And here we have a bizarre situation in which I throw out a second chapter update within a month. I just kind of rode the high off of posting chapter nine at last, I suppose, because this came out in like a week.
I don't own RWBY at all btw. Disclaimers are important fanfiction tradition.
Roman Torchwick grinned widely as he entered his not-so-humble abode, the luxurious safehouse serving as his base of operations. Hidden in the middle of Vale on the second floor of a dummy business he'd set up years ago, the place was one of his favorite little hideouts scattered through the city.
He had a ton of them, of course... but this was easily the best as far as location went. Close enough to everything he could reasonably want to get to, large enough to be comfortable, and equipped with all the creature comforts one could want.
"Well, Neo, how would you say our little negotiation with your pet went?" He questioned, twirling around and flicking his hat onto the hanger near the door, his coat slipping off and joining it soon after.
Neopolitan shrugged, her hands quickly typing up a response. 'He's cautious about it, you could see it in his eyes. Truthfully, I guess he caught on to just how good of a deal it was and he didn't peg you as needing a spy in Beacon bad enough to warrant it.' Pausing for a moment and showing this to Roman, she pulled the scroll back and continued. 'But since he agreed, Jaune probably believes that whatever your "real" endgame is with Beacon, he won't be tricked into giving you anything useful.' Not to mention he could just as easily falsify information if it came to that.
If the two of them had any actual intentions with Beacon, Jaune would be a horrible informant for them just because of how much power he would hold. They couldn't intimidate him, that much Neo knew full-well; he'd been more willing to die than do anything not in line with his morals when she demanded a favor, so they wouldn't get much that route.
Roman nodded. "All according to plan, then." He wanted the kid to be suspicious of the offer, of just why he'd given so much for so little. It'd make things easier when he eventually 'revealed' what he needed, give the kid reason to believe they needed him. And, in truth, they did need him to some degree. The kid was going to be the best shot they had at doing away with Cinder Fall.
One of the most recent bits of information Cinder had provided him was that her plans would take her and her cronies undercover at Beacon.
It was perfect. They were going deep undercover with full expectations that Beacon was an isolated zone from him and Taurus, that her coerced allies wouldn't be able to capitalize on her location right under the nose of the enemy.
And in normal circumstances, she'd be right. Neither Adam Taurus or Roman Torchwick would be able to get reliable proof of Cinder Fall's plans to anyone important at Beacon without harsh consequences to themselves or simple potential of failure.
Neo could potentially slip in and leave something, but the issue with that was that Cinder knew well his little partner's abilities. She had limited his interaction with tangible documents to a bare minimum in note of this, and nothing he actually had was going to be enough to even scratch her. Hardly worth risking Neo's capture at the hands of Beacon for that.
And as far as the White Fang? There was no way that an infiltrator of theirs could even make it to Beacon without Cinder Fall's notice, and they would be swiftly dispatched before managing to get anything to the important people at the school. And the fallout would then be on the rest of the organization.
But then there was Jaune Arc. The kid was going to be the trump card in all of this.
It'd be so easy to fabricate a story for the kid, maybe something about how he'd made a friend with a Faunus who'd fallen in with the wrong crowd. Found out that they were working under someone named Cinder Fall, who's powers had managed to cow their leader in Adam Taurus and force them to work alongside him. How that same woman was now a student visiting for the Vytal Festival, and her team was made up of the son of a notorious assassin and a ruthless thief.
And just like that, presto! Someone with the kind of power it took to make Adam Taurus back down, and even concede to working with someone like Roman? That would rustle some jimmies up at Beacon, he was sure. Not to mention the additional dangerous individuals that Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai presented.
It would take a bit of fleshing out, he'd need to play his cards right, and a better angle could come up at any time if he waited for it. But if he could get Cinder caught unprepared in the middle of Beacon Academy, surrounded by professional Huntsman who had spent most of their lives fighting? In the domain of Ozpin himself?
She may manage to hurt or even kill some of them. But against the likes of Peter Port, Bartholomew Oobleck, and Glynda Goodwitch? Headmaster Ozpin, the legend himself?
Either Cinder would be killed or captured, or she would prove to be strong enough to take on those odds without a sweat. In which case Roman would have no choice but to follow her, and the kid would take the blame for disrupting her plans.
The man grinned. "We'll take it slow at first; ask the kid little things here and there that are moderately useful, maybe push the limits of just what he'll be willin' to give." He walked over towards his recliner, kicking his shoes off on the way. If the kid was willing to give them things that were actually useful? All the better. But if not, well, he'd still serve his purpose in the end.
"Once our dear employer makes her way to Beacon, we'll spin the kid a tale about how the three of them are criminals intruding on our turf, have him keep an eye on them." Revealing the full truth of them to the kid would only result in the trap being sprung too early. He wanted to choose the time and place perfectly for this one, or else it could all fall apart. Sliding down into the seat, he sighed in pleasure. "And then at the end of it all, when we've got the best possible setup, we spring the trap; let him in on just how bad they are, just what they're capable of, and from there it'll all be over."
The kid would go along with them in a heartbeat once he let him in on just what kind of enemies they shared, and how he could be the one to put them out of commission.
Neo grinned widely, prancing off towards the loveseat opposite his recliner and settling in. 'And until then, we get to play teacher for him. Don't act like you're not looking forward to it even a little.'
Roman grunted. "You're lookin' into that too much, Neo. The better the kid is, the more likely he's gonna live until we need him. Do you know how pissed I would be if this whole idea went down the drain cuz' some kid was just a little too slow or a bit too clumsy to keep himself from gettin' offed?"
The girl frowned in response. 'Probably not as angry as me considering I'm the one who came up with it.' Not to mention she'd become somewhat fond of the boy, seeing as how he was one of her very few outlets for her boredom as of late. If he ended up dying she would have to start harassing poor Roman again.
