Hello once again everyone! Another chapter is here for your reading pleasure, bringing us to double digits. I'm pleased to say that I have never written a story to make it to that many chapters, and appreciate all the support given so far more than you know. We're keeping a good pace in this latter half of the arc, and I know all arcs have to have a culmination that sets everything up for the next arc. When it comes, just know I've had it in mind since I began the story months ago.

The rest of the break had went well for Jaune and Cinder, allowing for plenty of cliché moments for the two. Jaune took Cinder on the lake in a rowboat, the sun setting as they did so. Cinder attempted baking cookies for the festivities, and a mistletoe kiss that really just resulted in bruised noses. But nonetheless, the two both knew that their relationship had strengthened in a romantic sense through the few weeks of the break. The true test, however, would come from Jaune's friends and teammates that currently filled JNPR's room.

Behind their backs, and somehow through quick interrogation of the two, team RWBY and JNPR had quickly found out that they had developed a heated relationship over the break and needed solid evidence that it would not result in a second Battle of Beacon at the very least. Jaune had banked on it being a simple backing from Ruby, Blake, and himself to the greater mob of RYNPR, Roanapur? Actually that sounded kind of cool. His hope method fell apart when Ruby and Blake had met with him first in the room, allowing for his guard to drop and before he knew it a chair become apart of him. Blake had been suspiciously adept at tying him to it. He was hoping it had come from the books and not practicing on Sun, the poor man.

Through, not alphabetically, by team, or rock paper scissors, no, it was drawing sticks. The lineup of interrogators had been chosen for Jaune. Yang, Weiss, Ruby, Blake, Nora, Pyrrha, and lastly Ren were the allegedly random order that had been created. Each member would have a limit of ten minutes, no physical harm could be caused, and a vote would be dealt after all present had interrogated Jaune. The only outside source of information that was allowed would be Ruby and Blake's experience with Cinder.

Jaune had argued that it was creating a possible unfair bias to not allow his, heh, girlfriend's input into the decision. Which the decision was to even allow Cinder near Jaune other than in a pure business sense, or consider anything further. He had gained a compromise from his argument; if the vote was in Team Knightfall's favor, the group would go to Professor Ozpin and argue for at the very least a extended breadth of freedom, to help their relationship develop of course. At best possibly argue for Cinder to be reintroduced to the Beacon system for training to be a Hunter, only if the vote was unanimous.

Once all had agreed on the pseudo constraints of the contract, Yang was left alone with Jaune. The deadbolt left on and against the doorframe, at least allowing potential screams to be heard and a slim escape for Jaune. Worst case scenario of course. Yang was almost an adult, and would act accordingly to a fellow blonde.

He hoped.

Yang grabbed a nearby chair and sat facing the back, her bosom resting on the top of it. Jaune did his best not to look at them spilling out of her casual undershirt she seemed to have deemed acceptable to wear, complemented with what bordered on shorts masquerading as panties. He had already deduced that the true test would not be the interrogation, but Yang herself.

"So bub, you got yourself a lady?" Yang began.

The knight would have rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, except you know, the ropes hindered that quite a bit. "Ah, yeah. Just a recent thing over break ya know." He wouldn't give too much information, because as many pros came from Jaune having as many sisters as he did, talking excessively turned out to be mostly a con.

A hearty chuckle was received, "I heard bud. Have y'all banged yet?"

"Wh-" Jaune chocked back a response, "What?"

Yang rolled her eyes, "Come on Vomit Boy, there's no way you haven't hit that piece of honey in that room down the hall. I might have some more muscly preferences of my own, but even I recognize what she's got goin' on over there." She paused, moving to a whisper for no apparent reason. "Say, ask her if she still knows that grey hunk, Mercury I think right, the one that was on her team. I'll put my vote in if you do me a solid, or a liquid in his case. Ooh, double pun. Good one Yang."

"Double?" Jaune took a second to process. "Augh, gross. No, Yang we have not done anything past maybe second base. Please, I know I have to pace with someone of her caliber, I can't just fumble with my butterfingers someone like her."

