Junior just stood there watching. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. That dog had only been with them two nights and already his employees were up to something stupid.
"What are you idiots doing now?" Junior sighed seeing the most recent stunt by his workers. Several of them were sitting with their four-legged guests, only now the dog was wearing an employee fedora and red sunglasses. They were taking their turns posing with the dog and taking selfies.
"We're just having some fun with Buddy." Rusty answered.
"Buddy?" Junior questioned,
"Yeah. Everyone's already been calling him buddy, and it kind of stuck."
"Don't name it! Once we name it, then everyone's gonna get attached!"
"Too late." Melanie chimed in. "He's just such a good boy. Isn't that right?" She pinched the dog's cheeks making a kissy face. Despite all the attention Buddy's tail stopped wagging with all the chatter, almost like the idea saddened him.
"He's already such a good guard dog too. He'd be really helpful to our business." Rusty chimed in. Militia entered the back door then, carrying a tug-of-war toy rope and some deli meat.
"Stop bringing stuff for it!" Junior growled with fresh irritation.
"Well, we can't feed him sandwiches all the time. All that bread will make him fat." She scoffed as if it was obvious.
"Look." Junior rubbed his forehead with a loud sigh. "The dog is obviously well trained and cared for. Someone is looking for him I'm sure. We are sticking to the original plan. If no one stops by asking about him by Saturday we'll check in with the local shelters."
"And if no one comes forward?" Melanie questioned. Junior could only sigh at the prospect. Gods he really hoped someone came looking for him.
"Then we'll just have to see what happens."
"That wasn't a no." Miltia smiled deviously.
"Shut up before I change my mind." Junior growled back, not ready to deal with her crap. The club hadn't even opened yet, and he already had a headache.
"You should come in for a picture with him." Rusty suggested.
"That's a great idea, especially while he's all dolled up." Melanie agreed.
"Oh no! You've all got work to do, so enough messing around-"
"Would you just shut up and get in the picture." Miltia shoved him towards Buddy. All he could really do was glare at his eager employees all waiting for him to pose. Well, at least it was with a pretty cool dog.
"Fine, but I'm docking everyone's pay for this."
"Yeah yeah, whatever." Miltia rolled her eyes. "Just lean down with the cutie already." Junior could only roll his eyes and lean down next to Buddy. Honestly, he did look pretty slick with the fedora and sunglasses, not that he'd admit it to his photo obsessed underlings.
"This the stuff you've been dealing with all day?" Junior gave Buddy a firm pat on the neck. He whimpered in response, sounding almost as done as Junior felt. "Don't worry, Buddy. I'll treat us both with something nice after this shit."
His tail flickered back to life at the suggestion, and Junior could only shake his head.
Yeah, this really was a cool dog.
It honestly made him feel a bit weird, but if Jaune could describe what he was feeling now, he could seriously say he was kind of having fun. And that was certainly the last thing he had expected to happen with his lost situation.
Yet he couldn't help it, it only took the gullible dog part of his brain to be surrounded by welcoming energy for his tail to take that as a sign to start wagging.
And apparently the people around him were getting a kick by having him around - guess that's why dogs were used in therapy to cheer people up. He could tell some of the employees made lousy excuses to go into the room he was staying in, he could feel the energy brightening up when he perfectly responded to a command, they especially enjoyed asking him to perform some high-fives. They were even happy to give him part of their dinner, throwing a piece of food in the air so he could jump and catch it was also a huge hit among the guys.
Another thing he should have thought as weird was the fact that subjecting to all those activities, like being dressed up for selfies and performing tricks, didn't bother him too much, at least not as much as he had expected. Maybe because shaking paws and wearing hats was just something he was fine doing for the people who were giving him shelter, food, attention, and pets. He would have still been laying in a pile of trash if it wasn't for them.
Also because deep down he felt like the people around him were in need of something to lift their spirits up. He had felt the dull energy coming from some of the workers before they interacted with him, lifeless and without purpose, even with the constant upbeat music playing in the background, it was like they had been bored out of their minds or wishing to be somewhere else. But now it looked like today some of the employees even showed up earlier to work.
Well, they hadn't exactly arrived earlier to work, considering there were more people in the backroom than the main area. It felt strangely wholesome, having those people show up just to play around with a dog.
