Today, like many Sundays, Yang found herself jogging to Jaune's house across the bridge. Her mind was churning with countless puns, many of them centered Weiss's name, and she was not afraid to use each one for her amusement. Rounding the corner to his abode, she heard him singing loud and clear all the way down the street.

Unusually, Jaune did not have his guitar or a crowd of his sisters around him; instead, he was measuring the space above the front door, using a pencil to mark some spots on the paneling. Deciding that now was as good a time as any to intrude, she shouted to be heard above his cheerful singing. "Well, hello there, Mister Bounce-in-his-step! Did something good happen!"

"Yang!" Jaune dropped what he was holding as he spun towards her. "I'll say it has! Thank you!"

"For wh-" She was interrupted by Jaune suddenly bringing her into an almost bone-crushing hug. "Jaune?!"

"Weiss told me everything! About how your pep talk helped her follow through with meeting me, the help you gave her even just to get ready- Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Yang started getting dizzy as Jaune began to swing her around in joy. Realizing she was looking sick, he set her down but remained hugging her. "You've helped turn me into the happiest guy on the planet!"

Once she got her bearings back, she managed to reply, "I mean, I'm glad I could help and all that, but I don't think I did anything that special."

"Huh?" Jaune finally pulled away, tilting his head curiously. "Hasn't Weiss told you already?"

"About what?"

"It's done~!" Olive burst of the house, nearly breaking into song as she announced her presence. She was carrying some type of white banner in her hands, though it was folded so that Yang couldn't see what was written on it. "Oh! Hey there, Yang! Glad you could make it to the announcement!"

"Announcement for what?!"

Her question went ignored as Jaune went back to the house and got on a step stool. "Nice job getting it done so quickly, Olive."

"Well, what did you expect?" The Arc girl preened as she passed Jaune some tape. "You ready to put it up?"

"Yep, just set the corners where I marked."

In unison, they hoisted the banner up and taped the bottom corners to the wall. When they managed to lift up the top edge to reveal the contained message, Yang felt herself lose a few scraps of sanity. On the far left was a golden, crescent moon, and on the far right was an aqua colored snowflake. The letters between them?

"Newly Engaged!"

"What." Her jaw dropped as she read the announcement banner. "Jaune, you-"

"Yep! You're looking at the future Mister Arc-Schnee!" He seemed almost giddy as he hopped down to admire his sister's handiwork. "I thought about Weiss and I having the name Schnee-Arc instead, but she was worried about people shortening it to 'Schnarc' whenever they talked about us. My snowflake is very persuasive."

"Jau- Bu- You can't just suddenly get engaged!" It made no freaking sense! "Jaune, you proposed to her?!"

"We proposed to each other, actually. We were all ready to get married last night, but then we remembered that we needed to invite our families. They'd never let us live it down if we eloped."

"Darn right!" Olive gently jabbed his chest with her pointer finger. "I would've skinned you myself, and then let Mom go to town on you!"

"Easy there, I believe you Sis."

"Jaune!" Yang had to yell just to get them to look at her again. "You're in high school. You can't get married!"

Another head tilt. "Why not?"

"For a hundred reasons! You're too young to understand how important something like that is-"

"I understand very well, thank you."

"-I don't think it's even legal-"

"As long as you have parental consent forms it's fine."

"-And you just got together with her last night! Don't you think that's a little sudden?!"

Jaune looked over at Olive, who simply shrugged in response. "Not really?" He answered. "I mean, I love her and she loves me. Isn't that enough?"

"What do you mean-" Something clicked in Yang's mind, and she felt her breath return to her as she had her realization. "Oh, I get it! This is a prank! Wow, okay, you had me going pretty good there."

Jaune's face scrunched up in confusion. "Why would I ever joke about this? Oh, that reminds me, you should call Weiss. She has something very important to ask you."

"Jaune, you can drop it, I figured it out."

"Again, not a joke, Yang. Do you need to borrow my phone?"

"Why would I need to borrow your phone? Fine, fine, I'll play along and call her." Shaking her head, Yang swiftly dialed the Ice Queen's number and waited. After two rings, she heard the line pick up. "Hey, Weiss, Jaune said you needed to talk to me?"

"Perfect timing, Yang, I was just about to call you!" Why did she sound so chipper? "So, first of all, thank you for your help. Last night was a resounding success."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Glad to be of service."

"I have a very important question for you now. Yang, will you be my Maid of Honor?"

"Hah, so you're in on the prank."

"Prank?"

"I sussed it out, so you can let it go now."

"Yang Xiao Long, I would never joke about something like getting married! The Schnee name is important, and something I would never sully with a- a prank!"

