I own nothing. All references and properties belong to their respective creators, RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.
'Thoughts'
"emphasis and scroll"
"Talking"
"Deep Emotion"
Previously
Pyrrha stays silent for a few seconds, waiting for Jaune to take the hint. As his eyes slowly widen and the color drains from his face all he can say is, "Oh."
"I know what it feels like to be constantly trying to get out from someone else's shadow, the ironic part is that another reason that I came here was to escape the attention only to need it more than ever." Pyrrha reaches out for his shoulder and consoles him. "Just know that you aren't alone in this and that I can help you, but only if you let me. Please think about it."
"O-okay, just... leave me alone for a bit, I have a lot to think about. I'll let you know if I change my mind and Pyrrha... thanks." Jaune says.
Pyrrha bows her head. "That's all that I ask for, you know where to find me..." She walks away and towards her room, not noticing that Pitch and Dusty were staring at her back in shock at what they had just heard.
Pitch became lost in thought when he hear the revelation, 'I have a daughter... Pyrrha... is my daughter... What am I going to do?' As short as his thoughts were, every word was filled with tremendous weight. He looks over to his friend who was gaping like a fish and says, "Just so you know... I'm not going to kill you, only troll..."
Now
General POV
Pitch was still in shock at what he had just heard, as he stared off into space in the direction he saw his daughter leave in. He takes a deep breath and sighs as he brushes his fingers back through his hair, trying to digest the knowledge he'd been given. He turns around and walks away as he decides to take a separate path to his room. While he walks, he says without turning or stopping, "Dusty... take care of her and the mess that Jaune is in... He isn't the only one with a lot to think about."
As Pitch left, Dusty had finished adjusting himself to what had passed and blew a large sigh of relief. 'Well... that was a thing. It's going to be annoying as hell when Pitch starts trolling, but I'll live.', he thinks as he sneaks closer to the corner to make sure if Cardin is still going to make his move.
As Dusty got into place, he watched Jaune pacing back and forth until he heard smug laughter coming from a certain ginger racist. "Oh, Jaune..." The bully makes his presence known.
Jaune looks at the bully in surprise. "Cardin!"
"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room." Cardin approaches Jaune. "I gotta admit, I never thought that Professor Bitch was the infamous Boogeyman, much less the redhead's dad. Don't worry about her secret, if even one of the things Pitch did was true...", Cardin shudders at the thought of what would happen to him if he blurted out the most dangerous person in Remnant having a daughter. If he did, he would be putting a target on her back as well as his own. "Well, I don't even want to think about it..."
Cardin shakes his head roughly to get his mind off Pitch, "ANYWAY, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I gotta say, Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel!", he sees his future gopher starting to beg. "Jaune, come on! I'd never rat on a friend like that!" Cardin responds, as he grabs onto Jaune's shoulder.
"A... a friend?" Jaune stutters.
"Of course!" Cardin then traps Jaune in a headlock under his arm, as Jaune struggles and fails to free himself.
"We're friends now, Johnny boy! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." Cardin finally releases Jaune, who gasps as he falls to the ground.
Cardin continues. "That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" He leans down to rub Jaune's hair and gets up with a grin.
Dusty had heard all of this and had decided to leave before he was caught as he teleported to his room. It was unfortunate that he left so soon, because what Cardin said next would have caused something big to happen. "That's what I thought. Oh, and while you're at it there's one more thing. Pitch took my Scroll during class, I saw him taking it with him after class. I heard from Ozpin that he moves locker number between #0231, #3456, #0015, and #0049." Cardin says arrogantly as heads back to his room via the ledge. "Don't worry, Jaune; your secret's safe with me." Cardin drops back down to his room as Jaune rubs his neck in pain and worry.
Outside Team DRPN's room
After her talk with Jaune, she went to her room Pyrrha, but as she was about to open the door she stopped herself. She grimaced at the memory of what happened the last time she went in without knocking. She shook her head and put her ear to the door... Sure enough, the room was filled with the sound of Nora and Ren in the act; grunts and banging were the only things to be heard. Pyrrha's eye started to twitch in annoyance, 'OH, those two are going to make me snap at this rate, assuming Dusty doesn't first. I swear, I am about five minutes from either forcing chastity belts on those two or pushing Dusty down and-.'
Just then, Pyrrha feels a cold breeze pick up from behind her. She sighed to herself, knowing what it meant, she removed her ear from the door and turned around. She looks flatly at the person behind her as he sweat drops and says, "Ren and Nora?"
