A/N: I had a little too much fun at the festival going on in my town for the last two weeks. Anyways, here's a new chapter.
Drrrriiiii…
"Good morning team Rainbooooow!"
Jaune snapped his eyes open. "Good morning!" He answered cheerfully.
"Morning," Blake replied as she stretched like a cat.
This was much more lively than Jaune's former room. He had missed this. Everyone was waking up enthusiastically!
"Shut up!" Weiss groaned.
…Well, almost everyone. As usual, Weiss was such a mood.
The daily routine of the team from before Jaune got suspended had returned, and he welcomed it gladly.
First, the same old physical training every morning, of course. Then they usually returned to their dorm to shower, before heading to the cafeteria for breakfast.
However, that day, when Jaune and his team stepped into the cafeteria, the crowd slightly quieted down, staring at them.
"…It's him…" Jaune heard someone whisper.
"The human bomb." Another muttered.
"Crater freak."
"I heard he could kill someone with a snap of his fingers…"
"What a monster…"
"He easily sent CRDL's leader to the hospital… Even though he's a tough guy who wears heavy armor."
"Really…?"
"They released a dangerous guy like that?"
"Scary…"
Naturally, Jaune tried not to pay attention to such whispers.
I'm used to much more insulting comments.
Besides, it was understandable, after blowing up a good portion of the Emerald Forest.
Once he and his teammates had grabbed their food, they quickly looked around to find a seat. Since team PYRN was apparently not up yet, they chose a nearby table.
"Here," Ruby said.
"…That place is reserved." A guy who was already sat at that table spoke up.
"Huh?" Ruby blinked, turning to the guy that just spoke.
"Please don't sit here. There are plenty of empty places."
Weiss frowned. "…And why should we not-"
"It's fine, Weiss," Jaune said, since the guy was obviously glaring at him. Were they scared of him or angry at him? It was hard to tell. "Let's find another place to sit."
"…"
They looked around again, searching for an empty seat. There were plenty, of course, but the people next to these seats were staring at them with barely hidden hostility.
"How about here?" Ruby asked another team.
"No, thanks. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any problem with Arc," He waved his hand, to which Jaune smiled in relief. It was good to know that not everyone was scared of him. "...But I'd rather not eat with such questionable company…" The guy finished, looking at Blake with contempt.
Blake's ears flattened on her hair, and Jaune instantly dropped his smile.
"H-hey, you...!" He tried to protest, but Ruby cut him.
"What are you saying?!" She exclaimed angrily. "Blake makes for a perfectly good company!"
"For you, maybe." The guy shrugged. "The heiress knows what I mean, right?" He asked, turning to Weiss.
"Why, you little-!" Weiss also gritted her teeth at the group. "I do not!"
"It's fine, Weiss, Ruby." Blake gave a smile, "We can find another table."
"…"
And so they moved on again…
"How about here then?" Weiss asked another team of Faunus.
"Hah. Eating with a Schnee scum? No, thanks."
"Go back to your manor in Atlas, rich girl." Another added mockingly.
"She is no scum!" Blake protested vehemently.
"Never-mind, let's find somewhere else…" Weiss sighed.
"Jerks!" Ruby called as they walked away, patting the heiress' arms.
"Here?" Jaune asked another group of people.
"I'd rather not…" They replied, looking at him apprehensively.
"Please find another table…" They requested, clearly afraid of him this time.
"…"
Jaune gritted his teeth and glared at them, which made them shrunk in their seat.
Ironically, he did not mind the negative comments about himself, but when people insulted Weiss and Blake, he found himself quite annoyed, and wanted to smack some sense into them.
After all, while it was normal and justified for Jaune to be feared, Blake and Weiss had done nothing wrong.
Jaune had not eaten in the cafeteria in a while, so he hadn't known things like this had been happening to Weiss and Blake.
Discrimination against Faunus, or against the Schnee family, or… now against Jaune himself. They made up quite the controversial team, honestly. Thank god at least Ruby was considered likable by most people.
And even then, some were still jealous that Ruby had entered Beacon 2 years early and even made leader…
Yeah, team Rainbow was not very liked among Beacon students. Unlike team PYRN who had the famous Pyrrha, the (un)funny Yang and the crazy Nora.
"…"
"Hey, Arc! Don't eat anything too spicy, or you'll blow up the cafeteria!"
People around them laughed mockingly at the remark.
"…"
"Grrrr..." Ruby growled through her teeth like an angry beast. She was trying to be intimidating but ended up looking adorable.
"Don't listen to them," Blake advised Jaune.
"...I'm not," Jaune replied, giving her a reassuring smile, as he was very much used to such comments. "Tell that to Ruby."
At this point, he had already raised his 'filter'. It was something his brain had made up somehow, in order to automatically filter out all the negative comments, so that he could barely hear any and not be bothered with it. Nothing special, really, it was a very common ability that bully-victims developed.
"Are you guys lost?" Someone else asked.
"Pick a seat already!"
Another series of laughs.
"Hey, Ruby, don't worry about it," Jaune tried to reassure his partner whose expression looked like she might snap at any moment.
"Uugh… I know... Can Yang hurry up already…" Ruby mumbled.
Usually, team Rainbow sat with Yang's team to avoid such problems, but team Pyrene was not there yet.
"Hey, rookie!" Someone called loudly, silencing the chuckles and insults.
Looking in the voice's direction, they found Coco standing up and waving at them from her table. And the people that were mocking Jaune suddenly went quiet for some reason.
"Over here! Jaune!" She even called him by his name for the first time, as if to make a point.
"I-it's Coco Adel!" Weiss whispered excitedly, eyes wide.
"I know," Jaune grinned.
"Oooh, thank god!" Ruby sighed in relief.
As team RABW walked over to CVFY's table, they could hear some comments around them.
"Team CVFY is friends with him?"
"No way..."
"I guess he might not be that bad after all…"
"Maybe."
"Huh..."
Just by being associated with the insanely popular Coco, people's minds were being changed!
As a self-proclaimed expert in bullying, Jaune recognized what was happening immediately. Coco was basically taking them under her wing, using her popularity to protect them!
In the past, there had been people who had attempted to do the same with Jaune, but he had always ignored them. Now, however, he could accept the help, since his semblance was under control.
"What's up, little rookie?" Coco grinned at him,
"What happened to calling me Jaune?" He sighed.
"That was just a one-time thing. Come on, sit here with us," She pulled out a chair next to Yatsu.
"Thanks, Coco," Jaune smiled, sitting down. "Been a while since I've come to the cafeteria, so I couldn't find a seat." He joked, causing Yatsu to chuckle.
"Sure, that must be why." Coco rolled her eyes. She looked at his teammates, "What's up, Ruby!"
"What is good in the hood!" Ruby grinned back.
The two of them shared a high five.
Huh, what? When did these two get so close?
"You know her, Ruby?" Weiss asked as they all sat down.
"Ah, um…" Ruby scratched her hair, embarrassed, "She just gave me some tips for, uh…"
"Leadership stuff." Coco finished for her.
"Right," Ruby flushed, as if she was embarrassed that she had needed such help.
"Well, I am Weiss Schnee, delighted to meet you." Weiss presented herself.
"I'm Coco. This is Fox, Yatsu, and Velvet." She waved to her teammates.
The two teams all greeted each other.
"Hi, Blake," Velvet greeted shyly.
"Hi." Blake simply replied.
"I've heard what people have said about you." Velvet declared, "But I think you're a very strong person!"
"Uhuh."
"Er… Us Faunus have to band together, right?"
"Right." Blake nodded along. "If you really think so, then I have an interesting read for you." She pulled out a book, "It's called 'Ninjas of lo- "
Smack!
Weiss smacked Blake's head with her own book.
"Stop trying to get people to read your smut!"
"S-smut!" Velvet gasped, blushing.
"It's not smut," Blake reassured her, though her cheeks turned a guilty pink. "It is simply getting a little too descriptive at times… But the plot makes it worth it."
"I-is that so?" Velvet blinked, her rabbit ears raised in the air.
