Chapter 2: Friends Old and New

The next day, Team JNNPR's dormitory, 1st September 18 BBY, 5:30 am…

Nathan's eyes fluttered open as he sat up in bed, letting out a loud yawn as he awoke for the first official day back at Beacon for JNNPR's second semester. A quick glance to his right showed him that Pyrrha had indeed awoken as well.

"Morning, Nathan." Pyrrha whispered softly, so that they did not wake their teammates. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yup." Nathan replied as he stretched a bit. "No nightmares, thankfully. Haven't had one in a long time."

"That's good." Pyrrha said as she donned her workout leggings, motioning for Nathan to turn around so that she could put her top on.

Nathan did so until Pyrrha told him he could look before donning his own running attire, standing up and saying: "Right. Ready for our morning run?"

"Always." Pyrrha said with a warm smile. At that, they stepped outside of their dorm and closed the door gently behind them before they started walking to the stairs leading down to the exit.

"So, how are you feeling after that incident with Nora yesterday?" Pyrrha asked.

Nathan sighed. "I don't get what's so hard for Nora to understand. Me and Weiss are just friends. Like she and Ren are. I mean; I spend plenty of time with you too, and neither of us hear anything from her asking if anything's going on between us."

Pyrrha nodded. "That's because you're our teammate, Nathan. Weiss is not. So the fact that you tend to spend a fair bit of time with her would tend to raise some eyebrows."

Nathan frowned. "Like I said; me and Weiss are just friends. There is nothing remotely romantic or sexual about our relationship." He replied.

"I understand that. It's just… some friendships can evolve into something more." Pyrrha stated. "You're seeing it between me and Jaune, even if he has eyes for Weiss right now. Maybe the same is taking place between you and Weiss. You're just not sure if it is, yet."

Nathan bowed his head, his frown deepening. Once again, Pyrrha had gotten him thinking. Maybe he and Weiss were evolving into something more. It'd certainly explain the feelings he'd developed for her in recent months.

The recollection that Jaune had feelings for Weiss as well gave Nathan further pause, and worried him to a degree.

The last thing he wanted was for him and Jaune to fall out over a woman.

Even if said woman was Weiss Schnee.

However, Nathan knew for a fact that Weiss was in no way interested in Jaune romantically, having been told by her personally on several occasions.

Yet Jaune seemed persistent in his pursuit of Weiss, which now worried Nathan.

He knew Jaune was a good man at heart, but also knew what could happen when Weiss inevitably gave Jaune one rejection too many.

He'd seen it before.

Later, JNNPR's dorm, 7:00 am…

"And from that moment on, I did my damndest to not fall asleep around the boys." Nathan said as he and Pyrrha re-entered JNNPR's dorm after their morning run, Pyrrha in peals of laughter.

"You know; whenever you tell me stories about your time in the Clone Wars, I always expect to hear a story of some brutal, bloody battle you were involved in." Pyrrha said. "But every time you tell us one, it's always amusing, instead."

"I'll stick an actual war story in, someday, Pyrrha." Nathan replied. "Just want to ease it in, first."

Pyrrha nodded as she stepped into the bathroom to shower.

Nathan promptly sat himself down and pulled out the book he'd been reading lately, opening at the page he had last left off on.

At which a loud yawn escaped someone nearby, catching Nathan's attention. "Morning, Jaune." Nathan said, not even bothering to look up from his book.

"Morning, Nate." Jaune replied. "You sleep well?"

"Yup. No nightmares in the last month." Nathan responded softly.

"Good to hear." Jaune replied. "I'm guessing Pyrrha is in the shower."

Nathan nodded. "We just got back from our morning run." He said. "Surprised Pyrrha hasn't prompted you to join us."

Jaune chuckled. "Oh trust me, she tried once. Unfortunately, I'm not wired for mornings that early."

Nathan smirked. "True, true." He said. "Holy fuck, imagine if she tried it with Ren."

Jaune snorted. "That would go down as well as Nora eating downing all the pancake syrup in one go." Looking towards Nora, Jaune added: "Speaking of…"

Nathan looked up to where Nora was and smirked.

Nora was once again sneaking up on Ren as he slept, a pair of cymbals in her hands.

Nathan flashed Jaune a look as Nora stood over Ren's bed, held the cymbals aloft, and began smashing them together, shouting:

"Wake up, lazybutt!"

