Chapter 23: Reunion at the docks

When Sun agreed to help Blake with her White Fang problem, a huge part of him was excited. It felt like it was gonna be something out of an action spy movie.

Sneaking around, starting explosions, and fighting bad guys? All staples of a good action movie that Sun would be excited to be in. And for a moment, it was just like that.

Sneaking around the docks looking for the White Fang? Easy, they just needed a vantage point where they could watch a large area. Every spy movie needed a stakeout scene.

They did find the White Fang that way, though Blake did kinda jump into it too much when she went in alone and took Roman Torchwick hostage. Was it badass? Hell yeah it was! It was straight out of an action movie.

Jaune's plan of blowing up the Dust after that? Sign him the fuck up! And wouldn't you know it? Sun just had the perfect Semblance to detonate it from a distance without compromising his safety.

The original plan after that was escape, and while Sun did want in on the action, he was still level-headed enough to know that their safety comes first. Though he still did get in on it when escape didn't become an option.

Sneaking around, starting explosions, and fighting bad guys? Yeah, he did all that and he was having fun, you know? But it's sad to say that he lost sight of reality for a second there and it woke him up with a slap to the face.

When Jaune cut off a guy's hand, that's when it snapped Sun back to reality. This isn't a game. This isn't an action movie. This is real life, and real life is gonna suck for a while.

Sun wasn't a stranger to violence. He lived on the streets of Vacuo as an orphan when he was a child. Beatings and robberies were a staple of the place.

Yet, seeing someone's hand fly off? Sun feels like that's on another level. If that was already enough to make Sun queasy, he's worried about Jaune's reaction when he's the one who did it.

He was right to worry, because he did see Jaune freeze. That's when everything turned from everything is going to plan to holy shit we are getting our asses kicked.

Sun tried to help his new bro but he was too busy fighting off the other White Fang mooks to help him snap out of it. He's just thankful that Ren managed to get to Jaune in time and had the perfect Semblance to calm Jaune down.

Jaune must have seen something because next thing Sun knows he's running towards Blake before she cried out in pain. Turns out, Roman Torchwick was aiming at her after swatting away Nora.

Not willing to let Roman target another one of his new friends, Sun and Ren join Nora in pinning him down. Surely they'd be able to beat him by now right? Surely they'd be able to turn things around again once they beat Roman?

Wrong, Roman Torchwick was actually able to hold them off using his experience. Never letting himself fight all of them at once, always swatting away one of them first before they're able to converge on him together.

Hearing Blake scream and seeing Jaune's body on the ground just made the situation all the more horrifying. He thought he'd have to watch his new bro die right in front of him back there.

Luckily, the rest of Blake's teammates arrived to save Jaune. Though the fight isn't over yet, they still have Roman Torchwick to deal with and Blake just got taken hostage.

Sun just hopes something changes soon because the way things are going, someone's gonna die here.

Inside a room surrounded by dull gray walls, numerous families huddle together after the end of the day.

"It will be okay, **** . One day we will visit every corner of the world. We will be the most free of them all." A lovely face smiles down at him as he lays his head on her lap.

The scene changes for him, from the dull gray rooms into the bleak open grounds of the middle of the mine.

"No! No! Please not my son! Please! He didn't know any better!" His mother begs on her knees, clinging to one of the guards' legs.

"He was caught stealing the guards' rations. He must be punished."

"I'll take it! I'll take the punishment! I'll do anything!"

"...Anything?"

"...Anything."

"****, please wait at home for me, okay? I'll be back in a bit."

"Your mother left you, you runt! She left you for humans!" A guard wearing full-body armor with a snowflake emblem on his shoulder hysterically shouts at him as he cries for his mother.

"Do you wanna be with your mother?"

**** nods at that.

"Then let me make you human!"

Pain is all that follows after that shout. Pain and a certain dullness to the world.

Images of snowflakes, of Dust, of his mother run through his currently chaotic mind. Shaking his thoughts off the last memories of his mother, LT only has one thought in his mind.

"Schnee…" LT growls as he sees the Schnee standing on the roof of a building near them.

He walks forward, stepping off of the young man he just defeated. As LT walks away, he does not notice a certain glow coming from the young man he just left.

There is only one thought left in LT's mind.

