8

  V1C8: A Strength of Will

Shirou steadied his breathing as he aimed down the shaft of the drawn arrow, his target in his sights. Even as a bead of sweat trailed down his forehead and threatened to get in his eye, he remained singularly focused, every muscle in his body taught, waiting for the signal to begin.

Seconds stretched into eternity before a green light and high pitched beep went off. The instant the stimulus was registered, Shirou let the arrow fly and dashed towards his next target, already knocking another arrow. One by one, he let them fly; never pausing for more than a fraction of an instant. He needed to push all of his advantages that he could since he knew that his opponent had him greatly outclassed in not only movement speed but firing speed as well. The only real advantage that he possessed was that, thanks to his countless years of practice and his choice of weapon, he didn't have to stop to aim or check to make sure the target had been hit.

When the final target was struck and the clock was stopped, Shirou saw that he had completed the course in 5.37 seconds. When the second timer stopped, he saw that Ruby Rose had finished hers in 7.19 seconds. Striking five targets dead center from fifty meters away in that time was no mean feat. Ruby shooting five with the same accuracy from two hundred meters away in that time was, likewise, impressive.

Not that you would know that from the way Ruby was currently skulking.

"Aw, jeez," Ruby said with a huff as she let Crescent Rose in its gun form hang from one hand, "I can't believe I lost." Ruby had approached Shirou the other day to challenge him to a bit of an accuracy contest; her sniper rifle against his bow. It had taken a bit of debate and some mediation from Team JNPR for a proper contest to be decided but it had eventually been settled and so both teams and Shirou had taken to Beacon's outdoor shooting range the first free period they had.

Sitting on the benches on the back wall, Teams RWBY and JNPR sans their leaders had watched the proceedings with rapt attention, using the camera apps on their Scrolls to monitor the condition of the targets. When Shirou came out ahead, a mixture of cheers and groans resonated from them as Yang and Ren paid up to Blake and Nora.

"Don't worry about it," Shirou said, ignoring what he was certain was the illegal gambling going on behind him. "I've practiced with the bow for almost as long as I can remember. I was even Captain of the Archery Club back in my old school. Honestly, I have to be this good in order to get by with such an outdated weapon. Once you learn to move and shoot at the same time, I'm certain you'll surpass me."

Ruby smiled somewhat shyly at him but, if she was going to say anything, she was stopped by an approaching voice. "Hey, Shirou," Yang said as she walked up to them, "How far can you shoot that thing?"

"Accurately or leathally?"

"Accurately."

"I don't really know. I've never tested my limits."

"How about you try and hit one of Ruby's targets? The center's kinda gone but you can just aim to the left of it, right?"

"I'll give it a shot," Shirou said before walking over to Ruby's side of the shooting range. At this distance, the targets were little more than specks and would absolutely be out of the range of nearly every archer. Thankfully, Shirou wasn't nearly every archer and had a few tricks up his sleeve to make the impossible possible.

For starters, Shirou hopped over the barrier before leaping onto the roof of the building. The difference in elevation wouldn't make that much of a difference at this distance but every little bit helped. The second was taking advantage of one of the differences between Aura and Strengthening: Aura could only strengthen the body as a whole and held items while magecraft could be used to strengthen basically anything. As such, Shirou carefully fed prana into his eyes and narrowed them until he could easily make out every detail of the target as if he were standing right next to it. The third was his bow. While Archer's black bow, which this one had been modeled off of, could have made this shot with no difficulties thanks to its futuristic (even for Remnant) material composition, the one he had could not. So Shirou fed prana into his weapon and made very subtle alterations to it; not enough to change its physical appearance or get in the way of the transformation mechanism but enough to increase its range by a fair amount.

Thus prepared, Shirou knocked an arrow and took aim at a precise point above and slightly to the side of his target. He held his aim for a heartbeat before letting it fly. Without bothering to wait to see if the arrow struck, Shirou jumped down and reentered the building.

"You're not going to see if you hit?" Weiss asked.

"I don't need to. I knew I hit it before I released the arrow." Weiss and the others looked incredulously at Shirou for a moment before pulling out their Scrolls and checking the target; Ruby looking through the scope of Crescent Rose. Just as he had said, the arrow had struck in the horizontal center and was so close to the hole that Ruby's shot had made that it looked like it should have gone through it.

