Nora shoved her scroll into Jaune's face, the screen displaying what seemed to be another hastily edited picture of Jaune and Weiss standing in close proximity.
And while their body language and facial expression didn't imply anything other than a friendly conversation, the light pink filter and the spew of emoji heart symbols gave the impression of a more romantic atmosphere than the one that actually existed.
"I thought you were just going to hang out with some friends! But apparently, you were out being seduced by the enemy!" Exclaimed Nora, hips popped out with a hand placed on it for more dramatic effect.
Jaune only raised an eyebrow and gave a small smile, "The enemy? We ate breakfast with Weiss just this morning. And you shouldn't pay any attention to that, from what I've heard from Yang and Ruby the internet is full of strangers that don't know what they're talking about. It's nothing more than people fawning over huntsman, and it doesn't help that Weiss is extremely affluent already, I hear she has a fanbase,"
Nora scoffed, "That's what you want us to think, isn't it! What were you really doing!"
"I don't know, what were you and Ren doing at four-thirty buying condoms?" Jaune asked.
The P in team JNPR, who was just coming out of the bathroom after taking a shower, heard that statement and made a complete 180 turn. Hiding in the bathroom from what was about to happen.
As those words left Jaune's mouth, both Nora and Ren, the latter who had simply been sitting on the bed, flushed a deep red.
"How did you know!" Screeched Nora, backpedaling away from Jaune at the same time as Ren fell down from the bed.
Scrambling up from his prone position Ren said, "Beacon can track what we buy!" In quite possibly the most emotional voice Jaune had ever heard.
Both Nora and Ren stared at Jaune with a mix of shock, embarrassment, and panic. Something that almost caused the blonde-headed knight to chuckle, instead he merely smiled a bit wider.
"Of course, Beacon can't do that, I'm just joking with you guys. Yang suggested I try to "loosen up"," Jaune said.
Ren and Nora sighed with relief, before realizing what they had just revealed to Jaune.
The indigo-eyed teenager cleared his throat, "We'd appreciate it if you just, forgot, about this whole situation,"
"And if you don't do it voluntarily, I can always induce amnesia," Nora stated, the air around her crackling with a threatening aura as she cracked her knuckles.
Jaune immediately raised his hands defensively, "There's no need, I'm just glad you guys are using protection, and that you used the room I supplied,"
"I'm still on the "beat you over the head with Magnhild until you forget what just happened" train," Nora said, "I bet you're lying about Beacon not being able to track what we buy! It's all a giant government conspiracy! You, Ozpin, and the nurse run a shadowy government cabal, I bet you can also see into our scrolls!" Nora exclaimed, before going pink and covering her clothed body like one might do if you were caught naked by someone else.
"You pervert! Those are for Ren only!" she exclaimed before decking Jaune straight in the face, sending the knight flying back through the door he just came through.
"What are for me?" Ren asked, a confused look on his face.
"Oh don't worry, you'll see soon enough," Nora giggled, before turning back to her target and gaining a scarier expression, "Now, let's deal with our pervert of a leader!"
Luckily, Jaune tended to have his aura up as a habit, so the punch itself didn't do much damage. What was really damaged seemed to be the door, although it was luckily only knocked partially off its hinges and not destroyed completely.
"Who else saw them!" Nora yelled at Jaune.
Jaune laid on the ground for a bit, before looking up and answering the Valkyrie, "I have, no idea, of what you are referring to,"
"Don't play dumb with me!" Nora said hotly, "You can see into our scrolls, so that means you've seen my pictures,"
"Nora, why would the government want to look into your scroll? And more importantly, why would I of all people be someone with enough authority to do so?" said Jaune.
"How would I know? I'm not the secret government shadow cabal, Ozpin, however, is part of it, and I bet he's a massive pervert, and that's why he wants to look into the scrolls of young innocent and helpless maidens such as myself," replied Nora.
Jaune's permanent smile seemed to falter as he tried to think of any world that Nora of all people would be helpless, "Nora, he's the headmaster, nothing more, nothing less,"
"Then how did you know-," Nora yelled, before whispering, "How did you know me and Ren, you know, did the do?"
Her leader only raised a brow before letting his head fall back and hit the floor, "It was a joke, also, Ren had several icepacks pressed against his lap. It really isn't that hard of a deduction to make. You are aware I have basic inference skills right?"
"Oh, well, sorry for hitting you," Nora said sheepishly, "Can you, not tell anyone please?"
"Wouldn't dream of it, however since breaking the door was a team effort, you're going to have to help me fix it," responded Jaune from his prone position.
Nora immediately regained her normal energy, saying "Alrightio Big-Boss," before skipping back into the room and forcing her new-kinda-maybe-boyfriend back onto the beds to cuddle with her.
"Also Ozpin isn't a pervert!" Jaune hollered as he laid on the ground.
Then from the inside of the room, he heard a familiar red-head exclaim.
"What happened to the door!?"
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As promised, Jaune was currently making pancakes for team JNPR in his own room, which was surprisingly stark in any decorations other than a few photos that decorated the wall and small living room.
Nora and Pyrrha sat on the couch in the living room area, Nora having turned on the late morning cartoons to pass the time while her breakfast was made and served. The other red-head had been sucked in by the wacky animated hijinks and slapstick comedy without even noticing, leaving Ren and Jaune to do all the work cooking. Not that the two minded.
Jaune's kitchen is surprisingly well-stocked,Ren thought, Well that train of thought can apply to almost everything about our leader if you think about it.
