Hey all! Fair warning: classes have started back up for me again, so the rate of updates is definitely about to drop. I'm actually busy with a bunch of new stuff, from class, to research, to job hunting to training to be a tour guide! Yup, in a bit of mess, with other personal stuff stacked up on top.
Ah well, I will keep writing though. This is my passion, and it makes me happy and helps to destress.
And also, I hope you don't mind me skipping or breezing through canon events like the mech fight, cct fight, etc. I just don't want to waste time on stuff we all know happened and instead focus on the story I'm crafting myself. I also just really want to pick up the pace right now, after such a long time spent on slow burn emotional and psychological development.
It must have been a good twenty minutes, and he still hadn't left the bathroom.
Qrow's untimely arrival had quickly tuned into Qrow giving him a vicious glare, before leading Ruby out of his room for 'family-talk', leaving him and the rest of JNPR in their dorm. To avoid his teammates' inquisitiveness, he immediately locked himself in the bathroom. Now he'd taken off his suit jacket and suffocating bow tie, as well as the shoes which honestly might have been a size or so too small. Or maybe everything just felt uncomfortable because…
"This is shit."
He rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt, and he undid his belt too, untucking his shirt. He basically just did whatever he could to feel a little bit more comfortable, as mounting dread simmered under his skin.
He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and stared for a little bit. Ruby's lipstick was smeared across his face and neck, making it quite obvious that someone had had one heck of a night. He knew that he really should just wipe that off already… but some part inside of him really wanted to keep that there, some part of him which was in fact quite satisfied with what had happened. Honestly, it was a pretty big part of him.
Then he heard the door outside creak open, and that familiar voice said, "Alright kiddos, I need to have a man to man chat with that little shit."
That was when dread overwhelmed stupid teenage bravado. He groaned, then turned on the faucet and finally scrubbed his face with warm water and hand soap, quickly washing off as much of the lipstick as he could.
The door to the bathroom shook as Qrow knocked on it.
"Come on Steve; I'm done chatting with my nieces, and I kicked your friends out so it's just you and me now."
Well. Isn't that encouraging.
Breathe deep. Hold. Release.
Breathe deep. Hold. Release.
He glanced at himself one last time in the mirror to make sure all the lipstick was off (since he figured that showing off to this guy that he'd just been making out with his niece was, well, not a good idea). Then he turned back and looked at the door.
Qrow could beat his ass… but getting his shit kicked in was not a new experience for Jaune. Sure, he could be mad… but Qrow wouldn't actually attack him, right?
He hesitated before the door for a moment, recalling all the things they'd talked about that one drunken night.
Would he?
He shook his head. No way… right? No way. And come on, don't have to be afraid here. I've fought behemoths before! I can face down one angry uncle! And it wasn't like I'm the one who started all the perverted talk!
He adopted a resolute look on his face and marched to the door, although for every ounce of confidence he had, there was another ounce of fear. He opened the door slowly.
Qrow stood there, staring him down, a rather nonplussed look on his face.
"Uh…" Any opening lines Jaune could have said evaporated in his mind, leaving him only to say, "Hi?"
"Hi," Qrow replied, voice clipped and unamused. He stood with his hands imperiously propped on his hips, scrutinizing the young man who would call himself his apprentice. "Funny that you never mentioned the girl you're into is my niece."
"Yeah…" He shrugged, then looked down at the floor. "To be fair, you never told me you had a niece here…"
"So this is my fault?"
Jaune cringed.
Thus the great dichotomy of the Lone Wanderer emerged once more: a monster on the battlefield, but far less capable with spoken words. Fearless in the face of violence, but unbearably anxious when pushed into difficult conversation.
He awkwardly stepped around Qrow, shuffling past the man and coming to sit down on Pyrrha's bottom bunk. The entire time, he felt Qrow's gaze cut into him, like a saw being raked back and forth, slowly getting deeper and deeper.
"Remember that thing I gave you?" Qrow asked. His voice was sharp as a blade.
"Uh…" It took a second for Jaune to realize what Qrow was talking about, but when he did, he wasted no time in hopping up, wrenching open his drawer and extricating that little square foil from his wallet.
Qrow instantly snatched it out of his hand and shoved back into his own pocket.
Then it was just them and their old pal awkward silence.
"So," Qrow eventually said. "You like my niece, huh?"
"Yup," Jaune said, despondently nodding as he sulked back to Pyrrha's bunk and sat back down, legs feeling fairly weak. Just a couple hours ago, he'd been taking on a masked, fire-wielding invader, but now here he was, getting chewed out by his girlfriend's family.
"Well… she is nice." Qrow crossed his arms, then uncrossed them, then crossed them again, all while he paced idly in a short line.
It occurred to Jaune that this may be just as awkward for Qrow as it was for him.
The man chuckled dryly. "I guess it's just my bad luck that I'd end up accidentally giving advice on how to get with my niece…" He shook his head. "But the dance, huh?"
"Yup."
"You went through with it."
"Yup."
Qrow turned away, nodding noncommittally. "Well, I guess it's nice to know you took my advice… heh, did you do that other thing I told you to do?"
"Spike the punch? Yeah, I did that."
"Nice one," Qrow turned back and smiled, a tight expression, but one that Jaune saw from the top of his peripheral vision, giving him the strength to look up a bit and meet the man in the eyes.
When he did… he didn't actually see too much anger, more of that flighty kind of uncertainty with comes with situations made very awkward in one way or another.
"You did the plastic bag method like I told you?"
"Yeah."
"Attaboy," Qrow said, grin perking up ever so slightly. "Tai and I pulled that off back in the day… glad to see you're following in our footsteps." Qrow's grin dropped suddenly. "But I also had a few flings…" His eyes slid to Jaune. "Don't follow in my footsteps completely."
Jaune's face heated up with a fresh blush. "I told you I didn't think of her like that… you're the one who made it all sexual…"
"I know that, and I'll regret that for the rest of my life. Feel gross as hell, talking about my own niece like that…" He shook his head, before unexpectedly rounding on Jaune.
"Sixteen!" Qrow stated loudly—but not quite as a shout—with enough force and suddenness to shock his niece's boyfriend. "She's still too young, hear me?" Qrow pointed authoritatively, and scowled menacingly, each word as much a statement as a threat. "And I know that deep down she's more mature than a lot of people her age, but still! Wait until she's sixteen! And wait until you two have been together for at least a year until you do any funny business! And use protection!"
"Funny business?" The euphemism's true meaning hit him a second later, as did a desire to just, like, disappear or something, maybe just die. "Come on," Jaune said as he cringed and looked away, "I didn't want to do any funny business in the first place. Just wanted to, like… hold hands."
"Well you took the condom, didn't you?"
"After your pressured me too!" Now Jaune's exasperation finally came him the strength to put a bit more force behind his words. "You're the one who got all perverted with it!"
"And like I said, I'll regret that for the rest of my life."
Jaune crossed his arms, scowling. But soon anger towards Qrow reversed into anger for himself.
He bunched his brow in concern. That was a stupid thing to do. That was a dumb thing to do. I shouldn't have raised my voice. He's already pissed at me. What if he says I can't get with Ruby?
Qrow sighed. "But I'm not mad at you… not really. Well, not that much."
Jaune's pensive stress slackened just a bit. "You're not?"
