It was dangerous to ignore the details. He really should have known better by this point.

He had to ask her to repeat herself. Just to double check. Maybe triple check if he thought he could get away with it. And he could. He was in charge here.

"You want to…what?" He asked Ruby to repeat herself one more time, hoping that he had heard her wrong, although he knew that he didn't.

She repeated it back to him, verbatim, just as excited as the first time. "I want to start a volunteer force! One that goes around Vale and helps those that need it! Something by the people, for the people!"

"And it has to be us, because…?" Blake asked, curious to where Ruby was going with this.

Of course, Ruby had an answer for that. "Jaune told me the other day while we were training, that not everyone that we work with…or deal with will be trustworthy. And, I really don't like that. There's not a lot that I can do about that, but this is something that we can do to help! We can show everyone that although not everyone is good and helpful, WE are! That's what I want."

And, of course it was Jaune's fault. Typical.

How could any of them say no to that?

It was apparent that none of them could, not even Yang who had built up a small immunity to Ruby's…rubiness so they found themselves patrolling Vale, looking for something to do.

"What exactly are we looking for Rubes?" Yang asked, arms behind her head, clearly bored and pointedly, NOT looking for something to help with.

"Something! Anything! I don't know…Weiss?" Ruby finished, looking ahead.

Blake and Jaune groaned, sharing a look of misery at seeing the heiress. None of team Ruby, sans Ruby herself could stand the girl. Fortunately, it appeared that her team was with her, so that would make more tolerable.

Only slightly though.

"Vale's a small place, what brings your team out to the docks on the weekend like this?" Jaune asked. Even though Weiss got on his nerves, it couldn't hurt to be polite.

"None of your business you Boar!" Weiss shot back, giving him a suspicious, strange look.

Apparently, it could hurt to be polite. It caused damage to your teeth when you ground them into dust. Nora spoke up before Jaune could respond to that though.

"We're scouting the competition for the Vyltal Festival! Probing for weaknesses and hidden motives!" Nora said, getting way too close to Jaune for his comfort. Luckily Ren was there to pull her back.

"More of the first thing, and a very small amount of the second, Jaune. She's exaggerating." He said, using his arm to usher her backward. She went willingly, her information given, radiating smugness.

"Nora!" Weiss barked, aghast. "That was supposed to be a secret!"

"Now, now, it was a simple mistake," Pyrrha consoled, the girl. "It wasn't explicitly stated to be a secret, so how was she to know?"

Weiss conceded to that, merely pouting in reply. Well a quiet Weiss was more preferable to a speaking one.

"Hello again, Jaune was it?" Pyrrha said, waving at him cheerily.

Jaune looked at her, nodding in response as he studied her. Unlike practically everyone else that Jaune had seen at Beacon, Pyrrha wore armor. She wore a brown corset with an elastic, black mini skirt and long brown gloves on both arms. She wore a red ankle length sash that was wrapped around her skirt. She had elaborate bronze greaves that started below her mid thighs and continued all the way into her boots. She also had a cuisse on each thigh that ended slightly above the knee. And on her left arm she had bronze bracer that Jaune assumed her shield was usually held.

All in all she looked fairly dangerous and Jaune could respect. "Yes, it's Jaune, nice to see you again Pyrrha."

"Jaune Jaune!" And suddenly there was a turquoise eye peering into his own. "It was so incredible the way you creamed Cardin in combat practice! Weissy was impressed! She couldn't stop talking about it!"

Oh she was, was she?

"That was said in jest Nora! And in confidence." She said the last part weakly, a blush on her face.

"No worries, Weiss. Your secret is safe with us," Yang said, a mocking grin on her face. It's been clear since Weiss yelled at Ruby during Port's class that Yang was not her biggest fan. Anything that would embarrass her was a plus in her books.

Apparently Nora was of the same mind. Something that Jaune would consider if Nora was even slightly more predictable. But she wasn't so Jaune did his best to stay clear of her.

