A/N: Hello, StewBrew here! The latest chapter took a bit longer than expected, but not without a reason. This reason would be that I accidentally wrote a chapter over 15,000 words long... Hey, at least it turned out pretty good! Besides, doubling your word count on the fourth chapter never hurt anybody.

Thank you to those who've commented on this story, your words help far more than you could imagine.

Anyways, more Author's Notes and Casting Questions at the bottom. Enjoy!


Oath Forgotten, Born Anew

Chapter 4: The Light of One's Eye

"Honey, I'm home! ...Again!"

Yang energetically opened the door, ignoring the exasperated sighs from her friends behind her and the pout coming from Nora when the kick she had thrown hit nothing but an empty doorway. Yang's preemptive door opening, however, turned out to be for the best, as Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch had already arrived and were waiting inside, along with four unexpected guests; a brown-haired rabbit Faunus, a beret-wearing girl with a streak of orange in her dark brown hair, a dark-haired and dark-skinned woman and another blonde woman, adding once again to the already quickly expanding number of blondes in the room.

The blonde newcomer blinked in confusion for a moment before turning to Ozpin. "Excuse me, Headmaster, but who are these students?"

Ozpin smirked slightly as Goodwitch sighed and facepalmed at her students. "These are Jaune's friends, Yang, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake of Team RWBY," he gestured to each team member as they walked through the door, "along with Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha of Team JNPR, Jaune's team," Ozpin finished as they closed the door behind them.

"Hey there!"

"Hi!"

"Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Nice to meet you."

"Heeeello!"

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Hello!"

Ozpin smiled at his student's vibrant, and not-so-vibrant, greetings. "Teams RWBY and JNPR, this is Saphron Cotta-Arc, Jaune's sister, as well as Terra Cotta-Arc, Jaune's sister-in-law and Saphron's wife." Saffron and Terra both uneasily waved, unsure of how to handle the high amounts of energy the teens in front of them seemed to exude. "The other two I believe some of you have already met," Ozpin continued, stepping to the side to gesture to the rabbit Faunus and the beret-wearing girl. "These two are Velvet Scarlatina and Coco Adel of Team CFVY. They helped escort Saphron and Terra to the Medical Ward when their guide became… distracted."


"...and that's when I took the Goliath's femur and used it to break its front legs! I then used it to brush my mustache before throwing it through not only the Goliath's head, but also the bandit leader on the cliff face behind it!" Professor Port jollily recounted the tales of his youth as he strolled out of the campus and into the Emerald Forest, completely engulfed in his storytelling. "Ah, but it was not over yet, for as soon as I had landed did a three-headed King Taijitu…"


Ozpin shook his head in exasperation as he stepped to the side of the room, letting the students and relatives of a student exchange pleasantries. Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Ruby stayed to the side by the doorway discussing seating arrangements on the off chance their new guests will be staying for the movie. Meanwhile, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha quickly dashed over to the Cotta-Arcs, wanting to meet more of Jaune's family and potentially see adorable baby photos.

"Hello!" Pyrrha eagerly held her hand out to Saphron. "Headmaster Ozpin has already introduced me, but my name is Pyrrha Nikos. It's a pleasure to finally meet Jaune's family."

Saphron blinked, still unsure of how to handle the student's enthusiasm. Before she could respond, she was interrupted by Terra. "Pyrrha Nikos? As in the Mistral Regional Champion?"

Pyrrha internally cringed but was quickly and accidentally put at ease by Saphron. "Wait, you're a champion?" Pyrrha nodded uneasily. "Dang, my brother is lucky." Saphron looked over at her brother with a proud smile, which faded with sadness as she saw Jaune's face contract in pain briefly. Pyrrha's professional smile grew into a more genuine grin, happy to learn that there were more people outside of Jaune who didn't immediately recognize her for only her fame.

"Hey, Fearless Leader's Sister?" Nora interjected with a mischievous smile on her face. "Do you have any good stories about Jaune? Like things he did as a kid or why he likes chicken nuggets?"

"He's still eating those things?" Saphron asked. Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha nodded in response, making her sigh. "No wonder he's passed out. I swear, every time I use my semblance to get him to stop eating those things he just starts again a few months later!" Pyrrha's eyes widened at the comment, but quickly schooled her features before anybody noticed.

Terra sighed. "Dear, I love you, but you can't just use your semblance on every problem you see." Saphron raised her pointer finger, her grin indicating she had a cheeky reply ready, but Terra quickly cut her off. "No, just because you technically can with all the aura you have doesn't mean you should! Scaring people into listening to you is a bad thing!"

Saphron pouted, making Terra sigh again, while Ren and Nora laughed at their antics. As this was happening, none of them noticed Pyrrha's intense stare locked onto Saphron. 'She knows about Aura? Why does she know about Aura? Jaune didn't know about Aura at all! Could he have faked not knowing? No, no. Definitely not. He can't lie for the life of him, the incident with Cardin proved that much, and he went into initiation without Aura knowing he was going to fight Grimm.' Pyrrha's eyebrows scrunched together in thought, her stare becoming slightly more intense. 'So why does she know about Aura while Jaune doesn't?'

"Excuse me, Mrs. Saphron?" Pyrrha snapped out of her thoughts, her stare just barely not being seen by Saphron or Terra as she turned to face Ren. "If you're Jaune's sister, where are Jaune's parents?"

"Oh, right! I probably should have explained that." Saphron facepalmed. "Our parents live a little far from the four kingdoms, far enough to not have a reliable CCT connection. When Jaune enrolled in Beacon, our family decided Terra and I would be his emergency contacts since we live in Argus and have a reliable CCT connection, and also because we can get a Bullhead here relatively quickly."

Team NPR nodded, understanding her thought process. Terra, insead, sighed. "Bullhead tickets are way too expensive…"

Meanwhile, Ruby, who had no interest in boring chair placement and people spacing stuff, left the conversation the rest of her team was having.

"Hey, Velvet!" Ruby greeted her friend as she walked up to her, which was surprisingly difficult given the number of people in a room built for only four or five at most. "How's it going?"

"Hello there!" Velvet smiled, glad to see her junior. "It's good to see you again. I'm sorry about what happened to Jaune, nobody deserves what's happening to him," she frowned as she looked over to Jaune's bed, where he slept much more peacefully than he had earlier in the day, but still occasionally grimaced in pain and was covered in glowing lines that currently showed no signs of fading away.

"Yeah," Ruby replied with a nod as she also checked on her unconscious friend before quickly turning back to Velvet with a raised eyebrows. "Wait, who told you what happened to Jaune?"

"Hm?" Velvet returned to their conversation, although not without some surprise at Ruby's sudden question. "Oh, Ozpin told Mrs. and… Mrs.? Cotta-Arc about Jaune's condition and circumstance not long before you arrived, and we, you know, were still here to listen to it."

Ruby nodded. "Makes sense... what did he say?" she nervously asked.

"That some crazy guy sent a package that put Jaune in a coma and drew those lines all over him." Velvet and Ruby both jumped slightly in surprise as Coco stepped into the conversation. She smirked at her teammate's and Ruby's startled expressions before continuing. "Supposedly, the only way to make him feel better is to watch some movie that you guys are in, or at least that's what the letters addressed to y'all said. Don't you guys already know this though?"

Ruby's eyes widened in slight panic in being caught off-guard by the question before quickly attempting to calm herself and give an answer. "Y-yeah, just not quite sure what details Ozpin might have mentioned only to Jaune's family."

Coco nodded at her explanation. "Yeah, makes sense. It sounds crazy, and most of the stuff in the letter is probably just made up. Then again, watching a movie isn't the worst way to kill time until he wakes up," explained before finishing with an exaggerated sigh.

Ruby looked over Coco's shoulder, as the upperclassman was distracted with her own dramatics, toward Ozpin, Ruby's gaze clearly questioning the headmaster. Ozpin replied with a simple and discreet shrug. Before Ruby could voice her question out loud, she was forced back into the conversation as Coco finished her theatrics, much to Velvet's relief. "Can't say we know Jaune too well, I personally have never even talked to him, but Velvet here has been feeling a little guilty since the whole Cardin situation happened," Coco said as she jabbed her thumb in her teammate's direction.

Ruby blinked in surprise. "I thought Cardin was messing with both of you?"

Velvet rubbed her arm as she looked at the floor. "Yes, but I feel like I should have tried to help him. I'm a second-year, and just because I don't want to use violence to make him stop doesn't mean I can't help out someone else. I never thought about it at the time, but when Cardin suddenly started to back off and I actually had some distance from the situation, I realized that I was turning a blind eye to it and focusing on myself."

Ruby internally cringed, knowing she, while not having ignored Velvet's problems at the time, had left her and Jaune to deal with Cardin alone.

"Don't worry about it so much Velv," Coco patted her teammate's shoulder. "He didn't help you either, so I guess you were both at fault. Besides, if you tried to help the kid then Cardin probably would've messed with him even more." Velvet nodded, seeming less dejected than before.

"Excuse me?" Ruby and CV turned to see Saphron, with Terra and NPR following behind her. "You mentioned someone was messing with my brother. Could you by any chance give me a name, description, and place of residence?" she asked with an eager smile that would have been rather attractive if it weren't for the cold look in her eye that belonged only in horror movies.