Their boss, on the other hand, didn't seem too happy about all the slacking off. Since now his employees were just playing tug-of-war with the toy one of the girls had brought earlier, and Jaune had already managed to make three guys fall on their butts - they didn't seem upset to be losing the strength game to a dog though, with the way they ruffled his fur while congratulating him.
"The club is already open, no one here thinks that maybe they should get to work?!" Junior's rhetorical question was delivered in a sharp growl, getting the man that had been on the other end of the tug toy to suddenly let it go, making Jaune stumble back. "Maybe before they have no work to get back to?"
Disappointed sounds were heard through the room. Some of the guys got up from the floor, even if reluctantly, preferring not to argue with their boss. Jaune couldn't help but imagine how mad Junior would have been with the day shift security guards, seeing as they spent most of the day playing fetch with him on the dance floor instead of their jobs. Luckily for them, their employer wasn't around to start yelling, unlike the night shift crew.
"Oh come on. Let them be, it's still too early for people to actually start showing up anyway." One of the girls retorted, approaching Jaune to give him some comforting pets after his stumble. "Isn't that right stinky boy." She cooed turning her words towards Jaune instead. He still couldn't tell the twins apart.
"Today is Friday. You know it won't take long before we get a crowd causing chaos in the entrance because there is no one there to do their security job!" He sent a piercing glance to the employees Jaune presumed were the ones supposed to be working on said security.
The guys immediately started fumbling apologies and looking for their hats and sunglasses so they could rush out to do their jobs. The others were quick to follow their example, running around the room organizing it and looking for the accessories of their uniforms, but not before stopping and giving him farewell ear scratches and promises of snacks.
The other girl scoffed, not even looking up from her scroll. "You're exaggerating as always. We already had that mess with Torchwick's sidekick yesterday, what are the odds we get another commotion today?"
It was on cue. A series of loud bangs made his ears press flat against his head, startling him to stand up on his four paws. The next second was filled with shouts and loud cursing, desperate footsteps and the distinct sounds of weapons being charged and guns being cocked. The music came to a screeching halt, feedback making the occupants of the room flinch as the sound pierced their skulls.
Someone ran past the corridor, stumbling on their feet. "It's her, she's back!"
Junior managed to make the guy stop with a grip on his arm. "Her her?! Again?!"
The employees only nodded, clear fear in his movements. "And she's not alone."
"I haven't finished paying the damages from last time." Junior released the guy with a shove. "I'll go see what she wants before the place burns down." He pointed at the twins as he left. "You two better come too."
They groaned in unison. They seemed more annoyed than afraid like the rest of the workers.
One of the girls turned to him right when Jaune was going to try to take a peek out of the door, blocking his way while giving him some reassuring pats. "Don't worry, sweetie. We'll be back."
She then turned to her sister, who was already by the door. "Better lock the room up so he doesn't end up in the middle of the mess."
She agreed with a quick "Sure." and without another word they left him, stuck in a back room while, apparently, hell broke loose outside because of a mysterious woman.
Even if Neptune had warned them about the guns, it certainly didn't make the situation of being surrounded by a dozen guys dressed in black suits pointing weapons right at their faces any easier to deal with. Now it was very clear why the boys didn't want to come with them.
Even so, Yang just smiled at the angry mob as if she was meeting an old childhood friend. "Ah, the welcome here is always so warm." Then her expression hardened, and they could swear some of the armed men were about to wet their pants. "Won't you let us come in?"
The guys in suits exchanged nervous glances, Yang seemed to get inpatient, her hands balled into fists, they could hear her knuckles cracking with the movement. Some of the weapons pointed at them trembled as the grip on them became unstable.
"Let her in!" A voice echoed from the other side of the silent dance floor. A larger man who was being followed by two identical women waved a hand to his employees, and the weapons were lowered - sighs of relief came from somewhere. He didn't make an effort to meet them at the door, sitting on one of the bar stools instead. The two girls watched at a close distance, as if they would be ready to pounce if any of them took a wrong step.
"C'mon, that's the guy I was talking to you about." Yang gestured for the three of them to follow as if she just wanted them to meet a sweet relative of hers, not someone who apparently was a gang boss. The JNPR members reluctantly did so. Nora was scanning the place ceiling to floor, Ren didn't seem too happy about going to the bar area, while Pyrrha, after years of practice, maintained her serious expression and steadily marched forward.
