So I unfortunately have to say that this may be the last chapter of the year. Going into the holiday season, I'm going to be extremely busy. If I can, I'll try to get one more chapter up after this, but no promises. I'll be trying to at least get one more chapter on my Akame Ga Kill story before the end of the year too. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.
Dancing is an understanding...
Chapter 4: One Sip One Secret
Being a big sister was a full time job.
For Yang, that was an understatement.
From a young age, she had to be more than just a big sister for Ruby. With the death of Summer Rose, both girls lost the only positive female role model they could possibly have at home.
Yang was essentially thrust into the role of a mother for Ruby, and that had not gone well.
Being a literal prepubescent child herself, Yang looked to Taiyang and the few female teachers at her school for how to act. And with Taiyang himself essentially falling into a bottomless pit of depression for almost two years after the death of Summer, she learned a lot of things that she would need to unlearn as she grew.
Unfortunately, there was no fairy tale story where Yang was the exemplary big sister who raised Ruby in place of her own shitty mother, or their Super Mom. That was made clear when she drug a young Ruby into a grimm infested forest to look for Raven, putting both of their lives at risk.
No, Yang knew she was a good big sister, but a shitty role model overall. Mainly because she didn't have a real role model herself.
The few memories she had of Summer was the only reason the blonde brawler didn't fall completely into delinquency.
At the very least, once Qrow saved the girls and lambasted Taiyang for his inattentiveness, both men put more time and effort into taking care of the girls. It was because of that, that Ruby would grow up with some form of innocence. If it had been left to Yang, the two girls would have most likely run away from home.
Thankfully Taiyang more than made up for his bout of negligence. He went out of his way to show how much he truly loved and cherished both girls. However, by then, Ruby and Yang had formed a bond that no amount of familial love could overcome. They were closer than either could ever hope to be to their father or uncle.
So it came as no shock that Yang was fairly overprotective of her sister. Not to the point of 24/7 coddling, but to the point where she would personally escort the first boy she approved to date her younger sister on their first date.
This lead to Ruby being both sheltered yet exposed to things earlier than normal. Mainly because Yang had to be exposed to certain things earlier than normal herself. As much as she teased, Yang understood that the two year age gap between her and Ruby wasn't significant enough to warrant calling the girl 'too young' in most regards. The reaper had an innocent naivety about her, but she was no idiot.
She wished she could preserve that innocence.
Jaune Arc was someone she thought was the embodiment of the innocent naivety that she saw in her sister.
A bumbling, clueless, lovable idiot that was one swing away from a total strike out.
Her baby sisters first real friend.
Yang hadn't donned an overprotective attitude against Jaune, despite what many thought. She had told Ruby to go make friends, and in no way did that mean only female friends. She did appraise Jaune, wondering if he had any ulterior motives for befriending Ruby, but that had been nipped in the bud almost instantly after meeting him.
The dork was as harmless as they came. The vomit incident on their way to Beacon hadn't given her a great first impression of the guy, but she wouldn't hate him for a mistake. Instead, she just decided he was just as innocent as Ruby.
Though his lack of skill in fighting was a major turn off.
Other than being happy Ruby had made a friend, Yang just didn't really care for Jaune.
So watching harmless vomit boy violently kick her sister into cratering a wall had more than perplexed Yang. Watching her sisters body crumple to the ground, unmoving for a moment, brought back all of the memories of her attempting and failing to be the support for Ruby.
In hindsight, she would understand that her anger was mostly irrational.
She hadn't even realized she had been being restrained by her other teammates until she felt the pressure coming from Pyrrha herself.
Her crimson eyes met the myrmidons jade orbs and the message was clear.
'Stand the fuck down.'
They held each others gaze for a few seconds, Yang almost unwilling to back down, even against the Invincible Girl. However, all of their attention was drawn back to the arena when Jaune called Ruby's name.
Yang watched her sister seem to go through several emotions. But they all ended with her giving a confident smirk to the blonde she was fighting. Her anger turned into confusion, her semblance deactivating like water was poured on her.
