Author's Note: This week was one of those weeks where, like, I was really motivated to write. I got this chapter done basically by Tuesday after starting it Sunday, and I spent Wednesday and Thursday planning out how the coming chapters are going to play out. There are a fairly large amount of things being juggled by Jaune here, and I now have two different types of outlines to keep track of what is going to happen and when.

Also, due to popular demand of one person, I've also got a Discord server now. Why? Beats me, but it sounds fun and my ego does like the boost, so it was not difficult for me to be talked into it.

In all seriousness, I don't really have any great plans for the Discord, so this is more of an experiment than anything. If we get enough people, we might try to get together a Cards Against Humanity game with the RWBY deck (Cards Against Remnant), or it might just be a place to hang out and complain about blue-greenish colors.

discord (dot) ( the letter gee ) ( the letter gee ) (slash) YzqBkXR

[ note: Discord under attack from radical Texans. Long story. May let it die and remake it; unclear as of 6/14/2019 ]

Join, if only for the seven minutes it took me to get that link past FF's nothing else, one of my buddies joined because he can't wait to see me try to handle interacting with people... xD

Oh, and...

Enjoy.

Chapter 36: "I don't like it when you keep comparing me to Raven." – Yang Xiao Long
"Trust me, I like it even less when you act like her." – Jaune Arc

Jaune's POV

Beacon, apparently, is not without its administrative quirks, not that I should be surprised when a centuries-old being is running a modern Academy; some things are bound to feel odd, old-timey even. The main quirk effecting me recently is the closure of dorms in between semesters. It seems to me that if you're going to require all your students to move into your own barracks—sorry, apartments, because Ozpin certainly would never use children as soldiers—then you shouldn't also expect them to move out for two weeks. I understand that yes, normal students would have families to go home and visit, and I technically do have somewhere to go back to. Raven, in her just infinite wisdom, decided that she'd rather not have to pay to send me back to Beacon by train, and as such, it wasn't worth letting me crash back with the Tribe for two weeks. And it's not like I could have told her that Yang would be okay with letting me be teleported to her when class starts back…

Students with nowhere to go apparently aren't so uncommon that Beacon had no idea what to do with them; my team consists of 75% of such students, after all, plus Blake on Team RWBY. Normally, you would just petition the school for some sort of hardship scholarship, and they would pay to put you up in a hotel for the time being. The problem was that the beginning of the festivities of the Vytal Festival began one week before the dorms opened back up, so even if the tournament itself wasn't going, tourists were flocking to Vale by the thousands. All of Vale's hotels had already been booked in reserve for that second week of our break, meaning that Beacon could only find lodging for us for one week. For the second week, we—myself, Ren, Nora, Blake, and Weiss (who did not want to return to Atlas)—were on our own.

Some of us found solutions more easily than others. Weiss, for example, was rich enough to already just have an apartment in Vale, in case of an emergency, I guess. Blake was fortunate enough to have a really rich teammate with an apartment and plenty of spare room. Even if they hadn't, they had two teammates who lived near Vale they could stay with.

Ren and Nora were going camping, a prospect which took a very long time to convince Pyrrha and Team RWBY was not just a cover for being homeless for a week. Ren had to remind everyone that they grew up moving around from place to place and weren't strangers to roughing it in the woods, plus they would be staying in a part of Vale's forests that were much safer than the Emerald Forest. In the end, Ren had to bust out all of their camping gear to show off that they really were used to camping, and honestly, it might be more comfortable than whatever sort of Atlesian-style apartment Weiss had. I threw my support behind their decision, being the supportive team leader that I am, and eventually everyone calmed down enough to be okay about them roughing it for a week.

What was I going to do? Well, I told everyone that I had petitioned to get put in the Transfer Students' dorm, and that I had guilted Miss Goodwitch into having me put up with a transfer team that hadn't had all their members arrive yet.

Oh yeah, there was the whole fact that their dorms stayed open, because they were only here for the Vytal Festival, and things had been planned accordingly. That wasn't annoying, or anything, seeing that Beacon is just competent enough to realize that the Vytal Festival would affect some students, but not competent enough to see how it would affect all the students.

In any matter, if any of my friends asked who I had stayed with, I already had a good alibi ready to go. Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury still didn't have a fourth member at Beacon yet, and I could easily get them to support my alibi about staying with them when I hadn't. I need to go meet with Cinder and get a feel for her intentions anyways, so using that as an excuse would work nicely.

In all likelihood, I was just planning on Neo having access to whatever safehouses Roman still had active, and then just crashing at one of those. Probably my most dangerous option, sleeping in the same zip code as the queen of the stabs herself, but we have a little work to do anyways. She probably won't kill me in my sleep, not when she would prefer to see the look in my eyes when she stabbed me. Either way, JN_R checked out of the hotel today, so I'll have to talk with her about it tonight.

With Ren and Nora out of town, the only teammate I would have to worry about is Pyrrha, or that is, I would if she hadn't had to go back to Mistral. She tried to explain how she was still under contract to go do things for her sponsors and had to go back home over the break and deal with things, and I can't say that the prospect of dealing with corporate sponsors thrilled me all that much; by the time she assured us it was completely normal and just more of a hassle than anything, I was mostly tuned out. As was Nora.