"Saphron, honey, please stop scaring your brother's friends." Terra pulled Saphron away by her shoulder with a sigh, making the blonde pout. "Don't give me that look! You know how overprotective you can be, especially with Jaune and Adrian."

Saphron's pout quickly shifted into an embarrassed grimace as she scratched the back of her head. "I've gotten better about it…"

"You threatened the poor teacher that's taking care of him for the day!"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Excuse me." Ms. Goodwitch stepped up beside the comedic couple, everyone besides Team NPR having backed away from them, unsure of how to handle their... unique dynamic. "Now that you've been introduced and updated as to what's going on, would you like to start the movie for the evening?"

Realizing they both had an audience to their discussion, Terra and Saphron blushed in mortification. "That sounds like a good idea," Saphron borderline whispered before turning to her wife with a smile. "We haven't been to the movies in a while anyway, and it should be relaxing, even if it may have been made by a crazy person." Terra smiled and nodded.

After several minutes of seat rearranging and commandeering several chairs from nearby rooms, they were all set for movie night, except this time it was actually held in the evening.

As Nora plugged in the projector and the machine slowly whirred to life, everybody in the room watched the increasingly bright screen with varying expressions. Ruby stared at the screen with determination, unsure of whether the situation would improve for the alternate Jaune, but willing to push through the movie to its end regardless. Blake's attention quickly flickered between the projection and her manual, trying to get one last page in before the movie started. She'd become quite eager to read more now that she finally understood the convoluted mess that was the Beginner's Guide for the Novice Magus. Pyrrha tried to look at the screen while constantly glancing over to Saphron and Terra, determined to learn more about her partner's family and potentially why Jaune had to resort to fake transcripts to get into Beacon while his sister not only had knowledge of Aura but even had it unlocked, all while not having the appearance of an active or former huntress. Nora and Ren discreetly watched Saphron and Terra as well, but more out of a desire to learn about Jaune than anything accusatory.

However, all of their attention quickly returned to the screen as the movie projector finished booting and the movie began once more.

-Five Years Later-

"So this is five years after Ironwood died? Huh." Ruby asked.

The screen faded in, revealing a multi-story modern building on a sunny day, the birds singing with just as much life as they did five years prior. By the entrance gate was a plaque giving the name of the building, Homurahara Academy. Inside of the academy building's student council room was Jaune, now with the height and appearance close to that of the Jaune RWBY, JNPR, and Saphron were familiar with. He was wearing a simple brown school uniform with matching slacks, the way the clothes were hanging off his body revealing him to be somewhat skinnier and less muscular than when Jaune first arrived at Beacon Academy.

Jaune was sitting in the corner of the room tinkering with a small space heater. After giving one last twist of a screw, he set the screwdriver down into the toolbox beside him. He then leaned over and flipped the switch on top of the heater, making it glow as the heating coils burned to life. Jaune looked over his shoulder with a seemingly proud smile. "It's all fixed up now, Prez."

"It's our Jaune!" Nora cheered. "Well, not our Jaune, but he looks like our Jaune… you know what I mean!"

"Indeed." Weiss nodded. "Although, I would say he looks less… fit to be a huntsman than ours though."

"Yep. Not enough muscle. Then again, he doesn't seem like he's trying to be a huntsman so far in the movie." Yang added.

Saphron leaned over her chair to face Teams RWBY and NPR. "What do you mean he looks like Jaune now? What did he look like before?"

"Jaune was a little baby boy!" Nora responded, looking at Pyrrha out of the corner of her eye, remembering how Pyrrha had a cuteness overdose during the last viewing.

Saphron immediately started vibrating in her seat and squeeing as her wife tried to calm her down.

"If you wish to see it later, Ms. Goodwitch and I are going to be watching the scenes we've missed after we've finished for today. Would you like to join us?" Ozpin offered, wanting to stop this can of worms from becoming a potential problem. He's lived long enough to know what people will go very far for baby pictures, especially if said baby was as adorable as Young Jaune. Saphron, appeased by the offer, finally calmed down and sat back in her chair.

"You seem to be taking this whole 'alternate-Jaune-in-a-movie' thing in stride," Terra said as she gave Saphron a questioning gaze.

Saphron shrugged. "I'm still mostly convinced it's either a look-alike or CG, but even fake baby-Jaunes need to have their pictures taken!"

"Very good." A voice professionally returned, the speaker not visible because of the camera angle. "Your service is appreciated."

Jaune grinned at the thanks, despite the unattached tone that was used. He put his hands on his knees, pushing himself up. "Cool," he replied, his tone indicating he felt more open and close to the target of his speech compared to his companion. "So how about we have some lunch? Well, Ren?"

"Wait, Ren?" Nora asked, leaning forward in her chair.

The camera turned to reveal Ren, wearing the same uniform as Jaune but with slightly less wear and dust. Ren wore glasses on his face, but it did nothing to obstruct how his magenta eyes and hairstreak stood out against the dull colors of the room and his uniform. He held a clipboard in his right hand, the left holding his elbow, and one leg crossed over the other as he leaned back in his chair.

"Huh, so that's what I look like with glasses," Ren said, somewhat surprised he's being shown in the movie as well.

Coco looked the alternate Ren up and down before grimacing. "Yeah… brown is not your color. Makes your eyes stand out, and the glasses are a nice touch, but still disgusting overall."

Yang nodded. "Yeah, brown with pink doesn't work. What do you think Nora?"

"..."

"Nora?" Yang, CV, and the rest of JNPR turned to face her, where they saw her staring at the Ren on-screen and drooling a little.

'Renny with glasses Renny with glasses Renny with glasses Renny with glasses…' Nora repeated on loop in her head. Yang and Pyrrha quickly returned their focus to the movie, not wanting to watch Nora's awakening, while Ren tried to shake Nora out of her trance, unaware of exactly what was occurring.

The room's two occupants quickly yet calmly put their respective assignments and tools away and pulled out their lunches. Jaune set down his lunchbox on the table along with two ceramic cups and went to boil tea, while Ren simply pulled a meal-replacement snack bar and a drink pouch out of his bag and politely waited for Jaune to finish preparing their drinks.

Only once Jaune had returned and poured tea for the two of them did Ren start eating. However, his silent meal only lasted a moment before he began talking. "So tell me, Jaune. Why go out of your way to eat lunch here?"

"That's a good question." Jaune calmly responded, not even slightly offended by Ren questioning his intentions. "I suppose it's mostly so I can make fresh tea."

Velvet, Coco, and Yang quietly chuckled at Jaune's banter, making sure to remember to use that line on their friends and teammates.

Ren clicked his tongue as he turned to face the window in the opposite direction from Jaune, setting his 'meal' on the table. "Your presence does nothing but ruin an otherwise pleasant space for me," he responded coldly.

Ren flinched, shocked his other self could be so rude. Saphron glared at the Ren on-screen, angry that someone would blatantly insult her brother for seemingly no reason. Her glare quickly faded when she saw the Ren in the room with her was shocked by his other self as well, along with the rest of Jaune's friends.

"Oh come on, don't say that." Jaune blew his offensive remark off, before changing the subject. "Is that all you're having for lunch again?" he asked, gesturing to his friend's efficient yet bland replacement. "You should take me up my offer to make you lunch."

"Oh! I see what's going on!" Ruby exclaimed. "He's being like Weiss is- was! I meant was."

Weiss's face turned red. "Please don't remind me… And at least I've gotten better!"

Yang grinned. "Yeah, sure thing Ms. 'Calls Everyone a Dolt or Insuferable'."

Weiss groaned into her hands, making everyone laugh at her expense.

"Your incessant kindness is sickening." Ren insultingly replied again.

"See! Just like Weiss is- was!"

"Well, it never hurts to have somebody to talk to while you eat." Jaune once again brushed off his complaints, acting almost as if they were having a completely normal conversation. "Especially since this school hardly has any people to begin with."

Ren turned back from the window towards the table again. "The lack of people applies to far more than just this school."

"Do you think this has anything to do with the disaster from before?" Pyrrha asked, shivering slightly as she recalled Ironwood's panicked claims about the disaster having the potential to destroy a country.

Saphron's head quickly snapped to face Pyrrha. "Disaster? What disaster? Was Jaune hurt?!"

Pyrrha jumped in her seat, startled by Saphron's intensity. "Yes… but Jaune was fine!"

Saphron sighed in relief as Terra facepalmed and everyone else scooted an extra few inches away from her.

Jaune nodded in affirmation as he set down his chopsticks. "That's true. The population of the city has dropped pretty drastically since the disaster 5 years ago." His gaze rested on his meal was one of sadness, before quickly turning speculative. "Officially, it was written off as a gas explosion triggered by some special gas reserve, but everybody here in Fuyuki knows it was something way worse than that."

"It was different from anything I'd seen before," Ren commented. "It looked completely different from any natural disaster I've heard of, and it certainly wasn't an explosion."

Nora nodded. "Yeah, I'd say it looked more like a dark hurricane, but more on the ground than the sky."

Ren took a sip of tea as he examined Jaune out of the corner of his eye. "Did you… see it with your own eyes?"