And honestly, she did feel sort of bad about that. Roman was her closest companion, the partner who had been with her for so long. And she knew full well that Cinder was stressing him out, and that her boredom aimed at him wasn't exactly helping... but she was just so bored! It wasn't her fault, it was because of that stupid fire-toting whore in the skimpy dress and her insistence that Neo not make herself a public face.
Neo could have any number of faces for crying out loud! It wasn't like she was going to be all over the news; she could rob three different banks in one day as three different people, and none of them would actually be her so not a soul would know anything.
But no. Cinder was adamant that she was restrained as much as possible. Even her little outings to harass Jaune were something of a breach of that agreement, but what the bitch didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
Until it did, that is. Because Cinder wouldn't know that they had someone in Beacon well before she got there, someone they could contact regularly.
Cinder Fall was going to Beacon under the assumption that her actions there would be completely unknown by the people she had coerced into working for her.
That assumption was going to lead to her downfall.
It was enough to bring the smile right back to her face. 'Please.' She typed up, giving Roman a knowing look. 'You're telling me you're not even a little bit excited to see some use of your first drafts for that cane of yours?'
Another grunt, accompanied by a light glare. "My Melodic Cudgel is more than just a cane you little gnome..." He grumbled, running his hand along the weapon in question. "But yes, you're not entirely wrong... since I moved away from the original, lengthier, design to better accommodate the cannon, the prototypes have just been gathering dust." And as much as Roman hated to admit it, that did sort of grate on him.
Melodic Cudgel's original design had been more of a shepherds crook than the cane it was now. But the cannon wasn't as practical due to it's size, the thing was just too unwieldy for a weapon of that nature, and the mechanisms inside of the shaft for the grappling hook made it impossible to implement a collapsible design in addition to the cannon and grapple, due to the chambers necessary for the dust.
So he'd cut a good chunk of the length from the shaft and salvaged the hook and cannon as best he could into the final design. It ended up working splendidly, leaving Melodic Cudgel at the same length as a gentleman's cane and providing excellent stability and control for the cannon, retaining the incredibly useful function of the grappling hook, but losing a bit of the reach he'd previously enjoyed with the full design.
A bit of adaptation to his fighting style had sorted things out, but there were days that Roman did find himself wishing he'd come up with a way to get the idea of a retractable design working on Melodic Cudgel so he wouldn't need to sacrifice that reach for the firepower. It was a worthwhile trade, for sure, but still somewhat unsatisfying.
And more importantly, the prototype hadn't been something he could bring himself to take apart. She was nameless and unused for the most part, gathering dust.
Roman wasn't the kind most would view as sentimental, but he had constructed the prototype with hours of meticulous work and careful planning. It was the first realization of his vision, and he felt unsatisfied with how it had ended up.
She was something of a... frame, at the moment. Most of her internals had been removed for use in the current incarnation, but with a bit of love she could be back in working condition.
He could breath a bit of life back into the previously abandoned weapon, work her into something special.
It'd be pointless for him to use her, though, not after he'd spent so long fighting with the much shorter version. And Neo had her own weapon already, had her own style that wasn't even remotely compatible.
But if the kid was interested in pursuing a friendly association with him in the future, something Roman was hoping for as having a Beacon graduated Hunter on good terms with him held a lot of potential, then that old design may end up finding itself a good fit at last.
So yes, he did get a little something out of teaching the kid. Maybe help influence him, get on friendlier terms so he'd be more willing to work with them, mold him a bit here and there to get a worthwhile associate for the future.
The kid wanted to be a Huntsman to protect people, be a hero. That was fine. Anything Roman wanted from a Huntsman would be aligned with those desires anyway; after all, the less competition he had the better. The kid could definitely benefit from busting some gangs here and there, getting organized crime rates in Vale down.
That was the future, though. For now, he'd uphold his end of the bargain he'd given the kid, and eventually he'd spring the most unlikely of traps on Cinder Fall.
Who would've thought some random kid would be the best shot he and Neo had at going back to their normal lives?
"Heh. Special snowflake indeed, am I right Neo?" He asked with a chuckle.
The girl merely rolled her eyes at his humor, though the little grin on her lips let him know she was thinking much the same.
Wandering down the streets of Vale, making his way towards the Bullheads that would be heading back to Beacon, Jaune couldn't help but feel that he'd finally gone past the point of no return in agreeing to assist Roman Torchwick.
While he'd committed a crime in the first place by having documents forged to attend Beacon, Jaune was originally planning for that to be an exception to the rule.
But as he hung around with Junior and the twins more, Jaune was steadily starting to realize just how useful the criminal underworld could be. Junior's information network consisted of enough blackmail that he could get away with just about anything in Vale, because no one would be willing to call him on it for fear of what he could reveal of them.
And that put a lot into perspective for him too. Junior's dirt didn't just extend to others in his business. He had something on just about any relevant figure with power in Vale, with some notable exceptions that were primarily Huntsmen.
But as far as the civilian infrastructure went, no one was as clean as Jaune had originally thought or else Junior wouldn't be able to threaten them so much.
If people who got into such lofty positions were involved in the kind of things that could ruin them if leaked, then really, why the hell would he even care about a bit of association to people involved in shady business? Clearly he was far from the only one.
And as that became clearer to him, Jaune began realizing more and more that maybe it wasn't so important for him to stick entirely to the straight and narrow.
Especially if he could find ways to use these clandestine methods to further his goals. Because while Jaune had admitted to Melanie some time ago that he didn't think of his goals as selfless, he could say from an objective standpoint that he, Jaune Arc, wanted to help people.
So long as he never swayed from that simple intention, never started really looking out for only himself, the Arc teen couldn't see any reason why it mattered if he did things in a way some people would frown on.
He wanted to be a hero, because that was just what he wanted to be. Jaune got satisfaction out of helping people, plain and simple. Even if it sounded somewhat selfish to put it that way, that he was doing it just for his own sense of satisfaction, in the end he wanted to make the world safer for everyone.
