"What are the particular aspects of part-humans and part-grimms?" the professor said, looking around the room. Jaune almost raised his hand, almost, but thought better of it. He learned at an early age to not broadcast who he was, to just sit still and pretend like nothing was wrong with him. It got him this far, so he didn't question it.
"Anyone?" the professor asked again. He signed. Nobody raised their hand, Jaune thought at least Pyrrah might have know. The professor continued to drone on and on, losing Jaune's interest.
The bell rang, joulting Jaune from whatever daydream he had. Jaune gathered his things and walked out, focused on getting ti class on time. He developed a habit of being late, and he been threated by many of his teachers.
As soon as he exited the lecture hall, he could hear heavy footsteps aprouch him. Jaune whipped around and cam face-to-face his tormentor, his arch enemy, Cardin Winchester.
"What do you need?" Jaune sputtered to Winchester.
"Well you see, my history professor gave me a essay I can't possibably do. I figured that you might find time in your busy day to do it for me. If you don't, well I can't promise I won't just slip up-"
"Yeah sure, I'll do it," Jaune rushed in. Winchester smiled.
"Great, I keep ln telling the guys your cool, this just proves it. Don't let me down!" Winchester finshed, walking away. Jaune briefly wondered if he was really going to class, or if he was just going to skip it. He expected Jaune to do all of his work for him.
"Jaune, you coming?" Pyrrah asked, appearing next to him.
"To where?" he asked, she smiled.
"Next class. Really, are you that forgetable?" she said teasenly.
"I guess so," he said, and followed her to his next class. Once inside, Jaune looked around, not spotting Winchester anywhere. He was right.
Jaune sat down next to Nora. She turned to him and asked, "Where were you last night? I looked over, 'cause I could not go to sleep, and then I saw that your bunk was empty, so I went into the halls and looked for you." Any other person would be gasping for breath, but not Nora. Jaune didn't think anything could keep her from talking. She lost intrest in him after he didn't answer for a few second and started to talk to Ren.
Pyrah leaned over and whispered, "How did they end up together?" Jaune was about to answer, but a professor walked in.
For most of the class, Jaune pretended to be taking notes, when, in reality, was writing Winchesters paper. He took on monster, and came out unsrached, but he was still scare a low-class bully. No was no logic behind it, but then again, where was there logic behind anything in his life?
As Jaune left left the class to go to lunch, he was yank into a empty lecture hall.
"Hey, what the heck?" he shouted, trying to look around and see who attacked him.
"Relax, Arc, we're just going to have a little talk," said a voice that was clearly Winchester's. Jaune couldn't see anyone else in the class. He was still unsure if he was happy about that, or worried. A hand remained firmly on his shoulder.
"I've done your homework, I've done your essays, I've done everything you asked," Jaune said. Winchester chuckled. What was it about him Jaune found so terrifing?
"It's not the homework, but don't stop working on it, buddy," Winchester squeezed Jaune's shoulder, making him cridge.
"Stop!" he pleaded.
"That's more like it," Winchester said, his voice almost gleeful. He was really a sadist.
"What do you want, Cardin?" Jaune asked.
"I followed you last night, intresting preformence by the way," Jaune tensed at this. Winchester was the last person he wanted to see about his "preformence."
"Whatever you saw-"
"What I saw was you having the same powers as the creatures we hunt. Are you one of them? Are you a monster?" Winchester demanded.
"No, I'm not a monster," Jaune said, sick to his stomach.
"I saw different, I also saw weapons that weren't yours. Did you steal those from someone who actually desvured to be in this school?"
"I'm not the one who beats on people to write their papers," Jaune muttered. Winchester growled and hit Jaune wit a solid punch to the stomach. Jaune doubled over, gasping.
"I don't need papers to fight monsters, I need stength. I'm also not a monster, so yeah, I deserve to be in this school."
"I'm not a monster!" Jaune yelled, close to tears. He wished everyone was like Ruby. But they couldn't be, there was only one Ruby. There was also only one Winchester, and he was standing here yelling at Jaune that very moment.
"I saw differently, I should put you down right now," Winchester said again. "I saw you lighting up and doing this crazy shit not human could ever do. Your a monster, just accept it." Jaune wanted to say something, but thought better of it. Winchester was intimidating at the best of times, but at the moment, he was just scary.
Suddenly, there were voices and the sound of people walking outide. Both Jaune and Winchester looked up.
"We'll finish this later," Wincester said, pushing Jaune to the ground and running out. Just before he exited, he looked over his shoulder and called out, "Watch your back." Jaune sat there for a few seconds, as the first person entered the room.
"Jaune?"
"Ruby, I thought you were at lunch," Jaune said. Ruby walked down the stairs and sat down next to Jaune.
"You need blood?" she asked after a moment. Jaune shook his head. "I need a new life," he muttered. She looked up.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," he replied. They sat there for a while, just focusing on the sounds of eachothers breathing. Ruby broke the silence by getting up. As she was about to leave, Jaune called out, "Ruby!"
She turned around and looked him in the eye.
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to say thank you," he said, shyly.
"For what, I didn't do anything?"
"Thank you for not hating me," Jauen said, thinking of Winchester, and how he threated him.
"Jaune, I could never hate you, even if I tried," she said, shooting him a smile. He loved that smile. "Just be careful of who you tell. Most people won't be accepting as I am."
He figured that out a long time ago.
"Just make sure you save me a spot in the lunch room," he called out as she left.
"Will do, vomit-boy," he smiled. At first, that nickname was annoying, now it was cute. After she left, he sat there for a few seconds before leaving, food was the only thi ng on his mind.
When Jaune was little, one of the first things he remembered was not to brodcast who he was. His parents thought that maybe the special aroa wouldn't show up in their son.
Jaune, when he was six, broke that rule. He remembered wanting to show off his powers to some of his friends. They all thought he was usless in a fight. They thought he was going to end up behind a desk, not a warrior like his dad. He may have been six, but he still and feelings about proving himself.
One day after school, he brought three of his friends out to the forest where he knew there was some easy monster to kill. None of his friends ever killed a monster.
"Where are we going?" one of them asked.
"I want to show you something," the other boys jumped up and down. For the whole way the rumbled off different theroies.
They stopped in a clearing.
"Why did we-" one of the boys started, but was cut of my a loud growl.
"What was that?" said the others, whimpered.
"What I want to show you," he said. Both boys looked frighted, but didn't leave.
Thr monster came into the clearing. His fur a ugly black color, his face a red and white mask, he walked on all four paws. The monster stood on his back two paws and growled. When he came down, he looked at Jaune with furry in his eyes. Jaune smiled and ran forward.
He wasn't prefroming for his friends anymore. He was fighting for his life, because if he lost, there was no way him or his friends would be alive.
The monster came forward, snapping his huge jaws, which Jaune quickly dodged. He grabbed the monsters head and slammed it to the ground, an awful crack followed. The monster, with its last bit of stength, slashed at Jaune's leg, cutting it open. As blood poured from the open wound, Jaune fell to the ground, screaming.
The same moment, the monster died. His friends were long since gone.
Later, he never talked to those two boys again. When he saw them, both went in different directions. He learned from that day forward to always be careful and never tell who he was.
Thank you for everyone who resonded well to my last chapter, seriously, you guys are amazing. Remember to review.
