Welcome everyone to chapter ten. We would like to say thank you to everyone who took the time to read some random account's story and especially to the ones who reviewed or favorited it.
Apologies for the very long wait, we tried to get it out within a few weeks but life just hammered us. New project at work, some babysitting, writer's block and we got a bit distracted by planning out future chapters.
So anyways this chapter is a bit of a filler chapter, but it does finish some plot points, start others and expand even more.
Anyways, welcome to our story, we hope you like it.
Of course, we do not own RWBY and we won't make even a nickel from this story, it's all for fun, playing in RoosterTeeth's sandbox.
Onwards to A Second Chance.
-KostekSocs
Chapter Ten – A Sight To See, A Movie and A Bet Held
Blake woke up feeling pretty light. Yesterday went as well as she could have expected. She told her team about her dark White Fang past and no one punched her or ran away from her. Also Weiss while not 100% okay with her past closeness with Adam and what she did, she didn't stop being her… friend…
Which was an odd thought. That she Blake Belladonna is friends with Weiss Schnee… Not something that she expected when she got assigned to team RWBY. But Weiss turned out to be a good person, somewhat huffy and at times bitchy, but earnest, hard working and quick witted.
Plus Weiss had her hidden love of period romance books. Which now that Blake thought about it, she was the only one, maybe apart from Weiss's sister, that knew.
So oddly enough Blake would have considered losing Weiss as a friend as a painful thing.
Blake sighed and rolled on her stomach, stretching her back and legs, kind of like a cat. She then picked up her scroll from it's place in her little wall cubby. It was early, early enough that Weiss was still sleeping.
Blake hopped out of her bed, landing silently and walked over to the bathroom also in her quiet way. A few almost silent moments later Blake washed her face and brushed teeth and put on some leggings and took Yang's baggy hoodie and was out of the doors.
She then made her way outside and for a moment enjoyed the crisp early morning air. It was still pretty dark with just a small sliver of dawn poking up from the horizon. Blake smiled lightly and started jogging out of the side courtyard and down the path to the far side of Beacon's grounds.
As she jogged in the chilly air, purposely keeping her aura down so that it wouldn't reinforce her body too much. Her mind drifted to yesterday, once Ruby and Yang started asking their questions, it went on for a while. With Yang's questions getting stranger and more outlandish as time went on.
Blake had the distinct impression that Yang would probably like seeing her destroy a few SDC robots and steal some weapons. Which now that Blake thought about it, was a very Yang thing. Yang was always telling her to do and say what's on her mind.
Though Blake did think that Yang would probably not be able to just watch her beating down robots and stealing and would want to join in. Even call it partner bonding time. Blake chuckled at that thought. Them two attacking some SDC arms shipment and stealing all the weapons. Getting away on Yang's bike.
Blake could honestly admit that it didn't sound like a bad time. Getting closer with her partner, her best friend and striking a blow for faunuskind. That sounded like a pretty good time. Though Blake would make sure to never tell Yang that since she was sure that if Yang knew then Yang would drag her off to the nearest SDC train.
Blake turned a corner completing her second lap of the Beacon grounds as she kept lightly chuckling at various odd thoughts of her and Yang attacking SDC shipments, robots, trains, Atlas battleships or Atlas knights. Blake let out a deep breath.
Looking over her shoulder she could see the sun slowly rising, the brilliant reds, yellows and oranges of dawn being spread across the sky. It was a beautiful sight. One that she never really focused on. Or even stopped to look at for a moment.
Life in the White Fang didn't give someone a lot of time to stop and think, much less stop and relax, especially at dawn or dusk. Which was generally when their operations were starting or wrapping up.
Blake felt oddly at peace for maybe the first time in her life. She smiled wider as she turned the next corner, falling in the shadow of Beacon's central building. It was an odd feeling, but one that Blake did like.
A few moments of peaceful jogging later Blake went back to the thoughts she was nursing all last evening and night long. Would she stop the White Fang if she had to? Or if she wanted to? And why did she consider her views on beneficial actions for faunus more legitimate than the White Fang's?
Blake was sure she would stop any harmful actions done by the White Fang, with maybe just a few questions asked. The other questions on her mind, were not so easily answered. At least not in a way that didn't make her seem… egotistical or arrogant.
She just knew in her heart of hearts, down to her very bones, that what the White Fang was doing, attacking, stealing and killing was in no way beneficial for the faunus. In most cases it made humans stand against them even more. Discriminate against them even more. Fight against them even more.
Blake sighed as she kept jogging. The sun now up in the sky. Dawn over for a bit. Blake blinked, wondering how she zoned out for such a long time. As she rounded a corner she heard very familiar laughing.
Blake looked ahead of her and she confirmed that yes, it was Ruby that was laughing. Why she was laughing though was a surprise. There in front of her was Jaune, also jogging, in some sweatpants and a t-shirt. On his shoulders was Ruby. Jogging alongside Jaune was Pyrrha in some training clothes. Biker shorts which Blake was pretty sure were the ones that Yang bought for Pyrrha and a tank top.
Funnily enough Ruby was also in some short stretchy shorts which Blake never saw before, but were probably Yang's or due to Yang as well and a tank top. Ruby was sitting on Jaune's shoulders her arms thrown wide open laughing and telling Jaune to run faster.
Beside them Pyrrha was telling Ruby to be careful and for Jaune to watch his feet.
Blake was sure that Pyrrha probably didn't need to worry about Ruby, Ruby had a fantastic sense of balance and could always use her semblance to get away from any fall. Jaune on the other hand might be someone to worry about. Though he was oddly graceful and balanced at times.
Probably from his dancing skills.
Blake shook her head seeing Jaune starting to run faster as Ruby flapped her arms like a bird. Urging Jaune to run even faster and to turn this way or run towards the far training field were he could practice jumping while she was on his back.
Pyrrha was chuckled as she matched Jaune's speed.
Blake thought about what she should do. She could run faster and catch up to them. She could give Pyrrha an update on how yesterday went and say good morning to Ruby and Jaune. And she could ask Ruby since when did she start joining Pyrrha and Jaune on morning runs.
Blake couldn't remember ever seeing Ruby leave dressed for running or even in her hunting outfit.
So as Jaune slowed down somewhat Blake sped up and caught up to them.
"Morning" Blake said as she fell in beside Pyrrha.
"Oh, Good morning Blake, how are you? I hope you are doing well." Said Pyrrha in an upbeat tone.
"Hey Blake, morning. You out for a run too?" asked Ruby waving at her from the top of Jaune's shoulders.
"Morning." Said Jaune somewhat out of breath keeping his eyes forward.
"Yes, I'm good, So… any reason why you're on Jaune's shoulders Ruby?" Blake asked confused. Getting that out of the way first.
Ruby laughed "Well, a few weeks ago I bumped into Jaune and Pyrrha jogging around Beacon and joined them. We eventually started talking about the time when Jaune here" Ruby paused for a second to pat Jaune on the top of his head, his hair as soft and fluffy as always. If not a little bit damp.
Ruby continued "carried Pyrrha and my sister to the cafeteria. And then the other time that Yang jumped on Jaune's back when he was doing those sprints. So I started laughing that maybe Jaune should start jogging carrying me and Pyrrha agreed."
Blake nodded and was about to start telling Pyrrha that everything went well yesterday when Ruby asked a question.
"So why are you wearing that hoodie?" Ruby asked sounded like she was holding something back.
"I just grabbed it from the closet. Yang wears it sometimes when she goes for late runs. Why do you ask?" Blake replied, confused now.
"Well… that hoodie is actually Jaune's…" Ruby answered and trailed off.
"Hey, that is my hoodie, I thought I lost it… why does Yang have it?" Jaune asked, looking over at Blake for the first time since she joined them.
Unfortunately for Jaune, a slightly larger than normal rock showed up on the path and his come and go clumsiness hit at the same time. Jaune tripped and started to fall down. Pyrrha called out his name and reached out to grab him as he tried to turn in mid fall as to not fall on his face. He felt Ruby's light weight leave his shoulders as she engaged her semblance to hop off.
A split second later Jaune fell on his shoulder and he rolled, using what Pyrrha taught him. He came to a stop after a roll and a half, laying on his back, looking up at the morning sky.
"Jaune, you okay?" asked Pyrrha and Ruby as they stopped beside him. Pyrrha knelt down to pat his shoulder to check for any injuries. Ruby hovered over Pyrrha's shoulder looking Jaune over as well.