It was the unpredictable ones that you needed to watch the most. But that was Weiss's problem not his.

"It was flawless victory Jaune. You've obviously trained yourself hard." Pyrrha complemented.

Too little, too late. Where was all that strength when Jaune needed it?

"There's always room for improvement," Was what came out of his mouth instead, tasting like ash the moment he said it.

"Yeah! You should see one of our training sessions, it gets really intense." Ruby added, this time without any sound effects or overexplaining what they were doing.

That was good. That meant that his lessons were sinking in. Either that or she didn't want to do any more drills for oversharing.

Either way it was improvement.

"Training?" Weiss asked, hungry for more information. "You two have secret training?"

"Mm." Ruby confirmed, but said nothing more. Since Jaune had given her time to think about, her feelings and dealings with Weiss had cooled off, leaving everyone all the happier for them.

His team anyone. Jaune didn't particular care about anyone else's feelings. He decided that he had paid enough attention to the people at hand and decided to focus on the streets. Now that Weiss mentioned it, the streets were being decorated for the Upcoming Vytal Festival. Red, yellow and green streamers were displayed prominently through the streets.

Now all the awed noises that Ruby had been making were starting to make sense.

Jaune really needed to pay better attention. He KNEW not paying attention was dangerous and things would still slip by him.

He needed to be better. He would be better.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weissy" Nora said, then her grin widened. "I like it."

"I smile all the time!" Weiss defended, crossing her arms. "I'm a happy person."

"Are you though?" Jaune said, re-entering the conversation.

"Of course! I just think…it's best to be on your guard when you don't know the intentions of those around you…" Weiss trailed off, surprised at the approval that she could see in Jaune's eyes at that statement.

"Mm. Fair point." He conceded. That made far too much sense for his liking. Something like that coming from Weiss? That made no sense.

"How could you not smile?" Weiss said to Nora. "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breath-taking!" she continues walking and the others start to follow her.

Yang sighed, crossing her arms. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."

Jaune nudged Ruby, pointing at something down the street. She looked over to a dust store with a shattered window and a door full of yellow caution tape, courtesy of the police force.

"Hey, guys, we'll see you later," Ruby said, showing Yang and Blake what she was looking at. "Have fun spying on the competition Weiss!"

"It's not spying!" She yelled back before looking back at Jaune before he left. "Boar."

"Schnee."

"I-I" She tried, before taking a breath and trying again. Jaune raised a brow, wandering what she wanted despite herself. "I challenge you to a duel."

What. Wait, use your words Jaune.

"What." He said just as flatly. He waved Ruby and the others forward, and only Blake remained, distrustful of the Schnee heiress.

"Ruby said that you were training her, which implies that you are stronger than her. And as a team leader, one with Pyrrha Nikos at that, we have to be the strongest. I can't…we have to be the strongest. So I need to know how strong you are…hence the duel."

Jaune hummed as he turned that over in his head. He was pretty sure that he was stronger, due to Weiss's battle with the grimm in the class the other day, but he could be dealing with the exact opposite of Ruby; strong against people, weak against grimm.

"You saw me fight Cardin though. That wasn't enough?" He asked, curious to hear her response. This was a new side of Weiss that he hadn't seen before. One he was interested in getting to know. She could be useful.

A response that she waved away. "It's Cardin. Anyone of us could wipe the floor with him. It's a wander that Faunus riff raff he keeps picking on doesn't mop the floor with him. Maybe she can't."

Ah, there was the Weiss that Jaune was used to.

"What's your problem?!" Blake asked accusingly, anger in her voice. It was at this point that Jaune remembered that Blake was a faunus, and that he still needed to talk to her about that.

This wouldn't end well.

Weiss turned to Blake and responded arrogantly, mask back in place. "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"Faunus are hardly a bunch of psychopaths." Blake crossed her arms now, getting angrier by the second. "There just happens to be…a collection of misguided Faunus."

