And now, we have the finale for our A Knight, A Champion, A Rose. Thank you for reading this far and sticking along, but once you hit the end, don't forget to read my last note. Enjoy.
"Well that's fucked up, ain't it?" the middle aged man said, taking a swig of his hard liquor.
Jaune lifted his whiskey in agreement, downing the small shot glass with a shiver of disgust following right after. He motioned to the bartender for another glass. The guitar started to pick up on the stereo in the dark smokey bar, void of life save for the boy, the bartender, the man, and few other stragglers hiding from home during these late hours of midnight. Golden brown poison poured into the boy's small glass, the burly man behind the counter chalking up another hashmark towards Jaune's tab.
"Thanks."
They listened to the music in their silence.
"Must be the season of the witch~
must be the season of the witch yeah~
Must be the season of the witch...
When I look over my shoulder
What do you think I see?
Some other cat looking' over
His shoulder at me
And he's strange
Sure is strange~"
The man spoke up again, asking "so this... this Ruby girl, how's she handling it?" He took another sip, "most little girls I know haven't bathed in blood quite like that, eh..."
"Well, ha, I'd imagine so," Jaune stared into his drink as he ran his wet finger around the rim of the glass, "yeah... she... she shut down again." A long sigh followed.
"Again?" the man asked, scratching his middle aged brunette stubble.
"Hmm? Yeah, I didn't tell you, but at the turn of our semester, we went on a mission, and well... she lost her eye..." another small amount of burning liquid slithered it's way down Jaune's throat. The bartender refilled it immediately.
"She sounds unlucky."
"Yep."
"Feel bad for the girl."
"Almost always."
A long pause.
"You got to pick up every stitch
Two rabbits runnin' in the ditch
Beatniks out to make it rich
Oh no~ must be the season of the witch
must be the season of the witch yeah~
must be the season of the witch
When I go~"
"Almost always you say? Is there a reason not to?" the man raised his eyebrow.
Jaune laughed for several seconds, tapping the worn wooden counter to reign himself into control. Through his spontaneous snickers and wide guilty smile, he confessed "the girl makes my life very confused at times. Ha, I can't lie, she downright turned my life up side down. Well, I don't know, it isn't her fault actually, it's me, but, she doesn't help the situation" Jaune babbled, the man to his right spinning in his stool to face away from the bar so he could lean back and let out a low whistle.
"I should've seen this coming... girl problems?"
Jaune lost it this time, slamming the counter as he rocked back in forth in his seat laughing, ending his fit with a couple tears running down his eyes. "Until now, heh, until now, I couldn't get a girl to pay attention to me to save my life right?"
"Feel your pain" the man sympathized.
"Yeah, and, then I pull this stunt, start training to become a huntsmen, and then I meet a whole bunch of wonderful girls, right?
"It's happened to me on occasion" the man said.
"And..." Jaune stopped smiling and laughing, calming down until he only had his lips slightly upturned in happy thoughts, "and one of these girls, amazing in every way imaginable, takes interest in me, and I return the notion, right?"
"Sure"
"And with time, this bridge, or building, or foundation- fuck, you know, thing, this thing is built between us, and you know what?" Jaune took a sip this time, realizing that he would die if he kept up with the rate he was going at.
"I'm sorry; I can't read minds."
Jaune waited, itching his forehead before continuing. "I thought maybe... I saw that, maybe, maybe we could stay together, smooth sailing, no problems in- or down the road, and everything would be good. I thought to as far as kids, 'Pyrrha Arc', and so on..."
The man knew who Jaune was talking about, but didn't react. He instead waited for the distressed boy to continue, listening to the lyrics in the background. "Look at all the lonely people, where do they all come from?"
"But Ruby..." he sighed. "She just had to take interest in this loser. I could see it from the start, and I hate myself for it. I couldn't help but to leave my options open, and she didn't miss the chance to run in Pyrrha's shadow, and now I'm split between two girls, one whom I would readily stay with forever, and the other whose heart I can't bring myself to break." He asked for another glass.
"Wow. Just wondering, why wouldn't you go with Ruby over the other girl? What's the difference?"
Jaune stared at the shelves of booze, counting the bottles with his sad reflection in them. He turned to look at the man on his right with a melancholic thousand yard stare, simply stating "as previously said, Ruby's unlucky. She wasn't the one to become my partner..."
The man gave a criticizing eye, spinning back to meet his drink. "So you're saying she can't be the one because she isn't your partner?"
Jaune thought out his response, letting the chorus of voices fill the silence.
