Jaune spent the rest of the night catching up with his friends. More so when Neo rejoined them in regular clothes. They shared what they had been up to since the Fall up to the new semester started. That included a few embarrassing stories about Neo as Jasmine, Ruby and Nora. Which he laughed over until the three women sent him glares. He was shocked to find out that his parents had actually adopted Ren and Nora during that time. They were now Lie Ren-Arc and Nora Valkyrie-Arc, making them his siblings officially now. And that brought an unrestrained smile to his face.
Jaune shared some on his missions he had with Qrow, none that were linked in any way to Salem. They were having a good time and he didn't want to bring the mood down with that. They all were interested in his retellings since they were more legitimate missions than the ones they were currently going on. Ruby and Nora were really into it but that was a shock to no one.
They were interrupted when Jaune's stomach growled loudly followed by Weiss', which embarrassed the heiress. Jaune just chuckled and said he'd start on dinner for everyone. He tossed the remote to the tv to Yang and told them to enjoy themselves. Jaune went to the kitchen to start on the chicken stir fry he was planning for the night. He could hear Ruby and Yang fighting over what they'd watch and just chuckled more. 'Some things never change.' He thought to himself.
"Need a hand?" he heard a masculine voice say and looked over his shoulder to see Ren.
He grinned, "Sure." Ren then came over to wash his hands before he started to cut vegetables with him. After a few minutes of quiet, Jaune spoke up, "You guys seemed to forgive me a little too easily."
Ren stopped cutting for a second before resuming, "And you're shocked by that? Nora and I grew up with you, so your reasoning isn't that big of a surprise to us. And the others still love you. We understand why you felt like you had to go to such extreme measures. I'm over it. But the others are going to get revenge at some point. Especially, Nora. But the girls will probably wait until you get back together with them."
That caused Jaune to accidentally cut his finger. "Damn it." He hissed as he pulled his hand away from the food. He looked to see blood coming from the cut across his left index finger, his aura offered no resistance to stop the injury.
"Are you okay?" Ren asked.
Jaune quickly sent his aura to heal the cut immediately before returning to his task. "Yeah, my aura's kinda weak right now because of today. I cut myself but it's okay now." Ren nodded and bought Jaune's half-lie. His aura was weak but not exactly from the day's work. Plus, getting back together with those five, he still wasn't sure about that. They still didn't know about the other reason he didn't come back sooner. No one did, not even Qrow or Neo.
That's when they heard a crash and he turned to look through the opening in the wall to see that a couch was flipped over with Yang, Ruby, Nora and Neo having a standoff with each other. The remote was in the center of the ground between them. The other three were sitting on one of the other couches and watching with amusement. Jaune sighed and whistled loudly, making them jump and turn to him. "Do you mind? It may be temporary, but this is still my home." They look down sheepishly before he ducked back into the kitchen, before shouting back. "And if you break anything, you're the one paying to replace it. That goes for you three on the couch too." He walked back to Ren, who was chuckling. Jaune just shoved him with his shoulder with a grin. He missed this.
Once they were done with the preparations, Jaune carried in the wok with a couple of pot holders and Ren followed with a stack of plates and silverware. He was glad to see that the couch was now right side up again. The food was placed on the coffee table and the food was served to all of them. Although, Neo would've preferred ice cream, but she knew Jaune wouldn't let her until she ate dinner. The others were happily digging into their plates. They all nearly forgot how good Jaune's cooking was. They had some random conversations as the tv was playing on in the background. When they were done, Jaune got up to clean the dishes but Pyrrha and Ruby beat him to it, saying he had done enough. Nora wanted to help as well but Ren stopped her because she usually accidentally broke the dishes when she washed them.
Eventually the night ended, curfew was soon, and they had to get back to the dorms. Before they left, Jaune had them present their scrolls to the scanner, letting them unlock the door whenever. They wished him a good night and left. Nora gave him a patented hug and Ren patted his shoulder. Pyrrha gave him a quick peck on the lips and Ruby did the same to his cheek. Yang gave him a flirtatious wink and smirk while Blake gave him her usual small smile. Weiss looked unsure on what she should do, so he just gave her a reassuring smile and she nodded. He smiled at that and closed the door with a sigh as they all left.
