Bring You Sunshine

By A Stereotypical Gamer

Chapter One: Everyone Can Be

The First Semester at Beacon

Blake was missing. Whatever other revelations Weiss had to offer them, there was nothing more significant than that. There was no detail more important to focus on, and no rationale that would've compelled him to leave an internal struggle within Team RWBY alone. No matter how Weiss protested her… entirely different concerns about Blake, Jaune still rallied his team to join the hunt and help their sister team find their lost member. Whatever Blake was, whatever Blake had been, she was their friend and they would help to bring her home.

Ren and Nora would scour Beacon campus alongside a somewhat recalcitrant Weiss, and Pyrrha and Jaune would go into Vale, if Blake had made it so far. Eventually they'd all move into the city, if they couldn't find Blake on the school grounds.

Jaune and Pyrrha were well suited to asking around. Pyrrha wasn't recognized by everyone, but a substantial majority of people recognized the girl who appeared on their kids' cereal boxes. Jaune had already made inroads with a handful of Vale shopkeepers (many of whom seemed oddly familiar to each other) and had developed enough of a rapport that he could ask for information without anyone begrudging him not sampling their wares. Unfortunately, they had no luck.

They were fortunate no classes awaited them, though it made for a pretty rotten weekend. All they could do was worry about their missing friend. Pyrrha couldn't even appreciate her time spent alone with Jaune. A weekend jaunt into Vale, walking through the city limits alongside him… she hadn't quite envisioned that their first excursion together would be as part of a search party for a missing Blake.

Still, she hadn't become a regional champion by spurning opportunity. Nor had she forgotten how to disguise her approach.

"You should tell me how you came to know all these people," Pyrrha suggested, as Jaune waved farewell to yet another shopkeeper he seemed on friendly terms with. She framed it innocently enough, and suspected Jaune wouldn't read into it. Even if he inferred Pyrrha's attempt to turn his thoughts from Blake, hopefully Jaune would be encouraged to answer just the same.

"It's weird to me being in a big city like this one," Jaune explained. "It's weird not knowing everybody, not running into town and trading goods, asking how their families are. I mean, not everybody's gonna' want to be your friend, but I like to think that everyone can be, if you make the effort."

Pyrrha couldn't help but smile. Jaune may have been achingly naïve in certain ways, but it seemed he excelled at social graces. Well, some of them, anyway. He was still chasing after Weiss despite her obvious lack of interest.

Her smile faded at the thought. While Pyrrha had no doubt Jaune had joined the search party because he wanted to help Blake, she couldn't help but wonder if he'd been motivated –at least in part- by winning Weiss's favor as well. Ruby may have spearheaded the entire hunt for her missing teammate, but the subtle hints on Team RW_Y's faces told Pyrrha it was Weiss who needed to speak to Blake. Yet another of those social clues Jaune wasn't wholly aware of.

And Ruby… no, Pyrrha couldn't let herself dwell on this. Far too often she stopped to wonder what hooks the other girls had in Jaune, and every time she stopped to think about it she made herself depressed. Jaune liked Weiss and was very close with Ruby. Neither of those facts should bother Pyrrha, but they did.

Pyrrha kept her attention on Jaune, and taking his mind off Blake… mostly because she was trying to alleviate his worries, and only partially so she could have his attention to herself. "And how long have you known these fine gentlemen?"

"Oh, I met most of the food vendors first," Jaune elaborated. "Nora goes through the pantry so fast, and Ren likes to use fresh ingredients whenever possible. I think it was like, the third weekend of the semester when I first went out with a big shopping list and started asking around. All the owners know each other and pointed out who was best for eggs, who made the best fresh bread… everyone does something well and I just make the rounds."

Pyrrha fell silent and just let him talk. Hopefully letting him go on for a bit would bring out the enthusiastic boy she so wished to listen to. She wanted nothing more than Jaune to be happy, and to hear his voice when he was happy.

Dangerous thought though that was.

"And after that it was just stuff I picked up," Jaune continued. "Yang told me about the shadier side of town –apparently she used to hang out there- and Velvet told me about this great clothing store where her team shops at-"

He paused. Pyrrha took note of the sudden and unwelcome gap in their pleasant conversation and turned her attention back to him. Jaune raised a finger to his chin and narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.

"What is it?" Pyrrha wondered.