"Junior! Good to see you!" Yang greeted him with open arms.
"Can't say the same for myself." Junior motioned to the bartender, expression as if he knew he needed a drink to deal with the situation, a full glass was placed on the counter almost immediately. He raised an eyebrow. "You brought friends. What do you want this time?"
"I'll cut to the chase." Yang started, turning to her friends. "Show him the pics."
Nora had them, placing her scroll over the counter. Yang continued, pointing at the screen showing a still of the footage with the two men who had followed Jaune. "We want to know if those guys are yours."
Junior took a long look at the screen, and a long sip of his drink. "And why do you want to know?"
"Let's just say they did something to one of our friends."
Jaune paced restlessly around the room. Everything was quiet now. Too quiet. Not even music had started to play again. What kind of commotion starts with people running for their lives and just a minute later falls into absolute silence?
He growled with frustration. This gave him a very bad feeling, and being locked up wasn't pleasing either. Approaching his ear to the door, he tried his best to pick up any sound whatsoever.
And there it was. Thanks to his canine hearing, he was able to detect the faintest of conversations, too far for him to understand any words, but enough for him to know there were people still there, discarding the scenery brewed by his mind of the mystery woman being an assassin who dropped in the club with a highly poisonous gas bomb which, in a matter of seconds, took out everyone outside with a grueling and silent death - dust, he missed reading his comics and this was a weird place to realize that.
He recognized one of the voices to be Junior's, and there were no more shouts or any screams of pain or something, so the others were probably fine.
The other voice though… definitely feminine. He shook his head, switching the ear pressed to the door, there was something about that voice… Something familiar? It didn't belong to either of the twins, he knew that for sure, they had a very identifiable speech manner.
He couldn't shake off the feeling of familiarity even if he was barely picking up the sound of talking. So he made up his mind, he needed to find out what that was all about.
He just needed to find a way to escape a completely locked room.
He let out a determined huff, he had managed to escape from a prison in a mansion, this was nothing he couldn't handle.
"Let me repeat for you kids." Junior slammed his glass on the counter. "I have never seen those two in my life, and they are definitely not my men."
The twins had approached in the middle of their interrogation by Junior's request as more people vouched for his word. The one dressed in red zoomed in the picture with manicured fingers.
"They're not even wearing the right hats, or glasses." She stated as if that was a crime committed by the two suspects.
"Those are definitely not our suits." The other complemented with a scoff. "Just look at those sleeves! Ew."
Junior just gestured at the two, brow raised as if saying see? What did I tell you?
Yang let out a sigh of frustration. Pyrrha touched her shoulder. "Yang, this is leading nowhere-"
Yang shook her head, not ready to give up yet. "Right. They are not yours. You wouldn't happen to know other people they could be working for?"
"Oh, I know a lot of people who send other people to do their dirty work." He pensively scratched his chin. "What exactly did those two do to your friend?"
Yang exchanged glances with the three-man team, holding Pyrrha's gaze until she nodded slightly. She turned back to Junior then. "They took him. Our friend is missing and those two were following him."
Junior actually seemed taken aback for the split of a second, but soon recomposed to his aloof mannerism. "A kidnapping? Was your friend… involved in something or with someone… Y'know, from the not so nice part of town? People don't exactly get kidnapped like that."
Nora snapped then. "No! Of course not! He was just followed and taken!"
Junior stopped to think, skepticism plastered on his expression as he thought. "Was your friend a human or a faunus?"
"Does that matter?"
Junior shrugged. "It shouldn't. But you never know."
Yang took a deep breath, exchanging another glance with her friends. How exactly would they tell their friend was neither a human or a faunus? Would these gangsters still take their interrogation seriously with them looking for someone they would assume was only their pet?
Yang saw Pyrrha bite the inside of her cheek, probably similar questions running through her mind, her teammates were also expecting her to come up with the decision apparently. She let out a sigh then. "Tell him, we could still have a shot."
Yang nodded. "Well, how do I say this… Our friend isn't a human, nor a faunus."
Junior let out an incredulous chuckle. "What is he supposed to be then?"
Before Yang could speak, one of the twins interrupted their conversation, shushing them with a raise of her finger. "Do you hear that?"
