Chapter 4 - Beacon Days

"Prove it," He knew they weren't lying, and in fact, there was no possibility of Emerald knowing anything of what they had just told him. Yet, a small, stubborn part of his mind still needed some further certainty.

"Oh I don't know, would recounting the food fight, docks, and a dozen other events make you feel better?" Weiss sarcastically asked.

"For all I know this could still be one of Emerald's illusions, going to need some more proof than that," He knew it wasn't, though that wasn't why he had asked.

"Fine, then how about something Emerald would never know?" Weiss asked as her hand went to her bangs, brushing them aside for a moment giving a clearer view of her scar, or where it should have been. "Believe me now?"

He released a shaky breath at the revelation, even though it came as no surprise to him. Her running away from Jacques meant she never had the chance to get it. His eyes went up towards Weiss just in time to see a slap winding up. He simply smiled as he let it contact his cheek.

"You dunce! Why did you never tell us?! Explain yourself immediately!" Weiss barked.

"Did you believe me when I told you on top of the tower?"

His words had their intended effect when Weiss's eyes faltered. She knew he was right.

"That was because you told us out of nowhere. Would you believe anyone claiming time travel out of the blue either?" Blake asked him. "We would have believed you if you took the time to explain everything earlier; if you gave us proof."

"Never happened," he instantly replied in a cold tone causing Blake to slightly flinch. "You think I haven't tried that? Best case scenario you all laugh at me, maybe some veiled concern for my sanity. Most times I end up getting arrested or expelled when you tell Ozpin," There were even worse things that could happen from him trying to tell them, but he decided to leave those details out, it would only dishearten them. "So I'll ask again, did any of you believe me when I told you?"

"I did."

His grimace weakened. He knew she had believed him, yet he had desperately tried to forget the memory upon waking up.

"I know that, I didn't mean you Ruby." He replied, unable to meet her gaze. Was this real? Had she really come back?

"Jaune, what's wrong? This is supposed to be good news, right?" Yang asked, her eyes intently studying his reactions.

This wasn't the time to brood and lower their hopes. He wasn't sure how it had happened, but it did. They were back with him.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just a little overwhelmed," he lied.

"Yeah! Don't you worry Jaune, we're with you this time!" Ruby cheerfully exclaimed with a smile on her face. It didn't make his problem any better.

They were with him this time. The thought hit him with the crushing burden of responsibility. They were depending on him, a dangerous line of thinking, one that had never failed to get them killed. Could he honestly believe that he would lead them to prevail this time? He had no reason to believe it; he hadn't won in three thousand attempts. He couldn't believe in his chances, but it wouldn't stop him from trying.

His eyes burned with a determination he had thought lost, one he felt only on his first loop.

"Alright, here's the plan."

/-/

"So we're supposed to bide our time in Beacon while you hit White Fang operations across Vale?" Blake asked him, unsure of the plan's soundness.

"Did I stutter?" She rolled her eyes at his words. "You four are too important to waste on this. I can't risk revealing you before the Tournament," She wanted to trust what he said, yet a small part of her had doubts.

"Are we to assume that you'll be taking out multiple White Fang operations alone?" Weiss asked. "Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?" The heiress voiced Blake's concerns for her. Jaune was acting reckless in thinking he could handle it all himself.

"Best fighter on Remnant remember?" He replied with a cocky smirk which made her want to slap it off, although he wasn't exactly wrong.

"And what if you fail?" Blake asked, it was too much to bet on one man.

"I won't."

"You expect us to just believe that?"

"I don't, but you'll have to believe it anyway," he replied producing an irritated twitch of the brow from her. "Look, the White Fang aren't a problem, not yet anyhow. It's just a few out-of-the way warehouses which end up being far more important during the Tournament than the Fang themselves know."

"It's not like Adam's leaving these warehouses unguarded Jaune," she brought up.

"Leave that to me. It's only a few token guards and lookouts anyways, like I said, even they don't know how important these warehouses end up being."

"If you say so," she muttered. "How long have you been doing this for?" She suspected it was for a while, yet knowing a number would help answer a few questions.

"Only a few dozen loops." he replied. Not exactly the answer she had been expecting.

"You learned advanced martial arts, criminal skills and a dozen other tricks in a few dozen loops?" Yang questioned. Blake had her doubts as well; mastering that many things in a few dozen loops seemed unlikely.

"What can I say? I'm a fast learner," the reply came accompanied by the telltale smirk which annoyed her. "But more importantly, there's something I have to know."

"You don't know something? This should be good." Weiss replied.

"Why are you all following a bunch of cloud worshipping cultists?"

"I'm telling you, he's with his harem," Nora loudly yammered into his ear, something which likely would have lead to permanent deafening in normal people.

"I don't think Jaune or team RWBY will appreciate that kind of talk Nora," he replied, attempting to simmer down the Valkyrie, an exercise in futility. Getting Dust to work in space would have better results.

"Eh, Jaune doesn't care," Nora announced, displaying an astonishing amount of familiarity with someone she had known for the entirety of a day.

The sound of a loud crash broke their chain of banter as it reverberated through the hallway.

"They're getting feisty, I think we should step in to save him now," Nora babbled, causing him to raise an eyebrow but reluctantly agree. Nora had a strange tendency of always being right.

"Surely this harem business can't be true?" Pyrrha asked, eyeing Nora with a level of uncertainty.

"If Nora says it, it has to be true," he explained to her. She would grow used to Nora's scary ability in time.

"I don't mean to be rude, but this is just-"

Ren sighed as they reached the door and peered through the glass. The activities going on inside had caused Pyrrha's sudden loss for words.

"See? I told you!" Nora exclaimed.

Ren opened the door and stepped inside the scene of Jaune on the ground, surrounded by broken wood, rope, and having three weapons pointed at him. Blake pointed a sword at him, but strangely had her face coloured a deep shade of red, Yang had his collar in her hand and looked as though she was about to murder him, while Weiss pointed a Rapier at him while looking equally livid. The only one left out was their team leader, standing off to the side with an expression on her face torn between running away and intervening.

With a hand raised, he cleared his throat and spoke. "While I certainly won't judge, Nora and I would appreciate it if you let our leader go."

His words and sudden arrival seemed to have their effect as they immediately shot back and gave his leader some much needed room to get to his feet. He stepped forward and gave Jaune a helping hand, raising an eyebrow at the tired expression he had on his face.

"How was it? Were they too rough on you fearless leader?" Nora asked Jaune as he got to his feet, dusting off the various splinters of wood on his clothes.

"The foreplay could use some work." he replied, causing Yang's previously livid expression to turn soft and break out into a fit of giggles a second after.