"Eleanor Rigby died and was buried along with her name
Nobody came~
Father Mckenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved~"
"No, that' not exactly it, but also, yes." At this point, Jaune had grabbed hold of a troublesome pistachio, struggling with one hand to pry the totally enclosed snack with just his left hand and failing miserably. "Life is determined by how the cards fall and our reactions is the way I see it. It's something we have to live with everyday. 'I'm born by the chance that my mom and dad happen to accidentally meet once on a accidental trip to a awfully specific book store in a town neither of them lived in, and they happened to lock eyes through the book shelf to each other and happened to fancy each other, and by luck my father had the balls to ask for my mom's number. By the unique way the cards landed, I am thusly born when any one of those events could've changed and instead of me existing, some other asshole would be the one walking and talking.'" Jaune paused again before finishing. "Pyrrha became my partner, and thus we were exposed to each other more than anyone else, and thus we became bonded. Ruby was unlucky in that she had to compete with Pyrrha whom was my partner, when she could've probably won if the roles were switched. It breaks my heart, it really does, but in reality, the coin landed heads and Pyrrha won. True to her nature, she's the champion, now I just need to fix my relationship with her."
A new song came on, one that the man apparently knew. He gave a laugh before saying "you're a true cold blooded bastard, you know that? Actually, funny timing, this song kinda fits you..." as he pointed up to gesture Jaune to give a listen.
"Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
stole many a man's soul and fate
I was around when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Stuck around St. Petersburg..."
Jaune nodded his head 'no'. "Sorry, I'm not seeing it. No soul stealing or pilot that I know of. And I sure don't know any Jesus Christ, whoever that is." He took another swig.
"Ah man! This is my jam, you have no idea!" the man laughed with glee. He jumped off of his stool, holding a imaginary mic to his mouth as he skillfully singed along with the song while dancing in the most purposely cheesy way possible. He did this until he got Jaune cackling like an old man, where he then changed his tactics to less cheesy and more over dramatic with large long hand motions. By virtue of this middle aged man acting so goofy, Jaune couldn't contain his composure, tears freely flowing from his eyes as he rolled on top of the counter in laughter.
"And I laid tracks for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game~"
The music calmed down, the guitar drumming echoing as the only sound, letting the vocals stand on their own.
"Just as every cop is a criminal
And all you sinner's Saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint!
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy and some taste
Use all your well learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste~"
The man jumped down from the counter as the end of the song played out on it's own. The bartender maintained a frown towards the man, but kept his temper and cleaned the dirt off of the countertop with his wet rag.
"Bravo sir!" the boy clapped, "I admire your talent."
He bowed, "why thank you good sir, I try. Now I'm sad to say, but I must take my leave..." he said as he patted Jaune on the back. He dropped a small stack of lien on the countertop and grabbed his gray trench coat, swinging it around and slipping his arms into the sleeves. He fixed his collar up.
"Nice talking to you man. Hey, what should I call if I see you again?" he turned over his shoulder to watch the man as he opened the door.
The man song talked, repeating part of the song from earlier, "as heads is tails just call me lucifer..." he stopped before the door closed completely, jamming his foot in the door. "And just to be sure, you're Jaune right?"
"Tis' true."
"Hmm. Well later" the man smiled, leaving into the raining nighttime darkness, quickly disappearing from sight of the windows wrapping around the bar.
Jaune felt lonely again. His finger traced the rim of his glass, his eyes cast down into the auburn whiskey.
"Step in front of a runaway train
Just to feel alive again
Pushing forward through the night,
Aching chest and blurry sight
It's so far, so far away
It's so far, so far away..."
Several shuffles from the other patrons of the bar could be heard in the near silence, but regardless of whatever sadness the room carried in it, no one could deny the peace, the sanctuary it provided to it's sinners. The next song came on.
"Oh life, it's bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I've said too much
I've said enough
That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion..."
Jaune's solitude ended abruptly, the door opening breaking the silence they all were appreciating. Jaune's grandfather dropped his cane, coat, and hat onto the counter to Jaune's right as he took a seat on the stool on that same side.
"Just a beer please, something light" he asked the bartender.
"What're you doing here?" Jaune quietly asked, not too shocked by his grandfather's appearance.
The old man popped open his bottle of brew and took a moment to chuckle. He motioned towards the boy "I think we have our drinks backwards, don't ya think?" He shuffled his smoking pipe to the side of his mouth and drank half the bottle in one go without flinching.
Jaune in his hunched posture looked over his shoulder down to his drink as he swirled it in his palm. He tilted his head as he thought about it, answering "I guess so, wanna switch?"
He nodded 'no'. "Not tonight. Speaking of tonight, it's Sunday..."