"Schnee…" LT growls again in fury as he sees the Schnee jump off the building and into the ground to join her friends.

Thump-Thump

When Jaune went to help Blake he was prepared to fight. He was ready to get hurt just to keep her safe. He should have realized just getting hurt is not enough to save her or anyone.

Thump-Thump

He wasn't ready for his body to freeze when he was just about to stab the guy hurting Blake though. All he could see at that moment was the hand flying off and a scream piercing the night.

Thump-Thump

Suffice to say, that got him beaten up by the big Faunus Blake was originally fighting. Getting beaten into the ground was not fun, especially in front of a pretty girl you were trying to protect in the first place.

Thump-Thump

For a moment there he thought he was gonna die. He didn't want to die of course, but at the time there was literally nothing he could do. All he could do was look at Blake and apologize with his eyes.

Thump-Thump

It took Ruby arriving at the nick of time to save him to snap out of it. He still hasn't managed to save Blake yet.

Thump-Thump

When he saw Blake get knocked out by Neo, that was when he realized something important.

Thump-Thump

Jaune would rather dish out pain to the people wanting to hurt his friends than letting them go so they can hurt his friends.

Thump-Thump

Resolve fills Jaune when sees the large Faunus walk away from him and approach Neo in order to take Blake.

Emotions bubbling upwards from deep beneath his soul turns his blood hot. Aura reacted to his righteous fury and resolute thoughts.

Unseen by everyone there, hidden behind Roman Torchwick and his company, Jaune Arc's body starts to glow.

Careless! How could I be so careless!

Pyrrha Nikos was furious.

She didn't learn her lesson and got distracted!

When Blake cried out, Pyrrha feared the worst. Despite all her training, she looked away from her enemy and saw something that would feature in her nightmares in the nights to come.

She saw Jaune knocked on his back with a Faunus stepping on his chest and a chainsaw raised to deliver the finishing blow.

Jaune! Nooooo!

There's really no time to register anything else other than that because her enemy did not stand still. It takes but a moment for the Spartan to be swept off her feet and fall to the ground.

The next thing she knows is that Ruby has arrived and saves Jaune with a bullet to the Faunus' chainsaw.

Pyrrha could kiss her for that but there is not enough time to feel relief, because her original opponent is already running for Blake.

"BLAKE! LOOK OUT!" She screams out, desperately rising up and sprinting forward to save her friend.

The warning doesn't come on time or maybe Blake is already injured or tired, but Pyrrha sees her friend pass out after getting kicked in the face.

STUPID! STUPID PYRRHA! WHY DID YOU LET HER DO THAT?! YOU"VE FUMBLED TWICE NOW!

For all her reputation and titles of being the Champion or the Invincible Girl, Pyrrha Nikos has never felt more helpless in her life.

Pyrrha could do nothing but stop her pursuit when the girl puts her sword to Blake's throat.

"Neo! Hold the girl! The rest of you, nobody moves or the girl gets it!" Roman Torchwick shouts as he struggles against the combined might of Nora, Ren, and Sun who are now stopping.

Neo, huh? Good to know the name of the enemy I'm going to crush under my boots.

"Roman! You thief! Let go of our friends!" Ruby shouts out as she finally arrives on the ground with the rest of Team RWBY.

"Ahhh. Red, we really should stop meeting like this. People are gonna talk, you know. They'd think you're stalking me." Roman replies as he regroups with his compatriots.

Ruby visibly reacts in disgust that she is actively stalking Roman.

"P-Money! What the hell is happening here?!" Yang asks Pyrrha.

"White Fang smuggling Dust with Roman Torchwick. They've got Blake and Jaune is knocked out." Pyrrha answers back worriedly, quickly relaying the situation as she sees Sun, Ren, and Nora surround Roman from the other side.

"The White Fang, I knew they were always up to no good." Weiss says haughtily at Pyrrha's report of the current situation.

"Not the time, Weiss." Pyrrha frowns, irritated at the heiress' attitude. True, the White Fang is up to no good, but this is not the time to rub it in.

"Schnee.." The large Faunus growls out.

"...Mongrel." Weiss snorts back at the Faunus growling at her.

That only makes Pyrrha look incredulously at her, because really? Mongrel?

"What? He started it!"

