Coming Storm - V

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The first thing Jaune did the next morning was tell his team what Ozpin had told him. Cinder, Amber, the threat to Beacon - the whole nine yards, with nothing held back. Like before, they listened, munching on breakfast Nora had run off to get them. And like before, not a single one of them doubted him for a single second.

They didn't extend that charity very far, though…

"It sounds way too fucky to me." Nora shrugged, easing back on her bed with Ren beside her, one arm draped around her shoulders.

"Nora." The man said, staring at his own feet at the foot of the bed absently. "Language."

"Babe." She sighed distractedly, "Fuck off."

"Fair…"

"The Headmaster would not lie about something like this." Pyrrha argued flatly, pacing through the middle of the room while Jaune watched from the foot of his own bed. "What would be the point? He gains nothing."

"I dunno." Nora murmured, "Good way to get Jaune in his pocket."

"And with him, Neo and Roman both."

"Which is a lot." Nora nodded, squeezing Ren in a bit of a hug for the addition. "S'awful convenient, ain't it?"

"Except the Headmaster has absolutely no reason I can think of to need them. And besides that, there was a girl down there." He paused, grimaced and added, "Also, all of this hinges on the Breach. Which I don't think Headmaster Ozpin would do just to get a couple criminals to work for him. Or one under-performing student, either."

"Babe." Nora quipped, "You're caught up to basically everyone who isn't on team RWBY or named Nikos. Relax."

"Thanks, Nora. Appreciated." Though why everyone was suddenly 'babe' he wasn't really sure. Shrugging that off, he went on, "The Breach makes this all real, in my opinion. It's a bridge too far for me to think any different to what he said."

"A strong point." Pyrrha agreed, pacing and staring at the floor, tugging her ponytail out in her hands and playing with the long locks that fell free anxiously. "People could have easily died in that… And much property was destroyed as well, along with thousands of Lien in weapons and machines lost by Atlas in the fighting."

"A massive inter-Kingdom ploy costing thousands of Lien in weapons and war assets from Atlas, and ripping through the heart of the commercial district." Jaune posed as summary, "All to get one underperforming-"

"Jaaaaaune."

"-average," he rolled his eyes but smiled in spite of himself and the situation both, "Hunter trainee and two decently famous criminals into a Headmaster's pocket? It doesn't add up. Not unless there's a lot we're missing out on, at least."

"Did he seem to be hiding anything untoward, Jaune?"

"Well…" Yeah, he wanted to say, but it didn't seem like it was anything related. Or at least it didn't feel that way to him. At least directly. So he said, "Nothing related to this, but yeah. And maybe nothing bad, either. But… You know, something, maybe?"

"Well, end of the day, it's your call, Jaune." Nora decided finally, shrugging and meeting Ren's gaze when he turned to her. She raised an eyebrow and he nodded, and she added, "Ren's in the same boat."

"Great. All the pressure's on me again."

"Yep."

"It is your job, Jaune." Ren smiled warmly, "As team leader, you make command decisions."

"And we just have to hit stuff when it comes to it." Nora chuckled and nodded and sighed playfully, "It's nice, not being the leader… Sounds super, super stressful."

"Doesn't it just?" Pyrrha laughed, shaking her head and falling onto the foot of Jaune's bed. He sighed and scooted over to give her space when she flopped onto it with a sigh of her own. "We're on stand-by then, I suppose. Until Headmaster Ozpin sends word to us on what he needs done."

"I don't favor being a personal hit team." Ren murmured, "But it seems fate has other ideas in mind."

"Until then, we need to be getting ready." Jaune said as he stood and moved towards the door, "We only have two classes today so after, we're heading to training. It'd mid-week, so I'm sure there's a few of the training arenas open."

"Whatever is coming will not be small." Pyrrha nodded as she stood to join him. "Being properly prepared is everything in our careers. And now, I feel it is likely even more-so."

