WASAAAAAAAAA.

How are you all doing? Certainly better than me, i bet, because oh boy my week has been pain. To make a long story short, i was offered a job, travelled a log ass way only for it to be a bust and had to take a second flight back home next day and now im stuck with a really bad cold.

But oh well, i'm here, alive and kicking... if barely (this cold will be the death of me, i swear).

Anyways, here's the chapter.


To say that Jaune Arc was distracted would be a massive understatement. It's not that he didn't want to pay attention to Oobleck's class, he really, really tried at the beginning but stopped when he realized that he was just getting absorbed by his thoughts whenever he did so much as blink. He still made sure to pick up on key words so that he could read about them later but otherwise let his mind wander off.

He needed to be stronger, he needed to be a better warrior, no matter what! He thought. Easier said than done, though. He didn't have the slightest idea on how to properly swing a sword or use a shield, and all the catching up in class subjects didn't really give him time to look it up, much less to try it out.

"What am I going to do?" He muttered to himself. Before he could even begin to think about the answer to the question, a piece of paper hit the back of his head.

"Ow!" He rubbed the back of his head and looked back, finding Cardin's smug smile. "Hey!" he said indignantly.

"Mr. Arc, glad to see you're finally contributing to the class, excellent, most excellent!" Oobleck had zoomed towards Jaune the moment those last words left his mouth. He adjusted his glasses and took a small sip of his coffee mug. "Now! What is the answer?"

Oh crap, what had Oobleck been talking about? He began scrambling for an answer in panic. Something, something, faunus revolution, General Lagoon, something about a battle he lost? "The answer… the advantage the faunus had over the guy's stuff…" just as he was about to admit defeat, he saw Pyrrha making signs at him from the other side of the room. She was cupping her eyes, as if she were looking through…

"Binoculars!" his mouth, as usual, was faster than his brain.

The whole class laughed at his admittedly stupid answer, with Cardin being the loudest. Pyrrha simply facepalmed from across the room and Doctor Oobleck sighed. "Very funny, Mr. Arc," he said disappointedly.

"Mr. Winchester! Perhaps you would care to share your own thoughts with the rest of the class!"

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal then a soldier," He answered with that same smug tone he always carried himself with, it was really starting to grind his gears.

"Not the most open minded, are you Cardin?" Pyrrha – bless her soul – spoke up, looking more than just a little upset.

"What, you have a problem?!" Cardin answered with annoyance.

"No, I have the answer." She looked at professor Oobleck, silently asking if she could proceed. The man simply nodded, to which she spoke once more. "It's night vision. Many faunus are known for having near perfect sight in the dark."

"The general was inexperienced and tried ambushing the faunus in their sleep. His army was outnumbered and the general got captured." Blake explained with a small shrug. "Maybe if he'd paid attention to class he wouldn't be remembered as such a failure."

Cardin slammed a fist on the table with a growl. Jaune chuckled in victory, though the taste of sweet, sweet victory was short lived, killed when doctor Oobleck once again zoomed towards him.

"You and Mr. Winchester will stay after class for additional readings."

Jaune's heart sank like a rock at the passive disappointment in the man's tone.

"Now, moving on!"

/-/

Tranquility's tears had yet to be stopped, though thankfully the sobbing had gone away. Now she just sat there with her face buried in her knees, tears streaming down an expressionless face. After all the crying, the only thing she managed to feel was numbness, like on those nights during her training. A little girl is dragged to her cell and tossed inside after the day's training, bread and water is left at her side, a reward for her obedience. Her handler locks her cell and leaves to help the other handlers discipline the rebellious ones, ignoring the pleas for mercy from the women, stripping them of the sole rag they were allowed to wear before being beaten or flogged until they stopped resisting.

All the while she remained in her cell, sitting completely still, like a puppet with no strings, unfeeling of the cold shivers running across the cuts and bruises on her body, uncaring about the screams of pain of her sisters around her, indifferent to their harrowing howls for the lashing to stop.

