Beta Creative Assitant: Jefardi (He posted a one-shot for the Moncon this month. I both beta'd and helped him outline parts of it, in particular the bits with Yang, so if you're interested in a story where Pyrrha gets a happy ending, check it out! And if you like it, vote for him on reddit. He'd appreciate it.)

Cover Art: Natzo

Spectrum

Reese and Arslan

"Reese," Jaune couldn't believe that name just left his mouth again. How long had it been since he talked to her? Over a year now since they broke up, since she moved to Mistral. If he was being honest… he never expected to see her again. Especially not given the circumstances. "What are you doing here?"

The bone-crushing hug his ex-girlfriend had him in loosened. Her hands shifted to his shoulders before with a powerful shove, she sent him stumbling backwards. "H-hey!" Weiss gave an indignant yell when he crashed into her, nearly sending them both sprawling to the floor.

"Is that the first thing you have to say to me!?" Reese's green eyes burned with anger. She stalked forward, jabbing him roughly in the chest with an extended finger. "Domremy was burned to the ground, Jaune! All my old friends, the family I left behind, they're all dead." Perhaps fortunately, Reese's dad had been transferred to Mistral for his job, which had been a deciding factor in her even wanting to attend Haven. Naturally, her mom had moved too. But how many other family members: uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, had Reese lost in that massacre? Jaune didn't even know.

"And I thought you were among them." She gave one last jab, before switching both hands to her hips and tilting her head. "You know how I had to find out that you were alive? That your sisters didn't murder you too?" She pulled out a scroll and held it up lopsided. "A viral video. One some kid here at Beacon took when you knocked out thee Pyrrha Nikos. Caused quite the stir back in Haven. She's a major star there… and if it hadn't been for that. It would be where I still was."

"I-I'm sorry." He really had no idea she would be so mad about this. "I didn't even think about trying to get a hold of you. What… what was I even supposed to say?" Hey there! Remember that guy that broke up with you? Yeah, my sisters went crazy and wiped out our home town. Don't worry, I'm okay though. Somehow he didn't think that would go over well.

Reese apparently had an answer, mouth opening up halfway to tell him exactly what it was she thought he should have said. Only for a dark-skinned hand to clamp over it, pulling the girl into a tight headlock. "Okay there, Reese. I think that's enough of this lover's spat. In case you haven't noticed… there are other people here aside from the two of you." The blonde girl that was holding Reese in check gestured to all the others present.

Reese's green eyes scanned over their audience, the anger in them quickly giving way to barely concealed embarrassment. "Mmph, mmph, mnph."

"Please don't speak into my hand. That's disgusting." The girl scowled down at Reese, silencing her immediately. "Now… I'm going to take my hand away from your mouth. And when I do, we're going to continue this conversation in a calm, civilised manner, making sure to address everyone involved. Do I make myself clear?" Reese nodded immediately. "Good."

Who the heck was this girl? He'd never seen Reese so obedient before and as the hand holding Reese's mouth clamped shut pulled away, she did exactly as she was told. There was no more shouting or yelling, much to his relief, and she actually looked apologetic when nodding to the others. "Hehe… sorry about that everyone. I guess you could say I got a little… worked up?" She glanced at the girl who gave an accepting nod. "My name is Reese Chloris."

"And my name is Arslan Altan." The dark-skinned girl introduced herself the moment Reese finished. "I'm Reese's partner and the leader of team ABRN. You girls might remember us from the tournament last year?" She inclined her head towards RWBY and Jaune turned to see some recognition in their eyes.

He had no idea Reese had ever possibly met these girls before. Let alone fought against them in a friendly competition. Just went to show how small the world really was. Sure, he had watched bits of the tournament on the tv, but only if he knew Joan was competing.

"N-Nice to meet you again!" Ruby shuffled forward first, extending a quivering hand. Arslan gripped it without hesitation. "My name is Ruby Rose and I'm the leader of team RWBY."

"I'm Weiss Schnee. Her partner." Weiss stepped around Jaune and took a spot next to her leader.