Nora squinted at the alternate Ren with a frown. "Renny's being weird…"

Jaune looked down further, facing the floor instead of the table. "Yeah. It looked like an endless darkness was on the verge of swallowing everything," he recalled.

Ren set his cup down gently, contrasting with his now sharpened gaze on Jaune. "And what about… the instant that it disappeared?"

"Does this feel like an interrogation to anyone else?" Velvet asked, getting several nods in reply.

"My alternate does seem rather intense. Maybe he has a personal stake in what happened?" Ren suggested.

Most of the watchers quietly shared their agreements, except for Yang, who intensely studied the expression of the alternate Ren. 'He knows something caused the disaster to leave and is obviously searching for it. Is he after Ruby for the wish-granting stuff? Or is he just searching for something that's obviously powerful enough to stop a massive disaster? Damn it, it could be anything, but something still feels wrong about that other Ren!'

Jaune looked up at Ren as he hesitated. "...Nope," he eventually, although uneasily, responded. "I was so focused on running away that I didn't see any of that."

Ren stared at Jaune for a moment, the seconds dragging out as he silently judged his friend. He eventually relented with a sigh. "I see…" He then calmly took a sip from his tea, the conversation moving on as though nothing had happened.

"Why did Jaune lie?" Saphron asked.

"Probably to keep people from finding Ruby," Yang answered, getting raised eyebrows from Coco, Velvet, Saphron, and Terra. "Oh, right. Ruby, in the movie, can grant wishes, and she was able to stop the disaster thing earlier from getting bigger or worse with a big fancy light show."

Saphron nodded, not thinking much of the possible accusation towards Ren's alternate. She began turning towards the screen but was interrupted by Pyrrha. "How could you tell Jaune was lying?"

"Oh, it's easy." Saphron gave a flippant gesture with her hand. "He always has some kind of obvious tell, usually it's looking away or hesitating. He's gotten good at getting around it, last I remember though. He just changes the topic or keeps the question from being brought up if he can."

Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and Ruby nodded, mentally filing away the information for later.

Later that day in the archery range behind the main complex of the school illuminated by the setting sun, an arrow struck a target perfectly in its center. The camera panned over to the shooting section of the range, where Jaune stood there, holding his firing pose, right arm stretched out behind his shoulder and bow facing outward, his eyes calm and focussed.

"Even the other Jaune uses classic weapons," Ruby said with a giggle.

"He's very skilled too," Ren added, mentally comparing Jaune's shooting to what he remembered of his father's archery practice. "I'd say at least close, if not already at, a competitive level of skill. Although I can't quite say if that would translate into combat."

"Huh, dang…" Yang whispered.

Pyrrha nodded. "Maybe I can get him to use one as a ranged weapon, assuming his talent in the movie applies to our Jaune as well."

Nora nodded enthusiastically while Ren quietly tried to remember any details about archery he could. While he didn't have much information to draw from, Ren could confidently say he could teach Jaune the basics of shooting a bow.

"Hey, Pyrrha?" Pyrrha turned to face Ruby. "Why does Jaune insist on using classic weapons instead of a gun? Actually, why doesn't he have a gun at all? Like as a sidearm or something."

Pyrrha's smile became more strained and she cringed internally as many, many attempts at teaching Jaune to use a gun properly flooded into her mind.

"Hey, Pyrrha? Why isn't the gun firing?"

"The safety is still turned on."

"Oh, got it! ...how do I turn it off?"

Followed by...

"AAAAAAUUGH MY FOOT! WHY DID IT HIT MY FOOT?! THE GUN WAS POINTED DOWN THE RANGE!

Not to mention…

"What do you mean I'm holding it backwards? Oh… that's the scope, not the barrel. Wait. That means- OH! Oh no!"

Pyrrha politely smiled as she died inside. "He decided it wasn't a good fit for the fighting style he uses, wanting to focus mainly on defending allies and close-quarters combat." Ruby nodded, satisfied with her answer.

He let out a long, calming breath before he took in a sharp inhale as he was startled by the sound of clapping. He turned to face his unexpected audience. "Oh hey," he greeted with a warm smile. "I didn't realize you were here, Velvet."

Coco lowered her shades, which she had refused to take off even when the lights were turned off for the movie. "What now?"

"Me?" Velvet nervously asked, worried how different her alternate self would be after seeing Ren's.

Velvet stepped forward into the camera's view, revealing a slightly younger version of the Beacon second-year student. She wore a traditional western-style archery robe, much like the one Jaune wore, except for the archery guard on her chest and torso. "Well, I just showed up a few minutes ago," she responded with an incredibly warm smile.

Coco blinked. "Well, she certainly looks like Velvet, a little shorter though. Is she younger or something?"

"She looks just like I did two, maybe three, years ago." Velvet answered, shocked to actually see her alternate. She was still worried that the alternate's behavior would be different.

"What style of clothing is that?" Weiss asked. "Ruby wore something like that in the previous section of the movie, but I can't say I recognize the style."

"It's similar to the traditional clothing near central and western Mistral, where I was born," Ren answered. Nora hummed in agreement, vaguely remembering people wearing similar outfits during her brief time in Kuroyuri.

Jaune sighed and relaxed before raising a single eyebrow. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want to get in your way, Jaune," she replied, seeming to savor saying her fellow archer's name.

"Deja vu," Nora said aloud while watching Pyrrha out of the corner of her eye. Everyone blinked in confusion apart from Ren, who held a small grin on his face as he nodded.

Velvet, however, stared at her alternate in surprise as she saw her act so warmly towards the alternate Jaune. She wasn't sure what to think of it, but she chose to not jump to conclusions. Ren's counterpart was cold and rude, it made sense that maybe this was just her alternate's quirk.

Jaune shook his head, amused by the brunette's politeness. "You know you don't have to hold back on my account, right?" He then turned and gestured to the empty range around them. "There's no one else in this club besides you and me anyways."

Velvet lowered her gaze as she began to blush. "To be honest, it's nothing like that."

"Huh?"

"Incredibly sweet girl who's shy but clearly head over heels for the one guy who never picked up on it." Nora listed out loud with a wide grin, making Ren begin to chuckle and Pyrrha's face blush deep red in realization. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Everyone blinked in confusion as they looked between on-screen Velvet, Pyrrha, and then Velvet. Only after two or three cycles of this did it seem to make sense what was being implied and everyone was able to respond to the information.

Yang immediately burst into laughter.

Blake facepalmed, mumbling something about her books and romance plots.

Ruby laughed as well, although much more quietly than her sister.

Weiss looked between Pyrrha and the unconscious Jaune in concern before solemnly nodding towards Pyrrha. "I wish you luck."

Glynda sighed, wondering what was wrong with the world.

"So, something you wanna tell me, Velvet?" Coco grinned as she teased her teammate.

"I don't even know him!" Velvet cried out as she tried to hide her face behind her hands.

"So you're saying you wouldn't ever date him?"

"No- I mean, I'm sure he's perfectly nice-" Velvet saw Coco attempting to hide her laugh behind her scarf. "COCO!"

"Fine, fine! Killjoy." Coco waver hand in dismissal, before grinning again. "But if you two do start dating…"

"Coco."

"Shutting up now."

She didn't make eye contact, but Velvet still held a heartfelt smile on her face. "I was just enraptured by your form for a moment."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Enraptured?"

"Yeah, enraptured? Your alternate fell for him hard, Velv!" Coco laughed, which in turn made Yang laugh harder and fall out of her chair.

"I quite enjoy watching you draw your bow." As she spoke, she seemed to become lost in her own emotions, her smile becoming brighter. "Each and every shot you take is just so smooth and perfect. It's almost as if your body is one with the bow itself."

"Is… is this something people are into?" Coco asked in concern.

Nobody quite knew what to think of the situation, apart from Blake who once saw Ruby refer to her scythe as 'my precious', but decided now was not a good time for an intervention.

"She's probably talking about his skill," Terra interjected, deciding her opinion as a non-hunter would be valuable in the moment. Everyone stared at her in confusion, making her sigh as she put her elbow in her opposite hand as she pointed upwards with her empty hand, the pose making her appear like she was giving a lecture. "Think of it like dancing; you admire the way they perform and some people find that attractive, right?" Everyone nodded, especially Weiss who had learned ballet in her youth. "It's like that, but with fighting, archery, or other practices. I know some civilians see hunters that way, and I certainly felt that way when I saw Saphron practice when I first met her."

Everyone nodded, realizing that they've seen several performers in a similar light. Yang with her boy bands performing, Blake with her authors and how they think, and Velvet with actors in live performances.

Pyrrha thought back to her childhood, remembering the tournament fighters she saw on TV. The speed they dodged with, the skill with which they fought, and the precision of their strikes all struck a chord with her and drove her to be what she is now, one of the greatest tournament fighters to ever grace the Mistral Tournament Circuit. She then silently wondered if she could get Jaune to see her in a more romantic light through her skill, and resolved to fight to her full ability in combat class. Not enough to crush her opponent's spirit though! Don't need that happening again.

