Miló and Crocea Mors glittered in artificial light, almost seeming to split photons on their edges as they danced, coming together and moving apart in a flurry that required an expert eye to track. The onslaught of back-and-forth attacks stopped after a few moments, Jaune and Pyrrha both moving back to the defensive. They circled each other slowly, each formulating new plans of attack and defense during the lull.

It didn't even last ten seconds; taking the initiative, Jaune led with an obviously feinted stab, then turned it into an actual attack. Pyrrha, who had moved to defend her other side, managed to spin and put Akoúo̱ between the blade and herself. She still felt the impact from the strike, but it was worth the chance to force the blade away from herself and create an opening in Jaune's defenses. With his blade and right arm at least a second's travel from his torso, Jaune was left with his shield to defend himself.

As Pyrrha pushed off hard in a committed stab that would most likely prove too focussed to shield against, Jaune allowed his left leg to collapse under him, changing his position just enough to let him get his shield into position to intercept the slash which Pyrrha's attack became. His sword arm was back into his stance, and the blonde took advantage of his kneeling position to launch himself forward, his shield raised as a battering ram. Pyrrha jumped back out of the attack's reach, and Jaune pushed the attack to try and exacerbate the minor flaw in stance that accompanied such a maneuver.

He let loose with a scattered barrage of stabs, all of which missed by centimetres, and he realised that Pyrrha's use of her Semblance to negate his attack had allowed her to regroup. Now he was back on the defensive as he was subjected to a much more accurately aimed, much more quickly delivered string of attacks that he struggled to block. He tried to create a counter-measure, but a sudden rush from Pyrrha ended with Akoúo̱ crashing into his shield, exploiting his slightly flawed stance from trying to escape his partner's attack.

He went over backwards, and though he tried to his shield over his torso and throat to defend against the incoming attack, Miló was pointed directly at his face before he could manage. He sighed, allowing his arms and Crocea Mors to slump onto the floor. His admission of defeat clear, Pyrrha immediately replaced Miló with a proffered hand, which Jaune clutched as she helped him stand again.

"That was a good match Jaune; you're improving at an impressive rate." Jaune cheered a little at the praise, though his gloomy mood was still in evidence.

"Thanks, Pyrrha. Your training me means a lot; I don't know what I would have done without you." Well that's not entirely true, Jaune thought to himself, I've experienced a world without Pyrrha. It would probably be better to say that I don't want to think about what I'd do without her.

His red-haired partner clapped a hand on Jaune's shoulder in her usual display of camaraderie, smiling widely. "It's a pleasure to teach you Jaune." Jaune returned the smile, though a part of his mind couldn't help but read more into the simple phrase. That part of his mind was beginning to be a problem; it might have been made evident to him that Pyrrha thought of him as...more than a friend, at least by the time they had been parted, but it didn't really seem to have sunk in yet. I mean, come on; even in combat, she still distracts me sometimes. If she was feeling like this all year, how did she get through our training so well?

Pyrrha let his shoulder go with one last squeeze, moving away from the raised arena they had been practicing in. Beacon had plenty of training rooms and firing ranges for use by its students, and tonight Team JNPR were making use of this one. Ren and Nora had been watching their team mates' duel from a bench set against the wall; Ren had been making note of corrections both needed to make to their fighting style (though he rarely found any from Pyrrha, and he was fairly certain that most of Jaune's flaws were down to the torch he carried for his partner), while Nora had simply gone along to admire the action and cheer happily as her friends swung edged weapons at each other repeatedly.

As Pyrrha left the arena, Ren stood, taking a couple of water bottles with him. He moved toward Jaune, passing by the red-haired warrior and handing her a bottled water on the way. A nod of thanks was evident before she moved out of his peripheral vision, and once he reached the raised area, he handed the other bottle to Jaune. "Thanks, Ren." muttered the blonde, as he immediately uncapped the bottle and took a long pull from it. Swallowing, he let out a sigh of contentment, before quickly finishing the remaining liquid. Re-hydrated, he joined Ren, who was now sitting cross-legged in the centre of the arena.

