Chapter 13 – Scream Until Your Dreams Come True

In which Jaune Arc beats up an innocent woman and allies himself with terrorists.

It wasn't because there were too many White Fang goons, or because the goons in question were particularly skilled. The problem was that Blake was too kind.

If she had used her sword from the beginnning, truly used it, they wouldn't have stood a chance. She could carve their limbs like tuna fish sandwich halves and rip apart their flesh with her bullets. Their puny handguns and jackknives were nothing compared to a full-fledged huntress armed with Gambol Shroud, the pinnacle of flexible destructive capability.

She'd gone in with the mindset that she would knock them all out, then let the police collect her captives and mop up any stragglers. Now, so far, a good two-thirds of the terrorists were down for the count, but Blake was alone and running out of steam against their superior numbers. If only there were a monkey huntsman who could have helped her…

Sun was a friendly guy for lending his ear to her juvenile problems with Weiss and her racism, but it was too much to expect him to join a complete stranger on a private sleuthing quest that was likely to end in violence. He had promised to call the cops if Blake didn't check in with him tomorrow, but he'd been unwilling to drop everything and help her like some absolute simp, even though they were both Faunus.

Can't say I blame him. It would've been a weird thing to ask a guy I met that morning, same species or not.

Blake would've sworn that she saw a tall, young, blond specter that closely resembled Sun rush past her at one point, but it must've just been a figment of her imagination, conjuring up the image of her five-minute-friend just to torture her by reminding her of her loneliness. Dying alone against her former Faunus brothers and sisters with no friends or allies at her side was not how Blake had hoped to go out.

The White Fang was beginning to overwhelm her, and Blake now had no choice but to load Gambol with a new round and change her tactics. The next shot wasn't going to be a debilitating leg wound. From now on, she went for the throat.

"Get back!" she screamed, pulling out the old mag and swapping it with a fresh one.

It won't be enough to get me out of here, but at least I'll put down some of these stray dogs before I die. I should've done this from the start.

The magazine clicked into place, and not a moment too soon.

"Get back! Get back or I'll shoot!"

The Faunus who she'd once called brethren only inched closer, their weapons drawn and their teeth bared beneath the bonelike masks. Blake retreated a few paces, raised Gambol at her many targets, and put her finger on the trigger.

Then, her head hurt. She flipped around in time to see…

"J–"

The qrowbar smacked her once more, and the already dark night sky turned completely black.

The battle of the boar a few days prior had taught Jaune many things.

The first lesson it gave him was one he'd already had beaten into him several times: no matter who he fought, he never had a chance of physically overpowering them. Physically, he couldn't even dream of comparing to a real hunter, and while he was no scrawny lad, he was only marginally stronger than any random person off the street who regularly hit the gym.

The second lesson was far less depressing: his best weapon was his mind. Outthinking Hogwash had resulted in an instant victory, and it didn't rely on him having weapons or armor or aura or anything. He always had his brain, unlike a sword he could lose or a suit of armor he could forget at home or a forcefield of aura he never had in the first place.

The third was probably the most important of the lessons: as a huntsman, it was his duty to never back down from a fight when innocent lives were on the line. In Port's class, it had been Amber. Here in the docks, it was Blake…and the White Fang.

Yes, they were terrorists, but they were still people. Plus, for many of the men who'd been unloading the ships, this lifestyle wasn't a voluntary choice as much as it was a choice forced upon them – not even a choice, when he thought about it. These men were conscripts, and they'd admitted to Jaune that they didn't even want to fight this war if they had any alternative. If Perry hadn't been lucky enough to have good combat skills and an unlocked aura, it would've been him loading crates instead of Big Leo or Mike or any of the others.

Jaune wasn't going to sit there and excuse the actions of the White Fang, but so far all he'd seen of the men here today was that they had stolen Dust, been attacked by Blake, and responded in self-defense. At worst, they belonged in prison, not the ground.

That was half of the reason that Jaune knocked Blake out instead of letting her gun down the White Fang. The other half was that even if she resorted to lethal force and had his help, they wouldn't have been able to shoot their way out. Blake's aura was so close to breaking that it had taken two blunts hits from plain old Jaune to shatter it like a porcelain gravy boat, who, as previously stated, was never going to be overpowering his enemies. Jaune with his picked up qrowbar and might've been able to subdue one of the White Fang guys, perhaps two on a good day, but there were about ten well-armed men left.

