Chapter 9: Glowing Coals

XxX

Jaune

Jaune strode back into his room, closing the door harshly behind him. Nora, Ren and Pyrrha looked up from their scrolls.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Pyrrha asked.

He grimaced.

"Cardin overheard what I told you in the forest. He's trying to blackmail me into revealing my semblance."

Nora tilted her head.

"Why should it matter whether Cardin knows you have a thing for Pyrrha?"

Jaune's jaw dropped, totally silenced. Pyrrha smiled through the worry in her eyes.

"Jaune, did I...miss something about our conversation?"

Jaune started sputtering.

"That's not what - Nora, why would you say - whatever. That's not what this is. Nora, I told Pyrrha something in that woods that could get me expelled, if the wrong person heard it. It might mean prison time. That's what Cardin wants to use against me."

"Oh." Nora's smile grew predatory. "Well, I can't have something like that held over our Captain's head. Say the word and I'll... take care of him."

Ren sighed.

"Nora, what have I said about taking care of people?"

"Only do it to Grimm and deserving targets? Blackmail makes you a deserving target, Ren!"

"No, Nora. It doesn't."

"Pleeeeeeease?" Nora's puppy-dog eyes were...shockingly cute. "I'm only going to break Cardin a little, he'll be fine eventually, right?"

"Nora, no."

Nora turned towards Jaune, eyes brimming with crocodile tears.

"Jaune? It's your decision, but I think that I could make sure Cardin would never want to blackmail you again."

His eyes widened. If Nora really did do that, it might work, and she did look so hopeful... No. He had a plan already.

"Sorry, Nora. More investigation into this is worse than anything else, I think. I know what I need to do."

"What?"

Jaune grinned.

"Cardin's whole plan is predicated on me being too worried about the administration to turn him in. Thing is, if I get to them first, anything he says will be looked at as an attempt to get out of his punishment. So I'm going to call his bluff."

"Are you sure about this, Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice shook a little. "If this goes wrong, they might just kick you out."

Jaune inhaled, shoulders tensing.

"That's a risk, yeah. But if I give in to Cardin here and now, he'll just keep blackmailing me. The only way to end extortion is to cut it off at the source."

Pyrrha nodded.

"Do what you must."

Jaune walked towards the door, turning back to face the others.

"If I don't come back from this a student of Beacon...It's been one hell of a month."

They nodded solemnly back. Jaune opened the door and stepped out, walking briskly towards Ozpin's office. Time to face the music.

XxX

"...and that's when he walked away, after threatening to blackmail me into lying about his reckless endangerment and telling him my semblance."

Ozpin nodded, steepling his fingers.

"What did you say he had blackmailed you with again, Mr. Arc?"

"It wasn't precisely clear," Jaune responded, keeping his voice steady. "He said he had found out something about my past, but he didn't give me details. I didn't want to risk it being something that would hurt my family or my team, so I came to you."

Ozpin nodded again, taking a sip from his coffee mug.

"I will have Mr. Winchester sent to this office immediately to hear his side of the story."

He pressed a sequence of buttons on the side of his desk before leaning back in his chair. A few seconds later, the elevator doors at the back of the office opened and Cardin strode out, grinning.

"You went to the administration, Jauney-boy? Didn't think you had the guts. Guess a liar will do anything to protect their own skin, right?"

Ozpin motioned Cardin to a seat.

"A liar, Mr. Winchester? Elaborate?"

Cardin calmly sat, hands resting comfortably on his thighs.

"Well, Headmaster, I don't know what Jaune told you happened, but here's the truth. I overheard Jaune discussing his illicit acceptance into Beacon with another student, who I prefer not to implicate. They did nothing wrong, after all. Anyway, after their conversation finished, I saw Jaune get attacked by rapier wasps and Grimm after getting sap all over himself. I hung back in case he needed reinforcements or more Grimm arrived - I was about to join the fray myself, but then the Schnee heiress arrived and the battle seemed to be going well enough without me. After the fight, Jaune sent his team off to confront me, where he threatened to blame me for the Grimm attack. I was left with no choice but to inform him that I had dirt on him too. I would have come to you first, Headmaster, if I had solid proof."

"Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Winchester. It will be very helpful in getting to the bottom of all of this."

Ozpin stood up from his desk, walking into one corner of the room. Jaune leaned towards Cardin and laughed quietly.

"That was your best, Cardin? 'After getting sap all over himself'? That's believable."

Cardin smiled slightly.

"Always with the snark, eh, Jauney-boy? You may look confident, but you're just as scared as I am. More so, probably. You have way more at risk than I do, after all. It's not too late to back out of this, you know."

"We're sitting in the headmaster's office. If there's a too late, we're there."

"Oh, Jaune, you have so little faith in me. Just give me what I want, and I'll get us out of this."

Jaune grinned tightly.

"If I intended to give in, I'd have done it already. If you want to turn away from the cliff, you'll have to do it yourself."

"You do have fire, I'll give you that," Cardin replied. "It's a shame you weren't on my team. We could have used someone like you."

"A little late for that, isn't it?"

Cardin opened his mouth to respond before Ozpin cut in from the back of the room.

"I have made my decision. Let us begin by establishing a few facts. Jaune, you did, in fact, fake your transcripts."

Jaune's eyes widened.

"You're going to just believe Cardin?"

The corner of Ozpin's mouth turned upwards.

"Believe Mr. Winchester? Hardly. I will believe the headmaster of Sanctum, who I called to confirm the moment records crossed my desk of a student from Sanus attending Sanctum. While that does happen occasionally, it was suspicious enough to warrant a brief check. I could always call your father, if you weren't confident enough in my prior checks."

Jaune blanched slightly.

"That won't be necessary."

"Thank you. Mr. Winchester, your actions after the Grimm perished were observed by Glynda, who reached the fight after Ms. Rose called her over. We know exactly what it is you did. Rest assured, it will not go unpunished."

Cardin froze for an instant before his face reddened.

"So that's it, huh? I make one mistake and that's all I get? Meanwhile, he fakes his way into Beacon and nobody has any problems with it?"

Ozpin inhaled.

"I sometimes forget how headstrong students are. I cannot blame you, you see little and believe yourselves to have the full picture. I will say this clearly, then. Mr. Arc passed his combat examination without Aura. Mr. Arc survived his landing without Aura. Mr. Arc survived initiation and was instrumental in killing an Adult Deathstalker. Mr. Arc has, regardless of his current situation, earned his place at this academy. Mr. Winchester, we train Hunters here. Anyone who will make a good Hunter has a place at this school. Do you feel Mr. Arc has a place at this school?"

Cardin paused for a long while before reluctantly nodding.

"Then we are done. Mr. Arc, you may go. I suspect your teammates are waiting for you. Do let them know you have managed to escape expulsion."

Jaune smiled, tension leaving his shoulders.

"Thank you, Headmaster."

He stood and left the room.

XxX

Ozpin

As Jaune left, Ozpin turned to the elephant in the room. Cardin Winchester. This one was a bit of an enigma. Not quite powerful enough to justify being pushed towards either of the premier teams, but with a strength of character nonetheless. There might be something here.

"Mr. Winchester, we now come to the matter of your punishment. Since it is early, and I do believe you intended no harm, I will let you off with a strict probation. Any further acts of aggression will invite a harsh reprisal. Do I make myself clear?"

The boy nodded, looking more like the child he was than the adult he attempted to portray. Ozpin closed his eyes, resting his fingers against his mug. It was all well and good to preach the merits of childhood and growth, but if Ozpin did things like this, what did it all mean? The world needed its defenders, but at what cost?

"Excuse me, Headmaster, can I go?"

Ozpin held up a hand.

"Not so fast, Mr. Winchester. You have exhibited a certain...strength of character today. That sort of strength is valuable, in a Hunter. What you lack, right now, is power and restraint."

"What are you saying?"

Ozpin closed his eyes briefly before opening them.

"Mr. Winchester, what do you know of Auric manipulation?"

