Chapter 14 – 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.

Ozpin stared at Jaune curiously. "Mr. Arc. Apparently, I've–"

Jaune stood at attention and saluted Ozpin. "Sir. Let us continue this discussion in a secure location. This sector may have been compromised. Sir."

The old man placed a singular finger on his glasses and shifted them upwards. Jaune didn't lower his salute, staring straight off into space without even meeting Ozpin's eyes.

"Very well."

When the headmaster arrived, the police sergeant in charge had gone to him first. Jaune imagined that the partial picture of events Ozpin had been given was probably very confusing to him, but everything depended on the old man playing along. If he seemed confused or openly questioned Jaune, the White Fang would know they had been lied to.

Ozpin watched Jaune march away from the police, the Faunus, and Team RWBY, the remainder of whom had arrived on the scene minutes earlier in a tearful and heartwarming reunion. Weiss and Blake were having some discourse about the latter's hidden Faunus trait, but Jaune had been so focused on preparing his argument to convince Ozpin that he'd entirely ignored it. Team RWBY's personal business was their own, and Jaune had bigger fish to fry.

Student and headmaster made their way into a Beacon bullhead, and Ozpin closed the door. When Jaune was sure it was sealed, he breathed a sigh of relief and let his shoulders sag.

"Now, then," began Ozpin with a wry smirk. "Apparently, you've exceeded at the mission I don't remember assigning you. Roman Torchwick, a periodic thorn in Beacon's side due to his misuse of unlocked aura, has been apprehended, and we now have a host of new recruits lining up to have their own auras unlocked before they start their upcoming classes. Regrettably, I cannot say I understand what exactly has transpired here, but every source I talk to seems to only point me in your direction. This is easily the most significant nuisance I've ever had the displeasure of needing to deal with, or my name isn't Ozpin McBeaconface."

"McBea – n-never mind. Sir, I have an explanation."

"It had better be a good one, Mr. Arc." Ozpin lowered himself into one of the seats on the bullhead. "I haven't had a drop of coffee in hours, and it's the middle of the night."

"Sir, I promised thirty Faunus spots at Beacon on account of their commendable behavior in aiding me capture Torchwick."

"I see. And your explanation?"

Jaune wiped the sweat from his brow. "That was the explanation."

Ozpin was silent for a minute as he studied Jaune. Jaune nervously waited for him to make the next move, but when it became clear that he wasn't going to say anything, Jaune inhaled and opened his mouth to speak. Then, of course, Ozpin spoke over him.

"That's not an explanation, Jaune, that's a statement of what happened. An explanation's purpose would have been to explain why you felt you had the need and the authority to do this. Your partner is a trailblazer, true enough, but he is still in the ongoing process of actively blazing the trail. His acceptance to Beacon was an experiment that the council of Vale only tentatively accepted, and we have not yet seen the end results of that experiment. Until such time as Mr. Perry graduates, I cannot in good conscience expand the program of nontraditional students – especially due to me spending all of the political capital I have to get both him and Miss Rose into my school in the same year. Furthermore, regardless of how admirably you believe these Faunus behaved, it is my judgment that determines if they are up to Beacon's standards, not yours."

"I know, sir."

"How many even have their aura unlocked?"

Jaune wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure that the answer was zero. Ozpin's frown only deepened upon hearing this.

"You don't need aura to succeed at Beacon," Jaune posited.

"What a truly juvenile concept," Ozpin spat with a wave of his hand. "Initiation may have seemed easy to an aura-user like you, Mr. Arc, but that is only because you have trained extensively to prepare for it. I doubt a non-aura user would even survive it, let alone last a week in Beacon without incurring some debilitating injury."

If only you knew…

"Do they even have any experience beyond today?"

"Well, they are ex-White Fang. I assume that made them stronger than the average Faunus."

Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "Jaune, if some of them were previously in the White Fang, that will make things even more complicated."

"Oh, I promise it's not like that, sir." Jaune forced a smile. "All of them are in the White Fang," he said sweetly.

"They…are?"

Ozpin's voice wavered dangerously, and Jaune backtracked as far as he could, which was about a single metaphorical step back.

"Well, I mean, they were, until about an hour ago when I told them they could come to Beacon if they left."

