Hello, dear readers! Once again, I received a bit of help from gdvp111 as well as my Beta Reader Jkdelta38 in writing this chapter, and so I deeply thank them both.
Good reading!
Weiss was sitting at the large table that spread in the middle of the dining room, putting much of her concentration into not yawning despite her sleepy state. To her right, Pyrrha was wide awake and cheerful, having been up for half-an-hour due to her morning routine. The red-headed Mistralian was trying to motivate an heavy-eyed Ruby which was sprawled on the table.
On the other side of this table were Blake and Nora, the first already having her nose in a book and the second already showing inhuman levels of energy. The pink Huntress was humming happily to herself, moving from side to side like a pendulum, and sending occasional looks towards the kitchen where Ren was already preparing the breakfast.
The kitchen, dining room, and meeting area used by the teens in Blackcliff were all in a building connected to their barracks. The large wooden construction was flanked by the twin buildings that served as barracks to the trainees of Beacon and Haven. One could move from their bed to the dining room by walking through a duo of doors and a small hallway. This was extremely useful when the temperature was freezing outside since it meant you could walk from one area to the other without putting on your coat.
Yang walked in, her arms extended to the air in a stretch as she let out a long yawn.
"Hey, people," the blonde crashed down on the bench next to her teammate, "what's on the menu this morning?"
"Some of the staff dropped a few boxes of food earlier, but Ren brought them to the kitchen before I saw what exactly was in them." Blake answered, not removing her eyes from her book. "Apparently the mess is full again, so we're having breakfast here."
"Ugh," Yang said disgustedly as she stretched again, "I just hope it's not vomlettes."
Everyone in the room shivered, even Nora. The vomlettes were the unaffectionate nickname given to one of the least savory meals the soldiers of Mistral were often forced to suffer through. The name was present through the 2nd Mistralian Armored Division long before the trainees were assigned to it, and they had merely adopted it after tasting it for themselves.
The so-called vegetarian so-called omelet so-called meal was widely considered as a WMD by most who knew of it. The mere fact that it had not been prohibited by the treaty of Vital was mindboggling. If Weiss had not had such a good upbringing, she would have used unsavory language unfit for polite conversation to describe it.
"Morning, everyone." Mumbled Jaune as he entered, looking a complete mess. He had been up later than he would have ought to, reading the field manuals he had been given by Commander Nonna, much to Weiss' distaste. A chorus of greetings answered him. "Hey, Yang, might I have a word?"
"Might I have a word?" Yang grinned excitedly, seizing the opportunity for another target to tease. "Well, aren't you sounding a lot like Commander-"
"Yang, please." Jaune groaned as he sat down to Weiss' side. "It's too early, and you owe me one. You used more of the baby wipes that my sister gave me than anyone else in the group during the OP."
Yang straightened up as the stares of every person in the room converged on her. "I dunno what you're talking about."
"There was that time where you tried to steal some of the baby wipes because some frozen bird dropping got on your-" Blake offered drily, her nose still in her book.
"Not listening!"
Nora, still moving like a pendulum on the bench, offered a contribution. "Didn't you also use all of the lotion when you-"
"No idea what you're talking about!" Yang persisted, her voice becoming shrill.
"Anyways, Yang," Jaune said in a surprisingly firm tone, silencing the giggles that had started around the table, "I just wanted to know what the soldiers are saying about us around the base. You and Blake visited the mess hall and walked around for a while after the debriefing yesterday, didn't you?"
"You want to know the gossips around the base?" Yang questioned, her face a mix of surprise and amusement.
"For leadership purposes, that's all." Jaune nodded. "Knowing how we are perceived around here could help us in future decisions."
"Morning guys, heard something about leadership?" Interrupted Sun Wukong of team SSSN, the most raucous leader in their platoon and the most prone to interrupt Jaune on the radio during the last Operation. He jumped into a nearby seat and launched a wink at Blake.
"As if you knew anything about leadership, kid." Coco Adel of CFVY scoffed as she moved to the table as well.
Weiss was surprised by the arrival of the two leaders into the conversation, especially since the rest of their teams were seating themselves at the other end of the table. She imagined that hearing the word 'leadership' thrown around really grabbed their attention.
Jaune greeted his fellow leaders with tired smiles before continuing. "Yeah, knowing what the people around the base think of us could really be important; it could give us clues on how we'll be treated during the next OP. My team and RYBN saw how the attitude of the people surrounding us could be important when we were in our earlier mission in the village of Olmar."
