A Flame in the Dark
It had been a few months since the beginning of Beacon's latest term. So teams RWBY and JNPR were now halfway through their very first semester. And things were going smoothly for both team.
Despite the rocky start between Ruby and Weiss, the two had seemed to move past whatever hang-ups they had. Ruby was still trying to be the best leader she could be while Weiss was starting to support her as much as she could. Which was a relief for Jaune since he no longer had to worry about deep freezing the Heiress. On the other side of that spectrum, Blake and Yang had very few issues. It honestly shocked him how easily Blake took Yang's antics in stride. Weiss wasn't as lucky and was constantly getting annoyed by his blonde sister but that was just funny for everyone.
Meanwhile, things were going just as well with Jaune and his team. Nora was a boundless supply of energy but after growing up with both Ruby and Yang, it sort of reminded him of those younger years. Also, Nora never failed to make him laugh with her shenanigans. Ren was quiet but not in a standoffish way. He just didn't have much to say. But he knew Ren appreciated the way he treated Nora, so they became fast friends. Pyrrha and him also got along very well. She was nice and polite whenever they would talk or hang out.
They would also spar fairly often. Pyrrha got a kick out of fighting someone like him. Thanks to his dad and Qrow, he pretty much had two different fighting styles and he could mix them together near flawlessly. That always kept her on her toes and she enjoyed the challenge. Although within all their spars, Jaune had never once used his Semblance and any time she would ask him about it, he would just change the subject after telling her to not worry about.
And with the three siblings being on said teams, RWBY and JNPR were together almost all the time. Even more so than any sister team usually would. But no one was against it. This morning was like any other one and the two teams were at their usually table enjoying their breakfast. Nora was regaling them with one of her dreams as Ren corrected her. Blake was reading one of her books while Weiss was on her scroll to keep up with current events. Meanwhile, Yang and Jaune were busy trying to make Ruby actually have a proper breakfast, instead of a plate full of cookies. Pyrrha just watched the siblings as she grinned and giggled.
Jaune turned to her with a raised eyebrow and a grin, "Something funny, partner?"
She placed her hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles and hide the smile. She shook her head, "No."
His grin just grew wider, "You're a terrible liar, you know?"
"Sorry." She apologized, something he noticed she did a lot. She still had her smile as she continued, "It's just you three always act like this. Is this how it was growing up with you all?"
The three looked at each other before Jaune turned back, "Mostly. Although, Yang would sometimes add to Ruby's shenanigans. Which made my job so much more of a pain to do."
"Lies and slander!" Yang said defiantly.
Jaune just raised an eyebrow, "Really? Then what about the time you indulged Ruby into playing superhero. And you decided to run around in a bathing suit and a blanket as a cape. That was all your idea, I might add."
"That sounds fairly normal for a child." Blake stated as she looked over the top of her book at him.
Jaune had the most Cheshire grin as she turned to look at Yang. Who everyone realized had a faint pink decorating her cheeks and a shocked look in her eyes, "Don't you dare." She warned.
"She was thirteen." He added. Everyone just stared in shock as Yang shouted in mortification and leapt over the table to tackle her brother. The two crashed off the bench and onto the floor. She then pulled him into a headlock as her entire face was a deep red, "You are such a jerk!" Everyone around them was now staring down at the siblings wrestling on the ground. Or one trying to kill the other. Was hard to tell.
Meanwhile, Jaune was tapping on his sister's forearm in an attempt to tap out. "Yang… can't… breathe…" he managed to gasp out.
They all looked on in concern except for Ruby. She just sighed to herself before she looked at her sister, "Yang, stop trying to kill Jaune."
"But he just embarrassed the hell out of me!" she whined as she tightened the grip she had on him.
"And you do it to us all the time." Ruby told her with a deadpanned expression. "This is karma so let him go."
