"Hold still! I'm almost done!" Joli squealed. She was resting on top of Jaune's shoulders messing with hair. The look on his face screamed he wished he wasn't doing this. Yet he said he'd let Joli braid his hair when they were done. Well, more like his sisters forced him to do it, but he was used to it at this point.

So, as the four of them walked down to the cafeteria, Joli kept braiding his hair, Jade kept giving her clips and tips on said braiding, and Calista was recording the whole thing. Needless to say the looks that Jaune got in the hallway was a mix between teasing, confusion, and hilarity.

"I just got done being called the fraud of Beacon," Jaune drawled. "Now I'm going to be called pigtail guy. Thank you, my dearest sisters."

"You're welcome dork," Jade teased.

"We should be thanking you," Cal also teased. "This makes perfect blackmail."

"What's blackmail?" Joli asked innocently.

"Don't tell her!" Jaune threatened.

"It's where we remember embarrassing things about dum-dum here," Jade began. "And then we hold it over him so he does stuff for us." Joli groaned and had a frown on her face.

"That doesn't seem nice."

"It isn't," Jaune answered. He looked over his shoulder and gave a smug look at Jade. "That's why I'm glad it works both ways. Hey Jules, want to hear how Jade's first kiss went?" If he could see his little sister's eyes, they would be sparkling.

"Yes!"

"No she doesn't!" Jade screamed. Too bad her brother didn't care.

"She knocked her teeth against his and the two had to take a minute to recover from the pain!" Joli began giggling while Jaune laughed. Calista was trying to stifle a laugh as well as Jade's cheeks turned red.

"You are so dead," she threatened her brother.

"Maybe, but it was worth it." Jade just growled but accepted that having their brother be in pigtails in public would be enough. For now.

A couple of minutes of walking later, Joli stopped messing with her older brother's hair. She let out an adorable squeal at her work as Jade took her off of Jaune's shoulder.

"You look so pretty Jaune!" Joli squealed. Jaune sighed at the embarrassment as a group of girls nearby giggled at him. His blonde hair had been done in pigtails, the same style his older sisters put him through. Due to the fact he hadn't had a haircut in a while, the pigtails almost went down to his shoulders, but not quite.

Soon they reached the entrance of the cafeteria where one of the kitchen staff of the school was sitting with a computer. They often had to make sure the people who entered the academy and ate here were actual students. Jaune flashed his scroll for the scanner and explained that the three of them were with him. The staff eyed them for a second, a little bit skeptical. However, when he said they were his sisters, she saw the familiarities and nodded her head.

The four of them soon entered the cafeteria. Due to some classes already being in session, it wasn't completely busy, but it still had a fair amount of students. They saw what looked to be an arm wrestling competition in the corner. Jaune was able to recognize that it was Wallace and his team, with a girl that seemed very familiar.

"All right, let's go," Jaune prodded. He had to head to the operator class in an hour, so he wanted to at least get a decent breakfast and time with his sisters that didn't involve unpacking. He made sure to show them all the selections that Shade had to offer. Whether it be pancakes and waffles, or cereal and toast, Shade made sure to include all kinds of food for their students and staff.

After a couple of minutes they finally grabbed their food and found a sot for all of them. Jaune had ham, eggs, and oatmeal for himself, with water to drink. He figured operator training would be a little rough so he's not having sugar first thing in the morning. Joli got a giant waffle and milk. Jade grabbed some toast and Pumpkin Pete cereal with a glass of apple juice. Calista grabbed a plate of pancakes and bacon and sausages, with milk as well.

"Well it ain't like how mom and dad made it," Calista commented with a piece of bacon in her mouth. "But it's better than living on power bars."

"I'm pretty sure you're fifty percent power bar from how many you ate on the way here," Jade teased. This caused a giggle from Joli and a hearty chuckle from Jaune. Cal just ignored her sister and rolled her eyes. Thankfully, before Jade could continue the onslaught of insults, Jaune changed the subject.

"So how has your freelance work been Cal?" The brunette grew a wide smile.

"I've been busy as all hell. Ever since Beacon's comm tower got hacked, I've been getting a lot of customers willing to have me set up personal firewalls for them and other projects."

