A few weeks have passed since the disagreement between Yang and Jaune but things have finally gone back to normal. Both teams were extremely busy as of late. With classes, training and finding out that both teams would be participating in the Vytal Tournament, they had a lot to deal with. Luckily, today was one of those days where everything seemed to calm down for once. JNPR were sitting under their tree and were waiting for RWBY to show up.
Nora and Ren were sitting together while Nora was going on about how awesome the tournament was going to be. Ren and Pyrrha were just listening with smiles on their faces. Jaune would've been doing the same, if he wasn't sleeping and using Pyrrha's lap as a pillow. Jaune was originally sitting next to Pyrrha but eventually he fell asleep and was leaning against her shoulder. Pyrrha thought this would be more comfortable for him, so she carefully moved him to her lap and was now gently combing her fingers through his hair. All the girls found out his hair was incredibly soft without him using any kind of product. They were all kind of jealous of this, especially Yang.
"Hey guys!" they heard Ruby shout and looked to see RWBY coming to join them. The three awake members of JNPR were trying to signal them to be quiet. They were confused but complied. They found out why when they got close to see Jaune asleep. "Ah, he looks so peaceful." Ruby said in a whisper.
They all agreed, "So, did you offer or did he ask you to do this?" Yang asked with a teasing grin.
Pyrrha just shook her head, "Actually, he fell asleep leaning against my shoulder. I moved him to make him more comfortable." She looked down at him quietly snoring. "He's been having trouble sleeping lately." She said sadly.
"The nightmares, again?" Blake asked and Pyrrha nodded.
"Haven't you been sleeping with him?" Weiss asked. "I thought having someone close helped ease him."
"It does. But they're getting worse. I'm helping him relax but some keep surfacing. He accidentally woke me up three times this week. He looks so panicked and only calms when he looks at me. He just holds me close and I do the same until he calms down enough to relax." Pyrrha says sadly.
They all look at him with worry. "Has…he always had this issue?" Ruby asked hesitantly as she looked at Nora and Ren. She felt like she was going behind Jaune's back but she was worried.
Ren and Nora shared a look. Ren was the one to speak. "Yes. He would get them on occasions but with situations that effected his emotions heavily, they would occur more often. After the incident with Nora and the White Fang, he had nightmares for months. He didn't tell anyone but Mother Gin found out do to her heightened hearing. Apparently, he had this problem before even training with her but he refuses to talk about them. He doesn't want to bother others with his issues."
"That's how he knows how to help Blake and me with our nightmares." Nora spoke up as she looked down at her Big Brother and Fearless Leader. She had a look of sadness and pain, "He's suffered for so long that he knows how to help others. But not himself." She looked down sadly and Ren wrapped his arm around her shoulders to calm her.
They all looked at the two, "I wish we could help him." Ruby said quietly.
"You can't." They all jumped at the voice and looked down to see that Jaune was wide awake.
"Did we wake you?" Pyrrha asked.
Jaune just shook his head, "Nah, it was just a power nap." He sat up and popped his neck before speaking to them all. "My nightmares will either stop when I come to terms with the fear that started them or when enough time passes. The only reason they are effecting me more is because of all the added stress with the Tournament coming up. It'll blow over soon." He failed to mention that the ominous feeling was adding to his stress and was making his nightmares worse. But he didn't want to bring this up to them.
They all looked at each other before Ren decided to speak, "So, what is causing them now?"
Jaune looked down at his right hand before he formed a fist, "I'm not strong enough to not fail again. Not yet at least." He said with a voice full of determination.
They were all about to say something when they all got an alert on their scrolls. They were all being summoned to Ozpin's office along with Sun and Neptune. They all got up and made their way to the Headmaster's office. When they arrived they saw Ozpin behind his desk with Goodwitch standing beside him. "Thank you for coming so quickly." He said professionally.
"No problem, Professor. What do you need of us?" Jaune asked.
