Welcome back reader! Hope your enjoying this story so far. This chapter is not based off any episode from RWBY, however, there will be one part in this chapter that is taken directly of the Sharpe series.Hope you'll enjoy it, as that is soldiering!

Chapter 18: A Spartan's Birthday

Beacon Dorms, Vale

It was early in the morning when Pyrrha woke up with a yawn.

"Good morning Jaune..."

No response.

"Jaune?" She then turned to her partner's bed and discovered that he wasn't there. Just then, her phone rang and she hastily picked it up expecting it to be Jaune, however, it turned out to be her mother.

"Hello?" The Spartan answered.

"Pyrrha? Sweetie? Where's my little Champion?" Came her mother's sweet voice.

Pyrrha smiled as she turned on her video "Hi mom!" She waved with a smile.

"There she is! Hello birthday champ! How's everything at Beacon?" Her mother replied as she herself turned her video on, revealing a much older Pyrrha, but with shorter hair.

Pyrrha smiled as she replied "Everything's fine mother. I actually enjoy being here, I made a lot of new friends here."

"Oh is that so? Any... boys you have in your sights?" Her mother smirked.

"Mom!" Pyrrha blushed as she looked around to make sure she was alone in the room. Fortunately she was.

"Is it wrong to ask my girl about her love life?"

"I... well..."

"Hmm... I think she does have a little crush. Fortunately, that's not the reason for me calling you, it's about your birthday party. I'm sending a bullhead to pick you up at 10 am sharp. Just dress is your combat attire, we'll sort out your dress once you get to our apartment here in Vale."

Pyrrha was shocked by the sudden arrangements, sure she expected this, but not as sudden as now "O-okay... can I at the very least bring my partner with me?"

"If he's free for today sure, who is he anyway?"

"Jaune Arc..."

"An Arc? Your partners with an Arc? Why that's wonderful, ask her if she's free today indeed."

"She? Mother, my partner is a he."

"The son? You got partnered up with his only son?"

"Uh... yes?"

Pyrrha's mom smiled "Then you better make sure I get to see him tonight. His father will be there as well."

Pyrrha nodded as she said her farewells whilst her mother did the same.

Then after ending the call, she decided to send her partner a quick text before heading for the shower.

Beacon's Ampitheatre, Vale

"Alright, is everyone here?" Jaune's voice echoed in the Ampitheatre as he adressed the assembled students.

"Team RWBY's present!" Ruby called out as she raised her hand.

"So is CRDL." Cardin said as he casually raised his own hand.

"Nora!" Cheered the Hammer Maiden.

"Ren."

Soon, the rest of the teams that were close with JNPR sounded off, from CFVY to SSSN.

"Good, then I think you know why were all here then." Jaune stated as he recieved a multitude of affirmatives from his friends.

The Arc nodded in response before continuing "Okay, then. Sitrep on our progress. Coco."

The Fashionista rose from her seat and replied "I've looked at the uniform designs that you've sent me and compared them to the sizes of everyone here, and I can say that we'll have everything ready by afternoon."

"Good, anyways, Ruby, infiltration plans?"

Ruby and Blake stood up and gave their report "Thanks to our annonymous tip, we've managed to draw up a plan that could easily guarantee our entry without alerting anyone."

Jaune stepped aside and ushered them to present the plans they had, and the 2 did so.

A screen turned on and showed everyone a lay out of the Vale Central Park.

"Okay, so Mrs. Nikos has reserved the main area of Central Park for the party, there would be a tight security as there are high ranking officials present for the party, one of them is military, so security would also be skilled." Ruby began.

Blake then took over "However, we've managed to find a gap in their security," she then pointed to one part of the park map ",if we're careful enough, we might just be able to to slip past undetected."

Cardin raised a hand "I don't wanna sound like I'm calling quits, but I just want to know what will happen AFTER we pull this off?"

"Don't worry about that Cardin, I got that part covered." Jaune answered as he turned towards Ruby and Blake "Anything ladies?" to which the two simply shook their heads.

"Right. If that's the case, let's get ready. We meet at the bullhead docks at 1900." The Arc stated to which everyone nodded before resigning themselves to do their preparations for today.

Jaune himself was about to head out when his scroll buzzed.

"Pyrrha..." he then pressed answer "Hey Pyr, ya called?"

Her sweet voice soon replied "Yes Jaune, I wish to speak to you in private. Are you alone?"

The Rifleman looked around and caught a glimpse of Nora and Ren getting out after everyone else had left before replying "Yeah, I'm alone. What is it?"

"Well, I told you today is my birthday, and I asked my mother if I could bring you over for the party at Vale Central Park and she said yes. So..."

