Coeur Al'Aran was the beta for the original Auburn and helped me immensely during a period when we were both just getting started. Cover Art drawn by confections101 and a link to it is on my profile page. Jefardi is the one who finally kicked my butt into gear to do something about this story I had almost given up on.
Auburn
Epilogue
Jaune had no idea a hot shower could feel so damn good.
It felt like it had been forever since he felt the nice warm stream of a shower as it washed away everything. Not just blood, sweat, and grime, but fatigue as well. Razor Canyon was finally over and he had by some miracle survived the whole thing.
Jaune thought about the previous events idly while running his hand over his numerous new scars. His arm, stomach, back, and head all had marks that were probably permanent. The new Aurora power healed them well enough, but not even that was capable of making him good as new. Nor did it remove the aches.
He still saw doubles of everything if he tried to move too quickly. An effect of having lost so much blood tonight. So he was forced to take everything slow, which was why he was now in the public shower area on the sixth floor by himself. The other guys had come and gone before he was able to make it down here.
Still, this was kind of nice. He appreciated the quiet and was able to just enjoy the shower this way. The heat dulled his senses and addled his mind, yet in the far back he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something important.
Or maybe it was someone?
"Oh… so this is the male anatomy."
"Why!?" He gave a feminine yell, full of indignity, jumping nearly a foot in the air at the unexpected voice that came from directly beneath him. "Charlotte!" He covered his modest parts, glaring at the blonde girl who had been crouched in front of him, eyes at waist-level.
"That was a bit of an overreaction, don't you think?" Despite being crouched right in the stream of water, she didn't get the least bit drenched as it phased through her and rained on the tiled floor.
"No. No I do not." He continued to hold both hands over his crotch, face no longer red from just the heat of the water. Seriously, this was ridiculous. He couldn't even shower in peace anymore?
"You're the one who remembered me just now. As long as I exist in your thoughts, I can appear." She grinned coyly, blue eyes tilting up to meet his. He wasn't sure what expression they held, but whatever it was, it made him uncomfortable.
"It's not like I was trying to summon you into the shower with me..." He inched forward, stepping his legs back into the water. To his growing discomfort she made no move to put further space between them.
"You expected me to just be there at your beck and call whenever you wanted? But to disappear whenever you didn't?" Well sure, it sounded bad when she put it that way. It wasn't like he had an exact image in his head of how this was supposed to play out.
"You know that's not what I meant. However, I would appreciate some… personal space." At the very least, would it kill her to stand up?
"Why? Most guys would be kind of envious of this situation, you know?" It was hard to deny that she was one of the most beautiful woman he had ever met, and she didn't exactly look very dead, or even undead for that matter. Just a normal girl together in the shower with him.
Charlotte gave a small giggle as she finally stood up and stepped away from him. "I'm just giving you a hard time. Possibly figuratively and literally." The more this girl talked and the more she shattered the image of some wise prophet he originally had of her in his mind.
She suddenly tilted her head suddenly and leaned an ear towards the exit. "Someone is waiting for you outside. It's better if you quit responding to me out loud for now." He turned to look, but couldn't see anyone. How she heard anything going on outside he had no idea, but he was at least grateful for the heads up.
His team already thought he was talking to someone who wasn't there. Which to be fair, Charlotte kind of wasn't. But she was real, dammit. He just couldn't prove it to anyone but himself.
When he turned back, she was gone. Where exactly did she go when not within his line of sight? She was linked to his consciousness so it was impossible for her to go far. He supposed he could always just ask later, and for now just be grateful that he could shower without her staring.
He wasn't sure how much longer he stood in the hot stream of water before finally hitting the dial. Whoever it was Charlotte thought she heard never came in after him, so he started to think maybe no one was ever there at all.
Getting dressed, he put on a spare pair of jeans and the hoodie that Penny had returned to him. He hadn't actually seen her since the fall, but she'd asked Ruby to pass it on. Without his armor, which had been lost in all the confusion, Pumpkin Pete was completely exposed but he didn't much mind.
"About damn time." Jaune jumped at the unexpected voice of Professor Qrow. The normally staggering drunk was leaned against the wall just next to the exit, one foot pushed up against the wall and knee bent at an angle. With his arms crossed, he glared at Jaune and glanced around the doorway to look back inside. "Who were you talking to in there?"