Everyone stared gobsmacked at Shirou who just brushed it off. "It's good to know I can make that shot but, unless I used a Dust arrow or the target has no defenses, it wouldn't do much."

"Still, that was a very impressive shot. I didn't think bows were even capable of shooting out that far," Ren said

"Are you gonna go for a long shot, Ruby?" Nora asked.

"I would but the range only goes out to about three hundred yards and my record is one thousand three hundred seventy-two so…."

Yang let out a low whistle, "Wow, sis. I didn't know you upped your record." Ruby smiled and chuckled sheepishly as she shuffled her feet.

"Well, it's about lunchtime now," Shirou began, "so why don't we eat? I made enough food so everyone could have some."

"So that's what was in that large bag," Blake muttered as she eyed the large parcel on the bench that Shirou had brought with him.

Nora cheered, "Breakfast and lunch from Shirou today! This is the best. Day. Ever!" Then she was off in a pink cloud of dust, digging through the bag to see what was on the menu today. Shirou quickly hurried after her to make sure everything got set out properly and not thrown about the place. Not that he had to worry, of course. Not even Nora would destroy something sacred.

"So we finally get to have a meal prepared by Shirou, huh? I'll admit I've been curious given how you guys go on about it," Yang said to Pyrrha and Ren.

"You're certainly in for a treat," Ren said with a chuckle. "It's a shame Jaune had to miss out. Where is he, anyway?"

"I'm sure our leader is perfectly fine," Pyrrha said a little tersely as she glared off to the side. Now that Ren thought about it, Pyrrha had pulled a crazy one eighty over the past couple of days. She came to the room one night with Jaune and was practically glowing, a glow which had carried through much of the next day, but then something had happened around lunch that turned her from a ray of sunshine to an angry stormcloud. It was clear that Jaune was involved in this somehow but what could he possibly have done?

OoOoOoO

Three days prior to Ruby and Shirou's competition, Jaune found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Specifically, a particularly predatory Cardin and a wall coming out of the men's restroom.

"So, Jauney boy, I heard the most amazing thing last night!" Cardin said, his tone and body language full of so much superiority, glee, and borderline malice that it was practically dripping from him.

"O-oh, r-really?" Jaune asked, damning his stutter even as he tried to find an opening to flee. Sadly, the only one that presented itself led back into the bathroom and he doubted he could escape that way without doing something that required far more agility than he currently possessed.

"Yeah. I heard that a certain someone had forged his application papers and lied his way into Beacon. Can you believe that?"

"That's— Naw, that's just— You've gotta be— I mean that— There's no way that's true! I mean, someone lie their way into Beacon? Who would be dumb enough to try that?" Jaune said as he suddenly found himself sweating and breathing hard.

"Well, as it so happens, that certain someone would be you," Cardin said with a wolfish grin. "I heard it straight from your mouth. Bet ya didn't know my dorm's right below there, did ya?"

Jaune's skin went pale in an instant and he swore that his heart stopped beating for a second. "Please, Cardin, please don't tell anyone!"

"Jaune, come on! I'd never rat on a friend like that!" Cardin said as he backed away from the blond.

"A… a friend?" Jaune said cautiously. He didn't like where this was going at all.

"Of course!" Cardin quickled approached Jaune once more and trapped him in a headlock. It was only thanks to his training with Shirou and Pyrrha that Jaune managed to get his Aura up in time to stop from being choked. "We're friends now, Jauney boy! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." Cardin let go of Jaune's head and the blond straitened up, softly massaging his throat while looking hard at Cardin. "That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us yesterday. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" Jaune said nothing as he almost glared at Cardin. For his part, Cardin's wolfish grin simply intensified. "That's what I thought. Don't worry, Jaune. Your secret's safe with me."

Unsurprisingly, Jaune's good mood soured instantly and the rest of his day hadn't been pleasant. Doing the same work twice wouldn't too difficult but making sure the language was different enough to not get flagged as copying was going to be a real pain. He was sorely tempted to just write his, print it off twice, and let Cardin get in trouble for blatant copying— Jaune was reasonably certain he could set things up to make it believable that Cardin had simply stolen his paper for a while and he could probably get his team and maybe even Team RWBY and Shirou to corroborate it— but doing that would almost certainly make Cardin reveal his secret on the spot.

