Those Days

by jitterwhack

A whole bunch of shenanigans that involve Team RWBY, JNPR, the Beacon Staff, and CFVY. Read and Review. Be gentle please.

33. Lancaster

Disclaimer: The following is a nonprofit fanfiction of RWBY. RWBY belongs to Monty Oum(RIP) and Rooster Teeth. Any likeness to writings of others is not intentional. To help with improvements: Read and Review!

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Final Chapter C: Endgame – Lancaster

After watching Blake and Yang leave on their Bullhead, Jaune and Pyrrha had walked off to get to their own transport. As they got close, they were stopped as Weiss had radioed in sounding urgent.

"Come in Arkos." The heiress called. "Please respond. This is urgent!"

"This is White Knight, Snowdrop." Jaune picked up his scroll. "What's the situation?"

"Big Mama has been sighted going solo." She answered quickly. "Requesting backup to intercept and give aid."

Before the blonde knight could answer, his partner snatched the scroll out of his hand. "Amazon here. I'll be on the next Bullhead to aid her. Send coordinates to drop zone."

"Copy that, Amazon." Weiss confirmed, sending coordinates to her scroll. "Will White Knight be aiding along?"

"Negative." Before Jaune could protest, Pyrrha had hung up on Weiss to talk to him privately. "Sorry Jaune, but without your shield I'll be the only defense. I cant shield all of us, so you'll need to sit this one out."

"I cant argue with that reason." He sighed, giving in to her logic and watching as she boarded the transport. "Just promise me you'll make it back safe."

Turning back to him, she gave him an unreadable expression before a toothy grin came to her face. Quickly grabbing his shoulders, she had pulled him into a hot and searing kiss. Unlike with Blake, Pyrrha had decided to be a bit more fierce and had started running her hand through his hair. After letting go, she had shoved him lightly, but had overestimated her strength as he had toppled to the ground.

"I'm sorry!" She smiled, enjoying the dazed look he was giving her. "Just like Blake, for good luck."

Still out of it, JNPR's leader watched as his partner had gone off to help out his fellow senior leader. Snapping out of it, he got off the ground and had walked back into the courtyard where students were busy preparing themselves for battle. From the looks of things, they were uncoordinated and weren't even trying to work with one another. Taking his scroll out, he radioed his fellow first year leader who was scoping the skies on the high tower.

"Are you seeing this Rubes?" He asked, gesturing to the students around him.

"Yeah. They're so… scattered." The little prodigy commented, zooming in on him as he looked around. "A few White Fang ships have been spotted heading this way, and they're all acting like children."

"Any ideas?" The blonde asked, looking up to her and waving. He had a small laugh as he saw her wave back. "By the time the Fang get here, it'll be a free for all."

"None." She said, seeing the Fang closing in. "The Fang are a few minutes from closing in. All we can do now is fight to the end."

"Right." The knight nodded.

Getting into position, he waited as the Bullheads bringing the enemy hovered closer and faunus wearing bone masks jumped out with a battle cry. The students of Beacon had let out a cry of their own as they charged in. Ruby and a few more snipers had helped give cover fire as they were all outnumbered.

"We have Grimm coming from the back!" Someone shouted near Jaune.

After slashing one enemy, the knight had retreated to the far backs to see Ursa and Beowulves charging in. Students were trying to focus on the Fang and Grimm at the same time, but couldn't hack it as they were pushed around like rag dolls. The only consolation was the Grimm didn't care as they attacked both sides. Taking a deep breath, he was about to charge in when a shadow had loomed over him.

"Heads up, Jauney!" His second in command shouted as she appeared overhead to slam a shockwave into the ground.

As she stepped out of the large crater she made, Ren had appeared in a blur unloading rounds into his foes. After giving them a good clearing, he had skidded to a halt next to the hammer wielder.

"I hope we didn't keep you waiting." The ninja said watching their backs.

"More like you guys stopped me before I could show how cool I was." He smirked, stabbing at a Grimm about to pounce on Ren. "I don't have my shield on me, so Nora and I cant use our team attack. Bushido?"

"…Why not?" Ren smirked, getting into position.

The knight and ninja worked in sync as they ran a straight line through the Grimm and Fang. While Ren gave with speed and agility, Jaune worked in with force and endurance that had them defend one another as they slaughter all in their path. As they made their way through, they worked in a circular motion that had them kick some dust up into the air. It was similar to watching a yin-yang spin as it rolled while looking at it from above. As the dust cleared, the two stopped their dance to marvel at the fallen enemies before them.

"My turn!" Nora had followed suit by going on a rampage of her own. Using her pink smoke grenade rounds, she had blasted herself into the air to give herself a higher jump after the area was shrouded. What happened next was pink smoke enshrouding the area with the screams of her enemies and the Grimm dying as she landed back down.

"My leg!"

"Augh!"

"Nooooo-! ~oh."

That last one sounded off to the two males. As the pink smoke cleared, they saw their happy bomber standing on a mountain of Fang and disintegrating Grimm with the end of Magnhild shoved into one Fang member's bum. He looked defeated, but the smile on his face as he was passed out made the two seem unsure. It was cringe worthy after Nora had jumped off the mountain of men and her weapon came out of the person it was in with a pop and a squish.

"Nora." Ren shuddered, pinching his nose. "Never do that last one again. Ever."

Before they could say anymore, Jaune's radio had alerted them to a call form Ruby.

"I need help." She said urgently. "The Fang got into the school and are now scaling the tower. We're barricaded in, but I don't know how long we can last."

"Why doesn't she just get out of there?" Nora asked, firing a grenade into a horde that was getting closer.

"Because they're still trying to give us cover fire." Jaune pointed to a few snipers hitting their enemies before they could hurt any more people. "Everything is fine down here, but without the snipers to cover us, we'll be in for a hard time."

"Let's go then!" Nora raised her hammer in the air.

As they raced inside, they battled against the many foes that crowded the halls. As they got closer to the elevator leading to the tower Ruby was on, they saw that it was now destroyed with the doors pried open.

"The stairs!" Ren said urgently, kicking the door to said stairs open.

Sadly, he had to retract his foot back as it was almost shot. The White Fang were in the stairway as well and were holding it down. Throwing a pebble in, the three blanched as they saw it was instantly shot into dust by a rain of bullets.

"Any crazy ideas?" Jaune asked Nora. The smile she gave in return after looking at the elevator and then to him said it all. "Whatever it is, I hope you know what you're doing."

"Don't worry fearless leader." She smirked, pulling him into the elevator entrance. "Think of it like initiation. Only more straight up and a lot narrower."

"…Bring it on." He muttered, steeling his legs.

With Ruby

"Hold the door!" A fat sniper shouted as he continued to shoot the skies of any Grimm showing up. "Hold the door!"

As the group pushed their bodies against the door leading to the stairs, Ruby heard something from the elevator doors. Fearing the worst, she had used her semblance to get to the elevator doors to hear someone on the other side trying to pull themselves up. Just as she was about to fire, a familiar blade wedged itself in between the doors to pry them open and a heaving blonde leader had pulled himself onto the roof.

"Air Nora." He joked as he brushed off the pebbles on his arm. "It's not as fun as she makes it look."

"Move aside Jauney." Said vice leader huffed, popping her head out from where he had climbed out. "Ren's keeping them busy downstairs, so we need to help from up here."

"Right." Her leader nodded, walking over to the door all the snipers were pushing against. "Okay snipers, get back in position. And Nora, when I open the door I want a controlled blast. We need those stairs in good shape when we finish up here."

"Okey dokey." The excited hammer wielder saluted, morphing her hammer into grenade launcher mode. "On your mark."

"GO!" Flinging the door open, Jaune jumped out of the way as his teammate shot a torrent of mini grenades inside.

The Fang members on the other side of the door were more stunned by the doors suddenly being flung open with a grenade sailing towards them to charge in. But once the doors closed once more and they saw a bunch of grenades rolling down the stairs while still hissing, they immediately panicked as they tried to get on the other side for a different reason. The ones who had made it outside were quickly taken care of by Ren as he gunned them down easily since they had to run out in a single file.

"…I don't hear a boom." Ruby said after a few seconds. After ten consecutive booms were heard and the tower shook, everyone was now looking at her. "Nevermind."

"Welp!" Nora puffed her chest, not hearing any more struggles from behind the door. "Looks like my job is done here. I must go. My Renny needs me!"

"No. Nora, wait!" It was too late for Jaune. Nora had jumped down the elevator shaft. After another loud boom was heard and the shout of the ninja of his team shouting in shock and reprimand, he pinched his nose. "She could have used the stairs."

"So I guess you'll be heading down too?" Ruby pulled on his sleeve to gain his attention. It was safe for them to talk for a bit since the skies were now clear and all snipers were covering the ground below. "Thanks for coming to the rescue."

"It was mostly Nora, though." He said with a sheepish grin. "It's hard to show how cool I can be with everyone outshining me every time."

It got a rise out of all the snipers around them as they laughed at his plight. Ruby herself had laughed but instantly stopped when she saw he was pouting at her.

"You were being serious?" Instead of answering, he had walked of to the door leading to the stairs. She had followed him as he left the roof. "It's alright. It's fine that you're completely ordinary."

"Hrrk!" That was a low blow to his pride.

"I think it's part of your charm." She continued, catching up to him. "Even with all the stuff we learn about you, you still act the same around us."

"Thanks Rubes." He muttered, ruffling her head. "That brutal honesty of yours is something else too."

As the two continued to chat while heading down the stairs, they failed to notice one of the grunts was stirring while slowly getting back up. Eyeing them with pure hatred, he had pulled the pin on his vest to a high explosive grenade. With all his comrades dead in the stairway, there was no reason for him not to pull the pin any longer.

"Die!" He shouted, charging at them.

Seeing the pin in his hand, Jaune had pushed Ruby out of the way and had flipped the grunt so he would fall straight down the stairs. As the body fell down two flights of stairs, it had exploded causing an even bigger tremor than what Nora had done. As the stairs underneath them gave way from the explosion, the two leaders braced themselves as they were now falling fast.

With Ren and Nora

"Jaune!" Both shouted as they looked to the staircase being blocked by rubble.

Getting closer and listening in for any sound of life, the two heard coughing on the other side. One male.

"They're alright Nora." The ninja sighed while looking over the rubble blocking the entrance. "From the look of things, they'll need to find another way out."

"Ren?" Jaune coughed, his voice echoing in the destroyed stairwell. "You guys there?"

