Greetings everyone, I give too you all the next part in my story.

(Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY)

Please read and review as your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

The Soldier's Battleground

ザー・ソールジュズ・バタルフィールド

Chapter IV: Allies and Forging Bonds

Jaune's gaze drifted over to the young woman who was talking with another major, probably her superior.

"I'm competing against a prodigy? Just my luck." Jaune sighed, he wasn't sure yet if his day just got worse or not.

Ozpin just took another sip of his coffee and grinned. Finding no support from the older man, Jaune glanced at Goodwitch to see if she had anything to say. Meeting his gaze, Goodwitch gave a small nod to him.

"If what your records say is true, then you should be giving even Miss Nikos a run for her money when it comes to skill." A skeptical face and a raised eyebrow was her response to her statement. "I understand that in the heat of battle showing fancy moves not only is unnecessary but also energy wasting. Still this is a controlled environment, perhaps re-familiarizing yourself is a prudent decision."

'Uh-huh.' Jaune's intelligently thought to himself. Putting aside that being in the military meant that titles were essential. Jaune was never one to judge a person by their title as their character spoke much louder than any title given. Granted some titles were given due to a person's character but seeing first-hand if it was true never failed him.

"Does Command know that I am competing against Miss Nikos?" If Jaune was going to fight then he might as well get some questions out of the way.

Ozpin raised his cup to cover his mouth. "They know a person that I chose would compete against her, but I never gave them a name, I will leave that up to you." He tipped his cup towards Jaune.

"By chance if I get my ass handed to me, is that why you didn't give out my name?"

"Lieutenant, I have full faith in you, but a friendly piece of advice, considering we've been on the frontlines for so long and she hasn't, her move set will more than likely be based off tournament type rules which means the result of losing doesn't involve dying unlike our profession."

'Tournament rules doesn't involve dying, wish war was like that.' Jaune's musings were cut short when the crowd around him quieted down. Looking over he saw Pyrrha walk over to a table with a sheet covering the contents underneath. Pulling off the sheet revealed four weapons laying on the table with ammunition placed beside each of them. Jaune recognized two of the weapons but the other two were unfamiliar. Small murmurs could be heard going through the crowd over what they were seeing.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Today I would like to showcase some of the new weapons that our valiant troops will be using in the coming days." She picked up a rifle every Atlesian soldier was familiar with. "As you all may know this is the Valian Springfield M1903 rifle, a five-round clip fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle. A reliable and solid weapon that has served our military well." She gently placed it back down onto the table.

Grabbing the next weapon which was a revolver from the table she lifted it up so that everyone could see it. "The Atelsian Webley revolver, a six-round cylinder that has also served its role superbly." Once again she placed the weapon back down from where she had picked it up. "After extensive testing done by the Atelsian weapon's designers they have chosen two new weapon's to replace these two incredible pieces."

While Jaune was paying attention to the presentation, having used and fired both of the weapons she was talking about, nothing she said was new to his ears. But now that she was moving on to the new weapons his curiosity was piqued.

"May I present to you all the Schnee Enfield rifle, a ten-round magazine fed, bolt-action repeating rifle, created by the Schnee Dust Company it has a redesigned bolt system that enables a smoother and much faster fire rate than any bolt-action rifle currently in production. The added bonus of having to reload less often due to the larger magazine size will make one less thing our soldiers need to worry about during battle."

'A faster firing rifle will be a much needed upgrade to our arsenal, then again a lighter machine gun would also be nice, but you can't get everything.' So far from what Jaune was hearing he was rather impressed with the new rifle design, now whether or not it could withstand the rigors of combat has yet to be decided. And judging from the poker face coffee sipping Major, Jaune had no idea if their battalion would even be getting these rifles anytime soon.

"I would like to show how fast this rifle can be fired but first I also need to show you the pistol that is going to replace the Webley." Pyrrha placed the Enfield back down onto the table before grabbing the last remaining weapon on the table.

"This is the Valian M1911, it is a double-action, semi-automatic, seven-round magazine fed, recoil-operated pistol. With the Webley revolver one had to reload each bullet one at a time, not only time consuming but dangerous for the soldier involved as it left them vulnerable. Replacing the revolver with this magazine fed pistol not only cuts down on reload time, but is the next step in sidearm history. Thank you all for listening." A small round of applause made its way through the crowd as Pyrrha finished her presentation.

