Chapter 12- Awakening

It had been months. Months since the Legion attacks across the Remnant. After the initial surprise, the Legion faded into memory. People believed that most of them had died in the attacks and while the few survivors were hunted down by the huntsmen, police, and military within the four kingdoms, Remnant rested easy, security gradually faded and relaxed once the Legion threat had been dealt with.

However, others did not forget the Legion attacks. For those who were affected personally by the attack, every day was still a constant and merciless reminder of the Legion of Ash and their crimes against the people of Remnant.

To the Arcs, it still felt just like yesterday. Jaune and Pyrrha just finished up visiting their father at the hospital. Qrow stayed behind offering to take the rest of the Arcs home better. Raven offered to take the other two home, although to do something that none in the family expected or knew about. She helped to take care of them since their real mother was either hunting to make a living or at the hospital, she barely spent any time at home. It was up to Qrow and Raven to help out, when they weren't watching the Xiao-Longs and Rose. It was up to Qrow and Raven to be the surrogate parents for the Arcs while Joan was keeping constant vigil of her husband. That being said, the three adults had been extremely preoccupied.

"Run along now." Raven said she opened the door. "Get your weapons."

"You mean we can actually use our weapons now?!" Jaune rushed towards the living room excitedly.

"Yes, but you need to be careful with them. They aren't toys." Raven said sternly. Pyrrha went to her room and retrieved Milo and Akouo from their spot on the wall. It felt so… what was the word… right… for her hold them in her hands. It came naturally. She headed back downstairs to find Raven helping to reach for Crocea Mors that was hanging up above the fireplace.

They headed towards the kitchen and opened the backdoor. They had a brief hike in the woods. Pyrrha and Jaune eagerly followed Raven. Since they started training, they used wooden sticks so they wouldn't be hurt. They practiced with grip, stance, and how to swing the sword. Pyrrha was able to excel with one demonstration, Jaune was able to keep up after a few examples.

Once they were deep enough the forests they came across their practice clearing. "Alright you two." Raven said putting her odachi, Crimson Wing, on the ground. "Before we get started, we need to talk about something." She gestured for each one to sit down. They sat down.

"Have the two of you heard of Aura?" Raven asked, both of them nodded.

"Can you explain it in your own words?" Raven asked.

"It's the soul manifested outward to protect us." Pyrrha said, Jaune nodding in agreement.

"That's true." Raven said rubbing her chin. "Going more in depth, it also heals wounds that we may have. The more damage you take, the more your Aura is taxed to heal. However your Aura will recover in time."

"Do evil people have Aura?"

Raven frowned at the thought, after a moment of hesitation, she nodded. "Yes, unfortunately, all people have souls, even the true monsters." After a brief pause, she switched topics. "Today, I'm going to unlock your Auras and show you how to manifest your Auras." She gestured for Jaune to come towards her.

She placed a hang on her forehead and another over his heart. "Close your eyes, clear your mind, and listen to every word." Jaune nodded as he closed his eyes. Raven began the age old chant used on every hunter since time immemorial. She glowed an intense dark red as she manifested her aura and poured into the blonde child. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee." That moment, she peered into his inner being. She saw a determined child. A child who wanted to protect humanity, to be a source of good. She also saw his greatest fear, not being able to live up to the Arc's of old, not being able to bring honor and pride to the Arc name. The fear of not making his father proud of him. 'Jaune you are so wrong. You are his pride and joy before everything else.' She mused to herself. She then saw a strange thread that was beginning to form, but before she could investigate, she was brought back to reality so suddenly and violently.

She coughed as she gasped for air. "Raven! Are you alright?" Jaune and Pyrrha both rushed over to help her back over. After sucking in a few large gulps of air. "Yeah….." She panted. "Just let me get some air…"

"What happened?" Jaune asked concernedly.

"I…. used my Aura to unlock yours….. I'm surprised… You have a lot, you almost drained all of mine." Raven smiled proudly "Now let me catch my breath, Pyrrha I'll do yours next." Raven straightened up. That took a lot of her, but what was that strange thread being formed. She never saw that before, then again, she never really unlocked anyone's Aura. After a few moments, Raven felt comfortable enough to do Pyrrha's.

She gestured for Pyrrha to come closer. "Alright. Same thing, close your eyes, clear your mind, and listen to every word. Alright?" The redhead nodded. Raven placed a hand on her forehead and a hand over her heart. Again, she glowed an intense dark Red as her Aura manifested itself and channeled into Pyrrha. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."

Raven felt a wall that she hadn't experienced in Jaune. She pushed through, as she did, the wall started to glow grey. It had to be Aura. How the heck was her Aura already unlocked? That should only be done when someone wants to become a huntress. 'Oh no. Determining a child's fate before they even know what they want to become? That's sick. Raven thought. 'Her parents must have done it. Should I tell her? Should I stop? No. I need to find out who she really is.' She decided to try a different approach, instead she tried to present a more welcoming presence when she pushed through, it was met with no resistance. What she saw truly hurt Raven. It rocked her to the core. It was Pyrrha all alone, surrounded by an incredibly thick mist. Raven saw a little girl who was alone and scared and the endless sea of mist. However, she felt another presence. She felt and saw Pyrrha's fears. Not knowing what happened to her family. No home to call her own. The want to have her parents back. The fear of not being accepted by the Arcs. 'Child, you already have a home that loves you more than you know.' She did feel her overall desire. Even though she was scared of her past, of the endless haze, Pyrrha wanted to find out about her past, to know her parents, to become a huntress, to protect the people who looked after her. Raven tried her best to clear out the haze, only to see come back instantly, and even thicker than before. It was then she felt something push her out. Raven fought harder, but the force pushing her out was too much. Raven's aura was forced out and back into her own body.

Raven shook her head, coming back to reality. "It's done." She lied. "I unlocked your Aura." It was for her own truth. I'll tell her when she's older.

"Now then. Let's get started. Your aura has been unlocked, it will always surround you. It will heal wounds that you may receive. If you train your Aura, one day you may be able to discover your semblance." Raven started to lecture. "You can channel Aura to protect yourselves by creating a barrier between us and those who want to harm us, doing so will darin Aura though." Raven looked at the two. "Before we go on, any questions?"

Both shook their heads.

"Excellent. Then let's get started. Before we start training with your weapons, we need to train in Aura." Raven stood up and picked up a nearby stick. "Clear your mind and concentrate. Concentrate on protecting yourself. On protecting others. Concentrate on on showing your willpower to the world. " She watched as Pyrrha began to glow a dark grey as Jaune sputtered white. Pyrrha was a consisted grey while Jaune trying to keep a constant presence. "Now close your eyes." Raven suggested as she came close to Pyrrha.

She took the stick and swung it at Pyrrha side. She reacted, but she did not cringed in pain. "Did you feel that?" Pyrrha did indeed feel it, however it didn't hurt. "Did it hurt?" She heard Raven ask. She shook her head. "Keep focusing, good work." Pyrrha realized that if her Aura wasn't up, that would blow would have stung really badly. Shen moved over to Jaune.

Raven went to hit jaune, it landed and connected with a loud thwack sound. "Jaune you need to concentrate harder. Raven instructed. "Now focus." Jaune shut his eyes tightly as he started to concentrate. ". Raven swung the sick harder. Jaune cried in pain as his aura didn't absorb any of impact.

Pyrrha watched in agony, watching Jaune was basically getting beat "Come on, get up." Raven commanded, her usual warmth gone from her voice and eyes, there was something else. "I said get up." She repeated with a deadly voice. Another painful thwack, and another, and another. Jaune collapsed to the ground, Raven looking down disapprovingly. He got up on shaky legs. She swung the stick right behind his knees, making him collapse to the ground. "Jaune. Get. Up. And. Focus."

Jaune got up, his side hurting, legs and arms were hurting. Raven decided to switch tactics. "Maybe you aren't worthy of becoming a hunter." She turned her back to the blonde ten year old.

The next few words shocked Pyrrha and destroyed Jaune. "You're too weak." It crushed Raven to say, but it was now or never. "I don't waste my time with weaklings."

Jaune felt two different emotions in a whirlwind of mental chaos. Betrayal and Anger. Raven betrayed him, felt as if she cared about him. Anger towards her for her betrayal and anger towards himself because was too weak." He felt something build up as if a storm gathering strength. It started to build upon itself.

"Do it again." He said coldly.

"I will not, I-"

"I SAID DO IT AGAIN." He barked. Raven swirled around in a graceful arc, the stick was moving so fast that Jaune didn't register it. It connected. Raven was surprised by the result that the stick not only shattered, but disintegrated.

She smiled at the boy surrounded in an intense white power flowing from him. Raven realized that she was feeling the affects of his Aura, she felt her energy level increase as if she had had the best night of sleep ever.

Pyrrha could feel Jaune's energy as if his strength was adding to her own. As if his Aura knew her, it felt calming, reassuring to Pyrrha. It was if it was a friend to Pyrrha.

'That's impossible for him to discover his semblance so early.' Raven thought to herself. Then again she forgot how emotions can empower an individual to the point of awakening a semblance. If this was his semblance, what would Pyrrha's be? It didn't matter, that would come another day. Right now she was just proud of Jaune's determination.

"Jaune I'm so proud of you!" Raven exclaimed, her warmth reappearing as if it never left. Jaune scowl slowly changing to confusion. "I'm sorry I had to say those things. I just needed to see if you could do it, and you did, easily. I think all you needed was a little kick start." She hugged him and gestured for Pyrrha to join. "I want you two to know something. I am extremely proud of the both you, of your family. All of you have proven to me that you can come together and support each other. ". She trailed off "I wish I could be as strong as both of you"

"We couldn't have done it without you," Jaune said finally understanding, Pyrrha nodded in agreement and hugged the raven haired woman even harder. A tear in one of her crimson eyes formed and rolled down her cheek.

"Thank you." She felt weight started to lift up as only new guilt began to form 'I should be doing this with Yang and Ruby as well.' She thought to herself.

"Alright let's go over grip and stance with your weapon." Raven gestured to Pyrrha. "May I see your weapon?" Pyrrha held it out as Raven took it.

Upon closer inspection, it was superbly crafted weapon. The metal was strong, the balance was just right. She found two small buttons. She pressed one of them, the hilt extended outward to form a spear. Odd, it has a barrel as well. She clicked the other button, and with a flick of the wrist, the spear transformed into a rifle as the extended shafted was actually the barrel of the rifle. "Seems that this weapon has many functions." She pressed the button and flicked the wrist, the rifle folded in itself and formed the sword. "However we will be worried about just the sword." The handiwork on the blade is extremely familiar. As if she saw it before. Whoever made that style of weapon, were very meticulous about fighting in any kind of situation.

"Alright" She retrieved her weapon, Crimson Wing, and pulled it out, the blade glowing with fire dust energy. "You want to hold the weapon firmly, not too loose, not too tight.": She showed how her hand wrapped around the blade. "You don't want the blade to leave your hand, but you don't want to feel constrained by it." She swung Crimson Wing in a downward slash then cut upward. "We'll incorporate the shield later, but for now just worry about being in control of your blade with both of your hands." She circled the two.

"Now, when in combat, make sure to have the correct stance. Keep your legs apart, and get lower to the ground." She reminded them. "When fighting without a shield, or even with a shield, You need to be fast on your feet to dodge, your sword or shield should be your last line of defense."

As the hours went on, they went through basic and different guards. They went through several different combat motions with their weapons. They went through how to parry their weapons, strikes, and counterstrikes.

They spent a good three hours hacking away at trees. "Lower your stance." Raven reprimanded with a stick. "Keep your elbows bent." She smacked his funny bone with the stick. She tapped Jaune. "Don't over extend." She reminded Pyrrha. "Jab, don't lunge." She reminded Pyrrha again with a stick twack to her exposed back.

"Good job guys. Tomorrow we'll see if you can land a hit on me. Now keep practicing your sequencing."

She kept a watchful eye on the two while her scroll beeped. She fished out her scroll and answered. The news from the caller caused her to drop her scroll to the ground. "Jaune… Pyrrha… I need to talk to the both of you."

A/N

Hey guys! I got a new chapter out! Weewoooooooo!

So I got some fun news…. We have a new person on the "Shattered Team" If you can call a two person group a team xD. Whatevs, point is that we have an editor. I would like to introduce our new editor: Shaded 122.

Shaded: Yeah… I guess I'm here. If you read Conquest I'm a part of that as well… though I don't do much there. Also… Hi hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Sauron: Shaded is being modest xD big claps for him though *starts to clap*

If you enjoy the chapter, please feel free to leave a review, pm, fav, or follow if you are inclined too.

Other note: Next chapter is going to be a big one as it will be the end of this story arc. After the next chapter, we are looking to start a new arc, getting into Beacon and such, but I won't elaborate on that…. Fun fun though.

Anyway, wishing you guys the best. Thank you for the support, it truly means the world to us.