The Lost Sons (Old Version)

by OculiImperator

The Arc Family has always been known for its Heroes. Jaune Arc however isn't as strong or as skilled with a blade as the rest of his family but he still wants to be a Hero, however he will learn that Duty and Fear often follow the same path, a person must conquer one and follow the other. (Final Update Check Last Chapter)(Story Being Rewritten)

10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It was roughly four in the afternoon and Jaune stood outside a clothing store in Vale; he was dressed in slightly worn jeans, with a black button up shirt open over a white shirt the golden Arc emblem visible on his left breast. There were several bags at his feet, Ren stood next to him in his usual outfit, though he looked half dead, Nora had been excited to go shopping with the girls and couldn't really sleep that much. If Nora couldn't sleep then Ren couldn't sleep either, the poor soul.

"Ren?"

"Yes Jaune?"

"What are you going to do if Nora buy's candy?" A flash of fear went through his magenta eyes and he stared at Jaune.

"Please don't suggest something like that could happen; besides I'll keep her from going into any candy store." Jaune could feel a drop of sweet go down the back of his neck.

"Uh…Ren, you know some clothing shops here have chocolate at the register for customers to buy." He watched as the dual wielder practically froze before immediately setting off at a brisk pace inside.

"Buuuuut Reeeeennnnn." A few moments had passed when Jaune head the loud whine akin to that of a child who got caught doing something they knew they weren't supposed to do but wanted too. Ren came out with holding chocolate in both arms with a pouting Nora behind him, Nessa, Pyrrha and team RWBY came behind them laughing.

Jaune couldn't help but focus on Pyrrha, while the others could go around with their regular outfits as civilian clothes; Pyrrha had a harder time due to the iconic and more combat orientation of her outfit. So for today she was wearing a pair of slightly faded blue jeans with a red cardigan over a black shirt. She did keep her signature green eye shadow along with her hair in its normal style and her bronze circlet.

His wallet cried out in anguish when he saw that all of them had one or two bags of their own including his sister. Nessa came running towards Jaune, a huge smile on her face as she held up her bags for him to see, her tail waving excitedly behind her.

"Jaune look at all these awesome clothes that Pyrrha helped me pick out!" Jaune smiled warmly, Pyrrha came up and handed his wallet back to him, he could have sworn that it felt lighter than before he looked down at Nessa.

"Did you have fun Nessa?" Jaune said a smile plastered across his face, she nodded, her tail still waving back and forth. He looked up and saw that everyone was chatting animatedly amongst themselves, except for Pyrrha who now looked distracted.

"Pyrrha?" He asked, she didn't say anything; he followed her gaze and saw that she was just staring into the crowd, though no one was paying particular attention to them. He waved his hand in front of her face before snapping his fingers, she jumped a little.

"Oh I'm sorry Jaune did you say something?"

"Pyrrha what's a matter, you looked distracted?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Really?"

"Yup, I'm fine." Pyrrha was anything but fine, she had caught a few women eyeing Jaune rather intently. What Jaune didn't pick up on was the fact he had peaked at being six foot six inches and had an extremely defined muscular body that showed very well with his shirt on. Not only was he physically fit but he had a very handsome face all of which was very enticing.

Though she couldn't really blame the other women for staring, it was difficult even for her to not pounce on Jaune whenever she tutored him in swordsmanship, and he works up a sweat. Or when Jaune comes out of the shower just wearing a thin white shirt that clings nicely to his body and loose shorts, she started to fantasize about what it would be like if she walked in on him showering. She shook her head furiously at that now wasn't the time for that.

Jaune was still standing there watching her, and she blushed as she realized that she just spaced out in front of him, Nessa appeared behind him.

"Hey big bro, whatcha doin? She asked, and he patted the top of her head and ruffled it a little, she pouted and pulled away, going about fixing her hair, Jaune crouched down.

"Nothing much little one, but I was going to ask if you're hungry?" She beamed a bright smile at that and nodded, Pyrrha could feel her heart warm up at the sight of how caring Jaune was for his little sister, despite not being biologically related.

Blake also saw this found it both heartwarming and hopeful, if a powerful family like the Arcs took care of and loved a Faunus child that wasn't theirs. Then that should surely help elevate the respect for other Faunus out in the Kingdoms.

Soon enough Jaune led them to a small cafe that served both humans and Faunus. As they opened the front door they were looked around, it was a homely sight, while not as fancy as some big name restaurants or café's but it had a pleasant atmosphere.

A slightly older woman who was around five foot nine with some grey hair streaks in her brown hair, stood behind a wooden bar smiled at the sight of Jaune. It was the kind of smile that seemed so natural it would be weirder to not see her smile.

"Jaune my boy! How good to see you dear! My how you've grown even more since I last saw you boy, what are you eating in Beacon? Oh are these the friends that you told me about?" She said with a warm smile and came around the counter hugging Jaune who easily returned it.

"Yea, these are my friends and teammates I was telling you about Mavis." Jaune said laughing softly, he gestured to Nessa.

"And this is my youngest sister Nessa, she wanted to spend the day together so I figured it be best to show her the best food out there." Mavis laughed and slapped his arm before leaning over and smiling at Nessa.

"Hi there little lady, you're ten times more adorable then Jaune described you." She said and Nessa blushed heavily at that, which brought another wave of laughter from everyone there.

"Alright dears, why don't you get some tables together and I'll go tell Russell to cook up some food for ya'll."

"Jaune how did you find this place?" Blake asked as they took their seats, Ruby was on her right and Yang her left. Jaune looked up, he was seated between Nessa and Pyrrha, and he smiled slightly.

"Oh I found this place while ago, I was out shopping for new clothes and stumbled upon this place when I was hungry, Mavis who owned the place welcomed me in and after a few hours and some delicious steak sandwiches I knew this would be one of my favorite places to go for food." Blake nodded at this, a brief thought of showing Sun this place passed through her mind but Mavis returned with a heaping cart of food.

The first thing she set out was several pitchers of water, grape soda and iced tea, followed by three sliced loafs of garlic bread, along with a tray of barbecue chicken sliders with mozzarella cheese and a plate with a dozen wooden sticks that held smoked sausages wrapped in bacon. The last thing she set down was a plate of a smoked salmon dip with an assortment of crackers and sourdough bread lining it, Blake immediately gravitated towards it.

The teens chatted animatedly until the food was almost all gone, with the help of aura they burned off calories like crazy and with even crazier semblances like exploding in a fiery rage or super speed it burned off even more, it's was one of the many perks of having aura. After while Mavis returned again with two trays of chicken casserole, a slightly thick man that was roughly six foot two inches came carrying three racks of ribs. Soon enough the table was filled once more with ribs, casseroles, pasta, salads, and chicken, which they tore into.

"Oh man, Jaune this is the best food ever." Yang said as she slumped back in her chair, she had eaten a full rack of ribs and two plates of chicken casserole. Nessa was the first to be done, her plate of Alfredo and steak pasta left half way done in front of her. Even Pyrrha felt full after trying a plate or three of grilled and barbeque chicken. Nessa tugged on Jaune's sleeve as he slowly sipped a glass of iced tea, and whispered into his ear, Pyrrha couldn't hear what they said.

"We'll be right back." Jaune said as he and Nessa got up, before heading down a hallway, as soon as he was out of ear shot Yang leaned across the table, though careful not to get her hair dirty.

"So Pyrrha how are things between you and Jaune?" Pyrrha blinked, not expecting the question at all, Ruby off on the other side of the table set her fork down as she heard Yang ask that.

"What do you mean?" Yang rolled her eyes.

"Jeez Cereal girl, aren't you and Jaune together now?" Pyrrha could feel her cheeks heat up a little at that.

"I suppose, we've both expressed our affections for each other." Yang grinned wolfishly.

"So what have ya'll done so far? I bet you've had more than a few fun times with that scrumptious body, eh?" Pyrrha lowered her gaze a little.

"We…We haven't really done anything to be honest." This time everyone at the table looked at her with that bit of news, except for Ruby and Ren, though one did it out of indifference, the other trying to hide the joy at that the relationship hasn't gone anywhere.

"Have you at least kissed?" Nora asked, as she scooted her chair closer, Pyrrha shook her head sadly, though she did remember the kiss he gave her on the cheek though she wouldn't have minded some more.

"Nope not really, we haven't even been on a first date." Pyrrha said a little dejectedly, though Ruby smiled at the sight of the Champion looking sad. What she didn't know was that Ren was watching her; he found it disconcerting that she seemed to enjoy Pyrrha getting frustrated at the lack of progress in her relationship with Jaune.

"What's up guys?" Jaune called out as he and Nessa returned from wherever they had gone off to.

"Oh nothing, Jaune we're just talking about if we wanted dessert or should head back to Beacon, it's getting late." Weiss was the one who surprisingly spoke up first, allowing Pyrrha time to collect herself from her depressed state of romantic progress. It was also the first real thing she had said that day, even while shopping she had mostly wondered off on her own, Pyrrha felt horrible at the thought that Weiss was still upset at her and Jaune for what happened when they came back.

"Oh well if it's getting late I can pack up your desserts for you." Mavis said as she joined them once more.

"That would be appreciated Mavis." Pyrrha said, Weiss pulled out a Schnee Dust Company card.

"So how much is the bill? I would figure it's has got to be in the three digits with this much delicious food." Mavis held up her hands as if to ward off the card like an evil spirit.

"No I can't do that dears, Jaune's been good to me as it is." Mavis said, this brought a few raised eyebrows at Jaune who just laughed and scratched the back of his head, wrapping an arm around her shoulders bring her into a one arm hug, which she graciously returned.

"Ah Mavis please, at least let me pay for Nessa, Pyrrha's and my portions I would feel bad if you didn't let me do that." Mavis smiled and nodded before bringing a bill for fifty odd Liens, barely even a tenth of the actual amount that they would have to pay. Jaune scribbled on the bill and placed his own card which his father had given to him the day after he had first arrived, handing it over to Mavis, her jaw dropped when she saw the tip.

