-~~ KBTS ~~-
Yang burst into the room slamming the door wide open so it threatened to tear right off the hinges. The occupants jumped in fright and or drew weapons, she smirked but otherwise ignored them all. Instead she simply strode to the middle of the room before collapsing backward on the living room rug. She lay there with her hair splaying out behind her in a halo of shimmering gold with the occasional spark running through it. She threw her arm over her eyes and groaned.
"I take it semblance training with Jaune went well? He popped in to get some water and drop of his weapons and armor. Said he jogged back as a cool down and was going to do a few more laps around campus. But he didn't say if the training was any good or not." Ruby leaned forward to look over the coffee table from where she, Nora, and Weiss were sitting on the couch. Well Weiss wasn't exactly sitting anymore, having jumped up and drawn her rapier.
"Yeah! Vomit Boy was really something. I had no idea he had such stamina. He still had the energy to go jogging? He just keeps going, and going… I was tired an hour ago. Plus, he has gotten very tanky, I mean I punched him really, really, hard and he just got back up like it was nothing. After we pulled him out of the wall that is."
"He did do quite well. I think he was boosting his own Aura to increase its defensive properties. I wonder if it was instinctive or if he was doing it consciously."
"Oh, and Blake was there too. I think someone wanted to act as a chaperone to make sure Jaune and I weren't alone."
"Can you blame me after what you were planning yesterday?"
"So, does that mean you WERE there to be a chaperone?" Weiss gave an imperious look to Blake.
"No…. Just trying to help Yang and Jaune with their semblances. Someone has to keep Yang on task, and make sure she isn't being too distracting." Blake turned her back to the girls with a huff as she closed the door behind her and inspected the wall for damage. The girls just rolled their eyes at her denial.
"So, what did you do? I keep asking Jauney to supercharge me, but he keeps telling me 'maybe later". Everybody knows 'maybe later, really means 'NO'." Nora pouted at Yang and Weiss.
"Well I usually can't do much experimentation with my semblance. I am usually really low on Aura when I finally have enough charge to use it. It's basically a finishing move. But with Jaune I was able to try stuff and then have full Aura again to try something new. It was kind of novel and I learned a lot about how to temper it and control the release, so I don't waste a bunch of Aura in a useless explosion." Yang remained laying on the floor but shifted her arm so it only covered her eyes.
"I must have charged and released my semblance like a dozen times. Jaune would boost me up, trying to build me up to exactly 110%. Then we'd spar. Jaune, and Blake would double team me, and I would try to defend without using my gauntlets." She shifted again so she could make eye contact with Blake.
"They make a surprisingly effective team. Every time I thought I had Blake that damn shield would pop up in front and deflect the punch. And when I finally got past it into Jaune's guard Blakey here would hit me from behind. It's like they've been working on team attacks for weeks." Yang shot a questioning glance to the uncomfortable looking Faunus.
"Not to change the subject, but I have been meaning to ask you and Weiss something… Did you, or Weiss… Feel anything, when Jaune used his semblance on you?" Blake looked between the blank stares of Yang and Weiss twisting her hands together.
"What do you mean?" Yang looked up from the floor in confusion.
"Like emotions that weren't yours? Or any other side effects?"
"Nope. Weiss?"
"It's hard to say really. I felt surprised to be alive. Shocked and relieved certainly, but mostly I felt this warm comforting power flowing through me."
"Yeah. Jaune pumped you full of his white stuff, didn't he?" Yang smirked up from the floor but huffed in annoyance as she was ignored by everyone.
"You didn't feel what Jaune was feeling? Like, experience his emotions?"
"I don't think so. But it's possible. Jaune and I likely were experiencing similar emotions. Notably relief and wonder."
"Well I didn't feel anything like that. Jaune looked like he was concentrating hard, maybe a little anxious. I wasn't feeling anything. Other than my usual awesomeness that is." Yang fist pumped with her mechanical arm, but continued to block the ceiling light with her left.
