My week off is starting next weekend so the next chapter of this will be in two weeks, not one week.
Cover Art: Mysterywhiteflame
Chapter 27
"Come in."
Jaune slowly opened the door he'd been knocking on and stepped inside. Winter Schnee's dorm was far nicer than their own, but that only made sense. Beacon must have been giving other teachers and dignitaries special accommodations. There was a single bed, a writing desk, even a small round dining table with two chairs, along with a kitchen en-suite with a tall fridge-freezer and a doorway leading off to a private bathroom. The décor was much better too, with plush carpet, tall windows, and carved wood seats with tall backs. It still wasn't as good as their pods back home, but he was beginning to realise those were the exception, and that Atlas had well and truly spoiled them.
"Ma'am," said Jaune, saluting. Winter was in her usual white and grey uniform, but then she'd invited him here, so he expected that was intentional. Similarly intentional were the cups on the table along with some light pastries and a single kettle.
"At ease. Take a seat. Help yourself to food. Do you prefer tea or coffee?"
"Tea. Ma'am."
"Myself as well. I force myself to have one coffee in the morning for the sake of performance but too much caffeine can be problematic in our job. The headmaster here drinks it religiously. I'm not sure how he maintains a regular sleep schedule."
Winter poured them each a cup while she talked. Jaune was annoyed by the way his hands shook as he took the saucer and cup. He wasn't still shaking like he had been last night, and this new anxiety was nothing to do with that at all. It was now about having to make a decision he knew would go against his teammates', and not knowing if he should or could.
They'd gone in, been rumbled, and nearly died. He wasn't sure how the rest of them weren't dealing with that. Maybe they were; maybe they just dealt with it differently. It didn't matter. They hadn't faced the huntress like he had. They hadn't had the experience of being completely and utterly outclassed. The last time they faced this, in Clover's training, it had happened so quick that they didn't have time to react or think about it, and then the assessment had been over, and it was done with. There hadn't been time to feel true fear, and he wasn't sure he would have when his life was never in danger.
This was different.
Winter, sensing he couldn't speak, took the lead. "I've spoken to Warden this morning. They're frustrated with themselves for letting you all down. There was much swearing, plenty of self-recrimination and a fair amount of shouting. Atlas Military Intelligence is typically better than this, though obviously it's impossible to run an organisation so large without some failures."
"Typically, the White Fang isn't an organisation that outsmarts us all that often. I won't say they're stupid because that flies too close to the justifications some give to put faunus down. And they're not. They are a group who must deal with stupid people, however. Only a core number of them are trained to a decent fighting level, and the rest are amateur volunteers prone to break or disobey orders at the drop of a hat. As a result, White Fang leadership understands that it cannot get too fancy or too complicated with its strategies. We didn't expect Roman Torchwick to be capable of such either. He is just a thief, after all."
Team JCKP hadn't expected it either. Everything so far had painted them as fairly useless, only really getting by on numbers and the fact they could take off their masks and become hidden among the populace. How they'd gone from that to identifying, track, and then laying an ambush on them he didn't know, but he was sure it had something to do with that huntress. He said as much, head low, words tumbling out woodenly.
"That's our estimation as well," said Winter. "A huntress would be more capable of filling in the gaps left by poor cohesion among the White Fang. A force multiplier if you will, but also a scalpel able to step in and seal any holes the undisciplined terrorists might leave open. We're looking into her, but details are sparse. We have a single confirmed incident of an encounter between a student here and a dark-haired woman capable of throwing fire-based attacks. No swords or bows, but it's a lead we're digging deeper on all the same."
"Who faced them?" asked Jaune.
"Ruby Rose. Of Team RWBY."
Jaune almost laughed. Of course it would be someone from Team RWBY. Why wouldn't it be? She'd come out of it alive too and had probably done a better job defending herself than he had. Not too hard given his abilities.
"This is the first time you've all really been in danger," said Winter. "And the first time you've failed in such a situation." The woman paused, no doubt picking her words. "I remember my own experience with that. It was on my first squad too. It was a routine mission to patrol around a mining outpost; there had been a murder, a man torn apart, and we suspected Grimm. I wasn't a Specialist at the time, but I had graduated Atlas Academy, so I was more than capable. We all were. My team headed out and we conducted our patrol paths without too much trouble. We ran into a few Grimm and dispatched them. It wasn't challenging. We started to goof off."