"Jaune!? Bless you son, you've got a heart of an angel." Mavis said hugging Jaune and planting a kiss on his cheek, he laughed rubbing the back of his head. Everyone else just looked between each other except for Nessa who just stood smiling as if she knew what he just did.

Mavis gave them a cheesecake and two chocolate cakes along with the rest of leftover food as they left, once outside everyone realized that it was already dark so they proceeded to walk towards the airships to head back to Beacon. Pyrrha dropped back to walk with Jaune, Nessa was on his back, her thin arms wrapped around his neck, her tail lazily waving back and forth content from all the food.

"So Jaune, what did you do to make Mavis so happy like that?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune grinned.

"Well technically speaking the bill would have been roughly five hundred Liens, and she only charged for about fifty odd Liens without tax so I paid for it but also gave her a tip of six hundred." Pyrrha's eye widened at that.

"You paid her six hundred Liens?" Weiss called back, he nodded.

"Well as a way of saying thanks I'm going to pay you back for my share of the food." Jaune started to protest but the others chimed in.

"Yes Jaune, I would also like to pay for Nora's share." Ren spoke from his right; Yang spun and pointed a finger at Jaune, poking his forehead.

"Yea Vomit Boy, I'mma pay for my meal, also Ruby's while I'm at it." Yang said, as she stepped back and wrapped her arms around Ruby who struggled to free herself.

"Come on guys it's…" Pyrrha put a finger on Jaune's lips silencing him, which made her blush heavily, Yang and Nora smirked at that though Ruby pouted a little more, Jaune looked around. Every had friendly smiles on their faces, Blake even nodded to him which for Jaune was equivalent to a full blown conversation.

As they turned a corner they came across a decent sized crowd of people who seem to be looking through an electronic store windows.

"What the heck are they looking at?" Yang said aloud, they approached the store, a few people stepped aside talking animatedly about monsters, though Pyrrha though she heard something about the Arcs.

Jaune stepped up to see a set of televisions that were playing what looked to be footage of the siege of the fort in Leflore where team JNPR was stationed during their mission. The footage seemed to be taken from an aircraft, Jaune didn't recall seeing or hearing any Bullhead and what was more startling was the fact they didn't try to help them.

"Jaune is that you?" Yang asked as she pointed to one screen that showed a blond hair boy and red hair woman fighting a daemon, Jaune could feel his heartbeat speed up as flashes of fighting went through his mind. He glanced at Pyrrha to see that even she looked like a deer caught in the headlights; he did the only thing he could think to do and intertwined her hand with his.

Pyrrha wanted to be elated that Jaune was holding her hand but she couldn't. Seeing the video of their fight had started her mentally recalling the details of the gruesome deaths that the soldiers had at the hands of the daemons.

"That's so fucking crazy, is this really what happened when you were on your mission?" Yang said distractedly as she watched team JNPR charge against the advancing horde of monsters. She wasn't sure what those things were but judging how it looked that even Pyrrha was having a little trouble putting them down means that they definitely weren't like the Grimm she's heard or faced. Though it seemed Nora was the one that had the best results against them, her heavy weapon mixed with her strength made her a devastating asset on the field.

"Hey wait a minute that's Pyrrha Nikos?" A woman said as she pointed to Pyrrha on the screen as she killed another Plaguebearer, there was a murmur of agreement as others realized who it was. Pyrrha seemed to shrink a little as she scooted closer to Jaune; he realized that she didn't want to get swarmed by these people at this moment. To be frank either did he, there had to be at least a couple of dozen people and questions of that night are something he was not prepared to handle.

Ruby on the other hand wasn't watching the screens so much as she was watching Pyrrha holding Jaune's hand and getting closer to him. She relished the look of fear on the young champion's face, so she quietly slipped behind a few strangers who were trying to get a look at the screens and casually fell against them. The sudden force applied to them was enough to have them stumble forward right into Pyrrha.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I guess I slipped Miss." One man said, as he separated himself from her, making sure not to appear as if he did it on purpose.

"It's fine, there's no need to worry sir." Pyrrha said quickly not looking at him in hopes that no one would recognize her, it seemed that fate had other ideas.

"Wait a minute, Josh, that's freaking Pyrrha Nikos! Pyrrha Nikos is right here!" The man next to him shouted, almost instantly people were looking at them and shouting questions or asking for a photo.

"Hey that's the same people that are in this video!" A green hair woman shouted from nearby, as she pointed at Jaune and his team.

"That guy's also an Arc!" Jaune spun his head around to see a silver haired teen looking right at him, something about him seemed familiar. However his face was lost in a tide of surging people crowding around them, Nessa buried her face into Jaune's neck.

"Jaune! Why are they crowding around us like this?" Nessa asked, her voice slightly muffled, Jaune shifted Pyrrha to behind him while Ren and Nora took up side surrounding Pyrrha and keeping a barrier between her and the people.

The rest of team RWBY was ultimately separated from them, Yang groaned in annoyance, she wanted to toss these people aside but she knew they most likely didn't have their aura's unlocked and would get hurt. Weiss just snorted at disgust, both at the people and at herself for not being able to do anything to help her friends. Blake tried looking for a decent spot to jump from and to at least rescue Nessa from the overwhelming crowd; however she didn't have any luck.

"Why is he carrying a Faunus with him? She looks like a fucking freak." Jaune could faintly hear a man say and he turned to see the sneering mouth of a man nearby, a rage like he's rarely ever felt bubbled inside his stomach.

"Sheesh you think Nikos is banging that tall guy? I wonder how many times he's tapped that pussy." His eyes snapped to the sound of the voice to see a few teenagers laughing in the back of the crowd, his one free hand tightened into a fist, the urge to punch them was overwhelming

"Jaune I'm scared, are they going to hurt us?" Nessa whispered from behind him, his rage cooled, and he noticed that he could still feel Pyrrha's hand shaking, no doubt trying to control her emotions in the face of the crowd. But he knew his partner enough to suspect that she was also upset at remembering the incident in Leflore and wouldn't be okay soon in a crowd like this. It broke his heart and angered him to know that he couldn't make the people before him pay for what they're doing to his loved ones.

He scowled wordlessly at the nearest person who had tried to push their scroll over his shoulder to take a picture of Pyrrha. The man's face paled at the sight of Jaune's rage, Jaune turned his head around and met Ren's eyes, nodding to the green gunman, who in turned nodded to Nora.

"On it Fearless Leader!" She said and instead of holding back the crowd, Nora shifted around to the front of Jaune as he continued to hold Pyrrha's hand, Ren took up his position behind him. By this time team RWBY was across from them motioning them to come forwards. Though Jaune could see a few white vans pull up at the end of the street, reporters, this was the last thing he wanted to deal with, he tapped Nora on the arm signaling her.

"By the Order of the Sloth Queen this show is over!" Nora jubilantly called out, much to the confusion of the crowd and she proceeded to push forward, the powerhouse of team JNPR effortlessly pushed aside people. Soon enough Nora had pushed aside the last people in front of them, indifferent to the cries of outrage from the people she had pushed to the floor carelessly.

"Are you guys okay?" Ruby was the first to ask as they got closer, everyone Jaune said that they were fine; Ruby could see that Ren was watching her, she simple smiled back innocently.

"Alright we need to get out of here; once we're on the Bullheads back at Beacon we'll be fine." Jaune said, he immediately started walking at a fast rate towards the air pads, Nessa was still clinging to his back and he was still holding Pyrrha's hand. Who despite the agitation of the crowd and seeing footages from their fight in Leflore was feeling a lot better and felt wholly pleased at being able to hold Jaune's hand, sure it wasn't purely romantic but she'll take it nonetheless.

"What was that all about? Why were you on that footage?" Weiss asked as they finally got away from the crowd and started jogging towards the air pads, Jaune didn't answer.

"And what were those…things you were fighting?" Blake asked next, again no one responded, Yang sighed in frustration at the lack of response from any of them though she opted to remain silently for the time being.

Soon enough they were outside the air pads, various other students were milling around, no doubt killing time before they had to head back to Beacon. After paying for the fare for riding they soon found themselves on an airship on its way back to Beacon. Jaune rested the back of his head against the seat that surely didn't go as he planned; Yang took this as the time to confront them about what had happened.

"Jaune what was that back there?" Jaune looked at her, reservation on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what was with that video? It was taken during your mission wasn't it? What the hell did you guys get into when you were out there?" Yang asked, Blake, Weiss and Ruby all stared at Jaune expecting an answer.

"It's complicated." Weiss snorted.

"No it's not, all you have to do is tell us what happened." Ren spoke up at this.

"I don't think he means the event itself is complicated but there are certain elements that are…well complicated." Weiss just flung her hands up in frustration, Ruby spoke up again.

"Jaune we're your friends we're willing to listen whatever it is that's complicated or not." Jaune rubbed his eyes softly; Nessa was leaning against him, and was still shaken up by being in the crowd from earlier. Jaune didn't say anything and everyone sat quietly in the airship as it headed to Beacon.

Jaune couldn't but think back to the silver haired teen he had seen before; there was something about it that bugged him. If he really had to pick a start for this indescribable feeling it would have to have been at Leflore, there was something odd about the breach there. If his suspicion was right Saul was also thinking the same, he would have to talk with him about it next time they meet.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice came from next to him and he turned his head.

"Yea Pyr?"

"We're here." She gestured to the others getting up; they had somehow still managed to hold onto all the leftover food from before despite earlier, Jaune stood up with Nessa following him closely.

"Alright if you guys really wanna know what's going on I think it would be best if you got the full disclosure from my Father." Jaune said as he stepped out of the craft following team RWBY.

As if by magic, greeting them was his father who was dressed in blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to reveal his severely scarred muscular forearms, with a pair of black trousers and shoes. Next to him was his mother who wore a simple black skirt and white blouse with black high heels.

Behind them stood a third woman that they didn't recognize, she was roughly six foot three inches; her skin was extremely pale, with white hair pulled into a simple ponytail behind her head. Though she wasn't old, if anything she looked incredibly young as if they were the same age.

