Heya guys! I'm baaack! Remember my little brother, Tangled, and four times? ...It happened again. I'm so dead today. But let's not dwelve into the bad things! The good news are that a new chapter of Viewing Jaune Arc: the Elemental Swordsman is out! And it is a very important chapter, too...

Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

The minutes had passed pretty quickly, given how Blake had somehow found a secret passage or something to the library. Even Ironwood and Qrow, both not really into reading, had chosen a book each to pass the time.

However, before they could even begin to complain about the delay, a flame appeared in the middle of the room. Neptune, who was sitting on a nearby couch, jumped away in cautiousness. The fire enlarged until it was as tall as a person, and then simply subsided.

In its place was standing Phoenix, who smiled lightly at them. "Hello everyone," he saluted them before noticing something. "Did anyone notice that I teleported Ms Goodwitch in here during the last viewing?"

Everyone glanced at Goodwitch and back at him. Then, in a comical and anime-style way, their eyes shot back to the teacher, shocked by her presence. She merely raised an eyebrow in response. Phoenix chuckled. "I decided to have her watch this universe as well. I've also brought Cardin Winchester to watch."

Many groaned at that, no one more than Jaune.

"Yes, I know, you don't like him," acknowledged the Writer. "But I think it could be an enlightening experience for everyone, don't you think?"

No one thought so.

Not like the Writer cared.

After the bully was allowed to enter the room, unenthusiastically greeted by the others, and sat down, Phoenix walked up to Jaune. "Even when I'm not here physically I know what's going on in here thanks to a friend of mine who keeps me informed," he said. "I'd like to have a word with you."

"Err... okay?" replied Jaune, standing up and following the Writer in a corner. He frowned, ready to tell him that if he wanted to keep it secret, then a corner wasn't a good place for it, but then thought better of it. The man was basically a god... maybe mightier. Privacy probably wasn't all that important to him. "What do you want to speak about with me?"

Phoenix mumbled and nodded before Jaune was outlined with flames. It lasted just a second, so quick he didn't even have the time to be startled before everything was back to normal.

"I observed how much it pains you not never to be at your friends' level," said Phoenix, exotic words sounding foreign and yet understandable to him. "And it's because of this that I want to remind you of the price of power." (Khor's note: this is actually the translation of what Phoenix is saying.)

Jaune frowned but nodded nonetheless. He knew the price of power: training. Everyone else had trained, some more than the others. Ruby had been trained by her uncle for a couple of years and she had gotten so much better she had been moved up ahead of two years. Others had trained for longer with more or less the same results. He hadn't trained.

"So I wanted to tell you of a few universes I know in which you, Jaune Arc, have a great power," continued the Writer. "In one of these, all your friends turn their backs on you. Your secret is ratted out by Cardin, the whole school hates you and your dearest friends abandon you. After almost dying to try and prove that you're worthy of being at Beacon, you choose to embrace Darkness. You get great power, and you defeat the entire Team CRDL without minimal effort. But you also become a dark and cruel person who has no problem inflicting pain"

Jaune paled, but Phoenix wasn't done.

"In another, you lose absolutely. Everything," stated the Writer, emphasizing the last word. "All your friends are dead, killed horribly before your eyes. And you're dying as well... but then you bargain your very soul for something else. For revenge. You lost everything, even your very soul, but you gained a power that was unmatched in all of Remnant."

Jaune looked aside. "But was it worth it?" he asked bitterly. The others looked at him, since he was speaking normally and not some strange idiom they didn't know.

Phoenix shrugged. "Who knows? You had already lost everything. I don't think you minded the price at that point," he replied before his eyes narrowed. "In another, instead, you are tortured and experimented upon for ten years. Oh, those experiments give you great power, but you lose your family and your very humanity because of them. With them, you would be able to defeat all your team. Great power... but with a great price as well."

"I don't understand," he said. "I don't want immense power. I just want to be like my friends! As far as I know, they haven't suffered some kind of horrific trauma!"

