Silver

by Imyoshi

Forced to admit that Crocea Mors didn't feel right in his hands—no matter how he held it—Jaune Arc struggled to overcome this obstacle through the insane idea that Aura could become more than just the armor that protected him. Barriers broke as he pushed past the limits of what Aura was capable of, creating and forging his very own weapons from the manifestation of his soul.

24. Marengo

Disclaimer: I own nothing of RWBY.

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Marengo

By: Imyoshi

Bravery and fear synchronized together like an ionic bond.

One could not exist without the other.

Too much bravery led to the fear of becoming weak, and too much fear led to the bold pursuit of becoming strong. Together, in perfect harmony, created a warrior willing to fight for the ones they cherished, shoving weakness in the mud as the bond with their friends mattered more than the potential likelihood of death.

Nora Valkyrie feared for her friends' lives, every nightmare, every night terror, every memory that might end up being their last, knotted her weeping soul in an icy embrace where warmth never reached, but that everlasting despair drove her to be compelling. To be confident. Brave.

Bravery created stories, wild imaginations beyond the realm of normalcy where children went to bed happy. It allowed someone to pretend, to do the impossible in a monster-filled world. To make magic happen in an environment devoid of creativity.

To wake up with a smile.

Only this time, in the face of unbelievable odds, with no one to aid her, Nora adopted another emotion to support her in combat.

Bold.

Bravery, fear, and boldness, the epitome of walking into a raging thunderstorm, but Nora Valkyrie not only danced in the drizzling rain with opened arms, but tamed fulmination with a million-watt smile. Being conceivably struck by a megawatt bolt didn't scare her, not in the slightest. She frolicked in the ionized companionship. Her soul embraced it with vibrating vitality. Electrons danced like magic in the air, striking the same spot twice, and electrically charged cells supplied raw, natural power to a pair of legs.

Lightning had a notorious habit of being known as an unpredictable, noisy, dangerous, an omen, and above all, a chaotic force of nature, everything that she was, a lesson Qrow Branwen, a scarecrow in a windy battlefield, would soon learn the hard way with a heated fist discharging with the same ferocity of a high-voltage impulse.

Harbinger hindered an ionized cross.

Zero to sixty in a split-second, Qrow struggled against the unforeseen driving force behind a high-impact fist, gritting his teeth from a wave of static stabbing his body. Both his hands pressed the blunt edge of his weapon against Nora's electrified knuckles with his feet slipping on a weak friction floor, but he faltered with bouts of electricity attacking his body as his armament acted like a conductor. Veins popped. What in the bloody hell? Where was this strength coming from, he couldn't push back!

At least he kept the deadlock going.

"I have two hands, you know!"

Qrow's eyes swelled upon noticing another jab incoming. Smash! The immeasurable momentum broke the stalemate with him colliding painfully into a nearby pillar. The transition from standing to flying to crashing had been so abrupt he didn't remember the flying part, only the crashing with rubble burying on top of him part.

Just his luck.

Standing afar from him, Nora stopped to flex her fingers before storming in for another round. She pursed her lips with her bundles of nerves shaking with vigorous excitement. Electricity controlled the muscles and the entire nervous system, from the brain to the to the tiniest cells, it played a vital part of the human body. Conducting electrical currents to amplify her raw physical abilities was, in layman's terms, the base of her Semblance. Anything involving a charge—either positive or negative—with a potential for ionizing enabled her to convert all forms of pulses into muscular strength. In a way, it resembled Jaune's Aura amplification.

Who knew the heat from three Aura shards would produce so much electricity?

Regardless, those fingers compacted together, and she shot a look over to the pile of rubble. Her frown twitched as concrete wobbled. Soon anger took over, and she charged, not wasting any more time, not with this man. A bolt of turquoise electricity shot across the pavement, charging up as it approached the trapped prey, intention clear with consequences damned. Only reason she missed her strike was due to Qrow rolling out of the rubble at the last possible second.

Teeth clicked. Bastard!

"Stay still!"

Qrow had a motto he lived by, don't listen to authority, so he moved, avoiding a second strike aimed for his stomach by rolling again, trying to ignore the way the ground bent for her, not the other way around. Crazy kid was out of her mind. He concluded this by alternating on his feet just in time to block a jab that sent a hundred volts of electricity up his spine. Felt like his heart might explode with his muscles tingling from a shocking strike, then she gripped his greatsword and twisted the metal in his hands—taking advantage of her electrical current—turning the element scathing hot.

A swift kick to her abdomen freed his weapon but overall accomplished nothing, if anything, her electricity intensified and she retaliated by digging her feet into the ground with his foot numbing from shock.

Whatever distance he hoped to create was forfeited, half from his stunned reflexes, and half from her excessive speed, but she rushed him with an angry frenzy, protected by a barrier of static that Harbinger's rounds seemed to bounce off of, or she powered on through it. Anyway, her movements, while chaotically powerful and blinding fast, were straight-forward, lacking in elegance. Fist combat wasn't a specialty of hers, not like her boneheaded niece, but she knew enough to make it bothersome. The random, electrical currents dancing around her body surely upped the risk factor.

His eyes narrowed.

Harbinger blocked her next strike, bouncing him away this time, instead of attempting a futile stalemate between behemoth strength and a paralyzing agent. It gave him time to think while avoiding most of her nasty bursts of static discharge. Still left a tingling feeling in his joints, and his chest ached but beat a long term exposure, however, between thinking and dodging, he mostly evaded. She never gave him opportunities to breathe, less contemplate his next move, too focused on blocking each of her strikes with the brunt of his weapon that still ended up shocking his motor skills and skin with open electricity.

Crimson Aura alleviated some of the pain from a stabbing, electrical flow, but fighting against someone whose punches shocked his nervous system and forced his muscles to contract, with the occasional body locking and first degree burns, made him dodge every form of contact at all costs. At the same time, she made it her mission to fight him with lightning decimal reaction time and reflexes, so his plan went up in smoke. Only option left was to take the fight to her, but fighting a confused kid might—?!

Smash!

An electrically-charged right hook sent him flying, burying him deeper into concrete with his Aura taking a huge hit. Groaning, he barely reacted in time to a heavy foot attempting to crush his skull, gritting his teeth as electricity worked its magic on his prone body and quivering hands. A twist of her ankle, followed by a spinning throw, separated the two as Qrow gripped his weapon instinctively. Every bone in his body, huh? This girl was deadly serious. Talking or anything other than fighting wasn't going to resolve this issue.

No other way around it, she craved blood.

That couldn't be more obvious when she landed from the throw, growled with a booming voice, and then sped toward him like a bolt of concentrated lightning. The leading roundhouse kick aimed downward only cemented that ideology when his feet cracked the pavement from the vigorous momentum, buckling under the pressure as electricity weakened his overall capabilities and blocking forearms. Qrow had no choice but to admit the kid had raw physical strength that made Yang pale in comparison, but he figured those glowing rocks might be responsible.

Whatever.

It hardly helped him in blocking the knee to the stomach, or when she pulled harshly on his necklace to connect a devastating headbutt with his robust jaw that ended up trailing with an agonizing jab, digging deep into his chest muscles with a twisting motion to burn skin from an influx of electrical impulses. Air left his lungs, and she aimed a cross squarely between the eyes, only missing by a hair's length when he ducked under the blow at the last possible second. If the air dragging through his locks or the incoming uppercut unnerved him, he wisely kept his cool, using his palm to mitigate the driving impulse of her strike.

Still sent him flying toward the same pillar as before, bursting through the structural concrete with ease with crimson Aura suffering more damage.

Bolts of electricity running rampant throughout his body made it impossible to roll to reduce damage, colliding against the ground as a follow-up. Concrete left a few scrapes and cuts with blood staining his skin, a quick taste of iron revealed it spilled from his throat, most likely internal injury due to blood vessels constricting from a high voltage discharge. Tch! He stood up, gripping Harbinger with a tightening squeeze, glaring blankly at the running thunderstorm heading his way.

Gotta hand it to her, she fought nothing like Winter. That snowflake moved precise with majestic speed, made it easy to counter her moves while looking cool, because training made everything laughably predictable, but not this firefly. Blocking her strikes bore consequences, ignoring her somehow magnified those consequences and he had no intention of pushing those boundaries any further. She moved like electricity, disorganized and unpredictably fast while she despised him with what he observed as genuine hate. Not that silly displeasure Winter showed in front of her military groupies, but this short-stack truly hated his guts. Hell! She aimed to rip his guts out! Even still, he had no intention of fighting some deluded—gasp!

He avoided a blow that decayed the second pillar's infrastructure, ducking underneath a driving fist as cracks formed from where her hand dug into the cement, and she pulled it out without an ounce of damage on her digits, glaring down at him with electricity dancing in her eyes. Qrow huffed. Yeah, no question about, deluded nothing, she meant to aim for his head with every intention to shatter bone, he just got lucky enough to react to the strike before it connected.

Okay, forget it, no more Mr. Nice Guy, the kid wanted a fight, well, she was going to get one. Screw thinking and talking, he had always preferred action over words, and she had a bone to pick with him. Reasons could wait. Unless his buddies were going to jump in and save his ass, Qrow would have to deal with this walking outlet on his own. Which reminded him as he landed a classic haymaker on her headstrong jaw, that accomplished diddly-squat, how come no one was helping him deal with this brat?

...

Ozpin winced when Qrow's haymaker ended up failing. Miss Valkyrie seemed to rejuvenate from the repulsive strike, countering his movements by throwing one of her own, blasting his companion away with the broad side of his greatsword absorbing damage, but even from this distance, he remarked the way her bubbling electricity shocked his systems. Ouch. From his experience, a high enough concentration of Lightning Dust potentially fried the skin. Not the case for his explosive student, of course, had to be Semblance related, but Qrow essentially fought a walking eel. Block, then harsh backlash, a winning combination for self-inflicting wounds.

Qrow had no choice but to parry, dodge, and strike, blocking proved too ineffective and damaging.

Glynda was the first to respond after the initial surprise wore off. "We have to stop Miss Valkyrie before she hurts herself!"

James flinched when Nora powered on through Qrow's wave-slash to connect a double-handed blow to his lower abdomen. The drunken man flew with a current of static shock clinging to his body, convulsing his nerves, make near impossible to control her gliding momentum. When he crash landed, Nora lunged like a Beringel, arms raised to crush him deeper into the terrain. Didn't work, he dodged the mini-earthquake at the last moment with his lucky streak ever so high, but the crater left behind made James consider offering the girl a position in his military force. Brash tactics like that killed Grimm.

Then Qrow landed a diagonal swipe across her torso, followed by twisting his wrist to deliver an upward cut in the opposite direction with his foot kicking her in the chest. A pointless endeavor. She failed to fly back, digging her feet harshly in the floor with her electron cloud vibrating in intensity, her wounds healed in record time, and Qrow barely managed to dodge a shoulder tackle with his leg shaking from convulsions.

James snorted. "I don't think it's her we have to be worrying about. Qrow's the one on the defense."

She frowned. "Which is why you should stop this."

James crossed his arms with his left shoulder stilling. "Not possible, my current condition doesn't allow for me to be anywhere near a walking, talking terminal output. What about you? Your Semblance should be able to control the girl."

Glynda said nothing, suddenly finding herself tongue-tied of all things. Yes, James was indeed right, her Semblance would undoubtedly be able to restrain Nora Valkyrie, but she more than just hesitated, she full blown stopped. Not a single one of her muscles dared to move, not a bloody inch. Instead, she watched the fight unfold with a high level of skepticism. It didn't require an Aura scientist to figure out Miss Valkyrie's rampant emotions dealt with what happened to their teammate. She must have somehow known or figured out with what transpired between Pyrrha Nikos and Amber and found her frustrations centered on Qrow for reasons beyond her comprehension. Not an exact reason to attack a person, but blaming her wouldn't be right. They all deserved that much and more for what occurred to their champion.

Ozpin knew this. He saw this, knew her thoughts jumbled around unchecked guilt. Frustration, hesitation, and her worrisome frown was all the evidence he needed, that and her uncharacteristic mouth biting. He hummed neutrally at her zipper lips with a passive glare of his own. The funny thing about it, he hardly blamed her reluctance. Somehow the furious girl knew they were at fault, setting her sights on Qrow, of all people, to unleash her hailstorm of fury, and Glynda blamed herself, hence her reluctance to intervene.

"She cannot, Glynda feels guilty."

Guilty, yes, an appropriate word for an inappropriate situation. James thought so, too, sharing a look of disbelief with the ordinarily strict professor. Guilt? Of all things, and Glynda felt guilt? She was never known to have attachments, made the job much harder when people died, but to openly express guilt? Taking that all into account, he paused, reframing from displaying his concern, more focused on asking the why.

James turned to Glynda. "Is he telling the truth?"

Goodwitch sighed, fogging up her glass with the memories of Team JNPR's mission. The talk with the champion rung the harsh truth of tough sacrifices, the bittersweet departure from a loved one's grave slowed her heart, and stargazing with an under-confident leader bestowed her happiness she once lost. Ozpin, her boss, her peer, her companion in the fight for humanity put his trust in Team RWBY, an excellent team with a hard-to-swallow exceptional track record, but her sights skewed away from the number one first-year team, more engaged with Team JNPR. While Team RWBY believed in each other, Team JNPR trusted one another. They all worked together to save their Fearless Leader from certain expulsion, acting like a close-knit family.

Bonds like that stuck together through thick-and-thin.

Glynda Goodwitch, for all pretense and purposes, saw more potential in that team than the one Ozpin put his faith in, hence her abbreviation to aid Qrow. So yes, she felt guilty because somewhere down the line, she failed to keep her word, and now a troubled girl fought to protect her damaged family. What happened between Amber and the remaining members of Team JNPR, she hadn't a clue, but it must have been emotionally breaking for Nora Valkyrie to attack the one person she thought might take them away.

I won't let you take my family away for a second time!

She breathed, never taking her eyes off the way Qrow blocked Nora from smashing his face in by using Harbinger as a shield. "It's my fault for pushing Miss Nikos into accepting the Maiden Power. She didn't want it, but we took away the option to say no. None of this would've happened if I hadn't pushed so hard. Our damaged Maiden, our hurt students, and a guilt-ridden girl, all happened because we made it happen, and somehow Nora Valkyrie has figured this out, setting her sights on Qrow. I'm not going to stop her... I've done enough already."

He nodded, turning his attention toward Oz. "And what's your excuse, Ozpin?"

"I'm intrigued." Ozpin simpered as electricity danced around Nora's body. "An unusual opportunity has presented itself, and I feel obligated to watch."

"And Qrow?"

"He'll be fine." Ozpin stayed silent for all but two seconds. "I doubt Miss Valkyrie is aiming to kill him."

