'Ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go!
Also, this will be even longer than usual... as in 11,000+ words.
Take that as you will.
Chapter 13: Hit Me With Your Best Shot
"I love the kind of woman that can kick my ass." —Spike Spiegel, Cowboy Bebob: The Movie
"...and with that said, I've got a sparring match with Weiss tomorrow at 4:00. Heh, when mother said I needed to see more girls, I don't think this was what she meant. But, anywho, sometime in the next... 19 hours, I need to come up with a strategy for fighting her... Who knows, maybe I may actually beat her in the fight; Won't that be awesome... Though I think she may hate my guts for it... hmm, what to do, what to do, what to do...'"
He flipped a coin. Calling tails.
Plink!
...Damn, heads.
He looked back to his phone, as usual planted on the ledge of the desk and propped up by his textbooks.
"Maybe I'll get some divine inspiration in my sleep or something. Heh, you know what's funny," he said to his nonexistent audience, "is just... how much has changed and yet... I feel as though so little has at the same time. I mean, almost... 2 months ago I was working my ass off for a paycheck, the sun beating me down a peg, the heat just, just slaughtering me more than it really should have... I had fun co-workers, I had a good boss... just, everything was starting down the normal path. I was gonna start classes up here pretty soon as well, work on my Associate's degree... Well, I guess Mom and Dad have all that spare cash for Luke's education, don't they?" He picked up his Bike Chaplain from the back of the desk, rolling him about in his hand. The golden crozius arcanum—basically a fancy, golden cudgel— gleamed in the light. "Hope Luke's been putting his Blood Angels to work... hope somebody's actually been taking him to our 40K meetups," he said distantly, lost in his own thoughts.
"And now... now I'm spending my days learning how to kill Beowolves, I'm socializing with kids that are at the youngest 3/4ths my age, at the most a year my junior. Heh, actually, come to think of it I'm kinda the senior on campus, even if I, y'know, suck. Funny. But anyway, I'm spending time reading up on the history of the kingdoms, KINGDOMS—not nations like back on Earth—and one of my next-door neighbors is literally a biologically-existent catgirl! No joke, cat ears, love for fish and all!" He chuckled with glee, "You can't make this shit up! Hahahah... heh..."
Silence gripped the room.
"I miss home. I miss waking up to Chewie jumping up on the bed with me... I miss waking up and seeing the mountain, I miss going to work as stupid as that sounds, I miss my coworkers, and... I miss you guys. I miss my family."
A tear crawled its way out of the corner of his eye. He resisted the urge to cry then and there. He sat in silence again for what felt like an hour.
"But my task still lies before me, and as much as I want to blurt it out to them... I can't. They'd label me insane, I'd be locked away for the rest of my life or some shit like that. And nothing would stop Cinder from attacking...and killing..." Try as he could, he couldn't say it.
"Actually... trying to say what happens to Pyrrha, now that I... now that I actually kinda know her and she knows me... it's like... it's like I'm talking about her like she was terminally ill or something, and that just... just doesn't feel right." Silence again.
"I hope I get this right. 'Cause if I don't... If I fuck this up... I don't think I'll ever forgive myself. I will have failed Ren and Nora... I'll have failed Jaune..." his voice was cracking as he fought back the resurgence of tears. "I'll have failed Ruby... and I'll... *sniff* I-I'll have failed Pyrrha worst of all..." He paused as he held in the urge to cry, his head turned down towards the ground
It took 30 seconds of fighting before he was able to speak coherently again.
"But I refuse to fail now... I've quit before, I've struggled before, I've failed before, but if there is but one instance that I cannot afford to fail, then God grant me the strength to not fail just this one time... But I refuse to give up and I refuse to fail." He looked back up, the sting of the tears subsiding.
"I swear Pyrrha will come away from The Battle of Beacon... at the absolute bare minimum alive and with every fiber of me hoping that at best she's untouched. And if I fail... I don't know what. But we'll see what happens, won't we? Anyways, once again the date of this log—Personal Log #52—is... Oh God, that's right, it's September 4th, 2017 Anno Domini, Terran Time, and it is Sunday, May 3rd, 80 A.G.W, Remnant Time, currently sitting at... 10:37 at night. Hope you guys sleep well... wherever you are. This is Jacob Muller... signing off."
Jacob tapped the stop button before rearranging his desk. "Gonna be a long fucking day tomorrow, won't it?"
It only took a few minutes after flopping into his bed before the abyss of slumber took hold of his consciousness.
The next morning Jacob awoke to the sound of a somber guitar solo; more specifically, Gustavo Santaolalla's theme for The Last of Us.
...Oh sonuvabitch, now I miss playing that game, Jacob lamented mentally as he began to awake. Cracking his left eye open, he could already tell that it was still early morning, just about 6:00 or so if the amount of sunlight peeking through the curtains were any indicator.
"...Won't do me any good to sleep in," he moaned before righting himself off the bed and onto his feet.
In the shower, he ran over his basic to-do list for the day before his... rendezvous with Weiss.
Okay... so how do I compete with Weiss... he pondered over his predicament with all the finesse of a rampaging T. rex. His mind was already racing, even without his morning tea to caffeine-boost him into ludicrous speeds of thought, reanalyzing his memories of her fights throughout the show.
She's all about precision and speed, so she's no doubt already analyzed me as well. I'm way too slow to even keep up with her, and in my hands Cadia is imprecise at best unless I keep my distance and basically be they guy to bring a gun to a sword fight. Then again, she's basically the equivalent to a fantasy RPG's mage... What to do, what to do...
He went back and forth with himself on methods of attack and patterns to engage in. Part of him wanted to rush her like a berserker, catch her off guard with a very straightforward attack, but that was dashed when he realized that she saw him as a brute. She would expect an attack like that.
as he stepped out of the shower, he looked up into the mirror; Compared to two months ago, he was already leagues ahead physically than he ever had been back on Earth. What fat he had come here with had been cut down by about half, and had in turn been replaced with new muscle. While he wasn't exactly able to heft much more than about 60 pounds in his arms at the moment without straining terribly, it was a lot better than he had been previously. Outside of that there was little change to his body, considering how his body received what was essentially a complete anime overhaul when he got here.
"...I could fight dirty," he muttered to himself as he stepped out of the restroom and back into his dorm. Though the clock said it was 6:47, the sunlight through his window shutters had mysteriously gone dim. Must be overcast today, he concluded. Sure enough, he looked outside the window to see that a decent cloud cover had descended over Vale, looking to form into stormclouds if they amassed any more.
A relaxed smile crept across Muller's face; he loved rainy days. Back home they were a rarity outside of March and the July-August monsoons, so everyone in the city would be out in force when the rain came down. Muller moved back to pick up his phone and quickly shuffled through to his preferred playlist on days like this.
