The Man of Many Swords

by Konshiro Crobrasha

The main crew are taken from their day off by none other than your's truly and are being forcibly volunteered to watch my favorite Banana Nut Muffin in various scenarios! Tears will be shed, laughs will be had, and passions will be ignited. Come join me as I take the RWBY crew on a roller coaster of emotions!

1. Shameless Product Plug

Alright. I'm saying this once and only once. This will be updated even less than my Man Who Will Be King story. I am only writing this out for my own enjoyment and not really to appease anyone. That being said, there are already a whole lot of these kind of stories out there, yes, but I wanted to take a swing at it. Bedsides, it will probably get my motor running enough to get me to type for another story. So this might be good for me. That being said, I will make this chapter a bit more...interesting. I will do this by introducing the other Jaune's from my own stories into here from where they are at this point in time. For certain people, It will be a little tense. But it's all for the sake of entertainment. Again, mostly for my own amusement that I felt like sharing with those that will participate, but in the end, I believe that this might show promise, all things considered. I've rambled on long enough though, lets get this first chapter out of the way.

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Teams RWBY and JNPR were walking among the gardens of Beacon as they all had a day off. There was a certain problem that arose with Grim Studies when Professor Port ran into a small rodent and went into a fear fueled frenzy and destroyed not only his classroom, but also some of the vital piping around campus. They were currently working on it while the students were given a day off. They didn't really know what to do for the day. Training was an option, but none of them were really feeling up to that right now. Jaune tried prodding for it the most, but ultimately, even he didn't feel like training all that much. As dedicated to his training as he was, he needed at least one partner so that he could maximize his training time.

"It's pretty nice here. Why don't we come here again?" Ruby asked, with most of them nodding in agreement. Only Ren and Blake were the only ones to have some semblance of recognition of the place.

"I do, at the least. It's great for peace and quiet. No offence Nora, but sometimes I need to collect my thoughts and re-energize to fully keep you entertained." Ren said with an apologetic tone directed towards Nora. The Valkyrie wasn't offended at him, she knew that it took a lot to keep up with her. Besides, she was a very understanding individual. She would rather have to wait a few hours and have the most fun with a fully energized Ren than have him be half dead all the time. Luckily, she wasn't unsupervised for those few hours, as she had the rest of her team to have fun with. They were like a breath of fresh, familial air.

"It's alright Renny, that's why Fearless Leader and Pyrrha are there when you're not!" Nora happily exclaimed as she skipped along the path. Jaune and Pyrrha both laughed a bit nervously at the statement. While she was right, that they were there to make sure that she didn't make too much of a mess, it did leave them to make sure that the powerhouse of their team was kept occupied for hours on end.

"Yes, and I'm grateful to them. Thanks Jaune, Pyrrha. I don't think I've felt that refreshed in a long while." Ren said with a happy smile to them.

"It's no problem Ren. It's my job as team leader to make sure that all of my teammates are in tip top shape." Jaune said with his usual cheerful tone. Pyrrha nodded in approval, having this group of friends meant the world to her. She would do anything for them...especially Jaune...

"That's kind of sweet, Vomit Boy. It's like seeing a big family." Yang pitched in. Jaune just gave her a small look before shrugging nonchalant way.

"In a way, I guess you could say that they're like my family. We're a team, and teams stick together! Like family!" Jaune said, making the rest of his team smile warmly at him. Nora even brought him into a tight hug, nearly crushing him.

"That's our Fearless Leader!" Nora said happily while wildly swinging him around. The rest of the group laughed a bit at his expense. Jaune still laughed at the exchange either way. They were his friends. He wouldn't change this for the world.

After a little bit longer, Nora finally let his down and they happened upon a small fountain that layed at the center of the garden. The two teams decided that they would spend a while here before inevitably going to Vale for anything that could pass the time. All of them making some small talk among themselves until the subject of family came up again.

"So Jaune, what is your family like? Do you have any siblings?" Pyrrha asked in what she hoped was a casual manner. Both Ren had a look that was almost coy while Nora was grinning from ear to ear, also looking forward to hearing more about her Fearless Leader. Jaune's smile rested into a fond grin, more than happy to talk about his family, and tell them the one thing that always blew away those that heard it. And it seems that the rest of team RWBY also heard Pyrrha's question and were curious themselves.

"Oh, are we talking about Jaune's family? OH! Tell us, Jaune! Tell us!" Ruby demanded with a gleeful smile. Yang was right with her on that boat too.

"Yeah, tell us. I'd like to know if this 'motion sickness' is hereditary." Yang jested. Ruby was a bit miffed and elbowed her side, but the blonde payed it no mind. Jaune smiled at her, even if that was a jab at him, the thought about telling them of his family was more than enough to fill him with pride for the Arcs. Blake even seemed interested, having put down her book and payed attention from the side. Weiss was somewhat interested, but it made sense seeing as he only just started getting onto her good side.

"Well, as you know, my family belongs to a long line of great Hunters and Huntresses. They were the best of the best and always birthed a great hero! That included my grandfather and my own mother. my mom's name is Juliet Arc, and my father, Nicholas. My mom is average in height. Actually being around as tall as you, Blake." Jaune pointed out, making the Faunus raise an eyebrow at that.

"She also has blonde hair like mine. It's around as long as Yang's. It's mostly strait, much like Pyrrha's. I was told that I inherited my socially awkward quirks from her. We both apparently scratch the back of our heads when we get nervous. I'm a lot like my mom in a way. But my dad, Nicholas, he's only a small bit taller than me. I got his shaggy hair that doesn't want to be tamed and his tall stature. They both say that I have a mixture of their eyes. They're great parents all around, really." Jaune said, making most of them gush at how fondly he speaks of them. Blake was thoughtful about her own parents and how she left them behind. A pang of guilt went through her, making her think that she should probably go visit them, or just try to contact them at least.

"They sound great. But do you have any brothers or sisters?" Ruby asked, making Jaune nod.

"I do have sisters...seven of them." Jaune said with a smug grin and closed eyes. All of his friends took a double take. D-did he say seven?

"S-seven!? How...do you're parents have nothing else to do?" Yang asked after a moment. Pyrrha was still shocked at that. She was going to have seven sister-in-laws?...of course, that was to say that they would feel like that since she was Jaune's partner...in their team...duh...hehe...

"I try not to think about how they make the time, especially since It means thinking about the one thing that kids dread about walking in on...but yeah, I was the last to come out along with my twin sister. I'm pretty sure that they were just trying to have a son, but...got a little too carried away." Jaune said, a small bit of an empty stare going on. Thoughts of so many sisters trying so many things on him.

"The dresses..." Jaune whispered. Ren raised his own eyebrow at him before shaking it off and asking what everyone wanted to know.

"Seven sisters...can you tell us about them?" Ren asked. Jaune snapped out of his trance and smiled at him before answering.

"Of course! There's Jill, the oldest. Last I heard from her, she went to Atlas and went into their specialist program. Then there's Laura, the archaeologist. Real good with her two barretas. From there is Samus, she's an accomplished Hunter that more specializes in bringing in criminals than killing Grim. Tatsumaki, who actually has a Semblance much like Miss Goodwitch. Then there's Seras. She's pretty serious about her job as head of the village security. Yoko's the one that could be named the Marks-woman of the family with how accurate she is with that sniper of hers..." Jaune told them. They all were a little impressed with how each of them were so different from each other. You'd think that living under the same roof would at least cause them all to pursue similar jobs, but that wasn't the case apparently. Ruby herself had two thoughts on it. One: How in the world did Jaune survive seven sisters!? She could barely handle one! And two: Did he mean that the Yoko Littner was his sister!?

Yoko Littner as she liked to be called, was an up and coming star of the weaponry business. She said that her name was an alias, but to think that she was related to Jaune was AMAZING!

"Oh oh oh! You mean that Yoko Littner's your sister? Can you tell me more about her!? Please please please?!" Ruby begged, making Jaune laugh. He knew that his sister was starting to make some ground in her studies on weapons, but he guessed that her reputation proceeded her...as far as he knew. He hasn't really talked to his family in a while...

"Alright sure, but I've still got my twin sister to talk about. Saffron...she's just great. We were the best of friends when we were kids. Out of all my sisters, she was the closest to me. Though, with how she's only about five minutes older than me it's a little expected. Last I heard, she was dating a girl named Terra I think. I haven't exactly talked to any of them though. Not since I started attending Beacon..." Jaune trailed off, feeling a little sad. There was a reason he hasn't talked to any of them in since he went off to attend Beacon, but he didn't want to say that just yet. He wasn't ready for what his friends would say.

"They all sound great! When will we be able to meet them?" Nora asked. Jaune looked at her a little surprised. Meet them? With how he left?

"W-well, you see, um..." Jaune stuttered out, getting up from the bench and walking away from them a little bit. They all got confused as to why he did, and tried looked to him as he stepped to the fountain.

"Jaune, is something wrong?" Pyrrha asked, wanting to know if something they said had bothered him. But before any of them could say anything else, the water in the fountain behind Jaune started to churn and move slightly. It caused Jaune to turn slightly and look at the body of water. It confused him because it almost looked like it was boiling.

"What the..." Jaune trailed off, leaning a bit closer to the water to try and see what was causing it. In a few seconds, his face was practically right next to it. He squinted at it before the water suddenly raised up and grabbed his shoulders before dragging him in. He was barely able to cry out before he was completely pulled in and submerged with a splash.

The rest of his friends all exclaimed in surprise before running to the fountain to see what took him. In a moment, they were at the fountain and looked to see that there was only the shallow water there. They looked around it and even dipped their hands into it to see if there was anything that might he out of place, but found nothing. None of them were freaking out more than Pyrrha, with her looking all around the area, frantically looking for her partner and Team Leader.

"Jaune! Jaune!? Where are you!?" Pyrrha cried out, frantically looking for her crush. Both teams had been looking for him for the past half hour with no luck. Pyrrha was really staring to worry for him. She was even going to try and suggest that they go to Ozpin about this. But before she could say anything to the others, they all heard the thrashing of water again. They turned to see that the fountain was once again acting up. But this time, the water was violently churning and thrashing, boiling to a point where steam was rising from it at a rapid pace. They all rushed over to it, thinking that whatever took Jaune in the first place was either going to give Jaune back, to which they would make sure that something like this never happened again by never stepping foot into the gardens again, or the thing that took Jaune was going to show its face, and they were going to beat the ever living shit out of it!

Before they could get too close to it, the water suddenly exploded, a lone figure shooting out of it and levitated above the fountain. The figure was made out of an almost liquid purple energy, flickering and flowing as a flame. It's eyes piercing yellow orbs. It had no other facial features, or other defining features along it's body. It's arms were crossed and it's gaze was focused on the two teams below him. They all looked up at him and were slightly at awe to it's majestic nature, a being of such beauty that they couldn't dare think of harming it.

.

..

...

"Alright, that's enough stroking myself off. Time to get to work." The figure said, having it's 'eyebrows' lay flat. It then floated down to the ground, in front of the two teams. Their thoughts before about the figure having faded away and left them to realize one thing...

"What have you done with Jaune? So help me if you did anything to him I swear I'm going to-" Pyrrha was going to threaten, with Nora not too far behind her. No one took their Fearless Leader and got away with it!

"Now hold on. I can assure you that Jaune is safe and unharmed. I simply took him to his dorm for safe keeping. I wouldn't want my favorite person in the entire multiverse to come to harm now would I?...of course not. But in all seriousness, I come to ask you to join me in divulging my curiosity and view a few things that will more than likely rock you're world." The figure said, holding up a finger to stop Pyrrha. The redhead was confused by it. She didn't actually expect it to be able to talk, and further from that she was a little concerned and freaked out by it's words. 'Favorite Person'? Were they a stalker?

"Who the heck are you!? And what makes you think that we'll just go with you?!" Yang exclaimed, getting all up in the figures face. The figure itself looked a little amused at her before it's entire figure shifted a step back, reforming to show that it was holding a hand up, it's middle finger and thumb pressed together.

"I'm sorry, let me rephrase that. I didn't really word that correctly. I'm not asking you." It said, snapping it's fingers before everything around them started to waver. The ground under them and the surrounding flora started to quiver and turn into that same energy that the figure was made out of before it all shifted, the energy swirling and morphing to something different. The students were worried about what was happening around them and their brains were trying to comprehend how they were standing when there was no ground to stand on.

"What's happening!?" Weiss cried out as she looked around to see that there was nothing around them that wasn't swirling energy. The figure in front of them was unaffected, but felt that this had gone on long enough and snapped it's fingers again. Instantly, the energy around them formed into a large room. It looked like a theater room, with the chairs being the exception to what you would normally see in a room like that. There were various different couches and love seats scattered around. They were all rather comfy looking, but that wasn't what concerned the two teams. What did concern them, was that they were somewhere completely different and that this figure was the one that brought them here.

"Alright, I understand that you all have your own questions, but allow me to introduce myself. My name is Konshiro Crobrasha. However, for convenience sake, you may call me Shiro for short. As for what I am and what I want from all of you, I am what is called a...am I vain enough to call myself a God?...maybe, but I will tell you that I am a being of immense power." Konshiro said, forming a fist in front of his face. The students were still looking around, trying to comprehend that they were somewhere completely different.

"Right...may I ask why we are here?" Ren asked, still a little shaken up. He was concerned, yes, but figured that they would be better off if they were to go along with this obviously powerful person...thing...whatever it was.

"That is an excellent question. I brought you here because I wished to show you what could happen should certain events have been handled differently." Konshiro stated. The students looked to him incredulously. That was ridiculous!

"That's it? Really? That is absolutely ridiculous." Weiss scolded. Konshiro just sighed before explaining further.

"That includes all of your futures. And show what all of you lose along the way." Konshiro stated, looking among all of them, but his gaze stayed on Pyrrha for a small bit longer. none of them noticed this, but Blake did respond.

