Jaune sat still hunched over a trash can on the Bullhead, still shaking at what Ozpin just informed his team and team RWBY on. As he went over what Ozpin said, he finally lost his lunch.
(Flashback to the day before)
"Will teams RWBY and JNPR please report to the headmaster's office." Jaune heard over the loudspeaker as he walked to his leadership class. Did Ozpin finally find out about Nora taking in a baby Ursa and raising it to do tricks and be her own? Stuck with his own thoughts Jaune made his way to the headmaster's office.
As he walked into the office he saw that everyone was already there and just as confused as Jaune was. Jaune looked around and was about to ask why they were brought here when Ozpin interrupted him by saying.
"Now I know you may be confused as to why I brought you guys here." He raised his hand to stop both teams from answering and said " You two teams will be going into the Emerald Forest for a few days in order to control an increasing amount of Grimm, and to see if there is any reason for the Grimm to be congregating in the forest."
"How much Grimm are we talking about here Professor?" Ruby asked.
"I'm glad you asked miss Rose" Ozpin replied while gesturing for the teams to look onto the monitor above him. " Roughly 4,000 Grimm have gathered within a 2 mile radius, that much Grimm hasn't been reported since the great war, which is why I need 2 second year teams to complete this mission." Ozpin looked finished but added "Lead by Mr. Arc"
Jaune's world got cold as he tried to joke by saying "No really Ozpin who is it." But he just received a blank stare from Ozpin and looked at his feet.
"You all leave tomorrow at noon make sure you pack accordingly for a weeks stay if things don't go according to plan."
Jaune ran out of the room, his thoughts going at a mile a minute What is Ozpin thinking I can't lead a team, I can't even protect myself how will I be able protect 7 others, Oh God what will I do. In his thinking Jaune plowed right into someone.
"Sorry" Jaune yelled but Doctor Oobleck grabbed Jaune's arm and whisked him into his office.
"What seems to be the problem young lad and don't try and say you're fine, you're clearly distressed about something." Oobleck said.
"Well sir, you see Ozpin made me leader of our next mission, and I've got a lot on my mind" Jaune responded cautiously not having interacted too much with the doctor.
"I'm all ears lad"
With speed that could compare to Ooblecks Jaune started with "What if i'm not good enough, what if i make a mistake, what if I'm not strong enough and get my friends hurt, or if I can't protect them."
" Alright Jaune I see your concerns and I hope can answer some to help you, first you will make a mistake but if you worry too much about it you'll make even more, and I know Ozpin wouldn't have made you leader if he didn't think you were fit to lead and couldn't protect your friends. Have some faith in yourself lad or you won't be able to lead your friends." Oobleck finished.
"Thanks sir, I really needed that" Jaune replied
"Thats what us professors are here for, to guide aspiring hunters and huntresses" Oobleck said as he took off to where he was originally going.
And with that Jaune took a walk to clear his head. He didn't get back to the dorm until everyone was asleep, and slowly opened the door to not wake his team up. He looked over at Nora snuggled up to Ren and wondered how he got so lucky to have such amazing friends, he smiled at the two and went to bed not ready for what lay ahead of him.
After emptying his lunch into the trash can he stood up and told everyone that they were nearing the drop zone. He got nods and grunts of acknowledgement from everyone except Weiss who retorted with "Don't mess this up you dunce"
"Thanks for the confidence boost ice queen" Jaune appeared to slide her statement under the rug, but it brought out all of his anxieties that Oobleck helped quell. His breathing stopped for a second almost letting them control him when he saw that they were about to jump out of the Bullhead.
"Jaune are you alright?" Pyrrha said surprising Jaune with worry evident on her face.
"I'm fine Pyr just worrying about the mission don't worry about me" Jaune said with a goofy smile and turned back to jump out.
He leaped out and looked down, there was a lot of space between the ground to him. He got ready to deploy his landing strategy of riding his shield and using his sword to slow his fall by running it down a tree. When he realized his shield was jammed, he tried with all of his might to free it but all of his attempts to open it failed. He looked at Pyrrha hoping she could save him, but saw that she couldn't pin him to a tree from the angle he was at from he. Of course I die from a shield malfunction. Jaune thought to himself. Before two gauntlet covered hands hooked under his shoulders and yelled.
"You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that to get away from us!"
Yang shot her gauntlets slowing them down and set Jaune down who looked to Yang and told her
" I owe you one."