"We are Jaune." The ninja answered, cupping his hands. "How's it look on your end? It doesn't look like we'll be able to get you two out without collapsing the whole thing on you two."

"Same here buddy. Ruby's out cold, but still breathing." The blonde knight sighed, surveying the mess while placing Ruby's head on his lap. "It's just me, Ruby, and a ton of corpses lying around."

"We'll try to find another way fearless leader." Nora shouted into the rubble. "Maybe I can get back on the roof and jump down where you two are to take you guys out of there."

"…That's actually a good plan Nora." Her childhood friend mused.

"You're going to have to find another way though." Their leader advised, looking over his surroundings. "It looks like one more huge tremor and me and Ruby will be pancakes."

"Don't use that metaphor Jaune." The bubbly bomber said through gritted teeth. "Just don't. I'm going to find a way to get you guys out. Ren you stay here and keep watch over them."

Not giving him a chance to reply, she had ran off to find another way up the tower. Seeing no Grimm or Fang members coming his way, the green ninja had leaned back to rest for a bit. It was short lived as the knight had spoke up.

"So that tone in Nora's voice." The blonde started. "Is there something I should know about?"

"Nothing you should worry about Jaune." He sighed, not liking the memory himself. "It's just something the two of us don't like remembering."

"I wont pry." His leader nodded. "But if you feel like sharing, just know I'm always willing to listen and not judge."

That's one of the things Ren liked about his leader. Seeing as they were stuck like this until Nora saved them, he guessed now was a good time to tell the truth on something.

"…Can I be honest with you for a minute, Jaune?" The magenta eyed teen asked, feeling he needed to get something off his chest. "It's something I've felt guilty about for awhile now, and with how things are I want you to know."

"I've got nowhere to go, buddy." Even when things seemed bad, he had time to add a joke.

"When we first became a team," Ren started, hoping this wouldn't change anything. "I honestly hated you."

"…Really?" He didn't sound angry. Surprised, but not angry. "That's a lot to take in. Then again you were so quiet, I never knew. Why?"

"…I guess it's because of how easy it was for you." The gunman said, looking down in shame. "When I saw you on our first day, you made friends so easily while being yourself. I was jealous of that. And then I started feeling hate for you when the whole Cardin fiasco started. I thought you were taking all of us for granted. Even when Pyrrha told us what happened I still hated you, but only a bit."

"So what changed all that?" There was no hurt or anger in Jaune's voice. It was mostly curiosity and awe. "I like to think we're great friends now, but I'd like to know what changed that."

"Two things really." Ren smiled, feeling the weight in his chest get lighter. "One of them was when you said I was like the brother you never had. Knowing you for a time, I could tell you really meant it."

"And I still do." He heard the knight murmur on the other side of the rubble.

"Truthfully I still hated you." The ninja continued with a small smirk at the memory. "I just felt like you were an annoying brother that I had to live with. The second one was when you and I had a spar before the Vytal festival. That's when I stopped hating you."

Flashback

"You want to spar against me?" Ren asked his leader with a raised brow.

"Yeah." Jaune nodded, sitting across from him. "With the tournament coming up, we'll be facing tons of guys who'll have an advantage over me."

'That's an understatement.' The ninja thought while keeping a calm exterior. He focused on his leader once more when he saw he was still talking.

"So I was hoping that you could teach me some hand to hand." Jaune said while smiling at his teammate.

This felt like a good opportunity for Ren. He was never one to hit anyone out of anger or anything else negative without a good reason, but Jaune was giving him that chance. Maybe after two hits, Jaune might back off and he'd feel good about today.

"Sure Jaune." Ren nodded. "Let's head off to the training room to practice."

This was going to be fun for Ren.

At the training room

This wasn't as fun for Ren as he thought it would be. True, he's never seen Jaune throw a punch since they've met, but was surprisingly adequate in his movement. At best, he was an amateur boxer, but it was still something. He still beat his leader down, but he didn't get that satisfying feeling he was hoping for. And it wasn't because Jaune was on the floor laughing while sporting a bruised cheek.

"That was great." Jaune smiled, while looking to him. "So how'd I do?"

"You were… subpar at best." He commented, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yeah." The blonde nodded, before pointing at him. "Or maybe you're just too good."

"Or that." Somehow he always found a way to make others feel good about themselves. Looking at his leader, he saw a brief sign of a grimace on his face before it was replaced with another smile. "Something on your mind?"

"Nothing. It's dumb." The blonde continued to smile. Getting a look that said he wasn't believed, he decided to go for it. "I guess I'm just a bit jealous. I mean, all of you guys have these cool skills and I'm just… me. But that's okay. You all worked hard to get where you are, so I'm going to do the same. Then it can be announced that team JNPR is the coolest team in Beacon."

"That's very admirable of you Jaune." He could admit it was a respectable attitude to have. Maybe his leader wasn't so bad as he thought he was. "If you worked on your coordination and reflexes more, I'm sure it will make up for your speed and range."

"Thanks buddy." He sighed, getting back up. "I just hope I can catch up to you guys before you leave me in the dust though."

This was Ren's leader. He is a dense idiot who was completely ordinary that he could be outshone even by a corgi of all things. He wasn't that great with a sword, and he was even worse with girls. But he is a hard worker and is also someone who would stand by you as an equal while lifting you up. He'd accept his flaws and if he could fix them, then he'd put in all his effort to try.

"Woo!" Shouted a familiar happy voice in the stands. "Go Ren. Go Jaune!"

"Hi Nora." His leader laughed at his childhood friend.

As Nora and Jaune traded jokes and banters, Ren looked on with a smile forming watching the two. If Jaune said he was like a brother, it was obvious to see that he treated Nora like a little sister.

'Why did I hate you?' He mused, walking over to join the two to listen in. It was entertaining seeing the two go back and forth.

End Flashback

"And that's how it went." Ren finished his story. "You said I was like a brother to you, but you're the family me and Nora wished that took us in when we were kids. …You're taking this all really well. I almost thought you'd hate me."

Sniff

"…Are you crying?" He asked his leader with a raised brow.

"No!" His voice was a bit different that time. Ren knew he was crying. "There's just dust flying into my nose."

"You're a horrible liar Jaune." He shook his head. "But that's one of the things we like about you."

"…When we get out of here, you wanna head to the arcade?" That wasn't something he was expecting, but that's his leader for him. "If it's still in one piece that is."

"I'd like that." He smiled, relieved nothing had changed between them. As Ren continued to wait outside, he heard something coming from behind the wall. "Do you hear …music?"

True to Ren's word, Jaune did hear music. "Yeah. It sounds like Ride of the – oh no."

"I suggest you stick near the walls." That was Ren's only advice before a small boom was heard on Jaune's side. "Are you guys okay?"

"-da, da da da da! Da da da DAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Nora had found a way in. And she was playing Ride of the Valkyrie. Truthfully, her pitch and tempo had improved on the last note. "Nora Express at your service. Keep your hands, feet, and all unconscious friends close to you as we get out of this hole."

A few minutes later

Getting the two leaders out of the enclosed space was easy for JNPR's vice leader. Like Jaune and Ren knew, Nora was more intelligent than she let on but had too much energy. Just have her focus that energy in the right moment and she could be the better leader that would lead them to victory. Ruby had woken with a bad bump on her head.

Apparently, she tried to use her semblance to pull her and Jaune upwards to the roof but had ran smack into a big piece of concrete as it was falling. Luckily her aura had stopped her from gaining a concussion, but there was now a big lump on the very top of her head.

"Stand back you two." The hammer wielder told the leaders as she readied her hammer. "This is gonna get scientific."

Doing as she said, the two leaders watched as Nora looked at the exact area she was to hit. Taking perfect aim and controlling the force of her swing, she was able to break the wall into a nice opening big enough for all three to get out off, while not causing the whole wall to fall on them. To Ruby this was new to her, but to Jaune it was just Nora's serious side.

"Meet us outside Ren." The blonde called out on the other side of the wall. Getting a tap signaling he was going, the three headed out the hole the hammer wielder had made.

Half an hour later

The battle for Beacon was going in their favor. The Fang had ran off, leaving the Grimm as their only problem. As they continued to battle the incoming Grimm waves, all first years had grouped up as a tight unit ensuring no Grimm entered the walls of their school.

"Duck!" Doing as Ren said, Jaune and Nora had avoided being shot as Ren fired on all Grimm surrounding them.

"Incoming." Turning to their left, they saw Ruby fully healed and kicking speeding towards themin a red tornado of metal, rose petals, and death with Grimm bodies falling at her in her path.

"Ok, I guess it's my turn to-" Before Jaune could do anything, Nora had interrupted him by blasting off into the air with the help of her hammer before shooting back down like a meteor that destroyed all the Grimm.

"Looks like this area is clear." The vice leader smiled while giving them all thumbs up. "Let's go check how the others are doing."

Sagging his shoulders in disappointment, Jaune followed while mumbling of how unfair life was. Apparently he had a new move he wanted to try out that was the culmination of all the work he had done with Pyrrha, Ren, Yang, and Blake.

At the docks

"Look out!" Hearing someone shout out to her, Velvet ducked as a new type of Grimm had almost cleaved her head off.

Besides the Griffins, there were now lion Grimm and ape Grimm among them. Right now, her team along with CRDL's were facing a giant gorilla. The thing had appeared out of nowhere and had destroyed half of the Bullheads as they tried to take off. Other teams weren't able to help as they were too busy trying to contain the small waves closing in on the school.

"Double Edge." Yatsuhashi nodded to Dove as they circled the lone Grimm.

Closing in, the two had started cutting at it's limbs in tandem, trying to get rid of it's main strength. Sadly, the arms were as thick as a telephone pole and as solid as iron by the look on the two swordsmen's faces as they strained to cut deep into the ape. Trying once more, the two were batted aside with their aura dropping quickly into the yellow just from that one swing.

"Yatsu/Dove!" Being the quickest of their team, Russel and Fox had pulled the two back before any more damage could have been done.

Sadly the Grimm Ape had grabbed onto Russel's leg as he had his back turned. Raising him high into the air, the Grimm was about to slam the dagger user into the ground but was stopped as it was shot directly in the face by a grenade. As the grip on his leg was loosened, the Mohawk teen felt someone quickly grab him before he could hit the ground. Looking to his side, he saw the tiny leader of team RWBY dragging him back to the others.

"Thanks." He muttered, wincing as he felt his broken leg.

"Don't thank me yet." Ruby muttered, turning back to see the Grimm glaring back at them. "It's still alive."

