Jaune was sleeping peacefully, for the first time in over a year. He felt warm and safe. That was until he felt something land on his left shoulder. Instantly, his instincts kicked in. His left had let go of what he was holding and grabbed whatever it was. He heard a faint gasp and his eyes opened, and he was greeted with the image of Blake staring at him in shock with her ears sticking straight up. He blinked before he looked at his hand and saw he was holding her wrist. He let go instantly and she started to rub her wrist with her other hand. "Sorry, Blake. It's a reflex from being out in the wilds." He said sheepishly.
Blake just looked at him for a while before she nodded, "It's fine. We're here."
He nodded and was about to stand up until he felt that an arm was wrapped around him. He turned to his right and saw that Yang was still asleep and leaning against him. She had peaceful expression on her face. He had a ghost of a smile on his face with that before his features schooled themselves. Although, a certain Faunus didn't miss it. He gently started to shake her. "Yang, time to get up."
Yang just groaned and buried her head into his shoulder more. "No. Sleep." She said stubbornly.
Jaune just shook his head, "Come on, Yang. We need to see Oz." Yang just huffed in annoyance before she stood up and stretched her stiff muscles. Jaune just looked at her for a few seconds before he did the same. When he was done, he saw that the team of huntresses-in-training were waiting by the door. As he was walking over to join them, the door slowly started to open and flooded the bullhead with light. Jaune squinted at the light before he put his sunglasses on. He then took his first look at Beacon in nearly a year and a half. He just stared for a while and spoke just above a whisper, "Never thought I'd be here again."
The girls looked over to see Jaune staring with a far-off look to his eyes under the green lenses. That was before he sighed and reached his hands up to the arms of his sunglasses. Ruby caught on to what he was doing. "You're going to wear your mask?"
Jaune stopped and looked at her. He nodded, "Yeah. Its best that no one knows I'm alive. This is the best way to keep it that way." He hit the switches and the glasses started to form his mask once again. And once it was fully deployed, the lenses started to glow green. He then pulled his hood up. "Let's get going." He said simply before he walked off the bullhead.
The four looked at each other before following him. As they made their way across the campus, many students saw them and wanted to run up to them. But they were deturbed by the Huntsman that was leading them to their destination. The man just had an aura around him that just made you want to give him as much space as possible. That would be Rien in a nutshell and that was what Jaune needed in the long run. The only person that didn't pick up on that was a blonde and green haired first-year who ran up to them. "Guys!" she shouted.
They all turned besides Jaune, who froze at the voice. Ruby started to wave her hands around like crazy. "Olive!" she shouted.
Olive ran into Ruby and the two shared a hug while the other three girls just watched with smiles. Meanwhile, Jaune just stared at his younger sister under his mask in shock. He took in her appearance as she hugged Ruby. She was still the same height as her, but she looked a bit more mature than when he last saw her. She was wearing grey combat boots with white pants and a green long-sleeved shirt. She had black, light-weight knee and shin guards. Along with black pauldrons of the same material and bracers that covered from the back of her hands to her elbows. A black belt wrapped around her waist with what looked like holsters on either side. Finally, on her back was a long spear about as tall as her. That's when she pulled away from Ruby to look at everyone. "It's so good to see you. How was your mission?"
Jaune quickly shook himself from his stupor. "I'm sorry, but the details of their mission are classified."
She looked at him for the first time and looked him up and down, "Who are you?"
He just bowed his head slightly, "Rien. I'm a Huntsman that works directly under Professor Ozpin. They were asked to help…. Escort me back to Beacon. And we really should report in to him."
Olive just stared at him for a bit before she nodded slowly, "Right, well it was nice to meet you." She then turned to the girls and smiled, "We should catch up later." They nodded, and she left to do whatever she was doing before spotting them.
Jaune just watched her leave. His heart felt…. heavy didn't even cover it. Olive was one of the closest to him out of all his sisters. She was the only one that new about his chronic nightmares and he could remember the countless nights she stayed with him to calm him down. To see her again, just made him miss her even more than he thought was possible. "So, she made it here."
