Silver

by Imyoshi

Forced to admit that Crocea Mors didn't feel right in his hands—no matter how he held it—Jaune Arc struggled to overcome this obstacle through the insane idea that Aura could become more than just the armor that protected him. Barriers broke as he pushed past the limits of what Aura was capable of, creating and forging his very own weapons from the manifestation of his soul.

21. Stone

Disclaimer: I own nothing of RWBY.

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Stone

By: Imyoshi

All stories have a beginning, middle, and end.

Some have a prologue—a buildup to the actual story's beginning. Such things included a backstory, character exploration, and development. This could mean one or multiple characters. It could even include training, groundwork setup, and even event buildup. However, all prologues must end sooner or later.

Waking up to the bright morning rays, Jaune Arc stretched out of bed, prepared to take on whatever challenge presented itself this fine Wednesday morning.

Today was going to be a fantastic day.

The bright morning sun spoke of a pleasant adventure waiting to happen, he felt his blood pumping and skin tingling with rejuvenating life at the prospect of discovery. Watch out, Lore! Those pesky secrets wouldn't remain locked away forever. Professor Goodwitch's lesson gave him a better outlook on life.

A fresh mind was a dangerous weapon, none more than a budding Aura manipulator.

Forgoing the idea of waking his team up, he casually strolled out the temporary living quarters, skipping Professor Goodwitch's room along the way. He held The Constellations underneath his arm, determined to revisit past notes he'd clearly forgotten or overlooked. There just had to be little details he must've ignored while training with his Lore, and if not, then having the notebook close by—in case of accidental Lore or Aura discovery—never faulted as a bad idea.

In his other hand was a Lore shard, full of dangerous, Dark Energy. The past few days he'd been fueling the shard with Lore, never knowing when the time would rise for its power. Best to be prepared! At the same time, he'd been adding Aura to the remaining Dust shards before heading to bed with each roughly containing the destructive power of four Supernovas. Some held less while others held a bit more. Each contained an impressive amount of Aura.

Compared to Aura shards, Jaune hated crafting Lore shards; they required a higher level of control than Aura. Worst of all, they gathered within the Dust shard in an agonizingly slow pace. This already made the arduous process maddening. He loved to be quick and fast-moving, not agonizing slow and tempered. That was all Ren.

Passing the compound, he peered around, accounting for how the rainstorm practically washed away the trash. Thanks to the heavy rains and harsh winds, their mission was practically cleaned away and it left a nice, misty dew to wake up to. Odd that in all the years that have past, it failed to rain over the compound until they visited, but he refrained from commenting on it. Sure, the tombstones kind of killed the mood, but that was the village's job. not theirs. With a final glance, he continued on pacing, eventually coming to that stream his team found day one.

Taking a seat on the grass, he pulled off his hoodie and shoes, quickly dousing his feet into the cool water as he focused on rereading old passages he'd written about Lore. The Lore shard's infused into his hand, clutched between his fingers as he slowly added Lore into the Dust shard. The darker it got, the better he felt.

Finding the very first passage, it told of the fight between the Death Stalker and him, the scorpion that essentially showed him the power of shadows, the dark side of the light. At the time, Jaune only described Lore's possible existence and the negative aspects it played on his emotions. Oum! He didn't even have a name for it at the time. How silly. The next passage proved to be better, describing in detail how the dark power fed off negativity—like the Grimm—and couldn't coexist together with Aura.

Jaune remembered that day well.

Lore required a different form of problem-solving than Aura. Aura could be tackled fast and head-on. Lore required a different touch. Problems weren't solved with brute force of will, but consideration and contemplation of two opposing forces of power. A real brainteaser. In the end, he needed outside help to achieve this goal, and Blake answered the call by showing him an option he never knew existed.

"Blake..." Jaune grinned. He missed his mysterious companion. He hadn't seen much of her lately. He would have to fix that when he got back. "Maybe I'll ask how their trip to Vale went. I'm hoping she's got some good stories. I bet Zwei's driving her nuts."

The noodle still remembered the first story Blake ever told him, the one about Ragnarok and endless darkness. He personally didn't believe much in fairy tales, but the message spoke to him in more ways than one. By learning to repent, the people swallowed in darkness managed to save their own souls by embracing the fear and trusting the shadows. That message had rocked his world, but what really equalized his journey was Blake's parting words. Even now he still remembered them.

It kind of helped that he wrote the quote down in his notebook.

Locating the passage, Jaune tried to sound like Blake, failing terribly at it. "Embracing your fears and not allowing them to control you are two different things. It takes courage to open your arms to the darkness."

Laughing at his own absurdity, more so with him currently powered by Lore, he smiled at the quote. That one thing she had said opened his eyes to a brand new world. In that world, he opened his soul to the darkness, allowing the Lore to have control, just like Aura, and it had responded with power and understanding. No longer had his Aura tried to fight against it, because he hadn't been afraid of it anymore.

He hadn't been afraid of the dark power anymore. That bravery revealed to him a world of wonder and power. Black Hole, Gravity, and Outer Space breathed their first breaths soon after. Lore, just like Aura, had given him strength, speed, reflexes, and an overall boost to his senses. The only key differences turned out to be velocity and temperature. Where Aura was hot, Lore decided to be cold. Aura loved to move fast. Lore took its time. Aura ran around, free from restraints such as gravity. Lore had structures and rules, bending Aura to a pressure only Aura felt. One purposely loved to fight in the spotlight while the other stood back and hid in the shadows.

Jaune smirked, comparing the two to a cliché verse. "Two different powers, both still two sides of the same coin, all still unbelievable confusing. Yup! That's my life in a nutshell."

In a devilishly good mood, he flipped through a few more notes, landing on an event that drained the blood from his cheeks and killed the mood instantly—the day Nora almost died.

Killing his smile, he glared intensely at the passage and remembered that day all too well. That had been the day he learned of Lore's true nature—the power of the Grimm. Everything after only went downhill real fast. Nora had consumed his experimental Lore shard, having mistaken it for an Aura shard, and the dark power tore her Aura and body apart, he would even say soul.

A training trip that went south, he had been making leaps and bounds with his Lore control. Sure, the power moved slowly, everything Aura wasn't, but progress had been made. Things were shaping up. Then everything turned from bad to worse real fast and it never really was the same after that.

Honestly, he didn't like thinking about it, no one did. He hoped to forget about the gruesome details by a stroke of luck, but he couldn't ever erase the memory of Nora gasping for breath with them practically helpless to watch her suffer in agony. He'd never seen Ren so broken up before. No one had. And things only escalated with the inclusion of the Leos. It wasn't enough that Death happened to be around the corner, but a pride of Leos had wanted to make matters a living hell.

Jaune still recounted barely fending off the Grimm, fighting alongside his partner in a show of skill and combination.

The fighting had ultimately ended up in their favor, but a Monarch Leo had shown up and threw the scales out of proportion. The Monarch Leo proved to be impervious to Excalibur's power, bone-plating far too dense to simply cut through. Jaune just didn't have the stamina to fully utilize his power at the time; he had been forced to finish off the Grimm with his bare hand, left utterly exhausted.

Till this day, he still couldn't believe he shoved his hand into the Monarch Leo's mouth and then imploded it from the inside out with the power of Supernova. Still sent shivers down his spine. Good shivers.

The Arc sighed. "As if that wasn't enough. The Sloth King showed up."

That fight turned out to be something else entirely. Pyrrha and Jaune had used up all their power, and Lore proved to be ineffective against the Grimm's might. He still hadn't put two-and-two together and realized that Aura aimed to the Grimm's weakness, while Lore towered over Huntsmen. He had been more preoccupied with visually seeing Ren fight with Nora's hammer. For such a slow-moving creature, its speed and power defied what he had expected. Oh? The Sloth King was impressive, too.

Ren managed to beat the monster, winning against impossible odds, but he had done something Jaune would've never done, at least not at the time. Not with that prior mindset. Ren spared The Sloth King and formed a kinship with a beast that lacked emotion. The Lie had reached out and connected with a Grimm, a monster aided by the same power that almost took Nora away from him. In the end, luck favored the Lie, and everything turned out for the better. Misfortune finally spared them the grief of battle.

In the aftermath, after discovering the deadly truth about Lore, Jaune's perception of Lore grew weary. He still didn't fear the power, he could never with it being part of him, but he made sure to keep the Dark Energy at arm's length. Things never really went back to normal after that. His control remained, but the dynamics certainly changed. Eventually, he hit an invisible wall he couldn't get around. Philosophy began being tested and trust skewed.

Because if I'm right... then that means the Grimm have souls.

Getting lost in The Constellations, Jaune searched for some hidden meaning in the past stories. He didn't want to admit it, hating the taste it left in his mouth, but all evidence pointed to the contrary. Lore was the power of the Grimm. The dark power came from the manifestation of the soul. Theoretically, that meant the soulless beasts weren't so soulless after all. They simply lacked Aura.

Banging his head with the notebook, he tiredly leaned back with a heavy sigh, resting his back on the grassy floor. All this soul-searching reminded him why he bothered keeping Lore locked away in the first place. The power of the Grimm? If that was Lore's power, then how could he feasible trust it? It didn't make any sense. Yet, Ren not only trusted the hazardous power, he opened his soul and heart to it.

Jaune failed to comprehend how he could simply do that without worrying about his own well-being?

Then again, he understood completely. Unlike him, Ren hated his Aura with a deadly passion. The Lie wanted nothing more than to trap it and lock it away into a cage, where its influence could never see the light of day. And when offered the very power to do so, Ren not only embraced the darkness, he lived for it—lived with it!

Sir Scrabbles was a testament to his faith in Lore.

Glaring, he sat up, shoulders hunched as he flipped through a few more pages of notes. Little things popped out at him like how Aura was meant to fight for the user and Lore acted more defensive-like, or Lore's properties to erase all evidence of Aura within a body. All these notes formed a structure of Lore's general background, and he didn't like it because they offered no hints for him getting past the barrier blocking him.

Reaching the end, he closed The Constellations, not wanting to read about the time he uncovered the power known as Dark Matter or the pack of Beowolves. What'd it matter to him? He couldn't wield that technique. Jaune couldn't even create a sword out of Lore. What chance did he have mastering this Dark Energy if he couldn't even forge a weapon from it?

Throwing the notebook onto his hoodie, he frowned and scratched his head. "This isn't getting me anywhere. I don't know what I'm doing wrong?" He was tired of worrying over this. "Forget it; I'm just going to let my feet soak for a bit. Maybe it'll come to me if I relax."

Perhaps today wasn't going to be adventures as he earlier hoped.

...

Waking up before the girls, Ren immediately noticed the lacking presence of a certain leader.

He silently removed himself from the room, wondering where Jaune went. It wasn't like his leader to dismiss them without leaving some way of letting them know, at least now he did that. Ren still remembered the time Jaune had vanishing acts and skipped meals. Pyrrha was a mess during those episodes in their life. How things have changed.

Figuring he should locate Jaune, knowing he was prone to danger like his girlfriend, Ren's actions were halted when his stomach grumbled in annoyance. For a minute he tried to ignore the hunger pains, but a losing battle was a losing battle, and he caved soon enough. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day for a reason.

Heading into the kitchen, he went through the motions, all too familiar with the process to miss a step. First things first, he had to prepare Nora's breakfast. She was bound to wake up to the smell of pancakes, but his mind was on other matters, like his family's scroll. Would it be unethical to simply forgo cooking Nora a healthy breakfast in favor of indulging in the scroll's inner secrets?

Nope.

If anything, the bump in their status-quo obligated him to keep her happy, and that caused Ren to happily sigh in the flipping of their breakfast. "The price of love, I guess."

Finishing the pancake making process, he barely set the table before Nora charged in with a sleepy Pyrrha and slightly disheveled Professor Goodwitch. They all sat down with a different approach. Nora literally plotted her butt down and started banging her forks in hunger. Pyrrha yawned and almost appeared to be dozing off again, most likely woken up by her fellow female. And Professor Goodwitch had a modest pose that was betrayed by her tangled up locks.

Ren wouldn't dare comment on them.

Handing them all a plate of fluffy brown mountains—with Nora getting a generous amount—Ren kissed Nora on the head before taking a seat next to her. They ate silently, none of them morning people like Jaune and Ren. It wasn't until he was plucking and washing his and Nora's dishes did Professor Goodwitch notice a fellow blonde missing.

"Where is Mr. Arc?"

Ren shrugged, dishes done. "He must've gone out for a walk."

"Jaune-Jaune does that a lot!" Nora added with a face covered in maple syrup.

The Lie found it odd that he considered licking it off, and before he did something that would give Nora a heart attack, he leaned toward the door. "I can go find him if you like, professor?"

Glynda chewed in her answer. "No need. Whatever cleanup that needed to be done, I'm sure the storm took care of. I shall inspect the compound before checking in with Shiragiku. You may take the time to relax and prepare your departure back to Beacon. But don't expect to be leaving anytime soon, the airship takes at least an hour to arrive. And that's after I call it."

Nora threw her arms up. "Yeah! Day off!"

Glynda tapped her mouth with a napkin. "If you would excuse me, I must do my inspection. Thank you for the meal, Mr. Lie. It was quite delicious. The rest of the day is yours, but please have your things packed before the airship arrives. I don't want to waste the pilot's time or mine."

