(Chapter 19)

The sunset over Vale was assisting in the day's transition from the late afternoon into the early evening. The lamp posts scattered around the sidewalks of the city began to faintly glow as they all slowly came to life.

The sounds of cars and trucks was beginning to be accompanied by the growing amount and volume of individual conversations, along with the energy from bars keeping their doors open wide to welcome patrons.

Though, no conversation was as loud or as pure as the interaction Jaune and his partner were sharing. As they walked down the street stumbling in their steps as they attempted to reenact the dance moves they'd performed during their time at the arcade, the various older couples they passed couldn't help smiling as they watched the pair of teens ignore the rest of the world.

Eventually, the two began to fall into a calm stride as they walked together towards their destination. As Jaune led them onwards, his partner decided to start another conversation.

"Best Friend Jaune, how is it that you are such a skilled dancer?" The boy chuckled as he began to talk about himself to his ginger-haired partner.

"I had seven sisters growing up Penny. Being one of the middle kids, I got teased by my older sisters, and had to take care of the younger ones. And growing up, anytime there was a dance, my older sisters would use me to practice, which of course made the little ones want to dance too." His response caused the shorter girl to raise a finger to her chin in thought before she continued her questioning.

"What other skills do you have?" This caused the boy to think hard for a half minute before he nodded his head and began to list them off.

"Well, my parents made sure that all of us knew how to cook and clean, properly. I also know how to sew, garden, drive, give first aid, and a few other things for around the house, but my older sisters each had their own hobbies that they'd pull me into from time to time." The girl nodded in response, before she fired another question to the tall blonde.

"I've read that siblings often embarrass each other, is that true." The blue-eyed teen seemed to blush and scratch his cheek as he remembered some of the things he'd been subject too by his sisters.

"Y-Yeah. We all used to pull pranks on each other, even the youngest ones got in on it sometimes. Besides that, when I was smaller…" He trailed off, mumbling as he relived those moments.

"What did they do Partner?" The girl's curious face was cute, and her leaning towards him made him gulp, but before he could think too much on it, he was already answering her question.

"…they'd dress me up in girl's clothes, do my nails, my hair, a few times they even put make-up on me…" The girl imagined her partner with all those modifications done to him and began to giggle into her hand as her partner groaned into his hands.

"I apologize Jaune, but it's humorous to imagine you wearing makeup." The girl let a few more small laughs escape herself before managing to regain her composure as her partner seemed to be pouting slightly from her side. As they continued to walk, Jaune's eyes lit up as he saw their destination for the night. He urged the girl to increase her pace, and within another few minutes, arrived outside Junior's club.

"Well, we're finally here, so are you ready to dance?" The girl met his energy with her own and despite having been led there by her partner, was pulling him inside to enjoy the evening. One thing Jaune noticed, and was all too glad to, was that his android partner didn't seem against being at Junior's club.

As they made their way inside, they could practically feel the energy coursing through the room. The strobing lights and lasers, the D.J. in his iconic bear costume lost to the music, and the crowd of people on the dance floor enslaved to the sound. Jaune looked to his side and saw his partner's eyes wide with excitement as she looked around, causing him to chuckle as he gently pulled her along towards the bar.

A tap on the shoulder to Melanie and Miltia got them to swivel around on their seats, and their expressions brightened a bit seeing Jaune. The tall blonde took a seat to the left of the girls as Junior made his way over to them, while his partner opted to stand behind them and admire the happenings in the club.

"Hey kid, glad to see you're alright." The older man's tone was a mix of relief and something else he couldn't place.

"Thanks H-" Not but a second after he opened his mouth to respond, he was given a rather firm knock on the top of his head from the larger man.

'So, frustrated; got it.' The blonde watched as the larger man gave him a long stare, before he sighed and began cleaning a glass.

"…I probably deserved that." Junior simply fixed Jaune with a deadpan look that spoke volumes before he responded.

