"Looks like he hasn't answered any of our calls."
Nora absentmindedly picked at the peas on her plate. She couldn't be any further from her usual chipper mood. Despite the glowing scores she, Weiss, and everyone else in Teams RWBY and JNPR had gotten, they couldn't celebrate. Everybody was too distracted by Jaune's disappearance to do so. He hadn't shown up to any of his other classes, nor did he, as Nora had just confirmed, answer any of their calls or texts.
"It must have been so embarrassing for him," Pyrrha added. "But that isn't an excuse to ghost us like that. There's a number of things he could've done so that we wouldn't worry. I think he's just scared of facing us."
"Why would he be?" Ruby asked, looking concerned. "It's not like it was all his fault."
Ouch Ruby, Yang silently thought, not that it made it any less true.
Pyrrha shook her head. "It doesn't matter. No matter how well he did, it's not enough to prove to everyone else's eyes that he's worth it." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes.
Nora patted her on the back, giving her a sympathetic smile, and that small gesture was enough for Yang to confirm what she'd already suspected: She is in love with him.
Pyrrha was probably feeling very helpless right now, but Yang had the comfort of knowing that Jaune was better than what he currently thought of himself skill wise. She'd seen what he was capable of if he was truly determined to put his mind to something. Surprised even, at how much work he'd already put into his work today. They don't know him like I do, she also wanted to add, but quickly realized how little it would do to reassure anyone in the moment.
After their classes finished for the day, they went to the Beacon Security desk. Each student had a tracker fitted on their student badge that would let them know if they'd left the Academy grounds. They learned that Jaune's alarm had gone off as soon as their classes had ended, so everyone split up and walked all around Vale to try to track him down. Only if they failed to do so, they decided, would they get local law enforcement involved.
Yang drove all over downtown on Bumblebee, searching every shop and restaurant, again and again until dusk started. As the sun began to set, she checked her scroll and saw that dinner was in twenty minutes. Unfortunately, nobody else had found him; not even her contacts in Vale had been of any help.
Yang let out a heavy sigh as she watched the sun begin to set against the backdrop of the harbor. It was one of the last days before encroaching winter would set in. It would've been a perfect day to do some training…
Training! The idea struck her like lightning, and she almost slapped herself for not thinking of it sooner. She immediately drove back to Beacon, where she ran to her locker, changed into her usual workout attire and dashed to the Cage.
She quickly set the mat at their usual training spot in the training field, Yang snapped a picture of it and her feet next to it. She texted it him, adding: Sun's really beautiful today, isn't it?
Fifteen minutes later, when she saw the faint outline of Jaune's messy hair finally approaching her, Yang was almost beside herself with relief. He walked to her slowly, his back hunched and his eyes glued to the ground, still in his usual black hoodie but also in his gym shorts too. In one hand he carried a crumpled bag of potato chips. Thank goodness he's had something to eat.
"Hey," Jaune gave her a short wave and a halfhearted grin. "I know, I should've at least texted ba—OW!" He winced, immediately rubbing his right shoulder.
Yang grimaced, her knuckles stinging from the punch she'd just delivered. "Asshole," she snarled. "Was it too much for you to let us know where you were? You had us worried sick!"
"I-I didn't know how to face you guys," Jaune sullenly explained. "It would've felt l-like facing myself. So the only thing I felt I could do, and just went into my closet and stayed in there, crying and feeling sorry for myself. Once school ended, my mind went on autopilot…and I forgot. As stupid as it sounds, I forgot. I-I'm so sorry for—" He sniffed, his voice cracking. "f-for dragging you down."
"Don't be sorry," Yang assured him. Her anger had faded, as she knew it would, and she gently placed a hand his shoulder. "We've still got a chance to do better," she said with a smile. "Maybe if we were told ahead of time—"
"Yeah, yeah," Jaune grumbled, suddenly lashing away from her. He wrestled off his hoodie, tossing it to the ground next to him, and Yang gasped.
