I don't own RWBY. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum. I only own my OCs
It had been about... two, three weeks now? Nothing really interesting happened in that time. For the most part. It was mostly wake up, go to class, get back to the dorm, and go to sleep. Jayden's team did socialize with each other
Well, except Jenni. At every corner, Jenni avoided the rest of Team JAGW like they were a plague. She refused to even acknowledge them. Even when she was in the dorm. Suprisingly, though, she still sat at lunch with them. Jayden wasn't sure if it was because she knew they were the really the only ones that wouldn't force her to interact or because she just felt more comfortable with them
Whatever the case, Jayden didn't know why she was doing this, but he'd be damned if he wasn't gonna find out
The sound of metal brought Jayden's attention to what was in front of him. He was currently watching Jaune fight Cardin... It wasn't pleasant to watch and probably wasn't pleasant to feel if Jaune had anything to say about it
Jaune blocked high as Cardin swung his mace down, catching the mace and stopping. It was an impressive feat, to Jaune. Jayden could easily parry Cardin's swings, not to mention the fact he can run circles around him too
Cardin kicked Jaune in the nuts. Jayden's face immediately scrunched up, along with every males' face in the room. Cardin lifted his mace up above his head, ready to bring it down on Jaune's head
"That's enough, Mr. Winchester!" Goodwitch called out
Cardin scoffed as he walked to the other end of the arena. Jaune continued to lay on the ground
"Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Aura during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide whether or not it is better to be offensive or when you need to move to a more... defensive approach." Goodwitch said
Jayden raised his hand. Most likely, Goodwitch already knew what he was going to ask. But, even with that, she still called on him
"Yes, Mr. Taurus?" Goodwitch asked as she pointed at Jayden
"How are we expected to check our Aura in combat? It's not like your enemy, Grimm or no, will stop and let you pull out your scroll."
"That's a good question, Mr. Taurus." Goodwitch said as she looked to the rest of the class, eyes scanning over each student. "If you cannot check your Aura mid-combat, do try to be smart with how you fight and rely on your instincts."
She looked back over to Jayden. Jayden shrugged his shoulders. In terms of gauging his Aura mid-combat without a scroll, he'd already mastered it. Plus, he can move extremely fast. Faster than the speed of sound, he'd wager. Even if it tires him out really quick. It's not like his reaction speed is lacking either. He cuts bullets out of the air one at a time
"Though, judging by your performance a few weeks ago, I'd say you've already mastered this Mr. Taurus." Goodwitch said
Jayden nodded in response. Goodwitch had, in the past few weeks, stopped being so untrusting of Jayden. Although, she was still stricter on Jayden than the rest. People had begun to call it discrimination on Goodwitch's part. They didn't know the whole truth though. Had they known his past, they would surely understand. Jayden didn't bother to correct them though
"Remember students! The Vytal festival is only a few weeks away now. It won't be long until students from the other schools start arriving. Those that choose to participate in the event will be representing the school itself." Goodwitch reminded everyone
The bell rung, signaling the end of class. Jayden stood up, grabbing the backpack next to him as he did so. Considering lunch was next, he didn't bother going to the locker room to change into his school uniform. He did finally get a scarf. It was black in the middle and faded into red. Jayden quite liked it for that. He'd also taken the time to buy a belt to throw his banner on his waist while he was wearing his school uniform
Jayden sighed as he set down the backpack where he was sitting at the table his team and Teams JNPR and RWBY usually sat at
Soon enough, there they were. Ruby and Louis had been sitting next to him while Iris and Jenni sat across from him. RWBY and JNPR sat across from each other. Things were relatively normal with the talk
"Do you guys wanna hear a story of mine?!" Until Nora exclaimed this
"I'll hear it." Both Jayden and Yang said at the same time
Everyone looked at the two, faces varying in emotions as they did so
"What?" Jayden asked as he lifted his hands
"SO!" Nora rudely interrupted. "There we were, in the middle of the night." She started
"It was day." Ren corrected
Jayden hmm'ed in response, locking his fingers together and crossing his legs. Well, as much as he could with the lunch table anyway
"We were surrounded by Ursai." Nora continued despite being interrupted
"They were Beowulves." Ren said with almost a sighing tone
"Dozens of them!" Nora yelled
"There were two."
"But they were no match for Ren and I. We made a buttload of lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"
Ren sighed
"She's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now." Ren explained to them
Jayden shrugged his shoulders in response. "It is what is, I guess."
"Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked out of the blue
Jayden took a closer look at Jaune. He was playing with his food with a downcast look on his face. Jayden realized why he felt that way
"Huh? Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. See." Jaune said unconvincingly as he put his thumb up
"Jaune, I want you to know that I value you as a friend, but I trust that you'll never lie to me again, lest that change." Jayden said as he leaned forwards, putting his elbows on the table
"Yeah. It's just that you seem a little... not okay." Ruby said, moving her hands around as she searched for the right words
"Guys, I'm fine." Jaune tried again to convince everyone yet again
"It's that dumbass Cardin, isn't it?" Iris pitched in as he set down a soda he'd bought earlier
Jaune nodded his head slowly
"Fucking bastard. Tried doing that shit to me. I put him in his place real fast." Iris muttered to himself, nobody else hearing him except Jayden and Blake
"Jaune, you know you can come to us for help." Pyrrha said
"She's right. Any day of the week, and I'd be happy to break his legs." Jayden added onto Pyrrha's statement
"Bring me along! We'll break em together!" Nora yelled as she stood up
"Looks like it's a date." Louis said quickly, joking
"Not now Lou." Jayden talked him down
Jaune did give a small chuckle though, a smile spreading across his face. It wasn't long lived as, not soon after, he got the same downcast look
"Look, he's not just a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everyone." Jaune said
A voice called out in pain, causing everyone to look over at it. Cardin was currently pulling the ears of a second year named Velvet. Why she didn't stand up against him, Jayden didn't know, but he was about ready to do so on her behalf
"And that's all the more reason why his legs should be broken." Jayden growled out as he watched the scene
Each of their laughs taunted Jayden, angering him more. He was about ready to snap on CRDL. But, he also was experiencing something else. The laughs of people long passed. Those that took Jayden's innocence from him
Jayden seethed as he continued watching. Everyone around him was idle noise. It was up to Jayden to control himself now
"What a freak." Cardin chuckled out
Before Jayden had even knew it, he was already over by Velvet's side. He grabbed Cardin by his collar
"Argh! What the hell man!" Cardin exclaimed
Jayden grabbed him by the edge of his armor and brought him up to his face
"You and me. Goodwitch's classroom, if you're up to it. You wanna lay your hands on someone, you do it to someone your own size." Jayden said to him, a growl hiding behind his voice as he talked
Jayden scoffed before he threw Cardin back down to the ground and walked off to change into his school uniform
"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War, humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." Professor- sorry, Doctor Oobleck rambled on
Jayden already knew most of this stuff. Granted, he'd been fighting for the Faunus his whole life. So he had to know this stuff. And while it might've been seen as a huge step forward collectively, giving the Faunus Menagerie was really just an excuse to get the Faunus to shut up. Like, 3/4ths of the continent is desert
"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day! Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" Oobleck asked
Without hesitation, Jayden had raised his hand. So? Just because he didn't like broadcasting his pain to others, he wasn't just going to hide it so plainly. As far as he was concerned, they should know he was discriminated against. As to when the damage was, the people theorizing could come to a conclusion that he'd neither confirm nor deny
He saw Velvet raise her hand too. He shook his head
'That's so unbelievably disheartening. A girl like her doesn't deserve the hate she gets for being a Faunus.' Jayden thought
'And you do?' Another voice echoed in his head
Jayden ignored it
"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence! I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang!" Jayden sharply inhaled at the mention of the White Fang
"Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?" Oobleck asked. Weiss raised her hand. "Yes?" Oobleck questioned, pointing to her
"The battle at Fort Castle." Weiss said, the confidence in her tone unmatched to anything else in the room
"Precisely! And who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"
Cardin flicked a folded piece of paper at Jaune, who had been sleeping, hitting him in the head and waking him up
"Hey!" Jaune exclaimed, forgetting he was in class and catching the attention of the teacher
"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! Ah, this is excellent! What is the answer?" Oobleck zoomed over to Jaune, startling him
"The answer is... uh." Jaune paused as he tried to come up with something
He looked around the classroom for answers. And while he didn't find any on the board, he saw Pyrrha pointing to her eyes
"The advantage the faunus had over that dudes stuff was..." He stalled for more time
Pyrrha noticed this and made circle motions around her eyes, hoping Jaune would catch the hint
"Uh- Binoculars!" Jaune said as he came to a conclusion
Pyrrha slapped hand on her head as the class laughed at Jaune. Jayden sneered at Cardin while he laughed at Jaune, clearly amused by Jaune's humiliation
"Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin! Perhaps you would like to share your thoughts on the subject." Oobleck looked at Cardin
"Well, I know it's easier to train an animal than a soldier." Cardin absentmindedly said
Many of the people who either advocated for the equal treatment of faunus or were a faunus frowned at Cardin. Jayden, however, smirked