"And Blake told me about a bookstore," Jaune finished his thought. "I mean, I don't know if she headed that way, but it's a better lead than just asking every store we pass by." Pyrrha certainly agreed with that.

Wait, Blake talked to Jaune about books at some point? And he'd had conversations with Yang and Velvet that Pyrrha hadn't known about?

Questions for later. Now may have been the time to raise spirits, but it wasn't the time to indulge in such petty displeasure. "Let's go."

The Shadier Side of Town

She didn't want him to go. But then, she never did.

She knew he needed to operate independently sometimes. She knew that he had to be constantly on the move, to never grow too accustomed to any one setting. Even the apartment they were renting now would only be home a few weeks longer; soon they'd be moving to the docks and staying in a warehouse fulltime as they looked over the Dust stockpile.

That didn't matter to her. So long as she had him, she was content. So long as he was nearby, she was at home. So long as she knew where he was, she was safe and happy.

She was getting a bit too clingy. Roman had to squirm his way out from her grip. "They'll be here soon, kiddo. Gotta put on a show for our guests."

Neo sighed but reluctantly released her grip. He was right, of course. He usually was. Only on very rare occasions when he was being needlessly reckless did Neo ever make any serious effort to dissuade him. And given what a wild vagabond Roman Torchwick was, Neo only ever felt the need to intervene when he was dumb enough to be particularly crazy.

And this latest scheme was insane. Roman was entering into an alliance not with other criminals out to make a big score, but terrorists rooted in an ideology, and all of them under the umbrella of some mysterious benefactor Neo had yet to meet. There were too many moving parts in the plan, too many conflicting ideas, too many possible outcomes.

And so she clung on to Roman, trying to dissuade him. Normally he took her advice when Neo conveyed it properly. Now he was being resistant, and that only encouraged Neo to lock tighter. Even after letting him go she kept edging closer to him, kept reaching out to take hold of him.

Roman sensed her trepidation and knelt down. Neo was in two minds about this: sometimes she felt he was treating her like a child by dropping down to her level, and others she appreciated the effort he went to so he could look her in the eye.

No one else could. They all retracted from her, frightened by the two different colors staring back at them. But Roman was a man without fear. He alone could look Neo in the eye.

And he alone she loved, if only for that.

Still, she was expecting a lecture. Time was of the essence, and in the back of her mind Neo knew she was behaving childishly. This robbery would net them a lot of Lien, and while they didn't need the money today, tomorrow could easily be a different story. Roman's face was plastered over the news after a huntress foiled his last robbery, and he needed this job to go well so they could keep a nest egg for themselves and not fork over all their proceeds to their demanding (and invisible) employer.

But to her surprise, Roman's green eyes were soft. He hadn't come to lecture her. Even if Neo merited it, he hadn't come to be harsh.

"Remember what I taught you, kid?" Roman asked.

There were a lot of lessons, some of which he'd taught her more than once. But there were three that stood out more than the others, each repeated in succession: never believe, never trust, and never hope.

Neo nodded three times and smiled.

"I don't trust these hyenas and I never will," Roman assured her. "I don't trust the boss lady and I never will. But I do trust you. I only trust you."

And she only trusted him. Without each other, they'd have been dead more than once. Without Roman, she'd be lost.

"Which is why I need you to watch the stuff for me," Roman went on. "I want to bring you in on the job, but I need someone to look out for what we've already got if things go south. And they might, because I've never worked with these animals before. I don't know what'll happen when we try. I do know what'll happen if I leave things to you."

He alone had faith in her. Neo nodded again.

"This'll be over before you know it," Roman promised. "And when things finally settle down, we'll be sitting pretty. Just a little longer."

Neo hugged him again. This time Roman indulged her, wrapping one arm over her back and pulling her in, letting her remain in that embrace until they heard a knock at the door.

"Guest manners, kid," Roman instructed, moving back to his feet and putting on his confident swagger.

Neo complied, standing with her arms crossed and removing the little traces of affection from her smile, replacing it by a coy, even psychotic underpinning. Small though she was, her smile could terrify even the most violent and dangerous of men, and it was always best to intimidate any new business partners before going in on an operation together.

She'd worry for him while they were apart. But before she could allow herself the indulgence, she'd show her fangs to the Faunus, to let them know they shouldn't dare threaten her or her own.