Soon, the sounds of an orchestral version of Let the Rain Pour Down were registering in his ears.
"Trouble, troubles, fly away," he mumbled under his breath.
As the somber but lighthearted tune from Disneyland's Critter Country filled the air, his worries began to be buried as for a brief second as he took in the visage. "I wonder if there's a weather app on the Scrolls," Jacob said to himself as he picked up the fascinatingly advanced device: He had to admit, half the time he was nervous to work with it for fear he'd break the frame; then again, these things were toted around in man-to-Grimm battles, so it was probably a misguided concern at best. Regardless, he perused the Scroll, though he did struggle as usual with the holographic aspect of the Scroll.
"Jesus Christ, why couldn't they just make something like a damn smartphone—something that is for the most part friggin' solid," he cursed through his teeth.
Finally he managed to find a weather app on the thing; turns out the CCT also acted like a surprisingly primitive Internet, spared most of the horrors of image boards, discussion threads and—sadly enough—anything resembling Youtube. But sure enough, the weather app showed an overall overcast day with on-and-off rain throughout.
The smile on his face only grew in size.
"I think I may eat outside this morning," he said to no one in particular as he quickly holstered his phone in his hip case, and his pistols in his belt loops.
Ren had seen much in his young life; he had seen the horrors of the Grimm firsthand when they slaughtered his family and village at Kuroyuri, and countless times afterwards as an orphan. He had seen the cruelty of both humans and Faunus from the respective forces of the various criminals and gangs of the underbelly of society, and the very few White Fang he had encountered just before arriving at Beacon with Nora. He had seen how odd and varied the people of Remnant could be; He needed not to look farther than his own team and their sister team for just such an example of the good side of that coin, and the latter-mentioned groups to describe the bad side.
But Mr. Muller... he was something else.
Just by reading his eyes, Lie Ren had long known that there was a storm in that man's mind. Something was eating at him with the voraciousness of Nora on Pancake Day, and whatever it was he was keeping it a secret for only he himself to know. As much as Ren felt it was not his place to ask, he felt that he would be remiss to not offer him some solace. Even if he was not part of the team, Jacob was slowly becoming closer to the lot of them; Ruby was always happy to see him, Jaune and he were taking tutoring from Pyrrha each evening, Nora had become accustomed to giving him Ursa-hugs and receiving his closest attempt at one in return, and even Blake and he were slowly becoming more friendly with one another... though their interaction did seem to hide some form of tension between the two.
But that stunt Weiss pulled yesterday was... unprecedented. She had always held this underlying sense of aggression towards the older student, and Ren had slowly been deciphering her actions. As vocal as she was about the 9th companion of their little fellowship, it was actually fairly surprising to see her jump at the opportunity to test his mettle so quickly.
To Ren, it seemed as though she was trying to prove that she deserved to be here more so than Jacob did.
"Hey, has anyone seen Jacob?"
Jaune's question snapped Ren out of his meditation. Looking up at the clock, he saw that he had already gotten about a half hour out of his morning routine: it was already 7:10.
"I thought I heard him leave his dorm earlier," replied Nora, bouncing up and down on her bed without a care in the world; So basically Nora as usual.
"Any idea where he was headed?"
"I think he was headed down for breakfast," Pyrrha said to their leader as she stared out the window, watching what few students and teachers that were up and about
"Wait, seriously? But the rain's about to come right over top of the school."
There was a slight pause before Pyrrha spoke up. "By the looks of it," she said with a laugh wanting to escape beneath her sentence, "That doesn't seem to be a problem for him."
All of Team JNPR found themselves at the window, staring out to where Pyrrha was talking about. Sure enough, as the first drops of rain were beginning their descent to the ground below, Jacob had set up on a table outside the mess hall, having commandeered a stand-alone umbrella to cover his table. Despite the considerable distance, Ren could tell in Jacob's body language that he seemed to be more relaxed than he ever had been previously.
"He's outta his mind," Nora deadpanned, staring through a pair of binoculars she had probably found somewhere obscure like she usually did.
"If the wind kicks up he's gonna be eating a soggy breakfast," Jaune added, swiping the binoculars out of Nora's hands to get a better look himself.
Ren however was more focused on his posture. While there was that sense of peace in Jacob's body language, there was also a slight tinge of loneliness, with his shoulders slouching ever so and his head downcast to his meal more often than up at the rest of his surroundings.
"He seems rather lonely," Ren commented to no one in particular.
"Eh... maybe," Jaune responded, still looking through the binoculars. "He's wearing a smile at the moment..."
Without warning, Pyrrha swiped the binoculars out of Jaune's hands with a cry of protest from their fearless leader. "Jaune, I have to be honest, that's a somber smile if I've ever seen one.." She quickly offered them to Ren, who took them without a second's hesitation.
Sure enough, the look on Jacob's face that he could see through the binoculars seemed to be that type of smile one may have when they are remembering good times with a long-gone friend or loved one.
Ren felt a tug on his heartstrings. It was all too familiar to the orphan...
He felt the familiar tiny hand of Nora on his shoulder. Leaving the view of his binoculars, Ren turned to find her looking at him with concern, and in turn the other two members of JNPR staring at them with a hint of confusion.
Ren let out a sigh he didn't even realize he was holding in. "I'm going to go join him."
"Wait, seriously?" Jaune replied incredulously.
"What's the matter," Nora called out as Ren began leaving with her in close pursuit, "afraid to get wet, Jauney-boy?"
The last thing they heard before Ren was out the front door was a quiet, "...This early in the morning, yeah I am."
By the time the two had made it out, the rain had only increased slightly in strength, not even enough to get them well and truly wet without them having to stand in it for a solid hour. By now the courtyard was well and wet, and no wind could be felt on the air yet. At about 20 feet out Ren could swear he heard the sounds of music coming from the table.
20 feet out, he could confirm it was music, however faint it was from his distance. It was audibly orchestral, and had a sense of whimsy to it. Odd, considering his usual choice of music, Ren commented mentally.
"Whatever he's listening to," Nora said mirthfully, a bounce beginning to manifest in her step, "I need some of it right now."
At about 8 feet out, Jacob noticed them. They could hear him, singing faintly, "Zip-a-dee-do-dah, Zip-a-dee—" only to pause when he realized that he wasn't alone. His face registered surprise, then some delight at seeing them. "Hey, morning guys! I didn't expect that you guys would come out here in the middle of a rain shower."
"Actually," Nora responded over Ren's shoulder, "we were thinking the same about you; you kinda seem like like an indoorsy type."
"Normally, I am," he replied back with a grin, "but rain back home only tends to fall about 2-3 months out of the year, and the rest we are—were, I mean...were—high and dry."