"What you did was real dangerous kid, you could've been killed." The blonde looked to his side and noticed the twins glaring at him with a twinge of sadness hidden in their expressions at the thought of their friend dying. He had the decency to look apologetic as nothing was said between the group for a moment, before Junior craned his neck to the side until an audible pop was heard.

"Whatever. All that matters is that you're still breathing, but I don't want you doing anything dangerous like that unless you have to, ya hear?" The blonde looked down at his hands for a moment before he answered the black-haired man.

"I know, and I promise to try not to get myself killed." The blonde's response was met with a retort from the bar owner.

"Only try?" The blonde let a tiny smile creep onto his face as he spoke back.

"I do want to be a huntsman, kinda an occupational hazard." The girls to his side scoffed while the man across from him only shook his head.

"Just as stubborn as Roman…sit tight kid, I'm gonna fix you a drink."

"Hei, you know I'm not big on alcohol." The large man gave the leader of team JCKP a dry look as he began to demonstrate his craft, and within a minute, a drink was placed in front of Jaune.

"I know, that's why there ain't no alcohol in it." The blonde looked at it suspiciously before he shrugged his shoulder and took a sip. His eyebrows raised a bit, and he went for another sip.

"Hei, what is this?" The large man chuckled seeing Jaune act so impressed before he told the teen.

"It's just lemonade, sweet tea, and a little bit of club soda for the fizz." The blonde looked surprised and decided to ask a question.

"Since when do you have sweet tea?" The man smirked as he gave his answer.

"I distinctly remember a blonde country bumpkin complaining about how we didn't have any sweet tea in the city. So, I decided I'd start making some in case he ever came by. Funny, huh?" The blonde looked rather embarrassed before he finished off the rest of his drink and hopped up from his seat, ready to take his partner to the dance floor.

"Kid." The blonde and his partner turned from where they were going to see the large man looking at them.

"Why'd you come by here tonight?" The blonde looked his partner who looked back at him with a small smile before he answered.

"We just wanted to have a good time." Junior looked at the partner pair, before smiling fondly and speaking to them one last time.

"Good answer. Go have fun you two."

Jaune and Penny looked to each other before they made their way onto the dance floor. As the crowd of people were moving in rhythm to the music, the ginger android and her best friend found themselves a spot to dance together. Jaune let his body loosen for a moment before he began to sway and move to the beat.

The green-eyed girl watched her partner begin to find his groove before she smiled and closed her eyes and began to move in place across from her partner, albeit clumsily. Within a few minutes, Jaune began to speed up his movements a bit, drawing the attention of his partner, who marveled at the fluidity of her partner's dancing.

"Hey, fancy seeing you both here!" A familiar voice called out loud enough to catch the pair's attention, and they turned to see a familiar blonde monkey faunus making his way towards them.

"Friend Sun? What a pleasant surprise!" The Vacuan teen shared a large grin with the short ginger and met his fellow blonde huntsman student in a friendly handshake, before he quickly fell into dancing along with the two.

Penny was impressed to see Sun able to keep up with her best friend, who she knew to be a stellar dancer, and vocalized a question to the two.

"Excuse me friends, but are blonde's naturally good at dancing?" The innocence behind the question made the two blonde's look at each other before shrugging and sharing a hearty laugh. The music began to slowly shift to another genre, the song carrying a little bit more energy than previously, and the ginger could only marvel as her two friends began to move accordingly.

Normally, Penny would want something like dancing to be a skill she learned herself, but instead, she took a few minutes time to record the various movements happening around her. After she was done, she stopped her somewhat clumsy movements and began to move more fluidly, like her partner, but with a confidence and expertise that she previously didn't have.

Before long, the Malachite twins joined them as the group began to draw the attention of the other patrons on the dance floor. Seconds turned to minutes, and the time began to fly by as the blonde knight and his friends ignored everything else but enjoying their night.

Almost an hour of nonstop movement later, the music began to fade into something slower to give the night's guests an opportunity to dance to something more relaxed. Most people didn't come to Junior's club alone either, so the D.J. decided to go with a song that would let couples or 'just friends' get a little closer, and watched as the colors around the club shifted to a more passionate tone.

