Finally! I'm getting to the juicier things of the plot that are leading up to the end of season one!
Heheheheheh! OH I cannot wait to reveal what I planned! You'll all call me crazy! You'll probably call me insane! And once I reveal my most diabolical plot—remember this: you bore witness to my descent into madness!
MWAHAHAHA—oh wait, I'm actually a little farther off that than I wanted to be. Err, guess I have to be a little more sane for a while longer.
And super important announcement!
College Fool, a great writer btw, has a new story! It's called:
"A Common Criminal Or Something"
Go read it! You may recognize his work from the great, "A Farmer Or Something" story. I promise you all that you will not be disappointed! (It might require a little patience, but I assure you it is worth it!)
His works are so good that I am convinced he uses voodoo magic on them!
And if you somehow are disappointed, uhh… I don't know what I can do. But seriously, check him out! I am totally dedicating the rest of these author notes to him so you guys would go.
Please read it!
Eight year old Jared Arc was doing what most eight year olds do on a Sunday afternoon.
He was doing his homework.
"Aha! It's finished! Soon, the entire class will forever call tomorrow Locust Day! The day when, for some unfathomable reason, a swarm of locust comes and cancels my math exam! MAWAHAHAHA—*Cough!* *Cough! Blak!"
"Man, I should have drank some water before trying my evil laugh. … How does Xia do hers so well? And how does she time it with the random flashes of lightning and thunder despite it being a bright and sunny day sometimes?" Despite knowing her for a long time, Jared could not figure out his best friend.
Anyway, there was no greater cause to young Jared at this very moment.
Jared prepared a rather intricate device that trapped a live swarm of Locusts inside and kept them alive. It was rather scary what you could learn from the countless books/information accessible to a hyperactive kid's imagination.
"Hey bro! Why do you put so much effort into this…"
"… When you could put that same effort into the test?"
Jared placed down the invention then looked at his younger twin siblings, Siam and Ese. Siam was a six year old boy with black hair and dark blue eyes that was two minutes younger than his sister Ese who looked the same just gender swapped. They had this odd thing about finishing and starting each other's sentences which was kind of creepy, but if they are separated from each other, they act much like any normal kid.
Jared smiled, complete unfazed by his younger sibling's gimmick. "Oh it's simple: because it's much more fun like this and I already read high school level calculus…"
"Mama and Papa are going to be really mad…"
"… When they find out about what you did."
Jared saluted. "For my friends who cannot understand, for some ungoldy reason, the difference between an equilateral and an isosceles triangle, I will gladly take the fall so they can actually learn how to study!" Truly the words of a noble mad man.
"Bro, I think they aren't going to do that…"
"… If they don't even know the difference between such simple figures."
"You lack faith in humanity!" Jared falsely accused.
"Technically…"
"… We're Faunus." They both motioned to their cat ears.
"Ahh right the whole different but equal speech. 'Jared, you must realize that Faunus and Humans deserve to be treated as equals, but we must also learn to be open and accept each other's differences'." He repeated as he quoted his Mama.
It was rather interesting for a human to be a biological sibling to Faunus, but it wasn't rare. The genes of Faunus and Humans have been rather complex, but there are families that have both Faunus and humans as siblings. It's just now they are highly tolerated and welcomed since most relations have healed better over the course of fortyish years.
The two twins tilted their heads when they saw the bomb move by itself.
Siam pointed behind his older sibling. "Bro, your bomb…"
"… It's moving." Ese finished.
Jared turned his head as he saw the make shift bomb actually floating.
"Wow, the locusts inside must be pretty organized if they're all able to fly in one direction." Jared gawked as he and his young twin siblings simply watched the bomb float out of an open window then suddenly fall from the second floor.
"What?! OHHH GAAAWWWDDD!?"
"Council Man Palpatine!?"
The trio of siblings recognized that second voice, it was their Mama. They placed their heads out of the window and saw that the bomb seemed to have fallen on a tall and wrinkly old man. Their Mama was off to the side with a shocked expression as she saw one of her seniors being chased away by a swarm of locusts.
Jared yelled out as he eyed the flailing councilman. "NO! You're not supposed to swarm that ugly old man, but my ugly, old math teacher!" Somehow the child was more concerned about the locusts than the person. Then he and his younger siblings looked back at their Mama.
"HI, MAMA!" All three young children happily waved to the one who conceived them.
