Anomalous Propagation, Pt. 1


"Four hours."

"No..."

"Yes. I timed it. Didn't even stop once."

Jaune sighed as he sat back in muted stupefaction - albeit a fairly rehearsed one - the twilight hour nearly passing as the two students sat at a table on the roof of a Valean café. It wasn't too far inland, that with the smell of the mid-city docks still coming in every now and again with the breeze and all, but the rooftop balcony seating provided privacy. And the menu was pretty cheap. But with food far from his mind, Jaune simply shrugged with a tired stare at the wrought-iron coffee table between them.

"Well how 'bout that..."

Blake nodded understandingly at the statement, though it was in fact with a measure of curiosity as well, "I'd never seen someone practice the exact same combinations so often before... is it a sort of training regimen?"

"...Something like that," was the knight's flat reply as he idly tapped the table, the catgirl finding it odd that... something... seemed to be missing from the usually upbeat leader's demeanor.

Strange behavior aside, she couldn't help narrowing her amber eyes a bit at the training itself that she'd practically spent four hours spying on from him that afternoon - at one point, he'd even collapsed his shield and starting swinging it around as if it were some sort of second blade in the middle of a city street intersection, for Oum's sake!

"The combination lasted almost fifteen minutes. Every time. Not to mention the fact that you seemingly 'decided' to train while everyone was out looking for me."

"Had a feeling it'd keep your attention long enough in case you could see me," he noted at that, looking back up at her with a wry smile, "Besides... I really needed to squeeze in some training at the time..."

Blake blinked, her head nearly imperceptibly ticking to the side in curiosity - a likely Faunus-influenced trait that Jaune realized long before signaled genuine curiosity from the otherwise indifferent introvert.

"...For what?"

No response... only his smile remained. Blake wasn't comfortable with staring at it, but for some reason, she couldn't look away. She'd never seen such a hollow gesture... and the only thing riveting her attention to him now was how coincidentally perfect a reflection it all was to her current inner persona. He seemed as lively as ever while he trained... furiously trained, almost... which was exactly what'd kept her from leaving her hiding spot until hearing him talking about her into his scroll in the evening... but after giving him a chance to explain, now he looked like this... the polar opposite hidden under a pathetic excuse of a charade.

Despite herself, despite how angry she knew she deserved to be at his asinine blunder in revealing her heritage earlier that day... all she wanted to know right now was why he looked so much like the way she was currently feeling.

But her answer never came as life suddenly seemed to pool within his muted cerulean orbs at the sounds of distant footsteps. Her ears caught the sounds, at least... but no one had entered their corner of the rooftop terrace, partially barred from the rest of the tables by little hedges places around the area. How'd Jaune know someone was-?

"Ah, right on time," the knight began, his eyes all but shining by now as the lanky waiter approached the table with notebook in hand, "Don't worry about food - she'll take a tea. Earl Grey, black. And I'll take a brew of your Death Wish coffee. Like, stat."

Seemingly taken aback, an expression on the stoic man that Blake immediately knew wasn't something that happened often in his profession, the man was about to raise a finger in objection when Jaune mimicked the motion first and cut in, "Ah ah, I know that only one café in Vale has monopolized the import of Remnant's strongest bean, and I also know it's been notorious for keeping its identity secret for years... but I know that this is the place."

The man blinked at the blonde incredulously, "H-How-?"

"Hmm, you know," Jaune stated smugly as he leaned forward with an elbow at the table, his usual contentment now transcending into what Blake could only describe was her on a very good day, "The beauty of the irony here is that you told me..."

Now, both Blake and the man glared at the young student... okay, maybe his tell-take reaction to Jaune's evident baiting for information was a giveaway, but it's not like there was any irony in that...

"Oh. And I know you'll have to call it in to your boss to get the okay. Carmelle, right? Yeah. Don't bother, I'm afraid holding you from other customers this long actually led to a little 'mishap' on the floor below us involving a disgruntled regular that she's gonna have you attend to any moment now," Blake cocked a brow as she saw Jaune wink - yes, wink! - at the man before continuing with a smirk, "Just tell her I'm that guy from that time at that place with that thing involving my cane."

...

Ring! Ringring! Ring! Ringring!

Blake and the waiter froze when the scroll under the man's fabric stain guard on his waist rang like clockwork after Jaune finished, the man slowly picking it up and bringing it to his ear with a disturbed dry gulp, "Y-Yes?"

...

"Yes... downstairs? ...Mister Al'Aran, the nice one? ...Oh, not that one; Councilman Al'Aran, the frequent customer? ...Ah yes, I know, I was about to head down and give him the requested Death Wish brew after attending to the terrace table..."

The man winced, realizing he'd just given away the very name of the brew he'd so surely denied that the café supplied. But by this time, Blake had stopped glaring at the slightly pale waiter to glare her own glare at the smiling knight with a slightly slackened jaw.

What kind of Semblance did he have again!?

"Very well, right away, Carmelle," the waiter continued, clearly scrambling to recuperate his stoic professionalism before adding with slightly narrowed eyes at the innocent-looking student as if taking the opportunity to verify his little trick, "Also... the man on the terrace table just asked for your okay - by name - on a cup of Death Wish coffee as well."

...

"I know, I tried to tell him that he's mistaken..."

...

"Yes, but he seems adamant that we are the underground supplier," a short pause before the waiter seemingly continued with a silenced huff with no other recourse, "He says... he says he's that 'guy'..."

...

"Vague, I know... Oh? Well, no, but he did say he's the one from that 'time'..."

...

"No no, at that 'place' as well..."

...

"No idea. He said it was the one where the thing happened involving his 'cane'..."

...

The man's shoulder's slackened with the next pause, gazing at Jaune as if the young blonde were royalty before hedging in disbelief, "Yes of course. I'll placate Councilman Al'Aran and make him a fresh brew right away... wait, make him a brew and then attend to Councilman Al'Aran!? ...Er, um, no! I mean yes, of course, right away!"

The waiter quickly slammed the scroll shut as he gaped at Jaune, "But how! You're nowhere near old enough to be-"

"He's my dad," Jaune slipped in easily enough; but Blake had seen his genuine smile before... and this wasn't that, "Gave me her name and what to say. Don't blame yourself, he's super secretive like that."

