I'm sooo sorry this took so long to come out! Explanation why is at the bottom.

Enjoy the chapter!

History 101 - Snow Angel

Armoured Core/Core/AC/Mech: Bipedal armoured assets that operate under the power of dust and/or aura.

Lance: A team of four Cores under the command of an Archon.

Archon: Specialized personnel that possess the capability of integrating with a Helion class AI or greater.

~ • ~

[Atlesian Pantheon Index - Armored Core Assets - Myrmidon (aka: The Tall Ones)]

The Myrmidon in it's simplest form is a battle suit designed to enhance the natural capabilities of its wielder. Head and shoulders, it stands 3.7 meters off the ground and weighs in at about 2 and a half tons without armaments. This gorgeous feat of engineering straddles the line between ultra-heavy infantry and the Armoured Core: feather class while doing the jobs of both quite exceptionally.

From ranged to melee; swords to heavy ordnance, the Myrmidon is fiercely versatile and is best suited for hunters. In the right hands, feats accomplished by this machine become legendary.

With its vastly humanoid construction, soldiers have taken to calling these walking giants simply as "The Tall Ones", and on the battlefield, nothing raises up troop morale quite like men who stand a godly 12 feet tall.

—James Ironwood

~ • ~

[Videos - Boring Military Stuff - Mission Logs - Atlas - Entry#: 203]

"Snow Angel, what are you doing?! Fall back; your aura is in the red!" Ruby yelled over the sound of fighting.

"No! If I retreat then you'll be flanked in a matter of moments! My team and I must remain here."

"Grrr!" Ruby growled at her stubborn partner but then looked to Jaune in dismay.

He had on the same expression, "Alpha 1, this is Omega lead, should I come over to assist?"

She could feel Weiss panic even through the coms when her friend's predictable protests rang in her earpiece, "Jaune, no! Stay there. Without your AI, Omega would go blind!"

What she meant by that was, without an Archon in their quadrant, there would be no AI present to parse and relay the vast amounts of battlefield data they were receiving from Amity into their Myrmidons. Their HUDs would revert back to rudimentary motion detection, relying on Identification Friend or Foe protocols rather than real-time digital imaging.

In other words, they won't know what sorts of nasties they'd be dealing with until they were right on top of them.

Having Jaune stay or sending someone else to go in his stead would have been the logical choice. The logical choice, however, also meant that Weiss would die. There could be no one else; Jaune's semblance was the only one that would really make a difference.

In Ruby's mind, the choice was as good as made.

"Jaune…" She said but didn't need to finish, knowing that the exact same thing was going through that pretty, blonde bob of his.

"You're sure you can handle things here?" he only asked.

"Yes. Go," She gave him a nod just as firm as her words, or at least, as firm as her words were meant to sound.

The ongoing battle did not allow him time to call her out on it; all he could do was confide in her, hopefully, better judgement, "…Alright." Grabbing her Armoured Core by the shoulder, the white Myrmidon clunked its forehead against her red one, in a gesture of good luck as well as trust despite the traces of concern she heard lilting beneath his usually confident tenor. Pulling back, Jaune then bolted in the direction of her teammate like a streak of lightning.

"Hang tight, Snow Angel. Mr Wolf is inbound. ETA: 2 minutes."

Her reply came in an anguished, "Damn it, Ruby!"

~ • ~

Jaune read a survey once where people were asked what their greatest fears were. Now if he were to guess what ranked as the greatest fear, many would agree with him when he'd say the fear of death. Of course, this little forum he was hosting inside his brain wouldn't be all that entertaining if that were the case now, would it? No. The greatest fear was not death.

It was public speaking.

When he had finished introducing himself and all he got was crippling silence and gobsmacked looks in return, Jaune remembered all too well that he was still very much seventeen and clueless when it came to talking to large crowds. It didn't matter that he was a hunter, a man who had stared death in the face and made it blink first, a soldier who had trained thousands in the art of killing Grimm. No. All that mattered then and there were the eyes of his friends boring wholes into his sorry hide.