"Just myself." Jaune lied, perhaps a too quickly, Qrow cocking an eyebrow suspiciously. It didn't matter how much he looked, however, it wasn't like he would find anyone Jaune could've possibly been talking to. Unless he could see dead people.
"Well, whatever." Apparently he decided it wasn't worth the trouble and just shrugged. "You and I gotta talk."
"I'll say." Jaune couldn't agree more. "Where the heck were you when Shirou Schnee was putting us through that game from hell of his?"
"If you must know, sleeping." Qrow said. After Jaune failed to respond, he let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. "Don't glare at me like that kid, I'm kidding. Kind of."
"Did you know?" Jaune reiterated. He didn't care what Qrow was doing, what mattered was if he agreed to have them put through that and didn't even warn them.
"No." This time Qrow was deathly seriously. The tension in Jaune's shoulders relaxed, but only a little. The older man then pulled out his flask, but didn't bother taking a drink from it. Instead he just turned it over in his hand slowly while looking ahead at nothing. "Shirou's always been a little… unstable. But I never imagined he would pull a stunt like this for a game."
"Dammit." Jaune cursed under his breath, not able to comprehend any of it. "So happens now?"
"Now? The world keeps right on spinning." Qrow made a vague circular motion with his flask. "As far as what happens to Shirou. Well, he's gonna keep right on running this place."
Jaune knew he was going to regret it, but he had to ask. "And for me?"
In response to that question, Qrow pulled out a scroll and handed it to him. "Your mission was a success. Good job, kid." He winked.
"...What?" Jaune blinked in disbelief and took the scroll. When powered on, it was already registered in his name and there was an incredible amount of GKP loaded to the account. He looked between it and the professor several times, trying to connect the dots and failing. "But I didn't even get the chance to do anything."
"Not true at all." Qrow thumped him on the shoulder. "You played a game against Shirou with his rules. And you beat him at it."
"...Which changes things how exactly?" Jaune had a sinking feeling that he'd been manipulated like a good little chess piece.
"As you kind of noticed, Shirou likes his games." Yeah, he had noticed alright. "So we played a game with him. From the beginning, he knew someone from one of the schools was our designated agent, but he didn't know who it was or from which school they would be. The game's first rule was that he had to properly guess who and well… that part he got right."
"He really did know it was me all along." The blond dropped his head into both hands. No wonder he had taken such an interest in him. Jaune thought it had been unusual. And here Shirou had actually tricked him into thinking it was because they were somehow similar.
"Then in a match of his choosing against you, he had to win." Qrow continued despite Jaune's interruption. "Again, we never imagined that the match would be something like what he pulled tonight, but like I said: He's always been a little unstable."
A little unstable. If that was what he wanted to call it, sure.
"So what exactly were the stakes in this game?" He at least wanted to know what it was he had been used for. What he had almost died for.
Qrow gave a smile that told Jaune he would not be answering that question. In fact, it appeared that he was done answering questions entirely as he pushed off the wall and made his way towards the elevator. "I'll see you in class, kid, provided we're still doing that sort of thing once this all blows over."
"Class… yeah, okay." Jaune could only grumble to himself and stare at his new scroll. It was almost impossible to think about doing something normal like going to class after everything he had been through these past two weeks. Normal sounded nice at least. He pocketed the scroll and turned to follow the drunk to the elevator, arriving several seconds after Qrow would've boarded and then had to wait for it to come back.
Ding
With a chime, it arrived not too long after and when the door opened, Charlotte was somehow standing inside. "Seriously, how do you do that?" He couldn't even bother to be surprised anymore.
"It's surprisingly not all that difficult." She smiled, placing both hands behind her back and leaning forward. "Since you have a memory of the elevator interior, it more or less just let me do it." Knowing the limits of what Charlotte could do would be beneficial if he ever had to scout ahead. Although it sounded like he had to have been to the area before for it to be effective. Or something. He'd let her work out the details.
"So where we going now?" She asked. "Bed?" That didn't sound like a bad option and it would probably be his next stop.
"Food first. I'm starving." He selected the sixth floor and waited for the doors to close before glancing at her. "What do you think about all that stuff Qrow said?"
"Honestly?" The question must have been rhetorical because she didn't pause long enough for him to give a sarcastic quip. "I think they used you because you were expendable. They could already prove you were a cheat because of the transcripts. So if you got caught and lost, they just had to point out the forgery to make that game null and then try a different tactic."
He was afraid of just that. "And of course no one was going to believe my side of the story over theirs. I'd already be an established liar. If I was even still alive."
