"Mind introducing us?" Jade said with a cheeky grin. Nebula looked at the girl with an inquisitive look. She had to admit that she was rocking the punk girl aesthetic. Yet there was something… familiar about her. The leader looked over at Jaune who looked like he was about to have a heart attack. She then looked back at the girl and finally put two and two together.

The indigo haired girl made an "oh" face and turned to Jaune. She pointed at the two of them and cocked an eyebrow at Jaune. He sighed and nodded his head. He was hoping his sisters meeting his female friends wouldn't be this awkward. Still it could have been worst. Jade could've been meeting Dew. Oh, the amount of teasing he would go through with that would be the death of him.

"Uh… right," Jaune hesitated. He coughed into his hand and turned to the other blonde. "Jade, this my friend," he made sure to emphasize that word. "Nebula." The blonde girl walked up to the first-year leader with a smile and stuck her hand out.

"Jade Arc, nice to meet you," she greeted. Nebula shook her hand and returned the smile.

"Nebula Violette, and same here." The two released their grips and Jade continued to stare at Nebula with an observing look. Almost like she was trying to read her.

"Are you sure you two aren't dating?" The bluntness from Jade caused her twin to go red in the face. Before he could say anything to refute that a loud gasp came from the couch. Everyone turned to see another smaller blonde speed across the room to Nebula's legs. This surprised her and caused her to jump back a bit. She saw stars in the eyes of the little eight-year-old.

"Are you really Jauney's girlfriend?!" This along with what Jade said not ten seconds ago was too much for Nebula and it caused her to blush alongside Jaune. The boy saw her blush and she could've sworn he turned even more red. She was too embarrassed to tell though, and he put his hand on top of the little girl's head.

"Joli that is not the first question we ask people!" Jaune lectured. He put a tiny bit of pressure within his fingers to give the little one a slight headache.

"Owie!" Joli complained. Jaune let go when he got the message across. Joli rubbed her head and turned to her older brother. "Why did Jade ask that then?" Jaune glared at his twin who had a shit eating grin spreading even wider across her face.

"That's because your older sister is an as…" he caught himself before he finished that sentence. "A sister who likes to tease me." Thankfully Joli was too innocent to see what Jaune was inferring. Nebula cleared her throat and gathered the three blonde's attentions. She bent over a little bit and smiled softly at Joli.

"No, I am not Jaune's girlfriend," Nebula answered. "I'm just a friend of his."

"Oh please," Jade teased. "I know you two are dating. After all what's this 'training session' you two were talking about?" The two students flushed red again at the implications but after the initial shock of the tease, Jaune decided to do something. He went behind his sister and put her in a hold with his hand over her mouth.

"Okay! Thank you Jade now please shut up!" Jade licked Jaune's hand whiched caused Jaune to let go and shake the saliva off his hand. "Ew!" he screeched. The two began to hit each other with Joli laughing as the two twins fought. Nebula took a step back and watched with a mix of humor and confusion.

Confusion because she was unsure if this is how most siblings react. She was a single child so seeing two siblings trying to kill each other while another watched joyfully was an interesting look into the world of siblings. Sure, she had stories from Gwen and Dew, but to see it in full circle was something else.

Jade had somehow got behind Jaune and wrapped her legs around his waist, and was pushing her fists into his temple causing the poor boy to yelp. Jaune got out of the hold somehow and got her into a headlock and was giving her a hardcore noogie. The two continued their back forth while Joli kept switching who she was cheering for. Mainly whoever was winning at the time.

Nebula decided to let the twins work out whatever it was they were doing and turned to the final person in the room. Calista pulled her hood up earlier and had it so her hair and hood covered her face. She was staring intently on the thing on her scroll and was ignoring everything her siblings were doing.

Nebula smiled and walked over to the hooded girl. She waved her hand and greeted the last Arc.

"Hey, I'm Nebula." The last Arc just gave a half wave, almost barely noticing the indigo haired girl. She could feel something off about the girl. "You're one of Jaune's older sisters yeah?" The Arc just gave a small nod but still kept her focus on her scroll. Nebula just backed away, getting the message. The dark haired Arc did nothing and just continued to stare at her screen.

