"Choose."
The choices once more swarmed Jaune's vision as he sighed in disbelief. "Oh come on! Really?!"
"Do a ballet dance in the middle of the hallway and attempt to flirt with a girl. Alternatively, you may beg like a dog at the knees of a student." The voice intoned, clear as day.
Jaune looked about him. The hallway was crowded as usual, with students milling about and checking their bags for timetables and what-not, and the voice had commanded him for the umpteenth time that day to do something incredibly silly.
It had been a whole week since the curse had been laid upon him, one whole week. He'd managed for all of it to keep it hidden from Pyrrha- he didn't want her to worry, and though he knew she was possibly the most understanding woman on Remnant, it wasn't as if she was about to buy the fact that some voice was coming from Dust-knows-where to make him do crazy things.
The only sort of people who said that were either liars or the sort one locked up in straitjackets and put into nice soft rooms filled with white cushions where nice men in white coats stared at you and made notes about your condition for the rest of your natural life.
Of course, Jaune was wondering if he didn't count for the latter as it was.
The familiar pain shot through his head, warning him he hadn't chosen yet. Jaune winced, rubbing his temple, before sighing.
"Fine, fine. I'll dance..." Jaune conceded. "Just leave me alone already."
The choices faded away, and the knight inhaled deeply, before balancing on one foot, twirling around as the voice had forced him to, doing a pirouette to a nearby female student and propping her chin up with a finger.
"Hello, dear." Jaune smiled, grinning despite his desperate situation. "So, are you an angel? Because you look like you just fell from-"
The girl screeched and slapped him, sending him spinning and tumbling to the floor. Jaune rubbed his head, the compulsion fading, groaning as she walked away from him.
"Ow...dammit..." Jaune sighed. "Well, at least it's satisfied...for now..."
He wrenched himself up, dusting himself off. As he looked around, he realised that everyone was staring at him again.
Sadly, to Jaune, it wasn't the first time he'd been stared at. The choices he was getting had at least spared him more perverted things like he'd been asked to do to Winter, but it had decided to give him sillier ones- the other day, he'd ended up being forced to act like a butler for Velvet, for one.
It wasn't as unpleasant as sticking his face into Winter's chest, and Velvet had been pleasantly surprised, as he'd tried to make it as pleasant as he could for her- after all, just because he was suffering didn't mean he would let anyone else suffer, too.
Of course, none of that was relevant right now. Jaune closed his eyes and picked up his bag, slinging it on his back.
"I'm sorry, guys. I'll be on my way..." The knight scurried off, running off to his next class.
In his hurry, he ignored the one very confused eye on him, who was studying his motions.
"What is going on with him..." The girl said, rubbing her temples, before realising something. "Wait, wait.
...could he be? The...the signs have been there the last week...but...no, I have to know."
Jaune ran into the classroom, closing his eyes and heading quickly to his desk. Thankfully, nobody had asked any questions on the way.
The knight settled on the desk, breathing heavily. He lay back on his chair, wiping his forehead.
"Man...it's been a long time since I ran that far to get away from something..."
"I see. You seem tired, Mister Arc."
"Yeah. I ran pretty fa-" Jaune froze, as he realised who was talking to him. Slowly, he turned around to see Winter Schnee, smiling peacefully at him.
"W-Winter! I...uh...didn't expect you to be here! Hi!"
"Good morning, Mister Arc." The lady greeted him with a small wave. "You ran to class? You must have been very eager to get to class."
"U-uh...yeah, that's it! I was pretty eager to get to class, that's all! Hehehehe..." The knight rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, that's all...h-hey, Winter. You're in the year over me, right? What are you doing in my class?"
"Actually, she's in our year, you dolt." Weiss interjected, crossing her arms. "Winter's older than me by one year, but she missed a year."
"I was a very ill child, unfortunately." Winter admitted, frowning slightly.
Jaune nodded. "I see. You don't really look too sickly now, though."
"The years have been very kind to me, fortunately."
"Is this a friend of yours, Jaune?" Pyrrha walked over to join the conversation. "Who might this girl be?"
"She's my sister, Winter." Weiss introduced her older sister to the spearmaiden. "Winter, meet Pyrrha Nikos, one of the best Huntresses of our year, Pyrrha, meet my sister Winter."
Winter extended her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Nikos. I am familiar with your tournament work."
Pyrrha received her hand, shaking it firmly. "A pleasure to meet you also, Miss Schnee. I assume you know Jaune?"
