"...so yeah. That's... basically it." Jaune sighed as he explained himself to the remainder of his team. "I just... die and wake up. I know it's not easy to bel-"

He was cut off.

"Pfffffffffft. Is that all? I thought it was something waaaayyy weirder, like you were hatched from an egg, or were secretly related to Professor Goodwitch!" Nora rolled her eyes as she fell back onto her bed. Jaune's face contorted the most confused expression he could remember having.

"...what?" He glanced at Pyrrha, who looked equally offput. Ren, on the other hand, seemed unfazed. Nora spoke up from where she lay, arms gesticulating wildly.

"Yeah, like that's not even that weird." Jaune's eyebrows did a strange, rapid dance before resting in a quirk.

"It's... not?"

"Nah, I mean, I'm literally a demi-god, and Ren isn't called the Dragon of the East for no reason."

"He's called the Dragon of the East?" Jaune latched on to the only thing that he could understand. Pyrrha sat with a horrified expression on her face, before attempting to calm herself down.

"I mean yeah, what else would you call someone from the East who could turn into a dragon?"

Jaune just shut down at that point. He had absolutely no idea how to proceed, but his brain seemed to be on autopilot.

"Does he?"

"Well obviously, or he wouldn't be called the Dragon of the East."

"Oh. That makes sense..." Jaune spoke in a daze, not really taking in what she was actually saying. Ren sighed, before turning to Nora.

"Nora, please stop trying to convince our friends that I am a dragon. Jaune has just trusted us with some personal information, and confusing them is less than helpful." He turned back to Jaune and to Pyrrha, before continuing to speak. "I can assure you she is not telling the truth."

Pyrrha looked physically relieved, and quickly flashed a smile at Ren in gratitude. He nodded once in return.

"Speaking of the truth however..." Ren paused, with a contemplative look. "Jaune... your words are difficult to believe. I have never heard of such a thing before. It is not that I believe you are lying, but..." Ren trailed off, struggling to find the words. Jaune gave a friendly smile at his teammate.

"Don't worry, I understand. I haven't got any proof, and like I told Pyrrha, I wouldn't believe it either." He sighed. "But that's not really the important bit. Well, to me it is... but to you, I guess it shouldn't really matter." He paused, and looked up, glancing between Ren and Nora, and once, briefly to Pyrrha. She gave him an encouraging smile. He returned it, and continued. "What matters is that I can't use aura properly. I don't have this... forcefield like you guys do. Not without serious effort anyway. So basically, if something hits me, I get hurt. If something hits me hard... I get hurt bad."

Ren's brow furrowed at that, but he remained silent for a moment. He looked at Pyrrha, who spoke up.

"I don't know much about his supposed death, and to be honest, I don't want to know. I certainly never want to test it." She paused, and sighed. "But as far as his aura goes... I have seen it first-hand. You have my word." Ren nodded, before looking down at the floor in thoughtful silence. Nora, for her part, was uncharacteristically quiet, and stared intently at Jaune, who was becoming increasingly unnerved by her unblinking gaze.

Slowly, she got up and walked towards him, still meeting his eyes. She leaned in, and - as Jaune glanced nervously to Pyrrha, who looked on in confusion - she suddenly flicked him on the arm.

Rather hard.

"Ow, hey!" Jaune snapped, flinching back from what was actually quite the impact, having the full brunt of her aura behind it. Jaune check his arm, and a red mark was there, signifying the start of a bruise forming. He glared back at Nora, who leaned back and seemed thoughtful. She held a finger up in the air, as if an idea had suddenly come to her.

"Ren! I think he's broken!" Nora proclaimed, loudly. Ren sighed, while Jaune just buried his face in his hands.

"Wasn't there a less painful, or annoying way you could do that?" Jaune groaned. Ren gave a slight smile at that.

"Almost certainly."

"Well what would be the point of that? Now we know you're telling the truth!" Nora exclaimed, to Jaune's begrudging agreement. Which promptly vanished as she continued. "But how did this happen?! Were you kidnapped as a child, and forced to undergo some strange mutation? Did you get bitten by a non-venomous spider? OH! I know! Did you sacrifice your soul for your one true love?!"

