A/N: Well here is chapter 4. Quite a bit longer than some of the previous chapters and I'm quite glad about that. Oh! Before I forget, one reviewer pointed out a logical disconnect in chapter one that he saw.

Thank you to wbrendon89!

I changed the chapter now so it makes a slight bit more sense just for you.

If anyone finds more logical faults throughout the story feel free to leave a review stating what it is!


Easy Till It Aint


Jaune collapsed to his knees, sweat pouring out of every pore across his body. His sword and shield clattered pitifully to the floor. Pyrrha stared him down, her own weapons poised for the killing blow.

The two stared at each other for a moment before Pyrrha sighed and lowered her weapons to her side.

"Jaune, you need to widen your stance a bit and lower your center of gravity." She clicked her tongue at him and smiled. "That's why you keep getting thrown off balance."

He got to his feet slowly, Pyrrha had been working him like a dog and it had only been the first night. "I feel like that's not the only problem..."

"What do you mean?" Her eyes widened only the smallest amount as she cocked her head to the side.

"I don-." He almost fell to the floor a second time when his legs gave out from under him but Pyrrha swiftly caught him mid descent. "Ugh...don't worry bout Pyr."

He rubbed a palm over his abused shoulders. He lost count of how many times Pyrrha had slammed him into the floor like some kind of rag doll but it was more than enough to kill any pride he might have had in his abilities.

"Well lets take a break from sparring for now." The red haired champion helped him lurch over to a bench where he could rest. She set him down gently and sat next to him, legs crossed and smile ever present.

As though she hadn't just sent him through the proverbial grinder.

He couldn't believe just how strong the champion was. He knew she was talented but she moved so much faster than him he couldn't believe it. They say you need to see something to believe it and Pyrrha, well...she moved a fair bit faster than he could perceive.

"I thought," Jaune gasped for breath as he leaned back and wiped more sweat from his brow, "we would start with techniques and stances or something." His breathing didn't let up even as he flashed her a grin. "Didn't think you would start with this." He spread his arms, drawing attention to the numerous scrapes and dents littering his armor.

Pyrrha simply rolled her eyes and poked him in the chest. "Well I wanted to know exactly what we were working with before I started any lessons."

"And..."

"Well..." She paused for a moment, how could she word this so he wouldn't take it as a personal insult? "You're not hopeless Jaune, lets get that out of the way first." She moved her hand onto his shoulder and squeezed lightly. "You're just very inexperienced. You have good instinct and your reactions are above average. Once you've mastered basic techniques for sword play you'll be able to face most of the students here and do relatively okay."

"So," Jaune gave her a deadpan stare, "in summation, I really suck and need to learn how to fight?"

"...That's not what I said."

"Can you look me in the eye and say that?"

"I did!"

"You need to keep eye contact for the entire statement Pyrrha."

She rolled her eyes and stood up to stretch her limbs. "Alright that's enough rest! We should get started on some basic training."

His eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "I thought that's what we were doing right now?" He noted her smile got noticeably more Yang-like. It didn't bode well at all for him.

"I said that was an evaluation Jaune." Her face remained ever calm but he could see the mirth dancing between her eyes. "The real training starts now."

As she dragged him back onto the training floor despite his protesting, Jaune couldn't help but smile. He was in a terrific mood now that he and Pyrrha had moved on past his initial mistake. Her enthusiasm to teach him fighting techniques was a refreshing change of pace from his parents own reluctance.

As she barked out instructions to him and he clumsily followed along, they found themselves grinning with each other.

Everything really had turned out for the better.


"Argh!" Roman slammed his head into his desk. "Could things get any worse?"

Across his desk were several maps, each one had a host of locations either circled or crossed out. Lines connected even more locations and illegible notes scrawled across the margins between cities and countries.

"Um...is this a bad time boss?" His head shot back up as one of his peons entered his presence. He narrowed his eyes and gave him a withering glare. He felt a certain satisfaction as the unfortunate messenger took a step back in appropriately stammered out apologies for disturbing him.

"Let me ask you something," Roman languidly rose out of his seat, all the while keeping complete and unwavering eye contact with the bulky, suited up goon. "When you heard me slam my head into the desk and shout expletives, did you think it was good sign to interrupt me?"

"Um..."

Roman cut him off immediately.

"No, actually don't answer that. I doubt you even followed half of what I just said so I'll spell out what your answer should be." He raised his cane and rapped it against the man's skull. "The answer," he spread his arms wide and leaned in as though he was telling him some great secret, "is 'no', it was absolutely not a good time."

"O-okay..." The poor messengers voice stammered out as Roman's gaze forced him to shrink further in. "It's just that-"

"It's just what!" Roman was about two more stammers away from simply firing an explosive round into the man's-

"Cinderishereandshewantstoseeyou!" His words came out in a garbled mess. He shut his eyes preparing for the wrath of his boss to overtake him. Instead all he heard was the clattering of a cane meeting the floor. He cracked one eye open to see his boss open jawed and wide eyed. Despite every signal in his brain telling him to stop, the goon opened his mouth. "You...you alright boss?"

Roman picked up his cane and carefully inspected it, it wouldn't do for it to have any blemishes otherwise he would have to get a new one immediately. He straightened his coat, fished another cigar out from his pocket, stuck it between his teeth, and lit it.

