Hello guys! It's Ulqui here and after more than three months, we finally have the next chapter of JOSLP!

Nothing much to say that was not mentioned at my previous announcement except for a few things...

1. The poll for picking which story should I write next after this is on my profile, make sure you guys vote!

2. My current beta, Sashiro, is currently too busy to check this chapter for any grammatical errors, so if there are any, please let me know and I will do my best to correct them!

3. In relation to #2, I am currently searching for another beta reader. So if anyone else is interested, please contact me via PM.

4. In an unrelated note, LiS EP5... Man... My thoughts about it will be in the AN below the actual chapter.

Now on with the chapter!

Chapter 5

"Happy Birthday, Sir Jaune!"

A floating robot with three eyes that were each connected to, and three arms said to small blonde boy who was wearing a white hoodie, black jeans, and grey shoes. Jaune was sitting on a chair located in the garden behind a huge mansion. He just gave a big smile at the robot. "Thanks, Ohmsworth! When do you think will my parents come back home from their meeting?" Jaune asked the floating robot as he got off from the chair. One of Ohmsworth's eyes leaned forward so that it stare at his little master.

"They would not miss your birthday for the world, sir. I am sure of it." He turned around and he made his way towards the house. "I'll get some cake for you, sir!"

"Go ahead! Just don't accidentally blow it to bits this time!" Jaune then started to walk around the garden in a slow pace. He wore plain black t-shirt with orange shorts, and blue sandals. 'I just can't believe that it's my 10th birthday! I just can't wait until I can go to Beacon, where I can show the world that I am going to be the best huntsman ever!' He thought to himself as he was unable to control his excitement. As Jaune had managed to calm down for now, he suddenly felt like he was being watched from afar. He looked behind him, and he saw a girl in a black dress staring at him. She suddenly turned around and ran towards the thick forest. "H-Hey! Wait up!" Jaune, who was confused since there were no nearby settlements or homes within a 50 mile radius from their home, ran after the girl. It was then Ohmsworth came back with cake in hand before he noticed Jaune running towards the forest. In his shock, he dropped Jaune's birthday cake to the ground.

"Y-Young master! Where are you going?!" He used his built-in boosters to try and catch up with Jaune.

Jaune opened his eyes as he suddenly sat up with a small gasp. He looked around the room to find that everyone else was still asleep. Nora was drooling as her limbs were spread out. Pyrrha was sleeping in a fetal position with Nora's arm on top of her head. Ren was just sleeping like a soldier would. He checked his watch to find that the time was 6 AM.

'Classes don't start until 9...' He got up from the bed to stretch his body. 'Another dream about it… as usual.' He got off the bed and he went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Blake Belladonna awoke from her slumber.

She carefully sat up to avoid hitting the bed on top of her and checked if her teammates were still sleeping. She was thankful that they all decided to rearrange our dorm room before they went to bed. Blake looked at her right and saw Weiss peacefully sleeping with a white eye mask on her face. Ruby's arm dangled on the bed on top of Weiss. She checked the bed above hers and saw Yang sleeping as she snored and drooled. She inspected the dorm that they were staying, and it was too much of a mess. On one side of the room, there were numerous posters of a boy band named "The Achieve Men" which Yang posted on the wall yesterday after initiation. On another side there was a painting of Forever Fall which Weiss drew, and various posters and articles which involved Jaune which Ruby posted. She had to admit that Weiss can be pretty talented in art, and that Ruby obviously has a crush on Jaune. Yang's taste in music was… questionable in her opinion. Near her bed was a bookshelf which was used to store her books…

Specifically her smutty books…

Even more specifically… the "Ninjas of Love" series.

A Blonde-haired ninja prodigy who was skilled in both battle and other… interesting activities.

She hoped that no one would be able to find her smutty stash… Especially Yang…

Blake recalled yesterday's events, more specifically during their battle between the Nevermore and the Deathstalker. Even with all of their skill, they had difficulty in severely damaging the two Grimm, except for Jaune. He seemed to be well prepared due to the fact that he had brought several explosives with him. Including a mini-nuke, which was supposed to be restricted to the Military. Either he stole it from them, or Beacon had a small supply of them which was only accessible to the Headmaster and personnel who were granted permission. Also, he just discovered his semblance during the battle… So does that mean that he completed the missions that he was given by pure physical skill alone? If so, then he could be a very powerful man… which made her feel hot by the thought of Jaune dominating her…

'I… I need a cold shower…' With her face red, she headed out to the bathroom to try to distract herself from her dirty thoughts.