Numb; where no pain could reach, ignorant and uncaring to emotions, tranquil. Perhaps her handler was right, she wasn't meant to feel love, sorrow nor hatred, she wasn't meant to ask questions, not meant to have a name or descendants. She was taught to be a tool, and maybe she didn't need to be anything but.

That thought might have quelled her doubts once, now it felt like trying to force on a pair of shoes that didn't fit, like standing amidst a field of corpses and pretending the smell was anything but putrid.

It was uncomfortable and foreign. Was she truly undeserving of things such as love, friendship and compassion? Was it wrong of her to yearn for them, to feel envious of the people around her who shared such bonds? Was it wrong to want more?

She didn't have time to ponder on the answer as the door to the roof she was sitting on opened. Her training immediately told her to hide and she did, moving higher towards a tilted part of the roof and vaulting to the other side, laying low and only poking her head out to look.

Two people walked out, one blonde the other red. What were Jaune and Pyrrha doing up here? She wondered with a hum, taking the convenient distraction for what it was.

/-/

'Is this a joke?' Jaune internally asked himself as he stood on the edge of the rooftop, looking down. When Pyrrha told him she had an idea this was exactly number one on the list of what he would have imagined. He turned towards his partner with a small grimace. "Y'know, I know I look down and stuff but I'm not THAT depressed…"

Pyrrha's face quickly morphed into panic and she flailed her arms in front of her in a negatory fashion. "NO!" she said with panic as she quickly pulled him back from the edge. "No, that's not why we're here."

Oh, well that made much more sense. 'I'm an idiot, aren I?' he asked himself, knowing very well that the answer was a massive yes. "Then why come here?"

"Well, I know you've not been doing the best in combat classes, so I want to help!"

"Do you really think I need help?" he asked, pride more than just a little hurt. Did she… pity him? That thought caused the feelings that he'd been bottling up so far to threaten to surface, like a boiling kettle.

"Jaune, it's okay to ask for help if you need it, everyone needs a little push from time to time." Pyrrha said while placing a hand on his shoulder. "You may not be the best fighter now, but you made it to Beacon, that speaks volumes of what you're capable of!" she said softly, encouragingly. Although her words were meant to be comforting, they only helped to make his feelings burn that much brighter.

"You're wrong, I don't belong here…" he said before he could stop himself, stepping away from Pyrrha.

"Of course you belong here-"

"No I don't!" he snapped at her. He took a deep breath to try and keep his cool, though it failed to have the effect he wanted. "I cheated my way into Beacon…"

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly after a moment of silence, confused.

For Jaune Arc, it was like the floodgates had been opened, he knew telling it to her was a stupid decission, but right now? He couldn't have cared any less. "I didn't go to combat school, I didn't earn my place here!" he began to rant, all of the frustration and helplessness he kept under wraps finally coming out. "I got my hands on some fake transcripts and lied!"

Pyrrha took a few steps back, stunned, Jaune kept going. "I'm not like you or Ren or Nora, don't you see? I don't belong here!"

"But, why come here then?"

"My father, my grandfather and his father, they were all heroes!" he explained. "I wanted to be one too! I was just never good enough…" he sighed. "I'm tired of being the lovable idiot stuck on a tree while his friends fight for their lives!"

"Jaune, I can help you!" she said.

"No, you can't, don't you see?! I don't wanna be the damsel in distress, I wanna be the hero!" he exclaimed with frustration. "If I can't do this on my own, then what good am I?"

Pyrrha looked at him with hurt in her eyes, he couldn't stand seeing that expression. "Just leave me alone," he said, turning his back to her.

"If that's what you think is best…" she said in an unusually cold tone before walking away, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

/-/

Tranquility heard the conversation and shook her head at the boy's words. A stubborn mentality like that often got warriors killed, naivety was a slow and insidious killer that claimed the lives of those who did not respect death, but then, he was no warrior.