She waved unsurely back at them then looked back at the council man. He was a bit of a jerk, but she supposed he could help him. … Just give it ten more seconds…
Also be sure to pretend to scold children while offering them all ice cream later. It's been a while since she spent time with her children.
The training room was rather quiet despite the rain outside of the training arena.
Weiss Schnee readied Myrtenaster and proceeded to spar with several of the battle drones offered here in Beacon.
With poise and grace, she defeated the drones easily, save for a slight misstep at the end by losing her balance at the landing. This frustrated her greatly and made her want to go again.
Usually, using the drone again would require waiting in a queue due to so many students wanting to practice with them. However, due to the glaring fact it was three A.M. in the morning, there was no freshman awake during this time. From what Weiss recalled, Even Resh and Jaune were to wake up around four thirty A.M. which was a little latter than even hers.
She gripped Myrtenaster hard before setting up the same battle scenario again. She would become stronger.
It had only been two days since that little fiasco with the Capone Family, and things have seemingly settled down for everyone involved at the date.
Still, Jaune Arc still believed that he was somewhat at fault for the whole event despite the fact the four of them all admitting and even fighting for the blame. Because of this, he had stopped flirting with Weiss all together, but has now started treating her more of a friend.
Weiss admitted that him being a friend might actually be slightly worse than him flirting with her due to the fact he keeps now trying to make her smile again with some of the lamest jokes ever; followed by Resh's actually funny insults, and now she can't exactly push him away from his failed attempts since that was his way of trying to be her friend.
At least Yang stopped teasing her about it.
But the whole reason for this late night training went back to that date. That feeling when she and Jaune were captured and she didn't admit to Jaune that it was also her fault made her feel absolutely guilty. She did admit later, and she was thankful that the others quickly forgave her and even tried to take the blame for themselves, but that sense of shame she first felt when she did that irked her greatly. She needed to become better, so she wouldn't have to feel inadequate again.
Weiss inhaled as the arena showed her a digital countdown before the drones would activate her attack. She closed her eyes and controlled her breathing.
As soon as it hit zero, her eyes snapped open and she went on the offensive.
What she didn't know was that she was being watched. A familiar teammate with gorgeous yellow eyes and a trademark bow was watching the heiress in contemplative silence.
Jared found himself gasping for breath hard. He was donned in his armor and he was fighting something really, really powerful.
He didn't know what, but whatever he did, he couldn't hit it. And whenever he tried, he couldn't dodge a hard blow.
He felt weakened by whatever he was fighting. It felt human shaped, but not actually human. It lifted his body off the strange black floor in an empty space of nothingness. Jared chocked, he was trying his best to pry the being's grip off his neck. He tried to see whatever being was holding him up, but he couldn't see well for some reason.
"I will kill you." It said simply, but inhumanly. It sounded more like a clash of horrible sounds compressing itself and varying its pitch to sound like a human language.
"Trust me dude, I've heard that one before!" Jared struggled to release himself from his grip. "… But I gotta give you an A in effort!" He gasped.
The being took out his other hand and moved it closer to the orb on Jared's chest. Jared struggled, but the grip on his neck grew tighter, forcing him to focus his hands on attempting to pry off the arm around his neck.
The hand was placed on the orb. As soon as this happened, he felt some kind of cold and repulsive feeling wash over him. His vision then faded to black.
…
Jared opened his eyes to see Mr. Helsing writing on a clip board. He found himself back at one of the hospital offices here in Beacon.
"OK, hypnotism doesn't seem to work completely on you," He said as he checked something off. "You dazed off for one second then snapped out of it instantly without my command. I wonder if that's a side effect from a Pandora's Gaze in that your immune to hypnotic based semblances or other forms of mental tampering…"
Jared blinked. "You make me sound more like an experiment rather than a patient."
"First off, I'm not even sure that you have encountered with a Pandora, so these test help in making sure that I'm not accidentally doing this all for naught. Second, you pretty much signed a waiver when you entered into Beacon," No Jared didn't, someone made him. "That kind of subjects you to anything I say as long as it helps heal your physical, mental, or even emotional state."
Jared raised his brow. "You know, I can't help but feel that what you just said can still be taken out of context."
Dr. Helsing scoffed before laughing briefly. "Dear dust, your generation is so perverted. Though then again, there are a lot of hot babes in this school."
Jared took out his scroll. "What's the number where you send complaints about the staff here in Beacon?"
"Oi. That was a joke," He calmly answered before taking out a pen and giving it and the clip board to Jared. "This is a small waiver to get into solving more mental experiments. The one you officially signed doesn't allow me to use deeper brain scans."