Glynda Goodwitch left the room in a soothing silence, the threat of detention hung in the air. Message definitely received.

The minute she was gone, Ren was leaving through the back door, but not before giving Nora a quick smooch. "I'm going to go find Jaune."

Her cheeks reddened quickly. "Okay! Have fun! I'll be here! Sir Scrabbles needs a bath!"

There was a crash in the opposite room. Sounds of stuff falling made it apparent a certain Grimm was hiding underneath a pile of junk. Both Pyrrha and Ren had to admit the Grimm could move when it really wanted to.

Almost canceling his plans for the sake of basking in Nora's space, Ren peered over to the champion, each knowing a solidarity Jaune shouldn't exist. "You coming with, Pyrrha?"

The champion didn't hear him; she was almost comatose in her seat. The mention of returning home so soon didn't bold too well with her. That meant she had to accept the Maiden powers sooner than she had anticipated. Not like the timetable allowed for much freedom, but another day would've been appreciated. Now she didn't even have that to look forward to.

Pyrrha wasn't afraid to admit it, she was frightened, terrified honestly. Her act yesterday put up a brave front, but that was all it was, an act. Going back home so soon? She just wasn't ready, but this must be one of those life wasn't fair moments, and she loathed it.

When Pyrrha refused to answer, Ren narrowed his eyes by the slightest of margins, Aura channeled. "Is everything alright, Pyrrha? You seem stressed?"

Holding back a gasp, she unevenly smiled. Her uncharacteristic silence and anxiety sold her out. "Who? Me? Never better! Everything's perfectly fine. Why do you ask?"

The margins narrowed a tad more. That was the worst lie he'd ever heard. He didn't need his eyes to tell him that. "I asked if you wanted to go find Jaune with me."

There was that guilty smile of hers. "Oh? Sorry, I'm still waking up." Pyrrha glanced over at the retreating Nora. "No, I think I'll stay with Nora. Maybe help her give Sir Scrabbles a bath."

Ren refrained from narrowing his eyes anymore, not planning to give away his secret interrogation. "Are you sure you're alright? You look stressed?"

Her words were a jumbled mess. "Ah! It's nothing. I just had a nightmare, that's all."

Why must Pyrrha lie to him? The pink glow encompassing her body burned criminally under Ren's nonchalant glare. "Suit yourself then, I'll go find him. Try to make sure Nora doesn't break anything. We don't want Professor Goodwitch slapping us with detention."

The second Ren left the building, she slumped back in her chair, air exhaling. A heartfelt laugh escaped her. She hated lying, she never enjoyed it, but if Headmaster Ozpin expected her to do nothing, then he wasn't as all-knowing that she'd initially believed. Pyrrha Nikos didn't become the four-time Mistral Regional Tournament champion through skill and dumb luck alone; a little planning was required for such an honor.

Contingency plans were a champion's best friend.

She couldn't reveal the truth of everything—or she would have the moment she saw her friends—she was honor-bound. Her was word was on the line. Yet, no could blame her for having a friend who saw through lies. Technically, she never broke her word. It may not prove much in the grand schemes of things, but if Pyrrha could plant the seeds of doubt, which should be more than enough to get them to pay extra-close attention to any abnormalities in her person if any complications occur during the Aura transfer, then her Fearless Leader should be able to fix things.

Pyrrha Nikos trusted no one but Jaune Arc to mess around with her Aura.

Sighing, she rubbed her head and stood up, intending to ease her troubling mind for a bit. The fear was getting to her. She was hoping that Nora could distract her thoughts long enough until their later departure. For now, she was going to partake in giving Sir Scrabbles a bath.

What could go wrong?

Walking into the bathroom, she was met with a mess of soap, towels, and a very stubborn Sir Scrabbles latching onto Nora's neck, refusing to budge into the soapy tub. For such a little guy, it was surprisingly strong and stubborn—two qualities that were the perfect blend of Nora and Ren.

Nora was visibly straining to pull the Grimm off. "C'mon, Sir Scrabbles! It's bath time! The single greatest moment of the day! You love bath time!"

Pyrrha giggled. "Apparently, he doesn't, Nora." She smiled when Nora finally managed to pry the Grimm from her face. "How hasn't Professor Goodwitch seen Sir Scrabbles yet?"

Smirking evilly at her darling Grimm, Nora dunked the Grimm in, getting it all nice and wet. The moment Sir Scrabbles resurfaced, looking positively bored; a sure sign of anger and exhaustion, Nora began scrubbing its scalp with a loofah and soap. A bottle of Ren's Narudo Spiral Shampoo, an orange colored and scented fragrance that was practically impossible to hide in their room, was being used by Nora to wash Sir Scrabble's funk.

Pyrrha had a sneaking suspicion the thunder girl just enjoyed having Ren's scent mixed over her Grimm.

Grinning like a madwoman, Nora splashed more water over the Grimm's head. "Didn't you know, Pyrrha? Sloths are notorious for being sneaky."

The champion said nothing more and sat next to her, enjoying the way Sir Scrabbles sulked in the tub. Ironically, sloths were notorious bath-haters, too. For the little guy nudged against Nora's attempts to scrub its fur with a very soapy loofah. This only made her mad and she scrubbed the little guy much harder.

Feeling bad for the Grimm, Pyrrha plucked the loofah out of Nora's hands. "Maybe you should try being more gentle with Sir Scrabbles. You can be a little rough, Nora."

If anyone but Pyrrha had said that, their legs would be broken. "You think so?" Pyrrha nodded. "Is what Pyrrha saying true, my little Grimm?" Her bundle of joy blinked, stomach grumbling. "Oh! Looks who's hungry! I'll go fetch you some yummy rock candy. Pyrrha will stay here and finish giving you a bath!"

Nora disappeared in a flash, leaving the confused girl with an equally confused Grimm. They stared at each other, stuck in a standstill, but she eventually gave in and gently scrubbed Sir Scrabbles's scalp. The Grimm quickly melted underneath her magic fingers, enjoying this way better than its caretaker's way. However, the stunning action forced the girl to reconsider her position in the world.

Alone with humanity's greatest threat, she bit her lip at the hypocrisy and swiftly tugged the Grimm up. She held it arms out, sad inside. "Am I a hypocrite?" Sir Scrabbles wisely remained mute. "I'm keeping secrets from my friends, but it's for a good cause, so it's alright. Right? You know a little reinsurance would be helpful!"

The Grimm tested her reaction by tilting its head. She was defensive. "Don't look at me like that! What am I supposed to do? This is bigger than some silly tournament. People's lives are on the line. I don't know what to do. I've tried setting things up so I have a fallback, but what if that doesn't work? Then what?"

Having absolutely no idea what the champion was talking about, it slowly booped Pyrrha on the nose for good luck. She frowned. "What kind of solution is that? You think a boop is going to solve anything? It won't. That's like trying to cut Jaune's sword with Aura—wait a minute! That's it!"

The champion shook the poor Grimm dry. "I'll use my Aura to send a signal to Jaune before I meet up with Ozpin. Now I just have to hope Jaune picks up on it." She hugged the Grimm tightly. "You really are amazing."

Maybe Sir Scrabbles should reconsider who it took baths with.

...

When Ren found his leader, he was soaking his feet in the river, acting very suave for a man with the world against him. His hoodie was tossed to the side in a rare show of lazy fashion. He was busy holding what he could only presume was a Lore shard. It definitely resembled the color of one with its pitch-black palette. And no one should consider it strange for Ren to suddenly tense up and turn a bit adhesive about approaching his leader. The last Lore shard still haunted his memories, like his family's demise, except he knew Lore's dangerous attributes to be true, not false like his childhood memories.

Approaching silently, he hovered over his Fearless Leader, not surprised when Jaune suddenly spoke. "What's happening, Ren?"

How Jaune managed to notice his presence astounded him, but he pushed that admiration aside. Fear had a strong grip on him. "You're making another one of those?"

"Yeah, never know when I'm going to need more. Just make sure you keep Nora away from it this time." Jaune laughed, flicking Mr. Casanova with a teasing smile. "Actually, try to keep her away from the Aura shards while you're at it, we're on low supply. She's been spoiling Sir Scrabbles when I'm not looking. We're down to eight shards."

"Duly noted."

He hid a smile. "... You're not going to stop her, are you?"

His ninja teammate at least had the decency to look away. "Just don't tell me where you hide them, and it'll all work itself out."

The leader laughed with an undertone of sadness, pocketing the shard away. "Man, she's already got you wrapped around her finger. I can't wait to tell Sun and Neptune. They're going to love this."

Ren glared but contributed nothing more to the matter. He sat next to Jaune, pulling his footwear off before throwing his own feet into the cool water. He had to admit the water felt nice on the skin. The Lie silently reached to tap the force holding his cloak together, unclasping it all the way down the middle, unconcerned for his leader's treacherous smirk.

The silence was nice, but he knew it wouldn't last too long.

"So?" Jaune elbowed, breaking the peace. "Since we're already on the subject, where is Nora?"

His friend sighed, leaning forward to play with the running water. "Busying giving Sir Scrabbles a bath. And I'm guessing her and Pyrrha are going to talk about some random topic, you know how they get."

Jaune searched for a silver lining. He found one. "At least you don't have to worry about finding a date to the dance. That must be a load off your mind?"

Ren rolled his sleeves up, marinating in the perfect sunny day. "I already miss her."

His leader scoffed. "Monty, you really are whipped. Here..." Jaune reached for his hoodie and pulled out a shell from the pocket. "Drown your sorrows with this magic conch shell I found in the river."

Ren reached out and held up the shell, eyeing it with disdain and misconception. He shook it to sell his point. "You know this is geographically misplaced, right? There's no coastline for hundreds of miles."

"That's what makes it magical!"

Emotionless, he tossed the shell into the river, ignoring the way it got washed away by the stream, concerned over more pressing matters. The silence lasted a lot longer this time, but it was nothing more than a mask. Eventually, the Lie was forced to darken the mood, needing to keep the dynamic alive.

"You know Pyrrha's hiding something, right?"

Jaune laughed his concern away with an offhanded wave. "Look who you're asking. Of course, I know. Pyrrha's terrible at hiding her emotions. Even I can see through her. I've been able to since I started my journey to create Aura, have you forgotten that. She's got these two smiles of hers. Her normal everything is alright Hello Again smile, And her guilty I'm sorry smile."

If Ren was at all surprised by his leader's lack of concern, he didn't show it. If anything, he should've known from the start. After all, Jaune did manage to see through Pyrrha's fib all those months ago. Of course, he saw her fake enthusiasm a mile away.

Silly of him to think otherwise. "And you're not going to confront her about what's bothering her? Last time she kept to herself... it wasn't a pretty sight."

Jaune leaned back and smiled underneath the sun's rays. "I trust my partner. I'm sure whatever's troubling her; she'll eventually tell us or figure it out for herself. Besides, these things always tend to work themselves out. And I kind deserve this for what I put her through. So what's the harm?"

If that wasn't begging for Lady Luck to roll her dice, Ren didn't have a clue what was. But their troubling thoughts came to a screeching halt when a loud howl resonated from nearby. A second later his leader felt a wave of Outer Space hit him from within the nearby woods.

Neither moved a single muscle until Jaune edged forward. "Should we go check it out?"

Ren eyed his leader. "What makes you think that's a good idea?"

He shrugged and grinned. "I don't know... I'm feeling adventurous. And who knows, we might learn something. Maybe it'll help me with my Lore control?"

The Lie considered the options given. Follow his leader into the nearby forest and possibly run into a pack of Grimm, who may or may not attack them, or remain here and pretend nothing bad happened while her leader most likely ventured on his own. With those options presented, he wistfully wished for that magic conch shell back.

Wondering if Lady Luck had actually rolled those dice, Ren sighed and dusted himself off. "Well, what are we waiting for? An invitation?"

"Must you always be so sarcastic?"

"It's called raining on your parade, and yes."

Grinning, Jaune quickly put his shoes on and ran toward the forest. He wasn't kidding earlier. Maybe they really would learn something. After the last encounter with a pack of Grimm, both had learned about a few more hidden properties of Lore and he was anxious to sink his teeth into the possibility of more.

Brushing past trees and vegetation, Ren followed after his leader, knowing full well Jaune could track down a Grimm with his Outer Space. The run proved to be short. Soon the two were hiding behind a tree to get a better look at what appeared to be a dying Beowolf and its pack surrounding it. It definitely howled like it was dying.

To avoid detection, they climbed up a few branches of the tree to manage a better view.

Blended perfectly into the woodwork, each watched with acute curiosity, having never seen a dying Grimm at the hands of Mother Nature. Each silently wondered what would happen next. Possibly another Lore miracle?

The Beowolf howled out in pain, gasping for invisible life. The deep gash across its stomach was impossible to miss, so in turn was the blood flowing out in an endless stream of black ooze. It thickened the forest floor, coating the vegetation with nourishment. The poor creature clawed for help, reaching out to its pack to do something, anything. Both the humans were helpless to intervene, watching the Alpha Beowolf heed its companion's wails. And if Jaune and Ren expected something magical and life-saving to happen, then their wake-up call was here and now.