Which leads me here: with my team all gone for this week and Raven not planning on me staying with the Tribe, I have seven days to accomplish as much unhindered progress towards my goals as I can, which first off involves meeting with Yang. There was much that I needed to properly explain and since I wouldn't ever get another chance quite like this, with both of our teams gone, there was no time like the present. All Yang had to do is feed Ruby and her dad a line about running into Vale to go shopping—for anything but weapons, so as to lose Ruby's interest—and she was free to meet up, following a short boat ride.

I was cautious, though, because I can't afford any more stupid mistakes. The four biggest threats with having Yang meet me are that we would be interrupted or spied on by Qrow, Tai, Ruby, or Raven. Yang took care of Ruby before she left and Tai wasn't likely to come but Yang had her scroll off so she couldn't be tracked, just in case. Qrow was a risk, but one that was mitigated by our meeting up in one of Vale's parks; there was no way to avoid being followed by a bird, but I sat us out in the middle of the grass, far enough away from any trees so as to not be overhead. I would have to notice him before he got within earshot, which was enough assurance for me.

For Raven, I…well, if I'm honest with myself, I was just banking on her not bothering to check in. She clearly wasn't poking in on me regularly with her Semblance, since she would have caught me doing something stupid at some point. That said, even if she did create a portal to us suddenly, I had an emergency plan in my back pocket, with heavy emphasis on emergency. Raven is way too sharp for both Yang and I to come up with the same lie about why we were discussing plans alone without anyone else watching, but she does have a certain way of viewing how…interpersonal relationships work, which I would take advantage of.

Of my plans for each person, my plan for Raven was my worst one, as I'm not sure if suddenly making out with Yang was actually any safer for my health than getting caught red-handed by Raven. Assuming Yang's Semblance did not char everything within a five-foot radius and that she did not overreact and kill me immediately, Raven would all to easily jump to the conclusion that, yes, I was taking her 'advice,' even if it had been offered mostly to embarrass me. There was no telling how she would react if she actually did catch me making out with her daughter—another oversight in my emergency plan—but her flippant attitude and general permissiveness of promiscuousness makes me suspect she'd smirk and leave us to it.

Gods above, I really don't want Raven to show up for this. It really would be a no-win scenario for me—or, I suppose it would be one win that I would pay very dearly for—and it would be one that I would never hear the end of either Yang or Raven.

"That's…that's a lot to take in."

If that wasn't enough to be nervous about, there was what I had just got done explaining to Yang: a crash-course in all of the magic in Remnant that I knew of, and was caught up in. What she was now caught up in, if she was still determined to play bait for Raven by pretending to be Ozpin's next candidate.

"Do you have any…questions?" I asked, cringing slightly as I did so for how stupid the question was. Duh, she would have questions.

"Do I have any questions?" Yang asked incredulously, throwing the words back in my face. She had already stood up and was pacing around me in a circle, eyes staring off at the grass in front of her. It reminded me of Raven, not that anyone outside of Vernal or I ever got to see her that deep into her thoughts. She was always calm and collected in front of the Tribe, and it was still rare for us to see her so distracted, but on occasion when planning a heist or dealing with externalities, Raven would pace around while thinking. She usually did so in a much slower and calmer manner, but then again, she wasn't ever this overwhelmed, either. "How do you know all of this is true? You had to have gotten it all from Raven; how do you know she's not making it up?"

"Well, I've seen it with my own eyes. You have, too, even if you don't realize it; didn't you see the way her eyes lit up when you were watching our fight?" Not our spar, which she saw also, but the fight at the end of that meeting. The one that left both sides bleeding, if momentarily.

"I…I don't remember that part, no," Yang answered, the question at least breaking her out of her pacing for a moment. It was getting dizzying following her from my seat on the ground, too. "I wasn't looking at her eyes as much as I was the ice you were trapped in or the blades you both used—" Yang cut herself off, looking at me pointedly as if she had figured something out. "You stabbed her, and…she seemed surprised that her Aura didn't stop it. You—"

"I'll stop you right there," I cut in, relaxing myself a little. "I don't have any magic, no."

"But I saw the knife glowing!"

"That was my Semblance," I dismissed with a hand wave, holding out my hand and projecting a blade as best I could. It was small, barely more than an inch and a half sticking out from my palm, but enough to show that it was nothing more than projected Aura that was reinforced by my Semblance.

"But it was red last time," Yang pointed out, her focus clearly taken up on the projection.

"Yeah, well, I was pretty angry last time, too," I responded. I closed my eyes for a moment and focused on a memory that would get me angry—appropriately, the memory of Raven encasing my limbs in ice and stabbing me—and used that to hone my projection. Doing so turned a short, fat projection into a longer, thin blade with fine edges and a sharp point. It also tinted the blade red, but the Aura in my hands remained white. "Ren says that emotion can help channel the projection, and I guess that also changes its color. It's not like I'm an Aura expert or anything."

"Yeah, well, you sure seem to be an expert about everything else," Yang cut back. "You're sure that all of this is real?"

"I may not have magic, but Raven really is the Spring Maiden. We've both seen her use it, too, not to mention that you saw her shift forms." I gave Yang a somewhat pointed look, and she averted her eyes to the ground again, conceding the point. Raven had flown around to survey the area when we had met up, and her Semblance was known to not be turning into a bird. "So magic is real, and if the Four Maidens are real, there's no reason to assume that the Relics aren't, or that the Wizard and the Witch aren't both real."