Now that he thought about it, 'I probably should have told them first instead of running into the forest.'

["Ah, the wonders of hindsight."]

Jaune did his best to avoid his friends' unified stares and glares of disbelief as if they weren't even in the room—no small feat considering that they were seated right in the middle of it. He was definitely going to have stiff-neck after this one. "Sooo, uh... Watcha guys wanna talk about?"

He shouldn't have asked.

Ruby's hand shot up so fast Jaune was surprised that rose petals hadn't come out. "Yes, Coo- Ru- Ms Rose?" Damn, this was gonna be hard.

"Yeah, I got something I wanna talk about alright..." She frowned.

He gulped.

Ruby stood with her hands firmly planted on her desk. "Since when did you keep secrets from your best friend, Mr Wolf? Or should I call you Mr Traitorson Mc'traitor Face?!"

Taking that as his cue, "And with that, I must bid you adieu, Mr Wolf," Ozpin vamoosed.

With a panicked, "Wait, Ozpin!" Jaune chased after the headmaster, the eyes of his supposed students following him out the door. "Ozpin. Ozpin! You can't just leave me in there!"

Ozpin kept walking. "Of course I can; I'm the headmaster."

"Yeah, but-"

Suddenly, the older man stopped, almost causing Jaune to bump into him. "—What seems to be the problem here? You told me you wanted to help your team. What better way to do that than to train them yourself?" Ozpin looked closer and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Don't tell me you're actually scared? I was under the impression that this was nothing new to you."

"It isn't for Wolf!"

"And this is a problem because…?" He let the question hang, not seeing the issue.

As if it were the most obvious thing, "I'm not Wolf!" Jaune exclaimed.

Ozpin's head tilted back in confusion before asking, "But isn't he in there with you?" His hands gestured towards his head.

"Yeah, but right now there's more me than him."

An expression of realization softened the lines on the headmaster's face as if he understood the young man's plight. Placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder, "Jaune," he said encouragingly, "there's a piping hot cup of coffee in my office with my name on it, so I really do have to go."

Jaune's face fell, "You are the worst. I hope you know that, Oz."

Not caring in the least, Ozpin replied with the straightening of his blazer, "I am, aren't I? Now then, you really should be going back inside. Your students aren't going to teach themselves."

Jaune could only grit his teeth as he watched the headmaster walk away. He knew that, eventually, he did have to go back, but not before a hesitant whimper made his bottom lip shake. Taking a deep breath and putting on his most confident smile, even if it was quite obviously cracked with nerves, he turned back.

"So!" He said a tad bit too cheery as he stepped through the door a second time, and could he just say: the atmosphere was lovely, simply lovely all saturated with shock, disbelief, and in his friends' case, utter betrayal. Like a rainbow of passive negativity.

Who said that teaching wasn't a noble profession?

Really, who? Jaune wanted to shake their hand.

"Where were we?" He carried on, his voice not cracking like a pre-pubescent recruit's. Nope, not at all.

"You were just about to answer Ruby's question, professor."

"Q-Question?" The emphasis plus how Weiss said the three-syllable word as if it were one long hiss instead, Jaune would admit: his voice did crack that time (but just a little). "O-Oh that! Well, I was kinda—ya know—hoping for a question more related to the Grimm or fighting Grimm."

He laughed nervously. Why? Well, because it wasn't enough that he already looked like a—what was it?—a Traitorson Mc'traitor Face, but he also had to look like an incompetent idiot too! 'Oh, why gods? Why have you forsaken me?!'

"Then I have a question, Mr Wolf."

Oh, thank goodness! Pyrrha. He could always count on his partner to keep things nice and civil. "Yes, Ms Nikos, what is it?" He asked sounding all too eager.