As the Grimm was about to tackle into her, Jaune had gotten in the way with Ren beside him. Doing a special combo of their own, they had pushed it back but it wasn't enough to kill it. It was just a minor annoyance to the Grimm as it tried and failed to bat them away. As this continued on, Ren had turned back to see that the others were now safe. Sadly, it was the wrong thing to do at the time as a backhand to the head had him sailing towards them.

"Ren!" His childhood friend shouted as she caught him. Looking at his aura meter, it was now in the yellow and almost in the red like the rest of the teams. The only ones in near perfect condition were her and her leader. "Jaune, we have to retreat. Everyone's too hurt."

Instead of listening, her leader had continued to battle the giant Grimm to push it further away from them. In his mind, he knew that turning away from this monster would be a big mistake. Ren had turned for only a second and had paid for it. Using his aura to blind the beast for a bit, he stepped back to speak to his vice-leader but never taking his eyes off the enemy. Using that chance, he had charged in once more and had tackled the Grimm to the cliff side.

"Nora, grenade the cliffs!" He shouted, jumping back.

Getting the idea, Nora had bombed the area around the Grimm to loosen the ground. As it started to crack, Jaune turned around to walk back to the others. The grim was still blind and it was now going to plummet into the spikes down below.

"Jaune!" Hearing all of them shout with horror on their faces, he quickly turned around to see the giant ape reaching a hand out towards him.

Frozen in shock, the Grimm succeeded in grabbing him as it dragged him down with him into the spikes below. Swinging his blade, he kept stabbing it into the arm hoping it would let him go. Sadly it was too late as he was now half way down. Looking back up, he saw the others looking downwards with arms outstretched in grief and fear. The last sight he saw before he and the Grimm had hit the raging waters below was his friends' expressions.

His aura had taken the brunt of the fall, so he was still capable of swimming up. Stabbing the giant ape's hand to let him go, he unstrapped all his armor and felt himself floating upwards. Sadly, the ape was still following him as he got to a part of the cliff that was flat land.

Crawling out of the water, he took off his soaking hoodie as it had weighed him down. The ape had burst out after him, still intent on killing him.

"Bring it." The blonde knight shouted, holding his sword in front of him.

As the ape charged, Jaune rolled out of the way and had delivered a slice to the beast's leg. The waves were picking up and crashed into the area they stood on, showing the tide was rising. As the beast turned around and charged once more with a fist raised to pummel him flat, the blonde positioned himself near a stalagmite and dodged again as the fist came down. Judging from the Grimm's howl, he could assume that it had injured itself.

Keeping his eyes on it, he saw that it was now cradling its hand while trying to charge at him. Its other hand would be a problem, and it was now being more cautious as it tried to circle him. Stepping back, Jaune cursed as he felt his back against the wall. The Grimm had cornered him away from any more of the terrain. As it charged at him once more to flatten him against the wall, he thought fast once more.

SLAM!

Instead of Jaune's face being contorted in pain, it was the ape Grimm's face that showed pain as it pulled it's fist back to show Jaune's sword embedded in it's knuckle straight to the hilt. While it was howling in pain, the blonde knight dashed forward to jump on the hand and grab his sword back. With its hands now in pain and only able to stand on one leg, it was easy picking for him.

Dashing forward, he was about to ram his sword straight into its chest, but failed as the Grimm had surprised him. The hand that had smashed the stalagmite had grabbed him in mid-jump. It had faked its injury. It played him into thinking it was weak. With just a squeeze, he felt his arm break.

Screaming in pain, he had dropped his blade and heard it clatter to the wet ground. He could hear the Grimm laughing at him. As it pulled him closer to it's face ready to bite his head off, he had used his good arm in a last ditch effort to punch it in the eye. He was successful as it had let him go to grab it in pain.

Landing on the floor with a splash, he could see that the tide was rising faster. Feeling around for his sword with his good hand he was successful in finding it. As the beast still held its eye, Jaune charged once more, but instead of aiming for its chest, he aimed straight for its opened mouth. As his sword drove through the ape's head, the mouth had clamped down and the knight felt the teeth pierce deep into his skin. Twisting the blade despite the pain, he felt the Grimm's jaw slacken and the blood flow freely. Pulling his arm out with the blade still in the Grimm's decomposing body, he fell to the flooding floor while grasping his broken arm. As consciousness came for him, he did not notice a figure hiding in the shadows gliding towards him to grab him by its talons.

Top of the cliff

After Jaune had fallen, Ruby and Nora had tried to jump in after him. Sadly, CFVY and CRDL had pulled them back before they could jump into the raging waters below. Not even a proper landing strategy could help them as the tides were rising.

"We have to go down there." Ruby said while pointing down the cliff angrily. "He could still be alive. He has to be."

"Ruby." Ren said with a hint of sadness in his tone. "I checked his aura levels. It's empty."

"Then his scroll must be broken or waterlogged!" She shot back, stomping a foot. "There's no way he's dead."

"Ruby." Stepping closer to pull her into a hug, Ren was pushed back as the little reaper shoved him away.

"No!" She shouted, turning back down to where Jaune fell. "He's alive! You might not believe it, but I know he's alive. He'll come back. Then we'll all laugh at how he made us all cry and then he'll apologize with that stupid grin he always gives us! After that, we'll win the fight and have a great time sharing funny stories. Then we'll …then we'll…"

The little huntress's vision was starting to blur as her eyes started to sting. Her cheeks were starting to hurt from trying to stay down while also wanting to rise up and shut her eyes. Feeling a hug from behind from two people, she turned to see the two members of team JNPR hugging her with tears slowly falling from their eyes. It was the first time Ren had shown an angry face, but it was also hurt with teeth gritted. Nora's was in pure grief and pain while she sobbed.

'I hate you so much right now.' Ren thought while remembering his leader in grief. 'You're making Nora cry. You better come back to us and apologize or I'll never forgive you.'

"Jauney." This was the fifth worst day for Nora. The first was when she was rejected for adoption. The second was when Ren and Chen became a couple. Third when they broke up with Ren being sad followed by fourth of promising to be nothing but a friend to him forever. Now she lost her leader and someone she considered her older brother.

As they left the cliff side, the teams had fought their way back inside and into the med-bay. While they fought, they had slaughtered Grimm left and right but they did so with a dead look in their eyes. Jaune was a friend to all of them and they had just watched as he fell to his death.

After dropping everyone off to get healed, Nora stormed out with a personal mission: Destroy all the Grimm. With her leader gone and as vice-leader, it was now her responsibility to take care of her team.

With Ren and Ruby

The two sat beside one another as the nurses tended to their wounds. They wanted their wounds to heal up as soon as possible so they could go help their friend. Sadly, the healing process was going slow for them as they weren't in good spirits. As time passed by, the silence was getting too much for them.

"I'm sorry I pushed you." The little reaper whispered, turning to look at him. "You were just trying to help."

"It's fine." He nodded, looking to his hands. "You were hurt, just like the rest of us."

"I know." She nodded, sniffing a bit. "But I still believe he's alive."

There was a long silence after she said that before Ren spoke once more.

"I want to believe you Ruby." He said, grief and sadness in his tone. "But I have to face the reality. Jaune is-. He's dead."

"Ren-" Before she could say anything, he held a hand to silence her.

"Please Ruby." He sniffed, showing how hurt he was. "I just lost a brother. Just please. Let me go through this."

"Okay." She sighed, turning away from him. After almost half an hour of no talking, he had decided to open up once more.

"Did you know I used to hate him?" He asked her. Getting a shocked expression and a shake of the head, he chuckled before continuing. "I did. My first thought was 'this is my leader for the next four years?' I thought he was a goofy idiot that was just born lucky."

"Pfft." She laughed at a memory she had of him. "The first part I ever saw of him was his butt in the air and his head in a trashcan while he heaved into a trashcan from motion sickness. I don't know what luck you were seeing."

After mentioning that news to him, Ren laughed softly imagining it.

"For some reason I could see that." He said after controlling himself. "While you were unconscious, I told the same thing to him. Instead of getting mad with me or hating me, he cried by how touched he was and tried to blame it on dust in his nose. …After all of this, we were supposed to go to the arcade. That's what he said after I confessed. Nothing changed between us."

"That's what I like about him." Ruby mused, closing her eyes. "He's completely ordinary that it's easy to be around him. I guess it's just how comforting he can make you feel, right? Sure he has times where he explodes, but after that it's like we all go back to normal."

"…Is that why you had a crush on him?" That question immediately got her turning the same color as her cloak. Seeing the abject horror on her face, he decided to explain. "Yes, it was obvious. …Also helped when I saw you sneak that indirect kiss during the dance."

"No such thing." She denied, turning away. "Cups can be shared between friends."

"Right." He smirked at her excuse. "But the question that's been bothering me: Why didn't you go for it? You were obviously closer to him than others think."

"I'll answer that when you answer the same about Nora." She crossed her arms in defense. She had got him there.

"It's obvious Nora wants something more with you, so why not go for it?" She asked.

"Weren't we talking about you and Jaune?" He may not have been blushing, but he sure was feeling the top of his head starting to drip from sweat.

After minutes of the two glaring at one another, hoping for the other to break they had sighed before lying down on their respective beds.

"Was it because of Pyrrha and Blake?" The ninja asked, looking to the ceiling.

"Kind of?" She responded, thinking it through. "I know they like him, but it's more than that. Yang's told me before that it's okay sometimes to be selfish and happy, and I agree with her… kind of. But I think it's more of I'm afraid of what would happen if he said yes."

"Then you two could have been a couple and still be the best of friends." He shrugged, not seeing the downside.

"…You keep saying it in past tense." She pointed out, not liking how he was wording things. "He's still alive."

"Ruby, we need to accept the facts." He sighed, feeling the progress of healing and acceptance going back to zero. "Jaune is-"

"Don't say it." Interrupted a new voice. Turning to his other side, Ren saw Nora looming over him with a dark look in her eyes.

"N-nora, I-"

WHAP!

For some reason, that slap hurt more than the Grimm ape backhanding him. Or it could also be because of the hurt and angry expression on her face.

As the two continued to stare at one another, Ren looked his partner and friend over to see how she was after storming out to fight the Grimm. From the looks of things, she had dried tears on her face along with sweat and dirt. Her clothes were now all scratched up and dirtied with bits of pebbles sticking to it. But what he took notice of the most were her hands and knees. They were scratched up and covered in dirt, almost like she was digging or-

"You tried to go down the cliff to search for him." He deduced, seeing her look down in sadness once more. "Nora, he's-"

"I want to believe he's still alive." She choked out. He finally took note of how raspy her voice was. She must have been shouting for him the whole time. "If not, then I at least need to find a body. Something that'll let me…"

"Nora-" Before he could say anymore, she had broke down in front of him with her head resting on his lap.

