/N: It looks like most of you enjoyed the fight scene last chapter, which I was very happy to read. Thanks for all the comments and compliments I've been getting. Only a few people seemed to think I'm writing Jaune too weak. And to that I'll remind them that most characters in the show have been training their whole lives to get strong enough to fight a normal Grimm, much less an Ursa Major. And you if you just want to read another power fantasy story, there are pleanty of other stories to facilitate you. Literally hundreds.
Chapter 16
Tag(s): N/A
Girl(s): N/A
Words: 10,698
Metal clashing against metal sounded above him like thunder booming, loud enough to snap Jaune out of his punch-drunk hallucination. Not a ragged breath later, crushing pain consumed his legs. Heavy enough to make the blond wonder if the Ursa was trying for another cartwheel with him as the mat. But as he laid there, bracing himself for the pain to continue, Jaune was startled to realize its gargantuan mass had stopped moving.
'Pyrrha made it,' he assumed, his thoughts still slow and dizzy. But when he opened his eyes to see his savior, everything spun around him too fast to distinguish his wife's hair from the rest of the red around him. Eventually, he had to close his eyes until the nauseous feeling rising inside of him faded. His next attempt wasn't until a minute later. And squinting through cautiously narrow eyelids, he was relieved when the world decided to stand still.
"Pyrrha?" he grunted, coughing at the rough texture of his throat. He hadn't been aware of it at the time, but he'd been screaming during most of the assault, rubbing his vocal cords raw with his pain.
"Pyrrha!" He tried again, louder and clearer, only to hear silence in return. Finally, he looked down his nose at the monster, only to see it had fallen on top of his legs, its eye sockets empty and dark.
Jaune didn't understand, but he also recognized that staying under the beast was a bad place to be, especially if whatever happened was temporary. However, straining himself to sit up, his body screamed in protest as all the blunt injuries he'd suffered woke up at once. Instead, he had no choice but to slowly flip around until the grass tickled his chin. From there, he fought to crawl out from under the beast, dragging himself forward with handful after handful of moist dirt and red grass.
It worked, but only barely. And the effort it expended made the few inches he'd earned feel like he had crossed ten miles. But it was worth it. He was free. And the beast hadn't so much as stirred.
Jaune probably should have stood up, or at least tried to at this point. He knew he needed to find his shield and prepare himself, just in case. But he felt so tired. More than the night that he'd stayed awake to play video games until dawn. More than the morning after that when he'd still had to go to school. All he wanted to do was lie down for a few minutes before he had to stand back up and keep fighting. He'd earned that much, right?
But as his eyes started to flutter closed and he felt his brain slow until it drifted beneath the thin layer of unconsciousness, a gravelly voice forced his blue orbs to snap open. "Yo, Turtle." It grunted. "You still alive?"
"Cardin?" Jaune muttered, half remembering what had happened before the Ursa had descended on him. Turning toward the voice, Jaune's eyes flashed when he spotted the other boy on the other side of the Ursa's body, still half hidden by its shape. But enough was visible that he could see the larger teen was awake and facing him, pale sweat and red grass sticking to his exhausted expression.
Jaune was sure that his couldn't look much better.
Relief filled him, surprising even himself once he saw the awareness in Cardin's dark blue stare. Before he could stop it, a laugh bubbled up through his bruised and broken ribcage, sending a sharp reproach into his gasping lungs. "Dude," Jaune kept grinning, ignoring the pain. "I think I should be asking you that. The hell?"
Cardin's throat rumbled in acknowledgment. He grit his teeth before rolling onto his back, shifting his gaze toward the sky. "Just passed out, I think. Unless we're both dead, and this is some twisted joke of an afterlife."
Jaune's own gaze drifted at the thought. 'Huh, eternity spent with Cardin Winchester. Well, it's not like I haven't done enough to earn a spot in hell.'
"Are you okay?" Jaune felt inclined to ask, "I thought I saw blood." Not that he would be able to do anything about it. The muscle-bound teen was likely to bleed out before Jaune's fleshy bag of bones could roll over to stare at him cluelessly.
"Bastard got my arm before he sent me into a tree," Cardin eventually admitted, growling. "The thing's claws were sharp, but my armor stopped the worst of it." And after an uncertain pause, "at least, it feels like the bleeding stopped." He didn't have the energy to sit up and look, anyway. "What about the Grimm, dead?"
"It's…" Jaune hesitated, giving the creature another uncertain glance, "not moving?" That was the best he could offer.
"Good enough," the brute decided, not caring enough to question how the blond had accomplished such a feat. And for the first time since he'd woken up, Cardin allowed himself to relax into his bed of grass.
Jaune unconsciously did the same, savoring the brief respite. And as the wind blew over his back and caused a few blades of untamed grass to tickle his cheek, he basked in the simple reality that he was still alive. He'd been so sure he had been at his end, but he'd made it through the other side. He'd get to see Pyrrha again. He'd get to see Glynda. And suddenly, he wanted nothing more than to spend the next month in bed with each of them until the sensation of their skin on his was burned into his brain.
But that might be a tall order when his body couldn't so much as hold itself up at the moment. For now, he would have to settle for seeing them again when they arrived. Which would be soon, hopefully.
"I-I'm sorry," Jaune heard after a minute of peaceful silence. Eyebrow raised, Jaune looked to see Cardin's head slumped in his direction, letting him see the pained expression on the other boy's face. "I treated you like shit. Acted like a real asshole, and you still ran in to save my ass. Hell, you saved my teammates. So," The boy shifted uncomfortably. "Thank you. And I'm sorry."
Jaune blinked at his bully, hardly expecting this kind of outcome. But if this was Cardin's attempt at burying the hatchet, Jaune wasn't about to slap his olive branch. "Come on, man. A few spitballs and a terrible nickname aren't enough to make me want you dead. It's us against the Grimm. If we start feeding each other to the Beowulves, what's the point of being a huntsman?" As if he had any right to lecture a real huntsman on ethics.
But Cardin appeared to take his words to heart, staring over at the blond with newfound regret and shame. "Still," the ginger looked away. "What I did in the locker room, that wasn't cool. I wasn't going to seriously hurt you. I just…Beacon's not going exactly how I pictured it. I always thought I was going to make an impression, you know? I was a big deal back home, but as soon as I got to Beacon, it felt like everyone was leaving me in the dust." His hands tightened into fists at his side.
"Big fish in a big pond?" Jaune clarified.
Cardin snorted. "Oh man, you have no idea. So when I lost to you of all people…, I mean, no offense. But it felt like I had to prove something."