A single moment of silence was needed for them to pick up the sound of steady slams, coming from one of the corridors in the back of the dance floor. There was a second of silence, and then sudden barking.
Yang sucked a breath in with contained surprise. "You have a dog?"
Junior rolled his eyes. "I don't have a dog."
"What's that sound then?"
"Just a guest." He squinted at her challenging look. "He will be leaving soon. But that's not of your concern, is it?"
"Hey, you two there." One of the twins snapped her fingers to a couple of employees. Adding as if it was obvious. "Go see what is going on!"
The two scampered inside the hallway. Junior turned to the twins, delivering a sharp whisper. "What did you do to him?"
They replied in the same low tone. "Nothing! We just locked him up-"
"You locked up your guest?" Nora was the one to interrupt this time.
"I can assure you kids, this isn't what you think it is. Still, it's none of your business."
Jaune panted at the door that refused to budge, not being able to refrain from barking frustratedly at the lock. It seemed his attempts were attracting attention though. Because soon he heard running footsteps approaching the room from outside.
There was a jingle in the doorknob and the door was flung open to reveal Berry and Rusty.
"Hey, Buddy, it's alri-" Jaune didn't stay to listen to what Berry had to say. He could hear the voices better with the door open and now he was one hundred percent sure it belonged to someone he knew. He wasn't going to just stop and figure out who, so he bolted between the men's legs, getting yelps of surprise from them.
The two ran after him through the corridor. Calling him by his new nickname and ordering him to stop. He had zero intention of doing that though. But his pursuers were insistent, one actually jumped over him, grabbing him by his midsection. "Buddy! What's got into you?!"
Rusty caught up, trying to help his colleague hold him in place while he tried to kick himself free. "I think he really didn't like being locked up."
Jaune snarled and barked through the assurances coming from the two employees telling him to be quiet and calm down, yet their words together with their restraint only made him more agitated. He really didn't want to resort to biting and scratching the two people who were the first to be kind to him in that place. Yet he could feel he was so close - he could hear familiar voices asking about the noises and Junior shouting back - he had no choice.
He tried to shake himself free one more time and when they didn't let go, he regrettably lunged at the nearest arm. Jaune was sure the two let him go more because of surprise by his aggressive actions than for actual pain, they had to have aura, of course. It made him feel terribly guilty, but his senses told him there was no time to waste, he needed to know!
Another hand still tried to get a grip on him, he even felt it graze his tail as he made a run for it. Still, he made it to the end of the hallway leading to the dance floor without any more interruptions, finding people that weren't the ones who worked here together with Junior and the twins gathered in a corner, shouting at each other.
The sight, even if blurry and off-color made him halt in his tracks. The first thing he noticed was a person who had her back turned to him, said back covered in cascading locks of golden hair that hasn't lost its shade even with his new vision, filling him with recognition.
He didn't have the time to process the other people. He was soon tackled to the floor again by his previous chasers, making him yelp loudly as he crashed on the ground, all eyes turned towards him.
He heard shouts and gasps of surprise. A yell towering over those sounds. "You liar! You did take him!"
He didn't need to see to recognize the voice anymore. That had clearly been Nora.
Wait.
It was Nora!
His teammates were here!
Her shout was followed by Pyrrha screaming his name and the characteristic sound of Ember Celica coming to life in Yang's wrists as they were surrounded by suited guys trying to control the situation.
Everyone was yelling, men were shouting for him to calm down, his teammates were screaming for them to let him go, Yang was angrily demanding answers. He could feel his friend's desperation as he tried to struggle himself free and he felt it just as much, his barks turned into pained cries without him noticing. And now other guys were helping Rusty and Berry hold him. Melanie and Miltia also positioned themselves between them and the group of teens.
"Everyone shut up!" Junior's voice reverberated through the dance floor at the same time as the sound of glass shattering. Shards of the glass he had been drinking from scattered over the counter as he slammed it on the metal top.
It had worked to get everyone's attention. Jaune's cries downgraded to urgent, yet quieter, whimpers.
"If those weren't your men then how do you have him?!" Nora almost lunged at Junior, only stopped by the five guys plus Ren holding her back.
"Nora, let's hear him out first before acting rashly." Ren said through a cold stare at the bar owner. He just watched the group in complete confusion, glancing between them and the canine.
"Your friend… is the dog?" Junior tried to maintain his steady tone as understanding dawned on him, he didn't want to trigger any kind of violent behavior from anyone that was friends with Yang of all people.
"Let him go right now! How long have you been keeping him locked up?!" Nora tried wrestling past Ren getting frustrated again.
"I wasn't-" Junior growled, not even bothering to finish, shouting a command to his employees instead. "Everyone, let all of them go."
His teammates were released and Jaune didn't even wait for all the hands to release him completely. He pushed himself out, claws scraping against the floor as he got up into a mad dash, crossing the dance floor towards his friends.
They met him halfway and he closed the final distance by leaping into the air. Being caught by Pyrrha's arms just to soon be embraced by Nora, and when Ren joined they crumbled onto the floor in a pile.
They hugged him so tight it almost hurt, but he wouldn't want it any other way. Nora was ugly crying while Pyrrha buried her face into his neck.
"You're okay…" Pyrrha whispered into his fur soaking it through with tears.
"We missed you so much Jaune!" Nora sobbed. "Ren was heartbroken over this! He was even waking up early to look for you!" Said ninja couldn't help a small chuckle at her words, not bothering to pull away from the pile when she yanked him closer. Jaune could see his eyes were wet too, though he didn't actually let any tears fall.
Jaune himself would also have been bawling if his canine eyes were able to produce tears. So he just whimpered with relief instead, tail wagging so fast it made their hug pile shake, taking in their comforting scent with their characteristic metallic, flowery and energetic tinges. Letting their voices, even if shaky and broken, fill his ears as they tell him We're so happy you're okay, We missed you so much over and over. And he did his best to tell them he felt the same. He had missed them just as much, licking tears away, and melting into embraces.
They eventually calmed down a bit, taking in some air and loosening the tight hold they had on him. It was in her move back that Nora finally got a good whiff of his chest fur, her face tensing at the smell.
"Gahhh! You smell like rotten trash and broken dreams!"
Pyrrha sniffled enough to clear her sinuses, smelling his neck and immediately pulling away. She couldn't help but cover her nose with a free hand.
"Now that the emotional reunion is done, can we explain?" Junior started, not waiting for them to respond. "We didn't take your dog, we found him outside by the trash alone in the rain last Wednesday night."
"Well that explained the garbage smell." Ren commented. Jaune would have blushed if his face were capable, so he just tucked his tail close to his body. He did voluntarily wallow in it after all.
"We took him in and that's it. We knew he wasn't a stray since he was clearly trained. We were going to notify a shelter but…" He sent a sharp glance to his men, all of them shying away bashfully. "Those idiots grew attached to him. So we decided to wait a couple of days to see if anyone would come looking for him."
"Don't talk like you didn't like having him around too." Miltia nonchalantly pointed out, Junior waved her comment off with a hand gesture.
"Is that true?" Pyrrha asked directly at him. Jaune nodded, wagging his tail, to make sure they understood those people were nothing but kind to him.
"I guess… Thanks, then?" Nora started, scrunching her shoulders. "And sorry for the-" She finished the sentence by gesture in the general direction their discussion had turned into a mess minutes before.
"Eh. It's alright." Junior shrugged, he sent an odd look towards Yang. "I had worse things happen to this place."
"So, like…" Melanie started. "You're his owners, and you're taking him back, right?"
"Yes?" Nora raised an eyebrow to the question. The answer was obvious, but it didn't stop the entire room from falling into a sad silence.
"I guess we knew this time would come…" Rusty shifted his weight over his feet. He was clutching his arm lightly where Jaune had bitten him.
Jaune whined, tail hanging limp. Even after he had attacked one of them they were still sad to see him go. He gave his team a look before walking to the group of guys who had kept him company for the past few days. They promptly lowered to his eye level to give him goodbye head pats.
"Hey, sorry about that." He barked softly while touching his muzzle to Rusty's arm.
"It's alright, Buddy." He understood what he meant. "Sorry for being so rough with you back there."
"Yeah, we had no idea what was actually going on." Berry added, ruffling the top of his head.
"We good?" Rusty held a hand in front of him. With his tail wagging, Jaune gave him the high-five he had been waiting for. As always, it made all the guys around him cheer at the sight of the trick.
And when it was the twins turn, he could hear his friends snickering behind his back as they squished his cheeks and made kissy faces while baby talking.
"We'll miss you Mister Stinky." Miltia cooed ruffling both of his ears at the same time.
"Call him Buddy already. Hasn't he had a hard enough day? Yes you have." The one in white baby talked scratching the underside of his chin gently with her long manicured nails. It was an odd sensation that Jaune couldn't help but lean into. He would honestly miss these two.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye to him?" The twins stared at Junior, who had been just watching by the counter. He rolled his eyes as if annoyed, but Jaune could tell it was all for show.
"There goes the only one who did a good job around here." He stalked over and gave him a messy pat on the head. "Now who's going to notice when crazy freaks break in here?"
"Aww, maybe you should get a dog, Junior." Yang cooed in the background, at some point she had gotten a drink from the bar, little umbrella on the side and all.
"Yeah, I think it's time for you to leave." Junior sent her a not so friendly glare. He turned back to Jaune then, whispering in a tone that was maybe meant to be a joke, but he detected a very real hint of fear in the back. "Hey, if you decide to end up lost in these parts again, just don't bring her back."
"What in the name of dust has she done to you guys?" He let out a playful huff. Junior just smirked and stood upright letting Jaune walk back to his teammates.
"Thank you again for taking care of him." Pyrrha started. "Sorry for any trouble."
Junior waved off the apologies and thanks once again - the way the man acted made Jaune believe he didn't get to hear a lot of nice stuff often. And just that resulted in another string of goodbyes.
"Buy, Buddy!"
"We'll miss you."
"Come visit sometime!"
Jaune happily walked beside his friends as they left the building, yet he looked back almost every second to still see guys in black suits waving at him.
"You really did leave an impression on those people, hm?" Pyrrha watched his tail wag in response.
"Tell me about it!" Yang teased him. "Now I'm not the only one with contacts with mobsters."
"They were nice peop- wait, mobsters?!" Jaune wasn't able to hide his surprise - guess that would explain why a dance club was attacked, and how he never stopped to think before that fully armed employees aren't actually a common thing?
"Well, at least they don't hate you." Yang chuckled at his reaction.
"If we need to go back there for gods knows why, we are bringing you with us." Nora added. "I bet they will receive us with fewer guns that way."
Oh, he actually wouldn't have a problem with that. Maybe one day it would be nice to be able to come back.
But for now, the only thing he wanted was to go home.
Pyrrha had never expected one day to see her partner so thrilled to be inside of an airship. But here they were, a team of four again, with their former-missing member now shuffling in place with excitement, his tail wagging with such vigor that every now and then when they stood too close to it, their legs would be promptly beaten up by the whip of fur.
Yang and Nora were now on the phone with the rest of team RWBY. Ruby had been too eager to hear the good news to even wait for them to arrive at the academy, so now she was receiving an update from the girls, Jaune on the floor between them with his front paws on the seat, lifting himself up to the scroll's level listening to the conversation.
"We were just going there for information and he was there! He was actually there, what are the odds of that?!" Nora gripped the scroll, Ruby's squeal from the other side of the line was just as audible as if they were on speaker mode. "Say hi to Ruby, Jaune!"
The scroll was shifted to his face and he happily barked into it. More excited voices came from the other side, now joined by the sound of the high pitched yaps of a corgi.
"I can't wait for you to get back! We missed you so much!" Ruby's voice was filled with pure honesty and relief. The sound of panting clouded the microphone, just to be cleared with a giggle. "And that includes Zwei too! Hey- Zwei! No! Don't lick the scroll!"
Nora and Yang continued to retell the events of the day to the girls - and one dog - on the other side of the line. Their volume would rise with excitement as they progressed with the narration, a few passengers would send them glances, but everyone was too happy to care.
Or in some cases, too exhausted to care. Ren was in the middle of all that talking and without much effort, he had leaned against his seat and closed his eyes. Shoulders dropping their tension as the boy finally felt the distress that had been constantly hovering around them for the past week fade, allowing him to rest.
Pyrrha copied her teammates by letting her back relax against the seat, but still kept her eyes open even with the lazy sway of the ship almost tempting her to close them, observing her friends in front of her still talking enthusiastically at the scroll.
They still had many questions left unanswered, like who were those guys following Jaune in the footage recovered by Sun and Neptune? Why and where did they take him? How and when did Jaune escape? How did he end up in a random dance club on the other side of the city? Just what had he gone through that week?
Still, even with all those doubts on her mind she still decided to set them aside for now. She had spent an entire week drowning in worry, now that her partner was here in front of her safe and sound, that was the only thing she wanted her mind to focus on - the feeling of relief.
A nudge on her leg caught her attention. Big blue puppy eyes stared at her, she didn't even register him leaving the other girls' side. She had to smile as Jaune leaned his head on the seat beside her knee, her hand promptly giving the top of his head some lazy strokes. He closed his eyes at the touch, sighing quietly. That's how Pyrrha knew that feeling of relief was mutual.
The soft grass of the Beacon courtyard felt like the most inviting welcome mat under his paws. The familiar scent of the freshly cut blades invaded his nostrils, between the chirps of crickets hidden on the leafage, he could hear far off chatter coming from the cafeteria indicating dinner was still being served - and by the smell, they were having chicken that day -, the previously green now yellowish light of the Beacon tower painted the rooftops of the buildings nearby.
His dorm was one of those buildings, and when Jaune spotted it across the field of grass, his instincts told him to just run towards it. Eager to feel the comfort of the familiar halls, the welcoming energy of the kitchen which always smelled like coffee, the embrace of the recreation area couch which accommodated both his old and new body perfectly somehow, the warmth of his own room and, most importantly, to be surrounded by all of his friends again.
So Jaune ran, tongue lolling out as he panted freely. Yet, he didn't immediately bolt to the building, because four of his friends were already with him and being left behind. So he rounded back, feeling the wind sweep through his ears as he ran against it, circling his team and Yang as they laughed at his enthusiasm.
When he passed through their legs a second time, Nora followed him as he took off for another sprint across the courtyard. He slowed down so she could catch up as he zigzagged on the field, barking alongside her laugh. He couldn't describe how much he had missed that.
Then one of his barks received a reply in the same dog language. He turned to the sound just to see a four-legged bullet launch itself in the field as soon as the dorm's door was opened by a caped girl. Zwei's greeting was a tackle that brought him to the dirt, even making his friends gasp and stop in their tracks as he rolled over the grass.
But he didn't mind the tumble, Jaune had to admit he had missed the old pup. His friends were put at ease as he replied the rough welcome back with safer energetic wags of tail and high pitched barks as Zwei bounced around him, the corgi's own wags making him shake from muzzle to toe as if the joy of having his dog friend back was too much for his tiny body to contain.
Jaune didn't even have a chance to recover from Zwei's tackle, because after a rush of rose-scented wind, he was receiving another from the corgi's owner. A bit more contained to not make him topple on the floor again, but tighter since Ruby actually had arms to fully hug him.
It didn't last too long because at the moment, he wasn't the best smelling dog in the world, but she still gave him some messy head pats. That gave the opportunity for the other girls from her team to say their own welcome backs, no touching from them as expected, but he knew, and felt, how Weiss and Blake's words meant it just as much as their leader's hug.
Nora had fallen on the ground by their side, energy spent after the short running session. She and Ruby didn't make any motion to get up, so Zwei also flopped down right after. Feeling the adrenaline of the run being replaced by exhaustion, Jaune stretched his paws over the chill to the touch grass, watching his other friends approach.
There was no need to say anything. Apparently, everyone silently agreed that taking a pause in the middle of the courtyard was now a good idea. Ren basically fell face-first into it, laying down by Nora's side. Yang stopped between Weiss and Blake, put an arm around each of their shoulders and suddenly pulled them down to the grass, Weiss protested but as soon as Zwei moved to her side, her complaints vanished. He felt a light scratch behind his ear, just to see his partner sitting down next to him, he gave her fingers a tiny lick before letting his head rest comfortably over the grass.
Letting out a yawn, Jaune stared up to the sky. The moon was too blurry for him to discern it's broken pieces, making it look like it was whole again. Complete.
Jaune closed his eyes. He was home, and at that moment, he wouldn't ask for anything more.
Reunited at last! Hope you like it and don't forget to leave a review, wash your hands, stay inside, and be safe! \o/
CH13 art: favDOTme/ddsu2h8
