Hearts Eclipsed by Shadows
Chapter Five: Forever Falling
A.N: I'm very sorry about not getting a chapter out in a month or so! My laptop has been very annoying to deal with and I have to replace the charger next week. My mind goes overdrive for latest ideas and nothing is done for this story. I'll be doing a Lancaster one-shoot soon and then I'll introduce a new story, and I'll try to be on a schedule for the two or more. Now put down your torches and pitchforks as we get on with the show. And be happy we got a beta reader! He'll make sure that this isn't complete garbage.
I don't own RWBY or the power that Jaune uses. RWBY belongs to RT and Monty.
Beta Reader: Cr00cy
What woke Jaune up was Yuri yelling in his head to get a move on and that slackers get the wrath of Goodwitch. He groaned and hid himself under blanket so that he could tune out the voice in his head, but fate had other plans for the Arc.
"Wake up Fearless Leader!" Nora decided to be his alarm and belly flopped on him, forcing him up.
"Man…" Jaune groaned "I wish I could get five more minutes of sleep…" Seeing that everyone else were already dressed he decided to get up - if only to avoid being attacked again.
When Jaune was taking a shower, Yuri spoke up and told him that he would soon be able to fuse in real life - which was good news. That he need to do in secluded places to keep it secret - not so much. Knowing that everyone would be stalking him to find out his semblance made him a bit more worried.
"You do need to keep up on your training. I can help a bit in the graveyard if those damn masks keep off us. They kind of hate us but fear me quite a bit." said Yuri, Jaune nodded as he washed his hair off.
'So… Can I use any of the elements when I'm human?' He got out and dried himself off, putting on the dress jacket.
"Not really. That's why you can use dust. But your aura can be attuned to certain ones to keep you safe. Each element makes you sort of harder to be taken down with dust. You can be a bit more resilient towards the four major elements. Light doesn't really do much except anything bright won't affect you as much and Dark just makes it harder to see you and easier for you to see in the dark." Jaune walked out of the bathroom, managing to tie the tie well enough to pass Pyrrha's inspection.
"Well, let's get going to Port's class now. Hopefully I can stay awake for once." Ren nodded as Nora flailed dramatically walking behind Jaune as Pyrrha kept up to his pace.
As Prof. Port was spouting some tale about a Beowulf and a flute that can control Grimm, Jaune was taking notes while communicating with Yuri about changing dust elemental effects.
'If I have lightning dust in my hands, and used Dark, would this change it?'
"It could be possible. You'd be the first to change dust using your aura, but you need a lab or something or you'll be the first test dummy the effects will latch onto." Jaune nodded while continuing to take notes. He gave up on Port for a while after something about the shattered moon so, he decided to write down the combinations he could do with dust and his elemental aura.
Pyrrha was taking notes so he did not have to worry about missing out on this class as team RWBY gave up except for Weiss. Ruby kept up as best as she could without going to sleep, Blake read her secret pleasure (Smut…) disguising it as a textbook while Yang gave up and fell asleep. Despite her falling asleep, she was a very smart person that meant you can't judge a book by its cover. After Port's class would be the trip to Forever Falls with Miss Goodwitch to collect sap for Prof. Peach, a teacher that no one has yet to meet or even see around the campus. Jaune knew that Cardin was gunning for him since he made him back off from bullying a faunus with rabbit ears, Velvet he thought her name from memory. Then there was him beating Cardin easily in Combat Class with ease since all he tried to do was hit him with his mace with brute strength while Jaune could dodge and duck under his attacks and retaliate.
The bell suddenly rang and both teams left to eat before going to the bullhead docks to go to Forever Falls.
Jaune was enjoying chicken nuggets again as Pyrrha disapproved his choice of food but relented since Jaune did burn off all the food he ate anyways as she took a bite of a turkey sandwich. Weiss was glaring at Ruby for having nothing but cookies again with a glass of milk while herself was eating chicken pasta, Blake was snacking on a tuna sandwich while Yang had had some yogurt with walnuts. Nora was eating pancakes that no one still knew where she got them. They suspected the green ninja next to her was supplying her with them while he had fresh ramen.
"Hey Ruby, could I ask for your assistance with Chimera?" Ruby immediately stopped eating and squealed loudly while reappearing at Jaune's side, lifting up his weapon.
