By the power of Gray Skull!
1/26/16: Edits
"Achoo!"
His head felt like it was being compressed into a diamond. His skin felt clammy and cold. He shakily raised a tissue to his red nose and blew. The effort made him see stars for a few seconds. His eyes watered at the mere thought of trying to follow the match before him. The bright flashes of light from the metal on metal contact shot lances of pain through his sensitive eyes. Nevertheless, he slouched in his seat and squinted at the match below.
Weiss shot forward, firing off three rapid bolts of ice and a plume of fire for good measure. She cast a glyph and launched herself off the horizontally oriented platform. Her opponent rolled to the side, just barely missing a vicious slash to the chest. She recovered instinctively and skated forward, exploding in a flurry of razor sharp slashes as she made contact.
Jaune leaned forward, fighting down the wave of vertigo that came with the sudden movement and drew up his hood. Weiss was being particularly relentless today. Her opponent disengaged with a well-placed shield bash and ran wide. She peppered the white haired girl with high caliber rounds from her hunting rifle. When your sparring partner was the four time winner of the Mistral Tournament, you had to be aggressive.
The fencer darted after the reigning champ, swatting away bullets with her sword and deflecting others with dampening glyphs. She propelled herself into the air and coated the ground with a slick sheet of ice. Pyrrha stumbled only slightly before regaining her balance, but it was the opening Weiss was waiting for. She pushed off her platform and zipped through the air, aiming directly for her longtime friend.
Her sword glowed with anticipation.
Myrtenaster made contact with Akoúo̱. The ferocity of the strike swatted away the bronzed metal with ease. And just like that Weiss was slashing and carving at Pyrrha's struggling form. The red haired girl staggered back, and in the split second of reprieve, saw Myrtenaster glow an angry red.
She rolled back just as a jet of red hot fire erupted from Weiss' sword, sacrificing ground in favor of not being set on fire.
Jaune would have whistled had his lips not been as dry as sand paper. That was what he liked about her style. It was one continuous assault, no breaks, no opportunity for recovery; there was no reaction, only action.
Pyrrha got to her feet and launched her sword, now in javelin mode, at her relentless attacker. Weiss dodged nimbly and made a bee line for the taller girl. The javelin went long and was quickly forgotten. Jaune could almost see the predatory glint in his partner's eye as she closed in for the kill. Evidently, Pyrrha had seen it too because she wasn't even trying to dodge the attack; she stayed put in a half crouch, her vibrant green eyes in a faraway place.
Jaune lazily followed her gaze. Wait a minute, the javelin! It had come right around and was now headed straight for Weiss' back. He wanted to warn her, but he wasn't even supposed to be here. He stared at Weiss hard, trying to will the information into her head.
It didn't work. The javelin rocketed around and slammed into Weiss' back, sending the petite girl sprawling several feet. Jaune winced. He could almost feel the impact run through his spine. She tried to push herself back up, but it was too much for her and she collapsed back to the ground.
Pyrrha relaxed her stance and calmly walked over to the prone girl, weapon in hand. Weiss frantically switched the cartridge on her sword for a last ditch attack, but she found her blade wrenched from her hand. With a wave, Myrtenaster rattled away, out of arm's reach.
"Three and zero. That's match my friend." Pyrrha smiled brightly as she offered her friend a hand up.
Weiss went slack and groaned. After a moment of playing dead, she righted herself and accepted the offered hand. She dusted herself off and looked up at the stands, making eye contact with a wobbly Jaune.
It took him a moment to realize that the two girls were staring at him; one with a bright smile, the other, a neutral frown. He hastily shot them a shaky thumbs up.
Pyrrha waved back happily. "Hello, Jaune! And how are you today?"
He didn't trust himself to lie believably, so he simply thrust up another thumb to join the first. Pyrrha giggled softly at his antics before being drawn away by Weiss. They spoke in hushed tones, so he couldn't make out what they were talking about, but judging by Weiss' frantic hand motions, and Pyrrha's patient, far more graceful ones, they were discussing the match.
He sneezed again.
"Bless you, Mr. Arc."
Jaune swung his tired eyes over to his left and saw Professor Goodwitch sitting next to him, quite relaxed, with her legs crossed and her glasses reflecting the luminescent screen of her Scroll. She looked as if she'd been there the whole time. Maybe she was and he just hadn't noticed until now. His mind felt fuzzy.
"Oh, hello, professor." It took so much effort to speak "Er, happy Saturday to you."
"And to you, Mr. Arc." Her eyes never left her screen. Or at least her glasses never did.
He wondered just what it was she did all day on that Scroll. Everywhere he saw her, she'd be buried in some program or another. Honestly, she was worse than Blake and her books. He thought of leaning over to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that she was working on sitting in the gym on a Saturday morning, but her voice cut off his train of thought.
"Mr. Arc?" This time she was looking at him. Her eyes were a vivid lime green. He never noticed that before.
"Hm? Oh, sorry, what was that?"
"I said, you look rather under the weather."
"It was the sap, Professor." He didn't wait to see if she was paying any attention. "I'm allergic to the sap. What do we even need it for?" His lamentations gained speed. "What in the world does collecting sap have anything to do with hunting?"
