Contrary to popular opinion, Jaune Arc is not a oblivious idiot that sucked at fighting.
He in fact was getting better at fighting thanks to his training with Weiss, who also was helping with his studies to get him up to an 'acceptable standard'. Which of course meant straight B grades or higher.
So that just left an oblivious student with reasonable knowledge that was slightly better at fighting than before.
And even then, his reputation as oblivious was overstated and played up by his friends, mostly Yang, Ruby and Nora.
An example of him not being oblivious, was with Pyrrha nikos. when they first met in the Beacon court yard he attempted to flirt with her. And to his eternal surprise she accepted it and even flirted back. Granted both of their flirting was absolutely abysmal and they both knew it, but it was flirting none the less. Even after her celebrity status was revealed and they were put onto different teams, they continued this game of flirting. It was giving Jaune the confidence to do something he had never considered before.
He was going to ask Pyrrha on a date.
Of course, he was terrified that she would say no, but he promise himself he would try over the Halloween break. And an Arc never breaks his promises.
There was just one problem.
He had no idea on how to ask a girl on an actual date.
Sure his dad had told him a few pick up lines, and Jaune had been forced to watch some romance movies with his sisters, but that was the limit of his romantic knowledge.
As such, he needed some outside help.
He considered many options, he couldn't ask Pyrrha for advice on how to ask herself out obviously, Yang would tease him and just tell Pyrrha afterwards, Ruby would try to help but she just wasn't the type to keep secrets. Blake was considered for a while, but Jaune decided not to, seeing as the most they had ever talked together was at Ruby's birthday party on Halloween about the upcoming spruce Willis film. So Jaune crossed her off the list.
That just left jaune with the other members of his team.
He really needed more friends.
Taking a deep breath, Jaune entered his team's dorm room.
As usual, Weiss was at her desk doing the homework they had gotten today, while Ren was busy playing a card game with Nora. It was a very complex one that Nora had found in a thrift shop, and was insistent on mastering.
Going over to Weiss, Jaune took a seat next to the heiress, who stopped writing her sentence to look at him.
"Evening Jaune." Weiss said pleasantly, "Where were you?" She inquired.
Scratching the back of his head, Jaune answered "Just... took a walk."
Weiss nodded and turned back to her work, probably assuming that Jaune would be bringing out work of his own.
But contrary to what Weiss was probably expecting, Jaune instead cleared his throat and spoke to the heiress. "Weiss... I, uh, need your help." Jaune said awkwardly, inwardly cringing at his own tone.
His team leader then straightened up in her seat and turned to Jaune.
"What do you need?" She asked him, tone slightly concerned.
Jaune turned red as he struggled to find the right words.
"I, uh ,I mean a- I kinda, want your advice." He stammered out, "On how to ask Pyrrha out on a date..." He finished so quietly that he could barely hear himself, while his face was a lovely red colour due to embarrassment.
"What-" Weiss barely got out, before Nora catapulted across the room, pulled Jaune from his chair and started shaking him senseless. "YOUR ASKING PYRRHA ON A DATE!?" The lightning viking exclaimed so loudly, that Jaune was suddenly very glad all beacon dorms were sound proofed.
"Yes." Jaune weakly got out as he felt the familiar feeling of vomit coming up his throat due to her intense shaking.
Nora then gave a small squeal of delight, and let go of Jaune, who became a small heap on the floor.
Still sitting, Weiss looked down at jaune, "So you are asking Pyrrha on a date?" She asked quizzically.
"Yep." He groaned out as Weiss offered and, which he took, getting him back into his seat. "And I need you guys to give me some advice on how to do it."
Weiss hummed neutrally, while Ren came over and joined the group.
"Well if you want my advice." Ren started, "You should just ask her tomorrow at breakfast." The green ninja advised him.
Nora, being Nora, agreed with Ren immediately. "Yeah! You should listen, Ren is like wise about this kind of stuff, he's like super wise, like Ozpin or an old lady." Nora said cheerily.
Weiss nodded in agreement. "It does seem like the right move."
Jaune blinked. "That's it? No crazy schemes? No build up? Just...ask?" The white knight questioned. It seemed too simple.
Weiss shrugged, "As my sister once told me, the simplest solution is often the best solution."
"Alright. But what about her teammate? I don't want to be teased by Yang." Jaune asked worryingly.
"We can distract them for you." Ren promised at the same time Nora yelled. "We'll break their legs!"
"We'll, uh thanks guy's." He thanked his teammates awkwardly, but relived. It was good to know that his team had his back.
"Your welcome." Weiss smiled genuinely. "Now get out your books, we need to go over today's homework. it may be Friday, but that is no excuse to slack off."
"Aye, aye ice queen." Nora saluted. causing Weiss to give a shout of indignation, while Jaune grinned and got out his books.
He hoped everyone else was have a good a night as he was.
