Chapter 17: Shatter like Glass

XxX

Jaune

He and Pyrrha briskly rounded the corner to Ruby and Yang's recovery room. Something inside him twitched when he saw the door. He knew they were both ok, none of their injuries looked awful and Beacon had let them walk themselves in, but...still. His friends were injured, and he hadn't been there to stop it. That stung. He - exhaled, stopping the thoughts from going any further. He hadn't been there for good reason. And right now, what he needed to do was make sure they were okay.

He knocked, and opened the door slowly when Yang shouted 'enter!'. Yang smiled at him from atop one of the beds and waved him over.

"Come in, come in. We're injured and we're not being as delicate as you are."

He laughed sheepishly, walking in. Blake was sitting against a window, staring into space. Ren and Nora were talking to Weiss and Ruby on the other side of the room. Ruby's hood was still pulled down - strange, for a hospital, but presumably some doctor had allowed it. He turned back to Yang.

"I didn't know if we were supposed to be quiet, all right?"

"Quiet?" Yang replied, pointing at Nora. "Lost cause, isn't it?"

"Fair, fair. Anyway, it's good to see that you're all right."

"Good enough for you to eventually show up, I guess." Yang winked. "Ren and Nora were here like ten minutes ago. You had more important things to be doing?"

"Two people from Haven were looking for their teammate," He responded, tone a little wry. "I assumed you could wait a few minutes."

"Probably. Well, at least my sense of humor's undamaged. I don't know what I'd do without my...sidesplitters." Yang paused, and Jaune stared back at her blankly.

"Am...am I missing something?"

She sighed, moving an arm to show a stab wound beneath her ribs. Jaune groaned slightly, though he could feel his muscles tense. That cut looked rough.

"Should have known."

She grinned.

"Least I didn't get hit in my funny bone."

They both fell silent for a few seconds before Jaune spoke up.

"It's good to see that you're all right."

"Thanks," she responded. "It was touch and go for a bit, but we made it out."

"What actually happened?"

She inhaled.

"We were setting up surveillance as normal when Ruby started hearing a few weird noises. We chalked it up to the wind. But then, right after Torchwick landed, someone took Ruby. A girl, huntress-trained, named Neopolitan. She sent us a photo of her next to Ruby's unconscious body, holding a blade to her throat, daring us to come find her-" she cut off, breathing heavily, hands clenching and unclenching.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," She inhaled slowly, muscles relaxing. "Yeah, I am. Anyway, Weiss and I went after her. She drew us into a warehouse and then fought us to a standstill - she had some sort of illusion semblance, and was powerful and fast enough to take advantage of it. We couldn't land a hit on her, and she knew it. She was playing with us, hurting Ruby just enough to keep us focused on her and then avoiding or parrying everything we threw at her."

Jaune paused, eyes widening. Something about that rang a bell with him, something about illusions...he shook his head after a moment, clearing his mind. Probably nothing related.

"What sort of illusions?"

Yang shivered slightly.

"She could make these...I guess you'd call them projections. Physical and visual only. They'd shatter when hit or touched, but until then they looked completely real. She could also make herself completely invisible with the same method. Weiss and I tried to freezerburn her out but that didn't work, she just filled the room with projections and dared us to figure out which one was her."

"So? What happened?"

Yang grinned darkly.

"I baited her out. Took a massive risk, dared her to hit me...and she did. Broke right through the last of my Aura, too, which is why I have this little baby right here. That gave me enough power to hit her right when she was vulnerable, and I took that opportunity. Damn near destroyed her kneecap, too. She backed off immediately. We found Ruby, picked her up, and left. Ozpin met us when we got back, though. He told us to stop hunting criminals entirely. That brings us to here."

She paused, looking at them. Jaune's eyes widened slightly.

"Wait, did you actually stop?"

Yang paused, turning to the other side of the room.

"Depends on your definition of stop, I guess. Rubes?"

Ruby called back a few moments later.

"Yeah, I think so. We should get the doors though. Weiss?"

