Chapter 9: Dust to Dust
"This is Lisa Lavender with Vale News Network. We interrupt this broadcast with breaking news."
"Last night, at 2AM, the White Fang launched a successful attack against a SDC ship with a sizable amount of dust, valued in the millions."
"Eyewitnesses claim that Huntsman Qrow Branwen was on the scene, and was able to subdue the White Fang, but was unable to prevent the destruction of the dust, along with the death of SDC employee Harold Marigold."
"Unconfirmed reports suggest that the notorious criminal Roman Torchwick, thought to have died at the Miracle at Beacon, was present as well, and was fighting alongside Mr. Branwen."
"The White Fang has claimed responsibility for the attack, and is claiming that this is only the beginning, and that they will not rest until Beacon Academy is ash."
"It appears a war is about to start in Vale, perhaps it is good that Atlas has sent a peacekeeping force, led by none other than Winter Schnee. Perhaps their presence will only galvanize the White Fang."
"Only time will tell."
(Beacon Academy)
The days were starting to blur together. How long had it been since this mess started? If Jaune looked at a calendar, it would tell him that it had only been two weeks.
It felt like so much longer, it felt like months.
As soon as the fighting had begun, Ozpin immediately limited missions to third and fourth years, citing that they had the experience in dealing with rapidly changing mission conditions. He privately told teams RWBY and JNR that their time would come, and to keep busy.
So, that's what they did.
Classes were cancelled, mostly because no one could focus, not even their professors.
The first and second years made themselves busy, with training and helping where they could. As they had after the Miracle of Beacon, teams RWBY and JNR distinguished themselves with how they took charge, allowing the professors to direct their attention elsewhere.
Every bullet, every weapon, and every speck of dust in Beacon Academy's inventory had become a resource in the war against the White Fang, and needed to be managed accordingly. So, who better was there to manage it than Ruby and Weiss?
The White Fang's tactics were nebulous at best, and chaotic at worst. Luckily, the defenders of Vale and Beacon had angels on their shoulders. With Roman and Neo working behind the scenes to ferret out what the White Fang's next move was going to be, while Ilia and Blake used every bit of knowledge they had about the White Fang to prepare those that were fighting.
With any war, there were always casualties, and there were always refugees. As a result, the dance hall had been turned into a makeshift refugee camp. Yang, Ren, Nora, and Jaune took charge, all for their own reasons. Yang, for no other reason than "her big sister senses were tingling."
Ren and Nora had started helping after the White Fang had hit a dust shop that had been next to an orphanage. The orphanage had unfortunately been damaged enough to warrant the evacuation of the kids to Beacon, and Ren and Nora, knowing full well what those kids were going through, had stepped up to make sure that they felt safe.
Then there was Jaune. An inevitable part of war is loss, and for many of those dealing with it, it was the first time. And Jaune was there to help them through it, after all, if there was anyone at Beacon who was intimately familiar with the loss of a loved one, it was Jaune.
Then, events were set in motion that would change the lives of Jaune Arc and Weiss Schnee forevermore.
(Beacon Academy, Courtyard)
Jaune Arc was enjoying something that was a luxury in these trying times. A day off. That didn't mean he was slacking off, though, there was training to be done.
He was currently in the courtyard, running through some drills that Weiss had devised with the help of team CFVY's Yatsutashi to improve Jaune's two-handed attacks and blocks, both in normal mode and in greatsword mode. (Which Weiss still insisted on calling Sword-sword, much to Yatsu's quiet amusement.)
His scroll buzzed.
Jaune pulled it out. His dad was calling.
"Hey, dad, what's up?" Jaune said, only mildly out of breath.
"I didn't catch you at a bad time did I? You sound winded." Reign-Beau asked.
Jaune waved him off, even with his father's acceptance of Jaune's pursuit of being a Huntsman, Reign-Beau could still be... protective. "No worries, dad. I was just running through some drills that Weiss and another classmate made for me to help with my two-handed stuff."
Reign-Beau nodded, "Oh, good, you've started to work on that. Good, that's good."
Jaune raised an eyebrow, "Dad, it's not like you to beat around the bush or make small talk. What's up?"
"Two things, Jaune." Reign-Beau said, "Thing one, I'm coming out of retirement."
"Holy crap, dad. Are things that bad?"
Reign-Beau shook his head, "No, but Ozpin and the rest of the council want to call in support now, just in case the White Fang manage to cut off access to the city."
