#grave danger | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pilot-boi · 11 months

Link

After the last time, Jaune was sure his friends would never let him out of their sight again. He “Couldn’t be trusted with his own safety” or something along those lines. And fine maybe they had a point, since trouble seemed to find him more often than not.

But since this was the easiest and safest mission of the bunch, he was finally able to convince them that he didn’t need a freaking chaperone. He was a big boy, he could take care of himself!

He would have to. ---- Climax of my Mistral AU, been working on this for literally years. Jaune, you're gonna have a bad time.

Tags are gonna change when new stuff happens, and specific triggers will be in the chapter summaries. Hope y’all enjoy!

Missions for the night, and some were more upset about their specific assignments than others

----

There were too many nights that were mind-numbingly boring. Sitting around waiting for something to happen, and maybe it never did. Or it almost did and then it turned out to be nothing, and Nora was forced to slump back into irritated boredom.

And nothing happened, and things continued to not happen, and she felt like she might just fall asleep right there in her seat. Not like she was going to miss anything if she did.

Then there were the nights that were hectic. Hectic and exciting. The kinds of nights that had the blood pumping fast through her veins as she rocketed over rooftops with a whoop after fleeing suspects. Or launched herself up into the air only to flip over and slam her hammer down with the force of a thunderstorm on some poor soul.

And somewhere in between those two types of nights, were the quiet nights. Maybe something would happen, or maybe it wouldn’t. But it didn’t matter much either way.

Things were simple on the quiet nights. Nora liked the quiet nights. She liked the hectic nights the most, but the quiet nights weren’t bad. Because those nights were suffused with a kind of sleepy camaraderie that made a welcome change from the stress they’d all been feeling for the past few days. Weeks. Months.

Today was one such night.

“You know, Jauney,” Nora remarked, tugging on her gloves. “You might have made a mistake when you designed that.”

“Oh shut up,” Jaune groaned from across the room, his voice muffled and echoey inside his chestplate. His head was inside it, and he’d only managed to get one arm free so far. He looked like some kind of bizarre piñata.

“I do not remember you having this much trouble with it on the road,” Ren commented, checking the magazine on one of his guns.

“Yeah well,” Jaune finally forced his limbs into the right position and his chestplate fell into place, “It’s not like I ever took it off when we were on the road, there wasn’t much chance to have trouble.”

“Now you’re just making excuses,” Nora quipped from the couch beside Ren.

“You may be right.”

“I’m always right.”

“What about-” Jaune started, with the ghost of a smile.

“That doesn’t count!” Nora interjected, tossing a pillow at Jaune, which he barely managed to catch before it collided with his face. “Why do you always bring up the stuff like that?” she pouted, slumping back against the cushions dramatically. “I’m hurt! I thought I could trust you, Jauney, and you betray me like this? Why?”

“I think it has something to do with the amount of sisters he has,” Ren commented dryly, not even sparing Nora’s tantrum a passing glance. He wasn’t fast enough to hide his fond smile, though, and when she spotted it she brightened up considerably.

“Yeah you’re probably right,” she agreed, grinning slyly at Jaune. “Lots of experience from being the baby of your family, right?”

“Hey, that’s not true!” Jaune protested, adjusting his pauldron so it sat properly on his shoulder. “I was not the baby of the family.”

“We’ve seen your family photos, Jaune,” Ren said, giving Jaune a discerning look. “You certainly seemed like the baby.”

Jaune flushed. “How in the heck did you see my family photos?!” he spluttered, face a red to rival Nora’s hair.

“That’s beside the point.”

“No really how-”

“But weren’t your parents like super over-protective?” Nora interjected, leaning over the back of the couch to gaze upside down at him.

“I- So what- Why-” Jaune spluttered indignantly before deflating slightly. “Okay maybe they were a little bit, but it’s not like you guys are any better!” He crossed his arms, and his face shifted into what was undeniably a pout. “I haven’t been allowed to do a mission by myself since the stupid leg thing.”

“And that is all about to change!” Ruby interjected loudly, zipping into the room in a cloud of rose petals. She waved her Scroll over head excitedly, and didn’t seem to notice how much her abrupt entrance startled the occupants.

Enough that Nora tumbled over the back of the couch to land in a heap on the ground, and Jaune let out what he would later claim was a very manly shriek and jumped a foot into the air. Ren seemed completely undisturbed.

“New missions!” Ruby exclaimed, oblivious to the disturbance she’d caused. “Ren, you’re with me this time, sorry Nora,” she explained, tugging a rumpled Nora to her feet. “Stealthy time and… Well ya know,” she trailed off, giving Nora’s hammer a significant look.

“You’re just jealous, buddy,” Nora snarked, flipping her hammer into the air and catching it as a gun.

