Jaune just stared.

He just looked dead ahead, straight into the eyes of the girl in front of him, the ghost from his past. He slowly began to shake his head.

"No." he said to himself.

"No." he repeated, louder this time.

Adam approached from behind his bandmate, a questioning look on his face.

"Are you ok dude?" he asked.

Jaune's face suddenly turned to a scowl and he raised his voice, his arm shooting out to point at the girl looking at him.

"You stay the fuck away from me!"

And with that, Jaune quickly turned away from the redhead and stormed off the stage and out the side entrance. The slamming of the large metal door rung out through the mostly empty bar, and no one said a word of what they just saw. Until Sun emerged from behind the drunk kit, arms spread wide in questioning.

"What the fuck was that?"

"This redhead was talking to Jaune then he stormed off" Adam answered pointing at Ruby, his eyes locked on the door Jaune left through.

"And you just let him leave?" Sun questioned as we walked passed Adam and began to jog towards the door.

Sun stood in the doorframe as he scanned the area for the blonde, and cursed when there was no sign of him.

"He's not out there, what did you say to him?" Sun said accusingly as we walked up to Adam and Ruby.

By this point Ruby's bandmates had caught up to the redhead, and were also wondering what happened.

"Yeah Ruby, what happened?" Weiss asked.

The questions brought Ruby from her stupor

"I don't know! All I know is these-guys-played-an-awesome-show-and-I-came-up-to-offer-then-the-opening-spot-then-he-got-really-cranky-and-stormed-off!" Ruby answered, her arms waving in the air and her words running together

Sun just sighed in response, turned around and began to walk back to his drum kit.

"Come on, lets continue packing up and get back home, Jaune probably went there." he called.

"Didn't you hear her Sun? She asked if we want to open for their band." Adam asked

"I heard her Adam, when we find Jaune we'll discuss it as a band, like we always do." Sun responded as he continued to pack.

"Well..."" Ruby began "We'll just get out of your hair" She continued as she gestured to her band to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sun questioned sternly looking at the five as they left.

Ruby made a noise that was a mix between surprise from being called out and confusion as to why they were stopped.

"You made one of the three people who pack and move our gear leave, you better help us." Sun continued.

"Wha?" Ruby said

"He does have a point." Blake said dejectedly

Qrow chuckled from behind the girls.

"You heard him girls, best get to work." he said between chuckles

"You have to help too!" Yang cried

"Oh Yang, I'd love to, but I'm afraid I can't, ya know, old age and stuff." Qrow said, beginning to take a swig from his flak

"Hurry up, with so many of you it'll be quicker than usual" Sun interrupted.

Pack up wasn't as bad as Sun had thought it was going to be, the atmosphere was extremely awkward with the only ones really talking to each other being Sun and Adam, but the timing was amazing. It was by far the quickest pack up the band had had. Each member had taken to helping pack up their speciality; Blake and Adam packed the basses and bass amp, Sun and Yang tore down the drums and Weiss and Ruby backed Jaune's guitars and amp, and before they knew it, everything was packed and being wheeled out the door.

"Alright. All we have to do is wheel these back home then we're done." Sun explained as they entered the cool Tutum night.

"Is it far?" Yang whined

"It's as far as it is." Adam answered cryptically, and the group began to walk in silence.

During the trek, Ruby discreetly approached Weiss, who was pushing the guitar amp box.

"Weiss!" she whispered

"What is it Ruby?" Weiss answered

"You realise who's amp and guitars these are, right?" Ruby asked

"What are you talking about? Of course I do, it's Sun and Adam's bandmate's." Weiss answered matter of factly

"Well, obviously, but do you realise who that is?" Ruby asked

Weiss' lack of response gave Ruby the prompt to continue.

"It's Jaune. Jaune Arc."

Weiss' eyes shot open wide and she gasped in surprise. Weiss struggled to find an excuse when the rest of RWBY and No Plan turned back to look at her

"S-sorry, I just ran over my own foot" She lied

The two boys just mumbled their response and turned back to continue their journey.