A final pause as the two men glared at each other, but it was the waiter who eventually yielded, his gaze softening with a nearly imperceptible nod, "Very well... I'll return shortly, as well as with the lady's tea."

And with that, the waiter took the menus and left... Blake noticing Jaune's smile at the waiter immediately fading as he took out a pen from the notepad the waiter had inadvertently left on the table to scribble something in it before turning to her as if he knew what was coming his way. And that was starting to get very annoying...

"What was that."

"What was what?" Jaune answered innocently as he quickly covered the notepad, seemingly trying to hold back a smirk as if to a joke he knew the punch line to already which only got her ears to flatten on her head.

"That. All of that. Heck, everything," she began, restraining herself for the sake of the waiter who seemed like he might've been returning soon... but hang it all if she wasn't going to sate her curiosity first! "First you come to this school and call out my secret right off the bat. Then you go around acting like you've known us all for ages. And now the antics, pushing people's buttons with such precision! It's inconceivable!"

"Whoa now, I'll tell you," Jaune began at the clearly flustered teen, at least ditching the smirk for a bit as he held up both hands placatingly... until the smirk returned, "After he gives me my jo!"

A snarl practically escaping her lips as she whirled around to see the waiter returning and realized Jaune'd sensed him coming before she could a second time, she turned back as the man served her the tea and him the mug which she realized by his reaction was the very thing that had caused life to return to his eyes in the first place.

"Ohhhhhh~" he all but cooed as he gently caressed the curve of the porcelain cup before beginning to lift it to his lips, "How I've missed you, Coffee-chan~"

The waiter rolled his eyes with a slight shiver at the knowledge that the brew could easily burst the heart of a lesser man, "You are your father's son, I suppose..."

And with a single sip from his mug, Blake realized Jaune seemed as normal as he ever was, the young leader turning to give a nod to the stoic waiter, "I guess so. Thanks; by the way... I never got your name."

The lanky man paused but eventually shrugged, "Ren. Kylo Ren."

And Blake saw that smirk return to Jaune's face, the punch line one, as he asked, "No relation to Lie Ren, by any chance?"

At that, Blake watched as the waiter's eyes lit up for the first time she'd seen, the man bristling up in shock as he glanced at the blonde, "Second cousin. He... he was the only one to survive a certain... incident, in our hometown when we were much younger - you know where he is!?"

"Course. He's at Beacon, with me in the same team," Jaune finally let out as he grinned a mighty grin, surprising Blake further by picking up the notepad and handing it to the waiter with his finger on the scribbles he'd made earlier, "Here. His scroll number so you guys can catch up... I think it'll really make his year."

Kylo took the crummy piece of paper in his hands as if it were a bar of gold, his attitude completely changed now as he turned back up to give the knight a small smile, "Thank you... this... means a lot. You're a good man, and I don't doubt you'll one day grow to do great things as Headmaster like your father is as well!"

The waiter then nodded at his own words before turning and walking away, Jaune seeming to be totally unsurprised that the man would make his exit so suddenly like that as a few things clicked in the catgirl's head.

"Wait... Ozpin," she began, suddenly not so surprised that this eccentric - and possibly bipolar - teen might actually bear relation to the equally eccentric and reportedly strongest Hunter on Remnant, "Is your father?"

...

Jaune snorted, "Pfft, nope."

A flaring deadpan from the ravenette which only seemed to amuse him further.

"But... to answer your question from earlier," he continued before taking another sip of coffee and then shrugging, "Guesses."

"Guesses."

He nodded contentedly, taking another heavenly sip before elaborating, "Honestly, everything you saw just now, just guesses. I'll admit the last one about the witer's identity was a total shot in the dark too at first; but as it turns out, it was a pretty good one."

Blake simply stared; not glared, just stared... disbelief a strange fit for her normally passive features as Jaune chuckled at the sight, "Like Kylo said, the brew's a huge secret or something, so I thought I'd try it. But lo and behold, apparently we weren't supposed to know about it being sold here... so of everyone I know, I let myself take a guess with Ozpin being a possible buyer. Cuz seriously, do you think a single man can be the Headmaster of a school that size by running on just a normal cup of coffee every day?"

A slow shake of the dumbfounded ravenette's head at the depth of Jaune's quick thinking.

"I agree. So I had to be just specific enough to reveal the identity of a potential buyer while being just vague enough to be believable... it's a fine line, you know."

She could certainly agree with that... yes, yes it was. But even though the young leader had just won serious respect points in her book, Blake still narrowed her eyes at him in question.

"That's fine... but that doesn't explain how you knew so many details before the fact. The name of the location manager, for example. And the incident downstairs."

Jaune hummed pensively, though she guessed it was clearly for show even as he gave a slow nod to her words as if he instead were acknowledging her own depth of mind, "You're very right, Blake..."

Blake raised her brow with the pause that followed, clearly expecting more, "Soooo..."

With a short-lived smirk, Jaune then placed the mug on the table that he'd been holding with both hands at the time as if it were the ambrosia of Monty Oum himself before leaning forward with both hands clasped in front of said mug.

"Blake, if it's one thing I've learned about you, it's that you don't take to believing things easily just cuz they're said to you," a short pause, clearly for effect as the ravenette noted and just as easily admitted actually succeeded in capturing her full attention, "You learn best when they're proven by being shown to you first..."

His deduction of her true heritage... his ability to fight diverse opponents with mastery in the art of counter-attacks... and the locations and movements of several people in the same building along with the identification of a family member to his teammate? It all came together at once as realization dawned on her, "You're... you're a Tracer."

"Atta girl," he warmly confirmed before he unclasped his hands and reached one across the table, resting it a scant few inches away from hers, "But you'd probably ask how I learned that much about them so quickly even with a Tracer-type Semblance... so here, take my hand."

A short moment of hesitation from the ravenette, Jaune catching the lightest of blushes tinting her cheeks before playfully deadpanning at her, "C'mon... it's a test, not a display of affection."

Giving him a glare at his condescending tone, Blake huffed before petulantly lifting her hand and letting it drop in his for him to do the work in accommodating it into his grip with a light squeeze. Her breath almost hitched when he did that... his hand was unexpectedly warm...

"Hmm, yep. There she is, Blake Belladonna," Jaune noted glibly with eyes closed, looking more like a cheap imitation of a fortune-teller with his dramatic hums of supposed spiritual discernment... Blake was not amused.