'What the hell? Why's she smiling?' Yang wondered. As close as the two were, even Yang couldn't remember seeing such a look on Ruby's face.
That confusion turned to awe as she watched the real battle start between her baby sister and vomit boy.
For the first time in her life, Yang was actually a bit scared of her younger sister.
The two went at it with such ferocity, one would believe they were actually attempting to kill each other. Yang had never seen her sister fight with such energy either. Ruby was fast but always seemed fairly straight forward when she fought. She fought with a little grace, but a lot of finesse. Now, she saw Ruby not letting up at all when attacking, completely throwing grace out the window as if she was dead set on delivering a finishing blow to her opponent, no matter what.
She didn't recognize her little sister as she bludgeoned with Crescent Rose and threw it! Actually threw it! Watching how physically straining some of Ruby's body movements seemed made her own muscles ache.
All of this against Jaune of all people!
But that was just it. Jaune was keeping pace. Keeping pace with her sister fighting more seriously than she had ever seen before. Yang knew for a fact that if Ruby fought against her like that, Yang would be floored in moments. She'd have to rely on her semblance to tank through the flurry of blows the two were slinging at each other and even then she wasn't sure she'd be able to get a good enough hit on either of them to win.
The situation was beyond baffling. What happened to her sister? What happened to vomit boy? What the hell was going on?
Finally, Jaune and Ruby delivered their final blows and Yang held her breath. She was invested in the fight, honestly not knowing who could possibly win.
The tension that built as the entire class was on the edge of their seats lingered for seconds…
Until Ruby's aura shattered.
The girl fell forward, not losing consciousness, but having no more energy to stand.
"W-winner is...Jaune Arc!" Miss Goodwitch called out, unable to hide her own disbelief.
…
"HELL YEAH FEARLESS LEADER!" With Nora's yell, the entire class burst into applause and cheers.
The thundering roar of the crowd could be heard through the halls, other students looking in to see what the commotion was.
The entire room applauded the boy, sans Yang, Weiss, and Blake.
The black haired teen was simply astonished, her eyes wide and locked onto Jaune as he seemed fine after the bout.
Weiss' jaw hung open at what she had just witnessed, her mind unable to comprehend any of it, let alone Jaune actually beating her partner.
Yang was torn between being frustrated that Jaune beat her sister and happy that he seemed to have improved even more since Forever Fall. However, it was mainly because she wasn't able to understand how he'd gotten that good that fast.
Unknown to her, Miss Goodwitch was thinking along the same lines…
It took a lot to leave Weiss speechless, but combat class had silenced not only herself, but the rest of team RWBY and JNPR as well.
Only because the object of their curiosity had been pulled aside and then escorted away by the deputy headmistress before any of them could so much as call his name.
The Schnee heiress had so many questions for the blonde that she didn't even know where to begin.
Well, no, she did know where to begin.
The conversation they all had during breakfast had stayed on her mind the entire day. Not even including the combat class, she had been asking herself something the whole time.
Had she misjudged Jaune?
After his bout with Ruby, the answer was a resounding yes. But that was an entirely different can of worms.
Pyrrha and Ruby's words resonated in her far more than she liked.
She had instantly labeled Jaune as someone who saw her name and wanted to profit off of it. The thought had been so ingrained in her that she honestly started to despise the boy.
The more their teams hung out though made her realize Jaune wasn't a bad person. So instead of despising him, she simply saw him as shallow and wrote him off. A person that was far from her mind until he did the same song and dance of trying to woo her.
During the day, she looked back on all their interactions since first meeting just before initiation. Her immediate conclusion was that he was definitely an idiot. But the small smile that formed on her face gave way to a small blush.
His silly antics of trying to get her to join his team and the ridiculous snow angel name now seemed less appalling. From that point on, he had tried to get her attention and never once did he call her Ms. Schnee or mention anything of the SDC. If he didn't call her Snow Angel, or Ice Queen which was unfortunately starting to catch on with people, he simply called her Weiss.
'Maybe...I've been too harsh on him. I mean one date couldn't hurt right?' She thought but quickly shook her head. 'No...he's still just not my type…'
But then again, what was her type?
