Chapter One.
[{{]
Two swords exchanged clanks that night.
As per schedule, Jaune and Pyrrha met once again on the roof of their dorm building. It had been well over a semester since the boy had agreed to let his partner train him.
They were simply sparring for fun. Jaune successfully pulled off the stance and footwork they have been practicing for months. His fighting style however, was still in the makings.
Pyrrha let it up from their spar as she failed to contain a snort.
"J-Jaune. What are you doing?" She laughed between her teeth.
"Oh! It's a jumping crouch stab." He repeated the same move again for demonstration. "I found about it online. Supposedly, it's a really consistent way of doing guaranteed damage against another sword-user. Specially against armored opponents."
The champion brought her free hand to cover the grim on her face. He had yet to learn how silly he looked. She hoped he would figure it out in time, considering that they had less than two months until the Vytal Tournament arrived in Vale.
"W-Well, that's good and all…" Said Pyrrha. "But let's stick to basics for now. Let's go over your stance again, shall we?"
Jaune sighed. "Fine…"
He stretched himself a little as he waited for his partner's instructions. His muscles were sore, his eyes were giving in, but his spirit was still eager to learn. This has been his life for quite some time now.
Sparring with a famous world champion who also happened to be his teammate at the most prestigious academy in all kingdoms, clashing swords at the sound of crickets all around the campus.
Sure, compared to his peers, he still had an enormous way to go, given the legitimacy of the means he used to get in there in the first place. But deep down, Jaune knew he had worked hard enough to get where he now stood. Even if he didn't feel like he deserved at the time, all he had to do was to work even harder until he actually did.
"Okay, ready?" She asked.
"I'm ready." He announced.
And hopefully, he would keep that hard work going long after the tournament.
"Right. Just like we've practiced." Lectured Pyrrha. "Shield up…"
[}}]
Jaune finished reminiscing that memory in his head, as he did with many others.
He really did miss those days. Back when one of his biggest worries at the time was having to constantly use kids' shampoo out of fear of burning his eyes.
As opposed to the many things they have been dealing with recently. One of which being a stubborn uncle.
"Where you're going now?" Ruby inquired, getting the attention of Qrow. They just had arrived at Saphron's house after spending the evening searching for Oscar. It was almost disheartening to see the man trying to sneak out of a happy scene.
"I don't want to get in the way of your celebration." Qrow said as he stood in the middle of the staircase of the Cotta-Arc Household.
"You've been gone all day. Just sit with us."
"Look, Ruby. I'm glad you kids worked out, uh… Whatever all that was. But the fact is we're not a single step closer to Atlas."
Jaune felt like he was supposed to say something. He recalled seeing an airship pass by in the night sky during his encounter with the statue. But he just couldn't bring himself to say anything, as he suddenly felt tired out of his mind.
Due to his lack of initiative, Ruby stepped up.
"Uncle Qrow, just stay here with us, please. Now that we're all together, we can finally figure out how we're getting to Atlas."
"Kiddo. Listen…" He leaned himself on the rail. "We just finished crossing an entire continent while repeatedly risking our necks over a lamp. And for what? For some elitist granny to shut us off because she thinks her kingdom is too cool for us? Nope, I'm done."
"But we can't give up just yet." She pleaded. "I know you're having a hard time because of what Ozpin told us, but we have to-"
"I don't give a DAMN about OZPIN!" He snapped at the mention of that name, clearly inebriated past a reasonable point. That caused his niece to step back as well as some of the others.
Everyone stood dead silent until Qrow felt the necessity of rectifying himself.
"Look. I'm not saying we should give up, alright? If you kids are really insisting on going to Atlas for whatever reason, I can assure you that I won't get in your way." He paused. "All I'm saying is that we should reconsider our options and maybe get some proper rest. We all had a stressful day, didn't we?"
Weiss stepped up to question him. "Not that I'm any eager to return to Atlas, but what about the mission?"
The Huntsman groaned. "The mission isn't going nowhere, and neither is Atlas. The same unfortunately goes for that false prophet inhabiting the kid's head." He pointed at Oscar.
Saphron and Terra looked at one another, confused at his remark.
"Anyway, like I was saying…" He continued. "We should take this as an opportunity for us to evaluate our situation. Figure out if we really want follow the old man's fetch-quest or move on with our lives."
"But uncle, we're not in a vacation!" His niece argued. "Whether we want it or not, we've been entrusted of bringing the relic to Atlas. If we don't get there before it's too late, then-"
"Ruby, with all due respect, I couldn't care less about any of that." He interrupted her, a few alcohol particles floating around his mouth. "I'm sick and tired of playing errand boy for that fraud of a man. And for a lost cause, no less. Now, if ya don't mind, I'm going to bed."
The drunk man went upstairs to one of the many guest rooms. Everyone in that house heard a door shut close.
"Uncle Qrow…" Ruby muttered.
Blake sighed. "I guess we are stuck here for the time being."
Yang turned to the house-owners. "Say, is it okay if we crash here for a while?"
"Sure! No problem at all." Responded Saphron. "The house is already big enough as it is."
Terra went and picked up Adrien. "Still, we wouldn't mind if you helped out with some of the chores."
Weiss nodded at the couple. "We sincerely can't thank you enough."
Saphron just shrugged at that. "Hey, anything for my baby-brother and his friends. Isn't that right?"