"Our futures...that does sound like it would be beneficial." Blake said, agreeing to at least consider what Konshiro had to offer. And seeing that there were no exits to speak of limited their options as well. She could even see if any of her own efforts bore fruit, or if she could do something different with how she handled the White Fang.

"Exactly. Though, one thing about these possible scenarios, they are all based entirely upon a single person. That being my favorite person among your group. Jaune Arc." Konshiro stated, making the rest of them look at him as if they were insulted by his words.

"Excuse me? What about us? I'd think that we would favor more popular among the populace than Arc. And what could that dolt possibly contribute that would warrant everything to revolve around him!? He didn't even train to get to Beacon!" Weiss screeched having been severely insulted by this person. The rest of her friends winced at her words. True, Jaune forged his transcripts to get to Beacon, but he has been improving immensely! Pyrrha could testify for that. But Konshiro had his own two cents to add.

"You all are essential to his own growth and potential, so I do find you all bearable. Some I even find myself enjoying...in most cases." He said, making the Heiress look at him with a bit of heat. The rest of them were looking at each other, thinking that what he was saying sounded a lot like a view point on a TV show or something...

"Hold on. You make it sound like we were characters from some show on the internet." Yang said with a huff. For a moment, Konshiro's frame remained still, even the ever swirling energy stopped for a moment as he looked to them. He didn't want to tell them the truth about their existence, mostly because even he knew that in the endless abyss that was the multiverse, they could very well be real somewhere and not just a popular internet show of his world. But for the sake of not making them go through an existential crisis, he just told them what he thought could be an acceptable truth.

"Of course not. I simply speak from peering into the multiverse and seeing the various versions of you and how you all play into making Jaune into what he is. As for Jaune, he himself is a constant that stays as a focus no matter what happens. Whether it be for better, or for worse." Konshiro stated ominously. At this point, Weiss was still a little peeved and was going to question him again, but Pyrrha spoke up first and asked the same question she was going to. Though, It was more out of genuine curiosity than out of annoyance like the Schnee.

"Uh...K-Konshiro was it? How does Jaune play a vital role in all of the universes that he's in?" Pyrrha asked, cautiously approaching him. The rest of her team was with her, still not trusting this guy. He understood their plight somewhat. Having seen other beings like himself do this as well, they almost always seem hesitant to accept what's happening. But unlike them, he has three great examples as to how certain actions from their world can change Jaune drastically.

"Well Nikos, instead of telling you, I have three variations of Jaune that I alone have documented and are able to show you this instant. Would you like to see?" He asked. It shocked some of them, thinking that viewing their possible futures would entail only seeing them from some kind of screen or something. But to Pyrrha, the thought of more Jaune's was a splendid idea!

"Yes! I-I mean, If it's no trouble." Pyrrha stated sheepishly. Konshiro knew of where her mind was, but payed no heed to it and nodded. With a thought, he summoned forth two pillars of fire that died down quickly to show a table with two occupants. One being a woman with tan skin, brown hair and a cream colored blouse. She was in the middle of what seemed to be eating lunch. Across from her was someone that they all were familiar with. With having the same blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes and pale complexion, it was Jaune for sure...but younger...much younger.

"You know Jaune, having slept for an entire day was kind of nice, but I don't feel all...that..." The woman was saying, in the middle of a conversation with the young Jaune before she noticed that they weren't within the Lie household, or that they weren't alone anymore. She looked to the side with a curious expression. She even stopped chewing the food that was in her mouth before swallowing. She stayed still for a moment before turning her head over to Jaune. The young boy himself had also been looking to the rest of the group before blinking and opening his mouth to say something.

"Amber." Jaune said rather cutely. She turned to him fully, wanting to know his opinion on their sudden reallocation.

"Yeah?" She asked, acting like this was all normal and that the others didn't even register to her. In all honesty, she has gone through a whole lot of weird crap these past few weeks and this was just another day to her at this point. It was then that Jaune put his fork down before sighing.

"I...don't think we're in Kuroyuri anymore." Jaune said, making Amber nod in agreement. The name of the village made Ren and Nora's eyes widen. They were pulled from their home village? Why were they there? And who was this woman? And why was Jaune a child?

"That is correct. You are Jaune Noir and Amber. I am Konshiro Crobrasha. I am the one to discover your universe and are the sole being to document the happenings of your world. I summon you here to show you where you originate from." Konshiro said, making Amber's eyes widen and Noir look at him with narrowed eyes.

"Document...does that mean you know about my father?" Jaune asked in as serious of a voice that an eight-year-old could muster. Konshiro nodded, knowing that he was going to have to explain himself a small bit.

"Yes. And based on you're world's logic, I am what you would call a tier three God. Though, I have no ability to affect your world. I can only document what happens within it." Konshiro stated, making the small boy look down in thought for a moment before looking back up.

"I see. And these people here are where I originate from? Care to elaborate?" He asked. Konshiro once again nodded, knowing that the question was going to be asked.

"Your universe is what would be considered one of many branches off of a very large tree. And as you know, a tree has roots. Every variation of the original universe stems from these roots, or the original universe. While the Prime Universe cannot be touched by beings such as myself, we do have access to the sprouted body of the tree that bare an uncanny resemblance to the roots. I have brought them here to enlighten them in the various outcomes of the multiverse." Konshiro explained. Noir nodded his head in understanding, before scooting his small body away from the table and jumped off of his chair and walked towards the two teams. He did notice that a few of them looked familiar, but held back on that thought until he introduced himself to them.

"Hi, I'm Jaune Noir. It's nice to meet you." Jaune said with a smile. Amber was behind him with a smile of her own. If Jaune was comfortable enough to greet them nicely, then she might as well give them the benefit of the doubt.

"I'm his sister, Amber. Now who are all of you?" She asked nicely. But her eyes lingered on Nora and Ren for a little longer, finding that she also found them familiar. The two noticed her look and thought that if they came from their home village that they would also know of themselves as well. But Ruby was the first to speak up.

"Hi, I'm Ruby Rose! This is my team. There's Yang, my sister. Weiss, my partner. And Blake, my sister's partner." Ruby introduced. The rest of her team waved at him. Jaune looked to Ruby, Yang and Blake, having his suspicions confirmed about them.

"Ruby...I know you. And Yang and Blake too." Jaune said, making the three look at him in wonder. They all knew that they hadn't known Jaune as a child...or even knew him as Jaune Noir for that matter.

"Really? How?" Yang asked. Wanting to know more about his universe and how they all knew each other. Konshiro took the liberty of answering for him.

"To start off, I need to give some background. Jaune's father was responsible for creating his universe. His father then created Jaune and was named The Live. After a small while, he came across a planet and named it Remnant. He created various flora and different landscapes before he decided that he wanted to create something more. It was then that he wanted to create humanity. He spent several days trying to make them into his perfect image, however, before he could give them the spark of life, his father appeared before him and forbade him from doing so. In rebellion, Jaune not only gave humanity life, but also a large advancement in intelligence. Pushing them centuries farther than they would have on their own. For this, his father struck him and stripped him of his divine powers. His god energy then spread across the planet, embedding itself into the celestial body. Eons later, Jaune would awaken, finding that he was in the body of a child. Shortly after, he found Summer Rose finishing off a wave of Grim before saving her from an assassin that was contracted to kill her. After the ordeal, Summer took him to her home in Patch and introduced him to the rest of her family." Konshiro said, making them all engrossed with the story. Some of them looked to the child, feeling a little amazed that this small bundle of sun was actually a god! Further from that, Ruby and Yang were surprised to hear that he was able to save their mother. True, Yang technically had a different mom, but she will always consider Summer as her mother. Always.

"Yes, and I met you two. But Ruby, you were a Faunus. With cute wolf ears and a tail." Jaune smiled, talking to the two sisters and making the Reaper blush a little bit. She was a wolf Faunus? Cool!

"And then I met Qrow, Taiyang, Raven-" Jaune started to recall, reminiscing about the first time he met them. Never mind all the bad stuff that happened in town. Stupid Dave...But before he could continue, Yang interrupted, having gained keen interest when she heard about her birth mother.

"Wait wait wait wait. You mean Raven...as In Raven Branwen?" Yang asked with caution, wondering if she heard him right. Jaune looked up at her and nodded.

"Yeah. She's your mom. But as I was saying, I got to know both of you, and while I don't think that the rest of them, other than Summer, liked me at first, they warmed up to me eventually with the help of Summer." Jaune explained further. Yang was still caught up on the fact that her mother stayed. Though, it did complicate a few things. Especially if Summer survived her mission...and Raven stayed...

"So our dad...was he married to Raven and Summer?" Yang asked. Ruby was also interested when she heard the question. Jaune looked to them with confusion. Summer married to Tai?

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked. Ruby spoke up next, really wanting to know how that worked since her and Yang came from...complicated situations back home.

"Our dad, Taiyang. Was he married to both Summer and Raven?" Ruby asked. She knew that Raven was Yang's birth mother with what little their dad had spoken of her and even when their uncle Qrow spoke about her too. But Noir was even more confused by her question.

"...Well, In my universe, Tai is only married to Raven, and you Yang are their only child. Summer is married to Qrow and they had you Ruby." Jaune said, making the two sister's eyes widen. So Ruby's uncle Qrow wasn't her uncle, but her father in his universe? That was...kind of cool actually. Not to say that her dad here wasn't cool, but Qrow would make an awesome dad! If only he didn't drink so much...

"Huh...I'm pretty sure that if our Uncle Qrow heard that, he'd down his entire flask and then some." Yang said. She was still a little surprised at the revelation that not only did her mother stay, but also that Qrow being Ruby's father made them cousins and not sisters. But that didn't change a thing for them though...hopefully.

"But Qrow doesn't really drink all that much...how different is your world from mine?" Jaune finally asked. They all looked at each other before answering him.

"Well, for starters, our Jaune isn't a god. He's just a fun, clumsy goof. Secondly, the Raven from our universe ran out on my dad after she had me. Which then had him sulking until he eventually got together with Summer and had Ruby. Then Summer...passed away on a mission and left our dad to take care of us on his own. Our uncle Qrow also has had a bit of a drinking problem for as long as we can remember." Yang said, not only clarifying a few things for Noir, but also revealing a thing or two to the rest of her friends. It made them sympathize with the two sisters, having their own family problems in some form or another.

"Hmm, that's definitely different from my world. But back to what I was saying, After a few months, and getting training from Tai, Raven and Qrow, we were attacked by that same assassin that was hired to kill Summer along with someone else by the name of Hazel. They brought various Grim with them. I don't know how they were able to control them, but we were able to take care of them easily enough. Yet, when we were going to try and fight Hazel, Tyrian revealed that he had Ruby and Yang hostage. He said that if we didn't comply, then he would...kill them." Jaune said with a bit of tremble to his voice. the two teams looked to him, thinking that it must have been hard to recall something like that. Amber was by his side, hugging him. He had told her everything as they made their way to Kuroyuri, so she knew that this memory in particular was hard on him. He reigned in his emotions enough to keep going after a minute or two, feeling thankful for Amber.

"I was able to save them, thankfully, and killed Tyrian after he almost went through with his promise. I had been able to beat Hazel, but he managed to escape. After realizing that the only reason they attacked in the first place was because of me, I decided to leave then and there. I left them a letter saying why I was leaving. I then traveled on my own, getting onto a boat with the help of the Belladonna family, where I met Blake." Jaune said, pointing at the Faunus. She raised her eyebrow, having not expected running into Jaune at the time. Though, they had all been saddened to thing that Jaune left having thought that he was the reason that the Rose family had been put in danger. Even further from that, they were surprised that this little Jaune had actually killed someone. Their own Jaune couldn't do something like that...right?

"After going our separate ways, I traveled across Anima, where I encountered Amber!" Jaune said with an upbeat tone while hugging the woman. Amber responded in kind, smiling at him before carrying on the story.

"Yeah, I found him just in time too. The poor thing had run out of food and was near starving to death. After I fed him, we agreed to travel together and go to Kuroyuri. It was funny because the entire time, he was going the opposite direction! Can you believe that?" Amber laughed, much to Jaune's embarrassment. The others laughed bit too. They could see their own Jaune doing that too. Though, Ren and Nora's interest was peaked with the mention of their village again.

"Though, along the way, we encountered a few...bumps along the way. That included his father. The heartless bastard blew a hole in him and nearly killed him. I felt helpless. I thought I was going to lose him..." Amber recalled, having remembered how Jaune's eyes lost the life in them for a brief moment. The others could sense that she was a bit emotional right now and just stayed quiet. Jaune hugged her tighter and smiled before continuing for her.

"Luckily, my father decided that it wasn't my time and healed me. Though, we both learned that when he restored my body, he left some of his divine energy. Let me tell you something. When a mortal tried to harness divine energy within their own bodies, their are serious adverse effects." Jaune said, making everyone, even Amber listen to him for clarification.

"When we reached the village, my body had been struck with a severe case of Divine Rotting. That's what happens when divine energy stays in a mortal body for too long. The energy attacks the body and makes it rot from the inside out. If left unattended, it will not only kill the person, but also destroy their soul altogether." Jaune said, making them all pale slightly. That was some serious business there. Thankfully, they didn't have to deal with any of that.

"My heart stopped beating for a moment and the village hospital was barely able to restart it before I went into a comatose state. It was only thanks to Lie Hanzo that the divine energy was rid from my body. But the damage had already been done and my body was considerably weakened. When I came too, I tried to leave the hospital, but collapsed when my body had nearly shut down again and I passed out. When I woke up the second time, I had been transferred over to the Lie house. There I was formerly introduced to Lie Hanzo, and Wilhelm Reinhardt. They were kind people, offering to help me recover from my injuries and let me and Amber stay in their home. It was there that I also met Rei and Nora, and that's where we are now." Jaune concluded. They all looked to Ren and Nora, Though, a moment later, they all looked back to Jaune.

"Rei?" Ren asked, not at all knowing who that was. He never knew of a Rei in his home village. In fact, he didn't know of anyone named Hanzo in his family, or of a Reinhardt either. But Jaune nodded either way, pointing to him.

