"Luna."

The whispering of her name awakened Luna blearily from a dream she couldn't quite remember the details of.

"Luuunnnaa."

She opened her eyes and jumped back with a yelp when she saw Astra right in front of her face.

"Astra!" She complained. "I thought we talked about waking me up by doing that!"

Astra leaned back and tapped her fingers together. "Yeah, I know. Sorry. But uhh…" She glanced back at Lily and Cobalt, who stood behind her. "I just thought you should know that it's 9 o'cl- "

"What!?" Luna attempted to leap out of bed, but her foot got caught int the sheets and she crashed to the floor. Undeterred, she shot back up to her feet. "Why didn't you guys say anything?"

Astra looked sheepish. "Well, I meant to wake you earlier, but then I remembered you asked me not to do that, so I played some video games, then Lily and Cobalt got up and asked why you weren't up, so I told them I hadn't wanted to wake you early, but then they were like 'but it's almost 9 o'clock', and I'd just let the time slip past me sooooo I figured I should get you up."

Luna made frustrated noises and tossed her sheets, which had fallen onto the floor with her, back onto her bed. "Gods, we're gonna be late…" She fretted. "Just let me get dressed; I'll be as quick as I can."

As she grabbed her clothes and darted into the small dorm bathroom, Lily scoffed behind her. Luna's heart sank. Two weeks now and she'd made no progress with her teammate whatsoever. There'd been times where she'd thought she'd be able to get something out of her, but it always ended the same, with her or one of the others being brushed off. One time, Lily had brought a nice potted fern into the room to keep beside her bed. Luna had asked her about it and she'd actually replied, but her answer had ended with 'plants won't judge you for anything' and Luna hadn't known what to say. Another time, Cobalt had noticed Lily watching him while he sketched, but she'd turned and walked off when he'd spotted her. There was seemingly no way to let the girl know that her team genuinely wanted to be her friend and Luna's hope was running out. Maybe a better team leader would know how to handle this situation. She still couldn't figure out what in the world Glynda had been thinking. Surely Cobalt would've been a better choice? At least he knew what he was doing most of the time.

With her clothes on loosely, she burst back out of the bathroom. "Alright, let's go!"

As the team rushed out of the building to head for the classrooms, Luna's guilt grew. Not only had she made no progress with Lily, but now she was responsible for her team being late to class. She'd kept them up late last night to study for a history test and hadn't considered that it would cause her to sleep in by accident. She'd never call Glynda or Coco stupid, but they'd certainly made the wrong choice here.

As they burst open the door into the combat training classroom, every eye in the room turned to them.

Jaune looked up from where he stood at the front of the room.

"Ah, team LLAC," He grinned at them. "Nice of you to join us."

Luna's face burned hot with shame. "I'm sorry!" She exclaimed. "It's my fault; I kept us up studying and I slept in. It won't happen again, I promise!"

Jaune waved his hand. "Hey, don't worry about it. Being a few minutes late to class never killed anyone."

Luna sank into her seat and rested her head on the desk in front of her. Thank the Brothers Jaune was leading this class. Anyone else and she'd have been doomed, she was sure of it. But that didn't stop her from feeling deeply ashamed.

Thankfully, it seemed that Jaune's lesson had only just started.

"Today's focus is on using our Semblances in combat," Jaune began. "Now, some of us, myself included, have Semblances that aren't directly useful when it comes to attacking, so this won't apply to everyone. However, you might still have something to learn from it, so pay attention." He stepped around his desk to stand in the room's small arena. "For those of you who do have an attacking Semblance, raise your hand."

Beside Luna, Astra's hand shot up, as did a couple of others.

"Good thing that Lily girl doesn't want to." Luna heard a snicker from beside her. "Wouldn't want anyone getting killed."

What? Luna whirled around, anger flaring inside her, but she couldn't figure out who'd spoken. Were there really some people who actually felt that way about Lily?

"Miss Katt, enthusiastic as always," Jaune noted. "Would you like to come up here?"

Luna turned back to face forward again, her skin pricking with annoyance, trying to ignore what she'd heard and hoping Lily hadn't been listening.

"Sweet!" Astra jumped over her desk and headed over to him. Luna leaned forward in interest; she still hadn't seen Astra's Semblance in combat, and she was curious to see its effect.

Jaune stepped to the other side of the floor. "Draw your weapon." He instructed Astra.

"Wait," Astra looked confused. "Am I gonna be fighting you?"

Jaune nodded. "This is a combat class, Mis Katt."

"Right, but I don't wanna hurt you or anything."

Jaune chuckled. "Don't worry kid, I've got a thick shell. You won't get a scratch on me."

Astra grabbed Light of the Party from where it was rested on her back and extended it into its hammer form. "Well, alrighty then."

"Now, I want you to use your Semblance in this fight, however you wish." Jaune instructed.