"Yep" Jaune popped his 'p', the cheery response contradicting his tired look.
"You have school in the morning..."
"Yep."
He shrugged. "Fair enough," he turned to face forward, "you're young, you have to experience a hangover eventually."
Jaune shrugged. "I guess." They sat in silence for a bit, listening to the song.
"That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion..."
"Say, what's 'religion'? I keep hearing things I don't know about on this playlist- actually, I've never heard these songs before, know anything about it?"
The older man put his empty bottle down before reaching behind the counter to grab another bottle, prying the cap off on the raw mahogany tabletop. "I heard that recently they dug up some stuff, some of which was old music that they released for free to the public."
"That's nice of them, but, still doesn't change the original question, do you know what this 'religion' is?" Another sip.
Without hesitation or pause, he lied. "No" the grandfather said.
"Hmm. Anyways, what're you doing here?"
The old man started baby talking, turning the heads of the folk in the back of the dimly lit bar. "I'm just here to check on my adorable wittle wun away gwandson."
The boy's eyes danced, saying 'oh! is that so?' He raised the glass to his lips after saying "fuck yeah I'm adorable, didn't you hear? It's the sensation sweeping the nation..."
A swift hand met with the back of Jaune's head, spilling the last contents of his drink over his jeans and face. "I refuse to believe that we raised you to speak so foully" the elder spoke with dignity.
More fluid poured into the glass from the bartender, another tally on a scratch pad next to the cash register towards the tab. Jaune raised the whiskey, "Yeah, well, you didn't raise me to drink either," and he took a sip.
He scoffed. "If you didn't end up drinking ever, there'd be a problem. It was something we expected. Speaking of which, what glass is that for you?" he asked referring to the 4 ounce glass Jaune had yet to let go of that night.
The music played without interference as Jaune counted.
"You better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down..."
"He's 10 drinks in" the bartender eventually answered, waving his scratchpad as evidence before walking away again.
"Well it looks like you inherited our tolerance it seems, you're doing just fine."
"Lovely."
"..." Silence, then "Here come old flattop, he come grooving up slowly
He got joo-joo eyeball, he one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker he just do what he please..."
"So I'm sorry about Saturday."
"Are you?" Jaune asked.
The grandfather looked at his grandson in surprise. "You think I wouldn't be?"
Jaune shrugged. "I don't know really. You seem to be happy I'm fighting for my life, isn't that why you taught me about all that 'intelligent aura' crap?"
A long sigh. "I don't see why you would call it crap first of all, hasn't it done anything for you?"
"I hurt Pyrrha during practice with it, so I've been a little reluctant to use it to say the least."
"Well you should practice it some more, it's the only way you're going to match any of your friends in combat against Grimm..." the grandfather spat with slight anger.
"You mean people?" Jaune snapped back.
"Yes, people too! You think Grimm are the only evil around?"
Jaune knew this well already, he didn't know why he was getting mad at his grandfather. Maybe it was just because he told him to do something he didn't want to do.
"I had to kill someone yesterday..."
The grandfather waited, respecting Jaune's pace.
"Yeah, no matter how much I try to feel bad about it, I just can't bring myself to feel anything," the elder reeled back slightly, "especially when compared to Ruby. She's trying to deal with demons far worse than mine, so I don't really have anything to complain about. It's my choice anyways."
"..."
The grandfather rolled the bottle in his hand, concerned. He started again, "I'm not happy that you're fighting for your life. I wish we could all live in peace, but, as you have figured, that's not going to happen. But I am happy that you have taken your life into your hands, rather than let the tidal waves come to drown us..."
"Thats dark."
"It's unfortunately true."
"..."
"So, how is it between you and Pyrrha?" The grandfather grinned.
Jaune pointed up, gesturing his elder to listen.
"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long
Anytime she goes away."
His face contorted with great worry. "That bad?" he asked.
Jaune took another sip and shrugged, "eh... it's a toin coss."
The grandfather tilted his head in a inquisitive manner.
"And I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know,
Hey! I oughtta leave t'young thing alone
But ain't no sunshine when she's gone~"
"What?" Jaune asked as he finally noticed his confused grandfather.
"Toin coss?"
"Yeah, a coin toss."
"A coin toss?"
"A toin coss."
"A toin coss?"
"Yeah?
"..." the elder stared.
"What?"
"A toin coss?"
"Yeah! For the love of dust a toin cos- shit! You know what I mean!"
The grandfather tapped the ash out of his pipe into a metal tray next to some picks, then picked up his articles of clothing and replaced them with some lien on the countertop, saying as he left "speaking of knowing, I just so happened to let your worried teammates where you were, so here she comes now, ta ta for now!" and so he left.
