Okay, so the funeral chapter. I've waited two weeks to write this. Anyway, let's discuss weapons and who won. Here is the winner.
Kama/Scythe: 13
Aurasaber: 9
O Katana: 9
Sword and Shield: 9
Vibroblade: 8
And here is the results with the people who voted through comments.
Kama/Scythe: 17
Aura Saber: 15
O-Katana: 11
Sword and Shield: 10
Virbroblade: 12
Kama/Scythe wins. But don't worry. I have a little surprise for all of you people regarding the weapon. Also, I would like to apologize. Earlier, I said that Arcadia is Greek. A reader pointed out that it is also the name of a French Settlement as well, so I'm sorry for being ignorant of this. As such, I will rectify it! Domremy is located on an island named Arcadia like Patch.
I don't own RWBY. Rooster Teeth does. If I did, Jaune's new hairstyle wouldn't look so... blegh.
Airbus, En Route to Aurbis
"I can't believe how many hoops we had to jump through with customs just to get Nyx to Aurbis," Jaune complained as he sat with Mae in his lap. Maria nodded and focused on her paper. The ship suddenly shook due to turbulence and Jaune's hand immediately went to his mouth.
I should have bought pills! He thought as he felt bile enter his mouth. Usually, on trips like these, Pyrrha would be right next to him, rubbing small, soothing circles on his back while his stomach rolled around inside of him like a damn bowling ball.
"Man up, kid. We're almost there. It's only been eight minutes since we left anyway," Maria said, tapping her cane on the floor of the bus.
"It's okay Jaune," Mae said, reaching up and patting his head. Jaune groaned and buried his face in Mae's bushy tail. Mae laughed a little at the sight before turning her gaze back out the window.
"This weaponsmith better is worth me forgetting to buy Motion Sickness pills," Jaune muttered into Mae's tail.
The next eight minutes were torture for Jaune. His stomach was constantly churning bile and stomach acid up his esophagus and into his throat. It took all of his willpower not to puke right there and then, but he managed to keep it in. It was like plugging up a volcano. Deciding that thinking of his stomach was too much of an ordeal, Jaune focused his energy into other places. Mainly his semblance and how he was going to tell Pyrrha without blowing his cover in front of everyone.
What should I do? Maybe lead her away from everyone else? Nah, too suspicious. Maybe, I'll hang back in the distance and make it look like I had some big secret or something. Or I'll be hella nonchalant about it and just walk on up, Jaune thought.
I wish I could tell someone about this, Jaune kept thinking. Come to think of it. What should I call my semblance? Pyrrha's is called Polarity, Ruby's is Petal Burst, and Nora's is called High Voltage. I feel like Nora was on crack when she came up with that name. Aura Arms? Nah, maybe I can do more than that. Aura Manipulation? Too basic. Thaumiel. Hmmm, badass name. Yeah, I'll call it Thaumiel, Jaune thought as he pulled his face out of Mae's fluff. He held his hand up and willed the same dark aura to manifest once more. He really had to stop calling it that. Whatever was on his hand was not Aura, or at least not like any he had ever felt. But then again, he had only ever felt his own and his sister's as well as Pyrrha's.
He felt a bump and noticed that the airbus was now still. Looking out the window, Jaune noticed that they were on the landing pad. Mae jumped out of her seat and began to grab Jaune's arm. Jaune grabbed their bags and allowed himself to be dragged off the vehicle by the fox girl.
Maria sighed and followed after the two. When she got off, she saw Jaune and Mae at the luggage pickup with a massive cage and Jaune signing a few papers. Maria almost laughed when Nyx snarled and snapped at one of the worker's causing them to shriek in fear.
Jaune stuck his hand through the bars of the cage and patted Nyx's snout, causing her to calm down. She leaned into the hand and licked it before sitting down in the cage. It still amazed her whenever she saw that. The beowolf listened to the boy and obeyed, calming down in her cage.
"I'll take it from here," Jaune said to the crew with a reassuring smile on his face.
"W- What did you say you needed this for again?" one of the crew members asked.
"Someone at Beacon asked for beowolf for his class. I'm just staying overnight here at Aurbis and heading to Beacon in the morning," Jaune told them in a smooth and even voice.
The crew nodded and one of them muttered something about weird-ass hunter habits. Jaune looked at Nyx apologetically and began to roll the cage out of the terminal and into town. It was a weird sight for everyone who lived there. People gave them a wide berth as Jaune pushed Nyx's cage down the streets as he was following Mae and Maria.
"Hey, old lady. Where is this blacksmith friend of yours?" Jaune asked her.
"Just up the street kid," Maria said as she made a turn.
They walked for a few more minutes, with Jaune pushing Nyx's cage down the street until Maria stopped outside of a small shop. Jaune and Mae stood behind her and looked at the sign.
The Scorched Hammer
"Is this the shop?" Jaune asked as he let go of the cafe.
