Hello, people! This chapter is quite short compared to most of what I've published recently, my reasons will be explained in the end note, but I do so hope that you will like it anyways! As I said after the last chapter, this one continues exactly wher the other left off.

Good reading!


His partner quickly recovered from her giggling and she once again locked eyes with him, her expression too complex for his fuzzy mind to interpret. She was still smiling, though it seemed not to be from laughter. Before he could try to decipher anymore, she talked.

"Jaune…" Weiss' voice was soft. "It's good to see you awake."

"Thanks…" Jaune answered, feeling his voice croaky. "I don't want to sound demanding, but could you spare a drop of water?" His throat felt parched, drier than the deserts of Vacuo.

Weiss' eyes widened, and she quickly started rummaging through her bag, after a few seconds she pulled out a bottle from a side pocket. She reflexively tried to hand the bottle to him before sighing in apparent remembrance of his situation. Jaune gave her a comprehensive smile.

"Sorry, but unless you intend to shove that bottle down my throat I think you'll have to help me drink." Jaune fell into a small fit of coughs, each one irritating his throat even more.

"Do not tempt me, Jaune." Weiss had a malignant glint in her eyes. "You are not yet pardoned."

Before he could ask her what she meant, Weiss got up and leaned over him, having to contort around the casts encompassing his arms to get the bottle near his face. He raised his head from his pillow. She opened the lid of her bottle and placed it in his open mouth.

As he drank, Jaune took a long look at his partner. From so close, he could easily see the mysterious scar over Weiss' left eye, the one he had never dared to ask about. He looked at the delicate curve of her nose, at the pure-white hair that fell over to his chest as she leaned over him and at the pink of her cheeks. Jaune couldn't help but blush as he got such a close look at his partner, she truly was a beautiful sight. As his eyes moved back to hers, he saw that she was also looking at him, her inquisitive expression mixing with a flurry of emotions. She leaned back, Jaune letting the bottle go after a last gulp of the glorious water.

"Wow, I really needed that." Jaune said as he plopped his head back on his pillow.

"Yes, I can imagine that even with all the nutrients and liquids they are injecting into you three days without drinking must be harsh." Weiss closed the lid of the bottle, setting it down on a closeby table. It took Jaune a few seconds to analyze what she had said.

"Three days?" He waited for his partner to confirm with a nod. "No wonder I feel so confused. Are we back at Beacon?"

"We are. We got back a few hours after the last attack." Weiss answered shortly.

The last attack…

Jaune's memories of his last fight against the Grimm were foggy at best. He could recall seeing his team fighting in a group below him and he could faintly remember jumping over a mass of monsters. One thing was clear in his mind, however, the tremendous and overwhelming feeling of pain. The mere thought of it made him grimace, this caught the attention of his partner.

"Are you alright?" She sounded panicked.

"Well, I feel like I've been trampled half to death by a horde of Grimm and had my arms used as chewing toys." Jaune admitted. "But considering what I remember from Olmar that doesn't sound too bad." He launched what he hoped was a comforting smile at Weiss.

"Considering how much your arms were damaged I think you would have fared better as a chewing toy." Jaune was both amused and disturbed by his friend's joking words. "What exactly do you remember from those last moments?" Weiss asked, her serious tone already back.

"Hum… Not that much right now." Jaune got back to his memories, trying to make sense of them. "I can recall jumping over some Grimm and then fighting them, I'm pretty sure I remember hearing you scream too. I think I also saw you before blacking out." The image of a woman kneeling over him and yelling his name was coming back to him, being in front of Weiss right now he could confirm that she was that woman.

"Do you remember feeling something in particular?" Weiss questioned further.

"Pain." His words made his partner wince. "It felt like both my arms were getting ripped apart from the inside, like they were crumbling on themselves."

"So that was why you were screaming." Weiss assumed, receiving a nod of confirmation. "That's probably why you were in such a frenzy too."

"I guess. I also felt like if I stopped swinging my sword I'd just get torn to shreds by the Grimm." Jaune continued, sensing more memories coming back to him as he talked. "I just knew that my only way to survive was to continue attacking at whatever cost, even when I lost my sword. When the sword was ripped from my hands I tried to punch the thing that took it."