Gnaw!

Right through the Grimm's neck, the Alpha tore through the flesh in a quick fluid of motion with its teeth, ripping the dying Grimm's throat out in animalistic terror. It severed all ties to life, crushing in intent to relieve, not to main for sick enjoyment. And when the Beowolf tried to breathe in one more gasp of air, its body finally stopped moving, lost to Death's iron-grip.

Ashes soon began to break the Grimm's body apart, becoming dust in the wind.

Both the males felt their stomachs churn.

Seeing a Grimm's final moments contrasted vastly to being the one causing the final act. The gesture was almost saddening. Fading ash and dust covered the air, leaving behind a bitter taste neither of them appreciated. Nearby Grimm actually shunned their vision away, acting very docile for what could be considered normal behavior. The scene hit them both awfully hard, but Jaune was the one detached from the entire spectacle.

Ren had to grab Jaune's shoulder to anchor him back. "You okay, Fearless Leader?"

Jaune frowned, not sure what to think anymore. "I'm... confused... I just saw a Grimm kill one of its own. How can a Grimm just up and kill one of its own like that? It doesn't make any sense to me."

The Lie pouted, forming a thin line. Jaune wasn't so used to death. The only ones his leader had ever seen—outside of what he personally knew—were the killings brought on by others that hunted down the Grimm. Ren's experience with the end game just differed from his. He knew why the Grimm did such a thing, but even he was speechless after witnessing the act.

Ren kept it simple. "Because it was in pain, the Grimm ended its suffering. Wouldn't you do the same if one of us were dying?"

Emotions of anger and panic suddenly gripped Jaune's soul. "But I wouldn't let that happen! I would do anything in my power to save you!"

Ren smiled sadly at his friend. "But let's just say you couldn't. Let's say the power you needed to save us just wasn't there. Then what? Would you let us suffer for Monty knows how long? Or would you end our lives right then and there to alleviate our pain?"

Jaune glared, bunching his hands together. "That's not fair, Ren."

He sighed and glanced over to the dust-fading Grimm, squeezing his gentle-hearted leader's shoulder. "You can't save everyone, Jaune. It's foolish to think otherwise. Sometimes... sometimes you're just too late to help. It's how the world works." Ren actually smiled. "I'm actually relieved they did that. No one wants to watch one of their friends endlessly suffer."

Jaune stayed quiet and watched the Beowolf turn to dust. Minutes ticked on by and most of the Beowolves had scattered after its demise, but a few stragglers remained behind, mostly younglings. Some played in the bushes, while others snuggled up together in a bundle. Each little action jumbled his thoughts and he was stuck replaying Ren's advice over-and-over again.

You can't save everyone, Jaune.

Of course, he wanted to argue. Of course, he was stubborn to a fault. He wanted to say no. Damn it! No! But the more he listened, the harder it became to argue. Those minutes soon turned into half an hour and it might've lasted longer if Ren hadn't coughed midway to the hour mark.

Peering off to the side, he found the ninja glaring intensely at a scroll. What confused the Arc was the jumbled mess of scratches and squiggles written there. "Whatcha reading? It's just a bunch of scribbles."

Ren held the scroll up to his chest, smirking a tiny bit. "You need my eyes to be able to read the lies written here. Without them, it just looks like utter nonsense." Jaune was still waiting for an answer. "Apparently, not only could my clan's eyes accomplish feats of misfortune and lies, but they managed to find a way to cross the powers together to be able to create techniques like mirror distortions and doppelgängers."

Jaune was definitely interested. "Oh? And how do you pull that off?"

"I'm just getting to that. It's the last passage written here. But If I recall correctly, it had to do with a special hand-sign." Ren unfolded the scroll, finding the very passage. "Here it is. And it says..."

Ren paused, reading over the passage before he allowed his eyes to widen by the barest of margins. He then laughed. He just laughed at his utterly ironic it all was. No could blame him otherwise.

Jaune titled his head at Ren's sudden laugh. "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing..." Ren sighed contently. "I just find it amusing the hand-sign required to cross Misfortune and Lying together has to do with two fingers." He held up his hand, fingers crossed. "It's ridiculous; these two fingers together allow my bad luck and heritage to mix while concentrating on my Evil Eyes."

Jaune widened his eyes. "You mean—?"

"Exactly..." The Lie hummed. "In order to use my Misfortune to the fullest, I just need to cross my fingers wherever no one can see them, preferably my back, but anywhere will do. And then rely on my Aura and concentration to do the rest. Based on what the writings in here say, I can summon mirror mirages or clones by splitting up my current Aura." When Jaune said nothing, he peered over to find his leader thinking clearly. "What?"

Jaune just smirked, leg propped up so he could wrap both his arms around it. He had this cold look in his eyes, one meant to tease relentlessly. Ren didn't like it. He also didn't like him counting out the oddities with his fingers.

"Hn, let's see here. You have hidden weapons, you came from a clan, you like wearing black, mirror clones, and now you have a hand-sign?" Jaune smirked, poking Ren in the shoulder. "You know this really makes you a ninja now. Do I need to point out your shoes?"

"Shut up."

"So..." he urged, bumping Ren's shoulder. "Try it out. Let's see these Lie powers of yours in action. C'mon, I'll be your test dummy. Hit me with some bad luck. Give me your best shot. Or you know what? Try making a mirror clone! That's gotta be something interesting to see!"

Tempted by his own greed, Ren crossed his fingers, out of sight of Jaune's view. The sensation felt weird, not-normal was the best phrase he could use to describe it, even then it felt weak. Aura molded in ways he couldn't properly describe, building a network between his fingers and Evil Eyes, but it came crashing down when his Aura backlashed and rebounded violently.

The force almost knocked him off the branch.

Ren grabbed his wrist, forcing the shaking to stop. "I don't know what happened? A mirror clone should've been sitting on this tree with us. At least that's what I was going for."

Jaune waved away the mistake. "Ah! Don't worry about it. My fingers blew up on me too when I first created Shooting Star. It happens. Just keep trying."

They spent the other half of the hour in the tree with Ren trying repeatedly to create a mirror distortion, focusing as hard as possible. The mirror clone never came, not even close. Each attempt ended up in failure. Each failure ended up stinging his hand in more ways than one. Jaune just sat there and watched every attempt go up in smoke, finding the lack of progress disheartening but contending all the same. It was nice not being the only one to be stuck.

After some unprecedented attempt, Ren threw in the towel, glaring spitefully at his aching fingers. "I can't do it. Something keeps going wrong every time I try to establish a connection with my Aura."

His leader had the gall to look magnanimous. "So, we've both hit a wall."

Forming a fist, Ren searched for lies hidden in his hand, but his eyes revealed nothing. Whatever the problem stemmed from, it had nothing to do with outside forces. This one was all him.

Sighing, he stared at his leader. "Is this how you feel all the time?"

He laughed. "More or less, but you get used to it."

"It must be frustrating."

"Again, you get used to it."

Remaining quiet, the duo allowed eyes and minds to wander. Ren was busy trying to figure out what went wrong. The connection between his fingers and eyes he could feel, but his Aura nastily rebounded and forced his fingers roughly apart before he could establish a connection between the two. Worst of all, his hand wouldn't stop shaking until he grabbed hold of it. His Aura just refused to heed his call.

Having a similar problem, but with Lore, Jaune studied a couple of younger Beowolves playfully sparring, acting as rambunctious children, rather than enemies of humanity. They fought only with their claws, jaws not meant to be used. Their Lore's Outer Space proved to be relatively dismissal at best, but he found the spar fun to watch.

Fascinated by the fight, he noted how the slightly older, larger one had a boney texture, while the younger one lacked such a thing. He was amazed about that feature of the Grimm. As they got older, Grimm got stronger defenses. Grimm didn't have fancy weapons or tactics. But what they lacked in firepower, they made up for in armor. Armor didn't heal, it protected. The body healed injuries with warm blood. Cold armor shielded the body from ever taking damage, acting as the ultimate defense. The bone-plating acted as the Grimm's armor and weapon, proving to Jaune that the greatest offense was sometimes the best defense.

"That little one's about to lose..." Ren remarked, pointing at the younger Grimm gnawing at the bone-plating.

Jaune wanted to know why. "What makes you say that? They both have almost the same Outer Space. It's anyone's fight."

The ninja shook his head, pointing at the way the younger Beowolf got swiped aside by a bony shoulder. "You see there, it tried to take on the Grimm without the power to match its defense. That won't always work." Ren knew a thing or two about opposing forces. "You can't always brute force it. Sooner or later, that's not going to work. A different approach is needed to get around that problem."

Jaune's heart skipped a beat.

Those words sounded awfully similar to Professor Goodwitch's, except he was able to piece the dots together this time. Quickly reaching for The Constellations, he flipped through the pages, searching for a new page to add some possible notes in. He knew that Lore somewhat reflective defensive power, but he hadn't realized how far it went. A Grimm didn't get flashier, they got bulkier. Power naturally came with progression, but what separated a Grimm's rank wasn't style or speed, but their bone structure, their defensive power—their Lore!

Closing the notebook, he narrowed his eyes, possibly figuring out the problem to his lackluster progression. The wall he'd hit couldn't be broken down with brute force; Lore's defensive power prove too great for normal collision on tactics. Jaune needed to—!

Walk around it...

Heart racing, he grabbed his chest, wanting nothing more to push his Lore to the utmost limits, and he could only do that by needing the defensive power to aid him in battle. How could his Lore respond without a reason to? His Aura did. It responded when he needed it most in the heat of battle, not while training in peace. Not when his soul refused to feel threatened.

Jaune Arc felt a theory building up and he wanted nothing more than to test it.

Standing up on the branch, he grabbed Ren's shoulder and forced him up. "C'mon! I got an idea! Let's spar! I don't think we've ever sparred before. I'm interested, aren't you?"

Ren blinked. "Not really... Well, maybe I am, just a little bit. But why now?"

Jaune stepped back, glowing that impressive array of darkness. "Maybe I don't have enough practice with Lore when it came to fighting? Training only helps so much. Some practice could probably show me what's holding me back. And I know you want to try out those Lie styles, I know you do. We can both practice this way."

Peering with uncontrolled skepticism, Ren ever so slightly narrowed his eyes, willingly the base of his collar to close up. He took a few steps back from her leader, Evil Eyes glowing in retaliation. He couldn't lie and say he wasn't the least bit interested because his soul begged to differ. The man wanted more than anything to test the limits of his power and strength, but more than anything, he wanted to surpass his current potential.

Ruby never proved a challenge for such a thing.

Now, his Fearless Leader, that was a different story altogether.

Jumping off from the branch, the pack of youngling Beowolves quickly scattered back, surprised by the human's unexpected visit. The Lore of the cloak lessened the acceleration of the fall, preventing any damage.

It was all instinct.

The Lore's negative aspects were quickly influencing Ren's negative emotions. "Don't go crying to Pyrrha when I beat you."

Jaune was in the same boat, allowing his emotions to corrupt. He glared down at Ren from above the branch with a humor-filled smirk. "I promise not to mess up your face too bad, don't want Nora trying to kill me in my sleep." Sliding on the bark of the tree, Jaune summoned three Gravities as he descended down onto the battlefield. "Pull, Gravity!"

Reaching the ground, three Gravities danced around Jaune, floating both up and down in a sing-song dance routine, two up and one down and vice-versa. Of course, Ren knew it was only his leader doing that, taking pleasure in his heightened control. Jaune refused to even control them with his hands, smirking with the negativity of Lore leaching out his body.

The Arc had managed to move far since the first time he learned to control the power.

"Pull, Gravity?" Ren crossed his arms, unable to recount any moment of Jaune uttering that phase. "Now that I think about, I don't think I've ever heard your battle cry for summoning those orbs."

Jaune tapped his foot forward, grin surprisingly innocent in a den full of Grimm. "No one was ever around to hear it. I thought of it whenever these little guys pulled dust to themselves. It made sense."

"If that's what you went with, then I'm not going to change your mind."

Jaune created two more in his hands, except his current control only allowed for three to be out and about at a time. There, they collapsed right into his palms, condensing his hands into a shade of darkness with which he made a hand-to-hand pose with.

"Trap, Black Hole!"

Ren paused, wondering. "Why not binary?" Jaune blinked, lost at the definition. "It means two of a kind. Like your Twin Supernovas. It doesn't make logical sense to give a name meant for one, to two objects. This way if you use only one Black Hole, it's still called Black Hole."

Jaune rubbed his chin, fixated on the name. "Binary Black Hole? It does make naming it all the simpler. No more confusion!"

Ren stared at the mass of darkness around Jaune's hands, seeing a definite image of a certain brawler they all knew. "You know, I'm just now noticing closely your Binary Black Hole look like Yang's fighting gloves."

"Ya, think?" The ninja nodded and Jaune sighed before racing at Ren with a fist cocked back in a familiar Yang pose. "Really wish I knew how to use Dark Matter."

Ren dodged the fist, ducking underneath his strike to deliver a timed kick to Jaune's stomach, only for him to catch his foot with his Lore infused hand. "I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually."

