Jaune was busy helping Ruby out, letting off some steam after a bad day was something the two of them usually did together.
It was perfect, nobody judging or holding them up to team leader expectations or even of the self imposed variety.
They were just two dorks duking it out in the arena with no care in the world.
The duel was one sided, but it was always fun to act out regardless, Jaune -while improving under Pyrrhas guidance- was still not on Rubys level.
The difference between a protégé and a prodigy was stark.
That being said, he was good for one thing; being a punching bag.
With the level of endurance Aura gave them, Hunters could dart around for days on end, but when the weapons start to clash it bites chunks out of a reserve Jaune simply has in abundance.
There was a lapse in combat, where Ruby was panting for breath. Knowing that trash talking an inexperienced combatant like Jaune would buy her time she dishes out the hurt.
"How long you going to last this time!? Minute man!" Jaune groans in horror "I don't think you know what that me-" his words were cut short via scythe induced dodging.
"I'm not nine you dunce!" Indeed, Jaune quickly saw the error of his ways, feeling the heat of battle intensify.
His shield was the last bastion of hope left, its wide surface protecting most vital points not covered in armour, but even that was a feable defense against the shifting tide of Rubys swings.
She made it look so effortless, almost like that amount of spinning and aerobatics was normal for none avian creatures.
It wasn't, Jaune had tried.
Idly taking a peek at the arenas Aura display board gave Jaune a surprise, he was below half, but so was Ruby.
Her attacks where strong, but perhaps too numerous.
Rubys semblance wasn't connected to her normal bodies endurance, it was solely fueled by Aura, and using it this much made her drain the ethereal energy fast.
Usually, this wasn't a problem when Ruby could just use it once and end the fight in one blow, but in this friendly spar she hadn't even thought about using dagger tactics like hitting the back of his neck.
Was this his chance to win? For once he had a smidgen of hope not for a defense but an offense.
Jaune needed something more than just an Aura advantage, even while attacking would be surprising, it would also be reckless.
In other words, it still wasn't enough, she had combat instincts ingrained, a simple sword swing at a random time would do nothing, Jaune needed a weapon other than the easily predictable sword, something she wasn't used to fighting.
Jaune didn't have many options... Fists? No, Yang must have fought Ruby a lot and he would need more than a sloppy punch to surprise her.
It was during a particularly harsh combo of scythe swings that Jaune knew what to do.
His shield.
After many training sessions with Pyrrha they would watch some of her old tournament games together, Pyrrha used it as a teaching tool.
What always stuck out to Jaune was how she and so many others never commented on the effectiveness of the combat shield tactics Pyrrha employed.
It was like people forgot it was an edged weapon no matter how many times Pyrrha had used it to devastating effect.
Could Jaune replicate it? Maybe... His shield was different but still had a nasty looking point to stab with.
He waited until Rubys Aura was lower, he only had one shot at this after all.
Ignoring how low his own Aura was getting, Jaune felt more focused on this fight than he had ever been before.
Ruby was starting up another volley of attacks, almost too fast to track with his eyes and with a serious tunnel vision, probably related to his comment.
Thankfully Aura enhanced a Hunters reflexes as well, otherwise dodging dust rounds would be impossible.
Ruby was going for a low blow, wanting to hook Jaunes shield and swing it up into the air, hopefully before she ran out of Aura to safely fuel her semblance (without disqualifying herself that is.)
Jaune saw it coming, it was going to ruin his plan.
He needed something right now!
Swinging his sword in advance wasn't enough to stop the scythe from shoving his sheild arm up and then shooting the shield strait up into the air.
Rubys smug smile faded almost before she pulled the face entirely, having her reflexes scream at her for not having previously cared about the now obvious panick swing by Jaune.
It was too close to dodge normally, and even her semblance wouldn't get her out of the way in time, the blade was brushing up against her stomach already.
The smug smile shifted back on as her body flakes away into rose petal, dodging not to one side, but both. Splitting herself down the middle where the blade was trying its best to hit her.
She didn't use this part of her semblance often, not usually being in a situation where dodging wouldn't be enough, but it was something she always kept as a last stand.