Yang just looked at her sister before she eventually huffed and let her brother go. He took in a deep breathe before he started coughing. Yang got up and stomped back over to her seat as Jaune just laid on the floor trying to regain his breathe. "I love you, Ruby…"
Ruby just smiled at him, "Love you too." She then picked up one of the cookies that Jaune had taken from her. "I will take this as payment." She said cheerfully as she took a bite from the baked good.
Jaune just sighed as he pulled himself back onto his seat next to Pyrrha. He gave a look to everyone that was still watching them and they quickly turned away since the show was over. He then turned back to his partner, who was just looking at him in bewilderment. "So, yeah, pretty much normal for us, Pyrrha."
Pyrrha just looked them all over. Jaune trying to not die, Yang still pouting at what Jaune said and Ruby happily eating her cookie. "How did you even survive?"
He just shrugged, "We Xiao Longs and Roses are tough." He answered simply.
"Hey, Jaune!" Nora shouted from the end of their side of their table.
Jaune leant forward to better see the bomber of his team, "Yes, Nora?"
"How come you and Yang have different last names than Ruby?" she asked.
That took him off guard since it had been months since they met each other and she was just bringing it up now. He took a look around the table and his non-family members had similar curious looks. It appeared to be something they were all interested in knowing but none of them had broached the topic until now.
Jaune looked over to his sisters, who had stopped what they were doing when they heard Nora's question. He just raised an eyebrow and the two looked at each other. They looked back and shrugged, neither against him explaining it. So with their agreeance, he turned back to the table as a whole. "Well, Yang took our dad's last name because of reasons I don't want to go into." He was not going to bring up Yang's mom and the fact she ran off on her, that wasn't their business right now. "Unfortunately, Ruby's mom passed away when they were young and Ruby decided she wanted to have her last name instead. As a way to always have her with her."
That gained shocked looks from everyone and they all turned to Ruby, each with a different level of sadness on their faces. Ruby saw this and gave them a sad smile, "It's fine. It happened a long time ago. I still miss her but I'm better now." She looked at Yang then Jaune, "I had my siblings and Dad and Uncle Qrow." She smiled widened into a more genuine one. Yang smiled and wrapped her in a side hug while Jaune reached across the table and took her hand in his own.
Everyone smiled at the sibling's little moment before Pyrrha picked up where Nora left off. "So, why did you decide to go by Xiao Long?"
Jaune took his hand back from Ruby and shrugged, "Well, I never knew Summer. So, I really had no choice but to be a Xiao Long."
"Wait, why didn't you know Summer? You're the same age as Yang." Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.
He raised his own before the thought came to him and he facepalmed. "Known each other for months and we never told you guys."
"Told us what?" Blake added, now more interested in the conversation.
Jaune dragged his hand down his face before he sighed. "Well it never really bothered us but the truth is, Ruby, Yang and I aren't really related." That earned him a few confused expressions before he quickly finished. "I'm adopted."
That floored everyone for several seconds. Until Nora spoke up, "How?! You and Yang look so much like each other."
"Not to mention that Jaune looks like a younger version of our dad." Yang added with a smirk. She always enjoyed the looks of shock people would get when they eventually found out about this little fact.
They all turned back to Jaune with looks that just screamed, 'explain'. He just shrugged, "Yeah, no. I'm not Taiyang's son. Biologically, that is. I was adopted when I was seven but I've never been treated as anything less than their son or brother. But anyways, when I needed a last name I chose my dad's because I never knew Summer Rose."
He scratched the back of his head nervously, "It just didn't seem right to take the name of a woman I never knew and who didn't even knew I existed. She was Ruby and Yang's mom. Not mine." He quickly turned back to his sisters, "And I know, I know. You've both told me time and again that Summer would've loved me and I appreciate that. But still."
The two just smiled at their brother and the other's just looked them over. Surprisingly, Ren was the person to ask a follow up question. "Do you remember your original family?"
Ruby and Yang looked nervous for a second, knowing that subject could be touchy to Jaune. Luckily, he just shook his head, "Nothing at all. Honestly, most of my early life is a blur before I met Yang and Ruby. Could be trauma but I don't know for sure. But honestly, I've put that behind me. I don't expect to ever run into my first family. And if I do…" he shrugged, "I guess I'll deal with that if it comes up." He just grinned at Ren who nodded back.