She inclined her head towards her brother, expecting a complaint. It didn't come.
"Jaune?" His sister turned to him.
The boy for his turn just stood there, apparently trying to balance his head on top of his own neck, with an expression almost zombie-like.
Ren put a hand on his shoulder.
"Jaune, are you feeling well?"
At that, he seemed to snap out of his trance.
"S-Sorry! Sorry... I guess I'm just really tired."
That phrase sent a small chill to RWBY, Oscar and Maria. Considering their most recent stop at the Brunswick Farms.
Ruby had to make sure. "Are you okay? It's not even close to midnight. You usually don't get tired by now."
"I-I'm fine. I swear." He assured. "I just need to get some sleep, that's all."
With any strength he had left, he walked upstairs to his respective guest room.
While watching her leader on the verge of falling asleep on his way, Nora went to speak with Ren.
"Is he gonna be okay?" She whispered. "I've never actually seen him look this down before."
"Maybe because he wasn't expecting to see her again." Responded Ren. "Although, I suppose that may have been necessary. He seriously needs to move on. I am somewhat confident that this might be the last time we see him in such a state."
Maria Calavera overheard the two. 'Eh, kids these days.'
Not long after, Jaune had entered his team's guest room and closed the door.
He switched out his armor and hoodie for something much more comfortable for him to sleep with. Afterwards, he practically fell on top of his bed. He took the time before he gave in to his slumber to reflect about everything that had happened that day.
During their search for Oscar, just after he had separated himself from Ren and Nora, he came across… Her again.
Just below the shattered moon in the sky, there stood the immortalized version of his old teammate, Pyrrha Nikos. A single autumn leaf hovering around her statue.
Suddenly, all those negative thoughts he had developed all throughout their journey across Anima just came crashing down on him unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Then his teammates were back. They comforted him, spoken some pretty words, but it ultimately meant nothing to him.
He had pretended everything was fine on the way to his sister's house.
Despite everything that he had been told by his friends, he still felt like it was all his fault. Maybe if he had done something back at the Maiden chamber, maybe if he had convinced Pyrrha to step down from challenging Cinder.
So many countless lives of civilians, Huntsmen and students present at the tournament. All of them lost because his bastard of a headmaster was keeping a powerful Maiden under his sleeve, attracting the attention of both Cinder and the White Fang. And if that wasn't enough, Ozpin also had the audacity of dragging Pyrrha aboard with this, as if she would take part on a bigger plan of his.
Which according to Ruby, he didn't actually have one.
That regretfully resulted on Jaune himself lashing out on Oscar, earning everyone's disapproval, especially Ruby's. Oscar even ran away, presumably because of what he did.
But as it turned out, he just went to buy some new clothes. They all met back at his sister's house, and Jaune immediately apologized to him. Another happy ending.
…Or so he wished. Yet again, he felt his mind involuntarily drift over to the events of last year.
There were many things he thought about his former self, back when he was still a student at Beacon. Some of which he felt it still applied to him.
Naïve, weak, a nuisance and straight up just a useless burden to his team and to anyone else around him.
And, ironically enough, he would give absolutely anything just so he could go back to be Beacon's resident doofus, as he had heard once or twice.
He hummed. 'As if.'
His consciousness started to fade away.
[{{]
Jaune jousted on his bed as he suddenly woke up, having being caught off guard by the alarm clock.
Which turned out to be his own scroll playing a chiptune version of the Camp-Camp theme song.
'huh.' Jaune thought, since he was fairly sure he had that song removed not long ago.
Scratch that. He was pretty sure he hadn't even set an alarm on his scroll the night before.
Either way, with his eyes half-shut, he reached for the device on top of the nightstand next to his bed and pressed the snooze button.
Up next, he raised himself by his elbows to get a better view of the guest room him and his teammates were sharing. Or so he thought...
Tired as he was, he noticed a few things that… Seemed to be out of place.
One, that wasn't their guest room. Two, that he didn't seem to be anywhere near his sister's house. And three, that he very much recognized the room he was in.
From the pattern of the ceiling, from the walls, down to how different his own bed felt compared to yesterday. The doors, the furniture, the everything.
It was their old dorm room. At Beacon. Before it was all destroyed.
Blinking twice at that, realization soon came to mind.
"Oh, right…" He muttered it to himself. "Today is Goodwitch's combat exam."
With that said, he flopped back into his bed. "Just five more minutes…"
A little Jaune inside his head made sure to pull the crank extra-harder.
The very next instant, the boy quickly sat right up in exasperation, almost throwing his blanket off the bed. That sudden act earned a reaction from one of his teammates.
"Are you feeling well, Jaune?" Came in the voice of Ren.
The blonde's attention shifted to his teammates.
They had awoken around the same time he did. Nora was happily bouncing on her own bed after getting fully dressed for classes while Ren was just done putting on his socks.
The latter stared at him, still waiting for an answer.
"Uhm… I guess?"
"That is good to hear." Acknowledged Ren. "Combat classes commonly require that we are on our best shape."
"Yeah!" Nora sat cross-legged on her bed. "It's also our chance to show all those exchange students what JNPR is really made of!"
Jaune simply stared at his friends. They were indeed the same Ren and Nora he used to know. As in, how the they used to be.
Ren continued to dress up. "…I suppose motivation is also in order. Hence why we will be graded based on our performance."
