"Ring Shopping?!" Eve was gasping for air after a practically spitting out her food. "Yes, ring shopping" was Jaune's calm reply. "To be clear, engagement ring shopping right?" Eve looked for confirmation in her younger brother's face. "Yes, engagement ring shopping. Any more questions?" Jaune put forth to his two older sisters. "Just one, when?" Anna queried "soon, tomorrow if you have time?" Jaune asked, "tomorrow works for me, other than that does anyone else know?" Eve now asked a calmer question in regards to the ring shopping. "Does Tomorrow work for you Anna? And no, no one knows, not even Kate." His two older sisters had surprised looks on their faces. Jaune and Kate tell each other everything, breaking the silence Anna added "Uh, sure tomorrow works for me," "Great, meet in the Dining room around Ten-ish?" Was Jaunes response, not even addressing their faces and the shocked looks on them.
**The Next Day**
Jaune had finished his workout slightly late and was now trying to scarf down his breakfast before heading out ring shopping with his two eldest sisters. While scarfing down the last few pieces of bacon the clock chimed, letting the palace know it was Ten. Immediately his two older sisters appeared in the room; they had disguised themselves with commoner's clothes and black hair dye. "Ready Jaune?" Eve was the first to speak. He nodded his head while grabbing the last piece of bacon on his plate.
**2 Hours Later**
Jaune was disheartened. He knew that Pyrrha wasn't an easy person to shop for, from past experiences. But he thought he might have at least an advantage considering he brought his two eldest sisters along.
Eve poked her younger brother who was staring at his feet. "We have arrived" Jaune looked up to see a sign labeled as 'Mistralian Jewellery' they might have better luck here.
As they entered the store owner walked up to them and stated "Hi, my name is Elise. Can I help you with anything in particular?"
At this point, Jaune was the first to speak up, "Yes, I am looking for a dainty ring, something that a huntress might like?"
"Interesting. Any particular Metal?"
"Something durable. But gold would be a pleasant addition to that."
"I think I have something that might fit those specifications over here."
With that Elise started over to one corner of the small shop, the three siblings in pursuit. Elise started by pulling out a few rings from the display case and placing them on the counter. "Do any of these strike your fancy?" Jaune's attention immediately locked on one of the 5 Elise had pulled out. It had a thin gold band with a tiny square diamond cut to perfection.
"May I see that one?" Jaune asked. Pointing to the smallest of the bunch, Elise picked it up and handed the tiny red velvet box to Jaune. It was perfect, the perfect ring for Pyrrha.
Anna and Eve noticed Jaune's reaction to it.
Eve was the first to speak up. "I would like to purchase that one please."
"No." Was an affirmative reply from Jaune before Elise even had a chance to confirm the purchase.
"Excuse me?" Was Elise's sentence, laced with confusion.
"Sorry, I will be purchasing this one," Jaune replied, settling Elise's confusion and handing the box back to her. Elsie smiled, heading towards the cash.
Before Jaune could join her both, his siblings stopped him. "What do you mean no?" "I will be paying for it myself is what I mean." "Uhh no" was Eve and Anna's response in unison. "Look, I have been saving up for a long time. I want to pay for this myself, " and with that, he headed off to purchase the ring. As he was walking, he opened his scroll.
( . )
After they boarded the tram and headed back to the main levels, they dispersed. Eve was off to workout and spar with Liss and based on the direction Anna was going back down to the intelligence wing of the castle. Jaune, however, headed straight for his room.
Jaune had one mission when he entered his private quarters, hide the ring box, and well, he had seven nosy sisters and couldn't risk them finding out before he could even propose. Jaune was so focused on hiding the ring in fact that he didn't even notice the dull shower noise. He managed to find a good place for the ring; it was a secret compartment designed for hiding things well, his mother had one installed in each room, only the person who lived in it knew where it was.
He had just slid the brick into place when he heard a door open and closed looking up he saw Pyrrha exiting from the bathroom, evidently having taken a shower as evidenced by her wet hair
"where were you were this morning? Your mom said you went with your two eldest sisters to the lower merchant levels?" Pyrrha mentioned as she was walking over to him.
"Long story. I can tell it to you later. Wait, you're supposed to be in Mistral. Not Cadia."
"Is it so bad I wanted to visit you? I have to return to Mistral soon, but I was hoping you might come with me."
"I never implied it was a bad thing. And believe me, if I could go with you to Mistral I would. But political matters will hold me here."
"I thought Miyas was acting on behalf of you in those particular politics?"
"Yes. Miyas was representing me while I was away on assignments and teaching at Beacon. I still need to help her when I am available. Unless an emergent situation comes up where I am required to join a hunt, I will be staying in Cadia for the summer, trying to smooth out political matters. I am still the Duke you know."
"I know... Kate accepted the offer though. We go back to Mistral in 5 days."
"I wish I could. But I need to be acting as Duke right now. Yvette and Miyas have been working hard in my absence, which I am grateful for but I need to return to the delicate business of politics for a while."
