Coco traced her finger across the rim of her cup before she lifted it to drink the first sip of coffee of the day. She had a hard time pulling back the smile from her favorite drink.
Ah!
Breakfast on a friday. A holy time in a young huntress life. This mornings' ritual is the weekly tithe to the grim slaying gods so she may kill one more grim today than the last. She looks around to either side of her teammates, finding a disturbance in her highly attuned sens- "OW."
"You deserve it Fox. You been muttering to yourself all morning." Coco leveled a raised eyebrow to Velvet who looked like she had been straining to keep a straight face. "Muttering to Velvet for a while now." She corrected. "Two more classes and we're done for the week. You figure out what we're doing Velvet? Or are you going to try and narrate my life all weekend?"
"Pool or movie. I would rather do the pool. We'll not have too much sun in the next month."
Coco nodded and let the group decide on their own. She set her cup down and looked around the dining hall. When it comes to early mornings, it was rare to have a few teams up and about. This morning there was actually only one team that looked fully ready to fight grim… Coco had never paid attention to the seniors above her grade, but ever since Jaune had taken to lead them into the forest to clear grim, she started to actively watch them. Jaune never did tell her why Beacon wanted the seniors to work in groups. The sudden change put off every second and third year. The school had never done this before.
Coco had almost forgotten that the seniors would have been up for hours. But it was rare to see them awake in the dining hall at this hour. Too early for classes but way too late if they had gone to the forest.
"You're staring Coco." Fox said, interrupting her thoughts.
Coco hummed to herself. It made Fox turn around to see what she had been staring at. His aura senses only read developed aura's. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Coco asked, "Velvet what are those guys talking about?"
Velvet's ears twitched subconsciously turning her focus even before she meant to. She scowled at Coco for a second and listened. "They found some kind of print in a ravine. The teams were all recalled after finding it. The teachers were not happy whatever it was. They are talking about what it could have been. The afternoon sweep was cancelled too."
Coco rubbed her temple and looked down at her scroll. Jaune had been silent for a few days. He usually said a good morning or a good night, but she did not get either of those for a day.
Coco found it hard to actually describe what it felt like to be Jaune Arc's girlfriend. But she knew there were times where it was just stressful. Yatsu had been her hero in all this. He was the one that told her to be patient with the man. It was what got Coco to really look carefully whenever Jaune came back from a mission. The days he stayed at Beacon were the ones she was the most relieved. Whenever he was off on a case for a long time, when he came back…
"You've been doing this all week. Just go by his room tonight, you know he doesn't mind."
It was a credit to her team that none of them intended any innuendo. Fox stood up. "Let's get to class."
The team gave a round of grunts as they stood up together and left.
Coco exhaled and started to walk after her team. Fox was right. One more class in the afternoon. She could focus now and contemplate later.
Even those thoughts didn't alleviate Coco's boredom in class. She was very disappointed when she found that History would always be her last class of the week. She had to double check when she first read her schedule. Coco would write a note or two before she looked around the class. She could focus, but it seemed like every history teacher tended to drone on about the facts before getting into the interesting things like why figures made those decisions. At least this guy didn't' talk as fast as Doctor Oobleck. Didn't move as fast as him either. Her neck was spared the whiplash this year it seemed.
Eventually the class ended. Yatsuhashi and Velvet had already started plans on what they wanted to do for the weekend. Coco tuned them out. It sounded like a trip to the pool before it got too cold. She wondered if Jaune would have the time.
Coco checked her scroll and sighed in disappointment. Nothing. Back in the dorm she slumped on her bed while the boys went to check out keys to go to the pool. "Velvet?" Coco asked.
"What's up?" Velvet had already put on her bathing suit and was looking for her beach towel in the closet.
"When did I get this mopy?"
"You mean this time?"
Coco tossed her scroll across the bed. "It's been that bad?"
Velvet laughed and rolled up the towel and grabbed her sun tan lotion. "Coco. You've been like this since you met him and realized he wouldn't be around very often."
Coco covered her face with her pillow. "I used to be a badass."