"Nah… not really. Well, for a second I was… still am a little… but not too much." Qrow sighed again, this one even deeper, and a bit more tired sounding. He walked across the room and pulled out a chair from Jaune's desk, then spun it around and sat down. "Honestly, if It wasn't for the way I found you two… and if we hadn't had that long talk about the more… physical aspects of the relationship…" Qrow shrugged. "Then I wouldn't really be mad at all.
"If Ruby's dating somebody here, I'm glad it's you."
Jaune's eyes widened, and his vision—which had again dragged down to the floor—suddenly snapped back to Qrow. He saw that the man still wore that rugged, tired and slightly cynical grin.
"You're a good guy," Qrow said. "A guy on the up-n-up, who's getting his shit together now better than a lot of people his age. You've got principle, and determination, and spirt." Qrow's smiled faltered and he glanced away, looking awkwardly to the side. "And even if our little talk over drinks made this a lot more awkward… at least it let me know that you care for her for real."
"I do." The tone in Jaune's was resolute, but the words were hard to choke out through a throat that had suddenly constricted.
"I get that." Qrow brought up one hand and gnawed on the top of his thumb. Then he sighed again, reached down and took a sip from his flask. Well, more than a sip. He tilted it back and drained the whole thing, then glared at it upon running empty, as if it were somehow the flask's fault that it ran out of alcohol.
During this, a smile steadily grew onto Jaune's face, and it was that big, stupid sort of smile that's just plain dumb happy. "You approve of me?"
"Well duh," Qrow said. He belched and wiped his mouth before continuing: "Thought I made that pretty clear, right?"
"Yeah, but I still sorta…" The giddy feeling in Jaune's stomach, a mix of new excitement and older anxiety, made it a little hard to sort out his thoughts. "Just, um, wanted to make sure of that."
"Well be sure," Qrow said, then pointed at him again. "It's just that this is the first time I ever done this whole 'deal with the boyfriend' thing and let me tell you, I never thought it'd be like this.
"Years ago, I always figured it'd be some jackass Yang dragged in, and I'd have never seen him before and I would just put the fear of god in him." He chuckled and shook his head. "But then here we are, with Ruby getting a boyfriend before Yang ever did, and it's the guy I took under my wing…"
Jaune's joy was hit by a dash of curiosity: "Yang's never had a boyfriend?"
"Shit, shouldn't have said…" Qrow grimaced. "Well, she's just the type who wants to wait around for 'the one' or whoever that's supposed to be. Don't tell her I told you this, or she'll kill both of us."
Images of Yang annihilating the giant mech then came to Jaune, and the uncomfortable thought of what such a punch could do to his head filled him with some foreboding.
"Yeah, won't tell a soul."
"Smart kid." Qrow chuckled again. "Yeah, I can just imagine her popping your head like a grape."
"So can I," Jaune said with a laugh of his own.
So there they were, sitting across from one another and in an atmosphere that really didn't feel nearly as combative anymore. Honestly, this was a better outcome than Jaune could have hoped for.
"But you bet that Yang's gonna grill you for this," Qrow said. "And Tai, their dad, is gonna grill you too. Probably sooner rather than later, but he's away on business for a while, so you've got some time before that comes around for you."
Meeting the dad… that thought suddenly filled Jaune with dread.
"Tai will come around to you too, though," Qrow assured. "He's gotten better at judging character over the years, and I know he'll see the same stuff in you as I do: a kid who's in love with Ruby and wants to give her the best."
Jaune nodded, and the fear in his stomach dissolved.
"So just make sure to never make out anywhere near me, and I can put the thought out of my mind that my good little niece is doing crap like that," Qrow said, rising from his chair. "Go on dates, talk about life, play video games and do whatever it is teens today like to do." Qrow shrugged and sighed. "I've gotten too old to really give much advice anymore, honestly. I think I've reached that age were I just start to embrace my own crotchetiness."
"Yeah, I could tell."
"Fuck off."
A second passed, before they both laughed.
Qrow chuckled and shook his head, then walked to the door. "Now I'm gonna go up and crash in my room after a few more drinks. I'll come around tomorrow to hang out more with my nieces, but I think that it's time you and I get some training in."
Jaune stood up, almost jumping off of the bed in excitement. "Really?"
"Hey, if you're gonna act all like a puppy and start calling me your mentor, then I might as well play the part a little, right?"
Jaune's smile only widened.
"So be ready to learn a thing or two," Qrow said as he cracked open the door. "I'll whoop your ass into better shape—gods!"
He stumbled back as Nora pushed through the door the moment it opened a crack. She squealed in delight and ran immediately to Jaune, then enveloped him in a hug so tight it instantly deprived him of any air. "Yes! My favorite ship has finally become canon!" she shouted.
"Nora, Jaune's love life isn't like one of your fandoms," Ren said; despite the nature of his words, not one of them had a hint of true condescension, and he even smiled. He also walked into the room, followed closely by Pyrrha. She stood to the side with him, a genuinely happy grin on her face as well.
As he was being crushed, however, Jaune also saw past them all, to the open door of the room across the hall. There was team RWBY (plus Zwei excitedly bouncing at their feet), with Ruby herself meekly waving at him, smiling nervously. He could tell why.
Blake watched him with an emotionally neutral gaze. Weiss glared at him. Yang… she seemed happy, but Jaune still feared the maternal old-sister instincts he knew to be lurking in that devious mind of hers.
Qrow grumbled as he regained his composure and left the room. "You all should pick this up tomorrow," he said, "considering your night's already been rough, and it's late. Get some sleep, then the lovey-dovey crap can be saved for the morning, after everybody's got straighter heads." He pressed a finger against Ruby's forehead and pushed her back into the room. She tried to bat his hand away, but Yang evidently agreed with her uncle's logic and pulled Ruby back by grabbing her shoulders, whispering some assurance to her sister as the door was shut.
Qrow turned and sent Jaune one last nod, then walked down the hall, out of sight. Pyrrha shut the door, and the team was once again left alone.
"Come on, get off of him," Pyrrha chastised to Nora, peeling her arms away from Jaune and letting him breathe unabated once more. "He can't tell us everything that happened if he can't breathe, can he?"
The three of them turned to Jaune, full attention on him.
He chuckled awkwardly and shrugged.
"I mean, things are looking pretty good."
"Shit, thinking about it all now… things really don't look so good."
Jaune paced back and forth in Peach's office as the woman sat quietly in her swivel chair. Her eyes tracked him as he nervously walked to one end of the room, then turned and walked back to the other, too anxious to stay still or even consider the couch.
"Why is that?" she asked. "Ruby returned your feelings, and Qrow has given you his blessing; what else is bothering you? Tell me so we can work it out."
"I've never had a girlfriend before," Jaune began, "So I don't have any idea where to start."
"Fair that this would make you nervous," Peach said.
"So I've been avoiding her all day until now."
Peach raised one eyebrow and asked, "Why?"
"Yeah and she's sent me some texts but I just told her that I needed some time to think." He balled his hands into fists. "Which is true, right? I just… don't know where to start. Don't know what to do."
"Well, avoiding her for much longer is a bad idea," Peach said. "That's for sure. Now what do you mean when you say that you don't know where to start?"
"Like… how do I start a relationship?" He shook his head, a dumbfounded look on his face. "I just asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes but now what?"
"Well, scheduling a date would be nice," Peach said. "But the truth is, Jaune, you've already started a long time ago."
That made him stop in his tracks.
"I have?"
