Ladies and gentlemen, I got my writing flair back for this one. Rather than me rambling on I will let you all enjoy, I present to you all, the final chapter of 'The Sword and the Spear'.

This chapter is devoted to you, the wonderful readers who made all of this possible.

Jaune ducked behind a table even as a bowl of piping hot gravy flew through the space his head had just occupied and smashed against the wall behind him. Yet another near miss in the food fight that raged all around him. His uniform was already marred by the stains of various foodstuffs from mashed potatoes to creamed tomato and around him, it was anarchy.

Tables had been upended and thrown together to form hastily built fortifications on either end of the hall, behind which the two armies took cover. Just another average day at Beacon academy. The knight didn't even know how it had all kicked off so violently. One minute he was sat eating his lunch, the 'Arc Special' sandwich, and the next the table had been flipped sending condiments and food flying any which way but loose.

From there it had been a mad dash to find cover as the most feared words; 'food fight' were called. And thus had begun the umpteenth great food fight of Beacon. The students had split into two distinct factions, teams RWBY and JNPR led by CFVY took one side. While CRDL and several others took the other. Fighting was fierce to say the least.

One might have thought that on the day before the results day, Beacon's students might have been a little more subdued yet that wasn't the case. If anything the students of Beacon had grown wilder, zanier and even more out of control.

Jaune steeled himself and seized an apple from a nearby fruit bowl. Taking a steadying breath he popped up and in a smooth motion, cocked his arm back and hurled it as hard as he could. It sailed through the air straight and true and clocked a student square in the forehead on the opposite 'fort'. An anguished cry rang out as it connected followed by a rallying cheer from Jaune's own team.

The blonde frowned and dropped down to find his team. He found them holding the line on the forts eastern wall. Fighting had seemingly been most intense here in the early minutes of the battle. A mixture of mustard and ketchup had coated the floor making it slick and treacherous for any whom might seek to cross no-man's land. Pyrrha was stood holding a bread stick, snapped in two during the fighting.

"Pyrrha, how goes it?" He asked jogging over.

"Jaune! It's been rough. RWBY were here earlier but they had to withdraw when one of the enemy caught Yang's hair with a mustard sniper. It took all three of them to pull her back and prevent a massacre."

"I believe we should have let her go." Ren said quietly, he shrugged as they all turned to him. "This food fight would have ended inside of a couple minutes." Jaune and his team grinned at the idea of unleashing a thoroughly angered Yang against their foes. The problem wasn't setting her going as much as trying to stop her before she destroyed the whole school.

"So what can I do to help?" Jaune asked with a grin.

"You can start by leading your team over to their fort." An authoritative voice said from behind them. Wheeling round Jaune came face to face with Coco. The fearsome leader of team CFVY and the overall commander of their humble force.

"T-that's suicide!" Jaune cried in protest "We'd be hit with all hell before we got so much as five feet!"

"You shall be fine. I shall lead teams SSSN and RWBY into the fray to their front, we shall draw their attention to us. You shall take your smaller force and slip around their flank, they will never see you coming. Once you are around you are to strike at them from behind. Your target is to be Team CRDL, if you cut the heads off of the Tajitu the body will die. Our scouts report that there aren't very many of them left now so resistance should be minimal." She explained. When she put it like that the whole plan seemed so very logical.

"Alright, we'll do it."

"Very good, wait for the signal. When you hear the fighting start, charge." She said walking away to gather the troops on her way she paused and looked back over her shoulder. "Oh and Jaune? Give no quarter."

Jaune nodded drawing a fresh baguette from a nearby bread rack. He stepped over the the wall and shifted the tables just wide enough to allow them to exit single file. Off to their left they head an almighty war-cry as their forces began the assault.

Team JNPR slipped through their secret exit and closed it behind themselves. They moved slowly, being sure to watch their footing, and began the long walk across no-man's land. All around them was the sheer image of devastation. Foods lay scattered all over ranging from whole turkeys to water melons smashed and split into hundreds of mushy fragments.

As they crept along, they were careful to pick up whatever ammunition they could find and before long, Jaune's pockets were stuffed with just about every single throw-able fruit around. Off to their left they could see the battle raging on fiercely. Coco had used a great many trash can lids to form a roofed shield wall. Leaving them immune to attack. Behind it followed those not fortunate enough to have shields.

