Chapter Text
It was over, after three years of fighting, well three years for team RWBY and the others, for Jaune Arc it was three decades or more, he doesn’t quite recall, but finally Salem had been defeated, Cinder Fall was dead, as was Tyrian Callows and Mercury Black was arrested. At this moment they are in Vacuo, more precisely Shade Academy, throwing a victory party. The Rusted Knight looks around.
Ruby is talking with Oscar and Weiss’ brother, Whitley, about something, and seems quite happy. Jaune smiles, glad for her, she had really grown from that nervous girl that he had meet in Beacon.
Yang and Blake were dancing in the middle of the room. They are in their own little world. He chuckles remembering how they acted in the past.
Ren and Nora are quietly talking to each other in a corner of the room, quietly and Nora is something that don’t really go together, but well. Their relationship had been repaired and are slowly taking new steps.
Emerald was talking with Winter, both had common points to talk about, Emerald venerated Cinder, until she discovered who she really was and the same happened to Winter, she deposited her trust in General Ironwood only to see the man slowly fall into madness.
Qrow and Willow are doing a drinking contest and it seems Ruby’s uncle is losing.
Weiss was talking with Neptune. Laughing at something he said, like she was back in Beacon. It seems she had forgiven Neptune for his philandering and was willing to give the blue haired man another chance. He once had a huge crush on the white haired “princess”, maybe he still did, but after spending so many years alone in Ever After… his body may be of a twenty one years old, but his mind and soul are of a forty years old man. She deserves better.
Jaune lets out a sigh, he didn’t fit in here with them. Not anymore. The battle was won and they need to start over.
‘It’s time to move on.’ he rubs his forehead.
Silently, Jaune leaves the party, going to his room in Shade Academy dormitories and packs his bags. Leaving the room, he pauses, looking at Nora’s room door, using a skill he learned from Emerald, he picks on the lock, takes out the sash that once belonged to his partner and… someone that could have become something more. Carefully folding it, he leaves it on Nora’s bed, touching it one last time.
“It’s over, Pyr. Now, I can let you rest in peace and move on.”
With that said, he leaves the room closing the door and little after, leaves Shade Academy, in that same night, Jaune Arc, The Rusted Knight, left Vacuo, disappearing without telling anyone.
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“Well, I am happy for you, Neptune.” Weiss says sincerelly. “Just don’t do with her what you usually do.”
“Of course not, I learned my lesson.” Neptune says, waving at May Marigold, that smiles and winks at him.
Weiss smiles and looks around the room, more precisely at the spot that Jaune had been staying all night and… he is not there. She searches for him in the room and not a sign of him. Frowning she goes to Ruby.
“Ruby, I am sorry to interrupt, but do you know where Jaune is?” she gives an apologetic look at Whitley that shrugs saying that it wasn’t a problem.
“Sure, he is right… over… there…” points to the spot Weiss last saw him. “Wait…” she looks towards the middle of the room where people are dancing, trying to see if he is there. “Where is he?”
“I didn’t see him leaving.” Oscar is also looking around the room, “Maybe he is at the drinks table.”
“What is wrong?” they hear the voice of Blake as she and Yang approach the them.
“We can’t find Jaune.” Ruby says worried.
“The guy must be nearby, remember in Beacon when he used that dress because he made a promise to Pyrrha.” chuckles Yang. “Maybe he is going to do something like that again.”
“I don’t know, Yang.” Blake shakes her head. “He went through a lot these last four years. Jaune really changed.”
“Isn’t he at the drinks table?” Weiss asks a little worried.
“Nope.” Yang shakes her head. “We just came from there, your mom is giving uncle Qrow a run for his money over there, by the way.”
“Maybe Ren and Nora know.” Weiss looks eager at the couple.
“What's the rush Weiss-Cream? Finally going to confess?” Yang grins.
“W-What are you talking about? I just didn’t see him around and got worried.” she blushes.
“Weiss, you can stop pretending.” Blake crosses her arms. “You have been into him since Mistral and we all saw it.”
“We did?” Ruby asks confused.
“Yes, we did.” Yang confirms. “Actually, I believe I saw it even back in Beacon, after the dance.”
Weiss blush deepens.
“You are insane.” she leaves to talk with Nora and Ren.
“Well… you got her there.” Blake shakes her head.
“I guess sometimes you only see the true value of something after you lose it.” Yang grin disappears. “She lost Jaune to Pyrrha in Beacon, by her own doing of course, and was unable to get him back even after four years, Pyrrha’s “ghost” haunted him… maybe now that Cinder is gone he can finally move on.”
“Towards Weiss, hopefully.” Ruby says before following Weiss.
Team RWBY and Oscar approach Ren and Nora.
“Is Weissy finally going to confess?” Nora asks grinning, making Weiss pout and Yang grin. “I mean… we were kind of expecting for it to happen since Mistral.” now Yang openly laughs.
