Chapter 15 – She Was More Like A Castle Queen

In which Jaune Arc goes to his old pal Perry for some advice and expands Team Juniper by one.

Metal rang out against metal as Sky's poleaxe reverberated onto Jaune's armor. The tall navy-blue-haired boy was no slouch with that long halberd of his, but Jaune had been studying extensively when it came to close combat, and Amber was an amazing teacher.

Jaune's borrowed sword had twice made decent contact with Sky's exposed skin, but Sky had yet to once even pierce Jaune's armor. The forgemaster had done a bang-up job when making it, and not a single scratch could be seen on the pristine silver surface of the armor. It exhausted Jaune to wear simply by its weight alone, but lugging around all that heavy metal was certainly improving his physique.

By all accounts, Sky should have been winning, but Jaune's aura hadn't even dropped out of the green yet. He had focused all of his efforts on blocking and staying in the center of the ring, only lashing out offensively when an easy opportunity presented itself, and the strategy was working. His armor may rattle around, but it protected him from taking damage, and Sky was beginning to exhaust himself. He wasn't a great axe-man, and while he probably was better trained that Jaune in terms of hours, Amber's hand-tailored lessons catered to Jaune's specific abilities and talents.

When his pole-axe bounced off of Jaune's visor and didn't change his aura, the alphabetically last member of Team CRDL forfeited.

"He's still at 100%, and I'm bushed. I can't take on the Citron Champion, Miss Goodwitch, and I'd only embarrass myself if I kept going. Call it here, ma'am."

Jaune was so exhausted that he would drop his sword if the fight continued for another minute, but he wasn't going to admit that to Sky. As long as he presented the image of an epic, invincible huntsman, it would be enough.

So, this is what a reputation can do for you. Sky thinks I haven't taken any damage because of the aura meter, even though I'm probably more sore than he is. I would lose if he kept it up, but Sky doesn't know that.

And so, Jaune earned his second victory in combat class. He would eventually have to fight someone good like Ruby or Yang, which would inevitably result in a loss, but Jaune had decided to p̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶focus on the more immediate challenges he faced.

When the match ended, Jaune returned the borrowed sword to Dove. "That's for lending it to me."

"N-No worries, dude. Just remember to go easy on me if you ever find yourself in the ring with ol' Dove, eh? R-Right?"

"Sure, why not."

Professor Goodwitch rested a hand on her hip. "Mister Arc, when do you intend to bring your own sword to my class? That's two weeks in a row that you've shown up with no weapon to defend yourself."

"I'd love to, Miss Goodwitch, but I'm still trying to find a way to retrieve Crocea Mors after certain someone didn't return it to me," he said pointedly, glaring in the direction of a particular fellow blonde.

"Come on, Jaune!" protested Yang. "It's not like that!"

"This is theft, Yang! I'm pretty sure the law is on my side if I were to sue!"

"Children, please!" Goodwitch waved her riding crop, and Jaune was pushed away. Yang fell back into her seat, where she folded her arms and huffed angrily.

"Miss Xiao-Long, please return Jaune's sword to him as expediently as possible."

"I don't–"

"No excuses! Mr. Arc, in the meantime, please obtain a secondary weapon. I know you may be accustomed to swordplay, but we do need to have some way for you to participate in combat class without having to be loaned Hallshott every time."

"Consider it done, professor. I'll visit the forgemasters this afternoon," declared Jaune. He'd already been planning on getting a few secondary weapons, but all the time he'd spent practicing with Amber and having fun his team had distracted him.

Jaune still didn't feel like a leader, but the time spent with Team JNPR had made everyone a lot more comfortable in one another's presence, and their team felt like it was finally beginning to coalesce. No longer was it four separate people who knew each other's names. Now, they were a team of hunters, practicing group moves and strategizing as a unit and finding their place in the quartet.

Nora was a powerful frontline fighter, easily the strongest one on the team. Whenever they engaged Grimm in Forever Fall on routine training exercises, she charged in first and stopped the enemy's advances. Nora did best when she was unleashed upon the enemy, surrounded on all sides by targets, and able to freely swing her hammer without risking loss of limb to her allies. Thus, she tended to fight at a distance from the others, but still close enough to hear Jaune's orders. A split push, Perry had called it, with his gamer lingo.