"Ugh… this isn't what you think it is." Blake added, attempting to clear her name.

"Well what is it then? I don't see any other reason for tying Jaune up," Nora muttered, however, a moment after, her eyes lit up with a devious shine. "Unless you're all time travelers having a meeting!"

Nora's bizarre theory caused Blake to choke for a moment, most likely due to how ridiculous it sounded Ren thought. Time travel, it was among the crazier things his partner had thought up.

His eyes went to Pyrrha who had stepped forward and glanced over team RWBY curiously. "I don't suppose any of you would care to explain why my partner was on the ground with ropes lying next to him?" she asked a good question. The real motives behind this scene had yet to be revealed.

"I-it's-"

"Advanced Atlesian captivity, interrogation and survival training. The ropes are an integral part of it." he heard Weiss confidently recite. Interesting, although the question of why his leader had chosen to train in such a niche skill on the first day with another team still remained.

"Is that a euphemism for bondage?" Nora asked, causing Blake and Weiss to choke up while Yang burst into a greater fit of laughter. To the side, Ruby looked as confused as ever while Pyrrha awkwardly coughed into her hand, attempting to hide a blush.

Ren shook his head at his partner's antics as he ushered his leader and teammates out of the room, leaving a sputtering and giggling team RWBY behind.

Their side of the story would have to come later; they had just formed teams and needed to set up their rooms.

The way back provided ample time to ask his leader however.

He was an idiot. That was the only way he saw fit to describe himself. All the loops, deaths and experiences he had gone through had somehow failed to instill basic common sense into his head. To this moment he was still mentally shaking his head at his inability to see that the cloud cultists were in fact different members of RWBY.

He exhaled a breath of relief at the memory of his team coming to his rescue, just as those three were about to give him the beating of a dozen lives.

"If you don't mind me asking, what were you up to in there?" Pyrrha asked.

"Advanced Atlesian captivity, interrogation and survival training," he parroted off from memory. He failed to see why Nora thought it was a euphemism for bondage, after all, it was an actual training course in the Atlesian military.

"Right," Pyrrha awkwardly laughed. "Well, on the bright side, you're opening up a lot more than you did during Initiation. I wonder why that is?" He inwardly sighed at her veiled demand for an answer. This wouldn't normally be so hard, yet the revelation of RWBY coming back with him had thrown everything into disarray. Having a consistent character each loop was what made coming up with excuses and explanations easier, yet now he needed to reverse the damage he had already done, if only to keep their suspicions away from him.

"The nerves got to me during Initiation." he replied, a simple explanation that was easy to buy.

"That's interesting, I wasn't aware that a case of the nerves could lead to an awkward silence and communication through only grunts and hand signs," Pyrrha jabbed at him. It was clear to him that she didn't buy it.

"It was a very intense case of the nerves," he maintained.

"Am I to believe that this 'very' intense case of the nerves also lead to you standing around, doing nothing while a Deathstalker attacked you?" Pyrrha further probed. Why couldn't she just leave it?

"I guess I just froze up?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" Ren added, picking apart his already tenuous defense.

"I don't know, take your pick." he replied, attempting to steer them off the course they were on.

He saw Ren raise an eyebrow at that reply, but couldn't find it in himself to care. Staying away from them was as much as for his own sake as it was for theirs.

"Can you two leave Jaune alone already? He's having a hard enough time managing a harem." Nora neglected to mention that it was a psychotic harem that was about to kill him a few moments earlier, but that detail wasn't too important.

"Of course, we only just formed this team. I'm sure he'll tell us what that scene was about sooner or later." Ren replied, seemingly having backed off.

More like never. He didn't plan on telling his own team if he could help it. It would only bring more trouble his way. He idly waited as his scroll sent the signal for his dorm room to open and as soon as it did Nora sprinted inside and threw herself onto her bed.

"How do you like the room fearless leader?" Nora asked.

"The walls could use some colour, maybe pink?" he replied, secretly hoping Nora took the bait.

Her eyes widened at him. "That's the best idea ever! We're going to paint the walls pink, right Ren?" The stoic boy could only sigh as he cast a sideways glare at Jaune who simply smirked.

"He knows what my favourite colour is Ren! I told you he's a time traveler!" He nearly tripped on his own feet at her sharp deduction.

"I think your choice of clothing might have had something to do with it Nora." Ren replied, saving him from the deadly premonitions of the Valkyrie.

She looked down at what she was wearing and lit up with a grin as she began perusing through her scroll for paint supplies.

"So, Pyrrha tells me you encountered a Deathstalker during Initiation?" Ren asked him. Great, he knew it would come up sooner or later.

"I believe I already told Pyrrha it ran off. Unless you want me to repeat it in slow motion, there really isn't anything more to add." Something told him Ren didn't need a slower recital of the line.

"Grimm don't exactly run off Jaune," Pyrrha responded.

"That's what Ozpin told me too, and unless you're going to claim that I killed it all by myself, I believe this discussion is over," he curtly replied, a slight stab of guilt shooting through him at having to treat his own team so coldly. It was for their own good, even if they never accepted that.

Awkward silence reigned for a few moments until Nora chimed in with her own thoughts.

"Unless you killed it in a single attack, right Jaune?" Nora cut in. An assertion that was ridiculous to the others, yet horrifyingly accurate.

"Yep, of course I killed it in a single attack. I'm simply hiding my true power in preparation for the day I take over Beacon and force everyone to join my harem," he quipped, betraying a partial truth.

"Hey! I already have my own harem, it consists of Magnhild and Ren. In that order." Jaune smirked as he saw Ren's hand come across his face. Being told you were second to a hammer was quite the blow to the pride, although he suspected that wasn't the reason Ren facepalmed.

To the side he could see Pyrrha smiling at their antics, already having forgotten his cold shutdown. Keeping them away from him was harder than he thought. He needed a distraction.

"So, where are you all from anyway?" he asked them, hoping to lead the discussion anywhere but his confrontation with the Deathstalker.

"Me and Ren-"

"Ren and I," the boy corrected.

"It's okay Nora, he's just jealous that his name comes second," he encouraged, earning another annoyed sideways glare from Ren, although one accompanied by a slight smirk. Great, he was getting them to warm up to him, exactly what he didn't want.

Nora pouted at Ren as she continued. "Me and Ren travel a lot." The answer was a little too short for his liking and Ren had probed into his affairs one too many times today. The time was ripe for a little payback.

"You two travel together? So you're together-together?" Bullseye. His question caused an awkward glance from Ren and a blush from Nora. It was the best way of shutting down Ren's annoying observation skills, and the only true counter to the dangerous reality defying powers of Nora.

