When the pair would arrive at the bar in question, Jaune was beginning to sense that something was a bit off about the girl next to him.
Despite this, he had started talking to her about how he ended up going to the bar in the first place, relaying the whole story to her in a manner that made him feel like he was going through déjà vu, primarily due to him just telling Weiss the story in the past... The dream...?
Before. He had told Weiss the story already before.
As they neared their destination, he finished telling her of how Ren had talked to him before leaving him to his own devices, before asking her a question.
"What exactly led to YOU going there?" Jaune asked.
She looked up, seeing the bar, then ran a hand along her hair.
"I just... Had a lot on my mind." She said.
"Like what?" Jaune asked. "I thought you'd be happy, now that the group is back together."
She crossed her arms.
"It's more than just that." She said. "Just because I'm surrounded by friends doesn't mean that I automatically feel better about things."
(Though she'd said this, she mentally wondered if she would feel better if Mercury had been there.
RWBY and the others seemed rather tight-knit, and they seemed rather happier together than apart.
Would she feel the same if Mercury were here?
Probably not.
He'd probably just laugh at her expense, knowing him.
She could see it in her mind's eye now.
"How'd you get hitched with DORK KNIGHT of all people?" He'd probably say with great laughter, using the pseudonym he'd made up for Jaune in the span of time he'd spent trying to get to know JNPR.)
"So the stuff with Raven is still bothering you?" Jaune guessed.
She seemed to think it over.
"Maybe. Life hasn't exactly been the easiest, between Ruby running off, and then it turning out Raven was working with Cinder."
"I see." Jaune frowned. "We were just trying to help Ruby out when we left together. Sorry about that Yang."
She looked over to him.
"You didn't think I'd worry about her?" She asked, and though Jaune expected some level of anger come from this statement, he only heard curiosity.
It didn't spare his own guilt on the matter though.
"We figured it would make you and your Dad worry. Especially with everything that happened." Jaune admitted with a sigh. "It's no excuse for it, but we wanted to help Ruby out in getting here."
"What about your family?" Yang asked. "Why leave them to help Ruby? You know they're probably worried right now too, right?"
"Probably." Jaune sighed. "But Ren and Nora are my family too now. And so is Ruby, as far as I'm concerned. I know it's not the best thing to do, but... We had to do SOMETHING, to help."
Yang seemed to think it over.
"I guess it worked out. But you'll DEFINITELY have some explaining to do when you get home." She told him.
"Assuming I get the chance." Jaune said.
His casualness in saying this made her raise an eyebrow.
Seeing this, he looked away.
"Sorry. I've just been getting into more and more life or death situations. You guys are pretty good in a fight, but... I'm still pretty useless, in comparison." His mirthful chuckle made her frown. "I mean, losing my head like I did when I saw Cinder... I really messed up there."
(Emerald thought back to it, then mentally sighed.)
"I guess I'm not the only one with a lot on their mind?" She asked.
"I guess."
(Emerald glanced to the sky for a few moments, wondering briefly about her next words before speaking up.)
"Look, Jaune, you might be in over your head... But so are the rest of us, honestly. Just look at me. I thought it was a good idea to try jumping down between two Maidens and a Huntress with twice my experience. Anyone would think that's suicide." She told him.
"Not when it's you." Jaune replied simply.
"Even I lost a fight or two." She told him curtly. "But I'm still swinging. Not because I'm always sure every swing will be the one to SAVE THE DAY or whatever," she gestured her hands in a faux dramatic manner, "but... Because that's the path I chose in life. Not letting my fear control me."
(Though she understood that the entire act she put on as Yang was a lie, the false words she'd wrung up from her memories of the girl, meshed with this all being an attempt to cheer this guy up, made her chest constrict faintly.
Part of her thought back to Cinder, how she presented herself as an inflappable force of nature not to be trifled with the moment she got her Maiden powers.
She wondered, however briefly, if fear was a growing factor in her decision to stay with Cinder.