"Yeah… Worth it…" Ruby nodded along.
"…Can I borrow that book?" Coco asked.
"Sure." Blake smiled evilly as if she was selling some illegal drug and Coco was a new potential addicted prey.
Jaune watched them chat as he munched on his food.
So that book contained only smut? How disappointing. Jaune had assumed it was some kind of important book, since Ruby and Weiss hadn't wanted him to read it, but that didn't seem to be the case.
Though Jaune had never read smut, of course. But it couldn't be that big of a deal, right.
"I-I read it for the plot!" Ruby declared, blushing.
"…You read it too?" Jaune stared at her, before he shook his head at them. "You're all perverts," He voiced his thoughts.
"And you're such a prude," Coco replied, rolling her eyes.
"Weiss was like that, too. Maybe you should give it a try," Blake suggested, leaning towards him with a sinister smile. "There are some important philosophical lessons in this book that I'm sure you will find interesting."
"…Along with other kinds of lessons," Coco nodded along, grinning mischievously.
"Um… I'm good, thanks…" Jaune refused politely. "I'm very busy studying and training already, I don't have time to waste…"
It was true. His schedule was extremely busy, and he did not have time to read. Especially since his reading skills still remained very slow.
To this, Blake narrowed her eyes at him, making him uncomfortable.
"But you have time to waste playing video games with Ruby." Weiss noted.
"…That's not a waste, though!" Jaune protested at Weiss.
Time spent with friends - especially Ruby - was never wasted in Jaune's opinion.
"Hell yeah, do you not know how important it is for us to finish our playthrough?!" Ruby nodded along, crossing her arms.
"You're addicted, Ruby," Weiss suddenly claimed out of nowhere. "Video games are bad, they are causing a spike of negativity through the toxic behavior of online players."
"Oh... Oooh no!" Ruby gasped dramatically, widening her eyes at Weiss. "You're one of these people suffering from brain cancer?! I'm so sorry, Weiss, I didn't know!"
"Don't be a pest! It's the truth!" Weiss insisted vehemently.
As Jaune watched Weiss and Ruby start arguing about the importance of video games, he suddenly noticed someone staring at him from across the table.
It was Fox, Coco's partner.
Fox was staring at him. Really staring. Intensely.
…Almost glaring, actually.
"…?" Jaune averted his eyes and looked down at his food, uncomfortable.
Crap, did Jaune do something wrong to make him angry like that? What did he do?
Plus, he had such a weird gaze… Almost like he didn't really see him, but was just looking in his direction… glaring in his direction.
"Psst, Yatsu," Jaune bumped the elbow of the man sitting next to him.
"What?" The man grunted.
"Your teammate Fox, he's staring at me…" Jaune muttered, "Did I do anything to upset him?"
"…Oh." Yatsu realized and turned to Fox. "It's useless, Fox. Jaune is immune to semblances."
"…What?" Fox frowned, looking at Jaune. "So you couldn't hear me the whole time? How lame."
"Eh, what?" Jaune blinked, very confused.
"I can communicate with people telepathically." Fox explained, "But not with you, apparently… Too bad, I had a great prank in mind."
"Ah? Sorry about that…" Jaune apologized, "There's nothing I can do about it."
"It's fine," Fox waved his hand. "It's a shame we can't invite you to our special telepathic 'teamspeak', though."
"Teamspeak?" Jaune blinked in confusion.
"It's like, a mental Discord server, and I'm the admin," Fox explained.
Huh. So that was why team CVFY worked so well together! No wonder they were the best team of Beacon.
"It gives you a reason to use your actual voice, though," Coco pointed out. "We don't hear it enough."
"Bah…" Fox grimaced.
"Fox is blind," Yatsu explained to Jaune, as he was still staring, a little confused by how Fox's eyes were looking.
"Blind!" Jaune gasped, shocked. "But then, how do you… Uh…" He hesitated, a little embarrassed to ask such a question, "How do you know where stuff is?"
"I focus my Aura to sense my surroundings." Fox answered, not bothered at all by the question, "Like a minor extrasensory perception, so to say."
"Huh?" Jaune blinked, "How does that work?"
"There's a series of boring training sessions you have to go through." He shrugged, apparently grimacing at the memory of it, "It's a very long, dull process."
"No, I won't find it boring at all!" Jaune replied enthusiastically. "Aura control is my one strong point, so it really interests me!"
"But it requires a complete mastery of meditation…"
"No problem!" Jaune insisted, giving a thumbs up and grinning, "I'm already a master of meditation, I got this!"
Fox looked at him. Or rather, he looked in his direction. "Maybe, but it takes years of training. For someone who isn't blind, it's just not worth the time to learn it."
"…Is that so?" Jaune sighed, disappointed.
"I disagree, actually." A familiar voice called behind them.
Turning to the voice, they found Ren was standing right next to them, with his team not too far behind him.
"Having taken the time to learn that skill, and not being blind, I can attest that it's an extremely useful technique to sense the presence of Grimm out there in the wild," Ren declared.
"You know it too?" Jaune gaped at him.
"I'm Lie Ren." Ren presented himself to Fox and Yatsu. "Call me Ren."
"Fox Alistair."
"Yatsuhashi Daichi."
"Yatsu for short," Fox added.
"And I'm Noraaa! Good to have you back, Jauney!"
The two partners sat with them, while Yang and Pyrrha sat on the other end of the table, waving hello to Jaune from a distance.
"Morning, Jaune." Yang waved.
"Welcome back," Pyrrha simply said to him, before sitting with Yang.
Yang's arm still encased in plaster – that sight made Jaune feel guilty all over again – so Pyrrha was apparently helping her to eat.
"Yang, don't be ridiculous." Pyrrha rolled her eyes.
"Come on, say it! Say it!"
"Fine…"Pyrrha sighed. "Um… S-say 'aaah'…"
"Aaaaah~" Yang gaped happily, and closed her mouth on the food, while Pyrrha looked mildly embarrassed.
Wow. Did this happen at every meal?
I kinda want to break my arm too, now. Jaune mused, glancing at Ruby who was laughing at the situation.
Looking back at his side of the table, Nora was busy praising her partner as usual.
"Yeah, I can confirm that it's a very useful skill!" Nora nodded enthusiastically, "When we traveled around in Mistral, it allowed us to bypass Grimm, or sneak closer to the isolated ones!"
"You manage to do that? Impressive," Fox commented at Ren. "My max range is about thirty to fifty meters."
"Probably because you're constantly using it, at all times." Ren pointed out, "I, in comparison, only need to focus for five seconds every once in a while, which allows me to use it more intensely, and have a range of about three hundred meters."
"Three hundred?!" Fox gaped.
"Meh, he's being humble." Nora added smugly, "It's actually more, like, five hundred, really."
"Nora…" Ren sighed.
"That's admirable." Yatsu praised. "You must have amazing self-control and discipline to achieve such a feat."
"My semblance helps me with Aura control." Ren nodded, humbly accepting the compliment. Ren was cool like that.
"…So do you think it's something worth learning?" Jaune asked him again.
"Definitely, but it would take you a long time," Ren warned him. "Years, probably."
"There. See?" Fox nodded along.
Jaune hummed quietly, weighing his options.
Something useful like that, it definitely seemed better to learn than what he had been doing during Miss Goodwitch's training, which had focused on his semblance.
Now that he was no longer isolated, Jaune no longer trained with Miss Goodwitch, either. Instead, they had weekly meetings together, but other than that, Jaune was now responsible for his own training.
Being able to sense things from a distance, and even sensing things all around him including dead angles, effectively giving him a 360 degrees field of 'vision', it seemed like a great skill to learn.
…And Jaune wanted to become useful for his team instead of only being able to do the same thing: breaking, breaking, breaking…
It would be great if they started to rely on him for something else other than his semblance. He wanted to work hard to earn his place in the team, instead of always depending on his semblance.
This reminded Jaune of something, and he look up at Nora.
"Um, Nora, about your weapon… I'm s- Bwurf!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Nora forced a pancake into his mouth!