"Yup," she said with a smile and a nod. "She's said she's been in love with you for a long time, right? You're not building from the ground up here: there's already a pretty good base. It's really not going to be all that different." Peach shrugged. "I remember being just as nervous, so don't feel down on yourself. Nobody's all that sure of what to do.
"Just do stuff. Stuff you both find fun. Go out to Vale and watch a movie, or go to a restaurant, or just hang out and play video games and talk about stuff you like. The dynamics aren't going to change that much. After all, you're boyfriend and girlfriend.
"You're still friends, but with another angle. So do all the stuff you did as friends, but do it a little more, or more intimately."
He swallowed, and it sounded like he was gulping down a large stone. "Intimately?"
"Yeah, like when you watch a movie, go for a cuddle. If you're walking through a park, hold hands. Little stuff like that. But there's another component, a natural deepening of feeling."
"What the hell is that?"
"Now that you both know how closely you feel for one another, the atmosphere and connection between you when you're together is going to change, be more charged."
Jaune furrowed his brow, thinking it over for a second, before realization dawned on him:
"So there are going to be new vibes between us?"
"Yes, you can say that. The words 'vibes' does fit in pretty well."
"Right… vibes…"
"But there will be no vibes if you avoid her, mister." She wagged a finger in his direction, as if chastising a puppy. "So come on, go talk to her again. I know you're going to be afraid of that, and nobody has any right to judge you for being afraid. That's only natural. However, you have to go talk to her, soon."
"Right…"
"In fact"– Peach glanced at the clock on the wall, which was five minutes ahead of the time at which their session was scheduled to end, Jaune having spent much of their meeting recounting his story and babbling about past relationship blunders –"I think you may want to go now, unless you've got something else to say?"
"No, no I don't."
"Well then," she said, "I think you've got a girlfriend to talk to, huh?"
He nodded despondently, suddenly feeling some sweat moisten on his brow. He closed his eyes.
Breathe deep. Hold. Release.
Breathe deep. Hold. Release.
"Attaboy," Peach said when he opened his eyes once more. "Just keep your cool, stay honest and stay caring. Then you've got nothing to worry about." She gave him a thumbs up as he said farewell and walked out of the office.
He closed her door behind him, already feeling another onset of nervousness now that Peach's securing presence was gone. He closed his eyes once more.
Breathe deep. Hold. Relea—
"Hey bozo!"
Aw shit.
And suddenly, a rock of dread hardened in his stomach. Yang Xiao Long stood before him in the hallway, seeming to have come almost from nowhere. Her arms were crossed; her scowl and her frown worked to threaten him in tandem. On one side of her stood the great enemy Weiss, posture arched and head tilted back so she could seem to glare down at him even as she looked up, being eclipsed by him in height. On Yang's other side to stood Blake, gaze unwavering and unemotional as she stared at him.
"Oh… hey there."
"Hey there," Yang said, lips curling up into a vicious grin. "Fancy seeing you here, still in school and still alive. I figured that you'd be either kidnapped or dead, since Ruby told me she hasn't seen you since last night."
"I texted her I had something to deal with—"
"More important than my sis?"
"Uhhh," he lost his words for a moment, before jerking back a thumb up and pointing behind him. "I just wanted to talk it over with Peach first, get her advice before I did anything else. Honest, I was literally just about to go straight to her."
"Well!" Weiss snapped. "She's been in a terrible mood all day because you abandoned her, worrying if you don't like her or are having second thoughts. So you're going to march right back to our room this instant and make sure she feels like the happiest girl alive!"
"I… huh?"
"You're going to make Ruby happy," Weiss said. "And if you ever fail to do so, I will personally teach you that those who bare the Schnee family name have no tolerance for failure."
"That's her way of wishing you two luck," Yang said, chuckling and baring an angry glance from her smaller companion. "But you better be careful, since this 'snow angel' is good to her word."
"Call me that again, and you'll regret it," Weiss grumbled.
Yang only laughed and patted her friends head, causing the grumpy heiress to swat the hand away and stumble a few steps off.
"Look at that, look at how much she cares!" Yang said.
"Shut it!"
Yang giggled again, before turning her attention once more to the somewhat confused and still a little afraid boy before her. "Well, glad to hear you're just a bit of a wuss. Could have had some worse reasons for ditching like that." She tilted her head, as if trying to get another look at him, as if trying to make sure what she saw was right. "But you're a good guy. Well, at least you are nowadays. You were a real piece of shit when we met."
He remembered all the awful things he'd said and done months ago, and those hated recollections made him cringe. "No need to remind me… just needed some time to work stuff out."
"Yeah that's what Ruby told me way back when," Yang said. "She saw something in you… and Qrow did too, right?"
"They did… not sure what they saw, but they saw it."
"That saw that you're a good guy, at heart." Yang shrugged. "I always figured I'd have to threaten whatever boyfriend Ruby got, let him know that I'd bash his brains out if he ever hurt her." She chuckled and shook her head. "But you already know I'd do that to you."
"Um…"
"And I already know that I won't have to." She brandished her hands, flashing purple nail-polish for him to see. "Remember this?"
He squinted for a moment, then recognized the color. "Yeah, it's the nail polish I gave you a while ago."
"Yup, your little peace offering." She brought her hands up before her face, considering the color again. "And I like it, have used it a few times. Now giving me nail polish hardly made me forgive you for everything, but it's the thought that counts, and I counted the effort too. And I know all the effort you've put in since then." She flashed him a smile. "So keep it up."
She held out a fist, which Jaune tapped his knuckles against. However, Yang put a bit more force behind her tap, such that it was almost like a punch which ground into his unprepared aura and knuckles, stinging skin and cartilage. He nearly winced, then looked up and saw her wink.
A comradely hit? A quiet warning that, despite her approval, she may still be able to beat the shit out of him with her ridiculous strength and semblance? A bit of both?
"Do your best," Weiss said, voice somewhere close to commanding, certainly far from kind. "And as much as I hate to admit it… I too believe you have some shred of good character at the core." She turned her head away, unable to muster any further praise.
"Well… thanks Weiss."
"Hmph." She didn't bother looking at him.
Well, I suppose that's the most I can ever expect from her after everything.
He then glanced to the last of the trio, Ruby's final teammate. Blake Belladonna, the girl he hadn't talked to since that night in the infirmary, when she'd given him a rather terse warning. The sight of her had always made him a little nervous since then, and it made him especially disconcerted now.
She was, after all, the only one to witness him rip a surrendered man's head off.
So he didn't know what to expect from her, ever the enigma. Her face carried no emotion as she looked at him blankly. Every silent sliver of time that passed made him more nervous, more keenly aware of the fact that she could ruin him by telling the others about his great capacity for cruelty.
Eventually, however, she simply said, "I think you two can be a good couple."
But he didn't quite let himself relax with that. Something lingered in her eyes, or perhaps the way she creased her lips flat together. A feeling of reservation seeped from her, as if she was still holding something back. So Jaune knew then, that even with this sign of approval, she still didn't quite like him, even if she didn't hate him or fear him outright.
Perhaps blatantly showing a disregard for human life and a guiltless willingness to perform evil was, well, not the best idea of his back then.
But there was no time left to wonder about the past, as Yang grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled him forward.
"Come on bucko," she said while twisting away and wrenching him alongside her, "it's about time you and my sis finally hashed this stuff out." She shoved him, and he stumbled down the hall, nearly losing his footing and falling flat on his face. "So get to it!"
