Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its franchise.
A helpful guide incase you get confused:
"Dialogue."
'Thoughts. ;)'
[Semblances]
-x-
Chapter 14 - Who Do You Bare Your Fangs At
My heart pounded against my chest as blood rushed to my ears with a constant beat. There was a gunshot below me followed by a scream, and I quickly looked down from the Dust container I stood on. Gone was my illusion and gone was our silent infiltration. With the appearance of the White Fang, we were running damage control.
Below me, I spotted a White Fang member gunning down one of the unsuspecting gang members in cold blood. A pit of dread and sour bile filled the back of my throat as I watched the man fall with a scream and a splash of blood.
It took me a moment to act. I couldn't spare a moment to worry about the regular members of the gang, but this was right in front of me. I jumped down even when I knew there were more pressing matters at hand.
The White Fang member had sensed my approach through his superior senses, but by the time he turned to look up, my knee had already collided with his face. I felt something give as he dropped to the floor, sending me rolling on the ground. There was no time to check on him as I hurried to the shot gang member.
He was fine, if constantly yelling in pain was fine. Still, he was alive, and I considered that a plus when concerning the sudden violent actions of the White Fang.
"Hey, hey, can you move?" I confiscated the man's weapons, patching up his bleeding shoulder the best I could. My first aid wasn't that good, but it certainly was better than leaving a bleeding hole in his body.
The man's eyes lolled a bit, finally looking at me with an unfocused gaze. "W- who are you?"
"Don't worry about it." I said quickly, finding that he was a bit conscious. "I need you to get out of here. Could you get anyone you see ou-" we both flinched as more gunshot rang out through the night. There were distant pops that covered up screams of pain. "Can you get people out of here?"
"I- I can try." The man seemed more scared than anything, so I was hoping he would continue to stay out of this trouble. I had hoped to get everyone here, but it was looking like I could only beat the leaders.
With that out of the way, I spared one glance at the downed and groaning White Fang member before pushing the twin's Aura through me once more. I jumped as the energy filtered through me, and I pushed off of the nearby walls of the Dust container to gain a bit more height to ascend to the top of the stack. Picking up speed, I ran along the tops of the container to the last place I saw the boss and the lieutenant.
I had no idea what the White Fang were doing here. They had basically been sticking to more public protests, and would fight back against those who actively tried to stop them, but this escalation to trying to murder gang members was pushing their own altruistic origins into something more of a armed force for Faunus. If this sudden aggression began to carry over to just plain old racists, then they'd begin to look like a terrorist group.
In any case, I had wanted to get this job done without unnecessary deaths and collateral, but the White Fang were the bigger threat to everyone's lives at the moment. It wouldn't sit well with me to just let them murder everyone here no matter how many horrible things they did.
A leap carried me over to the next stack of Dust containers, and I rolled to bleed off the impact before I popped back up into a run. The whole action had been done with the ease of Aura, so even if I messed up, I had some leeway in my motions. Not that multitasking would let me make many mistakes if I could help it.
"Jaune, I've regrouped with Melanie." Miltia's voice rang into her own ears, and since she had connected our senses suddenly, I was hearing her like a radio. "I can see you on top of the Dust containers. Do you need our help?"
I frowned, running and concentrating on locking onto our target's Auras in my perception. They had been one of the first to react to the White Fang when I checked, but they had been stuck in the little clearing they had gathered in originally. It would have been odd if I didn't find another large warmth near them.
"They're still at the same spot," I finally answered, jumping over another gap between the containers. Miltia shifted on the other end no doubt having heard me still moving. "They're engaged with another White Fang member."
"Do… we still need to intervene?"
I nearly tripped at her words. Miltia had been the more reasonable, and perhaps more empathetic of the twins, so hearing her want to abandon people to their deaths was something I hadn't expected. "We'd be leaving them to die."
"Yes," her reply was quiet, but it rang loud in the back of my mind.
"Jaune, look, I get that you're all gung-ho about this 'saving people' business, but you gotta understand that these guys don't deserve your mercy." Melanie's voice echoed in Miltia's ears, and I could understand that the girl had at least figured out what we were talking about. "No one will blame you if you just let them get their just desserts. The White Fang were always kinda crazy, so we were expecting them to snap one day. It just fits that the first people they'd go after are unsavory criminals."