When he voiced his thoughts to his blonde leader he merely laughed and said, "I don't want to be a burden to the staff, and I need to find a way to eat somehow during the summer. Also, we're having a pretty late breakfast if I do say so myself, so I wouldn't be able to have my own schedule like this,"
"Oh, does Beacon not employ kitchen staff during the summer?" Ren asked.
Jaune answered, "No, we do have some semblance of a budget to keep in mind, as extravagant as our spending might be sometimes,"
"Beacon is certainly… Grand, when compared to the other combat schools we've seen," stated Ren.
A low chuckle filled the kitchen as Jaune poured the pancake batter onto a pan, "You are correct, we're second when it comes to money spent by academies,"
Ren raised a brow, "Not first?"
"Atlas is a fan of flexing its wealth, although I know that Ironwood has been trying to redirect their money towards more productive avenues," said Jaune, "Luckily they have no shortage of funding from their council,"
"Ah, that makes sense I suppose," Ren said as he finished flipping his own pancakes, "Also why are we making so many pancakes? I know Nora could finish them all, but it doesn't mean she should finish them all,"
"I invited team RWBY over for breakfast, well I invited Yang since she's apparently dying to know what my room looks like. And knowing her, she'll have also brought her team along for the ride," said Jaune, and as he said that, a series of knocks followed.
"Vomit-Boy! Open up! We want pancakes!" hollered Yang, whose yelling was followed by Weiss hissing at her for being so loud.
"I've got it!" Nora yelled back into the kitchen, "Don't stop making those pancakes!"
Ren smiled, "Now I don't have to worry about Nora gorging herself, well I don't have to worry about her gorging herself to an even greater extent. Having more people around will serve as a good distraction for her,"
"That's good to hear," Jaune said to Ren, before turning to face away from the kitchen and asking, the bustling group of girls in his living room "Can I get some help with the plates?"
Ruby, being the speedy little reaper she is, was the first on the case and made sure everyone had a plate before Jaune could even blink.
"Thank you Ruby," Jaune said, before flipping the last pancake onto a small pancake tower.
The work of getting the two team's breakfasts onto the table was split evenly between Ren and Jaune. The former carried a plate of assorted fruits and chocolate chips, a large amount of hazelnut-chocolate spread, some whipped cream, and a container of maple syrup that had the logo of a man who looked suspiciously like Professor Port.
Jaune was carefully balancing two towers of pancakes, making his way towards the hungry stomachs of his classmates.
"Pancakes!" chanted Nora, banging her fork and knife on the table like it was some ancient war drum.
"Pancakes!" Chanted back Yang and Ruby, causing Weiss to facepalm and Pyrrha to giggle.
"Pancakes," affirmed Jaune, before setting down the two towers and helping Ren set down the toppings.
Ruby and Nora began to dig in first, dividing the first stack of pancakes somewhat evenly between themselves, preparing to eat a truly monstrous amount of floury goodness.
Their respective keepers, Yang and Ren, took one look at the giant amount of pancakes that they were preparing to eat and decided to intervene.
"Nora," warned Ren, a quick glance from him making the Valkyrie serve herself a more reasonable size.
Yang chose a quicker approach to make Ruby yield those extra pancakes. Instead opting for a quick strike to the back of her sister's head, earning a whine and pout from Ruby, while putting the majority of the pancakes that Ruby had sequestered for herself back onto the stack.
In the end, everyone had a reasonable amount of food, Nora having the most, a respectable five pancakes, everyone else having four, Weiss being the only one who decided to only eat two.
"Where's Blake?" Asked Pyrrha.
"She decided to stay in our room and read," mumbled Ruby through a mouthful of food, "Blake really likes her books, she's reading something called, like, Ninjas of Love."
"Ruby, swallow before you speak," Weiss said while pinching Ruby's cheek, "Have some decorum please,"
"Owww," Ruby whined, "Dat hurts!"
Team JNPR merely gave a hum of acknowledgment, none of them knowing anything about Blake's books, so they continued eating.
"So what's the plan for today?" Asked Pyrrha.
"Probably training and some studying," responded Jaune, the nod from the red-head showing that she didn't have any problem with that.
"Shushhhh," Nora hissed, "We shouldn't say the S-word this early in the morning! It's bad luck!"
"Studying? I thought the S-word was shi-" Ruby said, before getting cut off by Yang covering her mouth with her hand.
Yang looked scandalized, "Ruby! You shouldn't know that word! Who taught you that!"
The Y in RWBY wasn't the only one who was surprised by Ruby's new knowledge, as Jaune had started choking on a strawberry due to Ruby's claim.
"Someone save Jaune before he chokes to death please," Ruby said nonchalantly, "Also I'm fifteen, not five, I know all the curse words. Pass the whipped cream please,"
"We'll talk about this later!," declared Yang, before going to save Jaune, patting his back with enough force to cave in a boarbatusk's skull.
"Thank you Yang," Jaune said in a raspy voice, "I'm going to have words with Qrow,"
Nora passed Ruby the whipped cream with a small toss, "Your uncle seems like a cool guy, I wanna meet him, seeing as he taught you all the words that make Ren mad,"
Ruby gained an impish grin, "Well actually, if you really want to know who taught me words like shit, fuck, bitch, cunt, whore-"
"Ruby please! You're going to give me a heart attack," pleaded Jaune.
Said reaper giggled, "I'm just saying, you have Yang to thank for that,"
"What!" Yang yelled, "I've never cursed around you in my life!"
"We have really thin walls sis, and you get really mad when you lose, and you play a lot of video games on your pc," said Ruby.