"Misguided?" Weiss questions sarcastically. "The White Fang want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

"They don't!" Blake says loudly. "They want to be treated fairly, but there willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve it. I don't like their methods, but don't make light of what their goal is."

"So then they're very misguided." Blake raises her voice. "Either way, that doesn't have anything to do with why Cardin is bullying a faunus! "

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Weiss continues her from where she left off, much to Blake's growing anger. "Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal. I bet she's a plant for the White Fang to get into Beacon."

"Wow." Jaune remarks. "That's a pretty far reach…"

He needed a distraction before this came to blows. Admittedly he should have stepped in earlier, but he had thought that Blake could handle herself. It looked like she felt her emotions rather strongly. He expected that more from Yang but it was good to know before he set her off. Accidentally of course.

The heated conversation was suddenly interrupted by someone in the background yelling, "Hey, stop that Faunus!"

Not the kind of distraction he wanted. Or needed.

Jaune, Blake and Weiss looked over to see a monkey Faunus running down the length of a boat and leaping on to the edge as the two sailors are about to apprehend him.

He looked back at his pursuers, cocky grin in place. "Thanks for the ride guys! Haha!" He said as he jumped off the dock and took off.

"You no-good stowaway!" One of the sailors yells.

Sun stops at a lamppost, using his tail to hang from it while he peels back a banana. "Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" Before can eat though, one of the detectives down below throws a stone at him to get his attention.

"Ruby!" Jaune barked, catching her attention. When she looked over at him across the distance, he pointed at Sun. "Stow-away that needs to be caught! Looks like a job for team JRBY!"

Jaune's plan was too fold. With how quickly he moved, Ruby would have no choice but to use her semblance. She currently struggled with endurance and using it in times of stress. This killed two birds with one stone. And it gave some experience with tracking, something that he wasn't sure she had.

And if the faunus somehow overpowered her…well Yang was there too.

At first she looked confused but then that shifted to glee and determination. She vanished in a swirl of rose petals, leaving Yang to visually chase after them. The faunus quickly noticed his pursuers and a chase began in earnest.

"No regard for law enforcement!" Weiss yelled, bringing the conversation back into focus.

Terrific.

"Well, you wanted to see the competition and there it goes…" Jaune said, waving at the direction the faunus and part of his team went to.

"Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss shouted, pointing in the same direction. Jaune watched as Weiss and her team got further and further away.

"I accept your challenge!" Jaune yelled at the retreating heiress. Mission accomplished. He turned to see Blake standing there pensively, hackles still raised.

Oh man, what to do about that?

"Blake? Don't let Schnee get to you. I know not every faunus is of the White Fang, I mean look at you."

Sharp golden eyes quickly darted to his own, then to something behind him.

"You know?!"

Jaune shrugged, readying himself to catch the girl because she looked like she was going to bolt. "I mean, yeah? Ghira BELLADONNA is the current chieftain of Menagerie and it's safe to say that you share some features with him, and his wife. Especially the wife. And…not a lot of adults wear ribbons like that." He finished, eyeing her bow.

Jaune's instincts were proven right when she bolted. Or rather, tried to. Jaune quickly grabbed her hand, only for it to vanish like an after image.

"Semblance…damn it Blake!"

He quickly chased her down the corner, only to run into someone and bounce up. He stood up as fast as he could and looked up only to see Blake disappear from her view.

He hissed in annoyance…he looked down to see the girl that he knocked over just laying there. He sighed.

"Sal-u-ta-tions!" The girl greeted, still laying on the ground, smiling at him widely.

This girl was weird.

"Uh…Hi? Are you…okay?" Jaune asked.

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking." She responded, laying on the floor.

He looked upwards wondering why he was dealing with this before asking. "Are you…going to get up?"

She seemed to be thinking about this fairly heavily before nodding. "Yes!" She said as she leapt back on her feet while Jaune took a step back. "My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"My name's Jaune. It's nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you friend Jaune!" She said.

