Masks and Daggers
Backstory
A six year old Jaune Arc cried as he ran into the city.
'I don't want to teach you about Aura or combat. You're not suited for it.'
'You? A hero? Forget it and focus on your studies.'
His father's voiced echoed harshly on his head.
He eventually bumped into someone.
A tiny girl fell down and rubbed her back with a wince.
"I'm sorry!" he cried out and pulled her up.
The girl glared at him, and he soon discovered why. The ice cream she'd been eating had been spilled when he bumped into her.
"I'm so sorry!" he told her desperately. "I'll...I'll buy you another one!"
She was still glaring at him.
"I'll buy you two!"
She thought about it for a moment before nodding, satisfied.
She grabbed his arm and dragged him towards a nearby shop and pointed at the ice cream stand.
"Wait, right now?" he asked her.
She glared at him again.
"I mean, yeah, let's go!" he hastily corrected himself.
She smiled at him and dragged him towards the stand.
Jaune watched the tiny girl eat the the ice cream with a look of absolute ecstasy in her face.
"That looks good." he commented.
She nodded happily as she took another spoonful.
"Really good." he tried again, hoping she'd take the hint.
She nodded again.
"Reeeeaaalllly goooood."
She glanced at him before smiling and scooping some and offering it to him.
"Thank you!" he cheered and opening his mouth.
The girl ignored him and ate it herself.
"Hey!" he cried out indignantly.
She smirked and he glared.
Finally, he backed down with a sigh. "I'm Jaune Arc."
She glanced at him again before going back to her ice cream.
"You're supposed to tell me your name." he informed her.
She glanced at him and seemed to consider it. Then she pointed at her ice cream.
"Sure, I'd like some." he told her.
She shook her head and pointed at the ice cream.
"What?" he asked
She pointed at the ice cream.
"What?" he demanded.
She rolled her eyes and pointed at herself and pointed at the ice cream again.
"You want more?" he tried.
She shook her head, stopped to think about it and started nodding excitedly.
"But I already used up my allowance!" he protested.
She sighed sadly and then once again pointed at herself before pointing at the ice cream.
"I told you I used up my-"
Shes sighed and shook her head and repeated the gesture.
"What? I don't get it! Something about...you?"
She nodded and then pointed at her treat.
"Your name?" he tried.
She nodded excitedly.
"Your name's Ice Cream!" he exclaimed.
She facepalmed and pointed at the flavor.
"Your name is Neopolitan?" he tried.
She nodded.
Strange as it'd been, this was the most fun he'd had in some time.
"Do you...do you want to be my friend? My mom says strangers are friends I haven't met yet." he tried nervously.
She gave him an appraising look.
"I can buy you more ice cream next time we meet." he tried hesitantly.
She immediately nodded excitedly.
"So we can be friends?" he asked her hopefully.
She nodded and held out her hand.
"Huh?" he looked at the hand as if it were a tentacle.
She rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand and shook it.
"Ah!" he nodded in understanding. "Friends then!"
She nodded.
And thus began their strange little relationship.
"Neo!" he called out.
Neo turned around and gave him a confused look.
"Well, you know how some friends give each other nicknames?" he asked her.
She gave him a flat look.
"Hey, I really thought this out!" he exclaimed indignantly. "Neo's an awesome nickname."
She rolled her eyes and shrugged
"Awesome!" he cheered, "so Neo, should we go for some ice cream?"
She nodded excitedly.
Their little tradition continued as they grew slightly older and they were, for the most part, content.
So what if Jaune sometimes showed up looking upset and discouraged? A little bit of family fighting was normal, right?
What he didn't understand was why Neo would sometimes show up bruised or cut.
She claimed she'd fallen down the stairs, but after the third time even he was beginning to suspect something.
"I don't really think you fell down the stairs again," he told her sternly. "It wasn't your step father again, was it?"
She shook her head a little too frantically.
"Neo, you know you can tell me anything, right?"
She nodded, but she looked somewhat sad.
"Right." he told her, knowing he wasn't going to get more out of her today. "Wanna go for some ice cream?"
She nodded.
One day, she showed up in tears.
He'd asked what happened, of course, but had gotten no answer. In the end, all he had been able to do was console her and walk her towards her house.
Back to that jerk she called father.
Now Jaune might have been eight and a little bit slow, and somewhat laid back, but Neo crying wasn't something he was going to overlook.
He called the police that night.
The next day, Neo showed up frightened. After much miming, he managed to get that the police had taken her father away.
He managed to convince her that it might not be that bad.
The next day she showed up with a smile. Her father was gone for now and she'd begun to let herself believe that maybe, just maybe, she was finally free.
They spent the following days happily, doing what children their age are wont to do.
Then one day she didn't show up at all. He waited, but she never came, so he left. This trend continued for three days before he finally decided to go visit her.
He knocked on the door but no one answered, so he went to the back, where he and Neo used a window to sneak in and out.
He snuck in and was hit with an awful smell. He held his nose and went deeper into the house.
"Neo?" he called out as he entered her bedroom. He exited the room and went towards the kitchen. The closer he got, the worse the smell became.