"You still are, now you got a guy you like. It's not the end of the world." The rabbit faunus reasoned. "Have you really changed that much? Not really. You still dress us up like we are your dolls when we go shopping. You scare the hell out of Fox when you disappear. And Yatsu pulls you by your collar when you need a leash." Velvet laughed at the pillow that landed on the floor near her feet. Velvet picked it up and tossed it back to Coco's bed.
"But I didn't used to feel this way." Coco sat up and kicked her shoes off. She started to think the pool would be a good place to cool her head off.
"You are worried about him. You care. I am sure it's hard for the both of you since you guys are never together unless you both make the effort. It would test any relationship. What is it exactly that's bothering you?"
"It's just…" Coco thought of Jaune and sighed. She didn't want to bring it up with Velvet. It wasn't like Coco was heart broken that she couldn't see Jaune all the time.
How do you describe to your friends it is always scary the first time Jaune comes back from a case? A big one. Every time she saw him come back, he was a little different. Yatsu warned her that a patrolman's life was hard. Patrolman are worn. He had told her.
Coco thought she might have been able to help with that. It was an optimistic thought. But every time he came back. There was a shadow behind his smiles. An exhaustion- no, a fear in him. Coco did not have the words to describe this horrible feeling that has hung over her since Jaune went on his new case. "This case he is working on is different from the others. I don't know…" She finished uselessly.
Velvet was about to say something but paused. "Something's up, the boys are running up the stairs." Velvet ran to the bathroom to change back into her regular clothes.
Fox ran in first. "Turn on the news. There's been a shooting in downtown. The city is on lock down. Beacon is too."
"Why are we?"
Yatsu walked into the dorm. "Not sure, but it was the only reason we checked the news. The office said that all after school activities are cancelled. There should be an announcement soon."
Coco flipped on the news. The news broadcast overlooked downtown square. It was mostly empty and the chairs platforms had been abandoned. Eventually the intercom for the school came on.
Attention. Students-
"That's Ozpin." Fox muttered.
Are to return to their dorms. Further instructions will be announced.
The line went off and Coco sighed and turned the channel. "This was the event Jaune was organizing."
"I'm sure he's fine Coco." Yatsu assured her. "They would have said something if someone was killed."
-o-
Fox and Velvet looked up before the whine of the horns was loud enough for their teammates. Team CFVY gathered around the window to look at the city's dotted city lights. The whine turned into a roar the way it echoed off the water of the black lake. There was no moon out tonight.
Attention. Third year students are to arm themselves for possible grim invasion and wait on standby in the cafeteria. This is not a drill. Second year students are to secure their dorms and await further instructions.
Yatsu turned on the television and watched the scramble of news. "I"ve never seen the signal this scrambled outside of my home village." Through the signal distortion they heard a woman's broadcast.
"-have found grim invading the train yard. Current huntsmen have responded to the attack. All civilians are to retreat to the shelters immediately. Follow police directives."
The screen changed to a scroll of the text followed by a camera watching over the train yard depot. The camera could barely make out spot lights on the train a ways from the depot building. An hour later the feed was cut and dead air was all the channels picked up.
Coco turned off the monitor and fidgeted with her boots. It seemed like no one wanted to talk.
"Coco, Fox you are both going to wear yourselves out like that. Sit down and find something to occupy your time." Yatsu reminded them.
Coco looked over to Fox who seemed intent on staring out the window. Coco sighed. "Stop that Fox. Conserve your aura."
Fox grunted before he got up from his seat and deliberately sat on the opposite side of the window.
Third years are to dispatch to the bullheads. Rally at the train depot with Patrolman Arc. He will issue orders.
The line went dead and Coco stood up and paced. She was relieved he was safe. It was impossible to know how bad it was, but they had not called all huntsmen yet from the school. And it had been hours before they needed to call the third years.
The side that studied these tactics knew better than to lie to herself. If they were calling students it did not look good. "Guys get your gear and let's get to the lobby. They'll call second years next."
The group was quiet when they gathered their gear. A team from across the hall opened their door. He stared at Coco and her team before he nodded. "Cypress Team, let's go."
That seemed to be the signal as team leaders called out to their teams when they opened their doors and walked down the stairs to follow. Coco glanced at the clock and resisted the urge to yawn. Two in the morning.