Maybe Blake would've preferred to die fighting rather than retreat, but Jaune wasn't willing to let her make that choice. With no way to sway the fight in Blake's favor and no way to convince either side to stand down, he'd made the next best choice – ending the fight the fastest way possible. It worked, too; now that the threat was neutralized, the White Fang fighters were holstering their weapons.

Jaune tossed his qrowbar to the ground next to Blake and looked out across the wreckage of what had been a hard night's work but moments ago. Pretty much all of the Dust had been destroyed, and several small fires were now smoldering on the wood that had once made up the boxes containing it. Two of the bullheads they had been loading had been reduced to little more than curvy lumps of scrap metal, more close in nature to abstract modern art sculpture-work than aeronautical modes of transport.

"Good work, Jaun-o," said Ralph, removing the band attaching his mask to his head. "Things might've gotten ugly if it hadn't been for you."

Don nudged Blake's downed form with the toe of his shoe. "She's still kicking. What should we do with the girl?"

"She's a Faunus. Do you really want to kill her?" asked Jaune.

He already knew the answer. These men might have picked up arms to defend themselves, but they weren't killers. The remaining White Fang members looked nervously amongst one another.

"Well, no, but…"

"She's a huntress. Do we even got the means to hold her? Let's just leave her."

"Let's at least disarm her. R-Right?"

"The Dust is ruined, and the cops must be closing in. I say we regroup at the base and contact Banesaw for orders."

Before Jaune could concur with the Faunus who put forth that wonderful suggestion, Big Leo whistled, catching all of their attention.

"Fellas, let's just ask Roman. He's here, he's sorta in charge, and he's our resident hunter-level combatant. If anyone'll know what to do with her, it'll be him."

"Fat lot of good he did when the fighting started," said Jaune. "If he's our huntsman, why did he sit back and force us normal folk to fight this crazy girl?"

The others murmured in agreement.

"Well, let's find him," said Jaune, already knowing the outcome. The Faunus broke out into small groups to search the wrecked shipyard for their human leader, unaware that Jaune had accidentally shot him with his own weapon point blank. When they found his dead body, Jaune hoped that he would be able to convince the others to just leave Blake behind. If not…

Jaune took out his scroll and whispered, "Call Beacon. Let them know where we are."

It buzzed in response.

"Hey, I found him!" called a Faunus who stood closer to the ship.

Perfect, thought Jaune, right where I left him. "Is he okay?"

"He's out cold, but he's got a pulse."

"Shame, that's – wait, a pulse?"

"Yeah," said the Faunus. "The only thing more singed than his coat is the bright orange campfire he calls hair, but he's still alive. One of the exploding Dust crates musta caught him."

"T-The police are gonna be here any minute now," said Jaune. "Someone grab Roman, and we make our way to t–"

"He's stirring!" said the Faunus. "Mister T? You awake?"

None of this had factored into Jaune's plan. The White Fang members weren't violent by their nature, but Roman seemed to be, and he was coming to. Judging by how lowly he'd treated the Faunus working under his command, Blake wouldn't just be left behind if the head criminal had anything to say about it. And he'll definitely kill me, after I blew up both his cigar and his cranium.

Many of the Faunus that Blake had downed were also waking up, and their numbers were now about twenty. Minor arguments about what to do and how to proceed broke out among the Faunus contingent, but Jaune couldn't hear them.

Think, Jaune, think.

The guys wouldn't like it if I tried to grab Blake and run, and there's no way they'll take orders from me when Roman's still alive. I can't fight my way out, I can't flee – what can I do?

It had seemed so clear at the time – take down Blake, convince the Faunus to leave her behind, and slip away to collect her at the first chance. No one needed to get hurt, and everyone could walk away with their life.

Now, it seemed like folly to have knowingly hindered his true ally so that terrorists could survive. As much as Jaune didn't want them to get hurt, he wasn't willing to trade away Blake's life for theirs.

