Two days had passed since the assault on the White Fang. The Atlesian military had gone into the tunnels to secure the wreck of the train, as well as capture any surviving Fangs. The Grimm in the train tunnel had been eradicated, and a few White Fang were taken into custody. Roman Torchwick was not among them, nor was his corpse discovered anywhere. Although Lejule had a suspicion of what had happened to the villain, he did not voice it.

Team RWBY had been given the rest of the week off for rest; aside from large amounts of snoring, they hadn't been heard from since returning to their dorm.

With the help of Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood, Lejule was getting his family settled in Vale. Not for the first time, the dragonborn wondered why the wizened headmaster was helping him so readily while asking for so little in return. However, that thought was put aside while he spent time with Aela, Ma'isha, and Ma'rahka and helped inform them of this world.

Unfortunately, Lejule's research into his and his family's arrival on Remnant painted a conclusion he did not want to see: Only divine intervention would allow his family to return to Nirn; that or find someone with a Semblance that allowed them to travel between words, something that had never been documented. Even the vaunted power of a dovahkiin would not reach that level.

His family was understandably upset when he delivered the news. Still, they had agreed that this was a place where a life could be built well enough. Lejule spoke with Ozpin about it, and the Headmaster had agreed to have his children attend Beacon; they would be starting in the next school year.

Today, he was walking around the campus, eyes half-lidded and taking deep breaths through his nose, trying to track the infiltrator's scent. So far, the trail had led to the ballroom, which was still being cleaned; that had resulted in the near-obliteration of her path. Fortunately, it seemed that she had decided to dance with someone else to blend in with the crowd. That left her scent intermingled with her partner's, and granted a second scent to follow.

Lejule's eyes widened slightly and he growled as he recognized the second scent: Mercury's. I knew he there was something off about him. Remembering that Mercury claimed to be from Haven, he headed to the foreign students' dormitory. His hunch proved correct when the intruder's scent grew stronger and stronger the closer he came.

Several minutes later, he arrived at the room allotted to Haven's Team CMSN. A moment of listening and sniffing, he determined that three of the four members of the team were in the room, including the infiltrator. The Khajiit conjured a bound sword, raised his foot, and kicked the door down.

In an instant, his mind took in the details; the room wasn't much different from any other dorm room with four beds, two desks, a few bookshelves, and an attached bathroom. Mercury and Emerald were standing up from where they had been sitting on their beds, while the infiltrator was standing next to the doorway.

Lejule's sword was immediately at the woman's throat. "It is a pleasure to meet you, formally, Cinder Fall."

†††

It took all of her willpower for Cinder to not snap at the current situation. The Faunus she had mortally wounded, Jasiir Daytha, had somehow tracked her down and was now holding a sword made of energy to her throat. She settled for glaring at him and lying to stall for time. "Have we met?"

The cat glanced at Emerald and Mercury. "Try to cause trouble, I dare you." He returned his gaze to Cinder. "All of you. I know who you are and what you are capable of. If you fight, you will lose. Neat trick with that glass blade, though."

"'Glass blade?' I fight with fire and martial arts."

"Playing ignorant and unintelligent will not excuse your actions. I never forget a scent."

Realizing that he would not be leaving, Cinder tried a new tactic. "Fine, you have outplayed me. I surrender."

His brow creased. "You three will be coming with me to be handed over to the justice system to be prosecuted for espionage and attempted murder."

"No." Only Cinder's iron will kept her from crumbling under Jasiir's withering glare. She nodded toward Mercury and Emerald. "They know nothing of my purpose here." She met each of their eyes, internally smiling at how well they feigned looks of confusion and shock. "I lied to both of you. We are not here for the Tournament. I needed to impersonate a student to get into Beacon to pursue my plans. For that, I needed to be part of a team, and I was able to dupe you two saps into portraying my teammates, perfectly." Betrayal was added into the mix of expressions. She returned her gaze to Professor Daytha. "They were recruited off the street on the promise that I would take care of them. I'm still not sure I would have followed through on that 'promise.' Take me, but leave them alone. They're innocent."

The Faunus still wasn't convinced. "Is what she says true?"

Emerald answered first. "I grew up on the streets, stealing scraps to survive."

Mercury was next. "My dad tried to kill me. Cinder saved my life."

