Chapter 4: Not Over till the Lady Sings

It was astonishing Jaune thought how easy he fell into a routine. As days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, he became used to Atlas, or at least the section of it he currently found himself in.

Every day as the morning began, he would get up from whatever project had occupied him the previous night. Whether it was a weapon diagram, a book, or even sometimes a Video Game or Movie he put them away and went to take a shower. He would dress in his monotone school uniform and exit his room navigating the school with the experience he had gained from staying there so long.

He would sit through his General Education courses paying attention as much as he needed for the skill gain and not much else. That is of course with the exception of his first class because it seemed Weiss had a sixth sense for when he would stop taking notes or gaze off into the distance.

She would then glare at him till he got back to work so out of compromise Jaune's notes in that class were probably the best in the whole school barring Weiss's.

Jaune couldn't complain too much as he doubted without her push that he would have gained quite so much intelligence from the book work portion of his classes evening out to a total of ten points so far.

It was the afternoon that Jaune found himself the most excited for while he did manage to work out at nights in his room the stat and skill gain there failed to compare when he had instruction by an actual teacher.

Notably he would estimate of the thirty-four points physical stats he had gained. At least half of that could be attributed to this class time alone. That gain in stats had by now made it so that he was perhaps one of the most physically capable students in the class.

That is with the exception of Weiss who had seemingly taken his increasing ability as a personal challenge and even if she could not compete in strength her agility had become even more incredible.

Of course, this did not take into account the skill levels he had gained. Getting hammered by Weiss constantly had dramatically increased his Sword Arts, Shield Arts, and Aura Control. This was not to mention his late-night self-study that further refined those skills using the knowledge that he had gotten earlier in the day.

On the off chance that he was not partnered with Weiss he found that fighting other students was not nearly as difficult and that he often managed to win as his skills increased. Of course, those opportunities became fewer and fewer as after a winning streak in the last month against the other students he had once again found himself seemingly permanently partnered with Weiss.

That wasn't to say he was unappreciative. Fighting with Weiss helped him grind his combat levels like no other activity. Not to mention that even after these past months she was still the only person he had managed to befriend.

That wasn't to say that the other students were impolite. On the contrary they were quite polite but any time that Jaune would have normally dedicated to making friends he had found another time sink for.

Namely categorizing what his ability could and could not do.

As far as he could tell his inventory was unlimited. He had even managed to shove his bed into it though he had been stumped after that as any larger objects would likely be realized as missing if he tried to use them for practice.

Aura control had also taken up a fair amount of time as with his increased Vitality massively boosting his AP, he had spent a truly ludicrous time at night working on his Aura projection. It had been a pain at first figuring out to work on it as he had on his first night found out the blades, he launched could very easily cut through things at the unfortunate expense of one of his bed posts.

After some asking around, he had found that there were rooms available for individual training with weapons. He had started taking long periods of time after class ended practicing his aura usage in those rooms.

So it was that the time seemed to elapse at a speed Jaune was not quite used to.

He would train, he would study, he would relax. It was very easy Jaune realized to fall into that kind of routine in Atlas. The city itself seemed to be built on that kind of work ethic.

He had thought about attempting to get a job to earn some amount of income as even though he had no expenses his needs taken care of by the school as they were he still thought it would be best to have some income for when he eventually needed to leave. He had approached the administration about this only to find that he had been given a stipend for some reason.

He could only think that it must have something to do with General Ironwood.

Where his schedule was interrupted was surprisingly enough by Weiss Schnee someone who Jaune though exemplified the Atlas way of life. She had been complaining about a ball that she had to attend and her lack of a partner while they studied in the library when Jaune had off handedly replied that he was fairly decent at dancing.

He had not been truly paying attention so he could have been forgiven for his shock when Weiss had taken his off-hand comment as a proposal.

This was why Jaune was now pulling at the tie of an entirely too expensive suit that had been delivered to his room just hours ago by a balding man dressed in a butler suit who introduced himself as Klein Sieben. He had been taken to a massive manor that as domiciles went eclipsed any that Jaune had ever seen in his life.