Pyrrha lets out a deep sigh as she says in a restrained tone, "Ren and Nora."
Dusty puts his hand to his side while he massages his temples while he mumbles, "Because of course it is..." He looks up to Pyrrha and tells her, "Pyrrha, we need to talk. You mind walking with me? Can't really talk while those two are, you know."
Pyrrha nods and says, "Lead the way."
As he and Pyrrha walked through the halls, Dusty spoke up, "...I heard you and Jaune talking on the roof."
She flinches and asks him, "...How much did you hear?"
Dusty sighs, knowing that this isn't even the hard part, "Everything... I'll admit that while I'm not surprised that Jaune did what he did considering how bad he's been doing, that I wasn't expecting to hear about your dad."
Pyrrha looks down in depression with a bitter smile as she asks, "I guess that you must be a bit afraid of me considering what he's like and his position here."
"Nope, not really." Pyrrha raises her head and looks up at her partner in shock, "I mean, yeah, if I tick him off I'd be screwed but you and him aren't the same person. Granted, I would lose to either of you if it wasn't for my semblance, that doesn't change the fact that you are you." Pyrrha looks at him in relief until he says, "I'll be right next to you when you want to talk to him."
Pyrrha speeds up and stands in front of him to block his path when she tells him, "NO, I-I-I'm not ready. I just need some time and I don't know how he'll react. Please, promise that to you won't tell him."
Dusty sucks in a breath and cringes as he tells her, "Yeah~, it's a kind of moot point right now."
Pyrrha widens her eyes a bit in surprise as she asks, "What?"
Dusty avoids eye contact due to the awkward situation, "Well you see, I was talking to him earlier about if he could do something about our teammates' activities while I was on my way back to our dorm when we overheard everything. So~, it's a little too late."
Pyrrha looked down, while her mind was going a mile per second as she was trying to figure out what she should do next. Pyrrha's arm started to shake as put her hand over it to stop the motion. She took several deep breaths and lifted her head, looking her friend in the eye with resolve and dread as she asks, "It-it's alright, but please, can you please tell me how he took the news? I-I need to know."
He takes a deep breath and tells her, "Well, while I don't know what exactly is going through his mind right now, I can honestly say that things could have gone SO much worse." 'No reason to make her worry anymore than she is now, Cardin will keep his mouth shut so it's not worth mentioning.'
His answer didn't make Pyrrha feel any better as she stared at him, gesturing for him to go on. He sighs, "Okay, when he heard what you said, he just looked so... lost. But I know that he loves you without a doubt."
Pyrrha let out a breath when she heard what he said about her father's reaction, with a heavy heart, she asked, "How? How can you be so sure about how he feels?"
Dusty smiles at her and after thinking about it for a moment, he slowly pulls her into a friendly hug as he rubs the back of her head to give her comfort and tells her, "The last words he said to me before he left were, "take care of her"." After he told her she returned the hug. They stayed there for a moment as they just stood in silence and enjoyed the other's company.
"So~, you guys gonna kiss?" The two turn their heads towards a smirking Nora and an average Ren. They split apart fast and ask them why they aren't in their room.
Ren shrugs saying, "Honeymoon period is over, we won't be keeping you as often, sorry by the way. Just so you two know, that banging and groans were from setting up a new bookshelf."
...
...
Nora just swings her arms side to side as she still has a big grin on her face, she says, "Ah~, I hate awkward silences."
...
Pitch & Raven's room
A few floors above the pair, Pitch was unlocking the door to his room as he was left in deep thought. 'Pyrrha is my daughter. I've had a daughter that I've never known about, to think that she's been attending my classes for a month now and I was none the wiser... I'm such an idiot, what am I going to do?'
When he came in, he saw no sight of his lover but heard the shower running, he sighed and called out, "Raven, I'm back..." As he walked through his room and closed the door behind him, he took off his suit and replaced it with a pair of red and black checker patterned fleece pajama bottoms that hung loose around his legs and a black long sleeved shirt. The walls of his room were painted a bright red color as the floor was covered in dark oak planks. It had a large window that overlooked the courtyard along with black curtains. His bed was a king size with deep purple sheets, the frame was tall black and oddly shaped similar to a coffin with a little birch nightstand with a little black bird stand hanging above it.
Across from the bed there were two dressers, each of them were tall with six drawers with an entertainment stand in the middle and a 70 inch TV on top. But where one dresser was red with black drawers, the other was black with red drawers. And lastly a large ebony bookshelf that was filled to the brim with leather bound books. When he finished getting dressed, he then flopped face first onto his bed.