It did not work however, as small moans can be heard from the door and surprisingly, the inhabitants of the dorm continued to sleep peacefully.

"Ahhhh…"

Jaune sighed to himself as he proceeded to wear his school uniform after he took a shower. He exited the bathroom to find that the rest were still sleeping. He checked his watch to find that he had spent about 30 minutes in the bathroom. 'It's still too early… Oh well, time for me to eat.' He tip-toed his way out of the dorm room while he picked up his bag on the way and he proceeded to the dining area. When he arrived, he found the place mostly empty, except for one girl who was reading a book with a pile of books on her table.

This girl was wearing the girl's school uniform, with long brown hair, brown eyes and a pair of rabbit ears on the top of her head. Velvet Scarlatina was the name of the girl, a 2nd year student of Beacon and one of Jaune's first friends in the campus. Jaune gave a big smile as he walked over to her table.

"Hey Velvet, what's up?" Velvet looked up from her book and as she saw Jaune, she smiled back at him with a small blush on her face.

"Oh, hey Jaune. Congrats on being team leader!" Jaune then sat down on the other side of the table and he pulled out a small cheese sandwich as his breakfast.

"Thanks. You seem to be busy today. You got a test or something?" He asked her as he munched on his sandwich.

"No, not really. I'm doing some advanced reading for my classes this semester. It doesn't hurt to be prepared, right?" Velvet giggled when Jaune shook his head in response.

"Of course not! It's better to be prepared than not knowing shit! How are the rest of the team?"

"Hmm… Yatsuhashi is quiet as ever. Fox is busy hunting small Grimm in his spare time. Coco keeps making me go to every single one of her shopping sprees since you were too busy with missions last semester. And to be honest, I am getting bored of it even though I like shopping. Why won't you come with us this Sunday morning? Surely, you have the spare time right?" Velvet asked him as he gobbled up the rest of his sandwich.

"Sure! I would love to hang out with you and Coco again. But can the rest of my team and team RWBY go with us?" Velvet gave a big nod as her response.

"Of course they can join us! The more, the merrier!" Jaune then sat up from his heat and picked up his bag.

"Great to hear that. I got to go. Better let you study and all. Should we continue our weekly afternoon tea this Friday?"

"Yes we should. See you Jaune." Velvet turned her attention back to her book as Jaune walked out of the dining area.

'Better kill some time while the others are still sleeping…' Jaune thought to himself as he headed off to the training area.

Ruby woke up from her slumber with a cute yawn. She rubbed her eyes as she looked around the room. Weiss and Yang were still sleeping, while Blake exited the bathroom with a small blush on her face. Ruby suddenly grabbed an air horn and blew it, which caused Yang to fall from her bad and for Weiss to sit up and hit her head on Ruby's bed.

"GOOD MORNING, TEAM RWBY!" Ruby greeted her teammates as she simply smiled at Weiss and Yang without a care in the world. Weiss was glaring at her, Yang just gave her sister a deadpan stare, while Blake managed to cover her face with one of her books as she hid a small smile.

"… Really, sis? Really?"

"Unbelievable! Our leader has to be the most immature one!"

"Come on guys! It's 7:30!" Ruby said to her teammates. "We need to take a bath fast so that we can eat some breakfast! I'm going in first!" In a blink of an eye, she disappeared as the bathroom door suddenly closed seemingly by itself as the sound of Ruby humming as she took a shower. Weiss sighed to herself in irritation before she turned to her teammates.

"As much as I hate to admit it… Ruby has a point." Weiss said to her two teammates. "Classes start at 9, so we need to bathe and eat quickly in order for us to arrive on class on time. That means no beauty showers, Yang." Yang pouted slightly at the last sentence, but nevertheless nodded in understanding. Weiss then turned her head to the bathroom door and glared at it. 'Today… I will show everyone that Professor Ozpin had picked the wrong person to lead this team… That title belongs to ME!'