He forced himself to ignore it and walked in.
Had it not been for the blood, had it not been for the cleaver stuck through her forehead, he might've assumed that Neo's mother had simply fallen asleep under the floor.
He fell to his knees and stared with shock at the sight before him.
The awful smell made sense him now.
"YOU!" he turned around and saw Neo's step father glaring at him with hatred.
"YOU CALLED THE POLICE DIDN'T YOU?!" he roared and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him.
Jaune tried to breathe. He tried to kick, to punch, to scratch away at the hands that were squeezing his neck.
"STUPID LITTLE BRAT, I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS TO LITTLE FUCKERS LIKE YOU!"
His vision began to fade when the man suddenly gasped and dropped him.
He immediately began to gasp for air before looking up.
The man was looking down at a cooking knife that had pierced his stomach.
"Wha-?" he fell over.
A scared looking girl stood behind him.
"N-neo?" he managed to gasp out.
The girl looked at him, at her mother and then at the bleeding out man on the floor and she did something he never though she would.
She screamed. She screamed and the world around them shattered.
Jaune watched with horrified shock as the world around him was constantly shattered and reformed. Every now and then something became clear enough for him to recognize.
They were scenes. Scenes of Neo and her mother, scenes of Neo and him, memories.
He grabbed his screaming friend's hand and dragged her out of the house.
He didn't know for how long he'd been carrying his friend, only that she had finally stopped screaming and the world around the was no longer in a constant state of change.
He didn't know where they were, only that they were away. Away from her parents, away from his family stress.
Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and gently placed her down before sitting beside her.
"..." her arms wrapped around him.
"It's going to be okay." he told her, "We'll tell them everything he did. They won't do anything to us."
"No, as a matter of fact things won't be all peachy." a voice corrected him.
For one second he thought it had been his friend, but she seemed as puzzles as he did.
"Who's there?!" he stood up in front of his friend.
"Oh, how cute, defending your little murderer friend."
Neo flinched.
"That wasn't her fault!" he yelled.
"Maybe," and a girl stepped out form the shadows, "but people won't understand that. You know that, don't you, little girl?"
"Don't talk to her!" Jaune demanded.
"Step aside, you're not the one I'm interested in." the girl pushed him aside.
He fell to the floor.
Neo got up and glared at the newcomer.
"Relax, I'm on your side."
Jaune forced himself up.
"I can help you. The people in that city will be after you. Even if you don't go to jail, they'll probably send you to a foster home. Might be worse than your father." the girl told her.
Neo shivered.
"Come with me," the girl commanded, "I can protect you." she offered her hand.
Neo gave him a sad look and took the offered hand.
"Wait!"
Neo shook her head.
"I know you can't go back, but then...then let me come with you." Jaune begged.
Neo blinked.
"If you won't come with me, let me go with you." he begged.
The other girl seemed curious and gave Neo an inquisitive look. "If that's what she wants."
Neo began to nod hesitantly. Jaune grinned at her encouragingly. She smiled back.
"Well, okay then. Welcome to the team." the new girl told him with a shrug.
Beacon Academy Initiation, Emerald Forest
"Jaune, do you... know what Aura is?" Pyrrha asked slowly, hesitantly.
He began to feel that…'Aura' was slightly more important than he'd hoped for, seeing as his partner now looked worried.
Jaune didn't know why, but he felt strongly compelled to stay in Beacon, so he tried to bluff his way out.
"Of course I know what Aura is!" he exclaimed, trying to avoid eye contact, "Do YOU know what Aura is?"
For some reason, Pyrrha smiled before launching into an explanation of what Aura was.
"With practice, our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals." She finished.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "What about monsters?" he asked.
She shook her head. "The monsters we fight lack a soul. They are creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity."
"They are the darkness, and we are the light." She finished.
He flinched at that, but quickly recovered. "That's why we fight them!"
"It's not about why, it's about knowing." She shook her head. "Understanding dark and light helps us manifest our Aura. Everyone has some of both."
He shivered at that because something inside him found itself agreeing, although he didn't know why those words affected him so.
"By baring your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting." She told him.
Jaune blinked. "It's like a force field!"
"Yes, if you want to look at it that way." She agreed. "Now close your eyes."
Jaune blinked again before complying. "Uh…okay."
She touched the side of his head. Her hand was warm.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death." She intoned.
Jaune felt something inside him. A power he didn't know he possessed, a power that was now being unleashed.
"I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee." She finished, and Jaune felt a surge of power, and with it, memories.
Memories of a life he'd forgotten. Memories that had been sealed away along with his Aura.
When he opened his eyes, they were different. Gone were the wide, trusting eyes of the naïve child that had first entered Beacon, replaced with a cold, calculating look.
Pyrrha stumbled, and the cold steel in his eyes sank back, allowing the mask to rise once more. "Are you alright?"
"It's all right. I used my Aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own." She got back up before smiling at him. "You have a lot of it."
He felt himself smile at her even as he mentally analyzed his current situation, his weapons and the tools he had at his disposal. "Wow."
Pyrrha might have assumed he said that about the…"awakening" of his Aura. She would be wrong.