"That was Blake." Weiss said.

"… Pardon?" Jaune was utterly confused by what his partner had said.

"That 'thing' that took your sword and that you punched at was Blake." Weiss did not seem in any way concerned. "Even when all the Grimm were dead you still weren't stopping, so she took things into her own hands."

"Is she alright?" Jaune asked, honestly scared by the idea of having hurt a friend. "I know my fist made contact, I clearly remember the pain."

"She is fine, stop worrying." Weiss smiled at his reassured sigh. "That wall will never be the same, however." Her smile grew, and Jaune was again thrown into confusion.

"What wall? What are you talking about?" He asked, feeling like Weiss was toying with him.

"When Blake evaded your attack your fist made contact with a stone wall." Weiss explained, her smile still present. "You broke your right hand and almost punched a hole through the wall."

"I can believe the part about my hand… but punching through anything sounds a little too extreme for me."

"Even Yang says she would have had a hard time throwing such a punch, and I think we can both agree that this is her area of expertise." Weiss continued.

"Huh, adrenalin really does miracles, doesn't it?" Jaune said, again looking at the protection around his arms. "Punching a wall that hard would explain the status of my arm, I suppose."

"Adrenalin was not at play here, Jaune." Weiss corrected him. "What you did back there should not have been physically possible; you were cutting Grimm in half over and over and then you broke through the armor of the Ursa Major in one strike. That ridiculous punch was simply the last example of this abnormal strength."

"What was it then?"

"Me and the others pretty much got into a consensus yesterday, we think you awoke your semblance." Weiss finished, her eyes locked with Jaune's.

"My semblance?" He asked for a confirmation, completely baffled by the idea.

"We don't know, but that's what we came up with." Weiss shrugged.

The thought of it almost made Jaune's mouth water. Semblances were one of the things that made trained hunters and huntresses so incredibly powerful, one of the many elements that made their fighting styles so unique. Semblances were always amongst the most remembered elements of a hunter's legend, at the forefront of tales of heroism. Semblances showed the strength of one's soul, the uniqueness of it.

Jaune let out a long whistle. "Wow, that sounds absolutely amazing!" He heard a stiffened laugh from his partner. "What? It does!"

"Yes, considering how broken you were after using it you should definitely rejoice." His face dropped at her words dripping with sarcasm.

"Your pragmatism is really cruel; you know?" He told Weiss. "It did save my life after all if what you said is true." He saw his partner sigh at this last comment.

"Yes, it did save your life, but it should not have had to." As she talked, Jaune saw the mix of emotions come back to Weiss' eyes. The boy waited several seconds before answering.

"What are you trying to say?" Jaune was truly confused. A long silence followed before Weiss talked again.

"What I am trying to say is that back in Olmar you threw your life away and were saved only because of something you did not know about, only because of something you obviously could not control." Jaune saw Weiss' fists clench and shake, and he saw tears roll down her rosy cheeks. "What I am trying to say, Jaune, is that you willingly jumped into a mass of Grimm where you should not have survived. I don't care what your thoughts were as you did it, but I cannot accept it." Weiss' voice stayed clear until she finished talking despite her state. She sat on the edge of his bed and he could hear her ragged breathing.

Jaune was at a loss for words. Weiss was right, he had leaped into the Grimm without a single care given to his safety and survived only because he managed to kill the gigantic Ursa Major in one strike. At that moment, his only thoughts were of saving his friends, until the frenzy hit that is. He had been willing to sacrifice himself without a second thought. As Weiss sat crying on the side of his bed, Jaune tried to think of something to say. Seeing his best friend in such a state of disarray and sadness hurt him almost as bad as his injuries, but he did not know what to do to help her.

"Weiss, look at me please." The boy tried to keep his voice calm. The addressed girl locked eyes with him. "I'm sorry for causing you pain, I really am, but I can't be sorry for what I did." The teens exchanged a new silence, Weiss being the one to break it.

"Of course, I know you too well to have expected any other answer." The girl's voice was harsh.