"It's not fair." She sobbed, not caring that her tears were damping the sheets. "We finally get a family, and it's taken from us again."

"Nora." He sighed, rubbing her head. "Don't cry."

"Why?" Looking up, she understood why he would say such a thing.

"Because you're going to make me cry again too." He shuddered, trying to rein his tears in. His face was scrunched up as he tried to hold back. Sadly, that dam broke as the vice-leader got up to wrap her arms around his shoulders. "You're right. …It's not fair. It never is fair."

As the two continued to comfort one another, they didn't notice Ruby slipping out to go outside. The nurses were too busy taking care of the other injured to notice her as she walked out the door. The Grimm wave had died down, and everyone was now healing and readying themselves for the next one. Walking to the cliffs, she spotted the snipers on the roofs still staying vigilant for any signs of enemies.

"You really are gone, aren't you?" She whispered, finally accepting what had happened while looking to the horizon. As she got closer to the edge, she saw three Bullheads coming down to land near her.

Looking to the transports, her heart sank to see her team along with Pyrrha, Coco, Cardin, and SSSN walking out with victorious grins on their faces. From the looks of the new sword on Blake's side and Yang's short hair, it looked like they were successful in stopping Adam for good. The rest were doing just as well with only a few minor cuts and bruises.

"Ruby." Sun waved while running up to her. "Vale's secure for now. All civilians have been evacuated."

"Cardin almost had a nasty run in with death, but thanks to Pyrrha, we were able to get back on schedule." Her partner smiled while beaming at their success. "Thankfully, we were able to help all the main areas before anything else could happen."

"What can I say?" Yang shrugged her shoulders. "We went, we fought, we conquered, and Blake got a badass sword in the process."

Blake took this time to show off Wilt and Blush once more.

"By the way, where's Funbuns?" The older sister said while pulling the shield from behind her. "Thanks to this piece of work, I only got my hair cut short instead of the rest of me. I'd like to give it back to him."

"Yeah, where is my partner?" Pyrrha smiled, hoping to have a talk with him. Blake had the same thought in mind. Seeing the downcast look on Ruby's face, the group felt that something was off. "Ruby? What happened while we were gone."

Half an hour later

The aura of victory was gone as the group took in the news. Cardin took it as some sort of sick joke and had bounded off to the infirmary to talk with his team. Coco had done the same and had gotten the same story from them as Cardin did.

The rest of Ruby's team along with team SSSN had tried to rake their minds through it, trying to deny and find some evidence or anything that would mean their friend was still alive.

Pyrrha had taken it the hardest, thinking it would have all gone differently if she had just brought him along with her. The rest of team CRDL and CFVY said they would have probably been worse off if he hadn't stayed. Even though they told of how heroic he was, it didn't change the fact that he was now gone.

As the group tried to pull themselves together, Ozpin had came in looking serious with Goodwitch behind him. Getting everyone's attention, he had informed them of grave news.

"Salem will be arriving here soon." He told them all. "She will be bringing an army of Grimm with her."

"So what should we do?" Yang asked, flexing her robotic arm. She had kept the shield on her back to always remember a fallen friend.

"You all are going to evacuate." The headmaster said with great authority. "You've done well in defending the school. It's time for the adults to step in and let you all take a break."

"But we can-"

"That is all." He said, cutting Yang off as he walked out.

As he left them, he didn't see the looks on their faces as they watched him leave. Goodwitch took notice of their reactions and had bowed in apology for how he was acting.

"You all have done splendidly in keeping the school and Vale safe." She told them all. "I'm proud to have said I had taught you all."

"Then let us stay and fight." Cardin told her, standing up from his chair. "We're all healed up now. We can help."

"Thank you Mr. Winchester." She sighed, rubbing her left eye. "But what is to come next is something you all aren't ready for. Get into the Bullheads and take off with the other students. Help lead them to safety and continue to survive until all this is over."

"But-"

"Do as you're told." She leveled a light glare at all of them. "We don't want anymore deaths on our hands."

Saying her piece, she had walked out with the only sounds being her heels clacking on the floor. Besides Jaune, a lot of other students in other areas hadn't survived. A few fourth years who were about to graduate had been deemed KIA in Mystral. Atlas soldiers who were helping secure the Grimm in the badlands had been killed. And the third years stationed in Vacuo were outnumbered as the Grimm wave flooded their stations. And the one who brought them all was the same monster heading their way.

"So what do we do?" Blake asked her leader after a moment of silence. "Do we just give up and go?"

"You guys go." Nora muttered, getting off the bed. "I'm now leader of team JNPR and I say I'm staying to help hold the witch off. Whatever the rest of you choose, I'll respect it."

"I'm with you Nora." Ruby nodded, walking to stand next to her. "We already lost someone today. If we don't stay and fight, then chances are more people will fall."

After looking their teams over, they saw that the rest of RWBY and JNPR were clear on following them.

"Before I'm a huntress, I'm an older sister." The blonde brawler shrugged. "Count me in."

"Me as well." Ren nodded, walking to stand next to Nora. "It's Ren and Nora. Nora and Ren. Always has been and always will be."

"Aww." Pulling her childhood friend in for a big hug, they missed everyone but team CRDL joining in to stay and fight.

"I'm fine with staying to fight." Cardin started while looking over at his team. "And if you guys are staying, I want it to be because you choose to. Not because of me or the others."

"Dude." Sky patted him on the shoulder while the others looked on with a firm decision in mind. "We're staying."

"I guess you could say birds of a feather-" Before Yang could ruin the moment, Blake had pulled her away with a hand over her mouth.

"…Ignoring that." Sky said after watching the busty blonde being pulled out. "We're staying because we want to."

"…Awkward manly hug?" Russel asked, opening his arms. Getting no response, he placed his arms back down. "Yeah, I wasn't thinking that would happen either."

Later

At the Courtyard

The five teams had watched as the last Bullhead had left, carrying the other students away. They were psyching themselves up for the final round against Salem. As they did so, they all had a different thought come to their mind.

CRDL were thinking of what they would do after all this was done. Sure they may go back to classes, but things may be different. For some reason, the thought of what laid beyond the sea intrigued them.

CFVY and SSSN were thinking of what their celebration party would be. There weren't any ifs about it. They would win.

As for RWBY and JNPR, they were having a different thought. The moment they all saw Yang with Jaune's shield on her back, they had one thought in mind.

"Let's take this homewrecker down." The brawler cracked her knuckles. She would have thought her mom would be here, but she guessed it just wasn't going to happen. "For Remnant."

"For Jaune." Ruby, Blake, and Pyyrha nodded.

"For pancakes!" Even in a serious situation, Nora had to make it about food.

"Let's get into position people." The young leader called to all of them. "Salem will be here soon and she'll probably have an army with her."

An hour later

True to Ruby's words, Salem did come with an army. Nevermore and Griffins flew overhead while land Grimm flooded the streets. She had appeared in front of the school gates and had destroyed the statue while looking completely exhausted. It looked like the maidens had done a number on her judging by how singed and tattered her clothing was.

"Hello Salem." Ozpin greeted the witch from the entrance to the school. "You seem tired. Why not have a seat."

As he said that, a piece of rubble had flown from behind her and struck the back of her legs. Taking that chance of off balance, the headmaster rushed forward and started attacking her with his cane. To the young students watching form their hiding spot, it was a bit overwhelming seeing the normally chill headmaster fighting so seriously and with great skill.

Just as he had stepped back to catch his breath, Peter had jumped out from his hiding spot to attack with Oobleck close by. The two had team attacked the witch and were using their greatest skills to work in tandem. Salem was completely distracted by the two that she didn't take notice of the broken statue's sword and battleaxe rising into the air and moving towards her at a deadly speed.

As the two teachers took cover, the two stone weapons smashed into the Grimm witch and had shattered on contact. Salem was sent flying, but had recovered to face the staff with a menacing glare while summoning a wave of Grimm from the shadows to attack. With all concentration on them, another surprise had been laid out for her.

"Now!" Shouted the voice of the four leaders. All members who had a gun were lined up in a wall with their sights trained on the enemy.

As they opened fire, dust had kicked up in multiple colors shrouding their target. As they held fire, they were devastated to see she was unharmed while the Grimm around her were now disappearing.

"Six Temples!" Weiss shouted to all sword users.

Yatsuhashi had charged in and swung upwards, sending Salem into the air. This was followed by Pyrrha and Blake appearing on opposite sides to give a cross slash that had the witch spinning. Scarlet took that chance to fire a hook shot that had her tangled. Pulling her downwards with a hard tug, Dove and Weiss had positioned themselves below her to strike at the exact same time. With the heiress using lightning and the other swordsman using fire, they had struck the witch with enough force to burn and paralyze any other Grimm. Sadly it wasn't enough as she had just gotten back up with a bored look on her face.

"Is that all?" She sneered, looking over all of them. "The maidens may have put more of a fight together, but this is just a tickle."

"Tickle this bitch!" Yang shouted next to Nora, taking Jaune's shield out.

Tossing the item into the air, Nora hammered it in Salem's direction and watched as it embedded itself into her neck. Any sense of victory was washed away as she had slowly pulled the shield out and tossed it to the ground. Instead of a bored look, she now had a face of annoyance and anger.

"That hurt a bit." She muttered, gliding over to the two strong females. As she towered over the two, everyone felt a chill of paralyzing fear wash over them.

Surprisingly, it was Cardin who got over his fear first and had chucked his mace at her head. If they weren't fighting for their lives and the sake of the world, it would have been comedic how it just made a thunk sound as it hit her on the side of the head and bounced off like a toy.

"…Well now I know how Jauney-boy felt his first year here." He mumbled, sweating as he now got the witch's attention. "Bring it on?"

Instead of answering him, she had summoned a dragon from the shadows along with a ton of other Grimm. As they went to converge on CRDL's leader, his team had came to his aid with the help of the others. Pyrrha had used her magnetism to bring his weapon back to him in the process to give him a better chance of surviving.

Ruby had opened the power of her silver eyes to draw the beasts back as they surrounded them in complete darkness. Sadly, even with her powers, it wasn't enough to push them all away. Just as they were about to give up hope, a familiar portal had opened up with Raven stepping out to slash at the beasts.

"You stay away from my daughter and her friends!" She shouted, continuing to hack at them.