"Much more boring than fighting with swords I have to say."
Her tone held a certain aloofness. Annoyed that Jaune would not be going back to Mistral with her. With that conversation at an end, she walked over to the couch where he had moved to and sat down, before cuddling into him. "I missed you." "I missed you too." That was all he could reply before dozing off, tired from this morning's escapades.
And with that, they fell asleep cuddled into each other.
***4 Months Later: Vale Airport***
Jaune sat alone, his flight had come in early, and he was waiting for the others before heading to lunch. Although it probably wouldn't be wise to wait much longer his stomach was growling quite noticeably when he looked away from his scroll he noticed that Coco and Vel were running towards him.
When the two got close enough to them, Vel grabbed him in a big hug. "I see you have caught onto Nora's habits" Jaune comments, almost out of breath. Coco came to his rescue by motioning for Vel to let him go. "Sorry Jaune." Vel expressed sheepishly.
"It's okay Vel; it is good to see you. Thanks for saving me from your girlfriend" Coco and Vel exchanged a look that only they understood.
"Umm, I guess we should have called huh?" Vel asked Coco. "Maybe, should I tell him?" "What?" He interjected. "Umm, well… No longer girlfriend's, wives?" "You guys got married and didn't tell me?" "Well, you were busy, and we went on a honeymoon straight after..."
"Wait when was the wedding?" Jaune interrupted again.
"Late summer. In Mistral actually"
"Mistral huh? Late summer… Wait, Pyrrha came to see me; she invited me back to Mistral. I would have come if I had known-"
"That's why we asked her not to tell you the wedding was taking place; we knew you were going to be busy with Cadian Politics and didn't want to disturb your schedule if you didn't have the time." Velvet cut him off this time.
When they had finished the heated discussion they decided to sit down for a little bit, all of them were tired from the long flights.
"Did you guys fly in from Mistral?"
"No, we were in Solitas. A few emergency missions came up, which if I am honest were a fun way to end the honeymoon." Coco decided to answer him here.
A short while later they were joined by Pyrrha who immediately planted a kiss on her boyfriend's lips, the rest of the group trying to catch up. Well except Ruby of course. After Pyrrha had broken the embrace, Kate moved in to hug her brother.
"Good to see you, how are politics in Cadia going?"
"Fine, thanks for asking. Yvette and Miyas are finishing up the final documents to get James transferred."
"Still? You started that months ago!" She responded.
"Politics take time Kate; I learned that the hard way."
By now a large group of students had gathered around the group. "Coming through, Move it! Form up people!" The group turned to where the voice was coming from, the crowd was slowly parting and when the last several students parted the group saw the faunus who had spoken.
"LAVENDER!" Vel and Nora exclaimed at the same time, evidently ecstatic by the small bunny faunus's arrival. They exchanged a look and then darted towards the tiny faunus, Nora reached her first pulling her into a bear hug. Vel slowed so she wouldn't ram into a group of students and silently mouthed dammit. Once lavender was let go from Nora's hug, she got pulled into one from Vel. "hey...sis...can't...breathe..." She was then released, most of her students looking stunned. Most of the time Lavender didn't show much emotion.
"So Lav, who are all these people?"
"Some of my students from Beacon. I was just walking them to the flight taking them to their summer training, but they saw you guys and asked if they could meet you"
Jaune decided to speak up here, "Sure, do they have any questions?"
The group started to make noise and lavender put up her hand. "ALRIGHT! Everyone line up in front of the person you want to ask the question of!"
***1 Hour Later: Vale Airport***
Tired, Hungry and mentally numbed the group headed for their favourite spot to eat in the airport. Lavender followed them after all her students had left. "That was tiring." "Exhausting." "Enlightening" were a few of the many comments the group made while eating.
"Sorry about that, I was escorting them to their gate, and one of them spotted Coco and Vel. Then they spotted Pyrrha and things kinda spiraled out of control."
"It's okay; it was fun helping younger students." Pyrrha put forth. Many nodded in agreement.
"We'll have to wait for the next bullhead flight though," Weiss commented.
"So Lavender, are you attending the dance?"
"For an hour or two anyway, I have a mission I leave for tomorrow morning." a dead silence fell over the table.
"What? It's not like I am not a trained huntress, besides my students are away for a while. I plan to resign when next term ends anyway." in an attempt to move the conversation from herself Lavender filled the void of silence with "So anyway, how was your honeymoon sis?"
"Splendid, we spent some time in Solitas. Beautiful fall sights. But then we got called on a few emergency missions. The perfect way to end a honeymoon."
***30 Minutes Pre-dance***
The year four advanced combat class wing was buzzing with excitement. The girls were fighting over mirror space and showers. Rushing to get their makeup done and there dresses on fitting perfectly. Meanwhile, the men simply stood to the back, already dressed in their suits. Yang was standing with them in, a suit as well.