They reached the enemy's fortress and piled against the walls. From within the shield formation came several students holding a bench. They soon brought it to bear on the Table walls of the fortress, forcing a wide rift through which the shield wall could fit. As they passed out of sight the sounds of battle resumed louder than ever.

Team JNPR redoubled their speed and soon reached the walls. They stacked up and slowly made themselves a rift wide enough for them to charge through. Passing through there was no resistance, the greater portion of CRDL's forces having been drawn into the main battle. They had left a single student on guard, his attention drawn to the big battle. A rookie mistake.

With a grin and an impressive level of grace and fluidity, Ren crept forward taking slow and deliberate steps. Up behind their guard he snuck, pie in hand. He raised his arm like a coiled cobra, ready to strike. With practised ease he clamped one hand over the guard's mouth to keep him silent and with his free hand, drove the pie straight into his nose covering his enemy's face and his own sleeve in potato and meat gravy. The poor victim had a mere instant to react and flailed desperately, but alas he was too slow. He gurgled for a few moments and was still, Ren laid his body out on the stone floor gently and gave his teammates a sharp nod to continue.

Team JNPR forged on, Ren leading the way given his stealthy attributes, it wasn't long until they found team CRDL. They were stood behind the vanguard and brutally finishing any students that managed to break free of the fray and make a move to attack them.

Even as they watched on, Coco broke through with Velvet, Fox and Yatsuhashi all close behind fighting off any student that came too close to their leader. The cut a swathe through the opposing students and cut a beeline for Cardin himself. Winchester himself looked like a rabbit in the headlights, backing away in fear.

Russell and Dove both stepped forward with worried expressions on their faces and celery sticks in hand. It was at this moment that Jaune chose to make himself and his team's presence known. Stepping forwards with a grunt he hurled the baguette in his hand like a spear straight towards Dove. It struck him upside the head and sent him to the ground in shock.

Jaune's bread missile was soon followed by Pyrrha's broken one. Her weapon span wildly as it flew and for a brief moment it seemed like she might have missed entirely yet it struck true hitting Bronzewing a second time. With a savage cry team JNPR charged angling straight for team CRDL to 'cut the head off the snake' as it were.

Carding growled and turned to face his long-time adversary head on. Hefting a watermelon atop an iron bar like a giant mace, the two drew close and prepared to go head-to-head in what was certain to be the final titanic battle of the year. Coco threw him a replacement baguette and a bin-lid shield before she settled in to watch the rest of the students gathered around in a large circle to watch the two fight it out with her, no-one quite sure who might win. Would it be the brave blonde knight with his French bread loaf? Or the hulking Winchester armed with the watermelon mace? After their previous bout it remained anyone's game as the two circled one another in anticipation.

"Here we make our stand to witness the greatest battle of our time! Let it be known that any man or woman who seeks to step in to aid either fighter shall be stood on the firing line and pelted without mercy!"

Jaune watched his rival with wary eyes adjusting his grip on the unfamiliar shield. Hoping that such changes wouldn't distract him overly and cost him the fight. The whole future of food fights was set and relying on him and it wouldn't do to disappoint. He charged and raised his shield, anticipating a downward sweeping attack. He was right and the watermelon met heavily with his shield, denting its face and forcing Jaune into a crouch as his legs buckled. He pushed back with a roar and was met with a similar force. The blonde forced himself up and back onto his feet rousing a cheer from the audience. He locked eyes with Winchester, ferocity and determination blazing with unyielding force in his eyes as he pushed against the larger boy's mace.

Yet before their power struggle could be decided, the huge oaken doors to the cafeteria burst open with a bang. All eyes turned to face them and widened in abject horror, even the fearless Coco seemed to gasp and recoil in fear as to enraged green eyes locked onto the groups of students. She pointed her riding crop straight at them.

All around the tables seemed to come to life and skittered about returning to their starting places. All the spilt food flowed together into one giant amalgamated globule, it pulsed and flowed seemingly at Goodwitch's command. She paused a moment and waited for the final piece of furniture to drop into place and with a grin waved her arm. In response the mass of food flowed to take the form of a twenty foot tall wall of food. Flicking her riding crop it surged forwards, unassailable and unavoidable.

