"I… I lost my mom. When I was five." Ruby spoke slowly, Jet immediately picking up on the fact that Yang had put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "She said what you'd said to me. That she wouldn't leave me." A tear formed in one eye, then another. They were small, but Jet could clearly see their presence. "She said that on the day that she died. When they… when they-"
Ruby said no more, instead turning away and crying into Yang's shoulder. The blonde had crouched and was holding her, but the lilac eyes were still on Jet. He tilted his head, as if to say 'Please continue.' Even as he did so, his mind was putting two and two together.
"Summer Rose. That was her name." Yang said, keeping Ruby's sobs confined to the rapidly moistening patch on her shoulder. "She was out on a hunt in the day. Was supposed to come back. She didn't." Jet lowered his own gaze. "We didn't hear about what had happened until the next day. And just like that, Ruby lost more than her mother." Jet felt a hand on his chin, and found his face being raised so that he and Yang were seeing eye-to-eye. "She lost the human being that she was closest to. Closer than me, our dad, anyone." Ruby raised her head at that point and looked at Jet.
"When you said that to me, I was scared. Scared I'd lose you in the same way." Ruby said, nervously, clutching her sister's arm. It was a pathetic sight, and one that melted the steel armour around Jet's heart. What had he been thinking? Ruby cared for him, this was evidence in black and white.
Jet stretched out a hand. Enough with all this. It was time to put this behind him.
"We were both scared and confused. We are both at fault here." Jet said directly to Ruby. He locked eyes with Yang, and she nodded. He held out his arms, looking at Ruby again. "Let's leave this behind. And please, please tell me if anything I say scares you at all like that. Come here."
Jet had been expecting Ruby to be hesitant.
To look up at Yang for confirmation.
To give him even a second to react.
None of the above rang true. Instead, Jet fell to the ground within milliseconds, Ruby on top of him, hugging him tighter than Jet had every felt before. His aura, which had been raised instinctively, was not fast enough to block her, not that Jet had wanted to. It did protect him from the impact with the leafy, sticky ground, however.
"Yes yes yes Jet!" Ruby cried happily. "Of course I will!"
Scary that her apparent fear had turned on its head within literal moments.
Ah well.
"Just one thing." Yang spoke from above him. She gestured around her at the clearing that his power had created. "How the hell did this happen? And why do you have wings?"
Jet sighed as Ruby rested her tear-stained head on his chest.
"It's a long story." Jet replied. "And I'm not telling it here."
He tried to rise, but Ruby was NOT budging.
"Get up, you big lump!"
"I think there quite a few teams still remaining." Jet said to Ruby as he stoked her hair lightly. Ruby, who was standing close to him, nuzzled into his chest.
"Soon I'll need to return my dead tree branch to the earth." Ruby whispered, and looked up at Jet just in time to see him raise an eyebrow. Perhaps he hadn't expected her to know what a jet stone could sometimes be. Joke's on him.
"I don't think I've been preening my little rose enough. She's grown thorns." Jet replied in an undertone, giving her a steely look mixed in with playfulness.
It was two days after Jet had made up with Ruby, and a tournament had begun within Beacon in preparation for the Vytal Festival tournament under Ozpin's jurisdiction. Team RWBY had faced off against two teams so far, and Ruby thought they had wrecked the two opposing teams. Now, they had entered the rounds where only two could participate.
This knocked Ruby's conscience a little, for she and Yang had been voted up, and while her friend and partner had assured her multiple times that she was 'over the whole thing', she couldn't shake the fact that the looks she got from Weiss were a little less… friendly. Ruby shook her head free of such thoughts. It was probably just her.
"Think you can take me and Crescent Rose?" she asked as Jet broke the hug, her competitive voice now in action.
"Midnight Rose and I cannot be defeated. I would never displease my darling." Jet responded, in a very over-the-top posh British accent that caused Ruby to giggle despite herself at the ridiculousness of the fake accent. It honestly sounded like the most snobbish person she could have ever met. "Oh pish posh! Stifle your laughter! You've yet to see what else she can do." he said, seemingly strengthening it to even more ridiculous speech, and Ruby couldn't help herself.
