Disclaimer: I own nothing of RWBY.


Pewter

By: Imyoshi

Wishing—a useless endeavor of someone's time.

Only doing and striving out to achieve accomplished anything.

Then and only then do wishes come true.

Jaune Arc wished to be a hero and everyday he got one step closer to fulfilling that very dream from the countless hours struggling to overcome the barriers and limitations of Aura.

But for the first time in a long time, he simply wished that Ren would return inside already. All those negative emotions his friend was feeling couldn't be good for either him or the Grimm outside. Emotions, when left astray, clouded judgment. And the last thing Team JNPR needed was someone's thought process being clouded in the mist of the enemy's territory. Especially someone whose emotions have been bottle up for who knows how many years and was their team's strategist!

The aftermath is too dark to wonder.

Hearing the front door open and close again, Jaune finally sighs lowly in relief, relaxing easier on the couch and releasing the tenseness in his shoulders. He patiently waits for Ren to return, noticing the hesitant sound of his footsteps, like he was testing whether if he should or not come back in. Then Ren's back inside, joining his leader on the couch with a stoic expression once more.

"Feeling better?"

Ren glares sadly at the cracks on the floor, "No."

In all honesty, Jaune didn't expect him to. That would be asking for too much right now. He should just be happy Ren's back in the cabin at all. But out of courtesy, he asked anyways. Call it being a leader or friend, didn't matter in the end.

Grinning, Jaune puts his hands behind the couch, wincing automatically. Both of them look at Jaune pull back his right arm, noting the red splotches of blood peeking through the bindings. Ren's already checking Jaune's arm without asking, reapplying pressure and a new set of bandages for his leader in silence. Jaune only watches him, hating the fact that Lore did not heal injuries.

Still, he's got to stay positive, "Well, luckily for you, there weren't any Grimm nearby."

Ren stops in the middle of changing Jaune's bandages, barely sliding his leader a tiny glare that's neither hateful or reassuring, silently returning back to his work. That's so far from the truth that Ren's not even sure where to begin. Too many angles and variables to account for, then there's the properties of Lore and Aura that his leader's still learning. Never mind his limited knowledge.

Yet, he's oddly curious, "How do you know if the Grimm are nearby?"

Using his free hand, Jaune created one Gravity and sent it out far to the corner, "It's kind of like Aura. I'm able to tell whenever someone's nearby if they're using their Aura. The same worked for the Grimm, sort of. When we were fighting and I was stuck using Lore, I was able to feel the same strange force when the Grimm attacked and when Nora ate the Lore shard. Strange, huh?" he wills away the orb. "Lore is the same power of the Grimm."

Ren finishes changing Jaune's binding, narrowing his eyes slightly at the general answer. That explanation only leads to more questions than answers, but he bites his tongue for the moment. If it hadn't been for Jaune's sensing capabilities, Nora would be dead for sure. Miracles aside, he's forever grateful.

"I'm gonna call it Outer Space! It's different from regular Space." Ren nods, remembering Jaune's Space section from his Aura notebook.

Although, he's deeply troubled and endlessly confused inside. If what his leader said was true—and there's a high chance since Aura is involved—then how come he couldn't sense the Sloth King outside just right now? That made absolutely no sense to the stoic ninja. That Grimm was a powerhouse compared to everything else outside. The sound and earthshaking of its footsteps alone should've alerted his leader to its presence.

Yet, it didn't.

"What else can you do with Lore?"

Jaune checks his newly bandaged hand, flexing his fingers in awe. He can see his Lore not do anything to his arm, and a tiny, sad smile spreads evenly on his face. What else could he do with Lore?

Well, "Not much." His eyes narrow as he forms a strong fist, "I know Lore's not like Aura... but I didn't realize how different it really was until we were fighting. Except for the strength and speed boost, it's kind of useless against a Grimm. It doesn't heal, and there's really no way to do damage unless if you're an Aura user, which, only works for humans."

"That's..." Ren adds slowly, "... inconvenient. In one way, Aura destroys a Grimm, and in the other, Lore destroys a Hunter. They're the same in different ways."

Leave it to Lie Ren to make sense to a situation that made absolutely no sense.

"Yea," Jaune frowns at his hand. "I just don't know if I can trust in it."

That makes two of them. Ren's not too sure if he can trust the Sloth King to remain at bay even after the fight and their nightly talk. Rooted instincts tell him not to, but his intelligence says something else entirely. It's all so confusing in an ambiguous sort of way. And he personally hates being lost. Never leads down to any positive outcomes.

Watching Jaune stare hard at his hand and pull on the bindings, Ren got to his feet, "I need to change Nora's bandages and check on Pyrrha's breathing."

"Are you sure you're up to it?"

Ren bares him a small smile, "I'm good. I've got my emotions under better control."

Jaune doesn't look like he believes him, but gives his teammate the benefit of the doubt and follows him in the girl's room. They're not surprised to find Nora snoring or even the fact that Pyrrha is snoring almost just as loudly. Ironically enough, the guys of Team JNPR don't snore, and the girls do. Pretty damn loudly they might add. Fortunately or unfortunately—whichever way someone wants to see it—both Jaune and Ren are used to it.

Years of living with Nora Valkyrie and seven sisters will do that to a man.

Still, it gives Ren the check he needs to see if Pyrrha is any pain from her ribs. And judging by her equal air intake and pain free expression, she's not. Most likely she'll be extremely sore in the morning and a few days to come. And for Nora, well, he's just damn happy to see her breathing with a tiny trail of drool rolling off her mouth.

"They're out cold." Ren hums, more statement than observation. He lightly lifts Nora's head to check her injuries. "They're gonna need some time to rest and heal."

"I'll have to split up my Aura so they can heal faster." Jaune notes, checking on his barely recharged Aura reserves. His fellow male nods, satisfied with both their conditions.

"We'll take turns keeping watch."

They fight for the next few minutes on who gets to go first. In the end, they settle on both sitting on the couch, watching the fire play endlessly into the night. Both stuck having lingering thoughts on the powers of Lore. One evasive and the other direct. Neither certain.

...

Rays of sunlight peek through the window and the males of Team JNPR are the first to wake up, stunned instantly that they fell asleep when they were supposed to keep watch. Ren's up first, dashing to the room to check up on Nora and Pyrrha, who are still sleeping soundly, if not weakly. Jaune's right behind him, switching to his mostly recharged Aura to get a better look at Nora and Pyrrha's Aura and feel their respected Space.

He checks on Pyrrha first—being her partner and all—and his relatively relieved to see her crimson Aura focusing directly where her fractured ribs needed it the most. Her Aura is still very weak, nothing a few Aura shards can't fix, but it looks like she's going to be fine in the end. That's good. Jaune's damn happy she's safe.

Focusing his attention to his next favorite person, Jaune's eyes narrow at Nora's body, "Something's wrong."

Of course Ren's instantly on the defensive, even with him trying to keep his emotions in check, "What's the mattered? Is something wrong with her Aura?"

Naturally, Ren came to the conclusion that something was amiss with Nora's Aura. Obviously she's not dead. Her chest is rising and she's snoring louder than any of the other members of Team JNPR ever could, so that's not the problem. But he is right, sadly.

"No," Jaune hates Ren sigh of relief, "Because there is no Aura. I can't see any... at all." He switches to his Lore to test an idea, "Nora's Aura is completely gone."

An eerie silent fills the air with only Nora's snoring and Pyrrha's lighter snoring to fill the gaps of silence. Even then, it's still uncomfortably quiet and Jaune sees some of Ren's semblance backlash slightly to an unfortunate plank of wood. The slight gasp from Ren tells Jaune he realizes what he's done and he leaves the room in a calm manner. Although, the damage is already done, and Jaune's left to try to pick up the pieces while his friend blames himself all over again.

Needing to worry more on Nora than Ren for the time being, Jaune settled down to level with Nora, squinting his eyes, and trying his damn hardest to find any faint signature of Aura or pressure of Space from the mad bomber. After a few minutes of fruitless struggles, Jaune finally picks up on a scarcely faint outline of turquoise of Aura on Nora. No pressure is detectable from the obscure amount, but at least he could see it, practically impossible as it may be.

"Thank Monty," he smiles tiredly, leaving the room in search of white Dust shards from the spare room.

He ignores Ren's line of questioning that followed as soon as he exited the room, grabbing a few white Dust shards from his bag. Instantly he's creating a few Aura shards with the quantity of a couple of Supernovas each, handing them to Ren to feed to Nora when he's done. He looks confused for a moment, not too sure why he's pushing them into his hands and not doing it himself.