Pyrrha choked, loudly, as Jaune recoiled, bewildered.

"What? No! No, nothing like that! I don't know why it doesn't work, it just doesn't!" Jaune sighed. "I had two reasons for telling you two. I...I thought you deserved to know. You're put so much trust in me, it just felt wrong to not tell you everything."

"You have yet to truly disappoint us, Jaune." Ren spoke simply, but gladly. Nora beamed.

"Aye aye! Also, this makes you even MORE fearless, fearless leader! Charging into combat without aura?! That's what a REAL leader should be!" Nora pumped a fist in the air, while Jaune swallowed. Pyrrha quickly cut in.

"Yes, but although we do admire your bravery, we would prefer-" Pyrrha spoke as she cut across her neck with her hand in Jaune's direction, clearly conveying her opposition to any suicidal charges,"-it if you had some protection, right Ren?" She concluded while glaring at the final member of JNPR, who smiled weakly.

"I agree." He looked back to Jaune. "That was one reason. What was the second?"

Jaune looked almost guilty, before he replied.

"I... I need your help. Pyrrha and Professor Goodwitch have been awesome, and they're helping me train, but I need more. I've seen how well you control your aura, and, well... I-I know it's selfish of me, but-" Jaune stopped as Ren calmly held up a hand.

"It would be selfish to not allow us to assist you. Asking for help is not selfish Jaune. When it affects all of us, it is quite the opposite. But I must ask, why do you want it?"

"Uh... because you're really good with aura?" Jaune looked nonplussed. Was Ren being humble?

"I meant why do you wish to learn control? What is it that you want from what I can teach?"

Oh.

That was a different question entirely.

"I... I want to be better. I want to be stronger. But mostly... I just don't want to hold anyone back. I don't want to be the guy who needs to be rescued, or doesn't do anything. I want to help people, and I want to do that by being the best hunter I can, like all of my family before me." He hung his head. "I don't want to let anyone down."

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see a pair of pink eyes meeting his own. Beneath them, a simple, friendly smile.

"You won't. Thank you for being honest with us." He looked over to Nora, who was beaming at them both. "I would be happy to teach you what I can." Jaune's eyes widened slightly, before a grin made its way onto his face.

"Thanks, Ren."

"You're wel-"

"You're WELCOME!" Nora interjected loudly, standing and pointing at him, posing in triumph.

Jaune blinked, before looking at Ren.

Ren just rolled his eyes, and gave a tired, but happy smile.

Jaune and Pyrrha shared a glance, before they burst into laughter.

It was about a week later - after a tiring-but-productive week for Jaune - that JNPR found themselves in their dormitory in a tense silence.

Jaune's training had been progressing slowly, but surely, and better than he'd expected for only a week's worth of sessions. Ren had been true to his word, and had counselled him in controlling his aura. He could now maintain a full-body coverage for about a minute, without distractions. With distractions...

At least he was improving his ability to heal bruises quickly, often on the fly. But not sufficiently to take part in more active forms of combat. However, Pyrrha had come up with a way for them to train, which fortunately put him in no danger of death.

Which wasn't to say it wasn't painful, just that he wouldn't die.

Professor Goodwitch had also continued tutoring him, with some small but noticeable gains there as well. Once, she'd almost complimented him. Almost.

With all this in mind, Jaune wouldn't have hesitated to say that things were going well for him and his team.

Which then led to today.

JNPR sat uneasily on their beds, seeming anxious and tense. No-one tried to broach the silence, not even Nora. Instead she'd opted to sit on her bed with her headphones on, trying to read a comic Jaune had lent her. Jaune himself was actually trying to study for once, while Pyrrha and Ren were also sat on their beds; the former fiddling with Miló, and the latter attempting to meditate peacefully. He was failing however, and his face was taught, feeling the anxiety much like the rest of his team.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"

Weiss' shout filtered through to their room, and Pyrrha almost lost a miniscule screw as she flinched, before sighing and tightening everything back up. No work would be done tonight.