Sun excused himself and made his way to the bar to get himself a drink, the twins following him with a modicum of interest as he hadn't hit on either of them during their time dancing as a group.

Meanwhile Jaune and Penny were still on the now much emptier dance floor, and the two kept slowly getting closer as they were dancing, until they accidentally bumped into each other. For a moment, they both stood still, not saying a thing. Penny moved a stray bang of hair back into place as she felt the eyes of not only the crowd, but her partner who was in extremely close proximity.

They both blushed a bit, before they both donned shy smiles and began to dance, with Jaune occasionally reaching out to grasp one of Penny's hands and twirl her around. Near the end of the song, something came over the blonde, and when he spun the smaller girl around, he pulled her close so that her back was to his chest as they swayed together softly.

As the music began to fade to the next song, the android turned to face her partner, and for a moment, everything else seemed to just disappear. Neither of them could hear anything save for the other's breathing, and the edges of their vision as they looked at each other seemed to blur everything else out.

For a moment, both teens with half-lidded eyes seemed to move their faces closes closer. As they got closer, they seemed to both remember where they were, and separated, though both were reluctant. The two shyly looked away from each other, and for a moment, Jaune's eyes caught sight of the Junior, the twins, and Sun all giving him their own looks, having witnessed what had almost occurred.

The blonde turned a deeper color of red then what should be possible, and when he finally met the eyes of his partner, he noticed that she was having the same problem. They smiled to each other again, before they began laughing quietly to each other, but as they prepared to start moving to the music again, the doors to the club opened.

The two strongest teams among Beacon's first years had just left the bullhead docks and were travelling to an unnamed club downtown at a good pace. During their time on the aircraft, Blake had begun filling in team PRVN on what their weekend had been like thus far, leaving out some more sensitive details such as Blake's past, or rather, her full past.

As they approached the unmarked building they were heading to, they could see the line of people waiting to get in, and the faint sound of music was growing more audible the closer they became. Eventually they made their way to the main door and were halted by a bouncer that had been standing vigilant, who became slightly uncomfortable at the sight of the blonde brawler, who decided to handle the talking for her and her friends.

"Well? Are you gonna let us in?" She had an impatient look on her face, but the bouncer swallowed and regained a semblance of his composure before pulling out a fancy pocketbook from the inner breast pocket of his suit jacket.

"…You got a name Blondie?" The girl gave the older man a cocky grin before she began to reply.

"Yang Xiao Long, but you can call me Si-"

"You ain't on the list." The girl clearly hadn't been expecting to be cut off, as her eyebrows raised up before what had been said began to dawn on her.

"But I'm supposed to be here to see Junior tonight!" The man just kept giving her the uninterested, though slightly cautious look as he answered her remark.

"If you ain't on the list, you gotta wait in line just like everybody else." The girl grit her teeth as her eyes flashed red, before she took an intimidating step towards the bouncer.

"Now you listen here pal, if you know what's-" Before she could continue making her threat, her younger sister stomped on her foot, causing the taller girl to yelp in surprise before she was pulled towards the back of the line by the red reaper.

"Sorry Sir! She won't be a problem, she's just, uh, grumpy!" The little girl's enthusiasm received a deadpan look from the bouncer, who just watched them walk away from him before he looked down to the pocketbook in his hands, and what was written in it.

'Expecting a teenage girl, wannabe huntress, to swing by tonight. Same blonde from a few months ago that busted everyone and the club. Yang Xiao Long, either let her in, or feel free to make her wait in line.' The man rubbed his ribs remembering where he'd been injured by the lilac-eyed girl months ago, before smirking at his small bit of retribution.

As the minutes flew by at the back, with a person or group ahead of them in line occasionally being let into the club, it was Nora who broke the silence first.

"Hey Blake?" The bow-wearing girl looked up from her book and began to speak with the hammer wielder.

