Here we go.
Cover Art: GWBrex
Chapter 51
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School lessons on the colour revolution to be axed for being "anti-Atlas" and "unpatriotic".
Atlas Times
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Beacon shocks by accepting Menagerie team into competition. Headmaster of Beacon hails "international cooperation" as reason, but will Atlas let that go?
Vale Daily Tribune
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With Mistral team most trusted by Jaune Arc, pundits weigh in to claim Mistral as most likely destination for miracle healer after Vytal Festival.
The Mistral Review
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Desperate Mistral agrees to immediate trade deal with Vacuo after losing access to Atlas markets.
Vacuo Today
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Menagerie recognised at Vytal Festival; a success for all faunuskind.
Kuo Kuana Express
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The last thing Jaune expected when he met up with Cinder to be disguised for an afternoon out in the city was for someone to already be there. He paused in the doorway, unsure what to do, as Cinder looked up from applying makeup to the face of a girl with black hair the same shade as her own, falling loosely down her back with a braid tied around the back.
"Uh. Am I early? I can come back."
"You're just on time." Cinder stood and moved away from the girl, who turned to look back at him nervously. She had green eyes with a touch of red makeup on the outer edges giving her an exotic look. Her skin was pale, aside from the blush applied to her cheeks and the small dots of freckles crossing over her nose. The nervous look was likely because of his fame, and Jaune scratched his head awkwardly, holding up a hand.
"Uh. Hey. Nice to meet you."
The girl looked shocked.
"I'll take that as a compliment of my skill," said Cinder, smiling proudly. "What do you think, Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha-? No. No way. Jaune's jaw dropped and he looked again, but aside from the colour of her eyes there was nothing similar about her. His attention even dropped down a little to where she was sporting… well, Cinder must have done a little stuffing. Pyrrha brought an arm up to cover her slightly larger chest, which made him flush and look away.
"Am I really that unrecognisable…?"
"Y-You are. Wow, I… I really didn't know it was you."
Jaune locked his eyes on hers again, and he thought now, with the benefit of hindsight, that he could see some of her expressions being the same. But expressions weren't the first thing the mind went to. Hair colour, skin colour, eye colour, body type. Those were the things you took in at first glance, and Cinder had changed just enough of those to confuse. Leaving the eyes the same was a curious choice, but with how much else she'd changed, it probably didn't matter. If he couldn't recognise her then the average person on the street sure as hell wasn't going to.
"I've modelled her as though she were my sister from Mistral," said Cinder. "The hair fits with that. We do still need a name for her. I'd have suggested a play on your last name for Nicola, but with Jaune already moonlighting as Nickel, that might be a little too close."
"Why did you pick that name?" asked Pyrrha. "Is it significant?"
"My dad's name is Nicholas. It was kind of just the first I came up with." There hadn't been anything beyond a crippling lack of originality. "But Nicola is fine. We can pretend we're the siblings."
"No!" Pyrrha shook her head quickly. "I… um. Athena. That's my name. Athena Fall."
Okay. He wasn't sure why being his sister was such a bad idea, but it must have been something Cinder said to her, and she was the master of disguises here. "Athena it is. Are you coming out with us today?"
"If that's okay…?"
"I felt it would improve our disguises," said Cinder, stepping in smoothly. "Our full team travelling with one man would seem suspicious given we're meant to be guarding you, but if three members of the team stay here guarding you, and I should take a break to show my sister around Vale after she came all the way here to watch me compete, well, that's a different matter, isn't it?"
"Mercury, Emerald and Mint are staying here, then?"
"Yes. They will be guarding an empty room while we're gone."
Elm wouldn't have liked that, but Elm was strong enough to ward off anyone who might harm him. Cinder and her team were good, but their greatest strength was how sneaky they could be. This wasn't like the Arc-Ops, who were specialised huntsmen with military training. His new team was going to have to be a little smarter about things. And with Pyrrha along with them, that was already two very capable fighters.
"Then I'm fine with it. The only reason we didn't include Pyrrha before was because it would have been too obvious." And because it might have upset Weiss, but she was still looking after Blake, and what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. "I hope you're not expecting too much excitement, Pyrrha. We're just going to hang out."