Weiss turned to him and nodded, "She started this semester. She wanted to be a Huntress similar to her Big Brother." There was a bit of snark to her voice but Jaune didn't pick up on it. His hand clenched into a fist and his knuckles cracked audibly as it shook. He then turned around and started to walk towards Beacon's tower at a brisk pace. The RBY of RWBY gave Weiss a look before they all followed him.
They all eventually found themselves in the elevator up to Ozpin's office. It was awkwardly quiet. But that was only for the four students. Jaune just wanted to finish this meeting and get out of here. His mood had quickly gone south. The elevator opened to reveal that Ozpin was at his desk with Goodwitch standing beside him. Jaune walked in and saw that Qrow was off to the side by one of the windows. As they turned to him, he gave a half-hearted two finger salute, "Rien. Reporting for duty."
Qrow chuckled at the antic while Goodwitch raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Ozpin just smiled slightly, "Rien, it's good to see you in one piece. We were worried."
Jaune scoffed, "Clearly since you sent them after me." He pointed his thumb at RWBY walking behind him. He turned to Goodwitch, who looked like she was analyzing him. He nodded to her, "Professor Goodwitch."
"Do I know you?" she asked as she kept looking at him.
He just shrugged, "Not really but everyone knows Ozpin's right-hand woman. Especially, when you start working for him."
Ozpin looked past him at Team RWBY. They were all giving him looks. "Thank you for bringing him back, Miss Rose."
"Oh, it was no problem, Professor." She said in a respectful tone. "But, um…."
"Yes?" Ozpin asked calmly.
Yang beat her to the punch. "Did you know who he is? Who he really is?" her voice had an annoyed edge to it.
Ozpin just looked at her calmly. "Yes, I did, Miss Xiao Long. Its partially why I sent your team to retrieve him."
"Oz." Jaune spoke up and his voice held a warning tone to it.
RWBY was shocked that Jaune would act like that, to Ozpin of all people. Goodwitch was just as shocked and was just looking between the two of them. Ozpin was just looking at Jaune calmly while drinking his coffee. Qrow looked on unamused, "Kid, take off that ridiculous mask already."
Jaune just stared Qrow down for a few seconds before he brought his hands up to the switches. As the mask of compacting, he started speaking again, "I wouldn't have to wear this 'ridiculous' mask if someone would've met up with me like planned." His voice modifier stopped working halfway through the sequence and Goodwitch gasped at the voice. She froze completely when he pulled off his hood and pulled his glasses off. He then placed them inside his cloak as he was still glaring at Qrow.
Qrow just raised his hands in surrender, "Take it easy, I was busy with a few other things."
"I swear, if you were trying to get with that waitress from Higanbana, again." Qrow looked away slightly. Jaune just glared harder, "I'm gonna cut out the middleman and shove your flask directly into your liver."
"Mr. Arc?" Jaune turned to a still dumbfounded Goodwitch.
He sighed before he put on a sad smile, "Its been a while, Professor."
She shook her head and turned to Qrow and Ozpin with her patented glare. "Would either of you like to explain?"
Weiss added on with her own glare, "And maybe tell us, why we and JNPR didn't know about this?"
The two Huntsman looked at each other then at Jaune with an unspoken question. He looked up at the ceiling and growled in annoyance, "Sure. Why the hell not? This was probably part of the reason why you wanted me back."
"Please, hold on a second, Jaune." Ozpin said. "We should all be here for this." He added cryptically.
"All?" he asked, and his eyes widened as he heard the elevator rise behind him. He quickly started to reach for his glasses. "Son of a bitch!"
His hand just reached his glasses when the doors opened. He froze when he heard the voice that came from within it, "Come on, guys! Ozpin probably has some top-secret information for us, that way we can become his new secret agents!" Shouted a very bubbly voice.
"Nora, I doubt that is what the Headmaster wants to see us about." A calm voice spoke up.
Jaune, against everything his mind told him, slowly turned to the new arrivals. There was his former team: his sister, brother and last girlfriend with a short blonde-haired woman with them. They were in their little world until they turned and locked eyes with him. They all froze, and their eyes widened in complete disbelief. They just stared at each other for a full minute until Jaune brought his hand to his face. He lowered his head and gave a defeated sigh. He turned back to Ozpin with a tired expression on his face. "You can be a dick, you know this."