"Alright Jaune, let's pick up from where we left off last night." JNPR's leader nodded, and closed his eyes.

From the bench, Nora and Pyrrha watched the two in silence. This part of Jaune's training lay outside of the physical realm, and thus Pyrrha knew that she couldn't give him the skills he needed to control his ability. He and Ren had explained Jaune's power together, once the classes of their first day had finished. Since then, whenever the team had enough of their homework done to spend an evening in the training rooms, Ren had been working on teaching Jaune the basics of using his aura like he did.


"Aura," Ren had said, "is a force generated by a soul; it's tied to the very fundamentals of what makes people alive. As such, it runs almost entirely on instinct, and barely interacts with conscious thought." He had been seated in front of Jaune in much the same manner as he was that night, and having spread his arms, his magenta aura had flickered into life around him.

"The majority of Hunters and Huntresses simply think of it as a last line of defense. The equivalent of a suit of armour. However...". At this point, Ren had extended his right hand in front of him, clenching it into a fist. Jaune and Pyrrha had watched in amazement as, after a moment, his aura seemed to dip across most of his body, but around his fist, it swelled until it was at least twice as deep. "There is a style of martial arts, unique to my homeland, which centres around the conscious manipulation of that force."

Ren's aura stayed as it was for a few moments longer, before the glow around his fist returned to its normal levels, the rest of his body balancing out as well. "Now, Jaune." he began as he turned to his leader, "since whatever it is that you're doing seems to be triggered by stress or emotion at the moment, it's my aim to train you until your aura is entirely under your control. Once your power is dictated by conscious thought rather than irrational outbursts, it can be considered useful. Until then, it's a threat to you, so I need you to try and work with me."

Jaune had nodded, moving to sit in front of his friend. "Got it. So, how do we start?"


That had been two and a half weeks ago . Now, the class was preparing for a field trip the following day, which was why Jaune and Pyrrha had settled for only having one match that evening. They needed to be asleep at a proper time, so Ren had an hour with Jaune.

Both their auras flared into life. Jaune's was noticeably larger than Ren's, though its white colouration could make it difficult to accurately tell where it began and ended. As the two sat there, breathing slowly, Ren spoke quietly. "You've found the wellspring. You have drawn from it. Now you must shape it. Feel how it moves, how it shifts, and work with it; do not force it, simply give it a path to follow." Ren had been telling Jaune the same thing during their last seven sessions...however, it was considerably more difficult than he made it sound.

Though Jaune was capable of calling up his aura, he had never found the 'wellspring' that Ren referred to. Apparently, the first step of Ren's training was to find the point from which his aura emanated, but Jaune hadn't been able to manage it. This was, according to his teacher, impossible; the act of consciously manifesting one's aura could only be accomplished through one's knowledge of their wellspring.

Apparently.

Jaune wasn't sure about that, though. After all, he could most definitely manifest his aura, but he didn't feel like it was coming from any one point. He cursed his own unwillingness to train in aura with Pyrrha during their training sessions over the past year - he hadn't manifested his aura often enough for the sensation to be familiar or stick with him.

Since he was getting nowhere with this, he decided to voice an idea that he had been nurturing since their last session, which had been three days prior. "Ren, I was wondering. When Pyrrha unlocked my aura, she told me that there was something strange about it. She described it by saying it was more like a river than a lake. Do you think that means anything?" Jaune's eyes had opened to gauge his teacher's reaction, and he discovered that his friend seemed to be deep in thought.

"Hmm. A river, you say... Well, it gives me an idea at least." he muttered, theories spinning themselves anew in his mind. He decided to ignore the fact that his leader had just admitted to not having his aura unlocked when he made it to Beacon, and simply focus on the point he'd just raised. "Jaune, I want you to go back to focussing. However, don't turn your awareness inward - try moving outward, instead. See if that works." Ever so slightly perplexed, the blonde returned to the quiet state of mind that he used for this training, feeling his aura flare up again.