Cries of fear and anguish rose from the students as they saw their fate bearing down on them. Some tried to run others ducked behind their shields and prayed while some merely stood and accepted the inevitability of their impending doom. Jaune looked up at it with wide eyes and turned to his team.

"We're gonna need a bigger boat..." And as he finished his sentence the wave was on them. Jaune was picked up and carried along by the tempest until it hurled him, along with all of the other students, into the back wall. They hung there for a moment before gravity took control and they crashed to the ground again.

"Perhaps that will teach you not to engage in this kind of behaviour. Run along now, you had best go and change..." Goodwitch scolded. The students didn't need telling twice as they all bolted from the hall and scuttled off towards their dorms.

A couple of hours later, the students were all back in the cafeteria eating their evening meal. Perhaps 'eating' was a gross exaggeration, they simply chased their food around their plates with a fork. The events earlier in the day had set them right against their meals and judging by the looks on the other student's faces, they weren't the only ones.

"It took me over an hour to fix my hair! An hour! And like eight showers!" Yang whined as she ran her fingers through her golden locks. If there was anything that Yang valued after Ruby and her partner, it was her hair without any doubts or reservation. She spent an ungodly amount of time brushing it and had thrown away a small fortune on hair products, and it showed.

"You think you had it bad... I had chunks of potatoes and gravy up my nose..." Jaune grumbled recalling the immense pain that had come of him having to wash out his sinuses. He still felt a slight twinge at the thought.

"It will take a good while to clean it all out of my uniform..." Ren lamented, of team JNPR his was by far the most prim and proper. His uniform was always clean, stored in a suit protector and pressed to such an extent that the creases in the pants legs could be used to cut a steak.

"And the worst bit is we didn't get to eat any of it!" Nora cried in protest, she seemed the only one not truly scarred by the event. Evident by the manner in which she was demolishing stack after stack of pancakes and syrup.

"Yes, despite what happened I'm actually hungry... I just can't bring myself to eat anything..." Weiss said, joining their conversation.

"And it's results tomorrow... We need a good meal before that." Pyrrha chimed in, eyeing a piece of chicken on her fork. Taking a steadying breath she popped it into her mouth and chewed slowly. She repeated the action a few more times, slowly she managed to eat half of her plate before eventually giving up.

With a collective sigh, the eight teenagers stood and made their way out of the hall. Their faces donned sombre expressions as they realised the reality of their situation. Summer was over, and it was simply all too soon. Ruby had planned the whole thing out and they had enjoyed something new and varied every day. Be it camping in the temple from their initiation or hunting Grimm in forever fall, no two days had ever been the same. But to have that come to an end and have to settle back into the reality of things, it hit them hard.

The trip back to the dorms took them over half an hour as they walked in a state of dejected melancholy. Their eyes had lost their intensity and their steps were shuffled, like pack animals forced to carry too much weight for an unkind master.

They reached their rooms before much longer and bid each other half-hearted good nights before retiring to their separate dorms for the night. Though how much sleep they might get was anyone's guess.

Jaune stripped out of his armour letting it fall to the floor at the foot of his bed with a dull series of clangs. He removed his hoodie and collapsed on his bed face-down. He closed his eyes, willing himself into the realm of sleep unsuccessfully.

Before long, Pyrrha climbed into bed next to him, he rolled over and shuffled up to make room for her to cuddle up to him. He heaved a sigh, taking in lungfuls of her scent, the fresh juniper smell of her conditioner. Her presence helped him relax, slowing his heart rate down and stilling his trembling hands.

Hearing a whining sound both Jaune and Pyrrha opened their eyes and looked across the room. Nora was stood at Ren's bedside holding the arm of a tiny teddy bear and rubbing her eyes. Ren smirked a little and shifted over lifting the duvet to allow his child hood friend in. It was the most adorable thing Jaune had ever seen as Nora climbed into his bed and snuggled up to Ren, clutching her bear tightly. Pyrrha couldn't help herself as she whispered to the lotus.

"Hey Ren... This is happening!" She giggled.

