Yo. I am, in fact, not dead.

Thanks for the well-wishes. But uhh...really guys, please pay attention to author's notes. Work continues to be super ugh. I write this for the funsies, if I'm too exhausted to think at the end of the day, chances are I won't be writing. It's just how it is.

No I don't know how long work will continue to be tough. The world is in such a state at the moment that, frankly, I'm just happy I still have my job, lotta people can't say the same. Lotta people are going through even worse stuff.

Point is, I can't promise I'll be able to spend time writing for funsies thanks to being too brain dead from work. That doesn't mean I've dropped the story. It means I haven't had the chance to write. So...yeah. I'll let yall know when stuff has calmed down enough that I can be semi-certain I'll be able to go back to a regular update schedule.

Thanks for all the well wishes though!

Anyways, depressing stuff aside, have an interlude! Think of this as basically chapter 15 and a half.

This interlude will hint at differences in the timeline. I'll leave it to yall to fill in the blanks.

...

Yeah.

Strategic something or other. ( o.o)

=][=

Jaune breathed deeply and slowly, trying to slow his hammering heart as he set his stance in the too-familiar sparring room.

"This match is to continue until one capitulates, or the Aura of the combatants drops beneath fifteen percent!" Pyrrha called out from the stands.

This was it, the time to see how close to his goal he actually was, to get a true measure of the fruits of his labors. He only wished his heart wasn't thudding in his ears with a combination of trepidation and abject panic.

Jaune drew his sword and deployed his shield. Crocea Mors, his companion in all his trials. Before him, like an insurmountable wall stood his ultimate goal, the greatest Hero that Remnant had ever known. The Sword Hunter, in the flesh.

Or Shirou, as he insisted on being called.

"Combatants, get ready!" Pyrrha called out.

The Sword Hunter had not been what Jaune had expected. He had expected someone as regal as he was powerful, as wise as he was mysterious, and as magnanimous as he was swift. Jaune had been very surprised to learn he was taciturn and, truth be told, rather awkward.

He took a quick glance at the Aura monitor. Jaune's Aura stood at a pristine one hundred percent, while the Sword Hunter's was at eighty five, still not fully recovered from his earlier match with Pyrrha.

Jaune wasn't sure how to feel about that, but he'd not say no to an advantage.

"Be—!"

Remembering Pyrrha's match, Jaune ducked behind his shield, the black sword the Sword Hunter threw impacted against Crocea Mors with such force that Jaune was almost knocked off his feet.

"—gi—!"

An immense force slammed into the side of his shield and flung his arm to the side. He felt a powerful slash cut into the right side of his neck, a white flash preceded blinding agony from his forehead, lines of fire crossed his stomach.

"—n!"

A hammer blow slammed into his right wrist, numbing it completely and causing his sword to fall from nerveless fingers. He felt something cold slice into his armpits from below with such force that his feet left the ground. An instant later the cold kiss of steel preceded unimaginable agony as something tore into his knees with shearing force.

Jaune was swept sideways to the point that his body was parallel to the floor. He was able to see the ceiling but for an instant before a black sword swept down into his neck and slammed him to the floor where, thankfully, the attacks stopped.

It took him a few seconds to remember he was in a match and he climbed painfully to his feet, his eyes instinctively glancing at the Aura monitor where he froze.

He was down to seventy percent. Him, Jaune, the one whose only redeeming quality was his endurance in a fight. He was used to having to be pummeled quite a bit more before dropping by even fifteen!

He turned his disbelieving eyes to the Sword Hunter, and was surprised to see his idol had lowered his hood and mask and was scowling in confusion at him.

Jaune levered himself to his feet, picked up his sword and reset his stance, but the Sword Hunter did not repeat his earlier assault.

So Jaune stepped forward, let out a battle cry and launched into his basic three hit combo, a shield bash, a horizontal slash, and a transverse cut from right shoulder to left hip.

The Sword Hunter effortlessly evaded all three attacks.

Jaune worked all of his combinations, doing his best to utilize all of the skill that he had gained and that Pyrrha had helped him hone.

