Hello, here's this month's chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

To say that Oscar was perplexed was an understatement; he and his team have made it to the second day of the Vytal Festival and everything was going fine. There was just one question he had.

What was Jaune doing here?

What kind of grand plan does he have for Vale?

And above all else, why was he so disconnected with their meeting?

Whenever Jaune visited before he would tell tales of what he did while away, but now, with this; he just showed up, said hello, dropped a bimb that everyone had met him before, then left.

That was yesterday and now he was wandering through the Beacon library, just a place to calm down and collect himself.

He passed by several shelves before comming to his favorite section, historical tales of ancient Huntsmen and Huntresses. Walking down the archive of numerous inspirations for modern huntsmen and Huntresses, Oscar scanned the many books before comming to his uaual choice. The Tome of the First Hunters, one of the oldest books in Remnant, and a look into the past.

As Oscar pulled the tome out a knock was heard, several footsteps followed as the source grew closer.

Oscar turned too see Jaune, his wares more casual than before and Sapentaoi at his side.

"Hey Oscar" he said while acting as though he didn't just break into the Beacon Library.

"S. S. Sensei, why are you here?" Oscar stuttered out, nearly dropping the tome in his hands before steadying himself.

"Just catching up, sorry for leaving so suddenly by the way but there was something that I had to do" Jaune said as he took the tome out of Oscar's hands.

"But why here?" Oscar asked as he pulled the tome back into his hands.

"Because a library is a nice place to have a private conversation" Jaune answered as he led Oscar to one of the nearby tables.

Oscar followed suit as the two sat down. "Now Oscar, I want you to tell me how Beacon has been so far?" Jaune asked, staring at Oscar from across the table.

"Well it's been treating me good, learned a lot about being huntsman" Oscar said as he descended into descriptions of his year at Beacon.

Oscar stood at one side of the arena floor, his opponent Cardin at the other.

He shifted his weapon into pike form while Cardin held his mace in one hand.

"Now boy, how about you avoid the humiliation and just surrender" Cardin quipped, arrogance thick in his voice.

Oscar ignored this and straightened his weapon towards Cardin.

"Think you're being tough huh, how about I show you whta tough is" he quipped agin as the starting buzzer rung.

Cardin rushed forward with a roar with an overhead swing. Oscar rolled to his right and swung the polearm of his weapon into Cardin's midsection.

Cardin didn't stop as he twisted on his feet and swung in. Oscar acted quickly by thrusting the blunt end of his weapon into Cardin's abdomen and using it to propel himself away.

Cardin grabbed hold of the blunt end and pulled Oscar back. A mechanical hiss was heard as the polearm split near the centre, the lower half now useless in Cardin's hands while the upper half acting as a long-handled sword in Oscar's hands.

Cardin threw the useless half to the side just as Oscar thrust his blade forward.

Cardin dodged and brought another swing down against Oscar.

Aura surged forth as the mace mad contact with Oscar, sending him to the other sode of the arena floor. He held his side while shortening weapon into its one-handed Sword form.

Oscar's aura began glowing brighter than before as a faint armour forged around his injury.

This armour spread out to cover the rest of his body, its visage akin to a knight of old.

Cardin just watched, walking closer as the armour finished, then he spoke. "Neat trick, not gonna save you though".

As he swung once more Oscar rolled underneath it then stabbed his blade into Cardin's chest.

The blade pushed Cardin back, before aura surged into his mace. The red crystal within its centre glowing as Cardin swung it against his shorter foe.

A last blast shook the arena as the two were thrown to opposing sides.

Cardin was partially scorched and covered in soot from being so close to his own explosion.

Oscar's armour seemed to protect him for the most part, its visage covered in burns and soot as well.

The combat screens out next to Glynda showed that both of their aura were in the lower yellow.

Then the timer rang, the two were out of time.

Glynda's voice spoke; "The time has run out, by the rules of aura exhaustion the winner of this match in Cardin Winchester" she announced as Cardin stood smugly while Oscar's armour dissipated.

