So… uh, remember when I said this wouldn't take more than a month? It only took a month this time. Progress! Anyway, welcome back to another chapter of Jaune's Guilty Pleasure everyone! Sorry it took so long again, but hey, at least it was somewhat faster than last time.
I don't have any announcements to make, but the next chapter should come out faster. Unfortunately should doesn't mean will. It's up to life and whether or not it feels like screwing me over I guess. We all have those times so it's up to us to make the most of when we're on the up.
On another note, Reviews!
Cloy552: You should be very scared. Muahahaha. Though that was a pretty good idea, I don't really see Jaune risking something like that. Especially after he's trying so hard to keep it a secret.
dracohalo117: Yes they have. Concerning the Pyrrha thing, to be fair she didn't know what Cinder was going to do. She just thought she should at least try to stop it. I am however kind of confused as to why Ruby didn't use her semblance then, but used it to win a food fight.
Victor L: Apparently a lot of people were fans of Alice, which was a major shock for me. I had always planned on bringing her back but so much support for her surprised me. The 'Painting The Town' Arc (and its aftermath) will be very fun to do. I agree with you about the Roman speech, it did seem like he was trying to convince himself that what he was doing was right.
NinjaFang1331: Thank you.
TheHumanoidTyrant: Hurrah, NeoxJaune, our time has come. Thank you.
LaughingLefou: Nice catch. That was indeed what I was referencing. Sorry about the late updates though. It used to be a lot more frequent, around one every week or two. I'm trying to pick that up again but life is busy.
TehUnoman: Close. It was technically a shout out to the Immersion that featured Miles (Jaune) and Kerry (Neptune) in a Metal-Gear-Esque situation. Also Barbara (Yang) was in it too.
RyoTheSaiyan: They are indeed. Yes that was a reference, and also a very true fact about Beacon.
Benthino: Thank you! Roman and Pyrrha were good characters. Roman made even the creators sad to get rid of. Pyrrha too, but she was a good guy so that was a given.
VibeKiller: Thank you. I was trying to keep Roman's association with the White Fang away from Jaune for the most part, at least until it is absolutely necessary.
RPGPersona: Technically it was Neptune's idea to bring them into the game. Now imagine cookie crumb strawberry pancakes with maple syrup, butter and sugar. I too want Jaune to survive, but he is technically still a side character despite probably having the most character development of all the other characters.
Chuggapyro: Thank you. There will only be a few original characters to help make the story run a bit more smoothly, such as people to run the facilities at Beacon (Jay and Amethyst). The Nora shops will soon take over the world and feed sloths everywhere! The boat pancakes will make an appearance later in what will honestly be one of my most favourite scenes.
SaiPrime: Correct, Correct, Correct… kind of. That last one was unintentional. I actually just accidentally wrote knee instead of heel.
serialkeller: Well although he has a bit more training and is at least a little more competent than Canon Jaune, he still isn't an 'absolute boss' because he hasn't formally been trained at a combat school unlike everyone else. He is still learning about things about his semblance as well because he's never actually used it against a hunter before.
ChromeWolfXZ: Yes it was a Million Dollars But… reference.
Dragonsong2795: Thank you!
correnhimself316: Nope, Roman is.
Dark Durian: Thanks for your comments. All of them. People don't normally comment on every chapter after reading it so it was nice to see your thoughts on and reactions to each one. His semblance is ridiculously powerful, but it has its limits. Thankfully I wasn't the only one who thought it was a bow. Cinder's 'low blow' really threw a wrench in his plans.
The Immortal Doctor Reid: SAO Abridged was, and still is one of the funniest things on the internet.
thehidden6lade: Yes those were references! I feel like Roman's death was both hilarious, but unsatisfying for a villain like him.
Demetrion (Guest): Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy it.
Guest (Guest): That was part of the point, sorry if you didn't like it.
Gabriel H. Sapphire: Thank you.
And that is all for now.
I'd like to give a shout out to these references people picked out in the previous chapter:
-The 'Dumb RWBY' comic.
-The Metal Gear Immersion episode/Metal Gear.
-Kegi Springfield's RWBY x DFrag drawing.
-Million Dollars But…
-Alice in Wonderland.
-LaughingLefou's Immortal.
I was told by a good friend that this story has made it to the first page when you go to the RWBY fanfics section and sort by follows. I honestly thought they were pulling my leg until I searched it up, and indeed it was! So, thank you all for bringing this story to where it is now. Time to celebrate until another, better story knocks it back down.
Speaking of better stories, and better author by extension, I don't know how Coeur Al'Aran does it. Finding time to update so many amazing fanfics over the span of two weeks. You should go read them, I guarantee you will not regret it. My personal favourite is Professor Arc.
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or anything I reference or show within the chapter, they all belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 21- Karma At Its Finest
"Jaune, why are we doing this?" Queried Ruby curiously, watching in mute horror as he slowly carried her baby Crescent Rose away. The knight gave a loud huff as he hoisted the oversized gardening tool away towards the table of weapons. From next to the her partner Weiss nodded in agreement,
"I too don't see the benefit of taking our weapons away." Commented the heiress, ignoring the increasingly irritating looks of affection from a certain blue haired newcomer.
"Today Ruby, Snow Ang- Weiss." He corrected himself when the white haired dust meister growled at him, "We will be spending some time to learn a weapon other than our own." Explained the blond as he walked up to their weapons. "Sometimes your weapon won't exactly be available to you, and you might have to use another one. This is why I propose we swap weapons for a couple of hours and teach each other how to use them." Jaune grinned as he received collective nods. All right, now all he needed to do was find Blake and get her to teach him how to use-
"Okay, let's go Jaune!" Cheered Ruby as she grabbed Crocea Mors and began to drag him away against his will. He stared confusedly at Ruby. The rose, noticing his confusion, gave him an innocent smile. "You're holding Crescent so we're gonna be partners, duh." She stated as if it were the most obvious thing in her opinion.
"I mean, we don't have to be partners if you don't want to Ruby." Laughed the knight nervously. His plans! He was going to learn how to fight Grimm with a gun!
The younger girl gave him a knowing smirk, "C'mon Jaune, I know the whole reason you wanted to do this exercise was to use Crescent." Well it was to use Gambol's pistol form so you're half right. He commented mentally. "-And I know that when you walk behind me you're always looking at my lower back, so I know you've had you're eyes on Crescent for a while." Since when!? He felt the temperature in the room drop several degrees in temperature before almost tripling in heat. That was definitely Yang. Curse his introverted reflex to look at the ground as he walked. A problem he was sure many men had to this day.