The goon could only stare at his boss. What had happened? He had literally just done a complete 180 shift in his mood and went from ready-to-kill to calm-and-cool. "Um...bo-"

"How long has she been waiting?"

"She just got here."

"Any idea what she wants?" He blew a long cloud of smoke out of his lungs as though he had somehow 'seen this shit' one too many times.

"No...she seemed kind of upset though."

He held the smoke in this time, letting it rest in his lungs for far longer than was appropriate or healthy. Though smoking wasn't really healthy at all. "Really now? What makes you say that?"

"She didn't knock this time. The door sorta just turned into ash. Still all smiles though..."

"Uh huh...smiles...right."

"Yeah..."

"Fuck me." Roman closed his eyes and slapped his palm to his head. What the hell was she doing here now? She never came here unless it was bad news for him. She considered it beneath her to spend time in the presence of 'low life miscreants and common criminals'.

"Well I guess I should go greet her now." Idly swinging his cane, Roman strut towards the door.

"So what shou-" The goon was interrupted when Roman casually stuck the end of his cane into his mouth.

"Don't speak, don't bother us, and most importantly, don't cause trouble." He emphasized his words by removing his cane from the goons mouth and slapping it on the floor.

"...ow…" The suited man rubbed his abused jaw and watched as his boss was swallowed by the darkness of the hallway. Though when he thought about it, despite how rough Roman could be, he was far better company than that Cinder woman, he thought to himself.

"Ah!" He screamed when said boss shot an explosive round into the room, beckoning him to leave it immediately.

Needless to say, he obeyed.


"Roman..." He kept his gaze on her eyes even as her silky voice beckoned him to look elsewhere. Years of experience had shown him what women could do to unsuspecting men should they falter. He was no unsuspecting man however so his eyes remained firmly glued to her her own, unblinking in their determination.

"Why exactly are you here Cinder?" He noticed how her eyes narrowed only for the briefest of moments, how her forearms tensed a bit more than usual, how the temperature of the room rose just the slightest degree.

"It is not your place to ask questions Roman. I do," she walked, no, she stalked forwards, every step punctuating a new word, "what I want to do."

A single bead of sweat formed on his forehead. Her body was an inferno, even though she wasn't even touching him he could feel it.

It was like standing just far enough from a bonfire so the ice cold of the world and the searing heat of the fire met midway through your body. Freezing you from behind, keeping you from moving back, while burning you from the front, making it impossible to move forwards.

"I...see..." A tongue swept over chapped lips, hydrating them for only the briefest of moments.

"But," the heat disappeared and the cold of the warehouse returned, Roman welcomed it heartily with a relieved sigh. "I am here to ask you a question, my dear Roman."

"And what might that be?"

"Why has my dust supply stopped growing?" Her single question was punctuated with a return to the blisteringly uncomfortable heat. Despite the discomfort though, he refused to break his gaze or take a step back. He knew what happened to the weak in this world and he refused to be counted among them.

"Because dear," the temperature shot up more than just a few notches as her eyes fully narrowed, "dust shipments to Vale slowed down immensely as of recent. Turns out fewer and fewer people are willing to ship to Vale when they know there's a good chance it'll go 'missing'."

"The Schnee Dust Company has their own shipping methods and they are still going strong. Why have you not aimed your," she made an uncharacteristic show of emotion as a sneer formed on her face at the thought of his 'low life criminals', "forces at those shipments?"

"Because of what you just said. They have their own shipping means and also their own shipping...insurance." He held back his eye roll and instead kept solid eye contact and blew a cloud of smoke to the side. "Insurance being the SPSD; Schnee Professional Security Division."

"And this little security group is a problem?" The heat began to turn, creating currents where there were none before. Her face remained calm and collected, a complete antithesis to their surrounding.

"Believe it or not, my goons over here aren't equipped to handle high tech security forces like the SPSD." The turning currents were a welcome change from the stifling heat that had directly preceded them but were still uncomfortable. He shifted slightly and grimaced as he felt his slacks stick to his sweaty legs.

"Oh really now, is your group really that ill-equipped?" The heat disappeared in an instant again but was replaced by Cinder's cold smirk as she lifted a hand to cup his cheek. "Or is it their leader who's 'ill-equipped'."

He nearly broke composure at the insult but instead let the tobacco fill his lungs again, calming him down. Though blowing the smoke over Cinder's head so obviously was clearly an insult in itself, or at least she took it that way, judging by how his cigar disappeared into ash instantly.

"Ah..."He looked remorsefully at the wasted cigar. "Well dear," he emphasized the 'dear' very hard this time, "first and foremost I'm a thief, not a robber. So of course I don't have weapons of mass destruction to match the military might of an Atlas owned company."

"Oh, and pray tell, what is the difference between a thief and a robber?"

"Robbing is done with a gun, thieving is done with a brain." He rolled his eyes this time, smirking right back at her. "I steal things dear and the world knows it, but until recently I've never been one for excessive violence."

"So you're too much of a coward to confront anything head on is what I'm hearing."