Jaune, for the first time ever, wants to roll his eyes at him, "You and I both know feeding Nora is your specialty, not mine. I wouldn't be caught dead trying to feed her. Besides," he grins, "I got my own partner to worry about."

There's a hidden message behind Jaune's words, and Ren accepts the Aura shards with renewed vigor and calms himself. He then rushes to the room to crush up the Aura shards and force Nora to swallow the small chunks of rocks while Jaune watches from the doorway, wondering how the hell the roles of Team JNPR suddenly got reversed.

During some moment in time, Jaune Arc became the only person that wasn't lost. With Pyrrha's confusion and guilt, Nora's sudden near death experience, and Ren's new depression, Jaune's left standing alone in the mist of the confusion. Wondering how did it come to Jaune Arc being the only person not broken on his team?

By the time he noticed it, it was already too late to stop.

Pressure!

Well... not too late so it seems.

Seeing through Space, he spots Nora's Aura react to the Aura shards, draining the free energy in a hollow like hunger that had no end in sight. Ren's looking to him for some input and Jaune has to wait and see the power surge die down until only a slightly brighter outline of Nora's Aura becomes more apparent to give him the news.

Luckily, the news is good, "I can see Nora's Aura... barely. But she's gonna need more—a whole lot more," he adds quickly. "We might need to cut our training trip early and travel back to Beacon."

Jaune's expecting a hasty yes, not a calm, "No." Ren glances down at the snoring girl, gently brushing his hand over his cheek, "No. We can't. We would have to protect them alone and there's too much to carry back."

"We could just abandon our stuff."

"It still won't make a difference. It's not the stuff that I care about." Ren leads them out of the room, keeping his voice frighteningly even. "As ridiculous as this may sound, I think it would be better if we stay here until Nora's Aura is strong enough. With Pyrrha hurt, your Aura already being split, and one us needed to protect them, getting back to Beacon would be a mission that I'm not too sure we could accomplish. Especially if more Grimm decide to attack. Your Lore already can't do anything to fight back if it comes to that."

Ren knows bringing up Jaune's lack of Lore offensive capabilities is low, but points have to be made and lines need to be drawn. He does not like the choices, either, and would love nothing more to get Nora out of this Grimm infested forest, but logically, this was the better choice.

At least until Jaune could recover more of Nora's Aura and for Pyrrha's ribs to heal.

"Fine," Jaune grumbles after a few seconds of inner debate, not liking the idea.

Groan!

Both sets of eyes turn to a groaning Nora.

She's arousing from her deep slumber, slow and weak with a deep frown and small trickle of sweat dripping down her forehead. Seems like the boost to her Aura was more than enough to jolt her awake and shock back her body back to the world of the living, and Pyrrha's not too far behind, allowing her eyes to flutter open before Nora who's taking her sweet time to toss and turn with limited mobility. She sits up, wincing at the harsh pain from her side, but regards the injury with high insight, knowing full well from where she might have gotten it.

Their partners are by their side in an instant, Jaune handing Pyrrha her own share of Aura shards to consume in a silent discussion and Ren kneeling to meet Nora's eye level from her narrowed vision and lackluster glow. Pyrrha consumes the Aura shards without a word, finding herself in hunger for Aura, and Nora somehow manages to smile weakly at her distraught childhood friend.

They don't speak at first; Pyrrha's allowing her Aura to feed off Jaune's Aura and Nora can't find the energy to speak. Jaune watches over them, checking on their Aura, especially the trigger-happy Valkyrie's, and Ren's changing Nora's bandages, wiping away the sweat from her face.

"So I'm assuming we won?" Pyrrha's the first to break the silence.

"Well..." Jaune jokes. "We're still alive."

"Hmm," Pyrrha smiles before indicating down to her bandaged torso. "What happened after?"

Ren stood up, finished tending to Nora's wounds, "You got hurt. We fought back. We won." he said simply. "You have a couple of fractured ribs and Nora's Aura is..."

"... Is healing," Jaune finished. "Right now you're practically on empty, Nora. It's gonna take a while to fix that." His eyes softened, "How do you feel?"

"Lousy," she croaks, barely. There is this empty feeling in the pit of her stomach and she just wants it to go away. "I feel... cold."

Ren tucks her in more while Jaune muses over her words. Lousy sounded understandable from where Nora was coming from. He understands that feeling all too well. Assuming his guess is right and that this is an aftereffect; Lore would do that to someone. The corrupt power drains away all the heat and makes you feel, for lack of a better word, lousy.

However, unlike Jaune, Nora's body hadn't and isn't capable of fighting off the effects of Lore, Aura or no Aura. She doesn't have the strength or control to balance out Lore. Very less survive it. He can see why Nora's Aura was all but gone. It's a damn miracle she's talking at this point or awake even.

"You're staying in bed until Jaune says your Aura is strong enough," Ren says in a tone that's strict with finality that Nora doesn't fight him on it. Not like she could. "No buts."

Sleep sounded so much better than moving, anyways.

She can already feel the burst of power she felt dwindling down back to her core. She wants nothing more than to stay awake and cherish Ren's protectiveness, but life's not fair sometimes. This is just one on those unfair moments.

Nora's back to sleep in seconds and Pyrrha's moving off the bed with Jaune's help. She's too stubborn to stay resting in bed after a fight. Her champion pride wouldn't allow it, no matter how reluctant her leader seemed.

"Your Aura's fine," Jaune reassures her evenly. "It's just all being used to heal those ribs of yours and some cuts on your noggin."

"You're going to feel sore for a couple of days and I would recommend not moving around too much," Ren added. He then glanced down at the sleeping Nora, "C'mon, we should leave her to sleep."

The rest of day passes by rather quickly. They never leave the cabin and Pyrrha listens intently to the way Jaune describes the way Ren fought off the Sloth King in adamant detail—sounding suspiciously like someone they knew. Every moment so often she expects Ren to jump in and correct Jaune's story, moving the pieces and filling in the gaps to tell the correct tales. He never does. Half his attention is divided to Nora's room and the other to listening to Jaune's story. Almost to the point like he's surprised on what really happened.

After the recounts of wonder, Ren had fixed them breakfast, taking extra time to make Nora's pancakes extra fluffy and into bite size pieces with specs of Aura shards littered in the batter. It takes no genius to notice that Nora's absolutely cooed to Ren feeding her, unable to keep the red from building up in her face from Ren wiping away a trail of syrup from the corner of her mouth in absolute resolve. Didn't help with the way Ren's eyes pierced deeply into Nora's unprepared line of sight with rare concern and unwavering determination.

Pyrrha thought the poor girl was going to faint from the blood rushing to her head.

Poor Nora... Ren had mistaken that blood rush as a sign of sickness and urged her back to bed, blind as ever. Although, Pyrrha noticed that Ren kept himself distance from Nora during most of the day, which only had confused her to no lengths. If anything, she thought he would be by her side twenty-four seven.

When she randomly asked Jaune about this, her leader had looked down at the floor of the cabin before ignoring the question all completely to go and favor create Aura shards instead.

She doesn't ask about the cracks on the floor and the guys never bring it up.

There are times she catches Jaune watching Ren move around the cabin, and then his eyes meets hers for the briefest moments before falling down to the cracks. Something tells her he wants to tell her why, but can't because it's not his story to tell. Not his secret to spill. And Pyrrha can respect that, so she settles to not move around much, having let her mind numbed to any questions she might've had.

That was, until at least Ren had checked on her bandages and a splotch of blood had become known to the both of them. To him, it had meant very little. A simple re-stitching and nothing more. To her, it had meant a great deal.

The blood had resurfaced some interesting, past memories from the day before. Memories of commanding the liquid force to bend to her will and save her from Death's iron grip. Almost to the point she wanted to pursue them, but had opted not to, in favor of not straining herself under her cautious leader's watchful gaze. But when she settles down back into the spare bed for the night—Jaune and Ren's idea for making sure she heal up—her blood colored hair catches her attention in the most fascinating ways.

She even runs her strands carefully through her fingers in bed, for the first time ever taking notice how it's always been with her, just like the metal she commands. Her pride, her joy, her symbol, just her—the color of blood—the invincible girl, everything that makes Pyrrha Nikos... Pyrrha Nikos.

So as Pyrrha Nikos stayed up and listened to the soft footsteps of both Ren and Jaune keeping watch over Nora and her for the night, if she listens close enough, she could, for just the briefest of moments, hear the same call of metal come from her discarded bandages that rested just out of reach, calling out before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

...

Day three into their recovery and Jaune and Ren finally allow themselves to breathe. Nora's been more active at trying to leave the bed and Pyrrha's soreness is slowly fading away. The Aura shards do help immensely; however, Pyrrha doesn't like the face her leader makes when he's practically running on fumes. He just seems so tired and drained, far from his usual upbeat and energetic attitude that it just looks wrong on Jaune, but he waves it off as being nothing.