"I've already reassembled Magnhild, so it's fine, it's fine!" She reassured while she pushed the pancake further into his mouth.
"Bwreaflly?" Jaune blinked at her, relieved.
"Nora, don't put pancakes in people's mouths." Ren lectured with a monotonous tone.
"But a voice in my head told me to…" Nora replied innocently.
"Don't listen to it...!"
"Fox!" Yatsu sighed. "Don't tell people to stuff pancake in other people's mouths."
"I don't know what you're talking about…" Fox replied.
This made them all share a laugh.
Later.
That day, their first class was Weapon Crafting and Upkeep, a class at which Jaune was exceptionally useless.
"My favorite class!" Ruby gushed.
"Yay…" Jaune raised his fist unenthusiastically.
Great, three hours of doing literally nothing. What a treat…
Thankfully, the evaluation and grading process of that discipline was done in pairs.
Each partner generally paired up with each other, and Ruby had naturally paired up with him at the start of the semester.
As a result, Jaune had very good grades even though he was completely useless in that subject. Ruby loved weapon crafting, after all, and had absolutely no problem carrying the workload of two people.
In fact, what made Jaune find comfort in taking this class was that he would spend three hours chatting with Ruby. And he was actually learning a lot from her, and trying his best to take an interest into this complicated subject that Ruby loved so much.
"Come on, Jaune!" She nudged his shoulder, "Cheer up, I'll show you my new weapon that I'm currently building!"
Jaune's eyes lit up. "Your new weapon?"
"Crescent Rose Mk II!" She revealed as she pulled out a bunch of schematics, "An improved version of Crescent Rose that I built from the damaged parts! And guess what!"
"What!"
"It's gonna have SIX different forms!"
"Six?!" Jaune gaped at her, his excitement building up.
"Shhhht!" She shushed him, "I haven't told anyone but professor Mulberry yet!"
"Six forms?" Jaune lowered his voice. "That's… That's insane!"
"Hah! It has to be insane to be my weapon~" Ruby smirked proudly.
"So what forms is it going to have? The previous one had the sniper and the scythe form…"
"It also had a spear form… kinda." Ruby added. "For the new one, I'm gonna add a sword form, cause I've noticed swords are really much more useful when fighting against other people."
"I see… But for Grimm, the scythe is the best?"
"The scythe form is the best when it comes to reaping tons of weak enemies or slicing off a giant Grimm's neck. But if the opponent knows how to parry or sidestep, I'm in trouble, even with my speed…" She mumbled, starting to mutter under her breath like a nerd, "And in the case of an opponent extremely strong, a scythe is easy to disarm, as well, and that's a problem."
"Not for much longer, though!" Jaune grinned.
Jaune and Ruby continued to regularly spar against each other to learn hand-to-hand combat. The two of them were greatly improving, though Jaune's progress was a lot slower than Ruby's. It was still useful for him to get used to seeing punches and kicks coming, and tell which one was a feint, for example.
As for Ruby, should she be disarmed, she would no longer be defenseless.
"And check this out! This form is…"
"A flame-thrower? Jaune gaped. "That's so cool!"
"It's not just a flame thrower, silly! It can use other kinds of Dust as well, like Ice and Wind!"
"Wow." Jaune breathed, amazed, "What about lightning dust?"
"Nah, doesn't work, it's too volatile, it disperses into the ground too easily. I'd have to jump above the target, it would be too annoying to set up." Ruby said, "But this one! Check out this one!" She grinned.
"Holy crap," Jaune widened his eyes at the schematics. "I-is that a…"
"A Gatling gun? You're goddamn right it is!" Ruby laughed. "I'm planning to ask Coco for some tips, I hope she's okay with that. Though it's a much more heavy version than Coco's and for now it takes some time to deploy. I haven't gotten around that issue yet."
"And what's that?" Jaune asked, pointing at a familiar, cylindrical shape, "Is that the same as Weiss'…"
"Yep! It's a revolver chamber for dust," Ruby nodded proudly. "Inspired from Myrtenaster. I'll use a similar system to store dust."
"…And that? What is that!"
"A catapult!"
"Wh-what?!" Jaune gasped.
"Just kidding!" Ruby laughed and slapped his shoulder, "How do you think I can fill a catapult in there? You dummy!"
"But if it's you, I wouldn't be surprised." Jaune smiled.
"Ooouh~ Is that a challenge?" Ruby narrowed her eyes at him, grinning smugly.
"Maybe?" Jaune smiled.
"Don't tempt me!" She giggled.
Jaune laughed with her, before looking at all the schematics. "But… Ruby, isn't this going to be too heavy for you?"
"All the parts are detachable! So I can discard some parts and go back to a simple scythe if I need to! And I also plan to use gravity dust to make it lighter, so it'll be okay!"
"You've really thought of everything…" Jaune sighed.
So cool… I want a weapon, too.
Later.
"Today, we welcome back one our dear students who got suspended for a little while! People, give a round of applause for the return of… Jaune Arc!"
Silence.
"Dad…" Ruby and Yang winced together as Mr. Xiao-Long remained frozen in front of the crowd, waiting for them to applause.
No one moved, even among Jaune's friends. This was more likely due to Mr. Xiao-Long's eccentric tendencies, rather than Jaune's reputation.
"I see, you all must be quite tired!" Mr. Xiao-Long gave an awkward laugh.
"If he's back, then where is Miss Goodwitch, sir?" Someone asked.
"She's taking some vacations! Due to an unfortunate accident, her arm was broken, you see…"
"…"
People started to mutter among themselves, turning to point at Jaune.
Here we go again… Jaune sighed to himself, as his teammates tensed up and glared back at them.
"Calm down!" The teacher raised his voice, "Students, please! Silence!"
People slowly calmed down as the teacher's voice started to sound pissed off.
"Mr. Arc!" Mr. Xiao-Long called him, his usual grin gone from his face. "Please come on stage, you'll be the first to fight today."
"...Why?" Jaune asked.
"Because a single fight with you will probably last a lot longer than the other fights." He explained, "It's best to get it out of the way first."
Because of my large Aura... I see.
"...Well... Crap." Jaune groaned as he stood up.
"Good luck, Jaune!" Ruby pat his arm.
"Fight well," Weiss told him, while Blake simply gave him a silent nod.
"Do we have a volunteer to fight Mr. Arc?" Mr. Xiao-Long asked as Jaune stepped onto the stage.
Silence.
Of course, people were afraid to lose a limb.
Who was going to brave such a risk?
Then, to Jaune's surprise, a hand was raised.
"Oh!" Mr. Xiao-Long smiled, pleasantly surprised, "You're usually so quiet… Mr… Ren, was it?"
Ren nodded silently and swiftly jumped down on stage.
He and Jaune exchanged a nod before Mr. Xiao-Long came over to Jaune.
"Hey," He lowered his voice so that only Jaune could hear him, "No semblance, remember, Jaune?"
"Huh?" Jaune tilted his head to the side.
"You were the one who agreed with Ozpin and Glynda that you would not break anything until the end of the semester." Mr. Xiao-Long reminded him.
"...All right, no problem." Jaune shrugged.
Even if he had been allowed to, he would not have used his semblance. Even if he controlled his power now, Jaune still remained cautious. It was too risky yet, too early. One mistake and he would break a bone.
Ren was a good friend... He could not risk breaking another friend's body.
"…"
"See this as a test of patience." The teacher suggested gently, apparently pitying him. "And maybe find a weapon for your next fight, if you want to really try to win some spars."
"A weapon..." Jaune mused. "Okay..."
"All right." The man smiled at him and stepped back to raise his voice. "Now! Are you two ready?"
"Yes." Ren answered calmly, taking a stance.
"Yes…" Jaune nodded.
"Then… Begin!"
"…"
The two of them stared at each other for a moment, unmoving.
Jaune frowned as he watched Ren stare back at him.
Lie Ren was a fighter that used closed combat martial arts, but he also had two guns as ranged options, and a pair of sharp blades to go along with them.
