A/N: Let me know what y'all think. Enjoy :)
Yang glanced over at her mute boyfriend in concern, unconsciously taking a few steps towards him, her hand reaching out to grab his. Noticing the movement, Jaune turned and smiled comfortingly at her, trying to convey that he was alright, and that she didn't have to worry about him. Without saying anything, Yang raised a doubtful eyebrow, not believing for a second that he was alright. He had just lost his voice and with it, his semblance! How could he be okay?
Nevertheless, Jaune shook his head again, gesturing vaguely in the air.
"Unless you know sign language Jaune, waving your hands in the air isn't going to accomplish anything." Nora said in amusement, tilting her head back and forth. Jaune snorted before gesturing again, this time actually making specific shapes and figures with his palms and fingers.
"Wait a second. You actually know sign language?" Weiss arched an eyebrow in disbelief. Jaune nodded, a grin splitting his face. "How? Why?"
The boy shrugged and made another gesture, lowering his hand and patting the air.
"A kid? You learned it as a kid?" Pyrrha asked, playing along with Jaune's forced charades. The blonde knight nodded, flashing a few fingers at the rest of the group.
"As unbelievable as that is," Weiss interrupted, frustration creeping into her voice. "I doubt anyone here knows sign language, so it's best if you stop for the time being." With a frown, Jaune reluctantly lowered his arms, letting out a sad sigh. Yang stepped a little closer and wrapped an arm around Jaune's neck, grinning at him.
"Cheer up Jaune! I'm sure everything'll be fine. You'll probably be able to talk again soon enough."
The boy snorted and gave a tiny smile, nodding.
"Well. Now that everything has settled down, I think we should get some rest." Professor Goodwitch said as she crossed her arms, nodding at the group.
After the spell over all of his friends and the Professor had been broken, they rushed over to make sure that Yang and Jaune were all right, before setting off into one of the nearby houses, setting something up for the night. As much as the unit wanted to leave the haunted city, there was still a dragon in their way, and if they just slipped past it, the United Army would end up in dire straits when they arrived at Neige.
So they rested, except for the fact that every one of them were unbelievably tense, absolutely on edge after being brainwashed and forced to fight their friends. They were finally getting to the point where they were so used to getting surprised by something that none of them even bothered relaxing.
But there was still running water, and some rations laying around in the house, which allowed them to refill their reserves and get themselves clean, something that hadn't happened in a while. They all made sure that they took short, warm showers, making sure that none of them used up all of the hot water. Even Yang with her obsession with clean hair only took a five minute shower, using most of that time to clean the hair as thoroughly as she could.
Now that everyone was clean, full, and semi-comfortable, they all sat around, too wound up for anyone to go to bed at the moment. No one really spoke much though, even Nora staying silent as she blinked owlishly at everyone, waiting for the ice to crack.
Now that they had seemed to venture through the uncomfortable air, the silence broke, everyone chattering quietly with each other, shoulders dropping slightly.
Yang was a big part of getting everyone a little loose, making sure to talk a little bit with everyone, even Team CDNL. Of course, after she finished a conversation, she took a bit of time to make sure that Jaune was alright. She did that by casually teasing him, jostling his shoulder and finding ways to make him roll his eyes. After all, an annoyed Jaune was an alright Jaune.
"So." Cardin spoke up loudly, cutting off everyone's conversation midway. "What're we gonna do about the dragon?"
No one said a word, but some of them couldn't help but turn to Jaune before catching themselves, looking away in embarrassment. Cardin called them out for it though, actually looking at Jaune and nodding at him.
"Even if you've lost your voice Jaune, you are our leader. Can you think of anything to do?"
The blonde boy looked at Cardin steadily, blinking slowly, a frown noticeable on his face. Yang felt a surge of protectiveness, placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder, stepping up to protect him.
"He doesn't have anything he needs to tell you Cardin. As you can see, he still needs to recover." She said, almost growling at him. The orange-haired boy backed off, hands in the air.
"I'm not saying it to be mean Yang." Cardin said defensively. "But we are going to be fighting a huge Grimm tomorrow, and the only one who's really had any success is your boyfriend over there." The boy pointed at Jaune. "And most of that was with his semblance, which he doesn't have right now."