A small smile came to his lips as he recalled Ruby's brief conversation with Blake, and how much of that innocent conviction the smaller girl had. That they would be the reason the world was a better place, they were the ones to fight for the happy ending to the fairytale called life. She'd said it in such a way that it wasn't her trying to convince others or herself. It was just her pure, honest belief.
It was probably why he got along so well with her, because in a lot of ways her dreams mirrored his own.
Well, that and because she was honest to goodness one of the most adorable creatures on the face of Remnant.
"It should be illegal for anyone to be that cute... especially anyone who can decapitate a giant Nevermore." He muttered aloud to himself, shaking his head with a wide grin as he finally spotted the Bullhead station. Fiddling a bit with the white button-down he'd borrowed from Junior's, a spare lying around from a leftover uniform, the teen was soon distracted as he tried to remember whether or not he had enough black thread to sew his hoodie back together.
A presence to his right drew Jaune's notice as he continued on, making him turn to regard the person who he had only just realized was there. A pair of amused amber eyes regarded him. "Well, that's an interesting thing to say all of a sudden." Blake Belladonna replied to his previous statement with a small smile, offering him a brief wave. "Should I let my partner know just how you seem to be thinking of her sister out of the blue?" The girl joked.
Flushing slightly at the insinuation, the frosty Arc nonetheless played along. "I'd rather you didn't; I've had enough fights with Yang recently, much rather avoid her trying to maul me for something like this." Because Yang was ridiculously overprotective, and while he'd managed to avoid most of the "big sister wrath" from her seeing as how he was Ruby's first real friend at Beacon, that would only go so far if she got it in her head that he was after her little sister in that sense.
Quirking a brow, Blake offered a small shrug. "If that's the case, then how about you indulge me for a bit? There's something I'd been meaning to ask you."
Jaune blinked. "Uh... sure. There's a little cafe nearby, wanna get a table for a bit? I'm kind of hungry." While he did feel somewhat iffy about eating shortly before a trip back to Beacon via airship, the belly was getting a bit too peckish to really care about that. He'd just make due with something light to hold him over.
"Sounds like a plan." Blake replied after a moment. "Lead the way, then."
As he began to walk towards the little shop nearby, only a few buildings away from the station as a matter of fact, Jaune figured small talk was always a good way to start things off. "So how are things in RWBYland?" He asked.
"Good enough. Weiss and Ruby got over their little spat early on." She kept a neutral expression, but it was clear that she was at least fond of her team. "Yang can be a pain sometimes..." Blake chuckled at the shocked expression and mouthed 'sometimes?' that this drew from him. "You're the only one she puts that much effort into harassing, it seems."
"Aren't I just special..." Jaune replied dully as they reached the door to the little cafe, opening the entryway and gesturing for her to head through. "Ladies first."
Rolling her eyes, the dark haired teen stepped into the establishment.
"Hello there!" The hostess, a fairly pretty brunette girl with green eyes, greeted them as they arrived. "Would you like a table or booth seating?"
"Booth." The two of them replied simultaneously, glancing at one another after a moment passed and they realized that had just happened.
The hostess giggled a bit at that, before quickly ushering them towards one of the booths near the window that looked out to the street they had come in from.
"Cozy place." He began after the girl had left, perusing the menu. "Anyhow, you were talking about a certain blonde menace?"
"She's not really that bad, honestly. To anyone other than you, I suppose... but she can sometimes get to be too much to deal with." The next time that her partner went off on a pun tangent, Blake didn't know what she would do. She couldn't exactly purchase earplugs to tune the blonde brawler out. "Usually, though, she's fine. And how about your own team?" While she did come with a specific purpose in mind, Blake figured she would at least let him order his food beforehand. As well as return the courtesy of asking how she was.
A warm smile overtook Jaune's face. "Honestly? I don't think I could be happier about my team." His team... it just felt so good to say, and not in the sense that he was the leader. "I get along with them all just fine; Pyrrha and Ren are kind of quiet, but they're both really smart and great listeners, and they hit it off really well too."
Ren and Pyrrha complimented one another well. Pyrrha seemed content just to have a partner she could actually befriend without her celebrity status getting in the way, but moreover she and Ren had spent a lot of time just discussing various combat strategies and whatnot with one another.
Which was something Pyrrha was clearly fond of, and Ren didn't get much chance to do because Nora wasn't a planner. She was spontaneous and hectic, sporadic and electric. Spur of the moment bursts of genius weren't unheard of, but she didn't appreciate the planning aspects of battle; that was better left for other people, such as Ren and, now, him.
"And then Nora... she's kind of a handful, but I like it." The girl had probably loosened a few of his screws, but in the grand scheme of things Jaune figured that may be a good thing. "She's silly and funny, always harassing me to do stuff with my Semblance for her amusement." It reminded him, in a way, of his sisters and their habits of pestering him into things.
... that shouldn't have been a good thing, necessarily, but Jaune kind of enjoyed it. He wouldn't have always caved to his sister's whims if he actually didn't want to, after all. "But she can be a lot more serious than you'd think from talking to her." And that protective streak was mean, too. He was really glad Dove's surprise attack hadn't hit him harder, or she may have gone ballistic on them when she found out.
But he couldn't say much, because if it was him he would be just as bad. "And since Ren and Nora get on so well, being childhood friends, it kind of glued the team together right away; Pyrrha and Ren hang out since they're partners, yeah, but Nora isn't just going to leave her bestest friend alone. So then I get drug into it, too, because she won't leave her partner out of the fun." He was sort of rambling, but judging by the amused yet interested look on Blake's face she didn't particularly mind it.
"You haven't stopped smiling since you started talking about them." She noted after a moment of silence between them.
True enough, he still couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Even if we haven't known each other that long in the grand scheme of things, it's nice to feel like you belong."
Blake blinked at that, before nodding. She could understand that sentiment quite a bit, actually.
Another few moments of comfortable silence passed, until the waitress came to jot down their orders. Shortly after she left, Blake spoke up again.
