Cover art - Mike (He also thinks I'm being overly protective. He doesn't know what he's talking about. You guys have turned him against me.)

Chapter 7 - Beastly Communion

Jaune knocked on Team RWBY's door. He was feeling more agitated than usual. He had spent the entire day looking up medical web pages about his current problem. None of them could describe what was wrong with him. They all had useless advice like eating more healthy or going to bed earlier.

It was so patronizing. He had squeezed his new stress ball so tightly, the string nearly unravelled itself. He wanted answers- real answers that he wouldn't get from clueless doctors. But he had a feeling he was about to get them now.

The door opened. It was Yang.

"Oh, Jaune," she said. "Ruby and Weiss aren't here right now. Weiss is calling her sister at the CCT Tower, and Ruby's off shopping for dust magazines."

Jaune was stunned. "That's… not why I'm here."

Yang cocked her head. "Oh? Then what brings you to this neck of the woods?"

"I was wondering if- no, hold on a sec, is that how you always greet people? You didn't even ask why I'm here. You just assumed it the moment you saw me. What made you think I only wanted to see either of those two?"

Yang shrugged innocently. "It's just an observation. You hang out with Ruby cause she's your bud, and you'd swim through a sewer if you knew Weiss was there to clean you off."

"I'm not that desperate for her."

"Pyrrha hangs out with Weiss- or rather, Weiss hangs out with Pyrrha," Yang continued. "Ren and Nora are pretty much glued to the hip, and Blake hangs out with Sun when she's not busy reading. You guys have an easy to follow routine."

"Huh… I've never thought about it that way before," he admitted. "But if that's true, then who do you pal around with?"

Yang hesitated. "Uh, me?" she laughed nervously. "Oh you know, everyone and anyone. I've got friends all over campus."

"Really?"

"You know it. I'm a real social butterfly."

"Strange. I've never seen you with anyone outside of your team and mine."

"Well, duh! That's because I try to make time for you guys. I've got so many friends, I gotta balance a schedule. A friendship schedule… for all my friends… that I have…"

The desperation in Yang's tone confused him, but he didn't have time to question it. He had his own problems to deal with.

"Well, looks like I'm about to break the routine," Jaune said. "I need to see Blake. Is she in?"

Yang shook her head. "You just missed her actually. One of her favourite authors is signing books, so she grabbed everything she owned written by him so he can scribble all over them. It's just me in here today."

Jaune sighed. "I see." He couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice.

Yang noted his downtrodden expression. "Sorry that my presence upsets you," she snarked, sticking out her tongue.

"Sorry, that's not what I meant," he insisted. "It's just that I've got a problem and it's really stressing me out. I was hoping to speak to Blake because I think she might be able to help." Then an idea popped into his head. "Or maybe I don't have to. Do you think I might be able to borrow some of her books?"

Yang laughed. "You want to borrow what? Oh, trust me, Jaune, you don't want anything to do with those things. If you're expecting a wholesome read, look elsewhere. Those things are vile!"

"Are they all horror books?"

"Worse- they're romances."

"What's wrong with romances?"

"Nothing's wrong with romances. At least, not traditionally ones. But Blake has very… special tastes in what she deems as romantic. There's more sexual activity on a single page in one of those books than there is online. Whoever wrote these things need to either seriously get laid, or stop getting laid. I tried reading one once, and now I can't look at tables and soup the same way again."

Jaune was a little surprised from learning this. It was enough to make his cheeks feel warm. "I… didn't realise she was into that kind of thing," he said.

"So, why do you wanna borrow some? You said you were stressed, but how would they help-"

Yang paused. Her whole body went stiff. Jaune didn't like the eyes she was giving him. They were wide and horrified, like she had stumbled upon a terrifying revelation

"Uh, Yang? What's wrong?" he asked.

Yang smiled sadly at him. She pulled him into a hug. Jaune, not really understanding what was going on, didn't return it.

"No, Jaune, no," she said softly. Her hand stroked the back of his head. "I know you must be frustrated that Weiss won't go out with you, but this isn't the way to deal with it. If you wanna relieve some stress, go to the gym or take a walk. Don't start jerking it to badly-written porn of all things-"

Jaune ripped himself free from Yang's grip. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he yelled. "Time out, that's not what this is about at all!"

"It's not?"

"No, goddammit, no! What do you take me for?"

Yang let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank God," she breathed. "You had me worried there, Vomit Boy. The last thing this friendship group needs is two perverts. Blake can get away with it, but you're a team leader. There'd be a scandal."

Jaune was shaking. "Look, I'll cut to the chase so I can get outta here; I don't want any of her romance books. Do you know if she owns any horrors?"

"Horrors?"