It was like trying to cut smoke. The Sword Hunter flowed around Jaune's attacks with effortless grace, not even bothering to block or parry. Only now Jaune realized how amazing Pyrrha was, as she'd forced him to block and had even managed to land several hits of her own. And here Jaune couldn't even land a glancing blow!

He grit his teeth angrily when he saw the Sword Hunter staring distractedly at Crocea Mors, when suddenly he blinked and looked…sheepish?

Then the two swords disappeared, and with a flash of azure light he was suddenly holding Crocea Mors.

Jaune's mind blanked, he knew the sword and shield, every nick and scratch, the weapon they both held was indeed the Arc family heirloom. Jaune had known the Sword Hunter could call out weapons, but he'd read through so many theories and forum posts that had worked out all the math behind his Semblance.

The universal consensus was that he summoned his weapons from a pocket dimension, otherwise the preservation of Mass and Energy simply didn't add up! Could he have run across a sister weapon to Crocea Mors? But then why did it have all of the same scratches? Down to that small dent he'd not had the time to buff out yet.

Jaune shook his head. That was unimportant to the sparring match. The Sword Hunter fought primarily with two weapons, it stood to reason that he might not be as good with a sword and shield. Clearly he'd been disappointed with Jaune's performance and had given himself a handicap.

Jaune was about to step forward when he noticed the differences in the Sword Hunter's stance.

At first glance the stance he took mirrored Jaune's own, but he was crouched a little lower, his shield angled a little more, and he had the entirety of his right arm hidden behind the shield.

Jaune wondered at that before dismissing it. He stepped forward and slashed at the Sword Hunter, who once again drifted aside like smoke, except this time the shield collapsed to its sheathe form and his shield arm flashed forward in a lightning fast jab.

Jaune barely managed to duck behind his own shield, the vibration of the strike traveling all the way up his shoulder, when suddenly something hit him in the forehead so hard his vision was filled with sparks. He tried a blind thrust to get some space, but met only air. When his vision cleared, he saw his opponent had backed off. The Sword Hunter's shield was unfurled; he'd deployed it after the impact, and that's what had hit him on the forehead.

Why hadn't Jaune ever thought of doing that?

Jaune shook his head and advanced, only for the Sword Hunter to once again collapse the shield to its sheathe form, he shifted forward and delivered a powerful punch to Jaune's shield, deploying his own at the moment of impact, the resulting force shoved Jaune's arm into his chest and all but drove him to the floor.

Once more, he refused to capitalize on the advantage.

Jaune reset again and rushed forward. The Sword Hunter collapsed the shield again, his right arm blurred and Jaune felt a stinging pain on his forehead, the impact of the lighting fast stab sent him stumbling back. When he regained his bearings he saw that the Sword Hunter was hiding behind the shield again.

Jaune shook his head and advanced more cautiously. The moment he was in range the Sword Hunter collapsed the shield for an instant again and made a lighting quick stab at Jaune's left shin, his arm was back to his side with the shield deployed once more before Jaune could retaliate.

Jaune grit his teeth and suppressed the urge to throw himself forward recklessly. He chanced another quick peek at the Aura monitor.

That proved to be a mistake as he heard the unmistakable sound of the shield being collapsed, felt a stinging pain in the center of his forehead, sending his head reeling back. He recovered in time to see the Sword Hunter take an aggressive step forward and stomped hard on Jaune's leading foot, swing the sheath at the edge of Jaune's shield and deployed it at the moment of impact, the force behind the strike further unbalanced him, he tried to step back but lost his balance as he was unable to lift the foot pinned by his opponent.

A strike with the guard of the sword at his neck slammed him to the floor, and lastly he saw the Sword Hunter collapse the shield again and drive his fist down at Jaune's neck, the shield deploying at the moment of impact to make the strike at his neck blind him with pain.

When next he was aware, he was curled up, his throat felt as if it were on fire, and he heard the fading whine of the buzzer. Was that the match? That quickly? He looked at the Aura monitor and saw that he was sitting at nine percent.

The Sword Hunter was untouched at eighty five.

Thinking of the devil, he crouched by Jaune's head and began speaking in a monotone. "You rely on your defense to the point of inflexibility, once someone bypasses or manages to batter through, you are left reeling and exposed, you need to recover faster or what happened here will repeat itself in a far more dangerous situation.