"That being said you both need to improve, Cardin you need to have more discipline in your strikes and not perform something so suicidal as to blow yourself up for the sake of the win" she said while glaring down at Cardin. She turned to Oscar and spoke once more; "Oscar Pine, while your movements and avoidance is comendable, using so much aura for the sake of armour is just a blatant waste in certain situations, you also need to put more strength into your strikes" she lectured.

The two boys nodded before cleaning themselves up and leaving the arena floor.

"And that was most of my first year, working on combat techniques and my fighting skill against other people" Oscar explained as Jaune nodded.

"Good to hear, though that Winchester kid sounds like a real asshole" Jaune responded.

"Yeah, he kind of was, never let it get to me though" Oscar said while waving his hand dismissively. Jaune looked at his student in the eye as he saud this and just stared.

"You better not be lying" he stated, his gaze piercing Oscar's soul. "Don't worry sensei, they may have tried some things but there was nothing to raise any hostile feelings" Oscar said while trying to save the team of idiots from his sensei's wrath.

"What things?" Jaune asked; Oscar began sweating as Jaune pushed farther.

"Lets just move on, its just a stepping stone in my year at Beacon, now during the dance" Oscar began.

Oscar was dressing in a small tuxedo, black with a slight green highlight, next to him was Lie Ren with his own tuxedo, a pink flower on his lapel.

"You ready for this?" Ren asked, his breath steady for the upcoming event. "As ready as I'll ever be" Oscar replied nervously.

The two walked to the ballroom, many students strewn about the room with their own groups and pairings.

The moment the two of them entered Ren was dragged away by Nora to the dance floor to quote 'break the legs of the competition'. Oscar watched this and quickly moved for one of the punch bowls around the ballroom.

He remained still as could be while many students danced with one another. Ren and Nora had danced into the centre of the room while Pyrrha stayed adjacent to him. He kept waiting, watching one half of his tram have fun while his partner was keeping to herself.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Ruby, a red and black dress adorning her body. She smiled and Oscar felt a blush develop on his face. Ruby seemed to copy this as she became red-faced.

The two didn't talk, just let each other guide themselves to the dance floor.

The music guided their feet, a gentle sway matched the pull of the song.

The became part of the group in the centre, couples and friends dancing in the light of the spotlights.

Oscar didn't see Pyrrha slip away with great speed.

Ruby didn't notice Yang and Blake taking pictures of the two of them.

They let this be their night, even as it drifted deeper and the music stopped, the two stayed together.

The night was a blur from then onwards.

"And then I woke up, with Ruby cuddled up with him" Oscar finished his tale, a blush covering his cheeks as he finished.

Jaune took this in, his neutral expression giving Oscar a feeling of dread for what may come, then he reacted.

He chuckled, it was quiet yet hearty as he stared at Oscar.

"I knew something like that would happen" he stated to a shocked Oscar. "You knew me and Ruby would get together" he responded, somewhat stunned by his sensei's attitude towards this.

"Something like that, you two always seemed to be close with one another whenever I visited, so yes I knew" Jaune responded.

Oscar breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped back into his seat.

"Now, I have something to give you" Jaune said as he stood up.

Oscar looked up to him, curious of what else his sensei could give him that had hadn't already in the past.

He kept looking as Jaune took Sapentaoi out of his belt and held the sword out to him.

Oscar was at a loss of words as Jaune held out his blade to him.

Oscar slowly took it by the grip and pulled it out. He tried to hold in a shocked gasp as only part of the blade came out, ending in a snapped piece.

"It was-" " Yes, I'm giving it to you so you can do what you wish with it" Jaune interrupted Oscar.

The boy nodded as he sheathed the blade and took it in his hands.

"Any suggestions sensei?" Oscar asked, keeping his eyes glued to Sapentaoi.

"Any sort of bladed weapon would work, though I would suggest using its blade to to lengthen your own weapon" Jaune suggested as he turned away.

