Ephemeral Dream

Summary: Jaune Arc isn't strong, smart, or skilled. Even so, he dreams of a future in which he is a Huntsman. He dreams of friendship, combat, and love. But every dreamer must wake. "Not yet…" He whispered, tears of blood streaking down his cheeks. "I can't let this dream end… Until I've turned it to reality." Gamer Jaune!

Warnings: Crossovers, strong and smart Jaune, later quite OP. Possible Harem.

X: Cloud and Rain

Summer left the kitchen, going upstairs to wake everyone up. While she did that, I grabbed a plate and set it up with food. "Take it to my room, make sure Summer doesn't see you, and enjoy eating," I told Lancer.

She nodded, grabbing the plate and astralising with it before she headed upstairs to go and eat.

With that done, I finished up making breakfast, and began to set the table for the six of us to eat. As I set it, I heard a gasp of surprise. Turning my gaze, I saw Ruby standing there, cheeks burning red as I stared at me.

"J- Jaune…?"

"That is my name," I told her.

"Y- You… Y- You're…" She didn't quite seem to be able to get the words out.

"I'm what?"

She kept spluttering and stuttering, unable to speak. Yang came up behind her, yawning. "Ruby, why are you standing in the way…" She trailed off as she saw me, eyes widening. "Holy crap, Jaune got hot!"

I blushed warmly, shifting my gaze away from them. It was one thing for me to think I was attractive, it was another for one of my close, personal, female friends to say the same thing.

"The heck happened to you!?" Yang said as she moved closer, reaching out and grabbing my arm. I snatched it away, but Yang's eyes were wide. "Holy hell, that's solid muscle! You did not look like this in the gym uniform last week, how did you get so fit in that time!?"

"… Push-ups, sit-ups, and plenty of juice," I told her with as serious of a face as I could, though I felt it was diminished slightly by my red cheeks.

"… What kind of juice?" She asked… Did my Charisma make her take me seriously?

"Apple, though you can use any," I told her, before I finished setting the table and took a seat. I cast a glance to the doorway, seeing Tai, Raven, and Summer making their way in together.

"Woah!" Tai blinked. "Quite a spread you made for us today, Summer! We haven't had a standard Vale Breakfast in forever!"

Summer shook her head, taking a seat. "I didn't make this, Jaune did."

Ruby and Yang's eyes lit up. "Aw yes!" Ruby fist pumped. "More of Jaune's delicious food!"

Tai looked at them before looking at me, silently asking a question.

I rubbed the back of my head. "Well after I re-kindled my friendship with Yang and Ruby, I sort of brought the mood down with some depressing talk. So, to make up for it, I let them have one of the pork balls I'd brought along for lunch. They liked them so much, that I had to promise to make a bit extra for them to eat with their lunch."

"Well, now you've hyped up your cooking," Tai laughed. "Better hope it lives up to it."

I only smiled. "Please, feel free to eat," I told them, before I dug in myself, carefully watching their reaction.

Ruby and Yang dug in with a gusto, wide smiles on their faces. Summer smiled, pleased with what she was eating. Tai and Raven's eyes both shot wide, and they began to devour their food like it was going to vanish if they didn't eat it fast enough.

I only smiled; glad they were enjoying my cooking. I finished off my own meal and relaxed in my seat, crossing one leg over the other as I observed them.

'Jaune!'

I blinked. 'Yes, Lancer?'

'This food is amazing! You're definitely cooking for me every single day once you move into your new house!'

I held back a chuckle. 'Sure. I'm already going to be cooking for myself and Neo, what's one more mouth?'

I could feel her joy through our link, before I focused on reality as everyone else began to finish eating their meals.

"… That," Tai said. "Was one of the most delicious meals I've ever had in my life… No offence Summer."

"None taken," she said with a smile. "I'll freely admit that I don't think I'll ever be able to make a breakfast that tastes this good…" Her eyes lit up. "I'm very much looking forward to our cooking matches in the future, Jaune. I haven't been pushed to try my hardest for a cooking match since back at Beacon."

"Well… I'll try to live up to your expectations."

She only smiled, before gathering the plates and going to wash up.

