A/N: I'm not sure how bad this chapter turned out given that I finished it while sleep deprived after having my flight home from Florida delayed for four hours and then having to sleep in an airport in Georgia after landing and finding all the local hotels are full. Just bear with it I guess.
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"Come meet me in the library."
~V
That's what the note had said. Blake looked over it again as she entered the room. Her teammate definitely wasn't the person to pass notes to people instead of talking face to face, so he clearly wanted a private conversation.
But why?
"Glad to see you've arrived," the boy in question was off to the right. He closed a copy of 'Famous Works of William Blake' and set it back onto the shelf he was standing by.
"So what did you want to bring me here for?" she asked.
"Straight to the point. Alright then, I wanted to know why your bow twitches so much," V responded.
Blake blanched a little at his reply. She had expected something...other than that given the circumstances of a note asking to meet alone.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she denied.
V sighed, "I think we both know you're lying. How about I cut you a deal?"
"What deal would that be?" Blake crossed her arms.
"You tell me what you're hiding under your bow and I'll answer three questions you ask me," he stated, "I'm aware that you and likely everyone at school know absolutely nothing about me, so if you tell me what's under your bow, I'll answer any four questions you ask about me. Deal?"
Blake thought for a moment. It was impossible to avoid V forever, as he'd likely find out her secret on his own regardless. Perhaps it would be best to get it over with now and get some information about this mysterious teen.
Rather than answer his question in words, Blake looked around.
"If you're wondering, I have Griffon and Shadow patrolling around to make sure we're not interrupted. I also requested to have the cameras shut off and for the librarian to vacate the area."
"How did you get that to happen?"
"My father is a good friend of Ozpin and ha shine on many trips here. He often brought me as a child, and I used their friendship to have the request fulfilled. You now have three more questions and you still haven't held up your end of the bargain."
Why do you have to take these questions as not being rhetorical? Blake inwardly groaned.
"What is your semblance?" she pressed on with her questions, hoping to delay the inevitable.
"I suppose you understand the Schnee family's glyphs? I've been told that it works similar to them with the summoning and such. Of course, I'm not certain it's true myself."
Blake thought for a moment before deciding on her next question, "What is your real name?"
V pursed his lips before responding, "Victor Blake, but never call me that."
"If that's your name, then why do you call yourself V?" Blake asked her last question.
V was once again on the spot, drumming his fingers on his cane, finally replying, "Because I want to be my own person."
"What's that supposed to—"
"I answered your four questions," V cut her off.
"How do I know you're telling the truth?"
"You technically don't, but now you're just stalling. I do expect you to hold up your end of our little deal now."
Blake looked a little downcast, but she reluctantly reaches up and untied her bow, letting it fall away.
V didn't notice anything at first, but then he saw two small cat ears sitting on her head.
"So you're a Faunus," he simply stated.
Blake nodded, rubbing her left arm with her right hand while looking to the ground.
"Okay."
"What?" Blake asked, surprised at V's casual response.
"I said o—"
"I know what you said, but...you're okay with this?"
"Well, that's basically what I just said," V smirked, quoting, "'A fool sees not the same tree a wise man sees.' I don't see you being a Faunus as meaning your somehow less than me; only someone like Cardin or his ilk would say the opposite."
Blake smiled at his acceptance.
V's face darkened a little, "However, I must warn you that secrets have a way of getting out..."
"Shouldn't you take some of your own advice?" Blake asked with a smirk despite her mildly soured mood at the comment.
"I suppose I should, but I think secrets are harder to uncover when the person their about isn't necessarily aware of their existence," V mused to Blake's confusion, "Anyway, I believe this meeting was productive for both of us. Good day."
V promptly walked past Blake, cane taping on the ground as he hummed a tune. All of a sudden, he stopped and looked back at her.
"By the way, I think you look better without the bow," he grinned before continuing to walk off.
Blake turned to watch his retreating figure, still a little put off by the ordeal but with a slight blush tinging her cheeks at the last comment. She looked at the fabric in her hands and pondered for a moment, but she ultimately tied up her bow again before turning to exit too.
I think I need to relax for a bit...
