Pyrrha leaned back in the Bullhead seat, wondering to herself if she'd ever just be comfortable with her life and not always second guessing everything. She should consider this an honor, being asked to participate in a joint operation with students from another Academy, and yet, she couldn't stop thinking to herself that there was something up with this, some reason to sour the good mood of the rest of her team. She couldn't stop thinking that there had to be something wrong behind being offered this opportunity.

Yes, Pyrrha was the Vytal Champion and she had no doubt that her victory had played a role in being selected for a mission on the Vacuo-Vale border, but Ms. Goodwitch had been clear that JNPR—and not just her—had been selected as a team. From someone who had not always expressed such faith in Team JNPR, it was… hard to tell what she meant by that, but Pyrrha had to remind herself… they really had grown a lot in the past year.

Her eyes carefully turned towards Jaune, doing her best not to get caught staring, but her partner seemed to be far more relaxed, more confident in being on this ship than she could even imagine on the same man she'd met at the start of the year. No false bravado, no crippling insecurity… also, he was taking his motion sickness pills, but it was the real confidence that showed her there was an actual Huntsman now sitting there. They all were, really. Huntsmen. Glancing now to Ren and Nora, Pyrrha knew they were her… they were her team and taking up an important task wasn't something she did alone anymore. It was something the four of them did together. Which… which made her feel a lot more at ease as they headed to their mission.

And also, Pyrrha found their quirks undeniably lovable.

"So I want everyone, and I mean everyone, Mr. Jaune-Jaune," Nora said, arms crossed in front of her chest, "to keep their guard up at all times lest any hussies think they have a- Mr. Ren, is there something you'd like to say to the rest of the team?"

Ren gave a soft smile as he tried to dissuade the undissuadable. "I… I don't think we have to worry about Team NDGO doing anything-"

Nora, of course, cut him off. "Oh, that's what they want you to think!" she cried, slamming her fist into her palm, "But we know better! Team NDGO has a reputation, and what is that reputation, Ms. Nikos?"

Pyrrha froze. She didn't want to say anything that might encourage Nora's opinion on top of giving away her true feelings, but there was… another reason she was so apprehensive towards this mission. Because NDGO did have a reputation and it- it- it-

It just boiled her up that she'd be spending a week watching Jaune, her partner, interact with the most promiscuous team at the whole Vytal Festival!

"I… I've heard they're nice," she lied through her teeth, "but I didn't really spend much time with them."

"There's no need to lie to protect them!" Nora cried, "Because the truth will out!"

The last part of what Pyrrha had said was true, actually, but only because Pyrrha didn't get to spend much time with anyone at the Vytal. Her aura of invincibility kept just about everyone away, doubly so when it came to… to that kind of interest. Guys and girls alike saw untouchable perfection and saw their odds better with the rest of the visiting students. And at the Vytal, there were plenty of other options. Huntsmen-in-Training were generally young and athletic, mingling with foreign students away from their usual homes and with lax oversight. And… and certain Huntsmen were… much more attractive than they realized they were.

That was the problem. No one was willing to dare approach the Invincible Girl, but her partner wasn't claimed by anyone. And while Jaune, still smarting from his rejection by Weiss, didn't see the looks girls gave him, Pyrrha very much did. They didn't cross paths with Team NDGO, but a Faunus girl from Atlas suddenly got the notion to drop the flirtatious tone with Jaune while Pyrrha's eyes were burning a hole in the back of her head. And she wasn't the only one who'd noticed that, with Jaune's potential now being expressed, both as a leader and… in terms of his… build, he'd become… rather attractive.

And now there was… a team of all girls, with a reputation for casual sex, who'd be spending the week hovering around Jaune and Pyrrha could just- could just-

The craziest thing was, she was 100% in agreement with Nora! Even as she held up her color-coded Hussy Threat Index that Pyrrha wanted to move right into the red!

It was so stupid. Pyrrha knew her concerns were silly because they had an easy, obvious solution. Just ask him out! the voice in her head that said sensible things cried, He's not going to say no, just ask him out like a normal person instead of staring daggers at girls who seem interested! That girl in the domino mask from Haven didn't even know Jaune before you terrorized her at the dance! Just ask him out!

Alas… it didn't seem like that voice was going to be winning any time soon.

The Bullhead began its descent. Jaune gave Nora his most solemn oath—on his family name, its crest, and may the vines of their vineyards shrivel should he tell a lie—that he would not allow himself to be tempted by any feminine wiles while on this visit. Just Vacuan wiles would be enough, the voice in her head narrated, but Nora had quickly moved to demanding Ren make a blood oath that Pyrrha knew would end badly if she didn't intervene and now.

