Jaune woke up bright and early on a Saturday. It was well before he or really any student in the school got up on a weekend but needed to get things done. He sat up on his bed and saw the rest of his teammates were still fast asleep.
Quietly stepping on the rugged floor he quickly went to the bathroom and freshened up. He came out and picked up his gym bag and headed for the door. He looked back over them right before he left. He would make sure their peaceful faces would never morph into those horrified visages from the fall.
He went down into the cafeteria and grabbed a heavy breakfast. He found an empty table and began to eat. The breakfast tasted so good that his taste buds created a shock of lighting through the thick fog in his head that had settled in since yesterday. The fog was briefly parted by this savory beacon.
He looked around while he ate and saw other early risers also enjoying their breakfasts. Suddenly he spotted a mane of bright yellow hair move in the food line. The head turned around revealing itself to be Yang, team RWBY's resident brawler.
She spotted him and she walked over with a smile on her face. The proud blonde sat down in front of him with someone trailing behind her. That, someone, turned out to be Blake who sat down next to Yang.
Both of them wore gym clothes, although they were precisely color-coded to match and had their respective logos. He really had to find that clothing manufacturer that made clothes with one's huntsman logo on them. He felt he was missing out.
Yang spoke to him in her usual cheerful voice, "Yo Jaune didn't know you were an early riser."
"Nah I just missed some training yesterday and I wanted to make up for that today morning," Jaune responded while spooning his food.
"Oh sweet me and Blake were also going to go to the gym to get some reps in. Wanna join?"
He looked over at Blake who quickly didn't even look up at him. She was squarely focused on her food and moved her fork around in it like she was painting. Her actions were so strange that Yang eyed her for a second before looking back at him waiting for his answer.
He internally grimaced and hoped that Blake and his awkwardness would clear up. But he wasn't going to let that get in the way of getting some training done with friends.
"Sure, let's head there right now."
The trio finished up their breakfast and headed into Beacon's many gyms. They got to work on their respective workouts.
Some time into their training, while Yang was helping improve his hand-to-hand combat and Blake was off in her own corner going against a dummy, Yang leaned in and whispered to him.
"So what's the deal with you and Blakey?"
He paused for a moment before speaking, "What deal? I don't think there's anything going on between us."
"Oh come on Jaune I put on that whole ditzy persona and all but do you think I'm stupid? You and Blake definitely have something going on. I saw you and her talking yesterday before she slammed the door shut on you and came into the dorm," she said with a flat expression.
Shit, how he hadn't anticipated someone seeing that weird interaction between him and Blake. But he didn't have to tell her everything, hell he could just tell her half of the truth, some part that founded him and Blake's weird awkwardness.
"Well, I said something really stupid to Blake. It just slipped out of my mouth and that's why we've been so weird around each other."
Yang paused before slowly nodding her head, "Alright I get you, it's just that you guys should patch it up and all. She's my partner and I want what's best for her, you know?"
"Yea I'll try. And I understand what you mean me and Pyr also have something similar"
She didn't respond but instead threw a quick jab which he managed to block. She flashed him a quick smirk before calling time out. She shouted she was going to go to the bathroom and headed towards it, but before she left she gestured between him and Blake.
It didn't take a genius to guess what she meant so he looked at the cat Faunus in hiding a ring across from him. Blake didn't even respond to Yang's comment, she was entirely focused on kicking the ass of the dummy. He took a deep breath and gathered in all of his courage in a tight little bundle. Better to rip out this band-aid than let it fester into something that could expose what he's learned.
She didn't respond to his footfalls on the ring. Nor did she acknowledge him when he climbed into the ring. He walked behind the dummy and suddenly came out and intercepted a high kick from her.
He held her leg before she looked up at him with a piercing glare. She reeled back in and stepped backward; her expression morphed into a forced neutrality. She was drenched in sweat but her swaying stance made her look like a deadly tiger ready to strike.
"Do you want a living sparring partner?" He asked with an awkward grin and soft aloofness.
She stood there glaring at him before her eyes softened and she nodded..
He got into a ready stance and she lunged at him. The fight began with the thunderous impact of her legs on his blocking arm. He grunted at the force behind the kick but thankfully had his aura up..
She moved her legs back and struck him again, this time he managed to dodge and landed a punch of his own which knocked only a modicum of air out of her. The tango went on for some time, with her not holding back against him.
He tried to land a solid punch on her but because of her size and agility, she danced out of every jab like a greasy feline.
