"Seriously? Not one post? Amanda was supposed to stick to Jaune like glue. How come she hasn't found him yet," Yang complained.

"Right, because following a man riding a Nevermore while driving through a forest is as easy as taking a nap," Verde said sarcastically as she refreshed the Vale News ScrollTube page.

"Don't get sassy with me, young lady."

"It's too bad you can't open a portal to Raven," Lyra said as she spun around in her chair.

"That's HER Semblance, not mine."

"Well, we have to do something. We're wasting valuable Dust just flying around Anima like this," Silber said as she was driving.

"This would have been easier if we had a tracker on Jaune, RUBY," Weiss went.

"I'm sorry. It just seemed like a creepy idea at the time."

"I vote we put a tracker on Arie, too," Lyra said with her hand raised.

"Second it," Silber said.

"Absolutely not! Jaune is one thing but putting a tracker on my son is a different matter altogether!"

"Come on, Rubes. Arie is Jaune's son," Yang began.

"HE'S MINE, TOO!" When she yelled that, Silber and Weiss glanced back at her. In that split second, Raven and Jaune flew right past them, the ship not even close to hitting either of them, but either Schnee would have been able to see them.

"My point exactly! He's a trouble magnet, so we should have a tracker on him to make sure he's not too far from his old man or anything, right? Who knows what my mom might be doing to my cute nephew right now?"


A bandit's face slammed onto the table. Nimueh, face totally red, chugged down a beer and let out a content sigh before giving a drunken smile at her defeated opponent. "That all ya *hic* got?! Don't worry, losers! I CAN get drunk, so don't you dare make any bullshit complaints about how unfair this is! YA'LL JUST A BUNCHA LIGHT WEIGHTS! BOW BEFORE THE QUEEN!"

The bandits cheered, the women more than the men.

"SHOW THEM WHO RUNS THE WORLD, GIRL!"

"DRINK THESE LILY LIVERS UNDER THE DAMN GROUND!"

"SLAY, QUEEN!"

"And that's my father's wife," Sparrow said before he took a bite out of an apple.

"Alright, mom," Argent cheered.

"So cool," Qamar went. "I have a lot to live up to if I'm going to be a woman in this family tree," she said to herself, pumping herself up with thoughts of being even a tiny bit like her idol and the Spirit of Destruction.


"Well, we'll have to deal with that tomorrow," Weiss said. "Jaune might be able to travel at night, especially with those new powers of his, but I'm not as comfortable. Sun's going down and there's a town not too far from us."

"Another day of not being able to find Argent, huh? I wonder how mom is reacting right now, seeing as she's definitely back at grandma and grandpa's place by now," Lyra said.


At the Arc Household.

"WHERE ARE MY BABIES?!"


"Eh, I'm sure you'll be fine," Yang said.

"Will we," Verde asked.

"Huh? Of course, we will. Why wouldn't w- Ah... Oh."


"YANG?! VERDE?! WHERE ARE YOU," Blake yelled.


"Oooooooh, crap."

"Well, you might be in trouble when we get back," Ruby said.

"Rubes, you gotta help me! Blake is scary when angry! We can blame Jaune!"

"Sure."

"Really," Yang asked with comedic tears.

"Yeah. That idiot is the reason we're out here to begin with. Promising to leave Arie with his parents, only to take him on gods knows what kind of adventure, taking on bandits, riding Grimm, and let's not forget, taking him to see Raven." Ruby growled. "I swear, I'm going to handcuff him to me next time I see him."

"Isn't handcuffing Argent to you a bit extreme," Weiss asked.

"Huh?" Ruby looked at Weiss in confusion. "Handcuff Argent?"

"That is what you mean by handcuff to you, right?"

Ruby stared at her wife for a bit. "And why would it be extreme for me to handcuff my own kid to me, even if I was just joking?"

"You sounded pretty serious for a joke, Ruby."

"Weiss, we've been married for over fifteen years. I thought you'd be able to tell when I'm joking or not," Ruby said before looking out the window.

"Mm, guess I still have a lot to learn," Weiss said as she looked out as well, watching the sun set. She had no idea her wife was blushing in embarrassment while letting out a relieved sigh.

"I meant Arie. I meant Arie. I meant my cute Cookie, not that Grimmified idiot," she mentally repeated to herself.

Yang was leaning back in her chair, thinking of how she would react to when she saw her mother again. 'Punch her in the face? Yeah, that's good. Haven't seen even a raven since Haven, so she deserves that much. And if she let those bandits do anything to my Arie, that's a Burn Punch to the face. Oooh, and if she has another damned secret, that's an EXPLOSIVE Burn Punch to the face,' she thought.


