A/N: So apparently, surgeries aren't a snap to recover from XD. So I'm posting a little late 'cause I had to wait until it felt as if everything stopped spinning and I didn't want to throw up on my computer... 'cause that'd be bad. Bud 'nyways, I hope y'all enjoy :)
Cain:Vedrahgol and Jaune are starting to be best buddies. They'll learn to depend and trust on each other. And, well, this Omake will show you ;)
Grimm were the products of evil itself, designed to prey on the weaknesses of humankind. People are so afraid of them that they created a whole branch of warriors called Hunters to quell the waves of Grimm. There was nothing terrible to humankind as Grimm could be.
Sometimes, Jaune liked to think that mosquitoes were Grimm.
Cursing, he slapped another one away from his arm, grumbling under his breath.
You wouldn't happen to have a shout that would repel bugs away, would you?
Vedrahgol paused, and Jaune could sense his confusion. What are these… bugs that you speak of? He asked, genuinely curious. Jaune couldn't help but start in surprise.
Are there no bugs on Nirn? Jaune asked. Vedrahgol seemed to mentally shrug. If there were such things, I have never noticed nor seen them around. There are these things that resemble these 'bugs' that you speak of, except they are the size of you and can eat a human in minutes.
Jaune stopped talking, and tried to focus on following Yang and Weiss, trying not to imagine what Vedrahgol had just described.
Vedrahgol? Jaune said, gaining the dragon-soul's attention.
Yes maldovah? Vedrahgol said, turning his attention towards his host.
Remind me to never visit your world. Ever. Jaune communicated in a deadpan voice. Vedrahgol only gave a belly laugh which shook his imaginary cavern, making this weird echo in Jaune's head. Jaune just shook his head in slight amusement.
Do not worry maldovah. If we ever visit there, I am sure you will not be completely mauled by the wildlife. Vedrahgol said in a rare moment of humor.
More than likely the people will kill you first.
Jaune rolled his eyes. Well that puts my fears right to rest.
It should! Vedrahgol argued. At least with people you will not be torn piece by piece like Chaurus or Dremora—
"Jaune!" A voice exclaimed as the group stumbled into a clearing. Pyrrha came in close and swept him into a hug that Jaune gladly returned. "I'm so glad you're alright." She said, her voice a little muffled against Jaune's shoulder. Raising a hand, Jaune rubbed Pyrrha's back. "I'm alright." Jaune said quietly to her.
As they stepped apart, Jaune was able to see Yang's face, which had a look that Jaune could admit he had never seen on her face before. Her lips were thin, her arms were crossed, and she had on something that could almost be considered a scowl. Before Jaune could say anything though, Yang's face morphed into a jovial grin.
"Rubes!" She said simply, rushing towards the leader of Team RWBY and giving her a suffocating hug that Ruby tried to squirm out of.
"Sis! I… am… alright! Please let go." Ruby said breathlessly, clutching the arms that was wrapped against her throat. With a quick look around the clearing, Jaune could see that everyone seemed to have come out of the crash looking only a little worse for wear, their Auras probably preventing any major injuries.
"Jaune…" Pyrrha's voice was a little uncertain. Jaune kept his eyes trained on hers, waiting patiently for her to say something.
"What… what happened up there?" Pyrrha asked. "I was only able to catch a glance, and from what I saw, you were fighting the… Grimm. What happened?"
Jaune glanced over at Yang, who gave an arched look before turning away.
"Yeah, I uh, I fought the dragon." Jaune said slowly, trying to think of what to say to her, along with everyone else in the clearing who had suddenly decided to fall silent and hear what Jaune had to say. Jaune just shrugged a little helplessly.
"I guess I just got a little lucky?" Jaune said, laughing nervously. "I mean, I knew that Crocea Mors could cut through the Dragon so I just… kept swinging until it fell over?"
Jaune knew his excuse was flimsy at best, and was sure that everyone thought so as well. Fortunately for him, they were too relieved to see that everyone was alright and another powerful Grimm had been taken down, no matter how questionable it was.
Trying to turn everyone's attention away from him, Jaune decided to point out the situation at hand.
"So guys, what're we going to do now?" Jaune asked.
Everyone looked back and forth at each other, before Ren stepped forward with a possible solution.
"Well, it seems as if all the Grimm have finally cleared out, and I assume that backup is being called right now. The reasonable thing to do would be to… settle down for now and wait for someone to pick us up?" Ren suggested, which was something that everyone seemed content to do. Weiss even had the idea to contact Beacon, as their scrolls seemed to be intact and they weren't too far away from civilization to lose a signal.