"No-"

"Quiet." Her word was final and Roman recognized the end of their conversation by silencing himself. "I don't care what the world used to think of you Roman. I don't care that you're not a 'robber'. You will get those dust shipments from the Schnee," She placed the palm of her hand onto his chest. In Roman's defense, he didn't flinch, even as the elegant hand reached scorching levels of heat. "or you will pay the price."

She walked briskly away, leaving a scorch mark on Roman's otherwise immaculate white suit. His eyes trailed her until her form disappeared. He sighed and poked at his burnt clothes.

"Ugh..." She was such a difficult person to deal with, not even the other crime lords were as bad as her. He grimaced as he felt the sticky sweat clinging to his body.

He needed a damn shower.

"Um...boss?" Roman's eyes snapped up to see his goon standing in the corner of the room, rivulets of sweat ran down his face. "What sh-"

"Go back to whatever the hell you were doing before you moron!" He slammed his cane into the wall, embedding it through the reinforced steel.

"G-Got it boss!" He ran off, wondering what the hell kind of life choices he had made to lead him to this point. Whatever they were, he was seriously regretting them now.

Crazy flame woman, angry super criminal boss, and now he was hearing rumors that they would have to start working with legit psychopaths soon…

He sighed again and looked at his knockoff Atlesian Digitech Watch, it was already midnight…

He really wasn't paid enough for this shit.


"But the nevermore stood no chance once it had fallen to the forest ground! I quickly made my way over, pectorals flexing and glisten-"

"Psst! Pyrrha..." Near the back of the room, Jaune Arc turned his head ever so slightly towards his partner. Pyrrha flicked her eyes at him for a brief moment before returning them to their...bombastic professor.

"Yes Jaune?" Her voice was barely audible over the sounds of Peter Port stomping across the room while shouting and whooping at every vaguely remembered hit and strike.

"Do you understand a single thing he's said so far?"

"...It's important to pay attention Jaune. He's a full fledged hunter and I'm sure he has a cacophony of knowledge-"

"BUT USING THE STRENGTH OF MY IMMENSE BICEPS, I QUICKLY-" Peter's voice rang across the room as he reached the climax of his tale. Several students were startled awake and nearly rose out of their seats at the sharp increase in volume. Blake Belladonna chose instead to cower deeper into her seat as she massaged the top of her skull. Her blond partner could only give her a pitying look of confusion. The sound must have given her a headache.

"…Jaune I'm sure these tales have some intrinsic value we're just not seeing..."

"So you're admitting you haven't understood a single thing either aren't you." Jaune said his words with a sort of finality that had even Pyrrha sighing and nodding in acceptance. Even she was having a hard time understanding what bulging pectorals and immense biceps had to do with Grimm theory.

Jaune turned his attention to the other two members of his team. "What about you Ren?"

"Huh?" Ren looked up from his notebook in confusion.

"Do you know what he's talking about?" Jaune tilted his head towards the professor, who was now mimicking a some wrestling situation he had found himself in with the nevermore.

"Jaune...I don't think the professor even knows what he's talking about at this point." As polite as Ren wanted to be, he had reached the limits of his patience a long time ago with the professors lessons. It was clear he wasn't going to be learning too much in this class so he had written it off as a class where he could catch up on studying.

"What about Nora?"

Ren sighed and turned his body slightly, allowing both Jaune and Pyrrha to gaze upon their fourth and final teammate. Surprisingly she was wide awake and seemed to actually be paying attention. In fact she was very actively punching alongside every hit the professor professed to land on the Grimm.

Pyrrha let out a quiet giggle at her antics while Jaune opted to simply bury his head into his hands, his shoulders shaking with laughter. Ren rolled his eyes and his lips formed into a tiny smile.

"SO AS WE END OUR LESSON WE COME TO ONE SINGLE QUESTION! WHO HERE WANTS TO PROVE THEIR METTLE!"

Team JNPR returned their gaze to the front of the class as the lesson had finally seemed to come to an end. Jaune sighed in relief. Now that the lesson was over he and the rest of his team could-

"I DO!" Jaune never got to finish his thought since the surprisingly loud answer caused him to slam his knee cap into the hard wooden desk. Pyrrha and Ren openly stared at him, unlike the rest of the class who was focused on the white haired heiress.

His knee, protected by aura, had actually embedded itself into the desk.

"Um...guys..." Jaune pressed down on his thigh but his knee was firm in its decision to remain one with the desk. Pyrrha shooed his hand away but hesitated when her own hand hovered over his leg. She blushed a bit before letting her palm rest on his thigh.

At the front of the class, Weiss Schnee slammed the tip of her blade into the spinning boarbatusk, only to be battered aside as it continued forwards through her attack.

"Weiss! Aim for it's underside."

"I don't need your help you dweeb!" Weiss shouted back.

Jaune could vaguely make out Ruby and Weiss' voices but was far too focused on the warm sensation pressing against his right leg.

"Pyr-urk!" Jaune lurched forwards when Pyrrha slammed her hand down with aura augmented power, causing his entire torso to slam straight into the desk. A massive, single crack appeared across the desk where Jaune's skull had impacted into it.

"Oh god, Jaune!"

Away from the commotion of team JNPR, Weiss Schnee knocked the grimm onto its back and stabbed her rapier through its underbelly.