"Blake, what happened when Jaune used his semblance on you?" Ruby asked in concern.
"Well it was like I was experiencing all the emotions he was. He was in a really bad place at the time and he used his semblance out of reflex. It was like I could feel everything he was feeling. I felt his emotions roiling over me. He was in a lot of pain and turmoil and it felt like my heart was breaking from all the pain he was in."
"Wow. That sounds really bad." Yang took her arm off her face so she could give Blake an upside down look of sympathy.
"Yeah, Jauney has had a really hard time lately. I was glad to hear you were there for him when he needed it." Nora was so serious it had everyone concerned.
"Maybe you could feel what he was feeling because of how compatible you are." Ruby shrugged at Blake.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, like, maybe you are, like… I don't know… Soul mates? Like your souls are so tuned to one another that they became intertwined and allowed you too feel what the other is feeling."
"Ruby, there is no such thing as soul mates."
"Really you of all people don't believe in soul mates?" Weiss rose a perfectly plucked eyebrow in disbelief.
"Yeah, with all those books you read I would have pegged you as more of a romantic." Yang also looked at her curiously.
"I read my literature to escape the reality of love in the real world. To share an experience of how it should be, not how it is."
"Wow Blake that is really kind of… sad. And also kind of… not good." Ruby poked her fingers together as she looked to Yang and Weiss for support.
"I'm with Ruby, Blakey. I totally think there is someone out there for each of us. Someone destined to be with you, to complete you. Like everyone is missing something in their heart or soul, and when you find that perfect someone, you'll just know that you will be together forever."
"Wow Yang. I…" Blake was lost for words.
"That's how it is with me and Renny." Nora agreed wistfully.
"So, when Jaune's soul touched yours was it like sparks and fireworks and feelings of love?" Yang gave Blake a sappy look with exaggerated fluttering eyelashes.
"No. I felt his pain and misery. And how much self-loathing and hatred he had."
"Ohhh. I forgot it was so… dark."
"Yeah. It was. Like I said he was in a bad place at the time. But I also could feel how concerned he was for me. We talked after and I think I helped him."
"You definitely did. Jauney's been much better lately. Almost back to being our fearless leader again. Thank you for that, we didn't know what to do." Nora and Ruby nodded to Blake gratitude clearly present in their expressions.
"Yes, you have our most sincere thanks." Ren came out of the kitchen with a water bottle in each hand which he gave to Yang and Blake with a small bow. As Yang guzzled hers greedily Ren brought out a tray with tea and cookies and a bowl of popcorn.
"Sorry for my intrusion but I was listening from the kitchen. You mentioned side effects. I was wondering if you experienced anything other than the emotional transference?"
"Well it was odd. Despite the pain, emotional pain not physical, I felt like I did when my Aura was first unlocked. Like, my soul was reawakened, or reborn? Come on guys you know what I'm talking about right?" Blake looked imploringly at Yang.
"Sorry Blake. I didn't feel anything like that." Blake turned to Weiss who just shrugged and shook her head no.
"See. Soul mates." Nora said with pure conviction, as she grabbed Ren's arm and pulled him down beside her on the couch, squishing Ruby and forcing Weiss to vacate her seat and perch on the armrest instead.
"There is no such thing as soul mates." Blake insisted.
"Well what you and Jaune have is clearly special."
"Not you too Weiss!" Blake dragged her hand down over her face while Weiss shrugged apologetically.
"Look the thing with Jaune's semblance and the whole emotional connection thing was odd. But that's it. Yes, my aura reserves are higher now, and my Aura is a slightly lighter shade of purple… that is normal right?"
"No. Mine went back to normal after the battle." Weiss showed her scroll at 100%
Yang pulls out hers and they watch it drop from 106 to 105. "Still have a little bit of a boost from the end of our training, but it has been dropping slowly but steadily even though I'm not using any aura."
Blake pulled out her scroll, it shows her Aura level at 167%, and it ticks up one more as they watch. "I haven't recalibrated it yet. Yang got a couple good hits in at the end there when we were sparring and that brought it down to 75. My new level is apparently 188%."
