastating effects were only effecting the allied kingdoms of Mistral and Mantle."
Velvet spoke out once again, no hand raised, asking what everyone was undoubtedly thinking, "Why?"
Instead of reprimanding her for shouting out during a lecture, Doctor Oobleck decided to walk over to her bench slowly. His speed from earlier remained forgotten as he laid his hands onto the wooden surface and looked over the transparent material of his glasses, whispering excitedly, "Exactly." Turning his back, the teacher chose to walk at a reasonable pace while talking in a conversational tone, as if contemplating the question himself. "Many theorise it was a beast, or weapon of sorts, that was eventually controlled by the then King of Vale. Others believe that it was the gods choosing sides between the mortals' quarrel. Some more grounded thinkers think it was Grimm being attracted to the negativity of the battlefield and the losing side. We just don't know."
Seeming almost solemn at the fact, Doctor Oobleck turned his head to the side in an act of thought – making Jaune think too. Such an important factor in the war, yet nobody knows exactly what it was? It just seemed silly. Unnatural. Wrong. He wasn't taught this in middle school, though perhaps it was due to the incredulous and inexplicable amount of deaths on both sides rather than negligence on part of the school.
"Anyhow, the climax and subsequent end of the Great War occurred on Vacuan soil where the combined forces of all nations waged bloody conflict between each other over Vacuo's untapped dust reserves. Seeing that if Vale was to fall, Vacuo put its lot in with them as – without their presence – the power of Mistral and Mantle would easily conquer the region due to their subpar development in both technology and strategy."
Made sense, Jaune thought. It was the will to survive and stay true to yourself; do the things you thought were right.
He didn't really know much about Vacuo, never really going there much besides the rare family vacation (the beaches were absolutely fantastic) but they were a free-spirited lot to say the least. Wanting to stay out of the iron grasp of Mistral and Mantle definitely seemed like something that conformed to the nation's general ideology.
The green-haired doctor linked his arms behind his back and spoke stationary from his desk – his thermos and various stacks of books adorning it. Yet another moment of rare stillness from the man. "The King of Vale himself personally arrived onto the battlefield, leading his forces along with advising the steeled survivors of the harsh Vacuan wastelands to complete and utter victory. Mistral and Mantle, both weak after suffering massive losses from previous battles, saw this as their final chance to gain the upper hand but ultimately suffered the very definition of defeat. Survivors of both sides recollect the battle ending in a flash. Once there were soldiers – warriors – and then there were corpses an hour later. People say that the King himself utilised the phenomena to his benefit, using it to end the war once and for all – but, again, that's all speculation. There has been no scientific proof of there being anything of the sort in the first place."
This so called… 'phenomena' really bothered him.
It was so crucial to the war itself yet nobody bothered to really look into it? Then again, if it was something supernatural, it would make sense. Countless people, including Jaune, didn't believe in magic and no amount of scientific research would prove that magic exists. Magic isn't scientific and cannot be quantified by such, that was just how it worked if you were to believe it to be real (which Jaune didn't).
Jaune's chin buried itself in his leather-gloved hand, the cold steel of Crocea Mors boring through his clothes while his pen tapped the paper of his pad incessantly.
While he wasn't exactly listening to what was being said, the boy knew that their professor continued talking for a little bit before coming to a conclusion to the Great War's summary. "Once the war ended, the King of Vale found the inspiration to found the huntsman academies we know to this day. Shade for Vacuo, Haven for Mistral, Atlas for Mantle and, last but not least, Beacon for Vale. Built for the sole purpose of fighting against the Grimm and not ourselves, these academies represent the hope for Remnant's future – though, arguably, all of you represent that better."
Almost as if perfectly timed on part of the professor, the bell rung out like a wakeup call for Jaune. Shaking his head and freeing his mind from the metaphysical cage of thought it was trapped in, the voices of the red-caped girl next to him muttered from under the bench. "War… Phenomen-ah-tay… King… blergh."
Concerned for his friend, Jaune made to speak – seeing Weiss shove her notepad into her skirt pocket with a heavy sigh of relief, "Is she… dead?"