"Yes, my question: [ahem-hem]" she coughed demurely into her fist, "Say you were a Grimm, Mr Wolf, which one would you be? Are you a Beowolf, or are you more of a two-faced King Taijitus?"

'Nooo... Pyrrha not you too...' The smile he had on fell and died and was reanimated into the undead version of itself, "You're serious?"

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed dangerously at him, "Deadly serious, Mr Wolf."

Jaune whimpered lamenting his current situation yet again, "Beowolf. I mean, it's kinda in the name."

Pyrrha shared an unimpressed, eyes half-lidded look with Nora that practically oozed is-that-so-ness. "Could have fooled us," the shorter girl scoffed as she returned the expression.

Before Jaune could groan at the obvious slight, another student made herself known with the raising of her hand, "Oo oo, I have a question!"

Jaune let out a defeated sigh when he saw who it was, "Yes, Yang, what's your question?" He asked, not even holding a candle for the question actually being a question. Her wicked grin told him as much.

"So what kind of name is Wolf? Did you get that out of a comic or something? I mean, edgy much, am I right?"

["As far as passive-aggressive jabs go, that one wasn't as clever. Clever goes to the Nikos girl, I'd say. What say you, General?"]

And now even his AI was getting in on it too? Did he not do enough good in his past life or something? He freakin' died for Remnant; what else could the universe want from him?! 'Not helping, WNTR,' Jaune ground out.

A pregnant pause filled with dirty looks and hurt feelings permeated the classroom that suddenly felt stifling even in the thermally regulated undersuit he wore under his clothes. "Awkward" was definitely the word of the day as Jaune had to remind himself repeatedly that he wanted this. He asked for this. He wanted to help his friends and this was the way he was going to do it.

He just didn't expect all the shade he was getting from the very people he wanted to help. "Guys," tone pleading, he said, "c'mon. Can we just do this?"

There was no reply to be had, just more glaring, and he couldn't, for the life of him, understand why. He knew that he hadn't actually been around much to explain what's been happening with him, but still, this- this was a bit much, wasn't it? It's not like it's been that long since he found out he was going to be a professor. He would have told them if it were the case. They had to have known that.

But then again, Jaune remembered that his old teammates were currently teenagers, and teenagers were… complicated, nevermind cruel and unusual. The part of him where Wolves' Bane sat scratching his head was at a loss. As for Jaune, who was a teenager himself, he felt that there was something else fueling their bad mood.

If he had the time and the privacy, he would've asked them what, but they weren't the only ones in the room, a fact he had forgotten up until an unnamed student coughed nervously from somewhere to his left.

"Jaune," it was Ren who spoke then, and Jaune had never been more glad to hear his monotonous voice. He'd choose monotone to whatever his lady friends were throwing at him, any day, "perhaps you should pick up where professor Port left off."

His bro, his comrade, his compadre, bless his soul as, yet again, it was proven that brothers, no matter the beef between them, would always stick by one another against the injustices womankind would throw against his fellows.

Jaune almost cried.

"Right. Could anyone tell me where Port left you all?"

With an eerie level of synchronisation, everyone cracked open their textbooks to the first few pages of their considerable tomes.

At first Wolves Bane thought that it was a joke, but Jaune's own memories of professor Port's class was proof that it wasn't. He took out his own textbook and read the title of what was to be the first chapter of his lesson, "Aura and Semblances".

His brows creased when, suddenly, his earlier embarrassment didn't seem to matter anymore.

This was bad. Cinder was coming and his friends haven't even been taught the finer points of aura yet? It was already half past the middle of the semester! What kind of bucket show was Ozpin running when men like Port were allowed to teach like this?

As hunters, aura was going to be a big part of their lives. They needed to know how to utilize it to its maximum potential. More than that, they needed to know of its weakness, understand it's limitations so that they might not succumb to it.

To handle such knowledge with this level of levity…

It made the general inside him seeth.