"Still rather than listening to my explanations, showing you all how well these new weapon's work on this firing range is a better way of proving how effective these weapon's will be." Pyrrha grabbed a few pistol magazines from the table and loaded one into the M1911. The other she stuck into her pocket.

Pyrrha walked the short distance towards the firing range and announced with a clear voice. "I will be shooting at targets roughly fifty feet in front of me." She grabbed onto the pistol with both of her hands and leaned slightly forward with her feet about shoulder width apart. Taking a calming breath she focused on the target in front of her. She squeezed the trigger.

Her aim was true and the bullet hit the target dead center, not wasting any time she continued to line up the targets in the pistol's sight before pulling the trigger. After the seventh round was fired she quickly hit the release button and ejected the empty magazine before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the fresh magazine which she inserted into the pistol handle. She hit the slide release before resuming her firing.

Jaune was rather impressed by how well she was hitting her targets, but when one added the element of pressure, the sounds of battle, and the many other factors involved in combat perhaps she wouldn't be doing as good as she doing. Also, the stance she was in was the one soldiers were taught in boot camp, but no soldier wanted to stand still in the open if they could help it so through trial and error, learning to accurately fire will moving was a skill many soldiers learned.

While most officers carried revolvers as their sidearms, Jaune found himself wielding Crocea Mors more often than not as the knife never needed to be reloaded, but seeing how quick one could reload this new pistol he contemplated if he wanted to carry one or not.

"And that ladies and gentleman is the M1911. As you can see the pistol is very accurate and was able to hit all the targets, with the magazine feature I was able to reload in a matter of seconds before resuming my firing." She walked back to the table where all the other weapons were and set down the pistol before grabbing the Enfield rifle.

"Now while I would love to show you how fast this weapon shoots, is there anyone who would like to try this weapon out first?" Her gaze swept through the crowd until it stopped on a rather familiar blonde man. "Excuse me but would you like to try this weapon?" She sent a polite smile towards Jaune.

'Please don't tell me Ozpin sent me to town so that I would bump into her, then again seeing a familiar face is usually a bit reassuring on the mind.' Jaune returned her smile before quickly making his way over to where she was standing.

"Miss Nikos I didn't expect to talk to you again so soon, but it is a pleasant surprise. When you said you were here to help I didn't think it would be new weapons."

Her facial features slightly relaxed and her smile became a bit more genuine. "I could say the same to you Lieutenant Arc, but enough chit chat let's see how well you hit the targets." Her smile turned into a smirk. Jaune just raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, well as I explained this is the Schnee Enfield rifle, as you can see the magazine has been extended to accommodate five more rounds. You will also notice how much smoother the bolt operates as well." Pyrrha's professional voice came out as she explained the weapon to Jaune. "Here is the safety and the sights are also new so this is how you adjust them." As she pointed towards different spots on the weapon, Jaune just nodded at the appropriate parts.

"Okay then let's see how you do, the targets you will be shooting at is about 100 meters away." Her voice then dropped to a whisper. "We chose glass bottles so we see when you miss."

'Nice…' Jaune sarcastically thought before grabbing ammo for the rifle. He only loaded one five-round clip into the magazine before walking over to the firing range.

"Um Lieutenant I did say ten rounds didn't I?" Pyrrha sent him a questioning look.

"I just want to get a feeling for this rifle first is all, don't worry." He gave her a lopsided grin before schooling his features.

"Alright let's see how this weapon works." Jaune pulled the bolt back before shoving it forward chambering a round into the barrel. He looked down the sights and saw the distant bottle in his sights. He pulled the trigger and felt the kick of the rifle against his shoulder as a resounding crack pierced the cold air. A splinter of wood was seen flying off the fence that the bottles were sitting on. Jaune lowered the rifle and stared at the spot where the bullet hit, he nodded his head before raising the rifle stock to his shoulder once again. He once again aimed at the same bottle he was previously aiming at. Right as the trigger was pulled he slightly flinched making the rifle jerk to the side making him miss the bottle completely and hitting the fence once again.