"Which leads me to the other thing," Reign-Beau continued, "Jaune, you're in the middle of a war."
"I'm aware." Jaune deadpanned.
Reign-Beau leaned into closer, "Yes. Yes, you are, Jaune. You know what that means."
Jaune's eyes went wide. "Dad, are you saying what I think you're saying?"
The Arc patriarch nodded, "You need to take the Knight's Oath."
The Knight's Oath was an Arc family tradition for whenever an Arc went off to war. It was a series of promises that, among other things, that the oath-taker would fight with honor and that they would be the shield for those who are defenseless.
There was just one problem, because of how the Arc family was ever so dedicated to their history of being hopeless romantics, since Weiss would be fighting alongside him, she needed to take the Oath with him.
And as far as the Arc family history would be concerned from that moment onward, Weiss would be an Arc, and the two of them would be...
Married. There wasn't any legality behind it, so it would only be de facto, but the fact remained...
"Dad, you know which version I'm going to take." Jaune said. He was proud of the fact that his voice didn't waver.
"I know, Jaune. I wouldn't expect anything less."
Jaune took a breath to center himself, "I need to talk this over with Weiss, it's a big step, after all."
Reign-Beau nodded, "I'll be in Vale in a few days or a week, depending on White Fang entanglements. We'll talk more then."
"Right, see you then, dad." Jaune said. He hung up, then quickly found a nearby bench.
This is going to change everything, gods, how do I even tell her?
The answer came to him almost immediately, like a slap to the face. It was infuriatingly simple, really. He'd just tell her, and let her make her own decision. That's what their relationship has boiled down to after they had gotten past the "Jaune is in so much pain, he needs help" phase.
First, he needed to go to the library, he needed to know more about the Atlesian social rule that Weiss had used to get Jacques off their backs.
With any luck, there was some part of it that said that hey had to get married or something.
Jaune laughed, there was no way that was possible. It sounded like something out of a cheesy romance movie!
(Beacon Academy, Library)
Jaune was now completely convinced that his life was a cheesy romance movie. It had taken what felt like hours, but he had found it, and his suspicions were confirmed.
Protection of the Starcrossed Lovers: One of the first anti-arranged marriage rules to be put in place, it is meant to make it so that when a member of a high-class family falls in love with a member of the lower-class that neither of their families can force, manipulate, or coerce them into breaking off the relationship.
Jaune skimmed until he found what he had been looking for.
"Holy shit." Jaune whispered.
Before a couple invokes the Protection of the Starcrossed Lovers, they must be absolutely sure that marriage is their end goal. If they do not get married within five years of the day that they claimed Starcrossed Lovers, then it is null and void.
Jaune sat back in his chair. That meant since the beginning, Weiss had always intended...
Before Jaune could do anything else, an alarm sounded, then an announcement from Ozpin came over the PA system.
"Team RWBY and team JNR, report to the mission briefing room, team RWBY and team JNR report to the mission briefing room."
Jaune shot out of the library like a rocket, he'd have to talk to Weiss about the Knight's Oath later, because right now, they had a job to do.
(Beacon Academy, Mission Briefing Room)
The atmosphere in the briefing room was electric, this would be their first official action in the war with the White Fang.
"We have received word that that the White Fang is going to attempt to attack Vale's main square in an attempt to destroy Dust to Dust." Ozpin said.
"No..." Ruby whimpered, "Not that one..."
Ruby's protests were more than sentimental, Dust to Dust was the only dust shop in town that wasn't price gouging, or adding risk surcharges. It was the only shop left that many Beacon students could afford to shop at.
If it fell, it was only a matter of time until the White Fang marched on Beacon Academy.
Ozpin took a sip of his hot chocolate, then explained."The Vale Council is currently unable to give the ship owner the level of protection he is requesting without compromising other areas of the city, which is why you are being sent."
Jaune raised his hand, "Why us, specifically?"
Ozpin grimaced, "Because we do not yet have a decisive victory over the White Fang, something that the White Fang's propagandaists are not letting people forget, and the Council wants to change that."
"They want to use us as symbols." Blake said.
Well, that was worrying.
"Any word on if Adam is going to crash the party?" Yang asked.
Ozpin inclined his head at Yang, "An excellent question, Roman thinks no. He hasn't appeared in person yet, and we don't think he will for a while."
"Adam doesn't strike me as someone who would expose himself to danger unless he was absolutely sure of victory." Ren said.
"When do we go crack some skulls, then?" Nora asked.
Ozpin looked at her with a wry smile on his face.