Jaune rolled his eyes at the complaint. "Man, if you already knew everything, what's the point of going to school? We're all here to learn. To get better and help each other. It's not a competition. I just want to make it out of fourth year strong enough to help as many people as I can, you know?"
Cardin didn't answer right away. But after another pause, the larger boy almost sounded impressed as he added, "You know what, Turtle? You're an okay guy."
'Oh boy, Cardin's approval. Just what I needed,' Jaune mentally drawled. "Thanks, man. That means a lot," he replied anyway, trying to avoid further conflict.
"Hey, no problem," the ginger puffed his chest, clearly assuming people valued his opinion. "I mean, at least you're not one of those filthy animals or anything. I don't know why I let you get me so worked up." His nasal laughter filled the quiet forest air.
Jaune's pleasant expression shattered at the sheer disappointment that swept through him. "You…" Jaune sighed, closing his eyes against the expression of pain on his features, "make it so hard not to hate you."
The words came out under his breath. Maybe he should have left Cardin to be eaten? But, ugh, no. One step at a time. The giant idiot already proved he could be a decent human being. He was just dumb and clearly never taught how to process emotions healthily. Maybe next time, he needed a Faunus to pull his dumbass out of the fire.
"What was that?" Cardin called out.
Jaune's face immediately straightened. "Er, nothing, man." Quick, he needed to change the subject. "So ah, what the hell were you guys doing this far from the group, anyway?"
Curiously, it was a long pause before Cardin answered, his tone sheepish. "Well, ah. We were kind of looking for you? I mean, when we saw you and the invincible bi- ah, your chick break off, we tried to follow you and ended up getting a little lost." Huh, no wonder he was embarrassed.
Jaune was almost afraid to ask. "And what were you going to do to us?"
That earned a longer pause before a heavy sigh announced the rest of the story. "Throw…sap at you?"
Jaune paused at the admission. Wow, that was even more juvenile than all his other antics. "Can I ask why…?" Maybe there was more to it, and he needed to give the big guy the benefit of the doubt.
"We found some wasps." The ginger coughed. "That we were…also going to throw at you. Dove looked it up, and the CCnet said they like sweet things."
Okay, that was a little more impressive, except, "But…I have aura." Jaune reminded him. "We all do. Were they supposed to sting me?"
"Well, you know, they're called rapier wasps. So the stinger is supposed to be really sharp and long!" Cardin defended himself.
Jaune looked more confused. "Yeah, but I've seen aura stop bullets. They deflect huntsman weapons. I mean, Weiss has a literal rapier, and aura still blocks it fine."
"Huh," was all Cardin could manage after mulling his classmate's points over. His mood took a noticeable dive as he admitted, "I guess when you put it that way…"
"Well, hey," Jaune backed off when he realized his mistake. "Don't feel too bad. It was a last-minute plan. You probably happened across some wasps while you were following me and Pyrrha and came up with it on the spot."
"No," Cardin closed his eyes, lamenting. "We brought them with us. Onto an enclosed airspace vehicle. We planned this last week." And whispering to himself, Cardin continued, "How did no one on my team remember…?"
"Wait," Jaune stopped at the news. "You brought them from the school? How did you bring wasps onto a bullhead?" Surely in a sealed container, right?
"Cardboard box," Cardin deadpanned, killing any hope Jaune might have held onto.
"Did you at least tape it closed?" Jaune asked, already knowing the answer.
"Folded," the boy sounded pained. Which made the fact that he kept talking all the more confusing. "Loosely. It was kind of an old box. A little beat up, so the cardboard was soft. I used it to help move into the dorm at the start of the year."
Well…Jaune didn't have anything to add to that, so he didn't. Instead, he let the forest fall quiet. Unfortunately, that was worse than any insult he could have made, and Cardin's frustrated groan spoke up after only a few heartbeats.
"Fuck!" the ginger's jaw clenched. "Are you kidding me? I'm not even a competent bully."
"Personally, I feel like that's a good thing," Jaune rushed to reassure him. "That isn't where you should be putting your effort right now, I promise. Not unless you want to blacklist your huntsman career before it can start. You think anyone is going to stick their neck out for the guy who spent all four years of school shooting spitballs and harassing Faunus?"
"You came," Cardin argued, mumbling like a petulant twelve-year-old.
"I did," Jaune calmly agreed. "I came to help you today. But that was my choice, and I won't be around whenever you're in trouble. What happens after we graduate and you or your team get in trouble? You really want a repeat of today? Is being a jerk that important to you?"
Jaune knew he'd overstepped when a growl answered him. Freezing on the ground, he half expected to watch Cardin stand up so he could finish what the Ursa had started. Instead, Cardin seethed in relative quiet, grinding his molars down to his gums. Jaune could practically hear the tension in his jaw as it worked back and forth. Until finally, all the stress in the young man's body seemed to deflate. And without all that anger to hold him up, his mass didn't appear half as impressive.
"You're right," Cardin accepted, although the words sounded like they were painful. "The only reason my team got in trouble today was because we went looking for it. And if I spent half as much time training over the last two weeks as I've spent trying to make you miserable, maybe I would have been strong enough to fight this thing without your help. If it was just me that I was putting in danger, that's one thing. But I'm not gonna let my dumbass endanger my guys."
And so, Cardin the bully was no more. Jaune took a moment to let that sink in, wondering if it was really that easy. Then again, Cardin wasn't stopping because he felt guilty or realized the error of his ways. Hell, he hadn't even apologized for trying to sick a swarm of wasps on a guy. Cardin was merely acknowledging that his actions were putting his team in danger, which meant that although Cardin might not be a good man, not yet, he was a good leader. And he cared about the people he considered his. And maybe Jaune needed to recognize the benefits of that position.
"Does that mean you'll stop bothering me every day?" Jaune asked, his tone hopeful.
"I guess…" Cardin eventually grumbled like it was some great inconvenience on his part not to torture the smaller boy. "It's not like I could shove you in a locker after you saved my ass, anyway. Even I'm not that big of a dick."
Debatable, but Jaune was focused on other priorities. "In that case, how often does your team go to the gym?"
Cardin's eyebrows rose at the abrupt topic shift. "I go four to five days a week. But the rest of my team does about half that. Why?"
"You think you would mind if I tagged along a few days a week? Pyrrha's working on my cardio and sword technique, but I don't think she has a lot of experience when it comes to putting on muscle." Not that his wife lacked strength, but hers was the lithe, compact kind. And while Jaune doubted he would ever get arms like the other boy, he trusted that Cardin hadn't been born that strong and would know a thing or two about packing on the right kind of weight.