"Jaune..."

"Ah?" he interrupted, eyes still closed as he cocked a brow, "There's a lot about you under wraps, y'know. And I'm not talking about that bow. For a girl who tries so hard to conceal your identity, you're actually quite proud of your race. Which isn't surprising, considering you use every quality your heritage gives you to its fullest whenever you fight..."

"...And you would know how I fight?"

"More than you could possibly imagine," Jaune now stated flatly, instantly dropping the act as his eyes opened with a hint of that steel she'd seen in them before and he gently released her hand, "That, and a lot more. Blake, look, I know you're afraid... afraid of where you came from, afraid of you are, afraid of where you're headed... Heck, I even know you're afraid enough to go back to the Fang hoping that things can maybe, just maybe, go back to the way things were."

This time, when Jaune paused, Blake made no reaction. Whether it was what he said, or how sure he'd said it, she was now frozen solid to her seat.

"Your entire style - your agility, your speed, and your Semblance - when you fight... it's all used to avoid every single hit you can. Because you are also that afraid thinking about that one day you might get that hit, that bullet, or that stab you won't come back from. I know this, not just because I've seen it in you, but because I've felt the very same thing..."

At that, the spell was broken, Blake's brows softly furrowing at the knight who was just as sincere with that last statement as he ever was. Really? After the incredible power he'd shown throughout his time at Beacon, not to mention what he'd just done here... Jaune Arc was afraid?

"That's right," Jaune continued as if sensing her very thoughts, now taking her hands lying limply on the table softly within both of his, "So when I say that you'll get better by staying here in Beacon with us because that is the you I see in your future - working, training, and growing beside three of the other most incredible girls I know... it's because I learned the very same lesson... staying here in Beacon without giving up. With you guys."

Blake didn't even realize her vision was slowly becoming blurry until her eyes began to sting, blinking the moisture away before breaking her gaze and lightly shaking her head, "Jaune... you couldn't possibly understand-"

"Understand what? The sheer pain you and your kind have been through?" Jaune retorted, his words sharp but his tone as soft as his hold on her hands before he simply shook his own head, "No... I don't. I never will. Because I haven't faced the discrimination, the torture, and the worldwide rejection firsthand that caused the White Fang to come to be in the first place. But that was then, Blake. This... this is now!"

Blake turned up to glance at him with an almost disdainful scoff. A human, actually trying to argue for the inception of the Fang while knowing full well what it became? It was almost laughable! But then, he continued...

"But even if I never experienced it, you really think I can't imagine what Faunus have had to endure... pushed back into the slums of every kingdom, marginalized despite their incredible abilities, and minimized throughout history even as far back as the Battle of Verdun? Y'know, I may not be a seer, but I'm willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with any Faunus out there who says the Seven Stars were just as real as the General who led them!"

Blake blinked at the knight, her mind drawing a blank at how a human teenager would have knowledge about Menagerian records which were well out of the reach of humans even as influential as Ozpin, but he only smiled at her and spoke before she could question it, "Yeah, I know some history. Something I learned from a friend whom I'd trust with my life and my own weapon in a heartbeat. See Blake, thing is, you trust your friends, and you believe them when they say they want to help you. That's how it's supposed to be. And even if you don't think you can believe that your own team wants to help you yet... please, at least believe me when I say I want to help you. That we want to help you... that we can help you..."

Blake screwed her eyes shut, her bow drooping down on her head before she replied with a shaky voice, "Then help me believe, Jaune... make me believe, like you do..."

The knight sighed, unable to ever kick the habit of glancing to the side in his reflectively strange way of giving her some privacy to vent those emotions before slowly lifting his second hand from above her hand to her shoulder. Seeing that she made no immediate reaction, he decided to rub her shoulder a bit while he wondered as he has several times before how unlikely it was that her team would've gotten her to vent this much with just one conversation. By this time, he definitely knew that it'd have taken at least two for sure, facilitated by none other than Yang, no doubt...

"Alright then," he finally began, letting her regain her composure before stating, "I'll show you..."

Putting his hand down from her shoulder, Jaune gave her a warm smile as she looked up at him with a curious glance despite her reddened eyes.

"That's right. During the week, I heard Weiss complaining about how the field trip had forced her to use up way more Dust than she had available from her weekly supply and how her request to her dad's company for an advance shipment had a butterfly effect, making their huge Dust shipment that was scheduled to come in to Vale on Sunday come in tonight instead..."

"Butterfly effect?" Blake echoed in question, to which Jaune chuckled softly.

The way she asked it never got old.

"Heh yeah, it means how little things that get moved out of place can slowly become a big thing over time through a chain of events - like how the air moved by a butterfly flapping its wings here in Vale can indirectly cause the beginning of a hurricane across the world in Mistral!" Jaune continued, though he wished stopping something like a hurricane was only truly as simple as killing the butterfly in practice, "Well anyway, instead of testing your theory on the White Fang by returning, let's go and find out if the robberies are connected by seeing if they jump on the payload while it's most vulnerable. If they're not there, then I'll personally let you do as you please - your argument for the Fang's redemption in the light of their innocence would be as valid as my argument for yours. But if they show..."

Blake's nod signaling her agreement with his reasonable suggestion, she noted with a light reddening of her cheeks, "Alright, I'll take you up on your offer... I'll, just need my hand back first, if you don't mind..."

Jaune looked down, his hand immediately unclasping hers as he hid a small smile, "Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize..."

But before they could stand, Jaune was interrupted by a short addendum, "Um, one thing, though..."

"...Hm?"

He followed her gaze to his drink, smirking as he had countless times before as he knew she was simply staring at his mug, "Wanna try some?"

Not even bothering to check to see the coy nod he already knew was happening, he smiled as he took the mug and handed it to her... watching as she drew it ever closer to her lips.

One of his favorite parts of this particular loop? Watching her pupils adorably dilating in a way only a kitten's eyes could as soon as the caffeine settled in her palate, a small lurch of her slender body preceding a frankly hilarious spastic twitching from both her cat ears.

So yes, Jaune wasn't about to hold back on the few things he truly enjoyed in life anymore aside from his precious Coffee-chan... therefore, he literally LOLed at Blake's reaction.