The class cheered at the display of skill, though team RWBY's leader only gave a halfhearted yell of support before sinking into her chair once more.

Yang clapped absentmindedly as she gave her sister a worried look. "You okay there little sister?"

"Yeah..."

"Hey," she wrapped an arm around her shoulder and nudged her a bit, "what's wrong?"

"I'll tell you later..." Ruby maneuvered away from her sisters embrace and instead chose to gather her belongings and immediately leave the classroom with the rest of the students.

"Huh...Ruby alright?" Blake sided up next to her unusually quiet partner. Blake already knew the Schnee heiress had a history of being difficult but she had been a bit more cold as of recent.

"No, she clearly isn't. I'm gonna go have a...talk with little ice princess over there." Yang bristled as her eyes trailed the white haired heiress out the door.

"Excuse us!" Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha were shoving their way through the door while carrying an unconscious Jaune Arc. Blake and Yang openly stared at them as did several other students. Pyrrha's face matched her hair while Ren slid Jaune onto his back. Nora was busy clearing a path for her team...with her hammer…

"Well...I'm gonna go find Weiss and have that talk." Yang got up out of her chair and pushed passed the gaggle of students, intent on getting her 'talk'. Blake merely sighed and made her way to Pyrrha.

"What happened to Jaune?" She glanced over to his unconscious form before raising an eye at Pyrrha.

"Oh! He's just...um...really tired is all." Pyrrha laughed nervously and rubbed a palm against her forearms. It was a harmless lie and telling people she had knocked him out so easily probably wouldn't help his image, so she decided to do her best to keep it a secret.

"His forehead has a lump the size of a mountain." Blake merely pointed at the unconscious boy as he was carried away. "Is he tired because he didn't sleep or tired because he got hit by a bullhead?"

"Ahaha well you know, he's been training." Her laugh came out sharp and barking. "Like really hard!"

"Uh huh...so Ren is taking him back to your guys' dorm room?"

"...Yes..."

"Really now..." Blake smirked. It wasn't every day you got to tease a champion fighter so she wanted to savor the moment. "So if I went to the infirmary, like right now, I wouldn't see him there?"

"You're not injured though!"

"But Jaune is?" Pyrrha let out a tired sigh. She placed her hand up to her face in embarrassment and peaked through her fingers at Blake.

"I'm just gonna head to the infirmary now. What about you?" She looked around for the rest of team RWBY. Unable to find them, Pyrrha rested her gaze on Blake's still smirking form. "Where's your team?"

"They're occupied right now I think. I'll head with you there. So what happened to Jaune, really?"

"It's really not all that interesting of a story!"

"I'll be the judge of that."

Pyrrha and Blake walked down the hallway, towards the infirmary and the rest of team JNPR. Laughter filled the corridor as Blake heard their team antics.


"So you slammed into a table and he got knocked out?" Blake held her arms across her chest as she interrogated Jaune. She rolled her eyes in mirth and looked over at Pyrrha. "How hard did you knock him into it?"

"…Very hard..."

"How did no one else hear it?"

"Good question, my guess is that everyone was too focused with Weiss and her fight."

"Ugh...what did I miss while I was out?" Everyone turned to look at the blonde leader as he shakily stood up out of the medical cot. He shot Pyrrha two very weak thumbs up. "Don't worry about knocking me out either."

She sighed in relief. Thank goodness he didn't hold grudges. "Thanks Ja-"

"It'll probably happen again anyways!" Blake laughed at the exchange and decided to answer his question since Pyrrha was too busy stuttering out more apologies.

"You didn't miss much. Weiss fought a grimm in class and that's about it."

"What about the rest of your team? Where are they?" Jaune looked over Blake's shoulder, searching for the usually unmissable team.

"I don't know. They're probably alright though."

Ruby Rose sat in a dark hallway alone, poking her fingers into the ground as the gears in her brain twisted and ground against each other.

"Seemed a bit annoyed at each other though."

Weiss Schnee stabbed Myrtenaster through another dummy bot in the training room, flicking her wrist she sent ice shards flying around her blade, obliterating the poor training machine.

"But I'm sure they'll be able to work it out together."

On the other end of the campus, Yang stormed through student after student as she searched for Weiss Schnee. Grabbing one student she aimed a fist at his crotch and let fire surround her. "WHERE'S WEISS?!"

"Oh." The pristine, white walls of the infirmary held no secrets for Jaune as he stared at them for a moment. He nodded to himself before making up his mind. "You think it has to do Weiss-"

"Being mean to Ruby? Yes. Absolutely." Blake's expression turned slightly sour as she tightened her posture.

"Why is Weiss being mean to Ruby? She's a nice girl." Pyrrha raised her eyebrow at the comment before shuffling her way to Jaune's side.

"I think that-"

"It's her arrogance." The oriental boy stared right back at his teammates and Blake when they turned to look at him. He sighed, blinked slowly, and spoke again. "Weiss clearly believes herself to be Ruby's superior so the fact that Ruby had been made team leader is unconscionable to her."

"Weiss isn't that...petty." Pyrrha's slender finger went to her chin as she thought deeper about it. She turned to Blake with an inquisitive look. "Is she?"