"How do you know she wasn't making that stuff up and hoping you'd assume that you would believe it if she could prove part of it?" Yang asked, showing a bit of her mother's cunning, if not her paranoia. It wasn't necessarily the worst quality to emulate; it would certainly be helpful now, and it wasn't maybe something I would have suspected Yang of having based off her loose-cannon personality and reputation.

"Because her actions show that she believed what she was saying," I answered calmly, deescalating what tension Yang was building up. "She knew that as the Spring Maiden, Headmaster Lionheart would try to acquire her at all costs, so she took steps to ensure that she never got on his radar. There were more than a few times where Raven left potential raids on the table because she didn't want to expose herself too much to Haven."

Yang looked over me for a few moments, eyes distant in a way that made it clear she was thinking over what I had said. She nodded absently a few times, not finding anything there she could object with.

"And Headmaster Ozpin?" Yang asked, her voice and the look she gave me both loaded with suspicion and nervousness.

"I…can't personally confirm that he's an immortal, reincarnating Wizard," I admitted slowly, "but Raven believes that he is. She's wary of Ozpin finding out about her much more than she is Lionheart; that's why she stays in Mistral, not Vale. The things she says about Ozpin, the emotion and conviction with which she spites his name…there's no way that she's lying about that."

"You don't sound like his biggest fan, either."

Yang's words were pointed, not in an antagonistic way, but very much so to point things out, and in that she was not wrong. My eyes met hers and held for a few moments before answering.

"I recognize that everything I know about the man comes from Raven, which is not an unbiased source. That said, no, I am not his biggest fan. I'll concede that Ozpin is important, and that giving in to Salem's wishes is a path no one can afford, but I'll be damned before I get drawn into his war. Huntsmen die fighting the Grimm all the time, and they serve as protectors of the world, but Ozpin's little…secret society?!" I spat the words out, not finding any better ones to describe what was essentially a cult built around sustaining Ozpin's power and prestige across his lifetimes. "All they do is die to keep Ozpin's secrets safe from the world. They guard the Relics and the Maidens and they die because they can't use any outside help, they can't afford to let the world know about the real stakes! Even…even Summer died because she was taking on the weight of the world in silence. Ozpin is a fool not to unite the world against Salem, to march on the Grimmlands and end her once and for all. Until that happens—until there's a chance at he's not content with an eternal war with no end in sight—I will be taking my chances elsewhere."

I had riled myself up while talking, and now that I had said my piece, I realized that I had gripped a fistful of grass from beside me. I forced myself to release the fist, letting the torn blades fall back down harmlessly, and as I did so, Yang walked over and took a seat right next to me.

"Okay. You don't need to convince me. I believe you, Jaune," Yang said softly, her words calming me down further. I hadn't looked back up yet, but I could feel that her eyes weren't on me, and were instead staring off into the distance. "You…you didn't have to bring my mom into it," she said even softer.

I looked up into her eyes, confused for just a moment and sobered by the frailty there and the way they flattened over at me moments later.

"My real mom," she added on.

"Oh. I'm sorry," I mumbled, eyes trailing back to the ground. It was meant to apologize both for bringing Summer into this, and for conflating Raven with an actual, loving mother.

"It's… You're fine," Yang said, her voice getting a little of its volume and energy back. "So, what about your family, then?"

"What about them?" I asked, flippant and a little darkly.

"I told you that I read some of those…files that Neo gave you. How does that play into…everything?" Yang asked, gesturing vaguely towards a tree that stood between us and Beacon's general direction.

"That's a fantastic question, Yang," I announced, teasing her just a bit to soften the next part. "I don't have a clue."

"Really? Nothing?"

"You saw how we handled the topic last time Raven and I spoke. If it weren't for my Semblance, I'd have a nasty scar to show for it, too," I joked darkly, reminding her of what led to me stabbing Raven and her stabbing me back. "She knows more than she's told me, and the bi—" I cut myself off, a hint of doubt creeping through me; I had already insulted the memory of one of her mothers, and I knew that it wouldn't have bothered her, but I still hesitated at the thought of upsetting her twice.

"Bitch," Yang finished for me, grinning at my attempt to censure myself. "I'm a big girl. I can handle some mean words."

"She knows more than she's told me, and the cunt doesn't—"

"Well, that might be pushing it," Yang cut in, her grin only giving away that she was messing with me at the last second. I was actually ready to just auto-apologize for the same reason as before, too, and gave her an agitated frown. Is this what it's like being around me all the time?

"She doesn't even pretend like she's not hiding who my family was from me," I finished, trying to ignore the grin Yang was still sporting from our exchange. "Those files from Neo were the most I've learned about them by a wide margin, even if it was a bit…"

"Horrific?"

"I was going to say 'thorough on the details,' but yeah." I shut my eyes for a moment, picturing the scene as described by—of all people—Ironwood's report, or recalling the photos included. There were only a few with, well, intact faces, but were so lifeless and cold to look at that I almost wished that I hadn't seen them, even if it was the closest to them I could ever get.

A hand on my shoulder shaking me back and forth knocked me out of that line of thinking before I could begin to dwell too deeply, and I mumbled my thanks to Yang for her help.