Yang blanched and turned away from Jaune, miming cutting her throat to threaten Ruby "I have no idea what you're talking about,"
"Oh I think you do, Ms. Pc-Master-Race," giggled Ruby, sticking her tongue out at Yang.
Jaune finally sat up straight, "Yang plays video games?"
Ruby spoke up before Yang could, "Yeah! She's a sweaty gamer-girl that screams like a banshee whenever she loses and eats nacho chips in the dark of her room while chugging artificial energy drinks,"
"You little rat!" Yang declared, diving at her sister, bringing them to the ground to pin her down.
By now the rest of the people in the room were paying full attention, Nora was straight up cheering "Fight! Fight! Fight!,", Ren was simply staring on in amusement, while Pyrrha was struggling not to laugh about the whole thing.
Weiss had long since stopped caring, since she could only roll her eyes so much without them falling out. So her attention had started to wander, allowing her to notice a few sharp knocks at the door,"
"Jaune?" She asked, "Someone's at the door,"
"I'll get it don't worry," Jaune said, making his way towards the knocks.
Before the young knight could react, a feminine voice could be heard screaming, "Clear the doorway!"
This brought the group's attention to the door, which was promptly launched off the hinges, and straight towards Jaune's face, which thankfully he caught and stopped its trajectory without it even pushing him back.
"Holy shit Jaune! You're internet famous!" The voice yelled.
The voice itself was coming from an upperclassman wearing a black beret, who looked like they had run a long way here and was posed dramatically.
"I feel like Beacon goes through a lot of doors," Pyrrha said.
Ren shrugged, unsure himself.
"They are structurally weak, and must be punished accordingly," stated Nora.
The stranger's gaze flicked over to the people sitting down, "Wow, you guys are already used to Beacon's weirdness, that usually only happens around the fifth week or so,"
Nora beamed proudly, "I'm already weird!"
Ruby joined her statement with a raised fist, even though she was currently being sat on by Yang.
"Coco," said Jaune, his voice oozing indifference.
"Oh don't be like that, you know you love me," Coco shot back, lowering her shades to give a wink, "You should be celebrating that I've graced you with my presence once more,"
In a voice that could rival Ren's in terms of lack of excitement, Jaune replied, "Yippee,"
"Why can I never get charming Jaune anymore?" Coco pouted, before making her way towards her breakfast-having underclassmen, "You used to be such a charming little guy,"
"Why can't I have my private property intact?" Jaune parroted, setting down the door so that it leaned roughly over the spot it once occupied, "I used to be able to have intact private property,"
"Any pancakes y'all aren't going to eat?" Coco asked as she leaned over Yang and a smushed Ruby.
Yang handed her a stack of pancakes with a smiley face drawn on it with whipped cream, "Here you go,"
"Hey! Those are mine!" Ruby protested.
Her sister only smushed her more with her behind, "You're furniture, furniture doesn't eat breakfast,"
"That's true," Coco said between mouthfuls, nodding sagely "Smart woman here Jaune, smart woman,"
"You're squishing me with your big fat butt!" Ruby yelled.
Yang smacked the back of her head, "My butt isn't fat, it's nicely shaped you screaming gremlin!"
Weiss, who knew very well who Coco was, was attempting to hide as much as she could behind Pyrrha out of sheer embarrassment.
"Anyway," drawled Coco, facing Jaune once more "How come you didn't tell me you made a ValeGram account! More importantly, why didn't you tell me you have a girlfriend! You and your little girlfriend are trendy as hell right now and are probably going to be this month's next big thing. This is also super throwing off the upperclassmen bets you know,"
"Upperclassmen bets?" Questioned Pyrrha.
Jaune answered before Coco could, "It's a Beacon tradition, every year the upperclassmen bet on the new student's relationships and any drama that might come up throughout the year as well,"
Coco nodded, "While I don't usually pay attention to the relationship part of the bets, a reliable source tells me that there's good money on the "Freshman team get's beat up mysteriously" bet,"
This caused Jaune to chuckle, giving Coco a knowing look, "I'll pass that on,"
"Wait?" Nora asked "Are we that team? Are we going to get beat up mysteriously?"
It was Coco's turn to laugh, "Nah, you guys are the cool freshmen, y'all are safe. But let's not get distracted, Jaune, you and the Schnee are going to come over at six tonight for a photo shoot. By the end of the day, Coco & Co Fashion is going to be rolling in dough,"
"Ms. Adel, let's refrain from exploiting our fellow students as sources of income,"
Everyone turned their heads to look at the Headmaster, who was standing in the doorway with a cup of coffee in hand. Ozpin poked the haphazardly leaning door with his cane, causing it to fall over with a loud thud, and allowing him to get a better view of the small gathering of students.
Coco smiled, "I prefer to think of it as an enforced volunteer system so that the freshmen can study under the upperclassmen,"
"Much better," Ozpin said, taking a long sip of coffee "As long as it doesn't bring a lawsuit to our door. I was just coming on by to see if everything was okay, I heard a bang and just wanted to make sure that Ms. Tsune wouldn't need to be woken up,"
With that he turned, leaving the students to continue with their antics.
"All right, that's all the permission I need from Ozpin," stated Coco, "I'll be taking my leave now, thanks for the pancakes,"
"You're not welcome!" Harrumphed Ruby.
"Send one of the boys to fix my door, since I know you aren't going to do it!" called out Jaune to an already leaving Coco, who responded with a thumbs-up without turning back.
"What did Jaune and Weiss just get volunteered for?" Nora asked.