"Ooh! We get show off and get good grades at the same time? Even~ better~." Nora sang.
Their leader kept watching the two. It had been quite some time since they played off as the stoic/energetic duo they were often known as.
In near recent memory, he recalled a few times where Ren would be a bit more abrasive while Nora would mellow out. Mostly with Jaune himself. They sure have matured as time went on.
As much as Jaune wished he could rejoice on nostalgia alone, something was definitely wrong. For starters, what was he even doing there?
Then the bathroom door opened. Jaune focused on the newcomer, leaving him wide-eyed.
Pyrrha left the bathroom while adjusting her ponytail.
"I'm all set. Shall we go get some breakfast?"
Nora stood up. "Well, Jaune-Jaune has yet to leave the bed, so…"
It took nearly every fiber on his body to contain his own shock. There stood, in front of his bed, Pyrrha Nikos. The seemingly legendary champion and aspiring Huntress, the girl who gave away her life trying to protect the lives of the good people on Remnant. The same girl who was infatuated with him probably since the initiation at the start of the year.
And there she was, standing in the middle of their dorm while discussing what to get for breakfast. It was as if he was seeing a ghost.
It sure took Jaune some time, but eventually it finally clicked for him.
'…This is all just a dream.'
He groaned out loud, laying back on his bed.
Of course, this was nothing but a dream of his. Ever since RNJR went on that journey to Mistral, whenever he went to sleep, his brain would occasionally decide to place him into some random scenario back at Beacon. It wasn't the first time, either.
Neither was the second, the third, or even the twenty-eighth time.
Just great. None of that was real. He didn't have a reason to care anymore.
Ren finally stood up from his own bed after buttoning up his school garments. He noticed that his leader hasn't made any progress in that regard.
"Jaune, we are going to be late."
Both Nora and Pyrrha nodded at that.
The blonde turned on his bed, facing away from them.
"I-I'm not feeling too hot… I guess I'll just stay here for the day. You guys can go without me."
Nora put her hands on her hips. "Nuh-uh. Not a chance, mister. We're not letting you chicken out of this one."
Pyrrha approached him and placed a hand on his arm.
"Jaune, we've been practicing non-stop for weeks now. I'm confident you will be able to handle yourself on Goodwitch's arena today."
Ren harumphed. "Not to mention that we are being graded as a team. If you choose to abstain from this exam, it will negatively affect us."
Again, that made little difference to Jaune.
"L-Look. Can we talk about this later?" He pleaded. "I'm feeling really sick right now."
That was a load of baloney and his team knew it.
Ren let out a sigh. "Fine. If you refuse to leave your bed and get changed for classes, then we have no choice but to ask Nora to forcefully dress you up like she did last time."
Their leader audibly gulped. On second thought, maybe he wasn't that desperate to stay in bed. Dream or not.
"Give me a minute." He reached for his drawer.
Giving in to his team's demands, Jaune accompanied them to nowhere else but the academy's cafeteria.
From that point on, they all picked their plates and went to sit on the same table along with Team RWBY.
Things went normally until one of them decided to speak.
"So…" Hummed Yang. "Is Vomit Boy okay?"
He blinked and turned to face her.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh! Nothing. It's just, well…" She trailed. "It's been ten minutes and you haven't tried to serenate Weiss yet."
"Which I would very much appreciate if he wishes to be regarded as one of my acquaintances." The heiress didn't even look up from her plate.
Well, there was the pricy and snob Weiss he used to know. Part of him sort of missed that. Even if he wasn't in the mood for it.
"Uhm, I don't know." He responded. "I'm just… Taking on the scene, I guess."
"…Why though?" Yang questioned.
Jaune didn't feel like responding. It didn't make much sense answering a question on his own dream. His eyes were too busy observing all sorts of students all around. He must have had some really good memory because he did seem to remember each and every single face present at the cafeteria. Some of which he was sure had died at the Fall.
He still wondered where were all the shadowy students, though.
"He has been acting like this since this morning." Explained Ren. "I am afraid he was unable to sleep properly the night prior."
"He did, actually." Said Pyrrha. "We both went to sleep right after our training. But now that I think about it, I'd say he did look really tired yesterday."
That earned Jaune's attention. "Did I?"
"Well, technically, we both were tired after our last spar." She answered. "But you looked like you were about to pass out at any moment. I had to carry you with your arm around my shoulders just to make sure we made it to our dorm at least."
"Why by the shoulders?" Quipped Yang. "Why not carry him bridal style while you're at it?"
"Yang, please..." Ruby complained, already embarrassed by her sister.
Pyrrha flushed just a tad bit while Jaune went over what his partner said.
"…The night before, you say?" He specified.
"W-Well, yes." Responded Pyrrha. "Why, you don't remember?"
"Oh, uhm…" Attempted Jaune. "I guess my head is a bit fussy. Just silly-old Jaune being forgetful and clumsy as always, am I right? Hehe."
…
"You're trying too hard." Blake said without taking her eyes away from her novel.
"Aaanyway…" Nora chimed in. "The exams are today! We'll finally get to see how much our Fearless Leader has improved at one-on-one combat. How you're feeling?"
Jaune went back at his plate. "…Not really that excited? Seeing how I'm gonna be paired against Cardin of all people."
"How would you know that?" Questioned Ruby. "Combat exams usually have randomized fights. You can end up against anyone."
"…Because it's always Cardin?"
