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A helpful guide incase you get confused:
"Dialogue."
'Thoughts. Could be Jaune. I mean, there have been other thoughts of people displayed too.'
[Semblances]

Chapter 17 - Are Clubs Normally this Dangerous

"So, is your dad normally an asshole?"

Thumbing the page I was on, I took a look at Melanie. "He's… not normally this worked up. I won't defend most of his actions, but… he's still my dad. Please don't call him an asshole."

Melanie flinched on her side of the table, but I ignored it to read what I had paused on. The Aura booklet I had bought from Tuskon really brought to light some of the confusion that was growing ever since my last encounter with the energy. Though, the booklet was more about the tips of ex-Huntsmen and ex-Huntresses on how they used Aura. Still, I was able to puzzle out some things based on their experiences.

"Jaune, Jaune, I- I'm sorry!" I looked up at Melanie. She had now slumped over the table, shuffling a tower of empty shot glasses dangerously close to the edge. "I didn't mean it… It's just your dad shouldn't," she hiccupped, jolting a bit in her chair. "Shouldn't be talking about you like that. I mean, my dad was a right bastard, but- but please don't hate me!"

"Mel, I forgive you, and while I have no idea what happened with your family, I still consider mine precious… even when I feel like I should have a reason to feel otherwise…"

"Why's that?" Melanie slurred, making her words sound more like 'wry's zat.'

"Well," I shifted in my chair, feeling a bit annoyed that the girl had decided that the best time for this conversation was when she was drunk. "How would you feel if you and Miltia got into a fight?"

Melanie frowned at the table, cheeks a rosy red. "Oh… I see… You know, I really envy you, Jaune." Before I could question her, she continued between hiccups. "You're strong, kind, nice, a d- damn saint pretty much. And yet, yet! You still have a family that loves you, friends who care for you and even stick to what you say…"

"I- I'm sorry you think of it like that."

The drunken girl waved, but I panicked when her hand slapped into the tower of shot glasses on the edge of the table. I hurriedly jumped out of my chair to catch them, stacking them back on the table while glaring at her. "D- don't be sorry, J- Jaune! You're like, like Mil's hero…" she sighed into her hands as we locked eyes. "What the hell did you even say to her, huh? B- back when we were fighting those losers?"

I blinked, trying to remember what she was talking about. "Are you talking about when the-" I paused to look around. "The White Fang happened?" I took her bashing her head on the table as a nod. "I don't really know why you want to know, but I told her that I'd never regret trying to save her. You too, by the way."

Melanie just laughed to herself, smiling at some unsaid joke. "Gods, you can be so cringy; only you can say stuff like that… But, I wonder if this is how family fee-"

I paused in my reading, marking the page, and looking up at Melanie as she slumped half-asleep across from me. It was a little hard to concentrate with the loud music, pumping hard enough that I felt our small table rattle along with the beat. Various lights and colors flashed nearby, and I sighed as a nearby group of friends started chattering loud enough that I had to put the book about Aura away. Tuskon had said that civilians shouldn't know about Aura, so reading the book about it near them was probably not the best idea.

Still, the club that Melanie had decided we needed to go to wasn't the first idea I had when she said she needed to cool down. Too much sweat and alcohol filled the air, and I was half tempted to throw up if it wasn't for most of the bathroom stalls being taken.

"I think you've had enough to drink, Mel." I answered back, placing the Aura book into the bag I took along.

Melanie lay on the table across from me on one of the tables away from the dance floor filled with gyrating bodies. She had stacked several shot glasses in front of herself, and I was actually impressed with how many she was capable of throwing back. Though, I didn't exactly know if what she was drinking was a lot since the last party I attended was my own birthday. Still, when the glasses were the combined height of a small child, even I knew that was quite a bit.

Melanie jumped up from her sleepy facade, laughed at my assumption, and I felt a flash of Aura from her before her previously rosy cheeks were slowly cleared up. "See, Aura has a bunch of nice tricks."

I raised a brow, going for the Aura book again and thumbing through a few pages. My hands stopped as I found an applications section, and I found that targeted accelerated healing was pretty standard. A small part of me wondered how that would affect results if they knew it was cell correction instead of healing.

"Come on, why have you been reading that for the past hour and a half?" Melanie complained, leaning over the table, causing the shot glasses to clink as she pushed them out of the way. "We're at a club. Loosen up, you nerd. Besides, I thought you weren't going to get Aura anyways."