As Ren woke up, he sat up on the bed as he rubbed his eyes. He then noticed that Jaune's bag was missing from the chair, which meant that Jaune left the room a while ago. He looked towards his left to see Nora and Pyrrha still sleeping, with his childhood friend drooling while the red-haired warrior slept peacefully. After a few more seconds of staring at the two ladies, mostly on Nora, he gave a mischievous grin.

'Let's see if the old trick still works…' He thought to himself as he carefully got up from the bed to gently walk towards Nora's side of the ladies' bed. He then gently placed a hand on her shoulder as he moves his face closer to her ear. He whispered to her, "Nora… If you don't wake up… I'll take your share of pancakes all for myself…' before Nora suddenly had her eyes wide open and tackled him towards the ground with a predatory look on her face.

"Renny must not take my precious away from me… NEVER~!" She said to him as she wagged her finger. Ren stared at Nora with a bit of shock and embarrassment on his face for two reasons. The shock part was because back when they were kids, she would just usually charge straight towards the nearest bathroom to quickly take a bath before he even got out of the room. The embarrassment part is because instead of her usual sleepwear, she was wearing nothing but a plain white shirt and pink panties. Nora then stared at Ren with concern. "Are you okay, Renny? Your face is red." Ren shook his head as he tried his best to snap out of his thoughts.

"B-But you're wearing just your underwear!" Ren shouted out, which caused Pyrrha to wake up from her slumber.

"So what? We always change clothes together in the same room, so it's not like you never saw me naked or anything."

"B-But that was when we were kids! We are almost adults now, and we should stop doing stuff like that!" It was then that Ren realized that Pyrrha was staring at the both of them with a blush on her face. With how Ren and Nora were positioned, they look like that they were about to begin an intense make-out session.

"I… I should give you two some privacy…" Pyrrha said to them as she headed towards the bathroom to take a bath. Nora suddenly leaned her head closer to Ren's as her smile grew bigger.

"Renny. Since Pyrrha went in the bathroom first… Could we bathe together just to save some time? Like when we were kids?" She asked Ren, whose face reddened even more at the thought of them bathing together at their current age.

'Looks like some things won't change… But in Nora's case, nothing changes at all…'

Ozpin sighed to himself as he watched the students walking around the campus from his office while drinking his coffee, Glynda just right behind him. He had a worried look on his face as Glynda went to him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Are you alright, Ozpin? You look even more stressed than yesterday." Glynda said as Ozpin as he continued to stare at the window.

"… I'm just worried…"

"About Jaune?"

"… Yes..." He said as he turned his head to look at her. Glynda simply gave him a smile.

"You should not be worried… He is a capable leader. Out of all people, you should know that very well. You were the one who trained him after all." Her smile slowly faltered as Ozpin started to shake his head.

"I know that, but that's not what I am worried about…" Ozpin then faced his body towards her. "What I am really worried about is his mental state" Glynda stared at him confusedly.

'H-His mental state?"

Ozpin closed his eyes as he walked towards his desk. "… Yes…"

"B-But that's preposterous! He acts just the same during his time with us! Well… Unless you count his outburst from yesterday that is…"

"Oh, that's what he wants everyone to think. But I can see through his mask." Ozpin sat down on his chair as he placed his cup of coffee on top of the desk. "His fury seems to be mainly focused on the White Fang… Or more exactly, those who were involved in the 'incident' seven years ago"

Glynda's eyes widened in realization. "You mean-"

"Yes… Even until now… Even after all he has done to help diminish the discrimination between humans and faunus, his main goal in life is focused on getting revenge. It seems that if he has the chance, he will stop at nothing to fulfill his goal." Ozpin dropped his head somberly. "With all of that anger that he had stored for the past seven years… He's a walking time bomb. There will come a time where his anger and lust for revenge(1) would consume him. I just hope that he will not do something drastic…" He said with a shaken voice as Glynda held her hand on his.

Loud panting can be heard around the training room as multiple remains of training robots were scattered throughout. And at the middle of the room was none other than Jaune Arc, who was clearly the source of the panting. He was in a kneeling position face down as he held Crocea Mors by the hilt with both hands as it was stabbed into the ground. His hands clenched tightly at the hilt as his Aura started to conceal his body. There was only one difference though…

The color of his Aura suddenly changed from the usual white to jet black…

More training robots appeared in a flash in multiple numbers armed with various weapons and armor, ready to attack Jaune. When he raised his head to face the robots, a glare formed on his face as his right eye's color turned from blue to a glowing yellow.