Nebula turned away and had a confused look on her face. Jaune's sister seemed very out of it, was she sick or something? Her question would be kept for later. Nebula looked at the twins to see they had finished beating the crud out of each other. She looked at them to see them each in a damaged state.

Jaune was gripping his ribs and groaning ever so slightly. Jade had one of her hands on her back and was slouching over.

"I hate you," Jade moaned.

"You started it," Jaune refuted. Jade stuck her tongue out at Jaune and he returned it. Eventually the two straightened themselves out and Jaune went over to the purple haired leader.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "Jade can be a bit of a hassle."

"Love you too bro!" Jaune stuck his tongue out at her again.

"So, you've met my annoying twin, and this is my youngest sister." Jaune placed his hand on top of the little girl's head and directed her to Nebula's attention. The little girl waved and had a friendly infectious smile on her face.

"Hi! I'm Joli!" Nebula returned the smile and bent over a little bit and stuck out her hand.

"I'm Nebula, it's nice to meet you Joli." The two girls shook and Joli continued to beam up at Nebula.

"You're really pretty." Nebula took a step back from that. She wasn't expecting such a blunt statement to come from the young arc. Still she was very flattered. She hasn't dealt with kids before, but if there I one thing she knows is that they say what's on their mind. She smiled at the comment returned the favor.

"Thank you, I think you're pretty too." Joli giggle at the comment while Jaune smiled at the scene. There was something about Joli that just made everyone smile.

"You're right Joli she is pretty," Jade said sneaking up behind them. Jaune felt his body go stiff and could already tell he wasn't going to like what she was going to say. "What do you think Jauney? Is she pretty?" The Shade student was going to ignore the comment and hit Jade again, obviously not learning her lesson last time, but the last Arc sister finally spoke up from her position on the couch.

"Jade, enough," She said. Her tone was loud, clear, and sharp. A complete one-eighty from Nebula's interaction.

"Aw c'mon Ca-"

"Enough." Jade could hear the edge in her voice and decided to drop it. She didn't apologize, but she took a step back and let Jaune finish the introductions. He sighed and turned back to nebula.

"Finally, the one who just made Jade nearly crap herself is Calista," Jaune finished. Nebula waved at the hooded girl who again, gave a half wave back. Nebula looked a bit confused again as Calista just helped them out and then gave her the cold shoulder. Jaune could see how she was reacting and just waved it off.

"She's like that to everyone. Anyway, I know it's past our usual time, but can we still practice?" Nebula looked at the boy then at his sisters. She could see why he would miss their practice. From what Jaune had told everyone at Shade, he idolized his sisters, despite what happened. She couldn't hold that against him.

"Yeah," she answered with a soft smile. "Just grab your stuff and I'll wait for you." Jaune sighed in relief and smiled back.

"Thanks Neb, sorry about that." The indigo haired girl waved her hand.

"Don't be. I'll see you in a few." Jaune nodded his head as Nebula left the room. He went straight to his locker and began to put on his armor. As he did, he continued to talk with his sisters.

"Not one word, especially from you Jade!"

"You're no fun," the twin pouted.

"You got that right. I'll be gone for an hour or so. Please don't destroy my room while I'm away."

"No promises." Jaune glared at his twin, and then looked at his older sister. Calista held her hands up in mock surrender.

"I'm not touching this with a ten-foot pole," she said. Jaune just groaned as he finished putting on the armor.

"You helped me not even a minute ago, why the change?"

"Cause I know Jade doesn't have an off switch." The three siblings laughed at Jade's expense, causing the blonde to grumble.

"Hardy-Har-Har."

"What should I do?" Joli asked her older brother. Jaune finished strapping his armor on and knelt to be eye level with her.

"I want you to take care of your older sisters, okay?"

"Hey!" both of the older siblings exclaimed. Joli nodded her head and gave a thumbs up.

"Roger dodger Jauney!" Jaune softly ruffled her hair. He stood up and took the final two pieces out of the locker. As he strapped Crocea Mors to his hip, Jade and Calista took a good look at it.