"But sensei, where would I go? the Vytal Festival is happening right now, who would be willing to modify my weapon in such a short amount of time?" Oscar questioned as he stared at Jaune.

"Well, are you fighting in the two vs two rounds?" Jaune asked.

Oscar shook his head no.

"There, there's nothing happening that would require it for a bit but there is one shop you could use" Jaune said as he pulled out a slip of paper from his coat before leaving.

"This was a nice talk we had, I'll be off" Jaune said while getting farther away from the table.

"It was nice talking to you" Oscar said before looking at the slip of paper and sighing. He would have to book an airship, then a question hit him, how did Jaune get up here... he hates airships?

His musing was interrupted by a loud and smug voice from the part of the library that Jaune had just walked into.

He ran to save whatever poor fool might try anything against his sensei, then he stopped, a look of horrid shock on his face.

To one side stood Cardin and his team, to the other stood Jaune and Velvet, the former in front of the latter.

Oscar was in such shock that he couldn't hear what was being said. He just knew that those idiots don't know what they were getting into.

Cardin had this smug dismissal of Jaune, casually strolling towards him as tho he wasn't a threat.

Oscar's shock wore down and he found that he could hear once more.

"Now then, just scoot past and maybe we won't report you for breaking into Beacon" Cardin said before putting a hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"I do not take kindly to the mistreatment of others, so how about you go fuck off back to whatever hole you crawled out of" Jaune responded before taking Cardin's hand off his shoulder.

Cardin didn't take kindly to this and decided to let Jaune know it. Clenching his fist before he brought it to Jaune's cheek. Cardin followed quickly with another... then another... he kept punching Jaune, no real thought of the risk. Why would he? in his mind the figure he was punching was just a mere criminal that decided to make himself known by helping some faunus.

Jaune just stood there, no real reaction to the fists impacting his face, he let the wailing continue before he got tired of it.

Cardin stopped, his fists were starting to get bruised, his team had run off, and this man just remained standing.

Jaune took a step forward, causing Cardin to take a step back.

A small mutter of "what the hell" escaped Cardin' lips as Jaune stalked forward.

"Please stop" was the quiet request of Velver which went ignored.

Jaune got closer before grabbing Cardin by his collar and pulling him down. "Now would you kindly stop, I am trying to not sent you to the hospital and you are making it quite hard" he said before letting go.

Cardin took a step back throwing another punch at Jaune.

Aura surged to the location and the moment the fist made contact a loud crack was heard. Cardin stepped back and clutched his hand, blood slowly dripping to the floor while aura rushed to heal it.

"Now leave" Jaune calmly commanded, Cardin didn't think twice as he ran out of the library.

Jaune then turned to Velvet and spoke; "My apologies, I was hoping that it could have been done nonviolently, but I'll be leaving now".

Velvet just nodded as Jaune walked under one of the windows, jumped high enough to reach it, opened it and jumped through it.

The two of them just watched this, not sure what to say other than to remain speechless.

"Oscar?" Velvet asked, causing said boy to turn to him.

"Yes" he responded.

"Do you happen to know that guy?" she questioned.

Oscar just nodded, causing Velvet to turn back to the slowly closing window.

Well at least he knew how Jaune got into the library.

Jaune calmly walked through the halls of beacon, avoiding any passing students as he came to what he was looking for, a single someone that he had last seen a little while ago.

Her outer appearance had changed though Jaune knew she was just hiding her real identity.

He tapped the nearby wall three times, each a different tune and volume.

Neo walked out from one of the rooms and smiled, handing him a slip of paper before leaving once again.

Jaune nodded before walking out of the hallway and heading out of Beacon.

As he read the information on the slip he sighed in annoyance at the plan. He was just waiting for the right chance to sick Neo on these three, let her let loose against such a trio of anarchists. He breathed in a he remembered the day he had met Neo.

The Cabin was being gutted, that was the nice way of putting it. All the food and water was sealed away and packed into bags. Anything that could be a weapon or firewood was also taken.

