Days had past since "The Incident" with Team CRDL and Team JNPR; Pyrrha had to be taken to a nearby hospital to treat her injuries following the attack, Cardin and his team were threatened with expulsion and worse. Jae and Pyrrha managed to convince the professors to let them stay on two conditions: The first was that they had to be Pyrrha's training partners leading up to the tournament while the second term was that Jae could get his detention lifted.
Glynda was surprised he didn't ask for more but accepted on the condition that there would be no more fights between the two, though with a glance at Cardin's pale face; she could easily tell that he wouldn't be trying that any time soon. "You should be thankful, Mr Winchester…Jae and Pyrrha could have very easily have you expelled after what had happened, but you are still going to suffer some very dire consequences…starting with detention for you and your entire team with all the teachers you share, I think Dr. Oobleck and Port would have quite a few punishments in line that fit."
"Y-Yes Ma'am…" Cardin agreed weakly, he knew that Jae could very easily crush the taller Team Leader like a soda can after the fight with an Alpha Grimm but nothing seemed scarier then Pyrrha being their sparring partner for a longer period.
As they were dismissed, Glynda however kept Jae behind to discuss some further details while Ozpin was discussing the Vytal Tournament with the Council; "Now as you remember, we discussed your "curiosities" from before…So we have elected to be a little more relaxed with your terms here at Beacon." She said and explained to him; "Along with that, I wanted to ask you….have you ever had any odd….feelings or mood swings?"
"You know, Professor…I'm not exactly that young…" Jae responded with a dry snark and chuckled but quickly found himself caught in a trap as Glynda gripped both of his arms and delivered her most serious look on her face, "Y'know, she has some real pretty eyes if she wasn't absolutely terrifying…" Jae thought as his blue eyes gazed into her green.
"This is serious Mr. Cielo…Since you started at Beacon, have you ever had any tendencies towards being….aggressive or wanting to start fights with people?" she would ask, if there was one thing that was concrete in both rumour and in written fact: it was that some Demons were notoriously aggressive and violent…some more than others.
"Not really, I've been relatively okay…the only time that it became a problem was because of Cardin." Jae pointed out and shrugged which seemed to let Glynda slacken her grip on him once she noticed he was telling the truth; "Besides, the only off thing that happened with me is the Grimm thing."
"Alright, I'll let you go for today. There are still preparations to be done for the Vytal Festival and students need time to themselves as well, so take the time for yourself…for you AND for your team." Glynda mentioned with a softer tone as she recognised how much Jae had worked and with the stress of handling what happened to Pyrrha; she could understand if he wanted a break.
With some ushering out from Glynda, Jae was able to meet up with the rest of Team JNPR down in the courtyard and decided to explain to them about everything while it was just them.
"Wait…So Ozpin and Glynda think that you're some kinda Demon?" Nora would ask with some confusion
"Uh huh…Though with what I read and the mark I've got, it's not exactly a definitive answer."
"And this specialist…whoever they are, is going to be looking you over to see if it's a legitimate thing or not?" Ren followed up as he started looking concerned
"That's what they said…" Jae shrugged as he watched the sea of sceptical faces.
"And all of this is because Cardin decided to run his mouth after you embarrassed him?" Pyrrha chimed in as she kept her eye on him, though she was thankful that he was being honest to his team.
"That about sums it up…Though honestly, I'm not so sure about it either, this mark on my arm and my Semblance aren't exactly normal…But it could be wrong and I could just be a regular kid with a weird birthmark." Jae filled in the blanks for them.
"Well…If you think about it this way; if they do find nothing, then you'll have no reason to worry about yourself as much anymore." Pyrrha tried to reassure her leader with a gentle pat on his arm.