By the time Nora had been talked back down to sanity, Team JNPR had not only landed, disembarked, and met up with their guide, but had actually moved to the field site and set up camp. And even then, Nora had only backed down on demanding the blood oath. She was still gesturing to the Hussy Threat Index as Ren suddenly shushed them. They knew to trust Ren's senses, and if he heard something, something was coming.

Pyrrha kept a hand ready for her weapons as she looked around. This was their rendezvous point with NDGO, right at the border between Vacuo and Vale, and it was unlikely to have a serious Grimm presence, but 1) she wasn't going to write that possibility out and 2) as she felt Milo beneath her fingers, she knew she wasn't going to let anyone get the drop on her on some kind of hazing attempt. She glanced to Ren, his eyes ever-so-subtly darting to the trees, and-

"Oh, hey!"

Jaune, evidently unaware of the vibe between the groups, just waved at where Ren had picked up one of their Vacuan counterparts—Pyrrha thought this one, the blonde, was named Dew—was hiding. It wasn't unheard of, Ms. Goodwitch had even warned the group that Huntsmen might be more inclined to contests when paired up with the winner of the Vytal Tournament, but it was still a bit unbecoming in Pyrrha's mind. And while she was glad for Jaune's… non-Huntsman nature diffusing the situation, she also wouldn't have minded if they'd met these girls' aggression with something other than… a big clueless smile.

"I'm Jaune! Jaune Arc," Jaune said, utterly oblivious and as cheerful as a golden retriever, "and this is Team JNPR! Is, uh, is Nebula arou-"

"Right here," a smooth voice cut in from right behind Pyrrha. Peerless self control kept her from jumping, but her champion's pride definitely felt it that she'd nearly been snuck up on. As they turned to see her, Pyrrha gave this girl—Hussy Risk Factor #1 in Nora's categorization—a critical look over. Purple hair, a fashionably slashed belt, and a posture that suggested the sort of confidence Pyrrha always found offputting as she hefted her crossbow and swaggered in to the group. "Nice job getting spotted, Dew," she said, her voice carrying a mix of genuine and playful annoyance before she turned back to Jaune, "Just wanted to get a taste of what Beacon was sending, see if you were just tourney-good or the real deal."

Pyrrha was used to that kind of language. Didn't even phase her anymore, and, if anything, was a bit of a relief. Nebula seemed annoyed that her little ambush hadn't gone off as she hoped and was a world away from the Nebula of Pyrrha's imagination that would saunter up to Jaune with hips swaying and eyelashes batting as she saw a man to sink her claws into. Which… made Pyrrha feel terribly guilty that she was imagining a fellow Huntress-in-training, a team leader at that, in such a poor light!

Especially because Jaune just smiled, that big, wide, heartwarming smile that might have been because he wasn't picking up any of what was going on here, but still spoke to the best elements of his character. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm really looking forward to-"

But she cut him off, "Yeah, yeah, I know, we're on babysitting detail to make sure you Valeans don't start redrawing our border if the fancy strikes you."

Pyrrha glanced at Ren and Nora who, for the first time since Pyrrha had met them, seemed equally surprised. In all their anxieties and irrational worries, they'd never expected her to be… such a dick. Even Nora looked a little blown away by how hostile she was-

"You have a problem with the border?"

Pyrrha didn't often hear Jaune's voice so… cold that she briefly glanced around to find the source of this new speaker, but then realized… Jaune was meeting Nebula's hostility with his own. Just as the rest of Team NDGO materialized from the surrounding terrain.

"Everything up to the Amarillo is Vacuan by right," a girl with curly black hair sneered as Pyrrha got the sense that… that she was the one with no awareness of the hostility here.

Especially as Jaune folded his arms over his chest and grinned, replying, "Uh, I think you'll find that it's called la rivière-"

"Don't you dare use it's stolen name," Nebula hissed through gritted teeth. "The Amarillo was a proud river, a powerful and dangerous river that you- you- you Valean weaklings used to-"

"To grow grapes?" Jaune asked, his smile turning… disconcertingly Cardin-ish, particularly because of how attractive Pyrrha was finding it, "Yes, it's excellent wine territory, which is why we fought to the last man to protect it when you thieving Vacuans invaded in the-"

"What… what is going on?" Nora asked in disbelief. "Am I… am I the only person being… sensible? Me? That's- Jaune-Jaune, make the world make sense!"

"It's Valean pride," replied Jaune—the same Jaune who had once pinned Russel Thrash against a wall and told him, in no uncertain terms, that he wouldn't tolerate a single bigoted word against Blake for her heritage—with a murderous growl. He then added to Team NDGO, "My whole team's Mistralians, not just Pyrrha."