"Raven?" Yang gaped, seeing her mom appear when all hope was lost to them.

"Sorry I'm late." She huffed, cutting another Grimm's head off. "I got sidetracked getting help."

The portal which was still open had someone else come through after she said that. They all saw a mane of blonde hair jump out and tackle the Grimm away. Ruby knew that head of hair anywhere. It was-

"Dad?" Yang said, shocked seeing her father here. "How? I mean what?"

"No time for that." The older blonde huffed, kicking a Grimm away. "Me and your mom ran into a small problem, but we're here to help."

Nodding her head, Yang focused on killing the Grimm as the others felt the tides slowly turning in their favor. Outside, the staff were trying to keep Salem from running away while trying to help the students trapped inside. With Taiyang and Raven's help, the students had gotten out and were back to fighting Salem once more.

With two more trained hunters in good condition on their side, the staff and students had a slight advantage over the Grimm witch. As they kept pushing onwards, the maidens and Ironwood had appeared.

"I think it's time the children left Tai." Raven patted the older blonde's shoulder.

"Yeah." He muttered, seeing the real battle about to start. "Make sure they get there safe."

Nodding, Raven had opened a portal beneath the younger warriors before they could protest. As they fell, the last thing they saw was Ruby and Yang's dad give them a small wave. He was trying to tell them something but his voice was unheard as the portal closed up.

Taiyang's home

As the portal opened up to push them in front of the porch, everyone had landed in a big pile over one another. The one to suffer the most was Neptune as he was on the bottom with his partner's crotch in his face and Yatsuhashi on the very top. He'd very much like to say something, but feared something falling into his mouth.

As they all rolled off one another, Yang had tried to make a mad dash to the portal once more but was too slow as it had closed on her. Gnashing her teeth and her eyes turning red, she slammed her mechanical arm where the portal had been.

"Dammit!" The brawler shouted to the sky. "Every time! Every time I'm so close to finding her. And when I do she throws me away!"

"Yang." Weiss placed a hand on her shoulder only for it to be brushed off.

"NO!" The blonde ranted. "I've had it! I've had it of trying to find her. All I want is for a complete family. If she doesn't want to be part of it, then fine! I don't need her. Forget her, like she forgot me!"

No one could fault her for feeling how she did. Picking themselves off the ground and dusting off the dirt and snow, they failed to notice they were one person extra.

"…Wow." Said a familiar voice on her porch, causing all of them to turn to it. "That sounds vaguely familiar. I think I had my mother problem explosion when I was twelve."

Sitting on the porch heavily bandaged from head to toe was JNPR's thought to be dead team leader, Jaune Arc. He was looking more like a mummy with tufts of blonde hair poking out than the usual knight they were used to seeing.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha gasped walking forward, not sure if what she was seeing was real. "You're alive?"

"The pain I'm in tells me so." He smiled, trying to laugh only to wince and grab his rib. "Ouch. It hurts to laugh."

Nora was rubbing her eyes and pinching herself, trying to see if she had either died herself or was currently dreaming. Just as she was about to walk over and poke him to make sure she wasn't seeing a ghost, Ren had walked forward to check for himself.

POW!

After punching his leader's head as hard as he could while getting an 'ow' out of him, Ren fell to his knees in front of the blonde. His shoulders started shaking as he was crying. It soon turned into a laugh as he reached over to pull the dumb blonde into a hug while still laughing with tears falling from his eyes.

"You idiot." He cried with a smile on his face. "We really thought you were gone."

Nora had ran up to join in the hug while crying tears of joy herself. Sadly for both males, her hug was getting too tight for the both of them as they heard bones popping.

"N-nora." Jaune wheezed. "You're gonna reopen up my wounds."

It fell on deaf ears as the bubbly bomber continued to tighten her hold.

"Ah!" The blonde leader cried as he felt his stitches come loose. "You opened up my wound. Nora! I'm bleeding!"

After prying the two off her partner and fixing his wounds again, the group entered the two sisters' home while looking around at the pictures lying around. As the group sat down, the two members of team JNPR questioned how their leader had survived.

Flashback

After falling unconscious under the cliff, Jaune woke up to someone holding his arm down while feeling small itches and stinging pains where the ape had sunk it's teeth into. Opening one eye, he saw a raven headed woman was keeping his arm in place while a blonde man with tattoos on his arm was busy stitching his wounds. The must have felt him wake up sine they stopped and stared at him.

"Looks like you're awake." The blonde man said gruffly, going back to his work. "Fighting a Beringel off on your own. I'm impressed, but as a father and a teacher, I have to say that was the dumbest thing you could have done."

"Leave him alone Tai." The woman rolled her eyes. "If anything, he outsmarted the thing and wore it down. Impressed me enough to save his life before he drowned to death."

"Sorry." He said sarcastically. Even while being in a mood, he was still gentle in tending to the other blonde's wounds.

"I guess I'm just bitter that the moment you show yourself, you bring another guy close to death and dump him on me to heal him." He muttered under his breath, not stopping in patching Jaune's arm up. "And not just anyone, but my baby girls' friend no less and the crown prince of Arcadia."

That had caused Jaune to try and bolt up. His identity was supposed to be kept a secret. As he tried to get up, he was met with darkness again as Raven's knuckle had made swift contact with his head knocking him out.

End Flashback

"Then when I came to, I saw them arguing in front of me." The knight told the group as they sat in front of him. Yang was listening intently while hanging to every word he said. "After your dad apologized for Raven knocking me out giving me a new injury, we made introductions, and I begged them to send me to Beacon to help you guys. Pretty soon I was in the argument then one thing led to another, they knocked me out again, and then when I wake up they're gone. …So. What happened on your guys' end?"

Nora had beaten everyone to the punch in telling her tale. She recounted of how devastated they were that they lost him, to how she scaled down the cliffs to try and find his corpse, all the way to how Ren cried much to the green ninja's embarrassment.

"Cried like a bitch." She over exaggerated on her friend's reaction. It didn't help that the blonde knight believed it all.

"Really?" He said with raised brow. "I don't think I've ever seen Ren cry at all."

"Oh puh-lease." Nora waved a hand while looking to her partner. "Back in the orphanage, he was always the crybaby of the group."

"I was not!" Said male huffed with cheeks turning slightly pink.

As the two argued about their past, the others told of their own events. Cardin had almost gotten shot in the heart trying to save Weiss if Pyrrha hadn't redirected the bullet and saved his life. With their team still intact, Weiss had them help out the other teams as they secured Vale.

Coco and Pyrrha had been a big help in taking down Adam once Blake and Yang shared their coordinates. It was a four on one battle that had Coco's life flash before her eyes. Pyrrha's shield was t as strong as Jaune's and had been cut in half trying to block Adam's semblance. Luckily, Blake had pulled her out of the way and saved her from getting cleaved in half. As soon as Coco and Yang had distracted Adam long enough, the champion used her semblance to pull the sword and sheath away from the White Fang leader. Now weaponless, the femme fatale team took him down with Yang ripping off an arm and Blake stabbing him in the back.

Weiss and Cardin shared that Banesaw had survived and tried to attack them. But with two against one, the odds were in their favor. It also helped that the heiress's glyphs were useful on Cardin as it made him lighter and faster. The two brutes were equal in strength, and their weapons were meant for heavy and devastating strikes. But the drawback was that speed was lowered and moves were easily telegraphed. The leader and vice-leader covered their weaknesses and had the lieutenant down in half an hour's time. By the time they were done, Blake had radioed in informing them that Adam Taurus was dead. By the time they finished telling of how they met up to defend the school against Salem, Jaune was on th edge of his seat as he listened to all their achievements.

"Looks like you guys really had to go all out." He commented after they finished. "I wish I could have been there."

"Believe me Funbuns." Yang patted him gently on the shoulder. "No you wouldn't. It was depressing and scary as shit out there. I think I saw my self dying a few times."

"I saw my life flash before my eyes." Coco shuddered. When Velvet asked how it was, the leader of CFVY had this to say. "Not so bad. Reliving being great is just even better the second time."

Getting over the whole battle, the group decided to rest up until the adults came back. With Jaune taking Taiyang's bed, Nora and Ren had followed to make sure he didn't disappear on them again. They were still unsure whether they were in a dream or not. Ruby, Blake, Pyrrha, and Weiss would take her room while Yang would share hers with Coco and Velvet.

The rest of the guys would have to make do with the kitchen and living room. The only one having a problem of where to sleep was Yatsuhashi since he was the biggest thing in the whole area. They had to move a lot of furniture just to give him room.

With Jaune, Ren, and Nora

"… You know you guys don't have to be this close, right?" The blonde muttered, feeling uncomfortable with both of his teammates looming over him.

"Call us paranoid." Ren started while sitting on a chair facing him with Nora on the other side. "But after today, we're making sure you live long enough to give us nieces and nephews."

"…No comment." The leader muttered, staring at the ceiling while feeling the two's eyes on him. "Can you guys at least not keep looking at me? It's starting to feel creepy."

"Only if you promise that you'll be alive if we do." Nora piped in, sounding very serious.

"Nora-" He couldn't say anything more after she had jumped up to hold his arm.

"Promise!" She begged, her bangs hiding her eyes. "Just promise me that you'll be here when we wake up and we'll go to sleep."

Despite his teammate putting weight on his broken arm, what hurt more was seeing the normally happy member of his team look so broken and sad. Tilting his head, he saw that she was holding back tears from spilling out.

"I promise Nora." He sighed, pulling her in for a hug. "And you know me."

"Arcs never go back on their word." The two whispered together.

Getting out of the hug, Nora sat on her chair and had instantly gone to sleep if the way her breathing had relaxed showed. Turning to his male teammate, Jaune saw he was also looking at her.

"Was it really that bad?" He whispered to not wake her.

"To us, it was." the ninja whispered back. "It was like the cruelest thing fate could have pulled on us. Giving us a family only to have it taken away so soon."

"…It's going to take a lot more than pancakes to show how sorry I am." He muttered, lying back down.

That statement got him a small chuckle out of his friend. Feeling their eyes getting heavy, the two males drifted off to sleep while trying to forget about the day's events.

Three hours later

As the three teammates slept, the blonde of the group was woken up by someone poking him in the face.

"Jaune." Whispered a female voice while continuing to poke him. "Jaune!"

Waking up from the finger digging into his cheek, Jaune woke up to Ruby lying on the bed with him. Her silver eyes shined with the moon reflecting off it. Turning to the clock on the wall, he saw that it was close to two in the morning. Feeling his one arm was back to normal, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up.