Sparrow chopped the neck of an unruly bandit, knocking the drunk out before he instinctively reached for his weapon on his hip. He glanced down at it. 'Why am I reaching for Revelation, and why do I feel the need to protect my mother,' he thought.

"Sparrow?" He looked towards his fiancée. "Is something wrong?"

He stared at her before noticing something. "Yes."

"Huh?"

"You've got some rice on your cheek."

"I do," she went in embarrassment as she reached up to brush it off.

However, Sparrow gently grabbed her hand and kissed her cheek, eating the rice as he did so. "Now you don't," he said with a smile. She stared at him wide eyed and blushing before she shook her head and caught a random leg of chicken flying towards them.

"Thank you. Now here's your reward," she said as she stuck the leg in his mouth. Sparrow looked surprised at first before he ate the treat.

"Tasty as always."

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Qamar said as she kissed his cheek.


Meanwhile, Lyra and Verde looked at one another before leaning in.

'She was talking about my uncle, wasn't she,' Lyra whispered.

'No doubt. Do you think... Aunt Ruby still has feelings for Mr. Arc?'

'Honestly, I can't really doubt it. I mean, they obviously were a thing once upon a time. How else would they make Argent?'

'Do you think she sometimes wishes she stayed with Mr. Arc?"

'Again, I don't doubt it.'

"What are you two whispering about back there," Ruby asked sternly.

"Nothing," the girls went as they shot up away from each other, looking nervous.

"Hmmm." She then looked out of the window again. 'Where are you, Vomit Boy?'


Jaune and Raven were flying through the sky, nothing in their way. As they flew, Jaune saw an incoming New Mantle ship, but noticed it wasn't going fast enough to get in his or Raven's way, so he just ignored it and flew by. True, whoever was driving would see him, but they would either see a black blur or catch a glimpse of the man himself if they have good eyesight or a Semblance that would help. Since people were already calling him the Grimm King or the Grimm Knight, he honestly didn't care if anyone saw him.

However, had examined the ship more closely, he would have seen the Schnee symbol. If that wasn't enough, had he looked at the cockpit, he would have seen Silber and Weiss up front.

Still, since he didn't do either, he just flew past the mother of his youngest son.

'At least I hope Argent's my youngest,' Jaune once randomly thought.

Raven and Jaune flew over a majority of Southern Anima before they reached the ocean, catching Jaune's attention. He was then surprised when they began to fly past the ocean.

"Any farther south and we'll hit Menagerie," Jaune called. "Did you hide the lamp there?!"

Raven cawed, but in a pattern that Jaune recognized. She was cawing in Morse Code.

NO. JUST SHUT UP AND FOLLOW ME.

"Yes, ma'am."

The two continued to fly before Jaune saw an island. It was right between Anima and Menagerie, decent size, but probably not big enough to colonize. It would be enough for a small village or two, but it didn't look very hospitable from a distance. Jaune saw why when they reached it.

"That's a lot of Grimm. Jinn is DEFINITELY here." Jaune then landed on the highest point of the island, Raven transforming next to him.

"Quite a bit more since last time I was here," she said.

"So you hid it on an island covered with Beowolves, Beringels, and Sulfur Fish. Clever. No one would risk their lives on this island. Let me guess, you're able to reach the lamp in your bird form?"

"Yes. Once I told Sparrow, I knew his Semblance, Rift, would allow him to reach the lamp easily. But you don't need to worry about that, do you, Grimm King?"

"Hey." Jaune sighed as he looked at his hand. He then clenched it, popping the joints in it before looking at Raven. "I don't think I'm quite good enough to make this entire island bend to my will. The most I've ever controlled was a pack of Beowolves. Let's not take any unnecessary risks. If we can sneak past them, great. If I can tame them, better. If I can influence them to fight each other, then we get a show."

"Ooh, I think I like that one."

"But if we need to fight, don't be surprised. Alright?"

"Fine. See that cave?" Jaune looked to where Raven was pointing. "It leads to a series of tunnels that will lead us to Jinn. As long as nothing caused the tunnels to shift, we'll get to her easily."

"Actually, it wouldn't matter if they shifted or not."

"And why is that?"

"I can FEEL her. It's like she's drawing me in."

"Well, aren't you a cheat. First you decide to travel alone with your former lover and now you're after your girlfriend's sister?"

