I've had a few people ask for full details on the Jaunes as they haven't read all fics – I am giving information out as it happens in story. For instance you've already learned that Knight is from a game-based RPG world, and that Leviathan controls water but has some "other" things to him that he isn't revealing. As I said, you don't necessarily need to know everything as when something happens, it will be explained or shown in action.


Cover Art: Curbizzle

Chapter 3


"I'll admit that the similarities are jarring," Knight said, "But I still won't abide my life bring referred to as a game."

"But it is a-" Jaune gasped as Nora elbowed him in the gut.

"That's cool," she said. "No one would be happy with that. It's just a crazy thing that the stats are so similar."

"I bet it was super cool!" Ruby enthused. "Being a super strong hero, saving everyone, levelling up."

"It was not nearly as `cool` as you imagine. The Class you are born with dictates your whole life. If you are born a shopkeeper but wish to become a hero, you have no freedom to make that choice and your stat distribution and skills will make it all but suicidal to try. People are slaves to their Class. It's worse with stats. Numbers dictate everything – sometimes more than hard work ever can. If you are part of the Labour Caste, you are helpless. If a bandit appears and he was a Soldier or Hero Class, then his level will be higher than yours. It won't matter if you run – they will run you down with their Agility. It won't matter if you stand and fight – they will crush you with their Strength and combat skills. If you're a lower level than someone then nothing you do matters. You are entirely at their mercy."

"B-But you can level up, right? You can train and get stronger."

Knight smiled and ruffled Ruby's hair. "It doesn't work like that. Exp is gained from life or death combat for the most part. There is a trickle from Crafting, but it's rare to find a member of the Labour Caste over level twenty. Almost unheard of."

Team RWBY and Team JNPR, along with Velvet and Coco, mulled over that information in the private dining quarters they'd been assigned to. They were normally for guests and VIPs visiting the school but had been opened up to their three teams so they could avoid awkward questions about the sudden influx of Jaune Arc.

The official excuse was that Jaune's extended family were visiting Beacon, but that was paper-thin, and Ozpin had told them the less people interacted with them, the better. It was bad enough Knight had his Class and name literally floating above his head. A weird Semblance was the excuse there, but you could only get away with so many excuses.

"Maybe we should move away from the rules of your world and onto something else," Blake said.

"Oh! Oh!" Yang sat taller. "What were our Classes?"

The question sparked interest among everyone, and it was certainly lighter than the last. Knight looked around at all the eagerly nodding people and laughed softly. "Alright. Alright. Yang, you were a Brawler; Weiss was a Mage, Ruby a Reaper and Blake was an Assassin."

"Reaper! That's so cool!" Ruby squealed.

"What about us?" Nora asked.

"You were a Barbarian."

"Oh hells yes! Nora smash!"

"Ren was a Monk," Knight continued, and Ren chuckled at the news. "My alter-ego there was obviously a Blacksmith like myself, while Pyrrha was what is known as a Prestige Class – a rare and coveted Class. In her case, she was a Champion."

Pyrrha smiled, but it was a strained expression that belied more than a little discomfort. Knight noticed and moved on, quickly laying out the Classes of Team CFVY and then answering a few more questions as to what those Classes did. Weiss appeared to be just as pleased with her Class as Ruby was, though Yang called her own boring. "I could have been a Paladin or a Death Knight, but nooo, I'm a Brawler. Bah."

"Paladins are Prestige Classes and very rare – famous even. I've never heard of a Death Knight."

"I think those are from WoW." Leviathan said. When he received a bunch of confused expressions he added, "World of Warcraft? MMORPG?"

"Oh, an online game? I've played those." Ruby said.

"Sheesh. I guess I'm not in Kansas anymore, am I? Eh, maybe it's a good thing you don't know Activision-Blizzard. At least this world is spared their evil."

"What about in your world?" Yang asked him. "You don't have aura. Does that mean Grimm don't exist there?"

"Oh no, they exist."

