𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (English)

Chapter 16

It was probably too much to say he was "over it" come the next morning, but Jaune found that life hurt a little less. Grief was something he'd read about while delving through psychology books for advice on dreams, and acceptance had come a little too quickly to seem normal. Then again, Amber wasn't dead yet, and there'd probably be a fresh and far heavier dose of grief when she did pass. Either way, the human mind simply refused to flood him with unhappy chemicals (or a dearth of happy ones) and so he attended and interacted in school through the day without any noticeable differences.

Pyrrha did, too, which only went to show that pain could be easily hidden. Every moment with him and Yang in the same room felt uncomfortably heavy, and he kept thinking of Yang in a wedding gown. That would scare her into dumping him on the spot if he mentioned it. Pyrrha didn't mention it either, and for obvious reasons. The dream version of her might have stood up and objected to their wedding, but he was sure the real Pyrrha wouldn't. If she hadn't mustered the courage to come out and tell him her feelings then she sure as hell wasn't going to find it to do that.

The last lesson of the day was combat – so placed because the teachers knew they'd have all the free time in the world to shower, rest, or get dinner. Nora often complained about the unfairness of the last lesson ending at four, but them all having to lose another thirty minutes of their own time showering off. No one would complain in front of Miss Goodwitch, though. Or not twice anyway. The usual spars were called out. Miss Goodwitch liked to keep things even if she could, which meant no spars of Pyrrha against him, or Ruby against Cardin – her Semblance would make his slow weapon pointless. While she knew their skills however, the same couldn't be said for the transfers, and so she'd opted to let them pick out people to face. Mercury had already fought Pyrrha a few days back, and a few had taken a shot at Weiss as well. More famous names drew more fierce competition. A couple had fought Yang, and no one had challenged Ruby, though that might be more out of consternation for picking on a little girl than because they were afraid of her. It wasn't everyday someone asked to fight him, though.

"I would like to face Jaune Arc."

His name drew his attention and had him looking around to see who had said it. Black hair, yellow eyes, no bow. Oh dear. Cinder Fall was looking at him with a considering gaze, one hand raised lazily and her weight resting on one foot with the other crossed over it. He wouldn't say she looked angry, but he couldn't say she looked happy either. More worryingly, Vanille looked concerned for him. That wasn't a good sign.

"Mr. Arc," called Miss Goodwitch. "Up in the arena. Cinder Fall as well."

"Good luck," said Pyrrha.

"Thanks. I've a feeling I'm going to need it."

Pyrrha looked at him, confused, and then at Cinder as she strode toward the arena. "Do you know her?"

"I bumped into her the other day." It was an evasive answer, but not untrue. "And I don't think I made a good impression. Think me throwing up on Yang's shoes level of bad, or my early flirting with Weiss. Except without the flirting."

Ren chuckled. "But with the same results."

"Yes. I think she's upset at me and wants to make that clear. If I die, tell my family it was in a much more impressive fashion."

Miss Goodwitch called him again – with a subtle hinting stare to warn him she wouldn't call him a third time. He jogged away from his team and into the arena to a few polite claps from the transfers and a bit of derisive laughter from his own classmates. Team RWBY cheered for him – or, well, Ruby and Yang did. His team clapped as well, and Vanille was bouncing on her heels waving her hand at him. Her teammates were less than impressed. Jaune strode up to stand opposite Cinder; she had no weapon, but he was sure that could change in an instant. Or she was a fist-fighter. Either way, she'd been selected to represent Mistral, so he had to assume she was in the top set of her year.