Beta: ShadowMeister234

An: Been a while hasn't it. Short story short, my second to last college semester kind of kicked my ass, and new chapters had to take a backseat. Things should be better going forward though, so without further to do, let's get started.

Ozpin had lived for many, many years. He was used to nothing surprising him anymore, but when the boy who had technically broken into his school not that long ago sent in a job application, that surprised him.

"So Mr. Arc, could you tell me why you applied to this position?"

"Of course, you see I admire what your school and the Huntresses and Huntsmen in it do. I've always wanted to help them in some way, but without any combat training I never really believe I would be able to. Then I saw that position and I realized that the skills I do have really could help protect humanity if only in a tiny way."

It was about as perfect of an answer as you could get. That and the suit he was wearing, which was probably more expensive than anything Ozpin owned although it was tailored to look like it wasn't, proved that someone had prepared him for the interview. That itself wasn't unusual but this went far beyond the kind of be-polite-and-smile advice parents could normally give.

Then there was his resumé. It was glowing but not so much so that it would be unreasonable for a teenager to have so much experience. Ozpin was also positive that should he call any of the references he would only receive glowing praise. Obviously, Jaune Arc had gotten much better at his forgeries since he last applied to Beacon. That or, the far more likely scenario, someone extremely wealthy had put it all together for him. Just what kind of connections had he made?

"I'm pleased to hear you are so passionate about our mission, and you are extremely qualified for someone so young. Perhaps a bit too qualified, This is a school after all. We're hardly looking for five-star masterpieces. As long as you can keep up with your co-workers you should be fine."

"I'll strive to meet their expectations."

"I'm sure you will. I'll take you downstairs in a little bit and let you meet everyone."

"Excellent, does this mean I've been hired?" Jaune said it with the perfect amount of certainness that made it clear he was confident in himself but not arrogant. Whoever had trained him had taught him well.

"I do have one more question." Ozpin rested his elbows on his desk. "You wanting this position wouldn't have anything to do with your previous failed application to become a student at this school, would it?"

Jaune stiffened and Ozpin watched his neck as the boy gulped. "Of course, this has nothi—no relation with my previous application."

Jaune tried to control it, but it was clear he was more nervous and uncertain now that they had gone off-script. "Please understand, I'm simply asking. This will not count against you. Lying or trying to hide things from me, however, certainly will."

Jaune sighed and he let go of the proper posture he had been holding until now. "I wasn't trying to hide anything from you. What I said about admiring your school is absolutely true. I wanted to be a Huntsman so badly. It's why I applied and when I got rejected it really hurt. I didn't know what to do with my life, but then I picked myself up and pursued a new path that I'm happy with. Getting this job is just the next step although getting to support the people I've looked up to for so long doesn't hurt."

It was far from the perfect, proper answers that he had given until now, but this one had heart. Made the boy in front of him seem more like an actual person and not a robot. Ozpin liked him better this way.

"So you still want to help people."

"I do, sir."

"And you are aware this is only a temporary position."

"I understand and that's perfect for me."

"Then I see no reason why Beacon shouldn't have you. Now, do you have any questions for me?"

Jaune made a show of acting like he was thinking about it for a few seconds. "I do have one. I understand that Beacon is willing to provide on-campus housing for their staff."

"We do. I understand the commute from Vale to Beacon every day becomes taxing for many, so if you'd like we can set you up with a room until your tenure is over."

"I think I'd appreciate that."

Ozpin sipped his coffee. "I feel that I should inform you, however, that we recently had an attack on-campus. One of our students was badly injured and we still haven't caught the culprit."

"I see. I'm sorry to hear that, but I'd still like to live here for the time being." Jaune tried to look surprised, but Ozpin saw through the act. Mr. Arc had already known about the incident.

It was only a confirmation of what Ozpin already believed. Mr. Arc was here for a deeper reason. Ozpin didn't know how deep Jaune had gone, but he was able to solve Miss Rose's unexplainable condition. If he wanted to take a crack at solving Lie Ren's, then Ozpin certainly wasn't going to stand in his way. It would certainly take some work off his back.

There were some that would believe he should devote his full attention to the investigation, but as headmaster, he had to deal with everything that happened both big and small. It was why he was sat here interviewing supplementary staff instead of dealing with the rising tension between humans and faunus or doing one of the hundreds of tasks needed for the Vytal festival to take place.

