A Changing World

Act 2

Chapter 18: Moving Forward (Part Three)

A/N: It's bigger, badder and it's now finally ready!

…

"What did it feel like? Losing Pyrrha, I mean?" Yang asked Jaune as the pair sat on a sofa in the living room of his parent's home.

"Horrible," Jaune responded after a moment of thought, face contorting into a grimace as he recalled the experience. "Like a part of me was dead. Why?"

"So I can figure out what I'm supposed to feel about Blake."

"And how do you feel?"

"Not much different, and that scares me."

"Why does it scare you exactly?" he asked her.

"Because… because if I'm feeling this bad, then Blake felt worse. It means that Banesaw caused her to commit suicide, but I unknowingly helped him."

"Wow, you're really taking this hard, huh Yang," noted Jaune.

"How am I supposed to take it?" she retorted, shooting him a glare.

"Not like that for starters," came his softly muttered reply.

"Then tell me, oh wise one, how should I feel?" Her response was sharper than the one before, now.

"I can only recommend you live with it, as I'm not a therapist. The name does sound nice though. Jaune "wise one" Arc. What do you think?"

"Live with it? How do I do that?"

"Up to you. I did it by having my team agree to go silent for a while to grieve Pyrrha. Ren and Nora agreed as they saw me and her as family; the only family they really knew. Then we travelled to Argus to visit my sister before going here, where it went wrong as you know."

"What? Slow down vomit boy, what do you mean by, 'it went wrong'?"

"Merlot."

"Ah yeah. He wasn't fun to deal with,"

"That's true indeed," Jaune echoed. "Later, after the party, do you mind coming with me to see him when we get back to Beacon?"

"Sure thing. It's the least I can do. I mean, Uncle Qrow and I couldn't escape, but you were worse off. I want to do something to make up for doing nothing to help you."

"Why? It's not like you could have done much."

Yang stared at him flatly. "All it took was a punch."

"Yeah, but you didn't know that at the time. Not even Arslan did."

"Just let me do it, Arc. I have experience helping blonde men through stuff. Take it as a way to make up for what I said after Pyrrha died."

Jaune blinked at her. "You still remember what you said? I don't recall it myself. But fine, help away, Yang."

"Good," And with that, a comfortable silence formed between them.

"So what now? Should we head back to the safe house?" asked Yang.

Jaune took his eyes away from the sofa opposite theirs; looking over at her with a warm gaze. "Do you want to?"

"I don't know honestly. What do you think we should do?"

"Well if I were you, I'd apologise to Ruby. That punch looked like it hurt."

Her head met an open palm. "Oh great, she's going to hate me for doing that."

"Maybe, but I'll talk to her if I need to."

"Why you?"

"Seven sisters remember? Just in case she doesn't want to talk to you, I'll be the next best person to talk to her."

"Again, why you?"

His expression turned wry. "You think things went smoothly back home? As the youngest of eight children and the only boy in a sea of estrogen, many fights broke out as you can imagine. Point is, I'm a bit experienced in how to end fights, so feel free to leave Ruby to me."

"I'll believe that when I see you in action."

"Oh come on! Even if I didn't know how to help, how bad could it get? It's Ruby! She's far from the angriest girl I've met."

"Fair point, Jaune," she conceded with a nod. "Let's head back now,"

…

"What do we all think?" voiced Weiss, as the Bullhead they were in flew back to Mistral. "Should we make Hiccup and team JNR part of the Vale council officially?"

"In addition to the members of Faunus First in attendance here? I say we shall," said Port. "Perhaps take them on as assistants to myself, Ozpin and you, Bart. That is if we decide to reopen Beacon once more."

"Does that include Hiccup? Because I remember a certain someone suggesting he work in a Research and Development facility with a few others, a few months back," asked Qrow.

"Yes, I did say that," Weiss confirmed. "However it is still up to him to decide. Not to mention that I have to tell him, Astrid and all the others. But that aside, what are we going to do with Roman Torchwick, Merlot, Raven and their associates?"