The way he said "were" in that sentence struck home with Ren with the force of a charging Boarbatusk. "You seem like you might need some company. Do you mind if we join you?" he asked.
Jacob seemed to take a few seconds to fully register the question before stuttering, "O-oh, uh, sure, sure, by all means."
Soon, the unlikely trio were sitting about as the rain continued to lightly descend onto the academy grounds. For the most part they stuck to talking about school work mostly in part to Jacob's maneuvers; anytime Ren got close to asking more personal questions, Jacob managed to slink his way out through some surprisingly silver-tongued comebacks and divergences in the subject.
Ren would have to try something a little more subtle if he was to actually get Muller to open up.
"Hey Jacob," Nora said as she stuffed her mouth with a plate of pancakes she had swiped from the cafeteria line, "I have to ask you..." She paused as she swallowed the contents of her mouth in her usual gigantic gulp. "...Sorry, too much in one go," she apologized to him, receiving only a response of an amused grin, "But anyway, I have to ask you: why did you come out in the rain this morning? I mean, like I said, I thought of you as more the indoors-sit-and-read-a-book type like Blake, but here you are outside in the rain, not that it matters with this umbrella over us, and I don't mean that in an insulting way I just was kinda—"
"Nora, Nora," Jacob chuckled, "ease up there, sweet stuff, you're gonna suffocate yourself. And to answer your question, well... how do I put it best..." He paused for a second or two before coming up with, "to be honest, besides the whole 2-3 months thing I mentioned, I've always kinda had an affinity for rain. Something about the sound and the smell and the humidity in the air just has always made me feel at home, ironically more so than the searing heat, high altitude and dry climate of actual... home."
The partners shared a look as it seemed that Nora had unexpectedly found an opening. Nora picked up on the pattern and began to visibly wrack her brain for something else to work off of.
"What about that music?"
Jacob seemed taken aback, as though he was not prepared for that question. "Oh, that, uh, it's a particular playlist I have for these kinds of days. Days like this remind me of this place my family and I would go and visit for a week on the coastline. Little bitty place, but so much fun. Had a ton of throwback stuff from way back in the town's history... there were plenty of places to explore, people to see—people to watch as well if you found a good park bench under a tree to sit on—and there was even this fun little place that was always bragging about a golden future lying ahead... I always kinda laughed at it in some way or another; in my youth it was because it all seemed so silly that it was genuinely funny, and I meant it in the nicest way a snot-nosed brat like I was could possibly mean it. But as I got older I started to laugh at it with a more cynical light. They never really took it down and it just kinda stayed there, even when those ideas of theirs were starting to sound more hair-brained with each passing year. I mean I can appreciate the optimism—God knows I could use some optimism right about now—but even then... after a point it felt like they were deluding themselves. After a while my cynical phase passed, and eventually I started admiring their commitment, even if it did feel misguided. But hey, if they wanted to stick to their guns... who was I to argue against them?"
Jacob returned to the last little bit of his plate—having consisted of 2 pancakes, cubed potatoes, some sausage links and scrambled eggs and now down to merely the potatoes—while his other two companions were still digesting everything he had said there. For Ren that included everything heard in his tone of voice and his actions during his monologue.
The biggest thing for Ren was that last bit about the mural. This was interesting to hear how Jacob ticked before he arrived at Beacon; for all intent as purposes Jacob had been thus far a fairly positive person, at least when he was around them in particular.
Was it all an act?
"But enough about that," Jacob said, cutting Ren's thought process off, "I need to focus on this moment now; particularly my match with Weiss this afternoon." He wrung his hands in contemplation, staring intently at the table as his mind was no doubt running scenarios. "I'm not lightning fast like her, I have the grace of a drunken Goliath, I can't wield Cadia's chain-form without getting it back in my face, the only option I've got is to try to outwit her... and even then I doubt I can do that."
"Oh please," Nora cried out, "you just have to figure out what's your great strength in a fight! Take me and Ren for example; I'm all about getting in the enemy's face and SMASHING IT WITH A HAMMER!" She sprung to her feet and hopped up onto the chair all in one motion, fist raised as high as she could under the umbrella's canopy and smile gleaming even in the cloud-covered sunlight. Ren couldn't help but smile in turn at her antics; It was that same mirth and joyousness that had kept the two of them afloat through their rough lives up to this point, and he was glad that the pressures of Beacon had yet to dampen her spirits. "And Ren, on the other hand, is all about taking an opening and always staying on the move; small-caliber, full-auto machine guns pistols? Ren doesn't exactly make the opening, he exploits them, but cracking them open, that's what I do." She finished with a brilliant, toothy smile as she grabbed Ren by the shoulder and brought him in for a one-armed, shoulder-to-shoulder hug.
"...I suppose you make a point," Jacob said through an amused grin, "but that works for two people. I'm the Lone Wolf here, I have no teammate to back me up. Regardless... the only thing I can think of perhaps is to rely on trickery and cunning, if I even have those qualities."
"Perhaps," Ren began to say after a few seconds of silent contemplation, "that may be the only way for you to win. Then again, you don't have to necessarily win."
That got Jacob's attention. He sat in silence for several minutes before a genuine smile spread across his face. "I suppose your right in a way... My old competitive side was starting to show up again I guess."
That got Ren's attention. "You were competitive?"
Jacob let slip a chuckle. "In my youth I had a really bad competitive streak that tended to act in tandem with the family habit of perfectionism. I get it from my mom's side of the family; If we aren't in control of a situation we tend to get neurotic. I've been working on suppressing the perfectionist in my head for years now, and he still gets a jump on me every so often if I don't check myself." He had tapped his temple with his middle finger repeatedly as he explained to Ren, an unusual tick that Ren and the rest of their group had noticed anytime Jacob had talked about his mind.
Interesting, Ren mused mentally. "Well, if you ever need some help with that, I know some meditation techniques that may help you in the long run."
"Sounds great! Yeah, yeah, I'll let you know; but for now, I've got a fight ahead of me... and I just got a crazy idea." Picking up his plate and... proto-Scroll device as far as Ren could tell, Jacob began to walk out into the rain and towards the cafeteria, with Ren and Nora close on his six.
"What's the plan?" Nora asked Jacob, bouncing up to his left side.
"Well," he began, a grin crawling its way across his face, "I'm gonna need some Dust... particularly Ice and... either Fire or Lightning, I think. Nora, do you think—and I cannot believe these words are coming out of my mouth—Anyway, do you think you could crash-course me on how you go about making your grenades for Magnhild?"
Ren was quick to put the pieces together. A bit dirty-handed, but I suppose it works in his favor. I hope...
"Uh, sure, but, why do you ask?" Nora replied.
Muller only responded with an evil grin.