As Weiss tried to get a hold of someone, the two teams divided the workload and got to setting up a camp. Ruby and Pyrrha were paired up to go on a hunt and try to find something for them to eat, as they were the best at long distance shooting out of everyone here. Ren and Nora went out to gather firewood and water. Blake would accompany them to a nearby river and try to catch fish… which wasn't because she was a cat faunus or anything. That left Jaune and Yang, both of which were the more physically inclined to try and set up camp.
With a goal in mind, everyone set off, making sure that they had functioning scrolls on them and to report back every hour.
And with that, Jaune set off trying to find ways to create a shelter for the eight of them. There was some wreckage strewn all over the woods from the several crashes, which Jaune and Yang used to create an artificial canopy above the clearing, shielding them from airborne Grimm and rain or glaring hot sunlight.
"Hello? Professor Goodwitch? Yes, I'm with my team as well as Team JNPR. We've fallen as well, and would like to know what you need us to do…" Weiss said, walking back and forth while she was talking to the professor.
"How do you think he knew?" Yang asked conversationally, pulling together two pieces of metal together and trying to figure out how to get them to stick.
"Who knew what?" Jaune asked back, grunting as he tried to lift a particularly heavy sheet of metal.
"Imaar." Yang answered, finally concentrating and using her semblance to try and weld the two pieces of metal together. Her hands flared up with fire and the metal started to heat up, turning a light cherry red.
Jaune placed the sheet of metal right next to Yang, wiping some of the sweat off of his forehead. Spotting another scrap on top of the trees, Jaune squinted his eyes, trying to think of a way to get it down. Consulting Vedrahgol mentally, Jaune distractedly answered Yang's question.
"I think he knew that we were going to have to do something eventually," Jaune answered. "I have a feeling that Imaar didn't actually take back all of the Grimm he was controlling and left some to warn him of when we were going to move."
Yang grunted, lifting up the shape of metal that Jaune set aside for her with barely any effort. "That's real smart of him." Yang said quietly, before jumping and latching onto a nearby tree. Jaune shrugged.
"We have no idea who or what Imaar is. We shouldn't really underestimate him." Jaune said. Yang nodded in agreement, having no qualms with taking some time to study an opponent. Silence took over for the next few minutes as they each got to working on their separate tasks.
"Fus!" Jaune shouted, the force rippling toward the metal, causing it to shift just enough to fall into Jaune's hands. Jaune grinned at the minor accomplishment and turned to see Yang staring at him.
"What?" Jaune asked, a little scared at the intensity of which Yang was staring. Another second passed before Yang just shook her head.
"Nothing. Just thinking about some things." Yang said, carrying on with her work, a little more fire flaring up around her hands.
"O—okay then." Jaune said back hesitantly.
Weiss walked up between the two of them, scroll in hand.
"Alright, I've got some orders from Professor Goodwitch. I think I'll wait until everyone comes back together though." Weiss said.
"Sounds good to me." Yang said, leaning back to examine her shoddy work. A piece of metal broke loose from the structure and fell to the ground, making a resounding echo. Jaune looked incredulously at Yang, who shrugged.
"Looks good enough for me." Yang replied back easily.
Jaune just shook his head and concentrated, before using his Voice to blast a wave of fire to meld the rest of the metal a little more soundly together. Yang nodded, impressed.
"That's pretty cool too."
Jaune smiled at the compliment, and went to work clearing the rest of the place out for the others to arrive, Yang trailing behind and helping where she could.
After some hard work clearing the, uh, well, clearing, Jaune and Yang welcomed the returning teammates back to a place that looked a little more hospitable than before. Pyrrha came in with a deer placed around her shoulders, carrying it into the clearing with an excited Ruby trailing behind, jumping up and down and crowing about the kill that she got. Ren and Nora came in with bags of water, along with firewood, Nora carrying the larger stack, of course. With a little more variety, Blake entered a little later with a bundle of fish, as well as a pouch of herbs and berries that she assured everyone were good to eat.
Minutes later, a campfire was made and the deer cut down and divided into pieces, along with some of the fish and a side of greens. As everyone sat down to enjoy their meal, Weiss cleared her throat, gathering their attention.
"Now, I've come into contact with Professor Goodwitch, who also had some trouble with the Grimm. The teachers have gathered many students into a central location and are gathering backup transportation right away." Weiss continued, grabbing a stick and drawing out a crude map. "This is where they are right now," Weiss said, drawing an x on the ground. "And this is where we are," She continued, drawing another x. "We need to get here, where Professor Port is heading so that we can meet up with another group that is also going to the rendezvous. Safety in numbers and all that." Weiss said, drawing another x. "Any questions?"
They all sat in silence for a second before Ruby spoke up.
"Um… So we're going to be walking south?" She asked hesitantly.
"What? No, we're going North." Weiss said impatiently. "We are heading towards Atlas after all."
"Then why are we going like, twice the distance to meet up with someone else when we could just go straight there?" Blake asked quietly. Weiss flushed a little at the question.
