This is a short chapter finishing off Jaune's first term at Beacon. There will be a gap before I deal with events in Mistral as I want to finish the back story of how Jaune got to Beacon in my version of the world and to plan the character arcs (as well as the world building) ahead more than I have done in the past.

Thanks to all who have commented on the story. Frankly constructive negative reviews are helpful to me especially when someone has obviously gone through the trouble of reading 23 chapters before saying that they found it boring – clearly there were some signs for optimism in the earlier chapters. Letting authors know what works and what does not work is useful. They may not agree totally and sometimes they just want to write a different type of story, but at least in my case it makes me think about what I am doing.

It was now the final day of term. Jaune and the rest of team JNPR together with Ruby, Taiyang and Amber Arc would be flying with Coco and Fox to Ansel first thing on Saturday morning. The Adel private jet had been requisitioned for the flight.

Yatsuhashi and Velvet had been allowed to leave on Thursday evening. The rationale behind their flight unfortunately suggested why the position in Kurohari and Kulsa was likely to turn bad very quickly. Yatsuhashi was worried that his family could be targeted when the Branwen Tribe and their White Fang allies rolled into the village as a reprisal for the massacre of the White Fang at Junior's. Although Sienna Khan had disavowed the attack on Junior's Club Mistralian, it was easier to regard this as genuine from the comfort of Vale than it would be in the part of Mistral neighbouring the Branwen Tribe and its allies.

While Jaune knew intellectually why so much effort had been put into the cosmetics of the reporting after the attack by the White Fang, some of it he found distasteful. He hated being portrayed as a hero for simply being a human shield. He had simply done his duty. It had taken him some time to work out why he was so upset. The fact was that he knew that his desire to be a hero had been part of the reason he had so wanted to become a huntsman at the age of 14.

While Wednesday had been a victory, it could easily have been different. If Ruby and her group had not still had their weapons when the attack started, if Goodwitch and Oobleck had not been meeting Kali Belladonna, if Coco, the parasol girl, and Lydia had not carried their weapons around with them, if a young woman still finding out the limitations of her semblance had not turned the White Fang's weapons on them – any of these variables could have resulted in him, Cardin, and Yatsuhashi dying and merely delaying the deaths of the civilians by minutes.

Jaune had a meeting with Professor Ozpin towards the end of the afternoon. He had initially panicked when the meeting request had arrived on his scroll. Fortunately, ten minutes later he met Yang and Weiss together with Russell, Cardin, Lydia, and Julia in the kitchen shared by Teams JNPR, RWBY, LLAC and SFRN.

Yang said, "Don't sweat it. He's meeting Ruby and Blake as well."

Lydia added, "Also Anne."

Jaune was not certain if that they made him feel any better. He said, "I feel a bit of a fraud compared with them."

Yang laughed, "Come on, Jaune. It's not a requirement to be a wild card to have a secret identity. Ruby is my little sister and we've all met your big sister Amber."

"Yes, but Ruby is a much better fighter than I am. When I started it seemed to make sense that Blair – sorry Blake- and Anne had not been to combat school but did not fit in with the mustang entry scheme. Ruby had skipped a year at the start of combat school and after seeing the footage of her fighting Torchwick and the fight with the Nevermore, no one thought that it was wrong for her to be here. I could see that I also did not fit the normal entrance requirements, but I did not have the fighting experience."

Lydia said, "Jaune, as I understood it being a wild card allows Professor Ozpin to choose people who otherwise would not qualify for Beacon or to bring them on early."

Cardin said, "Makes sense. Look it was hard luck on you that your aura was unlocked so late, but actually being here has allowed you to catch up far more quickly than you would have done at whatever the Mistral equivalent of Pharos is."

Yang joked, "Imagine starting off combat School this Fall with the fourteen-year-old versions of me and Cardin."

"I was pretty horrid at sixteen as well." This was from Cardin. "Seriously mate, don't sweat it. Fact is that if I have to stand up facing thirty White Fang terrorists without a weapon to allow time for civilians to get out of the line of fire, you and Yatsuhashi are the two outside my team I would have chosen. None of us now thinks that you shouldn't be here."