Phoenix tilted his head sideways. "No, they haven't. But that's because they've trained. You haven't."

Jaune felt the irritation spike. "I asked. I asked to be trained every year of my life, several times over, but I never got a yes," he growled. "I don't know why my family did that, but it surely wasn't my wish."

"That's true, but let's move on, because it wasn't my wish either," continued Phoenix. "In another world, your mother dies when you're seven. Your father turns into a violent drunkard and you have to work to keep your sisters alive. You first prostitute yourself and then even accept lab experiments in order to earn the money. But when you're seventeen, after a failed experiment with Grimm Essence, you fail to protect one of your sisters and your father beat her mercilessly. She survives, but in your rage you kill your father. Your power is there, hidden from sight, but the price is high."

Jaune's eye twitched. "Why?!" he hissed. "Why can't I just train?! Everyone here has trained, not suffered the Seven Hells of Oum to get their power. Why must I be any different?!"

Phoenix narrowed his eyes at him. "Because you are different," he replied. "And finally, in a universe I've seen, your whole family is murdered in front of you. You are first adopted by an assassin and then by Roman Torchwick himself. Your mental sanity is... arguable... but your power is great after having been trained by an assassin and a thief for ten years. As you can see, there are many universe where you have power... it's just that the world isn't fair and there's always a price."

Jaune sighed and nodded. "Whatever. I'm the gods' chew toy, that much I've gathered," he said sarcastically. "Are there any universe were I'm decently trained but I'm not suffering from extreme PTSD?"

Phoenix shrugged. "Yes, there are," he said. "Many of them actually."

"Then why did you only mention the bad ones?" asked the boy.

The Writer grinned. "You'll find out at the end of this viewing." And with that, the screen lit up.

Jaune and the others were waiting to be called on stage and have their teams formed. They made it back up the cliffs with little issue and by now, Jaune's aura was high enough so that he didn't need Ren and Pyrrha to help him walk anymore, much to the disappointment of Pyrrha. He was nowhere close to being battle ready but it was better than nothing. Ozpin had just formed Team CRDL and they were leaving the stage as Jaune was going up. The leader, Cardin Winchester, gave him a look as they walked by each other. Jaune raised an eyebrow in question but then shrugged it off. As they were on stage Ozpin continued with the ceremony.

"What?" said Jaune, confused. "We didn't even see each other before initiation. Why should he glare at me?"

"I have my reasons," grumbled Cardin.

"That are?" inquired Weiss. The bully shut up.

"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren. You four retrieved the white rook pieces and from this day forward, shall be Team JNPR. Led by Jaune Arc."

"Wait, what?" Jaune asked in disbelief.

"I still don't know why Ozpin made that weakling the leader," scoffed Cardin.

"You are still young, inexperienced and blind to the real world," stated Phoenix, slightly annoyed. "Mere power isn't what defines a true leader. A leader is a person before a warrior, an example before a person and a friend before an example. Power is one of the less necessary skills required to be leader."

The bully scoffed again but held his tongue.

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin said with a grin. Before Jaune could say anything, Pyrrha gently punched him on the shoulder with a smile and Nora pulled Ren and him into a bear hug. Pyrrha looked on with a small smile before Jaune wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into it. She was shocked but enjoyed it none the less. Afterwards they left as Ruby and the rest of their group went on stage. Jaune gave them a smile and waited to hear what was coming next.

"Oh, well, at least that Arc didn't fall down like an idiot for Nikos's love tap," laughed Cardin. Neptune raised an eyebrow as that was a new piece of information, but stayed silent. Especially because the entity who had turned his hair into... whatever it was now... was currently sitting not five yards away from him.

Jaune's eye twitched. 'I foresee lots of insults and arguments in the future viewings,' he thought glumly.

"And finally, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. You four retrieved the white knight pieces and from this day forward, shall be Team RWBY. Led by Ruby Rose." Ruby and Weiss were both shocked by this while Yang wrapped her sister in a hug.

