Accidental Villain 12

Epilogue

6 Months later

Jaune whistled to himself as he twirled the screwdriver under the microscope, tongue sticking out in concentration, this piece of equipment needed very fine tuning to be able to keep up with the speed that Ruby moved at, previous equipment that he had given her had not been able to handle going close to Mach 2, and she was only getting faster as the days went on.

The metal door screeched open as Jaune didn't even bother looking up to know who it was that came through, simply muttering out a thank you as she set down a toasted sandwich on the desk next to him, yet out of the way of the kinetic-grenade, the idea was for this device to store up the movement that Ruby made as she ran and once placed on someone it would have a second before it propelled them with the force of her speed in a certain direction, useful for moving debris and for taking out enemies quickly.

"Nora says her Repeater worked really well, she was able to hold a building for over an hour when she usually only has about 20 minutes of power." Pyrrha says as she takes a seat on a stool near Jaune and watches him tinker, the look of concentration on his face is too adorable for her not to smile at.

"An hour? I underestimated her body's capacity, need to improve that then."

"Jaune I just said it worked fine."

"Yeah but some tweaks can be made to make it better; it's all about improvement, I mean when Yang throws a punch do you think she believes it is good enough to knock someone out first time?"

"Yes."

"Okay bad example; Ren's art, do you think when he shows you a piece of it he is thinking it is good enough or that he is wanting your opinion?"

"My opinion."

"Exactly! Because he wants you to see things he can improve on, but to you and me the art work is already amazing, we are just telling him our favourite parts and then he is adding more to them and making them shine brighter; and that is the plan here."

"It is so easy to see why everyone thought you were a mad scientist."

"Madness and brilliance; you would be surprised how often those to coincide." Pyrrha then watched as Jaune turned back to the device he was working on, tongue once again sticking out and googles enhancing his eyes in a squint; she smiled softly at the whole image.

"No… I don't think I would be." She said softly under her breath, all this time now learning more about Jaune in a friend capacity had taught her the sheer brilliance behind his mind, and it had also gotten her used to his outbursts of pure madness as well, sentences that she didn't think anybody could understand but now she was fluent in.

There was a moment that she will always look back on and feel embarrassed about; Her, Jaune, Ren and Nora were all hanging out at a café, Jaune was once again crossing something off on his friendship list, he even tried flirting with the girl behind the counter to try and cross something off the girlfriend list he so proudly talked about. Pyrrha wasn't so thrilled about that, but it was what happened when they left… a fan recognised her and then from there phones were out and pictures and videos were being made, which meant they certainly had to cut the outing short before reporters got wind that Pyrrha Nikos was out with friends.

Too little too late, next thing they all knew Lisa Lavender was there and Pyrrha was being asked about dating and if Ren was her boyfriend, which while he was a lovely guy, he was not the one for her. Jaune and Nora however had grown bored of all the questions, apart they were okay, but together they had no impulse control at all. Nora would come up with the craziest of ideas and Jaune would be so egger to be included, thinking that Nora was the coolest person on Remnant.

So the 2 of them started speaking rapidly and out of order to Pyrrha as though they were translating for her, Pyrrha couldn't stop the shock on her face when even Ren joined in, she understood all of what they were saying as they were using a made up language from a G&G night session they had the night before (Gamers and Grimm), however Lisa Lavender didn't know this and she thought that Pyrrha had been inducted into a cult and these 3 believed her to be a god of some kind.

They had all received a stern talking to from Miss Goodwitch about proper media etiquette, which was quite harsh towards Jaune as he had been hounded by the media and news because the city believed him to be a super villain of some sort once. When they were leaving her office she could see Miss Goodwitch let out a little smile at their retreating backs, like the situation had amused even her. The headlines for the next week were all about this supposed cult and Pyrrha's involvement, she was so embarrassed and mortified that she wore a hat and sunglasses every time she left the agency.

Jaune, Nora and Ren would then often bow whenever she walked into a room, they even got Penny and Oscar to join them, Ruby and Yang would keep calling her goddess at every moment. Arslan even sent her a voice message of her just laughing… it was slightly humiliating, but the big smile of Jaune's face as he was included in the joke and the fact that it was actually him who came up with the idea so they could escape the interview, everyone was congratulating him, asking him to turn up at their interviews as well to get them out of them.

