Chapter 1 – One Step at a Time
The sharp clang of metal on metal echoed across the roof as Jaune tried desperately to fend off the onslaught his attacker was providing. All Jaune could manage to do was block as his opponent mercilessly swung blow after blow at him. Jaune looked around frantically for a way out, a weakness in his opponents steely defence. His opponent stopped, and Jaune took the moment to wipe the sweat from his brow and regain his composure. When he removed his arm from his face, he realised his mistake. He spun around quickly, but he was not fast enough to block the javelin sweeping his legs out from under him, and he fell to the floor with a sickening thud, knocking the wind from his lungs.
"Are you alright Jaune?" Pyrrha asked quickly.
Jaune tried his best to sit up, but his oxygen-deprived body had other ideas, so he simply grunted as he lay against the cold concrete of Beacons rooftop. Pyrrha held her hand out to help him up, and Jaune took it graciously, Pyrrha hauled him to his feet, looking at him with concerned eyes and a worried expression.
"Are you sure you're ok Jaune?"
"Yeah, I was just winded, that's all." Jaune states.
"Well next time you should really watch your opponent Jaune, please be careful." Pyrrha says carefully.
"I know, it's just", Jaune sighs, "maybe I should just leave beacon… I was never cut out for this Hunter stuff anyway"
"Jaune, you may not be the best fighter, and you may be completely hopeless with your Aura," Pyrrha says, placing her hand on Jaunes shoulder, "but without you, Team JNPR probably wouldn't have made it past initiation."
Jaune turned to face Pyrrha.
"But what good am I if I can't defend myself? I'm just a burden to you guys…"
"Jaune, you pull more than your own weight. Remember that Ursa you killed?"
"Pyrrha, you and I both know that wasn't me," Jaune looks at Pyrrha knowingly, "when I blocked that Ursas strike with my shield, I felt it move in a way I wasn't expecting, like someone else was controlling it, and after watching you fight Mercury, I saw the look of surprise on his face when he missed a kick that should have hit you. I put it together and… I figured out that you can control people's minds, like telekinesis you know? Anyway, I've been reading up on it, and I think I know how to stop you getting in my he-"
Jaune stops talking abruptly, interrupted by Pyrrha suddenly erupting into a fit of laughter, rolling around on the roof with tears of mirth in her eyes.
"Pyrrha? What's wrong?" Jaune asks.
Pyrrha
"Jaune, my semblance isn't controlling people, it's controlling polarity!" Pyrrha laughs.
"But what do poles have to do with moving my shield?"
Pyrrha face palms.
"I don't control poles, Jaune, I control metals!"
Jaune groans at his own stupidity, how could he not have known that?! Controlling poles… How stupid does that sound! How could he even have thought that in the first place? Jaunes train of thought I interrupted by Pyrrha waving her hand in front of his face.
"Hello? Earth to Jaune?" Pyrrha says.x
"What? Oh uh, I was just, uh, thinking. Yeah." Jaune sputters.
Pyrrha raises an eyebrow.
Jaune sighs, "I just can't believe how stupid I am."
"Jaune, you're not stupid. In fact, you're far from it, you just aren't living up to your full potential yet!"
Jaune looks Pyrrha in the eyes. Those huge, gorgeous, emerald orbs, glowing unbearably bright in the moonlit night. Red hair flowing gracefully down her face, complimenting her subtle features and beautiful eyes perfectly. The way her armour fit perfectly to her body, her tiara that was nestled perfectly in amongst her perfect hair. The way- Jaune stopped before he could go any further. His eyes widened as he realised it wasn't Weiss he should be chasing.
Jaune Arc had a crush on Pyrrha.
"Oh Dust" Jaune muttered.
"What was that Jaune?" Pyrrha asked
"Oh, nothing, I just remembered I really have to go do some stuff in the library, I'll see you later Pyrrha!" and with a nervous laugh, Jaune rushed down from the rooftops. He had to think. Why, of all people, did he have to have a crush on the most unobtainable girl he had ever been so fortunate to meet? He was such a failure. He barely passed his classes, he was utter trash at fighting, and he didn't even know how to use his Aura yet. If she found out, that was it. He was done for, she would never want to help him train again. He had to make sure no one ever found out about his little crush. No, his big crush.
Jaune was so busy with his thoughts he didn't see Ruby come out of her dorm as he turned the corner.
"Oh hi Jau- oof" Ruby greeted Jaune shortly before he barged straight into her, and they both ended up a tangled mess of limbs on the floor.
"Oh my god Ruby I'm so sorry!" Jaune apologized quickly, jumping up off the floor and offering his hand to Ruby, who graciously accepted.
"That's ok Jaune, I'm sure it was an accident! Hey… you seem a bit off, is Cardin bullying you again?"
"No, no, nothing like that, I was just lost in thought, that's all."
"Ok, well, if he ever starts bullying you again, come to me, I'll personally make sure his legs won't be moving him anymore!" she says, reaching backwards unconsciously to touch her scythe.
"Thanks Ruby, I'll be sure to…. anyway I need to head to the library, and I'm going to do some study, see you later!"
"Bye Jaune!" Ruby yelled after him.
'Sheesh, he was acting strange' Ruby thought to herself.
She opened the door to her shared dorm room, and saw Weiss, head down studying, as usual. Ruby made sure no one was watching before sneaking her hand under her mattress and grabbing her stash of cookies. She cringed as the packaging made a loud crinkle when she unfolded the packet, hoping Weiss hadn't heard.
