𝐈𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 (English)

Chapter 83

Jaune wished he could be happy Yang had taken the initiative to force this. He wished he could think that she was helping him out by ripping the bandage off, and that he should accept deep inside that she was doing this with his best interests in mind.

That would be a lie.

It was an ugly feeling inside him that had Jaune wanting to shout and cuss at her and even break off their whole relationship. He wasn't ready and Yang knew that. Not to mention she knew about Cinder and how delicate that situation was. This was not the time to be having this kind of conversation.

And yet he couldn't.

Because Yang didn't just have to consider his feelings and his interests; Yang had those of her teammates and her sister as well. Asking her to put him before all three of them would have been the height of selfishness.

"Away from here," he said, moving and forcing Team RWBY to follow him or be left behind. "We can't risk being overheard. Yang knows why."

"Is she... in there...?" Yang asked.

"Yes."

"Who?" asked Weiss. "Who is she?"

"Not something for you to worry about right now."

"Jaune..." Ruby whined.

"No, sis." Yang ruffled Ruby's hair. "He's right on this one. Trust me, nothing you see in there will make sense without context."

Finding an empty room was simple enough. The guest wings of the school were deserted now that the festival was over, and the rooms had been left unlocked for cleaners to come and sort them out. That hadn't happened yet, the faculty waiting until the summer holidays where there would be less disruption. Jaune and Team RWBY stepped into what must once have been a transfer's dorm, the beds dishevelled and the floor dirty. Dusty patches congregated in corners where the students had only half-heartedly cleaned before leaving.

Ruby took a bed and sat on it next to Yang, but Weiss sniffed at the dirty interior and chose to stand, while Blake pulled out a wooden chair from the room's single desk, reversed it, and sat with her legs on either side of the backrest. That left Jaune to sit on the windowsill, back to the open air and a short drop. It was honestly tempting. Not that he had suicide in mind, but he could brace himself with aura and make a sprint for the Emerald Forest. Hide there and kill Grimm for a few hours until he could clear his head.

The coward's way out.

"So," he said. "I need to have a serious talk with you all about my Semblance, which I unlocked several weeks ago. Before that, I need you all to know that every teacher in Beacon has known from pretty much as early as I unlocked it, as does my team. It was on the advice of teachers that I kept it secret."

"As a tactical edge?" Ruby enquired. "But I didn't see you use it in the festival."

"Hush," Yang said. "He'll get to it."

There really was no great way to explain it all, no get out of jail card or convenient excuse. He wasn't in the right frame of mind for it either. As callous as it sounded, he had a lot more important things to worry about right now than delivering the news to them gently. Cinder, Salem, Ironwood, Ozpin. There was just too much going on.

So, he delivered it straight. Flat. Clinical.

Their eyes widened as he did, just dumping out the fact he'd been roaming in their dreams for ages and seeing things they didn't intend for him – or anyone – to see. Jaune kept the details to himself, and told them that, highlighting the "rules" he had come up with to stop him taking advantage of his Semblance, and also explaining that it wasn't just their dreams. Other students, teachers, even criminals like Cinder.