78

Chapter 78 Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"It's almost over…" Pyrrha murmured, rolling her neck idly as she stood under the shade of a tree, Miló slung over her shoulder as she waited her turn for her combat trial, the last test of the year where every student would go up against a rotating cast of the best fighters their academy had to offer- both students and teachers. Five minutes, standard sparring rules, all tools and Semblances allowed. So far, Professor Goodwitch had utterly humiliated the vast majority of her opponents, Professor Port had shattered six Auras with Blowhard, Professor Oobleck had nearly sent one student to the infirmary (thank the gods he'd stopped before he accidentally slammed Antiquity's Roast straight into poor Marsh's crotch), and the other Professors had thus far shown an utterly ruthless amount of skill and force that left most of the students demoralized if not unconscious from a broken Aura. 

The fourth and third year students that had been selected to join were no less terrifying, but thankfully the point wasn't to win . It was to survive as long as possible and show a marked improvement since the beginning of the year- it was pass/fail, and winning against the student fighters or timing the match out was just extra credit on the cake. It was… also really easy to pass as long as one had actually put in the effort to practice and get stronger over the course of the year, and failure would only lead to remedial work and extra combat assignments in second year.

And then there was Ruby, who had been… well.

No one had lasted too long against Ruby, but anyone who forced her to use Crescent Rose in scythe form was granted a pass. Pyrrha honestly felt bad for everyone who'd gone up against Ruby- she was capable of beating third and fourth years through sheer overwhelming strength alone, and that coupled with the ridiculous breadth of her abilities made her able to fight on the level of their professors- if not beyond. And she wasn't even showing off some of the abilities she had either- Pyrrha knew damn well there was more to Ruby's skill set than just spawning grimm heads to launch fireballs or using shadowy tendrils as stabbing implements or somehow making it seem like she was wielding more than one Crescent Rose at once, or growing extra arms or- anyway.

Point was, as mentioned before- Pyrrha pitied anyone who had to fight Ruby. Ren and Nora had each gone against Professor Port and Professor Oobleck respectively and given a pretty good showing- equal to early semester third years or late second years, apparently- and… Jaune had gotten his ass thoroughly beaten into the ground by Professor Ozpin, who had kinda just… poked her boyfriend in rapid succession with his cane and exposed all of the weak points in his guard. He'd gotten out with a pass, a bruised ego, and a stern lesson on how not to be too reliant on a shield in a fight. He was a Huntsman, not a soldier in the pre-Great War era. 

Still, a marked improvement from the beginning of the year, where he was barely good enough to swing a sword and run at the same time. Really, really rapid growth, honestly- Pyrrha privately thought that her boyfriend had one of the fastest learning rates of anyone she'd met. At least, in terms of combat training. He was… still a little behind on his academics. 

"The semester does seem to be coming to a close rather quickly. We've got… another few days, at most?" Ren nodded idly, standing and stretching as he did his final weapon checks, making sure Stormflower was as ready and solid as Ruby had made it in the last few weeks. Nora, meanwhile, was pouting as she packed her grenades into an explosion-safe container and privately grumbling about how she'd rather just keep Magnhild loaded even though that presented so much more of a hazard than it normally would have. "Where are you headed, by the way?"

"Oh, I think I'm heading back to Argoz with Jaune- my mother lives in there, and Jaune tells me his older sisters live there as well, so it's the perfect time and place to get to know some of his family," Pyrrha answered, smiling as she continued waiting for her turn, thinking of all of the things they could do together- the sights she could show Jaune in her hometown, the foods they could enjoy, the dates… it'd be perfect … well, as long as nothing went radically wrong. They might even be able to see the giant robot doing its monthly patrol to keep the giant seaborne grimm away! 

… Actually that one wasn't quite as romantic mostly because of the loud Atlesian propaganda that the robot played as it stomped around the shoreline, but it was still pretty cool. 

Ruby would go wild over it if she ever had the chance to get up to Argoz- though, it might not be a great idea considering that the Colossus had a giant arm cannon with Dust shots and a missile rack and Pyrrha did not want to be responsible for one of her friends becoming a wanted fugitive because she stole the arm cannon off of Argoz' primary line of defense.  

