Back once more and ready for some action!
In this chapter, we're going to see the first occurrence of the Arc Family Passing's effect called "Take the Wheel", as well as a lot of other stuff because I tend to jump around a little bit when writing
Enjoy~!
RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth
Chapter 4: Out of the Frying Forest and into the FLRE
Jaune paced himself as he followed his fellow knight. He had his sword and shield in his hand.
"Ursa! Ten'o'clock!" Luke called out in warning.
Jaune pushed his aura into his shield, turning it into a broad headed axe as he swung hard without thinking hard. The result was the axe lopping off the Ursa's attacking arm, shortly followed by Jaune pivoting up and to the left, his sword meeting its neck. He quickly ripped his sword out of its neck and continued running, easily catching up to his heavier ally.
"So, is this a bad time to ask what team you're on?" Jaune said, laughing as his aura kept his lungs supplied with fresh air.
"I lead Team FLRE, pronounced Flare, standing for Fenerion, Luke, Raiden, and Evan. Each of my comrades are skilled in the arts of blades." Luke said easily, "Each has their own set of skills, and each is kind in their own ways."
"Hm, sounds like a nice team, which one was your partner in the initiation?" Jaune felt like if he was going to die, he might as well die fighting beside a friend rather than an unknown ally.
"I was with Evan. He is quite social and thus, easy to make friends. He calls people 'bro' affectionately. There may be many better teammates to have, but there are many many worse teammates to have as well. I am more than adequately satisfied with his performance thus far." Luke was deliberate and methodical with his words. His compliments seemed... deep and wholesome, in a way, "The other two have also left me quite satisfied, I feel that we have a strong team, couple with our brotherhood and camaraderie, I believe we will go far." his words were full of a humble, but truthful hope.
Jaune could appreciate it, "So anything I need you know about your weapons before we get into any serious combat?"
"From a range I have a pistol, bored to the fifty caliber by fifty millimeter casings. My longsword reaches three feet in base form, six in greatsword form, nine in breaker form, and twelve in juggernaut form." Luke's explanation was vague, but Jaune could pick up that his sword could transform, "My shield has a reactive system that sends Dust bursting at my attacker, the effects vary on the dust. Currently I have lightning equipped." Jaune mentally jotted down everything he said for future reference.
'It would be cool to have something like that.'
'Who knows? He might get wounded or something and give us the weapons.'
'Jack, that's a terrible thing to hope for!'
'I'm just giving a possibility! Jeez, don't be so sensitive.'
"Beowolves, three of them, up ahead!" Luke pointed with his sword as he slowed his pace a little.
Jaune in turn sped up, fire burning in his soul. He started skidding to a halt as his sneakers dug furrows in the dirt as his sword sailed through the ribcage of the Beowolf in the center.
Pushing his aura through it, the blade glowed with white scrollwork as he twisted it and swung it free, sending it careening into the Beowolf on the right and slicing through an arm, through even its ribs with the age-old edge.
A shot cracked out as Luke blasted the third Beowolf in the chest, a spray of quickly dissolving blood blasting backwards and coating a tree.
The Beowolf keeled over, "So, uh, how much further?"
"Only one hundred meters to go." Luke said even as he began charging again.
Jaune followed, "So, what are you seeing up ahead?"
"Grimm, dozens of Grimm, mostly Ursa, but plenty of Beowolves too."
"Heh, Ruby would enjoy that." Jaune mused as his heart pounded in his chest.
"I assume she favors fighting Beowolves. Not an very common enemy, but the pests are an annoyance everywhere, breeding more like insects than mammals." Luke spat out, "Vile creatures, corruptions of darkness, they will taste Luna's blade." he raised his sword bravely, but then paused "Wait... do you sense that?"
"Sense what?" Jaune replied as they both halted their movements.
"It's an aura reading... a fellow student! Caught fighting these monsters! Make utmost haste, we must assist her immediately!" Luke proceeded to charge at an incredible speed, moving swift as a charging wolf rather than the striding bear speed he had been doing before.
Jaune matched him easily, adrenaline kicking in. Doing this to clear the area was just a casual extermination, but if another student was already there and fighting?
His blood nearly froze as he heard the sounds of pistol fire, he knew only one female who wielded a pistol...
Waking up to the sound of tearing paper: bad.
Turns out it's the resident ice queen tearing something: very bad.
The paper was being torn out of a book: very very bad.
Not bitch-slapping the diminutive girl as you take the book by force: very hard to do.
Running away: depressingly easy.
Getting to the armory in only your pajamas: lucky.
Spare outfit in your locker: even luckier.
Slipping away to go read in peace: surprisingly difficult.
Going outside Beacon to find a place: bad idea in hindsight.
Going to the Forever Fall Forest: would justify the horrible idea later by claiming insanity and overwhelming emotion, making a half-hearted promise to not do it again to the youthful leader of the team.
Finally reading the book and it turns out it's Jaune's journal: surprising, and very insightful.
Reaching the flowery poetry he had written when he thought of ways to 'woo the angels around him': not bad, she had to admit.
Big, BIG, BIIIIIG group of Grimm show up when she's about halfway through reading the book?: Blake should not have bothered getting out of bed this morning.
Gambol Shroud delivered a shot to the shoulder of one Beowolf, whipping around to blast another in the leg.