"""Not the time, Weiss!""" Pyrrha, Ruby, and Yang speak at the same time.

"Alright kiddos! Here's what's gonna happen! We are taking kitty-cat here and the Dust with us and if any of you tries to stop us, she gets it."

"Let our friend go, Roman!" Ruby shouts again.

"Yeah….no. Do you really think you're in a position to demand something here?"

That gets all of them to fall silent. They might have Roman surrounded in a semi-circle, but he's holding all the cards. He has Blake and not to mention Jaune knocked out near them.

The silence is eventually broken when they hear the sounds of bullheads approaching. Pyrrha's spirits soar at that, surely it is the police finally arriving after all this time.

"Ahh. Finally, some reinforcements. Come on, Neo. Time to go. Mutt, take your cat back. Remember kids, no following." Roman announces with levity in his voice as he proceeds to skip away from their group.

Pyrrha's spirits promptly dropped when he said that.

The large Faunus walks forward, taking Blake away from Neo. He carries Blake's sleeping body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes as he turns to stare at all of them before landing at Weiss for a final glare.

"...I'll be killing you next time, Schne-." The Faunus starts growling at Weiss only to be interrupted by a large sound.

BOOM!

Pyrrha's heart soars again when one of the bullheads suddenly crashes into the docks! Really, this is bad for her heart, she's only 17 and she already feels like having a heart attack with all these ups and downs.

"WHAT?!" Roman shouts gobsmacked, turning around to the sight of his bullheads crashing into the docks.

"THIS IS THE VALE POLICE DEPARTMENT. DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" A siren announces as cars suddenly arrive at their location.

"Tch, come on! We still have a hosta-!" Roman starts only to be interrupted by a glowing body crashing past him and into the large Faunus.

The glowing body moves fast, as if propelled forwards by an unseen power and crashes with enough force to knock the large Faunus downwards.

Blake's sleeping body is snatched from the air by the glowing figure before she even falls to the ground.

It's not that it happened too fast for any of them to react. It's just that it was so unexpected that it took every one of them a moment to realize what was going on.

"Hey guys, I got Blake." Jaune Arc smiles tiredly at them, carrying Blake in a princess carry with blood still on his face.

"Jaune?!"

"How did you do that?!"

"When were you so fast?!"

"Why are you glowing?!"

"Fearless leader!"

Shouts mixed with confusion, excitement, worry, and concern call out to him.

Pyrrha's heart soars again at the sight of her boyfriend successfully saving their friend. Nothing could ruin everything now that they're all together. She really shouldn't have tempted fate with that.

Pyrrha was just starting to approach Jaune and Blake with a grin when everything changed so suddenly. Jaune stumbles forward and with a flicker there's suddenly a sword sticking out of his chest barely missing Blake's face as it passes through Jaune.

There's someone screaming, it could be her or it could be everyone all at once, but it doesn't matter. They're all running towards him.

The sight of Jaune being run through by a sword will stay with her for the rest of her life. Distantly, in the corner of her mind that is not panicking, a stray thought jumps forward.

I think I'm gonna have a heart attack.

Neopolitan was pissed.

When Neo asked for some excitement in her life, she didn't ask for this much excitement!

Not only did someone lie to her about the big White Fang lieutenant not being able to talk, but she had to fight against someone able to kick her ass! Pyrrha freaking Nikos!

Yeah, Neo knows about Pyrrha Nikos because she doesn't leave under a rock thank you very much. The better question is what the hell is even happening?!

Why the hell is she running around Vale fighting criminals?! Doesn't she have training or classes tomorrow or anything?!

Every clash they had ended up with Neo having to use her Semblance just to avoid getting knocked out of the fight.

The only clean hits she managed to deal with to the girl were when she underestimated Neo at the beginning of the fight and when she was distracted by what was happening with the others.

It's how Neo managed to shake her off in the first place. When the pussy cat cried out and distracted the redhead, Neo took her chance.

A sweep of her feet and Pyrrha Nikos is lying on the ground, unable to chase her as she regroups with the big guy.

She took the time to knock out the pussy cat on the way just so they could have a hostage, and frankly because the big guy seems obsessed with her. Not to mention a hostage is always a good way to secure an escape route.

