A Simple Bet Between Friends

Chapter 5

The day after the docks felt like it had stretched on far longer than normal, it didn't help that it was a Monday. Jaune's body ached and he could feel every bruise and to top it all off, it was a Monday.

News had spread overnight about what had occurred at the docks, not about Blake's actions in starting it however. The rumours only said that the group had interfered with actual criminals and stopped the theft of millions of lien of dust. The stories also hyped up Jaune's actions quite a bit.

All in all the story kept a lot of people entertained and it seemed to be quite amusing to most of the student body how such a poor combatant like Jaune Arc could fight a criminal like Roman Torchwick.

One person who wasn't amused however, was Professor Goodwitch. "You are all very lucky. Roman Torchwick is not an opponent anyone should fight unprepared for. You are luckier still that the headmaster was the one to decide your punishment and not I." Team RWBY along with Jaune and Nora had been brought to the headmasters office once they had time to rest.

"You endangered the lives of not only your own team, but those of another." The headmaster paused to drink from his coffee and directed his attention to Team RWBY "It is the duty of a team to stick together, and had it just been your team I might have let the issue pass, it was not however." He paused once more and turned to Jaune and Nora. "Tell me, why did you go with them?"

The room was silent a moment before Jaune realized it wasn't a rhetorical question. He thought a moment but failed to come up with anything that sounded like a good excuse, in the end he settled for the truth. "Our friends asked us to help, so we helped."

The headmaster hummed in curiosity but stayed silent for a moment.

Jaune was slow to continue. "We didn't know we would be fighting anyone at the time but even had I known... I still would have gone."

"You would have placed your teammates at risk?" The headmaster didn't say it as an accusation, nor did he sounds disapproving. It was merely a question.

"I didn't force them to come last night and I wouldn't have forced them either way. I asked them and they said they wanted to help... all though, we probably would have brought Pyrrha had we known there was gonna be a fight." Jaune rubbed a hand against the back of his head. "She would have done far better than I did." he chuckled softly but failed to notice the glares from basically everyone else in the room at his self-deprecation.

The headmaster leaned back in his chair. "I applaud your willingness to aid your friends, it is something sorely lacking in today's generation, but you could have called the school or chosen not to engage your opponent. Instead, you rushed in unprepared and out matched." The headmaster kept his eyes locked on Jaune's until the younger boy looked away. "So tell me, what were you thinking Miss Belladonna?"

Jaune didn't seem to be the only one surprised by the sudden change of focus, the girl in question was caught off guard for a moment before regaining her composure. "There were criminals at the docks, it's the job of a huntress to fight not only Grimm but criminals as well."

"And yet you are only a huntress in training. Torchwick is a foe far beyond you, you should have known that." The headmaster sighed heavily. "You were very lucky he was so distracted, had he truly wanted to, or had he not been in a rush, he could have killed you. Think how your team would feel learning their friend had ran off and died in Vale. A tragedy they could have easily stopped from happening."

Blake seemed shaken by the words but was quick to defend herself. "This isn't about them, it was my responsibility to dea-"

"Would that have brought them any comfort?" The headmaster sighed once more. "You are all dismissed. Miss Belladonna will be receiving detention for the issue, as will her team to a lesser extent. Mr Arc and Miss Valkyrie, you will receive no such punishment."