"I have a mission for your two teams. There has been an influx of Grimm in Mistral, Professor Lionheart has asked me to send some help for the mission. He also asked me to send you two gentlemen because your team will be one of the few he wishes to send out." He said this to Sun and Neptune.
The two seemed excited to see their team again and to kick Grimm ass. Blake spoke up though, "But why our teams, Professor?"
"Well, Miss Belladonna, your two teams are the best of the first years and have incredible teamwork with each other. Plus, all the members of JNPR have spent a large amount of time in Mistral and know much about the environment. That information is essential. And this next part is more of a personal reason." He said hesitantly. "There is one hot spot of Grimm that needs to be dealt with and it has significance to you three." He said this to Jaune, Ren and Nora. "The hotspot is Kuroyuri."
Jaune's eyes widened before he quickly turned to Ren and Nora. Both were shell-shocked, neither knowing what to say or think. Pyrrha was just looking at the two in concern and the rest of their friends weren't sure what was going on. Jaune walked over to them and put an arm around each of them. "Guys, what do you think? If you're not ready, we don't have to go."
Nora looked up to Jaune before looking over to Ren, "Ren?"
Ren looked over to Nora than to Jaune. The hesitance in his eyes hardened into determination. "Let's do it."
Nora's eyes widened before she took on a similar look. Jaune looked at both before he nodded. He looked over to Ozpin, "We'll take the mission, Professor."
Ozpin nodded before looking over to Ruby, "And what about your team, Miss Rose?"
Ruby looked to her team and got a unanimous agreement. She turned back to the Headmaster. "We will accept it as well."
Ozpin nodded, "Very well. Your bullhead will be leaving within the hour. Take this time to prepare yourselves accordingly."
They all nodded before they left to gather their supplies. Jaune stopped by the dorms first to grab his belt and gloves. He grabbed his black hoodie and zipped it up and was about to leave but stopped. "Better safe than sorry." He went to his desk drawer and opened it to reveal the case of aura shots. He took the case and attached it this belt, on the magnetic section between his fire and wind clips. He then left to go to the locker room. He put on all of his armor and filled all of his sword before attaching them to his back. He looked at the two katanas in his locker before he laid his hand on top of them and pulled out his necklace from under his shirt. He held it tightly in his hand. "I swear, I'll protect them." He tucked it back under his shirt before he closed the locker to leave to meet the others for the bullhead to arrive.
He arrived to see everyone there and talking like normal. Except, Ren and Nora were off to the side. They were both just sitting together quietly. Jaune saw them but decided to leave them for now. They needed some time to process everything. "Are they going to be alright?" Jaune jumped slightly to see Pyrrha and the others had moved closer to him.
He sighed before he turned back to them, "I'm not sure. I guess you guys have the right to know, now that you're involved in this. Kuroyuri was Ren's home and it was destroyed by Grimm." They were all shocked. "I won't go into detail, that's for them to decide when and if to do so. But Gin and I arrived shortly afterwards and we had to step in to save them. This will bring up some painful memories for them but hopefully some closure as well."
Not long after that, an Atlas bullhead landed and they started to board it. Weiss was excited, "I can't believe this. This the latest model from Atlas. They named it the Quicksilver. It's the fastest bullhead to date and we should be able to reach our destination in a few hours. Although, the armor and weaponry are at a minimal to compensate for the extra speed."
Everyone just stared at Weiss. She was speaking with Ruby level excitement. Jaune smirked at her, "I think Ruby is rubbing off on you, Snow Angel. Careful or you may become more adorable."
Weiss blushed along with Ruby before she slapped him on the shoulder and turned away in a huff, "Quiet, you dunce."
Jaune just wrapped her in a gentle hug and kissed the top of her head, "Sorry for teasing you, Weiss. Can you forgive me?"
She sighed before she had a small smile, "Your just lucky I love you, Jaune."
"I already know that." He said as he held her closer.
"Well, we should try to elect either Jaune or Ruby to be an acting leader for this mission. We don't want mixed messages in a fight or any confusion." Weiss stated.
Jaune nodded, "Good idea. So who should we…." He trailed off as he saw that everyone was looking at him. He sighed, "Alright. If you all insist. And we all agree Ruby is second-in-command?" Everyone nodded and they all tried to enjoy the rest of the trip along with trying to prepare for the mission ahead. Surprisingly, Jaune's motion sickness was practically nonexistent at this point so he could focus more on the trials ahead.
A few hours later, the two and a half teams were nearing their drop off points. The back of the bullhead opened and Sun and Neptune stood up, "Looks like this is our stop." Sun said cheerfully. He turned to Jaune and held out his fist, "Kick some ass, Badass." He said with a smile.
Jaune stood and smiled before bumping his fist with his. "You know it."
Sun took away his fist as the two walked towards the back of the bullhead. They jumped out and Sun spun around to face them "Later, losers!" he said before he disappeared from sight.
They rest of them had to wait another thirty minutes before they were directly over the ruins of Kuroyuri. Jaune stood up and got to the back first. "Let's move out!" He commanded as he jumped out into a nose dive to the street below. Halfway there, he flipped and grabbed a hold of his wind clips. His eyes shifted to light green for a second or two and his body lightened. He created a gust of wind to slow his descent and landed with little issue. He quickly scanned the area for any threats as he waited for the others. He grabbed a hold of his earth clips and as his Semblance activated, he stomped on the ground to make an impromptu radar. He sensed nothing around for about half a mile. He relaxed slightly and soon he was joined by the rest of his team along with RWBY. "Alright, I used my Semblance and I couldn't sense anything around us. Let's split up into our teams of two and just search around, just in case. We'll meet back here in twenty and let's keep in contact via our scrolls. Everyone good with that?"
Everyone nodded and they all split up with their partners. They searched everywhere and couldn't find anything. They made sure to call in every five minutes or so. After the full twenty minutes they all met back up in the center of the ruins, empty handed. "This makes no sense." Ruby spoke up. "There are no signs of any Grimm and they said that this was a hot spot."
"Yeah, I agree. Something isn't adding up." Jaune froze as he thought he felt a subtle vibration. He had his earth Semblance active this entire time as an extra precaution. He quickly knelt down and placed his hand on the ground to focus more. No one said a thing or even moved. Jaune could still feel the vibrations. They were in a pattern and were constant. And getting stronger. Something was coming, something big. He opened his eyes and stood as he drew Kakiri. "We have company." He turned to the direction as his eyes shifted to crimson.
The others drew their weapons and turned to the direction he was looking. Shortly after that, they could hear what sounded like hooves clopping against the ground. They were getting louder and Jaune could hear Ren muttering, "Not again. Not again." Not even a minute after that they could see a Grimm-like horse walking towards them. It stopped and breathed out a black mist and soon what looked like to be some sort of growth on its back started moving before it 'sat' up to show a horned, humanoid Grimm attached to the back of it. It stared them down and Jaune heard Ren say in despair, "No."
"What is that?" Pyrrha asked the question that they were all thinking.
Jaune clenched his hand tighter on the handle of his sword as he gritted his teeth slightly. "The Grimm that lead to all this destruction and countless lives being taken." Jaune said with a lot of hate, his hatred of Grimm was at a high because of what this thing did to Ren. It turned his attention onto Jaune after sensing his negative emotions. "The Nuckelavee."
Jaune took a deep breath and focused. "Nora, Yang." The two looked to him. "The three of us are gonna engage it directly. The rest of you act as support. Stay at a distance unless you find any openings to capitalize on then engage it directly. But make it brief, in and out." He heard several of the weapons shifting, most likely into the respective modes for their roles. Everything was quiet for a bit. Until Jaune, Nora and Yang charged as the Grimm did the same.
A/N- Cliffhanger! Sorry about this but I wanted the next chapter to focus solely on the fight. A lot is going to happen, A LOT. Anyways, the next chapter will be out as soon as my schedule will allow it. So please be patient and not hunt me down for this. I'd appreciate that, LOL.