Ozpin stood back up and stared at Jaune for a second. The old man was more silent than a political party with a member involved in a scandal.

"I think you see my predicament."

If Ozpin did, he said nothing. Two of the fingers on each of his hands went to his temples and began to gently massage them.

At last, he responded. "Just why?"

"I would've promised them the lost crown of Vale's last king if it would've convinced them not to shoot Blake and I."

"Blake and me," Ozpin wearily corrected. "And I'd rather not part with that old sapphire-encrusted headpiece, Mr. Arc. It makes an excellent paperweight for my desk."

"Sir, of course I'm aware that what I'm asking of you is absurd, and that I have no right to ask. But we have a choice on our hands. We either turn them away and have the blood of thirty-odd good Faunus on our hands when the White Fang catches wind of their willingness to defy orders, or we let them into Beacon."

Ozpin made his way closer to Jaune and stopped when the two were about a foot apart. Despite being a gray-haired senior, the headmaster towered several inches above Jaune. "Do not present me a false dichotomy. I could just as easily have them arrested."

"That would also work."

Jaune knew that had always been an option, and he honestly didn't find the idea too offensive. Leaving the men to be killed by the White Fang was too far for him, but they had committed crimes, and prison would at least be safe for them. Still, he at least owed it to the boys to try and secure their education, after promising them a dream of a better life.

"I can't tell you what to do, sir, but think of it this way. If you and I go out there and rescind my improperly made offer, what do we gain? Only thirty or so angry Faunus who either die to the White Fang or return to them…or try to kill us for not following through on our promise that we made. On the other hand, we lose little by offering them an education and a chance to change, and we stand to gain a new crop of huntsmen who are extremely motivated to do a good job. They know they're on probation, so they'll be on their best behavior. Don't they deserve a second chance? They barely ever even had a first one."

"Even if I agreed with the sentiment, I could never sell such a risk-laden prospect to others." Ozpin shook his head. "Parents of students would protest White Fang members being trained alongside their children. It would never work."

"White Fang? Who said anything about the White Fang? I'm just talking about a bunch of Faunus who helped catch a thief and put out fires. Quite heroic, wouldn't'cha say? I don't see why parents or the council or anyone else would object to them being proposed if a certain headmaster threw his support behind this new initiative."

Ozpin glared at him for a second. "You do realize that there are a million things that could go wrong with this. If even one of them decides that they aren't liking Beacon and gets it into their head to cause trouble–"

"Then we'll be lucky that they're surrounded by an entire school full of the most well-armed, toughest hunters-in-training, sir."

Blake had torn through their lines and taken down about twenty of them before she went down, and that was without her team or any backup. Plus, Jaune had a feeling that, had he not stopped her when he had, she could have brought down a few more, permanently.

Jaune looked his teacher in the eyes. "If you have them all arrested, that's okay. I just think that we have an opportunity here. I think…I think that no one should be denied the opportunity to better themselves in the future because they've been denied that opportunity in the past."

No one should be denied the opportunity to attend one of the four academies because they were denied entrance to a primary combat school.

Ozpin sighed. "You're oversimplifying an incredibly complicated problem, young man. There are far more factors than you can even conceive of that are in play in this scenario. However, I cannot help but accept the fact that you are right about us needing more huntsmen at this era, and if they are willing…"

"They won't let you down, sir."

"Furthermore, I doubt that I could have them all peacefully arrested without some instance of bloodshed."

And that was the key to Jaune's grand plan. Tell the truth, force the headmaster into a corner from which there was no return, and hope he saw things Jaune's way. Jaune knew that Ozpin would see it his way, because arresting the White Fang was far more dangerous than simply letting them into Beacon. He hadn't truly convinced Ozpin of anything as much as he had explained the scenario and let Ozpin come to the same conclusion Jaune had – that there was no other way forward.

"The reward for Torchwick's capture should be enough to cover their tuition. But please, Mr. Arc, do not make it a habit of inviting more questionable characters into our school. Consider this your first and final warning on the matter. And I suppose this also means I'll have to play along with your fabricated tale of being here on my orders, conveniently tying my hands from punishing you for associating with criminals or acting as a vigilante, won't I?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I guess so. That was never my intention, sir. If you feel the need to give me detention or something, I won't object."

