Foreword:

This story takes place in the world of RWBY owned by Rooster Teeth, it starts roughly on volume 2 episode 7's end, with canon being rewritten so that dance is the end of the first term they shared at beacon. The story assumes a base level of knowledge about the world and the characters included. For those not familiar here is a short rundown of some basic information on the world. Many elements are taken from canon, but not all. I will try and tell the story from a realistic perspective as often as I can, to the best of my ability, I intend to have 3 ships of canon characters, Jaune x Pyrrha, Weiss x Ruby, and Blake x Yang, they will not happen all at once and will take time to develop. I do not intend to have a Ren and Nora ship. While I like them as characters, I like them more as longtime childhood friends. They will find their partners throughout the story assuming I can piece it together the way I envision it in my head, but it will not be until later in the story. The story, as the title implies, will cover 4 years once completed with a possible epilogue afterwards, starting at the conclusion of their first term at Beacon.

Terms:

Aura: Aura is the manifestation of a human soul, in combat aura can be used in several ways, but the most important aspect is its ability to shield its owner. When a human takes a hit in combat after unlocking their aura, it is their aura which will shield them. Each person has a finite amount, and while it does regenerate naturally, the levels of each person are specific to themselves. In the combat classes and tournament battles one is considered the victor when they drop the opponents aura into the red. How much aura is lost per hit depends on the several factors, how well defended they were, and the power of the attacker amongst others

Semblance: A person semblance uses their aura to perform a function. These functions differ from individual to the next, but it can often times be past down in families. To use a person's semblance means they need to dip into their pool of Aura. Example, Pyrrha can control the forces of magnetism with her semblance, Weiss and her family can use glyphs.

Dust: Dust is a refined form of crystal, when activated in weaponry or with somebody's aura they can perform a variety of functions. IE a fire dust can be used to manipulate fire, to various extents.

Hunters: Hunters are the protectors of Remnant, they are trained to fight Grimm, in one of 3 schools. Students accepted to hunter schools are expected to possess a certain level of combat prowess, having attended a combat school or equivalent prior to enrolling. In hunter training each person will be assigned a partner, through various means, they are to be their partner in school for the duration of their stay. If they choose to go separate ways after training, that is a decision left up to them.

Grimm: Soulless enemies of humans. They are drawn to negative emotions. They take the forms of animals, and tend to share in that animals habits in regards to fighting and hunting. Examples of Grimm include, but are not limited to: Nevermore ( big birds ), Beowulf's ( werewolves in appearance ) , Ursa (bears) , Deathstalker ( scorpion ), Goliath ( elephants ).

Faunus: Faunus have the overall appearance of a human, yet they can take on aspects of an animal. They could have cat ears, a monkey tail, antlers. They are treated, generally speaking, as sub humans, and looked down upon by society.

White Fang: White fang is a Faunus movement group, which has recently moved towards more terrorist style behavior noting how much force has been doing compared to their previous peaceful method of finding resolution. Blake formerly was a member. Most members of the White Fang are Faunus, but they do not attack only human owned enterprises to make their points, in fact the majority of the people they tend to harm, are Faunus. Though the Schnee Dust Company tends to get a particular focus given that companies stance on Faunus rights.

Schnee Dust Company: Simply the highly rich, wealthy, and powerful mega-corporation. They also happen to be one of the most controversial companies to exist. They are owned and ran by the Schnee family.

Scroll: Basically the equivalent of a very high tech cell phone.

Lien: currency ( dollars )

Persons of Interest:

Headmaster Ozpin : revered headmaster of Beacon, under his leadership Beacon is considered the top academy for hunters and huntresses in training.

Ms. Goodwitch: combat instructor at Beacon, her semblance is telekinesis. She tends to get annoyed by the antics of Beacon students as it tends to be her job to repair following an accident or incident, but she is a good instructor and cares for her charges.

Jaune (John… for this story anyway) Arc. Weapon: Crocea Mors, a family Heirloom. It is carried on the hip like a typical sword, once drawn the sheath can be expanded into a kite shield form. Semblance: Unknown. Jaune is a kind hearted boy, tends to lack in self confidence, but is known to possess an abnormal amount of aura. He is unique in that he got into Beacon without attending a combat school. In my story this was something he was open about. Which is different from Canon. Partner: Pyrrha Nikos. Jaune is the team leader of team JNPR and stands a touch higher than 6 feet tall, referred to as the Knight in the story.

Pyrrha(Peer-A) Nikos: Weapons: Milo(weapon), Akouo(Greek style hoplite shield). Semblance: Magnetism. Pyrrha is a fighter without equal, her unheard of physical prowess has earned her several perks, unfortunately she has never really had a chance to speak to people on a personal level. Despite that Pyrrha is truly a great person, caring, patient, helpful, all qualities which are almost always overlooked when compared to her physical ability. Milo has 3 forms, rifle, sword, and spear forms. She carries her weapon and shield on her back. Pyrrha is very tall for a woman, standing 6 feet tall, and is referred to as the Spartan.

Lie Ren: Weapons: Stormflower. Semblance, not specified, but he tends to be able to focus it into his weapons and physical attacks. Ren is a stoic individual, nobody would go as far as to say he is without feelings, but he tends to be very calm in any situation. His weapon is primarily a dual automatic pistol, yet it is a versatile weapon able to be used in both melee and ranged combat. Partner: Nora Valkyrie, a longtime friend. Ren is about 5'10. Gunslinger is his story nickname.

Nora Valkyrie: Weapon Magnhild. Nora is a powerful individual, typically preferring to use brute force over tactics to win her battles. She is childhood friends with Ren. Her weapon has two modes, 2 handed hammer, and grenade launcher. She is eternally happy and bubbly, even at worst of times. Her semblance allows her to absorb lighting to channel it into her weapons or herself to strengthen her attacks. Nora is about average height for a woman, around 5'5", hammer-wielder is shorthand for her.

Ruby Rose: Weapon: Crescent Rose. Ruby personally designed her weapon, it is a scythe, and sniper rifle at the same time. She was taught to her it by her uncle Qrow. Her semblance is speed, being able to move almost incomprehensibly fast, while using her semblance she leaves behind rose petals in the air. She is half sisters with her teammate Yang Xiao Long. She was granted entry into beacon due to her actions in stopping a robbery, as such she is the youngest member of the group( 15 to their 17). Despite that she does show a natural tendency towards leadership. She is the leader of team RWBY. Ruby is about 5'1 and is referred to as the Reaper.

Weiss Schnee: Weapon: Myrtenaster( a rapier, designed by herself ). Semblance: Glyphs, she can manipulate dust into various forms to due various actions which is stored in her sword, her two favorite elements are ice and lightning. Weiss is the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the world's biggest, most wealthy, and most controversial family. She has an air of haughtiness about her, and while she is used to keeping people at arm's length and treating them coldly ( hence her nickname, Ice Queen. ) She is actually a good person, once people have gotten through her normally cold exterior. She is partnered with Ruby Rose. Weiss is a small individual, she stands about 5'3 and is referred to as the Heiress.

Yang Xiao Long: Weapon: Ember Celica, they are normally bracelets, when she arms them they expand to cover her forearms. They can be loaded with various dust shells and also function as a shogun which fits in well with her fighting style of power and ferocity over grace and precision. Semblance: Absorption, as she takes damage, she uses it to increase her physical power, when she uses her semblance, or is simply very angry, her eyes change to red, and her long flowing blond hair carries an odd golden energy to it, almost like a fire . She is very protective of her hair. Yang is a jokester and a prankster, she also happens to be the mother of the group in terms of maturity. Despite this maturity she always seems to be in a joking mood, eager to poke fun at her teammates, and has assigned all of them various nicknames. She is the half sister of Ruby. Partner to Blake Belladonna. She stands tall at 5'8 and is referred to as the Brawler.

Blake Belladona: Weapon: Gambol Shroud. Her custom weapon is... complicated to describe. It can be used as a sword, a grapple hook, a whip, and a scythe. Semblance: Shadow, she can make clone images of herself and temporarily vanish from view. Blake is a more mellow person, and she loves her books, especially smutty literature with her favorite book being Ninja's of Love. She is the only faunus of the group, with cat ears on top of her head. In my story she has decide to not wear her customary bow which she previously used to hide her ears already. Her partner is Yang, she stands about 5'6, and is referred to as the Shadow in the story.

Intro:

Jaune Arc always wanted to be a knight, a hero really. Growing up in the famous Arc family it was expected of him in truth. Despite him having a very sickly childhood, and was never considered somebody who had the ability to protect others as was his dream. It was a surprise then when he was accepted into Beacon, the best academy for training hunters and huntresses, the defenders of Remnant. And so the hero in training took to his studies with the enthusiasm of a puppy with a new toy.

However right now, he is a hero in training, wearing a dress. Dancing with his best friend and partner, Pyrrha Nikos. He wore a dress on an off topic remark, firm in his belief that the unmatched fighter and gorgeous Spartan like woman would have a date to the winter dance. Yet as with many things in his life, he finds himself on the short end of the stick, proverbially of course.

On one hand, he is wearing a pink dress, on the other he is dancing with the girl he would only be able to describe as perfect. A physical specimen with unmatched combat prowess as her calling card, the "Invincible Girl" was as close to the phrase as can be achieved. Yet despite having the physical ability of a modern day Achilles, with a long, slender, graceful yet absurdly fit frame with hair of pure scarlet down to her waist and deep emerald eyes. She remained a wonderful person on the inside as well, humble, kind, considerate, patient. All accurate bywords when people would describe her.

For her part Pyrrha couldn't help but gaze in amazement at the goofy blond knight in training. She never expected him to keep his word to her about wearing a dress if nobody asked her to the dance, yet now that she was dancing she had this joyous grin on her face that just would not leave. She had seen him trained nightly for the past 4 months, and he had finally gained some modicum of muscle, taking on the beginnings of an athletic build himself. With eyes of deep ocean blue and golden blonde hair, he was every bit the embodiment of the classic white knight. Yet here he was, this strapping man of 17 years old, in a pink dress dancing. To keep his word, and she believed, or maybe hoped. To make her happy.

Four Years at Beacon

Ch1 Post Dance.

Still clad in the dress, and adorably enough, his sneakers Jaune was walking back to his dorm room with Pyrrha. His two other JNPR(Juniper) team mates, the bubbly and powerful Nora along with the stoic and steady Ren, were walking a fair distance ahead of them. A rush of footsteps behind them drew Jaune and Pyrrha's attention to a member of their sister team RWBY(Ruby).