He looked back to see that Neo had fallen asleep on the couch. He sighed again, he would wake her, but he learned a long time ago to never wake a sleeping Neo. Plus, she looked adorable curled up on the couch with a content grin on her face. He went to the closet by the stairs to grab an extra blanket and pillow. He gently lifted her head and placed the pillow under her. Then draped the blanket over her. Jaune then gently started to stroke her hair because she looked like she'd wake up. But luckily, she just snuggled into the blanket as her grin turned into a smile. Jaune chuckled quietly before he kissed the side of her hair, "Good night, Neo." He whispered.
He turned off the tv and was about to do the same with the lights but stopped when he heard someone banging on the door. Jaune was confused for all of two seconds before he sighed and rolled his eyes. He walked over to it and opened it to see Qrow almost fall onto his face. Luckily, he caught himself. He turned and squinted at Jaune, "Kid!" he said happily.
"Shush." Jaune ordered with a finger to his lips. He then pointed to Neo, "Unless you wanna wake her up."
Qrow looked at him confused before he sluggishly turned to see Neo on the couch. His eyes widened slightly before he turned back to Jaune. He put his finger to his lip and replied with a, somehow, slurred, "Shhh."
Jaune ran a hand down his face with that, "Just take off your shoes and head up to your room." Qrow gave him a mocking salute before he started to try to kick his boots off. But as he did, he lost his balance and fell forward and knocked over a coat rack. Jaune, luckily, caught it before it hit the ground. He set it back up and sent a glare at the drunken Huntsmen. He lazily shrugged so Jaune walked over to him and threw Qrow's arm over his shoulder. He then escorted him to the stairs, "How much did you drink?" he said quietly.
Qrow looked like he was thinking about it, "Don't know. Usual?"
"So, too much." Jaune replied coolly.
"That hurts, Kid." He slurred but Jaune knew him well enough to understand him. As they were going up the stairs, he spoke up again, "So, how was your night? You looked happy."
Jaune just grinned, "Well, the others stopped by. And your little scheme worked. Everything seems to be back to normal. Or close to it."
Qrow grinned, "Good to hear. You can thank me anytime."
Jaune rolled his eyes as he opened the door and walked in with his sword master. "Right. Thank you, you dusty old bird."
Qrow just glared at him, "Hey, don't call me old."
"Yeah, yeah." They were by the bed, so he grabbed Qrow's weapon, Harbinger, and pushed Qrow forward. "Night, Qrow." He fell onto the bed and passed out almost instantly. As his snores filled the room, he placed the weapon by the bed and left, closing the door behind him. He then silently made his way back downstairs and then to his bedroom. He needed to get some sleep.
It was the next morning and RWBY were heading back to Jaune's temporary abode. They all decided to meet there before heading to Ozpin's office. The rest of JNPR would meet them later, Nora was still busy stuffing herself with pancakes. They were having some usual conversations, well Yang and Ruby were while Weiss added her two-cents every so often. And Blake just watched with an amused grin.
They finally got there, and Ruby used her scroll to unlock the door and they all saw Neo sitting on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her. She was drowsy and just blinking slowly. The WBY of RWBY weren't sure on what to do or say, but Ruby did. She waved to half asleep ex-terrorist. "Morning, Neo."
Neo blinked and looked to where her friends, at least that's what she saw them as, and waved back with a silent yawn. They all walked in and took off their shoes, "Is Jaune up?" Ruby asked. Neo looked around tiredly and when she didn't see him, shrugged. "Did you just get up?" She nodded tiredly.
Ruby just nodded and started to go to the kitchen. "Where ya going, Rubes?" Yang asked.
She turned back to her sister, "I'm going to get coffee ready. We all know that Jaune needs it in the morning." She said with a giggle.
Yang gained her smirk, "Oh, I see. My little sister is trying to be the perfect girlfriend. Trying to get something out of him?"
Ruby blushed, "Yang, stop! I'm just trying to do something nice for him." She started to speed walk to the kitchen with that.