With more force than was necessary, Jaune snapped the textbook he held in his hand shut startling the class. Unconsciously, he began to pace the length of his podium while the eyes of his classmates trailed after him.

["Jaune, calm down."]

Through grit teeth beneath thinned lips, Jaune whispered, "I am calm."

["You do remember that I keep track of you vitals, right? Your blood pressure, Jaune, it's through the roof."]

Oh right, that. 'Well, can you blame me? Ozpin says to trust him, and that he has my team's best interest at heart, but then has Port teaching them Grimm Studies?!'

["Well…"]

Jaune carried on heedless of his AI, 'Aura and Semblances, WNTR, Aura and Semblances! It's not even that big a chapter since the class is focused more on Grimm, but Port still hasn't covered it yet!'

["Okay, I will admit: it is rather-…"] To have an AI that had every single dialect programmed into her looking for the right word to describe the farce that was Peter Port, it somewhat vindicated Jaune's ire, yet WNTR still tried her best to reason with her general, ["—rather concerning, yes, but look at it this way, Wolf. These students are about as fresh as they could get, clean slates ready for an expert brush,"] her tone then becoming sultry, ["and I know just how much my general loves breaking in new recruits"] she proposed almost seductively.

…She wasn't wrong.

Jaune's eyes flashed towards his "recruits".

~ • ~

The way he stalked about made everyone, including herself, tense. Tense—Jaune arc making her tense; the very notion was laughable if it were not the current truth. Oh, he'd made her tense before what with his stupid serenatas and public declarations of fielty. But this felt different. He felt different.

She didn't know what it was, but as Jaune was looking through their textbook, something about him changed right before her very eyes. So seamless it was, so unassuming that Weiss doubted if anybody else noticed. Hell, even she wasn't too sure.

But then he turned his gaze on them, and the difference made itself all the more apparent when she was the one to flinch at his icy blue glare.

"Alright, books down."

Unsure to be following the instruction of an instructor their age, hesitant looks were shared amongst the students before doing what he said, and when the sound of the last book closing was heard, he continued with an authoritative tone she never would have attributed to the bumbling blonde.

"Can anyone tell me what the perks of aura are?"

An easy enough question but no one seemed too eager to raise their hands thinking that it might have been a trick question or rhetorical in its simplicity.

"Cardin."

Caught off guard, the older boy jumped in his seat, "Yes, sir, Mr Wolf, sir!" Again, the change in JNPR's leader showed itself more obviously when Jaune made even the school bully nervous.

"Give me one, please."

Everybody held their breaths for the answer.

Tense. Nervous. They were all so nervous. Why was everybody so nervous? Why was she nervous when they were just grilling him not too long ago?! This was Jaune, for pity's sake, the very same boy who wore onesies to bed on their first day! Surely no one was taking this seriously!

"Um… strength?"

Confirmation came quick, "Correct," and with it, breaths of relief. The reaction from her classmates only served to confuse Weiss even more.

'What is even happening?' Was everyone really that wound up over a stupid question or was it just the person who asked it? 'That person being Jaune Arc, by the way,' she thought to mention again.

Cardin did a fist pump and exchanged high-fives with his teammates before taking his seat.

Emboldened to see no trickery, hands were braver when they raised themselves.

"Speed!"

"Regeneration."

"Supper senses!"

"THUNDER THIGHS!"

Weiss rolled her eyes at the last one, only able to guess who said it.

"Huh? But that's not a pow-"

Ren placed a hand quickly on Ruby's shoulder. "—It is. It very much is. Please, just agree," The last part, he whispered urgently notably with a haunted look on his face.

"Okay, everyone's a smart cookie. Now settle down. I said settle do- Hey!" Jaune chuckled, and Weiss couldn't help but note the ease in which he addressed them. It didn't escape her what he just did either: asking a simple question to fill everyone with confidence and breaking the ice. If she hadn't known any better, she'd say that he'd been handling classrooms for years. But she did know better, or she thought she did. This confident, young man couldn't really be Jaune… could it?

