Professor Arc 3

So this will the last chapter if the story doesn't pick up any traction. I will put up short shots of scenes I wanted to do with this story, as well as a summary of the plot I had written out for it as well. I'll just go back to focusing on some more one shots and My Path that Loops. As well as try and write The Long Journey and Drop of Blood. Surprisingly enough there's actually another story called Professor Arc by Coeur Al'Aran. It seems like a fun story, go check it out!

Here we go!

She was breathing, up and down. So slow, and in rhythmic fashion. They had just finished reapplying gauze to his hand, a newer wound from the medal he had crushed in it. They were still transporting in the injured, bodies, corpses. He closed his eyes and wept silently.

Some of them had been so young. Others weren't even apart of the cell. But, why? He had told Ironwood. Told him everything. Had even decided to stay, to stop Ironwood from doing it. But, the bastard hadn't listened. He just...

"Hey." A small voice whispered out on the bed he was sitting at. Jaune looked up, surprised as he saw pale blue eyes stare back at him.

Jaune wiped his face quickly. He put on a small smile, grasping his partner's hand. "Hey you."

She looked at him curiously. She was probably wondering why he was crying, her ears, on top of her head, were twitching. "What are you-" her eyes widened for a moment, probably remembering why she was in the hospital.

"Everyone there. Y-you" She took Jaune's hand in her own. "How long was a I out?" Her voice still shaky. Her voice was a far-cry from the strength and confidence it usually carried.

"Only a couple hours. Rex is-" Jaune swallowed. He remembered when had woken up. His friend bandaged up, barely breathing. His arm- Jaune squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to continue.

"Rex is in surgery. And Obsidian just got out of." Jaune sighed, as he finished.

"And you?" She asked. Yea, what about him. He had woken up to... burnt corpses. Screaming. Pain. Blood. Failure

Jaune sighed. "I'm ..." he tried to lie. To say he was ok. But, he didn't. She knew him well enough to know his lies. And he knew better than to tell them. "I just hope it gets better." Jaune finished, a half attempt at a smile for his partner.

They didn't get better, none of them really did.

"And that's all for class today" Jaune called out to the class, giving a small smile. He had covered some basic terrain today, cover and so on. Surprisingly, a lot of kids here incorporated gun play into their weapons. More so than JRKO had, and probably anyone in their generation of hunters. Must be a new wave or something.

He waited around at the front, as students filtered past him. A couple of the students, some of the more studious ones, would stay behind to ask him questions.

"Professor. About the forest terrain could we not also" One student, a faunus, asked.

Jaune answered the question as he looked around for Josephine. She had left immediately afterward, with her team. They looked closer. But more importantly, she looked more sure of herself, when she was with them, good.

"Ahh man. I'm not sure of anything." Josephine groaned into her hands. Blake watched the Arc complain. It was actually kind of amusing to watch her stumble through everything. She had seen her walk around, team following behind her. She was a natural, well almost natural, leader. She had that innate nature to watch over her teammates in her, kind of like Ruby. They didn't think about going to help someone, they just did.

Blake looked down at her book, while taking a sip from her milk. It was nearing the end of lunch time, and she wanted to through another chapter before it ended.

"You know Josephine." Nora started. "If he's bullying you. I can totally break his legs for you. It'll be on the house!" She cheered, as if she was talking about setting up a party. Maybe to her, it was.

Blake put down her book, this was much more interesting, as well as worrisome. "You're being bullied?"

Josephine shook her head emphatically. "No, it's fine."

'Obvoius sign of denial' Blake raised an eye brow.

Josephine wilted under her stare. "Well. I mean." Josephine sighed as she nodded back towards a group of boys. "They're annoying and they're pretty much mean to every-" Josephine stopped as she saw something.

Blake followed her gaze, towards the boy and felt her heart pulse. The group of boys were picking on a female faunus. Pulling on her ears. Blake gritted her teeth but stopped herself. She couldn't stop that or she'd get attention. If she got attention, than her own secret might be exposed.

