Chapter 3: My Guiding Moonlight
Jaune's victory over Cardin spread like wildfire, and a newfound respect was forged between him and his other peers, Ruby herself was proud of Jaune's achievement and was willing to accept defeat, and she however in return wanted some private time with Jaune's collection, he relented knowing that he would likely receive the dreaded 'puppy eyes' that all younger siblings held within their genetic makeup.
And so teams JNPR and RWBY began discussing one afternoon the origin of Jaune's newfound (Or in his case resurgent skill) with other weapons, he explained his love of dark souls which inspired him to make weapons and learn the fighting styles of all the bosses in the franchise, he explained his the fight with Ruby how his moves were based off of the Abyss Watchers and promptly showed them a video on his scroll of the in-game fight, and they had to admit the resemblance was uncanny.
"So how about that copy of you?" Blake asked
"Semblance?" he replied unconvincingly
"And the glowing eyes, when you were fighting Cardin?" the Cat-Faunus pressed
After some hesitation he came up with the perfect answer
"Semblance?" he replied again, scratching his head awkwardly "It had to be coincidence that the 'clone spawning' ability was so reminiscent of the actual boss fight, the same can be said with Gundyr"
'Yes' said the collective voice of the group, but Ren being the thinking kind had other ideas.
"If semblances are representations of our personal traits" Ren said aloud "Perhaps your mastery with these weapons trigger different abilities based on the weapons you are using? Jaune try summoning a clone"
Jaune focused his mind trying to call out to that one trigger word that allowed it to appear 'support', but nothing came, again he tried to call forth his clone but all it resulted in was wasted effort and an embarrassed blonde knight.
"Hmm" Ren hummed as he picked a weapon up from the box "take these, and try thinking of something related to the character they belonged to, I have a theory"
Taking 'Capra' in his hands he tried to recollect his thoughts on the boss fight, lots of foliage, large walls, that flight of stairs, shitty camera….WAIT, the dogs!
He was shocked to hear the sound of growling, and he turned his head to see a pair of vicious hound sitting on their haunches eyeing the rest of the group warily, with no threat detected they dissipated into white mist, just like the clone had done when it perished to Ruby's bullet….
"So my theory is correct" Ren surmised "your semblance is adaptive, which is very unique as far as I know and changes in accordance to the boss you are trying to mimic, the weapons can serve as a requirement and a trigger word of some relation to the boss activates the semblance"
"Ren you're a genius" Jaune commented as he picked up a pair of swords he shuddered at the memory of their original wielder 'Pontiff Sulyvahn' and took up his stance crossing the larger greatsword over his chest and letting the shorter silver great sword's tip rest along the ground, at once the blades glowed with fire and magic, a ghostly purple replica of Jaune also appeared, and just like its game incarnation performed Jaune's thoughts before he did, putting the swords away and dissipating.
"Amazing how this ability works" he said aloud
"I KNOW RIGHT?" Nora yelled "Woah could you like mimic a sloth then?"
"I don't think that's possible" Ren deadpanned "I'm guessing Jaune has to be familiar with the figure he is imitating, going as far as to mimic their weapons and fighting style is what might have allowed his semblance to unlock itself"
"So Jaune's semblance is some advanced form of Mimicry?" Yang confirmed
"It would appear so" Blake answered for her teammate
"Let's skip semblances I wanna talk about the weapons!" Ruby interrupted excitedly to which the two teams chuckled, un-embarrassed she started rummaged through Jaune's box like a child sifting through Lego, before picking out the first thing that caught her silver eyes, a comically large golden hammer's head was heaved onto the floor with a mighty thud.
"What's this one?" the red reaper asked eagerly, her eyes sparkling
"That's Smough" Jaune laughed at the younger girl's antics "It's a Warhammer"
"Can it do anything while you're using it?" she asked again
"Not sure" he answered "I haven't really touched it until now, probably because the thing is so darn heavy"
"What kind of boss was he?" Yang cut-in
"Well he's slow and hits like a truck, you fought him alongside as speedier boss at the same time though, other than that he looked like a fat bastard" Jaune replied with a chuckle "The boss he fought with however was a nightmare, and he's called Ornstein the Dragonslayer, he used a spear with a cross-guard my sister probably implemented lightning dust onto it"
Ruby pulled out a large katana, though the handle was excessively long the teams couldn't help but marvel at its simple beauty.