"Yup, this is the one. At least, I think this is the one," Maria said as she squinted her eyes. Shrugging, the elderly woman pushed the door open and went inside.
"Wait, what about Nyx?" Jaune asked.
"Just let her out of her cage," she said before the door closed.
Jaune sighed and opened the door. Nyx bound out of the cage and stood next to Jaune. She barked and wagged her tail as Jaune pet her back. Mae ran up to Nyx and climbed on her back and the three walked in.
"Ah, welcome t- GRIMM!" a young boy screamed, pointing at Nyx. Maria and an elderly man with dark skin and a dark beard looked up from the counter.
"You weren't kidding huh?" he said in a gruff voice as he looked at Jaune and Nyx.
"Nope," Maria said. The man sighed and walked from around the counter.
"Jett, go man the register while I talk to our customers," the man said.
"B- But, grimm here! City! Danger!" the boy fired off.
"I'll handle this," the man said tiredly. The boy nodded and made for the counter quickly.
"Soo, you're the blacksmith that owes this crazy old lady a favor?" Jaune asked, tilting his head slightly. The man was tall, taller than him. He had dark skin and grey hair that was balding slightly at the top. His build was strong and muscular, most likely from his years as a blacksmith yet Jaune could see that he was no stranger to combat. He had a short dark beard yet one could see grey hairs start to set in. The man held his hand out and Jaune took it in his own, grasping it firmly.
"I'm Ash. Ash Vulcan, owner of the Scorched Hammer and retired hunter of Mantle," he said in a gruff voice.
"I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc," Jaune introduced. He gestured to Nyx and Mae.
"This is Mae and Nyx," Jaune said. Ash looked over at the Beowolf, who regarded him curiously, and Mae, who was looking at him with a nervous expression.
"A Beowolf and a Yoko-Faunus. Such an interesting company you keep here, Marie," Ash said.
"Hmmm, the kid here can control Grimm," Maria said, walking up next to him.
"Can he now?" Ash said, analyzing Jaune.
"I didn't believe it myself nor did the boy until I saw Nyxie here," Maria said.
"Um, can we get on with what we came here for?" Jaune asked. The two elderly hunters looked at him and sighed.
"Kids these days. No patience," Ash said as he gestured for them to follow him out to the back of his shop. The four followed after him into a large room. A massive forge sat on the far side of the room and was currently extinguished. However, small embers remained, suggesting that he had been working earlier that day. An iron anvil sat several feet to the right. Above it to its right, several tools such as a hammer, a chisel, some tongs, a fuller, and a hardy sat on a rack. On the left side of the forge was a large slack tub that was presently filled with cold water. Several unfinished weapons sat at the side as well as large stocks of dust and gear for mecha-shifting weapons.
"Have you given thought as to what weapon you want to wield?" Ash asked as he grabbed his hammer and inspected it for kinks.
"I was thinking about getting something similar to Maria," Jaune said.
"Her kamas?" Ash asked.
Maria looked at Jaune in slight shock and some pride.
"Yeah, I originally wanted to get a sword and shield to continue off what I already knew bu-," Jaune was interrupted by Ash.
"But you wanted something different. To break away from your past," he said.
"...," Jaune went silent.
Ash sighed. An image of a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes that shifted to gold when her semblance was active appeared behind Jaune. "Your mother was the same way when she came for her weapon," he said, running a hand through his hair.
"You know my parents?" Jaune asked him.
"Boy, nearly hunter from the previous generations knows who your parents are. Did you know that I forged your father's sword, Divine Dragon Downfall? I made it compatible with his semblance, Ergogenesis," Ash said.
"No, I didn't. What about Mom's blade, La Pucelle?" Jaune asked.
"Ah, that was my sister, Sage, who made her sword. She made it compatible with your mother's semblance, Sunshine," Ash said, leaning against the wall.
"So are the kamas a good choice or?" Jaune asked.
"Hmmm, you'll need to work on somethings but I think with some time, you can be as great a wielder as Marie here," Ash said.
"Heh, wanna be the next Grimm Reaper huh kid?" Maria said, turning to Jaune.
"No. I'm making my own name old lady," Jaune said.
"Ahem," the two snapped their gazes back to Ash who looked at them with a small smile on his face.
"Right, so, what alloy do you want me to use for the blade?" Ash asked.
"Hmmm," Jaune began to think of different types of steel alloys. He was brought out of his reverie when Maria spoke up.
"Use the same material you used for my weapon's blades," she said.
"Ah, so you want me to use Spring Steel 5160 with Damascus Dust infusions during the process then," Ash said, pulling a notebook from his breast pocket and began to write things down.
"Wait, Spring Steel wha-?" Jaune was confused.
"Spring Steel 5160 is an alloy which consists of steel mixed with less than 1% chromium and silicon. It's hard and can withstand immense stress as well as being highly resistant to corrosion and rust," Ash explained.