To Ren's dismay, Nora forced him to take a bath with her, which still made him uncomfortable even as they entered the classroom after He, Nora and Pyrrha ate some breakfast. The classroom was pretty crowded, with team RWBY talking among one another. The three of them decided to sit in the same row as Team RWBY as an old man entered the room. The old man was wearing a dark red burgundy suit with gold piping and buttons, and olive boots. He was Professor Peter Port, an expert in Grimm studies.

"Please sit, everyone." Professor Port said as the rest of the class went to their respective seats. The old man narrowed his eyes as he gazed among his students. "My name is Professor Peter Port, and I will be your teacher in Grimm studies for this school year… Well… Everything seems to be in order… Except…" He then stared at the empty chair next to Ren's. "Tell me, has anyone of you seen Mister Arc this morning?" He asked the rest of team JNPR as they shook their head in response, along with team RWBY.

"Am I… Late, Professor?" A tired sounding voice asked the professor just as Jaune entered the room. His hair was messed up, with small cuts on his face, his uniform seemed to be a bit torn up, and he kept on panting repeatedly almost as if he had exhausted himself too much. Professor Port gave out a sigh as he stared at Jaune's tired form.

"You overdid your training, didn't you Mister Arc?"

"My apologies, professor… It will not happen again…" Jaune replied as he dragged himself towards his seat. Once he was seated, he suddenly dropped his head against the desk and he began snoring, which surprised most of the class.

"Oh dear… It seems that he had overexerted himself during his training." The professor said to the class as Team RWBY and the rest of Team JNPR went towards Jaune with worried looks on their faces. As Weiss took out a fan from her bag to give Jaune some air, Ren asked Professor Port a question.

"Does he usually tire himself during his training sessions with you and the other professors?" Professor Port then shook his head in response.

"Well, not to the point where he suddenly falls asleep during our sessions..." He then walked towards Jaune and he carried him with his arms. "If you all excuse me, I am going to take him to the infirmary, and then we can commence our discussion." As Professor Port left the room, Team RWBY and the rest of team JNPR looked among themselves with worried looks on their faces. Was Jaune really alright?

Meanwhile in Jaune's mindscape…

The city was rebuilt, but its inhabitants were completely absent. A lone figure was shown floating, and that figure was Jaune himself.

'Where… am I?' As he slowly blinked his eyes repeatedly to regain his eyesight, he immediately noticed a couple of things. One, Crocea Mors was missing on his person; two, instead of his school uniform, he was wearing his usual outfit; three, he found himself floating above a city in which he had never been to before; and four, he was floating underwater, and that the water has a slight blood-red tint. As soon as he digested that last fact, he immediately swam up in fear of drowning, but after a few seconds he realized that he was able to breathe normally and he was able to calm himself down. 'That's strange… I don't have any gills, don't I?!' Jaune thought to himself as placed both of his hands around his neck to check if he was not some kind of fish faunus before a low, growling voice was heard below him.

'Would you stop doing that?! It makes you look like an idiot!' Jaune looked down to find black silhouette with crimson red eyes staring at him. 'Now that you finally obtained your semblance, we can finally talk face to face.'

'Where am I?'

'We are inside your mind.' The mysterious figure said. 'The only reason that your mind looks like this is because you lost yourself with your negative feelings.'

'… You sound familiar… Have we met before?' He asked the mysterious figure.

'Yeah. I was the voice that gave you a bit of advice during your fight against the Nevermore yesterday. Even without my advice, you can handle yourself in a fight. You're pretty good.' Jaune's eyes widened in recognition as he recalled yesterday's events.

'Oh yeah… Thanks for the advice, by the way but… Who are you?' The figure tilted his head in confusion.

'You don't… know me? Out of all people, you should know me very well…' It was then that bubble began to emerge from below at a rapid pace in large numbers. 'Ah… It seems that our little chat has been cut short.' Jaune then floated towards the surface thanks to the bubbles, but it had no effect on the mysterious figure.

'Wait! You still haven't told me who you are!'