"I'm fine, that rock just came out of nowhere." Jaune laughed as he waved Pyrrha off. He sat up and let out a breath.
Ruby laughed as well "Yeah, you got to be careful, you never know when a rock might jump under your foot."
Blake shook her head at the sight of Ruby and Jaune laughing together. But she was now even more curious, this hoodie was Jaune's? Blake looked down and poked at the soft material the hoodie was made out of.
"So, what do you mean that this hoodie is Jaune's?" Blake asked as Pyrrha pulled Jaune up from the ground and started patting down his back and head and ruffling his hair. Yang called it Pyrrha's girlfriend mode and Blake could see why.
At Blake's question Jaune looked over to Ruby and Ruby could only chuckle and scratch the back of her head. "Well…" Ruby started "Remember that fighting game tournament a couple weeks back?"
Jaune nodded "Yeah, I took off my hoodie in the room, but couldn't find it afterwards. I thought that someone might have took it or it might have fallen under something and it was thrown out." Pyrrha nodded along with Jaune.
"Yeah, after the tournament I was one of the people helping to clean the room since you and Pyrrha left because you two had that 'something' to do." Ruby said, pausing to look at Pyrrha and Jaune with a betrayed look.
"We are still sorry Rubes." Jaune said and patted Ruby's shoulder. Ruby huffed at him. Pyrrha gave Ruby a soft smile when Ruby turned her hurt looking eyes on her.
"Anyways, after your terrible betrayal, making me clean with the others alone, I found your hoodie on the floor under that sofa that was moved in front of the projector. So I took it to wash it and give it back to you. But… umm… Yang did the laundry that day so before I could give it back she found the hoodie…" Ruby crossed her arms and looked away from Jaune's curious stare.
A second of silence stretched between Ruby and the rest, Ruby looked back at Jaune and sighed.
"And when Yang asked me about it… I told her I borrowed it from you to do that hidden hands and controller while playing a videogames challenge thing, which Yang believed. Though then Yang took it to go on her evening run. I don't know why she did though." Ruby said as confused about that fact as Jaune looked. Pyrrha on the other hand had a bit of a darker look on her face. Blake just sighed into her hand.
Ruby shrugged at Jaune's confused look and continued "And then after washing it again I umm… wore it when I went shopping in Vale with Yang since it has deep pockets." Ruby gave Jaune a weak smile and scratched the back of her head.
"So… after that it then just stayed in either my or Yang's closet… I wanted it give it back to you, but umm… either someone was wearing it or wanted to wear it for a reason or it was being washed and dried… so… umm… sorry Jaune." Ruby apologized as she ducked her head down.
Jaune sighed as Pyrrha laughed beside him. "Well… I guess if you and Yang use it so much…. You can keep it." Jaune said causing Ruby to smile at him widely. A happy Ruby was always a sight that Jaune appreciated. Ruby was too cute when she smiled.
"Though between the hoodie that Nora and Yang destroyed, the one that got cut up during training, the one that you took Pyrrha and this one. I need some new hoodies." Jaune commented to himself and Pyrrha patted his shoulder.
Pyrrha was secretly glad that Jaune's current hoodies were being dealt with so quickly. As much as Pyrrha loved Jaune, she couldn't in good conscience say that Jaune had good taste in casual clothes. He had a taste for very comfortable clothes, but not stylish. So, good news for her that her plan to replace Jaune's wardrobe was going faster than expected.
Now Pyrrha just needed to find some more of the clothes she was looking at for Jaune and convince him to go shopping for clothes with her… A challenge for sure since Jaune wasn't very keen on regular shopping and everyone else would want to join them. Hmm…
Blake hummed looking down at the hoodie she was wearing. It did surprise her that it was Jaune's, but at the same time, nothing Ruby said in her explanation surprised her. It was a comfy hoodie, big on her, baggy and a bit breezy so it didn't overheat you but was still warm. It did annoy Blake, same as when she borrowed Adam's sweater, that guy clothes were still generally more comfortable and practical.
Blake huffed under her breath. Then she blinked. "Wait didn't Weiss wear this when we had that A/C problem?"
Ruby nodded "Yeah, she stole it from me when I went to the washroom and left it on the chair." She said a bit annoyed.
Jaune and Pyrrha looked between Ruby and Blake "Wait, your A/C broke…. When?" Jaune asked.
Ruby turned to look at Jaune "Last Sunday evening, it just kept getting colder and colder in the room for like 2 hours. Blake fixed it." Ruby said ending in a proud tone at Blake fixing it.
"I didn't do much, just played around with the control pad and then had them reset ours. For some reason ours was stuck in cooling." Blake said in her usual monotone while she fought a blush.
Pyrrha and Jaune nodded, smiling at a slightly bashful looking Blake.
Pyrrha though had a question she needed to ask "Well now we know who to call to fix our A/C if it breaks. But I have to ask, why did Weiss take the hoodie, I thought that she, you know being from Atlas, knew how to use her aura to protect herself from the cold…"
Blake and Ruby looked at each other for a moment "Don't know…" Ruby said as Blake shrugged her shoulders.
After a further moment of silence Blake cleared her throat "Anyways, are you all done with your run?"
"Yes, I think we are, today will be a busy day anyways so we have to clean up." Pyrrha said looking over Jaune and Ruby. "Plus, I think you have something to tell me Blake?"
Blake nodded "Yes, I told them yesterday, we can share more details in our room." She looked at Jaune out the side of her eyes.
Jaune just put his hands up "Hey don't worry about me, Pyrrha just said it was important but it's your secret to share."
Pyrrha smiled widely at Jaune's thoughtful words. Blake felt herself calming down and nodded at Jaune. Ruby smiled at Blake standing beside Jaune.
Ruby did suggest a few times last evening to tell the rest of team JNPR, but Blake was still a bit uncertain about telling any more people. So hopefully Jaune's okayness with the secret not being told to him would ease Blake's mind.
The group made their way back to the dorms, Ruby and Jaune talking about some assignment from their infrequent 'leadership' class. Blake walked beside Pyrrha kind of enjoying the calmness that Pyrrha radiated.
As much as Blake… loved… her team, they weren't the quietest or calmest people. Ruby was energetic, Yang was loud and Weiss was high-strung. So not the best people to have a quiet moment with even though they were all capable of it.
The walk back was pretty quick and Blake along with Pyrrha and Ruby split from Jaune to go into team RWBY's room. Pyrrha hugging Jaune goodbye and telling him that she will be back soon after she grabbed a change of clothes.
Ruby and Blake both shook their heads at Pyrrha's actions and at Jaune's continued obliviousness. Ruby also continued to feel her now usual annoyance at Pyrrha's closeness and touchiness with Jaune. It seemed to Ruby that Pyrrha was taking some liberties with Jaune and that didn't seem fair to her.
Ruby wondered why she thought that each time.
Blake was waiting for the day when Jaune would finally realize and how much everything at Beacon would change then. What Weiss would do…
- Scene Break -
Jaune sighed as he sat down on his bed after he took a quick shower, his jeans and t-shirt were on the bed beside him, but he paused as he moved his arm to grab his jeans. Jaune looked around his room and realized that he was alone in the room for the first time since Pyrrha had her vision.
It was an odd feeling.
Pyrrha was getting better with being away from his side, he could go to his leadership classes with Ruby with no issues now. And Pyrrha sometimes went over to team RWBY's room with no issues now either. A far cry from the first week after the vision or even a few weeks ago.
So Jaune was extremely happy that Pyrrha was getting better in that sense.
Though unfortunately for Jaune, he very quickly got used to having Pyrrha beside him. It felt familiar, her presence was… strengthening to him. Pyrrha had the weird ability to both make him feel stronger and protected, that he could do more than he thought and that he didn't have to do it.
It wasn't a feeling he got anywhere else, from anyone else. And he was feeling odd without it…
It was also too quiet, no Pyrrha moving beside him, talking to him.
None of Nora's or Ren's usually noise either. Jaune wondered if this is what his dad meant by real silence. If this was it then he did not like it.
Jaune didn't know when he got to a point that being alone in their room was… unnerving… wrong…
Jaune stood up and flexed his fingers. He walked to the washroom door and back to the closet on the other side of the room. The back and forth walking did help him bleed off some of the tension that built up in his body.
Jaune also tried to focus on more… productive thoughts, namely, their soon to be encounter with the White Fang.