"I highly doubt it," Weiss replied, taking a disapproving look at her partner with her arms crossed. "At most it's a brain short-circuit, though I can hardly blame her." Tilting her head to the side, her long pure-white locks did as well. Wow. "Professor Oobleck certainly talks at speeds I did not think were humanly possible."
"Doctor," the blond pointed out on instinct – his inner nuisance side peeking out. After the ice-filled glare the small girl gave him, Jaune lowered his head in shame. "Sorry." Yeah, the dry baseline wittiness was definitely a side-product of Vul doing, Jaune would blame. It wasn't like he was never like this, just more so that his mentor acted as a catalyst of sorts.
A catalyst for all the wrong things.
Doctor Oobleck allowed his students to file out while shouting about the assignments due next week concerning the topic he had just covered. Yeah, they had the rest of the week to get lectured but it still sucked that they were being given homework on the second day of arrival.
The clock on his scroll read that it was lunch already. Time flies huh? Behind them, PYRN were already filing out – leaving Pyrrha to remind them as she was the last member to leave, "Are you coming with us to lunch?"
"Don't we have combat class in the afternoon? Seems a little counter-productive to have a meal before an opportunity where you could spill it all out," Jaune reasoned, putting away his own belongings.
Yang shouted from the middle of the crowd she was mingled into, her disembodied voice somehow listening in on her fellow blonde's line of thought, "Speak for yourself! A girl needs her energy!"
"I second that!" A second voice shouted. It wasn't hard to tell who from the distinguishable bubbly tone.
"Help…" Somehow, the defeated tone of Ren was also audible to Jaune. If he knew anything about the duo, it was that the rose-eyed boy was almost, probably, definitely getting dragged along the floor under the trampling feet of his peers. He must have been exhausted after that light-speed lecture.
Yet he still suffered at the hands of the Ginger Menace. A true soldier, through and through.
Saluting solemnly with his eyes squinted in seriousness, he returned to find Weiss prodding Ruby with her pen, only to receive mumblings and moans from the broken girl. "How intriguing…"
Jaune sighed. "Ruby, if you don't wake up I'm going to tell everyone about that diary you hide under your pillow."
Like a rose-filled rocket, Ruby shot up ranting incoherently – ending up with the phrase: "How do you know about that?!" as her wild silver eyes demanded an answer.
Pulling back at the sudden intensity, the boy replied hesitantly, "I mean, I didn't. But I do now, so…" Jaune yelped as he was pulled by the collar to be face to face with the smaller girl.
"I swear, if you tell Yang I'm going to make you wish that… that…"
"…That?"
Undeterred, Ruby continued, "That! I'll make you wish that! I swear!"
Sounded like a reasonable offer, Jaune thought. "Alright, you got me; please let go, Ruby…" he cringed, pulling his head away weakly.
As her caped form was pried off of him by a very disinterested-looking Weiss, the boy turned around to see Blake – back to reading her book. His gaze hardened invisibly, wondering if she could tell his intensity the same way he had felt hers. While Aura sensing was a very useful (and actually pretty rare) skill, some people's raw instincts rivalled – if not, surpassed – its capabilities.
Watching her amber orbs scan every word of the page, Jaune wanted to know how much Blake suspected him. Their partnership had been shaky from the very starts and despite his attempts to relieve any tension, they went unfounded ever since the events of last night.
Were his decisions rash? Yes. Were they necessary? No, not really. But he had to start putting the pressure on. If Blake Belladonna was who he thought she was-
"Jaune!"
"Hm?"
Snapping his head back to a certain white haired individual, Weiss crossed her arms expectantly with her foot tapping on the floor. "We're going. Do you want lunch or not?" Ruby stumbled out next to her, catching her footing as she was just previously being pulled along her hood.
There was nothing much else to say. It would just be weird to deny the offer, even if it wasn't as much an offer as it was a subliminal order from the small girl. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going…" Already stood, the blond looked back to his partner. "You coming, Blake?"
"Mhm," she hummed tonelessly, closing her book and doing much the same as him.