She burst out laughing, nearly collapsing as her legs turned to jelly, her chest heaving as she tried her best to calm herself down. Jet was clearly not going to help matters, however, even as he steadied her with his arms.
"What's the joke?" Yang asked, unseen. Jet tightened his grip on Ruby just as she was beginning to regain control of her body and breath.
"Nothing of note, my fair lady. Simply a matter of making a fool of myself with this positively ridiculous accent and slaying this fine maiden with irrefutable laughter." Jet replied, the accent having gotten so bad that it now sounded like he was holding his nose on top of everything else, and Ruby collapsed into his chest, now positively crying with laughter at how stupid it sounded.
"Nice." Yang said after a snort from which Ruby clearly divined that her sister was trying to contain her own mirth. "Did you see the pairing for the first set of pair matches?"
"No." Jet responded, this time in a normal voice. Ruby heard Yang snort again, and looked up to see an evil grin on her sister's face, one that caused Jet's eyes to harden, and Ruby's breath to catch in her throat as she released him before returning to her sister's side.
"You're facing CFVY. One of the strongest teams in school." Yang responded, not dropping her grin at the sight of Jet's steely gaze. "Hate to say it bud, but you're done. Ruby and I have to handle CDNL. Those guys'll be a joke."
"How do you know that we won't win?" Jet asked.
Now Ruby took a step back from her companion, still wiping her eyes a little, yet all traces of amusement had gone from her mind. Was he serious? She'd seen Coco and Yatsuhashi fight. No matter how quick Jet had seemed during their practise match, she knew in terms of power, they would slaughter Jet and his partner.
Yet Jet's face held anything but fear. In fact, Ruby could see the first glimmers of a smirk on his face, something Yang hadn't missed, as her own smile began to waver before Jet's confidence.
"Power is relative." Jet continued, clearly aware of the bombshell he had dropped. "While it is true that they have Izzet and I beat in terms of raw strength, I find that I rarely need strength to best my opponents." He walked away from Ruby and Yang, in the direction of the dorms.
Ruby shared an awed look with her sister. Either Jet was very confident, or very stupid. He looked back at the pair of siblings.
"Did anyone say I'd fight them on their terms?" Jet posed, before he rounded a corner, and out of sight, leaving Ruby to ponder what he'd meant. She and Yang were silent for a moment, before her sister stepped in front of her.
"You've definitely picked an interesting one, sis." Yang said.
Jet stood alone as Izzet donned her armour for battle against CFVY in a separate changing room. It was an early evening, which normally would inspire more confidence in him, as hours of darkness often brought comfort and strength to him. However, tonight, Jet would be lying to himself if he said that he was not afraid.
'Who are you to know fear? You know not of your true potential.' A gravely, almost bestial, feminine parody of Jet's own voice spoke from inside his head. Jet knew who this was, and her coming only heralded disaster.
"What do you want, sister?" Jet thought to it.
'Really, we must find a better name for me than simply 'sister' or 'the void'. I was thinking Flux, since you are the embodiment of order within your mind and, while similar to you, I am also your opposite.'
"Very well, Flux. My question still stands, however." Jet responded.
"I'm getting hungry. It is almost too long since I last feasted on living energy. You should have given me those Grimm from before, back when Ruby ran away." Flux replied menacingly.
"Your hunger for aura energy ends in death. I will not let you seize control of me again." Jet hissed aloud, remembering what had happened the last time Flux had won control of his body.
'Ever since you came to Beacon, killing the Grimm and performing your team's signature move has sustained me. But it has not satisfied me. I need aura energy, for it is my life's blood.' Flux growled.
"Suppose I was to let you die? What then?" Jet challenged, but he heard Flux laughing. The sound echoed in Jet's mind.
'I am you. You are me. If one of us dies, the other follows. I don't want to die, but I also don't want you to die, my brother.' Flux whispered, losing some of the bestiality of her voice.
"If you care for me, then why can't you see that your killings bring me great sorrow?" Jet asked.
'I do, and it pains me, but we cannot co-exist while you still refuse to give me a boost every once in a while, or lend me control of our body. I've not given you any reason to not trust me while I'm not starving.' Flux said.
