A/N: Hopefully this chapter cooperates.
The rest of the days travels were quiet and uneventful. The little town with the train station came into view and the whole group brightened. The settlement was vibrant and lively, after checking into the lodge there was nothing Ruby and Nora wanted to do more than explore the place. It took some begging and judicious use of puppy dog eyes on Ruby's part to get the teams to agree. Defeated Jaune looks to Yang. "How did your dad ever tell her no? Seriously, I need to learn his tricks."
Yang raises an eyebrow at the question and shrugs. Nora and Ruby have grown inpatient and tug on Ren and Jaune's wrists. "C`mon lets go! I'm starving and don't want lodge food!" Ruby whines.
"Yea! Me too! Everyone get your rears in gear!" Nora cheers. The boys roll their eyes playfully and allow themselves to be dragged out of the lodge and into the town.
"Am I missing something?" Blake points out the window noting that neither Ruby nor Nora have dropped the boys hands.
Sun internally panics racking his brain for an excuse. Oscar pipes up saving him from having to. "Seems normal to me. Isn't that how all close friends act?" He gets the distinct feeling Oz is chuckling in the back of his consciousness.
"I mean, that's what I'm like with my friends." Sun adds mentally thanking the farm boy. The girls nod accepting the answer and follow Ranger out.
"So, where are we goin?" Yang asks looking to her sister.
"To eat! Then to the dust and weapons store, then I dunno!" Ruby beams. Though she looks a bit bashful when she follows Weiss's gaze to her hand still on Jaune's wrist. She lets go and smiles a bit awkwardly at her partner. The afternoon on the town is good fun they all needed. They head back to the lodge and settle in for the night. While Ruby is in the shower Yang sees an opportunity.
"Hey Nora, have you noticed anything…unusual with Jaune and Ruby?" She starts.
"Yang." Weiss warns. Blake watches on quietly.
Nora shrugs. "Not really."
"Are you sure? I've seen… sometimes they seem extra close?" The golden haired girl asks again.
"Yea, I mean, of course they're close. Team Ranger are all best friends. I mean look at me and Renny." The redhead replies back.
Yang runs her hand through her hair. "I guess I'm reading too much into things."
The rest of the evening is fairly quiet. The morning finds them on the Argus Limited. The groups have all stowed their gear and decide to head to the dining cars. The booths are quite tiny only allowing four people per table. Ruby shoots Jaune an apologetic look when Yang sits her at the window seat of the booth, while Yang herself took the aisle seat. Nora, Jaune, Ren and Oscar sit across the aisle from them with Jaune taking the aisle seat facing Ruby. A little old lady with goggle eyes settles in nearby. All through lunch Ruby tells tales of her travels with Ranger. She would occasionally refer to one of the other three to fill in details on something she had forgotten. Their laughter filled the dining car for a good long while. The other passengers didn't seem to mind. Qrow shows up looking for Oscar, he needs to run a few things by Oz. The farm boy is the first to leave the dining car.
Team RWBY finish and begin leaving the dining area. Ruby is the last one out of the booth and so the last to leave. Jaune catches her hand when she walks by. She gives him a smile full of affection and squeezes his hand, he returns the gesture. These small interactions meaning the world to them. They reluctantly release each others hands when Ruby hears Yang looking for her. Jaune watches her leave and sighs. Ren and Nora smile at the sweet way the two interact. They excuse themselves but Jaune isn't quite ready to leave the booth.
"Ah, young love, such a wonderful thing." A voice comes from behind him.
"I'm sorry?" The young knight asks confused.
The little old lady laughs a bit and hops down from her booth and settles into the space Ren and Nora were in. "You and the girl in the cape. That was tooth rottingly sweet watching you two." She chuckles.
"Um… thank you?" He stammers not sure what the lady wants.
She tuts at him and grumbles. "Kids these days, no manners. How about some introductions? My name is Maria." She sticks her hand out.
"I'm Jaune, nice to meet you." He states shaking the offered hand.
"You and the girl clearly have some sort of relationship going on so, why were you at different tables?" She blinks adjusting the vision in her goggles.
Jaune shrugs. "We're kind of keeping things quiet. It's not a secret or anything, but, we're on an important mission, so it's kinda not our main focus?" He offers.
She nods. "I thought you lot looked like huntsmen. I was one back in the day." She muses.
Jaune thinks for a second. "Can I ask you a question?"
She shrugs. "I don't see why not."
He doesn't get the chance as the train suddenly jars and shakes under grimm attack. It had only been an hour since the back cars had been severed. Jaune, Ren and Nora couldn't help but be worried.
"She'll be okay, Qrow and Yang are with her." Nora is as much comforting herself as the young knight and Ren.
"I know, I'm just worried." Jaune sighs.
Ren reaches out placing his hand on Jaune's shoulder. "We're all worried, about all of them."
"She promised she would make it, lets believe in her." Nora adds.