"I object to that statement." Cried the blond writer as he held his arm up, "And I think it would be better if I had another partner maybe?... Preferably someone with a relatively easier weapon to use?" He watched sadly as his chances to get some actual handgun training go down the drain.
Ruby turned back to the group, "Well even if you wanted to, everyone else is already grouped up." Jaune looked up to see that the others already had their partner's for the exercise. "So it's gonna be you and me Jaune!" But, handgun... The young girl gave him a strange look upon noting his reluctance. "Or is there some other specific reason for doing this exercise?" He laughed and nervously waved it off, gesturing towards Crescent.
"Of course not, I uh, was just wondering how you swing that around so easily." He covered smoothly, staring at the gardening tool in his hands. "Although it isn't as heavy as I thought it would be, it feels kind of weird to hold." He commented as he absentmindedly spun the weapon around. The black and red haired girl frowned but decided to let it go,
"So how do we do this?" Queried the rose as she unsheathed Crocea Mors like she had seen Jaune do hundreds of times. The blond author stared at the red scythe in his hands blankly,
"Uh, first we need to learn how to use the weapons so that we can spar." He answered halfheartedly. "So with Crocea Mors that button over there extends the sheath into a shield." Ruby nodded, pressing the part of the shield he pointed at. She watched in awe as the weapon expanded to become a sizeable shield. "You need to make sure you keep the shield in front and keep yourself lower to the ground." He added proudly, using what he had learnt from Pyrrha to teach the younger red haired girl. Had this been what she had felt like tutoring him? It was a warm feeling, knowing you could transfer your knowledge to someone else. He gazed over to the window towards the direction of Beacon. Was this how the professors felt? If that was the case it wouldn't be too bad being a teacher, helping the new generation succeed.
"Like this?" Asked Ruby unsurely as she followed his instructions, moving into stance. Jaune blinked at the young prodigy. Apparently the feeling all goes down the drain when the new generation succeeds too quickly. It had taken him weeks under Pyrrha's tutelage for him to finally nail a proper stance. She'd made him stand in front of a mirror for a full three hours, teaching him about the correct positioning of the limbs. He sighed,
"That's… perfect." He laughed, talk about putting things into perspective. "So how do I use this?" He asked, holding up the scythe.
Ruby stared at him with narrowed eyes, analysing what the best method of approaching the explanation would be. Uncle Qrow's explanation had worked for her, so why not Jaune? "You need to swing it around your body as if you were trying to become a giant cookie!" She stated proudly.
"..." The young author sighed, this might take a while.
Weiss' eye twitched as she held Magnhild in her arms. How did things come to this? Why was she paired with Nora? Surely Yang would have been a better choice for a partner? Explosive weapons seemed right up their alley after all. She watched as Nora bounced around, flailing her precious weapon wildly. Thankfully she had emptied the rapier of dust before the girl could have the chance to blow up the entire training arena with it. Though she wouldn't put it past the Valkyrie to somehow make a mess with just Myrtenaster. The heiress gave a light sigh, walking over to the energetic girl. "Now, I've taken out the dust so you don't blow us all up." Explained the white haired girl as she approached. Nora pouted but didn't make a comment. "If you want to use Myrtenaster properly then stop flailing it about like a dunce. It is a sophisticated weapon that, if used with careful timing and finesse, can be very graceful and deadly in combat." The pancake lover nodded slowly,
"Ok… So if it did have dust in it. How would you use it?" Asked the girl innocently. Weiss frowned,
"Well, if there was dust in it, all you would need to do to activate it is enable the dust you want to apply then pull the trigger. However, the effects vary depending on the type of dust. Some can only be used properly with my semblance." Stated the heiress with a little bit of pride. It was a weapon fit for a Schnee. Nora grinned,
"Thanks." She stated simply. The Valkyrie kept her grin up as she spun the barrel, landing on a vial of dust that Weiss hadn't noticed. Before it could register in her mind the girl had already pulled the trigger, causing the blade to glow a familiar white and hum. "Haha!" She laughed triumphantly, "Now face the wrath of my pointy stabby sword!" Weiss gave an uncharacteristic squeal as her training partner began to swing Myrtenaster wildly once again. She frowned as she noticed something about the young woman's look that she really should've noticed earlier.
"Wait, Nora are those my clothes?" She asked confusedly. The girl grinned with a nod, doing a slight twirl to show it off.
"Yep! They kind of fit me, but the chest area is really tight. How do you fit in these?" Unfortunately the white haired girl had no time to complain or make any further comment about her statement as the Valkyrie began to swing the rapier a little too close to her face for comfort.
"Nora, watch where you swing it!" Yelled the heiress, "What dust is that? Wait, how did you even get that vial?" I could've sworn I took them all out. She rolled to the right, avoiding a lunge from the girl,
Nora smiled childishly, "Well I was walking around when I saw a really bright light coming from a door." She started, "And when I looked inside there was a bunch of vials of dust. So I decided to take some of the shiniest ones!" In other words even she didn't know what type of dust it was. With all the elements of dust available to such a prestigious training facility, it could practically be anything. The Valkyrie grabbed another vial from… somewhere, and placed it in the Multi Action Dust Rapier. "This one is the same colour as pancakes, so by that logic it creates pancakes!" Weiss blinked, perplexed by the pancake lover. At least, more than she usually was.
"Nora pancakes aren't normally blue." Pointed out the heiress, unsure of whether she was correct in that assumption. The look of utter confusion from the orange haired girl combined with the sureness in her claim made the young woman question whether or not pancakes were or were not blue. Clearly she had never seen what Nora deigned as pancakes.
The girl currently wielding Myrtenaster frowned as she swung the rapier around, looking as if she was trying to call forth some genie. "Weiss it isn't working." Complained the young woman. "Why isn't it doing anything?" The white haired fencer rolled her eyes,
"I'm not telling you. The second I do this building will blow up." She snapped. Once more the sloth queen pouted at the heiress. How else was she supposed to make pancakes? Weiss felt a shiver go down her spine. Over her time at Beacon, specifically the time she spent with her team, the heiress had gained a sixth sense for when someone had an idea that would end up in her getting blamed. It helped her get out of a lot of predicaments concerning her team, and would further serve to prevent Yang's antics. "Nora." She started slowly, "Whatever you're thinking of doing. Don't." Nora gave her the widest grin she'd ever seen, which is saying something because she saw Yang before she started the longest, most unnecessary plan to mess with Blake. She still couldn't believe what the blond could do with a bag of tuna, some rope, dominoes and 27.3 bottles of forever fall tree sap. Even to this very day their black haired team mate was afraid of orange turtles , Jaune when he was high on sap, and exactly three chickens. Only when there were three in one place. Though, to be fair to her, everyone was afraid of Jaune on sap. At least everyone except Nora.