From what Pyrrha told him, Blake, some guy that Blake will meet named Sun, Ruby and Penny, the android girl that team RWBY will meet. Jaune paused to process that fact again. That Atlas could build something so advanced. Pyrrha did say that Penny was as makes no difference a real person. So Jaune was sure to treat Penny as such if he ever met her.
But back to the White Fang fight, based on what Pyrrha said Blake and the Sun guy find the White Fang and Roman while they were stealing dust and they tried to stop them. Ruby and Penny make their way to the port and jump in to help out. The dust gets stolen, Roman gets away and most of the White Fang does also.
It sounds like the four of them were more focused on fighting Roman than stopping the robbery.
It was something that Jaune was still working on. They needed to call someone to help. But, unlike what he said yesterday he didn't think help would come easily. Roman has to have some cops and higher ups in Vale on his payroll and Pyrrha became oddly wary of Ozpin after the vision. Jaune did wonder what that meant…
If not Ozpin then Jaune was thinking if calling Goodwitch and stalling until she got there with whatever others she could gather. He was pretty sure that with all 8 of them plus Penny, if they could find her, it could be done. Hell, between all 7 of his friends they should be able to beat down the White Fang and keep Roman occupied.
Jaune paused his pacing and looked out the window. A plan forming in his head. Ren and Blake could scout ahead and let them know details. Ruby could use her scope to scout as well. Yang, Nora and Pyrrha would come in as the first group and focus on Roman. Blake, Weiss, Ren and himself would take out the White Fang and Ruby could snipe from afar.
Or Ruby would take Weiss's place and take on the White Fang while Weiss uses her semblance's aoe glyphs and hit anyone she can.
Jaune hummed as he scratched the back of his head. It sounded like a good plan… but would they be able to attack Roman together and not get caught up on each other. They didn't have a lot of time to work on team tactics.
That fact did worry Jaune the most. Whatever groups would be formed would need to make sure that they could at least not get in each other's way.
Jaune sighed and looked up at the ceiling wondering if there was another way to handle Roman and the White Fang.
Based on what Pyrrha said, Roman and a big White Fang guy with a chainsaw sounded like the two primary threats. There were probably others that had their aura unlocked and some that could fight. But most would be regular civilians. So the split of their teams should cover those threats.
The outlier was Roman's partner Neo, an, according to Pyrrha, small but very skilled huntress. The girl was most likely a better fighter than Roman and had a very useful semblance. But she shouldn't be at the port with Roman.
So two primary targets, a handful of secondary and a bunch of mobs. Plus their objective was stopping the theft of the dust… Maybe focusing on taking out the Bullheads would be the best move… Jaune wondered if Weiss could contact the ship and delay it or arrange some SDC security at the port…
Jaune sighed again as he walked over to his desk and picked up his scroll. No messages from Pyrrha or Ren, so he was still probably on his own for the next few minutes.
His thoughts moved from planning the fight against the White Fang and Roman to what was on his scroll. He looked at still waiting to be read message from his dad. He already read the rest from his mom and his sisters and even started texting back to them, Pyrrha encouraging him to do so.
But his dad… Jaune didn't want to look at it and Pyrrha was oddly silent on the topic of his dad. Jaune took a deep breath and opened the conversation. He then let out a dry laugh. The pending message was just the notification that he had a voice-mail from his dad. Jaune shook his head and went to grab earphones.
As Jaune was asked to type in the passcode to access his voice-mailbox he didn't notice the door to the room open. And as the voicemail system told him about the 3 messages he had Jaune closed his eyes and sighed. Tapping his scroll to play the messages.
The door was quickly, but not loudly, opened and Pyrrha along with the rest of team RWBY walked in.
Pyrrha's eyes scanned her dorm room and she had to blink when she saw Jaune, standing only in his boxers, in the middle of the room, paying attention to his scroll. Pyrrha's eyes very slowly moved up and down Jaune's form. He was standing at an angle to them, his front just visible, his eyes closed, his head tilted down.
Pyrrha couldn't fight back a wide smile that grew on her face. Jaune was looking good, defined growing muscles all over his body. With even a visible six pack forming on his stomach. He now had a more bulky build than two months ago when he was just skinny.
Apparently her training and her enforcing a good diet was paying off for Jaune. Pyrrha was also very pleased that from the looks of it Jaune wouldn't bulk up too much as the year went on. Pyrrha wasn't a fan of how guys who tried to become muscle mountains looked.
An image suddenly and violently showed up in her mind.
Pyrrha could only imagine Jaune's hard body against hers. His endurance fighting hers. Their encounter lasting for hours, leaving them both sweaty and spread out on top of each other. Pyrrha had to fight back two sudden and strong urges. To tackle Jaune in a hug which might lead to more and to purr out a pleased moan.
A gasp beside her caught her attention. Pyrrha took to her side and saw all of team RWBY starring at Jaune. At her partner. Pyrrha felt a weird combination of righteousness, smugness, pleasure, annoyance and irritation. She did briefly wonder why a stronger sense of jealousy wasn't part of what she was feeling.
But the smugness and her own internal pleasure was winning out over all her emotions. Seeing them looking at her man like that. At someone they disregarded and overlooked. At someone that wasn't following their initial impressions and conclusions. It felt good to see them shocked.
Pyrrha wanted to walk over to Jaune, pull him to her side and smirk at the girls. She even felt her muscles tense in the effort to not walk over to Jaune.
Ruby had to bite her tongue to stop her gasp of surprise. She did not expect to see Jaune standing almost naked in front of her. Ruby's eyes wandered all over Jaune's form. He was no longer the noodle-boy as Yang called him from the beginning of the year.
Ruby also wondered why she kept having all these experiences with Jaune, was it a curse? He looked big. He was already so much taller than her, which wasn't fair. But now Ruby was wondering how him picking her up in a bearhug would feel.
All that hard muscle and warm skin against her. Him squishing her against him. A pulse of something Ruby couldn't name went down her spine. It felt… tingly…
What she saw that morning she tried to stuff to the back of her mind came up as well. How big and hard it was. How big and hard Jaune looked now… Ruby blinked and shook her head. She couldn't think about her friend like that. It was Jaune, videogame playing, comic book reading, homework delaying Jaune.
But… Nope, nope, nope. Ruby would not be going there… he was her friend, her best guy friend. Plus what would Yang or Weiss say… what would Pyrrha do…
Ruby managed to tear her eyes off of Jaune and looked at the rest of her team, all still looking at Jaune with different levels of shock. Ruby gulped and looked over to Pyrrha, dreading what she would see on her face.
Now, Ruby did like Pyrrha a lot, she was an awesome friend, an awesome fighter and the nicest person she ever met. But Pyrrha could be very scary when she wanted to be.
Ruby looked at Pyrrha and to her relief and mild shock, didn't she any anger or rage or even annoyance. Ruby saw a wide smile and a… smug… maybe haughty… expression on Pyrrha's face. She seemed overly pleased about the whole situation.
Ruby's and Pyrrha's eyes met and Pyrrha winked at Ruby. Ruby blushed and had to look down at her feet. What in the chocolate cookies was that?! Ruby blinked and tried to make sense of it.
One person over from Ruby Weiss copied her partner unknowingly and bit her tongue to stop a gasp as well. She also let her eyes wander over Jaune. Cataloguing the changes to his body and wondering why he was standing in the middle of the room almost naked.
He was looking… mmmmm…
Weiss couldn't help herself from also overlaying what she knew was under those boxers on top of them. The whole image was… appealing… Weiss blinked and shut her eyes, not believing she just thought that. But that was no help, she could still see Jaune.
It was Jaune… last place… dolt… Jaune…
Why was he so tall and… big… it just wasn't fair to her. She coming up to his upper chest. Arc genes were just not fair… Schnee genes weren't fair either, what with her sister and mother being tall as well… and all that she, Weiss, got was the short end of the stick… damn pun… thank the Gods Yang couldn't read minds.
And why did she just run through the guys she knew from Atlas and compare them…
Weiss shook her head and stopped that line of thoughts.
So what if Jaune was the first guy she technically saw naked in real life…
So what if Jaune is tall and muscular and… well endowed…
He was still Jaune, annoying, date asking and not hint taking Jaune… even if he still was a, you know, guy… man… that didn't look… bad…
And even with everything else, she still was a teenage girl and liked what teenage girls liked and an objectively… appealing male would be… appealing… for those who you know liked generally appealing males…
Weiss wondered if she was using the word appealing too much…
As Weiss justified herself and had her minor word related conundrum, one person over from her, Blake nodded to herself. It looked like the training that Jaune was going through was paying off for him. Blake saw real improvement when she compared him now to that morning.