"Hey Vomit Boy!" Jaune cringed as he heard his least favorite nickname.

"Hello Yang, you look nice." She did too, Yang was regarded as one of the most gorgeous women in the school. Her blond hair was thick and flowed well past her waistline, she cut a very powerful athletic figure and of course, her womanly endowment was the envy of most women in the school. He issued a sideways smile trying to placate her, or possibly distract her. He was not in the mood for her teasing at the moment.

"You know it" She said with a sly smile and turned her attention to Pyrrha. "You know Cereal Girl don't you think he, actually no, I won't tease him tonight, not while he is wearing that for you." Pyrrha blushed a bit at this and gently hugged her date with a happy expression on her face.

"I must admit, I respect your boldness Arc. However, you sir, are still a dunce." Jaune cringed again as he had another encounter he was not looking forward too. The Schnee Heiress was a small girl, but most anybody would call her beautiful with her platinum blond near white hair and delicate features only marred slightly by the scar on her face over her left eye. She was very touchy and irritable on the subject of her scar, but to many it did nothing but accentuate her natural beauty.

"Hello Weiss, I hope you enjoyed yourself tonight?" he said looking back at the young snow haired Heiress.

"I suppose I did have a good enough time, once Neptune realized I was just waiting for him to say hello." Jaune decided to let the fact that he had convinced Neptune to talk to her go unsaid.

"Well I am glad it worked out for you-" Jaune started, but was interrupted when Ruby appeared from seemingly nowhere via her semblance. She still hadn't mastered walking, much less running in high heels and only stopped when she bumped into Jaune, who managed to catch the speeding Reaper. Ruby being the youngest of the group was the smallest, yet she already had more curves on her body than the older Weiss did. She was similar to the Heiress beyond the fact that she had black hair dyed a very dark red near the tips moving closer to her scalp.

"Oh hey Jaune, sorry again about your punch. Hey has anybody seen Blake?" She asked recovering her balance.

"Last I saw she was still dancing with Sun" Pyrrha responded. She still couldn't quite get the happy off her face after dancing with Jaune, not that she felt any real desire too.

"Well the kitty cat deserved some fun. So what are we all doing over the weekend?" Yang responded

"My dear sister Yang, are you telling me that you forgot the sleepover tomorrow night?" Ruby said with a pout.

"Course not, its everybody from JNPR and Velvet right, oh I know just what to do for fun!" Everybody was scared of the smile Yang had on her face.

"Yeah Velvet said she would be there too." Blake confirmed, finally catching up with her team. Her friends still weren't used to seeing her without her customary bow on her cat ears. Blake was an athletic girl, fitting for a Beacon student, she wasn't as strong as Yang , and was a mix between Yang's power, and Weiss' grace in how her figure framed her body.

"Actually I wasn't going to go." All of them turned to look at Jaune, he quailed a bit under their collective glare.

"Sorry I have to study, Ms. Goodwitch made it clear I need to improve or I won't pass the combat assessment at the end of the year, which of course won't mean a thing if my grades don't improve too-"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said somewhat angrily. "It's just one night, surely you can have fun with the rest of us?" Her hair swayed as she turned to face him.

"No combat school previously, remember?" He had told them that that despite being accepted to Beacon, he had zero formal education. "I need every day I can get to catch up to you all. Ozpin told me straight up he needs 100% from me or I won't be allowed back." The group continued to walk towards their dorm rooms separated only by a few feet in the same hallway as they spoke.

Pyrrha wore an obvious frown on her face, but Ruby chimed up next "Well we arrived, let's get out of these dresses-"

"Oh thank god." Jaune interjected and quickly opened the door to the JNPR dorm room.

... "-Don't worry Pyrrha I'm sure we can convince him to join us tomorrow night. Why don't you talk to him with Ren and Nora? Aren't they already inside?" The Reaper continued.

"Yeah I'll talk to them, anyway its late, and I think we all can use some rest before the slumber party tomorrow." Pyrrha said as she followed her team leader into the dorm room. Many people asked her why she allowed somebody like Jaune to be her team leader, believing herself to be more suited to the job. The truth is she saw something in Jaune from the moment their eyes met, she didn't think she was as suited to the task. If anybody was being honest with their assessment of him. They had to admit that while his combat skills were… below normal at least for now, his tactical awareness and battlefield command were excellent. As she entered she heard the end of a conversation with Jaune.

"... as I said I need to study. I can't go tomorrow but don't worry about me, you three go have fun." There was a uncomfortable pause as he looked around the room, and gathered that the decision for him to stay behind, wasn't a popular one. "Anyway I need to get out of this thing, dibs on first shower!" He then jogged into their team shower.

Nora waited until the door had closed before she said "I'm sorry Pyrrha, he is still as obvious as always isn't he?"

Nora was the only one on the group who could match Yang in terms of pure power, she hid her strength well, but it was evident on her body to those who knew where to look.

"Well, no I don't believe so at least not completely, he did get into that dress for me and tonight was wonderful. I do wonder if he still just sees me as a best friend" There was just a hint of annoyance in the redheads face.

"Well don't you worry, we will help you tomorrow before the sleepover. You know Yang is going to want to play Truth or Dare again right? We need to come up with some devious scheme to get Jaune to agree to come along." Nora said with an evil look in her eye and a sinister smile.

"Nora really I appreciate it, but just try not to embarrass him to much alright?" Curiosity overcoming her she continued "What do you have in mind?" She couldn't help but think this was a dangerous conversation to have with Nora.

"Well it's simple really, we just need to convince Jaune that its best for the team. I'm pretty sure he would feel obligated to go then. Course if that fails you could just ask him, he seems to have problems not doing what you tell him." The bubbly girl replied with a grin, causing the Spartan to blush heavily.

Nora continued with that grin growing bigger "Those was some fancy moves he showed though right?" Nora asked, causing Pyrrha to blush more.

"I never would have guessed he was such a good dancer, I knew about how large his family was. I wonder why he never talks about it, I wouldn't consider being a good dancer was all that embarrassing." Ren said.

Ren was the most soft spoken of the group, yet when he did speak it was always with a purpose. He stood tall, but thin, with the look of a martial artist in terms of shape, not overly powerful, but he carried himself with confidence and poise.

"Well, in any case it was fun and I am glad for tonight." Pyrrha said. It was obvious to all her friends, minus Jaune, that she desired more than friendship with the blond knight in training. He has as of yet not picked up on that point despite the fact that she admitted she wished he had asked her to go with him.

Nora and Ren shared a look, then Nora spoke on.

"Why don't you just tell him? Or better yet just kiss him! I'm sure he would understand your feelings at that point." A sly grin appeared on her face.

"You both know I am bad at talking about my feelings, and I can't just kiss him!" Pyrrha responded in shock, her blush hiding the fact that she almost wanted to do that.

Her teammates looked at her as she funneled through her thoughts then she continued by saying "It was hard enough just admitting I wanted to dance with him tonight. That I wished he had asked me and I liked him as a person, more would be..."

Pyrrha was going to continue when they were interrupted by Ren clearing his throat reminding them that the shower just cut off.

Jaune shortly thereafter emerged from the shower in his typical shorts and t-shirt. "Ok guys plenty of hot water left, I think I will turn in for the night" Nora zipped into the shower soon as the entry was clear.

"Jaune, because of the party tomorrow do you think we could get our training in the afternoon? I don't want to skip another day."

"Sure Pyrrha that sounds great." Her smile was radiant.

"Excellent, how about after brunch? Normally we have a late breakfast on Saturdays." Looking forwards to sparring with him always put a smile on her face.

He answered with nod, then pulled out a book while the remaining members of his team showered and turned in for the night.

CH 2

Pyrrha woke up before her team, as is her habit. She did a quick glance around her room, and found her teammates sleeping soundly. After quickly dressing in her normal combat attire she went to the training room. After a couple hours of what could only be described as training dummy annihilation she had finished with her morning workout. She showered, then joined her team for breakfast. Ren and Jaune were already at work in the kitchen. As she approached she heard a conversation between Ren and Jaune becoming more clear as she closed the distance.

"Ren why are we both making pancakes?" Her team leader asked stifling a yawn.

"Well if I was the only one cooking Nora would get bored." Ren replied.

Jaune accepted this with a with a "huh, makes sense" and angled his head to the side, then continued cooking.

"Jaune, you know it would really mean a great deal to the rest of us if you would join us tonight with RWBY."

"Ren, c'mon man you know I have to study." Pyrrha stood out of view and listened to the conversation, ignoring the looks she was getting from her friends at their joint table.

"Jaune" Ren voiced back with a bit more energy then he likely intended. "It's a few hours, moreover it's important to your team. Everybody would benefit from you being there."

"Meaning Yang would have another target." He replied somewhat under his breath remembering the 'Yang or nothing approach' she has to playing truth or dare.

"Well that too but it's important to us that we all be there for team building. Hold on I have enough to get this round out to them."

Several members of the joint JNPR and RWBY teams cheered as more of their beloved pancakes arrived. Pyrrha caught Ren's eye, he understood the look. Nobody wanted Jaune there more than she did. Ren went back into the kitchen and resumed cooking. Pyrrha moved to take her seat at the table, following the mutual understanding between herself and Ren.

"Jaune I know you want to do as much as you can alone but you would have more progress if you let your team help you, that's why we are in teams after all." Ren continued to speak to him but as Pyrrha moved away she couldn't hear once she reached the table.

Yang was the last to grab some pancakes. She finished buttering them and applied some syrup. After she took a healthy bite, she voiced "Gotta admit, Ren makes the best pancakes" she spotted her sister across the table had finished eating her pancakes, waiting on more to be delivered, and chuckled when she pulled out cookies "Really Sis? Cookies and pancakes?"

She received a slow nod, almost akin to a 'duh?' and proceeded to devour cookies at an astounding rate.

"So Weissy, how'd the dance go with Neptune last night?" The Brawler asked, looking to cause some embarrassment to start her day right.

Weiss responded with a huff but eventually worded "He didn't dance with me, we just spoke for a couple hours... Wait a moment you knew that you came up and talked to us!"

The Brawler couldn't help but grin and reply back "Well I didn't keep my eyes glued on you two the entire night I was curious if he did anything more you know... provocative" This was met with a death glare from the Heiress and another fit of laughter from the Brawler.

