Disclaimer: Don't own RWBY, but is that a sandbox!?

Chapter Twelve: The Bond Between Leaders

Meditation was simple enough, it involved centering one's spirit and finding the peace within that spirit. For Lie Ren though, it offered the opportunity to calm his aura as well as his spirit. In his opinion it was much easier to handle than people. That spot between inner turmoil and absolute serenity was a place that existed neither here nor there and allowed him the time he needed to process certain things. Ren had recently completed Beacon Academy's initiation process and had been named leader of Team LVWR here at the Academy. The first week of classes had come to an end and he found himself wishing that he could be handling things better. Unlike Jaune, Team ABYN's leader, he seemed to have no direction when it came to leadership and this was primarily down to how quiet he was compared to some of his other team-mates. Nora was an exception to this because the two of them had known each other long enough that she had developed the best way of socializing with him.

Nora was slowly teaching Ruby these things and conversing with the crimsonette was becoming easier by the day. The prevalent and recurring problem with Team LVWR was Weiss. She seemed to have an abnormally large chip on her shoulder and thought herself above everyone else. It was likely a combination of her last name and the wealth associated with it. Nora and Weiss had often butted heads because of this and the constant attempts she made to question Ren's leadership and it'd taken both Ren and Jaune to hold Nora back...luckily the Arc had been present at the right moment.

If it wasn't that, it was Weiss' constant abhorrent treatment of Ruby that dragged the team down. He could tell that Ruby was trying her best to make a good impression on not only Weiss but the rest of the team as well, yet the Schnee girl seemed intent to knock Ruby's confidence right back down the moment she tried to either be nice or do literally anything that involved interacting with others. Ren, as a particularly observant person, knew that constant bouts of this would make someone like Ruby, who struggled with socializing, close right back up and it would be almost impossible to get her to open back up again.

He'd been quiet about this for too long. If this team was going to stand a chance of making it through the next four years then he was going to have to take action. It was all well and good to have Nora deal with things if Weiss got too bad, but he was the leader and he needed to start acting like one before this got any further out of hand. He could worry about Weiss later though, first things first...

"Ruby?" Ren asked her softly.

"Yes?"

Ruby was lying on her bed, her stomach pressed gently against the mattress while she absently perused the comic book she had laid out in front of her. She turned her head as she answered her leader, silver eyes glancing at him curiously.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go and do some training this afternoon."

"But what if-"

"Don't worry, I'll deal with that," Nora interrupted from the far side of the room. The girl's usually bright eyes narrowed fiercely and though he wasn't entirely sure, Ren could've sworn he saw the smallest crackles of electricity spark within the Valkyrie's eyes.

"Nora."

"Sorry Ren."

The Lotus sighed, pressing a hand against his forehead. With each passing moment it further became cemented in Ren's mind that this was going to be a big ask and getting this team to function to even an acceptable standard was going to take a lot of work. Though, he supposed it was his own fault for leaving it so long to deal with the discord that had already arisen between his team-mates.

"Well?"

Ruby didn't vocalize her response, but instead nodded her head, a big smile forming on the crimsonette's lips. Ren nodded once to confirm this then turned to face Nora, "I assume you'll want in on this as well?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Fearless Leader."

Ren rolled his eyes good-naturedly, the playful sarcasm in Nora's tone clearly amusing him to the trained eye even if he did a pretty solid job of trying to conceal such things. He took a breath and his gaze swept over the room, searching through the uncanny level of quiet that had befallen them all.

"Where's Weiss gone?"

"Library," Ruby said, pushing herself up on the bed so that she was sitting rather than lying down, "Wanted to get some studying done. I'm just really glad she stopped yelling! I'm not that bad, I swear!"

"Don't worry," Ren assured her, reaching out and placing his hand atop her head, a comforting smile on his face, "We're all going to work this out and we'll be a proper team of friends before you know it."

