Jaune woke up late (since he was up late training when nobody was watching). He went downstairs and found Nora and Ruby on the couch talking about something pertaining to Maginhild.
The sight that got Jaune's attention was Qrow, he was sitting at the table looking down at his lap, he had a new scar on his face and a tall glass of milk that he had half drained and then ignored.
Jaune knew something was wrong by the fact that the glass wasn't filled with anything alcohol based and when he saw Hector sitting across from him with a scar on his neck and a bandage on his arm.
"What happened to you two?" Jaune asked.
Hector looked at him and for a moment his gaze froze on Jaune. Jaune wasn't sure what that gaze was meant to carry but it wasn't comforting. Jaune sat down at the table with them and repeated the question. "What happened to you two?"
"They aren't saying" Yang chastised from the other side of the kitchen standing next to Saphron. They both had their arms crossed and they both looked mad.
"They came home at around 5 AM like this and they haven't spoken a word of what happened." Saphron explained.
"We had to bandage Hector's arm since he wasn't aware that he had been burned" Blake chimed in from her newfound reading spot atop one of the kitchen cupboards.
Jaune looked back and forth between both men and realized that everyone was waiting for him to do something. He and Ruby were the team leaders, but Ruby was still young, if not in body then in mind and they probably wanted to shield her from what looked like it was about to be a very bad day.
Jaune leaned back and slightly to his left, never taking his eyes off of both men. He knew that Ren would be there so he said in a near whisper. "Ren, I think you and Nora should take Ruby, Weiss, Oscar , and Adrian out for some hot chocolate, go to the cafe three blocks down and stay there for an hour"
Ren stepped out of the corner he was in and nodded before heading into the living room. "You might want to go with them," Jaune said, not looking at but talking to Spahron and Terra.
"No, this is our home we will stay right here" Terra said, wrapping an arm around Saphron.
Jaune nodded and waited for the sound of Nora gathering up Adrian and looked to the living room where he saw Ruby looking in at him worried. She knew something was wrong since Nora had been keeping her out of the kitchen all morning but she wasn't sure what.
Jaune gave her a somber nod and made a mental promise to tell her everything later before he returned to the matter at hand. He stared at both men hard until he heard the door close.
Jaune stood slowly letting the sound of his chair sliding on the floor fill the house. "I have a newfound hatred for being lied to and deceived" he started. "And now I find out that you two are running off in the middle of the night to go get yourselves injured, now you are grown men, if you want to get yourselves killed go ahead but keep it away from my family and my friends" Jaune was almost growling at the end and staring at Qrow with a murderous glare.
Jaune would have thought that Qrow would know the importance of sharing after his betrayal by Ozpin was brought to light.
Much to Jaune's shock, Qrow nodded and said. "You're right, I suppose it's time you learned the truth." Qrow looked over to "Hector" and waited for him to continue
Hazel took a deep breath and spoke both to Jaune and Saphron. "My name is actually Hazel Reinheardt. Your mother Gretchen was my older sister. The car accident that killed them was no accident." Hazel paused trying to figure out how much he wanted to share before deciding that they deserved to know everything.
"Ozpin had them killed to cover up what your father learned." As he spoke Qrow cringed slightly and Jaune's eyes lit into a soft fire. "I have been fighting against him ever since" Hazel said before going silent.
"So are you the enemy?" Yang asked, not sure what to make of the situation.
"He was," Qrow answered. "Until last night"
"So you've defected?" Yang asked.
"No," Hazel replied. "Last night Qrow and I ended the war."
Qrow knew that Hazel wasn't the talkative type but he also knew that everyone had more questions now. "Hazel and I spent last night hunting Salem's last agent. You've met Tyrion Callows" Qrow said to Jaune.
Jaune nodded and remembered the scorpion faunus.
"He didn't die easily," Qrow explained, motioning to his and Hazel's wounds.
Jaune sat back down thinking about everything he now knew. Ozpin had killed his father, his mother, and six of his sisters. Jaune stood up fast and left the room followed by Saphron and Yang.
Terra looked at Hazel and asked. "How can we trust you?"
"ten months ago I was a terrorist" Blake said hopping down from the cupboard. "People can change" before she left.