"Oh," Jaune said.
"Anything else?" Ash asked him.
"Actually, can you add these features to the scythes and do you also do armor by any chance?" Jaune asked.
"This is a smithy boy. Of course, we make armor," Ash replied.
"Then can you do this," Jaune said, pulling out a sheet of paper from his pocket. Ash took the paper and read it over. His eyes widened when he saw the material Jaune wanted to add to his weapons.
"Siderite? Boy, do you know how valuable that metal is?" Ash asked him.
"My parents have some leftover," Jaune said.
"Of course they do," Ash said, rubbing his temples.
"Alright then. I'll contact you when the weapons and armor are done and you might want to do something about that Grimm. People might react the wrong way," Ash said.
"How long?" Maria asked.
"With these features, a few weeks to a month at most," he replied.
"Cool. You know what that means kid. More time to train with your semblance and to go to your funeral," Maria said. "Let's go!"
Maria turned and walked out of the store. Jaune turned and thanked the man profusely which he waved off and Jaune, Nyx, and Mae walked out of the store. And now came their current problem, Nyx didn't want to go back into the cage. She whined and resisted when Jaune tried to push her in which to the people passing them looked comical and would have laughed if not for the fact that a beowolf was currently in their presence.
"Come on you big furball! You know you can't walk around the streets in a city that has hunters in it," Jaune said as he pushed.
Nyx whined and pushed back against Jaune.
"Geez, I don't like the cage too but it's not like you're small enough to the point where I can just hide you in my hoodie," Jaune said. As he said that, his eyes shifted to violet for a split second before he fell over, face-first onto the pavement.
"Ow…," Jaune said as he rubbed his jaw.
"You okay kid?" Maria asked as she and Mae looked at Jaune with worried eyes.
"Yeah, where's Nyx?" Jaune replied.
A small barking noise came from beside them and Jaune's eyes widened when he saw a chibi version of Nyx. She looked like a small black wolf pup, staring at him expectantly. Her tongue was rolled out of her mouth as she panted and wagged her tail furiously.
"Okay, what just happened?" Jaune asked as he picked up Nyx.
"I think that was all you," Maria said, inspecting the new Grimm puppy.
"She's so cute," Mae said, stroking Nyx's soft black fur.
"What do you mean it was me? I didn't do anything," Jaune said.
"Hmmm, we'll look more into this later. For now, let's just go to the hotel," Maria said. Jaune nodded and stuffed Nyx into his hoodie and took Mae's hand and began walking after the old woman.
Beacon, 12:30 PM
Alice and Pyrrha sat next to each other as Oobleck droned on and on about the Great War and the Faunus Rights Revolution. Pyrrha's green eyes darted to her new partner who was ready to just pass out. She was so much like Jaune in so many ways yet she was also fundamentally different. For one, it was nice for Pyrrha to have someone to talk to about Jaune. Alice laughed when she heard that her brother was dense which made Pyrrha pout. Alice was also a better fighter than Jaune was when he first got here, most likely due to her staying with her parents longer than her brother. However, Pyrrha could not get out of her head the fact that she helped forged the transcripts. That and the fact that Alice seemed to be talking to someone in private. Secrets. If that was one thing that annoyed her, it was the fact that the twins seemed to have so many secrets.
"Alice," she whispered.
"Hmmm," Alice looked at her tiredly.
"Can I talk to you after class?" Pyrrha asked.
"Sure thing boss," Alice replied as she turned back to the board.
The class ended a few minutes later. Pyrrha grabbed Alice by the arm and took her outside the classroom much to Ren and Nora's surprise and confusion.
"Hey, where are we going?" Alice asked as Pyrrha dragged her through the halls of Beacon.
"Somewhere private," she replied.
Pyrrha and Alice ended up on the balcony of Beacon where she and Jaune had all of their private conversations. Or at least, as private as it could be without Winchester listening in on them.
"Is this about Jaune's transcripts?" Alice asked.
"No," Pyrrha said.
"Then…?"
"You've been acting suspicious lately," Pyrrha said, looking at her accusingly.
"Eh?" Alice responded. Inside her head, she was panicking. She just wanted to talk to her brother who was apparently alive.
"You've been leaving the room at night every night now for the past few days," Pyrrha said.
"Umm, I had to go to the bathroom," Alice said.
"We have a bathroom in our room," Pyrrha said with a blank stare. "What are you hiding?"
"Umm, uhh," Alice said. Shit shit shit! Sorry Jaune, I might blow your cover on this one, Alice said.
"Pyrrha," they both turned and saw Ren and Nora with Blake and the rest of team RWBY.
"Yeah," the redhead responded, irritated at the interruption.
"Ozpin's looking for you. He said he wants to talk to you about the funeral," Ren said.
