Jaune
Jaune had woken up in the morning and had a dreamless sleep. He tried to get up but found himself trapped by limbs, and looking to his side, found the sleeping forms of Katie and Alex. He – once again – blushed, and slowly and carefully, disentangled himself from the duo, and made his way to the window, and opened the blinds with his fingers, and looked outside. The sun was barely rising, and he could already see some of the townsfolk walking around, already having started with their day. He stretched and yawned, before walking in the bathroom and closing the door. He walked to the sink and picked up his toothbrush, and applied a healthy amount of toothpaste before brushing his teeth well for 3 minutes, and once he was done, he emptied his bladder in the toilet, and after he flushed and washed his hands, and stepped into the shower to get clean. Once he was done, he dried himself, before applying deodorant, and changing into a get up of a white V-neck shirt, dark blue shorts, white socks, and black and white slip-ons (Think of the classic Vans) and walked out of the bathroom. There he saw both girls up and awake, and waved at him, to which he waved back.
"Morning gals,"
"Morning Jaune," They both replied in unison.
"So how about we grab some breakfast, come back and leave?" Jaune had asked the both of them. They thought for a second before nodding.
"Sure, just give us some time to prepare." Jaune nodded and made his way to the door, opening it and exiting, walking up to SLT's door before knocking. He pulled out his Scroll to pass the time, and saw that it was currently 7 in the morning, and that he had gotten a few texts form the girls back at Beacon. He clicked at the most recent one, Yang's, and looked at it.
The Gorgeous Blonde Brawler
Jaune chuckled at the name, not because it was a lie, but because he – reluctantly – let the girls put their own contact names on his Scroll, and they told him that he couldn't change it, he looked at her message.
Yang: Hey Jaune, how's the mission going so far? You, by any chance, hadn't had a nightmare, have you? It's just that I got a weird feeling in class the other day, and I'm just checking in. Anyways, get back to me when you can.
Jaune froze at Yang's text, how had she known he had gotten a nightmare? His thoughts however were interrupted when the door opened, revealing a fully dressed Lyanna at the door.
"Mornin' Jaune,"
"As to you too, Lyanna."
"What brings you by?"
"Well I was wondering if you gals would be up for breakfast?"
"Sure, we're all awake, Talisa's in the bathroom preparing. We'll be done in about an hour or so."
"Alright, see ya then." With that he turned back towards his room as the door shut. In the room, he saw a fully dressed Alex and Katie. Alex wore a white shirt, dark purple shorts, and black sandals. Katie wore a gray shirt, black shorts, and black sandals. They both greeted him and he them. Jaune told them of the plan and they both agreed. After an hour, they heard a knock at the door, and Jaune got up from the bed he was sitting on and opened it. The girls wore casual wear and greeted them with hellos.
They left and headed down the streets, looking for a good place to eat. They stopped a few minutes later in front of a diner called "Flo's" and walked in. It was a quaint little place, they sat down and ordered. Jaune had a large plate of bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns and a glass of orange juice. The other 5 had something similar, although less in volume. After having their breakfast, which took a whole hour to complete, they walked back to their rooms, to pack. It was easy, since they only unpacked the absolute necessities, all in all, the process took maybe, 20 minutes. They convened at the hallway and left, earning a goodbye from Patricia, who worked the front desk. After walking for about half an hour, they had left Dew Village, and in 5 minutes, had walked into the familiar foresty area they were accustomed to, after their travels.
In Beacon
Blake
The resident ninja of Beacon let out a well concealed sigh as she woke up. She found herself – discreetly – yearning for the blonde knight of JNPR. She had grown up with that hatred of the human race, and her joining the White Fang even after their struggle for independence had turned violent. Even after she'd disconnected her ties with them and especially Adam, things hadn't gotten better, in fact, they'd gotten worse. When she got Beacon, she had a belief that she could change the Faunus society for the better, using her status as a Huntress to better their lives, but after meeting team CRDL, the resident douche hats of Beacon, her dream had ebbed as their time went on, but she later learned that CRDL weren't the only ones who had thought or acted like that, although they would usually be more tact about it. She had lost hope for any reconciliation between humans and Faunus until she met her team and JNPR, especially a blonde haired, blue eyed knight that went by the name of Jaune. She remembered how he'd stand up to bullying, not only towards Faunus, but towards others as well, he was a paragon of chivalry, justice and righteousness. She hopped off of her bed and checked her Scroll, and saw that it was 6 in the morning, she sighed once again and walked into the bathroom, stripped, and when she was in the nude she turned on the shower and went inside. As the warmness of the water had cascaded around her, she remembered her experience with the Arc heir.