Jaune reached down to his side for another arrow, his face neither showing joy or surprise at the compliment. "So that's the kind of impression I leave, huh?" He then turned back to his target, his expression changing to one filled with practiced focus. He drew his arrow on his wooden bow with practiced ease, staring past the arrow and at the site of its predicted landing. Inhale… Exhale… and he fired. As the arrow flew, his face showed a more genuine emotion than any he had expressed yet, empty sorrow. It left as quickly as it had appeared as the arrow struck home, a bullseye right next to the first.

Yang whistled in awe. "Two in a row, damn that's cool."

Blake smirked at her partner. "You wish you were that accurate."

Yang brushed her off. "Pfff, who needs accuracy when you have shotguns."

"Jaune looked really sad there for a second." Ruby pointed out in concern. "Why is that?"

"Maybe he doesn't want to reject Velvet?" Coco suggested, getting everyone's attention. "He might just not want to turn Velv down and doesn't know how, so he feels bad about it."

Velvet winced at the theory. Sure, she doesn't have any feelings for Jaune or his alternate whatsoever, but rejection still sucks!

Saphron squinted her eyes at the alternate Jaune. "No… I don't think it's that. He would have reacted at least a little when Velvet complimented him if he was afraid of rejecting her. I think Jaune's lost in his own problems or something. Any idea what it could be?"

RWBY, NPR, and Glynda all cringed at the question as they remembered Ironwood's behavior as a parent, his final request, his accompanying death, and how Ruby was the owner of a one-of-a-kind miracle power that could be activated by anybody with only a thought.

The scene cuts yet again, this time to inside the entrance hall of Jaune's home.

"Aw, no more Velvet!" Yang whined, enjoying having a second cinnamon roll around besides Ruby.

"Welcome back, Jaune!"

"Ruby? Never mind, all is right in the world!"

Jaune smiled as he saw his adopted sister, Ruby, run down the hall to greet him. Ruby had an expression of joy easily visible on her face, no longer only shown by her eyes through a blank expression. She wore a kimono similar to the one she had worn when she had first come into their family, but less floral in design and made more for everyday living than formal appearance. Over her kimono was a tunic-like, plain white apron.

Jaune smiled and kicked his shoes to the side of the hallway. "Good to be home again, Ruby."

Coco hummed as she scanned Ruby up and down. "Not bad in terms of color, a little old-fashioned, but the apron thing needs to go." Velvet sighed at her leader's habitual fashion analysis.

"Clothing choices aside, Ruby looks happier now. Much more expressive if the look on her face is any indication," Weiss commented with a smile, glad to see her partner had grown up well.

"She's smiling! SHE'S SMILING! BABY RUBY IS SMILING!" Yang cheered as she pressed the camera button on her scroll as fast as she could, taking enough photos to make a feature length stop-motion film.

Ruby smiled in return and reached out for Jaune's bag from school. Jaune politely tried to move it away, gesturing that he had it under control and could manage it himself. Ruby responded by tugging on his school bag, pouting, and looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes. Jaune sighed and handed over the satchel, a guilty expression on his face. Ruby proudly walked down that hall with his bag, oblivious to the mild mental guilt she'd just inflicted. She looked over her shoulder at Jaune as he followed her down the hall. "I made beef and potato stew today," she told him, seeming somewhat proud of herself, but it was easily overshadowed by the sisterly kindness she exuded. "I cut the pieces really small, so you should be able to fit it in your lunch tomorrow. And also…" She turned to face her brother, noticing his expression was happy yet nostalgic, with his smile finally reaching his eyes. "Is something wrong?" she asked, tilting her head in a questioning manner.

"Jaune-Jaune finally smiled!" Nora cheered.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked as she tilted her head, accidentally imitating her counterpart. "Jaune smiled earlier at the school and when he first got home."

"Yeah, but it wasn't a happy smile!" Nora claimed. "He smiled with his mouth, but not his face or emotions." Everyone only grew more confused, making Nora sigh. Ren put his hand on her shoulder, signaling to let him attempt to explain. She nodded before slumping in her chair.

"Do you all remember how at the start of the movie, Ruby didn't express many of her emotions, but we could still tell she was happy?" The audience, apart from the newcomers, all nodded. "She was showing her emotions through her eyes while the rest of her face was still. Jaune is doing the opposite; changing his expression while his eyes remain the same."

Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake all looked at the alternate Jaune and compared it to their memories, realizing that his smile was more like their own Jaune. More genuine.

Pyrrha silently berated herself for not noticing, but quickly brushed it off as a simple mistake. She'd never seen Jaune hide his emotions well before, so she felt she could be forgiven by being taken off-guard by his alternate.

Saffron, however, was much more deeply conflicted with herself as she frowned at the screen. 'I thought that was Jaune's normal smile, and that the one he gave that Ruby girl was strange. Why is that? Was… was Jaune not truly happy back home?' She was taken out of her internal debate when a hand was placed on her shoulder. Saphron looked up to see Terra, giving her a comforting smile as she rubbed her shoulder. Saphron smiled back at her wife and leaned into her as she wrapped her arm around her shoulders. 'I'll ask Jaune once he's all better. I'm not about to ruin our first movie night in months because of something that I can fix later,' she thought as she pecked her wife on the cheek.

Jaune shook his head, the nostalgia leaving his face but the smile remaining just as genuine as before. "Nah, I was just thinking how much you've grown."

Ruby blinked as she raised her head upright again, before tilting it to the side as she was confused once more. "Huh? I think between the two of us, you've grown much taller than I have."

Ruby slumped in her seat, once again cursing (but not with curse words) her awkward nature.

Jaune chuckled at Ruby's misunderstanding. "That's not quite what I meant…" he responded as they continued walking down the hall.

The two soon found themselves in the dining room, where Ruby had already arranged their supper ahead of time. Each of them had their own bowls of stew, soup, vegetables, and rice, along with a cup of fresh tea. Jaune and Ruby silently clapped their hands together in thanks before beginning their meal, or more accurately, Jaune began by picking a piece of his stew up with his chopsticks while Ruby watched eagerly. He took the bite, silently savoring its taste. Ruby, unable to tell Jaune's opinion on the food, eagerly leaned forward. "How is it?"

Jaune quickly swallowed and gave a satisfied sigh. "It was delicious." Ruby sat back up with a bright smile at his praise. "You've gotten really good at cooking."

Ruby looked at her food, a content smile on her face. "I'm glad."

"You too?" Ren asked, standing up to look down on Ruby. "You made me do all the cooking too?"

"No! I didn't! I can't!" Ruby panicked as she tried to resolve the situation. "I can bake a little bit, but that's it. I promise!"

Ren let out a relieved sigh as he sat back down, grateful he had only one traitor. Nora patted his shoulder in comfort.

The two continued to eat in content silence, both of them enjoying the delicious spread before them until Jaune broke the silence. "That reminds me, Ruby…"

Ruby stopped raising the bite she had between her chopsticks. "About what, Jaune?"

"I borrowed some new books today. I'll give them to you later."

"Nerd!" Nora exclaimed as she pointed at Ruby. Ruby pouted and looked to her sister to defend her, but Yang was already busy nodding in agreement with Nora.

Ruby's smile quickly grew from one of contentment into one of excitement. "Really? Thanks!"

Jaune smiled at her before he began picking up his next bite of rice. "You've progressed so quickly from the children's encyclopedias that I used to give you. Now you're reading way more technical stuff."

"Is that… a bad thing?"

Jaune shook his head. "No, not at all. It proves that you're getting smarter, and it helps me avoid getting weird looks at the library."

Ruby became even more confused. "Weird looks?"

"I can't explain it by saying I have a little sister, you know?"

Ruby looked off into her stew pensively. "A sister…"

"Is something wrong?" he asked, not hearing her words but instead noticing her change in expression.

Ruby quickly looked up in surprise before shaking her head. "No, it's nothing." She then gave her brother a warm smile. "Thanks, Jaune."

"So Jaune is hiding Ruby! That's why he lied to Ren earlier!" Yang pointed out, proud of her discovery.

"It would be foolish to let powers like hers remain unprotected," Ozpin agreed. "There are likely many who would wish to use her abilities for less than savory goals."

Glynda hummed in agreement with her boss. "Indeed. Although it's likely very difficult for Jaune to get supplies needed to care for a child, especially if he can't tell anyone and has nobody to help him."

This fact shocked everyone. Ironwood was Jaune's and Ruby's only parent or guardian, and, from what they had seen so far, they had nobody else to look after them. Sure, both Ruby and Jaune knew how to cook, but taking care of yourself and managing such a large house is incredibly difficult, especially as children! Even Nora and Ren, who had needed to provide for themselves as children before being taken in by an orphanage, couldn't confidently say if they could have managed owning a home when they were twelve.

The scene cuts to later in the evening, still in the dining room. The table has been cleared with the dishes washed and properly put away. Ruby sat in her seat reading a textbook labeled Anatomy and Physiologyand Jaune, who was sitting in his own seat, looked at the book in concern. "Hey, are you sure you're okay with books like that?" he asked, sharing his worries.

Weiss blinked, both shocked and impressed by alternate Ruby's reading material. "Incredible…"

"What do you mean Weiss?" Ruby asked. "It looks like some complicated stuff, sure, but it's not that crazy."

