Author's Note: I'm not even going to pretend like it hasn't been a while, but honestly, don't you all expect that at this point? I'm a grown ass man with grown ass problems and those things take precedence. It's not like I can make a living off of fanfiction.

Sorry, rambling. Enjoy the chapter.

Sins of the Forefathers

Act the Third: Heavy is the Head

Chapter Twenty-Two: For Me, it was Tuesday

As Pyrrha opened her eyes, she realized that she'd woken up before her alarm had gone off again. Blearily, she glanced over and pulled her Scroll from its charging dock, checking the time - four-fifty. After their morning sparring session the day before, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Blake had all agreed to make their morning spars a regular thing. With a yawn, she rose out of bed and reached for her water bottle. With a slice of lemon in it, it helped to kick her awake as a healthier alternative to coffee or sugary drinks - as she'd been instructed by her father and physical fitness tutor.

Thus energized, she stretched her arms up and yawned again before leaving her room. Going into the bathrooms he shared with Nora, she splashed some cold water on her face and then went out into the common area of the dorm apartments, noticing Jaune writing something on the couch.

"Up already?" she asked. "It was surprising enough yesterday, but you seem like you've been up a while."

"I've been up since four," he said. "In order to get the most out of my day, I've started adapting to a biphasic sleep schedule."

"What?"

"I sleep for six hours between ten and four and then take a twenty minute nap later in the day. From what I've been reading, there are more advanced polyphasic sleep schedules where you can get by with a total of two to three hours of sleep, just by napping in short bursts throughout the day… but that doesn't really work with a school schedule, and besides, I don't think I'm prepared for something that intense yet."

"Oh." Pyrrha paused a moment to wrap her mind around that information - some part of her recalled her physical fitness tutor discussing something similar, but considering her own sleep schedule, she assumed it hadn't been implemented. Shaking her head, she followed up with, "What are you writing?"

"Just a plan for the day. I've been neglecting the team since we formed because I wanted to give you all time to get used to what Ozpin told you, as well as get a head start on some independent research, but today we'll come together in the evening and talk."

"Oh. That's good, though I think we get along just fine."

"If we were just friends, maybe. But we're not just friends."

"O-oh?" Pyrrha turned away with a blush before she realized that she had, and then, realizing that she'd blushed, began to busy herself by getting a glass from the kitchen and filling it with water. "What do you mean?"

"We're teammates, Pyrrha. In particular, you and I are partners."

Pyrrha drank deep from her glass and replied, "Right. Of course."

Jaune continued without pause. "If we're to be effective at completing mission objectives, we need to understand each other. Not just our abilities, either: we need to reach a certain degree of understanding with each other as people, too."

Something Jaune said tugged at Pyrrha. "Mission objectives? What do you mean?"

"Officially, we get our first missions at the end of our first year. Nothing that involves actual Grimm - for freshmen it typically involves assisting Vale police with city patrols, IGO administrative paperwork, assisting villages and settlements with construction and reconstruction efforts, so on and so forth. Typically. However, considering my presence and your tenure as a fighter, there is a high chance that our mission will be out of the ordinary. In which case, we need to excel in order to maximize our chances of sur- success."

Pyrrha chose to not address Jaune's slip of 'survival'. Instead, turning back to him now that she'd gotten her blush under control, she said, "Well, we have a whole year to do that, don't we?"

"We have a year to get to know each other, yes, but that's not an excuse to slack off and ignore something so basic. Part of my plan for our team talk will involve my expectations for the team and address the establishment of a team training plan. Ren and Nora don't seem to be early risers quite like we are, but we need to find a time where all of us can get together and work on our group tactics. But that's enough talking," Jaune rose and closed the notebook he was writing in. "I'll have plenty of time to explain everything once we get together as a team. For now, let's get going - I'm sure Blake's waiting on us."

…

After their morning spar, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Blake once again sat and ate breakfast with Yatsuhashi. Conversation naturally flowed towards the subject of their first day at Beacon.

"You killed the Grimm like that?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Yeah. Professor Port detailed the method in his lecture. And thanks to you warning me about his teaching style, I was able to pay enough attention to catch it."

"Impressive. On our first day at Beacon, I was one of the two people to go up to fight the Creep, along with Dodger Gorman of team HNDW, pronounced Honeydew. Neither of us utilized that method: I simply set myself and swung down on the Creep when it got close, though as I was weaker then, it took a second swing to fully defeat it."