"You need to learn your limits," he stated, and Jaune flinched. "There were several times when I could have punished you severely for looking at the Aura monitor. I only took advantage of one. Taking your eyes off an enemy that's faster than you is asking to die. Don't make it easy on your enemy by habitually dropping your guard.

"Furthermore, you are not using your weapon to its full potential. The shield folding down to a sheathe is useful for more than just easy transportation. Figure out the right timings for using the unfolding of the shield in an attack." He stood up and started walking away, then called out to Jaune over his shoulder. "You have the basics down, try and come up with a few tricks for your shield. Tell Pyrrha to stop holding back on her Semblance when you practice. You'll improve faster once she stops going easy on you."

He reached the door and without another word, walked out.

Jaune let his head thump back to the floor and muttered. "I didn't even get him to fire a single sword…Figures I'm less than nothing to him…dammit."

He blinked away the burning in his eyes. He knew he'd not do well—he'd seen the match against Pyrrha; he was under no illusions that he'd stood a chance. But to not even make him drop by one percent?

"Jaune? Are you okay?" Pyrrha's voice dragged him out of his thoughts, he turned to look at her as she crouched by his head. She looked worried and sad, so he chalked that up as another of his many failures.

"Hey Pyr…" he muttered, trying to summon up a smile for her, by the look on her face, he failed. "Sorry, I'm uhh…I need a bit before I get up."

She wordlessly lifted his head, shuffled forward and gently lowered his head to her lap. Jaune felt his cheeks coloring, the memory of the Sword Hunter cradling her cheeks and staring into her eyes came unbidden to the forefront of his mind once again and he swallowed thickly. "Pyrrha, what are your thoughts about the Sw-about Shirou?"

She blinked and tilted her head in confusion. "Well…He always looks angry but I feel that that is a mask he uses to keep others at bay." She furrowed her brows in thought. "He seems aware that Ren blames him for something, but does not seem interested in asking why. Most people would have confronted Ren for his attitude already, yet he seems almost disinterested…Maybe he's just not a people person? Or maybe he's lived a sheltered life?"

"And he beat you in a fight." Jaune said when she trailed off.

Pyrrha nodded. "Indeed, he's a superlative warrior. I've not met anyone who pushed me quite that hard before. I'm glad he agreed to spar with me again."

Jaune groaned and sat up, then found he couldn't turn back to face his partner, but the question that had gnawed at the back of his mind for the last two weeks, ever since the day of the Breach, would not be kept silent any longer. "But…do you…I mean…"

"Yes?" Pyrrha prompted when he trailed off.

"I…" Jaune took a deep breath, then the mental image of Shirou leaning his face so close to Pyrrha came to him again, and he almost coughed the words out. "But do you like him?"

Pyrrha was quiet for a long time before saying, "What."

"I mean…not if you like fighting him!" Jaune said quickly. "I mean do you like like him!?"

"Jaune…I mean…" Pyrrha said, her voice strangely flat. "I just…what."

"Cause…" Jaune said, still unable to face Pyrrha. "I mean…the day of the Breach, he cradled your face…and got so close! And…Ruby seems convinced that he has a thing for redheads, and you are like…the most beautiful redhead in the whole world! And he's the Sword Hunter, so like, the Sword Hunter has a thing for you! And I wanted to ask if you have a thing for him back! Because it would make sense cause he's super strong! And fast! And Ruby and Yang and Velvet all say he's handsome! And he can beat you in a fight! And he's the Sword Hunter!"

"I! Jaune, no! I don't!" Pyrrha shouted, and the words caused incalculable relief to flood his chest. "If anything he has a thing for Yang."

Jaune turned to face Pyrrha so quickly he almost got whiplash. "What?"

Pyrrha nodded, her face was flushed red. Had he made her angry? "I mean…I think he does, it's difficult to get a read on him because he's always scowling."

"So…you…you don't…you're not interested in him?" Jaune asked hopefully.

Pyrrha shook her head so hard her ponytail whipped back and forth.

Jaune gulped, took a deep breath, and forced the words out in a shrill rush. "Areyouinterestedinme!?"

Pyrrha's mouth fell open.