"You…?" Jaune couldn't help but ask.
"I may give off the appearance of someone born to discipline but that wasn't always the case. I was… very susceptible to peer pressure when I was younger. I'd grown alone in the Schnee manor surrounded by people who would bow and scrape to my every need, so it shouldn't come as too great a surprise that I didn't know how to make friends. My team embraced me, but I did everything I could to appeal to them. That wasn't always wise. Much of how I am now is because I've grown since then and learned from experience. But, yes, I was young once, Mr Arc. I was your age once."
"You're not old, ma'am."
"I feel old when teenagers refer to me as an old woman." Winter smiled sarcastically, letting him know she wasn't too serious. "But either way, we'd been on enough missions to feel confident and cocksure. We were invincible, or so we thought. It turned out that the murder was not by a Grimm, but by a rogue soldier. He had argued with the victim and drink and power went to his head, causing him to kill the man, and he'd torn the body apart to hide his crime. Disguise it as a Grimm attack. Long story short, the man became worried when he realised we were there to investigate and decided to ingratiate himself with us to lead the investigation astray. And he did. We didn't suspect a thing. We were happy to accept this was a Grimm and move on, but he became more and more paranoid as to our discovering him. Paranoid enough to try and remove us."
Winter sighed and closed her eyes. "Our team leader was the first to die – poisoned. It was so sudden and so unexpected that we didn't know what to do, and while we attended to him and tried to save his life, the soldier opened fire on our backs. We were in an outpost, we were safe, there was no need for us to have our auras up. My own partner, Victor, was cut down and killed, and his body falling on mine saved me."
Jaune grimaced. "I'm sorry."
"Two of my team died that day," said Winter, "and my last teammate took their life one month later, unable to deal with the pain. I should have been there for her, too. We were both hurting but she said she needed to deal with it alone. I was a fool not to see she needed my help, but I was miserable as well and let her walk away. I never saw her alive again." She let out a shaky breath. "I tell you this not to scare you, but to show you that there isn't a huntsman or huntress alive that hasn't lost someone, and who doesn't feel afraid of losing more. You had a close encounter the other night. You are afraid. It's understandable. You're lucky to have not lose anyone given the huntress' intervention, and we have our own assets to thank for that. Given all that, no one will blame you feeling too fearful to continue."
"It's cowardice-"
"No. A coward is someone who is excessively fearful and lets it control their judgment. You are justifiably afraid of your teammates – your closest friends – dying. After experiencing a situation in which they nearly did. No one would criticise someone who had come out of a car accident and was hesitant to get behind the wheel. Would you call a shell-shocked veteran a coward for being afraid of sudden noises?"
"No, but I'm not a veteran."
"Trauma does not differentiate between skill and experience. Not that I think you have PTSD," she added quickly. "But nearly dying is still a traumatic experience and I hear it's worse when you're in command. General Ironwood had the same conversation with me that I am having with you." Her expression turned fond. "I won't repeat his story because it's personal to him, but I know just how heavily it weighs on a person to fail when they are in command."
"That's different. General Ironwood is a proper leader. He's a real commander."
Winter raised an eyebrow. "And you're not? I'm sure your team sees you as one."
"I shouldn't be." He was rambling. Nervous. Desperate. "I… I faked my way to Atlas. I don't deserve to be here – or in command. I never went to a prep school. I didn't even have my aura unlocked! Penny did it. In initiation." Jaune breathed out raggedly. "I don't belong here."
Winter stared at him. He could feel it more than see it, his eyes being aimed downward. It took a long time for her to respond, long enough that his imagination was running rampant. This is it. I'm done. There's no way I can stay in Atlas now."
"I fail to understand your reasoning." said Winter.
"I… I wanted to be a Huntsman. I-"
"Not that. The part about you not belonging as team leader."
"What?" Jaune looked up. Winter looked down on him, one eyebrow raised. Serene. "Are you serious? I just… I just told you that all my credentials are a lie!"
"And if your ascent to leadership or your acceptance into Atlas was based on those credentials then we might have an issue," she said. "But you were elected by your team, you were selected by us for the Specialist program due to excellent performance, and your acceptance into Atlas Academy was determined by our initiation. Which you passed."