"How did Dodger do it?"

"He uses twin short-maces, and so he delivered multiple rapid blows that wore down the Grimm's bone armor until it was destroyed completely."

"I see. He must use speed combined with blunt force weapons to compensate for a lack of raw strength."

Pyrrha glanced at Jaune. She had also surmised as much - having fought someone with a similar style in the Regional Tournaments - but she didn't understand why Jaune had noted it out loud. Especially when he's usually so internal with his observations. Is he opening up around me?

Pyrrha decided to test her thought by pushing the boundaries a little.

"Speaking of which, Jaune," she spoke up, "I noticed that you used a different weapon when we sparred today. Are you still figuring out what sort of specialized weapon you want to use?"

"Yeah," he replied easily. "In all honesty, the very idea of specializing in a single weapon is sort of counterintuitive to the way I was taught to operate. Part of my training growing up was to achieve a level of basic competence with most weapons and their variants, so that no matter what situation I was in, I wouldn't be unprepared. Right now, I'm sort of just testing the waters with everything to see if there's any weapon that sticks out as something to focus on."

Pyrrha smiled and nodded. "Well, if you ever need any advice, I'm here for you. And I'm sure Ren and Nora would be too. And Blake!" she added, motioning to the woman, who nodded in response.

His answer was too quick, she thought. It's probably an answer he planned… is it because he's Atlesian? Is it because of his upbringing? …he shouldn't have to worry about that here. But I'll drop it for now. If he doesn't want to talk about it, trying to force him to do so in public would be counterintuitive. I'll see if I can't bring it up during our team meeting later.

Blake thought about what Jaune had said in the morning. Doesn't want to specialize, hm? Or is it just that he doesn't want to use that sword I saw for some reason? It was very well made. Probably even better than Adam's, but to be fair, I'm not exactly an expert.

Her eyes glanced over to her team leader. Ruby would probably know better than me.

Professor - no, her mind corrected, Doctor Oobleck's voice took her out of her reverie as he introduced the curriculum.

"For this course, we will be discussing the History of Guardians starting with the Great War. As Headmaster Ozpin mentioned in his introductory speech, Guardians were called Aura Warriors at that time, and it was not until the foundation of the Academies that the term 'Guardians' was coined. We will also be discussing the foundation of the International Guardian Organization and its basic operations, as well as other incidents that have involved Guardians over the years, such as the Mistral Civil War, and the Atlas Insurrection."

A voice called out, "Will we also be discussing the Faunus Wars?" When Blake turned to look, she noted that it had been one of the armored men from Initiation; Cardin, leader of Team CRDL, or so they called themselves.

Doctor Oobleck started, then turned to him. He quickly raced over to his desk, checked a piece of paper - the attendance sheet? - and then looked up and replied, "In the future, Mister Winchester, I would appreciate it if you raised your hand to ask a question. But yes, we will be discussing the Faunus Wars, both the one caused by Brutus Schnee's oppression of the Atlesian Faunus and the one that Apex Wittekind Saxon prompted when he invaded Southeastern Vale."

Cardin opened his mouth, but then nodded, closed it, and sat down.

Hmm. Bringing up the Faunus Wars like that means one of two things…

"Now, returning to my points- Obviously, one can hardly discuss the history of Guardians without discussing notable figures. Naturally, this will include most of the famous Rank 1's throughout history, including our esteemed Headmaster, who was the First of the Rank 1's, and set the standard for what it meant to be one when he killed the Titan-class Grimm, designated Behemoth, when it attempted to breach the walls of Vale. Of course, we will also discuss notable so-called war heroes, such as Gaius Caesar, and Vale's own Carla Magna - one thing worth noting is that those are not their real names, but rather titles they were granted as a result of their deeds during their respective wars."

As he said this, Oobleck's eyes glanced up at a corner of the room, before returning to his general passing gaze over the class. Blake took a moment to follow his gaze, and saw Jaune.

Did he expect Jaune to react to that? Why? Well, whatever he was hoping to see, Jaune isn't giving out any clues.

Jaune, in fact, remained totally passive throughout the entire class, simply taking notes as directed.

…

Blake was almost thankful that Cardin's true colors were revealed so quickly.

