24 Karats
Arkos in 24 vignettes.
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. This is a piece of fanfiction for entertainment. Mild spoilers for Vol. 4, Episode 1.
Inspiration: "Fields of Gold" by Sting.
1.
His voice is scraggly and oh-so-thin when he's exasperated, overjoyed, or excited; always with a wispy kind of quality that was strangely endearing. It's about as different as can be from her voice, which is rich and melodious and not-at-all thin no matter the situation. But she likes the sound of him because his voice echoes, even in this crowded auditorium filled with murmurs and giggles.
"Where else am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?"
Where indeed, she thinks to herself.
2.
She looks taller in person. And much, much less cartoon-ish. Not that like, he was expecting the Pyrrha Nikos to look anything less than attractive and superhero-esque. It's just that well, the fact that the picture of girl on the box of Pumpkin Pete's was an actual living, breathing human being who was talking to him, well, that was kind of mind-boggling. Not that he didn't know that the heroes were real people; obviously they were, it was just that she really did look very majestic with her weapon and shield, and of course the first thing he does is hit on her.
Oh well, he thought. It's not as if we'd ever get together...right?
3.
Jaune looks comical flying through the air, arms flapping like a very drunk and directionless bird above the Forever Fall Forest. He's also screaming something about never, ever forging a transcript again if oh my God if someone would only help him out just this once.
(It's adorable how humorous and melodramatic his voice is.)
4.
Pyrrha looks serious marching through the forest, weapon held high. She's also explaining something that sounded straight out of a bad children's cartoon about magical force fields and whatnot.
(It's amazing how much he enjoys listening to her talk even though he doesn't understand any of the words.)
5.
She fights like her weapons are living, breathing things. The spear-gun-lifesaver contraption hums as it whirs through the air and he's transfixed by the way the light glints off the gold.
Until that huge deathstalker-killer-stinger thingie almost takes out his left foot. Then he's just running for his life as he prays, yet again, for God or whoever it was up there to please get him out of this jam so he can live to see the light of day again.
6.
He doesn't really fight as much as he...um, strategizes. His sword stance is all wrong, a little too high and a little too narrow, but he's persistent and he carries himself with the aura of a leader who knows the pulse of battle.
All he needs is a little encouragement.
7.
Somehow, Pyrrha punches surprisingly hard for someone who's congratulating him on his big promotion to team leader.
8.
Weirdly, Jaune laughs really nervously for someone who displays as much tactical cunning as he does.
(Maybe he's just humble?)
9.
Admittedly, he's not the brightest, academically. Or even the best at remembering all the assignments to read for class...or take notes...or question the underlying theories...or anything that required a book with paradigms and other esoteric subjects. But he's brilliant and instinctive and persistent on the practice rounds with mock fights and she can't help but think that he's the brightest she's ever seen when it comes to leading with his heart.
10.
Welp, she's brilliant and she wants to help him.
Great.
The smartest girl in school thinks he's a dumbass in need of extra instruction.
Just...great.
11.
Cardin is a bully and Nora's got the right idea about leg breaking.
Hypothetically speaking, of course. It's as confusing for _NPR as it is for Professor Goodwitch how a banana peel conveniently found its way to just under Cardin's combat boots the second time he tried to give Jaune a free ride on the locker grenade roller coaster.
12.
Realistically speaking, it's as welcome for Pyrrha as it is for everyone else when Cardin simply stopped picking on Jaune.
Hypothetically speaking, though, no one really knows why pink sap and banana peels make Cardin wheeze a little now. Kinda weird just to...suddenly develop an allergy, y'know?
13.
Jaune's a really great fighter now, especially after he finally stood up to Cardin and fixed his stance. Now and again he gets the best of her and it's thrilling, to be able to fight with someone who sees her as a human being with weaknesses to exploit as opposed to some invincible set of moves to worship.
14.
Fighting is a lot like dancing and Pyrrha's the best dancer of all.
(So Weiss would have been an extraordinary dancer, but Weiss would rather melt down her weapon and dance on that instead of him, so maybe he's missed out on that song for a while now.)
It's more than extraordinary, actually.
Dancing with Pyrrha felt a lot like coming home.
15.
They're almost always together now, although they're not together-together, as Nora would put it. Even though it looks a lot like they're together-together. They eat together, they train together, they study together, and they even brush their hair together.
It's only because they're friends, partners, and teammates who share a room.
Obviously.
16.
He always notices the weirdest nuances about her. Like how she writes with her right hand and throws with her left. How she tilts her head to the right when she's puzzled and to the left when she's thinking hard about something. He can always tell when she's reasoned something out from their homework by the tinkling of the emeralds on her circlet.
That never comes off, he notices, unless she's taking a shower (they don't do that together, obviously; what kind of school did you think Beacon was?), but he does help her put it back on afterwards, because Beacon's the type of school where you help the people you care about, especially if you have seven sisters' worth of experience detangling knots from long hair.
That's all there is to it, right?
17.
There's a faint dimple on the left side of his cheek that's deeper than the one on his right, as well as lock of blonde that curls enticingly near the crown of his head when he jokingly rests the circlet upon his head as he's helping her with a particularly stubborn tangle of red.
He really does look like a knight until Nora "accidentally" drops a banana peel that lands him directly in Pyrrha's lap, circlet and all.
18.
His leg's not quite broken, but it's close after Pyrrha turned about three million shades of red and Ren, taking pity on everyone, started a tickle fight that landed all of them in Ozpin's office with feathers in their eyes and pieces of blankets trailing after them.
19.
Professor Goodwitch yells about that plus a lot of other things pertaining to the upcoming tournament. Mostly about how they need to focus on their training as well as represent Beacon well. Mysteriously, Ren turns an interesting variation of pink when tree sap is mentioned. Nora just giggle-coughs every time the words "banana peel" is mentioned. Pyrrha is quieter than usual when it comes to thinking about what the end of the tournament means for their future goals.
(Maybe she's just nervous?)
20.
It's Arkos.
Where they take their shields and fight together.
Through the first fight of the tournament and all the way through the championships, where her hands are uncharacteristically shaky and his voice is almost ragged with worry. He's afraid that she's gone and given up after the tragedy with Ruby's friend (Penny, was it? He's never met her but she's Ruby's friend and that makes this a tragedy in his eyes.), but the Pyrrha Nikos who puts her shield next to his in a fighting stance looks every bit like the cartoon hero he's always admired from the cereal boxes.
We're Arkos, he thinks, stronger together (together-together this time) than apart, and nothing is ever going to change that.
21.
How wrong he was, as he touches the side of his mouth and observes the devastation of Beacon from his rocket propelled locker ride.
There's no banana peel this time to save him and there sure is hell isn't a banana peel to save Pyrrha.
22.
He doesn't touch the circlet for a few days. Just stares, as if the weight crushing his chest wasn't heavy enough. It goes everywhere with him. To breakfast, outside, even the tiny makeshift nightstand on the airship from Beacon to Patch.
Sometimes light glints off the emeralds and he thinks it's her again, but it's never her and he's all alone with the cold, steely determination that he will fight on even if it takes his life, too.
23.
"You should take it," he says, voice crackling with pain.
One by one Ruby, Nora, and Ren shake their heads and hand the circlet back.
"She would have wanted you to have it."
24.
He keeps the two emeralds in a pocket next to his heart, for when they reach her family in Mistral. They don't know yet, but he thinks they'll see her eyes reflected in them and understand that she will always be a part of team RNJR.
Him especially, because he carries her with him now, because they're Arkos and they're stronger together, forever.
...
I have a lot of feels about Jaune's new character design.