Jaune held Ren's foot tightly, binding his time as the three Gravities closed in on Ren's stationary position. He aimed all three by using his Black Hole covered hand, increasing their trajectory and speed to collide with Ren's chest while also shooting a fist forward at Ren's nose. It really did remind the Lie of Yang's gloves

Eyes widening a bit, he lunged back by using his other foot to kick himself free, narrowly avoiding the three Gravities and fist to the nose. One attack from Gravity he could easily deal with, knowing his cloak would prevent it from stealing any Aura, but three together wasn't a power he wanted to trifle with. Ren was doubly glad Jaune's Black Hole couldn't immobilize his Aura, but the Lie wasn't so sure what a Binary Black Hole was capable of.

He preferred not to find out.

Ren dodged to the side when Jaune willed the sphere in his direction, and he kicked each one of Gravities away, aiming one for his leader, calm the entire time. Even if they couldn't drain away his Aura, those balls were as condensed as solid stone. They still hurt when driven with enough driving force. And so far they proved to be indestructible. The Lie still remembered the time The Sloth King bashed one away so easily that it broke through a tree.

Ducking underneath his incoming Gravity, Jaune widened his eyes when Ren threw a punch to his chest. Determined, he trapped Ren's fist in his Black Hole covered palm, quickly spotting the difference in forces. He noticed now and when Ren had attempted to kick him. Both proved to be oddities, a mismatching power that didn't quite add up to Ren's current generated Outer Space. His kicks were heavy, and his punches weighed as much as a sandbag. Yet, he was light and surprisingly nimble on his feet.

All of this kind of reminded him of The Sloth King's strength and speed.

Glaring down at Ren's trapped fist, he weighed in with critical eyes. "I think the cloak's doing something to your movements? They're far much heavier than they should be; you're much lighter when it's convenient. I guess it kind of makes sense with Lore's power of gravity and whatnot."

That logic added up to Ren. He knew the cloak upped more than just his Aura control. "You have any idea how it works?"

"Not a clue. It must be the cloak's doing." Jaune saw Ren's Lore fight against his Black Hole, but could it stall two? "Using gravity to increase power and lessen falling damage? Genius! Why didn't I think of that?"

Throwing a fist forward, it was Ren's turn to capture Jaune's fist with his hand, trapping them in a stalemate, or so he thought. One Black Hole was his cloak's limit because Ren felt his Aura being decompressed in a strong gravitational force by two. He wasn't entirely helpless, the cloak did guard against a generous amount of Lore, but it was definitely a losing battle if he stayed locked in with his leader. Not to mention the three Gravities were quickly closing in on their locked positions. And the Lie knew without a doubt that'd be bad on his Aura.

Releasing Jaune's hand, but not before leaving behind a nice trace amount of bad luck, Ren retracted StormFlower from his freed combat sleeve and aimed at Jaune's chest, causing his leader to retreat. The ninja wasn't allowed to properly aim, forced to dodge three different Gravities from three different directions. Two he successfully avoided, bending back, but one of them managed to hit his palm and knock his weapon away. Then before he can even process what was happening, all three Gravities hovered over StormFlower and lifted it from off the ground, floating it toward Jaune and his awaiting hand.

Glaring, Ren took cover behind a tree. "Now that's just not fair."

"What's the point in taking cover?"

Ren didn't understand what Jaune meant until he was forced to avoid the three Gravities coming from his left side. By rolling out of their way, he was met with a hailstorm of bullets that slowly started chipping away at his defenses and Aura, before rolling back for cover. But he knew hiding wouldn't prove beneficial. As long as Jaune knew or sensed his Outer Space, he could just send the Gravities to fetch him out. But there had to be a limit to their distance. Ren knew they had one. The prank on Ruby and Yang proved there to be one.

Peeking behind the tree, he narrowed his eyes at the way Jaune had Black Hole extended out. Clearly, his leader was controlling the Gravities with the aid of his Lore infused hand, increasing their overall speed and driving momentum. He guided their movements from afar where he was safe from harm, like strings attached to puppets.

Binding his time, Ren took a deep breath and avoided the next array of Gravities, charging at Jaune in a mad rush. No point in hiding, not while those things were hot on his trail.

He lunged forward and aimed a roundhouse kick at his leader's head, intent to bring the fight to Jaune. His Fearless Leader took aim and tried to open fire, but found StormFlower jammed. When he finally figured it out, he grinned and brought up his forearm to block Ren's roundhouse kick, undeterred by the powerhouse force.

"You really are a sneaky ninja."

Grabbing Ren's foot with his other arm, Jaune tossed the Lie across the battlefield, throwing the useless weapon to the ground. He bunched his fist together, armed and ready, and dashed forward. Those few weeks of only fighting hand-to-hand really painted the picture of a fighter, and Jaune kind of enjoyed fighting with his bare hands. It really got the blood flowing.

Now he could see why Yang enjoyed fighting like this.

Taking a page out of Ren's book, Jaune surrounded his arm with the Gravities on a theory and brought his fist down, amplified by an intense gravity he was only now learning to monopolize. The control was severely lacking—nothing he found odd for his first time trying—but he certainly felt a gravitational pressure surround his entire arm.

Instincts on high alert, Ren barely rolled out of the way, attention centered on the rupture forest floor. There was a sizable crater left behind from Jaune's strike, breaking the earth beneath his knuckles. From the cloud of dust, the three orbs of Lore float out, pulling pebbles and dust within their personal gravitational pulls. They move painfully slow, acting without a will of their own, nor Jaune's. Still, they remained close to him, acting as a second pair of invisible eyes for the Arc.

Pulling his hand from out the bedrock, Jaune sighed, regretting the way his hand stung tenderly. He needed to be extra careful, compared to his Aura control, his Lore paled in comparison and the dark power didn't heal injuries. The power protecting him wasn't as kind. So he needed to better coordinate his movements. Any wasted power couldn't be forgiven.

This controlling gravity power wasn't terribly easy. Ren had it lucky, wearing a cloak that apparently automatically fixed the control between heavy and light at the flip of a coin. He was forced to improvise and learn along the way.

At least the spar revealed a thing or two. Lore was turning out to be a close-quarter power, throwing away destructive power for trapping and protection. He didn't know why it felt like that, but it just did. Even Gravity acted as nothing more than a nuisance that imprisoned his target in an inescapable lock that forced the fight well within their personal boundaries.

Aura didn't do that.

Tired of thinking, Jaune swiped the remaining dust out the way and willed all three Gravities to move. His friend waited for him to send them out, but he held them back, attaching them to his personal space instead. He had no intention of sending them out again, better to conserve Lore and amplify his gravity when needed. Controlling the influx of gravitational power between strikes may prove to be incredibly difficult, but he would somehow manage feasible results.

Mastery required time. There would be time to practice later. Right now, trying to land a clean strike on Mr. Nimble and Quick was a mission all on its own. Damn ninjas and their slippery moves.

Patience thinning, Ren dashed over to Jaune, arms thrown back in order to hide his fingers as he attempted another hand-sign. But it failed. The backlash hurt his fingers, numbing them to a pain not even Aura could reverse.

Angry, he threw a fist forward, glaring when Jaune not only dodged it but redirected his line of attack to a tree. Reasonably enough, he expected to hurt his knuckles on the tree bark, maybe break some skin, but his hand partially shattered the tree's infrastructure in a mighty blow.

Surprised by his power, the Lie sidestepped Jaune's retaliation punch, using his palm to push the fist away from his face before back-flipping a few meters back. Along the way, he managed to pick up StormFlower and hide it back within his combat sleeve.

Distance gained, he narrowed his eyes at the ruptured tree. The mass of power he unleashed concerned him. That was how strong his kicks and punches were? His leader still managed to not only block each strike but counter or parry? Advanced Aura and Lore control narrowed the gap that much? And his Grimm cloak enhanced his control to such a degree?

Grabbing the sleeve of his cloak, Ren hummed in appreciation, unaware of any pain. "Amazing."

"It's fun to learn, isn't it?"

The ninja answered by charging at his leader. Like a symphony, they danced around to the beats of their individual strength. Heavy punches and kicks were thrown around. Neither could get a clear upper hand on the other. Both felt themselves held back by an invisible force that was only becoming more noticeable the longer they fought. Limits were being reached. It burned their souls to find themselves stuck at that wall.

Lore's negative emotional properties certainly weren't helping.

Jumping back, Jaune recalled his Gravities to center back at him and felt a bit of Outer Space from over his shoulder. A lone Beowolf had crawled up on him, fascinated by the human with darkness attached to his soul. For a moment, the Grimm didn't fear the Arc, but then the human growled at the beast and it sunk back into the forest.

Being fueled by Lore's properties, Ren moved with his Lore cloak, weakening the gravitational forces around him. Mixed with a great speed, he aimed a high-kick for Jaune's neck, only for his leader to step back and avoid the kick entirely. So, Ren quickly fixed his position and aimed a fist at Jaune's nose.

His leader caught it and he captured his leader's counter-fist.

Stuck in another stalemate, Ren sighed after accounting for the scene between Jaune and the Beowolf. "That's the one thing I don't understand about you. How can you fight with a power you have no trust in?"

Jaune broke off the stalemate. "What are you talking about?"

Gazing over at the young Beowolf, Ren frowned. "I notice the way you look at Sir Scrabbles. It's been obvious to everyone but Nora. You don't really like that Grimm. You never have. Yet, you fight with the same power and expect results. Why?"

"And what does liking that Grimm have to do with Lore?"

"It's not about liking Sir Scrabbles, it's the principle. I'm just speculating, but have you ever considered that Lore doesn't want you to have any more power because you don't trust it? Have you ever thought of that?"

Jaune scoffed, cracking his neck. "That's dumb. Lore's a power, not a living force. How could it prevent me from using its powers to the fullest? That makes zero sense."

"Nothing you do makes sense, Jaune. You should know that better than anyone." His leader simply crossed his arms. "You've said it yourself, Lore has influence over emotions, the Grimm can feel and sense emotions, and maybe your Lore has its own. I say this because the more I wear this cloak and spend time with Sir Scrabbles, the more I can relate to them."

Jaune considered his words heavily. Ren did somewhat have a point. Lore did attribute to emotions. Could his distrust of the dark power really be his undoing? Personally, he didn't believe it, especially not with the biggest hypocrisy standing before him. Lore and Aura were still two sides of the same coin. What went around and came around.

Getting fueled by Lore, Jaune moved up and poked Ren on the shoulder. "It's funny that you say that because that means that this trust stuff works both ways."

The ninja poked Jaune right back. "And what do you mean by that?"

Grabbing some of the threading of the Lore cloak, Jaune pulled on it. "Just like how you've been paying attention to me, I've been keeping a close eye on you. And if that's the case, then you're just as guilty as I am." He released the threading. "Since the day you told me about your past, I've noticed that you did everything in your power to lock away your Aura like a prisoner, but you still battled alongside it. Even now this cloak's nothing more a jail cell to hold your Aura in. For all you know, maybe that's why you can't use those Lie techniques of yours. If those eyes of yours are powered by Aura, then it'd make sense for them not to work."

When Jaune's statement landed, neither of the two moved another muscle. Both their words had hit a sore spot since it attributed so heavily to their current circumstances. A gentle breeze fluttered by and ruffled up the tree leaves hanging above their heads, shaking up the earth-shattering theories. The surrounding Grimm observed from behind trees and underneath bushes, enthralled by the two humans that fought with their shadows. They acted like two opposite sides of the spectrum with different ideals, but principles all the same.

Jaune was then the first to break, absorbing his Lore entirely in a fit of sadness. "Hey, uh, sorry, I didn't mean to say that. There's probably a different reason to why you can't use your family's techniques. I'm just being dumb."

Ren opened his collar and smiled with the same level of guilt. "No, I must apologize; I shouldn't have said anything, to begin with. It was out of line and it ruined our training session. I'm sure you'll figure out how to master your Lore in no time."

Just like that, all the undesirable aspects of their negative emotions weren't fueled by their surrounding Lore anymore. Everything bad was gone and it left a pair of awkward teens in its wake. But if these two could survive Atlas, they could survive this.

Too bad it didn't make the situation any less awkward.

Beep!

Jaune quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his scroll in record time. His eyes couldn't move fast enough to read and he laughed gracelessly at the equally ill-placed ninja.

"Ah, would you look at that, looks like the mission's done. Professor Goodwitch just messaged me. She wants up to meet up at the entrance of the village for the Bullhead. We better hurry up then."

Time cut short, Ren waved his hand and began walking in a different direction. He had one more matter of business to take care of and with his time abruptly skewed, now was the only time to confront the issue before he forever lost the opportunity.

"You go find Pyrrha and Nora; I'll meet you guys there. There's just one person I have to meet before we leave."

Jaune would ask who, but the atmosphere was still too awkward for him and graciously accepted the out.

...

When Shiragiku exited the building used to hold the council meetings, he wasn't surprised to find Lie Ren waiting outside the door with his eyes enthralled in a nonchalant manner. He figured this was coming up after Glynda Goodwitch announced that the mission had been completed an hour prior. Shiragiku was simply wondering what took the Lie so long to arrive.

"So, you're leaving now, eh?"

Ren held out his hand and motioned Shiragiku to move closer. When the old man did, he swiftly delivered a powerful jab to his stomach, causing the old-timer to stumble a few steps back. Funny enough, Shiragiku smirked with the pain and waggled his finger at the indifferent Lie. Ren failed to find any humor.