"Ah, wait, I was going to-!"

"No, no!" She wagged her finger. "You already took cooking breakfast from me; you won't take my dishes!"

I held my hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine. In that case, I'm going back out to keep training."

"Oh, what are you training in?" Yang asked.

"My fighting style," I told her. "I already decided that I'm going to use Gauntlets and Boots as my primary weapons at Beacon, so I'm training my fighting style so that they are more relevant once I have them."

"Oh, fair enough," Yang nodded. "Mind if I train with you?"

"Sure," I shrugged.

"I'll train too!" Ruby stood up.

"No swords," I told her. "Only Hands and Feet."

Ruby pouted and sat down. "… On second thought, I'll just play Video Games."

I only chuckled and nodded, slowly getting up. "You can let your food process and change into more fitting workout clothes," I told Yang. "I'm gonna go out and get to training."

"Shouldn't you let your food go down too?" She asked me.

"Nope," I waved them off as I made my way back outside, checking the time on my H.U.D. Around 8:45 AM. I could master three more skills, then I'd have a quick shower and put on some clothes before going to meet Blake in town.

I didn't waste any time as I set to work on training, not even slowing down or stopping when Yang came out to join me. Even when Yang suggested I take a break, I politely turned her down and kept training. I wanted to be as strong as possible, and prepared for anything that was going to come in the future.

[Black Dragon's Upper Thrust Kick is now Level MAX.]

[Due to reaching Level Max, Black Dragon's Upper Thrust Kick is now Rank A.]

[Hei Long's 2000 Years has levelled up.]

[Due to reaching Level 20, Hei Long's 2000 Years is now Rank D.]

[Black Dragon's Shockwave Fist is now Level MAX.]

[Due to reaching Level Max, Black Dragon's Shockwave Fist is now Rank A+.]

[Black Dragon's Fangs is now Level MAX.]

[Due to reaching Level Max, Black Dragon's Fangs is now Rank A.]

I exhaled heavily as I finally stopped training, sweat covering my form. While I didn't get tired in the traditional sense any more, I was starting to feel a bit exhausted. Three skills trained to Level Max in only around two and a half hours!

I wiped sweat from my forehead as I slowly made my way back inside, heading through the living room to get to the kitchen. Raven took one look at me and whistled, "Cold bottles are in the fridge."

"Ah, thank you," I told her, opening the fridge and grabbing a cold bottle of water, before closing it and heading to the living room, opening it up and drinking it slowly.

Ah… That was refreshing…

"Training hard I see," Raven noted. "How long until you have that fighting style mastered?"

I lowered the water bottle from my lips. "Due to some hefty advantages," exploits, how I loved them, "Probably… Sunday Night at the latest."

Raven snapped her gaze to me, eyes widening. "… How?"

I debated on what to say… Before going with a half-truth. "My semblance is a bit multi-purpose," I told her. "One of the things it does is let me learn various techniques faster than others. It only started kicking in recently, but because of that I'm learning incredibly fast."

"… That's impressive," she noted. "… Beyond impressive. It's always the smaller semblance that have the biggest effects… Tai's is a good example of that."

I nodded, but didn't pry. I didn't know what Tai's semblance was and, while I was curious, it wasn't an immediate concern so I decided not to get into it.

"Thank you again for buying the house in your name," I told her.

"It's no trouble," she waved it off. "This way the girls can see you more often, you get away from your family, and Summer, Tai, and I are able to keep a close eye on you to make sure you're doing okay. Plus, it'll give us something to do while the girls are at school thanks to that Neo girl. Win for everybody."

I only nodded, taking another swig from the bottle. "… Be straight with me, how much is Yang going to flirt now that I look like this?"

Raven looked at me with a serious expression. "Yes."

I stared at her… And then groaned.

~~Ephemeral Dream~~

After a shower and a change of clothes, I headed to the meeting point for my day with Blake. I sat on one of the benches, relaxing as I waited. I was going to wear something more conservative, but it was such a nice day and, as I recently discovered, I had a hot body so I decided to go with something to show off just a bit.