If Jaune kept it up then by the end of the school year he would be a really difficult person to fight. A lot of strength and a lot of aura makes for a good defense and powerful attacks.
As much as Blake did like Jaune, he was an easygoing, nice guy. Very different from the guys she knew from the White Fang and most human guys she met. Jaune wasn't a good fighter, but he was shaping up to be one. Pyrrha was turning out to be one good teacher.
Blake, unlike her two shorter teammates, could appreciate a good male form, or any good form, without freaking out or having to justify herself. Jaune was a relatively attractive guy and his developing huntsman body only increased that attractiveness. Pyrrha must be very pleased.
Blake did wonder why she saw so much of Jaune in such a short time… She knew that close quarters led to accidental views, opening doors at the wrong time or walking into a room she shouldn't have walked in. But between that one morning, the training and now, Blake was sure that apart from Adam, Jaune was the guy she saw the most of.
Not a bad thing, seeing an attractive guy in the near nude. Just strange that it happened so often over the last couple months. Blake wondered about that for a second, Pyrrha wasn't doing it on purpose… right?
Speaking of Pyrrha, Blake looked over to Pyrrha and saw the expression of someone who was too pleased. Odd… Pyrrha was generally somewhat possessive and territorial of Jaune. So much so that it was treated as a fact of life at Beacon now. It was pretty amusing to see Pyrrha stare down 4th years over some perceived action towards Jaune.
And it was also true that her team as team JNPR's sister team and their friends was given… more freedoms… with Jaune, what with Yang and Ruby being pretty 'touchy' with Jaune and Weiss being somewhat cold to him… Blake could just for a second hear that pun that Yang made.
But Pyrrha still shut down behaviour that went too far, mainly Yang's flirty teasing.
Blake guessed that Pyrrha was happy showing off Jaune to them this morning. Hopefully nothing would happen to change Pyrrha's mood. Blake looked off to her side to see if Yang was planning to do anything that may start trouble.
What was it with the blondes in her life being not what she expected and…
Blake locked eyes with Yang and saw the expression on her face and became worried.
Yang could only smirk when she saw Jaune, quickly looking him up and down. She was somewhat surprised how rapidly Jaune's body was shaping up. It meant good things for Jaune, for his team and good things for her since her punching bag and sparring buddy would get better.
Yang also had the feeling that Pyrrha must be overjoyed, her boytoy developing so quickly under her teachings. Going from good olde noodle-boy to… umm… what would be a good nickname for him now? Muscles… muscle-boy… big noodle… danger noodle… something to do with Arc?
Yang blinked, big-boy? The boring big guy? Not that important, she would think of something… later.
Yang did wonder what would happen if the rest of Beacon saw Jaune's new and improved muscled form. Probably a lot more work for Pyrrha, staring down anyone who even thought about getting fresh with Jaune.
Though Yang would argue that some of the glaring down of uppity girls should be done by her. After all some of those muscles there were hers, she did spar with him quite a bit over the last few weeks. And you know sister team and friend privileges.
Yang looked over at Pyrrha just to make sure that she was… good with all of team RWBY seeing Jaune like this. Pyrrha looked like she wasn't mad or even annoyed. She looked… happy with herself… smug? Yang let out a quiet huh at that.
A sudden thought popped up in her mind, something that could be fun and get under Pyrrha's skin just a little bit. Yang was aware that she was playing around with Pyrrha far more often now than before. At times to her cost. But since that 'argument' they had in the hallway, she couldn't stop.
Yang could admit that she was pretty competitive, she guessed that every huntress and huntsman was. Now she was nowhere near as competitive as Weiss or Ruby or Nora, but up there. So, after Pyrrha challenging her in the hallway, after Pyrrha beating her down in matches and spars, Yang messing around was how she could challenge Pyrrha back.
Unfortunately it was still a ways until she could beat Pyrrha one on one. It will happen one day, Yang was sure of that.
And messing around with Jaune was always fun, he was always either an easy target or would join in with messing around with her, few questions asked. And, and, if she by chance felt him up, then that was good for her as well. More messing with Jaune and Pyrrha and a side benefit for her.
Yang felt her smirk grow as she caught Blake's eyes and shared a look with Blake. Blake seemed worried for some reason. Yang stepped closer to Blake and wrapped one arm around Blake's waist, resting her other hand on her hip.
Yang leaned down slightly and very quietly said "Relax Blakey-cat, I'm not going to do anything bad. Trust me."
Blake quietly scoffed at that, putting more of her weight against Yang's arm and side. Why was Yang always so warm, it couldn't just be her semblance right? Blake wanted to figure that out soon, and if that meant more movie nights or study times relaxing against a warm Yang then that would be fine with her.
Yang heard the scoff and smiled widely. Oh Blake, so untrusting. Yang fought down her urge to rub Blake's kitty ears under that headband and looked at Jaune. She then let out what was probably the best wolf whistle she ever did.
Yang's loud whistle caused all eyes in the room to look at her. And at a Blake sighing loudly as Blake planted her face into her neck. Which meant that like always, since one of the movie nights, Blake's warm breath did interesting things to her neck and spine.
Happily all eyes did mean all eyes and Jaune looked up at her as well, earphones still in his ears. His eyes wide. Yang smiled widely at him, looked him up and down, focusing on his boxers for moment longer, making sure that Jaune noticed and she wolf whistled again.
Jaune gasped and blushed as he saw Pyrrha and all of team RWBY looking at him. And Yang wolf whistling. Which did confuse him for a split second before he remembered that he was just in his boxers. And they were all looking at him…
And where was Yang looking!
Jaune felt a blush explode on his face as he yelled out "Oh, Gods, Sorry" and dove for his clothes.
Pyrrha glared at Yang "Yang! Why!"
Yang let out a breath and turned to face the music, Blake taking the chance to get out from under Yang's arm. Leaving her to her fate without her partner's support. Pyrrha's glare like always sent the same shiver down her spine.
Yang smiled at Pyrrha "What? I thought that he might not hear me and anyways, we have things to do, or were you planning to just ogle Jaune all day?" Yang crossed her arms, pushing up her boobs a bit. "Not that I could blame you, all those muscles on our dear Jauney".
Pyrrha gave Yang a harder look as she let out a breath. The rest of team RWBY looked between them and out of the corner of her eye she could see Jaune just managing to put on a pair of pants. The sight of Jaune in some sweatpants with no shirt or socks was still a good sight though. The sweatpants riding low on his waist.
"No, you are right, we have our assignments to finish before we head out. But your whistle wasn't necessary." Pyrrha said as she walked towards Jaune who was now trying to put on socks.
Ruby held in laughter from seeing Jaune trip over himself a few times trying to put on his pants and socks. It eased her mind knowing that the awkward, nice boy that she met back at the start of the year was still there. Under the muscles.
Weiss scoffed and walked over to stand beside Blake "Not that seeing Jaune in his boxers was something I wanted to do today, but for our assignments, do we need to wait for Ren and Nora or can we start?" Weiss gave Jaune a final look as he put on a t-shirt and pulled out her textbook, notebook and pages of notes.
Blake and Ruby followed Weiss's lead and started pulling out their stuff.
Pyrrha looked Jaune over as he lost his fight to keep down his blushing "Don't pay any attention to Yang, are you okay?"
Jaune smiled weakly at Pyrrha "I'm good, just how long were you guys there?" Jaune looked over team RWBY who were pulling out their homework and setting up to start writing the assignment.
"Not long, just a moment, I noticed you were on the scroll and I didn't want to interrupt. Yang had other ideas." Pyrrha said as she straightened out Jaune's shirt and his hair.
Jaune fought back a blush from feeling Pyrrha's hands running over his chest and back and stomach and hair. "Yeah… thanks… did I lock the door? I thought I did.."
Pyrrha finished with her tidying up of Jaune and took a step back "I unlocked the door, but I have to ask why we're you using earphones?"
Jaune sighed which caught the attention of team RWBY for a moment "I… I listened to the voicemail that my dad left for me…" Jaune scratched the back of his head.
Pyrrha felt a breath catch in her throat, she placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder and pulled him into a hug. Pyrrha knew that Jaune's father was a pretty well known and well respected Huntsman and that he did what he did to Jaune out of 'love', but Pyrrha had more than a few unkind words to say to him.
Pyrrha felt Jaune hug her back and move his face closer to her ear, somewhat resting against the side of her head.