Instead of his usual workout tee, Jaune had put on a form fitting black tank-top, leaving his arms and collar completely bare. It was the most exposed he'd ever been in her eyes, and Yang couldn't help but notice that he had put on a good amount of muscle. His chest had broadened, filled out with new muscle, and with the determined look he had in his eyes, he was… different. Closer to the huntsman he'd dreamed of being. He wasn't that much taller than her, but Yang found herself looking up at him, as if his new gains had added to his height too.
"W-Woah Jaune, what are you doing?" she asked, swallowing, feeling her face flush warm. I cannot believe this is happening.
Thankfully Jaune didn't seem to notice. "We've still got a practice in session, don't we?" he replied coolly as he stepped onto the training mat.
"Relax man." Yang chuckled and shook her head. "I texted you just so I get you to come back. You've improved so much. I say you've earned yourself a break." She gave him a gentle pat on his shoulder again, but this time her hand landed on bare skin.
Holy crap. It was as if a jolt of electricity had run from his skin up her entire arm. H-He's seriously packed now.
But she should've expected it. Wasn't that was the point of the training, after all? But she hadn't at all considered how she might start feeling… and looking, at him.
She veered her eyes to the ground, hoping that Jaune wouldn't notice the blush surely in her cheeks now. How the tides have turned.
He brushed her hand off again. "Flunking today's exam is not to break." He let out an aspirated sigh and cracked his fingers. "So here's what we're going to do. Starting from today, forget about the breaks. We're going to train longer and harder, because the time we've been putting in clearly isn't going to cut it."
Oh no. "Jaune, I really don't think—"
"That wasn't a request."
Yang jolted, the forcefulness in his words having taken her aback. She looked at his face again. There was a darkened expression on it now. His eyes, usually so bright and blue, had darkened, a steely look in them now.
Yang hadn't thought he was capable of looking like that. It was a change in him she didn't enjoy seeing.
But in that moment all she could manage was; "I'm sorry." As if she wasn't already certain that he wouldn't take no for an answer.
Jaune's eyes softened. He cast his eyes downward, as if he'd realized what he'd just done. "We'll uh, discuss what we'll do from here on out later." He scratched the back of his head. "But for now, let's keep at it. Don't wanna waste a single second before dinner starts."
He stepped onto the mat and got into a combat stance. "Let's go."
Yang swallowed the lump that had begun to form in her throat. Perhaps the worry and anxiety that had been boiling all afternoon had finally worn away any sensibility of caution. Whatever it was, she stepped onto the mat, and they began to spar as they usually did.
Dad always told her that she relied too much on her offensive for her own good. The thrill of her fists pummeling at her opponent, mixed with the adrenaline given by her semblance as it flared to life, was all she usually needed to take down any opponent. If her sister's lithe and precise fighting style made her akin to a scalpel, she was a hammer: unrelenting, blunt, made to flatten anything that dared to oppose her.
Having to dial all of that down in order to not overwhelm Jaune made her more aware of that, and the other shortcomings in her fighting style. Especially since he was also not holding back, making his own vulnerabilities bare and easy to exploit. But today, because her heart was simply not into it, she found herself simply going through the motions as they punched and danced around each other. She won the first round, as usual, but it had taken more effort to do so, with Jaune being able to dodge more of her admittedly sloppy blows.
Combined with the amount of time they'd spent together, her fighting patterns and rhythms had become easier for him to read. Which meant that Jaune could tell that every punch she threw, every dodge and blow that tallied in his favor was giving her relutance away.
"You're usually faster than this," he noted as he dodged her for the fifth time. He immediately managed to land a quick blow to her right rib.
Yang let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. "Still exhausted from looking for you all day, I guess," she lied.
"You gonna let that stop you?"
She huffed, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. "Nope," she finally said after a moment, and then quickly swung at his face, hoping it would surprise him.
It barely did. Jaune raised his hand and closed it around her fist, blocking it just in time. "You're not holding back are you?" he smirked. "Still used to going easy on me?"
"No." Yang continued to push on, trying to keep up the pace. But she only found herself getting more tired. Her eyelids began to droop, parallel to her waning dedication.
"What you 'fraid of then, Yang?" Jaune asked, and the dark, dangerous glint in his eyes had returned. "Worried I'm too fragile and weak? I've gotta be able to take that Grimm down myself, next time, right? Can't have dead weight around, you know."