"Now, Miss Valkyrie."
(Vale, Main Square, Dust to Dust)
"What do you think, Jaune?" Ruby asked.
Instead of planning their strategy for protecting Dust to Dust, Jaune's mind was elsewhere. Which wasn't surprising to him, considering the implications he was pondering.
How do I even bring this up? "Hey, Weiss, since we're both fighting in this war, because of my family's traditions we have to kinda get married." Oh, yeah, that'll go over real well...
"Remnant to Jaune, come in Jaune!" Ruby said.
Jaune shook his head to force himself back to reality. "Sorry, Ruby. I've just got a lot on my mind."
"You're worried about what'll happen if Adam shows up, aren't you?" Ruby asked gently, in a way only Ruby could.
"Something like that, Ruby." Jaune said, "But I can't control whether he shows up or not, so I'm going to focus on what I can control, you know?"
"Like how we're going to defend Dust to Dust?" Ruby said pointedly.
Jaune rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "Yeah, that..." Jaune went silent as Commander Jaune took over. His eyes darted around, checking the angles, the access points, and coming up with the best way to...
"Alright, I think we should have Yang and Nora out front, they're the muscle, and arguably the most approachable, so they'll put people at ease. Ruby, I want you on overwatch, if you see anything that even looks like the White Fang, I want everyone to know."
Ruby nodded, so far it had seemed that they had come to the same conclusion. "Let me guess," Ruby said, "Ren and Blake running interference, and you and Weiss inside the shop?"
"Exactly, Ren and Blake can slip through crowds easiest, so they'd be able to spot hidden threats the easiest as well, and with me and Weiss inside, we'll get some good PR shots, probably. Not that we really care about that." Jaune finished.
So it was said, and so it was done. The first couple of hours were incredibly tense, with everyone on edge, expecting an attack at any time. Eventually, they began to mellow out. Ren and Blake spotted some White Fang in the crowd a couple of times, but when approached, they fled.
"They're testing us, probing our defenses. We need to be ready." Blake reported back after the fifth time White Fang scouts fled from her.
As the day went on, the sky became overcast, and rain began to fall in a light drizzle, it was almost the end of their shift, maybe Jaune had been worrying about nothing...
"Well, it's a good thing I sprang for that thermal filter on my scope." Ruby said.
"Why's that, Rubes?" Yang asked, dread beginning to coil in her stomach.
"They're in the clouds. Gunships, dozens of them." Ruby replied.
As if Ruby Rose was a prophet, the White Fang gunships picked that moment to descend and drop off their cargo, which to no one's surprise, was a metric crap ton of White Fang.
There weren't many civilians left in the square by this point, and those that were, ran for cover. They didn't want to end up like that poor man from the docks, and the countless other that had been injured or killed by the White Fang for simply being in the way.
After quickly ushering those that were in Dust to Dust out the back, Jaune and Weiss joined the others out front.
"Ren, call this in." Jaune said hurriedly, "We're going to need backup."
"Lots of backup." Blake said.
The leader of the veritable army of White Fang stepped forward, it was Banesaw again.
"Is this all the city of Vale can muster against us? Children?" Banesaw demanded.
"How's the arm?" Jaune called out.
Banesaw turned to his army and spoke, "Behold the arrogance of the humans! Their rulers foolishly deliver up our most hated enemies to us! We will show them the error of their ways by sending them back in BODY BAGS!"
"Alright, then. If that's how they want to play it..." Jaune said. "Stand your ground, stay alive, hold the line. Try not to kill, but if they give you no other option, do what you have to do."
"CHARGE!" Banesaw yelled. The army of White Fang began to bear down on teams RWBY and JNR, expecting an easy victory. There was just seven of them, after all, how hard could it be?
Famous last words.
"Break their formation!" Jaune yelled, "NORDIC WINTER!"
Nora and Weiss initiated their team attack, Weiss casted a time dilation glyph, and Nora activated Maghnild, electrifying it. Then, quick as a flash, Nora bolted at the White Fang front line, and scattered them like bowling pins.
"Go!" Jaune yelled, trusting his friends to pick their targets.
Ruby and Yang shot forward, propelled by shots from their weapons, they landed near Nora, covering her as she dealt with the slowdown side effects of the time dilation glyph.
Jaune charged, intent on making himself a big a target as possible. He succeeded easily, considering his status as Weiss Schnee's boyfriend.
The nearest White Fang ran at him, brandishing a pistol in one hand, and a machete in the other. "You're dead, Schnee-lover!" He leveled his pistol at Jaune and fired.