“And you can’t find him?” Ren looks a little worried. “Jaune did seem a little different since the end of the battle.”
“Different how?” Weiss asks.
“Quiet, more than usual after his return from Ever After.”
“Maybe he is back in the dorms.” Ruby says. “We should check.”
All the seven go to the dormitories and check on Jaune’s room, that have the door locked. Weiss knocks on the door, but there is no answer.
“He must be sleeping.” Ruby looks at the others that nod. “We shouldn’t wake him.”
“Lets go back to the party then.” Yang skips towards the exit, dragging a protesting Oscar with her and followed by Blake.
“Nora, you left the door of your room open.” Ren says noticing that the door was not properly locked.
“No, I didn’t.” Nora approaches the door. “Weird, I am sure that I locked it.” she opens the door and goes inside the room as Ren, Ruby and Weiss wait for her.
A minute pass and Nora doesn’t comes back.
“Is everything all right, Nora?” Ren asks, when she doesn’t answer Ren goes inside. “I am coming in.” Ruby and Weiss look from the door. “Oh no! That is…”
“Yeah.” they finally hear the voice of Nora and she sounds sad, really sad.
“What is wrong.” Ruby asks as she enters the room, Weiss follows closely.
The former heiress eyes widen when she recognizes what Nora is holding.
“I-Is that… Pyrrha’s…”
Nora nods.
“It’s Pyr-Pyr’s sash…” she chokes a little, trying to hold back her tears. “Jaune-Jaune left it here… then it means… hic… hic...” she lets out some hiccups as the tears starts to fall.
“That means he is gone.” Ren says, his fists curling into balls and shoulders shaking.
“Gone?” Ruby shakes her head not wanting to believe it. “No, that… that is impossible… he is on his room sleeping, he must be.”
The sound of a door breaking is heard. The three look towards the sound, noticing that Weiss is not in the room with them anymore. They run outside and see the door of Jaune’s room destroyed.
“Weiss?” Ruby asks running inside the room.
Weiss is standing in the middle of the now abandoned room.
“He really is gone…” Weiss grits her teeth. “That Dunce left us… why? Why would he?”
“It must be painful for him to stay with us.” Ren says letting out a sigh. “Out of all of us, he is the one that suffered the most these last four years.”
“But that… he could have told us.” Ruby eyes start to tear up. “He didn’t even say goodbye.”
“Because he would waver in his decision.”
“We suffered too.” Weiss angrily turns to Ren. “He was not the only one…”
“I didn’t say that we didn’t suffer, Weiss. But, Jaune, it was on another level. First Cardin’s bullying, then heartbreak, coming from you no less.” Weiss turns her eyes to the floor. “Shortly after that Pyrrha dies just after kissing and confessing to him, six months later you practically dies in his arms, the one he had feelings for since day one of Beacon. Then Penny, by his own hands, no less, and finally getting stuck for two or three decades in Ever After, alone, waiting for you four. I am amazed that he came back still sane.”
“H-He… still had…” Weiss stammers looking at Ren.
“There is a possibility that he still does… or did, until tonight.”
Weiss looks confused before it clicks in her brain.
“Neptune… I was talking with Neptune for hours… but I was just… I didn’t… he is dating Mai Marigold.”
“He thinks you are with Neptune again.” Ruby understands now. “B-But Weiss is not the only one to blame, I should have talked with him, if I stayed by his side, maybe...”
“All of us have blame in that.” Ren shakes his head. “He is my friend and more than once I have hurt his feelings out of anger… and he was still by my side, supporting me… when I didn’t deserve it.”
“He thinks that he doesn’t belong here with us anymore.” Nora appears on the door still holding Pyrrha’s sash. “He left… but we abandoned him first.”
“We-We didn’t… we were here with him.” Weiss says desperate. “He could have asked for help.”
“He was alone for so long that asking for help is something that doesn’t crosses his mind anymore.” Ren lets out a sigh.
“His fight with Cinder…” the others look at Ruby when she speaks. “He fought alone with her… we didn’t help… we really left him to fight her alone. He won… but he could have died there.”
Weiss takes out her scroll and calls Jaune. They hear the ring tone of his scroll on the nightstand. This made Weiss more desperate.
“Lets go, we need to find him. And apologize for everything.” Weiss marches out of the room. “He can’t be far.”
“I will call Yang, Blake and Oscar.” Ruby uses her semblance and goes back to the party.
Weiss, Ren and Nora rush out of the dormitories. Yang, Blake, Oscar, Emerald and Winter are already there with Ruby.
“Is that right? Arc disappeared?” Winter asks Weiss, that nods.
“Please Winter, we need to find him. We can’t leave him alone, not again.”
“I will ask the specialists to search for him and have the tech team track down his scroll.”
“Thank you, sister. He doesn’t have his scroll with him. We will search around the Academy.”
“Then the specialists will search in the city.”
