A/N: Chapter 8 of REKT. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or teams of RWBY, they belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. What I do own are the characters of my OC teams: REKT, GTSY and DAZE.

Special thanks to the reviewers and to the readers who Fav/Alert this story, I really appreciate it.


Chapter 8: Jaunedice

The next morning...

Jaune was terribly outmatched during class that I couldn't help but cringe on the inside. We were sitting in Glynda Goodwitch's class and as a demonstration on how effectively a Hunter or Huntress utilizes Aura, she needed two volunteers. I would have loved to volunteer myself but she ended up picking Jaune and the fairly new leader of Team CRDL, Cardin Winchester.

Cardin had burnt-orange hair that was combed backwards with a slight peak at the front, and indigo eyes. He wore silver-gray armor with gold trims when he was in his fighter mode; the chest plate sported a bird with its wings outstretched like it was in the middle of taking flight. Underneath the armor, he had on a black shirt with red trimmings and black pants with a red belt tied around his waist.

At first Jaune was doing okay but after awhile it was painfully obvious who was the better fighter. Cardin just simply laughed every time the blond attempted to hurt him and continued to taunt his opponent during the sparring match.

"And this is where you lose." He sneered as he blocked an overhead sword attack with ease, not even using all of his strength against Jaune.

"Over my dead-oof!" Jaune grunted when his opponent kneed him in the stomach and he fell to the ground in a fetal position. Glancing up, he noticed Cardin towering over him with his weapon high over his head to deliver the finishing blow.

"Cardin, that's enough." Glynda spoke, cutting into the sparring match by ringing the buzzer. A couple of students clapped at the entertainment as Cardin shuffled off to the side. "Students, as you can see Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicated that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match."

"Oof." Jaune groaned as he sat up, rubbing his stomach to ease the pain.

"Mister Arc, it's been weeks now." Glynda told him as he pulled out a small device from one of the pouches attached to his belt. "Please try to refer to your scroll during combat, gauging your aura will help you decide when it is appropriate to attack or when it's better to move to a more...defensive strategy."

"Yes Ma'am." He replied as he looked at the flashing red and green bars on the screen; the red being his Aura and the green representing his teammates' Aura condition.

"We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf now would we?" Glynda questioned, glancing at the boy from behind her glasses.

"Speak for yourself..." Cardin commented meanly, shouldering his mace and walked off the stage with a huff.

"Remember everyone! The Vytal Festival is only a few months away." Glynda reminded us. "It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing!"

It looks like some of us are really excited. I thought as I sensed excitement burst out from Team RWBY. But...does that mean...I shook my head from side to side. No...I can't think about it...gotta keep my mind on the task at hand...

"Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale." Glynda continued just as the bell rang, prompting the students to file out of the room and made their way to lunch or any other classes for the afternoon.


Lunch time...

"So..." Nora was saying as we settled down at an available table for lunch, her eyes darting from side to side as if she was anticipating a sneak attack. "There we were...in the middle of the night..."

"It was day..." Ren's monotonous voice cut in as he corrected her. Yang sat opposite of her with an intrigued look on her face, holding onto every single word the storyteller was saying. Blake, who was sitting next to her, was busy reading a book. Weiss was sitting on the brawler's other side filing her nails while Ruby listened to the story silence.

"We were surrounded by Ursai." Nora continued, ignoring Ren's comment.

"They were Beowolves." Ren corrected as he took a sip of his drink.

"DOZENS OF THEM!" Nora exclaimed, standing up as she said so. Pyrrha was sitting on Nora's other side with Jaune next to her, playing with a piece of potato with his fork. Since the four of us couldn't really sit on one side, Kairos and I sat next to Ruby while the boys sat next to Jaune.

"Two of em."

"But they were no match and in the end..." Nora placed her hands on her hips with glee. "Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

"Uuuugh..." Ren let loose an annoyed sigh when the girl sat down. "She's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now..."

"Jaune...are you okay?" Pyrrha, noticing that the blond hadn't said anything since class, decided to ask him how he's feeling.

"Uh?" Jolted out of his thoughts he turned to his teammate with an almost confused expression. "Oh. Yeah! Why?"

"It's just that you seem a little...not okay..." Ruby told him.

"Eh, guys, I'm fine..." He said and he was met with non-believing stares. "Serious, look!" He let out a nervous laugh. Suddenly the sound of mock laughter reached our ears and we turned to see Cardin and his team mates jeering and teasing a student sitting at a nearby table. The student was a small girl with long, brown hair but her most defining feature were the long brown rabbit ears sticking out of her head.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you. since the first week of school." Pyrrha said as the boy continued to stare at the bullying, his hand clenched tightly into a fist.