"Yes?" The normally energetic girl seemed introverted for a moment as if there was something she didn't want to bring up, but eventually found her nerve to ask.

"Can I ask you something? It's about Jaune." This caught the attention of most of the group, Vernal included for once, as his name wasn't spoken often amongst them.

"Sure, go ahead." The girl nodded before she seemed to think about what she wanted to ask before she finally spoke again.

"How was he?" The faunus girl and her leader both wore face of remorse and sadness, while the yellow and white themed members of her team were harder to identify.

"He was happy, at least until we ran into him and his friend." The black-haired beauty crossed her arms and furrowed her brow in thought as she began speaking again.

"Everything about him changed Nora. His posture was confident, he changed his outfit, and his body was showing the results of consistent training. Also…" The girl paused before turning to address the entirety of the group before she continued.

"I don't know what he's been doing since he got kicked out of Beacon, but he was able to hold his own against the White Fang fine from what Sun told me he saw and the little bits I was able to see." This caught the members of the former team JNPR by surprise, but before any of them could voice it, Vernal decided to finally speak up.

"Hey, I know this Jaune guy was on my team before me and that he faked his transcripts and got kicked out, but why are you all so shocked that he handled a few members of the White Fang when most of them don't even have aura?"

As no one stepped forward to answer, Pyrrha gave a sigh and prepared to speak, but no one noticed the narrowing of the eyes Blake fixed the girl with as she wondered how the tan girl was privy of that information.

"Jaune was the original fourth member of our team," The hoplite teen bit her lip before letting out a breath and calming herself before continuing.

"and he was chosen to be our leader. He came to Beacon, with no training and no aura, to try and be a hero, and then was chosen to lead us;" The girl then motioned to her team as her as she kept on.

"people who have been trained for their entire lives and sacrificed or lost so much more than he could even begin to understand. But him? He cheated and stole a spot from someone who might've been worthy of it; someone that wouldn't put us more at risk than we already would be."

The tall red-head's feelings on the matter were extremely obvious, but as the group stood in the silence following the Argosian girl's monologue, the response from the pixie-cut sporting bandit stunned everyone.

"I don't see the problem?" Everyone just stared blankly at the girl, who began to grow irritated at the looks she was getting, but seeing that a few members of her group were likely about to begin firing off questions or inputting opinions she didn't care about, she decided to put in her earphones and ignore everything else around her.

Time continued to fly as the tense atmosphere among the group began to settle, before finally, they were given the chance to enter the club.

The door opened and the group stood all together, most of them taking in the atmosphere for the first time with the exception of Yang, who had her eyes scanning the bar until they found Junior. The girl sighed dramatically before turning to address her team.

"Alright gang, try and enjoy tonight, I have to go talk with the guy who runs this place, get a drink, and then hit the dance flo-" The girl was cut off by the a nudge to the side from her partner, and she studied the faces of her peers before she realized there eyes weren't focused on her, but on something behind her.

Turning to survey the club for what it was that captured their attention and silence, she discovered what was responsible for their shock.

Or rather, who.

Yang's own expression soured as her sister's saddened, but Weiss and Blake where more concerned with the glare from the leader of team PRVN aimed at a familiar blonde teen who was on the dance floor.

On the floor, the girl that Jaune was most definitely dancing with, caught sight of them standing at the entrance; Pyrrha specifically, and her face changed to one of surprise, and as her partner turned to see what caught her attention, it turned to one of worry.

Again for the blonde, the music began to fade into the background, the other patrons seemed to just evaporate, though this time for less pleasurable reasons, leaving just himself, Penny, and his former group in its entirety. The tension in the stare the two former partners held was loud, and almost seemed to make the temperature rise.

The champion girl's hands tightened into fists before unclenching several times as she narrowed her eyes at the blonde, while Jaune was beginning to panic slightly. He started to sweat, and the hand that was holding onto Penny's own began to tremble quickly, but he refused to let the scarlet haired girl know what her presence was doing to him.

Penny did a quick evaluation of her dear partner, and found that despite his façade of calm, he was under extreme duress. So, she set her decision in stone and turned her blonde best friend around and pressed her forehead and the tip of her nose to Jaune's own, breaking him out of his stupor as her lively emerald eyes were but a mere centimeter away from his own sapphire orbs.

Unbeknownst to the knightly teen, the image painted by him and his partner sparked a monumental misunderstanding of what had just occurred to his former friends, drawing looks of bewildered surprise from most, and causing Pyrrha to grit her teeth as the handles to the club doors began to glow black and warp as her emotions seeped out.

"P-Penny? What are you-" The boy wasn't blushing despite the close proximity the girl was exhibiting, but before he could continue, he was interrupted.

"Shhhh. There's nothing to worry about Jaune." The girl moved her hands to the sides of the taller teen's head as she whispered to him, and the blonde tried again.

"But…I'm not-I can't see them Penny…I-" The girl studied him as the stood together. Thankfully, the dark lightening of the club plus the strobing lights hid his face from those around them, and the loud music was covering their conversation.

The teen looked and sounded weak, as if all blonde's energy had been drained from him. The girl shushed him again before she spoke to him quietly.

"Do you want to leave Partner?" The teen said nothing but just nodded his head as it was against her and let her pull him along towards the bar where Junior was, away from the eyes of his former team and friends. The man noticed the state the boy was in and immediately became concerned, but upon seeing the obvious air of protection that the girl had for the boy, pointed her towards the staff entrance so that they could leave and not be seen.

Hei watched as the two slipped out of the door at the end of the counter that would let them leave uninterrupted, before turning to see the blonde that wrecked his bar months ago approaching begrudgingly. The man donned his trademark scowl as he began to perpetually clean a class as the girl sat down across from him.

For a moment nothing was said before Junior made the girl her preferred drink, a strawberry sunrise, and slid it to her wordlessly. The girl looked at him and the drink, before cautiously reaching out and taking the drink, beginning to take measured sips as she kept her eyes on the bar owner as he began to speak.

"As I'm sure you know, I got a call from your headmaster asking about a blonde that did a number on my guys and wrecked my bar. Me and my crew are still holding grudges over what happened, ya know that right." The question was rhetorical, but even despite her sarcastic nature, the blonde knew better than to offer up a sarcastic remark.

"But since Ozpin asked me what I thought should be done, the twins came up with a great idea." Yang glanced at the two girls who were sitting together a few seats down before they both poked their tongues out at her. Feeling the familiar heat associated with her semblance, the girl chose to put her attention back towards the man in front of her.

"Ya see Blondie, trying to get you expelled wouldn't change anything. Maybe it happens and you get the boot, but knowing you, you'd probably just go to a different academy. So instead, you're going to be working off the debt you racked up for sending a bunch of my boys to the hospital and busting up my club,"

The girl refused to let anyone see the displeasure the news brought her, having partially expected something like this when she was ordered to report here by her headmaster.

"for the next four years." The girl's eyes flashed red, as she stared at the man ahead of her, though to her surprise, the man didn't flinch or back down, and instead continued talking.

"Kid, even if you worked here for the next twenty years, you still wouldn't pay off what you owe. This way, you won't have any marks on your record, you get to stay in your little huntsman school, and my crew gets to watch you squirm. Everyone's satisfied." The girl just nodded grimly as Junior looked down towards her with his stony expression.

"You'll only ever work on the weekends when I need extra hands, but if I call for your to be here, your ass better be here Blondie. Anyway, go with Melanie and Miltia to the back, they'll help you find something to wear when you're here." The girl looked mortified at the prospect of having the seductively dressed twins pick her outfit, before she was led to the back by the white and red themed girls.

Shortly after the blonde was led to the back, Vernal found herself sitting at the bar and ordering a drink as she began to think to herself about the blonde that her group seemed to nearly have a collective stroke at seeing.