"I'm pretty sure it's spot on." For the cat faunus, it was a no-brainier. Weiss Schnee being arrogant was like tuna being tasty. It was a natural state of being and completely expected.

"Man, I feel bad for Ruby then." It was one thing for Weiss to be a bit jealous or let down that she didn't get the position she wanted, but to simply believe that Ruby didn't deserve it out of some strange sense of personal pride and ego; it was quite telling. Though, when he thought about it, he really wasn't one to judge since it wasn't like he was squeaky clean either.

"You should. But, once again, I'm actually pretty confident they can work it out."

"Why do you say that?"

"They all seem like the type of people who learn to understand each other through...aggressive situations." The White Fang had introduced her to a cacophony of people in the past and some of them started off hating each other. Hell, even Adam himself hated her from the beginning but eventually…

She cut her thoughts off abruptly and threw them into her brains garbage disposal unit. It wasn't good to dwell on the past like that. Adam made his choices and she, her own. As long as they didn't cross paths, she would do her best to forget him.

"Well, I'm sure you know them better than we do." Jaune yawned as he looked at the time, already six in the afternoon. He only had two more hours before he and Pyrrha began their nightly lesson. It was already Friday now. The longer he lingered on that thought the more and more he felt as though he had forgotten about something…

Something important.

Well, he figured that whatever it was would come to him with time. No use wasting brain power thinking about how he might have forgotten something.

Instead, he chose to follow the rest of his team in their quest to help Blake find the rest of her teammates. It's not like he had anything to do until eight anyways.


She felt a single drop of sweat roll down her cheek as she held her perfect stance. Myrtenaster held steady and firm, it's tip pointed towards the training bot. In a single, quiet lunge, Weiss stabbed her rapier through steel armor.

"Miss Schnee, quite the marvelous display of skill!" She jumped as Peter Port's grandiloquent voice sounded from behind her. Unlike many students, she had already heard many of the tales he spoke of from her family, so to her, he was given a relatively high level of respect. So she straightened her combat skirt, put her weapon away, and faced him in full before addressing him.

"Thank you professor." She curtsied at the compliment, as was custom.

"Please child, no need to be so formal with me! I'm not that much older!" He beamed at her as he rubbed his mustache...his graying mustache…Nonetheless, Port took a look at the twisted metal littering the training room floor, several students had left when Weiss had come storming in like a blizzard, fearing the wrath of the Schnee heiress.

"Oh...um...okay then?" Weiss shifted her feet a bit in impatience. She desperately wanted to return to her robot elimination therapy.

After several minutes of silence, Weiss finally broke the silence. "Profe-"

"Arrogant."

"Wh-what?" Weiss sputtered at his sudden interruption. Who was he calling arrogant? It couldn't be her. She was always told by her sister that arrogance was only a word used by those who couldn't understand a person's skill and strength. Professor Port was a hunter, surely he understood…

"You, Weiss Schnee, are quite arrogant." He continued to rub his mustache as he spoke. "I know what it's like, to be stronger than the ones around you."

Weiss couldn't speak, her jaw stayed hanging as he continued speaking.

"You're angry at your leader aren't you? Ruby Rose am I correct?" He closed his eyes and pinched the corner of his mustache. He twisted it endlessly around his index finger as he recalled countless stories of his youth.

"I'm not mad at-" He cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"Yes you are. I can already tell what it is that you're feeling." He turned to face her, his voice dropped low and his jaw clenched. A memory surfaced from the depths of his mind; his team, his arrogance, his choice, his anguish. He shook the old regrets away and instead focused on the girl before him. "You feel that Ruby Rose does not deserve her position as leader."

"..." Weiss couldn't answer. She knew how she felt but saying it out loud to a professor felt damning. As though she was tossing either herself or Ruby into a chasm where they could not return from.

"You don't need to say it out loud student, the silence is telling enough." He sighed and crossed his arms across his barrel chest. "You come from the Schnee family, do you not?"

"Ye-Yes professor." Her voice came out quiet and subdued. It wasn't fair. She was supposed to be the best. A proper Schnee was not someone who followed but was followed. She trained her whole life to be the best and now her chance to be something was taken by a child younger and less experienced than herself. How could she possibly be okay with it.

"Schnee's always lead. A saying I hear that's popular with your family."

"Yes…I-I guess it is."

"Ridiculous." He rolled his eyes at her gasp of surprise. Her wide eyes and hand-covered-mouth was enough for him to know what kind of upbringing she had been through. The Schnee kind. "What makes Ruby less qualified to be leader than you young child?"

"Because she-she's," Her shoulders shook as thoughts bubbled up to the surface of her mind, "she's just a kid! And she's young! And she's inexperienced! And I've been taught how to lead! And she's just-just..." Her voice petered off and died a more silent death.

"Just what?" He let her have her time to think. For all the advice he could give, it would do no good if she did not come to them on her own. Schnee's had a history of never taking advice from others regardless of their position or power. He doubted she was too different, but perhaps she could still be taught better.

"And she's just not as good as I am..." Weiss enclosed her arms around her torso and let hot tears drip to the floor. She had been completely fine with being teamed with Ruby, she was a nice kid. But she had left Atlas because she thought that she would truly excel if she simply got away from the judging eyes of her family. Instead though, she was simply another student, not even the leader of her own team. Just another failure, unfit for the Schnee name.