"All I got from that is they used to be a big family of knights, and then they became Ozpin's spies for a while, and then they broke ties with Ozpin after the Great War." Appropriate, then, that as the last Arc, I am of no mind to join up with Ozpin. Hell, Raven might have only taken me in because she knew that the Arcs and her both didn't like working for the Wizard. "Once they did that, Salem decided to hunt them down, until there was a last stand in the wilds of Mistral." A secret one, too, facilitated by Haven's Headmaster, who still served in the same position. Ironwood went out of his way to indicate (in what wasn't redacted, at least) that Leonardo Lionheart was an ally of Ozpin, yet kept his assistance to my family a secret from them. He would be an interesting man to have a conversation with for that, once I'm free of Raven and Ozpin.

If I'm free of Raven and Ozpin.

"Yes, where four-year-old Jaune held off the forces of the Queen of the Grimm," Yang emphasized that part more satirically than the rest, emphasizing the absurdity of the concept without denying its existence, "and escaped to be raised by my mother, despite her wanting nothing to do with Ozpin, Salem, or Lionheart."

"What do you want me to say?" I asked defensively. "You think I don't wonder why? You're right, it doesn't make a lot of sense to take me in, but maybe it wasn't as risky as you think it was. She and Qrow—and Atlas—had a list of all the Arcs who were alive, and I wasn't on it; as far as she knew, no one knew I existed, and that's held true. Besides, she clearly had the power to protect the Tribe if any large Grimm came looking for me."

Hell, she would have given me up pretty quickly if it meant keeping her powers and her Tribe safe from Salem's attention.

"Did she even have the Maiden powers then?"

"I don't know, probably," I answered, a bit tired of trying to think things through before explaining them. It never hurt to have to think over things again, but that didn't mean it wasn't taxing. "All she said is the got them around the same time, and that getting the Maiden's powers were what emboldened her to finally leave Ozpin; that way, if Qrow, Tai, and Summer had come after her, she would have the strength to fight them off." And she left Yang to make them think her irredeemable, so that her theory wouldn't bet tested. Had she taken baby Yang with her, we might have learned whether Silver Eyes, bad luck, and cargo shorts were enough to take down a Maiden. "So yeah, I think she had the powers before she took me in."

"Okay, okay," Yang repeated softly, noticing that I was getting worked up again and doing her best to calm me back down gently. It was decently effective, giving me enough time to take a breath and settle back down. "So, magic is real, Ozpin leads a secret crusade against the Grimm's Queen, your family were spies that were caught up in the middle, and my mom is now one of Remnant's four most powerful humans. Did I miss anything?"

"She can teleport to me and kick my ass at any time she desires."

"There's that too," Yang acknowledged curtly, before cutting her eyes at me dangerously, "and there's whatever advice about me she gave you."

"Ad…vice?" I asked, stuttering there in the middle as I remembered exactly what advice Yang was talking about. I risked looking up to meet her eyes, still cut at me but dangerously flatly now. "Would it help if I told you she was mostly trying to tease me?"

"Mostly?!"

"Well, yeah, she was trying to tease me, but if I had followed her advice, she probably would have congratulated me." Probably. "She's not exactly the roll-model you'd expect a mother to be…"

"I'm well aware of that."

"Not that Team Fornicate—Team STRQ, I mean; slip of the tongue—were much better themselves…"

"Yeah…" Yang mumbled, staring off in the distance as she thought over the logistics for how she and Ruby were half-sisters but only two years apart, with the added complication of Raven leaving, Tai rebounding so quickly, and Qrow getting left out of all the fun. I reached out and shook her shoulder, stopping her from thinking too deeply like she had for me. "Thanks. Just remember one thing though…"

"Huh?"

"If you ever do want to try your luck," Yang stated slowly, her voice barely above a whisper as she leaned in a little closer into the gap between us, "just remember…that you can't handle me."

Yang finished this off by further subverting things between us by sticking her tongue out at me, her face close enough to mine that I could probably reach her tongue with mine if I tried. Chances are, that was one purpose, too, just for the added tease.

"You know, after fourteen years with your mother, I can very much so believe that."

That reply had its desired effect, Yang's expression contorting awkwardly as she tried to sort through whether that was an insult or a compliment, what exactly she should take away from it, and what sort of messed-up connotations I was throwing in her face.

I laughed at her confusion, pushing myself onto my feet and leaving her behind on the ground. Once upright, I held an arm out for Yang and she took it, letting me help her up to her feet.

"It's sorta late," I announced flatly, looking off at the setting sun in the distance. Yang's eyes followed mine and she hummed in agreement. "You hungry?"

"Always."

Yang had asked more than once where we were going to eat at on our walk to her bike, and I had intended to point out directions from my seat on the back of Bumblebee, but soon found one logistical hiccup making that impossible: even with a helmet, I wasn't going to be seeing anything through Yang's hair. Eventually, I gave up and told her to take us to the same diner that our teams had gone to after the docks. If Yang recognized that I wanted us take into the seedier part of town, she didn't call it out, and a few minutes of blind terror clinging to Yang as she terrorized the streets of Vale later, we were (surprisingly) safely in the parking lot.

I'm almost certain Yang was trying to make me fear for my life, too.

On a more positive note, there was a nice isolated booth open three tables from the nearest occupied table, and since we were rolling in at 7pm instead of the middle of the night, the ladies working were significantly less mean. It may have helped that it was a completely different shift with different workers.

"Hi y'all, I'm Missy, and I'll be your waitress tonight. Can I get y'all something to drink?" our waitress asked with so much enthusiasm dripping from her that I was beginning to suspect that she stole it from the women who were here last time.

