Jaune watched as Blake slid out of the door, letting the heavy oak shut behind her. As she stepped out of the clockwork room, Jaune took a step into the soft light cast by the massive glass window behind Ozpin.
"Another Grimm that is stronger and faster than it should be." Jaune commented, recalling Blake's account of what transpired in the tunnel of the warehouse.
"Augmented in some way, I believe. I do not count it as coincidence that the first recorded Grimm captivity is followed soon after by these aberrations." The headmaster mused, his fingertips bridged together in front of his half moon glasses.
Jaune walked to the seat across from Ozpin, sitting in the high-backed chair. Despite the soft cushion behind him, Jaune was uncomfortable. The whole situation disturbed him. Neptune and Sun had both been incredibly talented students; though Neptune's skills were more intellectual than physical.
Neptune's death didn't bother Jaune as much. He was deeply saddened by his friend's death, and he knew he would miss the calm, suave and composed personality that had been beside him for so long, but Neptune had been in control of his death. He had chosen to sacrifice himself. Neptune realized what a threat the White Fang and Cinder's army had been, and had taken it upon himself to stop it all.
Sun on the other hand, had been forced to die. He had done so saving Blake from a Beowolf that acted much like the Deathstalker Jaune had become buddies with under the scouting tower in Forever Fall. Sun and Blake were two of the best students, but they had fled the Beowolf.
"Do you know why you're here, Jaune?" Ozpin asked, his eyes meeting Jaune's intensely. Jaune shifted a little in his seat.
"I don't," He confirmed, but Ozpin looked at him doubtfully.
"You're certain?" Ozpin asked, implying something that Jaune didn't catch, so he stayed silent. "Mr. Arc, when you came to Beacon, I will not lie, your marks were awful. Since then though, you've excelled in all of your subjects save history."
"Can't be bothered to memorize it." Jaune said honestly. He found his other subjects relatively simple, he could just think through the problems, but history required memorization. Jaune had never been very good at that, he just couldn't find it interesting.
"Be that as it may, one subject in particular stands out amongst the rest." Ozpin paused, looking at Jaune. Jaune knew what he was talking about; battle strategy. He had been doing so well that he occasionally had to correct professor Oobleck and professor Port, who were co-teaching the class. Ozpin sat back in his chair, then leaned over to pull open a drawer.
He pulled out a thin, sleek, metal checkered board. Each square was about one inch by one inch, and the board was made up of an eight square by eight square grid. The squares alternated from a polished, bright silver and a dark, glossy black. It was a chess board, with immaculately carved glass pieces. The side facing Jaune held the white pieces, while Ozpin's side had the black pieces on top.
"Tell me, Mr. Arc, have you played chess before?" Jaune nodded. Over the past few years, he had taken every opportunity he could get to play chess with the others. Ruby, Neptune and Weiss had been able to beat him at the start, but eventually, it got to the point where he could beat each of them in a few minutes. Since the start of fourth year, Pyrrha was the only one who had played a match against him, and that had only been once.
Ozpin lifted his hand and indicated the board. Jaune looked at his pieces, deciding what to move first. He didn't like being the first player to move. He always found it easier to respond to the other's moves rather than be the aggressor. Jaune decided on moving the pawn in front of his king one space forward. It would open up his queen and bishop, and it left the pawn protected.
"Do you know the most important part about the start of the game?" Ozpin asked Jaune, never breaking eye contact as he moved the pawn in front of his king up two spaces. Jaune frowned. The move was bold, but left the pawn unprotected. He moved his knight so it was in position to take the lonely pawn.
"Setting up your pieces, making sure you're protecting your board. You want to keep as many of your pieces covered as possible while threatening as many tiles as possible with your own pieces. At that point, you shouldn't be looking to take pieces unless they're completely unprotected." Ozpin nodded. His fingers closed around the head of his queen's pawn, and Jaune expected Ozpin to move it forward one space to protect his exposed piece, but he moved it forward two spaces.
"And what if you don't know that the other side has a full set of pieces? Let's say, what happens when you think the only pieces are the opposing king and queen?" Jaune frowned at the question. If Ozpin thought that Jaune only had a king and queen, his moves made a lot more sense. If Jaune had taken the pawn with his queen, it would leave his king isolated and bring the queen too close to the other forces. He would have to keep it nearby to protect his king. But he didn't only have a king and queen. He took Ozpin's pawn.
"Then you've been poorly informed." Jaune said as he took his victim in his hand and placed the pawn along the side of the pawn. Ozpin took the piece back, and Jaune stared in shock as he then switched it with a bishop.
"And what if you've mistakenly exposed a bishop you thought was a pawn?" Ozpin asked, and Jaune picked up on a bit of sadness in his voice.
"We're not talking about chess, are we sir?" He asked.
"I've made many mistakes in my life, Jaune. Sending team RWBY to that warehouse was only the most recent, and I fear that I may have cost us an important piece due to my ignorance." The regret in Ozpin's voice was evident. Jaune had never considered the impact that the death of two students would have on the headmaster.
"At least now you know there's a knight on the other side." Jaune said, doing the best he could to console the headmaster, but the sadness that had crossed the gray-haired man's face was gone. He moved a pawn forward to protect his other exposed piece.