Weiss stared at Ruby like she was insane, but quickly relented as realization dawned on her. "Right, I forgot that I was the only one of us to have taken a more civilian-like education. Do you recall how most combat schools tend to teach different fields, focusing more towards Hunter-oriented subjects instead of subjects that apply to other fields, such as Engineering or Medical Practice?" Ruby and the rest of the audience nodded. "Anatomy and Physiology is one of the more advanced subjects civilian schools teach, and they usually don't teach it until near the last year of their high school. Even then, it's still one of the more advanced subjects, and most people may not even take the course." Needless to say, everyone in the audience was shocked at this revelation, with the only exceptions being Ozpin and Glynda, who were already well aware of alternate Ruby's education level, but were still surprised by it anyways.

"Huh? Aren't all books just words on a page?" Ruby asked, unsure of the meaning of Jaune's question.

"Heresy!" The accusation, which most would associate with Nora, actually came from Blake, who looked angry enough at the accusation to resort to violence. She would have tackled the alternate Ruby if it weren't for the fact that there was a screen between her and the unknowing heretic.

Jaune scratched his head, unsure of how to phrase his question. "Well yeah, but… there are more entertaining ones out there."

Ruby looked to her side, where a pile of other various textbooks on advanced subjects lay. "But the reason I read them is to learn new things."

"Your reason makes sense, but you're still wrong!" Blake shouted. Yang placed her hand on her partner's shoulder to try to keep her calm enough to not attack the screen. Yang silently wondered if catnip would help calm Blake down, but decided that being racist would probably just result in more violence.

Jaune looked down in seeming frustration with himself, which went unnoticed by Ruby before giving a sheepish smile. "Right, good point." Jaune then pushed himself up and began walking to the door. "I'm gonna go train," he called over his shoulder.

Ruby looked up from her books to her brother. "Okay, be careful."

"Training?" Pyrrha asked, wondering if there would be something useful to add to their training routines in the evening.

"Probably just exercise," Ren offered, but still felt uncertain. Blake, however, was wondering if any of her theories that she'd put together from the Magecraft Guide would be proven correct by Jaune's training.

Jaune stepped out and closed the door behind him before turning to face the porch and backyard, the same place where he had talked to Ruby when she had first moved in with them and where he had looked out at the rain as he struggled with his ideals. As he walked out into the yard and looked up at the stars, he thought back to another memory spent on that porch, one before Ruby had entered his life.

"Ooh, are we getting a flashback?" Nora asked, prompting Pyrrha to pull out her scroll in case Young Jaune appeared again.

"I've made countless mistakes on my quest to do the right thing," Ironwood said, looking up at the stars, as a younger Jaune, younger than before at least, sat beside him staring down in anger. "But each time I tried to fix those mistakes, I only ended up making even more. And when I finally reached the end of my rope, I simply sought a miracle to solve all of my problems. It was a journey of pure darkness, like trying to find the moon in a night sky dominated by clouds."

"Oh, come on! Even when he's dead he's still making Jaune sad!" Yang complained, holding a small grudge for how he'd wanted to use Ruby in the last viewing.

"At least we now know Ironwood didn't choose to use Ruby without attempting other methods to save humanity," Ozpin commented as he studied Ironwood's face. It reminded Ozpin of himself during his incarnations where he'd given up on being the hero of old, the great Ozma, and simply done whatever he could to stop Salem. It was… strange to see such an expression on someone else, especially someone he knew.

"You sound like you're starting to go senile. Cut it out Mr. Ironwood," Jaune said, his voice cracking with sorrow.

Ironwood looked down to his son, his eyes blank and empty. "Jaune?"

"Making an effort to do the right thing could never be a mistake." Jaune looked up and out at the stars, filled with determination and sadness. "I'll make sure… that your legacy is never defined like that!" he cried out, tears streaming down his face.

Ironwood's eyes widened in surprise before looking out at the stars with a small smile, his hollow stare now replaced with warmth and assurance. "That's reassuring to hear." The father and son quietly sat as they watched the stars, one content and the other determined, and neither knowing where those simple interactions and ideals would lead them.

Jaune turned back to the porch as the memory faded. He looked up at the stars in a sad gaze as the screen faded to black. "What am I… even doing anymore?"

"So he's sad that he can't live up to his dad- er, Ironwood?" Terra asked.

Saphron nodded, lost in her memories. "Yeah, he's been trying to live up to our dad as a huntsman like his alternate is and follow our supposed 'family legacy' for almost as long as I can remember." She then blinked away the memories and looked at the movie with concern. "Okay, this is a little too accurate. Kinda freaky."

Pyrrha noticed Saphron's mention of their father being a huntsman, but decided to not follow her suspicions at the moment. She had more concerning things to pay attention to, such as alternate Jaune's behavior and emotional state, as well as the fact that she was too distracted to take any pictures of Young Jaune.

"How's Jaune supposed to follow Ironwood's legacy anyways?" Nora asked. "He didn't leave them much. Besides the house… and money probably."

Yang looked to the screen, Ruby, and back to the screen. "Oh shit… I think I know what his legacy is." Everyone quickly turned to listen, Blake silently gesturing for her to continue. "Well we didn't really see Ironwood give Jaune any presents or anything like that, right? But he did give Jaune his mission at the end of the last section." All the viewers apart from the newcomers either paled in shock or cringed at the memory.

"Excuse me?" Velvet asked. "What mission are you talking about? Didn't Ruby say that Ironwood died five years ago?"

Ren nodded as he began to explain. "He did die five years ago, but before he did he asked Jaune to continue his life's work; to use Ruby's power over miracles to save every single person on the planet."

"Do you mean that literally?" Terra nervously asked. "Every single human being is… a little extreme, don't you think?"

"With the power of miracles, Mrs. Cotta-Arc, anything is possible." Ozpin calmly answered. "James Ironwood sought to use this power in order to save every last human being, and we'd already seen the power in use as it was used by Ms. Rose to stop the disaster that threatened to destroy Fuyuki."

"If that was five years ago, Jaune couldn't have been older than, what, twelve?" Coco asked. "What kind of parent does that?!"

"A desperate one, I'm afraid," Glynda answered.

"At least Jaune doesn't see Ruby as a tool like Ironwood does," Blake added, stemming the rising emotions, much to her team's and Team NPR's relief. 'Besides, if Jaune doesn't have any other caretakers or family, then he doesn't have a Magus family to work under. If he doesn't have a Magus family, then he doesn't have the resources needed to organize a true miracle, so no need to worry about Ruby,' she added in her head.

"Why don't we go back to the movie?" Pyrrha directed as the tension finally seemed to subside. "The movie still has quite a ways to go, so things will likely be resolved eventually."

The next day at school, Jaune sat in the classroom staring down at the back of his hand, the palm lying on top of a blank notebook. His expression filled with a quiet sadness as he thought of his attempts to continue his father's work.

Notebook after manuscript after records after research notes. Piled all around the study, dozens of books lay, each filled with bookmarks and notes, some Jaune's own and others belonging to the late James Ironwood. Jaune flipped the last page of his latest attempt to understand and solve the issue of utilizing the wishes. However, as he closed the research diary of the very man that began his mission, he grit his teeth in frustration. His research hadn't progressed in the slightest in the five years since Ironwood had passed.

Jaune's hand laying on top of his notebook curled into a fist as he cursed to himself. "Dammit…"

"He's doing research and everything," Blake murmured in fascination despite her disappointment that she didn't get to see alternate Jaune's training. "He may not have progressed much by the looks of things, but it's still fairly impressive considering he started when he was so young."

"Yeah, but it took him five years and he still did next to nothing!" Yang pointed out, gesturing to the notebooks on the screen.

"And it's clearly distracting him from his studies!" Weiss pointed out with surprising zeal, making her team facepalm and everyone else blink in surprise. "What is it with Arc and not paying attention in classes?!"

"He's not that bad…" Pyrrha muttered.

Weiss simply deadpanned at the champion. "He struggles to keep up in classes, half of the time reads his comic books while he's supposed to be studying, and he spent the last ten minutes of one of Professor Port's lectures trying to ask me out to a movie." Pyrrha cringed at the memory while Nora, Yang, and Ruby all struggled to hold their laughter back.

Saphron stared at Weiss with wide eyes. 'Goddammit, he's just like dad,' she thought in horror.

Terra had a very similar expression to her wife, but with less horror and more nostalgia mixed with disappointment. 'Goddammit, he's just like Saph.'

On his way home from an unfulfilling day at school, he decided to take a detour through the nearby shopping district. As he walked down the busy streets he passed by two children, a pair of brothers, running home cheering and brightly smiling at one another.

"I sure hope mom will like her present!"

"Yeah! I can't wait to see her face!"

"Aww! They're so adorable!" Nora cried out. Yang and Pyrrha nodded in agreement, but still thought that Ruby and Jaune were the more adorable sibling pair in the movie.

Jaune stopped and watched them pass by, a pondering expression on his face. As the children ran out of sight, he looked into the window display nearby where several fluffy clothing options were advertised. One particularly fluffy item caught his eye.

"Is he going to buy another onesie?" Nora asked with a devious grin, making Ren smirk and Pyrrha giggle as she facepalmed.