Speaking of the hyperactive sloth queen, the girl had inserted another vial of dust into the chamber and was currently holding a vial of red dust. "Cast fireball!" She cried childishly, throwing up the dust vial. Before Weiss could act upon it Nora pulled the trigger, causing a burst of wind to fly from the tip of the rapier and sending the vial flying.
Straight into Ruby.
Fortunately for the younger girl the force of the impact wasn't enough to knock her over or smash the vial, just enough to open it. Unfortunately, that triggered Ruby's sneezing reflex. Long story short, the poor girl had a repeat of day one. Nora cheered, "It worked!" Weiss sighed, once again her sixth sense was correct. "Now cast ice!" She yelled, throwing up a vial of a shiny white dust.
Weiss' eyes widened, "Nora that isn't ice dust!" Being too late to stop the over-active girl was apparently the trend of the day for her. By the time she had finished her sentence Nora had already pulled the trigger, sending the vial towards the white haired girl.
"Someone help!" Cried Jaune hysterically. How did Ruby deal with the recoil of this thing? He screamed loudly at a pitch that no one could hear as he was sent hurtling in a random direction each time he so much as looked at the trigger. "Ruby how do I control this thing?" Yelled the boy between gunshots. The younger girl trailed behind him, Crocea Mors in hand, comically trying to catch up to the blond knight.
"Just stop pulling the trigger!" She yelled back helpfully. He rolled his eyes, did she really think he was doing this on purpose? The young author squealed once more as the gun sent him skywards, jerking his arm with it. "Try letting go!" And risk a killer gardening tool decapitating someone?
"Ruby your ideas aren't helping!" He exclaimed in dismay. He felt the weapon swing the other way, narrowly missing Ren. "Sorry!" He called out. Jaune began to scream once more as Crescent Rose loosed three more bullets, he clung to the handle for dear life once it began to achieve lift off. "Is this thing supposed to fly?" The young weapons expert nodded proudly, she'd made her baby so powerful that repeated firing could make anyone holding it go up. That way if she needed an express elevator she could always count on Crescent. It had only been a few seconds and Jaune was already on the eighth floor.
Jaune stared at the ground in confusion, a sudden feeling of falling -and motion sickness- surging through his body. "Uh, Ruby?" He laughed nervously. "I think it's out of ammo." Oh dear. Was his last thought before he began screaming.
Ruby called out to him once more with slightly better help, "Jaune don't worry, all you need to do is-" Unfortunately for the falling student the girl was hit by a red vial of dust, interrupting her mid-sentence with a sneeze-induced explosion.
"Ruby stop exploding and tell me what to do!" He shouted impatiently. The ground wasn't going to wait forever. To be perfectly honest he was surprised he had this much time already. The writer stared at the ground as it hurtled towards him at an alarming rate, wait, why is there a white spot in the training arena?
"Nora that isn't ice dust!" Shouted the spot hurriedly. Jaune gasped, dear dust the spot was Weiss. If this fall didn't kill him she would.
"Weiss watch out!" The girl turned her head to him and staggered back, surprised by the novice knight's sudden appearance. He would've let out a sigh of relief if he hadn't of hit the floor before he could. The white haired heiress winced upon his sudden intimacy with the floor. A perfect Jaune-sized crater lay exactly where he landed, framing his body almost comically. To her surprise he got up without so much as a scratch and was even laughing silently to himself, "Right, forgot that aura was a thing." He mumbled to himself. "Well that could've been a lot worse-" Just like his fellow leader, Jaune too was interrupted by a vial of dust.
Weiss suppressed a gasp as he was nailed directly on the back of his head, cracking open the glass like an egg. Luckily most of the dust stayed in the vial, with only a few falling out of the shattered container. 'Well, master always was hardheaded.' commented Alice with a giggle. "Uh, are you alright Jaune?" She asked unsure. None of what happened was her fault. Absolutely none of it.
He scoffed, "Yes Weiss-Queen, I fell from eight stories high and got hit on head with a container of dust but I'm still absolutely peachy."Stated the young author sarcastically. He blinked, "Wait, did I say that out loud?"
Ruby groaned, finally managing to catch up to the knight now that he was no longer flying across the room like a moth. She panted slightly, apparently chasing after a blond on the Grimm-killing weapon equivalent of a pogo stick left one out of breath. "Weiss-Queen? Did you just make a bad pun?" Jaune nodded enthusiastically, handing over Crescent.
"That I did Rubes. By the way, your weapon is absolutely crazy and I never want to touch it again-" He shut his mouth instantly upon realising what he had said. What was going on? Words just flew out of his mouth before he could process it, let alone think about whether or not people would murder him if he said it.
Weiss narrowed her eyes at the knight, "Is something wrong Jaune?" She asked carefully after noting his expression. Jaune shook his head negative, not taking his hand off of his mouth. Everything was fine. The heiress frowned, "You must think pretty badly of me if you believe that would suggest otherwise."
The head shaking intensified as his eyes widened in fear. Upsetting Weiss was not something you wanted to do if you liked living. Unless you were Yang, then she is free game. Ruby frowned, "You don't need to lie to us Jaune." They were fellow leaders and besties, and Weiss was... Weiss. He could trust them. Her frown turned into a pout,
Jaune let out a small annoyed laugh, "My problem is I can't lie!" He half-shouted, managing to catch himself before he fully broke out. "That vial of dust was Verity Dust." He continued with a softer tone. "I physically cannot lie." Thankfully it wasn't too much or he wouldn't be able to stop himself.
Weiss nodded slowly, "Well, considering it's Jaune he won't be very different. But he does seem a little more easily irritated." Ruby nodded along, Jaune was Jaune, he only lied to get out of revealing something embarrassing or if Miss Goodwitch was going to murder him.
"Is there a way we can tell?" She wondered aloud 'innocently', a mischievous grin spread widely on her face. The white haired girl smirked along with her leader, the younger student's mischievousness was incredibly contagious. "Hey Jaune." The blond held his hands to his mouth once more, shaking his head vehemently. Please no. He pleaded mentally. "What was your most embarrassing memory from when you were a kid?"