"I'm okay Pyrrha, I was putting it off for too long. It wasn't anything too bad. Almost the same thing my mom said, just said in his way." Jaune said quietly. After a moment longer in Pyrrha's warm hug, feeling her squeeze him more into her, he smiled and took a step back. Still in Pyrrha's arms.
Pyrrha looked over Jaune's face trying to find any negative thoughts or feelings, but all that she could see was a small amount of… sadness?... weariness?...
Jaune kept smiling at Pyrrha "Well, we have work to do right?"
Pyrrha sighed and squeezed Jaune in another tight hug for a second. "Yes, we should get that assignment at least started if not done."
A moment later Pyrrha and Jaune separated and walked over to pull their notebooks and papers out. As Jaune turned to answer Weiss's question Ren and Nora walked into the room.
Ren and Nora felt the weird atmosphere in the room and looked at each other, but not seeing any other signs of what happened Ren shrugged and Nora smiled. Taking Ren's shrug as an all good Nora walked over to her bag "So, we doing this? Is everyone ready?"
Yang smiled and Ruby held back a laugh. Weiss though spoke up in her semi-sarcastic voice "It's just an assignment from Port, it's not the end of the world."
Nora shook her head "Poor, poor Weiss, I think you don't realize what you are talking about." As Nora spoke she walked over to Weiss and started trying to pat her head. Weiss kept her hand away with a series of quick slaps.
Yang shared a look with Ruby and Blake and felt a shudder run down her spine. Right, an essay and workbook for Port. Months of class topics all stuffed into one assignment… Yang quite happily didn't think about it during the week. But it needed to be done.
Pyrrha sighed "Port's assignment or not, it is a lot of material and a large part of our final grade. I believe that between all our notes we should have enough to finish our assignment." Pyrrha placed a packet of her notes on the table by the door.
Pyrrha was slightly concerned though since it was an assignment that Port did not assign last time. Though she was getting used to the teachers assigning more work this time. It was helpful in a way.
Nora rushed over to the notes and started skimming through them "You're a life saver Pry-Pry, I don't think anyone else has notes this good."
Weiss grumbled loudly at what Nora said laying out her own notes and copies she made of them. Weiss saw Nora look over to her notes and she raised an eyebrow at Nora. Nora kept eye contact for a moment, smiling the whole time. Weiss just sighed and pushed a bundle of papers towards Nora.
Nora happily scooped up Weiss's notes and began comparing them with Pyrrha's notes.
Ren smiled "If anyone is hungry, we have a few things from the cafeteria." Ren open the two paper bags he carried into the room and laid out a pretty large amount of food, sandwiches, fruits, small cereal boxes and juice boxes on the far side table.
- Scene Break -
Several hours, two lunch breaks, five arguments, three short breaks and a ripped notebook later, the two teams were in various stages of in progress for their assignments. Some were more in progress than others. But they still had all of tomorrow and the next week to finish so not panic time yet.
Pyrrha stood up and stretched, trying to work out a kink in her back, and unknowingly gave the whole room a show. Her shirt riding up, showing her firm and trim stomach, her breasts getting pushed out, straining her shirt.
Jaune felt his mouth go dry and a light blush grow on his face. And before he could move his head Yang caught his eyes and winked.
Pyrrha groaned as she slightly twisted her back and worked the kink out. Unknowingly causing a few eyes to open wide and a couple blushes to deepen. That groan sounded a bit too… good… Jaune buried his face in his hands as Yang and Blake shared a look.
"OK, based on the time, we should be getting ready." Ren said looking up from his scroll and catching everyone's attention. And thankfully pulling attention away from Pyrrha.
A few checks of the time later team RWBY collected their things and said their temporary goodbyes. Ruby confirmed their meeting point at the Beacon Bullhead landing pads.
Team JNPR changed their clothes pretty quickly, the process nailed down over the months of living together. Pyrrha as always was a bit disappointed that Jaune changed his clothes in the washroom. Nora kept giving her knowing looks, though also disappointed with Ren changing in the washroom also.
The team walked out of the room dressed in slightly better going out on the town clothes than their regular casual ones. Pyrrha really liking Jaune's dark blue jeans and patterned sweater. Which was somewhat tight on his now larger frame.
They made it down to the landing pads pretty quickly, only stopping to talk with Goodwitch for a moment, confirming their plans.
A few minutes later team RWBY joined them, also dressed for a night out. Yang smirking at them and Ruby looking just a bit uncomfortable with not wearing her cape. Jaune smiled at them and made sure to not look at Yang's tighter than normal top as the doors of the Bullhead opened.
The flight down to Vale was quick, with Jaune thanking his luckily stars for Ren teaching him a aura calming technique and for Pyrrha finding some good anti-nausea pills. Though Jaune did not appreciate everyone giving him sideways looks, probably waiting for his motion sickness to kick in.
Thankfully for everyone's clothes and their evening no one got sick and they jumped out of the Bullhead, literally, due to a landing pad issue which meant that they would have had to wait for 20 minutes for a landing slot.
Their entrance caught some attention, but Beacon students coming to Vale was common enough so no one really paid much attention. Pyrrha's baggy shirt kind of helping to throw people off from identifying her. Apart from a group of 20something looking guys that just ogled the girls, much to their annoyance. They backed off after a few very cold glares.
After that the two teams made their way to the movie theater at a relaxed pace. Due to Weiss's and Ren's urging, they gave themselves plenty of time to make it to the theater. The walk was actually pretty pleasant, the evening was warm and their aura could block the little bit of chill from the wind.
And so far only a few people took second looks at Pyrrha, but no one looked like they recognized her. Her clothing and hair style so different from what she normally wore.
Jaune, Ruby, Nora and surprisingly Blake talked about the latest reviews for Huntsman movie and what that could mean for the movie. While Pyrrha, Ren, Weiss and Yang fell into a conversation about Port's assignment and how unexpected it was.
A few minutes later found them walking through the doors and into the lobby. Jaune took a deep breath, breathing in the smells of popcorn and hotdogs. It was a while since he went out to see a movie. He looked to his right as he felt someone grab his arm.
It was Ruby and she was pointing to a holo-display showing a loop of what looked like moments from the Huntsman movie. Jaune smiled at Ruby as she tugged him to the display talking about one of the characters that appeared during the loop.
"I though that Professor M wasn't in this movie… weren't they talking about him being in the next one?" Ruby asked, confused.
Jaune nodded "Yeah, he was supposed to be the anti-hero in that movie, getting in the Huntsman's way of the investigation." Jaune wondered if this was the thing that 'wasn't mentioned' in any of the reviews, though he was staying away from spoilers, so maybe he just missed it.
"I hope they don't focus on him during the movie." Ruby complained, she was not a fan of when Prof M sidelined the Huntsman.
"Guess we will have to see." Jaune said as he patted Ruby's shoulder.
Ruby sighed and nodded, somewhat worried about the movie and that it would be even worst than what the reviews we saying. As they walked back to their friends standing by a group of chairs in one of the waiting areas Ruby reconsidered her no spoilers stand.
They waited for the next several minutes since they came early. The time was well spent in Ruby's opinion as she almost got Weiss excited about the movie. Pyrrha and Ren were also caught up some more on what the plot of the movie might be.
All the while Jaune and Ruby shared looks of concern, hoping that their feelings about the movie were wrong.
Once it was time they all made their way to get whatever food or snacks and drinks they wanted and then they entered the theater to find their seats.
As the movie started Pyrrha got comfortable in her seat, Jaune was to one side of her and Nora was on her other side. Beside Nora was Ren and then a few free seats until a group of teenagers. One Jaune's other side it was Ruby then Weiss, Yang and Blake. Past Blake there was a couple open seats and then the aisle.
An hour into the movie Pyrrha was getting into it, the Huntsman was much like what Jaune described though a bit darker, which Jaune complained about. The story was also much like Jaune and Ruby said it might be.
The first 30 minutes or so was his childhood, his parents getting killed by a group of rouge huntsmen and huntresses. The rest of the town being decimated by the Grimm. The kid just surviving the attacks and then going to live with his grandmother.
The grandmother, a very skilled huntress in her younger days, teaching him everything she knows. And then sending him to an academy for further training. The main character then meeting all the secondary characters and the love interest, a too gorgeous girl with a dark past connected to the rouge huntsmen and huntresses.
Pyrrha could feel the clichés at times. Thankfully after the first 30 minutes which were dark and very angsty and full of stiff acting, the movie picked up. The friends added a bunch of fun moments and the love interest was at least a good partner for the main character.
