Sorry for the wait, everyone; the second chapter of my novel took longer than I thought to write, heh. Just kept on writing even when I probably should've ended it… but oh well, can edit it later, won't be that difficult to do.

Alright, so I went and watched Hobbs and Shaw recently too along with Crawl, have to say I thoroughly enjoyed both for what they were. The former was just as ridiculous as I'm sure we all had been expecting it to be, but still enjoyable nonetheless. And Crawl surprised me too with how good it was, even with the gators behaving drastically different from how they actually are in real life; had me feeling real worried for the MCs the whole time, especially with how nature itself had really been working against them, to say nothing of the crazy aggressive gators.

Other than that, still just been living one day at a time as far as life in general goes. Hope the same can be said for you guys too. So, yeah, same stuff, basically.

Now, as for this fic, I know I say this often but this is where things start to pick up in all sorts of ways… and we'll start getting to the parts that I've really been itching to write, ha ha. Hope you'll look forward to it, you guys!

Oh, and regarding the obvious impossibility of how Watts' technology works, I'm well aware that how it does things is truly impossible, but there's more going on than you think right now. I just hope my eventual explanation for it will be satisfactory.

Now then, onto the chapter!

P.S. Anyone else hyped as hell for the new Guilty Gear next year?!

Chapter 20

It never ceased to amaze Jaune just how quickly time could go by; in what had felt like the blink of an eye, the time for Beacon's dance had arrived.

Though it had yet to officially start per say, the team that had been put in charge of getting most of it set up – team CVFY – had already started to let fellow students trickle in, all of the girls dressed up in the dresses or gowns they'd gone through considerable pains to get whilst the guys had dressed up in their school uniforms, though there had been those that had gone out of their way to get a proper suit.

In either case, everyone had certainly looked splendid and while the dance had yet to really get underway just yet, people were already in high spirits, girls complimenting one another's dresses while guys huddled up and acted like bros. And thanks to the fact the Vytal Festival was being held here in Vale this time, there were plenty of students from the other academies milling about as well, having also gotten dressed up for the occasion, friendships swiftly forming between them all.

Truly, it was a sight to behold – it was sights like this, where everyone could be happy without a care that left Jaune feeling fulfilled, if only slightly.

And said sensation was dampened by a quick glance to his friends, that being his teammates and team RWBY.

Just the other day, Tukson had gotten into contact with Blake and had told her something that had really rankled the poor girl. It'd taken the better part of a whole day for her to really calm down and explain to them what had happened.

Adam Taurus, a high-ranking member of the White Fang and someone she'd once been personally acquainted with, was coming to Vale.

To say that had really grabbed their attention would be an understatement. Alas, it was also information that they couldn't really act on. His eventual arrival aside, there'd been absolutely no other details pending, so there was no way for them to take preemptive action.

This news had left the B of team RWBY more than a little shaken, but thanks to whatever revelations she's had ever since she's made up with her team following the docks incident, she was able to come around, so to speak. After all, if she hadn't, why else would she be here with her team at the dance? She was even laughing at something goofy that Sun, who'd arrived in an unbuttoned black dress shirt and a tie, had just said to her.

The rest of her team was looking pretty amused too, but there was no missing the underlying tension their bodies held, something that the blond felt rather ruined their collective and individual beauty, a true shame considering how beautiful their dresses were, even Ruby's despite the girl having been most vehement against dressing up in the first place.

The same could be said of his own team, though there was also a subtle hint of sadness and even disappointment as they looked back his way.

True to his word, he hadn't bothered dressing up for the dance at all, instead having dressed in his usual clothes after classes had let out a little early for the day. He'd instead escorted his team to the building's entrance, whereupon they'd practically been sucked up by the crowd against their will just as he'd slipped away.

The last thing he'd heard was Pyrrha calling out to him, but he'd ignored her. It hadn't been without effort, however, for his heart felt oddly heavy as he walked away.