"Blake." The cat faunus looked at Reese directly. The mint-haired girl returned the look immediately, a challenging gleam appearing in both their eyes. If Jaune didn't know any better he would say they had probably gone at it in the tournament.

"And I'm-"

"Yang Xiao Long." Reese finished for the blonde, earning a surprised look. "We went to Signal together. Although you may not remember. We always hung out in different cliques."

A complicated expression formed on Yang's features, one Jaune wasn't quite sure what to make heads or tails of. And he certainly didn't expect the almost spiteful tone in the next line she spoke. "You're right, I don't remember." Reese's own eyes narrowed, but perhaps because her leader was present, she didn't offer any kind of rebuttal. "So what's this I hear about how you and Lady Killer used to suck face?"

Jaune nearly choked on his own spit.

Why would she word it like that!? Reese didn't appear even remotely as flabbergasted and merely offered a cool shrug. "Yeah, we dated for a bit. Back when I was attending Signal." And why did she have to use so much emphasis on the last word like that? He was starting to have a really bad feeling about this.

"Reese."

"Yang."

Thankfully, both girls partners were there to rein them in; Blake and Arslan giving their respective teammates a warning glare. It had the desired effect, both girls relenting from the staredown they were having with one another. "What I think my partner meant to say was-" Blake glanced away from Yang to back at Reese. "We were under the impression Jaune didn't have many friends before the… incident." That was a nice way of putting what happened at Domremy. "He wasn't the most social guy when we met. So it's a little funny to find out he ever had a girlfriend." Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Blake. Real nice.

At this, Reese gave a soft snort of amusement, previous almost-confrontation all but forgotten. "I guess that means you really haven't changed much, huh?" She grinned coyly at him. He really wished he could vanish as every eye in the hallway turned his way. "It's true-" She continued. "Jaune never had a single other friend the whole time we went out."

"Try he never had a friend his whole life." Not helping his case, Autumn. Yes, he got it, he was socially inadequate. What did that have to do with why Reese and Arslan were even here?

"That is why we were very happy when big brother and Reese met!" Rouge piped up, intertwining her fingers together. Yellow eyes were practically alight with pure joy as she looked at his ex. He just didn't have the heart to tell her that pretty much only herself, Olivia, and Amethyst had been okay with him dating. Not exactly a majority vote.

"While this is something I would love to hear more about. Reese has been rather scarce on the details since she insisted on coming to Beacon." Arslan tapped the toe of her shoes against the carpeted floor, a single hand positioned on her hip. "However, I think our conversation has derailed a little too much, wouldn't you say, Miss Rose?"

"Huh? Eh?" Ruby appeared taken off guard while Arslan was looking to her as a fellow leader to help restore order. Poor Ruby never had such control over her own team, especially with her big sister being on it. "What I mean is- yes, she's right!" Regardless, she still straightened out, giving her team the most commanding look she could, chin held high and lips tucked into a serious pucker. Too bad for her, the attempt was laughable at best. "What we really need to be discussing is the matter of… uhh…"

She awkwardly shuffled a couple steps closer to Arslan, leaning next to her head before whispering not so subtly. "What should we be discussing again?" It took every muscle in Jaune's arm not to facepalm, an effort it looked like Arslan shared.

The dark-skinned blonde ignored Ruby altogether and turned to face Jaune. "Reese and I have been filled in on some of the finer details by Professor Goodwitch." The deputy-headmistress to the side of them all silently adjusted her glasses. He was astounded she hadn't said a single thing during their whole conversation.

"And we've decided we want to help." Reese jumped in between him and her leader, grasping both of Jaune's wrapped hands in her own. "Your sisters… I may not have always gotten along with all of them, but I like to think we were in some ways friends. They don't deserve to be hunted down like criminals. So please, Jaune, let me help you."

"Reese…" Involuntarily he felt his heart flutter. It really shouldn't have been much of a surprise. This was a girl he had dated for over a year. A girl he at one point would've gone so far as to say he was in love with. Even when they broke up, he hadn't wanted that. So it was probably only natural for his heart to do that when she just showed up all of the sudden, offering to help save his family. "...okay." And there was certainly no way he could refuse her.