"Well, it's in season now and it goes very well with toast. The kitchen staff needs large quantities of it, and we have quite a few idle students, so one and one, as they say."
He sincerely hoped that was her attempt at a joke.
"Are you sure you should be out and about?"
Jaune nodded slowly. "Oh, yeah, well, I was getting a bit antsy all cooped up in the dorm, so I thought I'd give Weiss some moral support."
She looked back to her Scroll. The little niggle of annoyance came back. "How do you think she did?"
"Great!" He felt a bit more energized talking about someone other than himself. "She's relentless. A force of nature." He looked out onto the nearly empty gymnasium. "I'd love to be able to fight like her someday. I get too wrapped up in not getting my head torn off that I clam up. I can't try any new techniques when my shield allows me an easy out."
"A shield is no crutch, Mr. Arc. Remember that you are here to fight monsters, not become a showman. Though, there is merit in your observation, do not sacrifice safety for flare. Miss Schnee can fight the way she does because she can put enough distance between herself and her target if she feels she is being overwhelmed.
"Play to your strengths. You might consider asking your partner if she would consider training with you. Actually, I'm surprised the two of you hadn't considered the idea sooner. You compliment one another's styles quite well."
He hummed noncommittally, losing himself in little fantasies. He remembered being flung through the air, bashing that Ursa's head in. He wanted to feel that weightlessness again.
He didn't know how long he'd zoned out, but when the professor didn't say anything further, he looked to his left and found himself alone.
He blew his nose on a handkerchief that had become his constant accessory these past few days, and waited for his friends to emerge from the locker rooms. After some minutes of staring into space, he heard the far doors open and shut. Weiss and Pyrrha walked steadily across the large gym dressed in their school uniforms. Neither looked as if they'd just been fighting tooth and nail for the past half hour.
"Ladies." He greeted them as they approached. "Nice work out there."
Pyrrha responded with a bright smile, and Weiss, a cool frown.
"Why, thank you! Shouldn't you be resting, though? We wouldn't want you to puff up like a balloon again."
He laughed and waved her off. One of the initial reactions he'd had to the sap was that his entire face had gone red and puffy. The school nurse gave him medicine for it, but told him to come back if it flared up again.
"It got stuffy in the dorm so I thought I'd go for a walk before breakfast. Then I remembered you guys were having your match today and I thought I'd come watch."
Pyrrha's emerald eyes sparkled. "Well, don't strain yourself too much. You've had a hard week." She nudged Weiss. "You two go on without me. I promised Ruby I'd show her some shooting techniques at the range."
They bid her farewell and she jogged off in the direction of the soundproofed gun range.
Weiss turned back to the sickly Jaune and crossed her arms. "You're going right back to the dorms after breakfast. I can't have you running around school half dead. What if we have a surprise practical?"
He stood, stretched, and smiled sheepishly. "Yes ma'am."
She huffed and led the way to the exit. They walked in silence. Every once in a while, Weiss would shoot her wobbly friend a tentative glance. Of course, she wanted to ask him how he really felt she'd done in the match, but she suddenly felt nervous about the whole thing.
As they emerged into the brisk Saturday morning air, she worked up her courage.
"Well? How did I do?" She tried to come off as snappish, but only succeeded in betraying her own nervousness by the slight quiver in her voice.
Jaune rolled his shoulders. "You did great, Weiss."
"And?"
He averted his eyes. "Well, you did about as well as you could given the, er... circumstances." Honestly, he was a bit surprised that she hadn't gotten thrashed by Pyrrha a bit earlier, but he chalked it up to her considerable skill.
She stood in front of him and poked a long finger into his chest.
"Hold it right there. Just what do you mean by 'given the circumstances'?"
Oh, you've really put your foot in it now.
"Listen, she's won the Mistral Tournament, what, three, four times now? It was amazing that you lasted as long as you did."
"So?" She crossed her arms and regarded him with a hard, calculating stare.
Oh god! What have I done? Jaune wasn't sure if the sweat on his neck was from the sickness or from the girl in front of him.
They stared at each other for an eternity. Weiss held his gaze steadily, while Jaune became increasingly agitated.
"Why are you fidgeting?"
"Wha—no, I'm not." He stiffened his body.
"Yes you are. What's wrong? Are you going to faint?" Her ice blue eyes bore into him.
"I'm fine, really. Right to bed. After breakfast. Doctor's orders."
She nodded and turned around again. They took three steps when she halted and whirled around again.
"Aha, now I get it. You thought I'd be upset that I lost."
Urk! Got me. He sighed and nodded. "It's just, you seemed so into it. And you nearly won by a hair."
She clicked her tongue. "Honestly, I expect this kind of thing from Ruby, but you, Jaune? I'm disappointed in you."
She pivoted about, her long ponytail nearly whipping him in the face. She marched off toward the mess hall. Jaune hurried to fall into step beside her. They walked in silence, each taking in the gentle sounds of the still waking campus. There weren't any classes on the weekends for most students, so many of them opted to sleep in, or train in private.
"Hey, I'm sorry." He touched her shoulder. He didn't like the little frown she had on her face right now. It was different than her normal one.