“Hey guys! What’s up?” they hear the voice of Sun as he approaches them.
“We are looking for Jaune. Have you seen him?” Ruby asks the monkey faunus.
“Last I saw of him was a hour ago. He was leaving the academy.”
“And you didn’t stop him?” Weiss asks angrily.
“Whoa. Why should I? What is wrong?” Sun backs up from the smaller Schnee.
“Stop, Weiss.” Ruby gets in between the two. “It’s not Sun’s fault. Jaune is leaving, Sun, leaving for good. We need to talk to him, make he understand that we want him with us.”
“Damn. Sure, I will help.”
They all split up to search for Jaune, Weiss and Ruby go to the Bullhead port. If he was leaving that would be the fastest way,
“Excuse me.” Weiss asks in the security check.
“Yes? Can I… oh! Huntress Schnee and Huntress Rose. How may I help?” the guard asks surprised seeing two of the most recent and famous heroines of Remnant.
“Have you seen this man?” She shows a picture of Jaune in her scroll. Jaune was working out in Shade Academy gym.
“When did you take that?” Ruby asks raising an eyebrow.
“Doesn’t matter.” Weiss blush. “Well?” she looks at the security guard again that takes a closer look.
“Ah! Yeah! The Rusted Knight.” he grins. “He was here, even gave me an autograph. Said something about going to Argus, I think.”
“Argus…” Weiss thinks a little. “Of course, Saphron.”
“Thank you.” Ruby says and both huntresses rush to the gate leading to the flight to Argus.
Ruby calls the others as both girls search everywhere on the terminal.
“I don’t see him.” Weiss calls out to Ruby.
“He must be somewhere around here.”
The others arrive to help and still couldn’t find him. What they didn’t know is that Jaune had actually taken the bullhead to Mistral, he had some news to give Pyrrha’s mother, Eurydice. After searching all night, all of them sit on the lobby of the port.
“Jaune-Jaune is gone.” Nora says hugging Ren.
“He must have changed his mind about going to Argus… he could be anywhere right now.” Blake lets out a sigh crossing her arms.
“I miss him already.” Ruby lets out a sob.
“We all do.” Yang rubs her back.
Winter just stays silent, she had a lot of respect for Jaune Arc, even before she learned that he was the Rusted Knight, he had proven himself a great leader and capable warrior, that only came back stronger when he returned from Ever After.
“It’s not over.” Weiss suddenly says, “I will not give up. No matter how long it takes, I will find that Dunce of a Rusted Knight and-”
“Confess that you love him and get married.” Yang finishes for her, grinning.
“…” Weiss shakes her fists in anger. “Xiao-Long” she growls. Not denying nor confirming what Yang just said.
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Four years. That is how long it took for Weiss to finally find out where Jaune Arc is hiding. At first she did go to Argus to question Saphron and indeed Jaune had gone there, she almost got him, he had left two hours before she arrived. She followed every rumor and sight of the Rusted Knight. He was part of the campaign to retake Vale, sadly Team RWBY was fighting in another area of the fallen city and missed him completely, even with many witnesses saying that he was there and that he was the one that destroyed the Wyvern, once and for all. Then Weiss had to give a break in her search, the rebuild of Mantle was starting and Winter asked for help, she spend few months there. Another rumor said that he dismantled a slave market in Mistral, Blake wanted to be the one to solve this case, but she was helping her father in Menagerie. And there was the case with Yang’s mother, the woman appeared from her portal beaten to a pulp in front of Yang, when interrogated she said that Jaune had done that to her. Many sightings later formed a path that lead to Ansel. And that is where she meet his family. Juniper, Jaune’s mother was very willing to help and told her to go to Orleans. That Jaune was now living there in one of his grandfather’s houses.
And here she was, twenty four years old, Weiss Schnee, in front of a two store house that looked very… homely, ready to give the Rusted Knight the biggest scolding he ever received for disappearing on her. She press the button for the doorbell and waits. The door opens and what she sees is not what she was expecting.
A very cute, little faunus girl, that couldn’t be no more than five years old, with long silver hair, red eyes and a cute pair of wolf ears on top of her head.
“Hi.” the little girl greets her.
“Oh! Hello.” Weiss shakes her head slightly, “I am looking for Jaune Arc. Do you know him?”
The eyes of the little girl light up at the mention of the name. She runs back inside shouting.
“DADDY! THERE IS A PRETTY LADY AT THE DOOR FOR YOU.”
‘Da-DADDY?’ Weiss freezes when she hears that. ‘WHAAAAAT?’
“Lily, I told you that there is no need to shout like that.” Weiss hears the familiar voice that she haven’t heard in four years and snaps out of her shock.
Jaune also freezes when he sees who is at the door.
“W-Weiss… hey, it has been a long time… how are you?” he stammers a little knowing what is going to happen next.
Weiss growls at him.
“Jaune Miles Arc. You have a lot of explaining to do.”