The lady nodded. "Of course. Mister Arc has been very kind to me. He is a good friend to have."
"A friend...y-yeah, of course!" Pyrrha nodded in agreement. "A friend...yes."
Weiss blinked, tilting her head at the spearmaiden. "...something wrong, Pyrrha?"
"Nothing at all. I should let you all get to it." Pyrrha laughed briefly. "Yes, of course. I hope we can talk later, Miss Schnee."
"As do I, Miss Nikos." Winter smiled at her. "Good day."
Pyrrha walked off, looking to Jaune briefly, before continuing to walk to her seat. He got the distinct impression she was disappointed about something.
"So, Miss Nikos is a friend of yours?" Winter inquired, curious. Jaune nodded quickly.
"Of course! She and I are on the same team, team JNPR."
"Huh, I see. She seems like a nice girl."
"She's quite the talent. Jaune's lucky to have her on his team." Weiss pointed out.
The knight rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I'm pretty lucky. Pyrrha's a pretty cool teammate. She's a good friend, too, and she doesn't really mess up the dorm too much, like Nora."
"I pity you for sharing a dorm with Nora." Weiss sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Dust knows all she thinks about are pancakes, sloths and explosions..."
"You should see how many plates I've got to clean after dinner." Jaune admitted exasperatedly. "I'm pretty sure all that girl ever eats are pancakes-"
"Good morning, class!" Professor Oobleck zoomed behind the desk in front, hands behind his back, looking primly at the class.
"We must get started immediately! Time is of the essence! You know where your textbooks are, take them out and flip to page fifty-seven!
Today, we will be studying the ancient battle of the Sanguine Gulch, between the Crimson Kingdom and the Azure Kingdom of Pre-Modern Vytal!"
"Why does that sound familiar..." Jaune mused as he opened up the textbook.
After class...
Jaune sighed in relief as he got through a day of classes without the voice commanding him to degrade himself. He calmly put his stuff in his bag, zipping it up and putting it on his back as he waved at Professor Oobleck, who calmly presided over the leaving class.
'Alright...all I have to do is to get back to my dorm and hope that whatever choice I'm going to get isn't too bad...' The knight hoped, praying to whatever deities were out there that he wasn't about to get a sadistic choice.
"Jaune?"
Pyrrha tapped him on the shoulder. The knight turned to face the spearmaiden, who looked fairly worried.
"Yes, Pyrrha?"
"You look...stressed." The spearmaiden noted, frowning. "Is everything alright, Jaune? Has Cardin been accosting you again?"
"W-what?" The knight's eyes widened. "N-no, of course not!"
"Jaune, it's fine if you tell me. I will make sure he leaves you alone." Pyrrha clenched her fist. "Please, you must tell me if he bullies you."
"No, Pyrrha, it's fine. Nobody's bullying me!" Jaune admitted. "Please, nobody needs to get involved. I haven't even spoken to Cardin since the whole thing with the Ursa."
Pyrrha deflated, looking away somewhat embarrassedly. "Oh."
The knight smiled. "Still, thanks for looking out for me. I'm fine, really. Just a little tired, is all. I'm sure that when I hibernate for the whole weekend like I'm planning to do, I'll be as right as rain again."
Pyrrha chuckled at that, her fears put at ease. "I see. Alright, Jaune. I will...leave you to your hibernating.
But, Jaune, if you will...would you like to accompany me somewhere?"
"A-accompany you?!" The knight was taken aback by the sudden request.
'A-accompany her? W-what does she...n-no way. No, she's not asking me to a date, is she?'
"Accompany me, yes." The spearmaiden repeated, smiling.
Jaune stepped back slightly. "W-what do you mean accompany you? L-Like a date or something?!"
Pyrrha blushed profusely. Jaune froze, thinking he'd said something offensive, before she started staring at him in shock. "A date? O-of course not, Jaune! I...I mean, we are hardly boyfriend and girlfriend, after all! T-that would be a...s-silly notion!
No, I-I intended...you and I could just, as friends, talk. Over a cup of coffee. It does not even have to be in Vale, we could do it here."
Jaune breathed heavily, relieved that she hadn't been asking him on a date after all.
It was a silly notion, anyway. Pyrrha wasn't in love with him, right? Besides, that would mean she had a one-sided love for him like in those weird anime, and, though Jaune's life seemed like one lately, it wasn't as if that spread to the rest of his life, right?
"Choose."
Jaune stepped back, as the choices filled his vision again, blocking out Pyrrha and the rest of the classroom.