She spared him a sidelong glance. "Do you really think me so vain?"
"No. Of course not." He rubbed the back of his head. "I just didn't want you to feel bad, that's all."
She appreciated that. He was trying to be considerate. "I see." Her frown lessened. "Thank you."
Jaune let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding.
They walked a bit slower, having eased their tension and established a more companionable air about them. Jaune turned the professor's advice over in his head. He could certainly use the agility training, and Weiss was the fastest person he knew besides Ruby. Heck, he might even be able to give her a hand with heavier hitting targets.
He shrugged. It couldn't hurt.
"Hey, Weiss?"
"Yes?"
"I was wondering. How would you like to practice together some time?"
"Practice?" She gave him a look. "You mean, like sparring?"
"Er, yeah." Why did this suddenly feel like it was something entirely different than what it was? "I-I figured, I could use some help loosening up a bit, and I could help you with heavier attacks. I-If you've got the time, of course. Whadaya say?" He made sure he stopped himself before he started rambling in earnest.
She seemed to think it over for several paces. She remembered what he told her in the cave, and what she pledged to herself. Finally, she nodded her acceptance.
"Certainly. We'll do our best to help each other improve."
Her face brightened. It wasn't exactly a smile, but for the first time, he didn't see a frown.
He grinned. "Hey, Weiss, what's that?"
Her expression fell back to its normal state. "Hm, what?"
"There's something right here." He reached out and lightly touched the corner of her mouth. She was a second too late in swatting it away.
"What are you talking about? Is it a bug? Where?" She ran a hand across her face. "Did I get it?"
"No, not quite, I think it's still there."
"Well, what is it already?" She stopped and put her hands on her hips. "Are you being silly again?"
His brows furrowed. "Yeah, see, I think that's a smile I see."
She crossed her arms and turned her head away sharply. "No!"
"I don't believe it either, but I think there's a smile attacking your face!"
She felt a bubble of mirth well up. No, no no no, not in public! She broke into a run.
"Hey, wait up, I'll help you fight it!" He ran after her.
"No. Get away!"
Her squeals and his laughter echoed throughout the bleary eyed campus.
The warm cinnamon oatmeal slid down his sore throat, soothing the inflamed muscles as it passed. He chewed another spoonful thoughtfully. It was sweet and nutty. He contemplated adding some raisins as his eyes wandered over to his beloved sandwich station. Weiss had outright refused to allow him a sandwich today.
"Absolutely not! Jaune, you aren't well. You need to eat something that'll be easy on your stomach."
He felt a twinge of disgust as another student miscalculated their portions and completely destroyed the synergy of their sandwich. His brows furrowed. Amateurs.
He willed himself to close his eyes and concentrate on the rhythmic bobbing of his esophagus slowly working down the warm mash.
"Velvet, you should have been there. It was great!" Yang's boisterous tone threatened to shatter his serenity. "We were collecting sap for Goodwitch in the Forever Fall forest. Killer was tapping the tree while Princess was looking pretty."
"Hey!" Weiss scowled. "I was making sure the area was secure, thank you very much."
"Uh huh." Yang winked at the pale girl. "Anyway, killer here gets the sniffles the second he starts collecting the stuff."
Jaune looked over at the menu hanging over the main breakfast station. Sure enough there was just about every variety of the damned stuff. The kitchen staff had taken the jars after they'd returned and refined their work into a syrup of sorts. Then they proceeded to slather it onto everything. There was toast, pancakes, omelets, fruit salads; you name it all with a healthy helping of Fall tree syrup on the side.
He'd almost had a fit when he entered the cafeteria that morning.
"Everything's going swell until some jerk throws a jar at Killer's head. Later we found out it was Winchester."
Jaune automatically looked over at CRDL's table. Their leader was missing, no doubt serving his additional detentions. He briefly caught the eye of green haired Russell. The boy recognized him, his eyes went wide, and he looked down at his plate. He didn't look back up, preferring instead to play with his food listlessly.
Velvet's hands went to her mouth in surprise. "Oh, no. Mr. Arc, are you alright?" Her light, innocent voice gently floated through his ears.
He only smiled at her and nodded in response. She flushed slightly and tried to hide behind her ears.
Weiss tried not to notice.
"So then Killer's covered in this red sap, and all these Rapier wasps come out of nowhere looking to snack on him."
Jaune tried to tune her out. He didn't like this next part. He could still feel the stingers in his skin.
Yang started gesturing with her hands. Velvet's big brown eyes shone with wonder as she continued her story. "So, Killer drops everything and starts running." Her lilac eyes flashed brightly. "He has no idea where he's going. He can hardly see. He's got wasps eating him alive!" Blake shot her a blank look before returning to her book. "We're all hot on his trail, trying to guide him away from running head long into a tree. Princess has the bright idea of shooting fire at him to get rid of the wasps. She's this close to setting him and the entire forest on fire."
Weiss crossed her arms in a huff. "Well, I didn't see you doing much to help the situation."
"Sure thing, Princess. Anyway, Killer runs full tilt for a good ten minutes. He's even losing Ruby, that's how fast he's going. Only me, Blake, and Weiss can keep up with the poor guy. He ends up diving head first into a lake."