Pyrrha smiled as the Huntsman faked putting his revenge plan into motion, throwing off the plans of the Rouges due to the love interest spying for them but working with the Huntsman. It was a pretty good suspense movie, everyone had plans and schemes. Everyone tried to outplay each other. And it was the Huntsman and the love interest slowly winning because they started trusting each other.
Pyrrha was by now leaning against Jaune's side, the armrest between their seats moved up. She sighed as she felt how much of her drink she had left. She briefly wondered if it would be worth it to leave and get some more. Probably not, the movie was just getting good.
Pyrrha also really liked that Jaune with no urging or guidance from her wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Giving her the space she needed to really lean against his side. Pyrrha smiled as she rested her head on Jaune's shoulder.
The movie unfortunately got worse in the final act, the kind of cliché suspense story and pretty funny humor got replaced with massive amounts of drama and angst. One of the friends got killed by Grimm lead to the town he was at by the Rouges. Then the good guys group finds out about that and way too many arguments start.
The Huntsman and the love interest have their third act breakup with her connections with the Rouges getting exposed to the whole group. One of the other friends runs of for a showdown where she gets beaten down by the Rouges. The Huntsman and love interest argue some more after that about loyalties.
And then the anti-hero guy that Jaune and Ruby were complaining about before the movie shows up as a hired gun. Pyrrha could hear how much more Ruby and Jaune were complaining about him when he showed up. Then Ruby leaned over to her team to give them details about the guy.
What followed was 20 minutes of the anti-hero guy killing minions, Grimm and a few of the Rouges. People that for the whole movie were shown to be ruthless, intelligent enough villains all of a sudden started making the stupidest of decisions and to add to that they let the anti-hero guy go multiple times for no real reasons.
Pyrrha could feel Jaune groan every time that something was changed or made to benefit the anti-hero. Pyrrha raised her arm, wrapped it around Jaune and started patting Jaune on his other shoulder. Jaune turned to look at her and smiled. Pyrrha smiled back and Jaune let out a soft chuckle.
Pyrrha's hand moved from Jaune's shoulder to the back of his neck, where she started massaging his neck. Feeling Jaune's soft and fluffy hair and warm skin. After a moment she could hear soft sounds coming from Jaune and she felt him relax back into his seat and against her.
As the movie started wrapping up, the anti-hero leaves just as suddenly as he showed up, but not before giving some edgy speech. And then the Huntsman and his group finally showed up again in the story and started winning fights against the Rouges. With the Huntsman and love interest making up along the way.
Ruby sighed and had to agree with the reviews, that the only really good part of the movie was the middle. It was disappointing. Ruby could just see a much better third part of the movie where the good guys use the connections with the Rouges that they have and set up traps for them, getting them one by one.
Ruby huffed and leaned back fully against her seat. After a moment she could feel a familiar weight and smell a familiar scent lean against her. As Ruby turned she saw Weiss leaning against her. Most likely to ask a question. Something that Weiss did through out the whole movie. Which was a bit distracting. Weiss had so many questions!
Weiss's slight weight and somewhat cooler body pressing against her side every other scene. It wasn't that Ruby didn't like it or that it was too distracting, it was just something new… Something that surprised her. Weiss wasn't the most touchy-feely of people. Her cuddling after that fight with Pyrrha and the few hugs and movie night cuddles were about it.
It was nice, Weiss showing that she could rely on someone for something, even if in this case it was only comic book facts.
Yang fought to keep a smile off her face. As the movie quickly moved to the final climax… nope not the time for any of those puns, Yang could see Blake get more and more displeased. To the point that Blake started glowering at the screen.
It was a sight that Yang never expected to see, but now that she did, she never knew that she needed to see it so much. Blake sat there all stiff in her seat. Arms crossed, back straight, eyes unblinking. Yang just knew that if Blake didn't have her headband her kitty ears would be laid off to the sides.
It was a look of such displeasure that it was glorious.
And Yang could swear that Blake looked almost the same as the disapproving cat meme on the internet. Though Yang wouldn't tell Blake that.
It was also a bit eye opening how well Blake knew the details of all the characters and how much she hated that Prof M dude. Yang could agree with Blake there. And it was also pretty… nice?... cute?... how Blake and Ruby would agree with each other and smile at each other during their explanations.
Yang smiled to herself as she saw Blake relax into her seat once the Huntsman guy and the blue haired love interest made up. It was a pretty good game she had going on, more interesting than this part of the movie anyways. Could she guess what emotions or expressions Blake would show to the current scene in the movie.
As the movie neared its ending Nora sighed loudly against Ren's shoulder. She then smiled as she nuzzled Ren's neck, he was always so warm. The movie wasn't exactly to her taste, but it was fun at times and from the looks of it Ren enjoyed the suspenseful part of the movie. So Nora was happy. But the movie was so different from the Huntsman cartoons she like back when.
Though they never got the chance to go out to the movies before and even though she would have preferred going with just Ren, going with everyone was fun. Pyrrha looked relaxed in a way she rarely did, Jaune and Ruby were excited in a kind of innocent way that Nora really liked seeing.
So Nora would call their movie night out a success even if it hadn't ended yet.
Plus Ren wrapped his arm around her shoulders which happened rarely, so Nora was really enjoying that.
The movie ended in a pretty good way, the Huntsman with the help of his friends defeat the rest of the Rouges and he gets together with the love interest. A bit of a too happy ending for how the movie felt, but Pyrrha wasn't complaining. She secretly hoped that her ending would be similar, her friends safe, Salem defeated and Jaune hers.
They made their way out of the theater and they walked over to some food market on some side street that Yang claimed had the best street food that she ever had. Ruby took a pause from her deep discussion about the movie with Jaune, Nora and Blake to agree with her sister.
It was a bit strange to see Blake and Jaune of all people discussing comic book versus TV cartoon canon and what would have made a better movie than what they just saw. Pyrrha was confused if that was something she should encourage or not… Jaune and Ruby nerding out was as always adorable to see.
The walk was quick with Pyrrha only having to hide around Jaune once to prevent a group of people from recognizing her. Her radically different clothing and hair style doing its job well. Yang was less fortunate having to brush off and scare off a good few people who walked up to her.
And much to Ruby's embarrassment even she had to duck around Jaune as a guy came up to her. Though he was quickly forced to back off due to Yang intimidating him and Weiss verbally laying into him. Even Jaune joined in and glared at him. Pyrrha had to bite back her laughter at how quickly the guy paled and almost ran away.
They were in one of the larger entertainment districts of Vale, so there were people out everywhere, but the amount of people making passes at her friends was a bit too high. Weiss was even whistled at by some tall orange haired girl. To which Weiss huffed.
Though Pyrrha had to admit that her friends were a pretty good looking group.
A short time later they made their way into the food market, a kind of barn looking building with food stalls and seating areas inside. They went their separate ways to grab some food and some tables that were free.
A pretty delicious meal later, where the conversation moved from talking about the movie to talking about Port's assignment and Goodwitch's next training session, they started their walk back to the landing pads. And after a quick flight back to their dorm rooms.
- Scene Break -
The next morning started unfortunately early for Pyrrha who was snapped awake due to a now familiar dream of red and black shapes killing Jaune and destroying everything else. Pyrrha groaned silently as she snuggled deeper into Jaune's warm chest.
Pyrrha was in a now very familiar position, Jaune's arms wrapped around her back, their legs tangled together, one of her arms wrapped around Jaune's shoulders and her other arm wrapped around his waist. Her hand resting on a very firm part of Jaune's. Jaune always had a pretty great butt.
Pyrrha closed her eyes as she considered her reoccurring dream, death and destruction by the Grimm. They were almost all the same, except for the number of shapes attacking everything and how long the dream took.
It was almost like the better prepared she felt everyone was the less shapes there were. Pyrrha wondered if she could actually trust her subconscious to direct her or if these dreams were tied to her vision in some way.
Pyrrha squeezed herself closer to Jaune, her crop top and shorts letting her feel even more of Jaune's warm and soft skin. She knew that the ultimate goal of beating Salem was very far off, they wouldn't stand a chance. But it kept haunting her thoughts.
Cinder and Raven were small fry compared to Salem, how do you defeat an immortal that controls the Grimm. Her vision just left her with broken pieces of what happened, relics, betrayal, maidens, Ozma, sacrifices and Gods.