Jaune rubbed the back of his head, sighing "She's going to want to do a miniature fashion show, Weiss and I are going to be the stars of it apparently,"
Weiss, who was still processing what had just happened, blinked owlishly before looking up at Jaune and in a squeaky voice, "Coco Adel thinks I'm your girlfriend!"
"Apparently," Jaune nodded.
"Why!?"
"We're famous, or well, I'm more famous because people think we're courting each other now," responded Jaune.
"My father is going to have a fit," cried out Weiss, "Gah, I'm in the mood to hit something!"
Nora grinned, "Girl, now you're speaking my language. Let's get some training in! To the lockers my loyal stallion!"
Her "Loyal Stallion" rolled his pink eyes before scooping Nora up bridal style, "Jaune, I'll meet you there,"
"Wait no! Piggy-back style! I'm not ready to be carried like this, I'm not ready emotionally!" Squealed Nora, continuing to protest even as Ren left the room and her voice faded out in the distance. Weiss didn't fall behind much, leaving with a cross expression on her face.
"Let's clean up here so we can catch up with them," Jaune said, "Just put the dirty plates in the sink, I'll wash them later,"
Yang and Pyrrha nodded, going to do so. As Yang stood up, her sister could finally move again, so she proclaimed "Freedom!" And bolted towards the door, zooming off in an explosion of rose petals.
"Those disappear right?" Jaune asked Yang.
The blonde brawler shrugged, "Probably?"
Jaune sighed, adding vacuuming to his mental checklist.
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"Don't exhaust yourself!" Jaune called from the sidelines, "Being a model for Coco can be a draining experience!"
Weiss rolled her eyes, before having to throw herself out of the way of Nora's attack and yelping.
Nora cackled, "That isn't up to her!", while swinging her hammer in savage arcs.
There were currently two bouts of sparring happening, Nora and Weiss were fighting in a training ring next to Yang and Pyrrha. Weiss was getting overwhelmed by her current sparring partner, not being used to the intensity of Nora's assault.
This would end up being the deciding factor of the match, Weiss attempting to retaliate with a glyph attack. however, that would stop her in her tracks long enough for Nora to close the distance and slam her hammer into her side, sending her flying out of bounds with a groan.
"Leader duel!" Ruby declared, dragging Jaune to replace Nora and Weiss at the center of the ring.
A small beep alerted the two that their auras were being measured by the technology that hummed around them, their names and aura percentages being displayed on the wall behind them.
Ruby let Crescent Rose unfold and stretch into the full glory of its scythe form, the wicked gleam of the blade being contrasted by the joy that showed in Ruby's eyes.
The knight facing her readied himself in a similar manner, Jaune's shield fanning out as he unsheathed his sword in one fluid motion. His stance being a familiar one, one honed and developed to be the pinnacle of defensive fighting.
Both leaders stared off at each other, a nod from both of them communicating that the match had begun.
With a twirl, Crescent Rose was transformed into its sniper configuration, and before Jaune could blink Ruby had already squeezed off two shots.
Jaune reacted with similar speed, his shield coming up to block one of the bullet's trajectory, while simply tilting his head to the side to avoid a potential headshot.
The shots continued however, each bullet was meant to decimate the thick and alien bodies of the Grimm, and even Jaune couldn't block all of them as Ruby began to steadily empty her clip into the knight.
Each whizzing bullet was aimed expertly, each shot placed in a location that would cause Jaune to scramble to either evade or block the bullet less he take the brunt of the shot. Even if Jaune's shield or movement would nullify the majority of Ruby's shots, even Jaune wasn't able to ensure that every bullet didn't reach its mark. A few of Ruby's bullets slammed into Jaune's body, each denting the heavy armor he wore and ticking off the slightest sliver of aura even through the armor.
Once Jaune had realized Ruby's strategy, he charged at the red reaper, his body low to the ground, and covered Crocea Mors' shield.
Ruby stayed her ground as the knight approached, aiming her rifle directly at the center of Crocea Mors and pelting the shield with hailing ammunition, attempting to slow down her sparring partner to no avail. Once that was shown to do nothing to slow down Jaune, Ruby switched her aim to his feet and legs. Even Ruby struggled to make such a shot, so only two of her bullets managed to slam into Jaune's bottom half. The first struck into Jaune's shin, denting the armor there but otherwise not affecting him, the second flew to pierce Jaune's knee, causing Jaune to stumble as the bullet managed to pierce his armor.
Luckily this managed to give Ruby enough time to flit to the left, out of Jaune's range.
Now that the distance was closed between the two, the only shots that Ruby could shoot were intercepted by Crocea Mors' shield, so she let the momentum of the shots carry her through the air and even farther from Jaune's reach.
The knight anticipated this however, Jaune pooled aura into his legs to allow him to leap after Ruby in the form of a shield tackle.
As both Ruby and Jaune were midair, their minds were working at light-speed to plan their next move, however Ruby has always been faster than Jaune. So while Jaune shifted his body so that he would slam into Ruby and send her flying out of the arena, Ruby aimed her rifle below her, firing her last shot and sending her flying upwards in a combination of semblance and knock back.
Jaune's eyes widened, surprise clear on his face.
The silver-eyed reaper's face was set in an expression of total focus and determination, Crescent Rose extending into its scythe form once again, her blade almost humming in anticipation for what was to come.
For the two leaders, it felt as if time had slowed to a halt, neither of them having even hit the ground, but this was all the time Ruby needed. Seeing the back of Jaune's exposed neck, Ruby acted on instinct and swung, her scythe traveling at speeds even huntsman would only perceive as a blur. Crescent Rose sang through the air as it caught Jaune's neck and raged against his aura.
