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The heat of the Vacuan sun beat down strongly on his now-unrusted gleaming white armor from a nearby window, having recently returned from a mission with the other members of Team JNPER. Jaune took the chance to enjoy a large sip from his beverage on the table, noting the faint taste of Vacuan spices present in the drink.
Glancing away from his tablemates for a second to eye the empty spot two seats down from him, Jaune wondered what was taking Nora so long to return from her break this time. She had been the one to invite him here with Team RWBY, after all, and he had learned by now that Nora surprising him usually did not mean good things for his health. And without the added shield of Oscar - who wasn't interested in this gathering, citing his own conflicting memories as Ozpin - and Ren - who was currently still hung up on his own relationship problems with Nora, Jaune didn't value his chances highly.
"Jaune?" stated the wolf faunus to his right in a questioning tone. "You looked like you were lost in thought. Something on your mind?"
Turning to Olive Gashley, Jaune recalled first arriving and being seated at this mixer organized by the Beacon Brigade of Vacuo, a name he found out referred to many of the competitors who attended the last Vytal festival when Beacon...fell. They had arrived in force to Vacuo in order to transfer schools and since organized themselves. They even now included some of the Vacuan students who found themselves temporarily partnered with members of the brigade during some sort of take on a re-initiation instituted by Headmaster Theodore.
For some of the members, he recognized them immediately, such as Sun and his partner Neptune, who he could never forget, or Coco Adel and her team, who he vaguely remembered from times that seemed so long ago. But for many of the members of the brigade and especially the new Vacuan faces, this mixer was intended to be an introduction of sorts and, as Nora put it, a way to get back to being with people again.
And so Jaune found himself surrounded by mostly unfamiliar people at the six-seater circular table Nora chose for them. On his right was Scarlet David, another member of Team SSSN like Sun, although they had recently been going by Team SSSNN lately. The reason for that was on the right of Scarlet himself, his boyfriend Nolan Porfirio, a face Jaune vaguely recalled as well as having been on the team he faced in Round 1 of the Vytal festival.
He winced a little internally remembering just what Nora had done to them at his orders. But Nolan didn't seem to take it personally anyways. Directly across from him was Reese Chloris, a green haired girl with green eyes and a skater aesthetic who apparently faced RWBY in Round 1 all those years back. And next to her was where Nora was seated. Finally, on his left was Olive, who was a Vacuan student who found herself partnered with Scarlet and Reese at one point. She was a wolf faunus whose trait of wolf ears was highlighted by her own green clothing, green eyes and deep brown hair. If Oscar had come along, he might have even confused them as siblings minus the faunus trait!
"Sorry, I was just wondering where Nora went. She's been gone for a while," Jaune stated, eyeing Nora's spot again. "You were saying?"
"We were just talking about the Battle of Shade that occurred while you all were in Atlas. Have you heard a little about it?" Olive questioned. "It turns out some members of the previous Vacuan royalty had access to a mind control semblance and a way to increase the amount of people that could be controlled. They even had some of our professors as double agents! Thankfully Yatsuhashi managed to break out and disable the leader with the semblance before things got too bad," Olive finished, smiling with her ears perked up. "We also helped a bunch too!"
Speaking of the gentle giant, Jaune snuck a peek over at the table next to theirs. Yatsuhashi Daichi was currently stiffly seated next to familiar form of his partner Velvet Scarlatina, who herself was seated next to a much more casual Sun Wukong as well. The tension between the three seemed strangely high, even with the combination of Neptune and two more unfamiliar girls sitting with them trying to mitigate that. "I wonder what that is about," Jaune thought.
"That sounds crazy," Jaune replied, getting back into the conversation. "But I can believe it. I have seen people wielding literal magic powers and controlling the Grimm in person after all! A plot with a few overpowered semblances seems much more reasonable."
Reese took that moment to cut in. "Speaking of magic, you should tell us more about your time in the magic fairyland, Mr. Rusted Knight," Reese said, grinning cheekily at Jaune. "I know Olive would be very interested in hearing about that, as well~!" Reese declared, causing the wolf faunus to his left to redden significantly while avoiding his gaze.
Jaune grimaced internally. He knew he should have told Nora, Yang and Ruby to keep his experiences in the Ever After more close to chest. Now that a few weeks passed and Ruby became a de-facto celebrity due to her own actions at Amity, Jaune too had been thrust into the spotlight as she confirmed he was the legendary Rusted Knight of fantasy when asked. The first time a small girl had approached for an autograph it had been somewhat cute and rewarding but not when it was an entire crowd of civilians! And being asked to explain his time there...was difficult in itself.
"Time passed differently in the Ever After. Day and night were not consistent at all," Jaune began, hesitantly. "Some acres were eternally in night while some never reached night at all. I did spend some time guiding Alyx as you know," he continued, seeing Reese and Olive lean in closer to listen. "But I also spent much time tending after the residents of the place, especially the Paper Pleasers as they were called. It's hard to even say how many years I was in there in total..."
Mercifully, Scarlet took this moment to chime in with a question. "That sounds like a lot to get used to. I doubt I could stand having to deal with those differences myself. How did you cope with it?"
"I didn't. You just have to take things one at a time and keep going forward, sometimes. I've learned that a lot on my journey to here," Jaune replied. "Especially after what happened at Beacon...I'm still working on getting through even that now." Sans Olive, all at the table nodded at that. The fall was a traumatic experience for everyone involved and Jaune had even heard Nolan had lost the rest of his team during that time. If Jaune had lost not just Pyrrha...but also Ren and Nora...he had no idea where he would be. He felt a bit of respect form for Nolan and Scarlet when he heard that, who had managed to tough things out together. He felt the respect reciprocated to some extent once they heard what happened to him, even.
