I DON'T OWN RWBY!
"...never say goodbye. If you don't say goodbye then, you aren't really gone. You...just aren't here right now."
-RvB [Episode 22] Carolina
He woke up in an unfamiliar environment, pillows and bedsheets sprawled out in front of him. Sunlight was present through one of the windows of...wherever he was now.
He faintly remembered the events of - how long was it? A few hours? A day? Maybe even weeks? He didn't know how long he had been asleep, or how he had even gotten here for that matter.
His vision darkening was one of the things he remembered more clearly, but seeing how that was probably him losing consciousness, it was probably a miracle he was still alive. If he recalled correctly, the White Fang had been on his-their, tails.
So who carried him here?
He looked to his right and was met with a tiled floor, white as far as the eye could see. But when he looked to his left, he finally took notice of the certain weight on his stomach, and it just so happened to be a certain Rose huntress.
Her arms were used as cushions on his stomach, one of his own arms unconciously hugging her form closer to his. He blushed a faint shade of pink, but otherwise said nothing.
"Finally awake, are you Jaune?" a voice asked through the door quietly.
Furrowing his eyebrows, he turned to the source of the voice, and through squinted eyes, was able to make out the form of Ozpin, as well as his voice. His cane clicked every few times he took steps towards an empty chair, holding his signature coffee mug with his other hand.
The headmaster sat down on a chair next to the bed and set his coffee mug on the tray next to him. A stoic expression expression on his face.
"Do you remember what happened?" the headmaster questioned, his voice naught but a whisper.
Jaune opened his mouth to speak, but closed it with a wince - when was the last time he had gotten a proper drink?
So he opted to shake his head.
Ozpin abruptly stood up and walked to the minifridge located under the hospital couch, taking out 2 bottles of water. He went back and handed one to Jaune, which he took gratefully and gulped down hungrily. He didn't even have time to give the bottl back before another was thrusted into his hands, replacing the first.
He drank the second one a little bit slower, but was able to drink it faster then normal. With a content sigh, he handed the other bottle back to the headmaster, and he placed them next to his coffee mug lazily.
"Well, I remember Ruby coming to save from the White Fang. Shit happened, some fights here and there, but in the end we were forced to run back. I think I blacked out, and that was the end of that." he explained cooly, but gripped the sheets of his bed a little tighter, hugging Ruby's form just a tiny bit closer.
Ozpin stiffened slightly at the boy's choice of words, but didn't decide to elaborate further on it - no way to change Jaune's language considering what he had went through. Despite that, he still didn't feel comfortable listening to one of his students cuss.
He was going to ask again, but he reluctantly replaced that with something more important to discuss.
"Jaune, I looked over your medical sheets." the boy grimaced.
Of fucking course they did.
Why the fuck should he have expected anything else?
Ozpin eyed the boy warily, an expression foreign on his face, an expression never seen on Ozpin's face for quite some time.
He looked at the boy with hesitation...with fear.
Sure, he was technically a half grimm - but for the headmaster of Beacon to be outright scared of Jaune was something he never took into account for. Though, that probably wouldn't change the fact that he would be handed over to either the press, or to detainment seeing as he posed a threat.
He closed his eyes with a another sigh - nothing like the first. It held more emotion then anything he had done for the past few months.
"You already know this, I bet. But..." Jaune trailed off.
Ozpin nodded his head solemnly, not looking his former student of Beacon in the ey, "Yes, I'm fully aware that you're half grimm."
The boy winced, looking at anything other then the headmaster - choosing to look at Ruby's sleeping form, her back going up and down with every breath. He ruffled her hair ever so slighty, and she unnoticeablely snuggled her head into his touch.
His eyes didn't hold sorrow - that would cause people to give him pity. He didn't need some person's half-assed pity, with the occasional worried glances. It made him feel like he was beneath them, and he most certainly wasn't.
His eyes held understanding.
All that was left though, was the thought to be inevitable news of him being scheduled to be transported to someplace - probably other then here.
Thought to be inevitable
"But," Ozpin began, causing Jaune to snap his gaze back at the headmaster in surprise, "what happens next is entirely up to you."
Wait...
What?
His mouth hung agape, staring at Ozpin with wide eyes, his brain only slowly comprehending the news that were so different then what he had expected.
"Wha-?" he spoke dumbly.
Ozpin grew the tiniest of smiles, almost invisible to the world around him. "It's up to you - whatever is up next, that is. Do you want to travel the world with a ralse identity, but real hunter license from me?"
"Y-you would do that for me!?" he asked, his voice raising slowly.
"Or," he continued, ignoring Jaune's last question, "I could hide you from the press for as long as I could within Beacon's walls."
The shock having subsided - albeit very slowly, but it was gone nontheless - he bit his lip in frustration. Both paths had risk, where the latter would leave him on his own if life decided to screw him over six ways 'till Sunsay. The former would let the headmaster and maybe even Ruby help him escape beforehand.
He tried looking at it from a logical standpoint, but quickly deduced that no one would get in trouble because of him - even the fucktards that made him this way in the first place.
Not because he didn't want to see them in jail, oh hell no. He wanted nothing better then for them to suffer like he did.