I was dressed in a pair of tight jeans, and a simple white t-shirt that clung to my chest and showed off my now muscular arms. I hadn't equipped the slicked back hair cosmetic, instead deciding to let it sit naturally.

'You sure cleaned up nicely for what's just friends hanging out, Jaune,' Lancer said in a teasing voice.

'Lancer.'

'Yes?'

'Shut up.'

Her laughs rang in my mind, making me blush lightly as I stared down at my lap.

It was the first time I'd been able to consider myself as attractive, so I wanted to show off. Before, I looked maybe slightly above average, but still not high enough to be called that. Now though, I was much more attractive, to the point where I wanted to show off my appearance a little bit.

I didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

'So, what do you have planned for your little day out?' Lancer asked me.

'Nothing, really,' I responded. 'I don't really know too much about what Blake likes, besides ninjas, reading, and tuna.'

'… Tuna?'

'She's a cat faunus.'

'That's a bit of a stereotype she's following. What, does she hate dogs too?'

I didn't respond.

'… Oh my god, she hates dogs? Even puppies?'

'… Especially puppies.'

'What in the fuck is wrong with her? Puppies are cute and cuddly; how can you hate puppies?'

'I didn't really ask, Lancer. It didn't seem too important at the time.'

'Jaune, I don't think you should date this girl.'

'This isn't a date, Lancer!'

'Your blush when I call it a date says otherwise!'

'Lancer, I swear I will-!'

'She's here- oh wow, she looks good!'

I shifted my gaze up, and felt my eyes widen at the sight of the cat faunus.

Blake looked… Good. She was dressed in a pair of black pants that hugged her legs, a black crop top that showed off her midriff, and a white jacket was wrapped around her waist for if it got a bit too cold.

Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and I had to admit that it looked very good on her. She was also wearing a light amount of makeup that really helped enhance her looks.

Forget good; she looked downright gorgeous.

'She's certainly dressed up nice for a not date.'

'Shut up, Lancer!' I snapped, feeling a bit flustered. I saw her looking around… Was she looking for me? But I was right here…

Oh right, new physique… I couldn't entirely blame her; the System had certainly helped me out there. I wasn't entirely sure how it worked, but I believe the system changed my body to match my stats once they reached a certain point. With such good stats in strength, dexterity, and vitality, I was now ripped with a balanced build.

I got up and made my way over to her. "Hey, Blake."

She looked at me, and her eyes widened, a hue of red coming to her cheeks. "J- Jaune?"

"That is my name," I told her with a small grin.

"Y- You look…"

"Different?" I answered. "Yeah… I guess my semblance made a few changes to my body."

"Your semblance?" She tilted her head. "You mean the swords, or the flames?"

"My semblance is a bit more complicated than that," I told her. "I don't know how to explain it, but it seems to have changed my body a bit so… I look like this now. Not a fan of the new look?"

She rapidly shook her head. "N- No, not at all! I was just caught off guard! You look… G- Good."

I gave a small smile. "You're looking pretty good yourself."

That red hue grew brighter as she turned her gaze away.

"So," I steered the conversation. "What have you got planned for our day today?"

She looked at me, clearly trying to stop herself from blushing with limited success. "Well…" She rubbed the back of her head as she took deep breaths. "I was thinking we could go check out that new Sushi place in town. After that… I was thinking we could both pick an activity to do for an hour or two."

"Ah, so split the day evenly so we're both satisfied," I told her. "Smart. What do you wanna do?"

"Book store to read," she said. "If possible, I'd like for us to discuss things like books, our favourites. Ig we share a favourite, we can talk about fun theories, stuff like that."

"Sounds like a plan," I nodded. "For me, I think going for a walk sounds good. Just a nice walk around town, we can make small talk and such, discuss plans for the future."

"Deal," she smiled.

I gave her a teasing smile. "Well 'Princess,' lead the way."

She shot me a minorly annoyed look, but I could see a bit of amusement in her eyes, before she led me through the town.

As we walked through town, we got a lot of looks and I swore I saw several men and women blushing as they looked at us, as well as some jealous looks from others.

'Oh, of course,' I thought to myself. 'We're two attractive people walking through town together, a man and a woman. They're probably thinking we're dating or something.'