Also unsurprisingly, Pyrrha noticed her leader's dour mood instantly. At first, she just asked the usual, generic questions which Jaune brushed off with equally generic answers but it was clear that she was going to have none of that after their talk the previous night. As such, she had pulled him aside at the beginning of lunch and pressed him until he revealed his encounter with Cardin.

"Where is he? I'm going to break his legs," Pyrrha said as soon as Jaune finished, her killing intent so think in the air that Jaune swore the temperature dropped a whole ten degrees.

"Pyrrha, don't," Jaune said, his voice weak. "That won't solve anything."

"You can't just do nothing, Jaune! He'll just keep piling demands on you until you break!"

"I know that but I don't really have a choice here. I just… need to tough it out until I can figure out what to do."

"Then at least let me help you! I can write Cardin's report."

"No," Jaune said, his tone making it apparent that he would brook no argument. "I know you wouldn't mind but I would. This is my problem, my mistake, and it's something I need to fix on my own. I'm open to suggestions but that's it. If Cardin exposes me, you can claim that you knew nothing about it."

Pyrrha searched Jaune's eyes for a long moment, trying to find what, Jaune was certain. After a long while, she heaved a deep sigh and said, "I wouldn't do that, you know. If someone asked, I'd tell the truth no matter the consequences to myself."

Jaune smiled wanly at his partner, "I know you would." Pyrrha returned the smile, just as weak. After another moment, Jaune spoke up again. "You go on ahead. I'm not that hungry and I've got a lot of work to do."

OoOoOoO

Jaune groaned as he walked through Forever Fall forest, lugging a case of six large, empty glass jars with him. True to its name, the trees and grass of the forest were a pleasant mixture of reds, browns, and yellows year round and the forest seemed to go on for forever. Lying on the northern side of the Kingdom of Vale, the forest took up nearly a quarter of the total area under Vale's jurisdiction. Thanks to its size, geography, and relative remoteness; it was a veritable paradise for all kinds of creatures and people both good and bad.

On this particular Friday afternoon, the first years of Beacon found themselves here on a field trip for their herbology class (many students had complained about its existence until Professor Peach, who taught it, demonstrated in a highly dangerous and probably more than little illegal way the importance of the field of study). Despite this, it was Professor Goodwitch, who taught dueling, that was leading them.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is, indeed, beautiful but we are not here to sightsee," Professor Goodwitch said as she walked onwards, trusting the students to keep up. "Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." The group came to a stop, Jaune nearly bumping into Cardin in the process, and Professor Goodwitch turned to face her students, a glass jar full of a red sap in her hand. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap to be used for a future experiment. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm so be sure to stay with your teammates and keep your weapons ready. We will rendezvous back here by four o'clock. Have fun!"

Finally dismissed, the students began to split into team-sized groups and go about their assigned task. Jaune, for his part, attempted to sneak away from Team CRDL and join his team but Cardin had easily noticed his noisy attempt.

"Come on, buddy. Let's go!" Cardin said as he grabbed Jaune by his hood. Jaune stared at his team and saw Ren and Nora walk off into the forest, blissfully unaware of their leader's troubles. His eyes caught Pyrrha's for a moment and lingered there, wishing for nothing more than to break free of Cardin's grasp and join her, but he broke the held look and resigned himself to his fate.

Pyrrha sighed deeply as Jaune turned away before leveling a fierce glare at Cardin's back. If the bully had even an ounce of combat prowess, the naked killing intent would have sent him running for the hills but he just continued on, blissfully unaware of the fact the had come a hair's breadth from experiencing a world of pain the likes of which few knew more times in the last few days than Pyrrha cared to count. After a long moment, Pyrrha steeled herself and turned to go join Ren and Nora. For the time being, even though she didn't like it, she'd just have to continue to trust Jaune.

Off to one side, unseen by the others, Emiya Shirou scowled at the retreating forms of Cardin and Jaune as he continued to devise a plan.

