Thank's for reading, and as always hope you enjoy!
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The night air felt cool blowing through Jaune's hair as he made his way around town with no real destination in mind. In the two years he spent in Beacon he had not once been allowed to visit Vale, or maybe he had just assumed he wasn't allowed after his initial blunders upon entering the city. Either way it felt great to be able to just look around and explore without having to worry, even if most of the businesses were closed and so few people were out so late.
It was nice being able to walk around without needing to be anywhere, the lack of negativity was also a wonderful change from the other night when he was in Vale. Even before the fight with Lucy broke out, the large city always seemed to have some level of negativity in the air. Not enough to draw a hoard or anything but just enough for him to notice the few times he had been downtown.
Are you sure you want to go this way? Whitback's voice drew him from his thoughts suddenly, was he going somewhere he shouldn't have been? He was still just walking on the sidewalk so it wasn't like he was on someone else's property or anything. He was about to ask what Whitback had meant when something stopped him.
"You gotta hurry!" The high pitch voice called out "It's supposed to be here already!"His head snapped up just in time to see golden blonde hair disappear into the train station, the soft giggling making his heart cry out.
"Wait!" He was already rushing to the door, reaching to push it open but stopping barely an inch from the handle. He could hear Whitback's words from earlier repeat in his head; the girl was nothing but a memory. A broken fragment from his past life, a life he could hardly remember.
Why couldn't he remember them clearly? Why was it so hard to remember something as simple as his mother's name and yet he could picture every inch of the burning hellfire he knew would be waiting if he pushed open the door. He felt his throat close as a familiar anxiety grew in his stomach and spread through his limbs, numbing his fingers and causing his legs to shake.
Jaune knew there was nothing waiting for him on the other side of the door, no blonde little sister, no kind mother or teasing elder sisters. And no hero of a father. There wasn't even a burning inferno, but that didn't stop him from seeing it play in his head. It was a play so vivid he could swear he was still just a scared little boy who didn't understand why everything was hurting so much.
Jaune! Whitback's voice made him jump while also taking his attention off the train station. "You don't need to yell," Jaune said quietly while looking around to see if anyone had seen him "Scared the life out of me." Luckily the closest person was a night watchman a couple blocks away, much too far to have seen anything.
Sorry Jaune but I had called you three times, You were attempting to change our body again. It didn't sound upset or anything, just the same worried tone it had when Jaune had seen his little sister the day before. I know it may be difficult but try to focus on what is happening right now.
"Sorry..." He honestly had no idea what changes Whitback was talking about but he tried to do what it suggested, taking a breath and turning away from the station to look around the silent town. He scanned over the windows, up past the rooftops until his eyes settled on the bright starlit sky.
"Huh, never noticed that before." Jaune mumbled to himself with a half chuckle, a part of him realizing something as he gazed upon the moon in all it's shattered glory. What's that? Whitback asked curiously, sounding much happier as the negativity in Jaune began to fade away.
"Have you ever wondered how something so utterly broken could still somehow manage to be so amazing?"
\-/
Jaune had spent the rest of his night wandering with his head pointed towards the stars, the open night sky captivating the majority of his thoughts until the sun began to rise. With some help from Whitback he made his way back to the room his team were staying in, noticing something odd as he approached the door.
I don't sense anyone's presence Whitback commented and Jaune quickly opened the door to confirm their suspicions, finding the room empty. Forcing himself not to jump to conclusions he pulled out his scroll, freshly charged but still off from the night with Lucy.
'Started training early. Finding us is part of your own training.'
Jaune rolled his eyes, did that old man really think it would be any kind of challenge to track them down? He figured his sense of smell combined with the relatively small sized town would make tracking a pungent smelling alcoholic a cinch.
We shouldn't keep them waiting.
Jaune was already on his way out the door, not hesitating to begin looking for the mixture of scents that would lead him to his friends. He figured it wouldn't take them very long, a quick five minute stroll to whatever clearing Qrow had decided to use for sparring and then his real training would begin.
...
2 hours later and Jaune finally was making his way into a cave about thirty minutes from the town, mentally exhausted and frustrated to no end. "How in the world did you find every single farm and body of water in this town?" Qrow must have spent a good hour cleaning off their scent before heading through the most overpowering scents he could find, it was a nightmare trying to follow such a faint smell through cow and pig dung.