The hunter in training said nothing, he couldn't be forced to tell the truth if he didn't talk at all. Yang and Ren approached the three curiously. "What's up with Vomit Boy Rubes?" Queried the busty brawler, taking a good look at his strained face.
"Nora hit him with some Verity Dust." Explained the reaper, "Weiss and I are trying to see if it has taken effect." The young writer whimpered when a grin the size of a veteran Nevermore's wingspan grew on his fellow blond's face. This was no going to end well. At all.
"Ooh, how is it going? Is he spilling some juicy secrets? Details woman!" Yang laughed evilly as she rubbed the palms of her hands together like a cliché villain. This would make excellent blackmail material for when she'd need Jaune to do something. And it was when not if.
Ruby shook her head negative. They couldn't get him to talk. Literally. The knight turned to his male teammate pleadingly, "Ren help me!" He cried. The black haired boy sighed, giving him a weak smile.
"If I so much as thought about helping you Yang will punch me into next week. Besides, I too am curious as to what secrets you're keeping." In other words, 'better you than me'. Jaune gasped,
"You traitor! How could you leave me to these devil women?" He quickly covered his big mouth once more. This would not end well for him. If he didn't know better, he could've sworn he heard hysterical laughter coming from Ren's direction. "Don't hurt me!"
Ruby nodded, "So Jaune, what is your most embarrassing memory?" She asked unassumingly. According to her Uncle Qrow people were likely to talk unconsciously when using a casual tone. She resisted cheering 'it worked' when it, well, began to work.
The young male held a hand to his chin, stroking it in thought as if he had a beard. "Well, I was rather unlucky as a child so there were a lot of things that happened that I'd rather forget, but if I had to choose one it would be the day that I got to sit next to my crush on an airship ride. It was unfortunately the same day where I learnt I had motion sickness. No wait-" he covered his mouth once he realised what had happened. The laughter from Ren's direction increased in volume as another pair of laughter accompanied it.
Yang grinned, time for blackmail. "So who's the most attractive female you know?" Before he could unwillingly answer Pyrrha appeared to teleport beside the blond brawler within a second, leaving the black haired Faunus she was swapping weapons with by herself.
"Go on Jaune. It's better to let it out." She urged on.
He shook his head, his hands firmly placed over his mouth. He was now a tightly locked safe. He wouldn't give them an inch. Because if he gave them an inch they would take a mile.
At least, not until Yang pulled out the gauntlets. "Do you mean physically attractive?" He asked slowly, surveying his surroundings carefully to find some way out as he stalled.
The brawler raised her brow but said nothing as the red haired Spartan next to her nodded, her eyes glimmering slightly. He closed his eyes tightly as he pointed in a random direction, away from everyone else. It wasn't lying if he didn't know that he might not actually be telling the truth… right? Four pairs of eyes turned in the direction of his finger interested- only to see a wall and when they turned back to the knight all that remained was the slightly shattered vial of dust that had hit him on the head lying on the floor.
Jaune sighed contentedly, taking a nice long sip of his milky white beverage. Whoever thought of adding hot chocolate and white chocolate together was a genius. Miraculously, no one had found him in the library yet. Which meant he either managed to get away, or they just didn't bother looking. The knight hoped it was the latter, he couldn't last another question. Verity Dust was nothing to sneeze at, it was very powerful and he didn't even know how it worked.
The young blond gave a light smirk, gently lowering the mug onto the table. He just needed to stay there until it wore off. Stored dust crystals were much less potent than refined dust, so it shouldn't take any longer than a few hours. Jaune swirled the contents in the cup, idly watching it spin. Taking out a newspaper he began to casually look over the articles. "'Fish learns how to walk' hoax exposed, 5 things about beowolves you don't know, 100% of people that breathe oxygen die, People like grapes... The break ins continue?" He looked at the last article curiously. Was this regarding that case Ren was talking about a few weeks ago?
'Yesterday, a sixth establishment has been hit by the serial thief. For the first time within this string of robberies a victim has been found murdered with the thief's calling card. The last few cases have almost finished the circle on the map, allowing the police to narrow down the where the next, and possibly last, establishment will be.'
Jaune stared at the small map of Vale. On the map was a circle/heptagon that outlined where the victims of the serial thief were. He raised a brow, three more places had been hit since he had last heard about the case. Nature's Delight, Apple-Gorilla-Chicken, Ninth-street Dust Shop. He read to himself. Supposedly, they had nothing in common and none of the establishments were related in any way, at least, so says the newspaper. The owners were a mix of both Faunus and humans, however the victim that was murdered was a Faunus shot in the head.
He looked over the case notes, silently analysing it for any semblance of relation. Both Faunus and humans were stolen from until a Faunus man was killed in the latest case. He looked over the map and the names of the businesses affected once more, trying to think where exactly the serial thief would strike next. The blond gasped, "There's no way that it would be-?" It made too much sense, but he didn't want to believe it. The next place to be hit is going to be-
The muffled sound of a chair being pulled back mildly alerted the author. "What's up?" Greeted Sun. The over-the-top shoulder slap knocked him back to reality, sound coming back to his ears as his prior thoughts flew out of focus. "What happened during your little training get together? I could hear your girlish screams from the simulation room."
Jaune laughed nervously, "Well, I learnt that Ruby's weapon was definitely made with her in mind and told everyone about that one time I vomited on the bus." The monkey faunus blinked,
"You mean when you first learned that you had motion sickness?" The knight nodded, "How did they manage to get you to say that? I thought you said you would take that to your grave?" The blond writer glared at his friend. The laughs coming from a half-clothed thief really did not help the situation.
"Well thanks to Nora's antics I'm currently under the effects of some Verity Dust. Mind you it was still crystals so it'll wear off in a couple of hours." He explained. "Until then I'm stuck like this." He took another sip of his cup. Irony was a pain sometimes.
Sun grinned, "So what's the secret you don't want them to find out?" He definitely wasn't asked by Blake to get it out of him.
Jaune sighed, "I really don't have any secrets that I'm not fine with telling them except for the fact that I'm-" A loud slap cut him off quickly, thankfully stopping him from spilling his secret. "That was close." Sun blinked. Did he just, slap himself?
"Dude are you alright?" The knight felt a hand grab his shoulder worriedly. "That was a bit much for a secret." He gave a halfhearted laugh, was he alright? Keeping a secret was painful. Literally. More so now than ever. How he managed to stifle the impulse to tell the truth was beyond him, but at least he had yet to spill his biggest secret. "Jaune, what are you keeping from everyone else?"