"You were being a dick about it, but you weren't wrong," Jaune sighed. "All I've got going for me right now is my aura, and that's not going to be enough to protect anyone but me." He was improving under Pyrrha and now Glynda, but not fast enough. And to catch up to the rest of his friends, he needed to devote that much more time to making himself stronger.
The next time Jaune glanced over at the other boy, he thought he saw genuine respect glittering back at him. "Yeah." A slow smile pulled at the edges of Cardin's lips as he smirked. "I guess I don't mind giving you a tip or two. As long as you don't mind returning the favor…"
It was Jaune's turn to be caught off guard. "What the heck could I teach you, how to take a punch?" But to Juane's surprise, the ginger boy's skin appeared to darken beneath an embarrassed flush before he answered.
"Well, ah," Cardin coughed, glancing away. "You seem to know a few things about, you know, girls?" Jaune's jaw would have dropped if it didn't mean a mouthful of soil.
"You want dating advice?" Jaune clarified, his tone as dry as the desert. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
"Fuck, man!" Cardin cursed. "Don't act so surprised. You already picked up two hotties, and one of them is our teacher! Don't even try and tell me you guys didn't bang in her office after I left." Jaune immediately regretted his decision to try and trust the other boy. "I don't need all of your secrets. Just a few to open the door? Then the Winchester charm will handle the rest, trust me."
Well, he wasn't lacking in confidence. So far, the Winchester charm was pretty widely reviled…but that wasn't Jaune's problem. And if Cardin wanted to put more stock in his abilities as a man whore than Jaune deserved, that shouldn't stop him from getting what he needed from the other boy.
"I can't promise results," Jaune warned, "but I guess I don't mind giving you some advice when you need it."
The words were hardly an oath of brotherhood, but Cardin was already grinning. "In that case, what's the word on that short stack on your team? You're not married to her too, are you?"
Jaune blinked at the turn. "Nora?" It was a good thing most of his face was hidden by grass. The poor guy probably didn't want to hear about how much his teammate had mentioned breaking his legs on a given day. Instead, the blond decided to go with the far more gentle rejection. "She's…taken. N-Not by me. By my other teammate. Nora's partner."
Together-together or not, Ren probably wouldn't mind posing for the part if it meant keeping guys like Cardin from sniffing around his childhood friend. And besides, just because they were pretending didn't mean he didn't feel some parental protectiveness for the young woman who called his wife her mom. And if Nora really wanted to say she was their daughter, then she deserved way better than this jerk.
Cardin grunted at the news but didn't appear too disappointed. Especially when he moved on without missing a beat, "What about that stacked blonde you're always hanging around? She seeing anyone?"
"Yang?" Jaune recognized, slightly less defensive as he tried to remember what little he'd learned about her tastes from personal experience and Ruby's stories. "I think she likes guys with muscles, so you've got that in your favor. But I don't think she's looking for anything serious, and definitely doesn't like bullies. So if you're going to go in that direction, maybe wait until your reputation improves a little?"
It was hardly a ringing endorsement, but Cardin grinned all the same. "Fuck yeah! No problem there. Just you wait, Turtle. School's gonna start calling me Saint Cardin by the end of the year." He gave a short chuckle.
Cardin a saint? Somehow, Jaune doubted that. But he liked the attitude, so he chose not to comment. And if Cardin had any more women he wanted to ask about, the sound of rustling bushes stopped the young men cold.
If it was Grimm, they were dead. Jaune was out of aura, out of strength, and without so much as a shield to protect himself. And Cardin was little better, even if the other boy did try to sit up. Both young men finally relaxed when a familiar face burst through the bushes.
"Jaune!"
Glynda's eyes were unusually honest when she spotted his prostrated figure laid out next to the giant Grimm, wide with worry. Rushing over, the pale color of her features looked waxy with cool sweat. It wasn't until she saw for herself that his eyes were open and looking back at her that she dared to release the breath she had been holding.
It felt so good to see her that Jaune didn't think to stop her as she approached, laying her hands on his back. "Yeow!" Jaune hissed, his eyes clenching shut against the new pain that erupted beneath the gentle pressure. Glynda immediately backed off, becoming fearful. Fighting back the throbbing heat she'd inspired, Jaune fought to correct his expression and reassure her.
"I-I'm fine," he lied. "Don't worry, I'm just a little tender." Tender like steak. Tender like roadkill. But his words were not enough to stop the scowl that came to his wife's face.
"What were you thinking?" the older woman growled, looking like she wanted to strangle him as she laid her hands on him again, much more softly this time. "I swear, if you don't die, I am going to kill you for scaring me like this!"
Despite himself, Jaune couldn't fight his smile at her reaction. He knew she cared about him. Hell, he could feel it through his semblance. But that didn't mean seeing such an overt display of her feelings wasn't nice, especially after how distant she'd been acting.
"Does this mean you forgive me for…whatever I did?" he asked with a little too much cheek. Glynda stared down at him suddenly, looking like he'd slapped her. Unintended pain reflected in her gaze.
He'd mostly meant it as a joke. At least, he hadn't meant for her to take it that seriously. But as her eyebrows drew up and she visibly searched for something to say, Jaune found that he was the one reaching for her, ignoring the aching soreness radiating from his shoulders as he touched her hand. Yang was right. They should have talked earlier. But now wasn't the best time, and he said as much after a moment.
"Hey," he caught her gaze, "we can talk later. I'm fine for now, so you need to go check on the other guys. Cardin's conscious, but I think Sky passed out at some point, and there might be something wrong with his leg."
Glynda didn't want to leave his side. Jaune could see it in her eyes. But she was a teacher first and a wife second, and other students might need her attention for the time being. Responsibility warred with selfishness behind her glasses, but in the end, both of them knew what she would do.
"Don't move," she warned him, complete with a stern finger wagging in his face. "You could have broken your collarbone or your neck. Or you could have internal bleeding."
Jaune nodded, eager to please her so she wouldn't feel bad about tending to her other students. The exasperation on her face proved how bad of a liar he was. "I swear to The Brothers, Jaune. If you die before I get our child, you better pray I live for a long, long time. Because when I do pass, I'll come for you. And if there isn't a hell, I'll make one."
Jaune wisely remained silent after that, genuinely threatened by her…threat. And that seemed to placate her if her tiny grin was any indication. With a firm nod, she stood up to start toward Sky, whose limp figure was slumped against the same tree Jaune had found him beneath.