Coco lowered her shades. "Please tell me he doesn't wear one of those things."

Ruby giggled. "Yup, wore one the night before initiation when we all had to sleep in the ballroom."

"Velvet." Said girl sighed but turned to her team leader regardless. "We are taking your not-boyfriend to the mall and fixing his wardrobe as soon as he can walk. I don't care if we have to drag him there by his pinkie toe, nobody should sleep in a onesie and fight in a hoodie!" Velvet just nodded along in agreement, already planning to apologize to Jaune along with any unfortunate victims that get in the way of Coco's fashion tantrum.

The scene cuts to the inside of Jaune and Ruby's dining room, where the two of them had just finished eating another meal cooked by Ruby. Jaune and Ruby both politely bowed their heads in thanks for the food as they set their chopsticks down across the tops of their bowls, Jaune giving a content sigh. "That was good."

Ruby smiled as she basked in the praise. "I'm glad you liked it."

"Hey, Ruby." Jaune interrupted his sister as she began to gather her used dishes.

"What?"

"Here…" Jaune reached under the table next to him and offered her a present, decorated with baby blue wrapping paper and a royal blue ribbon. "...for you."

"So that's what he went into the store to get!" Ruby cheered, clearly touched by Jaune's act of kindness.

Ruby took it and set it in front of herself carefully. She looked up at her brother, hesitant about what she should do. Jaune gave her an assuring nod, after which Ruby quickly, yet carefully, unwrapped the unexpected gift, making sure not to tear the wrapping paper. She looked down at the now revealed fluffy, white, sweater-like garment adorned with fluffy sheep horns and cartoonish black dots for eyes. "What is it?"

"A new set of pajamas." Ruby perked up at Jaune's response. "Your old ones have gotten pretty beat up, right?"

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Velvet cooed.

"Are you sure?"

Jaune gave his sister a casual smile. "Yeah, it's not like it's a big dea-" he answered before suddenly stopping, his expression filled with shock as he saw his sister's response. She had picked up the fluffy sheep pajamas and hugged them tightly, her smile growing bigger and brighter by the second.

"Thanks so much, Jaune. This makes me…" She looked up at her brother from the present, her eyes tearing up in joy, making her silver eyes sparkle as she gave the biggest and happiest smile she could manage. "...very happy!"

Jaune's eyes widened in pleasant surprise, yet his eyes were filled with a distant sadness. He quickly calmed his expression before settling on his usual smile, a smile that didn't make it to his eyes.

"I'm happy that she's happy, but this whole moment just feels bittersweet," Ruby said with a frown.

"On one hand, he's got an adorable and kind little sister, but on the other, he's still working to find a way to use her for her wishes," Blake commented, resulting in Yang growling in annoyance.

"Oh come on! Can't they just be happy?!" Yang shouted. "They've got a great house, friends, Jaune's got someone with a crush on him, and they've got each other!"

"I believe it's because Ms. Rose is happy that Jaune feels conflicted," Ozpin answered, gathering everyone's undivided attention. "Ms. Rose has, in all likelihood, been kept in the Late-Ironwood's estate the last five years in order to hide her miraculous abilities, and is happy without knowing all that she's missed out on. He most likely feels that he is betraying his sister, especially when you take into account his mission where he's required to use her as a tool."

Everyone was stunned to silence by Ozpin's explanation except for Pyrrha, who's gaze was focussed on the floor as she rapidly connected pieces of alternate Jaune's behavior together. He'd had to essentially trap his sister in preparation to use her power, lie to his friends to hide Ruby, and he seemed to not truly feel happy or show any genuine emotions at all around anyone apart from Ruby. All the connections he had were either gone, with the passing of Ironwood and his original family, or not genuine because of the lies he'd needed to tell. Everything he had was fake.

Coco, however, had a very different concern. "Is that pajama top supposed to be a sheep or a goat?"

The two siblings soon gathered their dishes and excused themselves, Jaune to go training and Ruby to try on her new pajamas. Jaune quickly and quietly made his way through the yard and into the shed, a surprisingly large and poorly lit building lined with concrete and decorated with occasional piles of cardboard boxes. Jaune closed the door behind him and promptly sat down in a meditative position, his legs crossed and back straight.

Ren nodded in approval. "Meditation is an excellent way to start one's training."

"I still don't quite understand the appeal of meditating," Velvet commented. "Our teammates, Fox and Yatsuhashi, do it fairly often when we train and used to encourage Coco and me to try it, but I never understood its purpose."

"Think of it like stretching your brain!" Nora explained, much to the surprise and confusion of everyone apart from Ren. "Instead of stretching your muscles to keep them from getting tight or cramping up, you meditate to keep yourself from panicking or getting overwhelmed." Nobody knew how to respond to Nora's surprisingly sensible explanation while Ren felt a certain degree of pride at Nora's explanation.

Jaune reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple metal tape measure. He extended and locked it into a length of 25 centimeters before resting in his hands, the end of the tape in his right palm and the reel in his left. He took a long inhale as he closed his eyes.

"Trace… On."

Cyan circuit-like lines quickly lit up across his body as they trailed down his arms and across his palms to the point where they contacted the measuring tape. The glow quickly lit up the small corner of the room Jaune sat in before he scrunched his eyes in focus as the lines connected and expanded onto the metal tape. Jaune focussed on his breathing as the lines across his arms began to glow more intensely, the lines on the tape measure doing the same.

Coco blinked before glancing back and forth between the screen and the Jaune in the room with them. "Those glowing line things kind of look like the ones on Blondie here…"

"BAD LINES! STOP MESSING WITH JAUNE-JAUNE!" Nora yelled at the screen as Ren held her back from jumping up and 'helping' Jaune's alternate. Pyrrha tensed up as she waited for Jaune's alternate to collapse, screaming in pain, just like their Jaune had when the lines had appeared. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all tensed up as well, but quickly noticed how the alternate blond seemed calm, like he had expected the lines to appear.

Blake, however, grew excited at the appearance of the glowing lines. "Is he… is that Reinforcement? Has to be, nothing else matches… but that means those are Circuits! But then how…?" Blake's mumbling quickly became undecipherable as she flipped through pages and glanced between the Magecraft Guide and the movie screen, but quickly stopped when she noticed nobody else was talking and that the movie had been paused. Looking up, she found everyone staring at her with varying degrees of annoyance and surprise, Saphron demonstrating the prior with a glare intense enough to make Adam Taurus look like an anger management counselor. "...Can I help you?"

Saphron's glare shifted into an unnerving slasher smile. "Oh, nothing except for the fact that you seem to be familiar with, what appears to be, the cause of my brother's current condition and didn't say anything."

Blake instantly paled, but her fear quickly gave way to rational thought. "I-I apologize, but I wasn't quite sure of anything until just now. I didn't want to say anything only for it to be wrong, and with the way this sorry excuse for a book," she glared at the object resting in her hands, "was written, I had trouble putting any information together."

"So what is it? Is it able to be cured?" Pyrrha asked, eager for a way to help her partner. Saphron nodded, leaning forward in anticipation along with the rest of the audience.

"Err… no?" Everyone moved to either shout or ask more questions, but was stopped when Blake held up her hand. "Let me explain! Now, keep in mind that everything I say is from the book and I have no clue whether it's true or not, and everything I've managed to piece together is from the movie, so I have no idea whether it will apply to us or Jaune. Got it?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Now ask any questions you have-" everyone moved to ask their questions again- "one at a time!"

Those who knew Blake hesitated, not used to the Faunus being so forceful unless the topic involved either the White Fang or Faunus rights. Saphron, however, just assumed her behavior was standard and rushed to get her question answered first. "So what are the glowing lines, and can they be cured?"

Blake flipped to the beginning of the Beginner's Guide for the Novice Magus. "I believe they're what's called Magic Circuits. They're bound to the soul, supposedly, and are used to produce Magical Energy, or Prana, which is used in what's called Magecraft. There aren't any mentions of someone being 'cured' of their Magic Circuits, but it seems like what happened to Jaune was he experienced his Circuits being unlocked."

"Unlocked?" Pyrrha asked. "Is it similar to Aura in any way?"

Blake shook her head. "Yes and no. While unlocking Aura is painless and generally considered an uplifting experience, unlocking one's Magic Circuits tends to be painful, ranging from a sharp pain for only a moment all the way up to pain extreme enough to knock you unconscious, like Jaune probably experienced. The circuits should shut down shortly after forming unless the owner immediately tries and succeeds in using them."

Ozpin cleared his throat, prompting Blake to turn to him for the next question. "What do you mean when you refer to Magecraft and Magical Energy?" he asked, leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees and his hands steepled in front of his face.

"Magecraft… it doesn't explain much other than the fact that it's replicating what science can do through magical means, such as creating a fireball without using combustible fuel and using Magical Energy in its place. Some forms of Magecraft need to be done through objects or the user's body as a medium, such as one called Jewelcraft, where Magical Energy is stored into precious gemstones and used later in various ways."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "That sounds exactly like Dust if you ask me. Both are miraculous abilities utilized through the power of one's soul and harnessed in crystallized forms."