Jaune was sent tumbling to the ground, both his body and his mind reeling at what had just happened, Crocea Mors' blade digging into the ground to ensure that Jaune didn't lose the match. Jaune having landed in a kneeling position just inches away from losing the match.
Ruby was now on the offensive, her face a mask of pure concentration. She was running towards him at such speeds that it looked as if she was flying, Crescent Rose pulled back to strike once more into Jaune's body. Suddenly, the stories Ozpin and Port had recounted of Summer Rose came rushing back to Jaune. Stories that bordered on legends, tales of how a silver-eyed huntress culled legions of Grimm, a woman who was the largest thorn in Salem's side since Ozpin first began to fight the queen of the Grimm. The embodiment of death itself.
With a large grin, he stood up, letting his body flow to that same stance it always assumed, and lifted his shield to meet Ruby's scythe with a loud *clang*.
This seemed to snap Ruby out of her focused state, leaving her wide-eyed as Jaune swung to the heavens with his sword, cleaving upwards from Ruby's hip to her collarbone. Before the reaper could react, Jaune trapped her arm with her shield and spun, swinging her behind him and letting her fly out with a yelp.
A loud klaxon rang through the room, signaling the end of their match and Jaune's victory.
Ruby groaned as she laid on the floor, body sore from what she had just experienced, struggling to get up without wobbling. Luckily Jaune had trotted over, extending his hand to a kneeling Ruby.
"Thanks, Jaune," Ruby pouted, "I really thought I had you there for a second,"
Jaune let out a chuckle at the sight before him, Ruby now looked like a grumpy fifteen-year-old, as opposed to the avatar of death Jaune had witnessed not even fifty seconds ago. "Don't worry about it, you're doing amazing," Jaune comforted, patting Ruby's head and dusting her off.
"Let's go to the benches and drink some water, hydration is important," stated Jaune.
Ruby rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah I know, you sound like dad,"
This caused Jaune to laugh again, "You're dad knows what he's talking about," he said as they arrived at the bench.
Weiss was currently laying exhausted with her head on Pyrrha's lap, apparently forgetting what was proper and instead complaining about the trouble her father would surely give her. Pyrrha didn't seem to mind, she preferred this version of Weiss to the stuck-up persona she was putting on before initiation.
On the other side of the bench, Nora was doing much the same to Ren, however, her intentions were clearly romantic in nature as she cuddled up to him, ignoring his warnings that he was sweaty and not caring as she blabbered about her fight with Weiss.
The only ones missing were Blake and Yang, something that got Ruby's attention.
"Where's the Y and B of RWBY?" She asked.
Ren responded, "You're standing on the Y, and Blake is filling up her water bottle,"
Jaune and Ruby looked down to see Yang laying face down on the cool tile floor, looking extremely worn. The knight looked up and saw that Pyrrha seemed equally frazzled, before finding a spot on the bench where he could start peeling his armor off.
Ruby empathized, sitting down and plopping herself down on the floor, "Don't worry Yang, I lost too,"
Her sister grumbled a bit, before tilting her head to get a good look at her sister, by happenstance getting a very good view of Jaune's chiseled back as he threw off the tank top he had under his armor.
She let out a high-pitched whistle from her position, "Dang Jaune, if losing gets me a view like that, I'm suddenly not as sad about losing anymore,"
Yang could see the tips of Jaune's ears ting red, something almost distracted her from his laugh, a sound that could have been mistaken as dozens of master-crafted bells ringing at the same time.
"I saw that mister!" Exclaimed Yang as she got up from her prone position, "I saw that blush!"
Jaune responded without turning, removing the rest of his armor, "I'm not made of stone you know? Believe it or not, I am susceptible to compliments like anyone else,"
"Going to have to question that "not made of stone" part," Ruby grumbled, "I'm pretty sure you dented Crescent Rose's blade with your neck,"
"What you did there was impressive Ruby," Jaune stated, "really impressed me, and I'm glad to see that Ozpin made the right choice when it came to getting you into Beacon early,"
Ruby preened, "Yeah I'm pretty cool aren't I. You looked so scary when you jumped at me but I just kinda let my body move and then I shot Crescent Rose and then I was above you and then I just swung and then you went flying,"
Yang's brow quirked up, "What exactly happened?"
"Ruby attempted to decapitate me," Jaune said.
"It was a split-second reaction!" Defended Ruby, "You can't blame me when you threw yourself at me like that!"
It was Yang's turn to laugh, patting Ruby's back before staring at her fellow blonde, "Really Jaune? Throwing yourself at a little girl like that? And here I thought you were capable of dating in your own dating pool," She teased.
Jaune smiled, "It's pretty hard when you're the only one in it,"
"Really Jaune, afraid to go off the deep end?" Yang shot back.
Ruby lifted her hands to cover Jaune's mouth, "Okay, one, gross. Two, I'm putting a stop to whatever, this is," she said as she gestured with her free hand.
The reaper felt Jaune smile under her hand before said hand was removed from Jaune's mouth by his own.
"It's okay Ruby, we're just messing around," chuckled Jaune, "I'm well aware I'm not in Yang's dating pool,"
Ruby just rolled her eyes, "Yeah sure, anyway aren't you going to stick around to spar a bit more? You've only fought once,"
"I need to make sure I don't exhaust myself, it's already five you know? Coco will have Weiss' and I's hide if we're late," responded Jaune
"Wow time flies," Yang stated, "Weiss sparred with Nora twice today, and she's still a grumpy Ice-Queen, you'd think she'd be too tired to be grumpy,"
"Not sure that's how it works," Jaune said, "But I'm off to shower, and get ready for whatever torture I'm going to be put through with Weiss,"
Weiss took this as a hint that she should do the same, so she got up from Pyrrha's lap and left with Jaune to get ready.