OoOoOoO

It had only been seven days since that disastrous encounter with Cardin but, to Jaune, it felt like seven months of hell. Just as Pyrrha predicted, the demands had grown in number and effort required until Jaune barely had enough time to take care of the things he needed to do. The one last night had been the worst by far. He had been ordered to go out and gather a box of Rapier Wasps for some undoubtedly fiendish reason. That had been a serious escapade but he was actually proud by the fact that he had done it.

It wasn't all bad, though. Shirou had decided to change up his breakfast menu a bit and started making foods that were particularly healthy and bolstered one's immune system while promoting good energy. How he managed to make something that was impossibly healthy while still being impossibly delicious was perhaps the greatest mystery of all time to Jaune but he wasn't about to complain. Aside from that, there had also been his nightly sessions with Pyrrha which he placed the highest priority on; ensuring that Cardin didn't bother him by making sure to "accidentally" drop his Scroll off of the (different) rooftop before each one. It had mostly been a lot of theory and stances with a couple of forms thrown in since Pyrrha knew Jaune would be too tired for anything else but he still felt like he was making some serious progress for the first time since coming to Beacon.

To make matters worse, the rest of Team CRDL was every bit as bad as their leader. While Jaune honestly believed that Cardin had kept his word and hadn't told a soul about the forged transcripts— the other members never made requests "directly" to Jaune and Cardin never even hinted at the reason for the arrangement when they were around; they had no objections to using Jaune for just about everything they could. Of course, even that had a bright side since Jaune was now intimately familiar with all of their classes and often got top marks for anything purely academic.

At that moment, however, Jaune couldn't think of any of the silver linings as he finished lugging the six jars of red sap to Team CRDL who were lounging about like they owned the place. He just barely managed to safely set the case down before collapsing.

"Hey, great work, Jauney boy!" Cardin said as he and the rest of his team got up. "Now that wasn't too hard, was it?"

Jaune struggled to get into a sitting position but found that his head was swimming. "I think I'm allergic to this stuff…."

"Greeeeat, great great. So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?'"

Jaune nodded as he gingerly sat up, "That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."

"Well, come with me and you'll find out," Cardin said, that all-too-familiar wolfish grin returning. Jaune could only groan as he wondered what fresh hell awaited him now.

OoOoOoO

As it turned out, this fresh hell started with spying on Shirou who was currently a bit away from the rest of Team JNPR and putting the finishing touches on his jar of red sap.

"Cardin, wh-what's going on?" Jaune asked, confused, as they watched the redhead from just behind the crest of a hill.

"Payback," Cardin said wickedly, his hateful gaze locked on Shirou.

"Shirou?" Jaune said as his eyes widened in realization. "Wh-what are you—?"

Cardin interrupted Jaune by pounding his fist on the ground. "That's the guy. He's the asshole who nearly cut my hand off and knocked me out. Alright, boys…" Cardin pulled a very familiar cardboard box out from somewhere, a very noticeable buzzing coming from it. "Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps and now we're gonna put him to work."

Russel roughly grabbed Jaune's shoulder, the other boy laughing nervously as he pieced together just where this was going.

"Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me, these nasty things loooove sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach him a thing or two," Cardin said before quickly rising to his feet, the rest of his team right behind him. Jaune was a bit slow getting up, still a little weak from his earlier exertions, so Cardin painfully yanked him up by his arm before shoving a jar of red sap into his hands. "And you're going to do it."

"Do what?" Jaune asked, hoping to buy enough time feigning ignorance for Shirou to move.

"Hit him with the sap!" Cardin leaned in close to Jaune's face and spoke in a low whisper so only he could hear, "Either that or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

Jaune looked down at the jar in his hands and then to Team CRDL before looking towards Shirou who seemed to be having some trouble with the lid. He recalled all of the help the other boy had been and his choice was clear. "No," he said firmly.

"What did you say?"

Jaune gripped the jar tightly as all of the indignities he had been put through because of Cardin came rushing back to him. "I said… No!" With that final declaration, Jaune spun on his heel back towards Cardin and hurdled the jar at him with all of his might. Caught completely surprised, Cardin didn't even have time to get his Aura up and would have been hurt a fair bit if it wasn't for his breastplate. As it was, the jar shattered harmlessly against it, coating it in the sticky red sap.

Jaune took a half step back, suddenly realizing that he might have made a big mistake now that his anger was fading. Cardin, meanwhile, looked down at himself before laughing darkly. "Oh, you've done it now…"

Jaune laughed humorlessly as Dove and Sky seized him by his shoulders before throwing him to the ground. Jaune groaned in discomfort as he looked up and saw Cardin looming over him, a dark grin on his face. Cardin picked Jaune up by the front of his hoodie before punching him with a right hook and sending him back to the ground.

"You know that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy," Cardin said as he picked Jaune up again, a rather angry bruise forming on his jaw. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny pieces."

Jaune's head lolled back as he was picked, the adrenaline that was now coursing through his system washing away his earlier fatigue and the pain from the blows. "I don't care what you do to me," he said slowly as he brought his head down to level a surprisingly furious glare at Cardin, "but you are not messing with my friends."

Cardin stared at Jaune for a moment, utterly gobsmacked. "What? You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big, strong man now?"

Jaune simply smiled as he put his Aura up.

Cardin roared in blind anger and lashed out with another right cross only to find his fist to stop a few inches above Jaune's skin, a bright, white flash coinciding with the blow temporarily blinding him and the rest of his team. Cardin screamed out in pain, holding his hand and wondering why it felt like he just punched a brick wall, as Jaune, who had been knocked back onto the ground, looked at his faintly glowing hands in confusion, noticing that all of his aches and pains were completely gone now.

Distracted and surprised as he was, Jaune had dropped his Aura and didn't put it back up again before Sky Lark came up and kicked him in the back, making him fall onto his stomach. Brought back into the present, Jaune glared up at the approaching Cardin who had murder in his eyes.

"Let's see how much of a man you really are," Cardin said menacingly. Everyone suddenly stopped as a low growl was heard. Team CRDL slowly turned around just in time to see a very large Ursa Major burst through the trees. It leapt forward and landed with a ground shaking "Thud" in front of the students, sniffing Cardin's breastplate before unleashing a massive roar at Cardin.

"That's a big Ursa!" Russel said as he and the rest of his team sans Cardin fled.

Cardin would have been more than happy to join the rest of his team in running away but had the unfortunate problem of being completely paralyzed with fear. As such, he just barely managed to get his Aura up before the Ursa swung at him with one of its massive paws and launched him sideways. The Ursa sniffed at the cowering Jaune for a moment before giving chase to its sweet-smelling prey. It towered over the boy who finally realized that drawing his weapon might be a good idea only to have said weapon subsequently knocked from his hand.

Jaune looked between Cardin's mace and the boy himself a few times as his mind raced. It didn't take long for him to reach his conclusion, his eyes hardening with resolve.

OoOoOoO

Shirou finally stopped messing around and put the lid on his jar properly. He had noticed the presence of Team CRDL and Jaune almost the instant they started spying on him— even if he couldn't smell the faint scent of lemon he associated with Jaune's power, Cardin's killing intent was as naked as it was weak— and used his magecraft to reinforce his hearing so he could hear what was going on. When Jaune finally drew the line at attacking a friend, Shirou had released the spell and stopped eavesdropping. He knew that it likely wouldn't end up well for his blond friend but this wasn't something he could really intervene with. Thanks to his Tracing, he knew that Pyrrha knew about everything that was going on and that Jaune had specifically asked her to stay out of it so he decided to also apply that request to himself. He could very easily intervene now without suspicion since Jaune was very aware that he could tell whenever someone was near but decided against it.

As he was passing by, Shirou exchanged a look with Pyrrha who was also loitering despite her task having been complete for some time. Shirou could tell from that look that she was also aware of their presence on the nearby hill, she knew that he knew, and that she was debating breaking her promise and running up there to unleash fully articulated hell on Team CRDL. The decision was taken away from her, however, when the roar of what could only be a rather large Ursa broke through the relative silence of the forest.

By the time the other students realized what they had heard, Shirou was already in motion, Pyrrha half a step ahead. The brushed passed the fleeing members of Team CRDL and rushed to where they knew Jaune was located. They arrived just in time to see Cardin futilely attempt to crawl away from a rather large Ursa. Despite their mutual disdain for the bully and blackmailer, their better halves kicked in and caused them to reach for their weapons only to pause when Jaune got between Cardin and the Ursa and blocked the Ursa's swipe with his shield.

Surprised but undeterred, Shirou drew his sword only to stop when Pyrrha held her hand out. "Wait!"

Shirou looked at Pyrrha like she had gone insane. He knew that she had been teaching Jaune how to fight properly but just throwing him into the fire like this seemed like a bad idea. Still, if she insisted… "Fine," he said tersley as he transformed his sword into a bow and readied an arrow, "but I'm intervening at the first sign of trouble."

"You won't have to," Pyrrha said with a smile. Shirou gave her a confused looked so she held up her hand, now infused with a dark red glow, and moved Shirou's bow, now also covered by the same glow, without actually touching it.

"I see," Shirou said as he put the pieces together. Magnetism was a very powerful Semblance, especially since it seemed to completely ignore the laws of physics that dictate how magnets work, if Pyrrha's insinuations were to be believed. Even so, he refused to put away his weapon which Pyrrha accepted with a nod before turning her full attention back to Jaune as Ruby and Weiss arrived, tuning them out as Shirou explained what was going on.

Jaune shoved the Ursa's claw to the side before slashing at its' stomach with his sword. Another claw smash from the Ursa provoked Jaune to parry the blow and slash the limb before backstepping to avoid the lunge it made with its mouth. Every single word Pyrrha had told him about combat was pouring through his head as he went over everything practiced and discussed. He had no idea if anyone heard the roar or if the rest of Team CRDL could get to the others in time so it was up to him to defend the defenseless Cardin.

The Ursa rushed at Jaune with a diagonal swipe and the blond was just a fraction of a second too slow in locking his stance. As a result, the slash blew through his guard and left him too off balance to respond to the follow up attack from the other claw. His Aura held firm under the assault but the force of the blow sent him practically flying away. He managed to get his feet underneath him as he tumbled and slid to a stop before charging the Ursa that had returned its attention to Cardin. Focused as it was on both the sweet scent of the sap and the even sweeter fear Cardin was radiating, it didn't notice Jaune's leaping slash until it was too late.

The Ursa Major's head fell on the ground between the terrified Cardin's legs before slowly disappearing. Jaune returned his shield to its sheath form and sheathed his sword before walking over ot Cardin and extends his hand.

Cardin smiled at the grim faced Jaune as he was helped up to his feet. "Holy crap, Jaune!"

If he was going to say anything further, he wouldn't get the chance as he was cut off by Jaune. "Don't ever mess with my friends ever again," Jaune said, his voice low and threatening as he stared Cardin dead in the eyes. "Got it?"

Cowed by Jaune's aura, Cardin could only nod his head dumbly before Jaune turned and walked away. Still hidden from sight, Pyrrha smiled at her leader and turned around herself as the others did the same.

Later that night, Jaune would tell Pyrrha that his arrangement was Cardin was taken care of, only saying that they had "come to an agreement" about it, and would throw himself fully into her training. Pyrrha, ever proud of her leader, could only secretly smile and vow to herself to do everything she could for him.

OoOoOoO

Shirou stood on one of Beacon's many balconies, lazily watching the final rays of light disappear behind the horizon. Many kilometers away, he could see the lights of the City of Vale grow in intensity as night slowly took over. Much closer, only a half dozen kilometers or so away, he could see the airship port at the edge of the great cliff that Beacon stood near. The port was open at all hours of the day but no ships could be seen going to or from it. From there, the rest of Beacon Academy's ground opened up to him and he sat in total stillness as he watched a few students move about, some hurried and others sedate.

One month. Shirou had now spent one month at Beacon Academy which meant he had been on Remnant for seven. Six numb months of near constant fighting against literal monsters and one of a style of life he thought he'd never return to. Life at Beacon was, by no means, similar to life attending Homurahara but the handful of similar things was more than enough to make it difficult for him. No matter how much he tried to run from it and forget about it, it seemed his old life would forever haunt him much as that fire had.

Despite his heavy thinking, Shirou had made sure to keep basic situational awareness so the fact that Blake managed to sneak up on him was surprising. "Oh. I didn't expect to find anyone here," she said as she stopped part way towards the railing.

Blake was an odd one to Shirou. She was, by far, the least talkative member of Team RWBY and rivaled Ren in terms of overall quietness but Shirou could feel an intensity about her unlike any he had ever really encountered before and could tell from her body language at times that she was a very conflicted person. It was almost like she had some kind of storm roiling just underneath her skin and that storm was threatening to break out at times. That was a state of being that Shirou could empathize with greatly so, in their relatively limited interactions, he made sure to only give as much as she did and tried to act as a calming presence. He was pretty sure he knew what her problem was and was equally sure that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it so he figured that offering himself as a source of sound stability was the best thing he could do at the moment.

Still, if he could get a chance to get to know her better, he would take it.

"I like coming here to think at times," Shirou answered her unspoken question, only reacting to her sudden arrival with a quick look at her.

"Funny. I do, too. The view of Vale from here makes it seem like the world's far away. Makes it easier to look at things objectively."

"And the closeness of the moon and stars makes it seem like your dreams are open to you while the familiar presence of Beacon reminds you that you're safe here," Shirou concluded. Blake confirmed his supposition, clearly awed that someone else saw it the way she did.

Shirou immediately ended that false belief, "Sadly, I don't see it that way. I just like it because it's quiet and the breeze is pretty nice."

Blake chuckled softly, "I suppose it has that going for it, too. I should probably leave."

"No, you don't have to. Feel free to stay. Thinking about my problems does me no good so I could use the distraction."

Blake hesitated for a moment before walking up to stand beside Shirou and join him in leaning against the railing. "The same could honestly be said for my problems. Well, most of them, anyway. There are a few that I could probably solve now."

"Now that you mention it, I have a few of those, too. For example, I still have no idea what I'm going to make for breakfast tomorrow."

Blake chuckled softly again. "Oh, that reminds me, I didn't thank you for making lunch that one time a few days ago."

Shirou waved her off, "No thanks are necessary. I'm just glad that you enjoyed it so much. I don't think I've ever seen you eat that much before or since."

Blake blushed slightly in embarrassment, "I really ate way too much that day. It's just that I've never eaten raw fish before and it was just so good that I couldn't help myself."

It was Shirou's turn to chuckle, "It's okay. From the looks the others were giving it, I doubt they would have even tried the sushi anyway. I'm just thankful that someone else here would even try it. Everyone else I've offered or mentioned it to dismisses it out of hand."

"You said it's called sushi?"

"Yeah. Sushi nigiri, specifically. It's a really common dish where I'm from."

"Where are you from, anyway?" The question had been an innocent one but the way Shirou's smile dropped as the life faded from his eyes made Blake want to kick herself. He didn't talk about his past just as she didn't talk about hers. She, more than anyone, can understand wanting to hide their past so what on Remnant possessed her to ask?

"I'm—" Shirou began before cutting himself off with a deep sigh.

"N-no, you don't have to say anything," Blake said quickly. Seeing the normally cheerful Shirou be so despondent didn't sit right with her. "I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay. There's no real reason for me to hide it. In fact, talking about it a bit may even help. Do you promise not to tell anyone else? I don't want anyone treating me differently because of this and I trust that you won't." Blake nodded emphatically so Shirou continued. "You won't find where I'm from on any map or record, to my knowledge. I also seriously doubt you would have heard of it."

"Why not?" Blake asked even though she feared she knew the answer.

"It was destroyed eight months ago. As far as I know, I'm the only survivor."

A story heard all too commonly throughout Remnant. People set out from the big settlements in hopes of finding a peaceful place to live with a different way of life. They find a place, they settle down, they build everything up, and then it all comes crashing down in the span of a single night. Countless settlements have suffered this fate and there were plenty of people who were either the only or one of the few survivors of them.

Still, despite their commonality, it was hard to hear about it happening. To have someone you consider a friend, someone who's extremely kind and helpful, be one such sole survivor is even harder. What does one say to such a person? Empty platitudes would likely be seen as insulting more than anything else. Should she ask him more about it or move away from the topic? She had to say something. Especially since Emiya Shirou was a young man who had always been of mild interest to her and one of major interest following the cafeteria incident.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Blake offered.

"There's not much to talk about, really. There wasn't anything special about it to most people. It was just a town. There was a local market just down the road from my house, I walked to school every day, there was a church on a hill nearby, the town was split in rural and modern halves, the architecture was a bit eclectic due to the different nationalities that lived there, we had a small park that wasn't very good— There just really isn't anything that's worth talking about."

"What about your family? Did they all live there?"

"As far as I know. My birth parents died in a fire when I was five— I don't remember anything about them or even my original family name. My adoptive father died when I was ten. My guardian who I saw as my older sister died along with everyone else in the town. My adopted father's father died when he was a kid. His mother died a bit before his dad did. His wife died shortly before the fire that claimed my parents. His biological daughter, my adopted sister, died saving my life. My adopted father was an only child and never mentioned any other relatives. His wife's family disowned him shortly after her death and wouldn't have anything to do with me. My guardian's entire family also lived in the town along with everyone else I knew."

Blake swallowed thickly. Something bad befalling her family was one of her biggest fears and here was a person who had gone through that loss and more multiple times. She had no idea how he managed to keep on going in spite of that but she found herself respecting him a lot more for it. "How did you get to Vale?"

"A guy by the name of Qrow Branwen— he's Ruby and Yang's uncle on Yang's side— found me half-dead in a ditch somewhere and drug me here. Professor Ozpin was kind enough to provide me room and board and also admission to Beacon if I could pass a few tests."

Blake nodded slowly. It certainly explained a lot of things like why they had admitted a number of new students not divisible by four. "I… really don't know what to say. I can't even imagine having to go through that."

Shirou gave her a wan smile, "Hopefully, you'll never have to."

Blake returned the smile before tentatively placing her hand on Shirou's shoulder, "I don't know what help I can be but, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll listen anytime."

Shirou's smile this time was more genuine, "Thank you, Blake. I really appreciate it."

As Shirou and Blake turned their gazes back towards Vale, both of them couldn't help but reflect on the conversation that just occured. Shirou had no idea why he decided to tell her any of that but, once the words started, he couldn't stop them. He didn't necessarily feel better but he felt a bit drained; like a nearly hollowed out husk. Going over all of that without breaking down completely as the memories assaulted him all at once had been an extremely strenuous exercise and one that left him longing for bed. The silently brooding girl next to him, however, kept him around. He had just dumped some of his burdens onto her for no good reason so it would behoove him to at least stay until she was ready leave.

As for Blake, the fact that such terrible things could happen to someone who was usually very sweet and kind gave her pause. Despite all of the cruelty and injustices the world had placed upon him, Emiya Shirou still helped people. He still helped Jaune when he was struggling on something. He still helped Ruby with her accuracy and targeting speed. He still made breakfast for Team JNPR every morning and had even invited Team RWBY earlier that day to join them. He still helped out with cleaning and minor maintenance in the school. He still came to Velvet's rescue at a moment's notice. He had even helped her a time or two when she just couldn't wrap her head around something.

If someone who had everything taken from them multiple times could continue to be such an upstanding person and answer the cruelty of the world with kindness, what did that say about the White Fang?

A/N: As always, thanks for all of the reviews. They continue to give me life.

So yeah, the Jaundice arc ended up going down pretty much the exact same way as in canon. The thing about this arc is that there really isn't anything to do with it. Sure, I could have escalated Cardin's bullying to a level where Shirou and Pyrrha had to intervene but that wouldn't have accomplished anything in the long run. As such, rather than waste my energy creating something ultimately meaningless, I decided to just repeat canon with some logical tweaks and instead use the narration to focus on Jaune's character growth and on the fact that Shirou doesn't always make good decisions. He's not going to be able to solve everyone's problems and will oftentimes not even really factor into the solution at all. This isn't Shirou's story and he isn't even the only protagonist as indicated by both the synopsis and the tags.

As I said back in the first chapter, Volume 1 is going to be pretty similar overall to canon and the story will diverge more and more as Shirou's presence (among other things) influences the world. The reason for this is that RWBY is very much a narrative-driven show, not a character-driven one. What this means is that all of the major events would happen regardless of who's around or what happens to them. There's only a handful of events in the first couple of volumes that the characters can actually affect. It's not until towards the end of Volume 3 that they can have more of an impact on major events so that's when you can look forward to bigger changes being made.