"Ah, piss. So boring and celibate." Yang rocked her chair back and forth on each pair of legs. "At least you're trying, I was worried that you'd puppy dog around Weiss for the rest of your puberty."

"Yang!" Jaune exclaimed, "I'm way past puberty, thank you very much."

A wave of the brawler's hand silenced any more complaints, "I know, I know, just bustin' your balls. Okay, well last question." Yang's eyes hardened. It was serious this time. "Will she ever endanger Ruby? You know, relapse?"

Jaune took a deep breath, using the time to consider a respectable answer, "I'll be honest, I don't want to say she won't. If you ever hear what she's been through for her whole life, I would think you might understand. That's no excuse, just a potential path because she only knows that. But, and this is the goal, if she is shown what right looks like from us I can guarantee that won't be the case."

Yang grinned, "Great! I think as long as you get me that number from Mercury we're good to go."

"I mean, I'll do my best. But I don't think Cinder and her team are on the best of terms. It's not like you'll be able to seduce him away from crim-" Jaune looked at Yang's expression from his rambling. "You know what, you got yourself a deal. I believe in you fellow blondie."

"That's the spirit Jauney! It was great doing business with you." Yang flung a hand out for a handshake, drooping it when she realized what she did. "Ah, right. Forgot about that. I guess I'll let myself out too. Have fun with Weisscream."

"Jaune Arc."

"Weiss?"

"Is my partner safe involving herself with that ruffian?"

"Of course! I trust the both of them."

"Hm, and yourself? Does this seductress really look to turn a new leaf?"

"I really think so, and the seducing thing is just a byproduct. I promise."

"Right. Well, do try to keep your eyes off of me and on her, with honorable eyes too. I can't let my reputation be ruined from a lovesick fool. But I can have it boosted through proper networking of future Hunters. Do you understand you dunce?"

"Crystal."

"Hey bestie!" Ruby sped through the door and into the chair in front of Jaune, a trail of crumbs and roses left in her wake. The reaper placed a plate of cookies on the nearby table, practically vibrating from her sugar intake. "How's the interrogation going so far?"

Jaune leaned over to try and finagle a cookie with his mouth. To no avail. He sighed, "Oh you know, just as well as you'd expect. I mean way more glad to see you here Craterface, at least I can get a free vote."

"Ohoho," Ruby laughed theatrically, twiddling an invisible mustache, "You thought Ruby Rose would have honor and integrity to help her best friend out with no questions asked? You fool, it was all part of my plan. A vote might be for your favor on one..." She paused for dramatic effect. "Condition."

He wanted to facepalm, but much like the rest of anything he had attempted. It resulted in absolutely nothing. "Fine Rubes, what can Jaune 'never goes back on his word' Arc do for the red reaper?"

Ruby switched to caressing an imaginary beard, "Ruby Rose has considered many potential deals, but thinks that her fellow cookie connoisseur would be able to give them a double chocolate strawberry maniac surprise cookie cake by next week."

Oh no. No it was the one request he couldn't do. "Ruby please. Anything but that. You know that last time you even came in skin to skin contact you took out a dozen bullheads before Professor Goodwitch could contain you in your food coma for the next three weeks."

"That was an oversight on my part, and I have drank plenty of milk...chocolate milk at that in preparation!" Ruby gave a disconcerting grin, "Now will you agree Mr. Arc, or will you loose a chance to spend more time with your boo in class, training, and even dates, hmm?"

Jaune felt a drop of sweat run down the side of his face, "I-I...Ah, fine. You win Ruby, I'll even put some whip cream on it if you don't tell anyone that I'm the one that made it."

Ruby broke into a full smile, "Sweet! I'll be sure to try and avoid breaking anything of yours in the sugar rush. Probably." She placed a cookie on Jaune's head. "Here, a tip for your trouble. Later Jaune, we can play some Modern Remnant after your done!"

Blake entered the room silently, like a cat, Jaune noted. It would be another one for the cat tally the two teams had running, a betting pool on if Blake was more catlike than human. He would take the small victories when they came.