Home to every book under the sun

Tukson wasn't much help… at all. He insisted he didn't know Blake and denied ever having sold to her before. Jaune wasn't very good at telling when people were hiding things, but Pyrrha noticed the subtle change in his tone. At first he was quite friendly and personable. After Blake's name was mentioned he became a lot sharper in his invective. Perhaps they had a quarrel. Or perhaps he thought he was protecting her from some unknown entities. Or perhaps he just hadn't expected to be asked about a customer by a pair of students who had no intention of buying anything.

Jaune didn't seem perturbed by it. But Pyrrha began to wonder… and on her way out of Tukson's Book Trade she took a moment to glance behind her, to see where the proprietor might go or what he might do. She noticed something very subtly extend from his fingers… and then retract almost as quickly as it had protracted.

Almost like… claws…

Why would he hide that? What need would a Faunus feel to conceal himself? Was it because the police in Vale were so eager to chase after the White Fang, whether they'd committed any crimes in town or not? And what was his tie to Blake?

Jaune broke Pyrrha from her deep thought process by holding up his Scroll for her to see. "Just heard from Ren. Weiss went with Yang to go ask around and he wanted to know which shops we hit up. Just so we don't double up."

Pyrrha refocused her attention on the task at hand. "Yes, of course." She looked straight ahead as they walked out of the bookstore, putting the curious actions of Tukson out of her mind, hoping she could refocus her attention elsewhere and not dwell on her suspicions. "I don't suppose you have any other leads?"

Jaune shook his head. "Wish I had something better to tell you." He withdrew and pocketed his Scroll, and as he headed away from the storefront, his eyes moved to stare at the pleated stone ground, and his steps were slow and trudging.

He never took personal failure well, but this concern he was showing now… this genuine fear for Blake…

Pyrrha tried not to let it bother her. She knew he was trying to help. The fact he was trying to help a pretty girl with a mysterious past should have been inconsequential… but try as she might to convince herself as such, it wasn't. Not to her.

Still, she hated to see him respond like this. Pyrrha reached a hand to his shoulder, trying to offer him reassurance as she could. He looked up at her and smiled, reaching over to briefly take hold of her wrist, to return her gesture of support and affection, if only for a moment.

It was barely a brush. His fingers touched her skin a few fractions of a second.

It was all she needed.

Outside the Storehouse

Guard duty was never fun. It was dull, monotonous work, even when there were others around to occupy her attention. So far the pair of White Fang soldiers sent to see the place hadn't caused any problems, just patrolling outside the building…

Neo wondered how things had progressed at the docks with the shipping crates. The White Fang had taken Roman in a Bullhead and joined up with a small fleet of other dropships. Hopefully they could just snatch and grab and be on their way.

Night had fallen. Security was already being diverted in preparation for the Vytal Festival. If Roman was out quickly, they'd never even realize what had happen until hours after he left. She shouldn't have been so concerned, but she couldn't help herself. Something was amiss. Something prevented her from cruising her way through an easy assignment, dull though it was.

Then, of course, something did go wrong. Neo was seated on an empty shipping crate outside their warehouse when she saw it; an explosion of Dust at the docks, a flicker of orange across the shallow water lane. They were only a short jaunt away, but heavy mists on the water were meant to obscure the Bullheads escape, and now they were blocking everything but that faint orange glow.

The two White Fang soldiers with her had stopped to observe it too. For a long moment all three just looked out across the waves, wondering what had become of their friends and comrades.

Sloppy. Neo should've known better than to let herself be distracted. But she couldn't help it… Roman in danger was the best way to distract her.

One of the soldiers behind her pulled out his Scroll. Neo slowly glanced back at the two, forcing herself to look away from the docks and try not to think of Roman. He'd entrusted her with a task, and she'd carry it out.

Her ostensible allies, on the other hand…

She heard them whisper to each other, speculating about a double cross and murmuring about just how much Dust their criminal partners already had. She heard one draw his rifle and suggest they find out for themselves.

Neo slowly reached for her umbrella. And she thought this night would be dull.

Pyrrha saw the explosion immediately. Jaune followed her gaze towards the billowing smoke and immediately issued his instruction: "Go. You'll get there faster."

She had no intention of leaving him behind, but conceded that to be true. At her worried expression, Jaune assured Pyrrha: "I'll catch up. I'm going to try and get in touch with Ren and Nora and we'll regroup with you."