"Then how about this? I will learn to trust you again after you've proven yourself worth my trust. I will give you a chance." Jet replied, softly.
'That is all I ask for, my brother.' was her only reply.
As Jet exited the changing room, and made his way to the entrance of the arena, he felt Izzet appear behind him. He stopped, holding out his left hand, and she took it in her own hand, which was covered in a steel glove, the glove of Temporal Tempest.
'We're facing Coco and Yatsuhashi, aren't we?' Izzet asked, the voice sounding slightly worried. Jet was glad. It meant that she recognised the gravity of their situation, yet also that she was confident that he would have a plan. And fortunately for her, he did.
'We are. And all of the pieces are already in place.' Jet sent back, confidently. 'If all goes well, their massive weapons won't do much to fighters like us.'
'You say that, and yet the sheer force speaks volumes.' Izzet responded, as they rounded a corner, passing some students. Jet allowed himself a quiet chuckle.
'Force will not matter in this fight.' Jet replied. 'And you know that I can be far stronger than the two of them put together. They are nothing compared to my true power.'
'If we are forced to use it, I will gladly lay myself low for you.' Izzet said, as they neared the two steel doors, that marked the right entrance to the arena. Jet had passed through these doors once before. He remembered the exercise that had been part of a test devised by Ozpin to test his potency in combat.
They had never seen what Jet knew he could truly do.
And neither had anyone else outside of his team.
'With our power, between your chronomancy and my abilities, none can stand in our way.' Jet reassured her. He gave her hand a squeeze, and she responded in kind.
'What is our plan?' Izzet asked, as the doors to the arena started to open.
'Follow my lead.' Jet replied, as the sounds of cheering students greeted his ears. Unfortunately for both him and Izzet, all seemed to be cheering for their opponents, with those cheering or booing at them clearly not being heard. It would be a shame when they were disappointed.
He strode across the arena towards Coco. Her eyes, reminiscent of a true noblewoman, were locked with his own. Jet levelled his own steely gaze as he approached her, still holding Izzet's hand. He saw Coco's eyes narrow as Izzet released him.
Ruby, in the midst of the crowd of students, watched as Jet reached Coco, and Izzet drew level with Yatsuhashi. While Jet and Coco shook hands firmly, their eyes still fixed on one another, Yatsuhashi clearly took pity on Izzet when she extended her small hand, and responded with only two of his own fingers to match her.
Each pair then retreated ten paces backwards, their gazes unwavering. Ruby could only wonder what other tricks Jet had up his sleeve. He was fast. He had her semblance, judging by the black petals he sent flying when he fought.
She saw Jet pull out his weapon. Midnight Rose glimmered menacingly as Jet braced it on his shoulder in sniper form, turning his other to face Coco. Now all they needed was the-
"Begin!" Ozpin, who was overseeing the match, called.
The effect was instantaneous. Jet and Izzet literally became blurs, speeding towards their opponent's even as Coco's minigun started spitting lead. High calibre rounds flew around the pair as they closed with their targets, the aura of Jet and Izzet only going down a little as bullets glanced off their aura. They were too fast.
Ruby focussed on the blur that was trailing black rose petals, as it honed in on Coco. It flew directly over her, before becoming un-blurred. Coco swung her gun around, trying to hit him, but Jet took a quick step back before deploying Midnight Rose, the deadly laser blade slashing through the air as she too was forced to dodge backwards.
Coco was grinning however, as her weapon opened up again, and this time, Jet was in point blank range, with no possible way to dodge the devastating stream of lead that was coming. In the brief moment before it happened, Jet held up his left hand, and a flash of light erupted before their eyes!
Rubbing her eyes furiously to get her sight back, Ruby saw that Jet had not dodged, not swung his weapon in an attempt to counter or block, not even moved. Coco was firing her gun in full force, a hailstorm of bullets pelting at Jet, but instead of hitting him, they were hitting…
Weiss, who was sitting next to her, gasped and pointed out the familiar, purple tinted glyph originating from the palm of Jet's hand, currently absorbing all of the bullets Coco cared to fire at him. While she had her teeth gritted as she continued to try and break the shield, Jet's face was passive, simply watching as his dark glyph trapped the bullets, like a spider's web catching a swarm of flies.