"What ideas to you have?" Jaune showed her his notes on Chimera's upgrades. One was to funnel dust into the weapon from canisters on his upper arm held by a stretchable band on both arms. It helped continuously fuel the weapon's need for dust and had a mode for "Overdrive". Overdrive allowed Jaune to use up a bit more dust for an increase in the dust's ability.
"Oo… This one would be so much better! The overdrive function would make you a better fighter while keeping up with your dust usage. Plus I believe that Vacuoan glass would be best for the canisters." Jaune had a confused look on his face about the glass.
"Vacuoan glass?"
"The strongest type of glass there is. It can withstand a Goliath's full weight and most natural disasters and even a fully charged attack." Weiss interjected for them.
"Oh. That would be best and maybe have the strap be attached to leather with a metal plate for protection and have six tubes going to the weapon to funnel the dust into it." Ruby added in that made Jaune excited.
"Perfect! But we need to make it after this trip since I need my weapon." Ruby nodded and took Jaune's notes.
"Well are you guys gonna leave us Yanging or what?" Yang snickered as everyone else groaned as they left the cafeteria, Jaune smiled at the pun when no one noticed.
As the bullhead reached the forever dyed red forest, Jaune looked out the window to admire the scenery. Jaune was broken out of his musing by Pyrrha putting her hand on his shoulder signaling him that they arrived and to depart. Everyone landed safely except for Jaune who tripped at the end and fell on his face with his feet touching his head.
"Why does the universe hate me… I tied my shoes before I got up…" Jaune groaned as Pyrrha helped him up.
"I'm sure the universe doesn't hate you… you just have a bit of bad luck that's all." suddenly a crow flew out of a tree.
"I think I saw that crow before." Jaune and Pyrrha walked over to a tree and Jaune pierced it with Crocea.
Suddenly Jaune sneezed so harshly that he scared Blake in the distance. He sat away from the tree hoping that the fresh air would clear up his sinuses. Jaune decided to focus his aura on his head to clear it up a bit and it was working slowly.
"Ugh… I don't know why I'm the only one in this group that is allergic to this stuff. Hell, Nora's eating all the sap…!" In the distance, Ren told Nora to stop and will give her pancakes covered in it in which she stopped eating it, allowing Pyrrha and Ren to fill up six jars of sap.
Suddenly he was hit with a jar of sap. Jaune shot up and sneezed loudly for Ruby to hear.
"Son of a bitch! Achoo!" Jaune started wiping the sap off his head when he heard buzzing.
"What…?" Jaune saw what was after him and he scrambled to grab a fire dust crystal.
Rapier Wasps are the one thing that no one wanted to get stung by since they bypass aura completely and since his head was the target, it'll hurt and possibly blind him if he doesn't act. Jaune changed his aura to fire and charged the crystal causing it to glow.
"First test! Fire with fire dust!" Jaune tossed the crystal at the wasps and the crystal suddenly cracked and a firestorm consumed the wasps, gaining his friends attention.
"Hey that worked! Yeah!" Jaune pumped his fists in the air and sneezed loudly again.
"Jaune! You okay?!" Pyrrha looked around and saw some smoke rising off the grass and some Rapier Wasps dead.
"Yeah I'm fine. Just got some sap on me but I might know who did it…" they all narrowed their eyes at the thought of Cardin doing this, Jaune could have been seriously injured.
"Damn Jaune it seems you're on fire today huh?" Everyone groaned but Jaune smiled at both the pun and his friends checking up on them.
Suddenly Russell, Dove and Sky ran away screaming about a Ursa. Jaune decided that even if Cardin was a prick, there was no need for anyone to die.
"Yang, Ren, Nora and Blake, go get Miss Goodwitch as soon as possible! Everyone else with me! I'm going to Cardin!" the four nodded and ran off as Jaune ran to Cardin with Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha trailing behind him.
Cardin was on the floor with his hand up to ward off the attack when Jaune punched the Ursa Major back.
"Get up and get away!" Jaune jumped over his paw and kicked its head back. Cardin was staring numbly at Jaune protecting him after being so much of a douche earlier to him and throughout the semester.
"Dammit Cardin go!" Jaune ducked and preformed an uppercut to the Ursa and suddenly kicking it down.