"Yeah, horrors. Or, to be more specific, does she own any books regarding… werewolves?"

"Er, I think so. Why?"

Jaune hesitated. There was no way he was gonna tell her the real reason why he wanted some werewolf books. She would think he was crazy. Hell, he thought he was crazy.

"Because I'm interested in them and since I'm not allowed in Beacon's library for a month, I thought she might have some I could borrow," he explained.

It wasn't a total lie. Hopefully, Yang wouldn't ask too many questions.

Yang chuckled. "Oh yeah, you and she really did a number on the place. Nice work, by the way."

"Thank you?"

She held the door open for him. "Come on in. I'll show you her stash."

Jaune entered the room, following Yang to Blake's bed. He still wondered how Blake was able to sleep under a bed that was only being held afloat by a few books. She'd be sleeping in that bed forever if it ever came crashing down.

Yang pulled out a huge wooden trunk that looked like a pirate's treasure chest from underneath Blake's bed. It was heavy enough to make someone as strong as her grunt as she pulled it. Blake's emblem was engraved into the wood.

"Behold Blake's treasure trove of debauchery," Yang said. The lid let out a low creak when she opened it. "Go in and have a gander."

Jaune peered inside. If he were as much of a reader as Blake was, this would've been a goldmine for him. There were enough books inside the crate to keep him busy for two lifetimes.

"Do you think she'll mind me borrowing one?" Jaune said. "I know how much she loves her books. You sure she won't skewer me if I touch one without her say-so?"

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," Yang reasoned. "Besides, I'm sure she won't mind if it's you. You two have gotten close lately. Just try not to damage them and you'll be fine."

That was gonna have to be good enough for him. Jaune started rummaging through the books like he was digging for candy on Halloween.

There wasn't much of what he was looking for. Blake clearly had a favourite genre. Romance made up ninety-nine percent of her collection. Yang wasn't kidding about Blake's… expectations when it came to romance stories. He was hardly a prude, but even he had to question titles such as 'Paid and Laid: Mr Silver's Secret Saucy Business'. Some of these books had to be outlawed somewhere in Remnant.

Eventually, he did find a few books that looked to be of use to him. They were still romances, but they featured werewolves. Surely there had to be some truth to his condition written in the pages of these tomes. He would just have to hide them from his team when reading them.

He scooped up a handful of them. "These should do," he said to Yang. "And before you say anything: no, I don't have some weird werewolf kink or whatever. I need these for research purposes. That is all."

Yang smirked. "Well, do yourself a favour and try not to read your 'research' out in public. I think owning one of those books is worth at least twenty detentions."

"I'm telling you, it's not what it looks like."

"Hey, no judgment here, dude. It's our little secret."

Jaune groaned. She was never gonna let him live this down. "Alright, thanks for your help. I gotta go now. Tell Blake I'll bring these back soon."

Jaune turned around to leave but was stopped when he felt Yang's arms wrap around his chest.

He craned his head back. "Yang? I can't move if you're holding on to me like this."

Yang mumbled something too quietly for him to hear.

"What was that?"

"Watch a film with me," she said louder.

"Why?"

"I'm bored." Her voice was on the verge of sounding like a whimper.

"Yang, I really don't have time for that," he said. "I've got some serious reading to do here. Now let go."

He tried moving but her arms tightened their grip. She flung herself onto his back.

"Y-Yang!" he cried, wobbling from the sudden weight. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm so booooooored!" she wailed. "Everyone's off doing their own thing, while I'm stuck in here left to collect dust! I'm wasting away!"

"What are you talking about? Just go hang out with some of your other friends! I thought you said had lots of them!"

"I lied! I haven't got anyone to chill with outside of our teams, and they've all got lives of their own! Even Ruby's made friends with that weird Penny girl! How is this possible? I'm fun, hot, and funny! How am I somehow the least sociable one here? It doesn't make sense!"

Jaune dropped the books and tried prying her arms off his shoulders. "How is that my problem?" he grunted. "If you want more friends, join a social group or something! Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet! So go bother some strangers and leave me alone!"

"Be my friend, Jaune!"

"I am your friend!"

"Friends watch movies together!"

"I'm busy!"

Jaune stumbled around the room trying to shake Yang off. This was ridiculous. Yang was one of the most confident people he knew. How could she be acting so pathetic?

"Pleeeeeaaaase?" she whined painfully close to his ear.

Jaune's face scrunched up. "Oh for God's- what film did you wanna watch?"

"Musical Girls 4: The Final Verse."

"Oh hell no, I am not being forced to watch another one of those films again! I'm not living with my sisters anymore!"

"But if you don't watch it with me, I'll have to start singing the songs myself to fill the void!"

Yang took a deep breath.