Jared looked at the waiver in front of him. "What if I don't want to reveal my private secrets?"
"Oh no, you have secrets!? That is such a horrible thing that I didn't take into consideration!" He stopped faking his sarcastic concern. "… Yeah, everyone has those. It's kind of why this waiver is here. Think of it like those priests. Say, what you will about them, but I got mad respect for them having an iron vow of never telling anyone a person's secrets even if it is a murder crime, but enough about metaphors," He tapped the clipboard with his finger several times. "Just either check "No" or "Yes"."
Jared quickly skimmed over the contract.
He clicked the pen's button and made his choice.
Jared sighed as he left the doctor's office. Going there was going to be a moderate pain…
"Huh?" Jared took one step back, and peeked out the window to make sure he was seeing things correctly from the corner of his eye.
Raising a brow at the curious sight, he started walking down the courtyard.
There, he sat down under a tree and just stared out at nothingness.
He then smirked.
"Man, what a day," Jared spoke out loud to no one in particular. He stretched his arms, placed them between the trunk of the tree and his head, and kicked his feet on a protruding root. "You know its days like these, when the sky is blue and the wind is blowing softly, that you just wanna take a nap and forget all your troubles.~" He said in a sing song voice. "But it also sounds like such a waste of a day though… what to do… ah! I know! I'll just ask Sir if I can borrow that smut he loves so much."
"It's not smut!" The sudden sound of a hand clasping a mouth was heard right above him but in the high branches on the opposite side of where Jared was.
Jared's smug smirk only grew after hearing the voice.
"Ah le le le?~ Doth my ears deceive me? Per-chance I beholden the melodic voice of a familiar maiden?" His smugness levels were rising.
A soft scoff was barely heard. "Oh screw you, Resh," He felt her roll her eyes at him despite being directly behind and above him. "… How'd you know I was here?"
"Pure luck really, I was walking from Dr. Helsing's post then I happened to spot you in an angle where you weren't fully covered by the leaves in the corner of my eye. It was a really small window if I wasn't paying attention," Jared explained. He'd like to think she was at least nodding in confirmation or simply absorbing the information. "So, I was heading back to you guys, and I know that Lunch period still has a good fifteen minutes left. Hmm, I wonder why you're out here hidden from almost anyone when you usually spend time just reading books and trying not to stand out?" He faked talking to himself out loud.
"Is this that thing you did with Yang back at the double date? When you try to make something way more complicated than it actually is before stating the obvious by asking a lot of useless questions?" She asked with curiosity in her voice.
Jared was slightly surprised at that. "Oh she talked about it? Well yeah, basically. Now sit still child as I regale you a beautiful and symbolic metaphor that will inspire you to confide all woes onto my person."
"No," She stated quickly. "I could just tell you, or you could have just asked plainly."
"But these talks are like my only defining and unique character trait! Don't take that away from me, dammiit!"
"Alright, it began at lunch…"
She just chose to wisely ignore him.
[Flashback.]
"Where's Resh?" Ruby asked as Team JNPR's sarcastic loud mouth was nowhere to be seen in the lunch table.
"Oh, he's with Doctor Helsing," Jaune answered. "He has to have weekly checkups with him now ever since he started bleeding in class that one time."
"What was that about anyway?" Yang asked.
Jaune shrugged. "I don't know. When I asked him about it, he said his memory was fuzzy about it. I'm still worried though…"
Nora cooed. "Oh! Oh! Maybe, he's some sort of alien being from a far tamer planet where there are no such things as Grimm or Faunus, and he's sent here to do some vague mission that involves going to school while having special powers to fight an external force of evil!"
Everyone stared at the hammer wielder of the group.
"Nora, Resh isn't one of those 'SI's' you always read, and that doesn't explain his condition on why his eye was leaking blood." Ren told her.
"… Maybe he had an epic fight with a Pandora and kicked its but so hard it scared him for life just thinking about it!" Nora theorized.
"I do find it curious about what would happen if Resh actually did meet a Pandora," Weiss added in. "From Professor's lesson, they are deceivingly dangerous. Jaune, are you sure that he didn't say anything?"
"I wasn't going to press it. When he was talking about it, I saw he was clearly stressed. It's better to let him tell us; I can wait." Jaune maturely stated.
All of them decided to respect that. Then something caught their attention.
"Uh Hello?"