…
Jaune found himself sitting in the living room with his fists wrapped around each other and his elbows on his knees. "I wanna kill him." he said to both Saphron and Yang.
"Kill who Jaune?" Saphron asked. "Ozpin is already dead."
Yang stepped up to Spahron and gently guided her into the nearest corner to explain things to her. Jaune couldn't hear her but she seemed more upset than mad. Jaune knew his sister, she was probably feeling bad for Oscar, and a part of Jaune knew he should too.
Oscar was just as much of a victim here as he and Saphron. He never wanted Ozpin to choose him and he probably wished he had never left his little farm. Jaune just hung his head and waited.
After a few minutes Yang came over and sat down on the other couch. Saphron and Terra headed to their room to get ready for the day while Blake went to her room to read. Maria must have not liked the energy in the room since she stood up silently and left to go to the room she had been staying in to do whatever she did in her spare time.
Jaune waited and waited until Ren came back with the others. Ren was good at reading the room so he and Nora left, taking Adrian with them. "Oscar, can I have a word with you?" Jaune said in a forced, calm tone.
Oscar looked nervous but he took a seat facing Jaune and Ruby went with him. Jaune would have preferred to have this talk alone but the last time he spoke to Oscar Jaune threatened to kill him so he understood.
Jaune rubbed his fingers over his eyes and his thumbs on their matching temples before saying. "Oscar, this isn't going to be easy to say and it isn't going to be easy for you to hear." Jaune started.
"He already told me" Oscar cut in. Ruby looked surprised but Oscar kept going and explained. "Jaune, I am so sorry, he told me what happened after you threatened him. He wanted me to be ready in case you found out."
"He tell you anything else?" Jaune asked.
Oscar looked conflicted before he spoke "he wanted me to tell you he is sorry for what happened. He said he took no joy in his actions, and that he wished he had another way."
Oscar flinched when he saw the way the Jaune went stiff. What he didn't see was both Ruby and Yang moving, Ruby to get between Jaune and Oscar and Yang to get a hold of Jaune as fast as she could.
All three of them breathed a sigh or relief when Jaune relaxed into his chair and finally looked at Oscar.
"Okay," he said. "First of all Oscar, I owe you an apology, Ozpin has done terrible things but you haven't, I shouldn't have let that wrath show to you." Jaune said the hurt in Oscar's eyes countering the shame in his own.
"And Ozpin," Jaune said, his eyes hardening ever so slightly. "I am going to give you one more chance to believe you. But from now on your war with Salem is done, you are never going to hold another post of power unless your host wants to. And as of now, you are going to leave this boy alone." Jaune went back to looking at the floor.
"What do you mean the war is done?" Oscar asked, making Jaune look up and see the eyes of the young man replaced with the one that matched Ozpin's well known yellowish hue.
"Watts, Cinder, and Tyrion are all dead. Salem has no more influence on Remnant and since you aren't going to be making any more Hazel Reinhardts to go join her she isn't getting any more. This war is over and you are letting it stay that way" Jaune growled no longer holding back the anger he had for Ozpin.
"Mr. Arc I have a mission from the Gods I have to."
Jaune cut Ozpin off making sure to keep his voice low to avoid frightening anyone. "Your mission is done, the gods are not coming back. Because we are never calling them."
Ozpin stood up defiantly. "Who do you think you are to…"
Again Jaune cut him off standing up and grabbing Ozpin by the face and slammed him into the floor. Ruby cringed and had to be held back by Yang to keep her from getting in the way, "if you test me I will find a way to end you, do you understand me?" Jaune growled before putting Ozpin back in his chair by his head.
Ozpin seemed to realize that arguing this point was stupid since he wasn't getting his way here. Ozpin's eyes flashed back to Oscar's green. He was a little disoriented before he realized what had happened and hung his head in frustration.
Yang let go of Ruby who rushed over and made sure Oscar was okay while Jaune headed for the door. He froze for a moment and turned around to face Oscar who was somewhere between yelling in anger at losing his body again or crying from having his mind folded into itself.
"Oscar," Jaune said, waiting for a moment to make sure the young man was listening. "I am so sorry you have to go through this, I will find a way to help you, I promise" he said before heading out the door.