As they both stood soon after, Blake finally letting a small smile break onto her lips - after delivering a satisfactory punch to the blonde's arm with caffeine-enhanced clone speed that even surprised herself - she watched her companion pay for their drinks before speaking up to get his attention, "You know, you really are different... I'd never heard anyone speak the way you do after I left the Fang. Where they always assumed the worst in them, you only ever assume the complete opposite... and even when they're people like the Fang, you're willing to give them a chance..."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Jaune noted softly as his hand remained on the table, his gaze not quite meeting hers, "I'd have lost myself a long time ago in this loop if you weren't..."

But for the first time, Jaune's expression softened as if realizing something before he continued, "Anyway, I meant to ask, and I actually can't believe it took me so long to think of it... but where were you hiding all afternoon?"

"Oh? And the great Tracer couldn't figure that out himself?" Blake retorted with a challenging smirk, to which Jaune chuckled with an easy-going smile.

"I knew the general area where you were. Trail and error is what it took to figure it out mostly, but that's because I wanted to respect the time you needed to be alone," he noted with what was admittedly a half truth - after all, with all the time he had, he easily could've triangulated her position, but didn't because of the point he'd just given and his increasingly evident need to buy every second he could to train, "I guess in the end, I just hoped more than anything that you'd approach me first. And I'm glad you did..."

At that, a rare warm smile grew on the girl's lips, added on with a fluttering sensation from within as she realized the supposedly unflappable Jaune had seemed to be caught by surprise by her gesture as well before she noted quietly, "Well... after everything you've done for me in the past hour, I don't think my past self would mind spending some time with you... I-I mean, for what it's worth in hindsight... But I stayed in the very same pub I was kicked out of earlier. By the time I left, the bartender there had just traded shifts with the second shift bartender... all I had to do was go in and sit to watch you train like a swordfighting film set on repeat, and no one was the wiser. None of you would've thought to look there."

But Jaune didn't seem to mind what seemed to the kuudere across from him as a very awkward admission, his eyes instead brightening with the thought of her confession and subsequent reveal, "Ya don't say! Well uh... if it ever comes up again, I'll keep it in mind!"

Cocking a brow at the statement, Blake nodded and followed his lead out of the café as her mind drifted back to his previous words in their conversation. A man who was willing to look for the best in others, even Faunus, at the risk of losing himself if he didn't was a rare thing indeed... but her brows furrowed for a second - just a second - as something he'd said at that time happened to stand out.

I'd have lost myself... in 'this' loop?

But she shook off the thought, willing to trust as they headed towards the docks that he knew what he was doing...

Willing to trust as he held her back from attacking that spiteful human ordering around her ex-brethren when they arrived that he knew what he was doing...

Willing to trust as he held out his hand for her bow as they stood in front of the med-Dust container that he knew what he was doing...

"You trust me?"

Blake smirked under the wavy locks of obsidian tresses obscuring most of her face as she realized how coincidental it was that he was asking that right now considering her thoughts on the matter. In fact, under better circumstances, she might've even gone out of her way to embrace him - as uncharacteristic of her as it may be - just to show him how much she appreciated what he'd done for her... but then again, it'd just been one conversation. It wasn't easy for her to open up; but as luck would have it, she'd run into a tracer willing to do the legwork for her in breaking through her impassive persona. Granted, she didn't expect him to see through her emotional defenses so easily, but the way he acted... the way he related... yes, she could trust him.

So she contented herself with simply placing the bow into his waiting hand.

"Do you trust me?" he repeated benevolently.

A reluctant but definite nod from the ravenette.

Jaune smiled. Smiled, because she didn't always nod.

It was almost funny... though he would try and keep the loops as identical to the vanguard loop when he first spoke to her - seeing that it went so well up until... well... he got stabbed through the stomach by the cutest psychopath he'd ever met - the smallest divergence or misstep after that could make Blake react in the most unexpected ways. And after so many loops, he decided in light of her unique disposition that it'd be better to try and shorten the exchange between them like he'd done once with Ozpin.

Didn't work.

It took a few dozen loops to realize that in this case... a considerable length of time was needed for Blake to react favorably. She needed to be cared for... and he needed to put in the effort... two things that could only be done over time. Besides, it wasn't like he was in a rush... this was by far the greatest trial he'd had to endure, many times worse than initiation. So he'd decided to at least keep things organic between them, covering the most important points when he could... then getting as far as he could at the docks... getting killed, usually in very gruesome ways... and then repeating.

It'd gotten to the point that he actually had to use a loop every few dozen loops or so just to sleep in order to rest his mind... he'd even had this weirdo dream one time where people he knew came together to fight this giant groundhog Grimm thing along with people he wasn't sure he'd ever met... or had yet to meet. It was pretty fuzzy after he woke up; the only thing that stayed fresh in his mind from it was the shawarma. He'd really have to check that place out if it were a real restaurant in Vale.

Ah, well. Anyway, it was time to respond now...

"Good, cuz that's my lucky hoodie you're currently wearing and I've had it since initiation," Jaune recited from memory, Blake ticking her head in that sign of curiosity at his smile. She had good reason... maybe this was one of the loops she realized he was putting on his mask again? No time to dwell on it, though; might as well continue, "Now, I'll need you to use your Semblance and scare the living tar out of them. And I mean seriously freak them out before picking them off one by one. I'll take care of the rest - and be sure to leave the last one around here to me. Got it?"

Jaune quelled a sigh of relief when after a moment of deliberation, she shook off her curiosity as his plan finally clicked in her mind, a dark smile falling over Blake's countenance as she got in character and slowly let her hair fall to cover her entire face once more.

No matter how many times she did that... it never ceased to weird him out. Her single mere action getting Jaune to do little more than give her an unsettled smile and thumbs up before closing the door behind them, he took a deep breath before heading straight to the back of the container.

She really was that good at being creepy.

But despite himself, Jaune smiled while listening to her scaring the living owl pellets, sod, or whatever other forms of faunal defecation there was on record out of the mooks surrounding them... he realized that the time and loops he'd spent getting to know her had led to some pretty good things, after all. Though his body was rested whenever he looped, he'd had to resort to finding ways to energize his mind - so he'd kept the waiter at the table a little longer learning about different and stronger coffee blends. Vecchian Blonde Roast... Atlesian House Roast... Mistrali Dark roast... he'd tried them all. Keeping the poor guy held up for so long did indeed lead to his learning of the butterfly effect he was causing by doing so - that customer whose name he could never pronounce freaking out, preceding Carmelle's call, and the waiter's slip up of the greatest brew Jaune could ever imagine existed. It was only a matter of getting the waiter to spill the beans... hehe, puns.