"As the villagers gained faith in us, everything became easier around Olmar." Pyrrha agreed.
"Well, I can't see why the soldiers wouldn't have faith in us." Sun shrugged. "We did most of the job out there, the others could just have stood and watched us turn the Grimm into mush."
"Overconfidence can get you killed out there, Sun, I've told you that already." Jaune warned the other boy in a serious tone. The Faunus replied with a big and confident smile and a pair of thumbs-up. Jaune sighed in annoyance but came back to his original topic. "So, Yang, what's the word about us around the base?"
Yang twisted her mouth in concentration for a few seconds before answering. "The word is pretty good, actually. Most people I've talked to were nice and friendly, and some had big praise for what we did during the OP."
"That is what they told you, but perhaps not what they actually thought." Weiss proposed, prompting confused noises from many of the others. "Even people you have just met can probably tell that annoying you is not the greatest idea, so they might have humored you by gushing praise."
Weiss knew all too well how people often use praise and compliments to stay on somebody's good side. Investors of the SDC, trade partners, even government officials were prone to using this technique on her father, and she herself had received her fair share of it.
"You're right, some of them did praise us overmuch without meaning it." Blake confirmed, lifting her eyes from her book to lock eyes with Weiss for a second. "But they were not the majority from what I could tell."
"And how exactly could you tell?" Weiss asked, wondering how Blake could have any level of certitude.
Blake pointed at the bow on the top of her head before answering. "All of the groups I and Yang encountered thought that they were talking to two humans, and so they revealed their true opinions on us once we walked away and left the usual earshot. Most of them seemed to be either uncertain about us or actually impressed, but some others were less than polite."
"Less than polite?" Jaune questioned. "Care to elaborate?"
Blake shrugged. "They were unhappy that the Hunter Platoon received most of the praise despite the fact that they did their best too, and they did not appreciate that kids like us were given so much importance in the Division. They used coarser language and some particularly rude expletives, but that's the gist of it."
Weiss sighed in annoyance. Of course, she knew that some people around the base would not appreciate the presence of trainees, and she knew that the high levels of praise they received from officers would only make it worst, but the confirmation of that by Blake was greatly problematic.
Yang too seemed annoyed by the situation. "Really, Blake? You heard those dirtbags insult us and you didn't even tell me? I should have taught them a lesson right then and there!" Yang's voice was a mix of mild anger and simple annoyance.
"Having a member of my Platoon court-martialled for having attacked soldiers in the mess hall is not something I need right now, Yang." Jaune warned the other blonde in a firm voice, causing her to slouch back onto her bench with a roll of the eyes and a sarcastic 'yes sir'. Jaune was visibly irritated by Yang's reaction, but he took a long breath to calm himself and then turned to Blake. "Well done, Blake, that info should be really useful. Thanks for not telling Yang in advance, too."
Blake removed her eyes from the pages of her book for a few seconds to nod politely at Jaune's thanks before continuing to read.
"So, boss, are you going to need more info on the subject?" Sun asked the leader of the group.
Jaune lifted an eyebrow in interest. "Maybe. What are you proposing?"
Sun smiled widely at that. "Well, my teammates come from Mistral, so I'm sure that we'd be able to dig deeper and find what more people think of the Platoon. I might even be able to find somebody from Vacuo to interrogate."
Before Jaune could answer, Coco Adel spoke up. "And I might be able to investigate with the people in charge of logistics and ammunition. I already have some contacts there since I needed to find compatible ammo for my weapon."
Weiss was truly impressed that the two team leaders would offer their help so willingly. Until that point, she had assumed that most team leaders in the Hunter Platoon would be somewhat bitter towards Jaune due to him having been elected as overall leader, but it seemed she had been wrong. Perhaps she was only projecting on others the bitterness that she had herself felt towards Jaune when he had been named the leader of team JWPR months earlier.
Jaune had a large smile on his face when he answered his fellow leaders. "That all sounds great, I would definitely appreciate more info from more sources. You should start as soon as you have time for it."
"Will do, boss!" Sun jumped up from his bench and performed the least convincing military salute Weiss had ever seen. "But now that the food is coming I'll go back to my team. Later, guys!"
"I should go to my team as well." Coco Adel stood up from her seat. "I'll see you later, kids."
The two leaders received their goodbyes and left for the other side of the table. Stretching her neck upwards to look towards the kitchen, Weiss saw that Ren was indeed finished with the breakfast. He pushed a large cart filled with three layers of food trays.
"Pyrrha, could you help me distribute the trays?" Ren called out as he approached the table.
"Of course!" Pyrrha exclaimed with a smile, extending her arms without even standing up and activating her semblance.
The metallic trays of food started levitating and came off the cart in orderly rows. In an impressive example of mastery of one's semblance, Pyrrha took control of the twenty-four trays at once and had them float calmly to the table. Ren thanked her with a nod and pushed the cart back into the kitchen before moving to the table himself.
The teens had been dreading this moment for several minutes now, dreading the reveal of what their breakfast would be, and thus the happy surprise was made even better.
"Pancakes!" Nora, Ruby, Jaune, and Yang all exclaimed at once, similar cries of joy also coming from the other side of the table.
At once, the room filled with the sounds of cutlery and joyful mastication. Ren sat down to Nora's side, a content smile on his face. Weiss too let herself smile, unable to stay stoic when confronted by such overwhelming happiness.
"How did you manage to make pancakes for twenty-four people?" The heiress had to ask the cook.
"Well, I actually made fifty portions of pancakes." Ren answered calmly, his content smile still present. "I knew from experience that us trainees need impressive amounts of calories to survive." He pointed at Nora with his fork as he finished his sentence.
"Still, how did you do it?" Weiss prodded on.
"The delivery this morning was of flour, frozen eggs, milk, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder and cooking oil." Ren shrugged. "I assume that this was the Division's way of rewarding us for our efforts during Operation Howling Choir."
"You know; I think that's the only thing that could have made these pancakes taste better." Jaune said after swallowing a large bite. "The idea that we got these pancakes because we did well on the field makes it even greater."
Weiss could only agree.
To the side, Ruby emitted a loud, contented sigh. "I missed the taste of sugar sooooooo much."
"I do think that there is sugar in some of our ration bars." Weiss pointed out, taking a small bite from her platter.
"They contain fruit sugar, that doesn't count." Ruby retorted. "And they taste terrible anyway."
Weiss smiled at that. "On that point, we can agree. Having to eat MREs and ration bars for an entire week while in the field might have been the worst part of the Operation."
This made Ruby giggle softly.
"Maybe it is all an integral part of the training." Pyrrha offered, gaining the attention of the others around her. "Mistral knows that if soldiers are able to eat only the horrific meals served by the army and still keep going then even the Grimm will have no way to scare them."
The eight teens started laughing at that, even Weiss. The general happiness around the group was something that she had not seen in days now, and it broke down some of her barriers.
"Actually, I think that Mistral might be looking at things the wrong way." Jaune said with a playful smile as the laughter died down. "Instead of poisoning their soldiers to make them stronger, they should throw their MREs at the Grimm to scare them off."
"The perfect deterrent." Weiss agreed, locking eyes with her partner before they both started laughing again- Jaune's guttural laugh mixing with Weiss' lighter giggle.
The teens finished their breakfast in only a few minutes, Ruby finishing Weiss' plate while Nora did the same with Ren's. As Weiss was about to propose that they pick who was to be tasked with doing the dishes, Jaune stood up from the bench at her side.
"Ren, thanks again for this excellent cooking. You really outdid yourself today." The quiet leader answered with a thankful nod, and Jaune continued. "But now, I have to leave you for a few hours."
"Where are you going?" Weiss questioned, unaware of any plans that her partner may have had.
"I'm going to see my sister." Jaune answered her with a smile. "I left a note from Commander Nonna on her desk yesterday, but I couldn't find her anywhere. Apparently, she was still on maintenance duty. Anyways, she sent me a message late evening yesterday, and now I'm supposed to meet up with her."
Weiss knew that the two siblings had barely been able to talk for five minutes on the day that the trainees came back from their mission, and so she was not surprised to see Jaune so eager now that he had a chance to see Cyan.
The heiress mirrored her partner's eager smile. "Well then, you should not let Cyan wait for you."
Jaune took a rapid look at his Scroll before answering. "Yeah, I only have ten minutes before I'm late." The boy turned to the other leader of the group. "Ren, I leave you in charge here until I come back, ok? I should be back before the medics arrive for our training, but if I'm not you'll have to greet them yourself."
"Very well, Jaune. I shall be ready for this possibility." Ren confirmed calmly.
"Perfect." Jaune clapped his hands together and looked at each member of the group in turn. "I'll see you all later. Good luck with the dishes!"
The boy walked back to the barracks with a choral of goodbyes.