"Sorry…" he murmured, childishly hoping the wind would somehow carry his apology to his partner and other teammates.

Sadly, he just couldn't bring himself to relax like everyone else. It just wasn't how he was all but literally programmed to act.

Jaune knew that once tonight was over, he'd really be getting a good lecture or two from his friends from skipping out like this even if they had known in advance he had no intention in coming… but he could tell from experience that it was one thing to know something intellectually and another thing to have whatever hope they'd felt be crushed.

He was supposed to be making people happy, not upsetting them. The bitter irony here was enough to get him to smile quite derisively, said derision aimed entirely at himself.

…Well, there wasn't much he could do at this point. Even if he could somehow bring himself to turn around and go to the dance, by the time he would even head back to his dorm to change into something more appropriate, the dance would be in full swing. He'd only end up interrupting the fun and that wouldn't do.

Thus, he resolved himself to his current objective: to patrol Beacon, just as he'd once stated he'd do. If nothing else, he was someone who tried to keep to his word.

Now, given that the Atlas military was also here in Vale, specifically at Beacon as well, there were already a number of soldiers patrolling the entire campus, many of whom took note of him walking about, dressed and armed, though they made no comment as he passed by.

In immediate hindsight, he really should've anticipated how many soldiers there'd be here – from what he's heard, general Ironwood was a vigilant man who could and would take all necessary precautions. Of course he'd station enough soldiers to keep things under control.

Sadly, while the more logical and human side of his brain said that things were all good and to finally just relax, the other side of him, the one ruled by his semblance and childhood desires, staunchly refused to listen to reason.

And so, he began his patrol in earnest.

Naturally, the outermost perimeter of the campus, the unofficial line that separated Beacon from the surrounding forestry, was already being patrolled quite heavily as was the CCT nearby. This left only the other buildings and facilities that made up Beacon unattended, but that was quite relative since Atlas soldiers were still visibly present. This was to say nothing of the staff that still remained behind for the night as well as the professors who were no doubt using this time to either catch up on other work or to relax.

Nonetheless, despite all this security, Jaune still felt unsure of things, paranoid even. As such, he made a beeline right for the main building, where the classrooms were at.

His presence didn't go unnoticed.

"Jaune, that you?" called out someone.

He smiled slightly. "Yeah, it's me, Argo."

Argo, one of the relative few female janitors, was in the midst of emptying out the trash barrels outside the building's various entrances/exits. Fairly young – only in her mid-thirties compared to most of the other janitors here – she blinked and shook her head as if she couldn't believe she was seeing him, her chin length purple hair lightly whipping about in the process. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the dance?"

"Ah, it's not really my thing," he replied lamely. Wordlessly, he approached her and helped her heft up the trash bag she'd currently been clutching. Though the position of janitor was a physically demanding one that none of the janitors were lagging in, he still couldn't abide seeing her and the others struggle.

She blinked again but then laughed a bit in disbelief. "Sheesh, you really just don't stop helping, do you? You really need to learn to help yourself, you know that?"

"I do," he replied softly. "Trust me, I do."

She huffed as she and him put the trash bag in the moving cart she had nearby. "You could've fooled me. Seriously, this is a big dance, isn't it?! You should be in there tearing up the dance floor or making out with someone in one of the corners! Why, when I was around your age-!"

He laughed lightly as Argo went on a quick but energetic tirade about some of her escapades in her youth. She was quite the character. Everyone was, really. This was the main reason he liked interacting with people, his warped mindset aside – it was always interesting to see what sort of person someone was.

"-And damn it, you need to live a little! Go get laid!" she eventually finished.

"I'm afraid I'll have to take that under advisement," he responded neutrally, though with a hint of bemusement. He wasn't sure whoever came up with the notion that women were chaste and dainty, but whoever had first coined such a thing was clearly a moron.

And he should know – he has seven sisters, after all.

