8

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"Here." Jaune looked up, Pyrrha smiling gently and offering him a warm mug while he was curled up at the head of his bed, "For your health: tea with mint and honey. My mother used to make it for me whenever I would fall ill." "It always helped me recover nicely; I'm joyful for the opportunity to share that."

The voice was faint still, but Jaune was oddly comforted by its steady return was a Huntsman without a Semblance, after all? "Thanks, Pyr." He said, smiling and taking a sip of the liquid, "I'm all right now though, you don't have to worry."

"Of course we're gonna worry, Jauney." Nora chided lightly, laying on the floor with her legs propped up on the bed next to Ren, who grunted an affirmative. Both were too far for him to 'hear' right now, and he grimaced slightly at that realization. "You're our leader. There may be a lot of leaders out there, but you are all ours; so we have to take care of you - like a puppy!"

She looked up at Ren with a bright smile, waggling her eyebrows suggestively, and the young man sighed. "He is not a dog, Nora, and taking care of him wouldn't mean you could have a pet Beowolf anyways."

"But Ren~!"

"No, Nora." He said simply, smiling slightly and looking at Jaune, "Are you feeling better enough to talk about… what just happened?"

"No?" He tried, smiling uncomfortably for a moment. The other three all fixed him with raised brows and disapproving stares, and he sighed, "I… Dunno, I just saw it. I don't understand why, but… I did, and now I don't know. Is that a normal thing, Ren?"

Ren paused for a long minute in thought, before folding his hands in his lap and letting out a breath, "There… have been practitioners of Aura based martial arts that used deep meditation for discipline training. Those who further specialised, or had natural talent in, Aura manipulation… did complain of dreams and visions."

"Like psychics?" Nora asked innocently, fleet wiggling back and forth, "Is Jaune a psychic? That would be amazing!"

"That would explain what happened, I suppose. That coupled with your… 'history' could explain why you reacted the way you did." "Perhaps we should avoid Aura training then? It would not do to kill our leader by making him train what he cannot learn." Pyrrha turned to Ren a moment later, chewing her lip slightly, "Perhaps we… should avoid this type of training then?"

"No!" Ren practically yelled, blinking and relaxing a moment later, "That, uh, that would be bad to do. From what I know, trying to quash this ability is… A very, very bad idea."

"Bad how?" Pyrrha asked shortly, and Jaune could feel the irritation rolling off her even without his ability to truly feel it. "Like putting him on his back, after a panic attack? Or… whatever that ailment was?" "The risk is unworthy of the reward."

"Bad as in crippling Aura deficiencies, night terrors, uncontrollable seizures, and I'm sure there are more - those are just the ones I remember from the stories." Ren shot back slightly heatedly, eyes narrowing in surprising irritation before he relaxed. "If he is one of those who can reach out with their Auras in that way, then it is a must that he continue training it. To control it, if nothing else."

"And besides, this'll help me with my speed and Aura control anyways, right?" Jaune added, raising his head slightly and smiling at Pyrrha. He needed to do it again, to try and figure out who the girl was, and what she needed. "I mean, that's why we started, right? Might as well stick with it."

"But Jaune… You could fall ill, or get injured." Pyrrha argued, rubbing her hands together anxiously, "I do not think it wise to risk that. I understand your desire to improve, but perhaps we could just focus on strength and combat skill instead?" "I can train you to be an exemplary swordsman, without such needless risk."

Ren leaned forward slightly, eyes boring into the woman's and bringing him into Jaune's range of 'hearing', "That is a bad idea, Pyrrha. If you wish him to live well, at least. He'll be miserable unless he can control it, assuming he isn't dead." "The legends spoke only of gruesome death and miserable lives."

"And can we speak to the ones who taught you? Perhaps gain some manner of insight into this beyond the stories you heard as a youngster?" "Such insanity…" Pyrrha asked snappily, standing up beside Jaune and laying a hand on his shoulder, "Or perhaps we should put Jaune's life at stake based on hearsay?"