No matter how suspicious she might have been of him, it pleased Jaune to know that she was as talkative as ever.
/-/
Blake Belladonna was sat in the library.
A quiet place that she had found respite in amidst the high school life she had escaped to. It reminded her of Tukson's back storage room, the place that she had crashed in after… well, after she and Adam had parted ways. Both were full of books, deathly silent and gave you the ability to lose yourself in the world of words and literature. Granted, the main difference was that she could actually move her limbs here without slamming an elbow into a shelf or the corner of something.
There was many a time where that had happened. Aura didn't save you from the little things in life. Like the fabled 'funny bone'. Though, Blake didn't find it very funny herself.
Despite this, however, Blake was struggling to find the flow. Lunch had ended a while ago and they were having a free period until it was time for Miss Goodwitch's combat class. Like she normally did, the girl split away from her team when they noted that they had time to spare but – at least this time – Blake had a real reason to break away from her team.
Before, it was simply a case of not really finding much interest in them. They were nice, sure, but nice didn't exactly equal companionship, let alone friendship. Ruby was optimistic, to a clinically insane extent, she thought. Weiss was a Schnee, though not exactly what Blake was expecting; her mind wasn't really mind up on her.
But if she had to say, the one that her mind had not yet truly come to understand was her partner – Jaune Arc.
He seemed simple enough of the surface. From when they first met, the blond just seemed to be an awkward, goofy kid who was good enough with a sword to get into Beacon. He didn't seem very special or outstanding in any regard.
Yes, they had that strange interaction just before Initiation but perhaps it was just butterflies before the big moment – the event that decided if they got into Beacon or not. That's what Blake thought at first too.
Jaune had shown what he was made of in Professor Port's class. He moved with prowess, the kind that was practised and not the instinctual kind like one might have described herself to have danced along the battlefield. A sword and a gun, even using his sheathe - not to mention all the dust-based explosives attached to him – every single part of the boy seemed to be a deadly weapon.
Jaune Arc reminded her of a weapon.
On the surface, it might have seemed harmless enough. Like a kitchen knife, you could say. However, once someone handles it with the intent to actually do something, it became a horrific tool. That being said, it's not like Blake actually thought Jaune was a mindless killer or anything – far from it. He was at a huntsman school, much like herself, it's just that her partner seemed much more dangerous than people might have given him credit for.
It didn't help said danger was now pointed at her.
Blake turned the page of the book in her hand, ears twitching underneath the bow she kept atop her head. "Have you ever killed someone before?" The girl shoved her chin deeper into her hand, the elbow keeping it propped buckling slightly at the added pressure. The question was sudden. It was out of nowhere. Blake barely had any time to prepare – no – she had no time to prepare. It was like an attack.
Jaune Arc was a weapon and the edge of his blade was pressing itself into Blake's neck.
Another flick of the paper while the hushed voices of other students sat in the library grew slightly louder.
Had he found out? How? Blake had kept her true nature a secret to the utmost degree; she wore a bow on her head! Nobody would have suspected – nobody should have suspected. Was Jaune working with Adam? Was he trying to somehow get her back? Blake ran for a reason – a damn good reason – and there was no way she was returning. She did everything she could to try pull the man that she trusted her life with out of the spiral of blood he was letting himself fall down, but to no avail. There was nothing left for her to do, and Blake couldn't help someone that didn't think they needed help.
No, Jaune didn't look like a faunus – neither did he seem to have any areas that could have contained features of one. Nothing like her completely natural bow that decorated his body to conceal something that could have incriminated him. He could have been a duck faunus but, truthfully, they were normally quite timid in nature and hated admitting that they were in fact a faunus out of fear for the question: 'oh, what kind?'.
Yeah, you'd be hard-pressed to find out if someone was a duck faunus, alright.
Then that meant if her blond partner truly was on her metaphorical tail, he must have been an enemy of the White Fang.
The amber-eyed girl was a special case, she would admit. Having to ask a close friend to forge details for an application due to the 'Past Experience' section having 'terrorism' listed would make you at least qualify for that tag. Then again, Blake doubted she was the only one with a complicated past.