"Yeah I guess it'd make sense. Still, is your programming any better than the officials?" It was a light hearted question, more so than a serious one. Calista places her hand on her chest.

"You dare doubt my skill?" Jaune smiled and shook his head.

"Nah. After all you found my new scroll right?" A proud grin stretched across the brunette's face. Jaune just chuckled in response. How long had it been since he'd seen that smile?

"BORING!" Jade announced from beside him. And how long could he stand his twin before he stabbed her with a fork? "So numb nuts, how'd the date with that Nebula girl go last night?" Really all he would have to do is tighten his grip and aim for her side.

"It wasn't a date you menace. It was training." Despite what he said, Jaune could feel his cheeks warm up a bit. Thankfully, Jade didn't notice. She chuckled at his expense as she took another bite of her food. As she did though her face turned from jovial to serious.

"Speaking of, how is Shade treating you?" Her voice was serious this time. No taunts or anything, just actual concern. It warmed his heart a bit. The boy shrugged his shoulders as he took another bite from his food.

"I'm all right. Just like any other school. Except I get the bonus of killing the grimm every once in a while."

"Yeah, and you doing good at that?" Calista asked. Jaune looked at his tech sister and saw concern in her eyes. It made him angry at first, thinking he couldn't handle it. However, he realized she had a reason to worry. He gave a small nod.

"Mm hmm," he hummed. "I've actually been able to fight some of the better people in combat class. Who knows, maybe I'll be the next Vacuan champion!" The boast made everyone at the table laugh. They didn't doubt their brother, but it was a big feat to get into later in life.

The group continued to talk and eat for the next thirty minutes, the girls occasionally grabbing a second helping of food. However, one thought was still racking Jaune's mind. He asked it earlier this morning but didn't get an answer. Seeing as how he probably wouldn't see his sister's after this for a little while, he wanted to ask so it didn't cloud his head.

"So… how's mom doing?" This caused his older sisters to hitch for a second. The two glanced at each other before Cal nodded for Jade to take the lead. The blonde put her hand on her twin's shoulder and gave him a smile.

"She's fine," she said. "Making sure Joli here and Narissa are still studying. Keeping us busy and working. She's good." The blonde boy smiled. He was glad. "She also misses you." Jaune felt like he had just ascended to the heavens when he heard that. A huge wave of relief washed over him. He looked in Jade's eyes to see there was nothing but heartwarming truth and he just smiled. "Most of us do. It's why we came here." Jade finally wraps her arms around Jaune's torso. "We miss you dweeb." Jaune pushes her off of him with an annoyed look on his face, but it was one filled with sweetness too.

Calista just smiled as she watched her two younger siblings. This was nice. It had been a while since Jade had a family moment like this. It's also been a moment since Cal had one as well. However Jaune seemed to have caught something as his smile soon turned into a stoic frown.

"So… who doesn't… you know…" Jade quirked an eyebrow at him while Calista stopped chewing her food. This wasn't good. Jaune looked at Calista and Jade with a dead set look in his eyes. "You said most of you missed me."

Calista and Jade looked at each other again. They had no idea what to do. Because of Jade's slip-up, they had to tell their brother about home. About what everyone really feels. Sure, Mom was the same, but everyone else?

Jaune continued to look between the two of them, a quizzical look in his eyes. He sighed. He shouldn't have brought it up. Not now at least. What good did it do? Make them worry? He can't do that to them, not after everything they did just to see him again. Just as he was about to talk however, a small voice piped up.

"It's Eri and Sammy…" Joli's voice rang out. Everyone turned to the youngest arc. At first they were all shocked. How much did Joli know? They had tried to steer Joli clear from the family drama as best as they could. Then again, losing a brother is enough for any kid to grow up.

Still, the fact that she could pick up the intensity of the house was worrisome. Jaune bit his lip as thoughts plagued his mind. Was it really that bad that Joli is worried, or is it just that Joli's bright enough to see it?

"They… they…" Joli's lip quivered a tiny bit. This grabbed the boy's attention back to his sister. She took a deep breath and continued to stare into her syrupy food. "They don't talk about you. They pretend that you are gone forever."

