Hmm guess my last chapter my muse wasn't working at full steam. Well, hopefully, this will redeem it! The next chapter might be up on Monday, depending on my schedule! Enjoy!
It was the next day, and Yang was under house arrest after the scandal that followed her 'unprovoked' attack on Mercury. At first, it was hard to decide which room she was to be locked up in. It was later decided that she would stay in JNPR room, where all the beds were. The rest of RWBY were also inside the room, along with Ironwood. Team JNPR were also inside when they managed to convince Ironwood to let them in, saying the two teams worked together as well as having vital information. However, both Yang and Ironwood noted that Jaune was missing from the meeting. Two Atlesian-Knights 200 were standing guard to prevent unauthorized intruders as well as stop Yang from leaving.
"I'm sorry, but you've left us with no choice," said Ironwood gravely.
"But he attacked me!" Yang insisted angrily.
Ironwood continued to pace around the room, although there was not much room to do so, not looking at her, "Video footage and millions of viewers say otherwise."
Ruby, Weiss, and Nora immediately defended Yang, saying that she would never do that. Ruby and Nora stood up in protest. However, there was a small spark of doubt deep inside the three of them. Blake didn't say anything, something her blonde partner noticed. Yang had her hands in her face, feeling ashamed, sad, and confused.
Ironwood sighed as turned around to face them all, "You all seem like good students, and the staff here at Beacon are fully aware that you would never lash out the way you did... under normal circumstances."
He motioned for Ruby and Nora to sit back down before continuing, "What I believe and hope this to be is nothing more than the result of stress and adrenaline. When you're out on the battlefield, your judgment can become clouded in an instant. Sometimes you see things that simply aren't there. Even after the fight is past..." At this statement, he looked directly at Yang, who instantly tried to defend herself again, but Ironwood wasn't letting her.
"The sad truth is, whether it was an accident or an assault, it doesn't matter. The world saw you attack an innocent student. They've already drawn their own conclusions. And it's my job to inform you that... you are disqualified."
Yang's shocked face turned into misery as she looked down. She felt worse when she began to worry about Jaune's reasons for not showing up. Somewhere in her heart, she feared that Jaune didn't believe her and didn't want to see her. Ironwood was about to leave when Ren coughed first.
"General Ironwood? A word before you leave."
Ironwood turned around to look at Ren, nodding his head to allow him to say his piece.
"What I believe, is that someone was actively sabotaging Yang to see what she claims to have seen."
Everyone turned to look at Ren in shock. Before he could continue, they all heard someone knocking on the door, as well as sounds of a slight scuffle.
"Halt. No unauthorized entry," said a robotic voice.
"UNAUTHORIZED MY ASS! THAT'S MY DAUGHTER. NOW GET OUT OF MY WAY!" roared another voice.
A brief tussle and pieces of machinery being torn apart could be heard from the door. A second later, the door opened to reveal Taiyang. The two robots that stood guard had been ripped to pieces.
"Dad?" Yang and Ruby's face turned to shock. Taiyang saw Yang and immediately walked to her, shoving Ironwood out of the way.
"Shhh, Daddy's here, my sunny little dragon," said Taiyang, hugging Yang. "Daddy believes you didn't assault someone with malintent."
At that, Yang started to cry into her father's chest. A second later, Jaune walked into the room before shutting the door.
Ironwood had to put his hand on his face, giving the blond Huntsman an irritated look. "Taiyang, you just destroyed Atlas property. You could've at least knocked and wait for someone to answer."
"Nobody will stop me from seeing my daughter," said Taiyang fiercely.
Ironwood could only sigh as he mentally adjusted the budget again.
Jaune was looking around his eyes slightly closed before opening them, "I want all Scrolls powered off now for this conversation."
Ironwood was confused but saw everyone was going along with what the boy had said, so he decided to go along with it, shrugging as he followed through.
"Good. Ren, did you already tell them?" asked Jaune.
Ren nodded, "I aired our suspicions."
"What are you talking about?" asked Ironwood, curiously.
Jaune turned to face Ironwood, "In my match against Aurelian Arc and his partner, Boyd was cheating, stealing other Semblances and providing an indirect interference against me. I didn't say anything, considering I won. Both Ren and I are able to sense Aura and sometimes a Semblance. When Yang won, both of us sensed somebody's Aura clashing onto Yang. And we felt it leave just a second before you punched Mercury."
"Then that means...!" gasped Weiss.
"I'm inclined to believe that somebody used their Semblance to create a visual hallucination," finished Jaune. "Not long ago, we fought someone who could create illusions of herself. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that they forced Yang to hallucinate Mercury attacking her."