"I thought about that on the way to Menagerie, and I think I have a fitting solution."

"Let's hear it then," prompted Qrow.

With a glance at the dragons flying alongside their aircraft, Weiss took a single forward, joining Qrow as he and the faunus first leaders present stared attentively at Oobleck.

…

Now back at the safehouse, Ruby, who had a purple bruise at the centre of her forehead, Yang, who was staring apologetically at her sister and Jaune, who had a pensive expression on his face, were all present in the room where the quarrel had begun.

Ruby and Yang sat on the bed in the room, with Jaune sitting between them.

"So, how did it all begin?" asked Jaune, looking between the pair.

"Yang was trying to cheer me up, I didn't listen. Nora found me and forced me to try and apologise and then Yang punched me. You know the rest Jaune," Ruby quickly summarized.

Jaune nodded and turned to Yang, focusing entirely on her. "Okay then. Why did you punch Ruby, Yang?"

"Do I really need to do this?"

"If you wanted to fix the root of the issue between you two, then yeah."

"It's a bit personal. I'd rather not tell you."

"Yang, I once ended up on the receiving end of a dare to wear pigtails for a full day when I was younger. I'm not going to judge you for what happened between you, because it is quite likely that I've been through worse humiliation at the hands of my sisters. So, out with it."

She smirked teasingly at him, and even Ruby looked at him curiously. "Pigtails, huh?"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Don't change the subject, Yang."

Yang sighed. "Alright, I punched Ruby because I got mad; she wanted to avoid the party we're about to have. Then, a few minutes later, she comes to me saying she wants to apologise. It came across as fake, I got angrier and then I punched her before leaving. There, you happy Jaune?"

"What exactly did Ruby say?"

"She said, and I quote, "Blake died because of me"."

"Before that. We already know she said that. Everyone heard her. But there was some build-up to that. There always is between siblings."

"She earlier said she wanted nothing to do with me, then later agreed that she shouldn't have, while also not apologising directly."

"Alright." Jaune turned to face Ruby. "Why didn't you want to apologise?"

"Because Yang didn't apologise to Blake. She can't now at least. Why should I apologise to her if she can't do the same to the person who was her closest friend?"

The eyes of the girl in question shifted red. "Why you little-"

"Ah, alright. Yang, please leave the room. This is between me and Ruby now," interjected Jaune.

"But-"

"Forget about what she said and go. You can't fix this squabble, but I can."

Yang stood up while glaring at him. "Oh, you think you know everything about me or Ruby, don't you? Good luck with that, she'll never apologise."

"Seven sisters remember? This isn't the first time I've heard a girl say she won't apologise for something she did."

"Well, don't come crying to me if you can't fix it," her piece said, she then stormed out of the room.

After waiting for a few seconds as Yang's foot-stomps reverberated up the stairs outside the room, Jaune turned to the only other person who remained. "Alright Ruby, are you intending for Yang to get physically hurt like Blake?"

Ruby recoiled in horror at his words. "What? No, why would I want that? She's my sister!"

"Well, why do you want to hurt her emotionally?"

Her gaze turned cold. "Because she did the same to me. Remember the time we went to see Hiccup at the hospital and found he had woken from his coma? Yang and I argued then, where she told me she didn't want to talk to me again. It hurt, and a big part of me wants her to know how it felt."

Jaune sighed. "Okay. You know there was once a time I was forced to get pigtails?"

"You mentioned it briefly not long ago, yeah."

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, I hated all my sisters for that, to the point I thought about running away. But I forgave them eventually. You know why?"

Ruby stared at him. "Why?"

"Because to them, it wasn't a big thing. It was something they did without much thought. Now, Yang had lost her arm at the time, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So she was hurting. Anything she said back then, she said without thinking. Her mind was on Blake and Adam and losing a limb. Now it seems to me that you said what you did on purpose, which is fine since again, I thought about doing the same back when I was ten, but after you've done it, you're going to remember what you did, and you won't like it. So why not apologise and forget about it?"