"Pretty much, yeah." She didn't disagree.
What a terrifying thought.
"Although," She suddenly added, placing a hand on her chin as if she just thought of something. "The type of game Shirou Schnee decided on didn't really make much sense. It would have, if he didn't know it was you, but supposedly he did. So why do a game where you have backup? And why one where you would be extra motivated to not lose?"
He hadn't considered any of that. Why would Shirou do it that way? It was anything but a fair game, but the facts stood that it had been a doable one. "I don't know, why?"
"It's just food for thought." Charlotte shrugged. "I don't know the answer either, but it's something worth thinking about."
The elevator shifted to a stop. Oh well, he could think about it later. It was time to get actual food first and then get some well deserved sleep. At least, that was what the game plan was supposed to be.
That changed the moment he stepped out from the elevator and the eye of every single student at Lambent turned to look at him. Awkward silence settled over the entire area as they waited for him to say or do something and he waited for the same. It was unsettling, really, and Jaune kind of wanted to turn around and run back into the elevator.
The only reason he didn't was he was too afraid that if he moved he would set off a chain reaction that he did not want to get swept up in. So without turning his head, he tried to look sideways and at Charlotte. Only to find her nowhere within sight. Traitor! They couldn't even see her so why did she run?
That wasn't fair, he wanted to run too.
"Jaune! You're finally here man!" Unfortunately for him, Sun had other ideas as his head poked out from among the crowd and eagerly waved him over. That was all it took for the floodgates to burst and suddenly every other student was clamoring over one another as they rushed forward to greet him
At that very moment, Jaune wasn't sure what was more terrifying. The Grimm or all these students his age.
"Jaune! We heard about how you killed that Deathstalker!"
"Is it true a Cackler stabbed you right through the heart?"
"How did you manage to break that bastard's scroll?"
He was bombarded by questions as everyone attempted to push past one another and got a little more than too close for comfort. What the Hell had happened to them? They seemed to think he had somehow been solely responsible for their victory as they all fought for his attention. It had been uncomfortable enough last night when it was just the leaders praising him, this was just downright unbearable.
"Hey, hey, hey! Give the man some room, you psychos!" Sun battered his way to the front of the group and stepped forward and grabbed Jaune by the elbow. "Come on man, I got your back. Besides, there is someone you gotta meet." He pulled Jaune forward and freed him from the nearest students' grasp to Jaune's immediate relief.
"Thanks, Sun. I owe you." He had this guy pegged all wrong, thinking he was only using him for popularity or something.
The crowd parted as Sun led Jaune past, almost forming a pathway just for them as they did. Just as they reached the last couple of students to make way for them, someone Jaune hadn't seen since he had fallen off that cliff was revealed: A girl with a pink bow placed atop her head.
"Penny."
Jaune stopped short as he stared at the girl that was now standing directly in front of him. Sun gave a small smirk as he stepped to the side and gave the two of them some space. The once clamouring students quieted down almost immediately as Jaune and Penny stared at one another, neither one saying a word.
He was glad to see that she looked fine now and it appeared like her injury was healed. How was that even possible? Did her Aura work on robot parts or was there someone here capable of repairing her? He was curious but it probably wasn't a good idea to ask seeing as he was the only one to know her secret.
Penny took a small step closer to him, giving a warm smile as she did. "Salutations, Jaune." For once, it wasn't her usually over-exuberant tone but just a normal speaking level she greeted him with. She took another step forward and reached her hand forward, placing it right over where the hole in his shirt had been earlier tonight. "You… threw away your life for me." She spoke quietly, probably so the others couldn't hear her as she talked. "Even knowing what I am, you sacrificed yourself for me without hesitation."
Jaune gave her his most reassuring smile. "You and I are friends Penny, nothing changed that. I told you as much already."
Penny's small smile became much bigger and she gave a much more enthusiastic nod this time. "I am just most glad to see you alive. I now have the opportunity to repay you for saving my life."
Jaune tilted his head in confusion. "You don't have to repay me Penny, I did it because I wanted to." Penny sent a quick glance to Sun and out of the corner of his eye he could see the faunus motion her to continue. Uh oh, this likely couldn't end well. Just what the heck was this guy teaching her?
"In that case, I am doing this because I want to, Jaune. I understand it is customary for a normal girl to thank a man in this fashion." She took one step closer and was now directly in front of him. Warning bells went off inside his head but it was far too late for him to react as Penny's hands wrapped around the back of his head and pulled his face forward as she leaned in to meet him halfway…
...and kissed him in front of everyone.