"I actually stopped you here because I wanted to talk to you about something specific." She began. Seeing his attention on her, she restrained a small sigh. "This may seem really forward and a bit strange, but I feel like I have to know. Why did you stand up for Velvet when Winchester was harassing her?"
Jaune blinked at that. "... Uh. Because?" He replied, a bit questioningly, before taking a second to think it through more. "I don't know... I mean, I guess I see it like this; I don't know what reason I would have not to have done it." That was really all it was to him. He didn't really need a specific reason for helping someone out like that... oh, wait. "Are you asking because she's a Faunus?"
A small frown on her lips, Blake replied. "Yes... usually people are content to just let something like that go unnoticed."
"Well, there you have your reason then." The white haired teen replied. "I think that anyone who would ignore something like that just because she was a Faunus is an idiot." He let out a breath through his nose, a bit irritated at the line of thought. "I just don't get why people can't figure out that we're not helping matters by being so awful to Faunus. Just take something like the White Fang for example, right?" He didn't quite notice the way she flinched at that, a bit too caught up in his ranting. "Who's more likely to join up with them: the Faunus store owner who's regulars consist of just as many humans as not, or the one who was mugged outside his own store by humans just because he had a pair of cat ears?"
She didn't need to answer verbally for him to know which one she picked. The look on her face was answer enough. After another couple moments of silence, with her just sort of inspecting him, their food arrived.
Jaune had ordered himself a turkey-BLT and fries, his stomach having overtaken his better judgement and forcing him to order a full meal. Blake's meal of choice had been a tuna and cheese melt, and the girl's attention was quickly drawn by that.
They shared their meal in relative silence until Jaune had nearly finished off his fries, having half a sandwich left. "... sorry if I seemed a little mad there. I guess I'm just a really opinionated person." He didn't have some Faunus friend that had made him realize how much the bias was felt or anything. It was just that he knew it existed, and he'd heard of a lot of incidents caused by the White Fang, and it's origin.
If anything, that was probably why it stuck with him; the White Fang, he kind of saw himself in that organization. Never able to bring change about the right way, eventually forced to switch to a different method.
He had forged his way into Beacon, lied and cheated to get into a position he couldn't achieve legally. Whereas the White Fang had stooped to violent methods and terrorism to try and gain the equality they desired.
Maybe not exactly the same... but there were enough similarities.
If you couldn't get results one way, the only two choices were to give up or try something else.
And Jaune knew full well that if you wanted something bad enough, giving up wasn't an option at all.
"No, it's fine. I'm glad to see that someone else feels like that." Blake didn't mention the specific fact that he was a human who felt that way, rather than a Faunus. That was what had thrown her for a loop, what had made her so eager to speak with him.
When she had seen Cardin bullying Velvet, Blake had resigned herself to ignoring it. She wanted to get involved, it was wrong not to get involved... but standing up for a Faunus in the middle of Beacon's cafeteria was only going to lead to rumors and scrutiny, something she couldn't afford. Not when the only thing protecting her secret was a little black bow.
But then Jaune had just stood up like it was the most natural thing in the world that he would, walked over to Cardin, and promptly shut him down.
And he did it in such a way that he seemed to be questioning everyone else. Why was he the one to stand up? Why was he the only one to stand up?
But it wasn't his intention to do so. It was just the fact that while everyone else was sitting around wishing they would stop it, Jaune Arc hadn't even considered the idea that he wouldn't stop it.
"Thank you, Jaune. I think I really needed to hear that." Blake admitted after a few minutes, finishing off her own meal.
The teen shrugged in response. "Sure thing, Blake. Glad I could help." Glancing towards his cleared plate, he spoke again. "Are you heading back to Beacon after this or planning to roam around a bit?"
She blinked at that, seemingly thinking about it. "I think I'll actually be paying a visit to Tukson's Book Trade. I've gone through a lot of my reading material lately, something new would be nice." That and the owner was an acquaintance of sorts, and she sort of wanted to catch up with him.
Idly grabbing the ticket for the meal, Jaune hummed. "I think I've seen that place around. Been meaning to check it out myself." Seeing the scrutiny this drew, he chuckled a bit and explained. "Well... not many places in Vale seem to carry X-Ray and Vav comics, and I'm actually a bit behind on them." He'd hardly been able to blow his lien on comics while saving up to pay a forge in addition to his own cost of living.
That got a laugh from her. "I think he carries those. Something about how they're really popular with children." Blake couldn't restrain the snicker at his expression.
He rolled his eyes at that. "Well, it's been fun talking to you, but I probably should get back before Nora decides to build a fort with our beds again." While he could certainly appreciate the sentiment, as bedroom forts were awesome, Pyrrha wasn't exactly comfortable with everyone sharing a pallet on the floor inside of the structure... so they had to take it apart.
Which was one hell of a job, because Nora was nothing if not dedicated. She'd removed the mattresses for use, yes, but moreover she had actually moved the entire bed-frames, some of them had been on their sides for use as walls. The entire thing had been pretty grand, honestly, with their sheets draped over the frames of the beds and a single sheet hanging half-way to the floor being used as the entryway. They all could have fit inside it easily.
It had taken a bit of time to undo that.
"Somehow I don't doubt she would do that." Blake replied, thinking about the rather pieced-together bunk beds they had constructed for their own room. That had been Ruby's idea, but no one other than Weiss had really protested it... "I'll see you later, then."
With a wave, Jaune quickly walked up to pay the ticket before departing, leaving Blake to her thoughts at the table.
After a few minutes of thinking about the conversation she'd had with Jaune Arc, she belatedly realized that they had never split the ticket. Meaning that he had just paid for her meal as well without comment.
The girl frowned at that. "... and I don't have his number so I can't hunt him down to demand he let me pay him back." She didn't exactly like that, it made her feel like a bum. She'd been too caught up in her own thoughts to realize he'd done it.
She eventually decided she would just treat him next time so they would be even.
After a grueling airship ride back to Beacon, in which Jaune regretted that BLT like it was the worst decision of his life, he had finally reunited with his team.