The curtain slid open slightly to reveal the others. Weiss stepped forward and closed the doors before flicking her rapier a few times, ice freezing into the cracks in the hinges and beneath the door. Blake closed the window, sliding off the still as Weiss flicked her blade again, icing it over. She turned back to face the rest of the room.

"It's not perfect, and these walls aren't that thick regardless. Any more would be noticeable from the outside. Talk quietly."

Ruby nodded. Nora fidgeted in her seat, clearly excited.

"Better than nothing. And we can't be too careful, right?"

"Even this might not be enough," Blake replied shortly. "But it's all we can do. If there are people here we're dead anyway."

"People here?" Jaune held up a hand, mind racing. He could feel pieces clicking into place. Pieces that involved a stolen piece of Atlesian hardware. "What are you guys planning? And with who?"

Ruby closed her eyes for a moment before pulling back at her hood, a large cut prominently outlined against her forehead as she looked directly at Jaune.

"Ozpin isn't the only one chasing after the White Fang and Torchwick. James Ironwood, one of the heads of the Atlesian military, is going after him too. If Ozpin won't help us track them down, Ironwood will."

"You're going to Atlas? Ruby, Torchwick had a Paladin-"

Ruby grinned without a hint of happiness in her face. The expression looked almost macabre.

"We know. We're not going to Atlas. Weiss's sister works with Ironwood. We're going straight to her. You in?"

Jaune's eyes widened. Nora cut in before he could respond.

"Intrigue, terrorists, and a massive global conspiracy? And the opportunity to help our friends get delicious vengeance? Can we, Jaune? Can we can we can we?"

The underlying message was obvious. Jaune sighed, placing two fingers against his forehead. They wouldn't be able to convince RWBY not to go out again. Not when Ruby and Yang had both been hurt. And, given that? The best they could do was make sure that their friends weren't hurt. And, failing that, to make the ones who did it pay. He looked towards Pyrrha and Ren. Both nodded.

"We're in. What do you need from us?"

Ruby hummed softly.

"Not sure. Did you see anything strange at the White Fang meeting you watched? Is there anything you can think of that might help?"

"It was basically what you'd expect. They were distributing Dust for a while, exchanging some orders that we were too far to hear, and then we called Vale in. Nothing much happened besides that. Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, anything?"

Pyrrha looked directly back at him, voice calm.

"Jaune, that isn't everything."

His eyes widened.

"What do you mean?"

She exhaled softly.

"Oracle, Jaune. You know I wouldn't ask unless it made sense. And you know they could use it."

He froze for a second.

"Pyrrha, we talked about this, I-"

She cut him off, voice still calm.

"The situation's changed, Jaune. You know it has. Our friends are hurt. I'm not going to let them get hurt again. And I don't think you will either."

He closed his eyes, muscles tensing. On the one hand, he knew she was right. He'd never be able to live with himself if RWBY got hurt because he'd kept this from them. On the other hand, secrecy here was all he had, if the limits of his semblance got out then he'd lose all the advantages Oracle gave him. He'd be just another Huntsman, and a weak one at that. And what right did she have, to make him give up his secrets without warning? But...that wasn't worth risking the people he cared about.

"You're right. This room's shut off from eavesdroppers, right?"

Ruby nodded, tilting her head curiously.

"Yeah, that's what Weiss was doing. Jaune, what is it?"

"My semblance," He replied shortly. "Oracle."

The rest of team RWBY focused on him. He swallowed once at their gazes.

"It's...it's not as impressive as you think. I have a danger sense. Short-range, short time, but incredibly sensitive. I can cast it out farther range in exchange for losing precision in time and space. The rest has just been training my reflexes and getting better at last-moment dodges."

Ruby paused.

"So the end of our fight?"

"I don't really know," Jaune responded. "I pushed my semblance farther in that fight than I ever had before. Especially there at the very end. It...started to flicker and give me weird results. Then it pushed me subconsciously, I guess? To attack where I did. I threw all my energy into the strike, and...yeah."

Weiss whirled to face him.