XxX

Ruby

Weiss walked into team RWBY's room, closing the door behind her, expression neutral. Ruby jumped to her feet. Yang and Blake shared a meaningful look before leaving the room.

"So? What happened? Did Ozpin end up needing to question you?"

Weiss shook her head.

"No. He said that he had 'the evidence he needed from elsewhere'."

Ruby tilted her head.

"Evidence? For what?"

Weiss hmmed.

"There might have been foul play involved in the attack. Rapier wasps don't normally attack in unison like that. Also, Arc was covered in sap. The Headmaster might have been checking on that?"

Ruby's eyes widened.

"Someone sabotaged him? And you're so calm about it?"

Weiss took a slightly deeper breath.

"Yes, Ruby, I am. The teachers are looking into it, and there's nothing more we can do about it. If I had seen who caused the sap to be on Jaune, or if I had any knowledge of who might have it out for him, then we might be able to do something about it. But, as we are now, we have no information, and the teachers clearly do - they wouldn't have turned me away otherwise. Anything we'd try would be basically blindly opening fire into a crowd and hoping."

Ruby paused and nodded. That was a good point, even if it felt a little...weird, to just sit by as one of her friends was attacked. But Weiss was right, they really didn't know anything, except...

"Weiss, we do know something that they might not. The night after you let me take the hit from the Grimm in Port's class, Jaune approached me. He said that Cardin had been acting strangely around him the whole day. Maybe Cardin had something to do with this?"

"Actually, that might be right," Weiss replied. "I saw Cardin waiting by the elevator to Ozpin's office around the same time I was called over. Maybe the teachers called him too?"

Ruby paused before shrugging slightly.

"That does make sense, I guess... We can always ask Jaune at some point."

Weiss grimaced.

"I suppose that might be necessary."

Ruby paused. Well, no better time than the present.

"Weiss, why don't you like Jaune, anyway? Sure, he can be a bit jerky at times, but that's not so bad once you get used to it!"

"A 'bit jerky'?" Weiss's eyes flashed, fingers forming air quotes around the word 'jerky'. "Ruby, the first time we spoke to him, he deeply insulted my family and me within three sentences. The second time he casually ordered us around and we almost got killed because of it! That's a lot more than a 'bit jerky'."

Ruby paused, thinking about her next words. Weiss wasn't exactly wrong, and that made it hard to argue with her. On the other hand...

"Weiss, to be fair, you were trying to blackmail Pyrrha the first time. And in the second time he was right! Aren't you the one who said that good ideas don't have to come from your leaders?"

"They don't have to come from leaders but they should at least have rationale behind them, Ruby! And that wasn't blackmail, it was just the kind of thing that happens in the real world! I had something she wanted, she had something I wanted, that's how the world works!"

"Maybe that's how your world works, Weiss. But we're not in that world anymore."

"...What?"

"This isn't about business partners and enemies, this isn't about exchanging favours, and this isn't about politics, Weiss! We're Huntresses in training. When we mess up, people die. You know what that means, Weiss?"

Weiss was silent, looking down. Ruby's eyes widened slightly. She hadn't expected that to come out so well. She sounded like a real hero for a second there! - but now was no time to be mentally squealing. She had a point to make.

"It means that we have to be honest with our allies, and do what we can to help them. Because, if they get bad information, or their backup is late, bad things happen. Maybe the first few times there's no problem. But, eventually? It means our allies get hurt. It means our friends get hurt. It means our team gets hurt. I need you to promise me that the politics, everything you've been doing because it's what's done - it ends here. From here on out, we're Huntresses."

Ruby inhaled, waiting to see how Weiss would respond. She hoped she hadn't come off too strong, but Weiss needed to hear that. Ruby couldn't just let Weiss's cold, calculating mindset slide. Being a Hunter was about saving people, it was about doing what needed to be done. She couldn't let social games get in the way of that.

Weiss lifted her eyes, smiling slightly. This smile looked...alive, in a way that Weiss's others hadn't.

"I can't guarantee I won't sometimes be political, Ruby. It is, after all, the world I'm used to. But you're right. We're here to be Huntresses. And I won't let my upbringing get in the way of that."