Velvet looked at him with watery eyes.
"He stays down there so long we think he's dead."
Weiss frowned deeply. "That wasn't funny, Yang."
The blonde brawler smirked at her. "Well, it makes sense that you'd be concerned. You guys disappeared earlier this week only to show up again in each other's arms." She leaned forward. "Word around school is that you guys got hitched."
Jaune glanced over at his partner. She'd gone red to the roots of her hair.
"Oh, Yang, cut it out already. Everyone knows that isn't true." Ruby did her best to stick up for her buddy Jaune, and her not-so-much-buddy Weiss.
"What's this? Sticking up for your first ever friend, Ruby?"
"You're darn right I am!"
The two sisters fell into a rousing bickering match. Jaune tuned them out and nudged his partner—who was busy sputtering incoherently.
"Alright there, Weiss?"
She came to her senses; her blush fell to a healthy pink hue that she could easily pass off as just about anything.
"Y-yaeh. I'm fine."
Jaune smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder. "Don't let Yang rile you up too much." He glanced at the still bickering sisters. "It's just how she is."
Weiss nodded and Jaune turned his attention back to his now lukewarm oatmeal.
"Uum... E-excuse me." Jaune looked up at the skittish bunny girl. She shrank back slightly. "Um, w-what happened next? After you jumped into the lake?"
He smiled at her and waved his hand casually. "Oh, I stayed down as long as I could. I figured the wasps wouldn't follow me underwater, and Weiss could burn off the last of them while they waited me out." He laughed a bit. "I didn't know I could hold my breath that long, but I guess I had some good motivation. Of course, when I got back out, that's when I started to swell up like a tomato."
Velvet laughed awkwardly, an image of him drowning at the bottom of a lake with an army of Rapier wasps overhead prevented her from putting her heart into it.
Weiss felt a strange bubble of irritation well up as the pair laughed together. She told herself that it was because of the blonde ditz teasing her, but deep down she didn't believe herself. She caught Pyrrha's eye before putting her full attention to her fruit salad.
Her mood only had a marginal improvement when they reached their dorm. She stomped over to the desk closest to her bunk. Jaune followed mutely. She pivoted on the spot and pointed rigidly up at his bunk.
"No more sneaking around for you. Rest. Now."
Jaune gave her a lopsided grin which she did her best to ignore, and scampered up the ladder to his bed. As he settled himself in, Weiss sat at the desk and opened the weekend paper. Jaune peered over the edge and saw that she'd settled into reading an article. There was a pair of scissors within reach. She'd taken to clipping out interesting articles and advertisements as she saw them. Most had to do with Vale, the port city at the base of the mountain.
Her little silver tiara poked up from her head impishly.
Jaune flipped over in his bed and took the history book from the little shelf set into the headboard. There wasn't much up there save for a small reading lamp, which he switched on, and a framed picture of himself, Kia, and Slade, taken only days before he'd been shipped off to Beacon. He looked so relaxed then. At the time, he had no idea where he was headed.
He flipped the pages of the history book to the current chapter. Their professor was a strange egg, always zooming about from place to place. He'd long since given up trying to follow his rapid fire speech and instead made a bit of a game of it, doing his best to keep up with the hyperactive professor's movements. If nothing else it was good reflex training.
He read several pages into the most recent Human-Faunus treaty when a wad of paper hit his head. He blinked at it before opening it. Look up, it read. He turned and found Nora staring at him with an intense expression on her face. He knew what it meant, and it behooved him to keep her gaze. He shifted to a more comfortable position and engaged in the staring contest.
His deep blue eyes bore into her lighter orbs. And she stared right back. Thirty seconds in, his eyes started to waver with unshed tears. He took a deep breath and licked his lips, preparing for the long haul. He refused to lose this time. Nora seemed even more relaxed than ever, a slow smile spreading across her face.
A full minute in and Ren slowly looked from one to the other, wondering how and why his teammates were able to keep their eyes open for so long. Jaune's face steadily screwed up into something a gargoyle would be envious of, and Nora had a full on million watt smile. The sound of scissors sawing away at a newspaper grated on his senses. Nora seemed unfazed.
She's got this in the bag and she knows it. Nora's eyes sparkled. The blonde knight began to tremble, the crippling anguish of defeat loomed over him. Nora gave a little wave, and that was it. Jaune blinked his eyes rapidly, loosing the dam of tears, and allowing his eyes reprieve from their contest.
After recovering, he waited for his challenge. The loser had to complete a challenge issued by the winner. That's just the way it was. Nora did a little shuffle of triumph on her bed, before setting down. She scratched her chin and cast her gaze around the room for inspiration. Her bright eyes finally caught on their white haired companion and her grin, if possible, widened.
She hopped down from her bunk and shot up the ladder to his.
"Nora, be careful." Weiss gave the pair a curious look before going back to her clippings.
The orange haired girl stifled a giggle before cupping her hands around his ear.
"I dare you to take Lady Weiss' crown."
"She'll kill me." Jaune paled. "Please have mercy."
Nora only giggled and hopped down the ladder. She skipped over to Ren and plopped down on his bed. She whispered something in his ear, and he put down his pen and notebook. His calm eyes swept over his team leader. The two childhood friends sat, waited, and watched.