Ozpin just smirked while Qrow chuckled. "Jaune?" a voice spoke up and Jaune flinched at it. He turned to see that Nora had taken a few steps away from her team and was looking at him. Her wardrobe had updates since he saw her last, but it still fit her. He also saw that Yokiri was on her left hip. "Is that really you?"
Jaune just sighed again. "Yeah, it's me, Nora." He scratched the back of his head, "I know what you're going to say, and I don't blame you for being ang- "
"Jaune!" she shouted, and he felt her tackle him. He would've been taken off his feet if he didn't bulk up a bit over the time he was gone. He looked down to see her bury her face into his chest and hugging him tightly. "I knew you were alive. There would be no way you'd break your word and leave me."
He felt her shake a bit with that and his heart started to ache. "Nora." He said weakly before he hesitantly hugged her. He put his left arm around her back and his right hand started to stroke the back of her head. She froze slightly as he spoke up, "Of course, I couldn't just abandon you, Little Sis." Nora started to cry into his chest with that. The way he hugged her, his voice and the nickname. No one could copy all of that. Jaune was back. He was alive, and she was overjoyed.
He looked up to see that Ren was standing beside him and looking him up and down. Like Nora, his clothes were different but fit him better in some ways. Fit his Mistralian heritage a bit more. He also noticed Inkiri on his right hip. Jaune looked at the ground in shame. "Hey, Ren." He didn't reply. "I'm sorry." He added weakly. He felt himself being hugged a second time. He looked to make sure it was Ren actually doing it. "Ren?" he asked hesitantly.
"Just shut up." His brother told him as he was shaking as well.
After a second, Jaune nodded and took his right hand off Nora's head and wrapped around Ren's back to pull him closer. "Got it, Brother." It felt impossible to him. To be holding his siblings in all but blood once again. He had to be dreaming. No one interrupted them. They couldn't bring themselves to do so.
The three broke apart and were sharing weak smiles. That's when heels were sounding throughout the room. They looked to see Pyrrha walking up to him in a daze. Nora and Ren walked over to RWBY as Jaune just took in her appearance. It didn't change as much as the others, but he took notice of the changes. Her corset had more bronze metal lining to it for more protection and her bronze gorget now extended further to cover more of her back and chest. Now only a triangular space was left to show a bit less cleavage than he remembered. The bronze armlet was missing from her left upper arm, now she was wearing a pair of bronze rerebraces, like the ones he used to wear. Her red sash was still there but the last six inches of it were white. Finally, Dokiri was on her lower back, laying horizontally and the handle on her left side. She stood a foot or so in front of him and they just kept staring. "Jaune?" she asked.
Jaune just nodded hesitantly. After that she pulled her right hand back and smack him across his face, hard. His head went to the side and everyone looked on in shock as the smack ran clear through the room. Jaune blinked before he turned slowly back to her. She had an angry expression on her face. "I deserved that."
That didn't help. She looked angrier now. "You deserve more than that!" She shouted as she punched him in the chest. "After a year and a half, you just walk back in here like nothing happened!" She punched him again, but he didn't do anything to stop her. "We thought you were dead! We mourned you!" More punches hit him from the champion, "And all this time, you were alive! Do you realize what you put us through!? What you put me through!?" Her punches started to slow down and weaken until she stopped with both fists on his chest as she looked down. She was shaking and breathing raggedly. "Why?" she asked weakly. "Why didn't you ever come back?" she sniffled as tears fell from her face to the ground. "Why did you leave us?"
Jaune slowly raised his hands and gently wrapped her in a hug, like at any moment she would shatter in his grasp. "I'm sorry." He said just as weakly and brokenly as her. She lost it completely with that and buried her head into his chest and started to bawl her eyes out. Jaune just held her while she let it all out. It was all he could do, all he had the right to do.