Finally by himself, Jaune pushed a deep breath into his chest before testing his body. First wiggling his fingers and toes, then his limbs, he tried to catalog how much damage he'd taken during the fight. And to his surprise, most of his limbs felt intact, along with the rest of him. The worst of the damage seemed to focus on the sharp pain in his chest and the ache in his neck any time he tried turning his head.
It felt rough, certainly worse than anything he'd experienced before coming to Beacon. But at the same time, it wasn't nearly as bad as what he'd been expecting after fighting such a large Grimm. And after seriously debating how much it would piss off his wife, Jaune made the strenuous attempt to sit up, pushing himself off the grass to turn around and get a decent look at the Ursa that nearly killed him.
The great lump of black and white simply laid there, sprawled out on the grass like he belonged in front of a fireplace. Jaune looked for anything that could explain what had saved him from his grizzly death, only to stop when he noticed his sword was hilted against its throat, running the creature through.
But that wasn't the strangest thing. Cardin's mace was pressed against the bottom of the pommel like someone had glued it against the bottom of his sword. It wasn't even leaning against it. The metal handle was off the ground, too short to reach at the angle the two weapons had connected.
Dazed and still more than a little light-headed, Jaune found himself struggling to understand what he was looking at. He recognized that his sword had pushed through the thick muscle and fur that protected the creature, but how? It almost looked like someone had come by and hammered the damn thing through with Cardin's mace.
While Jaune sat there and mused, more rustling announced the appearance of more people. Much more, as Team RWBY and the rest of his friends burst through the foliage from the same direction Glynda had entered. Still staring at the mysterious corpse, Jaune simply turned his head to stare at the familiar faces, numbly waving his hand in their direction when they paused to access the scene.
"Hey, guys," he greeted them like they'd agreed to meet at Beacon's library to study. His friends weren't nearly as composed.
He did his best to brace himself for Pyrrha's reaction. And his first wife did charge him as soon as she saw he was okay. However, two others were faster. One dashed to his side in a blizzard of red rose petals, while the other suddenly appeared like she had always been there. "Ow," Jaune whimpered, feeling like he was back beneath the bear's paw. But it was a good pain, crushed between the affection of two girls he cared for and who clearly cared for him.
"Jaune!" Ruby cried out, pressing her face into his shoulder.
"Papa!" Nora helpfully supplied, each tearful in their delivery. Jaune had no choice but to grit his teeth against the pain in his ribs, awkwardly patting each of his friends on the shoulders and silently begging Pyrrha to help him before they actually managed to snap one of his weakened ribs. Unfortunately, as she drew closer, Pyrrha's worried expression became increasingly distracted by the bear at Jaune's feet. Specifically, his sword and how it stuck from the Ursa's throat.
Pyrrha had had every confidence that her husband would survive the encounter. She wouldn't have let him go, otherwise. However, she never expected him to kill the Ursa on his own before Glynda could arrive, and she certainly would have never thought he was capable of felling something like this.
Yang and the rest of their friends seemed to be of one mind as they approached, eyeing the large Grimm's size. The blonde appeared particularly impressed as she commented, "Damn, Vomit Boy. You do all this?"
"I have no idea," Jaune answered honestly, shrugging his shoulders as much as his friends' arms would allow him. "One minute, it was on top of me, treating my head like a pinata. And the next thing I know, it's dead, and I had to crawl out from under the damn thing." But it looked like he'd been a little too honest about his brush with death if Pyrrha's suddenly terrified stare was any indication.
"I mean," Jaune laughed stiffly, "everything went fine, and I killed it in one hit like a badass! No need to worry. I was never in any danger." But if he hadn't been able to fool Glynda, his acting skills wouldn't help him now. The two girls at his sides immediately bore down as if they could physically trap his soul from leaving this earthly plain.
"You're not allowed to die!" Ruby imperiously decided, her lips wobbling ominously.
Nora was in agreement. "I finally have a mom and a dad. If you make me a double orphan, I will be the saddest girl on the planet!"
Whoops. He looked around for help but everyone else just looked at him with different shades of veiled worry. Even Weiss frowned at him, her lips puckering like she'd swallowed a lemon.
"Guys," he tried again, this time more earnestly toward the group of teenagers. "I'm fine, seriously. See?" He made a show of wiggling his fingers and toes. "All in one piece. Most of them might be purple by tonight, but I'm still here." He turned to regard Nora specifically before adding, "I'm your fearless leader, remember? It'll take a lot more than a dumb old bear to take me down."
Nora's eyes bored into his, watery and worried like he'd never seen. But after he blinked, any hints of sadness were gone, replaced by firm resolve. "You're damn right!" the tiny ginger agreed, nodding firmly. "We're team JNPR, and it would take an army of Ursa before our glorious leader so much as broke a sweat—if then!" And when she beamed at him, Jaune couldn't help but match her joy, relieved to see the shadows disappear from her gaze.
Jaune reached out to ruffle the short bob of ginger locks. "That's my girl," he laughed, the words coming out without him thinking. But that didn't stop Nora's pale skin from flushing a deep red at the endearment. Neither did she pull away or ask him to stop, hiding her embarrassed pleasure in his shoulder as she relaxed against him.
"I would still recommend that our leader refrained from fighting these kinds of battles alone," Ren stepped forward, his tone reproachful. But he was just as worried as the rest of them, and Jaune could see it in his eyes. "I do not know if our team would recover from such a loss if you'd fallen. Next time, I'd ask that you simply wait for backup. That is what a team is for."
Jaune grinned up at his one male friend. "I know you got my back, Buddy. Time was a little short, and I couldn't wait for anyone competent to come along. People were hurt and it looked like it would have been a lot worse if I didn't get here when I did."
"Don't expect anyone to thank you for it," Weiss sniffed. "I can't think of a single person that would have missed that Neanderthal if he'd gotten eaten. Outside his own team, anyway." The lemon expression returned before she begrudgingly added, "You, on the other hand, clearly have a few people who would have been hurt by your passing. So try and keep out of trouble if you can help it."
Jaune felt his smile soften after seeing the frigid girl do the same. "Aw, Weiss," he teased, "I didn't know you cared."
Her response was immediate. "I don't!"
Jaune didn't stop laughing, aware of what she'd meant. His team, plus Ruby, would have been very upset by his death—not to mention Glynda. And seeing it for himself made him feel slightly guilty for giving up so quickly. If he'd really died, if Glynda and the rest of them had gotten to him just to see his decapitated head lying in the grass, what kind of faces would they have been making then?
