Hey guys, I hope you are enjoying chapter 7 of A Shattered Soul. If you have advice or suggestions for me to improve, please leave a comment, I would read and give my response in the next chapter. As usual, get on with this chapter. Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY only my OCs. RWBY belongs to Rooster teeth and their creator (bless his soul) Monty Oum.
"Hi I'm bob" exterior conversation
"hi I'm bob" interior talking
Chapter 7
Forever Falling down (haha I'm funny kill me)
Another few days have passed and now Jade is in Doctor Oobleck's class with his team with Blake beside him, Team JNPR,CFVY ,CRDL. Cardin can also be seen directly behind Jaune who was sleeping. Jade was for the most part still wondering how much coffee Oobleck must have drank to be constantly this fast. He then looked at Jaune who was sleeping instead of listening before thinking.
"I really want to ask him why he is not taking it seriously, but... I think it's best I ask Pyrrha later. It's obvious she cares for him more than just partners. I guess she has a crush on him?" His thoughts were knocked out of his head as Doctor Oobleck spoke again.
"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution-more popularly known as the Faunus War" He zoomed to the front of the class.
"Humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." with a stick, he points at said area on the map, he then zooms off to the side for a sip of coffee before reappearing in front of the desk. He continues.
"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" He continues zooming around the classroom more, sipping his coffee again before continuing to zoom and talk.
"Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" The Doctor questioned the class.
A number of hands were seen raised including Jade and Velvet who hesitate to raise her hand at first but did so anyway.
"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" Oobleck continued talking as he took another sip of his coffee.
"For a Coffee addict, I'm glad we are on the same page on why the fang exists in the first place." Jade glanced at Blake who was still paying attention before returning to the coffee addict.
"I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?" Oobleck asked the class on the turning point in war. Weiss raised her hand. "Yes?"
"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss answered the question by the Doctor.
"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" Oobleck congratulated Weiss before asking another question.
Unseen by the professor, Cardin flicks a paper football at Jaune's head, causing him to wake up. Jade glared at Cardin before sighing internally and looked at Jaune.
"Hey!" Jaune yelled as the paper football landed on his head.
"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?" Doctor Oobleck zoomed over into Jaune' face.
"Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... that the Faunus..." Jaune looked behind Ooblecks's focused face at Pyrrha, who coughs and motions to her lips as she gives him the answer.
"...had over that guy's stuff..." Jaune continued as he sees Pyrrha cup her hands around her eyes and goes for the most obvious answer, while Jade realising that Jaune can misinterpret Pyrrha's answer immediately waves his hand at Jaune while pointing at his eyes frantically, all while Blake who was beside him looked at him ludicrously.
"Uhh... Binoculars!" Jaune looks pleased with his answer, the class laughs at him and Oobleck ( whose back at the front of the class) sips his coffee. Both Pyrrha and Jade sighs and slaps a hand to her forehead while Jade slaps himself harder resulting in a red mark on his forehead, Blake could only look at Jade and wonder if he is ok, Cardin pounds his fist on his desk while chortling.
"Very funny, Mr. Arc! Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!" Oobleck decided to ask Cardin instead.
"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." Cardin arrogantly comments his answer.
This of course earned Jade's Ire as he proceeds to comment. "Last I checked Cardin, said animal kicked your ass back in the arena a while ago so if I were you, cut it off you are pissing me off again. By the way how's your nuts?" Pyrrha seeing the opportunity to get back at Cardin joined in.
"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha says back.
"What? You got a problem?" Cardin retorted back.
"No, I have the answer! It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." Cardin growls at the correct response while Jade smirks at him.
"General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured."
"Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." Blake Joined in as well.
"If you were to ask me, what General Lagune should have done was to attack during the sunrise or sunset as the Faunus guards would be leaving their post to returning back to their camp, giving time for his army to approach unnoticed. Besides what it also proves that the General was foolish as he underestimated his opponents like a certain someone…" Jade spoke as well and glanced at Cardin as giggles and chuckles can be heard in the background.
As Cardin gets up from his seat, fist clenched "Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat." When Jaune laughs at his tormentor's embarrassment, Doctor Oobleck zooms up to him.
"You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." Oobleck scolds as he takes yet another sip of his coffee.
"Oohhhh…" Jaune's shoulders slumped as he heard what the doctor wanted from him.
"Now! Moving on!" Oobleck zooms off to continue his lesson.
When the lesson ends,
Team RWBY and _NPR come out of the classroom, only for Pyrrha to stop near the doorway.