"Seriously? And you fight them without aura?"

"We do." Leviathan Jaune sipped from a straw made of air – literally using his powers to make his drink coil up and around, then towards his lips where he sipped it up. "They're not a well-known thing, though. Not like you have here. It's hard to explain. Basically, the Grimm are… do you have theories of alternate dimensions here?"

"Yes." Ren said. "Multiverse theory."

"Okay, that helps. The Grimm dimension runs close to ours and every now and then the barrier weakens. Most people can't see the Grimm and the Grimm can't see them, but every now and then someone gains the ability to perceive and be perceived in turn. We call these people `Awakened` and it's pretty much a death sentence. It means the Grimm start hunting you. Since no one else can see them, most people assume you're crazy and lock you up. The Grimm find you soon after and kill you."

"Were you Awakened?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah. Me, Ren and Nora all went to school together and were friends – you were there too, Pyrrha. We did track and field together." Pyrrha smiled, apparently happier with the news she was a common student than a once-in-a-lifetime Class. "Ozpin was in charge of this group of Awakened and they called themselves Hunters. It was kind of a safety in numbers thing, and we'd go out and hunt Grimm to try and limit the number of Awakened. Yang and Ruby were a part of that, and Weiss joined later on."

"And me?" Blake asked.

"You were a Grimm."

Blake pushed her chair back. "What!?"

"You were a nice one," Leviathan said quickly. "You saved my life a couple of times, and you weren't into hunting humans. You actually helped us against a really evil Grimm called Cinder who was enslaving and sacrificing people en masse. You were a good person."

"I was a Grimm…?" Blake muttered. "How…?"

Yang slung an arm around her. "Hey, at least you were a turncoat Grimm. You saw the light and broke off to help us against the bad guys. Sound familiar, hmmm?"

It really did. Ruby and Weiss noted it and Blake smiled reluctantly. It was almost a mirror image of her time with the White Fang, except that this time it was Grimm instead. "I guess there are similarities. It's the same with the Classes from Knight's world as well. Even if they're different versions of us, we can all see how the Classes fit our fighting styles."

"If you don't mind me saying then your personalities are also similar," Knight said. "I can see each of my companions in you."

"Same here," Barista chipped in. "Though to be fair, you were all students of Beacon in my world and mostly on the same teams. Except for you," he pointed to Pyrrha. "Because I wasn't in Beacon, so you obviously found a different partner."

"It's interesting hearing about different versions of ourselves." Weiss said. "I wish we could sit down with a few of the other versions of you that were summoned. It would be interesting to compare notes. Who did what, who achieved what, who-"

"-slept with who," Yang added.

"Who slept with who," Weiss agreed, nodding, then froze. "Wait, no!"

"Details!" Yang crowed.

"Yang, no!" Ruby howled.

"Oh, come on. It's different worlds. Different people. You can't say you're not at least a little curious…"

Weiss could and did, but she was possibly the only one. Ruby was biting her lip and far too embarrassed, but she didn't argue against it. Meanwhile, Blake was barely concealing her own curiosity and Pyrrha wasn't even trying. Neither was Jaune. It wasn't every day you got the chance to hear who you got with in another world.

"Look, vomit-boy wants to know. P-money does as well."

"I-I am only a little curious," Pyrrha tried to deflect.

"Seriously?" Weiss asked with a marked groan. "Are we really going here? I can't believe this. Fine." She waved her hand. "Far be it for me to ruin everyone's fun." Under her breath she added, "It had better not be me…"

Knight chuckled. "You and I were only ever friends, Weiss. I'm twenty-four right now, so I've known you all a long time. Though… my current situation is a little… ah… unique."

"Mine too," Leviathan mumbled.

"Enough excuses!" Yang crowed. "Names! Names!"

"Technically," Knight said. "I'm married to Ruby."

