Sorry for the delay I was out of town for a couple days, I'm glad you guys like this story and thanks for the reviews, special shoutout to BananaFoxKayri for the helpful tips and nice reviews they really helped me to keep going when I thought no one was reading. Thats it, read and enjoy!
Chapter 3: Up
Jaune opened his eyes and groaned with a sense of Déjà vu. A sharp stab of pain rushed through his side as he tried to sit up, only to find that he was slung over someone's shoulder. He turned his head to side to figure out who was carrying him and found himself looking into the turquoise eyes of his ginger haired teammate who was clearly ecstatic that her leader was awake. She took a deep breath before deciding to fill her leader in on what happened after he went into 'knight mode', as Nora liked to call it.
"Jauney we were so worried we thought Yang beat you up too much, but then you took a nap so we decided that you'd probably be ok, then Yang woke up and wanted to carry you but I said 'No that's my teammate I'm carrying him 'till he wakes up." She paused, giving Jaune the chance to reassure Nora that he was, in fact, okay.
"No need to worry Nora, It's gonna take a lot more than a fist to take me out." He patted the girls head before adding in "but you can let me down now, Nora I'm good." Said girl eyed him suspiciously before lightly setting him down. She observed him as he stumbled around until he looked like he had control of himself, then she darted over to Ren to talk with him.
Jaune's whole body ached when he touched the ground. He noted that while his shoulder seemed to be in better shape, his back wasn't faring nearly as well. Nonetheless, he gained his composure and walked confidently, not wanting to burden his friends any more than he already had. Speaking of his friends, Jaune was wondering why nobody had talked to him besides Nora. Looking ahead of him he saw that they were looking for a new place to set up camp for the night keeping watch in case any Grimm tried to sneak up on the group.
He walked through the pain for about 5 minutes until he tripped on a root leaving him sprawled out face first on the ground. He went to get up but his back started to spasm rendering him unable to stand up or move for the matter. Still he tried his damnedest to get up. The effort caused him to see stars until he was finally relieved when two strong yet protective arms grabbed him and started carrying him bridal style. When he looked up he saw the beautiful, bewitching blonde, Yang, looking into his eyes with worry bleeding from her gaze.
"I'm fine Yang, don't worry about me. You guys should keep looking for shelter." The blushing blonde said weakly.
"I'm not gonna buy that shit Jaune. You're hurt and it's because of me, so just relax." Yang snapped.
The dejected blonde looked at the ground, unsure of what to say besides a whispered apology. Jaune had no idea where her anger was coming from, but he decided somehow it was his fault and resigned his sight to the grass below him.
Yang looked at the knight's disheartened expression with shame in her heart. She hadn't meant to snap at the boy but the day had begun to take its toll on her. She knew that that was not a good excuse for her losing her composure and that she would have to apologize, but she had no idea what to say. Frankly, Yang just wanted to go back to the dorm and sleep, but that was something to look forward to she figured. She focused back onto the resident blonde goofball in her arms.
I'll just give it to him straight. He'll understand me, it is Jaune after all. But what if he doesn't? I mean he's had a worse day by far. Why do I get to complain when he hasn't said a single thing about it? And why do I care so much it's just Jaune!?
Yang decided to wing it as she called his name to get his attention. She felt him jolt upright looking for who called his name. He was sleeping she thought, before calling his name again to signal that she was the voice who woke him up. Jaune, quickly remembering what had transpired earlier, looked down at his hands and started to twiddle his thumbs. He was staring at them intently as if they held the answers to all of his questions at the moment. She coughed to get his full attention before starting to speak.
"Uh, Jaune I'm sorry about snapping at you earlier, you were just trying to be nice and I yelled at you. I mean this day has been pretty taxing on us all, and yea, sorry." Yang mentally chastised herself for babbling until the blue-eyed blonde looked up and responded with,
"Apology accepted Yang."
"Really?" She questioned, a big shocked that she had been so easily forgiven. Jaune grabbed her shoulder and nodded.
"I know how hard the day has been on you Yang, plush there's no point in holding a grudge for just a small slip-up right? I mean I always mess up so why should I hold it against you?" Yang was shocked the knight had a lot more too him than fake confidence and cheesy jokes. She made a mental note to plan on really getting to know the guy currently in her arms when they got back to Beacon.
She was jerked from her thoughts when Blake called out to her saying something she couldn't hear yet. Yang focused on Blake until she got close enough for her to hear that they were going to go up into the trees for the night. She nodded to show she heard Blake and turned to the nearest tree in order to scale it.
"Jaune, get on my back so I can maneuver better and not fall." The lilac eyed girl ordered. Jaune complied and gently got himself onto her back as she began her ascension of the tree.
Yang tried just scaling the tree, but the branches were too high up for her to get high enough before sliding back down the tree due to lack of a strong foothold. She determined that it would be easier to take a running start. She did just that, jumping into the tree and vaulting herself up with her legs. She just barely caught onto the lowest branch with one hand, but she made it.
"Careful now Sun Dragon, I don't wanna fall twice today" The tentative blonde joked. Yang shot him a playful glare at the nickname he had just came up with before returning to the tree she was climbing. Jaune watched as the blonde brawler hoisted herself up onto the branch and began pulling herself up higher and higher until they reached a point where if Jaune looked down he felt nauseous.