After a few minutes, she finally stopped crying. She slowly pulled her head back and looked up at Jaune, red eyed. He looked more mature now and his hair was a bit longer than it was before. But the most different thing were his eyes, they weren't the blue she knew and loved. They were now a dark purple, so very close to black. They also looked tired, like he'd seen a lot for his nearly twenty years of life. She slowly reached up her hand and gently placed it on his cheek, to just be sure this was really her Jaune. Jaune couldn't help but close his eyes and lean into her touch. "What happened?" she asked simply. No anger was in her voice or even sadness. Just curiosity.
Jaune opened his eyes and met her emerald green orbs. He sighed before he pulled away from her. He looked at everyone in the room before he gently massaged his forehead. "You all have the right to know this. That's probably why these two called you all here." He flicked his hand over to Ozpin and Qrow as he said that. "But, what I'm about to tell you, can't leave this room. Do you all understand?"
All the students looked at each other, having their own private conversations before they turned to him and nodded. "Okay then. But first things first." He started walking past Pyrrha to stand directly in front of the last person in the room. She was a short woman with long wavy, blonde hair. She wore black boots with very high heels, but still was only about four foot ten. She wore blue jeans tucked into said boots and a black jacket with black gloves. She also had blue eyes, similar to the shade Jaune's were. Honestly, she could easily be mistaken for an Arc. Jaune crossed his arms and cocked his head slightly with a raised eyebrow, "Just who are you?"
Her response was to tilt her head slightly and send him a mischievous grin. Pyrrha was the one to speak up, "This is Jasmine. She was placed on our team to…well, replace you."
Jaune didn't say anything, he just stared her down as she just kept grinning up at him. Soon a small grin was on his face as well. "Why Jasmine?" he asked.
She just pulled out her scroll and started typing. When she was done, she raised it up to be eye level to him. He quickly read through what she typed, and his grin grew. "So, you didn't want the team name to change. To honor me?" She just took her scroll away and nodded. "Thank you." He said sincerely. He uncrossed his arms and reached his hand out to pat her head.
The other members of JNPR and RWBY were about to stop him. The last time someone tried to pat her on the head, she flipped the second-year through a table. That's why they were shocked when she not only let Jaune do it but actually leant into his touch more. They were completely dumbfounded when she stepped forward and hugged him. She never did that, she begrudgingly let others, like Yang and Nora, hug her but they never saw her initiate one before.
Jaune wrapped his other arm around her back. "You've been keeping an eye on them for me?" She nodded as she continued to hug him. "You've kept them out of trouble?" She looked up at him and gave him a pout. He chuckled slightly, "I expected as much. But thank you still." She just grinned more up at him.
The two teams had enough by this point and Ruby spoke up, "Jaune?" He turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "How do you know Jasmine? We only met her at the beginning of the semester."
Jaune's other eyebrow raised to join the other before turning back to Jasmine. "They don't know?" She just shook her head. Jaune nodded, "Right. I did say to keep it low-key, didn't I? Well, you should be fine to show them." Her eyes widened in a panic and she quickly looked to them and Goodwitch. She snapped out of her mini panic attack when Jaune placed his hands on her shoulders and she snapped back to him. "Hey, hey, calm down." He spoke calmly. "Have I ever steered you wrong before?" She slowly shook her head. "You trust me, right?" She nodded without hesitating. "So, trust me now. Everything will be alright. I'm here now." He gave her a reassuring smile and she slowly nodded again before giving their hug a quick squeeze.
She pulled away from him and looked at the room. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. They were all curious on what she was doing, until a glow started at her feet and rose up her body. Once it reached the top of her head, Jasmine was gone. And standing there was someone none of them expected. Neopolitan. She opened her now brown and pink eyes and gave them all a nervous looking grin.
Everyone else in the room was shocked silent at this latest revelation. Well, besides Ozpin and Qrow. Like before they were calm, in Ozpin's case, and disinterested, in Qrow's. The only one that had any kind of reaction was Yang and that was when her eyes shifted to red for a few seconds. Finally, Goodwitch snapped out of it and pulled her crop from her holster and pointed it at Neo. "Mr. Arc, step aside!"