It was as if someone had set off a bomb. Yang shrieked with glee, Ruby with horror and also a little excitement. She ducked her head, wrapped her whole face up in her cloak, and what little skin did show was red enough to camouflage perfectly. Nora was squealing as well as Coco, while the others were either laughing at Ruby or shaking their heads.

"Well, well, well," Blake teased her team leader. "It looks like someone decided to punch upward."

"Et tu, Blake…?"

"You said technically." Weiss was the only one in the room to notice that. "What does that mean?"

"Ah. Well. Technically, Ruby and I are married, but our relationship isn't an exclusive one." Knight scratched his cheek with one finger and looked upward. "I was already in a very serious and heated relationship before. Our marriage was a little political, to repair the stability in Vale. We did fall in love later on, but we were three rather than two…"

"You got a threesome!?" Jaune gasped. "Who with?"

Knight pointed.

Blake blinked at him, then turned and looked behind her to try and figure out who he was pointing to. On finding no one, she turned back and, with a vaguely horrified expression, touched her finger to her chest. "M-Me…?"

In answer, Knight reached down his breastplate and brought out a beautiful golden amulet. He set it on the table and clicked it open. You could not have crowded more people around such a small item – Yang and Ruby physically fighting to get in there. It was a small picture, hand-painted beautifully, and in it a young version of Jaune sat in a black suit, with a younger version of Blake Belladonna sat sideways on his lap, her head resting against his neck and her face smiling happily.

"Oh my goodness!" Pyrrha had to cover her mouth.

"You look so happy!" Weiss said, equally shocked. "I've never seen you smile like that!"

"Nooooo." Yang moaned. "How am I supposed to be angry you're homewrecking my sister when you look like that? Argh. I'm so conflicted!"

It was all Blake could do to shrink down in her chair and try to disappear like the Assassin her namesake apparently was. Her cattish curiosity did get the best of her enough to look, and she gulped on seeing proof of not only her own dating history, but how lovey-dovey she and Jaune – Jaune Arc of all people! – apparently were. "Eep."

"Blake and I never officially married," Knight said as he closed the locket. "But as the King's personal spymaster, she certainly had plenty of chances to sneak into my chambers for a late night meeting." It wasn't the subtlest of hints and Blake flushed to the tips of her ears. "Something she took advantage of more than a few times."

"Kill me," Blake mumbled. "Kill me now…"

"More fun than my world." Leviathan said. "I never got with anyone. I dated Pyrrha-" The redhead's eyes widened. "-but that got interrupted by the big evil and… well, I guess we never got a chance to take it further. Yang and I were close."

Yang squawked. "We didn't!"

"No, we didn't. I meant close as friends. Same as with Ruby."

"Oh, thank fuck!"

Leviathan was not the only Jaune to shoot Yang the stink-eye for that insult.

"What about you?" Ren asked his own Jaune.

"I only ever met you – and believe me, we were not lovers."

"Your turn, coffee boy!" Coco said.

"Ahah." Barista laughed. "I'm in a happy relationship with my girlfriend, Miltia."

No one said a word. It was Yang who finally asked the question on everyone's mind, however.

"Who the hell is Miltia?"

"Miltia Malachite? Dresses in red, fierce temper, likes to claw people's eyes out? No? No one? I guess you must not have met without my diner to act as a meeting point." He didn't look to unhappy to be spared a grilling. "Oh well. That's a shame."

The door slapped open and struck the far wall. A body stumbled in. That was about all that could be said, because the figure was a mess – hair sticking up, clothes hanging loosely off. His shirt had been misbuttoned, uneven at the bottom because he'd put the buttons through the wrong holes. The Jaune Arc, Fate, threw the door shut behind him and tripped his way over to the water cooler, dropped to his knees and shoved his face under the faucet. He didn't drink, but instead dribbled it all over his face.

Pyrrha rocketed to her feet. "Where have you been!? You didn't come back to our dorm last night! I was worried sick, and Ozpin said to-"

Fate gargled water loudly and spat it onto the floor. He then took some more, and this time swallowed it before dragging himself up the cooler. "Not so loud," he grumbled. "I have a killer headache."