Your move, Jaune.
He flopped back onto his bed and sighed loudly. It wasn't as if he hadn't thought of it before, plucking the little ornament from her head. He just had to move up his plans by several weeks. He peered over the edge at his unsuspecting target. She'd gone through the paper and was now scratching away at a small leather bound notebook. She was drawing one of her glyphs, her hand moved back and forth between the paper and what Jaune could only conclude was a reference book for her symbols. The tiara in question shimmered in the late morning sunlight.
He was going to have Professor Port distract her while he swapped the tiara—with Ruby on standby with a bag of sand the exact weight of the tiara—ready to switch the instant he had the little trinket in his hand. They'd be found out immediately, but that's where Ruby came in again. Hopefully Weiss' subsequent blind rage would propel her in Ruby's direction, giving him precious seconds to escape and hide his loot. All it would cost him was several batches of cookies for Ruby, and a stack of pancakes for the Professor.
All that preparation, gone to waste.
He glanced back at Nora who gave him a cheeky grin and a mock salute. He sighed in resignation. Alright, Jaune. Time to man up.
"Wat'cha workin' on, Weiss?" He dangled over the edge of his bed.
She turned and looked up at him with clear winter blue eyes. "This? Oh, not much." She looked down at her unfinished work. "Actually, if I've got this right, then you'll have a bit of a boon in combat."
He tilted his head to try to get a better look. "What's it supposed to do?"
She put the end of her pen between her lips. "That... is a surprise. Now shoo. You're supposed to be resting, and I need to concentrate. If I get these runes wrong, the whole glyph could destabilize and anything could happen."
"Could you blow up?" Nora interjected.
"Yes, Nora, you could blow up." She rolled her eyes and focused on her work.
Jaune felt a little bad for pestering the young heiress while she was working on a sensitive project, but a challenge was a challenge. He braced himself against the bed frame and reached out, hovering his hand over the twinkling ornament. It was nestled between a loop of braided hair, and her tightly wound ponytail. Chances were that she would feel its absence. He didn't have time to acquire and calculate the all crucial sand bag.
He licked his lips. He would have to be fast.
Jaune lowered his hand inch by inch. His fingertips tingled with anticipation. He was only a hair's length away. Weiss was none the wiser, scribbling away at her drawing. And just as he was about to make a grab, his nose crinkled in the beginnings of a sneeze.
He threw himself back into his bed. "Achoo!"
"Bless you," Weiss called out offhandedly.
"Uuhhhh." His sinuses flared up and put his head in a hurtlock. Come on, Jaune. Get back in the game. He imagined Nora giggling her head off. He grit his teeth.
The young man flipped over with a determined grimace firmly plastered to his face. So what if there were no exits? So what if she was going to beat him to a pulp the second she realized something was amiss. There was no giving up in Jaune Arc's dictionary.
He reached out again, hovering his hand over Weiss'—no, his target's head. The long digits on his hand flexed and limbered up for the task. The tiara twinkled brightly. He held his breath to steady his body and plucked the little ornament off its perch. Three pairs of widening eyes watched as it gracefully flipped through the air, bounced off the blonde's head, and plopped onto his bed.
He quickly snatched up the pesky little thing and turned it over in his hands. It was a delicate crown with little jutting spikes fashioned into icicles. Running his fingers along the fine metal spines felt cool to the touch.
There was a shuffling below. Panicking, Jaune stuffed the accessory behind his framed picture. Slade, Kia, and an unsuspecting version of himself smiled out at him as he settled back into his book. He heard light steps click clack their way up the ladder.
He stiffened slightly, but continued to read. Ambassador Beebleqix and Scribe Fautroy were responsible for the treaty of 1289. He was pulled out of his studies by a tap on the shoulder. He turned to find Weiss standing on the ladder with her arms crossed and her bangs covering her eyes. Her lips were pressed into a thin line.
She held out her hand. "Where is it?"
He blinked. "Where's what?"
"Give it back. I know you have it." Her eyes flicked to the photo, then back at her prey. "You have to the count of—"
Jaune grabbed something shiny from behind his framed photo and tossed it to Nora. "Quick, Nora catch!"
The chipper girl caught it deftly, placed it on her head, and began skipping around the room. "Now I'm a real princess!"
"Hey! Give that back! Thief, thief!"
The resulting commotion lasted two hours and could be heard several rooms down.
Professor Goodwitch settled into her office that afternoon with the intent to do some quiet grading and maybe even read a book or two while she had the peace and quiet. She pulled out the assignments on the Forever Fall field trip, which were in alphabetical order, and began grading the assignments. Naturally, she came to Mr. Arc rather quickly and reminded herself to go in reverse order every now and again.
He'd handed in a well penned assignment, no doubt taking cues from his well-organized partner. Reading his essay got her thinking about the unfortunate debacle during his sap collection. She wondered if his guardian wouldn't have any more information to shed on the subject. Certainly, it wasn't unreasonable for an educator to seek out a parent when one of her students was in... danger.
Goodwitch never liked convincing herself. She hated seeing right through her own paper thin excuses.