"A water," I answered curtly.

"I'll have a grape soda."

"Ooh, good choice. People like grape soda," the waitress hummed absentmindedly as she scribbled down our order. "Y'all need some time to look or do you know what you want?"

"We're ready," Yang answered for us, not even stopping to look up and realize that I was not on board.

"I'm not," I cut in, giving Yang a flat look.

"Oh, you're fine, it's not like the menu's that complex," Yang dismissed off-hand, before turning back to our waitress. "I'll do the breakfast platter special, extra toast."

"Alrighty, and you, hun?"

"I don't have a clue," I spat out in Yang's direction, flipping over the menu frantically. "It's not like I eat out much."

"Oh, fine, here," Yang drawled, rolling her eyes and she took the menu out of my hands and gave it to the waitress. I kept my hands in the same position and pretended to read over my now-stolen menu as a form of silent protest. "He'll have the breakfast platter also, with extra…" Yang trailed off, looking over me intently and silently judging me. "…bacon. Sorry for taking so long," Yang tossed in that last part to the waitress as a jab at me.

"Oh, you two are fine," she dismissed with a laugh. "My husband and I are just like you two. We're to the point where he won't even hand me a menu when we sit down somewhere; he knows he'll end up ordering for us both anyways." She jotted down the rest of our order on her note pad before turning back to us one last time. "Alright, I'll get those going. You two just sit tight and I'll get you your drinks!"

"You know she thinks we're on a date, right?" I cut in quietly once she had walked off.

"And?" Yang asked pointedly. "Would you rather explain the real reason we met up?"

I bit my tongue and conceded that point to Yang, who smirked at me contently.

"Here you two are, one grape soda and one water," our waitress announced as she reappeared at the end of the table, setting the drinks down in front of us. "Anything else?"

"I think we're good, thanks," Yang answered, doing her best to match the server's enthusiasm and cheer. We both watched her walk off again, presumably for the last time until our food comes. "So, now that you've covered all of that, what other secrets are you hiding?"

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"A little," Yang said with a grin, taking a sip of her drink for emphasis. It was a lot how Ozpin sips his mug purely for effect, except with a straw containing purple carbonated sugar water instead of a mug.

"Well, let's see… You know about Raven, and about magic," I said, dropping my voice a little lower. "What else do you want to know about?"

"Nuh uh," Yang cut in, setting her drink down hastily, "you're not getting out of this with a trick like that. You are supposed to tell me things, not make me guess around."

"Okay, fine. Sheesh," I backed down easily, rolling my eyes as I did so. "I was just trying to decide what to go with next, jeez."

"Torchwick, then," Yang cut in, cutting her eyes at me with a little suspicion. "I want to know everything, from the beginning."

"Fine. There's not as much to tell as you would suspect," I responded, taking a drink of my water to clear my throat. Yang waited patiently, making it clear to me that she wasn't planning on letting me out of this. "Actually, we met by coincidence, if you'd believe it."

"I might. Go on."

"You know the file that Neo just gave me? This all started with me trying to find someone in Vale who could get me information on my family. I actually got the idea from you, after hearing how you attacked Junior while looking for your mom. I figured, hell, Junior sounds like as good of a place as any to start looking."

"Wait wait wait, are you trying to say that it's somehow my fault you ended up with Torchwick?"

"Well, now that you put it that way…" I teased, laughing a little to make it clear that I wasn't actually doing that. "Anyway, Junior knew one guy who was ex-Atlas intelligence, and offered to introduce us in exchange for some favors…"

"Favors?" Yang asked concerned, clearly aware of what 'favors' usually mean in this sort of business.

"Nothing bad, I promise. Not yet. One of them was that I didn't blackmail him by telling Raven that he gave anything about her up to you—and yeah, he did know her, but not well enough to really help you at the time anyways. The real thing he wanted was for me to run an…operation for him."

"Operation? What does that mean?"

"Well, he had an employee who was running a side business, and he wanted that employee too scared to do that anymore. I found four willing Beacon students and we sorta dressed up as cops and scared him until he gave up on trying to run illegal weapons on the streets. I let the other students keep the illegal lien we seized from him, and I took this," I pulled out my ceramic dagger and laid in on the table, out of sight of the other patrons, "as a souvenir."

"Other Beacon students?" Yang asked, her demeanor a little more serious now.

"Team CRDL," I offered up freely. "That'll come into play more later, so if you're going to chastise me for crossing a line, wait till the end. It'll be easier then."

"Oh, that doesn't inspire confidence, Jaune," Yang said, chuckling darkly to herself and taking a drink to distract herself. "Let's get on with it, then."

"So, Junior sets up a meeting between me and his ex-Atlas source, and he sets it for the night before our raid on the White Fang rally—"

"Oh no," Yang mumbled, following along closely. "That's the meeting with Junior that didn't go well, isn't it?"

"Correct. Not the one where I trashed the place, but the one leading up to that," I confirmed solemnly. Yang's lips pulled into a tight frown as she waited to hear what exactly went down, though she had no idea just how bad it would be. "As it turns out, his source was Roman Torchwick, who had a bone to pick with me ever since we hijacked one of his dust heists."

Yang's look turned funny and she gave me a weirdly intense stare. It did not take long to figure out why.