Jaune couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are you serious…?"
"When we return to Atlas, I would thank you to make us aware of how you slipped in so we can close the net, but what you once were does not much matter to what you now are. And that is a student in the Specialist program. And quite frankly, if this is what you can achieve with no background training then we'd be fools to let go of you."
"But-"
"Marrow Armin is a currently serving specialist who was promoted from the infantry. He had no huntsman training either. We look for specialist skillsets, Mr Arc. We can train you to be a huntsman. All we look for is the potential to become something special. Potential that I, and Captain Ebi, fully believe you possess." She leaned in. "And that your team believes you possess. In fact, the only one who seems to have any doubt as to your capabilities is you."
"…"
"We all have reason to doubt ourselves sooner or later, but you should save that for when you do something worth doubting yourself over. Last night was not it. You gave out the best orders you could and faced the most dangerous enemy so your teammates could escape. Tell me, what else were you supposed to do?"
"I could have had us come up with plans for how we should retreat if things get bad."
"True. But then your teammates could have suggested that as well. All things told, you did the best you could, and I don't think you have any reason to chastise yourself. I am proud of all your performances last night, regardless of the mission's failure. It takes more to return safely from a failed mission than it does a successful one. Of course," she went on. "That doesn't change the fact that you have the right to pull out if you wish. Your cover is blown and the risks toward you have grown as a result."
"Yeah, I… I think it'd be best if we did hand the mission over, but the others don't agree. They still want to fight."
Winter nodded. "They likely want to prove themselves. Their failure last night has injured their pride and they want to get back at the White Fang to recover it."
"Is it strange that I don't feel that way?"
"Not really. Your job is bigger than theirs. They need only follow your orders and fight their hardest. You have to plan things out and fight as well. It's to be expected that you'll see the bigger picture and not let your pride get the better of you. That's your job as team leader. And sometimes that means making unpopular decisions if you think they're for the best."
"Yeah. And this decision is bound to be unpopular."
"Then you'd best be sure you're making it for the right reasons. If you are afraid because you think you're not good enough, then I'll tell you now you're making a mistake. You are better than you think you are. Your teammates know that. Plus, you can always train and get better. If, however, you think this task impossible for your team then it is right to back out. Just be sure your own insecurities aren't the deciding factor."
"…" Jaune laughed softly. "That one sounds a bit more direct than your other advice, ma'am."
"Some advice is. I'm here if you want to talk and-" A knock came at the door. Bold and forceful. Winter Schnee nodded for him to stay seated and touched a finger to her lips, then stood to answer it. "Yes-?"
The second she opened the door, the person stepped in. Without asking. Jaune almost boggled, but the reason why soon became clear. A girl shorter than Winter but similar in every other regard walked into the room, voice raised. "I need your assistance, Winter. My recent performance in class has been shocking and I lost to-" Her eyes toom in him. Her lips peeled back. "You!" she snapped, pointing. "What are you doing in my sister's room!?"
"Ahem." Winter cleared her throat pointedly. Weiss' arm dropped. "Mr Arc is here because I invited him to be here, and because I am his teacher. Unless, perhaps, you were suggesting something else, Weiss? I would be interesting in hearing just what you were implying."
Implying-? No way. No- Weiss flushed bright red. Jaune choked on air. There was no way she'd actually meant to imply that, was there? Miss Schnee was his teacher and combat instructor. Of course he'd be welcome to talk to her outside class hours.
"Also, Mr Arc and I were having an important discussion related to his education," said Winter. "And while I am happy to spend time with you, Weiss, I hope you understand that my students must come first. Perhaps we can talk later-"
"That's fine, ma'am." Jaune stood. "Thank you for the tea and for the advice. You've given me a lot to think on."
Winter heaved a sigh. "Are you sure? I planned to dedicate as much of the morning to you as was needed. My sister can be patient when she puts her mind to it. I'm sure she won't mind coming back later to see me about whatever this is."
Weiss blushed, and quickly nodded. There was obviously a lot of difference to how she acted around Winter in her private life and in public, and he had a feeling he wasn't supposed to witness this side of either of them. It was nice, though. It reminded him of his own family.
"I'm fine, ma'am. I'll put some proper thought into what you said and get back to you later. And I'll do my best not to let any insecurities taint my decision."
Winter smiled, then. "I'm glad to hear it."
"Um." Weiss looked between the two of them. "What are-"
The smile fell. "That is none of your business, Weiss. Go prepare us some tea if you're going to stand there listening in on other people's conversations. Mr Arc, I am available if you need me. Do not hesitate to ask me if you need advice, guidance, or simply a wall to bounce ideas off. We do not leave our students to flail about helplessly in search of the answer in Atlas. We do our best to provide them with everything they need to make the right decisions. Do not feel that you are alone."
He saluted. "Thank you, Ma'am! I think I'm going to discuss matters with my team fully."
"That sounds like a wise choice. Dismissed."
/-/
Yet again, he couldn't help but feel he'd blown things out of proportion. He expected his teammates to be angry, defiant, and to try and browbeat him into submission. Instead, they arrayed themselves in a circle on the floor and listened to him as he explained his concerns and why he wasn't sure if he wanted them to continue the mission. They didn't shout or argue at him, but instead waited for him to finish and stop before they did, and they talked in reasonable voices. No anger at all.
"I didn't realise you were affected that badly," said Flynt, running a hand through his hair. "And now I feel like a real asshole. You should have said something, man. We'd have listened."
"I'm sorry," said Jaune. "I thought you'd all be angry."
"Well, we're not," said Neon, not angry per se but annoyed. "Talk to us next time. We're your teammates – we're your friends." Her face softened. "If you can't trust us to have your back then who can you trust?"
"Yes! We are a team!" said penny, leaning forward. "And I am your partner. You should come to me before the team!"
"Eh?" Neon leaned back and smiled cattishly. "Isn't someone getting a little possessive here?"
"He is my partner," said Penny. "Therefore, he belongs to me – and I belong to him." As was usual, she failed to catch what Neon was implying, which robbed the wind from the faunus' sails.
"Either way," said Flynt, interrupting before Neon could explain her joke. "The point is that we need to make a decision on what we're doing. Jaune, I get you, man, I do, but I think we can handle this. I'm not being arrogant here. We were caught flat-footed, and we had no plan in place on what to do if that happened. We know better now. We can make a bunch of retreat plans and have them all ready before we go in again. It's a learning experience. Things won't be that bad again."
"We were still outclassed, Flynt, and we will be again. Whoever that was, they have eyes in Beacon and will note when we leave. We'll have to face them again."
"We might have to anyway. You think they're going to take chances when they know who we are? If I were them, I'd strike at us in Beacon."
"We could have died out there!"
"Okay. Okay." Neon broke in. "Let's not get heated. Jaune makes a good point – the White Fang wouldn't have taken us prisoner, and they wouldn't have let us live if they did. Counterpoint: neither will the Grimm. Our whole careers are going to be life-threatening, and it might be good for us to get used to that here and now."
"In our first year?" Jaune shook his head. "I'd be a lot more comfortable if we were third or fourth years being asked to do this. We've barely had any training."
"We're planning to be Specialists, though," said Flynt. "That means we're going to be sent on the most dangerous jobs. If we're not ready for this, then what will we say later? We have to be willing to take some risks. Don't get me wrong, it was scary for me too. I didn't know if you or Penny made it out alive. But what happened last night was a shitshow. It won't happen again. That's the thing to keep in mind."
"I agree with Flynt," said Neon. "We're not dressing down your worries, either. We get that you feel responsible for us and if any of got hurt then you'd have blamed yourself, but that's a thing you shouldn't be doing anyway. We have agency on this team. We can make our own mistakes without them being your fault. And walking away the first time something goes wrong won't teach us how to adapt. That was our problem, wasn't it? We hadn't been in a situation where we properly needed to call it a mission failure and run away."
"We've never been in a situation where the enemy knows of us either," said Jaune. "Not like this."
"Exactly. It's another chance to improve and work our way around." Neon leaned in. "And we'd be doing it with the best support structure around us then we'll ever have later in life. We have Winter, we have Beacon as a safe area, and we have a whole team back in Atlas doing everything they can to support us. Isn't it better to take this chance when we do have all that backing us up?"
"There's another point to consider," said Flynt. "Us backing out doesn't mean we're safe. If another team takes over and Warden helps them, then they won't be around to keep an eye on us. We might get attacked when no one expects it and without any way to call for backup."
Jaune heaved a heavy sigh. "I see you're both desperate to stay on the mission. What about you, Penny? You've been quiet." That was unusual for Penny, since she normally wanted to be involved as much as possible. She was looking between them nervously now, unsure what to say or do. "We're a team," he reminded her. "Your opinion matters just as much as ours."
"I think you had a worse time than us," she said, slowly.
"Uh. You fought a giant robot," said Flynt.
"The robot was piloted by an amateur who did not know what he was doing. Jaune's opponent was more skilled. I think we will need a plan to deal with her."
"Does that mean you're on our side?" asked Neon.
"I am on everyone's side. You are my friends. I do not want to see you hurt either, but I know that holding us back from danger will not necessarily make us stronger." Penny kept her eyes on his as she talked. "Sometimes you must take risks. I know how that feels. I was nervous too, and everything was set up for me to have things easy, but I met you all and took a risk and I do not regret it."
Why was she staring at him like that? Penny was acting like he should know what she meant, but he really didn't. In fact, her words were going right over his head.
"Look," he said, "There's another reason as well. I… I think I need to come clean on something. On something big. I already told Winter but I'm starting to think I should have told you first. Penny already knows and… shit, this is hard."
Flynt and Neon, sensing his difficulty, remained silent. They favoured him with patience they didn't normally possess. He almost wished they'd hurry him up so he could say "never mind" and leave it for later. Or never. But then he'd never have the guts.
"I cheated my way into Atlas. I shouldn't have been there."
"Eh?"
"What?"
"I purchased forged transcripts for Beacon but got rejected, and Atlas automatically made the offer to anyone rejected from the other schools – probably without checking them over. My background, my skills, my education before this. All fake. I'd never fought a Grimm once in my life. I didn't even have aura."
"I unlocked it during initiation," said Penny. "After Jaune was nearly shot by another student."
Flynt and Neon reeled. They didn't hurl accusations at him, nor did they get angry.
"Holy shit," said Flynt. "I can't believe you survived initiation without aura. Man, we got shot at like crazy!"
"You must be the fastest learner ever. Hah. Some people lost to you in spars." Neon snickered. "Sucks to be them."
Jaune stared. "You're not mad…?"
"I mean, should we be?" asked Flynt. "It's not like you stole our spots or anything. Your lying hasn't impacted us negatively. And, I mean, I'm kinda selfish so hey, if it works, it works."
"And we kept our super dorms and pods," said Neon. "You got us through those assessments. You could be a talking bear in a coat at this point and I don't think I'd care. Though, yeah, like Flynt says, it's crazy you managed to catch up so quick. You must have the most instinctive control of your aura out of anyone I've ever seen. It takes most people years to learn to use aura to our level and you picked it up in… what, months?"
"Days," said Flynt. "He was sparring in class not two days later and tanking blades and bullets."
"What the fuck, Jaune!" cried Neon. "That's insane!"
It was. It really freaking was. It put his current fears in perspective because if he'd had the guts – or the stupidity – to try and get through initiation and then combat class with a freshly unlocked aura, then this wasn't much in comparison. "I was desperate. And stupid."
Penny stood suddenly. "I too have something to confess!" she blurted out.
"Uh. Yeah?" Flynt sounded surprised. "I mean, it's going to have to be pretty big to top Jaune's."
Penny opened up her jacket.
And her undershirt.
And her chest.
And her ribcage.
"I am a robot!"
Jaune stared.
"And Jaune is the only one who knew."
"I – I am!?" he blurted out. "I did!?"
"The only one on our team. Uncle Ironwood and my father – my creator – obviously knew. Jaune was the first person to discover this outside of them, and the reason I was allowed to join this team. I'm sorry for keeping it secret and I always wanted to tell you all, but I was afraid you would hate me for it. Until now. Until you showed me you can accept Jaune's secret so easily!"
Neon's mouth hung open.
To be fair, so did his.
Flynt was the only one capable of movement and speech, as he reached over to tug Jaune's arm, looked him in the eye, and said, "No offence bro, but your secret is weak sauce compared to this."
"Y-Yeah. Tell me about it…"
Penny had more than a little upstaged him."
Call her Mario because you got "one-upped" son.
Next Chapter: 22nd April (TWO WEEKS)
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