Truth to be told, Jaune had already experienced that exact same day before. Later he would face his old bully at Goodwitch's arena. He recalled being able to tank so much before his Aura went bellow the red line.
'What did happen to Cardin and his team, anyway? I haven't heard from them since the Fall.'
"In any case…" Pyrrha cheerfully beamed. "We will be sure to cheer for you. And I know you're going to do your best out there."
"Yeah!" Exclaimed Nora. "Go get 'em Jauney!"
The boy for his turn just placed an elbow on the table to prop his head on his hand.
"Suuuper…"
At the other side of the table, Yang whispered to Blake.
"Hey, doesn't he look a bit odd to you?"
She flipped a page. "You know, not every conversation we have on this table needs to be solely about Jaune. You do realize that, right?"
His hoodie felt larger on his shoulders.
It had been a few hours since combat classes had started. Jaune got to see many students fight at the ring. Both from Beacon as well as the ones from other academies.
Eventually, Goodwitch spoke his name. She promptly sent him to the lockers to grab his gear and get back to the arena post-haste.
While he was there, he briefly examined his old stuff. There were his good old collectors' item Pumpkin Pete hoodie and his old pair of jeans. There was also his old breast-plate, which seemed like it was made of plastic compared to his new armor.
And then there was Crocea Mors. In its original state, no less.
Jaune gave a good look at his old sword. For an antique, it sure was made with some of the best materials the world had to offer. That wasn't to say it had aged well, considering its lack of long-ranged options.
Looking back now, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to steal that sword from his family house, as it would forever remain mounted on the wall collecting dust, otherwise. He sort of gave a new purpose to his old family weapon, seeing how he had it upgraded later in life.
However, he was merely enjoying the little details in his dream. He had yet to see the punchline his subconscious had prepared for him.
The boy found himself stepping on the ring as he wore his 'combat gear', loosely speaking.
Having returned to Goodwitch's class, he found his assigned opponent standing in the middle of the arena, who turned out to be, big surprise, Cardin Winchester.
The heavily armored student smirked at the seemingly easy-win he had been drawn with.
Glynda's heels clicked on the floor of the ring as she approached the two.
"Before we partake on your exam, does any of the students wishes to go over the rules?"
Cardin beat him to the punch. "Nah, I think we got it."
"Right." She acknowledged. "Just bear in mind. If any of you scores too poorly on this duel, you may run the risk of getting your own respective team barred from participating at the tournament."
The professor then went to program their fight into her scroll. His rival took it as a chance to smack-talk him.
"Didn't think you'd show up your face again on the same ring as me." He taunted. "I believe a little payback is in order, isn't that right, Jauney-boy?"
Jaune wasn't riled. Not in the slightest. He honestly thought him and Cardin were in good terms since he had managed to save his life. Though, all that did amount to was for him to keep his promise regarding Jaune's papers. The guy still kept being a bully on his spare time, even if he appeared to have some standards to say the least.
Instead of reciprocating his banter, he just kept thinking what would even happen next, being a dream and all.
At some point during their fight, Cardin's head would probably explode, revealing to be Cinder's, Tyrian's or even Salem's head for that matter.
His nightmares tended to be uncreative just like that.
'Let's just get this over with so I can wake up already.' He thought whilst unsheathing his sword.
Glynda saw that the two combatants were ready and stepped away from the ring.
"Begin!"
From the bleachers, both teams watched as their blonde colleague fended himself on the arena.
And to their surprise… He was actually doing fairly well. Dare they say, even amazingly at some points.
They witnessed him dodge, block, parry with great precision. Gripping his sword backwards as a counter maneuver and even using his shield more offensively.
"Wow, you weren't kidding." Said Yang. "He did actually improve."
"Told ya." Said Nora. She raised herself from her seat. "You're doing great Jaune! Keep it up!"
Weiss crossed her arms. "Now that is something you don't see every day. For once, it seems like he knows what he is doing. As opposed of him just flailing that sword around."
"Great job, Pyrrha!" Congratulated Ruby. "It looks like your training regime really paid off. I bet Cardin doesn't even stand a chance."
However, instead of watching her leader with amazement, Pyrrha only had a confused look on her face.
"Pyrrha?" Ruby asked.
"Those- Those are my moves he's using." She confessed. "But I didn't even get around to teach those to him yet. He even perfected some of them."
They were certainly different from the 'Technique' he showed her yesterday.
"Who knows?!" Nora sat back down. "Maybe he just looked them up online. There's probably a bunch of videos from your championships that he probably took notes from."
As plausible as that sounded, Pyrrha couldn't help but to feel a bit red from the idea of Jaune looking up her name online.
Back down there, Cardin missed his target and slammed his mace against the ring, sending triangle-shaped debris all over the place.
Jaune was dodging him with extreme ease. And unlike last time, he could actually dish out some damage on him.
The guy was a wall, but he was no Nuckelavee, that's for sure.
Although, Jaune still felt his own body severely hindering him. Some of his joints screamed in pain every time he dared to pull a move. It didn't matter if he had practiced Pyrrha's lessons one thousand times each, there was no way his current body was conditioned enough for the task.
That left him with no choice but to use his upgrade.
With a quick bash from his shield, he successfully stunned Cardin for a couple of seconds. Which he used to back away and gain some distance.
