A/N: Aaaaaand we're back! I do hope y'all are doing well, and I hope my fellow Americans can look forward to labor Day on Monday! WPF has managed to hit 150 follows, 100 favorites, and 15K views with last chapter, and I'm so grateful that y'all enjoy my writing. WPF has also picked up beta, so my horrible grammatical errors should be on the decline. I'm misspelled "grammatical" three times just now.

Thank you for reading, and please enjoy chapter thirteen!

Shandromand: this exists because of you.

Pyrrha fell down onto the soft grass, breathing hard as she heard Jaune do the same just beyond sight. "Fifteen minutes, then we go again." She huffed through her breath. Jaune grunted a response, his breathing far more labored.

It had been two weeks since they had begun to study her newfound powers, and their research was depressingly slow. It became apparent that extended combat most easily drew out her powers, so Jaune and she sparred later and later. At the moment, it had been nearly two hours since Ren and Nora had gone inside. Merely sparring had only produced the most minor of effects, however: a spark of electricity, a hushed breeze rising, a burgundy flame they couldn't extinguish in the most extreme instance. Wielding Milo like Amber's staff, two-handed and in spear form, had been the easiest way to provoke her powers; she would enter unknown stances, and strange occurrences skyrocketed.

So now, Pyrrha effectively spent two hours a night hitting Jaune with a stick, hoping for magic to happen. Joy.

Not that time beyond training had been wonderful, of course. She'd woken from terrifying memories of the Maidens on three occasions, as well as once recalling her fight with Penny. Nora had troubled dreams as well, and Jaune had woken in the night screaming bloody murder three nights ago. Noire and Jaune's younger sisters were getting along fine with JNPR, but Violette maintained her steady disapproval and clinical examination. Claire, meanwhile, played referee/guard dog over all ten of them.

To top it all off, while she had suggested and he had agreed, the two of them had yet to go into town together.

"Pyrrha," Jaune puffed, "I got an idea."

"What is it?"

"What about your semblance? We've been testing Milo and Akouo, but what about your semblance? Maybe that'd be easier, since it's a part of your soul." She wasn't quite sure herself, but really, anything had to be better than their current system.

"How do we go about it?" When Jaune got rolling, it was usually a good idea to let him work his way through. His best ideas came from off the cuff. Also, she admitted with some trepidation, some of his worst ideas.

"Well, how did Amber use her semblance with it?"

Actively recalling Amber's memory was the only thing she'd gained a modicum of control over. It was like remembering vivid dreams however, so recall was still spotty. Pyrrha closed her eyes, focusing on Amber, on the part of her mind she did not know.

"She… manipulated the wind. I think she did, at least. Before, it was slowing a fall or pushing a glancing blow away, but after she gained the power." Flight. Amber could fly. She could knock aside powerful blows, draw the wind into her own swings. "It made her stronger."

A clanking pulled her eyes open, and she saw Jaune heading over to her. He reached down a hand to help her up. "Let's see what you can do."

"And what will I be doing?" She added some extra concern for Jaune, in case this was one of those ideas.

"Move me with your semblance!" He smacked his armor in emphasis. "We know you can move me around a bit already, but how far can you lift me? How fast? Stuff like that." She watched him nervously; yes, this sounded like one of those ideas. "Come on, Pyr. I know you can do it!"

"Alright, Jaune, just… hold still." She reached out, and a black glow surrounded Jaune's breastplate. Tentatively, she lifted him up. He slid down as his metal raised, but it carried him nonetheless. Jostling in his armor, his limbs swayed as she slowly spun him.

"Can we do straight lines, maybe? Getting a little sick here, Pyr."

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Jaune, I almost forgot!" She certainly didn't want to trigger his motion sickness. Jaune halted mid-air, and instead began to move up. She eased him a good twenty feet into the air, then pulled.

Jaune's arms stretched behind him as he sped down to the ground, his plummet halting just in front of Pyrrha, his surprised yelp abruptly cutting off.

"AAAA-oh. Give me a heads up, Pyr, that was scary."

"Sorry."

"But how was that? Notice anything?" She thought hard on the extent of her control the past minute.

"I think you felt lighter? I certainly moved you at faster speeds." No, she was certain, it had been easier to move him.

"Well, let's see what you can do!" Jaune sounded far too eager.

"Are you sure, Jaune? You may get sick." He waved it off.

"Anything to help you, Pyrrha, I promise." Jaune was staring into the night sky, an explorer eyeing unknown lands.

"Well, hold on." Pyrrha pushed Jaune back with 'half strength'. Her partner fired away from her almost immediately, and she reigned the force back in before he had time to make a sound. Jaune was halfway to the house, a good twenty yards in seconds.

"Definitely more than I could do before." She pulled Jaune back at a more reasonable speed; he was holding his head, and was an unpleasant green.

"Oh man, that was…" She nodded. "Gimme a second, but we can keep going."

He seemed to contemplate vomiting, but Jaune's stomach eventually settled, and he braced himself again.

"We're going up, this time." He firmly nodded. "At full speed, too." He paled, and she applied all her will to the upward charge.

Jaune let out a terrified howl as he rocketed into the night sky, a tail of black light seeming to stretch behind him. His velocity terrified a part of her, but she felt complete control over his flight. She was the master of her powers, in complete control.

Right up until the moment she felt it vanish.

"A range! I have a range!" The panicked bellow rang in her mind as she saw her partner rise higher and higher, gravity reasserting itself as he slowed: he must have been two hundred yards up, nearly the night of the cliffs at Initiation!

And as all things great and small, Jaune came to a halt, and began to fall. His voice was faint and bone chilling, but Pyrrha blocked it out as she prepared herself.

"No pressure, Pyrrha, you just have to catch him. It's just like Initiation: Jaune is falling, you're going to catch him. Except I don't have the elevation I had to pin him. So, it'll be my semblance then! Have I ever grabbed something so large and so fast before?" Well, she was about to find out.

She watched in trepidation as he gathered speed, his voice growing louder and louder. Once he was about where she had lost him, she flared her polarity. Darkness flickered around him, but it wouldn't take.

"No, no, no, no!" Fear, cold and unmitigated, gripped her. "NO!" She felt a snapping, a breaking of tension she was beginning to understand, and Jaune's armor blazed in darkness. He was close, close enough for her to see the fear in his eyes, as she forced her power into stopping him.

Jaune's breakneck speed rapidly dwindled, but not fast enough: he was going to crash! She rushed to where he would land, preparing to catch him. "I can move and use my semblance now, apparently", a corner of her mind registered.

She had slowed him, but she wasn't about to drop him on his face after endangering him so. She released her grip on his armor just as he was above her, and held her arms wide.

Her partner plowed into her, and knocked them both to the ground, Pyrrha not having properly set her feet in her haste.

"Hrrrk." He moaned.

"Ugh." She countered.

She felt some of his weight lever off her, and she twisted her face out of the dirt. There was a red imprint on Jaune's forehead that bore strong resemblance to her armbands, and he looked rather disorientated.

"Okay… let's get me a parachute next time. Oh man, my head is killing me." He lifted one hand from next to her head to feel his own, flinching a tad.

Pyrrha pushed herself up to her elbows, getting off the stone that had been sitting square in her back. "Yes, well, that may not have been the best choice on my part. Apparently, I have an effective range where I can't control metals."

"Have you never tried before?" Jaune was honestly curious, but she shrugged.

"I do try and be subtle about it when fighting, and it's not like Grimm carry much metal."

"Huh. Wait, did you move over here while slowing me?" She nodded, his face lit up.

"Well that's new! Plus, I bet you never moved something that fast before. It's boosting your semblance!"

"I suppose it has." He was excited, but Pyr was beginning to note the… nature… of their positioning. Jaune was lying atop her, her knees rising to either side of him, their faces quite close. Close enough she could feel his breath, in fact. He was winded from the debacle, his breath coming in excited bursts. Was she leaning closer to him? Jaune's head seemed to tilt a few inches.

"I heard shouts, are you guys oka-" A mildly panicked voice cut off abruptly, both she and Jaune swiveling to see Rouge frozen just inside the clearing. With one spell broken, Pyrrha could hear more people coming. As if summoned, Nora burst onto the scene; she froze by Rouge, eyes bouncing the very short distance between Jaune and she.

She took hold of Rouge's shoulders and dragged her away from them. The Arc sister didn't so much as breathe.

With her face – no, her whole body – as red as her hair, Pyrrha extracted herself from under Jaune, jumping to her feet as Ren, Violette, and Claire broke through the brush.

"Jaune, what happened? Are you okay?!" The worry in her voice plain, a wild look in her eyes.

"I-I'm fine, Mom." Jaune stuttered, "We were testing Pyr's s-semblance. She lost hold for a second, but she caught me."

"Jaune, you were falling out of the sky." Violette added flatly.

"I caught him?" Pyrrha offered. The older woman glowered at her for a moment, but Jaune's cough pulled her away.

"Thanks for that, Pyr, but I would have been fine! My aura would have softened the landing no problem, Vi, I could jump off the roof and be okay."

"And the flying through the air?"

"Well, you can't get better at something without practice. If Pyrrha lifts me up again, we won't make the same mistake! I'm pretty sure even if she didn't catch me, it wouldn't have done much; you should have seen her landing strategy at Beacon."

Slamming into several tree trunks wasn't particularly elegant, she would admit, but she'd been in a hurry!

She had a partner to catch.

"We didn't mean to scare you guys, but everything's fine, I promise." Claire finally seemed appeased, while Violette maintained that same air of quiet disapproval she wore whenever JNPR were together. Ren finally took the lead.

"Mrs. Arc, no one is hurt; how about we all just head in? It's late, and I think everyone could use a little rest by now." Violette turned on her heel and strode off for the house. The Arc matron frowned at her retreating daughter for a moment, before returning her attention to Ren.