To put it simply it was ostentatious something that was made even more apparent as Klein walked him in past the various adults who were dressed in suits and dresses that even Jaune with his limited knowledge could tell were incredibly expensive.

He had been told to wait by the stairs so there he stood, wishing that he had maybe grinded his stealth so that he could blend into the background. His wishful thoughts weren't very useful so Jaune did his best to imitate the few other children his age he saw there. Namely being quiet and standing with a perfect posture.

"Jaune?" a familiar voice came from behind him and he turned to see Weiss standing there looking the very picture of elegance as far as someone her age could. She was wearing a white dress that flowed down to her feet completely different from what she wore at school.

Well, Jaune supposed she would obviously not be wearing her school uniform but he still couldn't help but shake that the look did not quite suit her. Almost as if she was not wearing the dress for herself but for everyone else.

He shook the feeling away and replied, "Uh Hi Weiss, this is," Jaune looked about the room searching for words, "Really something."

Weiss's lips quirked before with an elegant motion she took Jaune's arm.

"Shall we?" she asked softly and Jaune had to resist the urge to shrug.

"I mean I think I still have some homework-" Weiss glared at him though Jaune took some comfort that compared to the first glares he had received from her this one was significantly less frosty.

"I mean lead on Ms. Schnee," Jaune corrected himself blinking innocently at her.

Weiss nodded firmly and they began to make rounds around the floor. Weiss demonstrated her talent was not just in the classroom or in sparing by delicately talking with the various groups of people arrayed about the mansion. Something that despite himself Jaune zoned out for as he seemed to be for the most part a decorative piece for Weiss's arm.

Not that he felt particularly insulted by this duty. He did not envy the fake laughs or smiles Weiss seemed to be constantly making. Laughs and smiles he only new were fake due to the few real ones he had inspired in her over the past months.

Still, he was fascinated when he finally spotted someone he did know, namely General Ironwood standing stiffly in a crowd of people holding a completely full glass with one hand a thousand yard stare on the wall across from him. He had not changed at all from when Jaune had first met him still wearing the white suit, black undershirt and red tie.

It was strange Jaune thought that given the position the man held that he did not seem more at ease surrounded by these figures of high society.

As he watched he saw one of the people say something to Ironwood who gave a terse response that nevertheless the entire group seemed to listen to before they went back to their own conversations.

Or maybe it was not so strange Jaune thought. Ironwood had a certain charisma about him. Something that made people listen to him and look to him.

He should thank him, Jaune thought. The man had given him so much, he had given Jaune the ability to follow his dream. Still Jaune knew better than to interrupt a group of high society people like that. He would have to find another opportunity.

An elbow caught Jaune in the gut and he immediately refocused on where he was to see Weiss frowning up at him.

"Do I have you attention now?" she asked icily.

Jaune nodded solemnly, there was no way he was going to purposely irritate Weiss. He already did enough of that by accident.

She continued her tone softening once she saw she had his attention, "I'm supposed to sing. I expect you to wait here and not cause any trouble."

Jaune gave a faux wounded expression, "I wouldn't cause any trouble. I thought you knew me better than that."

"Promise me Jaune," Weiss said softly.

Jaune frowned, "I give you my word as an Arc," Jaune said solemnly.

She seemed genuinely worried, but why?

Weiss walked off heading for a clear section of the floor where a band was currently playing.

Jaune looked around trying to spot a place where he would be out of the way and soon located a corner near a stand with a bottle of something on it. He walked over to it taking a position out of the way that any reasonable person would be passing through.

Idly Jaune stared up at the ceiling wondering if he should try counting how many specs of dust there were. He shook the thought away in the next instant. What would that even accomplish?

The lights dimmed and the soft keys of a piano began.

Weiss stood illuminated in a beam of white light.

She opened her mouth and something angelic came out.