"We better get ready soon." He said as he stood up and turned off the equipment he was using and taking a large bite of the food.

Pyrrha hopped off the stool and smiled at him. "Thank you again for this Jaune, I wanted to surprise my mother and what better way than to do it with my best friend."

"Arslan's coming?" Jaune actually looked genuinely confused about that.

"Okay, my best boy-friend." Jaune then gulped and nodded, remembering the words that Ren had said to him on guy's night when he, Ren, Oscar and Yang went out for a drink. Yang saying that she was a great choice to be their 4th and nobody really argued the point.

"See Jaune, Nora and I work well together in our relationship because we are best friends, we worked on ourselves before we started the relationship and supported each other as friends before we became partners. Maybe you can make the jump straight away, but it made it easier for me when I knew that no matter what; Nora would always be my friend no matter if she didn't feel the same."

"You asked her?"

"The moment I saw my petals I knew then that it was true, there had always been pink mixed in with other colours but this time it was all pink. And I know they cannot lie-" Yang snorted "-So I told her, and I have never regretted it."

Jaune wished he had that confidence to say the same to Pyrrha, sure he might of said those things before to her when he was on the run, but now that he learned that it wasn't as simple as it was on TV he was afraid, he was nowhere near good enough for anyone; whoever he was going to be with deserved someone strong, powerful and worthy. Jaune wasn't any of those, so once again he was not good enough, certainly not for Pyrrha.

The plane ride was mostly silent… they say mostly because all Jaune did was throw up and that sound alone was enough to fill the awkwardness he felt was there between the 2. He had agreed to come with Pyrrha back to Mistral so that she could visit her mum and do a quick speech at her old secondary school, they asked and she had a hard time finding a reason to say no… to polite for her own good she had cursed herself afterwards.

As they walked the streets of Mistral Jaune looked around admiring the difference in style and culture, beauty most certainly came in all shapes and forms. Most noticeably the colour was different, Vale was a city of grey and dark blue, but here in Argus; red, brown, gold, bronze and white shone against the white snow and the gorgeous blue of the ocean could be seen from most view points as well. It was truly a city of wonder.

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH, TREMBLE BEFORE ME MORTALS!"

And villains, it was like they couldn't go anywhere without having an exciting time. Jaune glanced at Pyrrha who quickly handed him the bags she was carrying and moved her hair back into its ponytail position, while she was stunning with her down, she was just so much more Pyrrha with her hair like that… it was just her and the look in her eyes when she saw a problem, Jaune could already tell the first thing on her mind was civilians, luckily he brought just the toy for this moment and pressed it in her hand before she moved.

"Count to 3." Was what he said to her as she pulled some metal from the lamppost and floated towards the giant.

"Hello there, I'm Pyrrha; and you are?" This was something that Jaune was liking about Pyrrha more and more recently, she had started to try talking first and always asking about the person she was against, clearly not trying to make the same mistake as before, Jaune didn't know if he could compete with another best friend anyway.

"YOUR DOOM!" And then he struck her with a hard punch which she jumped off the metal and landed in an awesome action pose, pressing the trigger on the new device and then vaulting over a sweeping hand that tried to batter her into a building, that hand was then wrapped up by a lamppost and held there when she threw the gadget at the giants eyes and it exploded out into…

Snow.

The snow completely covered the giant and he looked incredibly confused as he used his other hand to rub it off of his face, Pyrrha meanwhile looked back at Jaune to check that she had used the correct device.

"Give it as moment, was meant to be used on a crowd, not on someone this big."

"WHAT? WHAT ARE You prattling a-yawn-about… zzzzzz." The giant then shrunk and slumped forward, completely asleep and out for the count.

Pyrrha looked over at Jaune to see the wide smile on his face as his invention worked perfectly and she couldn't help but smile as well. Seeing him so happy and care free made her feel happy; she knew this was what she always wanted to feel.

When she first saw him all those months ago in the bank the attraction was certainly a physical thing, but through time and being beaten by him and then becoming his friend she had learned how selfless, kind, clever and funny he was; how he made her feel like she was the best version of herself.

"Jaune that was amazing."

"Me? Pyr you were the one that was amazing; look who you just took down."

"Yeah but with something you made."