"And being a leader has something to do with being more skilled?" All he could do is put a single hand on her shaking shoulder. It had been hard for him as well, realizing that leadership was not linked with power. "Miss Schnee, leaders are not chosen based on their battle prowess, had that been the case, I would have been leader of my team."

She looked up at him when he finished his words. He wasn't...leader? But he was supposed to be The Peter Port, sure he was a bit stranger than what her sister had implied but still. He had accumulated several accolades and awards of bravery and heroism. While his stories were boring to many students, including her, they were still mostly truth from what she could tell. He was the first hunter to ever catch live grimm. He was the first hunter to ever fight and kill a goliath. He was the first hunter to do so many things.

This decorated man wasn't...leader?

It baffled her.

"No, my leader was another student. One that was far weaker than me." He idly pulled his handkerchief and handed it to her. Weiss' eyes were red with tears but were locked onto him as he continued to talk. "I remember those days. I was, if you'll excuse the shameless self-glorification, a prodigy student."

He motioned for her to walk with him as he left the training room floor.

"But, if you were so good, why weren't you leader?"

"Once again miss Schnee, leaders are not chosen based on their battle prowess. I was hot headed, arrogant, and unable to comprehend my fellow teammates limits as well as I could my own." They entered an empty hallway where his voice bounced off the walls and echoed down them. "When we went on a particular mission to clear out a grimm infested sector of the forest, I was shown exactly why I wasn't leader."

He paused before continuing.

"The grimm were numerous but nothing we couldn't deal with. A few beowolves and some boarbatusks simply put." They found themselves standing in an open balcony, the cool air pushed passed them, into the darkened hallway. Peter noted Glynda walking across the campus while levitating a struggling Yang Xiao-Long alongside her. "Until we ran into a lone goliath grimm, it had been separated from the pack. What do you know of goliaths young girl?"

"Not much." She admitted it quite easily, while she had been taught of many grimm types, her sister never touched on some of the more dangerous types, goliaths were one of them.

"The number of goliaths killed in recorded history can be numbered with the fingers on your hands." He breathed the cool night air, his mind went back in time with the smell of fall filling his nostrils. "My leader ordered us to back out and call for immediate reinforcements. I thought that we could take it down if we simply worked together. I had no plan of attack other than to attack. I had no knowledge of how strong that grimm was. I was woefully unprepared and arrogant. So I struck, intent on proving my skill and prowess."

His hands clenched onto the railing.

"Can you guess what happened to me?"

"You...lost?"

"Hm..." He simply rolled up his left sleeve, the entire arm, excluding his hand and wrist, was disgustingly discolored and twisted. Black, purple, and green were splashed around it as though some child had decided to use the limb for a finger paint project. The flesh itself seemed to fuse into one sheet near the elbow with no crease lines where there should have been. Weiss recoiled at the sight. "I didn't just lose, miss Schnee, I almost died. If my leader hadn't knocked me out of the way of a stray blow..." He let the thought linger in the air. "My arm was still clipped and shattered in three locations. The skin was torn off like latex, leaving it bare to the elements."

"Oh god professor…I'm so sorr-"

"My leader was not as lucky, while I was simply clipped by the blow, he took the entirety of it." His voice shook ever so slightly, Peter took a deep breath as he stared into the night sky overlooking Beacon. It had a calming effect on him. "You can imagine what happened." He pushed the gruesome image out of his mind and kept going "My arrogance is what killed him miss Schnee. Being a better fighter means nothing if you don't understand how to control your engagements and for a leader, controlling an engagement has nothing to do with personal skill."

"But the whole point of being a better fighter is to control your fights..." Weiss felt confused, his words were registering but she didn't understand them. Being stronger, faster, and better trained meant you could handle any engagement better than someone who was lesser in those areas. Right?

"No, being a better fighter simply means you can win a fight. Being a good leader is about making those around you win the fight. Pray tell, what would your strategy have been to defeat the nevermore at initiation?"

"Well I would have used my ice dust to send spears into its wings, forcing it to land. From there I would probably use my glyphs to out maneuver it an-"

"Do you see the issue yet? I asked you for a strategy and the first thing you did was focus on what you could do and how you could beat it. You weren't even considering your teammates and how you could utilize them to succeed." Weiss closed her eyes and let her head fall.

"I...I see..."

"Do you now?"

"Ruby was made leader because, while she did make some mistakes early on, she was willing to put aside her personal skills and utilize each of us where she thought we were best. To her, it was obvious that she and I remain out of direct combat until the grimm could be attacked directly. She wasn't thinking about what she could do personally, it was about what we as a team could do."

"Exactly miss Schnee." He could see the understanding flash in her eyes. He felt content now. As long as she understood what he was trying to tell her, he was confident that they would accomplish great things.

"I-I need to go find Ruby professor, if you'll excuse me now." She bowed her head and left immediately. He simply waved his hand at her as she disappeared down the hallway. He smiled and rolled his sleeve back down, covering his arm once more from the world around him.

He stared back over the school campus. Sure, at first when Ozpin had approached him about teaching he had been reluctant but now he saw why that man treasured his position as a teacher so much.