"Jaune, I'm famous too," she said, laughing. "A chance to just hang out is the kind of thing I dream of."
"I guess we're two peas in a pod, then."
Pyrrha vacated the seat for Jaune to take it and have his turn under Cinder's makeup brush. It was… different having Pyrrha in the room. He'd gotten used to Cinder, even enough to take his top off so they could work in the wash-on dye without ruining his clothing. It was probably because Cinder had never shown any interest in him like that. Pyrrha had, with a kiss, and Jaune suddenly felt much more alert under her gaze.
It didn't help when Cinder would point out what she was doing and Pyrrha would lean in to look. He was acutely aware of Pyrrha's now-black hair brushing against his skin, loosened from the ponytail that normally kept it all out her way. It was fragrant, smelling of wildflowers, and he realised that he'd never noticed her wearing perfume before. Huntresses probably didn't, same as how huntsmen didn't go around caked in aftershave. It was a disadvantage in the field if the Grimm could smell you coming.
Pyrrha was leaning forward and watching as Cinder did something with his eyebrows, which just so happened to give him a clear view down Pyrrha's neck. It would have been a cleavage shot but for the lucky fact she was wearing a top that covered her. It was tight, though. It was really tight. It must have been spare clothing from Cinder and Emerald; a punkish black vest that went up to her collar, but which had no shoulder or sleeves, leaving her arms bare. It also exposed a bit of midriff which Jaune didn't know what to do with. Not look at, presumably. He swallowed and fixed his eyes on her neck instead.
You're an engaged man, Jaune Arc. Don't be a creep.
It wasn't long before his hair was dyed a similar shade to Pyrrha and Cinder's, and his outfit switched for a quasi-punk rocker look. Cinder even clipped on a fake earring, making Pyrrha pull at her taut belly and say, "I wonder if I could get a fake piercing here."
Jaune imagined it.
"We could get you a fake tattoo," said Cinder. "Maybe a tramp stamp."
"Excuse me!?"
"Not as an insult, Athena, dear. I mean as a contrast to anything Pyrrha Nikos might do. You need to ask yourself what kind of girl Athena Fall is. Is she a rebel? A punk? A bookworm?" Cinder had her hands on Pyrrha's – Athena's – shoulders and was whispering into her ear. Jaune couldn't make out the words, but he could sure as hell make out Pyrrha's blush.
It couldn't have been too bad though, as Pyrrha nodded after a moment's thought.
"Well," said Cinder, releasing her. "Shall we go? We'll need to sneak to the Bullheads a little, but there are enough people here that no one should question you. Just try not to make eye contact with anyone you know."
/-/
Luckily, that wasn't a problem. Team RWBY weren't feeling up to going out, and no one from Pyrrha's team got in their way either. They reached the Bullheads and took the flight across into Vale without anyone being the wiser. It helped that he was meant to be at the hospitals the next day anyway, so a lot of "Jaune-watchers" were waiting for that.
Cinder dragged them away from the landing zones anyway. One of her first pieces of advice to him had been to "keep moving". Disguises were all well and good, but the longer you stuck around in one place, the longer you gave people to start noticing things about you, and the more chances you gave yourself to mess up. It wasn't like imagining they were under constant sniper fire, but just better they be aware. Stopping somewhere to eat and drink was fine, but standing around the busy landing zones where hundreds of people came and went was a recipe for disaster.
Contrasting that, going somewhere where everyone was focused on something else was a much better idea – which was why the mall, despite being rammed full of people, was a good place to visit. It was crowded, true, but that meant they were just three more bodies in the press, and everyone was going in and out of shops or looking at things through windows, or moving with the kind of quick pace that suggested they were looking for a particular shop. No one bothered to pay attention to the three teenagers in the middle of it all.
The first floor of the mall was less busy than the ground floor, too, giving them a chance to actually escape the press and look out over the glass-fronted balconies. The mall was at capacity, and probably well over that, thanks to the Vytal Festival. The shops must have been making a killing, but he could also imagine working there at a time like this to be downright hellish.
