POV: Weiss

A tremendous blast of light and sound rang out in the distance. The white light rose like a pillar from the earth, rending a portion of the forest barren and sending trees at the periphery of the explosion sprawling into the air as if they weighed no more than simple matchsticks.

My lips pressed into a firm line and my grip tightened on Myrtenaster at the sight of it. Not for the first time since arriving I was forced to reconsider everything Jaune had ever told me about his family. He rarely spoke of them in depth, but I was able to catch a glimpse of his thoughts on the matter. Largely because they were so similar to my own. Like me, Jaune seemed to both crave the love of his family, caring deeply for them - while simultaneously bearing a seething hatred for them. Or rather than hate, a resentment that I wasn't sure even he realized was present. When he extolled his eldest sisters strength it was with a bitterness that I doubted anyone but I would be able to recognize.

And all that was fine and good, but it still failed to fully explain my current headache adequately.

"Are you sure your Jaunes friend?" Anne asked in a sing song voice, swinging the ridiculously huge saber she wielded through the air mere inches from my face. The maneuver would have decapitated me at best and severely depleted my aura at worst - but I had foreseen that and triggered the glyph at my back, drawing me up short.

"Of course I am!" I bit out indignantly, dropping too a knee and executing a perfect thrust at the smaller woman's knee with Myrtenaster. She danced out of the way of course, just like she had the last dozen times I had attempted to attack her.

Also just like the last dozen times, her sister Mary appeared from my blind spot, slamming the barrel of her Musket into my torso and sending me flying across the forest and into a tree. I slammed into it with bone crunching force, and felt more than saw the flash of my aura as it appeared around me, protecting me from probable death.

"It's just your sort of his type you know? Classy bearing, fancy dresses." One of them - I assumed Mary since they seemed to alternate speaking - said.

"And Jaune is just so innocent Anne." The gun toting Mary cooed, instantly proving my supposition wrong.

"Isn't he just though Mary? It would only be too easy for a pretty girl to take advantage of him without his sisters around." Replied Anne in a chirpy girlish tone that nearly made me forget that she was older than me.

"Like that dreadful girl from a few years ago. The one that came to ask him for a date?" Mary said, hefting her impossibly long weapon over one shoulder and leaning in to her sister to whisper conspiratorially with her.

"Oh yes! Horrid woman. It's good we kept her away from Jaune. It would have been a loveless marriage for sure." Anne agreed.

This had been my life since this fight started. The sisters would accuse me of taking advantage of Jaune, we would exchange a few blows, and then Mary would send me flying with her gun. She never actually fired it at me though. Just speared or bashed me with it in a way that left me sure if she did shoot me, the fight would be over. Aaaand then they would set to chatting until I got up and attacked them again.

Basically, they were messing with me. Worse still, I didn't feel like I could defeat even one of them let alone both of them at once.

"Why are you even doing this!? Aren't you hunters!? We're the good guys! We're on the same side!" I cried out in frustration, using my weapon to lever myself up into a standing position. That had been the worst hit I'd taken yet. I didn't know if I could take another one. The knowledge that Jaune wasn't even here and the entire exercise was pointless rankled in my heart, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Oh that's so sweet Mary! She thinks there are 'good guys'!" Anne tittered girlishly at me, stepping forward and swinging her sword down at me in a lazy arc that caused me to lose my footing fall backwards on to my behind.

"We really should educate her. She did say she knew about Mama's ward keys." Mary mused, idly whipping her gun around and planting it in my solar plexus. She then proceeded to lean on it, resting her chin on its butt and holding me down with her body weight.

"Does the word 'Magecraft' mean anything to you?" She said plainly, for once skipping her call and answer routine with her sister. The momentary look of recognition that must have crossed my face did not go unnoticed, and Mary nodded once in approval.

"Mama says there are only a couple Magi left. Three or so including her. These three Magi they all have a deal you see?" Mary said, as though that explained anything.

Seeing the obvious lack of comprehension in my eyes, Mary snorted in exasperation, and Anne took over.