"Now that's a katana" Ruby whistled appreciatively
"That's Alonne, and it's a Nagamaki" Jaune corrected
"Naga-what now?" Yang tilted her head in confusion
"It's a variant of the odachi, think of it like the great swords of the katanas" Blake interrupted "it has a larger handle for better control and range depending on where you hold it, just looking at it though it doesn't seem to have any dust mechanisms attached to it though"
"Nice to know that someone other than Ruby knows their weapons well" Jaune nodded his head in acknowledgment
From there the night turned into a game of questionnaire for the young blonde, they took turns taking out weapons from his box and asking their place of origin, to which Jaune would reply with a variety of reactions with most of them being shivers, grimaces or winces, Much to the delight of his friends.
It was refreshing for him, he felt at ease knowing that they were genuinely interested in the stories surrounding his weapons' wielders, and so it turned into a lore discussion. Ruby and Blake were particularly interested in the obscure story surrounding the Dark Souls series, to be honest Jaune was expecting that sort of reaction from them. He owed it to the representation of story in the series that caught the oft-soft spoken ninja girl as well as the tragedies that befell many characters on the Undead's harrowing journey, Ruby too shared her interest as she asked the most questions surrounding the bosses, Jaune would laugh at her reaction to some of the more grotesque beings or pat her shoulder comfortingly when he mentioned beings such as the cruel 'Pontiff' and his master Aldritch to Quelaag and the 'Fair Lady'.
He too would sigh as he recalled the tale of Yhorm the lonely giant and his tragic end by the blade of his only friend, Siegward of Catarina. He caught a slight sniffle from the reaper and surprisingly the Ice Queen as he recalled his battle with Sif, he remembered nearly crying watching it limp and whimper as the sword he wielded caked its steely-grey and alabaster white fur with blood and dirt tarnishing its purity, despite this it would still keep fighting swinging the umbra black blade that it held in its jaws as it faithfully defended the grave of its fallen master, to the bitter end.
Yang saw her distress and shuffled over to her half-sister's side, she leaned in closer whispering soothing words to the sad little reaper, patting her back in twos similar to the rhythm of a heart beat and from the looks of it her ministrations slowly soothed the 15 year old girl into a calmer state but still noticeably solemn, checking the clock quickly he noticed it was already quite late and decided to call it in for the day. Yang gently guided her sister out of the room and gave a melancholic smile to the team and mouthed a goodnight to team JNPR, Blake and Weiss took their leave as well saying their goodbyes before closing the door.
"Well, that ended well" Jaune sighed tiredly "I, didn't mean get that sort of reaction out of Ruby"
"It's alright" Pyrrha soothed airily as se patted his shoulder "I'm sure a game with the words 'Dark Souls' as its title implied no happy endings for anyone"
"True" he conceded after some hesitation
"I'll be off to bed" Pyrrha said quickly "See you in the morning, Jaune"
"Yeah, goodnight Pyr" Jaune called back
And with that his partner climbed into her bed and all was silent in the room of team JNPR, Jaune stayed up for a while, tending to his weapons despite how clean they were on arrival, he took an old shirt meant for the laundry and doused it in water and began wiping his collection. Nicks and scrapes marred the seemingly flawless masterworks that belonged to the blonde knight, after all a knight in shining armour is a man who's never tested his metal says the poster on his wall, he turned his head to see the Moonlight Great sword, the long-running reference weapon that all of the developer's games had in its arsenal as an easter egg, its gentle glow lightly penetrated through the linen wrappings that hugged its mummified form, it was his favourite weapon when he picked up BloodBorne. And refused to use any other weapon ever since he retrieved it from Ludwig, the Holy Blade.
Liberating the weapon from its cloth prison he ran his palm along the flat of its humming surface, revelling in the slow, gentle pulses of blue that danced and swirled lazily, he wrapped the blade up once more and slid it underneath his bed, as to not disturb his teammates from sleep any longer than necessary, sliding into bed he pulled the covers up and dreamt a Hunter's Dream.
(Line Break)
The next day, team JNPR and RWBY were disappointed to see that it was pouring rain outside many of them had plans to go out into Vale for their own personal reasons, Ruby wanted to restock on her ammo supplies for Crescent Rose and pass by the bakery on the way back for some cookies, Blake yearned to hit up the book shop but was shocked to discover that Tukson's Book Trade was down for business, permanently. Yang wanted to relax at Junior's club despite the fact that she had destroyed it on her first visit, her reasoning 'They made good Strawberry Sunrises' to which Weiss grumbled incoherently, she wanted to go get some tune-ups for Myrtenaster and more dust cartridges with Ruby.