Following Ren's advice, he tried to expand the odd sense that came to him whenever he'd triggered his aura. Though he couldn't really tell how, he got the impression that it was working, as the sensation that came alongside an active aura grew stronger and stronger. Time was tricky when he was working with his aura; most of his attention was focussed inward, and minutes could pass like seconds. But Jaune didn't think it had been long before he felt something change.

It wasn't an easily understood difference, but he could recognise that if his aura was indeed a lake, he had found where the water came from. From this new perspective, Ren's instructions made perfect sense. His perception of his aura extended to his entire body, as if his sense of touch had suddenly become a hundred times more pronounced, and with this new awareness, directing the power he had found to his right hand was child's play.

Ren had been keeping watch over his leader while he concentrated, while Nora and Pyrrha talked quietly about what they might need for the next day's expedition. A quarter of an hour passed, and a gasp from the martial artist drew his teammates' eyes. The three watched in astonishment as Jaune's aura underwent a sudden change - it flowed like water from all across his body and gathered around his now extended right hand in the exact same fashion as Ren had demonstrated.

Jaune's eyes opened slowly, and regarded the white nimbus of flames that were packed so densely around his closed fist. He was managing to stay calm, maintaining the state of mind which he fell into during these exercises, and so sustaining the sensations which he had discovered. "Huh. That made it really easy." He looked up to Ren, to find that he was simply staring at Jaune's hand. "Uh, Ren? You okay there buddy?"

The sudden onset of emotion was enough to unbalance Jaune's calm, and his aura flowed back to normal even as his perceptions returned to normal. The dark haired boy's eyes rose slowly to meet Jaune's.

"Six months." he said quietly. His tone was incredibly calm. In fact, were a pool of quicksilver to be suspended in outer space, in a reality where gravity did not exist, it could not be more placid than Ren's voice. Jaune knew that tone very well - the last time he had heard it, Nora had managed to locate and attempt to utilise Ren's cooking equipment. It was the warning sign that Ren's normal composure had been stretched to its absolute limits, and an outburst was incoming.

"Six months?" repeated Jaune sheepishly; his mind raced, trying to figure out what the connection was between this new development and his friend's statement. He put the dots together even before Ren expounded on his statement.

"It took me six months from the time I first discovered my wellspring to when I managed to cause an active change in my aura. It took a further three months to perfect the art of directing my aura into a certain part of my body. Drawing evenly from all across my aura was an extra two months of work. In other words," he intoned slowly, rising to his feet, "for me, the basics of aura manipulation were a year of my life, split between physical exercises and exhaustive mental training. For you, Jaune, it was slightly over two weeks."

An internal debate raged behind Ren's eyes; his actions here would have consequences, he was sure of that. He certainly wasn't one to judge a man for his secrets and past, but this situation was straying so far from the norm that he felt justified in his concerns. Mind made up, he committed to his course of action. "Jaune, I'll level with you. I know that you've been keeping at least one big secret from us. I'd wager it isn't just from us either; whatever it is, you're keeping it from the staff as well."

The blonde began to panic immediately. His mind, trained through combat and theory to respond to bad situations with the best possible option, wasn't offering anything. Pyrrha and Nora were staring at them, obviously wondering where this was going. Jaune's brain threw out plan after plan, all of them immediately rejected as impossible and half-baked. With a twist in his gut, JNPR's leader realised that in this room, with his team and little to no chance of external interference, he had no way out. Ren had him bang to rights...and he wasn't finished speaking.

"You arrived at Beacon, one of Remnant's most prestigious institutions, without your aura being unlocked. You reacted to Nora's waking call like other people react to their alarm clocks, as if it was completely normal. You breezed through initiation, displaying knowledge of us that you claim you got from an information broker; I did some research of my own – there is no information broker with the connections to get hold of that information. My research also showed that you aren't registered in the graduating classes of any Vale-based combat schools, despite the Arc family having been in this kingdom since time began, as far as I can find - if you were going to a combat school, there's no reason for it not to be in this kingdom. Despite this apparent lack of training, you demonstrate the martial skill level I would expect from an advanced Beacon student, alongside the tactical thinking and combat knowledge. Yet, your physique doesn't match the kind of training you would have needed to undergo in the pursuit of that skill. And now this. You only learned about this technique weeks ago, and showed no signs of progress until tonight, when you suddenly seem to master it. And this is on top of your incredibly unusual aura. Nothing about you is normal, Jaune. I know you're a good guy, but if I'm going to follow you and trust Nora's safety to you for the next four years, I want some answers."