Outsourcing was a perfectly reasonable solution. Besides he was interested to see what the boy he had denied entry into Beacon was capable of.

"Congratulations, Mr. Arc, let me be the first to welcome you as Beacon's newest cook."

With all the exchange students arriving for the Vytal festival, it only made sense that Beacon would have to temporarily increase staffing to deal with them all, and nothing was more important to teenagers than food. It was honestly absurd how much food was going out of the kitchen and how many empty plates were coming back in. If Jaune hadn't had the experience of helping cook for his family of ten, he would've already collapsed. As it was, he was able to keep up with the rest of the crew which seemed to earn him a degree of respect.

His cooking time was on pause at the moment, however, as he manned the serving line. Apparently, it was based on rotation so nobody had to slave over a stove for their entire shift. Jaune appreciated it not only because it gave him a bit of a break, but because it let him get a feel for the school and its students which would likely be important for the actual reason he was here.

"You know when I asked you to come here to help, I didn't expect you to take a job here." Yang came up to him holding a tray in her uninjured hand.

Jaune took her tray and piled some mashed potatoes on it. "It's a better cover than trying to sneak in every night. There's no telling how long this could take."

"How long does it normally take?" Yang sounded worried.

"There is no "normally" in this type of work, but in my few experiences it doesn't take that long. Cryphilictal was the longest mission I've ever been on and the majority of that was just traveling. Things usually start to go pretty fast once you actually encounter the problem. Regardless, I'll be here till the Vytal festival is over no matter what happens."

"That's good."

"Xiao Long would you quit holding up the line!"

Yang turned to snap at whoever had yelled that. "Calm down. You'll get your chance to flirt with the new guy!" Yang turned back to Jaune. "When are you done working? I can show you to the infirmary where Ren is assuming you're allowed to walk around Beacon.

"I wasn't told there was any rule against mingling with students after work. My shift is over in three hours."

"Cool, I'll meet you here. Anything I can do in the meantime?"

Jaune thought about it and he had some ideas that might be helpful, but he didn't want to go in too fast. They had time so it was better to take it slow. "Just leave it for now. I'm sure there will be stuff to do later. You're the only one that can really move around freely during the day after all."

"Got it. I'll see you soon."

The rest of Jaune's shift was just eyeing students to see if any of them seemed suspicious or important enough to check back in on. It was difficult not only because there wasn't really a criteria for what counted as suspicious behavior in regards to a magical event, but also because every student in the entire school seemed to be odd in at least one way.

There had been a monkey faunus who looked like a complete mess and overall just out of it, a cat faunus that left a rainbow trail behind her, a ginger-haired girl with a bow that didn't seem to understand why there were different types of food when people only needed a certain balance of nutrients; her words exactly, then there was this giant of a man that carried a copper sword on his back that looked like it would break Jaune's arms if he even tried to lift it.

Overall it was an exhausting experience.

Emerald was not happy. It may have had something to do with the grey jumpsuit she was wearing, or the mop in her hand, or the mop bucket by her side, but if Jaune was to take a guess it was probably a combination of all three and so much more.

"Jaune, you've put me through a lot since I've met you, but I've never hated you as much as I do right now."

Jaune didn't think there was going to be any cuddling tonight. Not the best way to begin their new relationship. "I'm sorry, but it's not like we had much of a choice."

Jaune had been able to get into Beacon as a cook, but no matter how well Emerald presented herself or how pristine Whitley made her resume, the second she tried to cook something, she would have been sent out the door. Emerald was amazing in so many ways, but growing up on the street didn't exactly prepare you for culinary expertise. That meant they had to try for something more obtainable. Unfortunately for Emerald, that was a janitor position.

"I literally have an illusion semblance." Emerald poked his chest with the mop handle. "I could have gotten in however I wanted."

"Not with all these cameras, and it's more than just getting in. We have to be seen so if we need to talk to anyone they don't just assume we're intruders. Besides I don't think you could keep your semblance going 24-hours a day."

Emerald did not seem impressed by his reasoning. She kept glaring at him which only made him feel guilty despite doing nothing wrong. At least one of them was having a good time as Yang was off to the side giggling to herself. Meeting up with Emerald hadn't actually been intentional. The two blonds had been on their way to the infirmary and they just so happened to spot Emerald on the way.