"You ever imagine working at a place like this?" he asked. Pyrrha made a confused sound, and Cinder hummed but didn't speak. "I mean, if we were normal people then we'd have to get normal jobs, wouldn't we? Even if we were in Beacon, we'd want spending money, so part-time work at a shop or a bar would be the kind of low-paid, low-qualifications work we'd get."
"I… I guess so. I hadn't-" Pyrrha stumbled over her words, and Jaune glanced over to see Cinder had nudged her. "I mean, I hadn't really thought of it but it's an interesting idea!" she recovered, looking a little lost. "Why were you thinking about it?"
"Just curious. We keep saying we want to be normal people but I wonder how much of that is true, and how much is just that we want the good without the bad."
"I think… I think being a little selfish is fine, isn't it? What's wrong with not wanting bad things to happen to you?"
He was about to answer when Cinder, with a heavy sigh, stepped between them. "You two are terrible at small talk. Why does everything have to be so serious? Come with me." She walked off, forcing them to follow, and brought them to a diner posed on the edge of the balconies looking down below. "I'll order," said Cinder. "You two at least try and talk about happier topics. Why don't you ask Athena about her past in Mistral and get to know her a little better."
The hint was obvious enough for even him to understand. "I guess we should work on that if this is going to be a regular thing. So, uh, what did you do in Mistral?"
"I studied at Sanc-" Pyrrha cut herself off, realising her mistake before he could say it. "I mean, my sister studied at Sanctum but I was… uh… I was always a little too wild for school."
Jaune's lip quivered. "Wild? Really? You?"
"I-I can do wild!" whispered Pyrrha. "I mean, I am wild. I'm really wild."
"Oh?" Pyrrha was blushing badly. The little freckles, which he could tell now were dots of darker makeup, stood out against her pink skin. Jaune couldn't help but tease, especially with his flustered she was getting. "And what kinds of wild things did you get up to?"
"I… I…" Pyrrha's bright green eyes looked around for help. "I smoked a cigarette once."
"Gasp!" Jaune said the word, rather than gasp out loud. "How incredibly wild of you! I can't believe you would do something so amazingly reckless and out of the blue like that. I didn't realise I was sitting at a table with such a rebel!"
"Hnghhhh…" whined Pyrrha, into her hands. He couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. "Stop that!" she grumbled, kicking him under the table.
"Sorry. Sorry. I can't help it. I just… I just don't think I've even heard you swear, let alone do anything bad."
"I can swear! Just… not in public. It's the contracts and clauses. I'd get in trouble and… uh. My agents would tell me off every time something slipped, so I guess I just learned to substitute words. I still say sugar instead of… you know…"
"Shit?"
Pyrrha ducked her head and glanced around.
"No one here is going to freak out at one word, Athena."
"I… I know but… that's still…"
"Too wild for the wildest woman in Mistral?"
"You're awfully close to that edge for someone talking to me like that," she grumbled. He cocked a grin, chin resting on his hand. "Fine. Tell me about your exciting life, Mr Nickel. I bet I'll get a laugh out of that."
"Well." He leaned back. "I live in Mistral like you, but, unlike you, I actually went to school and got a decent education. I wasn't attending all those wild parties and getting into detention. I was the quiet kid in the back who liked rock music and dreamed of being in a band."
"Why is my education now bad?" whined Pyrrha.
"And that's when I decided to start a band with the goal of performing at the end of school festival."
"Jaune, I've read comics about this."
"And together, my band and I, rose up through great difficulty, going from a bunch of idiots hitting random instruments in our garage, to busking in public, where an agent just so happened to hear us play, and invited us to an audition-"
"Please stop. It's so cringe."
"But, at the audition, we ran into our rival band, Mega Apocalypse Death Dragon and the Wild Girl."
Pyrrha bounced her forehead on the table. "No, no, no."
"And the rest? Well, let's just say I'm waiting for my character arc."
"I hate you," said Pyrrha, but she was smiling. Reluctantly smiling. "And that is the worst backstory I have ever heard."
"At least I didn't have a dark and tragic past like you."
"What's this about dark and tragic?" asked Cinder, returning with some obnoxiously bright frozen shakes of some kind. Jaune didn't want to hazard a guess at the sugar content.
"Nickel is bullying me," said Pyrrha.
"Don't bully my sister, Nickel. It's rude."