A few minutes passed by as the water stopped, Raven exited the bathroom while she was still drying her hair and wearing the robe Pitch gave her. She saw Pitch planted on the bed and walked over to the bed and flopped right next to him, she reached over to him and turned his face towards her with finger. Raven frowned lightly as she asked him what was wrong. Pitch opened his golden eyes, looking up at the beautiful woman in front of him, he sighed as he rolled over onto his back as Raven propped herself up with her elbows. After a few seconds, Pitch finally spoke up, "Do you remember that mission we went on in Vacuo, the one with the crime syndicate and smugglers?"
Raven frowned in concern and a twinge of guilt at the memory of what happened and the blank week that followed, she nodded, "Yeah, what is this about?"
Pitch turned his head to look at her with a lost look in his eyes and said, "Apparently, I didn't sleep with Glynda and as it turns out, you weren't the only one that had a daughter that day."
She widened her eyes and gained a look of understanding while feeling that she had eaten a lemon whole, "Oh."
Pitch brings a hand to his face as he makes an empty laugh, "Yes, I've been getting that a lot as of late. As it turns out, Pyrrha Nikos is mine and I have no idea what to do. Unlike the others I've had in the past, I was able to be there for them and watch as they grew up. But this? I've been absent for her entire life and didn't even notice the similarities until I overheard her, I need help."
Raven gave a conflicted look as she could understand what he was going through, she had at least been able to spend a few years with them before Ozpin pushed her away. She may have not had made her departure justified, but it helped soothe some of the guilt, if even a little. Pitch had no excuse, but she could fault him for that, she knew that he valued family above all else. She turned around and sat up and pulled his head over into her lap as she stroked his onyx hair, "Don't worry about that right now, despair doesn't suit you unless you're the one giving it out. We'll figure this out eventually. Absent or not, you are the best father a girl like her could ask for -I've seen it- and the man I love. Come on, let's get to bed."
She kissed him on the forehead, making Pitch smile a bit, and got under the sheet. Pitch followed her to bed, as they spooned face to face, he returned a kiss to her and said, "Thanks, Raven. You know, I do believe this is the first time that you've said you actually love me."
Raven pouted at him, before narrowing her eyes and saying, "Don't push it and we are going to talk about how you cut Yang's hair."
"Bollocks."
Meanwhile in the Locker Room
Jaune wanders through the room stealthily as he looks for Cardin's scroll, "Okay Jaune, you can do this. You just need to get the scroll and leave. Yeah, nothing will go wrong." He spoke, trying to convince himself.
He approaches the locker labeled #3456 and pulls out a small amount of lightning dust that he puts on the keypad, the Dust begins to spark up as lock to the door shorts out. Jaune nods to himself as he opens the door. For the most part, the inside isn't as scary as he thought it'd be as he was half expecting a corpse to fall out. All he could see was a few leather bound books on the shelf and a small wooden box on the bottom.
On top of one of the books he sees the scroll, as he grabs it he cuts his finger on one of the pages. He winced as he retracted his hand, pulling out the book in the process. Fortunately, the sound of the book wasn't quite loud enough to attract attention, the bad part was that it cracked the box. Jaune begins to sweat as he pockets the Scroll and puts the book back to inspect it. He lets out a sigh of relief when he sees that it's barely visible, but as he looks closer, he notices that he could see a bit of the inside. On the inside...
...it was empty.
He closes the door as he leaves to return Cardin's Scroll. Little did he realize that a white cloud of smoke began to rise out of the crack and into the room. But if you listened closely, then you'd be able to hear the whispers of a young girl. The cloud began to disperse and in it's place was a girl, looking no older than 16, that looked almost exactly like Ruby. The only exceptions being longer hair and a white cloak.
She opened her silver eyes, and only one thing came to mind after her memory cleared up, 'Gotta find Pitch!' With that, she sped off in a trail of white smoke.
30 minutes later: Pitch's Room
Earlier Pitch was forced out of bed to listen to Raven chewing him out about how he chopped of Yang's hair. Raven was staring down at Pitch with her arms crossed under her large bust and tapped her foot. Pitch was sitting on his knees on the floor when suddenly there was a hurried knock at the door. Raven turned her head towards the door before turning back to him and pointing her finger at him saying, "Don't move."
Pitch stared at her flatly before asking, "Why couldn't we do this in the morning?"