"I can't apologize for having done the only thing that could have saved us all!" Jaune defended himself.

"The only thing?" Weiss' voice was so full of anger that Jaune backed off. "You dolt, how can you possibly know that? You did not take a second to talk with us and prepare some sort of plan!"

"How could I have? You, Ruby and Pyrrha were on the frontline trying to block the tide when I jumped, it's not like we were in the best position for a strategic meeting." Jaune tried to keep his voice as calm as could be. "We didn't have any time either, the Ursa just had to take one step to be in range of our group."

"I don't know, but we should have tried something else!" Weiss' hard tone was noticeably shifting from anger to annoyance. "Maybe sending Nora in the fray instead, or having Yang distract the beast." Jaune sighed internally, it was evident for him that Weiss was now simply grasping at straws.

"That would simply have put them in danger instead of me." Jaune shook his head. "I would never knowingly ask anybody to do something so reckless."

"Anybody but yourself." Weiss snapped at him, but he could sense the lack of spirit she put into it. She was starting to calm down.

"Isn't that one of the responsibilities of a hunter?" Jaune asked rhetorically. "To give more importance to another's life than ours?"

"We have the responsibility to save others, not to let ourselves die for no reason." Weiss again sighed. "I just know there would have been a better way for us to prevail in Olmar, a way that did not depend on so many unknown variables." Jaune could not sense any more anger in the voice of his partner.

"Maybe," the boy admitted, "but we won't find it tonight."

In the following silence, Jaune saw his friend's frown slowly melt. He was glad to see that she had managed to let out some steam, but he also knew that she was most likely still in an internal turmoil. He had to do something about that.

I have to tease her.

"You know; I did not take you for the kind of girl to patiently wait by a friend's bedside." Jaune tried to keep his voice serious.

"Why not?" Weiss seemed halfway between curiosity and affront. "What else would I be doing?"

"Using badly veiled threats on surgeons to make sure they don't mess up, bribing nurses to wake me up in advance, mixing dust in the medication of people higher on the doctors' list of patients... am I missing anything?" Jaune listed slowly, a grin plastered on his face the whole time. For a few scary seconds, his partner was stuck in an unresponsive state, a shocked expression on her face, but when she answered he could not stop from laughing.

"You know me badly; all these things were done in the first few hours so I could get back here right away." A knowing grin manifested on Weiss' face. "But I prefer to delegate some tasks anyway, Nora and Yang are so much more efficient when it comes to threatening." The mere idea of being menaced by Yang and Nora brought shivers of fear to Jaune, but these shivers did not chip away at his smile.

"But then the victims won't have the looming menace of the Schnee Dust Company over their heads." Jaune retorted, still grinning.

"Believe me, a signed card does the trick quite well." The seriousness of her tone was terrifying for half-a-second.

"It gets way too real when you talk like that, Weiss." Jaune said, his smile growing when his partner rolled her eyes.

"These are the sort of nonsense I only say when around you." Weiss shook her head lightly. "You are such a horrible influence." She still wore a small smile, enough for Jaune to know that despite what she said Weiss appreciated their stupid banter.

"I'm not all bad, though. We've agreed on that in the past." Jaune remembered the pride he had felt the first times Weiss had told him he was not completely useless.

"Indeed you are not." Weiss concurred.

"The same thing goes with you; you might be hiding most of your good traits, but they are still there." Jaune's words were met with an outraged puff.

"What do you mean I'm hiding my traits?" Her tone showed that she was on the verge of another tirade.

"I said you were hiding most of your good traits, not all of them." Jaune reflexively tried to bring his arms in front of him in a protective manner, only managing to shake his casts. "You are smart and perseverant, an incredible duelist and a nightmare for Grimm, elegant and mind-numbingly beautiful. That's the kind of things anybody with a grain of sanity can see in you without even interacting with you." Jaune saw his partner go red at his words, he assumed she was getting annoyed by his monologue and decided to go right to the point. "But since I've met you I've seen so much more about you, so much that you just hide from anybody that doesn't try to dig further. You are kind, patient, generous with your time as well as with anything material, perfectionist of your own work and of the work of others, ingenious, empathetic and even funny." Jaune finished his list and, having not broken eye contact during it all, sent Weiss his biggest smile.