She would not last very long against this many enemies. Running away at this point would only be possible by expending a lot of Aura, more than half her reserves. Staying to fight wasn't much better, but she could at least reduce the threat.
She saw two flashes of black and white approaching very, VERY quickly, and whipped Gambol Shroud back to her hand, firing two shots. She immediately regretted it.
"GAH!" Jaune fell on the ground as a bullet grazed down his chin, deflected from a slight flaring of his aura in a color he could not identify.
Not two seconds later, he was slammed into the ground by an Ursa that was knocked aside by Luke's sword swinging through its thick, beefy arm.
Jaune blacked out.
"So, this is how it's gonna be, then?" the orange-eyed man smirked, "Well, are you ready?"
Jaune groaned, "Tooooo~ be honest... I wasn't expecting it to happen like this, but then again, my life has never been easy." he cracked his neck.
"Right, well, I'll be off then." Jack raised his hands as Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax flew into his hands.
Jaune saw flames dance across his vision, and all went dark.
Blake went wide-eyed, "JAUNE!" she cried out. She didn't know it was him, it, it was an accident!
Luke drove the Ursa to the ground, his longsword's dark metal edge shifting and expanding into a six-foot-long greatsword, the blade six inches wide and an eighth of an inch thick. He swung it at an approaching Beowolf and sliced the beast in half. Suddenly, a Boarbatusk rolled at him, so he flared up his semblance.
A large hole faded into his body as Evanescence took effect, turning part of his body ethereal as the Boarbatusk hit a tree, laying on its back just long enough for Luke to angle his blade and stab it in its stomach, ending its struggles.
Suddenly, a searing heat nearly made him shut down from a PTSD attack, he looked to his side...
Jack opened his eyes and pushed himself up to his feet, or rather, Jaune's feet.
He immediately whipped his body out to form, limbering up easily with the help of his aura. He picked up Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax with a quick golden Aura Construct like a harpoon, bringing them to his hands.
He turned his orange eyes to the other knight, Luke, and grinned. He aimed his sword towards Blake, flames racing up the blade.
Show me how to lie
A thin stream of flames roasted four enemies hear her, but left her completely unharmed. He turned to Luke, "Move, dude!" he said with Jaune's vocal cords, before taking off like greased lightning on cocaine.
You're getting better all the time
He spun his two swords, Crocea Mors and Sanctus Mendax, in flaming circles as he shot through the Grimm like air, not losing any momentum.
Suddenly, there was a deafening roar as an Ursa, more massive than any other that the three fighters had ever seen before, so tall that the trees did not reach its shoulders when it was on all fours, approached, its footsteps cracking the ground.
And turning all against the one,
Is an art that's hard to teach.
"Showtime!" Jack flung his fingers forth, sending lightning bolts arcing throughout the other Grimm. Their burning red markings suddenly turned bright, fiery orange as Jack basically took over their minds with electricity. He loved that trick.
Another clever word
Sets off an unsuspecting herd.
"REBEL!" he called out across the massive clearing, and all Grimm except Ursa charged the massive beast.
And as you step back into line.
Blake was wide-eyed at the display, what had happened to Jaune to give him this power? She knew that he couldn't have spontaneously learned everything he had just done.
And yet she awaited his orders, "What about us?!" she called out to him.
A mob jumps to their feet.
"You two, Ironhide, Sweetcheeks, kill the other Ursa!" Jack called back to her as he charged his legs with his orange Aura.
Blake felt indignant about being called 'Sweetcheeks', but she also felt slightly happy, mainly because that was a pet name from one of her favorite books. Her thoughts could dwell on that later
He took all of one second to watch as the two Hunters-in-training set about slaying the Ursa, leaving him to focus on the big one.
"Alright, Mr. Titanic, let's see how well you can DANCE!" he cracked his knuckles and charged fire through his weapons.
Now dance, fucker, dance!
He flew up the arm of the Ursa, slashing hundreds of times in seconds. He flashed up to the beast's shoulder looking at the field of red-marked spikes on its back.
Man he never had a chance!
He closed his eyes and focused as the right turned blue.
'What's going on? I feel weird.' Jaune's voice was now the recessive one.
'Follow my lead, channel the flames, swing the sword, GO!'
Jaune swung his right arm, wielding Crocea Mors covered in flames.
And no one even knew
It was really only you.
Fire and Lightning, with translucent respective aesthetics, that was Jack's semblance. The spikes were shaven down by the searing blades as lightning ran through Jack's legs, directing the two minds down the beast's back.
Spikes fell like trees as the two ran past, 'Now! Downwards! There!' Jack jumped high into the air and boosted himself with fire jets coming out of his feet.
Together, Jaune and Jack swung the two swords down on a single point, a crack of bone and thunder emitting from the point of impact.
The massive Ursa fell as its spinal cord was severed at the point it controlled its hind legs.
And now you steal away~!
Take him out today~!
Zooming back like greased lightning on cocaine again, Jack focused once more, and both of his eyes turned blue, 'Now! I've given you control of your body. Split this fucker wide open!'
'On it!' Jaune still couldn't speak, but his actions spoke louder than words.
Doing as Jack had done, he lunged with fire jetting out from his legs, propelling himself with two blades in hand. He spun around and soared into the Ursa's mouth, roasting its tongue and flesh instantly.