Raven ignored her lover as she walked to the door and looked through the peephole. When she saw who was outside, she threw the door open as she pulled the person inside before anyone could notice. When that person ran in, they lunged at Pitch as they started choking the life out of him while shaking him back and forth, "WHAT THE HELL PITCH!?"
Pitch widened his eyes as he saw that it was Summer that was choking him, 'Dammit, someone must've broken into my locker and I've got a pretty good idea as to whom it was!'
About a few minutes later, Raven finally managed to pry her partner off of Pitch before slapping him herself, "Now that that's taken care of... *SMACK* Seriously Pitch what the hell?! I thought you said that she'd take another three months to heal!"
Pitch was about to talk before Summer slapped him as well and yelled, "PITCH! I thought I told you not to tell anyone?!"
He put a finger up gesturing for them to wait as he rubs the damaged areas, "First off, ouch. Second, I didn't lie Raven and if you haven't noticed Summer appears to be missing a few decades. In three months her body would have reached the appropriate age by then. Summer, do you really expect me to keep EVERYTHING to myself when I'm running so much at the same time. I have more work than Glynda and don't get paid for it, not that she gets paid that much at all. Hiss, did you really have to hit so hard?"
Summer was in shock at what she heard, "What do you mean by age?"
By that point the women calmed down and started brooding to themselves, Pitch groaned as he got up and said, "Can we discuss the rest of this when I can think straight? Being choked out, sleep deprived and beaten by two angry women would make it quite difficult for me to explain anything, but if you want the short version you should use the mirror while biting on a towel, it'll muffle the scream. Raven, Summer needs to be caught up on everything that has happened since her stupidity nearly got her killed and I doubt Tai or Qrow would be in any type of accepting mood when they see a chibi Summer Rose. Summer can use the room, I have a friend that wouldn't mind if I swung by and before you ask; No, Summer can't stay with him. There's a chance that him seeing silver eyes will set him off... In the meantime, I need to figure out what to tell Ozpin while you two STAY HERE. If anyone sees you, things are going to get chaotic real fast... But before all of that I need to make sure of something..."
Raven raises a black brow, "And what's that?"
Pitch hesitates before answering, "...Summer wasn't the only thing hidden in that locker, I have to make sure it's still there." And with those words, he left.
Summer goes to the bathroom and screams, "What happened to me and why am I so flat?!" Raven sighs to herself thinking that this is going to be a long night.
3 days later (Monday): Team DRPN's Room
"Hey haven't you noticed Jaune acting Scottish?" Nora asks while hanging upside down from the bunk bed.
Dusty looks at the girl, while lying on his bed, "Skittish Nora, the word is skittish. "
"He's become rather evasive ever since he's been fraternizing with Cardin." Ren admits while he holds onto Nora's legs
"That's weird... Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!" Nora proclaims as she swings into the air so she lands on Ren's lap.
Pyrrha continues looking out the window. "I'm sure that he'll make the right choice, sometimes you just have to have a little faith. We're his friends." She says as she turns to her team and focuses on Dusty who smiles at her.
Nora hums in suspicion as she sees the interaction between the two. "I guess so." Nora says.
"...Hey Pyrrha, not to hound you or anything, but did you talk to Pitch yet?", Dusty asked his partner.
Pyrrha's smile shrank as she said, "No, but I will soon enough. Maybe tomorrow." She walks over to him and sits down next to him before giving him a peck on the cheek and getting under the covers while he blushes and broods. "Well, are you coming?" She says teasingly.
He blows out a sigh as he joins Pyrrha and thinks, 'I still can't believe I'm with Pyrrha, I might be the only person that could be considering that Pitch and I are on good terms and that his genes gave Pyrrha the push she needed... It's even harder to think that Mom came earlier than expected.'
The Next Day: Forever Falls Forest
In the Forever Falls Forest, Pitch can be seen standing in front of Teams CRDL, RWBY and DRPN while wearing his black suit and an annoyed look that could be easily mistaken for murderous, "Yes, students, I know you weren't expecting to me to be taking you here, but unfortunately you're stuck with me. The reason for this is that Professor Ozpin was generous enough to grant Glynda a month's paid vacation and her upcoming maternity leave along with our librarian Mardy to look after his wife... So I am going to be filling in for the both of them for the next THREE months, of WHICH I won't be getting paid for... So do NOT test me..." Pitch says to the group with an exhausted expression as every word that comes out of his mouth adds a distinct threat and murderous intent. Meanwhile, thirty Beowolves in the region happened to explode before evaporating.