Team RWBY and JNPR looked over to see Team CRDL with their lunch trays.
"Mind if we sit with you guys?" Russell asked nervously.
"Uh sure, come on in." Jaune politely welcomed them in.
Some of them breathe a sigh of relief. "I guess I got off the wrong foot, my name is Cardin Winchester," He then motioned to the rest of his team. "That's Sky Lark, Russel Thrush, and Dove Bronzewing. And sorry about before, it was kind of the spur of the moment. At least that's what I want to say to Resh Kolc… where is he anyway?" Cardin asked as he looked around.
"He has a doctor's appointment." Jaune explained again.
"Man that's such a shame," Dove called out. "I kinda wanted to meet him."
"Why him?" Yang asked.
Sky spoke up instead. "I guess it makes sense you guys didn't hear the rumors. Ever since team JNPR's battle with team ETHR, there's been rumors to what kind of weapon the fifth member has since no one has really seen it."
"I thought Resh used it against his practice match with Yang?" Jaune pointed out.
"Actually," Russel elaborated. "The moment he cut her hair, pretty much everyone ran out of the practice room to avoid being caught in her rampage. We were surprised the sounds of fighting were still going on."
Teams RWBY and JNPR sweat dropped.
"Well," Jaune started "Resh's weapon is really cool."
Ruby brightened up greatly. "Yeah! I vouch for that! I even used it once!"
Everyone stared at Ruby.
"Y-you used it?!" Weiss cried out in surprise.
"Yeah! It was awesome! I was like totally rad! … Like a thug! Ooh! Like A Super Hero Thug!" Ruby beamed.
"When did Resh let you use that!?" Yang questioned.
"Huh? I didn't tell you guys?" Then Ruby placed a finger on her chin and made an O shape in her mouth. "… Ohhh. I didn't tell you guys because of the Dishwasher incident."
Team RWBY and JNPR paled at the mention of that certain incident.
"You mean that strange incident where there were these guys who made a mockery of the security staff here in Beacon?" Dove asked out loud. "Rumor has it that, before the Police could apprehend the thieves, a purple ghost appeared and frightened away the security!"
The two guilty teams remember what really happened: fearing the absolute worse for their teammates, Ruby had decided to save the five in question with an elaborate plan involving, smoke, mirrors, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Resh posing as some kind of Phantom.
Weiss called it mad when she first heard it, but did not want to get in trouble for something her teammates would drag her into. Resh thought it was the stroke of a mad genius and that Ruby made every Saturday morning cartoon villain proud. While Pyrrha… well… she just pitched in to help her team mates.
Needless to say, despite the success of the rescue operation, the two teams vowed to never speak of the event ever again.
"W-well yeah!" Ruby coughed weakly. "I didn't say much about it because of that event! Eheheh…" She laughed pitifully, but CRDL didn't seem to notice.
"Wait, why did he let you use it?" Cardin asked Ruby.
[Flashback Break]
She paused for a second. "That reminds me, Yang wants to have a word with you later about bringing her sister alone into a condemned building."
Surprisingly, Jared remained calm. "I am not afraid! I have the power of metaphors on my side! Why I know this one about a farmer—"
"Back on topic. After Ruby revealed what you two were doing two weeks ago…"
"Stop interrupting—"
[Flashback Continuation]
"You did what?" Jaune asked in slight shock as Ruby finished her misadventure with Resh.
"It was awesome!" Ruby fist pumped. "It was like being a super hero, only cooler! Cause I actually was one!"
Cardin looked surprised. "So… anyone can use his armor?"
Ruby shrugged. "I guess. But I think Resh knows how that function works."
No one seemed to notice Cardin seemingly reflecting on that last bit of information.
"Man, hearing all that makes me wish Kolc was here," Dove exclaimed. "I'd totally ask him if I can borrow it!"
Russel scoffed. "Dove, no matter how strong or cool you'll look in his weapon, I'll always see you as the guy who sleeps with a stuffed pigeon."
"HEY! There's a legitimate, therapeutic reason why I keep Mr. Feathers with me!" Dove exclaimed.
The others chuckled when Dove let slip the name of his 'Mr. Feathers'.
"You got attacked by a flock of pigeons when you dressed up as a worm on Halloween!" Russel accused, making everyone else laugh at the incredible tale.
"I was three you jerk! It was traumatizing! And I only kept him because my therapist said it would help get over my irrational fear of Pigeons!" Dove, with a completely flushed faced, yelled angrily at his teammate for revealing one of his deepest secrets.