Although as the battle went on any hits that did land landed hits would burn through her aura more and more. Alas because of her general years of experience above his roughing it with the white fang, her small and precise hits also whittled his aura down to almost zero.
A leg went for his chest which he put his arms up to shield but he didn't feel any impact on them. Suddenly his world went topside as he felt his legs give way to his own.
He crashed onto the ground landing on his back. He breathed in as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the room and he was slick with sweat. He took out his shaking hand and on his watch saw that soon his teammates would be waking up.
His body had that good ache that reminded him he pushed himself today. But he felt that Blake had definitely left a mark. His brain felt even clearer than in breakfast thanks to the exercise high.
But he did feel thirsty. He was about to get up and grab some water when a bottle of it popped up in front of his face. He took it and greedily drank from it; the ice-cold water seeped deep into his core. He let out a deep sigh of relief and looked up to see his liquid savior.
He looked up to see Blake's black hair swish in its ponytail as she toweled herself down. He got up and went over to his own towel and did the same.
Yang came out of the bathroom and went over to the pair and began to pack her gym bag. She looked over at Jaune who finished toweling himself down.
She looked him up and down before speaking, "You know Jaune you've really improved. You're putting on some real muscle now."
He looked down at himself and saw the same old lanky teen he was at the beginning at Beacon. If wanted to even stand up to the evils of the future he would need to get even stronger. But he would take improvement any time he could get it.
He gave her a small thanks in appreciation. The trio finished their training clean-up and headed back towards the dorms
At their respective dorm doors, Yang gave him a goodbye while Blake made a small nod of eye contact and gave him a small nod. It wasn't much but he would take everything he could get.
The girls went inside of their own dorm while he went into his. His teammates were still sleeping which gave him ample time to get in a quick shower and change. When he exited the shower he put into motion a plan he had thought of right before he fell asleep yesterday.
He took out his pumpkin Pete onesie and put it over his regular clothes. He went under the covers of his bunk and took out his scroll. Putting an alarm on it with music that wasn't too annoying, he slipped it out of the covers and onto his drawer.
The timer would go off in about a minute, awakening everyone hopefully. He waited with bated breath as he counted down the seconds. He felt he was some sort of spy waiting for a bomb to go off but this wouldn't kill anyone, hopefully.
Suddenly the alarm boomed to life. The poppy song from the alarm penetrated the quiet dorm like a blaring train in the middle of a forest. His teammates' zombie-like groans signaled that they were all awake.
Nora was the worst offender who groaned like a bear while he heard her shuffle on her covers. He heard Pyrrha and Ren also shuffle awake. The soft footsteps of Pyrrha approached his drawer and the alarm shutdown
"What time is it?" he heard Ren groggily ask.
"Way too early to get up," Nora said, letting out a monstrous yawn.
"Looks like Jaune accidentally set an alarm for today," Pyrrha said.
"He looked so frazzled yesterday he probably thought today was a school day," Nora said.
"Is he even awake?" Ren asked.
"I'll check." he heard Pyrrha say.
He felt the thuds of Pyrrha's footsteps on the wooden floor. Right as he felt that she was practically over him he put on his best acting impression and let out a sickly groan.
He turned under the covers, twisting them so they couldn't pull them and see his face.
He let out several more tired-sounding noises before weakly whispering, "Guys I feel sick to the bone. Why don't you guys head on out so you don't catch whatever I have."
"Wow, Jaune yesterday must have been really rough for you huh? Do you need anything?"
"No, No, you guys, go ahead and enjoy your day. I just wanna stay here and bake for myself."
"Are you sure?"
"Yea, also I heard that there was a new arcade that opened up in Value that has a new version of that dance game Ren's good at or whatever."
He heard Nora squeak and her imploring the rest of their team to head out into Vale and enjoy the city. They argued about leaving him behind before one of them finally relented. The noises of their footsteps shuffled in the room for some time before they quieted down with the sound of the shutting door.
He heard something being placed on top of his drawer before the footsteps left.
He waited five more minutes to make sure none of them came back in. He slowly, almost afraid to see the outside, opened up his covers.
The room was empty except for him. He sprang up and let out a sigh of relief. His heart which he hadn't realized was hammering calmed down. It was a bit deceptive to lie to his friends like that but he still needed to come up with a plan before he started to deal out his secret
He got off of the bed and swept the room like a camera, making sure that no one left anything behind. Content with finding nothing, he went over to the dorm's only window and shuttered the bindings. The sunlight evaporated from the room casting it in eerie darkness.