"Now, keep in mind that we are not here to sight-see, no matter how much I wish we were. Professor Ozpin has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest for Peach's next class on botany, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing it. So do anything stupid and the Grimm will be the least of your concern." He says while thinking, 'If I didn't have anything to drink this morning, I would've killed team CRDL by now. At least now I have a place where I can hide THAT, experiment 3456 should find it easy to blend in.'
The group stops, and Jaune, grunting and carrying a large case with six empty glass jars on top, tries to catch up with them and ends up bumping into Cardin. The bully scowls at Jaune, who attempts to feign innocence by whistling tunelessly.
Pitch goes on. "Each of you is to gather at least 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 and please don't die, I have enough paperwork to deal with as it is."
As everyone went on their way, Pitch called out, "Pyrrha. Do you mind staying here for a moment, there is something that we must discuss?" Pyrrha nodded and walked towards him. When she got only a few feet away from him, he paused for a moment and let out a sigh, "Look, I'm sure that this is as awkward for you as it is to me... For the first time in a while, I'm at a loss for words. Just know that if you ever need me, all you have to do is ask and I do everything I can to help. Now, I won't keep you here long because you still have an assignment... If it's alright with you, I could drop by at the end of the day and we could talk, get to know one another." He finished with a small strained smile.
Pyrrha looks at him for a moment with a stone look on her face before she forms a small content smile of her own, "I think I'd like that, though you may want to make large portions, Nora is a surprisingly big eater for a girl her size."
He let out a breath as he chuckled and told her, "I'll drop by around 7 pm, now go on. Your team must be wondering where you are now."
With the students
While Yang and her sister smile at one another, Jaune attempts -poorly- to sneak away from Cardin towards anyone else, but the blackmailer sees this and grabs Jaune by the back. "Come on, buddy. Let's go!" Cardin says.
Jaune miserably looks up at his friend from team DRPN, where Nora and Ren are already walking into the forest's depths while Dusty is with Pyrrha as she gives him the silent message, "All you have to do is ask."
Dropping his gaze, Jaune turns and follows CRDL, to the disappointment of a sighing Pyrrha before she feels her partner tapping on her shoulder and looks at him, "He'll make the right choice."
Team CRDL is making themselves as comfortable as possible by leaning on stones, trees, and the ground while Jaune returns to the group with six full jars, setting them down just as he collapses face-down. The surrounding team gets up in response.
"Hey, great work, Jauney boy! Now that wasn't too hard, was it?" Cardin says.
Jaune is still on the ground, cross-eyed and sounding dizzy. "I think I'm allergic to this stuff..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We all have allergies." Cardin ignores Jaune's pain. "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?'"
Jaune, still exhausted replies. "That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."
"Well, come with me, and you'll find out." Cardin reveals as Jaune sits up.
Jaune moans and gulps in worry as they approach the hilltop overlooking the other students, team CRDL - plus Jaune, squeezed between Cardin and Russel - peak their heads over the crest and watch as everyone is retrieving their samples of sap. Ren, kneeling to collect it from a tree, passes a full jar to Nora, he goes to gain another one but by the time he gives the new jar to Nora, the girl can be seen with red sap over her mouth and an empty jar in her hands. "Nora, no. I will not coat myself in that stuff." Nora was going to deny Ren's clam until he gave her the "Not gonna buy it" look.
Jaune turns to his left. "Cardin, wh-what's going on?"
"Payback." Cardin answers sharply, still staring at the unsuspecting group.
Jaune's eyes widen in understanding. "Pyrrha...?" He looks down to see her gather more sap from a tree with Dusty by her side helping, while unbeknownst to them giving Jaune and CRNL a side glance.
Jaune then tries to question Cardin. "Wh-what are you thinking? Throwing something at Pyrrha is suicide?! And even if it wasn't, she's still my- !"
"What?" Cardin widens his eyes as he turns to see what Jaune sees, before shivering and saying, "No no no no no no no, not her, the guy she's with. Going after her is- no, just no. I'm talking about the guy she's with, that smug little brat that called me an animal, thinks he's so tough. Alright, boys..." He pulls out a buzzing cardboard box with a large 'W' written on its sides. "Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work."
Russel grabs Jaune by the shoulder, who barely laughs in nervousness.
Cardin continues. "Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things love sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach her a thing or two." He gestures over to Dusty who is seen finishing his sap collecting.