Yet all that effort amounted to nothing! Jaune…..The blondie managed to get up after getting beaten to the ground and rescued that cat!

At that time, Neo made the executive decision that they needed a distraction in place of their hostage.

So really she stabbed Jaune from behind, mind you she wouldn't have been able to pierce him anyway because of his thick Aura coating him, all she did was stagger him.

But even that stagger was useful as a distraction because when added with her Semblance, she managed to make it look like her sword went through his chest and he was dying.

It took a lot of concentration to keep the illusion visible for a lot of people while running away, but she managed to do it. All in all, Neo would consider it a good enough distraction for their escape.

After that, Roman, Neo, and the big guy managed to get to a bullhead in order to escape. Though that wasn't the case for some of the White Fang.

They lost a lot of men to the police just for this operation, not to mention that there were also those who went down when one of the reinforcement bullheads crashed.

To add insult to the injury, they even had to drop most of the Dust just so they could escape the Vale PD.

For all that effort, the smuggling, the fighting, and the escaping, all they had to show for themselves was one-fourth of the Dust they were supposed to get and half the manpower they started out with.

Damn. They'd have to explain this clusterfuck to the fire bitch. Neo just hopes Roman has something ready to tell her, because really, does anyone expect Neo to be the one to talk?

Narrowing her eyes down at the docks from their escaping bullhead, Neo thinks about the blonde who led a group that includes Pyrrha Nikos to stop their operation.

Jaune Arc…..you make things interesting…..too interesting.

"All I could give you is that knowing yourself and extreme emotions might push you to unlock your Semblance."

"Then it needs a more stressful situation and intense emotional reaction to unlock it."

Well Ren, consider him stressed and emotionally intense.

Those were the thoughts that were running through Jaune Arc's mind when he first used his Semblance. Thanks to that and his dream, Jaune knew what to expect when using his Semblance and he didn't really fumble his first time.

The way his Aura healed him quickly, the way it filled his whole body and left it feeling light and tight at the same time. It made Jaune feel strong and fast enough to do what he wanted. This could only be his Semblance.

Aura Amplification.

Thanks to that, he managed to get Blake away from the large Faunus. Though it was not without a price, it felt like he got hit in the back right after saving Blake.

After that hit, he expected for all hell to break loose. All of them against all of Roman's group. He didn't expect that his friends would be the one to mob him.

He'll admit the hit was painful. It was strong enough to stagger him but surely not enough to warrant the concern and screams he is getting from his friends.

He saw Ruby and Weiss freeze at him with their jaws dropped and faces pale. Yang and the rest of his team were suddenly running towards him with Sun following behind them.

"Jaune?! Talk to me! Are you okay?!" Pyrrha was the first to get to him with teary eyes though, putting her hands on his chest while trying to avoid squishing Blake.

"Jaune! Blake!" Yang was second, taking Blake from his arms. She might have said something else but frankly, he was overwhelmed.

"Jaune-Jaune!"

""Jaun-""

"WAIT! Where's Roman and the White Fang?" Jaune asked impatiently, not wanting to be blindsided again.

"They…They ran when we thought you got stabbed." Sun is the one who answered with a shaky breath.

That only makes Jaune confused. Sure he did get hit in the end back there but nothing really got through his Aura.

"I..We….Oh Gods Jaune, we saw you get stabbed." Pyrrha answers in shaky breaths hugging him tightly once she sees that he's okay.

Confused as he was, he takes the time to comfort Pyrrha. He takes his new girlfriend in a tight embrace and reassures her with whispers to her ear.

"Shhh…I'm okay. I'm here. I didn't get stabbed, see?" Jaune says comfortingly before being joined by Nora in the hug.

"JAUNE-JAUNE! I thought you were dead! Don't ever do that again!" Nora hugs tightly with tears in her eyes, crushing both Pyrrha and Jaune together.

"Nora…let them bre-hrk!" Ren starts worriedly but is pulled into the hug by Nora.

Strong as she was, even Nora cannot fit all three people in her arms. This allowed all of them some space and eventually let them have a proper group hug.

In the middle of Team JNPR, Jaune finally feels relaxed enough to breathe a sigh of relief. He did his best to hide it but during the latter parts of the fight he was really worried one of them wouldn't make it, especially him and Blake.