Jaune turned in slight frustration to see where his grandfather was now stood Pyrrha cloaked in the scarlet cloth that he gifted her during the winter, and it flowed behind her as she approached the blond boy, dotted with speckles of rain drops that refused to soak in. The music thought it would be funny as Pyrrha took a seat next to Jaune in the dim light of the over head lamps.
"The way you're bathed in light
reminds me of that night
god laid me down into your rose garden of trust
and I was swept away
with nothin' left to say
some helpless fool
yeah I was lost in a swoon of peace
you're all I need to find
so when the time is right
come to me sweetly, come to me
come to me~"
"Hey"
"Hey"
"Wine please."
"Red or white?"
"Uh, red... thank you"
They both stared into their drinks, avoiding looking at each other still even after all this time.
"..."
A few minutes past, the tension in the silence building greater with each passing moment, until finally, Pyrrha said what she came to say.
"This has to stop. We haven't been able to look into each other's eyes for too long. We shared something, something special, and because of one thing or another, we haven't dealt with it, something's going on, and we're too scared to face it, till now." She looked at him, waiting. Finally, he looked back.
Funny enough, Pyrrha had worked herself into a slight rage, but when Jaune turned to look at her and got a good look of his three day stubble, disheveled hair, and soft blue ghost like eyes, she couldn't help but to think how hot he was in moments like these. She felt ashamed of herself.
"I'm sorry" he said.
She raised her brow, "for what?"
He turned back to his drink. "I screwed up."
"How?" she pressed.
"I rushed what we had. I think I tainted what we had... built."
She sighed, nodding her head in disapproval. "It was as much me as you if not more, you can't blame yourself for that."
He thought about it. "Your right."
She waited. Then, "that's it?" she asked.
"I guess we just screwed up. One night, we got wild, then we were too embarrassed to talk about it. We avoided each other for no good reason." He looked at her, asking with his eyes if he understood the situation right.
She pondered it, sipping her wine. "I guess so." She felt satisfied. "So does that mean we can go back to how we were?" she asked hopefully.
"No" he said.
"What?" she asked in disbelief.
"It's not so simple. Before we can rebuild, we have to clear the air of some things."
She settled in her seat, relaxing herself in hopes to calm her nerves. "Like what?"
"You need to know," he finished his tenth glass, receiving an eleventh right afterwards, "I love you."
She smiled. "Hmph, I know..."
"...And I share similar feelings for Ruby."
Pyrrha hurt inside. A feeling of being stabbed ensued like reality within her chest, her heart literally pulsing in pain, she breathed alot deeper, trying to calm herself to stop the sensation. "So it's true."
"Yep" he confessed. "That's where the problem lies. Could you be mine while knowing that I am not completely yours?"
She laughed, scaring Jaune. "You know, you're not supposed to tell a girl the truth, it's always the bad idea..."
"Well I won't lie."
She smiled, her competitive and compassionate side getting the better of her. "How about this then, I'll just have to win you over completely... Ruby will have a chance of her own that way..."
Jaune turned to his side and gawked at the redhead. He blinked repeatedly, trying to wake up from this conversation he was sure he was dreaming. "Are you... are you...?"
"Am I mental? Insane? Crazy?" she ran her hand through his hair, tickling both her palm and his head, a warm smile on her face. "I love you too, and if I have to fight to protect what we have, I don't see a problem there. Ruby's a sweet girl, and I can understand why anyone would be... attracted to her, and obviously I can see why someone would be attracted to you, so it in reality isn't all that surprising. So let's start over fresh, let's 'rebuild', we'll do what it takes to make it perfect."
He looked to the side, somber in his eyes. "Pyrrha, I don't think we can just, 'start over', can we?"
From under her cloak, Pyrrha pulled out a pamphlet of papers, the coupons that Jaune gave her for St. David's Day, and pulled out a random slip. She grabbed a pen from a cup on the counter and wrote on it 'start over', then handed it to Jaune with a coy face. "Tomorrow, lets go out for coffee."
He chuckled. "Let's be honest, you're going to get tea, I'm getting hot chocolate. It hardly qualifies as 'coffee'."
She punched him in the arm, both of them giggling.
"We good now?" Jaune asked, waving the slip of paper in the air.
"We're good." Pyrrha took a sip of her drink, then looked at the time on the wall. "Hey, you should probably head back and get to sleep, you're probably exhausted, what with all your wandering around and what not."
The boy stood up, dropping a wad of lien onto the table, turning to leave, he stopped. "Pyrrha?"