She wore a glossy black segmented plate armor that covered her entire torso. On her shoulders were black segmented pauldrons with white trims that had two inch tall neck guards on both sides the plates that extend four down, that covered a black rerebrace. This in turn connected to a couter at the elbow and with the vambraces that wrapped around her forearms, lastly metal gauntlets that covered her hands completely with four pointed studs on her knuckles.

Around her waist were two black segmented tassets that went down three plates that cover the side of her legs, going halfway down her thighs, two white cloths spilled from the center of the tassets but only the front portion had the twin golden emblems of the Arcs on it. Around her knees were black poleyns that extended up four inches to provide additional protection to the thighs; around her shins were black greaves that extend over the poleyns and wrapped completely around the calf and extend down to cover the top of her booted feet. At her waist they could see a hilt of a sword; the pommel was a simple bone white skull, the grip was wrapped in dark brown leather, the cross guard was a simple rectangle strip of black metal.

"Mom? Dad?" Jaune asked as the stepped down the steps, Nessa ran to them and Arabella crouched down to hug her young Faunus daughter. It would have been a touching sight if she didn't give Jaune a cold stare that made death look like sweet mercy.

"We thought we'd come and greet you and your friends." Alexander said, though the look on his face suggested that there was more to this then he was saying Jaune gulped.

"Ah well that's very kind of you Mr. Arc." Ruby spoke up, his gaze shifted to the young reaper and she immediately stopped talking, Yang stepped up placing her hands on her sister's shoulders.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm beat, come on girls lets go to sleep, bye guys!" Yang said but before they could move the unknown woman stepped into their path of retreat.

"The Headmaster and I have decided that a certain talk needs to occur, if you wouldn't mind please proceed to his office." Alexander said simply, the four girls looked horrified but ultimately followed Alexander, soon enough it was just him, his team, his mother and sister with the stranger.

"So what's up?" Nora asked casually, curiosity etched onto her face, Arabella smiled.

"Oh it just seems that the public have been a little more riled with the release of the footage then we though." Jaune raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"So wait, we released that footage to the media?" Arabella shook her head and gestured for them to follow, Nessa held onto her hand as they walked through one of the various parks that encompass the school grounds.

"In truth it seems a third party has entered the mix and took that footage of your mission and gave it to various media stations, we suspect it's a way to instill fear and distrust towards us, and Ozpin and the council were sadly unable to suppress the media in such a short time." Arabella said as they causally strolled through the park, in the distance the lights to their dormitory building were still on with students milling around the entrance unperturbed by the outside world and events.

"So what are you going to do about it? I suppose you must have come up with something to mitigate the results?" Surprisingly this came from Nora who in the soft glow of park lamps had a thoughtful expression her face, everyone save Arabella and Nessa looked at her in surprise.

"What?! I'm not dumb." Nora said with a slight pout.

"No, it's not that Nora, it's just that it's the first time it seemed like you were actually paying attention that it caught us off guard." Jaune said, Nora shrugged, satisfied with the answer.

"You are indeed correct in that assumption Miss Valkyrie, Alexander and I have sent numerous files of on the field helmet footage of the battle for Leflore to show that our response was necessary for the good of Remnant." Arabella said though she just kept looking forward as they got closer to their dorms.

"What do you think that's going to do?" Ren asked, genuinely curious about the topic, Arabella took a deep breath before sighing.

"Well we're hoping to try and inform the public of this new threat, both councils, Vale and our own have figured that it's best to come clean with it now then to hide it until someone forces it out, and most likely in the worst way possible." Ren nodded slowly as he pondered the situation, then spoke again.

"You're hoping that this new information can not only instill trust in the government but win the people to your side also about how you're the ones that have been fighting this threat alone for how many years." Arabella nodded a thin smile on her face.

"Uh… Not to be rude or anything but we're kind of missing something really important." Pyrrha spoke up, and everyone turned to her.

"Who is she?" Pyrrha said as she nodded to the pale woman in black armor that was tailing them, Arabella slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand, Nessa giggled at that.

"I'm so sorry, Anna dear! Come here please!" Arabella said a little louder, the woman, Anna, walked closer and bowed her head to everyone, though she seemed to have a lingering gaze on Jaune which Pyrrha didn't like.

"Jaune, everyone, meet Anna Vermillion, she's the Sentinel Guard that I had come and provide additional security for Jaune and well I guess you three as well…though you seem like you don't need it." She said while the last part was addressed towards Pyrrha. Jaune sighed as he realized that she really had gone through it, but something else tickled the back of his mind.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Jaune." She said with a soft smile that radiated warmth, Jaune blushed a little at that, Pyrrha on the other hand was having a mental breakdown on what fuck this bitch was trying to do with her man.

"Uh…Yea, pleasure meeting you also Ms. Vermillion." She said before stepping even closer and hugging him, it wasn't the best hug he's even gotten though not as bad as Nora's bear hugs which always seem like they're going to break his back. It only got weirder when she didn't let go, after a few moments Jaune wanted to go back to Vale and sleep in an alleyway.

"Please call me Anna." Jaune could see even in the low light of the park pathway lamps he could see the look of utter rage on his partner's face, Nora and Ren looked stupefied. Nessa was equally confused though his mom seemed to be surprisingly indifferent.

"Uhhh Anna…you can let go now." He said, Anna stepped back and clasped her hands while looking at the ground, if it wasn't for the fact she was decked out in finely wrought armor and a sword it would have felt like some strange scene from bad romance movie. He could see that she was feeling a little bad about it but at the same time there was a small glint in her eyes like satisfaction.

"I'm sorry I've waited a long time to do that and kind of lost control for a second there." She said softly, Jaune rubbed his temples.

"Ren?"

"Yes Jaune?" His friend responded instantly from behind.

"You think you can brew some of that herbal tea that you keep in the dorm when we get there; I think I'm going to need it." Ren smiled at the weariness in his friend's voice.

"Sure thing Jaune, I'll even add some honey for you."

"You're the best." Arabella laughed a little and soon enough they found themselves outside of team JNPR's dormitory building. As they were about to enter a familiar voice called out to them, turning to see who it was, they saw a familiar pair of bunny ears bounding towards them.

"Velvet? Is something a matter?" Pyrrha was the first to ask, the brown haired Faunus was about to speak when she saw Arabella with a small Faunus child, who she found just adorable.

"She's soooo adorable!" Velvet squealed upon seeing Nessa, who despite being shy first immediately saw her ears and smiled, waving back. Jaune just snapped his fingers a few times to draw her attention back.

"Jaune who is she?" Velvet asked when she realized that everyone was looking at her, a light blush on her face.

"Velvet this is my youngest sister Nessa, and my mom Arabella." Instantly Velvet was in front of Arabella clasping her hands around his mother's, her eyes were practically shining with awe.

"It's such an honor to meet you Ma'am!" Arabella patted Velvet's hands.

"The pleasure is mine but dear would you kindly tell us what the original purpose was of you seeking my son out?" Velvet once again realized that everyone was chuckling good naturedly at her distraction, again her cheeks turned slightly red in the dim lights outside the building.

"Oh, well I was just wondering what Jaune and the rest of his team was feeling about this whole media storm going on about that footage of their fight." Arabella nodded before Jaune took over.

"Ah well we're just going to really ignore it for now, if people or the media have questions as team leader I would be happy to obliged them as long as they don't pester my team over this." Pyrrha couldn't help but smile sadly, for all of his intelligence and honor, Jaune was naïve when it came to the media, though she did hope that things wouldn't get too crazy.

A Few Days Later…

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Jaune was sitting in Port's Class, despite being a renowned Hunter both for his skill and strength he wasn't the best of teachers. Though it wasn't due to the lack of knowledge or experience as a Hunter, it was the fact that every minute of actual useful information is swamped by fourteen minutes of exposition of one of his many adventures. It was tiresome and most students just did whatever they could within reason to pass the time.

Only Pyrrha and Weiss actually seemed to pay attention, Jaune however was watching his email blow up with request from numerous new agencies, papers, and journalists that wanted to interview him. Though so far the was worst thing was earlier when a reporter had actually snuck his way onto Beacon grounds and tried lying about how he had permission to be there to interview him. Unfortunately for him Professor Goodwitch had turned the corner to see him there, suffice to say she wasn't very happy about it.

Though they weren't able to escape the questions and staring from the other students, at breakfast Jaune was barely able to go two steps in the line for food without having to give a short answer to everyone question that was sent his way. Jaune was very patient with it their questions, it was only natural for it plus he couldn't blame them for being curious. Pyrrha was the best after having experience with years of media observation from being a world renowned Champion of that one event, Jaune always forgot what it was called.

No one was able to get a word from Ren because he constantly would just sit quietly and stare at something while drinking tea.

Nora on the other hand would chase them away because she wanted to talk. Though it wasn't necessarily about the incident, she'd often go into tangents about how awesome Sloths or pancakes were. After a while most people just stopped bothering to get any useful information from her.

Though by now Jaune did understand a small percent of the pain that Pyrrha went through when she became famous, how she was able to do it was beyond him.

To add top of his stress was his new shadow, Anna seemed pleasant enough but she took her job a little too seriously. The first day on the job she had literally broken one of Cardin's legs, stating that her intelligence report said that he was still a bully, it didn't help that she had went to Nora first for advice.

Nora apparently not seeing that Anna still thought that the bullying was happening said that the best course of action in her opinion was to break his legs.

Suffice to say that Jaune had to force her to apologize not only to Cardin but Professor Goodwitch also who was the one that stopped her. Aside from that there was a few new rumors going about that he was two timing on Pyrrha, which ultimately brought him to his next problem.

He still hasn't taken out Pyrrha on a date; while Jaune may not be the most social attuned person he knew enough that when two people expressed a genuine interest in each other than the guy should at least take the girl out for a date. Sure it was an outdated concept for most women nowadays but Jaune always prescribed to the gentleman's code, which in this case is always put the needs of the lady first before your own.