Ruby's expression had been softening the longer Jaune spoke, and was now back to normal. "I tried that and got punched as a result. What if I screw it up and make things worse?"

"Let me offer you an incentive then. Hold still," Jaune placed a hand over the bruise on her forehead.

Ruby felt nothing beside his hand for a second, then was surprised to feel comforting warmth envelop the top portion of her face, while her aura flared.

"How are you doing that?" she wondered, trying to look up at him, only for his other hand to rest on her shoulder and hold her still.

"It's my semblance," was his reply. "I'll explain more about it later."

Ruby was fine with that. "Okay."

Then he withdrew his hand and glanced at her forehead. "Alright, let's go apologise to Yang properly this time. I'll come with you."

"I can't, I don't want her to get angry at me again."

"Well, my semblance will help with any punches that come your way, trust me. Besides, I think she is angry at me now as well. Let's go find her."

…

The duo, one confident and determined and the other reluctant and nervous, shared a look sometime later before they ventured out into the courtyard in front of the safehouse, where one blond-haired girl stood, gazing up at the sky.

"Leave me alone you two. You both made it clear that I don't matter to you," Yang told them, having heard the door slide open behind her, followed by two sets of footsteps.

One set stopped suddenly after hearing her words, while the other continued, not hesitating for a second.

Yang half turned to scold whoever it was when a warm hand came to rest on her shoulder. She tensed for a brief second before relaxing, as that same warmth spread through her whole body, from her head to her toes in an instant.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a head of blond, Jaune, who met her eyes and smiled before retracting his hand.

"I've talked with Ruby, and she wanted to apologise. Now I'm working on the knowledge that you've calmed down a bit. I trust you'll hear Ruby out, or deal with Nora and Ren back there, as well as myself," he said, jerking a thumb back which prompted Yang to turn around fully, noticing the aforementioned pair standing in the frame of the sliding door.

"Deal?" Jaune prompted.

"Deal," Yang agreed. "Ruby I-"

That was as far as she got before a red cloud of flower petals surged towards her in the blink of an eye before a short red-headed girl wrapped her arms around her torso.

"Yang, I'm so sorry for what I said to you. I don't know how I can even begin to make up for it, but I want to start now. Can you tell me what I can do?"

Yang returned the hug. "Just be yourself, Rubes. Turns out we're both hotheads, only you have much more kindness than I do, like Hiccup in a way. Now, this doesn't mean I'm quite ready to forget or forgive you for what you said, but you'll always be my little sister, and we can talk about it more after the party if you'll have me."

"Of course! You're my sister too!" Ruby exclaimed before she quietly adding. "Thank you, Yang, for putting up with me."

"You're welcome, Ruby," she replied before they broke apart and looked at each other.

"Ruby! Your bruise is… gone now? Wasn't it large and purple earlier?" Asked Yang, now wondering if she was dreaming.

"What?" Ruby muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Am I dreaming?" she then asked, unknowingly voicing Yang's thoughts.

"No, neither of you are dreaming," Jaune interjected. "You can thank my semblance for that. It lets me amplify the aura of anyone I choose through touch, allowing me to reduce how long it would take for an injury to heal."

"Lucky you Arc. Now you're useful to keep around," Yang said with a wink.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Ha. Ha. Ren, Nora, let's go inside. I'm no longer needed out here."

"I would like to apologise for my older sister, Jaune. She has very little tact most of the time," intoned Ruby.

"Tact? Where did you learn that word, Rubes?"

"Weiss of course."

"Of course. Right, I'm going inside before I catch 'ice queen' from you."

After she left, Ruby looked at Jaune. "Works every time. She thinks I'm turning into another Weiss. It's a great way to get rid of her when she gets annoying."

"Noted Ruby."

"And thanks, Jaune. I would have run away if you weren't there with me."

"You're welcome. Now I do believe it would be best if we went inside, don't you? Better than standing around here and talking."

"Yeah, it's also a little cold out. Let's go inside, fellow team leader."

…

Much later in the day; mid-afternoon to be more precise, a certain Auburn disembarked a certain ebony scaled creature.

"You guys head on inside. There's something I need to do first," said Hiccup as he pulled out his scroll.

"Okay," shrugged Astrid before she, Gobber and Arslan disappeared inside the safehouse while Stormfly began preening her wings.

As soon as they were gone, Hiccup unlocked the device and scanned the screen, which contained a message.

If you're able to, I'd like you to help me with something.

With what? he sent back to Weiss.

He got a reply almost immediately.

Getting those two faunus who were with Banesaw earlier, and the other criminals, to Vale so we can decide what to do with them.

And it couldn't wait until after the party, Weiss?

It can, but I'd rather get the matter over and done with, so I can move on.

Weiss, what do you plan to do to them as punishment? Thought Hiccup, with a small amount of concern before he began to type out his next message.

I'm on my way, but Astrid and the others will have questions as to where I went. He sent the reply back to her, choosing not to voice his concern.

I'll handle them if need be.

Figuring the conversation was over, he pocketed his scroll before climbing onto Toothless's saddle once again, to the dragons' confusion, with the Night Fury glancing back at his human.

"I want you to head back to Mistral airport so I can go find Qrow and the others, Toothless," said Hiccup. "Weiss wants to do something. Fly there as fast as you can, bud."

Crooning in understanding as he recognised the names and the instruction his rider gave him, Toothless spread his wings and leapt into the air, angling himself northwest and flying away.

…

One flight, reunion, a short walk and brief discussion later, Weiss, Hiccup, Qrow, Port and Oobleck were on their way in a dropship to dock with the airship overhead.

They were all standing in the cargo hold at the rear of the craft, as it, unlike a Bullhead, was designed for airdrops through and through and as such there was only room for one pilot outside the hold.

"I don't like having to leave Toothless alone like this. This visit you feel is necessary better be worth it, Weiss," said Hiccup.

"I'll try to make it quick," she replied.

"Also, where did those members of Faunus First go?"

"They're on the way back to Vale, as they have work to do, being a bigger part of the Vale Council now that Violet is dead," filled in Qrow.

"Alright then."

When the craft docked with the larger airship, the cargo hold opened and the group were escorted to the bridge by the pilot and a welcoming party of two more soldiers.

"They say they want to talk to the prisoners who were captured and brought here recently sir," reported the pilot as he was questioned upon arrival to the bridge, where they found General Mondschein conversing with the captain there.

"Which ones exactly?" The General asked them.

Oobleck stepped forward. "All of them. We intend to bring them all back to Vale and decide what to do with them there."

General Mondschein stared at him for a long moment. "On whose authority?"

"Vale's. I and my two colleagues are members of the Vale Council," continued the green-haired man, gesturing at Qrow and Port.

"I'll need to double-check that to be sure."

"Understandable. I can put you in touch with Professor Ozpin if you wish."

The general blinked in surprise. "Ozpin? The headmaster of Beacon? I heard he was killed months ago."

"He survived, but how he did it is classified," interjected Qrow as he took out his scroll, unlocked it and dialled a number before holding it to his ear. "Oz, I'm with someone who wants to talk to you about our soon to be prisoners. Yes, I'll put him on."

Qrow held out the device to Mondschein. "Try not to drop it in shock, General,"

The man eyed Qrow with a great deal of scepticism but accepted the scroll. As he held it to his ear, a collection of emotions was displayed on his face; Skepticism, disbelief, and, to the surprise of everyone besides himself, relief; in the form of a small smile.

"Well then, it all checks out. It will take a while to transport everyone to Vale, however. A few days or so," he said, handing the scroll back to Qrow as he spoke. "Is that okay with you?"

"Certainly," said Port, speaking up now. "My close friend and I were hoping to speak to some of the prisoners tomorrow if possible anyway."

"And I wish for all the Dust in the armoury belonging to the Branwen tribe that were recently seized to be returned to the SDC," added Weiss.

"Those can both be arranged," agreed Monschein. "Now if that is all, I can have my men escort you to the surface."

"That is all, general. We'll take our leave now," said Oobleck.

"Alright, someone escort them to the hangar bay and make sure they get to the surface, safely,"

…

It was 4:30 when they stepped inside the safehouse. As they did, they found that the interior was decorated with foil banners on the walls and party food; candy, crisps, soda and the like, arranged on the table that was surrounded by the three sofas.

The sofas were all occupied, with some of Jaune's sisters having to stand as a result.

"You're back!" Exclaimed Ruby, noticing Hiccup first and looking his way,

"Yeah, I'm back. Now I don't know about you, but I think we should try something new unlike our last party," he replied.

"What do you mean?" Wondered Ruby, tilting her head to the side.

"I can't believe I'm going to suggest this, but maybe we should all follow Qrow's example, just this once."

"Qrow's- No, no alcohol. Not for Ruby or Astrid for that matter, as she's pregnant and my daughter is too young Hiccup," protested Taiyang. "We have soda here already. Why would we need alcohol?"

"You have a point about Astrid, but the rest are practically adults at this point," said Port. "They deserve to celebrate properly. Besides, I'll make sure that things don't get out of hand with the others."

"Me too," added Gobber. "I would very much like to become a godfather, so no screwing it up, lass or laddie," he said this, without paying Hiccup and Astrid's light blushes any mind.

"Then it's settled. Someone go buy alcohol and we can get this party started for real," the matriarch of the Arc family added.

"I'll go," said Qrow.

"I'll come with you," said Oobleck.

"As will I," said Port. We'll need to bring pizzas back anyways,"

"In that case, we'll need a list of what drinks and pizza toppings everyone wants," said Taiyang.

"Well back home there is Mead or Ale or Whisky in Gobber's private stash," said Hiccup. "I'd like to try some Ale. What say, you Astrid?"

"I'd like to try it too. I wonder what it tastes like," she stated.

"No alcohol for you, since you're pregnant," Oobleck told her.

"Oh yeah… nevermind then,"

"Oh, keep an eye on how much Gobber drinks. If he gets drunk then we'll all regret it," warned Hiccup.

"Yeah, Gobber's infamous off-key singing," muttered Astrid with a haunted look.

"You've heard it too? Oh you poor thing," said Hiccup.

"Oi! Mah singing is beautiful," Gobber protested.

"As a torture device, absolutely," Hiccup commented wryly.

"I'm considering getting him drunk just to hear it," said Qrow with a smirk.

"No don't!" Hiccup and Astrid chorused. "Trust us on that."

"Alright, amusing tale aside, what does everyone want?" Asked Oobleck, his scroll now in hand.

"Irish Coffee," said Coco.

"Sunset Rum," rumbled Yatsuhashi.

"Fox and I will take Whisky," said Velvet, with Fox nodding along.

"You two have good taste," stated Qrow. "I'll take some Whisky as well."

"I'll take beer as you know, Bart," said Port.

"I'll take some of that Sunset Rum," said Nicholas. "Children of mine, what will you have?"

"I'll take red wine dear," said Sarah.

"I'll take white wine," replied Violet and Saphron in turn, with the other five girls choosing red wine.

"I'll go with beer," said Jaune.

"Who's next?" asked Oobleck, when he finished typing all that into a list.

"I'll take something fruity, like Cider. What about you three?" Asked Yang, looking at Weiss, Ren and Nora in turn.

"Some Cider sounds good. I'll have that," responded Weiss.

"Me too," chimed in Ruby.

"I'll take some Ale. I want to know what it tastes like," replied Nora.

"I'll have some Tsingtao. It's a popular drink here in Mistral," stated Ren.

"I'll have the same," said Arslan.

"Alright, now what kind of pizza does everyone want?"

"I'd like pineapple and ham on my pizza please," said Jaune.

Yang groaned. "Yuck, no wonder you threw up on my shoes the day we met, vomit boy,"

"I have motion sickness. Me throwing up back then had nothing to do with my favourite kind of Pizza."

"She's just messing with you, Jaune. Ignore her," said Ruby.

"Hey!"

"Sure thing Ruby," said Jaune, prompting Ruby to smirk teasingly at her sister.

Oobleck coughed. "Getting back on track now, who else has a topping in mind?"

"I'll take a cheese pizza," said Velvet. "Fox, Coco and Yatsu usually have Pepperoni."

"I'll have anything vegetarian," said Sarah. "My husband and daughters won't mind what they get as long as they don't get ham and pineapple on their pizzas."

"Cheese pizza for me, barbeque sauce and chicken for Nora. It's her favourite pizza," said Ren.

Oobleck nodded. "Alright. Who else?"

"I'd like to try what Jaune's having since I've had pepperoni before," said Hiccup.

"I'll take that as well," said Astrid.

"Eww, your eating choice is spreading," commented Yang, but went ignored by everyone present, much to her chagrin.

"I'll take a pizza with Bacon or Pepperoni. Yang, Ruby and Qrow usually pick the same," said Taiyang.

"Yeah, that's because it's the best!" chorused both sisters.

"Indeed it is, Pipsqueak, Firecracker," intoned Qrow. "Is that everyone now?"

"I'll have a chicken fajita pizza," said Arslan. "There's a takeaway restaurant that my cousin works at in the city. It's called Hot Slice. They sell those there."

"Sounds exotic. I'll have that," said Port.

"As will I. Would you mind showing us where this place is?" Oobleck asked Arslan.

"No, not at all. Follow me."

Once this was all decided and the quartet had set off, Astrid got up from where she had been sitting next to Gobber and approached Hiccup. "Where did you go earlier?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to speak, but Weiss, who was nearby, did so first. "He was helping me with something on General Mondschein's ship."

"Not quite true. I just stood there. I didn't even say anything. You didn't need me there."

"True," Weiss admitted. "You didn't say anything. But you helped; Albeit in a different way."

Astrid and Hiccup stared at her in confusion. "Having you there stopped me from doing something I would later regret. That's all I will say about that."

They exchanged a glance. "Uh, sure thing Weiss."

She nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now I'm hungry and there's food. Excuse me."

…

It was sometime around five pm when Qrow, Oobleck, Port and Arslan returned, the former laden with the requested drinks in bags and the latter carrying stacks of pizza boxes, meaning the party could commence.

There was a flurry of activity as everyone arrived for their respective pizza and drink, before scrambling for a spot on the three available sofas.

Following that, Jaune, Arslan and Velvet ended up on one, Hiccup, Astrid and Ren on another and Ruby, Yang and Yatsuhashi on the last sofa, with Ruby's sofa facing Jaune's and Hiccup's off to the side.

There was an armchair between Jaune and Hiccup's respective sofas, that Nora took up so she could sit beside Jaune and Ren.

Then Qrow, Taiyang and the other adults entered the room, in addition to Jaune's sisters.

"So as there aren't enough seats for everyone here, I'm going to make a toast before finding a room and leaving you fine men and women to it," Nicholas Arc announced.

He waited until every eye was on him before continuing. "I don't know most of you very well, but in the time I've been with you, I've seen that despite the death of your friend, Blake, you all managed to stay close to each other; something that is less common among Huntsmen and Huntresses than you might think. I certainly wish to have had friends like you all when I was your age. Keep at it, kids."

Then he raised the bottle of beer in his right hand. "To moving forward!"

"To moving forward!" Everyone else chorused.

"Now enjoy yourselves, everyone. I'm going to spend some time alone with my wife. Drink responsibly and all that, you lot. You, in particular, daughters and son of mine. Got it?" He asked, looking at his seven daughters first and then lingering on his son.

"Yes, dad," they chorused, with each looking at him in the eye.

Nicholas gave a satisfied nod before turning to address Sarah. "Let's go now love."

…

A/N: The rest of the party to come next chapter. Expect a fair bit of drunken chaos to unfold there.