"Mr. Arc, I have spent many years as the headmaster of Beacon, and in that time I have been a strategic consultant any time the kingdom has come under threat. That said, the incidents in your first year here, that of the outpost, the fact that I've lost contact with team CFVE and Blake's most recent recounting all have me worried that this is a threat unlike any other that Beacon has faced. I'm afraid I may be playing a game of chess with more players and pieces than I can keep track of by myself. That is why you are here, Jaune." Ozpin concluded as Jaune retracted his knight, bringing it into a more protected position.
"You want me to consult on strategies?" Jaune questioned. Ozpin smiled.
"Eventually, though for now, you need to learn more. So far you've only ever worked with small scale skirmished. At most, you've been leading seven other students. If my fears are correct, you may be involved in battles that include hundreds of soldiers. You need to get used to that scale of war." Ozpin replied, picking up his queen and holding it upright. "So, Jaune, if the start of the game is to set your pieces, then getting your queen in the open should be your priority, correct?" Ozpin set the queen back down, immediately diagonal to where it had first been.
"Yes, sir." Jaune replied, moving his own queen two spaces diagonally.
"And who is our queen?" Ozpin asked, his attention no longer fixed on the board. Jaune paused for a moment. The best fighter in the school was definitely Pyrrha, followed by Ruby. She was strong and smart, and in a skirmish would be invaluable like a queen. In that sense, Jaune would consider her Beacon's queen. He smirked a little at the thought. Pyrrha would be mortified by the expression. He raised his queen in his hand, turning it over and studying it.
An idea caught in his mind. If what Ozpin was saying about the coming battles was true, then there would be fights where one individual could hardly make a difference. No individual could possibly overcome a hundred enemies. Rather than an individual though...
"We have two." Jaune answered as he made his move. "In smaller skirmishes Pyrrha is the most talented fighter we have. She could easily tip the scales of a battle. Even in larger fights, she would be incredibly valuable. She'd be able to face incredible odds and come out victorious."
"But?" Ozpin prompted as he made a move.
"Well, there's two problems. First, Pyrrha's lost her aura and semblance. Second, in terms of a war, pieces are entire armies or strategic posts. Our other queen then, is team RWBY. They're strong, fast, subtle when they need to be, and effective. They're also not too large, so it'd be easy to move them around wherever we need to. If we can get them into position, they could wreak havoc." Ozpin smiled slightly at that.
"Very good." He said, "And where would be the best spot to place our queen?" Jaune noticed Ozpin's own queen had been moved into the middle of the board. Jaune's own queen could move a few spaces where it would be able to threaten the queen, and the knight that he had moved out earlier would cover it. Jaune made the move.
"Right next to the other queen." Jaune said, and he caught Ozpin's slight smirk.
"Very good, but if you didn't have a knight, then that move would have been useless. So, who are RWBY's knights?"
Jaune thought for a moment. Since they had come to Beacon, team JNPR had been the ones that had helped team RWBY out the most. They had gone on a fair amount of unofficial missions together, and knew how to cover one another. On the other hand though, Pyrrha was an important piece all to herself. Team JNPR would be needed in the coming conflicts to act as an independent piece. They couldn't spend their whole time covering RWBY; it would cost them too much ground on the rest of the board.
"I... Have no idea." Jaune admitted.
"Your knight was already in place when your queen moved." Ozpin said with a raised eyebrow.
"You said that team CFVE hasn't contacted you though."
"True," Ozpin said, and his expression suddenly darkened. He took a deep breath, and let out a heavy sigh. "Team CRDL contacted me this morning. The reason I haven't heard from CFVE is because they were all killed. They ran into some augmented Grimm, and CFVE bought the time needed for CRDL to escape. Cardin's team is waiting about five kilometers south of the base they were sent to neutralize."
"Already in place," Jaune murmured, seeing the dots connecting. Ozpin nodded his head.
"Team RWBY leaves tomorrow." Ozpin stated, raising his hands from the table to cup one under the other. "In addition, I've received reports that a few of the towns on the edge of Forever Fall have been assaulted by Grimm in large numbers. Not just one pack, but several different species of Grimm all attacking at once."
"Organized Grimm?"
"Organized chaos of a sort, it seems to me. That is not your destination though. The areas between these reports have gone completely dark. No communication. That area worries me the most, and I suspect there may be some of those Grimm that you have encountered. I need you to go to these coordinates," Jaune's scroll beeped and he drew it out, revealing a digital map with a red indicator on it. "And find out what's happened. Evacuate any remaining citizens and hold back whatever is causing this blackout. I expect frequent updates."
"Sir," Jaune answered, standing and dipping his head slightly. He turned his back to walk away, and took a step towards the door, mind already whirring.
"And Jaune?" The headmaster's call stopped Jaune's movements and he turned to look back over his shoulder. "Understand that this may be the first move in a very long, very dangerous game."
Jaune nodded and turned his back. He walked out of the solid oak door, feeling the boom of it closing behind him, tolling like a heavy bell.
The bell that rung for the beginning of a war.