Even then he wasn't sure, he had to do something that was both simple but meaningful, and he couldn't do a fancy dinner. Pyrrha would no doubt enjoy the date but to him it wasn't the same since he knew that she liked to be treated as any other girl. So taking her to a three digit restaurant would have the opposite effect so he needed to hold off on that for the first few dates at least. He needed something both simple yet meaningful, he had an idea but he wasn't confident if it was the best choice so far.

"Jaune?" He could hear someone say his name but he ignored them; he needed to find something that was a good date plan.

"Jaune." Again, seriously he closed his eyes and cupped his chin doing his best to concentrate.

"Jaune!" A notebook smacked on top of his head and he jerked his head back in surprise, and saw that Weiss had smacked him in the head with her notebook.

"Sheesh no need to hit me Weiss, that kind of hurt." She rolled her eyes.

"Please Arc, with a head like yours, you could head-butt a Boarbatusk and kill it." Nora, Yang and Blake all snickered at that softly, and he shot them all a glare. In the back of the classroom he could see Anna standing silent as always, he sighed.

"So what is it that you want anyways?" He asked as he turned back to look at Professor Port, Pyrrha chimed him from next to him.

"Jaune class ended three minutes ago." Jaune realized that Port wasn't saying anything but was just looking amused at him, and he looked around there wasn't anyone else in there but them.

"Well ain't that a thing." Pyrrha rolled her eyes and with a small smile nudged his shoulder with her elbow. Soon enough the friends all walked out into the hallway, the Vytal Festival was practically around the corner so Beacon had decided to give a week off to the student body to allow teams that were participating in the Festival more time to practice. The energy in the air was astonishing but Jaune couldn't help but feel the small sense of unease in the back of his mind.

If Jaune had to place the root of it, it would be the fact that many students from the four schools were now contemplating the prospect of fighting nightmarish daemons along with Grimm. There's been talk that quite a few students had actually dropped out of schooling due to it, and on the down low from his father, there's even been a few withdrawals from the incoming first year candidates of next year.

"Jaune…" An uncharacteristically serious Ruby spoke up suddenly; bring the entire group's attention to her as they turned to the hallway where their dorms were.

"Were you scared?" This made him blink, where the heck was this coming from?

"What do you mean?" She took a deep breath.

"Ever since your dad and the Headmaster told us about well…them… I couldn't help but wonder what it felt like seeing and facing up against those things in that Outlander town was like, were any of you scared?" Jaune looked at his team, who all seemed to be contemplating, Nora was the first to speak up.

"To be honest, I was pretty scared, fighting Grimm alone can be pretty intense, but this was different, the creatures of Grimm are soulless, more akin to mindless beasts that do nothing but hunt, the Plaguebearers, or daemons show emotions like people like joy but it's the kind of joy of giving pain. Thankfully I was with Ren and the others without them I probably would have been even more scared." Everyone nodding at this, Ren spoke next.

"In truth I think fear is a very common thing to experience, no one can truly be rid of fear even against Grimm; if we did have true mastery of our emotions then the Grimm wouldn't be such an overwhelming problem. So when we faced against the Daemons I can safely say that I was fearful not just for my life but for my friends also." He said looking at Jaune, Pyrrha, and lastly settling his gaze on Nora. Jaune coughed slightly and Ren moved his gaze away to look down the empty hallway, Nora still watched his back. Jaune fished out his scroll and tapped it against the lock on their door opening it, he gestured for everyone to come in. As Pyrrha brought up the rear she figured she should speak next.

"For me it was an eye opening experience, I was both in awe and terrified of this newfound knowledge. Awe was due to the fact that the Arcs and their people have been fighting against the Ruinous Powers for almost their entire lives without giving up, protecting people who had no idea that they needed the protection. However I was also terrified to know what was really out there, we've lived in our own little bubbles thinking there was only one true threat out there now since the Kingdoms are now at peace, but we're woefully wrong and due to that ignorance came a very high potential of disaster. Though now with this knowledge I can still say it doesn't give me any more comfort now that I have it if anything I just as afraid knowing that they're out there and what they are." Team RWBY exchanged looks with each other a champion fighter like Pyrrha who could no doubt beat them all in a fight was openly admitting to being afraid of facing this new threat. Everyone arranged themselves into the room watching Jaune, he sighed, now it was his turn.

"To be honest there's a lot of things that are on my mind with this, even I didn't know about these things until after the dock incidents a few months ago. That night my aunt Lilly gave me the information and I had a hard time understanding the depth of it all, for weeks I was troubled but it was supposed to mean and why it was important to know it. Then my father came to Beacon and we had a long talk about it. After that I wasn't sure what to do, I came to Beacon the place where Heroes are forged to fight and protect Humanity from Grimm but I had a more selfish reason than most. I came to Beacon to be like my family. For as long as the Arcs have existed we've been known as heroes but I'm no hero, I want to be one but only to exist as a part of that legacy. However when we were on that mission to Leflore I realized that I was never going to be a heroes of antiquity, especially when Saul stopped me from leading us into the main defense of the town, I wanted to help those people but not because I wanted to but because it was my duty both as an Arc and a Huntsman in training, yet at the same time I was glad to not be there." This drew a surprised look from everyone in the room. To them Jaune was often a very kind person who did his best to help both strangers and his friends, to hear him being glad in not protecting the innocent were really unexpected.

"Jaune what do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, concern and curiosity etched on her face at this development, Jaune raised his hands to stop her and everyone else was talking.

"Let me finish, the reason why I was glad was because I'm scared, scared of losing all of you to my mistakes, I knew that the four of us wouldn't have made an ounce of difference in that fight, we were too few and not experienced enough, even you Pyrrha the best fighter in the first years and possibly the best fighter amongst all the students up until the fourth years had a difficult time fighting them when we were in a fort away from their main focus, even then we were inches away from getting swarmed and killed. So if I had stubbornly convinced Saul to let us join the main fight I would have gotten you all killed because of my fucking pride, I couldn't live with myself if my actions got anyone of you hurt, so if I was given a choice again in saving one of you or a civilian, I would try my best to do both but ultimately I will always pick you guys over anyone else." Jaune said a feeling of shame coming over him a growing stinging sensation building in his eyes; he rubbed a hand over his face. Looking up he could see that everyone was watching him, mostly in a state of shock. He closed his eyes once more as he suddenly felt incredibly tired, he waited for the inevitable outburst of rage and disgust. He never got it instead he felt a pair of warm but powerful arms wrap around him.

"Jaune I think you're fine for doing that, anyone else in your position would have had the same thoughts as you." The soft almost musical voice of Pyrrha came into his ear; a surprisingly pleasant shiver went down his spine at her proximity. Yang and Blake tittered at the near scandalous sight of Pyrrha hugging Jaune so intimately. Ruby could feel a twitch develop in her eye at it but she had to conceal it more since it seemed Ren was watching her.

"Yea Fearless Leader, we trust you with whatever decision you make, because you're going to be the one that leads us to getting our own Castle and zoo of Sloths." Nora said fervently, the light of passion erupting from her eyes was dazzling. Surprisingly Anna who apparently was in the room with them spoke next.

"For what it's worth Master Arc I think it's an admirable thing to be able to recognize your own thoughts in such situations, you're young and inexperienced to the horrors of both full scale warfare and the creatures from beyond the veil." She said as she looked in him in the eyes, Yang scratched her head slightly.

"Uhhh what about you Ms. Bodyguard, how many fights have you been in?" There was a noticeable twitch this time on her face, her face turning slightly red as she looked away once more. Yang rubbed her chin slightly with an upraised eyebrow.

"Now that I think about it you don't look much older than us." She didn't respond and continued to look away but Yang was a brawler and good one at that, so she knew how to read an opponent's body from the way they position themselves along with the tensing and relaxation of the muscles that indicated what they were planning in a fight.

"How many missions have you done?" Yang asked as she crept forward, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. Anna no longer wore her Sentinel armor, Ozpin had told her that dressing as a soldier would make more than a few students uncomfortable and that was not acceptable. So now she wore a simple buttoned up black military coat that reached down to her knees, with a pair of black military fatigues that were tucked into a shiny pair of black boots.

Though Jaune knew that she must have some sort of weapon on her, if she couldn't go by standard operating procedures, she'll improvise; she stood up and coughed into her hand.

"Well if you're so insistent, Ms. Xiao Long, this is my first assignment outside of Arcadia." This drew a few raised eyebrows.

"What do you mean you're first one outside of Arcadia?" Ruby asked as she played with the hem of her cloak.

"Well Ms. Rose, the Sentinels is an Order that was formed around the same time as Arcadia, we're given the task of protecting the Royal Family and the Capital or given missions by the Royal Family, we're trained from a very young age to fight, survey, stealth work, and a myriad of other things. Master Arc is the first Arc I've been assigned to protect due to the unstable nature of the Four Kingdoms with the surge of Daemons and those who affiliate with the Ruinous Powers before this I've never been outside of Arcadia." Weiss listened to Anna talk and couldn't help but voice her thoughts.

"Wait so the Arcs are the Royal Family of Arcadia, so Jaune can become Ruler one day?" Jaune shook his head slightly at this.

"That's not how it works for us, the current Ruler is Ruler for life until he or she dies or decides to step down, if he dies in the field of battle it's given to what is essentially his Steward who takes care of State Business until the council can convene and pick a new candidate which is then brought to the Family as a whole for them to decide, but if the time comes for when the Ruler wishes to step down whoever he's picked will become Ruler immediately but that can only occur if the Ruler is still alive when abdicating his position, if he dies before abdicating but has already picked an heir the council will step in only to help advise the new Ruler while taking care of their individual duties." Weiss nodded, slowly at this.

"What's the general purpose of the Council then?" Ren asked as he stood up to brew a pot of tea, Jaune tapped a finger on his bottom lip; man he really should have paid attention to Brin's lessons when he was younger.