Cardin got up just as the rest of the group arrived and see Jaune beating down the Ursa with ease. Ruby was about to jump in and help when Pyrrha held out her hand to stop her just as Jaune used up his gravity dust and uppercuts the ursa, knocking its head off.
"He had it covered after all huh?" Ruby smiled while being a bit embarrassed while Weiss just walks away.
"He's strong because he just trains whenever he has the time. But I think soon he'll start being a part of his team." Pyrrha looked a bit sad at the fact of Jaune just trains day in and day out.
"Well why don't we talk to him about it? He's not the type to just ignore our concerns." Pyrrha nodded as Ruby smiled and walked towards Jaune.
As they reached Jaune, they saw him sneezing continuously and shaking his head. Both Ruby and Pyrrha were smiling and giggling at the sight and decided to help him out and get rid of the sap off his head with some water.
"Thanks guys. Ugh… My head is killing me from all this sap…" Jaune held his hand on his face to help with the headache.
Miss Goodwitch just arrived and saw the disappearing corpse of an ursa with Jaune being praised by Ruby and Pyrrha while Cardin was standing off to the side.
"Cardin!" Jaune called to him. "Leave me and my friends alone or next time it won't be pleasant." Cardin understood the underlying threat and now had a new sense of respect for the Arc.
"What happened here Mister Arc?" Glynda narrowed her eyes at Jaune and he told her about the rapier wasps and hearing from the rest of CRDL that there was a Ursa and Jaune found Cardin almost killed by the ursa when he jumped in and killed it.
"I see… Well excellent job and handling a major all by yourself but now all the teams have collected the sap and we must be heading back to Beacon." Goodwitch left with everyone following behind to go back to Beacon. Goodwitch gave Cardin a glare that promised retribution back at Beacon for his actions.
Team JNPR was hanging out in their dorm when Pyrrha had an idea for all of them to talk about themselves.
"Guess I'll start. I really like cheesecake. Whenever my mom would make it, all my sisters and I would fight for who got the first slice. More often than not, Rouge would get it because of the puppy eyes. That and we all doted on her anyways. Jaune smiled at the memory.
"I really like chocolate. My sponsors would somehow find my hiding spots and get rid of it since I needed to be fit for my image." Pyrrha smiled brightly.
"Well luck be it my mom sent me some chocolates earlier on the week and she made too much." Jaune handed Pyrrha a chocolate bar that his mom sent.
"Besides meditating, I do like to dance since it helped with my movements for my fighting style." Ren added in after Pyrrha ate the chocolate bar and loved it.
"I like going on hikes around the Emerald forest. Not many people think I relax like that and it helps when there's grimm there!" Nora smiled while holding a hand up.
"One day let's all take a hike in the Emerald Forest then. I know I've been training a lot lately, but it's ingrained in my mind to continuously train to get better. But now I have my team and my friends to have my back. I promise to start hanging out with everyone more often along with team RWBY. And an Arc never goes back on his promise." Pyrrha smiled since Jaune resolved to start hanging out with all of them. Nora was happy for more hikes with her team.
Jaune was walking with his team to the cafeteria when RWBY caught up with them while Ruby was talking about his upgrades to his weapon while the rest were behind them whispering about Jaune semblance even more.
"But normal fire dust doesn't even get that hot or burn that much of an area… Maybe he can augment elements?" Weiss whispered to Yang, but Ren shook his head no.
"His aura changes colors but how can he use elements like that? His gloves would be even more powerful than Yang at full rage." Yang put her index finger and thumb to her chin.
"Doesn't the Arc family have like a secondary ability? Somewhat a semblance but something all Arc's can use?" Weiss immediately nodded slowly.
"Arc's can use malice. Since they came from a harmonixer bloodline that thrives on it, it would make sense they can use it in some degree." everyone nodded in agreement but how can it explain the dust's power?
"I doubt it can enhance dust. We don't even know the extent of malice's ability." Blake added in and immediately went to her book.
Everyone sighed since she was right about malice. Malice is an unknown to many people except the harmonixers and bloodlines connected to them. Atlas has tried numerous times to have the Arc family show their powers but there hasn't been a Harmonixer ever since the Great War.
"Guess we'll have to meet later this week to find out Jauney's secret!" Yang punched her hands together as she sat next to Blake as everyone started eating.
"So next week we can go ahead and work on the upgrade?" Ruby nodded while Jaune smiled and ruffled Ruby's hair.