Blake shook her head. "Not really, but I'll get to that later. Magical Energy is the fuel used in Magecraft that is made by the Magic Circuits. The Magic Circuits pull from one of two things: Od, one's life force, or Mana, the Magical Energy of the world around you."

"So it's just hocus pocus fantasy magic?" Yang asked, still greatly confused by the whole ordeal.

Blake shook her head with a sigh. "No, not quite. The book very explicitly stated 'Magecraft is not Magic' several times, and that Magecraft was what most Magus, who are the users of Magecraft, can perform and is limited to what science is capable of doing. Magic, or True Magic, is Magecraft ascended to the point that it is impossible to replicate with science."

"That's great and all, but you didn't quite answer my question." Saphron politely reminded her with an intense stare. "Can Jaune be cured or not? Yes or no?"

Blake opened her mouth to speak, but quickly hesitated as she chose her words carefully to avoid aggravating the clearly tense older sister. "It's not that Jaune can't be cured, it's more that doing so is a bad idea. While Magic Circuits are part of one's soul, they greatly affect the body, such as making Jaune collapse. Tampering with them can have… serious repercussions."

Ruby meekly raised her hand to signal Blake's attention. "How serious? Like "just let Aura fix it" bad or "emergency room visit" level bad or…?"

"Permanently cripled, forced into a vegatative state, or painfully killed." Blake answered bluntly, making all who knew Jaune gasp in shock and rapidly pale out of fear.

'Note to self, experimental Aura procedures are off the table for treatment options.' Ozpin thought as he silently pushed an unsigned medical waiver deeper into his pocket. "Let's not focus on a possibility we don't need to entertain. We already know that Jaune has been slowly recovering as we've been watching the film, so there's no need to try to remove these Magic Circuits if the problem is slowly resolving itself already."

The audience nodded as they gave a sigh of relief, glad they weren't about to have to risk a life-threatening surgery in order to wake up the young man. Nora hugged Ren for comfort after the admittedly intense moment, which he readily accepted. Saphron slumped over in relief before leaning into her wife who had done the same. Blake, however, visibly cringed as she realized the level of tension she had inadvertently created.

After having a moment to calm down, Velvet cleared her throat, catching everyone's attention. "You mentioned earlier that Jaune was trying to do something with his Magic Circuits. Do you know what it is?"

Blake scratched her head as she flipped through pages of the Beginner's Guide. "Er… kind of?" Everyone gave her a doubting stare, not believing her after she'd already explained so much about Magic Circuits. "This part was more convoluted than the part about Magic Circuits and tied into a lot of other stuff, but I believe I understand it for the most part. I think Jaune is casting two, er, spells called Structural Analysis and Reinforcement. Which do you guys want to know first?"

"The first one please," Ren answered, his investment showing through his normally stoic expression.

Blake nodded. "Structural Analysis is a form of Magecraft used to gather an understanding of an object. It sort of works like viewing a blueprint of an object through Magecraft. It uses very little Magical Energy too."

"And the second?"

Blake flipped the page. "Reinforcement Magecraft. It's essentially improving an object either in terms of its purpose or specific trait. It makes blades sharper, chemicals more potent, and materials more sturdy. Combining this with Structural Analysis makes Reinforcement work more quickly and with greater strength, making them an effective combination. It's incredibly useful if used correctly, but difficult to learn and master."

Yang slumped in her seat. "With the way you were talking about Magic and fireballs earlier I thought he was doing something cooler, like enchanting tape measure to stretch on forever or make it turn into birds or something."

Blake shook her head. "That's because he's only doing basic Reinforcement on an ordinary object. He could use it to make explosives more potent or even make his skin as tough as iron if he has enough practice. Some people have supposedly used Reinforcement on their muscles and body to run faster than the human eye can see."

Yang whistled in awe. Yeah, she was strong and Ruby was fast, but neither of them could go anywhere near those speeds!

Ruby's eyes went wide at the comment before quickly narrowing in focus as she tried to figure out a way to reach those speeds. 'Hmmm… what would it take to learn Reinforcement? We have everything that would be needed to learn how to do this Magecraft stuff; the book has the info, the movie shows examples, and Jaune has the circuits to figure it out! I just need to get Jaune to teach me later! …Assuming any of this stuff works outside the movie. But! Nothing will stop me from being the speediest, not even funny magic stuff! Muahahaha!'

Pyrrha cleared her throat, politely getting her friends' attention and snapping Ruby out of her adorably maniacal plotting. "Should we continue with the movie? We wouldn't want to have to stay up late studying."

"Indeed. We have an exam tomorrow that we can't afford to do poorly on." Weiss answered with a nod.

"Yeah! What she said, but less fancy!" Nora cheered as she skipped up to the movie player, ignoring Weiss's angry yelling, and pressed the play button. Everyone quickly quieted down, getting comfortable in their chairs as the film resumed.

As Jaune's Magic Circuits stabilized and his breathing continued to remain steady, he allowed his mind to wander back to another memory with his father.

The younger Jaune and James Ironwood were both seated in the study, silently reviewing their individual piles of notes and research. "Hey, Mr. Ironwood." the younger Jaune called out to his father. "Are there any other details about the cost required to keep granting wishes?"

"Ironwood again? Really?" Nora pouted, hoping to either see some badass magic or wholesome moments with Ruby.

"Hey, maybe we'll get more context about Jaune's mission this time," Terra commented, annoyed that they'd been forced to start halfway into the movie but didn't want to mention it since Saphron was so invested in it.

"That book should explain it all." Ironwood didn't look up from his book, a travel records manuscript, as he was already familiar with the section Jaune was studying.

Jaune looked up from his notes at his father in worry. "So Ruby- I mean the vessel that grants wishes, will die and have their soul trapped in this world forever?"

"WHAT?!"

"She doesn't just get used as a tool and dies, but she doesn't even get to go to the afterlife?! What the hell!" Yang shouted, instinctively stepping in front of Ruby in a protective manner.

Ruby herself quickly paled. Any doubts she had saying that she wouldn't sacrifice someone else this way vanished in an instant. 'Nopenopenopenopenope, so much nope!'

Even Ozpin himself paled at the concept of existing eternally as only a soul. He thought that living for eons, reincarnating over and over was painful enough as is, but to exist for eternity as only a soul and nothing else with no way to pass from this world? Not in another ten-thousand years. However, he had no doubt that Ironwood would sacrifice someone else in such a manner if it meant saving the people of Atlas or Remnant. Ozpin would like to believe this was simply because of Ironwood's Semblance, but he knew that, deep down, it was simply who Ironwood was.

It filled Ozpin with a terrifying sense of pride, dread, and unadulterated fear.

"It's going to bring about a miracle far beyond any other by saving everyone on the planet. That's an incredibly small price to pay by comparison."

"But then-!"

"Don't get confused, Jaune," Ironwood cut him off, neither changing his expression nor turning to face Jaune. "Our goal is to save every human on earth. Not the single, tiny life that stands before us."

"Damn this Ironwood guy doesn't pull any punches," Coco whispered, intimidated by the fallen hero, not that she'd ever say it out loud. Velvet silently nodded in agreement, shellshocked by both the new information on Magecraft and the requirement to use the wishes.

"So he not only gave Jaune a mission to save literally everyone, no pressure there, but also to condemn what is basically his sister to eternal torment," Saffron listed, growing angrier as went along. "What. The. GOD. DAMN. HELL!"

Terra, who still held reservations about the film actually starring their alternate selves, wondered why everyone was getting so worked up.

Jaune stared at his father in silence for a moment before nodding and returning to his work.

Jaune sighed as the memories faded along with the glow of his Circuits. He slowly rose to his feet and grabbed a lead pipe from a nearby box. He gave the pipe a couple of experimental swings, testing its weight, before throwing it above his head.

Jaune quickly tossed the tape measure into his right hand and gripped it by the reel before swiftly executing three slashes in a zig-zag formation down the length of the pipe. The pipe's descent stopped for a moment before separating into four cleanly cut sections, each equal in length. Jaune swung his makeshift Magecraft sword to his side in a flourish, ending the set. 'Mr. Ironwood didn't hesitate.' The pipe-turned-scrap landed on the floor in a quick burst of dings and clangs. Jaune looked down at the remains, his expression dejected despite the feat he had achieved. 'So why… can't I do the same?'

"Well damn! I guess that Reinforcement stuff is pretty good," Yang complimented in an effort to distract herself from the newly revealed information. "Not bad with the sword thing either, uses it more like Blakey than our Jaune, but still cool."

Blake nodded in agreement. "He probably used Reinforcement to make the metal stronger and the edge sharper. That's what I'd do at least."

Pyrrha smiled with pride as Jaune's alternate demonstrated a level of skill she wished she could help Jaune reach one day. 'Maybe I can show Jaune this to help him with his training. Who better to base your fighting style off of than yourself after all?'

On the other hand, Saphron frowned at the mention of alternate Jaune's belief that he'd failed his father, reaffirming her determination to find what was wrong with their Jaune when he woke up.

Jaune placed the scraps in another box next to the one he'd retrieved it from and retracted his tape measure before placing it in his pocket with practiced smoothness. He quietly exited the shed before strolling back to the main building.

"I hope your training went well, Jaune."