"We'll hit the arena day after tomorrow, too." They needed to be ready, but tomorrow was Combat Courses anyway, and he knew better than to push himself or his team members too hard. If he did that, they'd just crash and burn, and if that happened too close to when everything kicked off then they'd be up a creek.

Video games had taught him that a hundred times at least…

"I'll get some supplements and nutrient drinks together to help us out." Ren promised, standing and ignoring the horror chiseled into Nora's very being at the words. Smiling, he headed for the door with a wave, "I'll see you at history class."

Once he was gone, Jaune raised an eyebrow and asked, quietly, "Nora…?"

"The war has come." She murmured quietly, "And the reaper with it."

"Surely the supplements can't be that bad…?"

"Woe to all who enter here." She intoned quietly, "No peace shall be found save the grave!"

"Oh, they really are that bad aren't they…?"

"Oh." Nora smiled so gently it shocked Jaune to his core, "You poor, sweet, innocent boy…"

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Days of waiting passed quickly, flying back in a wild mess of training, resting, and trying to stomach Ren's vitamin supplements. Which was almost as bad as the waiting - genuinely, Jaune wanted to know, where did Ren get that stuff? The top of a pond? It certainly looked like it…

Tasted kind of like it, too.

Whatever the case, between Pyrrha running him through weapon drills, Ren's poison- Er, supplemental vitamins and Nora's surprisingly in depth and careful strength training, he could feel himself… Hardening. His biceps developed, his stomach toned to show off abs like he'd always wanted, and his stamina sky-rocketed. He still had a long way to go before he could compare with even a shadow of Nora or Pyrrha, but it was progress.

Enough that, when he was called on for Monday's sparring session, he wasn't nervous. At least, not about the fight itself. The crowd staring at him as he walked down to the door into the lockers made his stomach turn - which was so much worse with all the students from the other Academies that had filtered in over the last week or so.

But the fight itself?

He was excited...

"Hey, Jauney boy. How ya doin'?" Winchester drawled when Jaune stepped out onto the arena floor. The braggart smirked and hefted Executioner, resting it across his broad shoulders. "Ready for play-time? Been looking forward to this all week."

"Y-Yeah." He murmured, doing his best to ignore the students around them.

"Hey, hey, don't worry, Jauney." Cardin laughed, smirking when Jaune turned back to him. "Don't worry, I'll take a bit longer to beat you into the dirt this time. Since there's so many people here."

"Yeah, uh…" He blinked, "Thanks?"

Then, behind and above the gloating asshole, Jaune caught a flicker of sparkling light. Not much, but just enough to draw his eyes up to it.

Pink and brown eyes met his and Neo smiled, sitting up just the tiniest bit straighter. Two women were on her other side, one green-haired and one brown but both ignoring him and talking to each other. On the other was a silver-haired man, head in his hands and his legs crossed while he apparently napped the class away.

Cinder. and her team, too, it had to be…

Still, he focused on those mismatched eyes. And Neo spared him the tiniest smile, lips forming, 'Good luck.' Then she blew him a tiny little kiss, barely hidden by a hand, and shimmered again as her eyes turned to emerald green and she leaned back. She still smiled, though, watching him with eyes full of warmth he could feel even from here.

"Well," he chuckled under his breath, "how can I say no to that?"

"Come again, Jauney?"

"I said," he turned to the bully, shield against his side and sword held back and ready, "I'm ready."

"O-Oh." Cardin blinked, bringing Executioner back around to heft in both his hands. "Ready!"

"Then you may begin!"

Jaune dropped his hips a bit to center his weight and turned, presenting his shield to his opponent as always, but otherwise, didn't move. Cardin's eyes narrowed, flicking from his shield to Jaune's face, barely visible over the rim, but he didn't attack. Instead, he circled to Jaune's left, trying to keep Jaune's sword side away from him. Jaune turned with him, slowly sliding his feet along the concrete of the area floor and keeping his eyes locked on the man's face.