"W-what?! No, that's just weird! We're not, together-together," she awkwardly stammered as Ren cast a glance to the side but looked as though he wanted to leave the discussion faster than a Dust train.

"But didn't you just say he's part of your harem?" he pressed.

"I- but it isn't-" Nora seemed at a loss for words as Jaune had caught her between a rock and dangerous territory. "Pyrrha! Jaune's being mean to me!" He sighed as his partner came between the two of them.

"Did you just pull the Pyrrha card on me? Real mature Nora," he drawled as the girl hid herself behind Ren who was faring no better.

"I suppose it really was an intense case of the nerves, wasn't it?" Pyrrha asked him. What did she mean by that?

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well, you said that the nerves getting to you was what made you unable to talk right?"

"And?"

"I didn't believe you at first. I thought you weren't a good match for the team and that the rest of the years would go by like it had during Initiation."

"I think you need to work on your basic reasoning," he retorted, a last attempt to save the situation he just realized he had fallen into. He had nobody to blame for this besides himself.

"I agree, it was foolish of me to think you weren't a good fit for our team. But, I'm happy you proved me wrong," she stated as she went toward her bed. "Good night 'fearless leader'."

His hand tightened into a fist as he silently went to bed amidst Nora's constant bickering at Ren. It was almost too easy to fall into the casual family-like banter again, so much so, that he hadn't even realized it until Pyrrha brought it to his attention.

It was a simple spark, yet one that would make things difficult moving forward. Leaving them out was going to be even harder for him now.

Jaune lamented the fact as his head hit the pillow.

He was leader of team JNPR again.

A painful heel dug into her leg, causing her knee to snap backwards. She would scream, but rage had overtaken her, instead driven by an animalistic instinct as she furiously drove towards Cinder, sending another flurry of blows at the monster.

Her arms were numb and refused to obey her commands, causing her punches to become sloppier. Cinder laughed as she spun around and caught her on the jaw with a vicious roundhouse kick that briefly sent her vision into the black.

When she opened her eyes she saw her worst nightmare. Ruby was on the ground, battered and broken as Cinder approached her.

She screamed as the monster stood above her sister, yet was unable to do anything.

As Cinder was about to strike the final blow, Yang heard another roar from behind.

/-/

Yang's eyelids were heavy as the alarm on her scroll rang into her ear. She felt the urge to slam it onto the floor, yet did not, as the habits she drilled into herself over the past year came into force. The others were still fast asleep, none of them having set an alarm this early in the first day. But she had.

She quietly tiptoed into the bathroom and got changed into some shorts and a sweatshirt. Every day was going to count if she wanted to beat Cinder this time.

Her sister and teammates weren't physically tough enough to handle rigorous training every day, and while they certainly didn't lack the spirit, their bodies just couldn't keep up at the rate hers could. They didn't need daily rigorous training, she did. Her fighting style demanded it.

The mentality carried over to this moment as well, where none of them would think of training the day right after Initiation, she would.

As she stepped out of her room she spotted her familiar fellow blonde, the reason she and her team were here.

"Didn't peg you for the running type playboy, what gives?" she asked him. She never saw him running early last time. Well, except near the end, when he suddenly began to take everything far more seriously.

"This masterpiece doesn't maintain itself," he bragged, causing her to smirk.

"Care to test the 'masterpiece' against something other than yourself?" she asked, goading him into accepting the challenge.

"You never beat me before, what makes you think you will now?" he asked her.

"What makes you think I'm the same?" she returned. If he thought she was just as weak as last time, then he had another thing coming.

He chuckled at her response. "That's right, you're not the same. I learned it the hard way when we fought on Patch."

"When you held my hair hostage you mean."

"You're not still mad about that are you? If you are, we can have a spar to help you vent."

"Ugh, no thanks. Getting trashed without landing a single hit isn't much of a spar, besides, I'm good." she replied. Fighting Jaune was frustrating from what she remembered of the one time he had taken it seriously. He seemed to know her moves inside out and whittled her down with lightning fast, precise blows.

"It gets better, anyways, are you going to stand there and keep yapping, or are we going to run?"

She smirked and gave a short nod and made way outside alongside him as they immediately began their jog.

"How are things with team JNPR?" she asked. "Uh, what I meant was, how are things with JNPR this time?"

"They're- okay." he replied, though she wasn't nearly clueless enough to miss the pause.

She raised an eyebrow at him as they jogged, waiting for him to get the hint that she wanted a real answer. He realized a moment after and gave in with a sigh.

"They're annoyingly pushy," he replied. "Nora keeps insisting we're part of a harem for some reason."

Yang stifled a laugh at the words, realizing that it would throw off her breathing. "Well I don't have a problem with it, I always wanted my own harem."

"Your harem? I think you're getting your place mixed up."

"Nope, you spend most of your time getting beat up and doing grunt work, so it's obvious that I'm in charge of everything," she replied with confidence.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Fine, you win. The harem is yours, take good care of them."

"You talk like you're not a part of my harem," she retorted, and smiled when he gave in yet again with a sigh.

"Fine, I'm part of your harem too. Happy?"

She replied with an enthusiastic thumbs-up as they continued jogging in silence for the next ten minutes.

"Jaune?"

"Just ask," he responded.

"Straight to the point, weren't you complaining that we're bad at foreplay?" she pushed.

"I'm good enough to skip past it," he replied. "Are you going to ask me or are we going to keep discussing foreplay for the rest of the run?"

"Fine, fine," she surrendered. "I want to know how many times you've been through this, and what you know about me," she asked. It was important information that could mean the difference between victory and defeat for them.

"As I said yesterday, it's only been a few dozen times," he answered, although she was slightly skeptical of that. "As for you, there isn't much besides the fact that you're the dumbest blonde on Remnant."

"Second dumbest blonde. I'm not the one who came up with that cloud cult theory."

He huffed in response to her flawless logic. "You normally lose an arm while fighting Adam during the fall, and yes, it's because of your fighting style." The words stung more than they should have, but deep down, she knew he was right. She was a one trick pony.

"Well, I guess you could say, I got, 'disarmed'," she replied with a playful smile.

"Yep, since I wasn't around to give you a hand," he replied causing her to stifle yet another laugh for risk of losing her breathing rhythm.

"Wait, seriously? I actually lose an arm?" she asked, curious as to what else he knew.

"If I'm not around, yeah. You lose it most of the time."

"And what about the times I don't?"

He shrugged in response, not the answer she wanted. She raised an eyebrow at him, conveying her dissatisfaction with him.

"Don't give me that look, it's not like I can see everything that happens," he replied, somewhat assuaging her demand for an answer. "Besides, don't you want some actual advice instead?"

She nodded to that; even if he wouldn't tell her what went wrong on some lives, he could at least help her out by teaching her.

"You need to stop charging into combat like an idiot."

"Thanks for stating the obvious,' she sarcastically replied. "How about some details?"

"This isn't the kind of thing I can get across with a talk, we'll need to work on it during training," he replied, causing her smile to pop up again.

"You're going to train us? We asked you so many times before yet you never did, so why now?" she pressed, intent on getting an answer.

To her frustration, he once again simply shrugged in reply.

"Are these glares going to keep coming for the rest of the year?"

"You don't have to keep anymore secrets Jaune, so why are you holding back? You can trust us," she beckoned to him, yet frowned yet again when he simply turned away and continued running at a much faster pace than she could follow.

"She needs to work on her cardio." The words caused Yang to mumble and groan incoherently as she hung off his shoulder.

"I think she's trying to say that she'll 'whoop your butt' next time," Ruby replied. She wouldn't, not in any test of endurance, but he couldn't complain about the effort she put in. Yang had improved by miles, he was impressed.

"I'm sure she will. You did good Yang, although you might want to get ready for class, we have an hour," he muttered as he passed Yang's bent over form to Weiss and Ruby who promptly guided her to the bathroom.

"See you in class Jaune," Ruby replied as he walked off toward his own room, only to see Ren standing in front of the door looking at him with an inquisitive gaze. More questions, why couldn't things be any easier?

"Well? I'm waiting," he mouthed as he entered his room, Ren a few paces behind him.

"You must be very dedicated to be training on the first day of classes," Ren stated as he met Jaune's gaze.

"Not really, it was mostly an excuse to discuss private affairs," he replied, hoping Ren would take the hint and back off.

"Well then, I suppose it isn't my place to question you on that," Ren responded, although Jaune was sure he caught onto the fact that he was trying to dodge the issue. Ren was observant like that.

"Thanks Ren, let's go grab breakfast once they're up?"

Ren nodded, but Jaune was sure he caught a glimpse of intrigue in his eyes. He had Ren keeping an eye on him now too.

"And then the hero of the story looked down into the puddle of rainwater and saw himself for what he truly was! In shock, he dropped his loyal swo-"

Blake tuned out Nora's incessant chatter and instead looked around the table. Jaune was sitting still, almost too still, with his fork in his hands as he heard Nora's story. It must have been her imagination, but she could have sworn she saw the fork bending.

"Jaune? Is everything alright?" she asked him, hoping to break him out of his trance like state.

The words had their intended effect as his fork dropped onto the table and he seemed startled when he looked up at her.

"It's fine," the reply came with no hesitation, yet she felt as though something was wrong. She'd have to speak to him about it later.

"Yeah Jaune's fine, he had a rough time managing his harem yesterday, but he's alright now," Nora answered for Jaune, showing an eerie degree of familiarity with him.

"Excuse me? It's my harem, I'm in charge of it," Yang's protest came as she threw a grape at Nora, who promptly ate it mid-flight.

"Right, forgot to mention it, but it looks like I'm in the middle of a power struggle for ownership of my harem," Jaune replied as he went along with this harem nonsense, much to her chagrin. Although it was a better excuse than anything else she could think of.

"Struggle implies it's a contest, news flash, it isn't. I'm in charge," Yang cockily added as Jaune simply gave up and continued eating his waffles.

"So, Nora, are you and Ren in a harem too?" Ruby asked in an awkward tone, hoping to start a conversation. Did her leader even know what a harem was?!

"Yeah, Magnhild and Ren are part of my harem," Nora replied, but quickly glared at Jaune when he raised an amused eyebrow at her. "But we're not together-together!"

Blake nearly choked at hearing her leader's question and the following response from Nora. Nora was crazy from what she remembered, but owning a harem? That went up to a new level of insanity.

"My harem's bigger than yours," Yang teased, promptly earning an elbow from Weiss who had enough.

"Will you stop this indignant talk of harems already? We are not part of any harems, and I certainly do not plan on being in one anytime in the near future," Weiss angrily mouthed, annoyance evident in her tone.

"Come on Weiss, I think you need to 'chill out'," Jaune quipped with a provocative smirk on his face as Yang began giggling at the horrid pun.

"Yeah Weiss, we wouldn't want you to be having a 'meltdown' now, would we?" Yang added.

"You're both going to die horrible deaths; I will ensure this." she hissed, and glared as Yang's incessant giggling had also caused Jaune to begin chuckling.

As he chuckled she saw Jaune look over his shoulder at something, or someone.

"I'm going to ditch my tray and go ahead to class, see you there," he waved as he walked away, straight into Cardin Winchester.

The others were too busy muttering about something to notice, but her sharp senses told her that something was coming.

She paid close attention as Jaune passed the boy, and she raised a brow when he 'accidentally' tripped him.

Cardin fell forward, landing face first onto his tray as Jaune stood over him. The event had now caught the attention of everyone else as Jaune helped the boy up.

A few quiet exchanges of words between them went unheard to everyone else, but it was what Jaune said after that caught everyone's attention.

"On the bright side, at least you got to stuff your face with food right?" he said in a not-so-quiet voice which everyone around them heard, prompting amused mutters and snickers as Jaune left.

Ruby and Yang hadn't seen it, they were too busy talking. Neither had the rest of team JNPR. But she did, and it caused a deeply unsettling feeling within her.

As he tripped Cardin, his eyes held a cold look, one she had seen only when he fought his enemies.

If anyone told her that it would be Weiss sleeping and her attempting to diligently take notes, she would have laughed at them, yet Ruby was currently sitting at her desk, attempting to make sense of what Professor Port was saying while her partner had her head on the desk, dozing off.

She hadn't managed to learn anything from his poorly delivered tale of fighting a Beowolf, but was scrambling down random notes and points regardless. As the next part of his speech regarding the qualities of a true Huntsman came, she found herself raptly paying attention, each quality resonating within her as Professor Port spoke.

She felt inspired, and determined, she would embody all that a true Hunter needed to be.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" His question caused an instant reaction as she immediately raised her hand.

"Me! I do!"

Surely the Professor would pick her for having shown so much enthusiasm?

Unfortunately, Professor Port had different designations.

With a very loud and awkward cough he nearly drowned out Ruby's attempt at volunteering, and looked away from her shamefully, with an almost guilty look on his face.

"Mr. Arc! Is that a hand I see there?! How noble of you to volunteer!"

/-/

Jaune was awoken from his half sleeping state by a gentle nudge from Pyrrha. He knew why he was nudged awake, and there was only one reason that would happen in this class. Port had called on him.

In hindsight, he knew exactly why it was him being called. Ozpin wanted a display of what he was capable of, hence he used Port to get it.

"I think you have the wrong person Professor, I'm pretty sure you meant Cardin," he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder to the boy who was also sleeping.

Port echoed a resounding laugh. "Mr. Arc, while it greatly pleases me to see a young man of such modesty, I insist you come down here and show us the qualities of a true Huntsman."

He sighed as he stood up, seeing no other way out of this annoyance. Ozpin had likely instructed Port to get him to fight, this was no random event. Still, if Port wanted someone who embodied all the qualities of a true Huntsman, he would get one.

A few moments later he returned with Crocea Mors in hand, although it was mostly for show. Ozpin would certainly get a display today.

Taking a few steps toward the cage, he nodded at Port who swung his axe down on the lock.

"Let the match begin!"

The Boarbatusk immediately charged out against him, about to make contact and send him flying backwards from the force. Except it didn't.

"Fear my special technique! Graceful Flip!"

The audience gasped as Jaune executed a masterfully exaggerated septuple flip over it and landed dextrously on the other side.

"D-did he just flip seven times in that jump?" a student called out.

"He announced his technique too!"

Jaune smirked as he landed. If Ozpin wanted a display, he'd get one, a display of elegant acrobatics.

As the Boarbatusk hit the wall slightly dazed, it turned around and prepared to charge him yet again. He only smiled, and like a charismatic Vacuan matador, he beckoned the beast to come get it.

As it charged, about to make contact, he moved.

/-/

Ruby's mouth was wide open as she saw the Boarbatusk about to hit Jaune full force. At that small distance there wouldn't be nearly enough time to move.

"Elegant Sideways Roll!" he declared as he somehow managed to perform an exaggerated roll out of the way at the last second.

"What on Remnant is he doing?" she asked Weiss who was now awake and also had her jaw dropped.

"I think this might be his attempt at hiding his actual skill," Weiss replied as she nodded at the words, somewhat understanding what Jaune was angling at.

"Whooo! Go Jaune! Do another flip!" Nora yelled from her seat as she began banging on her desk.

Jaune seemingly obliged as he coiled down to the ground and prepared for another move.

"Deadly Stunning Flip!"

"Oh! Did you hear that Ren!? That name means business!" Nora exclaimed to the boy who seemed as though he was quietly contemplating the meaning of life.

"I think he's just adding random names to his moves Nora," Ren replied, although behind his eyes Ruby thought she saw a flash of interest.

Jaune executed yet another flip, this time flipping a total of eight times in mid-air as he landed atop the Boarbatusk, stunning it and driving its tusks into the floor.

"I am not just adding random names to my moves!" he protested.

"Point taken," Ren replied as he realized the Boarbatusk was indeed stunned.

"I'm jealous, how does he flip eight times? I can barely manage five," Blake stated as she paid close attention to his moves.

"Well, he did say he's a fast learner," Yang replied.

The class gasped, cheered and waited with baited breath as Jaune performed one announced acrobatic move after the other, aimed at dismantling the poor Grimm.

Except, it didn't.

One minute turned to five, which soon turned to ten, as the students grew silent at how long the match was taking. It was clear to Ruby that Jaune had no interest in actually winning the fight, instead focusing on displaying his 'acrobatics'.

Behind his desk Professor Port seemed stuck in a state of disbelief, yet the festivities had gone on long enough. Every man has a limit to his patience after all.

"Mr. Arc! This match has gone on long enough, end it within the next thirty seconds or I shall intervene!" Professor Port exclaimed, although she detected a hint of amusement in his voice. Was he enjoying this?

"Alright, but Professor, I warn you, I'll have to use my ultimate attack," Jaune replied, causing various murmurs among the class.

"Have no worry my boy, this class is built to withstand such power, now, show us what a true Huntsman can do!" the Professor exclaimed, seemingly eager to see what Jaune was capable of.

"He has an ultimate attack?" Yang asked, promptly receiving a smack to the back of the head from Weiss.

"No you dunce, don't you think we'd know if he did?" Weiss whispered to Yang. Good point. If Jaune really did have an ultimate attack, he would have used it last time. Still, this was worth seeing.

The class gasped as Jaune drew Crocea Mors for the first time in the fight, pointing it toward the tired Boarbatusk as he took a stance.

"He actually drew his sword!" a student exclaimed.

"This is the end! Ultimate technique: Final Slash of Death!"

"C-crap! Is it safe to be in here?!" a student exclaimed in fear.

"What if the technique affects us too?!" another added.

With a furious motion Jaune jumped into the air, all of one foot, as he clumsily swung his sword into the Boarbatusk's skull.

The Grimm released a final breath as it collapsed onto the ground, having been slain.

"Eh?" Ruby whined, cutting through the hopeless silence that followed.

"This is unfair! Where are the fireworks?! Where's the destruction and doom!? I want a refund!" Nora exclaimed as the class burst into a furious uproar at the letdown.

Professor Port himself was stuck between laughing or reprimanding Jaune for his actions, but instead chose to simply take a long swig of his coffee.

"Well, I didn't lie. The technique did kill the Grimm didn't it?" he rhetorically added, still producing grumbles from the class who were a little too hyped up than normal.

"Class dismissed," Professor Port said as he left the room, coffee in hand, a contemplative look on his face.

"You certainly have a very- unorthodox style of fighting Jaune," Pyrrha muttered as the eight of them, teams RWBY and JNPR walked down the hallway on their way to Combat Class.

"It's an art," he replied, much to her disappointment. Talking to her partner was going to be a difficult affair, yet she wouldn't give up. He had proven that he was capable of getting along with his team; that was something she didn't want to give up on.

"The art of inefficient, wasted movements?" Ren asked, earning a glare from Jaune. "There's something strange about your style. You waste a lot of movement, yet you're too skilled."

"I don't know what you're talking about, my style is perfect as is," Jaune mouthed, attempting to defend his pride it seemed.

"You're capable of performing eight flips in one jump, yet you insist on announcing your attacks, wasting energy and fooling around. In other words, you're too skilled to be making those amateur mistakes," Ren explained. It was a good point, and while flips and gymnastics weren't Pyrrha's specialty, even she could see what Ren meant in hindsight.

"Are you implying that I'm somehow holding back my real power?" Jaune asked.

"Never mind," Ren replied, likely discovering how ridiculous the idea sounded. Yet she was certain she saw a flash of scepticism in Ren's eyes as he turned them away from Jaune.

"So, Yang, how was your run with Jaune?" she asked, hoping to get some them talking. Unfortunately, she knew little of team RWBY save for their names and the fact that they were very close to his partner- for some unknown reason.

"It was alright, we mostly talked about foreplay," Yang replied, causing Pyrrha to stammer and choke on air as a light blush overtook her face.

"Really? I had a dream about you two running," Nora added. A dream? Her teammate seemed nice, but was a little loose in the head if she depended on dreams for counsel.

"You did? What'd you see?" Yang asked Nora.

"I couldn't get a clear look, but I think you were all hot and wet and Jaune had to carry you off. Apparently you couldn't deal with his stamina," Nora replied causing Yang's eyes to suddenly widen for some reason.

Yang shared an awkward glance with Jaune as she attempted to communicate something to him through a combination of glares, eyebrow twitches and waggles. If Jaune's face was any indication, the message had spectacularly failed.

"Oh look, it's the Headmaster!" Nora exclaimed. Pyrrha turned to see, and true enough there he was, Headmaster Ozpin, heading toward them.

She looked to her right to see Jaune suddenly walking perfectly level alongside them, as far away as possible from the Headmaster.

/-/

'Maybe he'll ignore me if I hide behind my team.'

"Mr. Arc, how pleasant to see you here." Ozpin announced as he attempted to peer past team JNPR.

Jaune internally cursed as that idea went out the window.

"While I'm flattered to be the center of your attention, you happen to be looking past my team, you could at least say hi," he replied.

Ozpin cleared his throat at the call out and reacted appropriately, it was hard to faze the Headmaster of Beacon Academy.

"Hello," he replied, giving them a look which seemed to convey that he wanted a private conversation.

"We'll see you at lunch Jaune, take care," Ren stated as he dragged Nora and a reluctant Pyrrha off to the Dining Hall. What a great friend Ren was.

"You also forgot to say hi to team RWBY," he added, hoping they would save him from the onslaught.

"They seem to have already left Mr. Arc," Ozpin replied as Jaune looked over his shoulder to confirm their disappearance. The Headmaster hit him with a stern gaze. "To business then?"

"To business it is," Jaune resigned as he prepared himself for Ozpin's interrogation.

"News of your display during Professor Port's class has spread throughout the school rather quickly," Ozpin stated.

"As it should of course. It's an art I don't often allow others to see," he explained, hoping that Ozpin's attention would go the wrong way.

"Ah yes, Professor Port had quite some words to say about your 'art'. I believe they included the phrases 'incredibly effective', 'much like myself when I was a young man', and I quote, 'the embodiment of a true Huntsman'."

"Only the truly talented can see the brilliance of my elegant style," he mouthed off, hoping to give Ozpin the wrong message.

"I see, I hope you will not mind then Mr. Arc, if I question the fact that your 'acrobatics' are the limit of your potential?"

"I do mind, in fact it's gravely insulting to me," Jaune countered, suppressing a smirk when Ozpin was taken aback by the comment. "Are you implying that my magnificent display of agility isn't satisfactory?"

"No Mr. Arc, what I'm implying is that you are capable of much more." It was a minor hope, but it didn't pan out. Ozpin saw right through his attempt to steer the discussion elsewhere.

"I'm already perfect," he retorted, attempting to make himself appear the arrogant bumbling fool. He had already drawn Ozpin's attention during their very first meeting, and while he couldn't get rid of it, he could certainly direct the attention onto something of his own choosing.

Ozpin cleared his throat before he spoke. "Of course, although I will eagerly be waiting to see the results of your 'perfection' in tomorrow's Combat Class."

"You can count on it Ozpin," he replied with a genuine smile. The ball was in his court and all he had to do was miserably fail his spar in tomorrow's Combat Class for Ozpin's interest to subside.

Hopefully he'd be matched with a tough opponent.

Lunch had been the typical affair it always was, with Nora recounting dreams of things she physically shouldn't have known, and Yang's terrible puns which nearly caused her mind to seize up. Now she was seated at a table in Beacon's Library, sifting through the pages of the first volume of Ninjas of Love, bored out of her mind since she had read the sequel in her past life.

"Didn't you finish reading that?" the voice nearly startled her, yet she knew who it belonged to. Jaune always had the unfair ability of sneaking up on her.

"I did, but seeing as I have nothing better to do, I thought I would give it another look," she replied. "Have you ever had the chance to read them?"

"Not really, leisurely reading tends to be at the bottom of my to-do list," he replied as he sat opposite to her.

"I can see why, I can relate- somewhat," she added upon realizing that her life likely paled in comparison to the experiences he had gone through. "Your schedule doesn't leave a lot of time to read, right?"

He nodded in response.

She looked around, making sure that there were no potential eavesdroppers around before she could talk.

"It's safe, this place always is; you picked the best spot for quiet reading," he explained. Good, she wanted to get right to the point.

"Yang says you're going to be training us, can you tell us when?"

"Eight o' clock near the edge of the Emerald forest,"

"What are you going to be teaching us?" she asked, interested in knowing what the regimen would be ahead of time.

"Practical combat scenarios, you'll see." What did he mean by that? She sighed and gave up on the thought of trying to get the answer out of him. If Jaune didn't want to answer, nothing on Remnant could make him.

"Fine, but I did have a few other concerns."

"A few?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, making her somehow feel as though she was stepping into a minefield. "Fine, what is it?"

"What's the matter with you and Cardin?" she asked, levelling a glare at him as she spoke.

"I thought you hated him?"

"I do, but not nearly enough to like what I saw you doing to him," she scolded.

"I'm just messing around with him, we're buddies, don't worry," he replied, although she clearly didn't buy it. "If it bothers you that much, I'll tone it down."

She reluctantly accepted the assurance, although a small part of her still recalled the scary look he held in his eyes when he tripped Cardin. She couldn't exactly bring that up to Jaune, since it would make her sound crazy, but it was still there. For now, she would simply have to trust in him.

"What's the other concern?" He should have known what it was the moment she brought up the issue of concerns. Was he really expecting them to buy it?

"Be honest, how many times have you really been through this?"

/-/

It was a poorly uttered excuse, yet they had been considerate enough to let it drop when he initially said it, though he knew it wouldn't remain dropped for long. Least of all when it came to Blake who was by far the most observant of them.

"It's not important," he explained away, trying to get her to drop it.

"It is and you know it. Jaune, why are you keeping secrets from us? We're in this with you, not against you," she consoled.

It was a good explanation, and the rational part of him was screaming to tell her everything, yet he wouldn't. He wasn't ready or willing to share everything, neither was he willing to drop such a revelation on them. They didn't deserve it.

"It's not that- I'm just, not ready," he quietly said. "Not yet."

Blake looked disappointed, yet at the same time her eyes held a measure of understanding.

"I know what you've been through, and I understand that it can't have been easy, but you're here now, and we're with you, so please, just tell us, we need to know." She was far too understanding, far more than he felt he deserved. It couldn't be so bad, could it?

"Three-" He hesitated, perhaps it was the fact that it hurt so much, or perhaps it was the issue of never truly trusting anyone.

"It's okay Jaune," she whispered as she placed a hand atop his shoulder, her eyes full of sympathy.

"-hundred."

It came out slower than he would have liked, but the results were evident. He felt a strange sense of guilt at seeing her face scrunch up for a split moment. Pity; it was something he didn't want or need, not when it caused her to feel his pain as well.

"I'm sorry, I can't imagine what it must have felt like to go through all that," her words rang through his head. It was an attempt at consoling him, yet he felt empty. He had gone through the same process many times before, and while the topic of sympathy was usually a lie, the sympathy rendered to him was the same. It never amounted to anything.

He was glad he didn't tell her it was three thousand.

"Now, I know what you're thinking, that this training is ridiculous, but I assure you, it isn't." Yang heard him explain. How was this not supposed to be ridiculous?

"You're wearing a cheap imitation outfit of Roman Torchwick with a fake wooden cane and attached Dust gun, and you want us to take this seriously?" Weiss asked. The heiress was right, Yang had a hard time holding her laughter in at seeing the cheap white painted trench coat and hat Jaune was wearing.

"Just trust me on this," he replied. Sure, why not?

"Alright, me first," Yang demanded as she stepped forward, Ember Celica at the ready.

"Fine, ready whenever you are," he calmly stated as he began whirling the wooden cane around in a manner shockingly similar to Torchwick.

She charged in, firing two shots at him, yet, instead of dodging them like he normally would he instead twirled the cane around deflecting the shots. When did he learn Torchwick's fighting style?

"You know how to fight like Torchwick too?!" she exclaimed, disbelief evident in her voice.

"Pay attention," he sharply reprimanded while firing two shots at her. Okay, he definitely knew how to fight like Torchwick.

She grunted as the shots impacted against her Aura, but instead decided to charge on through. Despite what Jaune had told her about not charging in like an idiot, she knew that Torchwick was the kind of fighter you needed to do that against. A moment later when she barrelled toward him, gauntlets prepared to deliver the beatdown, she caught a smile on his face telling her that she had made the right choice.

She launched a flurry of blows so fast that they were nearly invisible to normal people, and if the look on Jaune's face was any indicator, he too was caught off guard by how much she had improved over the past year.

To her annoyance however, he still ended up dodging all of her blows.

"Hey! No fair! Torchwick would have been dead just now!" she exclaimed, irritated that 'Torchwick' somehow survived.

"I'm not prepared to go that far in pursuit of an acting award Yang," he replied. "You win."

"Damn right I do," she smugly announced. "How was I?"

"Heck of a lot better than I thought was possible, keep it up," he praised. It was genuine praise, and it had her feeling pumped up and full of herself. "Don't let it get to your head."

She pouted at his shutdown of her victory moment as she backed off and went to sit next to the rest of her team.

"While Yang's a bit of a special case," words which caused her to pompously raise her head, "Torchwick isn't that easy to beat. His main specialty's fighting at range, so if you're planning on taking him on there, be ready to have lots of explosive rounds fired at you."

"So our best bet's to charge him up-close?" Ruby asked.

"Exactly, while he's still no slouch, it's just easier to take him on in a melee."

"Okay, we get it, but Torchwick's easy, let's move onto Adam or Neo," she whined, clearly impatient at being unable to face her two biggest hurdles.

"Alright then, Neo it is," he mouthed while going off behind a tree to change. This would be good. Going from easiest to hardest was a good way of showing them who they really needed to watch out for.

/-/

They burst out laughing at him, a fact which made him want to sic the real Neo on them.

"Oh! you look adorable Jaune! That pink umbrella and white coat really suit you," Yang giggled.

"The heels look particularly good on you as well," Weiss muttered behind a stifled laugh.

Jaune sighed at their antics, yet he couldn't help but betray a smile; this was fun.

"Who's up next?" he asked, inviting a challenger to come forward.

"I am," Weiss declared as she stepped forward, Myrtenaster in hand. She would rue the day she decided to make fun of his expertly crafted costume.

"Go ahead, ready whenever you are," he said as he began a confident catwalk eerily similar to Neo.

"You can't be serious?" Weiss muttered barely concealing a laugh.

"Try me."

She decided to oblige, coming in with numerous lightning fast strikes even faster than Yang which were all targeted at his weak points, or 'Neo's' weak points as it were.

She was about to go in for a bull rush, planning on attacking 'Neo' with a flurry of blows which would overwhelm, yet they never came.

Jaune knew Neo's style, and she had the perfect counter for bull rushers. Neo would make Weiss pay for trying that against her, and 'Neo' was going to make her pay for it here.

With a sudden thrust a raggedy umbrella shot out at Weiss striking her square in the face.

"Mrphll-" her garbled grunt sounded. Good, she was going to pay for trying that.

With memorized movements he sauntered forward, launching a series of kicks, umbrella thrusts and grapples which slammed Weiss onto the ground, hard.

He was about to stab the pointy sharpened end of the umbrella down onto her, when he suddenly saw a number of glyphs around him, slowly appearing two at a time. He made way to do what Neo would do and tried moving out of the way, except, they kept appearing.

"W-what the?! How many glyphs are you making Weiss?" he asked, surprise and terror growing in his voice as the number of glyphs began to cover a massive amount of ground. She was never this strong before.

"Only a hundred," she replied with a pleased smile, much to his terror. It was over, no way was Neo beating this.

"You win, Neo's dead," he desperately pleaded.

"Uhm- Jaune, I can't cancel glyphs which are at that stage."

Even he couldn't dodge this, there was simply no room. Weiss had outdone herself.

"Just how strong did you all become?!"

/-/

"I said I was sorry, just how long are you going to keep glaring at me?" Blake heard Weiss ask.

"As long as I want," Jaune replied in a childishly hurt manner. "Do you know how long it took to get out of all that ice?"

"I'm the one that helped you out of it!" Weiss defended.

Blake shook her head at their antics and stepped forward, Gambol Shroud in hand. "I'm next, I want to fight Adam."

"Never thought I'd hear that coming from you," Jaune replied. Did the have some hidden meaning behind them?

"Just get ready, we've wasted enough time here for tonight," she replied while he went behind a tree to get changed into his 'Adam' outfit. She was impatient, desperate to try her hand at fighting Adam.

He came out from behind and caused her jaw to drop.

"I know, I know, I really outdid myself on this one," Jaune commented as he took a position a few dozen feet away from Blake. His cheap paper mask and rugged homeless trench coat flapping about in the wind.

"Adam would kill himself if he saw you wearing that and claiming to be an imitation," Blake quipped as she took a stance.

"Another joke? Well, well, colour me impressed Blake, never knew you had it in you," he jibed much to her annoyance. Of course she had a sense of humour, one which rarely came out, but it was still there.

"Can we just start?" she asked, impatient to test her new skills.

"Sure, come at me."

On his signal she drew Gambol Shroud and charged at him. He drew the wooden sword from its sheath in an attempt to deflect the attack, but was instead left surprised as she ignored it outright and instead went for his legs. With practiced speed and precision she launched a flurry of fast blows directly toward his feet, the one place where 'Adam's' style had a hard time parrying with his blade.

"Ouch, you're going to break my legs if you keep this up," he whined as he took a step back in a manner identical to Adam's style.

"I'm sure Nora would be proud," she returned while firing shots at his legs, ones he was forced to dodge lest they hit him.

He continued being pushed back for a few more moments, until he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, allowing a shot to hit him. Blake's eyes narrowed at him as he suddenly took a slightly different stance.

"Torchwick and Neo are good, but Adam?" His eyes narrowed. "He's on a whole different level."

Suddenly 'Adam' burst forward in a flash of speed and began launching dozens of lightning fast draw cuts toward her. She winced as quite a few of the strikes went past her guard and impacted hard against her Aura, and despite its protection, she still felt the concussive force behind them.

She was about to attempt a retaliation when the onslaught suddenly stopped. She looked to Jaune to see him taking off the mask and throwing the sword down.

"You're dead," came his cold reply. She might have protested the decision, but knew it was true. Getting hit by a wooden sword a dozen times might not have done anything to her, but what if it was Wilt instead?

It was disappointing, and a part of her felt crushed at the loss. Weiss and Yang had won their fights, why couldn't she win hers? Was Adam truly that deadly?

As she looked to Jaune, hoping for an answer she saw the same look on his face. Resignation.

She wouldn't let it stay there.

"You died to him quite a few times didn't you?" It was more of a statement than a question, and from the look on his face, Jaune knew it as well.

/-/

He merely responded with a slow nod.

"Yet you still pushed on didn't you? You died each time, yet you kept coming back up," she spoke as she looked him in the eyes.

"Your point?"

"If you never gave up, then neither will I. I'll keep training until I- no, we can beat him." she continued. "That goes for Cinder too, if you kept pressing forward, then so can we."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it isn't so-"

"Shut it playboy, no buts! You heard Blake, we'll keep moving forward and we won't stop no matter what!" Yang exclaimed. It caused a strange pain within him, yet he didn't shy away this time, since the pain came accompanied with something pleasant.

"That's right Jaune, we're going to keep trying, so you better keep up!" Ruby cheered with a smile.

"Ugh- you three have been watching too many Mistralian shows, this is even worse than those cheesy endings they have," Weiss complained. "But- Ruby's right, you had better keep up with us Arc."

"You know I wasn't going to give up, with or without your poorly planned motivational speech right?"

"If you wanted to give up, you would've done it three hundred tries ago," she added, noticing the shocked looks on the faces of her teammates.

"Three hundred-" Yang muttered.

"It's just a number, I'm fine," he replied, cutting Yang off. He didn't see what the fuss was about, he got infinite chances after all.

"You're not," Ruby muttered as she gripped his shirt and looked up at him. "You're not fine- but we're going to make it better." determined silver eyes locked onto his own.

"We're going to win this time."

Emotional fools, the lot of them. Yet he couldn't find it in himself to rebuke them, neither could he find it in himself to reject their stupid optimism. He had forgotten what it felt like, the feeling of pure, unbridled hope. It was dangerous, but so sickeningly addicting.

After they finished he told them that he would see them tomorrow, the reason being his current whereabouts; in front of a White Fang warehouse.

The place was far more important than the White Fang themselves realized, as it was a storehouse for the Bullheads they would use to off-load Grimm onto Amity Colosseum.

Without this warehouse the White Fang would have no way of letting non-airborne Grimm into Amity, and would thus buy Ironwood and the Hunters some valuable response time.

The plan was simple, get in, sabotage the Bullheads, and leave before the Fang suspected anything, a routine plan of action he had carried out thousands of times before in most loops. Although he had never tried it on day one of Beacon.

He slipped in through an open window and landed on the other side, spotting only a few lookouts playing cards around a table, all of them facing away from him. Behind them was a door leading to the foreman's office, and from the sounds of it, quite a few people were inside, a supervisor perhaps? He quietly made past them, using the natural cover provided by the many stacks of crates.

Once near the Bullheads he pulled out a wrench he brought along with him and slowly began to unscrew the cover over the control panel of the first one, silently disabling key electronic components as he removed the cover.

He continued the process for the remaining eight Bullheads and when finished placed the covers back on. He finally began to sneak out, opting to go out the way he came, through the window. As his hand pressed down on the window frame his blood ran cold as it suddenly cracked under his weight, sending him tumbling down to the floor.

"What the?!-" one of the White Fang guards exclaimed as they all turned around to look at him. "I-intruder!"

Fate had seen fit to curse him once again. He swore at it as he dashed toward the three frightened guards who were caught unaware.

Laying two palms onto the heads of two of them, he sent a pulse of Aura inside and pushed them to the side as they screeched in pain. The last one was shaking where he stood, an easy kill. He charged an Aura infused knife hand into the scum's throat, relaxing as he hit the ground at the same time as the heads of his friends exploded.

He turned about, intent on leaving before any more trouble came his way. Hopefully the White Fang wouldn't look too deeply into the Bullheads, and even if they did, the tampering he did was so minor that only a master engineer could spot it.

He made way to leave as the door to the foreman's office opened, sounding familiar steps which made his blood freeze. He quickly attempted to dash away only for a hail of Dust rounds to sail toward him from behind, forcing him to duck behind a stack of crates.

"Come out human, you're surrounded with no way of escaping."

As he heard the sound of a sword leaving its sheath Jaune pondered on a way of permanently killing Fate.

What made it think that making him encounter Adam here was a good idea?

A/N: Sincere apologies to all my readers for the unacceptable delay. No excuse lessens the impact of this transgression, yet I believe you deserve to know.

I typically write my chapters a day or two before the planned release date, however due to a personal emergency I was forced to up and leave town for an entire week, only making it back on Tuesday the 18th. From there I had to spend the next few days running around juggling paperwork and only got to write this chapter today.

Once again sincere apologies. From now on there won't be a planned release date, yet I will try to release chapters weekly. Reason for this being that I don't want to make anymore promises after having already broken two.