Jaune snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to find Ruby sitting on the porch where he and Ironwood had years ago, dressed in her new fluffy pajamas and a textbook on constellations and other night-sky wonders open in her lap. "You're still awake?" he asked as he walked to her side.

"Ruby."

"Please no," Ruby whimpered, already knowing what's about to happen.

Yang rose from her seat in not even a moment, striking a pose with her left hand pointing at Ruby and her right on her hip. "You will wear the adorable sheep pajamas, you will have your picture taken, and you will like it!" Yang ordered, much to Saphron's approval and everyone else's horror.

"So it's sheep pajamas, got it," Coco whispered to herself, glad to have the important issues solved.

Ruby nodded and continued looking over the diagrams in her textbook. "Yeah, I was looking for some constellations."

"Constellations?" Jaune asked as he came to a stop at the porch's edge. "I'm surprised you'd be into something so quaint."

"Same here," Coco commented. "With how complicated all the other books looked, I'm surprised she'd bother with something like constellations."

"Any knowledge can be useful if applied correctly," Weiss responded with a huff. "I think it's commendable that she's expanding her talents to other subjects."

"The movement of astronomical objects has already been adequately explained by physics. I wanted to understand what reason there could be to apply irrelevant images upon groupings of stars."

Jaune blinked, unsure of how to respond to the fact that a ten-year-old had just explained her understanding of such advanced topics, before turning his gaze to the side in thought. "Maybe I should have given you some picture books instead…"

"Huh?"

"Is there a word for someone who's so nerdy they're a nerd compared to other nerds?" Yang asked with a grin.

Ruby pouted and was about to retort, but was defended by Pyrrha before she could. "She doesn't have much else to do, so it makes sense she spends most of her time studying. I know I'd certainly do the same. Well, that or train," Pyrrha answered, before gesturing to the screen with a smile. "Besides, it gives them something to talk about."

Yang nodded before turning to the screen and smiling as well, deciding to enjoy the nice moment in the movie before the next point of conflict inevitably comes up.

Jaune quietly sat on the porch next to Ruby as he changed the subject. "Mr. Ironwood used to do a lot of stargazing out here too."

Ruby looked up at Jaune in surprise. "Did he really? Why is that?"

Jaune hummed in thought as he looked out at the night sky, the stars and nebulas of the night sky laid out in a horizon of mixing colors, like water-color paints mixing and combining, each's color shining while bringing out the beauty of the others. Blues, greens, purples, pinks, and whites all painted brilliantly on the speckled black canvas of the night sky. "I wonder about that myself…"

"Beautiful…" Glynda whispered. Nobody argued with her on her description, even Ozpin who had seen countless horizons over many millennia found it stunning.

'I wish I knew… how Mr. Ironwood felt as he looked up at the stars back then.'Jaune thought as he closed his eyes with a sigh. 'I haven't seen Ruby's holy power manifest for a number of years now. It's very possible she's… already lost the ability to grant wishes. Heh… at this point, I honestly hope that's the case.'

"To wish upon a star…" Ruby whispered to herself, snapping Jaune out of his internal struggle to look over at his sister. "If I could choose one thing to come true…" She folded her hands in prayer as she stared out at the stars, her bright silver eyes faintly glowing against the dark of night. "I wish I could become your real little sister, Jaune."

Jaune's eyes slowly widened at the unexpected proclamation as he stared at Ruby, his mouth hanging open slightly in shock. Ruby sighed, closing her eyes as she shut her textbook before opening her eyes again as she looked up at Jaune with a heartwarming smile and cobalt blue eyes, eyes the exact same vibrant shade as her brother. "But I know you wouldn't want that…"

"What-?!" Yang yelled in a mix of surprise, shock, and mild panic.

"How-?" Saphron asked in wonder.

"Whoa…" Ruby whispered, stunned by the miracle her alternate performed and the declaration accompanying it.

Jaune's shock quickly faded as a bright, genuine smile appeared in its place and he struggled not to cry tears of joy. "No… I would love for that to happen."

The screen slowly faded to black with one last view of the colorful night sky before the projector turned itself off. The audience remained still, stunned into silence by the emotional ending, and several of them with unshed tears in their eyes.

"That was… really sweet," Ruby commented, breaking the silence as she wiped her eyes dry and hugged Yang. The older sister quietly reciprocated the hug in a surprisingly gentle manner as she tried to wipe her eyes dry without anyone noticing.

Saphron smiled as she remembered moments she'd cared for Jaune when he was younger and when he'd managed to comfort her in turn when she was feeling down, even if he didn't realize it at the time. She leaned into Terra, who, despite not believing the whole alternate-selves spiel, found the scene quite touching.

Glynda and Pyrrha each gave small warm smiles, glad that alternate-Jaune found happiness despite the losses he's faced and the burdens he still carries.

Nora grinned as she showed Ren the photo she'd taken of alternate-Jaune and Ruby stargazing, which made the silent boy's smile widen just a little bit more. Ren quietly gestured for Nora to send him a copy, to which she nodded and complied as quickly as possible without disturbing anyone else. They were all having a nice moment, and she didn't want to be the one to ruin it.

Velvet and Coco each had calm smiles, simply enjoying the warm emotions permeating the small recovery room. Neither of them would say they were particularly close to anyone in the room, but they both found themselves wanting to change that in the near future. Though Coco was slightly disappointed she didn't get to see more of alternate Velvet.

Ozpin, however, was the only one to not have a smile on his face, his expression instead one of contemplation. He was quickly shaken out of his thoughts by Glynda, who put a hand on his shoulder in concern. Ozpin shook his head and gave his signature small yet enigmatic smile, before standing and brushing the dust off his slacks. "Students," Ozpin addressed his charges, who took only a moment to straighten themselves out before turning to face him. "I'm glad you're all enjoying the film, but you may want to head out soon. Curfew isn't far off, and if you need to grab supplies for any assignments you may want to leave soon." The students all panicked for a moment, checking their scrolls and watches for the time. They were all surprised to find it was much later in the day than they expected it to be, which became heavily emphasized by the sunset shining through the windows as Glynda raised the blinds with her Semblance. Teams RWBY and NPR all scrambled to clean what they could before rushing out the door, giving their individual goodbyes to both those conscious and unconscious. Ozpin simply smiled as he watched the chaotic bunch leave. "Have a good evening students, I'll see you all tomorrow for the next segment of the film," he called out to them, getting a thumbs up from Nora as she closed the door behind her. 'What an interesting year indeed,' he thought with an almost silent chuckle. Ozpin then turned to the remaining five of the audience and gestured to the projector. "Let's catch up with the rest then, shall we?"

After getting five nods, he started the movie from the beginning and returned to his seat. Saphron, Terra, and Team CV all scooted closer to the screen, all of them clearly invested in the story they'd only just begun to watch, and settled into comfort as the image of the planet they lived on and an unshattered moon greeted them.

"One man chased a dream of bringing salvation to all..."


A/N: Wow, that was a long one. Turned out pretty good though, if I do say so myself. New cast members added, more roles revealed, and a happy ending to this chapter. After the last chapter, I felt it would be a good idea to follow it up with a more happy ending, at least in comparison. Onto other notes...

Audience Casting is done! Nobody else will be joining the viewing cast, both to keep the story focused with steady character development and because I made the setting a tiny hospital recovery room. Oops. Velvet and Coco's relationship to RWBY and JNPR goes only as far as what's shown in the actual RWBY show, which is different compared to most Multiverse Viewing stories. That's not to say it will stay that way, things will progress and people will change! Saphron and Terra are in the cast too with their own perspective as well, but their relationship with RWBY and JNPR is, until this story and RWBY canon Volume 6, is based solely around Jaune. That will expand on its own as well, but differently than Team CV (how would I pronounce that? Team Shiv?).

On top of that, the new roles revealed are Ren as Julian and Velvet as Sakura! I apologize to those whose role suggestions were not chosen and those whose questions about my casting were responded to with "spoilers". Even if your suggestion was not chosen, your ideas helped me to narrow down my thought process and look at things from different angles. Speaking of casting suggestions!

Characters To Be Cast: Erika, Angelica, Kotomine, and Darius.

On another note, I just want to mention something in terms of how I see Oath Under Snow. I have not watched Fate/Kleid, and I don't have any plans to do so just because it isn't my kind of show. I see Oath Under Snow as a spinoff of Fate proper and was my first experience in watching Fate apart from RWBY crossover stories.

Thanks for reading, and thank you for all the amazing comments!


Meanwhile, with Adrian Cotta-Arc...

"And that is how the Mistrali marine unit's failure resulted in the discovery of high-quality gravity Dust reserves, accidentally paving the way for the first bullheads to be constructed at the end of the Great War where they would be used to provide relief to villages who had suffered from the Grimm during wartime. Any question?" Doctor Oobleck finished his lecture, connecting several papers and drawings together on the chalkboard behind him in an advanced diagram of historical events.

Adrian Cotta-Arc clapped his tiny toddler hands. "Bffleh!"

Oobleck nodded as he took a sip from his thermos. "I'm glad you understand. Now then, which would you like for snack time? Animal crackers or goldfish?"

"Bahba!"

"Excellent choice young man, I've always preferred animal crackers myself as well."