Pyrrha sighed. Jaune's funeral was tomorrow. The day she would have to say goodbye to him forever. She turned to Alice whose eyes were shining in grief. Pyrrha suddenly felt bad for the girl.
"Look, we'll talk about this later Alice in our team dorm. Right now, I need to go…," Pyrrha said.
"Yeah, let's talk later," Alice said.
Pyrrha walked past them, roughly shoving past team RWBY and made her way to the elevator.
"You think that we'll ever get the old Pyrrha back?" Ruby asked.
"No, we won't," Blake said as she walked off.
Pyrrha waited as the elevator ascended to Ozpin's office. Her mind flew back to Jaune and she began to tear up. What if he was still alive? What could they have been if she was just brave enough to confess her feelings to him? Jaune had already admitted to her after his latest rejection from Weiss shortly before things went south for him that he was giving up. Her heart had jumped for joy when she heard that because now she had a chance. But she did nothing. She stood by and did nothing. And now, he was gone. Any chance she had with him, gone. Just gone. Forever out of her grasp.
The elevator dinged and Pyrrha walked out of it to Ozpin's office where she saw Jaune's parents and Professor Goodwitch there. She also saw someone that stood out. The woman had long white hair with a fringe that nearly covered her icy blue eyes. She wore a long white coat with a blue sweater underneath. The woman wore a white skirt with black leggings and black boots. Pyrrha remembered where she had seen this woman. She looked like how Weiss would look if she was older. The woman smiled at her and waved.
"Pyrrha, so glad you can make it," Jeanne said to her. She gestured to the woman. "This is Willow Schnee. She was my best friend back when we were in Beacon together."
"Schnee? Are you related to Weiss perhaps?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yes, I'm her mother," Willow said. "I do hope she's been good. I tried my best to be a good mother to her but Jacques… anyway, I'm here because of Jaune," she said.
"Weiss has been difficult to get along with… she's kinda… and I mean no offense here, a bitch," Pyrrha said, fully expecting Willow to yell at her.
"I see. I'm sorry about that then. I guess I'll have to talk with her again," she said. Willow cursed. It seems that Jacques's hold on her daughter was tighter than she thought. She had already chewed Weiss out for abandoning her teammate. She could still vividly remember their reunion.
Willow got off the private bullhead that they owned and walked down the ramp. She saw Weiss waiting for her there with several other people. One of them was a blonde girl with violet eyes. She spotted a black-haired girl with yellow eyes and a bow that twitched every now and then.
A faunus. Interesting, she thought. Her eyes drifted over to the black and red-haired girl with silver eyes and her eyes grew wide.
Summer? She thought.
"Mother," Weiss greeted her with a small smile. Her smile quickly vanished when she saw her mother's cold expression bear down on her.
"Weiss, why did I receive a call from Ozpin saying that you abandoned one of your classmates out on the field to die?" Willow asked as she marched over and towered over her daughter.
"I- I…," Weiss stuttered.
"It seems that I have allowed your father too much say in how to raise you. Weiss, I never taught you any of this," she said.
"Mother, you don't understand! He cheated his way into here!" Weiss protested.
"And is that any good reason to abandon him during a mission!" Willow shouted. A small crowd had now gathered around the mother-daughter duo as they argued.
"Weiss, why did you do it?" she asked.
"Because he didn't deserve to be here!" Weiss retorted. "He was a lying, cheating coward who keeps trying to steal from our family's hard-earned work and plays ignorance like he thinks that I won't notice that he's only trying to get me for our money!" Weiss yelled.
Willow sighed as she looked at her daughter. They were getting nowhere.
"We'll talk later. Right now, I need to speak with the headmaster," she said as she stormed off.
"How do you know him?" Pyrrha asked, snapping her out of her memories.
"I'm his Godmother dear," Willow answered.
"Wha? Y- You're his godmother! Does Weiss know?" Pyrrha asked.
"No, unfortunately not. After she was born, my visits to Domremy became limited. Such a shame. Weiss and Jaune would have been good friends like Vert and Winter are," Willow said.
The elevator door dinged and two women came walking out of it. The first was a tall woman with white hair that was styled in a bun. Her bangs framed the right side of her face and slightly covered her right eye. She wore a military uniform that Pyrrha recognized belonged to the Atlesian Military.
The woman next to her had long curled light blond hair with long bangs neatly framing her face. She had a slender curvy figure with large breasts. Her eyes were pure blue and had a twinge of sadness in them. She wore a white shirt with a brown overcoat and a grey skirt with black leggings and brown boots.
"Mother, Vert and I have arrived," the white-haired woman said.
"Winter, this is Pyrrha Nikos," Willow said, gesturing to the Spartan.
Winter turned her gaze to Pyrrha and analyzed her from top to bottom. She stopped when she felt the woman next to her jab her with her elbow.
"Winter, be nice," she said sternly. Winter looked away and mumbled an apology too quiet for Pyrrha to hear.