"That is... possible," admitted Ironwood, "I'm inclined to believe that. During your fight, Ozpin noticed that Boyd Arc was interfering in your match, and was about to put a stop until we saw how well you were handling yourself. We all agreed to continue to watch the match, and to our great pleasure, see you win."
"You knew they were cheating and didn't stop the match?" Blake asked, shooting the general a dark look.
Ironwood glanced at her, "I wanted to stop it, but Qrow convinced me that Jaune would be fine, and he was right."
"So what you're saying is," growled Taiyang, "Is that there some sort of plot that involved crushing my daughter's reputation? Where is Mercury Black! I'll kill him for playing a part in it!"
Ren continued Jaune's theory, "We also suspect Emerald Sustrai might have been involved with it."
"Em?" asked Yang in shock.
"She wouldn't do that... would she?" asked Ruby.
"Unknown. But we did sense her using her Semblance on the two paramedics, though I don't know why," said Ren.
"To make them believe Mercury was bleeding," said Jaune. They all looked at him in surprise. "I didn't see any blood from the injury when they carried him off. Everyone was busy looking at Yang while I focused on Mercury."
'And the fact I didn't smell blood, but no need to let Ironwood know I have a great sense of smell,' He thought to himself.
"Still, this is all just speculation," admitted Ren, "We have no physical proof, which is what we'll need if we're going to tell this to the public."
Ironwood looked over from Ren to Jaune, then finally to a growling Taiyang.
"All right. I'll tell Ozpin and my soldiers to be on the lookout for Mercury and his team. But I'm afraid we cannot lift the punishment, for the time being, the public would be furious. So it's unfortunate, but the decision still stands. Yang is disqualified."
He turned around and left them. He would have to get some other robots to stand guard later. For now, he would let them have this moment. Xanthe and Saffron would've volunteered, but they were busy with Winter clearing out some of the Grimm that had started to gather. All available Huntsmen and Huntresses had been sent out to deal with the growing Grimm crowd.
As soon as Ironwood left, Jaune went to sit next to Yang. Ruby immediately scooted over to give him room. When Yang lifted her head from her father's chest, Jaune gently placed his hand on her head and guiding her to his forehead.
"I believe you," said Jaune gently, their foreheads touching as he looked into her eyes, "I believe that someone tricked you into seeing something else. And that there's something bigger going on."
At that, he gently kissed her on the lips. Taiyang had to stop himself from tearing Jaune and Yang apart. At least they were keeping it gentle in front of a bunch of people.
"Dad, how'd you get here so fast?" asked Ruby, "I didn't even get the chance to tell you what happened."
"Well..." chuckled Taiyang.
Flashback
Taiyang had been sleeping in his house when he heard somebody knocking on his door.
"Go away," muttered Taiyang, "It's..."
He looked at his Scroll to see it was 6 in the morning. Still, the knocking would not stop. Taiyang lifted himself off the bed, splashing some water on his face before opening the door.
"What!?" Taiyang half-shouted at the visitor. He blinked to see it was Jaune.
"What brings you here?" asked Taiyang.
"Yang's in trouble," said Jaune.
"My daughter's in trouble!? Hang on, I'm coming!" shouted Taiyang as he charged out the door. Jaune sighed as he linked up with Fafnir and stopped him by creating a wall in front of him.
"I'll get us there faster. Just hold on."
Looking around to make sure nobody was looking, he linked up with Andusk and Lung Wang, sprouting two red scale wings and two white scale wings. He had been improving on his links and could create more wings for better flight while color coding it. Jaune grabbed Taiyang by his hands and flew towards Vale. They would land in one of Junior's hideouts before taking a ship to Beacon in order to not seem suspicious.
As they were flying, Taiyang couldn't help but giggle. So this was what Qrow and Raven could see when they transformed. While approaching Vale, Jaune quickly filled in what had happened in Beacon and the Colosseum. Taiyang expressed outrage, saying he taught her daughters better than that. When Jaune said he also believed that, and that he would explain his suspicions later, Taiyang nodded in agreement.
Flashback ends
"You guys have a good boyfriend," finished Taiyang, "He thought my presence here could help Yang out."
"Why that makes it sound like you approve of him," smiled Yang. She was feeling a lot better now that her father was here, and that Jaune and Ren proved that she was innocent.
"Only a little," grunted Taiyang. He was still hesitant about any boyfriends.
"You guys go out and have fun at the festival," said Yang, "I have Zwei here to keep me company."
"I'll be here too, for now," said Taiyang, "Gotta keep on eye on you. Ironwood would throw a fit if you were here alone."