"You're asking me to come with you to the party?" Jaune "guessed".

"Yes. I heard your father is attending, so you maybe you could even reunite with him too."

Jaune knew about this but had to stay in character "He is? That sounds great and all but..." he bit his lip "...something came up today. It's an emergency and I can't ignore it, so I'm so sorry for this Pyrrha."

Her reply came and he could hear her very disappointment when he told her he couldn't come on her birthday "I see... it's alright... I'll see you back at the dorms I guess... goodbye Jaune."

Then the call ended and Jaune let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. That encounter had crushed Pyrrha's heart, but fortunately, that guilt wouldn't last as he knew that she'll be beaming when she sees his birthday surprise for her.

After making sure that the lights were off, he headed out to get ready.

Beacon Bullhead Docks, Vale. 0904

Pyrrha sighed as she made her way to the bullhead her mother had sent. Truth to be told, she was now reluctant in going to the party now. Mostly because Jaune wouldn't be there.

She let out a sigh as she saw the bullhead she was to board. Looking back at Beacon, the Spartan girl sucked it up before entering the bullhead where the pilot greeted her before asking her to settle in.

...

Upon arriving at the landing area at Vale proper, she was met by her mother who ran to hug her daughter.

"There's my baby! Hello again Pyrrha!" She cheered as she pulled her daughter in a firm embrace to which she returned.

After sometime, they pulled away before they began to recap on what they've been up to.

Then, Pyrrha's mother asked "Where's this Jaune?"

"He... said he couldn't come..." Pyrrha said, her mood dropping.

"Aw... Did you want him to come?" asked her mother as they walked along.

Pyrrha simply nodded as she began to think about what could've taken Jaune's time, but her mother patted her on the back.

"Hey now, it's okay. I'm sure you can talk to him through his father. He is still attending after all."

The Mistralian Champion meekly nodded before going on.

Hopefully she COULD speak to Jaune.

Beacon Training Rooms, Vale

"Attention!"

CLACK!

"Port arms!"

Then the cluttering continued as the rifles were shouldered.

"Forward... march!"

Then the clicking of boots sounded off as the "troops" marched forward 10 paces.

Then Jaune, who was in front of the formation, shouted the final commands

"MAKE READY!"

The troops pulled the rifles into full cock.

"PRESENT!"

They aimed.

"FIRE!"

Then the shots went off simultaneously.

"Alright, we got that in order. We still have that cheer to do, but all in all, I think we got this one in the bag." Jaune smiled, as did the rest of the troops who consisted of the teams were working with.

"Speaking of which," Coco said as she and Velvet entered the room, pushing a big cart behind them, "these just came in, when I call your name just come up here and get your uniform."

The students did as ordered and were soon admiring the neatly made uniforms.

They boasted a dark green colour with stripes in an X formation. It also bore an insigna of Beacon and finally had a complement of silver buttons, white stripes, dark green pants, black boots that were hidden by the pants and a shako which bore the mark "95th" and it's logo.

You know what I'm talking about. I am of course describing the uniform of the 95th rifles that Sharpe had served.

As the rest began to put on their uniforms, Jaune approached Coco "You pulled it off. I don't know about you, but I feel like were going to war now."

Coco lowered her sun glasses to look him in the eye "Well, just be glad I owed you for helping out Velvet back then. We're now even" she smiled as she walked off to get her uniform on.

"Hey Jaune."

"Hm?" Jaune turned to see who called for him and was met with Ruby with her shako on while clutching the rifle they were given.

"Say Jaune, you never told me where you got these weapons..." asked the Red Reaper.

"My family owns these kind of weapons for practice. I called them a few weeks ago to bring them over, and then we hid them with help from Ms Goodwitch." The Rifleman replied as he began to walk towards Ren.

"Take over for me, I'll meet you all at the docks later," He whispered to his friend, "right, see you then. Continue the drills then let them have a break."

Ren nodded as he watched Jaune leave the room before turning to the students.

"Alright..." then he raised his voice "...FORM LINE!"

Beacon Dorms

Jaune found himself in his team's dorm and looked around to try and find his flag. As he continued his search, his scroll rang.

"Great..." he thought as he saw who was calling. Without any other choice, he answered it.

"What's the status?" Hissed a mysterious voice.

"We got the uniforms and are doing the finishing touches on the drills." Jaune replied as he finally found the flag and gave it a good look.

"Good. The bullheads will be waiting at the docks at berth 12."

"Alright. By the way, if you have any concerns that we can't pull this off, calm down. I got this covered." The Rifleman said as he got ready to leave.

"I hope you do." Then the call was dropped.

