Kinda went off on this on accident but I'm sure it'll be fine.
Jaune was on a mission to collect his gear for the up coming meeting when he came across a red hooded figure collapsed in the hallway near his dorm. A spike of fear rushed through his body at the site of ruby's limp form. Jaune rushed forward and picked up his best friend off the ground before turning her over in his arms.
"Ruby, what happened" he asked frantically. The small girl looked up at him before grabbing his shirt "I love yang but if you don't choose blake, I might not survive another talking" she said with a tinge of fear in her words. Jaune let out a tired sigh before dropping the small girl, earning a tiny "ugh" when she hit the floor.
He tried to walk pass ruby but felt her hands grab hold of his leg in a desperate attempt to make him listen. Instead of stopping like she hoped he would, ruby found herself being dragged down the hall towards their dorm rooms. Using his scroll to unlock the door, jaune continued to drag ruby through the dorm room until they reached the bed where he reached down and hoisted the small girl under his arm before tossing her over the covers.
Nora sat on her bed with a pair of headphones on while weiss worked on her homework in silence. The two paused what they were doing upon seeing jaune and ruby entering the room before watching their team leader bodily toss his luggage on the bed. Nora and weiss quickly exchanged looks with one another before deciding not to get involved in their drama and went back to what they were doing.
Jaune waited while ruby grumbled into his sheets and made a mess of his bed. In all honesty watching ruby curl up in the sheets like she was, was more adorable then annoying. Jaune sat on the side of his bed as his tiny friend popped her head out of his sheets to glare at him.
"Was that really necessary"?
Ruby stuck out her tongue before crawling into the ball of cloth she made. The blonde smiled warmly before laying on top of his best friend and earning another small "ugh". Jaune pulled the sheets off ruby's head and was met with two silver eyes and ruby's signature pout.
"Alright I'll listen but I've got like ten minutes before I gotta go again" he said as he looked at his scroll. The pout on ruby's face vanished as quickly as it came "work again"? Jaune smiled knowingly "something like that. Putting that aside for now, how about we talk about why your siding with blake rather then your cousin".
Ruby knew she could trust jaune with anything that bothered her but telling blake's hidden affection to the person she liked in general was a bad idea. Unfortunately she couldn't just say nothing so she decided to tip toe around it instead "jaune my life used to be simple. It should be all about being a super cool huntress and worrying about the people who need my help".
Jaune nodded but didn't see where she was going with this.
"And then I met you and things became so awesome cause I had someone who I could call my best friend, you know"? She waited till he gave a confirmed nod before she started again. "Then we got a little bit older and now I'm starting to think your existence is to make my life...complicated".
He still didn't get it but what she said did bring a mischievous smile to his face "and what have I done to make you think that"? He was gonna make her spell it out and that earned him a tiny growl before she used her semblance enhanced speed to knock him off the bed. When jaune looked up it was to see ruby sitting on top of his stomach glaring at him "you got my partner and my cousin to care about you"!
"Again, what have I done"?
Ruby howled with anger "Because of you I'm being tormented with talks about relationships by blake of all people. If that wasn't bad enough, I've had to deal with yang sulking everyday for nearly two years because you couldn't read between the lines. Your love life is ruining my peaceful one".
Jaunes eyes were wide and the surprised look on his face said that she dropped a bomb on his normal life. "Yangs had feelings for me for two years" he whispered. Jaune covered his eyes with his arm and groaned loudly. "Ruby if you knew all this why didn't you tell me earlier"?
Ruby growled at the blonde "that's not the point! Look. your going to march yourself into my room, sit with blake and make a decision on who your going to be with".
Jaune moved his arm so he could look up at his best friend "I can't" he answered. It wasn't the answer she wanted but she wasn't about to back down. "Jaune this isn't up for debate. Your going over there now or I'll drag you there myself"!
Jaune crossed his arms and returned ruby's glare with one of his own. The two were silent for little over a minute before jaune caved first. "Fine but can it wait until after I get back" he pleaded in a desperate attempt to hold off the talk for as long as possible.