Finally, the lights clicked on in Nora's mind. Her face light up with an equally malicious grin.
"Ohhh... I like it."
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Back and forth she paced, her heels echoing about the hallway.
She looked up at the clock over the auditorium.
3:50.
"He'd better be on-time for this."
"Calm down Weiss," her partner cried out to her, "he's still got another 10 minutes to get here."
Weiss Schnee knew that while her partner was correct, but even still that was no excuse for her opponent to be late. Her father had always insisted that it was better to be early than on time.
"Even so, it makes a better impression to arrive early than to be late," she repeated the very words her father had told her years ago. As much as she hated the leash he held on her, the lessons he had taught her had become well-ingrained in her own mind; be punctual, be courteous, et cetera, et cetera.
When she had first heard about the opportunity to come to Beacon rather than stay under the raptorial eye of her father at Atlas Academy, it had taken all of her willpower to not outright blurt out her desire to do just that. At first, her father had merely mentioned it in passing, more or less as a jest of the cruelest kind. It took 3 whole months of slowly, cautiously, strategically worming the possibility into her father's mind for him to actually humor the notion, and even by then she was training with Winter to prepare for when the opportunity presented itself. It then took another month for her to finally talk him into letting her apply, but only if she beat a Grimm in combat for her father to see.
Little had she known that her father had decided to send an Arma Gigas—a Geist breed of Grimm—against her, entombed in a massive suit of armor.
She was suddenly quite aware of an itch coming from the scar over her left eye. Despite her father insisting that she not keep the blemish over her "beautiful visage", Weiss had spent several days of concentration on actually suppressing her Aura long enough for the wound to start scarring.
Was it her spurning her father? Was it her proving to herself that she could compete in the realm of the Huntsman? Honestly even she didn't really know.
And now, out of nowhere, on the first day of her new life as a Huntsman, this ruffian practically showed up out of nowhere. Everything about him spoke that he was a normal citizen, outside the unusual degree of marksmanship prowess, but he had his butt handed to him in those first few hours alone; he had the scars on his arm to prove it.
Ironic how they both shared scars of their trials to get there.
And yet, Weiss could not help but notice how easily Mr. Muller had been made a student, no less by the graces of the Headmaster himself. It took her so much effort to get here, so much maneuvering and scheming, and yet here was this... scoundrel—she couldn't really call him a buffoon since he did have his moments of brilliance in the classrooms and he was generally of a higher-than-average intellect—that didn't seem to have struggled at all outside his hair-brained actions in the Emerald Forest.
And she was still waffling over how she felt about Mr. Muller catching her during Initiation.
Looking around the auditorium, a fairly-sized crowd had amassed amidst the bleachers. Rumor spread fast in Beacon's hallowed halls, and word that the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company was scheduled to battle the resident Lone Wolf had traveled as far as even the highest level teams; She easily spotted Team CFVY amidst the crowd, a sizeable pack of groupies currently gawking over Ms. Adel. Even the braindead ruffians on Team CRDL had shown up, lingering in the back bleachers high above the rest of the student body; Word was that a betting pool had started up over who would win.
Not surprisingly, bets on her were holding the lead at a ratio of 2:5, if what Yang had said was true.
Surprisingly, however, she noticed both Professors Port and Oobleck watching over the crowd with a leisurely attitude. As much as it was probably against student-teacher conduct, Weiss was seriously wondering whether those two had joined in on the betting.
Outside, the rain had come again; it had been going on and off throughout the day, never reaching anything harder than a light shower but happening frequently enough that a few small puddles had been spotted along the way. The light pitter of the rain was soon joined by the sound of distant thunder echoing through the walls and into the structure itself. The storm was coming to a head.
How ironically thematic, Weiss grumbled internally.
"Oh, here he comes!"
Ruby's outburst was right; at 3 minutes to 4:00, Jacob rounded the corner of the doorway at a brisk walking speed. Outside of sporting his usual attire, jean jacket, cargo pants and all, He wore a weary yet excited face as he came in, only to suddenly sport a look of surprise as he looked up into the bleachers.
"Uh... hey, guys... Uhm, did we announce this fight on the PA system or something?"
Weiss immediately picked up on the nervousness in his voice; he must have been afraid of crowds, or at least uncomfortable around them.
"Well, word travels fast," Yang said to him as the two shared a handshake. "Heck, there's even a betting pool going on, but don't tell anyone."
"Really? Uh, in that case what are my odds?" Weiss heard him say. Yang gave him the numbers, and he simply shrugged and said, "Yeah, that sounds about right."
Alright, enough of the formalities, time to put this fellow in his place. "Ahem, if you don't mind, Mr. Muller," she called out to him in the most courteous way she could—and even then she had to admit what had come out of her mouth felt perhaps a bit too harsh— and continued, "As much as I appreciate the audience and the decorum and what not, you wouldn't mind getting ready now, would you?"
"Ah, right. To the stage!" he cried out, the nervousness from prior having been somewhat masked, though not entirely, much to Weiss' amusement. Either he was afraid of the crowds or afraid of her.
A part of her seeking domination of the situation was desperately hoping it to be the latter.
The two combatants took to the auditorium platform, and immediately the lights in the room dimmed. The crowd went silent as Jacob and Weiss' names came up on the overhead display, both of their Aura bars showing full and green. Weiss immediately spotted that in comparison, Jacob's Aura was nowhere near as strong as her's. He had yet to flex his Aura capacity, putting him at an even greater disadvantage than before. A clap of thunder echoed off in the distance, vaguely from the direction of Vale if her orientation was correct.
This is going to be a very easy fight.
Jacob drew both his pistols, and... rather strangely took a knee before crossing the metamorphosing pistol—Cadia was the name she remembered for it—horizontally across his torso, left to right, and then down from his forehead to his chest before quickly returning to his feet.
"...What was that all about?" Weiss asked in baffled curiosity.
"Oh, it's something I picked up from my local church, a quick prayer to God before I begin, as it were."
Now that piqued her attention. I don't recall that being a custom of any of the Kingdoms' major religions, monotheistic or otherwise. A local custom of the faith, perhaps, whatever his faith is.
"How funny," she began as the two found themselves circling one another, Weiss' hand subtly and slowly reaching for Myrtenaster, "I didn't take you for the type to attend church of any kind, really."
He responded with a smile and a matter-of-factly said, "Who says I do? I've always preferred to think that whoever's upstairs doesn't want us cooping ourselves in some building just to venerate them; needlessly superfluous and whatnot."
Weiss glowered at him, only for him to flash a grin back at her. Weiss felt her blood pressure begin to climb. The two stood 40 feet apart, a lot farther than they had initially been; Jacob must have been maneuvering to get some distance so he could snap off a few rounds at her. A futile gesture in a fight like this.