Jaune headed back to the statue and sure enough he found it still there this time with a light dusting of snow from the early December weather. He made his way to the same bench he sat on before and returned to his spot looking up at her and thinking about what he wanted now.
"I see you're back" a familiar voice said.
Jaune turned to see the woman from the day before standing behind him holding a thermos and a few mugs.
"Yeah," Jaune answered. "I needed to do some thinking"
"Mind some company?" the woman said, moving to sit beside him.
"Not at all, in fact I might prefer it" he said with a hopefully charming grin. A grin that faded a little when he looked at the woman and saw that she wasn't as old as he first thought and that she definitely looked like Pyrrha, so much like her that Jaune began to wonder if she was related to her.
"So what brings you here?" she asked him as she poured them both a mug of hot chocolate.
Jaune felt the urge to tell her everything, something about her just seemed trustworthy but even if he could trust her he didn't want to put the weight of his situation on her shoulders.
"Just got a lot on my mind I suppose." Jaune answered, as he took the mug. Looking back up he saw the statue and his eyes watered again. "She really loved me. Enough to see through my flaws and failures, in return for that love I left her cold at night and alone in her final moments."
"You did the right thing." the woman said, sipping from her mug as Jaune did too. "You didn't see the love but that love wasn't yours because you saw it, in fact it might have started because you didn't see it, and if you had been there at the end then you would have died too, that would have been so much worse." she said in a wise tone.
Jaune nodded and set down his cup to wipe away his eyes.
"Well I should get going, Yang is on her way and I don't think that is a good talk to have right now." Jaune looked up suddenly realizing that he never asked her how she knew so damn much about him and Pyrrha, or how she knew how Pyrrha died, or how she knew Yang but when he did the woman was gone and so was the mug he had just set down.
Yang walked over to Jaune and got his attention by grabbing his arm and yanking him to his feet. Jaune yelped in surprise having been too focused on the woman, or more to the point the sudden lack thereof to see Yang coming.
Jaune was about to speak when he noticed that Yang didn't look happy, she wasn't mad but she wasn't her usual grinning or at least not frowning. "You aren't wearing a coat" she half asked half stated.
Jaune looked and noticed that he not only wasn't wearing a coat he wasn't even wearing his armor. He was just wearing a t-shirt he had grabbed and his jeans. The fact that it was snowing out and that he was cold also hit him at that moment.
"Yeah, I don't seem to be." he responded.
"Do you even own a coat?" Yang asked.
Jaune froze at the question. He knew what was about to happen and he hoped he could find a way around it. Yang was a good person, she meant well but Jaune didn't want to explain why he didn't own a coat or even more than one pair of pants. It was embarrassing and even if he didn't like to admit it, a shameful talk to have.
"No I don't" Jaune said hoping he wasn't cringing too hard.
Yang seemed surprised given that she had been joking but then she thought about Jaune's past or as much of it as Nora had told her.
"Jaune, how many shirts and pants do you own?" she asked, beginning to get worried.
Jaune looked down and rubbed at the bridge of his nose before muttering. "No I don't can we just drop it"
Jaune thought about leaving but he knew that if he ran Yang would chase him.
Yang grabbed Jaune by his arm and started to lead him when Jaune yanked his arm back. "I don't need your sympathy or your pity' Jaune all but snarled. He had met many people who pretended to care about him until they learned that he wasn't going to be an ATM on Terra's behalf.
Then they tended to get mean, real mean. A part of Jaune knew better than to lump Yang into that group but he was so used to this reaction he didn't think about it.
When he recognized that he had just yelled at one of his friends Jaune stopped and looked down in shame. Jaune expected to feel Yang's anger literally engulf her but what he got was Yang turning to look at Jaune slowly.
She had only ever seen Jaune mad at two people and it had never been her, Yang Xiao Long knew anger though. The rage he had for Cinder was revenge, the anger he had for Ozpin was disgust and a drive to protect from evil. But the tone he had just used was different. That was an anger that Yang had felt when her father tried to get her to use the prosthetic arm.
Yang stepped forward and knew she could hurt Jaune or heal him right now. The sight and the revelation of vulnerability was a little shocking, Jaune was ashamed and that made him open to attack and a part of Yang dearly wanted to strike now, as payment for his own words.