Jaune stood out in front of it, there was no storm raging now, just a calm winter morning as he inspected the full extent of the Grimm's assault. The whole outside was covered in small knicks and large gashs from the Wendigo's clawing.

Voss and Duran had large packs full of supplies strewn on their backs. Roman had a satchel full of burnable material and spare dust flares. The unnamed one, now known as Melcend, was designated the ammo carrier.

Jaune sighed and pulled his bag up to his shoulder. He had been pulled into the mission this ragtag bunch of recently graduated huntsmen were sent on. He could continue criticizing their many short comings but now was not the time, not with a whole pack of Wendigos after them.

Breakfast had been eaten before the cabin was gutted so they some energy for the trip.

Duran walked past them and kneeled down, inspecting the tracks left behind. "Lets just follow the bastards and burn them out" he suggests, pointing in the directions the tracks lead to.

"You can't think like that with these grimm, they're smarter than you think" Jaune chimmed in as he began going the opposite way.

Roman followed suit, Voss and Melc soon after, leaving Duran to grumble about overtaken leadership.

Several Hours Later

The five of them cut a path through the snowy forest, killing any grimm in sight as fast as they could. As the afternoon sun was covered by clouds and chilled winds began to pick up.

They came to a stop as they entered a large clearing, the ruins of a camp site.

Tents were covered in snow and torn to shreds. Frozen blood stained much of the pure snow, telling part of the story of a massacre out here. Tracks littered the ground, the most definite being one leaving a bloody trail towards a small mountain.

The group took in the details before gripping their weapons and following rhe bloodied tracks towards the mountain.

As they treked closer and closer, the stench of gore and carrion grew stronger.

Frozen limbs and bits of flesh littered their path as the group got into a battle stance.

Melc passed the ammo bag to Jaune before he took to the left. Voss took point, Roman took rear guard, Duran took right, and Jaune was in the centre of the group.

As they grew closer to the end of the tracks voices began manifesting.

They worked their way in, promises of power, dark secrets being spoken out loud, voices of those lost, and so much else whispered into the ears of the group.

Roman took to biting his left hand, ever cautious to not bite clean through.

Melc began beating the pommel of his mace into his thigh, Duran using his free arm to do the same.

Voss' breathing slowed before he bit down on his left arm.

Jaune stood amidst all this before he pulled out Pars Lunea and fired several shots into the trees around them.

The voices were broken the crack of a gun and the pain screeching of injured grimm.

Jaune was sure to reload Pars Lunea while the others took a moment to let their aura heal any injury.

They continued forward, nerves on edge from the realization that the grimm could already be all around them.

When the reached the mouth of a cave where the scent of death was strongest, most likely the grimm's nesting area, they stopped and prepared for a deep exploration.

Roman pulled out one of his dust flares, lit it then threw it as far as he could into the cave. As the light fizzled threw the air, the hissing of smaller Wendigos could be heard as the fled from the painful light.

The other team members nodded before they returned to their previous formation.

Each huntsman lit a chest held flashlight while Roman pulled out a set of illuminated chalk.

As they progressed forward, occasional throwing a dust flare forward or drawing a chalk arrow towards the exit, they killed any grimm that got to close.

They followed the stench of death until arriving at a large cavernous opening, the desecrated bodies of human and faunus alike decorating its grounds.

There was only one other tunnel, on the exact opposite side that they stood.

The team covered their mouths, attempting to hold back any form of sickness or violent swear that may escape their lips. Jaune trudged forward, Sapentaoi unsheathed and Pars Lunea raised.

He was careful to not step on any of the dead, even as he checked around the room.

Roman and Voss checked to one side, Duran and Melc the other, and Jaune in the middle.

A quiet gasp was heard as Roman pulled one of the few out of a pile, Voss keeping hold of the dead as he did.

Roman checked the girl's pulse before a smile hit his face. "This one's alive" he whispered to the rest of them.

