A/N: Aaand we're back! So, Tuesday was an odd day to release that, sorry if that threw a few people. I'm glad to hear that last chapter's ending was so well received; I was hesitant to make a serious move towards a plot beyond JNPR's recovery when I started this story. As a heads up, I have another story I've been working on, so frequency for this may fall off a tad, but I'm not putting it down entirely. Thanks you for reading, and please enjoy chapter nine!
Jaune was normally not a light sleeper; he rose early, but he could sleep through plenty of noise. Hearing his bedroom door slowly creak open stirred the paranoid embers of a boy with many siblings, though, and Jaune's eyes fired open to spot the intruder.
Nora, and of course it was Nora, was frozen mid-sneak beside the door to his room. Not putting her foot down, Nora simply held a finger to her lips. Jaune mouthed a simple question, "Pyrrha?", to which Nora responded with a sleeping gesture before resuming her exaggerated creeping steps. Jaune sat up in bed to watch the festivities.
Slowly but surely, Nora stage-crept to the far side of the room, arriving at the foot of Ren's bed. With great care, she hoisted herself onto the bedpost, balanced herself on one foot, and struck a diver's pose. She leapt into the air, ducked her head to avoid hitting the ceiling, and smashed down onto the unsuspecting Ren.
"Good morning, good morning, good morning!" Nora whisper-sang.
"Ow." Ren replied.
Laughing into his arm, Jaune rolled out of bed. "Alright, get a shower before the girls wake up, grab a bite, then get the team ready for a trip into town!" He snatched a towel while Ren was still trying to escape the wrestling lock Nora had put him in, and made a dash for the shower across the hall. Not a minute after he shut the door, he heard the handle jiggle, followed by an exasperated "Ugh!" from one of his sisters. "it's good to be the king."
With Ren and Nora still waiting for the shower, Jaune was chowing down contentedly when his mother joined him. "Morning, Mom!"
"Morning, Jaune," his mother muttered between sips of coffee. "Your friends n' you have any plans for the day?"
Jaune started to answer, but stopped to finish chewing his toast after his mother glared at him. "Sorry. Yeah, we've got to go into town and pick up some things. I'm the only one with a real change of clothes, and we're getting a little smelly at this point." Claire only nodded at that. "We'll probably get lunch, and just kinda see the town?"
"Keep an eye on them; don't want our guests getting into-"
A loud banging cut them off as Ren fell down the stairs, Nora riding his shoulder the whole way.
"… trouble?"
"I got it, don't worry."
A glass of juice and another piece of toast later, and Jaune was off to check on the last member of their band. Just before he left, he paused. "Nora?"
"Yeah, Jaune?"
"How's she doing? Was everything alright?"
Nora grew more serious, but nodded: "A bad dream, she was fine the rest of the night. She should be alright now." He gave her a silent "thanks" before climbing the stairs. He entered quietly, and spotted Pyrrha still sleeping.
She was curled up near the top of the bed, and it looked like she and Nora had bunked together after her nightmare. Sometime after Nora had left, she must have snatched the covers for herself, but her hair was flung everywhere: a pool of red spilling out of blankets. A smile slid across his face as he took a seat on the other bed, content to just let his partner enjoy a few more minutes of deserved rest.
"Well, a leader has to do unpleasant things occasionally." He made his way over to Pyr, and lightly shook her shoulder. Pyr curled into a tighter ball, but latched onto his hand. "Time to get up, partner," he said softly, jostling her a bit more. He heard a few grumbles, but eventually a head slid out from under the blankets, frowning at him.
"Morning, Pyr. Nora and Ren are eating breakfast, and my sisters are using up all the hot water. Time to get up!" Pyrrha harrumphed at him, ducked back under the covers, and called back in a drowsy voice.
"Get me when the hot water's back."
Lightning struck Jaune's brain. He made his way, quietly, to the end of the bed. "How the hell did Nora do this? There's like no footing?!" He was barely staying on the lip, but he still had a mad grin on his face. "Pyr, are you sure you don't wanna wake up?"