"Come on Vert. This woman could have been your sister in law," Winter said.
"I know," she replied. Vert walked up to Pyrrha and put her hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry about my brother," Vert said. "He was never really good with discerning feelings. Mom says he gets it from Dad."
Jeanne giggled at her daughter's words, while Sieg clutched his chest at his daughter's blunt words.
"Aw, come on Dad," Vert said, after seeing her father's reaction.
Ozpin coughed into his hand, getting their attention. "Right, Miss Nikos. We called you here because Jeanne and Sieg wish for you to be the one to deliver Jaune's eulogy," he said. Pyrrha's eyes widened and darted to the two parents of her love interest.
"Y- You want me to…?" Pyrrha asked.
Vert was equally surprised as was Winter. Willow looked between Pyrrha and her two friends and sighed. Of course, they would pull something like this.
"Yes, partly because you were the one from what we heard, brought out the best and the worst in our son in ways, none of us, not even Alice, is capable of doing. If you were dating Jaune, I would have forced him to marry you already," Jeanne said.
"B- But! I've only known him for a couple of months!" Pyrrha protested.
"But to you, it felt like you've known him for years right?" Sieg asked.
Pyrrha looked down at the ground. Due to the amount of time they spent with each other, it did like she had known him for years. The conversations that they had always lead to talking about their personal lives. Pyrrha was able to see a side of Jaune that no one, not even her own teammates or Team RWBY was able to see. She knew Jaune. His insecurities, his hopes, his life. And he knew hers.
"I- I'll do it," Pyrrha said.
"Oh good. Alice was the one who recommended you," Jeanne told her.
"Oh," Pyrrha said as her mind flew to a certain blonde. She could just picture Alice's smug smirk. The same infuriating smirk her twin had whenever he had a plan.
"When is the funeral?" Pyrrha asked.
"In two days. You have two days," Ozpin said.
"Who else will be there?" she asked.
"Well, Mrs. Schnee and her daughter, Winter. The Arcs and some old family friends of theirs as well as the entire staff and student body of Beacon," Ozpin said. "I believe that will be all Miss Nikos," Ozpin said. Pyrrha nodded and headed for the elevator.
"If only Jaune made a move," Vert said, sighing wistfully. "What a story that would have been," she said.
"You pervert. You just want to write about your brother and his partner having hot steamy sex," Winter said. Vert shrugged.
"People like my books and that includes most of the female student population here at Beacon," she said, pulling out an all too familiar book.
Pyrrha hurried to combat class, the last class of the day, thinking about what just transpired. As she entered the class, she noticed that all eyes were on her as well as Goodwitch's, who sent her the "Why the hell are you late?" look. Pyrrha walked over to her and handed her the pass that Ozpin had written up and Glynda's eyes widened.
"Have a seat Miss Nikos," Glynda said. Pyrrha walked up to the stands and sat down next to Alice, who smiled at her. Pyrrha nodded and sent her one in return.
Combat Class was honestly pretty boring. It was mostly fought between people who wanted to stroke their egos. Blake and Ren seemed to be the most entertaining fight of the day for now.
Glynda tapped the shuffle button and the next to fighters came up on the screen.
Alice Arc vs Flynn Smith
Alice looked nervous. This was her first fight outside of her parents. Gulping, she made her way to the locker to get changed into her equipment. Pyrrha looked worried. What if she got hurt? Next to her, Ren and Nora were thinking the same thing. Other than Cardin, Flynn was one of the biggest bullies in the school and one of Jaune's biggest haters. Not to mention the fact that Flynn was an even bigger racist than Cardin. If it wasn't for his brown hair, they would have mistaken him for a Schnee.
"How long do you think she'll last?" Weiss asked.
"I have no idea. I've never seen her fight before," Ruby said.
Alice walked out of the locker room with her armor on. Her armor was white and she wore a white battle skirt and blue leggings with golden armored boots. Underneath her armor was her signature blue hoodie, as opposed to Jaune's black one. At her hip was her sword sitting silently in its sheath. Alice breathed in and exhaled to calm herself.
Her opponent Flynn was a tall bulky man like Cardin. He had fair skin and blue eyes as well as shaggy brown hair. For his combat gear, he chose to wear a flame-resistant leather jacket along with spike boots and durable polycarbonate fiber pants. At his side were his weapon, a bow that split into two blades. He was confident that he would win. He might not even have to use his semblance. If this bitch was that Arc guy's sister, then this would be an easy win.
"Begin," Glynda said.
Alice tensed up and looked at her opponent. He's underestimating me. That's good, Alice said as she began to pump aura to her legs.
"You know you might as well give up now," Flynn said. Alice's eyes narrowed.
"Your brother was weak as are you. You're not even worth fighting," Flynn said. "That's why he died."
"Is that so?" Alice said as her bangs cast a shadow over her eyes. The air grew heavy as a golden aura began to manifest around Alice.