Yang chuckled, and Blake playfully rolled her eyes. Weiss gave a sigh, "I'll go with her. We don't need her burning it." She then walked off to follow her partner.
"That was one time, Weiss!" Ruby answered from the kitchen.
The bumblebee pair looked at each other, "Should we check to see if he's up?" Blake asked.
Yang shrugged, "Why not?" she then walked to his bedroom door with Blake right behind her. They were shocked by what they saw when they opened it. His bed was perfectly made, like he hadn't slept in it. And on the floor beside it was Jaune with a pillow and a blanket half covering him. He had his left hand on his chest and his right was lying next to him. The two turned back to each other, "Why?" Yang asked her partner, who answered with a shrug.
They quietly walked over to him and Yang just looked at his sleeping face. It quickly reminded her of when she did something similar in their first year. It was from that, that she realized she loved him. She smiled to herself. 'I'll wake him up more gently this time.' She thought as she gave her partner a look.
Blake raised an eyebrow, questioning her. That's when Yang slowly knelt to straddle him and as she did she started to lean forward to kiss him. Blake's eyes widened, and she remembered something very important. In a quick whisper she started, "Yang, that may not be a good idea!"
That's when Jaune's eyes snapped open but you could tell he wasn't fully awake. He jerked forward and grabbed Yang's thigh with his right hand as he spun, reversing their positions. He then used his left hand to pin Yang to the ground by pushing her breast into her chest. Yang gave a startled yelp and stared up at him in shock. He just looked at her with dazed eyes as he quickly pulled his right fist back and channeled aura into it, making it glow dark purple. He was bringing his fist down when Blake grabbed his arm by the elbow, stopping him. "Jaune, stop!"
Jaune did and slowly turned his head to look at Blake. He blinked twice before the daze left his eyes. He stared at Blake for a second and was confused. "Blake? What's- " He was cut off when he squeezed with his other hand and heard a small moan. He quickly turned to see his position and that Yang was pinned under him. Then the sensation of his aura being channeled into his fist came to his tired mind and he realized what almost happened. He gasped and jumped away from both of them. He stopped when his back met the wall with enough force to dent it.
The two just stared at him, after Yang sat up. He was breathing raggedly and had his hand over his face. "Oum damn it. I almost… I almost…" he cut himself, not wanting to vocalize what he almost did.
Yang slowly got off the ground and walked over to Jaune, who refused to look at her. "Jaune." He flinched at her voice. "Look at me."
He hesitantly removed his hand and made eye contact with Yang. She just gave him a reassuring look, "I'm okay. You didn't hurt me."
"But I almost did." He said in a hateful tone. "If Blake didn't stop me-" he was cut off when Yang placed her hand over his mouth. He looked to see her giving him an even glare.
"Listen to me. I am okay. You didn't hurt me, and I should've known better than to wake you up like that. You did spend six months in the badlands, after all. Of course, it wouldn't be a good idea to wake you up like I was planning to." She gave him a light smile, "So no moping, okay?"
He slowly nodded, and she took her hand away. He gently took it in his own and before she could say anything, he left a feather light kiss on the back of it. "I'm sorry… thank you." Yang felt that his hand was shaking slightly, so she just wrapped him in a hug. He went rigid for a second or two before he returned it.
They stayed like that for a bit until Blake cleared her throat, "The others are waiting for us. You may wanna get ready, Jaune."
He nodded and slowly pulled away from Yang. "Good point. Just need to get dressed." He walked over to the closest as he pulled the shirt off, causing the two to blush slightly. He reached into his closet and pulled out a long sleeved black shirt. He put it on before dropping his pajama pants and pulling out some black pants. He threw them on. He reached for his next piece of clothing, but he saw the two still staring at him. He raised an eyebrow, "What? I've dressed in front of you two before, what's with the looks?"
Yang shook her head slightly, "Well, you're hotter now."
Jaune just gave her a deadpan expression. "Wow. Good to know I wasn't attractive before." He reached in and grabbed his two belts before wrapping them around his waist, crisscrossing them.