Jaune smiled at his first friend at Beacon, before bringing his fingers to his lips and whistling. "Go Ruby!" She looked over to him and smiled nervously. At that point Ozpin dismissed all the first years, they were going to go to their dorms as Jaune was stretching. "Man, today was something else. I'm gonna sleep like a rock." He chuckled and looked to see everyone giving him a look. "Uh, what?"

"Uh, what?" was mirrored by their own Jaune Arc as everyone gave him a look. Their looks were different, though, as they agreed with him and didn't really understand what was going on.

"I'm not really sure how I feel about my sister not being the leader," Winter admitted to Ironwood. "But I guess Ozpin chose wisely in making Rose the leader."

"Winter, you're talking about the man who launches students into a Grimm infested forests and pairs them up with the Eye Contact rule," sighed the General. "It is possible for Ms Rose to have been made the leader because he only found the name RWBY fitting for the team and she just so happened to be the first letter."

Winter looked shocked and conflicted at that, but didn't comment on Ozpin's habits. The man, meanwhile, was just enjoying his coffee.

Ruby just stared at him. "You said you'd tell us about your Semblance, Jaune."

Jaune looked at everyone and sighed, "Okay, okay. But let's go outside and enjoy the rest of the day." The rest agreed and went into the courtyard. Along the way, Pyrrha was noticing Jaune subconsciously rubbing his upper left arm.

"Is he hurt?" wondered Pyrrha.

"Who cares?" said Cardin. "He's finally going to explain that freaky Semblance of his! Now everyone shut up, I want to hear him, not you!"

The others would've usually bristled at being given orders by him, but they were too curious about the Swordsman's Semblance to care.

"Are you okay, Jaune? You're rubbing your arm."

Jaune looked at her then at his arm before sighing. "Yeah. I'm fine Pyrrha. I just lost my rerebrace when the Beringel hit me. It was a gift from my teacher and it feels wrong that it's gone."

"Oh. Well, maybe your teacher will send you another?"

"Not likely." Jaune said sadly. Pyrrha was going to continue but noticed that Nora and Ren seemed a bit saddened by what he said. She decided to leave it alone for now.

"What happened?" asked Ruby, confused. She looked around until Yang sighed.

"It means his teacher's probably dead," she explained. The redhead gave a small `oh` and saddened a little.

They found a tree off by itself and all sat down around it. Jaune sat with Ren on his right and Pyrrha on his left. Nora sat beside Ren while Ruby and her team sat across from them. Jaune took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. "Okay. Simply put, my Semblance allows me to absorb a small amount of an element and then manipulate it."

"That much, we knew," commented Blake. "I hope he'll explain better than that."

"If you shut up, maybe he will," said Weiss.

"Can you go into detail?" Ruby asked him looking a bit excited.

Jaune smiled and continued, "Sure. The way it works is that when I want to use an element, I absorb a certain amount of that elements energy. I then mix the energy into my aura and when that process is complete my eyes shift to a different color and I can manipulate the element. Also, I can only absorb the five basic elements: fire, water, wind, earth and lightning."

"Last time I checked, Lightning wasn't among the basic elements," commented Neptune.

Goodwitch was the one to cut in. "Actually, it's still undecided. The Four Elements are universal, but scientists and philosophers are trying to decide if Lightning is an element on his own or not. Other theories place Light and Darkness among the basic elements as well. It depends on how that universe has been made."

Phoenix nodded. "If it makes you feel any less confused, you may think of it as Energy more than Lightning," he said before frowning slightly. "It wouldn't be really correct but I guess it's easier to understand."

"So, you can just absorb energy from the earth? That's pretty badass." Yang smiled at him.

"Sorry but no. I can't absorb the literal elements energy. Their too…raw. The energy is too strong and unpredictable. If I tried that my body would tear itself apart." Everyone besides Nora and Ren were shocked but Jaune shrugged. "Maybe I'll be able to down the line but at this point I'm not ready for that. So, I used another method."

