Broken Blondes

Chapter 4

Pain and Progress

Jaune slid the door to the balcony open, seeing Nora, normally excitable and bombastic, was looking at the city, in quiet reflection, much as he had been the previous night.

The stillness of the girl was eerie. Maybe Ren had somehow found a place where she couldn't get at the sugar.

He certainly hoped so.

Ren meditated against the wall facing her, his eyes closed. The pair looked serene, which was utterly out of place for at least one of them. The ninja was known for his silence, so this was really nothing new.

Finally, after a small eternity, he coughed, breaking their single-minded focus. "Hey guys! Sorry about earlier… We've got a bit of a task ahead of us."

Ren opened a single eye to look at Jaune, before nodding sagely, probably thinking it was just the journey ahead with RWBY. Nora smiled wide at his return, her demeanor rapidly evolving from the quiet and collected to the bombastic and excitable girl he was familiar with. "Hey there fearless leader! What's the plan for Atlas!?"

So much for his sugar theory. Oh well.

Jaune chuckled, shaking his head. "Well, there's that too, but we might be keeping tabs on Yang or Blake, so they don't kill each other. Seems we've been given the hard job in place of Weiss or Ruby… Typical."

Ren didn't bother opening his eyes this time, completely ignoring the other boy's sarcasm. "They have been tense around each other. An outburst is to be expected. The real question is what do they expect us to do about it."

Jaune turned his attention back to the man, once again astounded by his perceptiveness, nodding. "That's definitely the feeling I got from Ruby during chess, and yeah, that's really the major question for me too."

He didn't feel like talking about the events of last night, even to his closest friends. His new family. The moment felt oddly intimate. It felt like something that might just add unnecessary confusion.

That it would force him to explain why he'd been up so late to begin with didn't make it any more appealing an idea. It was not a discussion he wanted to have. Not today. Maybe not ever.

Nora, ever the transparent one, was quick to respond. "I call dibs on Yang, she's soooo much less... brooody, ya know?!"

Jaune snorted, holding back a laugh. "You just want to deal with someone who's an actual challenge in a fight, don't you?"

"Toooootally!"

The thrill was evident in her voice. Jaune merely rolled his eyes. There was no way this could backfire. "Alright you guys, I wanted to try something with my Semblance. Gotta get stronger for Atlas."

They turned to look at him, inquisitive.

"You know how I said it felt more like I was amplifying Weiss' aura before? I want to see if I can do it again, deliberately this time."

Ren smiled, "It would be a valuable team boost."

Nora jumped up excitedly at the opportunity. "Oh! Pick me! PICK ME! PLEEEEAAAASSEE?"

Despite her enthusiasm, Jaune was pretty intent on practicing with someone who wasn't likely to destroy the balcony in the process, even if they DID only have a few more days before they left. He didn't want to risk anything too crazy. Not with a hundred foot drop beneath them. He hadn't improved his landing strategy yet. "Nora, let me try on someone less dangerous first"

Nora's face fell, "awww"

Ren merely nodded confirmation, knowing where his teammate was going with this. Jaune smiled, "thanks man, I don't think we could afford the repairs from a Nora bomb when we need to grab stuff for the trip."

Nora pouted indignantly.

Jaune stood at Ren's side and Nora stepped away from them, muttering something about explosions. Jaune's hand came to rest on Ren's shoulder, whose calm aura steadied Jaune's nerves, which might have just been his Semblance honestly.

Jaune took a deep breath and focused on trying to pull his Semblance out, looking for any scrap of the same power he'd felt from before inside the deepest depths of himself. The kind that filled him so completely that it needed some kind of outlet. He needed to bring that overflowing strength back to himself.

He tried.

In the end, there was nothing. No feeling of energy, no crackling power that set his every sense on fire. He couldn't quite put into words the disappointment he felt at not seeing glowing palms. Not a flicker whatsoever. Not even a fizzle.