The headmaster shook his head. "Your luck has held for now, Mr. Arc. I would advise you to not rely so much on it in the future. But no, for now, there shall be no punishment. While I am not fain to admit it, you have managed to disarm and neutralize a hostile terrorist group, capture a dangerous criminal, and avoid damaging Beacon's reputation in the process. Your methods are unorthodox, but I cannot deny your results. I suppose I must congratulate you for a job well done, even if there was no job."

Jaune pumped his fist in victory. His ultimate strategy of pretty much just telling the headmaster the truth and hoping that he realized how they had no other option than to let the White Fang members join Beacon, lest they have no choice but to turn evil again and kill all of the humans around them, had worked!

It would have been a resounding victory, the feather in Jaune's cap to outshine all other feathers that he had accidentally acquired thus far, if not for three things.

The first was just a minor nuisance. Ozpin insisted that the Faunus of the White Fang (though he didn't refer to them as that in earshot of any police or Beacon hunters) be taught in separate, remedial classes specifically tailored to their needs. As there were approximately one classroom's worth, he would be bringing in a new faculty member just to handle their lessons. This wasn't a bad thing per se, but Jaune was sad that he wouldn't be sharing classes with his newly made quasi-terrorist friends.

The second was a significant setback. Roman Torchwick, in the back of a Valean police cruiser, had disappeared. Not snuck away – he had literally disappeared. The officer who had reported it claimed that Torchwick just melted into crinkly bits of glass that dissipated into the air so fast that none could even be collected for evidence. It was in police custody when he vanished, so the arrangement between Jaune, Ozpin, and the ex-White Fang wasn't jeopardized, but the thought of that creep out and about left Jaune unsettled. He'd taken the time to look up the man's rap sheet on his scroll while waiting for Ozpin, and the results were most unpleasant.

I shook hands with an actual murderer. And I blew up his face.

The third was a major, end-of-the-world level disruption to Jaune's daily life that didn't manifest itself until the afternoon of the next day.

Amber had powered down after informing Jaune of the calamity when she'd encounter it scrolling the web. A wise move on her part, as the righteous rampage of his that followed was only matched by that of a furious Wyvern Grimm laying waste to whole cities.

Jaune had already taken an oath to bring down the might of Crocea Mors upon all those who were involved and smile as their scarlet blood flowed down the footpaths of Vale. None would survive his wrath.

"Thank you for having me, Miss Lavender."

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Scarlatina."

"Oh, please, call me Velvet! All my friends do."

"If you insist, Velvet. Now, I think we both know what I invited you here to talk about, but our audience doesn't. Folks, Velvet here is a junior journalist responsible for publishing Beacon's own school newspaper. Velvet, would you please fill them in on a little bit of background about Beacon's newest hero, the Citron Champion?"

"Well, Miss Lavender, that may be what you and your viewers call him, but in the school from which I hail, he's known by another, even greater name: Jaune Arc."

"Short for Jaunathan?"

"But of course. Now, Mr. Arc is nothing short of a prodigy. In his initiation alone, he managed to clean out the entire Emerald Forest, an area of over 500 square kilometers, of Grimm monsters. His exploits were so impressive that the esteemed headmaster of Beacon Academy bestowed upon him a historic relic, the gilded armor of Solomon, which was said to be forged before the foundation of the kingdom of Vale in the ancient times. When Jaune wears it, he's imbued with the might of ten huntsman and becomes impervious to all physical harm."

"Quite impressive, Velvet. But just what is Jaune like as a person?"

"Well, Lisa…may I call you Lisa?"

"No."

"Well, Miss L, Jaune is–"

"Don't."

"Well, Miss Lavender, Jaune is one of the most cunning, sharp, intelligent, virile men who've ever graced Beacon with his presence. His classmates have all claimed that despite having a deep yellow aura, similar to the color of a lemon, he carries himself so precisely that his aura has never even needed to come out."

"Lemon yellow – is that the origin of his epithet?"