"Who? Cardin Winchester?" Jaune asked almost in surprise. "Nah...He just likes to mess around, you know? Practical jokes!"

"That's not how I see it." Kairos replied, keep her eyes focused on the group.

"Yeah that just looks like the good ol' high school bullying." Efram added.

"I agree." Ruby nodded her head at what my two teammates said. "He is most definitely a bully."

"Oh please..." Jaune scoffed in denial. "Name one time he's 'bullied' me..." He chuckled nervously as he remembered the times he ran into Cardin and the taller of the two ended up playing a lot of pranks on him, such as opening his shield in a doorway, launching him in a rocket-propelled locker, and knocking his books out of his hands. "I didn't land far from the school..."

"...bro...I can see the word 'bullying' written all over your face as clear as day." Efram said after a brief minute.

"Ahh!" Suddenly the girl yelped, getting our attention once more. "Stop! That hurts!" She frowned when Cardin pulled and tugged harder on her ears. "Please, stop..."

"I told you it was real!" Cardin laughed, grinning at his teammates. "They're so soft too! I wanna make a blanket out of this at some point!"

"What a freak!" Russel commented as the other two continued laughing.

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha muttered when she noticed that the girl was starting to cry.

"God I hate sitting here and watching this any longer." Kairos growled. "I want to give him a piece of my mind!"

"Stop." I held out my hand to prevent her from getting up. "There's no reason for you to lower yourself to their level...any of you. Cause after all," I raised my voice so that they could hear me. "the ones who torment others the most...tend to have a lot of insecurities. In reality, they are the ones who are extremely weak."

"Were you talking to me you little runt?" Letting go of the girl's ears at what I had said, Cardin turned his head in our direction. "Say that again I dare you."

"Whatever could you possibly mean?" I asked playfully, sensing that they were approaching the table. "I'm just stating the obvious."

"Why you little—!" I felt his hand grab the front of my shirt and his breath bared down upon my face. "I'm gonna put you in your place."

"You-!" I held up my hand when Kairos stood up next to me, signalling to her not to lose her cool. "Tch!"

"What? You think you can take me on by yourself? Eh?" The boy looked confused when I gripped his arm tightly with my left hand, forcing the fingers to release their grip on my uniform. "What're you..."

WHOOOOOOOSH~

"Argh!" Within seconds Cardin found himself flat on his back in the middle of the mess hall with everyone staring or laughing at him. "Wha-What just happened?"

"Oh dear..."

"She just...flipped him so easily..."

"He's such an embarrassment..." The rest of Team CRDL shook their heads at their leader with embarrassment.

"What are you doing lying on the ground like that?" I asked him, still sitting in the same place at the edge of the table without moving an inch. "Didn't you say you wanted to 'put me in my place'? I'm still sitting here waiting for you to make a move."

"Grrrr. You'll pay for this." He growled, standing up and gave me his best glare possible which didn't faze me one bit. In fact I could find myself smiling at his pitiful attempt to intimidate me. "Just watch your back."

"That team is just full of trouble." Kairos stated as she watched the boys walk off, sitting back down in her seat. "Imagine if he had put his dirty hands on me..." She snorted with disgust. "I'd give him a little more than just a throw down."

"I-I don't like them at all." Timber said as he played with his fork. "They're nothing but bullies...especially the leader."

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help you can just ask..." Pyrrha offered.

"OOH!" Nora stood up so quickly that she almost knocked her teammate out of her chair. "We'll break his legs!"

"Guys, really, it's fine!" Jaune stressed halfheartedly as he stood up, picking up his tray of unfinished food. "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."

"You know, he's not the only one." Blake, finally putting down her book to witness the situation, commented.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus." Yang sighed as Jaune left the cafeteria without another word. After lunch we all hurried to history class taught by Bartholomew Oobleck. He was a young man with messy green hair. He had a disheveled attire since his white shirt was only partially tucked into his dark-green pants, the collar raised instead of pressed neat. The slack yellow tie was tied loosely around his neck and he also had on mismatched brown and black shoes.

"This is prior to the Faunes Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War." The professor was saying as Jaune snoozed away. Most of us were settled near or somewhere near the back but Jaune decided to sit in the very front for some odd reason. "Human kind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie."