"Being a janitor can't be that bad," Yang mentioned.

"I don't want to hear it from you!" Emerald turned her anger towards Yang which Jaune was secretly grateful for. "Do you know how disgusting you guys are? It's only my first day, and the amount of trash I've had to pick up and spilled liquids I've had to mop up are insane. I had to clean the bleachers of the combat arena earlier and I found a pair of boxers. Who the hell took off their underwear while watching a fight and then decided to throw them on the floor?"

"You don't know if they took them off during a fight. Maybe some couple just got a little frisky after hours or someone just carries around a spare set of boxers."

Emerald didn't look any more thrilled with Yang's suggestions than she had with Jaune's. He decided it was probably time to step in. "We were actually heading to see Ren, the student who was attacked, if you'd like to come along."

Her glare returned his way and he felt the sweat build up on the back of his neck. "Man, I wish I could, but sadly, I have to go clean the bathrooms because that's my job now. Just send me a message about whatever you figure out."

"Okay," Jaune squeaked. "How about a good luck kiss to make it up to you?" Emerald smacked him in the face with the wet side of her mop as she walked past. "Yep, she's pissed." Jaune brushed his now wet bangs to the side of his face.

Yang patted him on the shoulder. "To be fair, I'd be too if I was suddenly asked to be a janitor. Speaking of which, did I hear that correctly. Are the two of you a thing now?"

Jaune didn't see any point in denying it. "We are."

Yang produced a very un-Yang-like squeal while hopping on her feet. "I'm so glad she went for it. You two are just too cute together. Congratulations. Well, assuming she doesn't dump you for this."

"I'm sure we'll be fine." In some ways, Jaune was actually glad that Emerald was being like this. It was much closer to her regular personality and not of the Emerald that tried to be the perfect girlfriend. He could have gone without getting hit with a mop though.

The two teens arrived at the infirmary. It was pretty quiet with only two patients and one doctor typing away on her computer. She gave a quick nod to Yang who was probably a familiar sight before going back to her work.

"I heard they're transferring most of the medical staff and equipment to Amity so they can deal with any injuries that occur during the tournament, so we shouldn't have any surprise visitors," Yang explained.

They stopped by Ruby's bed for a second so Yang could check on her sister. Ruby was asleep probably because there wasn't much else to do while stuck in bed. Yang ran her hand through Ruby's hair. "I never knew how happy I'd be to just see her sleeping peacefully. She gets discharged tomorrow you know. She was so excited, couldn't stop talking about it. Thank you again. I couldn't have helped her without you."

"Don't worry about it. Let's just see if we can help someone else."

Just like Ruby, Ren was asleep in his own bed, but judging from the bandages wrapped around his forehead and the machines he was hooked up to, his sleep was a lot less voluntary than Ruby's.

Of course, being in a coma wasn't great for his health, but it also prevented them from asking about anything, It also raised a different question. Did whatever attack him put him in this condition on purpose or was it just an unlucky coincidence.

Jaune took a brief look around to make sure the doctor wasn't watching him then removed the bandages wrapped around Ren's arm. Jaune was no weapons expert or doctor but he could still tell a few things from Ren's wounds. There were two types. The first type was easy to identify, even by a complete amateur, as bruises caused by a blunt attack, possibly punches or kicks. The second type was much more difficult. They weren't made by a blade, a bullet, or even claws. They were perfectly circular, almost mechanically so, like Ren had been attacked by the world's largest piercing gun.

The second strange thing about Ren's wounds was how surprisingly shallow they were. Even considering how much his aura would have healed them by now, they never could have been deep enough to threaten his life. It didn't seem right to think that it was because the attacker simply wasn't capable of inflicting more serious damage since who or what did this would have had to break Ren's aura in order to inflict these wounds at all. It was possible that Ren had been knocked out before he could have activated his aura, but that felt unlikely. The other explanation was the attacker had never intended to kill Ren to begin with.