Jaune stared, not sure what to do at this point. Penny stared back grin in place before she waved again. He took the opportunity to study her, for lack of anything else to do.

She had short, curly orange hair that ran down to her chin with a small point that stood up at the top, similar to Yang's, along with a pink bow in the back of her hair. Her eyes were a bright grin and she had light pale skin that was dotted with freckles. She wore a gray blouse that was covered with dress overalls with a black and green collar with stockings to match.

All in all, she would be pretty cute, if she wasn't so…strange.

"Sal-u-tat-tions!" She waved again.

"We've already done this." Jaune pointed out.

Penny paused for a second, before nodding. "Yes, yes I did." She responded.

"Well, sorry for running into you," Jaune said stepping around the girl, turning around to track down Blake. "Take care 'friend' Penny,"

He completed his turn only to find Penny standing in front of him now. He blinked.

"What did you call me?"

"Weird?"

"No. You called me 'friend!' Am I really your friend?" She said, sounding extremely excited about the idea.

Oh how Jaune wished Ruby or…anyone was here with him. What to do…

"Sure, why not?"

Penny looked overjoyed and laughed, taking Jaune's hands in her own. "Sen-sational! We can go hang out at the mall, go to the movies and partake in the diner experience!

What on earth had he just agreed to? But wait! Maybe he could use this?

"Hey, Penny…do you mind doing me a friendly favor?" He asked, gently removing his hand and again taking a step back to remove himself from her bubble.

"That would be sen-sational! What do you need?"

The faunus wasn't faster than her, but he could maneuver A LOT better than she could.

For now anyway. Even as she chased him down she learned a little bit more about her semblance. How to turn with the wind to cut down on resistance, how to make sharper and sharper turns. Before long, she would have him right where she wanted him!

The problem was, he was already where she wanted him. Jaune meant well, and he was doing wonders for her strength and agility, but there were some things you just couldn't learn in the training room. And Ruby didn't think that Jaune understood that.

Or maybe he did. He did after all send her after the faunus unaided in the first place.

"Hey Rubes! Wait up!"

Well, there was Yang, but she didn't count. Here on the mean streets of Vale it was merely Ruby and…

Wait a second.

"Hey Mister-Stowaway! What's your name?" She asked as she whirled around him, flower petals solidifying into the shape of Ruby as she locked eyes with the Faunus. He was a tan-skinned male with short spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore two red bracers over black gloves and open loose collared jacket with no undershirt! Bad Monkey Man! He wore blue cargo pants that were tied up with a white belt. And of course, there was the long yellow prehensile tail.

"The name's Sun! You got a name to go with those moves Red?" He asked nonchalantly, using his tail as an extra limb as he twirled around the hand that Ruby extended trying to grab him.

"My name's Ruby! I'd say it's nice to meet you, but it's my job to bring you in!" She responded, choosing to grab the same street lamp that Sun had just thrown himself off of and swung off of it as well. Before she let go of the post however, she broke into immeasurable amount of rose petals utilizing all the extra momentum she garnered from her swing as a boost.

If she timed it just right…

Sun wasn't expecting that and a mass of petals stormed into him, Ruby grabbing him and continuing on her way. She was pretty sure that she saw Yang further back in the streets and spun that way. She knew from traveling with Jaune that her travel was disorienting if one wasn't used to it, so she used that to her advantage.

If Sun puked on her, she would be very upset though.

Blake was…Blake wasn't sure what she was doing. She just knew that she needed to get away from Jaune as fast as she could. And from there she could…what?

What could she do? Jaune was simply observant. And clearly he knew of her family and simply chose not to share it, so maybe…he could be trusted.

But she had thought the same thing of the last man she trusted and that didn't exactly end well for her.

Her thoughts were driven right out of her as she ran into someone. Literally.

She let out an grunt of surprise as the person she ran into stood there, looking down at her.

With an eerie grin on her face actually.

"Sal-u-tations, Friend Blake! Per Friend Jaune's instructions, I have located you and have a message to pass on!"