"Magi - much like most men - only really want one thing. To reach the Root. That woman and Ozpin have their own interests and means that we could really mess up if we wanted to. So Great Grandpa made a deal. As long as we stay neutral, they leave us alone." Anne expounded, swishing her saber through the air like a conductors baton as she spoke.

I had just enough time to wonder how it was possible for Ozpin to have made a deal with anyone over a hundred years ago when the twins entire demeanor changed, switching from playful and annoying to cold blooded and vicious in a heartbeat.

"That's why Jaune has been able to live such a charmed life until now." Mary said, jerking forward and causing my Aura to flare at the increased pressure on my abdomen.

"He was safe -" Anne spat, prancing up to kick me in the side.

"He was pure -" Mary added, lifting and then dropping her gun on my knee with an audible crunch.

"And he wasn't with the old hero on a suicide mission." They finished together in a low tone, both of them practically grinding their teeth - and my bones - with each word. They continued to strike me where I lay, each blow landing like the wrath of an angry god, and it was all I could do to endure through the hellish torture, to bear up with all my willpower. To achieve my goal at any cost, just like I was always taught. The irony of using my fathers teachings to succeed at something he would likely disown me for doing was not lost on me.

"She's out of Aura." One of them noted. I couldn't tell which because at some point during the beating I had curled up to try and protect myself. My arms and legs were drawn in as close to my torso as I could pull them, and my entire body was tense from the strain. With those words the beating stopped, and I was left laying in a quivering, boneless pile.

"We'll take her to Dad. Everyone else is probably done already. They're just kids after all." The other pouted.

"Jasmines younger than them."

"True."

"Hey." I croaked, more than a little delirious because of all the pain I was in.

"It speaks!" They laughed in faux shock.

"...you're both terrible Magi." I said, desperately trying to keep them still while my free hand - hidden under my body - continued to scratch at the dirt beneath me. Silently I cursed Jaune for his stalwart personality. Prior to this the idea of losing the game to win the match was alien to me. I understood it, from a purely business based perspective - you need to spend money to make money after all - but until I had met Jaune and had my pride quashed by my team I would never have allowed myself to fall to such a state.

"We're not- " one of the sisters said with a hint of bitterness in her voice but I cut her off.

"And I'm not out of Aura." I pointed out, causing the foot perched on my back to stiffen and then relax in realization.

"Shes trying to distract us. Doesn't want us to go help beat up her friends." The foots owner chuckled humorlessly. I almost wanted to laugh at the absurdness of that statement. Because if I hadn't learned Magecraft from Jaune it's entirely likely that her statement would perfectly encapsulate my plan. Unfortunately for Mary and Anne however, their brother was an excellent teacher.

Even if he was stupidly dense sometimes.

"My friends don't need my consideration." I coughed, straining to keep my Aura from gushing forth to heal my wounds. I needed everything I had for what happened next. If I couldn't break their defense to land a strike on either of them I would just hit them both at once. If I couldn't reach them with skill I would do it with wit. If I couldn't win as a fighter then I would do it as a Magus. I still wasn't sure if I could rightfully lay claim to that title just yet - but one thing was clear to me. I was more of a Magus than either of these two would ever be. So, with great effort I rolled over - revealing the circle of runes I had barely managed to scribble into the ground with my finger. It was sloppy, and poorly planned out. A clinical part of me that I was focusing on in order to ignore the pain of taking so many strikes without my aura noted that it would be horribly inefficient. But it was what I had - and I was damn proud of it.

My hand traced the circle as I rolled, and I mumbled the first spell Jaune ever showed me. Though, this one was slightly modified.

"Fireball Barrage, twenty feet, four minutes." I managed to get out, opening my swollen eyes to stare up at the sky and praying I had done the math right. Mary and Anne gawked at me for a second before realizing that this was the closest to me they had been since the fight started. The stillest they had been. Without even a word between the two the twins communicated, instantly turning to bolt away, but it was too late.

All around us my semblance sprung to life, dozens of identical red glyphs forming into a seamless dome of thaumaturgical calculations written large across the very air itself. The formation began raining down blasts of fire all around me, faster and faster, draining my aura until it was all but gone. They hammered the sisters into the ground with the sheer concussive force of their detonations, buffeting me where I lay with waves of heat and force.