More pancakes arrived to interrupt them, carried by Jaune this time, they were claimed in the blink of an eye. Jaune was slightly terrified at how quickly they were running out of pancake batter "How much more do you all want?" He asked.

"Just keep em coming!" Yang, Ruby, Pyrrha and Nora all said at the same time. He saw Ren pulling a second bowl out of the fridge. With a resigned sigh he started walking back to the kitchen.

Recovering from her previous mirth the Brawler asked with her normal smirk "Oh hey Vomit Boy!" Ugh, that nickname again "Why are you so bent on studying when the fall term is over?"

Jaune froze, and slowly turned to face her. He appeared to be questioning the wisdom of answering the question honestly. His honesty won out and without his customary friendly smile he sighed, then answered. "Yang, I am not naturally strong or fierce, like you are. I am not a protégé like your sister. I am not graceful and precise like Weiss, I'm not... I'm not perfect like Pyrrha I'm..." He sighed again. "Look if I want to be here next year I need to work at it. It doesn't come naturally to me. Please stop asking me to go, ok?"

The mood at the table was several degrees colder once he was back making more pancakes. Pyrrha was trying not to cry at that admission from Jaune. On one hand she was elated like the 17 year old girl she was, that her crush just called her perfect. On the other the look in his eyes and sadness in his voice nearly brought tears to her eyes.

As is normal in these situations, the youngest of the group surprised them all. "Pyrrha you don't need to worry, Jaune will go all you need to do is ask. It's obvious he will do anything you ask him." Pyrrha blushed at that, it said something that even Ruby knew of her interest in him.

Blake who had finished with her pancakes and was back to her customary book worming deadpanned "That's a dangerous thing to say to her Ruby" She blushed more.

"He has made so much progress especially when you consider that when he got here he didn't know a thing about fighting. He knew nothing about footwork, stances, not even how to defend himself. Despite all that he has made remarkable progress and is a great person." She sighed sadly. "He is an amazing leader I just wish he could see that himself, see his potential. I think he has the potential to be a truly exceptional fighter, he just needs a helping hand." The Spartan lamented.

"I for one don't see what you see in him Pyrrha." The snow haired Heiress chimed in, seemingly oblivious or simply not caring to Pyrrha's feelings.

"No Weiss, I suppose you don't. Then again it's common knowledge that you cannot see what you are not looking for." An uncomfortable silence filled over the table for several seconds. The memory of Jaune's initial pursuit of Weiss which was a constant source of pain for Pyrrha fresh in the minds of the group. The silence was interrupted by an adorable;

"Nope." They looked at Ruby.

"Nope?" Several of them replied back looking curiously at the RWBY team leader.

"Nope! Look we aren't going to argue or fight today, we are done with our first term at Beacon and we are going to have fun! With or without Jaune." They couldn't help but laugh at her childish attitude, but it was exactly what they needed. "Besides he is the only one of us who is sick, if he wants to study we should let him."

That got their attention, several pairs of eyes locked themselves directly on Ruby. "Um, Sis, what do you mean, he is sick?" Yang asked the first to piece together what Ruby said.

The Reaper seemed to remember that wasn't something she was suppose to talk about, and she tried to hide behind her cookies. There is however no hiding from Jaune's partner, a fierce look was in the Spartans eyes when she demanded "What. Do. You. Mean. Ruby?!" Punctuating each word deliberately for maximum emphasis.

She gulped, then decided she couldn't avoid the topic now and in a quiet voice said "Our first day at Beacon when we met-"

"You mean when you tried to blow me up?" Weiss deadpanned.

"I said I was sorry!" Weiss just grinned. "Anyway, I noticed he was out of breath while walking up the stairs you know the flight after getting off the bullhead, and he seemed sick. He told me that he was constantly sick as a child due to him being born with a weak heart. That's why he tires more quickly than we do."

They were interrupted when the bunny faunus Velvet walked up to their table and energetically asked them "Hey guys! what's up? Can I join in for pancakes?" In her usual cheer.

They were still trying to sort through what Ruby had revealed and it took a second for Pyrrha to say sure, however she couldn't help but tear up. As she looked around she saw that everybody at their table was touched by what Ruby had said to varying extents, even Weiss had her eyes downcast. How a boy, who was untrained. Would apply and be accepted into Beacon to protect the innocent, when he himself had a heart condition. The same boy who stood up to bullies like Cardin for people he didn't even know. She recalled the memory of how he introduced them to Velvet when he saved her from one of Cardin's acts of bullying.

"You all seem... off, did I come at a bad time?" the bunny girl asked, her ears dipped down her head thinking something was wrong.

"No, no we are ok. Hey Vel, nice to see you." Jaune said surprising them, Ren right behind him emerging from the kitchen with the last of their pancakes.

"Oh! More pancakes!" A certain hammer wielder said. Interestingly enough, half of the pancakes disappeared around the same time.

The two boys sat down at the table and began eating, Jaune couldn't help but feel the glare of eyes against him and looked around him nervously.

"Uh, guys? Something on my face?" He knew, he just KNEW something was out of place by the intense glare of his partners eyes and the way that Ruby just couldn't quite meet his gaze. He was about to interrogate the young Reaper when as usual, her sister came to her aid.

"We were just plotting on how we were gona get you to go to the party tonight." Yang said with a wink.

Jaune groaned and planted his face on the table. Ruby, keen to distract Jaune added in "Yes exactly we were gona have cookies! Oh oh and brownies!" Pyrrha perked up at brownies, she always had a weakness for chocolates. Several chuckles were heard around the table at that.

Picking up on the lead Pyrrha chimed in "It really would mean a lot to us if you went Jaune. If you need to study we can help you afterwards ok?"

A resigned groan was heard coming off the table edge as he finally spoke "Gah fine FINE if it would get you all to stop pestering me I'll go." Jaune finally caved in. There was a chorus of "Yays!" around the table. Pyrrha hugged him, Nora lamented the lack of more pancakes, Weiss chuckled at her partners energy, and Blake was just annoyed at the noise.

"So what's everybody going to do until tonight?" Velvet asked.

"Jaune and I have training to do" Pyrrha said cheerfully.

"I'm going to work on my Glyph more." Weiss surprised everybody.

"What Glyph?" Her partner asked.

"It's something I'm trying to invent, something that would let me heal the scar over my eye." Despite being more comfortable around her friends, she never really spoke about her scar, her friends were smart enough to leave it alone.

"Why would you need to invent something Snow Princess the Schnee Corporation does everything you need?" The Brawler couldn't quite hold back.

Her eyes narrowed in a Terrifying Glare, but she didn't dignify it with a response otherwise.

After the late brunch the group dispersed to go about their activities

CH 3

Jaune was left winded, sore, and a touch humiliated as he picked himself off the ground for what must be the millionth time. They had been sparring for some time, he always seemed to lose track of exactly how long. He had never known Pyrrha to tire so they normally stopped on the weekends when he simply couldn't go any further. Which was different from their sessions during the week where they stopped after an hour or two. He felt that threshold was approaching quickly.

"You know Pyrrha, if I had a cookie for every time I ended up on the ground out here. Ruby would never need to eat again." The Knight joked as he struggled to find his balance.

The Spartan grabbed his shoulders with a kind smile and helped steady him, then said "You definitely are improving, it is true." The smile grew into what he might classify as ... affectionate before she continued "Why did I beat you that time Jaune?" She had taken to making him refight the battle mentally, to try an added approach beyond just the physical nature of their training, and to give him time to catch his breath between bouts which she insisted upon most sternly until he complied given her newfound knowledge regarding his health. Something which greatly assisted them in training for longer periods of time.

"You mean aside from being stronger faster and more, well, everything than I am, right?" This resulted in a slight blush from the Spartan but none the less her eyes narrowed expecting an answer.

"Ok ok fine. Well my center of balance was off, which is why you were able to push me over so easily." He shook his head side to side then continued. "Honestly though Pyrrha even if I had my balance you still could have pushed me over. I'd wager Weiss could push me over right now if she wanted." He was still struggling to catch his breath.

"And what does that tell you Jaune?" She couldn't help but feel for him seeing him wheeze while trying to breath.

"That, I'm... I'm...not-. " He sounded defeated here staring at the ground.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Jaune. That is the attitude I am trying to get you past. It won't matter what skills I manage to give you or what physicality you gain if your mind is still closed off. Keeping your form and maintaining your stance in battle is not something that only experienced fighters do. It is absolutely critical to survival, it is not an option, it is a necessity." She cupped his face with her hands and forced him to look at her. "Jaune, you can do this. Your body will give up well after your mind. Keep your mind in the game, ok?" She said all that with a very intense glean in her eyes.

He gave her an empty smile and said "Thank you for believing in me Pyrrha. I would literally be nothing without you, you realize that right?"

Pyrrha wanted to smile at that, she cared more for Jaune than she was able to articulate, but the fact that he thought so little of himself made her want to cry. "Jaune, I'm your partner. We are suppose to help each other overcome the others weaknesses, remember?"

"I'll remember that when somebody finds out a weakness of yours Pyrrha." He said as he detached from her, his breath finally coming easily.

Pyrrha already knew her weakness, or at least the only one she was aware of. It was something she desperately needed Jaune for, her complete inability to form meaningful friendships on her own. While it's true, she was a kind and considerate person. She found conversation, real conversation a more difficult challenge than any sparring match. For all her training did to keep her mentally composed, human interaction was something she continually struggled with. She was taught so thoroughly well that while she is an unmatched fighter, the same training told her that feelings are bad. That she should always push them away. As a result she never really learned how to deal with feelings outside of the arena. This goofy awkward good natured blond boy has done more for her in this regard in the 4 months she had known him than she had in the previous 17 years of her life. She just didn't know how to tell him. Instead she retreated to more comfortable territory.

"You ready to go again?" She asked with a smile, and a mischievous grin.

Several bouts later, once again Jaune was on his back gasping for breath. He found his limbs weren't obeying him, he was absolutely, utterly, completely, exhausted. Trying several times to sit up or spin over, only to come crashing back down to the ground.

"I fear... I will... have... to lay here... awhile... Pyrrha" He managed to get out in between breaths.

Pyrrha stared down at her partner with a mix of wonder and sadness. Wonder at this boy who wants to do the right thing so badly he gives everything he has, without holding anything in reserve. Sadness due to the fact that Beacon housed several individuals who are far more regarded than he was. People who were perfectly happy with their lot in life, never really feeling the need to push themselves. Those same individuals looked down on him ever since he enrolled at Beacon. It sent a pang through her heart, but it only reaffirmed her fondness for the boy.