"There is still one more perk," He continued, and hands raised again as if answering such a basic question was anything noteworthy. Weiss scoffed. "Nope, I'll choose who answers this time." His gaze settled on her, "Why not you, Ms Schnee?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to figure out his game. He gave away nothing, only smiling in return. It was with a frustrated sigh that she let up. "Protection," she answered begrudgingly.

"That's right. Protection—never leave home without it!"

The double entendre got a good round of chuckles from the crowd. Even more surprising was that it got Yang too who was supposed to be upset! "What?" The blonde asked when she raised a brow at her, "It was funny!" Her teammate tried to defend.

Shaking her head, she wasn't prepared when Jaune addressed her again. He wasn't done with her yet it would seem, and the way his eyes kept on hers made Weiss feel like he was singling her out. But why?

"Out of all the things you get from aura, protection is the most important perk it could give you. Do you know why, Ms Schnee?"

So used to him calling her by her first name despite not having been given her consent, "Ms Schnee" was just plain unsettling coming from him. Unsettling and distracting. Because of it, she was unable to answer the question right away.

He mistook her hesitation as not knowing the answer and answered for her even though he damn well knew that she knew, "It's because protection keeps you from dying!" he exclaimed, and the class laughed at how she couldn't answer the simple question.

Having been made the fool, Weiss's face heated up in both anger and embarrassment. 'I knew that! He just didn't give me the chance to answer,' the redness of her face seemed to say.

Then it paled.

"You guys think that's funny?!"

The sudden change in his demeanour took everybody, including herself, by surprise, and the silence that ensued was thick with nerves just as it was before.

"You think dying's a joke?!"

Even though his words no longer addressed her specifically, Weiss still felt like she was the one being scolded. She looked to either side of her and found her teammates' heads low just as hers was. Who was this man that he could cow those the likes of Yang? Slowly it began to dawn on her that she might not have known Jaune as much as she thought she did. She'd put him in a box the moment he tried to flirt with her. How foolish she had been.

"If you think that it's a joke, then why are you kids even here, huh?" He asked, and they all silently agreed that the question had indeed been rhetorical that time. So nobody answered. A wise decision, really. "Did you think it'd be cool to become a huntsman?"

Ruby flinched.

"Or do you believe you have something to prove?"

Weiss flinched as well.

He carried on as his eyes roamed over the classroom, "Get over yourselves. The only reason you should have for coming to this school is to become the best hunters you could be. That's. It." He let the pause stretch out into a quiet so that the words could sink in, and once they did, he finished with an ominous promise, "Because believe me when I tell you: it's no joke that hunters deal with death. Every. Single. Day."

It got so quiet you could hear a pin drop, what more were his footsteps?

Having her head bowed in thought, Weiss could only feel his approach as every purposeful step sent vibrations across the floor. She ringed her wrists from underneath her desk when it sounded like he was walking towards her. Why? Why her again? When she chanced a glance up, the heiress froze when she found his cerulean orbs looking straight into her own sky-blue ones.

"And that goes double for those who rely on their semblance too much," he cautioned gently, far too gently for it not to be meant for her and only her. The depth of concern she found in those eyes... it was debilitating, "That's why it's important, Ms Schnee. Please try to remember that..."

She blushed.

~ • ~

Red.

[Top Secret. Do Not Open. That means you, Ruby, you dolt! Stop guessing my passw... - Career - Videos - Atlas - Campaigns - 2164 - Dec 12 - Entry#: 3]

All she could see was red as the cut above her brow doused blood into her eyes. Tired, bruised, and beaten, Weiss Schnee was loath to admit that she and her cadre were running on fumes. Her aura was all but depleted, and the only thing keeping her from becoming a bloody smear on the snowy battlefield was the thick armour plates of her Myrmidon. Once again Weiss cursed her hubris. She knew that this was going to be a long-fought battle, yet she did not ration her aura as well as she should have.