He reared both weapons back, then turned Sanctus Mendax into a gauntlet. He punched right at the back of the beast's throat, and a thick, resounding *CRACK* emanated from the hit, followed by a sick slicing sound as Crocea Mors followed its brother's side, roasting the insides of the massive Ursa's broken neck.
The beast fell, dead even before it fully hit the ground.
'Alright, that's all I can give, now watch a pro at work.'
'Wait, what?' Jaune felt numbness, then nothing, no pain or physical feeling at all as Jack took over fully again.
Nice word you did~!
You're gonna go far, kid~!
Jack turned Sanctus Mendax back into a sword, then escaped the mouth of the Ursa, coming down to the ground and using a few blasts of fire, each cast from Crocea Mors, to simply kill off the remaining Grimm.
He turned the sword back into a sheathe, sheathed his sword, and smiled at Blake and Luke.
"... that was most impressive, dear comrade, jolly good show!" Luke clapped his hands heartily, "Jolly good show indeed!"
"Jaune... I-" Blake was already in front of him, but Jack only held her at an arm's length and smiled.
"No worries, Blakey, I did what I had to do, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't save your life?" he asked in a tone that seemed to be the perfect mix of lightheartedness, comfort, reassurance, and seriousness.
Blake blushed, the way Jaune looked when he smiled like that, it was intoxicating to her, "I... uh..." she couldn't muster words as Jack gently patted her on the head.
"A very bad friend, that's what kind, and Jaune Arc does not do 'very bad friend', not at all." he gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "Just try to be more careful next time, alright, Blakey?" he walked over to Luke and held up a hand.
Luke held up his own hand, and leather met metal as the two did a bro shake, grasping each other's hands, pulling each other in for a hearty pat on the back, and ending it with a fist pound.
"Mr. Arc! That... was... INCREDIBLLLLLEEEE!" Professor Goldbutter shouted as he lowered his platform to the group, "You destroyed that Ursa Colossus with such skill and power that I was pretty sure that I was watching an action movie or a real hunter or something like that!"
Jack grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "Eh, all in a day's work, I suppose." he looked around, reversing the polarity of his Aura Detection sight in order to find any more Grimm, a technique known by many Hunters as Dark Sight. He found none close enough to be a problem within the amount of time he needed, "Speaking of a day's work." he rushed over to a nearby tree and cut it in half with one swing of his sword, revealing a rich, dark red wood, "Behold! Goldenrod!" he said in a joking manner, holding his hands out in presentation.
"Excellent work Mr. Arc! As I stated before, goldenrod is fucking awesome! Ms. Belladonna, if you believe yourself to be good enough to return to Beacon alone, then feel free, otherwise you may stick with us." the professor offered with a gesture of the hand.
Blake considered her options, she could go back to Beacon alone and keep Jaune's journal away from him, give it back and run, keep it secret and stick with them, or give it back and stick with them.
She could have thought of something else if given more time, but her time was up very soon.
"... is that my journal?" Jack noticed the double crescents stitched in hair-thin thread on the leather cover of the book, "You found it! Thanks, Blakey." he took it out of her hand before she could even tighten her grip on it.
"Uh... I was going to read it, but then the Grimm attacked me, so I guess you're lucky then, Jaune..." she stared at him, her mind racing with thoughts, and all of them focused on the white knight in front of her.
"Luck has most indeed been in your favor today, fellow knight! You slew the beast without it responding with its no-doubt lethal, lethal attacks of devastation." Luke clapped Jaune on the back.
Jack buckled slightly under the force of the claps, "I was just fast is all..." he made sure to get the trailing off just right.
'I don't get it... Jaune faked his way into Beacon, and yet, he just did that, I don't understand it at all... did he just have a moment of clarity and decide to use it to his advantage? Maybe... I'll question him if I can get him alone some time...' Blake followed the two.
The walk back to Beacon had been... uneventful, really. Countless Grimm had fled upon sight of the slaughter caused by Jack Arc, others simply chose to ignore the pulsing, swirling beacon of light and fire that denoted a very powerful human.
Jack cast one glance back at where the beast had stood. Now its body had faded away, but Jack could have sworn he saw a spot of white on the forest floor, but shook it off. Probably his overactive imagination running wild, 'Now's not the time to chase ghosts.'
'I must say... the first impression you gave was a lot less admirable than you're being right now...'
'Well, if I pulled all my trump cards all the time, then people would find out ways around them. Also, I did that that way in order to impress you all the more when I did do something awesome and serious.'
'... you sly, magnificent bastard.'
'Eh, what can I say? It comes with being awesome like me. So be awesome like me, Jaune.'
'Eh... I'll try.'
'That's all I can really ask for.' Jack smiled internally, making sure both weapons were sheathed, and popping his knuckles carefully.
Jack gave an overall air of nonchalance and relaxation. It was easy, since that's exactly what he felt. He had no fears in taking down those Grimm, though he might have feared it if it was Jaune doing it alone, but the second the boy lost consciousness, Jack had been there, had stepped in to help.
'I just have one question concerning... all of this... Why?'
'Well the answer to that powerful question is simple...' there was a long pause as Jack gathered his mental resources, 'That's what family does, Jaune.'
'Oh... that explains everything, actually.' Jaune would have pissed his pants in fear, but if it meant helping or protecting his family, he would overcome that fear and fight as best he could.
'See? You sound like a true Arc, Jaune, maybe you'll get a super hot girlfriend too! It ought to be pretty easy, what with all these supermodels attending our hunting academy, hahaha.' Jack laughed slightly, just barely enough to be heard.
