Chapter 29


It was a Sea Feilong, something that she had only ever heard about before. A quick glance to her left revealed that Sun was equally in shock and awe. She vaguely heard one of the crew members call out a red alert, as alarms began blaring rapidly. People began screaming, all of them running to below deck, trying to avoid the impending doom that was the sea feilong.

They had to fight this... thing, on water, too. It was just a bad mix; even if she knew how to swim from growing up in Menagerie, she'd never learned how to fight in the water. If only they had Percy with them; water was practically his natural element.

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

Blake was snapped out of her stupor by Sun, who winked at her, bringing out his bo staff.

The ship turned, just barely avoiding the sea feilong's beam of energy. Still, the resulting wave from the blast left the ship rocking, and Blake stumbled slightly.

"Any ideas on how to kill it?" Blake yelled to Sun amidst the panic and chaos.

"I got none!" Sun hollered back as he began firing at the massive Grimm, to no avail. Its armor was far too thick to be penetrated, as Blake realized when she started firing at it with Gambol Shroud.

"Huntsmen!"

Blake whirled around to see the captain shouting at them, "If you can clip its wings, we'll get a better shot with our cannon!"

She sent a nod back, turning around, only to see the sea feilong charging up another massive beam in its mouth.

Sun summoned his clones, three of them springing out in golden rays of energy. All of them bounded forward, one of them managing to grab the horns of the dragon. His clone pulled upwards, heaving with all its might, as the sea feilong fired into the water just beside the boat. The resulting impact sent waves through the ocean, causing the boat to rock again.

The actual Sun ran along its wing, firing at the sinew and bone, as he leapt off, onto a small archipelago of rocks.

Blake flung Gambol Shroud at the mast of the ship, sticking it into the wood. She boosted herself off a shadow clone, using her momentum to swing around and towards the sea feilong.

In an instant, it switched its attention from Sun to her, and it fired at her, a large beam soaring through the air.

Her eyes widened in surprise, and she jumped off a clone, barely avoiding the beam as she made herself skinnier.

She dove through the air, bracing herself for impact, before finally making contact with the Grimm.

She thrust Gambol Shroud into the unprotected sinew of the sea feilong's other wing, drawing a pained screech from it as she dug it deeper. Blake ran along the length of the Grimm, slashing its wing along the way.

The Grimm suddenly tilted, and she let gravity do the work for her as she fell, only drawing deeper seams in the sea feilong's wing. When she reached the end, she leapt off, using her shadow clones to boost herself towards one of the small archipelagos.

With massive, gaping gashes and holes in both of its wings, the sea feilong was left immobile, and helpless.

It roared at her and Sun, generating a massive amount of energy in its mouth, preparing for a beam.

Before the ship's cannon blasted its head clean off, spewing Grimm guts everywhere as it dissolved slowly.

There were cheers and whoops from the ship, as everyone realized the imminent threat was gone.

"Ha ha! Phew~" Sun let out a sigh, panting as he put his hands on his knees, "We make a pretty good team, don't we? Up top!"

What a dork. Blake rolled her amber eyes, but a small smile made itself known on her lips as she chose to indulge his high five. As much as she might deny it, Sun was good company on the boat, even if she didn't want him with her at first.

She could only look to see what trials and tribulations might lie ahead.


Weiss Schnee stepped out of the limousine and into the chilly weather of Atlas. She reached for her bag, but Klein, her family's butler, interrupted her.

"Don't worry about it Ms. Schnee, I've got it," his eyes twinkled yellow, indicating he was happy, perhaps at her being there.

Weiss cracked a small smile on her face. Klein had always been there for her; he was kind, and understanding, and would always make her laugh at times when she needed it.

As she strode into the Schnee Manor, she was greeted with the sight of her mother first, who tried to crack a smile at her.

"Hello, Weiss," she smiled, though Weiss could almost hear the slurring behind her words, "I'm so happy you're safe. Would you give your mother a hug?"

And yet, Weiss could see the drink she had in her hands, and she moved to ignore her.

"No, mother," she retorted coldly.

Willow Schnee was nothing better than a drunkard mother, first and foremost. She was weak-willed, and did nothing but drink, day and night, from sunrise to sunset. It was a surprise she was even here to greet her.

"Hello, sister."

"Whitley..."

Her brother stood in front of her, his hands clasped behind his back, an uncharacteristic smile on his face.

"No dear hello for me, sister?" her brother put his hands to his chest dramatically, "I'm hurt, truly hurt."

Weiss arched an elegant eyebrow in response. For as long as she could remember, her brother had always been... cold, to her, after her decision to leave Atlas for Beacon. He had been cold to her even before that. The last time she could remember their relationship being close was... when Winter left for the military, to become a huntress...

Weiss didn't respond, deigning to instead to walk in silence. Her heels clacked on the white marble of the floors, echoing throughout the large hallways. It was cold, it was always cold.

It was so opposite of the mood at Beacon, in their dormitory. There, it was slightly cramped, but cozy all the same. Here, at her family's mansion? It was cold, desolate, devoid of life.

It was Whitley's voice which broke her out of her reverie, "By the way, Father requested your presence," one of his hands fiddled with his tie, while his other was behind his back, "For your information, I heard him conversing with a man, earlier."

"I... thank you, Whitley. You're awfully cheerful, today."

He did not respond, as she stepped onto the carpet of the halls, walking in the direction of her father's study. She was out of earshot when he sighed, turning the other way, hands clasped behind his back.

"I have always cared for you, my dear sisters."


Ruby Rose glanced outside to see Jaune training with her dad. Again.

She quietly sighed to herself. It was six in the morning, why was he up at this ungodly hour, pun not intended? He'd been training tirelessly, day in and day out, ever since they'd gotten back from Vale...

Her dad seemed to call a break, and Jaune nearly collapsed in exhaustion, sweat running down his body. His face looked... downcast, for some reason, even as Tai left him to enter the house for some reason, probably to take a shower.

Quietly, she made her way outside, slowly ambling towards where Jaune laid flat on the ground, panting in exhaustion.

"Hi, Jaune!" she said cheerily.

The blond's demeanor completely contrasted hers, as he sighed, "Hi, Ruby."

"So..." Ruby shrugged, "What are you doing up so early?"

Instead of telling her that he was training, he raised an eyebrow, "Ruby? Can't you see? I, uh... well, I'm just lying here."

The small girl rolled her eyes in a playful manner, lying on the ground next to him, "Thanks, Captain Obvious- clearly, I need my eyes checked, because I can't see that for myself."

"Well," he smirked, "you should be more specific, Crater Face."

Ruby narrowed her eyes playfully, bumping her shoulder against his, although it did nothing to budge him from his spot on the ground, "Shut up, you can't keep calling me that, Vomit Boy. And besides, that happened on the first day we met at Beacon."

"Well, let me tell you, you never forget the sight of one of your friends just exploding in the middle of the courtyard of a huntsmen academy," they laughed in unison at the memory, their voices chuckling. Even if it had only been several months, it seemed so long ago, after all that had happened.

But Jaune had been her first friend at Beacon. He was the nice one, the friendly one who had extended a hand to the girl who had embarrassingly exploded in the courtyard, only seeing someone in need of help. And now, it was her turn to help him. He was one of her only close friends left, seeing as Penny had gone to Atlas with Weiss, and General Ironwood for repairs and upgrades.

"Seriously though, Jaune. Why are you still training?" Ruby was worried for her first friend, "You've improved leaps and bounds, and we all train everyday with Qrow and Percy... you're overworking yourself... why?"

"I don't know Ruby... I just don't know what to think..."

She squinted in confusion, shuffling closer to him, and wrapping her arm around his, nudging it.

"Are you feeling like a failure again?" she asked knowingly, silver eyes glaring into his. Jaune had always been a defeatist, for some reason.

He groaned slightly, but shook his head, "I... no. But... I don't exactly feel like I'm on top of the world, either."

"Okay Vomit Boy, start talking- what's wrong?" she flicked his nose slightly, even if it didn't draw a single reaction from him.

"Stop stalling," she whined, drawing a small chuckle from him, "C'mon Jaune, you can talk to me. That's what friends do!"

"I... alright, fine. I just... I dunno... feel weak, y'know?" he shrugged helplessly, "I feel useless. All of you guys are super skilled and powerful, and I just feel... inadequate. Like I don't belong here."

"Pyrrha is a quarter of a maiden, Weiss is the heiress, Blake is a trained ex-White Fang member, and, let's face it, you're a prodigy. Nora is like, super strong, and Ren is basically a ninja."

"Oh, and let's not forget Percy, who's a demigod, and pretty much the best to do it ever. And me? Jaune Arc? I'm just... me! A kid who was in over his head, who looked up too much to his ancestors as renowned knights of Vale in the old ages, and the famous line of huntsmen more recently. I wanted to be like them, to do my ancestors proud..."

"And you are doing them proud!" Ruby butted in heatedly, glaring up at him, "You've improved so much since the beginning of the year!"

"And I'm still nowhere close to any of you. I'm being... left in the dust. I wish I could be more like Percy, y'know? I mean... I'm grateful for him, and he's helped me improve... but I've done nothing to deserve his help! I couldn't do anything at the Fall except swing my sword and hope for the best..."

"That's not true!" Ruby argued back heatedly, "You helped plenty! You healed Weiss, and even if you were-" Ruby stammered, trying to find the right words, "swinging your sword, you were still helping us kill the Grimm!"

Jaune groaned, sitting up, "No, you just don't get it... I don't belong here," he gestured all around him with his arm in a wild, swinging fashion.

"W-What do you mean?"

"I mean... I forged my transcripts to get into Beacon."

"W-What?" Ruby was taken aback. She'd just heard wrong, hadn't she? Jaune!? Her first friend, the noble knight, who was so honest he couldn't lie without physically cringing? He couldn't have done such a thing... right?

As if he was reading her thoughts, Jaune continued, "I did. And Ozpin let me in, and the first person I went to was Percy..." the blond cracked a half-broken grin, "And he really helped me. He was so nice to me, and helped me with training, said Ozpin probably knew about my transcripts, and everything. And I ended up doing nothing in return..."

"W-Well," Ruby desperately tried to search for the right words to say, "No one cares about your Beacon transcripts anymore, right? It's all water under the bridge, y'know? You're with us now."

The blond groaned again, shaking his luscious locks of hair, "You just don't get it. This is not a situation where everyone wins. Even with Percy's training, I lag behind. All of you have years of training on me, and you're all kickass fighters, while I'm just... me. I'm always left in the dust."

Jaune now hung his head slightly, eyes looking down at the ground, even as Ruby sat up. She leaned her head on his shoulder, trying to wordlessly comfort him.

"Y'know, I can relate," she admitted slowly, "I do kind of know about the whole 'going too fast' thing, and, well, the 'being left in the dust' thing."

"You do?" he looked up at her hopefully with those baby blue eyes of his, meeting her silver ones.

"Yeah... I felt like that, even on the first day of Beacon..." she reminisced, "I was pushed two years ahead, since I was fifteen at the time, and everyone else was seventeen. Even during initiation, part of me wanted to prove myself, like with attacking Roman Torchwick on my own, before Percy had shown up."

She continued as Jaune raptly listened to her tale, "I got in the way of Weiss' fire dust during initiation once, and I even remember wanting to rush the deathstalker, all on my own. I felt like I had something to prove. Just to show everyone that I truly belonged at a huntsmen academy, at Beacon, to prove that I wasn't just a little girl in over her head, ya know?'

He didn't respond until a few moments later, "The world just seems like it's too much... Salem? The relics? Maidens? I... it's too much. All of you guys are getting better, and I- I think that I'm being left behind, Ruby... Like, all of my friends are excelling, and getting better and better day by day, and even though I know I'm stronger than I was when we came here... I know it... I just know, that I'm going to be alone."

Ruby quickly whirled around to glare at him, "Don't say that Jaune! You're never alone, you have all of your friends, you have us!"

The blond shrugged again, not making eye contact with her, "But... I don't really, do I..." it was more of a statement than a question, "They're all so amazing, and strong, and powerful, and perfect in every way- and the better they get, the less they'll want to even associate with me..."

"Percy will be run over by politics and his status, Weiss will be gone with her duties as heiress, Pyrrha will be gone by her duties as the Fall Maiden and the Heir Apparent of a noble house in Mistral, and Blake's gone to Menagerie... and, well, Ren and Nora are always together, and as much as they try to include me in their activities, and I appreciate it... at the end of the day, I'm always going to play second fiddle..."

"I'm alone."

"No, you're not."

Almost immediately, he was spun around by his shoulders. Ruby full on tackled him with her small body, her head lightly hitting his chest. His back hit the ground as she toppled over him, her small arms wrapping around his body. He seemed unprepared for the sudden affection, but she held him in his place anyway. She felt his strong heartbeat, and caught a whiff of his scent, inhaling it. She felt him slowly move his own arms around her back, holding her small form tightly against his.

His body was comfortably warm to the touch, and Ruby smiled at him, meeting his gaze.

"Don't ever think you're alone, Jaune. Maybe you're not like, super close with a lot of people, but that doesn't mean they don't care about you. We all care about you. We want you to succeed. You're not lesser than any of us- you're just as amazing in every single way! You've improved so, so much, and you're a natural born leader! That's not something you can just brush off and forget. It might seem like no one cares about you at times, but they do- they do care about you, Jaune," she squeezed him, a pleading shine in her silvery doe eyes.

"I care about you."

Ruby could see him stop, but she only squeezed him harder, "I care about you, Jaune. You were my first friend at Beacon. I'll never stop caring about you. You might feel like no one's there for you sometimes, but I am. I'll always be."

She snuggled closer to him, laying her head on his chest, feeling his heartbeat against her ear, "You'll never be alone, Jaune. I promise. I'll be with you from dusk 'til dawn.

"Thanks... Crater Face," Ruby couldn't see his face, but she knew his lips had just curled into a smile.

"No problem, Vomit Boy," she replied happily, a smile on her face. She would never abandon her first friend at Beacon. Jaune was invaluable to her.

"Dusk 'til dawn. I like it. I'll be with you from dusk 'til dawn too, Ruby," Jaune vowed, smiling back.

"Oi! You two lovebirds gonna get off each other any time soon?" a certain blonde hollered from a distance, grinning stupidly.

Huh? Lovebirds? What did Yang mean? She turned back to the blond. Jaune and her were anything but-

She suddenly realized that she was straddling Jaune with her hips. She felt something poke her thigh, and she eeped, startled. W-Was that his... his...

Wait... did that mean he-he found her... s-sexy?

Ruby turned as red as her namesake, and Jaune refused to meet her eyes, his face flushed.

She quickly got off him, as he rolled onto his stomach awkwardly. They both turned away from each other, mortified.

She could hear Yang laughing her butt off in the distance.

Stupid Yang!


Weiss slithered past the door of her father's study, only to find the General talking with Jacques.

"So,you mean to say it was simply a misleading rumor? There is no dust embargo from Atlas, correct?" Jacques Schnee had a hand on his chin as he looked to Ironwood.

"I would never do such an unreasonable thing," the General confirmed, an easy smile on his face.

Her father seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, "Of course, that would be completely irrational. I'm glad to see that you haven't closed the borders and stopped all dust exports, James."

"Of course, Jacques. We must allow for open communication between Atlas and the rest of the world from the events that have happened at Vale, and part of that communication includes dust. I wouldn't harm your company like that."

"Of course, of course," her father looked pleased, "You are a trusted friend and ally of this family, James."

The door closed behind her, and Weiss cringed, realizing she hadn't cared to watch the door.

The two mens' heads turned towards her, and Ironwood bowed, "Miss Schnee! My apologies."

He turned back to her father, "Thank you, Jacques."

"No, thank you," her father looked inordinately pleased, "Klein can show you out."

"Of course."

Weiss stepped to the side, letting the General pass through. As soon as the door closed, Jacques walked to his chair, sitting down.

"Young lady, have you forgotten your manners while you were away?"

"I... no, father."

Jacques looked at her with skepticism, but continued, "Have you gotten Apollyon to sign the contract?"

"Not yet," Weiss admitted, "But he will be attending the SDC charity banquet."

Luckily, he didn't look too displeased, "Well, I suppose I can't be too mad. There will be further opportunities when he comes to Atlas. Publicly linking him with the SDC at our charity banquet will be perfect for increasing revenue..."

"Do you only care about lien!? Vale was just attacked! Beacon fell!" Weiss snapped, irritated.

Her father seemed to be in a good mood, however, and nothing could ruin that. He waved her off smugly, "Lien makes the world go around, don't you ever forget that. Daughter, there is always profit to be made in war."

"Get Perseus Apollyon to sign the contract, by any means necessary."

Weiss frowned, not saying anything more. She turned to the door, prepared to leave, when her father interrupted her again.

"I think it would make a lot of people happy if you performed at the event."

"Excuse me?" Weiss was taken aback. She hadn't sung in months! She'd given it up in pursuit of learning to become a huntress.

"Many forget that you were there," Jacques smiled, "My own daughter, a Schnee! On the ground, defending another kingdom! We need to remind them, that the Schnee family is powerful, and generous to those in need. We need to remind them that the Schnee family has direct ties to Perseus Apollyon, and that we are not to be trifled with."

"Are you asking me if I'd like to sing, or telling me?"

Her father only smiled, "I think it would make a lot of people happy, wouldn't it?"

A not so subtle threat hung over his words, and Weiss grimaced, thinning her lips, "I'll start practicing."

Her father was not done, however.

"After the banquet, Apollyon will likely have had his fair amount of champagne. Then you may be able to make your move. Seduce him, and, afterwards, manipulate him into signing the contract. Afterwards, we may talk about marriage."

"No, I won't do it," Weiss shook her head, trying to stand strong.

Jacques looked unbothered, "Oh, well. I suppose I will need to keep you in the house, then. I'll have Winter do it, or perhaps Willow," he said, as if he were talking about nothing more than objects, "Winter will likely refuse. Willow, then. Finally she'll be of use, for once."

"You can't just- just pimp your wife and daughter out like that! And you can't keep your own daughter locked away!" Weiss was furious, fuming.

"Oh, but I can," his smile did not reach his eyes, "My little Weiss was harshly affected by the tragedy that happened at Beacon Academy and was traumatized by the fighting and killing that occurred during the Fall of Beacon. She needs a slight break, and needs to rest."

Her fist clenched, trembling.

She couldn't do anything.

On the battlefield, she was a warrior, a huntress. But here?

It was never meant to be. There were cameras everywhere, and their footage under his control. He could edit and remove as much of the footage and audio as he wanted. She couldn't attack him, and he knew it.

She was helpless. Helpless to his machinations, to his schemes.

"Well, darling? Will you do it?"

She had no choice but to acquiesce.

"Yes, father."

Jacques Schnee let a pleased smile show on his face.

"That's my girl."


AN: A Lancaster moment for you all, and the absolutely wonderful, charming, Jacques Schnee. What an amazing father he is, truly.

Poll results: 43 in favor of a single-pairing, 29 in favor of polygamous. The plot will remain unchanged, as the story is single-pairing now.

A mini-Atlas arc is coming up, followed by massive changes to Mistral's arc.

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'til next time!

Next Chapter: December 9th (2 weeks)

-thann3