"I didn't mean it like that and you know it." Yang defended herself with a light glare.
Jaune was pulling on his gloves as he smirked at her, "Do I?" That's when he pulled out his grey chest plate and pulled it over his head. Then one of his vambracers and placed it on his forearm. To the girls' shock, it stayed there and reached for the other one. "There are magnets woven into my clothing to keep my armor in place. They aren't too strong, so my armor is much lighter than what I used to wear. Also, not as protective." He answered their question as he put his other vambracer on.
They nodded at the explanation before they decided to ask the question that was on their minds. "Why were you on the floor?" Blake asked.
"Bed is too soft." Jaune replied after putting on his pauldrons then went for his cuisses. "I'm too used to sleeping on the ground. It feels like I'm going to sink through to the floor. Just can't sleep like that."
"So, you decided to sleep on the floor?" Yang asked in shock. She needed her sleep and couldn't imagine choosing to sleep on the ground over a bed.
Jaune shrugged before starting to put on his greaves, "Living out in the badlands plus the nightmares gave me insomnia. When I can sleep, I'm going to get as much as possible. Even if I need to sleep on the floor." He closed the closet and grabbed his scroll and sunglasses from his night stand. "Come on. Let's not keep the others waiting."
They walked out to see Neo still sitting on the couch but more awake thanks to the mug of coffee in her hands. Weiss and Ruby were sitting across from her with the reaper talking to her. She just nodded or shook her head in response. Not wanting to type on her scroll at the moment, mostly because she was still waking up. "Morning, Ruby. Morning Weiss."
Ruby turned to him with a smile, "Morning Jaune." She grabbed the mug on the table and held it out to him. "I made you coffee."
Jaune took it from her as Weiss spoke up, "I made sure she didn't burn it." She had a small grin as she said that.
Ruby just turned to her and stuck out her tongue. Jaune just chuckled and ruffled her hair slightly, "Thank you, Ruby. Means a lot." He started to walk past the couch Neo was sitting on to go to the stairs. "Morning, Neo. Sleep well?" She just gave Jaune a smiled and nodded. Jaune returned it, "Good."
By this point, he was at the base of the stairs, "Qrow! Get up or I'm getting the ice bucket!" he shouted up the stairs. That's when they heard something crash to the ground. He nodded in satisfaction. He took a sip of his coffee and sighed, "Perfect." He said out loud and Ruby beamed in pride.
"Why'd you wake up Qrow?" Yang asked.
"Well, Oz and I are going to let you all in on this. Qrow and Goodwitch should be there too. Speaking of…" Jaune explained as he pulled out his scroll to message Ozpin that they would be there soon and for what reason. Drinking his coffee as he did so. "Where are Pyr, Ren and Nora."
Weiss spoke up, "Nora was still stuffing herself with pancakes when we left."
"I shouldn't be surprised by that." He sighed with a grin.
That's when Qrow came down the stair sluggishly and in a daze, "Jaune, I have a hangover, why were you screaming?"
Jaune shrugged as he walked to the kitchen, "You decided to go drinking. Serves you right. Besides, we need to meet up with Oz. They want in." he said the last part in a serious tone. Qrow just nodded after a second, realizing how important this was. As Jaune walked by, Neo handed him her mug. He took both to the sink, after he chugged the rest of his precious coffee. When he came back, she was in her Jasmine disguise again. That's when Jaune put on his sunglasses and they became his mask again. He walked to the door and threw on his cloak, with the hood up, before they all grabbed their shoes and left to go see Ozpin.
The two Huntsmen and the five students made their way to Ozpin's office. Halfway there, they met up with the rest of JNPR, but they could all feel the slight tension between the nervous Neo and still unsure NPR. They all made it up to Ozpin's office where he and Goodwitch were waiting for them. As they entered Ozpin tapped a few commands on his desk and metal shutters came down around the various windows of his office. The students looked on confused. "Its just a precaution." Ozpin told them. "What we are about to tell you his very secretive."
"That's putting it mildly, Oz." Jaune said as his hood and glasses came off. Neo also used this opportunity to drop her illusion.