There was a small silence that filled the room after their departure, something that Nora was eager to fill, "So, we're definitely going to be dropping by to watch them be models right?"
Not a single person said no.
"You guys going to use this room?" A low rumbling voice called out, causing the resting team to raise their gaze to who had just come in.
Cardin entered fully armed and ready, his teammates trailing behind him. A few looked up at their leader with a sneer behind his back, before shrinking at the gaze of the other two teams inside.
Ren was the first to speak up, "We are, but we're willing to share the other ring,"
The others nodded, most of them still glaring at Cardin and his teammates.
"Where are we going to put our stuff," Russel whined, "They're taking up the only bench,"
Cardin snarled, "You can sit on the floor, also you and I are the first ones up, so get ready,"
"What why? You're going to beat my ass like last time," complained Russel.
"Because you're shit, and I'm your leader," snapped Cardin.
Dove and Lark shook their heads before finding a spot on the wall farthest from team RWBY and JNPR, sitting down to watch their leader and Russel.
Both males squared off against each other, or rather, Russel shoved his chest forward and cocked his head back to make him seem more intimidating, while Cardin just stood there with a new mace, one a much darker black and crueler spikes.
"Show me your fighting stance," ordered Cardin, Russell flinching at the volume and making him shuffle his feet to a shoulder-width stance, duel daggers at the ready and poised for combat.
"Loosen up and widen up, a stiff breeze with knock you down with that last stance," barked Cardin, although it didn't carry as much bite as his first comment. Russel adjusted his stance accordingly, his face communicating annoyance.
"Good," nodded Cardin, "Now we fight,"
Russel sneered, "If you say so, Boss,"
With that he threw himself forward, blades a twirling mass of swings and cuts, heading straight towards his leader. Cardin merely rolled his eyes at the display, waiting for Russel to get close enough, then swinging downward a mass of twisted steel and pitch-black iron. Russel dodged it to the right ease, reveling for a second under the attention of girls like Pyrrha and Yang. His gross smile was killed quickly as Cardin turned the one-handed down stroke to a two-handed side swing, changing his mace's momentum in a split second.
Russel attempted to parry the blow, or at least catch it between his daggers, but he couldn't stop the impact from smashing into his aura even through his weapons. This sent him reeling backwards, tumbling to the ground and trying to ground himself by digging his blades into the ground. This caused a choir of giggles to erupt from the girls watching him, something that enraged Russel, with a snarl on his face he recuperated quickly, getting into a sprinter's stance before exploding outwards and upwards in a spinning ball.
His semblance was a large factor on why he passed imitation, that and the fact that he wasn't a slouch when it came to blade-work, if you compared him to a regular person that is. His semblance allowed him to reinforce his attacks in relation to how fast he moved, useful when rending apart small Grimm like tissue paper, and turning him into a spinning ball of flying, cutting, steel.
However he wasn't dealing with Grimm, and trying the same strategy twice after the first time had failed wasn't going to impress anyone, much less Cardin.
So with a disinterested face, Cardin painted destruction and war, his mace his brush.
Cardin's mace slammed into Russel midair, sending his opponent flying once more, destroying his aura so that only thirty percent remained.
Russel heard more laughter, eyes full of hate aimed at Cardin, but he swiveled his head to glare at team RWBY and JNPR for laughing at him. Only to find that they weren't even paying attention to their fight, instead turning their backs to him and watching Yang and Nora go at it.
The leader of team CRDL massaged his brow, "How the hell did you get into Beacon? What gave you the impression that trying the same thing twice, would get you different results?"
"Shut up!" Russel snapped, "Just shut up, you poor excuse of a leader!"
Cardin cleared his throat and spit the phlegm to the side "Bout time you noticed,"
"AAHHH," screamed Russel, throwing a dagger at Cardin's face, causing his leader to block it with the head of his mace. Russel smiled cruelly, throwing his other dagger at Cardin's crotch, this dagger connecting, drawing a hiss from Cardin. He then sprinted towards his opponent, using the gap in attention to grab his fallen daggers and getting into stabbing range of Cardin.
This forced Cardin to step out and strike with the handle of his weapon to create space, an attack Russel parried, lashing out with Shortwings. Cardin took the attacks, and in return leveled a kick through Russel, only managing to glance Russel's side with it, but giving him enough breathing room to slam the handle of his mace outward and into Russel's face.
The dazed Russel then didn't have enough of a reaction time to react to the overhead swing that Cardin slammed into his shoulder. This sent him sprawling once more, this time for good as the klaxon rang out and signaled that Russel's aura was in the red, ending the match.
Cardin nodded, walking over to Russel and extending a hand, "Good job, you were angry and you used it. You're capable of learning after all,"
Russel slapped his hand away, "I don't need your help getting up,"
His leader dropped his mace right next to his face, making a loud impact with it and blanching Russel's face white, the Cardin grabbed Russel's hand and forced him to a standing position anyway.
"I don't care, now get in line with the rest of them," Cardin barked.
This signaled for the other two, Dove and Lark, to get into some semblance of a line. Russel joined this line with a limp, grumbling to himself every curse he knew.
Cardin stood before them, mace planted on the floor, his hands on the butt of it.
