Jaune had spent the rest of the day and the next two days spending as much time with his girlfriends. After the Breach, Ozpin gave both the teams a week off for a 'successful' mission. So, Jaune decided it'd be good to spend time with the people he loved. Although, it was exhausting for him. Trying to split himself evenly between the four women was nearly impossible but he somehow managed to do it. But eventually they gave him some rest.
Yang and Ruby had gone to Vale for some sisterly bonding time and Pyrrha took Ren and Nora out for a similar reason. Blake was the one that understood how exhausted he was and brought it to the other's attention. She simply kissed him on the cheek before heading to the library. "Have a nice day to enjoy yourself." Was all she said.
Jaune smiled with that. Small things like this were what really showed how much those girls cared for him. After that he decided to head down to the sparring rooms to work on his swordplay. He set it to an intermediate level which would push him but not exhaust him. As the combat drones were being set up, he put on his headphones and used his scroll to play some music. The training started as This Will Be The Day started. And all he did was smile as he destroyed drones for the next hour.
When he was finished, he put his armor and swords back into his locker before taking a quick shower. He started to make his way to the edge of the Emerald Forest to practice his Semblance. He had gotten a new idea for his Advance Elements. As he was making his way there he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. "Hey, Arc!"
He smiled before turning and facing the fashionista herself, "Hey, Coco. What's up?"
She stopped in front of him with her hand on her hip. "Nothing much. Saw you without your usual harem so I was wondering what was going on." She said with a teasing smirk.
Jaune blushed for a second. "Could you not refer to them as that? It sounds very degrading."
Coco nodded after a second, "Fair enough. So, where are they?"
"Well, Yang and Ruby are spending a day together. Pyrrha is hanging with Ren and Nora. And Blake went to library. They kinda saw me running myself ragged to try and spend as much time as possible with them and they decided that I needed a day to unwind." He smiled at that.
Coco smiled. "Interesting. So, what have you been doing to unwind?"
"Well, I spent the last hour destroying combat drones to work my swordplay. Now I'm heading to the Emerald Forest to work my Semblance."
Coco looked over her sunglasses in disbelief at him. "For your day off, you're training?"
"Yup!" Jaune said cheerfully.
"You're a strange one, Arc." She said as she pushed her sunglasses back into place.
Jaune shrugged at that, "I've been called worse and most weren't as pretty as you."
She leaned towards him with that, "Careful, Arc. Keep that up and your girls will think you're cheating on them."
"They know I'd never do that. Besides, I made myself pretty clear before on where my heart lies." He turned away slightly at that. "How's Velvet?"
"She's doing okay. Still a bit hurt but she's getting better."
"I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to lead her on." He looked back at Coco, "I'm actually surprised that Yatsu or you didn't try to kill me for that."
Coco waved it away, "We know you. We know that wasn't your intention. Actually, I respect you for being straightforward with her. A lot of guys would've taken advantage of her. Some would've tried to make the relationship work even if they didn't have feelings for her, either out of pity or not wanting to hurt her. But you were honest with her, so she'll come around and it'll keep your friendship intact."
Jaune gained a small smile with that. "Thanks, Coco. That makes me feel a bit better but I still feel bad."
"Look, she'll be fine. She's tougher than she looks. She is training to be a Huntress after all."
Jaune chuckled slightly, "Yeah, I know." He thought of something as he said that. "Hey, Coco? A few people were under the impression you had feelings for me, is that at all true?" he asked nervously.
Coco just stared at him before she started to shake slightly. Jaune was worried that he just enraged her and was about to run. Until he heard he start to giggle before she started laughing. She calmed down not long after and removed her glasses to look at him directly. "Your sweet kid but you're not my type. Don't get me wrong, you have a lot of qualities that I like and respect but you're not exactly what I'm looking for in a partner. I like the fact that you appreciate my looks but not in a sexual manner and you are really great to tease but no, I didn't see anything beyond friendship."
Jaune smiled at that. "Good to know. Hurting Velvet was bad enough. Hurting you would've been a death warrant."
"True." She smiled at him. "So are you getting together with the Ice Princess?"
Jaune stared at her wide eyed, "How did you learn about that?!" He asked in a panic.
"I'm pretty observant. You give her the same look you give the other four, although it is restrained. She also gives you a conflicted look. So, obviously something was going on between you two."
Jaune sighed at that. "Yeah. Weiss is the other girl. She knows everything but I'm giving her time to think. She has a lot to lose by getting into this kind of relationship with her being the Heiress to the SDC." He thought for a second before he continued. "Actually, we've been avoiding each other as of late. I don't know whether it's her, me or both of us but I think we need space."
He felt Coco place a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, have some confidence. She would've instantly shot you down if she didn't have some sort of feelings for you. Just give her time and you'll have your Ice Princess, Jaune." She smiled at him.
Jaune was shocked but returned it. "That's the first time you called me by my first name."
She just smirked at him, "I only called you by your last name to tease you but with Yang as a girlfriend, I don't think I'm needed for that." The two shared a laugh before they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.
Jaune made his way to the Emerald Forest and went to the usual clearing at the edge of the forest. When he arrived, he grabbed his earth dust clips and activated his Semblance. He stomped on the ground and four huge rocks erupted from the ground. "That takes care of the targets." Is all he says as he eyes shift back to blue.
He brought his left hand to his water clips and his right to his wind clips. He used his Semblance to absorb their energies. But unlike usual, he didn't absorb a large amount of energy, just enough for what he intended. His eyes shifted to their respective colors before he stood across from the first rock target.
He created a small vortex in his right hand and in his left, summoned enough water to fit into his palm. He held his hands apart from each other as he started to weave the two energies in his aura together. At the same time the two elements were physically knitting themselves together between his palms. At the peak of the fusion, his eyes shifted to the icy blue and the ice was fully formed. At that instance, he shot his hands forward and the ice fully solidified into a huge icicle and smashed into the rock.
Jaune smiled at that and his eyes shifted back to normal. This variation still used more aura than an attack from his basic elements but it was far less draining in the long run. If he could master this, he could use his Advance Elements for precise attacks instead of huge destructive ones. He looked down at his hands. They were cold but nowhere close to the bone chilling cold he'd usually feel, another bonus. But that could change with consecutive attacks and his speed needed to increase for this tactic to work. He sighed, "Well let's get to work." Was all he said as he went back to the grind.
Over the next hour or so, Jaune kept working with his Ice element. His speed with creating it was increasing but wasn't at the level he was comfortable with but it was getting there. He was able to control the ice better as well. He could create icicles, single large ones or multiple smaller ones, or other objects out of ice. He also found that he could delay the freezing of the ice before it was completely formed, that was until it hit a target to freeze it. Which was why the rock target was now covered in a layer of thick ice now. He also found out he could freeze objects by physical contact. He only found out by accidentally freezing the tree he was leaning against. His hands would still get cold but even after all of his training, his hands never reached the cold he was used to from using ice but again, he barely started to use this new tactic. A lot was still unknown.
He was now sitting down and resting before he drained himself of his aura completely. He was using a variant of the aura technique to try to accelerate his body's aura production rate. Although, it wasn't by much. After his aura was at a safe level or what he considered safe, he started to work on his Wood element. He had similar effects like he had with ice, the speed of its creation was slowly increasing with the more he used it but he still had to rely on already exiting trees to use these abilities. So instead of firing the energy at the rock target, he'd aim for a nearby tree before focus on what he wanted to happen. He found that if he stayed in contact with the tree, he could control it far more effectively and the duration he could control it, also increased. He also picked up an acorn when he got a random idea. He sent his energy into it and threw it at the rock. The acorn grew into a wooden javelin halfway to the target before it hit the rock and formed a tree around and even through the rock. He just stared wide eyed with his mouth open. "Okay. That was effective."