"That only worked because you used it perfectly."

The 2 were stood face to face right now as the police turned up and prepared the cuffs and that was when they were interrupted by a local hero.

"Well, well, well; hello Pyrrha Nikos, nice to meet you again." As Pyrrha turns she notices Jaune slightly shift awkwardly as she faces the Bright Hero: ArcLight, otherwise known as Saphron Arc.

"Oh hello Saphron; it has been a long time since we last met."

"Indeed it has, good to see you doing well, and taking down a villain while you were at it as well, Argus' favourite daughter really earns her mantle."

Pyrrha winces. "I don't know about favourite, but it is nice to be home." She then looks around again wistfully and that's when she notice's Jaune's nervous look and remembers that Saphron is Jaune's older sister.

"Oh sorry Jaune, I guess you would want to say hello to your sister." And that's when she noticed both Arc siblings faces fall distinctively and then the air became very awkward.

"H-hi Saph." Jaune managed to croak out with a little wave.

"I should be going." And then she was blasting off into the sky on a beam of light; a rocket high in the sky.

Pyrrha waited a minute and then grabbed Jaune's hand and walk/dragged him to the park and sat him down on the bench. "You never talk about your family… so I'm here to listen to you right now."

Jaune swallowed and then spoke.

He told her everything.

Every birthday that went by uncelebrated.

Every dinner he never had.

Ever school day he had to walk alone.

Ever family holiday he never went on.

And every time he knew he would never be good enough for his family.

"Jaune… I… let me take you home." And so Pyrrha walked Jaune back to her childhood home where her mother was waiting with a nice warm smile. Jaune could see how much they looked alike and apart from the slight wrinkles and the hair length, Athena was a lot darker red but they could be sisters instead of mother and daughter.

"Hello sweetheart, it's so good to have you home… and this must be the Jaune Arc you have told me so much about." Miss Nikos then leaned in and stage whispered to Jaune much to Pyrrha's extreme embarrassment. "If I didn't know any better Jaune, I would say she is quite taken with you."

"MUM!"

Jaune barely managed a smile as he eyed the cup of hot chocolate; he didn't ask for it but it seemed that Pyrrha had told her mum almost everything about him and that included his favourite drink. He had thought about his family, but more in a way that the next time he saw them he would tell them of his accomplishments and show them that he was worthy and that even without a semblance he could do great things… things they could be proud of.

But seeing his sister in person… all the memories of loneliness came flying back and Jaune had been looking over his entire life and realised something; his family had broken him, and he only just realised how much he had been broken.

They were the reason he never had any support, any love, never managed to make any friends, the reason that he couldn't talk normally to people, why he couldn't look them in the eye… why he would probably never think he was good enough for anyone.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha's soft voice made him look up and she smiled at him, she was everything to him right then in that moment; beautiful and caring, there was nothing better than seeing her smile. "It's been a long day, how about we all catch up in the morning?"

"Y… yes." Jaune's voice cracked as he followed Pyrrha up the stairs to the guest room, or what he thought was the guest room, but actually it turned out to be… Pyrrha's room? It was his first time in someone else's room; should he say something?

"Nice room." He looked at a lot of trophies, a lot of medals and a lot of certificates. If nothing else Pyrrha had a lot of people telling her she had achieved a lot of great and amazing things in her life.

"Thank you, I… I wanted to say Jaune that you are amazing. Whatever your family may think of you, they don't know what you can do; and you can do wondrous things… without you – without you I wouldn't be happy. Because you are my friend; my best friend and I love you, so it doesn't matter what they say and they can go to he-"

Jaune surged forward and wrapped his arms around Pyrrha's waist, holding her tight and frim, not enough to hurt her but so that she knew how much he needed to hear those words. She tenderly wrapped her arms around his shoulders with one hand coming and caressing his blonde locks and pulling his head into her shoulder, feeling his tears and silent whimpers.

Pyrrha wasn't sure how long they were stood there but she slowly and carefully moved them over to her bed and the 2 of them then sat down together still in each other's arms, looking over his head Pyrrha saw her mum slowly close the door with her polarity and a slight twinkle in her eye… and a wink which really now was not the best time for –

"Thank you Pyrrha, thank you, thank you, thank you…" Jaune trailed off as he still gripped her tight, although it was slowly slackening as he finally succumbed to the mental and emotional strain of the day, managing to fall asleep with Pyrrha still holding him as she directed him down on to her old bed. Slowly and carefully trying to detach from his strong, firm, warm…

She was getting off topic.