Pyrrha grumbled something, then stuck her head out again to see why he'd moved. A single bleary eye shot wide as Jaune catapulted off into the air towards her.
Jaune thought himself a decent planner, thought he could think up strong plans on the fly.
This was not one of those occasions, apparently.
Instinct seized Pyr, and she rolled off the side of the bed in a flurry of blankets as he reached the apex of his short leap. With the cushioning pile of blankets, pillows, and teammate removed, Jaune bounced off the empty mattress and rebounded into the sturdy wooden headboard with a resounding smack.
Crumpled against the frame, Jaune heard a hasty "I'm sorry!"
Pyrrha was relieved to escape the Arc house, and Mrs. Arc's shifting mood. The older woman couldn't decide to be amused at her son's minor misfortune, or disappointed in Pyrrha's injuring him. JNPR had made their way into Bar proper to find collect the essentials, and topping the list was clothes. Pyrrha hadn't realized how out of place the team looked in their worn combat gear until they reached town. Jaune, in his hoodie and jeans, just kept happily rambling about that mall and this restaurant, while Pyrrha had been too busy noticing people rubbernecking as they walked along.
Now securely hidden away in the women's department with Nora, she was eager to have something to wear that wasn't her combat gear or secondhand from Jaune's sisters. "Some running clothes would be useful, a few changes of casual wear, something nice in case we go to an event, a rain jacket... You really forgot how many things you needed in a wardrobe until you have to build one from scratch."
"Sooo, how're ya doin?" Nora asked, comparing a pair of white and pink running shorts to a pink and white pair. "You slept better the second time."
"I'm doing much better, thank you Nora." It felt a little gruff, but she didn't want to ruin the morning with talk of night terrors. "Which do you think is better?" She held up a pair of tops.
"The red one! Red's your color anyway, you'd look a little weird in yellow. Now, with yellow, you'd go great!" Pyrrha decided now was a good time to count the threads in the shirt, and Nora started to giggle. Damn her.
"Speaking ooof…" Nora trailed off, hanging just behind her. Pyrrha shook her head. "Oh, come on, Pyrrha! You can talk to me about it, you know that. Promise I won't tell, not even Ren." She snorted at that.
"Oh, I can too keep a secret from Ren! There was the time I stole all the syrup, well the time I did that and he didn't know, and he doesn't know I hate his health drinks! And he doesn't know I lo-ook at those jeans, Pyrrha! They're perfect!" Nora ran over and grabbed a pair of jeans Pyrrha was fairly certain a man left here by accident; she had a wild look in her eyes.
"Practice what you preach, Nora." Nora's eloquent counter was to stick her tongue out at Pyrrha, then look very nervous.
"Fine! I love Ren, happy? Whenever we're together I feel like my stomach's trying to do gymnastics and I can't think straight! He's handsome and nice and he knows what I like and he never treats me like a burden and he keeps his hair dyed pink because its my favorite color but I'm-scared-i'll-mess-it-up-and-we'll-be-awkward-and-I-don't-want-that-with-us!" Nora seemed to come down from the minor panic attack, sucked in a new breath. "So how are you and Jaune?"
"Turnabout is fair play…" Pyrrha wanted to avoid answering the question, because answering would entail talking about that night. But Nora was her friend, Nora would be there for her, and giving her half the story would be disingenuous.
"We're… in a strange place." Nora seemed extra interested, and waved for her to continue. "I feel like something's going on; sometimes Jaune has a hard time meeting my eye, and I feel like we're more physical. Jaune's whole family is physical, though, so I don't think that's fair."
"Has anything happened? Other than him jumping in bed with you?"
"Nora!" Pyrrha vainly hoped the blush would be taken for frustration, but her friend was undeterred. My, those threads really were fascinating!
"We… mayhavekissed," Nora's face lit up like a bonfire, but Pyrrha cut her hopes off: "Then I shoved him into a locker to keep him safe while I fought someone immensely powerful." the words were ashes in her mouth, Nora's joy turned to sorrow in an instant.