If even one student was saved by whatever knowledge they taught, then all the struggle they had gone through, all the painful experiences, and all the stress was made worth it.

It was late now though, and he was ready to retire back to his room.

Though he promised himself to pay Glynda a visit later and inquire as to what had happened with the blonde student.


Expensive heels clicked on the floor as Weiss approached the downcast girl. She nervously reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Ruby..." Weiss started carefully and quietly. "Look...I-I'm..." The words refused to come out of her mouth. It was so difficult, she found, to put aside her pride for once and admit that she was in the wrong. She forced the apprehension back into the dark pit of her stomach and started speaking again. "Ruby, I'm sorry."

The girl whipped her head up to stare at her teammate. Had she just apologized? To her?

Weiss caught sight of the girls eyes and noted the red lining around them. Had she seriously somehow forgotten that Ruby, for all of her talent and prowess, was still just a child?

"I know that I've been," she paused, her mind searched for the proper words, "really mean as of late." She would have used a different set of words but Ruby was still only 15 and she had no intention of fouling her mind with uncouth words.

Ruby merely nodded before going back gazing at the floor.

"I just want you to know that professor Port talked to me, and no he didn't flirt with me like he did your sister," Weiss cringed as Ruby's expression remained unchanged, "but anyways, he explained how arr-arro-" the word pushed out of her mouth like concrete through a lead pipe, "-arrogant I was being."

She took a seat next to the girl and tentatively wrapped her arm around her young leader's shoulders. Her own sister, Winter, use to do the same when no one was around and it had made her feel all the more safer and secure. Hopefully it would do the same for her.

Ruby leaned in to the awkward hug. Her voice came out muffled as she leaned her face into Weiss' shirt.

"Why do you hate me?" Weiss' tightened her hold as her heart clenched.

"I don't hate you Ruby." Ruby's tear soaked eyes looked up at her and scrunched up as she continued speaking through hiccups.

"But you always insult me and call my ideas stupid and dumb, we've only known each other for like a week. Why?" The answer came easily this time for Weiss, admitting her mistakes was far easier after she had already started.

"Because I was jealous Ruby." Ruby stared at her, the tears stopped as her mind registered what she had said.

"But why? You're like super cool and strong and pretty an-"

"Ruby," she cut the girl off before she could continue, she felt her ego rearing it's ugly head again and decided to crush it down before it could fully manifest itself, "you're far more talented than me for one, you're only 15 and you got into Beacon Academy, also the boys find your sister far more attractive, and Blake has people wanting to talk to her constantly after what happened in Professor Oobleck's class."

Weiss took a deep breath after finishing her little rant. It was tough, admitting people were better than her, but she would do it for Ruby.

"So you don't hate me?" Weiss smiled at her. She really was just a kid in the grand scheme of things.

"Of course not. So am I forgiven?" Weiss held her breath, hopefully her apology had rectified the situation and she hadn't passed the arbitrary line of no return.

"Mmmmm…Nope!" Ruby giggled at Weiss' gobsmacked look. "You have to buy me some cookies this weekend from the Vale Emporium of Baked Goods!"

Weiss let out a sigh of relief, her heart had almost dropped through the floor at that moment. "Cookies aren't healthy for a growing young girl you know!"

"Yang says they're okay for me!"

"Exactly!"

Both of them giggled as they thought about Yang and her personality.

The laughter petered off slowly as the realization came to them.

Weiss checked her scroll for the time.

It was well past midnight now.

Yang had a pretty strict Ruby-In-Bed-Before-Midnight rule.

Neither spoke, instead letting their stampeding feet do the talking as they sprinted back towards their dorm room, hopefully Yang wouldn't be too mad at their lateness.


"Well then, this can only go well, can't it." Sarcasm oozed through each word. His gaze rested on the bickering group of criminals gathered at his warehouse.

The White Fang; the largest terrorist organization to have ever existed, the primary reason why Schnee Security had upped its game in recent years, and incredibly, as Roman now saw, the most poorly ran criminal organization in the world.

There was no discipline or order, only chaos. They shouted freely and picked fights with each other at random.

Cinder expected him to use these banshee sounding fools to rob some of the most well protected dust shipments in Vale.

"Fuck you!"

"No fuck you!"

Two faunus charged each other, the rest cheering them on. Roman simply watched, his own gang had been sent out to scope out the protected shipments while he dealt with the White Fang. He held no delusions that his group would work with an organization like the White Fang easily. So he did the obvious thing and separated them.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Roman slammed a palm on his face.

Suddenly a single finger pressed itself against his chest. As he opened his mouth to berate whoever had interrupted his languishing, a spoon found itself in his mouth.

Chocolate. He swallowed the ice cream and looked down.

A small girl raised a single eyebrow at him and gestured to the gathered crowd. When he shrugged his shoulders, she silently snorted in derision and rolled her eyes at him.

"Well Neo, whaddya think!" He stretched one arm out over the gathering. As fists were flung and bodies were thrown, Neo simply locked her mismatchd eyes with his and stuck the cold, metal spoon back in her mouth before pokeing Roman in the chest again.