There were a lot of things Jaune could have said in response to his friend's words. He was reasonably sure of that. But right now, his brain didn't want to cooperate. Thinking was difficult, but as he tried to re-order his thoughts, a twisted smile formed on his lips. He'd thought he was clever. That all this time, he'd played off his strange match of overdeveloped skill set and underdeveloped body. Apparently he'd been failing from day one.

So what else is new? he thought. The blonde stood himself, swaying slightly as he regained his feet. He looked to the benches. Nora was looking on in concern, her eyes darting between the two young men, and Pyrrha seemed to be shuffling the emotional spectrum like a deck of cards. Jaune let out a sigh, almost feeling the weight of secrecy leave with it. Nothing more to hide...no need to pretend any more, no need to keep himself in check.

"Answers, Ren?" he asked quietly. The dark haired martial artist nodded. "Well, you saw right through me. Ask ahead. I mean, it's not like I can actually lie to you." He started to laugh quietly, and Ren began to frown. He opened his mouth to speak, but Jaune kept going.

"I mean, it's not like I can actually lie to anyone. I'm terrible at lying. In fact, I'm terrible at a lot of things - everything I try, I fail at. I failed at connecting with my father. I failed at getting into Beacon legitimately because I failed as a warrior, and because of that I failed as an Arc. I failed Yang, Weiss, Blake and Ruby. I failed you, Ren, and Nora, and myself. I failed Beacon and everyone in it...and I even failed Pyrrha.".

Jaune's voice was growing louder and louder as he went, and he was speaking faster and faster; Ren recognised what was happening and was already moving forward, but it was too little too late.

"I've failed at everything I have ever tried and I've failed everything I ever loved, so go ahead and ask your questions Ren, but I'll probably fail at answering them too, because that's all I know how to do! FAIL!". With that last exclamation, more of a scream, the last of Jaune's self-control shattered, and he simply fell over. He started to sob, pulling himself into a ball, and his aura, which he had so recently pulled closer to the surface of his mind, responded to his shattered psyche. Ren felt a massive flow of aura start to move past him, just like that day in JNPR's dorm and in the dining hall, but bigger.

Much bigger.

Jaune's aura exploded into life even as he lay on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Before Ren's eyes it began to grow exponentially, expanding at a terrifying rate. "Jaune! Jaune, you need to stop!" he yelled, even as he closed the distance between himself and his leader. He tried to put his hands on him, but Jaune's aura was so densely packed around his body that he couldn't even touch him. That didn't stop the black haired martial artist from bringing his fists down on the seemingly solid light repeatedly, trying in vain to break through.

"Jaune, you can't keep going like this! It could kill you!" he screamed, his own magenta aura flaring into life around his hands and spreading in ripples of light as he struck again and again. But even the force multiplying effect of the aural strikes wasn't enough to make a dent in Jaune's aura, the edge of which was now reaching the edge of the arena. Monty dammit! His soul can't take this kind of strain! Ren cursed himself and the situation internally, redoubling his attempts to reach Jaune, to try and knock him out and stop the flow.

"Move aside, Ren." Jaune's best male friend turned to his side, and found himself staring up at red hair and a steely gaze. In the face of the pillar of calm that was Pyrrha Nikos, he obeyed, letting the warrior lay her hands gently on the solid plane of white light that was keeping her from her friend. "Jaune," she started quietly, her voice as tender as a mother speaking to her child, "can you hear me?"

The blonde curled up inches away from her hands started, his sobs dying off. "P-Pyrrha?"

"Yes, it's me Jaune. Your partner; you remember?" Jaune turned over, blue eyes floating in tears meeting bright green. "Jaune, I know that you're feeling bad right now...but I think you'll feel better if we can talk about it. Can we do that?"

A moment's silence ensued, then Jaune nodded slowly. "Yeah...I think I can do that." Ren watched in silence. As soon as Pyrrha's voice had reached Jaune, the flow of aura moving toward him had slowed dramatically. Now it had all but stopped - the edges of Jaune's aura just protruding over the edges of the circular arena.

"Then we'll talk. Do you want to come and sit with us, though? It can't be very comfortable down there." Pyrrha gestured to the arena floor where Jaune was currently lying.

"...I guess a seat would be nice." Jaune mumbled, climbing to his feet. Pyrrha kept her hand pressed against the solid surface that still surrounded Jaune.

"That's great Jaune. Do you think you could make this go away first, though?" Pyrrha patted the incredibly dense aura that still encircled Jaune's body, as if it were perfectly normal.

"I can do that..." nodded the blonde, as his eyes closed. Moments later, Ren witnessed the complete reverse of what he'd seen happen just moments earlier. As if a floodgate had been opened, or a strong wind had appeared, the massive extra aura reserves Jaune had drawn on melted away into the atmosphere with as little effort as they had arrived, leaving him back to normal in barely a minute. Pyrrha's hand now rested gently on his cheek, and she drew him into a hug.

The blonde began to cry again almost immediately...but it was quiet now. Almost silent, though tears still fell freely. The two were joined moments later by Nora, who silently wrapped her arms around the two of them. Ren joined them, walking forward and wrapping his arms around the two from the opposite direction. Even as he tried to silently comfort his friend, he couldn't help but grit his teeth at his own actions, resolving to do something - anything - to make up for what he'd done.

This is what happens when you stick your nose into things, you idiot. You could have worked on it slowly, getting him more comfortable over time until he told you himself...but no, you just had to have answers will make up for this. The four of them stood like that for a long time, until Jaune finally ran out of tears. He shifted slightly, leading Ren and Nora to step back slightly.

Pyrrha did so too, but she dropped her left hand to Jaune's right, maintaining contact and leading him to the nearest bench, where she sat. She gently maneuvered her partner until he was lying on the bench, his head resting in her lap, where she gently stroked his forehead. "You sleep now, Jaune. We'll talk when you wake up, but for now, just sleep." The blonde's eyes flickered, but he was too exhausted to do anything but obey, and the welcome darkness overcame him.


Since this was his third visit, Jaune recognised that he was back in Headcanon as soon as he opened his not-quite-eyes. Gone was the table and chair arrangement from his previous visit; instead, he now lay on the softest bed he'd ever felt, and Monty was sitting on the end of it.

"Jaune." he greeted simply. Nodding his own greeting, Jaune went to sit up, but somehow Monty wasn't on the end of the bed anymore; he was gently holding the blonde in place. "No, don't try to get up. You put some serious pressure on your soul back there, and I'm not taking the risk of you doing any more damage while you're here."

Jaune accepted that and stopped trying to rise. He recalled the events which had transpired before he fell asleep, and he felt himself shake slightly...but no more. "Your partner did a really good job of getting you out of that breakdown. You're rid of the worst of it, though I'm afraid there's a ways to go. You're a resilient one, though; I don't doubt that you'll move past this."

Jaune laughed quietly. "You don't doubt me? I wish I could say the same." His tone was bitter, and he turned his head away from the god at his bedside. Of course, he was now exactly in Jaune's view.

"No, Jaune, I don't doubt you. Did I choose you because you were convenient? Yes. Does that mean I don't believe you can do the job? Me no!" He laid a hand on Jaune's shoulder and squeezed; a motion Jaune had always associated with Pyrrha, that helped him focus a little. "Your entire life has been a series of coincidences and accidents, Jaune, but you've made the most of it. It's made you strong, and you should never forget that."

It was difficult to argue when the god you had been muttering prayers to all your life was trying to make you feel better, but Jaune made a spirited effort. "Well, not strong enough I guess. I mean look at what happened there; all it took was Ren pushing me a little, and I fell completely apart."

Monty nodded. "That's one way of looking at it. There's another perspective, of course. Consider what you went through before entering into this deal: you experienced the loss of your home, the death of your closest friend and the emotional and physical damage that all your other friends suffered, all in less than a day. It was even worse for you, of course, since one of the qualities that made you an effective leader was your empathy - you were too compassionate by far, and the pain they suffered made its way to you as well. You couldn't handle it properly and, in a last ditch effort to deal with that, you made your peace with death before trying to going out in a blaze of glory and end the pain."

Here the deity stopped for a moment, checking on his charge. Jaune was gripping the covers of the bed tightly in his fists, but he was holding it together. Monty continued, "But instead of the peaceful end that you first sought, you volunteered to go back. To risk all that pain a second time around, for the slightest chance of making things right. You then began your mission, and lasted almost three weeks in the face of the kind of psychological pressure that would drive most anyone else insane. In fact, you only snapped when someone you think of as a close friend broke down the mental wall you'd built - you'd separated all your prior experiences from your current life, shutting them in a mental closet where you could draw on the facts but not the feelings behind them. But Ren reminded you that those experiences are still with you, and you were forced to deal with all the fallout from them at once."

Finally finished laying out the evidence for his point, Monty paused. Jaune was still holding onto the bedclothes, but his fists were more relaxed now. Time to for the final point. "You endured a psychological torture the likes of which mankind was never designed to withstand, and likely would have continued to do so for quite some time if not for today. Be proud of yourself Jaune, because your friends and I are proud of you."

Having said his piece, the deity started to move away from the bed. Jaune watched him go, but he turned back toward him just before the void of Headcanon swallowed him whole. "Ah yes, I thought you should know this. I've figured out what's happened to you in terms of your soul and aura." He was back at the bedside now, instead of away in the distance - there was no delay or anything, it was just as if he'd been standing there the whole time.

"Simply put, your aura is no longer generated by your soul; it's pulled from the environment, in the way that plants draw carbon dioxide for fuel. That means your aura capacity has the potential to outstrip any other, and it also means that you can channel the energy more naturally than those who generate their own. It's closer to the surface, so to speak. There's a downside though. If you pull too much, either on purpose or accidentally, then your soul won't be able to cope with it, and you could end up ruining your ability to channel aura...or worse. So don't do that again, okay? Don't make your team suffer like you suffered." With those parting words, Monty left Jaune in the bed. The blonde lay there in the last few moments before he returned to sleep, and considered the meeting.

"Don't make them suffer like I suffered..."


Author's Note

Aaand that's a wrap. Apparently a certain reader was hoping for more JNPR bonding stuff...but I'm gonna go ahead and guess this isn't what that person had in mind xD

Still, this is an important part of the story, and of the Jaune I'm building up. With everything that happened to Jaune, by all rights he should have been quivering jelly in an asylum somewhere, so my reasoning is that his mind sheltered him from the worst of it by creating a clear divide between his old life and his new one. However, Ren finally pushed him to connect the two, and he ended up dealing with it all at once instead of over a period of time that would have let him down gently. A mistake on Ren's part, but one that he couldn't possibly have predicted. So...hug it out?

Well, anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this even partially as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have any comments or criticism, leave them as a review and I'll be sure to get back to you. Enjoy your day!

28.04.2016 : Made a few general edits, grammar/spelling/wording. Also added a few extra words here and there for better explanations or dialogue.

P.S. I have a lot of ideas for this story (like possible semblances, references to other shows/media, alternate histories, etc.) that simply don't fit the theme or the piece's feel, and which my friend Zenaku Okami, who serves as my idea-wall, assures me will simply be too overpowered or separate from the canon. I don't want to scrap them, but I also don't want them locked up in my head; thus, I'm thinking that I'll start another story, this one of Omake re-writes and additions to certain chapters where I see an opportunity. I'd appreciate any thoughts on the matter, so please let me know what you think!