Blake's eyes narrowed as she stared at the girl, who stared back at her humming to herself. After some time of this, she sighed, before Blake realized that the girl wasn't going to volunteer the information herself.

She was going to make Blake ask.

"Do you…want to give me the message?" She finally ground out when she felt that she wouldn't hurt this girl in front of her.

"Of course! Friend Jaune says to meet him at the Ice Flower over at Main Street to discuss things! He said that he will be by himself so you don't need to worry about that! I will stand guard for you!"

That was nice of him. And suspicious. Wait.

"You? Stand guard?"

"I am combat ready!" The girl said, placing her hands on her hips and grinning widely. Blake shook her head, deciding to ignore the strange girl and to head to the café that Jaune mentioned. Maine wasn't too far from here after all.

Jaune watched as Blake stood outside the café for a moment, debating whether to go in or not. He wouldn't stop her either way, but he hoped that she would enter. She closed her eyes and slowly lifted her hands up to her bow and pulled it out, revealing her faunus ears for the world to see.

Jaune had to admit, it really suited her.

She came in and spotted Jaune immediately. She headed over and sat down across from him, eyeing him warily.

"I knew you would look better without that thing." He said, nodding to the waitress as she brought over some tea. "I ordered for you, I hope you don't mind."

Blake gave him a look that he couldn't describe before taking a sip and eying him sadly. Or he assumed it was sadly due to the way her ears flicked downward. "Jaune…are you familiar with the White Fang?"

"Yes."

Blake waited to see if he would volunteer more information. And when he didn't, she continued.

"I…was once a member of the White Fang." At the reveal she took a sip from her tea cup and waited for a reaction. But Jaune had none. He just stared at her, waiting for more. No judgement. She relaxed and continued.

"You could almost say that I was born into it. Back then things were different. We were supposed to be a symbol of peace and unity. But of course, things didn't work out like that. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings, and so, the White Fang rose up. And I was there. But I wasn't a part of the violent missions and I didn't know about them! I promise!" It was crucial that Jaune believed her.

He had to.

"There were rumors of course, but I didn't believe them. Until I started to look into them. And once I confirmed my fears…I decided to leave."

"Good."

The simple reply left Blake reeling. "Come again?"

"I'm glad you left. And if you're looking for condemnation from me, you're going to be looking for quite some time. You were young Blake, and if what my research about the Belladonas imply, you didn't really have a choice but to be a White Fang member. And there's nothing wrong with that."

She stood up, emotions running across her face so fast that Jaune couldn't read them.

"How can you say that?! Of course it matters!"

"Does it? How so?"

"Because I need to fix it! I HAVE to fix it!"

Jaune nodded like he was following along with her logic. Then he asked that dreaded question.

"How?"

"I-I"

"Let me ask you something Blake. You said you left the White Fang right? Would it be more accurate to say that you ran?"

At her glowering look, he held up his hand. "Let me finish. You left because you weren't strong enough to change the White Fang, despite how much you wanted to. Has anything changed since you left in you, strength wise?"

At her head shake, Jaune shook his head. "Wrong."

"Of course nothing's changed! It's only been a few weeks!"

"You have a team now. That's changed. Your goals are our goals. You want an easy solution, something that you can do right now that will produce immediate noticeable results. I get what you're going for…but you're not strong enough for that. None of us are. Not yet anyway."

He didn't want to do this, but he knew that it was needed to get the point across. He reached across the table and grabbed her hands, holding them in his.

"Blake, I promise that I will help you change the White Fang. And make things better for the Faunus in general. We will make a difference I promise."

"How-how can you be so sure?" She asked, her voice small. He looked at her, debating at whether to share this with her or not. Out of everyone on his team, he was fairly certain that Blake would understand.

She was the most like him after all.

"I don't like Huntsmen."

At the abrupt subject change, Blake startled, but she could see that he was going somewhere with this so she let him continue.