"Now, as much as I love to talk about family…" Jaune started to get them onto another topic. "Who's excited for class?"
Weiss started to answer, prim and proper as usual. "I'm looking forward to seeing what Professor Port and Oobleck have in store for us. It should be quite informative."
"Boring!" Nora answered immediately. "I'm looking forward to Combat class! I wanna go crazy!" That caused many people at the other tables to look panicked at her outburst.
Ren sighed, "Just don't go too crazy, Nora. If you keep causing too much destruction, Professor Goodwitch may start to give you detention."
Nora just pouted as she stuck a full pancake in her mouth, "Spoilsport." She muttered through it.
That made Jaune chuckle, "Cheer up, Nora. Combat class should be a bit more exciting today." He said with a knowing grin as he brought his coffee mug up to his lips.
That caught everyone's attention except for Pyrrha, who seemed to be enjoying the remainder of her breakfast. Yang was the one to ask, "Alright, what are you two planning?"
Jaune just looked to his sister, "Me? Planning something? Would I do something like that?" he said with a grin.
"Yes." Yang and Ruby answered without a beat of hesitation. The reaper then continued, "Come on, Big Bro, tell us what you have planned." She tried giving him the puppy eyes but luckily, he built up a tolerance to them over the years. Not immunity but he could resist it much longer than their dad.
"Sorry, sis. But my lips are sealed." He told her and she pouted. "But, I will say that there should be an interesting fight today." He gave a sideways look to Pyrrha. "Right, Pyrrha?"
She smiled at him and nodded, "I would say so, Jaune."
The way they were acting had Yang and Ruby narrow their eyes at Pyrrha in jealously. Yang quickly took a deep breath to calm down before she did something stupid. Wasn't the first time she needed to do this. 'Don't blow up. That won't do anyone any good.'
While Ruby shook her head and looked down in confusion, wondering, 'Why did I do that?' She had done nothing like that beforehand and was honestly confused. Sure, she wasn't thrilled with people, mostly girls, hanging too much with her brother. But she never had felt like this before.
Before anyone could question them further, the bell went off and signaled that their first classes would begin soon. Jaune and Pyrrha walked out together as they chatted like nothing had happened. With the rest of their team and sister team quickly following after them. Trying to stop them and make them reveal their plans.
This was going to be a long day for them.
The rest of the day was spent with Ruby, Yang and Nora all asking Jaune and/or Pyrrha what they were planning, on and off all day. But they had no such luck on getting anything out of the partners. Jaune would just grin and Pyrrha would just apologize but give nothing away.
Luckily, the other three of their merry band didn't ask them about it as well. But Jaune had the feeling that Ren and Blake either didn't care as much or were just patiently waiting for Combat class. Probably accepting the fact that Jaune and Pyrrha were going to stay tight lipped about this. Weiss though, they could all tell she was curious but was just trying to act like she was anything but. Which just made it more amusing to Jaune.
Eventually, which seemed to be entirely too long for four people, it was time for Combat class and they all eagerly made their way to Goodwitch's class. But even while they were sitting there, neither of the partners would tell them what was going on.
They got their answer when class started and Goodwitch walked out with her scroll, "Good afternoon, everyone. Now today's lesson will begin a bit differently than most. I was approached earlier in the week by a pair of students-" RWBY, Ren and Nora all looked at Jaune and Pyrrha with that. "And they had requested a unique fight. I was against it at first but after looking it over, I believe it will be a good learning experience for everyone here."
"So, without any more delays." Goodwitch looked over to the partners. "Can I have Miss Nikos, Mister Xiao Long and Miss Xiao Long come down here for their two-on-one bout?"
Everyone was stunned and looked over to the three mentioned students. Yang was just as stunned as everyone and stared at her brother, "You want me to fight you and Pyrrha?"