"Dust." Weiss said with confidence.

Jaune nodded to her. "Exactly. The energy in dust is more manageable for me to use. That's why each one of my swords use it. Although like you saw, I can still run out of dust. So, I need to be careful."

"Like every Dust user in the world, his weakness is the limited amount of Dust he can carry on himself," nodded Goodwitch. "Dust users are among the strongest and most unpredictable fighters of Remnant, but they are heavily relying on their Dust reserves."

"And that's why Dust is often alloyed into weapons," added Ruby. "It grants special performances without consuming it."

"Except our Jauney boy here," snickered Cardin. "The only Dust that sword's ever seen is the one that's gathering on it."

Jaune's eyes narrowed but he didn't reply. Cardin, as rude and offensive as he was, had a point and was telling the truth. Crocea Mors didn't use Dust. It was a miracle it hadn't broken already.

"So how did you do some of that other stuff? Like that disappearing thing and taking all those hits?" Ruby asked curiously.

Jaune thought for a second. "I don't think I should tell you. Can't give away all my secrets to another team." Ruby gave him some puppy dog eyes. It was the cutest thing Jaune has ever seen but it had little effect on him. "Ruby, I grew up with seven sisters and Nora." He jerked his thumb at her. "I'm immune to puppy dog eyes and pouts but I'll give you points since yours is by far the cutest." Ruby pouted and blushed slightly, Jaune chuckled. Everyone was shocked about the seven sisters thing but before anyone could ask anything, Jaune spoke up. "Do you wanna know about my Semblance or my sisters? Can't do both." He smirked and no one said a thing.

"Seven...?" breathed Cardin before looking at Jaune. "This universe too?"

For once there wasn't any animosity in his voice. The blond nodded before the bully rubbed his face with both hands. "Younger ones?" Jaune frowned and nodded, not really wanting to give much info about his family to Cardin but not seeing any danger doing so. The larger student shook his head in disbelief. "You may be a weakling, Arc, but I have newfound respect for you. I got only one, and sometimes I still freak out."

Jaune blinked at the new information. "Er... well..." he said, not really expecting the praise. It was praise, right? "I... got used to it, I guess?"

Meanwhile, Ruby was pouting because her puppy eyes hadn't worked. "That's why he's so hard to move," she mumbled. She would need to come up with something else to convince him to give her cookies when Yang didn't want to.

"Okay then. As I said earlier, my aura mixes the elemental energy into itself and because of that, my body gains a boost to a physical attribute of mine. But, there is a weakness to each one though."

"Like what?" Pyrrha was curious of any short comings of her partner.

"Well, when I absorb earth my body becomes heavier but because of that my durability goes way up. But the weight slows my movements down, as well."

"That's how you took those hits from the Death Stalker and Beringel with little protection. And why you didn't dodge the attacks." Jaune nodded. "What else can you do?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh well, at least he doesn't just get extra power," noted Weiss. "That would've really been unfair."

"Says the one who has the family Semblance that basically allows her to create Glyphs doing more or less anything from creating shards of ice, time manipulation and physical manipulation," snarked Phoenix, looking at her. "And apart from the drain on your Aura, your Semblance has no drawbacks."

"When I absorb wind, my body becomes lighter and that increases my stamina but also decreases my durability. That one is better for quick attacks or keeping a distance."

"That's what you used to save us when we fell. Is that why you got hurt?" Weiss asked, she tried to sound professional but Jaune could hear the subtle guilt in her voice.

"Yup. It allowed me to reach you two in time because of my lessened weight and wind manipulation. But we were too close to the ground for me to slow us down. My aura absorbed most of the impact but because my durability was low, I got hurt a bit more than I usually do." He saw Weiss look guilty before he added with a shrug "But, it wasn't bad. Had worse in my training."

"Well, everyone here has got worse in their training," commented Neptune. "Except Arc. He simply didn't train."

