Chapter 4: Jedi vs Paladin

One of many freeways around Vale, 18:45 pm…

Nathan was no stranger to taking risks in the field.

He'd defended vital positions on the front lines during the Clone Wars against near overwhelming odds despite shortages of manpower and munitions.

He'd dived into predator-infested waters from an insane height to escape a gunship that was about to explode.

He'd even risked his own life to hold off General Grievous to allow his men time to complete their objective.

But jumping into a busy freeway; into oncoming traffic? That was a first for him.

Looking to where Weiss was stood; a few feet away from him on the edge of another highway overlooking the highway they planned to jump into, Nathan asked: "Hear anything regarding what we're meant to look out for?"

Weiss nodded. "That." She replied, pointing to something in the distance.

Stepping forward, Nathan peered into the distance, before immediately guessing what it was Weiss was referring to:

Running down the highway at speed was a gargantuan mech; taking up a good lane or so on the highway.

It was bipedal in form, and was clearly heavily armoured and armed.

Nathan quickly recognised it; saying: "Wait; isn't that one of those new Paladin mechs that the SDC was partnering with the Atlas Military to create?"

Weiss nodded. "Look! The others are already pursuing it!"

Nathan glanced, and sure enough, he could see flashes of colour behind the mech, only to grown when he saw flashes of red and blue. Guess he'd have to deal with Neptune after all.

Which was when Sun was sent flying into Neptune, and both went flying off of the freeway.

Or not, Nathan thought.

"Neptune!" Weiss called out, concerned for the blue-haired Haven student.

"Don't think they can hear you, Weiss." Nathan replied. "Come on; let's do this!"

Weiss nodded, and the two jumped down onto the freeway, just as the mech drew closer. "Blake! We're in position!" She said over scroll.


Nathan took his lightsaber from his belt, just in time for the Paladin to draw closer and closer.

The mech made no effort to stop, and only resumed its charge.

Nathan looked to Weiss, who just smirked, spun around, and drove Myrtenaster into the floor, at which a circle of ice spread out across the road.

The Paladin immediately slipped on the ice as if it were a banana peel, toppling over.

Seizing that moment, Nathan seized the Paladin in a telekinetic grip and hurled it over the edge of the freeway and down below.

Looking towards Weiss as Blake and Yang joined them, Nathan asked: "Think the SDC'll foot the repair bill for that?"

Weiss chuckled and rolled her eyes before the four of them jumped down, finding Ruby already stood there, staring down the mech, which appeared to have suffered little damage at all.

Nathan hooked his lightsaber onto his belt and drew Phoenix's Breath from its holster. He'd been stocking up on explosive rounds for just such an occasion.

The stand-off didn't last long, as the Paladin prepared to attack Nathan and Team RWBY.

Ruby refused to afford the mech a chance, calling out: "Freezer-Burn!"

Lowering Phoenix's Breath, Nathan watched Weiss perform the same trick she had on the freeway, skipping out of the way as Yang leapt up and delivered a huge ground-pound, sending up a large cloud of mist surrounding the mech.

Dropping down to one knee, Nathan lifted Phoenix's Breath just as several lasers sprouted from the Atlesian Paladin, in order to compensate for the lack of visibility. Whoever was piloting the damn thing knew for certain what they were doing.

Using the Force, Nathan immediately realised who was piloting the mech:

Who else but Roman Torchwick?

Scowling, Nathan observed the mech as it fired at Blake and Yang as both dashed past to divert its attention in different directions, allowing Ruby to dash forward out of nowhere and slash at the mech with Crescent Rose.

Seeing an opening, Nathan opened fire, snapping off several shots from Phoenix's Breath which caught Torchwick's mech in the knee, torso and shoulder.

However, this meant Torchwick then levelled his mech's cannons towards Nathan.

"Shit!" Nathan yelled, diving out of the way just in time for Ruby to call out:

"Checkmate!"