"Oh, I forgot that part, didn't I? Yeah, earlier in the semester Raven had me help the Tribe steal a shipment of dust that the White Fang had stolen. In the process, I fought off Neo and earned Roman's ire. Come to think of it, that was the same heist at the docks where we found Blake…"

"It was what?"

"Yeah, it was a complete coincidence that I was able to get there so quickly. Lucky for Blake, too."

"I…I don't even…" Yang fumbled her words, her eyes looking over me frantically before she calmed herself down. It looked more like she was just pushing the thoughts out of her mind for now, which was fine with me. "You stole dust from the White Fang, and you helped save Blake. Okay. I can be okay with that."

"Just wait."

"Would you please stop doing that?" Yang asked, agitated.

I shrugged. "What can I say, I inherited Raven's flair for drama…"

"Well knock it off," Yang replied gruffly. "What happened when you went to the meeting?"

"Yeah, that's where it gets worse," I replied, earning (and ignoring) a glare from Yang for immediately going back to being dramatic. "Junior sold me out to Torchwick, and he forced me to bargain for my life…" Yang winced at the notion, showing just enough sympathy that I am confident she won't blow the next part out of proportion. I made it clear that I was pausing for her to put two and two together, and she did not miss the chance.

"Well, you clearly made him a good offer…" Yang stated slowly. My eyes trailed down to the table in front of me. "Since you're still alive, that is. And if you kept working with him afterwards, it must have been a really good offer…"

I nodded and looked up somewhat guiltily and apologetically, half-expecting Yang to get on to me for acting dramatic yet again. Instead, he expression softened a little and concern shone in her eyes instead. She was clearly aware that I would have had to do something I wouldn't want to.

"I had some…information that was extremely valuable to him," I started off slowly, watching Yang nervously to see when she figured out my insinuation. "You see, he was holding a rally the next night, and there were these people that were going to bust it, and…"

"No…"

"Yeah…"

"You tipped him off about the raid?" Yang asked in a whisper, her voice soft but disappointed, which did hurt a little.

"Tip him off?" I repeated, almost scoffing. "He wasn't exactly forgiving when he found out I was the one who planned the raid on him. I did more than just tip him off. I planned his entire damn getaway and brought Raven in to sneak the Paladins out unnoticed."

"YOU—" Yang cut herself off quickly as she realized how loud she was being, leaning over the table and hissing at me instead. "You what!?" Yang's eyes flashed to red as she bore them down on me. "How could you do that to Blake!? She trusts you, Jaune, more than anyone else I've seen! You just…undermined everything she was working towards and helped the White Fang keep their giant death machines!?"

"And you think I liked doing any of that?" I hissed back sharply, cutting away at the base of her anger. I reached out with my Semblance and opened up a connection, both to let the sensation distract her and let her feel that I was being genuine. From it, I could feel that her anger was more of a sharp one then a blind rage, which was probably good. "Do you think that I would bring Raven into a meeting intended to get me information that she was hiding from me…do you think I'd do that unless I absolutely had to?"

Yang's eyes switched back over to lavender and her energy was sapped away as she leaned back down into her seat, recognition taking over her eyes and letting me know that my goal of snapping her out of her anger had succeeded.

"It wasn't lost on me at the time that I was actively undoing all the good that my friends were doing. That was just the icing on top of a very bad few days for me…"

"Which is why you took it out on Junior," Yang pointed out, her voice a little uncertain and looking for verification.

"More or less. Torchwick decided that he wanted my 'operations' with Team CRDL working for him, so he offered up Neo's help to take out Junior as a peace offering."

"She's the one who killed him, isn't she?" Yang asked, her voice dangerously soft. "You know what, no, that doesn't matter. We left Junior alive; whatever they were going to do, it would have happened whether you helped or not."

"That's…awfully generous thinking on your part," I pointed out tentatively. "Shouldn't you still get on to me about working with murders and thieves?"

"Given who my mother is, I think that would be a dumb angle to argue…"

I shrugged. The girl had a point.

"What did Raven think when you had to bring her in?"

"She…well, she got to keep one of the Paladins, so she came out better than before," I started off, noting Yang's eyes go wide with surprise at the mention of the Paladin. "She did not appreciate that I had called her to save me, nor that I was going behind her back in the first place. I definitely got chewed out for that." Yang opened her mouth with a confused expression on her face, and I cut her off before she could ask why that was all Raven did. "You remember the last chewing-out I got from her…" I said, tapping the spot on my stomach I had been stabbed for good measure.

"Oh."

"Yeah, well, working with Torchwick isn't exactly ideal, but it has its perks. I've met some…possibly important people that could be useful allies—and I mean big-picture useful, as in magically useful." Not that Yang needs to be introduced to Cinder and her crew. If my hunch is right and Cinder is gunning for Fall's power, or was the one to steal part of it in the first place, then identifying Yang as one of Ozpin's potential candidates would put a target on her back that I'm not sure I could protect her from. The only ones who could protect her from that would be Ozpin or Raven, two people whose protection I do not want to force Yang into. "Neo runs all of CRDL's operations, so I'm not even involved in that anymore, except—"

"Except for what?"

"I…have one thing to take care of, tonight actually. It's the reason I wanted us to eat in this part of town, so that I don't have far to walk once you leave," I admitted, trusting Yang wasn't a risk to rat on me now. I could have just as easily held on to this information, but if I could trust Yang, why wouldn't I? It's nice to have someone willing to bear your burdens with you, even if you'd prefer that they didn't have to.