Perhaps Jaune was a spy, seeking her out to get information concerning the organisation she had left behind. Considering the fact that the distant look in his eyes screamed something precarious about him, Blake would have wagered he wasn't the type to ask questions first.
Blake turned another page, only to turn back and realise she hadn't read a single word on the last one or the one before that.
A deep breath of air in, a deep breath of air out. Golden irises revealed themselves once more as her eyelids lifted – proceeding the motion. Blake turned her head, noticing the clock. Slowly, it returned back to the faded page of her book and the girl appeared content at just staring it for a while, before eventually lifting one side over to the other and closing it with a thump.
The chair behind her let out a quiet scrape as wood scratched wood. Not a second later, it was pushed back in and Blake made her way out of the library. It was time for combat class, she knew.
She didn't even get to read a single page.
/-/
"It's like a colosseum…" Jaune sat in a mix of awe and despair of the ringed arena. Raised seats, hard-light barricades and what looked to be a pit where they threw in combatants for the viewing pleasure of the rest. There was only a flat pit that acted as a stage for the dance of death called combat.
Basically, it was everything that Jaune didn't like about a place to fight. Nothing to take advantage of, that is assuming you don't rig the space before a fight.
Jaune wasn't the type to do that. Not normally. And anyway, doing so would require the foresight to know that you were going to fight someone that class – and there was no guarantee that Miss Goodwitch would somehow let everyone from their year fight today, unless she planned on a free-for-all.
"I hope she doesn't throw a free-for-all…" he muttered quietly.
Weiss, dressed in her snow-white combat attire, apparently heard his mumblings and noted on them despite nobody really asking her. "Since when did huntsmen get into free-for-alls?"
Her partner, who was sat between herself and Jaune, tilted her head and rolled her silver orbs back slightly in thought. "Does fighting a bunch of suited thugs and a well-dressed thief all by yourself count as a free-for-all? But, like, that same well-dressed thief doesn't seem to care about the suited thugs and blows them all up with the shots aimed at you?"
"Yes," Jaune answered, ignoring the oddly specific example.
"No, it doesn't," Weiss confirmed, doing the same.
The two looked at each other, bending forward past Ruby to meet each other's confused gazes before leaning back into their seats. Their polar opposite stances on the matter were evident and simultaneous.
"Yes, it does," Jaune reiterated with more force behind his words.
"No!" Weiss restated, with even more force behind her words.
Sat next to Jaune was his partner, idly holding her book open. While the girl was seemingly struggling to turn a page for the last few minutes, it didn't stop her from coming up with a dry, witty quip to describe the situation. "Why don't you two just get a room?"
Both dark and light blue eyes peered in Blake's direction – Weiss leaning past Ruby once more, who was similarly setting her silver sights on her bow-wearing friend. Jaune turned back to Weiss to let their eyes cross again before they both snapped their hands back to the blond's partner.
"No," they both seemed to agree despite their earlier differences.
Ruby whispered under her breath, seemingly hesitant to point out the fact that: "We already kind of all share a room together anyway, so…"
The clicking and clacking of heels shut the entire class up in an instant as their professor of this particular period made her way to the center of the ring. "Welcome, students, to your first combat class at Beacon Academy. As a professor here at this school, I would like you to refer to me as 'Miss Goodwitch' and, from henceforth, each and every session will be delivered by me." Miss Goodwitch adjusted her glasses with a single push upward before delivering the next line in a somewhat ominous fashion. "It would do you well to remember that."
"Pretty direct," noted Jaune quietly. After the eccentric introduction of Professor Port and the general lack of one with Doctor Oobleck – Miss Goodwitch's welcoming speech was to the point and concise. From what he could tell, that was probably a constant in her behaviour.
"Quite imposing too," Weiss decidedly added. Yeah, there was that. The woman had shown him her stripes when he was dragged along with Professor Port to explain the whole 'Grimm gladiator match inside of a room filled with children' thing.