"Are you okay, Jaune?" Blake asked quickly, not sure if laughter was a normal response to everything she had seen.
"Hm? Oh, sorry Blakey, I just remembered something kinda funny." Jack said with a gently dismissive tone, the sheer charisma of it made Blake simply nod and continue walking in silence.
'Well, this experience has been... an interesting one... far different from what I expected, which was basically to black out and wake up somewhere else.'
'That was the impression we gave? Well, we had to rush everything since your father's aura, oh sorry, your blue aura was healing you at an incredible rate... you know that even without the moon's blessing, we would have massive levels of aura anyways?'
'What? How so? I hardly understand aura.'
'Aura is the manifestation of our soul... the strength of light. It is actually one of the most awesome, bro, and fair powers ever made. The "strength of light" thing means that the more positive a person is, the better of a person they are, and the more noble and honest and just... positive, a person is, the more aura they have. Did you know that falling in love can increase your aura limit? It's the light of two souls feeding one another that does it, which is why you always see highly experienced Hunters working with large amounts of aura. Even now, the light in your soul was so bright that you broke the normal limits, though only by a small margin, you broke the normal limits on initial aura amount. You've only continued to grow with the positive emotions you've felt, the feelings of love, Jaune. I actually had reduced aura levels from my late-found love, due to the weakening of my inner light. What's furthermore good about aura is how bad people usually have a LOT less aura than good people, and thus less power and protection. This is actually why criminals have tended to hide and plot and secret, because they don't have as much protection. However, there is a catch, and that is that one's aura limits can be increased by extensive training, though it's a months-on-years process, but results come in nonetheless.'
'This is... wow... I just... wow...'
'Yeah, it's a lot to take in. Don't worry, I'm actually the best at helping you learn aura control. Jebediah would teach you defense, and Jacques would teach you offense.' Jack internally smiled, 'And do you know why we're training you?'
'Because that's what family does?'
'You learn fast, Jaune, must be all those video games you play. Yes, because that's what family does. Family will continue to do it until you find yourself strong enough to take us on in a fight. We all want you to succeed, Jaune, all of us. I can actually feel that you're of greater muscle mass than I was when I was alive. That's cool, you should have your own style. Now then, let's get back to Beacon.'
'You're the one moving my body, Jack.'
'I know, Jaune.' Jack continued the silent walk, the only sounds being the chattering of forest critters and the sounds of their footsteps.
Blake kept glancing at the tall blonde to her left, 'What happened in the past few weeks to make Jaune fight like that? Much less with such an attitude, and since when did he shield have the power to do what it did? I'm curious now... what is up with Jaune?'
In that moment, several things happened at once:
Jack smiled an extremely charming and ridiculously handsome smile at her.
Blake's combined distraction caused her to trip over an exposed root.
Jack caught her with a quick movement, holding her a good two feet off the ground.
Blake looked up at him, her cheeks red and her eyes full of confusion.
Jack spoke, "Are you alright?" his orange eyes full of concern.
Blake's mind broke, her cheeks reddening more and more with each passing moment.
Jack smirked, a brief flash of satisfaction in his eyes, before lifting the ninja to her feet, "Try not to be so distracted, alright?"
"Uh... y-yeah, I will." the amber-eyed girl responded, nodding and noting how strong Jaune had felt when he held her.
Luke spoke up, "I believe we should locate our fellow testee before we proceed all the way back to the academy." he hand a hand raised, gesturing palm up as though holding his point in his hand.
"You're out here for a test?" Blake asked, regaining her composure and looking at the two knights curiously.
"We all three failed the assignment from Professor Peach about the sap, so we came back for a retest." Jack summed it up nicely.
"In addition to locating trees of wood suitable for the construction of weapons." Luke posed, his head flicking back and forth, "Now then, we should perhaps locate our fellow, Mr. Winchester may be of questionable character, but questions tend to have answers, and the biggest answer we have is the question of whether or not we should confirm his status, to which the answer is that no comrade is to be left behind." he quickly drew his sword and pointed it forwards.
Jaune nodded, "Asshole or not, he can change, and it would be worse of us to leave him alone in a Grimm infested forest."
Blake was confused, "What is with this sudden obsession over Cardin's well-being?" she didn't understand it. Sure, there was that 'Bro Code' that she would never understand, but it didn't seem like it would apply here. Maybe there was another layer to this?
Jack sighed, "Blake... there are lots of people in this world, but there aren't enough. Every life has potential, potential for greatness, potential for good, potential for... for a lot of things. Potential for evil too, and potential for cruelty. All that is, though, is a chance, a risk based on time. We may lose a potential villain, but we'd also be losing a potential hero. I will be damned before I would dare to lose hope on someone who might just need a little hope put into them. We don't know his story, and we won't know if he's dead. So, I'm going to be a Huntsman and do what needs to be done; I'm going to save a life and kill a monster, and with any luck... I'll do it in one swing." he drew Crocea Mors swiftly as it became encompassed in flames.
Without another word, Jack rocketed off like greased lightning on cocaine, a speed that made Blake's head spin.
"He's talking like Cardin's already in danger..." Blake mused.
"Miss Belladonna, in our world, everyone is in danger." Luke said, barely picking up the words.