He didn't turn on the room's light fixture but instead turned on his scroll light. He grabbed the fabric pillowcase of his pillow and twisted it into a thick long sheet. He took this rope and tied it around the doorknob. He twisted the other end around his bedpost.
Done with his work he sat down at his desk with the notepad from last night, several pens, and most importantly his scroll. He looked around the dorm at his handiwork and was a bit irked at how suspicious he might have looked if they caught him doing this.
But he had to keep some secrecy and while his methods were crude they were the only things he knew so far. Closing the windows made sure no one on the outside saw him doing anything and the opposite for keeping no light in the room.
The pillow casing turned rope would serve as a crude yet effective alarm if anyone tried to get in. He would quickly put away his plans and open the door, saying that a faulty mechanism caused it to jam.
A bit safe at having some safeguards, he picked up his pen and began to write.
First things first, he needed some long-term goals. This was pretty easy to do so he wrote down:
- Stop the breach
- Stop the fall
- Make sure he and his friends don't die
These goals were lofty but they were supposed to be vague. He would fill in the specifics as he went along.
He knew he could not do any of this on his own. He desperately wanted to solve all these problems solo and protect his friends from the burden of the future but he knew that was an illogical response. While it was a natural response, what were friends for if they didn't help one another.
But who should he trust? Would someone even believe in the videos? How would they even help him stop the future?
He knew that if he really went into detail and showed the videos to his friends, especially his team, they would trust him immediately. But would they be able to keep such a grave secret? Well of course they would, they were his best friends. A small part of his brain disagreed.
The questions buzzed around his head like flies and that betraying voice in the back of his head only seemed to get louder and louder. Putting pen to paper, he started to list down any possible allies to trust with his knowledge:
-Team JNPR
-Team RWBY
-Ironwood
-Ozpin
-Crow
It was very small but he felt these were the only people who seemed trustworthy based on his real-life experince and from what he could discern from the show.
Ozpin (and almost all the teachers and professional huntsmen in Vale) seemed to be a good call. The man had connections all over the world and had an almost unthinkable amount of power.
But the man pressured Pyrrha into the fall maiden ultimatum which ultimately resulted in her death. That definitely set Jaune off but he felt that the old man was someone who listened to you no matter what. Qrow was also an extension of Ozpin so the same things applied and his bird form could turn out to be very handy.
He didn't know Iron Wood really well but from his willingness to use pure strength, while could be effective in some situations, really didn't seem compatible against the covert strategy of Cinder. Thus he crossed the atlas general out.
The only two left were team JNPR and team RWBY. He needed people he could trust with his life and people who would undoubtedly be loyal to him.
He crossed out Ruby, Yang, and Weiss. While he was friends with them, especially with Ruby, he wasn't as close to them as his own team. Next, he crossed out Ren and Nora. He trusted them a lot. He felt that they came in a pair, if one didn't believe him the other wouldn't as well. They were just too close to one another and he couldn't risk them giving him up if the other was in danger.
That left Pyrrha and Blake.
He trusted Pyrrha the most as she had been keeping the secret about his transcripts for some time now. She was also his helpful partner that had been with him since the Emerald forest.
Now, while Blake and he were not necessarily close he had learned so much about her history from the show that he felt he could trust her. Her time in white fang and her overall sneakiness would also definitely come in handy.
He pulled all of his notes together and went over them. He would tell Blake and Pyrrha the whole truth and show them the videos at some time, while he would poke and prod Ozpin to see if he was trustable.
He smiled at the small ally list he had complied. While it was not much he had a feeling they would work out.
But now he needed some short-term goals to reach for. He could not beat that Cinder woman on her own but with the help of his allies, he probably had a fighting chance. Although he wouldn't let his allies do all the work.
He would have to get even better at being a hunter himself as well. He needed to make himself more versatile and that would require upgrading his weapons and armor. And he knew the perfect reaper engineer who could help
Furthermore, he needed to look into Cinder Falls and her whereabouts in Heaven academy. If he could identify her and her lackeys maybe he could stop her before she even came to Beacon.
He needed to research the CCT and find out how to stop the virus from getting into its system. Although it would probably be a stretch to learn cyber security he would just have to do some digging. The virus was after all the main enabler of the fall.