"Let's walk a bit faster, I hate being stared at," Blake told me.

"Hm? Sure," I nodded as we picked up the pace a bit. "You don't like being stared at?"

"No," she shook her head. "I hate it. I'm usually stared at because of my ears, and I don't like it…"

"I think you're being stared at because you're an attractive young woman wearing clothes that compliment your figure," I told her, before my hand slapped over my mouth as my eyes widened and my cheeks burned.

Why did I say that!? I mean, it was true, but still!

Thankfully, Blake didn't seem to take offence. Instead, she just blushed and looked away from me. "Oh um… Thank you. That's very sweet of you."

I uncovered my mouth, clearing my throat. "So, um… I never really asked, but where does your family live?"

"Mistral," she said, taking a breath. "We used to live on Menagerie, but my dad's company lifted off the ground in a major way so we moved to Mistral as our new main area of operations."

"Oh, that's cool," I said. "Must suck that you had to leave your friends behind though."

"It wasn't great," she sighed. "It was hard making friends, since I didn't know if they wanted to be friends with me or if they wanted to be friends with 'The Princess of Faunus.' Eventually, though, I did manage to find a friend in Pyrrha. She knows what it's like to be famous, so she's been a great friend to me."

My eyes snapped to her. "Pyrrha… As in… Pyrrha Nikos? The Prodigy?"

Blake looked back at me with a small grin. "Yep, that's her."

Pyrrha Nikos. A Huntress Prodigy. At thirteen years old, she graduated from her education, and then applied for and was accepted at Beacon Academy. She hadn't skipped any grades since, but she was going to have graduated from Beacon by the time I was seventeen in just two years!

There were news articles about her prodigious skill. As only a first-year student at Beacon, she won the Vytal Festival almost single-handedly! She'd no doubt gotten better since then, and people fully expected her to win when the Festival came around again the following year!

"How are there not news articles about that?" I asked. I was sure the media would have been all over that if Blake and Pyrrha knew each other.

"Dad doesn't like news about me getting out," she told me. "He has a pretty firm hold over the newspaper, and makes sure no news gets out. He's very well respected, and has a lot of power, so they make sure not to do anything to make him angry. Pyrrha's family also hired agents to make sure they could control what was posted about Pyrrha, didn't want people to be hating on their daughter."

I gave a nod of understanding, before Blake led me into a nice-looking restaurant. As soon as we came in, we were led to a table, told it was all you can eat Sushi place and asked what we'd like to drink. Blake asked for a cola, I asked for water.

"So, all you can eat huh?" I grinned at her. "I think someone wanted Sushi a bit too much, don't you?"

She gave a small blush. "Um… Yeah, sorry. They don't just have sushi though. They also have other stuff like fries, chicken nuggets, things like that. It gives them a wider range of customers by doing that, which means more money."

I gave a nod of understanding. "Right," I stood up. "Let's go grab some food, I'm pretty hungry myself!"

~~Ephemeral Dream~~

After our admittedly good buffet, we made our way to the local library, grabbed some books and began to read while making idle chitchat.

As it turned out, both Blake and I particularly liked Rick Riordan's alternate world settings and the entire mythos he'd created for his books. The 'Percy Jackson' series and 'The Kane Chronicles' were both book series we enjoyed, and we spent almost the full two hours talking about them.

Blake was a big fan of the Hunters of Artemis, though she wasn't a fan of the 'No dating' rule, even if she understood why Artemis did it. It was, for that reason, she preferred the Amazon's from the Heroes of Olympus over Artemis's hunters. They had a similar 'all girls' rule, but they did see the importance of men… Though she thought the whole collaring them thing was a bit much.

"I understand wanting people to know to leave your man be," she'd said. "But a collar is just not okay, it's more like they're slaves than their lovers. Very much not cool."

I'd responded with that I appreciated that, despite Artemis being a notorious man-hater according to the mythos Rick had created- which he'd written a completely separate book about for all the myths and legends he'd created- she didn't actually seem to hate boys as much as it seemed. She obviously didn't like them a lot or anything, but she didn't exactly seem to dislike them either. I thought she seemed a bit wearier of them than anything, which I chalked up to her past experiences with Orion.