"Speaking of after Beacon," Olive cut in excitedly, grasping his arm and drawing a wince from Jaune at the mention of the school again. "You were there at the Battle of Haven, right? When the daughter of Chief Belladonna herself led a counterattack on the White Fang and helped saved Mistral? That must have been so incredible to watch!"
"Unfortunately, I didn't really fight outside where the White Fang were, but Blake did explain what happened when she returned. I was too busy facing off with the Fall Maiden Cinder," he said, drawing a gasp from Reese and Olive, who seemed focused on the story. "Although calling it a fight was generous. I couldn't do anything to her...except for one opportunity that I still wish I had used better...but at least I made sure she didn't take anyone else from us on that day. Also speaking of Blake...looks like Team RWBY is here," Jaune stated, watching as the small red leader of said team walked through the doors of the shop the brigade had reserved this event for.
Jaune felt Olive's grip on his arm tighten. "D-Do you think she would talk to me a bit about it?" Olive asked. Out of the corner of his eye, Jaune noticed as Weiss entered after her partner and scanned the room, seemingly looking for something. Finally, gaze locking onto Jaune and his position with Olive, she froze for a second before her eyes narrowed and she turned away. "I wonder what that was about?" He thought. He watched as she followed her partner to the table Emerald was seated at, next to a familiar dark skinned and dark haired girl in a blue beret. He's not sure where he remembers seeing her but Ruby did seem interested in talking to her from the looks of it.
"Sure, I can introduce you to her later," he promised, finally freeing himself from her grip and gesturing to Yang and Blake who had moved to the table with Coco and Fox, exchanging greetings with them. He had to suppress a snort at Coco clapping Yang on the back hard enough to make her stumble a bit after seeing her holding hands with Blake. "I don't think either of us have any missions scheduled soon so we can all meet up later today even, if they aren't too busy." He watched Olive's ears perk up and her face brighten at that. Suddenly he felt an intense stare on his person and found himself shivering. Turning to the source, he saw Weiss at her table eyeing him and Olive intently, teeth gritting a bit. "I thought she got over her issues with faunus a while back?" He wondered. Was Weiss regressing?
Neptune had also apparently gotten up and walked over to Weiss, as he chose that moment to start talking with her with that typical winning smile of his. Jaune looked on as they conversed a little, feeling a bit disappointed internally. He wasn't sure why he was disappointed though. Unbeknownst to him as well, Scarlet and Nolan exchanged a complicated look at the table after observing Weiss and Jaune.
"Any room in that outing for me to hang too?" Reese asked from across the table. "We could all meet up and then maybe Olive and I could head out with you to a couple other nice places as well that we know about," she added, smiling demurely. Jaune considered her proposal for a second. Someone more used to Vacuo leading him around could be helpful although he was somewhat concerned about being without someone he knew like Nora around. He could also hear the sound of something crashing to the floor a few tables over, likely an accident of some sort.
Nolan cut in before he could respond. "Didn't you say you were going somewhere with the rest of the former Team ROSC, Scarlet?" He commented, elbowing his neighbor.
Scarlet flinched for a second before answering. "Yeah! I-I planned on inviting Coco, Reese and Olive to a bit of an Atlesian talk led by some prominent fashion designers, hoping to improve morale in the city. I was thinking of inviting Neptune as well. Sorry Reese but I really think you should come or Coco may drag you in herself."
Reese scowled and looked a bit incensed for a second before sighing. "Well, I got plenty of the authentic Coco experience back in Team ROSC, whether I was supposedly leader or not. I guess it can't be helped!"
Olive took that moment to latch onto Jaune's arm again with a begging expression. "But that doesn't mean we can't meet sometime later this week! Are you free? I'd love to hear more about your stories and hear about your friends too!" She said, rubbing against him. Jaune blushed a bit at the forwardness and took a second to consider a response.
"Well, I...-"
"HE is busy," said a familiar voice from his side as a pale and dainty white hand slammed onto the table next to him, scaring Olive off of him and shocking Jaune. Turning, his eyes met the glacial blue of Weiss Schnee, who seemed to be upset about something. Jaune wondered what Neptune could have said to cause this. "He needs to go to the dust market in central district with me to resupply his dust today. And now seems like a great time to do it! Don't you agree, Jaune?" Weiss asked imperiously, daring Jaune to answer in the contrary.
Jaune knew better than to say no. "Y-Yeah, sure. We can go today," Jaune said, remaining in his seat despite his agreement. "But I am still waiting on Nora to return. I need to tell her-"
"We can tell her for you!" Scarlet exclaimed, who, unlike Reese and Olive, did not seem that cowed by Weiss's declaration. "Go enjoy your da-trip to the market, I mean!"
Jaune felt a small and soft but surprisingly strong arm encircle one of his own and pull him up. "Sorry, nice to meet you all!" Jaune said, helplessly looking back as Weiss began to drag him to the doors. Turning away, Jaune missed as Scarlet and Nolan shot Weiss a thumbs up and a smile each, causing her to blush and turn away herself, speeding up her walking pace as well.
Letting Weiss drag him out the doors back to the strong Vacuan sun filled streets and dusty atmosphere, Jaune kept pace with her for a few seconds before asking the question on his mind. "So what was that about?"
"I told you what it was about. We discussed earlier this week how you need to refresh the gravity and hard light dust on your shield after so many years of disrepair, magical blacksmith involvement or not. What if it fails you when you need to land or during a fight? This is important, Jaune!" Weiss insisted, eyes darting up to his before darting away a second later, looking straight ahead instead.