He looked at his hands in disappointment. Maybe he wasn't trying hard enough? Was his ability to save Weiss a fluke? His mind turned dark at the thought. Hopefully he didn't need to have someone's life be in jeopardy to access the power that could save lives.

He couldn't let this be his reality. He refused to let himself fail here. He'd finally achieved what he and his team thought was his Semblance. It definitely wasn't a fluke. Nope. He wouldn't consider that possibility

-10 attempts later-.

Was this just them being hopeful? Did it not mean anything? He couldn't let it slip away from him. He was finally progressing in a meaningful way. The tears in his eyes took a herculean effort to suppress.

-30 attempts later-

Ren looked on patiently, feeling nothing but his leader's hand grip his shoulder tighter and tighter with each passing moment, while Nora's expression was warped by evident concern, recognizing the tears starting to form at the edge of Jaune's vision despite his best efforts. She knew the look well, every night he'd come back to the dorm having dealt with Cardin Winchester he'd looked similarly defeated.

Previously, he'd found strength by standing up to his bully with help from his legendary teammate Pyrrha, the pride of Mistral. She'd used her semblance to help him at the time, but he'd found the power to push through because he didn't realize it.

The pinkette had confidence he'd be able to do the same here, even with the lack of success filling his mind. She had faith in his determination. There was a reason she called him fearless leader after all… and it wasn't ALLLL sarcasm.

-5 attempts later-

Jaune decided maybe it wasn't specifically something he'd be able to call up at will yet, as it had been a gut reflex he'd not really understood at the time. His adrenaline had been running high, he'd nearly lost someone else.

Maybe it was something that required his adrenaline to be running high to properly activate? He turned to Nora. "Nora, I need you to slap me."

Nora's expression was a mix of glee and confusion, which she tried to hide with little success. She had no idea why Jaune would ask her to hit him. She wasn't going to tell him that.

He knew her strength rivaled even Yang Xiao Long, the dragon of Beacon. Eclipsed the blonde brawler, in her opinion actually.

Jaune saw the trepidation on her face, which his expression seemed to relax. "Something needs to trigger adrenaline to activate my semblance… I think," he finally explained rather simply.

This seemed to placate any regrets Nora might have had at the prospect of hitting the clearly more fragile man. "It's a good thing you're a healer Jauney." She quipped as she cracked her knuckles.

She proceeded to wind up her hand, concern mounting on Jaune's face as he immediately regretted his decision.

This was a horrible idea!

Nora moved quickly forward, across his face.

SMACK

The mark faded quickly, the adrenaline in his system kickstarting as his aura came to life, his mind somehow transported to the sensation of being slapped by Weiss so many months ago when he'd had an admittedly foolish infatuation with her. His mind raced as it gravitated to a much more raw memory that kept him awake at night.

The room was enveloped in chaos, people running everywhere, dread was the pit of his stomach, as someone he had so deeply admired, even lusted after for a short period of time, lay dying at his feet.

He could almost feel her aura fading, her eyes glassy, unseeing.

His fear for her life elevated his adrenaline, which had already been pumping overtime, into a superhuman level of awareness that he couldn't express with words. Everything was in focus, he saw everything.

It defied any kind of description. No amount of explanation could come close. It was like he was both aware of everything, and yet not overwhelmed, but clear and focused.

His eyes shut out everything around him on command. He closed them, trying to figure out what was going on and his ears seemed to amplify the chaos and haunting silence around him. Finally, the agony was too much, as he felt what was left of Weiss begin to slip away.

As he kneeled over her, his hands began to tingle, supernatural pins and needles. As he opened his eyes, there was a glowing blue-white energy that radiated from his elbows out to the ends of his fingers. The energy flowed out from them. He laid his hands near Weiss, and the energy began to surge outwards, towards the wound, her aura becoming more clearly defined as he added to its strength, glowing a stark white.

