A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.
Another visit to Goodwitch's office, another book off of her shelves: Bodies, Pillows, and Body Pillows. Jaune wasn't entirely sure if this book was Blake's cup of tea, since it was either an erotic comedy or an erotic escapism, and she seemed to like thoughtful plot in between her smut, but he had a short window to explore Goodwitch's no-no bookshelf, which involved him literally jumping out of Goodwitch's window to avoid detection.
Thank Oum for Aura and Bushes.
He went to where Blake and he agreed to make these transactions, the dark corner of the library that Blake had scoped out to avoid another repeat of Yang finding her and toying with her via laser pointer. Coincidentally, the same humble nook that Nora and he used to first study up on The Beast and the Two Trainers story. Jaune smiled; good times.
He arrived, smile on his face and book in his hand, but was greeted by a disturbing site. A personal computer's light blankly glowed on Blake's face, whose eyes were wide and features rigid. Her fingers were grasping at the keyboard, slamming at keys with no speed but with a frantic force, as if clawing aggressively at a scratch post. The smell of catnip covered the corner, and the only sound other than the slamming of the keys was Blake's random breathing: heavy yet infrequent.
"Blake…. Are you okay?"
"They busted him out." Blake said simply.
"….Uh…."
"Adam's back!" Blake released her hands from the keyboard, grasped at the back of the computer monitor, and slammed it closed. "He's back! Of course he is, I thought…. I thought I was finally free of him. Of course not STUPID Blake! STUPID STUPID STUPID!" Jaune almost jumped to see Blake's hands lurch towards her face, almost to strike herself, before stopping, and instead grasping at her bow and frantically shuffling her feet back and forth, walking in a circle. "This is bad… this is…. wait, does that mean SIENNA is in town? Oh….. Oum no. No no no no no…"
"Blake!" Jaune snapped, causing Blake to lightly jump almost at attention. It was sharper than he intended, but at least it worked. "Calm down…. Okay…. Chill." If it was Pyrrha, Nora, and maybe even Ruby, Jaune would have closed the distance and took hold of her arms to keep them still. However, this was Blake, and all he could comfortably do was verbal communication with kind hand gestures…. Or risk getting really badly hurt… Poise be damned, Blake can make him feel pain.
"I can't chill! Not with… Adam back in Vale, a free man! He's going to come for me…. he's…" Blake eyes somehow widened even further, "he's coming for you too!"
Jaune's heart metaphorically thunked into the floor, burrowed into the hardwood, and entered the vault where Nora and he train Zwei. "What?"
"You beat him! Yes, I wore him down, did most of the hard work, and you won simply by unveiling your semblance, but…. You still beat him! And Adam…. Adam does NOT like losing, and does NOT like letting someone he loses to just to…. stay as the winner." Blake resumed pacing back and forth, "and this time he KNOWS what to expect from you!"
Jaune opened his mouth, then closed it, then scratched the back of his head, then tapped his foot, and then went through a checklist of things he did when he was nervous.
"We need to prepare!" Blake said, and abruptly sat down and opened the laptop, "I've already did some deep web research as to some meeting places and small strongholds remaining in Vale, Adam might go there to recalibrate and recover. We must study all the possible assault lanes someone might do to plan an assassination in Beacon, where security is weakest, where…."
Jaune heaved a deep sigh, attempting to release the pent up fear, "Blake, we should-"
"….I'll have to see if I can find some grunts to shake down, get information, if we could go out tonight…."
"Blake, maybe we should take the time to-"
"….no! I have to find Adam alone, I can't put other people in danger again! Bringing Yang last time was a mistake…."
"Blake, I think you need to-"
"Oh, who am I kidding, I can't fight him alone! I'll just bring more people I care about in harm's way, potentially sending them to-"
"When Candy Cornwallis woke up," Jaune read aloud, having opened the book he was offering to Blake, "she realized something. There was something warm next to her. Funny, she thought, my new body pillow doesn't have a self-heater. She turns her head over her shoulder to see a shirtless, strapping man holding onto her with his bulging, firm biceps."
"….what?"