'No...come on, no!'
"Coldly reject her request like a playboy with a harem, or drool over her like a creepy fanboy." The voice detailed. Jaune swallowed, considering his choices.
He surveyed the spearmaiden, who was frozen in place, blushing and standing back from him.
'I...I have to pick the one that won't...I have to pick one. I'm in public, if I drool over her now, then any chance of salvaging what's left of my reputation will be gone and Pyrrha will be even more hurt...' Jaune closed his eyes.
'I'm sorry, Pyrrha, I'll make it up to you later... Give me the first choice.'
The choices faded away from his sight, and the world began to move around him again.
Pyrrha tilted her head at him. "Jaune? Is everything al-"
"Hmph." The knight propped her chin up with a finger, sneering at her. "You're pretty good at joking around, you know that, Nikos?
You think for a second that I, Jaune Arc, have time to spend having coffee with you?"
Pyrrha was struck speechless.
"They say I'm the golden boy of Beacon. Hmph." Jaune crossed his arms. "I didn't get that title by putting out to every nobody who asked me out to a coffee. I'm an exclusive boy, and I have standards.
You're just going to have to put up with those if you want to ask me out to a date, dear. Now, if you excuse me, I am going off to have coffee with that Velvet girl from the other class. Tch.
She's probably just as desperate as you."
Jaune then snapped out of the compulsion, blinking with his eyes wide in terror at Pyrrha, who was staring at him, blinking.
"J-Jaune..." The spearmaiden choked out. The knight felt fear spread across his chest, fear that he had hurt Pyrrha.
He'd already hurt her when he'd rejected her once, he didn't want to do it agai-
"Y-you are...that kind of person..." The spearmaiden felt her cheeks redden, rubbing them with her hand. "O-Oh my..."
"What." Jaune stared at her.
'Is she...is she digging on me because I just went sadistic playboy on her?! W-wait, no, she wouldn't dig on me, right?'
"...y-you're far more...a-assertive...I..." Pyrrha placed both hands on her cheeks, looking down embarrassedly. "I don't know what I..."
"H-hey, Pyrrha, listen. I didn't mean that!" Jaune laughed.
Now everyone was looking at him, confused.
"Did he just turn down Pyrrha Nikos?"
"Oh Dust...wow. Who does he think he is, some kinda playboy?"
"Dude, you don't just turn down Pyrrha when she asks you out for coffee!"
Jaune stepped back from the malfunctioning spearmaiden, who was muttering to herself.
'Oh crap. Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap.' Jaune thought frantically. 'I've got to-'
Suddenly, he felt a hand grab his arm and drag him off before he could move. Jaune's eyes widened again as he struggled.
"H-hey! Let me go! Hey!"
He was pulled out of the classroom and into a janitor's closet nearby, with his captor shutting the door behind them and locking it tightly.
Jaune twisted around to turn and face them.
"What gives? I wasn't-" He stopped, realising who had dragged him into the closet.
"What did that voice tell you?" Blake Belladonna, resident bookworm- and unbeknownst to anyone except teams JNPR, RWBY and Ozpin, a Faunus- was staring at him in the closet, her golden feline eyes glistening slightly in the darkness of the closet, as she waited for his response.
"...sorry?" Jaune blinked, not entirely comprehending what she had just said.
"I said, what did that voice tell you to do?" Blake repeated sternly.
'S-she...she knows about the voice?' The knight was taken aback, shaking his head as if disbelieving that Blake had said that, before clearing his throat and regaining his composure.
"I...it told me to...um, act like a playboy or drool over Pyrrha's arm..."
The catgirl sighed, closing her eyes and snapping her fingers. "As I thought. So it was true."
"Huh?" The knight stared at her. "Wait, how do you know about the voice? Blake, wha-"
"Jaune." Blake calmly intoned. "Do you know what the curse of Absolute Choice is?"
Jaune stared at her, stepping back slightly and trying not to stumble over a mop.
"Absolute...Choice? That's what it's called? Absolute Choice?"
To be continued...
DISCLAIMER: RWBY does not belong to me, otherwise we actually would have a parody of sadistic playboys.
NouCome belongs to Takeru Kasukabe.
A/N: Ooooh, so Blake knows about Absolute Choice, Pyrrha has a thing for sadistic playboys, and we already have our main three girls here. This is going to be interesting.
So, I hope you enjoyed that, leave your ideas, comments, suggestions, criticisms, reviews and thoughts, and I hope you have a GREAT day! Until next time!