James withheld his emotions, shared a look with Glynda, and then watched Qrow block a barrage of punches by using his greatsword's extensive metal work to absorb the collision as each strike sent a bolt of electricity up his spine. Not only that, but the man was pinned against a uniform surface, unable to escape from the barrage with the static discharge dulling his senses, hindering all his mental power to divert each strike aimed for a vital spot. Every one of Nora's thrusts carried animalistic savagery, delivering enough momentum to crack the pillar with each jab. Sooner or later, Qrow would find an opening and escape the mad onslaught, or that support beam would crumble. From his point of view, with the way she never appeared to tire, must be the influence of that current, that pillar was going to disintegrate.

"I wholeheartedly disagree, Ozpin." Glynda challenged, cringing at yet another structure she had to fix. At least Qrow covered some distance to fire some rounds at the charging Valkyrie. "We might need to intervene... Miss Valkyrie appears to be going for blood."

Ozpin blinked when Qrow tilted his blade to strike Nora's forearms, hacking-and-slashing in a quick succession that never followed the same angle twice. Each move was unpredictable, accurate, and overall powerful, everything foretold from a seasoned Huntsman, but lightning-fast reflexes ultimately seized the blade with two palms pressed against each side of the metal, flowing a current of electrical discharge up the conductive element. Even the emotional-controlled Headmaster grimaced at the intensity of the lightning. Then she moved toward his stunned body, delivering an uppercut that riveted the ground beneath their feet.

Okay, precautions were needed.

Ozpin turned to his second-in-command, pointing a single finger at the hole in the wall. "All in due time, but until then, would you mind working on damage control? The last thing we need is for this to reach the council or the student body."

Of course.

Glynda sighed, twisting toward the fearful eyes of the nursing staff, glaring at the irresponsible workers. "Get back to work! You have patients to take care of!"

Her authority reigned supreme, they scattered like flies, moving away from the scary Headmistress as her Semblance worked its wonders and fixed the mismatched wall. Glynda only thanked Dust that the medical wing remained fixated away from the crowded facilities of Beacon as the rest of the student body focused on gorging themselves at the Mess Hall to bother venturing outside. No onlookers—except the non-disclosure agreement nursing staff—to fret over. Excellent, because she had no doubt in her mind that Ozpin had questions he wished to ask.

Same for her, but hers converged on the wellbeing of Team JNPR.

...

Nora Valkyrie saw red.

More importantly, she saw red eyes, but she craved to see pools of red.

Charged feet chased after a distancing Qrow, deflecting bullets by bridging her hands together. The electrical field helped, fueling muscles to move while diluting pain. Still, she huffed as her target played cat and mouse. Moments like this made her mourn for Magnhild. Her body strikes, while indefinitely compelling in force, remained lackluster without a weapon to convert all her driving momentum to a center point. Strength meant nothing without proper control.

He knew this, keeping her at a distance. Not good. One thing this man had, beyond reflexes, was agility. Using her uppercut to construct a barrier of range between them played right into his hands, even if the cracking sound from her knuckles connecting with bones burned a smirk on her face. Tch! Another bullet dodged. Growl! Screw this! Nora sacrificed defense to accelerate, grimacing upon shell impacts hitting her body, but her trade-off worked, closing the distance as an inevitable bolt of lightning.

Predicting such a tactic, Qrow dug his feet into the floor to halt his momentum, using his blade as a handle to create a makeshift lever. Tensions rose, a hand reached out to capture the lightning, cupping her face and using her impulse against her by smashing her toward the ground, ignoring bouts of electricity running up his arm as concrete exploded from the unexpected impact, a difficulty as she suddenly gripped his wrist from inside the smoking crater. His body stumbled from a firm tug, losing stability when her foot attacked his ribs and forced the air out of his lungs.

More blood spilled from his body, leaving the bitter taste of iron from his ill-regularly beating heart.

Damn it! Survival instincts roared, he lifted his blade and slashed it downward, into the crater. A pair of hands intercepted his cutting strike, seizing his weapon by locking one palm around the sharpened end of his greatsword. He never anticipated such a risky move, being pulled into the crater while electricity shocked his nerves. Struggling to break her hold as her free hand closed in for a blow directed at his shoulder, Qrow edged back to alleviate some of the closing damage. This one connected, fracturing tendons, but he managed to pull his blade away from her palm.

A bolt of heat burst out the crater.

Nora shouted, fueling her muscles with an extra-explosion of energy as she split the distance. A fist moved for his shoulder, he parried the blow by shoving her hand downward. Another one, this time an elbow, targeted his face, but the agile fighter bent back, dodging entirely. Roar! She directed a well-timed punch for when he leaned upward, but his head rolled to the side, using her loss of momentum to deliver a strike of his own on her torso, legs, and then arms, before jumping on her shoulders to pivot back, but her hand reached out and gripped his ankle.

Thunder!

Like an animal, Nora smashed him against one side of the concrete floor before redirecting his momentum to her other half, moving back-and-forth between collisions. Muscles locked from the prolonged exposure of electricity with a fever on the rise for him, but he gritted his teeth and bashed her head with the side of his weapon. Dizziness forced her to release him, leaving her helpless in effectively blocking the hit to her temple from the handle of his sword. Qrow then followed up with a point-blank shot to her stomach with his chamber revolver, knocking the wind out of her.

When she fell on one knee, he eased the grip on Harbinger, only for her to transition from kneeling to striking at the velocity of a lightning strike.

Two hands buried themselves deep into his abs, firing fulmination into his body that sent him tumbling across the floor with a wisp of static numbing his muscles. A trailed of lightning followed, leaping in to crush him in a double-footed collision, missing by a bit of nasty luck and split-second timing. Qrow snorted at the pair of feet buried in the floor, digging his weapon into the floor so he could use the handle to spin and sweep her off her feet, then he maneuvered to his feet, landing slashes across her floating body before delivering a wave-slash with his weapon.

Nora screamed with her Semblance encasing her frame in a compressed chrysalis to supply her the strength to drive back his technique, immersing her balance by the soles of her feet. A jab broke up the ability, leaving behind a frustrated Valkyrie as her sights focused on the red-eyed man standing away from her. Her current responded to her growing anger, becoming stable in a thick cloak of turquoise. Frowning, she made her fists so tight that they almost turned white, but it bothered her not.

One step, two steps, three steps, four, and her feet moved.

Blazing Aura protected her from the battle wounds, healing cuts and erasing bruises, even supplying her heightened reflexes, but she was fighting on borrowed time. Making him suffer sounded delightful, but ending this fight before the backlash of the Aura shards mattered more. Lightning never lingered. So she aimed for vital spots with the full intent to destroy, maim, or kill. No playing games, no talking, no excuses, nothing frivolous like that, not with this monster! It needed to be put down.

Permanently.

She only required a solid shot.

Across from her, Qrow noticed the shift in temperature, clicking a mechanism that turned his greatsword into a scythe. The hairs on his neck rose as she crossed the distance in half a second, scarcely missing an uppercut meant to cleave his head. The heated air passing his skin positively expressed motive as her wild electricity seemed to be condensed closer to her body. The next few strikes of hers were going to be hell. No more electrical backlash from hitting a static shock, but now every one of her punches carried an electrostatic discharge similar to that of a bolt of lightning.

Not good.

She furrowed her brows from the missed uppercut with her lips thinning. Using the momentum of her thrust, Nora escaped into the air to avoid his incoming slash, dodging the sickle while hovering over his unprotected airspace. Her other hand cocked back, building momentum before delivering a riveting blow downward, only for him to twist his scythe's snath to intercept her blow. The driving force trembled the ground beneath them, and he grunted, spinning his weapon to dislodge her connected fist by tossing her to the ground, following up with a slash across her back.

The counter move landed, but she ended up grabbing the ring of Harbinger before the full swing finished, halting the rest of his attack with an unbreakable grip.

A hand suddenly pulled Qrow closer into her bubble, twisting her body to deliver a cross on the jaw. Nora was allowed to be ungraceful in this battle, ignoring dangerous moves, electricity, plus an influx of Aura endured all slash-and-hacks. No fancy moves for her, only brute, unimaginable might with a solid defense. Absorbing the blows and nullifying the pain receptors by cutting off the signal and stopping the electrical impulses from reaching her brain helped, but she expected an intense backlash after this fight. All of which she had no problems with, not as long she slew this beast.

The blow to his jaw followed with her grabbing his neck, pulling him in for a hook to his cheek, and ending by finishing that uppercut she previously missed, straining trained muscles. Some old wives' tales said lightning never struck the same spot twice. Well then, Qrow Branwen must be unlucky because it hit him thrice.

The force shot him a few away since he decided to dig his scythe in the ground to stop his impulse, using the small distance to reach her and deliver a slash across her torso in an upward trajectory that skewed past her high defense. Qrow then flipped his weapon in the air, driving the acceleration downward to cut her across the shoulders before burying his armament into the floor to use as a balancing stool as he dished out a double sidekick to her chin. He capitalized on her stumbling, pressing his legs onto the floor to carry his energy into a descending an overhead cut.

Her hand then buried the blade into the floor, using the snath as a path to close-in and deliver a diving punch to his collarbone.

Qrow smirked, deliberately distorting his grip on Harbinger to use her momentum against her as he flew back, bringing the cutting edge of his blade scythe to strike her from behind. Either she dodged his incoming strike by ducking or jumping, or she suffered a severe blow that might push her Aura to the brink, nonetheless, he had her. Once she dodged, he would stop, leap to his feet, and pounce on her with his body holding her down as a blade hovered near her neck.

Nora scoffed and chose a different tactic.

The sharpened side of his weapon hit, digging into her back, but her Aura weakened the cutting edge by dropping critically in reserves, and she hitched a ride on his driving force to deliver the mother of all sucker punches to his face. If that moment of hysteria wasn't enough, her palm opened to seize his profile, mimicking the same movement he used on her before, upturning her form to thrust him painfully into the floor that painted the surface with spreading cracks and a mountain of dust particles.

Crash!

Inside the cavity, Qrow humored the situation with a teasing smirk. Whelp, he had to give to her, using the curve of his scythe to be pulled in to land a devastating strike was insane, a risky gamble if anything, but it worked like a charm. Ha. Nice shot. Now to get up from this crater and—smash!

A firm foot pressed against Qrow Branwen's chest, paralyzing him with a shockwave locking his nervous system in place as his blood ran rampant. A pair of turquoise gems glared down at the trapped man with her ionized shield focused solely on bolting his body in place, no longer shielding her from damage or utilizing her muscles to the fullest.

Qrow merely grinned at the bitter firefly. "Alright kid, I'm down, I'm down. You've got me."

Nora Valkyrie's blind fury dissolved for her to gaze down at the perplexed crimson hues that reflected excruciating turquoise with such hatred that the world around her blurred. Her surplus electricity—her crown—discharged and ionized in her right hand. Bound electrons made for such a riveting sound, so calming, but nothing beat the uncontrolled noise of thunder.

"You don't get it, do you? I don't need you to go down... I need you to stay down!"

An orphaned queen passed judgment on a mindless scarecrow.

...

Between three protectors of humanity, the General reacted first. "She's going to kill him!"

James Ironwood hastily retracted his revolver, Mandela Effect, aiming right for Nora's shoulder blade with acute precision. He felt the heat of that fist from here, so he intended to halt her strike before it crashed right into Qrow's ribcage. Glynda followed suit, retrieving her riding crop to send out a wave of her Semblance with only Ozpin remaining unblemished, showing how much he trusted his companions to stop the fight.

James steadied his nerves and glared.

Aim. Click. Fire.

...

When it came to pure, raw, physical strength, Nora Valkyrie was the linchpin of Team JNPR. She was all energy, all muscle, all power.

She was all might!

With a voice louder than thunder, lightning gathered rapidly at her fingers with deadly precision, and a tightly wounded fist headed straight for a suddenly sobered man. Nothing but malice hid behind her eyes, windows to the soul of her buried grief, and it consumed every inch of her soul like a convulsion of static.

Qrow's breath hitched. An amplified fist rushed downward, aimed undeviatingly for his ribs where his rapidly beating heart occupied. Move! He needed to move! If anything, divert the strike someplace else! Somehow, through the short-circuited nervous system, worsening muscle contractions, spreading first degree burns, and ill-regular heartbeat, he managed to grasp Harbinger and push it upward.

Luck was on his side.

A single bullet nicked her in the shoulder blade, throwing off her trajectory, impaling his weapon with the same monstrous strength, but toward his shoulder instead. Metal bent to an imposing impulse, shocking the man with jolts of electricity only his Aura kept from frying his systems. Tremors escalated, gears heated, and an arm pierced through the messenger, delivering a unique form of cosmic payback to eyes of fortune.

A rare bolt of lightning filled the cloudless sky, echoing a thunder across Beacon Academy.

Then it vanished, taking the thunderstorm with it. Nothing remained except for a girl flinching at the damage brought upon her from gears and metallic wires cutting into her skin. A tremble passed through her body. She stared shockingly at the battered arm her fist punched, eyes shaking in confusion with her jolts of electricity drying up. Qrow's grunting upset her. He shouldn't be saying anything period! That fist was meant to shatter his heart, not his shoulder's bones! What happened?

Shock!

Nora gasped, finding out she was swiftly losing control of her body. She stumbled back. Pain spread across her nervous system, short-circuiting the Valkyrie as her stability skewed. She couldn't balance on her two feet, falling backward with a lonely thud. Convulsions violently wrecked her framework with her pacemaker beating incoherently, and she fell. Limbs froze with her blood rushing toward her head. She found it difficult to breathe. Burns formed on her hands, and she ignored every bit of backlash to focus on the worse part.

What were the chances of her missing his heart?

No! A body crashed inside the tremor—her body—and she failed to move a muscle with her back to the floor. Every so often bits of static emerged on her skin, but none of it helped. Electrical impulses control the body's internal muscle structure and nervous system, for it to short-circuit, after such a concentrated dose of discharge, hardly surprised her. She failed. Now her power worked against her, or maybe because it belonged to her Fearless Leader was the reason it backfired so harshly? Whatever. She moaned at the orange sky, barely able to bend a finger, it no longer mattered.

Qrow Branwen managed to survive.

Lucky bastard.

"Qrow!" Great, Nora moaned, the aftermath. Glynda peeked over the crater, frowning at the two broken fighters. "Are you alright?"

At least his broken arm and weapon was a satisfying consolation prize. "The kid—arg! The kid broke my weapon and my freakin' arm! Gah!"

Nora rolled her eyes, wishing she had the strength to reach out and choke him, but her entire body hurt. Best to lay down and see what happened next, not like she was going anywhere anytime soon. Her professor slipped down the tremor, sharing a look with her before appearing at Qrow's side. She lifted the monster and checked his arm for damages, avoiding burn marks on his skin for later. Nora barely managed to tilt her head up to stare at red eyes glaring back.

A shadow then blocked out her sundown sunlight.

