A/N: The release of Castlevania Season 4 had nothing to do with any delay in this chapter's release. Honest.

[/]

"Marry me?"

The words echoed in Weiss's mind as she stared up at him. She reached up to gently take his face into her hands, feeling the rough stubble and grime from his ordeal.

"Oh, Jaune. Do you even have to ask me? I'm yours and you're mine, now and forever."

And then she was kissing him, his arms wrapped around her, supporting her back and neck as he dipped her backwards, utterly secure in his grasp. She wanted to stay there, with him, just like that and never have to let him go.

Unfortunately, the world didn't care what she wanted.

"Ahem."

Weiss flushed as she drew away from Jaune, and looked to see their Headmaster politely waiting, leaning on his cane. "Well. Far be it for me to interrupt such a reunion, but I'm afraid I'm going to need to borrow Jaune for debriefing. I'll return him in due time, Miss -" He was interrupted when his Scroll went off, a priority message incoming. He frowned as he answered the call. "Ozpin. What is it?" The Headmaster's expression turned grave as he listened to the report. "I'm on it," he said.

"What is it?" Jaune asked.

Ozpin sighed, and for just a moment, he seemed to be impossibly old. "It seems as though some elements of the city have taken this threat and used it as a pretext to drive the Faunus from the city. A large group is gathering, apparently led by Grandon Winchester."

Jaune's mouth drew into a hard line, and without a word, he turned to go back to the Bullhead.

"Jaune!" Weiss called, running after him. "Jaune, what are you doing?"

"This is my fault, Weiss. They took the warning I sent them, and used it to act on their old hatreds." He nodded as he took back his standard from Coco, who had been approaching him to give back the cape that she'd retrieved. The brunette girl did a double-take as she saw Jaune and Weiss marching back to the Bullhead.

"Where the hell are you going? Infirmary's the other way," Coco said.

"Trouble. Humans looking to attack Faunus," Jaune said.

"Fuck."

"Indeed."

"Jaune." He looked down to see Weiss pulling on his arm. "Jaune, I know you feel responsible about this, but you're not. You gave Vale a warning. You and Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, you almost died to give them the time to prepare. How other people react to that isn't your responsibility."

"Maybe. But regardless of that, I need to do something."

"Jaune, you can barely stand!"

He hesitated, and Weiss took heart that maybe she had got through to him and that he would do the sensible thing.

"You're right. I can barely stand."

"Right." She reached up to gently rub the back of his neck. "I know it feels like you have to save everyone yourself, but please, let other people handle this one."

He smiled sadly at her. "I'm sorry. That's not in my nature." He pulled out his Scroll. "Sir Roland," he began, as he boarded the Bullhead, standard in hand. He winced at the sudden burst of invective from the other end of the line. "Right, right, yell at me later. Right now, I need your help."

Team CFVY boarded as well, with Coco shaking her head at the younger leader. "Are you determined to not stop until you're all the way dead?"

Jaune could only shrug helplessly. Weiss took the seat next to him, sighing as she took his hand. There he goes again, rushing into danger. At least this time, she could be with the idiot.

Jaune gave her his best reassuring smile before focusing on his call. "Bring Talos."

[/]

Yang scrubbed her hands and arms. Again. No matter how hard she scrubbed, she could still see the dark, dried blood that had caked her limbs up to her elbows. She had showered, twice, and had had to carefully pick bone fragments and other...parts out of her hair.

What was wrong with her?

Team RWBY's dorm room was eerily quiet. There was no Weiss, badgering them all over some perceived deficiency. There was no Blake, turning a page on her bunk as she quietly giggled at their antics. And most of all, there was no Ruby, her cheerful little hummingbird of a sister zipping around, bursting with positive energy.

There was just Yang. And her guilt. And her worry.

Blake would be in surgery for a while. Aside from the obvious loss of her hand, the surgeons said that they needed laparoscopic surgery to repair her shoulder, but the head wound was the most dangerous. They would be working on her all night, and even then, they didn't know when she would awaken, or what condition she'd be in when she did.

They had no answers as to Ruby. For now, they had her resting in an infirmary bed. Yang hadn't wanted to leave her side, even for a moment, but Pyrrha's mom had come, taken one look at her, and gently led her over to a sink, scrubbing her arms for her like she was a child. Then she had suggested she take a shower and get some sleep. Yang had protested, but Penny had arrived as well, and between the two of them, they promised that they could watch over Ruby and the rest of their friends while she took care of herself.

Yang had dressed in her sleep shorts and tank top, tossing aside her blood-crusted combat garb. Gods only knew how she was going to begin to clean the gore out of those. For now, she just wanted reprieve from...from all of it. It was all too much.

Then she heard a knocking at the door. It wouldn't have been Weiss - she would've just walked in. Maybe it was someone with an update on her team? She walked to the door, and pulled it open, revealing Mercury, a worried look on his face.

"Yang? I heard things were rough out there. Are you okay? Your team?"

She fell into his arms, allowing him to pull her into a close hug.

"Oh gods, Merc...it was terrible," she croaked. "I just...they took Ruby, and…"

"They took your sister?! Is she okay?"

"We took her back, but she's in a coma, and no one can tell why! She's in the infirmary, and -"

"Hey," he said, cutting her off. "It's going to be okay."

He pulled her into a kiss. Her violet eyes widened as she realized what was happening, before she sank into the comfort and relief of her first kiss.

That relief was cut off when she felt a sudden, sharp impact to the base of her skull.

Mercury let her go, the blonde girl crumpling to the floor. He took a second to check her pulse. She was still alive. Ugh. No time to finish her off, or to have fun with her. The job came first, always, a code that had kept him alive and made him the best assassin in Remnant.

He met Emerald in the hallway. "Target's in the infirmary. We snatch and run. Get us an escape vehicle, and I'll meet you on the airstrip."

"All right," Emerald answered. "Just don't take too long."

"Like you've got anywhere else to go," he snarked.

She grimaced. It had been hours since Cinder had flown off the handle, and they hadn't heard a word from her. Either she had been captured or killed, or else she really had abandoned them.

"This boss of yours had better come through," said Emerald, before she split off to head to the hangar.

Mercury smirked.

[/]

"For too long, the Faunus have taken advantage of our goodwill! Of our compassion!"

Sir Grandon Winchester, Knight of Vale, sat astride a horse, clad in armor for the first time in decades. Sir Roland had been right. He had been neglectful of his duties as a Knight of Vale for too long. When he'd seen Sir Roland's squire, that Arc boy, showing the true depth of Faunus depravity before swearing to stop it in its tracks, well...he'd been inspired.

The boy was almost certainly dead by now, but he could do his part to ensure that the Faunus menace was extirpated from Vale, permanently. And so he did, gathering more and more like-minded humans, true sons and daughters of Vale, around his banner. Ozpin lacked the guts to see this through, but a Winchester would purge the Faunus and finally, Vale would be safe.

"While we have allowed them to live in our city, in our Kingdom, they've spat in our faces and sharpened their claws, preparing to stab us in the back! Harnessing the Grimm to slaughter us in our beds, to rip our children limb-from-limb - can anything other than the most bestial of creatures think of something so depraved?"

"Murderers!" someone yelled from the crowd.

"Well, I say enough is enough! We will drive them from our city, and then from our Kingdom! We will make it known that we will tolerate no monsters, be they Grimm or beasts, in our home! With torch and blade, we will lance out this infection and secure our future - a human future! Who's with me!"

Faunustown - or less politely, "The Zoo" - was a Faunus ethnic enclave, a district of the city of Vale. While it wasn't a legal requirement for Faunus-owned homes and businesses to be limited to that district, it was generally considered safer for all involved if they didn't stray too far from its unofficial borders. There generally tended to be less arson that way. While behind the walls of the city, Faunustown was also built on the delta where the river Vale emptied into the sea. As a result, shit literally ran downstream to their area, and until Ozpin had pushed through spending bills through the Council, the district had occasionally reeked of sewage overflow when the city's sanitation infrastructure grew overwhelmed.

Ozpin's water treatment facilities made the area cleaner and less pungent, but that didn't change the fact that Faunustown was generally isolated from the rest of the city. Access into and out of the district was limited to a single suspension bridge that cut over the main body of the river Vale.

As Sir Grandon spurred his horse towards the bridge, he was already contemplating what the city could do with the land once the Faunus were gone. The soil should be rich from the river's runoff, and would make for good, generally protected farmland for the city. House Winchester would do well in buying up as much land as it could once its current tenants were evicted. Vale would only be made stronger with the treacherous animals put down and the land put to more productive use.

With a force of hundreds behind him, each one bearing torches, machetes, bolt-action rifles or scrounged weapons, Sir Grandon was sure that he would prevail, what with Arc having so helpfully wiped out the White Fang. When he was done, he'd make sure to posthumously knight the boy for his service to Vale.

In light of such gallantry, such human gallantry, how could he do any less?

[/]

Emerald stole through the airship hangar. There wasn't much to choose from, what with all the excitement. Apparently, that expeditionary force was still out clearing the Grimm from Mountain Glenn. That had been some freaky shit, especially as she saw that one Faunus be injected with a Grimm that was supposed to enable him to control the thing.

Creepy.

Speaking of fuckin' creepy, it was a sad state of affairs when Mercury was her only hope of escape.

She crept into a smaller hangar off to one side of the main motor pool, finding an old Manta gunship, one painted a dull grey with red markings. Huh. Strange. Still, good enough for a quick getaway. Emerald knelt next to the airship, pulling out her Scroll to link it to the ship's main computer system. She ran the program that would force open its systems and grant her total control of the vehicle.

The thief almost jumped out of her boots when she heard her Scroll chime. She pulled it out, cursing herself for forgetting to put the damn thing on silent, something she rectified as she opened the text that was sent to her.