"Don't you dare!" he warned. "Don't you dare start singing!"

But it was too late. Yang burst into song in all her tone-deaf horror. Jaune had to protect his eardrums with aura. Her voice was like piano wire wrapping around his brain, squeezing his sanity out of him. Weiss desperately needed to give her some vocal lessons, or at least some duct tape to shut her trap.

Five seconds was all Jaune could last. "Alright, alright, I'll watch your stupid movie!" he yelled. "Then I'm out of here and you will never speak of this again!"

That did the trick. Yang happily hopped off his back, grinning like an idiot. "Yay!" she cheered. "I'll go set it up. Make yourself at home, freindo."

To think Ruby called herself socially awkward…

[/]

Four zeros ran across the alarm clock. It was officially midnight. Jaune's teammates were all asleep, except for him. It was impossible for him to sleep when he was on the verge of discovering the truth. He didn't turn on a lamp- the moonlight shining in through window gave him all the light he needed.

His heart filled with dread with each passing page. There was a pattern in these books. People afflicted with the werewolf curse didn't just transform immediately. There were symptoms beforehand. They'd start acting unusual, doing things that they wouldn't normally do. A sign that the curse was already infecting their systems and altering their mind.

And the curse was always passed down through biting someone…

Jaune looked down at the hand Blake had chomped on. He squeezed his stress ball for comfort.

He couldn't deny the evidence before him. Blake wasn't a werewolf, but she had a different genetic makeup compared to him. Faunus and humans were not the same species. Was it possible that he was acting weird because his body was rejecting her DNA? If so, what did that mean for him?

He continued reading: "My life is over!" Blaine wept sexily. His tears trickled down his chiselled form. "I'm a stupid werewolf! Darcy will never go to the prom with me now! I need to go and sit on a rooftop to brood, or maybe write poetry! God, I'm so deep! Why can't my shirt hold all my feelings?" To ease his troubles, he took his shirt off.

Jaune's heart went out to the main character Blaine. He too wanted a date to the Beacon dance. But who would ever go out with someone with his infected genes? Was this how the myth of werewolves was birthed? Could humans, being unable to handle faunus DNA, eventually transform into something neither human nor faunus? Something monstrous?

Jaune wondered how much time he had left. It had been almost a week since Blake had bitten him. How long would it be until he shed his human skin and turned all hairy and stuff?

He felt his eyelids droop. He had been reading for hours. His mind and body were exhausted despite the fear. His body moved on its own, slowly moving down until his head rested on the pillow. The opened book covered his face.

Sleep quickly followed.

[/]

Jaune did not wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Because he woke up in a cage. He was still in his room, but he was most definitely in a cage.

"What the hell?" he whispered, blinking back sleep.

"Awww, looks like Faunus-Jaune is finally awake," Pyrrha cooed. "Good morning, Faunus-Jaune."

Faunus-Jaune? What?

Jaune didn't have time to question strange nicknames. He scrambled over to her. "Pyrrha!" he cried. "What's going on? How did I get in this cage?"

Pyrrha giggled, oblivious to his horror. "Wow, you're very loud today, aren't you, Faunus-Jaune? Who's a big chatty kitty today? You are! Yes you are!"

"What? Pyrrha, stop screwing around! Let me outta here!"

"Jeepers, looks like Faunus-Jaune's full of energy today," Nora yawned as she made her way over to the cage.

Ren followed behind her. "He must have slept well last night," he smiled. "We'll take him for a walk- have him work off some of that energy."

"That's a great idea, Renny!" Nora beamed. "I wanna take Faunus-Jaune to the arcade!"

"Now, now, Nora. Faunus-Jaune isn't allowed in the arcade," Ren said. "The bright lights might scare Faunus-Jaune."

"Awwww," Nora sulked.

"Stop talking to me like I'm an animal!" Jaune barked. "And I'm not scared of bright lights! What I don't like is being stuck in a cage while my teammates make fun of me!"

Pyrrha reached through the bars and pinched his cheeks. "He's so cute when he meows like that," she squeed.

Jaune pulled his head away. "Get off me!" he growled. "This is mutiny! You've trapped your beloved leader in a cage! I'll have you punished for this! If you don't let me out, I will forbid pancakes, dancing and Mistralian chocolate in this room for a month!"

None of them looked concerned by the threat. In fact, they looked like they had no idea what he was saying. What was the matter with the three of them? He could see Nora doing this as a prank, but why would Pyrrha and Ren go along with it?

And for that matter, why did his skin feel really itchy and fuzzy for some reason?

"Sounds like someone's a grumpy-wumpy Faunus-Jaune," Pyrrha said. "Maybe he's hungry? Ren, why don't you feed him some breakfast?"