Jaune just sighed and stared down at his food. That wasn't surprising. After all, Dad trained them first before anyone else. Not only was he their dad, he was their mentor and trainer, the man who helped them become huntresses. The man who helped push them to their limits. The man who was proud of them.

"I uh… don't think you'll be eating with that…" Calista commented. Jaune's attention snapped back to reality. He looked down in his hand to see that his fork was bent from how hrd he was holding it. He just sighed and bent back the normal way and took another bite from his eggs.

All of the sisters looked at each other. They all thought the same thing. What was he thinking as he bent that? The silence that filled their area was thick and heavy. The lackadaisical conversation they had turned for the worst. Like a fog rolling in during a sunny day.

The weirdest part was that he didn't get flustered about it. He had no reaction aside from the sigh. He used to wear his emotions on his sleeves. It was one of the things that made it so easy to trick him into doing stuff for them. It was also used to tell when he needed a shoulder to lean on. Now, he was unreadable.

"It's not true, is it?"

Jaune looked over to his youngest sister. Her eyes read uncertainty. Sadness. Guilt. Why guilt? Why did she have any reason to feel guilty about what happened? As the blue orbs stared into his, he saw something different. She wasn't the adorable naive little sister he played with. There was traces of it, but there was something different, and he knew what it was.

"Of course it isn't!" Jade answered for him. She leaned over and gave Jaune a side hug, shaking him a bit in the process. "Your big bro here will come back home, once our sisters get their heads out of their butts."

"Jade," He stated sternly. "Enough." Jade unwrapped her arm around her brother's shoulder but stared at him with a confused look on her face. The blonde boy kept his eyes on his little sister. "Sweetie, do you want the truth?" Joli bit her lip, but nodded her head. "I don't know."

When that escaped Jaune's lips, the heavy and dense atmosphere plummeted further down to the abyss. Joli just looked at her plate. A few seconds go by before a sniffle was heard from her. Calista scooted over and wrap her younger sister in a hug.

Calista tried to shush the little one and Jade kicked her brother's leg.

"What?" he mouthed.

"Jackass," Jade mouthed back. The blonde boy looked at his sisters and saw Calista whispering to Joli. He sighed and rubbed his face. He'll admit, maybe what he said was a little harsh. It''s just… he can't let Joli have false hope. What are the chances of him returning home? Sure, Jade, Cal and Joli are okay, and he could convince his mom, but everyone else?

He would not let his little sister live on the false hope that everyone in the family would kiss and make-up. Maybe if he was still at Beacon, he would've. Maybe if he was still optimistic about his family. Maybe, if he didn't come to Shade, he would've done so.

The thing was, he grew. Not only that…

"He really thinks I'm grown up?" Joli whispered loudly. This caused the twins to look over to see Joli covering her mouth, a small blush adorned her face. Cal tittered as she looked between her siblings.

"Why don't you ask him?" she whispered to the young blonde. Joli stirred in her seat as all of her siblings eyes were on her. However, she swallowed any fear and looked at her brother.

"Jauney… do you think I am grown up?"

"No," Jaune said with no hesitation. However, Jaune placed a smile on his mug to put Joli at ease. "Not yet, but you are growing." Just like that, any sorrow or fear Joli felt was replaced with pride, happiness, and a hint of smugness. Jaune felt a lighthearted chuckle erupt from his throat.

"All right miss grown up," Calista said rubbing her hand in Joli's hair. "We're going to have get going soon. Since you're grown up, you can take your dishes to the dishwasher." The little girl's smug face turned into a pout and she crossed her arms.

"Do I have to?"

"Big girls don't complain either."

"Well maybe I was wrong about her being a big girl then," Jaune commented. Joli's eyes shrunk when she heard her brother say that. She grabbed not only her plate, but everyone else's as well.

"I am a big girl!" she proudly stated as she marched away with the dishes in her hands. Jade just sighed and got up from her seat to make sure the little one didn't get into any trouble. With them out of of the way, it was Cal and Jaune left at the table.

