Winter Break 17

Ruby was really starting to like kissing her boyfriend. She felt connected to him in a way that she couldn't quite explain just yet, and it filled her with warmth whenever she felt their lips touch. 

With a fierce blush on her face, she parted from the kiss, looked up, and said, "Thanks, Jaune, looking forward to it."

Jaune placed his hand over his lip and smiled, "Well that was forward of her." 

However, the thought crossed his mind that this might be bad. If this was Ruby's new way of teasing him, he had no planned defenses.

 She gave Jaune a wink as she took up the fork and took a bite of the salad. The Huntress reacted with a bit of shock and continued to eat the rest of the salad, stuffing her cheeks like a squirrel while she chewed.

"Wow..." Ruby said before she finished the bowl without a single complaint. 

Seeing her satisfied expression, Jaune grinned at her, which in turn made her blush a bit. 

"Well...okay...so...it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be."

Jaune picked up the bowl and fork before kissing her on the lips, "No it wasn't. It doesn't hurt to try some new things, you know?"

Ruby's eyes drifted around and back to the forge when she said, "I'm still getting cookies right?"

Jaune nodded his head as Ruby cheered with a quick, "Yay!" and hugged him.

"There sh~oo cute!" Jaune and Ruby heard the sounds of sisters giggling.

The two turned red in embarrassment and separated before they shouted at the same time, "What are you guys doing here?" 

Ruby's voice was more shy and awkward, while Jaune's voice was more angry and embarrassed.

Everyone had their scrolls out and were comparing footage, and saying things like 'This is going on my Scrollface Page, and that they were sending to friends and family.' 

 Ash laughed as she grinned at the two and said, "Oh, relax lover boy, by the way, really love Yang's nicknames, not too sure about her jokes though!"

"Sorry to bother you lovebirds, but we have to do maintenance on our tools as well, you know?" Rouge said as she pulled out a sword gun at the same time she pocketed her scroll.

Ruby's eyes glowed as she went into full-on Weapon-Geek mode, "Omgosh, is-that-a-fifty-caliber-bolt-action-single-load-dust-firing-mechanism!" 

"The-metal-is-so-pristine-is-it-made-of-a-Titainum-Composit-Alloy?" Ruby continued to speed talk as she ran her hands across the blade.

"It has a single fire jet propellant shell at the base of the hilt!" Ruby shouted as she saw the twin triggers at the base of the crossguard.

"Wow!" Saphron said as she saw inspected her future little sister's demeanor.

Remembering where she was, Ruby's face turned red again. As she shied away from the group, she started rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment before saying, "Sorry about that...I kind of..."

"Geeked out, we get it. Everyone has something that they like and get excited about. It's nothing to be embarrassed about," Rouge commented before she went over to the weapon maintenance bench.

"Want to help?" Rouge asked as she pulled up the sheath which was reloading station for the gun parts.

Ruby's eyes glowed, "Can I?"

"If you're not too busy helping make more daggers for my brother," Rouge said as she pointed to the pile of a hundred knives or so that were in the shape of Crocea Mors.

Jaune laughed as he picked through the crate of daggers, "I think I have enough here to go through a whole day of training. So feel free to cut loose."

Ruby jumped up and kissed Jaune in the cheek, "Thanks Jaune! Just let me know if you need more and I'll help!"

She then ran over to Rouge's side and started working with her seconds before a collective 'A-W-W' was heard coming from the rest of his sisters.

Jaune brushed off his sisters' playful banter and went over to start on the branches and twigs. He continued to train throughout the day, level grinding his Aura Manipulations skill with every ounce of effort he had in him.

His mother came back around noon with groceries when she noticed her son working on controlling his Aura. 

Her little Bun-Bun held his hand up with a 3-foot twig and swung at a log with closed eyes.

His Aura was separated into thousands of strands instead of his usual particle approach. He then managed to create a woven pattern throughout the cells of the twig without destroying it.

With a loud cracking noise, the twig created a wave of light around it when small cut appeared on the surface of the log. 

Jaune tilted his head as he saw a small area of the twig that had exploded. Staring the tear on the surface of the twig, he pursed his lips with a disappointed expression and threw it to the side to grab another.

"Oh, he's learning much quicker than I thought he would!" Gwen said as he swung out again with the new twig in hand, this time, Jaune was moving his Aura around the cells in a circulation-like weave. He thought that if he could emulate the sap in a similar way that blood runs through human veins. He figured if he kept the energy moving it might keep the pressure of his Aura from building up.

Jaune swung out with a serious expression, and this time, his Aura perfectly coated the twig. A quick flip of his wrist caused the small stick to cut through the air and passed through the whole log.

Jaune held up the twig for inspection, he then smiled as he kicked over the half-cut log and said, "I did it!"

A series of chimes rang inside Jaune's head. 

[Congratulations on advancing Auric Art; Advanced Aura Control!]

[Advanced Aura Control has leveled up!]

[Current level of mastery: 2] 

[Congratulations on advancing Auric Art; Aura Sword!]

[Aura Sword has leveled up.] 

[Current Level of Mastery, Level 7]

[Congratulations on advancing Auric Art; Aura Shield!]

[Aura Shield has leveled up.] 

[Current Level of Mastery, Level 7]

[Congratulations on advancing Auric Art; Aura Armor!]

[Aura Armor has leveled up.] 

[Current Level of Mastery, Level 7]

Jaune held up his hand and created dozens of needle-sized hairs of Aura, "I get it! I have to weave my sword with Aura, create looping pathways, and keep it moving!"

Struck by inspiration, Jaune began to try and weave out a sword with his Aura alone. However, the end result wasn't very good. His Aura lacked solidarity, the weave was weak as well, leaving lots of gaps in his sword, and it looked like an uneven piece of junk.

Jaune dispelled his Aura and tried again, and again, and again.

Eventually, night time started to come around, and the blond knight was covered in sweat and shaky from low Aura levels. 

Seeing his condition, the Arc Matriarch forced him to stop and come eat. She also had to pull Ruby away from the forge by the promise of cookies that she and Jaune would make.

While the blond knight prepared the ingredients for said cookies, Gwen turned to her son and said, "Jaune, can we have a moment?"

Jaune looked over and said, "For what?"

"I want to talk to Ruby about something," Gwen stared at her son and then to the archway leading to the living room. 

"Alone…I want to ask her some…things. It's mother to daughter kind of stuff."

Ruby looked puzzled and blushed at being called her daughter.

Jaune tilted and scratched his head before mumbling, "Um, okay." 

He left the kitchen, went to the living room, and met up with Nora and Ren who were playing videogames with his sisters.

Gwen gave Ruby a soft smile and started to make the cookies she taught Summer how to make, "So, Ruby, how far have you gone with Jaune."

Ruby blushed as her mouth fell open. 

While she looked like a fish gasping for air, Gwen chuckled and lifted the silver-eyed reaper's jaw back up with a finger and said, "3 cups of flour, dear."

Ruby snapped out of her daze and turned around. After getting the flour, she poured it into the measuring cup and handed it over.

Twirling her fingers together, the hooded Huntress shyly said, "We, kiss...and…" 

Ruby's face couldn't be any redder as she mumbled out, "Snuggle."

"And sleep together apparently," Gwen followed up as she pulled out a bowl of chocolate chips and tossed one in Ruby's open mouth.

"Ooh, yum...wait, I mean, we didn't do anything…un-couth?" Ruby started to wave her hands when Gwen grabbed her into a hug. 

"You're so cute! I know you two didn't do anything. You two are smart kids, and besides, I raised Jaune well enough to know he wouldn't sully such an innocent flower. His father would kill him, and so would I for that matter."

Ruby huffed. Realizing that she was being teased, she tried to push the Arc Matriarch off of her. 

Gwen eased up as she said, "The reason I wanted to talk to you alone is because I wanted to ask you some questions about Summer."

Ruby suddenly looked down and showed a sorrowful expression, "I...what about my mom is that you want to know?"

Gwen petted her as she said, "Ruby, I think she is still alive."

Ruby's eyes widened, "Huh?"

Gwen sighed, "My semblance allows me to gain a larger Aura pool the more connections and allies I make. When they die…" 

Gwen paused and thought about her friends' passing, a sorrowful sensation overcame her emotions. 

A sullen expression covered her face as Gwen said, "When they die, I feel that connection break, not only do I lose Aura, I feel their last emotions."

Ruby looked to Gwen with shock, the red-reaper felt empathy for Jaune's mom and thought of how terrible it must feel to sense one's friends dying.

"I've been searching for Summer for a very long time now. Her connection is still intact, but it's weakened for some reason. I made a promise to you at her funeral that I'd find her and bring her back, but I don't want to get your hopes up too much. I never had someone's Aura boost weaken before, so I don't know what it means."

Gwen recalled that depressing moment a bit over eleven years ago. She held a crying 5-year-old Ruby in her arms, and couldn't fathom why Summer would just leave, especially not after the stunt Raven pulled and all the drama she put them through.

Gwen was convinced something was keeping Summer from returning and that something was dampening the effects of her Semblance. However, she didn't think it was Salem that was responsible for her best friend's disappearance. Rather, she thought it might have something to do with Summer being a Silver-Eyed Warriors.

Ruby didn't know much, and from what Jaune told her, they never encountered Summer or anything related to her in the future.

Her head was still reeling at the possibility of her being alive, then it quickly turned to sadness and confusion as to why she abandoned her and possibly fake her death. Then it finally shift to worry and wonder if her mother needed help or was in trouble.

Gwen patted Ruby's head and held her tight in her arms as she said, "It's okay, I just want to know if you know anything about her heritage, did she ever speak about the Silver-Eyed Clan."

Ruby felt Gwen comforting her and tired her best to stay strong as she thought about her mother's times together.

"Nothing," Ruby said as she looked into Gwen's eyes, "Mom, didn't tell me anything about my eyes, or our people."

Gwen sighed before patting the silver-eyed petite on the head and said, "It's fine, dear..."

"But..." 

Ruby wanted to help. She was so thankful for Gwen's kindness and care, the fact she was putting in so much effort to help search for her mother meant the world to her.

The Arc Matriarch wiped the tears from her future daughter-in-law's eyes, "I promised I wouldn't return to Patch until I find her and bring her back to her kids. And as you know, an Arc always keeps their word."

Ruby sniffed as she forced herself to calm down when Gwen smiled and said, "I still have to question Ozpin, and maybe Qrow. Now that I know more about what he's been keeping secret, he shouldn't be so stingy with his information network."

The crimson reaper slowly pulled herself from her future mother-in-law's arms and asked, "Could...Can I help?"

Gwen smiled and started back on the cookies, "Sure. I'll fill you in on what I know. It can be a mother and daughter project just for the two of us, but first, help me with these cookies."

Ruby dried her eyes and nodded her head. She didn't know if her mother was alive or not, but at least she had some hope to hang on to.