"You go on ahead. I'll wait for Jaune." Pyrrha says to everyone else.
"I wish to stay behind, I need to speak to Jaune as well." Jade added in.
"Why do you need to see Jaune?" Yang asked.
"That won't necessarily Jade, I can handle this." Pyrrha declined Jade's offer to stay behind. Jade stares at Pyrrha before relenting.
"Very well, I'll give you your alone time with Jaune, but I still wish to speak to him."
"Thank you Jade" Pyrrha smiles at Jade.
"Don't thank me." Jade says back as he walks with his team away from class.
"You still have not answered my question Jade." Yang asked back with annoyance in her voice. Jade looked at Yang before responding.
" Have you guys noticed how Jaune is not doing so well or that Pyrrha is acting like a mother hen to Jaune?" Both Ruby and Yang started laughing when Jade called Pyrrha a mother hen while both Weiss and Blake looked deadpanned at Jade.
"What do you mean Jade?" Weiss asked as the sisters calmed down.
"I mean look, have you seen Jaune fight in the past few weeks? He never wins any of them like really, how did he get in if he can't even fight in the first place?" This earned nodding from his team before continuing on.
"I believe that somethings not right here and I intend to find out." He says with a straight face.
"Come one Jady, let Jaune go, good old mama Pyrrha can handle this." Yang chuckled slightly at calling Pyrrha a mama. Jade still had the look of doubt on his face.
"Perhaps… I'll catch up with you later. I'll be at the roof tops, I need some time to think about it."
"Oh ok, take care Jade, see you back at our dorm." Ruby waved at Jade who waved back as team RWBY headed back to their dorm.
Jade on the other hand, began to walk away and towards the roof only to hear a conversation.
"What? But... why?" a female voice can be heard.
"Wait… is that Pyrrha?" Jade began slowly approaching the source of the sound only to see Pyrrha and Jaune talking about something.
"Cause this is always what I've wanted to be!" "My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough." Jaune turned away from Pyrrha.
Pyrrha approaches him and places a hand on his shoulder, "Then let me help you!" Jaune suddenly turned on her with mad frustration.
"I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"
"Jaune, I-"
"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own... then what good am I?" Pyrrha attempts to reach out for his arm and console him, but he leans back from her touch.
"Just... leave me alone. Okay?" Pyrrha's head bowed with a sad expression on her face said,
"If that's what you think is best..." Pyrrha began walking unknowingly towards where Jade is, realising what was going to happen should he get caught, Jade quickly and silently returned back to his dorm.
Unaware that Cardin had plans with Jaune. As he ran, he began to recollect what had happened.
"What happened Jaune? I don't know Pyrrha as much as you do but, to reject her help? No… I'm missing something here." Jade sighed as he approached his dorm feeling helpless as he lacks information to act.
The some days later...
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Glynda told the students as jade looked around at the forest admiring its beauty.
Jaune grunting and carrying a large case with six empty glass jars on top, tries to catch up with them and ends up bumping into Cardin. The bully scowls at Jaune, who attempts to feign innocence by whistling tunelessly.
"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!" Glynda continued giving out instructions.
The sisters can be seen smiling at each other while Jade is seen with his book titled 'The Eternal Fight' with Blake beside him. Jaune attempts to (noisily) sneak away from Cardin to his team, but the blackmailer sees this and grabs Jaune by the back.
"Come on, buddy - let's go!" Cardin cheerfully grabbed Jaune and dragged him along with him. Jaune miserably looks up at his team, where Nora and Ren are already walking into the forest's depths and Pyrrha is staring sadly at the scene. Dropping his gaze, Jaune turns and follows CRDL, to the disappointment of a sighing Pyrrha before she continues on.
Team CRDL is making themselves as comfortable as possible by leaning on stones, trees, and the ground while Jaune returns to the group with six full jars, setting them down just as he collapses face-down. The surrounding team gets up in response.
"Hey, great work, Jauney boy! Now that wasn't too hard, was it?" Cardin complimented jaune for the work. (in his own way)
"I think I'm allergic to this stuff..." Jaune muttered while still on the ground and cross-eyed.
"Greeeeat, great, great. So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?" Cardin decided to entertain Jaune a bit for himself.
"That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes." Jaune nodded while still exhausted.
