AN: I own nothing once again. All characters and settings belong to Roosterteeth, not this college student. Should that somehow change I will be sure to notify you all. Until then, please don't sue me.
Good Night's Sleep
Chapter 2
So it wasn't entirely Cardin's fault that Jaune was stuck outside his room in naught but a worn button up shirt and some sweat pants. In all fairness the young couple next to his room were rather loud in their 'nightly activities' which made sleep a tricky proposition and Jaune was thirsty so a trip to the soda machine down the hall was already warranted.
However when Jaune was banging on the door to the room Cardin and he shared, Jaune had to try really hard not to blame the hammered teen for being in this situation.
"Come on!" Shouted Jaune as he banged his fist on the door for the umpteenth time. Sighing in defeat, Jaune leaned against the door and slid down to the floor. All the leaders of the first year teams were on a workshop retreat to the city of Norme Datre in Vale's neighboring country of Versailles with professor Ozpin.
Jaune scowled as he remembered that Versailles had a much more lax stance on the drinking age. That should have HELPED Jaune get to sleep as when he had explained the lower age laws to Cardin, the larger boy had left the room for the night. Leaving Jaune to study, and more importantly sleep, in peace.
"Should have known it would bite me in the ass." Growled Jaune as he tried to figure out where to sleep now. He hadn't given Cardin a second look as the larger boy drunkenly stumbled past him in the hall towards the room. But when the resounding click of a door shutting and the lock engaging had reached Jaune's ears it hit him like a ton of bricks; Jaune left his key in the room.
The problem with staying in hotels in the most romantic city in Remnant was that young couples tended to go there for the honeymoon, which made for nights that were rather loud. Getting fed up with the groaning and moaning from next door, Jaune huffed and stood up, fighting down a light blush and angrily marching towards the stairs at the end of the hallway. "Grrr, screw this… I'll just go sleep in the lobby."
Coming to the door to the stairs, Jaune stopped at the sound of quiet whimpering. Stopping and listening, Jaune looked to the door on his right, room 202… Ruby's room. Slowly leaning up to the door, Jaune listened quietly to the occasional whimper and bit his lip in concern.
Ever since the field trip to the Forever Fall, Ruby had been distant and somewhat skittish around Jaune. For two weeks, Jaune hadn't been able to talk with the small reaper without her quickly shooting off some thin excuse and running away. It worried the knight more than he could accurately explain and filled him with a fear of losing his best friend at Beacon.
"Ruby…" Quietly asked Jaune as he stepped back from the door for a moment, shaking his thoughts of worry. "Are you okay?" Silence was Jaune's answer as he knocked at the door. The door creaked open as Jaune's fist knocked against the door. Biting his lip in nervousness, Jaune looked left and right before opening the door slowly and walking into room.
Ruby was the only one not to have a roommate for the trip as Velvet was staying with her aunt and uncle who lived in Norme Datre, as such her room was furnished with a single king sized bed due to practicality. Jaune had a feeling that Ruby didn't really like having to be alone considering she was always with her sister or her team, but the red head had been avoiding him so much that he couldn't ask about it.
Slowly walking further into the room. Jaune saw Ruby lightly thrashing in her bed, small whimpers and desperate cries echoed from the petite reaper and made Jaune's chest clench in an achy pain.
Biting his lip in worry and looking back at the opened door, Jaune contemplated just leaving before he made things more awkward between the two already awkward teens. "Mom… please no." Whimpered Ruby as she thrashed a bit more violently. The words shocked Jaune, he had never heard Ruby or Yang refer to their parents, and now watching the petite reaper thrash about in terror Jaune had an idea why.
Giving a worried sigh, Jaune went and closed the door with shaky hands before going back to the bed. Creeping forward timidly, Jaune sat on the edge of Ruby's bed and placed a calming hand on Ruby's thin forearm. Her body felt so small and frail in his hands, a far cry from the brave and quirky leader of RWBY he normally knew. The smaller girl continued to thrash and whimper but it was in a slightly less serious manner.
"Shhhhhhh" Whispered Jaune as he gently rubbed Ruby's arm in a vague attempt to calm the girl, nervousness drenched his voice as he tried to be force himself to be calm. The thought of what Yang would do to Jaune in this situation certainly did not help his rampant nervousness. "It'll be okay; everything is going to be okay." Jaune continued to quietly babble comforting words and gently rub her arm for a while and before he knew it, Ruby had calmed down and was sleeping more peacefully, her breathing slowing to a deeper calmer pace and her face becoming placid and peaceful.