He just wanted to be the one to do it himself.
He knew that sounded like some stuck-up bitch's revenge plan - but he didn't care, rage slowly took down any feeling of self preservation at this point. Hell, he didn't even have standards for himself, much less care for his pumped up ego.
"Miss Rose." Ozpin called out, snapping him away from his thoughts, "I know you're awake."
Raising an eyebrow, he looked down and saw Ruby with an apologetic expression, silver eyes wide and looking back up at him. His eyebrow stayed raised, and Ruby puffed out a breath, hiding her face and getting in the bed, pulling herself under the blanket.
"It was uncomfortable." she mumbled into his hospital gown.
He still had questioning expression on his face, but smartly decided not to comment on that particular situation, and again, focus on the more important matter at hand. He turned back to face the headmaster - a smirk on Ozpin's face, for dust knows why - and started to speak.
"Well, the best course of action would probably be to," he took a deep breath and sighed, "stay here under your protection."
Ozpin smiled, no amusement hidden in it though, an actual, genuine smile, "I'm happy you decided that...and I believe someone else is happy about that too."
Huh?
His thoughts were rudely interrupted by a bear crushing hug - one from the little Rose herself - as she screamed muffled cries of 'Thank you' or 'Awesome' and all the like. He cracked the slightest of smiles and gently returned the hug - albeit weakly, but he still returned it nontheless.
The headmaster took his coffee mug and cane in both hands, and made to walk to the door.
"Wait!" Jaune called out, just in time to stop Ozpin from walking through the door, "I just wanted to say...thanks...you know, for all this."
"Think nothing of it, Jaune. Just protecting one of my students is all."
The door closed and he internally breathed out a sigh - no matter how tough he acted, the headmaster scared him, in more ways then one. It wasn't a misplaced fear, no. He just felt like he knew Ozpin's powers to an extent only few actually had encountered. He hadn't came across his actual strength though, it was just a hunch - and a cautious, but good one at that.
But that wasn't the whole problem here, the whole problem was that Ozpin was most likely not telling the truth. Though, you never were certain just exactly what the man was thinking when you took a look at him. In that regard, it gave him conflicted feelings on the whole situation layed out in front of him.
On one hand, Ozpin could be telling the truth - it could really just be to protect one of his students. On the other hand, it could be for his own personal gain as well.
Like a chessmaster toying with his pawns - he did use chess pieces for relics during initiation after all, there had to be some relevance between that and what Ozpin did in his free time.
He stared down at his hands, but, he was going to have to trust him for now. He probably wouldn't be alive a few days from now if Ozpin wasn't going to give him somewhere to stay. So with great reluctance, he drifted back into slumber.
In what was now called his home.
The next few days passed like a blur - the occasional nurse's check-up here and there, talking to Ruby about all the littler things in life. With Ruby helping him on some schoolwork, even if she herself didn't know the material all that well, it was better then nothing.
He'd actually been seen out of the infirmary a few hours ago, and had to assure the nurses and Glynda that he would be okay to fight in combat class today. He needed to let off some steam - and what better way to do that then to one of the students that didn't know jack shit about the world outside of school and it's stupid rules.
He was being unfair, he knew. What had the students - besides WBY and NPR - ever done to him?
Nothing.
He was just a bloodthirsty psychopathat times.
He pushed open the two doors to the combst arena, and was met with a wave of murmurs - some in awe, others in fear, even disgust. It wasn't really new news that he had come back from hell on earth per se, they just didn't exactly know where hell on earth was in the first place.
Though, the scars that scattered around his arms and legs gave away that 'hell on earth' wasn't exactly the best place in the world.
"...Jauney boy." he heard a voice call out from the middle of the arena.
Wait...did Cardin just call him out to go fight?
He did!
Oh ho, this would be fun.
He grinned maliciously and walked down to the center, eyeing the ever-so-cocky Cardin Winchester in all of his stupidity.
He tuned out the insults, those were unimportant right now - what he needed to decide was wether or not he would go in his grimm form against Cardin or not.
He gave Cardin another once over, and shook his head in sadistic mirth.
What was he thinking, of course he would use his grimm form against Cardin - it was Cardin after all. Not because he saw Cardin as a threat though, he was just pissed, and Cardin seemed like a could testing dummy.
How many hits would it take to break all of Cardin's bones?
"Are the combatants ready?" Glynda asked.
His grin stretched from ear to ear, while Cardin just stood lazily with the support of his mace.
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AN: I know what you're thinking.
"We waited this long on this piece of shit for a chapter?"
And my only excuse is I'm having an off day, like, a very VERY off day.
So to get this chapter out as fast as I could, I needed to rush through it so I could get out of my funk. So super sorry if this chapter isn't up to par with the last one, or any chapters from here on out.
I might be starting yet ANOTHER story - this would actually give me an update schedule to work with, so that would be nice.
On another note, 66 follows and 52 - or something - favs? Plus 13 reviews! Holy shit! One chapter and I got this much support! That's honestly breathtaking, and I promise to get better chapters then this shit out for you guys!
Love it? Hate it? (I sure do) Leave a review!
Cya!