Everyone nodded and proceeded to walk out the door. Blake paused for a second before giving Yang a quick hug.
"You're my partner. I trust you can grow stronger from this," whispered Blake before leaving.
Pyrrha was the last one to walk out when Yang called out to her.
"Win your match. For the honor of Beacon and for me."
Pyrrha slowly smiled back at her before leaving. Her mind was still troubled and tormented about the decision she had to make.
JNPR and RWB went into the RWBY room, where SSSN, NDGO, and CFVY were waiting.
"How's Yang?" asked Sun.
"She's doing a bit better now that her dad is with her, and we all gave her some comforting words," said Jaune, "But I need to ask Coco about something."
"What's up?" asked Coco.
"Did you see some sort of illusion when you were fighting Emerald?" asked Jaune.
Coco was silent for a bit before responding, "Yeah. I thought I saw Yatsuhashi walking towards me in the forest. Everybody else tells me he never even made it in there. I even saw a replay of myself looking at nothing. They keep saying I was jittery and nervous that it made me see things, that the stress of battle made me hallucinate."
"Which we know is a load of crap, she doesn't get stressed that easily." Fox voiced.
"This helps proves our theory," said Ren.
"Theory?" asked Velvet.
"We suspected Emerald's Semblance is a visual hallucination, and that she can affect a specific person to see what she wants the victim to see. We don't know how many she can affect at once. Maybe two or more," said Jaune.
"I knew I wasn't going crazy," muttered Coco as she narrowed her eyes, "I may have been nervous, but never enough to hallucinate."
"Well, it's good to hear she's innocent," said Dew, "I heard so many people trash talking about her."
"Nothing we can do but be careful," grunted Sage.
SSSN, NDGO, RWB and CFVY left the dorm to explore the fairgrounds for a bit, while JNPR remained in the dorm for a while. Pyrrha looked quite forlorn until Nora surprised her, stating that she had to prepare for a fight that could come at any moment. She did random exercises and ended it while lifting a barbell tipped with 1000 pound weights on each end, struggling to hold it in the air before falling backward in exhaustion.
"Huh. Didn't think she could lift about 2000 pounds," sweatdropped Othim, "I don't think you could do that without linking up with us."
'I've learned not to question what Nora can do,' mentally replied Jaune.
"Nora's right," said Ren, wearing a pink apron that had the words 'PLEASE DO NOTHING TO THE COOK', "You can't let your concern for Yang hold you back. You need to focus. You'll be defending the honor of Beacon Academy."
Pyrrha nodded and was about to reply when Ren cut her off, holding a glass full of green liquid that was bubbling in front of her, "This blend of herbs and vegetables is filled with nutrients vital to your body's well-being."
Pyrrho looked a bit confused when Ren stepped away with a smile, "Please, there's no need to thank me."
Nora looked at the juice with disgust before voicing her opinion, "Ugh, that looks like slime from a lakebed!"
Ren turned away from her, cradling his concoction, "Algae contains numerous spectacular properties. See for yourself."
And with that, he forced some of it down Nora's throat, who turned sickly green and immediately ran to a waste basket, spitting out the juice. The two of them started to argue about the so called "health drink" causing Pyrrha to smile at their antics. Her smile started to fade away as her troubles returned, to which Jaune said they should get some fresh air. He was going to find out what was plaguing Pyrrha right now.
Yang was sitting on the bed with Zwei on her lap, stroking his head while looking out the window. Taiyang had gone to the cafeteria to get them something to eat when she heard a voice.
"Hey there, firecracker."
She was surprised, but not enough to turn around before greeting him.
Qrow was silent for a bit before asking, "So, why'd you do it?"
Yang slightly growled before responding, "I'm not lying. My team believes me, my friends believes me, dad believes me, and even General Ironwood has doubts that I did it! Not only that, Jaune and Ren have already come up with a plausible theory narrowed down the suspects."
Qrow looked at her in surprise for a second before asking, "Tai's here?"
"Yep," said a voice from the door. Qrow looked over to see Taiyang with a tray full of food.
"Beacon's cafeteria hasn't changed one bit after we graduated," said Taiyang as he walked in a set down the food in front of Yang."
"How'd you get here so fast?" asked Qrow.
"Jaune," replied Taiyang. Qrow nodded in understanding.
"So, what happens now?" sighed Qrow.
"We can only wait," replied Taiyang.
"Dad, Uncle Qrow? I have something I wanna ask since you're both here," said Yang seriously.
They both looked at Yang, nodding their head to show they were paying attention.
Yang took a deep breath, "I met mom. My birth mom, Raven."