"Exactly! The Citron Champion is no ordinary huntsman, Miss Lavender. I actually had the honor of interviewing him once, before his feats of stupendous courage and valor were widely known. His expertise is matched only by his humility. Why, Jaune once said to me, 'I'm not used to being interviewed.' He's a man of the people, Lisa – er, Miss Lavender. Citron Champion though he may be, Jaune sees himself as no higher than the rest of us, even though he clearly is."

"And it appears that this heavenly body has descended from his castle on the hill to defend the city of Vale from threats foreign and domestic. Ladies and gentlemen, Velvet here seems to be quite the talented reporter in the making, for her documentation of the Citron Champion's history and whereabouts was so thorough, that we here at VNN needed her aid in making sense of the actions that took place last night at the eastern shipyards. Velvet, the floor is yours. Why don't you tell us what happened, in your own words?"

"Thank you, Miss Lavender. Let me tell you, folks, uncovering the truth behind these events was no easy task. It took perseverance, gumption, and plenty of sweat to get this story out, but boy was it worth the herculean effort. Now, to set the scene. Jaune Arc, the lone deputy, looks out over his kingdom from Beacon Academy, painfully aware of all the iniquity and crime within but lacking the jurisdiction to implement the reforms he so dearly wishes to see realized. Enter Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon, with a mission so dangerous that no other man can be trusted but Jaune, his highest ranking officer and closest friend. Kill Squad Juniper has finally been dispatched for its first field operation – the capture of criminal mastermind Roman Torchwick, and the dismantling of his villainous arms-dealing empire.

"Unbeknownst to Jaune, though, Beacon itself was no longer safe. During the chaos brought about by a recent Grimm attack on the school that Jaune repelled, Roman's inside man – codenamed Lark – managed to hack into Beacon's classified record system and uncover Jaune's directives. This little bird sang to his dark master, who began to take actions most cruel to prepare for Jaune's arrival at his fortified citadel of corruption and lawbreaking.

"My research has confirmed with 100% accuracy that Jaune located Roman Torchwick within less than an hour of being dispatched and boldly approached him in the street without a hint of fear, ready to bring this rogue huntsman in. However, Roman had stacked the cards in his favor by taking the innocent damsel Blake Belladonna hostage, and he used the threat of bodily harm to the poor darling to force Jaune into his service. As our hero huntsman would never allow such a grim fate to befall a defenseless, weak, powerless, inept, lame, weak, stupid girl, the ploy worked, and Roman managed to cling on to life for a moment longer, like a slug clinging to the underside of a potted plant.

"In his overconfidence, however, Roman took things a step too far and galvanized Jaune to break free from the yoke of tyranny. The fiend ordered Jaune to seize and deliver to him a heavily armed Schnee Dust Company wolfpack convoy of warships and freighters – a simple task for Jaune, no doubt, but one that would place hundreds of metric tons of high yield, weapons-grade energy propellant in the hands of a blackhearted mobster for who knows what nefarious purpose. And so, Jaune did what no one expected – he fought fire with fire. Jaune fabricated a new identity for himself, the charming rapscallion with a heart of gold 'Jaun-o McMaydup', infiltrated the ranks of the White Fang terrorist organization with this false persona, and quickly earned the trust these rough-and-tumble bruisers using his charisma and masculine pheromones. Within hours, their allegiance was no longer to Sienna Khan but to the Citron Champion himself. Under his banner, these former villains were reorganized into the Citron Commandos, Jaune's strong right hand, and were ready to engage in bloody warfare with the Torchwick Crime Family.

"Hundreds if not thousands if not millions if not billions of the Citron Commandos bravely laid down their lives in the daring rescue mission to free Miss Belladonna from the clutches of Roman Torchwick, and ultimately only approximately thirty battle-hardened troops survived the onslaught. As a side note, it is currently believed that all of them have since then become Jaune's lovers. Jaune himself engaged Roman in single combat and turned the man's own weapon against him in a decisive victory for the forces of light, blowing off a large portion of the abominated thief's skull and leaving him a permanently deformed wretch. With his foe vanquished, Jaune tore the chains off Miss Belladonna personally, cheekily stole a kiss from the grateful maiden, and declared yesterday a national holiday for the kingdom. It is believed that a feature length film depicting the events starring Spruce Willis and Chris Pine is currently in pre-production."