Sun knew Jaune, he'd known him for several years in fact, and if his past experiences with him told him anything it was that he was the world's worst, greatest secret keeper. To put it simply, Jaune was fairly good at keeping secrets, within good reason of course, but not telling anyone something can be painful. Especially to the goody-two-shoes Jaune who felt bad about lying to someone.
The knight took a deep breath. He had already resolved to do this several days back, what difference was it telling him whilst under the influence of Verity Dust? If anything it made things easier. At least he wouldn't bumble about. "I'm Jane Caur." Jaune blinked, that flowed out a lot faster than he expected. Hesitantly looking to his left, the author observed warily for any form of negative reaction. Then any form of reaction at all. After a couple minutes of adorning a blank expression the blond faunus finally spoke.
"Who's Jane Caur?" And like that all of the resolve he had put together felt meaningless. It was embarrassing, to think he had the gall to believe that everyone in the world knew who 'Jane Caur' was. After all, why would Sun read books? "Wait, isn't she that woman who writes smut."
Jaune slammed his head on the table, the noise gathering the attention of the few students and staff around them. After a moment of silence the onlookers disregarded it as sleep deprivation. "Why?" Mumbled the boy with a groan, still not taking his head off of the table. "It's not smut…" Finally it clicked in the thief's mind what his childhood friend had been talking about.
"Wait, you write those- er, books?" He exclaimed loud enough that Grimm probably heard him, once again gaining the attention of the surrounding audience. Taking quick action, the novice knight cupped a hand over the boy's mouth. Using the other to make a 'shh' gesture he slowly took his hand off. "Does that mean you've been a girl this whole time?" Whispered Sun, making sure to not yell. "I mean, I always had a feeling but-" The sound of Jaune hitting his head on the table stopped the train of thought dead.
"Jaune if you break that table you have to pay for it." Commented Jay, casually passing some students their order. The young male refrained from flipping off the black haired waiter/mail person and instead gave Sun a dead look.
"Sun. You, my friend, never cease to amaze me with your… wit." He stated slowly, his voice akin to one of defeat with a hint of strangling annoyance.
The blond monkey grinned, "Thanks! Wait, was that an insult?" Jaune rolled his eyes,
"You figure that out yourself." Days, weeks, even years of self-preparation for the moment where he would tell one of his friends, that he would eventually get, that he was the 'famed' Jane Caur. All culminating into… this. It was laughable really. "To answer your question, no. I am not a girl. That is just an alias I use for when I write. After all, no one would believe someone as young as I was could write like that." Sun nodded, sort of understanding.
"So why did you want to keep this from the others?" He asked, shifting around in his seat to get comfortable.
Jaune moved to take another sip of his cup only to realise that headbutting the table twice had the unfortunate effect of knocking it over, spilling the contents all over the right side of the rounded piece of furniture. He frowned, "Could you imagine what someone would do if they found out the middle-aged, female writer they admire was actually a young male? If they didn't maul or strangle me to death over that it would be because I would accidentally spill the fact that I used some of them as material- oh Verity Dust why did you do that?" Well that was something he hadn't been ready to admit… ever. "So uh, did you want to order anything?" He asked, awkwardly trying to change the subject.
The young Faunus shook his head negative, something told him he wouldn't be there for much longer. He gave his fellow blond a look, "So by material do you mean…?" He trailed off after seeing that Jaune knew exactly what he meant. The knight shuddered,
"Well yes, I use them as a basis of some characters in the stories but that doesn't mean I- to be frank they would kill me." The very thought of what certain people would do to him both intimidated and terrified him. There had been rumours passed around among the first year males that someone had simply looked at Yang wrong and she destroyed an entire club.
Sun nodded slowly, he definitely could see why Jaune would be terrified of his female friends. Team RWBY were a force to be reckoned with, and Nora and Pyrrha were crazily powerful as well. Also, if what Velvet told him about Coco was correct, that handbag would destroy whatever remained of him. "Dude, you're screwed. And not in the good way."
"Now you see why I could only tell you? Dust, I'm lucky that you found me first." If the others found him he'd clearly be unable to stop himself. "I'm surprised they haven't seen me yet, normally my luck is terrible. Maybe it's finally turned arou-" He slammed his head on the table once more. Did he, a writer, just fall for one of the biggest clichés in literature? Sun snickered,
"Dude, you just triggered a death flag." He managed to get out between laughs.
"Quiet you." Silenced the blond author with a glare, "I'm just going to leave before they arrive." He moved to get out of his seat when the library doors slammed open to show Ruby,
"Found you!" Shouted the girl as she walked in, followed by Nora. "Has the dust worn off yet?" She asked curiously.
Jaune nodded, "No it hasn't. Wait- dammit!" The Faunus thief burst into laughter. That's why triggering death flags was a bad idea. "Gotta go!" The blond student tipped an imaginary hat before dashing out the back of the room, Sun trailing behind slowly while laughing hysterically. Ruby tilted her head, confused by the sudden escape.
"Why did he leave Nora? We were only going to tell him about the hot spring." Asked the rose. "Nora?" She turned around to see the girl devouring a plate of pancakes at the café.
The Valkyrie grinned, nothing was better than free pancakes and the comic section of the newspaper. Shoving another pancake into the endless pancake void that was her mouth her eyes turned to the daily word scramble. "Ooh the answer's sloth! Ooh, and this one is queen! Ooh, this one is my fearless leader! But they did it wrong." Ruby blinked,
"What do you mean? Why is Jaune in the daily word scramble?" Nora shrugged at the question,
"I don't know, but they did it wrong. He told me himself, his name is Jaune-Jaune Arc." The young reaper nodded slowly, she didn't know his full name was Jaune-Jaune. She'd have to apologize to him later, what kind of best friend didn't know that?
She frowned as she looked at the hints, "Nora it says that it's a famous writer here." Nora nodded,
"Yeah, I saw our fearless leader writing something while the sloth habitat was still in construction. Since he's so good at literature he must be a good writer!" Ruby frowned, that didn't particularly mean that he was a famous writer. Though Blake was a pretty avid reader so she would definitely know if Jaune wrote books. Unfortunately the cat Faunus was currently with everyone else in the hot springs, which was on the other side of Pharos. Where else could they find out if Jaune had written a book before?
"If only there was a place that has a bunch of books, we'd be able to look through them for one that Jaune wro- we're in a library." She sighed, maybe she should rely less on Weiss and Jaune for strategies?