"You're freaking name is after a bird! How the heck does someone like you get to be afraid of birds!?" Russel accused.
Unfortunately for Bronzewing, the roars of laughter coming from everyone else in the table (especially Nora and Yang) were not helping his blush die down in the slightest.
Then Dove smirked as a devious thought crossed his mind. "Fine! What about the real reason you style your hair as a Mohawk!" He exclaimed proudly, reversing his flustered state and turning the tables on his teammate.
Russel paled in horror, especially when Cardin and Sky started banging their hands on the table in uncontrollable laughter. Teams RWBY and JNPR hung on Dove's every word.
"You wouldn't!" Russel weakly said.
Dove stood up, placing one foot on the bench, and pointed accusingly at Russel for dramatic effect, "The only reason why Russel is dressed like a wannabe punk is because for the first five years of his life, his parents dressed him up as a girl!"
Teams RWBY and JNPR (Even Ren and Blake to some extent) were laughing hard along with Cardin and Sky at the amazing revelation.
"You bastard!" Russel cried out menacingly, but the red in his face negated any attempt at intimidation.
Dove gave his best smug and a really ugly smile. "I'm sorry what was that, Rusia?" He looked down cockily on his teammate.
"My parents wanted a girl dang it!" Russel slammed his fists into the table, but it was barely heard among the obnoxious laughter that echoed through the cafeteria. Team RWBY, CRDL, and JNPR were laughing like idiots.
[Back in the present.]
Jared raised his brow. It actually sounded like they were having fun. So then… why was she all alone out here?
She sensed the sudden silence in her friend, and that clued her into knowing that he caught it. "… Yeah, it turned sour… especially after…
[Flashback continuation.]
Blake didn't know how it turned so sour so quickly. At one point, she was starting to change her opinion of the cocky Team CRDL as just a bunch of weirdoes much like her team and that of Team JNPR.
Then she walked by, a girl with rabbit ears. She was probably just passing by, but that didn't stop it.
It didn't stop Cardin's face from scowling hard at her and scaring the girl away quickly.
"Stupid Faunus…"
That quickly killed the mood instantly. Blake, especially, felt a slap in the face for hearing those hurtful words.
The rest of RDL quickly looked nervous.
Jaune actually looked surprised. "Cardin that was rude! She didn't do anything to you!" He told them.
"She's a filthy Faunus, Arc. To me they're all murderers and thieves." He darkly spat.
"How could you say that?!" Jaune accused.
"Because those monsters murdered my uncle!" Cardin snapped before quickly shaking his head and standing up. "Thanks for the meal…" He quickly dismissed before he left the room quickly.
"Hey, Cardin!/Wait up!" Dove and Russel looked apologetically at Teams RWBY and JNPR and bowed lightly. "Sorry." They said simply before they darted after their leader.
The two teams looked to Sky, who was left behind. "Sorry about that…" Sky said somberly. "Cardin… has a lot of hatred against Faunus… and the White Fang and general."
"White Fang?" Jaune repeated out loud. Meanwhile, Blake couldn't help but feel tension in her skin.
"Yeah, you know that terrorist group?" Blake did not want to believe the White Fangs were terrorists, but she bit her tongue at the comment. "Well they killed Cardin's Uncle at a young age… and he sorta took it out hard on them…"
Sky surprisingly looked to Weiss. "He was also looking forward to meet with you Ms. Schnee."
"Me?" Weiss asked in slow surprise. Her voice was surprisingly slow, uncomfortable… the mention of a family member being killed by…
Weiss stood up. "… Excuse me." She said before making her way out in the opposite direction.
"Wait, Weiss!" Ruby called out as she walked after her partner.
Blake watched Weiss walk away hurriedly. She couldn't help but imagine a lost family member… never coming back…
"Dang… that was stupid of me… ugh…" Sky exclaimed as he rubbed his face. "I'm sorry… Cardin's not that bad a guy… he's just… hurting. … Once again, I'm sorry for our team, and meal... " He also stood up before following after his team mates.
The rest of Team JNPR and BY were rather silent. From boisterous laughter, to awkward silence in just a single moment, they had no idea what to do to such an event.
"… Cardin lost his Uncle? And Weiss?" Jaune repeated out softly, but was heard by the entire table.
Blake did not want to be there any longer…
[End of flashback.]
"Then I excuse myself saying I needed some air…" Blake somberly finished.