Ren was their best fighter when it came to combining long and short range. As he held two machine guns, he could cover their front and their flank, picking off the odd Grimm that tried to get in close. On the odd chance that one somehow snuck close to him, his dual blades would quickly cut them down to size. He was handy no matter what situation he found himself in, and Jaune tended to stay close to him to improve his own odds of survival.

After a lifetime of combat, Perry had stamina enough to last longer than any of the other Junipers, in equal parts due to his raw physical abilities and due to his balanced budgeting of his aura. His strength wasn't on the same level as Nora, but Jaune had seen him knock the head off an Alpha Beowolf in one punch. He also was absolutely essential to the team when offering them practical advice in non-combat situations, and Jaune deeply respected his counsel. Yang had joked that he was the team's mom, and while it was demeaning, Jaune felt the description fit him.

Jaune himself was the leader. He gave orders to the others, which they carried out faithfully and without question. When they fought Grimm, Jaune often fell back and directed the others on how best to optimize their strength, only occasionally picking off the smaller stragglers before they could escape or flank the others. He often worried that this meek behavior would strike the others as odd, given the reputation he had garnered, but none of them had voiced any concerns thus far, so Jaune didn't stir the pot. Perhaps they hadn't noticed, or perhaps they didn't care. Either way, Jaune was happy with how things had fallen into place.

He hoped that their formation would be enough, because Goodwitch had begun to insinuate that she would be shaking things up in her class with team matches soon enough. Team JNPR was strong, but Team RWBY was a powerhouse. Each of their members chewed up their opponents and spat them back out in defeated heaps of failure and agony.

Perry rolled his eyes as Jaune pulled him out onto the rooftop, refusing to tell him what was going on. The human kid was easily the most genuine, straightforward person that Perry had ever known, so this lack of explanation from him was kind of bizarre.

"Why does it seem you and I should start investing in real estate on this rooftop?" asked Perry, chuckling as he wiped a finger's worth of dust off the rail. "We're up here every other night."

"I-I couldn't talk to you about this in front of the team," Jaune blurted out nervously. "It's…something incredibly personal. I'm too embarrassed."

Well, now Perry's interest was whetted. "What's the sitch, Jaune? Is this about your sword? Oh, Dust, did shove it up your butt and now its stuck there or something?"

"What? No! T-That's disgusting! Why would I do that?"

"The second most frequent thing they treat in emergency rooms is foreign objects lodged in the anu–"

"It's not…Dust, you can be so weird."

Perry chuckled to himself. "So, Jaune, what can your beloved partner help you with?"

"It's…girls."

"Ahhhh." Perry had certainly seen the way Jaune kept staring at Weiss Schnee all day long. Anyone with eyes could. "Looking for advice from the master?"

"Yeah. I don't want to assume, but given that you're older than us, you probably have more experience than Ren with women. Besides, I don't think I can ask him about this."

"True that." Perry cared for every member of his team, but Ren was an odd one – always serious, never understanding sarcasm, so rigid that it seemed like his body would snap if he turned sideways. Perry had half a mind to ask Nora if her partner was on the spectrum, but he didn't want to be rude. "So, gimme the deets. Who's the lucky lady? I'm guessing that I know her."

"You do. She's gorgeous, and I'm head over heels for her. I know that there's this connection between us, but I'm just worried that I'll make it weird. And given how close I am to her and how often we interact on a daily basis, I don't want that."

Perry tried his best to analyze the situation through a neutral lens. While he and any other Faunus in this city would probably see Weiss Schnee and physically recoil, she did have natural grace. Perry had made it a point to keep his eyes off any of the kids, even those who were over eighteen, but he could see why Jaune was attracted to her.

Jaune was also right that this could backfire very easily. If Jaune blew it and made things weird, problems would crop up left and right given how frequently Teams JNPR and RWBY met up. Why, just this afternoon they'd had a delightfully fanciful food fight against those ladies.

"I wish there were a way I could know for certain. I was thinking about asking her to the dance, but being rejected would crush me."

Perry sucked in a deep breath. His gut wanted to tell him to dissuade Jaune, to nip this crush he had in the bud before Perry was caught with a Schnee as his partner-in-law, but Jaune had always done right by Perry, and he would sooner be caught dead than betray his mate.