The girl, still red of face for a reason Jaune couldn't comprehend, sent him a small smile in response before looking away sharply. Jaune was quite confused, not understanding why Weiss would get embarrassed from receiving some compliments even if she, as she had once told him herself, had gotten more compliments during her youth than most people did in their whole life.

Not wanting to annoy his friend and still feeling a bit fuzzy of mind, be it because of his exhaustion or the products running through his veins, Jaune decided to let Weiss have the time she wanted to reinitiate the conversation. He instead thought of what he had just said to her.

He had basically listed all of his observations of Weiss during their few months together. He often did so in his own mind, reminding himself of how lucky he was to have gotten such a perfect partner. This was the first time he said these observations out loud, however, and while everything had been meant he couldn't help but feel strange having revealed it all.

"I've missed you, Jaune." The boy looked back at his partner, his gaze having moved to the ceiling during his thoughts, and saw the girl wearing a small smile full of emotions.

"So have I." Jaune mirrored her smile.

"You were sleeping for three days; you didn't have time to miss me."

"You're right, but considering how stressed and panicked the bunch of us were during that last day in Olmar I definitely had time to miss your happy side."

"Yes, things were far from cheerful. It'll take some time for all of us to digest everything." Weiss' smile understandably left her face as she talked. "Team RYBN seem to have taken the events fairly well, but admittedly even Nora looked less chirpy than her normal self the last time I saw her."

"Good." Jaune took a few seconds to think. "But what about you, Ruby and Pyrrha?" Weiss winced at the question.

"I did not get a good night of sleep in days, the others don't have it easier."

"Nightmares?"

"Nightmares." Weiss confirmed. Jaune could sympathize, his long sleep had been filled with images of Grimm and death and the constant feelings of pain.

"That's less than great." Jaune admitted.

"But I'll manage to get through. You shouldn't have too much trouble either." Weiss sighed. "I'm more worried about Ruby, to be honest."

"She is not taking it as well." Jaune stated, not even needing to ask. "She was too young to see so much brutality."

"She was too innocent, that's the problem." Jaune grunted his approval. "We were all too young to face a disaster like that, but she had it even worse."

"Seeing innocents die like that isn't something you can be prepared for." Jaune said.

"At least she has Pyrrha to help her." Weiss stood from the foot of his bed. "And our visit to the CCTS seemed to get her mind off her troubles for a while."

"The CCTS? What were you doing there?" Jaune questioned.

"Talking to a certain Cyan Arc." Weiss' statement felt so illogical that Jaune had to bend his mind to confirm what he had heard.

"You talked to my sister?" Jaune asked, his confusion only bringing a smile to Weiss' lips. "May I ask why?"

"It felt logical to tell your family of your injury." Weiss shrugged. "I don't know if she intends to tell your parents, though, from what I gathered she isn't in contact with them."

"How come? She still lived at home when I left." Jaune queried.

"She got drafted into the army of Vale, we might have passed over her head when we flew to Olmar and back."

"Wait, the army is drafting people?" Jaune was terrified by the idea. How badly is the front going that they need to force people into their ranks?

"I think she might have been a special case; I have not heard of drafts in the news recently." Weiss answered. "From what she told us they needed someone with her skills to repair equipment behind the front."

"Huh, I guess I can see that." Jaune smiled softly. "The situation might not have been perfect, but I'm sure Cyan was glad to finally leave home."

"In any case, Ruby and your sister talked for several hours, I'm certain it helped our friend's morale." Weiss nodded her head as she talked. "At some point, they started talking about the technicalities of Crescent Rose, I have never felt so confused in my life."

"Now you know how I feel during each and every one of Oobleck's classes." Jaune quipped, giggling at his own joke.

"This will have to change." Weiss' voice was back to an accusative tone. "The final exam is this Friday, you know."

"Oh dear." Jaune let his head fall back on his pillow. "It's that time of the semester already, heh?"