"I-" My voice was stuck in my throat as I went over their reasons. Would it really be that bad to just walk away? I was clearly in over my head again, and getting involved would mean I was going against the largest Faunus-rights group in Remnant. Should I really risk the lives of myself and my friends just to save known criminals?
Someone landed on the container I had stopped on, and I flinched before recognizing a head of pink and brown hair. Her eyes were blinking at me, wondering what I would do. Some part of me knew that Neo wouldn't hesitate to follow me in, and I didn't know whether to appreciate that or be terrified of it.
"What do you think I should do?" I asked her. Miltia had obviously been keeping track through my senses, so she was waiting for Neo to respond as well.
Neo frowned before walking over to me and pulling me down with a yank of my shirt. My eyes locked with her own, and my teenage mind went through all the fantasies on its own until a sharp pain blossomed on my cheek.
I reached up to the spot where Neo had slapped me, and smiled a bit to myself. Right, I was being an idiot. However, being an idiot didn't mean I needed to risk my life.
"We're helping the White Fang." I said suddenly, feeling a jerk on Miltia's side. Melanie cursed after hearing Miltia reiterate what I said.
"Are you insane?!" Melanie screamed. "I thought you were too good for murder?"
Neo looked excited, vibrating in place.
I felt a smile on my face as I read their reactions. "We're not killing anybody. We're going to help the White Fang, but we're going to do so on our own terms."
"They're going to shoot us, you idiot." Melanie countered on Miltia's side.
"Yeah, they probably will."
"Um, what are we doing exactly, Jaune?" Miltia asked.
At that moment, there was an explosion on one side of the docks. A great plume of fire and smoke rose into the sky across from where I stood. The force reached Neo and I a second later, causing me to fumble to find purchase against the container in order to not fall off. Neo easily weathered through the blast, jumping backwards onto the container behind her to bleed off most of the initial hit.
My gaze landed on the rising plume of smoke in the distance, and I felt a bit of disbelief begin to color my thoughts. They had just detonated a whole stack of Dust containers, and despite that, I could still hear the consistent pops of gunfire throughout the area.
Panic was beginning to settle in the air. I could feel it just edging against my thoughts as the screams of gangers and White Fang members rang throughout the night, and I realized that the explosion just cemented the idea of how willing the White Fang were wanting to go tonight. It was as sobering as it was maddening.
"I can't leave this alone." I whispered through the connection, hoping Miltia would pass on what I said. "We need to stop everyone here or else they'll just continue to escalate, and then this entire area will go up in flames. That's several millions in Dust that's not being used to help Vale. Several millions that could have helped fend off the Grimm that are at our walls."
Melanie sighed on the other side as Miltia spoke my words to her. "I feel like that's just another excuse you're telling yourself. You do that so much that you convince yourself of the stupidest things…"
I winced, feeling her words sting more than they should have. "Fine, maybe that's true. But, I told you that if I had a chance to save someone in front of me, I'd save them. This is that moment."
"What if they deserve this, Jaune." Miltia whispered back.
"Just because they were or are criminals doesn't mean I should just ignore them. There's a chance that my help could be worth it." I said, beginning to feel my two target's Auras as well as their assailant's. Whoever was attacking them was doing a good job, keeping them tied down while their warmths were getting progressively weaker. "Besides, I never told you, but I considered you guys criminals when I decided to help you. And, to me, you both were worth it."
"Jaune…" Miltia whispered through our link again, and I felt something warm trail down her cheeks.
"Mil? Hey Mil, what's wrong?!" Melanie was yelling on the other side. "You bastard, I told you I'd try to kill you if you hurt he-"
"I'll help you." Miltia interrupted. "No matter what, Jaune, I'll help you."
"Huh? Mil, what the hell are you talking about?"
I paused, unsure about where this was coming from. There was no time to figure out everything, and while a portion split off in my multitasking, I still couldn't decipher what changed Miltia's mind. However, I wasn't going to ignore this occasion.
"Can you go around disarming everyone?" I asked. "I'll try to make the White Fang more amiable to us in the meantime."
"If we're trying to help the White Fang, why are we attacking their men?" Miltia asked while Melanie seemed to still be wondering about what was going on.
I smiled. "Then hopefully, they won't know what's happening till everyone's safe."
"Got it, I'll contact you again once the grunts are cleaned up." Miltia answered.