He'd just realized how boned he was.
Jaune got up slowly, silently, making sure not to wake his new team mates.
He had no idea how he'd survived much less been made team leader, but he still had a call to make.
He grabbed his blade before exiting the room.
Remembering the blue prints of the building, he quickly made his way into the roof, the only place he was certain would have no bugs or prying eyes.
He glanced at the blade, Crocea Mors with disgust. It wasn't a bad weapon, but it was one he was unfamiliar with. Not to mention this blade was heavily connected to the life he'd left behind.
But it was necessary to maintain his cover.
Besides, even though Beacon screened new student's belongings before allowing them in, they didn't usually examine the weapons, seeing as they could be customized in so many ways that only experts and their own owners would be able to understand them.
He reached inside the sheathe, where a micro transceiver had been hidden. He turned it on and switched frequencies before placing it on his ear.
"Anyone there?" He spoke.
After a few seconds, he heard someone breathing softly and smiled. "Good to hear you're okay too."
She didn't say anything, but then again, she never did.
"Tell Carrot top I'm in position and will be awaiting further instructions. Miles out."
Even though he couldn't see her, he knew she was smirking.
Undisclosed location, some time ago
"This whole idea is insane." He argued.
Roman nodded. "Yes, and you're going to accept."
He glared at the redheaded man. "I'm going to agree to let you erase my memories and use an identity I discarded a long time ago?"
"Yes. You're going to be Jaune Arc again." Roman responded coldly.
"I told you never to call me that again," he replied just as coldly. "That name means nothing to me anymore. My old family made that abundantly clear."
"No, but it means a lot to others. You have the blood of an Arc, and that's what we need right now." Roman told him, more gently this time.
He grimaced. "And there is no other way?"
Roman shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I'm sorry. I really am, but we need a man on the inside."
He sighed. "But is it necessary to seal my memories?"
Roman nodded. "They're going to be watching you. We need to make sure they take the bait."
He sighed again. "I…Fine, I'll do it. Take care of Neo while I'm gone."
Roman snorted. "The day she needs someone to take care of her is the day that you proudly wear your birth name."
He half smiled at that. "Touché."
"Good luck, kid."
Suspicions: Ren
Ren liked his team leader. Sure, he was a bit incompetent, but he was good natured and always willing to help out someone.
Which was great for whenever he felt like dumping Nora on him so he could get some reading done.
But as he watched him fight Cardin Winchester, he came to a realization.
Jaune Arc had experience fighting.
It would have been incredibly difficult to notice if one didn't know what to look for, but Ren had been trained in many forms of martial arts.
Jaune Arc had at least some rudimentary knowledge on barehanded fighting.
He watched carefully as Cardin threw an attack that connected with Jaune's leg, making him stumble.
That attack was weak, and not particularly damaging. In fact, he had noticed after some time, that every attack that connected wasn't one that could cause permanent harm.
His stance also seemed off, although he didn't know why.
It wasn't until he saw Jaune grab his sword in a reverse grip he himself would have used to defend that he realized why it seemed off.
Every attack, every stance Jaune used was one better suited to knife fighting.
In spite of all outward appearances, Jaune Arc knew how to fight.
The question was then, how good was he really? And why was he hiding it?
Beacon Academy, present time
Yang looked around her. Her team and JNPR were chatting amicably, but she felt like they'd fallen into a routine and if there was anything more boring than routine, she had yet to find it.
"Gah, this is so boring!" she exclaimed.
They all paused and looked at her.
"What is?" Ruby asked her tentatively.
"Everything!" she answered. "It's all so boring!"
"Agreed!" Nora chimed in.
"Why don't you try studying for once?" her partner asked her.
"I said I'm bored!" she snapped.
"What do you suggest we do then?" The Schnee heiress asked her.
She thought about it for a second before a grin appeared in her face. "That's it!"
She looked around her. "We're all going out tomorrow night! No objections!"
"Don't we have an essay due the day after that?" Ruby asked her.
"NO OBJECTIONS." She overruled her sister.
"Well, I guess we could use some relaxing…" Ruby backtracked hesitantly.
"Where would we even be going?" Weiss demanded.
"Oh, I know a place. I beat up the owner, so now he owes me." Yang chirped happily.
"Wait, what?"
"I'll pass." Blake told her.
She glared at her. "You're coming, unless you want me to tell everyone what I found hidden un-"
"I'm going!" Blake interrupted her hastily.
"Well, I'm not. It doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd enjoy." Weiss told them.
Both Ruby and Yang pouted at her. "But Weeeeeeiss!"
"No!"
This would require some degree of subtlety. "Your inability to accept new ideas is one of the reasons you can't be a good leader." She told her team mate seriously.
"Wha-"
"What kind of leader isn't willing to embrace newer and better ideas?" she continued.
"But that is…I mean…I just-"
"Is this what we can expect from the heiress to large companies?" she asked with exaggerated dismay.
"Forget that! I'm in!" Weiss yelled at her, eyes blazing with determination.
"I'm not sure…." Yang replied coyly.
"I'm going and no one's going to stop me!" Weiss almost ordered her.
"Great! What about you guys?" she asked team JNPR.