I should've just helped her fight them. Even if we'd died, we would've died like hunters, fighting for what we…believe…in…

An idea formed in Jaune's mind. A crazy idea, one so incredibly shortsighted and stupid that it sounded like something Team Cardinal would come up with, but it was an idea nonetheless, and by process of elimination against the zero other ideas he could come up with, it was the best option he had. Since Roman was about to wake up any minute now, Jaune had little other choice but to fly with it.

Cupping his hands to his mouth, he tried to get the attention of the distracted White Fang members. "Hey, fellas!"

The scattered conversations continued.

He tried again, louder. "Hey, everyone!"

Not one of them responded to Jaune, and he began to feel a spell of worry.

"Hey, can you all just…looks, can…I…"

"HEY!" The voices died down as Big Leo grabbed their attention with his loud, roaring voice. "Jaun-O, the floor is yours."

Here goes nothing.

"Okay, so, I have something to tell you," said Jaune to the crowd of people. "You all know how I just joined you this morning?"

"Jaune, you may be new, but you're one of us," said Mike.

"Yeah!"

"Honorary Fang!"

"But I'm not," said Jaune. "The truth is, Beacon sent me. I'm a spy."

That shut them up real fast.

I'd better get to part two real quick before I lose them.

"My assignment was to bring in Roman Torchwick for his misuse of hunter-level combat skills. I approached him on the streets, but I didn't even know he was dealing with the White Fang until I met you all."

"You can't be serious, Jaune! You? We trusted you, and you're turning us in?"

"No, I'm not!" Jaune said loudly, desperately trying to make himself not sound desperate. "I'm taking Roman in. And I have an offer for the rest of you."

Ruby smelled the smoke before she saw it. Perry had called her saying that a friend of Jaune's had spotted Blake down by the docks, and when she and Penny went in that general direction, a humungous cloud of sooty, ashy smoke had told them exactly where they needed to go from there.

It was late at night, but as she semblance-ran her new friend closer and closer towards the epicenter of the cloud, she began to make out a trail of small flames that were only growing larger and larger.

Please don't have died, Blake! Please, just somehow survive this and I promise I'll convince Weiss to apologize or forgive you or whatever it is we need to do to fix Team RWBY!

Ruby and Penny rounded the corner of a building and finally arrived on the scene, scythes and swords drawn.

"Friend Ruby, what is our plan of attack?"

"I–"

Ruby looked around. Blake was…arguing with Jaune?

Wait, Jaune's here? I guess it's good that Blake's okay and all, but this was not what I was expecting in the slightest.

The two friends weren't alone. A large crowd of people, all of whom Ruby could tell were Faunus by their obvious animal traits, were bustling about, throwing buckets of ocean water onto the dwindling fires and picking up the rubble scattered around the site. It looked like a bunch of bombs had gone off all over the place, and there was a distinct charcoal-y smell that Ruby instantly recognized as Fire Dust.

"Are those firefighters, Friend Ruby?"

"I…guess?" Ruby truly had no idea what to make of the bizarre scene.

"But all those policemen at the diner we passed on the way said that every single one of Vale's first responders were all simultaneously taking their late night snack break for the next two hours."

"Maybe these guys are locals who decided to pitch in?"

Perhaps Blake and Jaune would have a better understanding of what was going on. Dragging Penny with her, Ruby approached the duo as they quarreled at the epicenter of the shipyard.

"…brush this all away like it's nothing! I saw them wearing White Fang masks and stealing Dust!"

Jaune held up his hands to calm Blake down and smiled. "Blake, I don't know about you, but I don't see any White Fang masks on any of these guys. Perhaps you should check your biases against these innocent Faunus."

"I am a Faunus! They assaulted me!"

"As far as I could tell, you jumped into the crowd and started attacking them. Blake, you're lucky I was able to talk these fine gentlemen into not pressing charges."

"Roman Torchwick is sitting right there!"

"Yeah, and he's unconscious and tied up. It looks to me like these upstanding citizens of exceptional moral caliber have managed to detain a high profile criminal who was stealing Dust."

"You won't get away with this," hissed Blake.

"Blake, I'm sorry about the lump…the two lumps on your head from the qrowbar, but you had a gun pointed at a crowd of aura-less civilians."