"Just fight already!" boomed the voice of Cardin Winchester from the back bleachers. Jacob's smile faltered as he looked up into the crowds.
...He's focusing on me to drown out the crowd, Weiss deduced rather quickly. "Well, let's give the people what they want," Weiss cried out, unsheathing Myrtenaster with a resounding ring and assuming her usual duling stance; left arm brought up and around her torso. The crowd erupted into cheers, an audible "Go Weiss!" resounding from her teammates and that blonde dolt Jaune, only for the rest of Team JNPR to reply with, "Go Jacob!"
And then Jacob, still desperately trying to drown out the roar of the crowd, bowed low and replied, "Ladies first."
Weiss felt a smug grin overtake her face. As you wish.
Without warning to Jacob, she launched herself forward with the speed of a thundering train through the use of her Glyphs. Jacob had barely enough time to dive out of her path before she would have skewered him on her rapier blade. He rolled into a kneel before levelling both guns at her and unleashing his payload. However she was quick to dodge out of the way as her Aura's 6th sense capacity alerted her to the oncoming bullets.
Weiss caught out of the corner of her vision that the charges being used in his other weapon—Titan—were a bright yellow color, the telltale sign of Lightning Dust, whereas Cadia was unleashing simple Energy Dust charges. This was a bit unusual, as every time she had seen him down at the marksman range he was particularly fond of Fire Dust and the explosive capacity it had.
What was more concerning was the prospect of getting hit by one, as they appeared to be overcharged Lightning Dust rounds; one grazing her could stun her long enough for Jacob to empty an entire clip into her.
With a quick thrust and an activation of her Ice Dust, she sent a rather large wall of ice screaming back at Jacob at breakneck speeds. Sadly for him he was unable to roll out of the path of this one, as he took the hit face-first, sending him tumbling end over end. Jacob stopped after 4 rolls, now having been thrown back about 15 feet, looking for all the world like he had just been blind-sided by a charging Boarbatusk.
"Ow..." she heard him cry out. Looking up, she saw that he had already lost around a third of his Aura in that attack.
This will be too easy, she mused to herself with a pleased smile. "Ready to give up yet?" she cried out to him.
Jacob clamoured to his feet, still recovering from the impact but otherwise unharmed. "Are you kidding? The fight's just getting good! WAAAGH!" He suddenly charged her as he flicked Cadia into her sword mode, at the same time opening fire with Titan as he closed in.
There's the brute I know you are, Weiss said in her mind. All was going to plan; the crowd was cheering her mainly, though JNPR continued to cheer for Jacob, and currently Jacob was putty in her hands.
She moved forward to meet him in melee, weaving her way around his flurry of Dust charges, expecting to clash with Cadia's cutlass form. Much to her delight, she was correct; cutlass met rapier in a massive clang, timed perfectly as a thunderclap from outside resonated through the auditorium, adding to the impact of their clash.
Weiss almost automatically had the advantage over Jacob in melee. Where as he was slow and often opened himself up to quick strikes from her blade, she was fast and agile, ducking and weaving around his attacks with the poise and grace that only a Schnee could muster in combat.
Suddenly, he jumped back, having not yet even gotten a successful blow. He was panting and his brow was already starting to sweat. As much endurance as he had, it took a lot of energy to fight an opponent of a sentient variety; Weiss was stealing yet another advantage from him.
But just as she began to move forward to press the attack, she felt her left foot kick something. It knocked her out of her combat mentality and in turn rather annoyed her.
But as she looked down, she saw something that she did not expect.
A pair of Dust vials, tied together by masking tape and attached to a fuse. One vial held the distinct deep-blue of Water Dust, and the other the ever-popular red of Fire Dust.
Weiss had some familiarity with this kind of device. Her father and the rest of the family had received several in the past as "gifts" from the White Fang.
Jacob had brought an Improvised Explosive Device with him into the fight. And the charges were set for Water and Fire.
Water and Fire.
Oh no.
Weiss nearly screamed in anger—How dare he bring one of those vile weapons to fight me!?—as she kicked the IED back at him. But the charge had been set for a short enough time that it exploded right in between them. Fortunately, it seemed that Jacob had designed it to explode harmlessly, as she felt no debris rip into her Aura.
But that didn't stop the fact that she couldn't see him.
She spent several seconds as the Water and Fire Dust mixed together to form a massive steam cloud of insane density.
No, no, no, no, no, no! "Get out and fight, coward!" She screamed at him. It was several seconds before she received a reply, just high enough for her to hear but no doubt too low for the crowds to hear.
"Oh please, you afraid of steam or something? You call yourself a Huntress? You oughta go back to your cushy throne by Daddy Schnee's side in Atlas!"
Weiss felt her blood boil. WHAT DID HE JUST SAY!?
Without a second glance and a second to think, she rushed into the steam, the rage in her system wanting to shish-kebab his heart out through his back. How dare he mock her!
Her blade found no purchase as she exited just out the other side of the steam cloud. Anger and confusion held steady as she looked about, trying to find him.
It was only by the grace of her Aura that she was able to detect at the last second the blade coming for the small of her back.
Weiss spun on her heels and was greeted by the gritted face of her opponent. Cadia had metamorphosed back into its pistol form, and now the chainblades were out on the bayonet, giving the weapon a terrifying and savage look in contrast to the surprising utilitarian elegance of its cutlass form. The two blades locked, Weiss' sword catching in the teeth of the chain, while Jacob caught Myrtenaster across the blade with an overhead swing. The two combatants desperately braced against their weapons, Weiss' Aura evening her strength out with Jacob's; while he was indeed physically stronger than her thanks to his larger build, his Aura was incredibly weak and untrained, providing him no amount of amplification to strength, speed or agility as was found with most Huntsmen. Weiss, on the other hand, had been training her Aura for years, strengthening it and reinforcing it, giving her a speed and strength boost necessary for this line of work.
The bladelock lasted for what felt like an eternity, Weiss holding Myrtenaster up by both grip and blade, Jacob pushing down with both hands on Cadia as the two attempted to strongarm their way out of it.
Suddenly, Weiss heard a roaring engine start up, and without warning she felt Myrtenaster being yanked out of her grip. Weiss realized that without thinking, she had placed her precious sword into Cadia's chain, allowing the teeth to hook onto the blade of Myrtenaster and pull her in closer.
By both the angle of Cadia's blade and the force of the revving teeth, Weiss was forced to take a knee, lest her only weapon be pulled from her grip. But suddenly she noticed that the tugging had stopped as Myrtenaster met with the input casing for the chain, stopping the spinning blades dead in their tracks. For a brief second she felt triumph as his bladed pistol was rendered toothless, at least for a brief second.