Or half of it. Nora was nowhere to be found, but Ren and Pyrrha were both around. "Oh, hello Jaune." Pyrrha greeted pleasantly, a wide smile on her face as she polished her weapon.
She was wearing her usual clothing rather than the uniform, seated on her bed at the far right of the room with her spear laying across her lap.
Seated on the bed next to hers was Lie Ren, who merely offered him a nod of greeting as he continued to read what appeared to be some sort of health-magazine.
Waving to them, Jaune immediately found himself somewhat curious. "... Uhm, guys. Where is Nora?" The fact that Ren was here but Nora was not kind of terrified him, because who knows what kind of lunacy she could get up to without him there to keep her occupied.
"She's hiding in the bathroom waiting to surprise you when you walk past." Ren replied calmly, turning the page of his magazine without even looking up.
Hearing that her plan had been foiled, the girl threw the door open and glared at her childhood friend. "Renny! I've been in there for the last half-hour waiting for this moment and you took it away from me!" She shouted, pointing at him dramatically. "How could you do this to me!?"
"Do you remember what happened the last time someone startled Jaune?" He asked, quirking one brow at the girl as he lowered his magazine.
Jaune flushed a bit at that, coughing into his hand as he recalled the time Yang had gotten the drop on him early on. In his surprise, and honestly because it was Yang and he was both cautious and somewhat scared of her, he'd used his Semblance.
And much like Ruby on her first day at Beacon, he exploded. But with way more ice and snow. He'd been too startled to really even concentrate on anything in particular, which had resulted in an entire hallway, and everyone in it, being coated in snow.
He had also made a particularly unmanly yelp that he would prefer to forget.
"Of course! It was awesome!" Nora replied, a wide grin on her lips at the memory. "Everything turned all snowy and he screamed like a little girl!"
"... thanks, Ren. I think..." He was both grateful for the intervention and somewhat irritated by the quiet amusement radiating off of the teen at that. "How have you all been today?"
"We've been well." Pyrrha spoke, smiling at him. "After hearing about the fight with team CRDL, we were worried about you. But after the call earlier we've been mostly idling around since you were fine."
"Yep! If we didn't hear from you we were gonna go on a Jauney-hunt in Vale until we found you." Nora chimed in. "But instead you were just sleeping over with some girls in Vale." The girl grinned widely at him, having calmed from her earlier outburst and moved over to her bed to sit.
Jaune grunted. "You had better not be spreading rumors about me, Nora..." He mumbled out, shooting her a sidelong glance as he deposited his things on his side of the room, the far left end next to Nora's own bed. It would be such a pain if word of that got out, because then he'd never hear the end of it from Yang. Not to mention Ruby would be all pouty about it, and that would end up killing him with cute.
The innocent look on her face didn't exactly inspire him with confidence, but he accepted it after a moment. "And you, Ren?"
Looking up again from his magazine, the teen's lips quirked upwards ever so slightly. "Nothing in particular." He'd had to look up where that nightclub Jaune frequented was in case they had to search for him, but then their leader had called so that point was rendered moot. He had seen some rather concerning things about the place mentioned online, though... and really, who named their establishment The Club?
Shrugging, Jaune couldn't help but wonder just how they had passed the time all day. Just as he was about to ask, a sudden tone from his scroll alerted him to a new message. Quirking a brow at that, the icy teen pulled out the offending device and quickly checked the most recent messages.
Something from Neo already? Surprising, if it was actually something business related. Otherwise it may just be her wanting to harass him.
With that in mind, he pulled up the full message and couldn't help but roll his eyes as he spotted that one magic word that practically described Neo in a nutshell.
'Bored.'
Oh boy, here we go again... "So yeah. I think I'm gonna head up to the roof for a bit and hang out. Maybe get a little bit of training done with my Semblance while I'm up there."
In response to this, Pyrrha and Ren merely nodded in confirmation.
Nora, on the other hand... "Ooooh, can I come too? I wanna watch!" She thought Jaune's Semblance was one of the greatest things ever, so watching it in action was always fun. And since Pyrrha and Ren had spoiled her attempt at creating a snow-day within the confines of their dorm room, she would have to make due with that.
Turning on his heel and beginning to make his way to the rooftop, Jaune waved at her to come along. "Sure thing. I'm gonna chat with another friend of mine real quick then I'm gonna start messing around more with the ice an stuff, so bear with me if you can."
Gleefully, the ginger haired girl followed behind, offering a wave to the remaining pair within the dorm room as she and Jaune headed out.
With only Pyrrha in the room now, Ren's quiet laughter rang out. "I'm certainly glad she gets along so well with our leader." He spoke in response to the look it had garnered from the champion fighter.
Smiling at her partner, she couldn't help but agree. "Jaune is a very charismatic person, it's hard not to like him." He was funny, kind, and sociable. She especially appreciated the fact that he had legitimately no idea who she was without significant prodding and a reminder in the form of a cereal bar.
Being a celebrity was nice in a lot of ways, but it made it so difficult to really make friends because they seemed to always want to get closer to her just because she was famous. So it was a breath of fresh air that she had ended up in a team with a leader who's knowledge of her was fleeting at best, a teammate who knew of her in passing but had no real concern over her fame, and a partner who was fully aware of who she was and what she had done despite the fact that he didn't seem to care one way or another.
She couldn't have asked for more as far as a clean slate went. It was just grand.
Ren conceded that statement with a nod. "Even so, Nora is a bit of a handful. I was more speaking about how he can handle her enthusiasm so well." In short, how Jaune wasn't annoyed with her and her hijinks. Most people could only handle the hyperactive ginger in moderation, leaving him as her only real constant companion. But Jaune was different, he seemed like he had no problem whatsoever with her exuberance.
He'd given Nora another place to go, and that was something Ren was grateful for. The amount of quiet-time he got had gone up exponentially since Team JNPR had formed. In addition to that, Nora seemed happier now that they had more friends. Between Pyrrha and the entirety of Team RWBY, there was hardly a shortage of people for Nora to occupy herself with, not including himself or her own partner in Jaune.