Argo huffed again. "Fine, fine, be that way!" She spoke almost angrily, but there was no missing the smile on her face. "Just try to unwind at least a little later tonight, alright? You're too young to be so serious."

"I'll try," he said truthfully, but knowing that he would very likely fail.

Bidding her goodbye, he entered the building while Argo left to check the other trash cans. As soon as he did and the door closed quietly behind him, his small smile immediately disappeared and a serious expression appeared on his face as he analyzed his surroundings.

Having been here for quite some time now, Beacon's hallways and facilities were known to him, but even then he looked upon the hallway and the rooms connected to it as if looking at them for the first time ever, this time with a most critical eye.

There may be plenty of soldiers patrolling about, to say nothing of the staff and professors, but even so, some part of his brain pondered over how likely the possibility was for someone to successfully attack Beacon right now.

Improbable, sure, but the fact it wasn't outright impossible was enough to now have him tense up. Despite still being unlocked for the time being, most of the lights had either been turned off completely or heavily dimmed, resulting in near-complete darkness.

Having gotten used to fighting in complete darkness whilst out on the frontier, he had no trouble seeing far ahead, but even so his muscles tensed up slightly, preparing to take action should something happen.

As he now began his patrol in earnest, he soon came upon the other janitors who'd been put in charge of cleaning up the places here that needed cleaning. They – Peter, Samson, and Janet – had bid him a quick but lively hello and he'd done the same though unlike with Argo, he didn't stick around to help them, primarily because they were well on their way out of here for the night, their current assignments just now finished.

"Don't go vandalizing anything, you hear?" one of them, Samson, said playfully, knowing full well Jaune would never do so. The four of them had a good laugh at that as they passed each other by, though the quick laugh hadn't helped settle him down.

Making his way through the first floor's rooms, trying the doorknobs to make sure each room was locked, Jaune fell into a sort of trance as he did so, his senses alert for anything even remotely unusual even as he almost mechanically went about this simple task.

He lost track of all sense of time. For all he knew, he could've somehow tried every door on the first floor in the span of a minute or it could've been hours.

All he knew was that every time he looked out a nearby window, it was getting progressively darker outside until it was truly nighttime.

"Hey! What're you doing here?!" someone called out – an Atlas soldier that just now rounded the corner Jaune had been heading for. He wasn't alone either, two other soldiers, a male and female, walking with him, both of whom looked at him curiously.

The one who'd spoken, however, had rather aggressive body language. He clearly saw Jaune as a potential threat. From the way his two comrades briefly looked at him with obvious exasperation under their helmets, it was clear they felt he was overreacting.

Jaune, on the contrary, could respect the man, quite liking him. While admittedly a bit much, such vigilance was something to admire.

"I'm just patrolling the campus grounds like you're doing," he replied. He made sure to keep his hands away from the hilts of his blades to show he wasn't a threat.

"When the dance is going on?" the other male of the trio asked, rather incredulous in tone.

"It's not really my thing…" Jaune mumbled, sounding embarrassed. Idly, he wondered just how many times he could end up having this conversation. "I prefer to move my body in other ways."

"Huh," the woman began. "Well, alright, I can respect that."

The first one, however, wasn't too quick to accept this. "How do we know you're not just saying that as an excuse?"

"Damn it, Caleb, learn to chill," the other guy said, annoyed. "If the kid really was a threat, pretty sure he wouldn't be walking around so openly like this when there's so many people on Beacon's grounds."

The first guy flinched a bit before huffing and walking past Jaune now. "Just try not to give anyone else a sudden spook, alright?" he said gruffly before walking off.

"Alright," Jaune confirmed, nodding in acknowledgement. The guy then nodded back before marching off, his two partners quickly catching up with him, giving Jaune apologetic looks as they went by him.

"…Perhaps tonight may actually be a quiet night," he said to himself once he was fully alone.

Although the night was hardly far from over, the fact that a solid hour or so had already passed by since he started patrolling in the first place had him wondering now if maybe this was the one time he was being too damned paranoid.