Yang sniffed the air. "You smell of tequila."

"Sounds about right." He snorted and stumbled over to a seat, collapsing into it. "Was doing body shots with this hot fourth year. Never can remember her name. Ugh. That shit burns."

"You were out drinking!?" Pyrrha hissed, stood behind Fate with her hands on her hips. "You get summoned to a death match and the first thing you do is go out and get drunk!?"

"No." Fate tilted his head back. "The first thing I did was grab a cigarette. Getting drunk was, like, the third? Fourth? Honestly, I was just tryin' to get into her pants."

A few giggles could be heard around the table.

"And how did that go?" Blake asked.

Fate chuckled and tugged his collar down. There, on the right side of his neck, was very distinctive mark. Worse still, they could see a few more leading down his shoulder, some with teeth imprints. The laughter around the tables petered out almost immediately.

"One night," Jaune whispered. "One night and he gets laid…?"

"That's all it takes if you're not a worthless piece of shit, kid."

Jaune bristled. "What's your-"

"Ignore him." Hunter said. "Fate already told us he's lived through this time period over a thousand times. He didn't flirt his way into someone's bed. He knew exactly who was already up for it, and what to say to them." He eyed the hungover teen. "Right?"

Fate made a shooting motion with his fingers. "Bingo. You learn a lot of stuff once you've done the same year a couple hundred times."

"We were actually just talking about that," Yang said. Everyone shook their heads quickly, but she wouldn't be deterred. "We were talking about past conquests. Apparently, Knight over here has been sleeping with both Blake and Ruby!"

"Y-Yang…" Ruby whined.

"Both, huh?" Fate didn't look overly impressed or amazed. He toasted Knight with a glass of orange juice. "Always nice to see another avid member of Team Blake."

Blake squawked. "Y-You too!?"

"Hm." Fate rocked back on his seat. "You're usually good for it. You discovered that fetish for tying people down yet? That's always a fun one. You get all domineering and controlling." He appeared to not notice Blake's mounting horror, or how her bow flattened as her ears dipped down. "Then again, Ruby gets pretty kinky too once she gets over her innocent phase. You think it'd be Yang, but she's pretty tame in the bedroom. All bark and no bite."

Yang didn't know if she should be mortified or angry. "Excuse me!? I'll have you know I've had no complaints there!"

"Yeah. Sure thing, virgin."

"I-I'm not a virgin!"

"Yeah, you are." Fate's head lolled over to smirk at her. "I should know since I've popped your cherry enough times." Yang's jaw hung open. "I think I've…" He glanced slowly around the table, taking in each and every person one at a time. "Yeah, I've been with almost all of you at least once. Usually a few more times."

Silence. Awkward, stunned and complicated silence. Yang wasn't the only one who wanted to deny it or call it a wild boast, but Fate didn't sound like he was joking. Worse still, he didn't look like the type to bother boasting.

Despite the insults, Jaune couldn't help but ask him, "Does that mean you've dated Weiss?"

If looks could kill, Jaune would have left the room in a casket.

"Actually, no." Fate sighed. "She's one of the few that I never managed to snag."

"Ha!" Weiss crowed at a disappointed Jaune. "I told you not in a thousand years, Arc, and now we have proof! A Schnee is not so easily swayed by such things."

Fate chuckled. "That's not what your sister said."

"Excuse me!?"

"But then Winter didn't say much. Too busy ramming her tongue down my throat."

"O-Okay," Weiss stammered and pointed at Fate accusingly. "Now I know you're lying. There is no way my sister would even interact with someone like you, let alone lower herself to have relations with you!"

"Oh, she lowered herself alright." Fate chuckled. "On my face and on my-" He was cut off by a chorus of angry shouts. "Too much information? Fine. As for the how, well, it was a rough situation," he admitted. "Winter wouldn't have normally, and I wasn't really into her at the time either. We were feeling weak and emotional, there was alcohol involved. Next thing I know she's tearing my clothes off and both of us were desperate for comfort." He shrugged. "Nature took its course from there."