"I know, but we didn't need to do that today. Is this really about...Neptune? If he rejected you again, I'll go talk to him right now. He was the one to approach again, after all!" Jaune stated, a bit of frustration evident in his tone. He thought he had made it clear to him years ago that he didn't like him playing with her feelings!
Weiss stopped and stared blankly at Jaune for a few seconds before shaking whatever came over her off and continuing to pull Jaune by the hand through the streets. "You're truly adorable, Jaune." She said, causing Jaune to blush slightly at the off-handed compliment. "But I can take care of myself. And that ship sailed for us many years ago now. We're not like that. Got it?" She said, this time staring up into Jaune's eyes challengingly. Jaune always knew her eyes were beautiful but seeing them once again with that fierceness to them, he found himself lost for words in their depth for a second or two. "Got IT!?"
"Y-YES, Ma'am!" Jaune answered, tearing his eyes away from hers. "So, what's the plan? Unless you just wanted to browse the market with me for a bit," Jaune asked, not noticing as Weiss flinched back for a second after inadvertently being called out.
"T-Thankfully, dear Whitley gathered a list of reputable stalls for us to check for quality gravity dust infusions. He offered to try to help supply us himself, but given the SDC's previous role in emptying the dust reserves of Vacuo, he is finding it hard to integrate with the local vendors beyond friendly relations even with the significant resources he has recovered from the fall of Atlas. Vacuans just aren't prone to trust fast and especially not Atlesians. I can hardly blame them," Weiss stated, entering a bit of a lecture mode and making Jaune smile in nostalgia.
"And what about the hard light dust?" Jaune asked, wondering if that was even available in Vacuo anymore.
"That's a bit of a harder commodity to acquire. As you know, the vast majority of hard light dust is...was produced by Atlas and the Schnee Dust Company in particular. It is peculiar mixture of fire, electricity and wind dust which requires specialized facilities to produce. Whitley has fostered relationships with the majority of the groups who are present in the city and producing such dust but we are unlikely to find quality infusions on the simple market." Weiss explained but her cheeks soon took on a bit of redness. "S-So, Whitley acquired some himself and proposed you could come over tonight and work with me to fix up Crocea Mors. A-And both Winter and Mother will be there tonight, so you are invited to dinner as well...t-that is, if you are interested!" Weiss finished, having stopped pulling at Jaune and fiddling with her skirt.
Jaune smiled gently down to her. "That's very generous of you and your brother, Weiss. I will come over tonight. Hopefully Nora doesn't need our help though. I wonder where she went?"
"Knowing her, probably into some crazy adventure in the city. Did I ever tell you about the time when she sent me up through a tube all the way from Mantle to Atlas? This was when we were separated during the chaos and..."
Jaune and Weiss continued to converse about a few topics from their past while making their way through the dust market, stopping at select vendors to browse their goods. Eventually, Weiss picked out a particular grade of infusible dust cannister from one vendor and helped Jaune refurbish Crocea Mors in the workshop present at the market. On the way back, however, they encountered a familiar funky pair of former Atlesian students also browsing the dust market.
"Schnee." Flynt Coal greeted, pulling down his glasses and raising his eyebrow at the former heiress. "Arc," he greeted with a smile, emoting with a casual peace sign. Jaune smiled and emoted back.
"Flynt! Glad you guys made it out as well. How have you been doing?" Jaune asked, happy to see the face of friends he had trained with in Atlas. Weiss rolled her eyes but didn't drop her smile.
"We just got back from doing some patrols for General Winter on the Mantle camps near the outskirts of the city. Neon and I were just going around to see if we could get some good deals on dust before turning in with the team," Flynt explained as his peppy, orange-haired cat Faunus teammate waved excitedly at both of them. "But I see the Schnee has already taken the liberty of raiding all the good dust from the market. Hmph. Typical!"
"Excuse me?" Weiss said, marching up to Flynt and narrowing her eyes at him. "I'll have you know that I..."
"Hi Blondie! Long time no see," Neon said, zooming up to Jaune in response to Weiss and Flynt breaking off into their own argument. "I heard you and those fun chicks also from Beacon came back but couldn't believe it. Did you really end up in a fairy tale world!?" Neon asked excitedly. Jaune gave out an awkward laugh and began rubbing the back of his head with his hand.
"Yeah we did. I was there for much longer though...its hard to even believe I'm back here sometimes," Jaune replied, recalling his time in the Ever After somberly.
"Lightning bolt told me! The Rusted Knight, huh? Even my parents used to read me that story when I was younger in Mantle," Neon said excitedly, taking a second to inspect Jaune again before smiling coyly. "With those frosted tips of yours, you do look more mature, after all~." Weiss twitched off to the side for a moment before continuing with her argument with Flynt.
"Haha...I get that a lot now. Thanks for noticing. Have you seen any of our other friends recently? How's Ivori and Kobalt?" Jaune asked.
"I ran into Goldilocks and her partner the other day! I've also been seeing that cute little farmboy from your team around sometimes too. But I'm glad I got to see the cute blondie as well today~!" Neon said, winking at him. Jaune heard a loud stomp come from the direction of Flynt and Weiss and could make out something that sounded like...teeth grinding? But was too distracted by the compliment to take a look.
"As for my teammates, they're doing fine. We all went on a couple missions recently together but General Winter has us helping to train the civilians a little bit too, just in case. Speaking of fine~, you're looking pretty good after all that happened to you. Missing something though," Neon said flirtatiously, putting a hand to her chin and taking a brief moment to look him over. She then grinned and slammed her fist into her palm. "Unlike that cute farmboy of yours, what you need is...a beard!"
