Twisted~ So, I have a new chapter~ Or, well, we do. You know what I mean. Anyways, though Mika won't help with it, I do intend to remake this story with a serious tone. Not a comedy or crack fic, a serious one. Jokes on the odd occasion, of course, but nothing like this. Been fun and all but… I know it is evident that comedy isn't my schtick.

Mika~ I fully admit- When we first wrote this story, it was intended as a serious story, with a handful of jokes. However, I started pandering to the audience, which wanted more humor, until it eventually became the crack fic it is now. With that in mind… I can't do this anymore. Telepathy hadn't been fun for me for a while, and in fact I temporarily decided to abandon it. But I'm out of ideas, out of patience, and more importantly, I have been out of jokes for a long time.

Twisted~ Which is fine. Happens to everyone sometimes, which is why we're going to wrap up this story so we may move on. Mika has her own story ideas we'll probably start putting up eventually after this story has it... (Shudders) Happy ending…

Mika~ (Chuckles to herself)

Twisted~ S'not funny, you know what kinds of endings I write. Feels so wrong. Heretical, even.

Mika~ Dat irony…

Twisted~ Yes, I know of the irony, shushies your teeny, tiny face.

Mika~ (Bonks your face)

Twisted~ Why you do such mean things to me?! My poor, innocent face deserveth no bonkies! Anyways, enjoy the story.

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"Weiss!" Yang yelled, chasing after the fast-walking, and clearly angry, Schnee, "Weiss, wait up for a minute! Just talk to me, come on!" The Schnee spun on the spot, uniform skirt twirling slightly, to glare up at Yang and the blonde nearly ran into her before managing to stop, "You need to calm down, Snowflake."

"Why? He's clearly been manipulating all of us since the day he met us. He said it himself, he knows every single thought we have! In your world you don't need to worry about being used on a daily basis, but in mine I do!"Yang gave the smaller girl a sympathetic look, natural motherly nature taking hold for a moment, and Weiss' glare hardened, "You are all just too naive to see that he's manipulating you. I'm no fool."

"We're not naive, Weiss, you're just being emotional. Jaune could have convinced us to do a lot of things if that's what he wanted. He didn't. Instead, he tried to make all of us happy, and now that a real danger is around what does he do?" Yang crossed her arm under her bust, smiling cockily at the Schnee and leaning away from her, "He immediately tells all of us, to try and find some sort of solution to it that doesn't end up with dead people. You know, our job?"

"It's different for you, Yang! You're not in love with him! You weren't toyed with until you grew feelings for him!" Weiss almost screamed, almost letting her emotions loose, before taking a deep and steadying breath, "I don't wish to see hide nor hair of him ever again. You will respect that decision. Understood?"

"Not a chance in your frosty little world, Snowflake." Yang said simply, dismissing her demands and desires entirely and smiling at her, "You are going to go back in there, sit back down, and try gettin' with your man. Got it?"

"Wha- No! I don't want anything more to do with him, Yang! Why on Remnant would I even consider doing that?" The furious heiress shrieked, turning with a huff to resume her walk away from the room, "Forget it. Just leave me alone."

"So you're saying you never loved him? Not even a bit?" Yang asked quietly, following the irate, smaller woman through the otherwise empty hall, "Cuz we both know just how much bullshit that claim would be."

"It doesn't matter if I did or did not. It was due to his dishonesty and manipulation that I felt anything for him, so now I choose to feel nothing at all." Weiss sighed, almost tired sounding, and shook her head, "But you know that, yet still you follow me."

"Cuz I know you pretty well, Snowflake. You're scared, and looking for an out to get away from your feelings like normal. Now you have an option to buy some time, so you're taking it and running." Yang grabbed the smaller heiress' shoulder, spinning her around and shoving her against a wall, "I am not having that, not even a bit. You are my friend, dammit, and I will make you be happy!"

"What gives you the right to do that, Yang?" Weiss demanded angrily, back pressed against the wall and voice echoing off it around them mutedly, "What right to my future do you have? Last I checked, this was my decision not yours. And last I checked, that meant I got to make it, myself, not you."

"And you're throwing it away! You're screwing up, and I won't just let you do that to yourself, you'll regret it until the day you die." Yang's glare grew hotter, lavender eyes shifting to a dark red in a blink, and Weiss shivered under the look, "I won't let you fuck yourself over like that."

"I am an adult, Yang, I can make my own damn decisions!" Weiss argued angrily, trying vainly to pry the boxer's grip out of her uniform's blazer, "Now let me go, damn it! I just want to go to the library and read something, think about what I want!"

"We both know what you want, Schnee. You want him, and it scares you. Until now you've been fine, you had no reason to run from your fucking feelings. Now you have some bullshit you can use, so you are." She leaned close enough that Weiss could feel the blonde's hot breath on her face, Weiss' heart beating faster in fear of the buxom brawler's intimidation, and she frowned heavily, "I refuse to let you be lonely like you were before ever again. Do you understand?"