'It was necessary,' she would argue; that first wave of Grimm had been fierce, Alphas one and all. She had to use her glyphs lest her entire squad and the infantry under her care be swept away the moment the cursed Grimm smashed against their ranks. Did she regret her decision? Not a chance. Did that mean anything when there was an Ursa Major clamped to her AC's shoulder determined to rip her jugular out? No, it did not.

Weiss was dragged down into the unforgiving snow. "AAARG!" she screamed as her foe bared down on her. With relentless fervour, fangs dug their way through her Myrmidon, into her suit, and piercing her defenceless flesh. Her warm blood began to coat her right arm.

Agony.

Desperate panic began to show in the way her hands shook as she tried to pry the Ursa off her shoulder, but all that did was make it bite down harder. Her efforts grew weaker and weaker as her Armoured Core's dust reserves diminished with every pityful attempt. Nominally, it was at that point when her Myrmidon's failsafe was supposed to kick in and use her aura to power it instead, but she had none left. She had nothing of anything left.

She was going to die.

Blood and tears mixed as the reality of her demise loomed over her like a spectre. What comfort she could gain from knowing that she died for her friends was robbed by the helplessness and fear she felt in that very moment. Death was never pretty, and despite what people said, last thoughts were often selfish. Weiss's was no different. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to be just another body that grew colder underneath the snow. She wanted to live.

The eyes of her Myrmidon began to flicker as the last vestiges of dust were pushed through its servos. But it was not enough. This was it for her. She closed her eyes and wept anew.

'I don't want to die, please.'

"Alpha, this is Omega; hold that sucker still for me, would you?"

Her eyes snapped wide open as his name came out a weak yet hopeful whisper, "J-Jaune?"

At the mere sound of his voice, relief the likes of which she had never felt before surged through her battered and broken body. Thoughts of death evaporated in an instant when his green nav signal flickered to life in the corner of her HUD. Jaune was here. He was coming.

She would live!

She would live because she knew Jaune would never let her be anything but. Never. Renewed strength flowed through her veins like fire as she lifted her Armoured Cores' heavy arms to wrap around the back of the Ursa's neck. She held. The Ursa, in turn, panicked and tried to shake her off, but her CO would not be denied. He told her to keep it still, so that's exactly what Weiss was going to do. "You're NOT going anywhere," she hissed through her bloodstained teeth.

Heavy, armoured stomps sounded to her left, and not soon enough, cold steel whispered its deadly dirge as it sheathed itself through flesh and bone. With a groan, her would-be killer disintegrated into the wind and the fang that was previously lodged inside her shoulder turned to nothingness, leaving her wound to bleed freely.

Jaune wasted no time, "I want a perimeter around me and Snow Angel! Move!" The Tall Ones that accompanied him took defensive positions around the two Archons making sure that no Grimm would come even remotely close.

His white Myrmidon took a knee besides her blue one and helped her sit up by placing an arm around her back. Mindful not to hurt the pilot inside, he used his free hand to gently pry her Myrmidon's cockpit apart just enough so that it would slide open on its own. Immediately, the frigid cold of Atlas greeted her. Or was that the bloodloss? Her hand reached up towards her right shoulder to try and stem the bleeding to no avail.

Weiss did not get up simply because she had not the strength.

Thankfully it would seem that she needn't have as the Myrmidon that hovered above her own decompressed its release valves. The loud hissing of a cockpit's pressurised atmosphere as it drew in the air around it sounded when Jaune's colossus unfolded like a giant metal flower. Out from that flower, her general hopped down to where she lay prone and dying. Jaune followed his Myrmidon's example when he helped her sit up as well—a picturesque little scene where two hunters sat caged between two Armoured Cores that mirrored their masters' care for one another.