"Pyrrha?" he asked, giving her a curious look, his chest still heaving as he tried to breath.

She wanted to go into her feelings, to express how much he means to her. She tried to start saying so several times. Unfortunately just like normal when she tried to talk about her feelings. The training she had endured which made her the premier fighter of her time, clamped down on them. Unable to voice them. Instead she decided on something else she wanted to know, something less alien to her "Jaune, why didn't you tell me about your heart condition?"

Jaune groaned, he really didn't want to talk about this topic. He managed to roll over to his stomach and tried to push himself off the ground eventually rising to his knees while utilizing both of his arms. Somewhere in his exhausted mind he realized he never told her about it, and figured out that Ruby must have told her. Hence why she was so nervous at brunch... he kicked himself mentally for not putting it together before now.

"Ruby?" he asked trying to buy time to think, still facing the ground breathing less hard but still gulping in air as quickly as he could. He managed to bring his torso up and one of his legs into a kneeling position an elbow resting on the kneeling leg.

"A woman never reveals her sources." She said biting her lip with a nervous smile... the smile quickly deteriorated as Jaune used 'that look' he had. He doesn't use it often, but it was commanding and highly, highly intimidating.

She could only hold the gaze for a fraction of a second before her eyes dipped down.

"Ruby" she finally affirmed, and once again grabbed him by his shoulders helping him stand. Once he was up however she didn't let go. She continued to look at him, with what she hoped was care and concern. She could feel his body trying to gulp in as much air as it possibly could, she never really knew until this moment just how hard it was for him to keep up with others, it was hard for her seeing him like this now that she knew what exactly this was. Previously she just thought he was out of shape.

He sighed dejectedly, and starred at his feet. In a voice barely more than a whisper said "Do you really want to talk about this Pyrrha?" She never heard him sound this way and was left feelings confused.

"Do, I... you... do you not trust me with the truth?" She squeezed his shoulders to try impart some measure faith... or assurance for him, but was unable to completely keep the hurt out of her voice.

Jaune looked up at her and all her worry evaporated as once again he was just the kind boy with the gentle ocean blue eyes smiling at her. "Yes of course I trust you. I just, really didn't want to talk about it, to bring it with me here."

"Why then did you tell Ruby?" She couldn't help a touch of jealousy entering her voice here.

He chucked humorlessly "Ruby just earned her first nickname."

"Crater-face?" Pyrrha guessed.

"Yes Crater-face. She needed a friend. She needed to trust somebody. I just saw a scared and confused girl, and I felt the right thing to do was help however I could. Telling her a 'secret' was a great way to do that." There was a sad look in his eye as he said this, but he tried to reassure Pyrrha with one of his smiles.

She immediately felt terrible about that pang of jealousy. Jaune so casually is such an amazing person, always and seemingly effortlessly treating others so well. She absolutely loved him for his heart, despite being unable to say so.

"Now that I know about it, can you tell me why?" She pushed, her curiosity not yet being sated.

At this he bent over slightly, and uttered a deeply frustrated , emotionally charged sigh but spoke on after looking back up at her "Weiss introduced you to me as Pyrrha Nikos, the 4 time Mistral Tournament winner, decorated celebrity athlete who was heavily endorsed by several companies including cereal brands known as the 'Invincible Girl', right?" She nodded. "Well, in my hometown. I was the sick boy with a weak heart who continually let his father down and embarrassed his family. I wanted none of that here with me at Beacon." His eyes spoke volumes to her as he recalled a piece of his, evidently, painful childhood.

It took Pyrrha no time at all to understand why he didn't want to tell anybody and felt horrible for pressing the issue. She brought her arms around his body and hugged him while trying to utter an apology. He completed the hug but cut her off with a shush.

He couldn't help but notice her gorgeous red hair given that it was inches from his eyes, tied up in her customary ponytail swaying with the breeze as he rubbed her back returning the hug as the silence drew on.

She would have been content to stay here like this for some time when she heard him speak again.

"Pyrrha..." he started to say then struggled to find the words.

"HEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYY you two!" They turned to see Ruby happily walking towards them. For reasons Jaune didn't quite understand Pyrrha continued to hug him, in fact she seemed to hug him more forcefully.

"Hey Ruby." Pyrrha said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice, she really wanted to know what Jaune was going to say. "What's up?"

"Ren asked me to come get you two, he says if he has to cook cookies AND brownies you need to help with dinner." The Reaper responded with typical youthful cheer.

"Dinner?" Jaune asked, then looked around to observe their surroundings, it seems they were practicing for far longer than he thought, the sun was about to go down below the tree line.

"Yes of course dinner we are hungry!"

"But why would I need to help him I didn't ask for either of those things?" He replied in mock indignation.

"Well... because I want cookies, Pyrrha wants brownies and Ren needs your help!" She then vanished in a puff of rose petals as she activated her semblance.

With a resigned sigh, he trudged off towards his dorm room. Or tried to anyway, he realized that Pyrrha was actually supporting his weight, and nearly fell were it not for her catching him. She helped him limp back to the dorm, gaining the strength to stand about halfway there. Like most things in his life however he lamented, he has come to accept a steady amount of humiliation and accepted Pyrrha's willing assistance without complaint.

CH 4

Jaune let Pyrrha get the first shower, she would be done quickly and he needed the time to get his strength back. Once she was out and he had his turn he had to admit the hot water did wonders for his body and his recovering stamina. He stood just letting the water fall over his body for several minutes. He remembered, wish some measure of regret that Ren was waiting for him and felt the need to hurry up and get dressed.

He emerged dressed casually in a t-shirt and shorts and noticed Pyrrha in a similar set of clothing. He took a spare moment to admire her physique and musculature while she was looking away from him fixing her hair. He couldn't help but admire the long, slender and graceful yet amazingly fit look of her figure. The alluring contours of the curves she carried from her head down through her torso and especially so in her legs. She always managed to pull off breathtakingly gorgeous woman and shockingly deadly warrior at the same time better than anybody ever would have thought possible. He realized that even if she were in a brown sack she would still manage to look regal refined and beautiful effortlessly. A blush ran through his cheeks as he quickly looked away and started his way down to the kitchen.

Before he managed to exit through the door however Pyrrha intercepted him and said "You did well today Jaune, I think your body is starting to show some results too." She squeezed his upper arm to show her point.

"Thanks Pyrrha, but I still wouldn't want to arm wrestle you." She blushed wildly at this.

"C'mon let's get to the kitchen before somethi-"

"NORA!" The intruder shouted as she opened the door.

"ng happens..." Jaune finished.

"C'mon you two we are HUNGGRRRY! HURRYYY UUUUPPPPPP!" She proclaimed then the always cheerful girl skipped back down the hallway towards the kitchen.

Jaune realized that Pyrrha had grabbed his hand during that and was still actively holding it. "Uh, are you ok Pyrrha?" She blushed like a maple leaf in autumn and let go of his hand just a touch too quickly.

"Yes, yes I'm perfectly ok. Let's go get some food before the party tonight, ok?" She stammered out, then walked at a brisk pace down the hallway.

Replaying the event in his mind he thought, wait a minute, was that her way of saying I looked good?

He knew that he absolutely was attracted to her, in fact he couldn't imagine a more attractive person. He knew she considered his personality amiable, she said so herself but the idea that she thought he was attractive too, just seemed to impossible to entertain.

When he reached the lunch room he found the table of his friends with Neptune as well as Velvet present, banging silverware on the table while demanding food. Even Weiss was playing along at this point with an amused smirk on her face.

Neither Ren or Jaune wanted to be responsible for the desserts for the party that night, both insisting that they be responsible for dinner.

"As team leader it is my responsibility to ensure that my team is well nourished, it is only right therefore that I be responsible for dinner"

"Yes but as team leader you should be given the most difficult assignment, therefore the job of preparing the cookies and brownies should be yours"

This went on for several more sentences leaving the girls amused, somewhat entertained, but getting progressively more and more hungry.

Pyrrha decided to try and end the stalemate by saying "I think you two should settle this like men, not as children." With an obvious smirk to her sly smile.

"Oh that means fisticuffs!" Nora interjected with her usual cheer.

"I have 60 lien on Ren." Blake deadpanned.

The two boys looked at each other with honest amusement.

Ruby chimed in, "C'mon nobody is going to fight, why don't you two do something else, like arm wrestle."

"I have 120 lien on Ren." Blake deadpanned again.

Reading each others look Jaune replied.

"You really to go down gunslinger?"

Ren just smirked and worked his way around the table so they could face off against each other.

Pyrrha was certainly intrigued at this point. She never actually believed Jaune would agree to arm wrestle as tired as he was and was dead set certain that the look the two shared carried some type of mutual understanding. He must have something else in mind. She knew that both Jaune and Ren considered the other a brother, they did seem to have an easy time with unspoken communication.

"This is really going to happen? This will be entertaining." Yang said with an interested twinkle in her eye.

"This should be over quick." Weiss agreed.

Ren had reached the other end of the table and both boys sat down, then almost as if this had been rehearsed they shouted at the same time:

"ROCK! PAPER! SISSORS! SHOOT!" and proceeded to put down their choices. The table was echoing with laughter(Pyrrha and Ruby), sights of girls falling out of their chairs while laughing (Yang and Nora) and looks of obvious disappointment as Blake and Weiss actually wanted to see some sport, even as they laughed with them.

Jaune ended up victorious after winning 2 out of 3 rounds leaving Ren to glare as his 'Scissors' and accept his fate as the cookie and brownie master. Pyrrha couldn't keep the blush from her face as Jaune took an honorary bow and went into the kitchen to prepare a dinner.

Turns out Ren actually won the wager as the kitchen was nearly devoid of materials needed to feed the ravenous pack of teenagers waiting.

"You knew about this already didn't you?" Jaune demanded.

The smirk he received in reply told him everything he needed to know.

While Ren was slaving away at the desserts Jaune found enough to make what he hoped, would be a filling meal for his friends. Ren watched as he prepared the party food with an obvious air of intrigue about him, unsure what Jaune was doing. Jaune had never displayed any degree of skill with cooking previously aside from helping with pancakes occasionally. Yet here he had the appearance of a professional chef in a kitchen he wasn't familiar with.

20 minutes later the cookies and brownies were cooling, an extra pan of each was made so the group would be able to hold off on devouring the rest.