"Sir why is the Lieutenant missing? I thought you said he was better than this?" Glynda leaned over and spoke in a hushed voice to the Major. Ozpin just took a sip of his coffee. "Be patient and you'll see what he's doing." Having worked with the Major for quite some time she just focused her gaze back onto the Lieutenant.

Another bullet flying pierced the air and a bottle was shattered when it was hit. Jaune ejected the spent round from the rifle and loaded another round into the chamber. In quick succession the last two rounds from the magazine was fired and two more bottles were destroyed. A few claps were heard from the crowd but the general reaction was lackluster due to his performance.

"When I said you would miss I was joking about that." Pyrrha gave Jaune a confused look. He just smiled in reply before loading in another five-round clip.

Jaune closed his eyes and exhaled before opening them. "Alright I've got the feeling of this." He said with a small whisper. Raising the rifle to his shoulder he started walking forward at a steady pace. A round left the barrel and made quick work of a distant bottle. Without lowering the rifle from his shoulder, he reloaded his rifle quickly and fired off another round destroying another bottle. He jerked the rifle right and fired off a bullet. Pieces of glass flew into the air as the round shattered the bottle. He had two rounds left and he quickly gazed to see if there was anything else he could hit.

In the distant was some farmland and what looked to be a scarecrow with some birds on its arms caught his attention. He aimed at the scarecrows head and pulled the trigger. A scarecrow was soon short some hay as a round ripped through its head. The result was enough to startle the birds perching on its shoulders and they all started to fly into the air to escape the unknown danger. Jaune zeroed in on one bird and the last round from the rifle spewed from the barrel and sped quickly towards its prey. A puff of feathers showed that the bullet hit its mark and Jaune lowered the rifle from his shoulder. During the entire time he was firing he never stopped walking and found himself a good distance away from the crowd. He jogged his way back to where Pyrrha was standing and handed the rifle back to her.

"The rifle handles quite well, it does fell pretty solid and the accuracy is nice." He spoke with a curt tone towards Pyrrha who had an impressed look on her face.

"Not bad Lieutenant, I think if we were in the same class I would be worried about my competition." Jaune just waved his hand in front of him. "You said you learned your skills for competing in tournaments right?" Pyrrha just nodded to his statement.

"I see, well then how about we put that to the test." Jaune muttered before throwing a right jab towards Pyrrha's face. Pyrrha instinctually leaned back to avoid the hit only to quickly duck when Jaune's left arm swung towards her gut. She looked to see a calm looking Jaune step back and relax into a loose fighting stance.

"Let's see how good you are." He stated. Pyrrha smirked before charging at Jaune.

The sound coming from the crowd died down once they saw the two young adults sparring. For the people who knew how well Pyrrha Nikos was trained, they thought the young man trading blows with her was either really foolish or really brave. Out of all those individual's only one person just sipped their coffee and waited to see if his hunch was correct.

"I found out that before this war started, Lieutenant Arc was a bit of a prodigy in his hometown and if wasn't for this war, he would have had a promising career ahead of him."

"You're talking about the Arc's family heirloom and legacy correct?" Glynda responded to Ozpin's statement.

"Every single war that Remnant has been a part of, an Arc was at the forefront of the battle, known for their unwavering resolve and courage, every time an Arc fought in the conflict, they would always earn some sort of medal for their valor. They also seem to be in the right place at the right time to the point of it being uncanny."

Glynda adjusted her glasses before answering. "While their name is known among the higher ups, the knowledge of the Arc's and their lineage is rather unknown amongst the lower ranks. I believe the Arc name is a blessing and curse to those born into it. While they have saved many people with their bravery, the same could be said of how many Arc's died due to that heroism."

Ozpin's face gave away no emotion, but one could almost see the gears in his head turning, what he was thinking was unknown to Glynda so she just focused on the spar in front her.

To the surprise of the crowd the lieutenant was actually holding his own against the Mistral champion. Granted all he seemed to be doing was going on the defense, but the fact that he wasn't already unconscious was a shock to the crowd.