"…" Jared remained silent. He remembered times back then. The Faunus and human relationships were much worse than back home. He completely forgot about this since it seemed like a rather icky topic to talk about. While Blake, mother or not, always made it her business to remind him, Jared didn't know how bad things were at this period.
He sighed. "… Sucks doesn't it? Cardin doesn't actually seem like a bad guy, but Sky is right: he's just hurting and letting out badly."
Jared didn't hear a thing. He knew about Blake's secrets it was easily known from when he was a child from the future, a day where it was much brighter. But right now, Blake's dream of making the world a better place for both Human and Faunus seemed distant. After all, how can you defend your old friends if they've been accused of killing other's family? The scars at this time period were still fresh.
This was… a rather hard topic. What exactly could he say about this? Cardin seemed to channel his hatred towards Faunus for them taking his uncle. It sounded terrible, but it didn't sound right. Yet…
Jared sorely underestimated how bad things actually were in the past.
Man, learning things in the classroom was so different from experiencing things in reality.
"Resh?"
Jared turned over and was surprised to see Jaune heading up to him.
"Hey Sir, what's up?" Jared asked casually.
"So… did you get out of Dr. Helsing's office?" Jaune asked as he rubbed the back of his head.
Jared seemed to guess that Jaune was trying to act casual around him when he was a little shaken by what had happened.
Jared was rather impressed that Jaune was still trying to help him by keeping him out of it.
But then again, he's already in it. "Yes. I thought I'd stay here for a bit, the weather was nice and the air feels good."
Jaune looked around a bit. He chuckled lightly. "Now that you mention it, it does look like a nice day."
"Wanna talk about the weather?" Jared slyly asked with a brow raised.
"Hey!" Jaune responded. "That was one time!"
Jared chuckled softly before patting a spot beside him. "Well come on then sir. … I see there's something bothering you."
Jaune sat down and sighed heavily. "Is it that obvious?"
"Well… I had some clues…" Jared shifted his eyes quickly to where Blake was. He didn't sense her leave, but since she was the ninja in their group, he didn't know if she left, or was listening in on their conversation.
Jared didn't have a reason to reveal her. If she didn't want to be found, he decided to respect that.
"Resh, I have a question."
"Shoot."
"What do you think about the Faunus?"
Jared blinked before looking back at Jaune. If Blake was there, she would be probably listening in on their conversation.
"Well genetically they are different from humans, but other than that we're all pretty much the same," He answered honestly. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, it's just…" Jaune repeated what Blake had told him. At first, Jaune seemed really happy talking about meeting CRDL, but then Cardin snapped and everything turned sour fast.
Jared did his best to react accordingly hearing it a second time. "So is that why you're out here? To clear your head?"
"One of them," Jaune explained. "But, I want to help Cardin."
Jared felt the tree he was leaning on move a little, he wondered if Blake was just as surprised as he was.
"What do you mean sir?" Jared asked a little louder than usual.
Jaune seemed to have trouble answering before sighing. "Well sure there are still guys out there I don't like, but I don't really hate them. And hearing a bit from Sky, I think Cardin just needs a friend to help him about his problems."
Blake didn't know why, but she felt anger towards Jaune. Was he dismissing a racial problem as some sort of minor problem?! She clenched her fists and had a half a mind to scream at him for thinking it could be so simple. However, she was momentarily distracted with Resh continuing the conversation.
"… But what about team CRDL?" Jared asked.
Jaune rubbed his head. "Maybe we could help them? It's just… I don't want to see my friends hurting."
Blake calmed down a bit. While Jaune may still not understand how it worked, he seemed to care for Cardin and wanted to help him. Still, it ticked her for him thinking it would be simple.
"But how are we going to help? It's not as simple as a broken bone or something." Jared calmly explained. Blake silently agreed to it.
"I know," Jaune agreed surprising Jared and Blake. "And I probably sound like an idiot for treating something way more complicated like a simple problem…" Jaune then looked at Jared solemnly. "But how am I supposed to change anything of I don't try?"
Blake paused after Jaune said that. Here she was sulking about how bad things, yet there was Jaune talking to Resh about trying to help change Cardin's views. While it didn't seem like he had no idea what to do, it looked like he was willing to try to help him and actually do something for them.