He had to learn about the geography of Vale to make sure that the Grimm dragon never had the chance to rise. It had leaked all those Grimm and caused an insurmountable amount of damage. It was likely the same one from legend.
Actually, he remembered that legend was about how his ancestor, Joana Arc, had slain the Grimm dragon with Crocea Mors in the Vale mountains. Looks like she didn't actually put it down, but he would gladly finish her fight.
Finally, he would have to keep track of the white fang and their dust routes so the breach never occurs. He knew a certain black cat who could help him with that though.
He put down his pen and looked at the large sheaves of pages in front of him. He had written through a considerable chunk of the notepad and gone through an entire pen. He glanced up at the clock and was surprised to see that he had written until evening.
His writing felt tired and sore. Like an army of ants with needles for legs had marched over it. He stood up and did some stretches to get the stiffness out of his body.
He quickly compiled all of his notes and scanned them with his scroll. He quickly put a password on the scans and put them in a very convoluted location. He also downloaded the videos and put them in another even more bizarre place.
He would have to get another scroll to store everything. It would be completely offline so it wouldn't be hit by any viruses or such.
He put all of his notes together and crumpled them up. He threw them in the room's trash can. He then took out one of Nora's bomb maker kits and took out a vial of red fire dust.
Handling it like the live bomb it was, He gently sprinkled a tiny amount on the paper and applied some aura. The dust came to life and created a small fire. The papers were engulfed in flame and were soon nothing but ashes.
Taking extra precaution he looked at the item that was put on top of his drawer. It was a can of soup which was already warm. He quickly chugged it down like it was some sort of energy drink and threw it on top of the ashes.
He redid all of his safeguards and sat in a bright and sunny room with its door unrestricted.
The fall of footsteps and the murmuring of voices echoed outside of his door. He dusted off his clothes and made sure nothing stood out.
Grabbing one of his comics, he laid back in his bed just as the front door opened and his team walked in.
"Hey guys!" he said cheerfully.
"Oh you're looking better Jaune," Pyrrha said walking up to him.
"Some reps and a nice hot shower made it go away. The soup helped as well, thanks. Anyways, how was your guy's trip?"
"It was so good! We went to the arcade and Renny pulled some moves on the dance machine…" Nora spoke.
She began to retell their entire trip into downtown Vale. Her story calmed him down and soon that paranoid feeling he had netted his brain started to cease. These were just his friends and he had hidden all of his tracks.
There really wasn't anything to worry about. Yet.
After she finished her retelling everyone else settled down for a free day. Pyrrha did some extra hw, Ren did some reading, and Nora played a loud game on her scroll.
Jaune meanwhile scribbled down a new training regiment that would enable them to work better against Cinder and her posse. It was flimsy but he would come up with a better strategy after re-watching the videos and taking notes. But for now, he would create a foundation.
He got up and addressed the group, "Ok, guys because I missed our training session yesterday would you guys be willing to train today with a new regiment I came up with?"
They all stopped whatever they were doing and looked at one another. Pyrrha immediately stood up and said, "Yes, I'm open to some extra training"
Nora stood up after her and started to get her things ready, "I may as well, don't have anything else to do today."
Ren simply nodded at him before he packed as well.
They all left their dorms and headed into the nearest training room. They found an empty one and booked it for some time. It was a simple circular room with sleek wooden floors and bleachers hugging the walls.
They all got dressed into their combat gear and met in the center of the room.
Jaune spoke holding the stage's controls, "Alright so I wanted to spice up our usual training today as a treat for missing it yesterday. Today let's have a free for all where we have to give our everything. Use every single dirty trick, move, or semblance."
He paused to let that sink in. Ren looked at him curiously while Nora started to fidget with her rocket launcher excitedly like there were fireworks in her fingertips.
"That includes you, Pyrrha. Go all out with your polarity no matter what," he said, turning his attention to her.
She looked away from his gaze but quickly spoke up, "But what if I go-"
She was stopped by Jaune placing a finger on her lips, closing them. He stepped away from the rosy-cheeked girl and, in his most serious expression, said, "Look Pyr we won't get better if we just stick to the same baseline every single time. We have to push ourselves and if that means getting a little hurt it doesn't matter. We're hunters anyway, we can keep on moving no matter how hurt we get."
The eyes of his teammates all widened in front of him. He let his stoic expression fade away and looked at his teammates with a slight slouch.
"Did that sound stupid?" He asked meekly.
