#[Pyrrha sees Jaune and ALSO heart-eyes so it works out well. ^^]

[unlockthestars]

When the portal had closed and Jaune hadn't made it through, Pyrrha didn't want to believe it. They couldn't have lost him, not after everything they'd been through together, not after--

Pyrrha had wanted to stay by the darkened portal, just on the off chance that he could somehow still make it through….., but Grimm had surrounded them, and she'd had to go do her duty, to protect the people they had evacuated from Atlas and Mantle.

She'd wanted to go back to the portal each day, on the off chance that it might have reactivated, and while Ren and Nora understood and even agreed with her…., they had to help the people. There were so many refugees that were lost and confused, and having Huntsmen around helped keep them calm, kept the number of Grimm attacks lower. And that was important.

But she hadn't given up hope for team RWBY and especially for Jaune. Not yet.

So when she hears her name, called in a voice she would know anywhere, Pyrrha feels her heart skip as she turns in his direction, only to be wrapped up into his arms. She hugs him back, holding tight to him, refusing to let him go. Jaune was alive! And he'd come back to them, he'd come back to her.

"Jaune!" is all she can say for a moment, but his arms around her prove that she's not dreaming, that he's really here.

She pulls back enough to see his face but doesn't let him go far, bright smile on her face as she laughs. "Yes, we're all all right! We all made it…., thanks to you and team RWBY."

Pyrrha lifted a hand to his cheek. "Are you all right? What happened?" If he didn't want to talk about it now, she'd respect that; she was just overjoyed that he was alive. That was what mattered.

@unlockthestars liked for a starter for Pyrrha!

"Pyrrha!" Jaune ran to his teammate and partner, wrapping her up in a tight hug.

There had been so many moments he thought he might never see her, or any of team JNPR, again. He'd been in the Ever After for so long, it had seemed impossible that he'd ever get out.

"You guys are all okay right? Ren and Nora? They're alright too? You all made it here? And Oscar?"

[latenightswithdoom]

Okay so I've debated sending this to your main account or to this account. I apologize in advance if you would have preferred this on your other account.

Okay so Jaune and Pyrrha start dating . And it is during their first time having sex that Jaune is forced to confront something that he has always known but never acknowledged. See Jaune is asexual, and a pretty sex repulsed asexual at that.

Now at first Jaune keeps this too himself. Until it becomes too much for Jaune and he finally breaks down too Pyrrha and tells her how much sex in general disgusts him and that he hates the act, while assuring Pyrrha that this isn't because of anything she did.

Pyrrha, of course is mortified at the situation. Blaming herself for not noticing sooner. But there is a small problem. Turns out Pyrrha loves sex and wants to have sex more than the average person or huntsman . Eventually things come to a head. And the two discuss things and that is when Jaune brings up the idea of Pyrrha sleeping with other people.

Ultimately after some convincing Pyrrha takes Jaune up on his suggestion. As well as going with who Jaune thinks would do a good job of being compatible with Pyrrha. And that of course is Cardin.

This situation ends up working for everyone as Cardin gets to have earth shattering sex with THE Pyrrha Nikos. As well as help out his friend Jaune. Pyrrha gets the sex she wants. And doesn't need to worry about hurting Jaune to fulfill that need. And Jaune doesn't have to deal with the sexual aspect and his girlfriend is happy and satisfied. So truly everyone wins.

Content: Communication is key :)

Thank you for sending this in Anon :)

Jaune and Pyrrha began dating once the Vytal Festival concluded, and waited until the next year when they were both 18 to try out having sex with each other. The two of them were both very nervous and took it slow, also making sure to be extremely safe with Jaune bringing condoms and Pyrrha taking birth control pills. They kissed and felt each other up while slowly stripping. Jaune admired every bit of Pyrrha's body as she admired his, but something was bothering Jaune deeply. Pyrrha could see it in his eyes so she stopped anything from moving forward to confirm Jaune's consent and ask him if there was anything she could do for him.

At that moment Jaune sighed and confessed to Pyrrha that he is a sex repulsed asexual and wasn't able to go through with this. Pyrrha reassured him that it was all okay and was glad that he was honest and open with her. She isn't dating him for the sex, she loves him because of how caring and dedicated he is to those he cares for. Jaune thanked Pyrrha as they decided to keep what clothes they removed to stay off, as Jaune still admired the beauty of his girlfriend and loved her deeply for her determination and kindness.

The two spent the rest of the night cuddling and talking, being open and honest with each other, making sure to set boundaries and expectations for their relationship. They were in love and always will be, their hearts only belonged to each other and they wanted to stay with each other and have the other be as happy as they could be.

So Jaune surprised Pyrrha by spit balling out an idea of how she could still manage to have sex and enjoy that part of her life. He would be completely judgement free and encouraging of her as Jaune knew that they could trust each other and remain strong in their love for each other. Jaune suggested for Pyrrha to sleep with someone else.

It would just be a sex thing, nothing else. At the end of the day Pyrrha loved Jaune and Jaune alone. Sex did not determine love, as love is love. Sex was still just a natural part of life and nothing that Pyrrha should feel like she should shy away from to appease Jaune in any silly sort of way.

The two sat on the discussion for a couple of days, talking about it further to fully confirm if this was something they would want to go forward with and the rules behind it all. The main one was open and honest communication without shame or judgement, that truth would continue to strengthen their bond and relationship.

The second shock Pyrrha got from Jaune was one of the ideas he had for who Pyrrha could possibly sleep with. Of course the regular ideas popped up such as Ren, which would bring up another conversation and rule setting with him and Nora knowing they were already in an open relationship. While that would have been the path assumed to be taken, Jaune suggested that Pyrrha could sleep with Cardin Winchester.

Jaune admitted that while it was quite out there as an idea, he explained to Pyrrha how him and Cardin had been patching things up as of late. Cardin trying his best to become a better person and apologize to Jaune along with other people he hurt like Velvet. Pyrrha did admit that she did notice how much better Cardin had been acting but would have to think about it for a while before she made her decision.

Another few days had passed and Pyrrha had made her decision. She would choose Cardin to have sex with, and Jaune was supportive and loving as he always was. Pyrrha only dreamed of being able to marry Jaune and live the rest of her life with him.

The couple were ready to move onto the next and trickier step, which was talking to Cardin about their idea and how it all came to be. Most importantly was to set down ground rules and make sure that it was all agreed upon by them all. They were going to do this only if it healthy and managed properly as to not cause any issues between each other and themselves.

Cardin was happy that Jaune and Pyrrha invited him out to dinner to talk, still hoping to be making up for his past as a bully and a jerk. The dinner went well with the trio catching up on life along with Jaune and Pyrrha reassuring that they were thankful for Cardin's apologizes and his efforts to be a better person.

The night went on and the three eventually made their way to the biggest and most important conversation. Jaune and Pyrrha explained to Cardin in detail the basics of their relationship, what they were both wanting to do, why they were doing it, and ultimately that they were going to need to set ground rules if Cardin did accept their offer.

Cardin was certainly shocked to be hearing that Pyrrha was willingly offering to have sex with him and how well her and Jaune talked things over. He knew that the two were truly in love with each other, and this showing of trust and honestly just reinforced that even more. Cardin didn't have his eyes on dating anyone just quite yet but did hope to bring this level of communication to any and all relationships he might have in the future.

Pyrrha and Jaune offered Cardin time to think things over and take his time with this decision, not judging him for either response and hoping he didn't judge them for bringing up this offer. To both of their surprise, Cardin decided to accept the offer right then and there. He made it clear that he was wanting to do this because Pyrrha was the one wanting to do it, and that he would never be able to replace Jaune in her heart just because he was taking her to bed.

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other, giving a little nod before turning to Cardin and laying down the ground rules. First off was about how Pyrrha had the ultimate say about consent and when they would have sex and what they would be doing when they got together. This also included being safe and Cardin wearing a condom and Pyrrha taking birth control at first unless discussed later. Second off was to reinforce that all of them had to be open and honest about the arrangement, if anyone was bothered by it or not liking it or wanting to move forward or further with it, they would bring it up with the other two. Third off was that Jaune and Pyrrha agreed with Cardin that Jaune and Pyrrha were in love and that he was just going to be having sex with her. Anything moving forward or past that would be talked about as said in rule two.

The three finished up their dinner and had dessert while discussing other little rules here and there, but the main three were in place. They were going forward with this, and they were going to be doing it right. With dessert finished, the three split the bill and promised to keep in contact and take it slow.

Another few days past with the three talking some more not just about their arrangement, but trying to get to know each other all a bit better to build a bond as a foundation before getting into anything. The first time that Pyrrha and Cardin did anything together was when Jaune was off visiting Saphron and Terra, giving her full permission to be free and call up Cardin for some company.

Cardin and Pyrrha spent most of the night just hanging out as friends, getting some food and playing games together before Pyrrha asked Cardin if they could have a little bit of fun. Cardin consented and the two began to kiss slowly, holding each other close before Pyrrha removed her shirt. Cardin made sure to take it slow and ask for permission for each and every little touch he made, even as Pyrrha sat on Cardin's lap while they made out, the two were still establishing rules and boundaries.

Always making sure consent was there, Cardin was allowed to take Pyrrha's bra off and feel up her breasts. The two continued to make out on the couch as Cardin gently squeezed and played with Pyrrha's tits. They didn't go any further than that, both tired for the night and wanting to really make sure they weren't jumping head first into anything. Before Cardin left, Pyrrha moved his hand to her ass, allowing him to squeeze it before kissing his cheek goodbye.

They would have to continue to explore in the future, but for now, this was a good start.

[hamliet]

Hi! Can I ask your opinion on Cinder X Jaune as a ship?

As in, do I like it, or do I think it has any canon basis?

My answers are basically fun crackship and then not at all, respectively.

For my personal tastes, the only RWBY ships that fill me with feels are Rosegarden and Emercury. I do like Bumbleby, Arkos, Renora, White Knight as they've been written. Cinder/Jaune is like Nuts n Dolts to me--I see why people like it and mad kudos to them. It's just not for me.

The ship, as best I can tell, is based on the fact that Cinder and Jaune absolutely do have a role to play in each other's arcs, and Jaune is absolutely going to be pivotal to Cinder's redemption. The fandom does often sleep on this. I can see why people would have a lot of fun exploring it. Enjoy!

Insofar as canon goes, I think that it has no basis because to interpret their roles in each other's arcs as romantic means misinterpreting the context of the story and the coding of their roles within said story.

I will explain more under the cut because I know I have followers who like the ship and please do enjoy it.

By coding, I do mean age coding. But not in the way antis mean it, not at all. Age gap wise, Jaune and Cinder don't have anything extreme--in fact, it's pretty negligible. That said, to take their ages literally only works in the context of fandom arguments, and so ship to your heart's content!

Within the story, though, Cinder is coded as an adult. Jaune is coded as a child. Coding in stories is not to be taken to extremes like, say, antis or anti-antis take it. There is such a thing as child-adult coding, but it's not the creepy thing people make it out to be. For example, look to Bungo Stray Dogs coding Dazai as a mentor/adult above Akutagawa even though there are only two years between them. There's nothing weird about shipping it, but the story is using this coding for a reason--to tell you about the particular dynamic and what to expect. The story will obviously never go there. Yes, it's a coming of age story like RWBY, but the point is that they aren't coded as peers.

In RWBY, Emerald and Mercury are presented as peers of RWBYJNPR in the Vytal Festival, and Cinder is presented as being above them, as a mentor, as a parental figure, at each and every turn. The reason this matters is not to say that Jaune and Cinder can't be shipped without creepiness (it's not creepy at all), but it matters because coding can tell you a lot about the intentions of the writers.

There's also alchemical coding, in which opposites should unite. Opposites, like say Bumbleby and Rosegarden and Renora, are:

Gold, red, heart, sun, hot and dry, fire, air

Silver, white, mind, moon, cool and moist, water, earth

So, if you left Jaune as he was at the start of the story as white, moon, silver, etc., he would actually work with Cinder, but at this point he's clearly not those anymore. He worked with Pyrrha precisely because of this. However, regardless of whether or not Jaune ends up with anyone, he's becoming red, gold, fire, and sun. His name also foreshadows this (jaune=yellow). He got blasted with fire this volume. He took on a white trait this volume (the streak of hair) but that's a symbol of union after a chemical wedding, which was not with Cinder.

Besides, Cinder is also gold and red and fire. I don't think this is remotely debatable. Her name is literally a reference to fire. She's introduced to us shooting flames and she relies on fire throughout the series.

Plus, in the very first episode of RWBY, Cinder's golden eye is highlighted with a specific frame that contrasts her gold eyes with Ruby's silver (like, the very next scene has Oz mentioning Ruby's silver eyes). Cinder is gold.

So what is Jaune and Cinder's actual connection? Well, it has to do with other red characters: Pyrrha, Penny, and Ruby.

Pyrrha's final act of love was saving Jaune and telling Cinder that destiny exists. That even if things are cut short, even if your very life with all you wanted is taken from you, you can still impact the world in a powerful way. This is precisely the connection between Jaune and Cinder: he is going to pass on Pyrrha's message to Cinder. Destiny is real, and she can choose it (because choice is the final relic/theme to be explored).

Lastly, Ruby is actually Cinder's prince, and has always been since the ball. Ruby is the one who will probably save Cinder from her Grimm arm, showing her that being a human being is enough to not deserve to be consumed by chaos. Being a human is enough.

So then, what is Jaune? He is the Maiden of Cinder's story. He will embody the message of Pyrrha and Penny, two maidens, to help Cinder reach individuation, the archetype of the self that Ruby also embodies. Cinder's ultimate choice will be to be a Maiden, but not in the way that she's been so far--in a heroic way. Cinder's arc has always intertwined the supernatural/goddess imagery with that of a lonely child, and so in the end she will be both human and heroine--because through embracing humanity, people can transcend weakness and impact the world.

If there is romance for Jaune, it will be with Weiss. It should be, considering they've set up the crush, explicitly paralleled White Knight with Arkos, Bumbleby, and Rosegarden, and you shouldn't set up crushes without following them up. It's a story, not real life; if it's mentioned, it should matter. (Okay Black Sun but... I would hope the writers have like, learned from that. Plus we do have a Black Sun parallel, and it's Weiss and Neptune.)

Lastly, I don't think Jaune is dying at all, and I don't think Cinder's chances of surviving are much higher than say, Eren Jaeger's in SnK. This isn't me saying it's what I want to see or that I think she shouldn't live; it's just looking at the story thus far, seeing how it's treated say, the Curious Cat, and examining patterns.

See, in alchemy there is something called the Deaths that mark the end of a color phase and the transition to the next. I'm going to use Harry Potter as an example not to be gauche but because it's extremely obvious:

Black Death/Nigredo: Sirius Black

White Death/Albedo: Albus (means white in Latin) Dumbledore

Red Death/Rubedo: Harry Potter himself in the presence of Rubeus Hagrid

Most stories don't use the Yellow phase (it's subsumed into Red) but RWBY does. We have:

Black Death: Pyrrha, death at Beacon at night surrounded by black Grimm

White Death: Weiss Schnee at Haven, although Jaune revives her

Yellow Death: Penny Polendina at Atlas, when Jaune kills her via a weapon (Crocea Mors) that literally means "yellow death," in case you weren't sure.

So, yeah. RWBY is using deaths to mark passage. I do think Cinder will be "saved" from her Grimm arm at Vacuo's climax by Ruby and be given Jaune's message, but the odds of her not dying back at Beacon (even if she does die, it will be to save the world) are not great. She could revive as well, but... we've already used revival and stories do like to keep that special. Plus, RWBY's message on death is clearly not that death is a punishment. It's a tragedy to be mourned, but it doesn't have to be the end of any story.

[moistmailman]

*At the back of Beacon’s library*

Pyrrha, sitting at a table by herself: *completely engrossed by something*

Jaune, sneaking up from behind:.........*grabs her by the hips* Whatchu’ doing back here young lady? *kisses her cheek*

Pyrrha: *squeaks loudly while nearly jumping out of her skin*

Jaune: *laughs*

Pyrrha, blushing and pouting: J-Jaune! D-don’t do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack.

Jaune, chuckling: My bad. It’s just that it’s not everyday you can get the drop on the Pyrrha Nikos. *pulls up chair* So what are you doing back here all by your little self anyway?

Pyrrha, awkwardly: O-oh, uhm...I uhm....

*Jaune looks a the table to see a figure of a car with other pieces near it and an instruction pamphlet*

Jaune, raising an eyebrow: Wait, are you building a model car?

Pyrrha, blushing: M-maybe. I-it’s uhm.....it’s a model from Back To the Future.

Jaune: Back to the future? That old movie franchise from the dinosaur ages?

Pyrrha, slightly defensively: It’s not that old, but yes, that franchise.

Jaune: Oh my god. I can’t believe my girlfriend is such a dork.

Pyrrha, blushing: H-hey. I-I’m not a d-dork!

Jaune, snorting: Relax, I’m only joking....partially. Being a dork can be cute nowadays. I mean, you should know. You’re dating me of all people.

Pyrrha: *cutely pouts at her boyfriend’s teasings*

Jaune: So you bought yourself figure from the movie?

Pyrrha, smiling embarrassed: Well I wasn’t really planning on buying it. It’s just kinda happened. My dad randomly sent me a link to this because it was on sale. Next thing I know it was already in my cart.

Jaune: You dad sent you it?

Pyrrha, smiling: Oh yes! My dad’s also a huge fan. He’s the one who got me in the franchise. He took me to see all of them in theater; you see, the movies were playing in my neighborhood’s theaters because of one of it’s anniversaries, and my dad wanted to see them again. Although he also had to watch me while my mother was away, and instead of hiring a baby sitter he decided to just take me along with him.

Jaune, nodding: Oh?

Pyrrha, smiling giddily: I remember the first time seeing it. I was amazed the entire time. They were so fantastic and magical to me. I loved them so much. I asked my dad so many times to go see them again afterwards, and each time he did, at least for a week that is, then he grew tired of it. He had to buy me the DVD set so he could get one free day to himself. *chuckles* He used to make jokes about it on how he “accidentally created a monster”. I was so happy when I got the DVDs though. I’ve watch them so many times. Every day after school for like a month straight. My mother used to call me her ‘little time traveler’ and I also liked to pretended that I was time traveling in my blanket forts. I also— Eh?

Jaune: *chuckling*

Pyrrha: What’s funny?

Jaune, chuckling: Nothing. It’s just that I’ve never really seen you talk about something you this passionate about. It’s really dorky, but in a cute way.

Pyrrha: *blushes*

Jaune: So anyway, this is the car they used in the movies? Looks kinda weird.

Pyrrha: Yeah. The car model they used wasn’t actually that popular at the times. It was lacking behind compared to the other cars. It’s only became popular because of the movie franchise in fact. The only reason they chose the DeLorean in the first place was because Doc thought it looked stylish.

Jaune, raising an eyebrow: Doc?

Pyrrha: One of the main characters. He’s the one who made the time machine. He got the idea when he hit his head on his toilet while putting up a clock. He then wrote down the idea for the flux capacitor so he wouldn’t forget it. OH! Which is this thing right here!

*Pyrrha shows Jaune a tiny metal box that has a glass case in it, a Y shape object being inside it*

Pyrrha, with stars in her eyes: This bad boy is the reason why the DeLereon can go back in time in the first place. In order for it to work the car has to reach a speed limit of 88 miles per hour and requires 1.21 gigawatts to activate.

Jaune: *smiles at his rambling girlfriend*

Pyrrha: Originally the car ran on plutonium, which the Doc has to steal from a group of terrorists, who in returned killed him, forcing Marty to flee back in time in order to escape. Marty then— OH! I forgot about the main protagonist! Marty is a friend’s of Doc. He’s a high schooler he hangs out with. They never explained how they met in the franchise so it’s kinda up to speculations. Anyway, Marty is kinda a rebel like character. He’s not afraid to talk back to authority and fight someone, unlike his father; whose the complete opposite of his son.

Jaune, internally: God she’s so cute.

Pyrrha: Anywho, Marty goes back in time which kickstarted the whole movie’s events. He accidentally messed with the timeline and nearly erased his whole existence until he got his parents to fall in love at the dance, OH, and he technically invented Jonnny B Goode during the dance. After Marty saved his existence he went back to the present when he finds out that Doc actually survived because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest since Marty told him abou— oh gosh! I forgot to mentioned that Marty met past Doc as well! You see, Marty didn’t have the means to go back to the present, so he went to Past Doc’s house to get help. Obviously he didn’t believe Marty at first when he told him about it, until the boy showed him— w-Wait, why are you laughing again?