Both males froze up for a second before trying to act relaxed.
"So, you think you saw her?" Qrow asked, trying to play it cool.
"No, I mean I met up with her and talked to her," replied Yang.
Taiyang sputtered, trying to think up a reply.
"We had... a nice talk," admitted Yang, "She showed up to help us get to safety during the breach incident, and then I met up with her after that. She wanted to see if she could lure Jaune into her little bandit clan, and promised to take me in too if I convinced him. I said no."
Qrow and Taiyang glanced at each other and snickered. Raven getting rejected by her own daughter was priceless. Outside the window was a raven, who cawed in indignation.
"But... Can you guys tell me... more about Raven?" asked Yang, "Like some stories when you were all part of team STRQ."
Taiyang was about to start when he noticed the raven outside the window and narrowed his eyes.
"Qrow can tell you some. I need to make a call back at Signal since I left without warning," said Taiyang, leaving them alone.
At this, Qrow was ready to tell Yang some funny stories, considering he had permission now.
Taiyang stepped out of the dorms and towards the back of the library, where he knew was a blind spot for private conversations. A few seconds later, a raven landed in front of him before transforming into Raven Branwen.
"You have a lot of nerve coming here," said Taiyang coolly.
"Hello, honey," smiled Raven. Taiyang noticed that her reply seemed sadder than usual.
"What do you want? My daughter in your clan?" asked Taiyang, "I thought we agreed that you wouldn't touch her. Not after you abandoned us."
Raven winced at that. Somehow, this was affecting her more than she thought. Raven slowly breathed in and out. She had made her decision and didn't look back all these years. So why was this affecting her now?
"Summer Rose was, is, and will always be my true 'mother'. Sometimes, I wish I was her blood daughter and not stepdaughter."
Those words reverberated in her head again. Had she truly made a mistake when she left them? To which, she thought of another point. Wasn't Summer dating Qrow? When did they break up? When did Summer marry Taiyang?
"I guess... I'm slightly regretting it a little now," huffed Raven.
"The courageous and fearless Raven, actually regretting her decisions? That's new," scoffed Taiyang sarcastically.
"Enough," said Raven, "I didn't come here to pick a fight. I'm only here because I wanted to observe... Yang."
"What for? When did you start caring now?" asked Taiyang, with a scowl on his face.
"Because of my rule of one," replied Raven, "It's still applicable to Yang. And from what I've been seeing and hearing, Beacon is in danger. And Ironwood's toy soldiers won't stop it. I just want to be able to honor that rule before I leave."
Both of them were silent for a bit.
"How is... Yang?" asked Raven tentatively, "That incident didn't paint her in a good light. Knowing that you and Summer raised her, she would've never done that on purpose."
"We have a theory," replied Taiyang, "We think that someone, possibly that punk or his partner Emerald Sustrai used a Semblance to cause Yang to hallucinate that the boy attacked her, and she responded in what she thought was self-defense. But the question is why?"
"To bring more Grimm near the city," replied Raven instantly, "Haven't you noticed there's been an increase in Grimm activity now? Negativity brings Grimm in. And what better way to have everyone seeing MY daughter be used as a scapegoat to attract negative emotions?"
"Your daughter?" said Taiyang with his eyebrow raised.
"S-s-shut up!" stuttered Raven, cursing herself for the slip.
'Ah, and there's the tsundere side that I fell in love with,' sighed Taiyang mentally.
"I should get going," said Raven, "I need to make sure my clan doesn't get too rowdy with all this stuff happening."
As she pulled out her sword, ready to slice a portal open, she stopped for a second.
"I'm... glad to see you remarried to Summer and had Ruby. Although I'm quite surprised she dumped Qrow to be with you."
Taiyang winced at that statement, to which Raven caught it instantly.
"All right, confess. I know Summer wouldn't have dumped Qrow so easily. Those two were lovestruck, just like we were," said Raven.
"We... may have kept a..." stuttered Taiyang before he realized something.
"Wait, just like we were? That means you did love me?" shouted Taiyang.
Raven's eyes opened wide at her slip of words before cursing and quickly opening a portal to escape.
"I never said that! And you'll tell me the truth someday!" shouted Raven before jumping into the portal to escape.
Taiyang stared off at where Raven had been before slumping back onto the wall, chuckling to himself.
"And I never had the courage to tell her and Yang that I never actually filed the divorce papers. We're technically still married. And that Ruby is Qrow and Summer's daughter."
Outside the cafeteria, Pyrrha was leaning against a wall, still worried. A brown leaf fell down from a tree, landing right next to her, reminding her it was the Fall season, which lead back to Amber. Suddenly, a voice cut through her thought process.