"It's not twice the distance! It's actually closer to the rendezvous and I was just trying to draw in perspective and…" Weiss fell silent as everyone tried to smother their laughter behind their hands.
"Oh shut up. You guys know exactly what I meant." Weiss said, scowling ferociously, although her blush sort of diminished the effect.
"Well, besides the fact that Weiss can't draw a decent map," Yang said, ignoring Weiss's indignant cries, "I think it's getting pretty late, and some of us are still growing, so I think it's time for us to hit the hay and get ready to move early tomorrow morning. Yes Ruby, I was talking to you when I said that."
Everyone gathered their stuff and tried to find comfortable patches of ground that didn't look too suspicious or wet and tried to find a way to go to sleep. Jaune volunteered for the first shift of watch, as he hadn't really done much compared to the others today.
As he found a stump to sit on, Vedrahgol finally spoke up after a long day of work as Jaune laid his hand on Crocea Mors.
Finally some peace and quiet. He grumbled. Now we can go and explore your limits, as well as attune you to the power of the Voice.
Jaune nodded crossing his legs and getting ready for instruction before a loud crack was heard, along with Ruby yelping.
Turning around, he was met with Ruby underneath a piece of metal that had fallen off, smacking her in the face.
With a sigh, Jaune turned around again as Yang rushed to help her baby sister.
Omake
Qrow prided himself in always being calm in the face of danger. He was someone who would react with grace, poise, and a stunning viciousness if needed. Being a spymaster, he was rarely taken by surprise, and could usually adjust himself to anything that throws him off balance.
To be short, Qrow was not someone to be taken lightly.
That was why, when Qrow decided to gracefully crawl into the nearest corner, and calmly wrap his arms around his knees and rock back and forward, Winter decided to keep her distance, knowing that Qrow could take her head off at any given moment as easily as one would tear tissue paper.
No, she wasn't trying to stifle a giggle and she was most definitely not sneaking pictures in with her scroll. That would be unladylike.
Qrow rested his forehead on his arms, trying to think of the things that happened to him after he took on the challenge with his drinking buddy the other night. But everything just seemed to be one. big. blur. Qrow raised his head up hopefully, looking at the standing form of Winter, who had put a shirt and a pair of panties, something that Qrow was grateful for.
"How did… how did I get here?" Qrow asked, his voice cracking and his head still throbbing something massive. Winter raised her eyebrow and crossed her arm, her hips shifting to the side.
"You are probably the only person in the history of Remnant to forget having sex with a Schnee. Hmph. Well, at least one person here won't have to remember how terrible you were—"
"Stop. Stop," Qrow raised a hand to halt Winter's speech, his headache banging in between his eyebrows. He did not want to consider at all how he had… bedded the white haired heiress, and quite frankly, he was happy he didn't have to remember any of the details.
"What I meant was… how did this all start?"
Winter clasped her elbow with on hand and tapped her lips thoughtfully with the other.
"Well, I remember you talking to Professor Port. Something about making a bet that you were able to get into anyone's pants?"
Qrow clutched his head as it started to come back to him. Snatches of conversation where Qrow was tottering around claiming that he was the most charismatic man on the face of Remnant and Peter calling him out on it. He remembered boasting that he would get into anyone's pants and the boisterous professor calling him out on it, actually pointing to the first woman that came to his attention.
Coincidentally, it had to be Winter Schnee.
Qrow stood up, wobbling a bit before slurring out, "I need to see Peter." Qrow hoped that he could sort out the damage that he had done after he had gotten shit faced drunk.
"Well I hear he's teaching today. Since it is a school day after all."
Qrow nodded, before he groped around to try to find his shirt. He had changed in the middle of all of this, but it seemed as if he had lost his shirt.
"Hey, have you seen my shirt, I swear I didn't already have it off when I came here did I—" As Qrow raised his head, his beaten in little mind noticed something. The shirt Winter was wearing was red. Winter never wore red. She didn't go well with red at all. Which meant…
"That's my shirt!" Qrow exclaimed, hands spread out. "Give it back!"
Winter kept her arms crossed.
"Why should I do that? I think I deserve a little something after that tasteless night, and the gall you have for not even remembering it. You aren't getting this shirt back unless you burn it to ashes." With a little hmph, Winter turned her head to the side and let Qrow stand there, mouth gaping at the audacity that she had to keep his shirt. His shirt! That was like, his only one too!
"W-well what am I supposed to wear then?" Qrow demanded, looking around at the room in hopes that there was another good looking shirt for him to wear. Alas, there were not.
"Actually," Winter said suddenly, her mouth splitting into a smirk. "I think I might have the perfect thing for you."
Qrow could only shiver in fear as Winter approached him, stalking forward like a snow leopard.
I am never drinking again.