"Hey Rubes." He whispered. "Something up?"

Instead of answering him, she had gently tugged on his arm while nudging her head to the door. Getting what she meant, he nodded while quietly getting out of the bed himself to follow her out the door. AS the two left, they failed to notice the magenta eyes that were cracked slightly open following them.

Outside

After sneaking out without waking anyone, the two leaders sat on the porch after dusting some of the snow off. While the blonde leader was acting normally, Ruby was fidgeting while glancing at him and then back to her hands. This had gone for a few minutes until Jaune had yawned, causing the younger girl to yelp in surprise. That had gotten a small laugh out of him. It was the right thing to do too since she had followed soon after.

"So what's on your mind?" He asked, scooting loser to her. The air was still cold and she was the only one wearing something to battle the cold.

"J-just wanted to talk." She mumbled, cheeks burning up. "I had a call from Uncle Qrow a few hours ago. …Salem's dead and the adults are out celebrating."

"That's nice." He smiled, looking to the skies. "Maybe that'll be us in a few years. Slay a horde and go to some place to hang out."

"Yeah." She whispered, wringing her hands. After a few seconds, she took a deep breath to finally say what was on her mind. "I'm sorry I thought you were dead. I didn't want to believe it at first, but …mrgmr."

As she buried her face into her cloak, the blonde knight laughed at her explanation and rubbed the top of her head. "I'm sorry I made you all think I died. …Truthfully, I thought I was going to die too. I saw a light and everything."

"…What was it like?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"I saw my mom again." He smiled, a hurt look in his eyes. "I felt no worries or problems. Just completely happy. Then she punched my in the jaw and I'm in your house with your dad and …aunt? Step-mom? I have no idea what Raven is in your family."

"I don't know either." The little reaper admitted, leaning back a bit to relax a bit more. "Getting away from that. That's not the reason I asked you out here. …I wanted to tell you something. It took me having a chat with Ren to get it through my head."

"And?" He asked after she hadn't said anything for a few minutes.

"…I. …I …" Feeling the words getting stuck in her throat, Ruby growled in frustration before trying to find her center. "I want to do a dance with you."

"I thought as much." He sighed, used to her way of making things sound misleading. "I might be healed, but I don't think I can do any fast pace moves just yet."

"That's fine." She egged on, standing up and reaching a hand out. "…I was thinking more of a slow dance."

Nodding while taking her hand, the two stood up to twirl around and made sure not to step on one another's toes. From the doorway, a pair of magenta and turquoise eyes watched with a smirk as the two leaders danced together.

"It's kind of awkward without any music." The blonde whispered, holding the little leader by the waist. She had said something, but it was muffled since her face was buried in his chest. "What?"

"I said it's even more awkward to dance without any underwear." She said with a small blush as she looked up at him.

"W-wait, does that mean-" He was rewarded by a sharp pinch in his back.

"Just don't lower your hands any more." She whispered, resting her head in his chest to hear his heartbeat. After feeling herself calming down a bit more, she felt like she could say what she really wanted to at the moment. "I like you Jaune. I really like you a lot."

After she had said that, they had stopped dancing. Looking up to see his expression, she saw that he was in deep thought. Knowing what h would do, she decided to stop him from rushing in.

"You don't have to answer me now." She assured him, still holding onto him.

"Ruby-" He was about to say something, but she had cut him off by letting go and raising a hand to silence him.

"It's okay." She whispered, giving him a smile. "If anything, we can still be great friends. It works too since nothing gets to change between us. If you choose anyone else, we'll still be friends that get to hang out and nerd over anime and stuff."

"So don't try to make things hard on yourself by thinking of only me." Some reason that statement hurt her a bit inside. "Like I said, I wanted to let you know how I felt and I did. That's all."

Feeling she had said all she wanted to say, she had walked back inside, not even looking back. If she did, she would have seen him staring at her with a complex look on his face. It didn't matter now to her. After doing all of that, her body was now aching for her to get into her warm soft bed. As she got to her room, she saw all the girls she was sharing her room with sitting up while looking at her expectantly.

"What?" The young girl asked, slowly moving to her bed. Instead of answering her, her partner had waved her hand in motion saying 'And? How was it?' Rolling her eyes, she jumped into bed. "Nothing happened. I confessed and that was it."

"So he said no?" The heiress prompted.

"He didn't say anything." She said into her pillow. "I confessed and then told him not to pick me. That's it."

The three girls shared a look with one another before turning back to the youngest among them.

"That's unfair of you." Pyrrha commented, moving to sit close to her.

"Yeah Ruby." Blake nodded, getting behind her. "If you're allowed to say how you feel, he should be able to say his feelings."

"But you two like him too." She muttered, not looking either of them in the eye.

"Yeah, but he doesn't know it." The champion shot back with a smile. Wrapping her arms around her, Blake and Weiss had joined in on giving a group hug. "Ruby. Blake and I may have feelings for him and have done a lot of things to get his attention. But you're the only one to say how you feel."

"Actions may speak louder than words." Blake started, rubbing the little girl's head. "But words are needed to get the message across clearly as well."

"…What about you two?" She muttered, feeling herself tear up. "I don't want you guys to get hurt."

"Hey." Weiss nudged her. "Do what Yang said and be selfish for once."

"I've finally agreed to accept him as only a friend." Blake said while giving a smile. "I think its Pyrrha that's more of your competition."

"That's right." The champion agreed. "All that means is that you're now in the race for his heart. I have to warn you though, I'm not giving up so easily."

Laughing at her declaration, the three members of RWBY plus Pyrrha shared one more hug before going back to sleep.

With Jaune

After the confession from his first friend from Beacon, the blonde knight felt his head swirling as he tried to make sense of things. Or it could have been the cold air finally getting to him since he was only wrapped in bandages and jogging pants. Shaking off the feeling, he crept back into the room he shared with Nora and Ren to see the two looking at him with a knowing smile on their faces.

"What?" He muttered, hoping he wasn't blushing.

"How was the dance?" Nora said cheekily. "From my view, it looked like the grim reaper and a mummy were doing the waltz of death."

"Shut up." The leader groaned, feeling his cheeks burning up.

"You know I'll want details." She probed, while her best friend laid back to let her do all the work. "Or you know, maybe I'll ask Ruby tomorrow. She'll probably share."

The next day

By morning Taiyang, Raven, and Qrow had returned with a bag of clothes and breakfast for all of the guests staying in the blonde man's home. The night for them wasn't spent in merriment and joy. A lot of people had died, including a few young people. The drinking was more of a way to numb the pain than a cheers of victory.

When they opened their door, they were greeted to the sight of pancakes stacked on the small kitchen table with all the teams circling around it while shoveling down the breakfast with a burning hunger. They had all gone to bed still high on adrenalin and had felt a mighty hunger the moment they had woken up.

Jaune and Ren had gone off into the kitchen to prepare breakfast, ad were still doing so by how much the teams were all eating. The adults could have sworn they heard one of the girls hiss after someone tried to take a pancake out of her plate.

Coco was in the process of brewing a pot of coffee. And by pot, it was a literal pot. The kind used for making soup when there's catering to be done. Just grab a bunch of clean pantyhose, a stove, some ground beans of coffee and set to boil. To fill a cup, they had to use a ladle to pour it into a mug. It wasn't the most fashionable thing she could do, but when hungry: anything goes.

Seeing them all like that changed their demeanor a bit. It reminded them of what it was like at their age with friends all together and having a good time. It also reminded them of their reason for fighting in the first place. The people died protecting the happiness of the people who were still alive. Even though they died, they didn't do so in vain since they won.

"Um." The father of two called attention to him and his team. "We brought donuts and sandwiches?"

Ren and Jaune had been quick to take those and start eating with Coco getting her share. The three had been in the kitchen all morning preparing the food, but never getting a chance to eat it themselves. They were running mostly on coffee, but even the effects of that wore off quickly when on an empty stomach.

After breakfast, the four teams thanked the father and his daughters for letting stay in their home and had gotten directions to the nearest town to find a hotel they could stay in. Ruby and Yang had offered to show them around, seeing as they knew the place well enough.

In town

"And this is the cheapest hotel around." Yang pointed to a building across a bakery. "Hunters pass by here for a rest stop every now and then, and stay here whenever they want to spend the night."

By the time the blonde had turned back to the people following her, she only had CRDL, Pyrrha, and Weiss standing with her. "Where are the others?"

"Blake went to the bookstore, and Jaune and Ruby are with Ren and Nora at the bakery." Cardin informed her, nudging his head to where they were at.

Looking over his shoulder, the older sibling saw her baby sister holding a big cookie to her face while the three smiled at her action. Or more of two were smiling while one of them was having a far away look on his face.

Ruby was trying to act normally, but Jaune was acting more awkward than he usually was. He would still give a smile, but it looked half-assed in her opinion. Yang knew about the confession since Blake had cared to share the news. Contrary to being over-protective, she was okay with Ruby finally showing interest in someone that wasn't metal or a deadly weapon. She basically abandoned her on her first day in Beacon to find friends of her own.

"Anyways." She shook her head, turning back to the others still with her. "This place is the go to place if you're all going to be staying here for a bit longer."

"It'll only be for a few days for me and my team." The monkey faunus informed her. "VPD need us back on the street to help the civvies out."

"I'm coming with you then." His girlfriend patted him on the shoulder. "It's been a while since me and Chief hung out. I miss her."

"We'll be coming too." Velvet piped in. "Beacon is our home, and we need to see how badly it was damaged."

"What about us, Car?" Sky asked his leader. "We heading back with them?"

"…You guys go on ahead if you want to." He shrugged. "Goodwitch said a lot of places got damaged. I think I'll take the long way back while helping others out on my way."

All of them had stared at him with awe.

"Dude." Dove muttered. "I wanna have your babies."

Forgetting that had happened, the group had gone inside to get settled in for the time they'd be staying there.

With Ruby and the others

"…Somehow, this feels …out there." The little reaper commented while sitting with the JNR of JNPR. "You guys get what I mean?"

"You mean the four of us together?" Nora said after swallowing her cheesecake. "I guess. If we were on a team, what would our name be? RNJR? RRNJ? JRNR?"

"I think Orange would be it." Jaune replied after sipping his cocoa. "Following the color code and all that."

"Yeah." Ruby nodded, biting the last of her cookie. "Unless we took the last names. LAVR? Maybe VALR?"

"Is valor even a color?" The blonde asked.

"It is." She said in absolute.

"I don't believe you." The two soon started getting into a conversation of what was real and fake.