"Yea you do Jaune, I would've done it favor or not, but you do still owe me one." Jaune sighed at this, but his shield popped open as he did and sent him to the ground again.
"I just can't catch a break' Jaune said as he made his way to his friends.
They all agreed they would walk to a spot safely away from the 2 mile radius the Grimm were at and camp out there, then tomorrow they would investigate. They all agreed and began with a jog towards their set destination.
An hour later they came across a pack of Beowolves in a clearing who noticed them, so they decided that they would quickly finish them before more came.
" Don't waste your ammo here guys!" Jaune yelled
"Finally, we get to fight some Grimm, I was getting bored" Ruby yelled, launching into battle scythe blazing, tearing apart Grimm. Everyone joined in and when the pack was almost finished a ear splitting howl was heard, everyone looked up, they saw an alpha Beowolf and Ursa charge in with 5 Ursa Majors behind it.
"Holy shit!" Jaune found himself saying without thinking.
"Language" Ren warned, but let out a smile even with the circumstances surrounding them.
"Alright team RWBY begin on the alpha Beowolf, we'll start on the Ursa's" Jaune ordered and everyone began the fight. Nora shot in launching the alpha Ursa back and using the hit to bounce back to her team, Ren and Nora started on 2 to the right, while Jaune and Pyrrha began on the 2 on the left.
"I've got this one Pyr" Jaune said as he swung at one that he had named his. "When you finish with yours help out the others" he ordered. Pyrrha responded with a nod and set off towards her Ursa. Jaune refocused on his and jumped back from a deadly swipe, scolding himself for not paying attention. He held his shield above him and blocked a swipe, cutting up it's left leg he backed up now being able to attack it easier with it wounded. He charged it's weak leg and sliced it's back narrowly dodging a stray paw. Now attacking with rage the Ursa now led more attacks with openings and Jaune took an opening and used his shield to daze the Ursa then sliced it's head off.
Jaune looked at team RWBY who seemed to be having a little trouble finishing the Beowolf. Both sets of partners working seamlessly to slowly whittle the beast down with flawless combos and attacks. Just as they were about to end it the alpha Ursa came in and before Jaune could say anything and launched Ruby who was taking potshots with her sniper rifle at the Beowolf, across the battlefield. Weiss and Blake went to see if she was okay and see the damage done to her, leaving Yang to finish off both Grimm. Jaune yelled for Yang to retreat but his warnings fell onto deaf ears as Yang rushed in rage consuming her.
" You monster, you hurt my baby sister!" Yang screamed as her eyes grew red and her body seemed to emit flames.
"Yang!" Jaune yelled. He then ran in trying to get Yang out of there before she got hurt, only to get thrown back and forced to watch her take on the Ursa as she delivered blow after blow to the Ursa, that made it stagger. But as Jaune attempted to run in again he saw the alpha Beowolf swipe at Yang. But before it could connect Jaune dove in front of the attack absorbing it with his side which launched him into Yang and then them both out of the clearing into a tree which Jaune hit cushioning Yang with his body. He lay on the ground with blood coming out of his side as he looked at Yang who stood defensively over him ready to attack the coming alphas. Just as they were about to reach Yang; Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, Weiss, Blake jumped in and started attacking the monsters, so Yang picked up the now unconscious Jaune and brought him next to a pouting Ruby who said.
"No fair, they wouldn't let me get back in just because I'm 'bleeding' " She said with air quotes. Yang laughed and rubbed Ruby's head, and said
"Never change Ruby" Yang then went to tend to Jaune and looked at him. He was in really bad shape, blood seeping out of his side, although his aura was healing it he still looked pale, and if Yang was honest he looked peaceful despite the circumstances, and appearance wise he didn't look that bad the muscle he had been putting on over the last two years, didn't hurt. Yang shook her head dismissing the thoughts and decided that administering first aid couldn't hurt him. She started by unhooking his armor and peeling it off. then his hoodie which if Yang was honest looked pretty warm. Jaune instinctively shivered at having his source of warmth taken away from himself. She started to take off his shirt, but heard his breath strain, and realized he might have a broken rib, so she took his sword and ripped his shirt open across the middle and carefully removed it. A light blush appeared on her face as she saw that he looked way more muscular without his shirt. But she again returned her thoughts to the injured boy in front of her
Now that she could see the damage it looked worse with his shirt off. He clearly had at least one broken rib and his shoulder was in bad shape, but she couldn't do anything about them with her knowledge of first aid. Then she looked at his side, he had four deep claw marks, was bleeding pretty bad and she knew that she needed to clean it out because it had been covered in dirt.