"We're in!" Nora exclaimed before grabbing Ren and forcefully dragging him towards her.
"Don't I have a say in the matter?" Ren asked flatly.
"Noooope!"
"Great! Jaune? Pyrrha?" Yang asked the two remaining members.
Pyrrha glanced at her partner. "I think I can make the time."
"Awesome! Vomit Boy?" Yang asked Jaune.
"I'm sorry," Jaune rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "I have a job interview that day, so I'll pass."
"Whoa, really? A job?" Yang asked him skeptically.
"You?" Weiss also added incredulously.
Jaune smiled at them. "I just need some pocket money." He got up. "I'm going to bed now, can't look like a zombie during the interview!"
"Damn, I can't believe he's got a job." Yang commented.
"It's good to see he's responsible." Pyrrha answered with a small smile.
"Yeah, no. I bet he's just looking for money to buy gifts for girls." Yang snorted.
"Ooh, does that mean we're getting gifts?" Ruby asked her.
"I like gifts!" Nora added.
Yang had to resist the urge to face palm. "That's not what I meant."
"What?! But I'm a girl and I like gifts!" Ruby pouted.
"Me too!" Nora chimed in.
This time she did facepalm.
Suspicions: Blake
Jaune Arc was, in many ways, completely nondescript.
In fact, had it not been for a conversation they'd had once she might've gone the rest of her life without paying any kind of attention to him.
"I left the White Fang because I could no longer agree with their methods." She told them.
It might have been because she was carefully observing them, looking for any kind of adverse reaction, but she noticed Jaune straighten up and study her carefully.
"Why not?" he asked her. "Isn't it because of them that people at least try to respect Faunus?"
She blinked, surprised. She hadn't thought that Jaune Arc of all people would have sympathies towards a terrorist organization.
"Maybe, but that respect comes out of fear. It's not real." She told him while shaking her head.
"But if it's there, then it's real. And if it's real, who cares how it happened?" he pressed on.
She felt surprised again and examined the blonde carefully. Maybe he was also a faunus in hiding?
"It matters because then we're not really winning their respect. We're just bullying others into accepting us, and that can never be true acceptance." She answered sharply.
In spite of how worried she'd been about JNPR's reactions, none of that mattered to her right now. Right now, there was only one person in the room.
"Some people have to be bullied into accepting new ideas." Jaune countered.
"What the White Fang does isn't as simple as forcing some stubborn idiot to accept new ideas!" she snapped angrily. "They view humans as less than trash, they don't care if innocent people are caught in the crossfire!"
Jaune flinched at that before glaring at her. "Then how do you propose faunus achieve equality?"
"I…I don't know," she admitted, "but I know this can't possibly the right way."
"But what if it's the only way?" he pressed on.
Blake was a realist as well as a bit of a cynic. But she couldn't believe that. "I refuse to believe that's the only way. People here are pretty accepting. People can learn to accept each other."
"Right, because Cardin is such an accepting fellow." Jaune snorted.
"He's one among hundreds." She countered.
"Sometimes that's all it takes." Jaune riposted.
"Maybe, but things already improving here, in part thanks to you." She reminded him.
Gods, when had she become the idealistic one?
Jaune shook his head. "Cardin's still racist. He's just better at hiding it."
"What the White Fang does is the same. The people they kill are still racists, just better at hiding it." She told him.
Jaune opened his mouth before closing it. He sighed.
"I didn't take you for an idealist." He finally told her.
"And I didn't take you for a cynic." She answered.
"An idealist trying to be a cynic, a cynic trying to be an idealist." He snorted, causing her to smile, "I don't care if you were White Fang or if you're a faunus by the way."
She nodded gratefully at him before remembering that they weren't alone.
They were all looking at them with shock. "That is Jaune, right?" she heard Ruby whispering.
She rolled her eyes and looked at Jaune, who seemed completely unperturbed.
She didn't know how or why, but there was no reason to get so emotional over it. Jaune was someone who had or has ties to people in the White Fang.
She resolved to study him more carefully in the future.
Night Club
"It's too bad Jaune couldn't make it." Yang told the redhead as they entered one of her favorite clubs.
Pyrrha forced herself to smile. "No, no, like I said before, it's good to see him being responsible."
She decided to drop it. "Well, let's go get some drinks first! Strawberry milk for you, right, Rubes?"
Ruby nodded happily.
They approached the bartender, who looked very familiar.
"I'll have a Bloo-Jaune?!" Yang almost yelled.
The bartender, now identified as Vomit Boy looked just as surprised as her.
They all stood there silently, staring at each other.
"So this is that job you were talking about?" Ruby finally asked him.
"And this is the club you were talking about?" he asked back.
For a brief moment, she swore she could see anger replace his shock. She decided to defuse the situation.
"So you work here? Niiiice, free drinks!" Yang exclaimed.
Jaune gave her an alarmed look. "I can't do that! I'd get fired!"
"Aww, come on, aren't we all friends here?" she leaned forward, showing off a little more chest.
Jaune turned red. "I-I have to go see to other customers." He blurted out before making a quick escape.
"Yang!" Ruby complained.