…

…

He sighed in resignation.

Even if this was the case, it was already too late to call it quits this early.

With a resolved yet weary heart, the blond continued his patrol.

Perhaps he should go by the CCT – that was an important place, after all…

"…Pretty damn nice here, ain't it? I mean, I guess it's chilly, but compared to back in Atlas…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean, man. Feels great here, should probably move here to Vale whenever I retire."

"With how shitty you are at shooting, retirement might be coming up sooner than expected for you, heh!"

"Ha ha, real funny, you wise ass…"

This inane conversation between two Atlas soldiers was what filled Cinder's ears as she and her three accomplices waited patiently just out of sight.

Once the two soldiers passed by and were out of earshot, she motioned for the others to move. And of course, due to her being the smallest and swiftest of them, she made Neo take point.

Sure enough, when she'd spoken to the small woman last time, just telling her of the possible opportunity to kill Jaune Arc had been more than enough to secure her help in this endeavor. Getting a bullhead from those damned White Fang had been even easier. Even their landing not too far away from Beacon's perimeter had been shockingly easy.

For once, it seemed like things were looking up for her again, but she didn't dare accept this boon so easily – after all, with how suddenly things had gone wrong for the docks operation, Emerald and Mercury's failed assassination attempt, and the recent paladin incident, things could clearly go wrong at the drop of a hat.

As such, with all of them dressed in black fatigues, slinking about was done with as much caution as they could pull off, with Neo at the forefront of their little formation thanks to her admittedly useful semblance. And with Emerald providing assistance via her own semblance, sneaking past the outermost perimeter established by Atlas' forces had been effortless.

However, now was the hard part.

They'd had the good fortune of being able to approach Beacon from the general direction where their CCT was at, meaning they didn't have to worry about covering too much ground in order to reach their destination.

Now, of course Cinder remembered what Watts had told her about his new invention – she honestly didn't have to get this close in order to ensure it did its sole duty, but again, she was done leaving things to chance; the closer she can safely get to her target before activating the device, the better.

That said, as expected, even from this distance, it was visible to her own two eyes that security was exceptionally tight around the CCT. Though the number of guards around it and no doubt inside were less than the number patrolling elsewhere, that was very much relative; they were still outnumbered by at least three to one.

No matter. With both Neo and Emerald, getting even closer will be easy. It wasn't as if any of them were lacking in subterfuge experience anyways.

"Emerald, get the attention of those three guards," she whispered.

"Got it," the teal-haired girl replied before narrowing her eyes, concentrating.

Cinder didn't know what sort of illusion the girl had placed the three guards in question under, but they seemed to suddenly jerk to something to their left. Some of the other guards took note of their sudden shift in posture and tensed up as well but stayed put while the three jogged off to go check on what they thought they'd seen or heard.

Even then, their attention clearly wasn't back on whatever it had been before.

With their formation disrupted for the moment, Cinder patted Neo on the shoulder, a silent gesture that meant to cover her up with her semblance.

The diminutive woman nodded and she waved a hand over Cinder. Cinder felt nothing off but trusted in Neo's ability to do this much with ease.

She then dashed forth with an almost supernatural silence through the large gap in the soldiers' formation, Neo's physical illusions allowing her to go by completely undetected.

Cinder made it all the way to the CCT building's entrance and slinked inside once the guards marching right outside passed on by.

Now safely inside, the woman allowed herself a quick sigh of relief. In all honesty, taking care of the soldiers would be child's play for her – even without using the half of the Maiden power she had, her strength and skill was well beyond what any Atlas soldier could deal with. But again, this was not a time to brute force things.

She wasn't that desperate. But by Salem, if one more thing goes wrong for her somehow, then she won't hesitate to start frying people…

…Anyways, now inside, making her way to the room she sought was much easier. Cameras were easy to avoid and the Atlas soldiers inside here were even fewer in number than the ones that had been right outside.