After the end of Guardian History 101, and a few other classes, Team JNPR and her team were all sat at lunch. At Ruby's insistence, their team was sitting across with Team JNPR, though Blake could tell that Yang was uncomfortable - probably from being so close to Jaune.

However, Yang wasn't reacting as bad as Blake thought she would, likely because her attention was pulled elsewhere.

Across the cafeteria, Cardin Winchester was causing a ruckus - he'd started pulling on the rabbit ears of a Faunus girl, and his teammates, as well as a small group of apparently like-minded individuals, were gathered around and laughing at the sight.

Weiss - to Blake's surprise - narrowed her eyes at the sight and muttered, "How unsightly."

Jaune, ever quick to snap at Weiss, said, "Really? I would've thought this sort of thing would be commonplace in Atlas high society."

"Don't even joke about that!" She barked at him. "Even if Atlas isn't… great, about Faunus rights, no one in their right mind would be so brazen with their prejudice!"

"Coulda fooled me…" he muttered, before turning to the rest of the group. "So, what's the plan, guys?"

The rest of the group collectively blinked. "What?"

"Cardin's being a shit. What are we going to do about it?"

Nora's eyes sparkled as she realized she was being given permission to take action. "We'll BREAK HIS-" she began, attempting to stand up, only to be forced back down by Jaune.

"No. Brothers, what are you, five? Even if you're strong enough to do it, ultraviolence isn't the answer here."

"What about regular violence? I could just punch him."

"No, he's surrounded by like-minded people and that'd just start a brawl. Ruby!" Jaune pointed to her. "What do you think?"

"What?!" she panicked. "Uh, tell a teacher?"

"What? No, gods, is everyone around here five? Anyone else?"

The table was silent before Weiss, probably seeing a chance to snap back at Jaune, said, "Well, what's your genius plan then, Arc?"

Blake knew that things were going to go very bad for Cardin when Jaune simply smiled back, said, "I'm glad you asked, Weiss," and then stood up from the table and began walking over to Cardin's group.

"Oh, dear," Pyrrha finally spoke, looking after where he'd gone. "This won't end well. Should we follow him?"

"No," Blake said. "We'll just get in the way."

Weiss raised an eyebrow and glanced at Blake. "You know, I've wondered this before, but why do you have so much faith in Jaune? I know you apparently roomed together over the summer, but-"

"He helped me out of a bad spot," Blake interrupted. "And trust me when I say, Jaune's craftiness extends beyond his knack for combat tactics. Just watch."

The group watched closely as Jaune approached Cardin. As he did, he called out in a friendly - if, Blake personally felt, exaggerated - tone, "Hey Cardin!"

Cardin looked up from his assault on the Faunus girl and said, "Yeah? Whatcha want, Arc?"

"Nothing man, I just wanted to say, good job! You really gotta stick it to these animals, show 'em who's boss, am I right?" He looked around at the group as he said this, and got a series of nods and 'Yeah, that's right!' in response.

"Hah!" Cardin said. "You know what, I wasn't sure about you, but you're all right, Arc."

"Yeah. Hey, lemme snap a picture!" Jaune pulled out his Scroll and Cardin's eyes lit up - probably at the prospect of having his 'victory' over the Faunus girl immortalized in a photo.

"Oh, totally!"

Some of the group - apparently sensing a trap - edged out of the frame, giving some sort of excuse, leaving Cardin and his team all alone with their victim as Jaune took several pictures of the bullying - Cardin with his hands still clenched tight around her ears, her face contorted in discomfort, and his team all smiling stupidly behind.

"Oh," Ren said. "I see. He's fooled them into allowing him to get direct evidence of their bullying."

Weiss' eyes widened. "That's… well, that's better than what I thought he was going to do when he went over there and started praising them!"

"Hold on, he's not finished," Yang noted, and they returned their attention to Jaune.

Turning away from Cardin and the group, Jaune called, "Pyrrha, catch!" and tossed his Scroll. Pyrrha started, surprised by the sudden callout, but quickly recovered and caught the device easily.

Jaune then sat down on the seat next to Cardin, forcing himself between Cardin and his teammate, Sky.

What's he- Oh. I think I see, Blake thought.

With a quick movement, Jaune grabbed Cardin's left index finger with one hand and grabbed his hair tight with the other. He pulled the finger against its socket and twisted his arm, and used his grip on Cardin's hair to pull his neck back. Cardin grunted in pain, causing him to grip onto the Faunus girl's ears more tightly.

