Chapter 12: Hapless Pessimism

"Following the Great War, the faunus of Mantle revolted against their former masters, killing the king and the newly formed council, resulting in the destruction of the nation," Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck, a scraggly dressed green haired man, hurriedly explained to his class.

"Spurred on by the destruction of culture the kingdom had enacted to reduce the threat of the grimm, the revolt is often cited as the catalyst for several faunus-human conflicts around the globe." He tapped a thin stick on the world map at the back of the classroom as he sipped coffee from a mug.

Team JNPR found itself in History of Remnant alongside teams CRDL and RWBY, though everyone was sitting away from their teams. Weiss sat near the back of the room, while her team sat in a middle row with Pyrrha. Nora and Ren were sitting up front, with the latter occasionally jostling the former awake.

"After the revolt, Mantle remained only a city, and the modern kingdom of Atlas took its place on the world stage." Dr. Oobleck zipped from behind his desk to stand before the class. "Yesterday's readings about the Faunus Rights Revolutions, or Faunus Wars, should have given you a groundwork for understanding how the repercussions of these uprisings are manifesting in our day, such as the rise of faunus rights organizations like the White Fang."

Across the room, Jaune sat at the front as well, with Cardin behind him, and the remainder of team CRDL at the back. The blonde boy found himself propping his head up with his arm, slowly losing concentration on the lecture.

"Now, which of you young scholars can tell me the event most theorized was the tipping point of the Revolutions as a whole?" He zipped to the other side of the room as Weiss' hand shot up. Ruby's immediately followed.

"Ms. Schnee?"

"The Battle of Fort Castle," she answered. Ruby's hand fell like a tree.

"Precisely!" Dr. Oobleck zipped back behind his desk and continued on. "And who can tell me the advantage the faunus had over the human forces during the battle?"

Jaune snored softly, then startled awake as Cardin hit him in the back of the head with a paper airplane.

"Mr. Arc!" Oobleck zipped in front of Jaune, ecstatic. "Another contribution to class? Excellent, excellent! What is the answer?"

"Uh," Jaune started, racking his brain. "The answer, the advantage, the faunus had… over the other side's stuff…" He couldn't think anymore from being so tired, so he leaned around and spotted Pyrrha holding her hands in a cup shape over her eyes like…

"Binoculars!"

The class room erupted with a wave of laughter at his answer. Pyrrha palmed her forehead and Dr. Oobleck sipped his coffee, looking at Jaune nonplussed. Cardin laughed the hardest, clutching his stomach and leaning out of his seat.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc," Oobleck said, zipping back behind his desk. "Cardin!" He singled out the large boy, who placed his feet on his portion of the large, room-spanning desk. "Perhaps you would like to share your thoughts on the subject?"

"Well," Cardin said, placing his hands behind his head, "I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier."

"You're a rather close-minded person, aren't you, Cardin?" Pyrrha said, shooting a glare at the boy. He sneered back as Oobleck interrupted their spat.

"And do you have the answer, Ms. Nikos?"

"I do," Pyrrha said, turning to him. "It's night vision. Many faunus are known to have nearly perfect vision in the dark."

"The Mantle general was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus forces in their sleep," Blake jumped in, having been sitting next to Pyrrha. "His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured."

"Perhaps if he'd done his studying," Pyrrha added, turning to Cardin. "He wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." She and Blake shared a fist bump under the desk as some students lightly jeered. Cardin glowered in their direction.

"Precisely!" Dr. Oobleck continued his lecture, going on to quiz different teams for answers.

Jaune rested his head on his desk as his friends spared him worried glances.

As class ended, Weiss was the first student out of the room, leaving without a word to anyone else. Following her was the remainder of team RWBY and most of team JNPR among the crowd of students.

Trailing behind them, team CRDL came out, but Cardin lingered by the door as his teammates went on. Jaune came limping out of class last and got ambushed into a side-armed hug.

"Hey, buddy!" Cardin said with a wicked grin. "Thanks for helping with my Survival Science report last night. I really appreciate it. Think you can pick something up for me in Vale?" He handed a paper to Jaune.

"No problem," Jaune said through gritted teeth.

"And you don't mind doing my friend Sky's dust project, do ya?"

"What?" Jaune balked. "But, that's three projects! I can't-"

"Oh? I think I hear Glenda in the other hall," Cardin said offhandedly. "It'd be a real shame if-"

"Ok!" Jaune broke Cardin's grasp. "Ok, I get it. I'll have them for you next week."

"Thanks man!" Cardin said, tussling Jaune's hair. "You're a great friend." They shared a hard glare before Cardin left.

Jaune blinked, then stooped, heading off to get lunch.

"Jaune," Ren called his name, but Jaune barely heard it.

"Jaune." Ren shook his leader's arm, getting his attention. The two of them were in line at the cafeteria, getting a school provided meal when Jaune spaced off again.

