RWBY: Remnant's Blond Bard

Chapter 24

Jaune spent another two weeks up on Atlas just hanging out with Penny and visiting various monuments and sites in the city. There were no further signs of the White Fang, Atlas' intel having proven accurate in them abandoning the continent. With them gone, visiting Atlas became more fun and less a case of watching his back, but it wasn't long before the list of things to do in Atlas grew thin, and Jaune's wanderlust built up.

He hadn't even known he had wanderlust, but between the weeks spent in the Schnee manor and then the weeks here, he'd begun feeling a little sick of the cold winds and cold snows beginning to roll in as autumn gave way to Winter. He'd essentially spent a season away from home, in between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next.

In three more – Winter, spring, and Summer – Ren and Nora would graduate Haven and make for Vale to join Beacon, and he'd promised to be there with them to do that. So, it made sense to think of his travels as seasonal. He'd visited Atlas in the autumn and spent the season there, and now it was time to move on.

It was a bonus that he'd get to skip the Atlesian winters, which Pietro had been telling him about lately. It was clear the man was hoping Jaune would stay for Penny's sake and was prepping him to buy some heavier coats. That was why he resolved to come out and tell them.

It… didn't go well…

"No." Penny said it softly, but almost like a command. "You can't." She turned, grasping her father's pantleg on his wheelchair and tugging it. "Tell him," she insisted. "Tell him he can't go."

Pietro smiled sadly. "I cannot, Penny. Jaune is his own person and may go where and when he wishes."

A machine didn't understand.

Penny had spent her life being told what she could and couldn't do and thought the same would apply to him. This machine had also never had a friend before him, and it was obvious she'd never considered he might go.

"No," she repeated. "This isn't fair! I only just met him! We're friends! He can't leave!"

"Penny…"

"He can't!" Penny yells. "I won't let hi—mmmm—" Suddenly, her legs gave way, spilling her down onto her knees. She looked confused, then garbled out some noise that sounded broken and static.

"You have to go!" Pietro said, shooing Jaune away. "It's just an episode—" he lied, worried. "Penny has them sometimes. Go!"

"But—"

"Come back tomorrow, she'll be fine then." Pietro touched a button on his wheelchair and the door opened, security coming in. Getting the hint, Jaune followed them outside so they wouldn't have to throw him out. The door closed behind him.

Had Penny crashed…?

It obviously hadn't been something Pietro expected, so there must have been an error. Penny wasn't able to compute his reasons, or maybe her emotional reaction clashed with her software. It could even have been the fact she threated to stop him leaving. He didn't believe she meant it as a threat, but if her software had some basic safety regulations like "don't harm humans" then she might have run into a brick wall and been forced into something like a soft reboot.

And, of course, he wasn't supposed to know so Pietro had to kick him out while he fixed it.

Winter arrived quickly, drawn by what must have been a secret panic signal and worried there was danger. When she saw him, she questioned him and he quickly explained what had happened, talking about Penny's reaction as if it were something that confused him. Winter soon deflated.