Yang began to laugh before she felt a shiver run down her spine. She looked around and saw a tiny girl with pink and brown hair glaring at her.
Which was strange, because this was her first time meeting her. Pretending to be unaware of the dagger currently being glared her way, she carefully monitored the girl as she stood up and made her way towards the blonde bartender.
Unbelievable. Vomit Boy had an actual fan girl.
Jaune was washing the dishes when he suddenly went into full alert. Someone was observing him closely.
He raised the cup he'd been washing and looked at the reflection before sighing in relief and letting the tension leave his body.
He turned around. "Hey, Neo." He greeted her with a smile.
The tiny girl glared at him.
"Umm…Is it okay for us to be meeting here like this?" he asked her.
Her glare intensified.
"Neo? Did I…Did I do something wrong?" he asked nervously.
She huffed and gestured towards his classmates, more specifically, at Yang.
"What?" he asked her.
She pointedly looked away.
He gave her a bewildered look before the realization hit him. Hard.
"I don't like her that way!" he exclaimed.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes before looking away again.
"No, I'm serious!" Oh, gods, how was he supposed to get out of this one? "You know you're the only one I like!" he declared.
She gave him a skeptical look.
"She's too much of a "big sister" type for me to even think of like that!" he went on.
Yang felt her eye twitch and resolved to beat up Jaune the next time she ran into him, although she had no idea why.
Neo began to look mollified. He decided to go for the killing strike.
"Free Ice cream?" he asked her with a winning smile.
She tried to glare at him but relented shortly afterwards and nodded happily.
"Coming right up!" he told her with a wide smile.
Yang watched the byplay between Vomit Boy and the tiny girl with amusement and puzzlement.
Then the tiny girl looked her way and gave her smug smile before accepting a bowl of ice cream from JNPR's leader.
Yang stared after her with shock.
'Does she…Does she think I like him?!' a part of her mentally shrieked.
Not that he was a bad person, mind you, it was just that he was way too…"Jaune Arc" for her to ever seen in a romantic light.
She reached for her glass when it suddenly shattered.
She jumped back, alarmed. "What?!"
"What's wrong with you?" Weiss demanded.
"My glass just shattered!" she gestured at the glass on the table.
"What are you talking about?" Blake looked at the table then back at her.
"Can't you see the glass?" Yang demanded.
"Umm…How much did you drink again?" Ruby asked her hesitantly.
"But the gla…" she trailed off as she realized her glass was fine, it was full and that it was still on the table in one piece.
"But…but it…What the hell!" she cried out.
Neo smirked and kicker her feet happily.
"Jeez, I know you like ice cream, but it can't possibly be that good, right?" Jaune asked her before scooping up more ice cream with his spoon and feeding her.
She gave him a pitying look.
Eventually, all the patrons began to leave. Jaune watched them go with some apprehension. He looked at his watch and left his post as bartender.
He was here for a reason.
"Huh? Where's Jaune?" Pyrrha wondered as she saw the empty bar.
"Might've left already." Ren answered.
"Which doesn't sound like a bad idea right now." Blake added with a sigh as she pointed at the Ruby, Nora and Weiss, who had all passed out and were drooling happily.
Yang picked up her sister. "We'll have to do this again some day."
"No promises." Blake answered flatly as she picked up Weiss.
Ren grunted as he did the same with Nora.
Jaune sighed as he put on his cloak and pulled the hood over his head. He reached for his mask, an ivory mask with two slanted eyes and a thin line curled into smile and put it over his face.
He was no longer Vomit Boy, or Jaune Arc. He walked towards the room where Junior resided at when he wasn't attending customers.
"So I take it you're the one they decided to send?" Junior asked him rhetorically when he saw him come in.
Jaune stopped and nodded. He owed the man as much.
"I like you kid," Junior smiled at him, "but you understand that I won't go down without a fight, right?"
Jaune nodded again. "Can I ask why?"
Junior had been one of their helpers. They had often worked together.
Junior gave him a sad smile. "Why I helped the other side?"
"Yes."
"Because I've seen what our group does to people. I tried to ignore it, gods know I tried, but some of the things we did?" Junior shook his head. "We all have a special seat in hell, but with some luck, the twins will get out of this life."
Huh. So that's why the twins were nowhere in sight.
Junior drew his club. "Let's get started!" he roared before charging at him.
Jaune drew his knife.
"Should we maybe go see if Jaune's done?" Pyrrha asked them.
"You can if you want to, but I have to put my little sister to bed." Yang told her as she carried a sleeping Ruby.
Ren sighed as he carried a happily unware sleeping Nora and nodded in agreement.
Pyrrha chuckled. "I'll catch up to you as soon as I'm able then."
She quickly made her way back to the club.
Junior swung his club at him and Jaune posed himself to parry it and counter attack and then mentally screamed as Junior got past his defenses and slammed his club into his side.
He activated his semblance before the force of the strike sent him flying.
Suddenly, Junior was once more in the process of swinging his club at him, but his position had been shifted. Jaune was now a few feet to the side, the position he'd ended in when he activated his semblance.
Junior's attack was completely off the mark.