Ruby nodded, her smile brightening as Ren did this. She then leaned back to look at him. The uncertainty had all but disappeared completely from her face, "Doesn't mean I'm not going to kick your butt when we're training."

"Someone's competitive," Ren laughed, removing his hand again.

Nora's eyes had narrowed in Ruby's direction for a single moment, but she shrugged it off and quickly bounded over to the end of Ruby's bed and flopped right down on it beside her, "You knooow, I've been wanting to try out something."

"W-what's that, Nor-"

"Please don't ask her."

"You're such a buzzkill, Ren! Ruby and I were about to discuss a super secret technique!"

"Super secret technique you say?" Ruby asked, leaning forward toward the Valkyrie, "How super secret?"

Ren shook his head, the small smile on his face never fading throughout the exchange. The two girls had barely spoken two more sentences, but were now glaring up at him every few seconds making sure that he wasn't listening into their discussion. He was just thankful that the two girls seemed to be getting along as well as they had been since the first day they'd been announced on the same team. That still left him with the question of the Weiss problem and Ren was still completely unsure on how to deal with it. Perhaps it was time he got some advice.

"Will you two be alright if I duck out for a second?"

"Most certainly, fearless leader!" Nora cried, raising her hand to salute him.

"We sure will, Ren!"

and with Ruby making a similar motion Ren could only chuckle to himsef, give the two girls a nod and depart from the room. His destination wasn't very far away, right across the hall in-fact. He approached the dorm's door and raised his hand to rap his knuckles against the wooden surface. Ren was met with only silence for a moment, until a voice called out from the inside of the room,

"One second!"

Ren heard the sounds of footsteps against the carpeted flooring inside the dorm room and a second later the door swung open. Jaune Arc now standing in the doorway. He was dressed in a pair of jeans and a simple black hoodie yet seemed to be missing the armor portion of his outfit.

"Ren!" he said happily, "How's everything going?"

"Acceptable, and yourself?"

"Not bad! What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if I might talk to you about something?"

"Of course, privately or-?"

"Privately, if possible."

"Sure thing, just give me a sec."

Ren watched as Jaune turned on heel and returned to the room. A moment later the door re-opened and The Arc walked fully out into the hall-way, now having his armored plate over the hoodie, "We can go to the rooftop if you want? Probably the best place for privacy."

Ren looked at him incredulously, "With another dorm room directly under us, how is that the best place for privacy?" His amazement turned to amusement when he saw the embarrassed look on Jaune's face, "I've got the perfect place in mind."

"Lead the way!' Jaune said happily.

For most of the walk a silence hangs between Ren and Jaune, though to Ren it doesn't feel like an awkward one. The two of them had already begun to form the beginning of a strong friendship and due to their conflicting natures, Jaune being more outgoing and Ren being more introverted, the two had started becoming adjusted to a bit of give and take when it came to this sort of thing and Ren was more than happy that Jaune was willing to hear him out in regards to his issues with his team and toward leadership in general. After crossing through the courtyard, Ren and Jaune took their seats on the grass at the far side, right at the end of Beacon. Ren was seated in a cross-legged formation not unlike meditation and Jaune had elected to sit with his legs dangling over the side of the cliff.

"What's up?" The Arc finally asked.

"It's Weiss."

"She still giving you guys a difficult time?"

"That, my friend, is the biggest understatement. She is being very difficult... I have spent a very long time with Nora so I know how she operates and Ruby is, well, very easy to get along with. Weiss is...so determined to prove something to I don't know who and it's making it difficult to be on a team with her, let alone the leader."

"All teams have difficulties in the beginning," Jaune advised, "It's goes hand in hand with the hand we've been dealt. We're all very different people who have all led very different lives leading up to our acceptance in Beacon. There's always going to be friction because every single person has a different idea of how things should be done. This is one of the biggest problems with the leader position. Not everyone will want to follow you because it conflicts with how they feel a problem should be resolved."