"Yeah, so just give up and leave the school like your loser brother. You'd be doing the world a fav-" Flynn's eyes widened when he felt something warm run down his cheek. He turned and saw Alice behind him with her sword drawn.
Up in the stands, Team RWBY and Team PARN watched with wide eyes.
"Did you see her?" Ruby asked.
"No, I didn't," Yang said. Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. She saw that, albeit barely.
"Her aura control," Ren said.
Everyone turned to look at him. Ren sighed and began to explain. "She's using her aura to enhance her speed," he explained.
Alice swung her sword, forcing Flynn to block it. She brought her foot up and kicked Flynn into the air. The boy cried out in pain before seeing that she had created some distance between them. Grinning maliciously, Flynn unleashed a hail of arrow towards Alice.
Expecting to see her struggle to block them all, his eyes widened along with everyone else's when they saw her aura react violently.
Massive golden wings wrapped around Alice, shielding her from the arrows. Alice moved her wings and charged at Flynn. This time, Flynn dodged her attack and split his bow into their blade form. He brought them down on Alice's back but her aura morphed into arms and grabbed his arm.
Alice willed for the arms to slam Flynn into the ground over and over again before throwing him.
Flynn landed near the edge of the arena and looked up at the girl in pain.
Pyrrha and the others looked on in shock. Checking the screen, Pyrrha saw that Alice's aura was still at 89% while Flynn was at 45%.
Alice reigned her aura in and looked down at Flynn. She tightened her grip on her sword and charged at Flynn. Flynn in a desperate attempt to stop her fired an arrow which she deflected. She got right in front of him and slammed the butt of her sword into his stomach and then delivered a punch to his face.
Afterward, she swept his foot out from under him. Flynn groaned but quickly rolled out of the way to avoid Alice's sword as she embedded it into the arena. He charged at her with his bow blades ready to slice into her armor when she let go of her blade. Flipping backward, Alice went on the defensive as she began to dodge her opponent.
This guy is slower than Mom and Dad, she thought as she dodged another one. Using her hand to knock one of his blades off course, Alice delivered a palm strike to his chest, sending him skidding back. She ran up to him and delivered a series of quick strikes to different areas of his body. She stopped and hopped back as Flynn fell to the ground unable to move.
Glynda looked down and realized that the man's body had gone limp yet he was still awake.
"Winner is Alice Arc. Team FRDY, please take your leader to the infirmary," she said. Glynda's eyes traveled to Alice after team FRDY had taken their leader away.
Pressure points, she thought. "I see that you use your father's fighting style," Glynda commented.
Alice blushed and rubbed the back of her head.
"Yet, you could use some work. You need to train in using your semblance as right now, it's costing you too much aura," Glynda said, showing her the screen.
"I used 15% of my Aura using my semblance," Alice said as she looked at the screen.
"Your footing with your sword was also off," Glynda said. Alice nodded and made a note to ask her father or partner to help her with that. "Other than that, you did fairly well, though Mr. Smith was just on the lower end of the students here. You may return to your seat."
Alice nodded and went to sit down. After she took her seat, she noticed the others staring at her.
"What?" Alice asked.
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Yang asked.
"My parents taught me and Jaune how to fight after we begged for years," she replied.
"Only difference is, Jaune left for Beacon and I had to stay behind so I got more training," she said.
"Well, did you know tha-"
"Weiss, shut up," Ruby said. Alice looked at her for a moment before focusing her attention back on the class.
Aurbis
Jaune sat in one of the hotel rooms looking down at Nyx. She was still a puppy and he didn't know how to change her back. He had accepted the fact that he was the reason she shrunk but now, Jaune kinda missed her other form.
"Okay, how do I change you back?" Jaune said, staring at the pup.
Nyx barked.
"Hmm, not going to work. I don't have a degree in any science-related fields to build a growth ray," Jaune said. Nyx tilted her head and barked again.
"Magic? I don't know magic and if I did, you wouldn't be small," he replied.
Nyx barked again and nudged Jaune's lunch.
"You're hungry? But you just ate," he said, exasperated.
Nyx barked and whined.
"Fine," Jaune said, tearing off a piece of ham and tossing it at Nyx. She jumped and caught it, devouring the ham.
"It's only been two days and I'm here talking to a Beowolf who inexplicably became a puppy," Jaune said. He fell on his back and looked up at the ceiling. Forcing his aura to his hand, Jaune began to play around with his semblance. He had decided to name it like the others did and called it Thaumiel. He had made some progress with it and managed to separate his aura from his body. After playing around, Jaune had made nine black orbs of pure aura and spun them around. Jaune flicked his wrist and the orbs morphed into blades before turning into cubes, then pyramids, and back to spheres. The door opened, startling Jaune and causing his aura balls to disperse.
"We got tickets kid. Tickets to Vale and it leaves in one hour," Maria said.