"That is impossible Jaune must have been using his semblance on you without you knowing it."
"No, he didn't I would have felt it."
"She is right. Jaune was oddly careful around her. He was always cautious not to touch her. I didn't really think much of it but now that I know why it seems obvious." Yang looked at Blake with slightly suspicious eyes.
"There may be something to Ruby's theory."
"Come on Weiss." Blake groaned.
"No think about it. The emotional transference, the permanent Aura boost. You said it was like your Aura had been reborn. That's three things you experienced that neither of us did. Clearly there is something special and unique going on between you two. Aura science is rather vague at best. You may indeed have souls that are more closely intertwined than normal. For lack of a more scientific term, 'soul mates' is an apt description."
"Fine, Ok, Jaune and I have something special. Why is everyone so insistent on pointing it out to me? Why does everyone make such a big deal about this?"
"Well. I'm done here. I'm going to hit the showers." Yang popped up off the floor with her back to Blake.
"Yang! Wait." Blake reached out a hand to her partner.
Yang turned to reveal eyes verging on red.
"I was wondering if you were going to train with him again tomorrow?"
"Why so you can chaperone again? Make a move or don't, but stop pussyfooting around." Yang blinked and shook her head. "That one was accidental."
"Look Blake I get that running away is your thing. But do you really think ignoring what's going on between you and Jaune is going to work out well for either of you? If you don't make up your mind and do something someone else will. Maybe it'll be me. I am a woman of action after all. I sure as hell won't sit by and watch him suffer."
"Yang, I…"
"Don't. Run if you want too, I don't care. But don't you dare hurt him like you did me. He deserves someone who will stay at his side, who won't ever run out on him."
Blake stood there, a look of sadness, confusion, and guilt. Her arm was still stretched out as Yang walked out the room toward the bathroom. As the door shut behind her without Yang ever looking back Blake let her arm drop to her side. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she looked to the floor.
"Awwwkkkwaard!" Nora broke the pervasive silence in typical Nora fashion.
Blake seemed to break from her trance as she quickly turned to the door. And without saying a word, stepped out of the house. Ruby was hot on her heals, using her semblance she burst into rose petals that squeezed through the crack in the door before it could close. She rematerialized in front of Blake to stop her from leaving, startling the cat Faunus who was in the act of sitting down on the front steps.
"Blake! Please don't go!"
"Gahh! Ruby! Where did you come from?"
"I just wanted to talk to you. I didn't want you to leave." Ruby had a hangdog expression.
"Ruby, I'm not going anywhere. I just wanted to get some air and think. I promised I wouldn't run away again."
"Ohhh. Good. Well then… do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Too bad." Ruby plopped down beside Blake and threw an arm around her. Blake huffed, but couldn't help but smile.
"So… You like Jaune hunh?"
"Yes Ruby. Of course I like Jaune. He is probably my best friend outside of team RWBY."
"But he isn't just a friend, is he. I mean you have feelings for him. Right?"
"I don't know. Maybe. I try not to think about it. But everybody keeps bringing it up trying to force the issue."
"Maybe? Why don't you want to think about it?"
The question seemed a simple one to Ruby, but Blake's reaction said otherwise not. She began to choke up, and held tight to the little reaper.
"Because… because I'm scared. I'm scared that if I look too close I'll realize that I do want to be more than friends."
"Why is that a bad thing? Jaune cares a lot for you. He used to pray for you every night. I never thought of him as being religious, but every night he would beg the Brothers to keep you safe."
Blake pulled in a shuttering gasp. "I don't deserve him. Don't you see Ruby? I'm broken. I'm not like you and Jaune, I'm not a good person. I've done terrible things."
"Jaune knows about your past. It doesn't matter to him."
Blake smiled sadly. "Not all of it. My last relationship was bad Ruby. It's changed me. Forced me to close off my heart. I'm afraid I won't ever be able to love anyone ever again."