"Where has he gotten that power?" Weiss asked, more to herself than Ruby. She would have to ponder that later, as Jet detonated the glyph in an explosion of dust that sent all of the bullets flying back at Coco, the speed at which they came back both denying any chance at evasion and stopping Coco's gun. They dug into her aura, and Jet leaped backwards just as Izzet joined him.
Wait, wasn't Yatsuhashi somewhere? Ruby tore her eyes off of Jet's fight to look at the aura indicators. Jet and Coco were at about fifty percent each, Izzet at thirty, but Yatsuhashi's aura was in the red, and that meant wherever he was, he was down. Ruby hadn't even been paying attention to Izzet's fight with the big guy. How had she beaten someone literally twice her height?
In the few short moments she'd been wondering, she heard an almighty crash coupled with both cheers from the crowd and the signature spinning up of Coco's gun, before she looked back to see both Jet and Izzet flying backwards, Izzet's aura plummeting to the edge of yellow and Jet's aura was at twenty five percent.
As both combatants hit the ground, Jet sprang to his feet and shielded the pair of them from further fire with another glyph, though with every hit Ruby noticed that his aura still went down. It was only a sliver, the bare minimum that could be shaved off an aura, but with the number of times he was being hit, it was steadily trickling away. The crowd roared in approval, clearly Izzet dealing with Yatsuhashi had caused much of an upset.
Izzet got up and put her hand on Jet's shoulder. They locked eyes. Ruby couldn't tell what was being said, but Jet clearly didn't like what was going on. Izzet gave him a determined look, and Jet bowed his head. Something was going on.
Still covered by the glyph, Izzet stepped back and spread her arms, baring her chest, looking as if she were about to embrace Jet if she didn't have a face that still reflected a steely determination. Jet raised Midnight Rose, and Ruby found herself suddenly very nervous. Even Coco had stopped firing now, and the whole arena suddenly seemed… deathly quiet.
Jet brought Midnight Rose down upon his teammate, the weapon emanating a black aura. The light of Izzet's aura was drained, sucked into the blackness of the weapon, and she crumpled, her aura completely gone. The aura indicator confirmed that she'd completely run out.
Jet then turned to face Coco, and made his glyph vanish now. His own aura was now glowing an ethereal blue as he locked eyes with her, the aura surrounding his weapon changing to match. Weiss elbowed her, the pain snapping her out of what Jet had done.
"Ruby, look." Weiss said in awe, pointing out the aura indicator. Ruby looked, and saw to her own awe, that it was now at 100%. Jet had been fully restored… by destroying his own teammate?
"How?" Ruby asked to no-one in particular.
And no-one would answer her question. Jet extended his wings, eliciting gasps from the whole crowd of students watching him, and took flight. With a battle cry reminding Ruby of a Nevermore's dreaded call, he raised his scythe, and his aura, glittering and arching around him, intensified, shining with new, brighter, purple light. The aura indicator underneath Jet's picture turned white and started pulsing slowly. A single word was visible over it.
Invulnerable.
Coco, clearly coming out of her own reverie, lit him up with gunfire again. Rounds flew around Jet, seemingly bouncing off his aura, no damage being taken. Ruby realised with a jolt that Coco had no idea that her rounds were doing absolutely nothing!
Then Jet struck. Ruby couldn't even see him. One second he was up in the air, the next, he had appeared right in front of Coco, aside her still-spitting gun, his scythe glowing pure white as it came down upon her classmate's head.
The explosion of purple fire hid the two fighters from view in a plume of grey smoke, but the aura indicator was not covered. From that single attack, Coco's aura had dropped to ten percent, right in the red, and Jet's had only just returned to the normal green colour. As soon as the smoke cleared, Ruby saw Jet, still surrounded by that pale purple aura, walking away from a downed Coco, who was blackened with soot from the explosion.
He took a bow just as the screen displayed LIJN as the winner, then took Izzet's hand as she appeared behind them, and the two of them vanished from the spot, not stopping to answer an understandably concerned Professor Goodwitch, whom Ruby had not even seen in the arena.
As soon as he did, Ruby got up, and ignoring her teammates, shot out of the spectators' area in a blur of rose petals.