His dark thoughts lingered until Jaune decided he didn't want to think about that anymore, much preferring the relief and joy surrounding him. Now, all he needed was a kiss from his beautiful and supportive wife, and everything would be okay again.
Where the hell was his beautiful and supportive wife?
It took Jaune a second to find her, standing beside his kill where his and Cardin's weapons were still stuck in its side. Tilting her head, she tried to grab the mace's handle, pulling on it with visible effort. But despite the slim muscles of her arms and shoulders flexing, neither weapon budged an inch.
Watching her, Jaune's eyebrows rose. Had the weapons been glued? But if Pyrrha was the one pulling them apart, they would need to be welded to resist her strength. Fortunately, his wife had a different idea and reached her hand out toward the conjoined metal, only for her fingers to become enveloped in a faint black glow. The weight of the mace was enough that it sank a few inches into the soft dirt and grass as it suddenly fell.
Jaune stared, not sure what he'd seen. But Pyrrha's open joy was undeniable when she turned to smile at him. Before he could start to ask, a third pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders, nearly killing him with her enthusiasm.
Recognizing Pyrrha's superior claim on her husband, the other two young women gracefully moved to give the pair some space. But the redhead more than made up for their absence, squeezing him with the strength of five huntresses. Life briefly flashed before Jaune's eyes as his body screamed in protest.
It got a lot better toward the end.
"Ah, guys? Maybe we should give these two, um, yeah…" Yang didn't finish, already awkwardly drifting away. And the longer the hug went on, the faster people began to agree with the blonde, looking at anything around the clearing besides the young couple. Jaune had no voice to object to the crushing affection, quietly groaning until Pyrrha released him.
"You did it!" she quietly cheered, conscious of their friends still within earshot. Releasing his clenched jaw, Jaune's brain had to catch up to remember what they were talking about.
"The Grimm?" he groaned, blinking back the spots in his vision. "I mean, yeah. It's dead. I'm not really sure if I can say I killed it, though."
"No," Pyrrha shook her head, laughing. "Your semblance! My semblance. You used it! That's what killed the Ursa." The young woman pulled back far enough that he could see her brilliant grin again, but Jaune was too busy trying to understand what the hell she was talking about.
He used her semblance? When? Because the last thing he could remember was getting bitch slapped by a bear like he owed it Lien. But now that she brought it up, Jaune thought he might remember something in the confusion. A hallucination. Pyrrha's face in his mind. And a pulling sensation that he'd yanked on like his life had depended on it.
Had that been it? Had that been Pyrrha's semblance? She'd called it a push and pull, but Jaune hadn't been able to conceptualize what that could feel like until he'd done it himself. And he had, apparently. And it had saved his life…somehow.
Looking back over at the Grimm, Jaune looked at his sword pommel and realized that must have been what he'd felt when he'd been pinned underneath the monster. The metal of his sword had called out to him, and he'd used Pyrrha's semblance to alter its polarity. From neutral, he imagined, toward attraction. Strong attraction. Strong enough that it had been able to attract the only loose metal in the forest. Cardin's mace.
Jaune paused at the realization. While he'd never lifted it himself, he'd been on the receiving end twice, and each time, he'd felt exactly how much weight was behind the black flanges and the rest of the construction. How much aura had he pushed into Pyrrha's semblance to lift a weapon like that off the ground?
Eyebrows drawing together, Jaune gently reached into his pocket, pleased to see his scroll was still in one piece. But any pleasant emotions drained away when he looked at his aura level, only to see the screen flashing red as it displayed zero percent remaining.
How much aura had he pushed through Pyrrha's semblance? All of it. Everything he and his wives had left after the Ursa's assault. But in return, he must have made the magnetic pull strong enough to yank Cardin's mace through thin air. The combination of mass and momentum had collided with the bottom of his sword, transferring every drop of that energy into the blade's tip, pushing it through the dense muscle and bone.
And leaving him utterly defenseless.
Jaune didn't realize how cold he felt until Pyrrha's arms returned to their spot around his shoulders. He'd gone his whole life without aura before. But suddenly, its absence made him feel vulnerable and exposed. Like the slightest breeze could cut him down if he wasn't careful. The only thing keeping his anxiety in check was his wife's presence at his side. Jaune instantly clung to her, seeking the exposed skin of her midriff so he could anchor himself against her warmth.
"You scared us so badly, Jaune." Pyrrha's tone was soft and sad against his ear. She'd been able to peek at his scroll and saw his dangerous aura reading for herself. "You have no idea what it was like when we felt our aura vanish. What we thought that meant. We'd all been following Glynda until then, but as soon as our aura dropped, she vanished. So much faster than all of us trying to get to you in time."
'But she hadn't been fast enough,' Jaune recognized, grabbing Pyrrha a little tighter. Without the redhead's power, Glynda could have very easily arrived to a different scene entirely. And worse yet, she wouldn't have had any aura to protect herself, forced to fight the powerful grim with as much protection as your average civilian, and Pyrrha wouldn't have been any better.
His power might let his family protect each other, but it also made them vulnerable. If one of them fell, they were all in trouble. And right now, he was the weak link. Neither of his wives would have had half as much trouble fighting a single Grimm.
'I need to get stronger,' Jaune resolved himself. And he would. He'd already conscripted Cardin's help. And until then, he was struck with the memory of how comforting Pyrrha's presence had been in what he'd thought were his final moments. But he wasn't dead, and now that he had the chance to make even more memories. With Pyrrha and Glynda.
Stealing a fortifying breath, Jaune filled his nose with the smell of his wife's hair. Leather and cinnamon. He'd been so close, too close to never feeling this again. And as he imagined being torn away from this wonderful creature who had stumbled into his life, the words swelled inside him, slipping out before Jaune recognized what he was saying.
"I love you."
Pyrrha stiffened in his arms—Jaune's first clue about what he'd just done. Mentally backtracking, Jaune's eyes went wide when he realized what he'd done. But before he could stammer or stumble through some apology at his unromantic delivery, Pyrrha pulled back enough to grin at him with her million-watt smile. Nose crinkled, eyes squinting, and pink lips thin over the perfect rows of teeth she flashed in his direction.
Initially flustered, Jaune immediately felt the tension in his body dissipate beneath the image. 'The best thing I've ever done,' he recited, deciding that it was as true now as it had been then. And although it still felt like things were moving too fast, he couldn't deny the emotions Pyrrha inspired inside him.