"Sorry. Sorry." Jaune couldn't hide his smile. "I just wanted to know more about her wild childhood and all the crazy things she got up to while you were being a dutiful student in Sanctum." Pyrrha kicked him again, but Cinder just laughed.
"Is that so? Well, you'll need to get the stories out of her I'm afraid. So, did you have any plans of things you wanted to do today, or is it just a time-wasting day?"
Honestly, he had nothing. He'd just known he needed to get away from Beacon and all the looks, and Weiss and the problems there, and his sadness over losing Elm, and the constant barrage of negative news coming out of Atlas. "Just wanted to distract myself, I guess. I'm open to ideas."
Cinder looked to Pyrrha expectantly.
"Ah." Pyrrha swallowed, took a quick sip of her shake through her straw, and said, "I could do with some different clothes if this is going to be a regular thing – which I want it to be. I can't keep borrowing from Cinder and Emerald."
"Makes sense." Jaune took a sip of his own, and instantly flinched as the sugary sweet flavour his hit brain like an ice-pick. He hacked into his hand.
"You'll have to forgive him," drawled Cinder. "Nickel is a bit of a lightweight. Not a wild one like you."
It was Pyrrha's turn to laugh.
/-/
He'd been clothes shopping with Cinder and her team once before. It had been an easy-going experience where Cinder picked out clothes for him to try on while the others did the same. He'd gotten changed, come out, had Cinder critique or give thoughts, then either put them in the "yes" pile or tried another combination. It had been comfortable, even fun, especially when he'd known it was for his alter-ego.
Foolishly, he'd assumed this would be the same, and casually forgotten that they weren't buying clothes for him this time. Obviously, it was Pyrrha who would be trying them on. Obviously, Cinder would be helping her judge them as she had him. And, just as obviously, he should sit with her to offer his own thoughts as Pyrrha tried on outfit after outfit.
It wasn't as easy as it sounded.
They – or Cinder – had picked some vaguely niche place for them to shop; it wasn't the usual range of clothes, but a lot of black colours, leather, and metal. There were also guitar strings and other bits and pieces being sold, giving the place a hard rock or metal vibe, though thankfully it wasn't so exclusive to that theme that he felt like an outsider. It wasn't overly busy either. The single woman manning the desk waved them through to the changing rooms. They were unisex, but cut-off from the main shopfloor, with a row of curtain-covered booths and then a central aisle with a few seats, one of which he and Cinder were sat hip against hip, with him still nursing his brain freeze in a plastic container.
"I'm ready," called Pyrrha.
"Then come on out." said Cinder. "Let's see it."
The curtain swished back.
Pyrrha stepped out in a pair of black jeans that clung much too tightly to her body and also hung much too low. They didn't reveal anything, but they hinted at a lot, and the fact the black tank top with a band logo on it didn't reach all the way down made it even more obvious. Pyrrha was a very fit woman, with abs and obliques, which meant there was a V-shape her muscles took down into the jeans that drew the eye downward. Jaune yanked it back up, and up over her belly, but it was a little too late to claim he hadn't looked. Especially when he realised she'd been watching him. He flushed, but, thankfully, Pyrrha didn't call him out on it.
"How does it look?"
"Very good," said Cinder. "It fits the look we're going for. What do you think, Nickel?"
"Uh. Yeah. It looks good."
Cinder clicked her tongue. "None of that. You're here to help, and I know you can speak full sentences. It wouldn't be fair to leave her wondering if she looks the fool. Tell her how she looks."
"You look… great," he managed to get out. "Really good. It's surprising," he admitted, "but in a good way, like I'd never thought of you wearing something like that."
Pyrrha gave a little twirl. "But does it suit me?"
Jaune swallowed as his eyes tracked her rear end, and the tiny scrap of black he realised was the waistband of her underwear showing over the top of the low-hanging jeans. "Oh yeah," he said. "It suits you."
"We'll put that in the yes pile," said Cinder. "Try on the next set."