Jaune lunged forward and grimaced disappointedly as Junior managed to twist his body. The knife still pierced the older man's shoulder.
Junior cried out and threw a punch at him, forcing him to disengage, but not before he savagely twisted the knife, making Junior cry out again.
"Your semblance is a nasty piece of work, do you know that?" Junior asked him as he rubbed his bleeding shoulder.
Jaune breathed heavily as his semblance took its toll on him.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked out loud. The club was empty, although the door had been open. She hesitantly walked in.
His side was still heavily damaged from Junior's attack and his semblance had already begun to break down his body.
"How many more jumps do you think you can pull off?" Junior pointed his club at him, now in bazooka form. "Even going back a few seconds is causes you intense pain, doesn't it?"
Jaune said nothing, still breathing hard.
"Just let me go. Tell them you failed, or that you succeeded, or anything, I don't care," Junior pleaded. "I don't want to hurt you."
Jaune considered his options.
Pyrrha heard a voice coming from the second floor of the club and walked towards the stairs, but not before drawing her weapon. Her instincts, honed by years of combat, were screaming at her.
"Make the right choice." Junior almost begged.
Jaune threw his dagger at him.
Junior swung his bat to deflect it and Jaune immediately reached for his crossbow and activated his semblance once more.
Junior swung his bat to deflect the thrown dagger, which left him open to the crossbow bolt that Jaune fired at him.
Junior's eyes widened as the bolt pierced his chest. His hand reached up and held the bolt which he looked at with confusion.
He looked up at him and gave him a confused look before coughing blood and falling to his knees.
Jaune approached him slowly even as he struggled to breathe. His semblance was taking its toll on his body.
The old man's eyes widened in realization before he gave him a pained look. "I…just…"
Jaune stopped and examined the man carefully.
"Best for…twins…" Junior coughed more blood and finally fell over.
Jaune was at his side before he could hit the floor and gently lowered him to the floor.
Junior's eyes were panicked.
"I promise I won't let anything happen to the twins." He told the dying man.
His eyes widened and slowly a smile appeared on his face even as his eyes began to dull.
"Thank…you."
Jaune closed his eyes and sighed softly.
"Jaune?" his head snapped towards the entrance, where a familiar red headed was.
He internally cursed.
"Who are you?" she asked coldly as she pointed her rifle at him.
He had never before been so grateful for his mask and hood.
She saw a figure in the room and hesitantly called out to it.
"Jaune?" The figure's head was suddenly on her. A mask concealed his face and a hood covered the rest of his head, covering everything about him.
Pyrrha glanced at the man lying on a pool of his blood and at the masked man who had a crossbow in his hand.
It didn't take a prodigy to figure out what had happened here.
"Who are you?" she asked the masked assassin.
The dark coat the man wore clashed with the ivory mask he wore. A mask with two slanted eyes and a thin line curled into a small smile.
The man looked her way for a few seconds.
"Get on your kneed and drop your crossbow." She told him coldly.
If the man had done anything to her leader she was going to hurt him. She was going to hurt him most grievously.
The man ignored her and closed the dead man's eyes.
"I said-" The man was suddenly up and coming towards her, fast.
She fired a few shots and the man…shattered. Shattered as if he were made of glass.
Her eyes widened with surprise before she was struck by a realization.
'An illusion.'
The masked man had escaped
Debriefing
Jaune walked into the hotel for the debriefing.
The moment he walked into the room Neo was on him, touching him, holding him.
"Whoa!" he cried out as she fussed over him.
"I'll be fine!" he told reassured her.
She gave him an inquisitive look.
"I just overused my semblance a little. It hurts to move, but I should be fine after a good night's rest!" And a lot of pain killers, but that part went unsaid. "I'm sorry I worried you."
She huffed, but she didn't let go of him.
"We're all here then." Roman commented.
Jaune shrugged and Neo, as expected, said nothing.
"Man, this is why I love talking to you guys. It's just me and me!" Roman told them cheerfully.
The two others in the room rolled their eyes.
"Tough crowd." Roman sighed. He reached into his coat and drew a folder. He cleared his throat. "Good job with the security leak."
Jaune nodded before looking at the only female in the room. "Thanks for the assist. I don't know what I would've done without you."
Neo smiled at him benignly, but he knew he would soon be treating her to her favorite ice cream place.
Roman rolled his eyes. "Ah, to be young again." He muttered under his breath.
Neo shot him a small glare. He raised his hands in a placating gesture.
Jaune chuckled and gave her shoulders a small squeeze.
Her glared dropped and she went back to her usual smile. Roman sent the younger boy a nod of gratitude.
"Anyways, as you all know," he brought up the second reason they were meeting personally, "some of our…attempts to gather dust have been thwarted by some pests."
Jaune chuckled. "You mean you underestimated a little girl and got beaten."
Neo laughed silently as she agreed.
Roman frowned. "That aside, we believe that we have, at this point, acquired enough information on Beacon's best and brightest."
Jaune looked at him with a dawning sensation of comprehension. "Then…"
Roman nodded. "We're moving on to phase two."
Jaune frowned. "Is that…is that really necessary?"