"Well, come with me, and you'll find out." Cardin told Jaune as he gets up. Jaune moans and gulps in worry. Now perched on a hilltop overlooking the other students, team CRDL - plus Jaune, squeezed between Cardin and Russel Thrush - peak their heads over the crest and watch as everyone is retrieving their samples of sap. Ren, kneeling to collect it from a tree, passes a full jar to Nora, who "Mmmm!"s at the gift as Ren trades it for the other jar in her care. He turns back to the tree and starts filling it up while several licking sounds are heard, now with an embarrassed smile covered in red and an empty jar in her hands.
"Cardin, wh-what's going on?" Jaune asked with worry in his voice.
"Payback." Cardin only muttered back Jaune widens his eyes in understanding.
"Pyrrha...?"
"Wh-what are you-?" Jaune nervously questioned Cardin only to get interrupted by the bully.
"That's the girl. Red-haired know-it-all, thinks she's so smart and that Black-haired alley cat, arrogant brat. Alright, boys..." Cardin told Jaune as he pulled up a box with a Large W on it.
"Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work." Cardin explained to his team and Jaune. Russel grabs Jaune by the shoulder, who barely laughs in nervousness.
"Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things loooove sweets." Cardin looked at Pyrrha and Jade talking below. "I'm thinking it's time we teach both of them a thing or two."
The members of CRDL get up. Cardin offers his hand to Jaune, only to painfully yank him up on his feet and shove the jar into his grasp.
"And you're gonna do it."
"Do what?" Jaune questioned Cardin.
"Hit them both with the sap!" Cardin leans in close to Jaune's face.
"Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon." Jaune looks down at the jar of sap in his hands and then up at the four grinning teammates waiting to see what happens. Jaune turns towards the group and aims his throw at both Jade and Pyrrha talking, trying to steel his nerves and shaking hand to do the deed, but ultimately steels himself for what he's about to do.
"No." Jaune says with resistance in his voice.
"What did you say?" Cardin questioned Cardin.
"I said... NO!" Jaune yelled as He turns and threw the jar at Cardin, instantly recoiling his hands to himself as he looked at Cardin's breastplate covered in sap. The other team leader, however, just looks at himself and laughs darkly.
"Oh, you've done it now..." Cardin muttered Jaune was pushed onto the floor, groaning as he see the sap-covered Cardin looming over. Cardin picked up Jaune and punched him again before commenting.
"You know that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy.
"Cardin picks up a bruised Jaune again while the rest of Team CRDL watches behind him as he continued.
"I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny pieces."
"I don't care what you do to me..." Jaune looks at Cardin with fury in his eyes.
"... but you are not messing with my team."
"What? You think talking like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?" Cardin looked momentarily shocked before becoming enraged.
Jaune smiles in defiance. An enraged Cardin roars and raises his fist again, but just as the hit connects, a bright light shines from Jaune, and when the white fades from the screen, Cardin is crying out in pain as he holds his hand. Jaune, now back on the ground but completely healed, looks confusedly at his hands as they faintly glow white. While he stares, though, Sky Lark kicks Jaune in the back and gets him on his stomach, but he looks up and glares at the approaching Cardin.
"Let's see how much of a man you really are..." Cardin sneered.
Just as he says this, a low growl is heard, and a surprised Team CRDL turns around and sees a large paw crash nearby them,a huge Ursa Major leaps forward and stands over the terrified students, lifting its head in the air to smell the sap on Cardin's breastplate. It lands back on its forelegs and roars at Cardin while his teammates heroically flee.
"That's a big Ursa!" Russel says while in fear.
Cardin is rooted to the spot when the Grimm swings its claws and knocks him sideways, revealing Jaune cowering behind him. The Ursa continue to sniff, uninterested in Jaune and follow its nose to Cardin. He watches as it towers over Cardin, who gets his wits and pulls out The Executioner only for the monster to swipe it away to Jaune's feet. He looks conflicted, wondering whether to fight or run away.
Back with Team RWBY (plus Jade) and _NPR 5 minutes earlier...
"So do you know how to do this?" Blake asked Jade.
"Well, if I'm correct, we need to make a small hole big enough to use this spout that Glynda gave to use earlier." Jade took out one of the spouts and showed it to Blake. He then uses his semblance to make a hole and insert the sprout.
"Well that was convenient." Yang muttered as she continued collecting more sap. The teams continued to collect sap while occasionally chatting.
"So guys, the Vytal Festival is coming soon, do any of you have any plans?" Weiss questioned her team.
"Well… there's this café that just recently opened and I was wondering about trying it out." Jade says back to Weiss.
"I wonder if they have cookies." Ruby was rather merry about it.
