Chapter 30 - You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Survive

In which Jaune Arc duels a madman (but a normal one this time) and has to clean up his teammates' mess.

Jaune Arc was currently dueling Brawnz Ni (seriously, his parents must have despised him), trading blow after blow with Crocea Mors' shield into Brawnz's claw hands. The duel was going exceedingly well for Jaune, which kind of made him feel a little bad for the people of Vacuo. After all, if their highest ranked team's leader was only at the level of being held off by Jaune Arc, the witless wonder, it was probably only a matter of time before the entire kingdom fell.

"Think you can just come into my kingdom and murder people?" asked Brawnz.

"I didn't kill anyone!" shouted Jaune, ducking as Brawnz tried to cut open his throat with a rage-filled slash.

"There were dead bodies all around you! Don't lie!"

"Okay, I only killed one guy, and he was a terrorist. He wasn't even Vacuoan!"

Brawnz of Team Bronze clearly valued brains less than…y-yeah…because the argument fell on deaf ears. Nora was currently wiping the floor with Roy Stallion, and Perry was handling Nolan Porfirio pretty well. Jaune knew that he was outmatched, but he figured that as long as he could just stay alive until his teammates won their fights and came to his aid, Team Juniper would be all set.

Going into the fights without aura or armor wasn't his greatest idea, but he was actually faring rather well, so far.

A bullet whizzed by his head, nearly shooting off his ear.

…faring rather okay, so far.

"You done meditating, Ren?" Jaune asked, trying not to take his eyes off his opponent while also glimpsing Ren's green coat from his seated position. "We could really use your help against the sniper girl!"

"We have names!" screamed Brawnz. "We're still humans, even if you see us as beneath that!"

"Bro, seriously?" said Perry, knocking the electric cattle prod out of Nolan's hands with a heavy glove-enhanced punch. "You mind rephrasing that?"

"Hey, I've got a question," said Nora. She slammed Magnhild into Roy's back and sent him flying out of the arena. "How come Roy Stallion isn't the one who uses the cattle prod? Like, he's named for horses and stuff, so…you know…farm animals. Seriously, it would make way more sense for him to be the cattle prod one, not Nolan. Why'd they do us dirty and make it so confusing?"

"No clue," said Jaune. "These Vacuoan folks must be crazy."

"Stop having a conversation while we fight!" raged Brawnz.

Amber had switched their nightly training to focus on exclusively dodging and avoiding attacks ever since the Vytal Festival Tournament was visible on the horizon. Perhaps it was crazy to not simply quit the tournament, but Jaune felt like he had a decent chance of not dying…

"…unless my brains get exploded by a stray bullet!" Jaune ducked as another shot nearly spelled out the bitter end of the male Arc line. "Ren, you coming?"

"The greatest battle is fought in the mind. You hone Crocea Mors against a whetstone; I must equivalently prepare my thoughts for combat."

"Could you not have, I dunno, prepped your brain before the fight? Because mine is currently dodging sniper shots!"

Ren continued to sit cross legged in the center of the arena as his teammates fought the battle for him. "One cannot truly comprehend the nature of a fight before staring his enemy in the eye. There are not shortcuts to discipline, leader."

"Renny!" groaned Nora. "Just help out already. We each agreed to take care of one of the…the…Burns?"

"I think it's Team Branch," offered Perry.

"BRONZE! IT'S BRONZE, LIKE MY NAME!" screamed Brawnz.

"Oh, so the team and the leader share a name, sorta like Team RWB–eek!"

Jaune used his shield to block Brawnz sharpened claw. The weapon caught against the edge of Crocea Mors' defensive half and hooked into the rim. Jaune quickly returned it to a sheath, and the claw was pulled right off of Brawnz' hand as the shield folded up.

That's one down…

Jaune wasn't nearly strong enough to fight a trained hunter in close combat without armor to block the hits and hide the damage he was taking, so he was mostly just using his agility from Amber's training to prolong the fight as best he could.

He wasn't suicidal, though. He just needed to be out here, aura or not, fighting in the Tournament.

Amber had sat him down and explained why the stupid tournaments even existed, even when the hunters involved in them could probably better use their time killing the Grimm. By televising entertainment and cooperative intent across the four kingdoms and Menagerie, positivity rose. These hunters and hunters-in-training were staving off Grimm attacks far better by raising people's spirits than they could if they tried to patrol every remote frontier village in the world.

And Jaune, as the Citron Champion, had to be seen participating. In a time when his intentions were doubted by many, the best thing Jaune could do right now was give everyone a good show, participate in the friendly competition, represent Beacon and Vale in a display of patriotic rigamarole (that might go a long way towards proving his loyalty to the kingdom), and shake his opponents' hands at the end of the match regardless of who won.

Except Brawnz Ni looked like he wanted to rip that hand right off of Jaune's arm rather than shake it.

I need to somehow get on this guy's good side before everyone in Vacuo thinks this is a deathmatch between two warring kingdoms.

"Hey…uh…do you like music?"

"Music? What are you talking about?!"

"I'm just trying to find some common ground…"

"Common ground?! Is that some kind of dig at Vacuo being a desert? You think you're better than me because you walk on soil, not sand?"

Jaune did his best not to laugh at Brawnz choosing to call it a 'dig at Vacuo,' but a tiny giggle slipped past his lips. Crud.

Brawnz launched into a frenzy and tried to gouge out Jaune's eyes with his one remaining claw. Jaune fumbled with his sheath to turn it back into a shield to defend himself, but his opponent's boot kicked it out of his hand.

"What'cha gonna do now, Vale boy?" Brawnz spread his arms out mockingly and waved for Jaune to come at him. "No more shield to hide behind like a little baby…are we gonna see the mighty invader finally fight like a man?"

And, of course, there was that.

Jaune didn't want to admit it to himself, but he kind of wanted to see if he could actually succeed. This wasn't a fight for his life like Cinder, Hazel, or Tyrian, so the odds that most opponents would seriously try to skewer him or run him through were pretty low. Most fighters sparred without using lethal attacks, just in case they broke their opponents' auras. A small part of Jaune had started to identify the lack of aura as less of a temporary setback and more of a part of himself – a disability to be overcome – and that part of him was telling himself to see how far into the tournament he could get. It whispered into his ear that the real Jaune Arc didn't have superpowers, and the real Jaune Arc could do (and had done) great things by just being himself.

His loss at Tyrian's hands had hurt more than just Vale. Perhaps this tournament could be a chance to both heal the broken city and mend Jaune's wounded pride.

An explosion sent the second member, May Zedong of Team BRNZ flying for the stands to join Roy.

"Got the sniper!" cheered Nora. "Jaune, you good?"

Jaune looked at his opponent, whose mouth was only missing the froth to make the scene complete. "I…"

"Will be torn apart! Will die the most brutal death! Will suffer at the hands of the country you thought you could assault!"

"…could use a little help, yeah," meekly whispered Jaune, leaning left and right in rapid succession to avoid Brawnz's swings.

Jaune tried to backtrack even further, but his feet hit the rock wall of the mountain that the terrain had randomly selected for the Junipers and Bronzes. With nowhere to run, Jaune had no choice but to raise his sword in an aggressive stance for the first time in the match.

Feet apart, arms steady, tight grip, just like Amber said. I can do this. I can fight him.

Suddenly, the aggression on Brawnz's face disappeared. He looked at Jaune with curiosity, and then his mouth curved into a goofy smile.

"Yeah, bro, I totes love music. My favorite instrument's the piccolo."

"W-What?"

"Love me that little pipey-pipe." Brawnz mimicked playing a flute with his clawed hands. "Woah. There was defs a connection between us, big man. I really feel like we're really, finally bonding, bro."

"The greatest battle is fought in the mind," said Ren's voice.

Jaune looked over Brawnz's shoulder to see his teammate holding a finger to the back of Brawnz's neck. "You truly had much aggression, my friend. Perhaps I may relieve your burden with my semblance."

"Yer so right, buddy," Branwz slurred. "There's not enough time in this life to get all bogged down by the hate." His head limply flopped forwards, coming closer to Jaune's. "Why make war? Make love instead."

"Cool." Jaune blinked at the man who stood between him and Ren. "But, like, not right now. Right?"

Brawnz's beefy hand came down onto Jaune's shoulder. "Whatever float's yer boat, Jaune."

"Nora!" Jaune called, cupping a hand to his mouth.

The glittery pink explosion sent all three of the men flying out of the ring.

"And what an astounding victory by the wonderful Team Juniper, led by the Citrus Champion himself! Not a scratch on him save for his teammate's finishing blow, and the enemy team defeated without the need to strike with his sword. Astounding, eh, Peter?"

"It's the Citron Champion, Barty. I know you barely showed up in this fic, but please show some respect for Mr. Arc by getting it right."

Jaune could still hear the muffled banter over the speaker system from the locker rooms as the two judges went back and forth. Brawnz had resumed his belligerence shortly thereafter, giving Jaune the stink eye as they changed out of their armor, but he wasn't likely to actually try anything, and Jaune really only cared when the camera were rolling.

Vale was tense, but it was no longer actively at war with itself, so he considered that progress. Perry had been entirely right that the tournament would calm folks down, particularly his involvement in it. Team Juniper had won, pleasing Jaune fans, and Jaune himself had barely made a difference, pacifying the anti-Jaunes.

There's a whole movement of people who are devoted to not liking me. This is so weird.

An unbidden and extremely inappropriate thought popped into his head.

And their numbers are now 30 smaller.

The gathering Tyrian had dragged Jaune to had been one of the proto-groups, the likes of which had evolved into the extremists rioting just the few days ago. They themselves hadn't been violent, but their deaths had incited others to violence.

Perry clapped him on the back, and Jaune realized that his partner had been saying something to him.

"Sorry, what? I zoned out for a minute there."

"No worries, mate. Taking a Nora grenade to the face does that to you."

Jaune wouldn't know. Brawnz and Ren had been between him and the ordnance, dampening the blow to the point that its shockwave hadn't instantly ended the squishy blond knight.

"Anyways, I was asking if you would be able to come to town with me. I've got some more errands to run, and I was wonderin' if you could help me out with one of 'em."

"I…is it okay if I say no?"

Perry's expression fell. "O-Oh."

"Not because I don't want to, but because I've already made plans with Nora, and I'd have to flake on her to go with you. Sorry, I should've started with that."

The disappointed look of hurt on Perry's face was replaced with a smirking one of raunchy humor. "Made plans, didja? Spending some quality alone time with the lass?"

"Come on. She and I are going on our first real date…alone this time. That is, we're not bringing along partners or teammates. We'll be touring the Vytal Festival and seeing what the stands have to offer. M'hopin' to win her a stuffed prize and all."

"Neat." Perry winked at him. "Give her a smooch for me, eh?"

Jaune nodded. "Sorry about the –"

"No worries. I'll take Ren, if that boy ain't busy canoodling Velvet."

Jaune retched. "What even are these words that come from your mouth, boomer?"

"Canoodle is a real word, not old person slang. Have Amber download a dictionary app for you."

Speaking of Amber, Jaune would need to put her away before he met with Nora. She'd wanted to participate in the tournament as a part of Team Juniper, so Jaune had brought her along in his back pocket, but it would be weird for her to chaperone on their date. Her tournament-ing was a mostly symbolic gesture, since there wasn't all that much she could do to help. Plus, even if she could somehow provide aid to the Junipers, it would be in violation of the rules, making the match five on four and therefore unbalanced.

Although I think the rules stopped mattering when I came to Beacon without aura. Honestly, am I even allowed to participate in the tournament? I mean, having aura in a non-aura competition would sort of be unfair, like a performance enhancer or something, but is lacking it a violation of some policy when I myself am the one put at a disadvantage? Gotta wonder.

It didn't matter either way. Whether or not he was allowed to, Jaune was here to stay.

"Those children would appear to be staring at you," Ren noted calmly. Perry half expected him to offer to disperse them from how dispassionate he sounded.

"Perk of being a Faunus," said Perry, noting the small cluster of schoolchildren who were most likely cutting classes to watch the fights. "We got a secret second semblance to attract someone's attention. It's stored in our Faunus traits, though."

Ren sighed in…elation? Distress? Fear? It was impossible to tell with the dude. Nora was an open book by comparison, and Jaune couldn't keep a secret to save his life, but it was impossible to get a bead on Ren.

"That is alarming news indeed," he said at last, without breaking stride as the mismatched duo walked towards Perry's destination.

Perry chortled. "It ain't easy bein' one of us animal folks."

"Do you think Velvet used it to seduce me?"

"Course n–" Perry paused. "Wait, used what?"

"The secret second semblance. If she used it to force my attraction for her, that would make our relationship nonconsensual and subject to termination."

Ren raised a submachine gun.

"Termination."

"Easy, tiger!" Perry said, waving his hands. "Wohoho, I was joking 'bout the semblance thing!"

"I am not a Faunus."

"I…I know."

"And yet you called me tiger. Curious. Is that some manner of humor to which I am not inclined? Or was that exclusionary language? If a Faunus calls another Faunus tiger, it's okay, but not humans? Perhaps I shall avoid using the hard R…my tigah. Is this appropriate?"

Perry decided to take the easy way out.

"Y-Yes. Sure."

Ren nodded. "I see."

Something about the way Ren had immediately jumped at the notion that the rabbit was playing him didn't sit neatly with Perry. He decided to probe things, just in case.

"Hey, so, how are things between you and your number one gal?"

Ren's eyes closed, and a single tear fell down his right cheek. "My mother died when I was–"

"I meant Velvet," he corrected.

Gods, this is horrifying. How does Nora of all people put up with this kind of partner? Does her crazy cancel out his? I really was lucky to get Jaune.

"Oh. Indeed, I cherish my romantic partner and love her with all my heart."

"And she likes you too?"

"Her repeated affirmation of affection lead me to draw such a conclusion."

That was good, then. As long as Ren stayed with Velvet, he wouldn't be focusing on Nora, which meant that the team wasn't going to have to deal with any more teen angst.

"Left here," directed Perry. Ren obeyed without hesitation.

"Do you have a companion?"

Perry smiled and shook his head. "That's gonna be a negative, kiddo. Don't got no wife, don't got no kids, don't got no folks." Perry suddenly realized she he'd used a double negative in the presence of Captain Literal and quickly backtracked to clarify. "A-And that means I do not have any family."

Ren looked up at him. "Are they deceased?"

"N–"

Perry was about to launch into the long history of his childhood and how he'd never been truly accepted when he remembered the recent change in his family tree – namely, that Tyrian fellow of Jaune's cutting the entire thing down.

"I guess so."

He hated the madman for murdering those people, but Perry couldn't truly feel any more upset for the death of his relatives than the death of the pasta man or Jaune's arms dealer. It seemed only logical that the death of his mother and his distant paternal family should have induced a more passionate, emotional response, but he'd never met them. It wasn't like his grandparents, who kept him at arm's length but acknowledged his existence just the same. The momma he'd never known and the…cousin, was it?...the cousin or something that he'd never met – they were no different than strangers off the street.

And speaking of strangers…

The kids from before, the ones that had been gawking at the weird creepy animal-thing that dared to pollute their streets with its mere presence (the horror!), were approaching Ren and Perry. It was a small cluster of about eight to ten humans, mostly young boys, though one was a girl with a short haircut. Perry guessed that they were teenagers but still younger than the kids he went to school with, though he couldn't estimate just how much.

The crowd was crossing the street and coming towards the huntsman duo. Perry knew how to deal with this sort of thing after a lifetime of experience. Play nice, and don't fight back. He had aura, which meant there was nothing the kids could throw at him that would actually hurt. If he defended himself, he'd automatically be on the wrong side according to any human police or jury, but if he just waited it out until the kids got bored, he'd be fine.

Who knows? They may just be the taunters, not the fighters.

"Excuse me, sir," said the boy in the front. He was a tall, lanky kid with dark gray hair and a piercing on his lip. The was the kind of guy who made Perry wonder why he was here rather than giving some nerd a wedgie at the skate park.

…Gods above, I really am old.

"What can we do for you, children?" asked Ren.

"You don't –" There was a sharp bite in the leader child's tone as he addressed Ren, but it ceased before he could even finish the sentence. Perry raised his aura passively, just in case.

The leader tore his glare away from Ren and looked back at Perry with a smile. "We'd like your autograph."

"Auto…you want the ol' Jaune Hancock? F-From me?"

The smile grew wider. "Heck yeah. You're Kid Limestone– the Citron Champion's daring, plucky sidekick! This is, like, the coolest thing ever! I never thought I'd ever get to meet you, sir!"

"Kid Limestone?"

The tomboy girl pointed to Perry's hands. "Look, you guys! He's even wearing the Limestone Gauntlets!"

My Rock Dust gloves? Cripes, has some cult of personality built itself up around Jaune, and now the Junipers are getting sucked into the hero worship by our mere proximity to him?

A newspaper clipping was thrust out in front of Perry, as well as a pen. "P-Please?"

"Were you just…carrying that around?" asked the Faunus.

The human child nodded. "Never leave home without it. It's part of the Citron Code! I'm hoping to join the Citron Commandos when I grow up, and I need to be on the top of my game."

"You lot interested in coming to Beacon?" asked Perry, signing the paper. "Becoming hunters?"

"Oh, for sure! I cannot wait to join the Commandos! Maybe I can even meet Jaune Arc himself! I've already met you!"

"Hey, out of curiosity." Perry returned the signed paper, only to have another one thrust towards him from the next kiddo. "You kids got a nickname for Nora?"

"Nora? You mean the TangerQueen, the Citron Champion's love interest and Kid Limestone's older sister?"

Perry couldn't help but smile to himself. He'd joined Beacon as a last resort, hoping it would keep him on the straight and narrow and out of trouble with the boys in the Fang. And now, here he was, superhero sidekick to his esteemed partner and their team of comic book characters. Not half bad for a Faunus from downtown.

"Kid Limestone," Perry muttered under his breath, signing the next page. "I'm older than Jaune, and youse call me kid." He shook his head playfully, ignoring the misfitting appellation. "Citron Champ, Kid Limestone, Tangerine Queen…are we all fruits?"

"Well, your hunter team is named after the Tree of Knowledge from the Garden of Eternal Light. The article we read by Miss Scarlatina says–"

Perry raised a hand. "Say no more." When Velvet Scarlatina was involved, especially her older works, the truth tended to die an untimely and gruesome death.

The last of the signable media was passed before the amused Faunus man, and he saw that the eyes of the children were glued on Ren.

"So what's my ol' pal Renny's nickname here in this cereal mascot commercial universe of ours?" he asked with a smile.

There was no answer.

Perry looked up from his autographing and noticed that, while the kids were indeed staring at Ren, it wasn't with the reverence that they held for him.

"We thought you were escorting him to prison, Kid Limestone."

"He's dangerous. W-Why isn't he in handcuffs?"

"Wait, you guys, he's armed! He's one of the anti-Jaunes!"

Perry quickly inserted himself between the increasingly aggravated band of youths and his companion. "Whoa, cool it, you guys! Ren's a friend!"

"He's no one's friend," cried the tall leader. "He's the Black Lie! He's evil!"

"Evil? B-But he's…he's on Team Juniper!"

"We know what you did," said the tomboy, addressing Ren directly. She no longer even seemed to see Perry and was talking right through him. "You tried to bewitch the TangerQueen's heart, and when she wouldn't be yours, you used your dark heart semblance magic to suck all the love and joy out of Beacon Castle!"

"I did no such thing," said Ren without emotion. Of all the times he could have picked to be dispassionate about something serious, protesting his innocence right now was not the right one.

"Not true! I heard from my mom that' you used your vile powers in the tournament earlier today!"

"He lies!"

"It's in the name!"

"You're the original anti-Jaune, Black Lie!"

"He's ensorcelled Kid Limestone! He's trying to escape!"

One of the kids grabbed a small stone from the ground, slipped around Perry, and hurled their rocky missile straight at Ren. It bounced off his aura harmlessly, as expected, but the rest of the kids saw this as a sign that the fight had started and didn't want to miss out. Within seconds, the entire crowd was throwing things – rocks, trash off the floor, whatever they had in their pockets – at Ren. Perry tried to put himself between them and his teammate, who was as still as the grave, but they circled around them, leaving Perry no way to intervene and stop them all.

"Ren! Time to skedaddle!"

Ren looked at Perry as his body was pelted with the projectiles. "I could calm them with my semb–"

"Not the time, bud!"

Perry could just see the headlines now – 'Hunters Attack Civilians at Pro- vs. Anti-Citron Rally.' It didn't matter if Ren's semblance was non-offensive – the kids would spin their own tale of how things went down, regardless of the truth. Ren's rabbit girlfriend no longer had exclusive control of the narrative, and it had clearly swelled beyond what she'd initially intended. Hell, it was probably so bloated that even Jaune himself wouldn't be able to stop this.

Not that he ever controlled the wild tales in the first place.

Perry groaned in displeasure. All this because the teenage drama of three kids had somehow slipped out and overgrown wildly out of proportion into some epic scandal. Ren and Jaune may have been at odds for a short period of time, but now they were thick as thieves. Well, maybe not that thick. Thick as, uh, fraudsters? Thick as larcenists? The point was, the two had worked out the issues they had over Nora, and now they were back to being a functional team.

But these kids don't see it that way. To them, it's all fantasies and fairy tales.

…and maybe I need to start playing the part too.

Perry spun around on one heel and socked Ren in the face.

Immediately, the throwing and shouting stopped. The circle of children expanded outwards slightly, now all with shocked expressions on their faces. Perry noticed that several passersby on the street had joined their numbers to see what all the commotion was. It was the middle of Vale, after all.

"You kids broke his concentration and freed me from his…d-dark semblance control of my thoughts! You did it! The Black Ren's hold over me is broken, and I'm now free to put an end to his reign of terror!" He turned to Ren, pausing for a second. "It's high –"

Raucous cheers erupted. Perry tried not to roll his eyes as he waited for them to finish.

"It's high time I took you back to Beacon's cold cells where you belong. Nice try, seeing if you could sneak out and free your master, Ronald Torchwick, but it's over now!"

He felt kind of bad, throwing Ren under the bus for this one, but these kids had clearly made up their mind, no matter what he said. Ren would probably agree that settling this by faking a fight to avoid a real one was for the best. Anyways, it wasn't like there would be any serious damage to his reputation from a single staged street fight. He could always go back and say it was a promotion for Juniper Destiny 7: Keep Calm and Carry Jaune (A True Story), if rumors did start to fly.

"You have two choices, Black Re– Black Lie. You can either come quietly, or I can bring you down by force."

Ren leveled StormFlower at Perry in response.

Perry grinned at his teammate's willingness to play along. "Hard way it is."

Then Ren actually shot Perry.

"Sorry, Nora" Jaune said again. He'd already apologized thrice, but it still didn't feel like enough.

"It's okay, Jaune," she assured him, also for the third time. "We got to tour the festival, for, like two hours. And now I get an extra special ride on a Beacon bullhead into the middle of town, so that's fun too, I guess."

Their date had been cut middle. Its wasn't cut short, because they had spent some quality time going about the Vytal vendors, playing carnival games (Nora won him a stuffed Beowolf at the Hammer Swing), sampling snacks, and shopping, but the couple had been interrupted by none other than Qrow Branwen. Without Amber to accept Ozpin's call, the drunkard huntsman had been forced to track down Jaune in person and relay the headmaster's message.

"We can't go anywhere without those boys doing something wild," complained Nora. "It sometimes feels like I'm the only sane person surrounded by crazies."

"Nora, you're currently sticking your head out the window of the bullhead and sticking out your tongue in the breeze."

"How often do we get a private bullhead flight, Jaune? This could be my only chance!"

Jaune decided not to compare his girlfriend to a dog popping its head out of a car window. At least until I have my aura unlocked and train enough with it to adequately protect my testicles.

It was so weird, being called in as the headmaster's 'big guns.' Jaune knew that he was more of a figurehead, issued on Ozpin's orders so that Beacon could call upon his fame to resolve this dispute. Ozpin knew that too. However, to the rest of the world, it was truly believed that Jaune and the Junipers were the headmaster's private security force (admittedly, he had used that excuse himself to brush away the consequences of his actions at the docks).

Although, today, the Junipers are both the problem and solution.

Apparently, Perry had started something of a scuffle with Ren, and Jaune was naturally at the center of it. Ozpin had summoned him and Nora and express shipped them on a private flight to the heart of Vale, where the two were in a stand-off. Normally, two brawling huntsmen wouldn't have elicited such a formal (and expensive) response, but crowds had gathered when bullets started flying. Ozpin had informed Jaune that his top priority there was to quell or pacify the crowds, the majority of whom were pro-Jaune, and extract his rowdy teammates. However, a small number of anti-Jaunes had gathered and cheered on Ren from the sidelines, seeing him as the one free thinker in a corrupt Beacon military-industrial complex ruled by Jaune and his firm right hand, the monstrous Perry.

"I'll try and get the pro-Jaunes to disperse," said Jaune. "Hopefully, they'll behave like fans and listen to me. Nora, it'll be up to you to convince the anti-Jaunes to back down peacefully before another riot breaks out. They won't react kindly to me telling them to leave."

"Can I –"

"No broken legs."

"What about –"

"Still no broken legs."

"Okay, so how does –"

"Still no."

"Darn it." Nora snapped her fingers. "I really thought I had you for a second there."

It wasn't as many people as he'd been worrying, but it was still quite a large number. There had to be at least one hundred people on the first side and thirty or so on the other, all clearly segregated by their opinion on the Citron Champ himself. Not armies, by any standard, but still enough to make the street a rowdy and unpassable place for others.

Between the two jeering crowds were about ten feet of empty space occupied by only two people.

"Come on, you guys," Jaune murmured under his breath, gazing out at his misbehaving teammates. "Couldn't you have picked a better time to argue? Or at least a better place?"

Nora swung her hammer over her shoulder. "Let's get to work."

"Wh– Nora, you can't use that on the crowds."

"Not to boop them with, silly. I need to look the part of an intimidating huntress if I'm going to get them to listen to me. I'm only, like, three feet tall, and my hair is so brightly orange colored that people have mistaken it for a pumpkin." She stepped off the airship and towards Ren's side. "They just need to believe I'm a serious person, even if I'm not."

Ren himself had both halves of StormFlower raised and trained on Perry, but he wasn't actively firing. Perry had his fists raised in a boxing stance, but Jaune could tell from his demeanor that he had no intention of throwing a punch; it was just for show. Whether the show was meant to impress Ren, the crowd, or Jaune himself, he knew not.

Jaune pulled out his scroll.

"What's their aura?" he asked.

The Beacon hunter app popped up: both mid-green.

So I guess they weren't fighting with the intent to seriously harm one another. That's good, I guess, although I kind of wonder why they were fighting in the first place.

Jaune looked at his teammates. "Both of you. Wait in front of the airship. Now."

They complied, though only Perry lowered his weapons.

Jaune stood up on a nearby bench to give himself enough elevation for the hordes of his supporters to all see him.

He coughed and raised a hand. "Excuse me."

The response wasn't sudden, but it was fast. A few people (mostly kids) noticed he was there, then tugged on the sleeves of those around them, who then alerted their neighbors, until the entire crowd was aware of his presence.

"Jaune! Jaune! Jau–"

"He's here!"

"Can you sign my –"

"The Black Lie tried to –"

The discordant shouts suggested that this wasn't some organized protest, but rather just a group of random people who'd seen the fight and not turned the other way. Again, a step in the right direction, given that there had been riots and organized chaos in Jaune's name just days ago.

"ATTENTION!"

The crowd quieted down, though murmurs persisted.

"Pe-People, please go h– disperse and return to your dwellings. The authorities ha– the police and I have the situation under control."

No one moved. Rather, everyone moved – looking left and right at their neighbors to make sense of Jaune's message – but no one moved to leave.

There was silence for a moment, before a single voice spoke up. "Lie Ren was–"

The noise broke the floodgates, and within seconds the entire mob was all shouting their own take on the situation. It was so loud, so cacophonous, that Jaune couldn't make out what a single person was saying. All sorts of words and accusations were flying around, most of them generally sounding negative from either the tones of the speakers or the few bits and pieces of phrases Jaune could catch.

"People, please!" Jaune implored. "Listen to me!"

It went unheard and unheeded.

"Hey, shut up you all! Jaune is–"

"– he was talking to those other people, not to –"

"We need to tell him that –"

"He already knows, you idiot!"

"– wasn't here when –"

"Yeah, he's not stupid."

"I didn't say he –"

Jaune sighed and looked over to the other side of the divide. Nora, hammer in hand, was shooing away the last remnants of the anti-Jaunes.

Jaune sighed. These people were a mob – logic wouldn't reach them, and neither would the words of a single stuttering boy. No one was interested in what Jaune had to say. The only person who would have any control of this was the Citron Champion. It was like Nora had said – the truth mattered less than what people believed.

"Am, could you, I dunno, play something loud and shrill?" Jaune asked his scroll. "Just enough to buy me a moment of their attention."

She wasn't on a call, so she couldn't respond, but the sound came a moment later. Jaune winced as her speakers screeched. The crowd, who hadn't been expecting the loud noise, all stopped their conversations.

Unsheathing Crocea Mors, Jaune raised his blade at a slight angle, doing his best to imitate the heroic poses he'd seen the knights in the storybook on Fort Castle do. Jaune swallowed in his mouth and swallowed his pride.

"By the hallowed blade I wield, I beseech upon thee: silence!"

Complete silence. All hundred sets of eyes stared at Jaune.

"Your valor may be commended, but I cannot, in good conscience, condone what has happened today. Be the enemy a thousand Grimm fiends or a blackhearted rogue, the grand duty of Vale's defense falls not to you good people. Brave huntsmen and huntresses, the honored disciples of mine own master, Lord Ozpin, have sworn the sacred Citron Oath to uphold the laws of this fair city, and only they possess the formidable might to do so. Should you see an act of lawlessness or parlous villainy undertaken by knaves or monsters, reach out to the grand castle of Beacon that overlooks us all, and do not attempt to take the weight of the world upon thine own shoulders. I repeat, do not take these kinds of matters into your own hands – call the hunters or maybe the police, who are all the proper authorities to take care of these kinds of situation."

Jaune paused for effect, and to give the message a chance to sink in. He knew that Ren and Perry would never hurt civilians, but these people had been prepared to go up against a huntsman with nothing but their numbers and their rage. They'd have been throwing their lives away if it had been Roman Torchwick or one of the others causing trouble instead of Jaune's own teammates.

While he had their attention, Jaune decided to see if he could add another moral to his message.

"Your passion may burn brighter than the sun, but expressing it recklessly only empowers those who would see us divided and broken into shards. Our enemy is manyfold, and only you may stave off their advances. Those who call themselves anti-Jaunes –"

The crowd began to shout abuse.

"– are not the true enemy."

That shut them up.

"The enemy is crime. The enemy is war. The enemy is death. The enemy is the multitudes of Grimm who lay siege to our very world without end. The enemy is the rogue huntress who uses her awesome powers for evil, or the thief who places his heel to our necks and presses us down. The enemy is not those whose opinions on me differ from you. I beg of you, friends, do not inflame their rage by adding to it your own. Embrace and accept the anti-Jaunes, and show them that their wrath is not the answer. They are people still, and our Valean brothers and sisters at that. If you cannot agree with their beliefs, look deeper. No person is defined by a singular trait or ideal. Perhaps you shall find more in common with those of superficial difference than you may think."

Jaune remembered his conversation with Ozpin from a few days prior and decided to give one last rallying cry.

"I leave you with this final message. The darkness that lurks beyond the walls of this kingdom and our three fair cousin states only grows stronger. To combat it, we must unify and face the threat together. We of the light cannot stand against the dark's hold alone and divided."

Jaune couldn't exactly say that there was a Grimm Queen hiding in the Land of Darkness, but he thought it wouldn't hurt to warn them a little bit. There may have been only a hundred people here, but perhaps they would pass the message on. If fear and hate spread like cancer, maybe forgiveness and love could too.

Either way, the crowd ate it up.

"Woohoo!"

"Three cheers for Jaune!"

"He's a hero!"

"Make friends, not enemies!"

Jaune nodded as they cheered his name and repeated the message. He sheathed Crocea Mors and was about to step down from the bench on which he stood when something caught his eye.

He froze. Tyrian Callows was in the crowd.

Jaune frantically tore his gaze away, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.

No one.

Jaune looked about the plethora of people, desperately searching for the scorpion Faunus, but he was nowhere to be found. Tyrian was spry enough to easily disappear into any surroundings, based on Ozpin's description of him and Jaune's last encounter with him, but it was also equally likely that Jaune had just been seeing things. Tyrian had traumatized him, and it wasn't unreasonable for Jaune to be seeing him in the shadows or around every corner.

I…I could call it in, like I said in my speech, but the hunters would never get here in time. Besides, it's not like they would be able to find him or restrain him any better than last time. They'd probably just think I'm jumping at shadows.

Jaune wiped his brow and was surprised to find that it was wet.

No, wait, it was just his hand that was wet. In his terror, he'd gripped down on Crocea Mors' scabbard so tightly that he'd cut himself on the blunted edge of the sheath.

tl;dr BatRen vs SuperJaune: Dawn of Justice

Next Chapter: I Got All Seven Sisters With Me

In which Jaune Arc spits on and gets spat on.

Author's Notes

About a million years ago, I said something in the author's notes about how you (the audience) are actually the real Velvet Scarlatina. Is anyone closer to getting the meaning? I think it'll be finally revealed in the next chapter, if you haven't already caught my drift. Let's just say that superior AO3 chads will be vindicated, and the shame of virgin FFN mongrels shall be complete.

Anyways, Jaune's plot armor is now magically back, but only because Team BRNZ isn't employing lethal force in a children's bloodsport. The status quo reigns supreme.

In the previous chapter's comments/reviews on both sites, tons of people told me that they were super-hyped about the long-awaited appearance of Branwz Ni. I mean, literally I got mountains of fanmail over how much people desperately wanted him to be in the story with a starring role. I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations.

Somehow, Perry's first POV reveals a shocking look into the twisted mind of a Ren.

Also, Ren's idiot GF has now inspired a religion around Jaune, the like of which haven't been seen since The Beacon Civil War by You-Know-Who. Man, that one was a good read (oh god FIRST PERSON oh sweet lord in Heaven whyyyyyy).

Happy rats, and don't do crime!