"I should stick that gun up your–"

"Blake!" called out Ruby. "What's going on here?"

Blake threw her hands up in disgust. "You tell her, Jaune, since apparently you have complete control of this situation. I'm outta here." She poofed away, revealing herself to have replaced her body with a shadow clone.

"Jaune?" Ruby asked, looking at her fellow team leader with curiosity. "What's all this about White Fang?"

"That, dear Ruby, is a wicked and vile aspersion, one which I would not advise repeating if you don't wish to be branded as a racist. These Faunus are merely members of the community who heard quite a ruckus and rushed in to stop a crime in progress." Jaune gestured to the defeated, tied up, prone form of Roman Torchwick, who lay on the ground. Two armed Faunus stood beside him, watching him like hawks.

"So they're just regular people?"

"Well," Jaune said with a laugh. "They were regular people. But as of a few minutes ago when I deputized them, they're Beacon's newest enrollees.

"You want us to join Beacon?" Don scoffed. "Jaune, you've lost your marbles."

"I'm serious. Do any of you really want to stay with the White Fang? They assigned you to work under that guy…" Jaune pointed to Roman. "…and you're okay with that? You don't mind that your higher-ups felt like Roman was a good leader? He called you animals!"

"He's just a stepping stone–"

"To what?" asked Jaune. "Where is he taking you? Do any among you truly feel loyal to the White Fang, or are you all just doing this because you feel like you have to? I'm offering you another choice – a way out. Beacon always needs more huntsman, and if you guys are well-trained enough on your weapons to bring down a huntress like her, I'd say you've got what it takes."

"We're too old," Big Leo snarled angrily. "You can't seriously expect us to buy this crock."

Jaune pulled out his scroll and unlocked it to see a picture already pulled up of his entire team, including Perry. It seemed as though Amber had read his mind.

"Have a look at my partner. Does he look too old?"

Jaune held out the device and showed the picture to all of the White Fang members. Most of them leaned in to get a closer look, and flashes of recognition even appeared on the faces of a few.

"Hey, that's Perry with Jaun-O!"

"I used to work with that guy!"

"You see?" Jaune said, riding with the momentum he had. "Beacon's developing a new track for non-traditional students. If you throw your masks into the ocean and join me, I can guarantee each and every one of you a spot."

"No way," said Don. "There is no way in Vacuo that you, some teenaged hunter wannabe, can just wave his hands and make Beacon forget that we're White Fang."

"White Fang?" Jaune asked. "I don't see any White Fang here. Just a couple of Faunus who seem to have captured a currently unconscious criminal."

Another one of the Faunus, one who Jaune didn't personally know, threw his Billy club into the floor in anger. "It's not –"

"Calm down, Venus" said Big Leo. He turned back to Jaune. "Jaune, we like you, but we've only known you for one day, and you've just admitted that you've been deceiving us for that entire time. You just don't understand the risk you're asking us to take. If we drop everything and run to Beacon, the White Fang will know. An entire branch can't disappear. We won't ever be able to show our faces in Vale without risking a blade between the ribs. We'd have to risk our lives on your word."

Jaune paused for a second and turned around to collect himself. He was about to lose them, so it was time to change things up. If his best logical argument wasn't going to win them over, maybe a more emotional appeal would.

"You call this living?" Jaune quietly put forth without turning around. "This? Being hunted by the four kingdoms at every turn? Being humiliated by commanders who can't even be bothered to show up so they delegate to trash like Roman? Being forced to join a cause that you don't believe in, that risks your lives without ever offering anything in return?"

Swiveling on one foot to face the crowd directly, Jaune calmly rested his arms against his hips. "I'm not offering you a job. I'm offering you a dream. A light at the end of the tunnel that you all deserve after all the unfairness the universe has laden on you. You'll be respected, hailed as hero by those from here to Argus and back. Be it out of respect or necessity, no one dares look down on a huntsman. If you can all truly say that you'd rather continue to steal Dust for a human who cares so much about you that he openly told me he was expecting you to betray him because of your species, go ahead. I won't stop you. Play it safe and see where it gets you. But I, for one, think that a safe life isn't worth living if you spend all your time trying to hide away from danger in fear. Beacon is a chance to make a real difference for your people, to show Remnant that the Faunus race can spit out heroes just as readily as any humanity, to prove to everyone who thinks that you're just some…some…"

…some blond, gangly idiot with delusions of grandeur, clad in armor and flailing a stolen familial sword around…

"…some nobody from the streets of nowhere, that you can be more."