In Atlas, she had been trained to simply reject any suitor because of their atrocious behavior and insidious plans for wanting her to begin with. After a while, she never even thought about the type of person she wanted to sweep her off her feet.
She grew into a lonely young woman, estranged from both her family and the public…
All of those thoughts came to a head with that days combat class.
Pyrrha had been right when she said Weiss felt Jaune being bad at combat made him a low value man. Not in the sense of character or anything, but because of their profession. They were training to be huntsman and huntress. Combat ability was literally the difference between life and death for them.
So with the Battle of Lancaster over, she heard a random student say as they exited the class, her mind added another plus for the blonde. He was by no means bad at combat any longer. How Pyrrha was able to shape him up in such a short time was beyond her.
And there was Ruby too of course.
Her partner had shown skill that made Weiss blush. If the younger reaper ever decided to fight like that against her, the heiress would probably simply surrender. Even with her glyphs, Ruby's precise control of her body and weapon made for a terrifying whirlwind of danger that she wasn't sure she could stop.
The small tint of her cheeks grew.
Was there a possibility that she was getting a bit too close to her partner as well?
That would just complicate things tremendously.
It wasn't like she was crushing on the younger girl just because she was her first real friend and had essentially broken that loneliness spell she had spiraled into…
...oh…
The walk towards one of the many faculty lounges was uncomfortably quiet. Jaune knew it was coming, but having Miss Goodwitch standing next to him, her gaze catching his own with a heated and appraising glare, made him wish he would have handled things differently.
But, it was something he had promised Izanami…
'Hide some, but not everything. The shadows are my allies, and only by casting the biggest light can they grow.' Essentially, the brighter he shined in public, the more he could do in the dark.
Jaune had initially wanted to hide his skills, but Izanami had shut that line of thinking down immediately. Though a lot of it would be hard to explain, the point was to not only grow stronger by himself, but with his friends.
Jaune knew he was as strong as he needed to be to stand alongside his team and team RWBY. However, there was far more than the grimm plaguing the world. No one at Beacon, not even the professors or Ozpin himself, were ready for the war that was coming.
They all needed to be prepared, though, Jaune wasn't entirely sure of what. As Izanami had said many times, she was bad at explaining. All Jaune could really get is that bad things worse than grimm were coming. Maybe not soon, but definitely inevitably.
The blonde boy decided to leave those thoughts be. He returned his gaze to Miss Goodwitch, finally seeing her take her eyes off of himself. She was unreadable for the most part. But there was an underlying air of uncertainty coming from her.
They would remain in silence until they reached one of the faculty lounges. The blonde woman peaked inside, before motioning Jaune to enter with her. Once inside, she motioned for him to take a seat while she moved to a very expensive looking coffee maker.
'Ozpin must have those in every corner of the school…' Jaune thought with a sweat.
"Mr. Arc…" Glynda finally killed the silence, her voice hovering between stern and confusion. "Do you drink coffee?"
"I do." He responded and gazed at the back of the woman. His wandering eyes momentarily took in her peach shaped backside and he immediately looked away with a blush. His peers were one thing, but checking out a teacher, the deputy headmistress at that, wasn't a line he wanted to cross.
"Sugar and cream?" She asked in her same neutral tone.
"One cream, two sugar."
The normal conversation did little to calm Jaune's nerves. If anything, it made him even more nervous. He had expected more of a reaction from the woman.
Glynda, on her part, remained silent as the coffee brewed. The smell was delectable and the aroma was finally able to get Jaune to relax a little. Seeing the woman's shoulders sag, he knew the same was happening with her.
After a few minutes, Glynda brought over both cups, handing one to Jaune before sitting in a chair opposite of him. They both took sips before seeming to simultaneously melt into their chairs.
Miss Goodwitch folded her legs, once more gaining a blush from Jaune. Part of her brain paused as she noticed the boy avoiding eye contact, and she realized she had recreated a certain scene from a risque movie from long ago.
Why did she feel a little proud of getting that reaction out of him?
