It's time for the first chapter I've written since I started college! And it only took two months to write!
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Nora was surprisingly harder to write then I thought she would be, go figure.
Anyway yeah I'm in college now and hopefully I'll still be able to write semi-consistently despite my studies. We'll just see what the future holds for now I guess…
Anyway, nothing much left to say so let's get things rolling! It's show time!
}Episode 17: It's Nora, What Did You Expect?{
I want to say a million thoughts passed through my mind when I saw that it was Nora who kidnapped me…but even at the time it seemed obvious since, well, it's Nora. I'd bet my nonexistent paycheck that she'd kidnap Ren into marrying her if he never bucks up and asks her out…Or maybe he already has, I don't know, I got transported to Remnant when only half of Season 4 had aired, but he'd better damn it!
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What? Everybody knows those two have a thing for each other, and since Arkos literally burned up and died it's the only meaningful ship to hope for. But yeah, whether it happens, (or has happened) I would never put it past Nora to kidnap anyone. And lo and behold, there I was tied to a chair in some random classroom with her grinning at me like she was the most innocent thing in the world. I would have found her smile adorable if it weren't for the fact that I knew she could literally break me into a human pretzel if she so wished.
That, and the fact that my brain had pretty much shut down at that point were the only reasons I didn't start screaming at the top of my lungs. The brain drain wasn't for the obvious reason either, because of course Nora equals kidnapping. No, my brain crashed because of why she kidnapped me. Of course I'm talking about how it was supposedly my fault that Jaune was in a slump and that I had to be the one to fix him up.
I didn't even know Jaunedice was still going to come into play because of my Timeline meddling, let alone how it could have been my fault. I'd already changed so much in the story, and yet that was the one thing to still occur? I had been trying, and failing horribly, to avoid the plot for months and suddenly it's my fault that a canon event happens?! It's like the universe was trying to course correct things around me, and the implications of that on my kinda-unstable mind caused me to have a brain crash, which was only reasonable.
So as my brain started to reboot, the unhinged teen before me giggled at my dumbfounded/mortified face and said,
"What's with the look Mister Explosion? You look like I just dropped some huge bomb on you without any warning or something."
"Mister…Explosion?" I asked as my mind sluggishly came back online.
"Hehehehe, do you like it?" she beamed. "It's what all the students have started to call you, among other things. I may or may not have been the one to start the whole trend in the first place."
Wha…? I'm getting nicknames now school-wide? What sort of high school sitcom BS is this? I don't want to be noticed damn it! I thought in frustration.
"Okay…but why are you calling me that?" I emphasized. "I mean sure I blew up a lab table and maybe an entire warehouse but I doubt that means I need to be called 'Mister Explosion.'"
"Oh you'd rather we call you Yang's lame nickname, Boxman?" she giggled and I scowled.
"Anything's better than that name. I swear, you live in a box once and you never live it down," I grumbled.
"I thought as much," she nodded. "And since I've never seen you in a box, I'm going with the awesome destruction you produce. Ever since you showed up Cardin and blew up that table, I've kept my eye on you because it was so much fun. I mean sure if it wasn't for Lily we would have all died but it was still awesome!"
Oh great, I've turned her into a pyromaniac fangirl…well, more so than usual, I shuddered before I latched onto something else she'd mentioned.
"Wait, you've been keeping an eye on me? As in stalking?" I accused.
"Of course not silly," she laughed. "I mean I tried too, but Ren said that would just give you more stress than you already had and that I shouldn't do it, and besides Velvet already had that corner marketed."
Oh thank God for Ren, I sighed in relief. Who knows what kind of chaos Nora would cause without him.
"But that didn't stop me from keeping tabs when I saw you messing around with dust in the hallways. Have to say my favorite moment was when you covered the entire corridor with electrified ice, man the look on your face was priceless!" she laughed in remembrance while my face went pale.
Shit! I've been had! I panicked since my secret (most likely) against policy dust experiments had been found out by the hyperactive gossip machine.
Whelp, I lasted here longer than I thought I would. I wonder if my box is still in that alley? It would be nice to have it when I'm back on the streets with broken kneecaps via Goodwitch.