"Did it feel like your Aura was talking to you? Pushing you deeper into it?"

He shook his head.

"No, I don't think I'm Aura-touched. Thank the gods. We've had enough pain already."

Ruby raised a finger for a moment before falling silent, eyes troubled. A few seconds later her expression cleared.

"Thanks, Jaune. I know that must have taken a lot to tell us."

He shrugged slightly.

"You needed to know. Anything else?"

She hummed for a moment.

"Nothing I can think of."

He nodded.

"We should probably leave you to sleep and heal, then."

"I guess you're right," she replied with a yawn. "See you guys tomorrow."

XxX

Jaune tapped Pyrrha's shoulder as JNPR drew up to their room.

"Can you wait outside a bit? We need to talk."

"Of course," Pyrrha said hesitantly. "What is it?"

"Pyrrha, pushing me to tell RWBY Oracle was," Jaune paused for a moment. "Probably the right move. Almost definitely the right move, now that I've had a moment to think about it. But you should have asked first, or something! You shouldn't have forced me into it like that."

"I didn't force you into anything, Jaune. I mentioned Oracle and you said the rest. I pushed you to notice what really mattered. I didn't want you to walk out of that room stuck in indecision and regret it later if their team got hurt."

"That isn't your decision to make, Pyrrha!" Jaune inhaled, calming himself down. "If you had those kinds of concerns, you should have tried to talk to me about them, not surprised me into giving in."

"If I hadn't pushed you, would you ever have given in?"

Jaune paused.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I know how it feels, Jaune," Pyrrha responded, voice softening. "There's a real allure to it, isn't there? Nobody knows how you do it, and they start assuming that you're just invincible. After a little while, you start believing it. And at that point, keeping the secret feels natural. Like you have to do it to live up to the mythos. I stepped in because I could see you being dragged into that. I don't think any less of you for it-"

"Don't patronize me," Jaune cut her off, voice cooling. "This all makes sense in general. What I don't understand is why you didn't talk to me about this. We're partners, aren't we? Do partners typically keep this sort of fatal flaw from each other?"

"I..." Pyrrha fell silent, clearly choosing her next words carefully.

"Say it. I already know you're trying to phrase something as inoffensively as possible. But I'm not...stop treating me like some fragile thing. If you have something to say, say it."

"Jaune, when you first got here, you had some skills but you were... inexperienced. And that's not a problem, experience is what most people come to combat schools to get! It does, however, change the way you see yourself in battle. You were skittish early on and covering it up with brashness. The only way to fix that sort of thing is by giving you a sense of your own abilities. So I decided that letting Oracle go on for everyone but your own team wouldn't be that bad, it would give you more confidence and balance you out, and-"

"You gave me Oracle as a crutch." Jaune's voice was ice-cold.

Pyrrha's eyes widened. "I wouldn't say crutch, no-"

Jaune cut her off again. "But it's what you meant, isn't it? You let me feel powerful as a gift, because you knew I wouldn't be able to do it on my own. And you never told me because you didn't think I was good enough to make decisions for myself. This is the Deathstalker all over again, isn't it? I'm still not good enough to take point."

"That was then, Jaune! I was with you this morning, I've seen you get better, you're on your way to being great and I'm so proud of you for that-"

"Stop patronizing me, Pyrrha!" Jaune's eyes widened at the volume of his own voice. He paused for a few seconds, calming himself down. "Sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. But no matter how much better you think I'm getting, it isn't enough, is it? Be honest with me. If I hadn't confronted you about this, would you have told me about this in the next few days?"

She sighed for a moment, completely silent.

"That's what I thought. I'm still not good enough. See, isn't it so much nicer when we're honest?"

"Jaune, you really are getting better, I do mean that-"

"But it'll never be fast enough. Not for the Invincible Girl." Jaune could feel his anger boiling over. "Must be weird to deal with someone who has to work for their talents, right? Sorry I couldn't be perfect the first time I picked up a weapon. We can't all be you."