The last and strangest part of the puzzle was the area surrounding the puncture wounds. It was the reason Yang had called him. To put it simply, the skin around those wounds had become a transparent film almost like glass. It made for a disturbing sight as Jaune could see right through to the muscles. The invisible skin didn't extend that far from the original wounds, and thankfully, from what Jaune could tell after seeing Yang's pictures, it didn't seem to be expanding. As far as Jaune knew, the transparent skin seemed to be doing everything normal skin was supposed to do. The only difference was that it was see-through. But, it was definitely magical and just because it didn't seem to be harmful now didn't mean it wouldn't become harmful later, or that whatever did it could just be left to run around.

Jaune carefully rewrapped the bandages and moved back with Yang. "How much do you know about what happened," Jaune asked her.

Yang shrugged. "Not much. Besides a brief announcement, the school is keeping this quiet. The only reason I know as much as I do is because I was visiting Ruby and getting my arm checked out to make sure it was healing correctly when they brought him in. If I hadn't seen those wounds firsthand, I would never have known to call you."

"Here's what I don't understand. From what I can tell from those bruises, it seems like Ren was able to put up a fight with whatever attacked him, so how did nobody hear it? It wasn't like he was attacked in the middle of nowhere. Also, doesn't Beacon have cameras all over the place? Shouldn't they have footage of the attack?"

"I can't really tell you anything about that, but if Beacon really had footage, then whoever or whatever did this should have been caught already, or at the very least, the teachers should have said something about it, but from the way they're acting it feels like they really don't have a clue."

"Yeah, I got that same feeling from Ozpin when he told me about the attacker during my interview. That means something must have gone wrong with the footage or the camera itself."

"You know I thought I would be done with all this magic stuff once Ruby was healed and I was back and Beacon, yet it's already come creeping back in."

Jaune chuckled. "Welcome to my life. Once you're exposed to the unknown world it feels like it starts popping up everywhere."

Yang shivered. "Has it always been like this and we've just never noticed before?"

"Who knows. It might have been, or it could be that because we're involved with the unknown world that the unknown world decided to become involved with us."

"Great just what I needed. Speaking of which, how do you actually go about investigating something like this." Yang gestured to Ren.

"Honestly, by trial and error. I have a book that has a lot of information on the unknown world, but I don't remember reading anything about transparent skin. Right now, we don't have much to go on."

"So, what can we go on?"

"It may not make sense at first but magic still follows rules," Jaune explained. "Most of it is based on connections between things. If Ren was attacked, with magic or otherwise, then it's probably because someone wanted to hurt him."

"But what if it was a random attack?"

"If it was random, then it's likely a creature from the unknown world is running wild. If that's the case, with so little information, there's nothing we can really do but wait for it to show itself. For now, I think our best plan is to look into the people closest to him and see what we find. Do you know who his teammates are?"

"His partner is Nora Valkyrie," Yang said immediately. "If you think I was overly concerned about my sister when she was in here, you should see that girl. She basically never leaves his bedside."

There was a chair by his bed suggesting he did have visitors, but at the moment it sat empty which kind of went against Yang's claim. "So, where is she now?"

Yang tilted her head towards the infirmary door like she expected Nora to come bursting in at any moment. When that didn't happen Yang answered somberly. "I don't know. I honestly thought we were going to have to talk her down to even get close to Ren."

Jaune made a mental note of that. It might just be that the girl realized that her partner wasn't going to disappear if she didn't watch him and decided to do her own thing, but there was always the possibility her absence might mean something. "What about his other teammates."

"There's Cardin. I don't really know much about him other than he's kind of a brute and hits like a truck in the combat arena, then there's their team leader, Weiss Schnee. She's always been kind of an ice queen, but recently she's turned into a complete tyrant. She's rude to everyone and holding her team to ridiculous standards. If anyone purposely did this to Ren, my money would be on her."

Jaune had a pretty good feeling that he knew exactly what had put Weiss in such a rotten mood. Her younger brother hadn't exactly been humble when he mentioned his new position as the heir to the SDC company.

"Okay, we have our main suspects," Jaune said. "There's three of them and three of us so it's probably best if we each take one."

"I'll take Nora," Yang claimed. "I already talked to her a bit, and with my broken arm, I'll have an excuse to come to the infirmary even when Ruby's discharged.

"Then I'll take Weiss." Jaune didn't really want to, but he knew he probably should. If only because he knew slightly more about her from what Whitley had told him, as bias as that probably was. "That leaves Emerald with Cardin. I'll talk to her about it later."

"Okay, but quick question, what exactly I'm I supposed to find out from Nora."