Eyes looked up to see that strict man staring down at her broken body. He had a large revolver out, pointed at her heart with a grimace that made the Grimm seem nice. Discipline radiated out of his person, almost acting like Aura with his eyes colder than machines. Funny, she wanted to laugh at the expression. First Amber, then Jaune, and now him, did no one have smiling eyes anymore? Breathe. She attempted to move, not out of the way of his line-of-sight, just because she disliked lolling on dirt. Didn't work, and soon her Headmaster joined him, eyes full of childlike wonder.

James loaded his chamber back. "Now, I remember Ozpin asking you a question. I have several myself. And this time I'm not taking silence as an answer."

"James!" Glynda fretted, picking up Qrow by slinging his other arm over his shoulder. Poor fool could barely stand. "Calm down. I'm sure we can—?"

"She almost killed Qrow!"James shouted, never taking his eyes off of Nora. "I hadn't have shot her... then things would be very grim. So pardon me if I feel like interrogating her. It's warranted at this point, don't you agree?"

She frowned, looking toward her boss. "Ozpin?"

Ozpin shared in her frown, staring down at the twitchy girl with apprehensive. He didn't want to be the bad guy, but after this small spectacle, she left him little choice. Nothing personal, Miss Valkyrie, but Amber's hospitalization couldn't have been a fluke. Something happened, and his student knew. Best to figure out what before things escalated beyond trying to murder one of his agents.

"Proceed."

Glynda's frown deepened. "At least somewhere private. Don't make her out to be some criminal."

"Very well." James agreed.

Ironwood reached for the defeated girl with his right arm, but before he grabbed her collar, a hand reached out and seized his wrist in an iron grip. All occupants followed the hand to find Pyrrha Nikos' body standing before them, wearing her armor over her bandaged form. Her hair was free-flowing, not confined by a ponytail with her left side limping. A deep frown etched between her cheeks with her fingers bending around the gloved wrist.

"Amber?" James asked, stunned.

From the crater, Nora's lip upturned from the corner, those weren't hazel eyes.

A tiny voice escaped Pyrrha's lips as her back straightened between each spoken syllable. "Copper, zinc, titanium, steel, and iron with bits of silver. Some gears with traces of magnesium."

James blinked. "Amber—?!"

Rip!

A metallic arm ripped out of James Ironwood's socket, bending under a majestic polarity stronger than any magnet. He yelped, everyone else turned mute. It hung lifelessly on still fingers without a sense of purpose, then she dropped it to crush her foot against the complicated wiring, smashing to bits the design of wires and gears. Not a single wasted movement. Not a word said. The disgruntled General gripped the place where an arm used to exist, glaring at emerald eyes completely lacking empathy or sympathy for his pains with sights duller than coal. The same hand that ripped out his metallic limb then rested a gentle palm against his chest with a bittersweet grin.

"I'd be more careful if I was you, General, too much iron in your diet and your heart could stop."

Glynda blinked at the display of savagery. "Miss Amber?"

Her grin turned into a grimace. "Dead, she's gone, and never coming back."

Emotion broke through to Ozpin. His perspective wobbled. "Then... you're—?!"

"P-Pyrrha!" Nora choked, throat full.

The newcomer turned to the voice drowning in honeysuckle passion, losing the displeasing scowl. Polarity forced her metal leggings to move while she removed her arm guard wearing palm away from Ironwood's chest. Such a useful Semblance. Pyrrha then knelt into the crater, stumbling with a crippled body, and grasped Nora's weaker hand with such gratitude that it made her heart grow three sizes. She beamed her signature Hello Again smile, green eyes filled with nothing but trust for her one-of-a-kind friend.

"Hello again."

"You're awake!"

"Are you surprised?" Nora gasped! That voice. Ren! "Who could sleep with all that noise? You could wake the dead up."

Pyrrha grinned when all eyes focused on the approaching boys. Her partner hung a hand over Ren's shoulder as the Lie helped him walk with a broken body. The Lore cloak draped lazily around Ren's shoulders, neglecting gravity, open with his wrappings exposed. Their leader predictably wore his hoodie, ignoring the tears in need of stitching. Neither one of them paid anyone else any attention except for Pyrrha and Nora's shaky voice, and soon their shadows fell over their defeated friend with a simple smile from Jaune, and indifference from Ren, but she knew better. Ren was more interested in the how and why than anything else.

Nora released the tears. "R-Ren! Y-You're okay!"

He finally grinned, shaking his cast. "Define okay."

She laughed a merry tone, they all laughed. All of Team JNPR laughed like the four stunned individuals and their near broken bodies was something to laugh over. Psh! They didn't care. None of it mattered to the bruised members. Everyone was back, no more Amber with a team nearly torn apart to only be whole again. Time to head home and relax, a unified thought, except when Pyrrha pulled Nora's body free from the bedrock—with the aid of her Polarity—someone's voice shattered the optimistic reunion.

"Excuse me!" James scowled with his left hand still gripping where the mechanical limb used to be. "Can someone please tell me what's going on? What happened to you, Amber?"

Pyrrha dropped her good mood easily enough. Anger took hold with her using her Semblance to place Nora on her back. A thick silence overcame the atmosphere, and she strolled out the hole, forgetting formalities entirely. Time to air out the dirty laundry. So she walked up to the General with a glaring Valkyrie strapped to her back, joined by a stumbling pair of partners. All of them glared, all of them fumbled. Not a member of Team JNPR could walk a straight line, but none of them backed down.

"I don't enjoy repeating myself. Pyrrha, my name is Pyrrha Nikos. Amber, your Maiden, is gone." Pyrrha tapped her head. "She's not here, not anymore. And don't ask if I could try to bring her back, because even if I could, I wouldn't."

James' posture turned to stone. He scowled, more for his broken arm than Amber's disappearance, but the Invincible Girl heed him no mind. A shift of her body, a slow turn, and she faced the direction of their dorm room. Not a chance she planned to stay cooped up in an infirmary. Pyrrha trusted no one except her team with the feeling being mutual, except Ozpin moved before the battered four, calm as ever.

"And the..." Ozpin trailed.

"Maiden Powers?" Pyrrha said so easily. Tensions were high, no doubt about it, but the stakes were higher, no point in beating around the bush. "If you're asking if they still exist, I'm not sure. I don't feel different. It doesn't feel like there's some power pushed inside of me. When Amber had taken hold, I sort of lost touch."

He nodded. Fair enough, a valid point. One question down, dozens more to go. "And may I ask how you regained control?"

Her lips compressed. "My teammates."

"Cryptic."

"That's all you're getting from me because even I don't know how they saved me." Pyrrha's frown briefly turned into a grin, and she shared it with her friends. "But they did, and that's all that matters."

Qrow Branwen narrowed his eyes at the grinning champion. Too happy, not shell-shocked enough. The fight with the short-stack and now Pyrrha's return left an ashy taste in his mouth. Realization struck him hard. Amber was gone, never coming back from what he gathered. The remaining members of Team JNPR had made sure of that. No wonder Pyrrha wanted Amber to meet them before she headed out. In the end, this team managed to restore their partner's self, and she knew from the start they would. None of this had been left to chance. All of it, the deal, her refusal to take no for an answer, her gradual acceptance of the consequences—all of it—had been planned from the beginning.

Their Fall Maiden never stood a chance.

"Now I get it." Qrow coughed, grunting from the stinging pain of his broken arm. He struggled in Glynda's hold. "You set Amber up? You knew your team could get you out of a sticky pinch. You never planned to give up your body. Hell. You never had any intention of leaving. Amber never had a chance, did she?"

Pyrrha Nikos purposely left the question hanging in the air with her eyes betraying no emotion. She neither denied or admitted to his claim. Allegations solved nothing. Not like they mattered, everyone knew what the answer was. Yes, Pumpkin Pete's official mascot, by all accounts, set Amber up. From the minute Glynda Goodwitch accepted her terms, that snowball turned into an avalanche. A true snowball effect. After all, no one became a four-time champion without having contingency plans, and speaking of strategies and promises, she shifted her sights to the person holding Qrow up.

Glynda Goodwitch was the only one of the adult bunch to receive a genuine smile from Pyrrha. None of this would have been possible without her help. So she walked toward the professor, holding back an awkward chuckle at the way Nora and Qrow glared at one another. Such an odd scene to behold. Still, thick tension aside, she remained happy.

"Thank you, professor, for keeping your word, I'm grateful."

Glynda blinked two times before sighing in neither exhaustion or joy, merely for the act of sighing. "You are quite welcome, Miss Nikos. While I hadn't anticipated Amber taking control of your body, or your return, I'm happy to see you back."

"I'm not." Qrow mumbled. "This has caused nothing but problems."

"Do you want me to break that other arm?!" Nora growled. "Or would you prefer your face?!"

"What's your problem with me, squirt?!"

"You're my problem, hay for brains!"

Both the level-headed women awkwardly stilled as Nora and Qrow argued while glaring at one another. Glynda didn't have a clue to why Nora attacked Qrow, neither did Qrow, but Pyrrha knew. Anger, real anger, a rarity in her friend, made the truth all but transparent. Branwen, the last name tainted in misfortune for the Lies and Valkyries, somehow her teammate must have heard his full name, saw her broken state, noticed those red eyes, and put two-and-two together or—no, she saw no other reason. Not that she blamed her, emotions controlled her friend from time-to-time.

Watching the argument grow in ten-fold, Ren wobbled toward the bickering fools and stood between the pair as his leader shared a thoughtful look with Glynda Goodwitch. Once he made sure everyone was accounted for, moved in front of Pyrrha and Nora.

"I think this is our cue to leave."

Pyrrha agreed. Tensions only continued to intensify, time to go. No one said anything, no one moved to stop them from leaving, but suddenly Jaune's feet anchored to the floor. Limbs secured into place with his mind reeling. No, not yet, they couldn't escape until he made sure what he heard was true.

"Wait! We're not done her yet." Jaune wrestled to turn toward his combat professor. His lips bent upward. "Professor Goodwitch, were you really the reason for Amber meeting my team?"

Pyrrha frowned. "Jaune, this is our chance to—?"

"I need to hear it from her." Jaune interrupted, never looking away from Glynda. "Professor?"

Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment, glaring in a more obtuse direction, caught red-handed. "I wouldn't say all the credit goes to me. Outside factors played a role in Amber deciding whether or not to follow through with our arrangement. I only helped."

A sound answer, anyone would be content with such a response, but not Jaune. His lips curved higher, and the weight of his soul lightened. "Beating around the bush is a child's game, Glynda. I didn't know you still liked to play games."

Her head turned so fast that the whiplash of her hair smacked Qrow in the face. Of all the things to say, and he mocked her with her own words? He even called her by her first name, something he admitted to being uncomfortable doing. Clever child. No wonder this team followed him so diligently. Who wouldn't with such a tactical genius? Glynda couldn't overlook the sensation of pride feeling her soul.

She didn't smile, but she also met his stare head-on. "Very well, yes, she had desired to leave without fulfilling Miss Nikos' promise. I cautioned her to reconsider."

"More like threatened." Qrow added. "I've never seen you so stubborn... you wouldn't let her leave until she said yes, and that was before guilt-tripping her. You really laid it on thick."

"Thank you, Qrow."

"No problem, it's what I do."

Jaune shook his head at the amusing banter. He shared a real smile with his new hero. "Thank you, professor, thank you for protecting my team. Thank you for keeping your word. Thank—just thank you for everything you've done. You have no idea how much it means. We wouldn't have been able to save Pyrrha without you."

She offered a smile of her own. "You're welcome. Between you and me, I'm happy that you saved Miss Nikos. Good job."

"And how did you save your partner, Mr. Arc?" Ozpin finally asked, except all of Team JNPR chose to neglect his question.

"Can we go home now?" Nora fussed, hugging Pyrrha to make sure nothing bad happened. "I want to take a bath and then sleep forever."

Jaune laughed. "Sure, that sounds like a great idea. I think we can all use some Z's."

All in agreement, they climbed out of the crater and headed home after an exhausting two days. Nora beamed into Pyrrha's back, overjoyed for their friend's safe return with the latter releasing a breath that weighed like lead. Jaune grunted with each movement of his muscles, dismissing the way Ren tugged roughly on his hand as he each step felt more draining than the last. All was at peace, everything perfect, save for James Ironwood. His fingers dug into the opening in his metallic socket, grunting.

He stepped forward with his intentions dreadfully clear. "And where do you think you're going? We're not done talking."

They stopped, Ren turned, and Jaune rolled his eyes. "Don't you know anything? The Vytal Tournament is in a week, got to prepare, don't want to disappoint my favorite professor. She's expecting me to win, and I have no intention of letting her down."

"Stop playing games! What happened! How'd you stop Amber? Where's Penny?! Give us straight answers!" Again Team JNPR ignored the questions, so he resorted to threats. "If you don't, then I'm taking you four into custody for aiding that girl who attacked Qrow and Penny Polendina's disappearance."

A harsh step resonated from the team. Not from Jaune, or Ren, but Pyrrha. Her heels clicked from the help of her Semblance, and she turned around to regard the one-armed man, watching with steel perception. A few steps later and she stood before James, done playing games. An urge to squeeze the metal around his chest ached between her fingertips, but honestly, she considered him not worth the effort.

"You know..." Pyrrha dawdled, stretching her voice. "I wonder, how much harder would it make your job if everyone was searching for these Maiden Powers? If I, the four-time Mistral champion, made such an announcement about their existence, can you imagine the backlash? Keeping their origins hidden would be impossible, denying them would make things worse."

The four protectors gawked at the girl with mixed reactions. Judging by her piercing glare, straight stature, and her refusal to look anywhere but her opponent's eyes, the Invincible Girl stood before them with an air of brutal honesty. Her threat floated in the air, promising real consequences. Chancing her popularity against the General's was a fair match all things considered. They all knew none of them could take that gamble with the stakes high for them and low for Team JNPR.

Qrow whistled. "Ouch, she's got you beat, Jimmy."

She humphed, smiled sweetly at the tin man, and twirled around to join her teammates with Nora snickering between her hair. They never made it more than a few steps until Ozpin interjected.

"Miss Nikos!" Ozpin reached out and grabbed her shoulder, all serious. "Are you still a defender? Can we count on you?"

Pyrrha scowled, nudged her shoulder free, and joined her team without uttering a word. The question dangled in their thoughts as Team JNPR retreated to their room. James applied pressure to where his arm used to be, considering the ramifications of that gamble, but Ozpin blocked the man before he regretted his decision with a weary sigh. Burning their remaining few bridges might not be the best course of action.

"Let them go, James."

"But Ozpin!"

He pressed firmly. "There's nothing we can do now. As long as Miss Nikos remains on our side, it changes nothing."

"But is she on our side?" Qrow begrudgingly questioned. "Not to sound crass, but we're not her favorite people in the world right now."