"What is it?"

"The Malachites—Junior's two enforcers, the twins—have been going after CRDL ever since Junior died. So far they've only roughed them up, but they're clearly sending a message, and if they know that hitting CRDL is a way to get back at me, then they know too much to be my enemies. It's too dangerous." If they could link me to Neo and CRDL, then they had the potential to put me on the radar of people that I did not need looking into me.

"…and what are you going to do?"

"Part of the file Neo gave me was info she and Roman dug up on the Malachites. They found their hideout, and I was going to go find Neo and…pay them a visit."

"I got that part, Jaune," Yang cut back. "I meant, what are you going to do about them?" Yang asked, her voice stern and judgmental but her eyes giving away her concern for me.

I shrugged, but it was a weak response, and we both could tell. In all honestly, I was planning to go there and let Neo do to them what Neo pleased. If I felt bad, I might put the girls out of their misery, since death by Neo is likely not something they deserved. Either way, I was fully aware that I was going there to kill them, but I have already had a day or two to convince myself that it's necessary. They represent a threat to me, my freedom, everything I'm working towards… and they're forcing my hand. As far as Yang is concerned, I told her once that I draw the line at killing people who don't deserve it; they aren't innocent in any of this, so I'm not compromising myself…much.

"That's what I expected," Yang let out sadly, disappointedly. Her eyes trailed down to the table, only to jump up quickly in surprise. I followed them to find our waitress standing there, holding two plates in her hands.

"Alrighty, here we are, one with extra toast and one with extra bacon," she announced cheerily, setting our plates down in front of us. "Do you two need anything else?"

"I don't."

"No, I think we're good," Yang answered back, putting on a convincing smile until the waitress walked away. Once she was gone, Yang's disappointed look came back as she looked over me, mixed with some level of sadness and maybe even pity. I struggled to hold her gaze and instead bowed my head, picking up my fork to start eating by nibbling on my bacon.

Yang picked hers up two and we started to eat in silence, though it didn't even last long enough for me to get through one of my sides.

"I'm coming with you," Yang announced with such finality that I wasn't completely sure if she was talking to me or to her scrambled eggs.

"What?"

"I'm coming with you," she repeated with just as much finality. "To hell with it, my dad probably thinks I'm going to stay out late partying anyways. I'm coming with you when you confront the Malachites."

"Yang…"

"Don't you Yang me," she cut back forcefully, her eyes bearing down on me until I looked up at them. They were solidly set, but not confrontational. They were determined, and they cared not if I agreed. "I'm coming with you in case it's a trap, and I'm staying to make sure you don't do something stupid."

"Like killing them?"

"That would be stupid, yeah," Yang cut back dryly. "I've kicked both their asses before. You stabbed one of them last time, and don't think I've forgotten about that," she gave me another flat glare, to which I could only shrug. She had me there, too. "We'll do it again and make it clear to them what would happen if they think about crossing you again. We could even run them out of town."

"Blackmail and intimidation? Where did you learn all these valuable skills?" I teased, notably not disagree with her plan.

"Apparently, it's in my blood," Yang drawled back, her voice unimpressed. "I'm a natural, I guess."

"Great, now I've got two Ravens breathing down my neck," I drawled, rolling my eyes at Yang to further antagonize her. "One from each side. A devil and an angel on each shoulder."

"Aww, did you just call me an angel ?"

"Sure. You've got the ass for it."

I grinned as I accepted and waited for whatever punishment Yang deemed appropriate for that, which came in the form of a glass of grape soda being unceremoniously thrown in my face.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked, not having moved and purple soda still dripping off me. My flat look was met with a genuine smile from Yang.

"Actually, I'm worried that it won't be enough to deter you in the future," Yang said, feigning fear and concern as she stared off into the distance smugly. "You are a serial gropist, after all. A girl could get nervous being alone with you."

"Nervous, or excited?" I asked cheekily, getting nothing but a flat glare from Yang. "You know, you could clear up that whole groping incident."

"By what, telling everyone it didn't happen? That's not going to stop any rumors, Jaune."

"True. I guess that the only way to restore my honor is to cop a handful, then…"

Yang closed her eyes for effect. "I absolutely fucking dare you to try it," she growled at me, opening her red eyes at the peak of her emphasis to accentuate the threat.

Only problem was, she never got angry enough to get her eyes to turn red.

Closing Thoughts: Oh, oh my, what's this? Yang. and Jaune. flirting? in my fanfiction?

Heh. A very violent version of flirting, maybe, with threats and mommy-issues (on both sides) baked in, but still better than anything I've managed. You can't be accused of projecting yourself and you experiences onto Jaune if you put Jaune into a love triangle with two 11/10s...

For what it's worth, I have the next scene where they actually do go and confront the Malachites done, but I felt like it altered the pacing weirdly. Having a fast-paced scene at the end kinda disrupts the rhythm of this chapter, and I happen to really like the pacing of the next chapter with that scene opening it, so you get it next week. And, to make up for it, next week's chapter is gonna be longer because of it; I have 2/3 of it written already (I told you I've been in a writing mood), and it's already at 7500 words. Yay.