As Nora ended up running off with Ren, Jae took the chance to try asking her something while they were alone; "H-Hey Pyrrha…I was wondering…Since Professor Goodwitch told me to take it easy for a little, did you…want to go into Vale with me?" Jae would ask her with a nervous look on his face, but with the knots in his stomach and the combination of his anxiety plus the look of surprise on her face made him backtrack a little; "I-It's just that since we got back from the forest, things have been crazy so I was thinking that maybe….we could…"
"O-Oh, I uh….I actually have to check back in at the clinic, they want to make sure I'm okay after the wasp stings…Maybe when they're healed." Pyrrha stammered out before rushing out of the courtyard and out of sight. Leaving Jae alone in the now deafeningly silent courtyard, with nothing to contemplate but the resounding words she left him with, the sinking slab of ache in his stomach and marking another imaginary notch in the back of his mind.
But before he could start to address it, Jae's scroll started to ring and he could see Ruby's name pop up before he answered with a despondent; "Hey Ruby, What's up?"
"Hey Jae! I heard that Professor Goodwitch practically ordered you to take a break from stuff at school, so why don't you come down to Vale with us? Weiss wants to check something out at the docks for some reason and Yang thought that the 5 of us could make a day of it while the Festival is being worked on." Ruby offered as Jae figured that being around people might probably make him feel better than moping on his own.
"Sure, we can meet you down at Vale in a few minutes." Jae accepted while trying to sound as casual as he could before hearing Ruby's excited talking to the others and hung up before sighing deeply and held his head in his hands.
"Come on buddy, don't get so down about what happened….It's not like she said no…right?" A particularly upbeat voice would whisper in his head while another more malicious voice seemed to pipe in as well; "You say that but she seemed to change her tune pretty quickly once you started talking…Sounds like you ruined your chance when she ended up looking like a pincushion in the forest."
Jae wasn't in the mood to be dealing with those kinds of thoughts again, besides he wasn't exactly a stranger to being turned down by a person. So with a moment to compose himself; he decided to head for an airship and meet the others in Vale, hoping that the new surroundings could distract him.
However back at the dorms was a red faced Pyrrha trying to calm herself down from both nearly being asked to hang out by Jae but also she was mentally kicking herself about her excuse and running off like she did. As she applied her medical ointment to her shrinking stings; she contemplated about the what-ifs and maybes if she had said yes to him.
—An Airship to Vale Later—
"Oh, this is so wonderful! The careful structuring, the meticulous planning…Just watching all of this organised work is simply breathtaking!" Weiss was practically swooning at watching people slowly putting together all of the stalls and decorations for the Vytal Festival; the fact that Ruby had invited Jae to hang out with them was a dampener on her mood, but she was having too much fun to be snippy about it so she opted for pretending that he wasn't even there…though with what happened with Pyrrha being fresh in his mind, Jae felt the same way.
"You know I never actually seen you smile this much…it's actually a little weird." Ruby remarked with a nervous chuckle; "Besides we managed to pry this hard worker away from the library and the training hall so I think that calls to celebrate." She added and then elbowed Jae in the side playfully which knocked him out of his funk.
"Oh, uh…Yeah, that's great..though it doesn't look like anyone's serving here at the moment." Jae mentioned as he watched the inactive food stalls getting put together, "Though I do have to ask, you guys said about hanging out in Vale…I'm glad you invited me but why the docks specifically?" Jae asked them as he seemed to notice Blake was almost drooling at the smell of fish while Yang watched the waves and Ruby was plugging her nose.
"Well, with the tournament on it's way, the students coming in from other academies like Atlas or Haven should be arriving by boat…and as ONE of Beacon's students; it is my sworn duty to welcome these new arrivals to our kingdom!" Weiss regaled the other four with a grace and decorum that seemed to fit the Ice Queen like a glove.
"Riiiight…So what is she really here for?" Yang would ask Blake and leaned in to whisper the latter part.
"She wants to spy on the competition and try to get an edge in the tournament." Blake responded with a similarly dry wit, earning her a serious gaze from Weiss.
"You don't know that!" Weiss grumbled but stopped before she could round up another lecture when the flicker of police tape and the radio chatter of the nearby cops could be heard from what looked like a Dust shop.
"Looks like another place got robbed…"
"The police said they left the money, but who exactly wants all that dust?"
"Think it's that Torchwick guy? Or maybe the White Fang are getting more aggressive around here…"
Jae was able to pick up most of what people were whispering about while Ruby was talking to one of the officers on standby; "Places seemed to be getting robbed more and more…Didn't Ruby stop a guy named Torchwick from robbing a store?" Jae asked which got a nod from Ruby and Yang but someone else decided to talk up before they could.
"Of course it's the White Fang, who else would want to ruin establishments like this?" Weiss blurted out as they started to walk again, though this time she had earned Blake's stinkeye more than anyone else.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Blake remarked with a furrowed brow and crossed arms; "The White Fang don't stick to just robberies and local theft, they're more throwing rocks in windows and getting in people's face."
"Which is why this makes sense! Those Faunus are always looking to cause trouble for other people." The Schnee snarked as each new comment seemed to make Blake that much more annoyed.
"That's not necessarily true, besides we don't even know if it WAS them at all." Yang chimed in and tried to be the mediator for the two.
"I mean, sure there are some outliers in every group but that doesn't mean that everyone is bad." Jae agreed, rolling his eyes as Weiss scoffed at his words specifically.
"All I'm saying is that Faunus only know how to lie, cheat and steal…If Demons could cause problems for humanity in the past then the Faunus can do the same now." Weiss huffed as she picked up her pace.
Jae felt his eyebrow twitch as she said this; "Sure, because Humans are all victims in this…Don't forget that it started with peaceful protests and people like Cardin who kick Faunus into the dirt that force people down misguided methods like this." He would growl as he wasn't going to let this slide.
"Are you even listening to yourself, you halfwit? The White Fang want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet." Weiss snapped back at him.
"So then they're VERY misguided, it doesn't mean that every single Faunus is a criminal mastermind." Blake chided in but before Yang and Ruby could try to calm the three down, a blonde boy with a monkey's tail ran past them and gave Blake a sly wink before rounding a corner.
"Well, you wanted to see the competition, Weiss…and there it goes." Yang pointed out as she mentally thanked the boy for distracting them long enough.
With a fevered yelp, Weiss ran after them in an attempt to try "observing" him with Blake, Yang and Ruby followed after her pursuit while Jae decided to follow after some mental debate.
As soon as he rounded a corner; he saw all four members of Team RWBY currently engaged in talks with a redheaded girl in a peculiar outfit and with a pink bow; "Salutations, new face! My name is Penny, it is nice to meet you" The girl would break off her talk to salute at Jae as soon as she saw him, to which he gave a half wave and gave his name in return.
"Wait, so what exactly are you doing here?" Weiss would ask the girl as she was still not sure who they were or what school they were from.
"Oh, my apologies…I am from Atlas, I have come to participate in the tournament." Penny would explain as she kept her peppy smile; "My team have not arrived yet but I am combat ready!"
"You don't exactly look dressed for a Tournament." Weiss remarked with a sceptical tone and looked Penny up and down.
"Says the girl wearing a dress and heels." Both Blake and Jae pointed out as their previous argument gave them no reason to stick up for her.
"It's a combat skirt, you may be content with such normal clothes but it is more then just a fashion statement!" Weiss responded in an almost offended tone as Ruby jumped to vouch for her as a fellow combat skirt wearer; "In any case, did you happen to see where that monkey tailed rapscallion ran off to?" Weiss would ask Penny and held up a rather crude drawing of the Faunus boy from earlier.
"Will you stop doing that?!" Blake finally snapped at Weiss, earning the surprise of nearly everyone who was so used to Blake being the quiet one around the four.
As the two got into an argument, it left Ruby, Yang and Jae standing on the sidelines as it no longer seemed to be just a spat anymore.
—Hours Later—
Jae was back in the training hall following the sudden escalation of Blake and Weiss's argument, the Team had elected to call off the outing and Jae had more then enough of a reason to let off steam; Weiss's words were still leaving a sting after her snipe at Demons plus the pent up frustrations of what happened earlier lead him to exercising himself harder.
"Seriously, what is the Ice Queen's damage? I know she's a hoity toity, upper class snob but I didn't realise it was THAT bad…" He thought to himself as he showered and began his walk back to his dorms, both desiring the warm embrace of sleep after an eventful day but also nervous considering what had happened before.
"WELL, MAYBE WE WERE JUST TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND!"
Jae was jerked out of thought as he heard the muffled yelling from Ruby's room but barely able to respond all that much when he saw Blake run past him with budding tears in her eyes but was quickly followed by Ruby running out into the hallway.
"Blake! Blake, WA-Jae, did you see where Blake ran to?" Ruby would ask as he shook his head, "Look…With what happened in Vale earlier, we think something might be going on. You think you can help us out?"
Jae didn't need much of a reason as he headed for their room; to Yang's surprise and Weiss's barely held disdain. "So what exactly happened?" He would ask as he took a seat at the desk near the door.
"Well, After you left…Blake and Weiss kept arguing up until now, Weiss hates the White Fang for causing problems with her family and Blake outed herself as a member of the White Fang." Yang decided to give him the abridged version to save time.
"W-Wait…She's a White Fang member?" Jae was still coming to terms with everything but the serious looks on Ruby and Yang's faces seemed to tell him that this was legit.
"Right under our noses too, how could this have happened!" Weiss would still be flabbergasted with the whole revelation though her phrasing didn't exactly paint her in a sympathetic light for Ruby, least of all for Jae.
"WEISS!"
"Look, I know that it's a long shot but do you know where Blake would've run off to? You've hung out with her more then anyone outside of our team…" Ruby would ask him with concern.
"I…Not off the top of my head but if it helps then maybe I can talk with Pyrrha and the others, we can help you look for her tomorrow." Jae offered to help with Ruby looking somewhat relieved, Yang looking confused and Weiss being exasperated.
"I'm sorry, tomorrow? Jae, we can't wait until tomorrow! Blake ran off to who knows where and anything could happen to her!" Yang protested as she marched over to Jae, practically demanding an explanation.
"I know that you're worried, in all honesty: I am too…But now really isn't the best time to mount a search! You're all tired, emotions are still raw and it's nighttime." Jae pointed out with Ruby putting the pieces together but Yang still glowering at him.
"I don't care if it's daytime, nighttime or stormy weather! Our teammate is out there and we need to be there to help her!" Yang insisted to Jae with a growing look of annoyance.
"Okay, say you go out and look for her now in the dead of night…IF she is a Faunus then she can see in the dark better then we can, so if she sees you coming after her then she might run off…With everyone all worked up and potentially getting more volatile, it could attract Grimm and that could make things more dangerous for everyone involved. Not to mention the least of our problems is that if Goodwitch catches us out past curfew then we ALL get in trouble…so go ahead…tell me that I'm wrong." Jae fully explained to the three of them, even though he was being stubborn about this…it was hard to see the fault in his logic.
"I'm not happy about it either but Jae has a point….Yang, I know you're worried but we all are too…" Ruby began.
"Worried for our safety, perhaps…." Weiss snipped and earned herself an almost icy cold stare from Yang AND Jae.
"BUT…If we want to find Blake, then we have to make sure that we take every precaution to ensure her safety…Let's rest up for tonight and tomorrow morning, we don't have school so we can get the first Airship into Vale and start looking. We can even get Pyrrha and the others to help us look." Ruby continued off and finally managed to get through as Yang threw herself onto her bed.
"Fine…But we're heading out first thing!" Yang finally compromised on this and Jae agreed as he left their room.
"I still don't know why you're bothering enlisting that no good lout to meddle." Weiss grumbled as she climbed into bed.
"Weiss, we're lucky that he's offered to help us after how long you've been badmouthing him and treating him like crap." Yang snapped back, both sick of Weiss's complaints and standing up for Jae.
"I just hope that Blake's okay…" Ruby would think to herself as the trio drifted off to sleep.