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(The next day)
Unlike most days, today did not feature the usual sparing combat class with Goodwitch. Instead, Team RWBY and V as well as teams JNPR and CRDL were brought on a trip to a beautiful forest named Forever Fall. It truly earned its name, as its grey trees with their orange leaves gave the impression that it was indeed always autumn there.
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sight-see," Professor Goodwitch explained, "Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."
While V was taking in the scenery, he did notice that Cardin had Jaune on bit of a tight leash, having him carry his team's jars for them. He knew Jaune was a bit of an idiot and likely found some way to sneak into Beacon given his aptitude, so it was no surprise that he was in such a situation.
I'm not sure what Ozpin thought letting him in, V wondered.
Goodwitch stopped the group and turned to face them, "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!"
"Come on, buddy," Cardin and his goons dragged off Jaune while RWBY and JNPR went off in another direction with V in tow.
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Jaune returned to Team CRDL with their jars filled with red sap, bringing the large amount of glassware before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
First, he'd lied his way into Beacon, then he got constantly bullied by Cardin as soon as the semester started. And now, Cardin was aware of his secret and was always using it against him.
Why does this always happen to me? Jaune groaned as he continued to lay on the ground with CRDL lounging around and making him do all the work.
"Hey, great work there Jaune-y boy. Now that wasn't too hard, was it?" Cardin asked mockingly.
"I think I'm allergic to this stuff," Jaune slurred, lifting his head to find his vision was blurry before he realized his eyes were only crossed.
"Great, great. So Jaune, I bet you're wondering, 'Why did my buddy Cardin have me get six jars of sap when there's only five of us?'"
"That is one of the many questions I've asked myself today, yes," the blonde-haired Knight said as he lifted himself from the ground.
"Well, come with me and you'll find out," Cardin sneered, earning a groan and a gulp from the smaller boy.
Jaune finally got up and began to follow the four team members.
As he was walking, Jaune thought about his conversation with Pyrrha when they were on the rooftop. He felt stupid for refusing help from the strongest member of his team. Jaune felt that he always made mistakes like this.
And all he got for trying to refuse her help by shouting about his forged entrance to Beacon was having Cardin constantly having his foot on his throat, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Unless... no, I can't. Could I? But I'm outmatched four-to-one...
No...I can't
Jaune finally reached the hill, sitting between Cardin and Russel. What he was seeing was the rest of the group getting their own respective shares of the sap into their jars before taking their time to take a break.
Ruby was having trouble trying to close the lid on the jar, pouting in irritation as she tried her best to position the lid just right on top of the jar and having to use all her strength just to open the jar again and repeat the process in futility. Yang was standing beside a tree, observing the jar she had filled before tossing it up a few inches into the air before catching it and sitting beside her younger sister. Blake was reclining against a tree, reading a novel; she seemed to be shooting a few glances over at V for some reason. Weiss, strangely enough, seemed to be trying to converse with V, though the boy was more focused on trying to get sap out of the tree. His face raised as he had an idea before Shadow appeared next to him. V pointed to a part of the tree, and Shadow sent a small spike to stab the tree, causing the sap to flow out into his jar.
Ren was filling up another jar for Nora, as she had already eaten her way through another helping of the sap; at this point, Ren was doing everything in his willpower not to give up with the assignment entirely at the girl's shenanigans. Finally, there was Pyrrha holding a jar of sap with a small, victorious grin on her face.
"Cardin, what's going on?" Jaune asked suspiciously.
"Payback," Cardin answered, Jaune finally understood what Cardin was doing.
Or at least he thought he did.
"Pyrrha?"
"No, him," Cardin growled, pointing to the black haired boy, who was now talking with Weiss.
"V?" Jaune asked incredulously, but it did make sense. V had humiliated Cardin the day before by soundly defeating him without even using a weapon while playing the violin; it certainly showed V thought Cardin wasn't worth putting in effort to defeat.
"That's him. That poetry reading, violin playing idiot thinks he's all high and mighty. Well, I say we take him down a few pegs," Cardin confirmed before pulling out a small box.
"All right, boys. Last night, ol' Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put 'em to work," Cardin explained. Jaune laughed nervously at both the sound of angry insects that were emanating from within the cardboard box, and that fact that Russel was roughly shaking his shoulder.