Pyrrha had found her transition to Valean life to be surprisingly easy, considering she lived in Beacon, a fairy tale castle with a monster-infested forest between it and the rest of Vale. There had been a few tastes of Valean culture Pyrrha had found excitingly novel, like her introduction to chocolate croissants at the pâtisserie, but the culture shock wasn't overwhelming. After all, as Jaune had just pointed out, her team was three-quarters Mistralian, and her closest friends were on a half-Valean team, but they were from Patch, which, as Pyrrha understood, wasn't always considered a part of Vale. Sometimes more forcibly than other times, from the way Yang put it.

"Anyways," Jaune said, his nose still upturned towards the other team, "We're here to get work done, so if we could move on from arguments that were settled four centuries ago, we can start establishing our patrol and charting Grimm activity."

"I expect it'll be high," the redhead said in a breezy voice, "Being so close to Vale and those hideous structures your kind calls a Cathedral-"

Jaune whipped around at her, murder in her eyes, "The Arceaux Cathedral is a treasure of all Remnant, the stained glass alone is-"

"Is nothing compared to the Cathedral of Malik in-"

"I WILL CUT YOUR FACE OFF!" Jaune bellowed, his hand snapping to Crocea Mors, which seemed to blaze with patriotic fervor as every one of Team NDGO shot to-

"EVERYONE STOP RIGHT NOW!"

In terms of things Pyrrha had never heard before, hearing Ren yell wasn't the biggest reveal of the day, but it was certainly surprising. Enough to stop Jaune from making a major mistake and even though the members of NDGO didn't know Ren, it did stop the fight from happening.

Taking a moment to breathe, Ren glared at the Vacuans and Jaune before continuing, "We are here on a mission, and whatever historical differences your Kingdoms might have, they are nothing compared to the threat of the Grimm! I have- I have personally lost too much to the Grimm to see bickering children pose as Huntsmen!"

Pyrrha could feel the shame falling across the group. Especially on Jaune, who cared so much about living up to the expectation he was now failing. Lowering his head, he mumbled a weak apology as he realized how significant it was that he'd made Ren lose patience.

"I- I'm sorry," he said, then turned to Team NDGO, "Ren is… Ren's right, we need to be working together."

"Yeah," Nebula muttered, "We'll start covering the Southern portion if you'd take the North."

"We'll get to it. And… and sorry for my outburst," Jaune said, visibly chagrined.

But it only lasted for a moment.

Nebula's eyes focused into a glare that Pyrrha realized Jaune just as quickly mirrored. Ren had diffused a fight, but the hostility between those two, between Vale and Vacuo… it clearly went deep, and Pyrrha had no idea what to make of it. As the parties departed, Jaune taking point to try and hide his embarrassment, Pyrrha turned to Nora and asked, "Do.. do you know what just happened?"

Nora just shook her head. "No," she admitted, "and it actually scares me that I'm being the reasonable one! I'm worried I'm going to have to… have to swear fealty to a moose or something to make the world make sense again!"

"Or!" Ren quickly cut in, "Or we can help Jaune deal with these… nationalistic sentiments and Nora, you can just focus on… eating a lot of pancakes in a very short amount of time."

"I do like the sound of the pancake option..." Nora mused.

Pyrrha… Pyrrha needed some perspective on this. Because Ren had a good point, but dealing with this was going to be hard, harder than Pyrrha knew how to handle. Social skills were just not her forte once it got beyond smiling politely! Which… which meant she needed to call for help. Help from someone who knew Valean culture while being an outsider to it, someone who was used to being the only sane voice in the room. And as much as she was reluctant to call the answer that came to mind, Pyrrha had to admit… she would be the best person to call on for this.

Weiss glanced up at the clock, noting that her schoolwork had been finished fifteen minutes ahead of her self-imposed schedule. She felt a small burst of pride in her heart for achieving it, but at the same time, it meant now she had fifteen more minutes of unscheduled time to do… anything with.

Leaning back in her chair with a sigh, Weiss's thoughts turned back to what she didn't want to be thinking of. Specifically, the opportunity Team JNPR had that- really, it was only fair that they got it. After all, they had Pyrrha, and Beacon clearly wanted to put their best foot forward in working with Shade Academy. And who would be a bigger deal than Pyrrha, Vytal Tournament champion Pyrrha, in all of Beacon? It wasn't like she was the heiress to the SDC and was close friends with the daughter of Ghira and Kali Belladonna, a living example of the possibility of peace between humans and Faunus. No, there was nothing like-

Her scroll buzzed, and Weiss's heart stopped when she saw it was Pyrrha calling her while she was- well she wasn't- there wasn't any-

She wasn't jealous at all!