"The man then said, 'you gave me life. Now, let me give you love….'"
"Jaune what the hell is this?"
"Candy was speechless as he reached for…."
"JAUNE!" Blake's scream was expected, but even then Jaune couldn't help but wince from the adrenaline. "Why aren't you taking this seriou- I mean- WHAT?"
"I'm reading an erotic comedy about a body pillow turned to life," Jaune shrugged, "do I have your attention?"
Blake blinked multiple times.
"Thank you," Jaune sighed as he put the book down. "Can we just call our teams and talk about it with them?"
Blake nodded, and they calmly walked back to their dorms, to discuss the matter with their teams. Jaune waved good-bye to Blake, opened his own room, and greeted his team with the news.
They all panicked together, but it was calm panicking, not interspersed with erotic body pillows reaching for unrevealed things. That was for Blake, not him.
Adam stood at the other end of the warehouse. He shook with fury, but he always shook with fury, his grimacing frown being the only feature visible from his mask. Cinder was almost curious to visit the bull faunus in jail to finally see his full face. He was apparently handsome, prone to the White Fang women to swoon over his bad boy attitude. But alas his heart belonged to another.
And he would never fucking shut up about it.
"Now my love, now…. I will make you see…." Adam's mutterings did not fail to reach Cinder's ears, and she focused on every word. She knew she didn't need to, but it focused her attention away from how tight and constricting the stupid pantsuit was. She had to loosen it up, wear it a couple times so that when she revealed it's… concealing glory to her future slave/beloved, she'd be able to move in it.
"All in due time Adam. It's pleasing for me to see you out."
"Cinder!" Adam jumped up to face Cinder, before his frown twisted downwards in confusion. "Uh… did I interrupt an undercover mission or…"
"Just trying new things to blend in, you never know when one must infiltrate a boardroom, Adam." Cinder smirked. "Now, due to your recent escape…."
"With no help from you…"
"I assure you we didn't have the time," Cinder eyed Adam's mask holes with a simmering warning, "I was confident Sienna could get you out. May I ask how?"
"Sienna disguised as a male security guard and broke me out from the inside…." Adam's hand caressed Blush with an intense grip, he looked down at his weapon. "And fetched Wilt and Blush for me as well."
Cinder nodded, "I always thought Sienna is a girl's name…."
"It is." Adam curtly responded.
"Then why did she dress up as a male security guard?"
"She's…. or he's…. uh…." Adam started, "you know how I always wear this mask?"
Cinder nodded.
"He or she always wears a disguise. I have no idea what he or she looks like."
"…how do you know if….. they are even a faunus?"
Adam sighed, "we can sense each other."
Cinder nodded again. "Well, let's look past all these unnecessary details. I'm here to help you get back up to speed, and I don't want to go to class. Since your escape, a lot has come to pass. We are now stationed into the bowels of Beacon, a trap lying in wait for the enemy, the bait tantalizingly placed in a set spot, but of course, not fully revealed until it's time for them to led to their doom, which will happen in due time with my amazing fool-proof plan that is…."
Cinder kept going, letting the sweetness-of-blood speech course out into the air, to grace Adam's ears to listen to such brilliance made to sound beautiful. She articulated every pride and every joy and every single moment was fully encapsulated in every single well-crafted sentence that said all that needed to be said and more.
"….in conclusion, I need you to return to the shadows until it is your time. For now, relax, help Torchwick, but don't get involved."
Adam, clearly spellbound by just how inspiring her speech was, stuttered back to life with an affirmative nod, before gruffly replying, "what about Jaune? Is he still a threat?"
"Jaune is being taken care of by me…"
"I can beat him!" Adam firmly drove his foot into the cold warehouse floor, "I was caught unawares, but this time I'll beat him! I know what I'm…"
Cinder limped forward, the tight pants stuttering her usual strut, and tried to smoothly press a finger to Adam's mouth, only to stiffly press it against his lips. "It's my concern, Adam. No need to work yourself up about it." Cinder then turned around, and stuttered and marched out of the warehouse.
She was going to ask Neo if there was anything else she could do to woo Jaune.