Ren soon shot awake, groaning when he realised it was Nora.

"Good morning, good morning, good morning, it's morning!" Nora declared.

"Ugh…" Ren groaned as he stepped out of bed.

Nathan and Jaune fought down their outbursts of laughter as the bathroom door opened and Pyrrha stepped out. Standing up, Nathan grabbed his clothes and headed into the shower himself. Time to return to the world of learning.

Approaching the class buildings, 8:50 am…

Nathan smiled as he saw Team RWBY stood outside the building they were in. It came as no surprise to Nathan that they were there. Weiss had made a point of getting them there precisely fifteen minutes early for the lesson.

Approaching Weiss, Nathan reached out with the Force, lifting Weiss' ponytail up and into her face, tickling the SDC heiress' nose.

Weiss giggled and brushed her hair back, looking towards Nathan. "Good morning, Nathan." She said, smiling.

"Morning, Weiss." Nathan responded. "Why doesn't it surprise me that you dragged your teammates here early?"

Another giggle escaped Weiss in that moment, as she replied: "Likely because you know me well enough by now to know that I would."

"You're not wrong." Nathan replied, hugging Weiss. "Anyway; you guys sleep well?"

"Yeah." Weiss remarked. "And you?"

Nathan nodded. "Haven't suffered from a single nightmare in months. Ironically ever since I told you the truth about myself."

"Perhaps it's a sign you made the right decision." Weiss commented.

"I already knew that the moment we shared that hug after I told you everything." Nathan answered.

Weiss smiled, as did Nathan, unaware that all around them; Teams RWBY and JNNPR were watching them with knowing smiles crossing their faces.

Except for Jaune, who had affixed a jealous glare towards Nathan, his disapproval crystal clear.

Before either Nathan or Weiss could say another word; suddenly, a large shadow passed over them.

Nathan looked up and his eyes narrowed. "What the fuck…?"

Passing over their heads in that moment was a large airship, clearly coming in to land at the landing pads outside Beacon Academy.

It had an arrow-shaped hull, with two nacelles coming off its sides, most likely its engines. It also bore several spines protruding from the engine supports. There were also several nozzles in between the spines, as well as on the bottom of the engine supports, most likely its main source of propulsion.

It reminded Nathan of the old Venator Class Star Destroyer he used to call home, the Titan. He missed that ship.

Two more soon joined it, and Nathan frowned.

He recognised the ships; they were ships of the Atlas Military, which could only mean one thing:

"Looks like Atlas has arrived for the Vytal Festival." Nathan commented, looking to Weiss.

"Indeed." Weiss agreed. "Though I am surprised to see three ships instead of just the one."

Nathan folded his arms. "Yeah… that is a pretty large fleet just to bring students from Atlas here to Beacon for the Vytal Festival. Is Ironwood expecting an attack or something?"

"I don't know." Weiss admitted. "However, I know General Ironwood does have a penchant for overdoing things sometimes."

Nathan frowned as the bell rang, indicating it was time to head in for class. If Ironwood was here, Nathan felt the need to talk to him. Maybe Ozpin was already facilitating a meeting. It honestly wouldn't surprise Nathan if he was.

Much later, Beacon Academy Library, 16:15 pm…

Nathan sank back in his seat as he fought the overwhelming tide of boredom.

He, along with Team JNNPR, were all sat in the library, studying for an essay Professor Port had set them to be handed in the following week.

They were sat on a table with seats surrounding the whole table.

Pyrrha was sat opposite Nathan on the end of the table, reading a book, whilst Jaune was right next to her reading a book.

Nora was sound asleep between Jaune and Ren, who was reading equally as bored as Nathan was, flipping the pages onto Nora's head.

"Ahem."

Nathan looked up to see Pyrrha taking Jaune's comic from him and handing him the book she'd been reading, proceeding to read the comic herself. Nathan had to fight down the urge to laugh at that.

"Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!"

Nathan turned to see Team RWBY sat together on a table for four, clearly playing some form of strategy game.

Nathan decided to sit and watch, content to see how into the game Ruby and Yang got. It was always entertaining for him to see the two sisters get competitive.

He watched as Yang defeated Ruby, then turned to Weiss, who had no idea what was going on. Nathan chuckled at this. He loved seeing Weiss, typically very intelligent and clever, have no idea how to do something. But it also warmed Nathan's heart to see Weiss making an effort to bond with her team and better form their friendships with each other.