"Jaune, what I'll tell you is what I wish someone would have told me all those years ago. If I'd known this, there might be a Missus Perry and a little Perry the Third with us here right now. Here it is: don't ever let fear paralyze you. Don't get stuck in your head and talk yourself out of it and regret it for years to come. When you do finally ask her out, and you should ask her out, be honest. Speak from your heart. Gimmicks like flowers and balloons might seem nice, but all they are is a distraction to take the heat off of you, and that's never worth it. A relationship will only work if she can accept you for you, not because you made a flashy first impression as boyfriend material. Tell her why you like her, and if she likes you back, chase that chick for everything you're worth."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Then the dumb broad ain't worth your time."

"She isn't–!" Jaune indignantly tensed up. "Perry, I'd appreciate it if you refrained from being so–"

"That's a good sign," Perry asserted, cutting Jaune off. "You actually care about her if you're willing to defend her to me. This ain't no crush on a pretty gal batting her eyes, this is real. Now, let's go back downstairs, and you can ask her out right away."

He'd seen Weiss and the gang downstairs just a few minutes ago, meaning it would be the perfect time for Jaune to use the courage that was fresh in his heart.

"N-Now?" Jaune faltered. "I'm not ready, I can't!"

"Remember, Jaune. It's not about prepping for this. You just gotta tell her how you feel, and you're always ready for that. C'mon." Perry grabbed Jaune by the forearm and yanked him through the door and down the stairs. "I'd hold your hand, but I don't wanna give the future Mrs. Arc the wrong idea."

"P-Perry, wait!"

"Take it from someone who missed their shot, Jaune. Never wait."

Perry himself had waited once, and he would forever rue that choice.

The image of Deery popped into Perry's mind unbidden. Ah, beautiful Deery – those majestic antlers, that fine red hair, the breathtaking White Fang Grimm mask…what a knockout. Too bad she was violently thrown off a moving train while piloting a robotic mech suit and eaten alive by creatures of Grimm during a failed White Fang practice exercise for a terrorist invasion of the city. Perry could still remember learning about her death by reading of it in the obituaries like it was just yesterday.

Such a shame. All they could recover was nothing because her entire body was torn to shreds due to the speed at which she fell off the train and died and was torn apart.

When they eventually made it back to their floor, Jaune had stopped protesting, and his eyes had taken on a steely look. If Perry's advice had gotten through to him, then this was his moment. There was no guarantee that this would gain Jaune a date for the prom, but if he did, it would be far more probable that the relationship would last, as opposed to quickly fizzling out when the passion and hormones wore off.

The rest is on you, Jaune.

Weiss Schnee sat with the rest of her team and Perry's in a common area, the six of them playing some manner of kid's game. Anything that used a pair of dice instead of a controller was a kid's game, as far as Perry was concerned. Well, except for some forms of gambling, but Perry had tried to stay away from that stuff. There were too many urban horror stories of things spiraling out of control and ruining the lives of undeserving Faunus.

"Folks!"

Six sets of eyes looked up from the game.

Perry patted Jaune on the back, using the motion to push him forward and closer to the Schnee. Jaune quickly balanced himself out and cleared his throat.

"Um…so about the dance."

Six pairs of ears visibly perked up (eight if you counted the Belladonna chick). Perry folded his arms and watched apprehensively as his boy became a man.

So proud, so very proud…

"Nora, would you like to go with me? I-If you don't already have a partner, that is."

Seven minds violently imploded.

"I…no. I-I haven't. Been asked, that is. Noooooo, no, I…no, I haven't."

Nora looked shell-shocked by Jaune's proposal, which didn't give him a good vibe. He'd followed Perry's advice to the letter, skipping the gimmicks and just outright asking.

Perhaps it was because she was the only girl on his team, but Jaune simply felt this connection with Nora Valkyrie. She was loud and in charge of whatever room she walked into, but not in the way that Yang was, which made Jaune feel kind of small in comparison (and being called vomit boy didn't help in that regard). Everything she said or did put a smile on Jaune's face, because unlike Blake, Nora carried her own exceptionally wide smile with her at all times. And unlike Ruby and Weiss, she was single.

Nora continued on. "Dancing. You and me and Jaune and you and Jaune and me and Nora. Not been asked."