"So, what you're saying is-"

"Give it time, Weiss needs to learn to rely on you, Nora and Ruby but that also goes the other way."

"Thanks, Jaune."

"Don't mention it, this whole thing will work itself out, I'm sure of it."

"What makes you so certain?"

Ren sees the shrug from the Arc and follows the other young man's gaze to the skyline, his small smile grows a fraction and he nods once, "She likely feels isolated," he observed, "Not being around all that money and power must be difficult so it would only make sense that she'd want to try and reclaim that somehow. I wish I could offer her an olive branch, but it just seems to be met with resistance at every turn."

"Then don't try to be her leader," Jaune advised, "Let that bond form naturally, focus on trying to make friends with her. I think she could use one. It's that distant look in her eye, tells me she's grown up rather secluded from everyone else."

There's another nod exchanged between the two boys and they remain where they are for a few moments, watching the skyline in silence. Being a leader was difficult, and Ren knew this, but he'd been chosen for the role and he couldn't let his quiet nature get in the way of bringing it together. He wouldn't rush off to find Weiss and immediately bombard her with a hundred and fifty different reasons why she should give it a chance, he wasn't like Jaune, but he would no longer wait for her to come to her senses and make the first move. That chance had come and gone.

Finally, Ren returned to his feet and lightly clapped Jaune on the back. A silent way of saying thank you given and the Lotus turned around and began his journey back into the school. Jaune's cerulean gaze followed the other Leader and he nodded to himself once before rising to his own feet and looking down at Vale from where he was standing his hands moving to fold over his chest.

"They'll be alright," he murmured.

"You're Jaune Arc, aren't you?"

His head turned to face the person who spoke and gave a nod, "Yeah, who's asking?"

"Coco Adel," the girl responded, pushing her glasses down the bridge of her nose slightly as her brow rose into a perfectly shaped arch, "You really need to alter your fashion choices."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, kid, just being honest with you here. Are you a civilian or a Huntsman? That outfit screams, Help me I can't decide!"

Jaune gently tugged at his collar, lowering his eyes under the intense scrutiny of Coco's gaze and the shiver that followed caused the girl to laugh, "Relax, I'm just messing with you...not about needing to alter your fashion choices though, that mish-mash of so many different colors is doing you no favors."

"Um...excuse me?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you come here to tell me?"

"Oh! Yeah, sorry about that, kid, Ozpin's looking for you."

"Er, thanks Coco."

"You're welcome, kid, you know how to get to his tower?"

"Not really no."

Coco whirled around and rose her hand happily, "C'mon then, Arc. I'll give you the direct route!"

"Are all the girls at this school insane?" Jaune muttered under his breath, but he followed after Coco nonetheless. They navigated the Courtyard and headed for the main part of the Academy, but this time, they hung a left at the Auditorium instead of a right which allowed the two of them to circle around the back of it. Jaune's hands moved to the back of his head as they continued down the path behind the auditiorium until they eventually reached a rather large tower that rose high above any of the other buildings on campus.

"Just use the elevator to get up there kid, he's expecting you."

"Thanks Coco, I will."

"No prob and hey, kid?"

Jaune slowly turned to face her, his head tilting slowly, "What's up?"

"If you ever are seriously thinking about changing up that look of yours, give me a call," Coco reached into the pocket of her leather jacket and promptly extracted a small business card which she then deposited into Jaune's grip, "You, I can work with."

Once Coco was out of sight, Jaune felt a sigh leaving his lips. It wasn't his fault that his outfit came across the way it did. He'd never really had any proper training so this was the best he could wrangle up at short notice. Much like with Crocea Mors, the armored plating of his upper-body had been another item that was stolen from his father. This time, an old piece of armor. He'd have grabbed the whole set but there just hadn't been any extra time to grab anything except the chest-plate. He silently approached the elevator and pressed the button to ascend. He thought that he should be more worried about a conversation with the headmaster. Though Yang had already notified him that they couldn't kick him out now that he'd passed initiation but was there some kind of other punishment that he might be forced to endure because of it? Only time would tell, really.