"N-no! Renny and I aren't together-together, we're j-just frien-" Nora began her usual speech but was stopped by Ren gently placing a finger to her lips and silencing her. She looked at him with her icy blue eyes and he returned her gaze and gently shook his head. A wide grin crossed her face as she comprehended his meaning

"Together-together?" She asked him, she knew what he meant but only wished to hear him say it.

"Together-together." He said with a smile, his magenta eyes aglow. Hearing these words was all Nora had wanted for a great many years, and to finally have that wish fulfilled was magical to her. She darted forward and kissed him, for the Arkos pair watching it was perhaps the cutest thing they had ever seen.

"Renny?" Nora said after a moment. "Boop."

"I love you too Nora." the martial-artist replied as he closed his eyes and settled in for sleep. He wrapped an arm around the Valkyrie with a warm smile. It wasn't an amused smirk like he usually displayed, this was a genuine smile of joy.

Jaune closed his eyes after watching the heart-warming display and drew his own girlfriend in closer. She kissed him on his jawline and settled in for the night in her usual spot, just above his heart. It had long since become a symbolic thing given that she already had his heart. It was unclear to Jaune the exact point that he fell asleep. He knew that is was late into the night, but at some point he drifted into his dreams.

It was not the most pleasant experience, he was haunted by visions of his results paper, of failure and the disappointed faces of his family, and yet the thing which scared him most that he saw was watching his team rush away from him. He ran and ran with all his might to keep up but it was as though he were on a treadmill. They faded into nothing leaving him on his knees crying. The word Failure rushing around him and forming a solid cage to confine him.

He bolted awake, breathing hard and in a cold sweat. His teammates looked at him concernedly and Pyrrha moved over to sit at his side. She wrapped an arm around him and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

"Is everything alright Jaune? We were just about to wake you." She said softly.

"Y-yeah... Just a nightmare is all..." He answered, still trembling and fighting to bring his ragged breathing under control. He climbed out of bed and stepped into the shower unperturbed by the cold water cascading over him. His nightmare still ran fresh within his mind and it scared him, failure wasn't a viable option, that much was obvious.

Once he had cleaned himself off and stepped out of the shower he quickly dressed in his spare uniform and, together with his team, walked down towards the auditorium. They weren't the first, hundreds of students were gathered outside the great doors, milling about as they anxiously awaited entry. It was similar to the lines that form waiting for the latest scroll model, only without the smiling faces. The mood was much more sombre.

Team JNPR took their place within the press of bodies and began their own wait. Five minutes, ten, nothing. Fifteen minutes, twenty, Team RWBY finally turned up. None of the eight teens said so much as a word. They exchanged curt nods and waited together, the few attempts at small talk they had fizzled out almost immediately.

Eventually after what Jaune always claimed to be the most agonising wait of his life, the immense double doors were thrown open and the students poured in. Huge tables were set out along one side of the hall underneath signs upon which were written the team names. It took mere moments for Jaune to spot theirs. Right back at the far end of the hall by the side of the stage.

With a sense of impending doom, the blonde leader fought his way through the press of bodies and over to their designated table. Laid out upon it were four plain brown envelopes upon which was a printed sticker with their names and student numbers. Reaching out with a trembling hand Jaune picked his up. From all around them they could hear positive reactions and tears of joy, nobody sounded distraught, so what would that mean if he failed? Would he be the only one?

It felt as though he couldn't breathe, he gasped in great lungfuls but simply couldn't get enough oxygen. Panic welled up within him as he fought his way back through the students, his envelope still in hand, pushing and shoving them out of his way as he made a beeline for the door. His teammates watched with concerned eyes as they took off after him, following closely behind, not wanting to open their results without him.

The blonde burst out of the auditorium and set of at a run still gasping for air, though feeling a little safer outside. He ran for the one place he could think of, the rooftop. Behind him he could hear the three sets of feet chasing after him but he simply didn't care. Climbing the stairs three at a time he burst out onto the rooftop he had been training on for the past year and stood looking out over the campus, the imposing emerald tower standing proudly over it all.

Pyrrha, Nora and Ren all emerged up onto the roof not long after, all of them panting heavily after their run. They stepped over to the blonde and formed a circle around him. Pyrrha placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Jaune? Is everything alright?" She asked.