Jaune heard something like a rubber band snapping next to him and felt a familiar pair of arms intertwine with his and begin pulling.
"We are leaving, NOW!" Weiss declared, beginning to drag him off again. Jaune gave out his best helpless expression to the startled Neon, although she soon started grinning at him again.
"Schnee!" Jaune heard Flynt shout. He felt Weiss stop pulling him and pause in place.
"Like I tried to say...sorry about giving you a rough time. You all helped my family get out and I'm thankful for that. Enjoy your night with Arc," Flynt finished, pulling his hat down and gesturing at Neon to come, who followed him in the opposite direction towards the dust market.
Blushing a little, Weiss resumed her pace.
"What was that about?" Jaune asked, curious about the topic of their conversation.
"It was nothing much, don't worry about it. How about YOU though, mister? Enjoying your time with the girls here, I see?" Weiss said, leveling him an unimpressed look.
"I was just glad to see they were doing fine after all that happened in Atlas. It's been rough for all of us," Jaune commented, causing Weiss to soften a little.
"It has," she replied, looking off into the distance. "Let's...Let's just get over to my family's place. We do still have some dust to install, after all," Weiss decided, as they walked off to the residential district.
"I wonder why she is so aggressive today?" Jaune thought. "Must be the heat getting to her, I guess."
After spending the rest of the evening enjoying a peaceful dinner with Weiss and her family - although they kept giving him strange glances - and working with Weiss to update his shield, Jaune headed back to the dorms for the night. He noticed voices coming from Nora's door and saw his and Ren's door ajar, so he quietly headed into his dorm room and went to sleep. The next day, after a quick breakfast, the daily city update with his team presented by the joint leaders of the city (Theodore, Winter and Glynda who had been selected by each prominent group in the city) and a light workout, he received a message on his scroll.
Coco: Hey, you busy? We're gathering together some of the brigade and others for a small sparring session in the combat stadium. Bring whoever with!
"Hey Ren, Nora, you want to go spar for a bit at the stadium? Coco and her team asked us and there will probably be others there too," Jaune asked, looking at his two teammates.
"Actually, Renny and I...still need to have a bit of a talk. You go ahead without us," Nora said, glancing at Ren for a second before looking away. Jaune noted, however, that both seemed more hopeful than the last time he had seen them. He hadn't tried to pry yet but he guessed the conversation last night must have went well at least.
"Sure, I'll see you later?" Jaune said questioningly, receiving a nod from two.
Taking the confirmation in stride, he picked up his refurbished Crocea Mors and headed out the door. After a brief walk, he entered the combat stadium to see a recognizable cast of people loitering around the room, with Coco and a purple haired girl in the center discussing something. He thinks he remembered her name was...Nebulon or something? Aside from those two, he recognized the additional members of Team CFVY, Oscar and Emerald (who lived separately from the other members of Team JNPER), Team ABRN including Reese who winked at him as his eyes passed over her and all of Team RWBY, who smiled and waved at him as he entered. There were also some additional Vacuan students or other transfer students he didn't recognize as well.
Noticing his entry, Coco walked over to him. "Good to see you again, Jaune. Nora and Ren still playing hooky?" Nodding his head in affirmation, Jaune watched Coco frown before even her expression. "Damn. Bun-Bun wanted to try seeing if she could beat thunder thighs in hand-to-hand this time. Oh well! Head to the stands, we'll start making some match selections in a second."
Heading over to where he saw RWBY, Oscar and Emerald sitting previously, he was suddenly approached by Reese again. "Hey, long time no see! How was your trip?" She greeted, signature hoverboard holstered behind her back.
"It was nice, I managed to make sure my weapons wouldn't malfunction with Weiss. I'm grateful to her," Jaune said, smiling as Weiss came down to greet him as well from the stands.
"I bet you are! That dust was expensive, after all. Nothing to the Schnee fortune, however," Weiss stated proudly as she approached and sent a calculating glance towards Reese.
"So your team isn't here, right? How about your sit with my team instead?" Reese said, getting straight to the point. Weiss reddened and sputtered for a second as Jaune pondered and then opened his mouth to respond.
"Absolutely not! He's sitting with his...good friends from Beacon, right Jaune?" Weiss pushed, having recovered fast.
"And why should he? Wasn't his teammate the one who said he should try getting familiar with some of the rest of us in the brigade just yesterday?" Reese fired back, not backing down.
"Well, I..." Jaune started.
"Stay out of it!" Weiss and Reese shouted. Jaune promptly shut up and waited for his final sentence.
In the end, Team RWBY ended up moving closer to Team ABRN as Jaune sat sandwiched between Weiss and Reese, each holding onto an arm. He wondered where he had gone wrong. Maybe he should have asked Oscar and Emerald to enter with him? Sending a gaze filled with an ask for help to the two of them, he saw Oscar shrug in apparent defeat and Emerald smirk at him. No help there to be found, he thought glumly.
The first match was Yang vs Yatsuhashi, as an apparent request from Yang made earlier to Coco. It seemed that Yang wanted to test herself against the imposingly large sword wielder and she found herself with stiff competition to start. But as her semblance gained in power the match quickly turned out for the worse for the giant man, with Yang sending him flying out of the arena with a final uppercut at 40% aura capacity herself.