"The last of my teachers were my parents." Ren said simply, eyes downcast and voice low, before he stood and turned towards the door. "They were killed by the Grimm when I was younger. I don't wish death on anyone, especially not someone close to me ever again. That is why I wish to continue Jaune's training, to protect him from himself. Because what do you think happens to Huntsmen that have such horrors, out in the field?" "...death."

Pyrrha sighed, looking at Jaune for a moment before letting out a long breath and pushing past Ren to head towards the door, "Come along, Nora. Let us leave the boys to train. Shall we fetch something to eat?"

"Oh! I want pizza!" She said brightly, giving Ren a quick hug and bouncing after the red-haired hoplite excitedly, "Do you think they have pizza? Or will they make us some? Oooh, I want bacon on mine if they do!"

The two men waited for a minute even after the women had left, Jaune sitting and Ren standing, before either spoke. "So, uh, what else do you know about these… people who had visions?"

"What do you mean? ...No, all I know of at least, are the visions. I don't know about anything else." "What an odd question…" "They also tended to learn quite quickly, however. Almost prodigal growth, from what the stories tell." Ren sat on the bed across from him, chewing his lip slightly in thought, "I… suppose we shall find out the rest ourselves, if there is more."

"I guess?" Jaune mumbled unsurely, shifting back into the position Ren had shown him earlier. "Should we go ahead and start, or… do you need us to wait for some reason?"

"No, you may begin whenever you like. I shall observe quietly, in case you… have another episode." Ren said quietly, smiling encouragingly at him. He sat on the bed across from him, leaning against the wall comfortably. "Just return to what you were doing, and try to remain calm."

Jaune obeyed, closing his eyes and trying to steady his breathing like he'd been shown to. Unlike before, his 'reach' didn't expand nearly as far, only covering a few feet around him. After half an hour, it had shown little improvement, and Jaune was half tempted to stop… But he was enjoying it, surprisingly. It was relaxing, and to his surprise, a lot of that was actually the background noise from neighboring rooms, droning quietly in the background whenever he tried to avoid paying close attention to anyone. The mixture of anxiety, anger, sadness, fear, love, relief, happiness.… Like light music and dancing at the edge of his vision. Enough to calm and entertain, but not cause him the normal pains, and instead even soothe them slightly.

His eyes blinked open when he heard someone enter through his door, and he looked up, blinking in the darkness of twilight. "Did things go well enough?" "You seem alright, at least."

"It went well, actually. He didn't have any attacks, and seemed at peace for the entirety of his meditation." Ren commented quietly, closing a book he'd opened gently and placing it on his nightstand, "I have to say, he's taken to the meditating quite well. My village had a legend about that…" "It tells of a guilty conscience or a pure heart. Sometimes both, and the endings are usually unpleasant." "But... I can't seem to remember it."

"Unfortunate." Pyrrha said smoothly, suspicion rolling off her for a moment before she turned back to Jaune with a smile, "I am glad that your meditations went well, regardless." "Though I find myself wondering what caused your issues in the first place."

"Thanks, Pyr. Me too." He smiled sheepishly at her for a second, "I don't suppose that you brought any food back? I'm guessing that it's past closing for the cafeteria."

"Nora said that she would see to it, and return with food for you both." Pyrrha said simply, smiling back at him brightly, "She said that she would never allow her leader or Ren to go without a meal, if she could prevent it. And she suggested I return to check on you, while she took care of everything."

"You left Nora alone?" Ren muttered quietly, panic rolling off him in waves, "That... is very bad. Where is she?" "Nora, please don't hurt the cooks…"

"She should be in the kitchens. May I ask why you're so panicked?" Pyrrha asked confusedly, tilting her head to the side, "Is something wrong with her being on her own?"

Ren didn't answer, instead taking off down the hall as fast as he could run. Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other for a moment before the building shook ever so slightly, and they ran to follow Ren in an equal panic.

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"His records are faked, Ozpin! He can't be allowed to stay here, faking your records to gain admittance to a military position is a capital offense." Glynda argued loudly, pacing across his office's floor while Ozpin watched her walk, smiling in mild amusement, "Ozpin, if you hide this.. They could take your head, along with his! If you confront him now, you could give him a way to at least survive the punishments for his crimes."

"Confronting him would be unwise." Ozpin argued almost instantly, repeating the sentence for the tenth time, "If he was clever enough and resourceful enough to accomplish that and survive Initiation, I will grant him a chance to reach for his goals."

"But what if-"

"What if our enemy sends every Goliath on Remnant straight at us?" Ozpin asked quickly, cutting her off with an innocent smile and tilt of the head, "Or merely sends every last Grimm at us that they can reach? What if Atlas orders James to turn his flagship around and blow Beacon Tower from its foundations?"

"I don't understand what any of that has to do with this, sir." Glynda said curtly, glaring at him slightly, eyes searching his face for answers, "Explain for me?"

"Happily. You see, I do not deal in worrying about my own death, or retribution from others. No less than thirty people in Vale want me dead or imprisoned, and two of those sit on the Council. I stopped worrying long, long ago about the consequences of my actions beyond them defending Humanity as a whole against the Grimm." Ozpin paused to take a long sip of his coffee, the woman glaring at him mildly in irritation, "So you see, if he has a chance of becoming a useful weapon against the Grimm, I will use him as such. And for now, I am more than content to wait, and watch him."

"And if they come for you and him? What then?" She demanded angrily, gesturing out the window at Vale with a wave of her hand, "What will you do if they decide to do another of their 'investigations?'"

"I suppose I will be imprisoned on charges for treason." He said simply, shrugging as though it didn't matter in the slightest, "I am unconcerned. Salem is stepping up her own plans, half-measures won't stop her."

"Nor will a lack of them, should you be removed from a position to prevent them." She argued back easily, sighing and straightening when her Scroll beeped. She scanned it for a few moments, "James' soldiers are fighting Grimm along the village peripheries. Nothing new or interesting, though."

"As is to be expected. She's watching us, we're watching him, and both of us are waiting on something. I am waiting on new information, or for her to act again." He looked at Glynda again and tilted his head out the same window she'd waved out earlier, "And both of our decisions will affect at the least the Kingdom of Vale, though I've no doubt that she will not stop her own course with Vale, if she succeeds."

"Very well then. I can see when my advice will be going unheeded, so what would you have me do for now?" Glynda asked crisply, back straight and eyes hard at her headmaster, who sighed at her defeated irritation.

"For now, intensify physical training regimens for the students, and our security. Keep an eye on Mister Arc, however, and make sure that his growth is monitored closely." He smiled after a half-second, as though struck by an idea all of the sudden, "In fact, if possible, arrange a mission for teams RWBY and JNPR, ostensibly to purge Grimm along the walls."

"A Purge Mission? You know as well as I do that those are restricted to third and fourth years!" Glynda snapped in surprise, blinking at him, "Is your lack of caring for the consequences of allowing Jaune to stay because you intend to have him killed? Because if so, I-"

"Do not insinuate that I wish any harm on my students, Miss Goodwitch." He interrupted lowly, glaring at her with anger she rarely saw. Hard eyed, straight backed, and stony faced, she was shocked into silence by his stature, "You will be accompanying them, along with team CFVY and a half dozen security droids. I will personally be aboard a relief Bullhead trailing you from inside the walls, and will fight in the field should they be attacked by anything beyond the caliber of three trainee teams, a Headmistress, and a squad of Atlesian mechanized infantry."

"You would fight yourself?" She asked quietly, eyes wide at the potential, "I… Very well, so long as you know what you are doing. May I ask why you are so determined though? Surely something easier could be arranged, like a scouting mission."

"I wish to push Miss Rose and Mister Arc a bit faster than normal, to help the former prove herself to her peers and see how Salem will react to the latter being out and about." Ozpin answered simply, nodding grimly when she grimaced sourly at the prospect, "I feel the same way, Glynda. But in chess, you must take chances at times."

"This isn't chess, Ozpin… These are our students. People." She argued, shaking her head in derision at him, "Or does that not still matter to you? How like her will you allow yourself to become before you realize the path you're on?"

"When Vale was confronted by superior combat tactics in the Great War, we adopted them until we could refine them." Ozpin argued simply, shrugging, "Her tactics are working, so I am refining and revising them to make them work for me. I dislike doing this, but I will bear any and all sins on my shoulders in exchange for Humanity's continued survival."

"And when the weight becomes too much?"

"I suppose I'll be brought to heel by you." He answered with a comfortable smile, "I'm counting on it, frankly. You are my safeguard, in so many ways I can't even begin to explain them."

"I have to go, it appears one of your students is ransacking the kitchens. With a hammer." She huffed, and turned to leave the room while Ozpin chuckled lightly.

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"No, you idiots, if you try and just raid the ships, the military will tear Vale apart to flex its muscles." Roman said snidely, leaning over the map and gesturing at the pieces indicating the White Fang units, "See this? This is a bad idea."

"And why is that? Those are my distraction teams." The White Fang lieutenant grumbled, arms crossed and tone agitated. "Without them, my spies can't smuggle a couple of the mechanized units out."

"Oh, I know. Such small thinking, you animals did right calling me in." He grabbed another two pieces, adding them to the five on the table and moving them to the gate, "Put your men here instead, out of uniform and with some recruits. Stage a protest about 'Atlas' use of the Schnee Dust Company's slave mined Dust', you'll probably gather support from non-White Fang members as a result. If you get enough, filter your boys out."

"And what do we do to get the machines then, Roman?" Cinder asked from across the small room, reclining in a chair languidly and smiling at him, "I suppose you have that figured out too?"

"Actually, yes, if you'd let me finish." He snarked, taking a puff from his cigar and pointing where the distraction squad had been originally, "Order your spies to try and smuggle small arms out there, and make sure the Atlas soldiers catch 'em. That'll start a fight, which will cause panic at the gate as well. Two fronts, see?"

"I do. But that ties up all my men, I can't get anyone in there to get the machines we need." The lieutenant added, leaning forward to reach for a few of the pieces at the 'protest', "Three of these and I can stage the raid as well, that'll cause even more chaos."

"Tut tut tut, that's too much." Roman chided lightly, smiling at him thinly, "That much and the fleet will come in faster to support the base."

"Then what do you suggest?" Cinder asked quietly, her patience clearly running thin. Roman swallowed nervously, taking a breath before speaking again nervously.

"If you, Neo, and your little entourage go in, you could get away with a freighter in the chaos. Stash the freighter just outside the walls to the south, off load it, then blow it up." He clapped his hands together, smiling widely and confidently in spite of Cinder's presence, "Boom, a couple dozen of the robots for the technophiles, a loss of assets for Atlas, and a save of people."

"I… didn't think you cared." The large White Fang member grunted, chuckling lightly.

"I don't. But my job is to take care of you animals, so keeping you alive is part of it." Roman chuckled, turning to head towards the door, "Anywho, gonna head out for a bit. Lemme know if you animals need me to grab some kibble at the market, alright?"

"I hate that man." The White Fang member grunted, striding towards the door with a sigh.

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Jaune sighed, scrubbing another pot clean while Nora sang a song to cheer them all on, "This is not what I was anticipating when we came to find you, Nora… I was hoping for something to eat, not a kitchen to clean."

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha called from the end of the kitchen with an echoing tint, bent over and inside a stove to scrub it, "I expected her to bring leftovers, not attempt to conscript the faculty into cooking for us." "Thought in retrospect…"

"I would have told you of this, had I been here to prevent this." Ren quipped quietly from atop a ladder, scrubbing the roof to get rid of the soot from a fire Nora had started, "Next time, message me." "Luckily, she didn't maim anyone this time…"

"Less talking and more scrubbing, you four." Glynda barked angrily, tapping her foot impatiently while she watched them work, "Your team member created this mess, you may all clean it together. Consider it team building." "And… I suppose I can arrange a meal for you afterwards."

"You heard the lady, put your backs into it!" Nora crowed, mopping the floors vigorously, "Conquests have consequences~!" "But they're fun enough to be so worth it~!"

Jaune simply chuckled and returned to his cleaning.

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