Ozpin nodded, "True." He then turned to the two teams in front of him. "You are sure you all want to be let into this? Jaune is right, when you hear this, there is no going back. There is no shame in not wanting to have this responsibility. It has broken people before." He warned them.
Ruby just spoke up, "We understand, Headmaster. But, we all saw what happened during the Fall. We want to stop that from happening again. Plus…" she looked down for a second. When she raised it again, her eyes darted over to Jaune before they reconnected with the Headmaster's. "Jaune has already agreed to this fight. I don't want to let him do this alone. None of us do." She said with full conviction, while the others nodded in determination. Jaune couldn't help the warm feeling spreading across his chest. He still didn't want them to be a part of this war but hearing that they wanted to fight alongside him once again, even after all the pain and grief he put them through, just made him happy.
Ozpin observed them all for a few seconds before he nodded, "Very well. I guess we'll start from the beginning." Ozpin then told the students of the Deity Brothers, the creation of the Grimm and the creations of humanity. He told them how the Relics of Knowledge, Creation, Destruction and Choice were actual items, each hidden away in a secret fault within each of the Huntsmen Academies and could only be accessed by a specific Maiden. And most importantly, the existence of Salem and her faction.
All of them were shell-shocked by what they just heard. Even Nora and Yang had nothing to say after that. It was quiet for a few minutes, the others letting them digest this new information. It was eventually broken by Jaune as he sighed, "Yeah, hearing it all sounds crazy. But its true." He started to pace a bit in front of Oz's desk again. A nervous habit he picked up some time ago. "That was the point of the Fall. Salem wanted Cinder to become her Fall Maiden and when Beacon fell, she'd be able to find the Relic of Choice. Along with that, communication would be down because of the CCT being sabotaged, the other Kingdoms would've grown distrustful of each other and the White Fang would've taken the blame while they stayed in the shadows." He stopped to run a hand through his hair, "And even if we don't know if it was by purpose or accident, the Grimm Dragon would've been running around as well." He looked at them with a half-hearted grin, "Lucky for us, I took care of a few of those things."
"Why do you keep this hidden?" Pyrrha asked. "Shouldn't the people know about this?"
"Think about it, Miss Nikos." Goodwitch spoke this time. "Do you really think people wouldn't covet for the powers of the Maidens, let alone the Relics? I don't want to imagine what that power could do in the right hands. Don't get me started on the wrong hands." She shook her head, "Some secrets are better left hidden."
They all had to agree. Nora then raised her hand, "I have a question."
"Yes, Miss Valkyrie?" Ozpin replied.
"Well, you said the Fall Maiden can access Beacon's fault to get the Relic of Choice. Well, since Jaune's Semblance came from the Fall Maiden, could he access the fault?" Nora asked.
The others looked at her in shock, that was an excellent point. They turned to Jaune. He just shook his head, "I doubt it, Nora. My Semblance may've come from the Maidens but its not what it was anymore. It has evolved and changed too much for it to be considered the same as the Maiden's."
She just looked confused so Qrow, shockingly, explained it further, "Kinda like how pancakes and waffles start out the same way but become different because of how you cook them." He took a sip from his flask.
"And even if it was a possibility, I don't wanna know the answer." Jaune finished. He created Void orb with his one hand, "I have enough power as it is."
As he did, Ren noticed that there was a purple glow surrounding the black sphere. "Jaune, what is that glow? You're Void never had that before."
He looked back to his brother, "My aura. Aura is the only thing I've found that is resistant to Void. A lot is needed to defend against it though. But my aura is immune to it completely because it creates it. So, when I need to, I can surround Void in my aura, so it doesn't destroy what it encounters. Although, it'll still do a number on someone."
"But didn't you say that a lot of your aura is needed to create Void to begin with? That's got to be exhausting for you." Ren added.
Jaune nodded, "Right again. This orb, which is my default form for it, is about an eighth of my max aura." That shocked everyone but Ozpin, Qrow and Neo. "And another five percent of my aura is covering it."