After all, she kept going on and on about how single she was. Ren too, for some reason. Both of them had stressed how they weren't with anyone at the moment, and call Jaune crazy, but he'd been seeing some hints from Nora. She's said she wanted to buy a dress for the Beacon dance, and she'd even explicitly mentioned that she was hoping for a handsome teammate to ask her out. Jaune, hoping that he was interpreting her signals correctly, was under the impression that said teammate she desired might just maybe be him.

Nora's eyes stared emptily at Jaune. "Ahem. The dance. Asked. Haven't been. Me. By anyone."

He hoped that they were compatible in the way that Perry had suggested. Jaune knew it wasn't a date or anything, but he felt like the time he'd spent with her in Vale staring at a malevolent unicorn and exploring the city counted as something. Plus, they'd both shown a common interest in exploring the library and reading the storybooks in favor of textbooks, unlike their other teammates.

Jaune forced himself to stop his hands from quaking. "So, Nora, if you don't have plans with anyone else, then in that case would you like to go together?"

"O-Oh. I…y-yes?"

"What?" shrieked Perry.

"What?" shouted Ren.

"What?" screamed all of Team RWBY in unison.

"WHAT?" squawked Nora. "I-I mean…"

Jaune wasn't sure why everyone was yelling all of a sudden. Probably related to the board game they'd been playing, something he should remain oblivious to and ignore.

Wait a second, that's dumb.

"What's the deal, you guys?" Jaune asked. "Nora, if you don't want to go with me, I won't be weird or anything, I swear."

"Would you excuse us for a second?" Nora requested, squinting and smiling uncomfortably. Her faux chipper face was obviously forced. "We won't be long."

She grabbed Ren by the wrist, ran past Jaune, gripped Perry's shoulder, and dragged both men into their dorm room.

"Whoa," exclaimed Jaune, now alone with the girls of Team RWBY. "What was all that commotion?"

"Girl talk," stated Blake, staring blankly at the door through which the majority of Team Juniper had absconded. "It's a thing girls do."

"Ren and Perry aren't–"

"Have you checked?" snapped Weiss curtly, hands on her hips.

Jaune couldn't say that he had, so he decided to shut up. The faint sound of muffled speaking from within Jaune's room increased to the point that it was now more like muffled yelling, but he couldn't make out what was being said. It did sound like Nora and Ren were doing most of the yelling.

This is why I was so anxious about it. I didn't want to put any unwarranted stress on the team by starting a relationship. But Perry encouraged me!

No, I can't put this on him. I'm the team leader, and this was my choice. I need to accept responsibility for my own actions and the consequences they bring.

"Do you ladies know what I did wrong?"

"Wrong?" asked Ruby. "W-What makes you think that anything…went…okay, yeah, that was pretty bad."

"Did I come at a bad time?"

"No," said Yang. "Although I think it's safe to say that today's round of Remnant the Card Game isn't going to be finished."

Jaune was having trouble deciphering exactly where he'd screwed up. Nora had confirmed that she had no partner for the dance, and he'd asked in a polite way that wasn't bothersome or unduly insistent. Was she upset because he'd asked a teammate? Should he have approached her in private?

Was…Was it that she was flustered?

Was it possible that she was not embarrassed over being asked, but over her own reciprocated feelings being openly called out?

The second Nora had promised to take came and went, until it grew into several minutes. The worst part was that Jaune couldn't even talk about it with his team, since they were all so deeply involved in this. Perry had been his wingman, and Ren would probably jump in to defend Nora's honor in a partnerly way if he felt it had been tarnished by Jaune's ungentlemanly actions. Plus, they weren't here.

After about fifteen minutes, Team RWBY eventually awkwardly packed up shop and retreated back into their own dorm. Jaune couldn't blame them – he had been on the other end of this scenario, unintentionally butting in on Ruby and Weiss, and he had pretty much just turned around and ran the other way. This wasn't their problem to fix, and while Ruby had graciously offered to host him in their room while his own was otherwise occupied, he'd declined. Four was company, but five was a crowd.

Five minutes later, there was a loud cracking sound, much like a fist being punched into one of the wooden walls, emanating from his room around the half hour mark, but it didn't repeat itself. Jaune briefly worried that someone had gotten violent and considered calling a teacher, but he realized he'd actually left Amber charging inside the room.