"Sure thing." Ren went over to the cabinets and pulled out a tin. He popped it open then held it through the bars. "Eat up, Faunus-Jaune. A fed faunus is a happy faunus."

Jaune stared at the contents in disgust. He didn't need to read the label to see what it was. Ren was trying to feed him cat food!

"You're out of your mind if you think I'm eating that crap!" he snarled, slapping the can out of Ren's hand. "For the last time, get me out of this-"

Jaune paused. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Bright orange hair covered his entire hand. He was so hairy, he couldn't even see the skin of his palms. He checked his other hand and saw that it was incredibly hairy too. But puberty was years ago! What was going on?

He ran his fingers across his hand. The hair didn't feel like normal hair. It was too soft and wavy, almost as if it were… fur…

"Uh oh," Nora said. "Looks like Faunus-Jaune's been naughty. Attacking humans is a big no-no. I think someone needs to be punished."

Jaune whipped out his scroll from his onesie pocket. He looked at his reflection in the screen. He shrieked.

His entire face was covered in the same fur as his hands. His blue eyes had turned yellow with black slits for pupils. Long whiskers grew from his cheeks, and his nose shrunk into a tiny pinkish thing. Atop his hair were two large cat ears that twitched slightly. Even his Pumpkin Pete onesie had changed- the bunny on his chest had been replaced with a smiling cat.

"How did this happen to me?" he screamed. "Look at me! I'm a freaky cat-person! How is this possible?"

"Stop being so loud, Faunus-Jaune," Pyrrha scolded, wagging her finger at him. "You were very bad attacking poor Ren like that. You need to be taught a lesson."

"Stop calling me Faunus-Jaune! I'm not even a faunus! I'm… I don't know what I am now! I look like someone's fetish!"

Ren put his hands on his hips and sighed. "I guess there's nothing to be done. We did our best, but he needs some real discipline. Looks like it's off to the dust mines with you, Faunus-Jaune."

"The dust- what? What are you talking about?"

The door burst open and Jaune saw Weiss walk into the room followed by loads of copies of herself. This would've been like one of his fantasies, except they were all wearing SDC business suits and had white moustaches. Several of them came by the cage and lifted it up in the air.

One of the Weiss' approached his team. "We understand you have a faunus here in need of some punishment?" The Weiss clone said in the deepest, most pompous voice it could do.

Nora nodded. "That's right. Faunus-Jaune's been a naughty kitty. Throw him in the dust mine for a few years. That oughta make him good again."

"You want to do what?" Jaune exclaimed.

The Weiss twirled its moustache enthusiastically. "With pleasure," she chortled. "No faunus survives our mines unscathed. Mark our words, we shall whittle away this creature's wickedness even if it takes forever."

"Sounds good to us," his team said in unison.

The Weiss addressed the other Weiss' holding him up. "Take this lowlife away, girls!" she commanded.

The Weiss' began to march out of the room with him. This couldn't be happening!

"No, wait, you got it all wrong!" he shouted, bashing against the bars in an attempt to free himself. "You can't do this to me! I'm not a faunus! I'm not saying faunus deserve to be thrown in the dust mines, but even if they were you can't do this to me because I'm not one of them! I need a human jail with all my fellow humans!"

"Don't worry, we'll miss you too, Faunus-Jaune," Nora said with a wave. "We'll send you your favourite collar so you can remember us."

"Come on, guys, don't leave me like this!" he pleaded. "I'll do whatever you want. You can scratch my ears and rub my belly as much as you want. I'll eat whatever mice we have. Faunus-Jaune is a good kitty!"

"This is for the best, Faunus-Jaune," Ren promised. "By the time you see the sunlight again, you'll be a well-trained faunus capable of not hurting your human masters. Until then, enjoy years of mining away for little crystals with nothing but your bare paws."

"Goddammit, Ren, now's not the time to sound enthusiastic about something for once in your life! Get me outta here!"

Pointless. It was obvious his team weren't listening to his pleas. There was nothing he could do to prevent his impending doom.

How could fate be so cruel? Sure, he deserved some punishment for forging his transcripts, but this was too much. It wasn't his fault he woke up as some six-foot anthropomorphic feline abomination. He had been human a few minutes ago, for God's sake!

As the Weiss' carried him through the hallway, he saw Pyrrha standing outside their door. She cupped her hands around her mouth. "I'm not sorry!" she called out to him.

[/]

Jaune awoke with a scream. Sweat poured down his body like raindrops.

Wasting no time, he inspected his hands. No fur. Good start. He pulled out his scroll and looked at his reflection. A nice normal human face stared back at him. He breathed a sigh of relief.

It was just a dream. That was good.

Then he looked down. He was in a tree again. That was bad.

Crap.