"I-I'm scared Pyrrha... What if I've failed, I couldn't handle that."

"You won't have failed Jauney! If you did then so did we cause you're our leader. All for one and one for all! Like the musty tears!" Nora chirped, Jaune raised an eyebrow at Ren.

"She means musketeers." Ren smirked with some amusement.

"She's right." Pyrrha added. "We succeed together and we fail together. As a team. Now what do you say we find out our results?"

"Y-you mean you haven't opened them yet?" They all showed their leader their still sealed envelopes.

"We wanted to all find out together." Ren explained.

"Thanks guys... Y'know you really are my best friends."

"Aww! We love you too Jauney! But not love love, just like friend love. Well except for Pyrrha, she loves you like that and I-" The hammer-wielder began to ramble.

"Nora." Ren cautioned, the Valkyrie blushed and signalled zipping her lips.

"On four?" Jaune suggested. "One..."

"Two." Pyrrha joined in.

"Three." Ren said.

"Nora!" The Valkyrie cried.

Jaune laughed and tore open the lip of his envelope even as his friends did the same. With shaky hands he removed the paper inside. Opening it up he took a steadying breath, as his eyes focussed on the words he began to read, his face blank, not quite comprehending their meaning.

'Mr Arc,It is with great pleasure that we congratulate you on your completion of, and graduation from, your first year at Beacon. It is a remarkable achievement and you should be proud of such an achievement. As staff it has made us proud to see you both grow and develop under our tuition. Below you may find your scores. We look forward to seeing you next year.'

Academics: C

Combat improvement: A*

Overall: B

Jaune's grin only grew as he read and re-read the words before him he turned to his team with tears of pure elation and joy welling up in his eyes. He looked around at his three friends and saw similar reactions on their faces.

"Group hug!" Nora demanded.

In unison, the four teenagers stepped in forming a tight circle and wrapped their arms around one another in silent appreciation. They were still a team and in the past year had only grown stronger since their formation. Jaune was confident that no matter what the world threw their way, they would meet it head on, fighting through with the Sword and the Spear.

There it is; 25 official chapters, 96,284 words and over four months of work. An impressive feat when you consider that I haven't had a plot set out since I began writing it, but now it is finally finished and I have you all to thank for that, all 256 of you that followed this and gave it over 59,300 views. That is truly and utterly incredible and, if patterns hold. This chapter will boost that figure into the 60,000's. I cannot thank you all enough for the advice you have given me as well as the countless hours that you all spent reading this. This work cannot be solely credited to me because every one of you helped get it to where it was. When I started off four months ago, I honestly expected to be brutally attacked in the reviews and have my confidence crushed into oblivion. Naturally I was over the moon when I was met with support and encouragement, it is that very encouragement that gave me the confidence in my writing that I have today. There were bad times whilst I was writing it, and there were great times. At times I got so frustrated in writing it that I wanted to just throw in the towel, call it a day and be done with it and it was genuinely you, the fans that helped me keep going. It is a sobering thought to know that currently I have one of the biggest Arkos fics on this site. It wasn't easy to bring this piece to an end but all things must inevitably come to a close at some point. There will be a sequel but I honestly have no idea when that will be getting written, for now I plan to recharge my batteries, focus on my exams and getting into university. Once that is all done and dusted I will come back and write this sequel in what little time I may have free. Once again I thank you all for the astronomical support you have shown me, I read each and every review that you guys submitted to me and I smiled whenever I saw new feedback. I suppose I wont be getting any more messages asking me when the next chapter is out.

As for what is next, until the sequel is out I would heartily recommend my other work. 'A Rose for the Champ' is my secondary and soon to be main Arkos fic. If you liked this go check it out and let me know what you think in the reviews. I hope that you will stick around and show the same support for any other works I might bring out in future.

I truly do have the best fans in the world.

Thank you all for an awesome time. And I'll see you all in the sequel (or the next chapter of 'A Rose for the Champion' #ShamelessPlug)

You should all go and check out Whynoteh? the awesome author of 'A Knight, A Champion, A Rose.' Which is a fantastic fic and I heartily recommend it.

FlagshipArkos out.