"Yeah, she looked a lot like you actually. Same pink stripe, same eyes..." Jaune trailed off, looking closer at the young man before Konshiro spoke up again.

"In his world, you are a female by the name of Lie Rei. Hanzo is your father and Reinhardt is Nora's grandfather." Konshiro cleared up, making Ren hum in understanding. Though, it seemed that this Jaune's world was vastly different than their own. For one, the attack on his village hasn't happened yet apparently. Not to mention Nora has family there, and knew him...or, her, beforehand. Speaking of which, Nora was actually bouncing a little bit at the prospect of having a grandpa.

"I have a grandpa!? What's he like!? Tell me!" Nora demanded as she shook the small boys body. Jaune was actually laughing at her actions, seeing the similarities between her and his own Nora. Amber was actually kind of amused at the spectacle. It seemed that the small ginger she met not too long ago would grow into a walking energy drink.

"Allow me to show you." Konshiro stated, raising an arm towards the screen behind him and having a small cinder of his energy fly into it before the screen lit up, showing a still image of Reinhardt with a small Nora on his left shoulder. They were both laughing and little Nora was hugging his head close to her. The Nora with them stopped shaking Jaune and looked at the image closely. She let a small tear run down her cheek as she observed it. Ren was next to her in a moment, hugging her from the side. She had always wanted family to look up towards. So seeing this image of a grandfather that she never had was so surreal to her. Pyrrha also came up next to them and joined in on the hug with neither of them objecting. Because although she may have not had this Reinhardt as her grandpa, she had her family right here. That was enough for her.

"He is a great man. Fought many battles protecting the ones he loves. He is the head of the village guard from his universe. He would give anything and everything to make sure that his Little Valkyrie is safe and happy." Konshiro stated, making Nora smile at the image. She was happy that at least another her could enjoy the happiness that her grandpa gave her.

"Wow. And all of this because Jaune came from different origins?" Ruby asked, to which Konshiro nodded in confirmation.

"This is just one of the three universes that I have access to. The next one shows Jaune as a capable warrior that has tremendous power. However, this power did come at a cost that he was forced to pay." Konshiro stated, making all of them look to him questionably.

"What do you mean by that?" Yang asked. Konshiro didn't respond but snapped his fingers once again, causing two more pillars of violet fire to erupt before settling to show another Jaune and another Ruby by his side. As soon as the fire died down, they could all see that this Jaune was...massive! He was easily over eight feet in height, almost bordering nine. He wore white training GI over a black undershirt. He also wore some rather strange, monochrome boots and a pair of fingerless black gloves. noticeable on his face was a scar that went from the top of his eyebrow to the bottom of his jaw where a prominent shadow presented itself as his facial hair. All was silent as the new additions to the group just stared at the rest of them with curiosity.

.

..

...

"Jaune, there's another me over there." The Ruby at his side whispered to him. He nodded, still eyeing the rest of them before taking some cautious steps over to them. However, that wasn't before he noticed that there was a younger version of himself among them as well. He gestured for his Ruby to follow along. When they stepped not three feet away from the group, Tall Jaune looked down at them with his arms crossed and his demeanor almost unreadable. Ruby however, was much less so.

"Hi! I don't know how we all got here, but...uh, why is there another me and why are you a guy now?" Ruby asked them while pointing to the other Ruby and Ren. The former looked just as puzzled as her while the latter just raised his eyebrow again. Was he a girl in their universe too?

"Hello, sorry for abducting you from your trip to the Headmaster's office, however I have summoned you to see the different versions of your reality and give you all insight to how everything you do can affect the multiverse on a grand scale." Konshiro said, making Jaune look to him and stare at him for a few moments before sighing, reaching into his pockets and pulling out one of his Virga Terra sticks. He proceeded to bring it to his mouth, light it with his finger tip using some sort of energy, take a puff and exhale a cloud of smoke before answering.

"The multiverse huh? Great. I take it that these are all different versions of my own world?" He asked. Konshiro nodded, seeing that the rest of the two teams were a little unnerved with how this Jaune so casually took all of this in stride and even started smoking in front of them. This was definitely different from their own Jaune. Or even from the small and adorable Jaune that came before this one for that matter!

"That is correct. You are going to be staying with them for an unknown amount of time until I deem that they are aptly prepared for their own futures." Konshiro stated. Tall Jaune held up a finger, taking a rather long drag of his stick before letting out a large cloud. He nodded, not saying anything. He really didn't care much about what happened as long as he and his partner were returned safely.

"What's his story? He seems to me like a ruffian." Weiss commented. Jaune looked at her with cold eyes for a moment before he turned and started walking towards one of the single person recliners.

"Different universe, same smarmy, stuck up rich brat." Jaune stated roughly as he sat down. He just wanted to be done with this so he could get back to his own world and talk to Ozpin. Perhaps he can even take this experience and tall Ozpin about this. It might do something for him. This is after all the meeting between different universes. So proof that there was a multiverse in the first place could be valuable to someone. Though, with how Weiss was giving him the stank eye and who he recognized as Yang snickering a small bit by her side, things were somewhat different in their universe. None of them would look so lax about him being here otherwise.

"Dang Weisscream, it looks like that infatuation with you isn't multiversal." Yang teases, making the Heiress glare at her for a small moment before returning her gaze to Jaune, who was returning it with a cold glare of his own. It was then that Blake had decided to speak up.

"We know what this Jaune's story is, so what's yours?" She asked, making the seated young man look to her with small interest before taking another drag of his stick. He was too tired for this right now.

"All you need to know, is that I was forcibly ripped from my home, had my family murdered, tortured to near insanity, gained powers to destroy entire mountains, and ended up enrolling to Beacon." Jaune said with a certain dis-attachment to the sentence. The rest of them looked to Konshiro for confirmation, to which he nodded.

"That's pretty much the gist of it. There are some details that could be explained, but what he told you is the basics of what you need to know." He said, making them all look that this Jaune wearily now. He sounded like he was disinterested with them. Almost uncaring.

"Don't mind my partner, he's actually a big softy once you get to know him!" The alternate Ruby stated, making some of them look at her with some skepticism before Pyrrha stepped forth, having thought she heard her wrong.

"I'm sorry, did you say...your partner?" Pyrrha asked with some heat to her tone. You're telling her that she isn't his partner in every universe? That was so unfair! Though, when she approached, she noticed that Ruby's face strained at the sight of her and Jaune practically blanched at her. What the heck is going on!?

"Er, yeah. Me and Jaune became partners. I guess it was different with your world?" She asked, hoping that this Pyrrha was different from her own. There was only so much she could stand before she said something about the 'Thirst A F' attitude.

"Yes, much different. For one, I am his partner. We were put into a team with Ren and Nora, forming Team JNPR. With our Ruby becoming partners with Weiss, and Yang partnered with Blake making Team RWBY. We have a room across from them. We're pretty close friends too!" Pyrrha said, pointing to her own team before spanning to her sister team. Their Ruby waving excitedly. The other Ruby looked back to Jaune who only had a single eyebrow raised. All of them were friends? Really? Now he definitely knew that their worlds were vastly different.

"That sounds nice. Though, Me and Jaune also got teamed up with Nora and her partner Pyrrha. On the other team, there's Rei...I guess our 'Ren' is a female in our world. They were partnered with Weiss and Blake is still paired with Yang. Our team names are the same as yours though, just swapping me and uh...Ren I guess. It's still a little weird to see you as a guy after only knowing you as a girl." Ruby said, making them all look among themselves. Ren was a little perplexed by the fact that two times in a row now he was a girl in their universes. Was he just the odd one out or was it just a coincidence?

"Another difference, you all hate me." Jaune stated from his seat as he deployed the leg rest from the recliner. The two teams looked at him in surprise. They all hated him? Why?

"Well, not all of you. Nora is actually friendly with him, Rei is too. And Pyrrha...you're a little too friendly with him." Ruby said, trying to word that as carefully as possible. She still felt a pang of jealousy whenever she saw that Pyrrha tried to make a move on him, but this was a different Pyrrha for Oum's sake! She couldn't possibly be the same...right?

"O-oh my! Really? And does he...reciprocate those advances?" Pyrrha asked with trepidation and no small amounts of hope. Ruby looked at her with slightly heated eyes before Jaune scoffed from the background.

"Absolutely not. Do you know what she did once? While me and Ruby went out to train for the night in the Emerald Forest, she apparently had been waiting for me in my own bed, naked as the day she was born. She seems so desperate that I wouldn't put it past her to try and 'accidentally' walk in on me in the showers and then refuse to leave." Jaune said with disdain. His Pyrrha was almost like a creepy stalker that he had to live with. It's a good thing that he kept his clothing under tight lock and key, otherwise he feared that he'd find them stolen by her. Overall, he just didn't like her.

"W-what? Oh my! I swear, I'd never do that! Promise!" Pyrrha said while blushing up a storm. Their Pyrrha did that!? What the hell happened to her to make her do that!?

"Dang P-money, maybe you can pick up some pointers from their Pyrrha. I'm sure Jaune would appreciate the Goddess of Victory as his own prize." Yang teases, making Pyrrha blush even deeper before diving into a stammering mess. Jaune looked at the interaction with some interest. These versions of the teams were already starting to sound better than his own.

"You know, Yang doesn't like me because I'm Ruby's partner, I don't like Weiss because of some history with her father and the fact that she kind of acts like him, and Blake distrusts me for some reason that I don't quite understand." Jaune said, Yang and Blake look at him curiously while Weiss was a bit appalled at the comparison between herself and her father. She was nothing like that man!

"I mean, I don't know why. If she were partnered with our Jaune, I'd have no problems with it. He'd have been a better choice than Weiss at least." Yang said with a shrug. She may be a bit overprotective of her sister, but that was only when she knew that someone was either going to hurt or already hurt said sister sister. Blake just wasn't all that understanding as to why her counterpart would distrust him.

"Different universe I guess." She said simply. She didn't know Jaune all that well, but she could tell that he was a good person. Didn't discriminate at least. So that was a plus. Though Weiss was a little more angry at this Jaune, having felt like he was being a little unfair.

"I will have you know that I am nothing like my father...wait, you'd have had Arc be Ruby's partner instead of me?" Weiss turned to Yang after giving her two cents to Jaune. Yang just shrugged at her. She was just telling her what she thought at the time.

"Hey, you weren't all that great at the beginning of the year. And Vomit Boy is pretty nice if you get to know him. Regardless if he puked on my shoes or not." Yang said with a bit of a dry tone at the end. She doesn't really hold any resentment for that. Not since she found out that yes, motion sickness was actually more common than she realized. A quick search on the web after some banter with her sister about the subject enlightened her on the fact.

"Regardless, each of you do not hold this Jaune in high regards in his world." Konshiro spoke up. As he looked to each of them, he noticed that the two Rubys were talking to each other, talking about their weapons, how one met their Jaune and if their lives were any different from the other's. The first Jaune was also conversing with Pyrrha and Nora, telling them all the things that he knew about his world, captivating Nora while Pyrrha just seemed to be gushing over a young version of Jaune. Surprisingly, Amber walked up to the second version of Jaune and started some small talk with him. The rest of Team RWBY were also listening in on small Jaune's stories with Weiss just looking like she was being kept there against her will...which was true if you think about it.

After a moment he was approached by Ren of all people. He looked to him, listening to what he wanted to ask.

"Shiro, I understand that you said that there were going to be three variations of Jaune. Where is the third?" He asked. Konshiro paused at this, thinking about the third one and what happened with him. He tilted his head to the side before gathering the rest of their attention with a clearing of his throat.

"Attention everyone. While I do appreciate that you have acquainted yourselves with these different variations of Jaune, I have yet to show you the final variation of him. This one however, is one that is not to be taken lightly. He is...what you would call, unstable. This Jaune is much like the original. He was a caring individual, though after not two months of attending Beacon something within him snapped and turned him into something vile. This was triggered when he was put on trial for the assassination of a Council Member. Along with the charges of rape and political blackmail, he was put forth in front of a bribed judge." Konshiro said with a somber tone. The rest of them were shocked to hear this. The second Jaune looked at him seriously. Having killed a Council Member himself, he knew the serious trouble one would be in if they were caught. He himself had to lay low after doing it. Though, he wouldn't say that out loud.

"What the hell? You mean our Jaune did that? He couldn't hurt a fly! Let alone do all that to one of the Council!" Ruby exclaimed, defending their resident knight. Amber sighed in annoyance at the news. She just really didn't like any of those members. Some of them really did deserve to die for some of the things that they had done. But if that Jaune was anything like her own, then she knew that something was up. Her suspicions were verified when Konshiro decided to continue.

"You are right, Miss Rose. Jaune was innocent of the crime, having been framed and jailed by corrupt politicians, the Council knew that the death of their own was a sensitive issue. Especially since it was mainly due to the fact that they had died trying to do business with the criminal underworld. Since news like that would question the rest of them, they needed a scapegoat. By suggestion and bribery from Roman Torchwick, Jaune was chosen to take the fall." Konshiro explained, making all of them start to despise the Council now. Even Weiss was disgusted by it. While she knew that her father had done some shady business, to which she was going to undo when she took the company back from her father, to imagine that they would go so far as to do that to Jaune was unspeakable. She may not like Arc all that much, she still didn't want something so heinous to happen to him.

"That's dreadful!...Wait! What about the trial itself!? Surely without any actual evidence, Arc would have been proven innocent, right?" Weiss said, making the rest of them nod in agreement. Konshiro seemed to deflate a bit in tiredness. They made valid points, but he knew what happened.

"I regret to inform you that with the right motivation and for the right price, even the justice system can be swayed." Konshiro stated, having his flames simmer down a small bit in somber feeling. The rest of them were a little angered at that. How could they allow that to happen!? They wouldn't, that's how!