Only then did she note that the only way for her to get Myrtenaster out of the teeth would be to maneuver around him and pull the blade out.
But that was the least of her concerns when she realized that Cadia was still in its pistol form.
And she was staring right down the barrel.
With no time to move out of the way, her Aura could only scream at her as Jacob unloaded Cadia's full might directly into her face.
Fortunately, she had Aura, so this was not the act that would leave Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company dead in a pool of her own blood and brain matter on the floor of the Beacon Academy auditorium.
Unfortunately, Aura only stopped the the actual wound from occurring and only somewhat dulled the pain from the attack.
Weiss could only cry out and recoil back as eight 9mm Prometheus Dust Rounds—packing Energy Dust charges no less— slammed into the patch of Aura over her forehead. The resounding inertial force sent her flying backwards, Myrtenaster tumbling away and out of her hands. She was just barely able to roll into a bracing slide, her left foot kicked out behind her as she stopped her slide in its tracks. She shook her head in an attempt to dissipate the pounding headache she was now fighting and looked up at the screen.
That volley alone slaughtered an entire third of her Aura, leaving her at 66%.
Weiss felt her stomach drop out from underneath her. A third in that volley alone!?
A loud and frankly very bloodthirsty cry reached her ears. Jacob was charging again, Titan once again out and spitting Lightning Dust at her and Cadia having returned to its sword form, held behind Jacob as he rushed forward.
Weiss was able to roll out of the way before Jacob's sword came crashing down onto the tile where she had been but a second earlier. She dove for Myrtenaster, barely picking it up before Jacob had leapt at her, the chainsaw teeth popping out of the blade. She rolled out of the way with not a moment to spare as the revving blade collided with the floor, the spinning teeth sending sparks everywhere. Weiss rolled to her feet and launched herself forwards while activating the Fire Dust chamber in her sword, nailing Jacob in the chest and sending him flying backwards in a massive blast of fire and smoke.
He landed about 20 or 30 feet back, rolling sideways and coming to a stop on his side. She was only able to hear him groan in pain before the constant ruckus of the crowd over the course of the battle had turned to cheering for both of them.
"Come on Weiss, you've got this!" She heard Ruby cry out. Well, at least she's faithful to her team, Weiss thought with a smile.
"Jacob! Jacob! Jacob!" was the response from Team CFVY and JNPR, sans Jaune as usual, of course. That dolt was like a groupie sometimes, and it tended to annoy the daylights out of her.
In her brief moment of internal thought, she hadn't realized that Jacob was still struggling to get up, clutching his chest where Myrtenaster had made impact. For a brief second Weiss was afraid that she may have hit too hard, and that his Aura in its untempered state hadn't dulled the pain of the attack.
She looked up at the board again.
His Aura had plummeted to less than a third, at 29%.
She looked back at him, only to find that he was standing again, looking rather shaky on his feet. But there was a fire in his eyes she could see even from here.
Jacob didn't want to quit.
And Weiss would be happy to oblige his request. She returned to her opening stance, planting herself so as to launch into a final strike.
He looked her in the eyes, icy blue meeting coffee brown for a few seconds. He flashed her a knowing grin and nodded his head. Slowly, clearly painfully, he picked up Cadia, before laying it to rest blade-up on his shoulder. It was at this moment that she realized that much like herself, Jacob was a southpaw, primarily swinging with his left hand this whole fight.
"Alright Ice Queen," he said, obviously tired from his fight with her, "let's end this." He raised his right hand and beckoned her forward in the classic "bring it on" stance she had seen in too many cheesy action movies to count.
"With pleasure!" She roared as she summoned up a Glyph, launching herself forward at ludicrous speeds.
Halfway across the floor, she saw his hand reach into his pants pocket. A flash of blue and red caught her eye.
Not this time, she mused mentally.
She stopped halfway across, prepping up a Wind charge to send the IED back at him. Much to her surprise, he lit the fuse and simply tossed it high into the air.
Her eye tracked the IED, expecting it to land on top of her and burst into another steam cloud, but even if she hadn't been watching it directly her Aura was alerting her to it.
About that time Weiss felt four more 9mms slam into her sternum, and she stumbled backwards. She realized too late that Jacob had used the IED as a distraction, allowing him time to snap off a few shots at her with both Cadia and Titan. Now she was pretty certain that her Aura had been alerting her to the bullets instead of the IED. Somewhere behind her, the Dust explosive detonated, sending up another steam cloud. She checked her Aura to see how much those shots had done.
20%. His shots had dropped her Aura by over 40%.
Weiss was about to cry out in protest before she realized that he must have done the stupidest thing imaginable when working with either Lightning or Energy Dust.
He had overcharged the shots.
With Water, Air or even Fire Dust, overcharging was il-advised mainly due to the gradual damage it did to the weapon itself. With Lightning, Gravity and Energy Dust however, it was a well-documented 1 in 6 chance that the weapon would either overheat or explode and leave the offending Huntsman weaponless in combat, or worse if his Aura was low enough. If he had been any less lucky, any one of those 4 shots could have blasted him to Kingdom Come.
She was absolutely admonished at either his bravery or his foolishness for such a risky move.
But that admonishment changed to surprise as Jacob closed the distance, coming at her with an overhead cleave that would have sliced her in half the long ways without her Aura or Myrtenaster to deflect it. She had finally started to pick up on his fighting technique; massive cleaving strikes, leaving himself open to other attacks. Without armor, he would be a sitting duck.
And fortunately for Weiss, her fencing was perfect for taking advantage of that.
The two began exchanging blows, neither one really taking the final "killing blow" but rather dancing over one another's attacks. He would swing, she would twirl around it, pirouetting with grace; She would jab and he would redirect the attack with Cadia's teeth, knocking it out of the way.
Behind her, the roar of excitement threatened to rip her focus away from the fight, as much as it did to him by what she could tell from his facial queues. Eyes wanting to dart, the focus leaving his gaze, et cetera, they were there, just as much as she no doubt thought was happening on her end too.
But all that changed with a balled fist.
Her Aura identified the attack, surprisingly separate from the alerts in her subconscious about Cadia or Titan. Her eye caught the offending hand reaching back to unholster Titan again, after the hand had just finished being used to brace his defense against another jab from Myrtenaster. Yet another dirty move.
Well as much as she hated to stoop to lows, if he wanted to fight dirty, two could play at that game.
Without warning, she brought down her heel onto Jacob's foot with an audible THUNK!
The look on his face, coupled with the massive howl he let out told her she must've landed dead center on a nerve. Outside, the thunder rolled overhead, drowning him out for a few seconds.
She then sidestepped him to his right, letting her counter against Cadia hold long enough for her to get into position before the roaring teeth could wipe out the last of her Aura. She had learned this move from her sister Winter during Winter's time as a cadet in the Atlesian Military.