And then she was kissing him. Soft yet insistent, her stiff corset pressed into his chest in her effort to mold their bodies together. His body cried out in protest, but the pleasure of her lips took priority, inspiring a light fluttery sensation where he had only felt sharp pain previously.
Jaune had no choice but to submit to her passion, feeling her love after he'd voiced his. And he could feel it. In the way that her hands grasped his shoulders. How her lips slowly, languidly moved against his to savor every inch of his mouth. And when she pulled back, it was only far enough for her to tuck her face into the crook of his neck. And there she stayed, likely basking in his life as much as he was in hers, both thankful for the moment they had almost been unable to share.
Jaune returned the favor, closing his eyes at the nuzzling warmth she'd offered. If he was honest with himself, he'd been feeling those words for a few days. Usually, in the early mornings when he woke up to his wife curled against his side or during the late nights when he curled around her as they settled into sleep. But he hadn't let them out, worried that it was too fast or wasn't the right time.
What the hell had he been so nervous about? Of course Pyrrha didn't care about how he said it. She was happy enough just hearing the words. Because that's who Pyrrha was. Full of the love and comfort he'd desperately needed those first few days at Beacon. And that he needed even more now as their lives grew in complexity.
But this moment wasn't complicated. And Jaune focused on that simplicity, reveling in his wife's embrace. Everything else managed to fade away until the pain in his body became a dull echo of what it had been. But as seconds passed and her heartbeat resonated against his, Jaune's eyebrows drew together at the strange sensation pulling at his senses. And when he let his attention drift toward the distraction, the young man's eyes shot open at the familiar push and pull impression hovering a few feet away.
There were two of them this time, each pulsing with the potential of either direction. Jaune felt an instinctive ability to influence that affect tickle the center of his brain. Following that sense, his eyes inevitably found the metal of his sword still buried in the beast, while the other seemed to stem from the mace a few feet below it. There was no denying that he'd tapped into his wife's semblance this time, and he marveled at his broadened perception of the world.
But what had done it? He didn't know, desperately trying to keep the sensation from slipping through his mental fingers. Unfortunately, the more he focused on the push and pull of the world around him, the faster it seemed to fade.
The connection sparked like Weiss' suitcase detonating in his brain. Back in the locker room, he'd been thinking about Glynda when her semblance allowed his sword to fly into his hand. And when he'd been pinned under the bear, Pyrrha's semblance only made itself available after he'd thought of her. After he'd thought about how she made him feel.
Eager to test this new theory, Jaune closed his eyes and turned his focus back toward his wife. How she radiated love and comfort and how wonderful it made him feel. And now that he was aware of it, his heart stumbled at the sensation of their empathetic bond opening like an extension of his body.
The metal-sense he'd been looking for slowly resurfaced. Peeking an eye open, the green glow from his hand on Pyrrha's shoulder finally caught his attention, proving his suspicion. He could feel it. And not just the large chunks of metal in their weapons. As Jaune's senses expanded, smaller examples began to ping across his awareness like his brain was a radar.
His armor stood out, scant as it was. This was nothing compared to his wife's equipment, which Jaune was startled to discover was threaded with thin metal wires all along her gloves and boots. Finally, his metal-sense expanded wide enough to flow over the rest of their friends and their gear. This included their weapons, any metal inside their packs, and in Blake's case, a few surprising peircings that Jaune wondered if the rest of her team knew about.
Huh, it was always the quiet ones.
This was it. This was what they had been doing wrong. They'd been trying to train him like their semblances were his own. But they weren't. He had the power to borrow them through the connection his semblance created through their rings. And while this was all still only conjecture, instinct told Jaune that the deeper he forged these bonds with his wives, the more of their semblances he would be able to pull upon.
Part of Jaune thought about telling Pyrrha right away, but she was focused on other things, and he didn't feel like distracting her from this moment. Tomorrow was another day, and there would be plenty of time to explore the boundaries of his strange power. But how many moments would they have like this, expressing their love for each other for the first time?
Just one.
Letting the awareness Pyrrha's semblance granted fade to the back of his mind, Jaune leaned back into the embrace. And the two of them were allowed another few minutes of peace before Glynda returned to their side of the clearing, her shoulders square and back straight as she began issuing orders.
"Pyrrha, Ms. Xiao-Long? She approached, "Mr. Lark injured his knee and will need help getting back to the bullheads. Would you two mind assisting him? He's regained consciousness, but it's quite the distance to limp."
To their credit, neither girl complained about the task despite the person in question. Giving him one last peck on the lips, Pyrrha stood to join the other blonde, approaching a suddenly very intimidated Sky Lark. Each girl took an arm, propping him over their shoulders in the most dignified way a man could be carried by two women.
"Mr. Winchester is on his feet and confirmed that he can walk unaided. I still need to address Jaune's injuries, so I'll ask the rest of you to hurry back to camp. I will make sure he is delivered safely." That instruction earned a few looks, none of which Jaune wanted to acknowledge. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from catching Yang wiggling her eyebrow as she passed or Cardin's leering smirk as he hobbled by.
Well, Jaune was sorry to disappoint them, but he didn't see any celebratory love making in his near future. Not unless Glynda really intended to break him.
"Can you stand?" Glynda's voice changed once they were alone, softening. She had returned to being his Glynda rather than playing at Ms. Arc.
That was a great question. And one Jaune wasn't sure of until he braced his legs under him, groaning at the strain. It took a minute and Glynda's outstretched hand, but Jaune was proud to say that he could still suffer his own weight without buckling. That said, Jaune prayed that they didn't need to get back to the rest of the class quickly.
Glynda appraised him with narrowed eyes, openly searching for any injuries he may have been lying about. But brushing the grass and dirt from the clothes, her pinched lips relaxed as a heavy weight drained from her shoulders. "I owe you an apology."
Jaune had to bite back the easy response of, "It's fine," or, "Don't worry about it." Dismissing the issue didn't make it go away, and he'd already let things linger too long. It was bad enough that both Pyrrha and Yang had needed to point it out for him to notice something was wrong with one of his wives. His responsibility was to listen, especially now that Glynda was willing to talk.
"Thank you," Jaune accepted her apology, carefully constructing his response before replying, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Glynda huffed at the gesture, turning her gaze from his. "It…it's nothing. I shouldn't have let it last this long in the first place, and now it feels embarrassing. I suppose I'm simply not used to getting to the point in a relationship where you communicate your feelings so openly."