She set aside the assignments and pulled up the record the nurse had supplied. She'd finally gotten a hold of it after Arc came back about ready to burst. She cringed at the mental image of her red and bloated charge. The nurse had to dig through his meager medical records to see if he had any existing allergies to any of the medication she wanted to prescribe. It didn't take long to wrangle the file from her.
After a minute of digging she came across his guardian. He seemed to have a video phone. The number blinked up at her innocently.
She hesitated calling. She could get into a horrible amount of trouble if she were caught snooping around like this. Ozpin even expressly told her not to dig. But the opportunity was there, and she wanted—needed to know more.
She punched in the number on her Scroll. It rang once and twice. This was a bad idea. Three and four. She considered hanging up and forgetting about the whole thing. She wanted to keep her job after all. Five and six. Maybe he wasn't home.
Then, an image of a young man popped up on screen. The tousled silver hair, gray eyes, and youthful complexion were at odds with what she imagined to be Jaune Arc's parental figure. Judging by the rapid changes in lighting, he seemed to be moving briskly through his house.
"Oh, hello there. Don't hang up, I'll just be a second."
There was no turning back now, he'd picked up the phone. "Mr. Slade? I'd like to talk to you about Jaune, if I might."
"Certainly, certainly. Just give me two seconds." He plodded down the steps from what she made out to be a library or study. The lights burned dimly. He reached the first floor and rifled through a desk, before coming up empty handed.
He crossed into a better lit room. A kitchen, judging by the pots and pans. She could make out his pale skin, slender, aquiline features, and sharp jaw. "Don't hang up. I'll be with you in two seconds."
"If you'd like I'll call you back when you're not busy. I just have a few questions about your charge, jaune."
"No, no! That won't be necessary. Just two seconds." He crossed into a warmer room, possibly a living room on account of the pictures on the mantle above the fire place. The young man flopped down on a thick recliner and crossed his legs.
Goodwitch sat forward a bit, preparing to speak. Before she could utter a word, the young man burst into a fit of laughter.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! This is all an elaborate videomail. Leave a message. I'll get back to you. I promise."
The picture faded as he collapsed into a fit of giggles.
The tone sounded.
Goodwitch rolled her eyes and considered hanging up again. She decided against it because he would probably see her number on his phone and call back anyway. She left a brief message and went back to grading papers.
Sunday afternoon found Jaune and Weiss on their way to the gym for their first training session. A brisk breeze combed through their hair and nipped at their cheeks. Their weapons clattered at their sides as they crunched golden leaves underfoot.
"Are you sure you're up for this, Jaune? We can do this another time if you're still not well."
Jaune flashed her a smile as he shouldered open the door to the gym. "Weiss, you cooped me up all day yesterday. And as a result of your expert nursing, I'm just a great big ball of energy now. What better way to spend it than by practicing with my partner."
They parted ways to change into their battle outfits and reconvened at the center of a rubbery sparring mat. The pair walked to opposite sides of the twenty by twenty area, stretching and rolling their limbs.
Weiss performed a few practice slashes at the air. "Remember Jaune, don't hold back. You're not in any danger of actually hurting me until my Aura depletes."
He nodded, drawing his sword and snapping out his shield. "Okay. You too. Really lay into me." He rolled his shoulders for some extra slack.
She hesitated, fully aware that one stray attack could seriously injure the boy. Finally, she nodded, making a mental note not to use anything too overwhelming.
"Alright, on the count of three." Weiss nodded.
"One."
Jaune adjusted the grip on his sword.
"Two."
Weiss spun the chamber on her sword, picking the best opener.
"Three!"
They flew at each other. Weiss fired razor sharp ice bolts, which Jaune defected with his shield. For each bolt he deflected, his shield became colder and colder. He could feel the frost creep across the face of it. Jaune ran at a wide arc, angling his shield to bear less of the brunt from the magical assault.
They met in the middle. Jaune thrust his shield across Myrtenaster's path and swatted the lithe blade away. He followed through with a vicious slash to the chest. Weiss reeled back as her Aura took most of the damage. Jaunte stepped forward and slashed again, connecting with a satisfying scrape. He continued to beat her back with crisscrossing slashes.
She couldn't make sense of where the attacks were coming from. But she was quick on her feet. Only about every other slash was connecting. She parried where she could, but she felt his strength shoot violently up her arm every time she did. His strikes were stronger than Pyrrha's. If she didn't make some space soon, she'd collapse from physical drain. She cast a glyph at her feet and propelled herself into the air. It was the one place jaune couldn't follow.
Weiss rained down great plumes of flame as she hopped from platform to platform. She was satisfied to note that he rolled and weaved in a zigzag pattern with his shield up above his head.
Expertly done, Jaune. Now try this!
She sprayed a shower of water across the mat, and cast a freezing glyph. As she expected, he stumbled and his legs slipped out from under him. Before he hit the ground he threw his shield up at her. She didn't expect that. It went through her platform and hit her in the side. She teetered and plummeted to the ground.
Jaune scrambled to his feet and did a half slide, half lunge to his stunned opponent. Weiss shook her head and tried to push herself up but met the cool edge of a sword at her neck.
"Yield?"
"Never."