It was a weird state of being, having your consciousness in two distinctly seperate places without eyes and relying on an increased sense of structure to navigate. thinking, processing and even emoting on a more molecular level in a way she can't describe without sounding touched in the head.
It all happened so fast, in a few blinks of an eye she had separated completely and left Jaune to stumble forward and fall due to his built up momentum.
Ruby almost felt bad for him, he almost had her ther-
Her Aura was low. Dangerously so. If she didn't stop using her semblance right now it would cost her this match.
But... She wasn't exactly whole...
Darting with semblance enhanced speed she tried to form back up, her mind bringing up scenarios in which she ended up in two chunky bits.
This was not the time for a shield to fall out the air between her two selves just before colliding.
It was disastrous.
Her semblance had already started the process of consolidating into a more condensed form, in preparation for the quick transformation.
Both parts of her hit the shield, both bounce directly off and away like some kind of basketball.
It took massive chunks out of her Aura reserve and ate up all of the Aura the sparring match considered "In the Red."
In a blinding show of shattering Aura her two half formed bodies hit the ground with a distinct thud.
Jaune watched in horror as his friend went from smug, formless, bouncy and then... Still.
He crawled over, in absolute shock, watching his hands hover over the two almost-bodies. Parts of them where petal, others in flesh an even then, mostly in the wrong shapes.
Then the panicking set in, did he just do this? What he just do!
He needed to fix this, fix his mistakes, this was bad, he needed get help-
There was something inside him, other than guilt, anxiety and pain. There was a feeling of warmth, a light in the dark, a semblance of hope.
He fell forward in the rush of it, the burst of emotion overcoming his sense of balance.
His Aura was on fire and glowing through his skin, the blonde yellow almost blinding.
The light wasn't just his tear soaked eyes playing tricks on him, it cloaked Ruby as well, he could see it draw in and dry up into those two small bodies.
He spent slow moments of desperate hope watching petal turn to flesh and bone right itself.
"...Jaune?"
No... Impossible...
Jaune had fully believed his friend had died... "Ruby! Are you okay!? Don't worry, I can call for help!"
Turning around Jaune wipes away his tears to find his scroll.
He was stopped by a hand catching the hem of his under shirt. "Jaune! I don't know what just happened! Please help me!" She sounded so pained and weak, like a whisper shout.
Not to mention it was overlapped by two voices, like Ruby had played a recording of exactly what she had said, at exactly the same time she had spoken.
After wiping at his eyes again he came to the conclusion that there were in fact two small Rubys living, breathing and most importantly; talking to him.
They both wore a small but butchered copy of her original outfit, having patchwork holes and frayed hems.
Crouching down to help them up and leaning on him was a slow and careful task, one even coughed up a little blood.
They both leaned in further for a hug, desperately trying to comfort themselves through this unfamiliar experience.
Ignoring the abruptness and weirdness of everything, Jaune focused on helping his friend. "Its alright, everything is going to be fine, don't worry." The words held little fact, but helped calm her down nonetheless.
With both hands holding the back of a head softly, crying into his shoulders he accidentally spied Crescent Rose, or whats left of it.
The weapon hadn't been halved perfectly in the split, being favored by her right hand during the attack and naturally more on one side than the other.
It was scrap now, having singular parts of the machine littered around.
He didn't like how close Ruby had come to the same fate "Let's get you to the infirmary."
She only mumbled into his shoulder about something he couldn't hear, but didn't seem to want to let go of him to move.
Alright, he would get her there no matter the cost.
Picking them both up sent Jaunes thoughts back to home, and how he would babysit his sisters every other week for his parents.
He was getting odd looks by the people in the corridors, Cardin even rubbed his eyes like Jaune had earlier.
They didn't matter though, Jaune only cared for helping his friends in need.
Sprinting wasn't his strong suit, but he sure as hell felt like an athlete at that very moment, turning corners so fast he sometimes needed to step on a wall after his boots started sliding on the smooth floor too much.
Jaune didn't even notice how closer he was to the other hunters in speed and agility right now, the only closeness that he was aware of, being the distance to the infirmary.