"If I recall correctly the Council takes care of the day to day business of the Kingdoms, just like the Four Kingdoms, however there are a few differences that truly separate them. For one the Council does not represent the Kingdom as a whole, they are in fact only individuals who are charged with overseeing certain parts of Government, they only have actually power to over those particular areas and can't interfere with the others, thus creating separate branches that can only control so much power. There's the Civitas Administrator who oversees the daily management of civilian infrastructure, social and economic welfare and other sorts of Public Projects. There's the Mechanicus Order they're a little complex in their structure, it's broken down with basically three departments all represented by a Chief Magos, who's picked by the Lexico Arcanus of Logis, Genetor Order, and the Artisan Forge Lord, though they aren't limited by those fields, we have others who study chemistry, physics, and a few looking at space travel." Ruby raised her hand as if she was in a class listening to a lecture, Jaune grinned as he stopped himself.

"Yes Ms. Rose?" He asked with a feigned air, bringing a chuckle out of his friends.

"What do those, uh, people do exactly?" Jaune nodded, he had expected Ruby to be the most curious about them since she was a bit of an engineering enthusiast herself.

"Well to give a more layman term of them the Chief Magos is someone who's a master in his field and is picked by the three Orders to represent them at the Council." Ruby shook her head.

"No I kind of get that but what are the three Orders, they sound complex." Jaune pursed his lips thinking, what was the best way to describe them without showing he didn't have a clue either.

"To break it down like this think of them as this, Logis is pretty much a statistical and Logistic group, they plan and project the expenditure and needs of the Mechanicus and the Kingdom. Genetor is the overarching section that studies Biology and medical science, such as vaccinations or new surgery techniques. The Artisans are more the ones who make Military hardware, civilian construction and the weapons and armor of the Sisterhood and help make the individual equipment of my family." Ruby's eyes widened with awe.

"So they made your dads armor, that's so cool!?" Jaune shook his head at that drawing a confused expression from Ruby.

"They didn't actually make his, he was given that armor from a very special individual, I can't say who because I honestly don't know anything about that person other than he was a remarkable individual who has my dad's respect and loyalty forever." Ruby exchanged looks with her team, however Nora, Pyrrha, Ren already had a semblance of an idea on who Jaune was talking about, Alexander had given a little more detail on certain subjects then he had with team RWBY.

"If you don't mind Jaune, I think we should go get changed that way we can head out to the cafeteria to get something to eat for dinner, but we can continue there." Weiss said as she practically dragged a remorseful Ruby who was claiming that they didn't need to change, Yang and Blake just silently followed.

"Well I think we should get ready for also, me and Jaune can change in the bathroom while you girls get dressed here." Nora beamed a smile at him.

"Don't take forever or we're gonna leave you." Ren looked at Pyrrha who stood next to her.

"Please make sure she doesn't leave without us." Nora had a hurt expression on her face.

"Ren do you really believe I would leave you behind for food?" Now everyone just looked at her but she suddenly had a thoughtful expression take over just as quick.

"Yea I guess I would…" She mused, as she rubbed her chin, Pyrrha just giggled and waved them into the bathroom. As they changed out of their shirts Ren turned to his team leader, Jaune had changed remarkably since they were paired up as a team, if Ren had a picture from the first day they met to compare it to him now. Most people would have assumed they were two different people completely. This in a sense is true, while he's still plagued by doubts and fears of being a terrible leader along with holding them back combat wise he was remarkably different, a more overall confidence that the old Jaune lacked.

However the changes in his body was something that puzzled Ren, if what he was told by Pyrrha and Jaune true, these changes only happened after he had his aura unlocked. Which brought up another thought, his father was practically a god amongst men, Ren has never seen a man with or without aura that looked like that. He also had no doubt that he could possibly wipe the floor with them without his weapon or breaking a sweat and that was just based on reading about him in books and not seeing him in person.

"You can come out now!" Pyrrha called out from beyond the door, Jaune who now changed into a black V-neck shirt and blue jeans looked at Ren who was now dressed in his usual outfit. Unlike Jaune whose physique had changed drastically which forced him to now dress in whatever clothes he can get his hands on, Ren was content with what he had.

"You good?" Ren nodded, and followed him out; Nora was dressed in her usual outfit as well, and currently was bouncing on the tips of her toes waiting both the prospect of food and the company of Ren. Pyrrha on the other hand wore blue jeans, a black shirt, with a plaid red and black shirt on top.

Jaune took a second to practically drink the sight of her in, these hasn't been a day where she had looked beautiful. Whether it was waking at the crack of dawn with a case of terrible bed hair or after a day's worth of a harsh training regime she was always breathtaking. Jaune smiled to himself, he sounded like some cheesy gushing romantic movie character describing the love interest, yet now that he was in the position it felt right to say.

"Jaune?" He shook his head and saw that the three of them were looking at him; he grinned and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh sorry I was uh, just trying to remember all the important information you guys are probably going to ask of me." They nodded at that stepping out into the hallway; Blake was already standing there in her normal outfit.

"Hello Blake, are they still not done?" Pyrrha asked the black haired girl shook her head.

"They're trying to get Yang to hurry up but you know how she is." She just smiled politely; Nora looked around as if she dropped something.

"Hey wait a minute, where did Anna go?" She asked as she opened their door and looked back into their room, calling out for her.

"Nora I think she left." Ren said calmly as he stood next to the bubbly girl as she continued to scan the hall, she turned to Blake.

"Did she leave with you?" Blake thought for a second but shook her head.

"And you didn't see her?" Nora said with a small grin, Blake narrowed her eyes slightly at the small hint of challenge before she said anything Yang threw open the door and stepped out with her arms raised up.

"Ta-Daaaa!" Everyone just stared blankly at her, though Nora clapped in the back, Yang pouted a little.

"You guys are no fun." Blake rolled her eyes at that.

"No it's just that your sense of humor is about as cheap as the hair spray you use." Yang shot a dirty glare at her but pouted nonetheless and halfheartedly tossed herself against Weiss who stepped out from the door behind her.

"Weiiissss my partner is picking on me."

"Ugh get off me you top heavy brute." Weiss said as she tried to pry Yang off of her. Everyone chuckled as they headed down the hallway. Soon enough they had reached the Cafeteria building, everywhere Jaune looked he could see or hear people talking animatedly about the upcoming Vytal Festival.

"So you guys planning to participate?" Yang asked as Jaune pushed open the doors for them.

"Yea I figured why not, though ultimately it's really just a team exercise as a whole for us, not exactly thrilled to make it to the finals or anything." Jaune said as they got into line.

"Ah come on Jaune, it's a competition you gotta at least try to win." Yang said, but Jaune could only shrug.

"Still a team based competition till the end, so it depends on if you guys really wanna go all the way through with it?" He turned his head to look at his team as he moved down the food line.

"Oh yea let's break some legs!" Nora cheered with one fist raised into the air, Ren just shrugged though Jaune could see he was smiling.

"Well Fearless leader it looks like you're going to have to win the Vytal Festival." Pyrrha said teasingly, Jaune sighed; ahead of them Ruby was picking her glass of milk and could feel her eye twitching violently at hearing Pyrrha's interaction with Jaune. She took a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting go, it was bad enough for Ren to notice her but if anyone else it would potentially be disastrous.

Yang was the first to get to their usual spot, she watched as the rest of her friends trailed over to her but she couldn't help but focus on Ruby. She knew that Ruby still liked Jaune, however what was concerning her was the way her face would darken in a sense whenever she saw Pyrrha with him. Normally she would always root her Ruby in all things, even love, though she would prefer if she was at least ten maybe twenty years older but what could she do about that. Alas she's been noticing of late that Ruby has seemed to develop a small twitch in her eye, she knew that if she didn't deal with it someday it was going explode violently.

Soon enough both teams were sitting across from each other and eating their food, Weiss set her fork and knife down on a napkin beside her plate.

"Jaune before you continue with your, well, lesson, I've been thinking about something." Jaune tilted his head to the left a little at this.

"What is it Weiss?"

"Well you said that the Ruler of Arcadia is picked by either the council or the current ruler, how did your father get picked?"

"Hmmm, I'm actually not sure of that one." Jaune was baffled; it had just occurred to him that he's never known when his father stepped into power. As far as Jaune knew, Alexander Arc has been the High Lord since forever.

"That's simple; he was picked to be the next Ruler." A new voice said, and everyone turned to see Brin Arc standing with a grey shirt button up shirt that was rolled up to mid forearm, on top of that he had a black suit vest. The grey shirt was tucked into a pair of pristine black slacks that draped slightly over a pair of freshly polished shoes.

"Oooh Brin you're looking extra fine this morning." Yang said as she admired his physique a little, her eyes roaming up and down, Jaune gagged a little at that.

"Please don't hit on my Uncle, Yang." She grinned at him.

"Oh don't be such a stick in a mud like Weiss Jaune." Weiss gave an indignant squawk at that in the background.

"Anyways, to answer your question Alexander has been High Lord for a very long time."

"How long?" Ruby asked, but Brin just winked at her.

"That's a secret." Ruby pouted a little at that, Brin chuckled at that and waved as he left.

"Where's he going?" Yang asked, and Jaune shrugged.

"Sanian is coming back today so I guess he's off to meet her." Yang grinned impishly at that and nudged Blake a little distracting her from the book in her hands.

"So you talked about the Civitas Administrator as a council member and the Chief Magos of the Mechanicum, what else is there?" Weiss asked once more.

"Why are you suddenly so interested in hearing about this?' Jaune asked and Weiss rolled her eyes.

"This is the first concrete information that anyone from outside the Kingdoms has gotten about your people Jaune, I for one am very eager to hear about what is arguably the most powerful Kingdom on Remnant."

"Alright whatever, I guess the next would be the High Marshal of the Arbiters, who's line officers that enforce the laws of the Kingdom are referred to as Judges, they ultimately have the final say on any matter that they come across of, though there are the Court Judges who preside over the Legal standings of the current set of laws and oversee any matters that make it to the Court. Though in the courts it's still a trial by jury with peers that have no affiliation to the Arbiters is still implemented so it's still a fair trial system." This got Blake's attention.