For four solid minutes I heaved one scorched breath after the other while praying I had calculated the size of my safe space accurately, knowing that without any aura a single hit from my own spell would destroy me. And when it was over, my body paralyzed by tension, I turned my head to find two more bodies breathing haggardly on the ground next to me. Their clothes were scorches, and their weapons lay uselessly at their sides, but they were undeniably Mary and Anne. Smoke hissed up from them in wispy streamers, and I found myself both relieved and annoyed that their auras had held until the last moment, keeping them alive in the face of my attack. Now all three of us were on the ground in a perfectly symmetrical circle of charred black ground.

"Ow." croaked one of the sisters from next to me.

"Yes Mary. Ow." I sniped, my vision beginning to grow hazy as a shadow fell over me, an indistinct form standing over me with narrowed eyes and golden blond hair. As I slipped from consciousness I allowed a smirk to cross my lips. It was probably childish of me to think but I had fought two older hunters to a draw - and I had gotten the last word.

I supposed that this was just barely passable. I was a Schnee after all.

-ooo-

POV: Ruby

Duck. Shoulder tackle. Fire Crescent Rose to avoid counter. Reload mid flight. Don't waste even a single moment. Wide sweep as you land for area denial. Turn to face opponent. Counter the...

"Hey why aren't you attacking me anymore?" I asked perplexed. Jaune's youngest sister Jasmine stood just outside of my scythes effective range, meaning I would have to use her as a rifle or close to melee in order to continue the fight. A few months ago that's exactly what I would have done - blindly charge in with the knowledge that I was the faster person I knew.

It took me exactly one spar with Blake to drop that habit. Now I knew that both actions would leave me open to retaliation. The split second between mechashifting and firing being more than enough for a good fighter to capitalize on.

"Aren't you too young for Beacon?" Jasmine said abruptly, her face deceptively calm. She twirled one of her two tonfa in one hand, an idle motion that would allow her to put extra force into even a light tap from the twirling weapon. I had to admit, it was kind of cool to split up and have everyone fighting worthy opponents and stuff. It made me feel like a comic book character and filled me with the need to yell fancy attack names whenever I struck. It was an impulse held back mostly by the sour knowledge that I - being the youngest of the team - ended up fighting a thirteen year old.

Even if she talked like a fifty year old and fought like a demon. Seriously Jaune's Dad, what do you feed your kids? Why do they have so much aura? And why does this thirteen year old have more of a chest than me!?

"Aren't you like thirteen? Don't you still think boys are icky or something?" I shot back. Under normal circumstances I would probably have been too excited for the banter - those shotgun tonfa were soooo cooool - but Weiss had been an excellent trial by fire as far as banter went.

"Why does everyone say that when I'm right?" Jasmine said with an irritable click of the tongue, backing up slightly when she noticed me using the distraction of the conversation to edge forward.

"I know right!?" I couldn't help but blurt out, reminded as I was about every argument I ever lost ending somehow with 'she doesn't know any better'.

"And then when you try to explain they're all like 'Just be quiet Ruby Rose your too young.' I mean, I'm old enough to own a gun but not watch TV after eight!?" I complained, one cheek puffing out in annoyance.

"You too!? Bianca keeps telling me I shouldn't do stuff 'cus she said so, or because I have to, and then when I ask why she just gets mad at me!" Jasmine said, her face lighting up. Her guard didn't drop though, and neither did mine, which was just fine by me.

"I knooooow. If you can't even explain 'why' then how do you know your even-" I paused mid sentence, Jasmine and I twirling out of the way of Yang as she sped between us, turning a nearby tree into kindling and vanishing just as fast as she arrived. A few seconds later Bianca strode past, stopping between us to examine our condition and then shrugging before she continued after my sister.

"Is... she won't kill her or anything right?" I asked with some worry. Bianca was the oldest and therefore, probably the best trained of Jaune's sisters. I loved my family but I wasn't nearly stupid enough to think Yang was going to come out of that one on top.

"Doubt it. She's not even using Cantankerous Thing or her... uh. Other weapon." Jasmine commented, her brows drawing together to form an upside down V on her forehead.