"So you're telling me, this whole time there was a hot spring that could wash away the effects of most dust?" Why was Sun only telling this to him now? The two blonds walked up to the sign in front of the room, "This hot spring cleanses you of the effects of most dust, so feel free to experiment with it in our dust room." The young Faunus looked at the fine print,
"Note: This will wash away all dust except fire dust. If you spontaneously combust in the spring please call this number:" He read aloud. Jaune blinked, wait, spontaneously combust? He gave the sign an incredulous look. Wouldn't that be the complete opposite?
"Why would water wash away everything except fire?" Sun shrugged, he wasn't Weiss so how would he know?
"That doesn't matter, let's go in!" The two leaders cheered before entering. "Whoa, the heat really hits you huh?" Commented the blond monkey. The knight nodded, he could already feel the sweat beading on his skin. "There's the male spring." Pointed out the thief. "Last one in's a burned banana!" Jaune grinned,
"You're on!"
The two hurried into the changing rooms, already taking their shirts off before they reached the door. Quickly picking a locker, the writer threw his things in. He was halfway through tying on his towel when Sun threw one at his face using his tail, blinding him and stopping his progress momentarily. "Hey, no throwing!" By the time he had taken off the towel the blond Faunus had already run out the door,
As he entered the spring area the leader of Team SSSN gave him a grin from the opposite side of the water, "I won." He laughed victoriously. Jaune rolled his eyes, deciding not to deign him the pleasure of a verbal comment. The knight looked in awe at the spring. Although the steam emanating off of the water obscured his vision a fair amount he could still take in its beauty.
"I didn't know this was an outdoor spring." He said as he walked up to the grey stones that lined the water's edge. After taking a few short touches to test the water, he slowly entered the spring. The two blonds exhaled deeply, "This is nice." Sun nodded lazily in agreement, it was nice to soak out their ailments before they left to head back to Beacon. It'd be a shame to leave such a great place but there were still classes to be done. Jaune laid his head back onto a rock, finding the perfect groove for his head to rest in, and looked up at the sky. The steam tinted it's normally blue colour a faint white.
"So has it worn off yet?" Asked Sun curiously. Jaune shrugged, there was only one way to find out. "Who was your first crush?"
"That skateboard girl back in- it hasn't worked yet." He stopped himself mid-sentence by giving his face a good slap once again. The two males sighed, "We should probably give it more time." He suggested. Sun shrugged, once more, he wasn't Weiss.
"I still can't believe you wear a push-up bra Weiss-cream. Sorry if you hadn't realised, but zero times two is still zero." Teased a voice from the other side of the divider.
"I am not flat Yang!" Complained the heiress madly. The party girl gave her a grin,
"Alright, alright. No need to get so down Ice Queen. C'mon, stand proud, chin up and chest out!" Weiss narrowed her eyes,
"You'd better not have just implied that my chest was flat again. Because it's not!" Yang blinked,
"That's not what I-"
"They're a perfectly adequate size!" Growled the white haired girl. "Adequate! Blake, tell your partner!" The bookworm rolled her eyes,
"Yang, stop picking on Weiss. She doesn't like hearing the truth." Chided the black haired Faunus. The heiress nodded,
"Yeah- wait, that was an insult!"
By pure instinct Jaune submerged his head underwater, "Dude, what are you doing?" Asked Sun perplexed by the boy's actions. However, he didn't receive an answer considering his conversation partner was underwater.
After coming back out of the water and meeting his fellow blond's gaze the writer gave an awkward laugh, "Sorry, that was my survival instincts kicking in." He explained vaguely. The other male ignored it in favor of bringing up his latest idea.
Sun grinned, "The girls are in the other spring. Do you know what this means?" Jaune cocked his head to the side briefly,
"No?" Surely he wasn't implying that. Sun knew enough not to go down such a cliché path like that... right?
Suddenly standing up the monkey Faunus struck a pose, pointing towards the female spring. "We have to go peep on them!" Jaune slowly waded away from the blond. Did he have a death wish? Doing that would be suicide! If he wanted to die so badly then he should just run into a pack of Beowolves. At least they would be humane about it.
"You do what you want, I'm not having any part of it." Sun frowned,
"C'mon!" He pleaded, "Think of it like, uh, research for your smu- er, books." He took a step back when the blond's eyes began to twinkle,
"Research?" The Faunus smirked at the sudden change in expression, I don't know how, but it worked! He laughed mentally. Jaune put on a thoughtful expression, "I haven't tried a scene where the protagonist gets brutally mauled after trying to take a peek at the hot springs yet." He muttered silently. The knight grinned and nodded, "Alright, do it." Sun grinned back and began to climb the small tree beside the divider to the women's springs. "Oh, and while you get slaughtered can you look this way so I can catch the expression on your face? I need to record your emotions." He added,
Sun nodded automatically, already halfway up the tree. "Ok- wait what?" He turned to his fellow blond holding a camcorder that he got from… somewhere. "Jaune what are you-" The monkey Faunus stopped mid-sentence upon hearing a faint sound. Jaune snickered as he held up the camcorder, ready for his next bit of research. It worked perfectly because Sun was a Faunus. Of course, he wasn't going to base the protagonist after him, he was over turning his friends into characters. "Um, was that the tree?"
The young author laughed dismissively waving it off, "What? Of course not. Just, uh, keep climbing." He gestured towards the smaller branch, "You can probably get a better view from there." He stated 'helpfully'.
Sun frowned as he heard another cracking sound. "Jaune I'm pretty sure that was the tree." The blond waved it off once more as he set the camcorder to record. Without missing a beat the branch unsurprisingly snapped under the Faunus' weight, causing it to fall on the strangely fragile divider. With a loud crash the wooden divider fell, gaining the attention of the four girls on the other side. Coco gave him a death look. "Uh, that was the tree's fault." Said the leader of SSSN from on top of the branch. Not seeing any reduction in anger from the girls he turned to Jaune for help. "Jaune tell them! And how are you changed already?"
The knight was indeed already changed, somehow. He shrugged, "I got faster at it since you last saw me." He 'explained'. Sun shrugged, still laying on the branch, made sense. When he last saw him it took thirty seconds if he didn't have to take his previous pair of clothes off.
The Faunus shook his head, "Anyway, tell them what happened." He pleaded to the knight, completely forgetting a very important fact.