"Wait why do the street Judges have ultimate authority over, if there's still a legal system like ours?"

"Well its simple the Courts get their cases by the street Judges if they let them live." Pyrrha turned her head at this surprised evident on her face.

"What do you mean if they live? Do the Judges kill people?" Jaune could see that he was going to have to navigate carefully on this.

"Well it's like this, the Lex Imperialis; don't ask what it means all I know is it's from a dead language, anyways is very harsh on certain crimes, if someone is accused and found with undeniable evidence that they've broke a major Law, such as Murder, Rape, Grand Theft, Treason, or de cultu Daemonum, they will be put to death immediately. However if the Judge thinks there's a possibility that the accused is innocent they're sent to the courts."

"What if they're found innocent after the punishment?" Blake interrupted him; Jaune looked up and could see frustration in her eyes.

"Well if evidence comes forth that proves innocence after the fact, then the Judge is required to give an adequate reparation to the next of Kin, if they don't have any, the Judge isn't held to obligation." Blake just huffed and an uncomfortable silence fell on the table but Jaune ignored it.

"Look I know you don't like how it sounds and maybe I'm just doing a poor job of explaining either way I'm going to move on, so now you know about the High Marshal of the Arbiters who is a member of the Council. Next there's the Military which is split between two people, the High Admiral of the Royal Navy and the Lord Commander of the Arcadian Army, both of these individuals also have access to their own Air Force that's been designed for their needs. The Navy has the Lightning which is better designed for escort, ship to ship fighting or air superiority whereas the Army uses the Avenger Striker Fighter which is better suited for Close Air Support missions against armor or infantry. The Navy's main strength would be its front line ships, though last I heard the Mechanicum was fixing to refurbish the Navy to match its predecessors, not sure what that means all in all the Navy's has about twelve ships active ships." Everyone gaped at the number; they honestly expected to hear a larger number. Granted most Kingdoms except for Atlas had even less ships to call upon, they expected more from the Arcs considering what they've seen so far. Jaune continued oblivious to the looks of shock that his friends were giving him.

"The army on the other hand main strength is its sheer mass, last I checked there's five main armies each led by a Lord Marshal who are subordinate to the Lord Commander. So that means each Lord Marshal is in charge of directing over six hundred thousand men and women. This isn't including the armor based Regiments or Divisions along with the Air Force with consists of Avengers Strike Fighters like I said before, Marauder Bombers which we saw in Leflore and a large amount of Bullheads fitted to go into war zones. So in fact it's really much more than that but for now that information on how many frontline infantry is a good enough example." Jaune stopped to see that everyone was looking at him flabbergasted at this new information. Now that he thought about it chances were that they probably didn't expect what is technically a Kingdom to have a large army at its disposal in peace times.

"Jaune what do you think is the purpose of having such a large army is good for? Wouldn't it be expensive to maintain it?" Ren asked but Jaune shook his head.

"While it's understandable that you think that, in the grand scale of things it's the lowest it's been for the past century, during the Great War the Army got boosted by a more nationalistic pride and the Army grew about three times size it is now." Ren nodded slowly, more pieces to the puzzle.

"Jaune how big is Arcadia?" Pyrrha asked the first to speak in a while, everyone else still contemplating the new information, Jaune hummed a little in thought.

"Well territorially speaking we're fairly large but I can't say where we are exactly but I will say it's not on the same landmass as Vale, Menagerie, Mistral or Atlas. Population wise I'd say is probably the largest there is in comparison to the other Kingdoms." Ren pondered this information, the Kingdoms were fairly large, and places like Mistral, or Atlas were fairly overcrowded in a sense due to the abundance amount of people. Vale had a decent sized population but was spread fairly wide so that isn't wasn't as crowded as the others. Vacuo also had a decent sized population but due to the nature of the land there was an equally large amount of cities or towns in the surrounding areas.

"Jaune if you have such a large army why haven't you been able to end this Daemon threat?" Blake asked.

"Well we've been slowly and painfully expanding the reach of our lands; the reason why it doesn't seem like we have that many troops on the field is because most of them are required to protect our territory from Grimm or worse, beside it seems you keep thinking of Daemons as if they're the same as Grimm. While both are equally deadly the Grimm have their strength in being a constant pressure that leaves no room for breathing to let Humanity develop. Even now Arcadia struggles to expand but Daemons are deadly in a different sense, they're a both an external and internal threat, it's also one of the reason why Judges are allowed to kill the guilty, once you've touched the other side you're tainted, forever a target for them to use as a way to get into our plane of existence. Not only that Daemons are notoriously hard to beat once they've gotten a foothold, thousands will die before they're beaten from our reality." Blake nodded at this, she didn't have any experience in that matter, if the Arcs have kept the people of Remnant as safe as they could then she had no problem.

"So what's next?" Weiss asked, and Jaune reached for a cup of water and took a sip from it.

"Well I guess now there's the Intelligence Agency, there's not much I really can say about that one, my aunt Lilly is a part of it, they do covert Operations and all that basic spy stuff you can think of. In fact we had two of them here that represented the Agency when my Father first arrived, Pyrrha do you remember?" Jaune said as he looked to his partner, Pyrrha thought for a moment when it hit her.

"You mean that man and woman with the two scars?" Jaune nodded at that.

"Sharben is who you're thinking of, she used to be a soldier but she got wounded in a Grimm attack and had to retire from active duty but she got picked up by the Intelligence Agency and now works as a Liaison for them, the man with her is just her assistant though a bodyguard would be a better term." Pyrrha nodded to herself, content with this new piece of information, for some reason as Jaune turned away she felt a chill go down her back and turned around. The cafeteria had a noticeably less amount of students in it but her instincts were screaming that someone was watching them.

That's when she noticed the silver hair teen that she had fought in combat class sitting across the hall watching her. She shivered not like before but out of disgust at the leer he had on his face. There was also a green hair girl, Pyrrha forgot her name but she seemed to have a face similar to how she felt, undisguised contempt for the boy was written all over her face.

What sent another shiver down her spine was the third girl; she was looking right at her, not in the same way as the boy who was just looking at certain body parts. She had the look of a predator in her amber eye, it was unsettling, she decided turned back around opting to suppress the feeling.

"Anyways we're almost done talking about the council so I'll try to condense the rest of it, the next seat is for the Sisterhood, whom you're all familiar with. My mother Arabella is both the Founder and Council member that represents them. Then there is the Sentinel Commander who mostly supervises over the security of the Capital and is a failsafe to keep the Council from doing anything treasonous. Then there's a Centurion of the Legion, whose representative rotates every month, I can't say who or what they are. Lastly the head of the Council is the High Lord which brings to a close my little lecture on the intricacies of the Arcadian Council." Jaune said as stretched his neck.

"Time sure flies by when you talk about such boring stuff Fearless Leader." Nora said as she pointed a thumb to the near empty cafeteria, only a few students remained and staff, Jaune just shrugged.

"I guess we should we back to our dorms." Ruby said as she picked up her empty tray, everyone else picked up their belongings. Pyrrha slowed down to fall in step with Jaune as he emptied the tray.

"Yea Pyr, something up?" Jaune asked as he emptied his tray, he held out a hand to take her tray and she graciously accepted his offer.

"Nothing Jaune, I just wanted to stand next to you." Jaune just shook his head, a small grin on his face; both teens followed their friends out.

It was nighttime; lamps illuminated the paths that led to various parts of the Academy grounds. Pyrrha could see still a few students from the other academies walking around or chatting; the Vytal Festival was so close, it even made her a little giddy. Or maybe it had to do that she was walking with Jaune, sometimes she couldn't tell.

"Hey Pyrrha." She turned to look up at Jaune, in the faint glow of the lamps she could see that his face was tinged red a little.

"Yea Jaune?"

"So well we're technically together now right?" She smiled.

"Together Together." Jaune grinned at that, internally he was panicking at what he was trying to do; he scratched the back of his head.

"Well…I was wondering would you like to go out sometime…just uh…you and me" Pyrrha could feel her heart go into overdrive, butterflies invaded her stomach and smile bright enough to light the night exploded on her face.

"Jaune are you asking me out on a date?" Jaune nodded, Pyrrha leaned closer to him and looped her arm through his, entwining her hand with his.

"I would love to go out on a date with you." Jaune felt both happy and worried, now that he's finally gotten around to asking her, he now needed to find a good date idea.

Fate seemed to decide to rain on their parade; Pyrrha's instincts were once more screaming that something dangerous was nearby.

"Hello there Jaune Arc." They turned around to see a Mistral student with black hair that covered half her face, a single amber eye stared at him. Jaune could feel Pyrrha's grip on his hand intensify, he couldn't blame her, whoever this girl was she was creepy. She stepped closer gazing up and down slowly at him before she settled on his eyes.

"My you are very handsome Jaune Arc." Jaune frowned slightly.

"Is there something you need?" She smirked, her gaze flickering towards Pyrrha briefly.

"Maybe but I couldn't ask for it in front of your…little friend here." Pyrrha scowled fiercely she made to move forward and confront this girl but Jaune squeezed her hand, placating her. Alarm bells rang in his head and for a second he could imagine a miniature version of him screaming and hitting a red button with the word abort on it.

"I'm sorry but we're going to take our leave now, have a goodnight." Jaune said neutrally, the woman stepped even closer and ran her fingers down his cheek, before kissing it.

"Well maybe we can talk again sometime, just you and me." She whispered in his ear, Jaune's hand hurt from the sheer pressure that Pyrrha was putting on it.

"I would advise you to step away from him." A familiar voice spoke up from behind them; Pyrrha turned her head to see Alexander Arc standing with another man. The man was roughly a little taller than her but much broader in the shoulders; he wore a black three piece suit with a white shirt and red tie. He had a grizzled face with thinning white hair and a salt and pepper stubble, his left eye was a mass of scar tissue.

Jaune was still looking at the woman in front of him; he could see a flash of hatred go through her visible eye, he grinned and gentle pushed her away.