"Ruby's doing I suppose?" Blake said, setting a glass of milk down on the nearby table and taking the cookie off of Jaune's head and dunking it into the milk.

And lose just as fast.

"Well..." Jaune had no reasonable excuse, "Yeah, pretty much."

"Hmm," Blake wasn't the social type. He already knew that, and honestly only had begun interacting with her because of being in the room with Cinder and her occasionally. Their discussions felt out of his thought processes. If the curtains were blue, they probably were blue because the author had blue curtains themselves or liked the color. Not some out of context foreshadowing and deeper meaning to how joe the handyman is fighting against the system through proper squaring techniques.

"Hmm?"

"Well, I don't have much to ask you to be honest." Blake leaned back in her chair, stretching in yet another cat-like manner. Jaune averted his eyes. "Cinder and I have already had our own conversations, and you and I have never had any trouble with each other. So...to me my vote is already cast."

Jaune shrugged, "Works for me. If you have anything else you need, it's not like I'm going anywhere for awhile."

Blake began to redden, obviously having thought of something. "Um, well preferably this would be kept between us for the time being."

"Of course." Jaune figured it was the least he could do for the vote he would receive.

"So...Um, as you know I was in the White Fang, and considering I also am in a complicated relationship with someone too." Blake began to fidget, "Well, I've been holding back from furthering the relationship because I wasn't sure I deserved to have someone after what I've done. Especially someone in the same profession as me. He just seems to not care, but it's always in the back of my mind that he does."

Ah, so Jaune had guessed correctly about her relationship with Sun. Best to speak from experience then, bro code would come with the package. "Well if he's in the same boat as I was, ya know with the parallels it looks like you're trying to draw...then, I don't see why you can't pursue a relationship. If he's already making you think like that then I'm sure you're trying to better yourself because of him, and I'm sure vice versa in his case to impress you. Sounds like a healthy competitive relationship to me. Though I guess I only have the one example to go off of."

Blake didn't reply immediately. She never did, opting to think carefully about what she said. Words did have meaning after all. "I see, that seems probable. Father always did tell me that my gut feeling was an amalgamation of experience and intuition, so thank you Jaune. I will pursue this relationship with reinvigorated fervor."

"You're welcome?" Jaune said, more focused on her attempt to cross out her word of the day.

His biggest hurdle had arrived, in the form of a syrup-addicted teammate with seemingly unnerving, boundary breaking abilities that pulled attraction easily away from her.

"Hey!"

Or in some cases gravitated many toward her, mostly the latter of course. And in this case, Nora utilized her abilities to induce a mind bending interrogation scene off of some bedsheets and a desk lamp. Maybe Jaune would be lucky and the luck of the draw would dictate good cop instead of worse cop.

Nora stood on the chair in front of Jaune, perched with a foot on the top of the back and the other on the seat, teetering on the back two legs at an impossible angle. She had the knee on the back bent, her body over the knee. "So Mr. Arc, it seems we have quite the poot n' snoot afoot. I heard Arcs keep their word, and I tend to use that to its fullest!"

Jaune cocked an eyebrow, "Okay?"

A finger flew in front of his face, pointing directly at him. "So mister, what do you have to say for yourself?"

It looked like Jaune might be able to finagle a vote out of Nora, with a little bribery of pancakes and syrup with a twinge of honesty he would be one step closer to keeping Cinder by his side. In a rush he spewed out anything he could think of about the situation he was in, "Well Nora, I think I made the right choice. Cinder likely would have found a way to escape if I hadn't kept an eye on her, ya know bribed her with morals, and I really think good lives would have been lost down the line. She just needed someone to show her what right looked like, and okay it just so happened that I got closer than expected while doing that."

Nora blew bubbles from a smoking pipe that she had pulled out of, well, Jaune wasn't quite sure. "Interesting, very interesting. So, how many kids are we talkin' about here?"

"W-what?" Jaune sputtered, his face red like it had been sunburnt. "I don't think that is anywhere near on the table right now. Please Nora, I can't say anything about that until we've at least graduated from here."