But she really wanted to know why Pyrrha was calling her, directly, and it spoke so much to Weiss's ego that she barely even hesitated to snatch up her scroll and open it, revealing Pyrrha's worried face on the other end. It caught Weiss off guard to see that—what in the world did Pyrrha have to be worried about? Ever? Aside from the idiotic rumors Blake kept trying to spread, Pyrrha's life was going incredibly! Her grades were amazing, she'd won the Tournament, she was still saddled with Jaune, but Weiss was starting to discover that there were certain lights that he looked good in, and just… in general, she was doing great.

"Hey Pyrrha," she nervously started, "Is everything… alright?"

Pyrrha shook her head. "No, it's… it's hard to explain, but I think… I mean, I've never seen Jaune like this before but-"

"Jaune?" Weiss asked, a slow horror blooming in her heart as she slowly tied together what Jaune could do that would leave Pyrrha so distressed… all because of Blake's horrible lies! "Pyrrha, what did Jaune- whatever he did, it's okay, your partner doesn't define you and if you need my family's lawyers to-"

"What?" Pyrrha's head jerked back in surprise, "Weiss, what are you- no, it wasn't- it was just… Jaune just… the team from Shade, when we met them, they got really hostile out of nowhere and… do you know anything about Vale and Vacuo having a rivalry?"

Weiss nodded, a little relieved that it wasn't… that Jaune hadn't done anything unforgivable, but it did mean that she didn't have a good answer to Pyrrha's problem. "Was it a sports thing?" she asked, "Like, I know that Yang's always talking about that… that game with the ball? ...and the field?"

Weiss was considerably out of her depth when it came to sports.

But Pyrrha just shook her head. "No, it was… bigger than that, but, Weiss, it was… it was kind of scary. I'd never seen Jaune get so angry than when they said, um, something about a Cathedral and-"

"What did they say about our Cathedral?"

Ruby's sudden interjection almost made Weiss jump. She seemed unashamed of her eavesdropping as she thrust her face in view of Pyrrha and continued, "Pyrrha! Were those- those- those Vacuans," she said it like a curse word, like how Ruby said curse words, with a lot of stammering and hesitancy, "saying stuff about Vale? Because- Pyrrha, because you can't let them be insulting us! You're representing Beacon, even if you're not Valean, you've gotta stand up for the-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Blake cut in, offering Weiss some backup as a voice of sanity, "Vale and Vacuo were allies in the Great War, they were crucial in-"

Ruby shot a livid glare at the both of them, forceful enough to even stop Blake mid-history lesson. Which, as Weiss knew, was not easy.

"They're always throwing that in our faces," she growled, "Acting like we should be grateful, that they saved us, but Vale is free from Atlesian aggression," Weiss paled from the wrathful glare Ruby—Ruby!—shot at her, "because of Valean courage and Valean soldiers, and we did the bulk of the fighting that they only showed up for because they knew they'd be next!"

"Hell yeah," the horrible, laughing voice of Yang Xiao Long cut in as she entered the dorm, "We're talking about the Great War? Victory Day's coming up and hoooooo boy, Weissy, we're gonna need your credit card cause I am taking the both of you to get some quality Valean brisket, Patch style!" She looked around the room, evidently surprised not to hear excitement at the prospect of eating an entire cow, and finally noticing that the tone of the room was off. "What's… what's going on?" she asked, "Rubes, did Weiss say something about-"

"Why do you think I'm the problem!" Weiss shrieked, but was swiftly ignored in favor of Ruby, her hands still tightly balled up into fists.

"JNPR's on the border with Team NDGO and- and- and they're being a bunch of Vacuan butts!"

Punching her fist into her palm, Yang growled, "Oh those sand-witches! And Jaune's got no backup—no offense, Pyr—in reminding them what the greatest Kingdom on Remnant is!"

Blake placed a hand on her partner's shoulder, saying, "Hey, maybe we can take things down a few notches and just-"

"They insulted the Cathedral!" Ruby cried, bringing her foot down in a petulant stomp.

Yang visibly darkened. "Oh they did not talk shit about Arceaux Cathedral!"

Weiss threw up her hands incredulously. "You- Yang, when have you ever cared about Gothic period Valean architec- about any kind of architecture! And- and you and Jaune bicker about Arceaux-versus-Patch all the-"

"We're allowed to say things about Arceaux," Ruby cut in, more authoritatively than Weiss was used to, "But if those- those- those hussies think they can insult Vale- can insult our good friend Jaune, then they are going to learn the wrath of our Huntresses! Weiss! Give me Pyrrha's coordinates!"

