Chapter 8: Forever Fall

XxX

Jaune

The door closed softly behind Jaune as he tapped out a quick message to Ruby on his scroll before sitting down to wait.

"Hey, Ruby, you awake? I had something I wanted to ask you. Well, two things, actually."

Team RWBY's door opened a few seconds later as Ruby did her best to quietly exit her room. She sat down next to Jaune, head tilting.

"What's going on, Jaune?"

Jaune turned to face her.

"Well, the first thing: did something seem weird to you about my doubles spar with Cardin today?"

Ruby closed her eyes, mentally reviewing the events of the fight.

"I don't...think I noticed anything? Well, besides the stuff he was saying, but that wasn't that off? Why? Did something seem weird to you?"

"There were a few things," Jaune replied. "I mean, besides what he was saying. Near the end of the fight, when he barely missed me with his mace? I'm pretty sure that was on purpose."

Ruby's eyes widened.

"How can you know that?"

"Semblance," Jaune responded shortly. "I haven't really been telling people who aren't my teammates, sorry."

Ruby looked a little hurt at that before rallying. "Yeah, I get that. My semblance is pretty obvious, so I don't bother keeping the general details a secret, but I get why you'd keep something more subtle secret. Especially if it were telepathy or something." She exaggeratedly winked.

Jaune laughed despite himself. "Telepathy? Gods, I wish. That would be incredible. Nah, it's way less cool than that. And I'm still not telling you."

"Fine," Ruby hmphed. "Anyway, Cardin missed you on purpose? Maybe he just thought you'd continue forward into the strike?"

Jaune hmmed softly, thinking. That did make sense, and it would explain what had happened. Strange as it felt, Cardin might just have been trying to catch one of his charges. That still didn't explain the other things he'd said, but maybe they weren't connected? Not everything had to be part of some big plot. That was probably the answer, no matter how unsatisfying it felt. He nodded.

"That makes sense, I guess."

Ruby smiled.

"Glad to help! You said you had two things?"

Jaune's eyes widened slightly. He'd almost forgotten the main reason he came out here.

"Right! Ruby, are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

Jaune shrugged.

"I'm not sure, but it's weird to me that you weren't volunteering to fight in Goodwitch's class. Was it because you got hit by the Boarbatusk in Grimm Studies?"

Ruby looked down.

"Oh. That. No, it's...more complicated than that."

Jaune moved a bit closer, voice sympathetic.

"Complicated how?"

"I got hit because Weiss went against my orders. I tried to talk to her about it after class and she just...went silent. She hasn't spoken to me besides formalities since. Jaune, am I a bad leader?" Her voice shook a little on those last words.

"Look, Ruby..." Jaune paused. He really didn't know what he was doing. Here's hoping this was right. "Weiss isn't a good example of a team member. She's willing to do whatever she needs to to reach the top, remember? She's probably just adjusting to you being in charge."

"Maybe I shouldn't be in charge, then."

"Ruby, no!" Jaune replied forcefully. "I heard how you dealt with the Nevermore. You took command of that situation and came up with a great strategy. You're going to be a great leader."

"There's more to leading than winning battles, Jaune!"

"I know that, Ruby, but you have no reason to think you can't do the rest."

"I have no reason to think I can either!" She was almost in tears, now.

"Ozpin chose you, didn't he?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't know why! My own partner doesn't listen to me! I'm not like you, Jaune! I can't just be friendly with people all of a sudden!"

Jaune laughed quietly.

"Like me? Ruby, you're more experienced than me, a thousandfold. Also, if I were on a team with Weiss there'd be a murder suicide within a day. The fact that this is all that's happened between you two means you're a better leader for her than I could ever hope to be. You listen to her, and that's more than I could do. Keep trying, alright?"

Ruby smiled softly through the tears. "You really mean that, don't you. Thank you, Jaune."

He grinned. "Anytime, Ruby. You should probably get some sleep."

"Just what I was thinking. You sure you don't have telepathy?"

Jaune chuckled, waving Ruby off. She quietly walked back into her room. Jaune turned to walk back to his, taking a step before - Danger nearby, 3 feet behind - he whirled, hands rising in front of his face, he didn't have his sword but he could at least try and fight - Cardin stood there, hands palm up.

"Whoa, calm down, Jauney-boy! No weapon, see? No need to be worried."

Jaune relaxed slowly as his danger sense stopped reacting.

"Sorry, Cardin. You startled me. What did you want?"

The taller teen smiled disarmingly.

"Nothing much. I just wanted to ask you how you blocked my strikes so easily. I spent a few hours wondering about it, but you know better than anyone else, right, Jaune? I just want to make sure there's not some hole in my fighting style."

Jaune's eyes widened slightly as his shoulders rose subconsciously.

"I'm just good at what I do, Cardin. Maybe you telegraph more than you think?"

Cardin laughed. There was no humor in it.

"Maybe I do, Jaune. But you know what? I don't think that's it. I think you're hiding something from me. And that makes you dangerous."

Jaune stepped forward, shoulders squaring.

"So what if I am hiding something? My secrets are mine, Cardin. It's kind of in the name. If that makes me dangerous, then I guess that's what I am!"

Cardin raised his hands again.

"Relax, Jauney-boy! No need to flip out on me. I'm just curious about how you fought me so easily, is that a crime? Look, if you don't want to tell me, I'll stop asking."

"Please do."

Cardin shrugged, turning away.

"Have it your way. Be seeing you around, Jaune."

Jaune slumped against a wall as Cardin left. He needed to figure out what was going on.

XxX

3 weeks later

Jaune leaned against a tree, starting to calm down for the first time since Cardin had confronted him in the hallway. After all, the other boy had actually backed off. He had refrained from challenging Jaune in classes, he was nothing but polite to him in the hallways, if Jaune hadn't known better he would have thought Cardin was just another student. His surroundings were, also, definitely helping him calm down - no matter how many times Jaune came here, the deep scarlet leaves and near silence of Forever Fall forest never failed to calm him down. Even the occasional rustle in the leaves didn't faze him. After all, his senses were silent. All of them. He knew they were gathering sap for some important experiments, but at the moment? Kind of felt like a reward more than anything else. Just beautiful nature, peace and quiet-

"Hey Jaune! This sap's delicious! It tastes like pancake syrup!"

Well, almost quiet. Jaune turned, too slow to stop the last drops of sap in the nearest jar from vanishing into Nora's mouth. She licked her lips before grinning at him as he mock-glared at her.

"Did I do something wrong, o Fearless Leader?"

Jaune sighed.

"You know you're going to have to get the next jar yourself, right?"

She laughed.

"Silly Jaune. Ren's going to do it for me!"

Ren looked up from his own jar.

"Why would I do that, Nora?"

Nora grinned once more.

"Because you know I'll never end up with a full jar of this sap otherwise?"

He sighed.

"I...can't argue with that. Just don't eat mine."

"Fiiiiiiiine."

Jaune smiled at their interactions before turning to his own tree, screwing the tap into its trunk and placing the jar underneath. His shoulders relaxed still more as the sap began flowing from the tree, the slow, regular drips lulling him into calmness. It had been weeks since he felt like this, honestly. This sort of deep safety hadn't been a regular presence ever since he had taken his Beacon acceptance into his own hands. Having to hide from his father at first and the school afterwards had easily seen to his life being chock-full of stress.

Jaune paused. Why did that remind him of something he'd forgotten to do? He was at Beacon, what could be left of that part of his life that he hadn't dealt with? Oh. Right. Pyrrha. He looked up to see Pyrrha screwing the cap onto her own full jar. She looked back at him and smiled. He steeled himself. This would be hard, but it was necessary. She trusted him with her secrets, it was only right he trust her with his.

"Pyrrha, can you walk with me for a bit? There's something private I want to talk to you about."

Her eyes widened. Before she could respond, Nora cut in, smile wide and eyebrow raised.

"I think you should hear what he has to say, Pyrrha. Don't worry, Ren'll make sure I don't drink all our sap. Probably."

Jaune blushed slightly as Pyrrha nodded and smiled.

"Of course, Jaune."

She followed as he walked a ways into the woods before stopping when he felt like he was out of earshot of the rest. Pyrrha drew up alongside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What is this about, Jaune? Was Nora right in her implications?"

He laughed quietly. If only it were something that easy to say.

"No. Remember in initiation, when you asked about my father sending me to Beacon without an aura? I promised you I'd tell you when we were in safety, didn't I?"

"I'd forgotten, actually," Pyrrha responded. "That day was...eventful enough to distract me from some of the smaller things."

Jaune laughed quietly.

"That's fair, but you should know. You deserve to know. And...if you don't want to be partners after this, I understand. And...this story might sound insane, but please...just let me finish it."

Pyrrha nodded, eyes widening and hand slowly returning to her side as Jaune fell silent, pondering his next words. He could have sworn even the rustles in the forest grew a little louder after he'd said that. Was this really a good idea? But there was no stopping now. He would see this through. He closed his eyes and began to speak, voice low and quick.

"My father never wanted me to be a huntsman. He saw some things in his travels that he still won't tell my family about, but they were bad enough that he refused to let me suffer the same way he did. So I grew up hearing stories of the great acts of him and my grandfather, knowing the whole time I'd never be able to be as good as they were, to do what they did. Until last year, I bore that in silence. Then, last year, as my friends at Signal started graduating, I couldn't take it anymore. I broke down to my oldest sister. I expected sympathy. What I didn't expect was help. She and two of my other sisters arranged for me to be trained by some disgraced hunters in combat for the six months before Beacon made admissions decisions - but they and I both knew that wouldn't be enough, for a random nobody without Aura. Sure, I could trade on the Arc name, but if Ozpin called my father to ask about me the whole enterprise would be dead in the water. So I studied the personnel of Beacon, their methods, the whole admissions process, all in some desperate attempt to gain an edge. Three days before admissions opened, my oldest sister came to me with a packet of papers. Falsified transcripts from Sanctum, a falsified immigration report, and letters of recommendation. She wouldn't tell me where she got them, only that I deserved to have what my father had. So I gave those to Beacon, lied my way to an Aura-less combat test, and you know the rest. That's all, I guess. If you want me to stop weighing you down, I get it." Jaune fell silent, blinking back tears.

Pyrrha froze for a second, totally silent. She eventually responded, voice hesitant.

"Jaune...why would you think that any of that would make me want to lose you...a-as a partner?"

"I lied, to Beacon explicitly and to you implicitly! I don't deserve to be here, Pyrrha. What you said in the forest was right, I'm not ready to be here!"

"Jaune, in six months you pushed yourself further than most do in years! I've seen you fight! I don't care where you came from, I don't care what you had to do to get here! You saw a way out of your destiny and you took it. To me, that matters so much more than what truth you did or didn't tell. You're my partner, Jaune. And if this is all that you had to say to me, it'll stay that way."

"If that's how you feel..." Jaune's voice failed him. Pyrrha leaned forward, hand landing on his shoulder yet again. Jaune's eyes closed, before - Danger, left side, rapidly approaching - Jaune wasn't fast enough to do anything but pull Pyrrha behind him before the jar of sap smashed into him. His eyes widened. Who had thrown that - Cardin. He turned to Pyrrha.

"You alright? Sorry for pulling you, the semblance doesn't really give me much information and it was pretty reflexive."

She shakily smiled back.

"As long as it wasn't out of some misguided sense of chivalry. Are you ok?"

He grinned.

"Just some sap. I'm fine."

A loud buzzing filled the forest as a cloud of rapier wasps left the nearby trees, making a beeline for the sweet sap covering Jaune's armor.

"Well, maybe not fine."

Danger, right side, 10 feet, approaching slowly. An Ursa Major rumbled out of the trees from the other direction a few seconds later, bone plating almost entirely covering its skull. Jaune raised his sword, seeing Pyrrha doing the same in the moments before the wasps surrounded him.

"Ok, definitely not fine."

XxX

Weiss

Weiss walked behind Ruby, tuning out her team leader's excited babbles as they walked back to Blake and Yang with their newly-tapped sap. When she ignored, well, everything coming out of Ruby's mouth, her team leader was...tolerable, some of the time. She was skilled in battle and tactics, at the very least. That didn't change her sheer inability to recognize that sometimes hardness was necessary in battle, though. That naivete would get her killed someday, why couldn't she see that? It wouldn't have been as bad if Ruby actually listened to her, but no, the moment it came to one of Ruby's friends being hurt or anything that didn't look adequately heroic it was too late for reason. She had seen that first-hand in Port's class, when Ruby had become so angry over a simple tactic. So what if Weiss had been stiff to her ever since? That was how a good subordinate acted, right? Weiss closed her eyes, exhaling slowly. There was no reason to get like this. Schnee should exercise control over all things. Particularly their emotions.

Ruby slowed, turning to face Weiss.

"Hey, Weiss, you alright? I know we've been kind of...cold lately, but you look like you're working through something."

Weiss nodded stiffly.

"I'm fine. There is nothing wrong."

"Ok," Ruby replied, a little uncertainly. "You know you can come to me if you're concerned, right?"

Weiss's eyes flashed. That was it. Being ignored was one thing, but she would not take being pitied like a child again.

"So you can order me to ignore my concerns, like you did the last three times?"

"Weiss, I didn't - I don't - what?" Ruby sputtered.

"In the woods at initiation, I was trying to keep us alive, to make sure we avoided any incoming Grimm. You never even asked for my reasons. You just bulldozed over me. The same thing with the Nevermore, and again with Port's class. Even when you're wrong, you just ignore people! If you want me to trust you with 'my concerns', you could start by listening to reasonable objections!" Weiss fell silent, breathing a little heavily. Well, that was it. She'd angered her team leader. And that meant a formal letter of insubordination, which would go on her record. And that meant leaving Beacon. And it was all worth it to see her arrogant and naive leader look so stunned-

"You're right. I'm sorry."

...What?

Ruby paused before continuing.

"I haven't been listening to you, Weiss. You're right. I'm...not used to fighting in a team, really. I'll try and be better about it."

Weiss froze, contemplating her next words. It was...shockingly difficult to remain annoyed at someone when they admitted their wrong.

"If you really do, then I will come to you with my ideas and concerns rather than just doing them. But only if you agree to not push past me again. I know certain things about the hunter lifestyle and occupation you might not, Ruby. Don't freeze me out."

Ruby opened her mouth to respond before a sudden crash interrupted her, followed closely by the sounds of loud buzzing and the growl of an Ursa. Moments later, Jaune Arc's voice echoed through the forest, calling for help. Of course that headstrong idiot had something to do with this.

"We have to check on that."

Weiss inhaled.

"This is exactly what I mean. Ruby, we don't have to do anything. There is a teacher with us. We should get Glynda and stay safe."

"But people might get hurt, if we take the time to get Glynda!"

"And we might get hurt if we don't!"

"That's not the point-" Ruby paused mid-word. "Actually, Weiss, you're right. I'm sorry. How about this: I'll go get Glynda and our team, you check on Jaune."

Weiss smiled, with a bit of strain at the thought of having to save Jaune Arc.

"That will do. See you on the other side, team leader."

Ruby smiled back before blurring away. Weiss turned towards the earlier sound, white glyph forming underneath her feet. It seemed this was what teamwork felt like.

XxX

Jaune

Jaune smashed a few more of the swarm of wasps against a tree before lowering his shield, catching sight of Pyrrha holding her own against the Ursa. She had yet to get hit, but that couldn't last forever. Not when she only dodged some of those swipes with an inch to spare. He needed to get there to reinforce her, but that would never work with all these wasps harrying him. He needed - the air suddenly chilled around him, the remaining wasps of the swarm freezing into a block of ice and dropping to the ground. He looked behind him, catching sight of Weiss Schnee leaping off of a glyph and landing softly next to him. His eyes widened, one corner of his mouth turning up. Before he could speak, Weiss cut in.

"I'm doing this because Ruby asked me to, not because I care what happens to you. One word I dislike and I leave you with the wasps."

Jaune grinned.

"Got it, Weiss. Let's kill an Ursa, shall we?"

Weiss launched into the fray silently, rapier impaling the claw of the Ursa to a tree. Pyrrha followed up with a quick slash to the other arm, disabling it. Jaune strode forward, spinning his sword once before decapitating the Grimm with one blow. He grinned at the other two as the Ursa started to dissipate.

"So this is what it's like to fight normal Grimm without handicaps? I kind of like it. We should do it more often."

Pyrrha smothered a laugh as Weiss glared.

"I do not understand why Ruby or Pyrrha tolerate you."

"Neither do I, I just kind of run with it. Anyway," Jaune paused as he heard another slight rustle in the woods. What was that? He'd been hearing it all day - oh Godsdamnit. "You two go on ahead and reassure our teams, ok? There's something I have to take care of."

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked.

Jaune grinned darkly. "Very."

The other two leapt into the forest, and Jaune turned to the source of the rustling.

"You know, Cardin, I didn't realize at first. I probably should have, but it took me by surprise. I didn't think you'd be that stupid."

Moments later, Cardin walked out of the trees, Russel walking reluctantly behind him.

"Stupid? Why, Jauney-boy, this was just a harmless prank! I had no idea there were Grimm in the area."

"I sure hope you got the information you wanted, Cardin. Because I doubt Goodwitch would be as kind as I would to that excuse."

Cardin raised his hands mockingly.

"Oh no, Jaune's going to go to the administration! Who knows what secrets might come out then? Gods, someone worried about that might get all sorts of loose lips. Who knows what that someone might have overheard?"

Jaune froze.

"Are you blackmailing me, Cardin?"

Cardin laughed.

"Oh, nothing so uncouth. Just reminding you of the difference between a harmless prank and ruining someone's reputation. If you leave this be, and maybe tell me how your semblance works, a harmless prank is all this will ever have to be. Now, don't forget to be a good friend, Jaune!"

Cardin strode off into the woods, leaving Jaune stock-still amid the trees.

A/N: Longest chapter yet! God, this one took forever to get done. So many character motivations to balance. My betas are busyish this week, so this one's going out unbetaed.

Weiss's arc: This part of it is mostly done, though you'll get some more of the 'denouement' next chapter. She's still got some character growth to come this arc, though, worry not.

CRDL: Cardin's incredibly fun to write, I have to say. And I have some damn fun plans for CRDL as a whole(sadly they won't pay off for a loooooong time), which this arc lays the groundwork for.

Jaune and Pyrrha: Yes, I'm lampshading the fact that I'm teasing shippers. And yes, it is incredibly fun. (Though those of you who read my other work shouldn't be surprised *cough* Naekusaba *cough*)

Non-drama-ish plot: Don't worry, there will be reminders of the larger world starting at the end of next chapter and continuing through the end of Arc I. Also, foreshadowing, which I've had to cut down on in these chapters for reasons of not enough larger stuff. Although, there is a direct foreshadowing to my planned climax of Arc 3 somewhere here. Heh.

Please review!