Jaune brought his shield up, and the bullets bounced off harmlessly. Jaune retaliated with a shield swipe that knocked the gun away, the White Fang then tried to attack Jaune with his machete, but was once again repelled, this time by a parry and riposte straight out of an Atlesian Fencing textbook.
As he finished off the goon with a pommel strike to head, the part of Jaune's mind that was hyper-focused on his improvement was giddy with happiness.
Of course, that wasn't the part of Jaune that was in the pilot's seat right now.
Meanwhile, Weiss's patience was being tested. There were only so many times she could tolerate hearing "Kill the Schnee bitch!" before losing her temper.
"Oh, be silent!" Weiss said to the most recent offender before she blasted him away with fire dust.
Three more ran at her, weapons practically dripping with murderous intent. Weiss charged Myrtenaster with lightning dust, and stabbed skyward, causing bolts of lightning to arc from the tip to remove her assailants.
"Come on, you jerks!" Nora yelled, "I've got broken legs and cracked skulls for everyone!" Maghnild whirled around her, punishing any White Fang stupid enough to get close enough to be in Whack a White Fang Goon range.
Those that tried to stay at range were quickly met by Ren and Ruby. Whose withering barrages of bullets dissuaded the White Fang from interrupting Nora's rampage.
"Just die already, traitor!" Banesaw roared as another shadow clone burst into flame on impact with his massive chainsaw blade.
"Can't." Blake said, "That would make Yang sad." Suddenly, Yang was just there, hair ablaze, inside the arc of Banesaw's next swing.
"Can confirm." She said, before delivering a semblance powered uppercut, knocking Banesaw back. Blake followed up with an aura slash, breaking Banesaw's aura.
"Surrender, Banesaw! It's over!" Blake demanded.
He shakily got to his feet, supported by his weapon. "You think so? What do you think we've been doing while you're out here fighting us?"
Yang immediately got on the comm, "Someone needs to check the shop! NOW!"
"I'm on it!" Jaune said, after he knocked away a group of White Fang with wind dust.
As he was running for the shop, the comm channel they were using clicked, "Hey, kids, someone call for reinforcements?"
A single bullhead appeared overhead, and out of its hatch spilled Qrow and Professor Goodwitch.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby said.
"Professor Goodwitch!" Weiss cried out.
"Oh, shit." Banesaw said.
Jaune burst through the front door of Dust to Dust, only to find it deserted. Jaune quickly swept through the store, making sure that the White Fang hadn't left any surprises for them. He was about to head to the back, when he heard the voice of the shopkeeper.
"Help! There's a bomb!"
The White Fang really like their bombs, don't they?
Jaune bursted through the door of the storeroom to find the shopkeeper tied to a chair, and a bomb, with a timer ticking down to zero.
Five minutes left.
"We've got a bomb in the shop!" Jaune barked into the comms as he freed the shopkeeper, "I'm gonna try to at least find a way to make it less destructive!"
"How long you got, kid?" Qrow asked.
Jaune spared a glance at the timer as the shopkeeper ran for his life.
Four minutes left.
"Four minutes left!" Jaune said, panic obviously seeping into his voice.
Weiss's voice cut in, like an Angel from on high. "Jaune, try moving the bomb next to some ice dust. When it explodes, it will trigger the dust, freezing it."
"Got it!" Jaune said. As he grabbed the bomb he noticed two things.
Thing one: the bomb was currently nestled in a crate of fire dust crystals.
Thing two: As soon as he moved it, the timer started counting down faster, by his estimation he had about twenty seconds left.
"No one come in, it's gonna blow in seconds!" Jaune yelled into the comm as he made a break for it. He made it back to the store proper, then tripped over a broom handle. He fell, his natural clumsiness taking over at the worst possible time.
No! I can't die here! I won't!
Jaune scrambled to his feet, and made for the door, when he realized...
He wasn't going to make it.
He crashed through the door, and he saw Weiss running towards him, concern and fear plain on her face.
"Get back!" Jaune yelled.
"I love you." He wanted to say.
Then all the world was fire, noise, and pain.
A/N: Oh, my first cliffhanger. Don't worry, I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible, it's going to be GOOD, and I want you guys to have it as soon as possible.
Not much else to say, really. Stay healthy guys.
Next Chapter: Jaune and Weiss talk about their future, Adam goes on TV, and Blake phones a not pyschopathic leader of the White Fang.