"H- hey, wait! Mil, what's going on? You were crying all of a sudden, and now we're going against the White Fang? Was it something he sa… " Melanie was speaking, but Miltia cut our connection and I couldn't hear them anymore.
Neo looked at me, vibrating in place. I smiled at her. It was like looking at an overexcited puppy -granted, she still was an assassin. "You're with me, Neo. There should be some gang members still at the clearing getting attacked by White Fang grunts, so I want you to get them all out of there."
Neo deflated at my order. "But, you can break as many bones as you want. Just don't get caught."
The multicolored girl jumped as a smile spread across her face. Neo raced to our destination faster than my eyes could follow, and I found that she had disappeared to my sight, but I could still sense her through my Aura senses. Shaking my head with an amused smile, I chased after her.
The force of another explosion hit me mid leap, and I felt a wave of cold air press against my skin. My jump had been disrupted enough that I slammed chest-first into the edge of one of the Dust container stacks, nearly falling as I scrambled to gain a grip on the top of the container. I slipped faster than I expected as most of my body fell off the ledge before I had the chance to catch the ledge with one hand.
My body bounced off the side of the stacked containers while I hung there for a second. Taking a moment to catch my breath, I pulled myself back up. I knew I wouldn't have been hurt too bad even if I hit the ground, but my instincts weren't trained with the inclusion of Aura.
I looked up to find another product of Dust explosions before me. This one had, instead of causing a giant flaming conflagration, created a pillar of ice that rose high above the stacks of Dust. Parts of it branched out, creating frozen tendrils that began cracking and falling off the main pillar of ice due to their weight.
'That's a lot of ice Dust.' I thought to myself, staring as another large piece of ice broke off and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Then, I broke myself out of my stupor as I realized that that explosion had occurred at the last place the gang leader and his lieutenant were at. Whoever that White Fang member was, he had certainly been pushing those two into a desperate state.
Quickly, I get to running again. Neo had reached the place before me, and I was monitoring her through my Aura senses, finding that she was constantly casting illusions to send people everywhere. I reached the area soon enough, finding that there were plenty of White Fang members and gangsters chasing after random illusions made of Neo's Semblance. Neo herself was having a blast as I found her disguised as a White Fang member, shooting some of the real White Fang in their legs before dragging them away.
The area itself was a mess. White Fang members ran around the area without a chain of command, and the gang members had fashioned some crude barricades from broken metal containers or wooden crates. Their main problem was that the White Fang had chosen to hide behind Dust containers as they ran around, leading the gang members to hesitate in the chances that they might ignite their product. Obviously, the White Fang weren't that kind, and they had taken to fire on everything that moved in their senses. While they had the gang members locked down for the most part, their strategy had the added effect of letting Neo lure them away with fake runners from the gang for her to take out.
I put her out of my mind as I knew she'd follow my orders for the most part. There were more pressing matters as my gaze landed on the three Aura users in the entire clearing. They had moved over to the falling ice tree, and were fighting beside more containers of Dust while the massive, chainsaw-wielding White Fang member tried to keep them from using more of their stockpiles of Dust.
The lieutenant of the gang had surrounded himself in a sphere of swirling debris and smoke, preventing the White Fang member from getting too close or else he risked the chance of getting pelted by the large chunks of ice that I could see swirling around the man. I knew he had some type of field that surrounded the user in a mass of debris, but my multitasking was more useful as I didn't need to spend the time to regulate my inner and outer Aura protections while I moved. Still, I noted that the White Fang member was getting increasingly aggravated by his inability to use the large chainsaw in his hands as the two had turtled themselves inside the debris field.
There was some hope that they could hold off until the police got here due to the explosions and gunfire, but based on the Aura drain the debris-field guy was experiencing, I knew they barely had minutes before getting hacked to pieces. Plenty of time, in my head.
Melanie's Semblance was still at the back of my mind as I hurriedly ran at their carnage. The two criminals were constantly moving through the field, mirroring the White Fang guy's moves in an effort to stay as far away from any attack he sent their way. Which included quite a bit of gunfire from nearby White Fang grunts that offered their rifles to help.
"Let me borrow this," I said, yanking a rifle out of the hands from one of the White Fang members that were focused on shooting the cloud of moving debris. "Thanks! I'll get it back to you!"