Nora must have noticed my panicked look as her laughter subsided.
"Aw don't worry Mister X! Me and Lily promised not to tell anyone, and we haven't told anyone else about your dust mishaps. Not even Ren."
Now that surprised me for sure. I mean Nora of all people not telling Ren, her total boyfriend despite her saying otherwise, was completely unexpected. But she had told somebody.
"Wait a second, who the heck is Lily? That's the second time you've mentioned her, and I've still got no clue who she is."
By now the entire conversation of Nora kidnapping me in the first place was sidelined as we got off track. If you couldn't tell, getting sidetracked happened often, no matter the situation.
Anyway, at my question Nora's face scrunched up in confusion.
"How could you forget Lily!? Remember, she was that Faunus with the shield semblance that you asked to help keep everyone safe when you blew up that lab table?"
Oh right, the dog Faunus girl. So that's her name huh? Lily…I guess that counts as a color on some level…And can we please stop mentioning the lab table?!
I was still confused on why she was helping Nora with the whole 'sorta stalk the janitor' plan she had going on. After all she seemed pretty shaken up after the whole lab table incident. But those where questions for later, and my brain was finally working at full capacity again and it knew we had to get back on track.
"Wait we're getting off topic. Why would the two of you not tell Goodwitch or Ozpin about what I was doing? I doubt both of you are pyromaniacs after all."
"Well its cause you seem like such a nice guy," she said giving me a big smile. "And the explosions do look awesome, I'm not going to lie, but mostly because you seem like a nice guy to hang around with. So no snitching on our part."
"Yes, because the axe-crazy hobo looking guy totally looks like a trustworthy adult who you should spend time with," I deadpanned at her reasoning.
I'd like to say this bit of sass was my attempt to stop interacting with Nora somehow despite being tied to a chair, but in reality I just couldn't stop myself at poking holes in her logic when it came to my appearance.
I looked like Charles Manson's long lost mountain man brother despite my best efforts to keep myself nice and hygienic. I was clean sure, but not getting paid meant no money for a Barber, and I wasn't about to do it myself, or God forbid, let one of the students do it. So yeah, anyone telling me that I looked like a nice guy to hang out with would get only sass in return. Of course, Nora being Nora, she just chuckled at my sass.
"Hey, just because you look like a crazy hobo doesn't mean you are one. I mean not just any hobo blows up a bunch of terrorists after all right?"
My eyes widened at that, and for good reason too. See a few days after I blew up that White Fang HQ the police finally released an official statement about the whole situation. The only reason they didn't release a statement sooner was that Ozpin had to straighten out a few 'details' about the case with the police first. And by that I mean tell them what they could and could not say.
Say what you want about that manipulative old man, but you can't deny that he is pretty good at covering things up. Almost disturbingly so, but then again this is the guy who'd been waging a secret war against the mother of all Grimm for who knows how long, so of course he'd pick things up.
Anyway, when the police released the statement they omitted any and all involvement of me, Yang, and even the White Fang had in the incident. The official statement was that it was an accident due to unsafe storage of dust materials. While I was thankful my name wasn't making headlines, I was at first confused on why the White Fang weren't mentioned.
The best I could figure was that the Government didn't want a panic on their hands since a terrorist organization setting off an explosion in the middle of the city right under their noses wouldn't make the cops look good. This little gambit, if that was the reason, wouldn't amount to much though when freaking Grimm entered the middle of downtown, but I digress.
The point is, no one was supposed to know the full truth, and the only reason the students thought/expected I was involved was because I was escorted by Goodwitch with Yang that very same day, and because I blew up one lab table one time…lousy deductive kids. But that still didn't explain how Nora knew about the Fang.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about. I just blew up a warehouse on accident, that's all," I stammered, trying to play stupid. Sadly this didn't work.
"Really? You don't remember how you blew up a bunch of White Fang because they thought you were some little kid lover?" she insinuated giving me a knowing grin. "Yang kept on bragging about it in-between sparring sessions during Miss. Goodwitch's class."
God damn it Yang! I raged as all of my panic turned into annoyance and my eye twitched uncontrollably.