"To be fair, you had that coming."

Shiragiku wheezed and reached into his pocket. Out he pulled a tiny item wrapped around a timeworn cloth. "You're just like your father, you know that. Well, don't go just yet, there's something I have for you. Just went to retrieve it for you. It's been collecting dust for years now."

Hidden beneath the cloth was a small knife. Simple in design, the handle was brown and the blade curved and extended out midway. The knife barely resembled anything remotely intricate and had nothing going for it in the terms of uniqueness. It really was just some random knife.

Shiragiku was gifting this to him?

"A knife?"

The old man quickly saw through Ren's confusion and smirked. "Don't let its appearance fool you, boy, this ain't no ordinary knife. I know it doesn't look much, but this one here belonged to your mother. And I think it's about time for it to belong in your hands."

Shiragiku personally enjoyed the way Ren's façade shattered. Suddenly, the knife no longer appeared dull or worthless. Whatever uninteresting features it possessed no longer matter to Ren, and he gratefully accepted the gift with a humbleness he never knew he had.

"Thank you."

"Ah, don't worry about. I don't deserve your thanks. You should've been given this a long time ago. We should've had that talk a long time ago."

Gripping the knife tightly, Ren allowed the edges to cut into his skin. "It's my fault we ran away."

The old man roughly shoved him on the shoulder, stopping him from cutting anymore into his skin. "Yeah, but you and that lightning bug were just youngsters at the time. We were the adults. We should've been watching you. Especially after what your clans did to protect this town."

Both of them knew they could go in endless circles about this, so neither added anything beyond that. With a simple nod, he pocketed away the family heirloom and shoved Shiragiku on his shoulder. A tiny smirk presented itself and Ren walked past the old man, never once looking back at his home, but he did exit with a simple wave over his shoulder.

"Take care of yourself."

...

At the entrance of Kurochō, all of Team JNPR was packed and ready to depart back to Beacon. The only one not presented was Glynda Goodwitch. Good, too, because Nora was stuffing Sir Scrabbles into Ren's outfit at the last possible minute since the Lie had taken his sweet time getting back from wherever he ventured off to. And did he look sorry at all?

Nope.

Arriving that last minutes later, Glynda returned with her travel bag and greeted her fellow students. "Sorry that so long, I had to collect our payment. Is everyone here? Good! Let's return back."

Like magic, the Bullhead appeared from over the horizon and landed right before them. None dared to comment about what just happened. And the professor entered first with the rest of the team following. She waltzed right into the very back of the airship, busy messing with her scroll. For various reasons, the rest of Team JNPR split into pairs and sat apart.

The following hour-long ride back to Beacon carried a tense atmosphere with it. Surrounding silence wasn't a usual follower when it came to Team JNPR, but this rare blue moon had left everyone stuck in their own little world. Only Nora gushed and acted like her usual optimistic self, snuggling up to Ren throughout the whole ride with Sir Scrabbles hiding easily within the Lore cloak. Ren had an arm around her, loving the way she fit into his personal space like a key to a lock. Her loving embrace almost settled the brewing storm in his mind, but nothing could wash away what his leader had said.

Was it true? Did he treat his Aura like a prisoner? Was his Lore cloak—this gift—nothing more than a jail cell meant to trap, control, and force his Aura to obey his laws. Based on what Ren had read in The Constellations, Aura was nothing like Lore. It moved fast and burned brighter than any star. Power like that probably wasn't meant to be locked away in a cage. Heat needed life to be sustained. Lore didn't need that. It was the cold and numbing power that preferred the darkness and absolute control. Just ask his Fearless Leader. Jaune still didn't have unconditional control over Lore.

Had this Lie been blinded by his own fibs? Had he come to believe in the fantasies he set up for himself all over again? Did the truth still blind him now?

"Ren?" He looked down at the queen who called upon him. "What's wrong?"

Suddenly, none of those conflicting issues mattered anymore, because the answer was staring up at him with worry. She must've been staring for quite a while because her smile was nowhere to be found and she had pressed her body closer to his in an effort to calm his beating heart.

The Lie soon found himself smiling foolishly all over again.

How could he forget already? Of course, some parts of him were blinded by the truth. Old habits die hard, after all. No one was safe from that. Not Jaune and his tendency to lie to protect his friends, nor Pyrrha and her contradictory motives to shield her friend's from issues eating away at her. Not even himself and his ability to see himself the monster hiding in disguise. For Monty's sake, he was wearing a cloak made out of Grimm fur. No one just walked away from old habits without a few lingering in their shadows for a tad longer.

Leaning down, he rested his forehead on Nora's. His truth was right here and right now. He just hadn't completely looked past the lie yet. This doubtlessly included other aspects of his life, Aura included. But time healed all wounds. Ren only needed more time to let what his leader had said to sink in.

"Nothing, Nora, just busy thinking."

"Well, stop thinking. I want cuddles."

Probably the best advice he ever heard.

...

A few rows ahead of the lovebirds, the other half of Team JNPR were lost in their own thoughts. Pyrrha with her future Maiden problems and Jaune with what Ren had said about trust. The two barely even looked at each, taking the comfortable silence with reverence. But Lady Luck wasn't done with Jaune yet, and soon a messaged beeped from Pyrrha's scroll, stopping the partner's internal struggle to focus on the beeping.

"You might want to get that, Pyrrha? It could be Unlucky Gems asking if you could do a cover shot for their next cereal box."

Smiling at his lame joke, she made sure to hit him extra hard in the shoulder before opening the message. Her smile almost dropped upon reading the message's recipient, Headmaster Ozpin.

Glynda Goodwitch has informed me of your decision. You know where to go. Glynda will follow you once you land.

"Hey, Pyrrha? Everything alright?"

Blinking in a panic, she hastily closed the message and gave her partner her best tournament winning smile. Jaune saw right through her mask. That smile exactly resembled her I'm Sorry smile. He should know. He had only seen it during their nightly training sessions, the ones that made him want to redirect his focus somewhere and discover the intricate secrets of Aura.

Yeah, that one.

"Everything's fine, Jaune. Headmaster Ozpin just wants to meet me up to discuss a few things about my future classes."

Taking her silence into account, he ignored the obvious lie, knowing once the I'm Sorry smile was up to only take some of her words to truth. He wanted to pry. Nothing more would supply him greater comfort than helping Pyrrha past the issue that had been plaguing her the past few days. Instead, he held his tongue and accepted the answer. If this went on for more than a few days, then he was going to stick his foot down and figure out what was going on.

But for now, he would leave her with solace. "You know... you could tell me if something's up."

This time she switched to her Hello Again smile. "I know..."

Knowing he wouldn't get anything else out of her—unless he deliberately called her out on it—he reached into his pocket and began the slow process of adding Lore to the shard in his pocket. After their little spar, Jaune was interested in pushing his limits of control to the fullest, starting with adding more Lore to this Dust shard. No more breaks in-between.

Truth be told, he loathed what Ren had hypothesized about his lack of control. And not because it sounded strange and improbable, that meant purely nothing compared to what was written in The Constellations, but because it challenged his personal views on the Grimm as a complete whole.

As a manipulator of Lore and Aura, the Fearless Leader was anything but simple and close-minded. He knew fairly well where the power of Aura and Lore came from—and where they differed. Their source of powers fascinated him to no end, but a past quote of Ren's still hit hard in his soul.

Because if I'm right... then that means the Grimm have souls.

That and Ren's claim back in the forest had jumbled up his thoughts in more ways than one. His friend hit the mark when he pointed out Jaune's reluctance with Sir Scrabbles. Since day one he failed to feel entirely comfortable with the sloth around, even if he could effortlessly obliterate the little guy with a blast of Supernova anytime he so desired. Honestly, the tiny Grimm wasn't the problem.

Lore's entirety just rubbed him the wrong way. When he learned of the power's origins, ideals shifted and opinions changed dramatically. Only Nora's unconditional love kept him from kicking the Grimm out. Well, that and Ren had slowly grown more attached to it. A byproduct of being around cute animals. Given enough time and he was more than sure Pyrrha would be giving the little guy baths while she moaned about her day.

So no, he didn't trust the Grimm, not one bit. How could he? Jaune's sole purpose for forging his way into Beacon was a blind testament to that. To be asked to toss that aside like yesterday's new was beyond difficult. Which was why he saw no correlation between trusting the Grimm and his abyssal control over Lore. The two couldn't possibly correlate in such a way. Lore was a power source, not a person. And even if they somehow, possibly correlated, his next question was why.

Why would that be a deciding factor? It wasn't like Jaune feared the power of Lore. He only distrusted the origins, not the power itself. What possibly barrier could distrust create?

Closing his eyes, he leaned back in his chair and simply breathed.

Why was this so hard? Why couldn't he grasp the power that remained hidden within his soul? Why? Why was it just out of reach? What reason could there conceivably be to halt him at every damn turn? It made absolutely no sense!

Attention students, we will be landing soon. I repeat. We will be landing soon.

Frustrated, the Arc counted a few specs floating in the air, glad that they never changed. At least he could count on some things being there for him to make sense.

Playing with the Lore shard in his pocket, he slowly glared when he noticed some of Pyrrha's Aura suddenly flare up. Jaune was more than sure it possibly had to do with her emotions, unless he wasn't seeing some killer monster hiding in one of the nearby seats. Aura just worked like that. Like Semblances and Lore's ability to affect negative emotions. They were all tied to emotions in some shape or form. Now the question was why Pyrrha emotions were acting all wonky. He hadn't said anything to her for most the ride, half due to Professor Goodwitch sitting a few rows back, but more cause the spar between the duo had taken more out of him than he thought. And suddenly she was nervous when they were so close to home?

Something wasn't adding up.

He remained quiet when they landed. He even bit his tongue when Pyrrha's Aura flared a second time. It was like she was doing it on purpose, to alert him without saying a single word or giving off any inclination to her goals. Then his mussing was cut short when Professor Goodwitch walked up to Pyrrha and led her away from their team.

Narrowing his eyes, Jaune switched over to his Aura and felt the force of pressure budding down upon him from Space. The Aura's power was gradual, non-violent, and acted upon being willed. No one noticed but him. He was starting to wonder if Pyrrha was acting more vocal than he first thought. But he couldn't follow her and simply ask. Not while Professor Goodwitch accompanied her to Ozpin's office.

For now, he would casually wait to approach the subject.

Throwing his head back, he found the couple walking down the Bullhead with Ren's hand wrapped around Nora's waist. Guy looked like he was on cloud nine. There was a pun about rainclouds in there somewhere.

The Arc raised a brow when Nora whispered something into Ren's ear. Acting all hush-hush and guilty. A moment later and the Lie was strolling up to his leader, appearing the tiniest bit sheepish. However, that all came to a frightening stop when he took one serious glance at Jaune's calm façade.

"Did something happen?"

Jaune kept his expressions blank. "I don't know yet, maybe. I need to see what's wrong with Pyrrha? Something's majorly bugging her bad."

"Why? I thought you were fine waiting for her to come to you when she was ready? And now you're changing your mind."

He huffed and looked over his shoulder. "That was before I felt her Aura flare up. Whatever is messing with my partner, it has her on edge. And I think she's trying to tell me something, I just don't know what." Jaune slowly breathed. "I'll confront her after she comes back from her meeting with Ozpin. To be honest, maybe I should've done this earlier."

"We all make mistakes. I'm sure everything will work out." Taking Jaune's silence as a good sign, he not so discreetly elbowed Jaune in the ribs. "Hey, Nora and I are going to walk around for a bit."

The Arc blinked innocently, hiding back a grin. "What? Is that code for going to make-out?"

He hadn't meant to say that so loud, but the thought of them doing that kind of made him forget proper etiquette and blurt out the first thing that came to mind. Or maybe Jaune wanted to purposely embarrass Nora for all it was worth. It wasn't like Mr. Public Display of Affection got embarrassed. None of them could prove a damn thing, anyway.

She acted out just like he hoped—with a blush mixed with embarrassed fury—and had her arms screwed to her sides. She stormed up to her leader, looking like a fiery tomato waiting to burst. Holding back a laugh proved to be more challenging than learning to forge Excalibur. Ren, at the very least, managed to keep a straight face.

"What? No! That's not it! Why would you think such a dumb thought, Jaune-Jaune?" Ren smirked and kissed her on the cheek. She was instantly pushing him back. "Stop it, Renny! Not in front of our Dumb Leader!"

He stole another surprise kiss on the lips. "Love-love you, too!"

"Gah!"

They watched her storm off for Emerald Forest, clearly flustered from all the affection. Ren felt no guilt whatsoever and shot Jaune a small smile. Just wait until Team RWBY found out. The teasing from them was going to be merciless.

The Arc scoffed seconds later with a teasing grin. "Gosh, I never thought she'd be the embarrassed-type. I always pictured Nora more open about your relationship. I guess she gets embarrassed easily. Who would've thought?"

Ren's smile stretched a bit wider. "I love that about her."

"You're so whipped..." Jaune shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "So? What now?"