As quickly as this notion wafted itself into her mind however, another part of her mind laid the truth out bluntly to her: That her reasons for helping Cinder, even then, were much deeper than a surface level fear.
The reason she kept questioning it was simple: she just kept opting to ignore it, which barred her from fully understanding her feelings, thus creating a monotonous cycle of confusion that begot willing ignorance, and willing ignorance that begot more confusion.
Emerald, understanding such a blatant thing, did not deem this self-assessment to be untrue.
Instead, she did as she always did: She continued ignoring it.)
"I... I had the choice to fight for a world, without Salem or the others. And even if the odds might have seemed bad, I still chose that." She said to him.
"Yang... I know you're trying to cheer me up. But it's still something I have to face eventually." Jaune said. "I screwed up. And that screw up almost cost us one of our friends. I don't know what my role or purpose in this group is supposed to be. Part of me feels like I'm just dead weight dragging everyone down. Even with my semblance, there's no telling if that's going to change. So... The least I can do is try to avoid making dumb or rash decisions. That's what I realize now. I can't get better if I don't take a reality check. I may not be able to help you guys as much as I wish I could. But I want to at least be more than what I have been."
Yang gazed at him for a few moments, then nodded.
"Alright."
They stopped in front of the bar, and Jaune paused briefly.
"What's wrong?" Yang asked him.
"What you said before is getting to me again." Jaune said, before shaking his head. "But we have to face the consequences eventually."
He pushed his hand against the door, opening it up to go inside.
Walking inside, Jaune looked about at the seemingly empty drinking area, Yang strolling in casually behind him.
He stepped inside after her, looking about, but being unsure of what to say to get the answers.
Yang seemed a step ahead however.
"Excuse me?" She asked the bartender working then.
The woman glanced up at her curiously, but there seemed to be a level of recognition in her expression upon seeing her as his companion acted to question her.
(Emerald, understanding how vital it was not to mess this up, manipulated Jaune's hearing as she spoke to the woman before her.
"You wouldn't happen to know the person on shift here a couple nights ago, would you?" She asked.
To Jaune's manipulated senses, she made it sound like she'd said, "You wouldn't happen to know the person that was working here yesterday night, would you?" for the sake of keeping the illusion up.)
"Yeah. It was me." The bartender nodded, raising an eyebrow. "What brings you two back here? I didn't think you and your boyfriend would be here again."
"Well, we were just hoping to get an idea of what happened while we were here last time." Yang responded, crossing her arms over the counter.
"You... don't remember?" The bartender asked, surprised.
"No, no," she waved her hand with an air of nonchalance, before running a hand down her head, "we drank WAAAY too much. Neither of us really remember what happened after we left here."
The bartender gazed at her, then chuckled faintly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You guys certainly left an impression." She said.
A pit formed in Jaune's stomach, and Yang's expression became a bit more tense, at the ideas of what could bring about such a response.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Yang asked.
They were not prepared for what they ended up learning.
Two days prior to then, after the Battle at Haven had ended, the bartender was hearing a large amount of buzz from the nightly visitors.
She had accustomed herself to her shift in her time working there, and she recognized many different familiar faces of those that were in the area.
Some people didn't always come regularly, but she remembered those that did, along with how much people were able to drink before they got too drunk.
That night came in a blonde guy a bit younger than her decked out in armor and a sheathed sword on his side, over casual clothes.
"... Hello." She said placidly.
"Hello." He said in response. "Are... Weapons allowed in here?"
"Yeah, just as long as you don't use them." She said with a shrug. "Is this your first time around here?"
"Y-Yeah." He nodded. "I wanted to try drinking for the first time."
"Really?" She asked. "I wouldn't recommend it. It's not the best sort of habit to get into."
This hadn't been the first completely unfamiliar face she'd seen up to that point that night, though the other person, a dark skinned girl with lime green hair, had just asked how much the drinks cost there.