Just to be sure that everyone was safe, Jaune put his ear up to the door for a moment. Eavesdropping was not his intention, but if fists were flying, he needed to know so that he could put a stop to it right away. Privacy wasn't more important than safety.

He heard Nora's voice. "…actually had the…"

He heard Ren's voice. "…have gotten involved."

He heard Perry's voice. "…was the Schnee…"

He heard Nora's voice, once again. "…chance, Renny."

Jaune slunk back to one of the available couches and laid back down in it. From the sound of their conversation, it was heated but not adversarial, and there were no more violent outbursts or thrown punches at the stucco. All three were clearly upset, but nothing was over the top to warrant any further invasion of privacy.

I really hope I didn't break our team.

It was over an hour before the door opened. Nora stepped out of the room calmly and stood before Jaune. Perry followed her a few paces behind, but his gaze was firmly fixed on the ground. Ren was looking uncharacteristically un-Ren.

"Jaune," said Nora, her hands balled up into fists at her sides and her face anything but pleased. "My answer is yes."

"Y-Yes? To the dance?"

"Yes. I will go with you to the dance."

Ren's head shot to the side away from Nora, and he walked past Jaune as though he weren't even there. Both of their shoulders briefly brushed during the interaction. Jaune felt his stomach sour.

"Nora, if you don't–"

"I do. I would very much enjoy being accompanied by the gentleman who asked."

With that cryptic line, she turned and slowly stepped back into their dorm room. Only Perry, who didn't seem to be able to meet Jaune's eyes, remained.

"I didn't mean to–"

"I know you didn't, Jaune. Let's just say that my advice to go for it was when I thought it was a different girl."

Jaune wasn't exactly sure what girl Perry could have been shipping him with and why that would matter, but it was clear as day that Team JNPR was in trouble, and it was all his fault.

Ren didn't return that night, and Nora refused to speak. Jaune briefly tried to engage her by bringing up Amber on his scroll, hoping the presence of a neutral party might ease their tense conversation, but Nora announced that she was too tired to continue after exchanging pleasantries and went to bed.

To not disturb her, Jaune carried his scroll to, you guessed it, the rooftop. He filled Amber in on the basics of the argument from his point of view. It honestly didn't even feel like an argument – more of a spat or a quarrel. Argument implied he was defending his point of view, and without any information on the subject, he had no point of view to defend.

"I hope you don't expect me to tell you what I heard, Jaune. They had that conversation away from you for a purpose."

"I'm not asking that, Am. I just want to know what your opinion is on this. Should I break it off with Nora? If I'm hurting her or Ren, a prom date isn't worth it."

"The bag is already open, Jaune, and the cat's run off. Sure, you may have unwittingly been the one to pull the drawstring, but closing it now won't call back the cat."

"Amber, please! We need to stay on topic. What on Remnant does Blake have to do with this?"

"Jaune, the problem won't go away if you break up with Nora. That would only make it worse. She'd feel that she…did something irreparable, and with nothing to show for it. I think the best course of action for you right now is to go with her to the dance and…I don't know what to do with Ren."

"The best course of action," Jaune drawled bitterly, "would be for me to build a time machine and punch myself in the face before I could even ask. No, before I even came to Beacon. Everything I do just makes stuff worse."

"Not everything. You saved my life."

"I trapped you in a scroll."

"Better than being trapped in my own lifeless body, Jaune."

Jaune looked out over the ledge onto the campus. There were probably a good three hundred students here, not to mention the staff and more recently the transfers. How many of them were up this late as well, worrying about proms and teams and girlfriends like he was? Was this the life people dreamt of, being a huntsman who just patched up an unending string of one catastrophe after another?

"You'd better pray Glynda doesn't call your team down for a group fight," said Amber. "The Junipers are probably more dysfunctional than the Cardinals. Hey, by the way, about those guys – why're there only three of them?"

"Oh, that." Jaune ran a hand through his hair, only for the breeze to ruffle it up again not a moment later. "I let Nora break their leader's legs and launch him to Patch in a rocket locker."

"Dang. You okayed that? What did he do, insult your mom's potato salad? Call it a dry potato salad and say it didn't have enough chives to be a well-seasoned potato salad?"