"Now..." he opened his cloak and handed Sir Scrabbles over to Jaune. His leader took the Grimm with silent caution. "Now I'm off to spend time with Nora. Here, could you take Sir Scrabbles with you back to the dorm? He's been fidgeting since the flight. I guess he doesn't enjoy traveling through the air."

They both knew what Ren was doing, but his friend trusted him enough for such a task, so Jaune wouldn't fail. Didn't mean he had to like it. Even if Sir Scrabbles was Nora's precious baby, it was still a Grimm with moderately sharp claws and blood colored eyes. Lines were drawn somewhere in the sand.

His Fearless Leader held up the Grimm and frowned. "I guess we both don't like Bullheads, huh? But sure, I'll take him back." Jaune fixed the sloth to the back of his hoodie and tensed when its arms wrapped around his neck. He waved Ren off with that teasing grin of his. "Now go find your girlfriend before she ends up breaking something. We're on Professor Goodwitch's good side, I want to stay there."

The ninja rolled his eyes and left without humoring him. Jaune probably would've found that rude, maybe even tease Ren a bit on being in such a hurry to find Nora, but he just wanted to reach his bed and lay down for a bit before venturing out to find Pyrrha. Not to mention the faster he moved, the quicker he could remove Sir Scrabbles from his neck. It felt odd to have the little guy so close to his person without either of the parents around. Interacting with Grimm with Lore was one thing, having one wrapped around his neck was another. This was the first time the tiny guy had ever invaded his person.

It frustrated him.

The feeling was mutual with the way Sir Scrabbles remained perfectly still around his neck, most likely feeling the negative emotions attributed to Jaune Arc from such a close proximity. And if the tiny Grimm had learned anything about the four humans it bunked with, it was to not trifle with the pack leader, not while the King's Subject and Future Lady were away. Sure, the alpha male had the foolish appearance, harmless smile and whimsical charm that all fools had, but Sir Scrabbles meticulously knew not to misjudge a fool.

All it took was one fool to collapse an entire monarchy.

"C'mon, Sir Scrabbles, let's head back to the dorm. I have a feeling Nora and Ren are going to be gone a while. And I still need to talk to Pyrrha. Man, what a day."

Sir Scrabbles braved a small sound. Jaune didn't react to it and wandered back to their dorm, mood clipped and movements stiff. People passing by hardly paid him a glance, a blessing in disguise. The duo weren't fortunate enough to have access to Ren's garbs, a perfect disguise for hiding the tiny Grimm. Any student worth their Dust would easily be able to see the bump from the back of his hoodie and have the power to gossip and none of Team JNPR needed that. Not with the Vytal Tournament less than two weeks away.

Avoiding everyone like the Aura Plague, they reached their hallway, practically in the clear. As soon as Jaune grabbed the handle to his team's door, Team RWBY's door burst open to reveal a livid Blake. Her teeth were bare and the amber in her eyes glowed with fury. She wasn't directing her anger toward him—actually calming down a bit the moment she saw him—but the yelling coming from inside their dorm revealed the person she most likely had a fight with. And his friend stomped away before anything could be said.

Yang ran out a second later. "Blake! Get back here!"

Sensing impending doom—and knowing his luck better than anyone—Jaune calmly breathed in and looked away. Maybe if he turned the handle right now, he'd be able to avoid any female's wrath. But no, Fate, like Karma and Lady Luck, had better plans for their favorite chew toy.

"And where have you been all this time? You walked out of our deal. I hope you have a good excuse."

Jaune flinched from the accusing tone Weiss had adopted. A quick turn revealed her leaning on the framework with her arms crossed, frown deep, and eyes cold. Somewhere in the background, he could see Ruby cleaning up an inferno of a mess in their room. That was before Weiss shut the door and cleared her throat.

To be perfectly fair, he figured this talk would've happened sooner or later the very morning Team JNPR departed for their mission. He just didn't expect it to be so soon after returning. The Arc hadn't prepared any planned speech whatsoever and Weiss had every reason to be two-shades angry.

He still tried to play it off with an awkward laugh.

"Oh, hey, Weiss, fancy meeting you here. How's it going?" Her nose scrunched up. "Look, just let me explain, long story short, early mission, Professor Goodwitch's idea, just got back. It had to do with preparing for the Vytal Tournament. There was nothing I could do about it. I didn't even know about it until Sunday night."

Weiss appeared to think it over. He silently prayed for his shin's well-being. The Heiress then huffed and removed herself from the wall to stand directly in front of him. She somehow she made-up for the height difference with the way she glared.

"That would explain why Combat Class has been canceled for the past three days. But I'm confused, why was only your team sent out early? Why not ours?"

Jaune smirked. "Because Professor Goodwitch thinks we rock."

She scoffed at his ludicrous claim. "I hardly believe that's the reason."

"Believe what you want, but now my team doesn't have to worry about the mission next week. And we're going to win the Vytal Tournament. So there's that."

Weiss promptly had her tongue ready with a variety of snappy comebacks, but Yang returned and soured the mood almost instantly. She ferociously moved past the two and slammed the door shut to Team RWBY's room. Vibrations shook the hall and their feet, and the Arc winced at the cracks forming on the shingles. Weiss, for the better part, hardly flinched from the outburst. Things such as anger delegated a great part of her life prior to Beacon.

This was no different.

Feeling Sir Scrabbles shake from the unrestrained fury, Jaune backed away from their door. "Uh? Do I even want to ask what happened between Yang and Blake?"

Her cold demeanor melted at the mention of Blake's name. Slouching shoulders soon followed after with a tired sigh. "It's not Yang, only Blake. She's been going through some personal stuff... ever since we returned from Vale last Friday. And she won't talk to us." Weiss hummed in place and crossed her arms thoughtfully. "Perhaps you could talk to her?"

Jaune looked around the hallway and found no one else. When it was apparent she was referring to him, he made sure to point to himself. "Who? Me? You want me to talk to Blake?"

"We've tried everything." He doubted that but wisely kept his mouth shut. "She won't talk to us. But she enjoys your company. Maybe you could get her to open up."

It sounded like a bad idea because it was one. The blond had learned a few things about dealing with angry females from his seven sisters and occasionally distraught mother. Talking to an angry woman could only be done by another female. When it came to problems, women just spoke a different language. Men didn't understand. His father, grandfather, and he had wisely stayed away from all ill-confrontations with an angry woman, Arc or not.

Now Weiss was asking him to put his head in the lion's jaws.

Jaune preferred breathing. "Can't we just wait for her to cool down? You know, give her some space?"

She flicked her hair. "We're past that point. Blake's been like that for almost three days now. She won't talk to us. She hardly eats or sleeps. It's unhealthy. And Yang's been going crazy with trying to talk to her. So that's why I'm requesting you go beat some sense into her."

Stuck in a hard place, Jaune preferred not to get sucked into whatever melodrama was happening between Yang and Blake. The lack of progress with Lore was eating away at him. He was tired from his brawl with Ren. Muscles were sore and Sir Scrabbles's claws were starting to pinch his neck. They had just gotten back from a mission and long Bullhead ride. He needed to worry about the Vytal Tournament. And on top of that, he had his own partner problems to deal with. This was not something he wished to tackle at the moment.

Sure.

Blake was one of his closest friends, no doubt about it. Of course, he'd normally jump at the chance to help his friends, but he really wanted to go hunt down Pyrrha and see what was making her do her I'm Sorry smile. Not track down and get webbed into more problems that he had zero part in.

"Can I do this later? I kinda have a thing—!"

"Hey!" Weiss poked. She somehow made the world shake with her tiny stature and tall voice. "You owe me three favors! And for the betterment of Team RWBY, I'm redeeming one as of now. Go talk to Blake!"

"But my plate's already full with my own team!"

She paused, allowing the sounds from Team RWBY's room to escalate. "You know, Ruby and Yang are still afraid of ghosts."

The word ghost alone killed the sound in the hallway. Jaune had no choice but to glare at his Dust partner. "You're a cold person, Weiss."

"I'll be a blizzard if it helps my team. Now shoo! Go find Blake! Go on! And don't come back until Blake's acting like her usual mopey self." She shut the door with a guilty smile.

Alone in the hallway, the leader of Team JNPR sighed with a heavy heart. Things must be bad if Weiss was asking him for help, a non-member of Team RWBY. Throw in the Pyrrha problem and the world was spinning on its axis.

"When did I become everyone's guidance counselor?" he grumbled, knocking his head against his team's door. A minute later, he walked in and plopped Sir Scrabbles down onto Nora's bed. The Grimm stared wordlessly at him. "I apparently need to go do damage control. You stay here. Don't burn the room down."

The second the pack leader left the room, Sir Scrabbles crawled underneath Nora's bed and made itself comfy.

Life was good.

...

Jaune didn't have to search too hard to find his missing friend. Other than the Mess Hall and courtyard, and without the sanctuary of Team JNPR's room, Blake only had one foreseeable place to go.

The library.

She was sitting at a lone computer console, researching Oum knew what. A hard edge encompassed her normally stoic eyes. Each click of the keyboard seemed to resonate across the library and he saw the heavy bags hugging her eyes. Clearly, something was eating away at her. She never acted like this. Blake was normally in better control of her emotions.

Counting a few specs passing by his vision, Jaune mentally prepared himself for their confrontation, taking the longest leisure stroll he could muster. It didn't matter. By the time he made his way toward her, his tongue had decided to tie itself into several knots. He literally had no idea what to say to her. Sadly for him, she did.

"Go away."

The Arc frowned. Even her voice spoke of a lack of sleep. Now he saw why Weiss had pushed so hard for him to talk to Blake. Something massive was eating away at her, and if she wasn't reaching out to her own team for advice, then he'd have to be her anchor.

Grabbing a chair, he sat right next to her, ignoring her deep frown in an effort to meet her piercing eyes. A childish grin had spread across his face and he rested his cheek upon his palm, using the keyboard she was using as a pillow of sorts, completely blocking her fingers from typing anymore.

"We both know that's not going to happen."

Click!

Her finger remained stuck on the spacebar—one of the few keys he failed to hide—eyes narrowed like an animal. She hated that he refused to move, or how he cared little for blocking the screen, but most of all, she hated that he left her alone for practically three days without telling her. Blake had desperately wanted the use of their room to vent and cool off. And, probably the biggest reason of them all, she had wished to talk to him.

Talking to Jaune was always an odd-experience, but one she cherished the more it happened. However, this subject wasn't something he could not help her with. No could help her in this struggle. Blake had only wanted someone who wouldn't force the subject whenever someone saw her. Like her team.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Jaune considered it for all about three seconds. "That's cool. We don't have to talk about whatever's bugging you. We can just hang out. How about my team's room? I know how much you hate being around a crowd."

Blake knew perfectly well that he was leading her to a trap, and was probably going to breach the subject anyways, but she had a hard time not giving off the barest of smiles. Still, she was more than adamant that he couldn't help her. Not to say she wasn't grateful for his concern, because she was, but she was alone in this mission.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm content here. Now, could you please get off the keyboard?"

He sweetened the pot, ignoring her demands. "Nora and Ren are off doing something else and Pyrrha's not there." Blake said nothing, but her finger relaxed a bit on the spacebar. "Sir Scrabbles is in our room."

"Well, maybe I could stop by for a little while."

She finally released the spacebar.

...

Jaune Arc watched Blake Belladonna hug Sir Scrabbles like a lifeline.

She petted and cooed at the little guy, chest pressed tightly against a tuff of black fur. The Grimm didn't appear to mind the gushing, already beyond spoiled by a certain Pancake Queen. Funny enough, he preferred it this way. Even if he had been blackmailed into this, Jaune still found Blake's company enjoyable. He honestly missed his friend. And upon seeing how ragged and exhausted she looked, he silently blamed himself for not being there for her.

Weiss said that Blake's stubbornness had been like this for days now, ever since Team RWBY had returned from their outing to Vale last Friday. And where had he been when his friend was hurting and needed comfort? Trying to escape Atlas with the skin of their teeth. Some friend this Arc turned out to be.

Knowing Blake's perfectly fine acting like nothing was wrong from past experience; Jaune sighed and sat down across from her, palms rested on the edge of Nora's bed. She, of course, noticed immediately and tried to divert all her attention to the sloth, but the Fearless Leader of Team JNPR was having none of that now.

Bad friend or not, it was better late than never.

"So... I'm just going to ask. What's eating away at you?"

She hugged the Grimm firmer, voice very clipped. "Nothing."

Screw beating around the bush. "Look, Blake, I'll just cut straight to the point. Your team is worried about you. I'm worried about you. You don't look like you've slept or eaten much since the last time I've talked to you. What's wrong? You could talk to me. And if you can't, then at least talk to your team."

She glared and traced her fingers over Sir Scrabble's arms. "I can't talk to my team about this."

Jaune paused, seeing the sense of Déjà vu. That wasn't the first time an issue with her team had surfaced up. Surprisingly, she had been spoiling the Grimm when they last talked about their team. And at the end of their argument, Blake accepted her team for whom they were and went to talk to them about her issues. Things worked out. Plans had been made. Feelings were heard. But now it appeared she had relapsed and fallen back into old habits with running with her problems, instead of confronting them.

He needed to remind her why that never worked. "Didn't we already have this talk? Your team cares about you, you know that." He was the one who helped her seek out her team for advice in the first place. "Why are you shutting them out?"