All that she saw when she opened the text was an animated image of some kind of cartoon black bird, which was wagging one of its feathers like an index finger. "Uh-uh-uh," it chided her. "You didn't say the magic word. Uh-uh-uh. Uh-uh-uh…"

She sneered at the juvenile hacking trick. Someone had clearly taken the time to seriously upgrade the ship's cyber security, so she should just move on and try to find something -

"Heeeeeey!" the cartoon bird squawked, overriding the muted setting of her Scroll and blaring as loud as it could. "There's a thief here! A thiefy-thief of thiefy-ness! Thief!"

Emerald swore as she smashed her Scroll. A fucking counter-hack program! What kind of fucking prick -

The air was blasted from her lungs by a sudden, powerful impact right to her bare abdomen. She was folded in half from the brutal hit. Emerald puked as she fell to her knees, forcing herself to look up to see her attacker. If she could just pull off an illusion…

"Miss Sustrai," Ozpin greeted her, his tone cold. "I believe we have much to discuss."

His cane lashed out once more, and Emerald saw stars before falling into unconsciousness.

[/]

There weren't many among the civilians of Faunustown who were both trained fighters and unaffiliated with the White Fang. Or at least, not currently affiliated with the Faunus advocacy group-turned terrorist organisation. When they saw the large mob of humans carrying torches and weapons, they weren't especially inclined to ask questions of the handful of their own who were setting up a barricade in front of the bridge and pulling out well-worn rifles.

"Haven't seen one this bad since Mistral," a grizzled old Faunus remarked, a man with an eyepatch and one of his ram horns broken off.

"Well, we won't go quiet," one of his companions answered, his own tone grim. This was going to get bloody.

"You're wrong."

The impromptu militia turned as they heard the accented voice of a young girl. A rabbit Faunus, who was accompanied by three humans, of all things. "We won't go at all."

"We're here from Beacon," spoke up one of the humans, a girl with a beret and sunglasses. "You're not alone here. And neither are we."

And then the Faunus militia saw the strangest of things. Three humans, all on horses, rode down the bridge, and one of whom wore thick steel armor. The armored human carried some kind of flag in his hand, a pair of golden crescents on a white field.

"Is that a fucking knight?" asked the old ram Faunus.

"I thought that a knight was leading the mob?"

The rabbit girl from Beacon smiled brilliantly. "We have one of our own."

With that, the four Beacon students greeted the new arrivals.

Sir Roland had ridden his old draft horse, Rocinante, directly. He had his sword at his side, and sat easily in the saddle. There was some consternation at the appearance of what looked to be a Schnee, of all people, on a palfrey, and in the middle of the trio was a young man with blonde hair and deep blue eyes. His armor was rent, he looked beat to hell, but his eyes were sharp and his posture strong.

The young knight in the middle nodded towards them. "Hold here," he said. "I'll stop them from crossing the bridge entirely."

"How are you going to do that?" one of the Faunus asked him curiously.

"By word if I can, and by blade if I must," he answered. "Make no mistake on this: they will not cross."

"Why does a human care what happens to us?"

The knight looked distant for a moment. "Because it's the right thing to do." He nodded to them. "Team CFVY, on us." At his direction, his horse turned around, and he canted out to the far side of the bridge.

Jaune sat atop Talos, trying very hard not to let his sheer disgusted fury show as he waited for his enemy to arrive. Soon enough, he was squaring off against the large mob led by the Winchester patriarch. He was glad that CRDL was off with Winter, Glynda, and the rest of the Beacon force, making sure that Mountain Glenn was absolutely clear of Enhanced Grimm. Cardin's divided loyalties could have made things more complicated.

Sir Grandon nodded respectfully towards them. Sir Roland. Jaune Arc. And a Schnee. I assume you're here to join in my endeavor?"

"You thought wrong," drawled Sir Roland. "The first time you don your armor in decades, and it's for this?"

"I'm doing my part for the defense of this city," spat Winchester. "They are an unacceptable security risk for this city and for this kingdom. Can you honestly tell me that there isn't a single White Fang terrorist seeking safe harbor in that slum?"

Jaune's eyes narrowed. "Better a thousand criminals go free than we harry a single innocent soul."

"Don't mouth platitudes at me, boy. What I do, I do for the good of Vale."

"And how does purging the Faunus district help that? You'll drive these people to the White Fang, at least the ones that survive. Traumatized people, driven from their homes and the safety of the city, left to the mercy of the Grimm as they struggle to find some modicum of succor. You'll have children grow up remembering the torches and spears of humans, humans of Vale, who forced them into that crucible. Now, when the White Fang is at its weakest...ever, you would grant them the greatest boon for which they could ask."

"Better that we have an open war than a venomous 'peace' that weakens our society and kills us by inches. And you should know your place, boy."

Jaune drove his standard into the ground, cracking the asphalt. "My place is right here," he said. "Between innocent people and those who would do them harm." He reached down and drew Ascalon, extending it into a sword.

"Have at thee."

Jaune charged atop his Destrier. Winchester, out of sheer ingrained instinct, made to respond in kind, drawing a one-handed mace of his own. At the last moment, Jaune transformed Ascalon into its long spear form, couching it under his arm and leaning forward to ensure that the lance tip hit with maximum force. Winchester had just enough time to realize what was happening, but not enough time to try to dodge it.

He could have aimed for Winchester's breastplate, but he didn't. Instead, Jaune aimed directly for the older man's head. Ascalon struck with devastating force, ripping Winchester out of the saddle as if he'd been pulled from a rope. The man hit the road hard, cracking the asphalt on impact, and his Aura shattered from the vicious hit.

Jaune pulled up in front of the mob, Talos rearing up as Jaune fixed them with a glare. "Put down your arms and go home," he ordered. They milled around, unsure if they should obey or attack. "My name is Jaune Arc. Odds are, you've seen me recently. Let me educate you as to who I am. My team and I wiped out the entire Vale cell of the White Fang. When they tried to turn their freakish Grimm on us, we killed them too. Put down your arms and go home," Jaune repeated. "Or I swear by every god that ever was, you will all just be more numbers in my wake."

He held his glare, staring them down, just daring them to defy him. He didn't want to do it, but if these people persisted in attacking their neighbors, he would put a stop to it, bloodbath be damned.

Slowly, bit by bit, the people in the mob dropped their torches and began dissipating into the city. Jaune waited until they were gone, letting out a deep sigh before patting Talos on the neck and turning back to where Weiss, Sir Roland, and Team CFVY were waiting. He stopped by the downed form of Sir Grandon, who was just coming to.

"It's over," Jaune told him. "I'll leave it for the Knight-Commander to decide what punishment you'll face for this. No matter what happens, know that your vision of what Vale is and what it should be will never come to pass. You're done, Winchester."

He shook his head and moved Talos into a walk, ambling back to Weiss. He was halfway back to them when he suddenly saw Sir Roland draw his sword, and Team CFVY start shouting warnings.

A gunshot rang out.

Talos turned back around, and Jaune saw a twenty-foot tall armored knight, made of glistening ice, that interposed itself between himself and Winchester, who had drawn a pistol and tried to shoot him in the back. He saw Weiss, her arm outstretched, who looked just as shocked as anyone else by the sudden appearance of the massive construct. Winchester backed away, taking shots at the Arma Gigas, which stalked towards him, raising its massive greatsword. Winchester screamed, trying feebly to shield himself with his upraised arms, before the ice sword crashed onto him.

Sir Grandon Winchester, Knight of Vale and head of the Winchester family, died screaming.

Slowly, Jaune made his way back to her. "Weiss?" he asked. "Are you...okay?"

She stared at her summoned Arma Gigas, which came to kneel before her, the tip of its bloodied greatsword embedded into the street. "I...I did that," she said. Her brows furrowed as she concentrated, dispelling her summon into flakes of ice dissipating into the breeze.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Princess," Sir Roland said. "If you hadn't killed him, I would have. Shooting a squire in the back," he shook his head. "What's knighthood come to these days?"

Weiss closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Well, I'm just glad you're safe," she said, looking to Jaune. "Can't very well let my future husband get shot in the back, after all."

"And what did we learn today, hmm?" asked Sir Roland, turning a harsh eye to his squire.

"We learned that Weiss can summon a twenty-foot tall suit of armor?"

The elder knight stared down his student.

Jaune sighed. "I know, I shouldn't have turned my back on him. My fault for giving a knight the benefit of the doubt."

He looked forlornly at the pile of burning torches.

"I thought better of them. I really did."

[/]

The assassin stole into the sick room. As expected, the target was in a room of her own. No sweat. A quick pop, and the door was open.

The girl wasn't alone.

There were two women in the room with her, one older, in a white gown, and the other younger, with a large green bow. The older woman was showing the younger how to apply a cool, damp cloth to the target's forehead.

"Am I doing well, Miss Nikos?" she asked the woman.

She patted her on the shoulder. "You're doing great, Penny. I'm sure Ruby will feel much better knowing that you helped take care of her. You're doing such a great job, that I'd like you to help with my own daughter, and her friends."

The older woman was a non-combatant, some kind of gardener or something. He could kill her at will. He didn't know who this young woman was, but it would be best to assume that any unknown young adult at Beacon was a student of some kind. The thing about Aura is that one needed to actively summon it to use it to protect themselves. It was that limitation that made his vocation as an assassin possible. Oh, he could fight if pressed, and fight well. But the ideal job was one where the target was down and dead without ever realizing he was there.

"I'm sure that your daughter will be fine," Penny said. "She's the strongest person I -"

Mercury struck, a textbook neck snap, which would kill the girl instantly. Instead of the familiar snap of bone, there was an odd, cranking sound, like a bicycle gear, and Mercury found herself face-to-face with the girl he just tried to murder, who merely canted her head at him curiously.

His jaw dropped.

Bright green eyes blinked.