Jaune couldn't blame her for that. He probably wouldn't be half as comfortable around the topic without Pyrrha. Thankfully, he had some experience to draw upon, in addition to the few fights he remembered overhearing from his parents. "Okay," he nodded, lightening the mood with a smile. "Let's start somewhere that makes it easier. Was it something I did?"
"Of course not!" Glynda's eyebrows drew together as she jerked her face to stare at him. Opening her mouth to continue, nothing came out. Not until a noise of frustration emerged. Finally, exasperation forced the truth out, the words bitten and sharp. "I…I'm not pregnant."
The implications of her admission took a moment to register. A more uncouth husband might decide that was enough of an explanation and leave it at that, blaming hormones and all those womanly things for Glynda's distance. Thankfully, growing up with seven sisters and a mother taught Jaune to be a little more modern about female biology, and he was hardly about to flinch away from her when his wife was this upset.
"You got your period," Jaune clarified, sharing a fraction of his wife's sadness at the news. He didn't crave a child with the same intensity as Glynda, but she was sad, and that was enough for him to empathize. "You must have been disappointed."
Reaching out, he placed a hand on the small of her back. Glynda immediately leaned into his touch, stepping toward him until he could curl his hand around her waist instead. Shoulder to chest, she placed her hand over his heart and nodded.
"I know it's silly, and we've only been trying for a few weeks, but I guess I let myself get swept away by the idea that we could get one on our first try. And when that didn't happen, I suppose my first instinct was to pull away and close myself off. But I never meant to avoid you, and I'm very sorry if you blamed yourself for my shortcomings."
"Hey," Jaune frowned. "It's not your fault either." He made sure that she was looking at him to see his sincerity. "I know how much this means to you, but these things take time, and that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with either of us."
Glynda's eyes closed as she nodded, knowing that he was correct. But hearing the words felt much more comforting than she had been expecting. Given her age, blaming herself and expecting the worst was easy. But even much younger women didn't catch a child after the first few weeks of marriage.
But instead of talking about it like an adult with her husband, she'd chosen to sulk and push him away. "That doesn't excuse my behavior, but thank you."
Jaune shrugged her apology aside, showing her he wasn't upset. "If you feel like you need space or time to yourself, I don't mind leaving you alone for a little while. Some people prefer dealing with problems that way. I just need you to know it doesn't have to be like that, and I would love to help you whenever you're going through anything. I might not know much about being a husband, but that seems like the bare minimum, you know?"
Lifting her face to look at him, Glynda appeared taken by his words, realizing that was likely right. She had isolated herself because that was how she'd learned to process her emotions. But that wasn't necessary anymore. She didn't have to be alone if she didn't want to. And given a choice for the first time in too many years, the older woman decided to rely on her husband for as long as he was still willing.
"In that case," Glynda's eyelashes lowered as her fingers traced a slow circle over his chest, "would you mind staying with me tonight? I know it's a school night, and we won't be able to do anything but sleep, but I want you close to me." The nights she spent curled around his side were the best she could remember, and she couldn't think of anything that would comfort her half as much.
"Absolutely," Jaune grinned like she was doing him a favor. "And so you know, we don't need to be having sex to spend time together. Believe it or not, I like being around you when we have clothes on just fine."
Glynda made a show of rolling her eyes, trying and failing to disguise the twitch of her lips. Jaune's hand tightened on her waist, and she turned into him until her face found his shoulder. "That said," Jaune hesitantly added, "I hope you don't mind if I invite Pyrrha to come along tonight? She was pretty upset by everything that happened."
"That's perfectly fine," Glynda immediately nodded against him, despite wishing she could be a little more selfish. But she and her sister-wife had been together when all three of their auras had vanished, and she couldn't ask the younger woman to sleep by herself when Glynda knew she had been just as worried as her. In fact, the older woman hadn't known she could be as terrified as when she'd felt their shared pool suddenly drop to zero.
"However," Glynda corrected, "I think I will ask that we spend some time alone together as soon as our schedules allow." She had come to care for Pyrrha a great deal, but that didn't mean Glynda was always pleased at having to share her husband. Thankfully, Jaune didn't appear put out by the news. If anything, he became eager.
"Then I have good news!" the young man grinned. "Pyrrha mentioned wanting to catch a movie and do some shopping this weekend, and I figured it's only fair you get your own day. What do you say about having a date on Sunday, just the two of us? We can dress up, get something to eat, or maybe dance."
Glynda hadn't been expecting so much enthusiasm but jumped at the opportunity. "Do you mind if I pick?" she asked. And when Jaune shook his head, she continued, "In that case, then I think I'd prefer to stay in on our date."
"Really?" Jaune frowned, "you don't want to hit the town and explore a little?"
Glynda answered with one of her rare chuckles, dry as it was. "Oh, Jaune. I've hit the town plenty. By this point, the town is begging for mercy and an inch from death. I don't think I could hit the down any harder without committing a felony. What I haven't done is enjoy a quiet day in my own home with the man I love, simply existing and enjoying each other's company without the unnecessary distraction of some forced activity or entertainment. I would much prefer if you wouldn't mind cooking a simple dinner and cuddling on the couch until it's time for bed."
"I think I can manage that," Jaune nodded, tilting Glynda's face by her chin so he could kiss her.
His teacher accepted the gesture, making up for lost time by holding Jaune against her lips until the last of her worries fell away. The lack of a child in her womb was still disappointing, but Jaune had done a wonderful job making her feel better, and she was truly kicking herself for not telling him what was bothering her right away.
This wasn't likely to be their last setback, perhaps not even their last specifically about conceiving. But Glynda already felt better knowing Jaune would be there for her no matter their future. Ultimately, that was the difference between a romantic partner and a partner in life.
"Enough of that, now," Glynda eventually broke the kiss despite Jaune's grin. "The rest of the class is still waiting for us, and the sooner we get back to Beacon, the better I'll feel. Especially after you get a check-up with the nurse. I've met far too many young men willing to pass off serious injury to believe them at their word anymore."
It was probably for the best, even if Jaune cringed at the idea of doctors. "Come on," he groaned, "it was just one tiny, little Ursa. You probably slayed a few before breakfast! What's the problem?" He'd meant it as a joke, but Glynda quirked an eyebrow.
"Jaune," her voice dropped, "that wasn't an Ursa."
The blond's chuckles immediately stopped. "Um, it wasn't?" He was pretty sure that was what Dove had called it. Then again, he had been pretty out of it.