Practised fingers felt underneath her chin as Jaune thumbed the latch that would collapse her helmet. With a swish, Weiss's visor slid open, and her helmet folded into her jaw guard. She gasped for breath and he at how his friend looked like hell. He collapsed his own helm to get a better view.

"Weiss..." He whispered as he wiped the blood away from her eyes.

On the verge of death, she could have told him anything in that moment, secret things of which times for being said have long since passed. She was both grateful and disappointed with herself when an apology was all that came out of her mouth, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I couldn't hold them. I-I tried, but there was just too many. I had to use my semblance. I-" she gasped through the pain, "I had to-"

"—Shhh," Jaune placed his thumb lightly over her lips as he cupped her face with a gloved hand, "you've already done more than I ever could have asked of you, Weiss." The proud smile he wore just for her felt wholly underserved next to what she perceived was her most recent feat of failure, "but, for now, let's not think about that. Why don't we just focus on getting you patched up, sound good?"

'Yes, that sounds absolutely amazing,' she wanted to say but could only manage a shaky nod.

Jaune's hand left her cheek and she immediately missed its warmth. Focusing on the pain in her shoulder, Weiss crushed the errant thought and watched Jaune instead as he held his palm up between them. In the space where their breaths fogged and mingled, a brightness came into being like a tiny star that alighted on the palm of his hand.

Aura in its purest form.

Jaune's semblance had always been a breathtaking sight to behold. Aura amplification, they called it; Jaune, however, proved that it was something more. It wasn't really amplification per se; it was more the power to imbue. Now the strength and potency of his aura, that was what gave his semblance the illusion of amplification when he bestowed it upon those who needed it. To give strength to others at the cost of his own, Aura Transfution was the more accurate term.

And she knew exactly how much it cost him each time.

Weiss shied away from the light as he offered it up to her, "N-No... Jaune..." she objected. "You need that... just-" swallowing the pained groan that tried to make its way past her throat, she forced herself to say, "—just get me to a medic."

"You'd've bled out by then," was his simple counterargument, and she would be inclined to agree had the circumstances been different.

But they were not, and Weiss was as stubborn as they came. True, she may have wanted to live, but not at the cost of someone else's life, especially not his, not Jaune's. He was far too important to the cause... and to her. With what strength she had left, she weakly swatted his hand away.

"Weiss, we don't have time for this," he stated flatly, but she had known him long enough to notice that his patience was getting short with her.

"No... You need-"

"—What I need is for you to stay alive. Getting you back in the fight is worth feeling a little dizzy over."

"It's not just a... lil' dizzy-" Dear gods, did she actually just say 'lil'?

"—Weiss Schnee. Don't make me make this an order."

Heavy eyelids opened to look helplessly at the blonde. Oh, how useless she felt just then. What kind of squad leader was she to make her commanding officer abandon his post and second in command just to come and save her incompetent behind? Weiss could do nothing but apologize again for the complications she must have caused the both of them, "I'm... I'm so sorry, Jaune."

"Oh, stop being such a drama queen. You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you," he grinned at her boyishly as he again brought his hand up closer to her.

Weiss returned the smile with one of her own. Selfless to a fault, he really was something extraordinary. Not for the first time, the ex-heiress regretted not having said "yes" to the young blonde boy back at Beacon all those years ago.

Ruby was one lucky girl.

"Now shut up and let me work."

She did as she was told and leaned her head against his padded shoulder, bracing herself for what she knew was coming.

Slowly he pushed the ball of light into her stomach and it was like being doused in cold flames. Starting from where his hand was on her abdomen radiating outwards, he seared himself into her very soul. Weiss bucked, kicked, and squirmed in retaliation, but steady hands held her still. The unexpected pleasure that came with the transfution made her thighs rub together, and against her will, a moan she was not quick enough to catch slipped past her lips, "Ahnnn!" She tried her absolute best to muffle every other squeal that came after that by biting down mercilessly on his shoulder, but it was no use.