The sword was pressed against her neck from the left, so she rolled right and swatted it away with her rapier. She sprung to her feet and took advantage of the blonde's stunned expression. She exploded in a flurry of light slashes. Her nimble footwork allowed her to keep up with his backpedaling.
He tried his best to parry them, but her sword was thin and light. It moved through the air far easier than his own. Each strike he thought he deflected would only carry through from the other side. He felt his face burn from the razor thin slices that were being carved into it.
He pressed on.
The knight pushed himself forward. He used his free arm to block the oncoming strike. His arm exploded in pain but he pushed it away. He pulled back with his sword arm and crashed the hilt against the side of her head. She staggered back from the blow.
Breathing hard, they took a moment to catch their breath. Something wet dripped down the boy's arm, but he ignored it. Weiss checked her Dust reservoir and found it at a sufficient level. The two made eye contact and raced for each other.
Jaune dropped low and swept her legs out, springing up for a slash. Weiss twisted in the air and met his blade with her own. A hearty spark danced off into the air as the two swords met.
"Very well. That will be all Mr. Winchester."
Cardin sighed and tossed the grimy rag into the steel bucket. He just finished cleaning the last window on the last floor of the science building. It had taken him three days, and killed his entire weekend, but he was finally done.
He was too drained to feel malice toward the little snot that put him there.
Cardin shouldered past the bespectacled professor and skulked out the building. The sun was a deep, smoldering golden as it hung in the late afternoon sky. He reached into his pocket for his Scroll. He tried to call Russell, but got no response. He tapped the device until Dove's shaggy mop greeted him.
"Hey. I just got out. I'm gonna get back late. Feel like wasting some drones at the gym. Blow off some steam. Make sure you shake down that kid for our homework."
"Yeah, alright."
"Where's Russell?"
Dove shook his head. "At the library. Said he was falling behind in History and needed to catch up."
Cardin shrugged. "Whatever. Russell can hit the books all he wants, but I ain't the bookish type. Just make sure you shake down that kid."
He closed the Scroll and stomped over to the gym. As he entered, the sounds of students straining against weights and grunting against unexpected blows assaulted his ears. As he walked deeper, the raging clang of metal against metal drew his attention. He could take in a good fight.
He followed the sounds of aggression to the practice mats. When he came upon the combatants his eyes narrowed. It was the twerp and his girl. They were going at it pretty damn well too. He slunk into a dark corner and watched. He took satisfaction from the red that oozed from the blonde's arm and face.
Weiss took a step back. Jaune was hacking away at her like a madman. She thought that with the loss of his shield he'd fight more defensively, but it only caused him to become faster and more aggressive as he was no longer burdened by the cumbersome hunk of metal.
They crossed swords. Disengaged. And crossed again. Weiss felt a lance of pain shoot up her arm. Jaune was the physically stronger of the two, and if she stayed connected with his sword, she'd lose out to his strength.
She slid back and cast a horizontal glyph to halt the knight's charge. She quickly spun the chamber to one of the last Dust cartridges she had. Lightning. It would take time to charge, but she hoped she could hold out
The rune dissolved just as she locked the chamber. Jaune jumped and came at her with a spinning slash. She barely ducked out of the way. He recovered and went for a low cut which she spun away from, bringing her sword up for her own counter attack. It connected with his chest plate, now covered in scratches and scorch marks.
The ground beneath her glowed, Jaune braced himself. Weiss flipped into the air. Jaune jerked back, just barely missing having his neck snapped by her accelerated boot. He felt a sudden bout of vertigo and nearly lost his grip on his sword. He took a step back and held his sword across his chest. Weiss mirrored his pose.
They circled each other. Slowly. Each, recovering their breath and assessing their injuries. Weiss' hair had become tousled and her tiara lay askew on its perch, but otherwise she looked nearly immaculate. Jaune wasn't faring very well. The nicks and cuts on his face and arms were steadily weeping blood. His clothes and hair were covered with scorch marks. His eyes stung from the bits of ash that flaked off his singed skin.
He tried to keep her in his line of sight, but his vision was blurring. Sometimes there were two Weiss's, and sometimes there was only one. His arms were shaking from exhaustion, and he was pretty sure that his legs would give out the second he stopped moving.
Weiss' eyes flicked to the chamber, they seemed to flash with satisfaction. She shifted her footing and broke into a run. Jaune saw her sword crackle with bright blue electricity. He didn't know she could channel lightning too.
"Aw, hell."
He knew he couldn't dodge lightning. There was no use trying. He shrugged and ran full tilt for his attacker. Maybe if he just got to her first. He increased his grip.
They were ten feet apart. He could see little forks of energy trail off as she drew back her sword. He switched into a two handed grip and heaved his arms back as well.
Seven feet apart. Myrtenaster crackled angrily. Every voice in his head told him this was a bad idea. That he wouldn't survive if that lightning rod met his flesh.
Five feet apart. A little voice in Weiss' head screamed at her to stop this. That this wasn't exactly what constituted holding back.
Three feet. Their fevered muscles refused to yield to their sense of reason.
Two feet. Her mind reeled. Why isn't he backing off? Jaune please turn away. You'll get cooked! I can't stop myself!