Yang almost seemed to surge forward to bite off the boy's head before Jaune turned her grip on his shoulder around, his hand on top of hers. Stopping, she turned to look at the boy she was protecting, who shook his head quickly. A little force on her own hand made her sit down. He didn't force her of course, Yang would've been able to out muscle him any time of the day.
Jaune looked carefully at his girlfriend, an expression on his face that made her calm down a little. There was something that he wanted to say, and Yang would be a terrible girlfriend if she didn't let him have his say. A smile spread across the boy's face, understanding that Yang was going to restrain herself, and turned to the crowd, gesturing with his hands that he would have liked something to write on.
The room shuffled around, going through the house to find a pen and paper. It took a few minutes, but Weiss was able to procure the necessary items, placing them neatly onto the table that Jaune was sitting at. He smiled and nodded at her in thanks, before gripping the pen and scribbling something on the paper before handing it to Yang, who took a look at what was written. Raising an eyebrow, she turned to Jaune, who kept his smile on his face, waving his hands at her to read it aloud.
"I think… you guys are stupid—ow!" Yang winced when Jaune jabbed her with his elbow, a stern look on his face. "Alright, alright, I'll read it." Yang squinted, straightening the paper out before reading it slowly.
"I know that we don't have my semblance anymore. But I don't think we'll need it. We've got thirteen people, and we're only going to be fighting the dragon. Also, we've got something that we've never had before. Information. Me and Yang—Sorry, Yang and I," She corrected herself as Weiss cleared her throat, "Yang and I fought him already, and we'll know how to fight against her." Yang lowered the sheet and looked at the group crowding around them, trying to gauge the reactions.
"The dragon's a girl?"
Ruby was the first one to speak, eyes wide in surprise. "I didn't even realize dragon's had genders. How do you… uh, tell?" She asked meekly, looking at Jaune. The boy blinked quickly as her and blushed a little, scribbling something else on another piece of paper. Yang didn't pick it up, simply peering over his shoulder to see what he had written down.
"It's… complicated?" Yang shook her head, a smile breaking out on her face. "Honestly Ruby, I thought you would've figured that kind of thing out at your age." Her little sister blushed furiously, squeaking indignantly as she covered her face with her hands. Jaune scribbled something else on the page, pointing towards it for Yang to look at. She rolled her eyes at the text. "Relax Jaune, they know you didn't write that. Sheesh, loosen up." Jaune threw up his hands, shaking his head mournfully as Yang giggled at him.
"Alright, alright." Cardin interrupted once again, to Yang's annoyance. "So maybe we should make some sort of a plan?"
"Right now?" Yang snorted, crossing her arms. "What, you gonna be late for something? Trying to set up a good time to go to sleep or something?" He frowned at the blatant antagonism and shook his head, crossing his own arms as he did so.
"Maybe it would be a good idea for everyone to get some rest for tomorrow. And the earlier we get some semblance of a plan, the earlier we can get ourselves to full power. Which I'd like to have when we're fighting a huge dragon."
"Mr. Winchester makes a good idea Miss Xiao-Long." Professor Goodwitch said, stepping forward to the boy's defense. Yang grit her teeth, almost lashing out at the teacher as well before Jaune tugged on her shirt again, drawing her attention towards something else that he wrote.
"Cardin's right—what do you mean he's right?" Yang gaped at Jaune, slightly betrayed that he would take Cardin's side. Jaune pointed at her and wrote something else, something that she read but didn't say. You know he's right.
Yang drew in a sharp breath and sighed, a hand on wiping her face.
"Fine." She relented, waving a hand. "What do you guys suggest?" The whole team looked around, before Ren stepped up.
"Well, since you two were the ones that fought against the beast, I thought maybe you would have something for us to start with?"
Yang opened her mouth before closing it again, not knowing what to say. An uncertain look crossed her face before she looked at Jaune, her sheepish expression obvious.
"You, uh, you got anything there?"
Jaune looked at her with an amused expression, shaking his head as he twirled the pen in his hand, a grim smile on his face.