"Excuse me! You are not authorized to be in here!" She rotated her body around to orient correctly with her head.

Mercury had never been so flat-footed in his entire life. "The fuck?!"

The girl - assuming that this was a girl - stared at him, her eyes glowing even brighter for a moment. "You are Mercury Black. Headmaster Ozpin wants you for - "

Mercury struck her in the chest, only to receive a hollow clang for his efforts. If this was a human, it was one that was the most chromed-up one that Mercury had ever heard of, with an adjustable spine and metallic torso. And if it was a mech, it was a damn advanced one - he could usually scrap one of Atlas's toy soldiers without effort.

He pushed off away from it, spinning into a hard rear roundhouse kick. It blocked it with a raised arm, causing a deep clonk of metal-on-metal. Mercury had kicked a lot of different things before. A part of it felt like a person, just a little squishy, but there was no mistaking the dense metal underneath. A human with a metallic skeleton? Was that even possible?

The assassin withdrew his leg and hopped to a feint followed by a powerful side thrust kick to the gut. Its squishy guts wouldn't be protected by some weird, full-body skeleton conversion tech. The kick landed deep and true.

To no effect.

It grabbed his leg, smiled sweetly at him, and hurled him out the window, sending him crashing into the main Beacon Academy courtyard.

Mercury hit the ground and rolled to his feet, just in time to get blasted off of them by some powerful projectile. His body rolled to the side out of sheer instinct, one born of hundreds of hours of intense training, his body still defending itself when his mind was reeling.

He was up on his feet again, hands raised and ready to defend himself, when his mind caught up to what his body was doing, and he realized that the missile that had hit him was, in fact, the cyborg-mech thing that had been masquerading as a teenage girl. A teenage girl that was now, impossibly, hovering above and before him, a green gout of flame propelling her from rocket boots.

Whelp.

Assassins don't survive to a ripe old age by failing to recognize when it's time to retreat and regroup. While unforeseen variables are the bane of any assassin, Mercury had been reasonably sure that he could have taken pretty much anything that could have fit in that infirmary room short of Ozpin himself or whatever freaky magic shit Cinder had. This was not in his wheelhouse. He needed to beat feet, with a quickness, and find some way around this… thing, before he could make another attempt.

He hurled a pod at his pursuer, who caught it, looking at it curiously as it burst in a cloud of obscuring smoke. The assassin turned and booked it, sprinting as fast as his own cybernetic legs could carry him. A hiss to his left was the only warning that he got, and he hurled himself to the right, narrowly avoiding the hurled sword that buried itself into the stone where he had been just a split-second before. The thing pursuing him retrieved the sword by some kind of wire, and its eyes were glowing red, the crimson glowing through the obscuring smoke.

Of course. Infrared tracking.

Well, he'd had to evade electronic security before, and he knew a few tricks. Mercury ran up to a streetlight and roundhouse kicked the center of it, directed towards the mechanized schoolgirl. Jagged shards of galvanized steel flew towards it, and when Mercury kicked the streetlight again, felling it like a lumberjack, he triggered a Lightning Dust Jolt Shot as he spun through the follow-through and took off again.

The electric charge chained from the falling post to the shards, to the smaller metallic bits dissipated in the air, creating an impromptu cloud of EM Chaff. That would mess with the Chickbot's electronic sensors.

Merc pulled his Scroll. "Em, I need a pickup! Em!"

There was silence on the other end.

"Em, gods damn it, we need that airship, and we need it now!"

Still nothing.

Fuck.

Emerald must have sold him out! She sold him out before he could sell her out! The sheer nerve of some people!

Still, he hadn't become the best assassin in Remnant by relying solely on teammates. He changed direction as he enacted his backup-backup plan. It was something that he had laughed off as a students' urban legend, but Yang had told him that it was true, and sure enough, the equipment was there.

He reached the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest and slammed his metal foot onto the launch mechanism, the device sending him catapulting into the wilderness.

The assassin grimaced. The job wasn't a failure...yet. But they knew he was an enemy, and they knew he was after Ruby. It would be exponentially more difficult to get to the target now. He needed shelter and he needed time, time to plan.

What a mess.

[/]

Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose. The last twenty-four hours had been a disaster, and only the intense efforts of his followers had limited it to a mitigated disaster instead of an unmitigated one. Gathered before him in his office were both Schnee sisters, Glynda, Jaune Arc, a desolate-looking Yang Xiao Long, and the head physician of Beacon Academy.

"Let's begin with the medical status of those who have been brought for treatment," Ozpin began, indicating the physician to speak.

"Right," the woman said, her arms crossed. "Beginning with the students, three students of Team RWBY needed medical treatment. Yang Xiao Long suffered a mild concussion after being struck on the head from the fugitive. She should be recovered within a few hours. Ruby Rose has fallen unconscious for reasons that we simply can't explain, save for some strange brain wave readings, which we also can't explain. We currently have her under observation, which is all we can really do at this time. Most severely, Blake Belladonna suffered traumatic amputation, an impalement, and cranial trauma. We performed laparoscopic surgery to repair the damage to her shoulder. While the field cauterization undoubtedly saved her life, it also necessitated further shortening of the remaining limb in order to facilitate future implantation of a prosthetic - her right arm now ends just above the wrist. Finally, we needed to extract bone shards, and implant a metal plate to replace the section of her skull that was damaged beyond repair. We simply don't know when she'll awaken, or what condition she will be in when she does, so all we can do is wait."

They physician sighed. "Three members of Team JNPR were brought in for medical treatment - though looking at this young man here, I believe he needs an IV drip and uninterrupted rest as soon as possible." She fixed Ozpin with a glare that promised swift and terrible retribution if Jaune were not brought in sooner rather than later.

"I'll send him to you as soon as we're finished here," Ozpin promised. "Continue with your report, if you please."

"Very well," she relented. "Nora Valkyrie was treated for dehydration, and is currently recovering from severe exhaustion. Pyrrha Nikos suffered a cerebral edema. Extraventricular drainage of cerebrospinal fluid and hyperventilation via concentrated oxygen have successfully limited the brain swelling, and with her Aura back online, we're hopeful that she will make a full recovery. Lie Ren suffered traumatic amputation of the leg. Like Belladonna, field cauterization prevented exsanguination, but has resulted in the need for more tissue to be removed for prosthetic purposes. Unlike Belladonna, he had an infection as well. While the infected tissue was removed as per the prosthetic preparations, he is still fevered, and we have him on an aggressive antibiotic regimen. That concludes the medical report for the injured students."

She pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Patient Jane Doe, who had suffered an Aura injury caused by unknown means, was killed, most likely by those same means. A second Jane Doe, an elderly woman, was also killed. While an autopsy is pending, preliminary examination suggests strangulation as cause of death. Huntsman Qrow Branwen suffered first and second-degree burns to his hands, forearms and chest, as well as a stab wound to the chest that resulted in a collapsed lung. We performed emergency surgery on the lung, which was complicated by the burns. His Aura is back online, and he should make a recovery over the next few weeks. Unless something else has blown up while I've been speaking, that's our full report for medical treatment for the students, Huntsmen, and others who were injured or killed over the last day."

"I see. Thank you doctor. You may take your leave now. Rest assured that Mister Arc will be reporting to you within the hour."

"Understood." With that, the head physician turned smartly and made for the elevator.

Once she was gone, Jaune slumped, supported by Weiss.

"I'm sorry, Mister Arc. Only a little bit longer. I need you to tell me what happened after you sent Team RWBY out of Mountain Glenn on the train."

"Right." Jaune yawned and shook his head to fend off the fatigue as long as he could. "After Team RWBY left, Nora set charges and we blew the tunnel. She determined that it wasn't strong enough to hold on its own. We engaged in a holding action in the destroyed subway station underneath the central plaza. Eventually, the oncoming Grimm destroyed one of the remaining walls, opening the way to the street level, where a herd of Goliaths were gathering. Out of desperation, I ordered Pyrrha to use her Semblance to bring down the four skyscrapers that were on each cardinal direction of the central plaza. It was there that I discovered that I can use the Aura-boosting properties of my Semblance on other people, and together, we brought the buildings crashing down on the Grimm." Jaune sighed. "Pyrrha and Ren's injuries are my fault. Pyrrha almost killed herself carrying out my orders, and bringing down the buildings collapsed the rest of the ceiling of the station. A large chunk of it caught Ren at the knee, and I amputated his leg myself with my sword."

Ozpin frowned. "As severe as their injuries are, they are ultimately survivable, which is more than I can say for being trampled by a herd of Goliaths."

Jaune gazed at the floor. "...It still feels like my fault," he finally said. He shook his head. "Nora and I held out until rescue arrived, aided by Ren, who regained consciousness and took shots where he could."

"I see." Ozpin steepled his fingers. "Mister Arc, I must say that I am simply astonished that you and your team held out long enough for rescue. You and your team have done more than your fair share. Report to the infirmary and rest well. We'll take it from here."

"Sir." Jaune nodded and turned to leave, Weiss helping to hold him up.

When the pair was gone, Ozpin looked to Yang. "I understand that you had become quite close to Mercury Black. I'm sorry to say that it was confirmed that he was the one who attacked your sister."

Yang just stared at the floor.

"Miss Xiao Long?"

She stood there for a long moment. "...It was all my fault," she finally said. Her voice was monotone, almost lifeless, something that greatly worried all who knew the boisterous and gregarious young fighter. "When he came to me in our room, I just...I needed…" she reached up and wiped away a tear. "I should have known that it was too good to be true. Who would want to spend time with stupid, ugly Yang?"

"Miss -"

"Don't!" she snapped, her eyes flashing red as she interrupted Glynda, who had reached out for her. "I tore people apart to get to my sister, and all along, I was her biggest weakness! I…" she shook her head as an awkward silence fell over the group.