Jared smiled to himself. "You want to hear one of my favorite stories? I learned this from an older woman who acts a little bit like Blake," There was a twinkle of mischief in Jared's red eyes. "But she once told me about this man who wanted to change the world, but he gave up and instead tried to change his kingdom, he gave up again and tried to change his city, he gave up again and tried to focus on his family. On his death bed, he couldn't really change his family, but… he realized something: maybe if he had changed himself, he would have changed his family, and his family would have changed his city, then his city would change his kingdom, and his kingdom would change the world."
Jared let that small story hang in the air for both of his friends to absorb.
"What she was trying to tell me was that she believed that in order to change the world, we have to start with the small things and work up from there," Jared explained. "I think it's a great idea to help Cardin, Jaune, but you also need a plan."
"And that's what you're here for!" Jaune pointed to Jared. "You planned that fiasco date, so here's your chance to redeem yourself for team JNPR!"
"Whoa hey!" Jared yelled and sat up straight. "You're the leader! Planning is supposed to be your shtick!"
"But as Leader, I have to let my lesser companions shine every once in a while! Be grateful you're considered somewhat useful, minion!" Jaune was now turning Resh theatrical insults back at him. Spending too much time with the purple wanderer has made Jaune start to assimilate his character somewhat.
"I am so telling Pyrrha and the rest of our team you called them 'lesser minions'!" Jared yelped back.
"They're better people than you any day of the week!"
"I refuse to be known as worse than the blonde guy who mistook white powderized Dust as Salt! Twice!"
"Hey! That second time I thought it was sugar! It was Ren's fault for placing it near the pancakes!"
"It was freaking labeled!"
Blake fought the urge to laugh at the two idiots. Secretly, she was a little sad that she wasn't joining in their conversation. But for now, she was slightly content that the two fools helped her feel better and strengthened her resolve.
Team CRDL sat down in an empty classroom late at night.
"Still angry about before, Cardin?" Dove asked.
"Yeah, feeling better now though," He sighed. "I think I messed up though."
"Actually, you didn't…"
Team CRDL looked up where Team ETHR walked in to the classroom.
Thalassa smiled. "You made things much easier for us."
"Uhh, how? I think we made them hate us." Sky assumed.
Team ETHR made their way to the teacher's desk before Hemera addressed them. "You acted true to yourselves, which we asked you all to do. You became their friends, but they saw a weak side of you—both good and bad. They know why you have that weakness and this will make them want to help you. Accept it, especially if it is from Jaune Arc and his friend."
"What makes you think Jaune will even try to help us?" Russel asked.
Hemera's smiled lessened. "I've fought him, and I've seen kindness in his eyes… and kindness… is a weakness…" She shook her head. "We've been keeping an eye on him for the past few weeks. And recent reports show that he's a lot more caring than we'd like to think."
Thalassa added in. "See? We know what we're doing. We do all the planning and eventually you guys can get revenge on Resh Kolc for making fools out of you on your first day."
Cardin smiled.
Sky raised his hand. "I know he made us look like fools, but… I just realized we're putting a lot of effort into getting back at him… aren't we going… a bit far?" He asked hesitantly.
Rhea spoke out. "Don't worry it's not as big as you think. Besides, if you guys do get in trouble, we'll take the blame if it gets too out of hand."
Sky seemed a little doubtful, but trusted their senior's word if they were going to take the blame.
Cardin then spoke out. "Hey, I was able to hear something very interesting about Resh's armor…"
He smiled wickedly.
{Author Notes/Review Response.}
{Warning, this one is long, but I would like you to read it please.}
I want to explain first about Cardin Winchester and what I tried to do with him and his team. Let's list the facts: he's a bully and an idiot back in Canon verse. And here, in Fanfiction, I've read stories where he's either a redeemable person or a one-dimensional fool.
As for me, I kind of like deviating and thinking outside of the box, so I started tinkering with this character a bit.
First off, the bully scene is… weird to me to be honest. They act like grade school children when they're technically at least around the same age as seniors in highschool, if not then college freshmen, and about to go to college. While it's not completely impossible, I sort of had the impression that the people here were more mature when they reached that age.
Then there was a bit with Thas. Using her as a bit of a plot tie, I was able to puppet team CRDL to be a little more relatable (hopefully) but they still have their reasons for disliking the Faunus. It's just that Cardin is more active about it. This way, I can sort of make Cardin still hate the Faunus, but have the potential in redemption where it sort of fits both major themes people write him here in fan fiction.
Basically, I wanted Team CRDL to be… well, human. I wanted them to be more than just ignorant idiots, but I also didn't want them to be just a bunch of shamed bullies trying to right their wrongs.