Next, he turned his shield back into its sheath form and stuck his sword inside of it. He then raised it with his two hands for everyone to see.
With a simple press of a button, he activated Crocea Mors' Great-Sword modification.
Except that… There was no mechanism for it. There wasn't even a button.
It took Jaune a few seconds (As well as the confused faces from both his foe and the audience) for him to realize…
He was holding a sheathed sword like a darn fool.
"ARE YOU MOCKING ME, ARC?!" His rival yelled.
"Uhm… I take this never happened to you before?" He joked. "Heh?"
That did it for Cardin.
The bully lost all of his cool and began to charge right at him, holding his mace above his head and screaming all the way.
For the first time during that fight, Jaune felt vulnerable. There was not enough time for him to prep up for that charge with his weaponry in such state.
It was then when he decided to go for his second-best plan.
Desperately, Jaune swung his sword downwards in a wide arc, making the sheath slid right off of it, sending it directly towards Cardin.
The flying sheath went right at his face… And expanded against his noggin.
The sheer force from the expanding shield bypassed the guy's Aura, resulting in Cardin dropping unconscious on the floor.
…
All the cheering had stopped. It was so quiet that Jaune could hear Ruby coughing meekly from up there. Everyone was debating whether to applaud or to laugh, but everyone seemed to have opted to stare in awkward shock.
With the exception of one guy named Mercury, who burst into a fit of laughter.
Glynda's free palm went to her forehead. "The winner is Mr. Arc…"
Jaune sighed deeply in an attempt to gain back some air. Just as he went to pick back his shield, their teacher had already walked up to him.
"Mr. Arc… I can see that you have immensely improved since the last time you fought here. I do really have to commend you this time since you demonstrated to have a great deal of physical prowess, similar even to your teammates, coupled as well with your usual quick-thinking." She cleared her throat. "However… I would strongly advise against ever using that finishing move on a real confrontation. Ever."
"I'll… Keep that in mind?" Jaune said.
"Sure you will." She responded, not sounding really that convinced. "Now, Mr. Winchester…"
Mr. Winchester laid unconscious on the arena. Two small imaginary Beowolfs with wings were circling around his head.
"Will Mr. Winchester's team please escort their leader to the infirmary this instant?!" She demanded.
Russel and the others stumbled on their seats and quickly got up to succor their leader.
Jaune took that as his leave and went to the showers.
Getting himself clean and dressed again, he slowly made his way out of the locker room.
From there on out, the concept of this entire day being all a dream in his head started to crumble. Even if he was much denser than he would like to admit, even his denial could only take so much.
The sensations he felt, the things he saw, the stuff he heard from everyone. He knew it was so much more than that. Coupled with nothing extraordinarily monstrous happening to him at the end.
Could it really be?
Not even a step later, all of his teammates were suddenly on his face.
Nora grabbed on his right shoulder. "You did AMAZING out there, Jaune! I don't know how, but I've always knew you were holding out on us."
He looked to his left and saw Ren standing near him.
"I am glad to see that you have managed to recover from your initial mood this morning." He spoke. "You have gone a long way since the initiation. I have nothing but admiration for your efforts."
Jaune then looked dead center between the two. There stood Pyrrha in front of him, acting timidly in his presence as always.
"I'm… Well, I'm not entirely sure what did happen back there, but you certainly have outdone yourself this time. And as your friend and partner, I have the utmost respect for you. We couldn't be any prouder of our leader."
That served as his confirmation.
Shedding a single tear, Jaune rapidly jumped forward and embraced Pyrrha, holding tightly on her.
His friends, mostly Pyrrha, were totally taken back by his sudden hug. The redhead felt flustered to no end as she also felt his arms clinging sorrowfully on her.
He was back! He was definitely back!
He didn't know how he ended up in the past, and frankly, he couldn't care in the slightest. This was his second chance. This time, he would make everything right!
And nothing bad would ever come out of this.
Ever.
[}}]
Jaune hugged his pillow tenderly.
Like every student, he took whatever chance he got to enjoy the comfiness of his own bed before having to inevitably get up for classes. Specially Goodwitch's.
Unfortunately, the terrors of reality struck upon the blonde, forcing him to at least check on his teammates to make sure they didn't accidentally skip the exam they had that day.
He gradually sat up on his bed, stretched as routine dictated, wiped a bit of drool from his face and that wasn't his dorm room.
"…Huh?"
Jaune rubbed his eyes for good measure, then he scanned his whereabouts. According to his deductive reasoning… Yup, that still wasn't his dorm room.
Thanks to the little sunlight that came out of a small window, he inspected his quarters more thoroughly. It was a simple small four-by-four room with two other beds and a large mirror mounted on the wall.
Judging by the color-coded belongings on which bed, he guessed Ren and Nora were residing there as well. Though, they didn't seem to be present at the time.
Curiosity overcame him. Jaune stepped out of bed and almost tripped as he adjusted to his newfound balance.
'Did I get I growth spurt overnight?' He questioned his apparent sudden gain of height.
Step by step, he was able to cross the room while getting accustomed to his new body. Next thing he knew, he was facing the mounted mirror he noticed earlier.
He… Honestly didn't look that much different. Even his hair was kept the same, down to each individual lock.
His abrupt larger frame was the only thing bugging him out. He decided to investigate further by removing the long-sleeved shirt that he had supposedly wore for the night and found out that HE. WAS. JACKED!