It also helped just looking at Weiss. She was just that beautiful.

His eyes fell on Blake once again though, and it struck Nathan just how disinterested Blake was in the game. It was like her mind was elsewhere entirely.

Nathan frowned. He'd have to find some time to talk with Blake about what was happening with her.

"I hate this game of emotions we play!"

Nathan looked to see that despite the advice given to Weiss by Yang, she had still lost to Yang. Ruby leapt into Weiss' arms as they sought comfort in each other:

"Stay strong, Weiss, we'll make it through this, together!" Ruby said.

"Shut up! Don't touch me!" Weiss said, despite hugging Ruby back as they wept for their defeat.

Nathan finally broke out laughing, snorting as he tried his best to keep it down in the library. Though he calmed down when he saw it was Blake's turn.

However, Nathan soon spotted Jaune stepping past him and heading to Team RWBY's table.

"Can I play?" Jaune asked Ruby.

"Sorry Jaune, we've already got four people." Ruby said apologetically.

"Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt you possess." Weiss added.

Nathan shrugged. He had to admit, Weiss was wrong there. Jaune was very good at thinking up plans on the fly and executing them as well as possible. He'd be a brilliant battle tactician.

Weiss on the other hand…

"Uh, you attacked your own naval fleet two turns ago." Yang pointed out.

Jaune seemed to ignore what Yang said, replying: "Bring it on, Ice Queen! I'll have you know that I've been told that I'm a natural, born leader!"

"By who? Your mother?" Weiss asked sarcastically.

"And Pyrrha!" Jaune declared.

"Hello again!" Pyrrha called out from JNNPR's table.

Nathan shrugged. "I think so too." He pointed out.

"Come on, let me play your hand for a turn." Jaune asked.

"I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!" Weiss said firmly.

"Why not?!" Jaune asked. "You've trusted me with way more important stuff before!"

Realising what was about to happen; Nathan looked to Pyrrha and motioned to Jaune. Shut him up before he makes an ass of himself, He said with his eyes.

Pyrrha nodded and looked to Jaune, just as he said:

"I mean, you told us all that Blake is secretly a Fau-"

"-Fun-loving person whom we all admire and respect!" Pyrrha interrupted, hand over Jaune's mouth.

Nathan face-palmed at Jaune's near faux-pas. Had Blake not already affixed Jaune with what Nathan called the 'Glare of Impending Doom', Nathan knew he'd have had to roast Jaune over a warm fire to make everyone laugh at him.

"Right… that." Jaune said nervously, chuckling. "Ladies… Enjoy your battle." He added, bowing to them all.

"'Sup, losers?" Said a voice.

Nathan looked to see that none other than Sun Wukong had joined them. "Hey, Sun." Nathan said, getting up and sharing a fist-bump with the monkey faunus; whom Nathan had come to consider a fairly good friend. "What's up?"

"Nothing much." Sun replied as he looked towards Team RWBY:

"Hey Sun!" Ruby said cheerfully.

"Ruby, Yang, Blake… Ice Queen…" Sun said.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?!" Weiss demanded.

"Because you dress like royalty and sometimes act cold as ice?" Nathan suggested. "But I'd still say 'Ice Princess' suits you better; being an heiress and all."

The appreciative smile Weiss sent Nathan's way at that comment sent Nathan's heartbeat into overdrive. Seeing Weiss smile was something he'd always treasured, even from the beginning of their friendship.

Taking a deep breath, Nathan smiled back at Weiss, their eyes meeting.

It was then that Nathan noticed the person stood next to Sun:

They were a handsome young man who was taller than Nathan was at roughly six-foot-three, with tan skin, blue eyes and messy light-blue hair styled with an undercut. He was wearing a white dress shirt and black tie under a red jacket adorned with a wide, upturned, black collar and a silver reticle across the back. He was also dressed in a pair of grey jeans with black padding strapped to the sides as well as black shoes fastened with straps instead of laces. Completing the man's look were black fingerless gloves and a pair of yellow-tinted goggles on his forehead.

Must be one of Sun's teammates, Nathan thought to himself.

"I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend." Sun said.

"Uh, aren't libraries for reading?" The guy pointed out.

"Thank you!" Ren shouted from JNNPR's table.

"Pancakes?" Nora asked, now wide awake.