Pyrrha shrugged. "I suppose. I'm glad that our team worked out so smoothly. I had been rather nervous about team selection." Any number of things could have gone wrong and saddled her with a team that could have been more concerned with her fame, for one, or just made up of individuals she had trouble getting along with.
Ren was a very good partner for her as far as compatibility. He was quiet and levelheaded, didn't concern himself with her history unless it was relevant, and they shared interests in things such as battle strategy or simple relaxation. His abilities in battle were nothing to scoff at, either, and the fluid style he fought with didn't clash with her own at all.
"It could certainly have gone much worse. One of us could have been paired with Winchester, after all." While it was meant as a joke, Ren couldn't help the downward tug of his lips as he mentioned the teen.
Cardin Winchester hadn't exactly endeared himself to any of their team with his little stunt, not to mention the distaste just from him being a bully in the first place.
"That would have been awful." Pyrrha agreed, her expression mirroring Ren's own distaste. "Cardin's opinions on Faunus and his mistreatment of others would grate on me quickly." She really had no idea what she would do in that situation. It was likely that she would try to tolerate it as much as possible, but eventually she would snap on him and that would just be a whole new mess.
Sighing, Ren spoke once more. "I'm rather concerned that they're going to try and instigate more conflict with Jaune now." He'd humiliated and terrified their leader in the middle of the lunch room and then beaten the four of them with help from his friends in Vale. But what if they caught him without those friends, or without his team? "Perhaps we'll need to impart a curfew for our leader... or designate a sitter for him."
Pyrrha giggled in response. "I suspect if Nora was with him they would steer clear entirely." The Valkyrie had put the fear of Magnhild into those boys last night. She had a protective streak, it seemed.
A smirk came to Ren's lips. "I imagine so." While it had been the three of them facing down the still winded Team CRDL, and Pyrrha's inclusion had clearly put them at a distinct disadvantage just because of who she was, they had soon realized that making Nora angry was very unwise.
She would've had no qualms with putting them in the hospital over attacking her partner, especially considering their history.
The two of them only had one another for the longest time, because they were almost always the odd ones out. Nora was always just too bubbly, too hyperactive, too energetic... and he was the exact opposite. They didn't make friends easily because of this, because his typical silence and generally antisocial nature rubbed people the wrong way and because Nora quickly began to irritate with her constant... well... everything.
Enter Jaune Arc, someone who somehow put up with Nora's enthusiasm with a fond exasperation no matter what kind of shenanigans she put him through, or how long she'd been doing it. Someone who was more than willing to indulge her whims.
Team RWBY, close as they remained, couldn't tolerate too much of Nora. Neither could Pyrrha, honestly; she was too kind to point it out, but Ren and even Nora could clearly see when her smile became a bit strained.
Jaune, though? No matter how he griped about it, no matter his complaints, he never really meant it. He was more doing it for the sake of it. It was like he enjoyed it, but thought letting her know that would be just too easy. If Nora wanted, she could follow him around all day and pester him, and he would accept it with just a bit of light-hearted grumbling.
He treated her something like one would a younger sibling, if you asked Ren. Always willing to indulge them, but never willing to let them know that outright.
So was it really any surprise that Nora had come rather close to going off on Team CRDL last night? If she had blown her top then Ren would've had to go through quite a bit to restrain her. Thankfully letting her know that Jaune wouldn't approve had calmed her down, otherwise that entire incident would have been blown far out of proportion.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, something of an oddity for Ren considering his association with quite possibly the loudest individual in Beacon, Pyrrha spoke again. "Ren, would you care for a game of chess?" One of the things Jaune had picked up on his little shopping spree earlier in the week had been a few board games. Among them being a simple chess set that had yet to see any use.
Humming, Ren closed his magazine. "That sounds wonderful, actually." He hadn't played a game in quite some time seeing as how Nora wasn't fond of it. She had eventually given up on following the rules of the game entirely and had just made up new ones as they went along, until the game wasn't even chess anymore.
She had actually typed up a rulebook for her own version on her scroll. It was honestly fairly entertaining playing under the whimsical structure she had thrown together, but he did rather enjoy playing an actual game of chess here and there.
So with a small smirk, he laid the magazine on his bed and quickly pulled the boardgame stash from beneath it.
They had, due to a lack of any real storage space, resorted to designating specific beds for those purposes. Ren had the boardgames under his bed, which was in the middle of the room, next to Nora's.
Jaune himself had a decently sized cooler stuffed under his bed, which he took great effort to keep cold. The inside had been coated with several inches of ice last Ren had checked, and he doubted it had melted much at all in the relatively short time Jaune was gone.
The benefits of Aura-empowered ice, he supposed. It melted, but much slower than normal. Just another thing that their leader's Semblance did.
Pushing that from his mind, the dark haired teen grabbed the chess set and pushed the remaining board games, and there were quite a few of them for that matter, back beneath his bed. "Which color would you like to play?"
"White." Pyrrha replied cheerfully, having cleared a space on her bed for them to play.
Unpacking the pieces from the unopened set, Ren couldn't help the upward tilt of his lips. Team JNPR was becoming one of the best things that had happened to Nora and him in quite some time.
The next four years at Beacon were something that Lie Ren could honestly say he was looking forward to.
Up on the rooftop, which was now coated in a few inches of snow, Nora and Jaune were seated on the ledge of the roof, looking out over the campus. In the snow on the rooftop there were several snow angels, a snow-man had been built using icy props in place of a legitimate hat or pipe, complete with an icicle nose, and several indents in the snow indicated a handful of the white stuff being scooped up for a snowball.
The remnants of said snowballs were visible on Jaune and Nora as white powder and damp spots on their clothing, though the two were both quite pleased with their handiwork.
"Jauney, have I told you that your powers are totally like the best thing ever?" It was just so amazing to have a snow day on command. Nora didn't think that would ever get old. They had a snowball fight, built snowmen, and made snow angels... despite the fact that it hadn't snowed in Vale for months.