"You're trying to tell me that you really got engaged last night?"

"Of course I did! I've spent this morning getting some of the forms together. Some of them will have to wait until later this week, on account of the government offices being closed on Sundays, but I'll be certain not to procrastinate."

"Weiss-" Yang's free hand grabbed her face and slid as she grunted in frustration. "This is stupid. The Weiss I know would never rush into something like this."

"Naturally. Quite a lot of thought and discussion went into this, and ultimately Jaune and I were on the same page."

"This is- Gods, are you serious?! You're actually engaged to Jaune?"

"Is that not what I've been saying? Yes, we're engaged, and I'd like for you to be my Maid of Honor!"

"Weiss! No, this can't be happening. This is crazy, and- Jaune, why are you taking pictures of me?"

"It's video." Jaune cheekily grinned from behind his phone. "Just recording the moment we got you, that's all."

"Make sure Jaune sends me that video later, Yang. Hahaha!"

"Oh, screw all of you!" Olive, Jaune, and Weiss began cracking up, and Yang felt her cheeks burn red with anger and embarrassment. How dare they do this to her!

Still, at least their date went well. Yang punched Jaune once in the arm as payback for the prank, but she was truly happy that things had gone better than expected. Somehow, she just knew they'd be alright.

-X-

The rain hammered down on the Arc family home with the force of a hurricane, and Jaune was forced to speak louder to be heard. "I'm getting ready to head to work. Are you all gonna be good?"

"Yeeees, we just need the dryer to finish." Olive rolled her eyes as she sassed him, unwrapping the first towel she'd used to dry her hair. She was stuck standing in the laundry room with Jade and Lavender while the machine finished its job. "Get going, okay?"

"Fine, I'll see you all-"

Ding dong!

Jaune glanced down the hall. "Who'd come to our house in this weather?"

Lavender shrugged. "No clue. Will you answer it? I really don't wanna show my tank top to a stranger."

"Sure thing." Grabbing his work apron of the hook, he quickly walked to the front door and opened it up. What he expected was some desperate door-to-door salesman.

What he did not expect was for Weiss to be standing under an umbrella held by Klein, carrying a rolling suitcase as she shook some water off of her feet. And he definitely didn't expect for her to look completely dejected, as if she'd been run through an emotional washing machine. "Weiss? What's wrong?"

"I-" Her words faltered for a moment. "I didn't have anywhere else to go…"

That was all he needed to hear. Jaune turned his head and called to his family, "Everyone, execute Order Gamma! We have two people over!"

Plum dashed from the living room into the dining room, and chaos could be heard as everyone scrambled thanks his sudden command. He ignored all of it, inviting the new arrivals to put their shoes in the cubby and come inside. Weiss sat down on the sofa while Klein made to assist the Arc clean-up crew of his own volition. Jaune parked himself next to her and gently grabbed her shoulder. "You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?"

"No, just- torn up inside." She leaned back on the cushion, staring into the ceiling. "My father backstabbed me. I'm sorry for coming without notice, but… I had to leave the house for my own sanity. There was no staying there today."

"I see." He took a deep breath as he contemplated the rest of his day. "If you need to talk to me, I can call my Sis and tell her I'll be late to work."

Weiss shook her head slowly. "I would hate to cut into your work hours. I'll be fine until you return, and it will give me some time to gather my thoughts."

"If you say so." Jaune removed his hand from her shoulder, but he had one more thing to say. "Weiss, just so you know, our home can be your home for as long as you need it to be. You're important to me."

A ghost of a smile crossed her face as she turned her head to look at him. "Thank you, Jaune. Truly. I'm sorry to be such a burden."

He kneeled down and spread his arms out. After a moment, Weiss wordlessly sat up and accepted his hug. "You could never be a burden. You're my Crystal."

"T-thank-" Her face became buried in his chest as she nuzzled closer. Jaune didn't mind the wetness of her tears, not if it meant helping her in any way he could. They stayed like that for several minutes, ignoring the many onlookers that had completed their tasks.

Before long, Klein decided to break away to help the youngest Arc with her Macaroni and Cheese meal. He had a variation that used chorizo, and he believed that the Arc family would like it immensely. No one present commented on the private moment they witnessed, at least not that night.

That scene belonged solely to the two involved. It needed no audience.

-X-

FF Net seems to not have informed most of my followers that I recently updated One New Message. If you haven't read chapter 21 of ONM, I strongly encourage you to do so.

I hope you enjoyed this second peek into an alternate timeline! Please consider leaving a review, and have a nice day.