Cardin didn't like that and snapped, "C'mon, gonna hide all day?"

"I have a shield for a reason." He answered flippantly, "So, uh, yeah."

"Coward."

"I'm sure I'll survive you having a low opinion of me, Cardin." Jaune smiled, "Somehow."

That set the mace-man off and, with a snarl, Cardin turned to rush him.

Jaune stepped in to meet him and, knelt the slightest bit and brought his shield up to meet the mace as it came down. The blow deadened his arm even through his shield and his Aura, but he bore through it for the moment he needed for Cardin's momentum to die out, and then suddenly angle the shield to the side to let the weapon's weight, and Cardin's surprise, carry it past him to the floor. As it did he stepped in and straightened to his full height, breaking Cardin's guard and thrusting Crocea Mors' blade for his throat.

Carding snarled and backpedaled, dragging the mace across the ground as he went, and Jaune turned, hacking down at the man's wrist. Cardin hissed as the blow landed, but kept his grip on the mace and sent his free fist slamming into the side of Jaune's head for his efforts. Jaune was forced back more by the momentum it made, snapping his head back and to the side, than anything else.

Cardin brought Executioner up in as hard a swing as he could manage with one hand and caught the shield between Jaune and it. But it wasn't coming down this time, it was coming up, and Cardin was strong enough that even with one hand, he could knock Jaune up into the air and back a couple steps. He landed in a stagger, falling back and trying to regain his footing, but Cardin followed, swinging Executioner in two hands like a truly massive, black bat.

He brought his shield up and out to meet it, but his arm was still trembling from the first blow, and Cardin was putting twice as much strength - and more than a little anger - into the heavy blow.

His shield clanged across the ground where it landed a dozen feet away and Cardin stepped between it and him and forced him back, shaking his numb hand to clear away the tingling that crept along his arm.

"Hah." Cardin laughed, "Try and hide now, you damn turtle."

"I still have my sword…"

"Yeah, yeah." Cardin snorted, "Show me what you can do with that, hm?"

Jaune just rolled his eyes and lowered his hips again, settling into a one-handed stance with his sword held out in front of him.

Cardin charged again and, smiling, Jaune charged right back at him. Surprise, the mace-man came up short, staggered a step, and then twisted at the hip to pull all his momentum up and into the blow instead of letting him drag him off-balance. But that only made it worse when Jaune ducked under it, and slammed his shoulder into the man's gut when the increased momentum sent him staggering forward. Cardin grunted and Jaune stood, looped his foot behind Cardin's knee and then slammed his shoulder into Cardin's sternum.

He gasped and slammed down into the concrete with a grunt.

He tried to stand and Jaune was on him, knee slamming into his sternum as he fell down onto him. The tip of his sword glinted as it came down, carving through the Aura on his neck and then slamming deep into the ground beside his head. Cardin flinched, looking side-eyed at the blade, and then looked up at Jaune as he smirked and chuckled.

"So," Jaune smiled even wider, "What did you think?"

"Raaaagh!" Cardin abandoned Executioner and grabbed Jaune by the shoulder, yanking him to the side, away from his sword. Jaune's armored back hit the ground and he looked up as Cardin loomed over him, one hand holding Jaune's hoodie and the other rearing back in a fist.

'Well,' he grimaced, 'here's hoping that practice with Pyr worked out.'

Jaune tossed his legs up, resting his weight on the width of his shoulders, and wrapped his legs around Cardin's shoulder. Then he twisted, throwing all of his weight and strength into slamming the larger man back down to the ground. Cardin hit with a surprised whoosh of air leaving his lungs and Jaune rolled from his stomach back onto his back, twisting the man's arm painfully and yanking it back against the ligaments.

It was a trick he'd seen Neo do far more quickly, and usually standing up, and Jaune had fumbled it just a bit, but…

Cardin snarled, pawing at his legs and slamming his fist into his chins, but he couldn't break the lock. When he didn't give up, though, Jaune yanked harder, bending back as far as he could without breaking Cardin's arm. The mace-man screamed in as much anger as he did pain, but finally, Cardin slammed his hand onto the ground in three rapid hits.

"The match is over! Winner by surrender, Jaune Arc!" Goodwitch called as Jaune released Cardin and scrambled away, rolling onto his knees in case the bully came after him.

Cardin only rolled over, clutching his obviously aching arm and muttering, "The fuck…"

"An excellent showing indeed, Mister Arc!" The Headmistress praised as Jaune stood and moved to collect his scattered weapons. "I must, of course, chastise you for losing your weapons. However, learning grappling techniques is quite commendable. A bit rough, but… Useful."

"Thanks." He smiled, "A trick I picked up from… A friend."

"Very good." Goodwitch answered, addressing Cardin as he stood, "And you, Mister Winchester, are far too quick to rush in. To 'lose your cool', as it were. I have counseled you against this before, Mister Winchester."

"Yeah." He grumbled, rolling his shoulder. "You have."

"You would do well to listen." Goodwitch sighed, "You are both dismissed. Change and return to your seats."

As Jaune turned to leave, he spared a risky glance to where Cinder's team were. Most were still there. Mercury was still napping, he hadn't so much as moved, and the two women were turning back to their conversation. But the fourth seat was empty, and he smirked for it.

Cardin got changed quickly and quietly, and then stormed out, back through the door that let out into the seating. Jaune changed more slowly, though, and halfway through buttoning his shirt up he heard a knock on the door that let out into the hall. The hall that lead out into the Academy itself, instead of into the arena for a fight, or the stands to watch class.

Neo slipped in the moment he opened the door and Jaune sighed, "Neo, what if someone comes in-"

"The next match is between two women." Her hand flowed like water and then, after he nodded, she ducked in and pressed her face into his bare chest. She sucked in a deep breath, one hand running over his muscled stomach, and Jaune shivered. It tickled, like her breath on his cest did, but he didn't say anything about it.

He knew better than to ruin the moment.

Instead he swallowed and asked, quietly, "N-Neo?"

"I missed you." She signed, "I was scared. Wanted a hug."

"Ah…" He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. She shivered, hand slipping around to join the other in squeezing the life out of him. Then she pulled away, just a bit, and leaned up. Jaune met her in a quick little kiss and then smiled as she stepped away. "Better?"

She nodded and signed, "I have to go. Cinder will get suspicious."

"She isn't already?"

"I went to the bathroom." She shrugged and smirked, and Jaune could guess what she meant from that alone even without knowing her as well as he did. Then she huffed and signed an agitated, "But I can't stay."

"Yeah…" Her hand twisted the knob of the door and he coughed and, when she turned to look at him, asked, "Uh, do you wanna…?"

She turned and cocked her head, one eyebrow raised. 'What?'

"Go to the dance with me." Her brows furrowed and he stammered, "I'll, uh, ask you out tomorrow. At lunch. I'll say you're cute or- Something, I dunno. But go to the dance with me. Okay?"

"Cinder will-"

"She'll be curious, but she'll just assume I'm a pathetic noodle asking out someone because I'm high on beating my bully." He smiled, hands on his hips, and shrugged, "Tell her you just want someone to toy with. But go with me."

"Okay." She signed, smiling sheepishly and nodding. "Bye."

"Bye." She shut the door and he turned, pumping a fist in the air and hissing, "Yes!"

Now, he just had to come up with a corny pick-up line for tomorrow. But that wouldn't be hard, not for him. If he was king of anything, it was being corny. For now, though, he was going to catch a shower. It was allowed after a spar, after all.

And it would be a good excuse for lagging behind.

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Smokey Panda :

Oh always! Makes writing him fun in a weird, annoying sort of way.

GunBlade2021 :

I haven't considered it, actually.