She was in the back of the bar drinking by herself at that point, and the blonde, in contrast, sat at the counter chair, asking what she recommended to him, and after serving a light drink, he notably didn't take it well but kept at it.
Someone eventually came and talked to the blonde, a rather pretty looking young man with raven black hair and a single magenta streak, and they talked about a number of things relating to guilt, fuck-ups and other pleasant stuff like that, after which the pretty boy left.
As the minutes ticked along, the blonde ran out of money, and the dark skinned girl from the boothe, seeing this, came to his aid and told him rather blaisely that she could tell he needed a drink as much as her, though she looked a bit intoxicated as it was.
The blonde's gracious answer was a befuddled, semi-drunken question of, "Wait, why are you here? You swung off through a window and left."
"I want a freaking truce." The lime haired girl responded, in clear recognition of him, and the blonde, having apparently thought it best to try and draw his sword out, took cautious steps away before the girl shrugged, then draw out her guns and aimed them at him, them poised to fight from this interaction alone.
The bartender, at that point, could only sigh briefly before leaping over the countertop and swiftly beating the crap out of them both, a feat made easier by their drunkenness.
Such was a bartender's duty, in a world filled with people who could use Semblances and the heightened emotional states, meshed with irrational thinking, leading to some measure of either very, VERY chaotic bar fights or Grimm suddenly attacking, events that would call for the sober bartender to intervene.
As such, two drunken teens did not warrant much difficulty in taking down.
After plaintively confiscating their weapons and sitting them down again, she told them, "Play nice," and gave them a couple drinks on the house, for the sake of giving them a reason not to sue in the morning more than anything else.
"... Plus it would help matters if either of you didn't remember getting assaulted in a bar." The bartender elaborated in her story.
"Why are you telling us this then?" Emerald questioned in confusion, her being careful to alter Jaune's hearing so he wouldn't realize she had been there that night.
"Because what happened that night was just TOO wacky for that to matter." The bartender shrugged.
As they accepted their drinks quietly, the blonde seemed to try putting on a semi-hostile front, but due to the green head not reflecting much care, he eventually just resigned himself to a truce, and the pair began talking to each other about what the bartender assumed was some work related thing.
The young man spoke at length about how he wished the whole mess they were dealing with would just roll over, and the young woman replied that she understood completely, that she "didn't sign up for this stuff".
They then proceeded to do a toast that was capped off with the exclamation "Fuck Salem!", coined by the young woman who coaxed the young man into following.
After their apparent truce and a toast to saying "Fuck Salem", their camaderie was much more apparent as they relayed a number of stories to each other, including a tale about how the blonde apparently worked at a bar at some point, only to find out that said bar was involved in the criminal underworld despite the club they operated in being legit.
How the blonde had found out was when the police kicked the door in to make an arrest, and the day of said arrest was when he tried having a party with his teammates to celebrate a hammer weilding girl's birthday, and she, in a batch of excitement, decided to try letting loose and fighting with the police while siding with the people Jaune was working with.
They all ended up getting arrested when a sufficiently trained officer arrived, but, on the bright side, the hammer user was happy about how her birthday turned out, so the blonde deemed it all worth it.
While recounting such stories of their lives, there eventually came someone running in to try and ask the bartender to help with a Grimm situation that cropped up, and the blonde seemed to perk up and say that he could probably help, that it would be his chance to redeem himself.
The bartender swiftly told him no, since he was drunk, and when someone else came in and volunteered to watch their weapons for them while she was gone, she nodded before going to the person asking for help to tell her to lead them along.
At this point, the memory came back to Emerald with a jolt as she remembered it, using her Semblance to trick the bartender into leaving the bar and their weapons unattended.
As they left however, the bartender quickly noticed that the pair were following her, weapons at the ready, and while she wanted, very badly, to just push them back inside, a Grimm situation was of more importance than a couple kids, so she just went along to where the commotion was happening.