"Okay, so maybe I did blow up some White Fang for their false accusations," my voice was drowning in a mixture of annoyance and deadpan as I continued, "But that just means I have some anger issues, not that I'm a good guy."
"Oh please, like that changes anything," she rolled her eyes ignoring all logic. "I also know you scrub off any racist graffiti in the classrooms, as well as leave some 'surprises' in the desk of the jerks who wrote that stuff."
Okay, some background on that. You see while most of the classrooms in Beacon are like a college auditorium classrooms, there are still a few rooms here and there that are like your average high school room, desks in rows ya know?
Well whenever I had to clean those rooms I noticed how some desks had graffiti on them and some had…less than stellar words drawn on them to which I would always wipe away. Of course the very next day the grafiti would be back in full force, and 9 times out of 10, it was the art by someone who really didn't care for Faunus.
After a couple more days of this happening I decided to take action…mostly because it was starting to piss me off on how damn persistent these jerks were. I staked the place out, found out who the "artists" were and I placed a little surprise in their desks.
And no, the surprise wasn't a turd, I'm vindictive, not gross…Or that gross anyway because the surprise was garbage. Rotten garbage right out of the Disposery with an added pinch of wind dust. The minute they opened their desks to find the smell, Whoosh! Instant garbage shirt.
A couple of days of this 'torture' and the douches finally stopped making graffiti and left those students alone. Of course that didn't stop me from re-trapping their desks every couple of days to keep them in line, or on the ones who kept just doodling on their desks instead of paper.
Ah…good times.
Anyway, no one knew it was me except Emerald who was my partner in crime and she would never tell…though I'm pretty sure most students already knew even though there was no evidence, but no one ever confronted me about it until then.
"So, that's my job to clean up graffiti!" I monotone. "Besides those pranks on those jerks were nothing more than coincidental events that just so happened to align in time to when I cleaned that room."
Now it was Nora's turn to give me a deadpanned glare of her own, which genuinely surprised me since I didn't think she could actually make a deadpanned face. And yes, before any of you ask it was adorable. Not as adorable as Ruby's of course, but still pretty adorable.
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I know what you're all thinking, and for the last time no I am not obsessed with Ruby! Now moving on…
"Whatever you say, but I know for a fact you're a good guy because you showed that Cardin jerk whose boss. Course I would have just broken his legs, but hey giving him detention works too!"
At this point I had just decided to admit defeat. It was clear that Nora was dead set on proving to me that I was a good person, and despite all my rebuttals I couldn't get her to back off.
So after accepting the fact that I couldn't win this argument I sighed and said,
"Okay fine, I'm a good person or whatever! Now can you please untie me now, my hands are starting to go numb here!"
You see, this was before I got used to being tied up and could be comfortable with it for prolonged periods of time. And I know that getting used to your hands being tied sounds like a bad thing, but believe it or not it actually became quite a useful skill. Of course that didn't stop me from complaining about it every time my hands were tied up, and it certainly didn't mean I actually started to like having my hands tied.
Seriously, I didn't! No matter how many times a certain someone said otherwise it's completely and utterly false! You hear me!?
I'M NOT INTO BONDAGE DAMMIT!
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Ahem, moving on…
Nora's sly smile didn't falter at my question.
"Nope," she said simply.
"Nope? What do you mean nope?! I gave in admitted I'm a good person to you. Why wouldn't you…Wait a second, What the Hell Have We Been Talking About This Whole Time?!" I shouted, finally realizing how off the rails we'd gotten.
"I thought we were just getting to know each other better. But you're right MXP, you still haven't agreed to help Jauny out yet so I can't exactly untie you until you do."
"Okay fine! I'll help this Jaune guy out, so hurry up and untie me!" I yelped after a few seconds of blankly staring at her.
Nora gave me a huge ass smile before she started to…well you know, untie me. When the last knot came undone I sat up and began to rub my wrist as I angrily grumbled,
Great, now I have to get involved directly with a canon event that I somehow caused unless I want Nora breaking my legs. Who knows what the Butterfly Effects gonna do, ugh can this day get any worse?