The members of CRDL get up. Cardin offers his hand to Jaune, only to painfully yank him up on his feet and shove a jar into his grasp.
"And you're gonna do it." Cardin demands.
"Do what?" Jaune asks.
"Hit him with the sap! Either that, or I'll have a chat with Pitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon." Cardin threatens.
Jaune looks down at the jar of sap in his hands and then up at the four grinning thugs waiting to see what happens. Jaune turns towards the group and aims his throw at an observant and smirking Dusty, trying to steel his nerves and shaking hand to do the deed, but ultimately steels himself for another purpose.
"No." Jaune refuses.
"What did you say?" Cardin sounds annoyed.
Jaune's hand shakes as he grips the jar tightly. "I said... NO!" He turns and throws the jar at Cardin, instantly recoiling his hands to himself as he looks at Cardin's breastplate covered in sap. The other team leader, however, just looks at himself and laughs darkly.
"Oh, you've done it now..." Cardin laughs.
Jaune humorously laughs to himself once more with his hands still raised in a poor attempt of defense as Dove and Lark grab Jaune's shoulders and drag him deeper into the woods, but as they do so, none of them notice the abnormally large hoof prints in the dirt and the two pairs of eyes watching them.
Deep in the woods
Jaune is getting pushed to the ground, covered in injuries and groaning as he looks up and sees a sap-covered Cardin looming over him. The bigger warrior picks Jaune up by his front and grins while punching him back to the ground.
"You know that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy." Cardin remarks, as he picks up a bruised Jaune again while the rest of Team CRDL watches. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny pieces."
"I don't care what you do to me..." Jaune replies, face bruised by the earlier beatings. He then looks at Cardin with fury in his eyes. "... but you are not messing with my friend, Musty did nothing wrong." Meanwhile, further away, Dusty felt a vein on his forehead bulge in annoyance.
Cardin is momentarily confused by Jaune's comeback. "Who?"
Jaune blinks and says, "The guy you wanted me to throw the sap at."
Cardin looks at Jaune like he's a brain damaged monkey, "What? The guy's name is Dusty. Anyway, do you really think you can talk like that to me and not get beaten?" He lifts Jaune off of the ground by his chest plate. "You think you're a big strong man now, huh?"
Jaune smiles in defiance. An enraged Cardin roars and raises his fist again, but just as the hit connects, a bright light shines from Jaune, and when the white fades from the screen, Cardin is crying out in pain as he holds his hand.
Jaune, now back on the ground but completely healed, looks confusedly at his hands as they faintly glow white.
While he stares though, Sky kicks Jaune in the back and gets him on his stomach, but he looks up and glares at the approaching Cardin.
Cardin grins. "Let's see how much of a man you really are..."
Just as he says this, a low growl is heard, and a surprised Team CRDL turns around and sees a large paw crash onto the scene, belonging to a huge Ursa Major with dozens of jagged spikes sticking out from its wide back. It leaps forward and stands over the terrified students, lifting its head in the air to smell the sap on Cardin's breastplate. It lands back on its forelegs and roars at Cardin while his teammates flee in terror.
"That's a big Ursa!" One of them yells.
Cardin, in shock, is rooted to the spot when the Grimm swings its claws and knocks him sideways, revealing Jaune cowering behind him. The Ursa continues to sniff, uninterested in Jaune and follows its nose to Cardin. Jaune watches as it towers over Cardin, who gets his wits and pulls out his mace weapon only for the monster to swipe it away to Jaune's feet.
Jaune looks conflicted, wondering whether to fight or run away.
Team DRPN & RWBY
Meanwhile, the roar of the giant Ursa is heard by the members of Teams RWBY and DRPN, still collecting sap on the other side of the forest.
"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby gets up from a crouch, concerned.
Dusty looks at his twin with a raised brow as he says, "Why wouldn't I hear?" as Team _RDL are seen running the other way from the roar through the other students.
"Ursa! Ursa!" Russel cries before running into Yang accidentally.
"What?!" Yang asks, completely unfazed by the collision. She picks up the fleeing man by the front of his shirt. "Where?"
Russel struggles, still trying to run in mid-air, but points back from where they came. "Back there! It's got Cardin!"
Pyrrha drops her jar of sap. "Jaune!" She says in realization.
"Dusty!" Ruby calls out to her brother. "You take Blake and Yang, go get Professor Pitch! You're the fastest one here so you should go!"