She managed to make it to her door but found that she couldn't quite unlock the bolt, not even with her own polarity, not without most likely waking up Jaune.

"Mum!" she whisper yelled through the door.

"Pyrrha I know you are not going to leave that handsome young man alone in there!" she whispered back through the door.

"He is handsome; but that's not the point mum, what if he-"

"Doesn't want to spend the night with his arms wrapped around a beautiful girl, please. Now get back in that bed sweetheart or so help me baby photos are first thing tomorrow!" Pyrrha gulped in fear and slowly made her way back to the Pyrrha shape she left at Jaune's side, carefully slipping herself back down on to the be-

Jaune immediately wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest, getting a face full of her hair and breathing in deeply. Against the gentle rise and fall of his chest and soft sound of his breathing Pyrrha followed Jaune deep into sleep, sinking into his warm body.

The early morning light rays broke through Pyrrha's bedroom window and crossed her eyes, unfortunately waking her from probably the most relaxing night she had ever had in a long, long time. Shifting a little bit she still felt Jaune's arms around her and after a moment of shock, she smiled warmly and nuzzled further back into him, her own arms moving to hold his.

She continued to lie there without moving and just enjoying the serenity of the moment until she heard his breathing pick up and that's when she knew that he was now awake; she remained still as he slowly retracted his arms and sat up on the bed. She didn't give anything away that she was already awake and simply let him have a way out if he didn't want this… didn't want her.

Staying on her side she heard him roll out of bed and as quietly as he could make his way to her bedroom door, that is to say it wasn't that quiet and he tripped over an old pair of shoes she had and knocked over a guitar a fan had given her a while ago; she heard him open the door and then slip out of the room and close it behind him, again trying to be as quiet as he could but lacking the control it seemed.

Pyrrha sighed as she rolled onto his half of the bed and then flushed at the thought; it wasn't like they were going to be doing this again so that he could take that half all the time… even though she already missed his warmth, his smell… it was like pinecones and pine needles, he was like a forest, well he smelt like a forest at least.

Pyrrha sighed again to herself and then after a few minutes of lying there she sat up and began getting ready for a morning shower, she could wash away the stress of last night and hopefully she and Jaune could do something to take his mind off of his family. As the water ran down her body she thought about the look on his face when he saw his sister; the pride and joy that he showed for Pyrrha was replaced so quickly with shame and longing… he wanted so badly to just talk with her, tell her about his life and laugh with her; but she shut him down and just left him, no doubt a similar situation far back in his life.

Pyrrha finished her shower and then dried herself off, putting on a jumper and a pair of warm jogging bottoms, Argus was known for its cold temperatures, something she noticed that Jaune was not as bothered by, possibly a by project of his semblance. The ability to enhance others can at the cost of him having more energy and also being warm most of the time; there were always side effects to the semblance you had, Pyrrha was constantly setting off metal detectors and alarms whenever she would enter a shop, the airport was a nightmare for her and Jaune when they tried to make their way to the plane.

The smell of bacon hit her nose very quickly when she left her room; her mother must have prepared a-

"Morning dear, someone looks well slept? Get up to much last night or this morning?" she questioned as she exited her room in her own jumper and woolly bottoms instead of jogging bottoms.

"Mu-mum? But I thought-"

"Oh it smells grand, you should keep a hold of him sweetie, a man who can cook is something indeed." And then they both headed downstairs and saw the food all laying out perfectly on the table and Jaune wearing her mother's bright pink apron with 'the world's best mum' showing clearly against his broad chest, he had changed out of his clothes from last night and now wore a t-shirt and some cargo shorts; the cold really didn't bother him at all.

"Pyrrha!" He looked so happy to see her and his smile never left his face as he then swept his hand over the food. However that was not what surprised her the most, he was making heavy eye contact with her. Not in a staring way because he was blinking, but Pyrrha was just taken back momentarily because of how open his gaze was, his eyes were really windows to his soul… his beautiful blue soul.

Her mum let out a small cough to break Pyrrha's current train of thought so she could focus on what Jaune was saying.