"Will you be coming back today"?
The blondes silence was telling. "Jauuunne". The small girl drew his name out in a tone that would have been threatening if it came from any other girl.
"Maybe" he admitted after a short moment to think. Ruby let out a sigh before placing her hands on her best friends chest and leaned over. She looked down into his blue eyes before demanding the one thing his family was known for...a promise.
"I want you to promise me you'll talk to her when you get back". He could have refused, wanted to, but the look ruby was giving him said she would except nothing less. "People might get the wrong idea if they see us in this kinda position" he said with a small smile.
Ruby finally realized the way they were and blushed madly. Her body stiffened as she fought to prevent herself from reacting as she normally would, which was to jump off and stutter like the socially awkward girl she was. Instead she narrowed her eyes on the boy bellow her "your just trying to get away".
Jaunes head swiveled to the side and a low "tch" was heard. "Promise" ruby urged, and just like a house of cards he folded. "Alright I promise". The smile on ruby's face was blindingly radiant and jaune couldn't help but give a small smile of his own - even if she more or less twisted his arm a few seconds ago.
He could just imagine what vernal would think if she saw him at the mercy of a girl two years younger and probably half as strong as him. "Ok you got your promise but I really gotta go cause you know...work stuff" he reminded her. Ruby got the hint and allowed him to get up and collect his stuff before disappearing out the door.
Nora made her own excuse and left shortly after, leaving ruby alone with weiss. The heiress looked up to see ruby rummaging around in the comic collection jaune had hidden under his bed. "Do I want to know what your looking for in my team leaders belongings" she asked just to make sure ruby knew she was still there.
The small girl turned to weiss and seriously thought about pretending like she had know idea what the heiress was talking about but decided against it. "I'm looking for anything that might give me a clue as to who jaune would likely be more interested in". Weiss's eyes narrowed on the two comics in ruby's hands "and you think you'll find something in his comic stash"?
Ruby nodded before looking at the comics in her hands. The heiress rolled her eyes and went back to her homework. After a few minutes of silence, weiss looked over to ruby once more and smiled mischievously "if your really so worried about his love life you could just snatch him out from under blake and yang yourself".
Ruby's shoulders tensed and her face turned bright red before she grabbed jaunes pillow off the bed and threw it at the heiress. That was the last thing she needed to hear or wanted to think about.
/
Vale / Docks
Jaune arrived at the docks with nora and ren flanking him on each side. Besides the large metal shipping crates there really wasn't much to see other than the few warehouse buildings. Knowing Alec, there was probably a lookout to make sure they wouldn't be followed and to sound the alarm if he brought back up.
In the distance a red eye poke out from behind the scope of a black sniper rifle to turn to the scroll laying next to it. Alec sent the pre-written text to cinder to confirm that jaune had arrived on schedule before looking through the scope once more to case the surroundings for any potential dangers. So far there was nothing to suggest that jaune had brought in anyone to help him.
Alec huffed and couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed at the thought of his best student giving up so easily. A shadow appeared in front of the moonlight covering him so Alec aimed his sniper upward and expected some kind of problem. Once again he felt annoyed and shook his head before ignoring the two birds that flew overhead.
A small ping had jaune looking at his scroll. A message detailing which warehouse he was supposed to go to was written within. The blonde followed the direction perfectly and arrived at a storehouse located in the center of the docks.
There were no guards or any signs of life until he entered through the front door. Any boxes or equipment that could be moved were, so that a wide open space was left in the center of the warehouse. Cinder, adam and a few others stood in the center with vernal on her knees, guarded by a teenager with silver hair.
Jaune strode forward until cinder held up her hand for him to stop. "Hand your weapons over to ren and kneel" she demanded. Jaune unhooked his sword and gun from his belt before handing them over. Once he was completely unarmed and on his knees, cinder deemed it safe to approach.
Jaunes eyes scanned over the room before he met cinders gaze "didn't think Alec wanted to miss this". Cinder created a glass sword and placed the tip under his chin "master Alec wanted to make sure you weren't going to try anything so he took the lookout position for himself".