Jack put on some reverse thrust to slow down to a reasonable speed, then hit the ground running, sprinting even, 'Okay, given how the outline of him is on the ground, and another sense shows a Grimm very very near him, he's obviously not okay, especially considering the drain he seems to have taken...'
'How are you able to tell all that?'
'You have to focus on light itself, well that's vague, but this process is difficult to explain and I'll show you later, for now... focus!'
'On what?!'
'On figuring out how to save this asshole!'
'Why are you asking me? You're the deceased epic Huntsman here!'
'It's your body, Jaune, you have a right to tell me what to do! Not saying that I'll always listen, but you're one hundred percent free to voice your opinions, concerns, and desires! Now... HELP. ME... LEADER!'
'Stop shouting! Look, alright, I'll be honest... Cardin's a dick, I know, and personally, I only want him saved because it would be morally wrong to not save a young life.'
'I've basically said all of this already, he hasn't made much progress towards the whole "not being a dick" thing, and so we need to scare him straight, that usually works as a strong start to being a good person, being afraid of what happens when you're a bad one.'
'Alright, so, what now?'
'Well I'm stuck in control until I stop being conscious, I.E. falling asleep, getting knocked out, getting anesthetized, etc... though the first one is most likely.'
Suddenly, there was a none-too-manly scream from about a hundred meters away. Jack homed in on the sound and with that same blurring speed, raced towards it.
'How are you able to move so fast?'
'I could move faster, but every part of my power is limited in proportion to yours. If you were able to run at forty miles an hour, I would be able to run at four hundred miles. I can, however, increase my outputs with my aura and especially with my semblance, if I bend it the right way.'
'What do you mean "bend your semblance?", how would that even work?'
'Well, you just have to focus the rhythm of your semblance, assuming you know what the rhythm is, and will it in new ways, like... Ruby's semblance is Speed Boost, correct?'
'Yeah I think so... why?'
'With practice she could will only certain parts of her to move quickly, or even speed up her own mind, imagine if she could read a textbook in only a few minutes! She would be a genius!'
'She's already a genius, I mean, she designed Crescent Rose on her own.'
'Oh yeah... I didn't really realize the implications of that...'
'I thought you all had free access to all my memories?'
'Just because we know what you know and have been through... doesn't mean we perceive it like you do, all we can see are the physical senses in your memories, not the emotional ones.'
'Huh... I thought you all were all-knowing about me.'
'Trust me, Jaune, nobody knows everything.'
'But some people know more than others... my dad used to say that.'
'So did mine, haha!' Jack laughed inside his head.
Then he tripped over a root, having been distracted by the mental conversation that had taken place over the course of only a couple of seconds.
Flipping head-over-heels, he took a bite out of the ground before he felt a creaking in his leg bones, followed by nearly getting whiplash as he took another bite out of the ground, then feeling something under his feet crack and break, then taking a third bite out of the ground, only aura keeping him from losing a tooth.
Fortunately, there was a nice mattress of dirt with soft crimson sheets for him to lay his sleepy head on.
"Okay... that was not my fault, but I'm still sorry." Jack apologized as he reset his nose with a pained popping sound, "Someone put a root in my way, and I lost consciousness because of the asshole who did it.
"What did we crash into?" Jaune groaned as his blue aura flashed over his body, before settling on his injured areas.
"An Ursa Major, just like a few weeks ago, except we killed it by breaking its neck with a flying kick, rather than severing it with our sword." Jack said, his hand still on his face as he massaged the knots out of his jaw muscles.
Jaune was understandably pissed off, after all, Jack had taken over his body and did some impressive things, only to then lose by tripping over a goddamn exposed root at a high enough speed to crash into a kill an Ursa Major. He took Crocea Mors in his hand, "Oh hey, speaking of our sword." he swung it in a quick arc towards Jack...
... who then held his arm pinned behind his back... "You can't beat me with speed, Jaune, it just ain't gonna happen." Jack punctuated his sentence with a swift kick to Jaune's rear, sending him tumbling forward into the waking world.
Jaune groaned as he opened his eyes, blue aura hard at work healing the damage he had taken.
Cardin watched Jaune in awe. He had found a clearing away from the others and had smashed a hole in the tree, only to have splash back onto his armor, splattered by the heavy, tearing hit. An Ursa Major came after him again, and he locked up once more, unable to fight back with any effectiveness.
Jaune got up to his feet and rolled his shouldered, popping his joints into place and feeling looser, more flexible than before. It was the only thing he had left of Jack's occupation of his body.
Speaking of which, the voice in his head was silent.
'Hello?'
There was no response, 'Oh thank god I can think without anyone else hearing.' he looked around and saw Cardin, then he smirked.
Cardin watched as Jaune walked over, "Whoa, Jaune... I-" he was cut off by Jaune giving a quick bow.
"I heard your cries for help, Ms. Winchester." Jaune wore a teasing, shit-eating grin as he held out a helping hand.
The gray armored boy rolled his eyes and took Jaune's hand, standing up with ease, "Yeah yeah yeah... don't tell anyone, alright?"
"I won't tell anyone you scream like a girl if you don't tell anyone I have a thing for girls who smile a lot." Jaune smirked.
"That's... not really a fair trade." Cardin rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
"I know, I didn't intend to tell you something valuable, C." Jaune's tone had changed to a more relaxed and casual one, "Come on, let's head back to the academy, you think you can make it without attracting any other Ursas?" he laughed a little.