"What? Did ya think I was gonna make your training any easier?" Qrow replied calmly despite the multitude of attacks flying his way from the three Huntresses in training. Every attack without fail was dodged, blocked or thrown completely off course, it reminded Jaune of countless hours spent sparring with the man while barely laying a scratch on him.
"Still, I could have gone my whole life without learning how bad farm animals could smell…" Jaune muttered to himself while Qrow stopped the girls, immediately they all collapse to the ground panting. Just how long had they been at it? How long were they gone before he even got back to their room?
"You could at least pretend to be having trouble!" Yang yelled from her prone position on the floor, making sure her uncle was paying attention by chucking a rock at him. "Old people aren't supposed to-" She was cut off as the rock she tossed was thrown back at her, smacking her head with a clunk and flash of Aura.
"Well this "Old person" has been whoopin your ass for the past…" He paused to pull free his scroll, making something of a show of checking the time "Hour and thirty eight minutes, so how bout you let me worry about what we old people should and shouldn't do." Yang groaned loudly but seemed too tired to do much more than that. "Now come on Jaune, you turn."
Immediately Jaune jumped backwards with his shield raised, a couple years experience teaching him of the older Huntsman's speed and unpredictability. Qrow raised a curious eyebrow, a smirk playing on his face "Just gonna leave your exhausted team to fend for themselves?"
Ruby was just fast enough to dodge the incoming attack, rolling out of the way of Qrow's scythe. "No fair!" She called as she rolled to her feet, ready for a follow up attack. "You said we could rest!" His only response was to shrug while lazily dodging a swing from Yang before being forced deeper into the cave by a charging shield user.
Jaune moved in front of his team, moving his blade from above his shield to being held out at his side. He was less comfortable in such a stance but it made him a bigger target, hopefully making it a bit more difficult to get to his team behind him. He was about to charge forward when he felt Yang push his sword aside to take a stance next to him.
He turned slightly to her, tilting his head questioningly but she didn't spare him a glance and kept her gaze firmly ahead. Wasn't she already exhausted? "You should rest and recover some Aura, I can hold him off for a bit." It wouldn't be easy but in such a confined space Qrow would be limited to his Harbinger's sword form, which meant less momentum to smash through armor.
"I'm fi-" She began stubbornly only to be cut off as Qrow lunged forward the instant her attention wavered, clearly seeing the opening and exploiting it as much as he could. Jaune had to spin and stretch his arm out to stop the blow from Yang, leaving his back wide open to attack.
The only reason he was spared the assault was Ruby's deadeye aim, launching a projectile right between her sister and partner and forcing her uncle back. Weiss was quick to create a glyph under the Huntsman and send him even further before he had a chance to properly gain his footing.
"Jaune you keep him busy, Weiss and I will provide support but we'll be prioritizing recovering." Ruby warned while forcing another round into her rifle chamber. "Yang, stop him if he gets past Jaune, but stay back and rest if possible." It was a simple plan, meant to buy time and wear down an opponent that had much more experience than them.
Qrow showed them a smile while they took their positions and readied for his next assault, he looked rather pleased with the plan they decided on.
"Solid planning, but will it help against me?" Qrow's smile turned into a grin as he got ready to lunge forward. "Let's find out." And for the next several hours the sounds of combat was all that could be heard coming from the remote cave.
\-/
That night both Qrow and Jaune left the room together, one stating he needed to investigate some rumors while the other insisted on coming with. They were gone by the time Weiss had finished her shower and Ruby had started hers, leaving the heiress alone with her partner.
The blonde brawler had been much quieter than usual since their sparring match, Weiss wasn't exactly sure why but it wasn't like she could blame her partner for acting strange. Weiss had experience living under constant threat of killers and assassins while Ruby seemed to barely even register the difference, as long as she could help people she seemed more than happy.
But Yang was different, she had friends in beacon hadn't she? Weiss struggled to relate, never having many friends to begin with, but she couldn't imagine it was easy to just leave them behind. "Hey, are you… feeling alright?" She asked a little awkwardly, nowhere near used to being in such a position.
"Huh?" Yang said a little dully, seemingly coming back to reality from her thoughts "Oh, ya sorry. Just thinking, nothing to worry about." She brushed it off easily enough but Weiss had a feeling something was still bothering her, people didn't get that deep in thought without something nagging at them.
"If you're sure…" She didn't want to push harder, knowing if anyone had tried to with her she would have felt the need to defend herself. "But just know you're not alone, alright?" She felt incredibly awkward saying it, a part of her positive she got the line from an old TV show, but she couldn't say nothing. Not when her partner was looking so devoid of the personality she was just getting used to.