"I suppose you're right, Ren, and it's been a long day. Jaune, Pyrrha?" It was not an invitation, and Pyrrha was moving double time to the house.

Jaune made his way inside, wanting nothing more to crawl into his room and die from embarrassment. Rouge walking in on he and Pyr was bad enough, but Pyrrha practically sprinting inside was a terrible sign.

"Good job, Jaune, you were really careful with that, weren't you? Taking this real slow." He scolded himself, shaking his head in frustration. His head was throbbing, so Jaune turned for the kitchen and an ice pack rather than the isolation of his room. "Why can't aura be more consistent! Gun shot? Not happening! But I can still stub my toe?" He barreled through the door, stomping towards the freezer, and locked up.

Nora, Rouge, Marron, Verte, and Rose were in a huddle. Nora had her arms thrown up, probably in the middle of a rant, but all five of them were staring at the intruder.

He stared back.

No one moved.

"I need to get an icepack?" He wasn't sure why it was a question, but he suspected it was a good choice.

Only Rose broke from the pack, stepping behind them to get to the freezer. Nora twisted an upraised hand and waved at Jaune, so he waved too. Rose retrieved a pack, dug out a rag to wrap around it, and tentatively handed it to him.

"You doing okay, bro?" Marron asked with extreme nervousness.

He took a step back towards the door. "Yeah, just… hit my head." The five nodded. He took a few more steps; something told Jaune breaking eye contact would also be very bad. His sisters looked like mice in an open field, but Nora looked more like a…. like a…. like a Nora backed into a corner.

With utmost care, Jaune backed into the door, stepped through, and firmly closed it.

"Okay! Now, like I said, I've been trying for aaages -" Nora's voice faded as Jaune headed for the stairs, not wanting to be accused of spying on the apparent cabal forming beneath his nose. The Arcs had somehow converted Nora to their side, whatever it was, so now he had to watch out for a Nora plan coming for him. "Just great, that's all I need right now." Ren was in their room, brushing his teeth before bed, and Jaune began to put away his gear. His brother held up a hand when Jaune went for his towel.

One spit and gargle later, Ren was sitting across from him: "So, how did training go?" Ren's voice was completely neutral, not a hint of playing.

"Not bad this time, actually. Pyrrha's semblance is stronger now: she can move things faster, farther, and she doesn't have to stand still to do it anymore.. We were seeing how fast she could move me, and we discovered she has a range."

"Your little flight?" He asked.

"Uh-huh, that. Pyrrha tried to catch me. I guess she felt bad about dropping me up?"

"Sure." The flatness bothered him, Jaune decided a bit of detective work was in order.

"Jaune, do you know what Nora is planning with my sisters?" Ren looked mildly guilty, but remained resolute.

"Yes."

"Will you tell me?"

"No."

"Will you give me a hint?"

Ren looked mildly annoyed at the line of questions, so he laid back onto his bed. "Jaune, I'm sure it would be for one the first three reasons you think of."

"But that doesn-" Ren cut him off.

"I won't tell you, but that's your hint. Now let's go to bed, covering for you is hard work, you know." Jaune threw a pillow at Ren in protest, but the boy simply caught the projectile and tucked it beneath his head. Ren clearly wasn't going to elaborate, so Jaune resumed getting ready for bed. He kicked off his shoes, grabbed his towel, and headed down the hall, fuming at Ren and himself and everything.

"I know it's a little hypocritical of me, but can't a guy get some clear answers around here?" He could expect that sort of thing from his sisters, and even Nora, but Ren? "Traitor!" Jaune stretched out a hand to push the bathroom door open, and stumbled a few steps as the door opened just as he reached for it.

Growing up with so many sisters and so few bathrooms, Jaune had been completely prepared to share a coed dorm, no matter what his mother thought; a girl wearing just a towel was a normal occurrence in Jaune's life, nothing to get worked up over. Jaune wasn't doing a great job of remembering that as he collided with Pyrrha.

Her hair was up, she was a little red from the heat of the water, and she had a towel wrapped around her – "FACE! Focus on her face!"

"Oh man, I'm so sorry Pyr!" Jaune stepped out of the doorway, eyes firmly locked on Pyrrha's. He noticed she was turning redder herself, and decided the ceiling would be the better place to focus.

"Sorry, Jaune! I've just got to get by." Pyrrha's voice was a little higher than normal, which wasn't surprising. She slipped out of the bathroom, and tried to step to one side of the hall. Jaune, in his infinite stupidity, stepped to the same side.

They both adjusted, stutter-stepping to the other side. And again.

"Sorry, sorry!" Jaune finally planted himself against the wall, still eyeing the ceiling, trying to avoid the blood rushing to his face. He heard Pyrrha scoot past him, and he moved back to the bathroom. He did not slam the door, no matter what it sounded like.

Then he smacked his head on it a few times for good measure.

Post: What? Don't give me that look.

sips water

Thanks for stopping by everyone, and thanks again for your help, Shandromand.