With Neo, Mercury, and Emerald now on standby in the case things do suddenly go wrong, Cinder proceeded forth alone, not waiting for anyone or anything.

Over the course of the next ten minutes, she made her way up to the floor she needed to go to and promptly entered the room.

To her pleasant surprise, the room was empty.

This gave her just a second to breathe slowly, savoring what may very well be her comeback. She then took out the device Watts had given her and eyed it harshly, as if she were glaring at the man himself somehow.

Its sole button almost seemed to shine under the dim lights here in the room, as if tempting her to press it.

Obviously, she did just that.

Some small part of her, a part of her that she'd thought had died a very long time ago, was almost let down when nothing visibly happened. There was no successful beep, no alarm sounded, no ray of light suddenly spilling forth to signal a change of some kind.

It was just her standing here in this room still.

She waited a moment for something – anything – to happen.

Then, on a whim, she pulled out her scroll and started to toggle some things on it.

Now, she truly smiled.

Having synced her scroll with Watts' device just as he said to do well before even arriving here, she now saw that she had remote access to Beacon's servers and naturally by extension all the information said servers had.

Finally, success!

But she refused to indulge in this feeling of triumph – not yet, that is. First, she needed to get out of here. Only when she's made it back to her current base can she allow herself a brief period of relaxation before beginning what would undoubtedly be the tedious shifting through information in search of clues to Amber's whereabouts.

Putting away both the device and her scroll, she made her way back out even faster than she'd snuck in. Once she was about to exit through the building's main entrance/exit, she shot a silent message to Neo to prepare another illusion so that she may sneak back across.

Neo replied in the affirmative a split second later and Cinder waited a few seconds before almost boldly striding out into the open, all of the guards back at their previous positions, including the ones Emerald had initially distracted.

However, as soon as she even exited the CCT, Cinder immediately realized that just because the soldiers were all back in their initial positions, that didn't mean everything was back to exactly how it was before-.

-There.

Talking to one of the guards that was walking the outermost perimeter around the CCT was a blond teen, dressed primarily in black and with a diagonal scar on his face.

Even though this was the first time Cinder was actually seeing him, she instinctively knew who this was.

"Jaune Arc," she murmured to herself, as low in volume as could be to avoid detection.

The one who'd ruined the docks operation as well as the one who'd slain Roman and taken down the paladin, all on his own.

He was here…

…And in the midst of whatever conversation he was having with the guard, he suddenly turned and seemed to look directly at her.

Cinder's breath nearly hitched and she almost instinctively prepared for battle. A very brief look towards where her three accomplices were at showed her that they were preparing to battle their way out of here too if needed.

Only nothing came of it.

He just stared at her, confused. It took the woman much longer than it should've to remember Neo's semblance was still at work, hiding her in plain sight of literally everyone here.

Inwardly, Cinder hissed. She'd gotten Neo's help for this task with the almost explicit promise of a chance at vengeance. Cinder herself would love nothing more than to rid herself of the one who'd so quickly become a nuisance and disruption to her.

But alas, this wasn't the chance for either of them to act on such feelings.

While the guards individually wouldn't pose much problem, trying to take down Jaune Arc while so many of the guards were around would certainly be difficult, especially if she wished to continue concealing her status as a partial Maiden for the time being.

Furthermore, though she'd never say it aloud, Jaune Arc's strength was not something she wished to test under such unfavorable circumstances right now. Taking down a paladin, something that had been designed for the express purpose of combating the toughest of Grimm outside of the Leviathan classed ones, all by himself wasn't something she was sure she could take on even with help from Neo, Emerald and Mercury. Again, not in circumstances such as this, where the sounds of battle could practically summon forth all of Beacon's faculty and student body.

Plus… the sheer intensity within those blue eyes of his… something about that intensity… it honestly scared her.

Inwardly grumbling, she proceeded slowly back to where the others were at, making sure to keep looking back at the blond teen every now and then to make sure he wasn't about to suddenly lunge at her.