"You should go to her," Ozpin said. "To your sister. Stay with her. If nothing else, there is still the possibility that Black could make another attempt. Should he do so, I imagine you'd have quite a lot to discuss with him."

Yang stalked off without another word. Ozpin sank into his chair, sighing deeply. He looked to the remaining two women in his office. "What a disaster," he said. "There is no sign of Cinder Fall since she fled the scene of her attack. We can only count our blessings that it takes time for one to acclimate to Maiden powers. I truly don't know how we are to counter an enemy with the power of two Maidens concentrated in one."

"With respect, sir, we won't."

"Winter?"

She hesitated for a moment. "Qrow's efforts weren't entirely in vain, sir. While it seems as though Cinder successfully stole the remaining Fall Maiden powers, she did not receive those of the Winter Maiden."

Winter looked up, and a blue-white corona ignited around her eyes.

"I did."

[/]

They had divided the patients into two rooms, with guards posted on each, to dissuade further efforts from anyone seeking to harm Ozpin's students. Jaune, Nora and Blake rested in one, with Weiss tending to them, while Ruby, Ren and Pyrrha were in the other. Yang refused to be parted from her sister, while Winter and then Ozpin himself had had to come and make sure that Penny, who was distraught over her failure to capture Mercury Black, returned to her own room to recharge in her pod. With certain drives and programs still offline, her efforts during the day had drained her power reserves to a dangerously low level.

Yang sat next to her sister's bed, holding her hand. It just felt...wrong to see Ruby so still. She was always such a happy little hummingbird, zipping to and fro. Ever since her disastrous attempt to find her birth mother, Yang had always held one precept above all others; protect her little sister. She had failed, completely and utterly. She had failed at Mountain Glenn, where she had let the White Fang kidnap her, and she'd failed here at Beacon - had been failing for months - letting a silly teenage crush open the way for a predator, an infiltrator, an enemy to use her as an opening to get to her sister.

She had always burned brighter than anyone else, but now, all Yang felt was ash and shame.

The door opened, and Yang looked over to see Miss Nikos enter, returned from where she had been helping Weiss with the rest of their friends. "Hello, dear," the priestess greeted her. "How are you?"

Yang was silent, not able to meet the older woman's gaze. Medusa merely shrugged as she strode over to her daughter. Pyrrha was drawing deep breaths from an oxygen mask as she slumbered. Her mother rested a hand on her forehead. "Brave girl," she said. "They told me what you did. You stood before the world, and shouted 'no, you move.' And it did." She leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I'm so proud of you. You saved them, Pyrrha. You saved them all."

Yang watched her, unsure if it was okay for her to witness such an intimate moment between mother and daughter. She was about to say something when Ren twisted in his bed.

"Mom…mother!"

Her heart clenched as she saw Ren, the ordinarily stoic gunslinger and unflappable scholar, as he truly was; an orphan boy, wounded and ill, calling out for his mother.

Miss Nikos was at his side in a flash. She frowned as she saw him fevered, and swiftly retrieved a small basin of ice water. She dipped a cloth into it and gently placed it on his brow. "Sleep, sweet boy," she soothed. Ren visibly relaxed at her touch and the cool relief of the cloth.

"Mom…"

As Ren settled down into slumber, Miss Nikos stayed by his bed for a time, her head bowed in prayer.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Yang asked, irritated at the implication that Ren wouldn't pull through. "He's not dead, and he's not gonna die, so why are you praying?"

The older woman smiled indulgently at her. "You misunderstand me. I was merely asking his mother's spirit for her understanding. I would not seek to usurp her memory but...if the situation was reversed, I would be glad that someone was here for my Pyrrha. It's part of being a mother."

Yang frowned, holding her arm. "I wouldn't know. My mom abandoned me. I can't blame her," she said, tears welling in her eyes again. "There's something wrong with me, something ugly deep inside, and everyone can see it. My friends can barely stand me, I'm barely even partners with Blake, and why wouldn't she? I ran off and left her alone and now she's down a hand and bashed into a coma!" The words left Yang in a rush, as she finally voiced her fears and insecurities. "Pyrrha couldn't bring herself to be with me, and Mercury saw me as the weak link, the chink in the armor that let him get to my sister! I'm poison and sick and I can't even blame them because I don't deserve to be loved and -"

She was an absolute mess, tears streaming down her face, her fists clenching and unclenching as her eyes alternated between red and violet. For all the world-destroying power that her fury had granted her, it had never actually done anything to punish the one person who she truly hated.

Herself.

And then she felt soft arms wrapping around her, holding her tight. Somewhere along the line, she had come to be kneeling on the floor, and Miss Nikos had followed suit and gathered her to her. She even stroked her hair, and for once, Yang couldn't bring herself to try to fight it, accepting the affection.

"Why?" Yang croaked.

"Because it's what you need," the priestess said, simply. "You're not a poison. You're a deeply-wounded young girl. I don't know who your birth mother was, but she was a fool to give you up."

Yang wanted to protest, to shout, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. Instead, she allowed the priestess to lead her to an empty bed and tuck her under the sheets.

"Rest, poor girl," Miss Nikos said, her tone soft and soothing. "You are safe with friends and family, all of whom love you. I promise."

Somehow, impossibly, Yang believed her.

[/]

Ozpin pulled off his spectacles, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He was in dire need of sleep himself, but there was always something else to be done. In this case, a loose end needed to be wrapped up.

Cardin Winchester entered his office, and stood at parade rest.

"Mister Winchester. I am sorry to inform you that your father has died."

Cardin recoiled in shock. "Wait, what? How? He was safe here in Vale!"

"It seems that, against my direct orders, he took to the streets to gather to himself a large, armed mob with the intent of purging the Faunus district in retaliation for the White Fang activity in Mountain Glenn. The Knights of Vale mobilized to oppose him, and your father was killed in the ensuing scuffle."

"That's ridiculous. The Knights of Vale wouldn't oppose my father; he was a knight!"

"Well, Knight-Commander Du Rendal has stricken Grandon Winchester's name from the ranks. Apparently, your father tried to shoot Sir Roland's squire in the back after he bested him in mounted combat."

"Arc." Cardin's eyes narrowed in a dangerous squint. "I save his life, and this is how he repays me?! By killing my father?! I guarantee that Arc was the one to kill him, and must have done it -"

"Enough!" Ozpin's patience finally ran out and he stood, abruptly, sending papers scattering from his desk. "If you wish to go to the finest knight still living and call him a liar to his face, then feel free to do so. Just don't expect that I, or anyone else will lift a finger in your defense when he skewers you for your impertinence! And so help me, if I so much as hear a peep from you in regards to any retaliation directed at Arc or anyone associated with him, I will have you first expelled, and then jailed. Am I understood?"

Cardin stood quiet for a long moment. "Understood."

"Good." Ozpin slumped back into his chair with visible strain. "I understand that this is a most...trying time. Go, and grieve your father. And remember, you are Grandon's heir, not Grandon himself. His follies need not be yours."

Winchester's mouth was drawn in a hard line as he turned on his heel and stomped out of Ozpin's office.

[/]

Jaune and Nora, being the best off of them, recovered first, and joined Weiss and the rejuvenated Penny in caring for their friends. Yang seemed oddly subdued, yet clingy, greeting her friends with great hugs. Pyrrha was the next to awaken. There was a bit of a scare where it appeared that her edema had affected her ability to walk, but after a few moments, the Champion of Mistral had recovered her equilibrium.

Jaune had made to apologize to her, and to her mother.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "I pushed you too hard. I-I almost killed you, and -"

Pyrrha had merely smiled at him. "Remember that rule we made where I'm not allowed to apologize for things that aren't my fault? The same applies to you. You dummy." With that, she reached over and flicked him on the forehead, and that was that as far as she was concerned.

Ren woke up after his fever broke, and Jaune had called a Team JNPR after Ren confessed that he was unsure about continuing on at Beacon.

"I just...I don't know," he said, his tone depressed. "I was the weak link. The fragile one, and I got taken out by accident."

Jaune had just stared at him for a moment. "Look. If you want to call it quits because you feel like you've done your fair share, or because...I don't know, maybe you realized when you were up against that wall that you wanted to spend your life peacefully as a painter, or a physician, or any of the many, many things that you're just annoyingly good at, then I'll support you all the way. Hell, I'll throw you a ticker tape parade through downtown Vale."

Ren looked at him, amused. "How?"

"I have a very big horse and a long, pointy stick," Jaune said. "But the thing is, if you're trying to quit because you somehow got it in your head that you're not good enough to be one of us, or because that -" he said, indicating the bandaged stump of Ren's leg - "means that you can't fight anymore, than so help me, you're going to need a prosthetic ass after I kick yours up around your ears."

Ren was quiet for a long moment, sharing a look with Nora, who nodded. Then, he asked an abrupt and oddly-timed question. "Say, is the Vytal Festival still on?"

Jaune quirked his brow at the question. "Er...I believe so, yes. The populace was a bit shaken, but our stunt was...kind of a big deal."

That was an understatement. After the details of what went down were released to the public, Team JNPR were the heroes of the hour. All of them were now famous in Vale. Well, Pyrrha had always been famous, but now she was being recognized as a warrior, and not a prize fighter.

"So by proxy, Ozpin is getting a lot of credit, and his position on the Council has never been stronger. So yeah, as far as I know, the Festival is still on. Why?"

A sly smile spread across Ren's face. "You know, depending on how quick Penny and Weiss can whip up that prosthetic, I could literally be the one-legged man in the asskicking contest."

A pause.

"Oh, no," Jaune began.

"Oh, yes," Ren smirked.

"Oh, gods, no!" Jaune wailed in mock dramatics. "I thought that was just a temporary thing!"

"Muahaha," Ren deadpanned.

"Is it too late to put you back in Mountain Glenn?"

"I feel like we got this conversation off on the wrong foot."