The grunt didn't know what happened for a second, and those around him were equally confused as I ran past them. There were only five of them that had come to help their supposed commander, so I easily slipped past their fan-shaped formation to slide under the legs of the large White Fang member with a chainsaw. He saw me for a second as I saluted him before I disappeared into the cloud of debris.
I knew my appearance was definitely felt in the gang lieutenant's Semblance as he could tell where debris was and wasn't in his field. The air split behind me, and I rolled out of the way as a chainsaw landed near my last position.
'That was close…' I frowned before charging further into the field of debris. The White Fang member wouldn't chase me in, so I was completely focused on the current fight in front of me.
I ducked and rolled under a large shard of ice that flew straight at me. All my Aura switched to inner protection as I trusted giving multitasking to my senses to both pinpoint the two and dodge any large pieces of debris. The whole area around me was filled with swirling smoke, preventing anyone from finding their way through. However, I had already studied his Semblance before the fight, knowing that he couldn't make small changes to the field. The only thing the lieutenant could do was set a direction that all the debris moved in while inside his field.
To my left, I found the smoke swirling more fiercely than normal in several sections of it. My body was currently only offering inner protection, so any attack I received would be life threatening in my current circumstance. Yet, there was no fear as I charged forwards, stepping over a large piece of concrete that would have taken out my legs. A whistle to my upper left notified me of another piece of ice brushed past my chest as I stopped my charge suddenly.
Then, I jumped. All my strength propelled me forward, and I flipped over a piece of gnarled steel that came screaming at me from behind its veil of smoke, rolling over it as I felt it catch some of my cloak. It ripped a bit, but nothing that I could fix easily. There was more ice as I landed, but I knew that the lieutenant had set up his field to have large debris closer to him and his boss so I dropped next to the swirling shield they had set up to protect themselves.
I could feel their panic and fear as I neared. The boss had been using his Semblance in tandem with his subordinate to coordinate their defenses, but my approach had been too sudden and too unexpected with how easily I evaded the unseen projectiles.
Suddenly, I felt the sensation of pebbles against my skin shift to the right, and I reflexively swung Vengeance at whatever was coming at me. My whole body jolted as I shattered the piece of ice coming at me, sending a spray of crystals to collide against my body with little damage. Another whistle and I ducked again, popping up immediately after as I found the lieutenant's Aura pulsing.
My eyes widened with realization of their plan. They had gathered a large amount of debris into the lieutenant's field, and were going to launch everything out like an omnidirectional buckshot by changing the direction of his field to directly outward. Apparently, my approach had startled them enough to pull out their last attack in the hopes to escape.
I felt the pebbles shift first, and I was already running forwards.
There was a scream as everything around me looked like it was shot out by a bomb. Smoke rushed past my vision, and I was finally able to see the large pieces of ice coming at me at dangerous velocities. I slid under the first one, pushing off the ground with the rifle still in my hands.
I swung Vengeance at the next three, shattering them with my fully augmented strength, and winced as a smaller piece of ice slammed into my shoulder. It stopped me from breaking the rest of the larger shards, and I was greeted by the sight of a piece of ice at least twice the size of me that was barreling straight at me.
I forced my other arm to snap up and fire several shots into the thinnest section of it. Multitasking was already switching all my Aura into outer defense, and I stabbed Vengeance into the ground as the massive chunk of ice slammed into me. Pain hit me as I hung onto my weapon and curled around it to reduce my surface area.
My previous shots weakened the piece of ice enough that it cracked and broke apart around me. Large pieces of it slammed around me, crashing into the ground with sprays of translucent crystals.
I felt a twinge of pain in my right shoulder that I used to take the brunt of the impact, but I pushed forwards standing up and rushing at the two gang leaders. The lieutenant was breathing heavily from using most of his Aura while the boss was looking at me with wide eyes.
I yanked on his Aura with Melanie's Semblance, covering myself with a light blue sheen. The man's eyes bulged at the color, and I felt his multitasking was probably helping him take apart what I was doing. His lieutenant took one look at me charging at them before he turned and ran, leaving his boss to dumbly look at his retreating form.
His mind finally caught up with the situation, and he tried to run, but I threw my pilfered rifle at his legs before he could make it far. He tripped and fell, slamming into the ground as his Aura blunted a bit of the blow.
"Wait, wait, you're obviously not with those animals! I can help you! Money, I can give you lots. Or women, if you help me, I can get you plent-" I cut him off as I buried my fist in his face. His nose snapped on contact, and his body bounced off the ground as I followed through.