Sighing, I closed the Aura book. "I'm not. This is just…" I felt the words sour on my tongue, remembering the confrontation with Alexander. "I guess I'm just a little curious about it, really. Though, I'm starting to think even the people who wrote this book don't know what Aura is."

"Huh? Let me see." she frowned, reaching out and taking the book from my hands before turning it over. "Yeah, Atlas blowhard genius, yadda, yadda. Seems real enough to me." Handing it back, Melanie smiled at me. "So what? Are you suddenly a genius with Aura that you can disprove these Atlas guys?"

I shrugged. "Not really, but that Aura is part of the soul while the soul is not Aura. I know that much."

Melanie waved her hand back and forth, staring at a couple on the dance floor. "What does it matter? That's for dumbasses like those guys in Atlas to figure out; people like us are pretty much trash to them anyways. What do they care for our opinions?"

I sighed, taking a moment to rearrange my thoughts. Melanie wasn't really interested in Aura like I was, and I could tell she didn't really want to know. However, the more I learned about Aura, about Semblances and about what my power was, I slowly began to peel back some details about Aura.

The biggest hint, ironically, was from Alexander. My book had said that Aura was a manifestation of the soul in the form of invisible armor to protect the body. It made sense with the pure defensiveness of Aura, but Alexander's Semblance was all about seeing other people's souls.

However, there was a fact I hadn't really paid attention to when growing up, that I could only see the souls of certain people. Looking back on it, I hadn't really thought much of it, but the idea that they were without a soul is rather baffling now. The only thing that all of them had in common was that I could sense a warmth from them as well, meaning that everyone with a visible soul were people with Aura.

It was a distinction that I hadn't really given thought to. That the other information from Alexander's Semblance was referring to Aura when it mentioned 'the skin of the soul.' Still, I honestly didn't know what to do with the information. Aura was absolutely part of the soul, but then, how did the first Huntsmen come into contact with the soul? I knew how separate the warmth was from a normal person, so I was confused how they got into contact with it in the first place. How were they able to actually utilize the soul?

I was curious, but other than Aura booklets, the only other information was that the first Huntsmen used crude Dust weapons to fight off the Grimm. Even then, it was only until they had suddenly gained Aura that the first traces of civilization were formed.

Then again, I'm questioning something close to fantasy while there were several plastered people screaming about some song from the Schnee heiress nearby.

Melanie, seeming to see my silence as a chance to get closer to me, scooted her chair next to mine. She happily patted my shoulder, and I sighed, glancing at her.

"Hey," I started, offering a slight smile as well. "I never really said it, but thanks for standing up to me when you were scared. I owe you one."

Melanie froze for a second, glaring at me. "Who said I was scared? It's a perfectly normal reaction to someone like that. Your dad is just a damn monster! I read a book about him when I was young…" she shivered. "Gods… he stared down a hundred thousand horde of Grimm and came back without a scratch. Why didn't you say shit about being descended from a living legend? Miltia and I nearly pissed ourselves when he introduced himself."

I coughed a bit, cheeks heating up a bit. "W- well, it's not like the topic really came up. A- and he's normally not that… intense. I think it had to do with his Semblance now that I think about it."

"Oh right, what is that? I bet it's something good."

"Souls." I said off-handedly. "He can see the souls of people with Aura, but I think he can also make his own soul tangible. I don't know, it's weird."

Melanie blinked at that, staring at me for a second. "You don't know? You? The supposed Semblance Guru."

"Like I said," I waved, sighing. "It's weird. You need an Aura to use it, but I think he saw your souls and immediately thought the worst about you."

"I feel like I should be offended."

I winced, patting her shoulder awkwardly. "I'll throw in a second favor on top of my first one."

Melanie smiled at that, chuckling to herself. She took a moment to lean on the table with her arms crossed to support her head, tilting her head so that our eyes were locked. "I don't need anything, Jaune. Mil probably wouldn't want anything, either, but can I trade my favors for a question?"

I looked around, suddenly feeling a bit warmer. "Shoot."

"Well," she drew out the word. "I want to ask about how you feel about your dad. Mine was a… well, a bastard would be putting it lightly. Killed my mom in front of us, and then threw us out, fearing that we'd report him."

