Chapter 12

Pyrrha was sitting by the window in Team JNPR's dorm, with her mind on Jaune. It has been a week since he asked for time to think about her and Theodore's offer to help him train. It wasn't that she didn't know where he was, she knew exactly where he was.

"Do you think Jaune is okay?" Nora asked while jumping on the bed.

"He has been stuck with Cardin for quite a while." Ren replied, doing maintenance on his gun.

"Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!"

"I'm sure he's fine." Pyrrha said. She got up from where he was sitting and walking to the door, opening it slightly, to see Jaune on the other side trying to contain laughter.

"What's so funny Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.

"Cardin still hasn't figured it out." Jaune said, finally containing his laughter.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Theodore was right. This would be a funny prank to play on Cardin. Well, I gotta get back to my tent. Well, it's Theodore's. He's just letting me use it. See you tomorrow."

Jaune then left with a smile on his face. Pyrrha slowly closed the door, making not to make anyone down the hall wake up. Once the door was closed, she started to laugh.

"He hasn't figured it out yet has he?" Ren asked, with a smile.

"No! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! He hasn't!" Pyrrha replied in between laughs. Nora joined in Pyrrha's laughter at the discovery. They thought the plan wouldn't work but it looked like Theodore proved them wrong.

Flashback

Team JNPR and RWBY were on the roof with waiting on Theodore to arrive. He had text them on their scrolls concerning 'something funny.' When Theodore walked through the door, everyone turned to him with their full attention.

"You're all probably wondering why I called you up here." He started, getting a nod from everyone. "Well, to put it simply, Jaune is being blackmailed by Cardin."

Everyone gasped in shock and looked at Jaune.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Pyrrha demanded.

"That explains why you are arrived late at the dorm." Ren stated.

"Should we break his legs?" Nora asked.

"Everyone, calm down." Theodore said, getting their attention. "Jaune didn't tell because I asked him not to."

"What?!" Weiss exclaimed, "What is wrong with you?!"

"Do you realize you were just going to let Jaune suffer?!" Yang stated, "What kind of friend are you?!"

"One who has a great plan at showing Cardin just how foolish he really is." This caused everyone to look at him with curious faces. "Cardin thinks he knows almost everything Jaune knows and more. Well, I wish to prove him wrong. I told you all because I believe that from today to the field trip, Cardin will not even realize that we are aware of Jaune's predicament."

"He'll figure it out by tomorrow." Yang said.

"50 lien says you're wrong."

"Oh, you're on Theo."

"I'll get you back for that in the ring. So, can I count on you guys to not let Cardin know that we know?"

Everyone nodded their heads yes.

Flashback End

Jaune continued walking down the hall when he heard his scroll go off. Grabbing it and looking at who it was, he saw it was a recorded message from Cardin. Wanting to know what it was, he pressed the play button.

"Hey, it's your buddy Cardin." It said "I know you're probably busy with that dust project I gave you, but I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of rapier wasps, and make sure they got some really big stingers. It's important, so don't screw this up."

The message ended and Jaune closed his scroll with a worried look. Wasps were not the kind of bugs that anyone would to be around with. Opening his scroll back up, he sent the message to Theodore, hoping that he could figure out what Cardin was up to. With that done, he went to the tent and went to sleep.

"Yes, students," Glynda Goodwitch said while leading everyone, "the forest of Forever Falls is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sight see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure that none of you die while doing so."

Glynda stopped walking, making everyone stop as well. Jaune carrying bottles for Team CRDL accidently crashed into Cardin nearly dropping the bottles. He gave Cardin an apologetic look while Cardin gave him an angry one.

"Each of you is to gather one jars worth of red sap." Glynda continued showing a jar filled with 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 four o'clock. Have fun."

"Come on, buddy," Cardin said to Jaune, "let's go."

As they were leaving, without Cardin noticing, Jaune gave a wink to Pyrrha and Theodore who returned the wink. Everyone then split up to go collect their samples.

Team CRDL sat around, admiring the air, and passing the time. A few moments later Jaune walked back with all six jars full of sap. He carefully placed them on the ground before he collapsed, face first, on the ground.

"Hey, great work Jauney Boy." Cardin said, "Now that wasn't too hard, was it?"