"How did you?" Jaune asked as she waved them around.
"I told you. People owe me favors," Maria said. "Now let's go. Your sister said that your funeral starts in four hours and Beacon is two hours flight from here," Maria said.
Jaune and Nyx gave each other a look before she hopped into Jaune's arms and he hid her in his hoodie. Making sure that he left nothing behind, Jaune followed after Maria and Mae.
Jaune flipped his hood on and took out a bottle of pills from his carry on. Motion sickness pills. He had bought some before the flight.
"I like your dog," Jaune looked up and saw a little boy sitting across from them on the airbus.
"Thanks," Jaune said.
"What's her name?" the boy asked.
"Nyx," Jaune said as Nyx stuck her head outside of Jaune's hoodie.
Thankfully, the boy's mother grabbed him before he could talk anymore and Jaune leaned back against his chair. He yawned and felt the side effects of the motion sickness pills come into effect. As the airbus took off, Jaune faded into sleep.
Jaune opened his eyes to the loud clamoring of weapons and people. His eyes snapped open when he saw them. An entire army of people wielding various weapons. Their clothing was strange, ancient even. At the head of the army stood a woman. She threw a fireball at him and as she did the rest of them attacked him as well.
Acting purely on instinct, Jaune raised his hand to defend himself, forcing all the attacks to gather into his hand. It was at this moment that Jaune did not feel like himself.
Think like himself.
He felt anger. Betrayal.
How dare they!? After everything, he had done for them! This is how they repay him!
As he was about to retaliate, his dream was shattered.
"Jaune! We're here," Mae said as she shook him awake.
Jaune groaned as he opened his eyes. He saw Mae's golden ones looking into his own. Nodding, Jaune pulled her off him and got up.
"Let's go, kid," Maria said. They got off the bus after grabbing their carry-ons and walked out. Jaune immediately grabbed a cloak that he had bought from Aurbis and wrapped it around himself, making sure to hide his face in the shadow of the hood.
"You look suspicious, kid," Maria commented.
"At least no one will see," he said.
She shrugged and motioned for Jaune to lead the way.
"Alice said that it would be in the Auditorium so we just need to go there and stand as far away as possible and then follow them to the 'burial'," Jaune said.
"Burial?" Maria questioned.
"They're burning a picture of me at the cliffs and letting the ashes scatter," he said.
"Ah," Maria said. The four walked into the auditorium and the first thing Jaune saw was people. Lots and lots of people.
"Huh, I didn't expect this many people to show up," Jaune said as he listened to Ozpin's speech.
"Why? Did these people hate you or something?" Maria asked him.
"Kinda. I sorta snuck in here with forged transcripts," Jaune answered.
"At least you tried to do something to help others. When I look at these students, all I see is a bunch of kids trying to live a fantasy," Maria said. "You know back then, a license wasn't really all that needed to hunt. All you needed was a weapon, aura, and your semblance and then went out there and killed Grimm," she said.
Jaune nodded and looked out over the crowd. He spotted Team RWBY, his sister, and Team JNPR up at the front.
"Now for the eulogy. Miss Nikos here will be delivering Mister Arc's eulogy," Ozpin said. Pyrrha nodded and made her way up to the podium with a piece of paper in hand. She stood there and nervously looked out over the crowd. In the front, Jaune's family and Weiss's mother and sister all smiled at her.
"Ahem. We have lost someone. We lost a great friend. A great student. And a great aspiring hunter. And to me, I lost someone I hold dear. Jaune was a great person in his lifetime. He loved to help others. Never looked down on others for being different," Pyrrha said.
In the crowd, the Faunus students chorused in agreement with her words, no louder than Velvet herself.
"Let's be honest here. Jaune was someone none of us deserved to know. He did nothing to us and all he wanted to do was help. But apparently, this school lacks heroes and only fosters villains," she said, causing the students to become angered at her words.
"Don't be angry. You know I'm right. You all came here for the fantasy life of being a hunter. A hunter. A hunter should help people like Jaune wanted to. Not live a life where being a hunter means being above everyone else. Jaune was an example to us, to his… I guess you could call them friends, and to me. I never got to tell him how I feel so I'll say this now in hopes that it will reach him wherever he is," Pyrrha said.
"He's probably in hell!" Dove shouted only to be grabbed by one of Alice's aura arms and have his head brutally slammed into the floor, knocking him out and giving him a concussion.
Pyrrha ignored it and continued.
"Jaune Miles arc. Wherever you are, I hope you're listening to me. I love you," she confessed.
In the back, Jaune's eyes grew comically wide. Pyrrha loved him? All this time, she loved him. His heart skipped a beat as he kept staring at her. Ever since he gave up on Weiss, he had been developing feelings for her and they only grew stronger after she stood by him and now… he had confirmation.