Jaune emerged with his scrapped together meal. He found macaroni noodles, but no cheese to go along with it. He did however find enough to make a rich alfredo sauce and so, made macaroni alfredo. For a meat he made a rather impressive bowl of scrambled eggs with various onions, tomatoes and other ingredients added in. While Blake would have happily eaten away at the meal provided for her she squealed in delight when Jaune brought out a salad prepared with a healthy amount of tuna.

As the collection of friends dug into the meal various compliments were thrown out.

"Holy crap Jaune where did you learn to do this? More importantly why haven't you been cooking for us all along?" Yang asked in between healthy amounts of pasta and egg. "Seriously I think this could be in a main dish somewhere" She continued.

"It does seem exceptional." Weiss admitted, silencing the table. Shocked pairs of astonished eyes glaring at her. "What it's the truth!"

"Jaune, this is marvelous. Where did you learn to cook like this for so many people?" Pyrrha added in.

Jaune was never very adept at receiving praise and blushed heavily scratching the back of his head, but seemed hesitant to talk about it.

"Come on Vomit boy it can't be THAT embarrassing can it?" Jaune looked at her very irritated at both the nickname and pressing the issue.

"I am glad that you all enjoy my cooking, I hope it's enough." He said modestly.

"Jaune, can't you just accept our praise? This is very very good." Ren surprised him by voicing his thoughts.

Jaune let out another of his sad/resigned sighs "Yes, yes I can. I'm sorry. It just reminds of home."

They were still looking at him expectantly. He continued "You all know that I didn't receive combat training as my parents forbade me from training due to health. I had to support my parents and 7 sisters by cooking, and other things around the house instead. Cooking for you all and cooking for my family isn't all that different in terms of numbers."

Pyrrha was sad at hearing that, but tried to cheer him up "Well it is an excellent skill to have, and as we all enjoy your cooking hopefully you would be willing to cook for us more often." She gave one of her radiant smiles and couldn't contain her blush when they looked at her.

"What other... hidden skills do you have Jauney?" Ruby asked innocently enough.

"I'm sure he is good with his hands." the blond Brawler stated, starting in on catching her grove.

"I bet he is good with his fingers too." Blake deadpanned.

"Oh now I know why Pyrrha gives him so much hand to hand training." Yang continued with a hearty laugh. Seeing Pyrrha's blush was as red as her hair she made to continue when she was interrupted.

"I don't know what any of that means." Ruby said with an adorable pout.

"You will when your older sis!" Yang replied with a wink prompting another pout from Ruby.

"That is quite enough." The Heiress scolded with one of her death glares, then she continued "In all seriousness Arc what else can you do?" The eyes of his friends bored into him expectantly.

Resigned to his fate Jaune answered "Well, I'm reasonable at hair care, I guess I can cut and style hair. I can draw well, and I was trained as a masseuse. I think that about sums up what I can do competently." There were several blushes around the table (Pyrrha most notably) as she contemplated his meaning of masseuse.

"Oh awesome free hair care would you mind doing my hair Jaune?" Neptune asked a little too energetically. Not noticing the angry look from Weiss.

"No, Neptune, I will not be doing your hair." He dryly replied.

"Well damn. Anyway am I welcome at this party of yours tonight? You all never did invite me." Neptune asked. For reasons Jaune didn't understand, the group turned to him, for an answer. Still not sure about why this was happening he nodded to Weiss for her to answer.

"Sure Neptune of course you would be welcome" and gave him a dazzling smile, earning a look of scorn from Ruby, oddly enough. "How about Sun, would he like to come too?" She continued.

"I'm sure he would if he could, but he decided he wanted to return home for the winter break, he prefers sand to snow as you all know." Neptune replied.

"Neptune are you sure you know what your signing up for? Yang has been known to cause near world ending cataclysm when she plays truth or dare." Jaune felt the need to warn his new friend.

"Oh I'm sure I can handle whatever she throws at me." He confidently stated, his confidence started to shake a bit when he noticed the terrifying look Yang was giving him.

After the meal Velvet, Neptune and Ruby volunteered to take care of the dishes. Jaune suspected Ruby really just wanted to get closer to the cookies so in an effort to save them he pulled the trays to the table and started assembling them into a case. He was amused by the look of betrayal Ruby had on her face as he saw through her scheme. While he worked Pyrrha moved over to his side and asked him in a quiet voice.

"Is what you said true, did your family really make you take care of them like that?" She had a clearly concerned look to her face and she asked in hushed tones. She knew from the previous time with him that he didn't think of his family fondly, but he did his absolute best to please them. Evidently it was loud enough for her friends to hear as several pairs of eyes looked to him to answer her despite her attempts to be quiet.

With another one of his sad sighs he responded "Yes, whenever they had an accident or someone needed a hair cut I was expected to take care of them. If they were sore after practice or working out I was expected to give them a massage to help them stay limber. They considered it fair trade for taking care of me given my condition." It would be impossible to miss the hurt which accompanied his voice when he answered that question.

"Well Arc I think you missed your calling, that was an excellent meal." Weiss tried to compliment him. She seemed to miss the point that he wasn't proud of these skills.

"Weiss, it isn't about what I can do well, it's what I feel I must do. I thought you would understand that." With that he grabbed his tray and the remaining dishes on the table and went back into the kitchen to help. Pyrrha noticed he carried a cookie for Ruby and the girl gave a happy squeal once she noticed the peace offering.

Pyrrha was still annoyed at the Heiress and decided to make a point of it. "Weiss, that was tactless of you to say you know how much he wants to be here."

Weiss, never one to take criticism well responded. "Pyrrha, I know you have feelings for him, so you feel obligated to come to his defense. Plus he is your partner after all. However we all must accept reality. Some people just aren't built to fight, and if they attempt to force the issue then they only put themselves and those who are depending on them at risk. He has obviously grown under your tutoring but he is still well behind the minimum expectations of a Beacon student."

Pyrrha was about give Weiss a piece of her mind when the normally stoic Ren came to his leaders defense and walked up to Pyrrha's side "Weiss, you and Jaune aren't so dissimilar as you seem to think. You came to Beacon despite your father's wishes, so did he. The difference is you were taught to fight beforehand. Our team doesn't need another invincible warrior, we do have Pyrrha for that after all." He placed a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. "We need a leader, somebody who could bring all of us with our different skills together, so the net result is greater than the sum of its individual parts. There is nobody at this table who can do a superior job of that than Jaune has thus far. I suggest you reevaluate why you are here and if you feel this strongly help him with his studying. It is after all what you are best at. Frankly as long as he continues at the rate he has been improving he will end up a fine hunter before his time here is done." He looked around the table having silenced everybody at it, including miraculously enough Yang. "Come on, we have a slumber party to get too right?"

Pyrrha was practically jumping for joy on the inside at Ren's words. She observed Nora walk to Ren's side and take his arm quickly then started to hum happily as she walked alongside him to the RWBY dorm room for the party with her longtime friend. She he couldn't help but shoot another angry glare at Weiss, then she stood and began to move towards the RWBY dorm room herself.

The Heiress appeared to be struck speechless after uncharacteristic lecture from the normally stoic Ren. Weiss was shocked. It was one thing to be told that by Pyrrha. It was quite another to be told that by Ren. The lecture reminded her of something she promised Ruby. She would try to overcome her short comings with everybody else, so the team as a whole improved. By harping on Jaune's weaknesses and continually trying to break him down, she realized; She was not honoring that promise. This sent a shock through her system as she realized she was not keeping her word. Something she prided herself on. After recovering enough to gain back motor function Weiss stood with all the regal grace she could bring forth, and walked, nearly jogging up to Pyrrha. She moved in front of the bigger redheaded girl cutting her off and ignored the look of scorn the Spartan gave her.

"Pyr-" she started to say.

"Stop. Just stop, Weiss" Pyrrha interrupted, she issued one of her rare sighs and lowered the strength of her glare. "It is obvious you care, in your own way. Jaune does not need somebody else trying to tear him down. I suggest you put your mind and energy into doing something constructive." Pyrrha went to move away but was stopped by the smaller girl grabbing her arm and trying to pull her aside to no avail, unable to more than slow the more muscular woman.

"What do you want Weiss?" She asked as she turned to face her, starting to lose her patience. She knew she could break away from Weiss if she put even any effort into it... but decided to give the Heiress her attention again for the moment.

"Help me." She said simply, surprising Pyrrha.

"Help you with what?"

"Help me see the best in people, like you can. How do you see potential when all I see is faults?"

"Weiss, you see what you let yourself see, you remember your opinion of Ruby when you started here?" Pyrrha asked.

"Of course she was clumsy and careless and reckless and-" She would have continued except Pyrrha interrupted her.

"And now?"

"Now, I guess I still see her faults, but..." She went silent as understanding crept into the Heiresses ice blue eyes. There was no mistaking that Ruby will end up a superb huntress one day once she learned to harness her incredible potential coupled with her natural eye for weapon crafting.

A sly smile appeared on Pyrrha's face as she bent down and hugged the Heiress then whispered in her ear. "There is no trick Weiss, it's just a matter of seeing what your eyes are looking at."

At that the two girls walked back to the RWBY dorm room, they were shortly joined by the remaining people and prepared for a night of fun.

Ch 5

As Jaune walked to his dorm to get some last minute items for the party he realized it didn't really matter that he agreed to go to the party instead of study. With him as tired as he was, as soon as he opened a book odds are he would just fall asleep anyway. At least here he could develop some friendships and maybe have some fun in the process. Throwing on one of his signature hoodies, grabbing a blanket and a pillow he walked across the hall to the RWBY dorm room.

He found the rest of the 'gang' present and in a semi circle in the middle of the room. He found an open spot next to Velvet, ideally he would have sat next to Pyrrha but she was already boxed in by Yang on one side and Weiss on the other.

"There you are Vomit Boy, we thought you were gona ditch us!" the blond Brawler announced to the world... seemingly.

"No Yang but I can't promise I won't fall asleep in the middle of the game." He responded in a tired voice.

"I would advise you to stay awake Jaune, my sister does evil things when people fall asleep before they should." The Reaper warned her friend.

"We were establishing some round rules right?" Neptune interjected.

"Oh who needs rules?" Yang complained.

"I do." Blake said " So rule number 1, no dares where you are asked to leave the building, dares requiring you to visit the JNPR room however are allowed."

"Ok seems fair." Yang said.