That put Pyrrha's mind at ease. She gave Jaune's shoulder one more affectionate grip before rushing ahead. Jaune sent a message to Ren along with location data on his Scroll as he moved to follow after Pyrrha, not trying to match her speed, only to keep that smoky trail in his line of sight as he followed after his partner to the docks.

Unfortunately, he missed a turn somewhere staring at a pillar of smoke rather than the ground beneath his feet and in trying to move directly towards it he ended up on a wharf separated from that guiding source by a stretch of ocean and hazy mist. Not a long stretch, but he really wasn't looking forward to swimming his way across.

Still, Jaune knew his course. If this was in any way related to Blake… or if he'd just sent Pyrrha into danger for no reason… either way, he had to help if he could. Either way it was faster to dive in than go back around.

But before he could finally muster the enthusiasm to dive in, his attention was drawn by the sound of gunfire. At first he thought it might've been from the same location as the explosion, but he eventually noticed it sounded much closer… and then he saw the muzzle flash of blue Dust rounds to his right, and not across the water.

As he focused his attention on it, Jaune saw a pair of men clad in white, with a very distinct red crest: a Beowolf head and three scratches. They were those criminals Lisa Lavender had been talking about lately.

And though he couldn't make out all the details, he saw a short person –most likely a girl- in white and brown crouched down behind a shipping crate as bullets rained around her.

His friends may have been in trouble, but he knew for certain this girl was too. And he was close enough he could do something about it. What other course of action was there to take?

Jaune drew Crocea Mors and approached, trying to look more confident than he felt.

Neo really had indulged these two long enough. They must've felt powerful, thinking they had her at their mercy, that they could kill her at any moment. They'd enjoyed that illusion long enough.

Illusions were only meant to last for so long. Neo knew that better than most.

She'd left the facsimile behind the crate for a long while, and snuck right past all their gunfire. Now she would strike from behind, disarming them, and then leaving them with wounds that would prevent their retreat… letting her take time to pick the bones. All she needed do now was draw her blade from within her umbrella, let them hear the audible sound of metal unsheathed…

"Get away from her!"

…or the sound of some other new unknown element just show up and ruin everything.

He ran right past her, raising an old shield and swinging an old sword. He was tall, but most everyone looked that way from her perspective.

He was a child swinging toys around. And idiots though the White Fang soldiers had proven themselves, he'd still been dumb enough to bring a sword to a gunfight.

They both turned their guns on him, and Neo suspected his brief display of courage had led to an untimely end. Such was the fate of reckless fools… well, reckless fools who weren't Roman, anyway.

But he blocked many of their bullets with his heavy shield. What he couldn't deflect he took on armor plates over his hoodie. And what made it past each of those impediments he took with his Aura; Aura that held firm against the hail of gunfire.

He moved to attack them after their initial volley. His movements were slow and clumsy, and easy to telegraph, even by the White Fang's lowest-ranked. They dodged his swing, but the strength of his attack released a burst of air pressure that gave them pause.

Neo had meant to take her time with them, but if she didn't intervene she wasn't sure exactly what would happen between the trio and who might end up dead. Idiot though this brave boy was, Neo hadn't meant anyone else to die… though she hadn't expected him to live as long as he had.

She interceded, slashing each of them across the chest, disrupting each soldier's Aura with a single motion. Neo moved to cut them at their necks and end matters quickly… but the boy acted first, swinging wildly, driving both soldiers back against the wall of the storehouse. Without their Aura to defend them, they received strikes from the blunt side of a sword and then bashed against metal sheet wall, and landed in two unconscious heaps. The air pressure of the boy's swings and her targets no longer in place to absorb the impact of her attack, Neo tumbled through the air and over the shipping crate, crashing into and shattering her own facsimile.

It was rare she was ever so clumsy. She was grateful her enemies had been knocked out before they could see it.

As she hoisted herself up to rest on her knees, Neo glanced towards the clumsy boy who'd interfered in this matter. He'd put his sword away… apparently he hadn't seen the thin blade in Neo's hand when she sailed past him. She moved quickly to conceal it inside her umbrella as he headed over… she'd draw it quickly if the need arose.

But when he reached her, knelt beside the empty crate, it was a hand he offered down to her. Neo looked up at him, a bit too drained by exertion to disguise herself. A pair of blue eyes looked down at her, meeting brown and pink irises…

…and not retracting from her. Not looking away from something that unnerved so many. He looked upon her, hand extended, without fear, without revulsion. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Neo was too surprised that someone was looking her in the eye. All she did was stare up at his eyes, and stare for far too long. Despite how long she stared, he never once seemed uncomfortable with the intense gaze firmly locked with his own. He just continued to reach to her.

Slowly, Neo accepted his hand, and he pulled her to her feet with stunning strength… too much strength, in fact, as he nearly pulled Neo off the ground when he hoisted her up. When he finally averted his gaze, it was in embarrassment, as he quietly muttered: "Sorry."

Neo was still stunned by this boy. When he was able to look upon her again, when he met her eye again, she remembered how it felt when Roman first met her eye. She remembered how strange it felt for someone to look at her without fear.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

Neo knew she'd been behaving oddly. She should've played up the damsel role while he seemed inclined –and naïve enough- to buy it. She nodded rapidly, squeezing his hand tightly as she tried to feign her doubts and fears being alleviated.

"Good," the boy assured her, sounding genuinely relieved. "I'm glad they didn't hurt you."

Neo wished she could speak. But for the moment, she suspected her silence was helping the act. She suspected it seemed genuine, the response of a timid girl after experiencing a trauma.

"Get yourself somewhere safe and tell the police," he instructed to her. "I need to get across the water to the docks."

The docks? Where Roman was? Why?

"Um… can I have my hand back?" he sheepishly inquired.

Neo's eyes widened as she looked down, to her small, gloved hand still clinging to his massive fingers. She withdrew it rapidly, stunned by how absentminded she'd been.

"If I can I'll come back and see if you're okay," the boy assured her. He smiled again, before leaping down into the water, despite his heavy armor and weapons.

Neo just looked on, flabbergasted, as the blonde slowly swam through the misty waves. She watched him until he disappeared from sight, before looking down at her hand.

She wasn't usually so clingy. It wasn't usually so hard for her to let go.

Neo shook her head. She still had a task to attend to.

She turned to the White Fang soldiers and unsheathed her blade. They needed to be dealt with, and their betrayal swiftly punished.

A few moments later, two more bodies splashed into the water.

Team RWBY and their new friend Sun Wukong were celebrating their successful outing, having foiled Roman Torchwick and the White Fang, only for another new friend -a girl named Penny Polendina- to vanish, right in the middle of a crowd of police officers no less. Pyrrha arrived just as Ruby was scouring the crime scene for any sign of her missing friend, who'd apparently been quite instrumental in driving away the dangerous criminal.

One of the policemen stepped over to them, and asked in a ridiculously fake accent: "Uh, you girls know this blonde kid we fished out of the harbor? Says he's looking for his friends."

"Guys!" a soaked Jaune waved, before hacking and coughing and spitting up water. Pyrrha instantly ran over to him, as one of the police officers put a blanket on him. Pyrrha scolded him for whatever stunt he'd pulled to end up in such straits, but when he saw Blake amid their crowd of friends, all he did was smile and wave, cold and miserable as he looked.

"Did he… swim over here?" Weiss wondered.

"He was trying to help," Ruby instantly rushed to her friend's defense.

Yang elbowed her partner from behind. "Guess he was worried about you, Blake."

Blake only nodded, glancing around at her friends and then turning her attention to Jaune, still hacking up water. Ineffective though his efforts had been, Blake couldn't deny he'd made them.

All of her friends had come searching. None had given up the chase like she'd expected.

Not even him.

Jaune Arc…

Neo paced back and forth inside the storehouse, walking past massive shipping containers laden with Dust. Roman hadn't responded to her texts, and she was becoming increasingly wary.

She had to know he was all right. She had to know things would be okay, even if the job had been blown.

She had to look into his eyes again.

Then, at last, hours later, he replied. He was alive. He was okay.

And interrupted by a girl in red, apparently the same one who'd screwed up his Dust robbery before… and a pair of Faunus kids, including a girl with a black bow.

That made it easy for Neo. She had targets to focus her rage upon. The White Fang who betrayed them, and the brats who made her worry.

And as it happened, she might've had a lead on where to find those who caused Roman such trouble… another kid had meant to intervene, and tried to swim across the harbor to reach the battle site.

Neo wouldn't mind looking in his eyes again either…