"I guess we know why you were accepted into this school, Cardin." Jayden shot at Cardin
The class oohed at the remark. Velvet giggled in response and Jaune full on laughed Cardin growled at Jayden and stood up in his seat, giving a full on glare at Jayden. He wasn't fazed in the slightest
"You got a problem?" Cardin asked harshly
"Yes." Jayden answered with almost no hesitation
Cardin recoiled backward at the sudden response. The classed laughed at Cardin, causing him to growl again and start marching towards Jayden. Oobleck, however, stopped him before he could do so
"Mr. Winchester, please take your seat. You and Mr. Arc can see me after class for additional readings." Oobleck said after he took a sip from the thermos he had
Jayden chuckled at the fact that Cardin had gotten punished. Although, he did kinda feel bad for Jaune
"As for you, Mr. Taurus! Since you felt the need to antagonize one of your peers, surely you feel the need to answer my question." Oobleck stated as he zoomed over to Jayden
"I'd hardly call him my peer." Jayden responded
"Jayden." Oobleck said in a warning tone
"It's night vision. A lot of Faunus, like myself, are known to have nearly perfect vision in the dark." Jayden answered as he steered away from the subject of Cardin
"General Lagune was inexperienced. He made the mistake of ambushing the Faunus in the dark, not knowing they could see." Blake added to Jayden's answer
Oobleck nodded, satisfied with the answer
"Yeah. The Faunus surrounded him in the middle of night and attacked them. They split his forces up and let adrenaline and reflexes do the rest. In the end, when the dust settled and the chaos was gone, not a single faunus soldier was lost." Jayden said as he wasn't done with his answer
"Maybe if he payed attention in class, he wouldn't be remembered as such a loser." Iris spoke to Cardin
"Moving on!" Oobleck interrupted before his class became a warzone
"Remember students, while the forests of Forever Fall look beautiful, they harbor some dangerous Grimm." Goodwitch warned
Today was a field trip. More specifically, a retrieval mission for Professor Peach. Jayden did have her, but he wasn't in the class the rest of his team and friends were. Except Yang, considering they had the same experience. She was the teacher behind dust studies. Which might be why he was in a different class
What he didn't understand is why they were assuming he had as much knowledge on dust as a fourth year. Granted, Jayden did know as much as a fourth year did, but that wasn't the point. There wasn't a guarantee he knew that much. If anything, Weiss would've been the most likely to be in there considering her being as a dust heiress
"You are to gather sap from the trees for Professor Peach. I am only here to supervise you and ensure you don't die doing so."
With that, the students scattered with their respective teams. Except for Jaune, who was dragged off by Cardin. Jayden shook his head and looked back to his team
"Come on guys. Ruby'll let us have a few trees to our own." Jayden said as he walked towards where Team RWBY went
"Like I care." Iris mumbled in the background
Jayden turned around and looked at Iris, who threw a sideways glance at Jayden
"You do remember that faunus have extremely good hearing, right?"
"Like I care." He repeated
Jayden scoffed. "Whatever."
He continued walking over to Team RWBY, which noticed them walking up
"Hey!" Ruby called out
"Ruby." Jayden greeted with a nod
The two stared at each other for a second longer before Jayden walked off and motioned to a tree
"May we?" He asked
"Yeah, I don't mind. I'd actually really like to have your company." Ruby stated
"Thank you."
"Ooo. I sense a crush." Louis teased from the sidelines
Jayden had no reaction to Louis as he pulled Bloom from Scatter and sunk it into the tree, all the way down to it's hilt. Jayden wrenched Bloom free and flicked the sap of his blade before wiping what was left off on his left sleeve and sheathing
"Lou." Jayden called out
Louis walked over and put a glass jar underneath the waterfall of sap now leaking from the tree, which was red in color
"Iris, you got a tree?" Jayden asked
"Pfft, yeah. Course I do. Unlike some people, I'm not irresponsible." Iris stated as he was draining the sap from another tree
Jayden eyed Jenni trying to sneak off behind his back. Jayden quickly turned and grabbed her shoulder, causing Jenni to yelp in surprise
"No ya don't. You and I need to have a few words. Come on." Jayden stated as he dragged Jenni off
Jayden and Jenni sat in silence as they stared at each other. Both of them had a stern glare on their faces, ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble
"So, why'd you-"
"You know why, Jenni." Jayden interrupted almost immediately
"Then why beat around the bush?" She asked
"Because I want to know what your problem is personally before I bring it up with Louis and Iris."
Jenni scoffed and stood up. Turning away from Jayden as she did so. Jayden sighed as he stood up from his crouched position
"Tell me why you take every action to fucking avoid us." Jayden practically yelled
"Why?! Well my answers simple." Jenni responded. "I should have been the team leader!"
Jayden had the urge to start screaming and tearing his way out of the forest in frustration and anger in the face of that answer. Just barely did he manage to restrain it
"That's it?! All of this simply because you weren't named leader?!" It wasn't enough
"YES! Is that so hard to understand!" She was screaming now
"I don't know what to tell you then! Because Ozpin's not gonna chance his mind!" Jayden screamed back
"Then I'll make him!"
"By running around and screaming like a CHILD?!"
