"So, Jaune," Pyrrha starts as they're walking through the forest, "what's your Semblance?"

Hhhhh, he really doesn't like answering this question. Maybe if he plays dumb-

"Gesundheit?"

Pyrrha chuckles. "I didn't sneeze, but thank you. Do you really not know your Semblance? Is your Aura even unlocked?"

"It is! I promise!" Jaune waved his hands around. "I just- I don't like talking about it."

"Oh. I see. Does it hurt you?"

Jaune rubs the back of his neck. Man, for the best student here in the forest, she's really naive. "No, it doesn't," he admits. "If you're in danger, call for me."

Pyrrha gives him a small smile, one that's trusting, and it puts a small stone in Jaune's stomach. "Of course!" The two of them continue walking, and as they go under a branch, Pyrrha glances back at him. "My Semblance is Polarity. Just so you know."

"Oh." Jaune blinks. "Nice to know. It's nice to meet you."

"Excuse me?"

"I said it really quietly," Jaune says, not really sure why he's so hung up on that. "I was busy thinking about the Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box while pinned to the wall."

There's a long silence as Pyrrha takes that in. Ah great Jaune, you've blown it- "That's fine," Pyrrha says, the smile still there. "It's nice to you, too. Again. Now"-she looked out towards the rest of the forest-"which way do you think we should go?"

Pyrrha notices Ren run past her towards the Deathstalker, and for a brief moment, she's concerned about the apparent foolhardiness of a fellow student at Beacon. But then she spots the smaller details: Ren appears fully desaturated, a mix of greys that cause him to almost blend in with the bridge they're on. The Deathstalker doesn't even seem to notice him, still attacking a maniacally laughing Nora as she continues to launch grenades at it. The girl in pink only stops when Ren leaps onto the monster, climbing up it's tail with surprising speed.

Pryyha quickly pulls her shield up and tanks a blow from one of the claws, sliding backwards. When she looks back up, she quickly aims and throws Miló, hitting one of the eyes as Ren unloads a clip at the base of the stinger from where he's positioned himself.

With a screech of pain, the Grimm throws Ren away, and he lands somewhere behind it, with probably enough Aura to take the hit. Jaune yells, "Pyrrha! Shield!", and she spots what he's pointing out to her: the now weak connection between the tail and the stinger.

"Done!" It's not a difficult throw, and she only really has to use her Semblance to have the shield return to her, but when it's safely in her grasp, the Deathstalker has its own stinger embedded in its head.

"Nora! Nail it!"

Nora nods at Pyrrha, already running back to meet her. Pyrrha barely hears her call out, "Heads up!" before she has her shield up in time, launching Nora up into the air.

Honestly? Pyrrha is glad that she's not the team leader of JNPR. Jaune seems rather trustworthy, especially with how quickly he was able to capitalize on the situation with the Deathstalker, and Nora and Ren seemed like skilled and trustworthy teammates in their own right.

It feels nice, not being put on another pedestal. She can't wait to get to know her teammates better.

Oof. Nora may not have the… best sense of judgement, as Ren would say it, but maybe Jaune should work more on not rushing into fights if he's just gonna get beat? Maybe they should work on that. It would help her out, and that would probably stop scaring Ren-

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

Ren sighs and rolls his eyes. "It was day-"

"We were surrounded by Ursae-"

"They were Beowolves-"

"Dozens of them!" Nora thunders.

"Two of them." Nora glances at him and the smile on her face nearly forces one from him. Nearly.

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

Ren sighs again, looking down at the table to hide his smile. "She's been having this recurring dream for a month now," he explains, hiding the fact that it's only been this specific version of the dream for a month. And that he doesn't mind being involved in it. When he looks up, he sees Jaune giving everyone at the table a noticeably fake smile, and the obviousness of it is almost jarringly similar to-

"Jaune"-Pyrrha's voice interrupts his thoughts-"Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school."

"Who? Cardin Winchester?" Jaune asks, as if no one at the table has eyes. "Nah, he just likes to mess around, y'know. Practical jokes."