Sky stood up and made a move towards Jaune, but Jaune simply glanced at him and said, "Don't try anything or Cardin loses this finger," which made Sky pause.

Jaune then turned back to Cardin and started whispering in his ear. Cardin's expression, which had been one of anger at his treatment, turned to shock, then fear, as he looked back at Jaune. After Jaune nodded his head toward the Faunus girl, Cardin let go of her ears and pushed her away, stammering, "G-go on, leave!"

Blushing, the girl quickly stood and left without a word. With an easy smile, Jaune then let go of Cardin, stood up, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Great! Now, don't forget what I said."

With that, Jaune returned to the table, the crowd of gawkers parting before him.

As he sat down, Weiss narrowed her eyes at him. "What did you do?" she asked.

"I just warned him to watch his actions in public, that's all."

Yeah right, Blake thought. Considering his reaction, there was probably an actual threat involved.

"W-well," Ruby said, trying to ease the tension between Jaune and Weiss, "at least it didn't become a fight! Good going, Jaune!"

He nodded at her with an easy smile. "Thanks, Ruby."

Ruby groaned as she clutched her head in her hands, her chin resting on the table. "This is stupid!" she whined.

Ruby and Jaune were sitting in the library, in the early afternoon after the end of classes. The rest of Ruby's team had gone off to do their own thing, and Ruby had taken a chance and asked Jaune for help with their homework for Headmaster Ozpin's Leadership course. He'd told team JNPR - and wasn't that just a smack in the face! I need to come up with a team name for us! - that they were free to do their own thing, but to go to return to the dorm by eight, for something Jaune had planned.

"This is our homework," Jaune replied, and flipped to the next page in their Leadership textbook. "Now focus - you're the one who asked me for help with it."

"I know, but…" her head rose up from the table and she pulled her book closer. "Well… I dunno. A lot of this stuff seems really theoretical."

"It is theoretical. Did you think that all you'd have to do is read the chapter, it would tell you exactly what to do, and then all of a sudden you'd be a great leader, able to command your team through thick and thin without a hitch?"

Ruby's deliberate avoidance of Jaune's eyesight answered his question.

"Amazing. I didn't think people could actually be that naive."

"Hey!"

"SHH!"

Ruby and Jaune snapped their heads over to see the Head Librarian glaring over his shoulder at them - literally over his shoulder; as an owl Faunus, his neck was twisted unnaturally around to look straight at them while still walking towards his destination.

Ruby wilted under the glare and groaned again into her hands.

"Didn't you say you spoke to the Headmaster yesterday? What did he tell you?"

"He said to give it time, and also take the time to get to know my team."

Jaune blinked. "And you need my advice because?"

"Because that's too generic! I mean, I get it - I can't lead them without knowing them. I already know Yang, but Blake's a mystery and Weiss-"

"Is a bitch?"

"I was just gonna say 'uppity', but I'll let her know you said that."

"Sure, whatever."

"What have you tried so far?"

"What, you mean to get along with my team?"

"Yeah! You talked to Ren just fine yesterday, and it seems like you're super buddy-buddy with Pyrrha already! Heck, you even know Blake better than I do!"

"You wanna know the secret, Ruby?"

"So there is a secret!" She leaned towards Jaune expectantly.

Jaune leaned back in his chair and flipped the page of his textbook. He sighed, then said "Like Ozpin told you, just go and talk to them."

Ruby flushed. "What-"

"You literally live with them. How hard is it to start a damn conversation? I mean, Brothers above, do you want me to call Blake for you or something?"

"Wait wait wait!" Ruby screeched in as high a whisper she could muster. "First of all, rude. Second of all, it's not that simple! Weiss is- Weiss, and Blake doesn't respond to anything I try to say to her!"

"Talk about Faunus Rights."

Ruby stopped. "What?"

"She's really passionate about that. She'll open up. If she asks you how you know, just tell her I told you - she won't hold it against you."

"Oh. Well. I guess that's Blake solved - sort of - but that still leaves Weiss."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Do I have to solve all your problems for you?"

"Uh…"

"Well, let's turn this into a learning opportunity." He placed his bookmark into the textbook and closed it, then looked directly at Ruby. "What do you know about Weiss?"

