Never Change

Chapter 36

Jaune walked in the moonlight.

The only sound was the sound of his footsteps crunching on the leaves. His hands were in his pockets.

He walked slowly, lost in his thoughts.

Back when he had joined Beacon... the only goal was to become a huntsman.

Just to honor the line of huntsmen that had come before him. His father, his grandfather, who fought in the Great War for Vale, his father before him, and his father before him.

To become a hero, destined to help those in need. That was who he had wanted to be, back when he had foolishly joined Beacon without even aura.

And now...

They were waging war against the Queen of the Grimm.

Oh, and she was immortal too. With nigh-instantaneous regeneration...

The fate of the world rested on their shoulders.

And, with that reminder, Jaune's shoulders felt like they were holding up the very definition of responsibility.

It was insane, stupid, crazy! He definitely wasn't cut out for this.

It was incomprehensible.

They couldn't do this. He would have backed out of this entire thing long ago...

But...

They had the best allies on their side.

Perseus Jackson, or Apollyon. His team leader, and his good friend. The most powerful demigod of his age, who held too many titles to count, and had already saved the world twice over. This was nothing new for him.

Qrow Branwen and Taiyang Xiao-Long, who were members of the famous Team STRQ, and experienced, powerful huntsmen in their own right.

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl of Mistral, his partner, who was also a quarter maiden.

Oscar Pine, or formerly Professor Ozpin, or Ozma. A reincarnating wizard, who had been holding Salem off for thousands of years.

It seemed like he couldn't be relied upon, though. After what had happened... Ozpin, or Ozma, just didn't appear anymore.

Jaune, just like everyone else, wanted to punch his face out. Qrow and Tai had both wanted to cave his skull in.

What had happened in that story fractured what little trust they had left in Ozpin.

Lying to them, keeping things secret, and even causing the entire situation in the first place. It was...

Jaune clenched his fist. It was unacceptable.

Only the presence of Percy had helped them change things up, and allowed information between them to flow more freely. Teamwork.

Even so, their two groups weren't shabby at all. They had all come a long way since Beacon.

But they could lose. They weren't infallible.

Despite everything, they were just first year huntsmen trainees. What if something happened to one of them?

If assassins came in the middle of the night, or if one of them went down in battle... what would become of them?

He was still the stupid, foolish boy who had cheated his way into Beacon and faked his transcripts. He was the weakest of their group.

And so, if the day came that something would happen to one of them...

Jaune hated to admit that he would be too weak to do anything about it.