He was still not knocked out due to Aura, so I grabbed his hair and slammed a knee into his face for good measure. I had been paying attention to my surroundings, watching as the White Fang members who were recovering from the debris buckshot were looking between me and their supposed commander. He had been the least hurt from the attack, so he had certainly seen me brutalize the guy who they'd been trying to kill in the first place.
No one had moved other than the moaning wreck that was the gang's boss.
"Thanks for your help, brother." The large White Fang member said. His voice was harsh and coarse, like listening to gravel rubbing against a wall. "It is a little unconventional, but your assistance is helpful. I can see you don't use our masks, though. We might have mistaken you for others."
I looked at him, carefully looking over the entire clearing. The fighting had died after the last-ditch escape plan, and I found that there were several divots cut out from the concrete while bullet holes and shells littered the floor here and there. Those that were still here and in the gang were looking lost as if they were consigned to execution. The White Fang grunts were silently moving their dead and injured while growling at the surviving gang members.
Slowly, I put away Vengeance, disarming the last bits of caution I could see on the large White Fang guy. The gang's boss shifted in my hands and I threw him to the floor and pressed a foot against his back. He instantly froze as he realized that his Aura wasn't protecting him from the pressure I was putting on him.
My senses picked up Neo near the surviving gang grunts, and I could barely tell she was signaling me to stall longer. Melanie and Miltia were making their way here while the gang's lieutenant was, funnily enough, running right at them.
"Jaune, we're on our way to back you up." Miltia said through our connected senses.
I smiled under my mask. "There's the gang's lieutenant running at you. Bag him up and get the car. Neo will help me get out of here."
"... be safe, Jaune." She whispered back before our connection cut off.
As such, I needed to put on an act here and now so that Neo and the twins had time to spirit the rest away. "I'm sorry to tell you all, but I'm a human."
The reaction to my words was instantaneous. White Fang grunts twitched and some even pointed their guns in my direction, but none of them moved. I had ran straight into their fight, disabled the two guys who were giving their leader some trouble and I hadn't even flinched at the sight of their aggression. The whole image I gave off was intimidating enough after their experiences in combat to dissuade them from acting impulsively.
The large White Fang with a chainsaw narrowed his eyes through his mask. His originally genial attitude turned into something ready for a fight. Obviously, I had intimidated him enough with my feats, too. "What do you want here, human?"
"I think I've already made it apparent with my actions." I gestured at the bloodied man beneath my boot. "I've already gotten the dogs directly under the Union, so I think we can all be satisfied with this. You can even take some Dust to go."
"As if I would need your permission, human." The chainsaw guy growled.
Cursing under my breath, I raised my hands and spread my palms. "Don't take too much offense. I'm not trying to start something with you guys. In fact, I'm totally on board with Faunus-rights!"
"Are you trying to be funny? Is this a game to you?" The guy continued to be unreasonable. Honestly, I was rather fed up with his dismissal of my words after I had started with my race. Truly he was a paragon against racism…
"Wait," he growled a bit more, tightening his grip on the chainsaw in his grip. "I've seen you on the news…" slowly, he backed up, causing the White Fang grunts nearby to snap to their leader as if wondering what he was reacting to. "You're the crazy bastard who is fighting the Reds... Are- are those guys here?"
I could practically feel the fear and apprehension beginning to build up in the air as the name of the 'Reds' was suddenly thrown into the conversation. They were beginning to realize that I was some 'crazy Huntsman,' and while it was useful deterrence, I didn't really need them to be that terrified of me. There was no telling what they would do if they felt there was only death awaiting their encounter with the Reds.
"They're not here, if that's what you're wanting to know." I quickly said. "I just wanted to preemptively get rid of their targets before the Reds could get here."
This seemed to cool the heads of most of the people around. "I see… then, if your goal was similar to ours, why didn't you just let us finish these trash. You haven't been overtly against Faunus, so I'll give you a pass for now if you hand him over. Your actions already caused us to miss one."
There was a scream in the distance, and everyone but me tensed. I had felt Melanie and Miltia reach the lieutenant, letting me know just who that scream came from.
My ease must have shown through as the chainsaw-wielding man looked at me warily. "You're not working alone."