"You've become a real smartass since we last met," Jaune growled, making Raven giggle. Jaune then looked back at the tunnel, his eyes widening. "Aw, crap."

"What?" She looked and saw. "You've got to be kidding me."

"A Wendigo. Just perfect."

The mighty Grimm stomped out of the cave, looking around before roaring. It was too far to affect the Huntsman and Bandit, but it was enough to affect an unfortunate Creeper. They watched as the Wendigo stomped over to it and stomped its head into paste before it faded away.

"Territorial bastard. Don't even show mercy to their fellow Grimm," Jaune said.

"Think you can control it?"

"Honestly, this island would be a hell of a lot easier to deal with if we have that monster on our side. Plus, we don't know what else is lurking in that cave. The more allies we have, the better."

"What do you need to do?"

"Well, with my Nevermore, I just... fell on it."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, it's weird, I know. The Beowolf pack... I intimidated. I scared their Alpha straight and they began to follow my orders." Jaune closed his eyes. "I can still feel them under my influence. They're protecting the village like I told them... and even became celebrities. Turns out the mayor turned them into a tourist attraction as the first Grimm to be tamed and distributed by... the Grimm King. Seriously? That's my nickname now?"

"Well, get used to it, hero. Look." Jaune followed her gaze. "There aren't as many Grimm in that area. We can sneak through that tall grass."

Jaune then looked around and saw a Beringel. "That's a big boy. Send him on a rampage, and we could distract the Grimm even more."

"You want to try and tame that thing and make it cause a ruckus?"

"Call it practice before the freakin' Wendigo."

"Fair enough. Be careful. We can take down the ones in this area, but the more we fight, the more of the island we attract. I'm not sure even with my powers we can take down all the Grimm around here. If I deem it necessary, I'll use my Kindred Link to take us to Sparrow. We'll try again another day. Deal?"

"Deal. Let's go."

Jaune and Raven were able to stealthily sneak past the Grimm. The two were as calm as can be, not a bit of negativity in either of them. They threw a few rocks to lead Grimm away from them and even assassinated a few that came into the grass. Jaune even thought of an idea and had Raven shock the tail of a Creep. It jumped around to see another Creep and didn't hesitate to lunge at it, the two Grimm fighting as Jaune and Raven snuck past them.

When Jaune got close to the Beringel and saw the coast was clear, he ran up and placed his hand on the beast. Time slowed down for him. He could feel his will challenging the Beringel. The world around him became black and white, but the Beringel was purple while he was yellow.

Before Jaune knew it, the Beringel's purple was crawling up his arm. Jaune fought back. His yellow was pushing back against the purple. He struggled a bit before he pushed through. Moments later, his yellow completely engulfed the Beringel's purple.

When Jaune took his hand off, the Beringel stood up and roared as it pounded its chest. It then jumped off the cliff it was standing in front of and landed on a Goliath. It slammed its fists onto the great Grimm's head, making it roar in pain. It tried to grab the Beringel with its trunk, only for the powerful ape Grimm to rip off the trunk before jumping off and slamming it onto a Sulfur.

It roared as it pounded its chest, other Grimm roaring back as they charged at the challenging Grimm, the great Ape fighting back.

Jaune watched in amazement before looking at his hand. "Whoa."

He then looked back to see the Beringel tear a Beowolf in half. "Good luck," he said before sneaking away.

Had he stayed, he would have seen the ape grow ever so slightly larger as it fought the rival Grimm.

Jaune and Raven snuck their way to the cave, the Wendigo pacing around.

"You ready," Raven asked.

"Hell no. . . But let's do it anyway," Jaune said as he held up his hand.

The Wendigo paced around, guarding the cave entrance. It searched and searched, hoping for anything to challenge it, walking towards Jaune and Raven unknowingly. It looked around, turning its head slowly, looking for any signs of unusual movement or sniffing out any negative emotion. When it sensed and saw nothing, it turned around.

Jaune sprang into action, lunging towards it. The monster turned towards Jaune with a surprised roar, but Jaune was able to place his hand on the creature's face.

The same thing from before happened. Time slowed down. Jaune was yellow and the Wendigo was purple. However, this monster's purple was even darker than the Beringel's. Thicker, stronger, and spread even faster. With the Beringel, Jaune was able to fight back before the darkness reached his arm.

