*Holy shit. So… not dead btw. Sorry for not posting literally anything for the past two months. I'll give the quick rundown for anyone who's interested. Basically, I got the flu and missed out on a week of school. Because of that, I had to makeup the work that I missed. Right after that, I had another heath complication that made me miss even more school, meaning even more work to catch up on. Couple that with finals, I haven't been able to write, record, or do anything for the past few months. But don't worry. With winter break on my side, I'll be a writing machine. So yeah. Thanks to everyone who's been patent with me and even those of you who favorite a two chapter story. I promise more will be coming soon. Thanks and see you at the bottom. ~ The Procrastinator*
Jaune's spirit had been rejuvenated after Ruby's little peptalk. Sure, most of the school was not on his side, and sure, Weiss was still pretty angry about the whole situation, but at least he had most of his friends to back him up. As he and Ruby walked through the halls to get to class, more and more whispers entered his mind. He held his head down and started to walk a bit faster. Noticing this, Ruby tightened her grip on Jaune's hand and slowed his pace down. He turned to her, his bangs covering his eyes. "Sorry…" He said with a dejected mood. "Don't worry about it." Ruby spoke with a sympathetic tone. "It'll just take some time. For now, just ignore them. We're almost there."
Jaune and Ruby entered the classroom to find that many students were still at lunch. Ruby took out her scroll to find that they had gotten to class a couple of minutes early. They took their normal seats and began to take out their things. Even from across the room, Jaune could still feel Cardin's smug grin drilling into his mind. He sighed and pulled out his notebook. 'Great… Now I get to feel everyone's glares at me while the guy who caused all of this gets to watch me suffer. I really hope that Ruby wasn't lying when she said that the others were still on my side.' Jaune thought while more and more students were taking their seats, sneaking in a few subtle glares at him.
Pyrrha and the rest of his team took their seats next to him a minute later. He shuffled a bit awkwardly before Pyrrha put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Jaune, don't worry. Ruby texted us that she explained the situation to you. None of us are mad at you. Well, besides Weiss." Pyrrha stated calmly as her eyes gestured over to the ice princess herself. "Don't worry about her, Fearless-Leader! Give her time and she'll eventually get over it. She has to! If she doesn't, then I'll-" Nora started before Ren put a cautious hand over her mouth. "Nora, save all that energy for class. Don't worry about it so much Jaune. While we don't approve of your methods, we can all see that you're putting in a lot of effort to strive towards your goal." Ren said as Jaune relaxed a bit. "T-Thanks guys. I really don't deserve such good friends like you." Jaune said with an awkward scratch to the back of his head. "Nonsense. Now focus, class is starting."
Jaune noticed a bit into class that everyone else had kept staring at him with anticipation every time the fighters were selected. Some looked with hatred while others had sadistic glares. It made it very hard to take notes on the fights that were going on. After a couple of fights, the randomizer spun once again, only to stop on Jaune Arc and Weiss Schnee. 'What?! Nonono, I can't fight her! With how angry she is at me right now, she'll burry me right here and now!' Jaune panicked as Weiss got up with a huff. 'This will show all of them that he doesn't even deserve to be here.' Weiss thought as she went down to the locker room. Jaune slowly followed her.
Crocea Mors' blade glimmered in the lights above as the two competitors stood face to face. Jaune's face was covered in a nervous sweat while Weiss' composure could not be more determined. "Alright, both of you know the rules for a standard match. You may begin when ready." Goodwitch said as she backed off the arena. Jaune took a quick inhale as Weiss charged towards him, heels shining from the glyphs at her feet. She delivered a couple of quick stabs, which Jaune dodged out of the way of. He swung his blade horizontally as she backflipped off his shield. Using her distance, Weiss summoned a couple of icicles from her glyph and hurdled them towards Jaune.
Seeing this as an opportunity, he moved towards her, parrying the barrage of icicles with his shield. Weiss, seeing his advance, summoned an ice glyph from under Jaune. He quickly rolled out of the way before a small iceberg rose up from where he once was. Weiss rushed in, placing more stabs on him as he quickly rose his shield back up. Finding her pattern, he parried off her rapier and delivered a hefty swipe to her torso. Weiss flew a couple feet away as Jaune gathered his bearings once again. When he focused back on his target, he saw what he could only describe as pure hatred in Weiss' eyes. 'That is it! I've had enough! This pathetic whelp thinks he can beat me just by getting one hit in? I'm ending this right now!" Weiss summoned many small glyphs around Jaune as pillars of fire arose from them. Jaune was stunned. 'Is she trying to burn me alive right now?!' He turned left to right only to find walls of fire at every corner, inching closer.