It was an immediate relief when Pyrrha disappeared back behind the curtain, and an even bigger one when Cinder didn't bring it up. Maybe she hadn't noticed. He hoped not. The next outfit was, thankfully, a little less revealing. Only a little. Pyrrha came out in a thick black skirt that reached all the way down to her ankles, but which looked heavier and somehow more "punk" than anything else. She also had a bright purple hoodie on, with sleeves made ridiculously big so that her hands looked tiny coming out. It wasn't "sexy" by any definition, but it was still shocking.
He'd always pictured Pyrrha in his head as having one look and one look only. It wasn't a bad look, in fact it was a good one, but it was a default one she always fell back on. Kind of sporty, often wearing armour of some kind, and always well-known brands in very neutral colours. Except for the red, which she would often splash on to match her hair.
How much of that is what she really feels like, though? And how much was her agents pushing a certain look on her? Was I seeing the fake Pyrrha even when I complained about people only seeing the fake me?
It would have been easy to write this all off as just a disguise but Pyrrha was obviously having fun. Maybe it was having people spoil her, or maybe it was being away from her fans, but he couldn't help but think it might also be because there were no demands or expectations from her. Pyrrha could be Pyrrha, and not Pyrrha Nikos the Invincible Girl who had to be a family-friendly icon who never swore or upset her sponsors.
That was even more apparent when she came out in ripped blue jeans, a heavy metal belt with "BITCH" written on the front, and a black, leather jacket over a red tee. It was all tight fit again and looked like something he'd see Emerald wearing. Pyrrha rocked it, though. He was beginning to think she'd fit well in anything, given how good looking she was.
No. Think of Weiss. Think of Weiss.
Weiss had also worn a disguise from Cinder – with black hair, too. It was just easier to dye someone's hair black without any of the old colour showing through. Weiss had looked good like that, but she'd constantly been on edge and uncomfortable, like she wasn't a fan of moving away from the prim and proper dresses she'd spent her life in. It had been obvious they were Weiss Schnee and Jaune Arc out at a movie together, then having a serious discussion on their relationship in a café after.
This was different.
This was… distracting. Very distracting.
"I need to clear my head," he told Cinder, stepping outside. "I'll be back in five."
"Don't go far," she warned him, suddenly serious. "And shout if you're in danger."
"I'll literally be standing right outside the door of this place. I promise."
Cinder nodded and let him go.
/-/
Pyrrha felt her giddiness fade a little when she stepped out and realised Jaune wasn't there. Her feelings must have shown because Cinder stood, smiling coyly. "He said he needed a moment to clear his head. One can only wonder at what had him so hot and bothered, hm?"
Her excitement returned, along with guilt, anxiety, and a quick little rush of pleasure.
"Did he really say that?"
"He did, but you saw with your own eyes his reactions, didn't you? Come on, Pyr- Athena. You're inexperienced with this, but you're not an idiot. I know full well you saw his reactions to your outfits."
She had.
It was, as Cinder said, hard not to. Pyrrha had the benefit of coming out fully focused, while Jaune had a moment of shock as he came to terms with what she was wearing, which would always let her see his reaction before he could control it. When Cinder posed the plan, she'd been horrified at what kinds of reactions those might have been. She hadn't been sure which would hurt more – distaste at a revealing outfit, or a completely placid expression like he didn't notice anything at all. But now? Now, she knew better. Pyrrha's hands settled on her hips, her lips twitching slightly.
"He liked the jeans, didn't he?"
"I expect he was more interested in what those jeans were covering."
Pyrrha giggled but couldn't dent it. Still, he'd looked, and she'd caught him. It all felt a little manipulative, but then she reminded herself that literally every couple in the world did this. Looking nice for someone you liked wasn't anything to be ashamed of. Looking good to entice the fiancé of your so-called friend obviously was a lot worse, but what was she meant to do? Intentionally look bad forever in fear of stepping on Weiss' territory? If Jaune truly loved Weiss then he wouldn't feel tempted by something his other friend was wearing.
And Blake is in a bad way, I get that, but Jaune is too and Weiss has been spending a full week looking after her teammate now. Where's the balance? Blake can't be so bad that she can't take a single day off to spend with him when he's lost Elm, and I know how much that has hurt him.
It wasn't fair. Nothing about this was fair.
So…
Why should she play fair either?
Jaune has a type, it seems.
Next Chapter: 6th July
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