"Hmm, he'll need to dress warm, then. Arg- Argoz is pretty cold year round," Ren hummed, sliding Stormflower back into his sleeves and watching the continuing fights down below- most of the seating closest to the testing stage taken up by students who hadn't yet had their turn. Thankfully, there was a table full of refreshments and snacks, so it wasn't like anyone would be fighting hungry. As he watched, it appeared that Penny was doing quite well, managing to guide Professor Mulberry around the arena with aplomb, her upgraded Floating Array flashing with a dazzling array of elemental effects as the Dust cartridges within activated and filled the air with blasts of flame and ice and wind and reshaped the terrain to her liking. 

She still lost, eventually, but it was very close- a ring out, and only because Professor Mulberry took advantage of her momentary distraction to use his Semblance to swap her with one of her swords that had landed outside of the ring.

"It is, but you get used to it," Pyrrha sighed quietly, tapping her foot against the ground and watching Jaune as he made sure that Nora didn't steal all of the muffins at the snack table, biting her lip as she twirled her weapon and waited for her turn. "What about you and Nora?"

"Staying in Vale. There's nothing really worth going back to in Mistral, and as much as we still have some friends from Harbour… I think we've drifted too much to do more than call by now," Ren shook his head again, crossing his arms. "Such is life, I suppose."

"Such is life. Well, I'm sure that Team RWBY and Penny will be able to visit during the break- They're all going to Patch, I heard," Pyrrha pointed out, tilting her head a bit as she considered the circumstances of JNPR's sister team. "I wonder if they'll have enough room in their house. That's a lot of extra people to keep in one place."

"Considering that Team CMNE is going back with them? If my math is right about who's staying where, it's going to be nine people in a house made for five," Ren answered, pursing his lips as he tilted his head towards Pyrrha. "I'm sure they'll be fine."

"It's out of our hands, I suppose…" Pyrrha shrugged, then sat back down against the tree roots, watching as her name creeped upwards on the list of names that had yet to go- were there really still so many people hanging around? Honestly, were they just waiting to watch her go? Did they have nothing better to do? Ugh. Oh well. She was used to having to deal with thousands of watchers whenever she fought in a tournament, dealing with a couple dozen classmates watching her while they recuperated from their losses (or, in the case of Team RWBY, their near victories) was nothing. "I'll miss you, Ren."

"I'll miss you as well, even if it's just for a month… and even if we're not going to be leaving for another few days," Ren nodded, then gave Pyrrha a small, joking smile as he held out his fist- receiving a casual bump in return. "Try not to push Jaune too hard while you two are alone together. I don't think anyone wants you to drop out because you got pr-"

"L-let's not talk about that yet! Haha- I- me? Pregnant? I mean sure maybe eventually but it's much too soon to even think about that let alone marriage or buying a house together or changing our names or-"

Ren blinked, watching as Pyrrha descended into a blushing mess of stutters and mumbles, sinking into herself as her skin turned bright, bright red as a result of her sudden flush of emotions- to the point that Ruby actually looked over from where she was fighting another one of their classmates and the resulting distraction caused her to take a boot to the head. Ouch. 

"I didn't know you felt so strongly about this subject. It's only been a few months," Ren noted idly, lightly scratching his cheek as he watched Pyrrha's mumbles die off slowly, the champion sinking down and burying her face in her knees whilst almost visibly steaming. Her Aura even started flaring- bringing with it the strong scent of metal and the subtle flex of everything metallic in a wide radius tugging slightly towards Pyrrha's form. "Then again… it is Jaune. Aside from that first week and a half where he mooned over Weiss, he's been quite the gentleman to you."

"I can't help it! Jaune is my partner and one of the first people to just… treat me like me in years …" Pyrrha groaned, shaking her head as she tried to get herself back under control before flicking Miló back into her hand while she stood up. "He's good for me. And… I'd like to hope I'm good for him."

"He is. And you are. Now-" Ren paused, looking back towards the arena as Pyrrha's name came up. "I think it's time for your fight. Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Pyrrha sighed, breathing deeply and focusing again as she began walking off. "Wish me luck, Ren."

"Good luck."

Notes:

*Shamelessly steals a crumb of worldbuilding from another RWBY fanfic writer for Argus stuff*

Shhh, if you know who I'm talking about, don't tell anyone!

(It's from Tekkonair)