"Sounds more like he can't trust you to do something that simple. Then again, he did have to come all this way because you couldn't bring me in on your own".
Whatever good mood cinder had, dried up and died a horrible death because the next minute she struck him hard with the side of her glass sword. Jaunes aura flickered for a second at the damage while he turned back to her with a wide grin "guess I hit the nail on the head".
Cinder gritted her teeth and was about to strike him again when her wrist was caught by none other then adam taurus. "As much as I enjoy watching a lowly human like him be put in his place we have to keep in mind our other objective" he said calmly. Cinder yanked her wrist free and gave the bull faunus a murderous glare.
Although she was reluctant to admit it, adam indeed had a point. Cinder let out a frustrated breath and looked jaune in the eyes "bound and gag him. That last thing we need is jaune getting any ideas of escaping...or speaking anymore for that matter". Adam nodded and signaled for emerald to get it done while they dealt with vernals lackeys.
Things were going down a dangerous path but even so, jaune allowed emerald to tie his hands behind his back and shove a cloth in his mouth. While emerald was busy tying up the blonde from behind jaune looked forward at vernal. Feeling eyes on her, vernal lifted her face and saw jaune a little ways off.
She noted the relaxed look in his eyes and knew he had something planned. Her answer came when the ceiling above exploded and several figures dropped in from above. The silver haired teen couldn't react in time to a blonde haired woman using her semblance to gather and compress the air before firing it off and knocking him away.
Emerald had used jaune as a shield to block the explosion but by doing so she placed herself too close to her captive. Jaune threw his head back and headbutted the green haired girl before placing one foot flat on the floor to through himself backwards. After being dazed by a surprise headbutt, emerald felt a body slam into her chest and roll off her when they hit the floor.
Cinder and adam had already moved to try and stop him from escaping but were stopped by two other figures who had jumped in during the initial explosion. Taiyang xiao long and summer rose stood at the ready with weapons drawn and aimed at cinder and adam. "Adam Taurus, for the crimes of murder, kidnapping and terrorism you are hereby under arrest" summer proclaimed for all to hear.
Jaune couldn't help but smile a little as he thought of how ruby would have reacted to her mothers entrance. The image of ruby gushing over how cool her mother was would have been a sight to see. His eyes narrowed on his own enemy and realized he needed to get his head in the game when the green haired girl stood up and drew her weapons.
Adam huffed angrily "and this is why I don't trust humans. They never get anything right".
/
A few minutes earlier
All it took was letting his guard down because of a shadow for his entire plan to go up in smoke. The scroll in alec's hand continued to say no signal and by this point there wasn't a need for it anymore. Alec had spotted a few people moving in on cinders location and tried to warn her ahead of time but couldn't.
If that wasn't bad enough, he tried to shoot them from a distance to injury or possibly kill them. Unfortunately that too was stopped before he could even start when raven - his niece - dropped out of the sky and sliced the barrel of his sniper. Although taken aback at first he used the body of his broken weapon to block the second person dropping out of the sky.
Qrows harbinger slashed down in the hope of ending it quickly but with his luck alec managed to block his attack even at his age. The white haired man pushed Qrow away and tossed his broken sniper at his niece to slow her down long enough to draw his katana and block her attack. "Hmph, you've gotten a bit better but your brother still lacks the edge you have".
"You can't really blame him for that with a semblance like his" raven fired back at her uncle before using her full strength to push him off the roof they were on. Alec allowed her and even helped by jumping back when she pushed forward.
The elder man landed on the floor and quickly dived out of the way when raven dropped down exactly where he had landed at. Qrow followed after his sister and landed next to her with his sword at the ready. "How we doin this Ray"?
"What do you think idiot! We end him, it's as simple as that" she hissed angrily.
A low chuckle interrupted the two before it erupted in a loud laughter. Alec wiped a single tear away from his face before resting his hand on the hilt of his sword "You two haven't changed. Still bickering amongst yourselves even when faced with an opponent several times your better".