Reese grinned brightly, leaning in to plant a quick kiss on his cheek. He could feel his ears turning red, all because of an action that had once been so natural between them. Fortunately for him, Weiss diverted any attention the two of them may have had by addressing Arslan again. "You're okay getting involved with this? I don't wish to deter additional help, but his sisters are not exactly pushovers. An upperclassman even died."

Arslan simply shrugged at the cautionary warning. "If I leave this idiot alone, she's going to be the one who dies."

"Hey!"

"I wouldn't be much of a team leader if I let my own partner come out and get killed trying to do the right thing. I look forward to working with you all on this mission." She inclined her head towards them.

"W-we're honored to work with you too!" Ruby waved her arms exaggeratedly, before stopping as if she just had a sudden epiphany. "What about your other two teammates?"

"For their sakes, hopefully still at Haven taking articulate notes so Arslan and I don't fall behind in our studies." Reese leaned in close to Jaune, resting an elbow on his shoulder as she hiked a thumb towards her leader. "If you think she looks scary now, you should see her when Bolin and Nadir get into it." He let out a small laugh, finding the genuine fear in her eyes amusing.

It was weird, how natural it felt to have her hanging off his shoulder again, just like old times. It was almost like that final argument they had never happened. Yet in the back of his mind he couldn't stop telling himself things were so much different. This wasn't who they were anymore. Did she… feel any of that too? She must have, right?

"So what happened?" There was suddenly a weight on his other shoulder and Yang's voice right in his ear. He glanced at the blonde to find her looking between both him and Reese.

"I'm sorry?" He awkwardly shifted his weight from foot to foot, trying subtly to convey how uncomfortable it was, having a girl leaning on either shoulder. No one else even seemed to notice, the others engaging with Arslan. Yang naturally appeared oblivious too, but Reese seemed to pick up on it and thankfully took a step back.

"Why did you two break up?" She clarified. "His breath didn't reek of vomit during make-out sessions, did it?" There was an almost oddly victorious smirk on Yang's lips, but Jaune was just going to chalk it up to having something else to tease him about now. As if she didn't have enough ammo against him already.

"That was…" He also had no idea how to answer that question. Was there even a simple answer to it?

"We broke up because I had to move." Apparently so, seeing how simply Reese just stated that. "Believe me, our breakup had nothing to do with his kissing." She raised two fingers and placed them against her bottom lip. "In fact, he and I used to-"

"O-Kay!" He immediately jumped in between their line of sight, cutting Reese off. "I'm really tired. Long night, all that. Maybe we should all get that nap now? Catch up and talk about this less than interesting stuff later." And by later, he meant never.

"Oh, what room are you staying in?" Reese slipped both hands in the hood of her pocket, accepting the topic change easily enough. Before he could answer, Yang pat him rather roughly in the chest.

"He and his sisters are staying in our room." Again, her tone sounded almost challenging, like she was trying to egg Reese on. To his relief, and her obvious disappointment, it failed to elicit any kind of reaction at all.

"I was wondering if now might be a convenient time-" Instead, it was Goodwitch who finally entered the conversation, earning the immediate attention of everyone present. "-to talk about a possible change to your current sleeping arrangement?" Even when asking a question, it sounded more like a command from her.

"What do you mean?" Ruby responded first, looking between Jaune and the strict professor. He actually felt a little bad, she always seemed so happy to have so many people staying in their room together. It was also true, however, that seven people in one room was a little cramped.

"What did you have in mind?" He and Goodwitch had discussed the idea of getting a separate room for him and his sisters before. It just never seemed like the right time, with only him, Autumn, and Rouge. And Joan would likely move back into her old room.

"Miss Altan and Miss Chloris are in a team room so they have two spare beds still available. This means your two sisters would still have to bunk up, however, I'm sure that isn't an issue given what you've worked with so far. Taking in your concern about them being around other women their age, I believe they both also have some history with Miss Chloris?" He nodded, turning to his younger sisters.