"I suppose it would be nice to try it." Blake joined in.
"Then who would pay for it?" Weiss asked.
"How about our residential rich girl pay for all of us?" Yang cheekily suggested.
"What! No! I'm not going to pay for you all just because I'm from a rich family." Weiss instantly rejected Yang's idea of her paying for everyone.
"That's just cruel Yang, how about we all pay for our food? Seems better don't you think." Jade offers a better alternative.
"How about we bring you guys along?" Ruby asked team _NPR.
"Oh! Do you think that they would have pancakes?" Nora questioned with her face still covered in sap.
"Nora…"
"If I'm correct they do." Jade answered Nora. Nora cheered in the background while Pyrrha still looked depressed. Noticing this and already having the necessary sap to bring back, he walked up to her and asked.
"It's about Jaune is it?" Jade muttered to Pyrrha.
"Yes… I hope hes o-" Pyrrha didn't manage to complete her speech as the roar of the giant Ursa is heard by the members of Teams RWBY (plus Jade) and _NPR, still collecting sap on the other side of the forest.
"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby asked with concern in her voice. Suddenly, the remaining members of Team CRDL are seen running the other way from the roar through the other students.
"Ursa! Ursa!" Russel yells as he runs into Yang accidentally due to him looking behind and not in front.
"What?!" Yang seemingly unfazed by Russel slamming into her picks him up by the front of his shirt.
"Where?"
"Back there! It's got Cardin!" Russel pointed at where the Ursa came from.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled in shock as she dropped the bottle full of sap.
"Yang! You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby commanded her team, dropping Russel, Yang and Blake nod before following the orders.
"I'm coming with you Ruby." Jade told Ruby who nodded back as he grabbed his hand cannons from their holster.
"You two, go with them! There could be more!" Pyrrha ordered Nora and Ren to follow Yang and Blake as she and Ruby prepared their weapons. Cardin attempts to run from the following Ursa, but it leaps over its prey and claws him away. He tries to get up and crawl away.
"Crap! Crap, crap!" Cardin frightenedly yelled as the Ursa pursued him.
"Oh, no!" Pyrrha yelled as she, Ruby, Weiss and Jade came on to the scene. They watch as the Ursa leans over the helpless victim, raising its paw and swiping it down... only to be blocked by Jaune's shield and Crocea Mors. He struggles to defend a stunned Cardin from its attempts to lean on him, Weiss lifts Myrtenaster up and Jade brings up Thorn as both of them prepare to go help.
"Wait!" Pyrrha yelled at both Jade and Weiss to stop. Jaune takes the shield out from the Ursa's paw and slashes at its stomach, causing it to lash out and try to crush him. He rolls out of the way and jumps over its swipe at his feet, but he is unprepared for when it launches a claw at him in midair. He lands far away, yet is immediately back on his feet and passing Cardin as he charges again. The Ursa knocks Jaune behind it when he tries for a leaping attack, and he looks at the Scroll in his shield to find out that his Aura level is in the red. He grows angry again and starts to run at the Ursa as it also begins to dash towards him. As they are just about to clash, Pyrrha sees that Jaune has left himself completely open to the Ursa's attack, and lifts her hand out to him. Just as the Ursa is about to hit him, the glow surrounds Jaune's shield and makes it lift up to block the swipe. Jaune uses the surprise defensive move to lean on the ground, push his shield back up, and swing his blade right through the Ursa's neck. The head falls to the ground as the body slams onto the ground.
"Uhhh... What?" Ruby was amazed at what she saw.
"How did you...?" Weiss was equally amazed at what she saw Pyrrha did.
"Fascinating…" Jade muttered as his eyes were wide open at what he saw.
"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs and Jade has his tendrils. My Semblance is polarity."
Pyrrha explained to them.
"Whoa, you can control poles..."
"No, you dunce! It means she has control over magnetism!"
"Magnets are cool, too..."
"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss questioned Pyrrha as she starts to leave
"Yeah! We gotta tell them what happened!" Ruby supported her partner's decision.
"We could... Or perhaps we could keep it our little secret?" Pyrrha walks away again as Ruby and Weiss smile to each other in understanding while Jade hummed to himself without a care in the world and followed Pyrrha from behind with his book in hand, and a bruised Jaune sheathes his weapon before going over to Cardin. Cardin, still covered in sap, looks up at Jaune as his saviour offers a hand. Cardin smiles as he takes it and is lifted back up on his feet.