"Weiss! What on Remnant are you doing!" Ruby yelled, seeing the severity that the match had come to. "You'll kill him! What are you doing?!" Pyrrha said, also standing from her seat. The crowd watched with bated breath as the pillars slithered closer. They were about a foot away from him before they completely extinguished with a purple glow. "Ms. Schnee! What in the world are you doing?! I've let this match go on long enough! Are you out of your mind?!" Goodwitch screamed as Weiss turned towards her. "I should be asking that question to you, professor!" The crowd's attention was turned to the heiress as Ruby and Pyrrha rushed to Jaune, kneeling from lack of oxygen.
"You of all people should know that this liar has been unprepared for this academy since day one! His grades are abysmal, he doesn't pay attention in class, and he hasn't beaten a single student in your class! Have you not noticed how he fights? He swings his sword around like he's never held any weapon in his life! And this is Beacon Academy! One of, if not, the most prestigious school in all of Remnant! I don't believe that some fake transcripts could fool any of the top hunter and huntress academies! He is a danger to the other students, he is a danger to civilians if he ever went on a mission, and he is not meant to be a-" Weiss' rant was cut off as the doors to the classroom were opened.
"Ms. Schnee, I believe that is enough." Ozpin spoke as he walked down to the arena. "While this is a hunter academy and we do encourage students to fight to compromise problems as it is good training, I do believe that burning another student alive is a bit much, wouldn't you say?" Ozpin said as he took a sip from his coffee. "I was just putting this lying scoundrel in his place." Weiss said with a huff, crossing her arms. "Well Ms. Schnee, we can talk about your rather violent tendencies later. Mr. Arc? Could you please follow me up to my office? We have something we need to discuss."
Jaune finally stood up with the help of his sword acting like a crutch. "Um… Alright, professor…" He avoided any eye contact from the audience as they, along with Weiss, believed this as their victory. His nervousness had not gone unseen as Ozpin spoke up seconds later. "Fret not Mr. Arc, you are not being expelled. I merely need to speak with you." Many voices rose up from the crowd, either disappointed or shocked and angry. Though it calmed him down, it didn't help the situation back in the arena.
"Weiss?! What the hell just happened?! One minute you say that you'll give him a chance to explain himself and the next minute you're about to cook him alive?! What's gotten into you?!" Ruby shouted as team RWBY and the other members of JNPR made their way back to their respective dorms after class had been dismissed. Weiss continued to walk in front of the rest of the group, feeling their glares bore through her skull, before she sighed and turned around. "While I admit that I did use some rather drastic measures due to my emotional state, I do not regret any of my actions." Weiss stated calmly, though her quivering fist made that hard to believe.
"Excuse me?!" Pyrrha shouted as she walked up to the ice queen, flames in her eyes. "All of us here understand that the way Jaune got here was wrong, but we also understand that the way you went about it was absolutely too far! Was it really necessary to torture him in such a brutal way?!" Pyrrha questioned, continuing before Weiss had a chance to answer. "Though, I wouldn't be surprised if you said yes. After all, you really have your father's blood in you, don't you?" Many reeled back at that, though Blake stood still in silent support. If Pyrrha hadn't been in such a furious state, she would have immediately noticed Weiss' composure breaking.
"How dare you!" Weiss attempted to shove Pyrrha back, but she recovered immediately. "You want to know why I did what I did? Why I surrounded him with fire and attempted to kill him? It's because I understand how these things work! None of you understand how any of this works!" Weiss shouted as she pointed an accusing finger at Pyrrha. "I've been in almost this exact situation before, you know. We find out that my father's secretary had faked documents and had been lying about his qualifications. Many wanted to throw him out just because he was a faunus, but I convinced him that since he had done such good work and how he was improving, my father should keep him. And he did. And they became such good friends that, one day, out of the blue, my father asks him to watch me for a day so that he can relax a bit. They seem like the underdog, the one you should fight for… and then they sneak up on you and… and…" Weiss trailed off, tears pouring out her eyes.
"Weiss… I…" Pyrrha said, hands covering her mouth as she and the others caught the implications that Weiss was implying. Weiss sniffled before carrying on. "He caught me without my weapon. As soon as he left, I told my father what he had done. It wasn't long before we were notified of his assassination." Weiss looked down, her eyes covered by shadows. "He robbed me of my innocence, even after I stood up for him. Before you go on about how 'Jaune would never do that' and how he's better than that, of course I know that. He'd rather jump off a cliff before harming an innocent person." Pyrrha's next statement died on her tongue as she allowed Weiss to go on.