"I understand you're trying to force me to live a life you design for me! I get plenty of that at home, from my-"

Yang's offhand slammed into Weiss' stomach, winding her and surprising her enough that the words escaped as a wheeze rather than intelligible speech, and her hands fell to the blonde's arm, fist resting against her stomach. The Schnee knew the blonde had held back, her punches able to crush bone and rend flesh on Grimm, but it still knocked her for a loop, "You are insufferable, you know that? You have someone, Weiss! Someone you care for, and who cares right back. That is damned rare, but you'll just throw it away over nothing."

"This world is hell, and in this job you die young nine times out of ten. Want to know a secret? I didn't want to be a Huntress. I wanted to be an artist, and travel the world seeking inspiration and fun. But I became one because Ruby wanted to, and I couldn't leave her to die." Red eyes bored into blue, anger into fear and surprise, and Yang took a breath, "I did it because love is all that matters in the world. I wanted to be with my sister, to enjoy the time we have in this world together. I lost two mothers, and I learn my lessons. Ruby will probably die young, but I'll die first. That is love, Weiss. Sacrifice. Jaune knew how you'd react, how could he not with his power? But he prioritized protecting you from whatever the hell is coming over his personal wants. That is his show of affection!" Yang pulled Weiss into a hug, smiling and holding her comfortingly for a second before speaking again, "I get it, you're scared. I get if you wanna go and eat, take a minute to calm down and stuff, and come back. But don't throw away good things in your life. Please, Weiss, don't make me watch that. I can take all the punishment the world can throw at this body, but I can't see the people I love hurting. I'm too weak for that."

Weiss sighed quietly, closing her eyes and ignoring the dull throb in her stomach, before speaking again, "Fine, you've… persuaded me. I'll think about it, over lunch, if you absolutely insist."

"Yep!" Yang quipped lightly, letting her go and turning to walk towards the cafeteria, "Today was pizza day, I hope they have some sausage left over, Nora had pancakes earlier so they might!" Weiss rubbed her stomach for a half-second, shaking her head at the mood reversal the blonde had shown, before following after. "I'll text Ruby, find out when we need to head to the headmaster's office."

She couldn't help but smile, ever-so-slightly, at the excitable blonde.

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"So then, what should we do next?" "If she is truly an enemy…" Pyrrha asked quietly, turning to look straight at Jaune. "This is quite a problem, and not one we can leave alone. It will not sort itself, after all."

"I think it would be for the best if we go straight to Ozpin, tell him everything. Maybe he helps, maybe he doesn't, but we won't know until we try and if he does that could tip the balance." Blake explained quietly, amber eyes boring into the floor in thought and ears twitching for the same reason. "I don't think we are really going to discuss the obvious facts of what needs to be done, it's fairly obvious."

"I think the thing we need to discuss is what we do if he decides not to do anything at all. Or simply doesn't believe what we say." Ren added simply, Nora cuddling against his side quietly while everyone talked and planned. "Jaune, does Ozpin have any information on your abilities? Perhaps he has acted oddly, indicating suspicion of it?"

"No, he's aware of it. I proved it to him a while back, I'm not worried about that." Jaune explained simply, grimacing when Blake raised an eyebrow at another untold thing, though thankfully no one said anything, "Reading minds is one thing, but finding out about a freakin' demon or whatever in someone's head? That's much, much more of a stretch than anything I could conceive of someone easily believing."

"I can understand that, I guess. I mean, Ozpin seems smart, so he should totally believe us but…" Ruby sighed, grimacing slightly and almost pouting at the dislikable facts, "I guess he might not, though… I mean, it is kinda crazy, ya know?" "I know I wouldn't if I were in his shoes..."

"So then, our plan if he doesn't believe us?" Blake asked quietly, steering the conversation towards productivity rather than anxiety expertly. Jaune spent the smallest of moments considering if that was left over from her training in the 'Fang or not, before dismissing it as unimportant, "This… Entity is aware of Jaune, he can't just ignore it either. I have contacts he could use, old White Fang friends who left like I did. They might be willing to help, if I am running too."

"So if we don't get our help, we might have to just run?" Jaune asked instantly, disliking the option immensely, as much as his ability told him everyone else felt. "I… That isn't a very good option."

"No, but in a situation where all options are bad, it may be the better one. If we stay and are attacked, I can not guarantee all of our survival. Some of us would probably escape with our lives, but as many wouldn't." Pyrrha sighed sadly, rubbing her thumb and index finger together nervously. "We don't know her strength. She may be easily defeated, or she could take the Beacon Staff to defeat..."