Jaune's thoughts on the matter were a bit limited as he focused on defending his body against the young woman in front of him. Even though his defense was solid, it looked like he was slowly losing the fight. He threw a quick punch right before he brought his left leg up in a roundhouse kick in an attempt to knock out his opponent. Unsurprisingly, said opponent was able to block his move and counter it by trying to sweep his legs out from underneath him. Taking a quick step back meant that only one of his legs was kicked out from underneath his body. It was still enough to make him fall to his knees from the sudden shift in balance. Not wanting to be left open while he was down, Jaune rolled his body backwards and hastily stood back up just in time to block a boot coming towards his face.

'Challenging a champion in a fist fight hasn't been one of my brighter ideas in life, but that doesn't mean I can't win against her, I've faced harder opponents than her before.' Jaune internally smiled, as a plan started to form in his head.

Now to the people in his hometown who knew him, they knew the young man almost always had a plan and a trick up his sleeve. So either the person he was fighting was extremely competent or he was losing ground on purpose.

The latter became evident when he executed his plan into motion. Pyrrha threw a quick jab towards his face and he reacted in a blink of an eye. He reached up and quickly grabbed her arm before thrusting his other hand out and striking her hard in the throat making her reel and gag from the hit. Not quite finished he let go of her arm and with both hands slammed her head against his knee. With a flurry of motion Pyrrha found herself sprawled out on the ground with the gleaming blade of Crocea Mors against her throat.

"Yield." The single word made Pyrrha look into the face of a calm but serious Jaune.

"I yield." When she admitted her lose, the blade left her throat and the calm face of her opponent broke out into a small smile. A hand was offered to help her up, one which she took and was quickly pulled up onto her feet. A handkerchief was also offered to her to help stem the flow of blood that was leaking from her nose.

"An impressive show of skill Miss Nikos, I must admit for a while there I was worried I was going to lose." Pyrrha smiled at the compliment as she felt her hand being let go by the young man. She continued to hold the small piece of cloth to her bruised but fortunately not broken nose.

"Your hand to hand is also quite impressive Lieutenant, were did you learn your skills?"

"As I asked earlier, you said you learned your skills for competing, and while my training is also based in that, I had to adapt once I joined the war, as making a mistake on the battlefield could have cost me my life." He shrugged as if it was no big deal.

Pyrrha listened to the young man talking and couldn't help but wonder how pain and suffering he had went through in this ghastly war. Still he did say he trained before the war, who was his teacher? Her thoughts were interrupted when a big round of applause came from the crowd as everyone acknowledged Jaune's marksmanship and skill, both of them waved at the crowd before returning back to their conversation.

"Sounds like life is hard for you." Pyrrha said with a sympathetic tone.

"I mean when we talked in the restaurant you heard how life is kind of like in the trenches. It's not all sunshine and picnics there let me tell you."

As Pyrrha and Jaune were talking, the chatter amongst the crowd grew as the presentation made many a person excited, some for the performance shown today, while others because these new weapons could help in winning the war, since the war had stalemated and both sides took and lost trenches, overall no progress had been made. Granted a new weapon is only as good as the user who wields it. So even though the rifle and pistol may be better than their previous models that wouldn't be enough to win a war.

Jaune and Pyrrha exchanged a few more words before Jaune bid her a warm goodbye and started to turn when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see a concerned look on Pyrrha's face.

"Be safe Lieutenant Arc." She gave him a warm smile.

"You as well Miss Nikos, hopefully we'll meet again under more pleasant circumstances." He shook her hand before making his waked over to the Major and the Captain.

"Major Ozpin, are we going to be receiving these new weapons soon?" Jaune asked as if he winning against a champion never happened.

Ozpin smiled briefly before his gaze turned serious. "Lieutenant Arc, after seeing your performance today, I have a mission that needs to be executed and I believe you are the man for the job. Since this is not the place for such a talk, I want you to join me in my quarters when we get back to the trenches."

"Understood sir." Jaune replied curtly.

As the two males were talking, Pyrrha's mind was currently occupied with the young man and the skills he possessed. 'When we first started fighting it seemed as if he was holding back, and even after betting me I feel as if he wasn't fully going out. Who are you exactly are you Jaune Arc?'