"Other weapon?" I asked cautiously and not at all because the tiny glimpse of Bianca's weapon I'd gotten before the fighting started made me feel all kinds of ways.

"Don't worry about it. It's a - "

"Family secret. Yeah, yeah. Jaune said the same thing. Stingy." I complained, finishing the thought for her. She looked at me strangely then, as though seeing me for the first time. We stood in tense silence for a second - and then she spoke.

"Shit, your actually his friends?" Jasmine said incredulously.

"Well duh." I answered simply.

"But hes a dork!" She exclaimed, her stance loosening slightly.

"Yeah, but he's our dork." I said proudly figuring we could stop fighting now. Too late I realized the profound effect my words had over Jasmine, because between second and the next she appeared in in front of me, her tonfa spinning towards my head.

I leaned out of the blow, sweeping Crescent Rose in front of me at her midsection. Her aura was still present, so instead of cutting her in half (ew gross) it simply flung her away from me a few feet, giving me space to recuperate.

"Hey! I thought we were bonding!" I griped aloud.

"We were." Jasmine replied honestly, clutching at her side where I had hit her.

"But your wrong about something. He's not your dork. He's mine." She declared, retaking her stance.

"Oh. Your one of those." I said warily. Then we sprinted towards one another once more, the discourse over.

-ooo-

POV: Yang

Fuck. Shit. God dammit.

Why are their so many god damn trees around Jaune's house? Is there a grant or something for Hunters that keep painful obstacles on their property?

My fists hurt. My face hurt. My whole damn body hurt. And that was fine, because my semblance was spooled up to maximum. I was almost literally on fire I was so gassed up. Supernova did not begin to cover it. Every bit of damage from getting bounced around this stupid forest was converted into strength by my semblance. Every smashed tree, every body blow, every hit I took, fueling me onward. I was unstoppable. I was untouchable. I was a juggernaut that would not be stopped.

"So why the hell can't I hit you!" I screeched, pulling my head out of the tree it had landed in on my most recent tumble. I say 'tumble' because describing it as the painful result of a bitch slap would make me angry.

Angrier than I already was I mean. I was pretty pissed.

"Because you're a first year student who can't keep her cool under pressure." A cold sardonic voice answered me. I whipped around to find Bianca standing placidly behind me, her weapon still slung over her back as though she had no intention of using it.

That pissed me off.

"Please, you don't know anything about me." I quipped, noticing bits of wood and dirt stuck in my hair from the fall. I could feel my eye twitching just thinking about the hell it was going to be to take care of it later.

Which really pissed me off.

"I know enough. I know your weak. Hilariously, pathetically, weak." Bianca said, tilting her head towards the wreckage my passing had caused for emphasis.

Ah. There goes rational thought. It was nice while it lasted.

All pretense of civility left me, and I flung myself forward, firing Ember Celica and propelling myself at my white haired detractor. I feral yell erupted from my throat as I charged, my arm outstretched in a other clothesline that I was sure would knock the smug look of superiority off of Bianca's face.

This time. This time for sure it would work. It always worked eventually. That's how my semblance worked. If it didn't kill me it made me stronger. Honestly, only the fact that Pyrrha was in my class stopped me from declaring myself the perfect Huntress.

I closed with Bianca in the blink of an eye, and was sadly disabused of my delusions of grandeur when her hand shot up to grab my own, and she twisted her body away, maintaining my momentum and slinging me at a downward angle directly into the dirt six feet away. I had just enough presence of mind to maneuver my shoulder under me so my face wouldn't absorb the impact and then I crashed. Dirt flew into the air like a jack hammer had just hit the earth, and pain tore through me.

"DAMMIT!" I cursed, flipping over and pushing myself up to aim a shaky arm at Bianca, firing repeatedly at her with dust power shotgun shells. In response she finally - finally - pulled her weapon from her back, using it to block the shots. By the time I had run out of ammo the shiny black case had finally given up the ghost. Bits of it hung from the massive canon... engine block... thing, like wet paper, completely destroyed by my barrage.