Second year students in building three, report to the infirmary for incoming wounded. Second years students from building seven report to the bullhead terminals to clear incoming flying grim.
"That's our signal kids!" Coco shouted to fire herself up. The lobby of students roared as they ran out of dorm seven to the bullhead pads. Bullheads circled the air attempting to clear the grim that had latched themselves onto the ships.
Glynda Goodwitch stood on the platform with a communication headset on her ear. "Beacon to Bullheads, Beacon's call sign changed to Medial Site Three, emergency ships land first." The professor looked over to the students, "Two bullheads are making emergency landings. Clear the grim so we may transport the injured."
"Team Coffee take point." She looked over to Citrine.
He nodded in agreement. "Team Cypress take center left." The other teams followed their lead and called out the bullheads they would clear of grim.
The first ship landed in a near crash. The three gryphon grim had burrowed into the ships' left engine which made it impossible for the aircraft to slow to a safe landing. Velvet and Fox jumped up to the ship when it came to a full stop on the landing pad and attacked the first grim's wings. Velvet vaulted over the grim and thrust a kick downward against the joint of its wing. Fox used his blades to slice at the point the wing bent. The grim screeched before the two kicked the grim off the ship. Yatsu received the grim with a slice of his sword bisecting it in two.
Coco swung her purse upward at the second grim when it thought she was vulnerable. The head bent backwards before she swung wide in a hook to crush the mask with the butt end of her purse.
"Conserve aura." She ordered. She looked up and saw more grim had followed the air ships.
-o-
Coco sat on the floor against the wall. She ran out of water but was too tired to go get more. The fights with the grim were never long. But there were so many small skirmishes as bullheads unloaded injured huntsmen and loaded dust before they flew back to the trainyard.
She had learned from the injured huntsmen that hundreds of grim had spawned inside the train yard. They had never seen it before. The lines held them at bay, but barely. One huntsman said he was not sure how they would launch a counter attack at this rate. They were just holding the line.
Sooner than she expected the intercom announced that most of the fighting was over. The defensive line held. The grim were finally thinning out. Coco had not fought any flying grim for at least an hour and her team took turns napping through the night.
She did not know how Yatsu was able to lean that far down and still be technically considered sitting up while his head rested against her shoulder. But Velvet looked like she was laying on top of him for as large as Yatsu was.
"You can sleep too Coco. The aura at the train station is getting stronger. They seemed to either have gotten more backup or people are returning to the line rested."
"Fox... stop using your aura. You need to rest too."
"I will once I know for sure that the fighting is over." Coco didn't blame him. The ships had stopped coming, but they were both waiting to see if their team would be called to the front lines like the third years. One of the teams came back early. Some poor third year nearly lost his arm from the shoulder on. The grim that mauled him had gnawed him until his aura broke.
"There's word! White Fang used suicide members to spawn grim!"
Coco opened her scroll. She was not the only one. Every student that was awake pulled their scroll. Slowly Yatsu and Velvet awoke from the stir. Coco showed them her scroll. Reports were hazy at best this early in the morning. After another hour, daylight broke the skyline.
All students not currently active on projects are dismissed back to your dormitories. Thank you for defending our home.
Coco exhaled in relief at Professor Goodwitch's announcement. "I am ready to sleep." But even as she said it, she felt like going in a different direction.
"You know he won't be there yet right? And when he does he'll just go to sleep." Coco looked at where she was going and raised her shades to rub her eyes. "I know." Coco pulled her scroll and simply sent a text.
Call me.
-o-
Coco woke up in her dorm by herself. The huntress stood up and grabbed her scroll. She was only marginally disappointed when Jaune had not messaged her. Coco showered and sleepily put on her clothes. She was fully awake as she checked every angle to make sure she looked decent enough to leave the dorm. It seemed she had slept for only six hours at most before her stomach woke her up. She messaged Yatsu who said everyone is in the cafeteria
He meant everyone. Both third and second years crowded around scrolls.
She found her team watching something. Fox turned to her looking bored. "Someone recorded the fights. Doesn't do anything for me though."
Velvet blushed."I'm doing my best."
Fox flinched. "Sorry Velvet I didn't mean that you weren't helping. I appreciate the narration."