"My sister does not give into her emotions like that!"

"She did after we finished your funeral." Fate said.

Weiss froze. Everyone around the table did as well, eyes bulging out as they watched Fate finish his drink. "I… I died…?"

"Closed casket. Wasn't much left of you. Winter looked anyway, couldn't stop herself, and that fucked her up. Not that we were any better. I was already drowning myself in wine in a corner when she found me."

"You… You were there when I died…?"

"I've been there when everyone dies. What part of a thousand tries do you not understand? I don't reset at a set time. I reset and go back when I die – and that usually means a whole lot of us are dying." He yawned, clearly unaffected by it in a way that they just couldn't replicate. He didn't seem to even notice how uncomfortable they all were. "After a while, I got better. Started to make sure I died before anyone else. Easier that way. Less drama. You can only handle watching someone bleed out a few hundred times before you realise it's easier if you're the one on the ground."

"W-What…?" Pyrrha croaked. "A-Are you for real?"

"Of course. I mean, it's not so great if it's a slow death. Sheesh, the number of times I've had you crying over my body, Pyr." He rolled his eyes. "Or Ruby or Ren or Nora or anyone. I usually try and make sure if I'm going out, I go out quickly. Get to skip all that last moments crap. Get started on the next life."

Team RWBY looked to Team JNPR, who appeared far more uncomfortable hearing what had happened to one of their members. Jaune was looking physically ill, while Nora was trapped between concern and tears of her own. Naturally, Fate didn't notice.

"Luckily, I get a new body each time. Sucks that I can't take muscle memory or the results of training back, but a new body does have a few upsides. No built-up resistance to experiences for one."

"Is that why you're smoking and drinking?" Blake asked.

"Yep." He toasted her. "And fucking," he added with a saucy wink. "I've had the pleasure of losing my virginity thousands of times. That means that even if I've had sex more times than I can count, it still feels new to this body. About the only good thing out of this whole mess."

Knight hummed. "It's a coping mechanism."

Fate stilled. His eyes hardened suddenly, turning to chips of ice. He'd been lackadaisical and jokey before, but suddenly Yang couldn't help but think he looked like a stone cold killer. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"It isn't coping." Fate spar. "I don't need a coping mechanism. This is just my way of stopping my brain from literally dying of boredom. I've lived the same year to a year and a half for as long as I can remember. If I didn't get some distraction, I'd have gone insane by now. Trying out romances with everyone here is part of that. You can only date the same person so many hundred tries before you start being able to predict every conversation."

Nora saw her chance to escape the darker conversation and took it. "Everyone, hm? Does that mean me?"

"Of course." Fate winked. "You're good, Nora. Very good."

"Eheh. Does that mean Renny as well?"

Ren balked.

Fate, however, only smirked.

"N-No way…" Nora's eyes widened. "Really!?"

Ren looked ill. "Really…?"

"Thousands of repeats, Ren. Thousands. Anyone would get curious after that much time."

Yang's eyes were threatening to bug out. "You and Ren!? For real?"

"It wasn't bad." Fate said. At the end of the table, Jaune and Ren pointedly moved their seats away from one another. "He's practically hairless and look at his frame. He's built like a girl. It's not like I did Cardin."

"Can we leave this topic?" Ren begged.

"No way!" Yang and Nora answered in concert. "Details!" Yang begged. "When? How? Did you date for lon-"

Everyone's scrolls buzzed angrily at the same time. It was synchronised so much that it cut through the interrogation, much to Ren's relief. Everyone bar Fate brought out the device and checked it.

"It's Ozpin." Coco said, standing. "He wants us all in his office."

