Jaune Arc sighed as he typed away at his history report. He really shouldn't have waited for the last minute to do this very lengthy project, nor should he have denied Pyrrha's help. But there was nothing he could do now except power through it and finish it.
As they say, doing something right before a deadline makes you really put your heart into it. Maybe he would get extra points if he showed emotion in his report. He shook his head of such hopeful thoughts and brought his attention back to the work at hand.
He typed and typed but stopped short as he felt his brain lose focus like a bad camera. He stopped and looked around the Beacon library to give his brain a break.
The library was a huge thing, almost three floors tall and taking up a sizable chunk of the building. Large dark oak bookshelves, lined with tomes from all over the world, and light dust comps with their white buzz dominated the room. The room was also dominated by many, many, students; most of whom were other procrastinators like him but some just enjoyed reading as well.
He put his hands behind his head and leaned back into his chair. He took a deep breath and tried to rev up his tired mind for a few more miles of thinking. As he did this his mind began to wander to the events of the last few days.
He had finally managed to see some real progress in his conditioning training with Pyrrha, real defined muscles he could flex which weirdly always made her look away from bright red.
There was the whole leadership thing as well, he was getting better at creating team strategies on the fly and countering his fellow team leader Ruby whenever they would play a strategy game.
His fighting skills had also exponentially grown and he could now fight off most low-level Grimm and had even won a few sparring matches. Oh and most importantly he had saved Cardin in forever falling which somehow made the bully respect. He hadn't bothered him or his friends so he was going to take it.
He opened his eyes back up and looked around him. No one was sitting in the far back holo desk aisle he sat at but on the other side of the aisle, two seats down, sat Blake Belladonna the resident brooder of team RWBY.
She looked up to meet his gaze and gave a nod before going back to whatever she had been reading online. Probably one of her smut fics or any other such filth.
He and Blake had created some sort of weird relationship during Beacon. They were not necessarily friends but they weren't acquaintances either. They never really talked to one another at their respective team's combined lunch tables, but they did both share an interest: reading.
He didn't know when it happened but one day both of them just sat down together at a library table. Ever since he would find her seating near him or he unconsciously did the same.
He would read his comics while she, her fine literature, but they sat together. They would occasionally speak to one another mostly about their books and mostly initiated by Jaune but sometimes (once in a blue moon) she would also start up a conversation.
Strangely she would talk about very deep and philosophical things, like Fanus rights or geopolitics, which he would have no clue what to say for so he just merely listened to her.
She didn't seem to mind however because after her many tirades she would look up at him with a small smile and would thank him for listening to her ramblings. He would smile back and say no problem before they both got back to their reading.
He knew that even though reading was one of those things you did for yourself it was still nice doing it around other people, he had a feeling she felt the same way about it as well. Maybe that's why they stuck around each other so much.
He looked away from Blake and her beautiful mane of black hair to his own work. He tried to form a sentence in his mind and tried to translate that to his keyboard but nothing came out. He was stuck.
He slumped back in his chair and tried to think but when that didn't work he opened up a new tab on the net and started to ride its metaphorical waves.
He scrolled and scrolled especially through the video sharing sites until he came upon a weird-looking, very outdated site. It was old and clunky as if it were a decade or two old.
The Website, called "Rooster Teeth", didn't have many options for entertainment. Most of the links led to e404 errors or just didn't even work.
Curious, he combed through the website. He found next to nothing except for some small clips of a spacey-looking game, animated shorts, and presumably the creators of the website doing a podcast.
He didn't find those interesting so he ignored them in favor of one last link. It led him to the page of some show called RWBY, which was the same name as his sister team. There was no description of it and the supposed cover art for the show showed an error in its place.
The only thing on the page was three seasons of the show and episodes for each season. A small studious part of his mind told him to finish the report, but another reasoned he wasn't going to get any more work done and the episodes didn't look that long after all.
Decided, he took out some headphones and booted up the first episode.
Jaune Arc sat back in his chair watching the end credits for RWBY Volume 3 Episode 12 "End of the Beginning" with his mouth hanging slightly agape.
Unsurprisingly or surprisingly, he had not watched one episode of the show nor even a few but had instead binged all of its three seasons. His eyes were bloodshot from staring at a screen for so long and his throat was dry as a Vacuan desert. His brain was scrambled like a radio going haywire, hundreds of images and lines from the show echoed in his head.