"You alright?"
Pyrrha looked up to see Jaune holding a piece of chocolate cake for her. She smiled as Jaune set it in front of her and sat next to her. Ren and Nora were walking back to them when they both noticed they wanted private time and turned back around. They decided to stay within close range, in case they needed something. Plus, it was a good time to just cuddle and wait.
After Pyrrha finished her cake, she looked back down to see the leaf still there, tormenting her thoughts.
"Jaune... I don't know what to do," confessed Pyrrha.
"What's wrong?" asked Jaune, concerned.
Pyrrha looked up to the ceiling for a bit, "Do you believe in destiny?"
"Ummm, that depends. How are you viewing it?" replied Jaune.
"When I think of destiny, I don't think of a predetermined fate you can't escape. But rather... some sort of final goal, something you work towards your entire life," explained Pyrrha.
"So... basically do I believe I'll reach my goal in my life? I guess," nodded Jaune.
At this, Pyrrha started to struggle to find the right words to explain, "Well... what would you do if something came along that you... never expected? Something that had the potential to stand between you and your destiny?"
Jaune tilted his head to think about it, "Well, I mean I met my dragons. I met all of you. That was unexpected. At first, I thought I would never be a Huntsmen, with my so-called father. He believed my destiny was to die."
"That's not what I fully mean," said Pyrrha sadly.
"Then what?" asked Jaune.
"Or what if you could suddenly fulfill your destiny in an instant, but at the cost of who you were?" asked Pyrrha, as her stress began to show.
Jaune remained silent, trying to see where she was going with this. She stood up away from him a bit, holding herself as if on the verge of tears, "None of it makes sense! This isn't how things were supposed to happen!"
Jaune immediately hugged her from behind, causing her to relax again. He just held her to him, and it soon became quiet. There was nothing else, but the two of them. The dragons, even Othim, remained respectfully silent.
"What do you mean," asked Jaune finally, "What happened? Does it have to do with what Ozpin called you in for? Please, tell me. Help me understand."
"I... don't know," cried Pyrrha, "I've always felt as though I was destined to become a Huntress- to protect the world...and it's become increasingly clear to me that my feelings were right. But...I don't know if I can do it."
"Pyrrha," said Jaune softly, "Your ultimate destiny is up to you, and the actions you make. If it's your destiny to save the world, then do it. But know this: no matter how far you go, no matter how deep you're in… I will always find you. I will come to help you, to save you. No matter if you do somehow change and get lost, I'll be there to grab your hand and pull you back out to me. Nothing will prevent me from finding my mates, including you. Nothing will stop me, not mountains or oceans… nothing. Even if I have to fight through all the Grimm in Remnant, I will always be there for you. And if destiny is somehow chiseled in stone that we are not meant to be, I'll break that stone into dust. Because I love you so much, my goddess."
At this, Pyrrha turned around to cry into his chest. He kept holding her tightly while she sobbed into his chest.
She soon stopped and looked him in the eyes, and he looked into her green teary ones. "It's not that simple," she said, "I'm terrified. I'm scared if I do accept the offer, I'll never be who I really am again. That somehow, I'll fall out of love with you, or be forbidden to love you. And yet, I can't be selfish and say no. Not when humanity's fate could be in the air."
Jaune gently sat back down with Pyrrha again, touching her forehead with his. With a stomp, he had 4 walls surrounding him again to prevent anyone from spying on him before dragging her into his mindscape.
Pyrrha opened her eyes to see Jaune, along with all seven dragons. This was the first time she saw all seven of them at once, and she was also probably the first one to see them all amongst Jaune's mates.
"Speak, child," cooed Aryz, "What plagues your mind? What has caused you such distress?"
"You need not to worry about revealing secrets here," said Alaerth, "Here, nobody can hear you except us. And we are the oldest beings in Remnant. Perhaps we can offer you advice."
"I.. can't," said Pyrrha,"I promised them not to speak of it."
"It is very clear that you are distressed about this," growled Fafnir, "Tell us. Who has caused you to become like this? We will make sure they don't bother you again!"
"It's... about a very old legend. A legend involving four girls and an old man," began Pyrrha. As long as she didn't go into details, she was sure it would be fine.
"The Story of the Seasons? The four maidens?" asked Othim, "The one where all four of them are blessed with power?"
Pyrrha nodded, choosing to remain silent.
"If it is about the legend being true, we know of it," smiled Andusk.
"But, how?" stuttered Pyrrha.
They all pointed to Lung Wang, and Othim calmly announced with a cheeky voice "You're looking at the so-called wizard in the story."