Ruby leans forward. "He's a bully."

"Oh please," Jaune says as he shrugs his shoulders, "Name one time he's 'bullied' me."

"He knocked your books out your hands in an empty hallway."

"He activated your shield to stop you from entering a classroom."

"He literally got in trouble with Goodwitch for throwing you into a locker and sending you away from the school!"

Jaune's quiet after the last example, and Ren is torn between actively studying the blind to make sure he's alright, or turning away and allowing him to grieve in relative privacy.

Pyrrha doesn't give him an option. "Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask."

"Ooh!" Nora jumps up from her seat. "We can break his legs!"

Ren simply leans over, makes eye contact with his team leader, and nods.

"Uh-" Come on Jaune, you know this. You've read so many books and historical documents, and a lot of them were about wars. The Battle at Fort Castle was a decisive victory because- "The advantage the Faunus had over the opposition was"-he spots Pyrrha pointing at her eyes- Oh! -"night vision!"

Cardin's abrasive laugh rang out through the classroom. "Figures the nerd gets it."

"Mr. Winchester," Professor Oobleck sighs, "do you have anything suitable to add to this intellectual discussion?"

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

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you Cardin?" Pyrrha asks in a voice that's honestly terrifying to Jaune. She's furious, like she was at lunch when she went over to chew him out for messing with Velvet .

"What? You got a problem with that?"

"No, I have something useful to add to the class. " Ouch, she knows exactly where to target him. "Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark, around 96% of the general population."

"General Legume was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep," Blake says, giving him and Pyrrha a small nod. "His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured."

Professor Oobleck looked pleased as he sipped on his coffee.

Blake turns to face Cardin. "Perhaps if he paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

Cardin growls, nearly falling as he tries to stand up to defend himself.

"Mr. Winchester, please stay in your seat."

Jaune giggles at the fact that for once, Cardin is in a worse position than he is before Oobleck is suddenly standing in front of him, looking somewhat disappointed. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for further remarks."

Great. Way to blow it, Arc.

Pyrrha runs over to help Jaune up off the ground after Cardin pushed him. "You know, I really will break his legs."

Jaune sighs, a sad noise as he visibly deflates, and the memory of Nora's mumbling sparks an idea in Pyrrha's brain. She grabs Jaune's arm with one hand and her scroll with the other, already messaging the other two members of JNPR to meet them on the roof. "I have an idea! Come with me!"

If she ended up accidentally dragging him, she'll feel guilty about it later.

"It doesn't make you any different than the rest of us!" Pyrrha says, and Jaune just feels so horribly guilty looking at his teammates' faces.

"Yeah!" Nora chimes in, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "You made it into Beacon! That's pretty cool!"

Jaune gingerly removes her arm, stepping away from her. "That's not- I don't belong here."

Ren and Pyrrha both have the same angry expressions on their face, as if Jaune is repeating words that someone else has told him. "That's a terrible thing to say," Pyrrha starts, and oh Grimm, the guilt is getting worse and worse and worse and-"of course you do-"

"No, I don't!" Jaune says, and the rooftop is silent after he speaks. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon." And there's the truth. Might as well pack my bags.

For better or for worse, Ren's face is blank. "What do you mean?"

"I mean: I didn't go to some combat school, I didn't pass any tests, I didn't earn my spot at this academy!" Jaune clocks when the three finally get what he's been trying to hide for so long. "I lied. I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied."

Pyrrha looks confused. Why is she confused? "But why?"

"Because this is what I always wanted to be!" Jaune says, tired of hearing himself speak. "My father, his father, and his grandfather, they were all heroes, warriors! I studied every book in my house for this, and I was just never good enough-"

"We can help you-"

Jaune pushes away Nora's arm again. "I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel-in-distress, I want to be the hero!" Grimm, you sound like you're 7 again- "I am tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives, only useful when-" he cut himself off. Still want to keep that close to my chest. "Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own"-his voice breaks-"then what good am I?"

