Authors Notes: Apologies once again for the longer wait for the last chapter.
Of all the gifts the gods had given to humanity school breaks were Jaunes favourites. Time to relax and not have to stress about school work or training or fighting renowned criminals.
The end of the first semester had been rough but the short break had the promise of rest and relaxation. That had been his first mistake.
As soon as Beacon had officially started break, Nora had dragged their entire team into the city to some arcade. Jaune couldn't complain to much really, it was fun and Nora was always worth a laugh, besides their team could use the bonding.
The school had technically closed down entirely, even the dorms. The teachers had made it clear that if anyone absolutely needed the room and board then they could stay but the purpose was to encourage responsibility and a sort of test even over break. It was in a way an assignment over the break, survive. Jaune hated it from the moment he had heard it.
The joke was on the school however, their team had a Pyrrha. She had sprung for two hotel rooms in Vale. They would actually be more comfortable than at the school.
The rest of the team had insisted on contributing to paying for the rooms but Pyrrha had insisted. She mentioned her winnings at the tournaments and the various sponsorship deals she had done over the years, all of which had left her family rich… not Schnee rich of course but more than enough to afford the rooms.
The three other members of their team felt so bad that they refused to let her pay for anything else over the break, much to the red heads embarrassment.
The next few days had been much the same to the first. Arcades, a movie or two, lunch, more arcades thanks to Nora, it was good team bonding.
About halfway through the week they had met up with their sister team. Ruby and Yang had been the only two to actually leave the city, the rest had stayed in Vale for some reason or another, and even then they only went to Patch.
Ruby, Yang, and Ren had all been dragged off to the arcade with Nora the day after their arrival. Blake, Pyrrha, Jaune, and Weiss had all decided against it and grouped up to do something more relaxed. Jaune was pretty sure Weiss only allowed him along because she knew Pyrrha came with him.
Blake had been the one to actually choose where they were going. Jaune was regretting not going along with the hyperactive girl with the grenade launcher.
"There's a library back at Beacon!" Jaune draped himself over a chair set next to one of the bookshelves and complained to his partner. "Why are we here?"
"Reading expands the mind and facilitates learning through other peoples experiences, something you could certainly benefit from." Weiss seemed to realize her words were perhaps a little too rude and corrected herself. "Something we could all benefit from." He was surprised she made the effort to be nice but didn't intend to invite the Ice Queens ire by mentioning it.
"Yang told me about Blake's taste in books, what exactly is she learning from them?" Jaune spoke without thinking and immediately regretted it. Yang had a mixed effect on him, she had certainly helped him become a more effective combatant but her snark had worn off on him and severely impacted his ability to shut his mouth.
Weiss' face went red and Pyrrha had to hold a hand to her face to keep herself from laughing. Blake was thankfully far enough away to not hear his comment and so Jaune would get to live another day.
"T-that is not the point… and my teammates choice in reading material is hardly a subject for us to discuss." Weiss turned to Pyrrha just long enough to start a conversation before walking off. Pyrrha, the ever polite one, was forced to follow or risk being rude.
Jaune gave a mental salute to his partner and let her leave. He rose from his seat to find the person who had lead them here. He wasn't sure where she had disappeared off to, there were a number of bookshelves that interested and made it impossible to see all the way down one lane.
The building was somewhat small but seemed to have a good location as well as a catchy phrase to bring in customers. 'Home to every book under the sun' had a very nice ring to it, Jaune had to admit.
Blake had said something about being a regular here but it wasn't said to Jaune so he wasn't really paying attention at the time.
Jaune found Blake in the back, tucked out of sight and part way into a book already. He took a step over to one of the bookshelves and glanced at the various titles and volumes, letting a minute or two pass in silence before speaking.
"What ya got there?" It was a weak excuse of a conversation started but Jaune had never been called smooth… well, not by anyone other than his mother.
"Nothing good." She set the book back on the shelf and grabbed another one, beginning the process all over again. The silence returned once more, this time Jaune couldn't work up the courage to break it.
Thankfully, Blake had decided to do it for him. "I never thanked you for what you did at the docks." She didn't rise from her chair but she did glance up from her book "Thank you." for all of two seconds before returning her attention to the story within the pages.
"Don't mention it." Jaune shrugged his shoulders softly. "What are friends for?"
"We aren't friends though." Her response wasn't delivered with hatred or disgust, two things Jaune would have expected with words like that, but in more of a matter of factly manner. The words caused him to wince nonetheless. "So it wasn't expected of you."