"Yea." Jaune agrees, he decides to pull out his scroll checking for her signal though he knows its too soon. He is surprised to see his sisters signal light up. He smiles and calls her up. She' equally as surprised to hear his voice. They chat for a long while and when Jaune mentions coming to visit her after they check into a lodge she's having none of it. She and Terra will meet them at the station and she absolutely insists they stay at her home. They meet up at the station as planned and bring them to their home.
"I'm so excited to finally meet your team!" Saphron gushes. "How long will you be staying? I hope it's for a while. I missed my baby brother!"
Jaune reddens. "Saf, I'm not a baby! He whines, pulling out his scroll, checking it and putting it back in his pocket.
"Tell me about your adventures! We're all so proud to have a huntsman in training in the family!" His big sister prods.
Nora launches into it telling tales from their first encounters all the way to the two groups splitting up hours ago. Jaune and Ren filling in here and there. It hasn't slipped Saphron's attention that Jaune is checking his scroll every few minutes. Terra arrives back home from picking up the baby from daycare.
"Jaune meet Adrien, you're an uncle!" Saphron coos handing the baby over.
Jaune's eyes go wide and he smiles. "Hey there little buddy nice to meet ya." He bounces the baby on his knee. Nora is over in an instant cooing at and talking to the little one. Ren isn't even immune from the call of cute and joins in playing with the baby on the floor. Jaune pulls his scroll and checks it again sighing.
Saphron smiles wryly "I know you're worried about your friends but the way you're acting you'd think your girlfriend was the one left on the train." It's meant as a good natured teasing to get his mind occupied.
"Yea, she is." He says quietly, only having half paid attention to the question.
Saphron's eyes widen in shock and in happiness, for both teasing purposes and genuine happiness for her brother. "Soo, which one is it? Did you finally get the snow angel to notice you? Was it maybe the quiet one? The one with the fiery semblance?" She rattles off.
Jaune hmms again distracted with his nephew and checking his scroll again. "Wait.. what are we talking about again?" He blinks up at his sister confused. Nora smirks at him.
"Your girlfriend space case! You said she's on the train, you were about to tell me which one she is." Jaune reddens and Saf takes great pleasure in teasing him for just these reactions.
"It's Ruby." He stutters out still feeling embarrassed at having been caught off guard.
Saphron walks over and ruffles his hair playfully. "That certainly explains your glowing descriptions of her in the letters you send." Jaune attempts to swat her hand off of his head but she catches it and tickles him. She switches her tone from playful to serious quickly after. "You said there's a professional huntsman with her group. I'm sure they'll make it here safe and sound."
The conviction in her voice eases his mind just a bit. "Yea, I hope so."
"They will." Ren adds.
"I'll break their legs if they don't" Nora tosses out. It has the desired effect of causing Jaune to laugh just a little.
The rest of the evening is pleasant with catching up on both sides. Jaune finds it nearly impossible to sleep. Ren and Nora toss and turn all night as well. Once the house is awake for the day Saphron can see the group have way too much nervous energy to sit still. She suggests they go sight seeing to keep their minds occupied. Sight seeing leads to brainstorming and the three end up at the Atlas base in Argus. The guards agree to bring their commanding officer out to speak with them.
"Those guys are super weird." Nora observes earning nods from the boys.
They are surprised when the commanding officer ends up being a tiny but grumpy old lady.
"What do you kids want?" Her tone is cold, but not unkind.
Jaune rubs his neck nervously. " Um, hello ma'am my name is Jaune Arc and, well we're on a very important mission. You see, we need to get to Atlas."
She cuts him off. "The borders are closed, leave my base immediately. I have more important things to tend to than the whims children." She stands as tall and proud as she can.
Jaune is getting irritated but doing his best to keep his cool. "Maybe you misheard? We're a group of travelling huntsmen and huntresses on an important mission."
Cordovan is visibly irritated. "I heard you the first time, didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders? I've given you my answer. good day." She turns to leave.
"Look here lady, we're going to Atlas wether you like it or not!" Jaune half yells surprising even himself.
"Yea!" Nora grins bouncing Magnhild in her hand for effect.
"You three have exactly thirty seconds to get out of my sight before I reign down the entire might of the Atlas military on your heads." Cordo grinds out.
"Thank you for your time" Ren states calmly pulling the fuming Jaune and ready to fight Nora with him.
They walk for several blocks in silence before Jaune thinks to check his scroll again. His face lights up and Nora had never seen someone dial a scroll so fast. A few minutes later the trio are running towards the towns front gates. Nora spots Oscar first, she tackles him before jumping up and wrapping Ruby in a bone crunching hug.
"Nora, I missed you too but I can't breathe." She manages to squeak out. Nora grins and lets her go but only to pull Ren and Jaune into them for a group hug. They hadn't been apart, even for a day in nearly a year and being back together was a wonderful feeling. Ren and Nora rejoin the others leaving Jaune and Ruby off to the side. He finally gets to hug her. The sense of relief he feels with her finally in his arms is overwhelming. He hears up a bit. "Hey, I promised didn't I?" She asks softly. "Yea, you did" he breathes out. Maria stands to the side grinning.
A/N: I like this chapter very much, even with slight departure from the show.