"That's silly. Loving someone is easy. You just care more about them then you do about anyone else, even yourself."
"That's very simplistic Ruby."
"Is it? Then how do you define what love is?"
"Look it's…. I don't know. But that's not the point. Relationships are built on more than just love. There needs to be trust too."
Ruby nodded in agreement, carefully considering Blake's words.
" I can't be the woman who loves him unconditionally anymore, the one who gives him her complete trust. I'll always be waiting for him to change. I'll always be looking to see if he is not who I think he is. My heart has been poisoned, Ruby. And how can he trust me when I've always got one foot out the door? No… it's better if he doesn't know how I feel."
Blake threw her hands up in frustration and gave a mirthless chuckle. "I wish I didn't know how I felt! But no, everyone had to keep poking at it. They wouldn't let it be. And now they won't let me forget!"
Ruby frowned sadly, but let Blake continue her rant. Better to let her get it out of her system, rather than argue each little point.
"Now it's too late. I can't undo what's been done, and as Yang said I can't run from the truth anymore. But I guess I'll just step aside and let Yang go for it. That way I'm only hurting myself, she was right, he doesn't deserve any more pain."
"Okay. If I may present a rebuttal?" Ruby held up her hand and started counting off on her fingers.
"One, That's dumb. It's never too late for love. Two, you're being dumb." Ruby flicked Blake's forehead stunning and shocking the distraught girl.
"You don't think he'll notice you trying to avoid him? You don't think hecll be hurt by that? Wondering what he's done to upset you? You don't think he will try and help you when he sees you hurting? To try and fix things?" Blake had no answers to Ruby's poignant questions and disbelieving look. Ruby nodded in satisfaction at Blake's lack of response as if to say, 'I thought so.'
"And now for my third and final point. It's Jaune. How can you not trust Jaune? He's Jaune!"
"People change Ruby. You think they are one thing, but underneath they are something completely different."
"Not Jaune. He only has the one layer. Besides with your special link, you can just have him use his semblance, you'll know how he really feels."
"Ruby…. I…."
"I'm not saying you need to ask him out tonight. Just be open to your feelings. Don't shut him out. Especially for a stupid reason like trying to protect him. That is just so…. It's dumb Blake. There are no other words, and I don't want either of my friends to get hurt."
"Ruby…" Blake trailed off both in an effort to reign in her swirling emotions, but also having failed to find a fault in Ruby's simplistic logic. She sat in silence for several long moments with her mind churning, before relenting to both Ruby's analysis and her puppy dog eyes. There was a reason she was made team leader.
"I'll try Ruby. Thanks I….. I guess I haven't been thinking clearly."
"Yay!" Ruby's little cheer brought a smile to Blake's lips, before she though of something that made her revert back to a frown.
"Do you think Yang would really go after him?"
"Ehhhh, maybe? But I don't see it working out. He looks like my Dad which is weird. And she looks like one of his sisters, so that's double weird."
"I don't know, Jaune is a perfect guy for her. And she has a nurturing side that would be good for him." Blake looked at the ground sadly, worry written across her face.
"Nahhh, double weirdness. Plus you are soul mates. You just got to let it happen. You're good for Jaune. He is much better now that you are back in his life." Ruby shuffled her feet.
"We all lost something in the Fall. Jaune and Yang more than anyone. Yang is doing better, but Jaune? He is still hurting."
"You care about him a lot don't you Ruby."
"Well yeah, he's my best friend. And he's been my partner for the last… almost year? Wow time really flies. Anyway, RWBY is back together but I'm still part of team RNGR. I want to see my teammates happy and at their best. Jaune is at his best when you are here, no question about it."
"Ruby I… I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything. Just be there for him, and for Yang. You'll need to work to rebuild your relationship with Yang. But with Jaune? Just be there for him and let what happens happen."
Ruby tapped her on the forehead, gently this time. The gesture succeeded in gaining Blake's full attention.