A couple more matches progressed before Coco promptly called down Emerald to face her. Apparently, as Team ABRN explained to him, Coco had taken exception with how badly Mercury and Emerald had beaten her team in the Vytal festival and called down Emerald at the first chance possible to the stadium once the Atlesian refugees had arrived some months back. It was apparently a brutal match which ended with Coco barely winning by aura percentage, having learned to saturate the arena with bullets and dust to avoid being kept under Emerald's illusions. Since then, they have been on better terms, although there is apparently a competitive streak between them. And this time was no different, with Emerald clinching out a win by ring out after fooling Coco to commit to a blow with Gianduja which set her off balance.
And after rolling the profiles again on the large screen, Jaune finally found himself coming up to fight.
Jaune Arc vs Iris Marilla
Detaching himself from the two girls and making his way down to the ring to his friends encouragement in the background, Jaune found himself facing a blue haired girl with yellow eyes and a distinctive set of flowers set behind her ears, including a small sunflower, a lily and a large tulip. Her hair was set straight down and she was wearing a frilly rainbow patterned dress with straps that ended in orange. Surprisingly, however, she was also equipped with heavy duty steel toed boots in an intimidatingly deep red that seemed to contrast with her outfit, as well as wielding what appeared to a large mace with four differently colored veins running down the sides of it. A multi dust actioned weapon like Weiss, Jaune reasoned. Unlike some of the other students, Jaune also vaguely recalled seeing her at least once in Beacon during his first semester. Another transfer student?
"Hi!" His opponent said cheerfully, smiling at him in a ditzy way. "Coco has told me all about you! You're that legendary knight or something, right?"
Jaune rubbed the back of his head in a bit of embarrassment. "I wouldn't say legendary but yes. I recall seeing you back in Vale as well...are you a transfer student?"
"I came here with Coco and her team after everything that happened at...Beacon," she said, suddenly looking a bit down before brightening again. "I was the year ahead of you but it looks like you've gone and lapped both me and Coco by becoming a full huntsman already. How impressive~!" She said flirtatiously.
Fox took that moment to cut in, having acted as the referee of the bouts so far. "That's enough talking. Are you both ready to fight?" Both combatants nodded their heads in agreement.
Jaune immediately took a forward stance with his sword and shield held offensively towards Iris while she simultaneously raised her mace a bit and seemed to ready herself to...jump?
"FIGHT!" Fox shouted, kicking off the battle.
Jaune's observation was quickly proven correct as his opponent activated something on her weapon and let out a burst of wind dust, sending herself flying into the air above him. Jaune readied his sword to cut her down on the inevitable drop but was surprised when she suddenly dropped extremely rapidly on top of him, barely dodging by a breadth of hair. Jaune watched shocked as her weapon cratered the place it landed. "Did she use wind dust to propel herself down too?" He wondered.
Taking a few steps towards the smaller girl again, he sent out a strike to the right, being parried by the mace as it came back up quickly to defend. Lashing out with his shield afterwards, Jaune was rewarded with a glancing blow against the girl, although she quickly adjusted herself afterwards. Raising her mace again, she aimed for his midsection and he caught the blow on his shield, sliding it along towards the top before sending the force upwards and lashing out again with his sword to score a considerable hit against the lightly dressed girl.
However, upon making contact with her aura and body, Jaune felt Crocea Mors encounter considerable resistance and almost bounce off. "Does she have metal underneath? No way, she is too small for that," Jaune thought, analyzing his opponent with a confused glance. She smiled at him knowingly before disengaging to make some distance.
"Wow, you sure pack a punch, no kidding!" Iris said, winking at him as well. "Legendary indeed!"
From the stands on Team RWBY's side, Jaune heard a loud stomping noise although he dismissed this as a student getting too into the fight. He also suddenly heard a Vacuan team from the opposite stands begin to call out as well.
"Woooooo! Go Rusted Knight!" Nebulon or whoever with the purple hair shouted, distracting him for a moment. Her teammates also joined in. "You can do it, Rusty!" "We believe in fairy tales!" "Win it for me, baby!"
Trying to ignore the last two comments, Jaune also heard Coco and Velvet began to speak up cheering for Iris as well. Then suddenly Team RWBY joined in too. "Go Jaune! Go Jaune!" "Kick her ass, VB!" "Teach her a lesson, Jaune!" "I'm just yelling because Weiss asked me to!"
Hearing a yelp after Ruby's last comment and trying to ignore that as well, Iris smiled at him as she activated another switch on her weapon, lightning beginning to coat the sides of it. "How about we move this up in intensity, Mr. Knight~!" She said before she charged.
Jaune noted with some surprise that she seemed much faster than before. Parrying her starting blows with his shield, Jaune winced as he felt the shock flow through the metal towards him, tanking the damage with his aura. If only he had an orange haired battery to soak this for him, he thought. Seeing an opportunity in her rain of attacks however, Jaune faked a shield bash making Iris retract her weapon for a second and sent a low slice towards her legs, hoping to unbalance her.
Hitting her aura, Jaune felt himself being...shocked again? The slight gap in response after allowed Iris to recover from the blow and leap over him with her wind dust, likely aiming for the same trick as before. Jaune noticed the electricity he had briefly seen running down her legs and arms disappear immediately. "So that's the trick," he thought.
Rolling out of the way, Jaune was rewarded with the sight of the last spot he occupied being cratered again, this time eyeing an almost metallic sheen coming off of the skin of the rainbow colored girl with the mace, as if in direct confirmation of his thoughts. He also heard the cheering in the background intensify from both sides.
Setting himself back into his starting position, Jaune motioned at his opponent to come at him. She restarted her lightning dust and reengaged, but this time Jaune was ready for her, meeting the first blow with a strong shield bash in response and forcing her into the air slightly. As the lightning faded from her form and he saw her fiddle with a switch at the base of her weapon, Jaune sent an airborne slash directly above him as Iris's eyes widened.