Ozpin, the all-knowing Headmaster of Beacon Academy, couldn't answer his friend without bending his words to fit the context of a safe answer, so he said nothing. Better to tell the truth than a white lie. In their line of business, white lies killed. Only the truth kept them safe.

...

Team JNPR's living space, a room that held various mysteries and played an essential part in the growth of friendships, adopted an eerie silence once its loyal team returned.

Pyrrha stepped in first and moved to drop Nora off on Ren's bed with the latter escorting Jaune to his. She switched places with Ren, sitting along with her laying leader as Ren impersonated her, rubbing Nora's hair with which she eagerly rested her cheek against his palm. A tranquil ambiance warmed the room, Sir Scrabbles even crawled out underneath Ren's bed to snuggle up on Nora's back, but as much as the four felt like drifting out to dreamland to dream of better days, they didn't. Too many questions left unanswered. In the end, their leader placed his back against the wall, grunting between the actions, but he put on a brave face for everyone.

"So? Where do we even start?" Jaune glanced across the room. "Anyone? Questions? Now would be a good time to start asking them."

Sir Scrabbles booped Nora's nose, and she giggled. So far she hadn't regained full control over her body, but some of her nerves were working again. A slow snatch of her Grimm and she hugged the little guy tight with its fur so incredibly soft. Whelp! Might as well be her to break the ice.

"When'd you all wake up?"

Pyrrha smiled, flashing back to the incident. "Right when you started fighting Qrow. You make a lot of noise..."

...

The first thing Pyrrha Nikos did upon waking up was smile like an idiotic fool.

Her team saved her, just like she knew they would. A sob overpowered her. Amber's overpowering presence was gone. Not an ounce remained, she double-checked to make sure. Nope! One-hundred percent Amber-free! Laugh. Leave it to her team to make the impossible possible. She couldn't wait to thank them, which begged the question where were they, or her for that matter? None of this appeared to be her team's dorm room.

The second thing was to check her surroundings. A sterile ceiling? Beeping machines with the taste of staleness in the air? Comfortable beds clashing against a painstakingly amount of white? Ah, Beacon's infirmary. A fitting place as any other to wake up from having one's body stolen. Good enough, even if her mouth felt parched with her skin aching all over. Everything hurt. Felt like she challenged an Ursa Major to a wrestling match that lasted hours.

Shake!

Her brows furrowed. Noise, so much of it, sounded like a heated battle going on outside. Her head turned toward the direction of the commotion, seeing a mob of nurses pilling up near the windows. A tremor rocked the floor, and her guts wouldn't stop churning. Most certainly a fight. Her stomach stirred a second time, more urgently, what were the chances that brawl had anything to do with her? No, that was thinking crazy. Who woke up to a fight centered around them? No one, not even their insane team had such a degrading track record.

Then she heard Nora's battle cry.

Pyrrha rolled her eyes playfully, too good in a mood. Yup. Only Team JNPR had enough bad luck for this to happen. Fingers pointed to Ren for their running string of misfortune. Perhaps some student pushed Nora's buttons? She wouldn't blame her after what happened. Being on edge only seemed like the logical choice. Attempting to sit up, she yelped. Ow, ow, ow, ow! Felt like her insides were submerged in icy water. Every one of her muscles screamed bloody murder at her. What an unpleasant sensation. Now that she was noticing her injuries, they became more apparent with each breath she inhaled. Bruises all around her body, cuts across her skin, pulled muscles, soreness, an aching jaw, lightheadedness, that wrestling with an Ursa Major sounded more plausible by the second.

Worse yet, her Aura hardly eased the pain, what little she possessed, anyway.

Reserves felt dangerously low with her limbs weighing down like pebbles in a pond. Pyrrha coughed, what happened during their fight to warrant such damage? After screaming out to her partner about Penny's secret, everything went black, well, except for one final memory that clawed at the inside of her skull. Maybe a glance around the room—until her team came and checked up on her—would help solve the problem. Her hand gripped her stiff neck as she turned the other direction, knowing that if Nora was currently fighting who knew what outside, then her teammates had to be close by, or so she thought. Fear seized her soul upon finding Jaune and Ren occupying the same medical room, out like lights.

Nora was fighting alone.

Spent hands gripped bedsheets with the owner's body forcing herself up. Not good, chances were that might not be some unfortunate student Nora was engaging, not with the rest of their team down and out. So Pyrrha gritted her teeth. She managed to sit up, but her body refused to supply her the strength to move out of bed. Fast thinking, she looked around the room in a panic, eventually spotting her armor on the floor. She never blessed her wardrobe style more than ever for deciding to rock metal accessories. Ha! A clever metal joke.

She threw her arm out, calling her Semblance to reach out and summon her metal clothing. It took much longer to approach her than she would have liked, but her low reserves made focusing somewhat difficult with her body in constant discomfort. Nevertheless, she used her Polarity to aid her in putting on her outfit, wincing from the weight of metal straining against her bones. Done changing, she ignored another mini-earthquake, focusing entirely on using her Semblance to move her left arm and legs. Nothing new, she did this many times in the heat of battle, but each bend of her frame left her in pain.

Breathing once, she maneuvered off her bed to approach Ren's, leaning on the rail with a weak grip. Sweat clung to her body, but she reached out anyway and poked her friend in the ribs. Immediate stress captured his face, and she felt guilty for possibly putting him here in the first place, but pressed onward since she learned of the weak spot. No one enjoyed pain, which stood to rationalize that he might wake up from it, and soon enough pink eyes wavered open. The blurry image of a redheaded blob eventually adjusted to see panic-stricken Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha?" Ren groaned, having trouble waking up. He ran a hand over his forehead, not even realizing the other one yet was in a cast. Last thing he remembered was getting encased in an iron casket, and then poof, nothing. "Is that you? What happened?"

She reached for his cloak, tossing the clothing over his body. "No time! Nora's in trouble!"

That forced Lie Ren awake. All his incognitive thoughts sharpened. Pink narrowed, glaring in understanding. Now he recalled what happened. Nora! He sacrificed himself for her. Where was she—wait. Amber! What happened to her? Did they win? Was she still in control of Pyrrha's body? Those narrowed eyes suddenly focused on the leaning girl, sitting up with his hand gripping his cloak.

Then pink softened.

No, those eyes were emerald in color, not a hint of autumn anywhere. Real emotion was impossible to mimic. Hn? Jaune and Nora must have beaten Amber and restored Pyrrha's soul when he was unconscious. Good, leave it to his teammates to finish what he started. Now if only it didn't feel like every one of his bones was currently experiencing the sensation of being buried in pressure-driven sand, things might not ache so much.

Pyrrha frowned, shaking her hands in a panic when his eyes remained narrow. "It's me, Ren, Pyrrha!"

A shake of the head. Silly Pyrrha. He offered her a small smile. Ren knew that without having to check if she was lying or not, Pyrrha always wore her emotions on her sleeves while Amber hid hers behind false smiles. Faking that was next to impossible from a person who spent the better half of their life locking away their emotions.

"I know..." Ren paused, stretching his smile by bits. "Glad to have you back. I almost thought we lost you."

"Happy to be back." Pyrrha pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Almost?"

"Almost."

Another smile, another tremor rocking the floor. Ren dropped the grin to concentrate. Nora. He reached out to grab his cloak but flickered his sights down at the sling. Pyrrha snorted in amusement, hating how his unforeseen misery made her feel better. Ren just now noticed the cast on his right arm. Talk about dense. Still, painful joints aside, a left hand grabbed cursed clothing and stretched out of bed. Nora was one heck of a pain killer. Ignoring his injuries, he placed his mantle over his shoulders and turned to see their leader in the last bed.

Pyrrha held back a huff. How unfair. Of course, Ren would suffer the least amount of damage. He barely limped out of bed, not like her, needing her Semblance to move her feet and left side of her body. Whatever happened must have been alleviated thanks to that cloak's weird Lore properties. Made her want one, but befriending a Grimm, and hoping it sewed her clothing with long nails, which limited the number of species, sounded somewhat troublesome. Metal gear fit just fine with her.

Not to say he moved without wobbling, because he stumbled more than once between the short distance from their leader's bed and his. She couldn't even off her a hand, knowing she lacked the strength to pull him up. Nonetheless, Ren reached his sleeping leader, and forgoing the soothing—awful—rib poking that she implemented to wake him up, he reached out to shake Jaune's shoulder very roughly. Painful, harsh, but effective. Oceans of cobalt lazily opened to find both Ren and Pyrrha hovering above him with his vision wobbling. His sights focused on the person stubbornly shaking his shoulder, felt like he might tear his arm off.

"Ren?" Jaune mumbled, closing his eyes again. "Go away, sleeping."

"Nora's in trouble."

"What'd she do this time? Food fight? Homework strike?"

"No." Pyrrha stepped forward and waited impatiently for common sense to hit her brave partner. "I think she's fighting someone."

Jaune grumbled more, too sore to care. "That's nothing new. Just don't let her break any bones and Professor Goodwitch won't give her Saturday detention. You know that, Pyrrha."

Her mouth opened for Ren to close it. Not another word. He then silently counted down from five with his fingers. Five, four, three, two, and—?!

"Pyrrha!"

Ren smirked, there it was. Pyrrha shared in his sentiments, offering her partner a warm smile. "Good morning to you, too. Sleep well?"

"You're okay—wait!" Jaune glared, overlooking his pain-induced body to throw his hand out. "How do I know you're not Amber, this might be another trick!"

"She's not Amber."

Skepticism was impossible to overlook, but he glanced over to Ren, saw the sincerity in his calm personality, and breathed a sigh of relief. Not a moment later he tried to reach out for Pyrrha, finding his body unable to move without soreness at every bent. A grunt. His arm refused to move without stabbing his insides with thousands of knives. What happened? Felt like his muscles had torn themselves apart? Jaune didn't even remember what happened after force-feeding Amber that Lore shard. One second their opponent cried out some person's name, and the next he passed out.

Another experimental movement yielded the same results; pain. Flexing his body caused the discomfort to spread. Okay, so he was banged up more than he thought, nothing a few days of recovery wouldn't fix, until then, he beamed at her with nothing but happiness.

"So that means we won." Jaune laughed, but they both saw through the facade. He ended up looking away, hiding away the bubbling emotions. "You don't know how relieved I am, for a second there I thought we lost you. I'm sorry for not saving you sooner, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha's smile softened to that of a cloud, eyes shining. She laid her hand on his palm, more than ready to make him take back the apology, way too festive to care, except things turned worse. He flinched away, but not from her touch. Cramps along with visible signs of muscles spasms haunted her partner when he gripped his hand tightly.

She gently seized his wrist, running a weak hand up his forearm with experience. Some of the bandages hid the diagnosis, but swelling, bruising, and bits of redness pointed to muscle damage. The way he had trouble moving made it more apparent by the passing seconds, but she knew her analysis was correct when reaching for his charts. Uh-huh, right there in bold letters, muscle strains and tears, all of them varied between grade one and two, all around his body.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha whispered, clutching the news sadly. "What did Amber do to you with my body?"

He shrugged absently, busy poking his skin to discover the reasons for his limited movement. "Nothing out of the ordinary, we fought. We won. Don't worry about me, Pyrrha, I'm just sore from the fight."

She shook her head. "No. It's much more than soreness. You have tears all over your body."

He turned his head. "What?"

That hardly made sense, sure, his battle against Amber pushed him to his limits with plenty of iron sand to dish out damage, but muscle tears? Where had that come? He searched out his soul, finding his Aura resting underneath. His current reserves paled in comparison to one-hundred percent, but he savored the power and concentrated. A hair-raising sensation overcame him. Muscles stretched to accommodate his current control, and he stumbled. All of the pain vanished, but he knew better. If what Pyrrha said was true, then stretching his muscles right now might cause more injury. Better to wait and examine the wound than potentially worsen it.

Space!

He found his attention captured. Two Spaces were currently colliding, one was Nora's—which was abnormally high—and another he never felt before with a Space stronger than Pyrrha's, more related to Professor Goodwitch's. Between the two, she had the upper hand, but her pressure was dropping fast, whereas her opponent's dipped at a moderate rate. Not good. Unless she planned to end the fight fast and with a bang, she was destined to lose.

He reached out and seized his hoodie, putting the outfit on as quickly as possible, a challenge with stiff muscles. Pyrrha fretted over his change in attitude, one minute he felt up his muscles, and the next he attempted to change and leave his bed in a panic. Only when he stumbled trying to leave his bed did she meddle by placing a firm yet gentle palm against his chest.

"What are you doing, Jaune? You shouldn't be moving around much. Aren't you worried about damaging your body more?"

He reached out to grip her wrist, finally taking in their appearance with his injured body becoming relevant in seconds. Gah! Mummy Ren! Buddy had the most wraps around him but appeared the most body-able between the three of them, figured. Hard to believe his Semblance was a walking bad luck charm, such was karma. Pyrrha, on the other hand, used the railing with her Semblance to keep herself up. She appeared the least damaged, but the injuries her Aura sustained from the Lore shard must have worked their magic.

Using her Semblance meant he was able to see her Aura, but studying it right now was an impending decision. "That can wait, Nora's Aura is going crazy. She's not going to last much longer."

Pyrrha's throat dried. Right, Nora! She forgot about her. Before she moved, Ren slid in between them and hooked Jaune's arm over his shoulder as a mighty tremble shook beneath their feet with a loud, boisterous thunderclap echoing across the school. Jaune summoned a fraction of his Aura, keeping his body from hurting too much, but not too much to potentially aggregate his condition and aided Ren. They glanced toward her to lead the way, and she nodded, opening up the doors to the battlefield.

Just in time to see the General shoot Nora from behind.

...

Pyrrha's voice carried that of a storyteller, creating vivid imaginary envious to only children. She flexed the fingers that turned indomitable steel to a pile of scrap. Her hands tingled from the melody of iron bending to her control, what incredible emotions. Nothing in the world possibly compared.

"After that happened, you know the rest, I ripped General Ironwood's arm off. He's half machine, and his arm was robotic. My Semblance made it conveniently easy."

Nora snickered, hugging Sir Scrabbles tighter. "I'll say! You just walked up and ripped his arm right out his socket like paper. It was amazing!"

Pyrrha blushed at the compliment. Anger wasn't an emotion she knew very well. In battles, sparring or Grimm, feelings rarely clouded her judgment—not counting the time she first fought her partner's Aura abilities—and ripping the General's arm off never felt so good. Instinct drove her to act before common sense claimed her, but she seriously doubted the sensation would have stopped her, anyway.

"Why'd you attack that man, Nora?"

Nora looked up at Ren, grimacing at the question. Sir Scrabbles remained unsure how to respond from such unusual sensations, but it worried not, she huffed. "Because it was his fault that Pyrrha got her body stolen!"