Jaune sighed, "Sun climbed up a tree to go peek on you but I directed him to a tree branch that would snap under his weight. Which it did." He explained, not realising what he had just said. Sun and Yang glared at him, that traitorous-
"So you're saying it's completely Sun's fault, and not yours?" Recapped the brawler. Jaune nodded before slapping himself for what felt like the seventh time that day. Needless to say, they hurt a lot. Weiss scoffed,
"And why should we believe you?" She asked rhetorically, turning to the others. "Should we just kill them and be over with it?" The two boys gulped audibly as the other three women nodded.
Jaune shook his head vehemently, "No, I am telling the truth. I'm still under the effects of the Verity Dust so I can't lie. We actually came here because Sun told me it could cure me of it." He explained,
The heiress rolled her eyes, "Please, if you had Verity Dust on you the fire dust in it would spread around you like bees on honey. This spring would wash away all the other dust until only fire was left, leaving you barbecued." The knight blinked, that was right. Didn't the sign say the spring washed off all dust except for-
The next thing he knew everything went bright for a brief moment before it turned dark.
The sound of consistently paced tapping filled his ears when he next awoke. It was dark and he couldn't tell where he was nor get a feel for what direction was up. Why is everything so dark? He wondered to himself. The knight tried to blink but his eyelids wouldn't go any further down. Oh wait, my eyes are closed. Cracking one eye open he immediately regretted it as he was met with the blindingly bright white of the ceiling, forcing him to close it just as quickly as he could. "-And that Sun, is why spontaneous combustion is bad." Finished a voice. Neptune?
A scoff. "Ok… nerd." The voice murmured the last part, he had barely been able to pick it up. The distinct cry of 'I heard that!' was interrupted by a sharp cough, most likely followed by a distinct look of disapproval.
"Let Mr Arc rest." Chided a woman's voice. "Dust knows getting set on fire, followed by almost drowning, goes through quite a bit of a hunter's aura." Was that, Glynda? Sun snickered,
"I can't believe he spontaneously combusted like that." He held back his laughter lest he upset the occupants in the room too much. Although he was worried for a moment when his childhood friend suddenly caught on fire in the middle of a spring, he knew Jaune would be alright. He'd lived through worse.
Silence ensued as Sun had probably been given a death look by someone in the room, leaving the sound of rhythmic tapping to fill his ears once more. It was quite irritating really. Seconds, minutes, possibly hours passed by as nothing happened save for the constant tapping. "How long has it been?"
A groan, "4:13, three minutes since you last asked for the time at 4:10. In three minutes from now when you ask for the time again it will be 4:16." Stated an irritated voice. Most likely Weiss. Silence ensued once more until...
Tapping. Tapping. Tapping. Ta-
"Can someone please stop with the incessant tapping!" Shouted the supposedly unconscious writer, finally opening his eyes- "Gah, my eyes!" -and once more instantly regretting the decision to do so.
"You're alive!" Cried Ruby and Nora as they ran up to him, enveloping him in a bone crushing hug. "We thought that you died!"
Weiss scoffed, "He was just set on fire briefly before he fell into the spring water. If anything, your crushing him while he's low on Aura will kill him." The two girls jumped back, apologising profusely before going in for an apology hug and crushing him once more. Yang grinned,
"Don't mind Weiss-cream here. She was one of the most worried about you." The heiress flushed in embarrassment, turning away from the group as she crossed her arms.
"I-I was just briefly concerned for the wellbeing of one of my… friends. Is that so bad?" She asked rhetorically.
Jaune laughed hoarsely. "Aww, I knew you cared Snow Angel." He teased. She glared daggers at him. "Sorry you guys had to see me in such a bad state though." Who knew getting set on fire would- no wait, taking into account shock, pain, sudden blindness and smoke it was very believable that would happen.
The female blond gave him a wink, "Don't worry 'bout it. Personally, I thought you looked pretty… hot. Eh? Eh?" She nudged him playfully with her elbow as the students and singular teacher around her groaned. Jaune chuckled roughly, though it came out more as strangled coughs and a cry that sounded like a dying flamingo. Kind of.
Taking a good look at his surroundings the young author realised he was sat in a bed at the infirmary. Around the room was Sun, Neptune, Ruby, Weiss, Nora, Yang, Pyrrha, Blake and Goodwitch. "Where are Ren, Velv and Coco?" He asked curiously.
The blue haired male of the group stepped forward. "They all went to the dorm rooms to get our stuff packed and insisted we stay here and make sure you were alright." Explained Neptune. "It's our last day here after all." Jaune nodded, that was right they would be leaving soon. He'd miss the place, after all he couldn't have his morning chocolate while he read anymore. Why didn't Beacon have a café in their library? No offence to Amethyst, but this one was much better.
Goodwitch cleared her throat, gathering the attention of those in the room. "Now that you are all sure that Mr Arc is fine I would like you to head back to your rooms and finish off what packing you have left to do." Stated the deputy, "And before you complain, the airship leaves at five sharp. If you get left behind you must make the journey back by yourself." With the iron will of Glynda set, the students began to begrudgingly exit the room either waving or sending glances at Jaune as they left the room. Pyrrha glanced between the door and the blond knight with an unsure look from the corner of the room she occupied, she hadn't moved from that spot since she entered.
Glynda gave her a reassuring smile, "Miss Nikos, I know you would like to talk to your partner but you'll need to go get ready while the nurse checks to make sure he's completely fine." The Spartan girl nodded slowly, staring at Jaune for a solid minute before she left, as if he would disappear the second she turned away.
Her hand linger over the frame of the doorway for the briefest of moments, considering something, before shaking her head. She gave him a light smile, "I'll see you soon." And with that she left.
Jaune sighed in relief upon noticing that the tapping had stopped at some point after he 'returned to consciousness'. He turned to the combat instructor curiously. "What on Remnant was making that irritating tapping noise?" He queried. The blond teacher smirked uncharacteristically at him,
"Miss Belladonna seemed to be fretting over you quite a bit." She noted casually, "Seeing the normally flat young woman actually worry over something was surprising. It was strange to say the least." Jaune blinked, Blake had been worried for him? He gave a light grin, anything further hurt his face, and chuckled. Maybe he and Yang finally got through to their black haired book buddy.
The witch looked over to the door to her right that had been obscured by Blake and and Pyrrha earlier. "You can check up on him now nurse." The door opened to reveal a black haired boy that seemed to be about the same age as Amethyst.
"You can leave it to me- oh hey Jaune." Waved the young man, pulling down his face mask.