Weiss just stared at her leader, her usually not this insane leader, before she said, "I… no, no I'm not going to-"

"Pyrrha!" Yang yelled, "Give us your coordinates! Blake knows who to hotwire a Bullhead-"

"I- how did you-" Blake cut in, only to get shouted down by her partner.

"-we'll bring backup by dawn, and then we can waste those bitches!"

"Teach them to mess with Vale!"

"We will burn their stupid paella places to the ground!"

"We'll fly the flag over their stupid faces!"

Weiss looked to Blake, then Pyrrha on her scroll's screen, both faces filled with utter, helpless disbelief at what they were hearing. Giving Pyrrha a sympathetic, but hopeless, look was all Weiss could offer as both her and Blake's partners seemed to be caught up in the same nationalistic fervor Pyrrha's partner was wrapped up in. When she had left for Beacon, Klein had made a small, quiet remark that Weiss would get to see that Valeans were a… more boisterous people than she was used to in Atlas, but she'd thought she'd seen that when she first met the excitable, energetic Ruby and her even louder sister.

She'd never realized it meant something like this… a thought punctuated as Yang was now waving a grand Valean flag that Weiss had never seen before—how did her teammates always have- have flags and banners and pennants just for the opportune moments! And now Ruby was singing in squeaky, off-key Old Valean and… oh, this was going to be a night of doltishness, wasn't it?

"I… think I have to call you back later," Weiss whispered to the screen.

Breathe.

Breathe in, breathe out. Just breathe. Don't think. Don't act. Just breathe.

Jaune had spent the better part of a year learning to let go of his pride and the emotional, irrational way it made him act. It was the first step in becoming a real Huntsman. In following Pyrrha's example and growing as a person, as a leader. In becoming… the person Pyrrha thought he could be.

And even if he couldn't think the word "Vacuo" without feeling a blistering surge of anger, he knew that a Huntsman… served the people of the world. That these little slap fights weren't becoming of any of them. Really, he'd already let his team down—he should be embarrassed that he let Nora go as far as she did in the Bullhead, trading on the unfounded stereotypes of the oversexed Vacuan that he knew wasn't accurate to the girls of NDGO. They might not be his favorite people in the world, but… but they were Huntresses-in-training. They were students like him. They deserved to be treated with respect, the mutual respect that would make cooperation possible.

This was why Ms. Goodwitch had asked Team JNPR to head up this mission. She'd told him they'd been selected because she'd seen something in them that made them perfect for this. Whether it was in how much they'd grown over the past year or just Pyrrha's star outshining all their limitations, Jaune knew he had to live up to that expectation. He might not be here at Beacon on legitimate grounds, but he'd led JNPR through their first year anyways. And if he could keep it up… then he really could call himself a Huntsman.

With his resolve marshalled, Jaune took one last deep breath and looked around the camp site. Ren was still flipping pancakes on the cooking fire, passing them directly onto Nora's plate as she devoured them. Pyrrha was still working on her hair as best she could, something Jaune knew he could help with—his sister's had given him more than enough experience with hair care—but he had to be prepping for Team NDGO's sure-to-be-soon arrival. Besides, it was a little endearing to watch the icon of Huntress grace, strength, and beau- competence fret over her appearance while in the field. Reminded Jaune not to put her up on a pedestal like so many others did.

Opening his scroll, Jaune gave his notes another once-over. Nebula would probably grill him on his procedure, which would be annoying, but… it did force him to be meticulous. Meticulous enough that even Oobleck would give him credit on the Grimm Activity Chart he'd put together—heck, even Goodwitch would probably give him a curt nod of approval! His team had been able to triangulate a possible Grimm Nest that the eight of them could go after. And, with luck, having a common enemy of "very old and powerful Grimm" would give them enough common ground to overlook… overlook…

HecouldoverlookVacuo'shistory.

It wouldn't be easy, but nothing about being a Huntsman was. Jaune closed his eyes, centered himself, just the way Pyrrha taught him, and when he opened them back up, it was time for action.

"Breakfast time's over!" he announced, confidently pushing through Nora's objection, "Pyrrha, your hair's fine, you look gorgeous, it's-" he paused a moment as he saw Pyrrha turn bright red at what he was saying. "Seven sisters, remember? I've worked with hair before," he corrected, "Anyways, NDGO's set to rendezvous with us any minute now, so I want this camp packed and have us ready to go!"

In no time at all, they hopped to his command. They'd really been working as a unit on this trip… outside of, of course, his outburst at NDGO yesterday, but that'd helped smarten him up and straightened him out! But with two world-class powerhouses and a pair of the keenest eyes at Beacon, Jaune knew he had a team that could succeed! In no time at all they had the camp efficiently packed down and they were raring to get going to that Nest!