"All I'm saying is that you aren't him. You don't know what or how he's thinking. You don't truly know anyone but yourself. So don't blindingly trust someone who you've only known for about a month. You don't just sneak into a prestigious academy without an ulterior motive." Weiss finished before turning to the dorm. "I'm going to take a shower, but think about what I've said." Weiss attempted to walk through the doorway before a red blur tackled her in her side. "Ruby!?" "I'm so sorry Weiss." Weiss stopped for a second before gently patting her partner's head. "Don't worry about it. It happened a long time ago. I'm over it. It's just that this situation brought up a lot of bad memories and I lost control of my emotions." Ruby nodded and allowed Weiss to walk through to the dorm. She turned back to the rest of the group.
"So… You guys want to keep talking about this in your guys's dorm?" Ruby asked and they all nodded. Pyrrha took a sad glance at team RWBY's dorm before Ruby put her hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, she'll forgive you." Pyrrha smiled sadly and nodded as she let Ruby walk in and closed the door.
Jaune's walk to Ozpin's office could only be described as tense. Sure, learning that he wouldn't be expelled was reassuring, but it didn't fully comfort him for what could possibly come next. As he walked through the doorway, he noticed Goodwitch's presence and looked around the room before taking his seat in front of Ozpin's desk. "Mr. Arc, if you are scared that you will be expelled due to your false qualifications, don't be. We have known ever since you applied to this academy, as Ms. Schnee stated earlier." Ozpin said as he took a sip from his coffee. 'What!? I mean... that's good. I thought that he didn't know about it and would then expel me when he found out, but that means he's known this whole time? Why didn't he do anything about it?' Jaune thought, before asking the question to the headmaster himself. "Headmaster, why did you let me in this school if you knew that I had faked my transcripts? Why did you let me stay after you saw how badly I've been doing?" Jaune questioned as Ozpin got out of his chair and looked out through the window.
"Mr. Arc, I believe that out of every student here, you have the most potential out of all of them." Ozpin said as Jaune nearly jumped out of his seat. "What?! But… how? You've seen how bad my grades are, you've seen how bad I fight. What kind of potential does somebody like me have?" Jaune asked in a dejected tone, looking down to the cogs and gears in the floor. "It may just be a hunch, but I believe with the right training and the right environment, you could soar higher than any other student this year." Ozpin explained, turning back to Jaune.
"Though…" Ozpin continued. "All of that will be for nothing if you are expelled." Jaune was happy to know that the headmaster believed in him so much. To be stronger than anyone else at the academy? Him? It just didn't seem possible. His mind was snapped back to the conversation once Ozpin continued. "What do you mean by that headmaster?" Ozpin sighed before taking his seat back in his chair. "Though I believe you have so much potential, I cannot just allow you to stay at this academy without punishment. The council would go mad. Once the media gets wind of this story, my reputation would be tarnished." Jaune nodded.
"What I could do in alternative though is give you a test. One harder than any you have faced before. Probably harder than any mission a fourth year team has taken on." Jaune gulped at the thought. "If you were to complete the mission, you would prove yourself worthy of this academy. Though if you lose… I would not be surprised if the council blacklisted you from every academy on Remnant." Jaune turned white. Would he be able to conquer such a difficult task? Was it even worth it?
"Yes… I believe I could propose such a redemption to the council. Though it is up to you if you wish to take the journey." Jaune thought to himself for a while. This was his dream on the line! Would he really just give up when someone had given him the chance to succeed? Would he be fine with all the bullies laughing at his disgrace? Laughing at them being right? Would he accept the disappointed, but not surprised, looks of his family when he got home?
No... Hell no!
'I've made it this far, I'll either succeed or die trying!' Jaune gave a determined look to Ozpin. "I'll do it. Even if it's harder than anything anyone here has faced, I'm not going to just give up and go home!" Ozpin smiled slightly before responding. "Alright. It will take at least a week to get everything prepared, so use that time to train. You have my support Mr. Arc. You are dismissed." Jaune nodded, determined, and walked out of the office.
"Ozpin, do you really think that this is the wisest choice? I understand that you have faith in the boy, but a mission like that would give even me a hard time!" Glynda said, walking up to the headmaster's desk. "Glynda…" Ozpin started.
"I believe that he will come out victorious no matter the odds. I can feel that fate is on his side."
*And that's all. Originally, the fight with Weiss and the talk with Ozpin were supposed to be two different chapters. But I felt like it has been too long since the last chapter to just give out a normal one. Sorry if the story is a little weird as it has been a while since I've written. The "thing" that I wrote for Weiss was pretty dark, but I don't think I need to change the rating as it was never said, just implied. I wanted an actual reason for her to distrust him as much as she did. Anyway, stay tuned for the next part! Jaune's really going to regret his word choice. Merry Christmas! ~ Mr. HopefullyGoingToWriteMore*