Zwei hovered in the air, let out's it's tongue, and after stretching it out like an iguana's, slashed about in a flurry of strikes, the energy-sharpened tongue delivering what would be a devastating series of blows. Thankfully, Nora and Jaune stepped back…. This time.
"I have to say, the tongue-sword is…. as weird as it gets." Jaune scratched the back of his head as Zwei continued, "I mean, look at it!" Saliva started spreading across the room, drenching the knight in drool, his eyelids pressed shut to keep from the offending projectiles from invading his oculi. "Because I can't look at it!"
Nora held Neo's spare umbrella, feeling the torrent of spit splatter across the fabric. "It could get weirder, in all honesty! Imagine if the tongue was also on fire!"
"Just because something gets lit on…." Suddenly, Jaune and Neo's spare umbrella were encased in ice, as well as a good chunk of the wall. Jaune's form thunked on the ground, slowly rolling towards Nora's unaffected body. Nora yelped in panic as she dropped the umbrella and coursed her body with electricity and draped herself over her leader.
Laugher echoed through the halls as Nora looked up to see the short Atlesian scientist giving a sardonic applause. He'd been sitting in the background, typing into his stupid machines and making the occasional grunts of curiosity every time Zwei did a stunt. Nora tolerated his presence, but….
"Hey! A little help here?"
Dr. Glass sighed as he unveiled his weapon, the slide shifting to a red segment on the baton, "move aside."
After Jaune thawed and Zwei let himself down to pant at Nora's feet, the Doctor broke the ice, "so I have my notes," he pulled up his notebook, "Ironwood probably won't be so satisfied with them, but you might take something from it."
"W-w-what i-i-s-s is it?" Jaune chattered as Nora knelt by his side and Zwei fruitlessly licked his hands.
"Zwei can convert the energy his state provides to well…. anything. Anything an aura or a Grimm is able to produce. In other words, it seems he can have every semblance possible and every Grimm evolutionary tactic possible." He pressed his glassed and leaned back onto the wall. "However, none of my findings tell me how to replicate it. Subjects that have had their aura merged with Grimm essence," he gestured at himself, "only have it amplify the aura's inherent powers while providing it with nothing new. Whatever allows Zwei such an absurd arsenal is unquantifiable, and may simply be a result of inherited legends like others that exist." He sighed, "I'm going to have to tell Ironwood that I can't replicate Zwei the same way I can't replicate a maiden or my ex-wife."
"Well, that's good then!" Nora interjected, "that means that Zwei's power is ours alone! Right Jaune?"
It was hard to tell if Jaune was nodding or just shaking his head in general from the cold, but Nora took it as affirmation.
"That being said," Dr. Glass raised his hand, "this does mean that your training methods are incredibly limited."
"What? Limited? I'll have you know we've been working Zwei to his full potential, as well as ours!" Nora felt indignant. Jaune and her had been working hard on training Zwei. Harder than anything she worked on in her life! The amount of injuries Jaune had to go through just during one session should go without saying!
"I'm not saying you're intentionally doing that, or not working hard enough." Dr. Glass raised his hands in defense, "what I AM saying is that you've been focusing on Zwei being a dog. Rolling in the dirt, leaving tracks, barking, shooting cute puppy dog eye-lasers, icy dog-slobber!" He gestured at all the ice permeating the room, "all the powers you've trained Zwei in doing have been dog-related. You should broaden your horizons, discover new powers that have nothing to do with Zwei's canine nature. If Zwei can basically generate any possible semblance…." His eyes glazed over in almost wistful wonder, "mind if I do some stuff with the dog?"
"You would do it without our permission anyway," Nora sighed as she carried Jaune back to the wall as Pluto Glass walked up to the dog, knelt down, and started petting it.
"W-w-what do y-you think he's g-going to do?" Jaune's voice became more steady, yet was still laced with enough shiver to distort it, much to Nora's humor.
"I have no idea…."
The doctor pulled out a tennis ball from his pocket, and offered it to the dog, who wrapped around the sphere with its toothy maw. He then walked some distance away.
