A/N: Aaaand we're back! Sorry for the delay, folks, a few happy family matters happened in quick succession, and I found myself without as much writing time. But we're back, even if it is with an oddly timed release for this chapter, but I hope this won't cause much of an issue.
Thank you for reading, and please enjoy chapter eighteen!
Jaune crept from JNPR's shared room in the cabin, trying to sneak his way to the bathroom without waking either his team or the home's regular residents. Growing up with so many siblings had keenly refined his understanding of limited bathrooms, so he always made a point to be up and moving early. With Nora - JNPR's only other natural early riser - still soundly asleep, Jaune had expected to find the second floor's bathroom unoccupied: the locked door disagreed. He sat against the wall, writing an update for his sisters, waiting for the mystery occupant to finish up. Blake emerged, dressed for the day but with ears uncovered, and jumped like, well, a startled cat.
"Morning, Blake?" Jaune offered hesitantly. She shook herself, muttering something he couldn't make out.
"Hey, Jaune, sorry... I'm not used to anyone but Tai and I being up. I'm going to check on breakfast and my team. Will the others be joining us?"
He and Blake shifted spots in the hall, Jaune dropping his bundle of clothes and towel on the counter. "Nora, but Ren and Pyrrha?" Blake nodded understanding, turning for the stairs.
Sure enough, a mildly-less-energetic Nora was waiting for him when Jaune stepped out after a brief shower, and they traded spaces as he had with Blake. When he made his way downstairs, Jaune found Tai hard at work. The table set for six, and another plate waited on the counter. Blake was at work as well, but it was the machine between them that had his attention.
A coffee pot, unattended.
Jaune checked over his shoulder to be sure Nora was still showering, then began looking for places to dump the dangerous liquid. He heard Blake's quiet laughter, and drew himself back to the real world. Blake was smirking at him, a mug of tea in her hand.
"Don't worry, Jaune, I remember the last time: it's decaf."
"Savages…" Tai mumbled from the stovetop. "Why drink coffee if it's decaf?"
Jaune chuckled nervously: "Ask Professor Goodwitch what happened last time Nora had black coffee." He shuddered at the memory: It had taken six people to restrain her.
"Still…" Tai trailed off, but soon enough the three were plating meals. Nora wandered in, taking up position at the table expectantly, and Yang followed soon after, her wild mane pulled back. Talk was mostly about good running routes, where the important stores and facilities in Patch were, and vague plans for the week. To Jaune's surprise, Ren stumbled in halfway through their meal.
Without saying a word to anyone, Ren buried himself in the fridge, reemerging with a hodgepodge of ingredients he would somehow turn into a five-star meal, as he was wont to do. Amazing smells drifted over from the stove as Tai wolfed down the rest of his plate. Once he finished, he moved to the sink and rinsed his plate.
"I'm off for Ruby, be back soon."
"Is she alright?" Ren asked groggily, and Tai stopped by the exit, the other plate of food in hand. Blake and Yang shared an uneasy look, their meals temporarily forgotten.
"Ruby's… doing better. But, sometimes she still has a bad day." He shrugged. "Everyone does. I've been there before, I guess I am now. Qrow and I, we were family, and he meant the world to Ruby."
Ren had stopped his miracle work by then, leaning against the counter. "May I?" He gestured towards the plate Tai held. Jaune noticed Nora tense.
"I've… been there before too, sir. I'd like to help, if I can." Tai reluctantly handed the dish off to Ren, and his brother made his way upstairs, the meal seeming to weigh more than a mountain. Nora looked as if she was about to run after him, but she eventually settled for locking her hands on the table.
"Ren and I have been through a lot. I think he can help." Tai nodded, still a little confused, and left the kitchen without a word. That left the rest of them alone with the scraping of silverware.
Ren and Nora had never spoken in detail, but he and Pyrrha had gathered a decent understanding: Ren and Nora's home had been destroyed in a Grimm attack, no one else made it out. They'd spent a decade bouncing through Anima: foster homes, orphanages, even sometimes just living off the land. It had been a hard life, and they'd only ever had each other. Their apprenticeship under a few Huntsmen leading up to Beacon had been the most stable part of their lives, and it had only been a few years
Ren wasn't usually a talker, but Jaune knew that whatever he did, Ruby would be the better for it.
Footsteps shuffling down the stairs drew everyone's eyes to the door in time to see a sleepy Pyrrha wander in. His partner, still half a zombie, shambled her way to the pot of tea, and Jaune realized they hadn't made anything for her!
He rushed over the Ren's abandoned meal, trying to decipher the dish. So long as she was warm, Pyrrha would remain sleepy: his hoodie was going to buy him some time on this. He thought Ren must have planned some kind of egg burrito with spring onions and peppers, but under his hand it would have to be an omelette. What the red beans and oats were for, he had no idea, but-
Jaune stopped, blinking, and looked back to Pyrrha. His girlfriend was propped against counter with her hands wrapped around a steaming mug, his hoodie wrapped around her. There was something very right, he decided, about how the baggie thing hung from her and the way her bedhead jutted out all around the hood. A stupid grin blazed across his face, and Jaune got back to work on her breakfast. It was the least he could do.