Yang stared at her for a few seconds, her eyes widening in surprise as if she couldn't believe what she had heard. The moment the light of recognition entered her eyes, Yang began laughing.
"And just what is so funny?" Weiss asked while feeling the heat of embarrassment creep up her neck, sure it was a cheesy line but at least she was trying right? "Nothing nothing, I'm sorry." Yang said while wiping at her eyes and playfully wrapping an arm around her partner. "Just can't really say I'm feeling lonely is all."
Weiss was grateful she was wrong but the heat in her face refused to relent, why did her partner have to be so touchy-feely when she had so little experience with such things? She could remember getting hugged by her sister and mother when she was younger but never from anyone else, her father did not encourage that kind of display. It could be used against you if your affections were publicly known.
"So why haven't you said more than two words since training?" Weiss asked, shaking herself from her thoughts. Yang laughed a little awkwardly and scratched the back of her head, her cheeks tingeing a slight red. "Ah, you noticed huh?"
Weiss didn't feel like she needed to answer, anybody who knew Yang longer than a day knew how outgoing she was and how much she enjoyed smiling and laughing. It didn't take a genius to notice when she quieted down nor did it take one to guess something was bothering her.
"Well you see, that's because I maybe might be..." Yang seemed to struggle for a moment as the red in her face deepened. "...Just a little… Jealous I guess…" Weiss couldn't stop the confusion she felt from spreading to her face, what could Yang have to be jealous of? She did not seem the type to suddenly become envious of small town life, was it to do with Jaune's abilities?
"It's kind of stupid..." Yang must have noticed the confused look as she tried to explain herself "It just... When I was attending signal I was always the best fighter, so much so that I was told to hold back whenever I sparred with others." That made sense, from what Weiss knew Yang was raised to be a Huntress from the beginning while also having an incredibly powerful semblance. It only made sense for her to excel in the smaller schools that dotted Vale.
"When I got to beacon and saw first hand just how outclassed I was compared to someone like Pyrrha or Jaune, well honestly I was happy I could finally let loose!" She smiled brightly, though it didn't last long as she let out a heavy sigh. "But today I had to hold back, not because I might hurt someone but because I would be dragging my team down…"
"Just makes me feel… a little useless." She mumbled, looking nothing like the brash, headstrong person Weiss quickly learned her partner could be. "Like I can't even protect myself, let alone my team." She was obviously trying to hide it but the shame she felt was written clear on her face.
"Yang Xiao Long, you can not be serious." Weiss couldn't stop herself, she could hardly believe such a ferocious combatant could have such doubts about their abilities. "Do you know how many people in our class could take on a massive pack of beowolves and still have the energy to fight toe-to-toe with a Grimm mutant hybrid?" She stared intently at her partner.
"Literally two people, one of which is another Hybrid while the other is a tournament champion so I honestly doubt you can fairly count either of them." She crossed her arms definitely, unwilling to accept her partner was anything less than a grade A Huntress. "I mean I had the best tutors money could buy and yet I haven't been able to do any more than tie with you. On a good day at that." She closed her eyes and nodded, satisfied she had made her point.
"Aww thanks Weiss!" Yang giggled, quickly cheering up and all but tackling Weiss in a bear hug. "Under all that ice, you're just a big softy aren't you?" Weiss frowned but didn't say anything, it wasn't like she enjoyed being cold to others, it was just the standard in the Schnee house.
The loud ringing of Ruby's scroll drew their attention suddenly, the device vibrating sporadically on her bed. "I got it!" The young huntress' voice called from the bathroom a moment before she came zipping out wrapped in towels, taking only a second to check who was calling her before answering.
"Hey uncle Qrow! Wh-" She stopped, a worried expression coming over her face as she moved to sit next to her team, giving them a view of the hardened look on the Huntsman's face. His next words were all but useless with such a look on his features but he spoke them nonetheless
"We have a problem."
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Something of a filler I guess, though i tried to develop some characters a bit and plant some seeds to use for later. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with relationship's, still really on the fence about doing it at all but honestly it's kind of an afterthought (and i hope that isnt a wrong choice). I'm kind of worried that i made Yang a bit too over the top or clingy or something but I'm not sure, I feel like she always has a lot of energy like her little sister with her own way of expressing it. I'm not sure (I sometimes get a little lost in my overthinking), please feel free to let me know your thoughts! and I truly hope you all have a wonderful night/morning!