That snapped everyone from their stupor and they were just in time to see what happened next. Jaune immediately stood in front of Neo and pointed his right palm directly at Goodwitch as a Void orb materialized in his hand. He just glared at her and his body had clear signs of being ready to fight. "Not happening." He said deathly serious. "This orb can fly as fast as a bullet and break through anything. I don't wanna be reminded of what this can do to something living."
No one dared to move as the most powerful Huntress in Beacon had a stare down with the only known Pseudo-Maiden. That was until Ozpin cleared his throat. "Glynda, please lower your weapon."
She turned to her boss in shock. "Ozpin, do you realize who that is?!"
He nodded, "Yes, I am well aware who Miss Neopolitan is and what she has done. But for the last year, she has been a part of our group." He stressed that specific word and that made her even more confused. "Along with Jaune." He turned from his assistant to said man. "Jaune, no harm will come to her. So, can you please stop threatening Glynda?"
Jaune's eyes flicked over to the Headmaster for a second. His orb faded out of existence and his whole body relaxed completely. "Sorry, Oz." He turned back to look at the still stunned Neo. "You okay?" She slowly nodded to Jaune. He gently took her hand, "Come on, stand by Qrow while I explain everything." He slowly started to walk her over to the Huntsman as she followed. Her eyes went over to NPR and RWBY, before she looked down.
She felt a hand on her head and she looked up to see Jaune looking at her with that same reassuring smile. She smiled slightly before mouthing 'thank you'. He just nodded and patted her head before he took his hand away. She then walked over to Qrow and gave him her trademark smirk before standing next to him. "How you been, Midget?" he asked gruffly. She just punched him in the arm to answer.
"Qrow, play nice." He said tiredly. Qrow mumbled something under his breath before him and Jaune pulled out their flasks and took a drink, completely in sync.
That shocked Goodwitch and NPR. "Jaune." He turned to his former partner. "You drink?"
He nodded, "I did before everything happened, just not often. Still don't really. Besides, it'll never become a problem. Its physically impossible for me to get drunk now."
Yang snorted, "Just because you have high reserves of aura, doesn't mean you can't get drunk."
Jaune nodded, "True." He then held his hand out with his palm pointed to the sky. A Void orb materialized into his hand. "But, Void does. Any alcohol or toxin that gets past my aura, it destroys completely. But, I'm getting off track." The orb faded away and he returned his flask to his cloak. "I'll start at the beginning. You all know of the Maidens, I assume."
Pyrrha nodded, "Yes, I told them about them when we went to Patch after the Fall."
"Good, that saves me some time." He took a deep breath before explaining to them how his Semblance originated from the Fall Maiden's power and how Amber was a previous Fall Maiden. He then explained how Cinder attacked Amber, stole half her power and how during the Fall, she managed to kill her to gain the full Maiden powers. They were all shocked to say the least, besides the protectors and Pyrrha. "I was the best chance at stopping her. With the link between us, I was siphoning energy from her as we fought. I was becoming stronger as she was weakening, even if it was only just slightly. Plus, she had just gained her abilities, so she didn't have full control." He looked out the window. "It was still close, and I had to resort to Void. It ended when I exhausted my aura and she stabbed me through the stomach." His left hand unconsciously traced the scar through his shirt as he said that. "But that gave me the chance to stab her in the heart with Kuroibarra. I then passed out from blood loss when I tried to make my way back to Beacon." He turned back to the room. "That's how it happened."
They were all absorbing this when Blake spoke up, "So, what happened to you afterwards? Where'd you go?"
"Someone actually saved me. They got me out of the Emerald Forest and somewhere to heal. I can't say who did, how they did it or where I was though. I gave my word I wouldn't." He told them before anyone asked. "It took about a month for me to gain consciousness after that."
"What!?" Weiss raised her voice. "How did it take that long? With your aura, it shouldn't have been that long."
Jaune nodded. "You're right. The thing was, I had no aura and it took it a whole month to fully return. That's when I fully healed from my injuries and woke up." He slowly paced the room. "The aura stimulant I was using had the downside that the person's aura would rejuvenate slowly after being used. But what I and the creator didn't know, was that if you completely exhaust your aura while it's in your system, it takes a week to restore the aura. And every consecutive shot, doubles that time." He looked back to the seven of them. "I used three that day, so that equaled a month."