“In your dreams,” Ruby shot right back, a feral grin splitting her face. Shaking it off, she continued. “Anyway! Ren and me are going up to a layer above us,” Ren took the offered paper and read it over, “and you and Jaune get to fight it out over which of these,” she held up the remaining papers, “two missions you each get!”

“Wait,” Jaune interjected, looking a little incredulous, “You mean I’m actually gonna be on a mission by myself?” He seemed to barely believe his luck.

“Well, yeah?” Ruby responded, seeming taken aback. “That’s pretty much what I just said, right?”

“And since when are you in charge of handing out the mission assignments?” Nora asked, making a grab for the two papers Ruby was still holding.

“Hey!” Ruby exclaimed, fighting to keep them out of Nora’s reach. “Since Uncle Qrow is busy with boring adult stuff, that’s why!” Nora tugged the two papers out of Ruby’s grip with a cheer of triumph. “I was gonna give them to you, you didn’t need to grab them!” Ruby whined

“Yeah I did!” Nora said brightly.

“Yes, she really did,” Ren said with a long-suffering sigh, as he allowed Ruby to haul him to his feet.

“But anyways,” As she dragged him from the room, Ruby called over her shoulder, “Have fun guys!” And with a final parting wave, the two of them were gone.

“So,” Jaune said, rounding on Nora. “Before we decide, what are they anyway?”

“Looks like one is an anonymous civilian call one layer down, and the other one,” Nora slid one paper out from behind the other, “is a call to clear out some Grimm on the city limits.” She grinned up at him. “I know which one I want, and you’re just gonna have to deal.”

“Hey!” Jaune complained. “You can’t just pick, we gotta decide which goes on which!”

“No we don’t Mister “I Get Freaking Hurt Every Time I Even Think About Doing Something Dangerous,” Nora countered. No way was Jauney going to go fight Grimm alone if she had anything to say about it.

Jaune squawked in protest, splutterring indignantly. “That’s not fair, Nora!” His face was turning red, she was amused to note. “That hasn’t happened in like a month, and if Ruby thinks I can do it well… well then I can do it!” He finished, rather lamely.

“We could fight for it,” Nora offered, not casually enough to disguise the dangerous light glinting in her eyes. “That’s what Ruby suggested, after all.”

Jaune visibly paled and backed a full step away, waving his arms in protest. “No! Nonono that won’t be necessary! But…” His face fell, looking genuinely upset for the first time. “Come on, Nora, please? At least let me flip a coin for it.”

Nora’s resolve stayed strong for a few moments. “Okay fine,” she relented, “You better flip that coin, I’d probably permanently damage you.”

“With my Aura? Not a chance,” he replied wryly, tugging a coin out of his pocket. “Call it in the air?” he said, flipping it up.

“Crowns.”

He caught it, smacked it onto the back of his hand, and read the result. Jaune’s face crumpled slightly, and standing on her toes Nora could see why. The familiar cross-hatched L that marked all lien was nowhere to be seen, which meant she’d won.

“Have fun with your civilian call,” she said a little smugly, handing him the mission statement and skipping towards the front door.

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Jaune grumbled, only sounding like he halfway meant it. He latched his sword to his side and followed.

As the two of them exited the building, Nora said, “Hey at least it’s still a solo mission!” in an attempt to cheer him up. “And you’re always better with the people talking stuff.”

He brightened up a bit and fished the coin back out of his pocket. “Looks like this coin is good luck for you, not me,” Jaune commented, staring at it for a moment.

“Here,” He flipped it back up into the air, caught it, and then tossed it over to Nora, who caught it without thinking. “You keep this.” Jaune tied his sash more securely to keep it from tangling in the spokes as he rode. “It’s bad luck for me, anyway.”

“Jaune?” He looked over at her and Nora hesitated, unsure if she actually wanted to say what she was thinking, but then she plowed on before her brain could stop her. “Just… stay safe, okay?”

Jaune’s expression softened, and he rolled his eyes fondly at her. “Nora, I’m just going to the lower levels,” he swung his leg over and onto his bike. “You’re the one that’s gonna be fighting the Grimm, I should be the one worrying about you.”

“You’ve done enough worrying, time to share with the class.”

“Not a chance.”

“I’m serious though!” she insisted, crossing her arms. “For once in your life, don’t get in trouble, or I’m gonna freaking kill you.”

His brows furrowed in confusion. “That sounds counterproductive.”

“Jaune!”

“Okay okay!” he waved a hand at her placatingly. “I promise I’ll stay safe on my one and only solo mission in three months.” Jaune smiled softly at her. “It’s just a routine civilian complaint thingy.”

“What’s the worst that can happen?”

#rwby #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #lie ren #ruby rose #mine #my writing #mistral au #grave danger

29 notes · View notes