"Ye of little faith..." Jaune muttered as he pocketed his scroll and went out the door.

As he made his way back to the training room, he passed by Emerald, a member of team CMEN from Haven.

They looked at each other, but didn't utter a word.

Jaune had a gut feeling that he couldn't trust her, nor her team. However, he had to brush those thoughts aside as he had to deal with the task at hand.

...

Beacon Docks

Jaune checked the time and saw that it was almost time for departure.

He was about to ring Ren's scroll when he saw him leading the troops in a double column.

"I'm impressed Ren, you shaped this formation up real good." Jaune smirked as he approached them, flag in hand.

Ren smirked "You can thank Nora for that, she hammered the discipline into them."

Said Sloth Queen popped up behind him as she waved to him.

"Right... let's give a mock inspection yeah? Best we make sure we look our best." Jaune said as he gave Ren the flag.

"Sure. Front face!" Ren ordered and the troops did as such in perfect unison which truly impressed Jaune who began to walk up the columns. As he walked up and down the column, he stopped at Ruby who looked panic when he stopped. Then, he faced her and fixed her shako which was slightly tilted.

Without another word, he moved on and did the same to Yang, CRDL, and Sun.

Jaune gave them one last look before nodding "Right, we look good now. Stand easy guys, we only need to keep this facade for the party. Now let's board the bullheads and get this on the road."

The students did as such as they started to go for the two bullheads that were waiting for them.

Vale Central Park, Vale

The sun had already set and the lovely night skies had settled in.

Pyrrha was still a bit sore upon why Jaune wasn't there, but sucked it up and walked along in her new attire which consisted of a stunning red dress and her circlet. She had also applied a slight touch of make-up as per her mother's request, and finally had pearl earings.

As she walked along, she found her mother talking a tall blone man with blue eyes that looked similar to Jaune. She also took notice that he looked like a military official of Vale as he boasted a crisp brown uniform that was adorned in various medals and badges.

"Pyrrha, I would like you to meet Major Nicholas Arc, he's the father of your partner" Her mother introduced as Nicholas Arc extended his hand for her to shake.

"Miss Nikos, a pleasure to meet the partner of my only son. I hope he's been doing splendid with you lot" The Major smiled as he recieved a hand shake from the Mistralian Champion.

Pyrrha replied happily "It's nice to meet you as well Major Arc, and don't worry about your son. He's been doing splendid in Beacon as a teammate and a leader."

The older Arc chuckled "That's good to hear. Oh and before I forget," he said as he brought out his scroll ",he told me to bring you a message..." The Arc then began to open his contacts and found what he was looking for.

He presented his scroll to her, to which she read what was on it.

"Pyrrha, if you're reading this, I just want to say I'm sorry about me not being there for your birthday. I promise that I'll make it up to you soon. Arc's word."-Love JauneShe smiled at Nicholas and said "Thank you Mister Arc, I was honestly troubled about him not going, but knowing him, he probably did have a good reason."

Then, her mother interrupted "Well, that's all settled, let's head for the tables now. We're about to begin the viewing of Victory Incarnate"

Nicholas nodded before excusing himself as Pyrrha followed her mother, but she had failed to notice that there was a spy glass looking upon her...

...

"Right, they're about to begin the show, come on." Jaune said as he lead the 95th Beacon Brigade (they decided upon this during the trip to Vale Proper) towards the back of the stage.

Thanks to their planning, they haven't been spot by any of the guests. Then, they heard the voice of Pyrrha's mother echo "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to this fine evening..."

As she continued her speech, Jaune began to give the last briefing to the Brigade.

"Right everyone, this is it. We've been practicing for days for this moment, now I do not want any mishaps for this. We're doing this not for The Invincible Girl, we are doing this for Pyrrha Nikos, our friend and classmate. Is that understood?"

He got a series of positive responses from his friends to which he smiled at.

Then Weiss spoke up "Just one thing Jaune, what kind of trouble are we going to get into after this?"

"Nothing. I'll be held responsible." Jaune replied as he grabbed his sword.

Then, he heard Mrs Nikos finish up her speech.

"Positions!" He said in a hushed voice.

...

Pyrrha honestly wanted to rush out of the park right now. After her mother had made a speech of her achievements, she had presented a video to everyone about her growing carreer.

Now, the film was already in it's final stages of it's credits which was now rolling to it's title.

"Victory Incarnate"

It read.

Then all of a sudden, a sword bursted right through the white screen, which then began to cut an opening.

Several other swords had begun to cut the screen as well. This sent the guests into shock and confusion as after the blades have made an opening, a teen who was dressed in dark green stepped put of the openings, followed by several others followed suit.

