A/N: Aaand we're back! I'll be doing some travelling soon (GenCon), so the next chapter may not be up for a while longer than usual. WPF hit 10k views recently, which is pretty neat considering I started this more to get chapter one out of my head than for any other reason! Now, while you read this, I'm going to wait patiently for Coeur to make me very, very sad in NTTF.

Anyway, on to the story. Thank you for reading, and please enjoy chapter ten!

"Well, you do strange things for the people you love." The almost-said words flung Jaune from the room. "Jaune Arc, you're an idiot and a coward! And you can't even follow through with a dumb idea: what's Pyr supposed to think of you running away?"

Pyrrha was trying to have a serious, emotional conversation with him. She was trying to talk about something that had been very difficult for her, and he ran off as soon as his mom gave him an opening! And 'For the people you love'? It sounded fine in his head, but the moment he had time to really process, he realized how close he was to ruining everything. Pyrrha was trying to work through her problems, she didn't need him adding his own on top of them!

"Now is not the time! We'll deal with… whatever it is… when Pyr is ready, not when I want." He sat down for dinner, Rouge taking her traditional spot next to him, and became utterly lost in his own mind.

Pyrrha hadn't talked about it, and while that was hard for him, he wasn't going to push her. A lot had happened to them, but Pyrrha had taken the worst of it, and he wasn't going to screw it all up by throwing his emotions at her.

Vaguely, Jaune was aware of being asked questions and giving empty answers. He was too busy kicking himself to really pay attention.

He didn't know if the kiss, and he could at least think about it, had been for him or for her, but he wasn't going to make life hard for Pyr by pushing. A part of him, he couldn't decide if it was the logical part or the pessimistic, was certain she kissed him because she wanted to experience a piece of intimacy before she did something deadly. Another said she wasn't just kissing someone, she was kissing him, that this was the proof he needed.

Jaune couldn't meet her face that dinner, and hoped no one asked him something important. He couldn't get to his room fast enough; he would have taken up his guitar to soothe his nerves, but it was somewhere inside a pile of rubble. Perfect. He simply sat on the bed, fussing.

Jaune felt something snap on his head, and he looked up to see Ren standing in front of him, having just flicked his forehead.

"You have no idea what's been going on." It wasn't a question, Ren was a perceptive guy like that. He shook his head, and Ren shook his head in return.

"Among other things, you've agreed to spend most of Saturday shopping with Rouge and Marron, didn't veto your sisters watching us train, answered "yes" when your mother asked you who Team RWBY were, and agreed to make breakfast for Nora on Sunday.

"It's Friday, by the way, I know you've forgotten." Ren slowly eased himself down onto the bed opposite Jaune, who was processing what had apparently happened.

"I'm sorry?" His brother waved it off. "I was… kinda worrying over some stuff during dinner, I didn't mean to leave you guys high and dry."

"Care to share? We've half an hour until training."

"…girls."Ren arched an eyebrow in a move he had to have borrowed from Blake.

"I…there's… I suck at this!" He fell back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He heard Ren hum an agreement.

"I believe Pyrrha's advice the last time was 'You can't get it wrong if it's the truth'? Why not give that a try?"

"Now isn't the time! I just got my sisters to agree to me being a huntsman, is now the time to tell them how I got into Beacon? They'd take it all back! Hogtied in a closet, remember? There's too much going on for me to jump-" he stopped before he said 'Pyrrha'. "There's too much going on for me to bring relationship problems into the mix."

"You might be surprised, it might be the perfect time." Jaune looked down his chest at Ren, still sitting upright on his bed.

"You don't even know who I'm talking about!"

Ren gave him such a pitying look, Jaune could have been a dog in an animal rescue ad. "Jaune, you're my brother, I love you. But, I've spent a decade living with Nora; you are an open book compared to her. I know."

Jaune stared at Ren for a long time, trying to pick between embarrassment and relief. Eventually let out an explosive breath.

"Okay. Give me a sec to get this all straight." Ren said nothing, and Jaune set to putting it all together.