On JNPR's side, Ren wanted to visit a newly opened tea shop, and wanted to buy some boxes for himself as he disapproved of the generic brand provided at Beacon, Nora wanted to go along with Ren anyway despite absolutely hating tea and yet she still argued that they weren't 'together, together'. Jaune wasn't interested in going out today, he wanted to stay back and write letters as he promised to his family as he said 'An Arc never goes back on his word, even to his own family' Pyrrha too had no plans and wanted to stay with Jaune, with no ulterior motives whatsoever as she so politely put it, receiving suspicious glances from her female friends.
Jaune sat on his bed, scroll expanded across his lap, typing on the on-screen keyboard, Pyrrha noted that every time he finished a letter he would lean back and sigh exasperatedly, and would fume and grumble to himself every time he received a reply within seconds of sending it, much to her amusement.
Jealousy lingered in her gut as she read the e-mails over her partner's shoulder, she was jealous in that the only e-mails she's ever received were from fans, begging for friend requests and knowing that if she accepted they'd never actually communicate, she tried to suppress her melancholy but let out an audible sigh, her parents hardly communicated to her and the only message she had received lately was a farewell and good luck e-mail from her Mum and Dad, but when she responded, they never returned.
"You alright Pyrrha?" Jaune asked "You seem out of it"
"I-I'm fine Jaune" She replied quickly shaking her head
"You sure?" he pressed "You look sad"
Pyrrha thought that she should just play it off, but the yearning to be with her partner and participate with him in his task was too inviting, part of her wanted to return to her solemn vigil, but a stronger feeling surged forth purging those bad thoughts away, if she wanted something done, she was going to try regardless of the consequences.
"Can I be honest with you Jaune?" she asked
"Of course Pyrrha" Jaune "What's up?"
"I'm jealous of you Jaune" she confessed motioning to his scroll "You can easily interact with anyone you come across, whilst I" she paused "I just can't seem to make any long term relationships with anyone, all they see is someone who's only good at being viewed on a pedestal, something to be admired something to be jealous of".
"That's not true Pyrrha" Jaune countered "You have us, your team and your friends from Team RWBY"
"That's not the point" she sighed "You have family, people you can really talk to, to share a laugh, a smile, and a cry even"
"What about your parents?" Jaune offered
"They've never said a word to me once I left Mistral to go to Beacon" She said as her head drooped slightly "All they said was good luck, and make us proud they never cared about my social life, I just want to be like you, normal".
"Well, to be honesty you're already doing it" Jaune encouraged "Look around you, no one really cares that you're the 3rd time Champion of whateverwhatsit, everyone's settled down into classes now, they've got bigger worries than being in the presence of Cereal girl"
She punched him lightly in the shoulder for using that nickname, She hated it when he used that nickname, only Pyr was applicable to her, at the back of his mind he always wondered why.
"Okay, I deserved that" Jaune faux winced in pain
"Yes, yes you did" Pyrrha confirmed as she tried to hide the ever-growing smirk on her face, with nothing really to say they both chuckled awkwardly.
Jaune noticed that the clouds had started clearing through the dorm window, the sun just peeking through the curtains of grey that slid across the sky, Jaune had a really stupid idea brewing in his mind, but if it meant making Pyrrha feel better, it was worth it.
Throwing open the window, he took a deep breath, shifted his feet as close together as possible and raised his arms slowly, once they reached the point that he looked like a human letter 'Y' he shouted with all his might
'PRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAISE THE SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!'
After a few moments, he heard muffled giggling before breaking down into full-blown laughter, Jaune collapsed from his pose, internally commenting that his Sunbrother would be proud, he turned to see Pyrrha red in the face, clutching her belly as she laughed uproariously at how ridiculous her partner looked at that moment.
Jaune joined in, laughing at his own embarrassment and the contagious nature of happiness, they laughed together for several minutes before it dissipated into soft giggles, snorts and smirks.
"Thanks Jaune" Pyrrha giggled again wiping a tear that threatened to fall down her cheek "I really needed that"
"I could tell you did" Jaune chuckled in reply scratching behind his head again in embarrassment "But I'm glad to see you feeling better Pyr"
She was positively beaming as he finished his sentence, Jaune tilted his head in confusion at his partner's sudden mood jump, must be a girl thing he thought.
Their moment however was interrupted by the door to their dorm room being forced open with brutal force, with Yang and Ruby standing at the doorway.