Also, Jaune's motive for disliking Ozpin's war hinged on a pretty important line there, where he said that he hates how Ozpin is content to sit back and wage an eternal stalemate instead of taking the fight to Salem. Clearly, he does not know that Salem cannot be killed. Everything Jaune knows comes from Raven, and since Qrow didn't know about Ozma and Salem, I'm betting that neither Qrow nor Raven knew that Salem was immune to death. Hence, Jaune's misunderstanding of the situation. Really, everyone's misunderstanding of the situation because of Ozma/Ozpin's secrets.

For anyone curious how I'm handling planning V3, as far as my two outlines go:

I've got a basic scene outline, that lists every planned scene in the general order I want them to happen. This is mostly only plot-related scenes, and I have about 9-10 chapters for V3 based off those alone. This should balloon as this outline doesn't account for the length of fight scenes, nor does it actually include the fights from the tournament. My rule on those is that if there's no real important changes to how it happens in the show, it won't be shown or heavily focused on here. There are plenty of more important fights planned outside of the ring than inside, so don't worry if it feels like I'm skipping those...

My other outline is less comprehensive and more detailed around specific events. This outline is actually split into three, one for Jaune, Pyrrha, and Yang, the three driving factors of the plot to come (if that wasn't obvious from the love triangle). As such, I have a comprehensive plan of what all will happen with regards to each character, what this means for them, and what they're going to do in response.

This is going to be a lot of fun, at least from my end.

Oh, and surprisingly (to me), the love triangle actually somewhat resolves itself early in the coming arc. All the stakes being built are not just for who gets Jaune in the end.

Or, well, when you consider Ozpin and Raven, I guess this whole story is technically is about who gets Jaune in the end...

Comment of the Week: by Avidlag

"So I haven't gotten to do this for a while, but the time has come! To get theories off my chest.

So first off we have Raven. For a lot of this story her goals have been questionable. I don't just mean in morals either, but legitimate confusion. But I think I cracked the code, actually been sitting on this one a while, but I was concerned that if it was true it would be very spoilery. But it's just too much fun! So first off we have her contradicting nature. She lets Jaune get away with her version of a slap on the wrist where anyone else would be cut down. Then we have her obsession with Jaune seeing Ozpin/ Beacon in a negative light, him not leaving the tribe, and finally wanting him to knock up... just about any women who catches her interest honestly. We have her not wanting him distracted by his family history. I has another one, but can't recall atm. So where does that leave us in terms of her goals? For Raven it seems like everything is about her and her tribe. So based on her desire and these facts I think it's safe to assume that Raven is grooming Jaune to be the next leader of the tribe. She can't off her her heir, but making him anger does motivate him to get stronger and smarter, hence why she beats him. She can't have him leaving or distracted, so she dissuades things like him forming friends outside the tribe or searching for his family. And as for the getting girls pregnant thing, that's a toss up of trying to get an heir for her replacement or having a hostage given Jaune's family issues. Could be both honestly.

Next time I'll do the V3 arc Theory. Also story is Ren x Existance."

Ah, good ole Avidlag, always just a few chapters ahead of me. Raven and her motives will come into play strongly here soon, so this is a good time to go ahead and clear the air of any misconceptions about them really quick.

Okay, first of all, I must admit that the whole 'knocking Yang/girls up' thing was a throw-away joke at the time, inspired by both the essence of Taiyang and how easy it would be to embarrass Jaune with it. It became a little bit of a reoccurring joke when Raven brought it back up with Yang secretly watching, just because yeah, it was still funny then too. I do actually kinda like the excuse of Raven trying to use Jaune's potential kid as a hostage, but no, there wasn't anything so deep as that. If she gets Jaune back into the fold and trusts that he's buying into her way of life, then she might go for getting him to have an heir for himself, but she clearly wouldn't be doing it to preserve his lineage when she's hidden it herself.

As for her wanting Jaune as an heir, I won't outright say if that's wrong or right as it is actually specified in my outline for Raven to clear things up to - - - - -, but I will say that you're not far off. I've been working on breaking down Raven's motives on my end for a while so that I could get this story written, and the lens through which I've been looking is this: Raven and Qrow were raised by the Tribe. Outside of Beacon, that's all they know, so the fact that Qrow is well-adjusted and has normal relationships with people is the exception.

Raven is different. Raven was born a bandit, and went back to being a bandit. Raven's view of what family is is not the same as Qrow's or Taiyang's, which is why understanding her actions are not easy. I would also say that Vernal's confusion about Raven's intentions (though it has been a while) should also suggest that maybe Raven herself is not 100% sure of how to go about getting what she wants here, or maybe she isn't 100% sure what that is. She reacted strongly to Jaune attacking her but once she retaliated she seemed to have regretted that she ever let things get that far out of hand.

So, yeah. Jaune knocking girls up was a joke that Raven teased Jaune with, and her intentions are paramount to the coming plot.

Also, if anyone thinks, wow, really, a discord server? you write fanfics. seriously? Blame Avidlag for putting the idea in my head... :P

"Jaune, my son, come sit on daddy's lap" - Turquoise Leaf

*knock knock knock*

*door is kicked in*

*windows are shattered as agents in black repel through them*

*flashbangs and tear-gas are tossed in*

"FBI, OPEN UP!"

For anyone who didn't get it, I named Jaune's father Turquoise Arc and his mother Kathryn Arc, after Turquoise Leaf and my sister. This way, they are both punished by having this connection between them forever. It was the worst thing I could to do my nemesis...

Also, Turquoise, thank you for serving as an unwitting distraction in that chapter...

With that cryptic note, see you guys next week.