"I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be taking that offer for a chat anytime soon." Jaune said calmly, she shot him an annoyed look but it was worth it because Pyrrha was practically radiating with joy at the scene.

"Well oh fair lady Pyrrha, I think we should go back to our dorms, it's been a long day." Jaune said with a posh accent, Pyrrha stifled a laugh.

"Why lead the way Sir Jaune." Pyrrha said doing her best to make her own posh accent without breaking down with laughter, Alexander watched assumed at the display his son and partner were putting on as they left hand in hand.

He turned to regard the young woman in front of him, something about her made seemed disturbingly familiar, and an unpleasant tingling sensation came like waves through his body. She smiled sweetly and turned away sauntering away without looking back, he scowled after her.

"Gordon go and find out who she is, something tells me we need to keep an eye on her." Alexander said turning to regard the man next to him. The man bowed slightly at the waist and walked away, Alexander looked up to the night sky but he couldn't see anything, clouds blocked the stars. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath holding it for a moment before letting go, slipping his hands into his pockets, Alexander Arc walked into the night.

Two Days Later…

---

Jaune paced back and forth in their dorm room, Ren was sitting on his bed reading a book, glancing occasionally up to see Jaune fiddling with something.

"You're gonna wear the carpet out if you don't calm down Jaune." Ren said as he closed his book and set it aside his bed.

"Calm? How can I be calm, it's my first date with the girl I like, crap it's my first date in general, I think panic is a suitable response to this." Ren shrugged, Jaune did have a point.

"True but I'm sure Pyrrha would be happy just to just being able to spend time with you." Jaune sighed.

"I know and I would be also but this is important, it's the next big milestone in our relationship and I want it to be a good one." Ren smiled and shook his head slightly before standing next to his friend and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Jaune it'll be alright, trust me." Once more Jaune sighed, scratching the back of his head; he looked at himself in the mirror.

He was wearing a pair of grey slacks that spilled onto his pair of polished black shoes. He wore a form fitting black dress shirt on top with the sleeves rolled up half way up and a grey suit vest buttoned over it. He didn't think he looked half bad but he knew that whatever Pyrrha wore would probably make him look like a bum.

"Do you think Pyrrha's as nervous as you are?" Ren asked, Jaune just smiled and shook his head.

"No way, Pyrrha is probably taking this all in stride."

Across the hall in team RWBY's room the champion was still trying to figure out what sort of bra and panty she should wear. Should she pick something simple or something sexy, what kind of pattern, or color, should it be transparent or opaque?

"Pyrrha seriously would you just flipping pick something, Jaune's gonna be here any moment for the date." Nora said from her spot on Yang's bed, Yang and Weiss both gave gasps of surprise.

"Nora how could you? Don't you know it's important for what to wear in case she wants to do the twenty toes dance with Jaune?" Weiss rolled her eyes at that.

"While Yang has a more crass way of saying things she's not entirely wrong, it's important to wear something remarkable on a first date, a girl needs to leave a good impression." Nora sighed.

"Does that really matter they both know that they like each other, so why not keep it simple." Yang was about to retort when Weiss slapped her palm into her face to stop her.

"No wait, she's right we shouldn't overdo it, Pyrrha what do you think?" Pyrrha wasn't saying anything; she was still staring intensely at the clothes laid out in front of her. Nora who was watching Pyrrha panic just sighed and grabbed a handful of clothes, put them in her arms and pushed her into their bathroom.

"You've got five minutes to get dressed!" She shouted at Pyrrha who gave a muffled response. With one person dealt with there was another person to worry for at the moment, Yang beckoned for the others to follow her out to the hall.

Ruby Rose hadn't said a single word since Pyrrha had told them that Jaune was taking her on their first date. She was currently under her duvet unresponsive to anyone. Yang had watched her little sister go unresponsive to any of their calls out to her. It broke her heart and angered her at the same time, she wanted to be angry at Jaune for not noticing her feelings and Pyrrha for getting in the way but she couldn't it wasn't fair to them.

It took Jaune a long time just to notice Pyrrha but the thought if Ruby had been a little more aggressive then she would be the one fretting about what to wear. However that would mean Pyrrha who was also her friend would be heartbroken; the situation was fucked up in her opinion.

"I know your worried about her but you need to give her time and space to deal with this." The voice of her own partner said from behind her, Yang turned to look at her, concern evident even in her eyes.

"I know but I can't sit by while my baby sister is in pain." Yang said softly, Weiss placed her hand on Yang's shoulder.

"Blake's right, I know you care for her the most, Ruby's my partner also but we can't force our help onto her like that, she's just going to need to deal with this on her own." Yang nodded solemnly, she just hoped it didn't end in disaster

Pyrrha stepped out of the bathroom, she was wearing a knee length green summer dress, a light brown belt was looped around her waist, and her emblem was stitched into the center of it. Aside from that she also wore red ankle boots and her trademark circlet, her usual makeup adorned her eyes, she looked around there everyone seemed to have left.

"You ruined everything." A small voice said, and Pyrrha turned towards the source and saw the red eye face of Ruby looking at her, open contempt on her face.

"I'm sorry it turned out like this Ruby but no matter what it was only going to be one of us." Pyrrha said calmly, though she did feel bad that the young girl was heartbroken but she should have known that this was a possibility.

"It could have been me that Jaune was taking out. No it should have been me, I was the first person he met, I'm his best friend, and I should be by his side." Ruby said as she slipped out from her bed to stand before Pyrrha, though she still had to look up at the taller girl. For some reason Pyrrha thought of an angry small dog as the young girl stood in front of her with her arms crossed.

"What do you want me to say Ruby? What should I do? Throw my feelings away because you're not happy, that's rather selfish and childish of you to say." Pyrrha said, for some reason she felt incredibly annoyed with the young reaper.

"Yes, you're just a stuck up celebrity, that wanted to be normal but you're anything but, so stop pretending that you actually care for him!" Ruby said progressively getting louder and louder, Pyrrha felt her mouth curl in distaste but all she did was shake her head softly and start to turn around.

"Don't look down on me!" Ruby screamed and in a flash of petals slammed her hands into Pyrrha's chest and sent her stumbling back into their full length mirror, which Yang had bought the first week of school.

Outside the three girls heard the brief exchange and the sound of shattering glass, Yang flung open the door to see Pyrrha kneeling in front from their mirror, glass shards visible in her hair, the rest falling off her body as she stood up.

"Ruby what the fuck!" Yang yelled as she gripped both of her sister's wrists, in which the young girl struggled in vain to break herself from. Nora and Blake helped Pyrrha cleaned the fragments off and started picking them out of her hair, Weiss just looked flabbergasted at the scene before her.

"She ruined everything!" Ruby screamed, the look of utter rage warping her face. Yang could feel her heart break even more to see her sister changed from the awkward but cute and friendly young girl to this. She let go of her wrists, her hands falling limply to the side, Ruby rubbed her wrists and stared venomously at Pyrrha who kept a neutral look on her face.

"What's going on here?" A masculine voice appeared from behind them, they turned to see Jaune standing with his arms crossed, and Ren was standing behind him a small look of surprise even on his face. Jaune's face however worried Yang because he had no visible emotion on it, the last time she saw that he verbally lashed Blake for her actions. Ruby went pale as death seeing Jaune staring right at her.

"J-J-Jaune how long have you been standing there?" Ruby quivered.

"I just got here, but, I heard quite a few things, and judging from Nora and Blake picking glass out of my girlfriend's hair, I can tell it wasn't something pleasant." No one missed the distinction that Jaune used when he was referring to Pyrrha; Ruby could feel a tight squeeze on her heart.

"If you guys don't mind can you take Pyrrha back to our dorm to help get rid of the glass, Ruby and I need to have a talk alone." Yang stepped in front of Jaune.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing Jaune?" Yang's eyes had a tinge of red in them, not all of it was from anger, but Jaune put his hands on her shoulders.

"It's okay Yang, I'm just going to talk with her." The sincerity in his voice was enough to keep Yang from socking him in the face; with a frustrated yell she left the room, slamming the door behind her. Ruby stood there looking at her feet, unable to meet his eyes.

"Ruby." She flinched slightly at the sound of her name, the normal warmth and kindness that she was used too was no longer there, it felt cold.

"Ruby I need you to look at me." She shook her head, she could hear Jaune step closer, he placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head up, she didn't resist, excepting to see disgust, rage, or worse nothing. When her eyes met Jaune's, she saw tears; he had tears in his eyes, pain and remorse clouding his face.

"I'm sorry." He choked out and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her into a hug, he felt warm, it was such a pleasant feeling that she wished she could never let go but it bothered her about why he was crying.

"Jaune, wait, why are you saying sorry, I pushed Pyrrha into the mirror." She said, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt. He stepped back and ran a hand over his face to clear his eyes, Ruby immediately missed the warmth.

"I'm sorry because it's my fault for letting this happen, I've known for a long time that you and Pyrrha both liked me, ultimately if I picked one of you over the other I knew that I was going to have to have a talk with the other but I was too scared in confronting you over this. I didn't want to see you get hurt by my decision." Ruby could feel herself start to tear up again but she couldn't say anything as Jaune talked.

"But seeing it now I know I was a fool to leave it like this, now look you've attacked your friend Ruby, I know you're upset but ultimately I have to say this. I can't return the feelings you have for me, I love you Ruby but like a sister, please understand that I never wanted to hurt you but you can't keep this up, please you have to forget about me in that way." Ruby struggled to stop the flow of tears, Jaune watched his friend cry and his heart contorted painful, he reached out for her but she shoved his arms away.

"Why Jaune!? Why can't I love you as well?! Is it my age? My height? Am I not sexy enough?" She screamed, before falling to her knees crying, Jaune slowly wrapped his arms around her once more, rocking back and forth.

"I'm sorry Ruby." He said softly the young girl clung to him sobbing uncontrollably; she looked up, tears streaming from her puffy eyes.