Slamming into the blade, Jaune felt almost no resistance as he sent her flying back across the arena. Looking up at the aura scoreboard, Jaune saw that he had scored over 20% of her aura with that single blow alone, despite only having taken 30% of her aura in the fight before for a total of 50% remaining. He himself was hovering at a comfortable 84%.
"You can imbue yourself with your dust or take on its properties, can't you?" Jaune said, exposing what was likely her semblance.
Recovering from the ground and looking a bit winded, Iris nodded in response. "It's one of the things I can do, but I didn't expect you to figure it out that fast...and to take advantage of it immediately. You are as good as they claim...," she said, trailing off and eyeing him for a bit. She then smiled again. "How interesting~"
"What are you doing Jaune?! Stop waiting and kick her ass!" Jaune heard Weiss shout behind him, surprising him at her bold statement. He shrugged it off and raised Crocea Mors once more against Iris.
"Well, gotta not let my friends down, OK? No hard feelings," he said, watching Iris prepare herself.
"Sure! But..." Iris said, charging in with the mace before activating her weapon again and becoming cloaked in...fire? "..I'm going to win."
Parrying her first blow, Jaune winced at the heat coming off her, recognizing that he needed to give as good he took here to win. Exchanging glancing blows against each other's auras next, Jaune clashed directly with her mace and looked into his opponent's fiery...yellow...eyes...shrouded by flames...
A flash of fire. A broken blade. One of his good friends on the ground, lying dead by his hands. Him soon to join her.
Jaune wasted no time and boosted his own aura with a snarl, sending Iris recoiling away with a start. Pressing his advantage, he slid his shield under her guard and bashed upwards, sending her diminutive body flying up before he leapt towards her with his sword, parrying another desperate attack. Using all his focus to send the mace flying out of her hands while he lost his grip of Crocea Mors, Jaune pinned her under the shield and slammed her on the ground, discarding that too to pin her hands down and prevent her from using that magic of hers. And yet as Jaune looked deeper into surprised yellow eyes no longer ringed by fire, he heard Fox yell out.
"Match over! Iris Marilla is under 20% aura and can no longer fight! The winner is Jaune Arc!" Jaune briefly heard some elevated cheering from the side of the Vacuan team headed by Nebulon and Team RWBY, but found himself staring into the eyes of Iris, regaining control of his facilities. "What have I done?" Jaune thought despondingly.
Iris spoke up almost immediately after the match ended. "Wow...I usually don't let guys get so far with me after we just met, but you sure are intense, aren't you?" She said, blushing but smiling invitingly at him from her position pinned to the ground under him. "Let's at least exchange scroll numbers first!"
Jaune got up as if struck by lightning, reaching a hand down to help Iris up as well, which she took. She giggled a bit at his response and red face.
"I wasn't joking around, you know~. How about we meet up again somewhere outside?" She offered, twirling a bit of her straight blue hair through her fingers.
Jaune made to answer her requests but suddenly found his scroll shaking like crazy in his pocket. Reaching into his pocket and grabbing it out, he saw about a dozen notifications and several new ones pop up as he opened it. The first were a few insistent messages from Weiss asking him if he was okay...then some congratulations from Team RWBY...and finally a stream of other messages from Weiss, from critiquing him on his form to asking what happened to Nora and Ren to asking him if he enjoyed dinner. Glancing back, Jaune watched Weiss continue to feverishly type into her scroll, glancing up into his eyes as he looked over and scowling with a large blush on her normally pale face while motioning him to come over.
"Sorry, looks like my friends need me actually...I'll see you around?," he said to Iris, watching her accept the loose promise with a smile, while Coco came down to talk to her. Heading up to the stands, he noticed Team ABRN had left at some point.
"Where did ABRN go?" he asked, settling down next to Weiss again as she smiled up at him.
"They were called by Winter and Headmaster Theodore for some urgent work, supposedly," Weiss said, smirking for some reason. "It's a shame its on their day off but I guess their skills were just needed in this case. That was a great match, however. You were great as always!" She said, clinging to his arm again. Jaune reddened a bit at the praise and close contact but accepted it as usual.
"Thanks...she had a really interesting semblance, although I ended up losing myself for a bit there. Glad I didn't hurt her too much," Jaune said, recalling the match.
"Coco told us apparently that her semblance is taking on the properties of something she is contact with, such as her dust on her weapon. I theorize that whole wind dust trick she was using to launch herself was actually using those flowers in her air to make her much more likely to be launched farther and faster by the wind dust, then dropping suddenly by changing it to the properties of her boots or her weapon instead. An intelligent strategy but one excellently countered by your own observations," Weiss stated. "And when she used fire dust...did you perhaps...see THAT woman in her place?" Weiss questioned, causing Jaune to stiffen.
"Yes. In that moment...she looked somewhat similar...and I...," Jaune said, as Weiss placed a hand consolingly on his back and rubbed circles into it, trying to calm him down a bit.
"It's alright Jaune...we understand. If anyone has the right to be upset about her, it's you," she said, smiling beautifully up at him. He smiled back gently in response and moved his arm around her back as well, which she accepted. For that moment, he just held her.
As the matches progressed from there...including a particularly fast match of Weiss against one of the Vacuan girls on the opposite stand, with her victory, Jaune maintained a close position with Weiss, each leaning into each other's comfort when possible. Finally, as the matches began to close out, Jaune received a message from Nora in the group chat between JNPER and RWBY.