"What about us? We had to have tried to defend our friend, right!?" Nora asked, with some hope in her voice. The rest of her friends perked up at that. Surely they did! Despite some of them not knowing Jaune that well, or having a shaky relationship with him, they would still come to his aid should he need it. The first Jaune looked to the rest of the group before turning to Amber, both of them giving each other a look that recognized where this was going. If they remembered correctly, Konshiro stated that he turned into 'Something Vile'. One doesn't have that happen by having a happy ending. Even the second Jaune put a hand on his own Ruby, making her hopeful smile turn into a dread filled frown when he shook his head at her.

The others became worried when Konshiro didn't say anything, only looking saddened further by Nora's decree.

"Right?" Nora asked again, her demeanor becoming worried once more. Konshiro winced at her, not looking forward to having to tell them what role they had in this story. It was one that he had seen many times. Having traversed the multiverse as much as he had, this kind of story was as plentiful as the others. He never knew what exactly made them do what they did, but he could only hope that they got what they deserved.

"You all...you all decide to testify against him in some shape or another. Assisting in the verdict that he was guilty of the crime." Konshiro said, making all of them gasp with widened eyes. They did WHAT!?

"Hold the god damned phone! Are you telling me that we, his FRIENDS, turned our backs on him when all of that was happening!?" Yang exclaimed, not believing what she had heard. The rest agreed with her. They'd never do such a thing!

"Yes, that is what happened Miss Xiao-Long." Konshiro said, looking at all of them with a tired expression. Though, Yang wasn't having any of it.

"That's bullshit. How could we even do such a thing! We all care about him in some way shape or form. And no amount of bribery would even begin to tempt us to do otherwise! What did they even do!?" Yang exploded, her hair blowing up into a bonfire and her eyes turning crimson. Konshiro wiped a flaming hand over his face before telling them.

"In that universe, all of you had rather different upbringings. For starters, you Yang, had a much closer call in the forest when you and Ruby were kids and those Grim attacked. Thankfully, Tai had a little better grip on himself and was able to save you. But It caused you to believe that anyone that could become close to Ruby could also harm her. All you needed was some form of evidence to throttle them, regardless of how credible the evidence may be. You would do anything to keep all harm from befalling her, but that also meant turning on someone that had even the smallest chance of hurting her. For Ruby, having Yang teach her that there was only right or wrong, grew to see a black and white world with good and evil being dictated by the Council. So when she heard that the chairmen were saying that Jaune was the 'bad guy' in that scenario, she said whatever they wanted her to. Weiss, in that universe, had her older sister leave her behind to pursue her dreams much earlier, which caused her to rely on her father. She became much like him, having become a spitting image of Jacques. Going out to become a Huntress simply because he demanded her to. She hated all things that weren't either Human or white. A single word from her father was all it took to cast Jaune away. Blake...she just didn't bother to show up to the trial. She was too afraid that if she were too attend, that somehow, her Faunus heritage would be found out along with her less than clean past." Konshiro explained, going through all of Team RWBY and detailing why all of them had seemingly turned their backs to Jaune in his time of need. It made them all feel scared that if small things like that changed, then they would really be capable of doing something like that...it really was terrifying for the four of them. Even for Blake, that she would be so cowardly to run away just because there was a possibility of her Faunus traits being exposed. Her team along with Team JNPR knew of her being a Faunus, and that in and of itself was a roller-coaster of events. But she just left him there without even trying to defend him? What kind of scum were they in that universe?

"Dear god." Yang said, all flare gone within her as she held her head and fell back. Konshiro did her the favor of teleporting a couch behind her so she could sit on it. The same happened with the other three as they tried to cope with the fact that they had done all that in another universe. Tell them that it wasn't them, but it was still a possible universe where they were those people.

"A-and us?" Pyrrha said frightfully, fearing what the answer would be. It was morbid curiosity that she asked, and the answer that the three received was no less tragic.

"Ren was told by his father in his dying breaths to listen to his instincts when he believed that there would be a threat to either himself or Nora. With the trial, he mistook his paranoia with his instincts and feared that Jaune could do the same to Nora what he had been accused of doing to the Council Member. Nora was much more obedient to Ren in that universe, going with whatever he said without question since he was the one that saved her life. When he said that Jaune was bad news, she threw away any and all previous notions of friendship between them and made him her enemy. And Pyrrha..." Konshiro trailed off, pausing to look Pyrrha in the eye. It proved to be a mistake as he saw the desperation in her eyes. The begging that she would be different. He sighed again before lowering his head, no longer able to look her in the eye.

"She had valued her reputation as the 'Invincible Girl' more than she valued her crush on a seemingly worthless Huntsman wannabe. Her family back in Mistral had forced the ideology that her strength, reputation and pride were the most important things to own. And throwing all of that aside to help Jaune would have brought shame to not only herself, but to her entire family as well. It was for those reasons that she tossed him away as easily as last weeks trash." Konshiro concluded.

"No!" Pyrrha cried, crying into her hands. She sat down on he separate couch that was teleported behind them. Ren and Nora were by her side immediately, trying to comfort her while throwing away any nonsense that was told to them. Ren was knowledgeable enough to know that what happened in one universe was absolutely non-applicable to himself. Nora just tossed it aside simply because she knew that it didn't happen in her universe. But she knew that she still needed to comfort Pyrrha. She understood that after hearing what happened with RWBY and what happened with the rest of her team, she was understandably shaken that she herself had also turned on Jaune for a title that she didn't want.

The first Jaune looked to the two teams with sadness in his eyes. If that was how his own Council was like, then he was going to have his work cut out for him if he was going to try and get into the politics of the world and make things better. Amber was even more pissed at the Council for having forced so much trauma on the group simply because they didn't want to get blamed for getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The second Jaune just took an exceptionally long drag of his Virga Terra and silently vowed to not only maim Roman when he got back, but also to dig up as much dirt on the Council as possible and post them as discretely as possible to the public. He noticed that his Ruby was next to him slowly starting to feel like her counterpart, so he threw away his breathing stick, went up to her, grabbed her, and pulled her into as comforting a hug as he could muster. She was surprised for a moment before she hugged back and sniffled a small bit into his form.

"It's going to be okay Rubes, it's going to be okay. I'm not going anywhere." He whispered to her. She quivered a small bit, still a little shaken up by what Shiro had said, but was calmed by his embrace. She took deep breaths before separating and giving him a smile. He returned it before turning to the violet body of energy, having been curious as to where his family was along with Ozpin. If they were anything like in his Universe, then at least one of them should have, at bare minimum, tried to prove his innocence.

"What about his family, or the Headmaster. What did they do?" He asked, and it made the rest of them become hopeful again. Amber was intrigued by the question, having hoped that at least Ozpin would try to intervene. From what she knows, Ozpin at the very least cares about those under his care. Whether it be those within his circle, or his students. She doesn't know anything from this Jaune's family, seeing as how her own Jaune was practically adopted by the Rose and Branwen family.

"His family was much like Pyrrha's in the fact that they value strength and pride. Since Jaune hadn't shown the prior of the two, his father disowned him. His father was already abusive, so this one accusation of Jaune was the last straw. He banished him from the Arc family and disowned him. His mother had already neglected him in favor of his more successful sisters and couldn't care either way. While his sisters never really loved him. All they ever felt for him was pity. None of his family really cared enough to try and prove his innocence." Konshiro said, making the second Jaune feel disheartened. His own family had loved him with all their heart, so hearing that this family just threw him away was a hard pill to swallow. Ruby was there to try and console him, to which he was immensely grateful. But Amber stepped forward, really wanting to know what Ozpin did.

"What of Ozpin? Did he cast him away too?" She asked, feeling as though her judgement on the old Wizard might have been wrong. But Konshiro's words stopped her from thinking anything else ill of the Headmaster.

"No. In fact, Ozpin was the only one to want to prove Jaune's innocence. But the Council knew that if he were to do that, then he could segway that into an investigation as to why they tried to blame it on Jaune, which would then show the Council's true colors. So they threatened the man with not only shutting down his school and firing him, but also framing him as well for another crime and imprisoning him too. They effectively kept Ozpin from helping Jaune, otherwise he would have been left with no power to do anything." Konshiro stated, making Amber sigh in sadness. So Ozpin did try to help. But the Council...if she didn't hate their guts before, then she definitely did now.

"What happened after that?" The first Jaune asked. Konshiro looked to him for a brief moment before continuing with the story.

"After Jaune was found guilty, he was given one of two options. Either wait in Death Row where he would be executed in a weeks time, or go to Tartarus. A correctional facility for inmates. Though, he wouldn't have any chance of parole. He chose Tartarus, having been broken down and his will shattered, left him wanting to wallow in a cell for the rest of his life. But as he was going to be escorted out of the building, he saw all of you starting to leave and felt something snap within himself. He broke his cuffs and made a mad dash towards you, wanting revenge for having abandoned him when he had been there for you from the very beginning. He had to be detained by a dozen people before they were able to inject a sedative in order to knock him out cold." Konshiro said, making the two teams feel ashamed that they could have done that to him, even if it was from another universe. Ren and Nora had to comfort Pyrrha again as she held her head in her hands.

"When he awoke, he found out that Tartarus had sold him off to the Underworld. The criminal keep if you would, and had him transferred instead to something called The Arena'. A place much like the Colosseum, which use Gladiators to fight others and Grim to the death in order to survive. It was there that Jaune was thrown into a cell, sharing it with a veteran of The Arena: Qrow." Konshiro continued, making both Ruby and Yang look to him with questioning gazes. They didn't say anything because they weren't in the mood to speak right now. It was understandable, with what they just learned about their counterparts. So he answered their unasked questions.

"Qrow was thrown in there after his sister, Raven Branwen, had framed him with destroying priceless cargo and personally sent him to The Arena. Ozpin had no clue what had happened and was able to do nothing about it. Qrow had thought that Ozpin was the one that had turned a blind eye to his punishment and swore revenge. For the next few years, Qrow told anyone and everyone about what he knew about Ozpin and all the secret workings behind the curtain to try and get him back. Fast forward, Jaune meets him and they bond quickly over how they were both wronged by those that they considered friends. Not too much longer, and Jaune was sent to his first fight...he killed so many people there. All without remorse. All because he saw them all as nothing but obstacles trying to stop him from reaching his goal of escaping and killing all those that had wronged him. But it wasn't without any scars. He had to face a Deathstalker by himself. He won at the cost of one of his arms and a leg that he had to cut off himself. Afterwards, he was given prosthetics by Roman himself. The reason being, because he knew that an ancestor of Jaune's had also been in The Arena and had been such a good fighter that he was able to win his freedom. The better the fighter, the more money that they bring in. So with that in mind, he sponsored Jaune with Jaune having the condition that he sponsor Qrow as well. And that's where they stand right now." Konshiro concluded. It left them all to let that information sink in for a moment. They all were saddened that their friend had to go through all that because of them. It sickened them. To think that it would have only taken the changing of the circumstances of their childhoods to make such decisions that would ruin Jaune's life.

"C-can we see him?" Pyrrha asked after a moment. Konshiro looked to her, unsure and wondering why she would want him to be here after he informed them that he wanted nothing but to get back at them for what they had done in their universe.

"Why would you wish for that? You know that he would love nothing more than to tear into you. All of you." Konshiro asked, but Pyrrha shook her head, going to give her reasoning.

"It doesn't matter. He's still Jaune. If we can tell him that we aren't like the ones that he knew, maybe we can change his mind about everything. I at the very least wish to apologize for my other self." Pyrrha argued, having the logic that all Jaunes were kind at heart, and that if she were able to reach out to him and convince him that somebody still cared for him, he'd revert back to the lovable blonde that she had fallen for. The rest of her friends agreed with her, each giving their own point of agreement. Even the other Ruby shouted in her support. The two Jaunes and Amber were weary of the idea of bringing him back, knowing that when someone went off the rails, they usually couldn't be saved.

Konshiro sighed once more, knowing full well that any delusion that Pyrrha and her friends had of 'saving' their Jaune from his hatred was childish at best and utterly hopeless at it's worst. Though, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Weiss was also wanting to try and reach out to Jaune. But in the end, it was a fruitless endeavor that they would fail at. Even then, if he told them as such, they would be adamant at trying anyway. So he figured that if he were to show them that he couldn't be saved, he'd at least be able to teach them that they should be grateful of the Jaune they have and strive to make him better.

"Very well. I will warn you that you should keep your guard up. Noir, Arc, Amber, I will please ask of you to make sure that should the situation get out of hand, you are there to settle it." Konshiro conceded to their demands before gesturing to the three as a safety measure. The trio all nodded in confirmation. Big Jaune tensed his muscles, ready to call upon his KI when he needed. Though, Amber was going to ask where her weapon was until it materialized within her grasp. The first Jaune looked worried as his body was in a weakened state since he was hit with Divine Rotting.

"I don't think that I will be of much use here. I'm still trying to recover from my ordeal." The first Jaune stated, looking to Konshiro. The man looked to him before his yellow eyes flashed, with Jaune feeling something within him flood through his body. He looked at his arms and felt his power from before come back to him. He turned once again to Konshiro, hoping for an answer.

"For the time being, I am able to lift the ailment from your body. However, I cannot let it stay there for long. In fact, when all of this is done, I will have to return all those that I am documenting to their rightful universes with no memories of this event. It's a law that I must abide by unless I wish for each of you to jeopardize the integrity of your realities, causing them to implode and be lost to the abyss." Konshiro stated, causing the four brought here to be a little bummed out by the notion. That would mean that they wouldn't be able to remember their progenitors. The first Jaune was saddened, having liked to see what his friends looked like when they grow up. Amber was just starting to like the friends that her Jaune made while both the second Jaune and his Ruby were a little miffed at that stupid law. Jaune wouldn't be able to remember having this encounter to tell Ozpin about while Ruby had found another her to bounce Ideas for Crescent Rose off of. But still, they all focused as Konshiro raised his arm to the end of the room to bring in the last of the three Jaunes.

