A/N: :) Enjoy!
As consciousness reasserted itself in Jaune, he slowly became aware of the surroundings around him. First was the sound, which was pretty much a lot of screaming, inhuman and otherwise. He could hear fists hitting scales, shotgun blasts, and blasts rippling through the air, something that helped his brain process that this was the last place he should be taking a nap in. Eyes opened and vision came next, revealing the dark sky, which was becoming lighter and lighter as dawn approached. Clouds drifted by lazily, unaffected by the destruction below, different always, but somehow never changing. Jaune saw one that slightly resembled a hand, like the sky was waving at him, urging him to wave back. He almost did too, briefly forgetting about why he was lying on the ground, his pain disappearing.
His sense of smell came soon after, filling him with smells of burning, and lots of it. His body and sense of touch, strangely, came last. He felt the grass that he was underneath, the loose patches of soil and stone digging into parts of his body that he preferred them not to dig into. Then came the ever present pain. His throat was on fire, his chest was on fire, his legs... were really cold, and he had bruises on him that would remind him to walk gingerly for the next few days.
It was not a good feeling to wake up to, that was for sure.
His head swam as he pulled himself up to a sitting position, wincing as he clutched his head. It took another second for Jaune to focus his eyes enough to see the landscape around him, finding the battle between Yang and the dragon.
Both of them were bloodied up, scratches and cuts all over the two of them, Yang where the dragon's claws grazed her, and the dragon where Yang's shotgun blasts hit her. There wasn't any finesse to the fight, as the two of them slugged it out their own way, a back and forth to see which one of them landed out on top. The two of them seemed to be locked in a stalemate, unsure of what the other would do, and if it would put them down or not.
Jaune decided it was time to put the odds back in Yang's favor, standing up and stepping forwards, making the dragon and Yang turn and look at him. The blonde girl grinned, happy to see her boyfriend still standing.
"You finished with your little nap yet?" She asked teasingly, not looking at all like she was just in a tussle with an oversized lizard. Jaune shrugged, a small smile on his face.
"Well, you guys are a little too loud for me to keep sleeping so… I was hoping that I could help you take care of business before I took another nap. Y'know, if you need it." Jaune said casually, eyes roaming to find his sword, which was probably under the pond somewhere.
The dragon growled, creating ripples along the water, before unleashing a stream of ice towards Yang, who flared up to protect herself, water boiling around her, the heat protecting her from the unbelievable cold. As the gust died down, Yang stood wearily, but unfrozen, eyes glaring tiredly, at the dragon. She definitely needed a hand, Jaune thought quietly, before turning and blasting a shout out towards the dragon, freezing the water around her, turning the tables. It didn't take long for the dragon to break the ice around her, but it was enough of an opportunity for Yang to pounce and land on the dragon, blasting another shell into her hide. Wings spread out reflexively, knocking Yang off and into the water as the dragon took off high into the sky, teeth bared in anger.
Landing on one of the nearby buildings, the dragon unleashed another blast of cold wind, this time towards Jaune. Learning from his previous mistakes, instead of facing the blast head-on, Jaune dove underneath the freezing water, concluding that at least the water would be consistently cold, and being in it would be better than facing the subzero temperatures of the shout. Jaune counted down mentally before surfacing again, sure that the shout had subsided, and strode back on dry land, closing his eyes and ignoring the cold, casting Whirlwind Sprint on himself, speeding towards the dragon faster than the creature could keep track of.
Getting close made sure that Jaune didn't miss his next shout, and he let loose a stream of fire, roasting the scales closest to him. The dark-scaled dragon roared in pain, taking off into the sky again.
The dragon flew to the south of them, fading behind the buildings, and silence took back over. She had retreated, something that Jaune was grateful for, happily seizing the opportunity to recover and see if Yang was too winded.
She wasn't, as the blonde hair rose out of the water, streams of the muck leaving her hair. In her hand she held Jaune's sword and shield, something she was able to recover while under the freezing water. There wasn't any more energy for Yang to really warm herself, and Jaune ran over to help her, ignoring the freezing cold and aiding her journey back to the shore.
"Ugh. That was… not fun." Yang's teeth started to chatter, the cold settling into her bones, her body shaking violently. Jaune grinned, shaking his head.
"No," He agreed hoarsely, "No I didn't think that was fun either."
"Good." Yang moaned, turning on her side and flaring up one more time, just to ignite a bit of grass, collapsing once she finished. "Wouldn't want to be dating someone crazy enough to think that was fun." Jaune laughed, more in relief than to Yang's joke, and shook his head.
"What, don't you like spontaneity?"
"Yeah, not when that means fighting dragons in freezing water."
Jaune chuckled and stood up, causing Yang to prop up her head in question. The boy looked at the center of the pond, where the staff still hovered undisturbed.
"We still need to take that down, whatever it is." Jaune said quietly. Yang frowned, eyes critical.
"I dunno. Going back into that water's the last thing I would want to do." Yang said skeptically, something that Jaune agreed with wholeheartedly.
"Yeah, but if we want to free our friends, someone's gotta do it." Jaune took a deep breath before starting to walk towards the shore once again, hoping, praying to anyone listening that there wasn't another dragon just lying in wait for them to step into the water again. "I think I've got an idea." He muttered, before closing his eyes and summoning enough energy for one more big shout, assuming that he wouldn't be able to use his vocal cords for a good few minutes if he was going to do something like this.