It was that intense.

Soon enough, the whole ordeal had passed and she was left panting, the fire earlier becoming a soothing warmth inside her chest.

She felt strong; that was the first thing she noticed. Really strong. Jaune's aura had always been dense; to have it fill her body that was accustomed only to a milder strain, it was like she had been asleep all her life and only at his touch did she wake.

Colours were more vibrant; sounds, crisper and detailed; her skin feeling each individual snowflake as they touched her face. Weiss felt like a thousand glyphs.

Jaune was the opposite.

Laboured breathing prompted her to catch her general before he fell backwards, "Jaune!"

"I'm fine, just... a little winded," he rasped.

A little winded, looked way worse than he made it sound. Weiss's eyes narrowed at him in suspicion, "Jaune..." she hesitated to ask but forced herself to, "how much did you use?"

"It doesn't matter. I'll regenerate. Let's just get back to-"

He tried to wave her off but she wasn't having it, "—Jaune..." she repeated more adamantly, "How. Much?"

There was a short contemplative pause before she heard him mumble, "Half..."

His name was a harsh whisper lined with utter horror and disbelief, "Jaune!"

He was down to 50% aura?! How?! To max out her aura reserves was no easy task, surely, but... to use his half? It was then she noticed the lack of pain in her shoulder. Her hand flew to where her wound had once been and her eyes widened. 'No...' He didn't just give her his aura... he'd healed her. The idiot!

"Don't," he told her just as the guilt from earlier began to show on her face. "It was my choice; you don't get to feel bad for what I choose to do with my semblance, and I'd do it all over again if I had to."

'Do it all over again... for me...' Her eyes searched his desperately, for what? She honestly didn't know. Maybe something that would explain why he was the way he was? Why he would give so much and expect so little in return? Or just why he was so good to her? 'This man... Gods, this man is unbelievable.'

Ruby was... one extremely, lucky girl.

"Wolf."

Speak of the devil.

They both immediately picked up on the tone in which his XO used to say his callsign. She and Jaune shared a worried look, "Talk to me, Red."

There was a tense moment where only the white noise of battle could be heard over at Ruby's end, but then her calm voice cut through the static with all the precision of a katana, "She's here, Jaune," She said. "Cinder Fall... she's here."

Weiss saw the moment colour drained from Jaune's face. For the first time in a long while, she found fear in her leader's eyes, but not for himself. No, he never feared for himself. He only ever feared for his men. He feared for his friends.

And right then, he was afraid for the one that held his heart.

"Omega 2, do not engage. I repeat: do not engage!" Jaune cried out desperately, "Little Red, do you copy?" but Ruby did not acknowledge. "Red?"

Then a sound like the sky being torn asunder rocked the ground beneath their feet.

"RUBY!"

Again, I'd just like to apologize for taking so long to update! You see, what happened was that this was supposed to be another 10k chapter, but somehow it just ended up getting longer and longer until I decided to just chop it up into two chapters so that you wont have to wait so long for me to finish.

Another reason was that, last week, a storm hit us pretty bad here, and right on the weekends too. Weekends are the only times I'm really free to write and so, of course, the power went out. Just fantastic. So there's that.

One thing this whole debacle made me realize, though, is that I should probably keep my chapters short from this point on. Besides it being more manageable, it would also prevent me from burning out like this chapter almost did to me.

Yieeeah.

Aaanywho, here we see more of Weiss's side of the whole war of the roses ship that's going on. I always liked the idea of Weiss being on the short end of the unrequited love trope. But do not despair, Weiss! Just because your past life might have had regrets, that doesn't mean that you have to too! Fighting!

Expect the next chapter to come earlier next week. Like I said, I chopped it up and prt 2 is mostly done.One last thing. As an apology, I drew you guys a brand spankin new cover. Check it out! (To be digitized soon... I hope.)