Jaune just walked over to the nearest wall and began banging his head on it. Nora snickered and Pyrrha laughed at her teammates' antics, which caused her to snort, and that caused them all to burst out laughing.

"No man could have asked for a better team," Jaune said, when the laughter died down. "I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of all of you."

"Well, you're pretty nifty yourself," said Nora. "Just say the word, and we'll come running, boss."

"Well, some of us will come running," Ren couldn't resist pointing out. "I, for one, will be hopping urgently."

Jaune could only sigh in defeat.

[/]

The first thing that Blake felt was just the worst headache. She blinked blearily, disoriented and confused. Where was she? She raised her hand to her head, only to realize that her hand was simply gone. Her right arm ended in a neatly-closed stump just shy of where her wrist should be.

The familiar beeping of a heart monitor pickup up its pace. Blake looked over at it, staring at the crisp, steel-grey patterns of waves that emanated from the machine. What was happening? She sat up and reached out with her stump, only to remember that she only had the one hand. Irrespective of stump or hand, her flesh passed through the waves without disruption.

"Doctor, she's awake!"

Blake got the impression of deep maroon to one side, and looked to see...a woman, vaguely familiar. She looked like Pyrrha, but wasn't.

"Hello, dear," the woman said. The waves emanating from her mouth were that same deep maroon color, and Blake tilted her head in fascination at the patterns. "Do you remember me? I'm Pyrrha's mother."

Oh, right. That's who the woman was.

"Where am I?" Blake rasped, her throat dry. Her own waves were a rich indigo hue. "What happened to me?"

Pyrrha's mom held up a small cup of water to her lips, which Blake downed gratefully.

"You're in the infirmary," the priestess told her. "At Beacon. You're safe now, and that's what's important."

The doctor arrived at the door, her footsteps small circles of waves in the same neutral steel-grey tones as the machine. "Ah, Miss Belladonna, you're awake." The doctor's waves were in a sterile, clinical white.

Blake stared at her for a moment. "I think there's something wrong with me," she said. "I can...see you speaking."

The doctor rubbed her chin. "See me speaking? Like patterns or colors?"

"Yes! That's it exactly."

"Well...sounds like synesthesia. It's actually more common in Faunus with extra sensory organs to be susceptible to trauma-induced synesthesia than baseline humans. How are you -"

Blake keeled over to one side and started heaving, vomiting out the water that she had just drank.

"Well. That's also to be expected."

[/]

"Hello, little sister. How are you holding up?"

Weiss looked up from her Scroll to see her older sister approaching her at the lunchroom table. She shut down her Scroll, setting aside her planning work. The entirety of Silaris Defense Solutions was relocating to Vale, under the auspices of SDC Saunus, a new limited liability corporation incorporated in Vale, not Atlas. Her father had taken her warnings about Ironwood's instability seriously, and had transferred control of this new corporation to her. The SDS technicians were coming soon, with Jaune's new armor in tow, and they would be breaking ground on a production facility within the month. With start-up capital, Weiss had founded a medical company in order to make use of the breakthrough technology that Penny had provided. She had registered the company, the Polendina Cybermedical Company, with Penny as her partner, to ensure that Penny received both the credit for her father's work and the funds to ensure her own needs would be met. Weiss had been headhunting engineers and managers from Mantle, offering financial incentives for them to come to Vale. They would serve as the first wave of employees, and would help train up the Valean workforce in the high-technology manufacturing industry. Weiss was careful to look for disaffected talent in Mantle, not top-name stars from Atlas proper, and for several reasons. Firstly, those Mantlese workers would be more likely to be willing to relocate, secondly, they would be less likely to put on airs and clash with the local Valean workforce, and most importantly, it wouldn't tip her hand to Ironwood, at least not as quickly.

She would be lying if she said that part of her didn't relish the challenge of setting up these companies while still in university. Her sweet Jaune couldn't be more supportive, encouraging her to put all of her talents to their best possible use. As he put it, she could "change people's lives," while he just "hit things with a pointy stick."

Weiss shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I'm fine, Winter. Just...busy." She smiled up wearily at her sister. "I've got things in motion that are going to help us tremendously. How is your Qrow?"

Winter sat across from her, frowning as she saw that Weiss hadn't touched her own lunch. "Make sure to eat, Weiss. I'm not above feeding you like a child if I have to."

"I'm a little old for the 'here comes the airship' game, don't you think?"

"Don't test me."

Weiss relented and took up her knife and fork to begin cutting up her grilled chicken breast, which Winter took as her sign to keep talking. "Qrow is coming along fine," she said. "He swore up a storm when Ozpin told him that he was off active duty until cleared by the head physician herself. He's also enduring forced sobriety during his convalescence, a development that has done little for his mood. I've been suggesting...incentives for his enduring rehabilitation for his alcoholism."

The younger Schnee sister pulled a face. "I did not need to hear that."

Winter merely gave a demure, self-satisfied little smile. "I'm rather pleased that he holds me in higher regard than his addiction."

Weiss shook her head slowly. "Dear gods, you really are in love with him, aren't you?"

The elder sister just shrugged helplessly. "For the first time in...a long, long time, I'm truly happy."

Weiss sighed, before spearing a piece of chicken. "Well, I suppose I shall learn to endure his continued presence in your life. For your sake."

Winter rolled her eyes as Weiss took a bite of her food. "I'm so pleased to have your approval for something I was going to continue doing anyway."

After swallowing, Weiss shrugged. "It's my duty to pester you," she said with a cheeky grin. "No leads on the woman who hurt him?"

"None. Still, I have plans for her, mostly involving my ripping out the bitch's spine and feeding it to her."

"How terrifyingly vicious of you, sister."

"For some reason, people don't seem to understand what I mean when I say that no one is allowed to hurt my paramour."

"Your Schnee is showing."

Winter raised an eyebrow. "And yet Ozpin informs me that you used a summoned Arma Gigas to slaughter the man who attempted to murder your Jaune. You may well be the most Schnee of us all." Weiss's expression fell, and she gazed off to the side. "Forgive me," Winter said, reaching out to put a hand on Weiss's shoulder. "I should not have made light of something of such import as your taking a life."

Weiss sighed. "Everyone keeps telling me that it's okay that I did what I did, but...I suppose you would know better than everyone else. It would be one thing if I actually made the choice to kill that man, but...I wasn't really in control of the Arma Gigas when I summoned it. The initial summoning was something I did out of pure, panicked instinct when I saw that man raise a gun to my Jaune's back, and after, when he started shooting again…" Weiss shook her head. "There's something wrong with me that I would rather people think that I deliberately killed a man than admit that it was an accident."

Winter reached out and took her hand. "There's nothing wrong with you, Weiss. I lost control of my first summon too; I just got lucky in that there was nothing in its way but Grimm. I can help you in training your summoning. The first time is the hardest, and now that you've crossed that threshold, it will be easier for you. And as for your secret? Well, it won't be the worst thing for it to be known that you will utterly obliterate anyone who tries to harm your boyfriend."

"Fiancé."

"Weiss?" Winter stared at her sister, her eyes wide.

Weiss broke into a smile, as wide and pure a one as any Winter had ever seen. "He asked me to marry him. It won't be for a while yet, but...it's official."

Ignoring decorum, Winter hopped over the table and embraced her sister. "Oh, Weiss! I'm so happy for you!"

The younger sister sighed happily. "I never would have thought that I could...it was always just a dream before." She chuckled darkly. "I even got Father's approval for the match."

"How did you manage that?"

"By being sneaky, underhanded and cold-blooded," replied Weiss. "I still feel dirty just thinking about it."

"Well, never mind that. Have you told anyone else?"

Weiss shook her head. "No, we're waiting for the rest of our friends to recover before we make the announcement."

"Right," Winter nodded. "We should concentrate on training your summons, then, so you can keep your fiancé safe. We've got a lead on Merlot's hideout, and Ozpin's tasked me to put together a team to wipe him out for good. I want you and Jaune on it."

"Really?" One of Weiss's girlhood dreams had been to go on a mission with her big sister, and now it seemed as though she was going to get that chance.

"Indeed. You've demonstrated that your skills are above adequate for the task at hand."

Weiss was on cloud nine. Winter said that her skills were above adequate! She might as well have declared her a Glorious Sword Princess with that sort of praise. Winter gave the slightest hint of a smirk as she saw how her words had affected her sister. Then a thought occurred to her, and Weiss's smile faltered, which Winter noticed.

"Weiss? What's wrong?"

"I just...how do I fight, when I have so much to lose now? I'm so afraid of losing it now."

"We fight to keep what we have. After all, we have everything to fight for, and that makes us mighty."

[/]

Nora whistled happily as she wheeled Ren into the room to visit Blake. With the rest of RWBY and JNPR more or less recovered, Blake and Ruby each had a room to themselves, with guards at the ward in case of another attack. Ren and Nora had just come from getting Ren's leg fitted with the nerve conduction socket that would allow him to control a prosthetic. It was a quick process, but a sharply painful one, and Nora had held his hand as he clenched it and gritted his teeth until the pain passed.

Blake was up and aware,though she was under observation. The synesthesia appeared to be permanent, and the doctors were running other tests to ensure that her cognitive and motor functions were unimpaired. Blake actually didn't remember the attack itself, which her friends had taken as an act of mercy. She had, however, been told of how each member of Team JNPR had come to her aid, and as a result, she was on much better terms with RWBY's sister team. She had even, in her own, understated Blake-like fashion, thanked Jaune for having physically carried her to safety.

The Faunus girl was sitting up in bed, reading. She had the book propped up against her knees, holding it open with her stump and using her remaining hand to turn the pages. After she realized that the doctors had had to shear off her hair to perform surgery, she had taken to wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, with slits cut in the hood to allow her black cat ears to freely pass through.