"Have you two seen Blake come through here?" Yang asked desperately
"Why? What happened?" Jaune asked gravely
"She and Blake had an argument" Ruby explained
"What about?" Jaune pressed
"That's beside the point, we need to find her and whether Weiss likes it or not she's coming with us!" Yang growled as she talked off back to her dorm room
"Please" Ruby pleaded "We really need your help, the more people out there looking for her the better chance of us finding her"
"That's true" Pyrrha agreed
"Alright we'll meet you at the front in a few minutes" Jaune nodded rushing off to his lockers dutifully
Opening his locker door he had come to a startling revelation, he had no idea which weapon to bring with him in case of danger, clutching his head he wandered around the locker room his mind wracking itself to account for so many possible dangerous situations that they might come across, coming to a conclusion he took his Hunter's Blunderbuss then he ran back to his bedroom, quickly grasping the linen wrapped sword in his hands before strapping the large blade across his back
Making his way to the outside lobby of Beacon academy he and Pyrrha clad in her signature bronze armour, spear and shield tucked on her back, while Jaune had The Holy Moonlight sword slung across his back making appear deceptively intimidating despite the good natured personality he is well known for.
"You ready?" Jaune turned to his partner
She nodded, a flurry of wind was heard and they both turned to see Yang, Ruby and Weiss (albeit very unamused) standing there, they acknowledged each other with a nod before making their way to the nearest available Bullhead, before quickly jumping aboard Yang had to drag our lovable blonde knight aboard as the weight of the swords made it difficult for him to jump on, that and Jaune's apprehension towards air travel.
After a few minutes of flight time and a dry heave from Jaune on landing, they all agreed to splitting up to find RWBY's missing teammate, Yang went for the main streets and central areas, Weiss and Ruby took to the shopping districts and Pyrrha and Jaune went looking in the industrial areas on the outskirts of Vale.
Jaune and Pyrrha searched high and low across the industrial district, they asked a few passers-by if they've seen a black haired girl with a bow, they could only apologise and shake their heads before continuing on their way, they did this for nearly half an hour before a massive explosion rocked the two teammates' ears the source of it came from the warehouse areas just by the docks, unsheathing their weapons the two followed the source of the commotion.
Approaching the loading bay, they were surprised to see an Atlesian Paladin fighting off some huntsman, but on closer inspection the two realised it was Ruby Rose, Weiss and Yang and Blake fighting off the Paladin that was being assisted by a few smaller figures, but the notorious masks and symbols automatically defining them as White Fang.
The two members of Team JNPR turned and nodded at each other, trusting in their partner's ability they both charged into the fray, Pyrrha being the faster one initiated her fight against the Faunus terrorists whilst Jaune followed behind freeing the wrapped blade to reveal a slender blade of antiquity, yet a deadly present lurked beneath its unassuming shape.
Jaune dragged his sword across the floor sending sparks flying into the air as he swerved away from the melee that a monkey Faunus, a peculiar red-headed girl and a blonde brawler were participating in and charged towards the Paladin.
Only to be stopped as a figure stood in his way forcing him to instinctively halt his charge, coming face to face (well rather face to head) with a petite lady, her hair a mixture of the colours pink and brown, complimented by a pale white jacket, his first thoughts instantly shifted to Neapolitan ice cream of all things, but his thoughts were interrupted as he was thrown onto the floor by the small lady.
Jaune stood up quickly to address his aggressor, he hunched low letting the great-sword rest on his shoulder his eyes fixated upon his opponent, the cocky smirk on her face was off-putting especially as it shifted into a cruel sadistic grin as his opponent twirled her umbrella resting it on her shoulder, performing the universal 'come hither' gesture with her free hand.
Jaune thrusted the large blade, but with deft skill the smaller fighter easily parried the strike, punishing him with a kick to the chest before lifting her other foot letting it slam across his cheek, sending him reeling backward not wanting to let the girl take advantage of his state he skipped backward firing off his blunderbuss off as a deterring shot, in reply she raised her umbrella blocking the pellets that collided with its surface before shooting off towards him at such speed it seemed as though she teleported, Jaune however had plans of his own reaching into one of his pockets his hands clenched around a phial of grey powder, before crushing it in his hands.
Just before she could land a spinning kick aimed for his head he too vanished into thin air briefly, reappearing a few paces away, the clouds seemed to part and the moon illuminated the pier, but its rays caught onto something else as well, the blonde knight ran his hand along the old sword and the width of its edge nearly doubled in addition living light cast itself upon the once dull steel.
'My guiding Moonlight…' he whispered softly
Jaune assumed his previous stance, his eyes bore into hers and wisps of moonlight blue traced his irises.
'It's time Jaune Arc joined the Hunt'