And Pyrrha's not going to pry.

She does, however, give the guys time to relax a bit, offering—demanding—she watch over Nora so they could get some fresh air. They're both stubborn to a fault, but her sickly sweet smile changes their tune rather quickly and they're getting ready to leave the cabin before another pointless argument could resurface. Not like it would matter.

Checking up on a weakened Nora like clockwork, Jaune created as many Aura shards for his friend until his Aura almost ran dry, storing a couple in his pocket for Pyrrha to use as well and some for just in case. He has to crush up the shards in his hand for Nora to be able to swallow as she lacks the energy to chew anything semi-solid on her own still. Her eyes always quickly open wide to the influx of energy in her system, almost like she might just jump out of bed right then and there, all good and new, but then she always comes crashing back down.

She always tries to fight off the urge to sleep, and has lasted quite long in Ren's presence.

So far she hasn't lasted to when Jaune shuts the door.

And that little tiny spark of info bugged the leader to no end.

Nora's case all together was a confusing problem. Her Aura was practically non-existent. Tiny sparks and a thin outline of her turquoise Aura is all Jaune can see through Space and its hardly recharging at a comfortable rate. Lore really is the greatest weapon against Aura after the damage he's witnessed. It did one hell of a number on her. Luckily she's Lore free and just really weak. The Aura shards did recharge her at a slow pace and gave her the jump start she needed.

The worst was over.

Yet it did nothing to relieve Jaune Arc's pain. None of it! All the pain from being too weak to help when it was really needed, when it really counted, and when he should've been the pillar to keep his friends from falling to their injuries, really ate away at him. That pain irked the Arc to no end and made him question the capabilities of Lore if the power acted more of a handicap than blessing.

Sometimes—a lot actually—he stares at his Lore covered arm and watches it not heal his injuries, and then he looks to the bedridden Nora and wonders if it is all worth it.

...

Walking out the cabin, Ren's eyes travel across the edge of the forest, resting them on the sparse sloth Grimm lurking in the trees with curious eyes. They didn't seem to be posing any harm and his leader hasn't run out screaming that they're under attack, and that's good enough for him to ignore them. So he lets them be with wary instinct as he travels across the clearing to rest underneath a tree that blocks out the sun.

Ren personally wants to sit beside Nora and watch over her all day and night, but won't risk the chance of his semblance causing any more harm and Pyrrha's a force of nature all on her own. He knows if anyone can fix Nora's Aura, its Jaune. But the reassurance doesn't make him feel any better, only worse. The distraction at being useless only weakens his instincts until the ruffling of some leaves and breaking of twigs captures his attention.

"What are you doing here?"

Ren doesn't need to turn around to know that the Sloth King is standing right behind the tree he's sitting underneath. Only one Grimm could move the earth as it moves and even less be bothered to mess with him after the previous battle. None of the other sloths would even have the courage to come face him other than the king, that much he knows. And the king has been lurking about from the shadows the few times he's spotted it from outside the cabin window.

So it comes to no surprise when the Sloth King stops moving, staying deathly quiet. Caution forces Ren to glance and make sure the king wasn't attempting to attack him, but the Grimm did no such action, only fixing the human a look of reflectiveness. It takes Ren a moment to realize he's not staring at a mirror; the emotionless monster is not him, and is just in fact that, a monster.

Still trusting on the fact his leader hasn't run out of the cabin yet, Ren relaxed on the bark of the tree, not allowing his glare to move away from the Sloth King. But his pink eyes do land on the open crack in its armor from where he pierced the hard bone. Bits of the king's fur peeked out in random directions, slave to the gentle breeze blowing nearby.

Answering Ren's question with silence, the Grimm settles beside him, although more behind the tree. It makes no attempt for anything else and perches itself contently on the side of a tree, hanging onto the wood with the same level of enthusiasm as any other sloth would. The sight unsettles something in Ren's chest and makes him recall things his leader told him. Things that makes the world upside down and everything he knew put into serious question.

Lore.

The bane of Lie Ren's existence.

Ever since Jaune first discovered the dark power, everything's changed. It destroyed the foundations of many things Ren's come to accept. It almost killed—it did kill his best friend. And the ninja doesn't think his leader has come to even realize of what the implications of Lore even means, at least not fully. Although, that might be unfair since Ren, too, is just discovering and putting the puzzle together of Lore.

But Lie Ren's smart.

He never needs all the pieces of a puzzle to see what the image was beforehand. Not like most people. He could always just fill in the blanks needed to finish. Made life much easier since Nora loved to lose things. And that thought forces him back to the matter on hand, the large sloth Grimm hanging onto the tree he leaned on.

Lore is the same power of the Grimm. To Ren that made absolutely no sense. If that was true, then there was one hidden truth that couldn't be ignored! That would mean that—?!

He hears the door open before the king, but the Grimm beats Ren to punch to spot Jaune first. His leader stalks out of the cabin with obvious frustration, and Ren's not the only one who senses that. If the slight tilt of the Sloth King's head and rustle of leaves from the younger sloths are anything to go by.

Hidden by the trees, Ren noticed that Jaune's too distracted to notice most of the Grimm lurking nearby and he finds that odd with his leader's ability to sense other Grimm with his technique called Outer Space. Then again, Jaune did mention that in order for him to sense Aura through Space, he needed the other person to be using Aura. If the influx of Aura wasn't apparent, then he couldn't sense them.

Looking up at the king looking down at him, Ren glared slightly.

Did the same principle apply for the Grimm? If so, then what did that mean? Was his leader only able to sense danger whenever it presented itself? It's only logical. No person with Aura would blindly attack a person or Grimm while not concentrating on their Aura to enhance their strength. It's like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

That was plain suicidal.

Ren's briefly looked down to meet his leader's stare, seeing a mix of emotions buried beneath those cobalt eyes of his. Then he looks away, back at the Sloth King his leader has failed to sense, allowing his mind to adrift. If Jaune could only sense Aura whenever it was being used, then the same logic applied to Lore, by process of elimination of course.

So did that mean that the Grimm lurking nearby weren't concentrating on their power? Did that honestly mean they weren't tempted to attack or provoke any of them? No hostility whatsoever?

The idea seemed to farfetched that Lie Ren had to make sure for the second time today that he wasn't looking at a mirror when he stared up at the emotionless Sloth King. When it blinked down at him, Ren lowered his gaze back to Jaune, following him with his eyes as he walked towards the middle of the clearing. And then his leader created three Gravities to practice with and Ren knew Jaune had every sloth Grimm's undivided attention, king included.

The Sloth King seemed extremely attracted to Jaune's Gravities. And why wouldn't it be? If what Jaune said a few nights before was true, then Lore really is the power of the Grimm. The sight of seeing a human command their power must be throwing the Grimm in one heck of a loop. Hell! It's throwing him in a loop. It's the only reason Ren can see for all confusion that's happening to him lately.

It's the only reason that makes any sense in its own messed up way.

Glancing back up at the Sloth King, Ren notes the Grimm's fascination in Jaune, actually taking the time to get off the tree and stand on the floor. Ren makes no remark about this and instead observes his leader's tense posture as he attempts and fails at his goals, whatever they may be. His shoulders are stressed with self-doubt evident in his glare, and Ren didn't need to be a Grimm to sense his frustrated emotions.

Troubled, Ren found Jaune's hindrance disheartening. He's not like Nora; he knows his leader is neither fearless nor unstoppable. Yet, seeing Jaune so lost when it came to his element worried the emotionless man. Maybe it's just his duties as a teammate, or simply the obligations of being a friend, but Ren found himself walking towards Jaune before his consciousness caught up with him.

That, and the idea behind Lore is too great to simply ignore.

...

A few minutes after Ren walks out, Jaune leaves the cabin after checking up one more time on the two redheads, much to Pyrrha's creepy smile with his partner doing better and Nora still out cold, and heads out for the middle of the clearing. Ren's already out there, sitting beneath a tree to get away from the sun. Their eyes meet for the briefest of moments before his friend looks away, sulking inside the shade.

Jaune doesn't know what to say to him to pull him out of his funk, and luckily he doesn't need to. He's too busy being angry at himself for feeling so useless in the fight with the Sloth King to be a team player. Well, at least not in the sense he's thinking of.

What's the point in having power if he doesn't know how to wield it?

What's the point of having Lore if all it could do was harm his friends and not protect them?

He's about to find out.