/-/

"Teams RWBY, JNPR and CFVY. Thank you for coming. And the various Arcs." Ozpin greeted them all politely, inclining his head. Miss Goodwitch stood beside his desk with a tired look on her face. "And Fate is here as well. I'm pleased to see Miss Nikos has found you again. You gave her quite the scare. I'll ask you to stay close to her in future-"

"You can ask." Fate said. "You can certainly ask."

Pyrrha elbowed him in the side to precisely no effect.

"I've called you here because I have news," he said. "I've looked into the information Leviathan, Fate and Barista shared with us. Cinder Fall has been identified as a student of Haven, but she has vanished from the school. More than that, brief camera footage was caught of her departure with her two teammates, Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black."

Miss Goodwitch set several sheets of paper on the table, enough for everyone to grab a copy and see the pictures of three people. The woman marked as Cinder had black hair and golden eyes, while the others were distinctive as well – green and silver hair respectively.

"These three were common antagonists in the worlds of the various Jaune's – barring Knight's story where they were allies. I decided it prudent enough to look into them even if there was a chance, they might be innocent. That does not seem to be the case, however. Footage of them sneaking out of Haven showed them doing so with two figures."

More pages. This time it was still shots of grainy camera footage. Luckily, it was in colour so the blond hair of the two men was visible. One of them looked up to the camera, clearly acknowledging its existence. It was hard to see him as Jaune Arc because he was much older, maybe over thirty years old. He had longer hair that fell roughly to his shoulders and a face carved from rock with numerous stress lines. A beard had begun to grow, giving him a worn and haggard look.

"It looks like my old man…" Jaune said.

"Yes." Ozpin agreed. "It does look like Nicholas, but I have contacted him, and he is hunting Grimm out near Vacuo currently. He is nowhere near Mistral. Given the prevalence for Cinder Fall to be working with the Grimm in your worlds, we are certain she – and one of the two with her – have become anchors for at least two of Salem's champions. We are tentatively naming these two Soldier and Shadow."

"I get Shadow because the second one is all cloaked and hiding," Coco said, "But why Soldier?"

It was Miss Goodwitch who answered. "That coat he wears is only handed out to Atlesian military personnel of a certain rank or higher. More commonly, it is handed out to members of Atlas Specialist teams."

"Think Huntsmen soldiers," Ozpin explained. "Well-trained, disciplined and used to some of the most dangerous missions Atlas can find. For him to wear it implies he's had a stint in the military. Given his age, I also expect he is far more experienced than many of you here – barring, perhaps, Fate. Be wary around him. He is undoubtedly dangerous."

"I'm afraid we know nothing of their capabilities yet." Miss Goodwitch added. "There were no rules about Miss Fall leaving the grounds, and so no one challenged her and her team. We have contacted Leonardo Lionheart, the current headmaster of Haven, to have access to their school records. Those might contain some information, which will be shared with you once we have it."

"Are they going to come here?" Ruby asked.

"Of course they will." Leviathan answered. "They want the prize. That means they have to come and kill us, and this Salem person will know Ozpin isn't going to come marching out to meet her."

"Agreed." Ozpin said. "Salem will send them here. Soon, I imagine. We do have a few days, however. This video was taken last night and there are few people who could reach Vale from Mistral in a single night. I'm going to have to ask all of you to stay in Beacon unless otherwise instructed. We can't afford to lose any of you."

Fate chuckled but for once didn't interrupt with his usual brand of insults and accusations. Ozpin ignored him. "However, that's not the only news I have. A… Jaune, for lack of a better term, has been sighted in Vale."

"Another one?" Yang asked.

"Yes. I've had some people who are friendly with me keep their eyes out. General Ironwood is coming with his own forces to support, so for now our surveillance is unfortunately limited. I've had news put out of someone wanted for questioning that firs Mr Arc's appearance." He nodded to Jaune, who looked a little uncomfortable with his face being dragged through the mud like that. "Nothing too dangerous, only that people should report him. A young man was reported last night, though sadly he had vacated the nightclub he was seen at before Qrow could arrive."