"To be fair, Nora." Pyrrha countered. "It wasn't just him, they all had a part—!"

"And his last name was Branwen."

"... Branwen?"

She nodded quickly at the suddenly stunned Ren. "Yup! Qrow Branwen, he deserved to suffer after what he did to Pyrrha. He just got lucky that other guy shot me in the back. Stupid good luck! I was this close to putting him six-feet-under."

"Where'd you even get that massive amount of Aura from?" Jaune inquired. "You've never had that much Aura."

She hummed deliberately slow. "I ate three Aura shards. There was no way I was going to let him walk away after what he did. Revenge for Pyrrha... and for mine and Ren's family."

Family? Lie Ren blinked once, gazed dull and hard at the fuming Nora Valkyrie, and ever so eloquently got to his feet, and waltz over to her fatigued form without speaking a word to deliver a searing kiss on her lips that made her toes curl up and arms instinctively wrap around his neck. Sir Scrabbles felt squished between the smooching, pressed between chins. Jaune and Pyrrha watched as Ren displayed a rare form of affection, knowing that this might become a common occurrence. Mutual love between hated enemies somehow made the moment all the sweeter, even if Nora attempted to bury that man.

She didn't blame her one bit.

Jaune hated to break up the love session, but he clapped to grab their attention. "Speaking of body stealing, how did this all happen, Pyrrha? It's not every day we fight against a body stealer. We have a pet Grimm living in our dorm room."

His partner pursed her lips, having everyone's undivided attention. Tension polluted the air, almost suffocating, but her determination burned away the nauseating symptoms. A body went rigid as hands clutched Jaune's bedsheets in a vice-grip. Then, like waking up from a haunting nightmare, she breathed as her grip relaxed.

"It's a long story. Please don't interrupt me until I'm finished." Pyrrha waited to make sure the order was clear. "It all began when Ozpin summoned me to his office, right before our first mission. We talked about fairytales at first, but soon the conversation turned into what stories were true, and which were false. I met Qrow Branwen and General Ironwood soon after, along with Glynda Goodwitch joining the conversation. From there they introduced me to Amber, a person stuffed into a glass tube that kept her alive. They wanted me to take her Maiden Powers to protect the powers from falling into the wrong hands."

She stood up and clenched her hands into fists. "I didn't agree at first to accepting the gift, but after witnessing the destruction and death caused by people hunting for power in your hometown, I decided right then and there to accept the Maiden Powers, because the thought of someone immoral gaining control of that power made me sick to my stomach."

She shook her head, hiding a frown. "But I wasn't going to give them my body for free. I made a deal with Ozpin and Glynda. By accepting their terms, I made sure you didn't have to compete in the tournament just in case something happened to me, that was part of the deal. Another part of it was Amber saying goodbye to you guys if she gained control."

Jaune tilted his head, implication open. "Qrow was right... you set Amber up."

"I thought I told you not to interrupt?" Pyrrha smiled sweetly. "But yes, I sent out a few warning signals with my Aura before we left the Bullhead. I knew Amber attempting to leave with my body would set off alarms. From there I hoped for the best."

"And we kicked her butt and saved you!" Nora cheered. "Ha! We have a sneaky champion on our team! Amber never stood a chance. Go Pyrrha!"

Ren carefully eyed Pyrrha. "And the Maiden Powers? Do you still have them?"

She shrugged uselessly. "As I told Ozpin, I cannot tell."

"I should be able to check whether or not you do. During the battle with Amber, it appeared much different than Aura, shouldn't be too hard to spot. Although, the Lore attacked most of it along with Amber's Aura. I'm pretty sure that's why you're able to walk around so soon compared to when Nora ate a Lore shard, you suffered less backlash." Jaune leaned forward to rest his palms on his legs. "Give me a moment while I concentrate, I need to make sure there's no more of Amber's Aura left in your body while I'm at it."

Nora's nerves suddenly jolted alive and lunged from the bed, tackling him. The move hurt both of them. "No! Don't use your Aura! You'll make them worse!"

He gasped in pain, a tangle of limbs. "I'll make what worse?"

"Your muscles!" Nora yelled, explaining nothing and everything, then her voice lowered. "When you three were sleeping, the doctor said that your muscles had been torn apart."

He agreed. "Yeah, we figured that out before confronting Ozpin. I'm not sure how I got the injuries during the fight, but Aura should be able to fix the problem."

"No! No! No!" Nora stubbornly shook her head, hitting him in the chest. "You don't get it! What if your Aura caused the problem?"

"That's funny, Nora." Jaune laughed, but she refused to smile. His laughing stopped. "You're not joking? You're serious? You think my Aura caused this?"

Her frown stretched. "Doctor Home pointed out how your muscles tore themselves apart and wondered how you did such a thing. I asked him if Aura could do that? He said unless your Aura enhanced your muscle tendons so much that they snapped from the pressure, it couldn't be possible, but I think he's right."

"He's wrong."

"How can you be so sure?"

Jaune glared. Impossible! He almost rolled his eyes at the idea of his Aura causing all this soreness. Yes, it was true his Aura enhanced his physical abilities, but what that quack said couldn't possibly be true. Aura stretching his tendons and fibers so thin that they snapped? Ha! No! Not a chance! Aura never harmed its users. Not even Lore did that. There had to be another reason for his sore body and lackluster control, something caused by Amber, except Nora refused to get off of him with worrisome eyes.

He threw his hands out and repented. "Fine, fine. Just let me do a quick check-up on Pyrrha, and that's it, and then I'll stop using my Aura until we figure this all out."

Nora appeared to despise the idea but got off her leader. A quick rub of his neck and he inspected Pyrrha's Aura with her concentrating, and his pain diminished. A moderate shade of blood emerged before him, thick and fluid-like, he smiled wholeheartedly at the missing traces of Amber's poisonous Aura. A noticeable tint of burning embers sparked in the center of her body, resting right where her heart laid. No observable Space pressured on him with an invisible void or influenced her Aura's shape and texture, but pretending that those embers never existed accomplished nothing.

Pyrrha leaned forward once his smile turned into a thin line. "Well? What do you see?"

He ceased his Aura control, feeling the soreness returning. "Good news, I see no trace of Amber's Aura anywhere, bad news, a portion of those Maiden Powers remain and don't ask me if they're going to regenerate or stay like that, I don't know. They're just there, burning like a tiny fire. By any chance do you feel those powers?"

One of her hands rested on her chest. A silent moment passed, and she lowered. "No. I feel the same."

"Then they must be too weak to use."

"That's probably for the best." Ren added, gripping his broken arm. "You've said it yourself, the thought of someone corrupt gaining control of those powers spells trouble. Maybe it's better if they vanished."

The message hidden in the subtext was clear. Pyrrha breathed with her heart wavering, glancing around to her hurt and brave friends. Their battle wounds were a testament to how arduous they fought against an adversary with misled power, and all for her sake. Words couldn't express her gratitude for their role in saving her. Actions, however, gave it their best shot, forcing her voice to crack as her eyes watered.

"I'm sorry. You're all injured because of me."

Her partner disagreed. "No, we're hurt because of Amber. It's not your fault."

"But—?"

"It's not your fault." Jaune repeated, firmer this time. "They gave you an impossible choice. Anyone with a good heart would've said yes."

"So stop fussing over it!" Nora grinned, lapsing her hands around Pyrrha's wrists. "We'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"In a heartbeat." Ren finished.

Pyrrha had trouble forming words, choking. Nora's cheerful grin, Ren's simple smirk, and Jaune's easy-going smile stole her breath away. She freed one of her hands to hide her face, lips wobbling as the blood flowing through her veins warmed her bruised body. Then a second hand joined Nora's with a third following after. She removed her hand to see all of her friends gripping the wrist that had harbored her Aura.

Jaune gently laced his fingers around hers. "In a heartbeat."

Sob!

Her body convulsed uncontrollably, such amazing friends. Her body refused to stop shaking, but Nora hug-tackled her from the front with both Jaune and Ren holding her sides. The shivering stopped, and she succumbed to the tender embrace with her damaged body welcoming the shared heat.

"Thank you."

None of them said your welcome, knowing they didn't have to.

Minutes passed, and they finally separated when Pyrrha managed to control her emotions. Time for bed. All of their bodies demanded sleep after such an exhausting couple of days, even if the sun barely set. Not even Nora had the energy to fight, drained with her nerves still barely functional. Odd. Aura damage to the body, something both her and Jaune had. She almost laughed at the thought.

Crawling into her bed with sand in her eyes and an irresistible pillow to rest her weary head, Nora froze when Ren traced his one stable arm around her stomach protectively, embracing her from behind with such a protective nature that if left her speechless. A rare treat for him to be so forward with his intentions. She hungrily devoured such a moment, turning over to dig her face into his bandaged chest. Not a word passed their lips, but he ended up kissing her on the head, drawing her impossibly closer that made her toes curl. The thumping of his heart lulled her senses dull with a soft lullaby.

Sir Scrabbles completed the picture by scooching into the burrow of body heat, booping Nora on the nose.

Pyrrha fought every fiber of her being from awwing out loud. Such a loving moment, she envied Nora's position. To sleep with peace of mind, even after such a gruesome experience, well, she was green-eyed. Comfort was a luxury for a champion. People depended on her, not the other way around. Invincibility left zero cracks in her armor for others to protect. Oh well, Pyrrha smiled softly, nothing new.

She crawled into her bed, burrowing into soft covers and an irresistible pillow. Fingers gripped the linen, feeling unnaturally cold. Guess the Lore shard left her feeling chilly, a nasty side effect most likely. Nora hadn't suffered such a symptom, but she had rested inside the cabin for three days, so maybe she had. Missing Aura unmistakably was one she noticed. Made it troublesome to heal or keep warm. Either way, she bawled into a cocoon, wishing for some added warmth.

Then a hand snaked around her stomach, pulling her close. Pyrrha blinked dumbly.

Huh?

Her head turned slowly to find Jaune's body holding her close with his cheeks adopting a crimson shade. Beating the odds, he refused to look away from her with her cheeks filling with blood. A fruitful pause filled the room, and he leaned down, apologies already revealed in his eyes.

"If you don't mind." Jaune whispered, seriously adorable. "Would it be okay if I hold you for tonight? I almost lost you. I'm... I'm not strong enough to sleep alone right now. I—you know what, this was a bad idea. I'll leave you—!"

Her hands stretched to grip his arms, refusing to let go. "I'd like that."

His rambling died with a smile thriving in the ashes, and he crushed her against the tight muscles in his chest. Pyrrha melted into the embrace of her knight in shining armor, falling into a cozy dreamland with an impossible to erase simper.

...

The morning came sooner than any of them would have preferred.

Pyrrha woke up to find her partner tinkering away at their desk with Nora wrapped in a cocoon of blankets and Ren entertaining Sir Scrabbles by having an intense staring match. Her leader kept his back straight, refusing to bend over as his hand busied itself writing. Must be his muscles, probably ached from the straining and tears? Pyrrha bit her tongue. Asking him to take it easy would be a waste of time. The sharp glint in his eyes foretold of his discomfort or how attentive the subject matter was, maybe a combination of both, but his mood improved upon noticing her hovering his shoulder.

"What are you working on?"

He moved to show her a picture of a burning ember inside a crude sketch of a human body. Little notes like Aura, Space, Semblance enhancement and Lore interactions filled the page. Colors of autumn painted the tiny fire, and he leaned back on the chair, noticeably wincing from the rigid movements. None of that stopped his curiosity from overflowing.

"The Constellations. Besides the new Lore notes, I'm adding in the Maiden Powers. I wouldn't call them Aura-related per se, but they deserve their own page. They're a virtually unknown power that few have ever used. They're almost extraterrestrial compared to Aura and Lore."

She wanted to laugh at the word extraterrestrial, Jaune and his silly fascination with words beginning with the abbreviation Ex, but strangely he made a fair point. Beyond their unique powers, Maiden Powers was, by all rights, unknown. Hardly anyone knew they existed, and the few who read those fairytales could only speculate at best of their existence. Most would be skeptical to believe if they were real, while others might be paranoid. Power corrupted, after all.

Power like that needed to remain hidden. "So what are you going to call them?"

He hummed and tapped his pencil on the paper. "What do you mean? They already have a name?"

"I know they have a name, but maybe a codename would be better, just in case we run into someone who has these powers. That way we could avoid them at all costs without alerting them or anyone else."

He chewed his pencil in thought. "Hn? That's a good idea. A codename, but what would it be?"

She blinked. "Why are you asking me? You're the name maker."

"Yeah, but I think you should be in charge of making the codename, it's only fair." An oddly sweet gesture for the mad Aura scientist. "So? Any ideas?"

"Well..." Pyrrha rubbed her chin, sitting criss-cross on her bed. "The Maiden Powers are unique and are only mentioned in fairytales, so that's their origin point. How about Unique Fairytale Origins?"

He stared at her with a blank mask. "Unique Fairytale Origins? Really? You're terrible at name making."

Ren finally blinked, losing yet another match against Sir Scrabbles. Before asking for best out of seven, he fixated on the conversation with half an open mind. "Seeing as that is a mouthful, how about UFO for short?"

"UFO?" Jaune tasted the name, seeing how it rolled off the tongue. "Hn? I like it. What about you, Pyrrha? It's still your name, just shorter."

She squinted and tested the word. "UFO? U-F-O. Yes, a suitable name. No would understand what we're referring to, and it does have a nice ring to it."

Jaune clapped his hands together, wincing from the action, and began writing the newest addition of data. "Then it's settled, Unique Fairytale Origins, or UFO for short."

He added the newest info, enjoying the impression of discovering something new. He wrote. He finalized a sketch. The table of contents page got an update, and then his arm stung from moving too much. Things got worse when he leaned down, spreading the pain of torn muscles. Confliction raged against him.

Aura reserves felt fine, growing even, but Nora's warning came back to haunt him. What if his Aura was the culprit of this soreness? Such a scary thought stopped him from using more than the bare minimum, and he despised it. Regularly keeping his Aura at such a low-level concentration took effort, an effort he didn't feel like committing to, it lulled him with a temptation to throw caution to the wind. Snap! Drat, his pencil broke. A quick sharpen later, and he inclined forward, frowning instantly from the pulling sensation.

His partner instantly noticed his scowl. "Jaune? Are you alright?"

No, he was far from alright. Everything hurt. The urge to use his Aura to dull the pain grew and his effort to maintain the control dwindled. He needed to get rid of his Aura to kill two birds with one stone, but how, a swift glance around the room showed him a chance. Everyone else could use his Aura, plus they needed more Dust shards anyway. A win-win in The Constellations.

He sighed, rubbing his wrist delicately. "Pyrrha, I need to ask you a favor. I don't have the lien to buy any more Dust for our Aura shards... you mind chipping in? I'm trying to control my Aura output, but it's getting tempting not to. I can't take the chance of worsening my condition until I know exactly what's wrong, so it's better if I share it with you guys until I figure this out."