"That was not me! That was one of my descendants who contracted the wizard in the story!" roared Lung Wang.
"So you say," deadpanned Othim, "But we all know your clawprints was all over that."
"Uhh, what?" asked Jaune in confusion.
"The wizard in the story is actually someone that used to be part of the Dragon Clan," explained Aryz, "One of the remaining survivors. There was hope that he would be the one to resurrect the clan as he had 4 contracts with some high-tier dragons, but he grew a very jaded view of the world. In the end, he shut himself in his own little land."
"Over time, he was visited by four sisters, who managed to warm his heart. Before dying, he blessed them with power," took over Alaerth, "Mind you, it wasn't the dragon's power itself nor the Mate Mark, but rather his own version of a Dragon's Mark."
"It was a rather risky one," commented Ryo-Wo, "The power is supposed to belong to the people he thought of only. Yet the wizard in the story, who had trained himself while in solitude, basically split his aura into four pieces and passed them to the sisters before his death, thinking of them only. However, the power continued to pass on to others even when the original maidens died. We think that part may have been unintentional."
"That leads to the legend today," added Andusk, "Did they tell you that the power is given to young maidens only, and that the power transfers over to whoever is the last one in their mind before death, whatever the cause?
Pyrrha nodded in reply.
"Which brings to this question. Why are they telling you this?" asked Lung Wang thoughtfully.
Pyrrha broke down and confessed about what had happened. About Amber being attacked. Her power being stolen. And how Ozpin's group had chosen her to be the next Maiden due to fear of the assailant gaining too much power. Her biggest fear was that when they forcefully transferred Amber's Aura into her, that she would change. That she could forget all her friends, and especially Jaune. Or somehow be bounded by some random rule that she couldn't marry, and had to travel the world alone, just like Amber did apparently.
After she finished, she fell down to the ground crying. Jaune quickly dropped next to her and hugged her, letting her cry into his chest again. When she stopped, she looked back up to see the dragons looking at her with concern.
"That doesn't sound good," admitted Othim, "To cram someone's Aura into another person is quite barbaric. Not only that, but that technology in the wrong hands could be deadly." Jaune knew that the situation must be serious if Othim, of all beings, was taking it seriously.
"As for your worries, I don't think you'll have to worry about it changing you. The original way was so only the Aura and the additional abilities would be transferred over. If Amber's was to go into yours, it would only augment your power," explained Lung Wang, "I remember talking to my descendant who was contracted to that wizard. He gave me some of the details."
"As for your fear of being ineligible to be Jaune's mate," said Alaerth smoothly, "The Mate Mark takes priority over all. Even if Ozpin's little group tells you that you shouldn't, or that there some random archaic rule about no marriage, the Mate Mark overrides it. Don't let them bind you with random rules. After all, there is nothing more important to our contractor than to find one of his mates."
"Not to mention, I promised you I would destroy anything in my path to bring you back to my side, just like all my other mates," whispered Jaune.
They both closed their eyes, their foreheads touching again. Pyrrha felt the weight of the decision lift off her. She then opened her eyes again, making her decision.
"I'm going to take the offer," said Pyrrha, "But I expect you to be able to help me pull through. To make sure I won't change or be lonely."
"Of course, love." replied Jaune, "Nothing will stop me. Though I wonder. If I give Amber a Dragon's Mark, would it heal her, from what Pyrrha has told us?"
"Unknown," replied Ryo-Wo, "We'd have to know how she had half her power stolen. Probably by a special Grimm parasite, but we would need to see her first. Even then, most likely with just a Dragon's Mark, it wouldn't help. A Mate Mark might do the trick, but you've already filled them all up. And even so, there's no guarantee."
"I guess that's all I can do," sighed Jaune, "There's no way I'm replacing any of my girls."
With a bright flash of light, the two of them found themselves back to reality. Jaune stomped the ground to lower the walls to see Ren and Nora standing nearby.
"You guys ready?" asked Ren, "It's almost time for the tournament."
Pyrrha nodded, her confident face returning. Ren and Nora could only smile at that. They had both noticed that Pyrrha seemed off.
"Ren. You know what to do," said Jaune. Ren nodded in reply.
At the Colosseum, the crowd was ready for the entertainment to begin, to wash away yesterday's disappointment and shock. Ruby was alone, as Weiss and Blake had decided not to see the fight, but rather spend some quiet time eating and maybe watching it on the television. Ruby arrived early to get some seats when she saw Emerald sitting in the stadium at the opposite side. Wondering why she was there when her partner was supposed to be in the hospital, she decided to get closer. She took the exit tunnel, and after checking to see nobody was around, took the door with the yellow maintenance sign that was supposed to be restricted for workers only. She had a feeling Jaune's hypothesis was correct but wanted to get closer.