If he was to draw his two guns and open fire on him, there wasn't much Jaune could do. He would try his best to parry and lose, like, 15 or 20% of his Aura before Ren would run out of ammo.
Then Ren would attack him and start beating him up. From there, all Jaune would be able to do would be to reduce the damage to the maximum without tiring himself out, and wait for Ren to be exhausted.
…In that scenario, Ren might keep his ammo for when he's exhausted, to take a breather.
No… In the first place, Ren had no way of knowing how big Jaune's Aura reserve was.
Can I exploit that? Jaune wondered.
At that moment, Ren finally decided to dash towards Jaune, engaging the fight.
Jaune tried to parry his first strike, but somehow his arm was forcibly raised up, and Ren's palm struck him right below the chin, sending Jaune flying in the air.
From there, Ren chained a combination of attacks, not letting Jaune the time to breath, each strike impacting Jaune's body with tremendous force. As pain surged from each impact on his Aura, Jaune tried to dodge, but he quickly realized how wide the gap of skill was when Ren somehow returned Jaune's own punch against himself by using his arm as a lever.
So Jaune quickly gave up on trying to block or dodge Ren's attacks, and... became a punching bag.
For ten minutes, Jaune got beaten up, one punch after the other, one kick after the other, one palm strike after the other, gritting his teeth through the pain.
This was no surprise… His chances of winning were pretty slim, honestly.
After a while… Ren finally paused. He didn't seem exhausted at all.
Slowly standing up, wincing under the pain, Jaune looked up at the main screen.
Jaune Arc: 96,21%
Lie Ren: 100%
"…Huh. That's it?" Jaune raised his eyebrows, surprised.
I underestimated my reserve of Aura... It really is massive.
Hearing his comment, Ren narrowed his eyes at him.
… Ah, crap. Did I make him angry? I didn't mean to sound so disappointed. It's only been ten minutes. In one hour, Ruby only managed to take 17% off Jaune's Aura, so 4% in ten minutes is actually rather impressive.
Jaune suddenly noticed Ren changing his stance.
And then he vanished.
Something struck Jaune from behind with tremendous force. He was sent like a bolt crashing into the wall.
What the… Where did he get that strength? Was he holding back all along?
"A-awch…" Jaune winced as he tried to stand up again, holding his back in the middle of a cloud of dust.
Looking up, Jaune noticed Ren's green Aura shine within his hands.
This made him realize. This was an Aura technique!
Before Jaune had time to react, Ren was on him again, and struck him with his palm on his right side. Jaune was once again sent flying across the room, sliding against the wall until he crashed in the corner.
Yeah, I felt it... This is definitely an Aura technique!
His spirit lifted by that discovery, Jaune stood back up immediately and dashed towards Ren for the first time.
Use it again!
Sure enough, just like Jaune wanted him to, Ren prepared for his arrival by gathering his green Aura into his fist and threw it towards Jaune's chest.
Jaune felt Ren's Aura expand inside the shell that was Ren's fist, before it cracked and shattered as he opened his palm, unleashing a powerful force when he slapped it onto Jaune's chest, which blew him away.
Jaune was sent flying once again, slid on the ground for a couple of seconds, and stood back up again, a tiny smile forming on his face.
Jaune's senses were extremely sharp when it came to Aura. From what Jaune could understand, Ren was building up Aura inside his fist and unleashing it by opening his hand into a palm, and pushing it forward to add momentum, resulting in the release of a powerful force in a cone-like area in front of his palm.
A technique that relied on the motion of opening one's fist into a palm as a trigger to unleash large amounts of Aura…
As he hit me with his technique, I could sense what he did. A few more times... and I'm pretty sure I can learn that skill.
And then, I'll practice it on him and use it to defeat him…
Since I'm not allowed to use my semblance, for now, I need another way to use my giant reserve of Aura to win my spars in Combat Training classes, and this technique is perfect for that!
A genius of Aura control! Such was Jaune's level of prodigy: he could learn Aura tricks extremely fast! This was not an exaggeration, one could even say he was the kind of prodigy that only showed up every other century!
But I need him to keep using it, first.
Jaune glanced at the Aura monitoring screen.
Lie Ren: 97,02%
Jaune Arc: 93,87%
Since Ren used that technique three times, it looked like it consumed 1% of his Aura for each use. But the three strikes only damaged Jaune's Aura by 2% in total, despite Ren having used 3% of his Aura.
In other words, it was a technique that was not worth the use, because of the large difference of Aura between Ren and Jaune!
As Jaune was thinking that, Ren dashed towards him and used his technique again.
"Ugh…!" Jaune groaned as Ren's palm impacted his stomach.
He's targeting different parts of my body… almost as if he's poking a dead body to test for reactions. The thing is, it also makes it harder for me to get a proper feel of that technique…
Jaune was once again sent flying.
As he tried to control his crash, he slid on the ground and came to a stop, but Jaune's stomach suddenly twisted itself, and he felt vomit rise up his throat.
"Ugh…" He gulped it down and stood up again.
Getting launched around like a rag-doll was starting to have a tax on his body… even if he protected himself with Aura.
"..."
Jaune clenched his fist and started to accumulate Aura into it, finally trying to replicate Ren's technique.
Before he could finish it, Ren struck him in his back and interrupted him by unleashing Aura from his palm once again.
He keeps using his technique… Does he not care that he's losing a lot of Aura?
Probably not, Jaune realized. Even if he goes below 30%, he most likely thinks that I wouldn't be able to finish him anyway.
So he's just trying to damage my Aura as fast as possible…
I'll prove him wrong!
Jaune staggered back up again, only to see Ren dashing towards him again.
This time, Jaune focused his Aura around his entire body, reinforcing his defense.
Ren's palm opened and slammed onto his chest, and this time, Jaune barely staggered backward.
However, before he could raise his guard again, Ren punched him in the face, not letting him restore his defense.
After a combination of punches and kicks, Ren finished his combo by another powerful palm strike, sending Jaune rising in the air.
"Ugh...!"
Now in mid-air, Jaune widened his eyes as gravity slowed him down and made him fall back towards Ren, who was accumulating a dangerous amount of Aura in his fist.
Seeing this, Jaune decided to simply close his eyes and focus on the coming impact of his palm, to maximize his perception of the Aura technique.
This specific attack was much more powerful than all the others before. Jaune distinctly felt the Aura condensed in Ren's fist coming to a tipping point as he opened his palm, and violently explode outwards, sending Jaune crashing into the ceiling.
"Bwargh...!" Jaune almost vomited once again under the force of the blow, pain spreading through his entire body.
Holy crap…! He panicked as his body got stuck into the ceiling. So strong…! That one must have taken a lot more Aura!
Now, how did Jaune get out of here? He couldn't break the ceiling with his semblance because of the stupid rule. Looking down, Jaune saw Ren waiting for him to get down.
This ceiling was quite high... At least twenty meters high.
I see… Ren knows I don't have a landing strategy, and takes advantage of it to deal even more damage when I'll fall down!
What an intelligent guy.
However, this gives me time to learn this skill. Jaune thought as he started gathering Aura into his hands once again.
Clic!
"...!" Jaune widened his eyes as Ren pointed his guns right at him and fired.
The bullets impacted Jaune's body, causing extreme pain as his Aura protected him, but the bullets also somehow broke him out of the ceiling.
This caused Jaune to fall back to crash into the ground. Upon impact, he felt his body bounce off the ground once, and intense pain shot into his body. This was the damage caused by not having a proper landing strategy...
Before, his Aura would have helped cushion his landing by disintegrating the ground into sand, but now his Aura no longer protected him from such accidents.
The world danced around Jaune as he tried to recover his senses, motion sickness threatening to kick in at any moment.
His body was weak! It was not used to such harsh treatment!
Never mind his giant Aura reserve… at this rate, Jaune was going to pass out!
Thinking about it… Ren didn't need to damage his Aura until 15% to win. All he needed was to make Jaune faint from anemia!