Ren casually dropped a few liens on the bed. "Here, take it. Anything to fix this problem."

By this problem, he meant his cast and numerous injuries. Nora moaned from her cocoon, on the same wavelength with her head poking out the blankets. Too much Aura left her feeling ill, but just right the amount should fix her right up. At least she hoped so, holding back nausea. Physically, after a good night's sleep, she felt fine but emotionally drained with bouts of queasiness.

"Ditto."

Pyrrha laughed, scooping up the cash. "Alright, and before you try to get up, Jaune, I'll go purchase them. Between the four of us, I'm the least injured. You three could barely walk."

"That's so not fair!" Nora hiccuped. "When I ate that stupid rock, I couldn't get out of bed for days! But look at you, walking!"

Her smile turned teasing. "I didn't tell the Lore to attack Amber's Aura and the Maiden Powers, that was partly Jaune's fault. Blame him, Nora."

"I will!"

Her smile grew. Yes, by all probability of odds, she got lucky the Lore attacked Amber and the Maiden Powers. Sure, her body still hurt, rightfully so, but Polarity helped support the difference in her weight, plus she felt inclined to ease their suffering. All of this was brought on by her. Their injuries, Nora's battle, and the constant fear of the professors demanding answers came from her decisions. The least she considered doing was buying more Dust shards, even if her partner stubbornly tried to follow her.

"Wait!" Jaune urged, he stumbled from the desk to his bed. "Hold up, don't go by yourself."

Pyrrha shared a peek over to the trapped Nora before she hastily grabbed her Scroll and exited the room before he could react. Nora grumbled when noticing her leader's stupidity to still chase after her, and promptly sighed while tossing her sheets.

"Fine, I'll go with her, so stop trying to kill yourself, Jaune! Rest up." Nora placed a quick smooch on Ren's cheek and hugged her sloth. "Wait up, Pyrrha!"

Ren watched with a blank canvas as his leader dropped all pretense of life once Nora raced out of the room. Shoulders slumped, breathing slowed, all bits of blithe emotion washed away, and his brows tightened together. Hn? Whatever guard he had up dropped.

He saw bits of himself in his friend, remembering when he shared a passing smile during that Amber fight, acting brave for the sake of appearing of brave. Someone had to be for the well-being of the team, but now that half of them left, well, he envied Jaune's fortitude. Not many people put on a face for the sake of others, not for beneficial reasons at least.

Admirable, but foolish.

"Are you still in pain?"

"What do you think?!" Jaune yelled only for Ren not to react. A moment passed with him pressing his back toward the wall. "Sorry, yeah, my whole body's killing me. It feels like I've been stretched over and over again."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

Ren stayed silent as Jaune rubbed his forehead. His friend reached out and grabbed The Constellations, busying himself with Lore-related observations to dull the pain. A fruitless effort, without Nora or Pyrrha around, the aching sensation refused to be isolated. Ultimately, Jaune threw his pencil at the wall after a few minutes, hiding his eyes in his forearm, praying not to move another fiber until given no choice. Ren still said nothing, wondering how Aura could cause such extensive damage or why none of them saw it coming. Maybe some extra data might solve the case.

"When did this all start?" Ren questioned. Jaune lifted his arm to see better. "And I'm talking about your fascination with Aura, nothing else." He dropped his arm, tossing Ren The Constellations. Ren hurled it back. "No, I'm asking how this whole journey of Aura began."

He shut the notebook shut. "You already know, it's because Pyrrha's training wasn't cutting it, so I decided on my own to get better by using Aura."

"But how did you begin using Aura? There must've been some kind of trick."

Jaune frowned. "Mediation, you already know that. In Emerald Forest, when I tried teaching you guys how to use your Aura, I demonstrated that by meditating."

"Yes..." Ren agreed. "But that's all you showed us. What was the next step?"

"Next step?"

Ren paused. "There is no next step? It's only mediation?"

His leader shrugged. "Well, I don't need to meditate anymore, but that's the gist of it. I mediated until I first created Supernova and then Excalibur. After that, I did it less until I finally stopped. From there I started training with my Aura instead. I will admit that counting dust specks helped, but that's because it helped clear my mind."

Most of it made reasonable sense to Lie Ren. A clear mind made for a balanced body. Aura reflected the soul, and Jaune learned to tap into his soul through meditation. A sound way to enhance Aura, many, including himself, meditated to gain better control over Aura. All good reasons which made him wonder how Jaune ever came up with such an idea. Not to say his friend wasn't intelligent, but before all this Aura manipulation came into light, the last thing his leader was literature-oriented.

"Where'd you even get the idea to mediate?"

He chuckled at his inspiration. "From you? During Doctor Oobleck's class."

"Oobleck's class..." Ren mumbled, eyes growing once he realized it. "You mean that stuff I said about clearing one's mind? You've learned that from me?"

"The very same."

"Jaune, that was months ago. Have you've been doing nothing but focusing on your mind? Is that all you did?"

He waved his hand in the air, remembering the days he first discovered Aura manipulation, felt like such a long time ago. "Except for some training with Pyrrha, where I admit I didn't put my soul into it, yeah, mediation and dust counting. Nothing else."

Ren stared neutrally at his leader, betraying no emotion. He counted to ten in his mind, hating how a few simple words distracted people's lives. White lies that made people think of them as monsters for example. Then, against his body's aching refusal to move much, he walked those few steps and stood in front of his friend with his back straight.

"You're an idiot."

Jaune tilted his head. "Huh?"

"It's mind and body, Jaune! Mind and body. No wonder you're like this! You're not balanced. There's too much of this!" Ren poked Jaune's head with two fingers, roughly. Then he tapped his chest. "And not enough of this. And look what's it done to you."

"What are you talking about?" Jaune demanded. "Mind and body? I'm not following."

Ren sighed with his eyes pinching. "You know, I didn't understand at first, why when you ran out of Aura your body went limp, I knew why it happened, but not why it happened, but I do now. Your muscles couldn't compensate for the power boost of your Aura. They weren't enough."

Jaune struggled to get off the bed, but he met Ren's challenging glare. "Hey! I have muscles... they're just stretched thin! Okay!"

Ren pinched his friend's forearm. "You're lean, but that doesn't mean you have the muscles to make up for it. You need more. You lack the muscle mass for a Huntsman."

Jaune prepared a counter-argument, but all of it died in a heatwave. He lacked the muscle mass for a Huntsman? His mouth suddenly dried. The air in his lungs bristled with his throat hitching. Just like that, the world crumbled around him. Only one person came to mind, only one person had a similar experience, someone who once had screaming Aura with a body ill-suited to contain the growing energy, and eventually died from trying to use more power than they could control, someone who warned him, someone he killed.

Penny Polendina.

No offense, but you don't look that strong? Your muscle mass seems severely lacking for a typical Huntsmen-in-Training.

Jaune fell back onto his bed, hiding his head in his trembling hands. "Penny... she warned me, and I just ignored it."

"Penny?"

A laugh laced with irony passed his lips. "Huh? Penny was right all along, you both are. How could I not see this coming, it is my body, I should've noticed the signs that it gave me from the beginning? They were so obvious."

Ren cautiously moved to sit beside him. "What signs?"

Another wave of the hands. "First, when I began my Aura training it started off small, sore muscles, not much to worry about at the time. I thought it came from training."

He allowed the implications to hang in the air. Ren shook his head, remembering everything all too clear. "And before you knew it got progressively worse until you couldn't function without Aura? Dust, the docks. Do you remember how Nora and I had to drag you back home? How are you even moving right now if you're not using your Aura?"

"I am." Jaune slowly admitted. "Just not that much, I'm purposely keeping my control down to a minimal to keep me moving but not heal any injuries, don't tell Pyrrha or Nora, I don't want them to worry."

"A little too late for that."

Jaune grunted. Now that he understood the cause and effect of his battered body, his mind reeled. Part of him wished he hadn't thrown his pencil because he wanted to write what an idiot he had been in The Constellations. As his Aura manipulation progressively improved, the consequences for his imbalances severely advanced. First, it went from mildly sore muscles to exhaustion, to a body incapable of moving without Aura, and finally, a body ripped apart by the energy it relied on, humph. Except for those few spars with Pyrrha, when was the last time he trained his muscles? When was the last time he attempted any physical training whatsoever?

Aura and Lore required both a clear mind and body.

He held back a bitter laugh, opening instead to the early days of his notebook. One of the first problems he overcame still had underline marks; Aura exhaustion. How ironic. Aura shards came into existence because he sought a remedy to cure this alignment, but maybe he missed the disease entirely and only focused on a symptom? Those Dust rocks acted nothing more than treatments, not a cure, a medicine if anything, and like all medicines, they came with toxic side effects. Taking too much amplified those side effects.

Nora knew from experience how lethal too much Aura could be to a body not suited for high Aura consumption, however, unlike her in some ways, his body was exposed to extraordinary dosages of Aura on an average basis, undiluted and pure, and now look at him. His body required Aura to dull the pain. Snicker! Funny, in a joke drowning in irony, Aura, his saving grace, the power that made him a worthy leader of Team JNPR, almost ended up killing him for his foolishness, and he disregarded the signs until his feet sank into the quicksand.

He shut his Aura notebook closed. "You know, I never thought this might happen. I mean, I knew my body got used to having the extra power, but I never expected something like this."

Ren stared at the way Jaune rubbed his wrist. "But, wouldn't you have noticed it getting increasingly worse?"

He shook his head, still remembering old facts. "No. When I was starting my Aura training, I once described my Aura like breathing. My Aura techniques, Excalibur, the enhanced reflexes and everything else just worked like that. Maybe I was righter than I thought."

His friend remained doubtful. "No, there's something absent. When your Aura wasted away, the damage done should've been noticeable. Your muscles alone should've eaten away at your reserves."

He smirked while fighting the urge to summon his blade. "You would think so, but I'm guessing my Aura's following the same principle as Excalibur's. As long as I have enough Aura to keep my blade up, the whole body gets a boost, and unless I get hit and must recover from the damage, then the Aura stays."

"So that means?"

His eyes hardened as he actively repressed his Aura to allow his body movement but not diminish the pain. "That means I was right. It is like breathing. I wouldn't notice how much trouble I'm in until I run out of air."

Ren narrowed his vision, air being the representation of Aura. None of it sat well in his stomach. Casting a glance over to his Scroll's clock, he motioned the digits with a displaced tone. "We're going to be late to professor Port's class if we don't leave soon."

"I'm pretty sure Pyrrha knew that before she left."

He relented. Right. A fair point. Skip the morning class, not in-tune with Pyrrha's academic performance, but considering the circumstances, healing her teammates outweighed the need to take frivolous notes on one-hundred one ways to kill a Grimm. Not taking into account they had a Grimm currently sleeping in the room, dampening the need for that class, but Ren had trouble remembering the last time they exterminated a creature of darkness. How troublesome.

All that taken into account, he eyed his leader wholeheartedly curious. "So what now? There's no time to fix it. Not in time for the tournament anyway. We could put ice on your injured areas to speed up the healing process, but muscle tears take much longer than a week to heal."

"Then I'll fight with my Aura."

"And do more damage to your body?"

"That's if I run out of air."

Ren raised his voice. "It's the tournament, Jaune. All of Atlas is going to be out to get you! General Ironwood, if he hasn't already, has a target painted on our backs. We're public enemy number one."

His Fearless Leader huffed. "I've come too far to drop out now. And we're already public enemy number one. You, me, Sun and Neptune. The Treacherous Quadruple live on!"

Another decibel rose. "Stop joking. You're in serious trouble of doing major damage to your body."

Now Jaune's tone reflected Ren's. "What do you want me to do? Relax? I'm already trying to do that, but I don't have weeks, I have a week before the tournament. A. Week. If I use my Aura to the fullest during the tournament, it'll dull the pain and give me a fighting chance, if I don't, I might as well walk out of this school right now. Save everyone the trouble!"

Sir Scrabbles hid underneath Ren's pillow as two dominating forces clashed together. Emotions were high and growing by the instant. Any second one of them could throw a hook, but both broken individuals endured glaring. A long minute passed before Ren shot a glance down at the cast over his arm. Boiling blood cooled with his face relaxing, but not wholly, contour lines still etched themselves between his eyes.

"If something happens to you, and Nora learns I didn't try to stop you, she'll never forgive me. Don't even get me started on Pyrrha."

Jaune smirked. "Then I won't let anything happen to me."

"Always so optimistic?"

"We saved Pyrrha and beat a Maiden, didn't we? I think we've earned the right to be optimistic."

Ren looked away for his rematch with Sir Scrabbles. "Optimistic and realistic aren't the same thing."

Jaune snorted with his arms crossed and muscles throbbing. "This coming from the guy who has a pet Grimm and wears their clothing."

A rebuttal never past Ren's lips so Jaune retrieved his pencil to sketch in the muscle-to-Aura ratio while his buddy challenged Sir Scrabbles. The Lie patiently allowed the minutes to roll on by before he lost yet another game to the unblinking Grimm. His eyes glistened from unshed tears, and he wondered what else Jaune wrote in that notebook. Casually, he rubbed his cast, destroying the calm silence with harsh truth.

"You know you're going to have to talk to Pyrrha and Nora about this?"

A pencil broke, a notebook closed, a Grimm blinked, and an Arc sighed with a weight pressuring on his soul. "Yeah, I know. I'll leave Nora for you while I tell Pyrrha."

"You're being unfair."

"I'm being realistic."

…

Pyrrha cherished mornings—the few she woke up on time for—for the bristle air and lack of people. No one to bother her for an autograph, no one to point and stare, no gawking or whispering, and no one to snap annoying pictures for the new tabloid. A perfect morning to a joyous day, except for the soreness in her joints. Oh well, beggars couldn't be choosers, and—!

"So are we gonna talk about you sleeping in our leader's bed with his arms wrapped around you, or are you going to keep playing dumb?"

There went her day, gone! In the span of a sentence.

"Whatever do you mean?"

Nora accepted the futile challenge, elbowing her friend on the side. Hurt both of them. "Aw! Don't act so coy! I saw you this morning snuggling up to Jaune-Jaune. You almost got away with it too, but you're pretty noisy when losing your teddy bear and I woke up to see Jaune struggling to break free."

Blood cells rushed to her cheeks. Traitors! "He was only making sure no one attacked me while I slept. It was very noble of him."

"Sure." Nora sing-songed with a comical roll her eyes. "Noble. Whatever you gotta tell yourself, Pyrrha."

"I'm not having this conversation with you."

Nora snickered with her shoulders shrugged too smoothly for her liking. "Fine. But if you did like him, which I'm not saying you do, but if you did, then you should know he likes you without the ponytail."