She placed a hand on his arm and waited for him to look up at her. When he did she saw the kicked puppy look she used to see in Ruby, back then she fixed that look with a hug and she didn't see any reason that it wouldn't work now.
Firmly drawing Jaune in, she wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her. Feeling his t-shirt pressed against her coat and his head rest on her shoulder she whispered. "You may not want pity or sympathy but you are still one of my friends. I will not sit back while you make life this hard for yourself to satisfy your damn hero complex."
Yang knew what he was doing, Jaune hated being a burden, he thought of himself as not being good enough and that meant the most useful thing he could do for them was sacrifice, be it with money by spending as little as he could, or with his life by making sure they were always safe at his expense.
Jaune stiffened at her words mainly because they were true, and then with a little prompting looked at Yang. "Now, we are going to get you another set of clothes and a proper fitting coat, if you, Ren and Nora don't have the money then I can cover it but you won't be owing me a damn thing." Yang held his arm and this time instead of trying to drag him she made sure to lead him in the direction of the main street of Argus.
…
"So has anyone seen Jaune or Yang?" Ren asked everyone during dinner.
"I haven't seen them since this morning but I think they should be okay. They are both smart enough to take care of themselves." Weiss answered, trying and failing to hide her worry.
"Maybe they're making Ruby here into an aunt" Saphron joked, getting the attention of everyone but Maria, Terra, and Qrow.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"She means that your sister and that boy are well on their way to having babies of their own." Maria said with a chuckle.
"Whaaat?" Ruby and Nora asked in unison.
"Yeah, we caught her watching him last night when he was singing to Adrian. It was the cutesting thing" Terra explained.
Ruby turned to Qrow wondering her uncle's thoughts on this situation. When Qrow noticed this he put down his scroll and said. "Oh no, the daughter or Raven Branwen is falling for tall, blonde and scraggly, why do I feel like I've heard this one before." he replied in a sarcastic tone that made Nora snort and Ruby smirk.
"You don't really think they are actively getting it on do you?" Nora asked in an amused voice.
At that moment the door opened and there was the sound of Yang laughing and Jaune trying to speak with his mouth full.
Everyone but Hazel and Maria got up to go investigate where they saw Jaune holding an arm load of bags while Yang fed him french fries. They seemed unaware of their audience until Jaune saw the way that everyone was looking at them and stopped confused by the starry-eyed look on Saphron's face and the beaming smiles from Nora and Ruby.
Yang noticed his change and turned around. She saw the looks on everyone's faces and realized what Saphron was about to say given their last talk the night before. Not one to let her own awkwardness get the better of her. "Jaune needed some new clothes, and we sort got carried away," Yang said, rubbing the back of her head.
"I'll say" Qrow muttered, taking bag after bag from Jaune who looked confused as the drunkle started going through them all.
"What are you doing" Jaune asked him
"I'm looking for it" Qrow responded blandly.
"Looking for what?" Jaune asked unaware of the way Yang was facepalming and Ruby was grinning.
Qrow didn't answer until he was on the last bag. "The wedding ring, Raven and Tai did basically the same thing once and they came back engaged" Qrow explained, making Nora squeal in joy and making Jaune turn red as he suddenly realized the implications of the situation.
"That's enough gawking at these two," Terra said, taking charge of the situation. "Saphron and I will take care of dinner but the rest of you should head to bed. She said looking at the clock and seeing how late it was.
Nobody really felt like arguing with her, Qrow and Hazel may have put an end to the war between Ozpin and Salem but that didn't mean that the training for RWBY and JNR had ended. (Qrow was planning on making Yang and Jaune regret skipping out on the day's events later.)
hey everyone, who bothers to read these. I just wanted to thank everyone who takes the time to read these stories. you guy help make this worth it. as always, I would like to thank, and I still can't believe I am saying this but my patron on (yes only the one so far). If nothing else your commitment motivates me to get my ass off of my Xbox and write. as a rule of thumb each chapter comes out one week after I post it there (I also post a few shorts that aren't really fanfics or aren't long enough to warrant posting them here but that is enough self endorsement) as usual so long fair well and thank you for your time. God Bless.