Coco sat down to resume watching it. Apparently is as a single video that lasted three hours. "Coco. Just to warn you, some people die in this."
Coco nodded. She appreciated the warning. She had an idea what a kill box was and how it was supposed to work. But the way the huntsmen coordinated the terrain was something else. One side would collapse into the box. When the grim turned to commit to attacking the vanguard. the other side of the killbox would collapse and attack the rear. There were a few moments in the flurry of activity that both sides were just a swirl of black mass. What bothered Coco the most was half of the time, they had been fighting in the dark.
There was a gasp and whimper from behind her. Apparently a team knew someone that had died or was wounded on the video they were watching. Coco found out there were actually a number of students who had the same thought and set their scrolls down and press the record button.
In coming!
Yatsu paused the video. "Coco. Jaune is in this video. I'm sorry. Forgot to mention that."
"So he's ok?"
Yatsu nodded but she noticed Velvet shuffle near Fox. "You'll see." Yatsu resumed the video.
Five large ones, two swarms. They like to hug the walls! Jaune screamed as he ran across the empty kill box and up the wall. He let his momentum carry him the final few feet and jumped to pivot inplace. The camera didn't move to follow him. But she was able to hear his panted voice. The ripped clothing was just as alarming to watch.
Moments later the camera refocused on the changing shapes that ran through the choke point. A mass of small grim the size of locusts flew low to the ground and piled the walls and tried to attach themselves to the top of the train carts to fly over. The small grim began to jump over the train carts.
The line is breached! Huntsmen fall back to the next kill box zone. I need four emitting huntsman to burn the grim! Someone screamed. The scroll was picked up by a white hand. The pants and wheezes of a dozen huntsmen were all they heard from the black screen.
Up the train. Up damn you!
I need a spot light!
The screen uprighted itself right in front of a spot light that hovered over four huntsmen volunteers. The four were quickly surrounded by the locust grim as the grim jumped to envelop the huntsmen. The four desperately tried to clear as much grim as they could. Waves of aura and dust flashed the screen white. When the fire cleared only two of the huntsmen remained. The slowest one released a pained cry that echoed off the metal for his sister that never followed him back.
Coco stood up. Velvet patted her shoulder. "He should be back."
Coco nodded and started to walk away. She spotted a few apples and grabbed a bag to fill it. Her appetite was gone but she forced herself to eat something on the way to Jaune's apartment.
The cry of that one guy felt too real for her. She just needed to make sure Jaune was okay.
When she opened the door she knew he was already back. His slow snoring was a gift. She smiled and set down the bag on the table and walked towards the bed room. She didn't mind napping next to him again. She nearly stepped on his hoodie. It was tossed uselessly on the floor. She shook her head as she lifted it. It was his favorite thing in the wor-
When she fully spread it out she saw the number of rips and tears. The black residue of grim remains covered most of the front. The happy cartoon rabbit that sat in the center had two large tears in it where something clawed his chest. Signs of blood darkened the cloth in blotches. Coco set the hoodie on the chair and walked into the room.
Even after she was alarmed by the blood on his hoodie, she had to smile. It was always the same position with him. He slept heavily, flat on his stomach. His head turned to the center of the bed. He wore simple boxers. She ignored them in favor of the bandages that wrapped his chest and arms.
Coco sat on his bed and watched as he did not even stir. She rolled onto the bed and looked at him. He snored lightly and would pause to swallow and puff before his breathing went back to normal. Coco lookat at his bandages. She remembered the one on the chest of his hoodie and had an idea she would see a large scar on his chest when it was fully healed. Coco sighed as she took Jaune's bandaged hand.
That's right, these will never fully heal. He will always have scars. It was only something huntsmen who were low on aura during a fight truly experience. She had received plenty of deep cuts and gashes herself but her aura guaranteed they always healed cleanly and markless.
Jaune would never have that. She looked down his exposed body and knew every mark he received last night would stay. She held his hand. He flinched at that one. "It's always going to be like this, isn't it?" Coco hated the quiet resignation in her voice.