{FLASHBACK}
Blake had decided to take a stroll around the city of Vale to relieve some stress and get some alone time. Her team and JNPR were hanging out, but Jaune had excused himself beforehand with the excuse of some extra homework to do. The group of 7 had gotten louder and more rambunctious as the time went on, and being an introvert by nature, Blake had to dip out to get some nice quiet time, which is how she found herself in the streets of the city. She was walking, looking at the stores when a sudden noise alerted her. Normally the noise would barely be loud enough to hear, but thanks to her Faunus heritage, she could hear things exceptionally better than humans. The sound came from an alleyway, and she scaled a building and ran on the rooftops to get a better vantage point. She finally arrived at the scene and saw 5 street children, 3 of whom were Faunus born, were trapped into a corner, while 10 armed men were slowly advancing towards them, muttering threats.
"You filthy animals should've stayed in the Menagerie." The bald headed man with a scar on his mouth had said.
"Yeah, now we'll make sure you filthy mutts don't live to see any day." The man with thin brown hair had said, earning a round of agreement from the others, Blake's blood had boiled at the sight of grown, armed men harming children, and just as she was about to rain down hell onto thee, a commanding voice had paralysed her.
"HEY! You leave those children alone!" Everyone had looked at the entrance of the alleyway, and saw a blonde haired, blue eyed teenager wearing a dark blue V-neck, black jeans, and black and white sneakers. The men had seen an annoyance, the children saw a saviour, and Blake saw the missing leader of JNPR.
"What're you gonna do about it boy? There's only one of you and 10 of us, plus you're unarmed while we have weapons." The man had said, holding his baseball bat while the other men brought out their weapons to prove a point. Jaune only maintained a cool façade, but his eyes burned with fury.
"That might be true," Jaune had said, cracking his neck and hands before continuing. "But I, am a Hunter-in-training." With that, he charged forward and punched the man holding the bat so hard in the stomach that he had coughed up blood. The others charged at him, while some had targeted the children. Jaune was fighting off multiple armed men at once, but as soon as he heard the cries of the children, he immediately ran to them, and saw that a man had a machete and was bringing it down on one of the kids' heads. Jaune immediately stood in front of the boy and blocked the swing with his left hand, and felt the pain flare up. Those watching were surprised, as Jaune had his left hand grabbing the blade, with blood pooling and dripping out of his hand, and he used the lull in the battle to his advantage by using his freehand and punching the guy in the face, stunning him and following it up with a roundhouse kick, knocking him out. The remaining men, there were only about 3 remaining, had apparently decided that he was too much effort, and so they tried to run, key word being tried because as soon as they turned around, Jaune was on them in a second. He punched one on the back of the head, hit one on the head with the handle of the machete, and roundhouse kicked the last one. He was panting at the end, and looked back at the children, their faces a mix of admiration and concern, a girl who had black hair, green eyes, and tiger ears, pointed at his left hand, and when Jaune looked, he saw that it was still bleeding horribly, he attempted to calm them down by waving it off but it sprayed blood all over the place, freaking them out even more. Jaune sighed before having his aura heal him, the glowing white colour enveloping his hand, and closing the wound, but leaving a scar. He slowly walked over to them with his hands up in the air, gesturing that he meant them no harm. The kids – slowly and cautiously – approached him. He asked them if they were okay, to which they responded no, and upon seeing their dishevelled state, he had asked them where their parents and or guardians were. They said that they were orphans in the same orphanage, but that the people mistreated them so badly that they had to leave and that they now lived on the street. Jaune felt a pang in his heart as he looked at how they were, and knew he had to do something immediately.