"Ugh, he's too uppity for my taste." Kairos whispered while watching Bartholomew took a quick sip of his coffee. "It's like he's a coffee addict."

"And it's n-not helping a-at all." Timber said. "I can barely f-follow him."

"Oh dear, he's moving around the room now." Blake said as all of the students turned their heads simultaneously to follow their professor's migration from one side of the room to the next.

"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it's imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events!" Mr. Oobleck said excitedly. "Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day! Now!" He took a quick sip before continuing. "Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

"Oh? It's that girl from lunch." Kairos murmured as she noticed the bunny girl near the front raise her hand reluctantly after spotting another student raise his hand.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful!" Bartholomew said as he gazed at the students. "Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" He took another sip. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?" Weiss' hand shot up. "Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle!" The ice princess promptly replied.

"Precisely! And who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagoon's forces?"

Hehehe...this is perfect. Cardin, who sat right behind Jaune, flicked a paper football at the blond's head, waking him up out of his slumber.

"Hey!" Jaune said after feeling the paper hit him.

"Mr. Arc!" Bartholomew appeared before him. "Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"

"Uhhh...the answer..." He purposely drawled out his words as his eyes scanned the other students for help. "The advantage...of the Faunus...had over that guy's stuff..."

Night vision...Night vision...Pyrrha quickly made a gesture as Blake watched her with amusement, pointing at her eyes multiple times in hopes that he'll get the clues right.

"Um, B-binoculars!" The blond said causing the students to laugh and the professor to take another sip of his drink, an unamused expression on his face. Pyrrha released a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose while Cardin openly laughed.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc." Bartholomew said without humor. "Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." The boy replied as he leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the desk.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha interjected as Bartholomew shook his head with disappointment at the answer.

"What? You got a problem?" Cardin shot back, glaring at her.

"No, I have the answer!" The red-head smirked. "It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark."

"Grrrrrrrr." Cardin scowled underneath his breath but he held his tongue.

"General Lagoon was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep." Blake added once Pyrrha finished speaking. "His massive army was outmatched, and the General was captured. Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." That last snide comment was obviously for Cardin as the boy stood up immediately with his hands clenched and his teeth bared in anger. The class clamored up in an uproar.

"Mr. Winchester!" Mr. Oobleck snapped once the class settled down. "Please take your seat. You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." That stopped Jaune from snickering at Blake's answer.

"Oooh..." The boy groaned with disappointment.

"Now! Moving on!"

"You go on ahead. I'll wait for Jaune." Pyrrha said as Ren and Nora followed her out after class was over. The two of them nodded at her before leaving and the red-head leaned against the wall as she waited for the blond.

"You two have been struggling in my class since day one!" Bartholomew scolded the boys once everyone left. "Now I don't know if it's a lack of interest or just your stubborn nature, but whatever it is it stops now! You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school, and we only accept the best of the best, so!"

Augh...he talks too much. Jaune frowned. Cardin looked like he could care less and refused to look at the professor directly.

"I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it...you're destined to repeat it. Pages 51 to 91! I want an essay on my desk by next class!" After giving out his orders, the professor shooed them out of the room so that he could enjoy his peace and quiet. As the pair left the room, Cardin knocked Jaune to the floor before continuing on his way.

"You know, I really will break his legs." Pyrrha commented as she helped Jaune up, glaring daggers at Cardin's back.

"That's probably not the only thing you'd break to be honest." The blond replied before thanking her for waiting behind for him.

"I have an idea!" Pyrrha said, latching onto his arm to whisk him away. "Here, come with me!"

"I was wondering..." I spoke as my team and I gathered in the middle of the room to do homework. We were all dressed in our pajamas with mugs of hot chocolate between us. "I know that Miss Goodwitch said it during class but what exactly is the Vytal Festival?"

"O-Oh, it's this international festival in Remnant." Timber said from where he was twirling his pencil with his fingers. "Apparently it's held every t-two years."

"Not only that, this festival was created to celebrate the diversity of the cultures of Remnant." Efram added. "I'm extremely interested in the combat tournament."

"I agree." Kairos said, nodding her head in his direction. "We should definitely participate this year."

"Then you know what that means...right?" I grinned.

"INTENSE TRAINING MONTAGE!" Efram and Kairos yelled with excitement.

"...y-y-yay!" Timber squeaked.