Miss Goodwitch's voice spiked from the center of the room, making the two members of Team RASB jump in their seats like children whose hands were caught in the cookie jar. "You there! Miss Schnee, Mister Arc – do you think it appropriate to have your own little conversation while I, myself, am talking?"
Instantly, Weiss shot up from her position and stood ramrod straight – a soldier in the face of their commanding officer. "No, Miss Goodwitch! I apologise sincerely and promise that it won't happen again!"
The very scene made a bead of sweat roll down Jaune's forehead in surprise and disbelief. Weiss' face was forced into one of complete sincerity and determination, though he could tell that she was terrified. That wasn't Aura sense, by the way, it was just the fact that he was about to piss himself at getting called out like that so Weiss must have been as scared as he was. Right?
However, the girl's efforts were enough to spare her from the wrath of the blonde crop-wielding witch below them. "Hm." Her hawk's gaze pierced his own flesh next – Miss Goodwitch's neck snapping in Jaune's direction. "And you, Mister Arc?"
"I wha-?" Oh, come on. His inner palace would have facepalmed if it could.
Of all times for Jaune to be caught off guard, this would be one of the worst. Maybe not physically, but most certainly mentally. His eyes came to Weiss, who was still stood at attention with her stare forward – aware at his attempt for contact but denying it with all her will. Next was Ruby; her silver orbs refused to speak, dark locks swaying as her head darted to a direction that didn't include Jaune. Her whistling came out as dead puffs of air that played the melody of his doom. Surely Blake-
Blake wasn't next to him. Where she was, only the gods knew – but Jaune himself knew that she wasn't going to be of any help even if she was here.
Normally, Jaune was one who prided himself in being able to keep a cool head, though – for some reason – he couldn't do so here. Not in the face of the blonde witch's malice and certainly not in front of an entire class of teenagers who judge you for every single one of your actions.
There was only one phrase that crossed Jaune's mind as his inevitable fate dawned closer and closer. "Ah, shit-baskets…"
He blamed Vul for his colourful use of language.
/-/
Next thing Jaune knew, he was stood in the middle of an arena, awaiting his opponent. All in all, not as bad a punishment as he would have thought.
Thank the gods that Miss Goodwitch hadn't heard his curse, despite her inhuman sense of hearing prior – cussing in front of a woman like her seemed like a fate second only to cussing in front of your own mother. Come to think of it, Miss Goodwitch sort of reminded Jaune of his mother – the sterner side of her – in both figure and mannerisms.
Quite violently, he shook that thought of his head. That… no. No.
No.
Two feet planted at one side of the plain and flat duelling pit, the slots behind their professor spun and spun for the person that he would have to fight. Generally, Jaune felt quite confident. Was it experience? Was it arrogance? A mixture, maybe. Jaune knew he had come a long way in a year – but a year was all it was. This was a huntsman academy. People trained near a decade to study here.
He had a tenth of that time.
So, as the roulette came to an end, a familiar – but very unfriendly – face came to greet him. Brown hair, an ugly and cocky smirk and a set of eyes that screamed over-confidence, it was none other than-
"Mister Winchester," the professor tapped something onto her tablet scroll before looking into the audience. "Mister Winchester from Team CRDL, please make your way into the arena."
There was no roaring applause, no deathly silence either. Just barely audible murmurs from the crowd, possibly placing bets or gossiping about first impressions, of which Miss Goodwitch seemed to allow. This wasn't some sort of blood sport, not to these students – no. To them, it was just a class. Just an everyday event to learn about combat. To learn about fighting another human being.
Cardin made his way down the central set of stairs before walking to his side of the space. Like his flattering portrait, his face seemingly was contorted to a commingled state of hubris and contempt. If Jaune had to guess, it would be from their little scuffle earlier in the day. Speaking of…
Jaune cocked out a hip, eyebrow quirking as he gestured, "That arm seems to be doing a whole lot better. You sure you can beat me after getting it snapped in two?" Hey, words were a weapon within themselves, that was article twenty of 'Vul's Guide to the Universe'. Again, the wit just seemed to come out whenever it needed to – mostly to rile an opponent up, for better or for worse.