"Look, I don't like you, you don't like me, I don't care. However I'm your leader so you'll be stuck with me until we graduate, so this is what's going to happen, I'm going to break each and every one of you." Cardin stated, "Then you'll remake yourself into an even better version than you were before because I'm not going to do it for you. You hate me? Good. Use that, then you'll be able to get better and not be the dog-shit fighters you are now, got it?"
His team grumbled in acceptance, which cause Cardin to heave his mace over his shoulder once more, "Good, now Dove, you're up next,"
Said teammate grimaced as he glanced over at Russel's state, but he jogged to the center of the ring nonetheless, with a small ding from the ring communicating that his aura was now being monitored.
That started the sparring match, Dove not faring much better than Russel, but at least managing to get Cardin down to sixty-eight percent aura. His leader's few comments about his stance and striking being taken more seriously than his teammate before him, so Cardin was explicitly more positive about their fight, or as positive as someone like Cardin can be.
Cardin repeated the process once more, helping Dove up and calling Lark to the center, before barking a few orders throughout their fight to improve where Lark lagged behind.
In the end, the leader of team CRDL stood in the center of the ring, breath heaving and sweat rolling down his face in a noticeable way, however, his face now displayed an expression of satisfaction. With his aura at thirty percent he cleared his throat, before speaking out in a rumbling tone, "tomorrow you'll all be fighting against me at the same time, we'll see if I can hammer some semblance of teamwork into your skulls,"
The groan that came from the small pile that was his teammates was enough for Cardin, who stood still for a few seconds, steeling his breath and calming his racing heart. Not noticing the approaching shape of a curious reaper behind him.
"Is that a new mace? What's her name?" Ruby asked.
Cardin kept his eyes closed, "Worldbreaker,"
"Oh that's cool, does it do anything?" Ruby bent over a bit to examine Worldbreaker.
The mace itself was a pitch-black metal, much like Cardin's old mace, but wasn't hollow and was instead one solid piece of metal. Worldbreaker head was made up of ten metal tendrils intertwined with each other, almost akin to a rose, with each petal holding three spikes forged to rend apart any flesh that crossed their path.
"It hits things and it's old," Cardin replied gruffly, finally opening his eyes to look at the Ruby, who was running her finger alongside the handle's dark wood.
"Well yeah, but even Jaune's shield unfolds. It has to have something special right?" She asked.
"Not anything worth talking about," said Cardin.
"So there is something!" proclaimed Ruby.
Cardin raised Worldbreaker's head from the floor, grabbing the handle with two hands before holding it out for Ruby to grab, "Feel free to hold it,"
"I can! Ooh most of the time people don't let me touch their babies, thanks Cardin," she said before taking hold of Worldbreaker, lugging it over her shoulder with ease.
"Hey, Yang!" Yelled Ruby, "How do I look?". Ruby posed with Worldbreaker across her shoulders as Nora did with Magnhild.
Her sister looked alarmed at first, before noticing that Cardin didn't look threatening whatsoever, the tall teen actually having a smile on his face for what Yang thought was the first time in all of history. "You look great Rubes! But you might make Crescent Rose jealous!"
Ruby turned to face Cardin, "Psh, she doesn't mean that, Crescent Rose is a big girl," she stated, before turning away and giving a golf swing to get a feel of Worldbreaker's weight. The weight turned out to be surprisingly well balanced, but it helped that Ruby was used to swinging around heavy weaponry. After all, it wasn't like Crescent Rose was lightweight, anyone who thought that would be extremely silly.
What she wasn't expecting was the difference in inertia, so at the height of her swing Worldbreaker slipped out of her hand and shot upwards to the ceiling. Luckily Cardin stopped its path by reacting fast enough and grabbing Worldbreaker's head in midair, stopping its trajectory but wincing as his aura didn't come up fast enough to stop Worldbreaker's points to pierce his skin and draw blood.
The blood ran into the groves between Worldbreaker's tendrils, a slow creaking warning Cardin to move his hands back to the handle to avoid what was about to happen.
Before Ruby's eyes, the mace seemed to blossom, the thick metal tendrils straightening out and making a crown of deadly iron. Worldbreaker now exuded an even deadlier aura than before, its color shifting from a pitch-black at the base to a dark red at the tips of the now extended metal tendrils.
Cardin's fellow students and teammates watched on in interest, Worldbreaker their only focus.
"Wow, I bet Weiss and Jaune are going to regret meeting with Coco," Ruby proclaimed.
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"I already regret this," Jaune said, his smile strained as he struggled to move in an extremely tight suit top.
Coco threw a pencil at his head, "Don't be a whiney baby, you'll be trying out streetwear in a bit,"
"I'm not sure dark grey is my color," Weiss stated, tugging at the hems of her dress, "Usually I'm seen wearing lighter colors,"
"Don't worry, you look great," reassured Coco.
Jaune rolled his eyes, arm around Weis's waist as they both posed for Velvet to take their picture. They were both wearing regal outfits, Weiss with a silky storm-colored dress with embroidery that shone gold in the right light, and Jaune with a contrasting ivory suit with sky-blue edges that faded into the white.
"Jaune can you dip Weiss?" Velvet called out from her kneeling position, Coco poised behind her with scrutinizing eyes as she analyzed what she was seeing.
Weiss sighed as she felt Jaune shift and dip her dramatically for the camera, it might have been exciting and almost romantic the first few times, but after a few dozen times it lost its effect. Not that Weiss quite minded, Jaune was fairly handsome, but she was mostly doing this so she could get a connection with team CFVY and elevate her team even further.