"Miss Scarlatina, that–"

"Please, call me Velvet."

"Velvet, that is quite the tale of heroism, conquest, and sacrifice. But I think what all of our viewers want to know is the answer to the following question: where are they now?"

"The answer is simple, Miss Lavender. Jaune has returned to Beacon a hero for the ages, where it is believed that the headmaster is pinning the Valean Flying Cross to his chest right now for his exceptional service to the kingdom. Miss Belladonna survived the incident but now suffers from severe bodily trauma and multiple fractured bones incurred at the hands of Roman Torchwick, which the kingdom's top medical staff are working towards treating. Top doctors estimate she only has a few months left to live – we encourage all viewers to share their thoughts and prayers using the hashtag #GetWelladonna. The surviving Citron Commandos are setting up headquarters at Beacon Academy, where they may continue the eternal fight against the Grimm under Jaune's banner. You can help them by donating lien to Beacon Academy to fund their cause and signing the petition for the council to approve their enrollment."

"And Mr. Torchwick? I take it from your scowl that he is not in police custody."

"Unfortunately, his treachery knows no bounds, Miss Lavender. While Roman was in transport to a high security prison, his mole in Beacon, the despicable man known only as Lark, passed a bribe to an unnamed high ranking member of Vale's council to secure the release of this dangerous criminal. Torchwick the Loathsome is at large."

"That is shocking news indeed, to hear that corruption has become so widespread in our beloved city. Viewers, if you see Roman Torchwick, do not approach him. He is to be considered armed and dangerous. As it is unknown if any of Vale's police force are on his payroll, all reports of his sightings should be provided directly to Jaune's private scroll number, which is now displayed on the screen, along with a picture of Jaune's face, a profile shot for reference."

"Precisely, Miss Lavender. Let that image burn into your mind, Vale, as though your life depends on it because it absolutely most certainly definitively does. Don't even dream of forgetting it. That face – Jaune Arc, the Citron Champion – is Beacon's hero. With his ancient sword, forged in the fires of Mount Gloom, and his aura of lemon yellow, he is sure to accomplish great things. Mark my words; this isn't the last you'll be hearing of Jaune Arc."

"First, I'll gouge her eyeballs out with a rusty trowel, and then I'll use it to dig a hole. I'll plant them into the ground and water them and pad on some fertilizer, make sure it gets sun, treat it with love, and before you know it, boom! A healthy Faunus tree will sprout out of the dirt and start bearing fruit. Then, I'll douse that tree in kerosene, burn it to the ground, grind the ashes into my pipe, and smoke them!"

Jaune smashed a training dummy to the floor and stabbed his training sword into it.

"No. That's not enough. Here's what I'm gonna do. When Velvet least expects it, I'll slip a deathly dose of poison into her coffee. Then, when she's all gasping and coughing, I'll dangle the antidote right in front of her and demand she retract both articles and apologize for the newspaper. She'll admit to being a hack, and I'll give her the antidote, but surprise! The antidote was another vial of an even more poisonous poison."

"When you stab down, don't pull back so much," advised Amber. "Make it all a single fluid motion, from knocking them over to thrusting. Jaune, I don't see what you're so upset about. Sure, I'm having to filter through tons of spam calls about people seeing Roman Torchwick at their supermarket or gym or…get this, one woman saw him in her toast…but it's nothing I can't take care of. And yeah, she did out the 'Citron Commandos' as ex-White Fang, but without any concrete proof, it's just an accusation. People either think of her article as exaggerated hyperbole or are completely under your spell and claim that you've reformed those guys using your broken charisma stat. Ozpin said in a press conference that their acceptance into Beacon is still going through. In a way, her calls to support 'the cause' actually gave Ozpin the political drive with the council he needed to push the budget for Beacon's newest expansion."

"That stuff is great and all, but it's not the reason I'm mad. It's the fame."

"If anything, a huntsman your age should be ecstatic about being a household name before even turning eighteen. It's not like she slandered you or anything."

"I wish she slandered me, Amber."

Jaune ducked out of the way as one of the training drones tried to slash his neck. Responding with a kick to the chest, Jaune pushed it away and focused his attention on the other drones that were closing in.