"I love you, Jaune," Pyrrha said as tears began to flow from her eyes freely. Alice looked at her partner with conflicted emotions. She should have told her. A prodding in her mind caused her to look at the back of the room. Her eyes widened when she saw him, sending her one of their signs. She signed back discreetly and he nodded.
"Now, a spring without you in it is coming," Pyrrha said as she walked off the stage. Everyone was silent as Pyrrha sobbed quietly in her chair. Alice rubbed her back and sent her twin a look that said: "Tell her or else."
The funeral proceeded with several more people giving their own piece on Jaune. Jaune smiled when he heard his mother talk about his first training session with her. The biggest shock for the entire school that drove the final nail of guilt into the coffin of their despair was Alice's revelation. She revealed to the whole school that she and her older sisters helped Jaune get into Beacon and she would have come too but it would have been suspicious.
Nora and Ren's faces twisted in grief and Weiss's calm facade shattered. Yang looked down, unable to look up, while Blake looked on in shock. Ruby glanced at Pyrrha, who had stopped crying and she looked at Alice. The girl went on to berate the entire school for getting pissed over something so small when they were willing to accept horrible people into their ranks. After Alice's rant, the entire school gathered at the cliffs as the burning of Jaune's picture began. A sort of way to scatter his ashes since they had no ashes to scatter.
Pyrrha watched silently as Jaune's picture slowly crinkled and burned. In the distance, Jaune, Maria, and Mae watched the event silently. After some final words and blessings, courtesy of Ozpin, the student body and staff dispersed. Team RWBY went to go deal with their guilt and grief in their dorm. Ren and Nora walked up to Pyrrha and Alice.
"Pyrrha," Ren said.
"I need to be alone," she answered. Alice looked at her and nodded as she dragged Ren and Nora away.
Jeanne and Sieg walked up to the Spartan. Pyrrha looked at them with grief-stricken dead eyes and the two looked at her sadly.
"I know that he's watching over you," Jeanne said.
Pyrrha nodded. Sieg pulled something from his pocket and handed it to Pyrrha. "Here," he said, holding out the object. Pyrrha grabbed it and saw that it was the Arc Family Symbol.
"As far as we're concerned, you've earned a place in our family," Sieg said.
"Thank you," Pyrrha told them.
"We'll see you back at the academy," Jeanne said as she and her husband walked off.
Pyrrha stood there, staring out over the cliff for what seemed like hours. Jaune, who just stood there, finally gathered the courage to talk to her and pulled Nyx from his hoodie and handed it to Mae.
"Gonna talk to her?" Maria asked.
"Yeah," Jaune said as he walked. Thinking about what he wanted to say, Jaune decided to not say anything at all. As he got closer, only one thought went through his mind.
Now or never, he thought. As he stood behind her, Jaune grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around.
Pyrrha's eyes widened when she felt herself being grabbed and turned to face in the opposite direction. Anger clouded her mind when the person doing it planted their lips on hers. She slammed her fist into their gut, causing them to stumble back a little.
"I deserved that…," the stranger groaned. "Man, couldn't you have at least pulled your punch," he said. Pyrrha approached him. She recognized that voice.
The man stood straight and took his hood off.
Pyrrha's eyes widened when she saw him.
"Hey, Pyr. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you," Jaune said. Pyrrha shook as she looked at him. He was here before her. And he was alive.
No, this is a dream. A horrible messed up dream, Pyrrha thought.
"Pyr?" Jaune said, worried.
"Stop…," she sobbed out. "Please stop. I know he's dead. Please stop showing me him," Pyrrha said.
"Pyrrha, I'm alive. See, ah fuck it," Jaune said as he placed his lips on hers again.
Pyrrha's eyes grew wide once more when she felt Jaune's lips on her own. Her heart threatened to jump out of her chest as she felt elation on a level she never knew was possible. This was real. She was sure now. Jaune was alive. And he felt the same. Pyrrha leaned into the kiss.
They were together again.
Well, that's that. Yes, the kamas won but... who can figure out why I suddenly introduced Siderite into the play. If you can, I'll PM you about what I plan with it! For those of you who were wondering why I made Willow Jaune's godmother and why he doesn't know she's a Schnee, it's because she stopped visiting after Weiss was born and she needed to protect her from her husband. And yes, Winter knows Jaune's sister, Vert. And Pyrrha's speech is based on Kaori's letter from *starts crying* Y- Your Lie in April. ;_;. I just rewatched the entire thing and am currently questioning why I'm torturing myself. Anyway, Jaune's semblance is called Thaumiel. By the way, a heads up, there will be a timeskip after the next chapter so be prepared for that. Because for one I don't feel like rewriting every episode of RWBY leading up to Vol 3. And two, I'm pretty sure that we should focus more on Jaune's journey soooo... yeah. Anyway, review, review review! Also, follow/fav if you enjoyed. And remember, have a great day/night or not the choice is yours.