This time, Tranquility didn't fight the voice in the back of her head that told her exactly what Jaune Arc was. "Sheep," she muttered, though it didn't feel quite right. He was terribly outclassed in both combat skills and intellect by his peers, yet he still hadn't quit, anyone else would have done so a long time ago, yet here he was, frustrated and beaten but somehow refusing to let go.

She reflected back on her memories as she saw him get blackmailed by another student; Cardin Winchester, wondering why he so desperately tried to keep going when he knew he wasn't good enough. Why try?

Jaune Arc was a sheep, but even sheep could fight when pushed to.

With that thought, she waited for Cardin to leave, then slowly made her way towards him.

"Jaune," she greeted him, making her presence known.

"AH!" he jumped, quickly turning around with fists raised in something that could vaguely pass as a stance. "Tranquility! It's just you," he said with a sigh of relief, looking at her in silence until she was within arms reach. "So uh, how much did you hear?" he asked nervously.

"Everything."

"Oh… you're not gonna tell anyone, will you?" he asked pleadingly, to which Tranquility shook her head, forcing a sigh of relief from the boy.

"No, I'm just confused." she tilted her head. "Why do you fight despite knowing you're not a fighter? Why keep getting up?"

"Wha-?" He looked dumbfounded at the question, staring at her with his mouth slightly agape for a moment, blinking and shaking his head afterwards, sighing. "You wouldn't get it."

"Perhaps," Tranquility said with a hum as she sat cross legged on the edge of the roof, staring out into the distance. "Try me," she said while tapping the spot next to her.

He stared at her for a moment before sighing and sitting down next to her, looking forward with a hollow look. "I guess you could call it honor, which I know is old fashioned but that's the best word I can describe it as." he laughed dryly. "My dad is a huntsman, his father was one too, and his fathers father, i want to be like them, i want people to think of the name Jaune Arc and think of a warrior."

He sighed and laid flat on his back, staring at the starry sky. "I want to honor my family's legacy, I want to be a hero, the kind people like me can look up to! I want to be someone I can be proud of, but for that I must do it on my own, I must prove to them that I can do it, that Jaune Arc is good enough."

Tranquility hummed. Honor; a word used by soldiers and warlords, dictators and criminals, a word whose meaning she never understood but heard it being said everywhere she went. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering one particular assignment.

She was to disguise herself as a soldier to infiltrate a fortress and assassinate the commander. She snuck in during the night and managed to acquire a uniform and weapons. All was good until she was approached by a drunken and old and looking officer on patrol, he talked down to her like she was just another recruit, and in one instance, he asked her what she fought for, so she repeated the word she'd heard other warriors say: honor.

She remembers how he suddenly froze up, then spoke slowly in a tone that showed his years.

At the time she thought nothing about what he said, but now she realized that maybe those words were not meant for her at all.

Tranquility sighed and stood up, Jaune looked at her with a raised eyebrow. He thought that honor was why a warrior fought, perhaps it was time for him to open his eyes.

"Honor, what do you know about honor, you who has never faced true fear?" she began repeating. "Learn what honor is, before pretending you are a warrior."

Jaune stood up looking at her with mouth agape. "Know this before you step onto that thin red path where no misstep is allowed. A path that only ends when your legs fail to support you and your heart stops beating."

Jaune looked more than just confused; he looked hurt, nevertheless, she continued. "This narrow path goes only one way, a way covered with enemies and brothers. And it will take you, into the hands of death." Tranquility shook her head. "Look upon the graves of a thousand dead heroes and ask them if honor mattered." she walked past him and towards the door. "Think about it."


Now, imma be honest: i don't know how i feel about that last part, but in the end i just said screw it. I really wanted to get one more chapter out before the year ended just so i could wish you all a merry Xmas and a magnificent new year.

See y'all in 2022!

P.S: No, this cough is definetly not the rona.