"Okay Zwei! Spit it at me!" He ordered.
Zwei did as ordered; the ball rocketed at the doctor in blinding speed, a comet made of burning wool and rubber flashed across the dark vault.
Dr. Glass quickly raised is hand, his palm outward facing the oncoming projectile. The ball almost collided with his hand, but was stopped by a suddenly visible energy circle the size of Akuou, generated by his outreached palm. The ball suddenly reversed course and zoomed towards Zwei, following the same path it went earlier, but reversed.
Zwei barked and jumped out of the way, the ball slamming into the entrance of the vault, the elevator doors vibrating intensely from the impact.
"Okay Zwei, fetch!" The dog yipped but turned around and retrieved the ball, shortly returning it earlier.
"Now spit it at me again!" The process repeated for a good five minutes. Zwei would spit the ball, Dr. Glass would send it back, and Zwei would dodge and then retrieve it.
"Doctor, honestly, what are you trying to do here?" Nora asked after Zwei brought the ball back for the slothillionth time.
"Spit it!" The ball burned once more in the vault's small chunk of atmosphere, and Dr. Glass once more sent it back.
Zwei didn't dodge this time, and with a bark of annoyance, stood his ground as the ball was about to collide with his cute little muzzle.
GONGGGG!
Zwei glowed a brilliant white as the ball harmlessly plinked off of him and rolled on the floor. Zwei then barked, releasing a torrent of sonic energy that caught the doctor unawares, blasting him into the aura pods on the other end of the vault.
"Huh…" Dr. Glass grunted, "I thought he would mimic my semblance…" he then knelt his head back as he laid sprawled across the machines, "….ow…."
"Wait…." The gears in Nora's head clicked, "that was Jaune's semblance…."
"Imagine what he'd be like with all your team's semblances, Poise, Polarity, Electricity, and….." Dr. Glass stroked his chin while he still was collapsed over his own machinery, "… whatever." Those were his last words as he closed his eyes and passed out.
"Well, I think that's enough for the day." Jaune had fully recovered, Nora not noticing the warmth returning to his hands…. Which she had been holding. Jaune looked at Nora with a smile, nervousness in his eyes.
Nora was still holding Jaune's hands.
She immediately let go, as she casually walked over to the doctor. "Are you really passed out or are you faking it?"
Dr. Glass gave a thumbs up.
Nora rolled her eyes and turned around and joined Jaune as they ascended up the elevator with Zwei in tow. "So…. Zwei can mimic semblances."
"Seems like it." Jaune groaned as he slapped a hand on his face, "more things to worry about, I guess."
"Still thinking about Adam?" Nora asked as the elevator doors parted, leaving them alone in the dark hall. They walked out, their steps quiet yet the echoes of their feet still audible to them alone.
"Yeah." Jaune admitted, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, I'm not super worried, I've dealt with worse, with what happened back in the jungle." Nora nodded in agreement. "Still, from what Blake has said Adam is a skilled killer; a master combatant with an ego and desire to save face. He's going to try to kill me to prove that he's better than me, which is honestly true."
"Oh don't say that!" Nora whisper-yelled. "Adam is a bloodthirsty idiot who can't get over that Blake has moved on from him! Sure, he may be a better fighter, but he's not better than you. Not by a long shot…"
"You know I didn't mean 'as a person,'" Jaune laughed, "my self-esteem isn't so low to think that I'm a worse person than a terrorist. A terrorist that also can count as a creeper as well."
"Uhg, I guess that's one pro of being single my whole life: no creepy exes." Nora shivered.
"Same here." Jaune and Nora high fived quietly. Nora found herself looking down on the floor.
"You know, I learned something with Weiss." Jaune wistfully remarked, "I mean, I was definitely a creeper to her….."
"No you weren't…. just…. Determined: obnoxiously so." Nora shrugged. "Weiss doesn't hold it against you too much."