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "Just try and see if she knows more than she should or if she's acting strange in any way. Ask about Ren's condition and see if she lets anything slip. If she's had any contact with the unknown world then we want to know about it."

"I'll try my best."

The next day Jaune was back on the serving line. The monotony of his job was already starting to take hold as he absentmindedly piled food onto trays while watching the cafeteria. None of the members of Team CLWN were in attendance and Jaune didn't remember seeing any of them yesterday. Either they got their food from somewhere else or they ate when he was back in the kitchen.

That was a bit of a problem since he couldn't think of a good excuse to start a conversation with Weiss that didn't involve her just walking up to the serving line. She had no reason to want to talk to him and as a Beacon staff member, it would be odd for him to try and seek her out.

"It's you again," a voice said interrupting his train of thought.

He looked down to see who he was serving and was pleasantly surprised to see a bright and cheerful Ruby Rose. Not so pleasantly was her partner standing beside her. Sulfur looked nice and approachable enough with his thin smile, but Jaune had gotten a bad feeling about him ever since they bumped into each other the night he got back from Cryphilictal.

Sulfur was strange. It was a strangeness that seemed impossible not to notice, that Jaune somehow had back when they first met in Forever Fall. Emerald hadn't though, had she? She didn't trust him from the start. Maybe he should talk to her about it.

Regardless, Sulfur was up to something. What it was Jaune didn't know. It might have nothing to do with him, but given the situation, he'd be a fool not to consider it.

"You seem to be thinking pretty hard about something. Anything you want to say?" Sulfur was only standing a few feet from him but his voice felt like it had crossed miles to reach Jaune's ears, and with it came everything that wasn't being said. At this moment there was no Beacon, no cafeteria, and no Ruby. It was just the two of them sharing a secret conversation in an empty void, and the message couldn't be any more clear.

You don't mention it and I won't either.

Because while Jaune might have known Sulfur was up to something, the reverse was also true. They had both been caught that night wandering around where they really weren't supposed to. Sulfur's testimony would also be actual proof of wrongdoing where all Jaune had was speculation. A stranger breaking into Beacon and sneaking around its halls were far more of a concern than a student being up at a strange hour.

Even now, Jaune wasn't exactly at Beacon for a legitimate reason. With the rising racial tension and the security of the Vytal festival on everyone's mind, it wouldn't take much for the faculty to question him. He wondered if he should at least tell Yang about the incident. Sulfur was her sister's partner if there was anything suspicious about him she'd want to know.

That idea was scrapped the moment he looked into Sulfur's eyes. Deep in Jaune's soul, he knew that no matter how careful he was or how close Yang held that information, Sulfur would know the moment it left his lips.

This was a checkmate. For now, Jaune had no choice but to drop it.

The void dispersed and the cafeteria returned with all its shapes and noise. The only difference was Sulfur's smile wasn't so thin anymore. It frustrated Jaune so he returned his attention back to Ruby and tried to remember what had actually been said.

"Sorry about that. Guess I just spaced out there for a while." He placed Ruby's food on her tray. Best to play things safe and not put himself at any more of a disadvantage than he already was. "I bet you're happy to be eating real food instead of whatever slop they were giving you in the infirmary."

Ruby's eyes quickly narrowed in suspicion. "How did you know I was in the infirmary?"

And he had already screwed it up.

If Yang hadn't told Ruby about him, then it was obviously because she didn't want Ruby involved and Jaune wasn't going to go against that wish. He could practically feel Sulfur laughing at him as he tried desperately to think up an excuse. "Well, you see, when I was hired they told me about you. That I should make sure you didn't try and gorge yourself after being discharged. That's how I knew."

It didn't sound very convincing even to Jaune, but Ruby must have wanted to put this awkwardness behind her more than Jaune did because she accepted it. "I guess that makes sense, it's just we seem to run into each other an awful lot."

"Maybe he's stalking you," Sulfur cut in.

"I'm not stalking her," Jaune growled.

"Dear Brothers, is the new guy really that interesting? Just get your food already! Some of us have places to be."

Ruby jumped at the sudden shout from behind her and quickly grabbed her tray. Jaune then gave Sulfur a pitiful portion on his tray, which he took with a smile, and the line continued to move.