Both Roman and Neo gave him inquisitive looks.
"I mean…" Jaune hesitated. "They're not bad people…Is it really necessary to…" he couldn't bring himself to finish that.
Roman frowned. "You've formed attachments."
Jaune shook his head furiously. "No, I just don't think they're bad people!"
Roman shrugged. "Sometimes we do bad things to good people."
Jaune sighed. "Yes, of course…but…are we…" he looked up. "Are we really doing the right thing?"
Neo said nothing, although he knew she was listening intently to their conversation.
"Yes," Roman nodded, "You know what we're trying to do."
Jaune looked down. "I know. But lately, it seems as though doing bad things to good people is the only thing we do."
Roman glared at him. "What about the White Fang? They would have been wiped out without us. No one would take them seriously if it weren't for us."
That was true enough. "Touché."
But then…Why was Blake fighting against them? Why did Blake hate what the White Fang had become so much?
Why were all the people he met at Beacon, good, innocent people, so hell bent on stopping them?
Aftermath
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out before running towards him and almost tackling him.
"Whoa!" he cried out. He hugged her back a bit awkwardly. "What's this about?"
"Didn't you hear?" Ren asked him.
"Hear what?" Jaune gave him a confused look.
"The man who runs the place you work in…he's…he's dead." Pyrrha answered him.
His face paled. "What?"
"Pyrrha ran into the killer. We thought something had happened to you!" Nora exclaimed.
He gently pried his partner off of him. "Are you guys okay? He didn't hurt any of you, right?" he asked them with concern etched clearly on his face.
"No, no, we were more worried about you. Where were you last night?" Pyrrha asked him.
"The boss sent me on some errand around the city." Jaune replied with a look of alarm of his face. "If he hadn't sent me…"
"Let's not think about it." Pyrrha hugged him again.
"Right." Jaune sighed with relief.
"Jaune?" Ren called him.
"Yeah?"
"How did you know the killer was a man?" he asked him.
"What?" Jaune's eyes widened,
"Before, when you were talking about the killer. You said "he." Ren reminded him, "How did you know it was a he and not a she?"
"Huh? But a girl wouldn't just kill others like that, right? They're more gentle!" Jaune told with confusion.
Nora giggled. "Oh, Jauney, you say some of the cutest things sometimes."
"What?" Jaune looked at her with alarm.
Interlude
Ozpin glanced at his Scroll as it beeped at him. He turned it on.
General James Ironwood's face appeared on the screen.
"General." Ozpin greeted.
"Ozpin."
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Ozpin asked.
"The Faceless Assassin is active again." Ironwood informed him,
Ozpin's eyes widened. "Are you certain?"
"One of your own students saw him."
"Which one?" Ozpin asked
"The Invincible Girl." Ironwood replied.
"What did he do?"
"He killed a defector by the name of Junior. The owner of that club, the one that began to give us information in exchange for protection for the two girls." Ironwood answered.
"Why would he become active now, after all this time?" Ozpin wondered.
"We're not too sure yet. We just wanted you to know. Do let us know if you find anything." Ironwood told him.
"Thank you."
The screen went black.
Revelations and Realizations
"You…you lied to me. You've been using me my entire life." Jaune whispered, horrified.
Roman shrugged. "It depends on your point of view."
"But then…Faunus rights? A world where there is no discrimination?" Jaune asked desperately.
Roman gave him an incredulous look. "Faunus rights? Look at them! Everyone hates them now! The world Cinder spoke of? Don't make me laugh!"
Jaune took a step back. "But she...then everything I've been doing?"
Roman gave him a pitying look. "Wake up, kid! Everything we've done so far was done to put our people in charge!"
He'd suspected, of course. Wondered every now and then if he was doing the right thing, especially after particularly morally ambiguous missions.
Roman held out his hand. "What do you say, kid? You can still be in the winning team. Come back to us, and you can live in your perfect little world for as long as you want."
But he had been happy with them.
With her.
He had so desperately wished to believe that he was fighting for the right thing.
Jaune looked down, hiding his face. "Did Neo know? The entire time?"
"Of course."
Jaune began to nod slowly and smiled sadly. "I see…Gods, I've been such an idiot." He took Roman's offered hand.
Roman smiled. "Smart boy. I always knew you were one of us."
Then he gasped as Jaune pulled him in and slid in the knife.
"What?" he gasped out, looking down at the hilt protruding from his chest. He looked up and met Jaune's cold, empty eyes with a look of shock.
"That kind of world is only perfect for you." Jaune whispered.
"You fool!" Roman snarled as blood began to come out of his mouth. "You miserable, wretched fool! We offered you everything and you'd throw it away for them?! For your new friends?"
Jaune's gaze remained unwavering.
"They'll never forgive you. In the end, they'll abandon you, just like your family!" Roman grasped the neck of his coat, "You'd throw away your time with us for that?!"
"No," Jaune finally answered, and in spite of his best efforts, sadness leaked into his voice, "I'd throw it all away to save what's left of myself."
"Wha-" Roman gasped out as Jaune pulled out the knife and almost gently pushed his former friend away.