"I know, I guess…. When I gave up on Weiss, and then realized Pyrrha had feelings for me, I had an epiphany." Jaune looked up to the sky, "you can earn romance. You can do everything right. You can be the best friend, be there for them, express your romantic interest in the most respectful and meaningful way, and that romantic interest can be as genuine and true as it comes." Jaune then sighed, "but just because you 'earn' it, doesn't mean you're 'entitled' to it. Pyrrha certainly 'earned' my heart through hard work, but…. I couldn't just give it to her."
"That's true…" Nora replied simply.
"And…. while I maybe didn't 'earn' it with Weiss, I was more annoying that genuine." Jaune chuckled in past reveries, "it certainly wasn't some vapid attempt or pure hormonal drive, I was genuinely interested in getting to know her, and expressed it as best I could."
"Pyrrha's too subtle. You…. weren't."
"Still, even if I DID do a better job, still wouldn't change the fact Weiss didn't see me that way. At least not then and not now."
"I guess it's a combination of 'earning' it and…. chance?" Nora turned her head to look at Jaune
Jaune shrugged, turning his own head towards Nora"or maybe it's just a level of self-awareness to know you have good chemistry with, and then you earn it; the rest would follow."
"Or maybe one should stop trying to 'earn' it, and wait for it to happen?"
"But if we stop trying, will we find anything? Can we rely on love to find us? Are we doomed to just…. Chance?"
"Maybe," Nora pulled her hands behind her back, "we shouldn't try to 'earn' other people, and just focus on being the best person we can be, and hope that we find someone who recognizes that in us. Not in heroics. Not in our assistance. Just being ourselves and hoping that we connect with other people that way."
"Nora," Jaune remarked, "you're much deeper than you realize, you know that?"
"If I didn't realize it, how would I know it?"
"….now you're just negating everything I say, aren't you?"
"Or am I?" Nora's face twisted into a smile, then broke down into a laugh. "Jaune, I grew up with Ren, I HAD to learn how to talk philosophical, otherwise Ren would've left me long ago."
"Ren would never abandon you."
"Not now, but you do know how much young kids can be jerks!"
Jaune and Nora laughed as they continued down the hall, Zwei bounding between them. The air was cold, the atmosphere was empty, yet all Nora could feel was the electricity coursing through her.
"So… Jaune, I know it's a decent amount of time away, but…. Talking about romance…." Nora did everything in her power to avoid stuttering, "but… have you thought about who you want to take to the dance?"
"Oum my Monty not you too…." Nora grimaced at Jaune's response, as her leader seemed to stop walking and suddenly sag like a limp punching bag. "that's all people ask me these days."
"….what?"
"I've been asked by Penny from Atlas, that Cinder girl who I still don't trust," Nora nodded, "and Team CRDL started a BETTING POOL on who I'll take to the dance, and apparently the whole school is involved, there's even a bet for 'no one.'" Nora frowned at that. "And people are trying to figure it out by asking me! I have half a mind of not even going but…. That's a category to bet on too, so no matter what I do," Jaune sagged even further, "someone is making money off me."
"Well…. at least it's not your money…."
"Still, I think I understand what it's like to be Pyrrha, all the weird attention that at first makes no sense." Jaune heaved out a load of air. "Anyway, I have thought about it."
Nora perked up, "and?..."
"I mean, I can't ask Pyrrha. I trust she's willing to move on, but bringing her to the dance might rekindle that hope so…. I don't want to… break her heart again. Cinder is a no. And Penny… Penny is interesting….. but…. I'm not so sure."
Nora knew that being subtle and secretive and 'hinty' with Jaune was a no-go. "Jaune, would you be willing to go to the dance with me?"
Jaune stopped in his tracks, his feet skidding along the tile, sole to marble replicated a scratched record.
"I mean…. Why not? If you have no idea who else to go with?" Nora smiled as she pushed her shoulders up to her cheeks like her entire vertebra was shoved past her skull. "Also, the people who bet on you taking me will find themselves experiencing the mallet of Magnhild to their legs, and that money taken for us to split the profits!" Nora jumped up in excitement as she exhaled her excuse as proudly as she could, puffing her chest as she stood tall and poised.
"So…." Jaune carefully drawled, "we'd be going together…."