He looks down at the roof. He doesn't want to see the hurt and betrayal in his teammates- Are they even my teammates - eyes. "Just- just leave me alone."

"If that's what you think is best," Pyrrha says, her voice lower than he's ever heard it. There are a few quiet protests from Nora, and Ren's silence seems sadder, but all three of them leave the rooftop.

At least nothing else can go wrong-

"Oh, Jaune…"

"Cardin!?"

Jaune and Ruby's voice ring through the door. Pyrrha makes eye contact with Nora and Ren as they talk, and for a brief moment, she feels guilty enough to open the door before there's the sound of a scroll beeping, and Cardin's voice can be heard.

She sees pink again as she sits back down on her bed.

No. It's Pyrrha. You can't do this to her. She doesn't deserve any of this-

The sound of the glass smashing against Cardin's armor is very satisfying for the five seconds he has until he's pulled up into the air.

No.

The flash of light and hollow ringing in the air disagree with him. There's no way I would've- Cardin just punched me!

When Jaune regains his sense of stability, he spots Crocea Mors on the ground and quickly picks it up, opening the shield and running to where Cardin's laid out next to a tree. Please get there in time, please-

As the Ursa's claws bang against his shield, Jaune lets out a grunt and a sigh, shoving back against the Grimm. After a brief standoff, he hears the familiar sound of StormFlower's rapid fire, and the Ursa backs off as the rest of team JNPR show up.

"You good, Jaune?" Nora asks as she circles in front of him, wielding her hammer. "Your Aura's pretty low."

"I'm fine," Jaune says, panting as he fully stands up. "Someone needs to get Cardin-"

"Ren's already got it," Pyrrha tells him, appearing next to his side, Miló and Akoúo fully brandished. "His Semblance can hide him and Cardin from the Grimm."

Jaune nods, focusing back on the Ursa. Weak flanks. "Nora, hit it in the back of it's knees!"

"Got it!" Nora cheers, launching herself past the monster before swiftly reversing herself, Magnhild delivering a blow marked with a strong crunch.

Soft belly. "Pyrrha, can you pierce the stomach?"

By the time the question is out of his mouth, the spear is already lodged there, and the Ursa is crippled, on the ground, and looking straight up at the sky.

Needs to be decisively killed. If possible, decapitation is the quickest -and therefore the safest- way. With a battle cry, Jaune runs forward, swinging at the part of the neck that didn't have the white, boney armor. As his sword makes contact, he feels his shield get lifted up, and with a grunt, he and Pyrrha block a heavy blow together, right as his sword goes through the Ursa's neck.

There's a grunt behind him, and Jaune turns around to see Cardin just getting up. With a sigh, he walks over to the taller student.

"Holy crap, Jaune-"

"Don't"-Jaune cuts him off, shaking his head-"mess with my team- my friends- ever again. Got it?"

There's a long silence. Cardin barely nods. Jaune walks away, suddenly feeling very beat up and tired.

Nora follows Ren and Pyrrha up to the roof, where Jaune's probably moping again- Bingo, there he is!

"No Cardin tonight?" Pyrrha asks, taking the lead and standing next to Jaune. "I thought you two were best buds?"

Nora gags and Ren sighs and shakes his head. As if he doesn't feel the same about Cardin.

Jaune gives them all a small smile. "You guys, I'm sorry. I was a jerk. You were only trying to be nice and-" he stutters for a bit, and it's kind of adorable-"I- I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head-"

"Jaune!" Nora rushes in for a hug. His body heat is somewhat comforting. "You big softie, it's okay!"

"We really missed our leader," Ren says, and Nora can tell he's smiling.

There's a long silence before Pyrrha clears her throat, and Nora begrudgingly lets go of Jaune before the redhead pushes him. "Hey!"

"Your stance is all wrong," Pyrrha says, kindly yet firmly. "You need to be wider and lower to the ground."

She helps him back up, and Nora feels like she's about to explode into happiness as all four of them look at each other. "Let's try that again"- Pyrrha falls back into her own stance-"shall we?"