Many glared at the boy but no one said anything as Jaune lifted a hand to tell them not to.

That made Weiss feel a bit better and then Ruby chimed in. "How did you get to Weiss and I when the Death Stalker attacked?" She asked, brimming with curiosity.

Jaune smiled. "Oh, that's what lightning does. My body becomes so charged with electricity that my speed goes off the charts. Although, due to the speed I'm moving at, I get a bit tunnel visioned." He chuckled. "Ran into a lot of things when I was learning to control it." Ruby smirked at that.

"And throwing me across that chasm?" Blake asked, saying something for the first time since the teams were made.

"That's what fire does. It increases my strength many times over but my body gives off such a high amount of heat that my stamina goes way down."

Yang looked at him with interest. "Huh, small world."

Jaune was curious but decided to continue with his explanation. "Finally is water, it allows my reflexes to go up. So I can dodge attacks at the last second and come out fine. That's what I used to stall the Beringel. The trade off is my strength goes down." He leaned back and looked up at the sky. "Aside from that, the only other weakness to my Semblance is if I switch between too many elements too quickly, my body will experience fatigue until my aura stabilizes again." He looked to everyone. "Any questions?"

"And that's probably the Aura overexhaustion we saw earlier," noted Jaune. "He was using quite a bit of Elements."

"Oh well, at least he's not a weakling," commented Cardin. Everyone sighed at the bully's antics.

Everyone was quiet for a second before Ruby thought of something. "Jaune?" He looked at her. "When you saved me from the Beringel, you had two different colored eyes, why?"

"Oh, that's because I was using two elements in conjunction." He said casually.

Pyrrha looked at him in shock, "You can do that?"

"Apparently, he can," said Jaune. "You think that ice thing was him using Air and Water in conjunction?"

"I don't know," admitted Ozpin. "It appeared something more, but we can't be sure. Also, when using Ice he had both eyes of the same colour, not green and blue."

Jaune nodded. "Yup. Only do it when the situation is serious though." They all looked at him with a question but he beat them to it. "When I have an element mixed with my aura, it uses my aura at an accelerated rate. Nothing too serious considering my aura reserves but it's something I don't prefer to do. When I quickly switch between elements, I use my aura 1.5 times than I normally do with one element until it stabilizes. But when I use two in conjunction, each one of my eyes take on a color but my aura is used twice as fast. I also gain both the positive and negatives of using each of the elements so it can be risky at times."

"I must praise the Swordsman's dedication," said Ironwood. "Not many study their Semblance to the point of being able to extrapolate the exact amount of strain it puts on their Aura."

"He got it wrong many times before finally getting it right," chuckled Phoenix.

Everyone nodded at that and was quiet until Blake brought up a point they were all curious about. "What about all that ice? How'd you do that?" they all looked at him expectantly. He sighed again and thought on how to explain it.

"You see ice is what I refer to as an 'advance' element. To use ice, I have to have both wind and water elemental energies inside me. Once that happens, I use my aura as a catalyst to fuse the two energies together. But when that happens my body has to release a decent size wave of energy of the new element to make sure I don't get overwhelmed. That's why I didn't use it until you guys were outside then blast radius." He breathed and took a second. "Because of that, along with the fact my aura is used 2.5 times faster than normal and my body has to deal with a few repercussions, I don't use it unless it's life or death."

"So that's why he didn't use it from the start," noted Goodwitch.

Jaune winced. "Not really sure if it was a smart idea or not, though," he said. "I mean, he's right in not using it often, but with the strain and the backslash, he should never use it when he's running low on Aura. Hadn't it been for Yang earlier, he could've died of hypothermia because he had no Aura warming him up."

Everyone considered his words before Phoenix spoke up. "You're not wrong, Jaune, but you have to keep in mind one thing," stated the Writer. "Sometimes it's better to keep your aces in your sleeve as long as you can before using them."