Jaune chuckled, "No. I want you to help me fight Pyrrha." He corrected.
Her eyes widened a bit more in realization before she had the biggest smile stretch across her lips, "So, that's what you had planned." She laughed slightly. "Okay. I'll forgive you for this morning since this totally makes up for it." She gently punched him on the shoulder before all three got up and made their way to their respective locker rooms.
The whole room devolved into the students chatting about what they were about to see. Weiss just sighed, "That is what they had planned? Well, it should be interesting but I believe Pyrrha will still win."
"You sure about that, Weiss?" Blake asked her teammate.
She nodded, "Taking nothing away from Yang or Jaune but Pyrrha is the most skilled first year. And we've seen her beat both of them. Even with the numbers advantage, I still believe that she will win." She then heard Ruby giggle and she shot a glare over to her partner. "What's so funny, Ruby."
She just turned to her partner with a grin on her lips, "You know a lot about Pyrrha but you don't know anything about Jaune and Yang back at Signal." Weiss just had a look that told her to explain. "Our Dad is a professor there and he would occasionally set up team spars, to help the students get used to working with a team before going to any of the Academies. Early on, he paired up Jaune and Yang but he had to stop doing that all together not long after."
That made everyone confused, "What, did Yang not work well with Jaune?" Blake asked her.
Ruby shook her head, "Nope. They worked too well together. Every fight they had together, they won it. By a landslide. It got to the point that the entire school started to call them 'The Unbeatable Duo'."
"The Unbeatable Duo!?" Nora said in awe.
Ruby nodded, "Yup." She said popping the 'p' as she looked back down to the ring. "So Pyrrha is hopefully prepared because it's not going to be easy."
Weiss just stared ta her partner before looking down to the ring as well. The three fighters were starting to come out at that time. "I guess we'll see."
The Xiao Long siblings were standing across from Pyrrha as they were stretching. Yang linked her finger together before stretching her arms above her head. "So, how'd you convince Pyrrha to do this?"
Jaune was knelt down and stretching his legs out as he answered, "I didn't. I told Pyrrha me and you were a great team back at Signal. She wanted a better challenge besides just me sparring her. So, she jumped at the opportunity." He stood tall and turned back to her, "Didn't ask you because I knew you'd be psyched to do it."
She grinned back, "You know me so well." She then looked to Pyrrha, "Who goes first?" Jaune just held up a fist and Yang nodded. They did a single round of Rock, Paper, Scissors with Yang winning with Rock. "Sorry, Bro. Better luck next time."
Jaune just rolled his eyes with a grin. He honestly let Yang win. She didn't realize it but Jaune knew that she used Rock three-fifths of the time. "Let's do this." He replied simply. With a quick flick of their wrists, both Ember Celica and Glacies Tempest fully deployed themselves. They then lowered into near identical boxing stances. Pyrrha also got into her stance, Akouo in front with Milo in xiphos form behind her. With that, the entire room quieted down.
"This will be a tournament style fight. However, if either Miss or Mister Xiao Long's aura goes below red or are thrown from the ring, Miss Nikos will win. Both sides ready?" Goodwitch asked. And after receiving three nods, continued. "Begin!"
As soon as the match started, Yang used her gauntlets to launch herself but not at Pyrrha. She used the discharges to fly up into the air, stunning everyone besides Ruby. Pyrrha was temporarily distracted and when her eyes went back to her partner, she had to raise her shield to stop the salvo of ice Dust coming her way.
Jaune had his right arm fully extended and wasn't showing any sign of stopping. Pyrrha couldn't stick around though, her shield was already getting covered in a sheet of ice. She threw herself to the side and landed on her shield to break the ice before continuing to roll into a kneeling position. During that, she had shifted Milo into its rifle form and took aim at Jaune. That's when she heard the battle cry and a shotgun blast from above.
Pyrrha looked up to see Yang had used one blast of her weapon to send her towards her opponent and was about to come down on top of her with a power packed punch. Pyrrha quickly jumped backwards to avoid the brawler. The air that was displaced from Yang's fist smashing into the ring helped to create more distance between them. Pyrrha took aim at Jaune while still flying back, firing three quick shots.