The elevator door slid open and Jaune silently advanced through the top room of the tower. It was a dark, yet very sophisticated looking place and if Jaune were asked he'd say that the entire place just screamed Ozpin. He decided to worry about architecture later and pressed on through the tower, ready for whatever he might find on the other side of the Headmaster's door. Jaune reached over and rapped his knuckles against the darkened surface.

"Enter."

Hearing the direction from Ozpin, Jaune stepped back, the door to the office zipping to the left and immediately revealing what was behind it. More of the same architectual designing as the rest of the tower with the circular room possessing the grandeur of someone sitting atop the entire world.

"Good afternoon, Mister Arc."

"Good afternoon, Professor Ozpin, is everything okay?"

"Oh, yes, Professor Port merely enlightened me to the fact that you also have a fondness of coffee. Would you care to join me?"

A coffee? With Ozpin? What was this guy playing at? Well, since he wasn't in trouble, he might as well accept the offer, free coffee was the best coffee after all. He nodded, silently at first, then after entering the office fully he offered what he hoped was a confident smile, "Thanks for your kind offer, sir."

"No need to look so nervous."

And confident smile. Failed. Though if Ozpin noticed the horror on Jaune's face at being caught out with such a thing, he didn't show it. Instead he poured out two mugs then handed one over to the younger and retreated back to his desk, "How have your classes been going?" he asked conversationally.

"About as well as they can," Jaune said morosely.

"Hm," Ozpin observed, the two men both raising their mugs to their lips and sipping at the liquid inside, "Mr. Arc, while you're here...I was wondering if you could perhaps indulge me in something?"

"And what would that be, Professor?"

Ozpin reached under his desk and raised the small dagger previously stored in the cabinet. He then slowly placed it on the center of the desk, in a clear space so that Jaune could see it clearly, "I was wondering whether or not you might recognize this dagger."

There's a moment of silence, Jaune seemed to naturally drift closer to the dagger though he did not vocalize anything about its appearance beforehand. The fingers not encircled around the young man's mug reached out toward the dagger and a single finger was rested upon the blade. In that moment Jaune's eyes flashed with recognition as Ozpin's expression changed a single fraction.

Those eyes.

He had those eyes.

The same as he did.

The same as the Maidens.

The eyes...of a sorcerer.

However as quickly as the golden flames curling around the outer edges of Jaune's eyes had appeared, they vanished, leaving only his ordinary cerulean pools behind. Jaune then removed his hand from the dagger and shrugged, "Other than a weird energy that seems to emanate from it, there's nothing untoward about it, I'd guess."

"Thank you for that, Mr. Arc. I appreciate your input."

Wheels spun rapidly across the road as the black limosine sped down it. The vehicle rounded the corner and continued the descent down the slope leading into the city of Vale. Inside this Limosine, a man is seated right at the back. He has a tall, muscular figure and is wearing a large buttoned up trench-coat with chains around the sleeves and large metallic greaves that sit up around half-way up the man's beefy arms. He leans back slightly and a frustrated sigh leaves the man's lips.

"How close are we?" The voice that left the man's lips was harsh, bitter and contained an edge of anger to it that caused his throat to rumble like a crash of thunder.

"N-not too far now."

"Good."

"I'm sure Doctor Merlot will be happy to hear of your progress, Councilman Arc."

End Chapter.

So this one was more filler than anything else, sorry for that but I wanted to experiment more with writing Ren before I dove into the major LVWR update that's coming next. Also keep sending in your ideas for stuff you want to see in the fic guys or just drop a PM to chat, I love all the conversations we have! With that being said, the next chapter is going to be the longest one yet with some LVWR, Some ABYN (of course) and I think it's about time to touch base with Merlot and his little gang again.

Well, I hope you'll look forward to it!