Regardless, she shook the thought away and took another sip of coffee.
"So Mr. Arc. I'll be blunt. I'm perplexed. Please enlighten me on how you accomplished such feats in my class today that lead to your first and only victory, against one Ruby Rose of all people."
"If I told you I had an overnight epiphany and everything just clicked, would you believe me?" Jaune asked with a sigh, knowing the answer.
"I've heard weirder, Mr. Arc. But I don't believe that's what happened."
"It's not far off from the truth."
"But what is the truth, Mr. Arc?"
The blonde teen sighed again. Though Izanami had told him that he didn't need to hide everything, she didn't tell him how much he should reveal either. Looking into the blackness of his coffee, he wondered if just telling her everything would be okay. Especially because she had pulled him aside instead of dragging him to Ozpin like he expected her to do.
"Ms. Goodwitch. I don't know you well enough to trust you, and I certainly don't trust Ozpin." Jaune started. "But since you brought me here and not to the head master, I take it you were debating if what I told you would warrant a visit to him, correct?"
His words shocked the woman. Her mouth hung open for a moment before she glanced around the room once more.
Setting her coffee down, she took out her riding crop and began to whisper words that Jaune immediately knew were magic chants. She waved her riding crop around the room and a glow appeared.
She turned to Jaune and saw that he wasn't surprised at what she had just done.
"I knew it." The woman sat back down and put her weapon away. "You know about magic."
It was Jaune's turn to be surprised. "H-how…"
"Though those who aren't in tune with it would have missed it, I noticed you using magic during your spar with Ms. Rose. I thought I was mistaken until you consistently did so throughout the spar."
Jaune hadn't anticipated on Miss Goodwitch catching on so quickly. He figured that the rudimentary magic that Ozpin could teach her wouldn't be enough for her to catch him subtly using his own magic.
"Mr. Arc, I have so many questions that I know the head master will share. However, despite what many may believe, I am a far more lenient person than our head master. If I were take you to him, his suspicion of you would never leave until you were grilled and served up on the battlefield."
Jaune frowned at that. It sounded like what Izanami had told him of Ozpin. To hear it from his right hand woman was all he needed to know that keeping Ozpin in the dark was for the better at the moment. "Then what are we doing here? You just cast a silencing spell on this room and I'm assuming it also deafens any cameras that may be around."
Glynda nodded. "I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you have not been conspiring with our enemies." She paused. "You know of them, correct?"
"Salem." Jaune said disdainfully. The older woman sighed and held her head.
"I had hoped I was still mistaken. If I promise you that I will not take anything that we discuss here back to Ozpin, will you be forthcoming with me and tell me how this has happened Jaune?" The sincerity in her voice, especially with her using his first name, made Jaune tense.
The woman was being fairly upfront with him. He could tell that she wanted something from him as well; and whatever it was, it was born out of desperation.
Jaune closed his eyes for a moment. When they opened again, they were glowing golden. Glynda's eyes widened at his blatant use of magic, even if it were a type of magic she had no idea about.
"Give me your word." Jaune spoke seriously, his voice more stern than hers had ever been.
The woman swallowed, wondering what exactly she was getting herself into. However, she knew she didn't have many options. "I swear upon the name of the Brothers that I will not go back on my word."
A searing flash of heat washed over the deputy headmistress, making her cringe in minute pain. She looked to see Jaune's eyes flash from gold to red, before returning to their natural color.
"What exactly was that?" She asked, only then realizing she was a bit out of breath.
"A contract spell. If you break your word, you'll be in for more than a little agony."
She wanted to chastise the boy for doing such a thing, but even she knew that there was little to no trust between them. It was simple assurance.
"If that is the case, what is to stop you from lying to me?" She asked.
"I could teach you that spell, but it'd take a while. Would you rather have this conversation some other time?"
The woman held the bridge of her nose. "Unfortunately, I'd rather we discuss what we can now. For the life of me, I can't see this being a single conversation to begin with."
To Jaune's shock, the woman reached into her bosom and pulled out a small bottle. She popped the top off and poured half of it into her coffee.