Jaune quickly crossed his arms to protect himself from the bullets but his aura did take a hit from it. With him distracted, Pyrrha shifted her weapon back into a xiphos and charged towards Yang when her feet touched the ground. The champion came down with a downward slash but Yang managed to stop the blade with her gauntlet. The brawler then followed it up with a right jab but Pyrrha stopped it with the use of her shield. They were in a mild power struggle before Yang fired a shot directly on the shield. The discharge pushing the two of them away from each other.
The two quickly charged at one another and soon devolved into a standstill. Every punch Yang threw was either caught on the champion's shield or was made to barely miss her with the use of her Polarity. Meanwhile Pyrrha's sword slashes were either stopped by the brawler's gauntlets or knocked away with a wide swing from her. But Yang couldn't keep it up forever and slowly, Pyrrha was taking control of the exchange.
Jaune lowered his arms and saw the two of them fighting. He quickly drew Stalwart and deployed it to its full length before charging towards Pyrrha, making sure Yang was between the champion and him. When he was close enough, he shouted, "Tag!" And as soon as Yang heard it, she threw herself to the side as Jaune stepped into her place with an upward swing from his sword. Pyrrha managed to lock her blade with his to stop it.
The two pulled their respective blades away before devolving into an exchange of slashes, the sound of metal on metal was filling the arena. With Pyrrha distracted, Yang rolled herself back onto her feet before she maneuvered herself to get a side angle on Pyrrha before launching a flurry of her fire Dust ammo. Too bad Pyrrha heard it and pushed Jaune away with a kick before spinning and placing her shield to defend herself. Her arms shook from the impacts but was relatively fine. That was until Yang changed her target and blasted the ground at her feet, sending the champion off her feet and in the path of the sword user.
Jaune pulled the trigger of his sword as he delivered another upward swing, releasing a wave of ice directly towards his flying partner. Seeing the incoming attack, Pyrrha managed to spin herself so she landed feet first onto the ice wave. She git her teeth as her aura took a hit from the sudden deceleration. She let the ice wave carry her for a few seconds before she launched herself off it and back towards Yang. She shifted her weapon into its spear form before throwing it at her. Not prepared, the spear bit into Yang's aura and pushed her back several feet.
What neither noticed was Jaune running on the top of his ice wave towards Pyrrha, who had just landed in a three-point stance on the ground. He leapt off the ice and pulled his left arm backwards before descending down onto the champion. Imitating his sister with his own battle cry. She managed to spin to catch his punch but the ice explosion still sent her skidding across the floor and weakening her aura further.
Yang took her chance to run towards and tried to pounce onto her with a combo of punches. Pyrrha got hit by two before she managed to recover. Yang's next punch went wide with the use of her Polarity and Pyrrha stepped in and shield bashed the brawler back. She used the opportunity and distraction to pull her spear back to her. She quickly delivered a flurry of stabs before she stabbed the spear head into the ground. She kicked herself off Yang to spin herself around it and gain momentum before driving both her feet into Yang and sending her flying backwards.
Jaune saw this and quickly used his aura to launch himself into his sister's path. He threw his sword behind them and it managed to impale into the ground as he was doing so. He turned back and caught Yang in his arms, her back against his chest. As the two continued to fly back, Jaune landed on Stalwart: one foot on the guard and the other on the broadside of the blade. They slowed down slightly as the sword started to cut into the ground.
"Yang, finish it!" Jaune commanded and let go of her. Yang narrowed her eyes and she tilted forward and placed her feet on her brother's now crossed arms. Jaune pushed forward as Yang pushed off him, along with firing another pair of discharges form her gauntlets; all equaling her flying towards Pyrrha. The force pushed Jaune back and knocked his sword from the ground, making him fly towards the out of bounds. But he saw Yang flying towards Pyrrha with her Semblance activated. Looking like a golden comet. She collided with Pyrrha and creating an impressive spiderweb cracking across the ring. But it didn't force her out of the ring; most likely she used her Polarity to help brace herself. But her aura took a big hit.