I felt a bit sick listening to how nonchalant Melanie was talking while basically describing how her family was screwed up. A bit of bile began building in the back of my throat, but I held it down as she continued.

"That didn't stop Mil and I from going back and putting a knife through his neck." she laughed a bit, but I felt that it was hollow. Instead, I idly rubbed her back. "I guess why I'm asking is that… you're the closest to family we've had in a long time. Junior was, while not horrible, kind of annoying, really. Kept hinting that we'd make better and safer money by being his call girls. I'm not really defending him, but he was still the better option between going to jail, being on the run or becoming someone's bitch."

I frowned. "But, you guys are strong. How could they even… do that?"

Melanie laughed before reaching out and playing with an empty shot glass in her hands. "You'd be surprised. Besides, we weren't that strong when we started off, and it took a few beatings to get it in our heads." she smiled a bit, her eyes looking into the clear glass. "There were even people who helped us, but they never lasted. Everything was always business deals or agreements. The longest was a girl named Emerald, but she never stayed with us as long as you. Though, you never really asked for anything like she did; you've always been trying to do what's the best for us in your weird ways. And even Mil thinks of you as some brother she never had." I found her eyes looking back at mine. "So, I guess what I'm trying to say… is that I- er, we were worried about you when you were getting beaten by your supposed family. Gods, I'm not good with this."

I coughed a bit at how forward she was, blushing at her words. The thought that the twins had considered me some family member struck every chord in my heart, and some of their inane questions and worries were suddenly playing back in my head. What made it more heart wrenching was that we had barely known each other for long, so it really drove home how much my seemingly small actions affected them. Perhaps, all they wanted was someone willing to extend a hand for them when they needed it.

"W- well, I already have seven sisters." I smiled at her. "What's two more?"

Melanie laughed at that. "Gods, are you always this cringy?"

"Hey! I care about my family, you know! It's an Arc promise, okay?" I winced a bit, scratching the back of my head. "I guess it's a bit odd to say, but I'll make sure you two are safe. I can't say I understand what you've been through. However, no matter how many highs or lows we go through, the Arc family is always together… you're right, I'm kinda embarrassed saying that out loud."

"Thanks, Jaune…" I barely heard her whisper over the loud music. "I guess my own family wasn't one to begin with, huh…"

"Alright!" Melanie popped up from her seat, heels clacking on the floor. She turned to me, a grin beginning to spread across her lips. "I've had enough of this sappy shit. Let's unwind tonight!"

I smiled, leaning onto the table with my arm to look up at her. "I thought you told me not to drink?"

Melanie shifted her gaze away, trying not to meet my inspecting gaze. "W- well, Mil and I always go to a club to cool down, and it sort of slipped my mind… Er, shit I didn't think this through."

"We can always leave," I offered. "We've had an exhausting time lately, and I doubt the club is really the best place to go."

"Or," Melanie denied. "We can get you some distraction. You've literally been running on this stupid justice, helping-everyone shtick for the past week or so, so you got to have some relaxation."

My brow rose into my hairline. While Melanie's motives seemed sincere, I don't quite think she remembered just how I acted during my first and only club experience. Being in a similar environment, I couldn't help but get back into a similar mindset. "And you think I find places like clubs relaxing? If anything, it's bringing back some bad memories."

Melanie processed that information as well as I thought she would, and refused to meet my eyes while holding back an obvious flinch. "Shit… sorry, Jaune. I just- it's my first time doing something like this, and I'm horrible at trying to help other people. I thought you'd get better, but I guess I was just trying to help myself in the end, huh?"

I sighed. This wasn't how I thought my night would turn out, but consoling my friend was more important. "Don't worry, Mel. This just isn't what I normally do, so maybe I need to uh, open myself to more options? Here," I stood up, trying to put the best smile on in order to reassure her. "Let's go and do what you normally do. Show me how you have fun at, um… what's this place called?"

"The Hole in the Wall." Melanie mumbled before nodding in my direction. "Alright, I have the best idea! You need a girlfriend!"

I coughed, trying to think about what she was talking about. "W- what are you saying?!"

"You heard me," she said, still beaming. "I'm going to help you pick up chicks. You obviously need experience with women, so the best way to get your mind off of all the shit in your life is by ignoring it with a hot girlfriend."