Weiss practically brought him into a hug as she continued to execute her move. Being this close was usually not advisable, and considering the size advantage he had on her it could mean his victory. Not to mention she could practically hear his thundering heart beating in his chest. She felt her cheeks fluster ever so slightly.
But that possibility of defeat at his hands faded into nothingness as Weiss brought up her boot and kicked back hard into his calf. She heard his surprise as he began to tumble over onto his back. She released him as he hit the ground hard, backing away and charging up her Ice Dust.
Jacob was trying to recover from his tumble when he looked up and saw the fruits of her labour.
A massive hail of Ice Dust hung over his head, the sharpened icicles threatening to skewer him like a shish-kebab.
"Oh Christ on a bi—"
And that was the last thing out of his mouth before he received the full wrath of Weiss Schnee.
When the Dust settled, where Jacob had been lying on the ground was now a 2-foot tall pile of icicles. She looked up at his Aura bar.
9%.
His bar was red.
Silence clung to the air around the room.
And then half of the room erupted into cheers.
Weiss had won.
She felt a giddiness arise in her chest. She smiled as she relished her victory, soaking in the appraisal and cheering for her victory. Weiss took a bow, giggling at her victory.
About that time a pained groan came from the icy debris pile. "Mercy of God, that smarts like a motherfucker..."
JNPR was first on the auditorium floor, all four of them charging up to Jacob to pull him out of the ice. But by the time they reached the debris pile, the Dust ice had mostly dissipated, leaving a very bruised and battered—but still fully-intact—Jacob on the ground. Weiss spotted several bruises that were not there before her hailstorm; maybe she had taken it too far on that last one.
Pyrrha kneeled down by Jacob, asking him the usual questions asked when someone received head trauma to make certain they're alright. Granted with that pelting he received at the end, Pyrrha had every right to be concerned.
"Pyrrha, Pyrrha, relax," Jacob groaned out, "I'll be fine, just—ergh!—give me a second to get up and I'll walk it off."
"Considering those bruises, you are not fine," Pyrrha replied back with a worried tone. She and Ren hoisted him onto his feet, allowing Weiss a good view of how much she did to him.
Well, good news was that he wasn't very worse for wear. He was definitely sporting some bruises along his arms and legs, and he probably had some along his torso. Surprisingly, there were no bruises to report on his face—
And then she noticed the smile on his face. He chortled heartily and jovially wheezed "I suppose I should congratulate you, Weiss, for doing a hella job kicking my ass."
Weiss couldn't respond. She had just beat him in a dual—a dual that she had incited against him in anger at the conditions of his arrival—and yet here he was smiling and laughing at his defeat.
Oh, wait, there was one thing that she did want to respond with. "As much as I want to say that it was a good match," she began admittedly rather coarsely, "your antics with those IEDs were uncalled for and a cheap gimmick to get an edge over me. In a fair fight, I would have mopped the floor with you."
His smile only widened. "Then that's not good incentive for me to fight fair, is it? Regardless," he continued, offering his hand in a friendly handshake, "even with those cheap attacks on my part you still kicked my ass. Again, well done."
She only hesitated for a brief second before deciding to return the gesture. But where she was expecting his grip to be tight and strong, he gripped her hand gingerly, as if she were made of fine china to him. For a brief second part of her was expecting him to kiss her hand like they were at an Atlesian function for the local nobles.
About that time she remembered just how far away from her Father she was... and by extension those gods-awful functions. The giddiness from her victory only increased.
There was a pregnant pause as the two simply stood there for a second before Jacob shook her hand, the smile never leaving his face.
With all the giddiness in her system from the victory, Weiss couldn't help but return the smile.
"Guys, guys, I'm fine, really. They're just cosmetic bruises for the most part, they don't even hurt that much anymore."
"Oh really? Boop!"
"AAH! Motherf—that one does hurt Nora!"
"oh, quit crying you big baby and put this on it. By the way, I had no idea you had this much hair on your chest."
"Dad's side of the family came by it honestly, I just picked up the right genes."
Jacob felt a chilling bite embrace the left side of his ribcage under his arm as Nora placed an icepack on the offending rib. "As much as I usually prefer cold," he replied with a hiss, "this smarts like a motherfucker."
"Language," Pyrrha reminded him dangerously. He simply waved it off, currently too tired and it just a bit too much pain to argue with her.
"With most Huntsmen, this would would already have healed by now. Have you been training your Aura at all?" Nora asked as she held the icepack up.
"...Maybe," he replied hesitantly. He looked around at the gathered group, all of them training their eyes on him directly. Sitting directly to his left on the other couch was Pyrrha, hands held together as she sat straight-backed against the surprisingly plush furniture and watched him intently. Next to her sat Jaune, looking to all the world embarrassed—no doubt over his rooting for Weiss during the whole fight—as he looked down at his shoes. Nora and Ren had taken a seat on the other couch next to him as he sat in the conjoined corner-seat between the two couches. Across the way sat Blake and Yang, having both commandeered wooden chairs from around the room.
They were currently sitting in the 1st floor lobby of the dormitories—a room that Jacob had been surprised at it's existence when he first arrived since it wasn't exactly shown in the show—and had easily snagged the couches and coffee table sitting off to the side. It was fairly-well lit at the moment, as night had begun to creep up from the eastern sky like a stalking carnivore. Currently it was sitting at about 7:30-ish, as they had all elected to get dinner and then head back to the dorms for the evening. Around the lobby were various decorations, mainly some Impressionist-type paintings and a few potted flowers, as well as a fairly lively coat of paint of the same tone as Citadel's Zandri Dust along the walls.
"You know that as a Huntsman you should be training your Aura as well," Nora replied, pressing the icepack again into his ribs; his body responded with a sharp shooting pain up his side and into his arm. He hissed sharply as the pain cut its path through his body.
"Nora, I think you're adding too much pressure," Ren commented, pointing to the wound as it seemed to redden under her touch with the blood in his system rising to the surface. The bubbly ginger took a second to register what he was saying before she figured out what he meant. With a quick "oh," she eased up somewhat, allowing the cold to remain and the pain to ease up somewhat in turn.
"I still can't believe you lost the fight," Blake added as she sat there with her legs crossed and her hands knit together, "you had the element of surprise and everything."
"I think I sprung it too early," Jacob commented on himself, the disappointment in himself even audible to his own ears. "I should have waited until later, caught her off guard when we were both more tired or something."
"I thought you would fight on even ground," Yang commented with a disappointed frown. "That was dirty fighting and you know it."
That cut Jacob deep; as much as he tried to be his own person, at times the disapproval of others had a disheartening effect on him. Now he was starting to wonder if it was even remotely a good idea to even try that again.