He looked at his big sister with a bit of respect in his eyes. She didn't have her hood up to hide her pretty face, and she wasn't working on one of her gadgets or programming work. She almost never showed herself to the world. Then again, she was with family, and that was when she was always most comfortable.

She's never been the social butterfly some of the Arcs are known for, like Jade or Dakota. Half of the time she spent either working on tech or in her room. Their parents would sometimes harass her to go outside more, but that's because she rarely did.

Despite that though, he always felt love from Cal. If he was fighting with Jade and needed a room to cool off, Cal was the first he would go to. Her quiet nature let him vent off steam onto her, and any advice she would give was always what he needed to hear, even if it was just a sentence.

"What's with that smile?" Cal asked. Jaune blushed when he realized he had been staring.

"Sorry, just reminiscing. You still have that older sister charm." Cal giggled lightheartedly.

"Well, I have eighteen years of experience with you and Jade." Jaune furrowed his brow.

"Don't you mean seventeen?" Cal quirked an eyebrow in return.

"Jaune, did you forget it was you and Jade's birthday two week ago?"

Jaune began to do the math in his head, a slight mumble escaping his lips. He then remembered his old team texted him a happy birthday message and facepalmed.

"Yeah I kinda did," He said, his voice mumbled from his hand. He explained that he was a little busy with Shade right now, that he didn't even celebrate it that day cause he was training and studying. Besides, it was the first birthday without his twin.

Calista grabbed Jaune's hand and rubbed her thumb on it. A patient smile was painted on her face.

"I get it. Still, happy belated birthday buddy." Jaune squeezed his sisters hand as a thank you.

"I'm just glad you were able to calm Joli down after my mistake." Jaune chuckled. "Like I said, you still have that older sister charm."

"Well like I said, you and Jade definitely gave me experience. Remember when you almost destroyed one of my drones?"

Calista heard the shouting match going on downstairs between the thirteen-year-old twins. Hearing them try to rip each other's throats out was nothing new, but this argument was going on for ten minutes. Usually it ends within two or three. The worst part of it is, it was only them, Joli, and Dakota in the house. Their parents were gone with little Nerissa for a book signing with one of her favorite authors, and Sammy and Erica were at Huntsman school. She knows Dakota was trying her best to defuse the two of them before her boyfriend arrived, but it didn't sound like it was working.

Still, Calista needed to focus. So far her air drone was flying and staying airborn, but the one mechanism she added wasn't working for some reason. She knew the button was working, and the drone was receiving the signal, but the mechanism kept clicking and malfunctioning.

With a grumble she landed the drone back to her workshop area and grabbed her toolbox. This was always the one part she hated when working, the constant back and forth between testing and fixing. Still, she loved doing this stuff. Hence why many blueprints were on her walls, and her floor was littered with miscellaneous scrap and parts. Along with that was the many wrappers from chips, cookies, candies, power bars etc. just so she could fill her stomach.

Just as the drone landed though, she heard another loud burst from the argument downstairs and sighed. Then a bunch of loud thumps were heard signaling that someone ran up the stairs. She heard the room next to her open, followed by her little brother yelling.

"I hate you!"

With that the sound of a door slamming was heard. Yeah, she wasn't going to be able to work like this.

She set down her controls, turned off the drone, then walked outside of her room to the one next door. She could still hear Dakota and Jade talking about something downstairs. That's good, Dakota deals with Jade, she'll deal with Jaune.

She lightly rapped on the door leading to the twins room, hoping for her brother to get the message that it wasn't the other two.

"I'm not leaving!" she heard him yell.

"Jaune it's Cal," She called back. There was no answer aside from a slight rustling. She gently knocked on the door again. "Come on buddy open up."

"Just leave me alone Calista!" He yelled in response. Too bad she wasn't going to listen. At least, not all the way.

She went back to her room and got a tiny drone about the size of a mouse that had a camera in the middle. She grabbed the controller for it along with a headset to plug into said control. She then went back outside Jaune's door, set the little guy down, sat across from his doorway, and turned it on.