"…What is that?" Blake asked, deadpan. Jaune looked over his shoulder, seeing Yang and Blake staring at Pyrrha.
"Hmm?" Pyrrha mumbled. "Tea."
"No!" Yang spluttered, "What are you wearing?" Jaune suddenly had a sinking feeling.
"Jaune's hoodie." The still sleep-addled Pyr replied simply, rolling her shoulders inside it. Both girls turned to him, and Jaune felt the sinking feeling turn to a plummet when Yang started to giggle.
"Jaune," Blake asked in a too neutral tone, "why is there a bunny on your hood?"
Ren remained sequestered with Ruby until well after lunch. He only stepped out to get some tea for both of them, and to assure Nora everything would be alright. Pyrrha's self-adopted sister took up a post outside the room, ensuring that whatever Ren and Ruby spoke of would remain private. The rest of them soon understood this was not likely to end soon, and went about their plans for the day.
For Pyrrha, that meant training with Jaune. Not their usual sparring, no, this was focused on her more recent acquisitions. Which was why she was seated in the middle of a field, safely distant from the Xiao Long cabin, staring sternly at a rock.
"I've made up my mind: I hate this rock." She announced with utmost surety. Somewhere behind her, she heard Jaune's voice call back.
"Yeah, it's a pretty annoying rock. But you know we have to try." And he was right; he'd gone into town just to get this annoying, stupid, big rock. Just for her. A part of her mind idly considered what it might be like next time Jaune got her a rock: would it be the good kind, or just a bigger version of this one?
"Knowing my luck, it'll be a boulder…" She realized she was drifting, and focused back on the rock, pouring her will onto the thing.
The stone was a piece of unrefined iron ore, and was their latest exercise for her Maiden Powers. Pyrrha was capable of manipulating magnetic objects, and with a touch could make even non-magnetic metals react to her semblance. That was the key, though: touch. She had yet to influence untouched material or non-metals. The hated stone qualified in both categories, so the old Pyrrha should have had no way to manipulate it.
But with the Maiden powers? With them, they'd recognized her growing strength within her old strictures, so why not test them here? The intermittent black glow that would flicker around the rock was a very promising sign.
She was capable of manipulating it, even if it was only a wiggle or two, but even that was absurdly difficult to maintain. She would keep at it, though: "Mistral wasn't built in a day."
She could faintly make out the rustle of fabric from Jaune behind her, hard at work himself, following their physical training program. Jaune had improved wondrously since he arrived, yet his speed, strength, and stamina were still behind the rest of their circle. So long as he kept up the physical work, she'd keep up the spiritual.
She could feel the unnerving tension building within, a spring pressed too far or a rope pulled too tight. The feeling was one she's grown to recognize: her powers pressing her, or more accurately her pressing them. She focused harder on the stone, her gaze boring a hole through the rock. The sounds of Jaune and the field began to fade, and the periphery of her vision began to dim.
The glow of her semblance shuttered to existence, and Pyrrha pushed. The anti-light did not fade, and the tension built higher. The rock shivered. She pushed harder.
A ripcord tearing in her very being, and the chunk of ore lifted from the ground. As she had willed it. Her vision returned to normal, sounds other than her own hammering heartbeat started to filter in, and the stone remained floating above the ground.
"Jaune, I did it!" she cheered, though she quickly silenced herself when she saw the stone begin to falter.
"What?" She heard quick steps as Jaune rushed over. "Ha, I knew you could!" He crowed, sliding down next to her. Jaune's speedy embrace snapped her focus, however, and the stupid thing thunked to the ground.
"Oh crap, that was my fault? I'm so sorry, Pyrrha!" Jaune pushed himself a bit farther from her, but did not let go. She turned to frown at Jaune, but he looked so much like a kicked puppy, she couldn't keep up the glower.
She sighed: "It's alright, Jaune, you didn't know." She took hold and pulled him closer, then returned her ire to the rock. "I still hate it, though." He patted her stomach consolingly.
"And I hate crunches, but…" he trailed off meaningfully. She sighed again, and focused back on the rock. He was right. A brief peck on her cheek, and Jaune headed back to his workout.
"I can do this." With that last determined thought, she returned to her efforts.
JNPR had been on Patch a week when Jaune received the call he'd been waiting for, or dreading. He'd called the day before leaving Bar, his first attempt to reach out, but he'd been forced to leave a message. Due to the sensitive nature of what was going on, Jaune didn't want to leave too detailed a message though, so he probably ended up way down the to-do list.
His scroll reading "Prof. Goodwitch" marked the end of the wait. Jaune suddenly felt the need to straighten his tie, despite the fact he was wearing a tee shirt. He considered if he could do anything to make the situation better, but his mind was blank and the scroll ringing. With a final gulp, Jaune answered the call.