"Jay? I didn't know you were a nurse." Commented the blond, mildly surprised at the blue eyed mail man/bartender/nurse. The older boy shrugged at him,
"It's one of my part-time jobs for the school." He stated as he brought a rather large metallic box towards the bedside. Opening it slowly the knight was treated to the sight of several very sharp equipment. "Now this won't hurt a bit." Said the boy calmly as he took out the largest and pointless of the tools. "At least until I stick this in you. Then it will hurt a lot."
Glynda winced as the tool was inserted into his arm. She had seen and been through this procedure many times but still felt uncomfortable seeing it each time. Jay looked at the readings off of the instrument, casually humming a tune. He was genuinely surprised at the young student, he was taking it very well. "Huh, that's the first time someone hasn't screamed after I- oh he fainted." He looked at the readings with a faint grin, "3.14 seconds? That's a new record, I should give him a pie." The witch gave him a pointed look,
"We live in an age where robots can fight monsters and practically anything you can swing turns into a gun." She started, disbelief clear in her tone. "Why then, is it necessary to stick that in the patient's arm to check if they are on fire or not?" A concern she'd had since her early days as a huntress in training would soon be explained. It irked her that such an inconceivably unrelated step was essential to make sure the patient was currently not being barbecued.
Jay laughed, "It isn't."
Packing was the most exciting part of the journey back to Beacon. The airship ride was surprisingly uneventful so far as Jaune was still 'asleep' after his check-up at the infirmary. Glynda learned that day that the unnecessarily large tool they used to 'check if the patient was on fire' actually just measure how long it took for the patient to fall unconscious, along with a couple of other health-related statistics to make it seem less conspicuous. It was an inside joke that all medical-folk knew of according to Jay after she held him at scalpel-point.
That was beside the point. Currently, Ruby Rose was bored beside her mind and just couldn't wait to get back to her dorm room and pass out. She had the indescribable joy of sitting next to the normally-airsick knight on the way back after losing an incredibly one-sided game of rock, paper, scissors. Apparently scissors didn't fair well against ten rocks. The rose stared silently at his sleeping form as she took a bite out of some extra cookies she had packed for the trip back. She couldn't understand how Jaune couldn't stand being on vehicles, motion sickness seemed like such a strange ailment. If she had motion sickness she wouldn't be able to use her semblance properly, moving a mere few meters would probably cause her to hurl faster than Jaune on a merry-go-round at Mach 1.
Behind her sat Neptune and Ren speaking rather animatedly about their weapons and school work, no doubt being some of the more scholarly of their group. She would join in for their weapon talk if it were not for the sleeping bomb of vomit that was Jaune next to her. Who knew what would wake him up, and she certainly was not keen on finding out. Her eyes turned to the landscape visible from the window as she wistfully sighed. The world outside Vale seemed so vast. All the space in the world and they were confined to living in kingdoms. She wanted to get out, go see the world. Maybe at least go to Haven. "It's a great view isn't it?" Asked a voice from her left. "I'm kind of sad I don't get to enjoy this that often."
"J-Jaune?" Gasped the younger student. "Why aren't you, y'know…" She trailed off, too surprised to speak any further. The blond leader gave a light chuckle at her shocked expression.
"Vomiting? Yeah I was surprised too at first. Nurse Jay gave me something to calm it down for a little while." Ruby tilted her head to the side, Nurse Jay? So he wasn't only in charge of the mail room and Nora's bar, but was also a nurse? How many jobs could one man have? "You have silver eyes." He noted casually. The young girl frowned, was it just her or was Jaune a bit more… mellower than usual? "They look like giant eye-like things that are also silver." He stated with a goofy grin.
"Jaune, what did he give you?" She asked hesitantly. The boy held out the container of bright orange pills he had been given. She tentatively took them from his outstretched hand and took a look at the ingredients and warning label. "Warning, may contain traces of Forever Fall sap? Oh dear." Unfortunately, upon looking up from the clear container the boy was nowhere to be seen. The girl sighed, maybe she shouldn't have wished for a more eventful trip?
"Mr Arc get off of that chair!" Scolded Goodwitch from the back. "Stop skateboarding that young man's luggage!" A loud crashing noise resounded throughout the airship, no doubt being the result of Jaune 'stopping' his skateboarding. Nora cheered upon seeing that her fearless leader was once again up for her antics. Blake yelped loudly and hid under a chair like- for lack of a better analogy- a scared cat.
"I is Juan Arc, fear me!" He shouted almost drunkenly. He swayed precariously on the top of Weiss and Yang's seat. "I am Juan- One- Singular- Single. I am single!" He chuckled at his own 'joke'. The blond turned to the two women below him and winked, getting an eye roll from the heiress and a wink back from the boxer. "Oh hey, I can fly!" The group of students turned to see that he was indeed flying. And glowing. And an extremely irritated Glynda Goodwitch was standing behind him.
"Well Mr 'Juan' Arc, why don't we go visit the back room for a bit? I'll give you some… confectioneries." The young writer nodded with a grin.
"I want some of that chocolate with melted chocolate in it!" He cheered. The older woman smirked as she brought him into the back toilet. She gave him a trusting smile and led him to the toilet seat. Then used a rope she got out of… somewhere, to bind him to it.
Jaune stared at the rope curiously, as if trying to assess for some form of weakness. Without warning, the blond began to chew on the rope for a solid minute before coughing out pieces of it. "You lied Miss Glynda!" He cried, "This isn't candy!" The deputy sighed and closed the door on the still complaining boy. After a couple minutes of convincing Blake finally got out from under the seat. She then proceeded to pretend that nothing happened in the usual Blake way.
Ruby sighed along with Glynda from her seat, deciding to pocket the sap-pills. "Note to self, keep these as far away from Jaune as possible." She murmured under her breath. There was no way she was going to let him near them again even if it did get rid of his motion sickness. Getting comfortable once more in her seat she stared out at the landscape with a light smile. "It is a nice view though."
And as Ruby looks over the horizon, another day will come to a close. Only a few more original chapters until we arrive back at Canon. What could I possibly have in store for our blond knight that could top his already horrible streak of bad luck? A lot. Not kidding, he will go through hell. Romantic, slapstick-comedy filled hell. Look forward to the next chapter!
I'd just like to say thank you once more for all you lovely individuals that have followed, favorited, reviewed or even just decided to give my story a chance and read it. Without you, this would be nothing. And a big thanks to those who were there from the start as well. You are all the best.
Those who find a specific reference get a plastic kids Myrtenaster to launch your dust vials with! (Vials and dust not included).