"It wasn't until the Dance I realized just how big I'd messed up. I thought Pyrrha had to have had boyfriends or dates before Beacon, that's why I assumed she had one to the Dance already." Jaune was reminded of a saying about assumptions, then.

"I was thinking to myself 'It's Pyrrha! She's kind, and smart, and funny, and beautiful, and understanding, and she can kick ass! Of course she's got guys tripping over her!' It didn't even occur to me everything back in Mistral would chase them off until we talked! I felt like the worst teammate ever!

"After the Dance, I started… thinking." Ren let a hum at that, and Jaune knew through long practice it was essentially an eye roll. "I decided I wasn't going to mess this up like I did with Weiss: I was going to go slow, carefully. Pyrrha is my best friend and my partner, I didn't want to screw all that up. But, then there was the Breach, and then the Festival started, and I didn't want to hurt the team." That had been his biggest fear; Pyrrha would reject him, and the strain would tear JNPR apart.

"Obviously, something's happened anyway." Ren's statement was really more a question

"Some… things happened before it all went sideways, yeah. You remember how Pyrrha was during the tournament? I tried to talk to her; I said the wrong thing, maybe I came on too strong, I don't know. Whatever it was, it freaked her out and she avoided me all day. Then the attack happened…

"She's having a hard enough time as it is, she doesn't need me butting in with more crap."

Ren considered it for a long while before responding. "Jaune, it's your life, but I think you should put yourself out there. If you don't want to do what you did with Weiss, I understand, but don't stand by. There's a middle ground in all this."

By the time Jaune and Ren had joined Nora and her outside, Pyrrha had finished kicking herself over not being straight with Jaune. Unfortunately, Jaune still hadn't recovered from his mother's arrival, as he was still hesitant around her. The team made their way to their sparring circle, but they were joined by all six of Jaune's sisters this time.

She supposed Jaune thought letting them watch sparring up close would soothe their feelings about his skill, but she disliked giving up the team's personal time.

Noire, Rouge, and Marron all seemed curious to what training was like up close, while Rose and Verte showed the enthusiasm she was used to seeing on young fans. Violette, who had been far more civil at dinner, was showing that same intensity she had first seen on Nicholas and later Claire. She thought it might have been an improvement, given both parents' approval of her presence, but those looks were no less unnerving.

They paired off with partners, as usual, and they set to training.

Things seemed… wrong, she couldn't properly describe it. Her strikes always seemed just a tad off the mark, her dodges slow and deflections improper. To someone else, she doubted anything looked wrong, but she could feel it. As the spars went on, the feeling increased.

By the end of their first hour, Jaune's sisters were beginning to lose interest; seeing Jaune be disarmed or "killed" every fight was probably not particularly interesting. One by one, a sister excused herself and headed inside, until only Verte and Violette were left. She normally tuned out audiences, but Pyrrha found herself unable to truly ignore them, just as she was unable to shake the feeling she was doing something wrong. Verte was still watching all four of them with a look of wonder, but Violette only seemed to care about the brief exchanges after a match.

When she and Jaune would stop to catch their breath or prepare for a new fight, she would quiz Jaune on the previous spar, and it was only then Violette seemed truly involved: listening to their question and answer. But even in this, even with Violette's opinion seemingly on the line, Pyrrha had a nagging feeling she wasn't doing something right. She could feel her frustration build, and she knew it was making her sloppier, Jaune pressing her harder and harder.

It finally snapped when Pyrrha went for an overhand swing, more a butcher's chop than an actual attack, and Jaune stuck her wrist with his shield. Milo tumbled out of her hand, and Crocea Mors was against her neck before she could pull back. Jaune had won.

He did win, very, very, occasionally, but this should not have been one of those occasions, she was sure. Jaune was sure, as well; he was eyeing her with a fair amount of worry. "You feeling alright, Pyr?"

She nodded tightly in response. "I suppose I'm just a little out of sorts. Short break?"

"I think we'll head in, actually!" Nora chirped. "I'm exhausted! Come on, Ren!" Nora dragged Ren along behind her, and Verte followed them, talking animatedly to Nora. Violette hung back, as If to see what Jaune would do, but he waved her off.