Slowly, and without realizing how he knew it was happening, the wound stopped bleeding internally, as he was mentally forcing it closed, even beginning to reverse the gruesome damage he could see.

It seemed like he was saving her! What was this? Then, he realized it wasn't specifically him that was healing it. He didn't know how, but it seemed like his aura was merely guiding Weiss' to heal herself faster. Just as he realized this, his vision darkened, blacking out.

Jaune opened his eyes to see his hand, resting on Ren's shoulder, had lit up again in supernatural iridescence. The energy field flowed towards Ren from the contact. The sensation seemed to take time affecting Ren, until he realized that Ren's green aura had become bright as day to him. It was almost like a christmas tree actually.

He tore his focus away from it just enough to hear Ren tell him that he should stop. He was confused for a moment, the distraction enough to stop the flow of energy from his hand, Ren's aura becoming invisible once more.

Ren looked at Jaune before his eyes shifted to Nora's reaction, which was only just changing from fear and confusion to relief and eventually landing on excitement. Nora burst out, "You guys were FLICKERING! Like, you were almost invisible. That's SOOOO COOOOL! How'd you do that?!"

Jaune looked at Ren in confusion, who simply shrugged. "Perhaps your semblance works to amplify or modify the aura of those you come into contact with?" He suggested.

"Hmm… this might be useful, imagine how we could use this in battle! Let's do this one more time!"

Jaune's expression went from pensive, to hopeful, to excited as scenarios began flitting through his mind. If he could get Ren to flicker, then maybe he could use this in new and different ways he hadn't expected. He wasn't just a healer then.

He had a few ideas about application that he wanted to test out. He smiled. Today was going to be a good day. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he was really moving forward.

Yang was annoyed, to say the least. Swallowing her pride wasn't something she was used to doing. As such… she wasn't looking forward to a discussion with Blake. Not one bit. Her fists were balled from the effort of holding back a scream of frustration.

To her it seemed like Blake should be the one begging at her feet as apology for running out on them. Blake betrayed her… them… after everything… that kind of betrayal was something she only knew once before. She'd opened up to Blake about her trust issues only months maybe less before things went to shit. The faunus girl had even warned her, multiple times, that she was a coward.

Yang couldn't help but scowl… how could she be so blind? She didn't like to feel stupid. It was bad enough people thought she was some bimbo at first glance.

After learning that her mother had left her father for some tribe…? It was painful beyond reason, she should have seen it coming… It felt all too familiar now.

The ninja couldn't seem to stay anywhere… why should she even be surprised it happened? Vanishing into the night without even a word of goodbye, or a reason why. More than anything else… that part hurt.

A tear crawled from her eye, ice cold against her burning skin, like she was on fire. It was reasonable, considering. The flames behind her eyes tickled, making their presence known, whispering temptingly sweet nothings in her ears to unleash her fury.

Finally, she could stew no longer, as she'd arrived at the door of Blake's temporary room.

Her teeth locked together, irritation and determination mixing together. She was determined to make things right between them, no matter the cost. She missed her teammate. She probably wasn't the only one, if she still knew her as well as she thought.

The edges of her vision blurred, her surroundings beginning to smell, almost of burning. It was suffocating just to be around. This was a new, more alien, sensation with her semblance. Before it had been all power and ferocity, now it was fear and loss of control. It was if her ability had changed to consume her.

The flames that licked at the edge of her vision were pressing down on her like a weight, threatening to explode outward to engulf the entire hallway as her frustrations were coming to a literal boil. Her eyes teared up further as she struggled to hold in her frustration overwhelming her senses and compelling her to act on her emotions. Her metal fingers creaked, as the metal began to warp under the pressure of her clenched fist.

Her dad had warned her about this, subtlety might not quite be his strong suit, but he had warned her. Her emotions were invariably linked to her semblance. This made control - something she'd never thought about - paramount in getting stronger.