"Such a pity you have no aces at all. You're really path-urk!" laughed Cardin before a rock was chucked at him, throwing him off his couch with a grunt of pain.

Everyone looked at Yang, who shrugged. "Hey, I just asked for a stone in the same way I ask for food, and it appeared," she said. "It was too good to pass up."

Everyone was quiet again. "Why'd you do it?" Jaune looked back at Ruby. "We'd you fight that Grimm by yourself and why did you go so far to kill it?"

He didn't want to answer until he saw the worried looks he was getting from all of them. "I knew even if we all ganged up on it, we still wouldn't win. My plan was to hold it off until you guys were safe then retreat. But I miscalculated and got hurt and you stepped in, Ruby." He looked down. "When you got hurt…a part of me snapped. All I could think about was saving you and killing that Grimm. That's what happens when people I care about get hurt." He looked back up at her with a smile. She blushed and looked down. Yang saw this and that reminded her of something. She decided since he was answering questions that now would be a good time.

"Aww..." most cooed. Ruby blushed and glanced at Jaune, who was nodding his agreement.

"He's got the heart in the right place," he said. "He knows what is right."

"Too bad you're too weak to protect anyone," sneered Cardin.

Phoenix frowned but it was Nora the one to reply, to the shock of everyone. "And you say it like it's a flaw?" she asked cheerfully. "I see it as strength and courage. He is the weakest of us all, yes, but despite his lack of a supercool weapon or training he would still go out of his way and risk his life for us. While your teammates, if I'm not wrong, abandoned you before a mere Ursa Major, and they were all trained." Everyone looked at her, stunned. She just grinned. "Being untrained and still fighting the hell out of yourself? That's the real strength."

Phoenix smiled. "Well said." Everyone else was just too gobsmacked to say anything.

"Jaune, you said a relationship between you and Ruby wouldn't work and then told me practically the same thing when I was teasing you. Why is that?"

Jaune froze and everyone got quiet. Ren and Nora were looking at Jaune with concern while everyone else was looking at him with different levels of curiosity. Jaune didn't want to talk about this. Not at all. He was about to say that but something stopped him. Something inside of him wanted to get this out in the open and stop bottling it up.

"I don't like this," said Winter. "The Swordsman is hiding pain and that's never a good thing to do."

"Let's just hope he'll be okay," added Ozpin.

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "I didn't mean it the way most of you think. I'd be lucky to be in a relationship with Ruby or Yang. Or any of you for that matter." He looked down and missed the varying level of blush of each of the five girls. "But it's just that I…. can't." They were all stunned by that.

"What do you mean by that, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.

He didn't say anything, just kept looking at the ground in front of him. Ren placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay if you're not ready yet, Jaune. You don't have to push yourself."

"This is getting scarier and scarier," said Jaune. "What's the big secret?"

Nora got up and knelt behind him and wrapped her arms around his upper torso in a comforting hug. "Totally. They'll all understand." They all looked at the three before looking at each other.

Jaune shook his head slightly before continuing. "It's okay. I can do this." The two of them nodded but didn't move, they were going to support him in this. He took a deep breath before speaking, still not looking up. "Our teacher took us with her wherever she went, she thought if we stayed in one place too long our training would become lax. Because of that, we couldn't form and long lasting friendships and romance was never an option. We didn't care because we always had each other." He placed a hand on top of Ren's and brought his other up to gently hold Nora's arm. "Every so often we'd return to our teacher's home village and everyone there knew us. It was our home. There was a girl there, our only friend outside the three of us. She was great." They could see a small smile on his face. "We were close and eventually our friendship turned to more. We were together even though we could hardly be together. But we somehow made it work. Eventually, we called it off on good terms because she was gonna set off on her own journey. But we promised we'd get back together when I became a Huntsman and her journey was complete." He went quiet for a little bit. "A few months before we came here, we went back to our home. I asked if anyone heard anything from her." He started shaking slightly, Nora held him a bit closer and Ren shifted closer to him. "They found out that when she left she was attacked by bandits and they could never find her body."