Dropping Russel, Yang and Blake nod before following the orders while Dusty smirks as he turns to his partner and tells her, "Be sure to tell me how it went, later." Pyrrha nods to him before he prepares to vanish.
Pyrrha turns to Ren and Nora as she and Ruby activate their weapons. "You two, go with him! There could be more!"
With Jaune and Cardin
Cardin, who was attempting to run -crawl- from the stalking Ursa Major, but it leaps over its prey and claws him away. He tries to get up and crawl away. "Crap! Crap, crap!" He yells in desperation as he scoots backwards away from him.
"Oh, no!" Pyrrha says as she, Weiss and Blake arrive in the distance.
They watch as the Ursa leans over the helpless victim, raising its paw and swiping it down... only for the attack to be blocked by Jaune's shield, Crocea Mors.
Jaune struggles to defend a stunned Cardin from its attempts to lean on him, but Weiss lifts Myrtenaster as she prepares to go help.
"Hold on! Let's wait a bit and see how this plays out." Pyrrha says to Weiss, not wanting to interfere with Jaune's big moment.
Ruby looks at her incredulously as she says, "You've been hanging out with my brother way too much."
Jaune takes the shield out from the Ursa's paw and slashes at its stomach, causing it to stumble back, before lashing out and trying to crush him. Jaune rolls out of the way and jumps over its swipe at his feet, but he is unprepared for when it launches a claw at him in mid-air.
Jaune lands far away, yet immediately recovers, passing Cardin as he charges again. The Ursa knocks Jaune behind when he tries for a leaping attack, and he looks at the Scroll in his shield to find out that his Aura level is in the red. He grows angry again and starts to run at the Ursa as it also begins to dash towards him.
As they were just about to clash time slows down for the people watching, Pyrrha sees that Jaune has left himself completely open to the Ursa's attack, and lifts her palm out to him, a dark purple aura surrounding her hand. Just as the Ursa is about to hit Jaune, a similar aura surrounds Jaune's shield and makes it lift up to block the swipe. Jaune uses the surprise defensive move to lean on the ground, push his shield back up, and swing his blade right through the Ursa's neck, decapitating it. The head falls to the ground as the body slams onto the ground.
Still a far distance from the fight, Ruby turns to Pyrrha as the girl in question's hand stops glowing "Uhh... What?"
Weiss is equally amazed by this development. "How did you...?"
As Weiss trails off, Pyrrha answers the question. "Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your Glyphs. My Semblance is..." She hesitated before blushing lightly and said, "W-well, Dusty thought that a better name for it would be Overhaul and I quite like the sound of it."
"Whoa, so you can move heavy things..." Ruby comments which causes Weiss to facepalm.
Pyrrha smiles while chuckling lightly and says, "Sort of, but not quite, it is a a very versatile ability that allow me to manipulate metal and certain minerals at a distance while being able to reshape matter into whatever I wish so long as I am in physical contact with it and know how make said objects. The only downside is how mentally draining it is if I try to make something too complex and that it doesn't work on the Grimm."
Ruby and Weiss say with widened eyes, "Wow."
Weiss notices as Pyrrha starts to leave. "Wait, where are you going?"
"Yeah!" Ruby agrees. "We gotta tell them what happened!"
"We could... Or perhaps we could keep it our little secret?" Pyrrha asserted. She walks away again as Ruby and Weiss smile at each other in understanding and a bruised Jaune sheathes his weapon, the picture of confidence, before going over to Cardin.
Cardin, still covered in sap, looks up at Jaune as his savior offers a hand. Cardin smiles as he takes it and is lifted back up on his feet.
"Holy crap, Jaune!" Cardin can't hide the impressed tone in his voice.
"Don't ever mess with my friends ever again." Jaune threatens as he stares Cardin dead in the eyes. "Got it?"
Cardin looks down feeling conflicted. With his order spoken, Jaune turns and walks away from a frozen Cardin. As Jaune and the others left Cardin behind, the bully hears a branch snap along followed by the sound of a horse walking and something being dragged behind him. As Cardin turns around slowly he sees something that would haunt his dreams for many nights to come.
In front of him was what could have been mistaken for Grimm, but couldn't be farther that the truth. Standing at eight meters in height was a humanoid creature that had the upper half of its body sticking out of a horse's back, their combined bodies had translucent skin that made it look like is was made of blood and muscle. The human half had empty sockets with no eyes, sharp angler-like teeth that crept into a smile, had long bone-like claws instead of fingers,and a large heart-shaped hole where its nose should be. Its long arms dragged by the sides of the horse. The horse itself had no hair, three toed hooves, and glowing yellow eyes.