"Would you like to have lunch, it's on me." They looked in surprise before they nodded. Jaune smiled and patted the tiger Faunus' head.
"Where do you wanna go?"
"Someplace that doesn't cost too much mister." The female tiger Faunus had said. He patted the girls head once more.
"And what's your name?"
"Cassandra,"
"Well Cassandra, I do well for myself, and so money isn't an issue." He looked around at the other 4 children before continuing. "So where do you wanna go?"
"McEll's," They all had said, Jaune had smiled before walking towards the entrance of the alleyway. "Well, are you kids coming along?" He playfully asked, and they ran towards the restaurant and they had found that Jaune was going too slow and grabbed his hand as they ran towards the place. Blake had a look of adoration on her face as she'd seen Jaune – a human – stand up towards armed goons with only his fists and legs, for Faunus children no less! Plus, he offered to pay for their food, she felt she needed to learn more about the Arc heir and decided to follow them, she stayed on the rooftops watching them. After their lunch, she had watched Jaune take them to the mall and let them pick out clothes they want, and paid for it. They walked away with 10 bags, two for each kid, and Jaune had bought a hotel room for them, and told them they'd have it for a week, and that he'd visit each day, and that he'd call one of his relatives and ask if she wants to adopt them.
"A-Are you sure?" Cassandra had asked.
"Of course, my Aunt Lily's always wanted to have children, but she's infertile, and so it would be impossible for her and her husband."
"B-But five kids…" The monkey Faunus Elijah had said.
"They always wanted a big family, now get a move on to the hotel." They listened to him and walked to the hotel, it was a 4 star hotel, and they had thanked him before walking inside. Jaune had walked back to the airship docks headed back to Beacon, and boarded. Blake had used her skills to get onto the airship with ease, not being spotted by Jaune and taking a seat in the back. She stared at Jaune for the entire trip, her thoughts occupied by what he had done for those children. She knew that if it was just another human, they probably would've just stood by and let those horrible men do what they planned or doing, or if they interfered, they wouldn't have done much else for the children. She began to wonder what had made Jaune Arc different from the others, and just what exactly made him tick. She saw him looking extremely discomforted and Blake chalked it up to his airsickness taking effect, and she let a small chuckle escape, sure he could town down 10 armed, full grown men weapon less and all by himself but be hindered by something so trivial as airsickness, although she had started to think that maybe Jaune was right, and that airsickness is more common than people think. Her thoughts were broken by the airship landing in Beacon, and Jaune leaving and heading to the training arena, while Blake walked back to her team's dorm.
{FLASHBACK OVER}
Blake was still in the shower, and when she began to think about what Jaune had done, especially how he looked when he fought those men, how his voice sounded when he talked to those men, how he looked so good, how he'd look with his shirt off, how good he might be in be- Blake cut those thoughts off by making the shower colder, to school her thoughts, however she heard a knocking from the door and the rambunctious voice of her partner.
"HEY BLAKE! HURRY UP IN THERE WILL YA?!" Yang had said, before – what Blake assumed – she walked off. However, all Blake could think about was Jaune and what he stood for and represented, hope, and that was something Blake hadn't felt in a while.
SOMEWHERE IN THE WOODS NEAR VACUO
JAUNE
They had been travelling for hours now, they had left in the morning and it was now nearing darkness, and so they had decided to find a good place to set up camp. They started pitching the tents and setting up the camp fire, and Jaune hauled up logs where everyone could sit. Once it was dark, and the food was cooking, Jaune had brought out the guitar he had brought with him but never used, it was an acoustic guitar and he decided to play the girls a song, while unbeknownst to him, Katie had pulled out her camcorder and began recording.
Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran
"This song's called Thinking Out Loud." Jaune had said, before starting the song.
"When your legs don't work like they used to before
And I can't sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?
Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?