Of course as soon as I thought those words…
"Great! Now I don't have to use plan B of blackmailing you into helping me out," Nora said cheerfully.
I'm pretty sure my eye reached a whole new level of annoyed twitching as I dreadfully asked Nora,
"I'm gonna regret this, but what exactly were you gonna blackmail me with? My reputation isn't exactly the brightest around, and I sure as hell know that nothing can make it worse."
Nora, of course, just smiled before she said,
"Well if you didn't agree to help me I would have threatened you with telling the headmaster that you've been sleeping in the Maintenance Room ever since you started working here!"
Now you'd expect me by now to have some major freak out over how Nora knew I was living secretly in the school, probably run around in circles trying desperately to come up with a plan to keep her mouth shut. You'd expect all that…but in reality Nora managed to mentally exhaust me to the point that I just didn't give a damn about her knowing. Also I was pretty sure the old man already knew.
"Dare I ask how you know that Nora?" I asked with a sigh to which she giggled.
"Well Mr Boomshakalaka, let's just say I know a ninja who gathers information like nobody's business and leave it at that!"
Despite my best efforts I couldn't stop my eye from twitching in annoyance at what had to be the worst possible bit of information I had ever heard since I came to Remnant.
Great, just great! The only two ninja's I 'know' are Blake and Ren, and since Ren's rational on not stalking people, that leaves one person…Blake.
At that realization, I lost any and all hope of ditching the plot, at least involving Blake.
So she's also keeping tabs on me, and the only reason she's doing that is because of the Fang hunting my ass. Ugh…better add 'talking to the cat ninja' to the list of things I didn't ever want to do while working here.
And we did talk…eventually. And sadly for me when we did talk it wasn't under the best of circumstances…nor did we ever actually get around to talking about her spying on me either. Instead the two of us having a chat lead to a whole new can of worms that caused me such a major headache that I actually considered taking medication to subdue it. But that came later, for now let's get back to Nora shall we?
"Okay, random ninja's aside, you mind telling me what exactly I'm supposed to help Jaune with?"
"I told you Mister Explosion," she pouted with puffed out cheeks. "You and me are gonna help Jauny get out of his funk which you helped put him in! Simple and easy right?"
"Alright, let me rephrase that," I facepalmed. "What I want to know is why he's in such a funk to begin with and how is it my fault?"
To my question Nora put on, what I dub, her 'Nora Serious' face. You ever have a friend who is always joking around and seems to never take things too seriously. But then one day they have this super stern expression out of nowhere when everyone's having a good time and starts talking about the mysterious of life and the universe and if we're all just dreaming our lives.
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No? Just me then? Weird. Ah well, you all get the point don't ya?
Anyway, Nora went from her usual bubbly self to suddenly being super serious. So naturally this caught me a bit off guard.
Whoa, now that's a look I didn't expect to see on a pre-Volume III Nora! It's actually a bit…disconcerting to see that face in real life and before that disaster happens.
Oblivious to my thoughts Nora began to explain the whole Jaune situation to me.
"See the thing is Jauny has been feeling all down-in-the-dumps because he thinks he's useless, which he totally isn't by the way! He's one of the best leaders I've ever had! Well I mean he's the only leader I've ever had, but he's still the best you know!?"
I nodded dumbly at Nora's question, still slightly put off by Nora's serious face…as well as how she still talked like a bubbly Nora while having said face and tone going on.
"Well anyway, he thinks he doesn't deserve to be a Hunter because of this, and he is all mopey and hardly tries as hard as he used to during class and training! If he doesn't get his act together soon Goodwitch might expel him, *gasp* or she might even make him take extra classes to make up for all his lost progress! Which is even worse than being expelled!"
I pretended to nod my head in new-found understanding while I actually thought,
Okay, so basically it's Jaunedince but with a little more angst. But that doesn't make sense since me butting heads with Cardin should have increased his confidence, not lowered it. So what's causing him to feel so down?
Now just so you all know, I had come to terms by now with my plot breaking actions of messing with Cardin by now and how it had affected Jaune. Although, I had always thought maybe it was for the better.
"Okay, I can see why he's in a funk, but again, how is any of this my fault?"