The credits scrolled by until they ended with the video pausing and the website booting him back to the homepage.
He looked at the comps clock and saw that several hours had passed, it was now everybody's usual sleeping time. His eyes widened in shock and he pushed out of his chair loudly. He looked around an apology ready to spring from the tip of his lip but noticed that there were barely any people in the library. He looked over at the windows which were now letting in the moonlight.
The library was quiet. It was so quiet in fact that the small "shhhh" of the librarian's admonishment reached him from all the way from the front. He shuddered and looked at his scroll, and confirmed he really had binged the show for hours if evident by all the missed texts and calls he had gotten.
Thank brothers he had put his scroll on vibrate. He went through his texts to find that he had missed both his team's training and a gaming session with Ruby. They had all sent him worried texts asking where he was and what he was doing.
He put his scroll down and opted to actually tell them in person what he had been up to. Suddenly, the small librarian made an announcement.
"Will all students please exit the library, it will be closing in three minutes. I repeat will all students…"
He stopped listening to her at that point and started to pack all of his stuff. He saved his history report and put away his headphones when he suddenly realized someone was watching him.
He looked up to see Blake, who had stayed in her spot the entire time, now with an entirely new book, looking at him with feline curiosity.
Feline curiosity? Why had he... Of course, the videos showed that she was a Faunus in hiding herself. But was it really true?
A small shimmer of guilt formed in his heart from having learned something so intimate about her without her knowledge. Actually, he had learned a lot of personal things from the video that he felt he had no right to know or see.
He stopped his pacing and looked at their bow intently looking for the answer. He had a stare-off with the inanimate object, and he was about to give up when suddenly he saw a small twitch inside of her bow. Those videos really did tell the future after all.
He stood was so shocked by the revelation that he did not notice her get out of her chair and walk up to him.
She looked at him with a raised brow and said, "You alright Jaune? You kinda just zoned out looking at my head."
He jumped at her voice and looked up at her. Images flashed in his head intrusively of her being skewered by Adams's sword. He saw her future self's prone bleeding body waver over her body now, like a reflection over water.
He rubbed the back of his head before looking up at her, "Oh uh sorry just really tired that's all."
He grabbed his things and asked her, "Do you wanna go back to the dorms together?"
"Yeah, sure."
She started to walk off out of the library and he quickly followed after her. They walked in what usually would have been a relaxing silence but to him, the silence felt strangling.
He kept glancing at her and her bow still truly nor believing those videos told the future but looked back to the ground whenever she would look at him.
Suddenly, she spoke up about halfway there to the dormitory building, "You know you were really interested in whatever you were watching. You just sat just staring at it for hours, I was gonna go over and ask if you were okay but you just seemed so enveloped in whatever you were watching. What were you watching anyway?"
He looked in her eyes and gave a sheepish laugh before speaking, "Well you know it was just one of those geeky shows I liked. I accidentally binged it instead of doing my history report."
She gave a slow nod that he could even see screamed that she didn't believe him. They walked along until they were right in front of the dorms. Blake turned around suddenly and stopped him in his tracks.
He caught himself from almost tripping into the girl but did not look up at her. His mind was still in a haze on trying to process what he had seen.
"Jaune, Jaune!"
He jumped in surprise and looked up to see Blake waving her hand in front of his face.
"Okay, are you sure you're alright? You just zoned out"
"Yea I'm fine, it's just late and I'm a bit tired."
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at him critically.
"Uh did you want something?" he asked with a slight stammer.
"Jaune, why have you been looking at my bow all the way here?"
His eyes widened in shock and a little chibi version of himself facepalmed hard inside of his head. Why did he make it so obvious that he was looking at her, why didn't he just leave the library immediately after he saw those videos? Damn him and his failure to think ahead.
"Well..."
She looked up at him expectantly. What was he going to say to her though? That he just binged a show about her team that revealed very personal things about them and told a future where Vale gets breached and Beacon eventually gets destroyed by a Grimm Dragon?
His mind was whirring a mile a minute trying to come up with any excuse. He gave up and just confidently slipped the first thing from his mouth.
"It's really cute, your bow. That's why I was looking at it."