Once linking up with the others and swiftly retreating, Cinder allowed herself a deep breath once they quickly headed back into the forest, where they would take a bullhead back to their base.

Jaune Arc, huh…? Perhaps she'd have to reassess how to handle him, after all.

For she was now getting the feeling that dealing with him might not quite be as smooth a thing to pull off as she'd initially hoped.

A quick glance to Neo told her that the mute woman was thinking along similar lines despite her obvious hatred of the young man. Evidently, the fear she had of him was even greater than her rage towards him.

Cinder could only shake her head – just who exactly was she thinking of dealing with here?

Not too long into the dance, Pyrrha's worst fears had been confirmed.

Well, 'worst fears' was a gross exaggeration, actually… but nonetheless, it was far from a pleasing thing.

Having long since been put on a pedestal, very few if any have ever tried to approach her with the intention of being her friend. This has made her extremely grateful to her team and RWBY for breaking this mold she'd been stuck in ever since obtaining her title as the Invincible Girl.

However, even with word of her having lost in a spar to Jaune some weeks ago, her reputation still remained for the most part. As such, not many people bothered approaching her, still placing her on a rather high pedestal.

This meant no one had even bothered to approach her at all to be their date to this dance – not that she would've said yes, but the point behind it still remained.

In all honesty, she'd really wanted Jaune to be her partner and in more ways than just one. While she wouldn't dare say she held truly romantic feelings for the blond boy just yet, she was self-aware enough to know that in what seemed like a very short time span, she's come to view him in a special light. So, for him to express no interest in this dance and then to simply assume she'd get a date just like that had honestly left her feeling rather sad, even hurt in some respects.

This was her fault, however. In hindsight, she clearly could've tried to make her intentions much more obvious, but instead she'd just been trying to wait patiently for others to make the first move when she knew that never would happen.

Having felt more than a little depressed by this, Pyrrha had only been able to endure being at the dance itself for just a handful of hours before sneaking off. She didn't even bother telling Nora and Ren that she was stepping out, having not wanted to worry them in any way, not that they didn't already know what was going on.

And so, before she knew, Pyrrha was wandering the campus grounds.

"Much like a certain someone…" she murmured to herself, laughing awkwardly to herself… or maybe at herself. It was hard to tell, really.

Sparing a glance to some soldiers patrolling by, Pyrrha opted to move somewhere else, especially since it seemed like they'd heard her laugh just now and she now felt more than a little self-conscious.

She now headed for the main pathway that led to Beacon, where the statue of that courageous warrior could be found at. Aside from the gentle breeze causing nearby patches of neatly-trimmed grass to rustle, the only real sound she could pick up was the clacking sound made by her own footsteps, her heels clicking against Beacon's hard stone layout quite audibly despite her best efforts to remain quiet.

Reaching the statue after about fifteen minutes of walking, she could only look up at the statue's face.

"Just what should I do?" she asked, wishing for the spirit of the one this statue was modeled after to provide some guidance.

But of course, no answer was forthcoming.

She heaved a great sigh and hung her head in shame and embarrassment. How shameful of her to be in this kind of state. She could go up against Grimm and fellow students without any problem, but have her assess and generally just think about her social life and maybe her love life and she gets so incredibly unsure and subsequently indecisive.

Is this perhaps her destiny…?

"…Pyrrha?"

She nearly jumped as an all too familiar voice called out to her. She whipped around with surprising speed in spite of her heels and dress to see none other than the young man himself who'd been plaguing her thoughts.

"J-Jaune?! What are you doing here?!" She really hadn't meant to sound so panicky, but she couldn't help it somehow. "Didn't you say you were going to go patrolling?"

He smiled sheepishly. "That I did and, well, wouldn't be a very thorough patrol if I just left this spot amongst others unattended to."

A-Ah, right, that was true…

"So, you've already covered the rest of the campus?" she now asked, much more in control of herself.