Jaune still didn't really have a plan when he finally found Weiss. It was more on instinct that he ran up to her in the hallway. He kept telling himself that this was for the best and that if he let her go now, it would be hard to find her again, but the death glare she was giving him really made him want to reconsider.

"Just who are you?" Weiss demanded.

"I'm Jaune Arc." He immediately berated himself for giving his full name. It was truly amazing how he could explore the places of nightmares and fight horrible monsters, yet when confronted with an angry girl barely half his size he fell apart. It wasn't his fault. Weiss just had that kind of aura around her. The kind that was as sharp as knives and made it clear you'd be in a world of hurt if you did anything to displease her.

"And what does Jaune Arc want with me?"

"I'd like to talk."

"About what?"

"I just need to talk."

"And I need to get to class. Tell me what you want to talk about or get out of my way."

"It's about your teammate, Ren. I'd like to ask you some questions about him."

Weiss' glare changed from fiery to icy as she reevaluated him from simple annoyance to a possible threat. Her hand was hovering over the spot where he was sure her weapon would be if she was carrying it. "I don't see how my teammate is any of your business. I have nothing to say to you. If you have something you must ask him, then wait till he wakes up or go through the school instead of ambushing me."

This was going nowhere. Weiss was completely stonewalling him. He needed to give her something that she would want to talk about, and he only knew one subject that was sure to grab her attention. Hopefully, it wouldn't backfire.

"Miss Schnee, I work for your brother—" he couldn't even get another word out before Weiss grabbed his shirt and dragged him to an empty classroom with a look that had dropped from just icy to absolute zero.

The door slammed behind them as Weiss crossed her arms and blocked the exit. "What does my brother and the SDC want with my teammate? I'm not dating him, or anyone for that matter, if that's what you were sent to find out."

"It's nothing like that. I'm here to investigate the attack on Lie Ren as it might be related to the safety of the Vytal festival as a whole. I just wanted to ask you some questions since you're the leader of his team. It has nothing to do with you personally."

Weiss gauged his half-truth skeptically. "Are you sure this isn't just a plot to force me back to Atlas or a way for Whitley and Father to humiliate me even further?"

"I'm positive." Seriously, what was with this girl? He could understand her being angry that she had lost the heiress title, and Whitley had told him that she was stuck-up, though Whitley was pretty stuck up himself, but Weiss was acting like the whole world revolved around her.

Weiss still seemed overly suspicious, but she did let her guard down a tiny bit. "Fine, but I have some questions of my own. Why is the SDC investigating this? Shouldn't the school and Atlas be handling it?"

Jaune didn't bother correcting her that he only said he worked for her brother and not the SDC. It was easier to just let her believe what she wanted and make up a plausible explanation around it. "They are, but as the SDC invests many resources into the Vytal festival and has an interest in seeing it succeed we thought it best to conduct our own private investigation."

"I doubt Beacon or General Ironwood would have approved this. Are you some kind of spy?"

"I guess you could say that."

Weiss scanned him up and down. "You look a little young to be a spy."

And you look a few feet too short to be a Huntress. "All the better for blending in."

Weiss nodded. "Be that as it may, why should I cooperate with you? I don't owe the SDC anything."

Could she be any more difficult? "Because Miss Schnee I'm your best chance at finding the perpetrator that attacked your teammate. Beacon and Atlas have much more to deal with than just this attack, but I'm working exclusively on it." Weiss huffed and looked away as she was finally starting to see reason. Jaune just needed to deliver the final blow. "That does, of course, only matter if you care about what happened to your teammate."

Weiss' fingers curled into fists. She probably knew he was manipulating her, but she couldn't just deny him without also turning her back on Ren. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

Jaune didn't give her a chance to change her mind. "What do you know about the attack itself?"

"Almost nothing. Ren was already in the infirmary by the time I heard about it. Another student found him in the hallway on their way to the cafeteria."

"Do you know who this student is?"

Weiss fiddled with her skirt. "No, I didn't think to ask." It must have been hard for her to admit that she hadn't taken the initiative in helping her teammate.

"That's fine," Jaune assured her even if the information would have been nice. "You said Ren was found in a hallway and I know he was attacked during the night. Do you know what he was doing at the time?"

"It wasn't really night," Weiss clarified, "it was very early in the morning. Our teammate, Nora, has a frankly ridiculous appetite for pancakes, so Ren goes to the student kitchen and makes a batch for her personally."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "And did he do this for her every morning?"