Jaune, chuckling: Cause of your ramblings. It’s adorable, I swear. I’ve never seen you like this before. It’s precious.

Pyrrha, blushes again: I just really like this franchise is all.

Jaune, smiling: Look, instead of telling me about the movies, you wanna watch them together instead?

Pyrrha, eyes instantly sparking with joy: Really? You want to?

Jaune: Of course. Why not? Sounds great. You watched all of the lord of the rings with me, so it’s the least I could do.

Pyrrha, happily: Oh gosh! I can’t wait then! I can get my dad to send me my DVDs and we can watch them immediately! I can’t wait!

Jaune: That sounds great. *stands up* Anyway, I think I should allow you to finish this model of yours.

Pyrrha, confused: My mode— oh! I forgot about the model I’m building. *slightly laughs in embarrassment* S-So is next week good for you?

Jaune: It’d be perfect. See you later. *leaves*

Pyrrha, smiling and waving: Bye. Okay, now let me finish this thing finally. *goes back to building the DeLorean

[professorspork]

superhell fic prompt: JAUNE RUNS INTO PYRRHA

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5]

It doesn’t occur to that she’s allowed to talk to them until Torchwick reveals himself to Neo. And even then, well-- Roman Torchwick isn’t exactly a shining paragon when it comes to setting a good example of what’s allowed.

But the idea refuses to stop hounding her footsteps, once it’s come. Once she’s seen it’s possible, without consequences. Still, she waits, and keeps her distance. There’s no sunset, here on the island, no night, but there are shady places beneath the towering roots of the Tree; eventually, they all bed down, and Jaune-- as she’d known he would-- volunteers to take first watch. It’s a heartening display: Yang and Blake twined together like ivy on a wrought iron gate, but each clinging to the hands of their teammates, chained together by grasping fingers. Otters in a stream, unwilling to be separated.

She doesn’t know why she’s surprised to hear her own voice when she approaches.

...I know this can be frustrating, and it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves...

“You’ll drain your battery,” she cautions, reaching out with her mind to press the off button on his scroll. His head whips up, expression aghast, and she smiles at him softly. “I’d have thought you’d have it memorized by now anyhow; you haven’t seemed to need it in some time.”

She expects disbelief, perhaps, or shock. Joy would have been nice, but she’d have understood anger. So she’s surprised and---bizarrely proud, actually-- when instead his eyes narrow in suspicion and the first thing he says is, “Your Semblance works.”

“Well, yes.”

“Why does your Semblance work?”

“Because I’m where I’m supposed to be. A soul knows when it’s in the right place. Or the wrong one, as the case may be.”

“Or I’m dreaming.”

“Or you’re dreaming,” she agrees, keeping her voice mild, but feeling it like a punch to the stomach when his shoulders relax at the idea. Does he... not want her here? Goodness, but she’s out of practice. She’d forgotten it was like this; how talking to him had been both the easiest and the hardest thing in the world. “Would you-- prefer that? If I weren’t really here?”

“The real Pyrrha would know better than to ask me that.”

Despite herself, she laughs. “Oh, I wish that were true. I asked myself that every day. Every class, every glance, every study session on the roof. I’m afraid I was never as confident as I should have been.” It’s an embarrassing admission, but an effective one; the walled-up caution behind his eyes dissipates... only for tears to well up in its stead.

“Are you-- can I touch you?”

“I hope so.” (She’d left Torchwick and Neo behind before they’d gotten that far, for obvious reasons.)

“I--” He scrambles to his feet and crosses the distance between them, enveloping her in a crushing hug. It doesn’t feel like she remembers, but then, that’s no surprise-- he’s taller than he used to be, and her body isn’t exactly a body, per se. She’s grateful, even so. Happy just to have the chance to hold him up. She keeps quiet at first, letting him get it all out as he sobs incoherent apologies into her shoulder--

(IloveyouImissyouIloveyouImissyouI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry)

--and contents herself with playing with the short hair at the nape of his neck. Eventually, he calms.

“I like the haircut,” she says, when he pulls away. “It’s handsome. You look so grown up.”

“You look so young,” he croaks in response, and-- she supposes she must, to his eyes. It’s strange to think that she’s the same age as Ruby now; that they’ve kept going on without her, and they’ll continue to do so, once she’s led them out. “Are you--? Have you--?” He wipes at his eyes, laughing at himself a little. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know where to start. I just-- I can't believe you're here with me.”

“I'm always with you,” she assures him, unable to suppress the urge to thumb away a tear he’s missed. She keeps her hand there, at his cheek, as she she speaks: “Even when you can’t sense me, I... oh, Jaune. I’m so proud of you. You’ve come so far.”

He sighs and steps out of the circle of her arms, hanging his head to stare at Crocea Mors where it rests in its sheath. You’d never know it to be broken, just by looking. The scabbard hides the damage-- giving him the appearance of being armed and ready though all he carries is a shattered hilt. “Yeah, maybe. I-- I thought I had, but...” He swallows, face filled with shame.

She starts to reach for him again, unwilling to waste even a moment of their time not touching him, but forces herself to relax and drop her hands to her sides. It has to be his choice, doesn’t it? “Tell me. You can tell me anything; you know that.”

His voice falters terribly when he finally speaks: 

“I mean, I feel like you already know. For the longest time, I wanted to be this... I dunno. This warrior, or whatever. And it never fit, no matter what I did, or how hard I worked, and I just-- I resented it so much. Being...” He shakes his head. “I just felt useless. But when I unlocked my Semblance, I had to let that go. And it was hard at first, it took time, but for a second there it finally started to feel like... like I knew my place. Where I belonged; what everyone needed from me. I was good at it. But then Penny needed--” He chokes on a sob, and has to stop and take several deep breaths before he can continue. “Nothing’s changed. I’m still useless. The idiot stuck on the wrong side of the glass, out of his league and forced to watch because someone else has to be the Maiden now and there’s nothing he can do about it. Only this time it’s worse, because this time I actually-- I--”

Unable to hold herself back anymore, she reaches for his hands; he squeezes her fingers tight, like a lifeline. “I understand,” she soothes, voice heavy like a vow. “Did you think I wouldn’t? I don’t think I have to remind you that I’m the only other person who knows what that feels like. To have been the one who killed her.”

He lets out an awful, cynical noise; a parody of a laugh. “Depends on who you ask,” he says in explanation, looking askance towards Ruby. Pyrrha sadly follows his gaze. Ruby’s shifted in her sleep, curled under her cape to be as small as possible with her head nestled in the crooks of Yang’s bent knees. Her arms are wrapped around Yang’s shins in a death grip, as though she fears her sister might fly away at any moment. Pyrrha’s heart aches for her; for the responsibility she carries. Weight Pyrrha could have helped shoulder... if only she’d been a little faster, a little more clever.

She shakes off the feeling; now’s not the time for regret. “But things have changed,” she says, bringing Jaune’s hands up to her mouth and kissing the knuckles. It will be a long time, she knows, before he believes there isn’t blood on them; maybe this small act can help. And if it doesn’t... she has other options. Maybe even a little levity, for once. “You’re not useless. You’re amazing. You’re a licensed Huntsman now; you’re accomplishing things you’d only dreamed of. All the mothers of Mantle adore you. You even got to go on a date with Weiss!”

He boggles at her, wrenching his hands away. “What?! That wasn’t a date, we were just hanging out with Oscar, we--” His jaw falls open, suddenly, and his eyes narrow once more. “Wait a minute. Are you teasing me?”

She grins, sheepish and caught. “I figured it was now or never to give it a go; I didn’t want to waste my last chance to try it. Nora always said it would be good for me.”

“To make fun of me?” he squawks, indignant.

She laughs. “To remind myself it’s okay to be a novice sometimes; that there are things I won’t instantly be good at.” She bites her lip, unable to stop her grin. “...And also to make fun of you, yes.”

He surges forward, then-- wrapping a hand around the back of her neck and pulling her closer, pressing a fierce, grateful kiss to her forehead. Then he does it again; then once more, at the bridge of her nose. And then a final time, against her lips. Quick; intense. Filled with meaning.

She’s got not breath in her, and still she’s breathless.

“I miss you so much,” he says, squeezing his eyes shut and resting his forehead against hers. His fingers thread themselves into the hair at the back of her skull, tangled into the base of her ponytail. “So much. I think about you all the time. Every day. Wondering how different things would be, if only...”

“I know,” she says, because she does. There’s more that she should say, probably-- that it’s good that he’s started to move on; that none of them can hold onto her forever. But she can’t quite bring herself to voice the words.

“It’s not fair,” he mutters, then sighs at the sound of it. “I mean, none of it is fair, but-- I feel like a jerk, I guess. That I’m the one who gets to see you, of all of us.”

“You’ll tell them I love them, won’t you? Ren and Nora. They...” They’re doing things she never did, is the thing. Maturing in ways she’ll never have the chance to. Learning that responsibility doesn’t mean putting it all on your own shoulders; that love doesn’t mean giving all of yourself away. It’s overwhelming, how proud she is of them for that. “They were on the right path, in Atlas. Don’t let them convince themselves otherwise.”

He nods, the movement of it levering her own head in shared agreement. “Anything else? Anyone else you’d like me to...?”

So many; too many. But one rises above the rest. “Tell my mother to stop leaving flowers,” she murmurs, wishing she had more to offer than that. “Tell her they belong in the garden; that I like to watch them grow. That’s-- the way it should be.”

“Okay,” he says, and relief rushes through her. “Okay. I will.”

Slowly, they both become aware once more of the gaggle of Huntresses sleeping just a few yards off. Pyrrha could leave dozens of messages with Jaune, if she wanted, but the people she most needs to speak to are right here, within arm’s reach. They need her guidance; it’s selfish not to provide it. She’s taken so long already. And yet...

Jaune beats her to voicing the thought: “I know we should probably wake them, but-- can it be just the two of us, for just a little longer? Please?”

She smiles, and brings a hand up to caress his cheek. “I thought you’d never ask.”

[vecnawrites]

Jaune and Pyr wake up early in the morning so that they can start the day with their favorite drink~ Their precious sleeping beauty still asleep even now, good thing they know how to wake her up and have a tasty morning treat.

Loved Writing This One! Kinks: Triad Relationship, Lactation, Sleeping Orgasm, Body Worship, Pyrrha Is Thirsty, No You Can’t Say She Isn’t

“Mmm~” Jaune Arc slowly woke up, surrounded by warmth and comfort, so much so that he nearly drifted directly back to sleep. Warmth surrounded him on both sides, and he knew on one side was May, his first and oldest friend, and on the other, Pyrrha. Really, he could tell due to the snores. He loved the girl, he honestly did, but her snores outdid the snarls of a bellowing angry Ursa. But that was part about what he loved about her. She wanted more than anything to be seen as a normal person, and believe him, it was hard to see her as some unparalleled figure when she snored so...and drooled onto his chest, a large wet patch on his shirt under her cheek.

...and an equally large wet patch was on his other side, making his eyebrows raise, since May was as quiet as a mouse when she slept, barely making noise at all unless she was...stimulated...which admittedly, happened more often than not with the three of them sharing a bed. And she wasn’t one to drool, either. So what was it?

Tilting his head, a small smile and chuckle escaped him. Of course it was. Poor May had leaked in her sleep again, dark spots forming on her pajama top where her milk bled through. She hadn’t been able to milk the past few days and had a great deal of build up...fortunately, it was the weekend and May adored sleeping in, meaning that Pyrrha would wake first.

Which mean that they could help their dear girlfriend...and also be treated to their favorite morning beverage. He licked his lips, feeling his cock twitch in his boxers. Besides the taste, he and Pyrrha both loved their little Sniper’s reactions, the small squeaks of pleasure as she squirmed and trembled beneath them.

He sighed as his cock popped out of his boxers from his fantasy and arousal. That would have to be handled...eventually. For now, he needed to be patient, at least until Pyrrha woke up. Then something could be done...after they helped May...and themselves.

~x~x~x~x~

Pyrrha Nikos woke slowly. Despite her discipline, she hated waking up early, but it was ingrained into her now. From training at dawn from a young age, her body refused to let her sleep any later than daybreak. She heartily despised it.

But it wasn’t without its benefits, she would admit. She no longer woke alone, and that would give her the time to do the most wonderful things to-with! She meant WITH!-her boyfriend and girlfriend. Shifting her head, she whined as she felt her cheek slick with drool. She had never been able to break that habit, nor the one of cuddling with the nearest warm body. Meaning, Jaune or May, or both, if she was lucky enough to snag the middle spot, were her personal teddy ursa!

Today, she knew that Jaune had been her teddy, and she was thankful he never minded her snoring or drooling, something that she always found embarrassing, but he had simply accepted as another part of who she was. Reaching up, her hand cupped against something burning hot and hard as the shaft of Milo, her spear. A lazy smile formed on her face as she already knew what that was. Perhaps she could start the day off right~? A gentle pump got a groan, one too loud to be from a sleeping person. Drat. So, Jaune woke before her, did he? It was rare, but it did happen. Opening her eyes a crack, she stared up into the deep blues that she had fallen in love with. “...morning…” she mumbled. No matter how much she trained, let it be known, Pyrrha Nikos was not a morning person!

“Good morning, Pyrrha…” she heard his soft tone fill her with warmth. “Sleep well?” Pyrrha hummed and shifted, wincing as her saliva had started cooling and was getting cold and thick. “Could have been longer...I was having a nice dream~” she grabbed the blanket and wiped her cheek as she looked down at the large dark spot, giving her boyfriend an apologetic look.

He only chuckled and kissed her lips lightly. “I could tell; you’ve been grinding against my leg for a while now, and you’re still doing it~” Pyrrha blushed, forcing her slowly moving hips to stop, although she whined at the loss of pleasure.

Jaune smiled at her and kissed her again, with Pyrrha eagerly accepting the loving advance, trying to worm her tongue into his mouth, whining and trying to follow as Jaune pulled back. She was soothed as he pecked her on the nose. “Now, now, Pyrrha...later...we have to help May.” seeing him lick his lips made Pyrrha’s heart jump and her stomach growl, and she licked her own lips.

Right...she could start the day with the sweetest, most natural, tastiest beverage on Remnant...her girlfriend’s milk! Peeking over Jaune’s chest, her jaw dropped and she began drooling a bit as she saw dark spots on May’s shirt, the swell of her fat nipples pressing against the thin shirt that they had managed to trick-convince!-their precious Desert Flower to wear.

“Poor May’s gotten backed up...it’d be...cruel to let her continue on like this, wouldn’t it?” Pyrrha nodded so fast Jaune and May were both blurs in her vision. Cruel? It would be inhumane punishment if they left their beloved, delicate Desert Flower to suffer overfilled and constantly leaking breasts! She didn’t deserve that! They would drain that milk...they didn’t have any pumps or containers though, so it would have to be by mouth and into their bellies, but that...that was what good teammates, good boyfriends and girlfriends did! The sacrifice they were making to ensure their teammate’s comfort should be commended!

“Yesh, shwe-” she blushed fiercely, swallowing the saliva that had pooled heavily in her mouth, shying away from her boyfriend’s knowing smile. “Yes...yes, we should help her! We can’t let her suffer for long!”

~x~x~x~x~

It didn’t take long for the boyfriend and girlfriend to settle on either side of the sleeping busty beauty, gently shifting the sleeping sniper onto her back, her massive chest rising and falling, straining and stretching the ill fitting top she wore, buttons looking ready to pop off at any given moment.

Jaune and Pyrrha shared a smile over the “Milky Mountains”, a name they had saddled May’s breasts (and subsequently mortified the poor busty sniper) with and carefully reached up, working together to unbutton her top, both chuckling as the buttons finally gave in halfway through, flying through the air and landing on the bed with muted sounds, her fat breasts settling, fat puffy inverted nipples swollen and beading with milk, the delicate skin shining under the muted morning light.

Carefully, they each hooked a thumb into her shorts that she wore for bottoms, and eased them, and her panties down, revealing her nearly bare slit, a small, fluffy tuft of maroon pubis, trimmed expertly into the shape of the Arc Crescents (and boy, May had shrieked in embarrassment when that was noticed...although Pyrrha immediately had May do it to her, as well) clinging to her mons. Both rubbed their fingers through it, the incredibly soft hair tickling their fingertips as they teased May’s body, watching her cheeks darken a bit as she murmured softly in her sleep. Jaune and Pyrrha shared a smile with one another, before their fingers slid down, down, down...rubbing over her petal soft lips, their fingertips each brushing gently over the sensitive skin.

Sharing a smirk, both opened their mouths and descended, capturing a fat nipple in their mouths, sucking and licking the plump, leaking bud gently. Both moaned as intense, almost cloying sweetness squirted into their mouths, dancing along their tongues, making Pyrrha moan needily, wrapping her leg around May’s and beginning to grind against her thigh.

Likewise, Jaune’s penis had popped out of his boxers and was prodding insistently at the sleeping girl’s hip, but he weathered on, instead sucking gently at the teat in his mouth, throat bobbing as he swallowed mouthfuls of the sweet, nourishing liquid. His cock throbbed, oozing fat, thick drops of precum onto May’s lightly tanned flesh, his tip smearing it into her skin.

They both hear May whimper and moan in her sleep as they suckled her, their fingers rubbing her rapidly moistening core, both humming their contentedness as they drank their fill and worked to empty out their Desert Flower’s swollen, and no doubt aching, breasts.

May’s breath hitched and her moaning increased, her sleeping body shifting, wiggling, turning as she tried to get away from their touches, but their bodies and their own insistent actions keeping her from getting away.

“Mmm~Feels...Oooooo~” May hummed and whimpered in her sleep, her hips bucking upwards into their playfully moving fingers, the pads spreading her quickly leaking slick around, making her mound shiny from her arousal.

Both stayed away from her clit and opening at the moment, content to simply rub her outer lips, sucking and licking, twirling their tongues around the fat, squirting nubs in their mouths, the tips of their tongues slipping into the small slits, toying with the hidden bumps of her nipples.

“eeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP~!” both lovers felt their Desert Flower jerk underneath them, her chest heaving, the milk filled mountains practically smacking them in the face repeatedly as they suckled on her, the action only forcing more of the delectable milk in their mouths.

Glancing up, they saw wide, misty blue eye staring down at them, cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment, the lower lip of that beautiful face being pinched underneath the clean white glint of her upper teeth.

It was plainly obvious the beautiful, ravished girl was trying to say something, but all that escaped her mouth were squeaks of varying intensity. But neither Jaune or Pyrrha were worried about words, as May’s body was far more honest. Her back was arching on it’s own, pressing her breasts more against their faces, and her thighs fell open more, their noses being invaded with May’s natural, sweet perfume, only raising their own libido’s higher.

~x~x~x~x~

May Zedong was mortified. She hated how her breasts naturally lactated with ease, making so much milk that they had to be milked like a cow. She hated them so much so that she had avoided doing so the past few days...but boy, was she paying for it now. She had gone to bed with an intense, dull ache throbbing away in her teats, and just knew that the next morning would be painful. She hadn’t, thankfully.

...but somehow, this was worse!

Pleasure, intense, stirring, hot like an iron filled her body, making her shake and tremble, her pussy practically a drooling waterfall of her liquid lust. She could feel slim fingers sliding over her slippery valley, and hot, wet suction over the obscenely sensitive fat nubs that she was unfortunate enough to call nipples.

Shame warred with pleasure and outright relief as her milk was drawn out of aching tits and fingers played with her soaking core, still avoiding her dripping little slit and her twitching clit, leaving her tap dancing along the edge of a second orgasm after that intense first one that woke her out of her sleep.

“Eeeeehhhhhmmmmm~” shame filled her as her hips humped upwards, trying to get her boyfriend’s and girlfriend’s fingers to do more than slide around her flooded core. She was so wet she was pretty sure Jaune could slam in full force inside her without any pain! Her tits gushed more milk out into greedy mouths that sucked, licked, twirled tongues around her squirting nipples. Her cheeks burned as she heard the loud swallows both of them, and she glanced down-nopenopenope!-her eye snapped back up and away, knowing if she kept looking into the loving and adoring emerald and sapphire eyes, she would come undone, completely and utterly between them.

Her eye widened as they shifted.

~x~x~x~x~

Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look, seeing their beloved Desert Flower glow under their ministrations, feeling her pussy absolutely gush under their fingertips, her tits letting down and draining into their mouths eagerly, making them swallow more and more, their bellies filling with the delicious drink that was theirs and only theirs.

Their fingers finally moved, Pyrrha wiggling her index and middle fingers into their girlfriend’s tight warmth, beginning to pump them back and forth, marveling at the slick, sticky wetness that clung to her fingertips, Shick, Shick, Shick sounds filling both of their ears as thick strings of her cum gushed from her actions, splattering along her hand and May’s inner thighs.

Jaune, however, retreated upwards, putting his focus onto the emerged little nubbin of May’s clit, his fingertips ghosting over the small bud, spreading the slick that he had acquired over the bundle of nerve endings.

Both smiled into May’s breasts as she bucked like an angry Boarbatusk, outright wailing her bliss to them...and everyone else in the dorms, most likely.

~x~x~x~x~

May thought she could handle it! But no! The attack on her tits, her nipples, her pussy, her clit! All of them worked together to send her over the edge into the most intense orgasm of the week, her body arching and going taut as a bowstring as her pussy gushed, her clear slick squirting out of her flexing and gripping pussy as Pyrrha continued to finger her pussy and Jaune tweaked and toyed with her little bundle of nerves.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAA~♥♥♥~!!!” May heard a scream faintly in her own ears, but knew with shame that it was her. Her boyfriend and girlfriend had made her cum and scream...without even doing much! Damn her sensitive nipples!

What was worse was neither backed down while she was cumming, both continued to finger her, rub her clit, and suck on her still leaking tits!

She slumped as she came down from the cresting high, a myriad creeping around the edges of her sight, and she blushed deeply, glad that today was the weekend, meaning they wouldn’t be missed. Because she could feel them...Pyrrha was grinding against her thigh, leaving sticky wetness against it, and Jaune...well, no one could ignore his burning sword poking them.

She fumbled, trying to move her pinned arms, but neither Juane nor Pyrrha let her up, instead continuing to please her, quickly bringing her arousal up again, making her mewl in a mixture of want and fear. She knew her boyfriend and girlfriend. She knew they could love her body, worship her breasts and pussy and everything in between, for hours on end! And with no classes today…

“MmmmmmmMMMMMMM~♥♥♥~!!” she clenched around Pyrrha’s fingers again in a minor, more muted, orgasm. Where had she been? Oh, yes…

...with no classes today...she’d be loved and worshiped, fucked and filled all day. Her cunt quivered around Pyrrha’s fingers as she realized Jaune would fuck her and fill her pussy, her womb up...he would breed her...and if she was lucky...her breath began getting faster as she imagined it...if she was lucky, Pyrrha would bury her face between her thighs and eat her out after Jaune had emptied his balls into her belly! Before moving up and sharing the creamy treat with her, their tongues tangling and swapping the deliciously salty-sweet flavor of their boyfriend~

“HHHHMMMMMMMM♥♥♥♥~!” May’s eye rolled up into her head as she came again. Brothers, she loved her boyfriend and girlfriend…

~x~x~x~x~

Jaune and Pyrrha hummed happily as their girlfriend relaxed between them, both of them content to drain the breast before them for the time being. Their pleasure would come. This was the weekend, they could do with it what they wanted. And if they wanted to spend the day in their dorm making love to their Desert Flower? That’s what they would do!

[razorblade180]

Thin Divide: Among Us

Eight people, two imposters. Snuff them out or complete the required tasks. Good luck!

Nora:I call it now, it’s definitely Jaune.

Jaune:You see that make you look suspicious Nora, but that’s so in character of you that I’m pretty sure you’re just a crew mate.

Nora:Maybe that’s the plan? Hehehe.

Weiss:Are you blaming Jaune or incriminating yourself?

Ren:Don’t even. Just don’t, she’s gonna do this the entire game.

Ruby:Alrighty! Let’s do this guys. We have our tasks, just keep an eye out for anything suspicious....

Nora:I’ll be watching Jaune like a hawk! I’ll catch him in the act!

Jaune:This is going to be a long game....

Pyrrha:Or a really short one.

xxxxx

Several minutes pass. Everything seems fine and people are on task. Yet things are a little tense. No one is talking. They’re all learning the rules and being cautious. Nora casually follows Jaune to do wiring and go just about everywhere. She can feel it in her gut. “I’m onto you.” She thinks as he suddenly sprints around a corner out of sight. Suddenly, lights shut off. Things suddenly feel like a bad idea.

Nora:What the!? That’s cheap. Maybe stalking someone alone was a bad idea. Oh! I’ll get Ren t-

xxxxx

Emergency Meeting!

RWBY JPR:Huh?

📢Yang: Oh, so that’s what that button- oh geez, Nora’s dead!

Ren:Wait, what!?

Everyone looks at the character icons to see Nora’s crossed out. Ren goes pale.

Ren:Nora! Who’s responsible for this!? Where was the body found!?

Blake:Nowhere, Yang pressed the button. However....*looks at Jaune* I did see her following you.

Jaune:You know why! I didn’t do it! Ren I did not do it.

Ren:I’ll vote you out right now. Jaune I swear-

Jaune:I just finished doing wires! I’ve been focusing on task and nothing else. Yeah I saw her spy on me, then lights went out. Now we’re here.

Blake:I’m just saying you had all the opportunities to do it. The fact that you’re so offended isn’t helping.

Jaune:We have no proof and you’re suspecting me!

Weiss:You were the one with her.

Pyrrha let’s not jump to conclusions. Someone could be framing him.

Ruby:Where was everyone? I was doing trash.

Blake and Yang:Med bay.

Weiss:This map is confusing. Communications, maybe?

Jaune:No, I was there. Unless there’s another one.

Ren:A room with a tree.

Yang:It’s totally Jaune. He’s alone and already knows the map.

Ruby:I know the map. Weiss is just bad. You’re bad if you don’t know the map!

Yang:I know it.

RWPJ:THEN YOUR POINT MAKES NO SENSE!

Times up. No one voted. Two imposters remain.

Jaune walked back two wards communications. The group had gotten pretty familiar with all the cool things possible. Cameras, vents, everything. This time two people followed Jaune. Yang and Blake. He started sweating.

Yang:Why are universe lady killer? Running out of luck?

Jaune:It’s possible. You two could possibly kill me then cover it up. Do your tasks!

Yang:We were together all the time last round. We’re in the clear.

Blake:It’s you that’s in the hot seat.

xxxxx

Ren:*getting oxygen* Who do you think did it?

Ruby:I don’t wanna point fingers, but Yang would totally thrive in this game. But Weiss is possible too. Stay focused. Killing Nora was to make you stirred up. Keep a cool-

Reactor Meltdown

Ren:That’s not good.

Ruby:You go left, I’ll go right! Be safe!

xxxx

Jaune:I’m going to stop the-

Blake:It’s taking you awhile on that panel Jaune. Don’t tell me you’re stalling?

Jaune:No, I’m just bad! Let me go the reactor or we lose!

Yang:Ooorrr I go. If Blake dies then you’re dead! If you don’t finish that panel-

Jaune:You have 30 seconds!

Yang goes sprinting out of the room. Blake goes to do her task across the room. She’s definitely sure it’s Jaune. This plan is full proof. Yeah if she dies then that would suck but-

Jaune:Ummm why hasn’t anyone stopped the reactor yet?

The counter was already at ten. What was taking Yang so long!? Both ran to the door in a panic to reach the reactor but then-

Report!

Everyone spawned back at the button. Well not everyone. Yang’s named was crossed out, and Ruby had teary eyes with a finger pointed at Weiss.

Ruby:MURDERER!!!

📢Weiss:Ruby it’s not what you think! I-

Ruby:Oh I saw! I saw perfectly! Right on the bridge leading to the reactor panel on the right. You were right over her corpse!

Blake:What!?

Weiss:I know it looks bad, but I found her like this! I run because I saw 1 out of 2 on the panels-

Ren:Me. I was on the other panel. Ruby was with getting oxygen and chose to get the other one.

Ruby:Yeah I wasn’t expecting to walk in on a crime scene.

Weiss:Wait! I was all the way at the bottom of the map. You should’ve gotten there before me.

Blake:Oh now you can read a map!?

Weiss:It takes time! It has to be Ruby.

Ruby:WHAT!?

Pyrrha:I was in electrical by the way. I know nobody was with me but I promise I’m innocent.

RWBR:We know Pyrrha.

Jaune:I don’t think it’s you but the fact you’ve been alone twice now.

Blake:Oh no, you’re definitely still an imposter Jaune.

Ruby:NONE OF THAT MATTERS! I want Weiss out right now!

The reaper puts her vote in.

Weiss:Ruby!

Ruby:Sister killer! You were by yourself too. I know you Weiss, always plotting. I came across a locked door while heading there that slowed me down. Nobody can confirm where you were, and you could’ve easily vented to get where you needed to be. You’re just mad I caught you so you self reported.

Weiss:That’s- I....don’t be a dolt. You all can’t be serious, right?

Pyrrha hugs a crying Ruby while the others have their heart ache at the sight. They all look at Weiss suspiciously, taking the risk to vote. It was unanimous. Weiss was immediately escorted to the air lock, struggling the whole way.

Weiss:You’re being tricked! I’m innocent!!

Ruby:Tell it to the souls you’ve taken.

She was shot into space. All of them watching her drift away. Ruby rubbed her eyes, then gasped.

Weiss was not an imposter. 2 imposters remain.

Ruby slowly backed away towards Ren. Right now, he was the only trustworthy one. Someone’s playing mind games and it’s working two well. Nobody had the chance to get anything done before Jaune presser the emergency button.

Jaune:Okay, we obviously need a minute to reevaluate-

Blake:You’re an imposter!

Jaune:We were in a room together! Why wouldn’t I kill you and vent away. At that point I could’ve made up a story! But no, I just wanna shoot asteroids!

Pyrrha:Fair point, it would’ve been a double kill.

Ruby:All of you look suspicious except for Ren! *votes Jaune*

Pyrrha:Ruby! He only pressed the button to clear the air!

Ren:He did just come up with a good argument.

Blake:I’m voting for Jaune.

Jaune:Well I’m skipping! Pyrrha please skip two before there’s two imposters and two crew mates. This is very bad time to throw caution to the wind.

Pyrrha:I agree. *skips*

Ren:....*skips* If someone dies next round and it isn’t Jaune then it’s definitely Jaune. You’re on thin ice, so are you Pyrrha. You agree with him easily.

Pyrrha:Ren, that’s not suspicious. I do that in real life.

Blake:And he’s using it to his advantage.

Jaune:You’ve been gunning for me since the start basically, even though you were with me. That’s pretty suspicious.

They all went their separate ways except for Ren and Ruby. This was dire. Everyone sounded sketch and friendships were crumbling. Next time for sure, a vote needed to happen. Pyrrha found herself going back near the button whe Jaune came out of a room to the right, alone. Both of them looked at each nervously.

Pyrrha:What are your tasks? I’ve already seen two other people enter that room before?

Jaune:I was checking vitals. We’re all alive and my tasks are done. What are you doing?

Pyrrha:I was gonna call another meeting. Say, are you saying I’ll go in that room right now and we’re fine?

Jaune:There is no body in there. Check for yourself. If I was an imposter then I’d be on cool down. Plus you could report and I’d feel the vaccum of space.

Pyrrha nodded and peeked in. No blood or anything. She went to the vitals to confirm that everyone actually was alive. The imposters must’ve known how risky things are now. It was fine. Tasks were almost done. Jaune was finally looking normal. She breathed a sigh or relief.

Jaune:Don’t tell me you were expecting a body?

Pyrrha:*red* I’m sorry!

Jaune:It happens. Honestly I thought you were about to stab me.

Pyrrha:I don’t like this game. It’s stressful. Doubting my friends isn’t exactly fun.

Jaune:What we need is a trap. A play that leaves Blake and Ruby red handed.

Pyrrha:You think it’s them?

Jaune:It has to be, and I know just the way to check one of them and keep us in the game. Pyrrha, I have a plan....

xxxx

Ruby and Ren watched the cameras in silence. Blake was at the trash while Pyrrha and Jaune were near the button. Ruby looked at Ren and smiled.

Ruby:It’s Blake and Jaune.

Ren:How can you tell?

Ruby:Unless Blake has a similar task, I did trash already. Shall we question her, or wait for actual proof.

Ren:Tasks are almost done. We might be able t-

Reactor Meltdown

Ren:Shit, Pyrrha can’t press the button now.

Ruby:But this also gives us a chance! Imma about to catch them red handed! Ren, stay on cameras and watch me go to the left. That way you can report my body if get killed, or out them if they self report. Jaune’s not dumb. He has to go right in order to act innocent and cancel the meltdown. Pyrrha would catch on otherwise. Especially if Blake goes right and nothing is fixed or they’re both alive. Meaning...

Ren:Blake has to go left or stay where she is.

Ruby and Ren high-five and get to work. Ruby starts sprinting as fast as she can. Ren checks the right side and sure enough, Jaune has a hand on the panel. Blake comes up from the bottom to where Pyrrha is. It would be dangerous if Blake killed her, but then she would definitely get voted out. The faunus slowly gets closer to the red head when suddenly, the cameras get jacked.

Ren:What!?

xxxxx

Pyrrha:Go left!

Blake:Gotcha!

Blake runs to the left to get the other panel. So far so good. Let’s see how right Jaune is. Pyrrha stared at the camera. Strange, she was certain it was on earlier. Now it was off, then flicked back on briefly. Seconds later, the meltdown ended but she didn’t press the button. Not yet. She was told to wait five seconds. In that amount of time, Blake might-

Report!

📢Blake:Guys, Ren is-

RJP:You killed him.

Blake:Wh-What? No, I found him on the ground in the camera room!

Ruby:Yeah, where you killed him. I thought you’d go after me. Sloppy mistake, Blake. Now we caught you.

Jaune:I cut off the meltdown, and Ruby had to get the other one. I found it funny how eager you were to get rid of me by vote. You killed Nora to add to the suspicions. You couldn’t kill me directly because of Yang. She wasn’t an imposter but stuck to you like glue.

Pyrrha:So you had your partner kill her because you couldn’t do it without outing yourself. But if Jaune died alone with you after all that blame then you’d be caught! If you payed attention then you would’ve saw the cameras were on this round. You killed Ren without him noticing then checked them yourself.

Jaune:You soon realized you could only self report because the meltdown ended. No way you could get to the panel that fast unless you vented. Now the real question is how committed are you two bluffing, Ruby Rose? If you don’t vote Blake....

Pyrrha:Then you’re definitely the second imposter.

Blake:Ruby don’t believe them! We know Jaune is definitely-

Ruby:*votes Blake* You betrayed my sister and made me accidentally vote for Weiss because I swept up in emotions. Just like how you got Ren to look at Jaune after Nora died. I’m done with you.

The others voted for Blake. The girl could say nothing. She was at a loss for words. The trap was perfect, calculated to a the last detail. Blake took a deep sigh and walked to the airlock, giving Jaune one final look.

Blake:Well played...

The airlock opened and the three watched their friend get launched into space.

Pyrrha:Jaune that idea was amaz-

Blake was not an imposter.

Pyrrha felt her blood go cold. Those were not the words she wanted to see. She didn’t even turn around to look her “friends” and chose to stare out the window. She felt both of them pat her back. 2 imposters still remained. A problem for her, the remaining crew mate. The sight of Ruby holding a gun and Jaune with a knife was visible in the window reflection.

Ruby:Knife or bullet. You deserve the choice.

Pyrrha:Jaune’s stabbed me in back metaphorically already. Might as well do it physically.

Jaune:That’s fair.

Imposters Win

[post game]

Jaune and Ruby:Oh yeah!!!! That’s why we’re leaders!

Weiss:You can’t say that after killing your teammates!

Nora:I demand an explanation!

Jaune:Ren is too smart and figures things out fast. Had to kill you first anyways. You saying I was an imposter was just an unfortunate coincidence. But let’s talk about how you were my only kill.

Pyrrha:Ruby, you killed everyone else!?

Yang:I walked halfway up that bridge thing to the panel and then she comes running down it and kills me. Now I’m watching as ghost as she jumps into a vent and waits for Weiss to find me to put on the most believable performance of her life. You killed me, then cried about it!

Weiss:I was pleading to a murderer! You put blame on Jaune so he could do it to you and throw the trail off!

Ruby:I also told Ren that it was either you or Yang, that way he’d vote the way I wanted. I think Blake was the real crown of the plan.

Jaune:This is why you don’t blame people so fast. You had to go.

Blake:Ren, what happened to you?

Ren:*face palming*So I was watching everyone until the cameras went out, which I now know was Ruby’s doing, because she had the nerve to kill her camera last. She looked right into it as she jumped into a vent back to me.

Ruby:If you were watching then I knew you were still there and alone. I killed him, took a vent back to where I was supposed to be, stopped the meltdown, and pinned the death of Blake. All with the simple lie about me taking out the trash and not killing Ren earlier.

Jaune:And I used Pyrrha’s trust. Thank you.

Pyrrha:Don’t talk to me! You got me to skip a vote and vote Blake off! Ruby, you cried in my arms! How could you use me like that!?

Jaune and Ruby:Because you’re so helpful! Thanks Pyrrha!

WBYNR:Yeah, thanks Pyrrha.

Pyrrha:*red* I’m sorry!!!

[skye-huntress]

RWBY Ice Queendom Reaction

Episode 11: “Light in Shadows”

There is so much I love about this episode

Let’s start with Negative Weiss’ moment of clarity. What a lot of people might initially miss about Weiss, especially in her early verbal clashes with Blake, is that as much as she hates the White Fang and is distrustful towards Faunus, she is fully aware of why they would hate the SDC and her family. More importantly, it was always Weiss’ intention to take control of her family’s company from father and reform it. Her ultimate goal was always to help the Faunus regardless of the crimes of the White Fang. Nega-Blake throwing the flaws of the SDC in Nega-Weiss’ face helped her recall this goal but in doing so created contradictions in the narratives within the dream. It gave Nega-Weiss a sense of awareness to the true nature of what was going on.

So it seems I got Weiss’s line to Ruby mixed up, the Grimm hides itself in the shadow of the person facing it. If Ruby were to cut away the vines surrounding the piece of Weiss’ heart, the light from it will create a shadow which is the direction Crescent Rose’s barrel will be facing. Altering the weapon the way she did was Weiss’s attempt to tell Ruby how to kill the Grimm.

With her Semblance, Yang is the heaviest hitter of Team RWBY, but because of how it works she really has to pick her moment when to use it. Punching a giant sentient building in the face seems like as good a time as any.

I never realised how much I wanted to see Nicholas and Weiss together until I got it. To see him to inspire Weiss to protect the people and those precious to her is everything to me. It also gives clarity to why Weiss’ dream was built the way it is.

Moving on to Jaune, lifting that sword is well beyond what he is capable of right now, but just like when he killed that Ursa Major, he doesn’t need to do all by himself. One thing that Weiss learned from Pyrrha is to support your friends when they need a little help.

I was a little concerned that seeing “Big Nicholas” crumble would negatively affect Nega-Weiss, but she was still set on helping Blake even as her Negative side was trying to kill her.

So we did indeed get a silver eyed moment, and based on how we know it works, it was Ruby’s desire to save Weiss that did the trick. By the looks of it, she did so much damage to it that the Grimm died when it couldn’t find a new host to sustain it.

So now we’re back to the moment Weiss fell asleep, but instead of seeing a manifestation of her Nightmare self, she sees Ruby. Weiss always wanted a bunk bed because she wanted to be closer to her siblings, to anyone really. She had the largest family of everyone in her team, but she grew up feeling alone, until she finally found her bunkmate in Ruby.

No fake out this time, Ruby finally gets to hug Weiss for real, at least as real as you can in a dream world.

So even though Weiss’s subconscious was able to resist the dream and even communicate directly with Ruby, Weiss’ conscious mind is just completely confused. Despite how active our brains can be when we sleep and dream, we rarely remember anything when we wake up.

One nightmare down, now they have to deal with the one they intentionally set free. So we got our Ruby vs Weiss fight before, now prepare for Yang vs Blake!

Yang pulling Blake out of her Nightmare makes me happy. White Rose and Bees shippers have been fed this episode.

There is no way we can have a final battle in RWBY without Team RWBY all fighting together. You simply can’t do it any other way.

So the piece of Blake’s heart was the original White Fang flag, the one that represents a hope that humans and Faunus can live and work together for a better world. It’s so appropriate for her.

I notice this Nightmare didn’t seem to die even with all the attacks it suffered and how little it was able to feed compared to Weiss’s Nightmare. Just proves how powerful and effective the silver eyes can be.

So now the reunion with Jaune, Pyrrha and the little Weissies. Seems Weiss was still waking up so to speak because she still hasn’t realised what’s going on.

You know, I was so worried for a safety, even though obviously she was always going to survive, I failed to considered that the real damage has already been done. Unfortunately, Weiss is eternally mortified. I fear she may never recover. I think anybody would feel the same, it’s just that Jaune is probably used to the feeling by now.

So we now have the last episode appropriately sharing the name with Volume 2’s first episode. We’re most definitely going to get the food fight, but that won’t cover the entire episode, so we’ll likely get a lot of other team bonding moments. I’m hoping for at least one more one-on-one with White Rose and the Bees each. I need it. In fact, I demand it after Shaft traumatised and humiliated my favourite RWBY girl.

[sixx02]

Feelings

Jaune Arc was currently incredibly absolutely totally embarrassed.  He could only watch in shock and horror as his mother was currently gushing over his perfect, wonderful, amazing, splendid, stunning, fantastic friend.  Quite possibly his best friend if he was being honest.  Of course Lie and Nora were his best friends too!  But they were family.  Pyrrha though?  She was something else.  She brought forth a side of him he could never really understand.  Sure he sometimes felt inferior but honestly that wasn’t really a her thing, and he swore he was getting better at it.  Even if he did feel like he was lagging behind all of his family.  

Right he was getting off topic, anyways, as he said horror absolute and utter horror.  His mother was currently grilling Pyrrha for all the details of their current lives.  “Oh my goodness!  You’re absolutely gorgeous!”  He watched as Pyrrha’s alabaster skin tinged pink as his mother picked her up pulling the younger girl into a grizzly like hug.  Jaune felt so many emotions in his chest, one of them had been a surprisingly large amount of sudden relief.  Good his mother liked her, that… that was important he felt.  But then there were so many more emotions!  He hadn’t expected any of this, and even with Pyrrha’s arrival he couldn’t help but eye Oscar.  The poor boy, his heart hurt just thinking of what he must have gone through.

Just like with Nora and Lie, he felt an overwhelming amount of brotherly feelings.  Just thinking that there was another child who lost their family, ‘I need to be stronger’.  He couldn’t help but think to himself, think that he had to help anyone he could.  Snapping out of his daze he watched as his mother was practically strangling Pyrrha.  “Uhm ma.”  There was no answer as she continued to hug the young girl, “Ma!”  He practically shouted at her, causing her to snap out of her child like glee.  

“Oh woopsie!  I’m sorry dearie, I just adore children.”  Understatement of the century, Jaune thought to himself as he heard the footsteps of his other sisters off in the distance.  “Well then, why don’t you all introduce her to me?”  Jaune took center, he didn’t want to give Nora the chance to embarrass him.  He could see the mischievous glee, though he knew that she only had his best interest in heart.  But… but he didn’t want her to do anything till he was sure that he himself felt that way about Pyrrha.  

“Uhm, she’s Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos.  She goes to school with us.”  He took a step next to her, one that he knew his mother noticed.  “She’s also our best friend.”  

“She’s Jaune’s bestest friend though.”  Nora said in a matter of factly kind of way.  He knew she didn’t mean any harm, but he saw the way his mother’s eyes shined.  “Oh oh!”  Nora suddenly pounced on Pyrrha, “But she’s my battle sister!”  Jaune eyed his sister and his… his crush yeah.  He could see the curves of her lips tilt upwards.  He loved Nora, she really did know how to bring out the brightest of the room.  

When Nora let Pyrrha go, his mother made a humming sound.  As Lie took his place near them she couldn’t help but smile.  “I’m glad you all are doing well.”  She took a breath, “I assume that you’re here to spend the night?”  

Pyrrha nodded meekly, “Yes ma’am, Jaune invited me over.”  It was obvious his friend worried about making a good impression.  But when she said his name, Jaune just knew that his mother was going to look at him.  And look at him she did.

“Oh, did he really now?”  The smile on her face told him everything he needed to know.  And, well, he nodded.  When her smile shifted to a warmer one he felt his heart calm down.  “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you deary.”  

“Thank you.”  Pyrrha gave his mother a nice bow.  

Once everything had finished, Jaune didn’t miss the looks he was getting from his other sisters who were peaking around the corners.  It was painfully obvious to everyone else, even if he didn’t quite get it yet.  No, he was just fooling himself, Pyrrha was amazing and well… his heart beat rapidly whenever they were close.  

“Why don’t you all go up stairs and enjoy yourselves?”  Nora who was practically bouncing up and down on her heels turned towards Oscar.

“Would you like to join us Oscar?”  Her brilliant smile was nearly blinding, and as her older brother Jaune didn’t feel like he was being biased whatsoever.  The young boy seemed hesitant, but Nora just had a way with kids.  She approached him slowly and smiled warmly, allowing him to let his guard down.  “We’d love to get to know you more.”  

Jaune could see how much she saw her and Lie in him.  Jaune only nodded approvingly, he would also like to get to know their newest little brother.  Though, as they were about to head up, he felt his mother’s hand touch his shoulder.  “Uhm, you guys can go ahead, I’ll catch up.”  Nora and Lie got the hint, heading up first followed by Oscar who decided to join them after all.  

Pyrrha on the other hand watched him worriedly, he simply gave her a warm smile.  Once she seemed satisfied she followed after the trio, dragging her bag alongside her.  Though he didn’t miss the few times that she glanced back at him.  

“Ahem.”  His mother cleared her throat, this was the signal for everyone else to vacate the room.  Which they did, no one crossed their mother.  Jaune turned towards her, their eyes met and he felt a warmth travel across him.  “She is a very pretty girl.”  

He nearly gasped for air, but he knew that this was where the conversation was going to head to.  Still… it didn’t stop him from being anxious, “She… she is.”  He felt his heart thump loudly, his ears beating like drums.  His pulse grew fast as he continued to keep his eyes deadlocked with his mothers.  

“Do you like her?”  And there it was, the question he was dreading.  He just… he wasn’t sure.  He… he wasn’t good at these kinds of things.  Especially with someone as amazing as Pyrrha.  He didn’t deserve… no that wasn’t the right word.  That was… it was stupid thinking right?  At least that’s what he tried to tell himself.  He felt inferior.  Not just to her mind you, but to everyone.  Memories of his past… no Pyrrha wasn’t like her.  She wasn’t like Flanna, she could never be like her. 

“I… I’m not…”  He heard the tapping of her foot on the wooden floor.  She wasn’t going to take half truths.  “I don’t know… I’m just… mom…”  His lip quivered and his throat grew dry.  He just, he did, he did like Pyrrha.  But he wasn’t… he couldn’t, would she even be happy with him?  He knew, he really did that it didn’t matter if he was worthy or not.  That was stupid thinking!  It was stupid thinking, and he was an idiot.  “I… would she even…”  

He stiffened as she pressed her palm against his shoulder.  Her hand tightened around him, “Oh sweetie.  You’re amazing, and I’m not saying that just cause you’re my son.”  His gaze drifted downwards as he shifted awkwardly.  “Honey, I’ve never met anyone who puts half the effort you do into improving yourself.  If you make a mistake you try to correct it, I know… that things hadn’t been easy for you.  Especially with… that incident.  But darling.”  She pulled him into a tight hug.  “You’ll never know if you don’t try to ask.”  

She was right, she really was.  “If you don’t ask, you could miss out on something amazing.  And if you do, and it doesn’t work out?  You could always remain friends.  I know it’s scary, gods know that I panicked when asking out your father.”  

His head snapped back to her, his eyebrow cocking slightly.  “Yes I was the one to ask him, bloody hell, he would never have summed up the courage to ask me.”  A mirthful chuckle escaped her lips as she continued to hold him close.  “Sweetie, I think you’ll be fine.  I’m a good judge of character, and I can see that she’s different.”  

Jaune felt his breath hitch in his chest as he wrapped his arms around his mothers back, his fingers dug into her clothing as he held her tightly.  He was scared, he really was.  But… but Pyrrha wouldn’t mock him, she wouldn’t toy with his feelings.  He… he didn’t need to be worthy of anything other than her own affection.  And if she didn’t see him that way, then it was simply not meant to be.  

He turned his head down one more time and nodded, “Okay.”  Looking back at his mom he felt her hold him close once more.  

“Good luck son.”  Her warm and motherly voice filled him with confidence.  He knew it was odd to get dating advice from his mother, but she has had a long marriage as well as a ton of kids.  If his parents’ relationship was still going well then she must have known something.  

Every step he made up to their shared room was daunting, each step felt closer to his execution.  He could practically feel his heart throbbing in his chest.  Finally he reached the door, his legs locked in place as he felt his breathing become heavy.  He could feel his palms grow sweaty, he couldn’t do this.  He just couldn't. There was no way this would wo-  

His entire world fell to a halt as the door opened before he could even knock.  “Oh hello!”  Pyrrha was in front of him with her hair untied, he’d only ever seen it in a ponytail.  He felt his heart stop and his breathing stilled.  Apparently she noticed the shift in his disposition, “Jaune, are you alright?”  

“Oh uhm!”  He felt the words caught at the edge of his lips.  His tongue twisted as he tried to gather his courage.  Then he caught Nora out of the corner of his eye.  She was smiling brightly, her thumbs lifted up as if to encourage him.  Lie was doing something similar, a soft smile on his face while Oscar sat there confused.  

“Pyrrha?”  

“Yes Jaune?”  The way she tilted her head slightly to the right sent little jolts of joy to his heart.  Oh gosh, he really was going to do this!  He needed to calm himself down, but even as his heart pounded loudly in the middle of his chest, thumping over and over.  He still couldn’t help but feel a sense of joy and excitement.

“Can I uhm. Ouch!”  He bit his tongue slightly.  

“Are you okay?!”  The panic in his voice was oddly endearing.  Placing his hand in front of him he nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine… I’m sorry I just… can we talk alone?”  The following silence was agonizing, the way she examined hima s if trying to get a beat on what he was asking.  

Finally she nodded.  

He heard a loud whoop coming from the room as she closed the door behind him.  He needed a good place to ask, taking a slow step he made his way towards the guest room.  The soft thumps of Pyrrha’s steps behind him sent powerful jolts through his mind.  His panic was reaching an all time high as his blood pulsed and beat rapidly in his veins.  He was terrified, but there was now ay that he wasn’t going to do this.  He had to resolve himself, he couldn’t chicken out now.  

Finally they reached the room, opening it so she could go in first he made sure no one was following him.  Thankfully after a few seconds of inspection he didn’t see any of his siblings.  Taking one last deep breath before entering after her, he closed the door.  

“Pyrrha?”  

“Yes Jaune?”  Oh gosh, she was just so amazing.  Even a simple question caused his heart to thump wildly.  

“Pyrrha, we’ve been friends for a few months now, and uhm… you’re… you’re honestly amazing.”  

“Oh!”  Even he could catch the blush off of her porcelain like skin.  His own face grew warm as he tried to calm himself.

“Right, uhm… Pyrrha I…”  Oh god he was getting tongue tied, he felt his eyes flutter as his pulse grew out of control.  He was starting to shake and break out into a cold sweat.  He couldn’t… he couldn’t…

“Jaune?”  He felt a hand wrap around his, his eyes drew upwards catching her gorgeous emeralds.  “Jaune, I’m… I’m not sure what’s going on.”  He didn’t believe that, “But… but… no matter what.  I’m here for you okay?”  Her grip around his hand tightened.  

Right he didn’t need to worry.  “Pyrrha I like you.”  He hadn’t meant for it to come out so… so naturally?  But it had, there was no doubt in his mind that he felt for her, or what he felt for her. “I like you a lot, not in the same way I like Nora or Lie…  I… I really like you.”  

He expected an awkward silence, what he got was him suddenly being pulled into a tight and bone crunching hug.  Air left his lungs as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close.   “Sniff~”  There was a soft sniffle coming from her as she pressed her head into the crick of his neck.  

“Py-Pyrrha?”   Had he done something wrong?!

“I was so worried!”  Her grip tightened around him as she tightened them closer.  “I was so worried you didn’t feel the same.”  

“O...oh!”  OH!  She… she felt the same… she felt the same!  He didn’t, he couldn’t… he wasn’t able to think.  Instead he did all he could think of, his own arms reached around her back pulling her close to one another.  The two of them held one another close for a near 30 minutes, neither wanting to part.  He had placed his own head against hers, delight and joy filled his heart.  And for the first time for as long as he could remember, he felt quite alright.  No, he was better than alright.  He was absolutely happy, ecstatic, joyous even!  

“I’m so happy…”

He wasn’t sure which one of them said it, but it didn’t matter.  Everything felt… it felt like everything would be alright.

[spahhzy]

Promise.

No Fall AU. Fourth year.

*Dimension 52*

.

.

"I promise Ruby on my name and life as an Arc you'll get that dance!

Ruby sighed for the umpteenth time as the music blared in the background students all around her were dancing and having a good time.

"He'll be here Rubes" Ruby looked up and saw her sister Yang, and the rest of her team along with Team JNPR minus its leader.

"Yeah ruby Jaune-Jaune will be here he promised!" Said Nora handing Ruby some punch.

Blake put a hand on her shoulder.

"Has he ever broken a promise too you?" She said and Ruby shook her head and looked at the clock and looked down at her red dress and evil lady stil-heels.

9:00pm

The dance was almost over.

Where is he?

Yang watched her sister sit in her chair away from the crowd upset.

"Where the hell is vomit boy?!" She said and Weiss nodded while looking at her scroll trying to get ahold of junipers leader. They all did Jaune had said he was going into Vale to get nice suit for his date/dance.

"It shouldn't have taken long...you don't think he is standing her up do you?" Blake asked

"Jaune isn't like that he made a promise...and you know how he is on promises especially ones to Ruby" Weiss said defending the knight. Over the course of the school years Jaune had earned her respect for all his hard work he put on at Beacon.

"Then where is he!?" Yang said eyes going red and kicked the railing as silence fell amongst the group.

-

From another side of the auditorium Glynda and Ozpin looked on seeing everyone having a good time well...not everyone.

"It would seem that...not everyone is enjoying themselves" said Ozpin as he eyed the Rose girl sitting in her chair, the red dress clashing with the white seats.

"Ah yes...miss Rose...apparently Jaune Arc was her date no?" Glynda asked to which Ozpin nodded.

"Perhaps Mr. Arc had second doubts?" She asked and Ozpin sighed.

"I don't think he would be the type...we've seen how far he'd go for people" Ozpin said as he recalled moments over of all Jaune's deeds he's ever done for him and many of the faculty members.

Suddenly a buzzing sound came from his scroll.

Pulling it out he looks to find an incoming call from...

"The Vale General Hospital?"

-

It was now 10:30.

The dance was 30 mins from being over and still no Jaune Arc.

No calls or texts.

No one could get ahold of the arc knight.

"I'm so sorry Ruby" came the voice of her sister as she came to comfort her.

"Sigh it's alright...I...I didn't expect him to break his promise though...sure we had a fight a few weeks back" Ruby said tears pooling in her eyes.

" I love him...I really love Jaune and he said he loved me...so why isn't he here" to which Yang just hugged her sister tightly as the DJ announced it was now time for the last slow songs of the night.

-

"This isn't like our fearless leader Ren!" Nora said as she took a sip of her drink.

Weiss was still working on trying to get ahold of the dolt but still so far nothing. No one had been able to get ahold of Jaune.

Suddenly Weiss scroll beeped and her screen came to life with 'Breaking News'

"Guys come look" She said to Ren, Nora, Pyrrha and Blake as they all gathered around to see a special news report.

"This is Lisa Lavender coming with you live on the scene from downtown vale where a explosion had just taken place just a few minutes ago" said the reporter as fire and smoke were present in the background as fire fighters came storming by.

"The explosion came during a conflict with a hostage situation involving 3 armed suspects in this building or what is left of the building before it toppled down"

"The three suspects before detonating the explosion were confronted by one individual but we are getting reports that he was a Beacon student" The moment she uttered those words everyone began to have a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

"We do have video footage of the matter just before the building collapse from a near by cctv camera" she said before cutting to the video and their everyone's heart sank.

Their was Jaune, shield up and sword in hand dressed in his unbuttoned dress shirt and tux as the three individuals just looked on before pressing what looks like a button suddenly an explosion happened which showed Jaune was only knocked backwards a few feet before getting up, he looked to his right for some reason.

The camera picked up on his body glowing before the camera angle changed as suddenly a young woman was shown in the wreckage of the explosion crying out for help.

Every one was silent fear in the pit of their stomachs as they saw Jaune come to the ladies rescue able to get all the rock and debris out of the way before trying to get her somewhat stable to remove her from the situation.

Suddenly he looked up behind him as his body glowed again and he raised his shield up before suddenly mountains of rubble came crashing the CCTV cut off.

"We have reports that the lady in question after the rubble was cleared is okay! Though we do not know the status of the Beacon student in question as he neglected treatment before leaving..."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Jaune was alive but they also realized that was why Jaune was late it was because-

"Renny look! Fearless leader!" Nora shouted in excitement as she took off with Ren and Pyrrha in tow.

Weiss immediately ran to the railing as their at the entrance was a clean, safe and alive Jaune Arc..

She looked on as Jaune rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment before Pyrrha pointed to all the way to the dance floor where the lonesome Ruby awaited.

Weiss sighed before sitting back down.

All would be well after, Arc kept his word.

-

10:45pm

He really wasn't gonna come was he...

He really was gonna break his promise....

He -

"At the special request we are now going to play a special song before tonight's end"

*play whatever special slow song you'd think Ruby and Jaune would dance to*

Ruby's eyes widened that was her's and Jaune's song but wait...

"Hey craterface..." She heard his voice as suddenly the dancefloor that had many people dancing started to thin out before finally only one person was standing their.

Jaune Arc looked at her as she stood up from her chair.

Jaune looked to his right to see Yang giving him a thumbs up of approval, he nodded before wincing a bit as he walked forward.

Ruby started walking towards him...meeting him halfway before finally they were feet apart.

"Hey..."

"Hey..."

"I'm sorry I'm late...I didn't mean to make you think I was gonna stand you up...something happened in vale took longer then I expected" Jaune said to which Ruby shook her head before reaching in and giving him a hug.

"Your here...thats what matters...its our final Beacon dance and I wanted it to be with you" She said nuzzling into his chest as Jaune chuckled.

"Then would this lovely rose accompany me to our final dance of the night?" He asked to which he felt Ruby nod as they began to sway to the sound of music.

-

Weiss joined the others as they stared at the last two on the dance floor.

"So vomit boy tanked a building falling on him while saving someone...to think I couldn't get more impressed" Yang said as she was caught up to speed on why Jaune was late.

"That's our fearless leader alright a true knight in shining armour!" Nora said happily as Ren hugged Nora as Pyrrha and Blake all looked on in happiness.

Weiss scroll rang again and she pulled it out.

It was a call from the headmaster? That got everyone's attention.

"Hello? Headmaster how can I help you?"

Before she could get an answer a scream rang out and everyone turned back to the dance floor.

-

"Glynda we must getJaune Arc immediately!"

Ozpin put away his scroll as Glynda looked at him confused.

"That boy was in a serious situation and no doubt its on the news by now but he refused help" He said as Glynda got up from her seat.

"His aura probably healed whatever damages he sustained" She tried to deduced as Ozpin shook his head.

"The young women he saved came in on the call from the General Hospital explained that he shielded her from the debris using his aura" his voice grim as he tried began scrolling in his contacts for Weiss Schnee.

"So then he is fine right? His aura saved her and him" to which Ozpin shook his head.

"His aura didn't stop everything...when the women came too she saw Jaune with a piece of-"

"Hello? Headmaster how may I help you?"

"Weiss it's of the utmost urgency yiu get to Jaune Arc and get Aura into his system now-"

But was cut off as a screamed pierced the auditorium.

-

The song played as they continued dancing.

Ruby was happy...it was everything she wanted she looked up and saw Jaune smiling down at her with tear blue eyes. It wasn't long before Jaune tilted his head down to her and she met him halfway before their lips met in a electric kiss.

Euphoria was all Ruby felt as she finally separated from the kiss and continued their dance.

"So how was that Vomit boy"

"Heh...it was...to die for" he said to her as he kept dancing as once again they tuned the world out.

Unbeknownst to Ruby...Jaune glowed brightly before his aura slowly started to shimmer away.

It wasn't a few more minutes before the song came to an end and they both stopped but continued hugging each other.

"I love you Jaune Arc...thank you for keeping your promise" Ruby said her arms still wrapped around his chest.

But Jaune said nothing.

"Hey...how about we go back to your room hmm cuddles and such?"

Jaune still said nothing and suddenly Jaune decided to lean against her becoming surprisingly heavier.

"Hey Vomitboy your too heavy for these lady stilt" She laughed but still Jaune was unresponsive and her hand started to get wet.

"Jeez Jaune were you sweating this dance your whole back is all...wet?" She looked at her right hand from behind him to find it was not sweat...but blood.

"Jaune..." she pulled her head back to look at his face and all she saw was lifeless blue eyes looking at her in a sad smile as he finally got to heavy and they both fell to the ground.

Ruby looked at him frightful as his he was facedown as blood began to pool out, soaking his tux and the dance floor.

Ruby began hyperventilating and the world seemed to slow down as she looked on at the love of her life laying down in his blood.

It was too much.

Ruby screamed.

"I promise Ruby on my name and life as an Arc you'll get that dance!"

For the 9 days of Lancaster.

Enjoy.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Witch”

Happy Saturday, everyone! Well, it's perhaps happier provided you didn't watch today’s episode lol. Getting through these 18 minutes felt like watching an extended version of a CinemaSins vid. I heard a little 'ding!' every time something nonsensical, contradictory, or just downright stupid happened. My mind became a pinball machine. 

Which, in the interest of being fair as opposed to just snarky, only matters if you're looking for something resembling emotional depth in this show. RWBY, for all its faults, is enjoyable as a mindless spectacle. It's when you expect — or simply hope — for anything more that this very fragile house of cards comes tumbling down.

If it’s not clear already, today’s recap contains copious amounts of salt. Fair warning. 

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s dive in. Episode nine is titled "Witch," which is fitting since many members of our group go toe-to-toe against Salem herself. The narrative issues inherent in having your heroes fighting their final boss years before the series is meant to end might have been avoided if it weren't for Oscar's ridiculous, sacrificial attack... but we'll get to that.

We open with a sweeping shot of the Atlas battle, as hundreds of dead soldiers segue into endless grimm. Hold onto that image for a bit. At the end of this carnage is, of course, the mouth of the whale. We cut to Jaune, Ren, and Yang already safely inside.

"Well," says Yang, "that was harrowing."

I'm on the fence about this choice. On the one hand, yes, it's good that RWBY knows it can skip over extraneous scenes. We have NINE characters to keep track of and develop, fourteen if you count Ozpin, Maria, Winter, Ironwood, and now Whitley. Plus villains. There simply isn't time to show every insignificant moment... but was this insignificant? Obviously finding Oscar and escaping Salem's clutches is the true hurdle of this mission, but that doesn't mean getting through an entire army of grimm is in any way a cake walk. I'd be more willing to ignore this time skip if it weren't likewise presented as such a challenge for Winter's team. They have to "clear a path" to the whale, but our trio got there unscathed and unnoticed? The obvious implication here is that Ren just masked them the whole way — supported by his aura breaking later in the episode — but it still feels like we missed an important chunk of this task.

I'm nit-picking though. As said, I’m straddling the fence on this one and, given that, I'm inclined to settle on a, "Good job, RWBY. You're keeping the writing tight," if only because I don't have much else to praise about this episode. Throw the poor, struggling show a bone lol.

Now that they're inside, they realize they haven't the slightest idea how they'll find Oscar. “Like finding a needle in a giant…whale… why did we think this was a good idea?!” Because you and your friends are idiots who no longer bother to think about a situation before throwing yourself straight into it? This isn't me being mean to Yang, she literally says as much later on. Our heroes no longer get by on intellect, strategy, and skill, but rather plot armor and a staggering number of coincidences. For example, Ren.

Yang: Wow, it sure is lucky for us that on our way to this incredibly dangerous mission Ren inexplicably developed a new part of his semblance. Now he can not only mask peoples' emotions, see the true emotions that someone is feeling, pull thoughts out of their head about what they believe about a situation, but can also track someone across long distances through their emotions alone. Even that doesn't actually help us find Oscar, we just got lucky again when, in this maze of a whale, he ran right into us!

Me: So what were you going to do if this meta-world stopped giving you the most contrived solutions in Remnant history?

Yang: Die gloriously, I guess.

What Yang actually says is, "Okay. That's new!" and they enter the literal belly of the beast wielding a shield of convenience.

Jaune is also being awkward again because remember, RWBY doesn't know when to incorporate humor and when to treat a situation seriously. He reminds Ren not to "drain [himself]," he'll help him, and it's clear the scene is hinting at their earlier fight. There's a lot to unpack there, but I want to save it for the second conversation.

For now, we cut to Oscar, curled up in his cell, repeating stories to comfort himself. Yeah that's fine. I could use a broken heart right before Valentine's Day.

“She brushed off her bumps and bruises, for nothing hurt worse than the loneliness in her chest." It's a line from The Girl Who Fell Through the World, which Ozpin recognizes given that he's "lived through" a fair number of fairy tales. He immediately asks how Oscar is holding up — because he's a caring person! — and Oscar admits that he never understood why the girl of the tale was sad upon reaching home again. Now he does: she wasn't the same person anymore. I don't think the fact that Oscar has had both a metaphorical fall — leaving his farm to 'fall' into this war — and a literal one — falling through Atlas to unlock his magic — is lost on anyone. This is a nice allusion to our themes. Yang's speech to Salem later on? That’s something else entirely. 

Storytelling done, Ozpin says he thinks "this plan to divide might have run its course” and it's time to try and find a way to leave. I'm sorry, I love my farm boy, but what plan? He didn't do anything. At least nothing that could remotely be termed an intellectual plot. Oscar convinced Ozpin to try and turn Hazel by telling him the world would end under Salem's rule and the only reason that worked is because the story decided to chuck out Hazel's entire character. You know, the one that hates Ozpin above all others, wants the world remade into a non-Academy horror show, can't understand that people make their own choices, is terrified of Salem, and has no reason to trust a prisoner he's currently torturing. Oscar's "plan" hinged on his writers erasing a great deal of work to build a new story that fits said “plan.” He didn't even get Emerald involved, she just — again, conveniently — eavesdropped outside their door at just the right moment.

To be clear, I'm not against a story being written to work in the hero's favor. Of course things are going to be convenient in a happy-ending tale. Someone manages to hold out just as long as they need to, a sword is lying just within reach, you, yes, happen to run into the one person you're desperate to find. This kind of stuff is reassuring, telling its audiences that sometimes things do work out for the best. It's enjoyable... but only provided the hero's entire success doesn't hinge on fate being shockingly kind to them. That's what RWBY has become. A world where Salem doesn't attack Mantle, Amity Tower is suddenly finished, the group can charge into any deadly situation they want to and bank on destiny twisting around itself to ensure they come out of it safely. A hero finding a convenient weapon nearby to defeat their enemy with is only reassuring after we've seen them implement a brilliant attack, struggle, nearly win, but then suddenly be faced with failure, necessitating that little push from coincidence. They earned it. The hero doesn't get to run in blindly and find a Defeat Bad Guy plot point gift wrapped for them at the first sign of trouble. They just die.

RWBY used to be a better written show because that's precisely Pyrrha's story. She charged a Maiden unprepared, without a single plan or hope for success, and she died. That's what happens in a dangerous, internally consistent world, but RWBY has since lost the second half of that formula.

I'm harping on this because this entire episode is built on that foundation of coincidence, something that shouldn't be happening at all, but especially not when you're pitting the heroes against Salem herself.

So yeah, it just gets worse from here.

Back to Oscar. Without the cane magic is the only weapon they have at their disposal, but he's reluctant to use it because every time he does, they merge more quickly. 

They... do? 

Okay, there are three major problems with this announcement:

I'm pretty sure we've only seen Oscar use magic once: creating that barrier to survive the fall through Atlas. That was the point of his near death experience, to unlock something that had previously been unavailable to him. Yet if he's only used it once, why is he so sure that it hurries the merge along? What's this "every time" business? This confusion could have easily been avoided if the show had just let Oscar use his magic this volume, tackling some other questions and gaps in the process. Let him use it to fight off the grimm in Mantle, giving him the opportunity to admit to at least Jaune, Ren, and Yang that Ozpin is back. He could have used some magic against the Hound with Ozpin's encouragement, answering the question of why he was entirely silent while the two of them got their ass beat. Give us a moment where Oscar uses his magic against Hazel, nearly escaping in the process, but is captured again at the last moment. Basically, his line makes it sound like magic has been this ongoing resource with an established downside when... it hasn’t.

Coinciding with all of the above, how is it that Oscar can suddenly use magic at will? Yeah, yeah, he unlocked it during the fall, but really? You open up the magic gates and from then on out it's as natural as breathing? This is the same issue with Ruby's silver eyes. The story gives these characters incredible powers, but never has them talking about how they work, let alone training them. They just exist, perfect in execution, as soon as the plot needs them. (See: the final shot of this episode.) At least Weiss had to practice her summoning for multiple volumes.

Finally, the question of how Oscar instinctively knows how to use magic could easily be answered with, "Well, he's kind of Ozpin now," but that would require the story to actually explain what the merge is. "We merge faster," Oscar says, but what does that mean? The Ozpin and Oscar we see in this scene are fundamentally indistinguishable from the Ozpin and Oscar who existed at his aunt's house, four whole years ago. They're still separate people, with one controlling the body and the other existing as a consciousness he can talk to. Nothing has changed. The show keeps insisting that Oscar is going through this deep and painful arc of losing himself to Ozpin... despite the fact that he has yet to lose a single bit of Oscar-ness. Has he changed? Well of course, but anyone going through these experiences is going to change. Remove the "merge" aspect and Oscar's confidence or power up is likewise indistinguishable from any of the other characters' developments. Nora is becoming more of an individual this volume. Ren is becoming more powerful in his semblance. Neither have an Ozpin to force that change, it just happens on its own. So what separates Oscar from every other character going through a formative experience? When is “I’m not the same person anymore” due to unnatural magic vs. just growing up? 

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy our boy is getting more screen time — and that the cast is actually being kind to him now — but overall his arc is objectively terrible. He bought some clothes, told Ironwood he was as bad as Salem, told Hazel how to access the Relic, and then asked him not to be a villain anymore. Somehow these things are presented as significant moments of growth while the real questions surrounding his merge go unanswered.

“Honestly, I think you’re doing just fine on your own," Ozpin tells him, but he's not. God knows our boy is trying, but this is a moment where Ozpin's self-hatred (and the story's insistence that the younger generation is intrinsically better than the older) is blinding him to the situation. Oscar has made terrible decisions lately, in as much as he's been able to decide anything at all, and now he's rejecting escaping captivity because he's terrified of a concept he doesn't even understand yet. None of that is fine. Reassurance is one thing, but painting this situation as Oscar making better choices than he would with Ozpin's input is insane. He literally just decided to keep them in Salem's clutches indefinitely because something something magic is scary, I guess. Oscar doesn't need a, 'You're better than me' speech, he needs a reality check so they don't both die. Remember back in Volume 5 when Oscar, a brave but idiotic 14 year old, insisted on fighting someone entirely out of his league and Ozpin was like,

then saved him from getting his head crushed in like a cantaloupe? We need more of that. Our teenage heroes need guidance, but because RWBY keeps insisting that every adult they encounter is corrupt or incompetent, that hasn't happened in three volumes. They're just aloud to decide things like, “Let's tell our captor the Relic's password because UwU ~trust~” and then the story bends over backwards to make that work. Instead we could, you know, let characters learn that they can be wrong. 

The snow scene was the beginning, but RWBY really went off the rails the day it let Qrow warn the group against stealing from and attacking an allied city, only for them to call him an idiot for doubting them. Now, Ozpin doesn't even get to warn Oscar about stupid decisions, he just agrees with them, reassuring and passive. Never mind the complication of whether Ozpin is even emotionally capable of providing guidance after they labeled him the worst thing to ever happen to them. 

Why does RWBY keep ruining my faves 😔

Anyway, we’ve got to stay on track. Oscar has decided to just lie there but, luckily for him, Hazel's redemption — I use that term so loosely — has begun. He drags Oscar out of his cell before we cut to Winter. 

She's leading a portion of Ironwood's army, trying to get things ready for when the bomb arrives. Neon and Flynt are a part of her team, sharing scared glances and trying to remain optimistic. It's a legitimately hard-hitting moment, striking that balance between horror and hope. Funny though, I wonder that RWBYJNOR would think of their friends fighting for evil Ironwood...

Marrow, continuing the tradition of insisting that our heroes be both adults and kids simultaneously, looks sadly at the soldiers heading into battle and goes, "But... they're just kids." I would like to remind everyone reading that Ruby is younger than them. Anyone who thinks that these teenagers shouldn't be fighting grimm — the thing they have been training to do as their professional career, during an unprecedented attack on their home — should not simultaneously be looking to the girl who is two years younger as his savior. (Something that, while not overt yet, is very much where Marrow is heading as he continually doubts the Ace Ops and looks to RWBY's group as his new, moral leaders.) I'm glad that, for once, this perspective is firmly called out. Elm arrives to tell him point blank that he needs to figure out his personal ethics later. It doesn't matter because there's an army of grimm out there and monsters aren't going to spare anyone, adult or child. Quit philosophizing and kill some already.

Back to Hazel where we get the doorway shot from our trailer. He's taken Oscar to the Relic, because of course he has. Do I really need to list how convenient this is too? Apparently, "the moment we move that thing, this place goes on high alert," but there’s no alarm for when Oscar is taken from his cell, they enter the Relic's room, or when they use it. What does a movement alert matter if someone can just waltz in and waste the last question themselves? Put some of those endless grimm in the room to guard it, Salem!

Just assume that I am, at any given point in this episode, letting out the longest sigh my lungs are physically capable of.

Emerald shows up, demonstrating both the convenience of everyone arriving when they need to, and the very real danger that Salem herself could come in and discover what they're up to. Hazel has Oscar summon Jinn, only to immediately say that “Actually, I think all my questions are answered now.”

I'm sorry, how does this answer any of Hazel's questions? His driving question was not, "Is the Relic actually a magical object capable of doing magical things?" but rather "Are you telling me the truth about Salem's plans to summon the Gods and destroy all of Remnant in her quest to finally die, thereby changing who I'm going to support in this war?" Seeing a naked, blue djinn does not answer that question. 

Hazel's "redemption" is non-existent. He — we — learned about Salem's death wish despite how that contradicts previous lore, then he trusted Ozpin despite that contradicting his entire character, now he joins the heroes because, literally, he sees Jinn floating there. It’s bad enough that Hazel goes from clear villain to sacrificial hero in a matter of in-world hours, but we don’t even get a reason for why that change occurred. 

Oh, there's also this:

So Jinn doesn't come out of her lamp unless someone intends to ask a question, but does it for Ruby because she's special, yet still reiterates that this won't happen again. Then Oscar summons her without intending to ask a question, she comes out anyway, confirms that none of them seek knowledge from her, and happily pops back inside her lamp because eh, it’s whatever.

If RWBY had any courage the three of them would be cursed now for toying with a powerful, magical object. Remember the days when Jinn was a little terrifying because it felt like she was warping her answers and we had no idea what she might do to someone who used her carelessly? When she felt like a djinn? Good times.

Or better times, at least. 

So Good Guy Hazel and Good Gal Emerald promise to get Oscar out. Never mind all the horror they caused, the people they killed, and that for Hazel, at least, this defection is coming out of nowhere. 

Anyone remember that Emerald orchestrated Penny's death? No? Just me?

As they leave it turns out Neo was camouflaged against the wall, because she was also precisely where she needed to be. Does everyone just periodically pop into the Relic room to see what’s going on? At least this time it's not working in the heroes' favor. Remember when I said it's beyond idiotic for Oscar to just hand out the Relic information to known enemies currently holding him captive and torturing him?

Yeeeeaah.

So Neo's got the Lamp. Funny how all of this could have been avoided if Ruby had just put it in the vault like she came to Atlas to do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We return to our trio where Jaune and Ren need to rest because their aura is giving out. Good! These guys fought a battle, fought Neo, fought more grimm, fought the Hound, traipsed through the tundra, presumably fought through more grimm to get to the whale, and have been using both their semblances to look for Oscar. It's about time their reserves started to falter.

Jaune decides to scout ahead a bit, leaving Yang and Ren to talk about nothing of importance. I mean that seriously. Remember a few days ago when I spoke about how, if the snow conversation does come back up, Ren's points would be entirely ignored for a nonsensical “I’m glad we’re friends” speech? Remember how I also spoke about how every emotional beat now is entirely generic and you could replace any character with another and not a single thing would change? Yeah. This is both those arguments in one. Nothing is said about the points Ren made. His problems with how the group has been acting lately and the very real, very deadly consequences it has had are flat out ignored. We went from

"But these aren't the kinds of decisions we should be making because we have no idea what we're doing!"

to

"Forward, no matter what!"

in a matter of hours, with precisely zero insight into how Ren went from one perspective to the exact opposite. Kind of like Hazel. Because see, RWBY doesn't write arcs, it just writes one thing until it decides to switch it up for something else, with the opposite idea presented as a “resolution” or a “twist.” Our creators writes scenes they know the fandom is begging for without considering how to get a character to that place, let alone how to get them out of it. That's all Ren's speech was, the equivalent of moral fan service. Here's a glimpse of actual character depth and a morally gray situation... now forget it ever happened because we're back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Instead of working through the laundry list of issues Ren raised, Ren instead accepts Jaune's aura help — something they've been doing since Argus — and tells Yang it's okay to be scared. These moments are meaningless and, as said, could have been between anyone in our cast. Ren could have told Nora she doesn't have to use jokes to cover up that she's scared. Jaune could have reminded Ruby that she can depend on him. Yang could have tried to keep Blake and Weiss' hopes up. This scenes ignores the individuality of the characters, like the fact that they just fought over very different world views, to instead favor any dime-a-dozen moment of support. The number of times this volume has rejected the conflict and resolution the group needs for bland, generic reassurances staggering.

Also, apparently Jaune isn't scared at all? I don't think that's as good a thing as Ren seems to think... 

Then Jaune immediately rounds the corner, terrified lol.

One of the seer grimm is on its way and he tells Ren to mask them. Apparently he had been masking them before — one of the reasons he's so tired now, trying to do two things at once — but it's only here that they go black and white again. Ren manages to keep it up for a little while, but his aura breaks before the seer passes and they're spotted.

Hark! A consequence!

That was well done. It makes sense and it adds to the stakes. We've seen the insane amount of fighting the group has done since Volume 7, we just established that they're at their breaking point, and then Ren's aura fails him right when he needs it the most. Add this to the miniscule pile of things that were well done this episode. 

Salem runs into Emerald and Hazel, the former of which is acting very suspicious when asked if he's made any headway with Oscar. The seer's alarm interrupts them though and... okay. Was I the only one who cackled during this moment? Between Salem's voice acting and the fact that she just yeets herself down the hallway, it came across as really funny to me. 

Either way, it is a bad situation. Our trio is trying to figure out what to do, to which Yang responds, "Do what we do best… charge blindly into danger!!”

Ren's aura is broken. Jaune barely has any left and it’s unlikely he could heal right now even if Ren had any aura to amplify. If Ren takes a single hit anywhere important he is dead.

Me, on my knees, surrounded by the ashes of the Hound, the last bit of serious storytelling we had: "For the love of God, the kingdom is on fire and simultaneously dying of cold. There's a grimm army decimating hundreds outside. Half their group is missing and they're wandering lost inside a devil whale, about to have the most powerful being Remnant has ever known personally try to kill them — can we please have their attitudes reflect that?"

The answer, in case you were wondering, is no.

Back to the bomb. Whatever scientists were given this task have completed it and Marrow watches as it's flown out towards the whale. "Come on, Juan" he whispers and I'm all, "Juan?" Apparently it's a callback to last volume when Marrow couldn't remember Jaune's actual name, but it took me hopping onto the RWBY wiki to remember that. 