"But not together-together," Nora quickly added, her smile threatening to shatter her cheekbones. I'm not ready to…. fully express myself yet.
Jaune paused, and then gave a small smile.
"Sure."
Weiss watched them with binoculars. They were out at night. They had Zwei with them.
And strangely enough, they let Zwei back into RWBY's room, without opening their door.
Weiss told her team she was out to see her sister for dinner, and probably would not be back at the dorm until next morning, claiming to stay at her apartment. What her team didn't know she got a bunch of spying equipment and waited.
Night vision binoculars. Pure black jumpsuit and ski-mask. Long distance microphone. Snacks. All provided by her new friends on the shady side of town.
Were they to your liking? Weiss looked at her scroll and smiled.
They were perfect. Good job Miltia. Tell Melanie the snacks were delicious. Yang's stupid night out partying had one benefit, even if it also granted her that detention when she asked them to deliver some negligée for…. Reasons.
Weiss had seen enough, she descended from the tree and landed on the soft ground that composed Peter Port's belly…. Wait…
"EEEEEEEKKK!" Weiss shrieked as she jumped off the recumbent fat man. Weiss juggled with her body, trying to compose her limps to return to proper order as she was splayed apart standing up, rigid in the form of a disgusting modern art piece hidden away in the Schnee Estate.
The man laughed. "Out doing some late night snooping? Well, isn't that veerrry suspicious." Port's deep chortle echoed throughout the courtyard. "And what were you looking for Weiss?"
"Just…. Watching birds." Weiss replied, "also, how do you know that it's me? I'm covered in black and wearing a ski-mask!"
"I recognize ALL my students by their screams…." Port continued to joyfully bellow.
Weiss…. Didn't know how to respond to that.
"Well, don't stay up too late. I know I should enforce curfew but... well…. I broke it all the time at your age! TALLYHO!" Port ran off to an adventure that Weiss hoped never to understand.
She sighed as she walked back towards the campus, the night was cold but paled in comparison to the unholy frost of Atlas. She sighed as she pondered Nora and Jaune with Zwei in the middle of the night. She had a feeling that stupid elevator was involved too. It just didn't make sense. What would Jaune and Nora want with Zwei, and whatever it was, why keep it a secret? Were they afraid of Yang? Were they afraid of Ruby?
How did it involve the incident in Mulan?
Ockham's razor begged for it to just Nora and Jaune being fond of the dog, and that they take it recklessly on adventures because a cute puppy makes everything better, and while Weiss couldn't disagree, it was out of character for them to pointlessly endanger Zwei.
Something strange was going on. And she was going to get to the bottom of it.
She smiled at her own determination until she ran into the proud and wide back of a returning huntsman, smelling of Grimm blood and ego, wait….
"Salutations!" Port lifted his blunderbuss-axe and pumped the air with vigor, ignoring that Weiss just lightly collided with him.. "Just back from my nightly hunt! How are you doing Weiss?"
"Port? I….. I just saw you!"
"Don't be too surprised Weiss! People say I'm everywhere! Especially ever since I got this!" Port gestured to his belly in between guffaws. "So… what are you doing this late at night."
"I…. I told you! Bird watching!"
"You can watch birds this late at night? I thought the only bird at this hour would be a Nevermore!" Port laughed, "but what do I know about genteel hobbies more than a Schnee does? Well, enjoy it! I would chastise you for being out so late, but…. I don't care! You are capable of protecting yourself and I did it all the time! HI-HO!" Port jumped and ran off to yet another adventure that Weiss couldn't fathom.
The heiress shook her head from the confusion, and walked back into Beacon.
A/N: Long time, eh? Longer than y'all are used to. Holidays and my own schedule had made it hard to make time for this, and as much as I try, it's hard, and I feel the quality of each chapter is suffering because of it.
Nevertheless, here's the next chapter. It's not as funny as the others, but this Arc is truly the transitional Arc between the events prior and to the finale. This story is finite, it has an end planned, and it's not that far off. It's not that close, but not that far off.
Fave! Follow! Review! Go Bird Watching at Night!