"That was so cool!" Nora whooped before pulling him into a tight hug which turned into a headlock somehow.
"Alright Nora, why don't you stop suffocating Jaune, and why don't we get to training.," Ren said, pulling Nora away.
Jaune put on a countdown and he went to his respective corner. On the buzzer's last ring he rushed for his nearest template and team JNPR's hardest training session occurred.
After what felt like days but what was at most two hours, team JNPR emerged from the training room haggard and much worse than they went in.
They all sported bruises of some sort and Jaune was limping on one leg. They moved like a group of zombies shambling through the halls. Any passing-by student grimaced at their state before quickly making through for them.
He leaned on Pyrrha for support who had a nasty purple bruise on her arm. Even though aura protected your body against most things it still didn't completely erase you from harm; One could still get bruises and minor cuts.
During the fight, they truly had all gone out, by the way, they fought with one another you couldn't have been able to tell that they are friends. Ren used this agility and maneuverability to weasel out of hits and dish out attacks before you could react. He even used his semblance, which Jaune had just learned about, during the fight to dull their battle sense.
Nora had completely gone explosion crazy and had used up most of her canisters destroying their auras at the beginning of the match. Even with the light dust walls around the arena, he was sure that the canopy of explosions created an unpleasant concert for anyone in their dorms.
He himself has gone out by using his entire body as a weapon. Taking Yang's morning lesson to heart, he grappled, pulled, and pushed anyone. He still used his sword and shield but when their versatility went short he would use them as distractions before placing a well-hit aura punch.
Although he did take the most damage out of everyone in the group.
Pyrrha was the least hurt out of anyone in, only sporting that nasty bruise on her arm. She had really taken the words of going all out to heart and had absolutely demolished everyone else with her semblance.
She didn't instantly turn their weapons into putty but did use her semblance very precisely, making it so she pretty much did not get hit. Even when the rest of her teammates all tried to fight her at once they were no match for the mistralian champion, although Jaune was happy he landed a small nick on her.
They all reached their dorm and the moment they all set foot in, they fell onto the floor like their skeletons had disappeared. He breathed in the smell of the carpet enjoying its refreshing smell. Its smoothness felt like heaven compared to the pains from all of those weapons battering into him. Even all the weight of his teammates on top of him felt comforting.
Suddenly someone moved and they all toppled apart from one another like a loose block tower. He groaned as every muscle in his body felt like it had been rammed into a solid brick wall for an hour. He felt someone shuffle near him and saw Pyrrha starting to curl up into a sleeping ball using him as a pillow.
He enjoyed her arms around him for a minute before he gently pulled out of her embrace. He picked Nora and Ren up who were stiff as boards. He moved them over to their beds and laid them down.
He went back and gently picked Pyrrha up and laid her on her bed. She wrapped around him again and tried to pull him on top of her. He pulled away from her and she awoke with a start. They both made eye contact and blushed slightly at the supposed contact. He strode away from her and sat on his own bed.
He looked at his teammates and spoke, "That was one hell of a session but I'm certain we improved. I recorded the fight with the arena so we should all review that later. For now, I think we all deserve a rest."
The only responses he got from his teammates were groans from both Nora and Ren but he did get a small thumbs up from Pyrrha. He handed out some ice packs and they all started to mediate their aura back to heal them.
He felt his aura wash over him like a calming wave, thankfully because of his amount, he had gotten healed faster and so was the first one in the shower.
He changed into some casual clothes and came back to see his teammates de-stressing. He told them he was going to the library and promptly left.
Outside of their dorm room stood Blake looking at her scroll with her bow on top of her other ears. He saw a small twitch in them but he didn't stare at them for long. He already learned his lesson about that.
He instead looked over Blake. She wore a black choker with a silver moon on it. She also wore a simple black shirt with an image of a cat hanging off from a branch on it and tight blue jeans. She noticed him and put away her scroll.
"Hey Blake, what's up?" he asked.
"Just chilling. I saw that you and your team came back pretty messed up from your training session. You guys looked like dead meat," she said leaning against her dorm sidewall.
"Well I missed a session yesterday and wanted to spice things up today so we went all out. I think I'm going to make this a part of our routine though, we learned a lot from it."
She gave a hum but didn't speak. A few awkward seconds ticked by and he wondered if he should speak. But she saved him from the decision by speaking again, "Hey I was just going to head out of the library and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?"