Another female in the crowd was thinking something similar after seeing the lieutenant's performance. Not just anybody could have beaten the Mistral champion even by mistake, and the way he handled himself showed that he knew how to defend himself.

Winter Schnee was on a mission. She was to scout for potential recruits that could possibly be enlisted into the Atelsian Specialists Forces. A new type of branch that would only have the best and brightest fill its ranks, and Pyrrha Nikos was a prime candidate, but after seeing a unknown young man not only stand his ground against the champion but then proceed to beat her, piqued Winter's interest. She had come to scout out one candidate but fate seemed to give her two of them instead. A small smile appeared on her face as she disappeared into the crowd.

A few hours after Jaune had come back from his journey into town. He found himself inside a small but quaint house that served as a temporary command post.

'Major Ozpin said he wanted me for a mission, I hope it's nothing to crazy.' The room he currently was standing in was deathly silent as he was the sole occupant in the room. That quickly changed when the Major walked in through the door followed closely by the Captain and am older looking man. Jaune snapped to attention briefly before Ozpin gestured to him to relax.

"Lieutenant Arc I am need of a competent soldier to carry out a highly important mission. Since part of this briefing is classified I trust you won't be discussing it with your men?" Jaune nodded as the reasoning was sound. Even if he didn't like the mission, he wasn't about to talk about the details to people who didn't need to know.

"Splendid, I am in need of someone to lead a group of resistance members to secure an objective that could help progress and break the stalemate we are currently in. This man will tell you the rest of the details." Ozpin leveled a serious gaze at Jaune. "You don't have a problem with that do you?"

"I personally have no problem working alongside the resistance, but why did you mention them? That would mean this mission is behind enemy lines. Correct?"

Ozpin smirked briefly before nodding his head.

"Excellent observation. But putting that aside, may I introduce you to Mr. Tukson, if it were not for him then this plan would have not even be put into motion."

"A pleasure to meet you sir." Jaune shook hands with the older gentleman.

"I could say the same, thank you for agreeing to help, now as the Major was saying, the resistance want's to secure an objective, that objective in question is this place right here." Tukson pointed at place on a map that was on the wall. Jaune's eyes widened by a fraction at the place he was pointing at.

"Sir that's a river that connects to the Forever Fall's, I believe that is also were enemy reinforcements come through."

"Precisely, which is why we need to take it out. The Atelsian lines are here and the enemy trench lines are located here, now one of the reason's we haven't been able to push through is that they have been receiving reinforcements across this bridge here." Tukson pointed at a thin line that symbolized a bridge across the river.

"If we take out this bridge and we press the attack onto the enemy trenches, not only will they have no place to run but reinforcements won't be able to help them out either."

"But sir there are other bridges that cross the river. Will we be capturing those as well?" Jaune's question was answered by Ozpin.

"Eventually yes, but as you can see the river bends so that the closest bridge to us is the one you will be securing, once the bridge is destroyed we will mobilize our forces and create a spearhead that will create a crack in the enemies lines and we will then expand to or left and right and secure our flanks, if all goes according to plan. Then the enemy will be pushed back across the river and we will have gained new ground."

While the plan was very ambitious, Jaune could already see some flaws, if they were successful in destroying the bridge, then the Atelsian forces would have to push and break through the enemy lines. If the flanks were not properly manned and supplied and the enemy decided to do a pincer move, then the chance of getting isolated and cut off from friendly lines was there and blowing the bridge would amount to nothing. The only result if the mission failed would be many dead soldiers. Still if the plan worked then a vast amount of enemy territory would be taken, the higher ups must of thought the risks were worth it or he wouldn't be getting a briefing about it.

"Sir permission to speak?" Jaune wanted to clear another thing up with Ozpin.

"Granted."

"This objective is behind enemy lines, if I am to cross the enemy lines, how am I going to be able to sneak past the enemy trenches?" Ozpin smiled before gesturing towards Tukson.

