Jaune's eyes slowly blinked open and he looked around the room he was in, confused. He looked around slowly to see that he had fallen asleep while sitting in his living room on one of the couches. He was about to get up when the weight in his lap registered in his mind. He looked down to see that Weiss was asleep in his lap, her head pressed against his chest and her arms around his form. She looked so content with a small smile on her lips. The two must've dosed off after everything that had happened earlier in the morning.
Between him waking up and looking around, he must've moved enough to tell her he was awake. He felt her arms tighten around him a bit more and she spoke up, "Not yet." She spoke up. "Let's stay like this a little longer."
He just smiled and hugged her close to him, "Did I wake you?"
"No. I didn't fall asleep. You nodded off maybe twenty minutes ago and I just wanted to be close to you." She explained.
He had a sheepish smile with that, "Sorry about that. I didn't plan on falling asleep like that."
She shook her head before looking up at him, "Don't worry about it, Jaune. You've been pushing yourself very hard over the last few weeks. Making sure if there is a chance that a Drake will appear around Vale or not, giving out as much information you can to the other Academies and Kingdoms, helping Yang to control her new abilities and even pushing yourself in mastering your Semblance again. You've been doing so much and need to rest every once in a while."
Jaune just looked into her eyes and gave a weak chuckle, "I guess I have been spreading myself thin lately."
Her eyes narrowed slightly, "I would say more than lately. But now that we are back together, I will be sure to make it so you won't be doing it anymore."
Jaune couldn't help but smirk at her, "Aren't you technically skipping class right now?"
She blushed faintly and broke eye contact, snuggling into his chest again, "This is more important right now."
He just chuckled before he leant down and placed a kiss on the top of her head, "Love you too, Snow Angel." And since it looked like he wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, not that he was complaining about it, he turned on the television across from them and started to look for something the two of them would enjoy. While Weiss just stay snuggled up to him to make up for lost time.
As the couple sat there, both of their scrolls started to go off. It was the rest of their group asking them where Weiss was. Jaune answered them, telling them that Weiss had a bit of a problem with her father and she was now just trying to relax and move past it at his place. Hearing that her father was causing her more trouble infuriated the rest of her team. Jaune luckily got them to calm down when he sent them the video of himself sending Jacques flying back into his airship with an air blast. And since he was already doing that, he decided to send it to his old team and Neo as well. The laughs and response she got from them all was totally worth it.
Jaune eventually found one of the movies from the popular superhero series that had been going on for the last few years and he knew that Weiss was a big fan of them, not that anyone outside of their circle of friends would know that. When he left it on, he felt her hug him a bit more tightly. As it started, he heard her mutter, "Popcorn would be good right now." He knew she wasn't asking him to get it for her. Hell, he barely heard her say it over the movie. But he was going to make some regardless just to make her happy. And he agreed that it would nice to have some.
He placed his hand on her waist to try to move her onto the couch properly. But as he just barely moved her, she held him tighter and turned back to him, "What are you doing?"
"I was going to make us some popcorn." He told her honestly.
"No." she said simply before she snuggled into him again. "I'm not letting go."
Jaune chuckled, "You're starting to sound like Ruby now."
She shrugged, "Then she would agree with me then. I'm not letting go." She said simply and a hint of finality to it.
He just sighed, "Fine." Before she could bask in her victory, his left arm went around her back and his right hooked under legs before he stood up from the couch. She gave a tiny yelp at that and held onto him tighter, out of the slight fear that he may drop her. He just took it in stride and walked into the kitchen.
"What are you doing now?" she asked him once she was sure she wasn't going to end up on the floor.
He shrugged as he reached up into the cabinet with his left hand, "Well since you wanna act like Ruby, I'm just going to treat you like her." He pulled out a few bags of popcorn and placed one in the microwave to pop it. "Which mean, that I'm going to do what I had planned on while carrying you. But this is a bit more difficult since Ruby usually hangs off my back. So, I'm down an arm." He then reached into another cabinet and pulled out a massive bowl for all the popcorn when it was done.
She huffed, "I told you that you didn't need to make popcorn. And if I'm such an inconvenience, you can put me down." Before she tried to get out of his arms, he leant down and captured her lips with his own. She stared wide eyed before she quickly melted into his arms.
He then pulled back with a grin on his lips, "Plus, If I'm gonna carry you like Ruby, that means you're entitled to a few kisses as well." That just earned him a faint blush to the snow princess' cheeks. That was when the microwave sounded out and alerted them to the first bag being finished.
He then skillfully removed the popcorn and replaced it with a new bag before resetting the timer. He then opened the bag and poured the contents into the bowl and threw it away after he was done. Meanwhile, that entire time, Weiss just hid her flushed face into his chest. She eventually turned her head enough for her to say one thing quietly, "Dolt." He just smiled and went about finishing off their snack for the movie. Then the couple settled back into the couch to watch their movie with the appropriate snack now.