"No."

"D-Did he get your hogs dirty, thereby forcing you to waste a large and valuable quantity of time and fluid washing them?"

"He found out I'm a fraud, and he threatened to out me."

"Wow. I didn't think you have the spine to retaliate so personally over something like that."

"It wasn't just for me. Team Juniper…he said he would tear it apart."

Jaune closed his eyes. Just another fond memory of Nora to add to the pile. I thought…to me, those moments we shared were kind of nice. Did they mean anything to her, or was she just putting up with her annoying leader?

"You're a good guy, Jaune."

"Don't patronize me."

"I mean it. If I had a team, I'd be grateful for a leader willing to go the extra mile to look out for us. I've seen a lot of teams come and go, but you're a special one."

Jaune propped her up so that they could share the magnificent view of Beacon's skyline. "S'cuz everyone on Team Juniper is the same: misfits. Two of us grew up on the road without any formal training, one of us is over twice the age of the rest, one is a fraud playing a hero, and one is a talking scroll."

"I – you – Jaune…"

"I don't think I'll be able to convince the others to change the name. Junipera just doesn't roll off the tongue. Actually, now that I say it out loud, it sorta does have a ring to it…er, is ring a slur for, uh, your people?"

"I'm honored to join, Jaune."

Jaune felt honored to have her. He just hoped they lasted long enough for her appointment to the team to matter.

As if to balance out the universe, Nora didn't show up for lunch the next day, but Ren did. Jaune sipped his soup silently, unwilling to be the first to break the silence.

Perry seemed distraught by their discord. Jaune had tried to go to the Faunus for aid last night in patching things up, but he must have really been hit hard by whatever discussion Nora and Ren had involved him in. Perry had refused to counsel Jaune on this matter, claiming that he no longer could trust his own advice to be helpful.

I don't know what to do. I don't even know what exactly is so wrong to warrant me needing to do something in the first place!

Jaune looked over to Team RWBY just in time to see the girls arguing about something of their own. Unlike the dispute from three weeks where Weiss had been the instigator with her rudeness to Ruby, it seemed like Blake was at the center of this one. Jaune's eyes briefly made contact with Ruby's, who seemed to be just as flummoxed by her team as Jaune was by his.

No one's going to come and fix this for me. I'm a leader, and I need to start acting like it.

Jaune set down his spoon. "Ren."

Perry choked on the bite of food he was bringing to his mouth. For a few seconds, the only noise at their table was the desperate gasps of a Faunus man trying to force a hunk of potato out of windpipe.

Ren spoke over the retching. "Yes, Leader?"

"If I…stepped on your toes in some manner yesterday, I apologize. I meant no offense."

Perry managed to dislodge the invasive spud from his gullet, and it shot past his lips and right onto Jaune's plate. "Dluuuughhh," he gurgled.

"I suppose you didn't. That does not change the fact that your actions have negatively impacted my relationship with my partner."

Perry stared at the tater lump on the plate, looked both ways, reached over, and poked it onto his fork. "W-Waste not want not, right guys?"

"Then let me help fix this, Ren. What can I do to make it better?"

"For one thing, you can stop bothering my girlfriend."

Well, they were getting somewhere. It wasn't somewhere Jaune wanted to be, but at least he now had a better idea of the scope of the problem. That meant he could at least start to deal with it.

"I thought you were…n-not toge–"

Ren's eyes narrowed. "Don't."

Jaune felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Heeeeeeeey," said Yang. "You guys busy? We'd like to borrow Jaune for a minute."

Jaune looked up at her, flicking his eyes back to Ren and hoping she'd get the memo. "Actually, we were in the middle of a–"

"There's nothing left to say." Ren slid his lunch tray away from himself and left without another word.

"I guess not," said Jaune. "What can I do you for, Yang?"

"You couldn't afford it, mister. Ruby wants to ask a favor."

"I'll go after Ren," promised Perry, bits of potato still in his teeth. "I'll see if I can talk some sense into him. You go ahead, Jaune."

Jaune didn't really want to involve himself in whatever antics the Juniper's sister team was getting up to, but Perry had just burned his last viable excuse, so he had no choice.

Team RWBY was silent when the two blondes joined them. Blake wore a nasty grimace on her face, and Ruby seemed to be pouting.