A nightclub? Yang wasn't the only one to turn and fix Fate with a long look.

"It wasn't me," he said.

"Wouldn't a nightclub be your kind of thing? It's a way to pick up girls."

"Not for me, it isn't. My usual method is to know exactly which girls are single, which are up for a little fun and what to say to get that across. Throw me in a club with loads of random women and I'm any other guy. More experienced," he admitted, "Better than this loser over here." He stabbed his thumb at Jaune. "But just a normal guy trying his luck. I stayed in Beacon where I know who is up for a good time and who isn't."

"Thank you for that detailed explanation on how you plan to take advantage of my students," Ozpin said blandly. "No, this was not Fate. He was described as dressing remarkably well and speaking to two bouncers before being escorted away. We're not sure where or for what." Ozpin closed one hand over the other and said, "I would like for you all to find this Jaune, meet with him and try to recruit him to our side."

"Eh?"

"We can do that!?"

"I do not see why not," Ozpin said. "There is no rules given that binds any of you to me and I can only assume it's the same for others. There may be more iterations of Mr Arc that were summoned to individuals unaligned with myself or Salem. They will all be targets in the upcoming conflict. If you can impress that upon them, then you may be able to convince them that it would be safer to work with us than go it alone."

"That sounds reasonable." Knight said. "We'll do it."

"Will we?" Leviathan asked. He leaned in, eyeing Knight warily. "Didn't we already agree how this wish would be handled? I'm not keen on the idea of adding more competitors. We've no reason to believe we can trust this Jaune."

"I had no reason to believe I could trust you." Knight returned. "And yet I do."

"That's different. Only one of us can have the wish. I'm not giving it up." Leviathan said that to everyone, and Team RWBY gulped at the way he looked at them. His eyes pulsed deeply.

Drip – Drip

"I'll fight, but I'm fighting for that. I vote against this."

"I was not aware I was offering this up as a matter for voting," Ozpin said.

"Then is it an order?" Hunter asked from between Ren and Nora. "Because the last time I checked, I owe neither loyalty not obedience to you."

"Oh shit, Oz," Fate cackled. "You're being called out."

"Friends, please. We are allies in this. Team RWBY, Team JNPR-"

"They are our anchors." Leviathan said. "They can't command us."

"But we can go without you." Yang pointed out. "You don't get to order us around either, and if Ruby and I go and die then it's `poof` for you and Knight, isn't it? The same for Fate and Pyrrha."

Unlike Leviathan, who was gnashing his teeth together, Fate waved a lazy hand and said, "If the Invincible Girl was going to get herself killed by some random idiots, sure. I'm fine with letting her go off on her own. I trust my anchor to be a big, strong, independent woman."

"Thank you…?" Pyrrha asked uncertainly.

Ozpin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then I'll ask whoever is prepared to go to do this. Those that refuse are free to do so. I can only hope you will make the right decision."

"We'll go." Ruby promised. Further down the desk, the four members of Team JNPR nodded. "Maybe Coco's team shouldn't since Barista can't fight. What do we do if the Jaune doesn't want to join us, though?"

"Easy." Fate said. "Kill 'em."

"I-I can't kill someone for refusing us! Sir!"

Ozpin regarded Ruby for a long moment. The brief hesitation all but told them that Ozpin wouldn't have been upset if they did kill the Jaune. "No, I suppose you cannot," he finally said. "I'll leave it to you. I would ask you to try and ascertain their motives. If they will not join us, then find out if they plan to join Salem. If so, you are free to restrain and capture them. I'm sure Knight will prove more than capable in that regard. If not, you'll be outnumbering him eight to one at least. It should not be much of a contest."

"Sure thing. What club is this at anyway?"

"It is simply known as `The Club`." Miss Goodwitch said. "I do believe Miss Xiao-Long is intimately familiar with it, seeing as she ransacked it prior to joining Beacon."