"Ruby I'm gonna need you to pour water into Jaune's wound and clean it out, don't stop no matter how much he screams, I'll hold him down" Yang ordered to which Ruby nodded and grabbed some water out of one of the backpacks they had and got ready. "On three. .Three!"
Yang held Jaune down by shoulders knowing that there was even more pain in holding there, but needing to hold there in order to get leverage to keep him from squirming. His skin was frigid to the touch, but Yang needed to focus on the task at hand, holding him down. As Ruby grabbed the wound and poured some water into it. Jaune's eye shot open and he let out a bloodcurdling scream that could rival the Grimm's, Yang clamped her hand over his mouth so he didn't distract his teammates from attacking the alpha's or attract more Grimm. Tears streamed from his eyes as he used all his energy in a last ditch effort to stop whatever was hurting him, as Ruby drenched a washcloth in water and began to clean the harder to reach spots digging into his cuts, at this point Jaune stopped flailing his arms went limp and passed out, which wasn't nearly as fast as Yang hoped he would have passed out.
Ruby finished up and they used his shirt and some bandages to slow the bleeding. Once they stopped Ruby looked up at Yang and said.
"I never want to do that again Yang, it feels so wrong to hurt him."
"I know Ruby, but we needed to do it, believe me it was harder on me because my carelessness caused this, I am the reason for all his pain." She looked at his ghastly white body and continued "I wish I could have avoided it but it happened and we need to make sure no one else ends up like him."
Ruby nodded and waved at their teammates as Yang put on Jaune's sweatshirt she didn't know why but it felt right to her, since he couldn't wear it with his shoulder. Then she scooped Jaune up, and used her semblance to keep him warm when she noticed they had disposed of the Grimm and were walking towards them Yang went over to debrief them on what happened
Naturally, Pyrrha was the first to rush to Yang and asked
"How is he, what happened?"
Yang began with " First off he'll live his aura's starting the healing process as we speak." She paused then added "As to how he got in such a poor state, that one's on me, when Ruby got hit I let my rage consume me and got reckless. Jaune saved me from a hit that would've killed anyone but him because of his aura reserves. And then when he got launched he brought me with him and absorbed the impact for both of us, which is why his shoulders are messed up."
To everyone's surprise Pyrrha let out a quick laugh and said "Of course that boy would do something as reckless as that."
"Alright lets grab our gear and set up camp far enough away so Grimm investigating the battle won't find us. But lets hurry so we get there before sundown so we can set up camp." Ruby said as she broke off into a jog
And with that they set off, Yang with Jaune in her arms with Nora and Pyrrha holding their bags with no problems because of their strength. With the adrenaline from the battle they headed off at a quick pace and ran towards their destination.
With nobody making small talk Yang's mind began to wander to the topless blonde knight in her arms. What Yang couldn't understand was why Jaune would sacrifice himself as quickly as he did for someone he wasn't even that close to. With these thoughts in her mind she quickened her pace for a moment to catch up to Pyrrha and ask
" Why would Jaune sacrifice himself for me?" Pyrrha thought for a moment before she responded with
"I don't know for sure, you should ask him when he wakes up."
Yang accepted that answer and began thinking about Jaune again, I guess I was wrong about him, before this mission I thought he was just this weak awkward boy, but he seems to have a whole different side to him I hadn't bothered to get to know that side of him. She decided that when he woke up she would try to get to know Jaune better.
She was interrupted from her thoughts when Blake bumped into her and commented
"He's bleeding on you pretty fast, are you sure his aura's healing the wound?" Yang turned him in her arms and saw that the bleeding had begun to speed up and yelled out
"We need to stop right here, Jaune's aura stopped healing his wound!"
"This area is covered with Grimm we'll need to set up a perimeter with every person not assisting Jaune watching." Ruby ordered to the 6 conscious people in behind her as she used her semblance to erect a medical tent for Jaune.
Ren turned around and took charge with aiding Jaune, since he was the best at first aid he ordered.
"Yang come with me, you and I are going to see why his wounds stopped healing." Ren stated.
First chapter done criticism is welcome I might redo the action scene that was just meant to give a taste of what the fights will be like in later chapters, I'll post whenever I can thanks for reading.
P.S if you got the avengers reference you win