"Well that's because you're the one who gave that whole anti-bullying speech during lunch after he didn't do anything and how you're the reason why he even won that time against Cardin in the first place. Which was awesome by the way! The look on Cardin's face was hilarious!" she giggled in remembrance while all the puzzle pieces finally fit together.
Okay…Jaune was originally depressed because he forged his way in and couldn't win at all but now because I helped Jaune win once, he thought he wasn't good enough to hack it on his own, and me yelling at the lunch room made him feel even more inadequate. He probably hasn't won a sparring match since, and a taste of victory followed by many defeats sucks more than always losing. And it was a janitor, a freaking janitor that insured he won in the first place. Shit, I have made things worse!
Once realization dawned on me I was now one-hundred percent on board with helping Nora. In fact I had already begun to formulate a plan to cheer Jaune up, and also possibly make something else happen, even if only briefly. There was just one thing I needed to know before I put anything into action…
"Okay Nora, I'm all in to help Jaune. Just one question, how the hell do you know all about his insecurities specifically?"
I could understand Nora noticing her leader being depressed and working less during training and classes, Jaune isn't exactly the greatest person at hiding his emotions you know? And he also isn't too keen on talking to other's about his problems if the show is anything to go by, so how did Nora know all this stuff!?
Of course I wasn't the least bit surprised when, in answer to my question, Nora smiled impishly as she held up a notebook with the title 'Jaune's Journal' on the cover.
I only gave Nora a deadpanned stare at her little reveal, to which she just shrugged her shoulders.
"What? It was lying right in his drawer with a coincidently broken lock on it and my leader was acting sad. What's a good teammate to do but to open a journal of their leader's personal feelings to find out why he's so sad in the first place?"
I should be surprised by that line of logic, but it's just too Noraish that I can't, I sighed.
"Whatever, it's time to put together my plan that I literally just thought up," I told her. "If this works then he'll get his confidence back and maybe the S.S. Arkos can sail a little bit before it burns and sinks and takes every bit of joy with it."
"Alright! That's the spirit! Banzai!" Nora cheered throwing pumping her fist in the air.
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"Wait, what's an Arkos?"
}Episode End{
You know I had a different ending in mind, but just confronting Jaune about this seems rather bland. So instead let's try and do a convoluted plan that was put together at the last minute to help get Jaune out of his funk! I'm sure nothing will go wrong…*evil grin*
Now it's time for another Omake! This one has been brought to you by, and been completely written by, Bomberguy789! Give a big round of applause as we dive into a what-if scenario taking place in Volume V where Chris has a…bit of an impact. Enjoy!
}Omake 5: Chris Plan's Ahead I: Volume V Finale [Non-Canon] (Bomberguy789) {
As Leo stands atop that podium of his, and the villains face off against the heroes, all is silent as the tension ri-
The huge doors open with a mighty bang as Chris runs into the room, fighting for breath as he rests his hands on his knees. He quickly checks something, mouth open as he gasps for oxygen, even as everyone stares at him in complete and utter confusion.
"...Who the hell are you?" It's Qrow who speaks first, prompting Ruby to get out of her stupor.
"This is Chris! He's that hobo-janitor I told you about, remember, the one who caused all of those explosions?"
"I... am not... a- oh forget it." Chris panted before, with a deep breath, he drew himself up to full height, still swaying slightly. "I'm here... to save everyone." A pause. "Who's against Salem." A pause again. "Not including Raven, Vernal or Leo."
"Really?" Questioned Hazel, his impossibly deep voice rumbling across the room, "Does Ozpin have no shame over who he brings into the fight? First children, now... this?"
"I take offence at that," declared Chris, his finger pointing in a determinated pose before dropping from the still lingering fatigue. "Besides, I'm the one who's going to save everyone. Except you guys that is. 'Cause, you know, you're evil." His hand reached for his pocket before he hesitated, as if considering something.
"You know Hazel, there's something I still don't understand," began Chris, who seemed to have the power to prevent people from interrupting his conversations. "All this time you wanted to kill Ozpin because he's a manipulative bastard who let your sister die... but didn't the Grimm kill her?"