Nora: When you guys get a chance, come back to the lounge room of the first floor of our dorm! Renny and I have something to say.
Greeting her friends as they arrived with tight hugs, Nora Valkyrie welcomed them into the common room where Ren was waiting on a two seater couch in the corner with tea already set out to each of their preferences. "My Renny was thoughtful as usual!" Nora thought, smiling at him.
As her friends settled down into each of their seats - Weiss, Jaune, Blake and Yang on one couch facing them and Ruby, Oscar and Emerald on the other - Nora set herself down on the couch practically in her man's lap, hugging him tightly as he accepted her embrace.
"We're officially an item again!" She said, watching as each of her friends smiled and congratulated the both of them, her fearless leader and brother in all but name being the loudest and brightest of all of them. "We're really sorry about ditching all of you occasionally over the past week - especially you, Jaune, at yesterday's mixer - but we needed some time to work this all out."
"Don't worry about it, Nora. They were kind to me there and Weiss took me out shopping later anyways," Jaune said, continuing to smile at her. Nora observed as Blake and Yang shot Weiss knowing grins, which the former heiress seemed to ignore in favor of taking a sip of her tea. Interesting?
"So...how has your team been doing?" Ruby asked, curious about what was happening with JNPER.
"We have recently come back from a reconnaissance mission in some ruins around Vacuo, investigating some things Ozpin and Theo were curious about," Jaune said, answering for his team.
"Ozpin was specifically interested if there were any remaining artifacts there and if Salem had established a presence, but we only found some records," Oscar chimed in, adding to his leader's answer. "I have been spending some time going through them recently with Headmaster Theo and they are...enlightening. They should help the situation in the city at least, somewhat."
"You guys are exploring ancient ruins and we're stuck culling the Grimm around the city? Boooooo!" Yang declared. "I mean it's still fun to get the muscles moving but not very exciting killing the same Grimm over and over, you know!"
"We've been training, too and even sparring as well," Blake added, glancing towards Jaune. "That reminds me. Congratulations on your victory Jaune! That was impressive!" Blake complimented while putting her hand on his shoulder and smiling at him. Nora saw as Weiss reacted immediately, sending a glare her teammate's way which she seemed to answer in turn with a smug grin, returning her hand to herself.
"All these thieving cats..." Weiss whispered under her breath, although both Nora and Blake had heard it, paying attention specifically to her now.
As each of the team members of Team JNPER and RWBY added their recent activities to the conversation, Nora began to contemplate Weiss's increased closeness with her leader. She hadn't noticed at the time actually due to the continuing issues between her and Renny but...wasn't she already beginning to act like this in Atlas? Nora recalled a scene of Jaune boosting Penny's semblance, halting the effect of the virus on her and saving her life. Directly after, she recalls as Weiss sat herself down next to him, blushing and smiling at him softly. Her leader soon returned the look, unbeknownst to Weiss. She had initially dismissed it at first but...what if it was the start of something new?
Nora also recalled how often Jaune and Weiss had been together as of late. There was a particular evening she spied them in this room, Weiss sobbing softly into his shoulders, likely over the news of her father's death. Nora had been in a foul mood at the time due to Ren's refusal to see her that day so she didn't take much more time to observe. But now she wish she had. The additional increased closeness as well...her brother's looks at Weiss when he thinks nobody is paying attention him (how foolish of him, she is ALWAYS looking)...how he never seems to go against her. All of these added up to a surprisingly sweet picture in Nora's mind as she grinned at the two of them together on the couch, barely any space separating them even now.
Continuing to talk amongst each other for the next hour, Nora watched closely as each of the team members left in turn. Oscar was first out the door to deal with some administrative business with Headmaster Theo and Yang and Blake followed closely for a scheduled date of their own today. Emerald disappeared out the back door, citing a special request from Winter which she accepted. As Jaune, Weiss and Ruby got up to leave together to find something suitable to do, Nora whispered to her boyfriend in the ear: "Distract Ruby for a bit and I'll do anything you want later today."
Ren shot up and ran over to Ruby, asking if she could help him upgrade StormFlower, which she immediately accepted with an excited smile. Apologizing to Jaune and Weiss, the green and red duo made their way out the front door, Ren signaling Nora to go ahead.
"Sooo~...what should we do today J-Hey!" Weiss said, shouting suddenly as Nora latched onto her exiting form and pulled her physically back into the room.
"Sorry Jaune, I need to borrow the Ice Queen for a bit! Go ahead!" Nora shouted at her team leader, who sighed audibly out in the hallway but accepted her move per usual, heading off into the dorm to his room.
"Well, what is it!?" Weiss snapped at her, seeming somewhat angry at her action. Mad that she took away some of her alone time with Jaune, huh?
"Mad that I cut into your alone time with our fearless team leader, huh?" Nora taunted, looking for the expected reaction. Weiss immediately flushed from her cheeks outward and made to deny, but Nora shushed her.
"No denials! I'm not blind, you know, just a little put off by what was happening between me and Renny. But now that we're back together...I see right through you, Weissy!" Nora stated, watching as Weiss's eyes widened before she sighed.
"It...It's not so simple. I do like him and I want to be with him. But I want to give him time as well, okay?" Weiss explained, outlining her feelings.
"When did your opinion change on him? I really really want to know!" Nora exclaimed, excited to hear about the newest romance in the room. Or perhaps one that has been simmering for a long time now, even? How beautiful!
"If I had to say a time...it was all the way back in Beacon, after the dance, when he was so kind to me when I was anything but to him. That's when I first started accepting him as my friend...and from there it has grown over our travels. I probably realized my own romantic...intentions sometime in Atlas. We didn't have much time to talk then, though..." Weiss stated, fiddling with her fingers nervously and avoiding eye contact with a blush on her face.