Jaune stood transfixed as the music soared through the room surging and receding like the waves of the ocean, he had gazed out not so long ago. It was beautiful but as Jaune listened to the lyrics he couldn't help but frown. There was an undeniably note of sadness in the lyrics, of loneliness.

The song came to a soft end and the audience applauded. Weiss curtseyed before walking off the stage looking around before she was stopped by a tall thin man with greying hair and a thick mustache.

She seemed to exchange only a couple of words with him before they parted the man walking over to the group by General Ironwood while Weiss continued her path to Jaune. She stopped in front of him and Jaune realized she was looking at him expectantly.

"You were amazing," Jaune said, "I had no idea you could sing like that."

Weiss's cheeks flushed slightly before she nodded primly.

"Thank you, I'm glad to see you managed to stay out of trouble."

Jaune blinked in shock, "Wait you actually expected me to fail?"

A small smirk quirked Weiss's lips as she didn't answer before she grabbed his hand and led him out of the room and up a series of massive marble stairs. They continued their path through the manor before they stopped by a wooden door which Weiss opened gesturing for Jaune to come inside.

Jaune went inside looking about the finely appointed room taking note of the particularly massive bed before Weiss came inside shutting the door behind her.

"So, what are we doing here?" Jaune couldn't help but ask, "Shouldn't we still be at the party."

Weiss shook her head, "Father prefers if I'm there for the first portion to entertain but disappear afterwards so he can do his business."

Jaune couldn't help but note the disdainful tone she said business in.

Ungracefully she flopped back onto the bed and Jaune looked about before taking the chair by the desk. They sat in a companiable silence for a couple of moments before Weiss spoke into the air, "Thank you."

Jaune who had simply been enjoying not having to keep his posture as stiff as a board looked at Weiss from the chair he was lying in, "For what?"

She perked her head up slightly from the bed looking at him, "For coming," she said simply.

He hadn't done much. He had merely walked with her around the party and stood in a corner. Yet the way that Weiss said those words it seemed that Jaune had done far more than that.

Jaune didn't know how quite to respond to her earnest words, but he did his best, "Well of course, we're friends."

Weiss gave him a small warm smile.

They spent the rest of the night in her room, studying at first on Weiss's suggestion but eventually just spending time talking.

Jaune told her some stories about his family what it was like growing up the only brother of seven sisters though he very carefully kept the fact that he was in all senses of the word a runaway from the conversation.

In return Weiss told him about her family. In particular this meant she told him about her sister Winter who apparently worked with General Ironwood as a Specialist in the Atlesian Military. Given his surroundings Jaune was curious why exactly an heiress for the Schnee fortune would want to do that, but he pushed those questions away.

He was already getting a small picture of what things were like with the Schnee's which gave him little comfort with his friend in the middle of it. He had even done his own small bit of research into the Schnee family's history and had discovered the notable turn in company policy when Weiss's father Jacques Schnee took over the company.

It wasn't his place to say anything though. Whatever the circumstances whatever the situation he had found a true friend in Weiss despite her sometimes prickly nature. If she needed anything all she had to do was ask.

They talked for a long time until there was a soft knock at the door along with a softly uttered, "Ms. Schnee."

Weiss walked to the door and opened it revealing Klein standing there a knowing smile on his face.

"I'm afraid it's gotten rather late Ms. Schnee so I was wondering if I might escort Mr. Arc home."

"Oh," Weiss glanced at a clock and her cheeks flushed, "Right," she turned to Jaune who got up from the chair he had been sitting in, "I'll see you tomorrow Jaune."

Jaune gave her a grin, warmth swelling in his chest, "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, Weiss."

He exited the mansion following behind Klein into the car which hummed to life under Klein's gentle coaxing. They sat in silence for a solid portion of the drive at first before Klein spoke conversationally, "I'm glad that Ms. Schnee has a friend like you."

Jaune shrugged awkwardly feeling somewhat embarrassed at the man's frank comment, "I'm lucky to have a friend like her."

Klein hummed nodding, "Ms. Schnee is quite capable in many areas. Making friends is unfortunately not one of them. You're coming tonight was helpful in more ways than you realize."