For worse, more often than not. It was Vul's fault.
The cockiness in the slightly larger boy's face faded, replaced with a dirty pull of his mouth, "No thanks to you, wuss; had to get your dirty work done by a girl. And like I said," Cardin's eyebrows furrowed, the anger in his voice extremely evident. "I'm leagues ahead of you."
His own cerulean eyes found themselves rolling at Cardin's former comment. "Real progressive, buddy." Coco was the walking definition of a strong woman in Jaune's eyes. And anyway, in this day and age, there seemed to be a way larger ratio of huntresses compared to huntsman – at least in this school.
"Enough with the pre-fight banter, gentlemen," Miss Goodwitch reprimanded, not all too seriously.
As he shrugged with his eyes closed, it seemed to Jaune that even she understood the importance of the mental game involved within combat. His opponent ceased his own verbal assault, though with much less grace – scoffing to the side.
"The rules are simple. You will fight until the following: one party yields, one party's Aura hits the red, one party is unable to continue. Your scrolls and the monitor behind me will keep track of your Aura levels." Beeping from his belt indicated that his scroll had just connected to the system. Both his own and Cardin's Aura levels were displayed in the healthy green. Continuing, Miss Goodwitch looked to Jaune, her bright green eyes like laser pointers. "That being said, Mister Arc, are you ready?"
His carefreeness evaporated, standing sideways on and bending at the knees but making no move to draw a weapon. Cardin undoubtedly knew he had a gun and a sword – but who said that was all Jaune had at his disposal? "Yes, Miss Goodwitch."
Next, the professor turned to his opponent, "And you, Mister Winchester, are you ready?"
Cardin crouched low, his stance practiced but seemingly wild in nature. Growling, he replied, "Always."
Miss Goodwitch stepped to the side of the arena, still in the center but certainly out of the way. Even if she was further away, her commanding voice was crystal-clear. Raising her riding-crop, she yelled with conviction, "Then let the match between Mister Arc and Mister Winchester…" Her weapon came down in a flash of midnight.
"Begin!"
/-/
Professor Ozpin stood by his lonesome. Fingers around his familiar mug, the man stood out unto the grounds of his very own academy with the silhouette of Vale proper in the distance. Indeed, it was a position that the headmaster of Beacon found himself of many a times in the day. Sometimes, when he was thinking. Other times, when he was lost. Though - perhaps most of the time – it was when he was waiting.
The chime of his office elevator echoed in the glass and cog-filled room. "Here they are," Ozpin hummed to himself idly before turning around to meet the new faces that were about to appear behind the steel doors.
With a smooth sound, the elevator exists parted and revealed a pair of students. One was smiling and the other… well, she was trying her best to. "Heya, Professor Ozpin!"
"Coco," the one trying her best reprimanded in a way that was not at all that reprimanding. Velvet Scarlatina grabbed her team leader's shoulder lightly in a vain attempt at emphasising her following point. "You shouldn't be so informal to the headmaster; it's disrespectful!"
In response, the beret-donning and shades-wearing young woman in front of her rolled her eyes along with her head as she walked forward, bringing her close friend and team member out of the elevator itself and into his office.
"Loosen up, Vel. I'm not 'disrespecting' him or anything." For a second, Coco seemed to hesitate as her smile dropped and felt the urge to clarify: "I'm not disrespecting you – am I, sir?"
"Let your worries ease, Miss Adel," Ozpin clarified with a soft tone. "You are doing me a favour; I believe it would be rude for me to say that you are." As the leader of Team CVFY gave her team member a look of 'I told you so' under her shades, the headmaster urged on the matter of their presence. "Speaking of which, I assume you're here to report something?"
The two young ladies stopped just in front of his desk and Coco's smirk dissipated, leaving behind a less casual but not at all professional expression as she informed, "Yeah. Velvet here's made contact with that new blood in the first year."
"I see," The older man hummed until the girl continued with her statement,
"We had her get into a little altercation with that Winchester brat, as much as I hated the idea," Coco spat, turning her head and scowling to the side where Velvet couldn't see her face.