"No, it was actually-"
"Eh, that was all I needed to know." And with that, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a detonator, and detonated the floor beneath the villains. Not just as in, the floor falls away, but as in there was a massive explosion that threw them all into the air before the villains who happened to be closer to the gigantic lift to the relic toppled down while the heroes merely suffered minor burns.
"Quick!" yelled Chris, scurrying to his feet before racing back to the doors, throwing them open before rushing outside. "I gathered up all of the White Fang explosives to dump down on them, if we're lucky we can-!"
As one, all of Adam's troops turned to face Chris, guns raised. Without even stopping, Chris pulled another detonator from his other pocket before activating it, causing a hidden compartment in the courtyard to release lightning dust to stun them before gravity and wind combined to blow them away. Chris rushed to a wheelbarrow, grabbing it with both hands before racing back to the hall.
"IS ANYONE GOING TO HELP OR ARE YOU JUST GOING TO KEEP STARING AT ME!"
Shaking themselves from their stupor, Ruby was the first to reach him, Qrow a close second due to his huntsmen training. "I'm going to need one of you guys to get that other wheelbarrow by the entrance. The rest of you, watch out for Cinder or Raven shaped like a bird!"
On que, Cinder did her weird flying thing that really doesn't seem to look as good as it should while a bird flew up next to her. The bird was immediately shot down by Ren, only for a raven to fly up after it.
This raven transformed into the real Raven, who looked positively furious before she was engaged by Yang while Jaune transformed his sword into an even BIGGER sword. At this point Chris had reached the massive chasm that had formed due to his plans, and he called Weiss over.
"Okay listen, I'm going to chuck these down, and you're going to throw a fireball at them, sounds like a plan? Sounds like a plan."
To make a long story short, Hazel, Leo, Emerald and Mercury fell to their deaths/got blown up after falling from a huge height which occurred after they were blown up the first time, Adam was captured because he flew into the middle of Blake's army, the good guys win, and Chris fell unconscious after a rock fell down to the ceiling due to his own bad luck mixing with Qrow's.
}End Omake{
Thanks again to Bomberguy789 for the amazing omake! I was a bit hesitant to adding the whole omake admittedly since it was in the reviews…but then I realized that not everyone reads reviews so I did a face-palm at my idiocy and well…yeah.
But seriously this was an amazing omake, and one of the best ones you've wrote so far! I'm always looking forward to them, as well as your thoughts on the chapter so please keep them coming!
So like my intro said I'm in college now, and while I know I won't be able to write as much as I do now (consistently with a month or two break I mean) but I won't stop writing till exams and test! This I swear!
If things go well we'll hit Volume II before 2019!
…I hope hehehehehe
Anyway, time to call some of you guys out as per usual!
CAD D CHATTERBOX: No, no it is not. I actually saw that movie after watching a Carnage Counts video on it. Defiantly one of the weirdest movies I've watched.
Guest: I'm not saying anything, but I will laugh evilly. Ahem, mwahahahahahahaha!
Amvmaster: The plan has been made, and it should be interesting as to what it will do! I'm wondering why Coco would kidnap him, but then I remember Velvet and it makes sense. Also good news, Le MAO XXIV pm'd me a while ago and assured me I won't be sued for using his characters! Guess the next non-canon omake will be the long awaited part 2!
Bomberguy789: Thanks again for the omake, and this one is just as awesome (blowing up the arena is just perfect) and I love the Pyrrha idea too! And now ya know how Jaunedice happened, and now how will it be solved!?
TM Calypso: Ruby is always adorable whenever she's not being a badass! Again thanks for the Yandere info, it should be coming into effect soon…hopefully!
Engineer455: …You're doing this on purpose aren't you? *deadpanned stare*
As usual don't be afraid to leave any ideas for the fic or Omakes, I always appreciate the extra inspiration and jokes! Plus feedback is always welcomed to help me make this story better!
All logic used in this fic is completely head-canon. If you don't agree that's okay, it's just how I see things.
Our follow count has reached 368! And the favorites has made a jump to 260 as well! Thank you guys so much for the continued support, and I hope you all continue to enjoy this fic!
This has been LightDusk16 signing off!