Darlin' I will be lovin' you
Till we're seventy
Baby my heart could still fall as hard
At twenty three
I'm thinkin' bout how
People fall in love in mysterious ways
Maybe just the touch of a hand
Me, I fall in love with you every single day
I just wanna tell you I am
So honey now
Take me into your lovin' arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
I'm thinking out loud
Maybe we found love right where we are
When my hair's all but gone and my memory fades
And the crowds don't remember my name
When my hands don't play the strings the same way
I know you will still love me the same
Cause honey your soul
Could never grow old
It's evergreen
Baby your smile's forever in my mind and memory
I'm thinkin' bout how
People fall in love in mysterious ways
Maybe it's all part of a plan
I'll just keep on making the same mistakes
Hoping that you'll understand
That baby now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
I'm thinking out loud
Maybe we found love right where we are
Baby now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
I'm thinking out loud
Maybe we found love right where we are
Maybe we found love right where we are
And we found love right where we are."
Jaune had finished the song, and set the guitar down, and looked to the other girls to see their reactions. They were all blown away, with most of them having tears in their eyes, and started clapping.
"That was excellent, Jaune, perhaps the best I've heard in a long, long time." Alex had said, while the girls all nodded, too stupefied to speak. Jaune turned red at the praise, especially one coming from a successful and renowned singer such as Alex Free. He dumbly nodded.
"We should eat now," Jaune had offered, stirring the stew that was cooking. They nodded and brought out their bowls, to which Jaune had filled, and had been thanked. Once he was finished, Jaune had offered to take up first watch, and collected his weapons and left, unbeknownst to him, the girls were planning something.
"So I take it you've recorded our boys performance?" Lyanna had asked.
"Yeah, I have it right here." Katie had said, shaking her camcorder for proof.
"Good, are you going to be uploading that?" Serena had asked.
"Yes, I'll do it right now actually, there's no internet so I'll have to use data, and that'll cost quite a few lien, but hey," She said shrugging, "It's worth it." She said, before retiring to her tent, opening her laptop, connecting it to her camcorder, turning on data and began uploading the footage. It would take quite a while, but hey, she and Alex were well off, so it wouldn't make quite a difference. She closed her eyes and placed her head on her pillow, and began to sleep.
IN A REMOTE LOCATION
CINDER
"Is everything ready, Mercury?" She asked the boy.
"Not quite yet, Cinder. The bait's taken quite a while to assemble and we've lost quite a few men in leading them here, I suspect we'll be done in 2 days, no less no more." He was quite scared at his boss' reaction.
"Well no matter, we'll get achieve the results anyways, it might benefit us being patient anyways. Very well, you may go." With that Mercury nodded and left at once, leaving Cinder alone. She pulled out her Scroll and dialled a number. It rang a few times before it picked up.
"Yes Cinder?"
"Roman, are you sure you know what to do?" She could hear a sigh come from the other line.
"Yes Cinder, I'm certain, once you do your thing, we'll grab the singing brat, ransom her away, you get the Arc boy, and we kill the rest, I got it, my men got it."
"Very well then, if something wrong happens on your end, especially with Jaune, you'll have hell to pay."
"What's the deal with this boy anyway, what's so special about him?" Cinder felt herself grow angry but controlled it.
"Well Roman, the boy has a special power, a power that only comes from the Arc bloodline. This power is mainly found in the eyes, you see, and I plan on taking that power for myself, and others."
"You said power in his eyes, how will you take it if it's in his eyes?"
"When you have a defunct organ, my dear Roman, you take it from a donor, are you following me now?" He took a moment to respond.
"Taking a 17 year olds boy's eyes is cruel Cinder, even for you."
"Calm down Roman, it's only one eye I'll be taking, the power would be too much for anyone to handle if they were to take two."
"You also said, you plan on taking that power for yourself and others, who, might I ask, are the others?"
She took a moment to think about whether or not to reveal her answer to him, before deciding against it.
"In due time, Roman, in due time." She had said, before ending the call.
That was chapter 7, there are only a few more chapters left, folks! I suspect maybe, five morre chapters, it depends on how I pace the story. I'm supposed to be working on this English assignment I have due tomorrow but I haven't this in quite a while. I've been busy with life, you know since I've gotten my license my parents have been teaching me to drive and I've been skateboarding and preparing for exams.