"As far as I know. I'm usually still asleep when he does it."

"So what you're saying is that if someone wanted to attack Ren, they could have pretty easily discovered a time every day where he'd be by himself and most of the school would still be sleeping."

Weiss' face paled as it started to dawn on her. "Yeah, I guess they could have."

Jaune made a note of that in his scroll. "Then obviously the next question is: do you know anyone that might have wanted to attack Ren? An enemy, someone he screwed over recently, or just someone that he doesn't get along with?"

Weiss took a moment to seriously consider it. "No, I don't think there's anyone like that. Ren is a pretty quiet guy. He doesn't get into fights or speak out against anyone. I can't imagine anyone being mad at him personally." Weiss turned her head away from him and chewed her bottom lip which Jaune could tell was very unlike her, and he'd only known her for a couple of minutes. "That said, I could easily see someone attacking him because of what team he belongs to."

"Go on," Jaune said when it was clear Weiss wasn't going to continue on her own.

"Team CLWN," Weiss looked like she was having to swallow a lemon as she said that embarrassing name, "is kind of notorious. We're the strongest team in our year and one of the best teams at Beacon. That already puts a target on our backs, but as you know, I'm a Schnee and my family doesn't exactly have the best reputation. My partner also doesn't have the best track record when it comes to social interactions. Combine all that with the fact my more "outgoing" teammates tend to make team business everyone's business, and I can see a lot of students holding a grudge against us and wanting to hurt us before the Vytal festival.

"So you think Ren was attacked to damage your team."

"I can't think of any other motive, and if I was the one who wanted to hurt our team, Ren would be the person I would target. He's strong, but he doesn't show it off as much. Some people might think he's the weakest link."

Weiss' theory was certainly possible, but if it was true that the attacker didn't have any direct connection to Ren then it could have been just about anybody. Something about that just didn't seem right though. If the goal had only been to hurt Team CLWN, then why was magic used in the first place?

The obvious answer to that was the attacker wanted to better cover their tracks from those that didn't know about magic, but if that was the case any magic that caused damage to Ren should have worked. The magic that was currently affecting Ren just felt too specialized for it to have no other purpose than to just hurt him. Did the attacker use magic by accident, or did they (or it) not have any other choice but to use that specific type of magic? Both those situations would suggest an element of surprise and unpreparedness, but everything Weiss had told him suggested a pre planned attack.

There were just too many questions.

"Alright Miss Schnee, thank you for your cooperation. I just have one more question for you. What do you think of Ren, personally?"

"I don't see how my feelings have anything to do with the investigation?" Weiss said warily.

"I'd just like to know what Ren's friend thinks of him. I believe that could give me better insight into the kind of person he is and why someone may want to attack him."

Weiss conceded the point. "He doesn't talk that much and stays to himself for the most part which I don't mind. It certainly beats being overactive. He's also the perfect gentleman offering to help out when needed but not overstepping his boundaries. I can't think of any reason why anyone would want to hurt him besides what I already mentioned."

"I see, thank you again for your help."

Emerald was cleaning what must have been her hundredth window. Seriously, how many of them did Beacon need? Were the artificial lights hanging above not enough for them? If they wanted to see the sun they could just go outside.

Being a janitor was miserable. The little gremlins that walked these halls had no idea how good they had it forcing their messes on other people. She wanted to punch them so badly, but she knew that would get her fired. That's why the moment she saw Jaune, boyfriend or not, he was getting a good smack to the face for putting her up to this. That fantasy was the only thing that kept her going.

Her janitor position wasn't the only reason for her sour mood, though. She had met up with Cardin just like Jaune had asked, and what an experience that was. Not only did he offer nothing useful regarding the attack, but he seemed to have taken her approach as some misguided attempt to hit on him. Sadly, he was all for it. It took the use of her semblance to finally get the persistent meat wall to leave her alone. If she ever had the displeasure of seeing him again, it would be too soon.

Emerald put her rag down and looked through the spotless window. As she gazed at her reflection, she spotted a student walking behind her. They were wearing a Mistral uniform, but that wasn't important. What was important was they had an empty protein bar wrapper in their hand. Emerald swore if they didn't dispose of that properly, she was going to lose her mind.