"Not so weak that you can fight me without a weapon huh Big Bee?" I chortled, the grin returning to my lips. And then, because I was both angry and stupid - I continued.

"Not weak enough that you can take Jaune from us either." I sneered. It was the wrong thing to say and I knew it. Whatever else, these people were Jaune's family, and Bianca had clearly been falling apart trying to find him when we had first met her. Heck, if Ruby went missing I'd move heaven and earth to find her.

So I wasn't really surprised when Bianca's expression changed from disinterested to murderous and back again. Nor was I surprised when she pointed whatever the hell her weapon was at me and hit a button on the handle, causing an eight inch wide gun barrel to pop out of it.

What did surprise me was the fact that, after she pulled the trigger and fired what turned out to be a clearly explosive round at me, I didn't die.

I say that, because between one thought and the next, the vast majority of my aura faded away, and I was left seeing spots and fighting down nausea. I blinked and forced down the sensation, willing my body to get its shit together so I could put all the strength I'd just gained from the blast to work.

When my vision cleared, Bianca was hovering over me her canon thing held aloft over my head. I grit my teeth, using every ounce of my titanic strength to push myself up and away - but Bianca merely stepped forward, pressing her boot into my chest and shoving me back down like I was an infant.

Real genuine fear filled me, as I took in the huge axe blade sticking out of the bottom of her weapon, and realized it was positioned over my neck and not my head. Like a guillotine about to reap my life. I struggled beneath her, kicking and screaming - and then she dropped it. As casually as if she were leaving her keys on the table.

And then for the third god damn time today, I blinked, and was just somewhere else. I was still on the ground - which was bad - but I wasn't dead - which was good. A dull thud and a glance to the right told me I hadn't actually gone all that far from Bianca, which was bad. And there was a stranger there, wearing blood red armor and wielding a wicked looking katana.

Which was... something.

I would have figured the stranger would start fighting her now - I mean, she took the time to save me so she probably wouldn't leave me in the lurch here. But instead she just turned her head fractionally to look at me through a bone white mask, clearly designed to emulate a Grimm. Her raven dark hair swished behind her as she moved, impractically long for a melee fighters. Just like mine. Raven hair...just like mine.

"M-" I croaked but was cut off by Bianca's oh so timely friggin greeting.

"...hello Auntie." She said cautiously, her eyes flicking back and forth between me and the stranger like she too was suddenly making a connection between the two of us. The stranger just shook her head, glancing back once more at me.

"Right. Apologies. I let my anger get the better of me." Bianca said, her posture turning nervous and skittish even though her tone remained flat.

The stranger just nodded in understanding, then began to walk back into the woods, clearly intending to leave.

"Tell Vernal I said hello." Bianca called after her weakly, her gaze falling to me like I was a particularly difficult to solve math problem.

It was only after the shock of the past couple minutes had worn off and the strange woman had vanished into the woods that I spoke, my mind having gone blank in the heat of the moment. Under my breath I muttered, a word I thought I would never have the opportunity to use again coming unbidden to my lips.

"Mom?"

-ooo-

Soooo. I know these chapters feel fillerish but they serve a purpose. More importantly, id your paying attention you'll be able to pick some of the history involved out of the various conversations going on here, as well as hints on exactly what Jaunes dad did with his sisters.

If it surprises anyone that Raven and the Arcs know each other in this setting then I implore you to consider. Juniper both knows about and wishes not to be a part of Ozpins eternal crusade. She also, relative to my canon at least, went to school at the same time as Team STRQ. You have to figure thered be some interaction there.

One more chapter oughta wrap this bit up and then we get into mountain glenn, which will be much more Archer focused than past chapters have been.

In other news Ive started to go back and edit chapters of Deku 10 to bring them into line with the quality (?) of writing you see here in Throne of Heroes. Deku 10 was originally a project completely devoid of forethought - it was pretty much me just regurgitating bite sized chunks of my chapter ideas onto a document and then posting it. If you think this fic has typo problems then god christ avoid Deku 10. I dunno how long I'll take but when I'm done the word count will have changed significantly and you'll sew much fewer grammatical and spelling errors when I'm done.

Oh and as always.

Thanks for reading.