Jaune sighed; he couldn't believe it, but he actually kinda missed his fellow blonde brawler.

But guessing his way to a cup of Death Wish coffee was 47 loops well spent!

With a grin on his face, Jaune psyched himself back up for what was to come as he doused himself with the Dark Dust, stepping out towards the central container and attacking the Faunus from above.

He was a hyena-Faunus. His name was Banzai. He'd taken a few loops here and there to figure it out just so he could really get into his head...

But meh, the henchman screamed the same way every time.

The same toss, the same mooks blasted away into lala-land around Roman - oh good, Blake's here, right on time - and the same stupid monologue from the cigar-puffing idiot. He'd considered saving some Dust to blast Roman first, but it only ended in that psycho girl attacking Blake first in retaliation.

Her name was Neo or something...

Speaking of which...

"Ooh, very poor choice of words. See, as I was saying, you have my word that it won't happen again since I've been given the cease and desist on your murder... Buuuuuuut~"

CLANG

The clash of metal resounded through the docks, echoing between the multitude of containers as Blake and Roman noted the thin chokuto Jaune had suddenly parried out of thin air using Crocea Mors with a quick sidestep. Not to mention the shocked multi-colored girl holding it.

"Huh," Roman concluded with narrowed eyes and a puff of his cigar, "Didn't see that coming."

"Aw. You mean that's all I get? I'd have thought you had another Oum-awful soliloquy planned out for me..."

Gah. Darn it, spending time with Blake was making him use big words.

Roman grimaced at the kid before taking a final puff and flicking the cigar, Blake turning to see Jaune's attacker gone all of a sudden. Maybe she was a speedster like Ruby?

"Oh, it wasn't really gonna be all that," Roman countered easily enough from where he stood, "Just me admitting that you're either pretty quick or pretty lucky. But either way... today's the day your luck runs out."

Jaune took the threat in stride, expanding his shield as he held out his blade and dropped to combat stance, "Don't hold your breath. See, there's one thing you haven't learned about me yet..."

SHHCLANGCLANGCLANG

And just like that, the girl reappeared, once again trying to attack from Jaune's blindspot but failing as the blonde deflected three strikes before intercepting her leap through the air to shield-bash her towards Roman's feet.

"...I make my own luck."

Blake had been watching Roman to see if he were going to make a move, and had barely seen the girl coming the second time. It was like she was coming from out of nowhere! Yet even then, Jaune had handled it without even turning back to see her coming, his gaze set on Roman's glare even as the girl flipped through the air to make a three-point landing at Roman's feet. But as Blake stepped forward, thus ending their little standoff, Roman raised a hand towards her with a small smirk.

"Now now, I know I implied earlier that I'd taken a different route than calling for backup in numbers... but c'mon. Your buddy's a Tracer. You really think I wouldn't?"

And at that very moment, a roaring mob of White Fang soldiers erupted from between a nearby pair of containers, Blake being the only one between the mass of Faunus and the trio in the clearing. She had time only to spare Jaune a concerned glare before he pointed at her with his sword.

"I'll handle these two; you take care of them! I know you can do it... so give 'em hell."

After seeing Roman's underhanded methods and her prior organization's willingness to work with such filth of the world... Blake made her decision. Adam's very own contradiction in his beliefs against the humans by being willing to barter with the worst of them sealed it. She would do what needed to be done.

"Aw, did you see that Neo?" Roman noted with a cooing tone at the pair, "He even put aside a moment to give her a pep- oh look, I guess we're starting!"

Roman grinned, cutting his own observation short as Blake sped towards the mooks and Jaune dashed towards the criminal duo with unexpected speed. Neo grinned as well, glad to have met a decent fighter as she engaged Jaune first and found him deflecting her blows swimmingly as she leapt around and over him. His sword seemed to follow her even when his eyes didn't, but Neo was a master at exploiting weaknesses... and that stupid star-studded shield was literally a big one...

"My my, Tracer," Roman noted with a raised brow and a smirk, knowing that Neo was still just testing him out after dodging her initial assault and was nowhere near going all out on him, "I've never seen anyone go up against Neo and stay alive for so long... and in one piece!"

"Heh, aren't you gonna join, then?" the knight taunted as he had to lean back just enough to avoid the chokuto slash at his neck that probably came close enough for him to postpone that weekly shave for a while, flipping his blade into a reverse grip to then parry the multitude of slashes from the smirking mute, "Because I'd honestly hate to see what might happen to Neo if Blake joins in before you do!"

"I wouldn't be too worried about that; you were right in giving her the better end of the deal by pitting her against the soldiers... almost as useless as Junior's guys, if you ask me... but that's still a pretty tall cat tree for Kitty there to climb..."

At this point, there were a few things Jaune knew. Jaune knew Neo wasn't going all out on him. Jaune knew Roman was currently gauging Blake's threat level - which judging by the fact that he knew she was whittling down what he counted over time to amount to 42 men, was pretty darn high. And Jaune knew what was coming...

So he had to time this next dodge perfectly.

"Maybe I should just mosey on over there to take her mys-"

Jaune shifted his head just a little to the left at the last possible second-

BLAM!

-to dodge the bullet aimed at the back of his skull from point-blank range that the assassin didn't think he'd see coming.

It grazed his ear this time, nicking the cartilage and likely drawing a trickle of blood. But it'd heal; he'd worked with worse in prior loops.

"-elf-FFYEOW! NEO!" Roman shouted as the Aura-piercing bullet shredded through his coat and tore through his right arm. Jaune knew it was just a flesh wound that'd heal after an hour or so, but it was paramount for his survival for what would happen after he finished whining, "Who taught you to shoot!? JEEZ!"

"BOOYAH!" Jaune suddenly cried out with a wide grin, knife-handing both blade and shield towards his crotch in the universal 'Suck It' gesture in Neo's brief moment of shock, "What! You didn't realize that Jaune MOTHER-GRIMMING Arc wouldn't know you were a teleporter!? Roman you USELESS metrosexual, GIVE me a DECENT fight!"