"Hi, Blake," Nora greeted, her voice much softer than normal. Blake had told her that the waves she made, a cheery bright pink in color, were also very thick when she spoke loudly or shouted, and they could actually disorient her.

"Hey, guys," Blake greeted them casually. In the three days since she had woken up, she found herself frequently speaking with Ren, the only other one in their friend group who really knew what it was like to lose a body part. "Penny should be finished recharging soon. She'll be back -"

"SALU-" Penny caught herself as she saw Blake wince. "...Salutations, friends," she greeted, in a much more subdued volume. The robot girl carried something behind her back, and rocked back and forth on her heels with obvious excitement.

Ren and Blake shared a knowing look. "Penny, do you have a leg behind your back?" asked Ren.

Penny gasped. "How could you tell?"

"I'm a wizard," he deadpanned.

"Really?"

"No."

"Aww," Penny slumped in disappointment, while Nora smacked her boyfriend on the chest.

"Be nice," she chided.

"I'm nice," Ren protested.

"Mmhmm," Nora hummed in obvious skepticism.

Penny held out a prosthetic leg, made of a dull grey alloy. "It's not the super-special one I've been designing," she said, apologetically. "Friend Weiss says it will take a few months at the earliest before we can make that one. But I made this one to be fully-functional as a leg, and it can channel Aura, just like a weapon!"

Blake smiled at the rings of shining emerald that came from Penny as she chirped happily. Ren's voice as he thanked the robot girl was less gem-like than Penny's, more organic, like the rich green of the palm leaves outside her window at Menagerie.

"Okay, are you ready?" Penny asked.

Just then, they heard a knocking at the door, the sound forming the same neutral grey waves that came from machines or ambient noises. Nora popped open the door, revealing the other half of Team JNPR. It was a little odd seeing Jaune out of his armor, his plate cuirass having been a casualty of Mountain Glenn, leaving him to wear his white shirt left partially open. It reminded Blake of Sun, and she was surprised by how much she wanted him with her there.

"Did we miss it?" Pyrrha asked. Her voice was a bold scarlet, more vivid than the muted, warm tones of her mother.

"Nope, just in time," Nora reassured them.

"Glad to hear. We lost track of time at Pyrrha's rehab." Jaune's voice was a unique white-gold color that Blake found fascinating to watch. Pyrrha had been working in physical rehabilitation to make sure that her full measure of fine dexterity and muscle control were recovered after her injury, and Jaune had accompanied her.

"Right. Well, now that everyone's here, I'm ready," Ren said, nodding to Penny. With a slight suction sound followed by metallic clamping, the prosthetic fit over the nerve conduction socket on Ren's leg.

"Does it hurt?" Blake asked.

Ren focused on the prosthetic leg, experimentally bending the knee and straightening it again. "Getting the socket on was...not fun," Ren began. "But it was over quickly enough. The leg itself didn't hurt, it just tingled for a few seconds." He looked around at his friends. "Well, here it goes."

He planted his feet on the floor and pushed himself out of the chair. He wobbled for a moment, with Nora grabbing his arm, before he stabilized himself. He took one step, then another, and then he was walking back and forth across the hospital room.

"Renny, you did it!" Nora jumped towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Ren swayed, almost tipping over, before she planted her own feet on the floor and pulled him down into a deep kiss.

"Well, it's about time you two got together," Jaune said, his arms crossed in satisfaction. Next to him, Pyrrha giggled, producing fascinating ripples in the waves that emanated from her.

"Jaune, they've been 'together-together' for weeks."

"What?" Blake could actually see the astonishment in his voice.

"Mmhmm," Pyrrha confirmed. "Since our first outing to Sir Roland's horse ranch. Nora was jealous that the horse girl was hitting on him, and staked her claim."

"Wait, you heard that?" Nora asked. "How?"

"I have secrets," replied Pyrrha, her tone lofty.

Jaune's mouth was working as he struggled to articulate his confusion. "But you've been acting the exact same this entire time!" he accused, pointing at the couple.

"We haven't hidden anything," Ren said. "You're just oblivious."

Nora led Pyrrha and Jaune, who was still protesting that he wasn't oblivious, out of Blake's room, giving Ren a moment with Blake.

"At your own time," he said to her. "It's not the same as having my leg back...but I don't feel crippled anymore either. You can feel that way too."

She gazed sadly at the stump of her right arm, which had the excess length of her hoodie sleeve over it.

"Are you ready to let Sun visit you?"

Her ears drooped. "I…"

Ren sat down in his wheelchair, and just waited quietly for Blake to gather her thoughts.

"I kissed him before we left," she said. "I remember that much. But now…" she held up her stump. "I was beautiful when I left. You know Nora loves you. But what if he sees me, and he's disgusted? The bald, crippled girl with the scars on her head."

"You are beautiful. The beautiful princess of Menagerie," he added with a smirk.

Blake made to throw her book at him, only to realize that she'd tried to throw it at him with a hand that wasn't there any longer. "Ugh. An incentive to get the prosthetic faster, so I can more swiftly murder you."

"Whatever motivation works for you."

"And what's your motivation?"

"Don't tell anyone, but Team JNPR has been practicing a team dance routine for the Vytal Festival ball. Nora would be heartbroken if it didn't happen after all."

She smiled, genuinely. "You're lucky to have her."

"We have each other. But we wouldn't if it wasn't for a risk. A show of faith, as Jaune might say."

Blake gazed at the waves that his voice had made until they faded away. "I guess I could give him the chance," she murmured.

"And if he turns out to be an ass, Nora will pulverize him into a greasy spot, and we'll move on from there," Ren reassured her. He stood again, and made his way to her bedside. He offered his hand, and Blake took it, squeezing it.

"Thank you," she said. "...It would probably be a bit messed-up to say that I'm glad that you got hurt too, huh?"

"I take your meaning," he answered. "And I would probably be handling this much worse if I didn't have your own feelings to consider."

"Right." She reached over to her nightstand and took up her Scroll. "Well, here goes." After a few moments of single-handed thumb typing, she leaned back on her mattress. "It's done. He'll be here soon."

"Sure. Good luck, Blake."

"Thanks, Ren."

He turned and left, his strides becoming more sure as he went.

A few moments after he had gone, Blake heard knocking at her door once more. She swallowed hard. She would have straightened her hair, but her hair was gone. "C-come in," she called, wincing at how obvious her nervousness appeared to her vision.

The door opened, and Sun Wukong carefully stepped into her room. "Um...hi," he said, sheepishly. "How are you feeling?" Blake just kind of stared at him for a moment. "Uh, yeah, dumb question, sorry." He stepped closer to her bed. "I'm not gonna lie, I kinda don't know where to even start when it comes to stuff like this. But whatever you need, just say the word, and I'll make it happen. I promise."

Blake stared again, but not at him, but rather, at the empty air between them. Finally, she said "It sounds strange, but...could you speak to me?"

"Uh, sure. About what?"

"Anything. It's just...comforting."

"Sure. You got it. Well, let's see...I grew up in Vacuo, like I said. I used to run with a gang of street kids, stealing, running cons, whatever got us through the day, until one day, I tried to steal a wallet off a Huntsman. Probably a dumb idea, yeah? But that turned out to be the luckiest break of my life…"

Blake laid back on her mattress gazing at the patterns of warm golden rings that wove through the air as Sun spoke about his misadventures in Vacuo. His colors reminded her of the warm beach sands in Menagerie and the afternoons she spent lounging in the sun with her mother and father, younger days when she felt safe and loved.

Sun didn't understand what, exactly she was looking at as she gazed into empty space. But she visibly relaxed as he spoke, the slightest hint of a smile teasing her lips while she looked at something that only she could see. Sun could only guess what she saw in his words and his voice, but if it made her feel even a little bit better, for even a short time, then he was just glad that he could help.

[/]

He tapped his foot impatiently as the Bullhead touched down at Beacon Academy. It hadn't changed a bit since he'd been there, the hustle and bustle of students and staff going about their business. There was a strange energy to the place, which, given what had happened recently, was to be expected.

Ozpin was waiting for him at the landing pad, leaning on his cane, same as he always had, with Glynda Goodwitch in tow, just as she always was. Taiyang strode up to him.

"I'm glad that you're here, Taiyang. It's been -"

Taiyang punched him across the jaw, knocking the Headmaster to the ground.

"What the fuck, Oz?! You sent my girls into a warzone?!"

Ozpin picked himself up, dusting off his jacket with irritating dignity. "Well. I'm glad to see that your left hook is still in fine shape. And as for your daughters, well, I was under the impression that you signed the release for them to attend an academy to be trained as Huntresses. Given that you, yourself, graduated from this same institution, I'm sure you can understand my confusion at your anger."

"You smug son-of-a-"

Glynda gestured with her riding crop, holding back his second punch. "Please control yourself, Mister Xiao Long." Her expression softened. "Taiyang, please."

Taiyang slowly lowered his fist.

"Thank you, Glynda," Ozpin nodded at his deputy. "Now, Mister Xiao Long, while I understand the catharsis involved in punching me in the face, I can only allow so much leeway. While the original task for which I contracted you is sadly no longer applicable, there is a need for a specialized long-term bodyguard, namely for your own daughter. For now, your youngest remains asleep in her room in the infirmary, and I do believe your eldest is there with her. Unless you'd prefer punching me to speaking to your children?"

Taiyang let out a deep sigh of frustration before taking off, leaving Ozpin and Glynda behind. He tried to push down the memories of Team STRQ, with one or more of them winding up in the infirmary after a mission gone wrong. A pair of armed guards halted him in the infirmary wing. "Present your identification."

"Taiyang Xiao Long," he said, flashing his 'fuck you, do what I tell you' - class Huntsman license, recently upgraded courtesy of the man he'd just slugged in the face. "Show me where Ruby Rose is. Now."