Cardin was paralyzed in fear as the horseman just walked passed him and as he thought that it was over the rider spun it's head around one-hundred-and-eighty degrees as it looked directly into Cardin's eyes.
"GET OUT~...", as it says that it turns back around and just walks away, leaving a traumatized Cardin behind as he falls to his knees, shaking as he wets himself.
Cardin falls to his knees and cries as he says, "... I quit."
Night: Beacon's roof
"No Cardin tonight?" Pyrrha appears and walks to Jaune's side. "I thought you two were best buds?"
Jaune makes a hollow chuckle saying, "No, no I am not. I sorted things out with him, but it looks like he quit Beacon. Apparently he saw something that scared the hell out of him after I left and now I'm gonna be acting as the leader of team JRDL (Hurdle). So there's that, though I have no idea why Pitch would call us that." He sighs as he turns to face her. "Pyrrha... I'm sorry and I had no right to judge what you've gone through. You were only trying to be nice, and... I just let my ego and get the better of me and was a complete idiot."
"Oh, well, that's good news... Jaune, it's okay. I know that you'll make a great leader even if your new teammates give you a hard time I know that you'll pull through, just have some faith." She begins to walk to the exit. "Would you like to join us for dinner? I had a talk with father a little while ago and he decided to make dinner for us and said that he might share some stories."
Jaune smiles, but holds out his hand and calls out. "Good to know you two are getting along. Maybe some other time, but Pyrrha there's something else..." Hearing this Pyrrha turns around, and Jaune looks sheepish. "I've done some thinking and I made up my mind and if your offer is still open, I'd like to take you up on it if you don't mind. I'm gonna need it now more than ever now that I have to look after Larry Moe and Curly."
Pyrrha laughs as she turns around so that Jaune wouldn't see her satisfied smile. She goes up to Jaune and suddenly pushes her friend to the ground.
"Hey!" Jaune whines.
Pyrrha stands over him with her arms on her hips and an evaluating tone. "Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." She offers him her hand, which he graciously accepts, and they continue to hold on to and grin at each other. "Let's do this again after dinner."
Midnight: Ozpin's Office
Ozpin sighs in exasperation as he looks at the pair in front of him, "Pitch, would you care to explain to me why Summer is a loli and what happened in Forever Falls?"
Pitch was standing next to a chibi-Summer as she pouted at being called a 'loli', he groaned as he said, "I don't know what happened to put Cardin in such a state, but as for Summer... Well, she's been healing from some severe injuries for the past decade on an island close to the Grimm Lands. Salem sent someone to finish the job, but fortunately that person had a time altering semblance that healed her wound and made her younger and had turned her into a child, Salem's follower perished. As why she's here, about two months ago she was rescued by a freighter and arrived at my doorstep a few days ago." Pitch lied for the most part, not wanting to reveal All For One to the headmaster, as well as any other ability it granted him. This explanation was the best he could come up with in the past few days, so he was REALLY hoping he'd buy it.
Ozpin looks at his associate with a scrutinizing gaze, "This is going to stir up a lot of trouble. Salem would use this to her advantage and put Vale in in danger if she were to learn of her survival, it wouldn't surprise me if both the rest or team STRQ and James were to come here demanding answers, and the council would deem it best to keep a closer eye on us, thus risking the maiden's exposure to the world. It would probably be for the best if we were to keep her hidden until we have all this sorted out. But by all means, if you have a better idea, speak up."
Summer raises her hand, gaining the attention of the two men in the room, "I think I might have an idea."
Okay, I'll admit that this isn't my best chapter, but work has been stressing me out. I know that Pitch's explanation is crap, but keep in mind that Pitch had YEARS to come up with plans to deal with Salem. So, when Jaune let the genie out of the bottle, things started to go off the rails and he had to adapt to the pressure fast before something else could go wrong.
I hope you leave a good review for this one. NO TROLLS, I've gotten two so far. I make this to deal with depression and the stress in my life. I'll start answering question in my next chapters so long as they don't spoil anything. Tell me what you think will happen and if you caught any references.
Also, if anyone is willing, I would like to ask anyone if they'd be willing to make a "Reading/Reaction/Watching" version of this story or one for Akatsuki in Remnant. Thank you everyone who has supported me so far, I'm glad Iget to make your day.
I had to re-write this whole chapter because my battery died before I could save it.