Klein's words bothered Jaune. Sure, Weiss could be standoffish and hadn't made many friends at school, but she was strong. He was sure if he hadn't come along Weiss would have been just fine on her own.

Still he wouldn't gainsay Klein's words. If he thought Jaune coming had helped Weiss then who was he to say that Klein was wrong. Still after spending so much time with her Jaune couldn't help but feel there were deeper layers to Weiss that he had yet to uncover.

Layers that he was unsure that Weiss was herself aware of.

Time continued its passage and Jaune ended up at other parties as Weiss's guest. He continued to dedicate himself to his studies cementing himself as just under Weiss when it came to book studies. He had a harder time placing himself when it came to the physical activities when it came to the rest of his peers. The times when he did fight the other students he found that his physical capabilities had far surpassed them. Something which he attributed to the fact that his body had became far more capable than it should be for its age due to stat gain.

This in turn made it difficult to judge where his technique ranked against them. When he could send them flying with half hearted shield bashes his skill had become less relevant.

This worried him. While he may be good compared to others in his class, he had seen the older students sparing and he knew that his technique was nothing compared to them.

He had tried to work on his weakness spending time fighting blindfolded or alternately with ear plugs.

This had finally raised his sense stat to a still comparatively low 20 but the stat had paid off in dividends making his fights even easier as he could now almost feel things around him in a limited radius.

Still all this had compounded, and his skill gain had been comparatively low which he knew was because aside from Weiss who had an incredible amount of versatility, he didn't have an adequate challenge. Not to even mention the fact that as far as he could tell he had to kill Grimm if he wanted to gain exp.

It brought him back to the thought that had started this adventure. He needed to fight Grimm. Grimm would not hold back. If there were Grimm that needed teams of Hunters to take them down, then encountering them would give him the challenge he needed.

The trouble was even with the upcoming field exercises his chances of having a no holds fight with Grimm was low. There would be multiple teachers there to protect the students. Still he knew that if he wanted to become the best Hunter he could he would need to determine a way to get in a fight with a Grimm.

One that preferably wouldn't be so much of a challenge that they would eviscerate him.

He was nearly thirteen which meant that he had only a little more than four years to get ready to go to a Huntsman Academy. He couldn't rely on a strange headmaster giving him admission after dealing with a violent situation like had occurred when he had managed to get into this combat school.

A knocking on his door disturbed his thoughts. He got up from his books and papers and went to the door opening it to one of the last people he would have expected to see.

General Ironwood stood there his usual stern expression on his face.

"Hello Jaune, may I come in?" he asked.

Jaune hastily nodded and backed away from the door gesturing Ironwood in. As Ironwood stepped in Jaune hastily grabbed his school supplies and haphazardly put them on his desk. With Ironwood's strictly regimented appearance he doubted that the man would appreciate his messy room.

Turning back around he could see that the General did not seem to be examining his room but instead was examining him with a strange look in his eyes.

"I assume you're likely wondering what the occasion for my visit is?" Ironwood said.

Jaune hesitantly nodded, "Yes sir."

Ironwood continued, "You've been at our academy for almost a year now and have demonstrated yourself as a model student. By all the reports from your teachers you work hard and get excellent results."

Not knowing what else to say Jaune replied, "Thank you sir."

Ironwood shook his head, "There's no need to thank me. Thank yourself for your efforts. What I wanted to do was relay an opportunity for you."

"An opportunity sir?" Jaune interest was piqued.

"Yes," Ironwood said, "Some Huntsman of mine will be performing a routine Grimm clearing operation on the Northern continent of Anima. I'm offering the opportunity for some students at our combat school to go with them, as observers of course."

Jaune nodded, it wasn't quite fighting Grimm but maybe it was still an opportunity that he couldn't pass up.

"I would be very interested in that sir," Jaune said having to restrain the smile that would have spread to his face.

"Good," Ironwood nodded before glancing around the room, "I'm glad that you are not resting on your laurels and are hard at work, but I would recommend making sure to get plenty of rest. The airship will be leaving two days from now."