Meanwhile, Emerald saw Ruby leaving, and decided to call Mercury, who had been hiding in the Colosseum to help run interference just in case. She had just finished calling when she almost jumped at someone calling her name. She turned around to see it was Jaune.
"Hey, Emerald. Sorry to hear about your teammate," began Jaune, "I was hoping to actually see Cinder, to see if she wanted to grab dinner after these matches. You know where she is?"
"She's... busy," replied Emerald hesitantly. She cursed herself being in this awkward situation. She was sure Cinder would be disappointed that she missed her chance on seducing Jaune. At the same time, she had to concentrate on this next match to make it work.
"Hmm, that's a shame. Any chance I can get her Scroll number so I can call her later, maybe?" asked Jaune.
Relieved Jaune was providing a way out of this situation, Emerald gave him Cinder's numbers. It was a throwaway Scroll anyways, so Cinder would have a way to contact Jaune without compromising herself too much. At that, Jaune thanked her and left to find some other seats, far away from Emerald. As Emerald sighed and leaned back in her seat, behind her, Ren smiled. They had distracted her while he used his Semblance to secure a seat right behind her. Now she wasn't paying attention, he turned his Semblance off. He would be ready if Emerald tried anything.
As Ruby was walking forward to see if she could get closer to Emerald, she could hear Port announcing the randomization process had begun. She hadn't seen Jaune talk to Emerald already. As she took a few more steps, she saw Mercury stepping out from a nearby tunnel, completely unharmed.
"So he was right," muttered Ruby. Mercury raised an eyebrow at this
From behind the walls, a slightly muffled voice from Port rang out, "It looks like our first contender is... Penny Polendina from Atlas.."
She turned her attention from the broadcast back to Mercury, "What are you doing?"
"And her opponent will be... Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!"
Ruby realized just how horrible this matchup would be. Pyrrha could kill Penny if she wasn't careful, and she didn't know Penny was a robot!
Mercury put his hand on his chin as if to think, "Ooh, polarity versus metal. That could be bad."
Ruby glared at Mercury, reaching behind to grab Crescent Rose when she remembered she didn't have it. The Colosseum didn't allow any fighters who weren't fighting to have their weapons.
"This'll be fun," cackled Mercury.
Jaune had gone to the bathroom and returning back to the stadium when he noticed it was quiet around him. From a corner, Vlad Arc stepped out in front of him. Jaune glared and quickly turned around only to see Aurelian Arc and Boyd Arc coming to block his path.
"Today, I am going amend a mistake that should've been corrected a long time ago," stated Vlad Arc as he drew out his weapon. It was a Great sword that doubled up as a Dust-thrower. Which was to say, whatever dust he equipped into the handle, it would shoot out that specific elements, like flames or ice. Boyd and Aurelian also drew out their respective weapons.
"How did you get your weapons here? I'm pretty sure you of all people aren't allowed, nor could you hide it," asked Jaune coolly.
"The Arc name carries some influence," scoffed Vlad, "That, and coupled with a few Liens to have some people look the other way, and we have the perfect way to get rid of you."
"You got lucky that fight," growled Aurelian, holding his sword up, "But this time, you don't have a weapon with you."
"And your friends won't be here to help you," chuckled Boyd as he lifted his buckler up, "So be a good boy and die. Don't worry, we'll take good care of your girls."
"Your sisters won't be able to help you either," grinned Vlad, "They're too busy 'fighting' Grimm."
Jaune sighed before taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes and glared at Vlad. Then he heard the announcement that Pyrrha was fighting Penny, the strange girl who's Aura didn't feel normal.
"Okay, first of all; the real mistake you made was trying to kill me," growled Jaune as he reached behind him, putting his hand into the bag he carried. He had snuck it in with Ren's help.
"And trust me, I'm never helpless. That's your second slip up."
At this, he pulled out his sword in its scabbard before pulling out his shield. He shifted the scabbard form so it transformed into a bladed weapon. He would need the extra weight for attacking. All the Arcs were staring at Jaune in confusion. How did that little bag be able to contain his weapon? It was certainly something they would "liberate" from Jaune's body for the future of the Arc.
"And third, Aurelian, you had help from Boyd and Roderick, and you still couldn't win. So what makes you think it'll be any different?"
At that, he used the basic link and linked up with all seven of his dragons. His pupils became slits in anger. Jaune glared at the three of them and gripped his sword tight.
"So I'm giving you this one chance, you can all either walk away now or face my wrath."