"Hi, Professor Goodwitch." His voice wavered in fear, to his humiliation.
"It's good to hear from you, Mr. Arc. I apologize for not reaching you all sooner, but we have been quite busy in Vale." Jaune could believe it: even through her normal sternness, Jaune could hear the weary tone.
"It's okay, totally! I just… I needed…" Jaune stumbled to find the right words. "I should have practiced this." He groused inwardly.
"Are you alright, Jaune? Has there been any issues with your team?" The professor sounded worried herself now, which propelled Jaune to speak up.
"We're fine! The team is actually visiting Patch right now: seeing RWBY. But, uhh, there is something. Something with Pyrrha?" He offered, hoping she caught his drift.
"Mr. Arc, please be frank with me, I have precious little time, and none for more small talk."
"We, JNPR, know that the thing kinda worked, ma'am. The thing with Ozpin and Pyrrha." He blurted, before Goodwitch could give him detention.
The professor went very quiet on the other line.
"I see." The flat voice was pretty terrifying.
"Yeah."
"When does Team JNPR intend to return to Vale? I assume that's what this is about then?" The exhaustion was gone, replaced with a more natural fierceness.
"End of the week, probably. We wanted to be sure our friends were okay first." He offered lamely, as an excuse for a delay she wouldn't like.
"I disapprove of the delay," He totally called that, "but I cannot force your hands on this matter, I imagine. While I don't approve of Miss Nikos' current level of discretion either, I safely assume your team will be more circumspect?"
"Well, we told Ruby, Yang, and Blake too, but aside from them, absolutely!" Jaune definitely didn't say. Instead, he replied with a simple "Yes, ma'am."
"Good. Thank you for informing me of this, Mister Arc. I look forward to speaking with all of you. Next Week." She emphasized. It was no longer a 'probably'.
"See you then, professor." The call ended then, and Jaune let out a sigh of relief. Then he reached for the roll of toilet paper.
Jaune rejoined his friends in the living room, all seven of them had been watching a crime noir Sun and Neptune had once recommended. He took his spot on the spread blankets by Pyrrha, leaning close to her ear.
"I got a call from Miss Goodwitch, she wants us in Vale next week." Pyrrha tensed at his words, but nodded. He immediately kicked himself for ruining the moment with news like that, but it was too late. He settled in to watch, arm around her, and hoped they could get a few more good days out of this trip.
Pyrrha was slowly returning to the land of the living, tea warming her hands as she sat slumped in the sofa. She could hear Nora and Yang laughing in the kitchen, but she was content to enjoy the slow return to wakefulness. Steps behind her, and Jaune dropped to the cushion to her right, a bowl of fruit in his hands.
"Morning, Pyrrha." he greeted warmly.
"Mrn, Jn" She mumbled, floating one of the forks he held into her unoccupied hand. The two began to eat, and Jaune didn't bother to keep up a conversation with her in such a state. He was wonderful like that.
Her humanity had begun to return to acceptable levels when Jaune's fork came up to her mouth, a small piece of cantaloupe skewered on it. She glanced sidewise to see her partner smirking playfully at her. She returned it, then took part in the overly-romantic gesture with a dainty bite.
Swallowing her piece, she offered up a slice of pineapple to Jaune. He happily accepted, and prepared another bite for her. She luxuriated in the warm, bubbly feeling in her stomach and in Jaune's earnest attention as they traded morsels. When Jaune raised his next spoonful, a wondrous plan struck her, and Pyrrha locked onto his eyes. She moved with all the languid grace she could muster, watching the rapture in Jaune's eyes as she slowly pulled the fruit free.
"You love birds ready for some fun!" This, of course, would be when Yang interrupted them.
Yang let out a bark of laughter, diving over the couch to crash onto both of them. The bowl went flying, both of them reaching out for it, but a dash of roses sped through, and neither bowl nor fruit landed on the earth. Instead, Ruby held up the ceramic, smiling wide.
"Yeah! Time for us to go! It's gonna be awesome!" She said gleefully. Yang scrambled off their laps to stand next to Ruby, striking the same pose, and even Blake drifted in to join them.
"What's goin' on?" Nora called from the kitchen, the remainder of JNPR joining them in the living room.
"What's going on", Ruby answered, "is that Team RWBY is gonna take their pals Team JNPR into Patchwork for a good time today!"
"It's best to just let it happen, when these two get like this." Blake drawled.
"No sass from you, Miss Mopey." Yang fired back, earning an arched brow from Blake.
"I promise you guys, it'll be super fun!" Ruby insisted. Pyrrha looked over to her team. Ren was his normal calm self, and Jaune shrugged his lack of objection.
Nora was standing next to Yang, holding the same pose.
"Alright, Team JNPR and RWBY trip it is." Jaune returned, helplessly.