"Under the cover of darkness, you and Mr. Tukson will be the only two to be sneaking through the enemy lines, to ensure that you will sneak by undetected, an artillery strike will be fired into the enemy trenches at a single point before spreading outwards which will force the enemy to create a gap which is where you will cross. Some resistance members will be meeting you at a rendezvous point. I must warn you though, we are planning to attack the Imperial lines tomorrow morning regardless if the bridge is destroyed, having less enemy soldiers will be more than helpful, but we need to push the enemy back if we are to regain our lost territory and push the enemy back from whence they came."

"Sir will I need to be bringing explosives to destroy the bridge?" Carrying explosives would not only weigh him down, but also make it harder for him to sneak behind enemy lines as well.

Tukson was the one who decided to answer his question instead of Ozpin. "No you won't have too, my group has been able to secure enough explosives to properly destroy the bridge and then some."

'Well that's a weight off my shoulders, oh god, my older sister is rubbing off on me!'

Some minor details were discussed between the three of them before Jaune was released to start preparing for the rather dangerous mission ahead of him.

As he was walking out of them briefing room, Ozpin called out to him.

"Lieutenant Arc. By the front door you will find a crate with some of the equipment you will be taking along in this mission. Do check it out before you leave."

"Yes sir." Jaune found the crate he was told about and opened it up to see that the new Lee Enfield rifle and new pistol were inside, as well as some medical equipment. He quickly grabbed everything from the crate before making his way back towards his quarters in the Atelsian trenches.

The cover of darkness covered the land and soon enough the sound of rolling thunder pierced the air, at times like this, soldiers on both sides would try their best to keep warm in the ensuing wetness. But for one young man this night was one that could go very wrong and end up with himself being killed or captured by the enemy. Still dwelling on the matter wasn't going to help any, even though a distraction is just that, a distraction. Having your mind occupied with something else can help ease a person's mind. Which is why Jaune found himself taking apart and cleaning his new equipment.

"So since were in this together, do you mind telling me a bit about yourself Mr. Tukson?" Jaune glanced at the other person in his underground room.

"A bit about myself you say? Well before this whole war broke out, I was a book store owner, I would like to think I had on stock a bit of everything, and if I didn't I would try my best to secure it for my customers." Tukson's face took on one of nostalgia. "There was one person in particular who was in my store all the time. Honestly before I had to close the store I think they must have read every single book in there."

Jaune put down a rag to swap it for another before replying. "Sounds like an interesting person. So what made you join the resistance? Selling books and killing is very different."

"Well to be honest. Have you ever heard of the White Fang?" Tukson's voice took on a serious tone.

"The White Fang? Depends on which one you are talking about. The White Fang was originally a group of individuals who wanted to abolish the law that Faunus couldn't enlist, by having protests and the like, but after sometime when their demands were not listened to they decided to become something like that of a militia. After securing a few victories the view of the White Fang was changed from a peaceful protesting group to that of a rather violent uprising." A thought crossed Jaune's mind and a question popped up in his head. But before he could ask Tukson spoke up.

"Yes you are correct, I was a part of the White Fang at one point, but I left it when they started to get violent. I have no problem waving a sign but waving a weapon is something entirely different."

"But why are you in the resistance then? If you don't want to fight then that choice doesn't make sense."

"While that is true, when the war came to my town, I had to close shop and leave but I was not able to get away in time, so when the resistance started to increase I wanted to do my part, and so I've been fighting, even though I originally didn't want to, life doesn't always go your way." Tukson shook his head before looking over and smiling and Jaune.

"But enough about me, what's your story lad?" Jaune leaned back in the chair he was sitting on and looked up at the dirt ceiling.

"Well to be honest, my story is rather boring, I grew up in a loving household with seven sisters and a loving mother and father. My father served in the military before I was born, but hearing his stories inspired me to become a hero like him when I grew up. So for most of my life growing up I was taught in hand to hand and I learned how to handle a weapon quite proficiently. So when the war started I was raring to go and serve my country with pride. But my parents didn't think it was wise of me to go rushing into war. I disagreed with them and I left them to enlist." Jaune let out a humorless laugh before lowering his head and looking towards Tukson.