Julia hit Cardin and said "Cardin, don't be a dick."

"I'm not. I bet that he's being saying it to himself for most of term and it won't surprise him that some of us wondered about him early on. Most of us have had a crisis of confidence worrying whether we are good enough or realising that we're not as good as we hoped we were. I could at least say to myself that I was probably the best at Pharos and certainly in the top three, but that's little comfort when fighting Yang, Pyrrha, Ruby, or Nora."

"You hid your doubts well." This was from Yang.

"Family training. Stiff upper lip, never say never and always look as though you know what you are doing."

"Fake it until you make it?" Yang winked at Cardin.

Cardin smiled and nodded.

Julia laughed. "Jaune, it was a bit different for me. I knew I wasn't a Vytal Festival contender, but I was OK with that. My pressure came from being a team leader. It took me a long time to get over the initial reaction of what the frack does Ozpin mean by putting me in charge of a team. I eventually realised that they were all about my level and that I was the bossiest person on the team."

"Pleasantly bossy." This was from Russel.

Julia looked at Jaune. "We were all busy dealing with our own issues, but you had it worse than most of us. You could not say to yourself like Cardin that I was among the best at Combat school or even like me that I was good enough at combat school and so I deserve to be here. Unlike me you were put in charge of a team of exceptional fighters. The mere thought of telling Pyrrha Nikos or Nora how to fight would have had me vomiting."

Yang mouthed "Vomit boy" at him but did not say it out loud.

Weiss said, "It hasn't always been easy for Ruby being in charge of us. We are two years older than her, and I am not necessarily the easiest person to give orders to. I know certainly that I would have found it hard if my elder sister had been under my command."

Yang said, "It helped her that you, Blake, and Anne were also different and had not been all the way through Combat School."

"Fine. Pyrrha says that I was the best person to lead the team and that my time with the LGDF has given me an advantage at coordinating people. I get it and I sort of believe it."

Russel suggested, "Look, if the Prof is seeing you all, he's probably going to give you all a pep talk. After all it can't have been easy for Anne and Blair either. They had secrets to hide as well as missing out on combat school."

Cardin said, "You didn't go either."

"It's normal in Vacuo. Living in the desert is one huge practical test. There's a reason we have the largest percentage of unlocked auras in the four kingdoms and the lowest population. It's also why we are the best party people in Remnant. Eat drink and be merry because tomorrow you may die."

Weiss said, "You dance as though you're fighting."

"There's a reason me and Yang enjoy ourselves on the dance floor."

Jaune said, "So you two are off to Atlas tomorrow?"

Yang said, "Yes. As Ruby and dad are going with you to Mistral and Blake is reuniting with her mother, our plans for next week fell apart. Apparently neither me nor Weiss would be helpful joining the Ansel bound."

Weiss said, "Well you are a blonde version of your egg donor, and I am the heiress to the SDC. We would not be welcome in Ansel let alone Kulsa."

"Fine, I get it."

Cardin said, "So Yang is staying at the Schnee mansion with you Weiss?"

Weiss said, "I agreed to return a week early in return for bringing a friend with me. Anyway, I gather your great aunt's mansion and grounds make the Schnee mansion look like a villa."

"But it's not floating in the air. Your mansion is worth more than my great aunt's."

Julia looked at Weiss and changed the subject, "You have a younger brother, don't you?"

"Yes. He's sixteen."

"Do you like your brother?"

Lydia said, "It's good for these Atlas aristocrats to meet real women. Brede's a lot less reserved than when we first met."

Jaune said, "There's a difference between broadening his horizons and shock therapy."

Weiss said, "I've heard the stories about some of your sisters treated you, Jaune. I am certain that Yang will be more restrained."

Yang leered this time, "Mind you, that leaves me plenty of room for manoeuvre."

Julia asked, "What do Blair and Anne want us to call them next term?"

Yang said, "Blair wants to be Blake now."