In an attempt to soothe her rising rage, the faunus smiled genuinely and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think I couldn't handle it, Coco, it's alright."
"What do you mean 'it's alright'?!" Coco yelled suddenly, brushing off Velvet's hand and stepping away so that she faced the other girl head-on. "That's the problem! I might have broken his arm, but gods know it's the least he deserves!"
While getting tenser, Velvet's smile refused to leave her face but a deep and smooth voice cut into the interaction with masterful ease. It was preceded by a stern clap of glass on glass; a white mug was placed firmly onto the desk in front of the two girls.
"I appreciate your commitment, Miss Scarlatina, but I am well aware of the Winchesters' stance on faunuskind and urge you to not put yourself under such scrutiny again in the future." Cardin's father was already verbally abusive when he attended Beacon and it seemed that his son lacks the maturity and restraint that Sebastian Winchester had when he attended Beacon himself. While he dreaded to find out what had been happening under his nose in his very own school, Ozpin moved to the confrontational girl to the right of Velvet.
"And you, Miss Adel, I beg of you not to take justice into your own hands. While you may think that breaking another student's arm – your junior's arm – is the right course of action, I can solemnly say that there was more than one way that could have ended badly for you. You have my word that Mister Winchester will be dealt with appropriately."
And by 'appropriately', Professor Ozpin meant 'by Miss Goodwitch'. The gods knew that she would have a field day.
"…Yes, sir." The two girls seemed to say in agreement, turning to face the headmaster with their arms by their sides.
"Though, that Jaune kid you wanted us to get closer to wasn't the knight in shining armour that came to Velvet's aid," Coco added as an afterthought, cocking her hip to the side and placing a hand on it. "I mean, yeah, he came in the end – but it was that one small girl on his team who was first…"
"Ruby." Velvet completed.
"Yeah, her." Thanking her teammate with a solitary nod as she confirmed, Coco turned back to Professor Ozpin who walked over to the side of his desk chair and came to sit down. Putting his elbows on the table, the man interlinked his fingers in a thoughtful manner as the girl continued. "Tiny kid. Wears a cape and always like she's always on a sugar high."
Ozpin hummed. The hum turned into a satisfied chuckle. "Yes, well, that certainly sounds like Miss Rose. But you are sure that Mister Arc came himself to the scene once she herself had arrived?" At the two girls nodding, his hazel gaze drew itself downwards from the two girls and two his own hands.
Then, there was silence. Silence, that is, until one of the two members of Team CFVY snapped it in two – just like a certain boy's arm from earlier on the day.
"…Sir?"
"Yes, Miss Adel?"
Coco seemed to hesitate, the words getting stuck in her throat, but eventually spat out meekly. "Why do you want Velvet to act like a White Fang spy in front of this kid?"
Ozpin himself kept silent for a second before an amused smirk blossomed onto his face. "Miss Adel, does one normally argue with extra credit?"
Ending Notes:
I won't lie; I have no idea how extra credit bloody works.
Anyway, we're setting things up. Turns out Qrow's text wasn't about Blake after all. Ozpin did say he knew what he was doing. But let's be real, does he really? Spoiler alert, the answer isn't an easy one.
Coco and Velvet! I actually love these two to bits. And I love writing them. They're just so damn adorable.
Blake is also highly aware of Jaune's intentions during the Truth or Dare game, it seems. But she isn't too sure of what they exactly are. You know how she is under pressure, let's just hope she does pull a legger.
There was also an absolute ton of very explicate world-building both canon to RWBY as a whole and canon to this specific fanfic. It's sort of important, trust me. Sorry if it was a bore to read. It was Oobleck's class… I sort of thought it a good chance to dump a bunch of words onto you. My bad.
Next chapter you have the Cardin and Jaune fight to look forward to. The first time he's fought a person since his training, or at least the first time I've written it, I think. How much has he learnt from Qrow and how much will he use his own wits, smarts and tactics? Only time can tell.
As always…
Thank you for reading this chapter!