Jaune shook himself from watching his sister in awe and quickly realized he was almost out of the ring. He quickly aimed for the very edge and started to fire at it with his right Glacies Tempest since he had no chance to reload his left. He fired the last few of his clip but the wall he made was no where big or thick enough to stop himself.
"This is going to suck." He told himself as he quickly used his arms to shield his head as his body broke through the ice and landed on the ground with a meaty slap. He groaned in pain. "Ouch." He hissed out before the ring out alarm went off and ending the match.
"Mister Xiao Long has been thrown from the ring, Miss Nikos wins." Goodwitch announced. With that, the rest of the class was applauding for the spectacle that fight was.
Jaune groaned as he sat up on the floor. "Jaune!" He looked over to see that Yang was running over to him. She jumped down and was by his side, while Pyrrha was running over to him as well. "Are you alright?"
He gave them both a small smile and a thumbs up, "Just sore. But damn, that was a close fight. Nearly had you, Pyrrha."
She nodded with a smile, "If you didn't get a ring out, I'm not sure if I would've been able to beat you two."
Yang gave a sigh, "That sucks. If I didn't kick off you so hard, we might've won."
"Or maybe you would've launched yourself from the ring?" Jaune teased and she punched him on the shoulder with a grin. The three shared a laugh before Goodwitch came over to go over their match. But they all had enjoyed themselves and maybe they could do it again later down the line.
Jaune was currently in the locker room, returning his weaponry to his locker. The entire time he had a content smile on his face. It had been a long time since he had a fight like that and even longer since he could team up with Yang. As he was changing back into his uniform, he heard someone else enter the locker room. 'Goodwitch must have called for the next fight. Wouldn't want to be the follow up after that.' He chuckled to himself.
While deep in thought, the person walked up behind him. "Well, fancy meeting you here, Jauney Boy."
He turned around while knotting his tie to see that it was none other that Cardin Winchester. He had seen him around campus but never really talked to him. But considering how he treated a lot of people, he wasn't in a hurry to. But he wasn't one to just blow someone off. "Oh, hey, Cardin. You get called for the next match?" he asked politely.
He nodded with a cocky smile, "Yup. Should be pretty easy. My opponent is a loser."
With that, the conversation was ruined for Jaune. He grabbed his blazer and slid his arms through it. "Well, good luck then. I should get back before the Professor gets annoyed." He turned to walk out but was stopped when he felt Cardin's hand grab his shoulder. Jaune looked over his shoulder to him to see what he wanted.
"Now what's the rush? You don't have time for a friend?" he asked cockily.
"We're not friends." Jaune told him. He was getting flashbacks to Signal. "In fact, this is the first time we've spoken to each other."
A look of annoyance flashed across the bully's face before he grinned again. He quickly wrapped his arm around Jaune's shoulder. It looked like a friendly gesture but it also had an act of intimidation behind it. But had little effect on Jaune. "You may be right but I'd like to change that. We do a favor for each other and I could easily see that changing to us being best buddies."
"And what would this 'favor' be?" Jaune asked, unimpressed.
"Glad you asked. I don't know if you noticed but your sister is by far the hottest chick in this school." Cardin started and Jaune clenched his jaw at that. "I would really like to spend some time with her but she just keeps blowing me off. So, I was thinking, if her brother would put in a good word for me..." He let the sentence linger for a bit.
Jaune just looked into Cardin's eyes with a cold glare. "Not going to happen. My sister deserves better than to be with a scumbag like you and I'll be damned before I have anything to do with that. Now, let go." Jaune hissed at the end and a wave of heat rippled off his body. Cardin quickly backed off from the sudden and intense heat as he looked at Jaune in shock. Jaune held Cardin's gaze for a few more seconds before he stormed off. Cardin just watched him go as a furious look came to his face and his fist clenched.