One foot. His arms swung forward. Her face twisted into one of absolute horror as her blazing sword drew up to meet with her partner's head.
Wild energy licked at his cheek.
They connected.
The two hunters saw white as they were each blasted back several feet. Blood rushed through their ears like torrential rivers. Jaune went slack, the last of his energy completely sapped. Weiss felt the telltale weariness that came from Aura depletion as she struggled to push herself up.
She looked over at Jaune, slumped on his side, still as the dead.
Oh, dear heavens.
"Jaune!" She crawled over to him as quickly as her taxed body would allow. "Jaune, wake up! I said wake up, you lunkhead!" She clawed her way over to him and rolled him onto his back. She put her ear to his chest, and listened frantically. For a horrible second she couldn't hear anything until she took several deep breaths to calm her own thundering heart. Finally, she found the quiet, but steady pulse of her friend. He was alive.
She sat back in relief. "Oh, thank goodness."
He stirred, coughed several times, and opened his bleary eyes.
"Ugh. Okay, good. What did we learn today?"
A bright swell of relief flooded her body. She pulled him into her lap. "You lunkhead. Are you alright? No, of course you're not. You look like you've been put through a meat grinder."
He winced. "Ack. Well, it looks worse than it is." It felt every bit as bad as it looked. "Good job, out there Weiss." He slumped into her lap and let his unfocused eyes wander the ceiling.
"Water," he rasped.
"W-what?"
"I need some water."
She started, taking in all the cuts and scrapes he accumulated during the bout. She lowered him to the ground and sprung to her feet.
"J-Just stay right there. Don't move, I'll get the first aid kit. And for the love of Dust, don't go to sleep." He tried to give her a toothy grin but only succeeded in a pained grimace. She gave him one last worried look before running off to the locker rooms for supplies.
Jaune laid spread eagle on the floor, sucking in cool gulps of air. He felt like he lost an arm, and his entire body was hypersensitive to the point of being in constant pain, but he felt good all the same.
I'm still alive. I'm still alive.
A crooked grin spread across his face as he felt the thump of feet rapidly moving toward him. Soon enough he heard Weiss' soft grumbling. A strange image of Weiss with a cute little nurse's cap floated to the forefront of his mind. He giggled to himself.
She knelt down beside him and helped him sit up.
"Come one, we'll go by the bleachers. Can you stand?"
He did and they hobbled together to the nearest bench.
Weiss placed the first aid kit on her lap. She gave him a critical look before suddenly going pink. "T-Take off your hoodie. I-I need to see how bad those wounds are."
He wordlessly unclasped his plate armor and pulled off the warm garment. He suppressed a hiss. It tugged at his wounds as he peeled it off.
Weiss gaped. She hadn't seen him in such a state of undress before and it was somewhat overwhelming for her. One didn't expect the playful, sandwich obsessed boy to have rolling, rippling muscles running throughout his body. Whatever training regimen he had undergone before Beacon certainly paid off. She came to her senses when she noticed the angry red gash running along his arm.
She could feel her face heating up. "H-Here, give me your arm."
She gently wrapped medicine soaked gauze around the wound. Her light fingers brushed against his warm skin. He hissed in earnest this time.
"Does it hurt?"
"N-No, it's just a bit cold is all." He stared hard at his feet.
She finished dressing his arm in silence. When she was done, she put bandages and butterfly sealers on the smaller cuts.
"I'm sorry."
"Hm?"
Her eyes couldn't leave his battered body. "I'm sorry for... all of this." She gestured to all of him.
He rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue. "Oh, forget about it."
"I-I'm serious. I could have seriously hurt you." She looked down at her lap. "Before we began I told myself not to do anything too crazy. But when we started, I got caught up in the fight and I just wanted to win so badly. I'm sorry. We were supposed to be practicing and all I accomplished was nearly killing you."
There was a prolonged silence where she felt her heart grow steadily colder and colder. Was he angry at her?
She felt a thumb and forefinger take hold of her chin and turn it to stare straight into ocean blue eyes. "Weiss, look at me." Gone was the fun loving boyish spark. Instead, something hard and unyielding gleamed in its place. It made her shiver. "Am I breathing?"
"Y-Yes."
"Then that means I can heal. And if I can heal, I have a chance of getting better. Okay?"
It sounded like a mantra he'd repeated many times.
He gave her chin a little rub. "You didn't do anything wrong. Honestly, I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did. I'm pretty proud of that."
Me too. Her face was heating up again.
The boyish spark returned. She was relieved.
He turned and collected his things. He tied his hoodie around his waist and put his armor under his good arm.
"Come on, let's get going I'm starved."
They freshened up and changed back into their regular cloths. Jaune opted to keep his shirt off much to Weiss' discomfort.
"I don't want to aggravate the cuts. What?"
As they left, neither noticed the dark, calculating eyes follow them from beneath the bleachers.
The fresh winter air slammed against his bare chest, flash freezing his sizzling pains. He took in a deep breath, allowing his body to bask in the soothing cool. He and Weiss walked side by side, a bit closer together—because of the wind—toward their dorm.
He never felt more alive.
Nice. Chapter seven, on the way.