As it turned out, the blonde and green head were pretty helpful despite being drunk.
Then it turned out that the blonde was a Huntsman in training, and as they returned, the bartender found that the person she'd left in charge was nowhere to be found, but since nothing of value had been stolen while she was gone, she just settled in and returned to her duties.
After that, the girl apparently dared the blonde to try hitting on her, and though she shut him down, she was unsure if she found more bemusement or flattery from the guy's attempts.
The girl then procured a lien card, and said she would give one of them a kiss if it fell to their sides.
The bartender, at that point, was so simply enamored with these people that she was just curious to see how it would end.
It ended up falling on the bartender's side, and when the green head tried leaning in to give the bartender a kiss, the blonde grasped her shoulder and told her, "No, you have to EARN it before you get that kiss."
When the bartender questioned why the green head had to earn it, he said that someone as amazing and pretty as her couldn't sell herself short, even if said green head was a pretty cool person too, if not for who she was working with.
Jaune had, by then, buried his face in his hands in embarrassment, groaning as he blushed at his drunken self's attempts at being either flirty or nice.
"Don't beat yourself up kid." The bartender snickered, obviously finding more enjoyment out of their expense at just how shocked they were by their own actions. "That was probably the nicest thing anyone's told me in a while."
Jaune hung his head, unable to look the woman in the eye, and smirking to herself, she crossed her arms.
"Do you not think so, now that you're all sobered up?"
"No, I don't take it back," Jaune admitted, "I just... This is so embarassing."
"Don't sweat it, nothing happened between me and your wife." She told him. "You certainly made sure of that."
"H-Huh?" Jaune asked, freezing over in fear.
The bartender smirked, before returning to her tale.
The first of the many contests was something he made her pick, and since these were still drunken teens a couple years younger than her she was dealing with, she made the first test something she knew they wouldn't be able to do.
She set a strip of duct tape down on the ground, and told the girl to walk on the line to the end.
Given her drunkenness, she failed miserably, and the bartender was content to let it end there, but then something seemed to light a fire in the girl's heart, who demaded a retrial.
Said retrial ended with her doing it almost perfectly, to her shock, and the girl looked to her hopefully, clearly wanting her kiss.
She relented, and then gave the girl a kiss on her forehead.
She responded by grasping her shoulders, then speaking softly, but firmly, "No. I want a REAL kiss."
The bartender was, simply put, shocked by this, and she looked away.
"I don't think it's right." She said.
"What's so wrong about it?" The girl asked, in a slurred flirtatious tone. "I can kiss this guy, no problem!"
And then she proceeded to do it without the slightest hint of hesitation.
"Oh... OH..."
Emerald held her face in equal embarrassment.
"And then guess what?" The bartender said.
"What did we do?!" Jaune exclaimed.
The blonde said he needed to be challenged for it.
After a bunch of tests that followed - during which the bartender got off work - the knight found himself mixed up in an illegal gladiator ring with a not too old Grimm, with nothing but his sword and shield on hand.
He won the ensuing fight, but it turned out that people were really betting on the drunk loser getting killed, so the three ended up fighting a bunch of hedonistic audience members until the person in charge, a shark faunus guy, got involved and gave Jaune the money owed to him for his victory.
Such was the case that when they finally left, the two went off on their own, and when the bartender finally found them again, they were already kissing rather fervently.
"Not long after, I led you guys back to your hotel and let you go in for the night."
"... When did we get married during all of this?" Emerald asked.
"Oh, how could I forget," the bartender laughed, "the Don said he had never heard of someone being so willing to get that kind of victory for the woman they love before. So he had you two married to a priest that was watching all the madness."
"What is a PRIEST doing watching at a gladiator match with Grimm monsters?" Jaune exclaimed in bewildered shock.
"Hey, mob bosses need people to pray to too." The bartender shrugged. "Glad to see you have the rings on still."
"Can you elaborate on the marriage thing at least?"