They even had some downtime before NDGO came slinking in—and to Jaune's credit, he held his tongue and avoided making a comment about it. Unlike his opposite.

"Well, well, well," Nebula chuckled as her eyes roamed around the campsite, "I've never known a Valean to be punctual, so maybe you'll even prove to be competent when we go hunting!"

Her team snickered behind her. Even though both their Kingdoms had a reputation in Mistral and especially Atlas (an opinion Weiss didn't hesitate to voice) for their easygoing natures and general lack of timeliness. But that wasn't what was important. Jaune didn't let his annoyance rise up in him and instead, stayed on topic.

"Nebula..." he wearily replied, "I'm the only Valean on Team JNPR. If you want to make this about old rivalries, sure, whatever, I'll meet you on that, but I've got to think about what the rest of my team is doing, so if you don't mind… can we start talking about how we want to deal with this Nest?" he held up his scroll, showing the map they'd developed. "Think it's going to take the eight of us to safely clear it."

Nebula shook her head, trying to act like she wasn't annoyed that Jaune wasn't rising to the bait. "Well, good on you for being the bigger man, Arc," she said, "but in terms of your team, I just feel sorry for Pyrrha. I've got to look out for a sister, after all, and we all know that Valean men aren't exactly packing heat down there..."

That was it? A dick joke? Ha! If that was all she had, Jaune could laugh it-

"What did you say."

Jaune had never heard Pyrrha get angry. He'd heard her disapproval, particularly towards Cardin, but she'd never gotten angry. Not like this. Her words sounded as sharp as her sword, and there was a trembling, barely restrained fury in her voice. Jaune knew better than anyone how gentle Pyrrha was, in spite of her considerable experience inflicting violence, and yet, his blood ran cold to hear her turn mad.

Even NDGO seemed to realize they'd gone a bit too far if it got Pyrrha to bite back. But Nebula evidently wasn't going to back down that easily as she took a step forward and repeated, "I feel sorry that you have to settle for Valean-"

The shield hit her before Jaune even realized it was even in Pyrrha's hand. Even Nebula seemed to not realize it at first before the reality of taking a hit from the world champion asserted itself, dropping her to the ground. Striding forward with Milo in hand, looking like a warrior queen with her hair streaming behind her like a crimson banner, Pyrrha commanded the attention of all who beheld her. Even Jaune, who was far too awed to realize he really should have been saying something to calm down tempers before-

PTWING!

A dagger was effortlessly deflected out of the air by Pyrrha, but it broke the spell she held over the rest of Nebula's team. Three girls streaked forward on the assault, and while Pyrrha was more of a fighter than most teams combined, NDGO were one of Shade's best, and more importantly…

Time slowed down, the spike of adrenaline that once made Jaune's stomach do flip flops but was now just a part of being a Huntsman, as he had to decide what he was supposed to do. Pyrrha had initiated the fight, they were technically in the wrong, but seeing the wicked spear of a furious, redheaded Vacuan, Jaune could feel an instinctual surge in his blood, an ancestral command to…

To stand by his Team. To protect his partner.

His shield was deployed in a blink, a trick he'd practiced so many times with Pyrrha who came in faster and harder than Dew Gayl could ever imagine as he blocked her charge. He saw Octavia whip around, her dagger in hand, but before she could take advantage of his flank, a sudden burst of gunfire forced her to back off. And with the familiar war whoop that was now soaring over his head…

Team JNPR was in the fight.

They had a worthy adversary: Team NDGO had been beaten by SSSN in the Vytal, but they'd given them a good run for their money in doing it. And the matchup was an interesting one. NDGO didn't have a frontline like JNPR did, where Nora and Pyrrha hit hard and fast and Jaune could effectively hold ground while Ren kept his distance and harried them. Dew was the best frontliner they had, with Octavia specializing in quick interception and Nebula and Gwen being mid-rangers. They were an agile team, which could exploit Nora and Jaune's stodginess well…

If it wasn't for Pyrrha. She was on fire, retrieving her shield as she nimbly danced between Gwen and Octavia's best efforts to put a knife in her. As Nebula sprang to her feet, Nora was already forcing her backwards and Jaune… admittedly, struggled with Dew who was very good with her spear and he was not as good with his sword and shield. But he kept her locked down as-

"PYRRHA!" Nora cried, "IT'S TIME TO UNLEASH THE HAMMER OF HEPHAESTUS!"

"Nora, no!" Jaune cried, "You only came up with the name, we never actually desi- AGGGHG!"