This was usually how his spars with Ruby ended, too... Not by reaching 15%, but by fainting of exhaustion or anemia.
That's what Ren intended to do from the beginning, Jaune suddenly realized. I need to rest...!
As he was lying on the ground, trying to slowly recover from his fall, someone kicked his face, sending him rolling.
Ren was merciless!
To counter this, Jaune shrunk on himself and adopted the fetal position, and focusing his Aura to raise his defense, just long enough to recover from the rough landing.
As Ren tried to pummel his Aura down, Jaune endured and gathered Aura in his fist.
I nearly got it down. I just need to test it to be sure…
Ren paused, probably noticing the white light coming out from the fist that Jaune was trying to hide under his body.
Figuring he was going to be found out, Jaune took a step up and jumped towards Ren like a beast, throwing his fist forward.
As he opened his fist and directed his palm towards Ren, Jaune's Aura was released in a powerful wave!
Taken by surprise, Ren was successfully blown away from Jaune! Ren did, however, manage to land a lot more gracefully than Jaune did. Ren had perfected his landing strategy, after all.
"…You…" Ren looked up, frowned and narrowed his eyes at Jaune.
Lie Ren: 82,41%
Jaune Arc: 86,79%
"…"
Wordlessly, Jaune started to gather Aura into his fist again.
He had no choice, it was the only way he could damage Ren's Aura without using his semblance. So Jaune was going to spam that technique, even if it did take a long minute to charge up every time.
Clic!
Ren suddenly pointed his guns at Jaune, who widened his eyes and raised his arms to cover his face-
A shower of bullets impacted Jaune, interrupting his focus once again.
This wasn't fair…! Jaune had no weapons to defend himself from a gun like that.
Those are quite powerful bullets… Jaune mused, his Aura tanking the damage, feeling the pain of each impact on his body. If this continued, his body would not be able to keep up!
The firing stopped, and Jaune lowered his arms and looked towards Ren. He had disappeared.
"Huh…?" Jaune blinked and looked around.
He suddenly remembered his sparring with Ruby, who had disappeared in a similar way.
Behind!
Jaune turned around, just in time to receive a kick in the face.
"Ugh…!" Jaune staggered back and gathered Aura in his fist again.
Once again, as Jaune charged up his fist, he endured an assault of Ren, who even started using his guns' blades to slash at his Aura.
But even though Jaune was getting beaten up, he was still managing to charge up his fist!
"Haaa!" After a minute, Jaune finally threw his fist towards Ren and opened his palm…
But the guy instantly jumped away, resulting in Jaune's Aura dispersing harmlessly in the air! That guy was too fast.
However, this is good practice. Jaune mused.
He gathered Aura in his fist again, and started to spam the technique every time he could, while Ren avoided all the attacks easily and retaliated with his own Aura strikes.
Jaune was getting beat up and slashed down, but he still managed to focus his Aura flow into his fist despite all the attacks he suffered.
How? Jaune was a genius of Aura control! Simple as that.
But as twenty other minutes passed like this, Jaune was growing more and more tired. His weak body and stamina were catching up to him… he needed to end this fight quickly!
Jaune suddenly had an idea. He took the time to gather Aura into his fist once again, threw it forward, and let Ren dodge it easily.
However, Jaune had predicted this. He had purposefully not opened his palm, and continued to gather Aura in his fist without releasing it.
Even though Jaune sucked at hand-to-hand combat, he had finally successfully used a feint for the first time! His basic hand-to-hand combat training had not been useless.
He continued to accumulate more and more Aura into his fist, causing Ren to stop.
Jaune smiled. Even for Ren who was super fast, this much Aura was getting too risky, huh?
Dzzzt…
Jaune looked down apprehensively at his fist, which was shining very brightly. Maybe… This was a little too much energy?
Crack!
His fist suddenly ignited in white fire, showing how unstable the mass of Aura was growing inside his hand.
Jaune winced as his hand was burning white flames, and he remembered what Weiss had told him: 'It is likely due to the instability of your Aura, which makes it vibrate back and forth. The energy resulting from the friction creates heat.'
In other words... White flames = instability = a lot harder to control. So Jaune could not pump more Aura into his fist, it would be too hard to control.
"…" Jaune looked up at Ren.
He was now maintaining his distances, carefully eyeing his fist shining with white flames.
"…"
Jaune stopped focusing Aura into his flaming fist, deciding he had gathered enough energy to deal heavy damage. This much Aura would probably one-shot Ren, honestly.
Instead, Jaune started charging up his other fist.
This was because he predicted that Ren would dodge the first fist. This way, his chances of landing a hit doubled.
Ren did the same, except the guy could charge up his fists instantly, compared to Jaune who needed a lot more time since he was a novice of this technique.
"…"
"…"
The two of them spent a minute waiting for Jaune to charge up his second fist. It seemed like Ren preferred to let him come and defend rather than taking the risk to attack.
Crack!
Eventually, his second fist also ignited in white fire, signaling the instability of the Aura.
…It was time.
"Go, Jauuuune!" Ruby's voice came to his ears.
"Break his legs, Ren!" Nora cheered back.
To Jaune's surprise, Ren was the one who moved the first, dashing towards him.
"…?" Jaune stepped back and raised his flaming fists, preparing to open his palms to release all the energy he had accumulated inside his fists.
As Ren was still a few meters away, the guy suddenly threw his own palm forward.
An invisible force impacted Jaune's arms, forcibly raising them in the air!
Jaune widened his eyes. The same skill, but from a distance? He can do that?!
Jaune hurriedly lowered his arms again to restore his guard, but it was too late, Ren was already on him!
Ren grabbed his fists into his hands, keeping them shut on themselves. He was stopping Jaune from opening his fists, which was the trigger to release the Aura blast onto Ren!
"… Ugh!" Ren winced in pain as the white fire was burning his fingers, but he still kept them firmly closed onto Jaune's fists.
"Let go...!" Jaune tried to struggle against his grip, but it was useless. Ren was massively stronger than he was.
Suddenly, Ren ruthlessly twisted Jaune's arms and forced him to point them right at Jaune's chest.
And then... Ren forced Jaune's fists open.
"Ah-" Jaune widened his eyes as the large amount of his own Aura stored within his hands was unleashed on himself.
BOOOOM!
A tremendous amount of power exploded from his own hands, causing intense pain and violently sent him crashing into the wall!
Jaune lost his breath as his body impacted the wall. He trembled as pain surged into his articulations, trying to stand up again.
The edge of his vision started blackening, his head feeling heavy.
As his world went black, Jaune finally realized.
Ren had let him copy his technique, knowing that Jaune would use it against him next… Ren had planned to return Jaune's own firepower against him… which was why he had waited for both of Jaune's fists to be supercharged with Aura. All of this, because Ren's attacks did not deal enough damage... so he resorted to use Jaune's attack against himself.
...
...
I was completely outclassed… Jaune thought as his body finally gave out, and he went unconscious.
…
…
…
Clap clap clap clap.
"Winner: Lie Ren!" Mr. Xiao-Long's voice announced.
Clap clap clap clap.
As everyone applauded Ren's victory, Jaune opened his eyes on the ceiling with difficulty. He was lying on the ground.
"…"
"Good fight," Ren's head appeared above him and offered his hand.
Jaune grabbed it, exhausted. "Good fight," He sighed as he was helped up.
Lie Ren: 62.21%
Jaune Arc: 70,14%
In the end, Jaune's weak body hadn't been able to keep up with getting punched around like a rag doll… That last blast had been enough to make him lose consciousness.
He was still too weak. He needed to train his stamina, and his endurance more.
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Ren advised. "You've gained something from this fight, haven't you?"
Jaune looked at his hand. He clenched his fist and focused his Aura inside it.
Then he opened his hand, releasing the Aura into the air, and dispersing it like a tiny wisp.
"You're right," Jaune smiled at Ren. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." The guy replied, "And also... If you're that quick at learning this skill… Perhaps it won't take you too long to learn Fox's technique, too." He suggested and turned away.
As he watched Ren's back and followed after him, Jaune wondered.
Did he actually intentionally volunteered, knowing I would copy his technique?
To give me something I can use, other than my semblance…?
"…"
That night…
"And then… BOOM! He got it returned it against himself, the dum-dum!"
"Nora…" Ren sighed. "I'm pretty sure everyone was there to see that."
"It was Ren's plan all along! He had given Jaune the hope for victory… and squashed it away, just like an annoying Nevermore chick!" Nora continued, waving her arms around.
"I still think it wasn't a fair fight." Ruby pouted, "Not only Jaune doesn't even have a weapon, but he also couldn't use his semblance."
"He makes up for it with his giant Aura though," Weiss replied and looked at him. "Honestly, if it was me, I'm not sure I'd have the firepower to knock you out, Jaune."
"Neither do I," Yang laughed, grinning widely, "Since you wouldn't be able to damage me, I wouldn't be able to gain enough strength to knock you out! Hahaha!"
"Not funny," Jaune groaned at her.
"As usual with Yang," Blake commented from behind her book, causing Jaune to grin.
"Hey!" Yang protested.
"I think it was an impressive fight on both parts," Pyrrha declared. "It was certainly amazing to see how fast you learned that technique, Jaune."
"Yes, that was so... jarring to see!" Weiss nodded along.
"It's still far from perfect," Ren replied, perhaps a little upset at Jaune's learning speed. "He has to charge it for a long time before being able to use it."
"And, unlike Ren, I can't use it from a distance," Jaune nodded along.
Yet. Jaune added in his mind.
"It's a shame you can't touch Dust without depleting it," Weiss sighed, very disappointed. "You would have made a great Dust wielder."
"What about 'The Dusty Rosé'? You able to touch that?" Yang grinned, raising the bottle of alcohol named as such.
"…Alcohol?" Jaune hesitated, a little apprehensive. "I don't know… What about Ruby?"
"I can handle it!" Ruby crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks. As usual, she was upset every time people mentioned her age and did not want to be left out because of it.
"A little glass won't hurt." Blake nodded. "I remember, I was fourteen when I first got fried-"
"Yes, yes..." Weiss rolled her eyes. "We know you did everything before everyone else, Blake. You don't have to keep bragging about it."
"Jealous, princess?" Blake raised an eyebrow.
"It's heiress!" Weiss huffed.
"I say, who wants to see a drunk Schneeeeeee!" Nora suddenly shouted, to which everyone cheered, making Weiss blush in embarrassment.
"N-no… I don't want to drink…" She protested weakly as Yang put a glass in her hand. "It… It makes people violent and depressed…!"
"Yeah, right, and video-games make people toxic and spread negativity, too," Ruby rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Suuure!"
"That's only when you drink alone, Weiss," Yang reassured the heiress. "Don't worry, if you don't like it you can give me your glass, I'll gladly finish it~"
"You shouldn't drink too much, Yang," Pyrrha recommended.
"Riiight, actually, I want to see you drunk too, chief!" Yang smirked as she put her arm around Pyrrha's shoulder.
"Me too!" Nora joined in and put an arm around Pyrrha's other shoulder. "I want to see everyone drunk tonight!"
"Not gonna happen," Ren replied.
"Party pooper!"
"Ew, yuck…" Ruby grimaced after taking a sip of her own glass.
"You don't have to drink if you don't want to," Jaune said, still a little worried since she was younger.
"Take a cocktail, it'll taste sweeter," Blake recommended.
"But it's more treacherous," Yang warned. "Careful, sis, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," Ruby nodded, taking the cocktail that Blake was handing to her.
"…" Jaune smiled as he looked at Yang.
Before, that girl would have definitely freaked out if someone handed alcohol to her little sis. Now, however, it looked like she had taken a step back from her overprotective tendencies.
She had probably realized that with the two of them split into different teams, she could not shield her baby sister forever, so she might as well let her experience it while she was around.
"What about you, Jaune?" Ren asked. "You don't drink?"
"Er… I'm not sure I can get drunk," Jaune scratched his head, looking at the alcohol. Would his Aura destroy the alcohol, the same way it killed bacteria? Jaune was not sure.
"Me neither, to be honest." Ren was just as puzzled, "Since my semblance constantly makes me calm and level-headed."
"Let's try it together, then." Jaune offered.
"Sure," Ren smiled.
They grabbed and filled their glass, filled it with some of 'The Dusty Rosé'.
"Everyone!" Yang raised her voice. "Let's have a toast! To Jaune's return among us, and to the restored friendship between our two teams!"
"How corny," Blake commented.
Meanwhile, Jaune was scratching his head, laughing embarrassingly as everyone clinked their glasses with his and congratulated him.
"I want a speech!" Nora claimed.
Jaune froze. A speech?! Oh god, please no.
"U-um..."
"There's absolutely no need for a speech!" Ruby stepped in, "Don't make it awkward!"
"Eeeeh…" Nora gave a disappointed sigh.
Phew! Thank god for Ruby.
...
Though the party involved alcohol, overall, they kept it pretty tame. Mainly, Weiss and Ren were the two who insisted on not drinking too much.
And as the party continued, it became increasingly clear that Weiss absolutely despised alcohol for some reason.
As a consequence, none of them got really drunk... except Nora and Yang. The two girls ended up singing together for a while before going to bed early.
All in all, Jaune enjoyed himself quite a lot, even though he generally wasn't fond of such parties. When it was exclusively kept among friends, though, they became bearable.
As days passed, Jaune tried to improve his control of Ren's 'Aura Palm Strike' technique, and also started his training of Fox's Aura skill, the 'Aura Extrasensory Perception' technique, or 'AEP' for short.
From what Fox had told him, there were four stages of training to achieve mastery of such a skill.
- First: mastering meditation. Jaune already did that, so he skipped to stage two.
- Second: Expand Aura outside the body, building what could be called a tiny 'perceptive field' and sense the movements and changes occurring through this Aura, and feel it move. This required a perfect state of meditation, or one would not be able to sense anything through his Aura. It was also something that required excellent Aura control, but for Jaune it was no problem.
Currently, Jaune was diligently practicing stage two. After a week, he had already managed to build a perceptive field around his right hand and even slightly sense what moved around it, or what changes occurred.
If Jaune had to take an educated guess, he would need a month or two before he would be fully used to such a sense.
The third stage, which was expanding the tiny, invisible 'perceptive field' in a spherical shape around him, should take twice as much time as the second stage.
And finally, the fourth stage, the hardest one: maintaining all of the previous stages while moving and fighting. This was, for all intent and purposes, an optional stage, as Ren had not completed that part himself: Ren still needed to close his eyes and stand still to use this skill, and could not use it while moving or with his eyes open. Fox, however, had completely perfected this stage and was now able to move around easily and fight at the same time as using this skill; which compensated for his blindness.
All in all, Jaune concluded that if he stopped the training at the third stage, it should take no more than six months for Jaune to learn this technique, probably less. Quite the commitment, but still a lot shorter than the years of training that Fox and Ren had described.
However, this training, along with his practicing of the 'Aura Palm Strike' technique, drastically reduced the time Jaune previously dedicated to training his semblance. But to Jaune, it was worth it; since he was not allowed to use his semblance to win his spar – or for anything, really, except killing Grimm. If he wanted a decent grade in Combat Class, he needed to win at least a few matches.
Though the time for training his semblance was greatly reduced, it was not completely removed, as Jaune knew better than to fully stop the training that was allowing him to control the semblance that cursed his entire life. He was still unsure whether or not his Aura could 'wake up' once again, so he did not dare to neglect it.
Adding to all of this, Jaune also increased his stamina training and reduced his strength training, in accordance with what Mr. Xiao-Long had told him.
'You don't need strength.' The man had said, 'You can already deal deadly damage with your semblance. Focus on your stamina. So that you don't faint with 70% Aura left.'
A fair point, Jaune had to admit.
He also continued his spars in hand-to-hand combat with Ruby - much to her dismay.
Needless to say, it was hard to keep up this intense schedule, especially when his academics weren't the greatest, either…
Time... he needed more time... There was never enough time.
"Jauuune…"
"…"
"Jauuuuuuuune…"
"…" Jaune frowned, keeping his eyes shut.
"Jauuuuneeyyyy…?"
"…What is it, Rubes." Jaune sighed, opening his eyes.
"I was thinking, you work so hard… Aren't you tired?" Ruby asked worriedly, "You really should find more time to relax, Jaune. Don't push yourself or you're gonna faint from anemia."
"It's fine. If it's Aura training, I'll never get tired!" Jaune grinned and waved it away," Besides, I'm going to take tomorrow off."
"Really?" Ruby grinned in relief.
"Yeah, I've got this appointment with the therapist." Jaune said, "So I won't have the time to train."
"Oh…" Ruby blinked, looking disappointed for a second. She cheered up quickly though, "So… You're gonna go to Vale?"
"Yeah."
"But, um… won't you have to take a… bullhead…?" Ruby asked slowly.
"…"
"…"
They shared a glance.
Ah crap, here we go again…
The day after.
"Bwaaargh…" Jaune vomited in a bucket.
"Jeez." Miss Goodwitch sighed, holding the bucket and patting his back. "We're nearly there. Hold on, just a little longer."
While the bullhead still gave him motion sickness, which caused him to vomit, he did not break anything.
Still, he really needed to get medicine for that motion sickness.
"We've arrived," Miss Goodwitch finally declared.
"Aah…" Jaune sighed in relief as he stepped on solid ground. "Finally…"
"I'll get some medicine for you when we return to Beacon," Miss Goodwitch pat his arm, giving him a bottle of water, which Jaune gratefully accepted.
After taking a good sip, Jaune took a look around the street.
Tall buildings and diverse culture. Lots of people walking around and going in and out of various shops. Jaune had never spent time in the commercial district of the main city of Vale, so he was naturally thrilled to be here!
"Now, now, don't linger too much, Jaune." Miss Goodwitch warned him, "You don't want to be late for your first appointment."
"Technically, it's not the first." Jaune pointed out with a smile.
"The first in years, then." Miss Goodwitch replied. "I'm going to shop a little on my own, and grab some medicine for your motion sickness. We will meet each other back here. Understood?"
Naturally, Miss Goodwitch had not wanted to let him take a Bullhead on his own, after what happened to the last bullhead. So she had gone with him to make sure everything would be all right, as a precaution.
"Yes!" Jaune smiled, "See you later, Miss Goodwitch!"
"All right, take care."
Turning to the streets, Jaune made his way to the location of the therapist's office.
Later.
"Jaune Arc?" An old voice called.
Looking up from his seat, Jaune saw a familiar old man with round glasses and a white beard.
"Long time no see, sir." He greeted.
The old man laughed, looking him up and down. "Amazing, amazing! Come in! How are you…?" He asked as he led him into his office.
"Good," Jaune smiled and took a seat on the sofa. "What about you, sir? I hope you didn't miss me too much!"
"…" The old man went quiet for a moment, staring at him. "…Amazing."
"Er, what?" Jaune blinked.
"I can already tell, you have changed so much, Jaune! How in the world did you manage to go through such a radical change?"
"Um, no, I don't think I've changed that much…" Jaune frowned, kinda embarrassed.
"No, you have, that is certain! For example, you do not stutter anymore!"
"That's not true…" Jaune shook his head, "You should have seen me negotiating my release to the headmaster, I was a mess."
"Hah!" The man barked a laugh, and finally sat in front of Jaune, a low table between the two of them. "Ozpin! Well, I don't fault you for getting uncomfortable around him! He is quite an important man. Many people find themselves sweating of nervousness just talking to him, much less going against his plans." The old man chuckled, caressing his beard. "I have talked to him a few times, it is certainly true that he can be quite difficult to handle!"
Jaune just gave a polite smile and nodded along.
This man was William Lotus. He was an old therapist and psychologist who built himself a bad reputation due to not following the procedural rules of thumb of the job, being brutally honest, and overall not caring about political correctness.
Moreover, by listening to him; one might think such a man had taken a liking to Jaune, but do not be fooled: he had merely taken an interest in his case, much like a scientist excited for a particularly rare experiment.
Of course, as a therapist, his goal was to help him, that part didn't change. It was more like the man had taken his case as a challenge, so to say, and as such, he was probably thrilled to finally see him again.
Mr. Lotus caressed his beard, his eyes observing him. "Well then, well then! How about…" he mused for a moment, almost humming a tone under his breath as he looked through the multitude of papers lying on the table, "Hmmm… First, let's confirm what I think I know… Tell me about what you did ever since our last session… Which was…?"
"Six years ago," Jaune answered, "When I killed those three Grimm."
"Yes, yes…" Mr Lotus nodded, "You even made it in the newspaper, didn't you? 'Young civilian child kills three Grimm and becomes the town's hero.' " He read, having pulled out an old piece of newspaper. "Amazing! At such a young age!"
"We both know what killed these Grimm…" Jaune shrugged, "It wasn't really my doing."
"Indeed, your power protected you." He acknowledged. "So… What happened after that? You stopped coming after this event."
"…"
At that time, it was when I realized Summer would probably never come back… Seeing Grimm for the first time, I finally figured out that she had been killed by these monsters. Though some doubt remained, I started losing faith.
"Well…" Jaune hesitated.
He started telling him about what his life had been after he had burned that one house belonging to his foster parents, which led to Miss Crappert calling Miss Goodwitch.
However, he had never talked about Summer, as she was the only thing he had never talked about to the therapist.
Perhaps, the fact that he had been keeping such information to himself, was why the 'therapy' had not worked back then.
Still, other than Summer Rose, Jaune gave the therapist as many details as possible, up to his actual release and his talk to Ozpin.
"So… around a month ago, one of your classmates, Cardin Winchester, got seriously injured because of your semblance," The man said slowly, clearly being careful with his words. "How… How do you feel about this incident, Jaune?"
"…This was an unfortunate accident…" Jaune sighed regretfully, "It was a big defeat for me who wanted to control my power. But I've managed to learn from it, thankfully. I've forgiven myself and now I keep moving forward without thinking too much about it."
"…What about Mr. Winchester?"
"What about him?"
"I don't know."
"..."
"..."
"I've gone to see him." Jaune finally admitted.
"..."
"His entire body was broken. But I was able to face him properly. Now my heart is serene and I can move on. I don't feel too bad about him since he was someone I disliked a lot."
"…"
"In fact, I'm glad it was him, rather than one of my teammates…" Jaune mused. "And in a way, since he was the one who triggered such a change within me, I no longer hate him as much as I used to..."
"…"
The old man was silent for a moment.
"…On a scale from zero to a hundred… How upset are you about the whole situation with Mr. Winchester? With zero not caring at all, and a hundred being the most upset you've been in your life."
"…"
"…"
"Maybe… fifteen." Jaune eventually answered.
"...Fifteen." The man repeated.
"Fifteen." Jaune nodded and shrugged.
"…Amazing… Amazing…" Mr. Lotus muttered to himself, eyes wide, and searched in his papers for something.
…This old man was as crazy as ever. His habit of repeating 'amazing' hadn't changed, even after all this time. Even though he was sometimes capable of wisdom… Therapists weren't supposed to mutter in their beard like that right in front of their patient. Maybe he was growing senile?
...His bad reputation may be warranted after all.
"…O-oh, there it is, there it is…" The old man adjusted his glasses, reading the paper. "Amazing…!"
Jaune leaned back in the sofa and waited for a long moment as he watched the old man read some piece of paper.
"At the time, though, how upset were you?" The therapist finally asked.
"Ah… I'd say, ninety-five at least." Jaune said, remembering losing a lot of sleep over that accident.
"… Then, what do you think made your feelings go from 'ninety-five' to 'fifteen'?"
"Why does it matter?" Jaune replied. "I've re-ascertained something that I had heavy doubts about. It took a weight off my shoulders."