"Jaune, what are you saying?" Yang swallowed. Those were thoughts she once believed, beliefs she was certain she'd put behind her. She couldn't let herself entertain them, not even when Jaune himself was bringing them up. "This isn't you."
But it seemed that wasn't enough. "Answer the question. Are you afraid?" Jaune gritted his teeth as his fist finally connected with Yang's left shoulder. A motion he would usually celebrate, and yet he continued to stare coldly at her. "Worried that you're not doing enough? That I'm not worth giving your all for? Am I a lost cause then?"
"You want all I've got?" she finally cried out in frustration, of herself, her own anger at their loss, and at how cruel he was acting towards her. "Then FINE!"
She felt the familiar burning in her eyes activating as she pulled her arm back. But as soon as she realized in horror that her semblance had activated, it was too late.
WHACK! Her fist collided against the very middle of Jaune's forehead. His body flashed with the light of his aura breaking as he flew backward.
Yang gasped in horror. "Jaune!"
Jaune turned, using his arms and hands to catch himself before he hit the tree they were sheltered under. He slowly got up, stumbling as he struggled to regain his footing. Then, slowly, as he lifted himself, he looked her in the eye.
"I was better this time, right?" he asked, staring at her blankly with glazed blue eyes. A tiny stream of blood from the cut on his forehead began to roll down his nose. His body began to sway side to side. "You been holding back…this whole time, huh?" He gave her a silly grin she certainly didn't deserve, and toppled face forward.
"Jaune!" Yang immediately caught him before he could hit the ground. She gently laid him down and turned him around. She watched his chest slowly rise and fall. He's still breathing.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
A sudden flash of red filled her vision, and Yang soon found herself on her stomach, having been shoved aside so forcefully she'd flipped. The right side of her skull had hit the ground, dazing her for a moment.
When she finally managed to lift her head, her eyes widened with surprise. "Pyrrha?" Yang slowly stood up. "Why did you—"
"You heard what I said," Pyrrha snarled. In her arms she carried Jaune bridal style, his arms hanging limply off hers. "I don't need your help, I can get him to the hospital wing by myself."
"I didn't mean to!" Yang tried to explain, but she was so distraught the words she needed had escaped her.
"Look what good that ended up being!" Pyrrha angrily shouted back. "Just… why Yang? Why are you doing this to him, even now?" She kept on walking, her eyes glued forward.
Yang froze. "Pyrrha, what are you talking about? I got him back, safe and—."
"Does he look safe to you right now?" Pyrrha snarled. "What on earth made you think this was a good idea? You saw him with one bag of chips and assumed he's had enough for today? Don't you think you've pushed him enough?"
The accusation struck Yang like lightning, cutting into her like a dagger to the heart, and she staggered from its impact.
Could she have been so blind this entire time? At the end of every one of their sessions, Jaune would always seem tired but wouldn't complain. That didn't mean he hide, or was able to hide, the true extent of his pain from his teammates. For almost every day of the three weeks, Jaune had finished their sessions completely exhausted. And Yang had barely batted an eye: she'd assumed that was what he needed. After all, if he didn't complain, why should she worry? But she now realized that he'd been coming back to dorm exhausted and on the occasion, starving. His teammates must've been doing their best to help him rest, not realizing that they…and herself, were reinforcing a routine that wasn't addressing the real issues he had regarding self worth.
It'd been too idealistic of her to believe three weeks would be enough to shape Jaune into someone that could equal her. And now, in front of one of his dearest friends, she'd shown that she'd failed him too.
"H-He," Yang tried to explain as she began to cry, while Pyrrha continued towards the hospital wing. "He—wanted to make up for today, and I know—it was stupid of me to think that was the right thing to do. But at least…he'll be okay, won't he?"
After a moment, Pyrrha finally stopped in place. She turned around, and Yang saw that her bright emerald eyes were now dark with anger. "Yang," she finally said, after letting out a sigh heavy with weariness. "I think you should leave."
Yang silently nodded, watching as Pyrrha walked away, leaving her to deal with her stinging eyes and growing shame alone.