Uncle Hasta:

"You gotta' powerful sword there m'boy!"

Jaune's eyes lit up at his uncle's praise. They stood in a meadow out in the woods behind the Arc's ancestral home, panting from their sparring match. The sun shined brightly down on the makeshift arena that was surrounded by overturned rocks, each one having a name etched into the surface of them. These names belonged to Jaune's ancestors who had become huntsmen or huntresses before his time, each one of the rocks kept a piece of the Arc legacy embroidered on it and each one of their names was facing inwards as to seem like they were watching him and his abilities as a fighter.

This place was sacred to his family: it was an Arc's right of passage into the ranks of the family's line of heroes to spar in the circle of rocks with one of his or her parents. This match was usually held right before a member of the Arc family moved on into a prestigious combat school, and since Jaune was about to go Beacon Academy once his semester at his current school was over, it was his time for his trial.

"You're sorta' stiff when defending but your attacking motions are lookin' good. Your training is comin' along well," his uncle said scratching his dark, scraggly beard. For having the Arc title, the man looked almost nothing like any of his family members. He only stood around five and a half feet tall making him shorter than even his mother and his hair was totally pitch black. He usually had his mop of a hairstyle hang down, reaching almost below his upper torso, but he had it tied back into a ponytail currently to avoid it getting in his way while he fought. From the back, it was almost impossible to tell if he was a woman or a man and it made for some pretty entertaining stories. Jaune recalled his uncle telling him about how he had been in Vale once and had gotten cat-called from a few construction workers that had been on break. He had told Jaune about how instead of turning around and beating the shit out of the idiots who had whistled for him, he had just turned around and blew a kiss at the baffled workers and yelled, "Hello boys!"

Those types of things were exactly why Jaune admired his uncle so much. He was always trying to find the humor in things. That wasn't a typical characteristic when people thought of huntsmen, and it would confuse his uncle's colleagues when he was getting mauled by a Beowolf and would continue to crack jokes. But that wasn't the only reason Jaune admired his uncle so much: the short man was one of the most skilled fighters he knew. Armed with only his signature spear, he had been able to hold off and beat Catherine and himself in a two-on-one matchup. There were also the stories from the various huntsmen and huntresses that cycled in and out of his house who would talk Jaune's ears off about how formidable his uncle was when he was out in the battlefield.

"I think you're just getting old, Uncle Hasta," Jaune said with a wry smile. Hastati put his hand on his chest in a mocking way with his mouth halfway open.

"What is up with your sister and you both calling me old?" The man laughed stabbing his spear, which he called Pila, into the ground and leaned against it. The thing was made simply with the shaft being made from silver Atlesian metal along with the spear tip being made from some kind of sturdy-blackened stone. The spear was scored by nicks from past battles and Jaune could faintly make out the number four etched into the middle of the shaft.

"It's not just me and Catherine," Jaune said also lowering his weapon, "Mom also calls you old."

"What? Bu' she was born before I was," Hastati's accent filled the Spring air and it resonated through the forest.

Jaune shrugged, "I'm just saying."

His uncle's confused look grew, "She also has more grey hair than I do—old man my ass." Hastati straightened himself and stretched his muscles a little. They had been out there for around two hours and the effects of fatigue were starting to creep up on the two. Jaune wasn't complaining though; and despite the fact that they were sparring, it was almost relaxing. His uncle was in and out and he couldn't remember a single bad memory when he was in his uncle's company, so any time spent with him was positive and he wouldn't trade it for the world. There was a certain connection to two had that surpassed even Jaune's connection with his sister, and even though their appearances differed immensely, they acted the exact same, which was something Jaune's mom found hilarious and would constantly tease them for.

Jaune's mind warped back to reality just in time to see his uncle pull his spear from the ground in preparation for another round of fighting. "When are you planning on leaving?" Jaune felt the words slip from his mouth as his eyes locked on Hastati who looked up from adjusting his weapon into its combat form.

"Tomorrow," Jaune's shoulders slightly slumped at the mention of his company leaving so early, "I got a couple of missions to complete for ol' Ozpin—bu' I'll be stationed in Vale for the Vytal Festival so I'll be back to see ya when the tournament begins."

"Stationed in Vale?" Jaune was confused. From what he had learned from other huntsmen, Ozpin's forces were very rarely drawn back to Vale because the students and teachers at Beacon were usually more than enough to fight off some Grimm and the occasional White Fang related crimes.

"Yeah, your sister and I both are gonna be in Vale along with Atlas military and a couple other huntsmen and huntresses," Hastati said brushing the few loose strands of hair that had escaped being tied back from his eyes. "Apparently something has Oz spooked and he doesn't wanna have all the people who are comin' to the tournament feeling scared, and I feel inclined to agree with him."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean to say that he's right to be afraid. The number of Grimm in Vale has been increasing and I've found myself fighting more of 'em than normal. I've come across more destroyed towns in this one year than I have in the past few years of being a huntsman and it's no coincidence," Hastati explained looking a little less cheerful than what he was typically like.

Jaune looked downwards and then back up to Hasta to contemplate what his uncle was afraid of. "What do you think is causing the Grimm to increase?"

Hasta shook his head remorsefully, " No tellin'—but what I can say is that something is brewing, and I rather be prepared than to have shit hit the fan without us there." Jaune nodded, slightly understanding what his uncle was telling him. He couldn't help but wonder about the places that would be affected by not having huntsmen around since the majority of them were being called back to the city of Vale. Wouldn't they just be left vulnerable? And what would scare Ozpin, the most powerful person in Vale, to the point where he would want the Atlas military protecting the city? These thoughts swirled around in Jaune's head and he didn't get to see his uncle's eyes soften at seeing him worried.

"Hey, don't worry yourself about that, let's jus' focus on making sure you're fit for Beacon, ye?" Jaune looked up and pulled himself away from the burden of worry. He smirked and unsheathed his sword, gripping the handle with both hands as his body adjusted to the significant amount of weight he was grappling with. He bent his knees to stabilize himself yet he still felt unsteady. His body was still trying to make sense of his new weapon. His uncle on the other hand gracefully twisted his spear around his body and pointed the bladed end towards Jaune. Years of training had left the man relaxed and focused on Jaune as his nephew's eyes darted around in preparation for him to run towards the huntsmen. However, Jaune's uncle stood still as if to coax Jaune into running at him. The sweat on both of their faces beaded, painting their expressions as the intensity between them grew.

Jaune's patience felt depleted as he felt himself start moving rapidly towards his target with his sword dragging behind slightly. Hasta took one step back and readied himself for Jaune's attack, he drew his spear back with him and then lunged forward to meet Jaune head on. Hasta's body glided through the air as his arm drew back and prepared itself to thrust the spearhead at Jaune. His nephew reacted haphazardly and shakily threw his sword above him to parry the attack. The clash of metal meeting metal rang out as Hasta's spear struck the broadsword with an intense amount of force. Jaune's body tumbled down and he slid on his knees as the middle-aged man soared over his head. Hasta landed elegantly by stabbing his spear into the ground and swinging around the length of the handle. Jaune slid his body around as well, mud and dirt flew up around him from the maneuver and he was left kneeling on the ground with his sword halfway into the ground to stop his body from moving.

Jaune looked up quickly, his bangs flying out of his eyes quick enough to see his uncle shoving a spear at his face. He leaned back and put up his pauldron to take the hit, pulling his sword from the ground in the process. The blade of the spear scrapped off Jaune's shoulder and he stuck his foot out to try and trip his uncle's passing figure. He should've known that his uncle wasn't going to be careless enough to trip over him and Hasta lithely sidestepped Jaune's leg. Jaune quickly felt the repercussions of his stupid attempt as Hasta's fist smashed into his face. The force behind the punch didn't feel malicious, but Jaune's vision faltered for a second as the rigged knuckles rammed into his nose. Jaune's head flew back from the hit and he tried to swing his sword in Hasta's direction, but he missed entirely as his temporary mentor who was already a safe distance away from him.

Hastati snapped his tongue and tsked at Jaune's idiocy. "Way too slow," he said shaking his head. Jaune rubbed the side of his face and slowly felt his aura take effect as the searing pain subsided. "

"Ah, geez—Sorry, I forgot to remember that you're a damn bird," Jaune uttered still holding the side of his face. His uncle was known to be acrobatic when fighting and rather than rely on his strength, he put more into dodging attacks and punishing them which Jaune had just been painfully reminded of.

"So I'm not an ol' man anymore?" Hasta rested his chin on the blunt side of his weapon as he watched Jaune slowly stagger his way up from the dirt.

Jaune brushed the dirt off his jeans which was in vain as he had been shoved into the ground so many times in the past couple hours that the blue hue that had occupied his pants had become discolored. His shoes were in the same situation with his shoelaces completely brown instead of their typical white coloration. Jaune bent down and hoisted his sword onto his shoulder.

Hasta sighed as Jaune's body swiveled a little at the extreme weight being put on him. "Jaune, your skills in craftin' that thing are commendable," Hasta gestured towards his weapon, "But why the hell did you make a sword that weighs as much as you?" Jaune just stared at him, not making any kind of response. His gaze simply floated towards the weapon on his shoulders. Something about his eyes lost a bit of life staring at the sword. His somber expression carried back over to Hasta as Jaune's eyes bore into him. Jaune's expression quickly changed and he looked flustered after leaving his uncle unsettled.

"I just… felt like changing it up, you know?" Jaune stated with a brittle smile. Hasta had noticed Jaune's stance had become slightly unsteady at the mention of his sword; the topic had obviously made him uncomfortable, and Hasta could understand why. Ever since Eroe, his adoptive brother, had left with Crocea Mors strapped to his back, the entire Arc family, especially Jaune, had been tense. The topic of his brother didn't disappear completely, but there was an obvious mood change around the Arc's ancestral home. Memories of his childhood with Eroe came flooding back to him as the picture of his father training with his brother in this same arena. He remembered how Eroe had become the first Arc in the family's history to have beaten their father in one-on-one combat. That was the way Hasta remembered his brother: brutually perfect. His fighting abilities were absolutely astounding; he dared to say that he was the best swordsman in Remnant, and he had seen and fought many talented swordsmen in his day.

Hasta simply nodded, deciding against bringing up the topic, and he brought his spear in front of him. He angled his feet into their fighting stance and pointed the end of his spear at Jaune tauntingly. "Let's go again...and this time," Jaune waited in anticipation for his next comment, "try and not let me punch ye in ye face."

"You think he's dead?"

"Nora!" Ren scolded straightening from his crouched position over Jaune's unconscious body.

"What?" Nora held up her arms defensively. Jaune had passed out after the group had finished off the Beringel and hadn't responded to anything since. His sword was laying at the edge of the water with a faint white glow still emanating from where the shock crystal had been overcharged.

Ruby stood a little ways away clutching her hands in worry; Yang was a little ways behind her sitting on a rock refilling her weapon's ammo cartridges. The rest of them were hovering over Jaune looking at the torn up state he was in. Cuts and bruises littered his body and his left eye was swollen shut, his hoodie had been ripped up exposing his chest and torso underneath. The most concerning of part of his injuries though was his leg. Blood was pooling around the area and running down the sand creating crimson rivers flowing into and discoloring the pond.

Pyrrha, who was the least beaten up of the group, bent down and rested her hand on Jaune's shoulder. She closed her eyes and bowed her head as her aura temporarily glowed and then subsided with an exhausted sigh. "His aura is gone," Pyrrha said grimly standing back up.

Ruby's face became a bit more panicked at the tone of Pyrrha's voice. "Is—is he going to be okay?" Ruby shuffled her feet and her frown intensified. Any wound that Jaune had acquired from his fight with that monster Ruby had felt responsible for. She was the one that had made him stay back to fight the thing after all.

Pyrrha scratched her head in uncertainty, "...Maybe?" Anybody who could see the blond boy's condition would have probably come up with the exact same conclusion. The profuse amount of blood Jaune had lost would have been a death sentence for anyone without their aura unlocked, and now that he didn't have any left, it would only be a matter of time before he would bleed out.

"He must have pushed all of his aura into doing that," Blake said gesturing towards the broadsword. All of their eyes rested on the sword and the amount of craftsmanship went into creating the shimmering blade.

All of their attention was pulled away from gazing at Jaune's weapons towards the electronic voice emanating from their scrolls. "Twenty minutes remaining until evac departs. Proceed to the mark on your screens with haste or you will be left. Good luck." And with that, the feminine voice over the scroll's built-in intercom ceased and the group was left with silence.

Each of them turned to face each other inquisitively, heavy in contemplation about their next move. No one said a word as Jaune continued to lay unconscious on the ground bleeding, which was lessening but whether that was because of his blood clotting or him simply running out of it was impossible to tell. Yang sighed in irritation and stood up from reloading her weapon, "Well—we're getting nowhere by just thinking about what to do." She engaged Ember and Celica and walked up right behind Ruby.

Ren slightly nodded and motioned for Nora to help him carry Jaune. The two of them each grabbed an arm and hoisted his body up; both slid their arms under his legs and shoulders to support his weight. Ren's fingers came into contact with the upper portion of Jaune's wound and he slightly winced at its touch. "We need to hurry," Ren's stoic demeanor faltered a bit with this comment. Everyone unholstered their weapons and after Ruby grabbed Jaune's sword, they began to hastily trek towards evac.

The sun was peeking over the horizon with a threatening gaze that made them all move a bit faster. Ruby lingered at the back of the group, gazing at the unconscious boy being carried. Her face was grave and her eyes were a bit darker than when she had been dropped in the woods. She almost felt sick about what her actions had caused looking at the drops of blood splatter on the wilted leaves of the forest floor. Ruby averted her eyes from the scene in an attempt to calm herself and instead looked at the sword she was carrying. The weight of it was almost her own and she was struggling not to drag it along the ground, but she wasn't about to let anyone else carry the burden of having to lug it around: she felt obligated to be the one to have to do it.

"You need help there, sis?"

Ruby stumbled over herself; she hadn't realized that Yang had been hovering over her since the Beringel was killed.

"I-I'm fine," Ruby said trying to make her strain discreet as possible. She must've been doing a horrible job of that as Yang gave her a gaze that said she knew that Ruby was lying. Ruby sighed, "I did this to him." Ruby gestured towards Jaune who looked as if he was mumbling something in his unconscious state.

"What do you mean? Ruby, you're not—"

"I ran ahead of my group and was attacked by a Grimm that fell on top of me and trapped me," Ruby looked down to the ground shamefully, "Jaune wouldn't have had to fight that thing if I hadn't gotten stuck. This is my fault." Ruby's usually cheerful tone was no longer and it pained Yang to hear her sister in this state. Yang didn't know how to respond, she knew her sister was a bit eccentric and could get herself into some pretty bad situations, but none of them had ever affected her this much; then again, none of them had endangered anyone else greatly.

Yang put a comforting arm around Ruby and pulled her slightly into her. After several moments of silence between the two, Yang finally found her words, "It was Jaune's fault that he got hurt."

Ruby flipped her head around and looked at her sister wide-eyed as if even she was insulted by Yang's comment.

"What? I mean—he could've kept going—but he didn't, so that's on him and not you."

Ruby shook her head, "But—but he stayed behind because I made a mistake."

"Yes, and that was his decision, not yours." Ruby clearly did not get what Yang was getting at as she continued to become more confused at each statement the brawler made. Yang tried to clarify what she meant, "What I'm saying is that he choose to stay behind and help you and he accepted the risks of staying with you. And while I'm grateful for what he did for you, it was still Jaune who made that choice." Yang loosened he grip on Ruby's shoulder.

"I just—"

"What you did was stupid, but don't think for a second that you did this to him," Yang said looking ahead. Ruby still felt responsible despite what her sister had told her. However, something about Yang's demeanor made Ruby feel a bit better and added a little strength to her step. "Now give me that sword." Yang grabbed the sword out of Ruby's hands and rested the blade gently on her shoulder. Ruby pursed her lips in opposition but secretly felt thankful for not having the massive weight of Jaune's sword dragging her down.

The sisters stayed relatively quiet as the rest of the group members seemed to talk amongst themselves. Weiss was apparently pretty interested in Pyrrha as the pale girl asked unrelenting questions. Nora was chatting at a disorienting pace and Ren simply focused on moving Jaune efficiently as he nodded his head periodically. Blake was off to the side of the group and looked as if she was trying to avoid being evolved in any conversation. From the looks of it, they were going to make it to salvation with a couple minutes to spare and Jaune was still hanging in there, so any fear of something happening to them washed away as new voices sounded through the forest as they approached evac. Just before they broke the treeline into the outcropping that symbolized their evac, Yang's curiosity got the best of her as she turned towards Ruby.

"Soooo if Jaune was the only one that fought the Beringel, then what happened to the rest of your group?" Yang almost feared the answer to that question.

"Oh—uh, well—they sort of—uh...ran past me," Ruby said with restraint. She inwardly cringed as the only thing that followed up her statement was an eerie silence.

"...They did what?"

There was a large congregation of students resting in the middle of the clearing, various colored bands resting on each of their arms. All of them showed signs of exhaustion and some even were nursing wounds that they had gotten from their respective excursions. Several conversations had been started among the future students as each knew that they had passed their first test at Beacon, and what a test it had been. According to the groups that had made it out of the forest intact, they had all encountered an enlarged Grimm, and if the number of students in the clearing said anything, they had all had their fair share of problems in defeating it.

Cardin stood in the middle of all of them and was telling several bystanders how he and his other three companions had faced a Beringel and had barely managed to escape. Sky, Dove, and Russel all looked on with a hint of regret as they stayed relatively silent. They hadn't been proud of what they did, yet they were not about to tell everyone about what really happened out in that forest. That was something that they had had an unspoken agreement to not utter to anyone.

Two other groups had mentioned how they had heard the Beringel and a girl screaming and that a couple of their members had fallen back to help whoever was in trouble. Cardin nodded at their claims and quickly made up a story of Ruby couldn't keep up with him and had, unbeknownst to himself, fallen behind. Dove held his head low in shame when the people around him nodded along with Cardin's recounting of the ordeal.

Some murmuring at the edge of the circle that had been made around the four armored teenagers drew the attention away from Cardin.

"Hey? What's goin on?" Cardin's question was left unanswered as everyone continued to stare back at the forest.

After a few more seconds of being left in suspense, a light-blue haired guy holding an Atlesian shotgun spoke up, "Did the girl you left happen to have blonde hair?"

"What?" The guy pointed towards the surrounding group's point of interest.

Cardin stood up and towered over everyone else's heads. He squinted his eyes at the approaching blonde blur storming out of the forest. "What is that?" He squinted harder. "...Oh shit."

Yang came careening out of the forest with a ferocity that mirrored that of an Ursa. The ground seemed to shake harder and harder as her foot collided with the ground. Her eyes had shaken their usual lilac color for a blood red hue that made Cardin slightly shiver. But what made him even more afraid was who she was with.

Ruby walked with Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha behind Jaune, who had opened his eyes slightly but still kept deadly quiet, as if his silence mitigated the pain he must've felt in his leg. They had actually made it with a few moments to spare, which was partly due to Yang's accelerated pace. Ever since Ruby had told her about Cardin's actions, Yang had been absent to Ruby's pleas to not be too angry. She knew her sister wasn't going to take the news that Jaune had been the only one to stay behind amazingly, but she hadn't anticipated that Yang would uproot several trees before marching towards the evac point with steam coming out of her nose.

Yang finally stopped moving when she came up to the wall of students that stood in her path, which gave time for Ruby and the rest of them to catch up to her.

"Which was one of you is Cardin!?" Her question came out with an intensity that made one or two of the bystanders to hold their weapons close to their chests in fear.

The group quickly parted to allow for a pathway to be made towards the four dumbfounded boys in the middle. Yang clenched her fists and resumed her marching in their direction.

Dove, Sky, and Russel backed up a little while Cardin just stood there trying to fathom how Jaune and Ruby had survived. He wasn't able to connect the dots before Yang had planted herself right in front of him.

She looked up at his face before letting out in a low tone, "You Cardin?"

"Uhhhh—... yeah—"

As soon as the word 'yeah' came out of Cardin's mouth, Yang's leg shot up in a kick. A high pitch squeal emanated from the brute as he dropped to his knees in pain. A collective 'oof' came from the crowd and the boys, all of them knowing just how badly that must've hurt. Cardin became small as Yang now towered over him, she grabbed the top of his cuirass, pulling him to where he came nose-to-nose with her.

"If you ever come near my sister again," Yang took a large breath in, "I...will...end you!"

Cardin nodded his head to the best of his ability before Yang forced the rest of his body down to the ground. She now aimed his eyes towards the other three boys who were petrified by what they had just seen.

"Got it?!" Each of them nodded as well, none of them wanting to suffer the same fate as the groaning guy sprawled out on the ground.

Ruby's wide eyes were drawn away from the scene as the sound of laughter came from next to her. She turned around to see Nora laughing hysterically at what she had just seen. A half-conscious Jaune, who was draped over Ren and Nora's shoulders now, along with Ren looked mortified. Yang strode back over to them leaving the trio to help Cardin to his feet. They all stared at her with a myriad of expressions.

She looked at them confused, "He deserved it."

"Well, yeah—but I thought you were just going to punch him in the face? Not—not that." Jaune's horror slowly morphed into humor as he stared at Yang.

"It wouldn't have made a lasting impression."

Yang walked past Jaune and Ren and back over to the side of Ruby. The scythe-wielder stared up at her sister. Yang noticed Ruby's long stare and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I got your back sis," Yang said smiling down at Ruby. The young girl was unresponsive at first but then allowed for a small smile to come to her face. The group that had gathered had quickly dispersed following the Cardin incident and had broken into their own little factions now just waiting for a ship to pick them up and take them back to Beacon.

"His poor girlfriend," Jaune said watching Cardin hobble away.

"I can affirm that no girl would want that," Blake spat in disgust.

The sound of the airship's engines calmed Jaune's nerves as he sat with his leg suspended across the aisle of seats. The pain had slowly died down after the medical crew that was aboard the ship had given him some medication to numb the area. They had decided against trying to stitch up the wound due to its severity but had also mentioned that it should heal up after a couple weeks, which pleased Jaune to no end. His leg hadn't looked great out in the darkness of the forest and he had feared that it was going to need to be amputated. He was glad that his prognosis was proven false and that he would be back to normal before long.

He gazed around at the seats near him and watched as the people that had saved his and Ruby's lives. Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha sat on his right talking about something that he couldn't quite decipher. Something about a Mistral champion or something? To his left were Yang, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake who were also talking fairly intently. Jaune had a lot to thank for these people and how they had shown up when they had. He had pretty much accepted the idea of him dying with the state he had been in and was just hoping to allow Ruby some time to escape, which wasn't even going to happen with what Ruby had said transpired after Jaune had left her.

Yang noticed Jaune's prolonged stare and sighed. She shifted herself over to the seat adjacent to his all the while trying to stay aware of his leg. Jaune simply watched her as she rubbed the back of her hand waiting for the words to come to her.

"So Ruby told me about what you did in that forest and how you tried to help her," Yang said leaning in a little so that none of the others would hear their conversation. "Thank you for looking out for her. If it hadn't been for you, then she wouldn't be here right now, and I can't live with the idea of a world without her."

Jaune shrugged, "She did the same exact thing for me during that fight, so I would say that we're even." He touched his sword, which Yang had given back to him once they had boarded the ship. The shock crystal had reverted to its natural resting state and the glow that had veined up its surface was no longer there.

Yang's attention was also drawn to the blade. Her mind flashed back to the bright light that had erupted from the sword back at the pond and how it essentially evaporated what had been left of the Beringel following their firing squad attack. "How did you activate that crystal?" Jaune looked back up at her with a questioning look. "My uncle used to talk about activating crystals with aura and how the process was pretty complicated."

"Yeah—how exactly did you do that?" Weiss's verbal incursion cause both Yang and Jaune to look towards her.

Jaune just shrugged again, "I don't know." He had heard about some aura manipulation techniques like pushing aura into crystals to activate them was something that took a significant amount of time to develop, but something about the whole process just came so naturally to him. He knew his mother was also pretty talented in the way of aura manipulation, so he would usually just trace it back to genetics and leave it at that.

"You don't know?" Jaune shook his head. Weiss's face scrunched up in disdain as that answer had apparently not satisfied her interest. "Then how did you do it on command when we were facing that-that thing?" Jaune searched around with his eyes a little before just settling on another simple shrug. "You cannot be serious?"

Instead of shrugging again, Jaune just opted to sit and stare at her. This girl was beautiful. He had noticed this back to when he had first encountered her, but now that they were just sitting and didn't have to deal with any sort of Grim, he could see just how beautiful she really was. Jaune opened his mouth to speak and Weiss leaned in waiting for some kind of response, but what she got was something completely different.

"Sooo—are you, like, seeing anyone or what's the situation with that?" Weiss stared blankly at Jaune before forming a face that was nothing short of insulted.

"Did you really just ask me if I was single or not?" Jaune nodded. Weiss scoffed, "I'll have you know that I am the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and am not someone you can just win over because of some light show made by a sword!"

…

"I'm unclear, is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?"

Weiss made a frustrated 'humph' sound before turning away from Jaune again. He looked back towards Yang who was just shaking her head at what she had just witnessed.

"What?" Yang just continued to shake her head and returned to her seat next to Ruby; though Jaune did notice the small smile that had crept onto the edge of her mouth.

"Now you're fighting!" Hasta yelled as he was forced back from the streaks of white lighting that struck his spear. Jaune had pushed his aura into his sword in an effort to drive his uncle back and gain the ground he had lost in their skirmish thus far, and for the most part, it was working. Hasta was put on the defensive with each heavy swing that Jaune threw his way. The crackling of electricity was a constant at this point with Jaune deciding to hold nothing back and use his aura to gain the advantage.

Jaune contorted his wrist and threw a forward slash followed quickly by another one. Hasta's quick movements allowed for him to easily slide back across the dirt to avoid each successive slice. He knew what his nephew was doing and needed to try and not give away any kind of ground that he had gained throughout the fight. Jaune lifted his sword high above his head and threatened to bring it down on Hasta, but the sheer weight caused the move to be sluggish, which gave Hasta the opportunity to raise his spear above his head. Jaune's sword and Hasta's spear connected after Jaune's thrust and a ringing sounded from the two weapons clashing. Jaune's electricity continued to spark as both of them grunted trying to hold the other back.

Hasta planted his foot into the ground and pushed upwards, slowly pushing the sword opposing it upwards as well. Hasta let go of one side of his spear and stepped to the side, which made Jaune stumble forward and clash with the ground.

Hasta clicked his tongue, "Ye had me on the ropes Jaune and ya just let it go." Jaune shook himself and stumbled up off the ground, brushing off his jeans in the process.

"I did better than the last hundred times though."

"That you did, m'boy," chuckled Hasta stumbling over to Jaune and patting him on the back. They had agreed to stop for the day after this match and get back to the Arc's house before Jaune's mother came out and killed them both. Jaune stretched his back and several audible pops could be heard as he leaned back. He was sore from the all-day training session, but something about him felt better than ever. He couldn't quite place it but it didn't matter to him as he picked up his sword and put it in its sheath. Hasta clipped his own weapon to his back and let out a long breath of exhaustion.

The sun was beginning to hide behind the horizon and crickets had started to chirp, making the entire forest into a sort of symphony. Jaune absorbed his surrounding and his eyes rested on a particular rock in the circle that laid on the outskirts of the arena. Unknowingly, Jaune moved towards the rock's area and kneeled down in front of it.

"Hey, Jaune! I was thinkin' maybe I could stay for another day jus' to get ya ready for Bea…" Hasta trailed off as he noticed Jaune's absence from his side. He looked around until his eyes rested on his nephew who was staring intently at the rock that held a name he knew all too well. He slowly glided over to where Jaune was and kneeled down beside him. Hasta knew he was not the best at giving emotional advice, so he just opted to scratch his beard and then resting his hand on Jaune's shoulder. The two sat there in silence simply gazing at the name etched into the rock. It was a peaceful moment between uncle and nephew and both of them basked in each other's silent company.

"You think he's okay?" Jaune asked ending the silence that had taken hold of the area.

Hasta glanced over towards the expressionless face of his nephew. "Your father? Are you kidding? He wouldn't let anything hurt him," Hasta said reassuringly. However, he didn't know is that was what Jaune wanted to hear because the boy's face only scrunched up at his comment. Jaune's eyes seemed to long for something that was out of his reach and it made Hasta feel awful. He hated seeing Jaune like this. His words were going to help nothing at this point, so he tightened his grip on Jaune's shoulder.

"Stay strong m'boy."

[Author's Note]

I promise I did not forget about this story (yet again) and apologize (yet again) for being so late with this update. It really makes me angry that I couldn't get myself to just write this chapter and there is no excuse other than I'm lazy. All in all, writing this chapter was difficult for some reasons that will hopefully make sense later and that I can't really go into without spoiling some things. So there are still probably a lot of questions concerning Cardin and Jaune and what exactly will come from their actions from the previous chapter and I promise that those questions will be answered in the next chapter. The main point of this chapter wasn't even to wrap up the initiation segment, but to bring Hasta into the story. I have a lot of things I want to do with him as a character so that was my main focus and if some of the segments with RWBY and JNPR felt a bit rushed, then that's the reason. I actually want to start attacking the narrative that I want to take with this story in the upcoming chapters, so with that in mind I kind of want to end of by saying that the next chapter is coming (I promise).