Everyone gasped, shocked by the news. Neptune frowned, not really seeing the problem. "I've lost a girlfriend before, I don't see why it would be such a big deal," he said. "Yeah, it hurts, it sucks to be the one left alone, but you get over it."

"And that's why you will never get a real girlfriend," replied Jaune. "I'm not saying the Swordsman is right in denying himself love. But he at least has the heart to show he cared."

Neptune's eyes flashed. "You think I didn't care?" he hissed. "Life is short. I flirt so much because I know it might be my last day doing so or their last day receiving it. But you? What do you do? Nothing."

"Better than being such a womanizer," snapped Jaune.

Everyone was looking in horror at him. None of them knew what to do or say.

Jaune took a shaky breath. "I know she's gone. But for some reason a small part of me holds onto the hope that she is okay. And that part of me won't let me grieve, to cry for her. I can't even fully accept that Amber is dead!" he nearly shouted the last part. He was still looking down with his eyes closed now and shaking badly. But no tears fell. He wanted the pain to stop. He didn't want to look up, to see the pity that he always sees.

He felt a hand placed on his shoulder. He slowly lifted his head and opened his eyes to see Ruby standing in front of him with teary eyes. Her eyes held no pity but they were eyes of someone that had felt similar pain. She knelt down in front of him and hugged him tightly, burying her head into his chest right below Nora's arms."I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Was all she said before she started crying.

"Ruby?" Jaune called out, surprised as the small redhead hugged him as well.

"My mother, Summer Rose, died years ago," she mumbled into his shirt.

Jaune's eyes saddened and he hugged her back. "I'm sorry," he said, knowing fully well the pain she was going through at being remembered of her mother's demise. Having a family full of heroes didn't ensure they all returned home alive, quite the opposite, actually.

Jaune was at a loss. And with little hesitation he held her close and put his head on top of hers. That's when the tears finally fell. The dam had broken and there was no stopping it. But he didn't want it to, all he could do was hold onto Ruby and cry. Nora had her head buried into Jaune's back and was also crying for her friend in pain. Ren was still next to Jaune, still there for him but he didn't cry, he had to be strong for the one that was always the strong one. The rest were just staring at Jaune. The guy that for the last day was always happy and in a fight was a natural born leader, strong and determined. None of them realized the pain he was in and now seeing him grieve and cry was so surreal. Finally, Pyrrha had enough, she scooted over next to him and wrapped her arms around his neck before she buried her head into his shoulder and cried her own tears for her partner. Yang soon followed suit and went to Jaune's other side. Ren got up and stood behind Nora to put his hands on her shoulder to comfort her as Yang sat down in his spot and wrapped Jaune, Nora and Ruby in a hug before she buried her face in his shoulder and cried as well. Weiss and Blake didn't know what to do, so they just decided to sit close in case they were needed.

Many were moved by the heartwarming yet sad scene, even as Sun cooed at them. When the others looked at him, he just shrugged. "What? I like affectionate scenes."

They stayed like that until Jaune slowly stopped crying and started to calm down. Eventually he lifted his head and looked at all of them. "I'm sorry about that but thank you guys. I really needed that." He gave them a weak smile. They all just looked at him and gave him reassuring smiles.

Ruby then looked up at him. "We're friends Jaune, that's what we do." Jaune weakly chuckled at that and slowly everyone did as well.

When they all stopped, they untangled themselves and started heading to the dorms. They were soon pleasantly surprised to see that their rooms were next to each other. The two teams wished each other a good night before going into their rooms. Team JNPR than started unpacking and taking showers. Pyrrha had the last one before Jaune, as she was coming out he made his way in and noticed her hair was down. "You look good with your hair down." He mentioned to her. She blushed and he went and took his shower. He dried off and got dressed in his shorts and tank top. He then got out of the bathroom and they all decided to go to bed. Jaune was both physically and emotionally drained and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

"Aw, we didn't get to see him naked!" complained Yang, earning blushes and an outraged and embarrassed shriek from Jaune himself.