"So we run then, if we need to." Ren said simply, not sounding in the slightest upset about the possibility, "Do not mistake, I would rather not have to run like that. Being Hunters is Nora's dream, and mine as well. But we will protect our friends, regardless." "Family would be as apt a term as friend, at this point. I have lost enough family, I won't lose more."

The room grew quiet for a moment, before Nora - of course - broke it, hating nervous silences as much as awkward ones. "So let's go find out what Ozpin says already, so we can make our decision on what to do next. We won't get anything done sittin' on our bums." "-"

Jaune took a long, deep breath before sighing worriedly, and standing, "Okay then, I'll go and meet with Ozpin. Try and convince him I'm telling the truth, and that he should do something now while the option is still there." He pointed at Blake, face grim and serious as he spoke now, anxiety fading and leader emerging to the surface quickly, "Call your friends, make sure we have that route plotted out. Pyrrha, with her, watch her back."

"Yes, Jaune."

"Understood."

"Nora, Ruby and Ren, pack all of our things up. Whether we leave or not, we need to be ready for whatever we have to to be ready. Ruby, get your sister and partner to help later, if Weiss is willing." He paused for a second, grimacing sadly and sighing, "And if Weiss won't work with us, make sure she's got somewhere she can go as well. I know she won't want to go to Atlas."

"Yep~"

"Gotcha."

"Will do, Jaune."

"And I'll go, and… Talk to Ozpin… Yeah…" He trailed off, awkwardness coming back full swing along with the nervousness, and clapped his hands quietly for no real reason.

Ruby, seeing her friend flail slightly, hopped up with a wide smile, "Okay, team, let's go kick some butt!" Jaune silently thanked her, watching the others all stand and follow her out of the room, excepting Ren and Nora who immediately started pulling out suitcases and bags.

And Jaune left, to head towards the Headmaster's office.

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Jaune stood in front of the elevator's door for almost ten minutes, frozen in place completely and simply trying to force his mind to work properly, to plan out what he would say and how. He was nervous, of course, of that there had never been any doubt. Before, he was scared of dying, of the pain of it, the natural reaction to danger. But now?

He feared failing his friends more than dying because of it. Afraid he'd cost them their dreams, or worse their lives, because of what he'd found out. Their futures were, and always had been really, brighter than his could ever conceive of being. All of them were amazing fighters and people, and now they were at risk. And he didn't even know exactly what the risk was.

And that was a risk he would never allow to come to fruition, if he could somehow cobble together the way to prevent it. Otherwise he'd die fighting it, of that he was sure. Everyone was so sure they could just run and be fine, that no one would suffer overly much for it as a result. But he knew, as much as he knew Blake knew, that that was not a good way to live. Or a very long-term way to live, for that matter and for obvious reasons.

So, finally forcing his nerves down and taking a deep breath, he reached out and pressed the button to call the elevator down. The tower that the Headmaster's office rested atop was tall, but the elevator arrived rather quickly with a quiet ding, and the doors slid open.

Ozpin smiled at him calmly, leaning against the back of the elevator expectantly, and Jaune blinked owlishly at him, "You are aware that your Scrolls all have trackers, and we have cameras, yes?" "And I got tired of waiting for you to come up, so here I am."

"Actually, I wasn't aware in the slightest… But now that you mention that, do you monitor visiting Scrolls as well by chance?" Ozpin raised his brow slightly, normally bright eyes turning into hard glints, "I… Can we go to your office for this? I feel too... exposed out here."

Ozpin gave the terrified, lanky young Hunter-to-be a long look, nodded, and made room in the elevator for first half of the ride was quiet and, for Jaune at the least, awkward. Ozpin was more than used to awkward elevator rides to briefings and meetings, mostly thanks to being damned old, but… Something told him that there was something up here, important enough to not even wait for his coffee, "Jaune, I think you should tell me what is on your mind. If you don't, I fear that you may suffer a heart attack." "And if it is truly concerning you enough to come to me, it is surely a major issue, is it not?"

"I… When I'm walking through the halls, I hear things, you know? I look at someone and... Boom, a thought, or a feeling, or whatever is in their heads at the time. I'm used to it, I just ignore it nine times out of ten." Jaune shrugged, almost shyly, and sighed tiredly, "But… I don't know her full name, or anything, but I'd recognize her anywhere. When I looked at her…"

"You heard something, I assume." The statement was just that, a statement of simple fact, but Jaune nodded all the same when the doors slid open and followed the older man towards his desk, "And it must have been quite the thing as well, to bring you running direct to me." "And a good thing too, any delays may hamper my ability to protect you and your friends."

"I heard a voice. Well, an extra voice. Not just hers," He sighed, taking a long breath and half-collapsing onto the chair across from the Headmaster tiredly. "It sounded off. Warped and wrong to its core. I felt repulsed just hearing it, and almost panicked. And… And it sensed me right back."