The sight of his own pecs left him flabbergasted. Like, damn! His abs weren't 'Sun Tier' or anything, but he was sure he could still turn heads back at his old hometown if given the chance. Due to that revelation, he had spent a solid minute just flexing on the mirror until he started to feel like a douchebag and stopped.
Jaune went back to his own bed and found his own stuff lying around.
Firstly, he picked up his hoodie. He examined it briefly, then settled for wearing it. The boy was a little surprised to know that it still fit him. Apparently, the merchandise manufacturers behind Pumpkin Pete, the cereal mascot, intended for their hoodies to be worn by young adults. Clearly their target demographic.
Next was his new armor. Without looking too much into it, he picked it up and slid it over his shoulders. It was somewhat heavy, but it still fit him like a glove.
However, after checking himself in the mirror again, he noticed something… Very peculiar about his new armor.
"…Why does it have only one shoulder pad?"
Eh. Maybe it was a Huntsman thing. Style over substance, or something like that.
After getting himself fully dressed, Jaune went through the door to finally assess his new location.
Walking down the narrow hallway, he eventually got ample view of the rest of the house.
He was upstairs, with a decent view of the living room over the wooden rails. He had been there once, long before going to Beacon. It was his sister's house at Argus.
"Oh! You're awake." Speaking of which.
Jaune turned to regard Saphron.
"H-Hey, Saph!" He said as she walked up to him. In her arms, Jaune noticed that she was carrying Adrien. "Oh! Hey little guy. Whoa, look at how much you've grown. Did you miss me?"
The baby unconditionally giggled at his uncle.
Saphron simply smiled at her brother.
"Wow, that's… That's exactly the same thing you told him when you got here."
"Oh. Uhm…" Jaune scratched the back of his head. "I guess I already did, huh."
Awkward silence.
"So!" She reconvened. "You sure weren't kidding when you said you were tired last night. It's already past noon, did you know that?"
"…I was?" He asked away.
"Yeah. That Qrow guy did also look tired, but he seemed more drunk than anything."
"…Who?"
"Uhm… Ruby's uncle?" She answered. "The teacher who was accompanying you kids on this mission to Atlas?"
"Oh… Ooooh, that Qrow." He lied. "So, did anything else happen last night? My head is kinda fuzzy."
"Well, not that much, really." She explained. "You and everyone else arrived here after searching for your missing colleague. Then Qrow apparently got fed up with something and started arguing with your friends. By the way, did you understood what he meant when he said there was a man inside one of your friend's head?"
"…What?"
"Yeah, right? That guy was completely plastered. Also, if you happen to stumble on him, please tell Mr. Branwen that the next time he arrives at my house like that again that he is sleeping outside for the night." She angrily adverted. "His outburst almost made Adrien cry."
Adrien just giggled some more.
"Anyway." Continued Saphron. "I just came here to check on you and tell that your friends already came back from town and are having lunch right now. Yang and Blake just got here not even a minute ago."
"Well, uhm... Thanks. I'll be sure to join them."
"Anything for my lil' bro." She nodded, then began to walk towards the stairs. "I'll be going now. My wife is waiting for me just outside."
"Wait, you're not staying?"
Saphron turned back to him. "Terra got a call from the communications center about something important. I'll be going with her just in case those Atlas' corporates decide to give her a hard time. That, and later so we can go shopping for some new clothes for Adrien." She cradled her son.
'Well, at least you got someone else to play dress-up with, this time.' He thought, almost shuddering at the memories of his sisters.
"We'll be back by evening. Take care of the house while we're out." She almost made it to the stairs before turning back to him again. "Oh, before I forget. Do you know anything about the crack on the wall I found on the living room this morning?"
Jaune scratched his head at that. "…Not sure if I remember that either?"
"Yeah… You've always been a terrible liar." She called him out. "We'll be talking about this later. See ya."
Saphron descended into the living room with her son, leaving Jaune with more questions than answers. One of them being…
'Already past noon?'
He picked up his scroll that he had found earlier in his guest room and checked on the time.
Indeed, it was a little past two PM.
FROM ONE YEAR IN THE FUTURE!
Unless Nora had been messing up with his scroll's date again, that ought to explain everything.
His vision switched between the house, to his own body and to his scroll once more. He attempted to go over every single possibility for his predicament.
Maybe he was having an out-of-body experience, or he could have unlocked his Semblance overnight and triggered some sort of time skip. This could also be all a dream for all he knew, but he wasn't dumb enough to think that just yet.
Jaune figured that if he really wanted to pick up the pieces for this quandary of his, he would have to play along with this for now.
Going downstairs, he saw that Saphron had already left. He then took notice of the few present guests.
Just like his sister said, he found Yang and Blake standing near the kitchen doorway unpacking from their day.
The only other person he found there... Was someone he could not recognize. She was an elderly woman, wearing some strange high-tech blue specs and reading a book at one of the sofas.
He overheard the rest of the girls' conversation.
"…Look, Yang. I appreciate the walk and all, it's just… I'm still trying to wrap my head around what Cordovin said yesterday." Blake went on.
"Hey, we've been over this." Said Yang. "You don't have to let these high-horsed people get to you every time they start spouting some nonsensical garbage. And besides, she's just some senile old lady. Who cares what they think?"
"Ahem!" The old lady present in that room cleared her throat, looking up from her book.
"Eh... Sorry." She apologized.