Lydia shrugged, "Anne seems to feel that it does not matter much. It's not what people call her which matters; it's how they mean it."

Jaune looked puzzled at this.

"The twins at the club call her Miss Piggy and mean it affectionately. When teachers at her infant school called her Miss Vanessa Anne Flick they made it sound like an insult. Unless she says otherwise I will just carry on calling her Anne."

Cardin said, "I know you are all aware that a relative of Sky's was the man she fought in Mistral. An uncle who married into the Lark family."

There was an awkward silence. Yang said, "Remnant, I'm not my egg donor. If the two of them are OK with it, then the rest of us can mind our own business."

"I hope things will work out that way. They do have two weeks under the same roof."

Lydia said, "Actually, we are in the Summer House, but I'm certain that it won't be a problem from Anne's side."

Cardin said, "Sky says that he knew the truth shortly after she escaped from the detention centre. Look, pass the word round. Sky won't want to have the conversation with everyone, but he bears no ill will towards Anne to what happened to his uncle. He hopes that his actions will speak for themselves in showing that he is a very different man."

Everyone nodded at this.

Weiss asked, "Did none of you from Mistral even suspect that she was Vanessa?"

Jaune said, "I wasn't paying much attention to the news then. Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora knew about the case. It's just that Anne is so different from the girl on the TV news shouting abuse at the judge and the man they all thought was the victim."

"Even though she was a pig Faunus from the poorest part of Vale who had not been to combat school?"

Lydia said, "You've haven't watched the footage. Besides which Anne says that the ADA allowed the real her to come out. When she was growing up she had to be ready to fight her corner every day and politeness was seen as weakness. The man who attacked her said that no one would believe the word of an ignorant, poor, and illiterate animal against his even if she escaped from him and that was the truth. He even justified her death on the basis that it would improve the genetic stock of Faunus."

Yang said, "I can see that being open about being a pig Faunus coming from the lower east side and that she had missed out at combat school because of her dyslexia going undiagnosed would result in people accepting her story at face value. Hiding in plain sight."

Cardin said, "Sky says he thought about it for a minute and dismissed it as a possibility. It was the politeness and the vocabulary which persuaded him that it could not possibly be the same woman."

Weiss said, "No, it was part of her victory over the man who tried to humiliate and kill her. She could easily have pretended to be a middle-class girl who had been home trained. Instead, she chose to admit who she was and being proud of it. The only difference was that her ADA meant that her dyslexia did not matter."

Russel said, "Lydia, did your team know?"

"Anne told us early on. TC worked it out and encouraged her to tell us. Velvet also guessed."

"Velvet?"

"She's politically aware. The story of the young girl who defended herself and was threatened with being tried as an adult and executed for daring to say no to a human was gold dust for White Fang recruitment and for the Faunus rights movement."

Weiss coughed and said, "Velvet also had less illusions about what Ozpin would dare to do as she'd worked out who Blair really was."

Cardin said, "Seriously Weiss, how did your family feel about you sleeping in the same dorm as an ex-terrorist?"

"My sister approved it. She told me early on. The analysis was that Sienna Khan thinks that my killing would be counterproductive and that kidnapping me would not be practical."

Yang said, "If you feel the need Jaune, speak to Team Plum and Team Coffee about the wild cards in their year. You will find that they are more like you than Blake or Anne."

Jaune found this comforting. He was happy that his team believed that he belonged and genuinely thought that he was the best person to lead them. If he looked at the other wild cards as the equivalent of his team then perhaps it was the same.

When it was his turn to meet the headmaster he could not avoid worrying. Somehow it made things easier when he saw Ruby and Taiyang leaving the lift as he and Glynda approached it. Ruby smiled and waved at him and mouthed, "It'll be fine" at him.

"Thank you, Glynda. Mr. Arc I am delighted to see you." The headmaster rose from his chair and walked with Jaune to the window of his office. It was a marvellous view of the grounds and the surrounding countryside.