Her eyes widened at his words. She blushed slightly but because of her pale skin, it seemed to be alot.
She turned around and in a slight whisper said, "Oh umm thanks."
She walked up the steps quickly and he struggled to catch up with her.
On the quick flight of stairs to their floor, he contemplated on whether to tell her of her impending argument with Weiss that would reveal her heritage but would also cause her to run away from her team.
He didn't know what would've happened if he did change events as he and his friends all seemed to grow from both the good and the bad. Although on the other hand, if he didn't try to change the future then a lot of people would die during the breach, and Beacon would fall.
Logically he knew that the lives of the many outweighed the growth of his friends but he still agonized over this while they went up the stairs. What was usually a very short flight felt like he was climbing against an ever-moving downwards escalator.
Not even glancing at Blake's ample bottom in front of him took his mind off of what he was going to tell her, and even if he was going to tell her anything.
They finally exited the staircase to what to him felt like an hour of anxious climbing. They walked down the corridor and to their respective dorm rooms which were right across from one another.
At that exact moment, Jaune thought he would compromise on his future information.
He spun around and quickly said, "Wait!"
She paused and looked back at him and said, "What is it Jaune?"
"Umm look this may seem out of the blur but if you and Wiess have an argument remember her point of view and her upbringing, and also remember to be open-minded. Also, don't run away, you can be truthful with your friends and they're still going to be your friends no matter what."
Blake's eyes widened and, now that he was looking out for it, her bow rose slightly in height as well. She quickly morphed her face back into its regular blank state but there was something behind her eyes.
"Umm okay, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight," she said gruffly.
She quickly got into her dorm and shut the door behind her without looking back. He sighed and hoped he had done the right thing, although judging from her first expression he was pretty sure that she was starting to suspect he knew of her previous white fang allegiance.
Well, nothing he could do but wait and see if those videos were really talking about the future or not. He just hoped he didn't accidentally set off a butterfly effect that would somehow lead to the end of the world like from one of his comics.
Actually, maybe he needed some sort of butterfly effect to prevent the fall of Beacon itself. Suddenly, right as his hand touched the doorknob, his mind flooded him with images and sequences from those videos.
His knees buckled as he remembered Penny being turned into scrap and her lifeless eyes becoming even more lifeless, how all of those students and civilians got butchered by robots and Grimm alike, and, how worst of all, he saw his partner, his partner being slain by an arrow through the heart.
An image of a woman with black hair laughing maniacally with two flaming swords seemed to intrude on his mind like a parasite.
He seethed in rage but he collapsed with tiredness gnawing on him. He felt bile rise up like a sticky worm trying to claw out of his throat, but he held it down and leaned against the door for support. His mind finally seemed to realize everything he had just seen.
God Pyrrha, his sweet, timid, but fierce partner liked him, no if evident by that sacrifice, in the end, she loved him. But his future counterpart had been too much of a bumbling idiot to even notice her, until the moment she went off to play hero and die on his behalf.
And that maniac Cinder's terrorist attack during the vital festival, all those civilians, those students, splitting the world into sides, and the entire collapse of Beacon. All for what, magical weather-controlling powers, more power than what she was already capable of?
He clenched his fist in fury and memorized every detail of her face and those of her lackeys, he felt like he would never forget them.
His head swirled in a vortex of anger and shock. He didn't feel anything else but fury towards Cinder and sock at seeing the future. His mind was not in the center of this tornado, far from it.
It was being battered on all sides by memories being flung at a million miles per hour by the harsh winds of the storm, memories of the death and destruction of Beacons Fall juxtaposed with the smiling faces of the dead in sweet moments.
Miraculously he saw a warm red light open up in the vortex, a lifeline opening up in the storm. He reached for it and when it touched it he opened his eyes, which he hadn't even realized he had closed, and felt the door behind him giving away.
He quickly leaped up and came face to face with Pyrrha in her nightgown. She looked at him for a second too long before her face lit up in realization.
"Jau…" she didn't get to finish as he lunged at her and embraced her in a tight hug.
With his eyes closed, he did not see her but more so felt her melt into him. He nuzzled into her hair which smelled like vanilla. His mind replayed scenes of her from the show which caused him to hug her even tighter.
He made two vows at that moment; he would make sure Pyrrha lived and that he would make sure she knew his feelings as well.