Another pair of violet flames arose from across the room, giving way to show a dirtied and roughed up Qrow crouching in front of a sitting Jaune who was wearing a torn up inmate's uniform that was practically drenched in dried blood. The sleeves and pant legs having been torn off. Notably, his right arm and left leg were gone, instead having prosthetic ones in place of them. Qrow was saying something to Jaune while he was holding a small bag full of something that the two teams didn't know of.

"I think we got a shot of getting out of...what the hell?" Qrow trailed off as he noticed that they weren't in their holding cell anymore. He looked around and inspected the room, not recognizing any of it before his eyes fell upon the other people in the room. His eyes narrowed and his muscles tensed, getting ready for a fight should one start. His suspicion only grew when his eyes landed on his two 'nieces'. Last he heard from Jaune, they had become absolute brats. He was angry at the rest of his 'family' for turning out the way they did. Especially after the death of Summer. It was like they never cared for her in the first place.

"Jaune, you said that you wanted revenge on these guys, right?" Qrow asked as he looked to the younger man. He noticed that Jaune was oddly still and his face was stoic. But he could see it in his eyes that a burning hatred lied beneath the surface. With slow movements, Jaune started to stand up, getting up to his full height before turning his head to see the others, more specifically, Teams RWBY and JNPR. He clenched both of his fists, with his robotic one starting to groan under how tight of a fist he was making. Did he want to get revenge on these guys? No, he wanted to make them suffer.

"Jaune! I know what happened in your world, and I'm sorry that you went through that, but I want to let you know that from every single one of us, we would never-" Pyrrha tried to say before a sudden pressure went over them, all originating from the new arrival. His pitch black Aura flaring up and signifying that he could not give two shits about what was happening.

"SHUT. THE FUCK. UP." Jaune demanded in a low tone. But they could all hear it, and it sent a chill up each and every one of their spines. The amount of raw hatred in his eyes that was directed towards them had frozen them in place. Qrow just looked to him for a moment before backing off. This was a personal thing. He'd ask to be left alone when he fought Ozpin some day, so he'd give him this.

"J-Jaune, if you'd just listen-" Yang tried, knowing that calling him by a nickname right now wouldn't do well. But Jaune wasn't having any of it.

"HOW ABOUT YOU LISTEN YOU FUCKIN' BROAD? I HEARD QUITE ENOUGH WHEN YOU ALL TESTIFIED AGAINST ME. HOW YOU THREW ME AWAY THE FIRST CHANCE YOU GOT. DIDN'T THINK I'D COME BACK, DID YOU? WELL SORRY TO DISAPPOINT TOOTS, BUT I MADE A PROMISE TO MAKE YOU ALL SUFFER THE NEXT TIME I SAW YOU, AND I DON'T GO BACK ON MY WORD." Jaune stated as he slowly walked over to them. His Aura was bearing over them, making it hard to breath. They took a step back, genuinely fearing him. The look in his eyes and the tone of his voice was unsettling to them. The way his body language told them that he was going to go through with it, and worse, enjoy it made them all wonder the same thing. What the hell did they do to him?

Before he could get too close, the First Jaune along with the second and Amber stood in his way. He looked to them, directing the anger in his eyes at the seemingly older and younger versions of himself with grit teeth and lightly shaking in unbridled hatred.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY." Jaune demanded, his lips forming into a snarl. The second Jaune stepped forward, flaring up his KI while the first Jaune floated off the ground and readied his elements for use. Amber also let her Maiden powers flow through her, making it quite clear to this new Jaune that he was out numbered, and out gunned. He wasn't all that different from the original Jaune after all. His combat experience still wasn't the greatest and neither was his strength. He let out an angered snarl before giving one last death glare to the two teams and letting his Aura die down. He then turned to Qrow, who was just looking around the place, seeing what exactly was happening here.

"Qrow, come on, lets take a seat, I'm sure there's a reason we're here." Jaune stated as he made his way over to the couch farthest back of the room. Qrow perked up before following him. The third Jaune let out a frustrated sight before seating himself, his face in a prominent scowl. Konshiro drifted forward, turning his head and nodding in appreciation to the three that were able to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand before he turned his head back towards the two newest additions to the group and heading their way.

"I'm sure you have questions-" Konshiro tried to start, but Jaune glared at him before interrupting.

"Yes, I do. Such as why the FUCK can't I beat those sons' a bitches to an inch of their lives? That, I'd like to know." Jaune said through strained teeth. Qrow was at his side, giving dirty looks to the two teams, especially Yang and Ruby. Seeing this made the two sisters feel especially terrible since they now thought about what they might have done to their uncle to warrant such things from the man. Had they hated him in that universe? Had they done him dirty like they did Jaune? They weren't sure and it was saddening to them to no degree.

Konshiro knew that this Jaune was not going to be very compliant with him should he just talk words and nonsense that he couldn't give two shits about, so he was going to have to speak to him on terms that he understood. Which was also in the way of showing why exactly he was the ruler of this domain.

"They aren't your variations of their teams for one. Another, while you are within my care, in my realm, under MY ROOF, MY WORD IS LAW! YOU SHOULD DO WELL TO LISTEN TO ME UNLESS YOU WISH UPON YOURSELF THE ENTIRE ERADICATION OF YOUR EXISTENCE! MY DOCUMENTATION OF YOUR WORLD IS NOT ONE THAT I DEEM MANDATORY! SHOULD I FEEL OBLIGATED, I CAN VERY WELL KEEP YOUR WORLD IN PERMANENT LIMBO, NEITHER GOING FORWARD NOR BACKWARD! You'd never know of your own looping existence. Going through the same events over and over again. Mindless of your own tortured reality. That's to say if I don't feel merciful enough to burn the knowledge of your world to ashes. Leaving no one to even remember you exist. Understand?" Konshiro threatened as his body grew in size, his flames growing more intense and his voice literally booming from every angle as if his voice was in every place at the same time. Even the structure of the room started to turn into his violet flames before he calmed down, his figure shrinking and the room going back to normal. The rest of the crew were quite shaken up by the intense event. Even the second Jaune was caught off guard by the display of power. He held his Ruby close to his body as he braced himself in case this Konshiro figure got too out of hand. The first Jaune held a tight lipped expression, feeling the divine energy of Konshiro roll off his figure in droves. He could tell that the display wasn't even a fraction of his power. He wondered if what he said was true, and that he could stop documenting their world and just leave them there to repeat the same events over and over again while they were none the wiser. It was a terrifying thing, to have the fate of your existence be handled by someone that could destroy your world without a second thought. Thoughts of his father came up to mind, knowing that he could do the same as well.

The third Jaune along with Qrow felt the brunt of the threat with Konshiro being directly in front of them, but held on surprisingly well. Jaune closed his eyes for a moment, taking a breath before giving Konshiro a slightly aggravated sigh. Qrow next to him had simply grunted out a noise of compliance. Konshiro knew that this was the most that he was going to get from the two, so simply left it at that and left them to their own devices.

"I apologize for my outburst. However, I felt that if I didn't, the message would not have carried out correctly." Konshiro stated as he levitated in front of the small group. They all nodded to him with some shake in their movements. Of course they would, that kind of power could shake anyone up. With the mood as it was, he decided that going through with what he summoned them here in the first place.

"With that, I hope you seven realize just how drastic a simple change in trajectory could affect your world. With all of it centering around Jaune Arc. Speaking of which, I think that it's high time that I were to show you all what I intended from the beginning. The alternate scenarios of what could happen to your Jaune that I am able to find from the vast collection from within the multiverse." Konshiro stated as he waved a hand, spewing some purple flames from it and a few different colored orbs of energy emerging from the flames, lingering in the air like small stars. The eleven in front of him were a little awed at the sight. Those were all different universes...

"I will allow each of you to chose one at a time. Who would like to volunteer?" Konshiro asked, gesturing to the eleven people standing. They all looked to each other, wanting to see if any of them wanted to go first. Unsurprisingly, It was Pyrrha that spoke up first.

"I would like to choose, If it's no trouble?" Pyrrha said almost timidly. Konshiro simply nodded to her before gently waving the small stars down for her to choose from. She looked at them all a little nervously, suddenly becoming very aware of the two in the back of the room. If what Konshiro said was true, then that meant that the one she picked could very well be one where Jaune could be out for their blood. But she also knew that there could be one where Jaune was like the first one they met, where he wanted nothing but the best for humanity while also possessing the means to change it. So with that in mind, Pyrrha looked to the stars in front of her and decided to pick the one that shown the brightest. It wasn't the biggest of the stars presented, but it held a certain power to it.

"This one." She said, pointing out to her choice. It was bright silver in color, and Pyrrha thought that the contents within it must have been good, with the color being so bright. Though she was horrendously wrong on that front, she did choose one that Konshiro was documenting as well, hence the bright color.

"Ah, this one...It's also one that I am documenting. It is young compared to the others. Very young. Which is why I did not bring him here. Though, given time, it will grow to something special." Konshiro stated as he stored the other stars within his flames while he held the bright silver star within his hand. He seemed to be fond of it. And he was. He was fond of all of the worlds that he was documenting. Even the third Jaune's world. Even amidst his troubled soul and brutal world, he knew that there would be a light to make him flourish. To make him a great man. Admittedly, it would be a long time before that could happen, but such is with life. Things take time to happen. But for now, he was going to instruct his guests to take a seat.

"Alright everyone, please get comfortable while I start everything." Konshiro stated as he fluctuated his energy around the star. He needed to adjust it so that it may be viewed properly. The rest of them all took to the nearest seats, with the original seven staying together and the first two Jaunes seated near them along with the person they came here with. The two in the back said nothing, simply content in getting through this before they inevitably went back to their world and prepared for when Jaune was ready to escape from The Arena and enact his revenge. Though, Yang did have a thought about some things.

"Wait, hold on. What happened to our world? Did we just disappear? Are there going to be any search parties looking for us when we come back or what?" Yang asked as she sat down, the rest of her friends made noises of agreement, wanting to know that too. Konshiro hummed in acknowledgement, knowing that while the original seven weren't in any rush to get anywhere, seeing as they had a free day, even they would have to be somewhere at some point. And the three that he pulled from their own worlds were expected to be somewhere or other. Either it be recovering in another's home, heading to their Headmaster's office, or being held prisoner in a cell, they all had places to be, which is why he was thankful that he had full control of their worlds as soon as he set foot there.

"I have stopped time accordingly in all of your worlds for convenience sake. You don't have to worry about anyone looking for you." Konshiro stated, making the rest of them nod in understanding. Though another question that amused him came from Nora.

"Hey, if we're going to be watching these movies, where are the snacks? I demand that I have my movie time pancakes!" Nora exclaimed, standing with a hand outstretched. To both her delight and everyone's surprise, a plate landed in her open palm with a large stack of pancakes atop it.

"...And movie time syrup?" Nora tested with a curious face. She was elated to see a thick stream of maple syrup dribble from thin air over her stack of pancakes, only stopping once they were completely drenched. She giggled excitedly, reaching into her pocket and bringing out a fork before delving into them. The rest of them were caught a little off guard by it before turning to Konshiro who was putting the finishing touches on the star for their entertainment.

"A simple thought, and it's yours." Konshiro stated. They all looked among themselves, feeling a little giddy one way or another before thinking of their own snack of choosing.

Ren had a simple Caesar Salad with ranch dressing, to which Konshiro paused for a moment at.

'Who would want a salad of all things while in a movie theater?' Konshiro questioned, not understanding the male ninja.

Pyrrha's mouth nearly watered when a large slice of chocolate cake was summoned in her hands. Ruby had some chocolate cookies for her snack, Weiss having some crepes, Yang a simple bag of popcorn, and Blake a tuna sandwich.

'You know, I'm surprised nobody even questioned Blake with how much cat-like behavior she showed beforehand. Not to mention how her bow would move and twitch. Her disguise was mediocre at best.' Konshiro thought as he finished with his work on the star.

Little Jaune had a simple vanilla ice-cream cone in his hand as he licked at it. Amber had opted for a sparkling water instead, she was more of a beverage person anyway.

'I see she too, is a woman of culture as well.' Konshiro thought to himself, being the only person he knew of that genuinely liked sparkling water. Everyone else said that it was 'disgusting' or whatever. Didn't bother him none. It just left more for him.

Big Jaune had an entire gingerbread house in his hands. He summoned it simply out of curiosity before he chuckled and broke off a piece to munch on. To his side, he noticed that his Ruby had a familiar bag within her hands.

"Hey, is that the same bag of cookies that I gave you in the forest?" He asked, making Ruby look to him before nodding sheepishly.

"Yeah, they've kind of uh, became a favorite of mine." Ruby said shyly. Jaune smiled at her in appreciation. Both of them had a light dusting on their faces that some of the others didn't miss. Though, as Konshiro lifted the star, he let out a small chuckle.

'That is a romance that I am looking forward to documenting.' He thought before moving the star to the screen to the front of the room for it to meld into it. The screen shone for a moment before settling down to a small glow, waiting for him to begin the viewing.

"Alright everyone, this one is going show Jaune as he and his team join Team RWBY on a mission that Ruby has been pestering the Headmaster for months to go on." Konshiro said, giving the premise of the story. They all nodded, wanting to know how this could play out. Good, they hoped. Though, Konshiro knew what happened, of course he did, he wrote what was there, and while it didn't start with what you would call a 'happy' beginning, it did leave on a hopeful note at the very least.

"Cool! We get to see one of our cool adventures in action! And your team tags along too!" Ruby exclaimed as she bounced in her seat. Her team and the rest of Team JNPR all smiled at each other. knowing that this was going to be a good one. They were all just happy that they didn't start off with one that showed Jaune as a blood thirsty psychopath, or a villain. That would have made them all feel horrible all over again. Especially after what they heard that their counterparts did to make the third Jaune suffer so much.

"Shh! The movie is starting!" Nora exclaimed in a whisper as the screen started up, showing the landing docks of Beacon Academy.

---

This was a rather exciting day for the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR. The reason? Well, after many many many many attempts at trying to convince Professor Ozpin, they had finally forced his hand at giving them permission to take on a third year mission! So yay!