"Thanks Rubes." Ruby swatted his hands away and gave Jaune a glare that really didn't do anything.
"So, what's up with the sneezing at Forever Falls eh?" Jaune scratched the back of his head while looking away. Jaune mumbled something that Yang couldn't hear so she leaned in with her hand behind her ear to hear him.
"What was that Jauney?" Jaune gave a heavy sigh and looked around.
"I'm allergic to the sap. I forgot to take the medicine and I have uncontrollable sneezing and I get all stuffy in my nose." Jaune sighed as Yang gave a wicked smile for the ammo while everyone just looked at him.
"Any other problems with your family at all?" Ruby spoke while Yang looked hungry for ammo.
"Other besides the fact my family has air sickness besides me? Nothing really and that soon you'll meet them by the time of the tournament. My family wants to see my friends and my team and all that." all of RWBY looked at Jaune and wondered about his family.
"Any stories to tell us? I have a lot of stories about Ruby here. There was…" Ruby was quick to cover Yang's mouth to prevent her from saying anything. Jaune just laughed at the sibling's antics.
"We don't let the youngest, Rouge cook whatsoever. She somehow has the ability to burn whatever it is. One time and we still don't know how but she burned cereal." Yang just laughed while Weiss had an incredulous look on her face. Blake and the rest of JNPR just looked at Jaune.
As soon as Yang was about to say something, but the bell rang, and the two teams got up and left for their dorms since they had no other classes after the trip. Weiss suddenly got an idea for both teams to hang out.
"I think it would be best if we could greet the students from the other academies and we as representatives of Beacon, we must greet them." Weiss informed to both teams.
"Yeah sure. Why not Weiss-cream." Yang smiled while Weiss is a bit heated at the pun and the nickname.
"My team doesn't have anything to do today so why not Snow Angel." Jaune shrugged while Yang snickered at the nickname while Pyrrha had a hidden scowl on her face.
"Why does the two blondes have an affinity to say unrefined nicknames." Weiss scowled at the two blondes.
"Honestly it's because how you acted earlier. Plus, it's payback for calling me scraggly." Jaune had an uncharacteristic smirk on his face as the teams boarded the bullhead to go to the docks.
Jaune didn't like the smell of fish at all and Ruby shared his sentiment perfectly while Blake was smiling ear to ear.
"It smells like fish…" Ruby closed her nose with her fingers while making a disgusted face.
"Yes, it does…" Blake was still smiling while her bow was twitching wildly.
"And this is why I don't like the sea whatsoever… Ugh…" Jaune used the back of his hand to wipe off his nose of the stench.
"Why don't you like the sea? The beaches are so nice and all the beautiful women wearing swimsuits." Yang teased Jaune while leaning close while Jaune blushed and looked away.
Ruby started hitting Yang while students of various schools were arriving by the docks when they saw a guy with a monkey's tail and an open shirt with blue jeans and sneakers dropped a banana peel on an officer's face.
"Sun…? No way…" Jaune whispered as RWBY chased after him.
"Should we help them Jaune?" Pyrrha came up behind him while Nora looked excited like normal and Ren was ready to calm her down.
"Nah. they won't catch him at all. We'll find him later." Jaune waved his hand dismissively since Sun was a good friend from Mistral.
Later on, JNPR was hanging out at an ice cream place when RWBY popped up with Weiss and Blake arguing quite loudly about faunus.
"What happened between those two? They were kind of normal when you guys left." Ruby and Yang sighed and sat down before them.
"Weiss said some unsavory things about faunus and the White Fang. Blake got defensive and they started fighting." Ruby said while ordering a strawberry shake while Yang ordered a cone of sherbet.
"Well… My dad told me about the old White Fang and that they fought using peaceful tactics not what they are doing now. I feel bad for the faunus and that's why I fight for them a bit." Jaune spoke seriously while Ruby and Yang were eating. "But what the Fang are doing now isn't helping. Violence does not beget violence and it makes both sides fight harder." Jaune shook his head in sadness.
Jaune more arguing from Weiss and Blake and decided to break it up for their team's sake. Jaune walked to them hearing Weiss say that the White Fang killed board members and ruins her life due to her father. Blake was getting more heated and defensive of faunus and kind of snarled silently.