There was complete silence excepting four sets of breathing. Finally, Jasiir visibly, barely, relaxed. "Very well then. Come with me, Cinder. You two, stay put." He slowly backed out of the room, only moving when Cinder did; he'd obviously learned from their first encounter.

In the one instant where he could not see her eyes, she looked to her associates and winked. She'd figure out some way to benefit from this turn of events; Roman was still out there to cause mischief and unrest, while the White Fang was still loyal to Adam, who was loyal to her. For now, she followed the cat's directions.

The next day, Lejule was in his office, reviewing his students' combat performance. The Vytal Festival that had been talked about by so many students and teachers was only a few weeks away. The centerpiece of the event would be a grand tournament involving thirty two teams from the various Kingdoms, eight per Kingdom, and Professor Daytha wanted each and every one of his students to be able to fight to the fullest of their potential.

A timid knocking at the door drew his attention. "Enter." The door swung slowly open to reveal a familiar green-eyed girl with long black pigtails. Lejule gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "Please, shut the door behind you and have a seat."

"Yes, sir." She sat down and twiddled her fingers. "I–"

He cut her off by, for the second time, asking, "Which is the disguise, and which is the real you, Napoli?"

Her eyes changed to the shocked white, she opened her mouth to speak, and then she hung her head. Starting from her shoes, a ripple of energy flowed over her form, changing the shoes and black stockings into white knee-high boots. The maid outfit became a thigh-length white coat, and her black pigtails became a loose mane of pink and brown, with a white stripe in the middle. When she met his eyes again, hers had again changed: The right eye was pink, while the left eye was brown. "This is me. My name isn't Napoli; it's Neopolitan. I work for Roman Torchwick as his personal bodyguard and assassin."

"And you fear that your daughter will hate you for that."

She sat staff-straight. "What? Where did that come from?"

"I can scent the relation between two individuals, whether they are mere acquaintances or something more. You and Oreonna are mother and daughter."

Neo looked down at her knees. "Yes."

"Does she know you're here?"

"No."

"Would you like to see her?"

Her eyes welled up with tears. "I can't."

"Why not?"

The tears flowed. "I don't want her to see the monster I've become."

"'Monster?' My dear, a monster wouldn't care this much about anyone. A monster wouldn't feel anything, much less remorse for what they have done."

"But I've murdered people in cold blood and not cared."

"So have I."

"What?"

Lejule sighed. He hadn't meant for that to slip out. "There was an orphanage owner, Grelod. One of the orphans ran away and tried to contact a group of assassins to kill her. The boy mistook me for a member of that group, and gave me the job. I traveled to the orphanage and killed her. I'm not entirely proud of what I did, but I have no regrets about it."

"I see."

"Look. I can make no promises about Oreonna's reaction, but she could use her mother. Tukson was murdered recently. She has no one at the moment." He turned to the side and looked toward the office window. "Everyone should have their parents in their lives." He picked up a pen and a sheet of paper. "This is her room. At least consider what I have said."

That night, Jaune and Pyrrha were, as usual, practice-dueling on the dorm roof. He had been improving by leaps and bounds ever since Jasiir had joined in on Jaune's tutelage. Speaking of leaps and bounds, Jaune caught Milo in the crook of Crocea Mors, just as he had the night Pyrrha had asked him to the dance. Also just like that night, he left his stance wide open and unbalanced.

She twisted out of the lock and scythed her leg toward his ankles. This time, however, he hopped over her leg, and then he leapt at her in the span of half a second. Unprepared for his charge, Pyrrha was bowled over, forced onto her back with Jaune on top of her. Being this close, she could feel his warm breath washing over her face and neck and his heartbeat pulsing through his chest. Then she felt the heat rising in her reddening cheeks when she realized that it wasn't his pounding heartbeat she was feeling; it was her own.

His victorious smile dissolved into a confused frown at her change in expression. Then it transformed into pure shock when Pyrrha reached up, grabbed the back of his head, and pulled him into a kiss. Jaune went stiff for a moment before melting into her grip and returning the kiss. When it ended, he pushed himself up. "I love you, Pyrrha Nikos."

"And I love you…" She trailed off as she looked into his eyes. They weren't their usual get-lost-in-them-deep blue; they seemed to be the color of molten gold and were more reptilian in appearance. "Jaune?"