After reading and discussing, we put the books back into place and began a walk through the park, still discussing the books for a while as we walked.

"I'm just saying," she said. "The age gap between Walt and Sadie is just a bit concerning since Sadie is like, thirteen to fourteen by the end of the series, while Walt is around seventeen to eighteen or at least implied to be. It's just a bit of a worrying age gap, know what I mean?"

"No, I get it," I told her with a nod. "The age gap is a bit of a worry, though I don't think he's actually seventeen to eighteen, I think he's meant to be more fifteen to sixteen, he's just tall for his age."

"Still just a bit concerning, that's all I'm saying," she grumbled. "I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one."

"Seems so," I nodded.

There was a stretch of silene.

"… Could you show me your flames again?"

I shifted my gaze to her, raising an eyebrow. "… Why?"

"… The first time I saw them," she said softly. "It was a bit scary, but I felt so… Peaceful. Warm… I don't really know how to describe it, but I felt… Complete, if that makes sense. I felt like something I was missing was back, I felt whole."

"And you want to see if you'll get that feeling again."

"Yes," she nodded, clearly not ashamed to admit that.

I hesitated for a moment… Before I decided it couldn't hurt. Blake was already in a Guardian Bond with me, and it couldn't be broken unless I deliberately did something to betray her trust, or one of us died. There was no good reason why I should turn down her request to see my Sky Flames.

I looked around to make sure nobody was too close, before I lifted my hand… And let the orange flames come to life.

I watched Blake's reaction, the flames reflected in her amber eyes as she stared at them, completely captivated.

"… So warm…" She said softly. "So… Good…" She leaned against me, her head moving a bit closer to the flames.

I closed my hand quickly, snuffing the flames out. "I can teach you how to create your own, if you like?"

Her eyes snapped to me, widening. "How?"

"Those flames aren't my semblance," I told her. "They're called 'Dying Will Flames,' or Soul Fire. From what I can tell, they're born from the resolution to do something even to death, and to bring it forth as a flame. There are eight types of flames; Sky, Storm, Cloud, Mist, Rain, Lightning, Sun, and Night. Each flame possesses a different factor that has its own advantages. My flames, Sky Flames, possess the factor of Harmony."

Her eyes widened. "That's why I felt whole! The flames were portraying a feeling of harmony, balance!"

I nodded. "Precisely. Why don't you give it a shot? Think of something you would fight for, even to death… And then turn it into flames."

Blake stopped walking, prompting me to do the same. Her eyes glazed over as she thought, bringing her palm up. We stood there in silence for a short while, her eyes misty and her mind elsewhere…

Before flames of deep purple burst to life on her hand, making her yelp, before she stared at them. "I… I did it!" She smiled, staring at the purple flames on her hands. "What kind of flames are these?"

"Cloud Flames," I told her, recalling it from the Bond Menu. "Sadly, I don't know the factor of those flames. You'll need to experiment with them in your own time, but be careful. Dying Will Flames are very dangerous, as I'm sure you saw back then."

A sombre look overcame her face at the reminder of what we'd both been through, and she gave a nod. She closed her hand, the flames snuffing out. "I will be…" She smiled. "But it will be fun to train with them, at least. Just you watch, by the time Beacon starts, I'll have these flames mastered."

"Don't be afraid to call me," I told her. "Or text me about them, I'll do my best to help you over any roadblocks you might find yourself going through with them. I'm learning about them as I go too, so we're in this together. You got that?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I got it…"

She then surprised me by wrapping me in a hug. I blinked in surprise and hesitated before I returned it, gently rubbing her back.

"… Thank you," she said.

"Huh?"

"For being my friend," she said. "For not making a big deal out of my fame. For… For saving me from that place, and for giving me another way to increase my strength. Thank you, Jaune."

I gave a small smile as I pat her back. "Hey, what are friends for?"

[Your Bond Rank with Blake Belladonna has increased to C.]

I banished the notification, not letting it ruin the moment Blake and I were having.

We stood there for a bit before she pulled away, a warm blush on her cheeks before we began to walk again.