"I don't think-"

Melanie frowned at me. "And what happened to letting me show you how to have fun here? I'm not saying to find your wife here. Just find a cute girl, start dancing and maybe forget why we were here in the first place a bit."

I tried to follow along with her logic, but my mind kept stuttering as I fed my fantasies into it. The whole Velvet situation ended when she went with the twins to sleep in one of their guest rooms, and now I was being presented with a choice in a similar scope. Safe to say, Melanie's option of a distraction really was looking better as I remembered how my whole night was going.

Besides, I can be smooth. 'Right, smooth Jaune is basically your second persona…'

"F- fine. I guess I can follow along with you."

Melanie tapped her heels on the floor, and I could see an almost invisible grin on her face. "Good. We need to find you a girl who seems fun and outgoing enough to actually talk with you."

"That's a bit much."

"A- and," Melanie stuttered, ignoring my joking reply. "If it doesn't work out, then we can just find some punks to beat down. Fighting always seems to make you calmer."

"I think your image of me is a little odd…"

She ignored my grumbling again to look around the club a bit, squinting through the flashing lights before pointing to someone at the bar. "How about her?"

My sight followed her finger for a moment, and I almost spat out the drinks I never took. The girl who Melanie had pointed out was someone who I'd consider completely-out-of-my-league. It was almost comical to even consider Smooth Jaune or any Jaune having a chance with her.

"Mel," I said slowly, making sure she looked at me. "Do you just want to get in a fight?"

"Huh? But I picked someone who I thought you had a chance with." She squinted at the girl at the bar. "Is she not your type?"

My tongue lolled in my mouth as my thoughts slowly processed her words. "Me? Have a chance? Your confidence in me is rather astounding…"

"What? Do you want me to talk to her first or something?"

"I think that would-"

My words died in my throat. One of the Semblances I had been watching for entered my range, and my eyes narrowed into pinpricks. A bit of sweat began pooling onto my forehead as I pulled on the warmth of their Aura and linked to them.

[Single wavelength phase transformation. Thermal visual perception.]

Lilac, I reminded myself. Someone who is definitely part of the Reds was currently underneath the club we were in, and that information didn't fill me with any bit of hope that she was peacefully passing by.

The more I thought of my confrontation with Arie and Lilac, I realized that Lilac was most probably a way for the Reds to infiltrate and sabotage important equipment stockpiles. It fit with how she seemed to use those explosive beads on her wrists, and so long as those beads were set off near enough Dust, they would feasibly collapse several buildings.

"Jaune?" Melanie questioned me, and I could tell her expression was beginning to grow concerned at how silent I got. "Something happened?"

"The Reds are here."

I found her face twisting through several shades of white before her gaze settled on me. "No Jaune."

"What? No what?"

"You know what I'm talking about; we're not stopping whatever those psychopaths are doing here." Melanie bit her lip, looking increasingly worried. "Look, you dumbass, you barely survived your first encounter with them. We barely got out of our confrontation with the White Fang for crying out loud. What makes you think you can take the Reds now?" Her gaze turned steely. "And I'm certainly not letting you fight them without Aura."

"Melanie," I said, ignoring how she flinched. "I'm not going to sit here, watching as they cause more chaos and deaths when I could help. You know I can't ignore this. I can use your Semblance to take someone else's Aura, in any case."

Melanie threw her hands in the air, getting several drunken groups nearby to cheer as they followed her actions. "Oh, like that solves everything! Get a damn clue, dumbass! You can't just have Aura and then expect that everything to work out. At most, you'll be able to take a few more punches before getting killed!"

"This is not the time to be fighting each other."

"Correct, this is the time to run away! We can't do this with just us two, and- and if you take my Semblance, I'll fight you here and now before dragging your ass away." Melanie glared at me, and I could barely make out tears gathering in her eyes under the flashing lights. "Believe me, Jaune, you're not ready to fight them. I'm not ready to fight them. Not alone."

Staring the resolute Melanie down, I found my previous confidence dwindling. I kept a tab on the Aura of Lilac moving below, and tried to see if there were others near her, but I found her Aura pulsing randomly while three others seemed to dart near her. Melanie was right that I was probably in over my head.

I sighed. "I'm sorry, Mel… I-" Suddenly, I felt another Aura step near the club, and I felt a plan coming to me. I had no idea what Will Rouge was doing near a club, but he brought me the perfect idea. "Wait, so what happens if we are not alone?"