"So, it's safe to touch?" Nora asked. She was so curious about her brother's power. She loved explosions, but this was so much cooler than those.
"Yup." He tossed it underhand towards her. "Catch."
She held out both her hands and when she caught it she almost went face first into the ground. She stopped herself and the orb from smashing into the ground. With a growl of exertion, she slowly stood back up and the orb was barely at stomach level for her. Her arms were shaking from the strain. "Holy cow! This thing is heavy!" The orb slipped from her grip and smashed into the ground. They all looked down to see it barely poking out of the floor.
They turned to Jaune as he chuckled, "Did I forget to mention that?" he said with a smirk. He pointed his palm to the buried sphere and it rose out of the floor and flew to his hand. He squeezed it and it shifted into a shortsword. "It's extremely heavy but its weightless to me. Since I create it." He gave a few swings before it faded away as soon as he was done speaking.
They all just nodded except Nora, she was pouting because of Jaune's joke on her. "So, what are we going to do?" Ruby asked. "About Salem I mean."
Ozpin sighed before taking a sip of his coffee. "As of now, she has not made a move since the Fall. She would've probably used the chaos that followed to enact the next phase of her plan. So now, she is regrouping and figuring out what to do next. The best thing for us to do is to try to find the new Fall Maiden."
"Do you have any idea on where she is?" Weiss asked professionally.
"None." Qrow said. "I've been searching since the Fall and have found nothing. Cinder probably passed the power onto her lackey."
"Emerald." Ruby growled.
"Exactly." Qrow agreed. "If that's the case, she is probably with Salem which is not a good thing." He took another quick sip of alcohol from his flask.
"Are we sure she'd stay with Salem after Cinder's death?" Pyrrha asked hesitantly.
"Absolutely." Jaune answered. "Emerald was extremely loyal to Cinder, even more so than Mercury. She would most likely side with Salem to honor Cinder and to get revenge on the people you took her from her." He then shrugged, "I'd probably do the same if any of you were killed."
"So, Salem has the key, but we still have the lock then?" Yang stated.
"That would be a good analogue." Ozpin nodded.
"Why don't we just attack her?" Nora asked. "I mean, we have four different armies and Jaune."
Jaune chuckled, "Thanks for the compliment, Nora, but that won't work. Salem has control of an unfathomable number of Grimm. We'd have little chance especially since the Kingdoms barely agree on anything nowadays. Plus, I'm strong but not invincible. Every time I create Void, my aura leaves my body to form it. I lose protection to have nigh unstoppable power. To Salem, Grimm are a renewable resource. My Void and aura aren't, I'd eventually exhaust myself." That caused her to pout slightly.
"For now, you all should just go to your classes and go on as usual." Ozpin spoke up. "Until Salem makes a move or something changes the tide to our favor, we can do very little. But, with the Drakes becoming a more serious problem, we will most likely send you all along with Jaune to deal with them. Team RWBY has fought them before and your two teams work well together."
They all nodded reluctantly. They didn't like the fact that they could do nothing but could do little about that. "Is Jaune going to join us in classes?" Ruby asked hopefully.
Ozpin shook his head, "That would be impossible. Jaune Arc is still legally dead; for him to rejoin Beacon, he'd have to reveal he is alive. And he is adamant on keeping himself hidden for the time being."
"I'm standing right here, y'know." Jaune gave Oz a deadpan expression.
"Also, Rien is a certified Huntsman so he cannot enroll in classes. But don't worry, there is a way for him to join you in class. But I must discuss that with him first." He looked at his desk to check the time. "And you all have class in ten minutes, so I would suggest you go before you are late." He said with his usual grin.
They had no choice but to leave with that. They all told Jaune they'd see him later before they left. Jaune just turned to Ozpin with a raised eyebrow, "What are you planning now?" Jaune asked, his tone holding curiosity and trepidation. That just caused Ozpin to smirk.
A/N- I know I said that I'd explain more on Jaune and Neo's relationship but I decided to push that back a bit. Geez, these chapter have been A LOT of exposition. Next chapter should hopefully have more action or anything else besides exposition. Not to self: knock that off. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you all in the next update!