She lowered her head, but her voice hardened. "It's not that. I know they care, I do, but they don't understand anything. What's driving me isn't something they or anybody else at Beacon understands. I can't drag them into my problems."

Jaune thought about it. A simple frown and tap on the lips made him consider her dilemma, after all, the Arc knew a thing or two about not understanding. Just look at him. Not exactly the picture-perfect Huntsmen Candidate of the Year. Very few, if any, truly related to his problems on a personal level. But maybe, just maybe, Blake might.

"Maybe I'd understand if you told me?"

"You won't."

His eyes narrowed. "Try me."

Blake narrowed her eyes right back but allowed them to weaken when Jaune showed no cracks in his armor. He neither faltered nor looked away. He only wanted to see what she saw. Maybe if she told him, he would understand why no one could help her and drop the subject.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." Blake huffed, standing up to look out their window. "When my team went out to Vale last week, we didn't go out for a team outing, we went out to spy on The White Fang. We learned that The White Fang was working with a well-known criminal named Roman Torchwick and wanted to get more information on their plans of attacks. That... plan... didn't go so well, but we managed to stop the Roman, that was before he escaped." She sighed tiredly. "I've been trying to find any leads to where possibly The White Fang could be at, but all my searches have come up empty-handed."

Jaune blinked, absorbing the information with interest. Whatever he expected Blake to say, it wasn't anywhere close to that. Stopping the bad guys? Okay! He got that. He saw the heroism in it. Definitely sounded like something Ruby would drag her team to do, but he recalled the trip to Vale was all Blake's idea. Weiss had told him that some time ago.

"Okay... I kind of see why you've been on edge now. You want to stop The White Fang from doing any more harm. No problem." None of this made any sense. He made it clear by tilting his head. "But what I don't get it is why this matters to you so much? Why do you care about The White Fang so much that you're losing sleep over it? It's bad, it's a problem for sure, but to lose sleep over it? Why?"

Blake froze at the question.

The temperature in the room felt like it dropped below zero. The way Jaune was staring at her, like an enigma waiting to cracked, made her want to run away and hide. But she stayed. All the moments she had spent in this room, relating to his problems on many personal levels, made them more than just dog-haters. They're friends. Good friends. And she felt—no!

She knew she could trust the blond noodle.

Playing with Sir Scrabbles's fur, she exhaled and then put the little guy down. The Grimm felt her panicked emotions and both the stunned occupants watched her slowly reach up toward her bow. Hesitation spread across her face, and after a bit of lip-biting, she grabbed the bow and allowed her hands to remain there. Then, like a bandage, she ripped off her bow to reveal a pair of cat ears hiding underneath.

When she stared at Jaune, it was the first she had seen him look so speechless and out-of-place.

"Because I'm... I'm a Faunus."

Like a fish out of water, Jaune remained mute and confused. He didn't know how to react. Blake? A Faunus? Her of all people? Probably a feline? He could safely say he hadn't seen that one coming. At least now he saw why this all mattered to her on a personal level. The White Fang's true goal was equality between the Faunus and humans. Equality wasn't exactly a laughing matter. He clearly didn't see the punchline. People have fought and died for freedom. The war of the past was fought over such an issue.

"So, you're a Faunus?" Jaune repeated. He was unsure how to react. "Whoa, my mind's kind of blown right now. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."

That'd at least explained the whole fish cake fiasco.

Quietly, she dropped her bow and stared sadly at the floor. Her shoulders shook and her breath hitched. Her tone was so soft he almost missed it. "So now you know... do you hate me?"

Jaune stopped thinking to focus on her question.

Hate her?

Of all the things to ask, of all questions to follow-up on, and Blake had to ask that? She thought just because she had an extra set of ears and was born slightly different than him, that he was going to shun her like other people would and hate her for it. Did his friend really see herself in such a horrible light? Was the fear gnawing at her possibly that strong? If so, then Jaune answered the only way he knew how.

By laughing like a madman.

Blake gasped at the way he laughed. She anticipated a variety of reactions. She had lived through her fair share of them. But a laugh? A laugh was not one she had experienced before. Maybe if the laughing had proved taunting, she could chalk it up to mocking her, but Jaune's voice lacked such an edge.

No.

The blond noodle of Team JNPR simply laughed at her question—like it was the dumbest question in the entire world. It made her feel childish. It forced her to look away in embarrassment. But most of all, it made her soul sing and Aura warm. Because when he finished laughing his heart out, there wasn't a single trace of hatred anywhere in those clear blue sky eyes of his. Not even when he picked up her bow and smiled foolishly at the clever piece of clothing.

"Why would you ask something so dumb, Blake? I thought you were smarter than that." Jaune waved one hand in the air. "So you're a Faunus? Big Deal! Faunus or human, it doesn't matter to me. All I care about is the person that you are. And you're Blake." He grinned and placed the bow down and grabbed her wrists. "So no, I don't hate you. I don't hate Blake Belladonna at all, Faunus or not. So please don't ever ask that question again."

Stuck in a loop, Blake found her voice missing. No sound would come out. Even if she could talk, she wouldn't know what to say. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess. So she did the only thing she could do! That was to look away and stubbornly refuse Jaune the opportunity to see her eyes water. And the Arc didn't need to see her face to know how happy she was. Her wiping away the imaginary dust from her eyes was more than enough for him.

"You're such an idiot."

His grin grew three sizes that day. "If being an idiot is what it takes to keep you happy, then I'm the biggest fool in Remnant." He grabbed her bow and pushed it into her shaking hands. "But what I do hate is seeing my friend beating herself over something she had no control over. So let's do a do-over. Hi, Blake, can you tell me what's wrong? I'm all ears."

She finally looked at him, eyes slightly red and grin impossible to miss. "Is that a jab at my ears?" He respectfully remained quiet. "Jerk."

Laughing now, Jaune sat down next to her and bumped her shoulder. "So even if you're a Faunus, I still don't get why you're so hung about The White Fang? You can't control what they do."

Blake lost her smile and frowned. Telling Jaune about her heritage was one thing, but telling him about her involvement with The White Fang might push her precious friend away. But every time she thought one thing about Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Scraggly, he surprised her with another gift that blew her mind. Maybe, if there really was a Monty Oum, he could relate to her not-so-glamorous past and look past it with understanding.

The odds have proven favorably so far. Why not try just one more push?

She steeled her nerves and went all in. "I was... part of The White Fang. I used to be what the world sees as a terrorist. I'm just as responsible for the Dust robberies as any of them. And it scares me. Because I don't know when it's all going to catch up and bring everything crashing down."

This time Jaune didn't have the exact answer she needed. Learning about her heritage was a major shocker, but learning about her involvement with The White Fang, well, it was fortunate he was already sitting down. Because Blake had his tongue and mentally twisted it into a hundred different knots. Still, he needed to say something—anything!

"Blake—?"

"Do you know what's like being here at Beacon, being surrounded by wonderful friends, and knowing in the back of your head that you don't deserve any of it? That maybe someone more deserving should've taken your spot? Someone who didn't fight for a cause that did more harm than good?" she sniffed with a tired glare. "Do you even remotely understand any of that?"

With her whole reasoning on the table, his eyes widened before relaxing. Did he understand any of that? What was with Blake asking the dumbest questions in the world? Of course, he understood where she was coming from. Because every day he woke up and thanked his Lucky Stars for blessing him with his good fortune.

So when push came to shove, he didn't cower. Didn't hide or frowned. Jaune simply laughed and met Blake's heated stubbornness with understanding and compassion. Because, in all honesty, she probably understood him better than even his own team.

"Of course I do, my transcripts are fake, after all."

The Fearless Leader had never seen Blake's head whip around so fast, or her eyes widened in such a manner before. If he thought her tongue was tied before, then this required a whole new word. But she recovered quickly, narrowing her eyes into impossible slits with unrivaled fury.

"You're lying. You're just saying that to make me feel better. I don't like it when people lie to me to make me feel better."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not lying?" The blond shook his head with a quirky laugh to follow. "But nope! Not lying, sorry. I never took any test or went to some Combat School like everyone else. I forged my transcripts and got accepted into a school under false pretenses. I'm not a terrorist, but I'm a liar and a cheat. I can't be trusted either. I don't deserve my friends. And I don't deserve to be here. In the end, we're both crooks." He bumped her shoulder a second time. "Guess we both have that in common, huh?"

Blake shook her head. "No. You're lying! You have to be! It can't be true." Jaune let his smile do all the talking. "You're not lying? Your transcripts really aren't real?"

"Yup! Totally fake! One-hundred and ten percent counterfeit. So..." he drawled. "Any more life-changing secrets you have left to dish out? Because I'm totally fresh out."

Emotions soon overcame the feline when Jaune's truth became apparent, and she quickly stood up, tongue figuratively tied. Both Sir Scrabbles and Jaune watched her move around his room in a panic. None of them thought to stop her. Kind of hard not to with the way she kept wiping her eyes clear of that damn imaginary dust again, but they saw the smile edged at the corner of her mouth. Blake was happy. She was damn near ecstatic. It showed when she turned to surprise him with eyes suddenly rejuvenated. She was still exhausted, obviously, but her foul mood turned to mush.

"What's next? You're going to tell me that Sir Scrabbles is a Grimm?"

The two in question spared a quick glance at each other before Jaune laughed awkwardly at the question.

"Ha-ha... yea... That'd be crazy." Not exactly a lie and not exactly the truth. "So what's the deal then? Is guilt making you search for The White Fang? I guess I could see why you would think the rest of your team wouldn't understand why you're so passionate about it, but still, you should talk to them. I know they would want to help you any way they can. I know you know that."

The Faunus had the decency to shuffle her feet on the floor. "I guess you're right. No. You are right. I've been pushing them away when all they wanted to do was help. Even after they accepted my past and heritage. What a jerk I've been. I need to apologize." Blake moved to leave the room, but her foot tapped on a book hidden at the corner of Ren's bed.

She slowly picked it up and realized it was the book about Ragnarok she had left behind a while ago. By opening the book and reading over some of the lines, her smile turned into a frown. Jaune was quickly on her case, wondering why her mood suddenly turned sour.

"Hey Blake, are you okay?"

Waving the book, she gripped the cover tightly. "You know, sometimes the more I think about it, the sadder it gets... I joined The White Fang because Faunus weren't being treated equally by humans. And now that I'm not in it anymore, I've only learned how wrong they're doing things. Not all humans act like that. Most are very accepting. It's the few bad eggs that paint everyone in a bad light."

That small spark of info interested Jaune. "If you learned all that after leaving The White Fang, then why'd you leave in the first place? What changed your mind?"

"I lost trust in the organization. I didn't trust the direction they were going in. Didn't trust in their methods and reasons."

He could see what she meant. "So you left because you didn't believe in their goals anymore? I guess if you—!"

"No!" Blake interrupted with her tone firm. "I didn't say that. I said I didn't trust the direction they were taking, not in their goals. I still highly believe in everything The White Fang are fighting for. That hasn't changed at all."

Now he was confused. "I don't know what you mean."

She huffed and opened a random passage from the book. It hardly mattered what page she landed on. The message was clear from the start.

"Do you have any idea how far a little bit of trust can go?" Jaune did. Who knew where he would be if he didn't have the trust of his team. "Trust alone can change the hearts of the people around you. It's what gives people a reason to keep fighting when the chips are down. It keeps people going and fighting for a cause they believe in. It's why I even joined The White Fang in the first place. I had believed in their methods to make people see the discrimination around them."

"Had?"

Her ears drooped. "Like I said, somewhere along the way I lost my trust in The White Fang. A new leader took over and peaceful protests soon turned into acts of violence. Very soon all we did was steal and hurt others to get our way. That wasn't what I signed up for. I couldn't see a future where strength alone could change the hearts of people. And I was scared with the way things were going. So I left." She laughed bitterly. "It's worse because the methods are actually producing results, but at what cost."

He still couldn't see the whole picture. "But if things are getting better for the Faunus, why can't you trust in them now? Why didn't you stay?"

"Violence only leads to more violence. What's the point in believing in a power that can do nothing but destroy and hurt?" Blake looked away, unable to wash away the memory of a certain man who helped shaped her life. "I left because there was no point in fighting together with an organization that's led by a man who believes in nothing but violence." She gripped the book so tightly her knuckles turned white. "Strength and determination alone can't change the way people feel. You can be a Fearless Leader all you want, but it takes trust to inspire hope and change the way people feel. That's the difference between a Fearless Leader and a Great Leader!"

It made little sense to him, but Jaune had an inkling that Blake wasn't talking to him anymore. She had this faraway look and her voice was getting steadied louder by the word. Each sentence was filled with more primal passion than the last. Syllables got enunciated heatedly. All her words didn't sound like reasons, but issues she had with the current direction of The White Fang. And if he closed his eyes and listened closely, it sounded like she was arguing with herself.

Growing tired, she sat down and glared down at the book. "Sorry for rambling on, but what I'm trying to say is that The White Fang isn't what's wrong; it's the person in charge of that power. And with the way they're misusing it, they'll only end up doing more harm than good. It's kind of the like the dark power in this story."