This time, it was reaching his neck, and he wasn't able to fight back. The spread slowed, but it was still spreading. No matter how much he struggled, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't push back. The Wendigo's evil was too great. Then, when the darkness reached Jaune's face, he heard a voice. A dark, terrible, nightmarish voice that spoke a single phrase:

YOU... ARE NOT FIT... TO BE MY LIEGE

Jaune ripped his hand off the Wendigo, dazed and staggering, looking ready to keel over.

The Wendigo then reached towards Jaune, preparing to grab him by the neck with its sharp, long claws.

However, Raven slashed its arm off, surprising the monster. It tried to smack her away with its other arm, but Raven blocked the attack with her sword before grabbed its face and electrocuting it, stunning it long enough for her to freeze it. When it was just a block of ice, Raven slowly removed her hand, stared at the beast, then slashed eight times at blinding speeds before sheathing her sword. The moment her Omen clicked into its sheath, the ice fell to pieces, the smoke of the Wendigo floating into the sky.

Raven turned towards Jaune, seeing him on his knees, panting heavily. She walked up to him and held out her hand. Jaune stared at it before graciously accepting the gesture, Raven helping him up. However, he stumbled and fell onto her, hugging her by accident.

Raven wasn't embarrassed by this accident. She wasn't a foolish teen or doe eyed young adult. She was a mature woman who took things seriously, and she was most certainly concerned with her current partner. "You alright?"

Jaune groaned as he held his head. "No. Honestly, I feel like hell. That was horrible. All that darkness. That negativity. That... evil. And that voice. Straight out of a nightmare."

"You heard the Wendigo's voice?"

"Yeah. It said to me, in the cruelest voice I've ever heard, 'You're not fit to be my liege.'"

"So, it rejected you."

"Pretty much. It really did say I'm not good enough to be its leader," Jaune said as he tried to get off of Raven, only to stumble again, making the woman put his arm over her shoulder.

"Well, it was a long shot. Wendigos are one of the highest ranked Grimm in the world. They're on the same threat level as a Leviathan. No way a hero like you could tame something like that so easily, especially not on your first try," she said as she walked the man into the cave.

Jaune sighed. "I hope that doesn't mean I need to be as evil as Salem herself to control those things."

"You can ask Jinn that," Raven said as they disappeared into the cave.

Moments later, in pitch black, Raven lit up the cave by creating a flame in the palm of her hand. She looked towards Jaune, only for the two to be face to face, red eyes looking into red eyes.

"Are you expecting a kiss," Raven asked with half lidded eyes.

Jaune got off of her, finally regaining his balance. "Are you offering," Jaune asked with half-lidded eyes.

"And you call me a smartass. Come on, hero," she said as she walked ahead.

Jaune shrugged. "Lead the way, my queen."

The two walked a bit, not running into anything, before they reached a cave-in. "Damn. Looks like they did rearrange the system. Alright, King of the Grimm, you're up."

"Yeah, yeah, Grimm Hybrid attracted to spirits here," Jaune said.

"Especially female spirits."

"Shut up." Jaune then closed his eyes to concentrate, sniffing the air. His eyes shot open as he pointed at a tunnel. "That way."

"Alright. Now it's your turn to lead the way."

"Fair enough." Jaune then created his own flame in the palm of his hand.

"At least you can make a basic fire now," Raven said as the two went down the tunnel.

"Maybe I should have used this to warm up your tea."

"That would have been a gentlemanly thing to do."

"Next time."

"So there's going to be a next time, is there?"

Jaune looked back and smirked at Raven. "Is that a complaint?"

Raven smirked back. "No. It's not."

The two chuckled before they both heard a rumbling. They looked to see Centinels dig through the walls, the Grimm roaring at the two.

Raven reached for her sword, ready to fight, until Jaune held his hand out towards her. She relaxed when she saw how confident Jaune was.

He walked up, took a breath, and as soon as the Centinels lunged at him, he roared. The roar made the caves shake a bit, but it also made the Grimm shake in fear before they scurried back into their holes.

"Impressive."

"If I'm cursed to be the new Salem, I might as well make my powers work for me, don't you think?"

"I do. Now, as you were leading?"

Jaune nodded before he continued to walk.

A few minutes later, Jaune noticed something. "Raven, put out your flame." She did so without argument at the same time Jaune did. When their light went out, they could clearly see a blue light at the end of a tunnel.

They ran towards the light, the tunnel getting brighter as they did so. Then, they reached the end and saw it. The Lamp of Knowledge.

Jaune walked up to it, looking down at the beautiful, powerful Relic. He couldn't help but smile.

"Long time no see, Jinn."