"Whiskey?" Jaune asked in surprise.
Glynda nodded. "For emergency occasions of Ozpins stupidity usually. This seems like an emergency of a higher degree." She offered him the other half of the small bottle. "Legal drinking age in Vale is 16."
"You don't mind that I'm a student?" Jaune was thoroughly floored at the way the woman was acting. He would have expected something like this out of Port first.
The woman gave the boy a bemused smile. "Like I said, I'm not as strict as people think. I'm hard on you all because you are our future. But I was young once, and I know the things that can happen within a coed college combat school. As long as its in moderation and damage to school property is kept to a minimum, I actually find most of the antics of the students to be refreshing."
Looking at the woman in a new light, Jaune took the bottle and added it to his own coffee. The two took sips again, this time letting the warmth of both the dirty bean water and the alcohol sooth them.
"So…" Goodwitch prodded.
Jaune chuckled. "I guess I'll start with me sneaking out last night."
The woman frowned and rose an eyebrow.
"Oh what, that's where you draw the line?"
She shook her head and drunk more of her spiked beverage. "That wasn't something I was aware of. I won't say anything about it, but I will want details later."
The boy rolled his eyes but agreed. But before he decided to start talking to her, he wanted answers himself.
"Before I explain everything to you, I want to know what you're hiding. It's clear you need something from me, but I won't be a pawn here, to either you or Ozpin."
The woman's eyes widened, her lips thinning into a line as she knew she had been caught. "The irony…" She mumbled after a moment of silence.
Jaune just sat back and folded his arms, giving the woman a glare that could reduce the hardiest of people to cinders.
"Alright Jaune." She started. She would treat him with respect, as she knew he would probably only respond to being seen as an equal. "I'll start from the beginning…about how I met Ozpin."
Previous Night...
Jaune was elated, his face plastered with a smile, as he jumped from tree to tree, bursts of wind propelling him swiftly from branch to branch.
The boy had taken to wind magic even more naturally than Izanami had expected. The woman sat with an amused smile, watching the blonde essentially fly around. He hadn't exactly made it that far, but in the hour he had been playing around with magic, he had come close. She had almost lost her composure as he was able to hover in the air for several seconds not even a few minutes after learning how to conjure the wind.
As much as she wanted to let Jaune play around, they had a lot to cram into the time that they had; even with the time manipulation.
"Jaune, come down now! We've got a lot more to do! More elements and even how to use rudimentary, intermediate, and advanced magic. You're a natural, but I would like to get to the basics of supreme magics before our time is up."
Jaune made a show of spinning on the wind before landing in front of Izanami with a flourish, striking a pose with one hand up and the other in front of him, his face turned up in a somewhat 'uppity' way. The woman giggled and poked his stomach, reminding him once more of the unnatural strength she held in her small body.
With a wheeze he coughed and played it off. "Okay...what are we gonna do now?"
"First, I want to see if you can feel any spirits that aren't wind adjacent."
The blonde nodded and closed his eyes, instinctively reaching out with his aura just like how he connected with the wind spirits. His eyes shot open a moment later as he was barraged with not only the essences of the wind, but the feeling of the ground beneath him, the trees and plants, water nearby, and a dark taint that made his blood run cold. He dropped to his knees and Izanami immediately moved to his side, her eyes wide in concern.
"What..what was that…" Jaune asked, his voice shivering as if he had just been plunged into a freezing cold lake.
The faunus looked at Jaune quizzically before she noticed his body starting to glow.
"J-Jaune, release the aura within you, immediately!" She pulled the boy into a hug and braced herself.
Just like before, Jaune instinctively did as asked. It felt natural and he let out a sigh as the glow about his body grew before exploding outward. A sonic boom was heard as everything within a 50 meter radius was blown away and disintegrated.
Jaune's eyes widened as he felt the release. It was like simply purging all aches and negativity from his body. However, the devastation that had occurred around him seemed to go in slow motion. The wave of light that spread from them slowly began to draw back in. Instead of flowing back into Jaune, however, it flowed directly into Izanami.