"Well, would you like if a group of extradimensional people started peeping on you when you're in the shower?" asked Phoenix, and was rewarded by a red-faced Yang sputtering and hiding her face. "Thought so."

Jaune was then woken up a few hours later by someone lightly shaking him. He opened his eyes to see Nora standing beside his bed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes before whispering. "Nora, what's wrong?"

She looked down nervously before looking up at him. "I had that nightmare again." Nora had nightmares on occasion, on those occasions she usually would sleep with Ren. But this specific nightmare was a recurring one and Ren couldn't help her with it. Jaune nodded, he shifted over in his bed and held the blankets open for her. She got in and laid beside him and as soon as he covered her, she buried her head into his chest. He slowly started stroking her hair to calm her.

"It's okay, Nora. Ren and I are fine. We're still here."

Nora's eyes were scared. That was the only thing Jaune processed before his body took over and hugged the shorter girl. She was slightly surprised but accepted the action nonetheless. Ren was the one to vocalize their thoughts. "She sees Jaune and me dying."

She nodded weakly. "I know. But you really scared me today."

"I'm sorry for that. I made it out okay though, we all did. So, don't dwell on it. Can you do that, for me?"

She didn't say or do anything for a second before she nodded again. "Can I sleep here for the night?" She said without removing her head from his chest.

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Of course." She fell asleep almost immediately after that and Jaune soon followed her lead.

"Sleeping with a girl already? Bol-urk!" Cardin grunted in pain once again as Yang threw another rock, a larger one, at him.

"Stop thinking with your dick!" she shouted at him, completely ignoring the fact she was usually the one to tease others about sexual themes, with both voice and body.

Phoenix smiled, but it was short-lived. As the others entered an argument with Cardin and Neptune about how sleeping with a girl meant nothing if there weren't any feelings backing it up, he asked Jaune to follow him once again. Once they were back in their corner, Phoenix sighed and looked at him.

"Ti ho osservato, Jaune, e ora che vedo tutto questo in prima persona, ho intenzione di farti un'offerta," said Phoenix, the words exotic yet understandable to Jaune. And yet, he could swear he'd never heard that language before. "Cosa diresti se potessi darti il potere che cerchi?" Jaune, surprised, looked at him with a question written clearly in his eyes. "Posso darti parte del mio potere. Potrebbe darti una copia della mia Semblance. Potrebbe coesistere con la tua Semblance or le due potrebbero combinarsi in qualcosa di più potente. Ma ti devo avvisare: il potere ha sempre un costo. Non so dirti cosa dovrai sacrificare per questo potere, purtroppo."

Phoenix's frame was outlined by flames as he spoke. When his entire being was no more visible, he spoke his final words before disappearing.

"Continua a guardare questo universo e pensaci su. Quanto tutto questo sarà finito, dovrai darmi la tua risposta. Non prima, non dopo."

Phoenix was speaking in Italian, by the way. I'm an Italian native speaker and writer so don't worry, it isn't a Google Translator work. Here is the translation for what Phoenix said:

"I've been watching you, Jaune, and now seeing this all first hand, I've decided to make you an offer. What would you say, if I could give you the power you want? I can give you some of my power. It could give you a copy of my Semblance. It could be possible for it to co-exist with your own Semblance or both could combine to form something more powerful. But, I should warn you: power always has a cost. What you'll have to give up to have this power, I can't say for sure though. Keep watching this universe and think about it. At the end, I will ask for your decision. Not before, not after."

Also, even if I know you will hate me, I have to tell you that no, Jaune won't make his final decision until the end. He might choose yes or no and then think again and choose the other. Nothing's confirmed until the last chapter. Insult me if you want, but don't expect me to give you the answer anytime soon also because...
I still haven't decided his final answer.

Until next time,

Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh