Author's Note: Yo peeps! Nothing to declare on this chapter, only that this is the penultimate chapter for this story. Don't worry, the end is not nye! I have great things in motion for the next story (I'll probably go into more detail next week). So yeah, I'll just let you read now. Bye!

Chapter IX: Beneath the Surface

'Liars, thieves and murderers.'

I sidestepped the sword that was rushing down towards my skull and my attacker flew past me, colliding with the wall behind me. He slid to the floor with a groan, yet another failure under his belt.

"You need to be faster than that Jaune," I said critically, "If I can dodge that, anyone can."

He groaned once more in response and didn't get up. Rolling my eyes, I moved to him and offered him a hand. He took it reluctantly and staggered to his feet. He looked tired and bruised; even the walls were picking on poor old Jaune. Besides this, I hadn't even laid a finger on him during the ten minutes we had been here, and he was already in a sorry state.

"How tired are you?" I asked him.

"Pretty tired…" he panted, "But don't worry… I can carry on…"

I studied him up and down before making a conclusion. "If you're sure," I shrugged, heading towards a seat. "Sit with me."

"But I'm good to carry on," he insisted, lifting himself into a readiness stance. It took him quite some effort might I add.

"Who said we're stopping?" I countered, "We're going to do something a little different this time."

After a small huff, he paced over and joined me, his curiosity pushing him forward. Once he had slumped into the spot next to me, I began.

"You know what we've been doing just then?"

"Yes."

"That wasn't for nothing. I was just testing to see how you fight."

"OK. So why didn't you tell me that?" he asked.

"I didn't tell you because then it wouldn't have been an accurate demonstration," I said, "If I had told you, I reckon you would have tried something different."

"That makes sense I guess…"

"See? I know what I'm doing," I reassured him, "Now I've made some conclusions from that little test just then…"

"OK…"

"And I've found that you act very offensively."

"Right…"

"I've also found that you need to move faster…"

He looked disappointed.

"And your stamina needs to improve…"

He groaned.

"And you need to straighten your sword arm more."

Finally, he sank in his chair, groaning even louder than before.

I patted him on the shoulder. "Relax mate, that's just stuff that you work on through practice. What's good about you, is that you're committed; however close you get to giving up, you still carry on. That is one of the best traits a person can have."

"You really think so?" he asked looking at me hopefully.

"Yeah," I replied honestly, "Provided one is committed to what they're doing, no matter the task, they will see it through to the end. Those people make excellent leaders because of this. They may not be the strongest of fighters, granted, but they are the ones who keep the team together."

He took in all of that information and squared it away somewhere in his head. Somehow I knew he would take that to heart, more so than others definitely.

After a few more seconds in thought, he stood and grabbed his gear. "Thanks Spectre."

"No problem," I said whilst standing to join him.

I'll admit, for the first months that I had known him, I wasn't too fond of Jaune. On the initiation day, his incompetence screwed me over not once, but twice. After he vomited at the smell of the Grimm remains on my clothes, I had a real hard time understanding just how he would cope in a more difficult situation. Over the next few weeks, he came across as weak and, for lack of better words, pathetic. He let Cardin trample over him and exploit him. It got to his head, and affected his classwork. I honestly felt that he didn't deserve to be here, and it wasn't good for him either... But that soon changed.

The day that Jaune killed that Ursa Major and stood up to Cardin, he proved to himself, to all of us, that he had a right to be here. That he could become a great hunter one day. That he would carry on his family's legacy and make his ancestors proud. It gave me hope for him, that little push that I needed to help him improve. It just goes to show that you don't know what's behind the shell until you crack it open.

Returning my mind to the lesson, I proposed the next step.

"Right," I said, "You carry a shield and yet, I haven't seen you use it at all. Why is that?"

He hesitated. "Uh… I'm very offensive?"

"Just because you have a shield, doesn't mean you have to use it defensively," I pointed out, "But that's a bit more advanced. Look, the way I see it, you inherited that shield for reason, yes?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"So, you could have been envisioned to be able to take a lot of punishment. Stand there with your shield out." I pointed to the spot and backed up. Once Jaune was ready, I started to pull Grimm's Doom from its sheath.

"Woah, woah, woah!" he shouted like he was staring death in the face, "I-I'm not ready to take you on just yet!"

I sighed. "Relax Jaune," I said, letting my arms fall to my sides, "I'm not going to hurt you, well not unless you really piss me off. I only want to take a few swings at you to see how your shield arm is. Nothing too hard, OK?"

He gulped. "OK…"

"Good. Now shield up." He did so surprisingly quickly; whether it was reflex or fear that fuelled the movement, I didn't know. "Alright. Here I come," I said somewhat playfully, like we were playing hide and seek or something.

I moved in at a casual pace, with Doom pointed to my side. I didn't want to make things too hard for him by Void-Jumping the distance. That would come later... By the time I had closed the gap and had risen Doom skyward, Jaune had braced his stance. His legs were shaking though, and his shield arm wasn't stable either. As demonstration, I swung downwards, my sword clashing with the shield with a metallic clunk. He buckled under the blow and near enough tumbled to the side, quickly scrambling to his feet, expecting another strike to follow.

There wasn't one. I sheathed my weapon on my back and approached him.

"You know what you did wrong there?" I straight up asked him, glancing at my scroll.

"I don't know… Isn't it your job to tell me where I go wrong?" he said, sagging his shoulders and looking downwards.

"Yes, but what's even better is if you find out for yourself. That way, you become less reliant me, and things will just be easier in general. So, I'll ask again, what did you do wrong just then?"

"I… don't know…" He truly looked defeated now, even for him.

I gripped his shoulder firmly. "Listen, you may not know the answer now, but if you think about it over time the answer will come to you. I want you to tell me what that is for the next time we train. Think of it as a little homework."

"Right," he said, "So the lesson's over right?"

"Yeah, it is. Now last I heard, Renn's been making pancakes again, there might be some left if we hurry."

"Good idea," said a relieved Jaune, "I could really use with a bite to eat right now." As we made our way off of the roof, he turned to me once more. "Wait, you can't eat pancakes can you?"

"Two words Jaune," I said turning to him, "Pancake. Mix."

To Jack, you wanted binary, so here's your sodding binary. Regards, De4thstopper. (P.S: 3,000 characters, one FanFic. Good luck.)

We made our way back to the Team JNPR's dorm and talked and ate pancakes and just generally had a laugh. Pyrrha pulled me to one side to discuss the events of Jaune's lesson. I replied honestly, and she seemed satisfied, thanking me as we joined the others. Nora was… Nora. For whatever reason, Renn explained the term 'binary' to her, and she just kept repeating the word out loud like a bad vinyl record. After a few minutes, we learned to leave her alone and drown out the noise. The pancake mix that I so lovingly consumed, was warm and had syrup drizzled in. If anyone could make pancake mix, it was Lie Renn. Why I hadn't come to him for pancake mix before, I had no idea. He even enquired about Weiss and I the cheeky bugger; there was simply no way of convincing him that we were only friends. What made him such a good matchmaker anyway? That said, I'd prefer him to Cardin any day…

After a good half an hour, I decided to leave them in peace and retire to my own dorm. I still hadn't made a definite conclusion as to what kicked off my anger issues. I had been looking into this in my free time since it first sprang up, and I had made little to no progress during that time. The way I saw it, there were three things that were obvious; it could be the Arch-Grimm holding some sort of effect in my head, which would explain the visions that I had every day. It could be Shadow's death. I had never started seeing visions until after she died, and then there were the visions where I actuallysaw her and heard her in my head. That can't be a coincidence. Maybe my issues had something to do with her too…

And then there was the option that I hoped was the least likely: Yang. She was the one who talked to me and, you could say, the one who sparked the inferno. But that didn't make any sense; besides our argument, we had gotten on very well. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I have never had as much fun in my life as I have done with her recently. She made me laugh; it doesn't sound all that big a thing, but for me it meant so much more. I feltalive by her side. And she enjoyed my company too. The feeling was new to me so I couldn't tell, but I think I liked her. Like,liked her liked her. That had only happened to me once, but the feelings weren't as strong as the ones I am feeling now…

My thoughts were cut short by when I reached my door however. Blake was barrelling down the corridor with Weiss closely behind. I turned to greet them.

"Hey guys…"

"NOT NOW!" they both snapped in unison as they continued down the corridor. When they reached their dorm, they started bickering about something that sounded like Faunus rights. It seemed as if the two had been at it for quite a while now. Soon after, Yang and Ruby came from the same direction with equal haste.

"Hey guys," I tried for the second time. I was successful too.

"Hey Spectre!" Yang said as if in a rush, "Look I'd like to chat, but…"

Ruby nudged her. "Don't worry sis, you can stay here if you want. I'll worry about Weiss and Blake."

"You sure?"

"Yep, I'm the team leader, remember?"

"Thanks Ruby!" she said gratefully, "Good luck!"

"Yeah, I'll need it…" she mumbled, "See you Spectre."

I held up my flask humbly. "See you Rubes." With one last smile, she followed the sound of verbal conflict between the contrasting girls next door. Once she walked through the door, Yang turned to me.

"So, how've you been?"

"Pretty good, you?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I've just got to deal with… well, I guess you saw Blake and Weiss?"

"Yeah, they seemed pretty… engaged. What's up with them anyway?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know. Weiss was talking about how Faunus are all bad, and Blake got pretty pissed off about it… I don't know why."

"She must not know that Blake is a Faunus…" I thought to myself. I chose to be tactful and not bring it up though. "Could I help at all?"

"If I were you, I'd just stay out of it…" Yang said rubbing the back of her head awkwardly, "Not that I don't think it'll help or anything, but it might be a good idea to just let them calm down."

"OK then… So anything else you wanna talk about?"

A smile painted itself across her face, a nice change from before. "Well, I'm gonna buy you a present."

"Oh?" I asked, intrigued. Nobody ever bought me presents. "What kind of present?"

She put her hands behind her back and began to swivel her body from the waist up playfully. "It's something that's practical, a little fun… and good for both of us."

I wasn't sure what she was implying; knowing Yang, it could mean anything...

I managed to regain myself surprisingly well. "I look forward to it."

"Good," she said playfully. Then she sighed suddenly, "I guess I can't hold this off much longer…" She must have referring to the whole Weiss-Blake fiasco next door.

I nodded in understanding. "Sure thing. Be with your team."

She smiled sadly. "It was really nice to catch up; we haven't spoken to each other in a while."

"No we haven't…" I agreed. Then an idea came to mind. "Hey Yang, do you… wanna meet up again, like for a drink or something? Just to catch up properly and, y'know, chat and stuff."

I noticed her face light up a little. "Oh, sure that'd be great! When do you wanna meet up?"

I scrambled though my head desperately for a good time. "How about this weekend?" I asked finally.

She stepped back in thought. "Yeah, I can do that," she said happily, "Where do you wanna meet?"

"Why don't we just meet here then go into town, see what we can find?"

She put on that cheeky smile again. "It's a date." She probably meant it loosely - probably. The word stuck with me for a little bit. 'Date'.

"Cool…"

"…as KitKats?" Yang finished, "Yeah… Weiss told us about that. She said it was the worst joke she'd ever heard."

My heart sank, but I didn't show it. "I'm still getting used to telling good jokes, so…"

"If it helps, I thought it was alright…" she said softly.

I grunted and smiled under my helmet. "Thanks Yang."

She smiled back. "I'd better go now... I'll see you later, Spectre."

I watched her move to her dorm, the sounds of bickering still emanating from the open door, and they instantly became muffled as she closed the door behind her. Not a moment afterwards, I too entered my own dorm, taking another sip from by scrumptious pancake mix.

As soon as I closed my door, I leaned backwards, my spine pressed flat against the firm woodwork.

"I've done it!" I thought merrily, "The first step to a relationship with a girl I really like! If Shad were here to see this…" I stopped. "Shadow…" I muttered. It had been some time since I had thought about her or taken a moment to honour her memory. Suddenly ashamed for my lack of respect, I spent the next thirty seconds or so in silence, recalling my memories of her, the good and the bad. The time when we met the boss in Atlas. The time we spent with the Atlas academy kids and the many friends who lost their lives during our stay. The names we would always remember, but never share. The times we…

"NO!" came a voice from the other side of the wall. Weiss. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves and murderers!"

"And maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" It was Blake who had made that one slip. The silence that followed was enough of a sign for me to step in. Placing my flask on the shelf closest to me, I Void-Jumped out into the corridor and paced down to Team RWBY's dorm. As I was about to knock, the door flung open, and a blur that could only be Blake flew right past me.

"Blake! Wait, come back!" I heard Ruby say from within. It didn't help though; she was already long gone.

I turned the corner and strode into the room. "What the hell did you do?" I asked, directed towards Weiss.

She didn't answer; she only had a look of anger and betrayal on her face. There was not even a trace of remorse, and that's what I hated about it.

"How long were you listening?" Ruby asked me, still sad at Blake's sudden departure.

"Long enough," I answered bluntly, not taking my eyes off of Weiss.

"So you heard what she said then?" she said finally, "I'm sure you would know what this means. You'll have to deal with her…"

"I'm going to deal with her?" I interrupted, my tone rising, "I'm not a lackey for your father's company, and I am most certainlynot one of yours either. So don't you go bossing me around, Princess."

"Oh, so you're a sympathiser for murderers and degenerates too now, are you?" she countered, her tongue like a freshly sharpened knife.

I clenched my fists, and struggled to bite back the rage building inside of me. "I'll have you know that I have friends, no family that are Faunus, and they are heroes without which we wouldn't even be here today. I would gladly have one of them over you any day."

That shut her up. She placed her hand across her forehead and sat on her bed. After a few moments of awkward silence, Yang rose from her seat and grasped my shoulder.

"C'mon Spectre. I get how you're feeling, and I think you should cool down a bit before you do anything else."

She was right and I knew it. I took a deep breath and loosened my hands as I turned my back on the white haired girl in front of me. I made my way into the corridor.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.

I stopped at the door frame and looked at her over my shoulder. "I'm the only one who knew of her past before now," I said seriously, "It's a gamble, but I figure that she'd open up to me."

It didn't take me too long to find her in the evening darkness of the Academy grounds. Being able to Jump from roof to roof was a very useful ability to have in that sense. She wasn't difficult to spot either; the grounds were barren, nobody was out at this time of night. I followed her to the hero statue at the centre of the campus, where she eventually stopped and started to gaze upon it.

I could have intercepted her a while back, but I decided that seeing where she was headed could be useful to know. Over the years I have learned that patience can get you the best results in most situations. Knowing when to act is key as well. It's good to know what you need to do, but the puzzle isn't complete without knowing the time that it needs to be done. And so, I waited.

I noted that Blake had stared from the humans atop the rock, to the Grimm that was carved below it. I guess she was comparing herself to the Grimm. She must have been feeling really bad… It was then that I saw them for the first time. Slowly, she moved her hands to her head and started to pull at the bow in her hair. It wasn't long before it fell into her hands, revealing the black cat ears that were hidden beneath the surface.

From the moment I encountered her, it was obvious that she was a Faunus; she was working with the White Fang after all. What wasn't immediately clear to me however, was what kind of Faunus. Recalling her fighting style from the train, and the stealthy movement from when she attacked me after initiation, I figured that a feline animal suited her well. It seems I was right.

Then a new speaker entered the scene. "I knew you'd look better without the bow."

I swung my head to the sound and identified the new speaker. Judging by his voice and appearance, he was male and of a similar age to me. From what I could tell from a distance, the boy had a monkey tail, clearly a Faunus as well.

Then, at one of the most inconvenient of times, the familiar flash of a vision shoved its way into my head. I saw… myself? I looked different, and I was accompanied by three other silhouettes by my side. I couldn't tell who they were, but somehow I knew they would be my allies, my friends. Then that same voice came as darkness fell:

"A path has been laid before you. Take it before the flow of time robs it from your grasp."

My vision returned quickly. Right now the things I foresaw were creating more questions than answers. "A path has been laid before me…" I contemplated, almost forgetting about Blake and the mystery Faunus. The very thought made me snap back into reality and scan franticly for the pair. I caught the literal tail end of the monkey boy moving around a blind corner. With the guidance of some greater force, I followed from the shadows, my supposed destiny edging ever closer.