"He hasn't said anything, and neither have I. With my… emotional state the way it's been, I think he's been focusing on making sure I'm alright, and that's wonderful, but. But things should be different, right? Actually different, not this on-off we're doing?"
Nora had switched from sad to thoughtful before she was even finished, looking off into the distance. "You haven't mentioned it to him?" She shook her head, "I think he's scared."
"Of me?" She was horrified at the notion! The last thing she wanted was to push him away.
"No! It's just, well, you kinda jumped him with it, didn't ya?"
"I suppose I did?"
"He may not know what to make of it, Pyrrha. I mean, you thought you were going to die…" Nora slowed at the thought, but regained her strength, "people do crazy stuff in situations like that. Jaune's, well, Jaune, so he's probably doesn't know what to do right now. And if you aren't talking…"
"He thinks I'm avoiding it." Pyrrha smacked her head into her hands, not needing to see Nora was nodding sagely.
"One more question!" Pyrrha peeked between her eyes. "How was it?"
'Pyr' was fighting for the reigns, wanting to babble at Nora about the whole thing, but she was saved by her scroll going off. Composing herself, Pyrrha answered the call.
"Blake? Good to see you, how is everyone?" Her friend looked worn, as if she'd had very little sleep, and she offered a weak smile.
"Hi, Pyrrha. Team RWBY could be doing better…"
Pyrrha and Nora had come to find them, and the four were sequestered in a back corner of the store, gathered around Pyrrha's scroll and Blake's image. Jaune did a quick spin to see if anyone was prying before turning back, and nodded Blake the all-clear.
"Before we left for Patch, Weiss' father arrived." Blake had about 150% of their attention now. "With all the havoc in Vale, he managed to take Weiss away before anyone could really respond. Yang and I tried to stop it, but Weiss didn't want us to leave Ruby alone or to cause trouble for ourselves. Her father's men just snatched her away."
Jaune couldn't keep it back any longer. "What? How? How do they even have the power to do that, doesn't Weiss have rights?"
Blake just arched an eyebrow at him. "This is the head of the Schnee Dust Company, Jaune: 'rights' aren't really a priority for him. Trust me." Jaune flushed horrifically at that.
"Right, sorry."
"Yang, Ruby, and I left for Patch yesterday, as planned, and we're staying at their house. On bright side of all this, Ruby woke up this morning." Relief, though tainted by earlier news, washed over JNPR. "Ruby isn't taking it well. Weiss is gone, Beacon's gone, and apparently her uncle is dead. Yang is trying to help, but she's still recovering herself.
"Tai and I are doing what we can, but neither of them are in good shape. If you guys can get the chance, try calling Ruby? I think some extra friendly faces would help her spirits; she spends most of her time holed up in her room."
"We'll make sure to reach out." Ren's voice was warm and sure, and the rest of the team were quick to agree.
"Thanks, it'll mean a lot to her. But how are all of you? Yang will want to know."
Jaune, being the fearless leader that he was, delegated to Nora. "We made it to Bar no problem, and we've met Jaune's whole family! He's got three really scary older sisters, three adorable little sisters, and one clone!" Jaune made to protest… "You know, she isn't wrong."
"Clone?" Blake seemed a little lost, and he supposed it was his fault for picking Nora, of all people.
"His sister Rouge looks just like him." Ren supplied.
"How close is 'just like'"?
"It feels like we're at the Dance again." Pyr was barely holding back, her emerald eyes dancing.
"Well, that answers the question of why you had a dress that fit you, Jaune." Again, Jaune made to challenge… "damn it, why can't I win one of these?"
Their first foray into Bar a success, JNPR returned to the Arc household laden with bags. In a town this size, only Jaune could hope to recreate his exact combat outfit, but most of JNPR were more than content to just have properly fitting clothes again! Nora was "helping" Ren break in some of his new cooking equipment, while Pyrrha had settled in the living room with Jaune to finally get down to brass tacks: comics.
"Isn't it a little odd to read 'The HuntsMan' when we are Hunters ourselves?" She was honestly curious about Jaune's selection. She herself had settled on the tale of a wandering musician and his heroic deeds.