Right as I turned, whoever, I let out a grunt as I felt someone bump into me. I heard a yelp in front of me, and reached a hand out while looking at them. "Oh jeez, sorry about that-!"

Beautiful.

I stopped talking the instant I saw her face, hand outstretched to help her up.

Eyes of ocean blue, pale and beautiful skin like snow, contrasted by her long, silky black hair, as if the beauty of a starry sky had been used as inspiration when she was created.

She wore a simple white dress, the band of her handbag resting on her shoulder, and white flipflops to match her attire. She was the very incarnation of beauty, of purity, given form before me right now.

She looked up at me… And gave me a gentle smile that made my heart skip a beat as she took my hand.

"No, I'm sorry," she said. Even her voice was beautiful, the sweet sound lingering in my ears. "I was just so fascinated by Vale; I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"No, it- it's fine…" I stuttered softly as I helped her up. "I'm uh… I'm Jaune Arc…" I gestured to Blake, who was also staring at the girl in front of us with slightly red cheeks, just as captivated by her beauty as I was. "This is my friend, Blake."

The girl gave the both of us a pretty smile. "My name is Miyuki Shiba, I'll be attending Signal Academy starting on Monday. It's lovely to meet you, Blake, Jaune."

"Do you need a guide around Vale?" Blake blurted out suddenly. "We'll um… We'll show you around."

Her blue eyes lit up, and both Blake and I felt ourselves blushing as she brought her hands together. "Oh, that would be wonderful! Thank you ever so much for your kindness! I'll make sure to repay you somehow!"

"… Don't even worry about it," I told her.

[You have forged a Friendship Bond with Miyuki Shiba.]

At that time, staring at the beauty in front of me, I had no idea that my flames were burning inside of my soul, coaxing the wonderful rain into my sky…

Publish Date: 1st October 2020

Word Count: 4,577

And that's it for chapter 10.

I'll admit, I actually wanted to drag this chapter out a bit more, but I just couldn't find a way to do so. Instead of burning myself out trying to figure it out, I decided I'd just write what felt natural. Ruby and Yang have now seen how attractive Jaune is, and are starting to find themselves interested. Likewise, Blake has now seen him and is finding interest.

Miyuki has now also been introduced. For those curious, she was not one of the people in Jaune's dream, but that does not mean she is any less of an important character- as you saw by the last line of the chapter. Miyuki is going to be a very important character in this fic, so look forward to seeing her more.

Now, time to respond to some reviews! (As best I can. Again, F-list has not fixed the fact that reviews are not showing up on the site, so I can only view them via my email, which means I can't respond to the longer reviews simply because I can't see them in their entirety.)

Guest: He isn't using Alteration yet because he's already decided on the set order he's going to learn/max level his magecraft. He's starting with Projection, then he's moving onto Structural Analysis, then Alteration, and then Reinforcement. The reason for this is, while he doesn't know it, the order of learning the basics of magecraft is actually Gradation Air - Alteration - Reinforcement. He is subconsciously choosing to learn them in this order because that is the order of learning the basics.

prophecysl4yer: Dying Will Flames are fuelled by your will, so they don't cost MP or HP, though extended use of them can lead to mental fatigue and exhaustion. As for why he only knows Shiro's skills, Gradation Air, Alteration, and Reinforcement are the three fundamental basics of magecraft in that order. Each magus has to find their own path, but they all learn those skills to start with. If he wants to branch off into his own, he has to study deeper into magecraft. It's also why his skill in it is so low. As Shiro says, he's a third-rate Magus.

Hecseferblade: I have no plans to give Jaune any other fighting styles at the moment, for reasons I'll state later in the story.

Jowasud: Responding to this is gonna get me a lot of shock and maybe some hate but... I've never actually seen Jojo's bizzare adventure. I'm not a fan of its art style, and art style is one of the BIGGEST things in anime/manga that draws me in or rejects me. I've heard good things about Jojo, but I've never seen it purely because I'm not a fan of the art style.

Oh and, for those who are wondering, Miyuki is from Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (Or Irregular at a Magic High School as its english name is.)

Anyway, that's it from me for now guys. This is Ezras Hargrave, signing off!