"I learned really quickly that being a hero was not that it was cracked up to be. When I participated in my first battle I was so scared, I froze and almost got my men killed. That's when it dawned on me that while I couldn't be a hero. I could at least get my men out of the war alive. You know what's funny is I was just a boy when I left my home, and yet I feel so old right now. Sometimes, I think back to my old life and I know that after this war ends and I go home. My life will never be what it was. Everyone I know will have moved on in their life and I will have to catch up to them, but with the things I've witnessed and done, unless you've been there you wouldn't understand."

Tukson studied the young man in front of him and saw a boy who had been forced to grow up to fast and assume an immense responsibility. Knowing that one's decisions could make a man live or die was something no should be put through. He saw the lad pull out something from his shirt and realized it was a pendant, it was either a picture of a sweetheart back home or perhaps his family. Having a single piece of home could do so much for one's mental state, especially if you were a soldier living in this hell.

Jaune put his pendant back from where he had gotten it and looked down at his watch.

"Well it's time to face the music." He quickly got his equipment in order and looked over to see Tukson doing the same. When he lifted the flap that served as his door he saw that it was raining outside.

'Nice this weather should help mask our movements.' Jaune made his way down a trench and he soon found himself looking through a periscope surveying the stretch of mud and grime. A whistling sound coming from overhead made him look up for a moment before he returned his gaze back through the lens to see explosions throwing pieces of earth into the air. He looked over towards Tukson and nodded at the older man.

"Let's go." Jaune started to climb a ladder that had been placed against the trench wall and soon found himself in the wasteland that separated the two sides. Keeping their bodies low, both of the men followed at a safe distance behind the artillery rounds clearing a path ahead of them. If they got to close to the falling rounds, then the chance of shrapnel hitting them was there. After a few tense moments the enemy trenches were in Jaune's sight and he saw were they were supposed to cross. Now all they had to do was wait for the artillery to clear a narrow path for them to slip through.

"When the artillery separates were going to make a break for it, stay right on my ass."

Jaune watched as the explosions started to widen and he knew it was now or never. He stood up and started to run ahead. The first danger they could run into was that the artillery was not on point and that he was running into a trench that was not cleared of enemy soldiers. But the time for hesitation had passed and when the enemy trench was a few inches in front of him he vaulted over the gap and continued to sprint behind enemy lines. So far no one had shot at him, or he just hadn't been hit yet.

Even though it had been about twenty minutes since he had first stepped out of the safety of his trench, adrenaline continued pumping through his veins and he soon found himself a good distance behind enemy territory. Jaune slowed his pacing down and took a glance behind to see Tukson had stayed right behind him.

'The man's got a decent amount of stamina to keep pace with me for this long, not bad at all.' While Jaune didn't consider himself the most athletic person in the world, he knew that he was no pushover when it came to endurance and stamina. Being trained in the art of fighting since early childhood was probably a defining factor in that regard.

"That went surprisingly well, now it's my turn to lead, follow me." Tukson jogged ahead of Jaune and soon the two of them found themselves near an abandoned building. Since the artillery had ceased firing the silence of night had once again settled over the land and Jaune found the quite unsettling.

"Is it too far of an assumption that were being watched right now?" Jaune saw that the building had a great view of the surrounding area and no doubt their approach had been noted. Considering that they hadn't been shot at meant that the people inside were hopefully the resistance members.

"No your right, now stick close." Tukson lead them both towards the left side of the house. A wooden door was located there and Tukson rapped his knuckles against the door.

A muffled voice was heard after a few moments. "Who is it?"

"Monty Oum said it was nice night for a stroll so we came here." Tukson replied to the person on the other side.

The sound of a lock being undone could be heard before the door creaked open to reveal a young woman.

"Come on in." She stepped aside to make room for the two men and promptly closed the door behind them once they were inside.

Jaune took in her appearance and saw that she had black hair that looked a bit unkempt. A black bow sat atop her head and he swore that it twitched for moment. His gaze then locked onto her face and he saw yellow eyes that stared right back at him.

"Welcome to our humbly abode, thank you for helping us in this mission. My name is Blake Belladonna. And you are?" She extended her right hand.

"Lieutenant Jaune Arc of the 198th Atelsian Infantry Division." He reached out and grabbed her hand with his own.

The two of them shared a handshake.

And the only thing that is needed to start a beautiful friendship could be something as simple as a handshake...