A/N: Once again, I am back, and ready for action! Things are going to be falling into more familiar territory as we start ticking through the events, but also going to be a little different... So... Yeah. Let me know what you guys think.

"Hah!"

Jaune leaned back as Pyrrha's thrust sailed over him, using the rest of his momentum to continue into a back flip, tossing two knives through the air and forcing her to step aside as they flew past her. Kneeling down, Jaune lashed his leather strap out, wrapping it around Pyrrha's ankle and pulling hard, getting her off of her feet, albeit momentarily. He couldn't do much more, as he was forced to let go and roll backwards as a rattle of bullets pinged off of the ground, Blake covering for Pyrrha.

Springing back onto his feet, Jaune peered at Yang who fell into a loose stance beside him.

"I thought you were distracting Blake." Jaune whispered, tone more playful than annoyed. The other blonde shrugged, raising her fists.

"It's not my fault that you can't beat Pyrrha in under two minutes. I couldn't stall Blake forever, you know. She was going to catch on eventually."

Jaune grunted, spinning a knife around on one finger as he watched the other pair fall into a defensive stance, whispering tactics back and forth to each other.

"Well, I'm tried out," Jaune confessed, nudging the girl. "Wanna do a switch?"

Yang smirked, eyes flaring red. "I thought you'd never ask."

The other two concluded that the time for talking was through, springing into action. Blake dove for Yang, while Pyrrha unfolded Milo and took a couple of shots at Jaune, happy to face the same opponents and wear the two of them down.

Yang blocked Pyrrha's attacks, trusting Jaune to intercept Blake as she started to engage Pyrrha, letting loose a pair of shotgun blasts that forced Pyrrha to reposition.

Jaune parried Gambol Shroud, reversing quickly to strike Blake's unprotected side, finding a clone at his mercy. Luckily, he had faced Blake plenty of times to continuing striding forward, taking a couple of steps straight through the fading shadow and continuing to engage Blake in blade-play, something that Jaune had discovered he had more of a talent for than the faunus.

Almost a week and a half had passed since Jaune had lost his sister, and Team JNBY had fallen into an understanding. Jaune had apologized, as wholeheartedly as he could to the team, and along with that, followed it with a brief rundown of his sordid past.

The reactions had been... varying, to say the least.

Jaune waited until Blake tried to spring an attack on him again before he slid underneath, wrapping her leg with another leather strap that he had just bought and brought her falling face down onto the floor.

"You know," Jaune grunted out, grinning, "For a faunus, you seem to be a little off balance."

Blake glared at him, eyes narrowing as she folded Gambol Shroud, taking shots at Jaune as she shook her leg free.

Following Jaune's long-winded confession of his past, Blake decided to step up and confess with her own story, unwrapping her bow and revealing to her team that she was a faunus. She explained her past with the White Fang, and why she left, the rest of the team responding sympathetically to her. Well, Jaune had already known, but had joined in on assuring Blake that they wouldn't treat her any differently than before. If anything, he was happy enough to get the third degree off of his back and onto someone else's.

Jaune made sure to close the distance with Blake again, knowing that getting too far would get him peppered with bullets and forcing her into fighting two blades with one.

The back and forth lasted for several seconds to almost a minute before a shotgun blast from Yang wandered a little too close to Jaune and Blake, getting the faunus to falter in her rhythm. Jaune didn't hesitate, wrapping his strap around Blake's wrist and causing her to flinch and attempt to pull herself out.

Jaune let go of the strap the moment Blake pulled, leaving her off balance. Procuring a high voltage dust taser, Jaune tackled Blake to the ground, holding the taser to her neck, waiting for her to tap out.

The moment Blake's hand touched the ground, Jaune sprung up, trying to get to Yang and help her out with Pyrrha.

His heart dropped when he heard a loud yelp, seeing Yang roll onto the ground, falling prone onto the ground, Aura touching red.

Pyrrha turned, raising her sword and shield up as her eyes flashed in challenge, scuffed, but ready for Jaune to fight her.

His partner had taken Jaune's past the hardest, her face pale almost the entire time as he told them about it. Afterwards, she had pulled him to the side and apologized profusely to him, hoping that he would forgive her for being so angry at him. That had been a quick and awkward conversation, Jaune not sure how to move on except by nodding mutely and giving her a tense hug.

Pyrrha didn't wait much longer before she charged forwards, sword tip quickly filing Jaune's view, forcing him to weave to the side, stepping backwards to narrowly dodge her attempted shield slam. Jaune hooked his fingers on the edge of Akouo, pushing it down and attempting to finagle a dagger through Pyrrha's solid defenses.

The tip sparked against her breastplate, sliding and scratching it while Pyrrha swung at Jaune's head, going for a pommel strike.

Jaune disengaged, dropping to one knee to grab a knife that he had placed in his boot, tossing one low and another high, trying to get Pyrrha with at least one.

With a disgusting display of acrobatics, Pyrrha tucked her arms in and jumped into the air, spinning sideways to dodge the blades before dropping into a three point landing, flicking her ponytail and flashing a sporting smile at him.

Show off.

Jaune took a step forward, palming the inside of his sleeve for the small derringer that he had hidden earlier, pulling it out and squeezing off a shot, the pistol jumping in his hand as he fired. Blake didn't even need to dodge it, the bullet whizzing past her as she moved in again, only freezing when the horn above them sounded out, notifying the end of the practice match.

"Aw, come on!" Yang complained, throwing her up her hands as she was sitting on the edge of the arena, excitedly watching the fight. "We were just getting to the good part!"

Pyrrha let out a laugh, lowering her weapons with a sigh of relief, rolling her shoulders as Jaune stowed his own weapons away, wiping the sweat off his brow. Three minutes was a long time when it came to a spar like this, and everyone was ready for a bottle of cold water and some time off of their feet.

"That was the last set, right?" Blake panted out, sliding down against an opposite wall, wiping her face with a damp towel. "Because I don't think I can take another three minutes of this."

Jaune let out a bark of laughter, debating on his dignity before simply spreading out onto the cool tile, soaking up the cold. "No, that's the last one. I think Yang needs to get going."

The blonde brawler nodded, tossing her towel across her shoulders. "Yeah. I need to meet up with Weiss to continue planning for the dance. Which you guys'll be coming for, right?" Yang asked, the question pointed towards Jaune, who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I think I can take a break for one night and 'let loose'."

Yang let out an unconvinced grunt, but decided not to pursue it, not wanting to be late for her meeting with her sister's teammate.

Jaune looked at the time, wondering if he couldn't fit in another hour or two of training before he had to do any homework that was due tomorrow.

Well. It wouldn't be too hard for him to procrastinate and do homework tomorrow morning, either. A little more training wouldn't hurt...

"Hey, Jaune!"

Ruby appeared in his field of view, hopping down onto the arena with a wide smile, eyes sparkling as she approached him.

"Hey, Ruby." Jaune said, twirling a knife as he greeted her. "What're you doing here?"

Ruby shrugged, kicking some dust as she looked around the room. "Well, Yang's kind of stolen my teammates, so I thought I would do the same," Her eyes lit up as she saw approached Jaune. "Did you get to test it out? Did you?"

Jaune pulled the small pistol out again, showing it to her. "I'm not the best shot at it," He confessed, before stowing it away again. "I missed my target by a mile."

"Really?" Ruby frowned, looking at the other girls. "That's... disappointing."

"Well, not everybody's able to put in the hours that you do, Ruby," Jaune said, shrugging. "And not everybody's got the money for it either."

Ruby nodded, having to concede the point to Jaune. "Yeah, you're right. The Dust robberies aren't helping anything, either." Jaune nodded, wholeheartedly agreeing with her. Ozpin had set up a stipend for him for anything that he needed over the school year, but he couldn't just blow it all on ammo. "Still, you need practice Jaune," Ruby said, wagging a finger at him. "A gun's just a tool. If you don't practice, you aren't going to hit anything with it."

Jaune snorted, crossing his arms. "Well, if you want to let me borrow some ammo from you, I'll gladly go practice some more." Ruby backed up a little, eyes growing wide as she tried to find a way to say no.

"Uh, well. I would but, I kind of—um." Ruby coughed into her hand, "How about we save that for another day then?" She asked, changing the subject. "How about we hang out instead?"

"Hang out?" Jaune asked, confused. "Why?"

"Why? Because I want to hang out with you, silly," Ruby said, raising an eyebrow. "Do I need a reason to want to hang out with a friend?"

"Well, no," Jaune allowed, "But what about doing your homework then?"

"I don't wanna," Ruby whined, drawing the last word out as she pouted at him. "Some of this stuff I don't really get. I skipped two years to get here, remember?"

"You do remember that I haven't had any form of Huntsman schooling ever before now, right?" Jaune asked, raising an eyebrow. Ruby ignored him, continuing to talk.

"I mean, Weiss helps a lot but she makes studying so boring," Ruby said, scratching the bottom of her chin before her eyes lit up, an idea coming to her. "Oh, I know! We should study together!"

"Together? Shouldn't we get someone who would actually know what's going on when we're studying?"

"That's what Blake and Pyrrha is for!" Ruby said, pointing at the two girls on the side, both of whom were looking at them in bemusement. "I mean, unless they don't want to." Ruby turned to them expectantly, getting a shrug from Blake and a laugh from Pyrrha.

"I don't see why not," Pyrrha said, "I need to do some homework for Oobleck anyways." Blake just nodded, heading towards the lock rooms.

"Alright then, it's decided," Ruby said, clapping her hands together. "I'll see you guys in your room!"

Before Jaune could say anything otherwise, she disappeared, leaving Jaune in a bit of a daze. He turned to try and get a second opinion, only to find the other two already gone.

Moving his wet bangs away from his forehead, Jaune let out a sigh, shaking his head. He knew what was going on. Ruby's arrival was too perfectly timed to be as spontaneous as she played it off to be. Jaune took one last look at the arena, his urge to train harder itching the back of his hands.

It took more effort than he was willing to admit, but Jaune pushed the past the urge, moving towards the male locker rooms, heading for a quick shower.

It didn't take much more than fifteen minutes for Jaune to finish up, heading towards his room without the Blake and Pyrrha. A good teammate would've waited, and Jaune was trying to be a good teammate, but he needed some time alone.

A week and a half, and Jaune hadn't had much time to himself. It was either schoolwork or training, and his teammates or Team RRWN always made sure one of them was by his side. His team had been thoughtful enough not to spill everything he had told them to the other team, but Ruby was insightful, and it didn't take much for her to get Yang to admit that Jaune had some sort of troubled past. After being cornered by the surprisingly strong willed girl, Jaune told her about his past as well, but only after extracting a promise that she wouldn't tell the rest of his teammates.

So while he appreciated the thoughtfulness and concern that they were showing, he was also starting to crave a little bit of time alone, to keep to himself and line his thoughts back up.

And so he snuck away, just for a little bit so that he could clear his head.

He still doesn't understand why he had to slog through all of this homework. He would never say this aloud next to Blake, but why was it important for a Huntsman to know the history of the Faunus Revolution? It sucked, but they were meant to fight Grimm, right?

And while Jaune was improving, he still felt like he was getting strong enough, fast enough. How was he going to take on Raven if he didn't train as much as he possibly could?

Jaune flipped his arm over, noting his fading scars from his last attempt to escape Beacon. Aura was a miracle worker, he noted, wondering how many more days it would be before the scars faded completely. Everyone had been right about him being a little hysterical. What was he planning to do after he escaped Beacon?

He probably would've ended up dying in front of Saphron, with how sadistic Raven was. Gods, just imagining Saphron's face if that happened was enough for him to berate himself on how idiotically he had been behaving.

Distracted as he was, Jaune hadn't noticed a form moving in front of him, the two of them colliding with enough force to find them on the floor. As the two of them untangled their limbs and stood back up, golden eyes flashed his way as a soft and apologetic smile appeared on her face, making Jaune's heart beat a little faster. Extending his hand to help her stand up, Jaune couldn't help but let his eyes trail a little lower, appreciating the view that was in front of him.

Hey, Jaune might have been driven and focused, but he wasn't dead.

"Sorry," Jaune muttered, shuffling aside to let her past. The woman didn't move right away, her eyes trailing him like he had just done a moment earlier, causing a shiver to go up his spine.

"Hey, Jaune, I thought you were going to wait for us before..." Pyrrha trailed off as she saw the other woman, Blake following a couple feet behind. The woman turned to look at Pyrrha, expression unchanging as she moved on to Blake, then back to Jaune.

"Sorry, I was trying to find my room." She lifted up her scroll. "You all wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?" She asked, showing them the blinking room number.

"Uh, yeah," Jaune said, pointing down the hallway. "You're not too far off. Just take a right and you'll pretty much be there."

The woman smiled, which made Jaune sort of want to smile, as she thanked him. "I'm Cinder, by the way. Cinder Fall."

"Jaune." He said, before introducing the other two girls. "This here's Pyrrha, and she's Blake."

Cinder inclined her head, "Well, it was nice to meet you three. I hope we can see each other again sometime?" Jaune nodded stupidly as she sauntered down the hallway, eyes trailing a little further before he found Pyrrha, arms crossed and a frown on her face.

"What?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha glared at Jaune a little more before shaking her head, brushing past him without replying. He looked helplessly at Blake, who didn't answer him either, simply shaking her head and nudging him along.

The three made it the rest of the way without saying anything, approaching their door before they heard yelling in the room across from them, drawing worried looks at each other.

"I don't see why you're defending these criminals, Yang! They're terrorists! They've killed hundreds of people!"

"I'm not defending the White Fang as a whole," Yang snapped back, "I'm just saying that not all of them are bad, okay? Some of them just want change!"

Weiss scoffed, and Jaune didn't need to try hard to imagine her rolling her eyes. "Please. They're monsters, Yang. Do you have any idea how friends and family I've lost to them?"

"Oh well, I'm sure the Schnee family is completely faultless as well?" Yang yelled, "I'm sure you and daddy dearest didn't have anything to do with how shitty the faunus are being treated right now, right?"

"I have nothing to do with that!" Weiss practically shrieked, making Jaune wince.

"Then why are you defending them?!" Yang roared back.

"Because they're family! Why are you defending them?!"

The room fell quiet, Jaune turning to look at Blake, seeing her a little pale, her eyes fixed onto the doorway.

Finally, Yang spoke, her tone biting and angry. "You know what? Everyone was right about you, Ice Queen. I'm out of here." The door slammed open, Yang striding out, eyes red as she ignored the small crowd that was gathered outside, opening her own door and walking in. A second passed before there was a yelp from inside, Ruby shoved out as the door shut, locking itself.

The rest of Team Juneberry looked at Ruby, whose face reddened underneath the combined force of their inquisitive looks.

Ruby chuckled weakly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Wonder what that was all about?"