His grimace of pain immediately disappearing, Roman stared at Jaune for a full second with a twitch in his eye before loading his cane with a Dust round shotgun-style.

"Oh hell no."

Meanwhile, Blake continued whittling down the men in her area, actually glad that the idiots had decided that bottle-necking themselves by coming out through the same opening was actually a good idea. Hadn't any of them read the world-renowned novel '300' about the Mistrali Spartans who saved Haven by making their enemies do the exact same thing?

Idiots.

Her shadows took the brunt of the strikes as always, and Blake was actually quite grateful that the abundance of black garb was making her very hard to track even for the standards of Faunus vision. The contrast of her wispy darkness against the bright dock lights in the evening hours wreaked havoc on their eyesight... disadvantages she exploited to the fullest.

After downing what she assumed was the fortieth soldier or so, Blake decided to turn and finally see how Jaune was faring-

"Blake, LOOK OUT!"

-only to see his shield whizzing by her face to cave in the mask of the final soldier behind her as he was in mid-swing. But it wasn't enough, the Faunus' broadsword coming down and clipping just enough through her Aura to deliver a slash through her side. Blake went down with a pained yelp even as her attacker went down with the point of Jaune's shield in his face... likely dead.

Jaune knew his throw wouldn't be enough. He didn't like it, but it was the only way they both got out of this alive. He would know... it'd taken over 200 loops just to get to this part.

But what he liked even less was what he knew was coming next...

Namely, Neo's pristine deflection of his blade so that she could introduce the left side of her boot with the right side of his face, forcing his head to turn just enough to see the Dust round that Roman somehow hooked on the end of his cane to bash Jaune in the face with an explosion of fiery energy and send him flying towards the mass of downed soldiers.

Didn't matter if he was an Aura-monger when he focused himself enough, screw the moron who dared say getting an exploding cane bash-kick combo to the face wouldn't take out a huge chunk of his Aura.

The only plus out of this was the fact that whenever he got this far, he'd always land conveniently close to his downed friend.

"Balls that hurt..."

"Jaune-" Blake began, only to be cut off as Jaune - somehow mostly fine - quickly did a pop up and reached his hand out to her.

No... it wasn't to impress her. It was because there was literally no time to lose.

It'd taken seventeen loops just to realize that alone and ditch the half-baked remark of assurance he'd thought up initially. Blake was a smart girl, and visual proof worked much better with her than words.

It'd taken thirty-eight more loops to realize that running back in towards the action wasn't an option - surely, Roman and Neo had realized that both students were still alive already.

It'd taken six loops after that to realize he was spending way too much time thinking about what to do next.

And finally, another fifty-five loops to condense what he needed to say in order to get the point about what he was about to do next across to her.

"Blade."

A half-second pause from the catgirl. Jaune took most of that half second to berate himself at how it took twenty-four of those fifty-five loops just to pick the right word to snap her out of it.

"Blade!"

Immediately twitching in response, Blake automatically handed her katana side of Gambol to the blonde as he picked up the blade from Crocea Mors, turning to her after casting a wary glare at the two criminal's who'd just noticed him standing before speaking in as hurried a clear tone as he could manage, "Okay. You. Need to heal. Stay here and count to four-hundred eighty-nine-"

"Four-hundred eigh-"

"Four-hundred eighty-nine!" he cut in quickly, "Not a second more, and not a second less!"

"But, when do I start coun-"

But before she could finish, Jaune's entire body twitched in a single motion, Blake's blade in his left taking the fore of the double-bladed slash while his own blade trailed behind in his right. She didn't realize in the first millisecond why se did so until-

CLANG

A chokuto stab coming right at her from from the girl who unbelievably appeared out thin air was deflected by Crocea Mors-

CLANG

-the same chokuto and girl reappeared in front of Jaune in an attempt to stab him, only to be deflected by Gambol-

CLASH!

-and then both blades came barreling down on the assassin whose eyes both went white for the briefest of moments at the blades dcoming down too fast to block before she teleported back to Roman's side.

Teleported.

She was a teleporter!

"Now. Use the shield when you're done - you'll need it."

And with that, Jaune dashed forward to the duo in the center of the dock area with a blast of Aura she didn't even know he could still manage before taking on both criminals alone.

Her sight granted her a very clear view of what was happening, even the expression on Jaune's face as scowl turned to grimace just before he really kicked in his sword skills to high gear. With unpredictable twirls and slashes, Jaune kept his eye trained on Neo with Blake's lighter blade against the assassin's chokuto while fending off Roman from the other side with Crocea Mors. As seconds turned to minutes, Jaune seemed to anticipate every attack, even ducking just enough out of the way to dodge Roman's bullet from behind or Neo's bullet from ahead until Blake all but gasped at what she saw next.

It took all of her willpower not to enter the fray right then and there when Neo teleported once more to land a kick on Jaune's face only to disappear the next second, but Blake's self-control was rewarded when she caught the smirk on Jaune's face - right before he whipped Gambol above and over himself with a kick flip to simultaneously bash Roman away before bringing the lighter blade down right where Neo reappeared almost too fast for her to block.

And that's where the real fight began...

With her mouth open as if to let out a soundless yell, Neo began flitting in and out of the visible spectrum all around Jaune... and to the catgirl's utter shock, he simply twirled each blade in and out of reverse grip with the multiple defensive slashes all around himself to counter her, ducking as he spun to cover his back against an overhead slash and subsequent downwards stab, spinning both swords in tandem left and right to parry the enraged assassin's flurry of stabs coming in from his sides in flashes of white, and even holding his ground as Roman yet again entered the fight to tip the odds against Jaune.

Still, she had yet to count to three hundred...

But in the seconds that followed, any lingering concern began falling away as she watched him seemingly speeding up. Every pivot, slash, parry, lunge, all seemingly sped up as a dim white glow began emanating from the knight. It took her a moment to realize it was his Aura, misting off of him like smoke from dry ice with the copious amounts of energy he spent against the likes of Roman while simultaneously blocking the storm of attacks from every direction from the girl still teleporting around him.

It was... in a word... beautiful. This Tracer was the most skilled swordfighter she'd ever seen... and that without his shield as his primary weapon!