He froze the moment the words left his lips. Pyrrha was already turning away, lips set, shoulders tensing. She was rounding a corner at the end of a hallway before he had the wherewithal to do more than stand there silently. He leaned against his door, eyes closing, a few stray tears welling up. Gods damn it.

XxX

Winter

(One week later)

The Atlesian skimmer stayed low to the ground as they approached Valean airspace, engines gradually slowing to a halt at the outer range of the city's radar. Winter glanced out the windows of the ship at the surrounding fields, taking a moment to drink in the quiet. One just didn't get this pastoralness around Atlas or Mantle. And it was nice, once in a while, to appreciate it. She turned back to the pilot.

"Once I leave, head back to the cruiser. See if you can swing by the glen unobtrusively on the way. I didn't like the look of those movements on the way in."

"Of course, Lieutenant."

She walked calmly over to the door before sliding it open, stepping out of the ship into the fields around it. After another moment to drink in the brisk, winter weather, she knelt for a moment, white and black glyphs swirling into place on her legs. She took a step forward and -blink- was a few hundred feet further along in the field in a comfortable run, glyphs empowering and reinforcing each step almost unconsciously. She pulled out her scroll as she crossed the Valean security perimeter, directing a call to Headmaster Ozpin.

"Winter Schnee? Well, this is a surprise. Does James have a message for me?"

"No, Ozpin. I'm actually not here on business. Quite the opposite."

"Meaning?"

"My sister's team is planning to enter the Vytal tournament, are they not? They have certainly qualified."

"So you're here to give them moral support? Or to train them?"

"Training. On that note, there is one favor I'd like to ask of you." She could see Beacon looming in the distance. Her glyphs shone a little brighter as she sped up.

"What favor?"

"I assume you're still arranging the logistics for the celebratory Vytal missions in two weeks?"

"I am, yes. Why?"

"Might I be permitted to be the team leader for RWBY?"

The headmaster hummed for a few minutes on the other end of the line.

"Assuming they're alright with the switch, I see no problem. Do you have somewhere specific you'd like to send them?"

Winter smiled slightly.

"Not yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. One last thing before I go-"

Ozpin cut her off dryly.

"Yes, Winter, I'll tell the defenses to expect you. Must you enter that way every time?"

Winter's smile widened slightly as the glyphs on her chest and back faded away, replaced by a slowly spinning blue glyph. She turned away from the scroll as blue-white wings materialized around her arms.

"Not every time, Ozpin. Only when I'm alone and want to be quick."

She ended the call as the wings locked into place, launching herself silently from the ground with a single powerful flap. The wings spun into nothingness as she reached the apex of the leap, glyphs snapping into place beneath her feet and further ahead of her. She sent a quick message to Weiss as she broke into a run.

"I'll arrive in 5 minutes, sister. See you soon."

A/N: God, this one fought being written at times. (Which is why it took so long to get out, among other reasons). Next chapter should hopefully be easier and more flowy, since it has fewer events that need to happen.

JNPR/RWBY: Not much to say here, was a necessary slowroll/setup moment as well as a period of relaxation for the two teams before the events of this+next chapter. Also, Yang's now safe enough to be back to punnery.

Jaune and Pyrrha's argument: This was actually one of the things I knew was going to happen from the moment I set Jaune's personality and semblance-Pyrrha's stuck arguing with a younger version of herself instead of Jaune, Jaune's had an inferiority complex his whole life and isn't accustomed enough with success to not be an absolute ass about protecting what successes he feels he's already had. The mix is like oil and fire-all too quick and explosive. Neither of these characters is meant to be fully sympathetic right now. (Far from it, honestly.)

End scene with Winter: Palate cleanser, set up for the next chapter, and also lots of wonderful foreshadowing-though I'm curious whether anybody's going to be able to put the pieces together to figure out my plans for changing one particular 'station of the canon'.

Nonstory: How has my break had almost as much work as college what the heck. Seriously, it's like workload expands to fill available space, god. Though I have had a person offhandedly imply that a thing I helped build was worth a 7 digit amount of money, which was cool.

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