'You will know soon enough when we meet again… Or when you finally know who I am. Depends on which will come first. Now wake up, and make sure to assure your friends that you are alright.' That was the last thing that Jaune heard from the figure before his vision got dark as he returned to reality.

Beacon Infirmary. 3 PM.

'..!' Jaune slowly opened his eyes as he regained consciousness. When he looked around his surroundings, he found out that he was in the infirmary, and that Team RWBY and his teammates were standing all around the bed that he way laying down on.

"He's awake!" exclaimed a happy, cute-sounding voice as Jaune managed to sit up on the bed without much difficulty.

"You alright, Vomit Boy?" Yang asked him with a bit of concern on her face. Jaune weakly nodded his head as he gave off a sigh of irritation.

"No, I don't feel like shit. My good arm feels a little bit sore though." He said to them as he rubbed his right arm with his left arm. "How long was I out?"

"Long enough for you to miss your first day of classes. It's now 3PM." Blake, who was seated on one of the chairs in front of Jaune, said to him as she looked up from her book and placed it back in her bag. Pyrrha moved closer to him to place a hand on his shoulder, which made him flinch in surprise.

"Jaune… You shouldn't have tire yourself like that, even if you had done so before. It's very unhealthy for you." Jaune then looked down for a few seconds before he gave a small smile.

"I… I'll try." Jaune used his hands to move Pyrrha's hand away from his shoulder before he turned to Ren. "Am I allowed to go outside?"

"Well, considering for the fact that the nurse was surprised that you gradually recovered your Aura even with your large reserves, she said that you are free to leave if you feel like it. However, she did say that you need to take it easy with your training, unless you want something more than soreness." Ren replied.

"Don't worry. I won't push myself too hard… for now." He then turned his attention to Weiss. "Did anything interesting happen while I was off at dreamland?" Weiss gave a sigh before she glanced at Ruby.

"We… had an argument…" Ruby glanced back at Weiss with a small grin. "I originally intended to prove that I was more worthy of being team leader instead of Ruby. But… after I had a talk with Professor Port, I have a new goal… I will do my best to become the best teammate that Ruby could ever have." Ruby's face brightened up in joy as she gave a big smile. "Besides, who would even look out for her? Excluding Yang of course." It was then that Ruby's face of joy turned into a face of shock and embarrassment as Weiss and the others laughed at her. A small raincloud formed on top of her head as she drops her head with her hair covering her eyes. Yang then gave her little sister a hug after she managed to stop laughing at Ruby.

"C'mon sis. Cheer up! We were only joking!" As Jaune noticed that Ruby was still sulking, a lightbulb appeared on top of his head as he managed to think of an idea that would make her cheerful again.

"Ruby?' She gave off a sniff as she looked at Jaune with a sad face. He then said something that made Ren and Yang look at each other with fearful looks on their face. "Umm… How about we have breakfast for dinner and cookies and strawberry cheesecake for dessert? My treat." As soon as Jaune finished his sentence, Nora and Ruby looked at him with a surprised look before the both of them looked at each other with shit-eating grins on their faces.

"Dibs on the cookies!"

"Dibs on the pancakes! With extra syrup!"

And it was then that the both of them bolted out of the infirmary door at break-neck speeds as they raced towards the cafeteria. Pyrrha gave a small giggle as she sweatdropped. Blake and Weiss were staring at the door with a deadpan look on their faces. Yang and Ren still stood on the same spot that they were standing with horrified looks, Yang on Jaune's left while Ren was on his right.

"… You really going to give my sister cookies at this time?"

"… Great, now Nora will never run out of energy for the rest of the day…" Both Yang and Ren slowly turned their gazes at Jaune, who started to laugh nervously under their gaze.

"Ummm…" Before he was able to say a proper sentence, he was suddenly grabbed by the shirt by the both of them. His eyes were filled with fear as both Ren and Yang gave him a glare that could kill him over and over again.

"If we are going to suffer Ruby…" Yang said as she moved her face closer to Jaune's, which almost made Jaune have a panic attack again.

"… and Nora's wrath…" Ren said as he had done the same thing as Yang.

"… You're going to suffer with us!" That was what they said together before the both of them forcefully pulled him towards the exit.