"Uh, yeah I think so, J." Cardin returned, still feeling awkward,but easing slightly at the casual tones being thrown about, "Uh, how did you do that, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well okay, I'll tell you something valuable. So, how it happened: I ran really fast... and then I tripped over a root. I ate some dirt and then accidentally kicked the Ursa in the throat so hard its neck broke. That's how it happened." Jaune clicked his tongue once, looking around, 'Alright, we just have to avoid any more Grimm.' he checked his scroll, only to find a surprising new development.
He had two aura bars present, one mostly full, the other about half empty.
"That's... wow, that's kind of spectacular, really." Cardin responded, hefting his mace onto his shoulder.
"I guess so, now come on, we need to head back to the others." Jaune sped up into a light jog
Cardin only nodded and followed without another word.
The trip had been thankfully uneventful, no doubt in part due to Jaune having calmed Cardin's fears with his relaxed demeanor, thus reducing the attraction the Grimm had to them.
'Odd,' Jaune thought, 'Even though Jack's gone, I feel like... I feel like it's easy to just keep pretending to be cool about everything... hehe, I guess I live life pretending a lot of things.'
Upon returning to the academy, Cardin immediately went off with only a few mumbled words, something about his team.
Jaune grinned as he began a slow, casual walk back to the dorm building, smiling and letting feelings of relaxation wash over him. His hands in his pockets, his chin up, his blue eyes shining in the sunlight.
"You're quite the odd one, Jaune." Blake said suddenly, stepping out from behind a pillar.
Jaune, to his credit, did not jump in fright, rather he simply clenched his eyes and jaw and took a sharp breath through his nose, "Blake, you sneaky ninja, you were following me?"
"Not after your alternate personality shot off like that, I don't think even Ruby could match that speed." the raven-haired girl said honestly.
The blonde boy whistled, "Woo~, I didn't realize I was going that fast." he mentally took note of the words Blake had chosen, specifically 'alternate personality'.
"Right~... Jaune, what is your semblance?"
"Weeeelllllll, I don't know the full breadth of it, but it gives me some cool powers." Jaune was lying through his teeth, but he knew without being told that he had to keep his multiple auras a secret. Not only was it important to not reveal his tricks or cards, it was obviously something meant only for very special ears.
"I see... I could see a speed boost, fire in several forms, signs of a strength boost... I would say that your semblance is something along the lines of Fiery Power Boost, would I be correct?" Blake cocked her head to the side in a show of curiosity.
"I can't really say, Blakey, sorry." Jaune shrugged, "All I can really say is that... I can't say anything." he gave an expression that said the same thing without words.
Blake resorted to drastic measures, "I see. So, Jaune, I read your journal."
"Oh well how'd you like i-WAIT WHAT?!" like so many times before, Jaune jumped back in fright.
"I would be lying if I said that I wasn't pleasantly surprised by what I read, you have quite a poetic talent, Jaune." Blake gave him a warm, soft smile, showing no signs of negativity, "And an artistic one too."
"I... thank you?" Jaune was having a large amount of trouble formulating words, but he quickly just laughed it off, then decided to explain it, "My mom taught me literature and art, as well as singing, dancing, cooking, cleaning, all sorts of stuff, so that I could live on my own should I need to... and then dad wanted me to become a Hunter, and all my sisters wanted me to become a Hunter too, and well... after I failed at Campfire Academy... I thought I would never make it... but now? Here I am..."
"I can tell from what you wrote and what you drew... you have a very deep and caring love for your sisters, kind of like... Yang and Ruby, almost." Blake had a theory, one she was trying to prove.
"Oh, hehe, kinda, I guess... I want my sisters to be safe, sound, and happy, always. I would do anything for them if they asked, literally if they just asked, Blake. I would fight a Giant Nevermore if one of my sisters wanted to play with its feathers." Jaune knew it wasn't exactly a very serious-sounding example, but then again, all of his sisters were younger than him, they would probably ask for something like that.
Blake was surprised, only slightly, but still surprised. It was obvious that Jaune held his loved ones of the fairer sex in high regard, but a claim like the one he just made... well if he could fly on fire, he could probably get up to a Nevermore and take it down. Plus, with the level of skill they all were at now? A Giant Nevermore would be about a medium-level threat.
That wasn't important right now, what was important was cementing this lesson into her friend's brain, "Well, you, sir, are quite dedicated to every female you know, "I know it's not my place to tell you that you shouldn't keep secrets, and I can understand your concerns for showing any of us that stuff, but Jaune, we're all friends and we all care for each other greatly, and that means we all care greatly about you, and everyone else... Yang said that... that we're like 'one big happy family', which even I can appreciate a bit. You need not beat yourself up for not being a good fighter, just being a good friend has net you the trust of," Blake had to suppress a snicker, "Of all us 'supermodels', hehe." Blake failed to suppress her snickering. Yang's words were useful for cases like Jaune's, and Blake had long-since been used to working damage control, so the current motivational speech was of little difficulty to her.
Jaune stayed silent for a long time. He stopped walking, his blinking slowed to a bare minimum, as did his breathing. He closed his eyes, took in a breath, and held it until he couldn't resist the urge to let it go, and let it all burst out. After taking a fresh breath, he finally spoke, "Thank you, Blake. You've been a surprisingly big help. I'll do my best to return the favor one day, alright?" he gave her a pat on the shoulder, "I give you the Arc promise." and out came the charming smile.