Birds flew at the sudden spike in sound. The forest was silent at the sound of their screaming. Jenni was too, at Jayden's poking with her logic
Jayden took in a deep breath before releasing it
"Fine. You think I shouldn't be leader? I want you to prove it to me." Jayden stated as he laid a hand on Bloom
"Prove it how?" Jenni verbally threw at him
Jayden stabbed Bloom into a tree and set his glass jar by itself base, leaving it to collect sap on it's own
"By combat. Right here, right now." Jayden answered. "No time to prepare. Accept?"
Jenni's eyes and expression hardened
"Yes."
Jenni only barely struggled to bring her arms to bear and block Jayden's quickdraw. It wasn't even without the assist of his blowback feature too
Jenni swiped at him, only for the attack to phase through him and cause him to disappear
"Behind you."
Jenni quickly turned, attacking while she did so. She only hit air as it turned out that no one was actually behind her. She looked around, a shocked expression on her face
"Where are you?! Show yourself!" Jenni yelled as she continued looking around herself
The slight sound of a twig snapping alerted her to the strike that was aimed at her back. She quickly deflected Bloom and tried to attack Jayden
Jayden, however, parried her weapon and threw a cloudy dust crystal at her feet. Jenni looked down to it. Jayden fired a round from Scatter at it, causing a smoke cloud to erupt from it, disabling her vision and causing her to stumbled back from the force
"Quit your damn games and face me!" Jenni yelled
She started taking rouge swipes at the smoke. She felt a pulse of energy come over her. She screamed and turned to strike the area even though she knew he wasn't gonna be there
"And this is why you don't deserve to be leader."
"Shut up!"
The smoke cleared allowing Jenni to see Jayden. But, by then, it was too late. Jayden had already charged up a quickdraw with his semblance. Jenni tried rushing him, but Jayden had already pulled the trigger on Scatter, causing Bloom to fly out into his hand
Jenni threw her arms up as the massive wave of energy flew towards her. She managed to block it with her arm blades, but in the process, the tremendous force snapped them in half and ripped whatever trees were behind her in half as well
"You lose your cool too quickly." Jayden stated as he walked over to Jenni, having already sheathed Bloom. "In a situation where you're in charge of lives and you have to give them orders in the moment, you'd break down, inevitably loosing more lives than saving."
Jenni only looked down in disappointment, knowing that Jayden was right. Both from how she acted during the initiation and during this fight
"Not only that," Jayden continued. "I've also had actual experience leading people." He finished as he held his right hand out to Jenni
Jenni stared at it for a few seconds, prompting Jayden to shrug his right shoulder. Jenni took his hand and let Jayden help her up. She glared at Jayden when she was fully stood up
"I'm sorry for breaking your weapon, by the way. I just wanted you to see the truth on why you weren't picked for leader of Team JAGW."
Jenni sighed at Jayden's apology. "It's fine. I can fix it."
"Well, I would hope so." Jayden remarked. "But not right now. You don't have access to any tools and that leaves you defenseless for the rest of this trip."
"Not exactly." Jenni stated as she picked up the two pieces of her blades
"Are you gonna use those as daggers?" Jayden asked sarcastically. "Because while it's innovative, I can't say it'd be..." Jayden trailed off
Jenni aligned the pieces with her arm blades. Jayden raised an eyebrow at Jenni's actions, wondering what she was doing. Suddenly, they merged together. It was almost as if magic was real and Jayden had just witnessed it
"Wait, what just-" Jayden tried to ask only to be cutoff
"Semblance. I can manipulate metal. It sure comes in handy when I'm tinkering around with things." Jenni explained
"Like, any metal or..?" Jayden let the question hang
"Not exactly. It depends on how much metal there is, how durable the metal is, and if it's being reinforced with Aura." Jenni answered
"Give me some examples."
"Well, your sword, which is a combination of Atlesian Ebony and Vacuo RedSteel, is durable enough to the point where it would take a lot for me to bend it. A sword like Iris's has enough mass that it's the same deal as your sword." Jenni stated
A look of confusion spread across Jayden's face as he realized something
"I never told you what my sword was made out of." Jayden said
"That's another aspect of my semblance. It allows me to recognize what metal, or metals, I'm touching." Jenni explained
Jayden nodded in understanding at Jenni's explanation, leaving the two in a comfortable silence for a few seconds. Jayden gave Jenni a nervous look
"Does that mean we're good?"
"Yes."
Really am sorry to leave this here, especially with what happened this chapter. Things might've moved to fast this time around, but that might be because I was using this chapter as an emotional outlet
Merendinoemiliano: Bit late for me to say happy Easter, but I do hope you had a nice birthday and thanks for the compliment. I am trying to put a lot more effort into fighting scenes
Anyway, hope y'all have a good day!
Love ya and see ya later!