This certainly would be the most ideal time to switch rooms. Rouge and Autumn both knew Reese and it would give them more space, not to mention allow them to stop being a burden on RWBY. "Well… what to do you two say?"

A small flicker of doubt crossed Rouge's face as she glanced between Ruby and Reese. He knew she must have wanted to catch up with Reese, having been so long since the two of them talked. She had been the most hurt to find out they had broken up. However, Ruby was her best friend, so it made sense she wouldn't want to separate from her. With meek, yellow eyes she looked back at him. "I'll go wherever you are, big brother."

Autumn had no such confliction. "I've been asking to have a new room since the beginning." That she had. Ordinarily, he would be surprised that she willingly choose to take a room knowing she would have to share it with Reese. However, it would appear Autumn got along as well with Yang as she had with her. So if she was stuck between one of them either way, it made sense that she would lean towards the option with fewer people.

Seeing as she was the one with the strongest opinion, that was what they were going to do then. "If you two don't mind…" He started slowly, looking at Reese and her leader. Both girls shook their heads. With no objections he turned to the four girls of RWBY, inclining his head in a slight bow. "I appreciate you all allowing us to stay with you until now."

"Y-you don't have to go! We don't mind having you!" Ruby piped up immediately, running up to Rouge and wrapping an arm around her protectively, almost like she was trying to stop her from being swept away.

"It's okay, Ruby." Rouge pat her soothingly on the head. "I will still come and hang out with you. The only thing that is changing is where I sleep."

Ruby gave a deep pout before relenting with a sad nod. "Okay… you better swing by before breakfast so we can walk to the cafeteria together." To this Rouge nodded happily in agreement.

Weiss gave a small huff. "While I admit I was against having so many extra bodies in our room, the three of you weren't all bad." He would just take that to be her way of saying she was going to miss them, even a little.

"If you finish that book, let me know, I'll recommend you the next one." Blake pointed at the small rectangular object in Rouge's hand. It made Jaune really happy, to see his youngest sister had bonded so deeply with another girl she hadn't known before coming to Beacon.

Blue eyes met lilac, and for a split second could've sworn he saw a speck of confliction. It vanished so quickly, he was confident that he just imagined it. Instead, she wore that trademark teasing grin as she shoved his shoulder. "The two of you better not pick up where your relationship left off with your sisters in the room. That'll get pretty awkward."

"W-we won't!" Despite his best effort, he couldn't help but glance at Reese to see how she reacted. He didn't know why he bothered, her facial expression hardly changing at all. She had always been good at shrugging off Ciel's pranks and teases and apparently hadn't lost her touch.

"I don't know about that." Yang continued in a sing-song. "Sounds like you two only broke up because she moved… you must still feel something?" Even if she was teasing, this was being kind of direct and made him more than a little uncomfortable.

"You're pretty interested in our past relationship." He thought maybe Reese would have felt so too, but now she had a teasing grin of her own. "In fact, I would wager a guess that it's you that feels something."

Yang's grin faltered and their staring contest from before resumed. Jaune thought about jumping in, but once again their partners were quick to beat him to it. "Sorry, Yang's just… a little edgy because of her new haircut." Blake caught the taller girl in a headlock, a rare reversal for the two.

"No, Reese just doesn't know how to take a joke. She's unfortunately a very sore loser." Arslan reached into Reese's hood and grabbed her by the ear. "Follow us. We'll show you to our room." She began dragging Reese off, the mint-haired girl giving small yelps of pain the whole way.

Rouge and Autumn scurried after them first. Jaune paused for a moment, sharing one last glance at the girls who had now gathered around Yang. As he looked at his fellow blonde, he couldn't help but linger on if there was any truth to Reese's words. Part of him wanted there to be, even though he knew how unreasonable that was. He couldn't dedicate himself to Yang, no more than he had been able to dedicate himself to Reese. In the end, his sisters had won out and that had been before they needed him. It was even more impossible now that their lives depended on him.

That was what he told himself as he followed after his ex-girlfriend and her team leader.

Chapter End

Omake 32

First Mission (Part II)

Red lights flickered across the whole complex and a deafening alarm rang.