"She's rich? Or rather, her family's rich?"

"Good. How?"

"They're an Atlesian company, right? The SDC?"

"Which stands for?"

"The 'Schnee Dust Company'? So they sell Dust?"

"Close. They don't just sell Dust, they have a monopoly on Dust in Atlas. They've made some attempts to spread to the rest of Remnant, but they've been rebuffed for the most part."

"Wait, aren't monopolies illegal?"

"They are in Vale, and, technically, in Atlas, but the Schnee family helped found Atlas after the Great War so they have a lot of political weight. They pulled some legal loophole stuff by having subsidiary companies also sell Dust in Atlesian territory. Anyways, that's not important; what does that tell you about Weiss?"

Ruby opened her mouth with a finger raised, then paused and closed it. "Does it mean she grew up spoiled?"

"Compared to other people, probably, but that's not the point I'm making. The SDC is the biggest corporation in Atlas, and in the top three biggest in Remnant, superseded only by the Mistral Qixing, which is really more of a collective of corporations than a single corporation… I'm rambling. My point is, she was raised in a strict environment made all the worse by being of a family with a reputation to uphold. She probably never went to school with others, and was instead privately tutored in numerous subjects, especially business since she's going to be part of the SDC someday. Now," he paused for effect, "what does all that tell you about how to interact with Weiss?"

"I should… get her one on one, sit down, and have a serious discussion? Like a business meeting?"

Jaune shrugged. "Probably."

"What do you mean 'probably'?! Is it gonna help or isn't it?"

"I don't know. I know a lot about the Schnee family, but I don't know Weiss personally. I know that generally, getting people one-on-one to discuss things is very effective when you need to resolve personal disputes. I know that any attempt is better than avoiding the discussion, as you seem to be doing. I know that Weiss is standing behind you."

"WHAT!?" Ruby spun around in her seat and, lo and behold, Weiss was there, with an inquisitive expression on her face.

Behind her, she heard Jaune stand up. "And that's the end of our study session. I have to get going-" as he passed by Weiss, Jaune clapped a hand on her shoulder. "She's all yours, Schnee."

As Weiss glared at Jaune's casual contact, Ruby took a moment to breathe, and settle herself. She turned back around in her seat, and waited for Weiss to take the seat across from her.

"So,"

"So,"

-they said at the same time.

"Yougofirst," Ruby said, using a quick burst of her Semblance to speed up her speech so that Weiss couldn't stop her.

"Oh." She blinked, then collected herself. "Well. As I heard Jaune mention to you, we spoke yesterday, and he… loathe as I am to admit it, gave me some advice." She reached into her bag and pulled out a binder. Brushing her ponytail behind her ear, she pulled out a manila folder that had about a half-inches worth of papers within. "Before I get to that… I should apologize."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, but didn't interrupt.

"I was… unnecessarily harsh to you. I had certain… expectations, that when dashed, resulted in me lashing out at you. You didn't deserve that, and so- I am sorry."

"You wanted to be the Team Leader," Ruby said.

"I expected to be the Team Leader. My own folly- in hindsight, it was only natural that someone personally scouted by the Headmaster would be placed in a position of power."

Ruby winced. "You say that like he gave me special treatment for bad reasons."

"Nothing of the sort. I wouldn't dare to guess the Headmaster's motivations, but whatever they are, the fact remains that you are receiving special treatment."

"Well… Yeah, you're right. Shoot, I should've asked him why he let me in early when I spoke to him yesterday."

"You spoke with- nevermind, it's none of my business." She tapped the folder that she placed on the table, then pushed it over to Ruby. She opened it, and noted that it was, in short, extra reading for her to study. "I spoke with Yang about the two year's worth of education you missed," Weiss explained. "If you'd like, Yang and I can help you catch up with the curriculum that you missed so you can keep up with our lessons."

Ruby looked up at her. "You did all this yesterday?"

"I just had Yang make a list of the basic things you're supposed to know. Then I just organized some introductory readings - Yang and I will still have to walk you through the more detailed information."

"Well. Um, first of all, apology accepted - and believe me, I didn't ask to be Team Leader either."

"Of course- and it was immature of me to hold it against you."

"And, uh, I will take you up on the offer of helping me with my studies… For what it's worth, I've always been ahead of the curve on mathematics, physics, and ballistics."