Then, they formed a double column with the blonde teen at the very front, who at this point had sheathed his sword before standing to attention and shouting.

"ATTENTION!" He shouted to which the "soldiers" behind him responded to by standing straight, while a flag bearer held a familliar looking flag.

Then came his next command "PORT ARMS!"

This time, the soldiers pulled their rifles in front of them diagonally.

"FORWARD MARCH!"

Then, the commander of the troop lead the march as they made their way into the very center. Once they got into position, the commander's voice echoed.

"MAKE READY!"

His troops held their rifles in a ready position.

"PRESENT!"

They soon aimed right at the sky.

"FIRE!"

Then, all their rifles fired in perfect unison.

Pyrrha was greatly surprised by this sudden act, but was dumb founded when she got a good look at the commander of the troop.

"Jaune?" She gasped as she saw that it was indeed him.

However, Jaune didn't seem to be done with his commands.

"SEARGENT MAJOR! NOW!" The younger Arc shouted.

Pyrrha looked to Jaune's right and saw that Ren was also there. In fact, she recognized everyone in the troop. There was Ruby, Yang, Blake Weiss, Nora and even the whole of team CRDL.

"GROUND ARMS!" Ren's voice echoed to which the troops responded by bringung down their weapons to the ground with the barrels pointing up.

After that, came Ren's next command "THREE CHEERS, FOR PYRRHA NIKOS! HIP HIP!"

"HUZZAH!" The students responded.

"HIP! HIP!"

"HUZZAH!"

"95TH BEACON BRIGADE! ABOUT FACE!" Came Jaune's final orders.

Then, the troop turned towards their entrance and awaited for Jaune's final orders.

"FORWARD MARCH!"

Just like that, the students of Beacon disappeared behind the white screen except for Jaune who stayed behind to perform a quick salute with his sword before following his friends.

Pyrrha's mother began to take the stage to reassure everyone that this was not to be of concern while the guests began to calm down again.

...

They have done it, they've pulled it off without a hitch. In celebration, Jaune gave Ren a some Lien to buy pizza for the brigade to which everyone seemed eager for.

However Jaune decided to not join them as he had to go back to the park.

After a few requests from his friends to deliver their greetings to Pyrrha, Jaune took off.

It wasn't long before he found himself approaching his father's table which was right next to Pyrrha's.

He soon grabbed his father's attention which surprised the latter.

"Jaune! You made it!" He said in a quieter voice to make sure no one heard them.

"Well, what can I say dad? It's not soldiering if you're late." Jaune smiled as he looked at Pyrrha who still hasn't noticed him.

"Go ahead, she's been waiting for you." Nicholas Arc said as he saw Jaune get up from his seat.

Sneaking up behind his partner, he tapped her on the shoulder with his gloved hand which startled her.

"Hu-what? Jaune?" She blurted out as she saw her partner in his green uniform which looked brand new as it's buttons shone brightly.

"Sorry for being late, had to get the guys put of there," he said as he took out a box from one of his pouches "Here, I've had this for awhile now."

Pyrrha, still star struck by the sudden appearance, took the box from Jaune slowly before opening it.

It was a simple necklace that adorned a bright emerald which shone beautifuly under the moonlight.

"...for me?" Pyrrha finally managed to utter.

"No, for Ren." Jaune smirked playfully "Again, sorry for lying to you about today, I wanted to pull this off so bad, and I'd also like to thank your mother for aranging this with us."

"My mother?"

"That was quite the performance there Jaune, I had no doubt that you could pull it off." Spoke Pyrrha's mother as she sat next to her daughter.

"That's not what you sounded like on the phone..." Jaune muttered silently.

"Anyhow," Her mother said as she placed a hand on Jaune's "Thank you for doing this Pyrrha, she really needed this."

Jaune smiled warmly "It's my pleasure Mrs Nikos."

Pyrrha's mother chuckled "Please, call me Hera. You make me sound old. Anyway, I'll leave you two be." Without another word, Hera left the table.

"Well... what do you think?" Jaune asked as he turned to his partner.

Pyrrha looked at him before pulling him into a tight hug "Thank you! Thank you Jaune!"

Jaune was taken by surprise by this, but eventually hugged back.

"...Pyrrha..."

"Yes Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as she still held Jaune in embrace.

"Need... air... can't breath..." He chocked out.

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

Surprising your partner by doing something you did in your previous life? That's soldiering!

Another chapter again, this is one of the chapters that are not based off the RWBY series.

Hope you liked it, especially the "Sharpe Crashes the Prince of Wales' Party" parody.

Until next chapter!