To the other two, it was nice seeing the leaders acting like their usual selves once more. Even if death was circling them only a day ago, it was best to move on from it.

Timeskip: Day of departure

Ruby and Yang looked on as their friends got into the Bullhead headed for Beacon and Vale. The two sisters were asked to stay behind for a few more days to get reacquainted with Raven.

With the only threat being the Grimm, the runaway mother thought it was time for her to come back home. It wasn't met with the most welcoming arms since Yang was angry and Ruby was unsure of it all. But that's why they were told to stay for a month. Obviously that was too much for the two, so they compromised to make it two weeks.

"Remember Ruby." Weiss said with tears leaking out while hugging her partner. "If things get too much for you here, you can always come back to us early."

"Stop crying Weiss." Ruby sobbed while holding onto her equally tight. "It's only going to be a few weeks."

"What babies." Yang shook her head, watching the display with Blake. "You take care of yourself. You wont be having me around to save you."

"Please." Blake scoffed, holding up a now black and white Wilt and Blush. "See this? This is a katana."

Giving a one armed hug, Yang watched as her partner got into the Bullhead to take her seat next to Pyrrha. The only ones not on board were Jaune and Weiss as they were still chatting with her little sister. As the heiress let go to wipe her face, she gave one last wave before heading in to take her seat.

"So this is it." Ruby said, rocking back and forth while looking at her crush. "I guess I'll see you when I see you."

"I guess so." The knight sighed, looking at her then to the ship. After a few minutes of nothing being said, he gulped a lump in his throat for what he was about to tell her before he went inside. "I'll have my answer for you when we meet up again. I promise."

Getting a hug and a ruffle on the head, Ruby watched with her sister as the Bullhead took off. As Yang turned to her, she had an amused look on her face by what she was seeing.

"Well, aren't you shining." The blonde teased, poking the little reaper in the cheek. "I couldn't hear anything over the engines, so what did Funbuns tell you that got you so cheery?"

Ruby had a small smile that made her eyes shine brightly than they usually did. The usual rosy tint on her cheeks was more defined than normal

"Nothing." She said happily, unable to wait for when they met up once more.

Heading home, Yang had kept on pestering Ruby only to fail in gaining any new info. Their dad and uncle got wind of it and had tried to get answers out of her to get nothing like the older sister. Raven tried her hand using fear, but was met with a challenging smile that got her respect. It had continued on like this for the first four days until Ruby had exploded on them to respect her privacy.

Two weeks later

Beacon

After two weeks of trying to get used to having a mom in the house, the two sisters were finally happy to be back at Beacon. It wasn't that Raven was a bad mother per say. She was trying her hardest to open up to the two and it was very obvious. It was just that she was coming on too strong that it becomes awkward. More so for Yang since she hadn't gotten over the whole abandonment issue. Ruby tried to be sweet about it, but calling her mom was just something she was unable to do yet.

It was still nice of her to drop them off via portal though. Once they had packed their things, the dark haired mother had offered them a quick transport to Beacon. Since Ruby was all for it, Yang agreed but kept to herself the whole time.

"We're here." The mother in progress announced, helping Ruby roll a bag out. "If you two need anything, your father and I are just a portal away."

"Thanks …Mom Raven." Ruby tested out the title.

She'd be staying in Beacon more than home so seeing her would be scarce. Summer would always be her mom, but for her new one, she'd have to be fair. So adding mom after her name would still be something in her opinion. Judging by how the older woman smiled, it showed she was happy to gain some progress.

"Yeah, …thanks." Yang muttered, not turning to give eye contact while shouldering her duffle bag.

In Raven's book, having her daughter talk to her was progress enough. The while time they were in Patch was just her grunting or giving a nod or hum.

"…I'll be seeing you then." The new mom nodded, stepping in to the portal once more. "…Love you two."

She could have imagined it, but she could have sworn she heard Yang mumble back that she loved her too. Imagination or not, she wasn't giving up on winning them over.

"You think the others will be surprised to see us?" The little reaper asked, rolling her bag into the school.

It was still a bit damaged, but unlike how it was during the battle, there were no holes or shattered windows. Just cracks and wooden beams holding the works in progress up. The statue was still gone, but the cafeteria and the dorms were looking brand new. Looked like they were planning to expand it.

Getting to their dorm they heard yelling inside. Sounded like Weiss was reprimanding Blake for something. Opening the door, they saw Blake behind the heiress looking bored while Weiss was shouting at Ren and Nora, who were sitting on the bed with clothes and hair looking very disheveled.

"-SOME COURTESY AND TACT!" The Schnee yelled with face the same color as Ruby's cloak. Hearing the door open, she turned around to see the two sisters standing with bags in hand. "Hey Ruby. Yang."

As she was about to turn back to continue reprimanding the two for whatever they were doing, they all became wide eyed at seeing the two sisters' return. All girls screamed at seeing one another, while Ren covered his ears while still sitting on the bed.

"When did you guys get here?" Weiss asked, pulling Ruby in for a hug. "We didn't hear any Bullhead land."

"Raven dropped us." Yang shrugged, pulling her partner in for a bear hug. "So what's going on with the shouting?"

Pointing over to the two members of JNPR, Yang and Ruby's jay hung open seeing the Nora using Ren as a lap pillow. Looking back to how messy their clothes were and the way their hair was messed up it was easy to figure out what had happened.

"You guys are together-together?" Yang gushed, running up to the two. "When did this happen?"

"A few days after we moved back into our dorm." Ren shared while stroking Nora's head. "We had the whole dorm to ourselves with Jaune heading out to help, and …well, history."

"Now all that's left is for you and Jaune." Weiss smiled, imagining it. "It'll be like the two teams uniting as one like CFVY and SSSN."

"But Weiss…" Nora muttered, picking her head up from Ren's lap. "Aren't Pyrrha and Jaune…?"

The temperature instantly got cold in the room. Blake was slowly making her way to the door with Weiss trying to follow, but was stopped when their leader's eyes fell on them too. Instead of getting a smile or something saying it was a joke, she was met with a frozen expression of dead fish eyes.

"What's with that look?" Yang shouted, not enjoying the change in atmosphere. Ruby was starting to look dead inside. "Y'know what? Let's wait for them! It could be a misunderstanding or something."

Six hours later

Who knew waiting could be the most excruciating thing possible. It was already close to dusk and the two hadn't come back yet. Ruby was practically killing herself imagining what could have happened while she was gone. Could Pyrrha had gotten to him with her not being around for just two weeks? What if they went beyond planning couples costumes and dare she think it: shared lockers now. What if his answer was to grab Pyrrha in front of her and cuddle his cheek with hers while giving a goofy smile. Or worse: Pyrrha came over with an engagement ring with Jaune in hand and punched her in the gut just to make her feel pain on both inside and out. Then Jaune would say something about her age and about milk then-

"Rubes!" Yang snapped her sister out of her nightmare. "Stop daydreaming. It's obvious you're freaking yourself out."

While the little leader was having dark thoughts, all of them were watching her face go through many different emotions of fear and sadness. It would have been comical if it wasn't so important to her.

"I'm sorry Yang." She pouted, slapping her cheeks. "But I just cant get over-"

click

"Eep!" Their door had turned slowly, as someone was about to come in.

Waiting with baited breath, the group waited for it to open and show who it was entering. After seconds went by with no one entering, they thought of it as just a coincidence until someone spoke from behind the door.

"Vel, can you open the door?" Came a familiar male voice. "Pyr and I have our hands full at the moment, so a little help would be nice."

"Sure thing Jaune." Velvet's voice muffled through the door.

Before Ruby could jump out of the window, Blake had intercepted her and had pulled her away from it. Holding her steady in a tight hug, the little leader was forced to see as the door opened showing Jaune, Pyrrha, and Velvet walking in with the J and P of JNPR holding plastic bags full of snacks.

"We're back." The blonde leader announced, holding the snacks in the air. "Time to prepare for-"

He stopped whatever he was going to say after seeing the two sisters. "…You guys are early."

"We even had a banner made for the occasion." The champion smiled while showing the folded fabric in her hand. "I don't think we'll be getting a deposit on this either."

"Heheh. Yeah." Ruby tried to act cool while talking to them. "Guess we should have called ahead. But you know…"

While she rambled on, she was discretely observing the two. Nothing seemed different about the two. Other than Jaune being in his casual clothes since he lost his armor and other stuff in the fight, nothing was different. Maybe she was imagining it, but the two seemed to be acting way more comfortable around each other than they were before. Even the way they looked at one another was different. Like they were very comfortable being close together.

"-so here we are." The little leader said, opening her arms to motion to her and her sister.

"Okay." Velvet said uncertainly. "Since you two are here, we may as well go ahead and celebrate your return. We were planning a surprise party, but a regular one would do."

"Where are the others?" Ren asked, clearing a table to put the snacks on.

"Coco and Sun are out on the town." The bunny explained. "My team are on the way, and the rest of SSSN are still punched in until ten."

Getting the idea that it would just be the nine of them for now, they had all decided to go with it. After breaking out a few board games and snacks, they had a laugh while retelling of their time away from each other. Ruby took not that while sitting across from Jaune, Pyrrha was sitting close next to him with a carefree smile.

"I'm really happy for you two." She said with a forced smile, pointing to the leader and his partner. "Looks like team JNPR is the lovebird team."

The 'couple' shared a confused look before turning back to her.

"What are you talking about Ruby?" Pyrrha asked with a raised brow. "We're not a couple."

"WHAT?" That had confused all of them. The room was even more of a mess now after the snacks were thrown in the air in shock.

"B-but, Pyrrha." Nora stuttered. "You two have been hanging out and acting so close. I thought you finally confessed to him."

"She/I did." Both the accused said at the same time. Pyrrha decided to continue. "But he rejected me a few days after the confession."

"And you're okay with it?" Ren asked, expecting more of a sad PYrrha walking around the school.

"Not at first." She admitted with a small blush. "He brought me up to the roof where we usually spar and gently rejected me there. I almost wanted to jump off right then and there until he pulled me in for a nice hug."

"You were going to jump?" Her leader freaked out, not knowing until she said so.

"Can I tell the story?" She pouted, getting him to shut up as everyone listened.

Flashback

Pyrrha was in tears the moment Jaune told her he had someone else in mind. Turning away from him to look at the ledge, the thought of jumping off to stop the pain in her chest was very tempting. She was so deep in thought about it she didn't notice her leader moving closer until she was enveloped in a hug.

