Ch. 14 Detention
It was Friday evening and Jaune was currently on his way to the top of the tower. The elevator ride had been long enough for Jaune to really stew in his dread as he approached the headmaster's office.
It had occurred to him how strange it was that he was to have detention with the headmaster, despite the fact that it was professor Goodwitch that had assigned the detention. Then again, if he was really in trouble the detention would have come sooner than this. Cardin served his detention on the same day he got it, but Jaune had to wait until the end of the school week for his.
The elevator dinged, signalling its arrival to the top floor. As the doors opened, Jaune was met with the sight of a spacious office. The soft hum and clicking of gears pulled Jaune's eyes to a large clockwork mechanism obscuring the view of the northern mountain range separating Beacon from Forever Fall.
Searching for professor Ozpin, Jaune found him with his back turned to him. The headmaster seemed captivated by the view to the west of the tower.
The transparent clock face behind the headmaster's desk provided a staggering view of the sun setting over the entirety of Vale with the island of Patch just barely visible beyond the bay.
By the time Jaune tore his eyes from the view the headmaster had turned around and was looking at Jaune inquisitively.
"It's quite the view, isn't it mister Arc? Even I get a little lost in it sometimes. A perk of the job I suppose. Come, stand next to me and tell me what you see."
Jaune did so, revealing to him the view of Beacon's campus in addition to Vale.
"I… I'm not quite sure what you'd want me to say."
"Whatever comes to mind, mister Arc."
"The entirety of the inner kingdom of Vale I suppose? From Beacon to Patch."
"Hmmm… Let me tell you what I see. I see people's lives. There are people being born right now and there are people on their deathbeds surrounded by friends and family. There are people living their lives, and it is up to us to protect them."
Jaune stood in silence, unsure of what he was to say.
"Professor? Is this what a detention is supposed to look like?"
"Hmmm? Oh, I suppose you expected something different. Well… perhaps if you were to deliberately hurt someone, it would be. Different that is."
"I didn't mean to hurt Cardin. Just stop him."
"And I believe you, mister Arc. In fact I have my own pet theory on why and how this conundrum came about."
"You do?"
"If you'd indulge me in conversation about it?"
"Of course, professor."
"I admit I've been keeping a close eye on your team mister Arc. As you know, miss Rose is here on my personal recommendation, but you, mister Arc, you caught my interest separately from your partnership."
"Because of my blacksmithing?"
"Not quite, though it was a factor of course. Do you remember what you told me when we last spoke? Just before your initiation?"
"About my semblance and its effect on measuring aura?"
"Precisely. I believe therein lies the key to this conundrum."
"In my semblance? But I didn't use my semblance."
"You did not, no. But your aura grows as a consequence of adding weapons to… Arsenal was it? A rather fitting name for your semblance."
"So… it was just my aura?"
"Indeed."
Ozpin turned from the window and pulled out his scroll. A few quick taps later the screens built into the headmaster's desk came to life, showing a recording of the cafeteria incident.
Viewing the recording for the first time, Jaune saw himself, or rather he saw his aura. As he approached Cardin his aura set itself ablaze.
"I… I didn't know I could do that."
"It isn't all that surprising you didn't. You've likely never been in a combat situation where you didn't use your semblance. And even then, I believe it was only last week you reached the necessary amount."
"When I finished Ignis Manus."
"Most likely. As you may recall, we monitor all students' aura levels at all times with the use of your scrolls. Your aura fluctuations have been something I've observed for a while now. Most students develop an increase of their aura throughout their time here. In most cases however it is gradual. Some semblances and meditation of course play a role, but this is perhaps the first instance of someone increasing their aura so much in such a short time."
Jaune was silent, once again focusing on the view outside the window. The sun has almost set, letting the streetlamps of Vale highlight its streets and roads.
The headmaster's words echoed in Jaune's mind. Not just about the view, but his speech in the auditorium.
"Let me be clear with you, mister Arc. I believe you should focus on expanding your Arsenal, I understand you are focusing on armour pieces, but do consider making simpler things as well, even if for no other reason than to expand your aura. I'm not saying to change your approach entirely, but you may even be able to arm your teammates. It may be the difference between life or death."
"I'll consider it sir."
"That's all I ask, mister Arc, that's all I ask."
=O=O=O=
When Jaune returned from detention, his team was waiting for him. Well kinda. What they were actually doing was rebuilding the blanket fort.
"Oh Jaune! You're back. Could you hold up that part? Nora is already holding the other side and I'm too short."
"Sure, here." Jaune stepped on the desk and took the corner of the blanket from Ruby, brushing against her as she stepped down from the table.
"Where is Ren by the way?"
"He's gone to wash the second batch of blankets. The dryers here are great, the blankets were dry in no time, so Ren should be back soonish."
Ruby was running around the room, enthusiastically fixing blankets to chairs, desks, curtain poles and anything in between, ordering Jaune around to hold things in place while Nora unfolded more blankets and consulted Ruby on their placement.
They managed to run out of building materials when Ren returned with a plastic basket full of freshly dried blankets.
With Ren back in the picture, Jaune had the time to survey the subtle changes to their room. Most notably the new coffee table, which prompted a change in the overall layout.
Most noticeable was the fact that the beds were overall closer together, mostly due to Nora unsubtly nudging her own bed closer to Ren's. While Ren appeared unbothered by the action, when Jaune met eyes with Ruby they both looked away, cheeks flushed.
With the fort reconstructed and the sitting area expanded they all sat around the coffee table.
"So Jaune, how was detention?"
"Nora!"
"What? We were all thinking it, Ruby."
Jaune chuckled. He needed this.
"It's fine Ruby, Nora. I wasn't actually in trouble. Professor Ozpin mostly talked to me about my semblance. Gave me some advice, you know."
"So you didn't go on a super secret mission with him to beat up a bunch of grimm? Bummer."
They all had a laugh at Nora's antics. With Jaune playing into it, explaining that if he did go on a secret mission with the headmaster he wouldn't be allowed to tell them anyway.
The conversation soon turned to planning out the next day's sparring as well as talking about homework. It didn't take long for Nora to leave the conversation on account of actually being ahead in terms of homework. Not by choice of course, just due to Ren forcing her to work on it whenever the other pair got too involved in their weapons.
Ren was equally ahead in terms of homework, but unlike Nora he actually understood the assignments so he was willing to help Jaune and Ruby to catch up. To a degree of course, leaving Nora to her own devices could end badly, so unless she was spending time with Yang or Weiss, Ren had to keep an eye out for her.
And while Nora would have preferred to spend time with Yang at the gym, a quick text proved that ever since the cafeteria incident Sky was bringing the hammer down on his team and was forcing them to work on their homework as well.
Luckily Weiss was more than happy to spend time with Nora. Their shared interest in dust had developed to the point where they wanted to work together to test some of the mixtures they came up with. And despite her misgivings about Nora's lack of foresight when it came to potentially explosive mixtures of dust, Weiss was happy to have a friend she shared interests with.
And so the student population of beacon slowly began to turn in for the night. Not all of them of course, seeing as it was Friday there were plenty of those who took advantage of sleeping in on Saturday to go out to sample Vale's nightlife.
=O=O=O=
Deep on the north side of Vale's industrial district a lone man with a cane took calm measured steps towards a seemingly abandoned warehouse.
To say that Roman appeared calm was the undeniable truth. His upbringing didn't allow for anything less than a perfect facade… Not when it was his life that was at stake.
Oh how he despised working for that damn woman. He had a reputation to uphold dammit! He was THE gentleman thief of Vale! Not just some two for the price of one dust robber.
But then again… It was either stealing the massive amount of dust for her, or his life.
Faced with these known odds, Roman would choose to live… always choose to live.
He approached the back door of the warehouse, his gait steady, and raised his fist to knock.
=O=O=O=
Ozpin turned around to the knocking sound that came from the window. A large black bird sat on the windowsill, staring at the headmaster with deep red eyes.
"Welcome back Qrow. Any news about the investigation?"
As soon as the window opened and the bird stepped in, his form was replaced by that of a tired scruffy man with the same red eyes. Without so much as a greeting, Qrow started his report.
"Not really, more robberies, more dust stolen. Leads point to Torchwick but that isn't new. Could be he's just a greedy bastard, but that doesn't add up. He's known to value his life over just about anything else. This whole business seems too risky to be his idea. But we also can't say it's her doing yet. It's a mess. Our biggest lead is still the time Glinda chased after him with my niece."
Qrow took a long swig from his flask, the action making him look even more tired than before.
"Any news on your end?"
"I suppose… Both of your nieces' partners are… interesting. Yang and her partner miss Nikos are the current candidates to inherit the power of the fall maiden."
"That so? Dammit, if only I was there sooner. Amber didn't… doesn't deserve this."
Qrow took a few steps around the desk and collapsed into a chair.
"What about Ruby… her partner is that Arc kid right?"
"Indeed, I believe you've had the pleasure of meeting him… I had a talk with mister Arc today. His semblance is… it's powerful to say the least."
"That so? What of the team as a whole?"
"They work very well in pairs, as for the team as a whole? They did well enough in initiation. Only time will tell, but as things stand I'm keeping an eye on them."
"You think we have another team STRQ in the making?"
"Potentially…"
"...Tai isn't going to be happy if he finds out you're thinking of bringing both his daughters into this mess. He doesn't know for sure, but you'd be stupid to think he doesn't suspect your involvement in losing both his wives."
"Then I'd rather he doesn't find out."
"Your call Oz. Just make sure, if they end up being the new team STRQ, Ruby doesn't end up like Summer. You wouldn't just lose Tai then."
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
I'm cutting it close with this one. Exams suck.
This chapter is a sort of turning point of the story, as is the next one albeit for completely different reasons.
Anyway hope you look forward to the next chapter: Ch. 15 The confession