Summer's influence on Jaune's life was the only thing he had not conveyed to this man, and he intended to keep it that way.
"Hmm… And this was enough to calm you down?"
"It was enough." Jaune nodded.
"…That's good… That's very good…" The old man mused.
"…"
The man flipped the pages of his notebook.
"All right… This… This is truly amazing," The old man chuckled to himself.
Jaune raised his eyebrows, unimpressed.
Somehow, when that old man said the word 'amazing', his sentences lost all their sense. It was like, the word 'amazing' negated all his credibility.
"Okay, then… Let's talk about why you are here, Jaune." Mr. Lotus declared, "Headmaster Ozpin has requested you to seek therapy… Why do you think he's asked us to meet like this?"
"Why…" Jaune frowned. "I don't know… Maybe it's to make himself feel better?"
The man raised his eyebrows. "Feel better?"
"I think Ozpin is afraid of me," Jaune stated. "He does not trust me. He does not believe in my ability to control my semblance. Putting me in therapy is a way of trying to make me change, even though there is nothing wrong."
"That's what you think?"
"Yes."
"How do you feel about it."
"I just told you…"
"No, those were your thoughts. What about your feelings?"
"…" Jaune looked away. "I, uh… I feel like I'm not trusted…"
"No, no, no. That is a thought. Tell me how you feel."
Jaune frowned. "How I feel about going to therapy…? Or how I feel about Ozpin putting me in therapy?"
"Ahah…!" Mr. Lotus nodded in understanding, "You feel like you have no control? Angry, frustrated? Would it have been better, perhaps, if you had made that decision by yourself?"
"Yes." Jaune simply nodded, "Exactly."
"Have you considered the idea that… Ozpin may be trying to prevent another accident, rather than making you change, or making himself 'feel better' like you said?"
"…"
"...Let's be clear, Jaune." The old man straightened up. "If you feel like there is no problem… Then there is no problem. We're simply here to talk… Nothing else. I will not try to make you do things you don't want to."
"Right…" Jaune hesitated.
"There is no reason for you to change, is there?" The old man questioned.
"There isn't." Jaune nodded.
"Is there no problem at all in your current lifestyle?"
"None at all. I've never felt so good. This week has been very enjoyable for me since I finally live with my team again. My friends even threw a party to welcome me back among them. I've never felt so happy in my life."
"Hmmm…"
The old man hummed in his beard and looked at his paper.
"So…" He seemed to search for the right words. "You are… satisfied with everything?"
"…Yes."
"…That's a good state of mind…" He mused. "Usually, people always find something to be unsatisfied about in their life..."
"Amazing, isn't it?" Jaune commented sarcastically.
"Amazing, yes!" The man laughed.
Oh god… Was every therapy session going to be like this? This man was really growing senile.
"We don't have much time left… I'd like to clarify your aspirations real quick before we part ways if that's all right with you." The old man decided." You've talked about it briefly but it left me to wonder... What do you want to do later in your life, Jaune?"
"Um, being a Huntsman?"
"Really? You sound unsure."
"Er…"
"You came to Beacon to get control over your semblance, correct?"
"..."
"That's what you told me, Jaune," Mr. Lotus reminded him.
"Yes…"
"So you did come to Beacon to learn how to control your semblance. Not to become a Huntsman?"
"..."
"..."
"...Yes." Jaune finally admitted. Somehow, just that one word required a lot of effort to speak.
"But now that you've gained control over your powers, you suddenly do want to become a Huntsman?"
"It's not that… It's more like…" Jaune hesitated, somewhat embarrassed by what he was about to say, "I just want… to continue being there for my team, you know."
"Uhuh. But what if they disappear?" Mr. Lotus asked, "Would you still want to become a Huntsman if they weren't there?"
"But they're here." Jaune replied, "It doesn't matter, does it?"
"It really does matter. It is very important that you are not choosing a career only to cater to your friends… or teachers. You need to think about yourself first, Jaune, and follow your feelings."
"…I don't think it's that important…" Jaune mused. "Beacon is like, my new home now... Besides, by staying with my friends, I am following my feelings… Aren't I?"
"…We have the chance to live in peace." Mr. Lotus argued, "You are free to choose the path you want, Jaune. Are you sure you will not feel regret?"
Jaune sighed, "But other than Huntsman, I have no idea what I could do. And I've already started the course… I don't want to stop now…"
"I understand that." The man nodded sympathetically. "Because of your semblance, you could not properly explore what the world has to offer, so becoming a Huntsman seems like the only option. Since it is the only thing you've properly experienced… Even all your friends are Huntsmen in training… Am I right?"
"…They are." Jaune admitted. "Look, I understand what you are trying to say, but it's not like I would hate becoming a Huntsman... I would be fine with it. I just lack the drive or the passion, but I think it's something that will come with time... Isn't it?"
"Hmm..."
Ding!
Something suddenly ringed in the room.
"Oh… That's all the time we have for today." The man said and stood up. "Well, I believe I have given you enough food for thought. We've laid some good foundations. What do you think about the time we've spent together?"
"It was definitely interesting," Jaune admitted as he stood up too. "Though I still don't think I need a therapist."
"Well, in the end, all I'm doing is asking questions, and challenging your way of thinking a little bit. We can also simply talk about casual everyday things if you wish so. Since Ozpin has made these sessions mandatory, I would understand if you didn't want to open up…"
"It's fine as it is." Jaune shrugged. "I'll try to figure things out along the way."
"Great! Amazing!" Mr. Lotus grinned and shook his hand vigorously, before leading him outside, "I will see you in two weeks, then… Until next time. Have a good day!"
"You too, sir!"
Jaune sighed as he stepped out of the building.
Somehow, that was really exhausting… But it definitely made him wonder. Becoming a Huntsman had never really been a dream of his. He definitely didn't have the will, unlike others.
Was it bad or not?
This was going to shape Jaune's entire life... Was it really something that he could do until he died? It wasn't like Jaune disliked the idea, rather, he was worried that he would grow tired or bored of it or that he would somehow come to regret his choice.
However, in the first place, people were supposed to become Huntsman for the sake of others. Meanwhile, Jaune was only thinking about his personal enjoyment... or his friends... Was it not a little uncalled for?
Didn't great responsibility come with great power or something like that?
"Aaargh!" Jaune groaned in frustration, as he didn't know what to think anymore.
Dzzzzt. Dzzzzzt.
Jaune's scroll started ringing, so he answered it.
"Jaune? It's Coco!"
"Coco?"
"Listen, I've got a job opportunity for you… You need some money, right?"
"A job…?" Jaune blinked, "Right… I do need money, yeah."
Jaune was poor, he had no money, so it would be nice to have some lien saved up just in case, and to not always rely on people paying things for him. Plus, he needed money for new clothes.
And it may even be a great opportunity to discover a job that had nothing to do with being a Huntsman, who knows.
"I got a call, I know a person who's hiring for a job." Coco continued, "It's not the most legal job there is, but it pays really well. I've done a few myself, but this time I can't do it, I'm too busy experimenting with my semblance, so I thought, maybe I could ask you to replace me."
"Not the most legal?" Jaune repeated suspiciously, frowning, "What do you mean? What's the job, exactly?"
"Can't tell you until you meet the man. He's paranoid like that. Say, Friday at 8:00 pm in Junior's club in Vale?"
"Er…"
Jaune hesitated. Should he accept?
"It's just to meet the guy, nothing's decided yet." Coco specified. "And it's definitely not anything bad, trust me."
"...I'm not sure I can be good enough to replace you, though..." Jaune mused.
To this, Coco laughed. "Oh, don't worry about that. You're definitely good enough!"
"...You sure?"
"Oh yeah, I'm sure!" She chuckled. "Come on, rookie, are you in or not?"
"..."
Well, if it was just to meet someone, he could always back out after learning what this was all about. Plus, Jaune was sure he could trust Coco's judgment.
"Okay… I'm in."
A/N: God this chapter was unnecessarily long. I need to learn how to stop a chapter, seriously.