"I know you need to eat a lot to keep muscle, but I wasn't really sure what you wanted for breakfast since we usually hang around about diner time… so I kinda made a lot, but you know I enjoy eating as well so I-"

"Jaune it's fine, thank you; you didn't need to do this-"

"Yes I did; I wanted to more than anything, now you ladies sit down and I can get you something to drink?" Pyrrha moved over to her seat and Jaune was there faster than she had seen him move before and pulling out her chair for her and then moving away just as quickly to do the same for her mother, Pyrrha saw the knowing look her mother shot her and the sly wink accompanied as well.

"Just a tea for me Jaune, with milk."

"Yes Ma'am, and Pyrrha?"

"Apple juice please Jaune, but I can-"

"No, it's okay Pyrrha I got it." And then Jaune was off like a shot and in the kitchen very quickly as Pyrrha watched him go, slightly confused as to why he was acting like this, although also happy as well that he was so caring. His head then popped out of the doorway and there was a disappointed look on his face, his head hung a little lower and he couldn't quite meet her eyes this time. "Uh, um I'm sorry Pyrrha, I didn't pick up any apple juice; but I can run and get some! The store is only 2 blocks over!" He said it with such intensity that Pyrrha was certain he was about to make a Jaune sized hole in the wall and sprint there as fast as he could possibly go.

"That's okay Jaune, I will have some orange juice then, I know mum always has that."

"I can run and get it; it's no problem if you want it." He looked so desperate and pleading right now and she saw his fingers rapidly tapping away at the door frame, this was not the nervous tick he had, this was his scared one, she noticed it back when there was the bomb threat that Adam Taurus had called in and Jaune was the only one who could disarm it safely, he had been scared then because it was right in a shopping centre that everyone in Vale visited.

"Jaune." Pyrrha said firmly, standing from her seat as Jaune then moved towards her to move the chair back before she grabbed his hands. "What is this? Jaune tell me." Now she had gone soft as she raised his chin up so she could see his eyes, Athena took this moment where the 2 were very clearly distracted to slip out of the room un-noticed so as to give them another moment of privacy, although she would be getting all of the details later from Pyrrha.

"I-I… I just want to make sure you are comfortable… that you have what you need, that I can do stuff for you and show that I am worthy of your love." His voice was wavy, like he was on the verge of tears and he was worried that he was going to disappoint her.

"Jaune you don't have anything to prove to me, I choose to love you and you will never need to do anything to prove yourself to me because of that."

"I don't want you to think of me as useless th-"

"Never. I could never think of you as useless Jaune, and you certainly do not need to run around waiting on me hand-and-foot to prove you are useful, that's not what I want from you."

Jaune was silent for a moment and then gripped his hands tighter around hers. "A-and what do you want from me?"

Pyrrha smiled her Pyrrha smile, the real one that she often gave Jaune. Not the one she gave the others and certainly not the one she would give the cameras. "I want you to do what makes you happy, not what makes someone else happy."

"What if I want to make you happy?" His eyes were now firmly locked onto her, staring deep into the beautiful pools of Emerald as they locked onto his Azure orbs, so much passing between the looks that could not be said into words, although Jaune was going to try.

"You're already doing it." And he was indeed, for the first time Pyrrha had someone that was able to see her for herself.

"What if I want to make you even more happy?" Jaune took a deep breath, he wasn't Ren but he was so certain that he could almost feel the pink petals floating around the 2 of them.

"Well I-"

"What if I want to kiss you?" Pyrrha swallowed hard, heart beating through her chest, she was certain that Jaune could probably hear it; however his own heart was currently putting several racing cars to shame at the moment.

"I would be happy with that." She whispered, her voice heavy with longing and her eyes quickly darting down to his lips, so open and inviting.

"Good, because it's what I want to make me happy." Jaune tried to keep the shake out of his voice but he felt the tremble, especially as their bodies moved closer together and she took one of his shaking hands in her own, her other hand moving around his neck and his moving to her waist.

He leaned in and Pyrrha leaned to meet him...

12 Years later

Jaune stood looking at the table where his son had just put the device he made and raised a hand to stroke his beard, that he was very proud of, and swept his eyes over every piece of the contraption his son had built.