Whatever it was that happened last time, it was something that needed to be avoided this time. But she had no ideas and she only lightly touched the subject of Salem with Jaune. Pyrrha felt some sympathy for Ozpin… Ozma… all these centuries of getting betrayed by friends and followers when they learned that they were fighting an immortal. An immortal that Ozma had no clues how to beat.
Pyrrha sighed as she nuzzled Jaune's neck. So warm, if she focused she could even feel the blood flowing in his arteries with her nose. Life was so fragile, one wrong move and that blood stops flowing. That softly beating heart stops beating.
Pyrrha closed her eyes and let out a breath. She still had time, they all still had time. Months until Cinder's attack, over a year until the fight at Haven and close to 2 years until Atlas gets attacked. And the timeline was only since Salem was involved in immediate plans. Something that based on what Ozma said once she generally didn't do.
Pyrrha wondered if she actually should start working with Ozma, even with everything he did last time. He still knew Salem the best and he was powerful, knowledgeable. On the other hand Pyrrha did not trust Ozma at all to actually plan anything.
The maidens, the protections for the relics, his plans for countering Salem. They were all just… bad… Pyrrha wondered if an immortal wizard could go senile. Or if he was just that short-sighted or arrogant.
As Pyrrha pondered Ozma and Salem and possibilities she felt Jaune's hand move to her back and start petting her up and down her spine. Under her shirt. Jaune's warm hand directly on her skin felt so good that it immediately pulled her out of her thoughts.
Pyrrha held in a soft purr and smiled into Jaune's neck. Even asleep he still knows how to make her feel better. After a few minutes of being petted Pyrrha decided that after the dust theft fight was dealt with she would tell Jaune everything about Salem.
She needed to trust Jaune and hopefully his reaction would be better than last time when he was told.
As Jaune continued to pet her back Pyrrha slowly fell back into a warm and comfortable sleep.
- Scene Break -
The week went by quickly and before anyone knew it was already Friday, the week was a busy one with Port's assignment and the near daily team training that Jaune and Ruby scheduled. Port's assignment was thankfully finished by everyone on the two teams. Though by the end even Weiss had to admit Nora was right about the assignment.
Late afternoon found both teams in their usual training room where they were still practicing fighting as different teams. The practice generally was the same, Jaune or Ruby would call out who would be on a team and who would sit out the fight and they would fight the highest level bot or each other.
Though there were also the usual everyone versus Pyrrha fights as well. None of which worked out too well. And one everyone except Pyrrha versus Yang, which also didn't go too well, though this time for everyone.
The current fight had Yang, Nora and Weiss against Pyrrha, Blake and Ren as Jaune and Ruby sat out the fight. Ruby cheering on everyone. The teams weren't evenly matched with Yang and Nora on one team, but Pyrrha was on the other, so…
Jaune hummed to himself as he saw Pyrrha block both Yang and Nora with her spear and shield, allowing for Blake and Ren to go after Weiss and loop around to hit Nora and Yang from the back. It was a good move and it almost worked, only Weiss recovering faster than expected threw the attack off.
But overall Jaune was very happy, to his admittedly still only partially trained eyes, everyone was working far better together now than a few weeks ago. Partners still worked the best together, but by now even Ren and Weiss, who had very different fighting styles could work together enough to not get in each other's way.
The fight ended when a similar block by Pyrrha and coordinated attack from Blake and Ren actually worked. This time it was timed better and Ren and Blake managed to force Weiss to redirect a glyph of hers at the last second before they hit Weiss together. The glyph slipped up Nora for the second that Pyrrha needed to throw her hammer across the room and then turn to deal with Yang.
Ren and Blake then double-teamed Nora to force her out of the arena and Pyrrha forced Yang to yield after a brief but brutal exchange of fists, spears, shields and shots.
Jaune clapped his hands as Ruby groaned at Weiss's and Yang's outs.
Yang sighed as she grabbed Pyrrha's hand and was pulled up by her. It was a close fight for everyone, except Pyrrha. Pyrrha's knowing their moves bullshit was still as annoying as the first time. But Yang was happy that a few times they managed to surprise Pyrrha. Which meant that what they did was something new.
Yang needed to make some time to talk with everyone and go through all their possible attack strategies and find the ones that Pyrrha didn't have any easy counter to. Create new ones similar to anything that Pyrrha might not be ready for.
As Jaune and Ruby walked to the middle of the arena Weiss sighed as she jumped back up onto the arena. Blake and Ren were just too quick for her, she needed to keep track of 8 points of attack even if they used their hands more than their legs.
But each hand having a weapon was difficult enough. One thing all this team training did show Weiss was that she was nowhere as observant as she thought she was. Having to kept track of 6 or 8 people, 8 weapons, all the different moves. It was tricky. Even though Weiss knew that she was getting better, it was still a work in progress.
Blake nodded at Ren as he nodded back to her and walked towards Nora, who was frowning. Blake was slightly surprised that she and Ren worked so well together, it was true that their fighting styles were similar, but she didn't think that they would 'click' so quickly.
Though aside from that surprise Blake was pretty pleased with how the varied team training was going, everyone was getting better at working together and a few pairings were already probably better than anything she saw during her time with the White Fang. All of which was a good sign.
The purpose of the training and why Jaune all of a sudden wanted to increase it so much that it cut into his regular Pyrrha training was a mystery. She heard some whispers from Jaune and Pyrrha about White Fang and Roman and dust, but nowhere near enough to make a guess that she was comfortable with. But whatever the cause was, it wasn't anything good.
Nora sighed as Ren walked up to her, she thought that she was better with her hand to hand than this. The moment that she lost her hammer Ren and Blake just laid into her. And she, even with being stronger than both of them, couldn't keep up.
Nora looked over at Ren as he patted her shoulder and she smiled at him. She would get better at hand to hand and she knew just who she had to spend more time with to learn that. Though what did surprise her was how easily Ren and Blake fell into a rhythm. Nora blinking...
Ren smiled back at Nora, she did better than her first time fighting against them without her hammer and Ren was very happy about that. He was a bit surprised how well his and Blake's fighting styles meshed together. But that was also good for the long term.
He was pleased that his own abilities were growing so quickly to the point that he could team up with anyone from the two teams and fight well together. He also sharpened his reflexes so much in the past few weeks that it honestly surprised him.
Though one thing was concerning for Ren was the whispers that Pyrrha and Jaune shared more frequently during the week. Something was happening, something that Pyrrha and Jaune felt that they were not ready for. Something that needed them to be able to fight together.
Ren looked over at Jaune who made it to the middle of the arena and was hugged by Pyrrha.
Ruby smiled as Weiss and Blake walked up to her "You both were so good." She said happily. Ruby was very happy with how much better everyone was at working together, fighting together. When her team started this training a couple months ago it was just bad. Tripping over each other bad.
Now anyone from both of the teams could fight together well enough, even Weiss and Jaune could cooperate. They were even a pretty good team, Jaune providing a kind of pivot point or safe point for Weiss to launch her attacks from while also pining down whoever fought him. Jaune just needed a bit more training and his defense would be amazing.
They all wrapped up their training, took their showers and changed back into their clothes. On the walk back to the dorms Yang looked over to Jaune who like always had Pyrrha cuddled up beside him. She smiled.
Now Yang knew that the bet was technically for tomorrow, but she just read that a certain DJ was at the club that she wanted to go to, so she wondered if Jaune would care about her changing the date of their 'dancing date'.
Yang hopped a few steps over to Jaune and wrapped an arm around his neck. "So, Jauney, about our bet..."
Jaune huffed "Still say it was Nora's bet." As Pyrrha looked at her.
Yang chuckled and pulled herself even closer to Jaune, forcing him to take more of her weight. "Team bet, anyways, about the night out dancing that you have to pay for, you good with tonight being that night?"
Jaune looked over to Yang and tried to distract himself from what Yang was pressing into his side. "Tonight? Sure, I had no plans." Jaune really didn't have any plans and the sooner he got the bet out of the way the better. Plus from everything that Ruby said Yang was a great dancer.
Yang smiled "Cool, you and me are going to have some fun tonight. Get ready to leave at 7:30 and bring your wallet. Tonight will be jaunesome." Everyone groaned. Jaune shook his head and let out a few short quiet chuckles.
After Yang reminded Jaune about the time to meet and impressed on him to not leave her waiting, the two teams split up and went to their separate dorms.
Pyrrha huffed at Yang's wink.