Joan stumbled as several powerful explosions rocked the earth and caused parts of the ceiling to come loose. This place was well fortified so the chance of an actual cave in was slim but she didn't want to take any chances.

"Ready, Rouge?" She glanced at the youngest sister who was shivering, gripping the handle of Fia Vesta so tightly her knuckles were turning white. This was her first operation with the rest of them so it made sense that she was nervous.

"I-I think I am." Even so, she nodded exaggeratedly. Joan knew she wanted to be useful to all of them, that was why she insisted so strongly to tag along. And secretly, Joan was glad she did. Violet was pretty strict about involving no one outside their family in these White Fang raids. Joan would rather have been with her team, but having all her sisters was just as reassuring.

"Just stick to what I told you to do. You don't have to kill anyone. Leave taking them down to me." Joan rested a comforting hand on her shoulder and Rouge nodded. Not that she planned to kill anyone either. Most of these men were conscripts, forced to work for the White Fang against their will. They still had a chance to be redeemed, and Joan would be damned sure they got it.

Over the sound of the alarm they could now hear the clamoring of at least a hundred faunus as the masked soldiers stumbled out of the mess hall in a giant mob, making their way right towards them, predictably heading for the Paladins.

Her and Rouge were stationed right at the edge of a rather wide junction. Several pathways and small structures lined the room, and the one right behind them was the most direct route to their arsenal. It wasn't exactly the most strategic location to fight a hundred people and it wouldn't take much effort for those guys to start flanking them.

That was where Rouge came in. As all the soldiers came out another one of the adjacent hallways, she raised Fia Vesta high above her head. It gave a small flicker of light and then an unholy inferno erupted from the tip.

Those searing hot flames could melt the flesh right off your bones just by getting within a couple feet of them. Her and Rouge were both unaffected as the latter's Semblance wrapped around them, shielding them from such a horrible fate.

The fire raced forward, splitting in two and forming a narrow pathway. One that led right from them to the other end of the room, boxing the White Fang members into a bottleneck, leaving them unable to spread out and thus unable to surround the two sisters.

With only a narrow line to travel, and having to steer as clear of the flames as possible, the hundred masked Faunus did the only thing they could do: Charge straightforward, weapons drawn and pointed right at them. Even if they were surprised by the flames, they probably thought it would be easy to mow down two adolescent girls.

Joan was ready to show them how wrong that line of thought was. She created a barrier in front of Rouge, one that would shield her from any attack coming from directly in front of them. Meanwhile, she crouched down and ducked her head below the deployed shield.

Not even a second later and gunfire erupted, adding to all of the ear-shattering noise that was already transpiring around them. Her shield gave a small jolt as hundreds of bullets rained down upon it. Rouge flinched as even more glazed off the barrier in front of her.

She heard several whistles and poked one eye curiously over the top of the shield to see several RPGs fly. Those struck the shield, but no explosion followed, instead all that energy turned into a bright yellow light that it absorbed. She could feel her sword beginning to vibrate as all the stored energy in it resonated.

Well, that was probably enough. In fact, it was probably overkill at this point. She only wanted to incapacitate these men, not murder them. With a deep breath, she got to her feet and focused on the handle of Crocea Mors, trying to properly fluctuate its power.

The blade began glowing brightly with golden light so bright that the charging soldiers had to slow and shield their eyes. In that moment, all their gunfire ceased and Joan didn't waste the opportunity.

She pointed Crocea Mors forward and the entire pathway Rouge had created was engulfed in a golden energy attack. Pained screams and curses echoed over the roaring inferno and buzzing alarm. When her beam of light pittered out of existence, all one hundred of their enemies were on the ground, unconscious and Aura drained, but alive.

Rouge averted her eyes away from the scene. Joan wished she could say this sight wasn't something she was already familiar with, but she was far past that point. "You did good, Rouge." She nodded to her, but those words appeared to do little to alleviate her youngest sister.

With a small sigh, Joan raised a hand to the headset in her ear. "Our end, clear. Where to next, Autumn?"