"What?"

"Are you…feeling alright?"

"Never better. Pyrrha, what is it?"

"Your eyes."

That was when they were reminded that Professor Daytha was there observing them, as he usually did, by him walking up to the blonde knight, grabbing his chin, and studying his eyes. Well, "studying" wasn't the right term, for it seemed Jasiir needed only a glimpse before he found something.

The Faunus' eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and he stumbled backward and fell on his behind. "By the Nine!"

"Professor?" Pyrrha wasn't sure if it was Jaune who spoke, or her.

Jasiir visibly took a moment to compose himself. "We'll head down to your dorm room; the rest of your team will need to know this, and I would rather not have anyone eavesdrop."

Jaune unsteadily stood and nodded. "O-kay. Let's go, Pyrrha."

When they arrived at JNPR's room, they made sure Ren and Nora were the only ones listening, and Pyrrha turned to Professor Daytha. "What is going on with Jaune?"

He took a deep breath. "Tell me, what do you know of fairy tales and legends?"

The members of Team JNPR glanced at each other in uncertainty, but played along. Jaune spoke first. "They're stories passed down the generations."

Nora chimed in. "Stories of awesome things like magic and monsters and the heroes who fight them."

Pyrrha continued. "Usually the events of the stories are fantastical representations of what the storyteller wants the listener to learn."

Ren finished. "The stories sometimes have a grain of truth, but are almost always fiction."

Jasiir lifted his head, which had been bowed after he had asked his question. "That was what I needed to hear. There are some legends that are true, but the truth has faded from the minds of everyone."

Pyrrha's felt that her voice trembled. "What does this have to do with Jaune?"

The Faunus sighed. "What I am about to tell you, I have told to very few living souls. One legend from my homeland is that of the dragonborn. Millennia ago, dragons once roamed the skies of the world. To prevent them from ruling over or destroying humans or Faunus, the chief of the gods, Akatosh, who was also the father of the dragons, created the dragonborn: mortals born with the immortal blood and soul of dragons. They would wield power far beyond anything else on the planet, allowing them to act as a natural predator of dragons who wished ill against the world and its inhabitants." His gaze moved to Jaune. "You, Jaune Arc, are the newest to wield this power. One of only two in the world."

"'Two?' Who is the other?"

"Me. I will teach you what I can, but we will have to travel to rather remote areas outside Vale in order to train."

"Why?"

"Because the power of the dragons is loud and destructive."

Ren spoke up. "If we cannot help Jaune with these abilities, why tell us? Beyond needing to adjust our combat strategy."

Jasiir sighed, again. "I need you three to keep him grounded as much as you can now that his dragon-blood has been unleashed. Dragons have an instinct to dominate the world around them; due to wielding the soul of a dragon, dragonborn have much of that same instinct, and some are known to have been subsumed by that instinct. Such a being is a very terrible foe."

Lejule stepped out of Team JNPR's room, his head spinning. The discovery of a Remnant-born dovahkiin brought about a horde of other questions. Foremost among them was what else from Nirn was paralleled here? Magic? He already knew the Nine Divines and the seventeen Daedric Lords could affect Remnant. The "what-if"s could open a whole new realm of possibilities.

While he was thinking, he decided to wander the dormitory. After a few minutes, he saw Neopolitan pacing outside of one door, arguing with herself under her breath. Crouching and hiding behind the corner of the nearest intersection, he cast a spell to bolster her courage and ducked out of sight.

"What–?" A second later, he heard her sigh and knock on the door.

The door opened, and a voice he recognized as that of Maybelle Dafydis said, "Do I know you?"

Neo spoke quietly, but was interrupted. "I'm–"

"Mom?!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: A few things:

The "Literal Sundae" pairing (Tukson/Neo), their daughter (Oreonna), and Oreonna's Beacon Team (MOON) first created by LongSean22 and put into story form by SuperKamek/WhiteFreak14 (Fanfiction/Deviantart usernames) is canon in this story. Not sure how much we'll see of them.

Yes, I went the "Jaune becomes dragonborn" route, but with the twist of him having the Last Dragonborn to learn from.

Next chapter, we will be entering the Vytal Festival Tournament and Volume 3. However, with the big shakeup that is Cinder's imprisonment (and the resulting disqualification of Team CMSN), how will things diverge?