As death via explosion inches closer, the trio runs into Hazel and Emerald. Turns out though that Hazel is really Oscar, disguised through Emerald's semblance. Nice trick! Jaune immediately drops both weapons to hug Oscar and, while that's nice and all, it's also the stupidest thing he could possible do in enemy territory. Also, Oscar has been beaten up by the Hound, tortured with magic, and likewise beaten bloody by Hazel. I was hoping for a tender hug like the one Nora gave him, not a giant squeeze for more comedy purposes. It just feels like RWBY has no idea how to manage the tone of this volume, let alone the torture of a child...

There's the obligatory, "Why should we trust you?" from Yang regarding Emerald joining the team, to which Ren responds, "Because she's scared, just like us."

That doesn't prove anything. Literally everyone is scared right now. There is a war going on. I really cannot emphasize enough how RWBY throws out Deep™ sounding lines that are, upon inspection, absolutely nonsensical. Nora reminding Penny that there are different parts to her personhood, Hazel saying that all his questions have been answered, Ren announcing that Emerald is scared... it's all worthless chatter that has no bearing on their problems: How do I keep from being hacked? How do I know you're telling the truth? How do we know you're trustworthy after you spent years trying to kill us? But of course, because it's RWBY, Ren's announcement is treated as some sort of secret truth that everyone accepts. Emerald joins up.

As they head for an exit we return to Marrow who, frankly, is getting on my last nerve. I know the fandom loves him because he's clearly leaning towards Team RWBY, but does anyone actually listen to what he says? He starts yelling at Winter for sending in the bomb because the trio might still be alive in there, despite:

Seeing for himself the hundreds of soldiers that have fallen trying to keep Atlas safe

Knowing and hearing again from Winter that the only way to stop this carnage is to take out the whale. Given more time, the whole city falls

Sadly announcing to the world that children shouldn't have to fight in a battle, rather than just joining the fray and helping to keep those kids safe

How does Marrow think those kids are going to be able to stop fighting? How does he think he'll get a city to return to? It's no wonder that he's drawn to Ruby because both characters stand around twiddling their thumbs, mourning that things are bad, and blaming others for imperfect solutions rather than doing something to make the situation better. Marrow's disgust at Winter over the bomb is precisely the same as Ruby's disgust at Ironwood over Mantle: how dare you not have a plan that results in both victory for us and zero sacrifices? They want perfection which, yes, is an admirable trait, but their problem is they refuse to do anything until that perfection appears. They’re paralyzed, a trait that’s particularly dangerous when your story insists that perfection will never appear: it’s not a fairy tale. So they just continue to get mad at others for the fact that they live in an unfair world. You want that perfect solution? Think it up yourself. Otherwise, stand aside and let those coming up with something do what they can to make things better. 

Marrow goes so far as to drag Weiss into things, trying to guilt Winter with the knowledge that she'll have to relate the death of her sister's friends back to her. Winter, because she's a badass who isn't in denial over the situation, tells him that yes, she will shoulder that responsibility. To Marrow's credit he backs off then, but man. RWBY has legitimate moral questions here — when is holding out for a few worth risking the many? — but they go about exploring it in the most frustrating way possible. I personally have no respect for the guy who wants to announce that Children In War Is Bad instead of, you know, using the power he currently has to protect those kids already neck deep in a battle. 

Because John Mulaney remains relevant:

"There shouldn't be a horse in the hospital :( "

"We're WELL PAST THAT."

Marrow is the one going, "There shouldn't be kids in a war :( We shouldn't have to kill a few to save the whole kingdom :( " and everyone around him is like, "No shit, dude! But this is the hand we were dealt! You going to help us, or what?"

Literally all of these characters could have been so much more than what they currently are.

Except Winter. She's doing great.

Now for the final scene. Our group nearly manages to escape the whale, but is incapacitated by some sort of screechy power that Salem employs. 

She contorts her body, stretching out her arms to snag Emerald, and the others have a brief, but intense skirmish. Jaune manages to block a blast of magic aimed at Ren with his shield — nice — and Yang dots Salem's face with a bunch of bombs before blowing her sky-high — double nice. Oscar shoots out some magic of his own because, yeah, I guess he can just do that now? It really feels like it came out of nowhere after eight episodes of being the punching bag. 

Of course, Salem immediately reforms. She traps the group with grimm arms that come out of the whale, interrogating Ozpin about why he bothers to keep coming back. There's a very sad answer there of, "I don't," referring to his lack of choice in reincarnating to fight her.

Yang interrupts their little tet-a-tet to throw the question back in Salem's face, calling her out on her choices. A great idea but, as always, execution: "because something bad happened to you once upon a time? No one gets a fairy tale ending."

I’m sorry, but that dialogue had me cringing. Like I said before, way too on the nose. There's keeping with the fairy tale theme, and then there's shoving the viewer's face in it. More of Oscar's musings on how he relates to the protagonists of fairy tales, blurring the lines between storytelling and reality, which in turn encourages the viewer to consider how they see themselves in the RWBY cast. Less... whatever this is.

Yang goes on to talk about how many people Salem has taken from her, which upon reflection makes a certain amount of sense if you toss in all the people who are here, but changed somehow due to Salem's influence, as well as acquaintances who died as a result of her meddling: Raven is scared off, Tai suffers as a result, Pyrrha dies, Penny dies, Yang loses her arm and her school. I think the dialogue could have been revised to reflect that better though because what Yang implies is that Salem has killed countless of her loved ones, yet what she says is, "Summer Rose. My mom." Honestly, for the few seconds this exchange was happening my thoughts weren't even on Summer. Yang calls Salem out for killing loved ones and my brain went, "Pyrrha??"

That's how little they've done with Yang and Summer. I know in the past I've argued that RWBY has a "better late than never" situation going on, that I would praise them for making the right writing choices even if they arrive years too late... but now that we're here, I find that it's a hard problem to overlook. Summer is Yang's mom? When's the last time we heard that? Volume 2? Whenever the conversation with Blake was. Since then Yang has called Raven "Mom," focused on that emotional connection (or lack thereof), was excluded from the conversation with Qrow, comforted Ruby after she was blindsided by Salem's taunt, and otherwise hasn't mentioned Summer at all. There is no foundation for this accusation except a few lines about getting cookies as a child and the fact that we're tossing references in now makes me worried that we'll indeed get a grimm!Summer reveal. Better remind the audience that she exists before the twist arrives! Honestly, as much as a part of me wants to praise RWBY for trying to get things back on track, moments like this just ring hollow now. They waited years and now it’s too late. It doesn't help that this is the episode where we shrug off Ren's speech. What will Yang's cutting admission amount to based on this trend? Probably nothing. Summer will become Yang’s mom again in another six seasons. 

Salem, obviously, doesn't care. The real Hazel arrives and she orders him to take Oscar back to his cell. Instead, he gives him his cane with a whispered, "No more Gretchens, boy."

Behold, another meaningless line. Hazel hates Ozpin for "forcing" Gretchen on a mission and "getting" her killed. The whole point of his villainy is that he doesn't understand the concept of choice and that bad things can happen to good people with no one able to prevent it. Not every loss has a responsible party attached (outside of, you know, Salem/the grimm). So what is he even demanding here? No more huntsmen schools? That's what you wanted Salem for. No more "forcing" people to fight for you? Ozpin never did that in the first place. Or is it just a strange promise that no one else will die here? RWBY seems to be under the impression that they can just name drop dead family members — Summer, Gretchen — and that's that. Emotional depth created, never mind a lack of buildup or clarity. 

Then Hazel punches Salem across the room and she releases every single hero from their bonds. See the theme of this episode: convenience. Hazel shoves a whole bunch of dust crystals into his shoulders and yells that he's doing what Gretchen would have wanted, clearly sacrificing himself so that the others can escape. The battle between him and Salem is pretty decent. I enjoyed the dust vs. magic creativity and the sheer damage Salem can take before reforming. This fight really showcases how not human she is.

It does, however, bring into question Hazel's reveal about her needing an hour to heal at the longest. I mentioned how unlikely it would be that our heroes would get the chance to "kill" her multiple times, yet here we are, just a few episodes later. They got that opportunity and... does it matter? Salem's reforming doesn't appear to slow down at all, despite her head getting obliterated at least three times, so at what point does she need longer than a few seconds to heal? If this was meant to be a potential weakness the group would eventually exploit, we needed to see it here, both for that setup and to keep it consistent with Hazel's story.

Regardless, they fight and at first it looks like a pretty straight-forward sacrifice on Hazel's part, giving the group their chance to escape. Except... Oscar.

"She'll just come after us," he tells Jaune, turning away from him to fight.

I need a list for this: 

Of course she's going to come after you. This is not some shocking revelation. At no point has anyone thought that escaping the whale is the answer to all their problems, it just creates one less problem to deal with. Namely, the problem of "Our ally is captured, being tortured, and may give up important intel to the enemy. Oh, also he's about to be blown up with a bomb." Salem coming after them doesn’t matter. What matters is making her plans as difficult as possible as you work to come up with more solutions of your own. This is just a smaller version of the Ironwood conflict: “Well, Salem will just follow Atlas into the sky so it’s useless to attempt escape, or to buy ourselves time.” It’s really not. I know I’ve used this ridiculous comparison before, but if you’re ever chased by a horror movie serial killer hell-bent on your destruction and your reaction to this problem is, “Why run? He’ll just chase us. The only possible choice is to fight him with a 99% chance of our death,” then I beg you to re-evaluate things. 

What was the point of coming to rescue Oscar if he was just going to stay behind? The whale is about to be blown up by a bomb and the trio risked their lives ten times over to get to him. If I were them I would be pissed. We went through all that to get you out and now you’re refusing to leave when we have a chance? Thanks for that. 

Same with Hazel. Not that I care about the guy, but if I was sacrificing myself for others to escape I'd be pretty annoyed at them randomly deciding not to do that.

What does Oscar even think he's going to do? Kill the immortal witch? The entire point of our series is that they can’t do that (yet). 

However, if he is able to do something significant via Ozpin's magic, why didn't Ozpin do that generations ago? Somehow I don't think a younger Ozma closer to the height of his power was in a worse position to attack Salem than a tortured, aura-less kid who unlocked his magic yesterday. The more RWBY reveals about Salem, the more I go, “Okay, but why didn’t his happen [insert any number of years] ago?” 

Did Jaune actually leave? I assume he's just grabbing an airship or something before coming back to drag Oscar away, but seriously where did he go?

There's no way I can approach this scene without throwing up my hands and going, "What? WHY?" Which is a real shame because we finally get to see a bit of what the cane does and it’s... precisely what Ozpin's magic has always done? I mean, we saw that green shield five years ago and now there's a giant white beam. Okay.

If the beam just hits Salem with Generic Magic Power then there was never anything secret about the cane, it’s just, you know, Ozpin’s weapon. If the cane does something significant to hurt her we're left with the question of why it took literal generations to use it. Nothing is making sense to me and the only way I can think to salvage this scene is if Jaune runs back in, snags Oscar like a sack of potatoes, and runs out yelling about how he's clearly suffering from a concussion because what are you trying to accomplish here?

It doesn't help that this moment feels... final. Hazel has managed to hold Salem in place. Oscar has unlocked his cane and lands some mega hit right before Hazel passes out and looses his hold. Not only does this feel like a scene that should be at the end of the volume (we've still got five episodes), but also the end of the series. RWBY is building Salem into an unbeatable enemy by giving her more and more powers, and simultaneously eliminating the stakes by having our currently weakest character (in terms of exhaustion/injuries/aura/training) landing a shot like that. Why would you nerf Salem's threat level like that in the middle of a volume? Especially with a tool our group has had available from the start? If the cane does damage, maybe lead with that in the, “Here’s why we should stay and fight” office conversation. 

I assume that Oscar's hit will obliterate Salem to the point where both he and Hazel have time to escape, or he obliterates both of them (“Do it”) and that's somehow presented as a better choice than just running while Salem is captured, or the bomb will interrupt things somehow... but it's just so shoddily done. At the very least, if they were going to have Oscar refuse to let someone fight alone, have it be an actual friend he's staying to assist. Having Oscar refuse his own rescue to help Hazel has more than one problem attached to it. We can say what we want about RWBY's themes of forgiveness, but this guy was torturing him just a few hours ago while serving Remnant's version of the devil. Just let him sacrifice himself and move on.

And that's where we end. Oscar powering up, the cane getting all magic-y, and him shooting a crazy big blast that engulfs both Salem and Hazel. I can't believe how not excited I am about my farm boy doing something badass, but here we are.

Overall I think this episode was way worse than last week's. We absolutely had problems in "Dark," particularly when it came to the Hound and the group's blind devotion to Ruby, but at least those moments were cushioned by an otherwise decent episode. "Witch" felt like I was watching something closer to a parody of RWBY, one deliberately poking fun at the fandom's desires: erase all conflict for awkward silly times, your favorite villains are instantly good now, the heroes go toe-to-toe with the main antagonist because why not, throw a bunch of magic in there for good measure, and wrap it all up in some over the top "this isn't a fairy tale" lines. I can see the pieces of a much better episode here — Emerald sneaking Oscar out with her semblance, Neo snagging the relic, Flint and Neon, Hazel attacking Salem — but it simply didn't come together.

I know I said this last time, but I have no idea what we're going to do for another five episodes. Salem slowly reforming from bomb damage as the group tries to keep Penny from opening the vault? The grimm attack halted with the whale gone so Qrow can go after Ironwood? The longer this volume runs, the more I think it was a mistake for them to introduce Salem as a fightable antagonist now. RWBY doesn't know what to do with her besides have her inevitably fall in the final season, so until then she's left being stupid (Relic), passive (Mantle), or, likely, written out of the story temporarily so the heroes can turn their attention towards smaller conflicts and weaker foes. They literally can’t beat Salem yet, but they can’t focus on other problems when she’s around without coming across as negligent, so if you have to find ways to erase her to make room for that... what was the point of bringing her here in the first place? We could have established that Salem is bound to her realm and had her send the Hound and whale to attack Atlas. There, all the fun parts of the volume without her complicated presence. 

Well, the next five weeks will certainly be interesting, at the very least... 

Until next time 💜

[Ko-Fi]

[heliosthegriffin]

Jaune “Mean Bastard” Arc AU.

The Arc family is a family stapled into history with their deeds of heroism, their immense physical strength, willingness to accept others into their clan at the drop of a hat, fighting against insurmountable odds for no apparent reason other than it being the right thing to do.

...That was only half the story however.

Ozpin thought to himself as he watched a tall, very lean blonde strut off the airship.

“Please, please don’t make scene today, Mr. Arc.” Ozpin said to himself, but the tone lacked hope, and most of all was riddled with fear. “Your not even a student here! You didn’t even send in transcript! How’d you even get onto the airship!”

But, deep down Ozpin knew, he always knew, he was an Arc, and Arc’s found a way, one that most people wouldn’t call ethical, sane or even reasonable.

Ozpin shivered, the Arc clan had been much too quiet in recent years. Was he the reason?

What terrible reason could this new Arc have to come to his school.

“Gods help us all, gods help every one of us.”

-

“So, much for a warm welcome to Beacon.” Ruby muttered to herself in her crater.

“Need a hand?” A warm voice asked her.

Ruby looked up into the two bluest eyes she’d ever seen, and blushed deeply.

“You ok? Looking a little hot under the collar.” The man before her asked with concern.

Ruby could hardly speak, he looked like a modern day fairly tail knight. WIth long blonde bangs, sapphire eyes, handsome face, dressed in all white, blue, and gold.

“I..I”..I”m fine!” Ruby squeaked out.

The blonde boy reached out to grab a flailing hand and pull her to her feet. Ruby wasn’t ready for that however and ended up face to abs with him.

‘So warm, so firm, I could stay here forever.’ Ruby thought to herself. Before going atomic on her blushing, and Rose Warping ten feet behind herself.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you, just thought you could use a hand getting up.” The man said with remourse. “I’ll let you go about your buisness now.

“RUBY ROSE!”

“Hmm?” “MY NAME IS RUBY ROSE! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR HELPING ME!”

The blonde man reeled back from her sudden outburst of thanks.

A smile graced his face.

“Jaune Arc.”

-

“So I got this.”

*Unfurls Crescent Rose*

“Neat.”

“So, you got anything?”

“Hmm. not here.” “Oh, did you send it ahead?” “Nope just didn’t feel like bringing it from home. Didn’t think I need a weapon for this.”

“What! How are you going to fight any Grimm if you don’t have a weapon!? Even my sister needs Ember Celica before she goes punching Grimm out!” Ruby said doing so painfully bad shadow boxing.

“Oh, I didn’t come here to fight Grimm.” “What? Why are you here then, if you’re going to be a hunts-man in training you need to fight Grimm.” “Bold assumption, I’m not already a huntsman.” “Oh, yeah right, you look pretty strong and stuff...” “But, a correct one.” Ruby could only pout at being played like she had. Eye little eyes then spyed two blocky pouchs on his waist.

“What are those?”

“Oh those, one is my journal that take notes in, and the other, well, hehehe, I guess you could say it’s ledger.” “A ledger for what?” “Oh, for keeping track of debts and stuff.”

SIlence filled the space between the two.

“Are you a kneecapper?”

“Of sorts.” “I don’t think we can be friends.” “That is fair.”

“Do you work for the mob, or like, Torchwick.” “Nope, I work for me.”

“Freelance?” “All of my debts relates not to money, but personal experiences.”

“Oh, kinda like when you help some move, and they drive you across town?”

“Close enough, and looks like we’re at the auditorium, I’d say see you around, but since we can’t be friends, bye forever.”

“Wait, wait, I take it back!” But Jaune was gone into the crowd.

“Ahh, fiddle sticks.”

-

Ozpin looked calm and composed on the outside, but he was freaking the hell out on the inside. He lost track of the Arc, he fucking lost him! He could be anywhere doing anything!

He hasn’t even told Glynda, or anybody else, oh, gods this is going to be a blood bath.

He gave a inperceptible sigh, and decided to give his speech. “Hello, children-”

Warm breath behind him caused him to freeze.

‘When did he get behind me!?’

He could see the children murmuring at the unexpected guest.

“Hi, you must be Ozpin!” The warm voice said behind him. “I’m Jaune Arc lord patriarch of the Arc Clan, and you have been at the top of our shit list for five decades, you have a one day to prepare your last will and rights. Tah-Tah see you in twenty four hours.”

“What are you doing here young man! Get off the stage!” He heard Glynda yell at the Arc behind him.

He would stop her, but he needed to right his will again tonight.

Jaune Arc seemingly did nothing to react to Goodwitch but stare at her.

“Are you obstructing me?”

“Why yes I am, you are interrupting the initiation!”

“I see then.” Jaune brought out his note book.

“What are you doing!?” “Adding you to my shit-list ma’am, and if you don’t stop talking I’m going to just put you further up there.” Jaune said as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

“What I, I never, you, you miscreant!”

“Just keeping talking sugar tits, just keep going up my to-do list.” He shot a Glynda a smirk. “I changed my mind I want to break you into the Arc clan, we like ‘em feisty.”

She went Nuclear with rage and leveled her wand at him and fired a telekinetic wave at him.

“Oops,” Jaune said as the wave hit him, sending him out of the room and into the courtyard.

“That’ll teach him, the arrogant miscreant, should have been smarter to pick a fight here.” Glynda said proudly, “Someone get him off this campus and into a hospital.” “Ah, so kind. You do care, too bad you hit like a child.” Jaune said from behind Glynda picking her up in his arms like a princess “Well, fix that later.” Shooting her a wink in his arms.

‘So strong, and comfy.’ Glynda thought gobsmacked in his arms.

He then looked at Ozpin. “Remember old man, a day and no more.”

It was then that Jaune remembered a legion of students looking at him. “The fuck you all looking at, never seen a man take care of business before?”

The student shuffled around awkwardly.

“Yeah, I damn well thought so. Why are you all dressed so damn weird? Am I at a Anime con or a huntsman academy, Ozpin your standards suck.”

‘I like him more already.” Glynda thought. ‘Standards have been dropping for years.’

“Alright, I know whats happening next.” Jaune said proudly. “I am going to walk my happy ass out of here, and if anyone of you can so much as inconvience me, I will personally train or find someone to train you at the Arc compound.”

The student started looking very nervous, the man took down Glynda Goodwitch with no effort. What chance did they have?

Yang thought differently and launched a flying punch at him, Jaune bent his waist and launched a brutal kick straight into Yang's midsection and sending her through the ceiling.

Ruby came next like a rose petal reaper for his bent over next. Jaune grabbed it with his teeth and threw her aside like a puppy with just neck power.

Weiss not to miss a opportunity, speeds forward on glyphs to skewer him also while shoot a wave of ice at his feet, and a stream of fire at his face.

Casually he flexed his legs and shattered the ice, and kicked his leg out hard enough to send a shock-wave that knocked over idle students and killed Weiss flames.

Weiss however sped through the shock wave, and went to stab Jaune. The blade mere inches from his heart, Jaune leaned down to head butt Weiss while dodging the blade. Weiss went down like a sack of potatos.

Nora went down with hammer at Jaune, but he moved and let her fall on his knee, then grab her by the neck with his teeth throwing her through a wall. Jauen followed up with a kick behind him hitting Ren rag dolling him.

Pyrrha appeared last, an launched a series of precise shots and then strikes at Jaune, only for him to dodge each one, and knee her when she over extended by the millimeter.

WIth that the last of the challengers fell unconscious. All within twenty second, All with Goodwitch in his arms.

“Nice try, I’ll come collect the one’s who tried tomorrow, but first.” Jaune grabbed a handful of Goodwitch’s ass, causing her to gasp out. “I got break in the new Arc.”

“It’s Goodwitch..” She muttered weakly.

“Not anymore.” “...Ok.”

“Ozpin, anyone else that wants to try can do so tomorrow when I merc’ you ass.”

And with that the Arc left, taking Ozpins secretary with him.

-

That was the other side of the Arc clan, one of maruding madmen who recorded their grudges and never let them go, holding onto any slight for centuries, training their young to perfecting and taking fresh blood to increase their grudge spilling power.

Destroying Grimm Hordes because they killed a family pet.

Killing Tyrants for increasing taxes.

Cucking buisness men, because they heard they them demean their name.

The list goes on. But the fact is the Arc Clan is petty beyond reason, and always looking for more members... If you meet their interest that is.

AN: Added a drop of smut in there, don’t know how I feel about it. Hope it turned out ok. Then again it’s crack.

[howlingday]

About Jaune ships...

I have opinions. You may not agree, but they are mine. They may change in time, but not now.

LANCASTER ( RUBY X JAUNE )

The old tried and true. I mean, what's not to like? Cute girl falls for first guy she meets at Beacon? Classic romance trope, and after reading how much Ruby loves romance stories (I consider certain parts in the manga canon), it makes sense. In fact, after Arkos sank (A moment of silence, please . . . Thank you), many moved to Lancaster, which isn't bad. Happens all the time in fandoms. Sad thing, though, is far I think she'll last. If we're talking Volume 5 or earlier, then maybe. However, I feel if Ruby were to have an endgame in romance, it would be RoseGarden (I have opinions on that as well, but today isn't the day to discuss that), mostly because Oscar bumped Jaune's role from male lead to male side. Not to mention that while Jaune is becoming a beast in his own right, Ruby is a different creature altogether and evolving her character more rapidly and chaotically than anyone else (Must be all that screentime).

TLDR: I want it to be canon, but I might just be hoping.

WHITE KNIGHT ( WEISS X JAUNE)

Doofus in tin foil meets princess who hates daddy (Am I in the romance section of the library? You know, the corner for adults only?) No, but I do like this ship. I'm always a sucker for the fantasy genre, and using a zero to hero male makes it relatable. I also kind of ship it because the same reason I ship NaruSaku in the Naruto fandom: he likes her and he's willing to go the distance. But enough about that; instead let's talk about canon. Will they hook up? It's a soft maybe for me, for two reasons. 1. Rosegarden is most likely to be endgame, and after Ruby and Pyrrha, I'd say Weiss is Jaune's next to be his love interest. 2. Weiss has warmed up to Jaune. Sure, not lover or crush level (Yet), but she's definitely changed her opinion on him. In Volume 1, Jaune was bugging her, like all the time, which I could see as him getting mixed signals on (Exhibit A: Tall, blonde, and scraggly). When Volume 5 came around, everyone jumped onboard because he saved her life (Don't lie, because I'll admit that I did it, too). Not the best reason, but still reason enough, I'd say. Then in Volume 7, she hangs out with him and Oscar to the movies (It was either that or awkward Bumbleby all night. I feel ya, sister). Nothing romantic happens, but it does show how much their relationship has developed. If Weiss is Jaune's endgame, then they have set the pieces up perfectly to do so.

TLDR: High likelihood to be canon and I'm a sucker for Knight/Princess ships.

KNIGHTSHADE ( BLAKE X JAUNE)

This is the part where I say definitely not. Not in a million years, but I'll explain why I like the ship, though. As for why it won't work, the answer is Bumbleby. They haven't kissed yet, but you know they're going to eventually (Because if they don't, the fans will attack like a swarm of hornets). But here's the question you might be asking now: why do I ship this? Well, it's part of the allure of "opposites attract" ('Cause I'm dressed like a cat!). Blake is an intelligent, outspoken, and agile ninja with a criminal history of terrorism who spends her free time reading novels. Jaune is a B at best on his tests, soft-hearted, and ground-based knight who's worst crime is fraud (Still a crime, but peanuts compared to literal terrorism) and spends his free time hanging out with his team. Day and night. But they also tried that with Sun for a season and a half and it didn't last (BECAUSE BEES).

TLDR: Not even a snowball's chance in the summer sun, but so much story potential if you do (Which I do)!

DRAGONSLAYER ( YANG X JAUNE )

This, I would say, is the opposite of Knightshade, where Jaune is the day and Blake is night, here Yang is the Sun and Jaune is the Moon (Like their crests! Remember those? Y'know, when they were relevant?) Will it work? Even less so than Knightshade. However, it does open up some interesting paths considering how... provocative Yang can be, and Jaune, compared to the other guys, is the nerdiest, geekiest dude at Beacon. It's like the cheerleader/nerd romance, except the cheerleader is the captain of every sports team... and rides a motorcycle. The Volume 8 preview introduced us to Yang and Jaune riding motorcycles and we went nuts over it. Yang was back in her element, roaring down the street, riding on walls, popping off tricks with Oscar riding- Back to what I was saying, people were asking, "How did he know how to ride a motorcycle?" and the elementary answer is "He didn't." He almost fell off his bike from a small box in the road. True, anyone would, but look at how he reacts: he stiffens, he refocuses on the road. This kid literally started riding at breakfast, and I DARE you to prove me wrong. But hey, great fic material right there, though, eh?

TLDR: Never gonna happen, but I don't care. All I care about is writing that they love each other. And they also fu-!

ARKOS ( PYRRHA X JAUNE )

I'm sorry, I need a moment. . . . Alright. Do it for her. This ship... was perfect. Probably the best ship out them all. I legit almost cry every time I think about Volume 3. Pyrrha was everyone's favorite. Her background, her interactions, her choreography, everything! But, of course, like everything in our lives, she was too good to be true. But let's honor her memory by talking about her ship, Arkos. Pyrrha was the champion of the world, the Brothers' and Oums' gift to Remnant. She could do no wrong and she HATED it. Her plight was with how she was seen. Everybody knew her! Everybody, except Jaune. And he only figured out she was "a big deal" was because Weiss had to spell it out for him! As time went on, they became the best of friends, two peas in a pod, the perfect odd couple! They worked together and trusted each other, they cared for and supported each other, they lo- No. No, I can't say it. It's been years, and it still hurts. So, I'll explain something else: the reason why Jaune SHOULD NOT be shipped right now. That reason is Pyrrha. Jaune was helpless to save her. He's suffering from survivor's guilt and he's still grieving. In Volume 4, he would sneak away and train until late at night to scroll recording of her. In Volume 5, he confronted Cinder and got Weiss almost killed because he let his grief for Pyrrha take control of him and let his emotions run wild. In Volume 6, he finds the Pyrrha statue and he... I don't know how to say this, but he let's go. He accepts that Pyrrha is gone and he's starting the healing process. He's finally ready to move forward.

TLDR: T.T I never felt that it was wise to wish too much~

MARTIAL ARCS ( REN X JAUNE)

I'll be honest, I don't really ship it. Yeah, it's cute, and it falls perfectly into the "if I had to pick a guy" part of me, but to be honest, I don't ship it. 10% because Renora and 90% it just doesn't click with me. They both just seem too soft, too quiet, too introverted. Best friends? Yes, definitely! But lovers? Eeeeeh, not really.

TLDR: I will only ship as neccessary.

NORA'S ARC ( NORA X JAUNE )

I've only just got in this deep with the fandom only recently, so I don't know if a lot of you know me. Heck, I'm probably just some RWBY fan you happen to spot as you move through your dash. However, old or new, I want to be made absolutely positively clear on this. Of all the ships here, this has got to be my-

O T FUDGIN' P

Wow! Never thought I'd feel so strongly about a crack ship like this. And yes, as sad it is to say, this is a crack ship. Renora was planned from day one, so it can't be helped. At least it didn't blast me in the face all of the sudden (OH NO, NOT THE BEES! AAAAARGH! THEY'RE IN MY EYES!). But why this ship? Well, for one thing, it's that whole opposites attract thing with Nora as the bubbly, outspoken, airhead powerhouse and Jaune as the soft spoken, introverted, nerd tactician. But wait, there's more to this trope, because it can go deeper: Order VS Chaos! Who makes all the messes? Who cleans up those messes? Who follows all the rules? Who makes their own doors? It's just. So. Damn! GOOD! One sad thing about this ship though is that it's not only not canon because of Renora, it's anti-canon because Renora. Every fan fic of Nora's Arc requires an explanation for Ren and Nora to not be together-together, like you have to write a formal apology to the FNDM for liking something that's different from what is canon or commonly accepted. If that's the case, then I'll be the anarchist here!

TLDR: I LOVE IT! What's that? Not canon? Who gives a damn?! I just explained why Jaune won't be shipped anyways! Now, if you'll excuse, I have some fan fics to find.

ARCFALL ( CINDER X JAUNE )

Oh, here it goes! Now, if we're talking ships that'll never happen, this is where we find better reasons than "it's not canon" and "character development". No, this... This is a declaration of war. Allow me to explain. Cinder Fall is evil. Like, down to her core. She wants power and she'll cut through anyone to get to it. Including Pyrrha. This woman sank Arkos by means other than "X and Y kissed, so..." She killed X, leaving Y alone. And her interactions with Jaune tell me she wouldn't even be worth a hate-bang. But, as Momma always, there's a thin line between love and hate. This is where the appeal comes in. Cinder is evil with no past, which leaves the previous chapter's of her life story blank to be filled in. Jaune is good with a troublesome, albeit easy past, but untapped potential for more. It's another opposites attract, but different from INTRO VS EXTRO and CHAOS VS ORDER; this is GOOD VS EVIL. Who will win this battle of wills; will our hero purify the tainted heart, or will he slip deeper into darkness, never to return to the light?

TLDR: Should be a NOTP, and yet the allure pulls me in.

What do y'all think? Do you agree? Let me know!

[hamliet]

So about your (very deep) RWBY analysis you said there were a few plausible ships in consequence, could you write on that too? I'm curious to see what those are if we follow that analysis

Sure! Firstly, thanks for reading that lol.

So I’ll just come out and say that I don’t fully trust the writers in this aspect, but the main ships that I see set up for in the alchemical sense are, of course, Yang/Blake and Ren/Nora, but also Ruby/Oscar and potentially Emerald/Mercury and Jaune/Weiss. (I will touch on Pyrrha/Jaune, but I don’t think Pyrrha is going to or should come back so... :( ) This all depends on how they stick to the alchemical structure, but just to reiterate: it’s extremely unlikely an alchemical story with a fairy tale basis is going to end with most characters single. It could and could do it well, but I’m skeptical lol.

Just to add a disclaimer: this is all theory and speculation; I honestly do not care about ships in this series besides Ren and Nora and hence am not emotionally invested. I could be wrong, and I’m fine with it. Please don’t come for me. 

Let’s begin by going over what romance is in alchemy. I talked about this in my previous meta, but the key principles of an alchemical work are the solar king and lunar queen. So who are they? What is their role in alchemy? 

Behold, the symbol for the philosopher’s stone:

Or more clearly: 

The large circle is the macrocosm, or universe as a whole. The triangle is body, mind, and heart (originally it was body, soul, and spirit). The square is the four classical elements (fire, air, earth, water). The smaller circle is the microcosm, wherein the two people inside are the Solar King and Lunar Queen, opposites conjoined in harmony. Together two conjoined opposites (yes it’s related to yin/yang, but eastern alchemy focuses more on the Elixir of Life rather than the actual stone and there are five elements, not four) create the philosopher’s stone. 

I talked about this in the past meta, but we know Ruby is a philosophical child because her father’s name literally means sun and her mother’s defining trait thus far is her silver eyes. She’s the stone itself, but also team RWBY is the stone, and other characters are on their own journeys to becoming philosopher’s stone. Things overlap. 

I didn’t come up with those designations of silver=moon on my own, though. Generally the two principles that are combined in a philosopher’s stone are marked by one (or more) of the following: 

Male: Sun, Sulphur, fire and air, hot and dry, Red, gold, heart.

Female: Moon, Mercury (or quicksilver), earth and water, cool and moist, White, silver, mind.

Don’t read too much into the genders, because that tends to matter the least and plays into antiquated views. Obviously. Characters rarely meet all the marks as well, but if marked with one should be paired with someone from the opposite marking. 

Let’s talk the obvious ones first: Ren and Nora, Blake and Yang, and Jaune and Pyrrha. 

Ren and Nora are pretty perfectly matched. Ren is mind, earth (“Lie” means “plum tree”) and water (“Ren” means “lotus,” a water-based flower). Nora is heart (her shirt, plus her brave qualities), fire (Thor and the association with electricity, plus “Nora” means “light”), and air (she flies, and a Valkyrie is a mythical flying creature in Norse mythology). 

Yang and Blake are also a good match. Yang is sun, gold (her name), fire and air (”Xiao long” means dragon), and heart. Blake is moon (Belladonna is a nightshade), earth and water (think of where her home village is), and mind. Blake was also a match for Sun Wukong, however, and this is why I’m skeptical about the writing of ships in this series--because they teased Sun/Blake for little reason (and I remember being confused). However, they did know that Blake’s partner needed to be her opposite, so Yang or Sun could work, and I think it’s clear that Blake/Yang is endgame and I like it. 

Pyrrha is red (her name), gold (her outfit), heart and mind, and her shield had a sun on it. 

Jaune was white (the dress he wore to the dance), body (differing from the norm, but fit because Pyrrha was both heart and mind; a body character tends to be either lusty or cowardly, the latter of which was Jaune in the first season), and moon. Look at Jaune’s shield, which so happens to match the silver/moon symbol in alchemy: 

However, Pyrrha has now died, and I’m still sad about it. However, also of note: fitting with the characters they are based off of, Team JNPR are have reversed gender dynamics from the alchemical norms. Again, I would bet that was done on purpose. 

Onto my speculations: 

For Ruby... well, I said she was the philosopher’s stone. 

In some ways, Ruby and Weiss are the philosopher’s stone together, but I think this is more platonic than romantic (it’s a lovely ship though and I see why people ship it). The reason for this is because while Ruby is Red, air, and Heart, and Weiss is White, water, and mind, Ruby and Weiss are both silver. They don’t compliment each other in this, which is why I don’t see it as a likely endgame romantic ship (but, like Frodo and Samwise Gamgee, I do see them as alchemical partners who help stop Salem together). 

But her romantic partner should be someone who is also both sun and moon, who is white where she is red, gold where she is silver, earth where she is air (she flies), mind where she is heart. Ideally they would also be a philosophical child. There’s one character I can think of who is marked as sun and moon, white, mind, and earth, and that’s Oscar Pine. See: Ozpin’s cane, which Oscar uses on his own quite a bit (that’s a sun and moon motif):

Additionally, in the scene where Ruby and Oscar meet for the first time, the paintings on the wall are a sun (fire) with distinctive air around it and a crescent moon over earth and water. 

If Weiss ends up in any ship, it will be with a person marked as heart, red, fire, and gold to her mind, white, water (ice), and silver. Neptune is water too, so this one is unlikely. Sun seems like a possibility on paper, but they haven’t interacted significantly at all (maybe they will in Vacuo?) But the most likely option to me is actually Jaune Arc--but a lot depends on the coming arcs (heh).

Wait, you said he was white! Key word: was. Jaune was never mind and will never be mind, but he has become brave as opposed to his initial fear, and I’d go so far as to say he’s heart now thanks to Pyrrha’s influence. Since Pyrrha’s death as well, he’s started incorporating gold and red into his outfit in a likely homage to Pyrrha. (It is actually possible for someone to shift markings; Daenerys in A Game of Thrones is white and moon, but becomes red and fire and all that by the end of the novel). 

Jaune’s arc of grief over Pyrrha is unlikely to end with him being forever alone, and while there are plenty of ways to show this that don’t involve him in a relationship with someone else, it’s the most obvious way to show this. It also fits from a narrative perspective that the only way Jaune could ever be with Weiss is through integrating with Pyrrha’s traits and qualities. We’ll see, though, because as of now he’s still marked as moon, and he’d need to become sun or fire. Cinder also directly compared Pyrrha and Weiss, and immediately after this Jaune unlocked part of his soul to heal Weiss, playing the role of the prince in Weiss’s fairy tale (Snow White). However, as Cinder’s own story shows us, not all princes in their retellings of these fairy tales are romantic. So this might not play out, but it has the set-up to do so. 

Lastly, Emerald and Mercury I think are alchemical partners regardless of whether or not they end up together romantically. Mercury’s name says it all, and Emerald’s eyes mark her as red. He’s mind, she’s heart. I’m adding this to the questionably romantic ones because I’m curious about the fact that Emerald and Mercury are now separated in the current season, just like all four of the above ships I mentioned. 

Also to keep in mind: sometimes writers say eff the tropes. See: Harry and Ginny, who are both red and air (but Ginny’s name also marks her as white, so). 

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness Chapter 69

This arc. Arc four is the shortest arc. But it blurs a little bit into three and five so depending on how you want to cut it, it isn’t. But it probably is the shortest. It’s also my favorite I think. Of the arcs I’ve written so far.

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(Ruby PoV)

I brushed a comb through my hair. I wanted to look at least decent for when I saw Jaune again. What? Just because I could bullseye you from a thousand yards doesn't mean I didn't like girly stuff. One of those things was looking nice for my boyfriend when I visited him in a military psychiatric hospital.

I grinned wolfishly at the mirror. I didn't have a lot of hair to comb through like Yang or Weiss but I had enough to drag a brush through and make it look a bit neater. Speaking of Weiss, she came by and leaned at the corner of the wall in the bathroom. Her hair was still down and not up in its braided ponytail. I turned away from the mirror to actually look at her.

"What?" She asked. She looked beautiful with her hair down but she probably wasn't planning on coming to see Jaune like that. It just wasn't in the cards for her.

"You're not coming with me to see Jaune?" I shot back.

"He likes you, remember?"

"He liked you first," I retorted. "All freshman year, remember?"

She sighed. "I don't want to overwhelm him. He's probably going through a lot as it is. He doesn't need whatever is going on with me to add to that." She waved a hand at herself.

"That you like him," I cut through.

"Yes, Ruby. That I like him." She sounded a touch exasperated.

"Don't you want to tell him how you feel?" I asked.

"I-I suppose..."

"Come on. Let me do your hair." I guided her in and sat her down by the bath and ran my fingers against her scalp. She sighed back into my touch and I let a grin stretch my face. I started to do up her enormous plait.

"It's just so confusing."

"No it's not," I said. "The only thing left to see is if you like him back. And you flirted with him occasionally in Mistral."

"In Mistral…" she repeated. "I just don't want to confuse him."

"But what if you don't have the chance to tell him how you feel again. Think about how stressed you were before you told me how you felt."

"Ruby…"

"You don't want to let this opportunity slide by, even if he's stressed out it's not like having you like him will make things worse."

"Easy enough for you to say. You've already slept with him. And I've already kissed you. It's fairly clear we both like you while it's not so clear that he and I would work out."

"I've just slept with him three times."

"Just three times you say. Forgive me. I didn't mean to blow it out of proportion," she said sarcastically.

I kissed her on the lips with a bit of passion before I went back to doing her braid. "It'll be alright."

"And you're okay with all this? Sharing him? Sharing me?"

"Of course." I was raised by Yang and my dad so maybe my view of love was more relaxed than Weiss's. She was raised up here in Atlas where things were more strict. To me, love was love. It was about sharing and being shared. Nothing about this was crazy to me. I liked what I liked what I liked. And I wanted it, too. "You're alright with sharing me with him."

"W-well yes," she agreed.

"Then don't worry about it. You're stressing way too much."

"But what if he says no."

"Why would he say no? He flirted back with you in Mistral if what you told me is true. He had a crush on you first. Even before all that business with Pyrrha happened. So why would he say ‘no?’"

"What if he wants to be monogamous with you. What if he's not poly." Weiss came out and said it. The big humdinger.

"Then why would he have flirted with you in Mistral?" I countered. And I didn’t really blame him for it if he did. I wasn’t mad.

She sat in silence while I did her plait. I bobby pinned it up as I worked my hands through her long beautiful hair. I squealed a little and wanted to squeeze my face into the silky mass.

"We just need to be open with him. He'll understand. I'm fairly certain he won't be upset that another beautiful girl loves him. He'll probably just be like 'I hate myself and I don't deserve it.' He's like that a bit. We just need to shut that down."

"You've thought about this a lot," she accused.

"Not really," I responded. "That's just how he is, he loathes himself, sometimes. And it's how we could be. All together. I love you Weiss. And I love him. What's wrong with that? What's complicated about that?"

"It's just a whole person to be added to the mix. And you weren't ready before."

"But I promised you I would be ready eventually."

"And that's now?"

"Yes. I'm fairly fast, in case you haven't noticed. It helps that I have him back. I was worried about him. He was alone stewing in whatever happened to him for real. He was off dealing with Salem's mind control by himself, even if we didn't know about it yet. But that's over now. We're going to keep him safe, you and me."

"You make it sound so easy. It's not. It's three people. All with their own desires. That's about as complicated as it gets. Plus you have no idea how to help with the mind control piece."

"You're stressing about nothing until we talk to him."

"It has been a long time…"

"Just a month or so," I returned. "That's less time than you spent with him in Mistral."

"You're too excited for this."

"Why wouldn't I be excited? I get to be with both my best friends."

"If he likes me back," Weiss amended.

"You're still worried about that?"

"It's kind of a big hang up, Ruby."

"He likes you. I promise. What's not to like about you?"

"I'm uptight. I worry too much. I'm an overthinker."

"Now you sound like Jaune did before he admitted we were a couple. Maybe I've got a type." I sighed.

"Jaune and I aren't that similar," she protested. "That's kind of what I'm worried about."

"You're both overthinkers. You're both super smart," I disagreed. "You have more in common than you think, Weiss. I think so, at least."

"Really? I always thought he was a bit like you, Ruby."

"Impatient?" I asked.

"Energetic and a touch clumsy," she corrected, a small smile quirking her pink lips.

"Huh," was all I could manage. We sat in relative quiet as I worked for a moment. She hummed back into my touch. She had a lovely singing voice. I could stand to hear it more.

"And now that he's got that real confidence and honesty behind him I always thought he was… well, you know."

"Hot?" I asked. He was a little.

"You see it too, then."

"You should just wait until he kisses you. Now that's hot."

I watched Weiss rub her legs together a little. "And you're alright with that? You'd be onboard with me kissing him."

"For the hundredth time, yes!" I wanted to shake some sense into her. They were both my best friends. I wanted to share them. "It's not so complicated. It's just one more person, like you keep saying."

To be honest the thought of watching Weiss and Jaune kiss was about the hottest thing I'd thought of in a bit. It made me shudder a little.

"We should see how he is first. He might not be in the best place mentally for it."

"But when he's ready we'll snatch him up, you and me."

She wrapped a hand over my neck and turned me to kiss her. Her tongue dove forward a little and I let it into my mouth. I moaned into the kiss. It felt like everything was going to be okay. For the first time in a long time I really felt it.

"Weiss…" I whimpered. "I need to finish your braid…"

"What's the hold up?" She whispered against my lips. "Are you distracted?" She teased me.

I whined a little and clenched at her hair with both hands. She groaned a little as I pulled gently on her platinum threads.

"Maybe a little." I confessed, desperately. "Let me finish!"

She turned back away from me with her face pink. She was breathing hard enough to make her chest heave. For all my sister's teasing about Weiss's modest chest size, I liked it. Her breasts swelled up at me as she panted from our long kiss.

She was only in her morning wear so I thought I could see the tips of her breasts hardened in the early yellow light. I was no better with my heart beating fast, hammering away in my chest at my ribs. The way she made me whine was enormously domineering.

It was so unbelievably attractive.

I desperately tried to remember where my fingers were and finish up her braid. My hands were trembling more than a little. I slowly got my breathing back under control. My face was as red as my cape in the mirror.

It took a moment to get myself under my own command but eventually I succeeded.

A knock came by the open door. I turned to see my older sister. "Yang?" I asked. I put the last tie in Weiss's plait. "Are you coming to see Jaune too?"

"Yeah, Blake and I both are. I talked her into it. Jaune turned himself and the relic in. That counts for something."

"Thank you Yang." Weiss tucked her hair behind her shoulder and stood up. "I was worried that this would divide us."

"Yeah well it still might," Yang said. "Jaune is a criminal now. Plus he was working with Neapolitan. He better have a good reason for that. For both those things. Let's be honest, I want Jaune on our side, his power and strength are awesome, but I don't know if I can trust him. Especially with the mind control stuff."

I sighed and nodded. I was grateful for Yang coming at us honestly. I was willing to bet the reason was good enough for Jaune, but would Yang agree? I wasn't sure.

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Jaune looked good. Tall with little blue diamond piercings like his eyes. His hair was done up in a spiky messy fashion that made him look dashing. His armor was under black clothes and he had a touch of red where Pyrrha's sash was tied to his arm and he had this little half cape to him too that made his silhouette look slick.

None of the others had brought up his outfit change. It hadn't been as important as other topics but it was there and Jaune looked good-enough-to-eat in his git-up. And if I had it my way I would.

He sat down with us just at a table within the hospital behind double locked doors like an airlock. Someone would have to let us out and the double doors ensured that none of the patients could escape, should they try.

"Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang." He nodded with a charming smile. "It's good to see you again."

"Jaune." I embraced him deeply. His wide frame wrapped me up easily. I inhaled his familiar smell wildly. Crisp spice and something else, something torched.

I had missed him. It dragged tears from my eyes which I wiped away.

"How are they treating you in here?" Weiss asked.

Jaune waggled a hand. "Eh. About as good as I could reasonably expect considering the liability I constitute. If I meant business, I'm not sure that those doors could stop me."

He'd probably been analyzing the exits. It was instinct for a hunter like him. He was trapped and he knew it. But he was trapped by his own code as much or more so than the actual doors.

"Jaune you have to tell us everything. What happened to you?" I asked. "What happened at Haven?"

"I killed Ren and Nora. Salem made me do it but I still killed them," he confessed. "She then called me to bring the relic to her. I… I know where she is. At all times. It's like an instinct. I can feel her."

"Are they giving you medication for that?" Weiss asked.

"They're trying to bring my psychosis under control. They have no idea how to deal with the Salem stuff."

"But they're related. Salem's causing it," Blake said.

"That's right. I'm skeptical about any treatment they give me. They're giving me all kinds of sedatives to relax me and they've got me on antipsychotics." He leaned back in his seat and kept one arm around me. "Propanalol and Clonazepam to help relax and then something called Asenapine for the delusions and hallucinations."

"Is it working?" Yang asked.

He shook his head. "It's too early to tell."

"But you don't think it will." Blake murmured. "You think what Salem's doing to you can't be cured."

"Right. I'm being mind raped." He had a lazy half smile. He looked consigned.

I flinched a little. And Weiss shuffled slightly in her blue and silver outfit. She rubbed one arm with the other.

"You're not being mind raped." I said. "Right?"

"She sends me nightmares and I have to deal with her hallucinations. She's attacking me all the time. She wants the relic and Ozpin dead again. She’s my head all the time like ‘do it. Kill them. Bring it to me.’ That sort of ominous bullshit. You can only say ‘no’ so many times and so many ways. It's… it's a lot to deal with."

"But you're fighting. You can resist her," Yang said.

"I'm not sure. If I hear her voice again for real I'm afraid I'll have to obey her. That's what happened last time."

"But so long as you don't hear her real voice you're alright. You're safe." I tried to confirm.

"Maybe. It's a struggle to not give in to her whispers. I hear it all the time."

"You said that you were using Marijuana to help with that. Are you still?" Weiss asked.

"They took that away from me. I'm lucky I'm in a hospital and not behind bars."

"You attacked Atlas. Set some prisoners lose when you were Cloud Strife." Yang murmured. "Burned down a building and did worse besides."

"I was working for an information broker in the city. I was looking for the maiden here. I found out that your sister, Weiss, visits the same bunker every day. Ever since Beacon fell. I'm betting the maiden is there, Tyrian brought her up before I killed him."

"She is," Weiss breathed. Blake nudged her. "What? He already knew."

"These are the kinds of secrets we can't share with him just yet. He's a liability," Blake hissed.

"You said Cloud Strife. Is that your alter ego?" I asked. "Would you rather we call you that? It's a pretty name."

"Maybe. Jaune Arc was given to me by Salem or Merlot. I'm really not attached to it. Kind of disgusted by it to be honest."

"We'll support you. Whatever you decide."

"Thank you. And Cloud does have a nice ring to it, let's roll with that," he smiled.

"You were also working with Neapolitan. She attacked me. She tried to kill me," Yang said.

"She wanted revenge against Cinder and I happened to run into her. Our agendas aligned and her powers are useful," Cloud shrugged. "I won't lie, she's a bit of a monster. But then so am I."

"You're not a monster," Weiss murmured.

"No?" He asked. "I've killed people. I've tortured people."

"I've tortured people, well a person," Weiss said. "You're not alone in that."

"And I've killed people. Lots of them." Blake muttered.

"I was made in a laboratory out of Salem's cells by a mad man. Pretty sure I qualify. You should have seen my father's other experiments. I found where I was born, this incubator. Did you know that I'm only four years old? Because I didn't. He grew me until I was almost an adult and then sold me back to Salem then she had me sneak into Beacon. All of my dreams, all of it was fake."

"But you had memories. Remember Shion? Remember your sisters?" I asked.

"Fake," he sighed. "Or wrong. Incomplete. My sisters though are somewhere out there. I couldn't find any notes on them in Merlot's laboratory but Salem mentioned them in Haven. She has my sisters, whoever they really are. I ran into their creator at this other laboratory, this man with a mustache."

"We ran into a group of girls. They were younger than you but their powers were like yours a little," Blake said. "They all had blue eyes and blonde hair. They were after the relic and attacked us in Argus. Could they have been your sisters?"

"Maybe. It's possible. I might recognize them if I saw them. Mother gave me a lot of memories, not all of them were outright wrong, some were merely half-true."

"Mother?" Yang asked.

"Salem. I meant Salem. Damnit." He hit the table with a fist.  I flinched back a little from the loud noise. He seemed oblivious to it. Running a palm through his spiky hair.

"How long are they keeping you here?" I asked.

"Well they did call it a three day hold. And mental patient or not it's nice to be held," he smiled a little. He rubbed his face with his hands. Hard. "Ah. They've got my weapon somewhere. I'd rather you all had it."

"We've got Ren and Nora's weapons, do you want them?" Weiss asked.

"No. Gods no. I don't. I don't deserve them. What did you do with their bodies, if I can ask?"

"We had them cremated." Weiss reached out and took his hand with one of hers. She rubbed gently over the back of his fingers.

He nodded. He was crying a little. "Thanks. For the best, that." He wiped his face again. His cheeks were turning red from it. He wasn't a handsome crier.

I looked over at Yang. She bit her lip and looked away from me. I don't think she felt any anger towards Jaune, or Cloud, rather. I don't think she felt anything other than sorry for him. Blake was rubbing the back of her neck and was gazing at the ground. Her stare had a thousand yards to it.  

I reached over and grabbed Weiss's other hand and she gave me a measured glance. She wasn't sure now was the time. I'd respect that if that was what she wanted. I just didn't want her to regret it.

"Blake, we should go…" Yang was watching us. "Unless you have any more questions for-um Cloud." She fumbled slightly towards the end.

"You don't have magic, do you?" Blake asked.

"Not past my semblance and a bit of dust I've been practicing with. Not that I know of, I should say."

"Then I think I'm out," Blake said. Yang nodded at her. Blake and Yang departed through the double locked doors of the hospital. That left Cloud and the two of us. "See you later, Cloud."

He nodded to them and looked between us. He inhaled a shaking breath.

"We have something we need to tell you…" I said. "Cloud, Weiss and I are together."

He breathed and nodded along. "I see. You like girls, then."

"Not quite. Neither of us do completely," Weiss murmured.

"I don't understand. I'm a dumbass so whatever it is you'd better spell it out for me," he gave me a brave smile. It was weak underneath. He was scared.

"Cloud…" I mumbled. I rather liked it. It was a good name. It was his own and not Salem's. I thought it was an encouraging sign of his independence. A rose by any other name smells just as sweet anyways. "I love Weiss. And I also love you."

"You dumb blonde, you're not stupid." Weiss said to him fondly. "I'm well- I love you too." Weiss finished. "And I love Ruby. I'm not sure if you're poly or open to that…"

"I don't want to lose you," I told him while I held his hand. I let some tears flow. " But I need Weiss as well. I can't do it without her behind me.  So will you give the three of us a try? When you left we kissed and I realized how much I wanted her. I... I need you too though. I told you that at the Golden Saucer. I meant it. I can't choose. Please don't make me choose. "

Cloud leaned back and exhaled. "My heart… from what you started with I thought it was going to be bad news…" he still looked almost scared.

"I take it that this isn't bad news?" Weiss asked. "Don't tell me you're afraid of our wants." She laughed a little but she was desperately watching his face. She wanted to know. She wanted to know what he felt. I did too, but I was less scared.

"No. Its-its fine. I'm open. I'm willing to try, just wait for me to get out of here. Alright? We'll be able to talk more."

"You think they'll let you out and not put you in prison?" I wondered.

"No way. They'll want me out in the field. The things I can do... They'd be foolish to put me away. And no prison could hold me anyways." He smiled weakly at us.

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-WG

[vecnawrites]

Playing Hard To Get

Everyone knew that Jaune Arc pined for Weiss Schnee. But what few knew was that Weiss Schnee pined for Jaune Arc just as much. The reason they weren't together? Weiss had gotten bad romantic advice. Hopefully, this wouldn't work against her...

The last of my Patreon Rewards for August! And Safe For Work, to boot!

Weiss walked down Beacon’s hallways with a confident smile on her beautiful face. Her snow white hair was perfectly shampooed and conditioned, her tiara was in its proper place, and she had just the slightest bit of make up on her face to accentuate her best traits, making her eyes and lips stand out, accentuated her cheekbones, and all that.

Why all the primping? Well, Weiss was a woman on a mission. She knew, well, more like everyone knew, that one Jaune Arc was smitten with her, completely and utterly. But what no one actually realized was that she was smitten with him as well.

Why hadn’t she agreed to his many requests for a date, then? Well, the answer was surprisingly simple. She wanted to see that he would fight for her. She had read in a myriad of articles and books based around romance that it was very good to play ‘hard to get’, as it would show if the boy in question was truly serious about dating her. If he continued to try for her, he was worth keeping around, worth dating in the long run.

Jaune hadn’t stopped, he had always tried to convince her to go out with him, but he was pleasant about it, always accepting her answer of ‘no’ with grace, backing away only to try again about a week or so later. And he never asked her to do something boring. It was always something that she loved (she loved comedy movies! After all, there was little joy growing up in the Schnee household), or had never done before but actually wanted to try (she had never been allowed near any sort of arcade or even gaming before as a child, being expected to be the perfect heiress at all times)! He even knew her favorite flowers and how she liked her coffee!

She knew that now was the time to strike, as the Beacon Dance was coming up during the next week. Now, she knew that most girls considered Jaune a dork (and they weren’t wrong, he was a wonderful dork), but that left him open for her to snag as a date for it!

She already knew that it would be perfect~ Jaune was always the perfect gentleman, even when it was against someone that was being rude to him-that brute of an oaf Cardin and her own teammate Yang were two examples.

Reaching the Library, Weiss walked in confidently, seeing the head of blonde hair that she knew by heart over at one of the tables, scribbling away at a notebook before him, glancing at one of the books on top of the table.

Walking up, she gently coughed to catch his attention, and when she saw him look up and focus on her, she gathered herself and spoke. “Well, Arc,” oh, how she loathed to call him by his last name, she would be sure to call him by his proper name after this, “I know that the Dance is coming up, and since I know you don’t have a date, I’m willing to go with y-” she blinked, stopping as Jaune closed his book, looking up at her with that sheepish, slightly awkward grim that she adored, but for some reason, this one filled her with dread.

“Actually, I do have a date to the dance, Weiss!” he said, his face happy and voice calm, but both made her freeze as though she had just heard some of the most dark, foul, and violent vitriol to ever grace her ears.

“R-Really?” she hated how weak her voice sounded, how faint it was, the sinking feeling only growing as Jaune gathered up his finished work and stood, nodding to her with a smile. “Yeah, she even asked me, rather than the other way around with me asking her, so it was a nice surprise! I’m sorry, but I can’t stay and talk; I have a team training session with Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren! I’ll talk to you later?”

Weiss found herself nodding weakly, wondering where things had gone so wrong as the boy she wanted left the library. She had no doubt that he was just too polite to say ‘no’ to the girl in question… so she would have to find said girl and… convince… her that it was in her best interest for something to ‘come up’ the night of the dance and allow her to go with her Dork Knight.

~

Weuss was going to have to give up, as much as she despised the very thought. All of her investigations had come up with nothing. She knew that it wasn’t Pyrrha: her largest rival for Jaune’s affections wouldn’t have been quiet about going to the dance with him. She’d have been singing about it from the rooftops.

Her own partner was also out as well; after all, Ruby was not only the only one of her team to know about how she truly felt about Jaune, she also only saw Jaune as her ‘goofy bestie’. Which wasn’t bad at all in her case. It meant she had someone to talk to about her feelings.

But that still left many candidates: the chocolate skinned, green haired girl named Emerald Sustrai eyed him in interest several times, as did the beret wearing Ciel Soliel from Atlas, and even the beanie wearing sniper from BRNZ, May Zedong had been eyeing him enough to make her feel uneasy. A scowl formed on her face at the thought of one of those… those hussies taking her man!

...but, she hadn’t figured out who it was, and tomorrow was the dance. She hadn’t bothered to see if anyone else would go with her, not when the only person she wanted to go with wasn’t available. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to attend anymore. She wouldn’t enjoy it.

She sighed, shaking her head as she saw the person of her desires walking towards her, that sweet smile on his face. She swallowed, but forced a smile to her face. It wasn’t like a lady to be sour at someone else’s happiness… even if it hurt.

“Hey, Weiss, how are you doing?” he asked, making her smile become more genuine, even if still being sad.

“Hello, Jaune… how are you doing?” she saw him frown, and panicked a bit, she didn’t want him to know that she was feeling sad! She watched as he bit down on his lower lip a bit, looking at her with his deep blue eyes.

“I’m doing okay. Prepared for the dance tomorrow, how about you?” she felt the sting again at the knowledge that he would be going with someone else, someone that wasn’t her. Horrifyingly, she felt tears building in the corners of her eyes, and quickly focused her gaze down towards the floor so he wouldn’t see them.

“O-Oh, that’s nice…” damn her for sounding so weak! “I...I really hope you enjoy your date with w-whoever it is…” she sniffed, feeling the tears beginning to make their way down her cheeks-

“IT’S YOU!”

Weiss froze, two single tears dropping from her face to fall on the floor as her eyes widened, hearing those two, powerful words. She looked up, seeing him looking at her with a sad, but warm smile on his face as he reached out and gently wiped her cheeks clean.

“It’s you, Weiss… you asked me in the library, remember?” Weiss’s mind flashed back to that day last week, and their conversation, specifically, her saying that since he didn’t have a date, she would-a small gasp left her lips, and more tears built up and flowed down her cheeks, but these were ones of happiness.

He hugged her gently, and she sank into his hold happily, inhaling his scent, crying steadily now. “Let’s have a lot of fun, just the two of us, okay?” she croaked out, feeling Jaune nod against her head. “I’ve thought a lot about this all, so I hope you can keep up with me.” another gently nod and a hand cupping her cheek as she hiccuped, carefully wiping her tears away.

Weiss couldn’t wait for the Dance now. She was just thankful she had gotten her dress ready when it was first announced!