Giving a sigh of thanks that the younger girl hadn't woken and bifurcated the boy with Crescent Rose, Jaune looked to the clock and had to bite his tongue. 'Midnight?!' Thought Jaune, slightly panicked and worried. 'It was only eleven when Cardin came back.' Jaune sighed as he hung his head. They all had another leadership exercise at eight tomorrow morning.
Looking around the room, Jaune grumbled despondently. 'Of course there isn't a couch.' Thought Jaune as he looked at the spartan room. Boasting nothing more than a small desk, a rolling chair, and the large bed, Jaune's options were limited. 'I guess I'll just sleep on the floor.' Thought Jaune as he moved to get up. The king sized bed was probably large enough for him to shimmy onto the edge for the night without being too close to the red reaper… but things were already awkward enough between the two teens and Jaune really didn't want to chance anything; no need to add to the already suffocating tension.
The second Jaune's body left the bed, the whimpers returned and Jaune had to bite down a sigh of frustration as his eyes went skyward in quiet prayer. "Yaaaannnnnggg…" Jaune froze as Ruby groaned out the word, half asleep. It felt like every part of his body was iced over with Weiss' arctic cold ice. "Don't leave." Mumbled the reaper groggily as she blindly groped for the other presence with her hand.
Jaune quickly sat back down and winced as the bed shook, thankfully it wasn't enough to wake Ruby. Biting his lip in fear, Jaune had a small panic attack as he tried to figure out a way to get out of the rather awkward situation. Before any of the plans could become concrete, Ruby's hand found his wrist and pulled with surprising force, bringing the knight down to lay behind her with one arm draped over her shoulder in a comforting manner.
Most men would be excited to be with a beautiful woman in bed in the most romantic city in Remnant. On the other hand, most men wouldn't be with their best friend and it wouldn't have been a complete accident. By now, Jaune's brain was short-circuiting and the blonde was on the edge of hysteria, which always made his mind jump into an analytical mode.
Ruby's grip was surprisingly iron like, despite her lithe and soft features, as one hand grasped his own and the other gripped midway up his forearm. Jaune's blush was almost bright enough to illuminate several locks of the smaller girl's ebony hair that turned crimson towards the tips and had always captured Jaune's attention. Ruby's typical night clothes were baggy, but her physique was developed enough to where Jaune's imagination didn't have to go far to be accurate.
'Aaaaannnd with THAT thought, we need to exit stage left.' Thought Jaune as a blush of absolute shame burned on his face and a knot of self-loathing in his gut promised retribution later.
Jaune lightly tugged his arm in an attempt to get it out from Ruby's grip, but the girl just tightened her grip every time his arm moved. Eventually after what felt like several agonizing hours of attrition, Jaune had managed to get his arm to a point where he could lay somewhat comfortably without waking the sleeping Ruby.
Jaune sighed as he lay on his side. 'It could be worse.' Thought Jaune as he listened to Ruby's deep breathing and the quiet night sounds of Norme Datre, 'At least you threw your shirt on before leaving.' Jaune had to fight down a laugh as the almost trivial decision had saved him. Could you imagine how awkward THAT would have been?
'Besides,' Thought Jaune as he shifted and rubbed light circles on Ruby's hand with his thumb. 'At least Ruby will be able to sleep well tonight, I owe her that much at least.' Ruby sighed happily at the sensation, as she seemed to hug his hand and forearm closer to her chest… Which ended up getting the knight a generous feel of her chest.
'Lord Oum almighty, please forgive me,' Prayed Jaune as his mind ran rampant, his face burning with shame and the knot in his gut intensifying a thousand fold. 'For I have sinned… and sinned… annnnddd sinned.' It was going to be a long night.
Jaune did not have a good night's sleep that night. As a matter fact it'd be fair to say he didn't sleep much that night period. Every thirty minutes, Jaune would wake like clockwork to either readjust his numb arm or reign in loose limbs. Not many people knew, but Jaune got clingy in his sleep and often cuddled whoever had the misfortune of sharing a bed with him. Which would be disastrous in this case.
At around five, Jaune woke and nearly cried out in both surprise and joy. Sometime during the last thirty minutes, Ruby had rolled over and let go of Jaune's arm. Now, Jaune was face to face with the sleeping reaper as faint rays of sunlight flittered in through the thin curtains of the hotel room.
The pale light haloed Ruby's alabaster face. Her crimson-ebony hair was askew and messed like always, thin lips were parted as light breaths from nearly silent snores tickled his chin, her sleeping mask covered her eyes in a slightly twisted manner along with most of her nose, but the tip of her button nose poked out from the bottom of the mask. It was messy, but natural and Jaune couldn't help but think it was the most beautiful thing in the world to him.