Jaune walked over to him and checked for himself, the girl's pulse was weak but stable; "She will live, especially if we can get her out of here" he said as Duran and Melc regrouped with them.

"All these dead and she's the only one alive" Duran spoke, gagging every so often from the scent of the place.

As the group made for their tunnel a roar was heard from the other side. The turned to see a massive figure rise out from below the strewn corpses.

Its figure stood more gaunt than normal, a cape of fur drenched its shoulders and below, the lower half of its head was human while its upper half seemed to shape like that of a deer skull.

It's cold red eyes stared down at them, seeming to bring an atmosphere of cold fear that swept through the group.

No one could move as the beast rose to it's full height and released a guttural roar that ripped through the cave system.

An echo of lesser yet still imposing roars and shrieks shot back.

Duran was the first to make a move, grabbing a pair of flares before gunning it down the tunnel.

Voss was next as he fired several shots at the beast in front of the group.

Melc let loose an explosive arrow from his shield before grabbing his own set of flares and running out.

Roman gripped the rest of the flares and pulled the girl, who had now been awakened and was panicing, into a tight embrace.

Jaune fired off several of his own shots before grabbing the other two by their collars; "GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled.

Roman and Voss gunned it down, a pair of flares lit while they ran with the chalk lines.

Jaune turned to face the large beast, the Alpha Wendigo, and rushed forward with Sapentaoi in hand.

The moment he got close was when he was assaulted by a menagerie of mental images. He saw those he lost, those he killed, those who had suffered for his decisions, so much more. He was hit by the forces of his past back to haunt him.

Jaune powered through this.

He brought Sapentaoi and slashed it across the Grimm's chest, it threw one of its arms in the way.

The arm was severed immediately yet the beast wasn't deterred.

Its torso began opening, the ribs spreading out as though a venus fly trap, before it clamped back down and trapped Jaune's sword arm.

Jaune didn't stop as he fired off Pars Lunea's remaining rounds into the head of the beast.

It screamed in pain allowing Jaune to pull out his partially devoured arm from its chest. He then charged up as much charged energy as he could, aura blazing around his sword, before firing it into the beast's head.

The sound of a skull splitting echoed throughout the cave as the beast was thrown into the cave wall, its body shattering both itself and the wall upon contact.

The beast didn't stop, the crunching of its bones acting as a demented chime as it crawled towards Jaune.

As it did it ate any corpse that was in its path, slowly rebuilding its body while Jaune was backing towarda the tunnel with his own set of fust flares.

The beast leapt forward with greater speed than something of that size could manage, forcing Jaune to channel aura into his legs to blast himself out of there.

Its long arm reaching for him as he ran through the cave, the shreiking of more grimm filling the once quiet path with sheer horror.

As his first flare went out he threw it forward and lit another passing by a small mass of them that were surrounding Duran.

The man held the dimming flare up as his back was to the wall. Jaune glanced at him, seeing his sidd was bleeding while his blade lay a good distance from his location, the one thing that made Jaune pause for a second was the grenade that Duran held in his other hand.

The pin was pulled out.

Jaune ran as he heard the beast push closer, he ignored the echo and the shaking as an explosive went off in the cave system.

He pushed farther before the twisted cries of Melc stopped him.

The man was being swamped by them, all his flares were lit at once and had now gone out.

Jaune couldn't do anything other than run as he heard Melc's screams as the grimm tore him limb from limb and devoured his flesh.

As he ran out the cave he found Voss and Roman, running as fast as they could with flares in hand as the wendigos from all aspects of the forest rushed in.

Voss was firing off shot after shot, shredding any grimm that got to close, while Roman used his body as a shield for the girl while keeping his flare lit.

Jaune reloaded Pars Lunea as he ran, throwing his current flare back at the mouth of the cave, and joined with the other two.

"Are they dead" Voss shouted while reloading. Jaune just nodded before firing into a charging mass from the forest.