"What?" He was already tired and having to deal with the zoo gathered at his doorstep did little to improve his mood. Neo merely pointed back at her empty bowl. "So? Get some more from the fridge!"

She shook her head and stamped on the floor.

"You ate all of it already? Neo I told you to portion those out!"

She pouted and reached for one of his pockets. Roman was too quick though and slapped her hand away lightly.

"You can't use my money to buy more!" She glowered at him as he secured his wallet. "Just wait until I'm done okay! It's gonna take some time to get these buffoons to listen to me." She scowled even more before disappearing with the sound of shattering glass.

For all the benefits that came with her, the problems were just as numerous. Roman pinched the bridge of his nose. She was great to have around but the constant drain on his expenses was beginning to get out of hand. Ever since he bought her ice cream the first time to shut her up she hadn't stopped pestering him to buy more.

And she had a tendency of asking him for more at the worst times too...

He sighed and turned to the crowd once again, clearing his throat he shouted into his microphone.

"LIS-"

His words were cut short when the ceiling shattered like glass and caved in on the faunus. The multitude panicked and ran for the doors which were blocked off from the falling debris. As tons of rock, concrete, and steel fell, the White Fang members could only watch as death approached closer and closer.

Roman, having seen this before, merely sighed as Neo appeared once again in front of him. The illusion disappeared and the faunus remained deathly quiet and immensely confused.

She poked his pocket once again.

"Ugh...Fine." He handed his wallet over to the smiling girl and rubbed his temples. "Just don't spend too much this time!" He shouted before her form shattered entirely and disappeared.

He turned back to the microphone and cleared his throat.

"Well. It's good to see you're all paying attention now." The faunus turned to him, many openly sneered as they looked upon the 'pathetic' human, "Well, I hope you were all paying attention in animal daycare," several faunus drew their weapons, "since your boss, Adam Taurus, has given me command over all of you." He pointed his finger and dragged it across the crowd.

"Fuck you!" A girl with goat horns shouted at him and the tumult began. Several more joined in the shouting.

"Human scum!"

"Racist pig!"

"Die in a fire!"

Roman raised his cane into the air and slammed it back into the floor. The shouting ended immediately. No need to waste ammo when most lowlife idiots listened to the thundering of his cane just as well.

"Oh good, that got your attention. Like I said, your boss," he once again waved his hand over the gathered individuals, "has given me," he exaggeratedly rested his palm on his chest, "control," he let his hands emulate a child playing video games, "over all of you," he flashed two index fingers at them in finality, "understood?"

It was like talking to children...and Roman hated children. He groaned out loud as some of the gathered faunus shouted expletives at him.

It was gonna be a long night.

Hopefully he still had some of that Mistral Fire Blood wine. Named for its intense flavor and color. It was his favorite and while he didn't drink it too often-he ducked as a shoe flew past him-it was looking like a wine night.

He shot an explosive round into the air, stifling some while rousing others.

-Well...Mother always said it's easy till it ain't.-


A/N:

-REPLYING TO SOME REVIEWS-

So apparently Roman is fully dead then according to his voice actors. Thank you to NBased, Dracohalo117, and Dark RAYQUAZA X for that information! Whether he dies in my story or not remains to be seen however.

Vimesenthusiast: Ah I see. I guess it makes sense that I would be wrong considering most of my RWBY community is just myself, some friends, and some authors I follow here on this website. Honestly I kind of agree with you on the Ozpin being strangely incompetent thing. He just didn't seem to see obvious signs but then again, he is limited to his small circle of the world while I get to see everything happen at once being a viewer and all.

Dark RAYQUAZA X: Really now? They said "what you saw is what happens"? With RT that really opens the door for some RvB ghostly shenanigans. Well I'm certain they'll be able to keep me interested regardless of what happens so I'm looking forwards to volume 4.

-END REPLIES-

So this chapter comes to a close and I'm overall pretty happy about it. Ruby crying just kind of happened as I was writing this. In cannon she's only fifteen when she enters and while she may be a super strong fifteen year old, her mental capacity and strength should be that of a fifteen year old. Constant verbal abuse from someone you're constantly with mixed with the stress of being made a leader should have taken its toll on her far harder than it did in cannon. But that's just my opinion and I'm free to have my viewpoint changed at any time.

Next chapter will finally have Jaune, Roman, and Neo meeting up so I hope you all look forwards to that!

The Professors of Beacon are all going to have their own personal history in this story that will come out with time but you got a peek at Ports in this chapter. In the whole World of Remnant episode about Grimm it states how grimm are notoriously hard to contain due to their destructive behavior. However we see Port bring one in like its nothing and while it's just a simple boarbatusk I still believe that it shows he's done it before and has experience in that field.


So to all of you who pay attention to American politics, have you seen what's been going on recently? It's been an insane show hasn't it? Between the GOP coming out and basically admitting that they're aiming to steal the nomination and Hillary being investigated by the FBI, it's seriously the most interesting election cycle thus far!

So, if you're an American citizen who is old enough to vote, GO OUT DO SO! YOUR VOTE MATTERS ALL THE MORE THIS CYCLE!

Aside from political talk, would anyone be interested in a second story by me?

If so, tell me what kind and I'll throw it into the think tank for a spin.

Next Update: April 1st