And watching him actually practice with it, creating spines of ice as fast as he could and attacking targets he himself had spawned out of ice? That was something else. He really rapid-fired those bad-boys when he wanted to, but it did clearly take a bit out of him.
Then there had been the wind stuff. He would use his ability to get himself as high in the air as he could, and then use it again to slow his descent as much as possible.
They'd timed it. He could get up to fifty feet in the air with his Semblance, and it'd take him almost thirty seconds to hit the ground again from that height if he actively tried to keep himself aloft.
Altogether, his ability was just plain awesome. No two ways about it.
Jaune smiled back at her, hair lightly dusted with snow from an earlier hit Nora had landed. "Glad you enjoy it as much as I do." After gaining the ability to make himself a winter wonderland whenever he wanted, even in the middle of the warmer seasons, the Arc teen had found a new appreciation for snow. The fact that he didn't feel cold the same way he used to probably helped this as well, though.
Because, really, not having to wear mittens was awesome. Those abominations always felt weird on his hands and he hated them.
Almost as much as he loathed actually wearing shoes. Since he'd ditched them in favor of going barefoot to help use his Semblance to it's fullest potential, the usefulness of footwear had disappeared... making them nothing more than an uncomfortable annoyance.
Stupid Beacon uniform. That was the one thing he didn't like about it, the rest of the outfit was pretty snazzy honestly.
After a moment of silence, Jaune realized something was wrong because Nora was nearby and a moment of silence actually passed. "Something up, Nora?" He asked, seeing her space out for a moment.
The girl blinked, looking back to him with a slight downward tilt to her lips. "Sorry, Jauney. Just thinkin'... if you're going out to the city a lot, those guys might try and get you again." Team CRDL wasn't exactly the top of the class, but they weren't total pushovers. And four on one left them with really good odds in a fight. Biting her lower lip, Nora struggled briefly with her words before deciding to just say it. "I don't wanna be clingy or anything, but can I come with you next time you go out like that?"
Jaune himself just gave her a sort of sheepish look. "Sorry for worrying you. That was kind of my own fault for going overboard on Winchester in the cafeteria." He'd been a bit too harsh there. Cardin had legitimately believed that he was willing to cripple him, and while that had probably passed to some degree judging by the fact that the teen had been willing to confront him that very night, it did still seem a bit much.
"No!" Nora cut in vehemently, glaring at him with her turquoise eyes. "That was Cardin's fault for starting it in the first place. He completely deserved what he got!" She hadn't ever been picked on directly like that, because Nora Valkyrie had never been the kind of girl to just take abuse without dishing it back out tenfold... but the whispers behind her back or across the room didn't always go unheard. And there were times that it hurt, but she never let it show.
Some of it was just people thinking she was weird. And that was okay; she was weird. Nora knew that quite plainly, weird was just another word for awesome.
But some of it was hurtful stuff. The kind of thing that made her wish she wasn't so different, that she fit in just a bit more. Nora hated feeling like that, because if you weren't comfortable being yourself then what was the point?
And then Cardin was harassing someone over their race. That was even worse, because people can change over time, but no matter what you did you would still be a Faunus. And making someone uncomfortable with the thing they were born with, the thing they had no choice in whatsoever, like it was their fault and they should be ashamed? That wasn't right.
Still rather heated, Nora hardly noticed the hand on her scalp until her partner began lightly rubbing her hair. Blinking again in surprise, Nora gave the teen a questioning glance.
A warm smile found it's way to Jaune's face. "Thanks, Nora. You can definitely come along next time I head to town, so can the others if they want. And if Cardin and his team show up to start things, we'll break their legs together; how does that sound?"
Nora's eyes lit up. "Amaaaaaaazing!" She clapped happily, giving him a bright grin.
Vaguely realizing that his hand was on her head, Jaune sheepishly pulled back. Seeing the curious look, he elaborated. "Force of habit. I kind of got into the habit of doing that to my sisters, and lately it's just sort of showing up." Mainly on Ruby because she practically melted when he did it, and that was partially funny and partially adorable... but he'd kind of gotten the urge all of a sudden when Nora had been so insistent that he hadn't done anything wrong.
"Oh, that's okay. I don't mind it I guess. What was it like growing up? Ren is the closest thing I've got to a sibling." Or any family at all, actually.
Jaune shrugged. "It was kind of hectic I guess. I'm the only boy so it was a real pain sometimes, but I love my sisters." All seven of them. "I guess I was never lonely, so that's a plus."
Nora nodded. "Sounds nice. Me and Renny are orphans, so we kind of made due with each other." She did kind of wish that she had grown up with siblings, though she wouldn't trade her time with Ren as her best friend for the world. It was just something she had always wondered about.
"If that's the case, you may as well just use my family." This drew a weird look from her, making him laugh a bit. "I've got seven sisters and a full set of parents, Nora. Plenty of Arc's to go around, one of these days I'll introduce you all and you can have all the siblings you'll ever need." Or want, for that matter. Much as Jaune loved his sisters, they took a toll on him sometimes. Any more of them may have been asking too much for his poor sanity.
In response to that, Nora began to laugh loudly. "That'd be great! Say, you think any of them like sloths?"
"Are they cute and cuddly?"
"Well of course they are, they're sloths!"
"Then chances are they probably like them."
"Awesome!"
With that said, Nora threw one arm over the Arc teen's shoulder and pulled him into a one-armed hug. "Thanks a bunch, Jauney; I'm really glad you're the partner I ended up with." Much like her views on growing up with siblings, Nora did consider that maybe being partner with Ren would have been nice... but she wouldn't trade the time spent with Jaune as her partner. She wouldn't go back and change it if she could, because things all worked out even better this way.
She still had Ren, but now she had Jaune too. So Ren got more time to do his own stuff, and he even got Pyrrha who was into a lot of the same stuff as him.