"Are you sure?" Weiss questioned

"Well, I went up to talk to a blonde boy with piercing blue eyes, asked if it was Jaune and he flipped out at me saying for me to leave him alone, so yes, I a pretty sure." Ruby replied snarkily

Weiss immediately turned to her right to Blake, and whispered to get her attention.

"Psst, Blake"

"Yes?" she responded

"The Equipment Ruby and I have is Jaune's, as in, Jaune Arc's." Weiss explained

"I know." Blake responded stiffly

"I was shocked to- wait, what do you mean you knew?" Weiss asked, surprised

"I thought it was obvious, Yang said he looked familiar, Ruby goes up to him and he flips out, it's not hard to put two and two together."

"Oh." Weiss simply replied

"Why are you telling me this anyway?" Blake asked

"Well, it's just that we're going to their home, and he clearly won't be too happy to see us, and while I have the upmost faith in our tour manager-" Weiss gestured to Qrow, who had lagged behind the group still drinking from his flask and stumbling all over the footpath "I just want you to be ready for a bad situation...Does Yang know?" Weiss asked

"I don't know, I'll tell her if I get the chance, but she is the one that said she thought he looked familiar." Blake answered

The group then continued to walk in silence.

In an attempted to make the journey less awkward, Ruby tried to start a conversation.

"You guys haven't got many guitars, do ya?" She said

"What?" Sun asked, seeming annoyed

"It's just that there wasn't many guitars in the rack is all." Ruby explained

"Yeah, I noticed the same thing with your basses Adam." Blake chimed in

"We don't exactly have money to be buying guitars left and right." Sun said, continueing to push his load.

"I guess, but such a small collection limits your overall sound." Ruby continued

Sun merely shrugged "Good thing we've got a good sound then."

As they walked, the footpath began to deteriorate, cracks becoming more common than cement, and a foul odour became more prominent. Ruby had to hold her nose to avoid retching.

"How far out is this place?" Yang called out to the boys

"Just up here" Sun responded

The group then approached a large warehouse, with a large amount of people outside either talking or passed out.

"Watch your step" Adam called as he led the group inside

There was a surprising amount of people in the warehouse, beers and tables and furniture scattered around, and music blaring

"Having a party?" Weiss asked, having to raise her voice to be heard over the music.

"No." Sun simply replied, "It's always like this."

"Leave the stuff here." Adam responded as he rested his amp box against a wall in the corner of the warehouse, the members of RWBY letting out a sigh of relief at finally being able to stop pushing the gear around.

Sun approached the back of a yellow couch, where a guy and a girl were getting quite familiar with each other.

"Yo, Nadir, have you seen Jaune around here?" Sun questioned

"No, not since you guys left your show." The man responded in the gaps between kisses he shared with the girl straddling him

"Alright, we're gonna go look for him, keep an eye on our stuff would ya?" Sun said

The man shot a thumb up from his position under the girl, who was now on top of him completely.

"Come on, let's go find our front man." Sun said to the group of musicians.

"We have to come too?" Blake questioned, sounding unimpressed

"Yeah, we've got a pretty good idea of where he is, and on our way there we can talk about that opener slot you mentioned before." Adam said, a grin on his face.

Jaune sat in a booth at a local coffee shop in Tutum. He had a coffee in front of him on the table, next to the coffee sat his black book. He bounced his pen off the pages as he stared into his drink, his mind wandering. His thoughts were stopped as he heard a familiar voice.

"I knew he'd be here!"

He looked up to see Adam and Sun, his bandmates and best friends squeeze into the seats opposite from him.

"Hey Jaune, we finally found ya" Sun said

Jaune smiled at this.

"Yeah, you did, I'm sorry I bailed back there, it's jus-" Jaune began, before Adam interrupted

"Yeah, yeah, just pack up our gear next show"

"Being fair, we had help" Sun added

"Help? Who helped?" Jaune asked

"That redheaded chick and her friends." Sun said gesturing to the door of the shop.

RWBY watched as Sun and Adam entered the shop before them.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go in?" Yang exclaimed, beginning to walk towards the door

Suddenly Weiss jumped in front of the blonde with her arms up. "Wait!" She yelled

"Ok….that was weird, what's wrong Weiss?" Yang questioned, an eyebrow raised at the shorter girl in front of her.