"Ruby's in our room," Weiss said. "Hurry over there, but don't make yourself to comfortable in my abode."
"Sheesh…" What had he done to ever make her hate him so much?
Well, there were those times I pretended not to recognize who she was just to piss her off. And there were those other times she caught me checking her out. There was that other time I called her flat. Oh, and there was that other time I told her to shove…
Hm. Yeah. If I were her, I wouldn't really like me either.
But still… he'd be lying if he said that he hated her. After all, he recognized that she was determined, intelligent and loyal. He saw how she cared for Ruby and her team. If anything, she may have gone through a process similar to his own, getting increasingly open over time. If so, then why keep fighting her.
"Hey Weiss," he said calling back over his shoulder.
The girl lazily tilted her head in his direction, giving him a sidelong look that told him she was already disinterested in whatever insult he had to give her.
"If it means anything, I think you've got some shred of good character, too."
"Hmph." Weiss's gaze slid away from him, but for once, she seemed content not to reply, perhaps because she was satisfied with his admission?
Oh well… it's a good idea not to be hated by my girlfriend's best friend.
And Christ, didn't that feel weird? As he walked further from them and down the corridor, he thought back to just how surreal the situation really was. He had a girlfriend. After all these years, he had a girl who he loved and who said she loved him. He'd had crushes before, sure. Certainly, he'd hidden a love for Amata for quite some time, feelings that flared and fell away like the seasons. Then he'd harbored a crush on Sarah Lyons when he first met her and afterwards, though that had disintegrated following the Air Force Base and his defection; anything to do with the Brotherhood put a bad taste in his mouth. Then he'd returned to Vault 101, the last possible place he could find home, and then…
"Get out of here, you monster! I don't even recognize you anymore!"
But that's behind me, isn't it? It is. I am who I am now, and like I said before, I'm going to be the kind of person who deserves to be happy. That means I'm going to try my hardest to be the best damn boyfriend a girl could ask for.
He stopped in front of RWBY's dorm room. She was in there, right ahead of him. She was the future, far from Amata and the rest of them, all those people he'd known and passed by and tried to forget. He probably never would forget them, but at least he could move on, right?
He knocked on the door.
The vending machine's inner mechanisms clinked and rattled in its frozen interior, until eventually a tub of ice cream dropped into the retrieval bin. A few more button presses and another second passed, and another tub fell down too.
"Here we are," Jaune said as he reached through the plastic flap at the bottom of the machine. As he bent over, a cool breeze struck him and the girl waiting beside him, and winds such as that were increasingly common. The trees' leaves were beginning to become tinged with darker shades, the air was cooler. Fall was coming.
That was one thing Jaune had had to wrap his mind around: on Remnant, the long breaks from school were actually taken over the winter, wit school and work lasting through spring, summer and fall. Beacon itself had started later in the spring, but now the school year was progressing into it's latter part, into the final fall.
Still, no matter how cold it was outside, ice cream was always welcome.
"Thanks," Ruby said as she took her tub of strawberry ice cream from him. She pried off the little plastic spoon on the side and the cap on the top.
"No prob," he said, in turn pulling open his own snack, revealing a smooth and vibrant orange. The side of his tub read: orange sherbert.
"That stuff any good?" Ruby asked.
"I dunno, first time trying it," he answered. Another breeze swept by, rustling some of the leaves of the trees around them as he pried off his own spoon. He dipped it in and pulled back up a taste.
"What do you think?"
"Pretty good," he said, nodding approvingly. "Not as good as mint, but not a waste of money, either."
"Do you like mint more than strawberry?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, think I do. I tried mint-chocolate chip the other day at the cafeteria and damn it's the best."
Ruby giggled. "Ah well, maybe we've got different taste buds after all, huh?"
"Guess so."
Then they both took little scoops of their ice cream and ate for a little while, a quiet settling between them. It wasn't too awkward a silence, just a bit of a reprieve. Jaune had simply asked her if she wanted to get some ice cream and chat, and now here they were, and neither really knew what to say.
Well, as Peach had told him, if in doubt, just keep conversation about the simple stuff.
"Want to try it?" he asked. He held up a scoop of sherbert, and Ruby nodded. He then held it out and place it into her mouth, an action that made him feel a little warm inside, since it seemed like something that a real boyfriend would do for his real girlfriend.
The slight blush on Ruby's cheeks said that she thought the same thing.
"Mmm," she mumbled approvingly. "Yeah it's pretty good."
"Not better than strawberry, though?"
"Nah."
He chuckled, and she chuckled too, and then neither knew too much what they should say.
But then again… there was no should, was there? Peach had said as much. Maybe that was it… this whole time he'd just been psyching himself out, making himself think that there were some new special words he was supposed to use, like there was some sort of language of love that should have opened itself up to him following his confession.
"Hmph." He shook his head, newly determined (even if a little tug in his chest made it a bit painful to actually speak, nervousness dragging back the very idea). "I've never had a girlfriend," he said, finally beginning. "Not really sure what to do."
Honesty's the best policy, right? Peach had told him to be honest, so it's a good idea to start out like that, huh?
"Yeah… I've never had a boyfriend," Ruby said meekly. "And I don't really know what to do either."
"Hm."
And just like that, another bout of silence threatened to take over, and his mind was again pulling blanks, held back by that innate and difficult to overcome thought that there was something he was supposed to be doing, but he wasn't doing. Again, words escaped him…
But then, it was Ruby who saved the day.
"You know, we're pretty close to where we first met," she said.
"Really?" He looked up and around, then saw that indeed, they were nearby the main courtyard that led up into the academy. "Oh yeah, where you blew up." He looked in the direction of a fountain where he'd first stumbled upon her, taking another scoop of his sherbert—
"Yeah, and then you fondled me."
His eyes flashed wide open and started, nearly dropping his spoon into the back of his throat. Instantly, his gag reflex flared forth and made him choke and sputter before he got a grip on his spoon again and pulled it out of his mouth, coughing.
And as he did that, Ruby only started laughing, that sweet giggling sounding out like some kind of excellent instrument. She patted his back, still laughing incessantly as he coughed and got his bearings.
"I didn't do that!" he said, glaring at her. "I was checking you for injuries, because you'd just blown up!"
"Yeah, yeah," she said over her own receding laughter. "I know… but I knew it'd get a reaction out of you." She chuckled quietly, before adding, "at the time it did weird me out, though…"
"Hey, I was just trying to save your life, okay?" He chuckled and shook his head, then lightly punched her shoulder. "Maybe be a little more grateful."
"I'll always be grateful for you."
"Uh…"
He blushed and looked away, feeling a nervous heat creep up his back and neck. Still, he had an embarrassed sort of smile on his face, and Ruby did as well.
"Right…" he said. "And I'll always be grateful for you, too. You've done me a lot of good." He sighed. "Really, you're without a doubt one of the best things to ever happen to me."
"Heh…" Embarrassed, Ruby nervously scratched her neck and looked away.