"Don't leave me." She whimpered Jaune tucked his arm under her legs and lifted her up, walking to Blake's bed and settling her there, he kissed her forehead.

"I'll never leave you Ruby but I can never be with you, I'm sorry" He said standing up, Ruby tried to grab for his hand but he pulled away and wordlessly walked out the door. His eyes stung and his chest hurt as he rested his head against the walls out in the hallway. He opened it, the first thing he saw was Yang, when he met her eyes, he nodded once and the blonde brawler rushed out the room with the rest of team RWBY following closely to comfort their team leader.

Jaune sat next to Pyrrha who had finally gotten the last of the fragments out, she intertwined her hand with his.

"Do you still feel up with going on that date?" Jaune asked, with the day unfolding as it was, he wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to put it off for now.

"I'm still willing to go, because it's you Jaune." Jaune was slightly taken aback by that answer but he couldn't help but smile. While he felt terrible about rejecting Ruby's feelings it still had a weight lifting relief to it that he couldn't help but enjoy being with Pyrrha at that moment. He turned to Ren and Nora who both stood watching him, Ren had a small smile on his face and Nora have a foam finger that said that Pyrrha was number one.

"What?" Jaune said as he eyed it, Ren turned to see what Jaune was looking it, he just shook his head, it was pointless in trying rationalize Nora in that sense.

"Alright you kids have fun, Jaune Jaune you better bring her back before nine or I'm breaking a leg." Nora said sweetly, Jaune just gulped and looked down at his legs before looking up.

"No Promises." He said as he and Pyrrha went out the door, he could hear Nora laughing as they walked down the hall.

Jaune led Pyrrha out to the Beacon courtyards; there was a noticeable change in the foliage, instead of the lush green of life had given way to the colors of autumn. Pyrrha smiled as they walked through the gardens until she saw a familiar forest, it was the Emerald Forest, and the normal sea of green had changed to the brown and gold mixture of the fall. Pyrrha could do nothing but admire the view.

"It's beautiful." She whispered, Jaune grinned as he heard this and continue to lead her to a tall oak tree. It stood near the cliff that, Pyrrha gasped as she realized that there were numerous paper lanterns strung up to the bottom branches that gave a soft glow in the now failing light of day. On the ground was a large red and white plaid picnic blanket, Anna Vermillion appeared from behind the tree holding two baskets.

"Anna? What are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked puzzled on what the Sentinel Guard was doing there, she smiled.

"Master Arc asked me for my help in gathering the necessary items that he needed for your date, with that I shall take your leave." She said a small smile on her face as she bowed her head and walked back towards Beacon.

Jaune led her to the blanket and gestured for her to sit, which she graciously did. Jaune opened the first basket taking out four plates, utensils, napkins, and two glass cups, setting it out for both of them. He reached into it and pulled out a green bottle, Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"Jaune is that alcohol? A slight reprimanding tone in her voice, Jaune laughed slightly and shook his head.

"No, it's just apple cider, though I have some water here if you don't want it."

"Oh. Well in that case I would love a glass." Jaune opened it up and poured her a glass before filling his own, she took a sip, it had a strong but interesting aftertaste, and she hummed her enjoyment as she took another sip.

"This is really good." Jaune nodded as he set out a plate of Mini herb Frittatas. Pyrrha could feel her mouth salivate with the aromas smell of the food, she snuck a Frittata or two into her mouth as Jaune turned his back, it was like an explosion of taste that made her want more.

Jaune turned around holding a plate of grilled chicken on sticks with a reduced peanut sauce on the side; he saw that the Frittatas were missing four pieces. He looked up at Pyrrha and could see that she was trying to hide that Frittata in her mouth.

"They're good aren't they?" She covered her mouth with a few fingers though he could see the laughter in her eyes, he smiled before setting the last few items, a fruit salad, a large container of fettuccine carbonara, and a pan of apple pie. Pyrrha gazed at the food laid out before her, and she looked up at and grinned.

"You hungry?" He asked and she answered by loading her plate with food and takes a sizable helping of pasta and eating it. Jaune stifled a laugh at the sight of Pyrrha Nikos with her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel with pasta. Soon enough the two teens ate and chatted, an easy atmosphere considering the day's events settled onto them.

Pyrrha and Jaune settled onto their backs after eating most of the food, the warmth of Jaune's proximity mixed with good food and the fading light of day made Pyrrha sleepy. However she wanted to be awake as long as possible to commit this date to memory, she turned her head to see Jaune looking at her thoughtfully.

"Something on your mind Jaune?" She asked, slightly worried that he may still be upset about what happened with Ruby but he shook his head.

"Just you, Pyrrha Nikos." She could feel her cheeks heat up at that, and she suddenly noticed how close they were to each other. She needed something to distract herself with, she gestured to her dress.

"What do you think of this?" She asked hoping that he would fumble cutely but instead he smiled easily once more.

"You look beautiful." Pyrrha was going into meltdown, if this continued Jaune would have to carry her back. A blush came to her cheeks once more at that though of being able to wrap her hands around his body. Something touched her hand and she looked down to see Jaune holding her hand, he looked her in the eye.

"Pyrrha have you wondered why I picked this place?" She nodded with a smile growing once more on her face.

"It's one of the thoughts that have passed through my mind this past hour, so why did you pick to spot for the picnic?" Jaune grinned.

"Well it was in the Emerald Forest where we first became partners; I thought it was fitting to come here to official ask you if you would be my partner, or well girlfriend, once more." Pyrrha giggled slightly, Jaune chuckled also scratching the back of his head. Internally Pyrrha's heart melted even more for him at the romantic symbolism of his words and actions.

She looked carefully at his face getting slightly distracted by his beautiful eyes and leaned in closer; subconsciously Jaune did the same also. The lips of the two teens met and soon enough they were both lost in their first kiss, for Jaune it felt like an uncontainable energy surged through him. Pyrrha felt an exhilarating pleasure and warmth course through her body that sent made her want more. After a few moments the two teens broke away from the kiss but Pyrrha scooted closer and rested her head on Jaune's arm.

"I would love to be your girlfriend Jaune." He smiled, his heart leaping for joy and he kissed the top of her head. Pyrrha watched as the shattered moon rose above them, and she knew that despite everything that happened, today was the happiest day of her life so far.

A few Hours Later…

---

She opened her scroll once more to flick through the various files that she had managed to gain from the virus she had uploaded to the CCT. Emerald and Mercury sat on the floor below her; Mercury was reading a comic book and Emerald filed away at her nails.

"Boss?" Mercury asked suddenly as he closed the comic book to look at Cinder.

"So is the plan still the same?"

"What do you mean dear Mercury?" He gulped.

"Well with the Arcs in town, isn't it going to be harder to get the White Fang into position? Last we heard from that Taurus guy was that he was dealing with Scouts from the Arcs trying to find all the ritual and staging sites, is he gonna make it on time?" Cinder placed her scroll down on the bed and clasped her hands.

"Oh Mercury have fate, the Arcs may be more challenging opponents except for Ozpin and a few others but they are just as blind as the rest, the plan will work whether or not they're here. Besides I've sent some…help… to Taurus." Emerald looked up at her employer a hint of unease on her face.

"Do you mean he…met one?" Cinder smiled.

"It seems that Adam Taurus has indeed made some interesting friends of his own, ones that match his rage perfectly."

Elsewhere…

---

"We've lost contact with several scout teams in the Eastern and Southern sectors outside of Vale; this Adam Taurus seems to have a keen ability to outmaneuver us whenever the net closes in on him." Alexander said as he dropped a file on Ozpin's desk, which he slides closer, to read himself. Qrow, Ironwood and Glynda stood around to listen to Alexander speak.

"What's worse is we've also discovered at least several smaller villages that have been emptied, small enough that their silence wouldn't been seen as out of place, I suspect that the White Fang are gathering resources to conduct some ritual." Alexander snarled at the last word, contempt oozing off him that it made Ironwood's hand twitch for his weapon.

"Do not fret Alexander my men will guard Vale with their lives, so just keep focusing on the Outlands." Alexander rolled his eyes.

"Wake up Ironwood, I have no doubt that the White Fang and whoever's behind them already have assets inside the city, we never caught the Daemonettes that massacred the club Downtown. Nor do we have any clue where Torchwick was staging his operations from and how they were able to sneak into Vale air space unnoticed." Ironwood sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Look I'm close to breaking Torchwick, I have no doubt he'll talk soon enough and when that happens I'll come to you the moment I can with that information." Alexander grunted as he ran a hand through his hair.

"There isn't much I can do then, since the Council still sees me and my people as Auxiliaries, we must go through you for any security concerns which you continuously deny any request I ask of, so all I can do is wait. Though as I have said before there are still two thousand warriors of the Sisterhood along with an army Regiment stationed offshore and some assets of the Legion waiting in Forever Fall, ready to help when the time comes." Glynda raised an eyebrow at that as she turned to regard him.

"When?" Qrow snorted at her question and took a swig from his flask.

"He's hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, can't say I disagree with him." Glynda shot Qrow a cold look but he just smiled. Everyone turned to Ozpin as he closed the file and tossed it back onto his desk, he clasped his hands together, bringing them under his chin, and he eyed them all.

"I think it's time we've picked out next Guardian."

---

Cheesy Romantic scene. Check

Ominous last sentence. Check (Though we already know what Ozpin's talking about so semi Check(?))

Creeper Adam makes his first appearance.

Anyways I had a hard time writing any of the bits with food in it mostly cause I got hungry thinking about it.

Writing about the Council was interesting, and of course I'll leave the Legion up to interpretation.

Ruby's confrontation with Pyrrha may not be to the liking of some but for me I think it's perfectly reasonable, she's young, she's passionate about whatever she takes a liking to, and well when emotions are running high, you don't think properly.

We've all done things that we've regretted after the fact.

Anyways that's all for now, leave a review, comment, or PM me if there's anything you wish to say, anyways have a good day or night or whenever you're reading this.

One more thing I'm going to post updates of the next's chapter's progress on my Profile so keep an eye out for that.