"Ren, not the time." Nathan said to Ren before returning his attention to Sun and his friend. "You were saying, Sun?" He asked.

"Shut up, don't be a nerd." Sun said to his friend.

"Intellectual. Okay? Thank you." The guy said to Sun before looking to the gang. "I'm Neptune." He said.

"So Neptune, where are you from?" Weiss asked.

Nathan sensed Weiss' attraction to Neptune instantly. Of course, he thought.

"Haven." Neptune replied as he walked over to Weiss. "And… I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel."

At that, Nathan felt a powerful urge to tell Neptune to get the fuck away from Weiss, catching himself before the words even exited his mouth, stopping himself from also stepping forward due to a strong impulse to knock out Neptune. What was happening with him? He hardly even knew Neptune, yet just because the man had simply made a flirtatious comment towards Weiss, he'd felt that urge.

This was Weiss Schnee, after all. She was beautiful, confident and smart. Any man would be lucky to have her by his side.

And Weiss was his friend, wasn't she?

Whatever the case, he knew he shouldn't be feeling this way, even towards Weiss. He didn't own her; nor did he ever want to.

Weiss was her own person; free to do whatever she pleased.

With that, Nathan made the decision to take his leave.

He needed time to think, and clear his head.

Thankfully, he knew the perfect place.

Later that day, 16:45 pm…

"I was wondering where I'd find you, Nathan."

Nathan smiled and looked up towards the speaker: General Ironwood.

He'd sensed the General coming from a mile away, standing up to shake the General's hand. "General; it's been too long."

"That it has, Nathan. How have you been?" Ironwood replied as he shook Nathan's hand.

"I've been good. Beacon's been everything you've said it would be and more." Nathan responded. "I'm grateful for what you've done for me here."

"I'm glad you're settling in nicely." Ironwood commented.

"Yeah, definitely." Nathan agreed, sitting down with Ironwood. "So; how's Atlas been? Winter doing alright?"

"Winter is as she always has been." Ironwood replied. "I've had her on assignment for a couple months now. Hence why she hasn't been in contact recently."

"Understandable." Nathan remarked, before looking up towards the fleet. "So… what's up with the large-ass fleet hanging over Beacon like it's about to begin a bombardment the likes of which I've not seen since I had to call in an orbital bombardment way back when on Gorod Krovi? It's a bit unnecessary to bring a military fleet that size to a festival celebrating peace."

Ironwood nodded. "Well; can never be too cautious." He answered. "It's part of our efforts to make the kingdom more secure in case something goes awry. I'm sure events you thought didn't need it had extra security where you came from."

Nathan nodded, seeing Ironwood's logic. He recalled an incident when then-Chancellor Palpatine had headed to his homeworld of Naboo to celebrate the Festival of Light, which had all the security one could need in case of any Separatist plots to either assassinate or kidnap the Chancellor, which wound up happening, only to be foiled by a disguised Obi Wan Kenobi, who'd been presumed dead. "Fair enough." Nathan accepted. "If I may; I'd still recommend sending at least twenty-five percent of the fleet back. You could then better position the remaining seventy-five percent all over the city."

"Perhaps." Ironwood said. "Either way; I had better leave. It was nice to speak with you, Nathan. We really do need to sit down for a game of chess at some time in the future."

Nathan nodded. "Name a time, place and location, General." Nathan accepted as Ironwood left.

Taking a deep breath, Nathan decided to return to his dorm and relax.

Team JNNPR's Dorm, 17:00 pm…

The moment Nathan stepped into his dorm, he stopped as he saw Nora dressed in her normal pyjamas.

"Oh, hey, Nathan!" Nora said cheerfully.

"Hey Nora." Nathan replied. "Where're the others?" Nathan asked.

"Jaune and Pyrrha are up top training, and Ren's quickly headed down into Vale to pick up some supplies for dinner he forgot to ask you for yesterday." Nora answered.

"Such is the demand for pancake mix and syrup, eh?" Nathan teased, making Nora snort. Walking over to his bed, Nathan used the Force to call his book to his hand, hopping into bed and opening his book to carry on reading.

"Hey, Nate?"

Looking up from his book, Nathan said: "What is it, Nora?"

"I've been thinking a lot about… about the Force." Nora replied. "You told me there were other abilities you could learn via the Force. Would you mind…?"

"Telling you about some of them?" Nathan asked. "Sure." Sitting up in his bed, Nathan began levitating his book in his hand. "So; you've learned I can use the Force to push things away from or pull them towards me." He said, using the Force to do just that with his book, gently pushing it towards Nora and then recalling it to his hand. "Other than that, I can jump incredibly high and long distances using the Force to augment my jumps. As for abilities I never got the chance to learn… I could have also learned to heal wounds, absorb blasts of energy into my hands and redirect them elsewhere, or gather up Force energy within myself before unleashing a repulse that'd send everyone around me flying. And in some cases if said repulse was powerful enough, I could also incinerate any enemies that came close."

"Cool!" Nora remarked. "Was there anything related to electricity you could use?"

Nathan nodded. "We call it Force Lightning." Nathan answered. "However… Jedi wouldn't have learned it; since it's an ability more associated with the Dark Side of the Force and the Sith."

"Oh…" Nora said. "Still; would have been cool if you learned it! You could try it on me!"

Nathan nodded. "I'll see if I can give Emperor Palpatine a call, then." He joked. Nora's giggles filled the air, and a pregnant silence followed as the two friends relaxed.

At least until there was a knock on the door.

"I got it." Nathan replied, standing up and walking over to the door, opening it to find Weiss waiting outside. "Weiss?" Nathan asked. "What's up?"

"Can we talk for a second?" Weiss asked.

Seeing the serious look on his best friend's face, Nathan nodded. "Sure."

Stepping outside, Nathan shut the door behind him as he faced Weiss. "What's going on, Weiss?"

"I'm sure you've noticed how distant Blake has seemed lately." Weiss answered.

"It's kinda hard not to." Nathan replied. "But then again, that's Blake for you."

Weiss nodded. "Well; recently she's been more like that than usual. And tonight… we asked her why."

"And?" Nathan inquired.

"As it turns out, Blake is still concerned over that night at the docks, where you encountered Roman Torchwick and the White Fang." Weiss replied. "And she has legitimate worries: Why did the White Fang and Torchwick need so much Dust? Why are the White Fang suddenly working with a human; something I'm sure they would never be caught dead doing months ago?"

Nathan nodded. "Something tells me there's a sinister plot afoot." He said.

"Blake echoes similar concerns." Weiss replied. "As such, me and Team RWBY are planning to conduct an investigation over the weekend. We would conduct it sooner, but curfew is in place."

"And I'm guessing you want me to join in this little investigation of yours?" Nathan inquired.

"Yes." Weiss answered.

Nathan snorted. "Weiss; you didn't even need to ask. I'd want in even if Doctor Oobleck had set a ten-trillion-word essay due tomorrow morning."

Weiss's laughter filled the air, that beautiful sound Nathan loved hearing so much before she hugged Nathan warmly. "Thank you, Nathan." She said softly. "I knew I could count on you."

Once again, Nathan held Weiss close, and he replied: "As long as I'm around, you can always count on me, Weiss."

Weiss sighed happily and hugged Nathan a little bit tighter at that.

Nathan tightened his hug around Weiss as well. He was determined to see to it that he remained a person Weiss could always count on.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I told you I'd see you soon! And the first day of 2025 seemed the perfect time to do it!

Oof... what a year 2024 was. For a multitude of reasons.

However, I am confident that 2025 will be a better year than last.

Either way; reworking this chapter to better suit the new pairing I have planned was definitely pleasant. Not to mention rewriting the interaction between Nathan and Ironwood. I also enjoyed writing the conversation between Nora and Nathan regarding Force Lightning. Don't tell me you wouldn't want to see what it'd do to Nora.

Enough rambling though... review time!

54godamora: It was meant to be.

Rider126: I might hint at a threesome between Sun and Bumblebee in the future, but we'll see. But I don't recall your idea regarding Nathan's lineage? Would you mind telling me again?

Sharnorasian Empire: Sorry mate; the first chapter will be the only chapter where I do not reply to reviews. However, I will say I did quite like your take on the Dark Side. Very interesting. Either way; Happy New Year, regardless.

With that being said; thank you all so much for taking the time to read this story. If y'all liked it; you know what to do.

I shall see you this coming weekend with Chapters 3-4, which sees Nathan assisting Team RWBY on their mission.

Well; one member of Team RWBY in particular.

T-Rock14.