"Yes, it is." Weiss confirmed. "I have prepared several revision sheets for the group, but we'll all have to study intensely. We have three exams during the week, and I expect Miss Goodwitch to have something for us in combat class."

"Welp, I expect to be out of here tomorrow or soon after so I might be able to prepare enough to save myself from complete failure." Jaune sighed. "Anyways, thanks for the sheets, they should help quite a lot."

"Don't mention it." Weiss picked up her bag from the ground. "I will be back tomorrow between classes, if you are not out of here already that is."

"Leaving me already?" Jaune took a look at the only window of his room and saw that it was pitch dark outside.

"Visiting hours are ending soon, you chose a bad time to wake up." Weiss grabbed her water bottle from the table on his bedside.

"Then I guess I'll have a talk with the staff about my status, I might be able to convince them to let me go after tonight."

"I'll tell someone you're awake on my way out." Weiss proposed. "Goodnight, Jaune." She gave him another small but powerful smile.

"Night, Weiss." He copied her smile.

As Weiss left the room slowly, her eyes met Jaune's one last time, him again getting confused by the complexity of emotions he saw on her face. As his partner closed the door behind her, Jaune suddenly felt immensely lonely.

Even in their moments of silence, Jaune felt happy just to have Weiss by his side. The girl was easily the best friend he had ever had and the person with which he preferred to spend his time. She was impressive in too many ways to list, beautiful in every aspect once you got past her scary temperament, and somehow he had managed to gain her friendship.

It had not been especially easy, but after weeks of being a complete dork and a barely redeemable hunter, he managed to break through several of Weiss' mental protection. First, she accepted him as a leader, then she agreed to keep him on the team after realizing that he had cheated his way into Beacon, and then he somehow managed to make himself bearable enough to become Weiss' friend. The process had been long, but he was truly glad to have persevered through it.

The way Weiss' face lit up as she smiled, the crystalline sound of her laughter, the long stares they shared, these made Jaune feel alive more than anything else.

Even seeing her cry today was somewhat positive, as it showed just how much she cared for him. He felt the same for her, and so much more. He couldn't process all of his emotions, especially not now when they were so raw, but the details felt unimportant.

I know that I care for her and I know that she cares for me, that's good enough right now.

As his thoughts were interrupted by a nurse that entered his room, Jaune couldn't help but smile.


And voilà, I hope you liked this full chapter of White Knight interactions! As usual, I want to thank everyone that showed their appreciation of the story by following, favoriting or leaving a review.

My reasons for publishing such a short chapter (around 4000 words) is that school recently decided to bury me under a pile of team projects where I'm one of the only efficient worker, therefore I did not have enough time to write a regular 8000 words chapter. I didn't cut anything, I simply decided to end the chapter at my usual mid-chapter separation. Anyways, I would like to know if you would tolerate chapters of this size once in a while if it means I can get them out more frequently, please tell me by a review or a PM.

So, now for the review answers!

1)I Want To Die69: Yeah, I had thought of different sorts of weapons that the military could use to stop such a massive Grimm offensive, but since the teens didn't get to fight by the side of especially well-equipped soldiers yet I couldn't do much. If this whole battle against the Grimm lasts for a while like I intend to the military will start to get more funds and the weapons industry will come to life, so better weapons in bigger quantities will arrive on the front.

2)Desdelor97: Thanks, I'll do just that!

3)LittleAqua: 1)Exactly! She simply needed somebody to help her open up. 2)Good! 3)That's not it, but more clues will start to appear in the next chapter. 4)I'm glad that you agree with me! 5)Hehehe, I hope you liked the interactions!

4)Guest: Yeah, I love to be able to debate like that! You have several good arguments on the utility of tanks, but I still think that they would not be worth it in such a situation. If you want to continue the debate I'd be glad to exchange some PM with you if you log in!

5)Thanks! I love to be able to put characters that I love in different situations while keeping them logical, I'm glad that you appreciate the effort!

Now that this is done, I'll see you all in future chapters! I won't give myself a deadline since so much IRL work is coming, but I do think the next chapter should be out in less than a month.