This prompted Weiss and Blake to dash on forwards, cutting and slashing at the legs of the Paladin, driving it backwards, at which Weiss managed to stab one of the many laser pointers with Myrtenaster.

"Nice hit, Weiss!" Nathan called out as Weiss fell back, flashing him a smile to acknowledge what he'd said.

Before then using one of her glyphs to pull Blake out of harm's way to avoid Torchwick turning her into the filling of a sandwich made up of the asphalt, her and the foot of Torchwick's mech.

Nathan looked up as he saw compartments opening up on Torchwick's Paladin. Swearing under his breath, Nathan shouted: "Get ready! He's launching missiles!"

At that, several clusters of rockets fired out of the mech, headed straight for Weiss and Blake.

Who with the help of another one of Weiss' glyphs, backflipped several times to avoid each cluster striking them.

However, Torchwick seemed to anticipate where Weiss would land, and so fired straight into her path:

"Weiss!" Nathan yelled, dashing towards her.

But he was too late, as the shot hit Weiss and sent her flying towards him.

Weiss just about had enough time to cast one more glyph towards Blake before she collided with Nathan, knocking both of them over and causing Nathan to drop Phoenix's Breath.

"Ow." Nathan said as he shook his head of cobwebs. It was them that he noticed the position he and Weiss were in;

She was on top, almost straddling Nathan, and their faces were mere inches apart. Nathan could feel Weiss' hot breath on his face, and her icy blue eyes stared deeply into his sky-blue ones.

Weiss then shifted so that she was straddling Nathan; visibly blushing.

Nathan wondered if he himself was blushing, or whether the heat on his cheeks was from the warmth of Weiss' breath.

However, the sounds of explosions and Ruby calling out: "Ladybug!" drew their attention, and Nathan quickly scrambled to his feet, as did Weiss.

Their eyes met again, and they shared an awkward chuckle, with Nathan brushing his hair back, smiling at Weiss as he called Phoenix's Breath back to his hand.

Weiss smiled back, brushing a stray hair behind her ear.

Which was about the same time that Ruby called out:

"Frozen Flame!"


Glancing over to Weiss; Nathan said: "Guess that's us!"

Weiss nodded, and the two stood side by side, both levelling their weapons towards Torchwick's mech:

Which currently had Yang on the back, blowing its back out with right hook after right hook, and was missing its left arm after Ruby and Blake had severed it during their team attack.

Suddenly though, Torchwick propelled his mech back before Nathan and Weiss could launch their attack, sending his mech and by extension Yang crashing through several pillars, knocking Yang off.

Spinning around, a fist formed from the remaining arm on Torchwick's mech, allowing the wannabe crimelord to deliver a fearsome right hook to Yang, who went flying through another pillar into the ground below.

Oof, she'll feel that in the morning, Nathan quietly thought to himself as Weiss called out to Yang, watching as Weiss dashed towards Yang, before seeing Torchwick preparing to attack, levelling Phoenix's Breath at the mech and firing.

His three remaining shots all connected with the right arm of Torchwick's mech, knocking it a few paces to its left.

"Hey!" Nathan yelled, reloading Phoenix's Breath as he marched towards the Paladin. "Remember me, Torchdick?!"

The Paladin looked towards Nathan, who holstered Phoenix's Breath.

"I bet you will with this." He added, drawing his lightsaber, the blue blade flaring to life with that snap-hiss noise Nathan would recognise in his sleep. "We never did get to finish what we started at the docks… Mind if we pick up where we left off?"

Torchwick gave his response by levelling his mech's remaining cannon at Nathan, firing a single blast.

Bringing his lightsaber up to block the blast, Nathan found himself staggering back several feet, before spotting the severed left arm of the mech nearby. Reaching out with the Force, Nathan lifted it up, hurling it towards the Paladin, sending the severed limb crashing back into the machine it'd once been part of, knocking the entire thing back several paces.

Torchwick retaliated by firing the remaining missiles in his mech's missile pods towards Nathan, who smirked.

"Aw, for me? You shouldn't have!" Nathan commented, reaching out with the Force and using it to hurl Torchwick's missiles right back at the mech.

Which then deployed countermeasures to stop the missiles from hitting him.

Nathan seized the opening, dashing forwards in order to close the distance, hoping to score a decisive blow and take the mech down.

Right into the path of the mech's foot hurtling towards him.

"Fuck!" Nathan spat, barely dodging the kick and staggering back.

Turning to face him, Torchwick's mech prepared to attack once again.

Raising his lightsaber, Nathan took a deep breath.

At which a hand found his shoulder.

"I got it from here, Nate."

Nathan looked to see Yang stood there, head bowed, and her hair looked like it was on fire. Stepping away, Nathan switched off his lightsaber and looked quizzically towards Ruby.

"With each hit she gets stronger!" Ruby called out. "And she uses that to fight back!" Grinning, Ruby added: "She's special that way…"

As if on cue, Torchwick reared back to punch Yang.

Who caught the fist mid-punch, stopping it in its tracks.

Oh shit, Nathan thought as Yang then looked up, her usually alluring lilac eyes now coloured a seething blood red.

Stepping back a few more paces, Nathan watched Yang demolish the right arm of Torchwick's mech with a single punch, disarming the Paladin both in terms of weaponry and in quite a literal sense.

In retaliation, all Torchwick could do was use the mech to kick Yang, sending her flying again.

Ruby must have anticipated this, as from behind Nathan, she called out: "Bumblebee!"

Turning and falling back, Nathan watched Blake hurl her weapon into the mist, presumably in Yang's direction. Rejoining Ruby and Weiss, Nathan hung his lightsaber back onto his belt as Blake swung Yang into Torchwick's mech, which dodged to avoid the attack.

Seeing this, Ruby said: "We have to slow it down!"

"And how do you propose we do that?" Weiss asked.

"We're open to suggestions!" Nathan added, drawing Phoenix's Breath.

"Ice Flower!" Ruby answered.

Nodding, Nathan stepped back as both Ruby and Weiss spun their weapons, levelling both in the direction of Torchwick's mech.

Several glyphs suddenly appeared in front of Ruby's sniper barrel, at which the red-caped huntress in training opened fire.

Ruby's marksmanship proved telling, as before long, Torchwick's mech was frozen in place, unable to move.

Allowing Blake and Yang to attempt their swing attack one last time.

This time though, Yang's blow landed, sending the mech crashing away, crumbling into numerous pieces.

And more importantly, leaving Roman Torchwick completely vulnerable for attack.

Wasting no time, Yang fired a shot from Ember Celica straight towards the wannabe crime lord.

Only for someone to appear right in front of Torchwick, shielding him from Yang's attack.


"What the?" Nathan muttered as the smoke cleared, revealing an open umbrella, which was then lowered, and raised over the shoulder of the person wielding it:

Nathan frowned as he and the rest of Team RWBY beheld a young girl, a few years older than all of them but younger than Torchwick, with half pink, half brown hair with white streaks in it, and brown eyes.

She was wearing a white cropped wide, broad tailed jacket with a pink interior, collar, a single gold button and large pink cuffs. Alongside this were brown pants with a dark belt that had a grey buckle and an additional narrow belt under it. Under her jacket was a brown corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She also wore a multitude of black beaded necklaces, which hung haphazardly around her neck. Completing her look were black and white spat styled under the knee boots alongside black gloves.

Another thing Nathan noted about her was her extremely diminutive stature. The girl was tiny, easily under five feet tall, even though she was wearing heels.

Size matters not, a familiar voice echoed in Nathan's head.

"Ladies, Ice Queen..." Roman Torchwick called out, bringing Nathan out of his recollections of old advice.

"Hey!" Weiss protested.

"Always a pleasure!" Roman continued, looking to his henchman. "Neo, if you would..."

The young girl, revealed to be called Neo, responded by bowing into a curtsy, as if mocking them all.

Yang was having none of it, and dashed forwards with an angry shout, fists raised in preparation to strike the outlaws.

Only for their image to shatter like glass the moment her fist made contact.

This then revealed a Bullhead ship flying away, carrying away both Torchwick and Neo.

Nathan scowled as he and the rest of Team RWBY rejoined Yang, with Yang saying:

"So I guess he got a new henchman..."

"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans...fall apart!" Weiss joked.

Nathan snorted, Ruby giggled, Blake just walked away.

"No. Just... no." Yang said.

"What- But, you do it!" Weiss protested.

"There's a time and a place for jokes." Yang replied.

"Was this not it?" Weiss demanded.

"No, it just wasn't very good." Yang responded, following Blake.

"Well, at least I'm trying!" Weiss clapped back, following Yang and Blake.

"And I enjoyed it." Nathan commented. "Good effort, Weiss."

A smile quickly crossed Weiss' face, and she said: "Thank you, Nathan." Looking in front of her, Weiss called out: "At least Nathan appreciated it!"

"It's Nate. What do you expect?" Yang fired back.

"At least hers made sense when she said it!" Nathan countered. "You could learn a thing or two about timing from Weiss, you know."

"I'm not the one who walked into Team RWBY's dorm just as Weiss was walking out wearing a towel last weekend!" Yang said.

Nathan made to retort, but didn't, avoiding Weiss' gaze so she wouldn't see he was blushing, whilst remaining unaware that Weiss herself was blushing.

Thankfully, Ruby distracted them all with a question they hadn't thought to consider:

"Wait... Where are Sun and Neptune?"

In that moment, Nathan recalled that Sun and Neptune hadn't rejoined the fight after being cast away by Torchwick's mech just before Nathan and Weiss had entered the fray. Reaching out with the Force, Nathan concentrated, and before long, he sensed them, both individual threads in the neverendingly weaving tapestry that was the Force. "I got them." He said. "They're okay. They're a few blocks away from us, probably sat on their asses eating dinner."

"Why didn't they come help us?" Weiss demanded. "We could have used their assistance."

Nathan shrugged. "So much for always getting friends involved." He said.

"At least you stayed involved." Weiss commented. "Even if engaging Torchwick's Paladin by yourself was a foolish move."

"Even if it's to defend you and everyone else here?" Nathan asked, facing Weiss.

Weiss' cheeks reddened as she replied: "Um… well when you put it like that…"

Nathan chuckled. "Anyway; let's get back home. I'm starving."


Outside the dorms, 20:30 pm…

"Nathan?"

Nathan stopped just as he was about to enter his dorm, looking to see Weiss had not entered hers. "Is everything okay, Weiss?"

Weiss nodded, before saying: "Do you… have time to talk up on the roof?"

Nathan glanced towards his dorm, and nodded. "Yeah, sure thing, Weiss."

Weiss smiled, gesturing for Nathan to follow her.

Smiling back, Nathan obliged, wondering what she wanted to talk to him about.


Up on the roof…

"So… what did you want to talk to me about?" Nathan asked, facing Weiss as she shut the door to the roof.

Weiss closed the gap between them, saying: "I… believe I owe you an explanation regarding my behaviour at the CCTS Tower earlier this evening."

Nathan's eyes widened, and he stepped closer. "Not if you don't want to." He said gently.

Weiss shook her head. "You have trusted me with your past. It's long overdue that I trust you with mine."

Nathan stepped back, and nodded. "Okay, if you're alright with it."

Weiss smiled, and then took a deep breath. "When I was ten years old; my father told my mother the only reason he married her… was for the Schnee family name. On my tenth birthday no less. She was only upset because he missed the big celebratory dinner. And… he snapped."

"Weiss…" Nathan said, his shock at Weiss' revelation.

Weiss held up a hand. "That was just the beginning." She said, lowering her hand. "From there; it became abundantly clear that my father did not care for any of us. At all. All my father cares for is prestige, power, money and control. I was expected to be the model daughter; compliant, quiet, studious. Any sign of nonconformity was responded to with the open palm of his hand… and the bruises they would leave behind…"

Nathan's nostrils flared as he fought down a surge of anger. "That fucking bastard…"

Weiss scoffed. "That is one of many insults one could utilise against my father." She replied. "He is a cold, calculating man who thinks everyone around him is a tool he can use to further cultivate that image. You recall I told you of my talent for singing?"

Nathan nodded. "Still have yet to hear you sing." He replied.

Weiss smiled, before adopting her sad expression again. "When that talent was discovered, he forced me to perform almost nonstop for months on end until a doctor ordered him to stop; for fear I may permanently lose my voice if he carried on."

"Sounds like he did." Nathan said.

"Oh, he did. But he made sure to make me feel like I was failing him for not being able to carry on performing as he expected me to." Weiss said. "I still sing, but only on occasion, when my father expects me to."

"And let me guess; there're consequences when you don't 'conform'." Nathan said.

"Yep…" Weiss replied sadly. "My father is cruel beyond belief to those who defy him. The reason I am heiress and not Winter… is because he disinherited her for joining the military instead of obeying his demands to marry the son of one of his business partners."

Nathan fell silent for a while. Finally, he understood why Weiss and Winter never sounded too fond of their family. Finally, he knew the truth behind why Weiss came to Beacon instead of going to Atlas. Finally; his suspicions that Weiss' father was an abusive piece of shit who deserved nothing but the worst consequences life could throw their way were finally confirmed.

Then, taking a deep breath, Nathan met Weiss' gaze: "Weiss… I'm so sorry you grew up like that." He said finally.

"It's fine." Weiss insisted.

"No it isn't." Nathan protested, closing the distance with her again. "Nobody should have to grow up like you did; being treated like nothing but a tool your father uses to make himself look better." Placing his hands on her shoulders, Nathan added: "But you're here now. And trust me… as long as I'm around… I'll make sure your father never hurts you again."

Weiss' eyes widened. "Really?" She asked. "Nathan, you really do not need to-"

"I want to, Weiss." Nathan replied, conviction fuelling his every word. "Your father needs to realise you are your own person. And that your life is your own to live; not his to dictate. So as long as I'm here… I promise you… I'll protect you from him."

A smile unlike any Nathan had ever seen crossed Weiss' face in that moment, and before another second could pass, Weiss hugged him as tightly as she could. "Thank you, Nathan…" She said softly.

Nathan's heartbeat went haywire once again, and that warm fuzzy feeling returned, as did the butterflies in Nathan's stomach as he hugged Weiss back.

He realised the only other time he had really felt anything like this with another woman was during that forbidden period of time he was with Senator Chuchi.

Which meant that there really was only one explanation for his recent feelings for Weiss:

They weren't just a teenage crush, like had been the case with Senator Amidala.

Nor were they borne from a mutual respect and care for each other like Nathan's relationship with Ahsoka had been.

Finally, Nathan's question since that past weekend had an answer:

He, Nathan Phoenix, was head over heels in love with Weiss Schnee.

But with one question answered; another took its place:

How the hell do I tell her?


A question to be answered at a later date.

For now; I apologise for not updating yesterday like I planned to. Work was... especially taxing.

But it's done, and... here we are.

I figured now would be a perfect time for Nathan to learn the truth about Weiss' upbringing, and also for him to realise his feelings for Weiss.

Not to mention; I have a ship name for Nathan and Weiss now: Frozen Flame. Hope you like it.

And now let the love triangle begin...

Anyway; less rambling, more reviews!


54godamora: Yup. Albeit with a lot more armour and weapons than the clankers.

Sharnorasian Empire: There will be moments where Nathan and Ironwood will be at odds, as is the case with most working relationships. How Ironwood and Nathan work through those will be revealed in due course.


With that 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 next weekend with Chapters 5-6, which sees Nathan face competition from the other men circling around Weiss.

T-Rock14.