"Really," Jaune said. His voice hitched slightly, making it more difficult to speak, but these things he knew needed to be said, otherwise they'd just keep boiling under his skin. He took another scoop of his sherbert to soothe his throat and give a few seconds to collect himself, before continuing:
"I was such a mess when I came here. Such a piece of shit. Looking back, I'm so glad that I've been able to change into who I am now. It feels like, for once in my life, I'm actually proud of who I am, or at least of who I can be. And without you to look after me all that time…"
He shook his head, leaving the two in silence as he returned to his sherbert. Ruby waited, eating her own ice cream until he began again:
"I always thought that, in your core, there was something weak about you. You're just so nice and pure, so straightforward and honest and… I thought for a long time that being like that just makes you weak. But now I know better. I know that those traits are what make you so strong."
Ruby's face and neck turned deeper shades of red as his praise struck her, words she'd never really heard before, at least not with such raw honesty, not from someone she cared for like him.
"So yeah," he said. "That's why I want you with me, because you've got all this wonderful stuff about yourself that… just makes my world brighter."
Ruby was quiet. She stared down at her little tub of strawberry ice cream, now empty. Eventually she turned away from him and shot it like a ball into a nearby trashcan. Jaune awkwardly chewed his lip as she kept her back facing him. He returned eventually to the sherbert, hoping the mix of a cold temperature and the piercing citrus flavor would calm him a little.
"Coming to Beacon is definitely the best thing to ever happen to me," she said after a little while. "For once, I feel like I really belong, and I've got a purpose. I'm helping people here by being a huntress, and I've got friends. Real friends who actually want to talk to me and invite me to places and really care for me…"
She turned to face him finally, and her smile stretched across her face.
"And I've got someone who likes the stuff I likes, never judges me, always supports me, believes in me…"
For a minute there, they simply looked at one another, smiling.
Eventually, Ruby coughed and looked down, breaking the silence. Looking for anything to say, to continue the conversation and perhaps inject a little normalcy, she said, "uh… you gonna finish that?"
Jaune looked down at his half-finished sherbert and shook his head. "Nah… it sort of gets a weird aftertaste after a few scoops." He stepped to the side and chucked it past Ruby, aiming for the same trash can that she had.
It hit the lip of the can and bounced off, falling onto the ground and spilling its vibrant orange contents onto the sidewalk.
"Pffft," Ruby giggled. "Some huntsman you are, can't even aim."
"Hey! Don't be mean!"
The two laughed as she knelt down, picked up the trash and threw it away. "There, no littering," she proudly declared, clapping her hands together and turning back to him. "So, want to go check it out?"
"Check out what?"
"The place where we first met," Ruby said. "I mean, we're pretty close… and I think it'd be cool to start off our relationship with a little date there."
"Little date…?" He swallowed; excitement and anxiety welled up in equal measure. "Yeah, that sounds nice."
He turned and took a step away, hearing Ruby's boots hit the ground as she quickly closed the distance to stand beside him.
Then he felt something brush against his fingers, and his eyes widened, and he stood still.
He looked down and saw Ruby's fingers intertwining with his own. He felt her smile and her warmth emanating beside him, and that wiped out any feelings of shock or panic that initially passed him by, replaced instead with elation. He opened his fingers up, then squeezed to grip her hand with his own.
Like a true couple, then, they walked down the road, holding hands, until they reached their stop.
"This is it," she said.
They both looked down in front of them. There was just a blank stretch of bricks, nothing of special note. Jaune saw a few scratches lining the rock that may have been a result of that dust explosion Ruby nearly caught herself in at the very beginning. God, he remembered getting so freaked out at that, then concerned for her, then mad at her and then…
He was in love with her. A rash, romantic idea suddenly popped up in his head, and before he could psyche himself out, he acted on it.
He bent over and pecked a kiss on her cheek, which made her squeak and stand straight at attention. Her hand clenched his tighter, driven by the shock.
And although she spoke no words immediately, the red on her face and the smile on her lips told him all he wanted to hear.
"Do you… know any movies?" he asked her. "Like… any movies you'd want to see?"
"Uh…" It took Ruby a moment to get her thoughts straight after her kiss. "Like, on a date?"
"Yeah."
"Heh…" Ruby fidgeted beside him, nodding. "Yeah I do. There's this stupid Adam Rambler movie coming out soon. I liked his movies a lot when I was a kid but now they're all just stupid." She pointed at him for emphasis. "But! If you accept how dumb they are and embrace all the cruddyness then it's even more fun!"
Excited smiles grew on both their faces.
"Sounds good to me—ah god!"
His unprepared aura flashed as a small rock bounced off the back of his head. He instantly let go of Ruby's hand and whipped around to face the new threat, only to immediately be washed in disappointment.
"Can you not ruin everything for, like, one day?" Jaune asked.
"Just keeping in touch," Qrow called back, striding forward with a few tipsy stumbles. "And besides, I thought you said you wanted me to give you some training?"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
Both had excitedly replied at the same time, which then made them look curiously at the other.
"Rubes, I told you about me and Jaune's little arrangement, right?" He walked close and clapped one hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Well, since he's decided to call me his mentor, I'll actually be giving him a few lessons. I've already been giving you pointers since the day you were born."
"Aww…" Ruby's face pulled down into a beleaguered frown, then her eyes flashed up at him, big and watery.
"Nope, puppy-eyes ain't gonna work." He turned to Jaune whispered loudly, "If you're gonna deal with her, you've got to get used to the puppy eyes, or else she'll walk all over you."
"Don't tell him that!"
"Why?" Jaune asked, smirking. "Is it true?"
"Hmph!" Ruby crossed her arms and scowled, a pout he found adorable.
"Don't worry, dork. We'll still get in some lessons, but I've never given Jaune a proper one." He shook his apprentice's shoulder. "Besides, we need to have a bit of a bro-talk, too."
"What?"
Qrow held open the door to the private training room, and Jaune dutifully strode through. The room was familiar to him, for it was one of many identical copies. Round and wide, it held a personal arena flanked by a few benches.
"Now first of all, take a seat. I want to talk about something I can't really talk over with anybody else."
"What is it?"
"Let's just sit first," Qrow replied.
The answer hardly comforted him, but Jaune complied nonetheless. He sat down on a bench, Qrow sitting beside him. The man took a drink from his flask and offered it, but was turned it down.
"What, you getting sober on me?"
"Yeah, because of my medication."
"Ouch, that blows."
"Yup..."
"But hey, more for me." Qrow grinned and took another drink from the flask, before capping it again and stuffing it in a pocket. Then he belched loudly.
"You gonna tell me what you wanna tell me, or is this just happy hour?"
"Shut up, I'm getting to it." Qrow punched Jaune's arm, with enough force to actually hurt a bit. It only made Jaune laugh.
"Right," Qrow began. "So we're planning on attacking a base of White Fang."
Jaune's smile dropped.
"Yup." Qrow sighed. "No rest for the wicked, right?"
"Who are you going to go with?" Jaune asked. "When? And where?"
"That first part is undecided, though we know the rest. We're headed out tomorrow. You ever heard of Mountain Glenn?"
Jaune shook his head.
"Well, it was a colony set up by Vale. Supposed to be the first step in a new project of expansion, take back land from the Grimm, make new cities like Vale. And it worked for a decade, before the Grimm ripped it all down."
"Hm."
"Now it's just a ruined city."
Jaune scowled.
"Well, the ruins have since been abandoned, and nobody's ever cared to seriously go back there. Nobody except for criminals and nomads, that is. People who seek some refuge or profit in what's left of the place."
"Yeah, I know the type."
Qrow nodded. "Well, after the info Ruby gave us, along with some stuff we gleamed on our own, we're pretty sure that the White Fang have got some sort of outpost there."