Astra grinned widely. "Awesome."

Jaune drew his sword from its sheath and expanded the sheath into its shield form. Luna leaned forward even more. It had been a long time since she'd seen her uncle fight.

Astra conjured a ball of light and flung it at Jaune, who dodged nimbly out of the way. The ball crashed into the wall beside him and dissipated. Frowning, Astra drew another ball. She threw it and again, Jaune dodged.

Luna stared intently. Why wasn't Jaune attacking? What if one of the balls hit him?

But shot after shot, Jaune dodged them all, almost dancing as he avoided any hit.

Astra was looking exhausted. Her eyes narrowed; she conjured another ball, but this one was far bigger than the rest. Stepping back, she then ran at it, drew back her hammer and then swung it at the light with full force. The ball sailed straight in Jaune's direction, but this time, he didn't dodge. With a grin, he lifted his shield and Luna saw his Aura flow out into it. As the ball of light hit the shield, it rebounded with a flash and headed straight for Astra, slamming into her and sending her into a wall. Luna stared as her partner's Aura flickered and depleted.

On the other side of the room, Jaune sheathed his sword and walked over to help Astra up. "Good fight," He praised her. "But you've still got a thing or two to learn. Now," He addressed the rest of the class. "Can anyone tell me what Astra did wrong here?"

Several hands raised.

"Mr. Scarlatina, what's your theory?" Jaune asked.

Cobalt sat back in his chair. "She used her Aura up too quickly," He commented. "You only had to hit her once to knock her down because she'd already depleted her Aura from using her Semblance too much."

Astra frowned at her hands. Beside her, Jaune nodded. "Exactly," He confirmed. "The biggest downside to our Semblances is that they take some of our Aura every time we use them. If you charge in too much with it, you'll have finished the fight for your opponent before they even land a hit on you. And in a real fight, that can get you in big trouble."

Astra looked embarrassed. "I guess I wanted to show off a bit." She admitted.

"Not to worry," Jaune told her warmly. "We'll have plenty of time to work on that. Go sit down and rest; you've earned it."

As the lesson continued, Luna's heart wasn't in it. Her mind kept coming back to the comment about Lily she'd overheard. What kind of leader was she if she hadn't eve noticed that there really were some people holding animosity towards her teammate? What could she even do about it?

Relief swamped her when the class finished an hour later, but as she headed to leave, Jaune called her back.

"Hey, let's talk for a second. Something's up."

Luna tried to brush him off. "Nothing's- "

"Hey, come on," Jaune cut her off. "I've known you your whole life. You usually love these classes." He sat down on his desk and patted the space beside him. "Come on, tell me what's wrong."

Sighing, Luna walked over and sat beside him. "I…I think Glynda made a mistake," She admitted. "I don't think I should be a team leader."

Jaune huffed. "Oh boy, that sounds familiar."

Luna flapped her hands, remembering that he'd had similar doubts at her age. "That's different though!" She protested. "You actually are a good leader! You're not letting your team be late or struggling to get through to a teammate who hates your guts."

"Okay, for starters, I think every team's been late to class before, whether they have a good leader or not," Jaune pointed out. "But I haven't always been a good leader. I've made mistakes, and I'm still making mistakes now. You can't expect to get it right first try."

Luna put her hands to her head. "But this is me we're talking about! I don't know how to deal with...people! You can't be a leader with extreme social anxiety!"

Jaune chuckled. "You'd have thought you can't be a leader without any knowledge of combat either, but I managed." He rested a hand on her shoulder. "You have other strengths," He assured her. "You may be a little anxious, but you're kind, patient and you know how to fight. You'll work on your weaknesses in time."

Luna drew her knees up to her chin. "It still doesn't make any sense," She insisted. "Why me when Cobalt's right there? He's great with people and at fighting."

"But he's not a leader," Jaune explained. "Cobalt's a smart kid, but he works best when he's being told what to do by others. Even as a kid, he chose to follow you around instead of choosing to lead himself."

Luna couldn't argue with that. "I guess."

Jaune continued. "And with Lily, while she's a great fighter, but stubborn and unwilling to work with others. And Astra…" He scoffed jokingly. "I don't think I need to explain what a disaster that'd be."

Luna chuckled. It was true, she was still probably a better leader than Astra might've been.

"My point is," Jaune said warmly. "You've all got your flaws, but you're still the best suited to the job. And in time, you can work on your flaws and help them with there's. I've got faith in you."

Luna smiled. "Thanks, Jaune. I've missed your sage advice."

Jaune grinned. "Always here to help. Now, go find your team. They're probably wandered around aimlessly without you there guide them."

"Pff, I doubt it." Luna hugged him before jumping off the desk and heading out of the classroom. She still had her doubts, but her spirits were lifted now. She'd get through to Lily; she had to. And if she could do that, then maybe she could prove to herself that she was fit for this role after all.