He had made it out of the gym really fast, but it didn't feel fast enough when one of the Ruby's spoke up "Jaune... I feel really weird." Ruby didn't have to tell him that, it looked weird to him and he wasn't even the victim.
He concentrated on that light from earlier, his Aura fueling what he thinks is his semblance once again. "Beacon should fix the problem, you know they have the best doctor in all of Vale." Beacon did, but they both knew this wasn't the same as a normal injury.
Running down the pathways of the Beacon courtyard Jaune didn't waste any time making it to the nearby infirmary, built close to the gym for a reason.
Jaune didn't waste time slowing down, bashing open the doors with his Aura protected shoulder while shying away the left Ruby.
The bang of the doors hitting the walls alerted all the nurses at the receptionist desk and luckily enough, even the doctor who was talking to them while looking at something unimportant to Jaune.
"Please! Help her!" Everyone started moving at once, nurses moving to prepare an operating room, doctor moving over to them, even more panic, it was never ending today.
The doctor had a name tag, Peach seemed to be her name and she started talking before even coming close "What happened to them? Why is there children on Beacon grounds in the first place?"
Jaune didn't know, so he told her so "I... I don't know! Something happened while we where in the arena and then I did something with my Aura to help her-"
The doctor shushes him, soothes his frantic words "So the work of a semblance then? They are students?"
Jaune nodded "They are both Ruby Rose, first year, team RWBY."
The doctor took a moment to comprehend that, the few seconds to do so came and went, as a nurse wheeled up a bed for Ruby to use.
Jaune wasn't allowed in the room as the doctor and nurses worked, it was frustrating, he couldn't even say he had some kind of healing semblance, due to his Aura having run out during the slam through the doors.
He was of no help now, it was up to the professionals.
Jaune noticed his bloody hands were smearing the seats arm rest, having been squeezing the life out of it.
Thats right. Ruby had coughed up blood at some point, he can only imagine what he looked like with blood stains and a haunted look on his face, like he had seen a ghost.
The sky started to darken before he looked up to the sound of footsteps, it was the doctor Peach and headmaster Ozpin.
Both were talking in hushed whispers before coming into hearing distance, the doctor taking that time to leave them be.
Ozpin didnt say anything, and Jaune was too scared to ask how it went...
Eventually he couldn't take it, and caved to his worry "H-how is she?" His voice had cracked not having been used for a while, not to mention having had no water since before they started sparing this morning.
It had been a ruff day.
"Both bodies of Miss Rose have been stabilized and will make a recovery, surprisingly, the doctors only found some broken and fractured bones, internal bleeding and full body bruising... Not a corpse, care to tell me how you did it?"
Jaune shook his head and spoke softly "I think it was my semblance Sir, some kind of aura sharing or something, all I know is that her bodies drank it up and partially fixed itself with it."
Ozpin nods, hand rubbing his chin in thought "So you can confirm it wasn't healing on your side? But rather Ruby healing automatically with your help?"
Jaune nodded and felt as if Ozpin had made some connections "Do... Do you know what happened? Do you know if Ruby will be okay!?
He reponded carefully, not to get Jaunes hopes up "Maybe, tell me, have you noticed your friends semblances have secondary smaller abilities?"
Jaune shook his head slowly, not knowing where Ozpin was going with this.
"Things like Yang never burning her own hair, Weiss knowing where to place glyphs even outside of her sight, Nora not melting herself with lightning and even Ruby herself being able to ignore wind resistance." Now that Ozpin mentioned it, a lot of them did have something like that...
"Now, what do you think Ruby does with her petals? Moves every single one individually? Or is it passive?" Jaune understood now "So... Her body passively wants to reconnect? But can't because both are out of Aura!"
Ozpin agrees easily "Precisely, her body is too busy healing to have enough Aura spare for such a task. So, she needs her rest, or your help when you have regenerated your own Aura again."
Jaune felt better, knowing there was a plausible way to fix this. He wouldn't move from this chair until then.
Sleep took him soon after the pledge, his dreams filled with petals.
A/N; I should be writing The Tipping Point and not this random idea, but here we are, exploring what nobody asked for.
I do admit that this was fun, but regardless, don't expect me to do anything with this soon, I really want to complete TTP first.