"Ruby, if I turn around and you are scoffing your mouth with cookies, I swear…"
Weiss turned around to see a flutter of rose petals and a rather Ruby-shaped lump under her blankets.
"RUBY, GET OUT OF MY BED YOU DOLT" Weiss screeched.
Ruby sticks her head out from under the blankets, a terrified look on her face.
"Uhh… hi Weiss, fancy seeing you here. You see, I was just, uhh, I was just." Ruby stammered then tumbled out of Weiss' bed and onto the floor.
"Urgh, why are you such a dolt Ruby?" says Weiss as she rubs the bridge of her nose.
"But I'm your dolt…" Ruby mutters, almost too quiet for even herself to hear.
"Wha- What did you say Ruby?" says Weiss, clearly hearing Ruby, even though she spoke her words so lightly.
"Uh, uh, nothing, I said nothing Weiss!" says Ruby, her cheeks as red as her cloak.
Weiss looks into Ruby's silver eyes, seeing straight through her lie.
"Fine then, but speak up next time Ruby." Weiss says, turning back to her desk.
Ruby lets out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. 'That was close' Ruby thinks, climbing up onto her suspended bed. As Ruby lay on her bed, looking at the ceiling lost in thought, she didn't notice Weiss sneaking a worried glance back towards her. 'I hope she's ok' thinks Weiss, worried for her younger partner. Weiss sighed, maybe if she buried her head in her study, she wouldn't have to think about whatever Ruby was hiding from her. So Weiss grabbed her books, moved to the library and studied. She blocked out the world around her and read page after page of facts on Grimm biology. She had no clue how long she had been studying, but when she eventually looked up, the sun had set and she was the only person remaining in the library. Weiss grabbed her books and made for Team RWBY's shared dorm room. There was a cold silence in the halls as she made her way to her room.
Jaune opened the door to his shared room and walked to his bed. Jaune looked up at the ceiling and thought. He thought about how he was going to deal with his feelings for Pyrrha. Was he going to bury them? Could he bury them? What if she found out? Would she hate him if she did? Jaune groaned as he thought about a world where Pyrrha hated him. That was a world he was not willing to live in. Maybe he could ask her to the ball? That was it! He could ask her to the ball! Weiss had already rejected him to go with Neptune, so he had no one to go with anyway. Jaune sat up. 'I have to find Pyrrha' Jaune rushed out of his shared dorm room and into the endless halls of Beacon. He looked everywhere, the roof, the library, the cafeteria, the gym, the courtyard and even the most secluded parts of the gardens. 'I'll never find her now.' Jaune thought. He began slowly walking back towards his dorm, giving up on finding her. 'I'll just talk to her when she comes back to the dorm'.
Jaune opened the door to Team JNPR's dorm to the sound of someone showering. Thinking it was probably Nora or Ren, Jaune sat down on his bed and rested his head on the wall. 'And now, we wait' he thought. Eventually, the shower had stopped and the occupant opened the door, wrapped in a towel. Jaune turned to see the very person he had spent the last hour looking for, standing in the doorway of the bathroom, hardly dressed. Jaunes face turned as red as Pyrrha's hair as the Spartan standing in the doorway widened her eyes upon noticing Jaune in the room.
"Oh Dust Jaune, I'm so sorry, I didn't think anyone was here!" Apologized Pyrrha.
"I- It's ok P-Pyrrha. Uh, I'll just, uh, turn around and you c- can get ch- changed." Mumbled Jaune.
Pyrrha rushed to her bed and quickly slipped into her gold-trimmed bed robe, checking to make sure Jaune was looking away.
"You can turn around now Jaune" said Pyrrha, after making sure she was well-clothed.
Jaune turned around, his face a fierce scarlet, unable to meet the Spartans eyes. The awkward silence was thankfully broken when Nora swung the door open and launched herself into the room, Ren following hurriedly behind.
"Hey guys!" yelled Nora.
"Nora, keep your voice down" spoke Ren softly.
"Sorry Renny! So anyway, how are you guys?"
"We're fine thankyou Nora, I was actually just about to go to sleep, it's been a long day" explained Pyrrha.
"Actually Pyrrha, uh, I was w-wondering if I could talk to you for a minute" said Jaune, still blushing profusely.
Jaune got up and signalled for Pyrrha to follow him to the door. When they had both exited the dorm and Jaune had made sure the door was shut, he looked into Pyrrha's emerald green eyes. Jaune grabbed Pyrrha's hands.
"Pyrrha, I was w-wondering if maybe you would like to g-go to the ball with me" Jaune asked, mustering what little courage he had left.
Pyrrha looked at him for a moment in disbelief before pulling her leader into a bone-crushing hug.
"Oh Jaune, you have no idea how much I've wanted you to ask me!" Pyrrha cried happily as she nuzzled her head into his shoulder.
"Wait, so you mean no one has asked you yet?" Jaune asked, confused.
"No Jaune, you see, I've been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities; I'm constantly surrounded by love and praise, but when you're placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from the people that put you there in the first place," Pyrrha sighed, "everyone assumes I'm too good for them, that I am on a level they simply can't attain. It's become impossible to form any sort of meaningful relationship with people, that's what I like about you. When we met, you didn't even know my name, you treated me like anyone else, and thanks to you I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess you're the kind of guy I want to go to the ball with. Someone who just sees me for me."
Jaune stood there, dumbfounded, his arms wrapped weakly around Pyrrha's slender form. No one had ever said anything so meaningful to him, and for the first time in Dust knows how long, Jaune felt like he was doing something right.