"I can't, honestly. Only members of the family get to watch. I didn't feel like stamping on their traditions, when, you know, there was already the induction ceremony and all."
"... I'm part of the mob." Jaune muttered quietly in realization. "I went out to drink, and now I'm part of the mob?"
"Ah... Yeah." She seemed to stop laughing at this. "Yeah... Sorry that I didn't do enough to stop it."
"Why Brothers why?" Jaune looked up to the ceiling and questioned the brothers who'd created humanity.
A/N: Drunk Jaune and Emerald are best Jaune and Emerald.
Also, if it wasn't obvious already, I decided to write it so that Emerald is bisexual here.
Hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
If anyone wants elaboration on the bar incident:
One day, Jaune decided to try and show his teammates how much he appreciated their friendship, and decided to collectively get them presents.
Despite this, Jaune lacked one very important thing: Lien.
So, determined to get the currency to buy his friends things, Jaune got a part time job as a bartender in Junior's club.
Due to the general level of incompetence Junior's men had, combined with Jaune being very bad at most of everything he tries hard at, and you get a recipe for people to bond over how much they suck.
They all collectively resolve to do better together, and what results is Jaune getting to be a part of the group as the bartender.
As everyone shares their life stories with each other, they learn of Jaune's struggling grades and resolve to help him improve, and it becomes a big back and forth with Jaune helping the guys with stuff and them helping him. One day, the guys learn that Jaune has a bunch of pals with him at school, along with a girl he has interest in, and they learn that he started working there to get his team presents.
Despite them all leading secret lives of crime, they're all rooting for Jaune to make something of his life, so in time, they try to help him study for stuff and learn to be romantic, which inadvertently leads to Jaune being lent a guitar to play for the girl he likes.
During ALL of this, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora are just wondering WHERE Jaune keeps running off to at night, so they all collectively decide to shadow him to his job, and from there they enter in the middle of the club scene.
They try to find Jaune, but Pyrrha gets separated from Ren and Nora (the latter of whom may or may not have pulled Ren out to the dance floor), leaving Pyrrha alone to wander through a crowd, only to find herself standing at the bar, where Jaune is at that point.
Jaune is completely shocked that Pyrrha's found him, and even more shocked his secret job has been discovered, but when Pyrrha, after over coming her own shock, tells him how worried they've all been, Jaune feels guilty and then sheepishly admits he wanted to get something special for them, especially Pyrrha, as thanks for the all the things she does for him, in addition to having such great friends.
As this happens, some of Junior's men see this conversation and how awkward Jaune is suddenly being, and they collectively assume Pyrrha is the one Jaune has eyes for.
From that point on, after the dance and the Breach happen, Jaune decides to plan a birthday party for Nora with Ren and Pyrrha when he learns that she doesn't know it herself due to how she grew up, and they set it for just after the big tests get hammered into them.
By this point, Junior's guys all see JNPR as members of the family, so they work it out with Junior to reserve a birthday party at the club for Nora, and they manage to hide it enough for her to be surprised and completely happy about it.
The night goes well, dances, birthday songs, gifts, and cake is passed around, and there's even a family photo done for the birthday girl with her family.
Many of you might be sad to know that Nora's birthday party got wrecked by the cops getting a warrant to arrest Junior and the others... Until you recall who Nora is.
What resulted is what you might imagine if Remnant followed GTA logic, where the cops just don't stop coming, in progressively more dangerous waves, and Pyrrha and Ren end up fighting Jaune and Nora to stop the latter's battle with the cops with Junior, the Malachite Twins and Junior's men all backing the fight.
Despite it ending in a massive clusterfuck, Nora couldn't have felt happier, because even if she went overboard, she really enjoyed being the Queen of her own little castle, surrounded by her family.
Jaune would give the gifts he wanted to give to his friends not too long after getting bailed out with everyone (the battle wrecked the place too much for any actual evidence to get dug up), and the guys would go on to cheer team JNPR on during the Vytal Tournament.