He had taken good care of it. It was still clean and polished aside from a couple of specks. The scabbard glistened from the light in the room. Jaune checked the shield mechanism and the sisters saw that he kept the mechanism clean enough for the shield to switch cleanly and swiftly from both modes. Their father was sure Jaune was going to destroy the weapon after he refused to give it back after the incident.

They were happy he was wrong.

He closed the locker and walked over to his door. As he opened the door and he turned back to everyone in the room. He gave a wave to all of them and said goodbye to them.

With a solid click from the door Jaune was gone. Joli ran back to the couch and watched the cartoon on the television as Calista continued to mess on her scroll. Jade, meanwhile, grabbed a comic from Jaune's shelf and plopped herself onto a bed and started to read it.

However, Jade's mind wandered back to the end table. There was a book Jaune was keeping in there, so why put it in a drawer when he could just place it on the top? She tried to shake the thought out of her head but couldn't quite release the thought. No matter how much she tried to concentrate on her comic, the little brown book in the drawer haunted her mind. It was calling out to her, but she resisted it's tempting aura and continued focusing on her comic.

Even as five minutes passed, Jade was still only on the fifth page of the comic book. She couldn't keep her focus no matter how hard she tried. She battled with focusing on the comic in front of her and the book in the drawer. Finally, she gave in and sat up.

She looked at the end table and pulled the drawer to see the hard cover book just sitting there. She wanted to read it. Every fiber in her being was telling her to tear it open and reveal the contents to her. Yet she knew that she shouldn't. Jaune hid it for a reason. She may be a nosy sister, but they just reconciled. Would it really be worth it? Would Jaune hate her for reading it, or would the contents prove useful enough to maybe even help her get to know how Jaune's been doing since he left?

She had no idea what to do. After an internal war that felt like had gone on for hours, she made her choice.

"So, your sisters are interesting," Nebula said as she and Jaune walked towards the training centers. He chuckled a hollow chuckle and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, that's one way to put it," he agreed. "Like I said I'm sorry for forgetting about training." Nebula punched Jaune in the arm causing him to flinch and rub it.

"You gotta stop apologizing dude. I get it. I mean, from how you talked about your sisters, I honestly would've let you hang out with them for the rest of the day." Nebula bit her lip as a thought came across her mind. "Are you sure you want to practice Jaune? Wouldn't you rather be spending time with them?"

Jaune shifted uncomfortably as they continued their walk. She could tell he was uncomfortable, but from what she witnessed they seemed close. So why wouldn't he want to continue hanging out with them?

"I… don't know," He admitted. "I'm happy they're here, but there is still… something. I don't know what it is but… I don't know." Nebula was surprised to hear this. Jaune had always talked well about his sisters, but maybe seeing them brought out repressed emotions? She wasn't one to pry, but she just wanted to make sure her friend was okay. Jaune shook his head and looked back at Nebula.

"Never mind that, let's just focus on training okay?" Nebula hummed in agreement, although she felt differently. Still, she'll respect Jaune's wishes and train with him. Only, after today's training in combat class she saw that he was fatigued. Along with his sisters being here, she's decided to take it a little easy on him today.

A few minutes later

After both found their usual training room and did their own warmups, Jaune pulled out his sword while Nebula shifted her crossbow to blade form. They both did about a minute of light shadow sparring. Afterwards Nebula walked over to her partner and grabbed his attention.

"All right we'll just be going through basics today," she explained. Her partner groaned in annoyance.

"Do we really have to?" he complained. "I've been getting the hang of this. Besides, I still remember what my old partner taught me." Nebula pointed her blade at Jaune causing him to yelp.

"We always need a refresher of basics. After all, how can we pull of all the awesome stunts if we can't even hold our own using basics?" Jaune grumbled but knew she was right. Jaune got in his basic stance while Nebula did the same. Of course, hers was a little different as she only had a longsword while Jaune had a sword and shield.

