"Well, you have been rather scarce as of lately. Where have you been the last week?" Haruka asked Jaune as she cornered him outside his dorm room, still dressed in his armor.
"Oh, uh, hi, Haruka." Jaune replied, rather than answer, which Haruka proceeded to comment on as she doffed the hood of her habit.
"That is not an answer. Where have you been?" The Knight repeated.
"I, uhh…" He trailed off briefly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, before hanging his head and replying. "I messed up. Cardin heard the thing on the roof, and now he's got me on a leash, and Pyrrha won't talk to me, and…" Jaune trailed off again, leaning against the door to his team's dorm room, before he sighed. "I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea. I'm a failure." The blonde slid down the door, ending up on the floor.
"That is untrue, and you know it." Haruka told him.
"I've screwed up everything I've done here." He countered.
"Incorrect." She replied.
"I fail at everything I try here."
"You are still learning."
"I can't even do that right." Jaune had rearranged himself into a sitting position on the floor as they spoke.
What would Nanoha do? No, beating the depression out of him isn't an option right now… What would Vita do? Ha. I don't even have to ask her that.
***
Jaune was absolutely confident that this was all a horrible idea. Oh, sure, attending Beacon Academy had sounded all well and good in his head, but he'd had to get his hands on some not-inexpensive forged transcripts to do so, and he'd neglected to tell his family where he was going or even that he'd left, instead sneaking out in the night, stealing his grandfather's sword and shield as he did so.
And now it was all falling apart. He was almost flunking most of his classes, his team was only spared from being the worst in the year by the virtue of Pyrrha's skill, and now the school bully knew about his fake transcripts, which would get him expelled for sure if any of the professors learned about it, thus making him the guy's gofer. And on top of it all, he'd angered the only person who might be able to help him. Sure, Haruka might be helpful, but he didn't see any real way the nun could do anything, or even see any real reason for her to try.
He sighed again, waiting for her to leave.
So he was completely taken by surprise when, instead of leaving, she responded by adopting a tone more associated with military drill sergeants, though her strange accent stayed.
"On your feet!" She barked at him, and he found himself responding automatically, standing up straight before it even occurred to him to think about it. The heck?
The nun put her hands on her hips, looked him up and down once, before locking gazes with him as she stared, bewildered in her sudden change in behavior from gentle-but-firm church girl to military trainer.
"Now, then! Herr Arc! What did I tell you at the beginning of this week!?" She demanded. Jaune stared down at her, befuddled, before replying. Herr?
"That I'm bad at fighting?"
"Wrong!" She emphasized the word by jabbing him in the breastplate with a gloved finger. "I told you that you need training! That you are not expected to be an ace immediately! And yet! You are acting as it the fact you have not become one in a few short months is a sign that you should not even try!" She jabbed his breastplate again. "And that is your mistake! Herr Arc! You keep comparing yourself negatively to your father and grandfather! How long did they train!?" This is utterly weird.
"Umm, several years?" He hesitantly responded.
"Exactly!" Haruka nodded sharply, managing to avoid losing eye contact. "And," She jabbed him a third time, "That!" Another jab, "Is!" Another. "The!" Jab. "Point!" Jab. "I!" Jab. "Am trying!" Jab. "To get!" Jab. "You to!" Jab. "Understand!" One last jab before her hand dropped to her hip again. "Herr Arc! No one expects instantaneous results! But! That is not an excuse to not try! And you are not trying!"
"But every time I try, I fail!" Jaune protested, gesturing to himself in emphasis.
"And! Your point is?! As I fail! To see both the relevance! And the proof! Of that!" She brought her hand up again to keep jabbing him. "I! Do not see a failure in front of me right now! Herr Arc! Do you think I would waste time on a failure!? Do you think Fruline Nikos would waste hers!? Do you think Ritter Ozpin and Fraulein Goodwitch would waste theirs!?"
"Well, no…" Jaune hesitantly responded. Okay, I'm really getting weirded out by this.
"And that is my point! Now! I will not have you sitting around feeling sorry for yourself! Doing nothing to correct the situation! Herr Arc! Here is what you are going to do! You are going to go into your dorm room! Apologize to Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora for neglecting them as team leader over this last week! Then, you are going to get some sleep! So that you can lead your team properly on the trip tomorrow! And then you and I shall see if Frauline Nikos' offer still stands! And if it does, you are going to take it! Am I clear?!"
"Yeah—Yes, Ma'am!" Jaune nodded at the drill-sergeant-nun's words. "But, uh, what about Cardin?" This is just too strange.
"I will deal with him, if and when he becomes a problem! Now, dismissed!" With that, Haruka's hands left her hips, and she turned to her own dorm room.
"I meant what I have said, Jaune." She threw over her shoulder as she opened the door, speaking in her normal, soft tone. "Goodnight." What. Was. That.
***
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. 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." Professor Goodwitch told the assembled students as Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CDRL followed the deputy headmaster through the bright-red-leaved trees.
Goodwitch stopped, and turned to the students as she continued.
"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap," She stated, raising a jar full of what Haruka presumed was the red sap in question, "However, this forest is full of the creatures of grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun." With that the deputy headmistress promptly turned and left the students standing around.
Haruka turned to her team.
"So, any ideas on why this is presumed to take several hours?" She asked, half-joking. Yang shrugged with a grin, Blake did the same without one, and Weiss just stared down at the jar in her hand.
"Ah, well. We may as well do the assigned task. I am going to go talk with team JNPR." The Knight announced.
***
"No."
"What did you just say?" Cardin Winchester narrowed his eyes at the blonde boy in front of him.
"I said no." Jaune repeated himself, crossing his arms to keep the fact his hands were shaking from showing.
He'd actually taken Haruka's drill-sergeant-pep-talk from the previous night to heart, and while it hadn't completely smoothed things over with Pyrrha when he'd apologized, it had started doing so.
More than that, he'd actually been thinking about what she'd said, and had come to the conclusion he'd been being an idiot. She was right, Haruka and Pyrrha and the staff at Beacon wouldn't waste their time on a failure. The teachers, at least, were probably way too good at spotting failures to bother with one, and probably so were Haruka and Pyrrha, so therefore, he couldn't be one. At least, not too big a failure to fix, anyway.
"Jaunie boy, are you really sure that's what you want to do?" Cardin asked him, stepping forward in a threatening manner.
"Do whatever you want to me, but I won't let you hurt my friends." Jaune jutted his chin out slightly as he spoke.
"Alright, we're doing this the… Hard… Way?" Cardin trailed off as his eyes focused on something behind Jaune. "Hey! Who are you?" He shouted. His team joined him in looking confused.
Jaune risked a quick turnaround to see what had caught CDRL's attention.
A young woman was walking across the clearing towards them, a woman Jaune didn't recognize.
She wore a short robe-dress, obviously armored but without sleeves, though she did have armored gloves that reached most of the way up her arms. A strange visor of some sort covered the upper part of her face, framed by short brown hair.
"Hey!" Cardin pushed past Jaune, walking towards the woman. "I'm talking to you!"
The woman raised her right arm to the side as she continued across the clearing,
"Are you—" Cardin stopped and began to back away as the woman's arm from the elbow down morphed into a blade significantly longer than the arm had been.
"Umkommen." Her voice was cold and flat, but at the same time, her tone was absolutely chilling.
With a sudden burst of speed that was too quick to see, she crossed the clearing, and swung the arm-blade down on a frozen Cardin.