Ruby smiled.

"Glad to have you with me..." She paused, grinning mischeviously, voice mimicking Jaune's. "partner."

Weiss inhaled.

"If you call me that again, I will spread horrifically malicious rumors about you."

Ruby laughed.

"Fine, fine. Couldn't resist. Glad to have you with me, Weiss."

"Glad to be here."

They fell into a companionable silence for a few seconds before a knocking broke the quiet.

"Is it safe to come in yet?" Yang's voice was loud even through the door. "Is the room on fire? I have 20 lien riding on this."

XxX

Gepetto

The robot arm carefully scraped away another line of Dust, redirecting Aura channels away from the central core of the project, flowing into the circular Auric paths surrounding the limbs and control systems. Gepetto Polendina leaned back and wiped his eyes. Hopefully the redundant Aura reassembler would now automatically take over far earlier if Penny got injured. He still needed to design the secondary Aura receptors, but those could wait. He had some time. He closed his eyes, trying to get a bit of rest.

"Sir?"

Well, there went that idea. Gepetto opened his eyes and smiled at his lab assistant. It wasn't his fault they were being rushed.

"Yes, Arthur?"

"I've heard through the grapevine that you intend to send project P.E.N.N.Y out for the Vytal festival? Sir, that's unwise, she isn't ready-"

Gepetto motioned, cutting him off.

"She will be ready. And you should get used to calling her Penny. She's as sentient as the rest of us."

"Sir, I'm not that comfortable calling the project Penny. Or a her. Not with how it's made and what its purpose is. And anyway, what about its - sorry, her issues with Auric Scrambling?"

Gepetto paused. Auric Scrambling seemed unlikely. On the other hand... "What's the harm? It's a simple fix." He hummed thoughtfully at that voice, seemingly the manifestation of his gut reactions. It would be a pretty easy fix, after all. He nodded.

"Fair point about Auric Scrambling. I'll add in an automatic reset if her Auric functions fail a set of diagnostic tests. She'll cut off Aura production and then pull a backup Auric image from the CCT, which will directly connect to our servers. Then she'll restart Aura reception based on that image and bootstrap back into independent production. Good enough?"

Arthur nodded.

"Good enough for government work, at least."

Gepetto chuckled.

"Look, Arthur, I know you used to work in private research, but chin up, ok? One month more and the world gets to see what we've built."

A/N: And the second act draws to a close!

Jaune, Cardin and Ozpin: I know there were a few people worried I was giving Jaune the Idiot ball in the past few chapters-I hope this satisfies you. He's not truly passive, except when he really doesn't know what's going on. On the other hand, he's overmatched and he knows it, especially when it comes to Hunter etiquette and politicking. Jaune isn't the most...tactful of people.

Ozpin and Cardin: I will again remind people that the world of Remnant is not a kind one. Especially for someone training its next generation of protectors. Beacon isn't just a happy school for monster hunters-but, then again, recent canon made that clear enough. I'm just taking that to its logical conclusion(well, with my own little additions. This is an AU.). But yes, this fic will get darker. It's already started.

Ruby and Weiss's section: that was hard to write. I hope I did it justice. Needed to set up the White Fang segment as well as give the conflict a sort of satisfying resolution, and, of course, there are still bits missing. (Weiss's POV would have been valuable to have, for one. Hopefully the necessary information is clear enough from what she's saying and what y'all know about her backstory.) Also, yes, Yang doesn't care at all about tension or timing. (Cut from the draft was a joke about post-fight sex that my betas and I felt was a bit too on the nose)

Geppetto: there are so many little clues and pieces of foreshadowing in this scene, I'm so happy with it-I'm curious what you all notice.

Oh, I have an additional beta now, replacing paradigm-adrift- rusalkii is excellent and nitpicky in a good way, as well as having a pretty keen nose for character. Continued thanks go to the-king-in-da-norf and queen-of-all-crazies.

Please review! (P.S: for people who post guest reviews: should I respond to them publically?)