"You can't go in there!" Weiss responded

"What? That's ridiculous" Yang responded, trying to push her way around the white haired girl.

"Seriously! You aren't ready to go in there! Tell her Ruby!" Weiss called for Ruby's help

"I think Weiss is right sis, I don't think it's a good idea for you to go in there" Ruby chimed in

"You two are being ridiculous, move, I wanna go see their front man." Yang said, and began to walk through the two girl barricade Ruby and Weiss had set up, and upon entering, who she saw in the café made her freeze where she stood.

Jaune turned to look and what he saw stopped his heart. Standing in the doorway was Qrow, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Yang. The four women that made his life a living hell since the day he started at Signal High School. Blake and Weiss just stared, Ruby gave a weak wave, and Yang was frozen in her place, wide-eyed.

Jaune's blood began to boil, and he gave a death grip on the table. He wanted to scream, we wanted to shout, and cuss out the people in front of him for everything they did, from ruining every attempt he made to get a girlfriend, to forcing him to do their homework, to constantly beating him down every chance they got. Even the little wave Ruby sent his way made him want to spit in her face for having the nerve to do that after everything she'd done.

But he wouldn't.

Jaune's eyes drifted from each of his high school bullies' faces to around the shop. Families, friends, people living their life, he looked to the cashier, she was just running a business, she didn't deserve for such a scene to be made in her shop.

Jaune took a deep breath and looked back at his bandmates.

"I don't get why you stormed off, they just want us to open for them." Adam said

Jaune had to take another breath and focus on not exploding again. He'd explain exactly why he had stormed off, but not now, not while they were there and could see the effect they had on him.

"Sun and I think it would be a great opportunity for the band" Adam continued

"So you guys have been talking about it?" Jaune questioned

"Only on the way over, we were waiting to find you and discuss it as a band first." Sun clarified

"You think it's a good idea Sun?" Jaune asked

"I was entertaining the thought, but if you have an issue with it we don't have to, we do things as a band." Sun answered

"Of course it's a good idea, the pay alone is worth 5 shows we do in bars and clubs, plus it's a chance to expose a whole different audience to our music" Adam interrupted

Jaune looked between his bandmates, the closest things he had to brothers. Adam was right, it would only lead to good, and extra money was always good.

"We can't just play dive bars our entire careers." Sun added, although mumbled.

Jaune processed that for a few seconds. While the band drew more than any band in the scene, they had stopped growing as much as they used to, they still had consistent audience numbers night to night, which was fantastic, but growth was a good thing in the music industry, and opening for another band would expose the band to new faces and possibly new fans. Jaune finally broke the silence that had fallen over the table.

"You guys are right, it's what's best for the band, and hell, it's only one night, right?"

A huge smile spread across both Adam and Sun's faces and Adam began slamming his hand on the table in celebration.

"That's the attitude!" he cried

Jaune then rose from the table and slowly walked over to the group of people he hated the most in the world, his bandmates by his side. He avoided looking at any of them aside from Ruby, who he looked down on because of the height difference.

"One night. One show. You need us more than we need you." he said coldly

Ruby's features brightened

"Awesome! You're gonna do amazing!" She celebrated

"I know. What are the details." Jaune said flatly

"Oh, yes, of course, Tutum arena, sound check is 4, doors open at 7, you go on at 8:30" Ruby said.

Jaune just nodded and walked passed the group, Yang still absolutely frozen.

The boys walked down the streets of Tutum, the only sounds being the howling of the winds and the sound of them walking on the cement.

"Where are we going now?" Sun asked

"Home." Jaune responded, "We've got a big day tomorrow."

Hello!

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I really hope there isn't any spelling mistakes or wrong words or anything, because I always seem to find one after I post the chapter, hahaha. It felt a bit slow at the beginning, but as I started writing I felt it flowed more. I hope you guys had a Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Crazy Kwanzaa/Cool whatever else. Also, happy new year! My resolution this year is to create more things; scripts, YouTube videos, songs, stories, whatever, just make more, so that means that if I stick to it (which I hopefully will) you guys will see more updates. As always thank you to everyone who reviews, follows and favourites, that's what motivates me to update.

Love,

ASaintNamedJimmy