"Also we each get a pass for either one dare or truth." Weiss demanded.

"Oh c'mon that's no fun." The Brawler complained.

She looked around the room and found her opinion to be the minority, then relented.

Jaune decided to enter the debate "Also no repeating somebody else truths or dares, you need to be original." Nobody challenged the point.

"Ok ok ok so we have the rules established, now to the fun part." She pulled out what looked like a tesla coil. "This is a lie detector, if you lie, it zaps you." There were several nervous looks in the room at that.

"Is it on now?" Jaune asked.

Yang placed it in the middle of the room and hit a button, an odd glow permeated the orb. "Yup is now!"

"I have 12 siblings." Jaune said as a test. He didn't get zapped.

"Huh seems to be broken?" He tentatively asked, knowing full well he had 7 sisters.

"No it works fine, the dust charge is set to only activate after a question is asked." Yang explained. "Ok time to get this party rolling!" She produced a bottle and gave it a spin, it landed on Neptune.

An evil grin appeared in Yang's eyes as she asked "Truth or Dare Mister!"

"Truth." He said assured of himself.

"Who do you think is the most attractive person in the room?" Weiss looked at him expecting a obvious response.

Neptune visibly paled and uttered "Pass."

"So soon?" Yang taunted. "No more safety net for you!" Weiss was still looking at him in disbelief.

Trying to ignore the Heiresses gaze Neptune spun the bottle, it ended up on Yang.

"Truth or-"

"Dare hit me Blueey!" She responded.

"Yang I dare you to remove your bra in front of us and leave it off the rest of the night."

This drew a gasp from several members of the group but Yang didn't even blush. She expertly removed her bra from under her shirt and dangled it out in front for everybody to see.

"You are WAY to good at doing that." Ruby said in wonder earning a chuckle from several people present.

The bottle was spinning again and it ended up on Velvet, her ears perked up in excitement.

"Truth or Dare Vel?"

"Dare." She replied eagerly.

"I dare you to tackle Weiss to the ground and tickle her until she begs you to stop." Weiss' eyes shot up in alarm at that but she was too late. Velvet had already knocked her to the ground and was mercilessly assaulting her with tickles before she knew it. Surrender is not in the Schnee vocabulary, as she had claimed so several times. Weiss fought off the bunny girl for as long as she could, but minutes and a room full of chuckling friends later Weiss surrendered.

"I'll get you back for that Yang!" The angry Heiress said with a flushed face. The bottle was spun again and it ended up on Jaune.

"Dare Vel." He responded.

Velvet really considered her options before responding. Then as if a lightbulb went off in her head she said "I dare you to play against Weiss in chess, the loser has to take off their shirt for the rest of the night."

The room was filled with several 'Oh hoo's!" and chuckles when Weiss declared "Arc I will destroy you at chess for you sake just pass now."

"Actually Weiss, I accept, do you want white or black?"

Pointing a finger menacingly at him she declared "On your head so be it Arc! Ladies first, I'll be white." She pulled out an electronic chess board which allowed all in the room to watch the game, they agreed to a fast 3 minute game. Several turns in Weiss wasn't sure exactly what he was trying to do, but she saw an opportunity to trap his Queen. All she needed to do was surrender a knight and if he took it the queen would be hers, and almost assuredly after that victory! She was laughing internally when he seemed to take the bait.

"I warned you Arc, it seems your queen is mine" She taunted as she confidently moved a bishop to take the queen.

"Yes, an excellent trap Weiss. I will give you credit, you know how to play chess." She smiled smugly. "Also however," He moved a knight forward in a position she didn't see previously "checkmate, I'll take that shirt off you please?"

Weiss could only glare into the board in disbelief, she furiously looked for anyway to get out of check but realized she moved the bishop which could have taken the knight out of position when she claimed his queen. While she was in denial there was several hoots an cat calls being sent her way.

Pyrrha in particular was proud of Jaune for winning and was clapping excitedly.

Weiss had one last card to play though, and pointed an accusing finger at him "You tricked me! When I asked you what else you were good at you never said you were good at chess!" She said angrily.

To which Jaune replied with a smug grin "I never said I was good at chess mostly because I don't believe I am. I do however believe you are worse than I am." The look he received made him very glad her sword was outside of arms reach.

"Come on Snow Angel lets have it, you accepted the challenge after all." Yang taunted her teammate.

Weiss finally surrendered her shirt and held her arms around her chest to hide her bra. After a seemingly long amount of embarrassment, keen to help lessen the sting of his previous comment Jaune removed his hoodie. "Weiss, catch." He said as he tossed it at her.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you." As she pulled the hoodie on over her about as fast as it could physically have been performed. The act of removing his shirt lifted up his undershirt for a period and the honest work he has been doing was evident on his body as lean muscle was displayed on his arms chest and stomach. The moment didn't last long but it was enough for Pyrrha and several other girls to get a furious blush on their faces.

"Wow I gotta say nice work P-Money, hard to admit this is the same guy we met on that that first day." Pyrrha blushed harder.

"She is an excellent tutor, I really couldn't ask for anybody better." Jaune said in praise causing Pyrrha to smile as her blush was exceeding the color of her hair at this point. Yang spun the bottle again, it landing on herself. Before Jaune could even ask Yang blurted out.

"Dare take your best shot Vomit Boy!"

"I… don't think you want my best shot Yang." He cautioned.

"Bring it on little man!" She taunted.

"Ok Yang, " he said with an EEVVIILL grin appearing on his face. "I dare you to let me shave your head."

The sounds couldn't be uttered faster than Yang did as she issued a near instant. "WaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ! PASS PASS PASS PASS PASS!" Yang appeared breathless her eyes become red and hair ignited at the thought. Ruby was even clapping at how quickly Jaune got her sister to surrender her pass. He had a smug look on his face as Yang calmed down and spun the bottle again.

Pointing an accusing finger at her new 'Arc-Rival' she said. "Jaune you have just declared war, I hope you are prepared!" There was definitely a look in her eyes at this point, 'nobody threatens my hair!' she thought. He acknowledged her threat with a smile and leaned back against the wall.

There was murmurings around the room as the bottle stopped spinning and landed on Nora.

"DARE" Nora proudly declared.

"I dare you to wrestle Jaune and pin him to the ground."

Nora smiled and said "Sorry fearless leader, time to get pinned." Then walked menacingly at him.

Jaune just lazily scooted himself forward so his back was plush against the ground. Nora stopped, a confused look on her face.

"C'mon it's no fun if you don't plan on fighting back." She pouted.

"Sorry Nora no energy for that right now, you got me." Nora put a foot on his chest and 'pined' him.

Yang felt utterly cheated at this development but accepted it as she didn't word her dare accurately enough. She vowed to get him yet!

The bottle was spinning again and it came to rest on Pyrrha. She loves these normal person games and excitedly said.

"Dare!"

Nora considered for a moment the with a grin unknown to belong to her face said "I dare you to give up chocolate for a week!"

A look of utter betrayal appeared on the Spartans face. "Nora we were sisters!" She complained. Then uttered a defeated "pass" before quickly scarfing down a brownie.

The bottle was spinning again and it ended up on Neptune.

"Truth" He requested.

Pyrrha was unsure what she could ask the young man, although, she did want to know one thing.

"I want to know one thing. What convinced you to go talk to Weiss at the dance after you showed up alone?" Weiss' eyes perked up at this, she never actually knew herself.

"Jaune convinced me to talk to her."

Weiss was speechless "Uh what do you mean he convinced you?" she demanded.

"That's not really part of the game is it?" He replied with a smug look on his face. He must have been intimidated by the glare Weiss gave him as he gave more information. "I was embarrassed about something, and he helped me see it was such a small thing to be embarrassed about when compared to making somebody happy, so, I went and talked to you"

Pyrrha was giddy as a schoolgirl, Jaune sought her out and gave up his pursuit of Weiss on the same night! Whereas Weiss continued to want more information out of Neptune.

The bottle however was spinning again saving him from further interrogation, at least for the moment and it landed on Weiss.

"Dare Neptune!" She proudly announced.

"Ok, I dare you to kiss Jaune on the lips." A cold look of anger appeared on both Weiss and Pyrrha while looks of glee appeared on Yang and well... just about everybody else in the room aside from Jaune and, interestingly enough Ruby.

Weiss, thinking this would be a good way to get back at Neptune, sauntered over to Jaune in her best seductive walk. Jaune for his part looked like a deer in the headlights, as she bent over and kissed him on the lips.

As she walked back to her spot she silently mouthed "Sorry" to Pyrrha, who wore a look of intense anger on her face. The bottle was spinning again and it landed on Pyrrha. She perked up at this and instantly choose,

"Dare"

Weiss took a moment to think and then said, "I dare you to steal one article of clothing off of whoever you choose."

A mischievous grin appeared on her as she glared right at Jaune, and with a speed that only Pyrrha could manage she appeared next to him nearly ripped his shirt off him. Jaune barely had the time to fight back or resist her. Satisfied with her work she gave the shirt to Weiss.

"Feeling a little picked on there Vomit Boy! This is payback for trying to get rid of my hair!" Yang proudly announced... mostly just cause she could not because it was true.

Jaune was running low on energy as his exhaustion was quickly catching up to him, he could only really just grunt in response. Feeling cold without a shirt on he pulled his blanket around him and watch as the bottle spun again, this time landing on him.

With a groan he looked at Pyrrha judging her mood, she appeared upset that he kissed Weiss, but somewhat... tamed due to her claiming his shirt. At least that's what he hoped the blush meant. Oh well he figured he still has a pass and isn't going to last much longer tonight before he passes out anyway so he figured he might as well say.

"Dare." He pushed himself back up against the wall into a seating position.

What can only be described as a sadistic smile appeared on her face as she contemplated her dare. The smile changed into one of curiosity as she thought of her dare.

"Jaune, I dare you to tell me right here and now in front of everybody, what you were going to say to me while we were training before Ruby interrupted us."

The look on his face as she said that must have been hilarious as Yang, Blake, Weiss, Ruby and even Velvet started laughing so hard they fell over.

"Pyrrha are you serious?! That was more of a speech than anything else." Pleading with her to change her mind.

"Oh no you don't Vomit Boy she gave her dare, you either pass or you spill the beans!" Yang responded back with glee at his discomfort.

Pyrrha for her part was curious what it could be that he actually is considering passing, and was starting to wonder if it would be a good idea to remind him he had the opportunity too, but decided nope. He kissed Weiss without a fight. He deserves no mercy.