"Not yet – still have a lot of ground to cover, but…" he trailed off. His expression became quite complex. "With all the soldiers around, there's not really much that I can realistically do. Even so, it's just something I feel compelled to do still…"

"Ah," Pyrrha started. Yes, that did sound like Jaune, stubborn to the end no matter what it was he was doing. "To be expected, I guess."

Jaune nodded. "Atlas' soldiers are efficient. I really admire that."

Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

Then there was silence.

A heavy and very much awkward silence.

Pyrrha had to keep from sweating out of sheer nervousness. Jaune, meanwhile, just stared up at the statue with a blank expression, though there was an almost peaceful look in his eyes.

"S-So, um, where did you just come from?" Pyrrha eventually managed to ask.

"The CCT. It's a place that would certainly be targeted, so I'd decided to stop by there to see if anything was amiss." Jaune turned his attention back to her. "But Atlas obviously understood its importance and already had plenty of guards there to protect it. I just took some time to speak with one of them about what had been going on before making my way here. Though I had felt something amiss…"

At that, Pyrrha's eyes went wide. "Really?"

He nodded. "I did… but there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. I made sure to sweep the surrounding area before leaving things be too." He then blinked slowly, as if just realizing something. "So why are you out here? What happened at the dance?"

"O-Oh, I just…" she trailed off, the emotions from before coming back now in full force. "I just couldn't bring myself to be there any longer."

Jaune looked surprised by her words and now turned to fully face her. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

She shook her head. "No, it's nothing too serious, it's just…" Again, she trailed off, unsure of what to say. But after some seconds of reconsidering, she decided to just admit the truth. "I… didn't… have a… a date."

Words could not describe the sheepishness she felt as she said those words.

But said sheepishness lasted only a split second before Jaune's befuddled expression filled her with some sense of bemusement. "You didn't have a date?" he asked to confirm.

"I didn't."

"How can that be? You're a great person."

Feeling her face turn almost as red as her own hair, Pyrrha managed to shoot back a reply. "…Ever since I've started to take part in tournaments, I started to be put on a pedestal by those around me. The Invincible Girl, people started to call me." She folded her arms under her breasts as she turned away from Jaune and the statue and took several steps away as well. "At first, it wasn't a particularly big deal, but after a while, things just… devolved. Before I knew it, I was lauded as a prodigy, heads and shoulders above others my age. All the time I'd spent training, the close calls I'd had during some fights, all of that time and effort ended up ignored in favor of my supposed talent and others only wished to get close me just so they can use my new fame for their own purposes… and then, when my apparent humble self became known to them, they simply left me all alone, out of some sense of awe, I suppose. After that, no one ever really bothered to approach me – they felt I was out of their league."

"…And so, by doing that, they isolated themselves from you," Jaune finished. "And in turn, isolated you from them."

She nodded. "With how things were like back home, I'd dreaded going to Haven academy. It's partially why I came here to Beacon. Except, lo and behold, my fame even extended across kingdoms. You, Nora, Ren, team RWBY… you're the only ones that have looked past all that. You're the only ones I can call friends."

"So that's why…" he mumbled as he approached her. "That's why you wanted me to come to the dance, right? To have all your friends there?"

She winced. He wasn't entirely wrong, but he wasn't right either. "Kind of, yes."

"I see…" He paused and then bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Pyrrha, I hadn't even thought of that."

This sudden gesture blindsided her. She looked at him in utter shook for a solid second before almost frantically waving her arms at him. "Wha-?! No, no! Jaune, you don't have to apologize for that! It's not like you could've known this!"

Indeed, if anyone was to really blame, it was herself. She was the one that had kept this all bottled up inside.

"…Even so. At the very least, I could afford to be more attentive," Jaune replied before promptly sighing.

Once again, silence reigned.

But this time, Pyrrha ended said silence even more quickly than before. "Say, Jaune."

"Yes?"