"That's so amazing! I'm glad you were able to see him like he wanted you to see him, at first...how poetic," Nora said, gushing a little before calming herself down. "But I get we need to talk about the Goliath in the room. Fearless leader...no, my brother...he isn't in the best place mentally right now, is he?"
"No, that would be putting it lightly. Extended solitude in the Ever After...the trauma of Atlas's fall, which affected us all as well...there is a lot to unpack there. That's why I tried to give him space at first. BUT!" Weiss said, raising her voice at the end. "That doesn't mean I want to see all those other girls around start jumping at him for his new reputation. I won't allow it!"
"I heard so, Ice Queen...and I saw that just now as well, with Blakey there. I don't think those other girls would necessarily be good for my brother as well. But Jaune also doesn't need to deal with reactions like that from you. Agreed?" Nora said, seriously looking into her friend's eyes this time. Weiss nodded and then looked away.
"I am aware...and I am also at an impasse...what should I do?" Weiss questioned, looking to Nora again for advice.
"Jaune...he's been hurt by a lot. That weird fairy tale land. The destruction of Atlas and Beacon. Even...even Pyrrha's loss. But in addition to all that, he was originally hurt by your rejection of him," Nora said, watching as Weiss winced in response. "If you want to be with him, it needs to be you who asks the question. Jaune is acting oblivious to you for your own sake, not wanting to tear down everything he has built with you so far. He will never make the first move and he should not make the first move. Got it?" Nora said, again seriously peering into Weiss's eyes. Weiss grimaced for a second before nodding in agreement.
"You're right, Nora...you're exactly right. I need to be the one to talk to him. And if he doesn't want to be with me, well, I just need to accept it..." Weiss said, trailing off at the end with sad eyes. Nora clapped her hand on her shoulder, jolting her for a second.
"From what I've seen, he seems interested in you too, you know. You two have built a beautiful bond by now. So get going Weissy and don't come back until you have your man!" Nora shouted, slapping Weiss on the butt as she yelped out.
"B-Brute! Fine, I'll do it!" Weiss declared. Now motivated, she raced out the door and down the hallway, towards her leader's shared dorm with Ren. "Although I wouldn't mind if Renny moved in with me and she moved in with him," Nora thought. "That would work out great."
Texting Renny that her conversation was over, she amused herself for a few dozen minutes with some interesting videos on her scroll and messaging her friends when Ren returned, looking like he was run through a cyclone. A red colored cyclone, most likely.
"Did you do what you wanted?" He asked knowingly. Nora didn't realize it at first but her man had likely seen the colors of Jaune and Weiss via his semblance far before her, electing to let themselves sort it out.
"Yes, unlike you slowpoke, I gave her a nice smack on the butt and sent her off to meet her fate! Job complete!" She announced, snuggling into him as sat on the couch with her again. "And as I promised, anything you want tonight..." She whispered in his ear, meeting his heated gaze with one of her own and locking lips with him. They melted into each other for what felt like ages before moving to get up and finish their day together, hand in hand.
Exiting out the dorm building, Nora immediately spied a surprising sight...her fearless leader and the Ice Queen in the distance, holding hands and smiling at each other brightly as they walked down the road. Motioning to her lover to move to catch up with them, she watched as Jaune and Weiss were suddenly accosted by a crowd of...mostly civilian Vacuan girls!?
"Are you really the Rusted Knight!?" They asked, peering up at Jaune's tall form. He smiled and replied back positively, with Weiss watching closely next to him.
"No way!"
"Please sign my book!" Said one girl, holding out a copy of The Girl who Fell Through the World. She saw her leader grimace in response.
"Please sign my body!" Said another girl, motioning to her exposed midriff for him. Her leader flushed for a second.
"Are you single~?" Asked the boldest girl of the bunch, eyeing her leader like a particularly large pile of pancakes. Nora had half a mind to stomp over there herself to protect her brother from these lot but Weiss took action first.
"Do any of you have any shame!?" Weiss lectured in her best Ice Queen voice, looking down at all the girls. A majority sneered at her immediately.
"We're talking to man of our dreams, not a Schnee, go away!" One said. Nora half expected her to become a popsicle in the following second but Weiss held herself back and...adopted a smug expression for some reason.
Turning to Jaune, Weiss grabbed him by the armor and began to pull him down, which he allowed gracefully, arms curling around her as hers curled around him. They met together in the center in a deep but loving kiss that lasted for several intense seconds. Nora barely held back a squeal while Ren gaped at the scene, surprised at the audacity of the action. As they finally broke apart, the civilian girls took that time to finally chime in.
"N-No way! The evil ice queen seduced the brave knight! You need to break her power over you!" One girl said, blushing at the public display of affection.
"A Schnee and the Rusted Knight? NOOOOOOOOO!" Another girl cried out, holding her head in her hands.
As the crowd of girls freaked out and began to disperse, Nora watched as Weiss pulled one eye down and stuck out her tongue at the crowd, holding Jaune's right hand tightly all the while. Jaune smiled at her childish display of dominance and affection. Nora was unable to suppress a snort herself as her Renny chuckled next to her as well.
"Well...that's one way to solve the issue," Renny said, watching the new couple affectionately.
"Sure, but I do hope fearless leader is prepared for all the PDA that Weiss is going to inflict on him soon," Nora noted, watching as Weiss pulled Jaune down for another kiss...seemingly just because.
"She is a jealous girl, after all."