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Nora was jumping on the bed. Ren was polishing his submachine gun, Stormflower. Pyrrha sat with folded arms opposite Nora.

"Where's Jaune been?" Nora wondered.

"He's become rather scarce ever since he's been fraternizing with Cardin," Ren observed. He shuffled his weapon into his sleeve with a smooth motion.

"That's weird. Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!" Nora frontflipped and landed on the bed.

"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing," Pyrrha coldly decided.

"Hm," Nora hummed. "I guess so."

I shut the door. I stood out in the hall by myself.

"Hey Jaune!" I gasped and turned around to be greeted by Ruby in her pajamas. "Long time no see. Did you lock yourself out of your room again?"

"Oh uh nope," I held up the key. "Got it!"

"So where have you been recently?"

"I…" I hesitated for an impossible moment. Ruby just looked up at me with her big gray eyes. "I messed up," I confessed. "I did something I shouldn't have and now Cardin has got me on a leash and Pyrrha won't even look at me." I sighed. "I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea…"

I plopped down on the floor.

"I'm a failure."

"Nope," Ruby disagreed. She popped the 'p'.

"No?" I had to wonder.

"Nope," she did it again. "Your a leader now Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure."

"What if I'm a failure at being a leader?" I kept up.

"Nope," she was relentless.

"You know? You're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of thing."

"Nope. You might have been a failure as a kid. You may even have been a failure the first day we met. But you're not allowed to be a failure now. You know why?"

"No. Tell me why."

"Because it's not just about you anymore. People are counting on you, on us. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do. And if we fail now we'll just be bringing them down with us." She sat next to me. "You have to put your teammates first and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune." She placed her hand on my shoulder and lifted it. Then she lifted herself. "And I think that you're the man for the job. Goodnight Jaune." Then she walked the fuck away and back into her room.

I stood to enter my room. My scroll chirped. I answered it.

"Hey, it's your buddy Cardin. I know your probably busy with that project I gave you but your going to need to go out and get some scimitar wasps for me. And make sure they've got some really big stingers. Its important so don't screw this up." He then closed the connection.

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Goodwitch was leading the way through Ever Fall. "Indeed the forest is beautiful. However, we are not here to sightsee. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep within. I am here to ensure you all remain safe. All of you are to collect one jar of red sap from the trees. Now this forest is crawling with Grimm. So stay close to your teammates. You will rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun!" Then she dismissed us.

I was carrying all of the stuff for Cardin's team. I made to get started but Cardin held me back with one hand. I shot him a glare before sighing in concession. Pyrrha met my eyes. I looked at her for a long moment like I might be his with some flash of inspiration or intuition by looking at her. I found nothing. I followed Cardin away from Pyrrha.

I collected sap for all of Cardin's team. They were just lounging in the forest while I did all the work. The fuckers.

I sneezed heavily while I worked. I was pretty sure I was allergic to the stuff.

"Now Jaune, I'm sure you're wondering why I had you collect six jars of sap when there's only five of us."

"Yes. I wondered." I sneezed again. My eyes were swelling shut.

"But you didn't ask questions. That's good!" Cardin rolled his eyes. "Follow me. Bring the jars of sap with you."

I did. We ended up on a glade overlooking my team and team RWBY. As I watched Ren filled a jar with sap and handed it off to Nora who promptly drank it.

"Cardin? What's going on?" I wondered.

"Pay back," he glared down the field at the teams. At Pyrrha. "That's the girl. Redhead, know it all, thinks she's so smart. All right boys. Last night Jaune rounded up these scimitar wasps for us. We're going to put them to good use. Now according to an essay you wrote for me last week these things love sweets. So let's put 'em to work. And your going to do it." He thrust a jar of sap into my arms.

"Do what exactly?"

"Hit her with the sap. Either that or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

I picked the sap up and held it over my head. I stared down at Pyrrha then looked at Cardin. "Fuck you guys." I threw the sap at Cardin. It splashed against his breastplate.

"Oh hoh? Looks like we got ourselves a hero type." He smirked at me. Sky grabbed me by the shoulder.

Not going to lie. They kicked the shit out of me. Cardin picked me up by the straps on my armor.

He hit me so hard I remembered my father. The way he held me. The way he hit me. The whole shebang.

"Big talk. Big man," Cardin growled. He kicked my legs from out from under me. He hit me with his mace. "Who exactly do you think you're messing with?"

A roar interrupted us. A bearringle strode into the clearing. It took several sniffs on the breeze and looked directly at Cardin. All of Cardin's team ran the fuck away. The cowards. I got to my feet at the same time the bear character knocked Cardin down.

I got between the bearringle and Cardin and drew my sword.

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-WG