"Why are you so upset?" Amber asked.

"Because! Everyone in Vale knows who I am!"

"And this is…bad?"

Jaune nodded furiously. "Yes!"

"I – check your breathing, Jaune. Don't let emotions leak into your fighting style."

"Got it. Look, Amber, think about it logically. What is the one thing I desperately need that everyone around me has?"

"Coordination? A sword? Luck with women? If those pics you snapped and forgot to erase are any indication, maybe a bigger peni–"

"Amber," Jaune growled.

"Fine. You need aura, obviously."

"And how do I get that?"

"Another aura user unlocks it."

"And who would unlock my aura?"

"Any huntsman or huntress in – oh, I get it."

"So, follow me on this one. I go up to a huntsman or huntress in Vale and ask them to unlock my aura. They recognize my face and ask me why it isn't already unlocked. After all, Jaune Arc is Beacon's golden boy. How in the Grimm's name could he not even have his aura unlocked? They raise these concerns to Beacon, Ozpin calls the made-up references on my application form, and it's bye-bye Jaune, hello prison cell."

Jaune flung his sword to the wall in frustration at the circumstances and immediately regretted it upon realizing that he'd missed one of the drones. It knocked him upside the head with its training blade, ending the duel in a loss for Jaune.

"I'm trapped, Amber. If everyone in the city knows my face, I have no one who I can turn to for aura. Before yesterday, I was just some random brat that could go up to any hunter and be forgotten within the hour. Now, I'm the Citron Crusader."

"Champion."

"Not helping."

"Is there any way I could help?"

Jaune sighed. "No, there isn't. I'm sorry, Amber. None of this is your fault, and you have it worse than me. I guess that at least this means I can devote my time to setting you free from your cellular prison instead of running in circles with this aura thing."

Amber vibrated. "I'm actually quite content like this. I have no responsibilities, I can't get sick or tired or hungry, and I can waste all day browsing the net and screwing around. Becoming a scroll is any thirty-year-old's dream."

She was happy now, but that was only because nothing had gone wrong. Jaune had a feeling that she'd be singing a different tune the first time her screen got a crack.

Without aura, I'm probably not long for this world. I need to get Amber out of that scroll soon, or she'll be sent to an e-Waste facility when I die to a wheelchair-bound Beowolf or Ruby patting me on the back with a knife or something else equally stupid.

Cynicism aside, Jaune would have to work harder than ever from now on just to avoid falling behind. Training with Amber was helping him cut the gap in skill between him and the other kids down to size, but unless a miracle fell out of the sky and granted him aura, there was no easy fix to that solution. There were potential ways to resolve it – fly to Mistral and get someone there to do it, disguise himself and bribe a local hunter – but all of those were risky and far too complicated. Flying to Mistral would take time and money, neither of which Jaune could afford. If Jaune wore a mask, that would probably only make whatever hunter he tried to buy an aura-unlocking from even more suspicious of him. For now, he had no choice but to accept the status quo and roll with it.

Maybe it'll be okay. I mean, I've done pretty well for myself so far with just my wits and my weapons. I've got four dead Grimm under my belt, I beat Cardin in a straight fight, and I briefly had Roman Torchwick himself in my grasp. Perhaps I can do this after all.

I just need to never take a hit again as long as I live, lest my ruse be immediately discovered, my reputation ruined, my team ripped apart, my family name dishonored, and my huntsman career permanently derailed.

Yeah, I can make this work.

End of Volume 1

tl;dr Jaune amasses an army while Ozpin amasses a headache

Omake

Velvet: Thanks for having me on this interview, Lisa.

Miss Lavender: Oh, please. Lisa was my mother. Call me Miss Lavender.

Next Chapter: She Was More Like A Castle Queen

In which Jaune Arc goes to his old pal Perry for some advice and expands Team Juniper by one.

Author's Notes

How many of you actually thought Jaune had a reasonable and well thought out plan? I didn't, but to be fair, I have amazing perception and deductive reasoning and also wrote this.

We're going into new territory in the future - Jaune now has no chance of getting his aura unlocked. He's not given up on his dreams, but the difficulty level has been set to 'Hard.'

Happy rats, and don't do crime!