But now with her mind on the shield, Blake stood up, content enough with the current state of her wound's healing to cautiously step over to where his shield lay. Taking it out of the man's face it was lodged in with a stomach-souring squelch, Blake walked back to pick up her sheath and readied herself to join the fight.

"Four-hundred forty-seven, four-hundred forty-eight..."

Blake looked down as the count continued in her mind, a slight wince at the seemingly unwieldy combination of weapons Jaune had left her with. What was she supposed to do with these things?

"Four-hundred fifty-one, four-hundred fifty-two..."

Not to mention the fact that the shield was so heavy... but it did provide almost complete coverage for her body. Wait... and the sheath was strong enough to deflect most blade attacks as well...

Blake's eyes widened in realization as she looked up towards the fight. Of course Jaune didn't expect her to go up against Roman - having had the chance to watch him fight, she knew full well that his brutal technique would've overpowered her in seconds. Unable to turn her eyes away, Blake's sights were riveted on the fight even as Neo made what looked like a last-ditch effort to down their opponent - making dozens of apparitions of herself and Roman appear around Jaune to converge on him at one.

But he held his ground... making a smug grin come to Blake's face when she watched him expertly switch Gambol's blade into gun mode and shoot at the right Neo on the first try to make the multitude of opponents shatter around him like glass, turning to block Neo's next attack with Crocea Mors while switching Gambol back to blade mode to continue holding them both off after switching back into the defensive.

No, Jaune didn't want her going up against Roman... but he'd given her defensive weapons to provide the greatest coverage possible while he fended off the assassin's otherwise impossible multitude of attacks... just to tire her out.

"Jaune... you're a genius..."

His reaction speed, his movements, his concentration... she couldn't even believe what she was witnessing... and add to that his planning for such an outcome so far ahead!?

It was... it was...

She suddenly narrowed her eyes as she noticed his footwork and patterns of blade swings that by now could barely be tracked even with her eyesight.

It was familiar.

Sped up several times more than what she was sure she'd seen before, but there was no longer time to think about it as she began to sprint towards Neo's form.

She'd just have to continue trusting that he knew what he was doing. Because apparently...

"Four-hundred eighty-nine!" Blake cried out as she leapt in the air before coming down on the unsuspecting assassin who barely had the chance to teleport away.

This left Blake and Jaune back-to-back with Neo and Roman at either side respectively. Blake... had to admit it...

She was afraid.

Unlike Jaune, who seemed to know where she was going even before she got there, Blake had no such skill... maybe Neo had a tell, like something to show where she'd reappear, but there was no way to know - watching her fight for over eight minutes didn't help, either. But if this were the day she was to die, she'd be happy to know that it was in an effort to truly make the world a better place with a partner at her back who truly held the same hopes as she.

So gripping Jaune's shield and Gambol's sheath tightly, the ravenette took a deep breath to face the teleporter, come what-

"Don't be so dramatic. She's out," Jaune whispered from behind even as he too took a deep breath before charging Roman.

Blake's eyes widened in realization as she noticed Neo try to teleport, only for the girl's face to grimace as her body could barely make itself faze out of sight like a camera lens trying to focus on its target.

Jaune... you're a genius...

And now, it was time to give this fiend a taste of her own medicine.

Both Blake's and Jaune's yells occurred in unison before they fell on their opponents, Neo's eyes going wide with the realization of the gravity of her predicament when Blake landed between a multitude of shadow-clones. Blake relished in how Neo's eyes began widening now but with panic as she ensured to punish her for each and every mistake with that cursed chokuto.

Of course, Neo made every slice and stab count - a cloned dismembered or decapitated at the very least, and a cling of metal on a real shield or Gambol's sheath at the very best - but Blake returned every missed blow for a very real and painful one even as the girl tried to flip or dodge out of the way. Neo was good, but she was exhausted... and Blake was not.

But before they could re-engage, a final blast caused them both to have to dodge a stacked container falling down towards their spot, separating them well enough for them to turn and see Jaune - having flicked Roman's cane aside with Gambol in reverse-grip - deliver a standing kick to the criminal from close range with enough force for both Blake and Neo to hear the cracking ribs from a distance.

Jaune walked towards Roman who was laid out on the ground on his back, not even flinching when Roman raised his cane at him only for it to deliver a string of bulletless clicks.

The knight took a deep breath to calm himself as he stopped just feet away from the master thief... after successfully blocking that last blast for the first time, this was as far as he'd gotten.

"That last one was your thirty-sixth round, Roman. You're out," Jaune began, his steely expression in complete contrast to Roman's expression of the purest rage, the criminal letting out such a feral yell at the knight in his fury that even a few drops of blood flew out. But Jaune continued, his dead-eyed glare as impassive as ever, "And you fallen terribly... hilariously... under par. Consider this payback..."

Jaune paused only to drop Gambol's blade and lift Crocea Mors up with both hands on its hilt, the blade pointed over the immobilized villain's body. He'd died dozens... no, hundreds... of times because he showed just an iota of hesitation, an iota of decency, at taking a life.

Never again.

"For the hundreds of lives you've ended in just one night," Jaune concluded, Roman's eyes slowly going wide as he saw a look in the knight's eyes that reflected the killing intent within, "I'll be content with ending yours."

"N-NEO!"

And before he could thrust down, a flash from behind from what was surely the assassin's final effort at teleportation preceded a powerful double-legged kick what sent Jaune skidding away, Neo taking Gambol's blade from where she'd hand-planted to deliver the blow to flick it up a fling it like a spear in one fluid motion to impale the knight where he stood.

As Jaune fell to his knees, a small torrent of lifeblood running down his torso and staining his white tee red, he felt a knot at his throat forming at the sight of Blake wailing his name in despair...

How many times had he seen it already?

How many more?

He'd fallen to the side now, his head meeting blood-stained asphalt he couldn't feel was hot or cold anymore. But then he saw it.

He blinked a final time, just to be sure it was there... and it was. A flash of red over the roof of the nearby dock building.

All this time... all this work... finally on the cusp of paying off.

He couldn't help a smile with his final breath, "Just... one more... loop..."

Just... one... mor-


A/N: Nuuuuuuuuuu! Phantom you old sponge with hair hanging off it! You Traveling Wildbury! Y-You incorrigible Eskimo pie with a caramel ribbon!