Blake couldn't stop the crimson red blush from spreading across her cheeks. Wow he looked good when he smiled like that, "Has anyone ever told you that you have an amazing smile, Jaune? Because you do, and I think you should smile more."
"YOU should smile more." Jaune countered automatically, before realizing how silly he just sounded, "Er, I mean... you have a nice smile too... yeah... yeah..." he trailed off, looking at the ground and scuffing his shoe, "Uh... forget I said anything." his cheeks reddened a bit from embarrassment.
Blake smiled regardless, giggling a bit, "It's okay, Jaune, no matter what happened back there, you did well."
Jaune bit back a groan, "No... Jack did, and I'd love to tell you more, but I should probably go check on my team. I'll see you later, alright, Blake?" he smiled and turned on his heels, walking off.
It took the ninja a good few minutes to get her heartrate back to normal levels.
Jaune felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He suddenly leaned back under a swing of a sword, "Nice dodge." the voice of the man holding the sword said.
The blonde knight looked up to see a pair of aviators sitting atop the nose of a man with pale cyan hair and even paler skin.
Jaune gently pushed the wrist of the man aside, standing up straight again, "Uh, nice swing." he smiled.
"Nice smile." the man started the game, and Jaune was willing to play.
"Nice sword."
"Nice armor."
"Nice suit."
"Thanks, it's a special craft." the man admitted defeat in their game, pushing up his aviators and stepping back.
Jaune looked the man from head to toe. He was clad in a simple single-breasted, two-button suit, "It doesn't look all that special."
"YOU don't look all that special." the man's eyes glowed a little from behind his sunglasses, "But you are, I mean, you killed that gargantuan Ursa all by yourself and even figured out the neuro-override on Grimm." he gave a 'not bad' expression, "Amazing job, by the way, I find the back-running technique to be amazing in both form and function.
"I suppose... WAIT A SECOND! How do you-" Jaune was confused.
"Know about that? I'm Raiden, of Team FLRE, you and Luke were together when the fight broke out." the cyan-haired man smiled, "By the way, since you apparently fought exceptionally well... if you wouldn't mind, I'd like us to have a sparring match some time. Test your skills and such." his smile widened.
"Uh... o-okay." Jaune stammered out, "Uh... I mean, sounds like fun."
"I'll be looking forward to it." Raiden paused for several seconds, putting a gloved hand to his chin, "Say~, would you like to meet the rest of the team?"
"Uh... maybe later, I should check up on my own team first." Jaune watched as Raiden nodded, then turned and walked off. To say nothing of his attire, he also appeared to wear high heels with his suit. Jaune would say something, but a few things were obvious.
Raiden was obviously much faster than Jaune, and given the sheer hardness of the wrist Jaune had gently pushed away, which was only pushed away because Raiden willingly moved it, he was obviously a lot stronger too.
Jaune didn't have much to talk about, since his combat uniform was just a hoodie that had recently shrunk in the wash (at least it seemed like that), a pair of faded jeans, sneakers, and then a few armor plates stuck on top. He made it work, but if was going to truly be a hero fighting for good and a knight protecting his allies, he needed more than what he had.
Also, he just wasn't the kind of person to judge people for that kind of stuff. If Raiden made the high heels work, then he was being effective, and Jaune would hope that he did well and leave it at that.
'Okay, finally no more distractions.' Jaune thought as he started on the path back to the dorm building.
Entering the dorm, Jaune made his way over to his bed, opening the closet door with one hand and removing his armor with the other. He unstrapped the plates and set them on the bed, then quickly set about removing his sweaty hoodie.
He heard a noise, shortly followed by a voice, "Ah, finally, I need more than one pencil." Pyrrha's voice spoke behind him.
Jaune turned as he removed the hot garment, "Hey, Pyr, you need another pencil you said?" he tossed the black hoodie into the clothes hamper.
Pyrrha got up on her knees, her head and upper body now visible. She was wearing a simple loose maroon shirt, her lower body hidden from view by the bed, "Oh, Jaune, hello-" Pyrrha stopped and blushed at the sight.
The process of removing his hoodie left Jaune's orange shirt riding up his chest, revealing his abs.
His glorious, delicious abs.
Also his forearms and his biceps.
All of the exposed muscles were really nice. She made a mental note to thank Yang later.
Pyrrha was suddenly thankful that her lower body was hidden behind the bed, as she was now on the swift road to soiling her shorts.
"You need a new pencil or something?" Jaune asked again with different words, hoping to solve Pyrrha's pencil dilemma.
The maroon-haired amazon forced herself to remain composed and not make any rash or sudden moves or decisions.
Then Jaune took off his shirt, his face still covered with concern, "Pyr... are you alright?"
Pyrrha felt her face grow hot. Her emerald eyes shamelessly drank in his appearance, from his thick forearms to his bulging biceps and triceps, up to his broad, strong shoulders, over the smooth, strong, pillar-like structure of his neck, down the chiseling of his pecs and abs, as well as a few marks he had received from training. She made a mental note to pay Yang handsomely and maybe even kiss her feet for a job well done.
Jaune gently laid the back of his hand over her forehead, "Your face is burning hot and red all over, Pyrrha, please, say something! What. Is. Wrong?" genuine, innocent concern filled his voice. He put his hands on her shoulders and was about to shake her when she spoke up.