"I still wish you all would realize how extremely dangerous this is." Ozpin said with no small amounts of disappointment. Not only in his students, but also in himself for giving in so easily. But what was he supposed to do!? They stole his coffee mug and coffee! They said that they wouldn't give it him their location until they were already on the Bullhead. So any sane man would understand that he had no choice in the matter.

"Ah, come on Headmaster! We're the you're best first year teams! This is a run of the mill mission anyway. We're just going to be protecting a village from any Grim that might attack it for the next few days." Ruby said, waving off the Professor's concerns. She-they! She mean's they, got what they wanted, but the Professor had assigned them one of the easiest missions he could put them on. So she didn't know why he was so worried.

---

The students in the house had a small laugh at the scene before them. All it took for Ozpin to cave was just taking his coffee and mug from him? That gave one or two of them ideas. Though, the two other Jaune's next to them along with Amber were suspicious of both the reasoning behind the third year requirement of the mission, and the motives of the leader of Team RWBY. What was it that made her need to go on this mission?

"I do want to know why it is that she wanted to go on this mission specifically. It's kind of fishy if you ask me." Amber said, making the others look at her in mild confusion. They'd do the same thing if they were given the chance. Besides, what the screen said was true, they were the best first years that the school had. So there wasn't any thing to worry about.

"You'd be surprised at what our leader would do if she was given the chance." Weiss said as she filed her nails. Amber looked to each of them with a look of confusion, silently asking them if what she said was true. Yang gave a grin and a thumbs up, Blake only needed to sigh to give her answer, and Ruby looked a little embarrassed of herself, telling Amber that what Weiss said was true.

"That's...almost scary." Amber said, subtly pulling her Jaune to her person. Smol Jaune just blinked at her before shrugging and returning what he thought was a hug. Big Jaune just rolled his eyes at the shenanigans that the two teams apparently get themselves into. Though, admittedly, he did kind of like the idea that he and the rest of his universes teams could get along like that.

---

"My problem isn't with the mission itself, it is with where that village is that makes this mission for Teams that are Third years and above. So I must advise you once more; please reconsider what you are about to do." Ozpin said with a concerned voice as he saw both teams double checking their gear. It was true that the village itself was relatively safe. But the fact that it was literally right next to the Grimlands warranted such a talented team to be required to go. It's why he really didn't want his two most promising teams to go.. But even he had to admit that while the mission was dangerous because of the location, it wouldn't be as bad as if they were going to go into the forest itself. He had to count his blessings for that. Because every person that went into that place...never came back. No matter how long they've been in there. A month, a week. Even a single hour in there was enough for the Grim to latch their claws onto them.

With enough luck, he would see all of them back here in three days time.

---

"The Grimlands huh? That's probably why he was so reluctant on letting them take the mission in the first place. It's no joke. I've nearly died in there multiple times. You will die if your not ready." Big Jaune said as he leaned back in his seat. He got a worried expression from his Ruby and incredulous looks from everyone else.

"You've been to the Grimlands too? I'll admit, there were some rather advanced Grim in there. I was lucky enough to get out of there before too long though." Smol Jaune stated, making them all look to him now. Big Jaune glanced over to him before lightly shaking his head. He should expect that since he was apparently a god. But nonetheless, he just looked to the screen to let the scene play out.

---

"Pshaw, don't even sweat! I'll break the legs of any Grim that tries to get into the village!" Nora announced, holding her mighty hammer like a staff. Rei had to stifle a small giggle at her attitude. She herself was indifferent about the mission, but would go wherever Nora went. After all, someone had to keep an eye on her. Besides, she was pretty sure that she was the only one that could keep an eye on her. That girl could disappear at a moments notice if one wasn't careful.

"Don't worry Headmaster, If anything happens, we will call in a Bullhead for an immediate evacuation, just like we promised." Rei said, assuring the older gentleman of the one thing that he had left absolutely no room for argument; If the teams found themselves in a situation they could not handle, then they would evacuate everyone in the village and be sent back here as soon as they could.

Ozpin let out a shaky breath and let himself feel assured in that fact.

---

"...Am I a woman in every other universe here, or is this all just a coincidence?" Ren asked as he looked at the female version of himself. There wasn't much of a difference really. Just some slightly softer facial features, a slightly bigger chest, longer eyelashes, a tiny bit of lip gloss and hips that were a fraction of an inch larger than his.

.

..

...

He needed to hit the gym after this.

"...No. It's just...most of what I find to document, I usually only find you as a female. I apologize if this makes you uncomfortable." Konshiro stated, trying to placate the green ninja. Ren just sighed a small bit, really not liking how he and his female counterpart looked so similar.

"It's not exactly making me uncomfortable as it is making me feel like I don't exercise enough." Ren complained looking down at his half eaten salad and wondering if he should include more protein in his diet. Nora just gave him a sympathetic look while hugging him from the side. Pyrrha was to the side, not really knowing what to say here. Yang on the other hand was not so quiet in her comment to him though.

"If you feel up to it, you can hang with me in the gym. I do loads of muscle training. Get you all swole in no time!" Yang offered. Ren nodded to her out of politeness. While he didn't want to become 'swole', he did want to increase the amount of muscle mass on him to maybe make his strikes more naturally powerful, making him have to use less Aura in the process.

Either way, Nora was getting a better Renny out of it!

---

'They will be fine. They are my best First Year Teams. They can handle this.' Ozpin thought to himself. But for the briefest of moments, his eyes faltered when looking to the Arc. He hated to admit it, but the one that he was most worried about was him. Out of all the students, Jaune Arc was...the least capable.

At that, he winced. It wasn't like he thought any less of the young man, In fact, It was quite the opposite. The Headmaster saw something in him. Something that he knew was going to grow and make him into a great Hero. Oum knew how much the world needed one of those at the moment. But he was still growing. A seedling that could still easily be wiped out if not taken care of. Even now, he could see the hesitation and the insecurities in the Knight as he was walking towards the Bullhead.

"Take care..." Ozpin said as he saw the airship leave. He gripped his cane tighter, feeling the pit in his stomach before dismissing it as just being worried for his students.

---

"It'll probably be fine. We've already been on a few missions like that and we've come back fine!" Nora exclaimed cheerfully as she raised her face away from her tack of syrup drowned pancakes. Ren was a little skeptical of the situation, as were Weiss, the first two Jaune's and Amber. The rest of her friends were a little saddened at the notion that Jaune was the 'least capable' out of them. It was...true, but he also had the best strategical mind out of all of them. He more than made up for his lack of training with his unique and ingenious battle strategies!

"Yeah, we'll always be there to protect him!" Ruby said, puffing out her chest in confidence. Pyrrha was right with her on that front, as she was his partner, it was her job to make sure that Jaune was okay. She knew that he was getting along fine with her training, so given enough time, Jaune would be a great hero!

'If only they knew.' Konshiro thought as he saw them each agree with Ruby. The mentality that keeping something away from all harm only does more damage mentally than they could ever suffer physically. Sometimes, you just had to let things take their course. If that meant that somebody was going to get hurt, then that was just how it was going to be.

---

However, If he knew what was to happen to a certain blonde, he would have ordered that Bullhead to take them back instantly.

Coffee or no.

---

That made them all pause in their confident ramblings of protecting their blonde night. Why was that worded weirdly?

"What does that mean? Does something happen to Jaune?" Pyrrha asked the violet body of energy. Konshiro said nothing, opting to just let them see for themselves. After all, the Jaune of that universe is almost identical to their own. They could learn a thing or two from this.

---

"Wow! We're actually doing this! Can you imagine, Weiss? Ozpin actually let us go!" Ruby cheered, feeling ecstatic that she was actually on this mission. It was something that she wanted to go on since she had first seen it on the mission board. Why she wanted to take that mission? Well, because that's where she could buy a Ultra-Super-Mega-Gama-Platinum Rare Limited edition edition of Red vs Blue! It's said that the copy has a crossover that would never be matched again for centuries to come. It had been torture for how long she had to save up. And even more so with how long it took to convince the Headmaster to let them go. Was it a bit selfish? Eh, it's not that bad. She disguised it as a way to further improve both Team JNPR's and her own team's coordination even further. Which was true in its own way. But the comic was the main reason. She needed to know what happened in it dammit!

"It's not that exciting. If the village had a hot spring, then I might be a bit more interested. Really Ruby, why were you so insistent on taking this mission specifically?" Weiss questioned for the umpteenth time. She wasn't entirely against the idea. It's just that the village didn't seem so special to her. It was just another settlement that was trying to set itself up in a rather dangerous area. Granted, the area itself was rich with different resources like precious metals and other natural minerals. There was even a stream of water nearby. But that was everything that the mission file had said. Nothing else...well, of course, there was the fact that it was next to the Grimlands, but they already knew that. So nothing was out of the ordinary. Which begs the question of why the hell did her Leader decide to go to a remote village, in the middle of nowhere! Plus! There wouldn't be any internet there! What the heck were they supposed to do there? Sure, they could train and make sure that the village wasn't attacked, but she highly doubted that it would happen within the three days that they were contracted for.

---

.

..

...

"A...comic book." Amber drew out. Looking and feeling incredulous at the prospect that the leader of Team RWBY and the person that her Jaune felt so enamored by had put the two teams into a potentially lethal situation...for a comic book.

"I...no, actually, that sounds too much like her. I believe it." Weiss said with an undertone of disappointment. She has mostly grown to accept her partner's antics and found that going on a mission just for a comic book to be right up her ally.

"Hey! I don't...yeah." Ruby said dejectedly, not even being able to deny the fact that she would indeed do what her counterpart did in that universe. The other Ruby that was with Big Jaune had wisely kept silent, quietly keeping to herself and making a note for later to evaluate her life choices up to this point.

"Honestly, I've done worse." Yang said with a shrug, thinking back to how many people she's beat up just to get information on her birth mother, Raven Branwen. She's even destroyed an entire club for it.

---

"Oh, you know, it was the only mission that the Professor would let us take...yeah..." Ruby trailed off, trying to not look Weiss in the eyes. Her partner's gaze becoming a bit overbearing before her sister barged in with her own two cents.

"Ah, it doesn't matter why we're going, I'm just eager to go up against stronger Grim! The ones in the Emerald Forest are okay and all, but I'm pretty sure any Grim from the Grimlands is way better than anything that I'd find in any plain old forest." Yang said, portraying her excitement at the prospect of stronger enemies. Truly, she was as wild as her fighting style. She then turned to Blake and asked her what she thought about the situation. Blake only looked up from her book for a moment before going back to reading. Yang shrugged, already haven gotten used to the cat Faunus' antics. She still chuckled at the memory of how they found Blake on her bed, with her bow off, showing her cat ears. she was in such an adorable sleeping position! Evidently, Blake had been so tired the previous day that she forgot to put her bow back on after her shower. That had been an awkward morning. But it was all fine now. JNPR knew about it too because Ruby couldn't keep a secret for the life of her. At least, not when it came to her fellow leader.

That's right ladies and gentlemen, Ruby Rose, the weapon loving, comic book reading and gun having fifteen year old had a giant crush on one Jaune Arc. And honestly? Yang didn't mind it too much. Jaune was an okay guy, maybe not the most ideal, but the best one that could probably take care of her little sister. He was nice, had a decent sense of humor, and most importantly, would be one hell of a househusband should the Huntsman rout not work out for him. For as good as Jaune had gotten, he was still lacking the skill to be a good Hunter. Sorry if that sounded harsh, but she wasn't one to beat around the bush. Weiss knew it. Blake knew it. She knew it. It's just her sister and the rest of Team JNPR that need to see it too. But that's not to say that she thinks that Jaune can't be a good fighter, it's just that being a Huntsman would be too dangerous for him. She cared about him too much as a friend to allow him to just go out there and kill himself because he wasn't prepared.

---

Yang looked to her little sister with a cheeky smile and leaned in close. The Rose herself was blushing up a storm at the prospect of having a crush on her best friend at Beacon. There's no way that she would ever...

"Aw, that's so cute! My little sister having a crush on Vomit Boy." Yang teases as she hugged Ruby to her person. Her little sister struggled to get out of the hold while trying and failing to deny any of her accusations. There was nothing between them!

.

..

...

Yet.

"That's adorable. Jaune, we need to meet up with your Ruby soon. I'm sure you miss her too, don't you?" Amber said to Smol Jaune. Her Jaune just shuffled a bit in embarrassment for the fact that she was right on that. He did really want to see her again, but he needed to make sure that what happened before couldn't happen again. And with his condition as it is, he'd be even more useless than he was beforehand.

Big Jaune's eyes shifted to his own Ruby, with Ruby's own shifting to him. They didn't turn their heads out of fear that the other would see then staring, but they both knew what the other was doing. A small beat and the two looked away with small blushes on their faces.

The two in the back just let out a small breath at the whole thing. Jaune thought back to when he was 'friends' with Ruby. Now if he had been given time to really simmer down, to be given time to think and look deep within himself, he would at the very least admit that he used to really feel close to her. But since none of that was given to him and his time in The Arena, no matter how small that may have been, that would not happen for years to come.

"That's not very nice. Sure Jaune's not as combat adept as the rest of us, but he's absorbing my lessons like a sponge. I'm sure that he'll be at our level before long." Pyrrha said as she looked to the screen. She was a little miffed at what the Yang counterpart said about Jaune. It was true, yes, but that Yang wasn't even considering the progress that she had made. Where before, he couldn't compare to the likes of Cardin. Now, he can kill an Ursa Major by himself and give Cardin a real run for his money!

.

..

...

Oh? You were expecting something along the lines of 'Pyrrha sent a death glare to Ruby for being another love rival' or 'Nora and Ren eyed Pyrrha wearily with how much dark aura was surrounding her'? Well, you know...that would be happening, if Pyrrha's subconscious mind didn't force her to believe that it was an alternate universe and that it applied nothing to her own. So she was acting as if it were fake or none existent.