I'm not gonna lie. I wrote this chapter and even I hate myself for cutting it off here.

But do you, like, see the length of this chapter!? It's like, really long! Like, yeah!

Like, I'm totes not a tween lost for words right now, okay!?

But on the bright side... I've found a way to make the omake canon to LDR :)

It really was fun to write, and since it had a full chapter all to itself, I really didn't want it to go to waste on something that wasn't even canon... so I thought about it... And thought about it...

And thought about it...

And suddenly realized, holy crap this omake actually explains a lot about Jaune's semblance that I didn't even realize! So I threaded it in in a way that makes sense... And that may just give an eagle-eyed few of you the hints you need to piece his REAL semblance together... DUN DUN DUN

Anywho, I love you guys, you know that? Yes you, reading this under your bedsheets and thinking how creepy it is that I caught you doing that. And you, reading this story in the bathroom - whether you're actually doing the deed or not just to get yourself out of school/work/nagging family member conversations - I love you too.

And even you... Mr. Nobody, aka YARN.

And if you're reading this YARN, I want you to know that I'm forever thankful that your awesome work (namely, Jaune Arc's Pain and Divergence) is what inspired me to pick up a keyboard and become a fanfic writer almost 18 months ago. U DA BOM!

Anywho again, I also mention these things because we've broken a lot of milestones since last (actual) chapter release:

LDR has surpassed 400 reviews, 800 likes, 1000 follows, and 87.5k views... HOLY MOLY BATMAN, THE WORLD'S GOING CRAZY!

And to top it off, over 500 of you have decided to follow my TPS profile to keep up with whatever craziness I write... so... as a thank you, I reveal the current standings of the Jaune Pairing Poll!

1. Jaune x Ruby (Lancaster) ... 198 - 16%
2. Jaune x Blake (Knightshade) ... 194 - 15%
3. Jaune x Pyrrha (Arkos) ... 148 - 12%
4. Jaune x Neo (Banana Sundae?) ... 128 - 10%
5. Jaune x Yang (Dragonheart) ... 122 - 9%
6. Jaune x Weiss (White Knight) ... 66 - 5%
7. Jaune x Cinder (SkyFall?) ... 56 - 4%
8. Jaune x Glynda (Stockholm?) ... 56 - 4%
9. Jaune x Winter (Whiter Knight?) ... 45 - 3%
10. Jaune x Raven (MoonBlood?) ... 45 - 3%
11. Jaune x Velvet (UnlimitedBladeWorks?) ... 37 - 3%
12. Jaune x Coco (Blonde Roast?) ... 33 - 2%
13. Jaune x Nora (Nora's Arc? ...hehe) ... 30 - 2%
14. Jaune x Summer (LOST?) ... 27 - 2%
15. Jaune x Penny (FriendShip?) ... 17 - 1%
16. Jaune x Miltia (Twiddle-Dee?) ... 11 - 0%
17. Jaune x Melanie (Twiddle-Dum?) ... 10 - 0%
18. Jaune x Emerald (Yellow Kryptonite?) ... 9 - 0%

And there you have it. Help a guy out with some ship names? Yeah I suck at them, just kinda went with what popped into my head first, y'know? And who knew? Lancaster is actually beating out Knightshade... well how 'bout that...

Note: Poll is still open on my profile page, so feel free to keep the votes coming!
Note #2: This poll does not in any way affect the pairing for this story anymore. It did for like the first 3 chapters, and then I made my decision (check LDR summary) and am sticking with it. This poll remains open so I can get a good idea on what to make the pairing for my next fic... and darn, looks like it's gonna be a Lancaster one :)

But over 450 of you awesome readers voted up to this point, so I think we're onto something with the overall inclinations of the fandom!

Now that we've taken care of that, feel free to Fave, Follow, and Review to show your support for this story - I appreciate every one of you who do and every one of you who read it! And if you've read this far down, know that this baby's just getting started! Kudos to any of you who can figure out why I chose this chapter title, too ;) Till next time...

And Happy Reading!


P.S - So on a totally unrelated note to anything written here (really, don't read ahead if you're not interested in me telling a story like an older fellow sharing stories on your grandpa's porch about something funny that happened to me recently):

I'm a guy who likes to keep balance in life - and aside from my writing hobby, that includes work, family, friends... and intense MMA training.

I won't go into detail, but I'm glad to say that I have gotten to the point where I've actually punched a punching bag right off the chain.

Broken Bag #2 just happened to me the other day - I'm listening to my favorite playlist, getting in a groove, and with the final punch to a Tabata drill, POW, chain breaks so loud that I can hear it over my music on full blast.

Mind you, I'm in a gym. A nice one. Surrounded by people.

I gulp, thinking about how much money they're about to charge me for this as I turn to go to the front desk when I see people around my station just staring at me.

And they start clapping.

Now, I don't consider myself a cool guy at all - seriously, at all - so as I'm thinking of a cheesy Rocky Balboa or Captain America quote to eke out in embarrassment (seriously, I was about two seconds away from shouting 'Adriaaaaaannnn!'), the guy that apparently heard the chain break from the front desk comes through and stops when he sees me.

He just shakes his head and goes, "Only you would have something crazy dumb like this happen to you. Only you."

So I hang my head in shame while the peoples laugh at me.

But at the moment I finished my punch-out, my headphones were playing one song.

When It Falls by Casey Lee Williams.

...

In other words...

Somehow, this is all Yang's fault.


2-14-2016 UPDATE

WHAT THE FLYING CROW!?

So ALL THAT FINALE was to pretty much pit All The Worlds Evils on Beacon while Ozpin was talking to Queen Daka of the Nightsister Clan since the first episode!?

Dang... that was... tantamount in several aspects to both TGG and LDR... okay, then. That was a thing.

*takes deep breath, beginning to regain composure after just finishing finale*

This is good... this is a good thing. Evil has a face, underlings, and a convenient alternate dimension. Equally convenient is the end game... for a certain fic of mine, that makes its ending that much more... palatable.

Indeed, this off season will be prime for story-weaving the rest of these three mains of mine. Like I've always said, your support is appreciated!

TPS, signing out - for real this time...


Live. Die. Repeat.
TPS (c) 2016