Jaune perked up and moved to sit next to her. "How's that? Wasn't this story about this witch using the darkness as a form of power to drown the world in despair? Excuse me if I can't see the subtext."

She smirked at his naivety. Good to know kind-hearted people existed in this monster-infested world of theirs. "Just like darkness in the story, the world sees The White Fang as some dark storm cloud. But that's just wishful thinking, a misinterpretation on their part. Because even the light could be dangerous and the darkness could be comforting. The world's not so black-and-white."

He shrugged and poked holes in her ideology. "But most people are afraid of the dark. You can't blame them. The light makes it so much easier to see. The world kinda grew up like that."

She frowned at his answer. Clearly, Jaune still saw the world as black-and-white. "And that's the problem with most people. Everyone sees the light as the personification of good, but did you ever stop to think that maybe because it's blinding you to the truth?" Jaune froze and Blake poked him. "I'm not saying all light does that, but I'm also not saying all darkness is scary." She shut the book closed. "It's so easy to live in the light. It takes real courage to walk into the darkness. Yet, the people in this story not only managed to do that and embrace the darkness for what it was... a misunderstood power that always gets the short end of the stick, but they learned to embrace, accept, and trust in it."

He still didn't completely see her point-of-view on the subject manner. "I kind of see where you're coming from, trust me, I do. But what do mean about accepting and trusting it? Aren't those two the same? If you embrace a power, then that probably means you trust it."

Blake regarded his question for all about a minute. This was a delicate question to answer. Wandering her eyes around the room, they found themselves locking onto Sir Scrabbles and its pitch-black fur. Without uttering a word, she got up and hugged the little guy tightly. The Grimm melted into her embrace.

"No, they're not the same. Like The White Fang, I accept and embrace their ideas, but I don't trust in their methods. That's why I feared and then ran away from them. Just because you accept a power, doesn't mean you cannot fear it." She sighed with a terrible frown. "Fearing a power is the worst. It can cause people to be hesitant in fully embracing it. Acceptance isn't always enough, not when two powers fight together. Fighting together, but not trusting in each other, will only end up with each power destroying one another, and that's why I sometimes hate the world we live in. We take the darkness, our shadows, for granted."

Blake stood up and pressed Sir Scrabbles to Jaune's chest. This soft smile of hers melted all of his resolve. Before he could ask, she shushed him with a finger to his lip and turned the book over so he could see what she saw. It was a small passage written by a fictional character—a random record with a meaning long-forgotten in today's racist world.

Just like the light, the darkness has always been by a person from the very beginning and will stay with them until the very end. It's your shadow following you. And maybe when you were younger, your shadow would sometimes scare you, and that made it hard to trust it, but there were other times where it brought you joy and you would laugh and create stories with shadow puppets.

Blake then slowly closed the book and put her bow back on. "I know the world's not so open-minded like the one in this story, but I've learned to look past it and enjoy the beauty that does exist. And just because I trust in that storm cloud, doesn't mean I want good people to suffer. Who knows, it might turn around still and do some good one day."

That last line forced Jaune to think. If Blake still believed in the darkness after all this time, then that meant she still believed in the person in control to change their ways. She lacked trust in him but accepted and embraced what he was fighting for. To have such loyalty when her whole heart wasn't into it? Well, not even Jaune regarded his Lore to such a degree. The same went for Ren and his Aura.

Thinking to himself, he grinned at the way Blake's bow twitched. "Thanks for the pep talk, Blake. You really changed my view of the world."

She playfully slapped his shoulder. "That's my line, dork. I should be thanking you for getting me out of my funk. If you hadn't dragged me away, I might've given up on The White Fang entirely. I was this close to painting them as common criminals." She hugged the book to her chest and sighed softly. "Thanks for everything. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it now."

"I charge by the hour."

She smacked his shoulder again.

"Dummy." They laughed at the expense of his shoulder. "Just remember, you shouldn't ever abandon your shadow... because it wouldn't abandon you. I apparently forgot about the team glued to mine and tried to run away from them. Now I see what an idiot I've been. I think it's time I go apologize?"

"Yea, that sounds like a million dollar idea. You better hurry then, Yang's this close to going on a rampage."

Blake smirked and booped Sir Scrabbles on the nose once. She settled book down on the bed before leaving the room. Jaune followed her example, feeling good about their little talk after relaying over the meaning behind the book, and put Sir Scrabbles down. A moment later, he heard a knock on his door and figured it was Weiss coming to talk to him.

What he got when instead was the surprise of nine lifetimes.

Blake Belladonna had swooped in and sneaked-hugged the Arc in a crushing embrace. Her arms found themselves around his neck with her face buried in his chest. The action petrified him, but somehow his arms remembered to return the hug with an equally powerful squeeze. And he felt her smile upon his beating heart.

"If only more people like you were around... then The White Fang wouldn't need to exist."

...

Ding!

Pyrrha Nikos stepped out the elevator with Professor Goodwitch in tow. She resembled a prisoner taking their final steps to their execution stand. Neither of the powerful women appeared happy to be back so soon. The cheerful elevator music that had been playing on the ride down certainly hadn't help. The champion had failed to retain a proper smile throughout the whole ride down.

Mindfully, she hoped her leader had been using either Aura or Lore when she sent her signal. A last ditch effort on her part to inform her leader of her distress. Now the rest was up to him.

The walk to the machine was a long one. Everyone Pyrrha had expected to be there was present with Penny tagging along, except for one new face she had never seen before. He was tall and rugged, she would even admit handsome and devilishly interesting, but he reeked of a foul stench that burned her nose. Like a piece of meat, this red-eyed man stared at her with a refined laziness that most others would attribute to poor mannerism.

Pyrrha was nothing but impressed.

At any given moment, he could probably pin her down and disarm her. It would be over in a second. That was if she allowed her guard to drop around him. She knew better. Laziness barely attributed to strength or cunningness. Like Ren who was a lazy persona personified, or her Fearless Leader who appeared meek and uninterested in the daily qualms of Huntsmen issues. Even Nora's bubbly personality could pop at any given moment and turn monstrous.

They were all dangerous in their own special way.

"Since you're just going to keep staring, I might as well introduce myself." A rugged and somewhat deep voice was what he sounded like. It suited him. "The name's Qrow Branwen, kid."

Pyrrha barely controlled her sharp gasp. A Branwen? Here? Of all places! One of the few people Ren would probably attack without the slightest bit of hesitation? Someone related to the monsters that ruined her teammate's entire childhood? He was standing right across from her with a nonchalant attitude ever-present?

At least the red eyes resembled and meant something now.

She skillfully maintained herself and offered her hand. "Pyrrha Nikos."

Qrow never took it. "Yea, yea, I know who you are. Eat your cereal all the time. Gotta say, good stuff. Could use more marshmallows, though. You should work on that."

Fighting the urge to narrow her eyes, Pyrrha ignored him and stared at the Headmaster. He coughed and extended one arm toward the scarecrow. "He's as much as part of this as Glynda and James. We're all here for the same reason. And he's come to watch the Aura transfer between you and Amber. Qrow was Amber's original bodyguard."

No one blamed Pyrrha for crossing her arms. "So what you're saying is he failed to protect Amber?"

She hated the way he smirked. "Oh, careful Ozpin, this one's got an attitude. And here I thought you were made of sugar, spice, and everything nice. Glad to know I was wrong. You're gonna need that temper."

Pyrrha frowned and glared at Amber's incubator. Qrow had failed to protect Amber. Without knowing a blasted thing about the man's fighting prowess, she knew he was powerful, trained instincts screamed it. Meaning whoever attacked Amber and left her in this state was someone incredibly powerful and cunning. After all, believing what Ren had revealed to her, Branwen's always had an ace or two up their sleeve. She was well-informed of their luckiness. To be able to get past all that, more than just simple planning was needed.

Tracing her fingers on the glass, she sucked in a deep breath and gambled everything on her friends. "I have a few conditions. I'm certain Professor Goodwitch messaged you about them."

Ozpin remained silent for the longest minute, taking every precious second into account. Pyrrha saw his somewhat pained expression reflected on Amber's glass but refused to break the silence. And after what felt like an eternity, her Headmaster moved next to her and stared into the same glass. He had no frown, only indifference scribbled across his face.

"She has and I have thought them over. I can accept your conditions, granted you must know that if something were to happen to you in the process, I have no control over what happens next. But I will do everything in my power to make sure your final requests are honored."

It was the first time Pyrrha smile since entering the room. She felt her soul dance and her overall mood improve. Now all she had to do was hope for her teammates to come through and fix any problems should such occur. Well, hope was a bit of a useless word. It made no sense when she knew she could trust in her team and partner to save her, unless, of course, she died in the process.

But at least she had a contingency plan if such an outcome happened.

Still, the champion was ultimately nervous. Thinking of the prospect of dying left a bitter taste in her mouth, one probably fouler than the stench Qrow's person reeked of. Because she believed in her leader to fix whatever happened to her Aura, but Death, Death was an endgame with no chance of coming back. And Ozpin must've seen through her internal struggle for him to clasp one hand over her shoulder.

His skin was warm against her cold flesh.

"Are you alright, friend Pyrrha?" Penny asked, sliding up against her. "My sensors are picking up your heartbeat's increasing tempo. Is something troubling you?"

Qrow humphed and reached for his flask. "She's getting cold feet. Now that she knows what could happen, she's having doubts."

James sighed. "Must you always be so blunt, Qrow? We are asking for her to put her life on the line. Anybody would be nervous in this situation. I don't blame her."

He enjoyed a quick swig. "We don't have time to be making gingerbread houses, Jimmy. There's more than one person's life on the line. And besides, she's a big girl, she can handle it."

Shutting her eyes, Pyrrha tried to ignore their banter and rested her forehead on Amber's possible glass-coffin. She knew it was the right thing to put her life on the line. But she was scared—scared of what might happen. She was frightened about the idea of dying and leaving everything unsaid between her and her team. Just the thought made goose-bumps appear all over her skin.

So much for being the Invincible Girl. A coward was a more befitting title.

Cowardliness couldn't protect her. Life was unfair in the cruelest ways and needed to remind her of what was at stake. Why waking up in the morning was a gift and not a privilege. Its messenger had at least the audacity to compensate for her mismatch feelings with a deep frown of his own.

So there was that to look forward to.

Qrow walked up beside her and glared through the glass, feeling partially guilty for Amber's condition. He wouldn't blame himself for not being fast enough or something nonsensical like that. Sometimes life just threw curveballs and good people suffered. Nothing anyone could do about it. But in this monster-infested world, there had to be a reason for all the chaos.

"Look, kid, I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you. You getting into that machine could mean the difference between winning the fight against evil, or at least tipping the scales in our favor. But what might happen to you in the process, I couldn't tell ya. And neither could those eggheads back at Atlas. You could either end up completely fine... or dead within the next few minutes."

"Branwen!" James yelled. "Stop trying to—!"

"No." Pyrrha cut in, nerves bunched together like a coil. "That was all I needed to hear."

This man's surname reminded her that monsters existed outside and inside the walls protecting humanity. If accepting this power—this curse—allowed for the chance of true peace to become tangible, she would jump into the fire with both her arms opened and heart strong. Anything to erase the wrongs of a dying world!

Pyrrha drew in a breath and walked to the adjacent incubator, acting coy with nerves of steel. She gently touched the glass to what might be her possible final resting place and released that breath. Without saying another word, she opened the chamber and quietly stepped inside, eyes focused on the Headmaster walking up the console in front of her, but before Ozpin could start the machine, she dangerously narrowed her eyes at the silver-haired man.

"You better keep your end of the deal."

Ozpin answered with a simple smile. "I'll do everything in my power to make it so. Don't you worry, Miss Nikos, I intend to keep my word."

Glynda Goodwitch stepped up and nodded alongside her friend. "That goes double for me. I'll make sure to keep him in line."

With that, the champion relaxed and allowed the process to continue. She closed her eyes when the machine hummed to life. She steadied her breathing when electricity began crackling. Her heart slowed when the outside noises began to fade into the background. And her soul lurched when a pull from another entered her domain.

The transfer—in her honest words—felt similar to eating one of her Fearless Leader's Aura shards. Meaning she couldn't quite put a phrase to go with it, but it felt like her soul was full. Every inch was being covered in a light blanket and it spread fast. By the time she noticed the neighboring Aura invade every cell in her body, Pyrrha, for barest of glimmers, felt the rush of power of an outside source than resembled nothing like Aura.

Then total blackness happened and her Aura was overshadowed by a tone of autumn.

Seeing the procedure complete, Ozpin shut off the machine and opened the chamber. Out stepped the Invincible Champion, disoriented with every one of her movements. She walked like an adolescent barely gaining the ability of their legs, as if the world was constantly tilting to her unequal balance. Almost zombie-like.

She stopped in front of Ozpin, blood-hair obscuring his vision from getting a good read of his promised Maiden.

"Pyrrha Nikos?"

Pushing back her locks, the eyes glaring back at the Huntsmen were anything but Pyrrha Nikos. The peculiar tint of green had diminished and turned two-shades darker and Amber's nearby life-support flat-lined, effectively killing the mood.

"Not quite, Ozpin. It's me, Amber."

---

Author Notes: So Jaune's Semblance in the show has to do with Aura manipulation? That's silly.