"That is the problem!" Blake's voice could also be heard. Ren sighed, and gave up on his meditation. JNPR cast furtive glances between each other, but remained in the same, painful silence they had for most of the evening, since RWBY had returned from Vale proper, with Weiss and Blake continuing the same argument the entire time, with little pause. Nora pulled off her headphones and broached the fugue.

"Weiss... didn't really have the most... open-minded upbringing, did she?"

"It seems not. But it sounds like it is far from her fault." Ren spoke quietly.

"No, it isn't." Pyrrha added. "But Blake is not exactly approaching this objectively either."

Jaune sighed. "No, she's way too angry for it to work. Weiss is just gonna get defens-"

"I'm a VICTIM!" Weiss shouted, loud enough for them to hear clearly. Jaune winced.

"-defensive." Pyrrha sighed, nodding in agreement. For a short while, it was far quieter, until a thump was heard. The team tensed, but it hadn't sounded like a punch, rather someone hitting something wooden, probably in frustration. Weiss shrill shout once again shattered the silence.

"-liars, thieves and murderers!"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

Blake's proclamation seemed even louder, and the silence that followed was almost deafening, punctuated by the sound of a door being slammed open in haste. JNPR looked intently at their own door, just as Ruby herself could be heard far more clearly than even Weiss before.

"Blake, wait! Come back!"

She sounded desperate, and almost distraught. Jaune could understand why.

"Does that mean what I... think it means?" Nora asked in a strained voice.

Jaune looked at Pyrrha, whose wide eyes reflected the surprise on his own face.

"I... I guess it does." He replied sadly. He slouched in his chair, feeling drained.

"I hope they'll be OK."

Are we doing the Stray?

Damn stray-ght.

Maybe things aren't quite so Black and White after all.

...I'm not apologising.

Again, not overly enthusiastic about the dialogue, but it was a necessary evil. And I could resist adding a small part of last chapter's omake, since it just seemed such a nice way to kick things off. I hope you enjoyed reading, and things will get a little more interesting next time, I hope. It might not be out next week, since I haven't written any of it, but as it's all planned it shouldn't take me more than... six months?

Maybe.

Training montage!

Jaune was on that same historic roof, waiting for Pyrrha expectantly. They hadn't been able to do any sparring as of yet, due to Pyrrha's obvious reluctance to hurt him with their real weapons. But she'd said they might be able to tonight, so Jaune was here, with nervous excitement, waiting to see what would happen. He looked around as he heard the door open.

Pyrrha stepped out, carrying something draped in a large cloth. Her eyes were gleaming in the light of the shattered moon, and a bright smile was on her face. He smiled in return as he greeted her.

"Hey Pyrrha!"

"Hello again!" She spoke happily. "I have something that may help us with your problem, at least as far as training goes." Jaune's curiosity was piqued.

"Oh? That sounds cool, what is it?"

Pyrrha grinned, as she unveiled...

A pair of wooden swords. Jaune's brows furrowed.

"Uh... wooden swords?"

Pyrrha laughed. "Yes, Jaune. They're also weighted, so they'll feel quite heavy enough, I promise." She proffered one to him. It looked very similar to his own blade, but Jaune still felt sceptical.

"Will we actually be able to use these?" He asked, as he took the sword.

"Oh, yes." Pyrrha replied, a devilish grin on her own face, which made Jaune suddenly nervous. "You will certainly be able to learn a lot." As she spoke, she twirled her own weapon, before getting into a low stance.

Jaune gulped.

"I yield!"

As he lay back on the roof, sword point at his throat, Jaune groaned.

It was like those bean bags all over again. Seemingly innocent, but oh so painful.

"Well done Jaune, you're certainly improving! Just keep an eye on your footwork, and remember to keep your shield up. Let's go again" She smiled as she held out a hand to pull him up, which he begrudgingly took. As he dusted himself off, he gave a weak smile.

"Thanks." He paused. "Uh, Pyrrha... you're not still... angry about before, are you?" He asked nervously.

"Why Jaune..." Pyrrha spoke, as she readied her weapon, with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"Whatever gave you that idea?"