He was tall, but not unnaturally so, and had lush blonde hair above ocean blue eyes. He had muscle, not those of one who'd been training their entire lives to fight, but those of someone who was dedicated to strengthening themselves.

If asked, Vernal wouldn't deny that she'd been undressing the former member of her team with her eyes. Because to her, the blonde she saw looked similar to the blonde the leader of her tribe kept a secret picture of. And Vernal idolized Raven, so to her, it was only natural that she should look for a lover like the one of her leader. Unfortunately, the teen looked to be taken by the ginger he disappeared with.

Before she could continue the line of thought she was slowly descending to, her magenta-eyed teammate appeared next to her asking a question.

"Have you seen Nora?"

Jaune and Penny walked slowly towards the hotel hand in hand, under the moonlit sky, ready to unwind from what had happened at the tail end of their night. Jaune had seemed to calm down and even smile a few times once they were well away from the club where an unexpected reunion had occurred.

Suddenly, Penny stood up straight and stopped walking, before turning around and speaking out towards the empty corner and sidewalk.

"Who's there?" Jaune looked surprised as the sudden outburst from his partner, but after a few moments of silence, a figure came out from around the corner and made her way towards the blonde slowly.

The berserker's steps were loud as she tentatively came closer to the knightly teen, who seemed concerned about what would possibly follow, before the unthinkable happened.

A sob escaped the girl, and once close enough, she launched herself at her former leader, who instinctively caught her in his arms and held as she cried into his chest. Her unintelligible wailing made the blonde feel something he couldn't describe, but whatever it was, it didn't feel good. And instead, he just stood their and let Nora's tears seep into his new clothes as his partner, unsure of what else to do, began to rub her fellow ginger's back comfortingly.

After nearly five minutes of close proximity with the hammer-wielder, the girl let herself detach from the taller teen, eyes red and puffy with tear stains marking her face, before refusing to let a silence grow between them.

"J-Jaune…I-I am so sorry. I can't even tell you how, how-" The girl's tears started again as she began to shake and become less understandable. Jaune let it all exit her system before he looked to her with tears at the corners of his own eyes.

"You know, the three of you really hurt me Nora…" the girl was quick to wrap Jaune in a hug, apologies spilling out of her faster than water from a faucet. The blonde didn't let this one last however as he gently pushed the girl away from him. The two stood across from each other silently, with the orphan girl looking down at the ground between them, too ashamed to meet the blonde's eyes, before the knightly teen did something she didn't expect.

He sighed as he pulled her close to him and gave her a gentle hug like the ones he used to give to his sisters right after a fight. Jaune observed her for a long moment, feeling how his former teammate trembled and clung to him before he came to terms with something whispered out to the girl.

"…Apology…" The blonde took a moment to pause and debate if he was sure in what he was about to say, before continuing his response to the girl.

"Accepted."

That night was one of the only time's Nora Valkyrie ever cried because she was happy.

(A/N)

Hey guys, finally got past the first of the reunions between the Jaune and his old friends, and that means we're really making some headway in the story.

Sorry this one took a bit to get finished, I wanted to make sure things were coming off the way I wanted them to. A lot of rewriting went into this one.

I didn't put songs or anything into the story so that it wouldn't throw off the experience, but if you have a song you want to listen to while you read this chapter, I was listening to "Set Me Free", (which I don't own) when they were beginning to dance, and "Hide", (Which I also don't own), when it was just Jaune and Penny, but since I didn't actually add anything, imagine or listen to whatever you want while their in the club.

Also, "My Favorite Part", (Spoiler, I don't own this one either), is also a great listen during Jaune and Penny's time on the floor together.

Anyways, aside from that, Next chapter, we'll be back in Atlas, then after that, the last arc for season 1 will begin, but all things considered, that bit will be shorter than the this arc and the midterm arc, though no less important.

Besides that, Happy Holidays, and join the discord! If you join, we can talk about story ideas, goof off, and I might even talk with y'all as I write the new chapters before they come out!

/95NBjGd

B.J.H.