Disclaimer: This is not your mother's property either.

Just One Date

Volume 3

By: athrunzala

Chapter 13: End of Semester

As the long solitary tone sounded from the PA system, the weary leagues of students filed out of the classrooms and lecture halls into the common areas of Beacon Academy. Most were looking forward to the end of semester break. Others were just going to stay and study for the next semester. In the minority, there were those few students who were going to hang around and ignore the world.

Ruby and Jaune were among the lucky few to be trudging out of Port's exam.

"How do you think you did, Jaune?"

The blonde looked over at his friend and shook his head.

"Probably terrible. I just don't know what to do anymore."

Ruby looked at the swordsman, a puzzled expression on her face. She couldn't understand how he didn't know what to do. He was engaged to Pyrrha, and it had seemed like he couldn't be happier. So his deflated appearance was highly unusual. Luckily, she and Weiss had made plans with Pyrrha as a surprise for Jaune at the end of the semester. She reached up and patted Jaune on the back, causing him to momentarily lose his balance. As he recovered, he looked over at the younger girl, who was wearing her signature grin.

"Come on, Jaune. Let's go."

"Uh… go where now?"

Down at the docks, Violetto Volpes was waiting somewhat impatiently. The Faunus paced back and forth, stopping briefly to move his watch up to bring the device into his line of vision. The last time he did this, a ship was pulling up alongside the dock.

"He's late."

"But he made it."

He looked over at the source of the second voice. It had emanated from a female Faunus with white, waist-length hair, and blue eyes. She was sitting idly on a nearby bench, her long white overcoat buttoned up, hiding whatever she was wearing underneath.

"Nice to see you again, Lilly."

"You too."

She stood up and almost glided across the dock. As she neared, she reached out a hand and plucked Violetto's hat from its perch atop his head. He abruptly snatched it back.

"You know you don't need that," she chided.

"I know. I just don't like drawing attention to myself," he responded, returning the headgear to its original position.

"You two are still going on about that?"

The two Faunus looked up towards the source of the sound.

"Look out below!"

Nero's holler was all the warning they would get. He proceeded to jump down from the open hatch on the side of the ship to the dock, not waiting for the exit ramp to be put into place. As he stood up, he asked one question.

"Why are both of you here?"

Lilly sighed and put her head in her hand, as Violetto said one word.

"Russel."

Nero's shoulders slacked.

"What did he do this time?"

The male Faunus motioned towards the bench Lilly had occupied earlier.

"You're going to want to sit. He made a really big mess this time."

The trio sat down as Violetto began his explanation. After 25 minutes, he finally concluded.

"Long story short, he has asked us to bail him out. Any questions?"

Nero put his head in his hands. He knew that the man had always been a little rambunctious, but willingly leading a Grim into town? Something didn't add up. He stood and turned towards the stairs leading up into the city.

"Nero, what are you thinking?"

"More importantly, what are you going to do?"

While Violetto's question was understandable, Lilly's inquiry came from having known the human for decades. She knew that he could be downright unpredictable and hot headed. They didn't want to have two friends in police custody. As Nero started walking, his two companions rose as well.

Back on Beacon's campus, Weiss and Pyrrha were waiting by a tree. The two were sitting and talking about their lives and upbringing, the issues fame had brought to them, and various other things. The conversation ended as they noticed Ruby and Jaune coming into view.

Pyrrha raised her arm and waved to flag their fiancés over. They all sat together in the cool, refreshing shade that the tree provided.

"I wish we could always have days like this."

The heiress looked over at Ruby, and smiled softly.

"So do I, Ruby. So do I."

The black haired woman moved to lean up against the tree, removing her hood in the process. She patted the ground for Weiss to come and sit next to her, but the ice queen instead leaned her head into her lover's lap, lifting it momentarily to steal a quick kiss.

Jaune and Pyrrha used this moment to remove themselves from the scene, allowing their friends to relax as a cool breeze drifted through. They had other things to take care of.

Jaune's parents definitely wanted to meet Pyrrha in person, but, with the young couple not being able to leave the campus, many trips to the CCT were in order. They entered and Jaune told the holographic receptionist what they were going to do.

Down at the Vale Police Department, three teachers were waiting while their friend was "processed out" to allow him to leave. When he finally appeared, he scratched his head, rustling the already unruly mop of rust-colored hair on his head into some semblance of a controlled look.

"Yo!"

Nero shot him a glare.

"Do you know what we had to do to get you out?"

"Chillax, man! It's all cool!"

Violetto turned to his former partner.

"You will be going to Beacon as a teacher's aide."

Russel struck a slightly shocked pose, which he quickly recovered from.

"Nice. Any hotties there?"

His three companions narrowed their eyes. Russel face-faulted before apologizing, albeit slightly half-heartedly.

"Alright. Alright. No need to go all dark on me."

He walked across to the clerk to claim his shoes, coat and weapon, then made his way to Violetto.

"So, partner. Who and what do I teach?"

The male Faunus removed his partner's hand from its perch on his shoulder. He then motioned towards Nero.

"I work at Signal. You are working with him."

Smirking slightly, the rust-haired man walked towards Nero, and started to move his hand towards the gunblade user's shoulder.

"Do it, and I let them keep you here."

Russel lowered his hand and put it into his pocket.

"Geeze. No need to be so grumpy about it."

To Be Continued…

A.n./ - Yay! I got all four original characters in. You won't see much of them together like this for the rest of the story. It isn't all about them. However, I am sorry for introducing Russel back at the end of volume 2 and never talking about him again. So, here he is.

I am thinking that I will have 2-3 more chapters here, with 4 being the absolute maximum before the Volume 3 finale.