After hearing the woman humph from her seat, Jaune approached his two friends.
"Oh. Hey man!" Yang saluted him. "Is everything okay?"
Jaune waved back. "Y-yeah. Couldn't be better."
"You seemed exhausted last night." Said Blake. "Do you feel better now?"
"I think so…?" He answered.
Now that he was up-close, he noticed how different they also looked compared to last time.
Blake had ditched her bow in exchange for exposing her Faunus ears instead. She also wore a distinctive white long coat, covering most of her frame.
Yang underwent a few changes as well. Most noticeably to him was one of her arms.
"Hey, uhm...? Eyes up here." Yang signaled.
"Hm? Oh! Sorry, it's just that… I really like what you did with your gauntlet."
"My… Gauntlet?" She didn't quite get that, as he was clearly referring to her right arm.
"Yeah. I bet it must've costed an arm for the upgrade." He joked. "Get it? Because… It takes up the whole arm… Kind of."
Yang stared blankly at him. "…I'm not sure if I should laugh or smack you across the face, so I'll just leave at that. You better watch it, though."
The other blonde simply turned away from him and strolled towards the kitchen, leaving him with Blake.
"…What?" He genuinely asked.
Blake blinked incredulously at him. "What was that all about?"
Jaune felt dumbfounded at their reaction. "Uh… Did I say something wrong?"
She sighed, not really seeking to put up with that.
"Never mind. Regardless, the others have been wondering about you. You're more than welcome to join us for lunch."
"Oh! Don't mind if I do." He accepted the invite.
After picking up his plate and food of choice, Jaune went to the dinner room to meet up with the group.
From what he could gather after everything he heard so far, he pictured something a little like this:
Their group, which consisted of both Teams RWBY and JNPR, were in a mission. They were stationed at Argus due to some apparent complications involving the local military and that they were supposed to be in Atlas by now.
It seemed to him like they had picked some sort of high-profile mission, considering that they all must be on their second year at Beacon. He was honestly a little surprised he was able to last that long. Who knows what kind of whacky hijinks they all must have gone through in the meantime?
'I wonder who actually won at the tournament, now that I think about it.' He thought.
Anyhow. He carried his plate and silverware through the doorway, and finally got to see the rest of his friends.
Silver eyes blinked on visual contact.
"Oh! Hey Jaune!" Said Ruby with her mouth full. "Hmm~. Did you know that your sister makes an amazing clam chowder?"
"There's also some casserole leftovers." Interjected Yang. "Though, I wouldn't recommend."
"Hey! I said I was sorry." Yelped a voice that Jaune didn't recognized.
They were all sitting on a standard family table. Similar at Beacon, Team RWBY sat at one side, and his own Team sat at the other.
As he approached, he noted all the different changes on everyone's appearance.
Both Ruby and Weiss were in different dresses. Or Combat Skirts, if they asked him.
Ren and Nora have adopted a more Mistralian look on themselves, as well as letting their hairs grow out a bit.
And there on the end of their team's row was… A boy with freckles who was wearing an olive coat. He looked young, even younger than Ruby for that matter.
'Maybe he is the contractor for the mission. Or maybe the contractor's son, and we were supposed to escort him to Atlas.' Jaune pondered.
Nora looked at him over her shoulder. "Hey, Mr. Muscles! You're gonna stand there all day or you're gonna come and eat with us?"
"O-Oh! Coming." He hastily responded.
'Mr. Muscles? That's new.' Though, after seeing himself on the mirror earlier, he wasn't exactly opposed to the new nickname. 'Beats Vomit Boy.'
After enough dilly-dallying, he went to grab a seat with his team.
'Alright, just act natural.' Or as natural as he could make up to be. At that, he decided to steal a page from Ruby's book.
"Friends." He nodded at girls, putting down his plate. "Teammates." He said it to Ren and Nora as he sat down with them.
Then he looked at Weiss. "Snow-Angel…"
The girl in question froze with a spoonful of clam on her hand. The heiress for her turn could only do as much as stare back at him with very much confused eyes.
If that wasn't enough, the whole table seemed to focus solely on him after what he said.
"…My bad?" He offered.
'Idiot! It has probably been almost a year since the last time you called her that. What if she already has a boyfriend?! What if you already have a girlfriend?!' He screamed to himself on his own head. 'Okay, probably not the last one, but still.'
"Seriously?" Weiss finally spoke. "Are you still insisting with that name? After all this time?"
To his partial relief, she wasn't exactly bothered by his comment, let alone angry. She was, as well as everyone else on the table, mostly confused as to why he would even say that.
"…It slipped?" He played off as an accident.
Then Yang started to laugh her guts out.
"Pfft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Blake recoiled from her reaction. "…What are you laughing at?"
Yang just shrugged. "Ah, I just saw what he's trying to do."
"You did?" Weiss asked.
"You did?" Jaune also asked.
"Yup!" She stated matter-of-factly. "He's been acting all clueless like this with me and Blake too. He's just trying to humor us like if we were at Beacon again. Right?"
Jaune stared at her, unsure to what was even her conclusion. "Uhm…"
"To be quite frank…" Spoke Ren. "It certainly takes me back to what was relatively a much simpler time."
"I hear ya." Concurred Nora. "I don't even remember when was the last time I rode an Ursa to battle."
"…Should I even be surprised at this point?" Said the new kid.