"Well, they're mean to everyone I guess. Right Josehpine?" Yang commented. The members of RWBY and JNPR waited for a response, but got none. They looked over to the edge of the table to find Josephine missing from her seat.

"Wha-" Pyrrha jolted in surprise as she looked back at the group bullying the Faunus, except they weren't anymore.

"What are you doing?!" Josephine growled as she put herself between the boys and the girl.

'She's definitely an Arc, alright.' Blake thought. Jaune had put himself between her and several guards, without hesitation, or more like without thinking.

The four boy stopped laughing and stood together, as if sizing up Josephine. The rest of JNPR were already in motion, getting up and starting to move towards the group. There were no teachers present, lunch time had was waning so they were probably in their offices.

"We should help" Ruby said, already standing up. Blake agreed, she owed Jaune enough to watch over his little sister. But before any of the teams could do anything, a voice pierced the tension.

"Is there a problem here?" Professor Arc walked in, hands folded behind his back. His voice conveyed that he obviously knew what was going on.

"P-professor" The Faunus blushed slightly. Blake felt her stomach take a turn at that display. Did she like that idiot knight? Blake shook her head and walked with her team, towards the scene.

Jaune nodded to the girl. "Miss. Everyone here please go to your classes, now." His tone left no room for discussion. The boys immediately dispersed. The faunus girl nodded towards Josephine and took off quickly.

As the rest of Team JNPR and RWBY arrived, they heard snippets of what the professor was saying to his sister. "You approached an obvious hostile situation without back up and without telling your team. They are there for a reason, tell them what you are going to do, give them some signal so they can prepare. If you are going in alone, you are in free fall. And no one is going to catch you."

Josephine nodded slowly, not even looking at the professor. "I-it was the right thing to do though. I wanted to help-"

"Right motivation, Wrong course of action." he cut her off. Blake felt something off here. He wasn't giving a theoretical lesson here, it was almost as if he was telling something from his past. "That can be dangerous. Which is why, again, you have teammates." the professor continued to reprimand. "Go to class. You'll be late."

Yang muttered under her breath. "kind of a stuck up bastard."

Blake thought about it. "I'll really act this out you know." Jaune winked at her, as she was in his rented bed. "But man oh man. Aren't you a bit too young to be reading this" Jaune chuckled as he waved her book in front of her. Blake blushed and merely flipped him a bird. Jaune laughed at the action. Blake shook her head of the memory. 'he's normally not like this. She' Blake looked at Josephine, who looked on the verge of breaking down, 'changed that.'

Josephine nodded slightly, before turning and bursting off. Pyrrha looked between the two and started to jog after her partner. Ren and Nora silently followed. Team RWBY filed out shortly after, but Blake stayed slightly behind.

The cat Faunus turned towards Jaune, who was looking past her, towards his sister. "She did the right thing you know. She was on the right side." Blake commented. It was strange. She thought he would just commend her on doing the right thing. But, he told her what she did wrong immediately.

"I know." There was a nostalgic look in his eyes."I did both sides. Once upon a time." Jaune murmured, and turned away. Blake watched him go, before turning to catch up with her team.

Jaune sighed, holding a cup of coffee in his hands. He looked out from the balcony, Beacon's view was always nice. The hunter felt a breeze hit him as he sipped his coffee. It was time like this he relished. 'Ah well, at least my office has a nice view. And I can't get all the quiet I-'

"Ah Jaune my boy." A familiar voice called from behind him, entering the room

'And there that goes.' Jaune turned around. "Professor Port."

"Bah." The Older, rounder hunter walked forward. "Call me Peter. We are colleagues now"

Jaune chuckled, though it was halfheartedly. "I'll just keep saying professor." Jaune placed his coffee on his desk, as he walked over to the elder Hunter. "What can I do for you?"

Port twirled his mustache thoughtfully. "Your sister."

Jaune felt his gut wrench as he remembered. Left her with parting words of advice in all the wrong ways. "Yes?" He asked, keeping his voice level, though he only succeeded in letting his body get tense.

If Port noticed his tenseness, he did not comment. "Your sister has preformed quite well in combat application. Quite the talent there."

Jaune couldn't stop a small smile reaching his face. "Did she now?"

Port nodded enthusiastically. "Glynda praised her for thinking on her feet, as well as adapting to surprises quite well." But the portly man, sobered slightly. "I am worried, however, about her combat theory as well as leadership skills."

"Ah." Jaune leaned against his desk, as he felt his gut wrench slightly. The problems he knew Josephine had were showing up now. "She's not the greatest leader in the world, but she'll get them through the field alright."

"But, we're not talking about the field here, Jaune." Port replied calmly. "I can train them to plan, to plan for eventualities. But, I cannot fix a personality. If she faces a situation that is... delicate, I feel that she would be unable to handle it."

Jaune nodded slowly. "She'll get there eventually. I changed mine, if you remember."

Port snorted. "Yes, you were her exact opposite. But, it's easier to take someone down a peg, than lift them up. However," Port clasped his hands behind his back and Jaune stiffened slightly. It looks like his old professor was getting serious. "I do hope you didn't recommend her for the leadership position. Playing fa-"

"I didn't" Jaune cut him off. "Ozpin chooses the leaders, and suggests teams. I had nothing to do with it." He really couldn't let Port know that his sister had cheated her way into Beacon. Nor, could he tell Port the reason why he was here. Sure, he trusted Port, but Ozpin had given him strict orders to keep everything on the down low.

Port hummed slightly, acknowledging Jaune's answer. "Well, on another topic, how is Rex? I heard the boy had gotten a replacement."

Jaune remembered the operating room. Rex was put under comatose, as the doctros and engineers worked on him. Jaune remembered calling him an idiot for trying to block the blast with his semblance.

"I-" Jauen started. "I actually don't know." Jaune muttered, rubbing the back of his head. Rex had gone off after the rehab. Said he needed some time to think, and Jaune didn't blame him. "I haven't heard from him since after our Graduation mission." He had kept in contact with, as best he could, with the rest of team. Rex just vanished.

"Ah." Port unclasped his hands. He nodded solemnly, all the teachers knew what happened on that mission. "Either way." Port placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "You have grown into a fine young man. It would behoove you to help others in your footsteps."

With that, the Mustache wielding Professor walked off, humming a tune.

Jaune stared after him for a moment, before shaking his head. It was hard to believe that something so serious actually came from the Hunter that ripped his shirt off to wrestle an Ursa Major with his bare hands, on the school field trip.

Jaune remembered a boy pushing around another faunus.

"Others huh?" Jaune murmured to himself

A beep alerted Jaune that message had been sent to his scroll. He pulled it out and read over the contents quickly. "Huh. Seems I need to talk to kitty."

Ok. When she had asked to train, this was not exactly how she imagined it going. 'CRAP!' Josephine jumped over and rolled to the side as a blade came crashing down where she once was. She rolled onto her feet as she lashed out with her chakram. Her opponent ducked under it easily, letting Libra fly over. Josephine took a breath and focused on her semblance, pulling the air towards her she forced everything in front of her towards her.

Her opponent struggled slightly as she tried to resist being pulled to fast. Josephine took advantage of that and charged forward, even if Libra was still flying towards her didn't mean she was useless. Her opponent saw her coming and slashed downwards. The youngest arc blocked with her bracelets, though they were modified weights courtesy of Ren, of all people. The blade clanged noisily against the her bracelet. Her opponent spun around and slashed upwards, Josie blocked down with her right arm's bracelet.

Using her left hand to catch Libra, which had finally returned, she swiftly tried to slash at the neck. Her opponent countered immediately with a shoudler charge, and Josephine was sent tumbling to the ground.

"owww." Josephine whined. 'man, she's too good.'

"Oh, I'm sorry Josephine was that too hard?" Pyrrha walked over, concern on her face.

Josephine laughed at Pyrrha's doting. "No, no it's fine. Its better to train like that. My brother never really held back his punches either..." Josephine trailed off.

Josephine sat up and pulled her knees in. She didn't get it. What had she done wrong? Her brother was so cold, not like he usually was. Every time she would bug him, as kids, he would set everything down to help her. What happened at graduation? Every team, at Beacon, would go on solo missions provided by the government or Beacon. Team JRKO was the only team to be put in the hospital for their graduation mission. And now, every time she tried to talk to him, have a decent conversation with him, either her idiotic self would get in the way or she would wilt under his criticism.

"Thinking about your brother again?" Pyrrha asked.

Josephine jolted, ah she had forgotten about pyrrha. Ahh, she needed to be more aware of her surroundings, Jaune even lectured about scoping out and keeping track of an area. "yea. Makes me kind of a creepy, obsessive sister huh?" Josephine joked.

Pyrrha cracked a smile and, instead of helping her up, she flopped down next to Josephine. "It's not a bad thing to want to get closer to your family."

Josephine shrugged. "yea, but it can't be everything. I'm a-" Josephine sighed dejectedly. "I'm a leader now. And, apparently I have to lead this team. Whatever that means." Josephine fell back onto the ground, looking up at the ceiling. "Uggh. Between, Homework, Lecutre, Training, and the extra assignments, I can't believe I'm actually surviving."

Pyrrha giggled, as she laid back as well. They were both sweat from sparring for about an hour. Their hairs were tangling beneath them. "Well, for one, you're really good at finishing your homework early. And, you're pretty good at Combat already, as well as tactics."

"Bah" Josephine waved dismissively. "I was terrible. I barely made it through exams. I was a nervous wreck."

"Don't worry" Pyrrha tried to comfort her. "Confidence is something built up."

"pfft. Than it must build up slower than a-" Josephine started but than she thought about it for a moment. How did you build up confidence? "Hey Pyrrha, how do you do it?"

"Eh?" The amazonian warrior was now confused. "What do you mean?"

"How are you sooooo confident. And soooo good at everything." Jospehine gave a wide grin.

Pyrrha chuckled, slightly embarrassed. "Well. I've got great friends backing me." Pyrrha winked, teasing back.

Josephine turned away, blushing slightly. Great, it was her turn to be embarrassed. "T-thanks." She muttered back, Pyrrha laughed loudly.

Jospehine got up and brushed off sweat from her brow. "Come on, promised Ruby we wouldn't be late for team bonding."

Jaune waited quietly against the dorm hallway. He needed to get some business done. Ozpin had sent him a package, potential White Fang members. He needed Blake to verify potential members. But, what was also strange was that a human was listed among them. Roman Torchwick. A thief. He heard of his reputation from the Police, the man was an A-list thief. He was up there on the wanted list but because he had almost 0% casualty rate, he wasn't a high target.

'Ahh man. I wanna smoke.' Jaune thought to himself, as he felt that itch in his throat. Blake wasn't in her room, and he had been waiting for an hour already. He had pinged her scroll but she wasn't up, what the hell was she doing?

Jaune heard giggling and talking to the side, but it wasn't just RWBY. 'And here I thought this was a convenient thing.' Jaune got off he wall and started to walk down the hall away from the approaching voices.

"Professor?" A voice called after him.

Jaune turned around and saw both RWBY and JNPR walking together down the hall. "Miss Rose." Jaune nodded towards the young prodigy. The professor turned towards Blake and sighed. 'Oh, she still has my jacket'. He jerked his head backwards, signaling her to meet outside again. Blake gave a slight nod.

Jaune started to turn around, but-

"Professor."

Jaune paused, turning back to look at his sister. "Yes?" He tried to keep his voice under control. Tried to keep his facial features. One of the things Ozpin taught him. If you didn't know how to react, didn't know how to control, just empty. Just let go of everything and be a blank wall. Than no one can read you.

'Still damn hard' Jaune thought as he looked at Josephine. He wanted to hug her, to sit her down and talk about everything he had missed. He wanted to take her out to Team JRKO's old secret spots. Show her the fake stone in the courtyard that actually contained old trinkets from past years. But, that was for an older brother, and right now he was a Professor.

"I-I was wondering if.." Josephine started but stopped. Pyrrha, bless the girl, gave her a helpful nudge. 'They're good for each other' Jaune thought. Kept each other in check. Jaune felt a twitch of a smile come on his lips. It reminded him of another pair, one with a sword and shield and another with a whip. "If you w-would like to" Josephine swallowed. "catch up this weekend?" She asked.

Jaune froze. Huh, the world must really hate him. He couldn't. Well, he could but than he would have to tell Ozpin that no, he could not go investigate a possible terrorist hideout because he was busy catching up with family. He couldn't let his emotions get in the way of his decision making.

He remembered the last time he did.

Sure, he could get closer to Josephine and leave the terrorist stuff till later. Even if he did reconnect, Josephine would still be in danger. But, if he dealt with the terrorist cell now, than Josephine would be safe. And he could connect with her after this was all done. Cold logic. Jaune snorted at the thought. That was the bullshit that Ironwood would probably spout, and he hated it. Hated that he was probably right.

Josephine eeped at his action. 'Ah crap.' Jaune thought.

"Sorry, Josie-" Jaune stopped himself. "Sorry Miss Arc. I have other matters to attend to this weekend. But some other time, maybe." 'I promise you that.'

Jaune felt like punching a wall as he saw the dejected look on his sister's face. She nodded slowly. "O-oh. Okay." She said in a small voice.

He couldn't take it anymore. Jaune turned away and walked quickly. He had to get out of here. 'Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.' Jaune roared in his head. Jaune walked all the way to the courtyard and sat down at one of the benches. He sighed, leaning against the back of the bench.

The moon was shining pretty bright. A part of him wanted rush back there, grab Josephine, and go take the town by storm. Chatter about everything he'd done, and everything he wanted to do with her. But, he was afraid of losing that control. Kyrie wasn't here anymore, none of his team was, so he had keep himself in check, his emotions in check. And, Josephine... she would throw everything in flux, no matter how much he wanted to really talk to her. "Everything's too damn complicated."

"Because you make it complicated." A voice jarred him out of his thoughts.

Jaune looked over and smirked. "I thought I broke things down for you?"

Blake rolled her eyes. Her amber eyes seemed to glow in the night. There was a long pause, neither one of the spoke. Jaune stared at he moon and Blake at him. Only the crickets could be heard and an occasional gust of wind. Beacon was somewhat chilly at night, but Jaune didn't care. Blake was already wearing his Jacket.

Finally, Blake spoke up."Sorry about getting your messages. Apparently, Ruby and Josephine wanted to do team bonding as … teams. And they decided a night with Hot chocolate and smores on the roof would be a good idea."

Jaune chuckled. "Sounded like fun."

Blake gave a small smile. "It was. Your sister seemed to relax a lot." Blake looked distracted for a moment. As if unsure of herself. "Do you..." She sighed. "Do you want me to talk to her? I mean, you don't have to push her away. You can be a Professor and olde-"

"As much as my personal life is a mess." Jaune cut her off. "I do not need to go into the details of why or why not, or even when, I should reconnect with my sister. Our business does not involve my sister." Jaune clasped his hands. "I don't want her anywhere near terrorist groups or anything else." Jaune stared into her eyes, his tone solemn.

Blake nodded. "I know. But..." the cat faunus shrugged. "I'll watch over her. Either way."

Jaune stared at Blake for a moment. Blake was reliable, and she could do things none of the rest of the teams would. But for her to just offer... 'Just accept it' Jaune smiled. "Thanks."

Blake nodded, and sat down next to him. "So, what did you want?"

Jaune opened up his scroll and pulled up the files. A list of information, with several mug shots of different people and faunus, popped onto the screen. "Need you to run through these and see if profiling fits."

"Got it, let's get to work."

Jaune watched silently as Blake started filing through the people. 'there's one more thing after this to take care of'

"Enjoy your weekends kids." Jaune told the team leaders. He had dismissed the class a bit early so he could collect the assignments from all the team leaders. A quick glance told him that everyone had filled out their questionnaire pretty well.

"Mr. Winchester, stay a moment." Jaune asked, still looking through the sheets. 'Josie answered almost all of them. But one's she didn't answer'

Cannot answer out of respect to my teammates.

Jaune smiled. He had expected that. Jaune looked up to see Cardin waiting on him. Jaune placed the sheets down and sighed. "You got anything to do right now?"

"Nope" Cardin answered curtly.

"Alright, follow me." Jaune nodded towards the door and led Cardin down.

"You just had Glynda's class, So I assume your weapon is in the gym?" Jaune asked. It's where he used to store it after her class as well.

"Yea." Cardin answered. "You going to test me or something?"

"Eh, Not really." Jaune walked over to the gym door and swiped his scroll, unlocking the door and the rest of the gym. They both walked in and Cardin went over to his locker, grabbing his mace. While he was doing that, Jaune grabbed a practice sword from the side. It was dulled, but balanced, which was what mattered.

"Come on, let's do some sparring." Jaune siad.

"Sparring? Really?" Cardin asked, skeptical. Jaune couldn't blame him, a teacher asking a student to spar out of nowhere. He would have suspicions too.

Jaune nodded and led him into the gym, he tapped his scroll to set up the match. He used to use the gym all the time, it's where... Jaune smiled at the memories and looked back at Cardin.

The boy was still looking at him strangely, trying to figure it all out. "Why?"

"Why what?" Jaune asked.

"Why are you doing this? Is this because I messed with that Faunus?" Cardin asked.

Jaune thought about it for a moment, before shrugging. "To be honest, It's a bit more than that. Come on, let's spar while we talk, no use just sitting around and doing nothing while we talk."

That seemed to make Cardin mad, funny how familiar that seemed. He charged forward, swinging with his mace. Jaune felt the wind blow past him, as he sidestepped. Jaune slashed out at Cardin's chest, trying to counter. The Hunter in training would have none of it. He swung upward, pushing both Jaune's sword and him back.

"You have good tempo" Jaune commented. He ducked under another swing. These swings, to the untrained eye, might seem wild and uncontrolled. But, they were very controlled. Cardin swung sideways, trying to clip Jaune as he side stepped. Jaune leaped and back flipped over the swing. As he landed, Cardin was already swinging downwards at his position.

'Yea, these are very calculated' Jaune thought as he blocked with his sword. He had to use both hands to block it. "Your swings pack a punch too."

'This kid is good. I wonder why he isn't among the special students.' Cardin was using strikes that were the hardest to dodge. Side swipes and downward strikes. And, instead of parrying or blocking Jaune's counters, he would swing upwards, clearing both the sword and attacking at the same time. This kid had talent alright. However...

Jaune dodged a sideways strike and waited a half a second. Jaune stepped forward, as Cardin was trying to recover from his swing. "You don't follow through correctly" Jaune corrected while he struck Cardin in the chest with a strong stab.

Cardin back pedaled, holding his chest, wincing in pain. Jaune twirled his sword as he waited for Cardin to recover. "When you swing, you don't turn your body. So your momentum becomes a dead wait. You don't always have to swing with your mace. A stab can still do damage, as well as help you recover your balance." Jaune lectured.

Cardin merely growled in response. He charged forward, moving at a faster pace. The professor now had to weave more often. While he could probably take the strikes with a good parry, he would rather not use his aura here.

'Now lets see' Jaune thought as he continued to weave through the strikes. Cardin would smash, and he would sidestep. When the boy would swipe at him, he would step backwards. It was a simple pattern of dodging. While it didn't lend itself to Countering, that wasn't what Jaune was trying to do.

'Now' Jaune thought as he saw Cardin over swing out of frustration. Jaune stabbed forward again, aiming at the chest. To his surprise, and delight, Cardin used a small back step, pivoting his foot behind him. He continued to use his momentum and spun around fully.

Jaune had to leap backwards to avoid the strike. Jaune felt a smile cross his face. 'Good, there's still hope'

Cardin was now breathing heavily. 'Guess he doesn't have the conditioning just yet.' Jaune thought as he waited, once again twirling his sword. It was a bad habit of his, he never got over it.

Cardin lowered his mace slightly as he stared at Jaune. "Are you just giving me extra lessons, I thought you were here to take me down a peg or even give me one of those life talks?"

Jaune shrugged. "Would it work even if I tried?"

"How do you know? You think I'm too stupid or-" Cardin started

Jaune launched himself forward, swinging quickly. Cardin was so surprised he couldn't counter at the obvious charge. Backpedaling back, Cardin tried to make distance from his attacker. But Jaune didn't let up as he continued to swing.

Cardin finally almost lost his balance and couldn't dodge anymore. He raised his mace and blocked the strike, wincing as he felt the strength of the blow. Jaune smiled as he saw the block and kicked. Cardin felt the wind get knocked out of him as he was sent flying back from a kick to the stomach.

Cardin hit the wall with a small thump. He tried to catch his breath while Jaune talked. "No, I don't think your stupid. And, I really don't think that giving you a life talk would work at all. It didn't for me."

Cardin coughed. "What? You were like me?"

Jaune stabbed his sword on the ground and leaned on it. "Like what?"

"I'm a …" Jauen watched as a mix of emotions ran through Cardin's face. The words wouldn't come out of his mouth, so instead Cardin roared. Jaune sighed as he saw a strike approach. Jaune ducked and spun on his heel. Cardin lost his balanced again as he was clubbed in the back of the head.

"come on, finish your sentence." Jaune said, as he watch Cardin groan on the ground.

The younger boy started to pick himself up. "So you're making me acknowledge what I am huh. To deprecate me."

Jaune whistled in amusement. "Nice words. But really? You are coming with those conclusions by yourself. So you tell me, what do you think you are."

"I am a future Hunter." Jaune felt another smile work its way to his lips. 'Same words'

"Is that all that defines you? Because to others you are something else." Jaune asked.

Cardin threw his mace down in disgust. It clattered loudly, echoing through the entire empty gym. "Ok fine. I bullied her ok. I hate weak people. They shouldn't even be hunters. All they do is get in everyone's way and the stronger people have to go out and protect them. For what? If they showed a bit of backbone, than yea totally they can be hunters. But if they can't even stand up to me, than they have to know that they can't be hunters." Cardin let out. He was tired, panting, and sore. He just wanted these stupid games to end.

"Nope." Jaune said with a knowing tone. "that's not it."

"How do you know what I'm feeling." Cardin crossed his arms, glaring at his teacher.

"Because I was like you." Jaune sighed as he scratched his head. Yea, he had been a little idiot when he was that age. "You know people say that you don't truly know someone, till you fight them."

"And what? You're trying to get to know me?" Cardin scoffed.

"Yep. My old teacher did this with me as well. And I said the same excuse about bullying others." Jaune shrugged.

"I am not a-" Cardin started, his face turned to exasperation.

"Bully. I just like to push them around for fun." Jaune finished for him.

Cardin froze.

"That's what you were going to say right? Yea, said the same thing." Jaune shrugged.

Cardin looked away. "So what? What did your teacher make you realize. What's the magic secret to all of this? Am I just going to leave here a changed man?"

Jaune snorted, " I wish. I still didn't acknowledge my fault until my teammates kicked the living shit out of me."

"What was your fault?" Cardin asked. Jaune detected a hint of interest. He would be too.

Jaune shrugged. "it's different for every person. But I wanted to be strong so much. I wanted to live up to expectations so much. That when I put people down, when I pushed them around. It made me feel like I accomplished something. It was easy, and it was simple, so I kept doing it."

Cardin stared at him. Jaune noticed the words hitting home and continued. "What's easy is not necessarily bad. But what's right, is always the hard choice."

Cardin looked like he had been clubbed over the head. "I-"

"Don't say anything. Just think about it." Jaune stopped him. "Come back here next week, bring your teammates." Cardin nodded slowly, still looking a bit shell shocked. With that, he left quietly, picking up his mace as he went.

Jaune sighed as he looked down at his weapon. "You know" Jaune called out. "You didn't have to check up on me. I knew what I was doing."

Grey hair and a cane walked into the gym. A sip of coffee before a reply came. "passing on words of wisdom?"

Jaune smirked. "Not really, just a friendly spar."

Ozpin smiled back. "You know I remember a friendly spar with someone his age, many years ago. If I remember correctly, he kept dropping his sword and screamed profanities at me."

"Ha, ha ha. You whacked me with that cane of yours until I stopped cursing." Jaune rolled his eyes.

"Good thing I did." Ozpin hummed as he walked closer, tapping his scroll. Jaune noted a couple of the cameras going off. 'turning off listening devices too huh'

"Heh. Good thing you did." Jaune commented offhandedly before sobering up. "What are you here for?"

"We have an opportunity for a mole." Ozpin spoke quietly.

"Who?" Jaune whispered back. This was big.

"A faunus, Tuskan. He works a book store." Ozpin continued. "the information from Miss Belladona was good. I made contact and we had someone else work the deal."

"That was fast. I'll look into it. Any passcode I should know?" Jaune took out his scroll, opening a ghost drive on it.

"Black feather." Jaune felt his blood pulse rise with that.

"Ah, so it's one of Raven's" Jaune realized. 'Huh, didn't expect her to be nearby. But why?'

Ozpin sipped his coffee once more before turning around and leaving. "See you later Jaune. And, Your sister... Try to connect with her more gently."

"I'm not trying to connect with her." Jaune replied, putting away his scroll.

Ozpin shook his head as he raised cup in the air, in mock toast. "That's not what it looks like to me."

Jaune sighed and grunted in annoyance. 'Stupid smart holier than though professors. Huh, did I just insult myself too?' Jaune chuckled bitterly and left.

In Downtown Vale, Jerry, a warehouse, was finishing stacking up some boxes. Even though he was a Faunus, he was still well respected businessman. Jerry checked off another set of boxes that would go to Colors, Hei Xiong's club. He liked Hei, good man, paid fairly and promptly.

But one of the reasons why he kept with Hei, was the quieter business. While his warehouse was carrying a lot of alchohol and other things, Hei also supplied weapons. It was not hard to get a weapon in Vale, simply go to the nearest weapon store, get a license, and purchase it. But to get military grade weapons, armor and so on, that you needed to go through Hei. And Hei always paid him a cut to forget about the weapons.

There was a tiny buzz in his pocket. 'speak of the devil' Jerry smiled as he reached into his pocket. Glancing at the number to confirm, he answered it putting on his best face, or tone. "Heya Junior."

He heard a grumble on the other side. Jerry chuckled at the reaction. "Sorry, sorry. Hei what's up? Got your shipment, both of them right here."

"Good. I'll come by in two days to pick it up. I'll have to go alone though, since I need to send some people across … well just across."

'Ah, smuggling people business too' Jerry thought to himself. Junior was getting mixed up in a lot of pies now. 'Eh, expanding business is always good' "Well ok than. I'll be expecting you. Don't expect any calls, we'll keep it like usual, on the low."

"Good. See you than." Hei replied and with a small click, he hung up.

Jerry paused as he heard the warehouse door opening, someone visiting. He moved towards the front, past the crates and containers.

"Hello?" Jerry called out, looking at the person at the front. The man did not respond.

"Can I help you?" Jerry asked.

A shotgun greeted him, and a loud bang.

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