"I know. We spoke about your academic strengths and weaknesses."

"Weiss-" She paused as Ruby thought about what she wanted to say, and Weiss, thankfully, waited patiently. "I think we've established it well enough that I… have no idea what I'm doing. Jaune is helping me in the leadership course, but… uh, is it true you were tutored about business and stuff?"

Weiss blinked. "Um. Yes? Did Jaune mention that? How would he know?"

"He didn't. He said he just assumed it. Anyway, I'm asking because… would you teach me that sort of thing as well?"

"You want to know how to run a business?"

"Well, not that part, but I assume that business leadership must have been part of it, right? Even if it doesn't directly translate to Guardian leadership, there might be concepts or ideas I can use."

Weiss nodded slowly. "You know what, I didn't consider that. Okay, we can work that in… although, you do understand that this is a lot of extra work for you?"

Ruby nodded. "I do. And… I can't promise that I'll be perfectly attentive to all the lessons, but I do understand that if I'm going to be the leader of Team RWBY, I have to do all I can to live up to that."

"Well, at least you're taking this seriously- wait, what do you mean 'Team Ruby'? You named the team after yourself?"

"Well, I mean- Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang. We don't have a 'U' on the team so I just figured I'd call it 'RWBY'. With a 'w'."

Weiss opened her mouth with an indignant expression, held it for a few moments, then shut it. "I can't think of anything better, so fine, I guess we're team RWBY."

"Aw, sweet!"

I looked over the files that Ozpin had provided me. As per our agreement, both of the offered targets were genuine threats to the people of Vale: one, an upstart gang that wasn't 'playing nice' with the established members of Vale's criminal underworld, actively engaging in fights for territory; the other, an actual Atlesian sleeper agent, who, according to the evidence, had been discreetly interfering with Valean politics through their work as a Councilor's aide.

The gang is the more immediate threat, obviously, but if the agent is allowed to continue, Vale will steadily become more and more dependent on Atlas until Atlas can just assume control of Vale. Sorta what they're doing in Argus, but less blatant.

As I considered my options, my Scroll vibrated. I checked it, and saw that I got a text from Tariro.

[wat u up to?] she asked.

[not much. studying. u?]

[also studying. since i was in the hospital so long, i missed out on like a year of school so i gotta catch up.]

[damn, that sucks. well, im sure ull do fine]

[yeah! dads helping alot, especially since he got back from his business trip]

A business trip? Probably Fang related. Wait, now that I think about it, I could use this…

…

My Scroll's screen was crowded as the four eldest of my sisters - Julianna, Alice, Lorena, and Kiana, in order - fought to be seen by the camera. My three youngest sisters, Rayna, Haruka, and Marigold, had gone off to do their homework after briefly saying hi.

"All right," I began, "hit me with an update. How are things going on over-"

"Juli has a girlfriend!" Kiana interrupted with a yell.

I blinked, even as Juli began to sputter. "Wha- how do- I do NOT!"

"Yeah huh," Lorena spoke up, "last friday you got all dressed up and even did your makeup! And you said you were meeting a girl-"

The Scroll's video blurred as a scuffle ensued between my sisters, Juli attempting to keep the Scroll away from the others and the others attempting to get back on.

After a few moments, Juli's face came back on, and there was a background sound of thudding.

"Ran to the bathroom?" I asked.

"Shut up," she said absentmindedly. "Sorry. Anyways-"

"So who is she?"

Juli let out a groan. "...her name is Terra, and it was a business meeting! She's a liaison with the military, and works in the tech division."

"I suppose she's Enlisted then?"

"Yes, but like I said, she's just a communications specialist."

"No one in Atlas is 'just' anything, least of all an Enlisted. Be careful."

Juli rolled her eyes. "I can look after myself, Jaune."

"I know. But you know Atlas. Our family is an inconvenience to them-"

"And as much as I don't like him, Jacob is the only thing holding them back. I know."

I remained silent. She winced as she realized that she'd once again referred to our father by name.

"Jaune…"

"I know, Juli."

She nodded. "Want me to pass you back to the others?"

"Actually," I glanced at the wall, "I have to do something with my team. I'll talk to you all next time. Love you."

"Okay. Love you- wait, team-?"

I ended the call.