It wasn't a question. The man wasn't dumb enough to believe my intervention and calm were all acts, so there had to be a backup of some kind that he had missed. I just tilted my head without giving an answer. He wouldn't act rashly out of fear for some unknown support, so I had a bit of leeway to bluff him away.
"I think you're mistaken somewhere." I started again, finding his eyes on me. Neo was going through the last of the grunts, and I could feel her Semblance masking the missing grunts. "Our goals were similar, yes, but our methods were wholly opposite."
"You're not killing them?" I tilted my head again, gesturing to the breathing body under my foot. "Why?!" He was yelling now, a bit of color spreading on his face with his fervor. "These guys are the worst of the worst! They kill, steal and rape without problem, so what's wrong with them getting the same treatment?"
"Now, I won't shed any tears over their passing. However, I will never be the executioner. I have enough evidence to put away this entire gang for life, so they'll be tried with the laws of Vale."
"You're pathetic." The White Fang member spat. "Just another dog under a different leash."
I felt a bit of heat build up in my gut, but I buried it in logic. Of course, to most I knew I was a bit of an arrogant idiot. I won't kill when I could save, I won't run when there were people needing help and other altruistic ideals that bounced around my head. This was all because I was arrogant enough to think I could be a hero; to prove that I was better than the weak, useless Jaune Arc I had been told I was growing up.
Even now, I was arrogant enough to continue to refuse Aura, offering excuse after excuse that sounded pleasing to myself. Just because I could see reason didn't automatically mean I needed to follow it. However, I was entitled to my own choices, so hearing that those were being called 'pathetic' was something that irked me.
"If I am a dog under a leash of my own making," I asked, peering at the man who flinched at my sudden gaze. Nearby, the massive column of ice finally gave way to gravity, falling to the ground behind with a final thud that shook the area. Dust and ice obscured everyone's vision, and I felt Neo's hand pull against my sleeve.
Hurriedly, I followed her as I shouldered the groaning gang boss. I turned back to find the chainsaw-wielder running at my spot to find that I was suddenly missing.
I offered him the rest of my sentence as I fled under Neo's illusion.
"Doesn't that make you dogs barking at whatever soothes your conscience?"
There was a scream of rage behind me as Neo gave a silent giggle beside me. Silently, as we gained more distance from the nearing police sirens, I felt that my first interaction with the White fang could have been better.
-x-
Hmmmm... I'm not sure how I feel about this. Originally, I had Adam and Blake here, but I felt this whole scene was getting bloated when it really should be a minor segway to the main bits, so now settled for Jaune cementing his image to the White Fang. Adam and Blake have their own things to do, and I doubt Blake will be the first to slit throats for the White Fang cause now matter how dreamy Adam seems at first. It doesn't mean I don't have a plot ready; in fact, I felt this gives me more motive for the next scenes.
With that said, I want to address the whole Aura issue. I get that Jaune's reasons seem stupid and he had literally no reason to follow through with them. His vigilante friends have no reason to let Jaune also be an idiot, so them simply letting him do so is something I like to call 'respecting other's decisions.' Jaune technically is trying to help them, so Miltia and Melanie will give him the final say. Neo doesn't really care despite how she's presented; Jaune getting Aura is merely a blip on her radar as far as her enjoyment is a concern. Roman and everyone else have no idea. Melanie was the first one to find out, and only Miltia and Neo know. Neo probably won't tell Roman... probably. The reasons Jaune doesn't want to get Aura have been slapped in his face enough that he realizes that he needs it, but his pride stops him from taking that last step. I've been trying to introduce the idea that Jaune wants to prove himself ever since he first learned of Aura (hell, ever since his first night out), and even if it endangers more people (yes, he's being hypocritical), he feels that Aura will cheapen that goal.
Jaune should look stupid for not getting Aura; I'm not saying he's making a smart decision, but when do teenagers make correct, logical decisions regularly. If you feel that I could have presented this a bit better, I'm willing to listen. Should you see a better way to tackle this issue, I'm also willing to hear your advice. Keep in mind, that, while I do try to keep things as logical as possible, I still am not exempt from the Rule of Cool. Meaning, if a scene looks or feels cooler if I do something a certain way, I'll do it that way.
Bleh, that was a lot.
Tl; dr: Jaune is an idiot and should get Aura, but he has issues and makes questionable decisions like normal teenagers.
As always, Enjoy!