As the teens still in the dining room spilt off into several groups, some moving into the kitchen to clean the dishes while others moved back to their dorms and some more just stayed in the room to talk, Weiss was left with her thoughts. Team RYBN, Ruby, and Pyrrha went to the kitchen to clean, so Weiss was left alone on her side of the table.
Unsurprisingly, as soon as she was alone, Weiss' thoughts went to her partner and the discussion she had had with Yang. Her mind had been filled with little more these past few days, and she didn't expect anything to change before she did something about it. In the past days since her conversation with self-proclaimed love-expert Yang Xiao-Long, Weiss had gotten plenty of time to think, and her opinion on what she should do about her stagnant relation with her partner had shifted slightly.
At first, she had been quite uncertain on what she should do. Yang had told her that the only way to make Jaune understand that she loved him was to stop with the half-measures and start acting directly, but that had still left two options for Weiss. She could either become extremely blatant with her flirting or simply tell Jaune of her feelings.
Her first choice had been the flirting. It would be safer, she knew, since she could essentially prod Jaune for reactions and thus see if he had mirrored feelings for her, but it also had its fair share of problems.
Firstly, there was the possibility that Jaune would stay oblivious to her advances. Considering Jaune's track record, this was extremely likely to happen.
Secondly, there was the possibility for more members of her group to realize what was happening. Yang might have been the only one to see anything as of yet, but Weiss could only imagine that Blake or Ren or Pyrrha would be bright enough to understand the situation before Jaune. This could potentially lead to many negative consequences, general awkwardness and probable humiliation being the most evident.
Lastly, there was the simple confrontation between the very idea of flirt and Weiss' normal way of acting. Flirtation was the way of the uncertain, the way of the unconfident, not the way of the Schnee. Weiss might have harbored a deep resentment of her father, but she had to admit that he had shaped her personality in many ways, one of which was her confidence. Weiss knew herself as someone strong in flesh and spirit, someone able to accomplish anything she truly put her mind to, someone capable of surmounting any fear.
And thus, now that Weiss had truly decided to reveal her feelings to Jaune, now that she had decided to push away her fears of rejection or loss, she knew that only one choice was left to her; she had to tell Jaune directly. She had to go all in, and she had to do it soon.
Jaune walked under a shower of sparks, zigzagging his way between vehicles and pillars as he made his way through the warehouse and to his sister's workstation. After a few minutes of detours around crews of engineers repairing vehicles that had him wondering if he was still walking in the right direction, the boy finally arrived at his destination.
Cyan was sitting on one of the two small chairs of her workstation. As Jaune came into her field of vision, the blue-haired woman rapidly finished scribbling on a piece of paper before pinning it to the billboard in front of her.
"Jaune! I was starting to wonder if you had gotten lost on your way here!" Cyan stood up and trapped her brother in a quick hug before he could even react.
"I almost did get lost." Jaune answered, copying his sister's eager smile. "No matter how many times I come here, finding my way never seems to get easier."
"Well, at least you found me." Cyan shrugged. "And you managed to find my workstation yesterday too if I can trust the note you left me."
"Yeah, Commander Nonna wanted me to deliver a paper to you, and since you weren't here I decided to leave a note of my own to explain." Jaune confirmed. "Did you have time to read the Commander's paper?"
Cyan hummed in affirmation. "I did, and I found her words really interesting."
"What did she say? Was it really just engineering stuff?" Jaune questioned.
Cyan showed a sly smile. "If she had wanted you to know, I'm sure that she would have told you herself, little brother. If she didn't, then I must consider her note as strictly confidential."
Jaune sighed in acceptation, a small smile still at the corner of his lips. "Fair enough, it's probably not of my business. But I can't help but think that she talked about me in her message."
"Why would you think that?" Cyan asked him, a hint of amusement still on her features.
"If not to talk about me, why would the Commander of the Pravda Brigade want to send a message to you of all people? I'm sure that she has dozens of very good engineers directly under her orders." Jaune explained himself as he leaned on a large pillar.
Cyan frowned in an expression that seemed half offended and half amused. "Me of all people? I'll have you know that I'm pretty important around here. I'm a certificated and trained engineer with knowledge of weaponry from all four kingdoms of Remnant. I even worked with tech from the SDC during my internship with VARDE."
"The Vale Advanced Research and Development Establishment, I know." Jaune rolled his eyes sarcastically, grinning at the falsely offended gasp of his sister. "That internship was the only thing you would talk about for months when you got accepted a few years ago."
"It was a big deal!" Cyan countered, still smiling. "I got to meet important members of the SDC and Atlas' military, and that's one of the big reasons why I was drafted to work here in Blackcliff."