They had almost reached the apex of the tree and Jaune had to close his eyes to keep himself from getting sick. He opened his eyes when they stopped moving and Yang tried to carefully bring Jaune back into the bridal carry as she analyzed the branch and how she wanted to proceed with their sleeping arrangements.
"Uh, so are you gonna drop me off on another branch?" Jaune asked hoping it wouldn't come down to what he suspected.
Yang answered by sitting down with her back resting on the core of the tree and closing her eyes. Jaune groaned, causing Yang to open her eyes and give him a look of feigned confusion.
"Don't wanna sleep with a pretty girl, lover boy?" Yang teased. Now, Jaune liked girls as much as anyone else but the situation was bound to be made awkward by his social ineptitude.
"No Yang, it's just I'm already awkward enough as is, this situation will amplify my awkwardness and will make me embarrass myself more than I already have. Then you'll judge me and won't talk to me anymore!" The embarrassed knight quickly finished before putting his head in his hands.
Yang looked down at a very vulnerable looking Jaune and decided that her next words would need to be chosen carefully as to not hurt his confidence more than he already had. She looked right into his big ocean blue eyes, which made him look like an oversized child as he looked back up at her. She wasn't sure where the sudden insecurity was coming from. Her best guess was that the events of the day had finally caught up with the boy, subsequently giving him a mental breakdown.
"You know we're all friends here, right Jaune?" Yang asked.
"Well, I mean Weiss doesn't like me, and I have no idea why" He whispered not trusting his voice to get any higher.
"Weiss is slowly warming up to all of us. Give her time and we'll melt through that icy exterior of hers. But, you didn't answer my question. Jaune, are we all friends here?" The careful brawler asked, curious as to what his answer would be.
"Well I'm friends with all my teammates," Jaune paused before continuing "and Ruby, she was my first friend, I just told you about Weiss, I haven't had a full conversation with Blake so I think she doesn't like me." He took a shaky breath not realizing he had started to shake and his heart had sped up. "You always tease me, and I know you're joking Yang, but it still hurts, I don't hold it against you. I mean you have no ill intent it's just who you are, but everything you say has some truth in it. 'Jaune win a fight against Pyrrha? Yeah okay, in his dreams' I'm so weak my fighting skills are a common joke at the table. Hell, even my name is a joke, 'You Jaune'd it' 'Now you've Jaune'd it this time Ruby' I usually just laugh it off, but when I'm alone with myself all I can think of is how much of a failure I am."
The knight took a shaky breath, he hadn't meant to rant at Yang, but once he started he couldn't stop as he poured out all of his insecurities to a person he wasn't even such good friends with.
Yang just looked at the blonde in her lap. She was at a loss of words. She had never thought Jaune was so self-depreciative of himself. He took every tease she threw at him in stride, but she never thought it messed with the boy too much. Then again that's probably why he took it so easily, he believed everything they said. This realization made Yang sick to her stomach. Her good natured jokes were just destroying Jaune slowly. She grabbed Jaune's shaking hands with her own.
"Jaune, I'm so sorry. I basically just made fun of and pretty much tormented you for the past year, and yet you still saved my life two times today. I'll make it up to you I swear."
"Sun dragon, apology accepted again. Besides, it's fine. You didn't know you were hurting me it's ok, really." Jaune replied with a laugh.
"How can you just forgive me like that Jaune?" The blonde beauty asked with genuine confusion.
He just responded with a shrug before resting his head on her stomach. He took care in being very cautious, almost as if he was maneuvering around glass. Yang smiled at how he acted like a timid child around her. She found it cute, but his rant from earlier had upset her. How can Jaune just bottle up all his emotions like that, that can't be good for him?
The knight readjusted accidentally bumping into a fleshy ball, realizing what it was he froze looking into the brawler's eyes. She laughed before running her hands through his hair. It calmed him down instantly, she used to do it to Ruby when she was stressed, and it just felt right running it through his surprisingly soft blonde hair. She felt his tense muscles relax against her.
"Hey, Yang?"
"Yea?"
"You hit like a truck," Jaune stated, earning a chuckle from Yang. He thought for a moment and added quickly, "But it was worth getting hit because I saved you." He slowly settled down to sleep after that letting exhaustion take over his aching body. The pair must have looked pretty funny, Yang thought, considering he was taller than her so his legs went way past hers. She shivered, she hadn't noticed but the air had cooled down significantly since they got up to the top of the tree. So she used her semblance to warm both of them up since they had no protection from the wind up there.
Yang kept running her fingers through his hair until she felt the rising and falling of his chest get into a rhythm, signaling that he had fallen asleep. She rested her arms on top of his chest before falling into a peaceful slumber too.
Jaune's got some problems eh? I mean we can't have perfect characters, cause what's the fun in that? I'm trying to get a longer length per chapter going, but this week was bad because as I previously stated I left town twice, but at least I got myself a beta, so chapter grammer and quality should improve. I'll delve deeper into his problems soon.
Please don't be afraid to leave a review or fav Thanks for reading!