"Right," Jaune nodded having to resist the urge to awkwardly scratch the back of his head. Was Ironwood always so serious.

Ironwood turned perfectly and stepped out of the room with no further words and Jaune after a moment closed the door behind him.

This could be his chance he thought to himself. If he could just kill a couple of Grimm not only would he have an idea of how far he had come but also an idea of where to take his skills in the future.

He began to organize his room only to hear his scroll buzzing. After a couple moments of searching, he located the device and opened it to see Weiss's face. Her normally serious expression was instead set in a large smile.

"Jaune! I just got a message from the school that we're going to be going on a trip to Anima!"

Jaune couldn't help but return her obvious enthusiasm, she obviously must have been one of the other students selected to go on the trip, how she already knew that he was one of them was another question entirely, "Yeah I heard that too. You seem quite excited."

"Of course," Weiss huffed her smile submerging below her usual serious expression for a moment, "This is the perfect opportunity to see how far our training has taken us. I expect you to take this seriously."

"Of course, Weiss," Jaune couldn't help the small grin that spread across his face, "I'm sure if I didn't you would never let me hear the end of it."

"You're quite right," Weiss sniffed, and it was only the small quirk at the edge of her lips that let Jaune know that she was joking.

"So was there anything else you needed," Jaune asked not really wanting to end the conversation, but he knew that unlike him Weiss actually did need to sleep.

"I was wondering if after the trip if you would accompany me to another one of my Father's parties," Weiss asked her gaze directed a little bit downwards.

"Of course," Jaune nodded a little bit confused, he had accompanied her to so many of these parties that at this point he had gotten quite used to the parade around the stately mansion as Weiss talked to people that even with his intelligence, he couldn't be bothered to remember their names. Why Weiss seemed uncomfortable asking him he wasn't quite sure, but he knew if it was important, she would tell him.

"Good," Weiss said and worried her lip between her teeth for a moment before she said slowly, "Goodnight Jaune."

"Goodnight, Weiss," Jaune said, and the call ended.

Jaune sighed getting onto his bed and staring at the ceiling. It had been a while since he had slept but for some reason, he kind of wanted to right now. If only not to think about the fact that if he did end up engaged in a fight with some Grimm without backup Weiss would likely be furious with him.

Not for the first time Jaune wondered if his need to be a Hunter was unhealthy. Not for himself. He was pretty sure anything short of death would be taken care of by the Gamer ability. For other people though he wasn't so sure.

His family didn't even know where he was. What would happen if for some reason he never made it home again? They wouldn't know what had happened. All they would know is that their son had left to be a Huntsman and had never contacted them again. Would they hate him?

Maybe.

Still Jaune couldn't say he would have done anything differently. Even discounting his dream meeting Weiss his first real friend was something that was immeasurably precious to him.

That night for the first time in a long time Jaune Arc slept his dreams untroubled by his waking worries.

Authors Note:

The reason why Jaune is managing to catch up to his peers is because he is starting when a lot of them are also starting. In canon there's the whole of primary combat school to catch up on. Jaune is now beginning with the rest of his peers and with his Gamer ability he has an increased rate of growth.

This will be the largest stat gain for awhile and can be mostly attributed to close to a year of uninterrupted study and an unhealthy number of sleepless nights.

I will see you all in the next episode.

Stats:

Name: Jaune Arc

Level: 4

HP: 300

AP: 3000

Mana: ?

Strength: 36

Agility: 30

Vitality: 30

Sense: 20

Intelligence: 28

Luck: ?

Available Ability Points: 20

Skills:

Gamers Mind: Level Max

Dancing: Level 50

General Studies: Level 35

Hunter Martial Arts: Level 15

Hunter Sword Arts: Level 28

Hunter Shield Arts: Level 24

Aura Control: Level 25

Survival: Level 3

Stealth: Level 2

Inventory:

Crocea Mors

Assorted Food Supplies

Camping Equipment