"They can only feel good about themselves by thinking of others as less than them, and when you think people are less than you…you can do whatever you want to them," At this Jaune started to take off his gloves, catching Blake's attention.

Since they had started at Beacon, no one has seen Jaune's hands. They assumed that he had horrific burns that he hid or that he in fact had prosthetic ones.

None of those were true, for it was normal pale hands with wiggling fingers that met her eyes.

"The Arcs were a prominent family of Huntsman, did you know that? You named a skill we had it, all of them were gifted, except for me,"

Blake tried to say something, anything really, but Jaune spoke over her. Maybe this was more for him than for her. He was no longer sure.

"Did you hear about the tragedy of Ansel?"

Once again, startled at the seemingly random subject change, she recited what she knew. "That was where the latest grimm incursion occurred right? The one five years ago? No one survived. The town, the city, everyone was torn to shreds by the grim that ran rampant. Only the huntsmen sent in from Vale managed to stave them off, saving the rest of the country from falling to the incursion." She recited from memory.

"It wasn't an incursion."

"What?" Blake asked, and made the mistake of looking at Jaune. His eyes were dark, but she could see the fury and rage in them.

"It was a huntsman. Just one huntsman. He killed every single person in the village and there wasn't a thing anyone could do to stop him. Not my mom. Not my dad. Not my sisters. Me."

He looked down at this, but never stopped talking. "We all tried everything but he was a monster. It was like he couldn't feel pain. I'm fairly certain that he couldn't as he had dust crystals jammed into each of his arms like it was acupuncture."

Jaune paused to take a breath. He looked back up at Blake and Blake wasn't sure that she liked what she saw in them.

"And Blake. He. Wouldn't. Stop. Before long only I was left. And you know what that...that monster did?"

Blake shook her head, almost too afraid to say anything.

Of course Jaune would never hurt her.

But she had no idea who this was in front of her.

"He activated my aura. Him!" Jaune hissed, mouthing the words to her. "For it is in failure that we achieve immortality. Through this, we are bound to our task, an endless quest without pause or rest. Cursed by duty and unbound by time. I release your soul, and by my hand...condemn thee."

Jaune said nothing after that, eyeing the tea cup in front of him like it held all the answers.

Blake swallowed. This what not what she expected when she came to the cafe. Judging from how silent Jaune was currently, he didn't expect it either.

How to handle this?

"Why did you tell me this?" She found herself asking. Darn mouth, working faster than her mind.

Jaune looked back up at her, and she was relieved to see the madness she saw earlier gone. But she wouldn't forget it was there.

Never.

He took a breath. "I know all of the White Fang is important to you, but I also know that that isn't why you left. There's something else. Someone that you're running from. I can tell. Maybe their was a change in leadership and all they need is the right person to fix it…"

"But I need to be stronger first". Blake finished for him. And it made a shocking amount of sense.

Why didn't she think of that? If might made right for the others...then couldn't it do the same for her?

"I plan to get strong enough to kill the man with the dust arms." Jaune stated, looking directly at her. "And then I'm going to kill whoever is in charge of that man, and THEN I'm going to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again."

"That's a pretty tall order,". Blake said, drawn in despite herself. "And how are you going to accomplish all of that?"

"With your help of course."

Ruby miscalculated. So very badly. She was right to tackle Sun out of the air but her aim needed a little work.

Objective; Capture Sun. Check

Bonus objective; run into Torchwick with an army of faunus with him? Clearly planning something suspicious Also check.

Ruby was two for two today. Jaune would be proud.

Don't say it Ruby. Don't say it Ruby. Don't say it Ruby.

And then suddenly Yang was there and she felt much better.

"Hey guys, sorry to DROP in you like this!" She said upon her entrance, grinning all the while at the pub she made.

And suddenly Ruby didn't feel so glad to see her big sister.

Imagine that.

Credit to Coeur Al' Aran for the aura awakening phrase. If you haven't read his stuff, you should check it out. They're all super good.