"You don't know the half of it, Oscar." Answered Ruby. "I mean, between having to balance out all the school assignments, the constant vigilantism, the Grimm expeditions, we sorta spent most of our days just… Sitting around and talking about random stuff. Kind of like now!"
Jaune felt curious. "Don't we get to do that often anymore?"
She turned to regard him. "I guess we kinda still do? It's just not the same from when we were at Beacon."
'Wow. Just how long have we been on this mission?' He thought.
"So…" Said the boy whose name was Oscar. "What was the deal with that name again? 'Snow-Angel'?"
Yang grinned. "Oh, that's just what Jaune used to say every time he flirted with Weiss."
"Tried to flirt." Weiss corrected. "I wouldn't call 'disturbing my studies as a one-man-mariachi-band in the middle of the library' a successful attempt by no means."
There was small round of laughter between everyone.
"Ughhh…" Jaune groaned. That memory was still fresh in his mind for all of the wrong reasons.
"Then again…" Weiss continued, staring down at her lunch. "…I can't exactly say I haven't missed all of those courting attempts."
"…Huh?" It was his turn to be confused.
"Aww." Cooed Yang. "Is our dear ice-queen finally succumbing to the charms of her righteous blonde knight?"
"In your dreams, perhaps." Weiss took a sip from her drink, merely shrugging from Yang's teasing. "It's just that… When you spent months locked in what it feels like an ice castle, you suddenly learn to appreciate the little things in life."
Nora had already finished up her plate. "What? Next, you're gonna tell us you miss on all of those homework essays?" She burped. "Oh, who am I kidding? You probably do, actually."
"My point being…" Weiss ignored her quip. "…Is that I am glad we could overcome our differences over something so miniscule as that. And that I'm sure Jaune has already gotten over his silly crush on me, hence why he's making jokes at his own expense. Isn't that right?"
"Uhm… Yeah! Totally." He improvised. "Bridge under the water and all that. Heh."
"Welp!" Ruby chimed in. "I'm just happy we were finally able to grow out from all of that teenage mushy stuff."
"Ruby, you're barely even seventeen yet." Blake stated.
"Aw, dang it."
"And mostly important…" Added Ren, referring to his blonde teammate. "I am glad that Jaune could finally overcome everything we have been through."
"…Really?" Jaune asked.
"Oh, don't even get me started on that!" Responded Nora as she turned to the rest of the table. "Y'all should've seen him during our journey to Haven. He was like, 'Angst Incarnate'."
"W-Wait, run that by me again?" He kept asking.
"It's true." Ruby earned his attention. "Up until yesterday, you've always seemed downright depressed ever since we went on this mission. On occasion, I've seen you training alone in the forest while the rest of us were sleeping. It always appeared as if you were punishing yourself to exhaustion. I know you must've gone through a lot. We all did."
Jaune paid attention to everything she was telling him. He couldn't even begin to phantom the reason as to why he would suddenly start acting like that.
"But…" She continued. "That doesn't seem to be case with you today. Almost like as if you've truly returned to us, in a way. Huh, I guess settling down here at Argus wasn't such a bad idea after all. Maybe Qrow was right."
"Yeah, Fearless Leader!" Exclaimed Nora. "'Bout time you got out of your funk."
Ren lightly patted Jaune in his back. "In short, it is great to have you back, partner."
The sheer amount of support easily overwhelmed him. Jaune felt himself melting on his chair as he was on the receiving end of a torrent of flattering words by his closest friends.
Although, he had yet to really experience the shortcomings they were talking about. So, in a sense, he didn't actually deserve any of that praise. And it only served to add to his overall confusion.
Then Yang spoke. "…Isn't anyone gonna comment on how Ruby apparently spied on Jaune during his training sessions?"
"Yang…" Blake hissed.
"Okay. Fine. Sheesh. I know when my opinion isn't warranted. Anyway…" She picked up her drink. "Big cheers to the good ol' Vomit Boy that we all know and sorta love?"
Mainly to join up on the fun, everyone on the table grabbed their cups and raised them haphazardly.
That nickname aside, he chose to fully enjoy the moment.
Jaune still didn't quite get the situation he was in, and he positively knew that there were a lot of blanks left to be filled. But he would eventually get his answers in time, as well as to find a way to return to his own time.
Nevertheless, there was one thing he had gathered out of that conversation that he was confidently sure about.
They were his friends then. They were his friends now.
And nothing could really get in the way of that.
After that little ceremony, everyone pretty much went back to their plates. Taking advantage of that, Jaune scanned around the table to find anything else of interest.
Soon enough, he noticed that something, or rather, someone was missing from their group.
"So…" He lowered his head and began to play around with his food. "I've been meaning to ask. Did Pyrrha ever mention where she was going this morning?"
…
Beside him, Ren slowly turned to address his question. "…Pyrrha?"
"Yeah!" He faked a laugh. "She's getting fashionably later than usual, huh? When's she coming back from town, anyway?"
Someone dropped a spoon.
Jaune raised his head to check, only to be met with a… Less than welcoming scene.
The four girls from the other team stared right at him with various degrees of confusion, shock, sadness and indignancy.
He glanced to his side for help. His own team, plus Oscar, stared at him with the most worrying of expressions that he had ever seen.
It didn't take long for Jaune to realize that he had single-handedly killed the mood.
"…My bad?"