Jaune will always return marked more and more. He was so young but he would have more scars than the most experienced huntsmen. Coco held his bandaged hand carefully. It did not seem to be the worst, but it was the most sensitive. She closed her eyes and thought of the video. He had been in front of grim that could have killed him all night. He would change again. There would be a little less of him now. There is no way he could stay the same after this. The thought made Coco tremble.
Coco thought she had woken him up when she exhaled an unsteady breath. His eyes were furrowed and his body began to sweat. "Shh. It's ok." Coco whispered into his bandaged palm.
When he still shook, Coco moved both hands to his bandaged one and kissed his fingers. She didn't want to try and wake him. So instead she sang:
I set sail tonight… for the morning light…
Push on… Push on… So close to dawn.
So close to you… I push through and through
My strength 's in you…
Coco teared. Her voice broke. She really liked this song when Jaune sang it. She only remembered the first few words. She rubbed her cheek to his hand.
My love, my champion,
my sweet stable boy.
Coco watched as Jaune finally began to relax.
Know that I'll be here, so sleep, and rest.
And see me in "the morning." She finished in a whisper.
Coco suddenly felt drained but pulled closer to him and hummed what she remembered as she held his hand. With no more energy left in her, she fell asleep to the slow sound of his breathing.
-o-
The soft murmur of background noise woke her up. Her stomach growled again. Coco looked around and realized Jaune was not in bed. She laid back for a moment before she rolled out of his bed. The huntress sighed when she saw Janue sat on the couch. He clicked his scroll and played an audio file.
She cleared her throat as she realized she was about to listen to something that was probably classified. "Jaune?"
Jaune looked up and smiled weakly at her then stopped the audio recording. The bags under his eyes along with his pale skin made Coco anxious. "Morning Wench."
Coco smiled at the name and walked around to sit on his good side. "I guess it is morning." She looped her arm under his and laced their fingers together. She reached up and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you are back. I was worried."
"I'm sorry."
Coco just accepted the apology. "Third years recorded the grim invasion. I saw a little bit."
Jaune looked up ready to say something but thought better of it. Instead he just said, "It's good that you know what the worst of it can look like."
"Is it always that bad?" Coco leaned her head on his shoulder.
"That was the worst I've seen it. But we may see more." Jaune inhaled sharply. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that to you."
Coco understood. She had no idea what to say. Coco just knew that he was still wound up. It was harder to do it without wrapping her arms around him, but she leaned gently against his arm until he seemed to relax. "When you are all healed up lets go out. Let's spend time with friends. Lets just be kids for a while."
Jaune smile was bitter. "I'm… not sure I know how to do that anymore."
Coco closed her eyes and buried her face against his shoulder. "I'll teach you. I'll teach you all about how to be a teenager. How to have fun and enjoy just being young. But can you promise me something?"
Jaune still looked exhausted. His usual cold surveying eyes lacked that edge. "Anything for you Coco." he said before he closed his eyes and let his forehead touch the side of hers.
Coco stood up and carefully straddled his legs. She gently pressed her lips against his. "Let someone help you. You can't shoulder everything by yourself. If it can't be me, find someone to share everything with." Coco hovered her arms around his shoulders and gave the gentlest hug she could. Even then she felt him flinch in her arms.
Coco leaned back to look at him. She was relieved to see he was really listening to her. "I know you are doing a lot of work by yourself. I know you have things you can't tell me. I understand all of that. So I want you to find someone you can trust. Your not unbreakable and I want to see you come back to me whole." She leaned forward and hugged him. This time he reached up and pulled her closer. She knew that must have been painful. But he squeezed her anyway. As if to desperately never let her go.
Still, she whispered into his ear, "I love you Jaune. So please? Get some help?"
A/N: You know how you need to cut scenes to help the flow of the main story? The tone of the two parts did not mesh well, especially the endings.
I tried a few things while writing the last chapter from extending the last chapter (felt bloated). I thought of forcing it all into two chapters, (felt like I would be doing pointless filler). Try and make this a separate story for the things outside of Jaune's point of view (This chapter was too important for it to be seen as supplementary). So I thought an epilogue was a happy middle ground. This was just too important to cut, and it's a nice bookend to the White Fang arc.
Again thank you for the reviews. I'm looking at towards the end of August for the next chapter. But it's summer so maybe I will have more time. See you all next chapter!