She opened her mouth to speak – only to suddenly close it, a trickle of fear suddenly overwhelming her. She then proceeded to open and close her mouth a few more times before finally summoning the strength to do what she'd wanted to do for a long time.

All this time, she and the others have only been learning about Jaune as a person in very small portions. Of them all, his past was perhaps the least known. While she wouldn't dare claim that as partners and friends that they needed to know everything about each other, Pyrrha felt that she should at the very least try to know something about Jaune's previous experiences.

After all, there was so many things about him now that just begged for explanations. And no explanations will ever be forthcoming if she never bothers asking.

"Won't you tell me about yourself?" she finally said.

"About myself?"

She nodded, firmly and without hesitation. "Yes. I-I mean, it's only fair, right? I just bore my heart out to you a minute ago, so…"

Jaune smiled a bit, clearly amused. She couldn't help but feel her face go red again, but she didn't try to hide it this time.

"Sounds fair," he then said. "After all, it is a nice night out."

Pyrrha could now return his smile with one of her own. "That it is."

"So… what do you wish to know?"

"I… I honestly don't know," Pyrrha muttered, a little embarrassed. She then laughed at the sheer absurdity of what was going on. To think leaving the dance would've had this kind of ending for her.

Jaune didn't join in on her laughter, but he did seem to relax a bit more, something the redhead silently counted as a success of sorts – he always took things too seriously, after all.

"Maybe," she began after settling down. "Maybe you could tell me how you got that scar? T-That is, if it's not a problem."

Jaune traced the scar on his face. "Oh, this? Well, it's not a problem per say… if anything, at the time of when I'd gotten it, I'd had more pressing concerns going on."

"…Then will you…?" Pyrrha began. "…Ah, and if it's okay as well, I'd like to hear about what you've done on the frontier too."

Jaune blinked. "I don't mind, but that's a pretty lengthy tale there."

"I've all night." Then to further emphasize her point, Pyrrha walked back to the statue and sat at the bench near it. She looked at Jaune eagerly. "The question is, though, do you have all night?"

Considering just how seriously he took things, Pyrrha was half-expecting him to maybe come up with an excuse right now so he could then go back to patrolling. She prayed like hell that this wouldn't end up being the case, however.

Her prayers came true right after.

"…I believe I do," Jaune answered, his entire figure relaxing completely. As his shoulders ceased to hunch up and his fingers fully uncurled, it struck Pyrrha that this was perhaps the first time in a very long time the blond had ever done so.

Walking up to the bench and taking a seat directly next to her, Jaune looked up at the broken moon above for a moment before uttering a question.

"So… you ready to be bored to death the whole night?" These words were asked with a quiet and rather awkward sense of playfulness, as if it's been an equally long time since he's done so.

This only made Pyrrha's smile grow that much more, her eyes almost lighting up as if to challenge him.

"Bring it on."

Not quite what you guys expected out of this chapter, eh? Heh, I bet it was a real surprise for there to be no fighting or anything of the like, especially after all the build up with Cinder's worrying about her plan. There is a reason, of course, for this red herring, however.

Firstly, the dance in and of itself wasn't anything too special hence why I didn't bother including any scenes of the others partying the night away or whatever.

Secondly, Jaune isn't always going to be stonewalling Cinder and the other antagonists every step of the way, hence why Cinder was able to finally pull off a 'win' here in such an anti-climatic fashion. It's just not reasonable for him to be involved in literally every single affair/conflict.

And thirdly, it was time to really begin examining him as a character. I may have initially done so when Blake had spoken to him following the docks incident, but ever since then nothing truly forthcoming had occurred on that front. So, what better way to start this part of the story back up than with Pyrrha, his partner?

Now, this isn't to say that this is the start of anything special between them… nor is it to say that there won't be anything special between them. It's just the first of many future scenes where Jaune will be opening up to others more about himself and actually relaxing.

But worry not – up next is Beacon giving out missions to the students. And that's where the action will really be beginning. Look forward to it!

Until next time, everyone. Take care!