And that was great, because Nora liked Pyrrha too. She was smart, strong, and nice. She'd never said anything about how hyper Nora knew she could be, even if it annoyed her at times.
Team JNPR was quickly becoming the thing that she and Ren had been looking for, a place where they fit in despite their quirks.
And with that in mind, Nora promptly ruined the touching moment by yelling "TIMBER!" and tugging Jaune back into the snow that he'd made for them to play in earlier, drawing a surprised squawk from her partner at the sudden attack on his person.
"Damn it, Nora! We were having a moment!" Jaune griped, quickly rolling to avoid the immediate follow-up Nora had planned, namely pushing a handful of snow in his face. As he landed in a crouch, he gathered two snowballs in his hands for defense.
Nora herself had a pair as well, and the two were now staring one another down on the rooftop, with only the lighting of the shattered moon illuminating them in their glorious standoff.
"It was a moment, Jauney." Nora chided with a grin. "And moments end really fast. Now we're having a snowball fight." With that said, she launched her pair of snowballs right at him.
Jaune dodged, of course, well versed in the ancient art of throwing snow at people. Landing from the sudden roll with a smirk, he launched one of the frozen spheres at Nora in response.
Her dodge was predicted, of course, and during the course of it he launched his second snowball.
In the middle of avoiding the first, Nora realized the second snowball had been thrown where she would end up, rather than where she was. In the middle of a leap to the side, she tucked into a roll and went just barely below the ball of snow, quickly straightening herself and gathering more ammunition.
Jaune had done much the same, retreating behind the snowman they had built prior. "Jauney! No hostages!" Nora called out in faux outrage. "Face me like a man, fearless leader!"
Realizing her play, Jaune merely released a villainous cackle in reply. "Hah! As if I'd be foolish enough to give up a valuable resource! Make your choice, Pancake Queen! Me, or our fine frozen friend?"
"You fiend!" She shouted, gathering more and more snow into a particularly large snowball. "You'll pay for your treachery, King of Cold!"
"As if you could defeat me!" With that said, Jaune leaped out from behind the snowman... with ten snowballs levitating behind him. "Feel my wrath!"
Nora squeaked in surprise at that. "Jauney that's so cheating!" She shrieked, dashing quickly with her monster-snowball in hands, kicking up swaths of the white stuff in her flight and barely avoiding the rapid-fire shots of snowballs coming from her partner.
After dodging the barrage of snowballs, Nora reared back and lobbed her head-sized snowball at Jaune full strength.
Which, for Nora... was a lot.
Jaune hadn't exactly been prepared for a snowball as impractically large as that to fly towards him so fast. "Holy-!" He had enough time to shout, before being positively blasted by the snowball as it crashed into his face, sending him to the ground in a heap. Before he could get back up, a weight settled on his stomach. Sputtering snow, he managed to shake the white stuff clear of his eyes in time to see an incredibly smug Nora straddling him.
With two large handfuls of snow that she promptly dropped on his face, drawing more spluttering from him.
"I win~!" She sang, victorious in their little bout. "As spoils of war, I'll have you make us all more popsicles!"
Under the snow, Jaune couldn't help but laugh even as he played his role. "Curses, bested once again! One day, Pancake Queen, I will be the one to come out on top!"
"Isn't that what you've got those girls in Vale for?" The girl asked, a gleam in her eyes as she smirked down at him.
Eyes shooting wide, Jaune began stumbling over his words at the insinuation. "W-Wait, what? Nora we didn't do anything like that!" He was blushing, damn it. She wasn't ever going to let him live this down.
Especially because she'd just snapped a picture of his reaction on her scroll.
"Damn it Nora, you shouldn't just say stuff like that! What if someone heard and got the wrong idea?" Like Ruby or Yang. That would be a fun conversation to have with the younger girl, and Yang? There was absolutely no way she would ever stop ribbing him over it, probably something about how her rampage on the club got him the chance to be their knight in shining armor.
The carrot-top giggled at him, before she rolled off into the snow next to him. "Or is it the right idea, Jauney? That girl didn't look like she was wearing much."
Grumbling, he replied. "She was wearing a nightgown, Nora."
"And her sister...?" The girl pushed, amused.
"So was she!" Jaune groaned, hands over his face.
Unable to hold it anymore, Nora laughed loudly. "Sorry Jauney, I'm just messing with you. That girl was pretty, though; you're saying you never even thought of it?"
He twitched. "... I can't say I haven't thought about it..." The Arc teen admitted after a moment.
"I might just get jealous if they steal my partner from me, though." She mumbled after a bit. "You and Renny are the only ones who can put up with me all the time, you know."
"And poor Ren needs his break every so often." Jaune chuckled, moving to pull the girl into a one-armed hug like what she'd done earlier. "Don't worry, Nora. Melanie and Miltiades are good friends of mine, but so are you guys. Ren and Pyrrha are my team, and you're my partner. I'm not going to just forget about you no matter what else I've got going on."
Allowing him the contact without any protest, Nora hummed quietly to herself. "Thanks again, Jaune."
"No problem Nora." He replied, glancing at the moon in the sky again. "You know, we should probably head back soon, before Pyrrha and Ren get any ideas."
Nora snorted in response. "Let'm. I don't wanna get up yet. You're not cold, are ya'?"
"I'm always cold, Nora. It just doesn't bother me."
"Good. Then just let me lay here a little bit longer, oh partner of mine."
Even though he rolled his eyes in exasperation, Jaune couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Whatever you say."
And so the two of them just stayed there, laying in the snow on the rooftop and gazing up at the night sky, dominated by the shattered moon and scattered with an uncountable number of stars, as they idly bantered back and forth.
And here we have it folks, chapter ten in all of it's glory. Character interaction galore!
For those of us wanting something interesting to happen, expect that within the next few chapters. I've got some plans here and there for stuff to happen.
But for now. Pyrrha and Ren bond, Nora and Jaune do the same, Blake has a conversation with him because she just gotta know what makes our favorite snowflake tick, and Roman and Neo plot their plots and plan their plans.