"Those things are more risk than they're worth." Pyrrha spoke up coldly. She still remembered herself lecturing Jaune on using so many of them during the Fall.
Jaune chuckled dryly. "Yeah, I told him that and he's been working on fixing that." He shrugged, "He's had no luck so far." He started pacing again. "After that, I had to retrain my body. A month of not moving made my body weak and stiff. Luckily, my 'savior' started to whip me back into shape. And while I did that, I had to start mastering Void."
"Jaune, why are you so focused on Void?" Ren asked, voicing his concerns. "Its clearly dangerous and it has to have some repercussion from using it."
"You don't know the half of it. But that's a discussion for another time. As I said before, my Semblance would evolve by being close to the Fall Maiden by absorbing their energy over time. That's how I could do Advance Elements and Stage Two. When Cinder died, the Maiden powers were released to search for a new host. I was exposed to the power directly when that happened, and my Semblance absorbed more energy than ever before. My Semblance evolved further, and the other elements were lost to me. He shrugged. "Void is all I have now."
Ren nodded, "So, that's why you had to master it."
Jaune nodded, "Can't ever lose control of this power. Void reverts nearly everything to nothing." Jaune popped his neck to the side and rubbed it as he started again. "It took a couple more months before I was confident that I could control Void. And my 'savior' used their resources to get me back to Beacon in record time as long as I kept my word to them. I was going to find Oz and see what happened to you all, so I could see you again."
"So, what stopped you?" Ruby asked, while looking at the Headmaster and her Uncle.
"They told me the truth." He sighed before continuing. "Cinder wasn't working alone. She was part of an…organization that has some terrible things planned for this world. The Fall of Beacon was their first step. And their whole plan was stopped by one person: me. If they ever found out I was still alive, they'd do whatever it took to end me. And they have the resources and patience to make it happen." That made them all feel a shiver run up their spines. The Fall was terrible, and these people were planning something way worse for Remnant. "Honestly, they could easily target my family if I proved to be too much to deal with directly. Or all of you." He ran a hand through his hair before he continued. "I couldn't take that risk. So, I decided to work with Oz and Qrow to stop them. They helped set up my Rien persona and for the rest of that year, I went on missions with Qrow. And Jaune Arc would stay dead."
"And you never thought to let us know?" Yang asked angrily.
"We needed to keep the circle as small as possible. The three of us and one other person knew who Rien actually was. And Neo joined that group shortly after." He shrugged again. "Plus, you were all better off not knowing."
"That wasn't up to you!" Yang shouted at him. The other's flinched back from her outburst. "We had every right to know that you were alive! We were your girlfriends and family, for fuck sake!"
Jaune just stared her down. "Keyword, were. You were with Jaune Arc. Last time I checked, he was dead. I'm Rien, now." He replied coldly.
That stunned them and made Yang angrier, her eyes shifted to red. "Yeah, guess you don't need us anymore."
Jaune was done at that point and turned his back on them. "Believe whatever you want. I don't need to explain myself. I did what I felt was right and I'd do it again. If you don't like it…" He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the elevator. "The door's there."
Yang just stared him down before she walked towards the door. They watched her walk off as Weiss sent a glare at Jaune's back and followed her. Ruby was about to stop them when she heard a sniffle and saw that Pyrrha was tearing up again along with Nora. The two gave him hurt looks before they started to leave as well. Ren just looked at Jaune's back before he shook his head and went to comfort his team. Blake and Ruby were conflicted. They looked from Jaune then to each other before they came to a decision. They took one last look at Jaune before they followed their friends. The doors opened and they all walked in. The doors closed shortly after, leaving Jaune still standing there.
A/N- Well, this is late. I'd like to apologize for that. I was going to post this last week but I managed to get the flu and had no energy to type. Hope it was worth the wait. Next chapter should be out in about two weeks, I'll be working on my monthly chapter for Distortion next. Hope you all understand and I'll see you all in the next update!