"It's not really about a Huntsman, Pyrrha, he's a combat-trained vigilante with an unlocked aura: Completely different! He uses his abilities to fight crime in his city, not Grimm."
"But RWBY fought criminals in Vale all the time?"
"Yeah, and we've already established RWBY are weird. They're doing stuff straight out of comic books, for crying out loud!" She laughed a bit, feeling only slightly guilty at calling their friends 'weird'. It was rude, but…
"Well, I'm content with my selection! You kept going on about 'Maedre', and now it has a chance to prove itself." She felt Jaune perk up, and lean over to see which copy she had.
"Oh, you're finally gonna read it! You'll love it, Pyr, I promise. Let me know when you reach issue twent-" she cut him off before he could spill the beans.
"Jaune, spoilers! I'm sure you'll know when I reach whatever it is, because I'll freak out."
"You, freak out? Not likely: my partner is cool as a cucumber! While her partner is just plain cool." She looked Jaune dead in the eyes, then rolled hers. The two fell into a comfortable silence then, reading their stories.
Pyrrha did enjoy 'Maedre', but after a few issues, her mind kept returning to her talk with Nora. "I need to talk to him about it." The thought was an iron weight around her neck, concrete over her feet. She kept losing track of the story, and eventually set it down entirely. "Jaune?" Her partner hummed and peeked over his comic.
"I have to tell him, I have to talk to him. I'm going to talk to him!" She started with less conviction than her mind professed: "I need to talk to you." Jaune promptly set his comic down and focused on her across the couch, giving her his full attention.
"I…" "I'm going to tell him! I'm going to tell him!" "want to say thank you, for stopping me at Beacon."
"I'm going to chicken out! GAAH!" She mentally kicked herself in anger, but she couldn't say it! She focused back on Jaune, though; this wasn't what she meant to discuss, but it was still serious. Jaune was watching her, nervous concern plain on his face.
"I wasn't… I didn't… trying to go fight was the most idiotic thing I have ever done, and pushing you away was a terrible thing for me to do. You were trying to look out for me, and in the end, you saved me from my own arrogance. Thank you, Jaune, I'm sorry." She looked down at her crossed legs for a moment, but looked back up, knowing she needed to face him.
Jaune rested his hands on her shoulders, giving her a warm smile; she felt her heartbeat pick up oh so slightly at the gesture. "Pyr, you don't need to thank me for anything, and you don't need to apologize either. I was… angry when it happened, but that didn't matter. You did."
She gave him a teary-eyed smile in return: "I suppose it's a wonderful thing you're a fast thinker, even if you're plans are a tad strange."
"Well, you do strange things for the people you l-"
"I hope I'm not interrupting?" Pyrrha locked up like clockwork at the most assuredly interrupting voice, but slowly managed to face it. Mrs. Arc was standing in the doorway, smiling at them.
Pyrrha suddenly became very aware of the fact she and Jaune were sharing a small couch in an otherwise unoccupied room. Casually, or she hoped casually, she scooted away from Jaune. Jaune, who had apparently been leaning on her, lost his balance for a moment, then started inspecting his shoes.
She suddenly found her own boots fascinating, and Mrs. Arc resumed somewhere above her.
"Ren wanted me to let you know dinner's just about ready; he and Nora whipped something up as a thank you to the family. So, find a good place to stop in your comics," the tone left no doubt she thought they were up to something else, "and join us in the dining room."
By the time Pyrrha had the courage to face Jaune, her partner was already speeding out of the room. Pyrrha sat in the living room as Jaune left, utterly ashamed of her own cowardice.
"Shit."
Post: Pyrrha! Who taught you language like that? RWBY makes a brief return and Momma Arc strikes again! Slowly but surely, like the eventual heat death of the universe, we'll be approaching Arkos. If I'm feeling magnanimous, it might even be this year /s. Thanks for putting up with me, folks.
Oh, and DreamingJay: sorry I made you cry last chapter.