"Are you well?" Ren asked.

"I'm fine," Jaune responded.

"We're worried about you," Ren said. "You haven't been the same since Monday."

"I said I'm fine," Jaune insisted, collecting the last of his lunch before turning to spot the rest of his friends at a table together. He paused, then turned away, telling Ren, "I'm going to eat in our dorm. See you later."

He and the rest of his group watched Jaune go, unsure of what to do. Ren went and sat between Nora and Pyrrha, with Blake and Yang on the other side of the table.

"That's not suspicious," Yang said sarcastically between bites of a sandwich. "Not suspicious at all."

"I know," Pyrrha said, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't want to pry, but… it's worrisome."

Yang huffed. "It's been, like, a month, and our group is already going through a crap ton of drama!" She threw the last of her sandwich into her mouth. "I'm shick of it!" She chewed and swallowed. "I'm gonna bring this to an end, personally." Her last word was punctuated by her eyes flashing red.

"Hold on," Pyrrha said, raising her hands. "Getting involved may only make things worse."

"How can things get worse?" Yang asked, her eyes returning to normal. "My sister and her partner don't talk anymore, and your leader isn't getting any sleep for some reason." She turned to her partner. "You think we should step in, right, Blake?"

Blake was watching a different scene unfold across the cafeteria, prompting the rest of her group to notice.

Cardin had walked past Velvet and slapped a lunch tray out of her hands. He was now pointing and laughing at the faunus girl as she tried to clean herself off and recover what she could. Of his team, only Sky was present, awkwardly joining in the jeering until Dove came by and gripped his partner's arm, towing him away.

Cardin stopped his bullying to glare at his own team, then left the scene altogether.

"People like Cardin are trash," Yang said, her eyes narrowed.

"Indeed," Pyrrha agreed. "But, realistically, what can we do about it? Those incidents happen so quickly."

"We can break his legs!" Nora offered excitedly.

Yang raised an eyebrow as Pyrrha countered, "That would get us suspended, if not expelled."

"Why would stopping a bully be a bad thing?" Blake asked. She stopped as Weiss walked by their table, looking over the aftermath of Cardin's scene.

"It's odd that Beacon doesn't provide separate facilities for faunus and humans," she commented. "Incidents like that rarely happen in Atlas because everyone knows our differences."

"Excuse me?!" Blake said, standing with her arms on the table. "Why would faunus need to be separated from humans?"

"To avoid things like that," Weiss said, pointing to the remains of Velvet's lunch.

"So, you see a human being violent," Yang tried to follow her logic, "and then say the faunus is at fault for being in the wrong place?" She shook her head.

"What? That's not-" Weiss stopped short as she heard a voice.

"Hey," Ruby said, appearing at the table behind the bench spot beside Yang.

She and Weiss locked eyes for a moment, then the heiress turned away.

"I'm going to find more suitable company," Weiss huffed, leaving the cafeteria.

Ruby sighed as she sat down, poking at her food before noticing something. "Where's Jaune?"

"He went back to our dorm," Ren said, removing his hand from Nora's feisty mouth as Weiss left.

Ruby blinked, then made to get up, only to stop when Yang gripped her cloak.

"Where are you going?" Yang asked flatly.

Ruby's mouth wavered, then she looked down and said, "To our dorm."

"Sit down," her sister chided. "We don't need another one of you wandering off."

Ruby sighed, then turned back to the table. She poked at her food again, prompting Yang to ask, "What's wrong, little sister?"

Ruby frowned as she said, "I heard Professor Goodwitch is looking into a possible transfer."

"Well, that's some good news!" Yang said, brightening. "You won't have to deal with Weiss anymore!"

"That's-" Ruby's arm fell to the table. "That's not what I wanted! When we worked with Weiss in the forest, I felt, like, a connection with her; like, we could really work together and be an awesome team; awesome partners." She stared at her food, downcast.

"But, you two haven't been getting along since your bout," Blake commented. "You still want her on our team?"

"I'm sure there's more to Weiss than we know," Ruby said, her head still hung. "I was really hoping for some kinda breakthrough; but, I guess it's not meant to be."

She looked up for a moment, asking Blake, "Are we still good to go shopping tomorrow? For the trip to Forever Fall this weekend?"

"Yeah," Blake said, "Let's-"

"Then I'll see you guys later," Ruby said, standing. "I want to finish the next level in my game before then." Before Yang could snatch her cloak again, she was gone in a puff of rose petals.

Yang sighed, then turned and swallowed the rest of her meal. As she cleared her tray, she turned to the remainder of the group. "Anyone want to party in Vale with me and my friends? It is our last day of classes this week!"

"No thanks," Blake said, disinterested.

"I'll have to pass too," Pyrrha said politely.

"We have homework," Ren said, lowering Nora's excited arms.

"Aww," Nora whined.

Yang frowned, then shrugged as she stood. "Suit yourselves."