This was strange. Blake Belladonna never truly initiated something and never asked for anything from anyone especially from him. He made sure his confusion did not show on his face before he said, "Oh I actually had to meet with a teacher over something but I was planning on going to the library after that. So I guess I'll be seeing you there."
"Alright, see you later then."
She stepped away from the wall and walked in the opposite direction from him. He watched her hips sway until she rounded to the corner and disappeared. He walked the other way.
He hoped she hadn't seen through his lie. When did he start to lie so much anyway, since yesterday? It struck him how much he had lied over such a short amount of time. When did lying come second nature to him?
This burden of the future was really changing him in ways he couldn't say he liked.
What he did say to her was technically the truth. He was going to see a teacher, just one who had not taught in over 20 years. Oh and he was going to talk to them about something, just not anything school-related.
He put his hands in his pockets and put his hood up. But then promptly put his hood down as that would just make him look more suspicious.
Jaune walked across Beacon to the main administration building that housed the CCT and Ozpin's office. He passed through the courtyard and felt the cool evening wind blow against his face.
He walked into the administration building and quickly went inside of the elevator that would only go towards Ozpin's office. It was a sleek but spacious box thing with only one green unmarked button. He pressed it and he was quickly shot up.
Now normally the old headmaster usually didn't have office hours in the evening, his office light was on which he guessed meant that Ozpin was still there.
He arrived with a ding and walked into the clockwork office. It amazed Jaune every time he stepped foot in her, with its intricate turning brass gears and seemingly endless ticking.
Before the ticking had bothered him, it had set off some deep tingling sensation in him like a scratch he couldn't itch. But now it felt soothing and rhythmic to him.
The main desk had several sheaves of paper and behind those sat Headmaster Ozpin. His small but unique spectacles made him look like a wizard going through spell paper. He had a mug of something steaming which he readily sipped.
He didn't look up from his stack of papers but said, "Glynda I swear to you that if you bring another stack of papers I will lower your salary."
Jaune coughed before he spoke up, "Um sir. I'm not ."
The headmaster's hand shook slightly in surprise before he put his mug down. He looked up to see him and a small smile spread across his lips.
"Ah, a good evening to you! Please don't tell any of the comments I have just said. Without her work, this establishment would fall apart."
Ozpin gave out a quick laugh, which made him feel at ease.
"Now I would much like a distraction from all of this paperwork. Come have a seat and some hot cocoa and we may discuss why you have come to my office."
He waved to the empty chair in front of him and Jaune sat down in it. He accepted a hot cup and began to drink from it. His entire body started to relax as the warm liquid traveled through him. The cushion of the seat started to warmly wrap around him.
But he quickly straightened himself up, he came here for a reason after all and he couldn't get distracted.
"So what do you need?" asked the headmaster after several moments of letting Jaune drink cocoa.
He put his mug down and said, ". I wanted to know how someone would deal with having a secret so big and so unbelievable that they were scared to tell someone else about it. How would you even tell them a secret that could unravel their entire life? How could you tell them a secret that you barely believe in yourself? How do you make sure that secret doesn't hurt the people you care for? "
He stopped his barrage of questions and took a deep breath. He had not intended to ask so many questions so quickly but it all had just slipped out at the moment. The headmaster's demeanor just made you say what was on your mind.
The old man had his eyes closed and hands cupped under his chin in deep thought. A small creep in the back of Jaune's head whispered that he had prodded too far. He had asked too many questions.
He ignored this in favor of just trying to come off as genuine as possible as to avert suspicion.
Finally, Ozpin took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. He looked at him with a glint he had never seen the headmaster with.
He got up from his chair and went over to the windows of the office which had a perfect view of Vale's skyline.
He spoke without turning around, " while it might not show because of the hunter lifestyle, I have lived for many a long year. I have seen much and have buried deep secrets inside of me that no being on this planet will ever know about. But I have shared some things here and there, let some people through my walls, and see parts of the truth. Although never the whole truth. I suggest one should only show glimmers of a secret to others, but they should always keep the entire secret inside of their hearts as their last line of defense. If the secret holder believes they would harm another, they should not reveal that secret."
He stopped his monologue and Jaune saw him close his eyes. His face became pinched and old lines formed on his face which truly showed his years.
Jaune's face matched the same position as Ozpin's face in the mirror but that was broken when the old man turned around to face him.
"I hoped that helped you, ."
"Yes it did, sir, thank you." He got out of his chair and walked to the elevator. Right before he got in he heard the old man speak up.