He was led to one of the recovery rooms before the guard went back to his post. He was about to pop open the door and walk right in when he heard voices on the other side. Figured that another assassin bypassed Oz to take a shot at his little girl. Carefully, he silently opened the door and peered inside, ready to tear the head off of whoever was threatening his family.

Ruby was resting, sleeping quietly on the bed in the center of the room. Yang was sitting in a chair next to her bedside, while a strange woman was standing behind her. The woman was a tall, handsome woman of early middle age, dressed in a draping white gown and her red hair done in braids that fell down her back. Most astonishingly of all, Yang was sitting calmly and letting this strange woman brush her hair. Hell, she'd even let this woman braid some of her hair in a half-halo that joined with the loose curls running down her back.

What….the hell was going on?

"You do have beautiful hair," the woman told Yang. "I used to do Pyrrha's hair for her every day before she came to Beacon."

"But then she cut it short," said Yang. "That didn't upset you?"

"Why should it? I miss it, of course, but Pyrrha's hair is Pyrrha's choice. Her cutting it wasn't just a practical matter for her, but a symbol of her liberation. So I'm a little wistful, but that's so very outweighed by how proud I am of her. Watching her grow into her own woman is the great joy of my life."

"Yeah, but Pyrrha's amazing, and I'm just...me…"

Where the hell was this coming from? Yang had always been the most confident person Taiyang had ever known. Hell, if anything, she was dangerously overconfident. What happened?

"We can't choose who our parents are," the woman said to Yang. "Just like we can't always choose what happens to us. But just as we're free to choose how to respond to the adversity that's out of our control, we can choose what kind of person we are. I've told Pyrrha that who her father was doesn't determine her destiny, and the same applies to your mother."

Taiyang stiffened, and damn near burst in to chew out this strange woman who dared to speak of his family. But before he could, the woman resumed speaking.

"I don't know your father, but I'm sure that he's just as proud of you and your sister as I am of my Pyrrha. You are both such lovely girls. It's so very difficult to be a single parent, I know, and he's done a marvelous job under those circumstances."

"Of course he has. I don't want it to seem like I'm ungrateful, it's just...I have to be strong, all the time. I have to be strong for Ruby, but I also have to be strong for Dad. He trusts me to keep Ruby safe, to look after her, and if he finds out that I failed...I'm worried that if I crack, he'll crack."

Oof. Right to the soul, that one. Tai knew that he hadn't always been the best father to his little girls. When Summer died, he'd completely fallen apart, just a useless, depressed wreck of a human being. After the incident when Qrow - Qrow! - had had to step in as the responsible adult after he'd almost lost the girls...well, nothing like the realization that he'd almost got his daughters killed to slap the shit out of him.

It was hard. It really was, but he'd picked himself back up, for their sake, and since then, he'd done his best to give his girls the best possible life they could.

And now he found out that Yang, his precious Sunflower, had been hiding so much of her own feelings and problems because she wanted to protect him...Every father dreaded the day he discovered his children no longer saw him as invincible. Yang had lost that, years ago, probably, and she'd pushed herself to seem stronger than she really was, for the sake of their family.

Even in the heartache, he was so proud of her.

He watched as Yang stood, her hair apparently finished, and hugged the woman.

"All I can say is to be honest with your father," the woman told her. "When a parent, a true parent, learns that their children truly need them, they'll discover a strength that they never even knew they had. Have faith in your father, Little Dragon, and give him the chance to be strong for you."

"I will. Thank you, Miss Nikos. I just...I needed someone."

Taiyang silently closed the door as Yang and the woman - one 'Miss Nikos,' perhaps a new teacher on campus - were discussing plans to get dinner, Miss Nikos gently chiding her for not eating enough as she maintained her vigil over her sister. Quietly, Taiyang made his way to a nearby men's restroom, and took a moment to splash his face with water. His burning fury had subsided, and in its wake, he recognized that he had, perhaps, flown off the handle a bit with Ozpin, and probably would have done the same with this 'Miss Nikos' woman if he hadn't stopped to listen in on their conversation. Then again, Ozpin hadn't seemed all that surprised that he'd decked him, and was more amused than anything else.

Well. Yang hadn't inherited her temper from just her mother, after all.

When he was sure he'd regained his composure, he drew himself up, looking every inch the veteran, professional Huntsman that he was, his posture straight, gaze calm and collected. He walked back to Ruby's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," he heard Yang call.

He opened the door and immediately strode to his eldest daughter, who cried out "Dad!" as he gathered her into a tight embrace.

"Everything's going to be okay," he told her.

"Do you...do you know what happened with Ruby?"

He let go of Yang and walked over to Ruby's bed, gently placing a kiss on her cheek. "Well, Sunflower, your mother - Summer - she had those powers as well, but she'd learned how to use them before she came to Beacon. Without her, Ruby had no one to teach her. We don't know how long she'll be out for, but your Headmaster says that her readings are normal, and it's just a matter of waiting for her to wake up."

He put on a brave face for his daughter. Truthfully, Taiyang had never known much about Summer's gifts, and could only take Ozpin's word that Ruby really would recover. But his girls needed him to be strong right now, so strong he would be. He wasn't quite the Glorious Sun Dragon reborn, but the fires that presaged its return were burning for the first time in over a decade.

And if that miserable shit that tried to kidnap his little Rose showed his face again, he would burn.

"Oh, Dad, this is Miss Nikos!" Yang said, drawing his attention to the woman he'd seen speaking with his daughter. "She's been helping take care of Ruby. Well, of all of us who were hurt on the mission," she said, her expression falling.

"Well, I'm glad someone was there for my girls," he said.

"I'm just glad that I was able to do what I could," Miss Nikos replied. "They are such lovely girls. You must be so proud of them."

"Every day. And please," he said, extending his hand. "Call me Taiyang."

She took it, and as he really looked at the woman, he was startled by how vivid her deep blue eyes were.

"Medusa."

[/]

"Do you know why I've called you here, boy?"

Jaune looked at Sir Roland as the older man stood, his arms crossed over his chest, in the living room of his house just outside of Vale.

"For instruction, presumably."

"That's right. This isn't a physical task that I have for you tonight, but a mental and spiritual one." Sir Roland then made a grand show of wrinkling his nose at him. "But first, you stink, boy. Princess!"

Weiss stepped out of Sir Roland's office, along with the knight's granddaughter, Rowan. Percival barked happily and ran to Weiss, rolling onto his back for belly rubs. "Oh, hello Jaune. How are you?" She casually knelt to rub Percival's belly.

Jaune canted his head at his fianceé. "Hi, Weiss. Why are you here?"

"Oh, you know that poor woman that we found on patrol before Mountain Glenn? She was killed in the attack on Beacon, and I've decided to adopt her horse. There was no name listed, so I've taken to calling her 'Gossamer.'"

He smiled at her. "Looking to join the Knights yourself?"

"Hmm…" Weiss made a show of thinking it over. "Perhaps I'll pencil it in. I am an extraordinarily busy woman these days, after all."

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Of course."

Sir Roland shifted. "Anyways, Princess, go get this squire bathed upstairs. Just cleaned, mind you. No funny business."

Well, that was certainly the...strangest order that Sir Roland had ever given him. Still, having his insanely gorgeous fianceé scrub him down wasn't exactly a hardship. Of course, that was before he discovered that the bathtub that the smirking Weiss led him to was full of ice-cold water.

"Was this really necessary?" he protested manfully as Weiss cheerily dumped ice water over his head.

It wasn't whining. Totally wasn't whining. No matter how much Weiss teased him for whining, which was, in his utterly unbiased opinion, uncalled-for.

She scrubbed him with soaps and worked some kind of scented oils into his skin and hair. Weiss insisted on drying him off and dressing him herself, and led him back downstairs.

"Guys?"

Jaune was a bit taken aback as he saw the rest of Team JNPR gathered around a roaring fire in Sir Roland's living room. Nora waved cheerily as she helped Ren roll down his pants leg over his grey alloy prosthetic.

"They volunteered to help," Sir Roland explained. "But this task is about reflection, not socialization. You are to meditate through the night. Focus inwards, on who you were, who you are, and who you are becoming. I'll see you in the morning, boy."

Jaune just shrugged and sat down on the floor in front of the fire, surrounded by Team JNPR and Weiss, while Percival curled up to sleep with a huff. He folded up in the lotus position, focusing on his breathing.

A year ago, he was Ironwood's pet killer. He was merciless, relentless, and utterly callous. He killed at Ironwood's command without pity. He was more an automaton than Penny ever was. He carried out atrocities in the belief that he was making the world a better, safer place.

A better, safer place for Weiss.

He felt her hand, small and cool, on his shoulder.

For a long time, she was the only light in the darkness, a beautiful star shining from afar, forever beyond his reach. Everything that he knew of beauty, of grace, of anything beyond the monotonous grey and blackened horror, he knew from her.

At the beginning of it all was compassion.

It was a small act of compassion. Winter saw him, the unhappy boy-soldier, and took him to meet her little sister, another lonely young soul yearning from loneliness.

From compassion came love.

They were young - hell, they still were - lonely, and they learned to reach for each other, and together, they sparked and ignited. Had he never loved Weiss - well, for one, Percival would have never come into his life - but without his love for her, and his inability to sacrifice that love at Ironwood's behest, he absolutely would have killed the dog, without hesitation, just one more being dead at his hand.

Percival's tail thumped against the floor as he whuffed happily by the warmth of the fire.

From love came conscience.

He would always owe Ozpin for giving him some kind of direction when he was at his most lost. Thanks to him, he had discovered a family that he'd never known, and a legacy that he could fulfill. Bit by bit, his moral world had expanded, from his sole concern being what would make Weiss happy to a more robust and complete ethical being, a true conscience.

From conscience came camaraderie.

It was painful. It was so painful, forcing open parts of his very soul that had atrophied or seized from disuse. That wasn't something that he could have done on his own.