Speaking of Blake, Jaune stepped out of the JNPR hug and turned to look at Team RWBY. Jaune only had a moment to open his mouth before being tackled by a burst of rose petals.

Ruby Rose was suddenly hugging him tightly with her feet off the ground and her arms around his neck.

"JAUNE! Oh Gods….I'm glad you're alive."

That makes him give her a shaky laugh back at her as he reciprocates the hug.

"I'm glad I'm alive too…..Thanks for saving my bacon earlier." Jaune answers, thinking back to the moment the large Faunus almost smashed his head in.

Looking back at it now, Jaune could see that it really was a close call. To think he only managed to get with Pyrrha less than 12 hours ago. Jaune could not fathom the kind of damage it would do to her if she lost him.

All the more reason to thank Ruby. Just the thought that what if Pyrrha was the one in his situation sends shivers down his spine.

Though, despite the morbid thoughts he is having, Jaune Arc realizes two things at once. One, despite her young age, Ruby is surprisingly soft and womanly. Two, his girlfriend is currently staring at him.

"Thanks, Ruby. Really, thank you. But can you get off now? I'm actually getting tired." Jaune starts saying frantically, not wanting to stay in the hug too long and make it awkward for everyone.

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry! Are you okay?!" Ruby panics, unaware of the thoughts running through Jaune's head. She separates from him in a rush, afraid she has hurt him.

"I'm good. My Aura's keeping me up." Jaune replies with a smile.

Gasps sound out from the group at that.

"Jaune! Your Aura, how are you doing that?" Pyrrha asks in surprise, pointing out the fact that Jaune was still glowing, albeit dimly.

"I think it's my Semblance, Pyr." Jaune answers with a relaxed smile, finally feeling the relief of getting through the situation as he gives Ren a short look.

Aura Amplification, just like the dream.

"That's amazing! How did you unlock it?" Ruby asks excitedly in turn, happy for her bestie.

"I just wanted to save Blake, you know. Keep everyone safe and all that. Speaking of Blake, how is she?" Jaune answers truthfully, aiming his question at Yang who still has Blake in her arms.

"...Still knocked out, that shortstack really gave her a wallop." Yang responds absently, still looking at Jaune in a measure of shock.

Thinking back to how his Semblance healed and how Ren managed to calm him down with his, Jaune had a thought.

That maybe…just maybe, he could do something like that too. Share his Semblance and empower someone else other than him.

He doesn't know if it will work, after all, the dream Jaune never tried anything like that with his own Semblance. Still, it's worth a try and see if it could help Blake.

"...Set her down. I want to try something."

"...You're not gonna kiss her to wake her up, are you?" Yang quips nervously at that.

"...Just set her down, please." Jaune repeats but this time with a blush.

"Sorry, just nerves. It's not everyday you see your partner about to get kidnapped only to be saved by a literal shining knight, right?" Yang laughs nervously as she complies and sets Blake down on the ground, in which Yang stays kneeling beside her partner's sleeping body.

I hope this works, just need to do it like how Ren did with his Semblance to me earlier.

Closing his eyes and holding one of Blake's hands as he knelt beside her, Jaune imagines sharing the light of his Aura with Blake.

Jaune knows it's working because he hears his friends gasp and Blake slowly groan. He opens his eyes to welcome her back to the land of the waking only to be surprised by what happens next.

For someone who was just knocked out, Blake was surprisingly fast because she is suddenly holding Jaune's face between her hands.

Surprised by the sudden turn of events, Jaune can only look down at Blake's teary amber eyes as she stares at him shakily.

"...I thought you were going to die…" Blake says, remembering the last time she saw Jaune was when he was trapped under LT's foot.

"...Well, I didn't." Jaune comforts her with a reassuring smile, putting a hand on top of hers.

Relieved at Jaune's reply, Blake's next actions suddenly blow everyone's mind away. She closes her eyes and leans upward to capture Jaune's lips in a searing kiss.

Jaune's eyes shoot wide open at the feel of Blake's tongue invading his mouth. This is the first time he is kissing Blake without the influence of alcohol. It doesn't take long for him to be ensnared by the sensation. In response, he slowly closes his eyes and leans into the kiss.

"What the fuck?!" Yang shouts at the sudden turn of events happening right in front of her.

A/N

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