Both Weiss and Jaune heard Coco and Velvet murmur to each other, each tensing as they hoped it was positive comments and not more criticism, as the latter would mean Coco and her partner would experiment further with the pose until they got what they wanted.
Luckily Coco smiled, a good sign that they'd be able to move on to the next article of clothing and would bring them closer to the end of the shoot.
"Perfect, one more pose and we'll move onto my sponsor's streetwear," Coco called out, turning her head she yelled, "Yats! Can you get me the fancy chair we have in storage!"
"They have a storage unit?" Weiss whispered to Jaune, "Aren't they already taking up two dorm rooms? It's not hard to notice that we're just using the room next to theirs to do the shoot, but from the looks of it they've set up here permanently, so they're definitely not just borrowing rooms from other people right?"
Jaune brought back Weiss from their pose slowly, "Upperclassmen have more freedom when it comes to their living situation. Team CFVY made and won enough bets with other students to extend their living space to accommodate their extensive space requirements. We- I mean the staff caught on and made sure that they understood that they wouldn't be able to expand any more than they already have,"
Weiss cocked her head, "That makes, little sense. Who would give up their dorms? And why? And also where do they sleep?"
"As you can see, upperclassmen have larger dorms, more comparable to suites than anything else. So it isn't uncommon for there to be decisions between teams to share living spaces, it lets them turn the unoccupied room into anything they want it to be, be it a rec-room, an arcade, a small library, or even a recording studio. Of course, Beacon expects any excessive remodeling to be passed by them first, and to also be paid in part by the students through any funds they may accumulate,"
"Huh, so is this normal for most upperclassmen?" Weiss asked.
Jaune laughed, "No, team CFVY is unique in almost every way. More eccentric than anything else, but they have earned every single one of their privileges,"
Their attention was brought to the door as a massive shape entered through the doorway, the lumbering figure of one Yatsuhashi Daichi came bearing an elegant armchair. The Mistrali giant nodded as Coco signaled where she wanted it places, setting it down in front of Jaune and Weiss, before retreating back to wherever he had been beforehand.
Coco clapped her hands to get the attention of her two model's attention, "Okay I want Weiss to sit on the chair, and Jaune I want you to lean over her and place a hand on her shoulder, now both of you look into the camera and act like you're thinking about something deep,"
Weiss and Jaune did so, following her instructions to the tee, but both held their breath as Coco's face contorted into a firm expression.
"Jaune stand closer to the chair, hug it with your hips, and lean over so that you're hanging over Weiss. Weiss, I want you to bring your arms up and hook them around Jaune's neck," she ordered, "And keep looking at the camera!"
"This pose is going kill my neck in a few minutes," Jaune whispered into Weiss' ear,
"Oh sorry am I too heavy?" Worried Weiss.
Jaune shook his head as Coco and Velvet talked about their pose, "No, you're like a couple of grapes to me, but this pose is uncomfortable,"
Weiss giggled, "I think this is the most I've ever heard you complain about anything,"
"Coco has a way to bring out the best in me," Jaune deadpanned.
"All right that's good," stated Coco, "Now onto the next set of poses!"
After ten minutes of taking photos with the chair, they set it aside and moved onto more casual street clothing. Then after Weiss was sure Coco had somehow managed to drain every ounce of her aura out of her body, her shoot being even more demanding and rigorous than the training her father had put her through at a young age, Velvet nodded and put up her camera. This signaled that Coco had decided that they could change back into their regular clothes, though she asked them if they wanted to keep any of the clothing she had them try out. Weiss grabbed a jacket she liked, while Jaune was more greedy in the clothing he took, though Weiss thought it was mostly to spite Coco than to actually wear any new clothing.
After they had grabbed their clothes they wobbled out of team CFVY's room, even Jaune's legs were weak after that whole ordeal. They walked down the halls to finally arrived at their team doors, giving each other a small goodnight before going into their respective rooms.
"Oh, there you are Jaune," called out Nora from the covers of Ren's bed, or their bed, as they had pushed each other's beds together to sleep better, "We tried to track you guys down but we couldn't find team CFVY's bedroom, did you have fun?"
Jaune yawned, "It was, something. I'm just ready to get some rest,"
"Pyrrha is about to be done with the bathroom so you should be good," Nora.
As if summoned, their second team redhead exited the bathroom with a wall of steam trailing behind her.
"Bathrooms empty," Pyrrha said sleepily, before face-planting into her bed and beginning to snore.
Team JNPR's leader paid that no mind, simply entering the bathroom and brushing his teeth.
With that he turned off the lights after seeing that everyone had gone to sleep, doing the same and joining his teammates in slumber.
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Jaune's eyes peeled open, his internal clock screaming at him to get up. So he did, heading to his room to change into workout clothes so he could hit the gym, regardless of the fact that the clock's face told him that it had only been an hour that he'd been asleep.
Hello Everyone! I'm back, and finally on summer break so I can write comfortably again. I am so glad to be writing Upon You They Break again, and I hope all of y'all enjoy this latest chapter. Just to clarify some things on how each character scales in this story skills/fighting-wise, UYTB Jaune is the strongest underclassman, probably being comparable to Coco, Yats, and Mercury. Next up on the roster you have Pyrrha as the second strongest underclassman, with Yang coming in third, and surprisingly in fourth, Cardin. Everyone else fits somewhere below them.
Also, the new art that will be working as the thumbnail isn't actually UYTB Jaune, but it is something a friend drew for me and I just want to show that off because they are tots amazing.
Anyway, hope all of you enjoyed the latest chapter, and the next chapter should come out around July 1st or so.
(Also Gamer-Girl Yang is a thing now lmao)