"Head in, Vi, we'll be out here for a little while longer, and it's no fun watching spars in the dark." Violette looked as if she would object, but decided against it.

"I think I'll head home, actually. Have a good night, Jaune, Pyrrha." She gave her sweaty brother a loose hug, then turned for the house, hair swaying behind her. Jaune moved to where Pyrrha had sat down, dropping onto the grass next to her.

"Sorry. About running off earlier." Jaune was hesitant, embarrassed.

"It's alright, I understand…" That made two of them.

She thought to talk to him about it, to explain, but she still couldn't bring herself to it. Instead, they sat side by side, worn muscles easing.

"Do you mind if we go again? I felt out of sync most of our spars." Jaune looked over to her curiously.

"Kinda noticed that, but sure!" He hopped up, and offered her his hand. Smiling, she took it, and they soon resumed their fight.

The feeling of wrongness was even worse. Nothing was going where it was supposed to. Everything felt wrong. She felt her tense anger snap again, but this time she wasn't disarmed. She thrust Milo at Jaune, he hopped back out of reach, and a small burst of electricity shot from the point of her blade to strike Jaune's breastplate.

It was small, but it skittered across his armor for a brief moment before dissipating. Both of them stared at Milo.

"Pyr," Jaune began with a hint of fear, "what was that? Milo doesn't use dust like that."

She was staring at her unfamiliar weapon, but her mind was drawn off. Off, to calling lighting on empty roads. Her nightmare.

No, not a nightmare, a memory.

"Jaune, what do you know about fairy tales?"

Jaune had a vague idea of what had been happening, something to do with a fairy tale that was real and Pyrrha being asked to do something, but he hadn't pressed for details. Pyrrha needed to breath, he wouldn't force her to go too fast. But, sitting in their makeshift training circle, Pyrrha told him the whole story. Everything.

She started off distant, legs hugged to her chest, stopping every few seconds to think her next sentence through. But as the story moved along, and Pyrrha became more animated, she moved closer and spoke faster. By the time she reached their talk about destiny, she was leaning against him again, just like then.

He was terrified there would be a repeat incident.

She managed to keep control, however, and they made it to the basement before her voice ran out. "Just before… it." The thought was a little sour, but he understood. Big things first, and these Maidens were definitely big.

"So…" he wasn't sure where to start, but when had that stopped him, "you think the lightning thing is...?" Leaning against his shoulder, she nodded. "Right. Any idea what's supposed to happen? I mean, you're still you, but did they say anything else?"

"Losing my sense of self was the only thing I worried over, but this has never been done before, Jaune. We have no idea what the results will be."

They lapsed back into silence for a time. He would look down at her, leaning on his shoulder, then snap back to the sky. "Smooth, Jaune. Real smooth." He screwed his courage up, and tried to talk.

"I don't know how I can help, Pyr, but I want to. If you need anything, just say the word and I'll be on it. We'll figure this out, I promise." There was a brief pause.

"Thank you, Jaune, it means a lot to me." He stretched out his arm slowly, planning on wrapping it around her. He chickened out last minute, and started to rub her back lightly instead.

"Sure thing, Pyr." They were back to silence, but it didn't feel like a bad one. Maybe a little awkward, but not bad.

"It was you, by the way. You were what I never expected." Jaune didn't know whether he should dance or vomit, remembering what he had told her that day.

"Pyrrha, I don't think I believe in destiny," He stood up and reached down to her, "but I do believe in you." She took his hand, he lifted her to her feet.

...

"That sounded a lot cooler in my head."

She squeezed his hand, "It's the thought that counts?"

They headed to the house then, in companionable quiet. And if neither bothered to let go of the other's hand? Well, that was just where they were.

Post: Nora Valkyrie: Ultimate Wingwoman.

Get it?

Oh Jaune, one day you'll be as cool as you hope, but I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! By the way, have I mentioned how much I like making shitty jokes with the titles? Because I love that.