Jaune frowned as he remembered something Cyan had told him a long time ago. "Didn't you also meet General Ironwood when he came to visit the VARDE?"
"I only saw him from afar, but I'm still in contact with some others that got to talk to him." Cyan answered. "Most of them are either working in places like Blackcliff or still doing their best in the VARDE."
"I can imagine that researchers would be a lot more important than regular soldiers right now." Jaune knew that new technologies were always being developed for the military during war periods.
Cyan hummed her agreement, and a small silence followed. Jaune's sister was the one to break it.
"So, I heard that you were wounded after your last mission, using your semblance no less. Why didn't you tell me that when we saw each other at your return?" Cyan had a hint of reproach in her voice and a frown on her face.
Jaune sighed. He wondered where his sister had heard of his injuries after the mission. From what he knew, the information was not common knowledge even in the Division.
"I knew that we wouldn't have more than a few minutes to talk two days ago, and I knew that I wouldn't have enough time to explain the situation properly. If I'd just told you that I got injured and then you got called back to work, you could have been worried for me until today." Jaune did his best to explain himself.
Cyan's frown melted quickly and was replaced by a teasing smile. "Or maybe you just didn't want me to know? Maybe you were afraid that I'd lecture you on why you shouldn't try to break your own arms?"
"Maybe." Jaune admitted with a silent laugh.
Cyan giggled. "Well, you're lucky today. I'm in no mood to lecture you."
"Thanks. I already get my fair share of that from Weiss." Jaune said with a giggle.
"Good. Guys like you need to have some sense yelled into them once in a while." Cyan now spoke in a serious tone. "She really is good for you."
"She really is." Jaune agreed, feeling a wave of sadness wash over him at the thought that his feelings were not reciprocated.
His love for Weiss sometimes made him feel lighter and full of confidence, but sometimes it was also a large weight to bear. When his heavy responsibilities as leader over an entire Platoon of trainees and his desire to improve his knowledge of military matters through studying were added to the mix, it made for long stressful days and short stressful nights.
The silence stretched for long seconds as Jaune was lost in his thoughts. After a while, his sister once again broke the calm.
"So, little brother, could I ask a favor of you?" Cyan asked.
"Hum, sure, what is it?" Jaune answered, lifting an eyebrow in confusion.
"Well, I've heard lots of things about this last operation of the Division from word of mouth, but never enough to really understand what happened." Cyan explained. "And so, since you were part of the official debriefing, I wondered if you would be so kind as to make me my own debriefing."
Jaune smirked, recognizing his sister's usual thirst for knowledge and grand curiosity in this demand. Looking at his Scroll to confirm that he still had plenty of time before having to return to his team, he decided to humor his sister and agree to her demand.
By the time he was over with Cyan's endless questions, Jaune almost had to sprint to his barracks to arrive in time for the training of the medics.
And voilà! Weiss is getting ready to act soon (and when I say soon, I mean it), Jaune is doing his best to be a leader while still being oblivious to many things (Cyan and Weiss really don't have to make much efforts to hide stuff from him), and the entire group is starting to relax back into a calmer routine for the moment.
Once again, I want to thank everyone that reviewed the story, followed it or favorited it. I am still quite surprised that this hasn't stagnated after twenty-four chapters.
Anyways, here come my answers to the reviews!
1)MrFox7189: Yup, Jaune is getting more and more comfortable as a leader. It's taking a toll on him, but he's doing it.
2)war90: Oh yes, there is always something to improve after an operation, even if it was mostly successful.
3)gdvp111: Logistical problems are always the bane of armies, so I had to introduce the idea here.
4)desdelor97: Thanks again!
5)I Want To Die69: Yup, Vale is going to be using British arms (arms from the Western allies of WW2, actually, so British+American+Commonwelt), Atlas has German arms, Mistral has Soviet arms, and Vacuo has a core of French arms to which is added a plethora of weapons from other nations. All of this will be covered in future chapters.
6)The Red Sun: Yeah, I'm glad that everyone enjoyed the debriefing. Nonna's character development is also something that I am quite happy with since it shows her human side.
7)ARKOS-GUARDIAN: The teens are starting to get more development, and this will only continue in future chapters.
8)tonytaker: Oh yes, the conversation between Weiss and Jaune is coming. It should be entertaining.
And voilà! The next chapter will be taking place directly after the visit of the medics to the teens' barracks, and we will be getting the long-awaited conversation between our protagonists. I will try to get the chapter out for June the 17th. I'll see you there!