Team RWBY woke up the day after Christmas with a headache. They weren't certain who thought it was a good idea to break out the alcohol but they needed to be shot, more than once. Much to their shock Ruby herself was fine. Which was unfair since they were pretty sure she was the one who started with the vodka.
They ambled out of the room they were in and headed for the coffee. That was when they noticed Nora looking very nervous and Ren trying not to.
"What's wrong guys?" Ruby asked while her team kept going.
"Jaune's missing." Nora said freezing Yang in her march with Blake seamlessly swerving around her.
"Are you sure?" Ruby asked more for her sister than herself. She knew Jaune was smart enough to take care of himself.
"Yeah and it gets worse." Ren added. "The lamp is gone too"
"You think he plans to hide it so nobody can mess with it?" Ruby asked, wondering if he gave it to Ironwood.
"Maybe, but wherever he is he left his scroll here."
Now Ruby was getting Worried. She assumed he gave it to Ironwood but if he left his scroll here then he was trying harder than she expected to not be followed.
Before she could ask if Terra and Saphron knew the front door opened and Jaune trudged through clearly tired and though Ruby noticed she didn't mention the new scar on his neck or the bandage on his arm.
Yang was now very awake and no longer hungover as she started after him. Ruby considered stopping her but opted instead to let her go, she knew that if Oscar came back like that she wouldn't let anyone stop her. And even if Yang hadn't admitted it yet Ruby was pretty sure Yang loved Jaune as much as she loved Oscar.
Wile Yang went after Jaune Ruby felt two small but strong arms wrap around her waist. She leaned into Oscar's embrace. Oscar wasn't what some might call swole like Jaune or Hazel but Ruby knew just what was under those green shirts he liked so much and she was very happy with it.
"Is he okay?" Oscar asked worried about his father who just walked in looking injured.
Ruby wrapped her arms around his and answered "I hope so, oh how I hope so"
…
Jaune heard someone follow him up the stairs and he seriously considered locking the door to his team dorm behind him. He knew Hazel, Ren, Nora, Ruby, and Oscar wouldn't like it and he would get an earful later but they would respect his authority, Terra and Saphron knew they need only say the word and he would let them in. Qrow was probably too drunk to care, Weiss and Blake seemed apathetic enough to leave him alone.
That left Yang, Jaune's gut told him she was the one following him and he knew that if he locked the door she might just go through it. He closed the door but he knew it was a moot point. He heard her open and close it behind him as he began taking off his armor.
He set the armor down and grabbed the stone Pyrrha taught him to restore his sword's edge after battle and sat down in a chair hoping he didn't look as tired as he was.
"Where did you go?" Yang asked. Jaune could tell from her tone that this was going to be a bad conversation but he knew there was no other way to have it.
"I had to take care of something." he said while resting the pommel on his shoulder and running the stone the length of the blade.
"Where, did, you, go" she repeated slowly and more annoyed.
"I can't answer that," he said, continuing to grind the edge.
"Why not?" Yang asked, trying to keep her cool but failing badly.
"Because I can't, there was something that needed to be done and now it is" Jaune replied, his exhaustion making him irritable.
"You need to do better than that," Yang said. "You took the lamp and disappeared in the middle of the night, you can understand why this might have us worried!"
Jaune set down his sword and stood up slowly. "Do you trust me?" he asked with an almost desperate look.
Yang froze for a second, she could see something in Jaune's eyes that told her how much he wanted her to let this go. A part of her wanted to. Whatever it was, it was done now. "You know how powerful that lamp can be. We, no, I need more than just you saying it is going to be okay." she asked, trying to sound like she understood what Jaune was getting at.
"The lamp's been destroyed" Jaune said, holding up his bandaged arm so Yang could inspect the minor burn marks that covered it.
"Why did you use your arm?" she asked, making sure it was healing correctly.
"I needed to use my aura to break it, normal weapons couldn't" Jaune answered.
"Why would you do that?" she then asked moving on to the matter of the lamp itself.
"To end Salem's war once and for all."
Jaune had never heard the name of the Grimm Queen and the familiarity with which he used it now unsettled Yang. "Where did you go?" Yang asked.
"General Ironwood got in touch with her and set up a meeting" Jaune explained, he had to ignore the stunned look on Yang's face as she realized what he was getting at.
"You met with her, did you realize how dangerous that was?" Yang asked, getting annoyed at the recklessness of Jaune's acts.
"Yes but it needed to be done and I can be spared."
Jaune barely got the sentence out before Yang's open hand smashed into the side of his face with a loud slap. He staggered trying to keep his balance after the blow. Yang was holding back but she was also pissed.
"Don't you dare say that." Yang all but shouted. "You are no more expendable than the rest of us," she scolded.
Jaune stood back up getting his balance back in full but Yang could still see it in his eyes. He still didn't think he was good enough, he still doubted himself. It was both his best and worst trait, he was far from arrogant but he often just spent himself out of a lack of self respect.
That would be dealt with later but for now she had to make sure that the lamp was handled correctly. "So the lamp is gone." she said, prompting him to continue.
"Yes, I destroyed the lamp in front of. Told her she was never going to get what she was after."
"That might be a bad idea" Yang said, wondering if Salem was about to go on a scorched earth revenge policy.
"I don't think so but Ironwood agreed with you at first." Jaune replied "she only wanted the Gods to come back in the hopes they would kill her."
Yang remembered what she knew about Salem and Jaune's logic made sense, if she couldn't kill Ozma then she would have wanted to die, she had tried killing herself before.
"How could you have known that?" Yang asked, worried she already knew the answer.
"It's not rocket science, she loved Ozma in a way few people understand and then she lost him. As punishment for wanting him back was kept from him in perpetuity. She knew she was never getting him back so all she could want is an end to everything."
His tone chilled Yang, he was too calm about it. She suspected he understood Salem's pain but she didn't think it was this bad.
She moved closer to him, her anger forgotten by her concern as she reached for his shoulder. Jaune must have figured out her worry since he reached for her hand before she got to him and said.
"Don't dwell on it, I'm not looking to die anytime soon" he said, "I still have so much that needs to be done" he might not have known it but his words only worried Yang more.
"Don't tell the others everything, just let me tell them I destroyed the lamp and that Salem has returned to her castle." Jaune said. Yang was wondering about calling him out for giving her orders until she noticed how tired he was.
Jaune had always been good at hiding how worn out he was feeling but Yang had been seeing through it more and more. "You need to sleep" she said all but shoving him towards his bed.
"I'll sleep later right now I,"
Yang cut Jaune off by half snarling as she spoke. "Do I need to beat you into submission before you go to sleep?"
Jaune relented and went over crawling under his covers before looking to Yang who still hadn't moved. "Are you going to stand there and watch me sleep?" Jaune shot out mildly annoyed about being forced to sleep when he didn't want to.
"I got a better idea," Yang said, turning off the light and walking over to Jaune who was nervously wondering what she was going to do.
He opened his mouth to say something when Yang lifted up the blanket and tucked herself in beside him. She snuggled in and wrapped her arms around his chest pulling him close and whispering. "Just go the fuck to sleep"