"Fine." Nora sighed, "Only if I get to be the godmother of the first one. Ruby can have the second, cause she's the bestie and all. But who cares about the extras right?"

Jaune decided to humor her, not mentioning that a decision like that would likely not even be up to him, "Sure, I'll make sure to save the position open for you when the time comes. Does that mean you'll put in a good vote?"

"A gallon jug of syrup and a five pound pancake and you have yourself a deal!"

"Fine…"

Pyrrha walked into the room with her ever ongoing aura of confidence, taking a seat prim and proper across from him. She sighed, placing her hands neatly on her folded knees. "Jaune, I think we both understand my hesitance at voting for you two. And I cannot say that I am particularly good at words, only action per say. So, I come with a proposition if you would be so kind to hear me out."

"Of course!" Jaune knew Pyrrha would be a difficult sell, especially for the obvious fact that his new girlfriend had almost killed her, the one that had originally had a crush on him. He would do anything to regain some structure back in their relationship.

"Well," Pyrrha looked anxious to get out what she was trying to say, "The only way I know how to read and communicate effectively is through sparring. So, if you would agree, I would like to spar, and there I think I could properly convey my feelings on this matter."

Jaune opened his mouth to accept, because what else would he say or do. He was halted by a hand, motioning for him to halt.

"However, I understand that I am an outlier in respect to my opinion. Which through the sparring and subsequent interactions I am willing to change." Pyrrha took a breath, "But the decision needs to be made today, so Professor Ozpin can act accordingly. So, if you agree to my sparring request, I will cast my vote in your favor before it."

Jaune broke into a huge smile, "I, and Cinder of course, appreciate it more than you think. Thank you so much Pyr."

"I wish you luck in this endeavor Jaune." Pyrrha gave a sad smile, "Please do not make me regret my decisions."

"I won't." Jaune practically whispered as Pyrrha exited the room.

The last member of the interrogation team, Ren, moved to his spot in the chair with purpose. Quiet as he always was, little words came out. Only a single question, much to the same theme as the others had asked.

"Do you want this relationship for the long run?"

Jaune nodded, not taking a second to even consider the question.

Ren grunted, getting up from the chair and placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Good. Keep it that way."

And that was the end of Jaune's interrogations.

Within the day, the teams had made it to Professor Ozpin to pitch their opinions and anything they wanted to caveat with Cinder making her reappearance in the program. There was little trouble, and Ozpin decided that with the beginning of classes, and her current experience she held, there would be no need for remedial classes and she could be enrolled alongside the two teams. An independent study for the moment until a potential team was decided, more of an internship for the semester to see if she was a fit.

Jaune had no complaints to spend more time with her, have more things to do, and continue their relationship with her newfound freedom granted. It was finally beginning to feel like Jaune's efforts over the last months had begun to pay dividends in full force, and he only hoped he would share all the wealth with Cinder as it came through.

There we are, another chapter in the finished pile, read by yourself. I hope everyone enjoyed this, next chapter will be Pyrrha's spar with Jaune. And then Cinder's first day of classes. I'm excited to continue this, keeping myself busy with uploading Deadly Love too. Which if you haven't stopped by to check out, please do. I'll be updating consistently considering I have about 70k words saved up for it.

To keep with tradition, a quick ramble.

If I haven't mentioned already, a story is made, refined, and distributed for what I think is one overarching reason; to give the reader, and us humans, us people, a reason to believe in opportunities and the happy endings they provide. Of course all stories go about reaching that effect differently, and with Knightfall stories it usually is a lot of angst.

For this one though, it will, and has always been the goal to end on a happy note, not bittersweet, or dystopian, or anything else. Cinder and Jaune will obviously have obstacles to hurdle over, but at the end of the day will learn and grow from them. So its important to keep that in mind when writing.

I guess what I'm getting at is this story will have some bumps, but will always look to have a happy ending. I'll likely keep any side stories, one-shots, and stuff to this story and not post outside of it. All I hope is to finish to show what I hope Cinder and Jaune would have went through canonically.

Thanks again as always, and please don't hesitate to leave reviews (positive, negative, or constructive), all help me improve for the next chapters.