He slouched down in his bed, the test had went poorly, only a C, his dad would kill him when he found out.
He turned to his cat.
"You know Loki." Mused David, "I should probably study more."
His cat mewed in agreement and then the door flew open-
"-I'm telling you, it's true!" Tucker insisted, causing Wash to roll his eyes.
"You want me to believe that Sarge of all people, knocked Tex out?" He asked his friend who threw his arms up, knocking over their meal.
"Yes!" Then we had to use one of my awesome plans to spring her out." Tucker bragged.
Wash leaned in. "That's not what Church tells me." He told the aqua/teal sim trooper, who-
-Rolled his eye. "i still can't believe that you fell for that." York told Washington, who continued to fire at the enemy.
"This isn't the time!" He yelled at his friend who gave a small chuckle from his place in cover.
"Oh come on Wash, you know what then say, no time like-"
"-The present." He finish as he looked at his daughter, causing the little red head to give a small frown.
"But I wanna wait up for moooommmmm." His little angel whined out, he gave a small chuckle.
"She'll be here in the morning." He patted her back. "Now off to bed, no-"
"Excuses." The director finished coldly, Wash shifted under his gaze but Carolina remained firm.
"Of course sir." They both repeated.
"Dismissed." The pair left him and walked along the corridor.
Gathering up his courage, Wash spoke up, "Hey Carolina are you ready for the mission?"
Carolina scoffed, "I think the real question is-"
"-Are you sure, you three can hold this corridor?" Carolina asked, full of concern.
Wash nodded. "We can hold it." He promised her, causing Sarge and Caboose to give their own nods of agreement.
"Yeah, just go and get that dirtbag." Sarge told them, referring to Hargrove.
Kimball spoke up, "Good luck and stay safe."
"Yeah, kick their ass." Tucker encouraged from the Meta's suit. It was funny he looked nothing like-
-Maine actually spoke in protest. "Too high."
"Oh, don't be a baby." Carolina told him, you could practically hear her eyes rolling as she kicked him out the window.
It was funny Maine always was-
-afraid of heights and that was how the meta had finally died.
Ironic.
"You wanna get moving Wash?" Tucker called over.
"give me a few minutes!" wash called back in his new cobalt blue armour.
He still couldn't believe they had saved him from prison. They had no real reason to and hell, he had even shot some of their friends.
But they had given him a second chance anyway. He did not intend to waste it.
Still, before making new friends, he had to say goodbye to the old.
"Goodbye Maine." He told the ocean from the side of the sidewinder cliff. "You might have been a broken and terrible person, especially towards the end. But... I still remember a time when you, where my friend."
Washington sighed, looking out towards the old, he then turned to the new.
Maine was gone for good. But it was time to move on.
His new friends had given him a second chance.
He would not waste it.
His armour was shattered and weapon empty.
Slumped over, he could see Sarge dragging Caboose away, blood flowing from blue armour's visor.
A bullet shattered red armour, Sarge fell with a cry of pain.
His friends were in trouble.
Taking out his pistol wash charged, ready to die for his friends-
Then Ruby Rose woke up.
With heavy breathing, Ruby pulled herself upright in her bed.
She took a few moments to calm herself, taking deep breaths as she thought about what had happened.
Were those Wash's memories?
And if they were, why was she only seeing them in her dreams now?
Looking around, she saw that everyone as still asleep, including the blues and reds.
Including Wash.
Ruby slumped back down into her bed. Wash's memory had been fragmented and jumpy, going from place to place on a whim.
And that last memory...
When ever she asked, what the last thing they remembered before arriving in Remnant was, the answer was always the same.
Sarge and Caboose where preparing for a last stand on the Staff Of Charon. Wash was seconds from boarding the same ship. Then it was very foggy, and then they were on Patch, with her, at her mothers grave.
Could that memory fragment be the missing piece?
She would have to talk about it to the guy's tomorrow.
And despite her own optimism, she had a very bad feeling about this development.
Still, it could wait until tomorrow.
And with that Ruby snuggled into her blankets and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
Notes:
Well, that was fun to write.
Here I introduce our first look at what's happening with Jaune in his head in this crossover, and with Pyrrha and Jaune being on different teams and Pyrrha not putting herself into a teacher/student/best friend role, I feel that romance could indeed bloom in these new circumstances.
Not much to note about Wash's memories, other than I really had fun with it, and enjoyed hinting at what happened to our favourite trio before they entered Remnant. It should also be noted that this will have some consequences later in the story. Feel free to guess at what they may be.
I would like to thank everyone who suggested RvB characters to put into this crossover, some of them have given me great ideas and made me rewrite the outline.
As always, I would like to thank everyone for reading.
All reviews, comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.
Next time, we'll be checking in with the bad guys and Qrow, so please look forward to that.
Thank you everyone for reading, and i'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.