To Jaune, it seemed as though an eternity passed before Roman finally hit the floor, but when he did, he began to shake all over.
The bloodied knife fell from his trembling hand and his vison became blurry.
"Goodbye, Roman Torchwick. I…I'll miss you." The tears began to fall as he reached for his fallen friend's face to close his eyes.
Afterwards, he looked up, eyes still wet.
'Now I know what I have to do.' his eyes lost all traces of emotion and became cold steel once more. He picked up the bloodied knife and put his mask back on right as he heard footsteps approaching his area.
He grimaced and reached into his coat.
Team RWBY and the NPR of JNPR regrouped after finally defeating all the rampaging security bots.
"You guys alright?" Ruby asked them as they began to run towards the next warehouse.
"We can still kick names and take ass!" Nora cheered.
"That's the spirit!" Yang agreed whole-heartedly.
"Would you two concentrate?" Weiss demanded, "Our primary objective should be around here!"
"There's something wrong here." Pyrrha commented.
"Agreed. There should be more opposition as we get closer to the target." Blake added.
"I think I see the door." Ren informed them.
"Right! Let's bust in and get this done!" Ruby called out.
"You dunce, we have to be careful!" Weiss snapped although she was right next to her leader and partner as they approached their target.
They had been expecting to see Roman, ready to fight them, or some kind of new and powerful robot.
Instead, they found Torchwick lying on a pool of his own blood and a masked man standing over him.
"You." Pyrrha whispered. They all aimed their weapons at him and began to spread out, cutting off all escape routes.
The masked assassin's head tilt to a side.
"Did you…did you kill him?" she asked.
He remained silent.
"Did you kill him?" she demanded, louder now.
For a second or so, the assassin remained still. Then he slowly began to nod.
"Why?" she whispered. "Weren't you working together?"
It was hard to tell with the mask, but it seemed to them as though the assassin looked down.
Pyrrha gave him a sad, pitying look before her eyes hardened. "We're taking you in. Drop all your weapons and put your hand behind your head."
The assassin slowly reached into his coat and pulled out a knife and held it out in front of him.
"Drop it!" Pyrrha ordered.
He seemed to consider his chances.
"Please, just drop it!"
The man let the knife fall from his hand.
She sighed in relief but then the man also threw himself down, covering his ears.
The room exploded in a flash of light.
Jaune immediately got back up after the explosion and threw himself to a side to avoid the ice that suddenly sprouted where his feet had been.
He was surprised that they didn't attempt to fire at him, but he didn't let that stop him from fleeing the area.
It had been a simple trick, really.
He'd scattered all the flash bangs around the area right before they came in. Then he'd made sure he was the center of attention, giving the grenades time to go off.
He was about to allow himself to think that he'd managed to escape when a bullet shot past him, just barely missing his head.
"Stop!" he heard Pyrrha order.
He internally smiled. His former partner was truly a monster in the field of battle.
He was going to miss her, he realized.
"I said stop!" another bullet barely missed him. "Jaune, please!"
This time he did stop.
All his former friends were looking at him, with looks varying from resignation to sadness.
"I don't know why you're doing this, but I refuse to believe that I…that we meant nothing to you." Pyrrha pleaded, lowering her weapon, "So please, please come back."
Ren nodded at him and gave him thumbs up and a small smile.
"Jaune-Jaune, you can't just leave us like this, right?" Nora chimed in.
"Jaune, please. I don't want to lose my best friend." Ruby begged him with teary eyes.
"Hmph, I always knew you were a fool, but I didn't think you were the kind to make a maiden cry." Weiss chimed in. "But I'm willing to forgive you if you give this up now."
"Yeah, come on, Vomit Boy!" Yang added. She received dirty looks from Pyrrha and Ruby. "We're all friends here, right?"
"What you're doing isn't right. I know because I was in your position years ago." Blake told him solemnly, "Don't make the same mistakes I made."
He began to feel tempted. He wanted to go back, to talk to his friends, to train with Pyrrha, to mess around with Ren, to mess with others with Nora.
To dork over things with Ruby, to try and make Weiss smile. To chat about books with Blake, to tease and to get teased by Yang…
He wanted to be Jaune Arc again.
'They'll never forgive you. In the end, they'll abandon you, just like your family'
He made his decision.
"The man you knew as Jaune Arc never existed." He answered coldly, hardening his heart.
Many of them flinched or gave him shocked looks. He immediately turned around and ran away, drawing his crossbow before firing one of his wired bolts to a faraway building.
He forced himself to ignore their cries.
He felt nothing, he told himself as the bolt pulled him away from what had been some of the happiest days of his life.
He felt nothing, even if his current mission was to stop the people he'd once called family, people that he'd loved.
He felt nothing, even if he might have to kill his first friend.
He felt nothing, he told himself again, hoping repetition would make it true.
AN: Obvious inspiration include Darker than Black. I would have written how the other characters become suspicious, but that would've turned this chapter into more of a bloated monstrosity than it already is, so I chose the two most observant ones. Sigh, I'm wondering whether I should split these little stories into two parters. This might just be the longest chapter I've ever written, and it still lacks a lot of the things I planned to add.