"You just being around him is helping him heal. You have no idea how much, in a few days you have done more for him than I ever could. Please Blake, please don't close yourself off to him. With all that's happening he is going to need you now more than ever."
"I won't. I promise Ruby, no more running. Not from my friends, and apparently not from my feelings either."
"Good. Now come on let's go help make dinner before Weiss tries to help and sets the kitchen on fire again."
Ruby jumped up and held the door for Blake who got up a bit slower but never the less followed Ruby back into the house.
They had just barely started to work in the kitchen when Jaune came in the side door with his hair soaking wet and hanging over his face. His shirt soaked can as well, Pumpkin Pete showing up even more in contrast to the darkened fabric of his hoodie.
"Hey Blake. Wait, are you okay? Did they make you cut the onions?"
Blake dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve. "No, I'm alright Jaune. Thanks for your concern." She smiled demurely at him.
"Oh… Is there something you need to talk about?"
"Yeah, but not right now. I need a bit of time to sort out my thoughts first."
"Well I'll be here when you are ready. But I did want to thank you for today. Helping me training. It meant a lot to me. I was wondering since you use a sword too that maybe… I mean I know it's not the same thing, your weapon is crazy cool. I mean it's so versatile… well I was just thinking it's still a sword and I could use some help with my form and…"
"Jaune." The boy in question snapped his mouth shut. Looking somewhat abashed and preparing for rejection.
"It would be a pleasure. And maybe if you want to we could try your semblance again?"
"Really? I figured after last time you wouldn't want to. It looked like it was hurting you. I don't want to…"
Blake reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Its okay Jaune. I think I'm ready now. I would love… I mean, it would be a pleasure to train with you again. I had fun today."
"Me too. We fought really well together. I wonder what sort of team attacks we could do?"
Blake laughed. For the first time in a long time an honest laugh. "I look forward to finding out."
"Wow, I see you took my advice." Yang smirked from the doorway. "Showers free by the way."
Blake blushed as she quickly let go of Jaune, and tried to sneak past Yang. She yelped as a clone took the crack of the towel. Glaring at an unrepentant Yang she stalked up the stairs to the bathroom.
"Nice work Lover Boy, just go easy on her."
"What are you talking about Yang?"
"Don't worry your soggy little head about it. Just know I'm rooting for you."
"Thanks, I guess?"
"No problemo. Now what's for dinner I'm starving."
From the top of the stairs Blake's ears twitched. And a smile spread across her face. She had time now. Time to figure things out, she wasn't sure what she was going to do but she was relieved to be given the chance to figure it out.
-~~ KBTS ~~-
AN: If you think about it, Yang's semblance is a pretty hard one to train. She can only fully activate it when damaged enough, and then must take a long rest to recharge her aura. So, she only gets one, maybe two, brief periods a day to experiment. As opposed to Ruby, Weiss, and Blake who can do it whenever they want. Really it's just her ad Adam that need to charge up their semblance, but for Adam it doesn't also drain his Aura to do so.
Jaune also must have done a lot of semblence training between vol 5 and 6. He went from discovering his semblance and saving Weiss, to being a pro with it a few short weeks later on the train. He not only boosted Ren, he also healed the random douche huntsman who hurt his arm going into the tunnel.
Also, just for the record, I do like the DragonSlayer ship a lot. It's got the whole Geek gets the Hottie trope going for it. Which is usually an entertaining premise. But the family resemblances on both sides of the equation weirds me out a little.
I've updated this chapter to change the flow of the conversation between Blake and Ruby. The reviews accurately pointed out that it seemed rushed. I agree, it was, I was so desperate to put something out I think I rushed out a poorly executed product.
I also forgot the disclaimer. So, as you probably already knew: I don't own RWBY. I know right? I was shocked too.
Shout out to YeeeCawww, a new follower with some excellent Knightshade stories of their own. A Christmas themed multi chapter story was just released and I'm excited to see where it leads.
Next chapter the Lancaster Omake, which is a sort of sequel to the DragonSlayer one.