- Scene Break -
A couple hours later after the teams ate dinner, Jaune was finishing up getting ready, waving off some of Pyrrha's more outlandish concerns. He was reasonably sure that he would not get drugged tonight or get abducted to do nefarious things.
"I'll be fine Pyrrha, it will be just some dancing and Yang eating and drinking me out of all my money. Then we will come back. Plus Yang knows the place we are going and she wouldn't take me anywhere too sketchy." Jaune said as he adjusted his shirt. A nice patterned pullover shirt that he forgot he brought with him.
Pyrrha sighed and looked Jaune over, somewhat not liking the fact that he actually dressed up better for Yang. "I know, just be careful." She said as Jaune turned to face her. He smiled at her and Pyrrha couldn't resist hugging him.
Nora laughed in the background "Jauney is going dancing, not to infiltrate the mob, he will be fine."
Jaune chuckled and hugged Pyrrha back "Will you be okay?" he asked quietly, almost directly into Pyrrha's ear.
Pyrrha smiled "I'll be fine, I have Nora and Ren if anything happens."
Jaune nodded and pulled away slightly to look at the clock "Well, its time, really don't want to keep Yang waiting, who knows what she will do…" Jaune grabbed the last thing he was missing off the table and left the room.
Pyrrha glared at what Jaune had in his hand. Sure it was just for the bet and Jaune's plan, but still, Pyrrha did not like it. Nora walked over and patted her on the back.
Across the hallway Yang was putting on her finishing touches, just because it was a bet win with the friend who owed her didn't mean that she would just put anything on. Plus she wanted to see Jaune's eyes pop out.
A small smirk grew on her face as she looked herself over. A nice just tight and short enough top, that was pretty breathable as well, a pair of black leather like leggings, which were also breathable and a loose biker jacket finished her look. She did look good.
Behind her she could hear Ruby and Weiss going on about being nice to Jaune and looking out so Jaune doesn't try anything, no second guesses on who said what. Yang turned around and groaned loudly.
"Nothing will happen to Jaune, don't you worry Rubes, your big sister will take care of him. And Weisscream, Jaune's not the type of dude that tries things with girls, if he was he would have tried something with you when he was still asking you out each week." Yang said as she rolled her eyes.
Gods, did she have the most trusting team or what. Even her own sister was more worried about what she would do to Jaune than what might happen to her.
Yang was feeling some weird vibes in the room though, Ruby had a harder than normal look on her face, Blake was being oddly quiet even for her and Weiss was looking off for some reason. Yang sighed and turned back to the mirror, she tilted her head one way and another, checking her hair and then turned to look at the clock.
Her team would have to deal with whatever weirdness they had going on themselves, it was almost time to head out. Yang briefly wondered if Jaune would be late only to be interrupted a few moments later by knocking on the door.
7:30, exactly on time. Yang smirked and walked over to open the door. As she got a her first good look at Jaune in his best going out clothes her smirk changed into a smile. Jaune did clean up pretty well, a dark patterned soft looking shirt and some almost black pants. He even brushed his hair from the looks of it.
Jaune's expression though was what she wanted. His eyes opened wide and a blush grew on his face before he could control his expression. She also felt his eyes roam all over her body before settling at looking at her face. Which was something Yang always appreciated about Jaune, he never stared at her admittedly great assets.
Jaune felt a massive blush start growing on his face when he saw Yang, what was she wearing, it looked like it was molded to her body. Jaune just managed to force down his blush as he looked at Yang's face and the playful smile that she had.
Okay, time to start his plan and make sure that Yang never does a bullshit forced team bet again.
After a few seconds of silence, where Yang just smiled at Jaune and Jaune composed himself. Team JNPR's room door opened and Pyrrha, Nora and Ren all looked out from behind the door. In team RWBY's room Ruby, Weiss and Blake all looked at what was happening. But they weren't ready for what would happen.
Yang saw Jaune's expression changed and he brought the arm that was behind him out. A second later what was in his hand was in front of her face. What it was surprised her. What he said surprised her even more. "For Beacon's golden dragon, a dragonfire flower."
The whole world blinked, Pyrrha clenched her teeth and hands as Nora rubbed her back. Ruby, Weiss and Blake all gaped. Yang gaped along with her team. No one ever did anything like this to her or for her. And how could Jaune know that dragonfire was her favorite flower?
Yang reached out for the flower, how did he get it so quickly, he had to have picked it up from somewhere during the last few hours. Yang looked up from the flower to Jaune's face as she took it from him. He saw smiling a blindingly bright smile. Yang blinked as his smile grew even bigger.
She had the distinct impression that a game was being played and that she was the one the game was being played against.
A second of strange silence later Yang pulled herself together "Thanks for the flower Jauney, you didn't have to go that far." Yang looked back at Ruby who looked as shocked as she felt a few moments ago. "Hey Rubes, mind putting this in some water for me."
Ruby broke out of whatever shock she was in and took the flower from her and started to look around for something to put it in.
Yang turned back to Jaune and smiled. Jaune then extended an arm out "Well, milady if you are ready, let us head off." Jaune slightly bowed as he offer her his arm. The strange silence hit again. Yang heard Weiss gasp behind her. Yang wondered from where she remember what Jaune just did from.
A second later Yang decided that whatever game Jaune was playing at she would play him even better. Yang smiled at Jaune and looped her arm around his. "Thank you kind sir, let's be off." Yang said in her most snooty voice.
Jaune smiled back at her straightened out and gently pulled Yang even closer against his side. All the while not think about what was pressing against his side. Yang was just too… attractive… hot and too close of a friend to really think about her body like that.
Yang smiled a bit wider as she was pulled up against Jaune for a moment, he then set off and led her down the hall towards the elevator.
As Yang and Jaune walked off Nora pulling Pyrrha and Ren along behind her walked into team RWBY's room.
"Okay, we have to follow them." Nora said looking at everyone in the room.
"What?" asked Weiss pulling herself together. "What in all that is right was that?"
Ruby turned from Weiss to Nora still holding the flower, gently rolling the stem around with her fingers. "Follow them, why?" she still didn't see anything that would work as a vase for the flower.
Nora pointed at Ruby "Yes, follow them, not to spoil anything, but fearless leader has a plan."
Weiss, Ruby and Blake all blinked, "A plan?" Weiss asked.
"Yes, he wants to show Yang up, he is still a bit unhappy about the suddenly changing a bet to a team bet after Yang won the bet." Ren explained.
Pyrrha grumbled "So he plans to be the perfect 'lord gentleman' during their night out dancing."
Nora nodded her head "It sounds like it will be great, he told us everything that Arcs had to do and follow when 'courting' someone back when they were nobles. I want to see how Yang will react to it."
Pyrrha grumbled again, really not happy that Jaune was going all out for Yang, even if it was just for a game, Jaune treating Yang like his 'lady' was something that Pyrrha did not want to see.
Ruby blinked and then started laughing "Wait, Jaune wants to treat Yang, Yang! Miss want to fight and spent three hours fixing my awesome bike like some noble lady?" Ruby sat down on her bed to stop her from falling on the floor with how hard she was laughing.
"Yes, like I said, it will be great!" Nora nodded.
"Yes, I want to see this." Ruby said as she stood up, still chuckling a bit.
Weiss also nodded "I also want to so how gentleman like Jaune actually knows how to act."
Blake sighed as she stood up "Might as well keep on eye on Yang to make sure that she doesn't do anything to Jaune or the club."
"Good, good, Pyrrha and Renny, you two in also?" Nora asked turning to look at them.
Pyrrha nodded "Yes."
Ren blinked "Not like I had anything else planned for tonight. It may be interesting."
"Alright then, operation Dragonslayer also known as DragonKnight is a go." Nora said as she pointed out the door.
Weiss cleared her throat.
"Yes, Weissy?" Nora asked point at her.
"We need to change and get ready, also we need to do something with that flower." Weiss pointed to the flower that Ruby was still holding. Everyone turned and looked at the bright orange and red flower that Ruby had. Ruby blushed slightly at the attention.
Chapter Ten End
Hope everyone liked chapter 10.
You all have no idea how much trouble we had with this chapter, we kept rewriting it over and over multiple times. We are just happy that it came out even slightly good. We decided to cut the whole club scene from this chapter as it makes more sense in the next chapter with how it is shaping up.
Chapter 11 should be out within a few weeks and it should be good. A very busy weekend is going to be happening for everyone.
As always we are thankful for everyone that reads our little very slow story.
And also as always we are not in the Prime timeline.