As the four of them stared off at each other, Jaune's scroll rang. Not taking his eyes off of Vlad, he answered it. It was Nora.
"Jaune, where are you? Pyrrha's fight is about to start!" said Nora.
"I won't be able to make it," replied Jaune, "Some complications came up. My family decided to trap me and try to kill me. I-"
That was all he managed to say when he dodged a sword strike from Boyd. Aurelian and Vlad charged right in. He disconnected the Scroll to concentrate on the fight against his family had begun!
"Show them," growled Lung Wang, "Show them what it means to earn our wrath! For blocking your way to make sure your mate is safe! For even daring to think about stealing them!"
Thus, begins the matches! Penny vs Pyrrha! Ruby vs Mercury! and Jaune against the Arc family! What will happen next time!?
If you guys didn't notice, I did hint from chapter one about the wizard in the legend of the 4 maidens. XD
Next chapter will be up as soon as possible, and I promise you won't have to wait a week. Hopefully, I can upload it on Monday. I'd also like the thank UGX7 for being my proofreader this time! Made quite a few corrections for the better, I'd say. Go read his story RWBY: Destiny of Remnant if you're looking for an epic-length story that has minimal errors and quite an interesting story plot. And now for a random Omake.
Omake: Dandy's lyrics
Since I've had someone tell me that just saying what was the difference, I decided to type the song out and write out how Team DSCO would perform it. Remember, Dandy's the main singer. Back up singer would be Coral. Lyrics are centered in the middle. Dandy sings in the regular font, Coral sings bold, and when both are singing it's in bold and italics. Plus, there's only minor changes in the lyrics. And with the slight lyric change, I guess it should be called Grimm in Sheep's Clothing.
Soul starts off the guitar intro while Dandy starts to tap on his mic.
Ha-ha-ha, this is about you
Beware, beware, be skeptical
Of their smiles, their smiles of plated Dust
Deceit so natural
But a Grimm in sheep's clothing is more than a warning
At this point, Coral and Onyx join in with their instruments. Dandy starts to strum his guitar while singing into the mike.
Bah-bah-black sheep, have you any soul?
No sir, by the way, what the hell are morals?
Jack, be nimble, Jack, be quick
Jill's a little whore and her alibis are dirty tricks
So could you
At this point, Dandy had kicked the original mic aside and was using the headset that was attached to his ear to project his voice. Soul started to move along with the song as he rocked out harder on his guitar.
Tell me how you're sleeping easy
How you're only thinking of yourself
Show me how you justify
Telling all your lies like second nature
Listen, mark my words: one day (one day)
You will pay, you will pay
Karma's gonna come collect your debt
A brief guitar solo starts as Soul slides into the front for his moment of glory. He quickly gets back up and returns to his original position. Meanwhile Dandy was already raising his hands, trying to get the crowd excited. It was working. Then he started to sing again.
Aware, aware, you stalk your prey
With criminal mentality
You sink your teeth into the people you depend on
Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem
Fee-fi-fo-fum, you better run and hide
I smell the blood of a petty little coward
Jack, be lethal, Jack, be slick
Jill will leave you lonely dying in a filthy ditch
So could you
Tell me how you're sleeping easy
How you're only thinking of yourself
Show me how you justify
Telling all your lies like second nature
Listen, mark my words: one day (one day)
You will pay, you will pay
Karma's gonna come collect your debt
At this part, the song seems to start to calm down. A box that the crowd hadn't noticed was in front of Dandy, and he stand up on it, waving his hand in a wave motion.
Maybe you'll change
Abandon all your wicked ways
Make amends and start anew again
Maybe you'll see
All the wrongs you did to me
And start all over, start all over again
Suddenly, Dandy surprises everyone by jumping off the box and kicking it off the stage in fake anger.
Who am I kidding?
Now, let's not get overzealous here
You've always been a huge piece of shit
If I could kill you I would
But it's frowned upon in all Four Kingdoms
Having said that, burn... in…. hell!
At this point, all of them start playing back in tempo again, while Dandy laughs for a bit, yelling, "Where are you, motherfucker? Ha ha!"
Oh! OH! OH!
So tell me how you're sleeping easy
How you're only thinking of yourself
Show me how you justify
Telling all your lies like second nature
Listen, mark my words: one day (one day)
You will pay, you will pay
Karma's gonna come collect your debt
Dandy managed to get back to his original position and kicked the mic he had originally kicked down back up to its original position.
Karma's gonna come collect your debt,
(She's a li—she's a li—she's a liar)
Karma's gonna come collect your debt.
And with a flourish, they finished the song.