"Make sure you keep your shield in front of you. It's meant to be used as defense, don't be afraid to use it." Jaune nodded and did as Nebula told him. She began to circle him but he kept turning with her. "Good, keep the footwork up and protect your blind spots." He nodded, and Nebula stopped circling. Nebula took a couple steps forward and saw him brace for an impact. She gladly delivered.

She took a final step and kicked his shield as hard as she could, with a little bit of an aura boost as well. Jaune stumbled back a bit and lost his footing, but not to the point of falling over. Nebula shook her head.

"Come on Jaune. You're staying strong to take the force, but you're not focusing on recovering from the blow. Stay loose and flexible enough to recover quicker. Find the middle ground."

"Y'know, I've been meaning ask," He started. He got back into position but took Nebula's advice. Nebula this time did an aura fueled shoulder plow into the shield. Jaune took the hit and this time remembered to recover.

"Better! And about what?" She struck his shield again but this time with her sword. Instead of taking it he moved his shield ever so slightly to deflect it instead. "Good deflect."

"How do you know about sword and shield fighting anyway?" She took it up a notch and used her sword to strike him in a side unprotected by the shield. He moved his shield to protect the spot but stayed in the same position. This caused an opening to his right side. Nebula ran up and punched the spot causing Jaune to stumble back.

"Remember to move with the shield, don't stay stationary." The blond nodded his head as he got back into position. "To answer your question, I had to learn most if not all kinds of sword combat. It's part of picking your huntsmen weapon."

"Gotcha. On both things." Nebula nodded and did the same move. Jaune unfortunately did the same thing as well.

"Nope, again." This time when she tried to attack the unguarded area. Jaune moved so the shield still defended him after the strike. "There we go. All right now let's try attacking."

"So, you were thinking of having a sword and shield as well?" He asked. He swung his sword at her from the side, and she dodged gracefully out of the way. He tried to follow up with another slash, but she dodged that as well.

"I wasn't sure," She admitted. Jaune tried to stab her but she deflected with her longsword and followed up with a kick in the chest. Jaune took a step back but recovered right away. "I knew I wanted a sword. I just wasn't sure what kind. Anyway, you have good power and form, but you're still a little sloppy on stringing it together in a fluid motion." He nodded his head and the two got ready for another round.

The blonde tried to slash at her from above, but she got it with her blade and the two got into a lock. Jaune released the lock and kicked her in the stomach causing her to grunt and take a step back. Jaune smirked as Nebula recovered.

"All right, not bad," she complimented. She grew a smirk just like him and charged him. Jaune protected his torso with his shield and steeled himself for the attack. Nebula tried to get him with a low sweep of her blade but Jaune jumped back in time for the attack to miss. He ran towards her with his blade tailing behind him and tried a rising slash. She dodged out of the way, but he followed up with a sideways slash.

This time Nebula blocked with her sword. She followed up by moving closer to the shield user, and elbowing him in the face causing him to stagger. As he staggered, he left himself wide open and Nebula abused that fact. She slashed three times in his chest causing his aura to deplete and finished with a stab into his gut.

His aura blocked the blow, but he stumbled back even further and lost balance. Or, at least Nebula thought. Instead he rolled backwards from the tumble and was back up with his shield and sword ready for another assault.

"Great recovery Jaune!" Nebula complimented.

"Thanks. So, why choose a sword instead of something else?" Nebula came at him with a grunt and the two clashed their swords together. The two went back and forth as their conversation continued.

"It's the most versatile weapon I thought of. Plus, it was easier to make a crossbow sword than a crossbow axe or something like that."

"Fair point." The two fought with the only sound coming from their swords clashing, and the occasional grunt for about twenty seconds. "So, you've always wanted a crossbow then?"

"Yeah, I'd been hunting with a crossbow my entire life so it seemed natural." Nebula blocked one of Jaune's blows and riposted by stabbing him in the chest, holding the blade there, and moving forward a couple of steps. Jaune moved back but recovered and slashed at her feet. Nebula took a couple of steps back and put her hands up. "All right all right that's enough."

Jaune nodded his head and sheathed his sword. He rolled his neck and shoulder as Nebula did the same. He stretched his neck and a satisfying pop was heard. "All right, now what?" he asked. The NDGO leader swung her sword around after catching her breath.

"Well we warmed up with some easy sparring, so we'll just do some movement exercises." Jaune nodded his head and took a deep breath. The two moved a little bit away from each other but could still see one another. These movement exercises were ones that Pyrrha emphasized practice on as well. It was essentially getting used to swinging the sword and moving with one. It was repetitions of basic combos and agile movements, essential for swordplay. Nebula was able to give some tips on what she does, and with a combination of Pyrrha's training and what little experience Jaune had, it would be a good use of his time.

About ten minutes in Jaune had a good sweat going on. Most of his training was just combo-ing swings with movement. For instance, the one he was doing right now. He slashed down, did a left-to-right swipe, charged with his shield, and finished with a rising slash. He repeated this twice before taking a quick breather. He looked over at Nebula who was still going strong.

She rolled forward, and while she was on one knee did a sideways slash. She then dropped her knee forward while raising the other one and used the momentum to do a rising slash while jumping back onto her feet. She then sent a surge of aura through her blade and slammed it down into the ground. This caused some kind of force to be released from her blade and away from the point of the blade. Jaune could feel a little bit of wind come from the strike and looked at what she did curiously.

"How'd you do that?" He asked.

"Do what?"

"That thing where you force your aura for the ground." She looked at him with confusion but then realized what he meant. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sent her aura through her blade.

"Send a surge of aura through your sword and slam it into the ground. You want to almost send the aura through your weapon and through the ground." She explained.

"Wait, I thought aura is only in living beings?" Nebula's concentration broke and she stiffened up.

"Well uh, you see…" She sighed and turned to her friend. "Okay to be honest I never really thought about it. I did it one time by accident and kept trying to use it in a fight. It eventually worked but I never questioned how I was able to do it y'know? I never saw the point."

Jaune nodded his head. He understood. Still he was someone who wanted to know how these things work. Nebula went back to training while he looked at the sword in his hand and at his own arm. A thought came to mind as he looked at himself.

While he was technically supposed to doing swordsmanship training, he figured now would be a good time to test out his semblance again. Specifically; the aura sensing one.

He took a calm deep and steady breath in and focused his aura around his head. Specifically his eyes. His vision flashed red for a second but began alternating between that and blue. His head pounded a little bit, but he pushed through. He wasn't going to let a little fatigue stop him. Soon his vision turned purple and he tried his bets to keep it that way. Concentrating on his semblance was hard after combat class.

He looked at his arm to see that it was purple just like the rest of his vision. Now came the hard part. He tried his best to steady his breathing and not focus on the increasing headache. His heart was pounding as fast as a charging Beowolf. He could hear every rhythmic beat in his ears and his vision faltered a bit. However, he combated through and saw his own hand glow a white-ish color.

He was almost done. All that was left was to see if he could send what little aura he could muster in his hand through the blade. His headache has now turned into a migraine now. The beating in his ears turned into ringing and he could see darkness trying to envelop his purple vision. Still he sent the tiny sliver of aura from his hand to his sword successfully.

Nebula just got done with a rep to see Jaune just standing and staring at his hand. She trotted towards him wondering if he hurt his hand or something. She first looked at his hand to see if she could see any red or something and just saw the it was glowing a small faint white. She could also see a tiny bit of the whiteness in his sword. It was minuscule but still there.

The next thing she noticed was his eyes. He was concentrating so hard at his hand she was hoping she could follow his eyes to whatever it was he was staring at. That was when she noticed his eyes were also glowing. Only this time it was a shade of indigo similar to her hair. She could also hear how his breath was shaking and almost shallow.

"Jaune!" she yelled trying to snap him out of it. She placed a hand on his shoulder and another on his arm and shook him a little bit. "Jaune!"

The boy in question dropped his sword and began to blink rapidly. His eyes began to glow between crimson, azure, and everything in between. He was still looking between his hand and his sword before his glowing eyes returned to their normal sky-blue. He blinked a couple more times before his eyes rolled into the back of his skull and practically collapsed.

Fortunately, Nebula was next to him as he collapsed. She caught him and made sure he didn't faceplant into the pavement. Granted, the sudden force of the six-foot blonde falling her caught by surprise, but she was able to slow both of their decent and placed Jaune on his back.

She looked at her blonde friend in dismay as his shallow breathing was heard. His chest was rising and falling with his breath, but it was barely noticeable. She stood back up and began to pace back forth muttering to herself.

"What do I do? Do I take him to the nurse's office? What if it's too late by then? Do I give him water? Wait for him to wake up? What if he never wakes up? Should I do CPR? Should I run to his sisters? Should I call for help?"

As Nebula continued to mutter to herself, she subconsciously chewed on her fingernails. Her pacing was getting worst and she was increasing her volume. She was so concerned with what to do it took her a minute to realize that Jaune began to groan. She stopped in her tracks and saw the boy try to get up. His movements were lethargic, and he was dazed.

"Jaune!" She practically yelled as she ran to his side. She knelt and held his head to try and coax him to lay down.

Jaune however couldn't hear her. His vision was still blurry and all he could see was faint shapes. His hearing was deafened by a sharp ringing. He began blinking rapidly to try to clear his vision. It worked and his vision finally came into focus. He saw Nebula to his right with concern plastered on her face.

He saw her lips move but couldn't make out what she was saying as the ringing was still prominent. He groaned and tried to shake his head to clear the headache and hopefully help his hearing. It didn't seem to have any immediate effects, but the ringing was silencing, and he could hear Nebula's muffled worry.

Suddenly, he felt whatever was holding his head move away from him causing him to hit his head and he groaned in pain again. a muffle voice called out to him, but he only caught the last tiny bit.

"...RRY!"

A few seconds passed by and he saw the familiar face of Nebula come to his side as he leaned up. She handed him a full water bottle. He gladly took it and chugged a solid three-fourths of it down. The ringing in his ears softened. He huffed out a satisfying breath as he removed the bottle from his lips.

"Thanks…" he muttered. He finally sat up and wiped his mouth with his sleeve and Nebula knelt across from him, concern still on her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You just fell over after staring at your hand. I-I panicked and didn't know what to do." Jaune put up his hand to silence his purple haired friend.

"I'm good," he stated. "I just pushed myself too hard that's all." Nebula puffed out her cheeks.

"That's what I was afraid of…" She stood back up and offered her hand to him. As she hoisted the blonde up to her feet her hand lingered a bit. Jaune titled his head as to why she wasn't letting go. She then moved her arms so she was holding Jaune's shoulders.

"Jaune, don't push yourself," she said. Her words were sincere and laced with hints of concern. "I know your pushing yourself to be better, but don't overdo it." Jaune was going to groan and say to stop mothering him. Brawnz already gave him the same spiel two days ago. He didn't need to hear it again, especially when it was someone from the same years as him!

However, he stopped her he saw Nebula's olive eyes stare into his soul. It was the same look Pyrrha gave him when she was worried about him. That brought up conflicting emotions, but he pushed them down. Nebula wasn't Pyrrha. She was just being motherly like Pyrrha would be. It annoyed him but after passing out he didn't have the strength to be mad.

Not only that, what really sealed his mouth was how she was holding him. Her grip was gentle. Maybe motherly wasn't the right word. He recalls when Pyrrha held him before he left Beacon. Her grip was harsh, like she was afraid if she let go he would be gone forever.

With Nebula it wasn't constricting. Almost like it was a warning then an actual order. Deep down the blonde appreciated that. It also festered up some confused emotions about his old red haired partner. Why was he suddenly so mad at Pyrrha for caring about him?

He ignored all those emotions for now. He put a hand on one of Nebulas and put it between both of his. He then gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm fine. Don't worry." The leader was skeptical, but nodded her head. She returned the squeeze and the two sat there in silence for a second. It was dawning on them what had just happened and they both flushed red. They would turn even more crimson when they heard the door open and saw a familiar face.

"Whoa!" Dew said as she put her hands up. She had a shit eating grin on her face and looked at the two. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

To be continued.

Beta: TheShadowOfZama.