The screen on her controller glowed up as she made sure everything was on. She took out her scroll and typed a message for Dakota asking her to get Jade to leave the house for a bit so they could work on the twins together.

With everything set, she plugged in her headset, and sent the drone in.

She steered the little guy between piles of toys, comics, dirty clothes and games to try and find her brother. The twins really needed to clean their room. When she reached the middle of the room, she adjusted the camera so she was looking at one of the twins' beds. On it Jaune had his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. A scowl was on his face and a small wetness was on his cheeks.

He must've heard something cause he turned and looked at the drone dead on and his scowl deepened.

"I said leave me alone!" He yelled at the drone.

"I would, but my big sister contract says I can't," Calista joked. She was hoping that being calm will get him to calm down. It worked as he didn't throw anything and just turned away from the little robot. When he didn't speak, the drone did. "What's going on buddy?"

"Nothing."

"If it were nothing you wouldn't be sitting here pouting."

"I'm not pouting."

"Looks like it to me." Jaune unwrapped his arms and looked like he was going to stomp on the drone.

"Then let me pout and stop acting like you care!" Before he stomped down he collected himself but still sat on the edge of his bed.

"Jaune I do care buddy. Otherwise I wouldn't have sent this little guy in to talk with you." She messed around with the controls a bit to make it seem like her drone was dancing. While he didn't laugh or say anything, when she turned her camera back to him. He was fighting a smile.

"There's my adorkable little brother!" she exclaimed. He blushed a little and tried to hide it but failed miserably. "You look so cute when you aren't angry. It doesn't suit you."

"Shut up…" Jaune said looking away. His words had no bite to them. This caused Cal to giggle slightly. A minute of silent passed before Cal felt comfortable to speak again. "So, do you want to keep talking to the confess-a-drone, or talk to your big sister?"

A few seconds of silence go by. Neither of them moved or even breathed. Then, Jaune got up, walked over to his door and opened it up.

Calista looked up from her screen to see the familiar blonde mop of her brother standing in front of his door. His head was down, but he was relaxed compared to before, and his scowl was gone. She smiled sweetly at him as she stood up, and walked into the room.

"Gods I can't even remember what we were arguing about," Jaune chuckled.

"Something stupid probably," Calista joked. The two shared a laugh. Jaune sighed as he watched Jade and Joli finally reach the dishwashing area. He turned back to Cal, a sympathetic look upon his face.

"Thank you, for being there for Joli."

"Well, I'm also there for Jade as well and even Nerissa." Jaune looked at the table and sighed.

"Yeah… Still, thanks for being the better big brother." Cal heard the hurt and sadness in his tone. She tightened her hand on him to grab his attention.

"I'm not replacing you Jaune," she whispered softly. "There are nights Joli cries out for you, wishing her older brother will help her. I may be a good substitute, but I can't replace you. No one in the family can."

For a moment, Jaune just stood there, motionless. Then, a single tear drop rained from right eye, but just a single drop. Cal smiled as Jaune wiped it away.

"I love you," he mumbled.

"I love you too." Jaune sniffled and got up from his seat. Calista did the same and walked over to his side and wrapped him in a big hug which he gladly returned. The two stayed there for a couple of seconds before Calista stood on her toes and gave her little brother a kiss on the cheek. He smiled as she pulled away.

He dug in his pockets and handed her the key to his room so that they could actually get in without having to break the lock or something. Joli and Jade came back a few seconds later ready to get back to the dorm.

"Are we all set?" Jade asked. Jaune nodded his head. "All right, talk to you later bro." Jade opened up her arms and Jaune embraced his twin.

"Me next!" Joli squeaked. Jaune knelt down and wrapped his tiny adorable sister in a hug, and gave her a big kiss on the forehead.

"I'll see you three after class," he said. After saying their goodbyes, his sisters began to head back to his room, and Jaune continued to walk to where Miss Nyx told the operators to go.

However, along the way he bumped into a familiar face. Literally. The two collided with each other and nearly dropped to the ground. Both caught themselves and looked at who they bumped into. Jaune locked eyes with none other than Malcolm Taurus.

"Watch where you're walking Arc."

To be continued.

Beta: TheShadowOfZama