'What the hell brain? Quit it! Things are already awkward enough with us.' Screamed Jaune mentally as he blushed and looked away and over at the clock to confirm the time, indeed it was five in the morning and that was late enough for Jaune.
Shimming away slowly from the snoozing girl, Jaune eventually made it to his feet, his body reluctant for the distance from the bed for multiple reasons not all he would admit to. Stretching the kinks and stiffness from his bones, Jaune gave an almighty yawn and almost missed the sound of another yawn behind him. Freezing in place, Jaune listened for a second as the body behind him moved. Before he knew it, he was across the room, out the door, and heading for the stairs
Making it to the lobby in record time, Jaune marched past the TV playing some mindless Versailian soap opera and made immediately for the soda machine, his mind already sputtering and barely keeping awake. Reaching into the pocket of his sweats, Jaune pulled out his wallet and opened it for a lien to get a drink before finding it empty. Staring at the wallet in confusion and anger, Jaune's brain finally decided to catch up and remind him that the last two lien in his wallet had gone to the machine upstairs last night and the poor man down the road from the hotel, leaving Jaune with an empty wallet, a misfiring brain, and no delicious caffeinated drinks.
Letting his head fall forward into the glass of the machine, Jaune slowly slid to his knees and bit back a scream of frustration. Vaguely, Jaune wondered if he was the patron saint of the saying 'No good deed goes unpunished' before laughing and crying at the same time. There was no wonder, of course he was.
Velvet sighed out loud as a headache began to develop. It wasn't really fair to blame Ruby and Jaune for the situation she was in. After all, Velvet had stayed up late last night catching up with her aunt Veronica, helping her uncle Roger cook, and telling tales to her younger cousin Peter. Combined with having to sprint half way across Norme Datre because she had woken up late, it was no wonder that she was in the situation she was in.
However, when Velvet was nearly being crushed between the jaws of a giant robot with a holographic skin modeled after a crocodile Grimm called a LockJaw that Jaune and Ruby were supposed to have taken care of, she found it very taxing not to blame them.
"JAUNE! RUBY! HELP!" Yelled Velvet as she sucked in a breath from the exertion. The lockjaw was nearly as long as a city bus, half its length made up its massive, crushing jaws that Velvet was trapped in. Thankfully she had heard the monstrosity rising out of the simulated swamp behind her and been able to weave a wired aura shield around herself that was keeping the lockjaw at bay, but she would wear out eventually.
Ruby and Jaune were stabbing and slashing anywhere on the monster's armored, leathery skin they could in an attempt to keep it on land and in sight of the cannon used to kill it while Cardin tried desperately to fight off his hangover and figure out the complex controls on the cannon that could end the situation.
Seeing an opportunity to go for the monster's vulnerable eye, Cardin yelled to Ruby and Jaune. "HEY ARC! BOUNCE ROSE OFF YOUR SHIELD FOR THE THING'S EYE!" Yelled Cardin as he flinched from his own booming voice and growled at the controls. "I ALMOST HAVE THE CANNON READY!"
Each member of the duo gave their own acknowledgement to Cardin as they prepared to wound the monstrous beast. Thinking of how he'd seen Pyrrha do this move during initiation, Jaune looked to Ruby and nodded, his eyes lingering far longer than necessary and making the knight stumble as he crouched.
Running and jumping onto Jaune's shield, Crescent Rose at the ready, Ruby thought of Jaune pushing up, the muscles she'd seen in the Forever Fall all flexing to launch her skywards. Realizing how long she'd been thinking about Jaune's muscles, she missed her window of opportunity for the beast's eye and instead slashed its cheek making the creature hiss like a steam pipe and apply more pressure to it's bite, stealing the breath from poor Velvet.
Just as the barrier was about to break around the paling rabbit faunus, a thunderous boom echoed around the arena and the creature stopped moving as the holographic skin faded. Through one of it's glowing red eyes, a jagged harpoon shook slightly like a tuning fork from the impact. Up on the hill, Cardin removed his mace from the smashed console and smirked victoriously at the smoldering machine. "Problem solved."
"Excellent work, Mister Winchester," Echoed Ozpin's voice from the control booth high above the group as he sipped his coffee and programmed another simulation for the leaders to run. "Sometimes the best decision is to just punch through the confusing and complex to a simple answer… I did not anticipate you taking the idea literally however." Cardin smirked as he puffed his chest at the praise.
"That was quick thinking with the shield Miss Scarlatina." Commented Ozpin as Velvet crawled out of the monster's mouth and smiled at the comment. "Reactivity like that will serve you well through your career."