"I think I'm allergic to this stuff." Jaune said.

"Great, great, great. So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself 'Why did my buddy, Cardin, ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?'"

"That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."

"Well, come with me and you'll find out."

Groaning nervously, Jaune followed them to a hill. It allowed to see everyone collecting their sap. Ren collected the sap Nora need and then collected his. He turned around only to see that Nora had drank hers.

"Cardin, what's going on?" Jaune asked.

"Payback." Cardin replied. Following his gaze, Jaune saw Theodore drawing in a notepad. His jar was already full of sap, he was just passing the time. His gaze went from concentrated to annoyed as he tore out the paper, crumpled it up and threw it into the bin on his right. He then started to draw again.

"Theodore?" Jaune wondered, "What are you- "

"That's him." Cardin said, "Black hair, blues eyes, know-it-all, and thinks he's so smart. He looks like he's having a bad day with whatever he's doing. Well, lets turn it from bad to worse."

Cardin then pulled a box from behind his back and placed it in front of him. It had a W on it and was emitting a buzzing noise.

"All right, boys," Cardin said, "last night, old Jaune here managed to rat up an entire box full of rapier wasps, and now were gonna put them to work."

Jaune laughed nervously at what he heard.

"Now, according to one of the essays he wrote for me last week, these nasty things love sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach him a thing or two."

Jaune was not liking where this was going. He took the hand Cardin had offered him to be pulled up from the ground, then got a jar of sap shoved into his hands.

"And you're gonna do it."

"Do what?" Jaune asked, fearing what the answer would be.

"Hit him with the sap. Either that or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

Jaune looked at the jar he was holding. He then looked to where Theodore was. Hoping for the best, particularly that his aim would be off, Jaune got into a throwing position and made ready to throw the jar at Theodore. Just as he was about to let it fly though, he remembered the conversation he had with Theodore the night before the field trip.

Flashback

Jaune had just laid down in his sleeping bag when his scroll went off. Looking at the ID, he saw it was Theodore. He immediately answered.

"Hello?" he said.

"I got your message Jaune," Theodore said, "and I don't think the results will end well."

"How's that?"

"Your teammates may not take this as you are being blackmailed. Instead they may take it as you are accepting how Cardin does things."

"What about you?"

"It's something I don't like to talk about, but…I'm allergic to wasp stings."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's true. If I get stung, I'll swell up and have trouble breathing."

"W-W-W-What do I do?! I can't let that happen to you!"

"Jaune, I know your scared of Cardin revealing your secret. I won't stop you from what he might have planned, but I do encourage you to stand up to him. There's also something I should've told you on the roof."

"What's that?"

"True heroes aren't the ones who can save lives or stop bad guys. True heroes are the ones who do simple acts of kindness, like becoming a friend to someone who doesn't have any, or being nice to those who feel lonely. When you wished to be friends with both me and Ruby, that day, you became a hero. I know you'll do the right thing Jaune. Know this, you're already a hero in my book."

"Thanks, Theodore. Good night."

"Good night."

Flashback End

In that moment, Jaune knew he couldn't do it. Theodore was willing to help him, even when he wasn't accepting it. One of the first friends that he made was willing to endure intense pain just so that Jaune could make it through Beacon. The blond knight knew what to do. He knew it may be the end of his chances to become a huntsman, but he wasn't going to lose his friend to a plan that might get him killed.

"No." he quietly said.

"What did you say?" Cardin asked, not clearly hearing what he said.

"I said, no!" Saying that, Jaune threw the jar away. When he saw what it impacted with he immediately regretted his action. Not refusing to follow Cardin's orders, but throwing the jar. It had collided with the bully, spilling sap all over his armor.

"Oh, ho, ho. You've done it now." Cardin said with an evil smile on his face. Jaune laughed nervously knowing what was going to happen.

AN: Hey, everyone. Sorry for the late updates. Finals rolled in and my schedule was piled to the ceiling. However, I was able to make two more chapters for you guys. Some bad news, I am not going to be working on Wolverine Re-Clawed for a time. Trying to work on two stories, in different universes, can really mess things up. I will continue to work on stories for the DC Universe. Theodore Constantine isn't the only one I will be working on. Until then, have a Merry Christmas. Sentinel Prime, out.