Reaching the middle of the clearing, Jaune focused on his Lore, instantly creating three Gravities to accompany him as he practiced in the morning air. He could feel Ren's eyes on him, but pushed aside the sensation in favor of honing his control in order to create an offensive Lore technique that could actually harm a Grimm.

A sword—he needs to be able to create a Lore Blade.

Swirling the orbs around, Jaune practiced more on his control, trying to increase the speed which they moved. Although a good technique to practice with his Lore, the results were more or less than appealing. Sure his control over their speed and distance has improved over time, but not in the way he had hoped. Not in the way he needed his control to be. If he could just find a way to make it worth it, then this dark power and his team's trouble wouldn't be in vain.

Calling a lone Gravity towards his bandaged palm, Jaune willed the orb to hover lifelessly for a moment, glaring hard at the dark mass lying in wait. He makes sure not to have the orb too close to his palm, in fear of collapsing the Lore into his hand. But the entire simplicity of his problem vexed him so.

Here he was, controlling an orb of darkness, the negative side of aura as he's come to learn, and he can't find a way to create a sword. And that's why the problem hurt to look at it. Before—before it wasn't personal! There hadn't been a reason to rush things. Before he just practiced in his own leisure, but after yesterday's surprise attack, Jaune's angry at himself for not being able to fend off against the Sloth King with Ren.

It had never been a race. To discover the properties of Lore had been a fun thing to do. Gravity and Black Hole's discovery had been a pleasant and life-changing experience. Now, however, Jaune's sharply determined to create a sword if it kills him.

So he's back to this.

Back to square one.

Changing this simple Gravity into a sword should be easy to him. Turning a Supernova into his Excalibur wasn't an issue. By now the process was like breathing in so many ways. So why this? Why now? What was he missing from this problem that was holding him back?

It never made any sense to him.

Power wasn't the issue. Control wasn't either. He can always picture and feel the right amount of power and control needed to shape his Lore into a blade. The schematics behind the design were always right in front of him, just out of reach. Out of range for his level of skill, yet, completely right in front of him, mocking him almost.

No matter how much he tried to create the sword, to envision it coming to life in his hands, there's always a slight hitch in his step—a hiccup. Some dark, hidden fear prevented him from fully grasping the power behind his Lore and thus halting his progress by a step. Like there was a struggle inside his soul. But, still, none of that made any real sense to the Arc.

He's already come to accept Lore into his soul! What more did he need to do? What kept him from reaching the next step?

Why was creating a Lore blade so impossible?

Struggling internally, Jaune released Gravity, draining the other two nearby. Without any Aura to test the effects of Lore, he's not too sure how far he could get with practice alone. Aura had been so much easier to practice with. Trees and rocks made for good outlets and training dummies, the occasional Grimm here and there helped, too. Lore, on the other hand, affected Aura. And without some Aura to test Lore's capabilities on, he's stuck practicing on speed and precision alone.

Those only go so far.

Crashing the Gravity down onto the dirt, Jaune watched the orb pick up some nearby pebbles and blades of grass, fascinated at how those objects hovered lifelessly around the dark mass. So calm and collective, not like his thoughts which were scrambled and infinitely boundless with no force to hold them together.

"Need some help?" Glancing over, he finds Ren hovering over his shoulder and Jaune's already willing Gravity farther away from him, not wanting to get his teammate's Aura caught within the gravitational pull.

He grins humorlessly, "Not unless you have some means for me to test this stuff on Aura I don't."

Thinking it over silently, Ren nods in understand and slowly reaches out, looking positively serious at the Lore sphere close by. Then by a calm overriding force—either his or the Gravity—Ren reaches out before Jaune can stop him and feel his Aura being pulled towards the darkness. Instantly his leader is stopping him, shoving Ren away when he spots his friend's Aura being eaten away from Outer Space.

"Ren, what in Monty's Oum are you doing?!" Jaune yells, having watched some of Ren's Aura being pulled into Gravity.

"Helping you," he says plainly, fixing Jaune an interesting glare. "You needed Aura to test your Lore on, and I have Aura. Seems like a win-win plan to me."

"Except for the fact of course your Aura being drained away or quite possibly worse?!"

Ren doesn't let Jaune's crisis divert him, "If it's to help you understand Lore better, then I'm all for it and I trust you."

Even if the gesture is oddly commendable, Jaune would never risk Ren's life, "We can't risk your Aura! What if we get attacked again?"

"I don't think that will be a problem," Crossing his arm, he nudges his head towards the Sloth King lazing nearby underneath a tree, blinking with something akin to amusement.

Though, the gesture is lost to Jaune, completely and utterly lost, "H-How? I didn't even sense him?"

"And that's why I don't think we have a problem. It's been here for days. Watching us. It could've attacked us anytime when your were running on empty," Ren remarked, dusting off the spot Jaune shoved him. "You're gonna need a lot of help and I'm the only one with Aura to spare."

His leader fixes him a glare after regaining his senses and prompts to ignore the Sloth King, "Why are you so interested all of a sudden in Lore?"

"It's got me thinking." That's almost enough of a reason for Jaune to risk their safety... almost. Sigh, "What you said about Lore being the Grimm's power is making me have doubts and I need to confirm them."

Jaune thinks over the negative aspects of Lore and comes to a bold conclusion that's half serious and half joking, "What? That the Grimm are evil?"

"... That they might not be."

The air is so quiet Jaune can hear the leaves on trees rustle to the light breeze. The air makes a sound and nature fills the void. Ren's just giving him this completely serious, stoic stare that ignites all of Jaune's cells in a frenzy of fear and awe.

What he's saying is so crazy! Impossible! Just everything!

"What makes you think that the Grimm aren't evil? They're supposed to be humanity's enemies!" Jaune argues for sanity's sake, but it falls on deaf ears.

"You've written in your Aura notebook that Lore makes you feel hollow inside and that the only way to get rid of this feeling is to have Aura. Nora's even told me this was how she felt when the Lore got into their system. What if," he stares off to the sloth Grimm sleeping in the trees, "What if that's how all the Grimm feel inside? Hollow and cold and all they want to do is fill that emptiness."

"Ren..." Jaune asks slowly. "What are you saying?"

Ren pretends not to hear, staring off to the side where the king watched over them. He might as well be looking into a mirror with how emotionless the monster acted. Never before has he questioned the role he's followed, but there's a first time for everything. And that first time was allowing that Grimm to live when he had the chance to end it, like any other Hunter would've done in a heartbeat. His questions only grew more in numbers each time something unexplainable happened right in front of him.

And they continued to do so without rest.

"Forget about it for now," Ren paused, leveling back with Jaune. "It's just a crazy idea." Jaune doesn't know what to say, so Ren adds more. "Now then, you needed Aura, right?" He extends his arm out, "Take it."

His leader finally regains his bearings and accepts the obvious distraction from the bigger picture. So he calls forth his Gravity, watching the way Ren's Aura reacted to the Lore's presence in grave fascination. All the while, they don't notice the way the Sloth King's eyes observe the way the two powers interact, never once recalling the two wholes cooperating on such a degree of level. Nor does it feel the need to interfere from their power mixing with the humans.

Yet, for the first time in centuries, it doesn't find the need to idly laze away.

Extremely curious at the human that trusted the power of its kind more fiercely than any other ever witness by the Grimm in this forest.

...

Trial and error revealed that the closer Gravity came to Aura, the stronger the pull it had on the power. Jaune seems not to gain any Aura out of this. Closer also meant more apparent side effects when dealing with Lore. Ren experienced to what he explained was feeling cold and lacking reason. His power felt stripped almost and all he wanted to do was keep his Aura locked away. He described feelings that resembled sadness and hopelessness when Gravity came in contact of his skin. He also noted he could still feel his Aura linked to his soul and his semblance as well, just much weaker.

Then it came time to test the power of Black Hole on Aura.

"How does it feel?"

"I feel lost, like all my power has been stolen and I was left behind," Ren flexes his fingers, narrowing his eyes as Jaune's dark covered hand held his Aura away from his forearm. "I cannot access my Aura or even my semblance for that matter. What exactly is happening?"

"I can see my Black Hole trapping your Aura. The light of your Aura seems to be crushed under some strong, dark force." Jaune pauses, watching the Lore compress Ren's Aura in a strong gravitational force that hindered all Ren's Aura. Some part of instincts tell him to pull as he feels a connection with Ren's Aura, "So, you can't use any of your Aura?"

Unlike Gravity, Black Hole didn't drain away Aura, simply compressed it into an airtight vacuum that allowed for nothing to escape. Under the effects of Gravity, Aura still had a chance of fighting back, but under the effects of Black Hole, Jaune could see Ren's Aura being suppressed impossibly together with no chance of escape in sight.