"Speaking of reactivity, I suggest you two shake the fog from your minds Miss Rose and Mister Arc." Chided Ozpin as he looked to the two bashful and awkward teens standing next to each other but looking like they'd rather be anywhere else in the world. "Missing an opportunity like that can get lots of people killed in the field." Stated Ozpin before softening his voice and inputting the next simulation. "While it may be early morning I hope this performance does not last in later tests."
Around the teens, the field changed and the robotic machine walked off towards a maintenance bay. As the field rematerialized it formed a perfect replica of a decrepit stone castle high in the snowy mountains, several spires rose from the building and a few craggy cliffs surrounded the large open yard at the end of a large stone bridge that spanned the chasm before the four teens
"Several avian and ground born Grimm have taken up residence in the castle here. They are raiding the local villages and must be stopped." The snow falling looked and felt cold, a chilly wind blew Velvet's ears back a bit and she shivered from the cold sensation. "Miss Scarlatina is lead for this scenario. Use whatever means necessary to eliminate the Grimm inhabiting the building. Begin." Silently thanking that she was the leader, Velvet thought out how to tackle the castle.
Cardin looked to Velvet before looking to the other two party members. "Hey." Started Cardin as he bumped Jaune with his elbow, startling the golden haired teen and getting his attention. "Are you two awake there?" Asked Cardin as he gestured to Ruby as well. Cardin had become an overall better person since Forever Fall, "Cause if not, tell me now before I get eaten." But he was still kind of a rude person.
Sputtering and waving a hand, Jaune struggled to save face. "Whaaatttt? Yeah, sure man. Just uhh… Just a little tired is all." Yawned Jaune as he stretched and rolled his shoulders. "But hey, good thing about the cold is I am awake now."
Cardin squinted in slight suspicion, he did not miss the aside glance to the petite red head at the mention of being tired, but decided to just let it go as arguing with the goofy knight would just make him clam up and the little red head yap his ear off. "Yeah well, being awake would have helped Velvet five minutes ago." Snapped Cardin a little harshly as he looked to the rabbit faunus in particular.
She turned to him and the duo shared a look. Velvet would by no stretch of the imagination call Cardin a good friend. He and his crew of cronies had nearly made her fail her first quarter of Beacon. But miraculously after nearly being eaten in Forever Fall, Cardin had changed his colors and even more miraculously had apologized and helped Velvet with combat techniques as a favor. So while the two were not friends, they knew each other only as repeated opponents could and Velvet could tell the Cardin was thinking along the same lines as she was. 'Though to be fair, half the school probably shares the thought.' Laughed Velvet mentally as she finalized her plan.
"I'll be fine," Stated Velvet as she smirked to the larger boy. "You know I'm tougher than I look." Taking extra pleasure from the bashful look on Cardin's face, Velvet turned to the rest of the group. "Jaune, go with Cardin and set up in the courtyard for the Grimm. Ruby and I will go up on one of the crags and give you two some ranged support." Velvet could feel the silent question of 'What ranged weapon?' in Jaune and Ruby's looks. Smirking Velvet just chuckled as she motioned for Ruby to follow her up onto the craggy cliffs. "You'll see."
AN: I apologize first off for the delays this has suffered. For I have recently found the game of War Thunder and my past two days have been consumed by it. BUT! Low and behold, I have not fallen deaf to ye my friends and fellow fans! I return bearing this chapter as a peace offering!
Apparently I did something right with Good Night's Sleep if the positive and generous reviews are anything to go off of. As such, due to popular demand, this won't be a one shot, but rather a three shot. The next chapter shall have some fierce combat that will test both our heroes physically and emotionally… so if you guys could give some constructive criticism on the combat that would be perfect. Other wise I will just have to give it my damnedest and we've seen how that ends here and on Keepers of the Gate.
Shout outs for taking the time and effort to review the first chapter go to Dravyn Lecrux, Theeubernoob, A little Grimm, Jetzul, Darkblade40, AndreiN00B, Ladwatcher, Guest, ODST110, and all the favoriters and followers. Cheers to you gentlemen, ladies, and or others out there
Now, I kinda played around with Cardin's character here because I felt the way I portrayed him in my other fic Keepers of the Gate was a little too undouchey. So instead I tried to make him dismissive and a bit of a rude asshole with his way of speaking and acting. So if you fine people would be kind enough to give me feedback on his characterization and the others' characters that would be most appreciated.
So, if you have sat through this monstrous AN, then kudos for reading and thank you for your time.. I shall return soon with the third chapter of a Good Night's Sleep soon, but until then I bid thee farewell and hope you have a good day, night, or any other unit of time that is applicable. Cheers and have a great one!