Yang laughed awkwardly. "Ah. That place…"

/-/

"Look after yourselves, kiddos." Fate waved them off from his position on the edge of Pyrrha's bed. "I'll look after the fort. If you see a sock on the door, you may want to knock before entering. Unless you want to join in, eh?" he added with a saucy wink.

Pyrrha, Nora and Ren especially fled the room. Jaune did as well, even if he knew Fate wasn't paying any attention to him. If he had, it would have only been to heap insults on him like usual. He looked to Hunter, a surlier version of him that at least seemed to dislike all huntsmen in general and not just him.

"That Jaune," Pyrrha hissed from beside him. "I can't stand the way he acts and looks at things. He's so… so…"

"Rude?" Jaune offered.

"Yes! Compared to Knight and Leviathan and Barista…"

Yeah. Ruby had gotten insanely lucky with her version – one that Jaune couldn't help but look at in awe. Knight was everything he would never be. Extremely powerful, confident and regal. He wore his confidence like a cloak and it made him seem so much larger than life.

"Are you okay, Jaune?"

"Hm? What? Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"It can't be easy." his partner said. "Seeing all these versions of yourself and having some of them be so callous. It's not bothering you, is it? I know Ozpin has been focused on them. It makes it feel like he's forgotten you."

Jaune laughed it off. "It's fine. I mean, he has a good reason, right? This Salem stuff… the end of the world." Jaune gulped. "I'm not going to get upset he's being so controlling if it means keeping us all alive. I'm more than okay with that."

"I'm glad." Pyrrha giggled and elbowed him gently. "It must be exciting to see all this as well though, right? You get to see all the different ways you could become. It means you could grow up to be like Knight."

His smile wavered. That just didn't seem possible. Knight wasn't even that much older than him – only seven years. People grew, sure, but Knight had all those advantages of stats and his class and it just didn't seem possible for him to ever catch up.

I'm more likely to end up like Fate, aren't I? All miserable and bitter. Or Barista. At least he's happy even if he just runs a coffee shop.

That was the rub, wasn't it? For every incredible Jaune like Knight, there were a bunch like Fate, Barista and Hunter who were just normal people out of their luck. Common sense said those sorts of fates were more common, and he'd yet to meet a Jaune who had actually become a proper huntsman. It was starting to worry him.

What if I'm not cut out for this? I can't hold a candle to Knight. He's what a real hero should be like. What am I? Just some pathetic liar like Fate said. The best I can hope to do is take a sword so someone better like Pyrrha could live… He shook his head. There was no time to think like that. Things would get better. They had to.

"L-Let's go find this other Jaune," he said. "Even if Fate and Leviathan don't want to come, at least we'll have Knight and Hunter."

"And all of us," Pyrrha reminded him. "We're all in this together, Jaune. Team JNPR unto the end."

"Yeah." Jaune forced a smile he didn't quite feel. "Unto the end…"


A lot of people very accurately guessing in the reviews that seeing all these versions of himself was going to have a bit of a negative impact on Jaune's self-esteem, especially in the short-term. Jaune is seeing larger-than-life versions of himself, and he's still early on in his training and a bit of a push-over.

As you can also hopefully see, I am sprinkling in little bits of past and history for each of the Jaunes. This is why I don't want to just do a stats page like some people have asked for. If I give you stats and figures then it's almost like Knight said in this chapter – it takes away agency and makes things a foregone conclusion. It also spoilers stuff.

Let's say for example that (and this is made up and not true) I said that Barista had a special ability in his story where he could kill by shaking hands. And that I put it in his state page. You would all instantly be like "Oh crap, there's going to be a bit later where he shakes a Jaune's hand and uses it to kill them, and Coeur is leading up to that because why else would he mention it here if he wasn't?"

And you'd be right in that case. Instant spoiler. There are things I would have to write in a stat page or "description" of a character's journey in another story that will instantly hint at important things that will happen later in this fic and giving them up front like that would only spoil things.


Next Chapter: 27th November

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur