Arcane Manifest: A RWBY Story

Chapter 7: Jaundice

Pyrrha watches uncomfortably as Jaune is kneed in the gut by Cardin Winchester, leader of Team CRDL. Currently, Jaune and Cardin have a 1-on-1 in Combat Training class, but it appeared to be a one-sided fight as Jaune is receiving a lot of punishment. Pyrrha couldn't help but feel a deep pity for her team leader, he was clearly outmatched, but it was as though his stubbornness convinced him to keep taking the beating. She watched as Cardin went to deal the finishing blow, but Ms. Goodwitch stopped the match, as Jaune's aura was in the red.

Nora: "Man, it really sucks that Jaune sucks at fighting."

Pyrrha: "Now that's just rude. He's trying his best. Oh! Emrys! Maybe you have something that could help?" Emrys shooting up from his book.

Emrys: "Oh? Well, there are an assortments of things I could do to help, but you're going to have to be more specific."

Ren: "Do you have something in your vast knowledge that you could use your semblance to help Jaune be better at well...doing things?"

Emrys: "Well, I do enjoy the compliment, but to answer your question. Yes and no. I do certainly have a thing or two I could try. Arcane shields, armor, wards, and enchantments, for starters. But this is more of a mentality issue if you ask me, and giving him more armor will only further skew his mentality."

Pyrrha: "Well, do you have anything that could help make it go in the right direction?"

Emrys: "Of course, but that would be unethical and downright vile."

Nora: "What do you mean?" As she asks this, Team RWBY comes over.

Ruby: "Hey guys. Whatcha doin'?"

Nora: "Trying to have Emrys fix Jaune."

Pyrrha: "Not fix him..just help him out."

Yang: "Not going to lie, Pyrrha. Jaune may need some fixin'. I mean, he didn't even land a hit in that match."

Blake: "I think what Yang is trying to say is he's going to need some serious help. So Emrys, you were saying?"

Emrys: "Oh. Uh, thank you, Blake. Anyway, as I was saying, to change Jaune's mentality, I would have to change his mind. Literally. I'd have to use some serious illusion and enchantment to change how he perceives the world around him."

Weiss: "That doesn't sound too bad. Maybe you can get him to stop trying to flirt with me."

Emrys: "This isn't a joke. To change someone in this form is a serious breach of trust. It literally means I would be locking parts of who he is in his mind, which can do more harm than good. Imagine you spent your whole life believing you loved a person only to find out one day that you loved them because they programmed your mind to think so. You as a person could never trust or believe in anything ever again as you wouldn't know what's genuinely your thought or someone else."

Yang: "Woah..."

Ren: "Woah indeed."

Pyrrha: "Ok, so that throws Emrys helping off the table." They all hush as Jaune returns from the locker room.

Jaune: "Hey guys." His whole demeanor seemed more depressed and down.

Emrys: "Jaune! Good fight, word of advice try to read his moves, and you'll find his openings."

Jaune: "*sigh*...Thanks, Emrys."

Ruby: "Come on guys, we got class to get to."

Later on in the day, all nine were in Professor Ooblecks class. While the other 8 had trouble keeping up with the professor, who seemed to move at supersonic speeds, Pyrrha could see that Emrys genuinely enjoyed the class. Somehow, probably through magic, he could keep up with the professor. But she ended up seeing that his pen wrote on its own, as though it was tracking exactly what Oobleck was saying, even down to the grammar. Staring in awe at the speed and accuracy as it copied what the professor said. She was surprised when her pen began to move on its own as well. Looking over, she sees Emrys shoot a slight smirk towards her. The smile she had quickly turned to a more worried look as Jaune was currently sleeping, which was then abruptly ended when a paper airplane smacked him in the back of the head. Pyrrha knew Cardin had begun to start bullying him on the first day of school.

Jaune: "Ow! Hey!"

Oobleck: "Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! Perhaps you may know the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune and his forces?"

Jaune: "Uh...they uh had...um..." Then his face seemed to spring up as though he was just given the answer. "..they had night vision."

Oobleck: "That is correct! Mr. Winchester, see me after class, will you. Mr. Arc, try to stay awake, please?"

Pyrrha was quite surprised Jaune knew the answer as she could tell he was unable to hear the solution due to him being completely asleep. She then notices the purple glow leaving Emrys's eyes.

Pyrrha: "*whispering* I thought you didn't do mind magic?"

Emrys: "*whispering* I didn't and still don't. All I did was merely whisper him a hint...from long distance."

The two would go on with the rest of their class. Eventually, as the class ends, Emrys watches as Pyrrha take Jaune towards the roof but chooses not to get involved.

Later on in the afternoon, Pyrrha and Emrys are conducting their afternoon training. This training consists of Pyrrha fighting a duplicate of herself which uses her old weapons. This type of training tests to see how far she is from before but uses Excalibur instead of Miló and Akoūo. Now usually, the fight is relatively close, sometimes the duplicate wins, other times Pyrrha wins. But Emrys notices that Pyrrha is fighting carelessly, as though she was more focused on something else. She had been taking hits she usually didn't let hit her and was attacking less and less. Eventually, the duplicate disappears as Pyrrha looks up to Emrys, who has a disappointed face.

Pyrrha: "What happened? Did I run out of time?"

Emrys: "Pyrrha. Your practice fights aren't timed. Something is clouding your thoughts. What's the matter?" He says as, in a flash of blue light, he's in front of her. His teleporting, while it may seem to startle her before, doesn't anymore as she's gotten quite used to it.

What he didn't know was that just two hours earlier, Pyrrha had taken Jaune to see if she could train him to help him fight better—ultimately learning that he faked his transcripts to get into Beacon, when she asked why, he snapped at her, telling her that he didn't need her pity she to leave him alone. This hurt her feelings as she really did care for Jaune, maybe even more than care. But his words hurt her more than the pain from the training, and it began to show as tears had started to form. Letting all her emotions out, she collapsed into Emrys's arms and sobbed. Emrys, however, didn't say anything. All he did was hold her close as she wept. Pyrrha eventually passed out from exhaustion.