Currently the 2 were the only ones around the table as most of the other kids in the school were showing off their semblances to the mass of parents that were moving around on this particular visiting day; school had changed a lot since Jaune had left, and now looking at the device his 9 year old son had made, Jaune couldn't help but ask one question.

"What are you going to call her?"

Arthur Arc scrunched his nose up in an adorable habit he had gotten entirely from his mother, something she would deny horrible (since she made the face while denying it).

"Dad it's not a girl."

"Aaaaa, okay, what are you going to call him then?"

"Um… steve?"

"Are you asking me or are you asking little Kassandra here?"

"That's… actually a good name; okay maybe it is a girl! Hello Kassandra, meet my dad."

"Hehe, okay Arthur, what can Kassandra do?"

"Oh you're going to love this dad, so I watched a bunch of aunt Arslans fights online and I saw how much she uses breakdancing to shoot the flames from her feet and then I got thinking if I could make a toy that moved like her, so I-"

"So just to be clear; you picked your aunt Arslan over- oh I don't know- your mum?" Jaune couldn't keep the smile off his face as he watched the look of shock go over his son's face and then he slapped both his hands to his cheeks.

"MUM!"

"HAHAHAHA!"

"It's not funny dad! What if she doesn't like it?"

Said mum then chose that moment to then arrive right next to her husband and in-front of her now panicking son, giving her husband a quick kiss before ruffling her son's hair. "What if who doesn't like what?"

"Wow you are beautiful." Jaune said as Pyrrha blushed, after nearly 13 years of knowing Jaune and most of them as his partner and she still felt her heart beat race at the sound of those words.

"Thank you honey, now what's this you have made sweetie?"

"Oh uh, it's nothing, nothing special at all, in-fact I don't think it works so its more just for show… yeah show not tell you know?"

Pyrrha gave the Pyrrha mum look, which was worse than the normal mum look because she could fit even more talk about how disappointed she was at being lied to.

"You didn't just get your hair and love of science from your father young man, just like him you cannot lie to me at all." Jaune made a little huff and when Pyrrha turned her attention to him he relented, he really was a bad liar.

"I made a toy."

"Oh sweetheart that's amazing."

"It's modelled after aunt Arslan."

"Oh she will love that; I'll take a video and send it to her." Arthur gave a sigh of relief that his mum wasn't jealous, she was the Number 3 hero for a reason after all.

"This genius invention copies someone's movements and then plays them on repeat." Jaune said proudly.

"Uh actually I had to program it to move in specific ways, like in the anime we watch dad."

"So you took the moves your aunt made from memory and then spent ages animating it to perfect it and then uploaded it to this toy here so it could complete them?"

"Y-yeah, I know that's not how you wou-"

"You're incredible son, I could never do that, I would have to take a short cut somewhere, but you stayed at it because of your passion to make it perfect, I am, sorry, WE are so proud of you."

"Thanks dad, wanna see it in action?"

"Son there is nothing more I want." And he spoke the complete and utter truth, his own terrible childhood had given him extra motivation to make sure that he son would always feel valued; and despite his former families atepmts to reach out to him to try and meet their grandson Jaune held firm, with Pyrrha at his side, he wanted nothing to do with them. They were not his family anymore, he honestly couldn't say if they ever were, this was his family and it had been a beautiful family for close to 13 years now and it was perfect.

Pyrrha nodded at his side as she looked at her husband; the 2 were the happiest they have ever been, and it showed on the giant grins each of them had; Pyrrha had someone who saw her for who she was and Jaune had someone that loved and supported him, all was grand.

And that is the end, I think the ending is open enough and yet closed at the same time so I hope you enjoyed the story if you did stick around. If you have any criticisms I probably have already beaten you to it and said to myself how much I have probably messed this story up, but if anything this could inspire one of you to write your own version and blow mine out of the water, I just hope I get the chance to read it.

I am thankful for everyone that has shown their support for the story and rest assured I will be reading all of your reviews, the next chapter update after this one will most likely be me saying thank you to those that have said they enjoyed it and responding to some longer reviews. But in the mean time, enjoy maybe reading some other stories and getting your own ideas, of course you don't need to write if you don't want to, simply reading is enough really.

On the plus side at least Brian got a handle on his job and there were no breaks in reality this time around.