It all happened within a span of three seconds.
Once the last of the light hit Izanami, she threw her head back and howled in pain. Light seemed to spray from her mouth, nose, and eyes into the sky and her grip on Jaune became painful.
He realized then that she was once again taking what he had to give, and this time it seemed to be too much. The boy wrapped his arms around the woman's waist and held her tight, connecting his aura to hers once more and feeling what was happening.
It was pure magic, he understood. A mixture of not only the elements he had felt, but the darkness and even something he couldn't place his hand on. Something...chaotic.
Either way, it was overwhelming the boat that was Izanami's aura and felt as if it would rip her apart entirely. He didn't hesitate as he began to guide the influx of magic within their connected auras again. He took it, chunk by chunk, away from Izanami's aura and smoothly forced it to acquiesce to his own flow.
Piece by piece, he continued to do so until Izanami fell limp within his hold. She was still conscious, her breathing labored and her body soaked with sweat. Jaune stood and held her as he felt the pure magic within himself turn his ocean into a flood hazard. He could feel his energy spike as if he had just downed several energy drinks. However, he continued to flow the power around within himself, picturing it like a whirlpool.
He picked the woman up bridal style, not noticing the blush that stained her cheeks. The woman was still exhausted and could not protest the action. Jaune moved to a tree and sat down, sitting the woman in his lap.
It would take a few minutes before her breathing finally evened out. By then, both had fell into a comfortable silence. Their minds were a different story.
Jaune had no idea what had just happened and had to constantly flow the magic he had absorbed. It was made easier by something he had just noticed.
He could feel a rhythm. Everything around him, including the spirits and the magic within him, seemed to hum a faint melody. It was calming and confusing at the same time.
Izanami was astounded by what Jaune had just done. Her mind raced at the implications and when she was finally rested, she placed a hand on the boys cheek to get his attention.
"Jaune…" She breathed out, her exhaustion finally abating. "What you just did...what you just felt...it should not be possible. Even if you are a prodigy...no, even if you are a magical genius the likes this world has never seen. Feeling, absorbing, and controlling that many different forms of pure and elemental magic should have killed us both!"
"Pure magic? Was that the chaotic magic I felt?"
"Jaune!" Izanami snapped, sitting up in his lap and getting eye to eye with him. "What do you mean chaotic feeling? Pure magic spirits are like fleeting lights, fading and reappearing constantly. It is how rudimentary and non-elemental magic is performed. However chaos magic...that is something that even I can't truly understand. If you felt it...and you even controlled and absorbed it…" She trailed off, her eyes widening.
Jaune was becoming even more confused. "Nami...what did I do?"
The woman was snapped from her thoughts as she took his eyes once more. The serious expression on her face didn't ease his worry.
"I...I'm not entirely sure, Jaune. I knew you were special when I saw you but this...this could change everything."
Izanami began to release herself from Jaune, standing to her feet before helping him stand too.
"How does the magic within you feel now?"
"I'm controlling it all like a whirlpool. I'm spinning it and sinking it within myself to a steady beat."
"To a steady beat?"
The blonde nodded. "I can...feel a rhythm. At first, all of it felt different. Different tempos, different beats. But when I started to swirl it, they started to connect. Instead of a massive hum of chaos, it began to bleed together into a melody that made sense."
It was the best way he could explain it. He didn't truly understand it himself, but it felt right.
The faunus woman shook her head and took a step back. "Jaune...do you feel something like that from me?"
He took a moment to connect himself to Izanami's aura again and immediately felt a rhythm. If he had to describe it, he would say that it was something akin to Eastern Folk Music. He could picture the woman dancing with the wind under the falling leaves of a Sakura tree.
"Yeah I-" Before he could say more, Izanami dropped to her knees with tears flowing down her cheeks. "Izanami! Are you okay?" He was beside her in a flash.
"Yes...yes Jaune, I'm more than okay!" She smiled and hugged him around his neck. He picked her up and she held on. He was getting used to the physical contact. She squeezed him then let him go. "Jaune...I think...I think you just unlocked your semblance!"