Qrows hands tightened around the handle of his sword as a blood red aura began to swirl around their uncle. "I'm sure you both haven't forgotten about my semblance but just a reminder". Alec's hair changed from white to black and his skins wrinkles smoothed out to give him a much younger look.
"Restoration" a young alec in his twenties said proudly as he brandished his sword with practiced ease. His semblance allowed him to turn back the time in and out his body to the point where he was at his strongest in memory. A truly powerful semblance and one that made him a fearsome opponent no matter what age he truly was.
If raven had any kind of fear within her body she hid it well. As for qrow, he was hoping everyone else was going to have a better time then he was. Those thoughts were pushed to the side as he and his sister jumped into battle.
/
To say they were having trouble was an understatement. Cinder thought herself a truly capable fighter and the best of the bunch but never had she thought there'd be another woman who could take her on without the help of a maidens magic. Summer short spear extended and the blade fell to the side creating a single long hook blade that she used to sweep cinders leg out from underneath her .
While those two warriors faced off with each other, taiyang spent his time dodging nearly all of adams slashes and only countered ones he knew would land. The bull faunus was red in the face and screaming at tai to fight like a real man instead of running like a coward. Tai's response was simple "your no man".
That seemed to throw Adam into a even greater rage because tai didn't even see him as a real threat like he was meant to. "Then you can die for arrogance human"! Adam aimed to take the blondes head but for his recklessness driven by the height of his anger, only ensured he tasted the metal of taiyangs gauntlets.
On jaunes end there wasn't really a challenge and he honestly thought about fighting someone else. Illusion were usually a trouble some thing to deal with but when you spent several years with neo constantly attacking you for attention you kinda learn to see passed them. Even bare handed as he was he still had no trouble. Emeralds ability was great but the fact she couldn't move well while using it was her greatest weakness.
Cinder recognized the whole plan was unsalvageable at this point and worse there'd probably lose some people in their retreat. "Adam we're leaving now" she screamed before creating a wall of fire to cut off the hunters from following. Emerald tried to break away from her fight by creating another illusion to keep him distracted only for her to get nora's hammer in her back.
The green haired girl slammed into a nearby wall that shattered her aura and left her unconscious. Nora turned to her team leader and fist bumped him before moving to secure their captive.
In the moment he could catch his breath, jaune looked around and saw cinder and adam flee from their opponents through a broken wall adam created with his semblance. Ren had rushed over to his mistress and tended to her wounds as best he could leaving glynda to apprehend the silver haired teen alone. Judging from how miss goodwitch used the stone from the floor to create a cocoon around the boys body, jaune guessed she didn't need any help.
With the danger passed and everyone coming out without much damage, jaune let himself sink to the floor with a large smile on his face. "Mission complete" he whispered tiredly.
/
Raven was on one knee with her sword stabbed into the ground and gasping for air as she watched squall toss qrow's body to the side. Qrow aura was broken and he now had a large stab wound through his torso that would most likely kill him in time. "If you want him to live you'll take him to jaune as fast as you can" alec said tiredly.
His semblance was wearing off judging by the streaks of white running through his hair. She could have pushed him to spend up his remaining time but that would have left her brother to die which wasn't a good trade. "Run" raven spat "we'll end this another day".
She waisted no more time on the elder man and rushed over to her brother before creating a portal to her husband. Squall watched his niece drag her brother through the portal before turning to leave. As far as family reunions went, he thought this wasn't a bad one.
/
The look on summers face when she saw qrow slumped over and bleeding all over the place was one he could have done without. Raven turned over to him "jaune heal him NOW"! The blonde rushed over and slid on his knees with both hands extended. Aura poured from his fingers and fused with qrow's to begin the healing process. Even with these new turn of events he still had high spirits cause in the end it was still a victory.
Kinda like having a swat team made of huntsmen and huntresses. If your all wondering why Roman and neo weren't there it's because someone needed to steal that dust container.