Weiss, on the other hand, seemed pleased to see him. "Finally. Jaune Arc, just the huntsman we need in this trying time. We were wondering if you'd be free this afternoon, and maybe the next."

Well, that depends. I'm free if your offer is something I like, but I'm busy if it puts me out.

The heiress continued on. "You see, we're doing some independent investigating of the White Fang and Roman Torchwick, and we–"

"Busy." Jaune stood up.

"See!" Ruby pointed at Jaune with an open palm, then folded her arms. "I don't need a babysitter."

"He'll keep you safe, sis. Weiss needs to go to the CCT, Blake needs to snoop around town, and I've got my contacts in the city. Those are all relatively harmless. But you're asking to revisit all the places Roman Torchwick was spotted."

"Asking?! I'm the team leader! I order you to drop this line of inquiry, effective immediately."

Team leader – what a joke. Ozpin may have given them titles, but unless a teammate decided to respect it, calling oneself team leader was about as meaningless as the air waves that carried the sound into a rebellious teammate's ear canals. Cardin was a team leader, and he was missing/presumed dead.

"Awwww, my sis!" Yang grabbed Ruby and gave her a noogie. "So cute when you're insistent!"

"Unfair! Cheater! Undermining my authority!" Ruby squirmed free of the muscular blonde's hugs. "And what's this about safe? Blake's going to be looking for –"

"Not in front of the security risk!" hissed Blake acridly. Jaune swore that her ears flattened against her head for just a second there.

"Security risk? Blake, I don't know how these crazy ideas worm themselves in that big brain of yours." Weiss poked Blake dead center on the forehead. "Jaune isn't some traitor like you seem to think."

"He's on outsider to the team, and he hit me with a qrowbar! Plus, I think his teammate is a deep cover White Fang spy."

Jaune scoffed at her. "Ren may be in a bad mood, but you don't need to slander him like that."

"So, will you help us?" said Yang, patting Jaune on the back so hard that he probably dislodged a ribcage or two. He still didn't have aura, and she did, which made for a bad combination in terms of physical expressions of affection. "Ruby needs chaperoning because she's short and can't be trusted to go out alone. We think you're the right one for it. Whaddaya say?"

Jaune gingerly removed Yang's paw from his back. "I'd love to, but–"

"Great! It's decided!" Yang placed her hand right back onto Jaune's back and began to push him back to his table. "We owe you one, Mr. Citron Champ!"

"Yang, no! I do not consent!"

"Meet this afternoon after class at the airship yard!"

"Yang! Don't you ignore me!"

"And remember that if you don't show up, Ruby could die mercilessly at the hands of a hardened crimelord!"

Jaune let out a sigh as the blonde shove him into the seat where his lunch tray was, which had now grown cold. Yang Xiao-Long was Xiao-Long gone.

And if I do show up, Jaune thought to himself, I'm probably going to meet that same fate.

tl;dr I killed Arkos and Renora (and my viewership) in the same fell swoop

Next Chapter: Even When Your Hope Is Strong

In which Jaune Arc is abducted and violated.

Author's Notes

"oh mah good gosh gravy, Jaune is so oblivi–"

No.

He has his reasons for asking Nora and for being unaware of the brewing tension. We'll get into it later. I know everyone say 'Oh my Jaune isn't ignorant and I don't do the tropes of oblivious male protag in a harem fic' but I'm going to say it too. Jaune is just…eh, we'll get to it, and soon.

I guess we now know the ship. Everything probably though it was Velvet – I did make a tldr joke about her being his future wife, but I also did specify that the tldr jokes were just jokes, nothing more.

I wasn't lying when I said it was a relatively rarepair. For Jaune, who get tagged with everyone and their mother in every fic, Nora is typically left alone due to her connection with Ren. However, Renora is such a deciding factor that Ren won't be just giving up on it, nora will Nora. Er, nor will Nor. Er, you know what I mean. Expect some love triangle drama. Friendships will be tested, and this virginal blossoming love cannot accommodate everyone's desires.

Team RWBY is approaching Jaune because three-quarter so of them believe the Velvet articles and now believe that only Jaune can protect her, not because the universe revolves around Jaune. Every time he's pulled into main character conflict, there will be a direct line of reasoning.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!