A loud cough emanated from behind the hugging pair before a familiar peppy voice spoke up, "If you guys are gonna get comfortable with each other, me and Renny could leave the room and bunk with RWBY."
The pair quickly detangled from each other and walked into the dorm furiously blushing. Nora stood in front of them with a giant smirk on her face while Ren looked up at Jaune from his bed with a questioning stare.
Nora's face dropped to one of concern as she took a good look at Jaune. She lunged at him and pulled him into a tight bear hug.
"Oh, Jaune-Jaune are you alright? You look sick. Also where were you, we were so worried about you," she said, practically choking him.
"Nora, I don't think he can breathe," Pyrrha said, trying to pry the pink bombardier of him.
"Oh right, oops," Nora said before pulling away.
He took a deep breath and looked at Pyrrha with a bright smile.
"Thanks for the save!"
She gave a small smile of her own before suddenly frowning.
She stepped up to him and asked, "Jaune do you know how worried we were?" Where were you? What happened to you? Did you get into a fight with Cardin?'
He waited until the barrage of questions from her slowed down before speaking up, "Look I was just in the library with Blake and I sort of lost track of time by procrastinating."
With a cough, he looked at them and said, "I'm sorry I flaked out on the team. I should have at least responded to you guys and let you know what I was doing. I won't let this happen again and I hope you guys forgive."
The rest of the team looked among one another before Nora let out a loud cackle, "Oh you preposterous avian, everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and if your willing to move on it's no biggy."
Jaune made to ask why Nora spoke so differently but Ren spoke in the background, "Instead of paying attention to Port's lecture she read an entire thesaurus."
Pyrrha strode up to him and placed an arm on his, "It's really leader-like for you to admit that you made a mistake and that you're going to improve yourself, but I have a question: why did you give me that big hug? Not that I mind of course."
He looked around the room and unconsciously rubbed the back of his head. Dammit, how he was supposed to explain that he just saw her die in the future and now wants to be as close to her as possible.
"Well I just missed you, I mean all of you. As All."
Before Pyrrha could respond Nora piped up, "On other news, are you sure you didn't Blake didn't help you 'procrastinate'? You do look pretty disheveled." Nora said raising her brow suggestively.
In the background, Pyrrha started to sputter at the mention of Blake helping him "procrastinate".
He let out a quick laugh before saying, "Nora, Blake didn't even bother to stop me from procrastinating. We barely even talked during the libraries hours."
"Sure ladykiller, sure.."
Nora let out a quick laugh of her own before she jumped onto her own bed and started to listen to some music. Ren looked at him and they both had an entire conversation in bro code, although he had to mask history knowledge of the future.
He gave a quick word to Pyrrha that he was going to take a shower then go to sleep.
He got into the shower and turned it on. The warm flow of water waved over him like a cleansing light. The day's grime and exhaustion rolled off his body and he felt that his brain was a bit clearer.
By the time he exited the shower, he felt like a new man although with a tremendous goal in front of him. He had to change the future for the better no matter what.
Around the dorm, most of his friends were in bed and almost sound asleep. Nora was loudly snoring, Ren was in a peaceful slumber, while Pyrrha tossed and turned.
She rolled in her bed and gave him a warm smile before closing her eyes.
He had to create a plan though. He couldn't just do this by the hem of his hat anyways. On his nightstand, he gathered a notepad and some pens.
He quickly wrote some very vague goals but nothing too specific, he would save the majority of his planning for the day off tomorrow.
Finally, on his bed and in his bunny onesie he had one last thing to do. He went on his scroll and searched for the website that held the archives. He didn't intentionally memorize it but the URL was seared into his memory.
He slowly typed in the URL with shaking hands and pressed search. The loading circle popped up and it spun and spun agonizingly like the world's worst merry-go-round. This must be what a cosmic joke was he thought.
Suddenly the circle stopped and the page popped up. He clicked on the videos and they still worked, he watched the first few minutes of a random one just to make sure. He let his shoulders go slack and let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding; he made sure to delete his history and shut down his scroll.
With one final look over his dorm and teammates, he went to bed.
Tomorrow things were going to change, things were going to change a lot.
Well I'm back to writing after not feeling it for a while, I will also be working on AMP again.
Leave a review if you can, it motivates me to write!