In easier words, Ren's as strong as a person without Aura.

"No."

If Jaune's not mistaken, there's a hint of joy in Ren's voice. It's gone before he could see it, but he definitely heard it. Then Jaune doesn't have to wait anymore to just imagine as Ren tested something with his fingers before a soft laugh escaped his usual neutral friend. Another hearty laugh escapes him as Ren continued to play around while Jaune's Lore held down his Aura.

"My semblance," he chokes, smiling lightly. "I can't feel it."

Jaune almost asked if that was bad, but then Ren's past comes back to haunt him and leaves it alone as Ren looks positively happy for the first time he's ever seen. And he's not the only one experiencing this rare phenomenon. Watching from the trees, the Sloth King observed the human's mask break in something other than anger and sadness with interacting with its own kind's power.

No human has every shown true joy to be around their kind before.

Now that Jaune knows what to look out for, he observes through Outer Space, Ren's Aura being oppressed and his semblance's power being trapped under a strong gravitational pull. A dark outline surrounds all over Ren's body, yet the cold feeling does nothing to rob him of his joy. But Jaune's curious, this was the effect of Black Hole and Lore in general he was discovering. And without so much of a warning, he releases his hold on Ren, watching his semblance break and Aura flare to life.

The outcome is immediate.

Ren's Aura burst forth and his strength returns anew while his semblance escapes his grasp and wreaks havoc on the poor unsuspecting rock in front of them. The warmth returns back to his teammate, but it might as well had stayed dead with the way Ren's face falls from his semblance causing destruction. He can't even feel the heat; feeling like the blood in his veins having turned to ice instead. And the feeling does not escape the king watching from afar.

"Sorry," Jaune apologized soon after, but Ren shakes it off.

"It's fine," he sighs sadly. "I just got a little excited. For a second there, I didn't feel like such a monster."

"You're not a monster," Ren just looks down at the rock he destroyed. "You're not. I don't think that and neither does Nora... Why can't you?"

Ren again pretends to ignore him, finding some solace in Jaune's words. They're meaningful yet obvious, so he only feels slightly better in the inside. In the end, his mask comes back up and Jaune's left to wonder. Wonder if there's anything that can help his friend.

Looking away from the rock, Ren fixes him a question that's been bugging him, "What does Aura look like?"

Jaune takes the distraction, "It's kind of hard to explain."

"Humor me."

Scratching his head, he shrugs unknowingly, "It's weird in a way. No one's is the same. Everyone's Aura is so bright and different. There are many colors. Some bright and others less bright, but they're all bright in their own special way."

Ren seems to find what he was looking for in his answer, having come something close to that from reading Jaune's Aura notebook. Memories of the battle taking place here in the clearing days before are still fresh in his mind and so are the days his leader spent training in their room. They all remind him of one large entity that lived with them all.

Ren looked up, "Your Aura kind of reminds me of our sun."

"The sun?"

Then he looked back down, "Yea, it's very bright and warm to be around and impossible to miss just like your Aura. All your power comes from your Aura like how we need the sun to survive. Even if the sun is a burning ball of heat of destruction and power, we need that power in order to go on living. It's the same thing for Aura. Aura can cause destruction... but it can also give life and heal. That's how your Aura reminds me of the sun."

Jaune grins lightly, "Well... in that sense, Ren. Everyone's Aura is like a sun then. They're all stars I can see in Outer Space."

Shrugging his shoulders alongside him, Ren glanced back to where the Sloth King watched, feeling a sensation crawl on his skin. The time to put his theory to the test finally seems possible, or maybe he just wants a second opinion on the matter at hand.

"You told me before that Lore and the Grimm were oddly similar to us and Aura. That confuses me. If Lore is just another form of Aura, then doesn't that mean that Lore comes from your soul?"

Jaune's caught off-guard from the change in mood, "... Ren?"

"And if Lore is just another form of Aura," Ren adds, not stopping. "Then what does that make the Grimm? What if the Grimm that attacked to you before didn't respond to your strength, but to your Lore? If the power's the same, they probably saw something not worth fighting. Something, something close to kinship?"

"Maybe... it sounds possible. Both times I did happen to use Lore," Jaune shrugs, accepting the idea. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Ren merely waves it off, "It's just a crazy idea."

To back up his crazy idea, a lone, tiny sloth Grimm slithers by and Jaune jumps back from the sudden sneak attack, ready to fight, but Ren kneels on the floor and the little thing stares at him with a tilt of its head. In the off corner, he could see the king and a few more sloths watching his every move and Ren surprises them, surprises Jaune—surprises himself—and picks up the small Grimm.

An understanding passes between them from the slow blink of their eyes and Jaune watches with acute fascination as Ren calmly hooks the tiny guy over his shoulder like any other larger sloth would. More fascination captures Jaune from the sloth's relaxing posture as it napped lightly on his neck.

"A crazy idea," Ren repeats.

A crazy idea! But one that has strong valid points backing it up. To anybody else—anybody else—and they've crossed Lie Ren as crazy right from the start. But Jaune Arc isn't just anybody. He's the leader of Team JNPR and Ren's close friend. Crazy always seems to tag alongside them. Just like Team RWBY and their love for adventures and wacky hijinks.

Impossible to deny and impossible to look away.

Yet, there are lines somewhere, possibly, "Before I go along anymore with this, I need to ask. Why? What brought this on? Why do you care so much?"

Everything about Lore comes together in one single unity, "Because if I'm right... then that means the Grimm have souls."

Words cannot begin to express what Jaune's feeling. This crazy idea of Ren's wasn't crazy! It was entirely insane! The only reason Jaune hasn't forced Ren to rethink his priorities is because a tiny sloth Grimm napped on his friend's back like it was nothing special. Except it was! By a lot! A whole lot.

"... And if you're wrong?"

There's no malice in his eyes, "Then I'm wrong and nothing changes."

"Ren!" he throws his hands up in frustration. "You can't just spring this up on somebody! This isn't some crazy idea like creating weapons from Aura! This is our very history you're talking about! The whole reason Hunters even exist! Are you telling me that you think we might be wrong about everything?"

"What I'm saying, Jaune," Ren points at the baby sloth Grimm resting on his shoulders. "Is that maybe we should relook at what we call humanity's greatest threat and then maybe take a closer look at ourselves?"

There's no response. No argument. Nothing. Jaune Arc remains deathly quiet at Ren's acceptance and trust in the power of the Grimm. Something he's not ever sure he could possibly do. Beating them into submission was one thing, but trusting them was something else entirely. Trusting the Grimm's power—a thought that's even too crazy for Jaune Arc.

Reading his mind, Ren sighed, "Aura has been the bane of my existence ever since I unlocked my semblance. I've lived most of life detached from emotions because I live in fear of what might possibly happen if I let go for even a second. I'm tired of being scared of my own power. Maybe it's time to reach out to a new power to help me. Maybe Lore can stop me from hurting the people around me."

In a way, Lie Ren learned to control his Aura so he could suppress his power, that's the real reason he had been so taken to Jaune's Aura notes. His friend has long since discarded the light side of Aura to instead dwell into the darkness. Maybe that is why he's so easy to change when the opportunity arose.

Yet, "That's not enough of a reason to trust in the Grimm."

Ren sighed; clearly his leader still didn't get it. "I don't trust the Grimm. I trust you," he pokes at Jaune's Lore. "If anyone could prove me right or wrong, it's you."

Never one to be given direct praise, Jaune grinned cheekily with an embarrassed wave of his hand, "Fine, whatever! Forget I asked! I'll play along with it for now. It's the least I can do after everything I've put you guys through."

"Thanks, Jaune."

"Okay! Let's test this one more time and forget about all this heavy stuff. Trap, Black Hole!"

Feeling his body jerk to a pull of Gravity, Ren blinked with the tiny sloth in tow, "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you. Why do you yell out the names of all your moves? Seems completely counterproductive?"

His leader attitude ignites, "Oh? That! It's an Arc family tradition. My family is full of heroes, and heroes yell out amazing catchphrases. My great-great grandfather and even the Arc's before him yelled out their move's catchphrases as they ran into battle!"

"Your family's weird."

"Yea, they sure are. But I'm stuck being an Arc, so I got to yell out my moves!"

"Well, you could just not yell out your moves," Jaune pretends he didn't hear Ren, looking too focused on his compressed Aura. It doesn't take Ren long to figure out why, "You actually enjoy yelling out your techniques, don't you?"

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it! Next time you're fighting some big, overpowered Grimm, just yell out some totally awesome catchphrase with everything you got, and watch the fireworks fly!"

"I will do no such thing."

The rest of the day passes by uneventful except for the mountain of sloth Grimm that seemed to have built up the courage to approach Ren and want to tag alongside him and laze around the poor guy. Jaune's stuck whether or not he should do something. It's only more confusing when he can't feel any of the Grimm active Outer Space when he's standing so close to them. So by his logic, they were harmless. This only made things ten-times more confusing for him and a lot clearer for his stoic teammate who can't stop staring at the king glaring back at them.

...

Day four into Nora's recovery, and she's doing much better. And by better, Jaune means louder, much louder.

"I'm going to make you some Aura shards to eat before you go back to sleep."

"Can't I do something else? I'm tired of sleeping in bed all day!"

Jaune's not too sure how to answer the oxymoron, so he settles to finish creating another batch of Aura shards while Nora attempted at sitting up—attempted being the key word. When she fails and falls back down with a soft thud, she weakly flails her arms.

"Jaune!" she whines childishly.

"Your Aura is barely recharging as it is Nora," he scolds, finishing up an Aura shard. "It's not safe for you to move around too much. You're safer in here. Look on the bright side, you can talk again."

Not really a bright side, but Jaune never knows when Ren's listening and his unstoppable army of sloth Grimm at his disposal.

"But Pyrrha gets to move around and she has fractured ribs!"

"Pyrrha also has Aura to heal those fractured ribs while you do not. And she can actually get out of bed."

"But—!"

"Nora," Jaune stretched, glaring in a rare form of stern leadership. "No."

Nora's all but ready to fight back, but her Fearless Leader's glare intensifies in strength and all the fight leaves her already weaken soul. So she pouts with a weak fold of her arms in a stubborn humph, and slips deeper into the bed and doesn't fight her leader anymore on the matter.

Somehow she blames Ren for this even as she easily falls back to sleep.

...

Checking up on a sleeping Nora one last time before heading outside, Pyrrha peeks inside the room and her eyes land on the softly snoring Valkyrie. An odd sense of amusement swells in her chest from her teammate's messy layout with her sheets haphazardly thrown everywhere and small pool of drool on her pillow. It lasts another second longer before Pyrrha gently closes the door and makes a beeline for the clearing with a bundle of hers and Jaune's bloody bandages.

Her ribs still hurt and there's a slight wobble in her step, but she's relatively fine as far as she's concern. That days spent in bed helped a bit, but Jaune's Aura shards are what helped immensely. She can see why her friend became a tad bit addicted to those little rock candies.

They're just so electrifying!

Reaching a safe distance away from the cabin without venturing too far away, Pyrrha spotted Jaune practicing with his Gravities across the clearing with Ren surprisingly attending to the combine attention of a cluster of tiny sloth Grimm underneath a shady tree. He didn't seem to mind their presence and Jaune wasn't making a big deal out of it, but he did keep an eye on them time to time.

So it's safe for her to assume that everything was under control—no matter how universally strange it looked to her.

And it did look strange no matter what angle she looked at it.

Giving up on the idea on cracking whatever goes on in her leader's head or the mysteries that seem to follow him, Pyrrha settles beneath her own tree, quickly dropping the bloody bandages on the floor. She settles to ask him later about it and instead lays the bandages out flat on the floor, making extra sure to separate between hers and Jaune's. There's an offbeat sort of sensation on what she's trying to accomplish.

Almost like her idea to manipulate the small trace amounts of metals in blood was a crazy one.

And she almost believes it, just for a split-second, but then she looks up and sees her leader play around with orbs of darkness and Ren caring for a bundle of sloth Grimm. So what did she know?

Crazy is just another word for sane in Team JNPR.

And they weren't too good at being that either.

Playing with the discarded, blood-soaked bandages, Pyrrha ran her fingers gently over the crimson fabric, feeling a faint hum coming from the bloody appendages as her semblance took root. Faint traces of iron wept out to her, pleading for her to hear their cries and command them. Other weaker traces of metals also beckon to her call. Magnesium, chromium, nickel, copper and zinc—Pyrrha could feel them all resting beneath her fingers, begging to be called.

And she wants nothing more than to answer their plea.

...

Ren spends his day bonding with the sloths, learning their secrets to a perfect nap and how to avoid working all together. It comes into heavy play when Jaune points out it's his turn to do the dishes and Ren's no where in sight. And from that day forth, Lie Ren truly felt like a sloth, and even learned what sounds they really made. So next time he could explain to Nora what a sloth really sounds like.

...

Day five and Nora's finally able to leave the bed, almost jumping up with joy the second she tasted fresh air once more. Ren's by her side after Jaune explains that her Aura isn't any longer in crucial condition and that her earlier spark is stronger than ever. None of it mattered to her. All she cared about was moving her legs again, which she finally could.

And the first thing she demands to do with her newfound freedom is to venture outside the stuffy cabin. Even more so when Ren tells her he's got a surprise just for her and Jaune's looking positively intrigued in her future reaction.

Intrigued or not though, when they venture outside the cabin, he keeps her close as Ren walks out towards the forest walls and comes back out with something wrapped around his shoulders a minute later. Even Pyrrha's interested at what might happen next, already knowing what lies behind Ren's back and still coming to terms with it.

Her partner said he would explain later.

And by later, he meant sometime today.

They could all see the curiosity widen in Nora's eyes as Ren stands right in front of her with two black fur covered arms wrapped tightly around Ren's neck. Then, a second later, a plain face pops over Ren's shoulder and stares at the new human standing before it, blinking once and very slowly to the pair of turquoise eyes blinking back at it.

It takes all about three seconds for Nora to react.

"Ahhh!" She lunges forward, leaning closer to the sloth Grimm whose face betrays no emotion to Nora's close proximity. "It's so cute!"

Off to the corner, Ren and Jaune spot the Sloth King watching them and Jaune's Outer Space reveals no hostility coming from the large monster. He still doesn't trust it, but Ren's seemed to completely ignore its existence in favor of Nora's undeniable happiness. Something everyone and the Sloth King take immediate notice to.

Nora's smile grows larger at the tiny Grimm trying to reach forward with its long arms towards Nora from over Ren's neck. After a silent nod of conformation from Ren, she grabs the tiny guy and hugs him tightly, loving it instantly like Ruby and Zwei. They could also see tiny hearts radiating from the strange hug. Strange because it's a Grimm and human, and the laws of nature suddenly fly out the window with Pyrrha along with it.

Enough for her to blink at her leader, "You're gonna have to explain this to me, Jaune."

Jaune offers her a grin, leading her away, "Yea, sure. Just... give me a minute."

"I'm gonna call him Sir Scrabbles. Because he's just so kooky and fun-loving I can just die!" No one in Team JNPR finds any fault with her logic. She looks up to Jaune while hugging the Grimm. "Can we keep him?!"

"Nora..." Jaune sighs and can't look away from the pure happiness radiating from her smile. Smile that his Lore almost destroyed, "You have to promise me that you'll take care of him."

Why can't he just keep his damn mouth shut?

Nora's trapping him in a death hug before scampering off to toss the tiny sloth into the air with no stop in sight. Ren's close by, making sure nothing happens and Jaune still can't sense any hostility nearby, so he pinches his nose, wondering what the hell he got himself and his team in this time.

"Jaune..." Pyrrha urges suddenly and Jaune looks up to the sky, letting his arms dangle.

"C'mon," he motions towards the middle of the clearing. "I'll explain there."

Watching them walk away, the Sloth King returned back to observing the second human who had no problem conversing with its kind. As if the idea of playing with a Grimm didn't surprise her in the least. There's no judgment in that human's eyes. She simply adores its kind with a heartwarming satisfaction that it's never seen before in a human.

Never.

Nora hugged the tiny Grimm closer, "You really are the Sloth King!"

Ren tenses, twitching a little at the title, "I'm the not the Sloth King," he argues, not seeing the tiny horde of other sloth Grimm venturing close to him. "I'm not."

Nora's smile grows only more sneaky as another sloth attaches itself to Ren's leg and then another to the other leg. A third follows alongside his thigh and Ren gives in and picks up the fourth to wrap around his neck.

He glares at her, "This changes nothing."

"Uh-huh!" she smiles knowingly, perching Sir Scrabbles on her shoulder.

Ren acts like he doesn't like Nora's grin, but in reality, he's secretly relieved to find her moving and smiling again. Her Aura may not be up there, but she was getting better by the days and even Jaune said her Aura's no longer under critical condition. That's enough to put a smile on his face.

He's still not sure if he believes in the words he's said about the Grimm, but one look from Nora and her new friend was enough to harden his resolve, if only just for a little. Seeing Nora so happy brought some pleasant, powerful emotions from Ren and for a split-second, just a split-second, his emotions get the better of him and he feels his Aura and semblance shift from his control before he could stop it.

Ren can't stop his semblance from snapping the branches of a nearby tree and has to hastily move before they fall on him and Nora. No one misses the action, not Jaune, Pyrrha, or the hidden Sloth King. Everyone is silently stunned, and before they could reclaim their senses, Ren's already pulling off the sloth Grimm and moving farther away from Nora with an air of defeat around him.

Nora tries to stop him, but he walks away to sit alone a shady tree.

Pyrrha seems confused, Nora looks sadden, and Jaune's conflicted. One second his leader wants to comfort him, but another he wants to stay away, knowing his words can only do so much and Ren might just want to be alone. And Pyrrha's staring at Jaune, adding another list of demands for Jaune to comply with, no choice in the matter.

The Sloth King stands beside Ren in the shadows, peering down at the human who no longer looks over its shoulder to judge it. Memories of the past come back to the haunt the beast; memories of the human being overjoyed that his power had been sealed away. Away from everyone around him, including the new human to join the group that seems oddly attached to him. And that's when the king's ancient thoughts finally align.

The human didn't like his power, especially around his mate and was incapable of creating the same power to suppress his power. Where the light has shined upon him, he has long ago shunned in, preferring to hide in the darkness where all the monsters and its kind dwells. It accepts the light but does not trust it, whereas he trusted the darkness but could not reach it.

A perplexed problem and the king briefly wonder why it cares. Then a tiny sloth comes out from above the trees and slowly climbs on the human's back with no hesitation. The young ones had definitely grown bold in the short time he's been around. Ever since he spared—?!

Gazing down at his chest, the king now remembers why it should care again.

This human allowed it to live where nature demanded he shouldn't. Rules of nature are fierce and cold, and by all means, the king should be ash by now. Not leaning over to watch a youngling play with a threat to their kind. Not finding sympathy where sympathy shouldn't be given.

The Leos wouldn't have spared them the trouble; then again, the Leos and their Monarch were all vanquished. Like all predators, they never stopped fighting and preferred confrontation over resolution. While the sloths stuck to the trees and preferred isolation and distance, avoiding unnecessary confrontation if possible.

Just like the human below it.

Staring up, the king tilted its head at the other two humans arguing, feeling their emotions all over the place. Then it spots the other male take off its hoodie and the king gets an idea.

Gazing back down at the other male, the Sloth King felt the sadness suppressed deeply inside the human and settles to fix that. For the debt it owes to him for not only sparring it but getting rid of the Leos and their Monarch. If this human trusted the dark powers their kind possessed and didn't fear away when given the most optimal chances, then it's time for that debt to be repaid.

Gratitude earned, indeed.

...

A few minutes earlier, Jaune stops Pyrrha in the center of the clearing, thinking how exactly he should phase his next few words. Though, Pyrrha looks like she won't take anything less than the honest truth.

Fair enough.

Seeing Nora play around with Sir Scrabbles, Pyrrha can't help but ask, "And what exactly is going on here? You mind explaining it to me."

"I prefer not," she rarely glares at him; this is one of those times. "Ren's got some crazy idea that the Grimm aren't all evil and have souls. And he wants my help to prove him wrong or right."

Pyrrha actually laughs at this, "That's insane, right Jaune!" When he doesn't laugh, she stops. "Right... Jaune?"

He sighs, not looking her way, "I don't know what to believe anymore. At first it was insane... but..."

Pyrrha's quickly on the defensive, "What do you mean, you don't know what to believe in anymore? The Grimm," she points at the sloths by Ren and Nora, "are evil! They're humanity's greatest threat. That's why we came to Beacon! That's why you snuck into Beacon! To fight against those soulless monsters and protect humanity!"

"That's another thing," Jaune cuts in. "You called the Grimm soulless. Who said the Grimm don't have souls?! From what I can tell, all the Grimm have Lore. I can see it! I can feel it!"

"But..." Pyrrha stops, allowing Lore's secrets to sink in. "What's your point?"

"It's what Ren said that got to me," he adds sadly. "If Lore is just another form of Aura, then doesn't that mean that Lore is part of the soul? If so, what does that say about the Grimm? How can you know if something doesn't have a soul?"

He stops to see Nora playing with Sir Scrabbles, feeling an odd mix of his instincts colliding with his intelligence and he's not so sure which side to root for. "Who decides something like that?"

They're argument is cut short when a tree branch breaks apart and Jaune spots Ren's semblance being the main cause of its destruction. He doesn't need to guess what's going to happen next. Ren's already stalking away from Nora, taking solace in a tree far away from them.

Everyone's not too sure how to feel, but Pyrrha brings him back, "What was that?"

"Ren's semblance," Jaune answers plainly, fixing her with a shrug. "You'll have to ask him or Nora about it. It's not my place to tell."

An awkward silence fills the air and eventually the heat finally gets to Jaune and he removes his hoodie. Some days were just too hot to be wearing winter clothes. A crime of passion, sure! But Jaune Arc can't remember the last time he wasn't wearing a second layer of clothing.

"I still don't know," Pyrrha cuts in again, sounding extremely doubtful. "Humanity vs. the Grimm has been the story we've been told for generations."

Jaune focuses on the way Nora's sloth tries to comfort her with a hug, "Well... maybe there's a part of the story we're missing."

Without any warning, a large shadow towers over them and Jaune and Pyrrha barely turn around to see the Sloth King reach down and pluck Jaune's hoodie away from his hands. They're too stunned to move at how the large Grimm somehow got the drop on them before it inspects the hoodie and then walks away while calling back a few sloths to accompany it.

By the time the sloths and their king disappear into the forest, Jaune's anger burns as he runs after them, "Hey! Come back here with my hoodie!"

A few minutes later, he returns from the forest, hoodie-less and with twigs sticking out of his hair. His team stands by, each looking oddly sympathetic and unable to contain their amusement.

"It's kind of ironic that you can't catch a couple of sloths." Pyrrha giggles.

"Damn trees! I can't wait until they becomes pieces of scrap paper!"

"Relax, Jaune, it's just a hoodie. You could always get another one." Ren stated easily, resting on a tree. This whole theft fiasco seemed to have pulled him out of his funk.

"My sisters made me that sweater!"

Nora giggles, "Your sisters made you a sweater that has a bunny logo on it? I don't know why you would want it back."

"You just don't understand!"

Ren patted poor Jaune on the back, "You're right. We don't understand. And we don't want to."

"I hate guys so much right now."

"Aw," Nora cooed with Sir Scrabbles poking Jaune in the nose. "We love you, too!"

...

Day six arrives pretty fast with the entire team eating breakfast. Nora's doing much better and Sir Scrabbles seems to like Ren's pancakes, another big smiley face in Nora's book. Pyrrha's still trying to wrap her head around yesterday's conversation, Ren's checking things off his crazy theory, and Jaune's busy sulking about his missing hoodie.

In the end, a perfectly normal breakfast for Team JNPR!

Regaining his pride, Jaune pulls his head off the kitchen table, coughing into his mouth to attract his team's attention, "Classes start in two days and we need to head back to Beacon. So where leaving later today."

There are two nods and a soft whine for his answer and Jaune accepts them and lets his head rest back on the table. Today he needed to only create a few Aura shards for Nora and Pyrrha, so he feels more alive, yet he's dead inside without his precious hoodie.

Irony never hurt so badly.

Finished eating his breakfast and curious to venture out and run into the Sloth King one more time, Ren heads out the door, "I'll be outside for a moment."

A silent agreement passes between the team after the girls were filled in on what happened the few days prior when they were trapped inside the house. They all know he's going to go sit under a tree and converse with the Sloth King. Nora's the only one who can't seem to stop herself from bouncing in her seat at the implication.

She keeps calling Ren the new Sloth King. Ren always disagrees and Pyrrha and Jaune are too confused with mixed emotions to add their own word into the mix.

It's not too long before Jaune heads out as well to check up and see if the darn king actually did return. This might be the only chance he could recover his lost hoodie before the moment is lost to him forever. He did not want to call his sister and explain to them he got his hoodie stolen.

Leaving the cabin, Jaune runs up and finds a pair of sloth Grimm extending their arms out to what looks like measuring Ren's arm length. A few more move up and down his body, using more than one to check his relative size and height, and Ren's left standing there like an uncomfortable statue.

Jaune's the first to ask, "What are they doing?"

"I'm not sure." A sloth seems satisfied at whatever it was doing and made a high-pitched call that resonated between more sloths in the forest they couldn't see. "They've been at it since I walked outside."

"... Should I be concerned?"