The ball was in their court now. If that didn't spur them to change their minds, then Jaune didn't really have any other tricks in his bag that would. In a way, Jaune was glad that it would be the collective choice of the Faunus on whether or not to do the right thing that decided his fate, rather the outcome of some beatdown between a human huntsman and Faunus terrorists.

Not only because I'd probably lose a fight, but because this way, I'll win by being on the good guy's side…if I win.

None of the Faunus had moved since he'd launched into his moral tirade. Jaune looked around the crowd to see if there were primarily frowns or smiles, but most of the Faunus were stony-faced and emotionless. Several seemed to be deep in thought, as though they were weighing the pros and cons of Jaune's proposal.

It's probably going to be all or nothing. If everyone decides to take me up on my offer to become a huntsman, I doubt there will be many stragglers who willingly admit to the others that they'd rather remain in the White Fang. The reverse is true as well – none of them are going to defect if the majority of their troop is staying loyal.

For what seemed like eternity, the only sound was the waves of the nearby seas crashing back and forth and the crackling of the still-burning Dust fires.

Then…

Clink!

A white mask landed by Jaune's feet.

Jaune smiled, placed his sneaker on it, and kicked it towards the edge of the docks, where it slid into the ocean. Just like that, the tide turned, and masks were thrown into the waters of the Valean sea en masse.

"You made the right choice," said Jaune.

"I sure hope so," said Ralph. "So, what do we do now?"

"Jaune, I don't think you have the authority to offer amnesty–"

Jaune shook his head and smiled at Ruby. "Not amnesty. That's for criminals. I'm offering them a spot in Beacon," he explained.

"Then I don't think you have the authority to promise them that either," finished Ruby. "I mean, you're an exceptional huntsman and a great team leader and all, but only Ozpin can decide who comes to his school."

Ruby was absolutely right, and Jaune knew that his entire plan relied on Ozpin's approval to his seemingly unreasonable request. The headmaster had admitted earlier that he was hoping for Perry to be a trailblazer for future non-traditional students and lay the groundwork for those in a similar situation for who came after him, but there were at least thirty Faunus in the group. Jaune had no way to gauge Ozpin's interest in accepting such a large and sudden influx of huntsmen. To accept thirty men into his school mean he would need to build thirty more rooms to fit thirty more beds and the facilities to feed thirty more mouths. Such would be a strain on Beacon's resources.

"Don't worry, Ruby. I think I have a way to convince him."

The police eventually did show up, and they took the statements of all parties involved. The White Fang members fed them lies by the bucketful about living nearby, hearing a commotion when two hunters tried to apprehend a dangerous criminal, and decided to do their part to pitch in.

Jaune felt a little bit guilty about lying so much, but it hadn't stopped him when it came to his transcripts, his aura, or his scroll, so he wasn't going to turn honest now. The official story was that he and a fellow huntress of Beacon, one Blake Belladonna, had been tasked by their headmaster with investigating the recent string of Dust store thefts, and they'd gone after Roman Torchwick when the opportunity to bring him in arose. They'd run into some trouble against the master thief, but fortunately a militia of well-armed citizens had come to their aid at the opportune moment and turned the battle in their favor. To repay this kindness (and legitimize civilian interference in Beacon-sanctioned activities), Jaune was forwarding their names to his headmaster for consideration in the hunter program, much like Ruby's situation.

It was the audacity of the truth the made it so well hidden. No sane police officer, rather, no same person would truly believe that an entire division of White Fang terrorists would willingly stick around at a crime scene for interrogation at the hands of human police when they could have easily fled the scene, and that was what made the outlandish lie so believable. It also seemed to help that the police saw Beacon, particularly Ozpin, as something of a wild card. Apparently, him sending teenagers to capture Roman Torchwick and then scout out some new talent while they were at it wasn't beyond the realm of believability when it came to Ozpin's zany antics. The police didn't seem happy about it, but they just grumbled around and waved it off as 'Beacon poking its nose where it doesn't belong' like it did so frequently, many times in the past.