"H-Hey! Let me go! Stop!" was the last thing that Blake, Weiss and Pyrrha had heard from Jaune. The three of them stared at the door for a few seconds before they stared at each other.

"… Should we join them?" Weiss asked.

"Well… Jaune did insist that he would pay for our food…" Blake replied.

"And besides, we are going to have breakfast for dinner. It's a rare opportunity to do so." Pyrrha said.

"Hmmm… Well, I guess you're right. Jaune is such a gentleman for treating us for dinner. Shall we?" Weiss said to the two of them as the three of them nodded at each other before they walked out of the infirmary to catch up with their friends.

Later at 11:30 PM…

Thankfully for Ren, Nora's sugar rush ended around 30 minutes ago, so most of Team JNPR managed to sleep peacefully for the rest of the night. Except for one Jaune Arc. He was sitting on a chair, staring at a blue-colored, star-shaped pendant that can glow in the dark. This pendant was given to him by a childhood friend that he could not remember properly for some reason. All that he can remember about that friend was that:

A. The one who gave him the pendant was a girl;

B. She was the daughter of one of the childhood friends of his parents; And

C. They met at a short time before the… incident….

Ever since then, he tried to look for her, even during his missions. As time passed by, he slowly forgot her physical features until everything became a blur. The only thing that made him remember her was the pendant, and that was what kept on motivating him to reunite with the girl. After he stared at the pendant for a few more seconds, he placed it inside his pocket. He got up from the chair and he went to the closet to change his clothes. It was then that he pulled out something very familiar…

… A very familiar black coat…

Tukson sighed to himself as he just locked up his bookstore. Up until now, he was still paranoid that the current members of the White Fang or their allies would eventually find him and kill him. Because of this, he rarely got any rest at all, which made him very stressful during his working days. There were however, a few people that he was comfortable to talk with.

Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna.

Both Tukson and Blake left the White Fang almost at the same time, although both of them were in different places during the time. Tukson left when Jaune rescued him inside a White Fang stronghold. He was given a mission by Ozpin to rescue him after he secretly sent a letter to Beacon (which was not very easy.), and as a reward he was able to give him important data regarding the plans that the White Fang had made for the past 7 years. Ever since then, he and Jaune managed to make contact with each other at times. Blake left the White Fang while she and Adam Taurus were infiltrating a cargo train owned by the Schnee Dust Company. They never really interacted that much during their time at the White Fang, but they were quite familiar with each other, especially since Blake was his #1 customer. He would occasionally tease her because of her love for the smut series titled "Ninjas of Love" which usually earned him a hard slap to the face. As he turned away from his shop to head towards his apartment, he heard the sound of footsteps heading towards him from behind. He turned around to face the source of the footsteps, before he smiled as he managed to see a very familiar mop of blonde hair, and a very familiar black coat.

"Jaune! Back so soon?" Jaune simply smiled back at him.

"Well yeah. I am here for the drink that you offered." Once Jaune was close to Tukson, the both of them bumped their fists as a greeting.

"Hahaha. So where to, my young friend?"

"I know a place… Have you heard of… The Club?"

(1) ... WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!

And that was the end of the chapter! To be honest, this chapter was supposed to be WAY longer than this, but I decided that I am going to split it into two. Expect a fight between two certain blond huntsmen-in-training...

Yeah, there are obviously some Bleach elements in this fic, which thanks to the encounter with the mysterious figure (Whose identity should be obvious by now if you are a Bleach fan) made it even more obvious. And yes, there are also a few elements from other games/movies/TV series/books/anime/manga/etc. (Like the Invisi watch from Team Fortress 2, or Jaune's internal panic attack was taken from Spongebob.) Expect more of that in at least this fic, but who knows?

Now on an unrelated note. Life is Strange Episode 5: Polarized... [SPOILER ALERT]

Man... I'm just going to keep it short. Disappointed with the motives of Mr. Jefferson and the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending (It made the whole speech from Chloe meaningless, and time will continuously find a way to kill Chloe). Still love the game. Loved the nightmare sequence. Max and Chloe kissing (KYAAAAAAA!~). Felt that both endings are bitter-sweet yet mostly on the bitter side. Choices that were made in previous episodes are now meaningless... Yeah, there are more, but I'll save that for next time.

See you guys at the next chapter!

-Ulqui