I'd like to think we have a reason to hate things. I just wanted to give them a better reason, not that there should be a reason to hate people, but something we like to tell ourselves to convince what we're doing isn't completely wrong.
Another tricky part about this chapter was I actually tried to touch on some major themes of Racism.
Now the thing I wanted to really be careful about this story is how my story influences the characters under such a condition.
I've seen stories where Team CRDL is just pretty much treated as fodder for things to have bad things happen to them because they do bad things. And it doesn't do much in trying to teach a lesson to me anyway.
"That guy is bad and is wrong and this is what you get for doing that." … I didn't exactly want to write something like that since I feel like it demeans a character from being human.
I watch a lot of reviews and critic videos, and one of my favorites (Next to Yahtzee, from Zero Punctuation) is "TheMysteriousMrEnter", a Youtube critic who gives his sayings on cartoons for kids. I love watching his videos since I get better ideas in how to write my characters. And what he taught me is that when trying to write heavy topic, I had to be very delicate about it and do some research.
Unfortunately, since I didn't have time for research, I decided to simply make it more personal and focus on how Racism would affect specific characters since I didn't want to handle the theme as a whole. Which is why Cardin hates Faunus and his team isn't as bad as this time around. (Trust me, the rest of RDL isn't as innocent as you'd like to think.)
I had my characters give their ideas on it where that when you start in first getting rid of stereotypes by breaking them. I think if someone wants to change someone, they have to change themselves and try to empathize with the person they want to change. Which here, I might try and make Jaune have Cardin see other in different light by knowing more about them. (Hopefully.)
I had Jared tell a story about it, since it was easier to explain it all in a story.
But I really want you guys to know that this is just my idea on how to lessen racism, by trying to connect with others and help break their ideas on others.
There are definitely more ways to do this, and it shouldn't be just restricted to this.
If I am wrong or have insulted someone in anyway—shape—or form, then I apologize profusely since I tried to condense this as much as possible and not point this as a whole.
The next tricky part goes back to the plot. At this point of the story, Jaune was supposed to have his secret blown on accident when Pyrrha offered to train him. (Eheheheh… oops?) So as I was doing this, a small thought occurred to me: why not reverse the situation a bit? Instead of Cardin forcing Jaune to do team CRDL's work, Jaune, by himself, wants to help CRDL get over their prejudice over faunus even though he himself doesn't quite understand the implications.
This way Jaune still spends time with CRDL and I can put my own unique spin into the upcoming episodes.
Kyugan (Ch 1): OH. MY. NINTENDO 64! Kyugan! Hi!~ I am such a huge fan of your work with the whole Codegeass/Fate-stay Series! I love that story! And no, unfortunately, Jared's eyes don't glow as much as they should under certain events.
Tobi (Guest) (Ch 1-11): I'm going out on a limb and say you've been the one with the recent string of guest reviews here. If not, I apologize. But if so, thank you for the kind words. I would like to confirm that I was indeed joking about that jab at shippers, since I am one myself. But I'd like to think that just because we ship, shouldn't mean we have to completely force our ideas onto the characters in canon.
dracohalo117 (Ch 11): Thanks for that. No, I really appreciate that. That chapter had a more surprising amount of grammar errors than usual. I'll really try and cut down on that.
College Fool (Ch 11): Aww thank you for the compliments. As for that little missed joke about sharing oxygen tanks, something similar to what you suggested crossed my mind, but I really couldn't find how to make it work.
KyaaILoveIt (Ch 1): I really should work on correcting those editing mistakes in my earlier chapters. Thank you for telling me that.
Benthino (Ch 11): Ha! That reminds me of a crossover I'm still debating on posting or making a one shot off…
Blake Tourdner (Ch11): Haha. That was funny. It would have been a good replacement dialogue if Jaune knew Jared was his son at this point.
CrimsonHeresy (Ch11): I'm glad you like it. I'm actually having fun writing scenes like that as well.
Cerberus13 (Ch11): The thing that happens next… HAPPENS NEXT! *Cricket Noises.*
NaughtFiction (Ch11): Yes. I did not state it yet, but Jared remembers all 6 (5) of his separate timelines as well as you or I would in remembering our lives. If Blake and Sun got together when Jared was the son of ruby, he remembers much about them being married and their children and so on. However, since this fic is slightly more based of Jared and Jaune, I'm focusing way more when Jared is in the family.
Anyway this was it. Thanks for reading.