She could almost feel the direction this conversation was going to head. It hadn't even started, hell she hadn't even knocked, yet her body was threatening to melt the door and the unfortunate occupants of the room.

The door taunted her with the apprehension of what knocking meant. Her emotions were everywhere, flitting from angry, sad, and apathetic in quick succession. She stood there, in her orange t-shirt, the hallway seeming to strain.

She realized she couldn't have this discussion yet.

If she did, it was as likely to be fists flying as words. As much as Blake probably deserved it, she didn't want that… Ruby would be disappointed. She had to be the bigger person.

She went to knock.

She was back at Beacon, or, more accurately, what was left of it, when she spotted something in the window of one of the rooms. It seemed like the cafeteria maybe? She couldn't be a hundred percent sure in the chaos.

She'd been drawn in by voices. The situation seemed dire, and whatever the case, the person inside might need help. She recognized one of the voices, though it seemed to be terrified, worse than when she'd been up countless nights trying to track down Roman Torchwick.

Her expression went from concern to bleached white with fear when she saw Blake, cowering, somehow totally defenseless in the wake of a demonic looking man with blood red hair. She couldn't see his face, but the horns that protruded from his head said everything she needed to know.

This was a faunus, and if it was holding its own against Blake, winning even, it was clearly no joke. The jacket it wore was entirely unlike any white fang uniform she'd seen before. Could he be a high-ranking member? Or did he know Blake from before? What was going on?

Her mind raced with fear and confusion, turning to anger. She let the emotion build, pouring strength into her body. She was stronger than a hundred Ursa in the space of a single instant.

Before she understood what was happening, her anger overwhelmed her senses, the fire flooding her vision, flowing from every facet of herself, consuming everything, she screamed out, half a battle cry and half a scream of world tilted as she lunged forward in a divine rage.

She was unstoppable now; her semblance would make this one hit all she needed. She knew it would connect before she even launched. That was all she needed, to knock this demon who destroyed the confidence of her partner down a peg. It would be easy.

All these thoughts flew through her mind in the instant between her launching into the air and being within a foot of striking distance… and then, something was off. She lost balance in the air, her weight was off somehow.

What? What was going on?! No! It was impossible! She couldn't even process anything enough to scream, her side feeling empty, rather than painful, what she would have at least welcomed to add to her strength. Instead, it was a cold emptiness. She realized it must be shock.

She landed in a heap, not moving. She wasn't sure if she was paralyzed with a fear she had never known she could feel again, or if she was unconscious, and this was what it was to feel this way. Everything faded to black for a sickening moment.

She left the door closed, walking to her room, slamming her own door shut, content to simmer in the midday light. "Damn it all to hell…"

Ruby walked with purpose, the determination on her face etched from stone. Her normally soft expression made the shift downright unsettling. She needed to speak with Weiss. She was going to bring her up to speed. Truly up to speed.

She'd told her partner to meet on the practice floor, where she could talk with her actions, as she had been itching to do. So much time sitting around doing nothing, had made her hungry for a real challenge in combat. She needed more than RNJ to spar with.

She wasn't built for sedentary life. This much she knew with absolute certainty. It drained her more than fighting an entire pack of beowolves… not that those had ever been an issue for her. Not since... a long time ago. She'd made particularly sure of it. Combat energized her like little else.

Reaching the bottom step to the training area, she resisted the urge to grab Crescent Rose, opting to work on her hand to hand. Her partner held a kendo Shinai in a single hand with a sense of comfort that spoke of her discipline. With the white haired girl holding it, it could easily prove to be a deadly weapon, should she want it to be.

When Ruby stepped out into the middle of the court, no oversized gardening tool to be seen, Weiss was the first to speak, Ruby's choice spurring her curiosity. "So, mind telling me what you called me down here for? Besides a little sparring?"

Ruby settled into a relaxed stance, hands up, a boxer style like her sister. She watched Weiss' wooden training blade dance lazily back and forth as the girl talked, following her opponent as she moved. "Isn't it obvious? I wanted to spend a little time de-stressing with my best FRIEND!"