"Uh, Yang, I don't mean to contradict you entirely," Nora replied, "but you are aware how behind Jacob is compared to most of us—besides... well, you know—right?"
Jaune whimpered in response to that comment as Pyrrha gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Admittedly, it was rather... distasteful for myself," she continued, "but it is understandable from a pragmatic sense. Until Jacob can reach our level of combat skills, the only way he really could compete with us is through improvisation."
Jaune looked up from his dejected state. "Yeah, to be honest that all kinda left a bad taste in my mouth, but it did kinda make sense from a strategy standpoint. If you can't fight hard, fight smart, right?"
"That doesn't excuse him substituting his actual fighting skills with cheap tricks," Yang replied.
"Yang—" Blake's attempt at calming her partner was cut short as they heard the sound of stiletto heels in the hallway.
Out of the hallway leading to the elevators and the stairwell came Weiss, still dressed in her casual garb, looking at a distance like she was concerned.
The room became deadly silent, and stayed that way for what felt like minutes on end.
...Yang's right, I should apologize, Jacob decided in the back of his mind. His ribs—and Nora and Ren—protested against such action, but regardless Jacob got back on his feet, the ache in his left heel telling him he needed to watch that heel for the next few days. Grabbing his shirt and putting back on, he walked up to Weiss slowly as his whole body protested.
The two locked eyes as they stood apart be several feet. At first, Jacob couldn't read Weiss' expression as well as he thought, the concerned look in her eyes now seeming more judgemental up close and personal, and even then it was a stretch.
And then the silence was broken.
"I wanted to apologize—"
"I wanted to apologize—"
The two of them stopped their sentences in their tracks. "Please, ladies first," Jacob insisted.
"Oh," she replied, "Well then... I, uh... I just wanted to apologize for that last attack, it was a bit rougher than I was originally intending. Are you alright?"
"Me? Heh, you think this is bad," he laughed benevolently, "you should have seen what I looked like after my first encounter with a pit bull. Friendly dog and all, but I had enough claw marks and bruises from encounters with his head to look like I had been mauled by an Ursa." He had to catch himself on that last part as he had intended to say "a bear", though he had no clue if regular bears existed on Remnant. "But yeah, yeah I'm alright. I'll heal in time for my next asskicking," he joked.
"Well... that's good to hear...?" She was obviously unsure how to take his self-decrepitating humor, so he simply waved his hand to let her know to just forget about it.
"Well, anyways, my turn I guess. I actually wanted to apologize for... for those dirty tricks I did out there on the ring. The IEDs were a last-minute thing I came up with and I thought it would give me an upper-hand. But that takedown you did, I gotta ask, where did you learn that? I've seen that before with my local militar—militia, and I was hardly expecting the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company to know a CQC takedown like that."
"Oh, that? Well," she replied with a bemused look on her face and a hint of blush on her cheeks, "when you're sister is a member of the Atlesian military, you tend to learn a few things."
So she learned it from Winter... Not to self: don't get in a scrap with Winter or I'll be sent home in a soup can, he thought to himself.
"But to be honest," Weiss continued, "Those were pretty clever. I didn't imagine you would set traps like that on the fly so much. Although you did kind of goad me on at one point, that was uncalled for."
He chuckled mostly to himself on that one. "Didn't imagine that would piss you off like it did, so my bad as well. But now thinking about it, if half the stories I've heard about Jacques Schnee are true, I'd be furious at him too."
Weiss' eyes brightened a bit at that remark. "Oh? And what have you heard?"
Time to put the knowledge of Volume 4 to work. "Overbearing, a control freak, more focused on profits than public opinion—which is much better for a company's lifespan than a focus on profits in my honest opinion—basically he's the kind of guy that you have the overpowering urge to introduce to your kneecap. Uh, no offense."
To his relief, Weiss giggled at his assessment of her father instead of slapping him. "Well, that isn't far off," she commented.
"...So then...we even," he offered her in an attempt at recompense, "Or do you want another match on more equal ground?"
At first, she seemed to be surprised by his offer. By all accounts, Weiss was fairly sportsmanlike both in the show and now in his firsthand experience. She seemed to hum and haw over the prospect for around a minute, no doubt walking through the options in her mind. Finally, after about a minute of thinking, she told him.
"Tell you what, if you don't whip out those IEDs during future spars, I'll be more than willing to call us even."
As much as he hated having to sideline his new toys... it was probably for the best to not bring them out until The Breach at the very least. "...Deal."
The two shared a genuine smile. "I admit your fighting style, while lacking finesse, has some merits considering your weapon of choice," Weiss admitted. "There were a couple instances where... to be honest, the engine in Cadia kind of, well, scared the daylights out of me."
That was new to him, but not unanticipated; hearing a roaring chainsaw coming at you would scare him out of his pants on any normal day. "Really? Funny thing you would mention that, 'cause I was thinking about it and you only used Glyphs a handful times during the fight, but every time you did you about had my heart thundering into my throat. Like, Christ Alive, you looked like a white lightning bolt from where I was standing half the time."
It may have been over-exaggeration on his part, but he did manage to get a bemused giggle out of her. Somewhere over his shoulder he heard Jaune whimper and Yang hum.
"Well," he said, taking a step back, "I don't want to keep you from anything else you need—or want—to do, so...uh... I'll see you later?"
Weiss smiled brightly and. Jacob hadn't really thought about it before, but there was a likeability to Weiss at times throughout those first 4 seasons. Granted, they became far more common after Volume 2, but there were some moments during 1 and 2. "See you tomorrow, as a matter of fact," she replied matter-of-factly.
"Oh, right," he remembered, "Professor Oobleck's class. Brain's not running on all four cylinders at the moment. But, yeah, I'll uh... I'll see you then."
They held on each other before Weiss finally turned around and began her trek back to her dorm.
And as he began to walk back to the couch to continue to patch himself up, he found himself humming a familiar tune.
"It's the truth, it's actual, everything is satisfactual...~"
TA-DA! *Falls over exhausted*
I went through 3 different versions of this before I finally settled on this, and even then I think I could do better on this. Regardless, this was actually kinda fun to write... in a sado-masochistic way.
Also, the usage of music from Splash Mountain is intentional; I usually will eat breakfast out on the patio with it playing. Call it my happy place, as it were.
Next chapter, The Monkey King and a puppet with no strings come to town, and the kitty finally lets loose the ears. Oh, and another 40Kharacter arrive too.
Review, follow, favorite this fic, all that good stuff; I really appreciate it. So anyway, than you all for reading and I will see you... in the next chapter. Buh-bye~!
EDIT: Just watched Weiss' Volume 5 Character Short, I had to at least mention it somewhere in here (Look in the bit about trying to convince her father to let her attend Beacon).