Then quietly, in contrast to his usual shouting, Jaune chanted one word over and over again, a small trail of water vapor escaping his mouth. The tail of vapor moved organically, like a twisting snake, before falling and touching the pond water. At first nothing happened, until there was audible noise, like ice cracking, and water boiling at the same time. Opening his eyes, Jaune smiled, even though his throat seemed to want to murder him.
All of the water was frozen solid, giving him a platform to walk towards the staff.
Very clever of you. Vedrahgol actually sounded impressed, and a little proud of Jaune for thinking up something like that. Jaune didn't respond though, instead testing the strength of the ice, a tentative boot touching the ice, and when it didn't crack threateningly, Jaune started to put more and more weight underneath, until he was confident enough to add another foot, then start walking to the middle of the pond.
Crack!
Jaune tensed up on hearing the sound, but whirled around as his mind pointed out to him that the sound wasn't of ice breaking. For a second he couldn't find what he was looking for, until he saw a gleam of the breaking dawn's sunlight against what Jaune assumed to be Crescent Rose's scope, another shot ringing out right after, smacking into the iced water, creating a large spider-web of cracks.
"Oh that's not good." Jaune said, panicked as he turned and picked up his pace towards the staff, hand gripped tightly on Crocea Mors. He stopped moving again as red and black hair pulled through out of the mist, revealing the forms of Pyrrha and Blake, staring at him with intent purple eyes. "Oh, that's definitely not good." Jaune said, deploying his shield and ducking behind it just in time for a ring of bullet fire to hit on the shield, the two girls advancing towards him.
A shotgun blast tore through the ground in front of them, making them stop in their tracks, looking to find the origin of the shot. Yang stepped up beside Jaune, cocking her gauntlets menacingly.
"I wouldn't want to do that if I were you." Yang said, smirking at the two of them.
"Yang, what're you doing?" Jaune asked nervously, eyes tracing the scene in front of him.
"Helping you out, what do you think I'm doing?" She replied back easily, cocking an inquisitive eyebrow at him.
"By shooting the ice that we're standing on?" The question was urgent, his boots shifting nervously as the sound of cracking continued. Yang looked down, surveying the damage around them.
"…oh."
The nervous boy made an impatient noise and shook his head, tilting his head towards the staff that lay between the four of them. "We need to destroy that thing."
"Gotcha. You can take care of it." Yang said, before charging in towards the other two.
"Wait, what're you—ugh." Jaune took off alongside her, spurring the Pyrrha and Blake to run towards them as well, weapons brandished. Another shot rang off behind them, more cracks appearing on the ice.
Jaune decided as they got closer to the staff to fall onto the ice floor, sliding the rest of the way towards the staff, kicking Pyrrha's legs as he did so, making her tumble, only her quick reflexes fast enough to save her, a boot slamming into the ice. Unfortunately, the force was enough for the ice to give way, and she fell into the water, the ice hole quickly expanding to try and consume everyone else on the ice. Jaune simply allowed himself to keep sliding out of harm's way, before hearing another sniper shot ring out, this time slamming into the staff, ripping it out of his hands and letting it fly through the air, where it fell into a waiting Ren's hands, eye glowing at the sliding Jaune.
"Well shi-" The blonde didn't have enough time for anything else but to roll to the side as a gun appeared in Ren's hand, bullets flying and eating through the ice. Jaune struggled to stand up, putting the shield in front of him and charging, only for a grenade to appear in front of his face, his reflexed saving him from death, but still allowing for him to get blown backwards, his body twirling in the air.
Nora dropped beside Ren, grinning almost sadistically at her leader, before Magnhild shot off another few grenades, causing Jaune to scramble back onto his feet and take off, not wanting anything to do with the high explosives she was letting loose.
We must destroy the staff now, before your humans destroy you. Vedrahgol said gravely. Jaune rolled his eyes.
Gee, if only I realized that sooner. Anything else you could tell me? Maybe that I shouldn't get hit by one of Nora's nades? Shouldn't plunge headfirst into the ice water?
Actually, I was thinking that maybe you could disarm them and then destroy the staff with your sword.
And I'm going to do that how?
With the shout.
The blonde boy paused, blinking quickly. There's a shout for that? He asked, incredulous.
Of course there is. Let me show you.
The memories were fast and sloppy, the transfer vague, but clear enough that Jaune knew what he had to do.
Jaune was pretty sure his throat was recovered enough to cast the shout and closed his eyes, summoning the essence for the shout and letting loose.
"Zun Haal Viik!" The blast ripped Ren and Nora's weapons out of their hands, the staff tumbling away along with them, and also staggering the two of them. Knowing that now was his chance, Jaune sprinted towards the two of them, slamming Nora with his shield and striking Ren across the face with his pommel, before kneeling down and slamming Crocea Mors down onto the staff, making the thing hum and glow bright red before exploding, sending Jaune flying backwards.
Refusing to black out again, Jaune pulled himself upwards, head spinning as Nora and Ren's eyes slowly faded back to their natural colors, the two of them turning to look at Jaune.
"Jaune?" The two of them asked, confused about what was happening. Jaune just gave a weak smile, ignoring the sound of yelping from the pond, as well as two yelps as all of the ice on the pond cracked.
"Welcome back guys." Jaune said. Or he should've said when he opened his mouth. Instead there was no sound, making Ren and Nora frown, as well as confusing Jaune.
"Are you alright there Jaune?" Ren asked in concern, approaching closer. Jaune nodded.
"Yeah I'm fine." He should've answered. Again though, there was no sound. He paused, and tried to say something else. Still no sound. He tried screaming, and he tried whispering and found that he still heard no sound.
"Oh. Well that might be a problem." Nora commented, scratching her head.