Dew savagely thrust through Jaune's defenses, but as much as it hurt to lose this much aura all at once, he was far more horrified as he saw that Nora and Pyrrha had evidently created a combo move as Pyrrha lunged forward, the ripple of her Semblance activating as she magnetically thrust Magnhild, and the attached Nora, into the sky… putting her at the perfect vantage for her to morph her hammer into its grenade launcher form and shower them all with explosives.

And laughing maniacally the whole time.

Nora had taken the worst of it.

Not that you'd notice from her chipper demeanor. Even after blowing herself up due to a stubborn refusal to stop firing while falling, even at point blank range, even though they were being dressed down personally by Ms. Goodwitch, Nora had a big smile on her face, radiating cheerfulness and spent Dust in equal measure and in dramatic contrast to her partner, who looked like he was halfway into the grave from mortification. Pyrrha was the only one who didn't have a scratch—she was the Invincible Girl, after all—but she felt that she was the worst off of all of them, utterly devastated by embarrassment that she had been the one to turn to violence.

Pyrrha's whole life was about disciplined control, even to the point where she couldn't tell a boy she had a crush on him because she couldn't let go of the fear it wouldn't go how she planned. And then, for that same boy, she'd turned what should have been a mission of global cooperation into an all-out brawl.

And made the boy she had a crush on look like an incompetent leader.

She hadn't looked at Jaune. Couldn't bring herself to. Whatever look she saw on his face, whether it was shame or anger or if he was just… disappointed in her—or worse, himself—Pyrrha felt like it would be the end of the world just to see it. She'd heard enough when Jaune had called in to Goodwitch after the brawl to give his report… and confess to being part of an international incident. The sight of him taking Goodwitch's words stoically as she announced she would be taking a Bullhead straight to them stuck in Pyrrha's memory. They hadn't spoken much since Goodwitch had hung up. Pyrrha really hadn't known what to say.

"Ahem."

Ms. Goodwitch's voice summoned them all from their troubled thoughts as she looked at the four of them, her eyes effortlessly piercing through their defenses as she assessed them, one by one, for their failures.

"I sent the four of you to the Vacuan border for a reason," she explained, "A team featuring three Mistralians, including one of your sterling reputation, Ms. Nikos, would surely not be drawn into such petty international rivalries."

"Ma'am," Jaune cut in, really not the time to be talking but the steely determination in his voice startled Pyrrha too much for her to stop him, "I take full responsibility for this. It was my failures in leadership that caused the situation, and I want to apologize to not only-"

"Apologize for what?" Ms. Goodwitch asked, smoothly cutting through Jaune's apology, "After all, as I said, it would be irrational to think that Team JNPR had any nationalistic agenda, so… to any observer, it would be obvious that Team NDGO was clearly at fault. To think those… those vache Vacounoles would be so… brutish," she said with a disdainful shudder.

Pyrrha only spoke a little Old Valean, mostly what she'd picked up from when Jaune lapsed into his rustic-accented native tongue, but she knew a curse when she heard one, even if it was… even if it was unthinkable to hear Ms. Goodwitch swear!

"I warned Ozpin that he underestimated the animosity between our Kingdoms, but he dismissed my warnings as just the product of my own Valean pride, but as you can clearly see… I was quite correct on the matter. I had my suspicions that Headmaster Theodore selected Team NDGO just so that a fight would happen! How utterly scandalous to behave like that, choosing a team to manipulate what should be a moment of inter-Kingdom cooperation. But what can be expected of a Vacuan academy..."

Not wanting to comment on the hypocrisy as the Deputy Headmistress regretfully shook her head, Pyrrha instead glanced at her teammates. Nora seemed delighted that they were in the clear, Ren seemed to be debating if there was anything he could say that would make sense at a moment like this. The two of them were, as Pyrrha well knew, familiar with the pettiness that lay beneath the pomp of officialdom, but even this seemed to be a surprise.

"But besides that matter," she said, the anger dissipating from her face so swiftly it was like she had never left her usual state of untouchable professionalism, "It's clear to me that this mission reflects the best we could hope for inter-Kingdom cooperation, and the report I will write for the Council will be scathing. But that is a matter for me, not for students of Beacon, and I, personally, wish to thank you for your efforts to present the competence, level-headedness, and understanding we expect of our students. And I certainly expect you to keep any hasty, ill-considered apologies to yourselves before you cause needless self-incrimination."

Ms. Goodwitch went on talking about the general debrief of the mission, but Pyrrha wasn't really listening. She'd… she'd been set up. By Ms. Goodwitch. It was almost impossible to put those words together, but Beacon had just traded on Pyrrha's star power and reputation to start a fight between them and the students of Shade so as to… leverage some insane, centuries-long border dispute.