"Now, based on the essays our good friend wrote for me last week, these nasty things absolutely love sweets. I'm thinking we teach him a thing or two," Cardin grabbed Jaune and shoved a jar of sap into his hands, "And you're gonna do it."
"Do what?" asked Jaune, though he was fairly certain he knew what the answer was.
"Hit him with the sap!" Cardin ordered, "Or I'll have a little chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first ship out of Beacon!"
Jaune looked at the jar in his hands, then to the four smiling bullies, and finally to V, who was oblivious to the occurrences atop the hill.
He thought for a moment, holding the jar in his shaking hand, trying to steel his nerves and throw it. However, his instincts told him to do something else, and for once he listened to them.
"No," the boy said to Cardin.
"What did you just say?"
"I said NO!" Jaune shouted, throwing the jar. To Jaune, things seemed to move in slow motion as the glass shattered against Cardin's chestplate and coated it in sap.
"Oh-ho-ho, you've done it now," Cardin laughed darkly as two of his team members grabbed Jaune, dragging him further into the forest.
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V suddenly turned from his conversation with Weiss to look to the top of the nearby hill.
"Is something wrong?" Weiss asked.
"I thought I heard something...but then again," V thought aloud.
"Anyway, where did you learn to play violin?"
"Well, my father wanted me to be a well-rounded individual," V returned to the conversation at hand, "He taught me a lot of things, from—"
Suddenly, a loud roar tore through the forest, interrupting him and making the other teens glance around in concern.
Well that's not foreboding at all.
"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby stood up as she set her jar of sap down. The teams turned toward the sound to find Cardin's friends running towards them.
"Ursa! Ursa!" the one with the green mohawk shouted. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going and suddenly collided with Yang.
"What? Where?" the blonde brawler interrogated the teen, picking him up by the front of his shirt.
"Back there!" Russel panted, "It's got Cardin!"
"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed in concern for her leader as V took off in a sprint towards the direction the member of CRDL indicated.
"Yang! Blake! Go and get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby instructed her teammates. Yang dropped Russel as she followed her sister's command with Blake.
Pyrrha pointed to Nora and Ren, "Go with them! There could be more!"
The remaining teens followed V as he weaved between trees before they came to a stop at a clearing. An Ursa Major was prowling toward a fallen Cardin who was crawling away in fear.
As the Ursa swung its claws in a downward strike, Jaune leapt in its path and blocked it with his shield. The Ursa continued to push down, causing Jaune to buckle a little under the force. Weiss raised her rapier in response as she prepared to help.
"Wait," V lowered her weapon with his cane as the group observed the fight unfolding. Jaune dropped his shield and moved to the side, slashing at the Grimm's stomach. It recoiled in surprise before recovered and swiped at the blonde knight, but the strike was avoided by the teen deftly rolling to the side. He dodged a second swipe at his feet from the beast soon after.
Unfortunately, Jaune was caught off guard by a third swipe that knocked him backwards. He didn't stay down; instead, he charged towards the Grimm. However, Jaune failed to account for another attack by the Ursa towards him from the side as he attacked.
Before the blow could connect, Pyrrha raised her arm with a dark red colored aura eminating from it. Jaune's shield glowed the same color as it raised to block the strike, opening up an opportunity for the blonde knight to cleave the Ursa's head clean off.
As Pyrrha lowered her hand, Ruby commented, "What?"
"Well, Weiss has her Glyphs and you have your speed. My semblance is polarity," Pyrrha explained.
"Whoa...you can control poles!" Ruby said in astonishment.
V chuckled at Ruby's foolishness, responding, "I believe she means magnetism, Ruby, not the control of actual poles."
"Magnets are cool too," she replied. However, rather than approach Jaune, Pyrrha began to head back in the direction they came from.
"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asked her.
"Yeah, we should go tell Jaune what happened!" Ruby agreed.
"We could...or perhaps we could keep it our own little secret," she smiled at the two.
V looked back towards Jaune and Cardin as the former helped his tormentor off the ground and seemed to be giving him a warning. V smiled at his friend's newfound confidence before walking away, following Weiss and Ruby.