"It was an Ursa Major," Glynda stressed. As if that should mean something to Jaune. So when he continued staring at her with the same blank confusion, she fought the headache his continued ignorance inspired. "I swear to everything that is holy, during your first semester break, I'm not letting you out of the library until I've crammed four years of preparatory information into that hollow cave you call a skull."
"There's a difference, then?" Jaune flinched at the threat, a little worried his wife wasn't kidding. Glynda wasn't exactly known for her comedy career.
"Only that they are bigger, stronger, and often much smarter than their more common variants. Much like Alpha Beowolves, Ursa Majors only come into being after a Grimm has managed to live a very long time without being slain.
"Oh," Jaune admitted, finally understanding what everyone else had been so impressed about. "That thing should have killed me, huh?" He had to force himself not to chuckle at the honest statement. Talking about his death, even sarcastically, was a very easy way to upset both of his wives, Jaune had learned.
"Some might call it a miracle," Glynda gravely agreed, grabbing her husband's hand to feel its warmth. It might not be the ideal time, but Pyrrha wasn't the only one who saw the romantic appeal of strolling with her husband through the idyllic scenery.
The unusual couple made it several steps before the absence of weight on Jaune's belt caught his attention, reminding him of the important tool he'd almost left behind. "Ugh," Jaune grunted, "one second, I forgot my sword." Which wouldn't have been such a big deal if those seven steps hadn't felt like twenty. He could make it back to the bullheads fine, but for once, he was looking forward to the hour ride home where he could simply sit.
'But before that, I need to figure out how to get my sword out of the monster,' Jaune lamented. A tedious chore, considering how much effort it had taken to stick the thing. Thankfully, Jaune's ignorance of Grimm biology came in handy this time, and he was greeted with the pleasant view of the Ursa's hulking corpse turning to ash before his very eyes.
Hair, meat, and bone turned brittle in the late fall breeze, floating upward until those midnight shards fell apart into nothing. The process wasn't very fast, likely due to how much of the monster needed to vanish, but Jaune was relieved to see that half of his sword blade was now visible. A much easier feat to accomplish. However, a better idea came to mind as he measured the distance between him and the blade.
His newfound smile was immediately met with his wife's disapproving frown, making sure he knew she was in no mood for any more shenanigans. "Whatever you're thinking about, stop," she commanded. "I don't think either of us can take much more excitement today."
"No," Jaune's smile increased. "Hold on. You're going to love this, just…" he let the word hang there, slowly drifting his face closer to hers. And while she was still suspicious, Glynda would hardly dissuade more of her husband's affection, especially after she was reminded of how lucky she was to have him among the living.
Jaune enjoyed the kiss when their lips touched, filling his lungs with his second wife's familiar scent. And while he never needed an excuse to kiss her, he did have a secondary purpose for the stolen gesture and did his best to focus on the unique qualities that had drawn him toward his blonde professor.
He thought about how reliable she had become for him and their family. He thought about everything she had done, everything she had been smart enough to think of when he and Pyrrha had been little more than teenagers playing at house. Glynda was the stability he needed when the world was spinning too fast, and knowing she was there to help him made everything feel possible.
Jaune felt the connection before he noticed the purple light shining on his ring. He felt Glynda through his semblance, her truest essence wrapping around him like a comforting hug. And through her presence, he felt his perception shift in a way that was different from Pyrrha's metal-sense, making him aware of a tangibility focused in the center of his mind.
Confident in his grasp, he broke the kiss to shoot his wife an excited grin. She didn't notice, too busy fluttering her eyelashes after the impromptu passion she hadn't been prepared for. Jaune made sure her eyes were clear and focused before he turned to reach an outstretched hand toward the abandoned sword sticking from the dissolving Ursa like something from a legend.
"Watch," he muttered. Jaune did his best to remember the instructions Glynda had been hammering into his head over the past few weeks.
And it worked. Focusing on the mental energy, Jaune felt Glynda's semblance stretch past the confines of his skull with all the grace and speed of a newlyborn giraffe. But baby steps were still steps, and he took his time stumbling every inch of the way until he was able to feel the leather grip slide into the shapeless blob extending from his forehead.
Success sang through Jaune's blood like a drug. Splitting his focus between his connection to Glynda and her semblance, he found it was easier if he imagined a hand at the end of his new appendage. A hand that mirrored the actions of his physical limb. So when he closed his outstretched fingers, he felt his mental energy wrap around his weapon in a firm grip.
As it turned out, recalling the limb was much easier than pushing it away. All it took was the smallest intent to urge the power back toward him, and it snapped like a rubber band, yanking his weapon free with it. He caught his family's sword out of thin air like he'd performed the maneuver a hundred times, holding the clean steel proudly before his wife.
And to her credit, she didn't shout or appear overly shocked by his accomplishment, merely staring at the simple huntsman weapon with critical scrutiny. A moment passed before her narrowed green eyes bored deep into his blonde pair.
"It looks like we'll have a busy few days, won't we?" she sighed, dragging her husband forward to continue their walk. "Tell me what you learned." It would be a few minutes before they found the rest of the class, so he had plenty of time explain what had happened. Sheathing his sword on his hip, Jaune happily obeyed, doing his best to put his many strange and ethereal discoveries into words.
A/N: Another longer chapter. I think next weeks will be a bit shorter. But as nice as the scene with Cardin was to write, it didn't feel important enough to be its own chapter. So we got both a reconciliation between Jaune and Cardin and the reinforcements coming to save the day. Hopefully, you all enjoyed it.
People complained previously about how Carden was feeling really one note and cliché in the lockeroom chapter and I totally agree. Unfortunately, I only have what Roosterteeth gave us to work with and they didn't do much better. I kept him roughly the same during that introduction because there wasn't a lot of time to go deeper, but I intend to give him his own identity throughout the story, just like I'm trying to do for all the characters. And that first step includes helping Jaune get stronger. He's still an asshole and a racist but no one is completely evil and there's always room to grow as a person.
Also, as you all read, Jaune's abilitity to use his wive's semblances is deeply tied to their emotional bonds. And the empathetic link was a big clue towards that. Obviously, Jaune's semblance would want him to get to get along with his wives and that is a helpful tool toward that. However, the automantic love impluse takes care of that for the most part. The empathetic link serves as a tool to help him understand them better. And through that, he gets stronger. But even with his semblance's help, that kind of bond can still take time, especially depending on the kind of women he gets married to.
Next chapter in two weeks. Jaune practices his semblance some more and all this new informations sparks a serious conversation about what kind of women he and his wives want to invite into their family.