"Holy crap, Jaune!"
"Don't ever mess with my team - my friends - ever again." Jaune's tone sounds more like a threat to Cardin.
"Got it?" Jaune demanded Cardin as he stared dead in the eye. Cardin looks intimidated, possibly even apologetic.
With his order spoken, Jaune turns and walks away from a frozen Cardin.
Later that night, on top of the dorm building, a uniformed Jaune stands on the edge and looks into the distance at the green lights of Beacon.
"No Cardin tonight?" A voice can be heard behind Jaune. "I thought you two were best buds?" Pyrrha says as she walks beside Jaune.
"Pyrrha... I'm sorry. I was a jerk! You were only trying to be nice, and... I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head-"
"Jaune! It's okay!" Pyrrha assures Jaune before continuing on.
"Your team really misses their leader, you know. You should come down! Ren made pancakes! No syrup, though - you can thank Nora for that."
A cough could be heard behind them. Realising that both of them are not alone they turned to face Jade who has a face that demands an explanation.
"Jade!" Both of them yell in surprise at the friend. Jade noticeably winced and rubbed his ears before speaking.
"Jeeze, first thing you guys see me is to yell at me. What great friends you are." He sarcasticly says back as he rubbed his cat ears.
"Sorry!" Pyrrha apologies.
"Jade, what are you doing up here?" Jaune questioned Jade.
"I'm up here for you Jaune, I had suspicions of you weeks ago and I wish to deal it with you now, and I'm not leaving till I get answers." Jade says back with a hint of suspicion in his voice. Pyrrha noticeably flinched at Jade's answer, Jaune on the other hand, sighs before speaking.
"Yea… long story, I faked my transcripts to get into Beacon." Jaune sheepishly admitted much to Pyrrha's understandable worry. Jade just raised an eyebrow before chuckling to himself, said chuckling turned into a full-blown laughter at what he heard. Understandably, both Jaune and Pyrrha are not impressed. Jade began to calm down after laughing before speaking.
"You mean, all this time 'Wheeze' You lied your way into here? You got guts Jaune, and the fact you are willing to lie to become a huntsman? You earned my respect buddy." Jade gave Jaune a smile of approval with a thumbs up after he recovered from his laughing fit much to the shock of both Jaune and Pyrrha.
"You are not mad I lied my way into Beacon?" Jaune was understandably confused at Jade's answer.
"Why would I? As long as you are willing to pick up the pace and not be a burden of course, you still got a lot to catch up Jaune. Ill take my leave and don't worry, I won't tell anyone about what you have done." Jade had begun to walk away as he told them.
"Good night guys." Jade back waved both Jaune and Pyrrha.
"Good night Jade." Both of them say back to Jade.
"Well, I suppose we should head back to our dorm before Nora eats up all the pancakes." Pyrrha told Jaune as she began to walk back downstairs.
"Wait!" Jaune called Pyrrha who turns around, and Jaune looks sheepish.
"I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but... would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?" Jaune asked Pyrrha. Pyrrha turns around so a worried Jaune won't see her satisfied smile. She goes up to Jaune and suddenly pushes her leader to the ground.
"Hey!" Jaune whined as he fell to the floor.
"Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground. Let's try that again." Pyrrha told Jaune as both of them grin and hold on to each other.
Authors Notes: I would now post this type of note as an attempt to better explain certain situations and Jade or anyone else reacted.
And there's chapter 7 done, Next chapter will be an omake between Blake and Jade. I'll admit, I kinda burned myself out on this chapter as my laptop suffered an error that fucked over my work and Corrupted it somehow… So as a result, I have to write again the whole chapter. Either than that, in this chapter we see how Jade continues to interact with the cast in the forever falls.
Other cases including Jade being curious at Jaune's poor performance and wonders why that is the case, now the reason I made Jade this way is because he is intended to be an observant person, thus seeing people like Jaune sucking badly at fights and studies for weeks would no doubt earned his suspicions. As for why Jade cares for his friends? This is because during Jade's life he never had actual friends, just allies for convenience sake and nothing more, thus once team RWBY and JNPR accepted him, (ok maybe not Weiss as of yet due to her racism against Faunuses. At best she tolerates Jade's presents.) He Would protect them and thus care for them no matter what happens for they were they were the only one (In his eyes) that accepted him despite his shady origins. (ok maybe not Weiss yet.)
Please give me a review on how to improve anyways see you in the next chapter! ( in a couple of days or something like that…) RGQC signing out.