Author's Notes:
-To Guest; Yes, Jaune couldn't keep his mouth shut and challenged Rouge to a duel. Then again, it's all a part of his character development. And yes, Blake is unknowingly helping the Noire Armada, the human supremacist group. If she finds out the truth about the captain, and/or Corvina Noire finds out the truth about Blake, it won't end well... Yeah, this is turning into a hot mess. Now then, back to the story. Can Jaune beat his older sister? Let's find out.
"This is a bad idea. A really bad idea."
This was what Emerald Arc said to Jaune as the two of them, plus Pyrrha, Tangerine, Acacia, Azura, Indigo and Amethyst departed from the entrance to Jaune's room and walked through the upstairs hall to the staircase. Jaune, Emerald and Pyrrha were in front, with the remaining Arc sisters, save for Rouge, not too far behind them.
The young blond scoffed, horribly offended. "And like your idea to become a messenger isn't any better?"
On his left, the bookworm could smell the sarcasm coming from his mouth and turned to look at him with a glare in the eye. "Hey, I can avoid the Grimm with my semblance. No Grimm means no problems. No problems means huge success. Huge success means lots of cash. Lots of cash means we get out of that debt quicker, and getting out of that debt means that we're no longer in poverty. What part of that do you not understand?"
"You have no combat experience! If you encounter even a single Grimm, you're toast!"
"That's why my emotion lock will be up at all times. I can avoid the Grimm."
Amethyst covered her ears with her hands as their argument continued. "Negative emotions are just beacons! A Grimm could still find you even if you can't feel fear!"
"Which will make it easier for me to retreat in such an unlikely encounter. If I encounter White Fang terrorists, thieves or other criminals, I got pepper spray to hurt them with and get away. I've planned out wisely and strategically for every possible situation. You on the other hand, have acted carelessly and recklessly and because of it, you are about to do something extremely stupid! You're challenging Rouge, who not only has over a decade's worth of combat experience and graduated from Shade Academy, but also dueled very well in her first Vytal Festival Tournament, winning in the team and doubles round, was a finalist during the following Vytal Festival Tournament, taking sixth place during her fourth and final year at the academy, and, right after her graduation, saved an entire village in Vacuo from destruction all by herself! You are going up against a professional, and you're still a beginner!"
The other siblings, save for Tangerine, tensed up as Emerald spoke her previous argument. Tangerine just appeared annoyed as Jaune continued, "I am not a beginner! I've been training, fighting Grimm, White Fang agents and other miscellaneous threats for a year!"
"That doesn't change the fact that she's way above your pay grade! You're going to get beaten!"
"What choice do I have?! She insulted my honor, and my girlfriend! I'm not backing down," The young warrior pointed at his younger sister accusingly. "and I thought you were supposed to be supporting me!"
"Guys, knock it off both you!" Tangerine ordered. Amethyst put her hands away from her ears and the other sisters began to feel less tense. "Jaune, save your anger for the fight. Emerald, I know this looks bad, but you don't have to rub it in."
"Man, I haven't seen Emerald get into a heated argument in years." Azura stated. "I can understand Jaune's concern, yet can see why Emerald believes her plan will succeed. But either way, back to the main point; Jaune challenging Rouge! The fight of the decade! Time to figure out who to place your bets on!"
Pyrrha looked at him with an even mixture of sincerity and curiosity. "Are you ready, Jaune?"
He wore a nervous smile on his face, answering, "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."
I'm not ready. He actually thought.
He was the first to descend down the stairs, no one seeing his worried expression. The others followed behind him as he breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm himself. He still felt a bit nervous, but after a few more breaths, he looked determined on the outside, even if he was scared on the inside. Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he walked through the living room to the kitchen/dining area and opened the door to the backyard. As no surprise, Rouge was standing there, spinning one of her many daggers in hand, waiting for him. Azure stood in the lower middle part of the yard towards the house with a gong in her hand and a mallet in her right. Roux stood there beside her with a whistle around his neck.
Rouge turned to face him as she noticed his presence, smirking. "So you finally decided to show up?" She stopped spinning her dagger. "I thought you would come to your senses and realized just how outmatched you are."
"Shut up, Rouge! It doesn't matter how much more experienced you are! I will teach you not to disrespect me, or my girlfriend!"
He's not just doing this for himself. Pyrrha thought to herself. He's doing this for himself, and for me...
"Let's go over the rules of the duel, shall we?" Roux announced. "First one is the most obvious-no killing or maiming. The second one is that the duel ends when one opponent is knocked out, immobilized for ten seconds, willingly surrenders, or is no longer able to fight for any reason. Other than that, there's no rules except defeat your opponent. Now then, if anyone cares to place bets on who the winner will be, place them now."
Azure, Roux, Tangerine, Emerald, Indigo and Amethyst choose not to bet any money, but they all predicted that Jaune would most likely lose. The other siblings, Acacia and Azura bet fifteen Lien each on Rouge, much to Jaune's dismay. Only Pyrrha voted for Jaune, betting ten Lien on him, making the pot a total of 40 Lien. Acacia held the plate and its cloche with the money in her hands before setting it down on a wooden box.
"Wow. Only one person has bet with faith in me." Jaune sarcastically quipped to his other sisters, "Thanks guys."
"Sorry Jaune. Good luck though!" Azura cheered.
It didn't help him feel much better. Rouge smirked as she spun the dagger in her right hand. "You're going to get hurt, you huge imbecile!"
He glared at her to try and hide his sorrow and fear. "I'll shove those cruel words down your throat!"
"Three..." Roux began. "two..." The Arc siblings got into their combat ready positions. "one..." Jaune growled at her as she continued to smirk, this time with a more devilish spirit. "Begin!"
As Azure hit the gong, Jaune let out his battle cry and charged towards her, swinging his sword swiftly, yet Rouge just simply stepped to the right as if it was nothing. He did this once, twice and Rouge continued to dodge effortlessly. She laughed at him. "When will you realize that you're messing up?"
"How have I messed up?!"
"Your first mistake- you're not thinking with your head." Rouge answered.
Rouge attempted to strike after her claim was made, only for Jaune to push the weapon away from him as he held his sword horizontally before thrusting it upwards, knocking his older sister back.
"If I wasn't thinking with my head, would I have been able to deflect your attack?" She growled and went towards him, her dagger clashing against his sword. His sword leaned closer to her and he smirked as he had the upper hand. "Is that all you got? I've been in tougher combat situations with Tangerine!"
She laughed at him. "Oh, you underestimate me. Your second mistake- never underestimate your opponent!" She got out a second dagger and grinded the two weapons against his own, pushing Jaune back a few feet. "And you're making an even bigger mistake by underestimating me- you are looking at a bonafide huntress." She swung her daggers in an X formation, trying to get him from both sides, only for him to do a barrel roll right underneath her, and used his sword to strike her in the lower part of her leg. Not enough to severely wound her, but enough to hurt. Distracted in her agony, he took the opportunity to trip her down. Slowly after she tumbled to the ground, the young warrior got up with a smirk on his face.
"Do you still think I'm useless?!"
"So you've learned a few things." Rouge admitted as she got up. "That doesn't mean you have the right to call yourself a huntsman in training! Oh, wait, you're not! You're just nothing!" She threw her daggers at him, but Jaune swiftly jumped to his left, letting the ordinary daggers hit the tree. While he dodged this attack, she got out two new daggers- these ones loaded with fire dust. "Tell me this, can you face the flames of retribution?!" She slashed the air with both her daggers, creating fire shock-waves that Jaune leaned to his right to avoid the first one, then ducked to avoid the second one. But they were still coming. He had no chance to catch his breath as he tried to avoid the flames. As the third, fourth, fifth and six flame waves came, he ducked, then stepped left, stepped right and ducked again, only this time, he failed to lean back far enough, getting knocked right into the fence.
Jaune got up as Rouge spun her fire dust daggers in her hand. He charged towards her and attempted to strike her down, only for her to lift her daggers up to halt him from advancing his sword any further. He pressed more force, making her skid back, before she took knee to her stomach and tumbled to the ground, her daggers falling out of her hands.
Rouge got up as Jaune roasted her by yelling, "You're vain, you're insane, and you're nothing but a bully!"
"Ooh, burn!" Indigo exclaimed.
She growled at him before breathing in and calming herself. "Oh, there's no need for burns." She flipped open her purse and got out two new daggers, these ones filled with ice dust. "You just need to chill!"
She charged towards him, attempting to strike him near and far. While he dodging her ice waves, Pyrrha looked in wonder as the duel continued.
Even in the midst of his anger, he's planning out every attack, not just rushing in blindly. He's come so far in such little time, but... is it far enough?
As the sun set over Olympia, a man with a scorpion tail braid sat underneath a tree, sighing heavily in frustration.
"I can't believe this... My search for the Spring Maiden has lead me to a dead end."
Tyrian Callows put his back to the tree and reviewed the information he was able to find, using the fading sun's rays to illuminate the words on the paper. Written in his own writing on the piece of notebook paper with an image attached to it by a paperclip, read;
Name- Rosa Vernal aka the Spring Maiden (Relic of Knowledge)
Age (at last appearance)- 14 (went missing ten years ago)
Birthplace- Olympia, Vale
Status- Unknown
He looked at the photo attached to the notes he made. Rosa Vernal appeared to be in her early teenage years, likely shortly before she went missing. In a photo, she had bright ginger hair knotted into a big top bun. Her eyes were as green as grass and helped to draw attention to her gorgeous face. She wore a pink and red rose shaped skirt with layers of cloth to create the rose alongside a sleeveless pink shirt top with coral buttons. Her nails were painted with a cherry color and she wore a flower charm bracelet on her right wrist. She also wore strawberry red gladiator sandals with a hot pink pedicure seen if one looked closely, complete with a crown of faux pink roses in her hair to finish the look.
She looked like a flower girl, so happy, so free, but yet, where was she now? He sighed deeply. From what Salem told him, he knew the Vernal family had been entrusted with the Spring Maiden power, but had that cycle been broken? If he was right, then this was going to be harder than he thought.
Oh... My lady won't be happy to hear this news, but I suppose I better report back and tell her of my findings.
He folded up the paper gently so that the photo wouldn't get ruined before pocketing it. Reluctantly getting up, he swiftly walked away, leaving the city behind.
Back at the Arc family home, the duel raged on between the two squabbling siblings. The sun had almost set, threatening to blind the combatants and the audience as the sky was painted yellow and orange. Jaune shielded himself from the waves of dust coming from Rouge's electric dust daggers, firmly standing his ground.
"Come on, Jaune! You got this!" Pyrrha cheered.
The young warrior noticed that many of Rouge's other daggers were scattered across the yard, but so far she had no effort to retrieve them.
Is this because this is a low risk situation for her? Is it perhaps because she's in a familiar environment? Jaune asked himself. Or does she have something else planned?
As he got lost in his thoughts, he barely dodged her dagger's movements as she advanced towards him.
"You have no chance to defeat me, Jaune! Just surrender now!" she said as she knocked him down with a kick to the chin.
He held his chin in pain briefly before glaring at her. "I know I have little chance, but has that ever stopped me?"
The fashionista huntress smirked. "You want to believe you can win, just because you're the 'hero." Her entire body quickly glowed with red energy as she prepared her aura for her next move and Jaune looked at her, slightly worried. "The truth is, you're not a hero and you never will be. Bedazzling Light!"
"Aurgh!"
Her energy shimmered and glowed as Jaune tried to shield his eyes with his left arm, but he was too late. He felt his eyes burn as if they were on fire and screamed in pain. Many audience members gasped in terror. He let his arm down, looking to see what happened only to realize that everything turned completely black. He didn't see her, but he could hear Rouge chuckle as she asked him, "So, tell me, how does it feel, being completely in the dark?"
He could hear her laughter as she charged towards him, ducking to avoid her slash. He tried to dodge her punches, but he wasn't quite successful. As the fight continued between them, they all could see his clouded eyes, and his frantic moves as he attempted to evade Rouge's attacks with various success.
"Jaune! What did she do to him?!" Pyrrha asked worryingly.
"Rouge used her semblance, nicknamed Bedazzling Light, on him. This semblance lets her blind anyone in her line of sight for one full minute, but Rouge's semblance is very unusual in that it has an initial effect, and an aftermath effect." Emerald answered.
She looked at Emerald bewildered. "An aftermath effect?"
"Yes, an effect occurring after the initial effect. A double attack. It seems you've never heard of this phenomenon in semblances. In this case, after the blindness disappears, the victim has blurry vision for a certain amount of time."
"How long does it last?"
"It varies depending on various factors- most of them I haven't been able to determine, but one thing I've figured out is that the more base aura the victim has, the longer it takes for the blurriness to wear off."
"Oh no... Jaune has a lot of aura." She then cried out loudly, "Hang in there, Jaune!"
Jaune had trouble dodging many of Rouge's attacks, so he eventually caved in to his instincts. As he ducked, dodging her punches and jumped back to evade her kicks, he noticed the darkness was replaced by blurriness. At least it was an improvement. Acting quickly, he evaded her attack and prepared himself for what was to come.
The duel had continued on for almost twenty minutes. Still no signs of the blurry vision clearing up, but Jaune pressed on regardless. As Rouge was slammed into the fence, the hair bow holding her side bun broke and her hair tumbled past her shoulders. She grumbled something under her breath, but Jaune couldn't tell what it was as she threw more waves of electric dust lower to the ground at him, catching him off guard, shocking him. As the dust wore off, she grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground, skidding and leaving a dirt patch where he slid. He felt the pain shot up his back, and felt even more when Rouge placed her heel onto his chest, keeping him pinned down. He looked at her with a look of melancholy and hopelessness. This was the end, and he knew it.
The timer began as he heard a voice say, "One... Two..."
With his slightly blurred vision, he turned to see the audience about to witness his most humiliating defeat. Azura began counting the seconds with her fingers. Acacia, Amethyst, and Indigo were all frightened and wanted him to get up. Tangerine, Emerald, Azure and Roux all looked downcast. And Pyrrha... she looked so horrified and saddened at the same time. Only once before had he seen her this forlorn- right before her battle with Cinder, as Beacon fell to its knees...
"Come on, get up!" Amethyst cried out.
"Don't give up Jaune!" Indigo cheered.
"Three... four..."
"Come on, Jaune! Don't let her crush your dreams!" Acacia exclaimed.
Rouge dug her heel into his chest, adding salt to his wounds. He stared at the fashionista as she began to laugh at him. "When will you ever learn?"
"Five... six..."
"You're nothing! That's all you are, and all you ever will be!"
It was hard to think, hard to breathe. His head spun painfully, going a hundred miles an hour. His bones ached from the fight, his muscles felt like they were on fire, his vision still blurred, and he felt a hard pinching feeling where Rouge was attempting to embed her heel into his sternum, but it was nothing compared to the crushing feeling of defeat crashing down on him. No, this can't be over... he thought to himself. It just can't be...
"Seven... eight..."
Pyrrha's eyes lowered to the ground. Jaune's spirit was being broken and there was nothing she could do to help him.
"It's over, Jaune!"
"Nine..."
"Just give up!" For a split second, an image of Cinder defeating Pyrrha from his nightmare flashed by his eyes. For maybe the smallest moment of time, he saw a similarity between the two.
The truth teller was about to say the last number, ending the match then and there, when suddenly, a white glow formed from nowhere and Rouge was kicked off Jaune, sending the model back a few feet. Paralyzed in shock, Rouge watched as he slowly stood with the aura glow formed around his left leg. Everyone gasped in awe, in complete disbelief.
In his most venomous voice, the young warrior declared, "I'm not done yet."
"What?! But.. but... how?!"
His vision cleared and he glared at her with more fury then ever, clinching his fists as he proclaimed, "I will never give up, you royal pain in the rear!" Aura slowly began to surround him, starting from the other leg, slowly manifesting through his body super-charging himself. "You've been treating me like dirt since I was born, and you think that just because you're the oldest that your younger siblings can't succeed, but you're wrong! For as long as I can remember, you've been treating me like I'm nothing, and more recently, like I'm a slave! Those days are over, Rouge! I have several reasons to fight, and I won't stop no matter what!"
Quickly overcoming her shock, she retrieved all the daggers she used earlier, throwing the first two ordinary ones at him, before throwing waves of fire, electricity, wind and ice at him in rapid succession, only for him to step to the side and out of the way for each one. He moved even faster, and as he swung his sword at her, he knocked the daggers out of her hands, and Rouge used an aura shield, only for Jaune to break it like it was made of glass. Swiftly jumping back, Rouge realized that the tables were slowly turning on her. She needed a plan to take him down, and fast.
"Do you really believe you can win?" She punched him in the arm various times, trying to weaken him. "You should just surrender now." Unfortunately for her, with his enhanced strength, wasn't working. "Heck, I order you to surrender." she said venomously.
"I will never surrender! Especially not to a woman who feels so entitled, so selfish and is the second cruelest woman in the world!"
"You don't deserve victory! You don't deserve anything!"
She tried to strike him down with her daggers, aiming for the shoulders where his armor didn't protect him, but they had no effect. No injury, not even any pain. Rouge growled and shimmered with aura, attempting to use her semblance on him again, but this time, Jaune's eyes briefly glowed with white energy and the femme fatale screamed in pain. Her semblance had been turned on her.
"How does it feel, having the tables turned?" Scared stiff and unable to dodge his moves, Jaune then delivered several punches over her body, kicked her in the stomach to the ground and before she could get up again, pulled her up by the wrist, crushed it in his grasp, causing her to groan in pain. "Bonne nuit, Rouge."
Taking his other hand, he grasped the upper part of her arm and threw her aside, slamming her back first into the tree, falling down on her stomach immediately thereafter. She clinched her fist and attempted to get up, but her body fell back down the few inches she managed to push herself up. The fashion model released the hold her fingers had in her hand as her eyes closed, slipping into unconsciousness.
The battle was over. The sun had disappeared, but the sunset colors were still there. Everyone stood in silence as Jaune's aura glow flickered and then disappeared.
"Rouge has been knocked out and is unable to battle. The winner is Jaune!" Roux declared.
"Congratulations, Jaune!" Pyrrha said, planting a kiss on his cheek.
He found himself blushing like the dork he was.
"Wow... I just. I can't... how?" Tangerine asked.
"I... I'm not sure. One thing I know I'm feeling anger and fear, and then suddenly, it feels as though a pool of aura just opened up for me.. I know that probably makes no sense." Jaune stumbled.
"I think I can get it. This 'pool' of aura must be what you used to strengthen yourself." Emerald theorized. "Looks like you have a semblance to learn how to use."
Azura got out a bucket and turned on the tap, letting water from the hose fill it up. Everyone noticed, but Acacia was the one to ask her, "What are you doing?"
"Jaune made a lot of statements on Rouge's treatment of him." The truth teller turned the water off and held the bucket by the handle as she made her way over to her older well-dressed sister. She looked at Rouge with a look of contempt. "And I want to know the truth."
She dumped the bucket of water onto the defeated huntress, instantly waking her up, causing her to shiver. "Brr! That's freezing!" She shot Azura a harsh glare. "Not cool!"
The lie detector set the bucket down and folded her arms. "Rouge Arc, what have you been hiding from us?"
Rouge brought herself to her knees. "I have nothing to hide!"
Azura gave her a mean glare. "Admit it, you've been hiding how horribly you've been treating Jaune from all of us!"
She looked down guiltily. "Okay, I admit. I've been treating Jaune horribly ever since... forever."
"And?"
"And I've been treating him dirt even more with his return from Beacon."
"And?"
"I... I've been treating him... like a slave. Like he's worthless."
"And?"
She sighed. "I... I provoked him on purpose. I overheard something I shouldn't have, used it against him, and wanted him to duel me so I could defeat him and get him to give up his dream. But..." she turned to him sadly. "you're never going to give up, are you?"
"Nope." he answered.
"But what's wrong with Jaune being a huntsman?" Pyrrha asked.
"Well... Due to the huge crushing debt, I've been the only one nudged towards the path of being a professional hunter, since I'm the oldest. All the combat training, going to a huntsmen prep school and legitimately getting into a huntsmen academy. With me carrying the family legacy, I never saw it as necessary for anyone else to take the mantle. But when Tangerine and Jaune decided to pursue that path, I thought they were doing it only for themselves. Within time, I realized Tangerine wasn't doing it for herself, or even for money. Whereas Jaune... he always mentioned the benefits of being a hunter, so I presumed he didn't know what he was getting into and that he wanted to become a huntsman for selfish reasons. And when he forged this transcripts for Beacon, I believed I was right and felt the need to punish him for his selfishness."
Jaune was silent for a moment before answering, "Maybe that was true in the beginning, but that's not true anymore. I have several reasons for fighting." He glanced over at Pyrrha briefly, her face smiling and turning as red as her hair.
"I will admit that I have been defeated." Rouge picked herself up from the ground. "But don't get too cocky." She folded her arms. "You won this duel because of luck, not skill. You still have a semblance to learn how to use. I predict that, if you forget about your lack of experience, you will act carelessly when you face an opponent stronger than me, you will lose the battle and it could cost you everything."
Gasps were heard from all save for Emerald, who raised her eyebrows in surprise. Jaune folded his arms. "Oh yeah? Well... I predict that one day, your world will come crashing down on you. You will face your own disaster and be torn in multiple directions. And when you're lost and need guidance, you will have no one to turn to."
The same gasps were heard before silent tension reigned. Both of them glared at each other, not saying a word. The silence was finally broken when Azure asked, "Rouge really has been horrible to Jaune... hasn't she?"
"Well then, perhaps we should fix that. From what we have gathered, Rouge treated Jaune like a slave during his time as butler. I meant for Jaune to be punished, not degraded." Roux initiated. "All in favor of Jaune being lifted from his punishment as butler, raise your hand." Everyone's hand, except for Rouge's, rose up immediately. Even Jaune and Pyrrha raised their hands, because they too knew how it had gotten out of hand. "Well then, Jaune, you are released from your duties as butler."
"Thank you!" He turned to the fashionista, smirking. "Rouge, eat your heart out!"
Rouge growled and turned away, leaving in a huff of anger.
"They're never going to get along, are they?" Pyrrha asked.
"Probably not." Tangerine answered.
"Oh, I think they will. Just give it time." Emerald said. "You thought you'd never get along with her, and here we are."
"Congratulations, big bro!" Amethyst cheered.
"Congrats, Jaune!" Acacia added.
"Bravo!" Indigo cheered.
"I never thought you could beat her, but you did. Good for you!" Azura complimented.
Tangerine smirked. "Looks like all that combat training payed off. Well done."
"I'm amazed at your resolve and how you managed to defeat her." Emerald smiled at her older brother. "Who would foresee the ultimate underdog defeating a pro?"
"Congratulations, Jaune. You have fought well." Azure said.
"A victory well earned. Who would have known how much you'd change within a year?" Roux asked.
Jaune smiled and walked with the others back into the house. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and let his hand hang at his side before he felt a paper wad inserted into his hand. The others walked away as he stopped to read the note.
Meet me back in the yard in 30 minutes. I got a surprise for you.-Pyrrha