The two just enjoyed the first movie that kicked off the entire movie series, which was Weiss' personal favorite. When it was done, they were shocked to hear that the sequel was going to be on next. With that, the two got off the couch to get more popcorn and drinks for obvious reasons. They got back to the couch just as it was beginning. And Weiss retook her seat on her boyfriend's lap and started to eat the fresh popcorn. Honestly, both considered this to be a great first date since getting back together.
When the movie was about to come to an end, that was when the door was opened up and Ruby rushed in, worried for her partner. The rest of her team and the new JNPR walked in not long after and all just stared in shock at how the two were sitting. Weiss was just frozen in place as Jaune just looked on. There was just a stare off until a huge smile erupted onto Ruby's face and she threw her arms into the air, "Finally! You two took forever!"
"W-what?" Weiss asked, having trouble processing what was going on.
Yang just planted her fist against her hip as she cocked her head to the side with her usual smirk, "We all knew you still loved the big lug. We were just waiting for your pride to finally give out."
Blake nodded slowly with her own teasing smile, "It was really obvious, Weiss."
"Yeah!" Nora added. "We were going to start a pool to see when you finally would but Ren said it wouldn't be nice to." She pouted at the end of that.
Ren just placed a hand on her shoulder, "It wouldn't have been, Nora." He then turned to Weiss with a small smile of his own but more genuine than Blake's. "But congratulations all the same."
Pyrrha nodded with a genuine smile but a mischievous look in her eyes, "It is nice to see you two together. As weird as it sounds, it was strange to not see you two together."
Neo just gave them a mischievous smirk and gave them a thumbs up. With that, Weiss blushed so hard that she look like an exact replica off a cherry before she buried her face into Jaune's chest. That made them all chuckle a bit but Jaune just held her close and gently rubbed her back to calm her down. But overall, none of them would have it any other way.
A couple more days had passed and Jaune, dressed as Rien, was slowly making his way through Beacon to get to the central tower. Ozpin had called him not long ago and had asked him to come see him as soon as he could. The grounds were pretty empty considering all the morning classes were going on, keeping the bulk of the students and the professors occupied. So Jaune arrived at the elevator rather quickly with no incident.
As the doors closed and he started to rise up, he condensed his mask and pulled the glasses from his face while lowering his hood. He knew that if there was anyone else in Ozpin's office at the time, he would've given him proper warning when he called. So, either Ozpin was currently alone or anyone else their already knew of his identity.
The elevator eventually opened to reveal that Ozpin was indeed alone at his desk, doing some paperwork. He looked up to see Jaune standing there and he gave a quick smile, "Glad to see you, Jaune." He pointed to the side of his office where his coffee maker was, "Help yourself."
Jaune just grinned back, "Thanks, Oz." He said genuinely. He then went over to prepare his coffee while Oz went back to his paperwork. When his mug was filled, he took a sip from it with a sigh before he made his way over to the chair sat across from Oz. He took it and another sip of his coffee before he spoke up, "So, what's going on? What do you need from me?"
Ozpin just smiled as he went about finishing his paperwork, "I wanted to give you an update on the Drake situation at the other three Kingdoms since it's because of you that they were stopped in the first place." He took a quick pause before he continued. "Two of them had popped up over the last few months in Atlas. Luckily,becau eof their army and James' top specialists, the Ace Ops I believe he calls them, they were dealt with relatively quickly with no casualties."
"Which variety were the Drakes?" Jaune asked as he took another sip of his coffee.
"One of each. The Inferior version showed up more recently." Jaune just nodded so Ozpin continued. "Another Superior Drake showed up in the deserts of Vacuo. Shade was informed of it and Theodore was able to organize enough of the Huntsmen to take it down. By sheer luck, they managed to subdue the Grimm before it could evolve further. It was drawing a large amount of Grimm to the area they found it at. Regrettably, they lost a quite a few Huntsmen."
Jaune nodded solemnly and waited for the Headmaster to continue. The man eventually did after he sighed sadly, "Leo has informed me that they had come across an Inferior Drake a month or so ago. They were able to destroy it but at a high cost. Many Huntsmen didn't come out of it." Both fell into a silence out of respect. Neither really liked the thought of it but having Drakes running around was very dangerous. More so if they kept pushing their evolution.
Jaune drank some more of his coffee as Ozpin continued with his paperwork as they just let the silence fill the room. Eventually, Jaune to ask his next big question, "No Dracos?"
Ozpin shook his head as he finally finished his work, "I've heard nothing from any of the others, not even Qrow. Either we are getting lucky and have been putting a stop to the Drakes before they can take on their more powerful forms or they are staying under the radar."
"Probably a bit of both." Jaune leant back and gently rubbed his forehead. "The Dracos are intelligent and want nothing else but to continue their evolution. They do need a lot of aura to achieve their next stage, that'll draw them to the Kingdoms and more specifically, the Academies to try to do that. Eventually."
"I'm guessing you got that impression from your time being merged with that particular Draco?" Ozpin asked as he just observed him. Jaune just nodded as he took another sip from his mug. "And your recovery?"
Jaune shrugged, "As far as I can tell, I'm back to a hundred percent. I don't feel anything wrong physically and I've had no problem using my Semblance, Void included." He then tilted his head with a quirked eyebrow, "Why the sudden interest, Oz?"
"Is it wrong to worry about the health of an old student and one of my best Hunters?" he responded coyly. Jaune just gave him a very blank stare as his answer. Ozpin chuckled before taking a drink from his own coffee, "Fine, I do have a mission that I wanted to send you on. But I wanted to be sure you had recovered enough to go on it."
"Could just ask outright instead of beating around the bush." Jaune said with a smirk as he sat forward, "So, what's this mission entail?"
"Well, thanks to your help, we've been able to get the information of the Drakes and Dracos into the right hands in the four Kingdoms. But, there is still one place that is still in the dark. Menagerie." Ozpin explained.
He just looked at his boss in confusion, "I thought you sent information out to them at the same time you sent the information to the Academies?"
Ozpin nodded, "I did. But the message never reached them. Same for any other message I sent. And it's hard to send anything through the CCT to them because of how weak the signals are out there."
Jaune was starting to see where this was going, "So you want me to do it then. You know I can handle myself well and because I'm the leading expert on them, I can give them the information properly." He then smirked, "Plus, unlike Qrow, I have nothing better to do."
Ozpin smirked back, "Right on all accounts. And with your view on Faunus, it might be easier for you to get along with local inhabitants. Although, I would suggest you bring a guide with you. It may make things go smoother."
Jaune nodded, "That I will. I'll look into that right away."
"Actually, you already know of a more than suitable guide, Jaune." Ozpin said with a smirk as he drank more of his coffee. Jaune just looked at him expectantly, not entirely sure on where he was going with this, "Miss Belladonna."
Jaune's eyes widened for a second before they narrowed, "Her parents live on the island, don't they?"
Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "An astute observation. How did you figure that out?"
Jaune started to rub his forehead gain, "Because you're an Oum damned schemer, Oz." That made the older man chuckle and Jaune just sighed, "Fine. I'll talk to her and try to get her to patch things up with her parents. She's going to miss a few weeks of schoolwork, minimum, though."
Ozpin nodded with that same small smile on his lips, "I've already started to explain the situation to the professors. They will give her indefinite extensions on any assignments and I have it on good authority that Miss Schnee will be able to give her the notes she misses."
Jaune just sighed again, knowing he wasn't going to get out of this. "Fine. I'll talk to her and try to get her to agree to it." He quickly drank the rest of his coffee and placed the mug on Ozpin's desk. "If that is everything, I will let myself out." He then stood up and walked into the elevator to leave the office.
He sighed one more time as he leant his back into the elevator. "So, not only do I have to convince Blake to come with me, but I have to tell the other's that they can't tag along." He groaned, "Ruby, Nora and Neo are gonna pitch the biggest fit."
Jaune sent a message to his girlfriends and step siblings asking them to meet up with him at his place when they were done with classes. They all agreed but when they asked what for, he wouldn't elaborate.
Jaune spent the rest of his day training his Semblance again. But this time, with a specific element: water. As much as he knew how useful it could be with the level of control he had over it, he felt that he could do more with it. That thing being phase changing. Out of all the materials on Remnant, water was the easiest to solidify and vaporize. Plus, he already had a lot of experience manipulating ice and steam because of his Advance Elements. He had to just figure out the how.
That was a lot easier said than done. He would sit in a meditative position with his water Semblance active. He would then pull enough water from the air to form a basketball sized orb of water between his hands. For a while, every time he tried to freeze or boil the water he was manipulating, his body reflexively tried to tap into his wind or fire Semblance respectively. That would cause a good amount of pain to erupt through him and cause him to drop the water to the ground.
After the fifth or sixth failure, he wasn't keeping track, Jaune took another breath to center himself before he took some time to think over the problem. It was actually his training sessions with Yang that gave him a potential solution and what did he really have to lose by trying it. He tapped into his water Semblance once again before slowly drawing the same amount of water from the air. He then closed his eyes to focus.
He started to remember every time he used his ice Advance Element. How cold to the touch he would feel. How his body would shake like crazy. How every breath he let out would just be a mist. How that chill seemed to sink through his skin and muscle, all the way down to the bone. He could almost feel himself shaking now and he knew he was on the right track.
He slowly focused that sheer cold down both of his arms to his hands and he could feel it clearly, like two ice cold streams of water flowing down them. He could now feel all the frigidness in his palms. He started to send his aura to them, pushing it and the cold into the water still floating between his open hands. Through his Semblance, he could just tell the water was growing colder and colder but it still didn't freeze. His body was constantly shaking from strain and the cold he was feeling, whether it was just mentally or not, he wasn't sure.
He could tell that he was close but he was still missing something. Something that was key to this working. On a guess, he focused on the significantly colder water orb and tried to condense it. With that, the coldness seemed to increase beyond what it was just a few seconds before and he could also feel that the water was different now. He slowly opened his eyes to see a smaller ball of ice now floating between his hands now.
Jaune couldn't help the satisfied smirk that stretched across his lips, "Well, looks like I figured it out. Now I just have to cut down on the freezing time and concentration." His smirk disappeared as he gave a light sigh, "Now I need to figure out how to turn ice back into water then into steam and back…" A tiny smile stretched across his face, "Just like old times."
He held the ice ball in his left hand as he pulled out his scroll. "Have about an hour or so until they get out of class. Should probably head back." He stood up and pocketed his scroll. As he was walking back; he would focus on having the ice ball revolve around or bounce between his hands with his Semblance. The manipulation of ice was a bit more rigid than water was and it was best for him to get used to it. Or at least build up a little practice before he tried to use it in an actual fight.
Once he was close to his temporary home, he whipped his arm to the side and sent the ice ball hurdling towards a nearby tree. It shattered from the impact but Jaune was shocked to see that some of the bark had cracked from the force behind it. Jaune just raised an eyebrow, "Huh. That gives me a few ideas." With that, he walked into his place.
As soon as he was in and had his boots and cloak off, he made his way to the kitchen. That's when he started to get a few light snacks and drinks ready for everyone when they arrived. Halfway through he stopped, "When the hell did I turn into my mother?" He could clearly remember the times he was younger and his mother had snacks ready for himself and his sisters after their day at school was done. He then gained a small but melancholy smile, "When was the last time I thought of that? Wonder how they are all doing?"
He was pulled from those thoughts when he heard his door open and his step-sister shout, "We're home!" That instantly put a smile on his face and a small chuckle escaped him. "Jaune? Are you here?" she asked out loud.
"I'm in the kitchen, Nora!" he told her and the next thing he heard were the clear sounds of her footfalls getting closer. She then burst into the room and slid to a stop across from him at the island. He just grinned at her, "Hey. Mind bringing this in for me." He motioned to the platter of cut fruit and vegetables.
She gave him a salute, "On it, Big Brother!" She then picked it up and went back into the living room. With her taking care of that, he quickly went about cleaning the knife he used and the island before he walked into the living room, carrying a tray with glasses and a pitcher of iced tea. He set it down and saw all eight of them enjoying their snack. Ruby was especially loving the strawberries and Nora the little baby carrots. As he was setting down the drinks, Blake started to talk to him, "So, Jaune, why did you want us all to come over?"
Jaune sighed to himself as he stood up and everyone looked at him. He started to rub the back of his neck, "Well, I went to see Oz and he gave me my next mission." That gave him their undivided attention. "Apparently, Oz has had problems distributing the information on the Drakes and Dracos to a specific area. And since I am the leading expert on them, along with having a pretty open schedule recently, he wants me to travel there to give the information directly."
Pyrrha nodded, "I guess that makes sense. Where will you be going?" She asked as she bit into another stick of celery.
"Menagerie." Jaune said and instantly, Blake started to cough on her drink. Yang patted her back and the Faunus was able to breathe again. She just stared at him in shock and he nodded sheepishly. "And that's not all. Ozpin wants me to take you along, Blake."
Her eyes went wide with that and her ear pinned back against her head as she just stared at her boyfriend. That is when the room exploded into a million questions from everyone there, minus Ren and Neo. Ren was trying to calm down his girlfriend, who was not the slightest bit happy about being left out. Meanwhile, Neo was staring Jaune down. She was absolutely livid about him leaving her behind on another mission of his. That caused him to groan while running a hand down his face, "Oz, I really hate you sometimes."
A/N- Sorry this took me so long to put out. This whole thing was a lot harder to write than it should've been but it's here now. And next will be the TES/TVS version of Blake's trip to Menagerie, that is gonna be fun. The Beta Reader was the one and only, Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh. Go check him out and if you already have, do it again. And I'll see you all in the next update!