Hushed silence filled the crisp morning air. Nora refrained from poking Pyrrha on her ribs, knowing she folded like a house of cards. Even now, her painfully blank face fooled no one. Nope! Any second now. Come on, Pyrrha, ask already! Huh? Eyes forward, body rigid, and all business, she was pushing this playing coy hard. Well, okay, fine! She could wait.

Minutes turned into ten, and Nora gave Pyrrha way too little credit. They almost made it all the way to the store before she broke her vow of silence. "And how would you know that?"

Bingo!

The Valkyrie threw her hands out with stars in her eyes. "He said it once. I remember when he asked you if he could win the tournament. You said yup with your hair down, and he called it beau-ti-ful."

Pyrrha wished to call Nora out on her obtrusive lie, but no, that wasn't the case. She remembered all too well that incident, recounting all the way to the moment she found Ren reading The Constellations with Nora tucked protectively in his body and Sir Scrabbles perched on top of his head. Precious memories, traitors too, but beloved. Her pesky interrogator knew this based on the way her smirk stretched from cheek-to-cheek. Pretending she didn't remember, while fighting against the flow of her blood, made the idea a lost cause.

"I have no memory of that."

Nora leaned toward her, blocking her path by resting on the soles of her shoes. "You're such a terrible liar."

More blood rushed to her face. Hot, warm, and gooey, not at all how she felt last night in Jaune's arms. Nu-uh. Plausible deniability. A pain then filtered in her head, hurting her with the vengeance of a migraine. Nora immediately noticed her discomfort, moving close to where Pyrrha's hand had automatically shifted to, frowning.

"Something wrong?"

Pyrrha shook her head slowly, minimizing discomfort. "It's nothing, just a minor headache."

Considering all the other damaged she suffered when Amber was in control, a sudden migraine sounded normal. Once she healed up, then future outbursts should lower if this wasn't an outlier already. Judging by Nora's thoughtful pout of the lip, sudden one-eighty twist from teasing to caring, and quietness, she worried more than her.

The comforting thought made her warm blood spread across her entire body.

...

Jaune Arc awkwardly balanced three plates of food in his wobbling arms as he and Lie Ren returned from picking up breakfast for when Nora and Pyrrha returned.

He sulked from the strain. "I don't see why I had to come along to get breakfast? What part of resting says to go and fetch food? We could just eat there."

Ren gracefully shook his cast with his other arm busy holding a plate stacked high with flapjacks. "Who else was going to carry everyone else's breakfast? Besides, eating at the Mess Hall invites trouble. And knowing how many people hate our guts right now, it's best if we retreat to our room. Unless, of course, you feel like dealing with trouble in your weakened state?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jaune mumbled. "You've made your point. Pick on the weak."

"You admit you're weak?"

"You admit you're picking on me?"

Neither felt like giving the other an upper hand, so they walked in silence. With everyone in class, the hallways were scarce, allowing them to avoid the inevitable confrontation of Team RWBY, mainly Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee. Ren knew Ruby was more than ready to tackle him for the training he promised, unshakable like a disease, and Jaune lost count of the favors he owned Weiss, not to forget he was supposed to be taking notes for her in the one class Team JNPR was skipping. Yeah, they were both dead.

They reached the door in a worse mood. Hands full, Ren kicked the entrance open, not in the spirit to wait. Jaune walked in first, placing the food down with a ravenous appetite. Now that things finally died down, his stomach returned with a fury, Ren and possibly the girls, too. He almost started without them but noticed one major hiccup to that plan.

"Drat, we forgot the utensils." Watching Ren balance and set-up everything on only one hand worked on his heartstrings. "I'll be right back."

"Hurry before they get back because I can't stop Nora if she decides to eat without them."

"You've done it before."

"One hand, Jaune."

"Right, right."

He quickly strolled toward the Mess Hall, skipping everything except for the forks and knives. A quick detour if anything, but maybe Ren had a point about not staying in the Mess Hall because, on his way out, that General guy from Pyrrha's story stood across from him, still missing that arm. He didn't glare, keeping his emotions dangerously in check while moving a single step. The Arc almost went into a battle stance by clutching the utensils tighter. James only took another closer to him with the large dining room empty of anybody.

Jaune sighed miserably, eyes narrowed. "What do you want? Don't bother playing dumb either I know everything about the Maiden Powers, so get to the point."

He raised a brow, lips showing emotion in a downward slope. "Interesting, Miss Nikos had promised to keep her word on the subject. Didn't know she was one for rule breaking."

Jaune scoffed. "Amber almost took over her body, what did you think was gonna happen? We not ask her how it happened? That's dumb."

James felt the irritation growing by the second. He offered his hand out in penance. "Look, let's ignore the diplomatic talks and get to the point of the matter, I only want to know what happened to Penny. I need to know she's okay."

The hand gripping the forks loosened. All of Jaune's wrath drowned in a sea of sin. Oh? Penny. He looked away, a faraway look in his eyes. "She's dead."

"... You're lying." Jaune said nothing. He kept avoiding his stare. James suddenly grabbed him by his hoodie with his one hand. "You're lying, tell me you're lying!"

Finally, he shared a moment with the distraught man. "Why would I lie about that? What good would it do me? There's nothing to gain. It'd only make you hate me more."

The General tried his hardest to spot his tale, to call him out on his blatant lie, except he found nothing but cold truth reflecting in his eyes. No. Not a lie. The hand holding Jaune weakened. "You're not lying, Penny Polendina's dead."

"I'm sorry."

"Who killed her?" Again, the leader said nothing. Again, the hand holding his outfit tightened, but this time shaking. "I asked who killed her? Was it that girl who attacked Qrow or the one with the pink streak in his hair? Or maybe it was a team effort?"Jaune lowered his head. No, not his team's hands, but his and his alone, along with Amber's. James subsequently figured it out. "... It was you."

Not a question. Not a guess. A direct statement. Fact. "I had no choice. Penny was an android with Aura stuffed into it. What I did was merciful for her crying soul."

"She was alive!"

"She was an abomination! A freak of nature!" Jaune swiftly headbutted the man. His body ached with his breathing growing. "What you did to Pyrrha I can only imagine you did that to Penny, too, and it makes me want to throw up."

James recovered from the headbutt to nurse a nosebleed. His hand turned into a fist, but not to fight, only to keep his emotions in check. "Regardless of how you feel ethically, first Amber and now Penny, how does it feel to kill two humans? How does it feel to snuff out the Auras of two people? They're gone because of you and your team! I tried to help them for the greater good! You murdered them for your own selfish needs!"

He fired back. "Wanting to save my partner's life isn't selfish!"

His voice slowly dropped in volume between each word. "Pyrrha Nikos knew the risks from the start! Penny and Amber only wanted to help humanity! That was their goals, their mission, their dreams. And they're gone now because of you. Dead."

The General inhaled a haggard breath, releasing his palm with every bit of frustration burning away. What was the point anymore? He bid the leader an accusing glare, unable to say another word to the teenager, and walked away with every step from his boots loud in the empty Mess Hall. Even though Jaune knew he won that argument, the sounds of his apathetic footsteps somehow sapped him of any victory dance. What that man said was sadly real, but only now did he think about it. He snuffed out two Auras from the plane of existence.

Suddenly the world around him began to spin with him frantically searching for a table to lean on. He found one and his body slacked against it, motionless with his heart slowing in his chest as the haunting realization took hold. Aura, the manifestation of the soul, his power source, his techniques, ended up exterminating two others Auras. By that definition, he ended two lives.

He killed Penny Polendina and Amber.

Forks fell to the floor. A body raced across the Mess Hall, ignoring tears and strains from torn muscles to find the nearest trashcan and threw up whatever contents remained in his empty stomach. Hardly anything. Lungs burned. He weakly glanced down at what did spill out, trembling. The greenish vomit before him reminded him of Penny's vibrant shade of green. The bile of yellow matched parts of Amber's Aura.

Jaune threw up again.

Panting, he backed away from the trashcan once he felt nothing left in his already lacking stomach. The heat burning in his esophagus tormented him because neither Penny or Amber would ever experience the sensation of pain ever again. Why should he be so lucky? Wheeze! He needed to leave this room. Get away before someone saw him like this and reported to any of the professors. Giving any of them fuel would be dangerous. So he grabbed new forks and walked back to his team's room with a plague of thoughts beating down on his conscious.

The walk back took much longer than he expected, and he was glad Nora and Pyrrha came back the moment he reached the door because it made it easier to hide his troubling emotions with distractions.

"Food!" Nora drooled at the sight of pancakes and dove headfirst, forks in hands. "Come to momma!"

Jaune smiled weakly at the sight of a hungry and messy Nora. It didn't quite reach his eyes, but she somehow made bearing the guilt easier by just being here. A leader protected his team, that much he knew. Yes, he killed for their sake, but that only dulled the pain so much. In the end, Pyrrha mistook his ragged appearance for trouble in keeping his Aura at bay. She beamed, pushing a bag of white Dust shards into his hand.

"There you go." Pyrrha's presence also reduced the guilt. Her smile helped. "They only had about twenty, but that should be enough, right?"

"Yeah." Jaune reached in and grabbed a shard, already adding Aura into it. "This'll do."

She frowned at the dullness in his eyes. "Why don't you take it slow and wait for your Aura to heal your injuries first?"

Multiple reasons. Mainly, Jaune feared for their safety. Who knew what the General had planned now that he learned of Penny's death? If Aura was like breathing, then he had to be extra careful, he recovered quicker than them. Healing stretched tissue too fast might cause problems down the line or might not. The second, sure, he could heal his injuries and possibly be good as new by tomorrow, consequence-free, but he desired not to use his Aura between now and the tournament. Worsening the muscle injuries by accidental use of his Aura—since emotions had a pesky habit of releasing the power—after healing them made the point moot. Finally, he loathed the way each one of them wore injuries, not while he perfected a technique to aid the healing process.

Call it foolish. Call it idiotic. Call it being a leader.

Jaune offered Pyrrha an Aura shard, fueled by a double Supernova. Already his reserves dropped. "I am, but I rather heal you guys first and worry about me last. My Aura's going to be okay in time for the tournament, but your injuries matter more right now."

A sound argument, she had difficulty picking it apart. Made it twice as hard considering the opportunity to rid herself of her discomfort only came at a small price. The throbbing headache only made it harder to resist. Her partner was no stranger to Aura discomfort, an expert if anything. Still, when she gripped the glowing stone, her heart skipped a beat. What if she had given Amber one of these shards, would she be alive today? Could this tiny rock have woken up Amber from her coma? Maybe she would have been alive if she asked her partner before this whole mess started.

Pyrrha wished to ask him—to quell her budding guilt—but pain and hunger were powerful motivators and the smell of food, plus a potent painkiller, tempted her so.

During a free period, mayhap lunch, she would ask him.

…

The downside of mixing Aura shards and an overachieving partner meant that once Pyrrha found them adequately healed enough to go to class, she made them.

Upside being Professor Port's class was over by the time they left. No sleep-inducing lecture. Humorously enough, Jaune greedily accepted the distraction of Dust class. Distractions kept his mind busy. Busy was good. Busy shooed away the thoughts of Penny's and Amber's Aura being—busy, busy!

Once he walked into Dust class, a yelped echoed inside the room with another yelp, this one sounding like somebody getting shoved to the side, followed right after. Then a predator closed in on his location, latching an iron-tight grip onto his skin that trapped him like an animal caught in a beartrap. A veil of cold traveled across his nerves, and when he followed the slender arm up, he offered his best apology shrug at the tundra greeting him.

"Hey, Weiss, how's it going?"

"And where were you yesterday?" Weiss growled, pulling him toward their work station with Ruby rubbing her rear off to the side. "You weren't in class."

"Professor Goodwitch gave us one day to recover."

Her suspicious nature doubted him. "You were supposed to take notes for me. You haven't written a single note as of yet. I'm losing sleep, and you wouldn't enjoy me when I'm cranky. I tend to let my tongue slip."

He chuckled awkwardly as his hand rubbed his neck. Ren and his prank still haunted them, but supposedly Ruby and Yang still trembled at the threat of ghosts, so somehow it was still a win. Still, a cranky Weiss was a cold Weiss. Cold Weiss were ruthless and enjoyed kicking shins. His shins, as of now, definitely did not need to be kicked.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, but look over there." Ren's cast sold the lie as Nora moved sluggishly with the aftereffects of eating Aura shards still noticeable. Even Pyrrha's immunity to Ruby's Dust antics appeared sluggish. She rubbed her head in pain. "See? Recovering! All of us, but I'm all here now, ready to take notes for class next week, so what'd you say, put it all behind us?"

He offered his hand out, acting senselessly. Weiss' lips pursed. She reached for a vial of Dust with each second her vision narrowing. A tube of Dust hovered over his exposed arm before she gave it an experimental shake. "Tell me if this burns or stings."

Neither, he concluded, shivering like a leaf. Cold, beyond cold even, but to say he didn't miss this was oddly a bigger lie than the Grimm hiding underneath their bed.

...

Food!

Even though they ate a huge breakfast and skipped a mind-numbing class, all the members of Team JNPR were still starving. None of that could be more obvious considering Ren beat Nora to the lines. Negatively, the hustling-and-bustling of the Mess Hall made it impossible to focus on anything but his lingering doubt about Amber and Penny. Then two problems presented themselves to the equation.

When Pyrrha stopped Jaune from joining a table with their teammates, he knew trouble brewed. When she did it with her I'm Sorry smile, things intensified.

"How about we eat outside for a change?"

He hesitated thoughtfully. Huh? A good of a time as any to spill the beans on his discovery related to his body and Nora appeared to be ignoring their existence as Ren fed her spoonfuls of buttery pancakes. The curve of mouth expressed mutual enjoyment in the activity, and Ren shared a sharp glimpse with him before wiping Nora's face with a napkin. Ah, so he planned to explain the situation to Nora as well. A lunch date and a briefing all in one.

Jaune bobbed his head toward the sickening sweet duo. "You know they're not coming, right?"

Pyrrha beamed. "I'm well aware."

"Lead the way, m'lady."

A playful roll of the eyes and they soon found themselves at Beacon's fountain with the sun warming their skin. Eating outside was a pleasant change of pace, the spring made for a nice place to dip his feet into, Pyrrha was reluctant to share in the activity but joined him once she felt how cool the water felt on her bruised skin. The tingling sensation only lasted for a brief instance before she played with her meal, gripping the tray hard. A change in scenery seemingly wasn't the only reason for eating outside. No surprise, not from her I'm Sorry smile.

"Pyrrha? You're not eating. What's wrong."

"Nothing."

He poked her with the sharp end of his fork. "If that's not the lie of the century."

The grip on her tray intensified. She chewed on her lips with her eyes downcast in the ripple reflection of the water. Weird, Jaune only now noticed her hair flowing freely without her ponytail. Maybe because he enjoyed his unkemptness, but he preferred her hair in such disarray. No doubt her locks maintained a poise of control, but seeing it so free made it pop out more, just his two cents and nothing else.