"Who's this 'we' you keep talking me?"
"Me, Ozpin and his other confidantes, like Glynda and Ironwood."
Jaune's scowl deepened. "So why not tell Vale about this? The council?"
"Because we don't exactly trust the authorities of the city all that much," Qrow said. "Not long ago they ran a sweep of Beacon's systems and saw that it was hacked, meaning somebody had access to all the students' personal information."
Jaune's skin crawled and bristled.
"Yeah, we fixed it, but we're pretty sure that it must have come through some contact with our tech partner in Vale, who's also a tech partner to the Council… and that's just the most recent evidence we've got that tells us all the boys over in Vale aren't exactly trustworthy."
Jaune sneered and nodded. "Yeah, I've got some experience with types willing to sell out."
"Yup. So we'd rather not risk something as big as this, hitting at a White Fang camp, where maybe Torchwick could be too, if what Ruby found out was true."
"It would be good to get that prick…"
"It definitely would," Qrow said. "The only problem is figuring out who we want to send over there."
Jaune blinked. Then his head snapped in Qrow's direction.
"Now we've got some options," he said. "But Ozpin thinks that disguising it is as a student mission, sending it out real quick, will get everything done the fastest and with least suspicion. Especially since a lot of the other huntsman and huntresses he knows are already out on missions." Qrow grumbled and said, "Because the Grimm have started acting up more lately, in the fringe territories on the other damn side of the kingdom… pulling attention away from Mountain Glenn."
"Like a distraction?"
"Exactly."
"How can people manipulate the Grimm like that?"
"There are ways," Qrow said. He looked away for a moment, before shrugging and adding, "But whatever it is, the other hunters we could trust are already out on dispatch. We're spread thin."
"So you don't have many people available right now…"
"Right." Qrow looked at Jaune. "All in all, getting a team of students seems like our best bet."
"You want me to go out to Mountain Glenn and kill some terrorists?"
"I'm giving you the offer," Qrow said. "Because right now, it's team RWBY and team JNPR that Ozpin is considering."
The thought of Ruby saying goodbye, then charging out miles away into danger sent a bloom of panic into his chest.
"Why us?"
"As opposed to other teams in Beacon, you're the only two teams right now with experience fighting the White Fang, and the ones we can trust the most when it comes to taking these guys on, since you've got a grudge against them, and we personally know you better. Not to mention you're also already some of the best teams in Beacon despite being first-years."
"Can't we both go together?"
"Eight is a lot more noticeable than four," Qrow replied. He shook his head. "This is just going to be a recon mission, mostly. We're supposed to be more like scouts, operate carefully. We want to get a good read on what the hell is going on, report back, then get the council's backing or reach out to more hunters with an emergency call.
"Honestly, this probably isn't going to be too much."
"Hmph." Jaune really didn't like hearing those words. Call him paranoid, but assurances like that never seemed to have a high chance of coming true. He furrowed his brow pensively.
Eventually, he turned to Qrow and asked: "Have you told Ruby about this yet?"
"No, and I wasn't planning to. Actually, Ozpin told us not to tell any of you, and we'd have a second talk about it tonight."
"What?" Jaune took a moment to find his words, a little surprised and a little confused. "But then why are you telling me?"
"Because I actually respect your opinion on stuff like this, but not really the other kids' thoughts. They don't really understand what's at hand here," Qrow said. "I know you've got plenty of real experience under your belt here, and I told the others as much. Honestly, I'd rather lead you and the rest of your team out there rather than RWBY. They're still a bit too green for something like this."
"Wait, you'd be leading us?"
"Yup," Qrow nodded and grinned. "Whichever lucky team went out there would be lead by yours truly. That's why I came back: some shady stuff made me want to get here quick to help out."
"What kind of shady stuff?"
"Stuff like White Fang smuggling with men in black gas masks."
"Hm." Jaune crossed his arms. "Definitely sounds like some weird crap is at work…"
"That's putting it lightly, kid." Qrow shook his head and whistled. "Like I told you: Grimm be damned, it's people who are the real threat in this world."
"Agreed. But who are these people?" He shook his head. "Are the ones in the black gas masks the White Fang? And why is Torchwick working with them?"
"The gas-mask creeps probably aren't White Fang," Qrow answered. "Otherwise, they'd be wearing the same uniforms, right? And some of what I've seen makes me think that the two groups aren't actually all that friendly to each other."
Jaune raised an eyebrow. "You've been spying on them?"
"Little birdies can hear a lot of things," Qrow replied. "But yeah, I've lurked on a few ops like what you ran into at the docs. My guess is they're a mercenary group of veterans or rogue huntsman." He shrugged and sneered, disgusted. "Some people will do whatever for money. Probably the same with Torchwick."
"And there's nobody else involved?"
Qrow blinked, a moment of near-hesitation. But then he shook his head. "Nah, just the White Fang, then whatever help they can buy out, like Torchwick and the gas masks."
Jaune nodded. "Alright…"
Qrow swallowed, a slight pang of guilt twitching in the back of his mind. He brought out his flask again and took another drink to wash that away.
"So I think the others are leaning my way about choosing your team," Qrow continued after his respite. "I told them that you've got the experience, and you've got Pyrrha, who's damn near unmatched."
"We've got more than that," Jaune said, turning to Qrow and laying out his case. "Pyrrha's semblance would be damn useful in a ruined city filled with scrap. Ren's semblance would help us get around without alerting any Grimm. I wandered around for a year through a wrecked city… back in Vacuo. I've got direct experience in that kind of setting."
Qrow grinned again. "Well then it looks like your team is really turning out to be the better deal."
And I won't have to sit around knowing Ruby has gone off into some bullshit new danger, unable to do anything to help.
"Well I wanted to run it by you so you won't be caught off guard," Qrow said. "Go tell your team about it tonight, but nobody else, right? Oz would be pissed, and Ruby would hate being left out of something so big." He chuckled and sighed. "She'd be mad that we're keeping secrets, and she'd want to help fight the bad guys. She's righteous like that."
"Yeah, yeah she is," Jaune said. He would have smiled, thinking about his girlfriend. But the prospect of lying to her suppressed any joy.
I'm better equipped for this than she is. This is for the best.
We're in this together, right?
Yeah, together.
He winced at the memory of their promise.
"Good, I'll make sure to press for you when I talk to the others tonight," Qrow said. He slapped his hands on his knees. "But for now, let's finally get some lessons in, huh? Be a good pupil and pay attention."
Jaune instantly shot up to his feet as Qrow (much more slowly) rose as well. The excitement under his skin tingled.
"Right. First we'll do some aura exercises to see how well you've got a handle of that."
"Of course."
"Then we'll do some stance-training, movesets, all the basics."
"Right!"
"Then we'll have a match and I'll kick your ass."
"You can try."
"Hah! Don't get cocky kid." Qrow took out his flask and swallowed a drink, while Jaune tugged Crocea Mors from its scabbard.
"I'll show you I've improved a lot since you saw me get mauled back in that village. You gave me aura, and you sent me here. I haven't wasted what you've given me."
"Eh, all I gave you was the opportunity."
Qrow shrugged and shoved his flask back in his pocket, then pulled out his own sword. Both of them walked out to opposite ends of their little circular arena.
"Everything you've got right now, you got because you worked for it. Don't forget that."
Jaune nodded, feeling a light, warm sensation flower in his chest at his mentor's assurance.
Qrow jerked his neck one way, then the other, cracking it several times. He sighed in relief, then added, "And actually, after this I'll teach you a bit about hand-to-hand, make sure you've at least got the basics. Gods knows that too many huntsman never work on fighting without their precious super-weapons."
"I know enough to get by."
"Including the dirty stuff?"
"Of course."
"You know how to break somebody's neck? Or, if you're feeling nice, how to choke them out quick?"
Jaune frowned, thinking for a moment, before shaking his head. "No, don't think I've done that."
"Heh, it's both a little funny and a little worrying that you had to think about that." Qrow obviously found more of the former, as he chuckled. "But I'll run you through it. Just have to get the right grip, twist at the right angle, put a bit of aura into it… it's something Miss Goodwitch will never teach you."
Jaune smirked and as he brought Crocea Mors before him and readied into a fighting stance. "Well then I'm lucky to have you here, huh?"
Qrow raised his own sword in return, and a screen above the arena displayed both of their aura meters.
"Yup, better count yourself lucky, Steve."
"We'll see."
The two smiled at each other, and for a moment, Jaune's worry about terror conspiracies, relationships and all the other complexities of this life in another world, just melted away. Instead, he revved Crocea Mors, took a step forward and began the fight.
"So Qrow told me he kicked your ass," Yang said, coming upon Jaune almost from nowhere, having appeared from around the corner as soon as he exited the academy. Undoubtedly, she must have seen him and chosen to lie in wait until she could pop out and embarrass him in front of his team.
It worked, as the rest of JNPR smirked while Jaune growled.
"I almost got him to yellow," Jaune said. "He told me it took years for you to get to that point."
"Meh," Yang shrugged off his rebuttal. "Just making sure my uncle's still a badass."
Then from around the corner of the building came the rest of RWBY, and both teams were now outside by the bullhead landing pads. Team RWBY still wore their school uniforms, but each member of JNPR was clad in their battle attire. On a shopping trip with Pyrrha early that morning, Jaune had found his own outfit: he wore a close-fitting dark blue jacket of sturdy wool, unzipped now and showing a sky-blue shirt, and with this he wore a pair of dark blue pants that matched the shade of the jacket. The only clothing that wasn't blue, would be the black gloves, boots and belt. He'd let Pyrrha arrange it all for him, and the girl in turn had tried her best to recall the fashion tips given to her by her own personal stylist.
There was no real armor to speak of for him, since huntsman only used armor for decorative purposes, such as Pyrrha's. Aura already outmatched most conventional armor anyway. Instead, he'd embraced the care they all took for aesthetics.
That was rewarded aptly when Ruby said, "You look great Jaune."
He smiled as she immediately walked to him, and he wasted no time stepping to her and wrapping one arm around her shoulders. He pulled her close beside him, and it all felt right. She pushed her shoulder against him and leaned close, and he relished the feeling of her warmth pressed into his side.
Something about this already felt so natural… so right. It felt as if their relationship had headed inexorably in this direction, and he'd only gone with the flow into this logical, wonderful progression.
"But how come you guys got picked for this?" Yang asked, pouting. "It's not fair! We're the one's who managed to wreck a mech!" She looked around furtively, before leaning in closer and more quietly saying, "And it's not like you've fought the White Fang more than we have."
Qrow had told him not to tell Ruby or her team the true nature of his mission. But then he'd seen her face after coming back from practice, and the thought of keeping up a lie like that…
"Because we've got experience too, and both mine and Pyrrha's semblances are perfect for a ruined city," Ren answered.
"Still wish we could come with you," Ruby said. She looked up at Jaune. "I would have liked to do this together."
He smiled back at her. "Yeah, well we are working together, sorta. You took on the mech fight, now we got this one. Qrow said he doubts it'll be too bad, just a recon thing, maybe some minor fighting. We might take them down if it isn't that big. Nothing more than what you all did with that mech and Torchwick."
Ruby bit her lip, but ultimately just nodded. "Yeah, you guys can do this," she said. "Just never thought that this was how Beacon would go…"
He squeezed her shoulder and pressed her closer against his side. "Hey, it'll be fine. Qrow knows his shit, and so do I."
"Yup!" Nora cheered. "We're gonna crush our enemies, see them driven before us and hear the lamentations of their women!" She clapped excitedly. "I can't wait!"
"What she said," Jaune agreed with a smile.
"Yeah, what she said," agreed another voice from behind.
"Hey unc!" Yang cheered with a wave. "You know, I'm gonna tell dad that you didn't take us on the super-special mission."
"And I'm gonna tell Steve that he needs to learn to shut his mouth sometimes," Qrow replied. As soon as he neared, he rapped Jaune's skull with his knuckles, knowing full well he hadn't kept his promise of secrecy. "But I honestly didn't expect him to keep his trap shut; nah, too dumb for that."
"Aw come on, I thought disregarding authority would make you proud!" Jaune joked.
"Hardy-har-har I'm laughing so loud," Qrow replied, shaking his head. Still, his demeanor was lax enough to show that there really wasn't any anger. After all, the order for secrecy had originally come from Ozpin, and Qrow had no problem immediately bucking that himself by talking to Jaune. "Just come on, our bullhead is coming soon, and Mountain Glenn awaits."
"Oh, but before you go!" Ruby pulled away from him and reached into her pocket. "I got us something we can look forward to!" Then she brandished two pieces of paper in her hand. "Tickets for that cruddy Adam Rambler movie I told you about!"
Jaune grinned from ear to ear, elation making his head feel lighter all of a sudden. "For a first real date?"
"A real first date!"
"And then you guys can safely make out in the darkness of a movie theater, far away from me," Qrow said, sounding revolted. The two of them blanched at his words. "Please just never tell me about your antics; the more I can pretend doesn't happen, the better."
"Shut up!" Ruby skipped to him, then kicked out, hitting him right in the shin. Qrow had seen the attack coming, so his aura had naturally flared in anticipation, but the semblance of speed allowed for a quick, vicious kick that still made the veteran huntsman wince.
"Hey, just let the old alcoholic ramble," Jaune said. He grabbed Ruby's hood and carefully pulled her back, while she still glared at her uncle. Honestly, he wanted to glare with her, but perhaps he just appreciated Qrow's humor more, and he wasn't so embarrassed by the banter. He distracted her with a question: "So what day is the movie?"
"Oh!" She instantly forgot her uncle and turned to him instead, brandishing the tickets proudly. "A week from now. You guys should be back by then, right?"
"Yeah, we should be," Qrow said, bending over to rub the fresh sore spot on his leg. "This should be a quick deal, and we'll know whether or not to take more action once we get there." He turned around upon hearing the revving engines of a new bullhead nearing the landing pads. "I think that's ours, actually."
The bullhead touched down a few dozen feet away, but as it adjusted itself, a gust of air flew from its engines toward the group, flinging up hair and forcing some to cover their eyes from kicked-up dust. The roar of its engines died down momentarily into a hum as it settled on the ground.
"So come on kiddos, field trip is underway," Qrow said, wasting no time in marching toward their ride.
Jaune nodded to his team, who moved out after their 'chaperone' who was already neglecting his supposed responsibility by taking out his flask.
But before leaving, there was just one thing left to do. He looked and saw Ruby's face, now etched with concern as the prospect of him leaving on a dangerous mission became realized.
"I'll be alright," he told Ruby, soothing her worry. "I guess the timing of all this came out pretty bad, huh? Together for just a few days before some stupid crap like this splits that up."
"It's not as if you're moving to another planet," Weiss said, though with less venom than she usually had for him.
"Aw come on," Yang cooed, voice saccharine and overly-affectionate, as if one was speaking to a puppy. "Let the love-birds have their sweetness!"
"Yang…" Ruby grumbled and blushed, turning away from her sister and burying her head into his chest. He was pretty sure he heard her mumbling about how terrible her family was. All of that was so cute he could only laugh and smile wider.
"But yeah, I'll be looking forward to the movie," he told her. Instantly, she perked up and smiled at him, and that in turn only made his mood even better. "So I hope that you won't go off and find some other guy while I'm gone—"
He became silent when Ruby suddenly stretched up, standing almost on her tip-toes to quickly press her lips against his own.
It was the first time they'd kissed since their initial outburst of passion a couple days prior, and since then neither had had courage enough to come close to recreating that.
Well, until now.
Jaune still didn't really know what to say, wide-eyed and paralyzed as Ruby pulled back, meekly grinning.
"Oh come on!" Qrow called out from beside the bullhead. "Can you hurry up already and stop acting like characters in some dumb rom-com?"
Ruby's face was red, but her accomplished smile was still wide. "So go on," she said. "They're waiting for you, hero."
Hero…
Jaune smiled again, and in that moment, he became convinced that everything would turn out alright.
The powerful flashlight cut through the shady corridor, lighting the way for two figures stumbling through the dark. The beam shone upon a narrow, man-made hall that may once have been a service tunnel of some kind, but now cobwebs clung to its sides, alongside mold that filled up the cracks in the concrete and festered in damp old patches of water in the sunken floor.
"Come on," one hissed to the other. "If we don't hurry up, then he'll get to us." He turned back and peered into the darkness behind them, but he saw no hint of movement. He threw the beam of his flashlight around, but still couldn't see too far back.
"Are you sure it was him?" the other, a woman, asked. She kept her voice a low whisper, not daring to cause any more noise than necessary. She glanced back as well, but unlike her companion, her eyes narrowed and pierced the darkness further than his could. Out of her pants a bushy tail perked up nervously. "I didn't see anything."
"Well I swear I heard him," the man replied. "And if he catches us…"
"He's too big to fit through these corridors, right?"
As if to prove her point, they came upon the end of the tunnel, where a steel door stood barely wide enough for one of them to slip through at a time. The man wasted no time slipping out a key and unlocking the padlock on the door, then hauling it open.
"Yeah, but he's smart, and he's got all sorts of ways to crawl around down here," he replied, taking the initiative and passing through the doorframe. "And he can see in the dark as well as you can, hear better, smell better. If we can get back soon, we might be alright."
"I dunno…" The woman sounded unconvinced, but followed him nonetheless. She took out a key of her own and dragged shut the door behind her, then locked it. "If he saw us, then aren't we already screwed?"
"Maybe, maybe not. Might as well try."
They now stood in a larger, abandoned hall that was once a part of the sewers for Mountain Glenn. This section had since become bone-dry, cut off from the rest by a cave-in. The two advanced through, wincing at their echoing footfalls. Even their heartbeats seemed to boom in that empty, quiet space.
"We're not too far—"
They rounded a corner, and the man's light suddenly revealed a hideous set of wickedly curved and sharp teeth, set in a maw that towered several feet above him.
On the roof of a derelict skyscraper, stood a man clad in black, wearing a gas mask.
He towered there, arms crossed, waiting patiently. Around him lay the ruins of what could have been a great city; from his vantage point, he saw it all. Such possibility had been there: storefronts, apartments, schools, a hospital, a library. Everything humans needed to succeed. But at the edge of it all he saw a towering wall, and one section of such wall was battered down completely, torn open. He could only imagine what kind of carnage must have ensued when that damage was made. This place must have been in utter chaos, a lively mess of destruction, with screaming and flailing and running.
But now it was nothing. The dust had settled. The rain and the wind had scratched away at each surface, driving out color or unique texture, making everything flat and grey, a tyranny of dead monotony. All that broke the silence and stillness was the occasional bird, elk, gust of wind or Grimm. Although, most of the monsters—as he'd learned—chose to settle in the forest nearby, or deeper in the earth. The city was now abandoned by even the destroyers.
Then he heard it: a distant rumble, like the lingering shock of thunder. It became gradually more powerful, louder and louder. He turned and peered into the distance, seeing an aircraft quickly closing in. The growl of its engines grew as it neared, until it finally came upon him and the roaring crescendo of burning dust was close to deafening, angrily whipping up air and debris in a tumultuous mini-storm before him.
The bullhead slowly descended close to the weak old roof, but stopped a few feet above. The door on the side slid open quickly, and another black-clad figure with a gas mask jumped down. Someone in the bullhead (dressed exactly the same) then slid it back shut, and the bullhead hovered back up into the air, then turned and shot out toward the horizon, roar quickly fading to nothing.
The man originally on the roof saluted and stood to attention, shouting: "Commander, welcome to Mountain Glenn!" His voice was raspy and muffled through the gas-mask.
The new arrival brought up one hand and stiffly saluted in return, and then they both dropped the formality.
"How was Atlas?" asked the original man. "I hope you enjoyed the sights."
"Remnant's Prussia is certainly an interesting place," the Commander replied. "Full of opportunity for us, as the population and political situation seem quite convertible: a people already weary of the sub-humans, an industry already well developed and a government that already behaves in the most optimal manner, as an army with a state."
"And was the target amiable?"
"Cordovin can be an ally, certainly. And I think that some other elements of the Atlesian military still long for the days before Ironwood." The Commander stepped closer to his companion and clasped one hand on his arm. "But besides business, how are you? It's been a while."
The other only shook his head and sighed, a dramatic and violent burst of air through his gas mask. "It's awful working alone with these sub-humans and moral degenerates."
"Well then it's good punishment for your failure at the docks," the Commander said, raising his hand and rapping his companion's gas mask with a quick, light strike of the knuckles. Then he only chuckled. "But no, you're still one of the few I could trust with something like this…"
"I know that," he said as he lightly slapped away the Commander's hand. "And I understand… begrudgingly."
That note of grouchiness at the end made the Commander chuckle once more. "Ah well, how's the operation going?"
"The White Fang and the two criminals have been working busily. Preparation's nearly complete, and soon we'll be able to launch the breach."
"Excellent," replied the Commander. His voice hung dry and passionless through the gas mask. "We'll make sure it's a bloodbath."
"And the green-shirts?"
"They'll be on site, as planned. They'll be there to clean up the mess and take the spotlight."
"Perfect," he said, nodding approvingly. "This will be the big step we needed."
"If all goes right," said the Commander, "it will be a leap, not a step." He then glanced away and looked out over the city. "But this… this is Mountain Glenn, is it?"
"It is."
"Hm."
He stopped talking, instead choosing to walk near the side of the roof, close to the crumbling edge. His friend didn't speak, letting the Commander instead take in the sight for the first time. The emotionless, flat eyes of the gas mask gazed at the ruined buildings, the broken roads and the shattered dreams. It was all one immense testament to man's capacity for failure.
"Reminds me of home."
Welp, the next few chapters will wrap up volume two, and finally a few reveals will come to push Jaune to his limit. Please, review and comment, until next time.