Jaune took a break after that and focused on restoring his aura quicker, like he did before. Once he was ready, he started to work on Lava. This one was a bit more difficult to work on. He'd have to have the rock ready beforehand before initiating an attack. He came up with the idea to control and pull the necessary rocks to him just before the fusion was done and then channel the energy immediately into the rock. This made the attacks feel more close to his earth attacks and made him feel more comfortable with these attacks. This lead to the rock target being completely melted by the end. Also the Elemental Feedback was similar to ice, his hands would feel warm or hot but they wouldn't burn. Overall, after the initial difficulty, Lava was the fastest he was learning to use.
Jaune took one last short break before he decided to continue. Doing the same thing he did for his other breaks. When he was ready, he started to train Plasma. Unlike the others though, Plasma was being formed much faster and with him already used this element through his whole body, it was pretty easy to get an idea on what to do. He spent more time working with this element than the others, especially do to the Feedback not leading to full paralysis but just a faint numbing to his hands. The rock was little more than pebbles when he was done.
Jaune chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Went a bit overboard. Oh well, let's work on one of the others." He was reaching for his clips when he felt lightheaded suddenly. He leaned against the closest tree and shook his head, "May have pushed myself too far this time." He sat down at the base of the tree and leaned more against it. His eyes started to close, 'Maybe a few minutes of sleep couldn't hurt.' He thought before he passed out.
Jaune awoke sometime later. He wasn't sure if it was a few minutes or hours but he felt better. He realized that he was no longer sitting up but laying down. 'Must've shifted in my sleep.' He thought before another thing gained his attention. 'What is so soft under my head?' He turned his head and saw Weiss was sitting against the tree and that he was using her lap as a pillow again. He blushed faintly and noticed that she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at something in the distance with a far-off look in her eyes as she was running her hand through his hair in a calming manner. Jaune brought up his hand and gently took hold of her other hand that was on his chest. Weiss jumped at the contact and stopped playing with his hair before she looked down at his smiling face. "Hey."
She returned it with her own small smile, "Hey."
"So, when did you get here?" he asked.
"Practically from the beginning." Jaune's eyebrows shot up in shock. "I ran into Coco and she let slip that you were training your Semblance. I came down here to make sure you didn't do anything too risky." She said with a slight edge to her voice. Jaune chuckled nervously until she spoke again, "But, you didn't do anything too crazy. So, you must have begun to learn not to push yourself too hard."
He smiled, "A wise person told me about that, a lot. I decided to listen."
Weiss had a faint blush, "Dunce. Why didn't you tell me you were going to train your Semblance?"
Jaune looked away slightly, "I didn't wanna bother you." He sighed, "We've kinda drifted apart and I didn't know whether it was you or me that did it. And if it was you, I knew it was because you were thinking things over still."
She nodded slowly, "I noticed that too. I think it was a little bit of both of us." She looked away hesitantly. "But, I've figured it out. I have a lot to say. It may take a while but would you mind listening?"
She looked back down at him when he gently squeezed her hand he was still holding. "I'm right here, Snow Angel."
She smiled at him before taking a deep breath, "Growing up, I had to always agree with my father and do what he wanted me to do. Honestly, my childhood was more centered around pleasing him than enjoying myself and growing up naturally. I was exposed to the harshness of the world as a child and that lead to, well how I am today. Everything I did was to try and impress my father or to make our family more successful. Hell, even my singing was started because my father thought it would be a good image for the company. I enjoyed it still but it felt more like something being forced on me rather than something I wanted."
She stopped for a second and she felt Jaune gently rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb, gently comforting her. She saw that he was just listening intently to her, no judgement or pity. Just acceptance. She continued with that. "The first thing that I ever wanted to do for myself was to become a Huntress. To not be in my father's grasp and to be able to make my own path in life, not the path my father planned for me. As you could imagine, my father was not pleased. He didn't want the heiress of the company to be bothered with fighting monsters. My sister had already done that and he wasn't going to lose a second daughter to that life. But, I refused to do that. I wanted to be a Huntress and I wasn't going to back down from him."
She squeezed his hand tightly as she begun to talk again. "He made me a deal: If I could pass a test of his choosing, he'd let me continue with my dream of being a Huntress. I accepted. He had me fight an Arma Gigas, a giant suit of armor that was possessed by a Grimm. It was a hard fight and I was pushed to my limit. That was the fight that gave me this scar." She said sadly. "That was the first time that I stood up for myself and fought for something I wanted with all my heart. It was liberating and it was the best choice of my life." She looked down at him, "If not for that, I wouldn't have met so many amazing people or made the best friends I could've ever imagined." She smiled at him, "Or met someone I could fall in love with."
His eyes widened at that. He was not expecting her to confess so suddenly. He was overjoyed but he was still worried. He looked away slightly, "I'm honored and extremely happy, Weiss, but are you sure? You could lose a lot being with-" She silenced him by putting the hand that was entangled in his hair over his mouth. He looked at her with a surprised look and she was just giving him an even stare.
"Don't you say another word." She said and he nodded before she took her hand away. "I have compromised on many things in my life but there are two things I refuse to do that with: my life as a Huntress or my feelings for you. And before you say anything about giving up my dream, I'm not giving up on it. Just changing it. I will be a Huntress and I will bring the SDC back to its former glory, along with being with you. No arguments."
Jaune was just laying there, thinking. Finally, he sighed. "Well, if you're absolutely sure about this then I won't argue." He smiled at her and she returned it.
Weiss blushed a bit and started to speak hesitantly. "Now that we are a couple, would you mind kissing me? To make it official."
Jaune sat up and gently wrapped his arms around her. She looked up at him with her blush still present. He smiled down at her. "As you command." He leaned down and Weiss raised her head to meet his lips. The kiss was gentle and sweet. Jaune could feel the love behind her lips but also felt a bit of hesitance. They broke the kiss and looked at each other. He smiled but Weiss had a nervous look in her eyes.
"Sorry, Jaune. I'm not very experienced with this kind of thing. It probably wasn't great."
Jaune gently caressed her cheek, "It's okay, Weiss. I'm just glad we are finally together."
She blushed more and had a thought, "Would you mind helping me with this? I did help with your Semblance after all."
Jaune chuckled, "Of course, Snow Angel." He leaned in and kissed her again. She kissed him back and slowly wrapped her arms around him. The two kissed repeatedly and Weiss was starting to become more confident. Neither made an attempt to deepen the kisses, they just wanted to enjoy the sweet moments together. The two stopped and rested their foreheads together. "I love you, Weiss"
"I l-love you t-too, Jaune." She spoke nervously.
Jaune chuckled slightly, "You're adorable."
She blushed further and gently smacked him on the shoulder. "Quiet, you dunce."
Jaune just nodded with a smirk. "Well, do you wanna head back?" She nodded and Jaune picked her up in his arms bridal style. She blushed but didn't bother to argue. No one was around and she couldn't deny how amazing it felt. When they got close enough to Beacon, Jaune let her walk and the two made their way to the common room. They sat on the couch and Weiss sat next to him and leant her head against his shoulder. Jaune gently wrapped his arm around her as his remaining hand held her's and the two just enjoyed their time together.
Until they heard a familiar voice speak up, "That is so cute!" They looked up and saw the remainder of their teams in the doorway and Nora had her scroll out. Weiss tried to jump away but Jaune just kept a hold on her.
"Nora." He said and she looked at him. "You are not going to send that to anyone. Except, for me and Weiss, got it?" He said with a smile
She nodded happily and sent them each a copy. They both smiled, Weiss' was a bit bashful. "So, you two together now?" Yang asked with a teasing grin.
Jaune nodded, "Yup. Apparently, she's just as stubborn as the rest of you." He said with a smirk.
Ruby jumped into the air with an excited yell, "Awesome! Now my BFF can be just as happy as the rest of us."
They all laughed at her antics. Weiss tried to deny the whole BFF thing but she had a small smile the entire time. And even though she was embarrassed with all the added attention, he noticed that she never let go of his hand for a single moment.
A/N - Wow, this is very late! Sorry about that but life threw me a curve ball and its hard to upload without internet. Oh well, its here now and as a bonus I'm uploading another chapter! Catch you all later.