"Mr. Arc. I have asked to see you because it is normal for me to see all my "wild cards" at the end of their first term. Experience has taught me that often you feel like imposters or wonder what you have done to earn the chance. Some people even think that I have a mistake in their case."

Jaune's face blanched. "I have felt a little like that at times this term. However, my team has helped me through those times."

"That was the sense your professors had. It's hard getting the balance right, but we do prefer letting students and teams have the opportunity to work through their problems with as little reliance on us as possible. We may provide hints, but we prefer not to launch rescue bullheads until they are clearly needed."

"I appreciate that. Why are we speaking now?"

"Maybe this is unnecessary, but the events of Wednesday night have resulted in more attention being paid to you all that would normally have been the case. In any event, I thought that it was fair to give you the chance to ask me why I chose you. It may help if I fill you in on some of my thinking with the others."

"It would be helpful, sir."

"Miss Rose is talented and motivated. It seemed obvious to me that she would not benefit from an extra two years at Signal and certainly not from repeating the fourth year. I was glad to have an excuse to bring her forward an additional year. There are only a few students at Beacon who have the ability to cope with her wielding Crescent Rose at her full capacity. Imagine what her class at Signal would have had to deal with."

Jaune nodded.

Ozpin continued "Blake could not have been admitted to Beacon under the normal entry routes. While she has plenty of fighting experience with Grimm, for understandable reasons she did not receive a hunter recommendation which is a normal requirement for mustangs."

"She's certainly clever and talented enough."

"Of course. If she had appeared from the wilderness with the abilities she had, I can say that she would have been chosen in any event."

"Did you know whose child she was?"

"Not officially. I had met Kali Belladonna before, and the resemblance was obvious. Dr. Oobleck was virtually certain for reasons connected with her debriefing before she joined us. She admitted to being a White Fang member and to wanting to repay what she saw as a debt to society. I saw good reasons to allow members of the White Fang to rehabilitate themselves."

"Her being on the same team as Weiss was what my mother would call a brave call."

"It was not intentional, but Atlas security was willing to accept the cards had fallen where they had. It helped that we were optimistic that Weiss would fit in and that they had some intelligence on Blake and her career with the White Fang."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because most of it will be public knowledge later today."

"How many people knew who Anne was?"

"I, Dr. Oobleck and Professor Goodwitch knew. Miss Scarlatina and Mr Corkran guessed on the first day and she told her team after the end of the first week. If anyone else guessed or suspected they kept it to themselves."

"I assume that she unlocked her aura and semblance to save her life."

"Correct. She did not really know what had happened or what she had done at the time."

"Ren says that he wondered what the reaction in Mistral would have been if she had not been so important to the fight with the White Fang."

"Doing the right thing is worth the risk of bad publicity. Besides which remember that there was only a small chance that she would be on a team which competed at the Vytal Festival. It needed her teammates to encourage her to develop her talent. Too many Faunus still find it safer to hide how strong they are."

"But still."

"Dr. Oobleck did put reasons of policy to support his nomination. Sending a message to the poor and the Faunus of Vale that they should not say for themselves that becoming a Hunter is not for the likes of us is important."

"I can see that."

"The main reason I chose you four is that I believed that you all had strong characters who were motivated to make Remnant a better place."

"Me?"

"Professor Port and Qrow Branwen both recommended you to me. I saw what they saw, and you have not disappointed me. You have a certain stubbornness combined with honesty and a sense of duty. The fact that you have persuaded your team and so many of your fellow students to go on holiday with you to Mistral is proof of your ability to lead by example."

"If you say so, Professor Ozpin."

"I do. You also do not blame other people for things which go wrong even when less innocent sould would do so. By the way I have talked to Professor Pink at Haven. He has talked to Sun Wukong and Team VIBES will be joining you in Ansel."

"Does my mother know? Sorry, of course she does. She works with Professor Pink."

"I'm afraid this is one area where I have taken Dr. Oobleck's advice. Placing the two top teams from your year at Haven plus your unofficial Mistral team in Ansel at the same time means that no one in Mistral can ignore what happens in Ansel next week."