"Hmm?" she sounded through her wine.
He continued looking outside. "What do you think about the man I killed." The bartender eyed in their direction.
Pyrrha wiped her mouth. "What about it?" she nonchalantly asked.
"Thought so, that's all I needed to know. I knew I could expect that from you" he smiled to himself.
She turned to look at him in suspicion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Walking to the door laughing, he answered, "I know to expect you to say just the right thing to comfort me..." and out he left. From outside, he could still hear the music playing from inside. Walking down the side walk admiring the empty Vale streets for a few seconds, he then bumped into Ruby. Silence save for the rain and music ensued.
"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life."
"My grandfather tell you too?" he asked.
"Yes." She looked up at him, the rain soaking into her red eye patch and the almost hidden moon reflecting in her distant silver eye.
"Pyrrha just declared that she was going to win against you," he said as he pulled her fur lined hood over her head, stepping around her to continue on.
"Hmm" she replied without passion. She simply stared at the boy, not knowing why she went to see him or what she planned to do or what she wanted him to say, and he could tell that she was in such a lost state.
"She doesn't hate you for it you know" he said, stopping to look behind him.
"Hmm." She stared. He then realized that there were tears intermingled in the rain running down her face.
"What's wrong?" He already knew the answer.
She wept, "It doesn't matter now, every time I close my eyes, the pedals scatter, every nightmare just discloses that it's blood that's red like roses," she could barely choke out the last bit, her eye puffy and red in her sorrows, "and it reminds me of my mother..."
He reached out, hugging the poor girl. It was to be expected. If she wasn't damaged at this point, then she would've had to be before. Ruby pained to know more about her mother, only to find sadness with each revealed memory, Weiss hid the scars of countless tests on her body and her past well, but eventually she would break and be discovered, Blake always lived in a confused state of guilt and anger, fighting against her past life but fighting to make light of it at the same time, trying to justify her actions, and so on, each Huntsmen and Huntress in training training not just how to kill monsters, but training to kill the chains that held them back, demons that beat them down, and notions that kept them children.
She calmed down.
"Thank you Jaune" she whispered, separating herself from him.
"Anytime. You took another step to becoming a true blood Huntress" he jested.
"Fun" the girl moaned back, wiping her eye. "So you said Pyrrha's thrown down the glove?"
"Yep."
"Well then, you want to get some coffee tomorrow?" she twisted in place with her hands behind her back as she asked this.
He chuckled. "You can come with me and Pyrrha if you want, we were already planning on getting some drinks."
She smiled. "I can work with that."
"By the way," he pointed towards the bar, "Pyrrha's just in there..."
"Oh, ok!" she chirped. She skipped along, entering the bar, probably too young Jaune thought.
"Hey!" the Rose greeted Pyrrha gleefully from the entrance, the massive AMAG rounds slotted in between her fingers to make a makeshift knuckle duster.
"Good day" the Champion equally happily greeted back, standing up from the stool and breaking a bottle on the countertop and holding it in front of her.
He turned to walk away again, admiring the music behind him.
"It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you hand the time of your life."
As he turned back he saw a chair sail through the window and shatter on the wall on the other side of the street, soon followed Ruby sliding across the pavement several meters before hopping back on her feet and vaulting the window to get back into the fight. Jaune laughed.
"Next year is going to be fun, isn't it?" the Knight turned for the last time that day and walked away, his bed at home in his dorm his goal.
"It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life~"
-End A Knight, A Champion, A Rose-
Thank you all. If it wasn't for your reviews or support, I wouldn't have written this far. This may be controversial what I'm here to announce, seeing as how long this fic already is, but that's just the thing. This is the first fic in a series, and I will very shortly pick up in their second year at Beacon to continue the series, and I can hear the groans now but, I have plans that go all the way to their fourth years. For some of us, thats a relief in that the series won't end, while for some of us, that means alot more reading ha ha! I feel that you wonderful people deserve to appreciate how much you have read... in standard font, format, and page size, you have read at least 400+ pages of a typical novel. It's not a tremendous amount, but you probably haven't noticed it, and that's the incredible part. I love you all, make sure you leave a review of any kind, whether it's criticizing, complementing, commenting, or whatever, all input helps, favorite, vote on the poll on my main page, and keep an eye out for round two coming next Sunday that is if you have the endurance, and good fortune to you!
P.S: To a certain commenter, no, I'm not a hermaphrodite, I just said I wouldn't reveal my gender ;)
P.S.S: Bonus challenge! Leave in your reviews every song you think played during this finale, see if you can get all of them!