"I'm waiting Jaune." She purred in an overly cute and innocent voice with an adorable smile on her face flashing her eyelashes for good measure.

Jaune was incredibly conflicted. He viewed this information as highly personal, yet it was after all Pyrrha herself that said there is nothing to hide behind if it's the truth. He also realized on some level that Yang was gunning for him, heavily. While he knew he could pass this question, it might insult Pyrrha. Which he wasn't willing to risk. In the span of a few heartbeats he made up his mind. He appeared more nervous than anybody had ever seen him, but eventually a powerful will appeared in his eyes as he started to assert himself. With a deep breath he started his speech.

"Very well Pyrrha. I've thought about the dance A lot, and specifically what you told me. About your feelings about me and wishing I had asked you to the dance. I wanted to apologize, I haven't been fair to you. You told me a lot and aside from dancing with you, I did nothing to reciprocate that..."

Pyrrha's eyes went big, this was not what she was expecting, but she was starting to think; Yes Yes Yes Yes.

He continued "... On some level I was aware of your feelings towards me I have for some time, and I guess my own insecurities got in my way. At the dance you told me that you want to be with me, and I hardly considered myself worthy of you. I guess for the most part I still don't..."

Pyrrha brought her hands up to her mouth at this point unsure where he was going with this suddenly. You could hear a pin drop in the room. They were not looking forwards to the fallout if Jaune rejected her poorly in front of everybody.

"... But, you see, I, I realized something else. And that something is..." Here, he stopped for a second, and took a deep breath before continuing. When he started up again he was visibly trembling, tremors ran the length of his body, but he never looked away from Pyrrha. "...that something is, when you... when you love, somebody, you are suppose to... to put that persons happiness above your own. So even if I have my doubts, about my deserving you. If you still feel the same way as you did, I would ask you to be my girlfriend."

Finishing his speech his courage gave out and he covered his eyes with his hands.

"That's what I was going to tell you."

He couldn't see this but his heartfelt confession brought about just about everybody in that room to tears. Pyrrha was surprised to say the least, but also elated, she got EXACTLY what she wanted. She felt like running right at him and tackling him. Realizing that might not be the best course of action she stood, and walked slowly around the circle of friends. Her eyes watery and her face sharing the same complexion as her hair while her hands still met together covering her mouth.

She sat down next to Jaune, and pulled his hands down from his face. He looked right at her, she could tell that there was apprehension or maybe fear in his eyes after revealing so much of himself in front of so many people. However he looked at her straight in the eye. Confident she had his undivided attention, she said.

"That was the single sweetest thing anybody has ever said to me. Of course I would love being your girlfriend, but that does make me address the fact that you made me wait this long." Jaune looked at her confused. His confusion was squashed, literally, as she lunged at him tackling him to the ground and laid a heavy kiss on him.

That act seemed to bring the group of friends out of their daze and starting cheering, hooting, hollering, and in the case of Weiss, shout "GET A ROOM!" Once Pyrrha had made her case on imprinting that moment in Jaune's memory she pulled him back up to a seated position blushing terribly, giggling happily, then leaned against his shoulder wearing a content and happy grin on her face.

After a time the silence was broken. "Come on we got a game to play let's get back to it!" Ruby pleaded energetically following Pyrrha's forward actions and she quickly spun the bottle. The bottle ended up pointing at her.

"Gimme a dare Jaune!"

Jaune thought for a good few seconds needing to clear his head, and realized he felt he owed Weiss one for his lack of a shirt, promptly said "Ruby, I dare you to kiss Weiss."

Both girls eyes went big, very quickly. Before Weiss could object Ruby used her semblance and planted a sweet, but unorthodox kiss on the older girls lips before vanishing in a puff of rose petals and reappearing in her seat.

Weiss felt the need to object. "Hey that dare was already used!" Ruby chuckled at this.

Jaune however predicted this complaint "Actually Weiss, you were dared to kiss me on the lips, I made no such requirement. She could have kissed you on the nose, toe or finger and would still have completed the dare." Several people were laughing hysterically at this Pyrrha included.

Several glances were exchanged and by the look in Yang and Weiss's glares they were now both gunning for him. He would need to progress extra carefully from here on out. The bottle was spun again and it landed on Ren, his first time up.

The stoic hunter in training said "Dare" in a confident voice.

Ruby had a malicious grin on her face when she said "Ren I dare you to spend all of Nora's pancake funds on cookies."

"OH NO! DON'T YOU DARE RENNY!" The hammer wielder interjected.

Ren fearing for his life, or at least his dignity and quite possibly his legs too, muttered a "Pass."

Several more rounds passed and a handful of players were eliminated from the game. Yang, Weiss, Pyrrha, Ruby, Jaune and Velvet were the only ones left in the game. Jaune felt the chill of the void as the girls were looking at each other in turn as only women do, and that feeling of dread only intensified when they all seemed to nod at the same time. He visibly gulped and looked at all the women in turn and finally realized. They want me out of the game. His eyes lingered on his newly fledged girlfriend who was putting on her most adorable 'who me?' expression.

"Just so you all know, this is totally unfair " Jaune stated matter of fact like.

"Now now Jauney-boy, we just realized that out of all of us you still somehow have your pass, you have slithered out of our clutches long enough, we will not let you win the first RWBY/JNPR truth or dare showdown!" The increasingly anxious Brawler stated.

The last person to take a dare was Pyrrha, and she gave the bottle a spin. It came to no surprise then when the bottle ended up pointing at him. If he didn't know better Pyrrha used her semblance to force the issue...

He realized the girls were waiting for him to make a decision with looks that appeared just a 'touch' too sweet, and decided if he is gona go down, he will go down with a Yang...Ugh did I really just think that... I'm clearly too tired to play this game.

"Dare Pyrrha." Not quite able to meet her gaze.

Her smile was both sly and radiant as she very simply said "Jaune, I dare you… to give me a back rub." The rest of the girls looked at her aghast, Ruby even blurted out "Hey that isn't what we agreed! He was suppose to give us all backrubs!" She couldn't have looked more adorably cute if she tried.

Pyrrha just gave a shrug and laid down on her stomach in front of Jaune expectantly and moved her shirt up to her shoulders.

"Pyrrha you play a mean game." The Brawler said "This is officially war." Pyrrha just smirked at her.

Jaune for his part did his best for his girlfriend. Her skin was absurdly warm and soft, yet it carried unmistakable strength as he remembered this girl was also incredibly strong too, given how much energy it took to work out her tension. A fact he realized somewhat foolishly, later than he would typically have preferred. While he worked his way across her shoulders she issued occasional moans and groans eliciting obviously jealous looks from her former conspirators.

"You are... stupppiiiddddly... gooood ... at that..." Pyrrha managed to say.

'I'm going to get them both' the Brawler swore to herself 'but I gotta admit he seems to know what he is doing.'

'He can't be THAT good with his hands... could he?' Weiss thought while she glowered at Jaune.

'I wonder what she likes so much about a backrub' Ruby thought innocently.

Velvet was just happy that both of her friends found each other... though she wouldn't mind a backrub either.

As he moved from her shoulders to her middle and lower back the unintended sounds from her didn't stop, and she started to hum a happy and content tune to herself. By the time her back was free of tension, he pulled her shirt back down over her back and realized she was sound asleep. Well, dodged that bullet Jaune thought.

Jaune spun the bottle and it pointed at Yang.

Yang thought she had been on the receiving end of Jaune's dares already once tonight and figured Truth was the safer bet.

"Truth"

"Tell me honestly Yang, right now, are you jealous of Pyrrha" he asked with a smirk.

"What? No of course not YAAAKK!" She was interrupted as the orb in the middle of room, gone ignored till then, proved it wasn't actually broken and gave Yang a powerful shock.

"Son of a _%$# _# $%#" Yang started off while the rest of them just laughed at her. The bottle was spun again with the pointer going to Velvet. A predatory glare entered Yang's eyes as she thought how best to tease the bunny girl, their earlier alliance seemly forgotten.

"Truth seems the safer option."

"Did you want to kiss Jaune when he stopped Cardin from bullying you?"

Velvet felt her face flush, and while she knew the answer was yes, realized she couldn't actually speak her answer in front of him. "I withdrawal" she said with her ears flat and face down.

Yang gave a fist pump as she just eliminated another player and gave the bottle another spin. This time the bottle ended up at Weiss.

Weiss was seriously considering her options, she was hell bent on not losing to both Ruby AND Jaune, for reasons she refused to admit to herself. She steeled herself as she looked proudly at the Blond Brawler and said "Dare".

"Weiss Schnee, I dare you to fill up a bucket from the bathroom with cold water, and pour it all over Pyrrha." She said with a wink.

Weiss felt, as Jaune might describe, the cold touch of the void, on her shoulder. On one hand it would be supremely easy to do this. However she wasn't sure if she could survive the Spartans wrath once she was roused. However she had already set herself on the track of beating the two people who annoyed her the most. At least the most at the present. With all the regal grace of her upbringing she stood, and emerged from the bathroom a few moments later with a bucket full of water.

Jaune was trying to get some distance from the sleeping redhead and was able to succeed in getting a few feet of separation before the water was poured all over Pyrrha from the waist to her head.

The reaction couldn't have been more terrifying for Weiss if she had had a year to imagine the worst reaction possible, and then multiply it by 100. Pyrrha was on her feet instantly, with a murderous glare in her eyes and they fixed themselves right on the Heiress, walking very, very slowly towards her. While moving, she was making seemingly random motions and gestures with her hands… Normally in a choking manner. Weiss had her hands raised in surrender and was backing up slowly, but steadily away from Pyrrha.

"Now now big girl, let's not be too hasty it was a dare after all." Weiss managed to squeak out and pointed a lazy finger at Yang who could barely keep her laughter under control. The years of self control finally began to reassert themselves and Pyrrha just reached Weiss, plucked the shirt of Jaune's that she stole from him earlier. Put it on, then sat back down a silent determination now in her eyes. Weiss let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as Pyrrha settled in her seat.

Jaune tried to placate his girlfriend and put a hand on her neck and gave her a casual neck massage, she seemed somewhat pacified, for the moment. At least up until the bottle ended up pointing at her, and she was once again in championship fighter mode as she waited for Weiss' response after instantly declaring "DARE" and awaiting on the Heiress's reply.