They're gone before Ren answers, pretty happy at their strange work and the males of Team JNPR are just left there to wonder what the hell that was all about. Something tells them to forget about it. Some mysteries can't be solved with simple brainpower and need to be left alone to unravel themselves. Such is the way of the universe.

"Hey," Ren pokes. "Let's practice more on your Lore."

Jaune nods at the easy distraction and not finding the need for words as he unleashes Black Hole on Ren's Aura, pulling him closer from a few feet away. Not only does Black Hole trap Aura, but if Jaune pulled hard enough, he could rob Aura from the person and pull it out of their body as well.

He doesn't keep it since his Lore destroys any Aura that enters his system, but being able to drain away the other person's Aura really does make fighting a Hunter all the more useful. Not like Jaune Arc ever expected to fight another Hunter, but the option always did seem nice. And testing the length and gravitational pull Lore had on someone from a distance was always fun to poke around in.

Other than Lore training, Pyrrha's off doing her own thing and Nora's spending an ungodly amount of time with Sir Scrabbles. The day ends fairly quickly with the sun almost beginning to set. By this stage of the day, Jaune issues for them to get ready to leave. They need to be in Beacon by tomorrow to rest before school starts again.

Packing their bags, Pyrrha grabs that dictionary from before, finding the object too valuable to simply leave behind. Ren packs light, most of his food gone from serving his friends their meals. Nora doesn't have much, letting Ren carry it as her new pet rested on top of her head. And Jaune creates a few more Aura shards and forces Nora to eat them so she can make the journey back home.

They exit the cabin, ready to go, and run smack right into a horde of countless sloth Grimm and their king, standing in front of them all. Both Jaune and Pyrrha act a little defensively to the tiny army, but it's Ren who walks up to the king and stares at the eyes that might as well have been a mirror.

"Goodbye."

The Sloth King almost nods to Ren and then lifts up its massive paw for him to see. In it is Jaune's hoodie and he accepts it and tosses it back to Jaune.

"Hey!" Jaune cries, hugging his sweater in content. "I got my hoodie back! Now my sisters won't kill me!"

Smiles are all around, and before Ren could return back to his friends, the Sloth King lifts up its other massive paw to reveal a second article of clothing hidden inside. Unlike Jaune's sweater, this one is pitch black, lacking any color of sorts and appears to be like a cloak. Then the Sloth King drops it into Ren's hands before poking him lightly in the chest with its massive claws as a silent indication that it was meant for him.

Ren doesn't know what to say—none of them do!

He barely even has time to realize that the chink in the Sloth King's armor was messing a large amount of its Grimm fur. And they're gone before he could utter out maybe a thank you or something else more appropriate.

When they're finally gone, Nora comes up running right after, plucking the thing out of Ren's hands. A twinkle forms in her eyes and Sir Scrabbles makes a tiny yelp sound.

"Aw! They made you a cape!"

"It's more of a cloak if anything." Pyrrha counters, sliding up behind Nora. She grabs the strange piece of clothing, running her fingers smoothly over the material and is entirely dumbfounded. How odd? "What's it held by? There is no stitching of any kind."

"Lore," Jaune answers suddenly with conviction. His eyes are drawn solely to that cloak they're holding and fear grips his soul.

Nora blinks, "Come again?"

"Lore." Jaune repeats, narrowing his eyes at the constant, endless influx of Lore radiating from the cloak in a pitch of darkness. "It's covered in a constant amount of Lore?"

Testing this and knowing the properties of Lore, Pyrrha tries to pull the cloak apart with all her might, but Jaune sees her efforts are in vain. A strong gravitational force holds that cloak together, stitching not required.

Pyrrha gives up trying to tear the cloak apart, "How did they make this?"

"The Sloth King was missing some of its fur," Ren brings up, taking the cloak out of Pyrrha's hands. A strange sensation overcomes him and he's tempted to actually put the thing on. "Perhaps they found a way to press their fur together to create such a thing."

Pyrrha looks toward Jaune, "Is that even possible?"

Jaune throws his hands up, "Why are you looking at me? I don't know everything about Lore or even Aura for that matter. I'm just as lost as you are. I didn't even know Grimm knew what a cloak looked like!"

"Maybe that's why they took your hoodie," Ren spreads out the cloak, watching as the sun's light not reflect off the material. "So they could get a fundamental grasp on what clothing looked like."

"And why those Grimm were so eager to check how long your arms and body were." Jaune adds. "So they could get the measurements right." Silence fills the air, but Jaune doesn't allow it to last too long, "They made that exactly for you... why?"

Ren shrugged, "Only one way to find out." And he's putting on the cloak before anyone can stop him.

It fits perfectly to his body and covered a good portion of his entire being. A collar stood up that defied gravity, covering a good part of his face, only allowing his emotionless eyes to peak over and expressions to become unreadable. The sleeves went all the way down to his wrist, a little more than that in fact. The opening closed slowly on its own, from what Jaune could tell was more Lore acting up. And it reached down past his knees.

Ren gave them a sideways glance, hiding behind the dark clothing, "Well? Anything."

Pyrrha and Nora are busy taking in Ren's new appearance while Jaune's watching the Lore from the cloak suppress Ren's Aura in a vice grip that was almost as powerful as Black Hole. Yet, he could see remnants of his Aura move freely between the higher layers of Lore, just not able to escape the confines of the cloak.

"Try using your Aura," Jaune demands, waiting to see the results. His teammate does and the effects are obvious.

Trapped by a strong force, Ren's eyes widen slightly when he feels his Aura respond strongly to his weak command. Then he tries with all his might, and feels his control over his Aura astonishing. It's like nothing he's ever felt before. The surprise actually catches him off-guard and he feels his semblance slip free... only to not do anything.

He can feel it and Jaune can see it.

The Lore compelled his Aura closer to his body, giving him a higher level of control and his semblance can't escape from the Lore's pull! Any Backlash from Ren's Misfortune semblance is completely suppressed unless Ren directly allowed controlled its target.

They all watch as Ren slowly lifted up his arm to gaze down at his palm. The girls can't see it, but Jaune spots Ren calling forth his semblance, looking completely captivated by the rare sight of his semblance being totally in his control for the first time in years.

Then he's looking back at his friends with the collar opening up on its own from the base of Ren's emotions. A tiny smile becomes apparent, followed by a light chuckle that sends waves of warmth to them, mostly Nora.

"I have complete control over my semblance." Ren laughs, enjoying the way the cloak canceled out his semblance responses to his free emotions. "This is incredible!"

Amazing or not, Ren catches himself, stopping the sudden laughing. Years of controlling his emotions isn't exactly an easy habit to break, yet no one can deny the air of happiness surrounding them all. Jaune personally thinks the strange Grimm cloak has something to do with this, and leaves that idea alone for another time.

Nora's already running up to Ren, jumping up to hug her childhood friend, who actually returns the hug with almost equal vigor. Jaune and Pyrrha on the other hand, can't stop wondering how this came to be. Illogically, life didn't seem to make sense. Logically, it didn't matter.

"I'm just gonna chalk this one up as a win," Jaune eventually says, figuring he could examine the cloaks features another time.

"I still don't get what's happening."

Jaune sighed, "Long story short. Ren's semblance has been the cause of emotional baggage for years. He just got himself a golden ticket and this is the first time I've seen the guy smile without holding back. Ask Nora more about it. I'm sure she'll tell you."

Pyrrha nudges his shoulder, "So you're not the least bit curious?"

He grins, watching Ren's Aura interact in an almost positive light with the Lore, "Oh! I am! I am most definitely interested in that cloak. But for now..." he trails.

"We're going to chalk this one up as a win," Pyrrha finishes, unable to contain her smile anymore.

A win by the Sloth King, a leader of a group of sloth Grimm, something that makes Ren's crazy Grimm theory sounding all the more powerful.

...

The sun's already set by the time they make it back to Beacon's courtyard. Most of the students have already turned in for the night and the moon shines brightly upon them. Tomorrow's the last day of their break before their second semester starts again and Jaune breathes a breath of relief at finally being home after their hectic break.

Jaune grins, leading them back to their room for some sleep and relaxation.

Somewhere along down the road, they each came back from this training trip stronger and with more to show for it. Surpassing their expectations and setting to achieve new, higher goals before the start of the Vytal Tournament. Trust between them has grown twice as strong. Strength has been rewarded in its own special way. And knowledge has been revealed from the ashes.

This time Jaune Arc knows he can be the leader Team JNPR desperately needs. And nothing is going to stand in there way.

Watch out Remnant! This year's Vytal Tournament will be one to never forget!


Author Notes: I don't believe in having two Author Notes. Volume Two Arc is finally here!