His brain kicked into overdrive as all his senses immediately went on high alert as it attempted to process as much information it could as quickly as possible. The very first thing he noticed… Penny's lips were surprising warm for a robot's. What was her fake flesh made of exactly? Nevermind that last thought. He had much more pressing things to worry about. For starters, all the whistles, cheers, and catcalls that were being directed his way as everyone's excitement levels immediately peaked. He saw several bright flashes as people undoubtedly took pictures of them.
Out of the corner of his eye he could also see Sun giving him a huge thumbs-up along with a big wink. He took back what he thought about him earlier, he really didn't want this guy's help with anything anymore. Did he have any idea how long it was going to take to clear up this misunderstanding?
Finally, Penny ended the kiss and took a step away from him. Her face was only slightly flushed while he had no doubt his was beet-red. He opened and closed his mouth as he tried and failed to form even a broken thought, seeing as anything coherent was clearly out the window. He had just received his second kiss from a girl and this one had been very, very public.
"Uhh… Penny?" He finally managed to get his mouth to work but the words felt weird as they passed his still warm lips.
"Yes Jaune?" Penny tilted her head with all the innocence of a child as she responded to him.
"Do you have any idea what it actually means for a girl to kiss a guy...like that?" He gestured vaguely between the two of them as he asked. This was very crucial, what if Penny actually knew that as far as everyone else was concerned she just confessed to him? In public no less. Penny clearly had feelings and emotions but he had no idea if she understood anything about how love worked, not that he exactly had a firm grasp on it either. Could he even date a robot to begin with? Not that he wanted to, but hypothetically, how would that even work?
Penny nodded happily to his question. "Of course I do. It is the ultimate sign of gratitude between friends!" He had to stop himself from smacking his own face. Dammit Sun, this was all his fault. The problem was, Penny wasn't exactly wrong either, although that kiss had been a bit extreme for just saying thank you. Of course, everything Penny did tended to be extreme. How was he even supposed to explain it properly? If he didn't figure it out quickly, the damage was going to become permanent.
"Let's give it up for-" Oh God dammit Sun. "-Lambent's strongest pair who both bravely risked their lives for all of us against that crazy bastard!" Sun grabbed both of them by the wrists and hoisted their hands into the air like they had just won some kind of grand championship.
It had the desired effect that as cries of gratitude and congratulations rained down upon them. Penny gave a bright smile, clearly oblivious to what they were being congratulated on while he could only try not to sink into the floor and vanish.
At the same time, there was a strange sensation of elation bubbling inside him. He was… being acknowledged. Maybe some of it was for the wrong things, but he had worked his ass off tonight to save them all. So was it really so bad to get a little rewarded for once in his life?
Amidst the crowd, he could see his team clapping for him too. They were a little more subdued than the rest and all three of them had knowing smirks, but all the same they were playing along. He wanted to break away and go up to them. But for now, he thought it wouldn't be too bad to bask in the limelight a little while longer.
Perhaps his life here wasn't going to be too bad, after all?
End
AN: And that's pretty much it.
I told the story I wanted with the conclusion to Razor Canyon. Aside from a few loose ends which needed tying up, I didn't have any desire to expand beyond that. There's plenty of places the story could go from here, adventures to have, and room for characters to grow. If anything, this is more of a prologue to all that. Which is all I wanted from it, in the end. There are a couple things I did kind of want to add and that were in the original, but there will always be other opportunities. Might not make most of you happy, but I reached what felt like the natural conclusion for what I started with.
This chapter is actually kind of funny in it's a bit of a mash-up from two chapters from the previous version. The beginning scene actually happens much later in that story. The scene with Qrow was like a revised version of a different scene somewhere around the middle and then the end was edited just enough to fit in with everything else that had been changed.
Originally I had a section of this that was quite a bit longer, but I thought that battle was superfluous and didn't add anything so I removed it, even if it was kind of cool. I think I almost wrote it as an apology for not really adding much new to this rewrite, but now the original version is back up. If I write a sequel, it will end up in there for sure as I do want to do a scene where both Auburns fight together. This outcome leaves me plenty of room to go from here so if I ever do decide to continue with it and if I come up with a good enough plot and decide on the way I want my characters to grow, I will. Although it will likely be as a separate sequel fic.