RWBY Re: Jaune Arc - Chapter 28

“Oh, wow, these ears are freaking huge for a human, are they real!?” Jaune gave his ear a tug and slammed Cardin’s head into his food tray.

Cardin’s hands released Velvet’s ear as he lifted his face and stared at Jaune with fury in his eyes.

Velvet gave Jaune a stare and blushed as she said, “Thank you.” then proceeded to run away as fast as she could.

Jaune looked back to Cardin and his team, “What, not funny anymore?” they had stopped their laughing the moment Jaune grabbed Cardin’s ear.

“Look if you think a girl is cute, you probably should just say so, this bullying the girls you like, is so~oo grade school psychology! So why don’t about you grow up a little Cardin?!” Jaune said as he placed his hand on Cardin’s shoulder.

Cardin’s face turned red, he tried to stand up, but Jaune’s hand on his shoulder kept him seated, the rest of the students in the cafeteria were now laughing at team CRDL.

Jaune lifted his hand and said, “In the future, try to think of others before yourself, you have talent Cardin stop wasting it.”

As Jaune went back to his seat he thought, “God, that’s what I wish I had done last time!” as he sat down, Jaune suddenly received a round of applause from his teammates.

“That was wonderful Jaune,” Pyrrha said with a beaming smile on her face.

“I would have broken his legs,” Nora said placing her hands on her hɨps proudly. Team CRDL gulped after hearing her say this.

“Picking on someone just because they’re a Faunus, Cardin really is scum,” Yang said nodding her head in approval.

Jaune laughed and thought back to what Cardin told him about why he picked on Velvet, he just wanted to cover up his own insecurities about his ears, and his bully mindset went straight to what it does best.

“To be honest, I don’t think the reason he picked on her was that she was a Faunus,” Everyone stared a Jaune with a strange expression.

Jaune coughed and said, “Okay, maybe he did, a little, but only because he’s insecure about his own ears, and he’s dumb enough to think picking on a Faunus is easier because they won’t retaliate.” Jaune gave Blake a quick look.

“After all, relations between Faunus and Humans have been kind of rocky since the Great War ended, they earned their right to be respected as equals, but are still treated with interference today,” Jaune said as he took a bite of his chicken leg.

Blake lifted a brow, “I should know, my great-great Grandfather fought in that War, he was part of the group who voted for Faunus and Human equality, heck, he even recommended to give them their own kingdom and name their strongest Faunus as a fellow hero.”

Blake seemed the most interested to hear this story, she didn’t know much about the great War other than they were excommunicated from the continent and sent to live on an island that became Menagerie.

She had never heard about a Hero in the War speaking up for them.

“Then everything worked out!” Ruby said with stars in her eyes.

Jaune shook his head, “Unfortunately, my grandfather’s words were drowned out by the rest of the council, they refused to share their lands with the Faunus, in the end, my grandfather managed to secure them an Island large enough to build a Kingdom on, but he lost of trust and friendship of his dearest Faunus friend, my grandfather promised him a title and kingdom, but could only aid them so much.” This stuff wasn’t known to the public, not even Jaune knew of his family’s true history, not until he had become an ȧduŀt and was informed by his father in his previous life.

“I haven’t heard of any of this before!” Blake frowned as she stood up.

Jaune shook his head, “It’s true, I swear on the Arc name, this story has been passed down from father to son for generations. My grandfather was called a Hero back then for fighting in a war, but if you ask me, the real heroes were the Faunus who didn’t go after revenge for the council’s betrayal, those that choose the Non-Violent Path to acceptance like our fellow classmate did earlier.”

“Well, it’s not bad to defend yourself, when someone picks on you, you have to stand up to that bully!” Ruby said crossing her arms.

Jaune gave a quick laugh, “I agree with you there Ruby, even for the most peaceful of pacifists, there’s only so many times they can get smacked in the face before they start smacking back, and get this, Faunus are typically physically stronger than humans, if that girl wanted to put a dent in Cardin’s face, it would have been easy.”

Team CRDL gulped again, Blake was surprised how much he knew about the Faunus and their relationship with humans, Ruby tilted her head in confusion and said, “How do you know so much about Faunus?”

Jaune smiled and said, “Because, I’ve been reading up on the history in my spare time, not to mention, we have classmates that are Faunus, it’s only right that I should know a thing or two about them.”

Blake’s ears twitched, she knew that sentence was directed at her, letting out a small cough she said, “Well, I’m done, I’m going to go use the training room to practice.”

“Wait for me! I’ll join you!” Ruby said as she stood up and followed.

Jaune stood up and joined them as well, after getting through the day, Blake pulled Jaune aside and asked, “Lay off, will you? I’ll tell them when I’m ready.”

Jaune sighed, “Come on Blake, I’m not trying to pressure you, I just want you to know that your team supports you, and all other good-natured Faunus.”

Blake turned her head away, “You don’t know that, when they learn about me, they might…”

“There your friends and partners, you want to deserve the trust they’ve given you, then you have to give them a good reason to trust you,” Jaune said hoping to give Blake that push she needed.

However, it wasn’t enough, Blake turned around and receded back into her shell, “I’m just not ready yet.”

Jaune sighed and said, “When you are, just know, we will not think any less of you, regardless of what’s in your past.”

As Blake watched him walk away she shook her head and stared at the floor, “If only that were true.”

The next day, after Jaune returned from work, he found everyone ready to go on their field trip with Glynda, thanks to having the inventory, their teams could pack their inventory and clothes with them, so their morning routine was even quicker than usual.

As they traveled through the forest, Jaune listened to Glynda explain about how the Forever Fall Forest had Grimm swarming in it, and that she was there to protect them, Jaune scoffed on the inside, “Then where were you when I was attacked by that Ursa!? Watching and eating popcorn!?”

After gathering up the sap, Jaune’s team was once again saved by their inventory, and they managed to keep the Sap from the bottomless pit known as Nora’s stomach.

While he collected the last batch, he could sense Cardin and his lackeys planning their revenge against Jaune.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Cardin?” Russel said shaking his head.

“Yeah, Jaune’s been pretty lenient when he fights you, he even offers you advice, are you sure you want to piss him off?” Dove said agreeing with his friend.

“He’s already able to defeat you without taking any damage, do you really want that Guy actively trying to harm you?” Sky said trying to talk Cardin out his foolish decision.

Cardin started to shake and said, “Of course I have to!”

“Why?” Dove asked.

“Because…” Cardin thought of Pyrrha and how she looks at Jaune, “Because he’s a freak!”

The rest of Team CRDL shook their heads in disappointment, they all knew he had a thing for Pyrrha, but he still couldn’t say it out loud.

“For me? Thanks, Guys, maybe I’ll get some extra credit for turning this in.,” Jaune said as he handed the Jar to Nora.

“For me?” Nora repeated what Jaune said as she took the jar of berry sap and started to eat it in a matter of seconds.

“Aggh, Nora, we were supposed to turn that in!” Jaune faked his dismay.

Ren gave out a chuckle and thought, “As long as it’s not our jar.”

Jaune handed back the empty jar and said, “Sorry guys, I let your good intentions go to waste.”

Cardin’s face was steaming red, he wanted to kill Jaune, grabbing the empty Jar, Cardin stormed off enraged and fuming, Jaune shook his head and went back to filling the last container.

Seeing that they had some time to explore, Jaune decided to look around for a bit, he was curious as to why an Ursa was so close to the entrance of the forest, “I know our argument and negative emotions attracted it to us, but what brought it so close, to begin with?”

As Jaune was looking around, he heard a roar in the distance and Cardin’s team screaming as they ran away.

Jaune shook his head and dashed over to see Cardin lose his Mace, the Ursa stood on its hind legs and was about to smash Cardin’s face in when Jaune appeared in front of him.

Using his shield Jaune blocked the attack and slung his leg out with a powerful front-kick, Jaune’s attack hit the Ursa dead center in its stomach and sent the beast rolling back across the ground, Jaune heard Cardin wisper, “Why?”

Jaune shook his head, “I told you, Cardin, I think you can be a great Hunter and an even better person, but you have to put some work in being both.”

Cardin lifted his finger and pointed out as he shouted, “Jaune! Behind you!”

Jaune smiled as he turned around and surrounded Crocea Mors with around 5% of his Aura, the limit of the repaired heirloom. If he continued to inject anymore of his Aura into the blade, then it would start to fracture under the pressure.

The glow of his Aura cut through the large Ursa’s waist like it was made of tofu, its entire body turned to ash as Jaune heard that he gained 40+ Experience for killing an Adult Ursa.

Sheathing his sword, Jaune turned back to Cardin and said, “You should probably let your team know you’re okay, their panic will only attract more Grimm.”

Cardin looked at Jaune a little differently and nodded his head, right after Cardin left, Pyrrha and Ruby jumped out the bushes from nearby, Ruby glomped Jaune and shouted, “That was Awesome! I can’t wait to see Grimm’s Bane!”

Jaune laughed and looked over to Pyrrha, “I was very impressed with how you handled Cardin’s attitude.”

Jaune then shook his head as he started to look at the Grimm’s tracks that ran through the forest, Jaune smiled and said, “Now why was an Adult Ursa so close to the entrance?”

Jaune turned to Pyrrha and said, “Can you tell Glynda what happened here? I want to follow the Ursa Grimm’s tracks. Ruby, you’re with me, since your Semblance is speed, you can return and lead the team to our location if something goes wrong.”

Pyrrha smiled and said, “Yes Leader!” and with a teasing laugh, she left Jaune and Ruby alone.

Jaune then looked to Ruby and said, “So, Ruby, you up for an adventure?”

Ruby nodded her head and pulled out Cresent Rose as she said, “Let’s go!”

Jaune laughed as he started to follow the tracks, as they went deeper into the forest, Jaune noticed broken trees and destroyed Terrain.