"We're… friends… ish…" Her deadpan expression in response forced the blonde knight to wince slightly. "W-we're friends, just not close friends." Jaune rubbed the back of his head and turned his attention back to the bookshelf.
"There was a question I wanted to ask you however, if you wouldn't mind?" She waited a moment for him to deny it but when the silence was dragged out she continued. "Why exactly did you help?"
Jaune searched carefully for an answer he didn't have. In truth, he hadn't really thought about it, it just seemed like the right thing to do. "You're a good person, I don't know you real well but that doesn't mean I'd sit by and let you get into trouble."
She didn't seem to believe his reasoning, if he was reading her narrowed eyes correctly. "That's what you told the Headmaster, yes, but what was the real reason?"
Jaune sighed softly. "You might not be my friend but you are Ruby's, and you're Yang's partner and probably best friend, and they are my friends. You worried them a lot when you left; they needed help finding you, so I came." Jaune shrugged his shoulders once more. "My team wanted to help because they like your team, they consider you a friend even if you don't return the feeling."
There was a silence once more as Blake thought on his words. "You did it for Yang?"
Jaune blushed slightly and frantically waved his hands. "And Ruby, and not in the way you're implying. She's a friend, nothing more. Ha ha." Jaune chuckled nervously. "Not that they aren't desirable or anything" He immediately regretted speaking. "Not that I've ever thought of them that way of course!" Jaune closed his mouth and shoved a book into his face.
A small smirk appeared on Blake's lips as she returned her attention to her book. Jaune sulked off down the rows away from the embarrassment shortly after.
The week long break was already mostly over, the days having blended together and flown by in a blur. Yang hadn't really expected anything less, school breaks never felt long enough when you kept yourself busy, and their group had certainly kept themselves busy.
If they weren't sleeping they were out in the city doing something. It had been a nice way to enjoy the week, spending the time among friends was something Yang would never have changed.
With the promise of a new semester at Beacon, the knowledge that the Vytal festival was approaching, and the mounting fear in the city itself, the short break was exactly what they all needed.
"But why now? We can study back at Beacon!" Even as Ruby complained to her partner, Weiss was grabbing their books.
"You need the extra time. Your grades were acceptable enough but you will have to better this semester."The heiress set the two books down on a table in their room.
It had been a rather sudden thing. One moment Ruby and Yang were talking about heading back to Patch and the next Weiss had paid for a room for their entire team. It was actually quite funny considering how she constantly complained about how cramped the dorm rooms were.
She'd never admit it but Weiss had grown attached to them, it was only made more obvious when she blushed and denied it; threatening violence if anyone continued.
"Ice Queen has a point Rubes." Yang sat up on her bed to look at her sister's look of betrayal. "You missed out two years of studying, the head start couldn't hurt."
"Betrayed, by my own sister. What cruelty is this." Ruby whined but opened the book nonetheless.
Yang stood from her bed and slipped out of the room before Weiss could say anything. The hotel they were staying at was definitely one of the better ones, a rather nice and unobstructed view of the city and ocean in the distance.
Weiss had refused to tell them how much to room cost but Yang was sure it wasn't cheap. Team JNPR had a room a few doors down from them but it wasn't there that she found him.
Since the first day they had all started staying in the same building she had figured out where he would sneak off to an hour or so before sunset. The roof wasn't as barren as the one's at beacon where Pyrrha and he trained, this one actually meant to facilitate people for lunch or something.
Jaune wasn't sitting at one of the tables or in one of the comfortable chairs, instead he sat with his legs dangling over the edge looking off into the distance.
It wasn't as quiet as Beacon, the murmur of the city still very much hearable even in the later hour, nor was the view better than the one at Beacon, but it was still a nice scene.
She sat down next to him in silence, just appreciating the view as he was. It was something the two of them had repeated a few times and it was something he did every time his partner and he trained back at Beacon.
After a few minutes of silence a quiet conversation was struck up between them about nothing in particular. It was nice and served as an excellent way to end the last day at break. Tomorrow they were required to be back at school, though the actual lessons wouldn't resume until the day after.
Soon enough they would all fall back into the same routine of training that had occupied their day to day life.
Yang couldn't wait to start sparing again. Her totally willing sparring partner acted far less enthused but even he seemed excited to see what the future held.
Authors Notes: I really don't like this chapter but it serves a purpose and I didn't want to do another massive time skip without some kind of content. I'm not all that good at proper filler content but... well here it is none the less.
I'd appreciate if you could review and let me know what you all think.
Sincerely SE