But at the same time…

Pyrrha had been the one to take the first swing, the sort of thing she'd been trained her entire life not to do, to always think of her reputation or "the Nikos brand" if she brought out of the ring any of the aggression she wore so effectively within it. And it felt… it felt good. Freeing, in a way, to do something… something irresponsible and bad. A girl had talked trash about the boy Pyrrha had a crush on and she'd made that girl immediately eat her words. It was bad, the sort of thing she should never do, and yet… for once in her life, Pyrrha didn't feel like apologizing.

Was this what Yang felt like every day? There was something exhilarating about it…

They'd been dismissed from Ms. Goodwitch's presence, the Deputy Headmistress apparently finding it harder and harder to conceal her glee at the prospect of excoriating the Headmaster of Shade, and they were sent back to their camp as Ms. Goodwitch returned to her Bullhead. Pyrrha always felt awkward after being dismissed, where the four of them didn't particularly have anywhere to go, but they couldn't just stand around.

"You know what would take our minds off the realization that our leaders and role models can be just as childish and petty as a group of heavily armed teenagers?" Nora asked, her anarchic cheer at facing no consequences for their actions cutting through the daze, "Pancakes! And because the mission's ending early, we've got a lot of unnecessary pancake mix..."

She swiftly hustled Ren back to the cooking fire, leaving Pyrrha and Jaune alone. She gave him a hesitant glance, not rising to meet his eyes, for fear of being expected to say something once she did. Which… which was almost comical, really, she'd just sparked an armed border dispute over this boy, had narrowly escaped consequence thanks to absurd circumstances and she… and she still didn't have the guts to talk to him! No wonder she found relationships so impossible—she couldn't imagine ever explaining to Jaune, to anyone, why it took her so long to-

"Ren is… going to be insufferable about this," Jaune said. Pyrrha couldn't stifle a laugh; she could already picture it: Jaune making tea and Ren inquiring if it was the Valean way and, if so, if he should get Stormflower ready. "Once he's done making pancakes and starts putting his thoughts back together, he is never going to let me live this down."

"But..." she said, giving her partner a smile, "It… did feel nice to be fighting alongside you. Seeing you go all out for the honor of Vale, it was very romant-"

She cut herself off as soon as the syllables left her mouth, but

But of course, Jaune hadn't noticed, being the one man in all of Remnant who'd think she was using the other meaning of "romantic." "Like one of the knights of old," he chuckled, "Or one of the Sacred Band of Argus, standing up against-"

Pyrrha's eyes flashed with warlike passion, a sudden heat within her breast as the passion of her ancestors soared within her. "I wouldn't compare our history with this… this border skirmish," Pyrrha said with more steel in her voice than was particularly necessary. "Particularly when Vale has yet to return the Phidian Marbles to their rightful place!"

But Jaune did not back down, matching Pyrrha's steel with his own, his voice taking on the ring of Crocea Mors itself as he countered, "When Mistral acknowledges its history in allying with Atlas to seize Patch for..."

Jaune's proud words continued, but Pyrrha found them… invigorating. After all, how could Pyrrha call herself a daughter of Argus if she turned down an opportunity for a heated, passionate debate, and with Jaune… her handsome Valean partner looking so valorous as he stood up for his people's history in the Great War, Pyrrha couldn't help but get a tingle at the thought of a heated, passionate encounter.

Enough so that she caught herself smiling, a smile infectious enough to break through Jaune's ardent defenses and leave him smiling, too. And the smiles became broader until they both laughed, breaking the tension of not only their own conflict, but the sheer weirdness of their previous one, making Pyrrha laugh even harder at just how… how insane it was that Ms. Goodwitch sent them on a highly prestigious mission to start a fight with a group of Vacuan students, and how Pyrrha got the opportunity to smack a girl in the mouth for saying a bad word about her Jaune! She laughed so hard she bent double, leaning on Jaune's shoulder to-

Realizing in an instant that she practically had her arm around Jaune's shoulder, the humor in the situation dried up quick. And yet, as she caught her breath, seeing Jaune's radiant smile, the tears sparkling in the corner of his eyes, as blue as the sky above them, he just had the ability to take the wind out of her.

"Well," Jaune said, smiling to her as he supported her, leaning on his shoulder, "maybe it could be fun to discuss things in a… in a less violent manner than we did with NDGO, but to share our national pride..."

Pyrrha grinned. "You're on, Valean."

"And I'll make you answer for your people's crimes, Mistralian."

Perhaps this wasn't her proudest moment or a testament to the cooperation between Kingdoms that Pyrrha should be striving for, but as she took her arm off Jaune's shoulder and followed him to find a place where they could sit down and just talk… it gave Pyrrha a sense that she really didn't mind being something other than the perfect girl on the pedestal.

Thanks to Renarde for the concept and feedback on this fic!