Nora flopped onto the carpet next to him, snoring loudly. Ren dropped a hand onto her hair, absently petting her. Behind him, Pyrrha stretched on a couch, yawning loudly.

He couldn't ask for finer companions. And with them came more friends. Ruby and Yang, Blake and Penny, all of Teams CFVY and SLVR, all people of great character. For the first time, Jaune was part of a community.

That camaraderie drove him to new heights of valor. That stand at Mountain Glenn should have been the end of him. His Semblance, which he could only have unlocked with the intervention of others, helped his friends accomplish the impossible.

Compassion. Love. Conscience. Camaraderie. Valor.

Together, they would lead him to what he wanted most.

Redemption.

He looked up to see Sir Roland standing over him, the light of the dawn streaming from the window behind him, offering his hand. "Come on, boy. It's time."

Sir Roland hefted him to his feet, then grinned mischievously at the assorted teenagers sleeping strewn across his living room. He raised a metal ladle and pot lid.

"Wake up, you lazy brats!"

Jaune's friends leapt to their feet, or tried, as Pyrrha tripped and fell off the couch, flattening Nora, while Percival spun in a circle barking, and Weiss accidentally launched herself across the floor with her glyph.

Ren slept through the whole thing.

Sir Roland just shook his head at the display. "Heroes, the lot of you."

"Ow," Weiss griped.

"C'mon, get up, get dressed, you louts. Busy day, don't you know? Up!"

Jaune would be lying if he said that watching his friends, even the regal Weiss, getting just a hint of the squire's life wasn't a little cathartic. Soon enough, Sir Roland had the lot of them up, set their bathing schedule, and gathered in front of his house. One of his stablehands drove an honest-to-goodness carriage from the stables, stopping it before them.

"Well, go on in," Sir Roland said, opening the carriage door. "I'll bring you back to Beacon. Not you," he said, holding his arm out to block Jaune from following his friends into the carriage. "On Talos. Go."

Jaune dutifully went to retrieve his Destrier, setting the saddle and tack before leading the massive white horse out of the stables. Sir Roland was waiting for him atop Rocinante, his sword belted to his side. "All right, boy, let's go."

The pair rode at a leisurely pace, taking up a position side-by-side in front of the carriage.

"So," the knight called to his squire. "The vigil was something else, wasn't it?"

"That it was, sir," Jaune answered.

Sir Roland nodded in understanding. "It's beneficial to revisit the vigil from time to time, especially after momentous events in your life. Introspection will serve you well."

They rode together in silence, reaching the gates of Beacon. The gates swung open for them, and they rode through. What struck Jaune was the sheer number of people lining up along the main throughway that ran to the central keep of Beacon Academy.

"So, what's all this?" he asked Sir Roland.

The knight grinned at him. "Well, you do something great, people tend to notice it. This is where we dismount." Jaune did as instructed, while one the stablehand that had driven the carriage brought a block for Sir Roland to more easily climb down from his horse.

Weiss and the rest of JNPR joined Jaune. "This moment is for you," Weiss said, indicating the four of her peers. She popped onto her toes to give Jaune a chaste kiss on his cheek. "Don't forget that you deserve this," she told him. "I'm so proud of you."

She darted off down a side path. Sir Roland clapped Jaune's shoulder before following her.

"Well?" Nora began, "What are we waiting for?"

"Pomp and ceremony," Jaune said with a shrug.

Ren shared a knowing look with Nora and Pyrrha. "It helps morale with the civilians," he said.

"Besides, who doesn't like the story of the brave, ridiculously good-looking heroes triumphing over evil?" Pyrrha replied.

"Well, if you know any, let them know," joked Jaune, earning himself a punch in the shoulder from his partner.

"I like when you aren't in armor," Pyrrha smirked.

"We should probably go before Ozpin has a conniption," Jaune said. "Shall we?"

He turned to walk down the throughway. One by one, Team JNPR fell in step with him. The gathered citizens of Vale began cheering as Team JNPR turned the corner and came into view.

"How's the leg?" Jaune murmured as they marched towards a podium set up in front of Beacon.

"Really hoping it doesn't seize. Or fall off."

"But then Nora could pick you up and carry you over her shoulder," Pyrrha noted.

"Yeah I could."

"Nora, no hauling Ren to the podium like a sack of potatoes unless he needs it, or unless it would be really, really funny," ordered Jaune.

"You got it, Fearless Leader!"

"I object to the latter half of that order," said Ren.

"Tough. You made me leader again. Begged me to do it, if I remember correctly."

"Temporary insanity."

"I'm pretty sure they're going to give us a medal for our little bout of crazy back there."

"The funniest part is how none of these cheering citizens realize just how goofy their new heroes are," Pyrrha chuckled.

"Kind of like how no one suspects that the Champion of Mistral snores like a chainsaw," retorted Nora.

"The best part is how no one will believe you."

"Not with that video I shot," Nora sang happily.

"Not without your memory card," Pyrrha shot back, in the same sing-song voice.

Jaune grinned. "Have I ever told you pack of reprobates that I love you all?"

"Right back at you, boss!"

They quieted down as they came to a halt in front of the podium. Ozpin stood before a group of four other people, who Jaune recognized as the current Vale Council. Winter stood to one side of the group, the slightest hint of a smile on her face, with Weiss, smiling at him brilliantly and unrestrained, from her side, while Sir Roland and Medusa Nikos stood opposite the Schnee sisters. Ozpin began speaking.

"As you are all aware, the City of Vale recently came under a great and vicious threat. This threat took the lives of two of Beacon's own faculty, Professor Peter Port and Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. Despite the loss of their Huntsmen mentors, Team JNPR sent their injured comrades to safety, alerted the city to the danger, and carried out a desperate holding action against overwhelming odds. Each was prepared to lay down their lives in defense of this city and its people, and miraculously, battled through the long night, holding out until reinforcements could arrive to obliterate the threat in its entirety."

"Jaune Arc. Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren. In light of your extraordinary courage above and beyond the call of duty, the Vale Council has unanimously voted to award each of you the Star of Vale, a permanent mark of distinction for your valor in the face of the enemy."

Sir Roland stepped forward, taking up a box with four medals within it. They depicted a stylized golden star, framed between the twin golden axes of Vale. He pinned one on each of their shirts, though Pyrrha, with her corset, proved to be more difficult. She merely accepted it into her hand, rather than subject the old man of the indignity of attempting to pin it to her skirt.

"In addition to these medals, there is one more title to be bestowed today. Sir Roland, if you would?"

The old man stared at Jaune. When he spoke, his voice boomed across the courtyard. "Jaune Arc. Kneel."

Jaune blinked, genuinely stunned as Sir Roland drew his sword.

"Sir?"

"Well? Do you want to be a knight or not?"

Jaune knelt, and felt the rippled black steel of Sir Roland's sword on his left shoulder.

"In the name of the gods, I charge you to be brave."

The sword touched his right shoulder.

"In the name of the gods, I charge you to be just."

The sword touched his left shoulder once more. "In the name of the gods, I charge you to protect the innocent."

Jaune felt the sword rise from his shoulder altogether.

"By the right of the Council. By the will of the gods. I bid thee rise, Sir Jaune d'Arc. A Knight of Vale."

Sir Jaune stood.

The applause was deafening.

[/]

Chapter Endnotes:

The formal knighting ceremony, sometimes called an 'Accolade,' differed depending on where and when it occurred. Since this is just as much public relations coup as personal ceremony, Sir Roland had Jaune go through the whole thing, including a meditative vigil and public ceremony with pomp and circumstance. Battlefield knightings were said to be much less ornate, bearing more in common with Tony Stark's snarky induction of Peter Parker into the Avengers in Infinity War than anything so detailed.

Despite the cultural cachet, there isn't actually a lot of primary sources that detail the specifics of the speech at Accolade. I decided to draw off of pop culture, bastardizing the knighting ceremonies of Ser Brienne of Tarth from Season 8 of "Game of Thrones" - while I give the last two seasons of that show a great deal of shit, I do love that scene - and the knighting speech given to Jedi Knights in the Star Wars mythos.

So yeah, Sir Jaune d'Arc, officially knighted.

Also official: Jaune and Weiss's engagement.

Synesthesia - cross-sensory phenomenon - is a real thing, and there have even been cases of people developing it after suffering head injuries. In this, I wanted to explore different sensory experiences.

Mercury was not anticipating Penny. With an assassin, they need to be meticulous in their planning, and an unforeseen variable like a kickass gynoid that is otherwise indistinguishable from a teenage girl can really screw things up. I almost had Mercury kill off most of Team SLVR, who happened to be leaving from visiting Ruby. I went so far as to write it - a neck snap from behind for Vella, crushed trachea for Lycan, Tekken 3 Hwoarang arm-pull/head-push with the foot to snap Ragora's neck, all within three seconds, with Sinmin surviving to join Jaune in hunting down Mercury for revenge - but I decided against it. I'll probably include it as a deleted scene in the intermission.

Cardin is pissed, with his dad dead. Emerald is captured. Mercury is on the loose, and Dragon Daddy is very angry.

Yang needed a mother figure to allow her to be both vulnerable yet secure in order to work through her problems. Maybe Pyrrha needs a father figure who understands the blood-pumping thrill of battle to help her control her more primal urges and come to terms with them? Hint, hint?

Weiss quickly comes to terms with having to kill people if she absolutely has to. She isn't kill-crazy, but she's also pragmatic when she has to be.

Once the mob's champion was dropped and it was made abundantly clear that they weren't going to just be overwhelming a couple of defenders with guns before terrorizing normal people, the mob backed down pretty quick.

So, the next update will be the intermission. That is to say, a series of deleted scenes, humorous omakes, and short essays on plot elements. I hope that you enjoy!

-Mahina