Blake had gone along with it begrudgingly, claiming to be Jaune's partner on a school sanctioned mission. As much as she despised being complicit in Jaune's scheme, opposing it would be worse for her. If she claimed that the other Faunus were White Fang, it would at best make her a vigilante who took the law into her own hands. And that was assuming they believed her word over that of Jaune and thirty other Faunus or didn't just assume she was White Fang because of her ears. She had faked her species when coming to Beacon, which wouldn't have looked good.

Ruby and Penny had only needed to speak honestly. As neither of the girls had even been there during the firefight, neither had much to offer.

Now all that was left was to somehow convince Ozpin to go along with this charade. Jaune was currently on the line with Amber as he waited for the upcoming trial of persuasion.

"He always says that he's looking for more capable defenders of Remnant," said Amber. "If you use buzzwords like that, he'll be more likely to go along with this."

Jaune checked around to make sure he was alone. "I'm not gonna lie, I've got a plan, but I have no idea if it'll work or not. It's, I dunno, maybe a fifty-fifty shot?"

"You promised the Faunus a spot at Beacon," said Amber.

"Yeah, but if it goes wrong, it won't be that bad."

"Jaune, I've fought the White Fang before, back when Ozpin's leash on me was a tad looser and he actually let me do stuff. They weren't lying when they said that their former comrades would kill them if they didn't have the protection of Beacon. If Ozpin doesn't let them in, they'll have to go back to the streets, which will be a death sentence."

"Don't worry. My plan won't allow for that to happen."

"Improv and luck can only get you so far. I hope you know what you're doing."

Jaune didn't, but ever since Blake had descended upon the White Fang grunts with her cleaver-pistol, he'd mostly just been doing anything in his power to prevent anyone from dying. Jaune's actions were less a coordinated plan than a series of making the best choice in any given set of circumstances he found himself in. He lacked a bridge, so he was blindly stepping on stones to make his way across the river.

I sure do hope I don't run out.

This also meant that Jaune wasn't going to get his aura unlocked this weekend, but he honestly was just content to walk away from the debacle of the docks with his and everyone's hearts still beating.

"By the way, why did you call Ruby?"

"Huh?" asked Amber. "What do you mean?"

"I told you to call Beacon. I was hoping that Goodwitch or Ozpin would show up and fight off the White Fang for us."

"Well, you don't exactly have the headmaster or his deputy's private number in your contacts. You said call Beacon, so I called your team and told them to pass along the message. They told Ruby, and I guess she was already close by." Amber paused for a second, as though choosing her words. "J-Jaune, I hate myself for even asking this, but you…you aren't planning on trading me to Ozpin for–"

Jaune shifted the scroll so that he was staring directly at it, and Amber trailed off. She had no eyes for him to make contact with, so he just stared at the center of the screen.

"Amber."

"Yeah?"

"I promise you that I will never, ever, as long as I live, willingly hand you over to Ozpin. You're my friend, and I'm not going to let anyone imprison you ever again."

"J-Jaune…"

"Plus, scrolls are expensive these days, and it's such a hassle to transfer my number to a new one."

"Jaune, I don't have hands, so can't physically hit you on the head, but please imagine I'm slapping you in the face."

Jaune rolled his eyes. Looking both ways to make sure no one was watching, he gently slapped his own face.

"Awww, you do care!"

tl;dr Jaune seizes his destiny and becomes a career guidance counselor

Next Chapter: No, I Can't Back Down

In which Jaune Arc busts out his master strategy to convince Ozpin of his plan's merit and becomes a god amongst men.

Author's Notes

Time for some rigorous justification.

Why didn't Jaune help Blake? Because he's so weak that he would never have been able to turn the tide against the White Fang. Blake was almost already defeated by the White Fang, so there was no way to win by siding with her. Instead, he chose to end the fight quickly and count on the White Fang's good nature to not kill Blake.

Naturally, that all fell apart when it was revealed that Roman was alive (because one shot to the head isn't enough to break aura), so he just improvised from there. As the teaser indicates, we'll see his grand plan next Tuesday.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!