On this last word, Ruby lunged for Weiss, seeing an opening with an aggressive jab. The girl smirked before rather daintily sidestepping her attack, focus clearly only mildly on the fight, casually dancing away from her former leader, who'd left herself wide open.

The Schnee girl couldn't help but smirk at the determination on display, the minor adjustments in stance she made as she dodged Ruby's poorly thought out strikes. With her own weapon, and Ruby without hers, the comfort level was suitably stacked in her favor. She almost didn't bother to return the attacks. Almost.

As the hooded girl expected, Weiss quickly grew tired of evasion and moved to advance. The switch in footing was subtle, but she couldn't help but smirk. "There we GO!"

As Weiss swept forward in a simple lunge, her confidence mounted. Ruby twisted with superhuman speed away from her attacker's surrogate rapier, grabbing the hilt, and pulling Weiss close to her, the rapier still in hand.

Ruby moved to throw Weiss over her shoulder, only for her former teammate to use it to flip gracefully onto her feet over the redhead's arm and swipe at her with the wooden blade, freed by the movement. Ruby scowled as she retreated out of range of the deadly stick.

Attempting to maintain the upper hand, she slid under the Ice Queen's blade in her next attack, before being nearly elbowed by Weiss, who'd recovered from the stunning show of aggression on Ruby's part.

Ruby lost her balance, disoriented, tumbling onto the floor in a heap of ruffled battle dress, and haphazard red hood. "Alright, for real this time… what's on your mind? You've been more determined than ever lately... I mean… you're not any better at hand to hand than I remember, but still. It's like sparring with a less skilled Yang." Weiss remarked, her mood suddenly more serious.

Ruby glared up at the dainty woman opposite her, she didn't know if she was prouder of how far her partner had come under her leadership, or how far she'd come without it in the last six-ish months.

It was nice to know she'd been compared to her sister, the indomitable queen of hand to hand at Beacon, even if it came attached to typical Schee condescension. "I've fought my sister, that's a compliment!"

Weiss' eyebrow raised. Ruby only frowned in return.

Finally, she sighed, resigned. "I maaay have learned something since the Fall of Beacon about myself, which I've been trying to understand. More importantly, I don't want to need Crescent Rose for everything, even if she IS my daughter."

"And when did you finally learn that lesson? Was it Glynda mentioning it for the millionth time?"

Ruby coloured at that. She knew that might have come up. Damn the crop-wielding woman's perceptiveness. Maybe she should have paid attention in that class more. Clearly it was coming back to bite her. "Actually… It was when I was fighting with Roman. When I didn't have my scythe, I nearly lost every fight. If my team wasn't there, or the grimm didn't eat him..."

"Wait… He was eaten by a GRIMM?"

"I know, I know, and he was working with Cinder."

"Well, that's just ironic..."

"Sooooo, getting back on topic, I can't always rely on my baby, so I gotta get good with more than just her."

Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner's odd obsession rearing its head, before her curiosity over her earlier statement became apparent. "How exactly do you plan to do that?"

Ruby simply continued. "So… You know how I have Silver Eyes?"

END OF CHAPTER 4

A/N: First of all, I want to say, Happy Holidays to those who celebrate!

JJD continues to be an awesome Beta, he's really helping me to get a clearer idea of what I want to say with the chapters here, and better inform me for the chapters I am currently writing. I hope you all are excited for the next few.

So, this chapter is starting to show some hints of stuff to come, let me know what you think, what you want to see in future chapters, and if you guys like the shifting of protagonists like this. This will still be a Yang x Jaune fic, but it's not going to ignore a lot of the elements that previous parts of the story set up as conflicts, while also bringing in a few elements of its own for them to more seriously deal with. No spoilers, but it's not going to be all roses and recovery. Next chapter…. Roses and recovery… mostly.