"You improved quickly..." the red-haired spartan muttered, "You look a lot stronger, Jaune." her tone was... different than normal. It was more proud than usual, for one thing, but more than that, it was different in a way that he couldn't figure out.
"Uh... th-thanks, Pyr. I've been able to work hard, thanks to you. Without your help, I don't know if I had had a hope in hell of getting better." he spoke not what he mind produced, but rather what his heart felt. His words were filled with true, intense gratitude.
Pyrrha only blushed harder, "Oh... uh... w-well, Jaune, I wouldn't say THAT specifically, I just... helped you get yourself together." she played it off while remaining as humble as ever.
Jaune didn't really know what to say, but he thought of something that he felt Jack would say, "And without getting my shit together like everybody else, I'd still be a clueless newbie in over his head. Know you has been a constant pleasure, Pyrrha." and laying his charming smile at the end, he knew his point would be driven home.
Pyrrha, for her part, did not squee, swoon, faint, or flutter. She felt her heart warm and soften at Jaune's praise, unlike other people, who only gave impassioned statements that lacked heart, the blonde knight's words were robust, like a critic giving his compliments to the chef as opposed to ducks baying for bread.
As her face joined her hair in the realm of redness, she stood there a bit gobsmacked.
Jaune's smile slowly faded as Pyrrha remained silent, "Pyrrha? Pyrrha~? Pyrrha! Pyrrha, you in there?" he resisted the urge to knock on her head like a door, "Pyrrha you're scaring me! Say something!" he waved a hand in front of her eyes.
When not even that had any effect, he contemplated shaking her, but refrained from that and instead decided to go through standard procedure as far as he could remember, "We should get you to the infirmary, get the professionals to take care of you." he didn't risk a carrying method that would impede his speed so instead quickly gathered her up in a bridal carry, one of her arms around his shoulders and supporting her middle back and the back of her thighs to keep her steady, he focused in his mind the shape of a hand opening the door and was satisfied by a small click. He hadn't had much practice, but those aura constructs were really convenient!
"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed suddenly, shocked out of her reverie by her partner picking her up, "W-what are you doing?"
"Getting you to the infirmary! Luckily you seem to still be mentally present enough! Now hold on, I'm not letting you get all sick and stuff on my watch!" he opened the dorm's door with his foot.
"Jaune I'm fine!" the amazon exclaimed while trying to ignore how comfortable she felt in her leader's hold.
"That's what my friend Derek once said, and it turned out he had asthma." the knight shot back as he started running down the hall.
Pyrrha paled slightly at those words. Asthma was not common, but it was a strong career-ending condition for a Hunter, given how strenuous of tasks they are given all the time, and how the illness basically made it next to impossible to do any of those tasks.
"I don't have asthma and I'm not sick! It was just... really hot in our room!" the mistralian huntress answered truthfully, though her words were more full of implications than of literals.
Royal blue met emerald green as Jaune stopped only a few feet from the door to the stairwell, "Are you sure?"
"Yes!" Pyrrha said, "Now please, PUT ME DOWN~!" her whine came with little heat, but she tried to sound irritated at him.
The desired effect was achieved, "O-okay, Pyr, s-sorry, I was just... worried, y'know? It's up to me to make sure my partner is okay, and that my team is healthy and functioning, s-so, uh... points for heart?"
"I give you an A- for heart, A+ for effort and a solid A for reaction." she graded jokingly, feeling Jaune's easygoing attitude relaxing the tension.
"Why not switch that first and third grade? I was legitimately worried for you!" and like that, her blush was returning.
"Er... r-right, let's just get back to the room, okay?"
Jaune grinned and picked Pyrrha up once more, "You know, for someone almost my size, you're not as heavy as I expected."
Pyrrha would have felt offended, but the words were spoken so innocently and without offense that she found it hard. She WAS only a few inches shorter than Jaune, not that she minded or questioned it, her parents were both tall, so only natural that she would be as well, "Only you, Jaune, would be able to say that to a girl and not offend her."
"Well~... I don't mean to offend anybody." the blonde said honestly, "If I offend someone, then I feel that I need to apologize and make up for it to them, it's just how I was raised."
At this point, Pyrrha felt that her bank account would weep with all the people she owed money to, Yang, Jaune's parents, the rest of their friends for not making any moves on him- "OH! I almost forgot I have to turn in that paper to Professor Port!" Jaune focused aura into his legs, and with surprising ease, sped back to their dorm.
Placing his passenger down gently, he gave her a pat on the shoulder, "Here, in case you're actually a little sick or something." he dropped a heavy dosage of his blue aura into her without hesitation, feeling a pulsating pulling and pushing feeling course up his arm like a hum of low-frequency electricity.
He grabbed his bag and called back a "See ya later." as he ran out into the hallway. Jaune blinked several times as he thought he saw sparkles in the hallway as he ran like hell to the teacher's room.
It was probably just his imagination.
Nothing to be worried about.
aaaand here, I guess
I swear, my mind just did NOT know where to end this chapter, but I finally found a good point I think.
And we introduce Jaune's favorite spartan, the only spartan he knows (so his favorite by default).
More to come, more lovely, lively, and livid ladies for our protagonist to unwillingly charm with his mannerisms and good looks.
Stay tuned for the next chapter: The Blood Moon out on the town.