She turned around just to subtly makethat position clear—and froze. The Mistral student also froze, but it wasn't because the Beacon janitor had suddenly given them the stink eye. It was because the two of them recognized each other.

How could Emerald ever forget the woman who had tried to recruit her not that long ago. She wasn't wearing a red dress like she was at the time, but those flaming amber eyes were more than enough to confirm it was her.

Emerald's heart felt like it was going to explode. She had barely escaped with her life from this woman before, and now she was facing her alone with nowhere to run but down a straight hallway.

The woman for her part was able to recover from her surprise far quicker. She might have even been able to play it off like she didn't recognize Emerald if her expression hadn't grown slightly more annoyed. That was all that happened though. The woman continued walking without looking back.

Once she was out of earshot, Emerald allowed herself to breathe. She never thought she'd ever see that woman again, and yet they had to meet in one of the most unlikely of places. What was this fake Mistral student even doing at Beacon? Was she related to the attack on Ren, or was it something else?

Regardless, Jaune had to know.

Jaune stared up at the ceiling unable to go to sleep. The room Beacon had given him was nice, but it was plain and still unfamiliar. That wasn't the reason he wasn't able to go to sleep though. There was just too much on his mind.

He had read through his entire journal twice now and he was positive there was nothing in it about translucent skin which was a problem because two days of work had yielded no solid evidence on what attacked Ren.

Yang's and Emerald's interviews with Nora and Cardin had apparently been a bust, and Jaune couldn't say things had gone much better with Weiss. On paper, she was the perfect candidate to have caused this. She was arrogant and angry over her expulsion as heiress. She had also proven she was capable of using magic, even if it was by accident, with the mirror in the Schnee mansion.

What she didn't have was a reason to want to hurt Ren. Even with all of her faults, it was clear she cared about her team. Was it possible all the stress she was dealing with caused her to release something on accident just like what happened last time?

Jaune rolled over on his bed and faced the wall.

Then there were suspicious people like Sulfur and that woman Emerald ran into? Were they involved? Even if they weren't should he tell someone? He didn't really have anything on Sulfur besides him being a weirdo who liked taking late-night strolls around Beacon, but according to what Emerald had told him, the woman who had tried to recruit her was pretty clearly a criminal. Though again, the only evidence he had of that was Emerald's word.

This was all even assuming that he could even talk to someone important enough to do something. He doubted the kitchen staff could just schedule a meeting with the headmaster out of nowhere, and even if he could talk to someone and they did believe him, what then? That didn't solve the problem of figuring out who or what attacked Ren. In fact, the commotion that would spread if Beacon did take decisive action might give the true attacker the perfect opportunity to strike again or slip into the shadows forever.

Jaune flipped over and buried his face into his pillows.

It felt there were a hundred things happening and there weren't any connections between them. There just weren't enough pieces to put together a picture. He needed a clearer pattern to follow.

Lucky for him while he was tossing and turning in his bed, another incident was taking place.

Psychologist note

In regards to Sulfur Insure,

As you requested, I've completed the psychological evaluation of Mr. Insure to assess his mental health after the Mt. Glenn tragedy.

I'm glad to report that he appears to have suffered no negative repercussions from the tragedy. He reported to his meetings on time and openly talked to me for extended periods without displaying any of the common signs of a trauma victim.

That being said, I would like to raise other concerns. To put it simply, Mr. Insure passed with flying colors which I did not believe was possible for someone involved in such a tragedy. I know we teach our students to accept loss and look to the future, but there's a difference between moving past a tragedy and never being affected by one at all.

Mr. Insure's lack of concern about what happened leads me to believe he may have some sort of dissociative disorder. During our later sessions, Mr. Insure seemed to display disinterest in the process despite fully participating. It felt like he was putting on a show for me. In other words, he was faking it. He clearly understands what emotions most people would be feeling in that situation, but he couldn't quite bring himself to fully display them himself.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting he does not have emotions. It's just that Mr. Insure's emotions seem to be completely unrelated to outside stimulus and thus he can switch between them at will (like a machine). To be honest it was somewhat unnerving.

My suggestion is to continue these sessions (as I'm sure he will not participate unless he is asked to) beyond the original timeline. I would also like to have team sessions with him and Miss Rose (along with her own solo sessions) whenever she wakes up.