"Good Luck to whatever endeavor you are on ."
He looked back and gave the other man a nod before walking into the elevator and heading down. He felt he had learned something from that encounter, especially the fact that Ozpin himself was hiding something big. But of course, he was, everyone had secrets.
The elevator dinged down at the found floor and he got off. He heard the sound of something moving to his side but when he turned and looked, he only saw the doors to empty classrooms.
He ignored whatever that was and walked towards the library. Suddenly, while on the way there, he bumped into a small figure. He tripped but managed to catch both himself and the other person at the same time.
She gave a small eep and he looked down to see his fellow team leader, Ruby sporting welding goggles on top of her head. He looked towards where she came out of and felt the heat from Beacon's forge room breath into his face like a dragon. A spark went alight in his head, this would be the perfect time to enact a part of his plan.
"Sorry for bumping into you Rubes," he said, brushing soot from the girl's shoulders.
"Eh don't worry about it Jaune I was just about to head back to my dorm for some blueprints I left there. Gotta go bye!" She said, beginning to turn around.
Right before she began a dead sprint he caught her shoulder and stopped her in her tracks. Her legs spun around like a broken windmill atop the ground. He set her down and she faced him, her hands were on her hips and she had a cute pout on her face.
"Rubes, I have a favor to ask of you. I wanted to upgrade my armor and heavily upgrade my weapons. I'm sort of aloof at engineering stuff and you're like the greatest weapon expert I know in this school so I was wondering if you wanted to help me improve them?"
He looked down at the short girl. Her big silver eyes were as large as a golf ball and she vibrated in place. He inched closer to the girl worried about what he may have done to her.
"You alright Ru-"
He didn't get to finish as the short-haired reaper leaped onto his arms in a wide hug. "Oh Jaune I do, I do."
"By the Brothers, Ruby, you make it sound like we're getting married."
He felt her cheeks blush and she quickly got off of him. She looked up at him with stars in her eye and said, "Hey look I gotta start sketching some rough ideas. I'll meet you tomorrow afternoon so we can talk shop!"
She flashed him a big toothy smile before running off in a rose blur.
That was something, he thought.
He waited for a moment to make sure no one else ran into him but when no one did he headed off to the library.
The library doors quietly opened and he went to his usual spot. He spotted Blake sitting in a holo computer reading a book. He was suddenly struck about when he should tell her about the videos.
He looked at the back of her head and decided right then and there to reveal the videos to her after her teammates find out about her heritage and white fang past. Hopefully, she would heed the advice he gave her yesterday would stop her from running away and into the dock fight. If all went to plan he would show her the videos and because of his advice working she might be inclined to believe him.
His heart buzzed with excitement at having someone else to share this burden with. He knew it was selfish but he felt that he wouldn't be able to handle this knowledge of the future all by himself for long.
With that decision made he sat across from Blake's holo computer.
She looked up to him and said, "Hey Jaune, you came."
"Well, as they say, an Arc never goes back on their word. What are you up to anyway?" He asked while he got his headphones out.
"Just finishing up the Man with two souls I hope they resolve the whole mind-melting thing. You?"
"I'm finishing up a history report, gonna listen to some music while I do it," He said, connecting his headphones to his scroll.
"That's it?"
"Yep, I don't wanna hand this in last minute and get the stink eye from Oobleck"
She stared at him for a few seconds and he looked back before looking away with a hum. She went back to her book and got lost in it. He pulled up his history paper and started to finish it. His main goal in coming to the library wasn't to finish his paper but to instead make sure he came off as normal.
If he suddenly shifted his routine he might arouse suspicion and someone might find his videos. Also, keeping his routine would allow him to kill two birds with one stone. He could keep an eye on Blake and could actually finish his school work.
Time flew by and before he knew it he had finished the report. He submitted it and pulled out his scroll. Making sure he was off any networks or other devices he pulled up the videos and took out his notepad.
Thankfully there was a wall behind him and no one else other than Blake was at the holo comps, so all he had to do was put his scroll on top of his desk and turn it off if anybody passed by.
He pressed play and started to watch the show again. Looks like he was going to spend the rest of his evening taking notes.
AN: Here's another chapter I hope you enjoyed.
And wow I write way more than I was expecting. Also, some good news is I have a sort of tangible outline of the middle and ending of this story. P.S Editing work takes forever! The next chapter will come out when it is done.