Healthy? Absolutely not. Helping? I mean...eh.

---

"Well, I know I'm going to have a smashing time!" Nora joked, giving a high five to Yang as everyone else groaned. Nora could be as bad as Yang sometimes. But she herself had a semi-decent sense of humor. Though, her true calling lied in slapstick humor. a purely physical side of comedy. But she would usually be culled by her childhood friend before her 'jokes' could get out of hand. Most of these 'jokes', actually, were centered around Jaune. He was such a good sport about it too! He'd never get mad at her, but would laugh with her instead. Such a good leader!

"Please Nora, could you please keep it down? You know that Jaune needs to concentrate on keeping his motion sickness at bay." Pyrrha pleaded in a concerned tone, sitting next to Jaune as he kept his back strait and his face blank with closed eyes. Nora's smile lessened at that and sent him a sympathetic look. At the comment, they all sent him their own looks. All varying levels of sympathy.

---

Now Ruby would have been fearful of the fact that another bad pun user could be among them, she didn't like how they all gave Jaune those looks on the screen. Also the fact that she knew Jaune enough to know that he doesn't like it when they do that, she worried about what was going to happen.

"Aw, Is P-Money worried about her-" Yang started, going to try and tease Pyrrha for tending to her crush, but was interrupted by Ruby.

"Yang, shush. Look at the screen." Ruby said without looking away from the viewing. Yang turned her head to her sister and was a little worried about the look on her face and then listened to her. looking to see what happened next. The rest of their friends did the same, feeling reading what Ruby meant and payed attention to what happened next.

---

He hated this.

He hated the fact that he had motion sickness. He hated the fact that he had to make such a long flight. It would be another three hours before they were even halfway there! It didn't stop there though. He hated the fact that they were so excited for the mission that the Headmaster himself had allowed them on that was supposed to be for third years and above, yet he was terrified. He hated it!

---

"That's...is that how he feels about us going on a mission like that? I didn't know." Weiss said, feeling a little bit remorseful about demeaning him for having his motion sickness. They all did. Especially Yang with how she almost never used his real name in place of 'Vomit Boy'. This made her start to rethink about what she had been doing to her blonde friend. Has she...has she been that friend that was more bully than friend this whole time?

"I will confirm, this is similar to what your Jaune feels when you go out on a Bullhead. Whether it be for a mission, or for a night out on the town." Konshiro stated, making them all feel bad for various reasons.

Nora thought about how she dragged him to Vale for the grand opening of a pancake house. She never even considered what Jaune could have felt at the time.

Ren considered how he practically guilt tripped Jaune into sparring with him down in the Emerald Forest.

Pyrrha's guilt at how she pulled Jaune into a shopping trip.

Ruby and the rest of her team when they needed a pack mule for their clothes shopping.

They were all guilty of not considering what Jaune could have felt about everything. Or even about what he wanted to do for a change. They all just assumed that he would be okay with everything they wanted.

They payed close attention to what happened next with rapt attention.

---

"No, It's okay P-Pyrrha. I can handle this." Jaune said, keeping his eyes closed. While he hated a lot about this situation, he would put his own want to just go back and sleep the rest of the day in the dorms. He wouldn't ruin his friends' big day just for his own wants. He was lucky that these amazing people would choose to be his friends. A guy like him that couldn't even fight! They had accepted him so easily...

And that's what's making the situation all that much worse.

He was just so weak! He couldn't use his weapon properly, he couldn't use his shield properly, and he couldn't even talk properly! There was just so much that was terrible about him that he just couldn't understand how these seven people could possibly consider him a friend. Ruby especially. She was a prodigy to his own lacking skill. She had been accepted two years earlier while he had to scrape the bottom of the barrel and cheat his way to where he was supposed to be! Yet she took the time out of her day to become friends with him. It baffled him. He knew that even on this mission, he'd have to be carried by the rest of them. But he swore, that he would pay them back somehow.

Even if it cost him his life.

---

"Jaune would do everything for all of you, regardless of his own opinions or pride. He values each of you more than he values himself. That is the character of Jaune Arc. Sacrificial to a T." Konshiro said after a small moment of silence. They all looked at the screen in silence. Mulling over how they had taken him for granted. How they never really thought about what he does to himself just for their sake. It made them all feel the need to try and make it up to him when they got back.

The other two Jaunes next to them had let out a breath of somberness. The smaller Jaune knew that he would do anything for those that he cared about, without a doubt. That included sacrificing himself if that meant that they were safe. The bigger Jaune would fight to the very end to make sure that he could keep his partner safe. The promise he made to his Yang on that rooftop, he intended to keep it. Because although the rest of the Arc family may be gone and he is the last of their name, he would carry out their family oath. When he gives his word, he doesn't go back on it.

The Jaune in the back thought about how he made a sort of kinship with Qrow. Would he do anything for him? That has yet to be seen, but he knew that he would do a lot. He did owe Qrow after all.

Konshiro knew that it was a little tense at the moment, so he let the scene continue and lightened up the room.

---

.

..

...

"There's nothing to do!" Nora and Yang both exclaimed at the same time. They had arrived at the village not too long ago, and already, they had realized just how much of a boring place this was! There was no CCT Network, so there would be very minimal communication. That also meant that they couldn't use their Scrolls for any of their normal games! So what the FU-

"Uh-huh, that's nice Yang, now, if you could, let me read this." Ruby said as she held her new comic book. So far, nearly everything was perfect about this comic! The Action! The Suspense! The Drama!

The Romance!

It was just so perfect! All of her unusually high standards were being met! And the cross-over aspect had been implemented perfectly. She was just getting to the secret ending of volume #236 where there was a huge plot hole that the author never explained and left so many enraged fans unsatisfied. This would cover that up and more!

'Yes...Yes! YES YES YES! YE-'

"Oh, is that a comic book? Let me see!" Yang said, grabbing the comic from Ruby's hand, leaving the small girl stone from having been denied the ending of the story. She slowly turned to her sister only to see that Nora was fighting for it as well.

"Give it to me! There's not a single interesting thing here and this comic book is the only thing that can keep me sane!" Nora exclaimed, a certain look in her eyes that gave truth to what she had said. A bored Nora was a Crazy Nora. If you thought you've seen Nora act crazy before, then you were in for a hell of a time. And that wasn't used in a good connotation. But that wasn't important right now. What was important, was the fact that Yang and Nora were using the comic book as a makeshift rope for tug-of-war.

"Let go!"

"No you let go!

"I'll let go when you let go!"

"No!"

"Guy's, please! You're going to-"

*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP*

Ruby was a second too late as Yang and Nora had succeeded in tearing the bundle of literate perfection into shreds. Both of the offenders had the decency to feel ashamed that they had destroyed something of Ruby's. But they were mostly sad that they had destroyed the only means of entertainment in this boring village.

Ruby had caught two handfuls of the shreds as they fell. falling to her knees. Nora and Yang turned to the small reaper, both seeing the growing dread in her eyes. they both hissed in guilt before Yang tried to speak up.

"Ruby, are you al-"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

---

Konshiro looked to the audience to see that they were at the very least taken from their somber moods and some even chuckled at the interactions of the characters on screen. He knew that it was needed, but also knew that it would not last long. The rest of this was all a downhill spiral from here.

'This is not a lesson that I wish for them to learn so harshly. But much like with the third Jaune, this is one that they must learn the hard way in order for them to understand.' Konshiro thought to himself as he saw both Ruby and Amber interacting with one another.

"All that trouble and it gets torn up before I get the chance to finish it." Ruby said in a glum state. Amber giggled a small bit, finding that bit pretty funny and oddly cathartic.

"Serves you right for going on a mission for such a selfish reason." Amber said with a smug grin, making Ruby slump in her seat even more. But Smol Jaune came in for the unintentional save and made Amber's eyes go wide.

"But Amber, didn't you tell me that in order to make sure that the swings in your home village were yours you-" Jaune tried to say offhandedly before Amber hastily put a hand over his mouth and laughed nervously.

"There's no need to tell them that Jaune. I knew I shouldn't have told you that story." Amber said before whispering to herself. Her Jaune just shrugged before placing his attention back on to the screen in front of them.

---

Jaune was busy practicing with Pyrrha to try and better his own swordplay when he heard a yell from across the way. For a moment, he lost concentration and turned to the source. That was a mistake as Pyrrha had slashed across his chest and knocked him on his butt. She stopped once she realized that he had been disorientated. At the same time, she also noticed the rather sizable tear in his hoodie. They had opted to not wear their gear with them as they had decided to just do some 'light' sparring. She would admit though, he was developing nicely underneath his now...ruined hoodie and shirt. She should probably help him up.

---

"Oh no! His hoodie! He loves that thing to death!" Pyrrha fussed, spewing apologies for a version of herself that couldn't hear her. Ren furrowed his eyebrows at how the Jaune on screen looked disappointed in...himself. That was not what he expected Jaune to do in that scenario.

"It's fine Pyrrha, when they get back, he can just sew it back up and you can apologize with some smooches!" Nora exclaimed, teasing Pyrrha and making her blush as red as her hair. Though, she wasn't apposed to the idea. Who knows, maybe there might be an...'accident' regarding his hoodie.

---

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Jaune! I thought you were going to block that one." Pyrrha said as she helped him up to his feet. Jaune looked down at his ruined clothing, seeing his bare chest. His eyes widened a bit before he sighed, dawning a disappointing look. His shoulders sagged, feeling even worse than he already did. It was another sign of how weak he was. If that had been an actual fight with a Grim, he'd be dead. There was just no end to how weak he was. If only there was something...something that he could do to make himself what he was supposed to be and not the pathetic weakling that he was!

"...It's fine Pyr, It...wasn't that important anyway." Jaune said, starting to walk away. He wasn't angry at her. He really wasn't. He was just mulling over the fact that he would have to wait until to hey got back to Beacon if he wanted to stitch it back up. Though, saying it the way he did, left Pyrrha feeling worse than she had been before. However, he was already out of earshot when she tried to call to him again.

There was no denying it. Jaune was suffering from self confidence issues. She thought that she had been getting him to be more confident in himself recently, but with how he had responded just now, she was proven wrong. It worried her to the core, seeing that the man that had captured her heart was suffering like this. She could only hope that more training with her would improve his ability to fight. And if he could do that, then he would be more confident in himself for it!

---

"Y-yeah, Jaune has to at least feel a little better knowing that he's getting stronger, right?" Ruby said, making the rest of them nod in agreement. The sentiment was reflected on them, though the two Jaune's and Amber could not relate. They thought that with self-esteem that low, he probably thought less of himself because of the training.

"Amber...I think that he may have something more than just self-esteem issues." Smol Jaune said, making Amber look to him before considering it for a minute. It only took her a few seconds to agree on that point.

That Jaune probably did have some form of depression.

Big Jaune looked to the screen and thought about how that could have been him if KI had never existed, or if he was never taken from his own home. There were some real conflicting points to be made on that front, but he decided that now wasn't the time for such things. Maybe another time, but not now.

---

Pyrrha could not have been any more wrong. If anything, her training had made his situation worse. He could clearly see that Pyrrha was pitying him. Only training him so that she didn't have to worry about him. He was grateful either way. If he kept up at it, he would be able to at least keep up with some of them...oh who was he kidding? He could tell that Pyrrha was holding back on him. He couldn't imagine, even in a million years that he would be able to catch up to any of them. But for now, he would have to go and get changed. Maybe put his armor on too. There's no telling when a Grim attack might come around.

.

..

...

Oh, so tempting fate like that was just a myth. He could have sworn that it was real for a moment there. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all-

"ATTENTION! A HOARD OF GRIM IS HEADING TOWARDS THE VILLAGE! PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! I REPEAT! GRIM ATTACK INCOMING! PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! ALL HUNTSMEN AND HUNTRESSES HEAD TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE VILLAGE. THE VILLAGE MILITARY WILL DEAL WITH THE EVACUATION OF CIVILIANS!"

Never mind, he just had to prod it didn't he? Oh well, he had a job to do. So with a jog over to his gear, which he kept nearby in case something like this happened. He put on his rather minimalist armor and headed towards his destination.

---

The entirety of Jaune's team and most of RWBY were wracked with some form of sadness at the first bit. If what Konshiro stated was true, then their Jaune thought much like this one did. Did he really have such a low esteem that he thought that they were so much better than him that he thought that he would never reach them? That was something that they all had to rectify when they got back. With the resident Ice Queen rethinking how she had treated Jaune at first. Sure, he was genuinely being a little annoying, but now she wondered if her harsh berating was really necessary.

The two other Jaune's with them looked to each other and to their respective partners before dawning a look of uncertainty. They didn't like their circumstances, sure, but at the very least they were grateful for their abilities that they had. This Jaune though...he had nothing. He didn't have any special god powers to help him, nor the spiritual energy that could level mountains. He had nothing.

That idea alone was nearly unthinkable.

Ruby on her end, had a certain pit in her stomach when she saw the ending of that scene. It was a setup that she had seen before.

"Oh no. Is this going where I think it's going?" Ruby asked as she turned to Konshiro. everyone looked to her with curious eyes before turning their worried gazes to the ethereal host. He turned to them before returning his eyes to the screen, not responding. The group of friends looked to each other, not liking the silence from the man. Ruby then sat back into her seat, having this feeling in her gut that did not sit well with her.

'Stories that go like this don't usually go well for the hero.' Ruby thought to herself as she saw the screen transition to another scene. This time with Jaune Running towards where the danger was.

---

As he approached his destination, he had passed by many civilians. All running the opposite direction to try and escape the threat. Multiple soldiers were making sure that they were getting there safely. A part of him wanted to go too, but he quickly squashed that feeling down. He needed to prove not only his friends, but also to himself that he was capable of handling himself. So with a wary sigh, he continued and made his way over to the village wall. The side that was facing the Grimlands.