"I-I mean!" Jaune stuttered as he launched himself to his feet. "It's just…ever since the Breach I keep remembering how he got so close to you! And it made me feel awful! But then I was thinking that what right have I got to be jealous? He's the Sword Hunter, there's literally nobody better! But I still wanted to ask! And so I thought that if I did well in the tournament then I'd have proven that it would be okay for me to try and…you know…and tell you that…"

His face felt hotter by the syllable, he trailed off feeling a little dizzy. Pyrrha had turned away from him, her hair forming a curtain that hid her eyes.

Pyrrha cleared her throat. "I thought you were going out with Weiss?"

Jaune blinked. "I mean…sure, she's pretty? And we did go on that one date, and it was a complete disaster. We keep on friendly terms because teams RWBY and JNPR work together a lot but…yeah."

Pyrrha turned to him, her eyes wide. "So…you mean…all this time…you two haven't been dating!?"

Jaune scratched his cheek. "I…No? Why would you think that?"

"But you went with her to the Beacon dance!" Pyrrha accused as she jumped to her feet.

"I mean, yeah, but that was because she asked for my help in making the guy she liked jealous," Jaune said slowly. "And it sort of worked? I think? Remember how a bit after it started, I just hung out with you? The guy she liked got all panicked and begged her to spend the rest of the night with him, so job well done."

"B-But! You spent all that time with her in the library!" Pyrrha said, her voice getting louder and higher in pitch by the word.

Juane shrugged. "She was helping me with an essay on the ratios of Dust Mixing for different effects and…well…she's a Schnee."

"So," Pyrrha said slowly, "you've been…available…all this time?"

Jaune blinked. "Wait…do you mean you…you uhh…"

Pyrrha buried her face in her hands. "Yes! Jaune! To answer your question, I like you!"

"Y-You mean you uhh…you like like me?" Jaune asked hopefully.

Pyrrha lowered her hands just enough to be able to glare at him from behind the shield they made. "Yes, I like like you, you gradeschooler! I've liked liked you from the day we've partnered up! I've liked liked you since the day we met! I've been kicking myself this whole time because I thought I'd missed my chance!"

"B-But!" Jaune gasped, his mouth agape. "But you're Pyrrha Nikos! You could have literally anyone you wanted! You're super smart! And beautiful! And strong! And a super champion! Why would you like a nobody like me!?"

Pyrrha's face seemed to get redder with every word he said. "Are you trying to talk me out of liking you!?"

"NO!" he shouted in panic. "I'm super stoked! And I like you too! And I've been wanting to tell you that since…since a long time! But I just…" Jaune sighed and finished in a whisper. "How could I ever be good enough for you, Pyrrha? I'm…I'm a nobody, I'm not strong at all, you're the main reason why we've made it so far in the tournament. I thought that…that if I did well against him then…I guess I would prove to myself that I was good enough? But…but I sucked so bad he beat me with my own weapon to show me how much of a failure I am."

He twitched when Pyrrha cradled his face in her hands and turned his head until she could look him in the eye. "Jaune Arc, if you keep badmouthing the boy I like I will get mad at you."

Jaune blinked while he tried to work his way through that statement, the fact that she was so close made processing difficult, was that perfume or did she just smell good? "Umm…I'm…sorry?"

"Okay, so I like like you, you like like me, we like like each other. You're not dating Weiss Schnee, and I'm tired of talking like a gradeschooler. Now, Jaune Arc, I will only say this once so pay attention." Jaune tried to nod but couldn't due to her grip on his head. "I don't care about how good a fighter you are; I don't like any other boys in this school, I doubt the Sw-Shirou is interested in me, and even if he was we are not cavemen for him to smack me in the head with a sword and carry me off. So we are going to a restaurant this weekend and maybe we'll watch a movie and we'll take it from there, deal?"

"I umm…yes?" Jaune asked.

"Okay good." She kissed him.

It was a chaste peck on his lips, it wasn't passionate and it was over almost as soon as it started.

"U-Um…I-I mean…that…" Pyrrha stammered, her face as red as her hair. "That seemed like a good idea at the time."

And then she ran away.

Later that evening, the students and faculty of Beacon were treated to the unusual sight of Nora carrying what seemed to be a statue of her team leader, an expression of mixed shock and elation on its face.