"Ok ok… We need to end this due to your teams looking out for your well beings and two…" Jaune hands both of them a cone of ice cream. Weiss had gotten French Vanilla and despise her love of seafood, Blake had gotten Rocky Road. Jaune got it from their team telling him what they liked.
Both begrudgingly said thanks to Jaune before walking over to their teams. The argument is forgotten for the moment as Ruby was talking about her new friend Penny as she was acting weird but was just nice and awesome. Suddenly Jaune got a text from Sun and Jaune forgot that Sun had his number.
"S: Sup dude? I saw you at the docks earlier and all those girls. Can't believe you got that lucky!" Jaune groaned and started texting Sun back, ignoring everything in the background.
"J: Well one is my teammate while the other was denying her feelings for the other male on my team and the four others are my friends. Neptune better be on a leash around them or you'll get another indian burn on your tail!" Sun immediately replied.
"S: No need for that again! I didn't know that was your sister he was hitting on! I'll try to control him, but you know he must be 'cool' around the ladies. I swear he'll be more of a troublemaker than me and that's impossible!" Jaune chuckled as Pyrrha was talking to Yang about something.
"J: At least you know to back off if they're not interested. Neptune doesn't have that switch yet. I'll see you at Beacon alright? Let's catch up on old times with a round of Fatal Fighting like we used to. No endless combos you like to do!" Jaune laughed and everyone decided to walk back to Beacon.
Jaune was doing push-ups in front of his head as everyone was getting ready to go to bed but over in RWBY's room, more arguing was going on and Jaune was worried for his friends.
"I can't believe *exhale* that they're fighting again… I just hope nothing bad happens." Jaune got up and put his shirt on while Pyrrha looked like she was daydreaming.
"I share your sentiments as well Jaune. They work so well together that it could harm their team." Ren shared his thoughts while Nora was nodding and stretching.
"Maybe we're tired of being pushed around!" Blake yelled from their room and suddenly they heard a door slam and Jaune got up and got Chimera on.
"I'll go see what's going on with Blake. Stay here guys." Jaune walked out of the door as JNPR got ready to sleep.
Blake stood in front of the statue of Jaune's ancestor that won the Great War lamenting that her team won't want her back because she's a faunus.
"Honestly… You look nicer without the bow Blake." Blake spun around so quickly to see Jaune smiling at her.
"You… You don't care that I'm a faunus Jaune?" Jaune shook his head no, still smiling.
"It kind of makes sense. You stood up for a faunus you don't even know about and that bow kind of twitches at times and I honestly thought it was the wind moving it at times. I'm kind of slow about that…" Jaune rubbed the back of his head as Blake smiled at Jaune's thoughts and walked up to him. "But I'm hoping soon you'll talk to your team. Ruby and Yang don't really care that you're a faunus."
"I need to prove that the White Fang isn't behind these robberies. Then I'll talk to them but promise you won't tell them where I'm at…!" Blake gave Jaune a pointed glare and Jaune chuckled.
"Scout's honor. I won't say anything. But promise me you'll come back." Jaune held out his hand as Blake gave it a shake.
"Nice to see you two getting along. Plus Jaune's right, you so look better without the bow." Sun popped up and stood next to Blake.
"Nice to see you Sun. Keep her safe or I'll…" Sun interrupted Jaune as he was about to say something
"Yes I'll keep her safe or I'll get a indian burn on my tail yeah yeah." Sun waved his hand dismissively as Jaune punched his arm lightly.
"Fine. Go you two and figure out what's happening and don't be afraid to give me a call alright?" Blake and Sun nodded as they ran off into the night.
Jaune walked back into his dorm room and fell in his bed, hoping nothing goes wrong with Blake and her mission and that RWBY doesn't fracture.
'I'll help them anyway I can. Arc's promise…'. Jaune fell asleep just as Yuri spoke in Jaune's head.
'You'll be a great hero just like you wanted to be Jaune. Just don't give up your light. You must be strong like everyone else here.'
A.N: So sorry for being gone so long so here's a new chapter for you guys and I'm hoping you guys like it. I'm getting the hang of writing so it'll be better on its own pace but I got Cr00cy to beta read this and he'll be making more like… polished trash if anything. We are now heading into the Blake arc or what I like to call… "Blake's self-appointed mission that pretty much proves that she listens to linkin park by herself so no one can judge her." So see you guys soon with another chapter and the one-shot!