Melanie froze, staring at me in barely concealed horror. "Jaune, please don't be stupid. We can't go against the Reds half-heartedly, and I don't know what your stupid plan is, but don't think you can gather some do-gooders to help."

"That's why," I said, pulling out my phone. "We call Roman, and we also get some nearby help. I can tell you that the Reds normally go in pairs, and that there are four people fighting in the basement under this club."

"Let me get this straight," Melanie rubbed her brow. "You want to join a fight with people who are almost certainly part of the Union, call up Roman for help and see if there are any idiots willing enough to fight some of the coldest killers in Remnant's history?

I rubbed the back of my head, feeling that the plan sounded better in my head. "Well, we might as well stack the deck in our favor, right? Er, um, I mean we won't be going in alone like you said."

Melanie tapped her feet on the floor, crossing her arms. "You're keeping my Semblance as one of your exclusive spots, okay? And, you need to recruit at least another idiot before I give my final say, alright?"

"Deal."

"And we run away at the first sign of trouble!"

"Yes, mom."

"Shut up! You're lucky I'm letting you get away with this shit…" Melanie grumbled, but she seemed to be folding as I smiled at her. "Anyways, who's the sucker you're going to get to join us?"

"Oh, I was thinking of her." I pointed over to the girl Melanie had tried to set me up with earlier.

Melanie sighed, and I felt she was trying to hide in her shadow. "Why, of all people, do I point out one of the only people with Aura... "

I offer the distraught girl a weak smile. It didn't really help, but she didn't kick up too much of a fuss as we made a quick path through the crowd. Several of the dancing patrons bumped into us, forcing Melanie to take the lead and muscle people out of the way like she was used to it. Though, it did hit me that she was a club bouncer before she became my friend.

Then, we were free from the crowd. A small bubble of free space had cleared up around the girl at the bar, and I paid close attention to a man clutching something between his legs on the floor nearby. For a second, I had half a mind to stop this plan as this girl was clearly not friendly.

If I left now, Melanie would be happy, I'd be one less encounter with the Reds and I could have a conversation with Alexander about my future. However, a part of me felt horrible about letting them go. About letting more criminals and murderers do whatever they want because their Aura makes them the biggest dog in town. Of all the innocents getting caught in the crossfire.

And, most of all, I didn't want to be seemingly giving up here.

So, I clamped down on my apprehension, taking a good look at the girl who I had planned on recruiting. An even closer inspection made it clear she and I were leagues apart.

My blonde hair was maintained with the information from several sisters who knew how to take care of hair, but her hair was something of an artform. A long mane of gold locks that trailed down their head, framing their fairly muscular figure with how it went all the way down to her mid thigh.

And I paused a bit at how bit the girl's biceps and thighs, but not in any lecherous way. Instead, I would say that my pause was of admiration; her muscles were simply trained beyond what any normal girl would consider feminine. However, the blonde didn't seem to care one bit about that, and for some reason, it worked.

Her clothes hugged her curves, accentuating just how much effort she put into her body. With how short her black shorts were and how much of her arms her brown jacket allowed, it was fairly certain that the girl was confident in her skin.

I froze a bit when purple eyes stared at me as Melanie and I entered the bubble of space that opened around the other blonde, and I forgot almost my entire plan to recruit her. The plans to get a handle on her personality, and try to appeal to her sense of duty were suddenly thrown out the window.

"You two need something?" She asked, turning in her chair and leaning against the bar with her elbows. My eyes bounced a bit at the action, finding the effort to keep my gaze on her seemingly glowing, purple irises.

"I uh," my tongue was seemingly numb in my mouth as I remembered why I was there. "W- well, do you want to help us fight a bunch of mass murdering criminals?"

The girl's purple eyes blinked at me, her eyebrow quirking up to look at Melanie behind me. "Can't say I've heard that pick-up line before." Then, she smiled with way too much teeth. She cracked her fingers, dragging my gaze to the large yellow bracelets on her wrists before she stood up. I noted that she barely reached my chin, but for some reason she felt a bit taller. "Sure, sounds like fun!"

Behind me, Melanie slapped her forehead.

Glad this didn't end up long. I swear action is in the next chapter... Dialogue is just an experience to write... If you see anything that could be fixed, please tell me.

As always, Enjoy!