"Ahahaha!" We all laughed before getting back to our various homework. I was in the middle of working on Aura control for Goodwitch's class when something outside the window caught my attention. It was a bit hard to see but thanks to a little bit of moonlight I sensed the presence of another student and a flash of yellow streaked across my mind.

"Reina? What's the matter?" Kairos asked as she and the boys looked at me.

"Umm...I'm gonna go outside for some fresh air." I said and stood up, placing a bookmark in the book I was reading before closing it shut.

"At this hour?" Efram turned to look at the clock on his desk. "What for?"

"You still have at least one more paper to write for Oobleck's class." Kairos added.

"Don't mind me." I said as I opened the door. "I'll be back before you know it."


Rooftop...

The red-head had dragged Jaune up to the rooftop where they wouldn't be disturbed. Night had already fallen and the two of them gazed up at the green tower in the distance.

"Pyrrha, I know that I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not...THAT depressed." Jaune said, ruining the beautiful moment of course but emphasized heavily on the word 'that'. "I can always be a farmer or something..."

"N-No!" Pyrrha said as she shoved him away from the ledge, afraid that he was attempting to jump. "That's not why I brought you up here! Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so...I want to help you!"

"...come again?" He mulled over the thought a bit. "I-I think I had something stuck in my ear."

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!" Pyrrha encouraged him.

"You think I need help?" He questioned.

"N-no! No, that's not what I meant." She backtracked a bit, noticing the hurt look in his eyes.

"But you just said it."

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time." She told him gently as he avoided her gaze. "It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon, that speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

"You're wrong." Jaune said as he turned his back on her, releasing a sigh. "I-I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say, of course you do!" She argued.

"No, I don't!" He said, spinning around to face her. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon." He revealed to her that he actually got in using fake transcripts. The reason why he lied to get in is because he wanted more than anything to be a warrior; like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before him. "They were all heroes and I wanted to be one too. I just...I just wasn't good enough."

"Then let me help you!" Pyrrha insisted, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't want help!" He snapped at her, swatting away her hand. "I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

"Jaune! I-"

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives!" Jaune interrupted her. "Don't you understand?! If I can't do this on my own...then what good am I?" When Pyrrha reached out to him, he backed away, refusing to let her touch him. "Just, leave me alone. Okay?"

"If that's what you think is best." She replied in a small voice, turning on her heels and disappeared emotionally hurt. Feeling like the biggest jerk on the face of the planet, Jaune released a sigh and ruffled his hair with his hands in frustration.

"Heh." Cardin's voice reached his ears and he watched as the boy climbed onto the roof with the biggest grin on his face. "Oh, Jaune..."

"Cardin?!"

"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room. So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I've got to say Jaune, I've never expected you to be such a rebel."

"Please!" Jaune begged him. "Cardin, please, don't tell anyone!"

"Jaune! Come on!" Cardin said in a sickening sweet voice, like he almost cared for the poor fellow. "I'd never rat out a friend like that!"

"Uh, a friend?" Jaune asked, confused at the boy's change in demeanor.

"Of course!" Cardin said with a laugh, wrapping an arm around the other boy's shoulder. "We're friends now, Jauney boy! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time."

"R-Really?"

"That being said...I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today." Cardin grinned, ruffling Jaune's hair. "Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" Once Jaune nodded his head, the boy smirked and prepared to disappear for the evening. "That's what I thought. Don't worry Jaune; your secret's safe with me."

Hmmm...so that's how it is. I frowned, leaning with my back against the wall after listening into the conversation. After leaving my dorm room, I walked around outside and picked up Cardin's presence when it pop up in my head as a little yellow ball, almost like a beacon of sorts. I followed it closely and ended up on the rooftop where the boy's physical body was hiding. Staying silent, I felt the presence of both Jaune and Pyrrha nearby and two orbs appeared within my mind's eye; one of them was sandy blond color and the other was a mixture of red and orange.

After a while, Pyrrha's presence disappeared almost in sadness and Cardin made his move. From what I could tell the boys were having a little debate but I also knew that Cardin was up to no good. I caught the last bits of what was being exchanged before Cardin disappeared, leaving Jaune alone on the roof top.

Cardin basically has Jaune wrapped around his little finger at this point. I scowled before standing up. I better keep this to myself, no reason for the others to know, and keep a lookout for Cardin or Team CRDL from now on. If I told Pyrrha what I just witnessed she'd no doubt interrogate me too. But for now... I glanced behind my hiding place to see Jaune still standing there, his head tilted towards the moon in a solemn gaze. ...I should leave him be.