Jaune woke to the sound of pounding on the front door of the Schnee Manor early in the morning. Throwing on his hoodie and shorts Jaune walked out of his room towards the front door. The pounding continued so loudly that even Weiss was walking out of her room, dressed in one of Jaunes t-shirts with her rapier in hand.
"Weiss can you please not spear anyone this early in the morning?"
"They interrupted my beauty sleep. They know what's coming to them."
As Weiss and Jaune seemed to close in on the front door the pounding seemed to get worse, and occasional talking could be heard behind the door. A few sentences were said outside the door and a few rapid bangs followed. Jaune slowly started to get more and more agitated. Who was banging on his door this early in the morning? More importantly, who was brave enough to just waltz up to the Schnee Manor of all places and halfway demand to be let in?
By the time Jaune had gotten to the door it seemed as if the wooden door might crack under all the pressure it was under from the intruder on the other side.
"Seriously, who could possibly be here this early?" Jaune said opening the door.
"I could, vomit boy." Yang said, leaning on the doorway pulling her glasses from her face.
"Oh no" Jaune said.
"Oh no" Weiss said.
"Oh yes" Blake said, walking up the path behind Yang.
"Wait, you guys weren't supposed to be here for a few more days. What gives?" Weiss asked, all giddy.
Blake set their bags down and began. "Well we decided against the cab and bus schedules and took Yangs bike instead. What would've taken us three or four days of driving at the speed limit, took us only about maybe a day at twice that on her bike."
"Hey we got here with time to spare didn't we?" Yang retorted.
"Yes, but with significantly more traffic tickets than riding a bus."
The whole group laughed a bit at Yangs expense. Jaune finally had time to take in the new looks of his two pseudo teammates.
Blake was now dressed in a more casual pairing of shin high boots and blue jeans along with a fluffy white sweater. Jaune was glad the girl had gone for a more subtle look from her Beacon days. It really showed how she had matured as the leader of Menagerie. Her hair was longer now, as well, down to her waist and was much more wavier. She still had Gambol shroud, tied up and set atop her bags on the front porch. Mature, that's what stuck out to Jaune.
Yang on the other hand though.
Yang had chopped off all her hair, up to just below her ears, where her curly hairs licked at her jaws and chin. Jaune couldn't believe what he was staring at, the girl who had once been so protective of her gorgeous hair, only to go and chop it off. Her style though had rarely changed since Beacon.
She had her typical leather boots on with a pair of black leggings. She was still wearing the leather jacket she had taken after Beacon, now unzipped it showed off her typical yellow tank top, the sleeve of the jacket still rolled down to conceal her robotic arm.
"Hey, vomit boy, how about you stop ogling me and start focusing on ice queen there, since she's the one thats wearing your shirt."
Jaunes attention was immediately redirected to the girl next to him who was now nervous under the eyes of everyone at the door wondering why she, Weiss Schnee of all people, was wearing any sort of clothing belonging to Jaune Arc. Luckily Weiss was quick witted after all her time around the boy.
"Its a form of rent payment, for an oversized shirt I feed him, house him, and don't make him sleep in the servants quarters." She said very smuggly. The entire group laughed a bit more before being invited in by Jaune to put their bags away and settle down.
Weiss eventually put away her weapon and got a bit more appropriately dressed, in sweatpants and a good sized t-shirt, before showing the two girls the last guest room. After setting their bags in the room closest to Ruby's, Yang was immediately tackled by the smaller girl.
"YANG!"
"RUBY!"
The two girls shared a strong hug before picking themselves off the floor.
"Yang all your hair's gone!" The sister had apparently not been told of the change beforehand.
"Yeah sis, and apparently you found it all." Yang quipped, addressing the tangled mess that was Ruby's undone braid from the night before which practically reached to her waist.
"Oh, I guess I need to take care of that, i'll meet you guys for breakfast in a bit." Ruby then ran back into her room to shower.
Jaunes stomach immediately growled at the thought of food this early on the morning.
"Yeah, that actually doesn't sound too bad right about now. I'll go ask Klein what's on the menu this morning." With that Jaune left the three girls to each other in the hallway.
"So" Yang said "A shirt hmm?"
"Yang Xiao Long I will not put up with your antics this early in the morning, especially after practically pounding my door into splinters."
Weiss then started to walk down the hall with the girls before Blake snickered.
"Looks to me that the door's not the only thing being pounded to pieces."
Weiss turned on her heel and seemed to inspect the girl closely.
"Is this your doing Yang? These puns? That pun was Xiao Long quality, it has to be your doing."
Yang pretended to wipe a tear. "it's certainly not my doing but I sure am proud."
Eventually coming to the dinning hall and sitting down, the girls were joined by their youngest teammate, her hair still slightly wet and kept up in a towel that reached her waist. Hearing the commotion Jaune wheeled out a tray of breakfast foods, stacking them high on the table. Each member of the group piled their individual plates high with breakfast foods before chowing down and catching up.
"So Yang, what's up with the hair situation?" Jaune asked between chewing on sausage links.
"Well long hair and Combat Instruction Classes don't exactly go hand in hand these days, especially with all the first years coming in. After I lost the first few inches to an out of control sword and burned off a few more from an exploding dust vial, I decided this was the best path."
"Well it doesn't look terrible, i'll give you that."
"It never did, thank you very much." She said very matter of factly.
The table laughed again before attention was redirected. This time to the youngest of the team mates.
"How long you been here Rubes?" Yang asked.
"Mmph?" Ruby responded, looking up with a mouthful of pancake. After some difficulty Ruby swallowed the mouthful of pancakes. "I got here a few days ago, before Jaune and Weiss went...out for a bit." Ruby seemed to stare for a few seconds afterwards.
"Oooooooo, going out huh???" Yang teased.
"Yeah, we went out to the hospital for a bit, we went to visit Pyrrha for a few hours." Weiss said, a bit stern.
"Oh. I'm sor-"
"It's fine Yang." Jaune interrupted "You didn't know."
Blake was the next to speak. "So how is her prognosis?"
Jaune sat down his fork and knife and set his head into his hands. He sat there for a few seconds taking in the question.
"Thats a great question Blake, and I wish I could tell you the answer honestly."
He brought his head up from his hands and looked to Weiss and back to everyone.
"From what the doctor said, somehow she is responding to my occasional visits, she's able to detect my Aura and know when i'm around. Because of this the Doc doesn't know when she'll wake up. All we do know is that she's there pertially."
The entire table fell silent for a few seconds, before Blake spoke what seemed to be on everyone's mind.
"Can we please see her?"
Jaune looked over to Weiss and she sat a hand on his shoulder. He took a deep breath.
"Yeah, yeah you can. If you all are done with breakfast grab your jackets and we can go now actually."
All three girls pushed away from the table and went to grab their jackets, almost trampling each other getting to the guest rooms. He waited until he knew all the girls were down the hall and out of earshot of him and Weiss.
"I'm sorry for ruining this time with your team by going to see Pyrrha. Again." Jaune said standing up.
Weiss grabbed his hand before he could stand up. "They're your teammates as much as mine Jaune, I knew they were going to want to see Pyrrha eventually and I have no problem with. She means as much to them as she does to you. Trust me."
Jaune looked at the hall door and back to Weiss, grabbing her cheeks in his palms. "Thank you" He said, kissing her forehead.
"Come on." Weiss said standing up, grabbing her jacket from the seat "Lets not keep them waiting."
The two walked into the hall and towards the front door. Each girl had their jackets on and were waiting at the door like a pack of dogs.
"Everyone ready?" Jaune asked.
"Yeah, lets go." Ruby said, opening the door and taking off down the street, her friends in tow.