"Kate! Did you have time to grab the necklace I forgot in Cadia?" Pyrrha called while putting on her small ruby stud earrings.
"I think so, give me a moment!" You could hear Kate rummaging through her suitcase.
"GOT IT!" She called back to Pyrrha who ran to fetch the necklace. It had been a gift she had forgotten on her last trip; she had asked Kate to grab it. When pyrrha was accepting the necklace box, she noticed something hidden in the folds of the suitcase a deep sapphire blue ring box. When Kate realized Pyrrha was looking intently at something, she looked in the same direction and hurriedly tried to hide the box from view.
"What is that?"
"Uhhh, a gift from Ren?" Kate tried to cover up. But before she could Pyrrha used her semblance to pull the box from its hiding place. She looked around to ensure they were alone in the JNPR dorm and opened it slowly. Inside was a thin silver band that had a ring of sapphire encasing it.
"Oh my, seems awfully expensive for a simple gift?" Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at Kate who caved.
"Okay fine, you caught me. But Jaune doesn't even know yet, so please don't tell him." With that, Kate pulled the ring from the box and slid it onto her left ring finger. Pyrrha even though she knew what was coming gasped a little. Her best friend was engaged! When they heard the door click as though someone was opening it, Kate Slid the ring off and put it in the box quickly with ease. When the door opened, Pyrrha and Kate were re-introduced to the insanity of getting ready for the dance. Nora came rushing and gave them a weird looking for sitting on Kate's bed when the dance was in a half hour. Pyrrha had Kate put on the necklace that Deb had given her, then returned to the common room so Jaune could do her hair. When she arrived, Weiss was already getting hers done.
Pyrrha sat gracefully at the table across from Ren and pulled out her scroll.
Congrats, you are very lucky. Just don't hurt her or you will feel my wrath. When a scroll notification noise went off, everyone looked up to see if it was their's but when Ren grabbed his and they all returned to what they were doing.
How did you know? Pyrrha had the sense to turn off her notifications and replied with-
I was grabbing the necklace Deb got me, and I saw the box. Curiosity killed the cat as they say. So when are you going to announce it? She hadn't even mentioned the engagement, yet he still knew exactly what she was talking about.
Tonight actually, Kate hasn't decided whether to tell Jaune before we announce it to the entirety of beacon.
Probably would be a good idea, he might feel a little hurt if she doesn't.
Seriously? Huh, well anyway since Ozpin and Glynda are kinda my parents so I got to choose when and how to announce it.
Excited for tonight!
And with that, their conversation ended. "Pyrrha I believe you're next?" Called Jaune, still not in his suit.
***2 days post-dance. Forever Fall Forest***
Pyrrha and Jaune had elected to go on a day walk through the Forever Fall Forest. At this exact moment, Pyrrha was sitting on Jaune's shoulders as they were walking through a dense part of the forest. Once they reached the clearing which they had known was nearby, Jaune set his partner on the grass. "Reminds you of our first advanced combat class with mom doesn't it?"
"Yea, a little. This time you aren't sweating as much though." Both of them were reminiscing about the past.
"What was your favourite moment at Beacon?" She inquired quietly, laying her head in his lap.
"I can't say I have on favourite moment; there are a lot that fall into that category. One type of moment is when you have that goofy smile."
"Jaune I am serious."
"So was I" with that he brought her hair off her forehead and kissed her it.
"I can't pick a favourite moment or memory at Beacon because almost all of them are great memories. Such as our first truth or dare game, or helping Weiss with Ruby, and that is just the tip of the iceberg Pyrrha. That is why I told you I cannot say I have one moment that is my absolute favourite, favourite moment reminiscing with you right now? I could say it was when you said yes during the first truth or dare game, but it will change tomorrow."
"Jaune..." Pyrrha had an amazed look on her face; a few happy tears had made their way down her face.
"I met my family here Pyrrha, True I do have my Blood family, and I will always love them dearly, but then I have my Chosen family. Which includes five sisters, and a brother, my happiest memories are when were all together, how Blake asked Kate about dating girls, or our annual truth or dare game. Or receiving that weapon from Ozpin. I have my mother, but my father I truly feel is Ozpin, so yes. I am quite serious when I say I cannot pick a favourite moment." This was not going at all how he had planned. Pyrrha had tear's in her eyes and couldn't stammer out a sentence, so he continued.
"I want our children to view these people as Aunts and Uncles; I want them to be a safe harbor for when we fight with our children as teenagers, I want you to be with me for forever. I want to ask you a question, Pyrrha Nikos." Pyrrha nodded with even more tears in her eyes, motioning for him to go ahead. "Well, you have to stand up." Pyrrha clambered onto her feet, and Jaune re-positioned himself to be on one knee. "Pyrrha Nikos, Will you marry me?" Jaune asked while opening the small red and gold ring box- revealing the ring he had gotten his sisters to help pick out. "Y...ye...yes" Pyrrha stammered out. Trying to hide how truly excited she was.