Arslan Altan looked across the wooden table at the rest of her team - Bolin Hori, her brother-in-arms from her time at the School of Flowing Water; Reese Chloris, daughter of a Valean Huntress, who chose to attend Mistral because she wanted to study 'more traditional martial arts'; and Nadir Shiko, the Vacuan who was coming to prove something to his parents, who thought he'd never amount to much more beyond a sheep-herder.

In other words, the only person she could currently rely on was Bolin - Reese was a tourist and Nadir was a coward who literally ran to another continent to avoid dealing with his family's problems.

Inwardly, she sighed, but she didn't let her expression change.

"So," Arslan began. "Only Bolin and I won our spars in class today. Let's start there."

Reese shrugged. "The arena isn't built for my fighting style - it's too close, I don't have much room to maneuver."

"In that case, Bolin and I will have to teach you how to handle yourself at close range."

She smiled. "Sure! It's one of the reasons I came here after all."

"Good. We'll start tomorrow at five."

"Ooh, can we not do it then? I don't like eating sweaty-"

"Five in the morning."

"What!?"

Reese made to get out of her chair, but Arslan quickly grabbed her hand and used a basic Flowing Water technique. She flexed the joint of her wrist, and Reese fell back into her chair with a gasp. Reese then ripped her hand out of Arslan's grip, rubbing it and staring at her with shock and fear.

"You came here to learn. This isn't like Vale, where students are free to slack off. This is Mistral. It's survival of the fittest here, and if you aren't willing to put the work in to excel, I'll have you removed from the team and sent home, and we'll just get someone else to fill the spot."

"Hold on," Nadir spoke up, "you can't just-"

"Mistral Academy has a dropout rate of sixty-five percent during the freshman year," Arslan interrupted him. "And the vast majority of those are foreigners - Valeans, Vacuans, even Atlesians. No matter how much you think you prepared yourself, you haven't - so if you can't keep up with what I'm going to put you through, then you'd be better off dropping out now and saving me the trouble. The school adjusts for dropouts automatically by combining teams.

"On the other hand," she continued, "stick with me. Stick with the training I put you through - you'll be learning the Flowing Water style directly from someone who learned from Owa Tatsumi himself. And once I get a better feel for your abilities, we'll obviously set you up with regimens to improve your specific skill sets as well."

Reese looked at Bolin. "Don't you have anything to say about this?"

Bolin shrugged. "Don't forget, Arslan and I grew up together. I'm with her on this- I'm not here to just cruise through classes and get my Guardian License. If that's all I wanted, I'd have gone to Beacon. I came here because I want to excel. And I have a rematch to prepare for."

Arslan chuckled. "Ah, me too." They both shared a smile before Nadir spoke up.

"So, uh, wanna let us in on your in-joke?"

"Ah, right," Arslan coughed. "Two of the other students from the Flowing Water school chose to go to Beacon - Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. As much as I hate to say it, they were a lot better at it than we were. So when the Vytal Festival Tournament comes round two years from now, Bolin and I intend to settle the score and show how much stronger we are."

Bolin chuckled. "Yeah, and then you'll tell Ren about the crush you have on-"

"Shut up!" she smacked his shoulder, but it was a playful hit and Bolin laughed it off.

Arslan coughed as she tried to regain control of the meeting. "Anyway," she said, looking both Reese and Nadir in the eyes, "that's where I stand. Are you in or out?"

Reese and Nadir looked at each other, then back at Arslan.

"We're in," they both said.

A/N: Ugh, finally finished the rough draft of the next chapter. I've mentioned this before, but a big reason I take so long to do this shit is I don't post a chapter until after the next chapter's rough draft is finished. Anyway, let's move on.

Review Replies:

Almighty Spartan: Here you go, pal. I'll try to keep them coming.

CircusControl: What's unreal is the fact that it's been over a year since my last update.

pandazxd: Took some time, but here's some more!

tavoxd100: Thanks! Here's some more.

NuclearLep: Thanks! Jaune's Semblance will be elaborated in the future but suffice to say it's not "just" Sensory Enhancement.

INFINIT09: It was indeed some Equalizer shit.

P0rtalGun: I'll admit, the early chapters went hard in the description. Honestly the biggest overall issue with the fic is that I've been writing it so long that the style changes subtly between updates. Still, I'll always give it my best to keep things consistent.

Touhou Guest: I do indeed love the Touhou Project. Just wait for the Arknights and Genshin Impact references lol.