"I'm sorry Pyr." He said while stroking the back of her head. "But I shouldn't lie. It wouldn't be fair to both of us if I go with you while thinking of someone else."

She hated how sweet he was being. If he was a jerk about it and had just left her it would have been easier for her to just hate him and move on easily.

"Where does that leave me?" She sobbed, clutching onto his back. It may have sounded selfish, but she was hurt and felt alone. "I feel like I'm not going to be a part of your life anymore."

That had gotten her a gentle tap on the head.

"Now who said that?" He pouted, letting go to look her in the eye. "Pyrrha Nikos, my partner and best friend not being part of my life? I already went a day without you and had almost died. If anything, I'm going to need my partner by my side every step of the way where I'm headed."

"And where is that?" She asked, wiping away her tears while feeling the pain slowly soften.

End Flashback

"Chasing after you guys of course." The champion said while pointing to team RWBY. "In his words: The way I see it, team RWBY is going to be going off saving the world. It'll be the two if us with Ren and Nora chasing after them to save them while they save the world."

"Really Jaune?" Weiss said while giving JNPR's leader a smirk and raised brow.

"He even said there'll be two books made in the near future." The champion continued much to her leader's ire. "The tale of team RWBY: Saviors of Remnant."

The team liked the idea of that. Blake thought maybe she could write it herself.

"And the other is 'Team JNPR: The Saviors of Team RWBY.''" That had gotten a glare from all the four onto her leader. "I think I'd like to read that one. Just out of curiosity of how our characters would be portrayed."

"You'll be saving us?" Weiss asked the team. "When have you ever saved us?"

"How about initiation when we held off the Deathstalker while you fought the Nevermore?" Ren pointed out. "You could say we saved each other, but our team could have just ran off leaving you four to fight two giant Grimm alone."

"How about the Breach where we helped you all fight off the Grimm coming through until Ironwood came along?" Nora voiced in. They had them there.

"Don't forget about the Vytal tournament." Pyrrha included. "We all helped each other out, but it was you four who were the stars that night."

They couldn't say anything to that. They were technically right in a sense.

"But you didn't help us out in the docks or the highway!" Blake argued. "It was Sun, Neptune, and Penny."

"But could you imagine what it would have been like with us there?" Nora said, leaning to contest Blake. "Oh no, Bullhead getting away. Nora SMASH! Giant robot chasing you. Pyrrha metal bend! Face it. If you had us in the loop Roman might've been locked up sooner and things might've been way easier."

Pretty soon, they were all arguing with Velvet snapping photos. Ruby and Jaune saw it was going south minutes ago and had snuck out together to walk around the halls.

With the two leaders

"So you two aren't dating." The little reaper muttered, not turning to look at him.

"Nope." He said, still smiling. "I told her I liked someone else. She's an amazing person."

"What else is great about her?" Ruby smiled, feeling herself blush.

"She's also insanely cute." He listed off. "Even when angry she's adorable. But she's also equally deadly."

"She sounds amazing." The hooded girl smiled, stepping on front of him to stop him in his tracks. "Do I know her?"

"You see her almost every morning." That caused some doubt to form in her head again. She honestly just wanted him to say it was her, but now she wasn't sure anymore.

"It's not Weiss, is it?" She asked, starting to feel light headed in a bad way once more.

"It's you, Ruby." He laughed, ruffling her head once more. "Are you that insecure?"

"Well sorry I'm not so good with vague clues!" She pouted, clutching the hand still on her head. "You have to admit that what you said matches Weiss too."

"Pfft!" The blonde laughed behind his other hand. "Weiss being cute while angry? Really?"

Going over it once more, Ruby had joined in on laughing at her mistake. Still clutching his hand, she had leaned in until her head was resting on his chest.

"I like you too Ruby." He said, holding her close. "I really like you a lot. So if you still want to give us a try, then I'm ready if you're willing."

"…Even if I'm younger than you?" She asked, rearing her fears.

"What's two years?" He chuckled, patting her head. "If it were five, then of course. But two years isn't that much."

"…Can we still kiss?" She asked.

"Only if you're okay with it." He nodded. Kissing was alright, right? From what Sun told him, it's technically okay since it wasn't too explicit for their age gap.

"…Can we…" Feeling too nervous to say it, she had instead looked at him while trying to tip toe to reach him.

Getting what she wanted, he had lowered his head to meet hers. Just as their lips were about to touch, they heard a click and shutter from a camera and saw a bit of a flash.

"Oops." Velvet said while staring at them with her camera in hand. "I forgot to turn the flash off."

Behind her, the rest of their team was watching the spectacle with Yang recording the whole thing. To make things more embarrassing, Blake was in the middle of sketching it with Ren silently pointing out some of the flaws in her strokes.

"Congratulations you two." Pyrrha smiled with Weiss next to her.

"Really?" Jaune asked, motioning to all of them. "We didn't do this for Nora and Ren, but you'd all do it when it's me?"

"Of course we would." Nota smiled, walking over to boop the new couple on their noses. "Cause you're Jaune."

"…I like that about you." Ruby comforted her new plus first boyfriend while he was curled into a ball on the floor.

Truthfully, she was happy everyone was okay with it. Even if they were now together, nothing seemed any different besides the whole kissing and plans for future couples costumes and dates. If these were the changes, then things may not be so bad after all.

Timeskip

Ten Years later

After becoming a couple, news got to the queen of Arcadia months later, who didn't like the news or approved of Ruby. Flying straight to Beacon, she had revealed Jaune's lineage and had ordered him to stop seeing Ruby. When he had refused, she threatened to disown him on the spot. Instead of getting what she wanted, her son had said he was all for it. He said he was happier knowing he wouldn't be related to her at all. Still feeling prideful and angry, she had disowned him on the spot and stripped him of his sword and shield along with his account he held in Vale. With no money or a weapon, Ozpin had to put him on a short probation until he got a weapon and the funds to pay for his stay.

With nowhere to go, Jaune stayed with Ruby and Yang in their home. Raven was all for heading to Arcadia to cause a revolution, but was stopped by everyone. They all figured out where Yang got her violent temper. After weeks of staying with them, Jaune got a letter from his sisters. Apparently, Tifania had a hidden will that was to be given to him when he was of age. In it, he was given a cottage she owned, along with the ranch and all her saving she had in her account. He instantly gave the deed to Blake, Ren, and Nora since he had a home with Ruby and Yang.

Getting one problem out of the way, his girlfriend had helped design a new weapon for him. It was their first real argument since she wanted to make a scythe/katana/revolver gun format while he wanted gauntlets and grieves that shifted into a shield and sword while also shooting out bullets from the wrists. It soon turned into a while family argument with Yang and her had on Jaune's side while Qrow and Raven were all for Ruby's idea. A compromise was made, and the gauntlet and grieves/katana and shield/revolvers were made.

Soon he was back in Beacon with friends. He wasn't a prince anymore, but his friends still thought of him as one. Ozpin had waited for them all to be complete to announce that they were now licensed hunters for their efforts and service in defending Vale against Salem. Of course they took it and went on their way. Years later, Jaune married Ruby. Since he was disowned, it also meant he no longer had a last name. So he happily took Ruby's surname to become Jaune Rose. His sisters had reinstated him back into the family after Arturia took the throne, but he was happy being a Rose instead of an Arc. It didn't stop them from holding his wedding in Arcadia though. The bride and her family were all for it anyways.

Pyrrha fought for best man with Ren and Sun while every other female fought for maid of honor. In the end, Weiss got the role through process of elimination. Blake would have won if the big company holder didn't fake unconsciousness only to hit the cat faunus in the back of the head. It made for one violent wedding though. And the rest is history.

And now here they were in a different part of Patch where Ruby was looking at a photo album with a round belly. As she giggled at a photo, her husband had snuck up behind her to see what was so amusing. Looking over her shoulder, he saw a picture of all of them covered in pumpkin goop.

"I remember that day." He smiled. "Pyrrha cheated."

"Remember this day?" She asked, holding up another photo. It was picture of Sun taking a selfie while they jumped over a few roofs. Behind them, there was a remains of some sort of slingshot/catapult.

"Haha!" The blonde smiled, hugging his wife. "It was when we switched leadership with our teammates."

"Yeah." She smiled, turning a page.

They had gone through all pages while pointing out some of the ones they remembered the most. One was a group shot of them in Arcadia after his sisters had kidnapped him. Another of the cosplay convention they went to for the Grimm Eater panel. Velvet took a photo of a mangled looking Jaune being dragged in by an angry Sun while holding a fridge. A lot of selfies of their leader's time meetings. And a shot of the nip sync quartet, much to Ruby's delight and Jaune's embarrassment. There was even a shot of all of them when they were teachers for a week.

"Hello. I don't remember this." The pregnant wife said, seeing another photo.

Jaune was standing on a table in the mess hall while all eyes were on him. He looked like he was giving a charismatic speech by how his mouth was open and looking to the skies with arms spread wide. Ruby was in the shot too looking with star struck eyes and a smile on her face.

"Do you remember this?" She asked her husband.

"Hmm." He said, looking at the photo. "…I remember now! This was the day before I hid in the Edgar Hole."

"Oh yeah!" Ruby smiled, taking the photo back. "I was trying to figure out why guys like big boobs. …Jaune?"

"Hm?"

"I forgot the reason." She said with a sheepish grin. "Think you can remind me? Why do guys like girls with big boobs?"

END

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AN: I hope none of you are too disappointed. Like I said, I wanted to make things as different as possible. I'm going to post some of the omakes I forgot to add in the extras chapter.

ANYWAYS!

Love it, hate it, I wont judge. It's your choice and opinion. I'm just doing what I do. And if you say I'm horrible at what I do, then I'm going to try to improve to make what I do better.

Here's to you Lancaster fans. I think this was the longest out of all my posts. And it's fifty pages.

This chapter was challenging since I wanted to add in Ruby's insecurity and wild imagination along with her awkwardness and the age gap. Which is something that a lot of people are worried about nowadays with kids growing up so fast. Besides, it's one thing to be comfortable around someone as a friend. It's another to think of them as more while trying to hold that level of intimacy and closeness.

I also wanted to try and make it where some truths were revealed. It was what made making this chapter hard.

The other reason this took long to post is because I'm now an art student that has to do freehand drawing and films along with mastering a language I suck at since I have an accent that makes it sound weird to the locals.

So I saw the new Grimm ape for volume 4. I know it's called a Beringel, but to those that don't know it I decided to keep it as descriptive as possible while making it seem like the main characters didn't know it's name either until an experienced hunter came along.