Voss shouted a curse before pulling a belt of grenades from his coat. "I'm going to seal the cave" he said while throwing his dwindling flare at a watching grimm before lighting another and running to the mouth of the cave.

The moment before he made it there an ocean of wendigo pushed through the mouth of the cave, the beast following suit.

Voss just stared up, his flare still strong as he ran towards the alpha and pulled the pin out of one of his grenades.

He slid under the beast and threw the belt into the mouth of the cave.

He then grabbed his shotgun and fired off as many shots as he could while the flare kept them back.

Jaune and Roman just watched as the beast reached downwards and began crushing Voss.

Roman whispered to the girl to keep her eyes closed while Jaune was charging up kinetic energy.

As Voss was pushed to his knees, aura glowing brightly through his limbs, holding himself up before a wave of white fire blazed through the clearing and clashed with an explosive shockwave.

Grimm were thrown about, trees splintered and broke, and the beast was left with stumps were its limbs once were.

Jaune ran as fast as he could and grabbed Voss. He pulled the man back to Roman before the group treked through the forest.

They walked, Voss' legs were broken from the beast's attempt to crush him. The girl hadn't said a word, just held onto Roman as though her life depended on it (which it did).

Jaune held Voss as the group pushed past the darkness of the night time forest.

They knew the grimm were still out there. The beast was still alive, they were still organized.

The group had to stop, the girl needed to be checked, Voss needed to be checked, They had to count their flares, there was so much they had to do, and worst of all was that most of the food was with Duran and Melc.

They sat down, Roman gently letting the girl down onto a patchwork mat of blankets and fabrics, Voss laid down and started up a fire with some of the logs Roman had with him, and Jaune acted as the lookout.

As the fire sparked to life Roman gave the girl his canteen, which she greedily drank from. Afterwards he tried getting the girl to talk, nothing forceful just a calm talk in an attempt to comfort the girl. As he asked the girl did one thing, she put her finger in the snow and began writing in it. Roman watched as she drew the first three letters 'N E O'.

"N. E. O. Neo, is that your name?" Roman asked. The girl nodded before her stomach grumbled. Voss was cooking some of the meats available over the fire, and the aroma was just heavenly.

Jaune stood against the treeline, a dust flare ready incase of emergency, and watched. He watched for any movement, any creaking trees, any shadow that would shift to much too quickly, yet nothing seemed to be coming, not for a while anyway.

Roman took one of the spare coats out of his bag and draped it over Neo. He then turned to Voss and put his hand on his shoulder, aura glowing brightly as it flowed from Roman's hand into Voss' body.

The faint echoes of bones setting themselves back in place joined the soft crackling of the fire as Voss' legs slowly fixed themselves.

Neo just watched with stars in her eyes as Voss' legs straightened out.

Roman then took his hand off Voss, who's legs remain wrapped in the glow of his aura.

It was peaceful for a little while. The meat cooked and was eaten by the group, Neo having to be fed a more cut-up version of it due to not having eaten for several days.

The group felt at peace, a temporary one if those grimm were on their tails' but they will take it.

Jaune sat down, putting himself between the treeline and the rest of the group. He looked back and smiled at the way Roman was acting with Neo. If one were to change their looks he could her father or at least an older brother.

He glanced over at Voss, the man hadn't said a word since they left the beast, this set Jaune to watch him closely.

Anything the Wendigo don't eat ends up as more Wendigo after all.

Jaune was then pulled out of his thoughts. Where was he again?

Oh. Yeah. He was watching this night's matches on one of the screens in the fairgrounds.

Yang was in a fist fight against that boy who had been helping the Bitch, I think his name was Mercury.

Yang had just been announced the winner and Mercury was walking to congratulate her.

As he approached he saw Yang move as though she was dodging an attack before turning too him.

For a second her eyes seemed fogged up before they cleared.

She smiled as though no one noticed and shook Mercury's hand.

Jaune smirked, the training he had given them was paying off indeed.

An that's a wrap for this month's chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it and I hope you all are in good health.

See you next month with the next chapter. Bye