Your hair's very beautiful when it's not tied up.

She finally released a breath, putting down her tray while not noticing his creeping blush. Then she absently swished her feet in the water. "I feel bad, okay. Maybe if I had come to you and asked for your help, Amber might still be alive."

He thought of that. This whole situation forced him to think of a lot of things. Penny? Amber? Problems all dumped into Team JNPR's lap. He despised to think of them as such, but that was what they were. Problems. However, just because they happened to be problems, did not mean his team had the skills to solve them all. Penny was the prime example of that. His body reflected another. Amber, well, no point in beating around the bush about it. Nora more than already answered that question.

"You said her Aura was all there, right? That's how the Aura transfer worked?"

"Yes."

He frowned. "Then I doubt I could've done anything. As much as I want to believe it, Aura can't heal all wounds." Jaune glared down at his trembling hand. Every move left some residue pain. "Obviously."

She shook her head. "No! Maybe if you had—!"

"She was in a coma, Pyrrha, with all her Aura." Jaune argued, stretching the word. He placed his meal next to hers. "I wouldn't have been able to wake her up. Even if I had wanted to help, what would I have done? Given her an Aura shard to refuel the Aura that was already there? Nothing would have changed. If anything I would've made her body worse by stuffing more Aura into it. You know that stuff's bad at excess. Look at me—look at Nora! We've both consumed way too much Aura."

Her guilt ceased. "What? I understand Nora, but you?"

He looked away, toward the direction of the medical wing. "Nora was right... my Aura's the cause for my muscle problems. Long story short, too much Aura, not enough muscle to regulate it, they ended up tearing themselves apart because of it. Ironic, huh?"

"How are you walking now?"

"By using only a fraction. Controlling it is not so hard, it's keeping it from doing too much that's the hard part. I have to give my body time to heal without stretching the tendons anymore. After the tournament, I'll focus on weight training for a while. I'll be fine." Jaune shushed her next wandering question by waving his hand. "But enough about me, it's not important right now, what is important is talking about Amber and your misplaced guilt."

Her eyes flashed brightly. "My guilt's not misplaced! Amber's dead because of me."

The way his partner said that infuriated him.

"No! She's dead because of me! Not you! Me!" Jaune clicked his tongue and sighed when she flinched. No more sugar coating. "You got lucky. Okay? The Lore could've easily destroyed your Aura, but instead, it attacked Amber's Aura and the Maiden powers. I like to think my Lore and Black Hole had something to do with that, but I'm not so sure and not too keen on testing that idea. I don't even get why you care so much about her. She tried stealing your body."

"Amber was only trying to make the world a better place." Pyrrha countered lamely.

"Doesn't change the fact she stole your body to do it. I don't care what Amber's goals were, or anyone's for that matter... no one should ever do that. Not to you or anyone else." Jaune glared at his angry reflection. His feet kicked some of the water. "Auras shouldn't be stuffed into something or someone. Those are living souls."

She knitted her brows. Something? Misplaced guilt? Her heart clenched in her constricting chest. Did he blame himself instead? "Jaune? Is this about Penny?"

The mere mention of her name killed his appetite. Darkness crept over his soul. He folded his legs into his body with the vigor gone from his eyes and voice. "Penny's dead because of my Aura, and Amber's gone because of my Lore. I snuffed out their lives. It's my fault they're dead, not yours. If you want anyone to blame, then blame me, but don't feel guilty, Pyrrha. I should be the one feeling guilty."

A tentative hand reached out to grip his shoulder. Guilt? Him? What? No. No, no! He should be the last person to feel guilt. "Jaune? Where's this coming from?"

His reflection rippled with the way his feet wobbled. No point in keeping secrets. "I chatted with that General guy when you girls were gone. He ambushed me in the Mess Hall."

Panic rose from her throat. "General Ironwood."

"Yeah, him, and he made a few good points. Penny and Amber are dead because of me. My power killed their Auras. I took two lives."

"No, no—that's not true!" Headshaking followed soon after with her increasing the strength of her hold. "You're not at fault—!"

He out-of-nowhere furrowed his inner thoughts at her. "Look me in the eyes and tell me I didn't erase two Auras? Tell me my Aura didn't do that? Tell me my Lore didn't do that? Just tell me that." Pyrrha opened her mouth, but nothing. Not a word, not a syllable, nothing. He only clicked his teeth and turned away. "You can't... because it's true."

More useless denying. "You did it for good reasons."

"That hardly changes the fact that I erased two Auras. I, someone who loves Aura and all the gifts it gives us, ended two of them." Jaune kicked his feet in the water. "I guess, I don't know, it's eating away at me. I need time to figure this all out."

Pyrrha Nikos' conscious wasn't the only one plagued by demons. She didn't snuff out the Auras of two souls, her skin crawled thinking about what turmoil her friend was going through, but she could only offer a supportive tap of her foot against his to let him know she was here, and she wasn't going anywhere. When he returned the foot tap, things got better, not by much, but better.

"... Is there anything I could do to help?"

He offered her a simple smile that reached his eyes, floating his feet in the water beside hers. "You're already doing it."

She scootched until their shoulders touched. "I'm here if you want to talk. And so is Nora and Ren. You know that, right? We're all here."

"I know, but I honestly don't know what to say."

"Maybe see a therapist?"

His head rested against her shoulder as their feet danced in the calm water, felt good on their sore muscles. "Like I know any, and I can't imagine talking about this with just anyone, especially not some guy in a chair I don't know."

"Jaune, you still need help. You have to talk to someone, and if not us, then someone else you trust." Pyrrha wrapped a hand around his arm. "Please, promise me that."

"Can it at least wait until after I win the tournament?"

Confidence, at least he still had that, good enough for now. "I'm holding you to it, or I'm dragging you there myself."

"Arc's word."

Pyrrha held back a misplaced grin. She knew his heart still wavered with his soul most likely split in two, burning out two Auras did so much, but the fact that he told her was a milestone all on its own. A little push here, some tugging there, and sooner or later he would be okay, but for now, this was fine.

...

Pyrrha never allowed her sights to focus on anyone else but her partner, knowing he needed friends around him. Part of her still felt guilty about not helping Amber wake up from her coma, but she admitted what Jaune said rung true. Extra Aura would have done more harm than good. All evidence pointed to such a conclusion with both Nora and Jaune examples of too much Aura. Didn't make her nausea go away, not entirely, but it helped alleviate it.

Combat class then worsened her condition.

Professor Goodwitch almost had a heart attack when their team waltzed in. Pyrrha didn't blame her for the shock. Either they hadn't expected them to attend classes, a reasonable assumption, or seeing their team walking around relatively fine—at least it appeared that way to everyone around them—shocked her more than when she tore Ironwood's arm off. All justifiable reasons, all the more reason their professor rarely stopped looking at the four of them, more crucial her. Her hawk-like gaze had sharpened to a new point only she noticed.

Pyrrha met her challenging gaze with eyes belonging to her and not Amber.

Their professor looked away after introductions with the plan and not to call anyone to fight from Team JNPR. A few words were said, a multiple of matches got fought, and then the final student waltzed down as their professor scrolled through the possible candidates to contest, except, well, the challenger already had his sights set on Pyrrha. Familiar silver hair greeted her with a smirk promising pain or enjoyment, maybe a pinch of both.

"I want her."

Pyrrha frowned. Mercury Black, the person Nora fought, pointed directly at her with his intentions quite clear. He demanded no other fighter. For a split-second, she considered ignoring him, not interested, but like a time-bomb going off, distant memories burst alive with an unbearable headache spreading through her skull. A crying child, a brawl in the woods, Maiden Powers, three faces, a black glove, and then darkness, all in that order. The episode lasted only a few seconds, yet it felt like a lifetime with that present smirk haunting her, then everything clicked.

"I'm afraid Miss Nikos is unavailable to battle." Glynda motioned, searching her Scroll for a suitable opponent. "She's recovering from an accident—!"

"No. It's fine." Pyrrha interrupted with the rest of her team gawking. Each step down the stairway resonated loudly. "It'd be happy to oblige."

Glynda knew something was up from the sugary sweet smile Pyrrha shared with her. "Very well, if you insist, Miss Nikos."

Pyrrha cocked her head back. Yes, she insisted. She insisted so much that she met her opponent on the battle stage without either of her weapons. Her feet moved her to stand across from Mercury, mind too busy to focus on position. Hn? Compass soon found what she was looking for, a metal stretching from his feet to half his legs length, and blurring memories began clearing up the more her opponent strengthened his attitude by adjusting only his legs. She never uttered a word or took a battle stance.

Her opponent, despite her reluctance, prepared himself for a running start.

Mercury cocked his feet back with hands presented midway toward his chest. His feet practically danced on the floor, unable to stop. Finally! A fight with the champion. His nerves refused to settle in their jittering, eager to discover his opponent's power or potential for power.

"Begin!"

Black charged forward in a blitzkrieg. His legs accelerated with his smirk present, covering the distance in a short amount of time, but his candidate yet to move a muscle. Humph! Whatever. A wait for an opening before striking type of fighter, he dug it. Just made the defeat all the more humiliating, and he focused solely on disgracing her after the beating he received from her energetic and annoying teammate.

She only tilted her head, blinking once at the approaching fighter with recognition flashing before shifting her attention to her professor.

"I forfeit." A body crashed onto the floor from suddenly stopping his momentum. Pyrrha offered her professor an apologetic shrug. "My mistake, you were right, my body's still somewhat sore from the accident. I apologize for the screw-up."

Glynda sputtered internally for a few moments before sighing. "Maybe next time you should be more aware of your limits."

She beamed. "I'll be more aware next time."

Professor Goodwitch only sighed when the bell rang. "Very well. Class dismissed."

Students flocked out of the classroom quickly enough with the sole exception of Mercury, who glared heatedly the entire time he picked himself up off the floor. She paid him no mind. Not when he skulked or bumped her shoulder. Only when a mint-haired girl intercepted him did Pyrrha find her interests piqued. The left side of her face burned with the intensity of boiling blood. She willed herself not to scratch that corner, instead turning to talk to her approaching team.

"You guys go on to class without me, I have to ask our professor a few questions."

Jaune tensed up. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. I'll meet you in history after I'm done here." None of them moved. Pyrrha sighed. "Trust me, I only need a confirmation, and that's it. I'll tell you guys right after, I promise."

Her teammates shared a wary look between one another, understandable. None of them wanted to leave her alone with any of the professors, but her partner kindly nodded at the request. Huh? She expected more resistance, maybe because it was professor Goodwitch that he made an exception? Fine by her, she only needed a few minutes at best.

Jaune waved. "Fine, but don't take too long or I'm sending Nora after you."

She appreciated the gesture, poking fun at the way Nora nodded vigorously to the order. Ren merely plucked the girl off her feet with his one working arm and headed for history class, but not before sharing in the warning. Jaune left last, unreadable in his feelings. He lingered at the door for a second, then disappeared. Only Glynda Goodwitch and she remained, and her professor barely noticed her presence when Pyrrha snuck up behind her.

"I need a favor."

Glynda slid a sideways glare at the champion, pushing her glasses up. Throwing away pleasantries and useless need for small talk aside, she crossed her arms. "And I have questions."

"After the tournament." Pyrrha smiled softly at the honorable teacher. "After. By then, there won't be any more secrets. You have my word. But I need that favor now."

Glynda regarded the intensity of the atmosphere. "Then only one question. Is it true, did you set Amber up?" Pyrrha's silence sold her out. "You did set Amber up."

She remained painfully neutral. "I did."

Her professor huffed. "You took a chance. You gambled your life on a what-if."

"No, I didn't get where I am by taking chances, I knew from the beginning my friends could save me. That's how much faith I have them." Before Glynda pressed on, she shushed her by lifting a finger. "I accepted your proposal to protect humanity because I've seen the worst of what people with power could do, and I couldn't stand the thought of someone immoral gaining control of the Maiden Powers, but I wasn't going to stand around and allow my life to be stripped away from me."

Goodwitch uncrossed her arms at the answer. Honorable. Selfless. Some of the qualities used to describe her star pupil. Miss Nikos hadn't sought out the Maiden Powers for strength or recognition, only to better the world, but she wanted to make the world a better place with her hands and not someone else's, a marvelous dream fit for a potential Maiden. No wonder her team fought tooth-and-nail to save her.

"What's this favor you're asking for?"

"Do you know the names of the recent transfer students?"

...

The fatigued Team JNPR mindlessly poked at their food with a pity appetite. Constant guard wore them down, leaving them both physically and emotionally drained, and meaningless calories acted nothing more as a buffer to their current problem. Not even the invitation to join their sister team lifted their spirits, something which they politely declined. Even the rambling chatter of the Mess Hall made it challenging to take a relaxed breath.

Oobleck's eccentric class certainly hadn't helped lift their spirits. Thank Oum the man spared them the threat of Saturday detention from missing yesterday's class. Missions applied a form of leeway as long as one of the professors requested breathing room for the students. Jaune instantly figured out it was professor Goodwitch. Who else? Just another reason to win the tournament.

Appreciation aside, they all waited for Pyrrha to explain what she talked to Glynda Goodwitch about, but she hopelessly played with her food, distracted. Experience followed a figure move across the Mess Hall, never once allowing her concentration to break as her fork dug deep into her plate. When her target sat down, her fork broke the plate.

"Hey? Pyrrha?" Nora poked, twirling her fork. "What's with the frowny face?"

Pyrrha Nikos, the four-time champion, the Invincible Girl, praised by many but known by few, carried an intense-driven glare indignant enough to liquefy steel. Pools of green concentrated on a lone table in a crowded Mess Hall, blurring every other person and sound around her with primal-like instincts, only occupied by the three figures partaking in a healthy dinner. Somehow her eyes narrowed further when an unfamiliar yet memorable smirk presented on the lips of a particular individual.

Not many—if anyone else—knew this about sharing a body with an invading Aura. Eyes, by all means, were windows to the soul. Sharing her body with Amber taught her such a lesson when witnessing the fight between her loveable partner and persisted android, yet, a common occurrence wildly comprehended by the people of Remnant was when their life flashed before their eyes upon dying.

The last Fall Maiden was no exception.

Amber died with her life flashing before her eyes with Pyrrha Nikos witnessing those racing memories in mute detachment, including the battle she fought before her team. In excruciating detail, to the clothing they wore and the facial expressions they made, Pyrrha precisely knew the faces of her assailants. Headaches only fogged the images until she saw their faces once more, then everything turned crystal clear. She recognized them sitting across the Mess Hall with fake innocence, but set aside the two lackeys to stare at their burning boss, the raven-haired woman who stole half the Maiden Powers and threatened humanity.

Cinder Fall.

---

Author Notes: Look on the bright side!