Weiss was, for the first time, utterly terrified of the person she must face. The glare the Spartan was giving her was so many times worse than her father's it was making it hard for her to think. C'mon think Weiss THINK! What could she do to deflect her anger. Her eyes lit up as she had a BRILLIANT idea... she hoped.

"Pyrrha, I dare you to challenge Yang to a pushup contest, the winner gets a massage from Jaune"

"Hey!" The Knight complained.

That did the trick Weiss thought, as the two girls glared angrily at each other. Yang very energetically appeared ready to go and even adopted a one handed stance smugly. Pyrrha, not to be outdone, mimicked her stance.

Remind me not to challenge them to an arm wrestling contest, Jaune couldn't help but think. As the two women just kept cranking out pushups with abandon. Thinking logically he has seen Yang put forth some incredibly powerful punches, but realized that Pyrrha wouldn't be outclassed by an irrecoverable amount in terms of raw strength. Even if she was, her endurance far outstripped that of Yang. So it was that even after he gave up trying to count, Yang had to concede defeat on their fifth arm rotation.

Pyrrha had a very triumphant look on her face as she once again laid down in front of Jaune while he worked out the once again tense muscles of her shoulder and back, and as before, she ended up sleeping soundly as he finished.

Seeing Pyrrha sleeping with a content smile on her face he looked around the room. The other friends who were long since out of the game and were keeping themselves busy watching a movie or observing the current game were now asleep, and Jaune realized just how heavy his eyes were becoming.

"Ok girls, I call a cease fire. I give you all a backrub, and you let me go to sleep at a reasonable time tonight?" Jaune couldn't even perceive how quickly Yang seemed to materialize in front of him begging for a backrub.

After giving each of the remaining girls a back rub and finding himself the only one awake in the room... somehow. He looked around for a spot for him to get some sleep, when he noticed an unread message on his scroll. Upon reading it he found he no longer desired company. After grabbing his pillow, as he still wore his blanket around him, made his way to the JNPR dorm room for the night.

Pyrrha woke up briefly as Jaune was making his exit, saw her partner get the message, and very visibly, even in the weak light, go pale. He appeared several years older when he gave the room one last scan. Turned off the lamp near Weiss's bed, the only light on in the room, then left. She resolved to ask him about it tomorrow.

CH6

The party goers awoke at various times and in some cases, awkward positions. Nora was sleeping with her head on Ren's chest, but with her legs angled up against a bed. The remaining finalists in the game in a semi circle where Jaune formally was sitting. The first to wake was Pyrrha, who silently as she could manage, grabbed her gym bag which she packed with her blanket and pillow. Then exited the room and made her way to the school gym. The two back rubs Jaune gave her allowed her to put more into her morning workout than she typically did, doing both weight training and training against dummies at a greater intensity than normal. When she still didn't feel appropriately tired she went on an aggressive inclined run on a treadmill, and managed to put several miles in before believing she had accomplished her morning goals.

After she showered she walked back to the joint RWBY and JNPR kitchen. She couldn't help but wonder at how much a simple backrub can do for her. She knew she was absolutely ecstatic that Jaune asked to date her. She was more than happy to say yes, having tried, and failed to ask him out herself. No, she didn't believe that fact, as giddy as it made her, would have this much of an impact. She decided to try and coax more of those out of him to see if it continued to effect her that way in the future.

She arrived at the kitchen expecting to see the full gang present, and was disappointed as only one was present. Ruby was at the table picking away at her breakfast. She went through the line, got her typical eggs bacon and toast with some juice, then sat next to her friend.

"Hey Ruby, what's up?" she asked.

The younger girl gave a bit of a pout and replied "Nobody is happy like they should be after a party."

Pyrrha felt like she should stay silent and wait for more information.

"Weiss broke up with Neptune, because Ice Queen. Nora yelled at Ren cause they didn't serve pancakes today, Yang is mad that Jaune never did give up his pass and Blake was depressed that her next smutty book wasn't being delivered in time due to the weather. Not that I know what smutty means anyway." She said, finally taking a bite of food.

"That uh, kind of sounds like business as normal around here doesn't it Ruby?" The Spartan said as she tried to cheer her friend up, normally it would be Jaune's job to do this.

"You don't understand... I want Weiss to be happy. Why does she always push people away. Even after she goes out of her way to get their attention, I just don't understand." This was quickly turning into territory that Pyrrha really struggled with, and was glad when the remaining members of team RWBY arrived at the table except Blake, followed quickly by Ren and Nora.

"Morning Cereal-Girl, don't think I've forgotten about what happened last night! I will beat you in pushups next time" Yang said with her normal morning cheer. "I gotta admit I feel full of energy this morning, that backrub from Jaune felt like magic to me."

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed in annoyance but she didn't say anything, the last thing she wanted right now was more competition for backrubs.

"I think I'll ask him to do that more often." She continued, trying to bring the Spartan into an argument.

As Pyrrha continued to refuse to take the bait Yang resumed her speech "Speaking of our resident blond goofball Knight has anybody seen him?"

Ren answered "I think he is in our dorm room, remember he wanted to study last night, I wager he is trying to get some book work done."

"Wait he was serious about that? I thought it was just a ploy to not go to our party." The Heiress stated with a startled expression on her face.

"Honestly Weiss I know you and he aren't on the best of terms but it just amazes me how little you think of him. Why do you think he would make up an excuse not to be with his friends?" Pyrrha said with an obviously threatening gleam in her eyes and she didn't try to keep a hint of anger out of her voice.

Weiss carefully considered her reply as she didn't want to antagonize the Spartan further "I don't know, I guess I just never imagined he was trying so hard."

"Well he is and he does. Frankly he deserves more from his friends who, as you learned last night, he would give the shirt off his back if they needed it." Indicating the hoodie that Weiss still wore. Pyrrha at this point had no desire to speak further and she worked quickly to finish her meal to proceed with her day.

For the second time in less than 24 hours a Schnee was struck dumb, and in this case, a side of shame was included. Weiss, normally so sure of herself, was actively trying to rework her image of Jaune. He did apologize to her for all those times he pursued her. He didn't mention her hated nickname, and even she was forced to admit that maybe she had the initial wrong impression of the boy. Though the possibility of that actually being a necessity had the tiniest most slim chances of being a truth.

"Come on Weiss-a-rooney..."

Weiss made an mental note of her second most hated nickname with that.

Ruby continued "...You should cheer up and just try to be happy like the rest of us. We have 2 weeks off we should have some fun!"

Despite herself Weiss cracked, what might have been mistaken for a smile, that is if Weiss actually was somebody who knew how to smile. She was about to answer politely when a frantic yelp was heard from the direction of their dorm room and the unmistakable sight of Blake running as if she just learned the lunch room was serving an infinite supply of sushi.

"Keep it away keep it away from me AHHH!" She yelled jumping on the table to hide from her mysterious assailant.

It took a few moments for her pursuer to appear, as that of the Xiao Long family pet, the corgi Zwei. He wagged his tail furiously and happily walked up to Ruby.

"ZWEI!" The girls cried and moved to embrace the dog, aside from Blake who was trying to keep at least 10 feet and 2 people between it and her at all times.

While Pyrrha was fond of the dog, and animals in general she didn't want to be around Weiss. Unfortunately the dog was one of the few creatures in the world who seemed to crack her eternally frozen exterior, she wanted to talk to Jaune.

Quickly depositing her now empty tray in the used dishes pile she walked at a brisk pace to the JNPR dorm room.

As she walked down the hall she looked out the windows to see the gorgeous grounds Beacon was housed in. Contrary to the summer setting when she first arrived in Vale this was the deep of winter, and the swirling snow falling and glistening light of frozen tree limbs made a memorable sight. She took a few minutes to try to memorize the scene before her, it being her first time seeing this much snow.

Breaking away from the view she made the remaining way to her destination and found her query inside with his face buried in a book. Contrary to what Ren had said she fully expected to find him asleep. She knew he wanted to study, she never actually expected him to be awake. Judging by the empty tray of food on his desk and the multitude of pages he had filled out, he had been awake for some time.

"Hey Jaune, you're up early." She queried.

"Oh, hi Pyr. " Pyr, she liked that "Yeah I woke up early and decided to get some work done." He replied in greetings.

She felt like such a coward. He managed that confession in front of a dozen people and she couldn't manage a sentence with just him. She had all morning to work up the speech she wanted to tell him. How much the backrub meant to her, how incredibly happy she was that they were now dating, but at the sight of him once again that part of her that let her speak her feelings was closed off.

He looked at her with an amused expression on his face and added "Is something wrong?"

She didn't want the conversation to go in this direction, but it was comfortable for her, and she found some words were better than silence. "Jaune I wanted to talk to you about your training."

This wasn't what he was hoping to hear. She could tell that much by his face, but he none the less put his book down, and gave her his undivided attention. She tried not to be irritated by how easy it was for him to talk to people.

She proceeded forwards "Jaune I was thinking we should do some work in the morning before classes, maybe do some cardio or weight training. So you have some time to recover, before we do our combat training in the evening."

Jaune mulled the statement over in his head, and replied "I guess we can give it a try, though you and I both know I won't be able to keep up with you. What brought this on?"

"I was just thinking about how we can improve your endurance, figured it might help." She was struck by a flash of brilliance. "Think of it as training for the Vytal festival tournament at the year's end."

"Pyr, I don't intend to enroll. I will be more than happy to try morning workouts with you though."

She didn't want to give up just yet "Jaune if you enroll I will enroll."

His face was utterly shocked at the suggestion.

"Pyrrha don't put that on me, that isn't fair. You know I have zero chance of winning the tournament. You have a chance, a real chance to win. Come to think of it you are probably the favorite to win. Me I would be lucky to get out of the first round."

She was less than happy with his defeatist attitude reappearing. It just reminded her of an old enemy she could never get rid of, but still replied in caring voice "So what you won't even try cause you think you can't win? I've told you that you need to stop thinking that you aren't good enough before you even try. You should enroll."

Jaune was still calm when he replied "Pyrrha, I can't, I won't have a weapon."

She took about 3 seconds to process that information and when she did all she could come up with was "What?"

He indicated his scroll lying on his desk. Pyrrha picked up the scroll and read the message already loaded in.

Dear Jaune Arc,

I have thought about the current state of our family Heirlooms, and have decided that Crocea Mors is not best left to your care. Therefore I have decided to reclaim the weapon and armor your family has loaned you, to present to your sister Jewel. Please h