As he stopped to assess the situation, he noticed that the entirety of team RWBY was already fighting along with Rei and Nora. With Blake, Yang and Nora being the offense while Ruby, Weiss and Rei stayed back to provide cover fire. He noticed that while the six were dealing with the threat just fine, a few stragglers had snuck passed them and were on their way to hunt down some of the villagers. He was going to go after them, but the sound of rapid gunfire stopped him in his tracks as the soldiers from before were able to mow them down. For the umpteenth time that day, Jaune was hot with the feeling of being worthless again.

He pushed the feeling aside and decided that he could let out his frustrations on the Grim trying to get passed.

---

"That't it, Fearless Leader! Go in there and break some legs!" Nora exclaimed. Her energy was infectious enough to make Pyrrha hopeful as well. Ren just smiled at the screen. It was nice to see that his Leader was going to finally prove his worth to himself.

"Alright, some action! Let's see where Vom-...Jaune can kick some serious ass." Yang said, correcting herself before she could slip up on that again. This trip has been enlightening on a number of levels for her. Now that she saw what she could do make Jaune into...the one in the back, she swore to treat him like an actual friend not just a guy to fuck around with. She never intended to be the asshole friend that was more bully than fun to hang around. Konshiro looked to her and internally smiled, feeling satisfied that he was able to make her see that she wasn't being a good friend.

"I sure hope so." Ruby whispered, still having that pit in her stomach. This still didn't feel right. Like there was something horrible waiting on the horizon.

Konshiro hated to admit it, but she was right.

---

After about an hour of fighting off the seemingly endless wave of Grim, the soldiers from before had announced that all the villagers were safe and accounted for. By this time, they had all been tired and running out of ammo. All, except for Jaune. While his large Aura reserves may have been the cause of his near limitless stamina, the real reason that he didn't really feel tired, was because he didn't do all that much fighting. Or more accurately, he wasn't allowed to fight. Whenever he was going to actually fight anything, one of his friends would come in and do it for him. It just hammered in the point that he just couldn't measure up to his own friends. It made him feel sick to his stomach knowing that.

Not really needing to be there for any longer, the two teams had started to retreat. Having to fight the persistent monsters the entire time, they had barely made it to the waiting Bullhead when they heard a caw. Looking up, they saw that there was a Giant Nevermore. It was even bigger than the one that they had fought in Initiation! With the new threat right on their heels, they quickly boarded the airship and signaled the pilot to start going.

---

The majority of the audience had been struck with a tremendous guilt at the scene.

"Is...is that how he feels? When we try to help him in a fight?" Pyrrha asked, thinking to all the times she just killed a Grim for him, or took the attention of the enemy team off of him. Konshiro just stood there, still not saying anything. The other two Jaunes sighed before gesturing for them all to look back to the screen.

---

They left the hanger door open as to keep the Grim from being able to take down the aircraft. And as expected, Jaune couldn't do anything because he didn't have a long ranged weapon to use. Yet another region that he had no expertise in. So he had to stay back and watch as his friends fired at the Grim, silently cursing his own shortcomings.

When they got far enough off the ground, they all sighed a bit before the entire ship shook, nearly knocking them off balance. When investigated, they realized that the Giant Nevermore had just scraped the top of the vehicle with its large talons.

"How are we supposed to fight that thing?! We're stuck in here and it's right at home up there!" Yang yelled, trying and failing to hit it with her shotgun gauntlets. Everyone else was in a similar boat. This Nevermore was faster, stronger and smarter than the one that they killed in Initiation! But before they could ponder on any sound plans, the ship shook again, but this time, they were warned by the pilot that the engines had been hit. Any more and the airship would be going down.

"I'm going to try and get above it so that the feathers can't hit us! Just try to hit the damn thing!" The pilot roared as he forced the elevation of the aircraft. The engines struggled, but didn't give. They all turned to the opening of the ship as they saw the Nevermore below. It looked up at them and cawed, also starting to ascend.

Everyone was firing everything they had at it. All of their ammo and Dust. But it just wasn't enough as the giant bird Grim crashed it's head into the entryway, knocking most of the students back while also shattering their Aura, or what was left of it. They all breathed heavily as they tried to get their bearings.

"What we're we thinking? What was I thinking? We shouldn't have come here. I should have listened to the Headmaster. Now...now we're all going to die because of me." Ruby cried as she curled in on herself. She was so stupid! Why did she go through all this trouble? For a simple comic book? Now look at them. They were all going to die because she had some stupid selfish desire.

"I'm sorry everyone."

---

Nobody said a thing, having been filled with dread. This was...this was what really happened out in the field, isn't it? This is the risk that they were taking by pursuing this career. They all heard that the job was dangerous and that death was likely, but to see that happen first hand, with themselves as the ones that were...dying. It sobered them up to a lot of the things that they took for granted. For some of them, it made them think about their feelings for another that they would most likely not be able to admit those feelings to that person if they were held back by something as menial as embarrassment. They decided that the next time they had the chance, they were going to confess to their crush without hesitation.

Funnily enough, two redheads in the room were going to try and confess to the same guy.

---

.

..

...

"Don't worry Crater Face. I've got this one." Jaune said, standing at the opening of the damaged vehicle. They all looked to him from the back of the ship. He was facing away from them, looking down at the Grim as it approached.

"Jaune? What are you doing?" Pyrrha asked, concern clear in her face. He seemed to not have been hit by that last attack. But what worried her was that he was holding his sword in its sheath, no longer strapped to his waist.

---

This immediately got all of their attention. It sent a chill up their spines. Jaune sounded calm for this kind of situation.

Too calm.

"Y-yeah. What's he doing?" Pyrrha asked with desperation clear in her voice. Konshiro had finally spoke up, only speaking two words that only made their worry skyrocket.

"Proving himself."

---

"Here. I wont be needing it anymore. Make sure that my family gets it back. And tell them I'm sorry that I won't be coming home." Jaune said, tossing his family weapon back to them. Ruby's eyes widened and tried to get up to try and stop him, but she was still too weakened from all that fighting.

"Wait, Jaune! Whatever you think your going to do, don't do it! Come over here so we can think of a plan to-"

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME, RUBY!" Jaune interrupted, shouting at the top of his lungs, still keeping his back to them. He couldn't let them see his terrified face. Not now. "We don't have time." He said in a weaker and raspier voice.

"I've been trying to prove to you all that I could be able to be on par with you all. I was trying so hard to earn all of your kindness and your friendships. I never understood why any of you would want to be friends with a cheating lair like me. But I was determined to make it up to you in some way. Yet I couldn't do a damn thing until now. Until now, I had no way of showing all of you how much I cared for you. I always felt so helpless when any of you had to go out of your way to help me. It made me feel sick inside, knowing that I was wasting your time and effort just so I could better myself. I am a weakling. Even after all that training, it was wasted. You all deserved better, but you got stuck with me. I'm sorry about that. I wasn't even supposed to attend Beacon. I forged my transcripts and cheated my way into the academy. You could have had someone that actually deserved to be there and you got me. I can't ever make it up to all of you for that." Jaune started, letting his tears flow down his face. The others were in silence. They had never realized that Jaune was suffering this much. The fact that his own friends, even his own partner couldn't see this much had hurt them beyond belief. But what terrified them more was the connotation that went along with the speech. They were going to try and talk him out of it, when he finally turned his face to them, showing the tears on his face and the sad smile gracing his features.

"But with this, I can pay you all back, at least partially." He said, turning around, facing the opening as the Nevermore was getting dangerously close.

---

Everyone at this point was in tears. The amount of pain in his voice and the sad tone he carried had everyone, even the two other Jaune's with them cry. The rest of them swore with the conviction that their own Jaune would have when making a promise that they would help Jaune with whatever he needed, no matter what was needed.

And once again, two certain redheads had solidified that they would confess to said knight. Speaking of which...

---

"Pyrrha. Ruby." Jaune called, making them look at him with worried eyes.

"I love you. Both of you."

"Goodbye."

With that, he jumped from the opening, falling towards the now confused Grim. He yelled at the top of his lungs as he channeled all of his Aura into his fist, remembering a technique that Rei had taught him, and aiming it right at the bird's mouth. As he saw the Giant Nevermore open its maw, showing it's endless abyss of a mouth, he remembered all the fond memories of his time at Beacon. Of his family. Of his friends.

He smiled one last time before entering the Grim's mouth.

For a moment, there was silence. But in the next instance, there was a bright light, making everything into a pure white. After a second of this, it faded, showing that the Nevermore had been blown to bits. The remaining pieces of the corpse turning to smoke and and ash as it fell to the ground. It was at this moment that everyone on the ship had finally snapped out of their shock, rushing to the opening of the ship.

---

"I love you too." Both Ruby and Pyrrha whispered at the same time with tears streaming down their faces freely. Neither of them heard the other thankfully, but it wouldn't have mattered. They were both getting too emotional to really argue about that topic right now.

With the room as somber as it was, Konshiro just decided to play the rest of the viewing. The sooner they got through this, the sooner he could give them a break.

---

"Jaune!" They all exclaimed, looking for the blonde. But found no trace. They all rushed back to the front of the ship and started yelling at the pilot.

"Turn the ship around! We have to go back! We have to find Jaune!" Nora commanded, being deadly serious. The fact that she used Jaune's actual name was enough to make anyone realize the sheer weight of the situation. The pilot however was trying to reconfigure the control panel to try and keep the plane afloat.

"We can't do that." The pilot said, making Yang's eyes go crimson before grabbing the man by the collar and looking him dead in the eye.

"And why the hell not!?" She questioned. The pilot widened his eyes at the threatening glare that the blonde was giving him before licking his lips and answering her.

"We were lucky that the hit from earlier hadn't taken us down, but now this thing is barely staying in the air as it is. If we turn back now to look for your friend, we wont be able to make it back. It's either we make it back and lose one of your own, or we look for him and all die for nothing. I know what my job is." He explained. Yang tensed her muscles a bit before letting the pilot go. Only her and Nora had gone up to talk to the pilot, Rei and Weiss had opted to try and comfort the shell-shocked Ruby and Pyrrha.

They had been silent and mostly unmoving since Jaune had declared his feelings for both of them and then just...jumped off. Blake was just looking at the hanger door that was now closed. She just couldn't comprehend what had happened. Jaune had just sacrificed himself to save them...to save them...why?

Nora and Yang had walked into the room and made their way to their friends, not quite ready to give the news, but didn't really have a choice in the matter either.

Rei was the first to notice them, getting up and meeting them half way there.

"Well? When are we going to find Jaune?" She asked, more emotion on her face than any of them had had seen since they knew her. Only Nora had seen her like this before, and that was when their village...

"We...can't go back." Yang said sadly and with no small amounts of guilt. Rei's face went from apprehensive to downright furious. But before she could ask why, they heard Pyrrha from behind them say something.

"What?" She asked, looking at them as if expecting them to say that they were kidding and that Jaune was perfectly fine. But the looks that they had at the comment made the situation worse.

"The ship is too damaged. We'll barely be able to make it to Vale or Patch if we're lucky. If we go back for him, we wont be able to go home. We'll die out here for nothing." Yang said, sitting down on a chair and placing her head in her hands and slightly pulling at her hair.

That seemed to be it for Pyrrha as she broke down crying. Her teammates sticking by her side, trying to comfort her. But and the this point, the only person that could comfort her now, was gone.

Yang was trying to fully process everything when she heard a small sob. She looked to see that Ruby was huddled in the corner, Weiss next to her. But what caught her eye was Jaune's sword and sheath in her hands. She was hugging it tightly to her chest. She got up and walked over to her, silently telling Weiss to check on Blake while she dealt with her sister. The heiress nodded before leaving the two of them alone. Ruby hadn't noticed Weiss leaving, nor had she noticed Yang being there either.

"Please. Come back to me. I can't lose you too." Ruby silently sobbed. Yang winced at that. She knew that Ruby was still suffering from losing Summer. And now that her first friend and love interest was gone too, she couldn't imagine how that might be making her feel. So she did the only thing she could do. Sit down next to her and try to comfort her sister in her time of need.

"It's going to be okay sis. It's going to be okay." Yang said, trying to reassure her sister and herself. But she knew the truth. And she hated it.

It wasn't going to be okay.

Nothing was okay.

---

There was silence for a moment, with everyone either in tears or silently sobbing at how that ended, most of them couldn't gather up the ability to say anything. Though thankfully, Ren was able to control himself and turn to Konshiro.

"Did he really...die?" Ren asked, looking to the being. Konshiro was somber at the scene before him, but was glad for that question. He knew what happened, and was happy to answer that question and hopefully lift the mood as well.

"Don't worry. Jaune is still alive. He crashed into the forest and has not died." Konshiro explained, making all of them let out a sigh of relief. Some of them even let out a chuckle or two.

Konshiro moved to the screen that had turned off and reached in before pulling out the star. He then explained further.

"However, with what I have documented, he has landed deep within the Grimlands, and is inadvertently traveling further into it. Thankfully, I have been able to see far into that timeline and am able to say that he will be able to escape the Grimlands and get back to his friends." Konshiro said, absorbing the star into his form before turning to the group of friends. They all were a little apprehensive at the fact that Jaune had to be stuck in the Grimlands, but perked up at the info that he would be able to get back to them.

"For now, I will create various rooms for you all to unwind in. I know that this viewing has caused some distress, and I apologize for that. I will call you when I have another showing ready." Konshiro said, as he called forth the star from the screen and absorbed it. He then channeled some of his energy and caused some double doors to manifest and glow for a moment before dying down.

The rest of them all looked to each other before getting up and stretching their legs, heading for the doors. All except for the two in the far back that had already left through the doors. Konshiro made sure to separate those two from the rest of them.

But for now, he needed to talk to some of his advisers on what selections he should have the two teams pick from for next time. Before that though, he needed to do some more documentation.

---

Alright everyone, that's probably going to be one of the two or three chapters that is going to be posted for the year on this story. Now I ask you what storied these guys should react to now. While you do that, I will be working on the next chapter of The Fall From Grace. That's all for now. See you in one of my next works. Toodles~!