Multiplayer

by NeoShadows

Life is a game. In an attempt to save a friend during the Breach, Jaune Arc died. Brought back to life with powers of a Gamer, he must now attempt to beat the game called life. He's not alone though. Every win or lose ends in a Reset, so how will he beat a game that never ends?

16. Warm Comforts

Aye, aye, aye! NeoShadows here! Meaning a new chapter is up and running, compadres!

I know, know. You're all pretty bummed that I was gone for two weeks. Again. Sorry about that, but I had some things pop up and take care of. First, my sister wanted my and my brother to watch the last ten episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood with her seeing as she didn't get to finish it after we introduced the show to her. And when you're watching a masterpiece like that you can't look away while writing. Also finished watching Luke Cage on Netflix, love that rap they made up, Bulletproof Love. And with RWBY Volume 4 finally up, I had to take a break to work over some of the new information discovered with just two episodes up now. And boy, how they helped fill up some holes in my story for the future.

All in all, a combination of binge watching, and relaxing a bit, had stopped me from finishing this chapter. Plus, taking care of a puppy is a lot harder then I remember it being. That girl won't sit still and just wants to chew on everything in sight. If ever stop uploading, it's because of Bailey damaging my laptop with her chewing on its frame.

Volume 4 is looking great so far! The new art style was weird to get use to, but after the first episode I was glad they made the switch in programming. It looks so beautiful now and expressive. Even teared up a bit with Jaune's scenes involving Pyrrha. Can't wait for Saturday.

As always, time for some Reviews!

B312: Damn. What a way to put it. But Adam's use to such things, stubborn bastard won't quit.

DigitalEmperor001: Glad you enjoyed the arc. Yeah, it was pretty long. Honestly, I had originally planned it to last six chapters instead of ten. But the story kept going and my fingers wouldn't stop typing. Blame them for all the words, they will not listen. I no longer have any control over them. As for the DLC, well, you'll see at the end of this chapter.

Remzal Von Enili: Dude, Megaman BattleNetwork was my shit back in the day! The Double Soul thing didn't hit me till you mentioned it. Awesome. I know, I hear Undertale while I write sometimes too. And you aren't wrong about the Adam thing, he's not too hostile too his fellow Gamers as long as they don't get in his way. Or piss him off.

FlameSparks7: Who is Bold-san indeed. Souls are a difficult thing to handle. And as for Velvet, that's a story for another time.

Warhaler: Ah, bugs. That's what happens when you rush an unfinished product.

MT's Souless6: That's Jaune for you. His view hasn't changed. Time will only tell if it will stay that way. DLC, you say? Funny you should mention that.

Quathis: Thanks. When I started this, I did it with the idea of making it different compared to the other Gamer fics around. Glad you like the twists, got more coming in the future to keep you entertained. Happy you also liked the FoF, was worried not many people would take a shine to them.

SonicFanFlame: Now, let's calm down here, bud. You're words are ruthlessly stabbing at my heart! I haven't forgotten ya, I was just really tired that day to answer all the reviews. Though your salty tears helped to make my scrambled eggs taste better. Unlimited Light Works was an awesome Link to create, wait till you see the rest. Jaune's known about magic for a while now since discovering his new powers, it's how he uses his stronger attacks. And The Game does its best to restrict him from using magic publicly. And Blake dying doesn't always happen, but the Event where she always leaves him does. Sometimes he kills her, sometimes he can't. You're theory is good, but nope! That wasn't Adam talking. Keep guessing, some clues have been left behind. Trust me, my neck feels the same as I edit.

A Fan1204: Writing fight scenes can take up a good chunk of my writing, but they always have purpose. Plot development comes in all forms after all. And they're damn fun to write. Just like the teachers fight was fun to come up with as well as making up their dynamic. Glad to see you liked that bit. Also happy to see my fans enjoy the OC's, I was really worried that you would all despise them. Like all fandoms, OC's get a bad rap, finding good ones is always a pleasure. Blake and Cardin's dynamic will definitely change, but romance? Huh? What would you even call that ship? Something to mumble over another day. Seems you've gotten Adam down to a T. Or have you? The man is a complex monster in hindsight in this game. You've got some good guesses for The Voice in Jaune's head. The clues are there, souls are a tricky thing.

TalonIbnLaAhad: Finish this. Why haven't you written your own crack?! These little stories you're writing are gold, I would follow the shit out of them! Poor drag Jaune, even when he's in a dress, he attracts more ass. I feel ya on OC's. I hate them with a passion, but I also love them too. Some can be pretty cool. . .and sexy. Nice to know you and the rest can stand my own. And soon enough, with enough time, I will reach the like of Cour. Spread the word, depraved hermano!

Wing0x: It took you 2-3 days to read this story? Damn, I have been writing shiz load. Happy to have you on board.

Alright, we had the first arc which was the shortest and spanned Chapter 1-5, which I dub Reset. And we've just finished the second Arc, spanning Chapter 6-15, dubbed Trials of Fire. Now we have the last Arc of the Volume starting here! I call it, Verification! Can a white lie be fixed? Is it too late to prove one's strength? Cheaters will be punished, but can one prove their worth before it's too late? The Player's are coming to light. What price are you willing to give for another chance? Your soul?

This is going to be fun! Let's get started!

---

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY, all rights belong to RoosterTeeth. I ain't got time to run a business! Can't even drive a car anymore after being run over by a truck, getting rear ended while my sister was driving, and being born during a car accident. Car's hate me. Which sucks seeing as can't drive to a strip club to see some tail. Mama threatened to whip my ass cherry red after I asked her last time. Spoil sport.

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Chapter 16: Warm Comforts.

"Surely, you understand where I'm coming from, old friend? Years of investigations and documents gone to waste in a single day. So, you can see why I'm a little upset that Holt Delmos, a man with ties to Dr. Merlot, who's been in possession of modified Grimm, with a list of crimes spreading across nearly all four kingdoms, and leader of what many were saying was the human White Fang, has died."

Ozpin rubbed the bridge of his nose as he sat within his emerald tower, thanking Glynda as she poured him a fresh mug of coffee to drink. His face was lightly lit by the hologram screen on his desk, the man speaking to him sternly frowning from his place in Atlas.

General James Ironwood. An old friend, a trusted man, and one of the biggest pains in his ass as of late.

It's been three days since the FoF raid and things were finally starting to quite down. Every FoF member that had been a part of the movement had finally been apprehended, the police had finished the last of their investigation with the evidence they've found in their hideout, and the damage the group had created was under construction. The day of violence had been stopped before any major damage had been dealt, but sadly, their had been a loss of life. Seven officers, five firefighters, and five civilians had been killed in the mess, leaving a total of seventeen graves to be dug up. Including two casualties from the Friends of Faunus. A man with cybernetics leaving him far from human, and the leader of the humanizers, Holt Delmos.

Ozpin sighed. So much problems had arose with the death of one man. The general had been keeping tabs on Holt, following his every move for the man to slip up. Holt was no common criminal, everything the man had done had been out of the books, leaving no paper trail to trace him back to. As far as the world knew, Holt Delmos was a retired huntsman with a hobby for hunting, having gathered a vast fortune from his investments in military weaponry and research in cybernetics. He was a supporter of Ironwoods works until he had walked away and begun his plans on humanizing faunus. Safe to say, the general had a bone to pick with the man.

The only problem was that dead men told no tales. And with everything the man had known and the connections he's gathered, he could understand where the general was coming from. So much information lost and nothing to salvage from the man's private study. Must have had a back up plan in case he ever perished. A virus had wiped out everything on the man's personal computer and scroll the second they unlocked his devices.

"Yes, James, I can understand. I know you've been planning on sending in one of your specialist to apprehend the man with all the information the Vale City Police have gathered, but these things tend to happen."

General Ironwood continued to frown, "And I would accept that if it wasn't for the fact the man was well trained to the point he had evolved his semblance, something only the most skill huntsman are capable of. I would have never thought that a man who could hide in shadows could think of such deadly tactics to attack with. I've even had the pleasure of fighting the man myself and know he was no push over. What really bothers me, is how a first year student of yours was capable of killing him!" he nearly shouted in frustration, taking a deep breath to settle himself.

A first year, a fucking first year! How could a boy who was learning how to fight kill a monster like Holt Delmos? While Ironwood himself could handle him if he had the chance, he wasn't arrogant enough to believe it would be easy. Even his top specialist would have trouble taking him down. Yet a first year had been able to kill him? How was that possible? How talented was he to achieve such an accomplishment?

The general sighed, rubbing his forehead. What he wouldn't give for a drink right now, "While the ugly matter of the Friends of Faunus has finally come to an end, many questions still remain. What happened to all the hidden White Fang that they had captured and found? How were they able to gather that many men without anyone noticing? What was that strange bluish pillar of light peaking out from their location like a beacon? And why where two of your students inside their base? Mr. Arc isn't the only one under my scrutiny, Mr. Winchester's past is well known to me. Another poor soul damaged by the White Fang, sparking a hatred to their kind. It would be easy to connect him as a supporter to their cause."

"I hope you aren't insinuating that one of my students is a hateful criminal." Ozpin said with narrowed eyes, "Mr. Winchester has been cleared of such suspicion by the Vale City Police and testimony of his peers. If it wasn't for him, two of my students wouldn't be attending classes in my school ever again. For that, he has my thanks and gratitude."

Ironwood reluctantly nodded, deciding to drop that matter. He was right, Mr. Winchester wasn't entirely innocent, but he was not guilty of anything serious other then gambling. The information he had gathered while he was being recruited had helped immensely in sentencing the remaining organization. Couldn't jail the kid, especially when Ozpin was protecting him.

"Understood, but I'm more interested in your other student, Jaune Arc." Ironwood said sternly, scowling deeply as he spoke, "The Arc family is considered a family of huntsman, not the most famous, but even men such as myself know of their past valor. Except I have no recollection of Alexander's boy ever having any huntsman training." he said suspiciously with a knowing look, "I've searched the records of every combat school on Remnant, and not one of them has ever cleared Jaune Arc for any level of combat. He had no records, yet he was accepted into one of Remnant's top combat academy's with questionable transcripts without a second thought. And he was responsible for the death of the leader of a terrorist organization at that? Forgive me, but I find it all rather suspicious. I have half a mind to have the boy interrogated."

"And that other half will understand that accusing the boy who stopped said terrorist organization of anything will put you under more fire." Glynda butted in besides Ozpin's face with a glare, "Your military is already being questioned for their morals in their study of robotics crossing some dangerous lines. The media's already praising Mr. Arc and his friends for their role in taking down the Friends of Faunus alongside the police. While we've done our best in hiding most of what he's done, like his hand in killing Mr. Delmos, the parts retaining to him being responsible for saving his friends has made him out as a hero thanks to the police. Painting him out as a criminal would not bode you well."

"I'm not trying to paint him out as a criminal, Glynda." Ironwood sighed, "But because of him, I've lost one of my only leads on the odd Grimm popping out around my labs. Someone has been trying to sabotage my research with a Creeper that detonates on death, forcing me to raise my security. Dr. Merlot was under suspicion of practicing illegal experiments on Grimm, even thought to be responsible for the massive surge of the beasts invading Mt. Glenn and forcing the people underground, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was responsible for the attacks. Me and that man never did get along, and something tells me he didn't perish in the fall. And I know Mr. Delmos had been in contact with a suspicious informant before he departed our research lab." Leaning back on his own chair in the office of his ship, Ironwood rubbed the bridge of his nose, stressed out from all the news. He looked back to his old friend, feeling older then normal, "I have nothing against Jaune Arc, I'm even willing to trust you on your decision to let him into your school, but his actions have thrown a wrench in my investigations. I simply need to know if he has any information on Merlot. Captain Rola has briefed me in on the boy's role as an undercover informant, having gained trust in Mr. Delmos. He must have a sliver of information that can help me."

"Well, you'll have to wait. Mr. Arc is still recovering in the hospital. He hasn't even woken from his surgery. He's clearly in no position to be talking." Glynda smiled politely, almost smug in the face of the general, "We don't even know when he will come to. So you'll just have to hold off on sending in one of your men."

"I believe that's already too late." Ironwood said flatly, his expression unforgiving as Ozpin narrowed his eyes at his friend, "She's already been deployed to Vale. I am far to busy to met the boy face to face physically, but I have found some time to talk to him via scroll. And she will be there to set up the call and make sure things go accordingly."

"You didn't." Ozpin hid his face behind his hands, shaking his head. This wasn't going to go well.

"What? Can't an older sister visit her little sister without it being more then business?"

---

Sunlight. It was the first thing to greet Jaune's eyes as they slowly parted open, stinging his sight as his cloudy mind tried to get a hold of itself. He moaned weakly, his mind more then well enough to register the feeling of his exhausted, beaten body. What the hell had happened to him? Memories flew by in an instant, playing like an old movie reel in his head.

The Friends of Faunus. Finding Cardin, Blake and Velvet. The chaos that ensued at the hands of the Event, Trials by Fire. The many fights that had sprung up because of it. And the blood dripping off the edge of his blade as it cut right through Holt's body like butter. Ann's tear clouded eyes stared back at him, blaming him for the death of her father figure. Then darkness as his injuries took away his consciousness.

Jaune sighed deeply, holding back the wetness from spilling out his eyes. A lump formed in his throat, his guilt coming back full force. His bandaged hand found itself covering his face as the memory of his sword cutting through Holt refused to die away, his blue eyes haunted as they peeked through his fingers.

He killed someone, a living, breathing, human being with a beating heart. A part of his mind tried to reassure him that it was the right thing to do. Holt Delmos was a man possessed by twisted ideals of peace, stopping at nothing to force his way of peace onto the innocent. He had committed many crimes, probably killed more people then he was comfortable thinking about, and watched people die at the maw of Grimm for sport. Any right minded person wouldn't have thought twice about putting a man like that into a grave.

Teary eyes, lost and empty stared into his soul, Ann's gaze popping up at the thought.

No, even a monster like him had someone that loved him for all his sins and cruelty. Holt had raised her since she was a little girl out in the slums, giving her a life better then the one she had found herself in. It may not have been a normal one, but it had been leagues better then being lost and alone in the world. His aura was dark and twisted, but to her, it was warm and comforting. Seemed that even monsters had hearts.

And he had killed him. What was worse was the fact he had never meant to cut him down. Jaune wanted to stop him from ever hurting another soul again, but he didn't want to stop him by killing him. Life was precious, his mother had always told him that. And he knew the feeling of dying to another, it wasn't pleasant. He had crossed a line he never wanted to cross. And it was all thanks to Adam.

The third Player he had met in The Game. One that was beyond his level right now. Adam had spared his life for no other reason then whim. And it looked like he was part of the White Fang, the same group that had ended his life the first time. If Jaune had never missed his attack and landed it against Adam, then Holt would still be alive.

Would that have been a good thing? Holt had clearly been lost in his own beliefs, even if Jaune had beaten him and had him locked up, the man would not have stopped, bidding his time until he had formed a way out. Holt was too prideful to give up on his path, only death would stop him.

Right and wrong were at war with another, trying to justify what he had done while blaming him for what had done. Or was he just naive? He was a huntsman in training, working on protecting the world of the threat of Grimm, not man.

In the end, he would have to live with his mistake. With the image of his sword painted by the color of another person's blood running along its edge. Sighing again, Jaune let his head fall back onto his hospital pillow, suddenly taking notice of his right arm heavily bandaged in a pearly white cast. He tried to flex the fingers, failing as they felt like lead. Why couldn't he feel it? The numbing sensation running along the entire arm was scary.

"I would stop trying to move your arm around, it took us two hours of surgery repairing the shattered bones in your arm and I wouldn't want to bloody up my clothing any more."

Blinking at the sound of a familiar voice, Jaune turned his eyes to the door of his hospital room, finding the tired green eyes of Nurse Spriggan closing the door behind her. Dark bags could be seen below her eyes, her elegant ponytail disheveled as she fought a yawn. What was she doing here? She watched over the injured in Beacon. Did she have a side job as a doctor or something?

"Ms. Sprig, what are you doing here?" Jaune couldn't help but ask, scratching his cheek as the nurse reached for a seat by the nightstand by his hospital bed. With his mind clearing, he could make out the IV hooked up to his arm. His upper body was wrapped with bandages and gauze, his lower body being the only part of him free of damage other then the soreness.

Man, did he mess his body up. It was a wonder he was still alive. Had to thank the physics of The Game for still kicking around.

Artemis grumbled to herself as she took a seat by his bedside, rubbing the bridge of her nose tiredly before speaking, "I was originally enjoying a nice drink out Thursday night, when members of the FoF started running around abducting hidden White Fang members and innocent faunus. With so many being wounded, I had no choice but to play nurse and heal up the idiots too stupid to dodge. And naturally, since I was hired by Ozpin to take care of his students, I was messaged to follow after the police once they raided the hideout of the criminals to make sure you were all taken care of. That's when I found you." she glared, cursing the rules of the hospital for forbidding her from smoking. She needed something to take the edge off, "Bleeding out in the hands of your teacher with a shattered humerus bone, several gashes by what looked like sawing heated teeth, and just about exhausted to death. If your aura wasn't still up, you'd be dead."

Sounded about right, Jaune nodded stifly. Professor's Antheia's Ambrosia had saved his ass thanks to Velvet. Once he was all healed up and ready to leave, he was going to have to stock up on all the healing items he could get his hands on.

"And you stayed around to help?" Jaune asked, still not understanding why she was still here.

"I'm more then some simple nurse, you know?" Artemis answered, resting her weary head on her hand as she moved her arm to his bed, "Before the Headmaster found me months ago, I had been a combat medic under Atlas with training as a professional doctor. I know more then just scraps and sprains. With every available medic busy, I had begun working on you once we made it to Vale's hospital, it helped that I had already memorized your medical records since your first visit. I've been watching over you since then. Thanks by the way for the lack of sleep." she grumbled with a scowl.

Guilt overcame Jaune with her words. Didn't mean to cause her any trouble, "Sorry about that. I am grateful for you healing my wounds." Jaune smiled awkwardly.

"I'm owed more then grateful, kid. I'm sure I'll figure something out sometime." she yawned into her hand. Once this was all over with, she was heading off for some much deserved rest. And a smoke, maybe a beer or two, "And you're not completely healed. Your arm will take a week to heal and you'll be sore and weary for the next twenty four hours. Be grateful that's the least of your worries."

"I am. If grateful for all that you've done for me. I know I've caused you enough trouble back at Beacon." Training with Yang had him sent to Nurse Sprig's office more times then not. The girl did not understand the meaning of holding back. The pink haired nurse was probably fed up with seeing him constantly.

Artemis didn't care for the expression on Jaune's face. While she wasn't fond of bloodying her hands saving an idiot, she still cared for her patients. Scoffing softly, she flicked the depressed blonde's forehead, knocking him out of his funk as she grudgingly smiled, "Snap out of it. While I've lost my fair share of sleep, it's the least I could do for a hero like yourself." Seeing the look of confusion in his blue eyes, she continued, "The news has been blowing up with what happened and praising you kids for helping stop the FoF. You're a hero, even if you're an idiot."

Hero? Jaune's eyes dulled at the word, looking down at his bandaged hand resting on his lap. If that's what they thought, then they must not have known what he had done to Holt. No one would call a killer a hero. But, he weakly smiled, the thought of Blake, Velvet, and Cardin safe at Beacon bringing him out of his depression for the moment. He had saved his friends, at least he had done some good.

"I'm no hero, not with what I've done." he smiled somberly, shutting his eyes as the sight of Holt's bloody grin refused to leave his thoughts.

'What's wrong, killer? Not happy having stepped up to being a man? You should thank the dirty faunus, he's given you something special. A killer instinct.'

Dead men couldn't talk, right? That was a load of bull, Jaune thought as his fingers dug into his hospital blanket, nearly tearing through the fabric as he grit his teeth. Holt's words still reached him from beyond the grave, taunting him and congratulating him for his death. Looked like dead men still had voices.

Artemis frowned, having caught an all too familiar look in Jaune's blue eyes. Regret, shame, and emptiness. The kind of gaze she had seen in soldiers after they've been forced into doing something that would haunt them for the rest of their days. A kid like Jaune should not have such a look at his age, he was still a student. Seems that a lot more had happened below the city in the FoF's main hideout, tormenting the blonde knight.

"Maybe not, but you're something special to your friends." Artemis said softly, running her hands over the heavy cast of his left arm carefully. The memory of picking through the shards of bone and fixing them back together like a puzzle for his aura to heal sent a shiver across her skin. Definitely one of the most gruesome surgery's she had ever performed. "Don't bring yourself down with what happened, that look on your face doesn't fit you. You're not the brooding type, you're the dorky kind. I know your friends will be upset and worried if they walk in to such a depressing aura hanging over you. So, be grateful for the life I've saved, because I'm not sure if I'll be willing to save it again if this is what's going to greet me if I do." she winked as she tapped his nose playfully.

Jaune stared at Artemis blankly for a moment, blinking once before a slow smile grew on his face.

She was right, he wasn't the brooding type. If this kept up, he'd wind up like Ren. Their was no denying it, he had killed someone. Didn't matter if he meant to or not, nothing would change that fact. But that didn't mean he was anything like Holt or Adam. He wouldn't cross that line ever again, not if he had a choice. Jaune was better then that, better than them. And he would show them that.

Steeling his eyes, Jaune nodded his head, 'Just watch me, Holt. I'll show you a world not paved in blood or tears. Same to you, Adam. I'll stop whatever you're planning and make you regret sparing my life.' his blue eyes gazed at his bandaged hand, the memory of blood painting them slowly fading from his sight.

It wouldn't be easy, overcoming what he had done. His hands would forever be stained by the blood of his first kill to the next. But that wouldn't stop him, not when he had finally begun to prove himself as a huntsman worthy of attending Beacon. He could only grow stronger by it. If he had the power and strength to take a life then he had the power to save a life too.

"Thanks, Nurse Sprig. Seems you know more then just healing my body." Jaune grinned brightly, the dark aura hanging over him vanishing to nothing. Artemis smiled softly at the sight.

"My, my, seems that you must be better if your using such a flirty line on me. Careful, ladykiller, I'm sure you've got enough ladies chasing after you, don't need me falling for you." Like her friend, Ivy. Woman had an obsession with the blonde kid, saw him as a knight in white armor. Truthfully, she couldn't see what the plant loving professor saw, but looking into those blue eyes of his gave her a bit of an idea.

At that Jaune laughed sheepishly, "Nah, no one would fall for a loser like me. I'm nothing special. I'm just a regular guy."

True, she nodded. Maybe that was what made him special? He was just a regular boy, with wishes to be something more. Riches, glory, status, none of that meant a thing to him. All he wanted was to be seen as someone you could count on.

"Sure, let's go with that." she chuckled, patting his head affectionately before standing up. She stretched her back, grunting as her bones cracked. A smirk made its way to her face, catching a peek of Jaune staring at her, her chest popping up with the action before looking away with a blush. Still got it.

"Well, we'll be keeping you here for the day until further notice. Like I said, your left arm will take a week to heal properly, so no straining it and no combat classes until I say so. Your body will be sore for a few days as well due to muscle strain, lucky for you the doctors here will write you a prescription to handle the pain, and the stab wound along your ribcage has fully healed, but the area is still tender. An inch or two more, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. Other then some light scarring along your shattered arm, not counting the gunshot scar on your forehead," her green eyes glared at said scar, still not believing how he had survived to attain such a thing. The bullet would have broken through the skin, impacting on his forehead before somehow stopping it from exiting through his skull. It was mind boggling trying to think how he had escaped such a death, "You should be fine with some rest and medication. Won't be long till you're stumbling back into my office at Beacon with some scraps and bruises." she said in amusement.

Could not deny that. With how rough Yang fought in their training, he wouldn't stop coming by to bandage his wounds.

"Good to know. I've only just woken up and I'm already sick of sitting in bed. Wish I had my scroll to pass the time." Jaune sighed as he laid back against his bed. That would definitely eat up some time. Still needed to see what he had earned from finishing Trials by Fire.

Cocking her hip, Artemis gave the blonde boy a pout, "What? Talking with a pretty woman not good enough for you? I'm insulted."

"N-No, no! It's not that! You're gorgeous and pretty sexy in that nurse unifor-" Jaune froze mid-sentence, gulping suddenly as his hands clamped against his dirty mouth. His own thoughts were slipping past his lips dammit again.

Yup, Artemis nodded smugly, not doubt about it. Even when she was in a bloody doctors coat she could still drop jaws. Reaching into the pocket of her uniform, she tossed Jaune his scroll onto his lap.

"Stop blushing, I'm only poking some fun out of you. If you want your scroll so badly, there you go. Had a feeling you might want it while you wait to be visited by all your friends later today. Visiting hours start around nine in the morning and end at eight, just shy of night. Only four per visit, trust me, with all the people that want to see you, you'll understand why."

"That many people?" Jaune said in confusion. Other then his own team and team RWBY, who else would want to see him like this?

Artemis nodded, "You're a lot more popular then you think." Too bad one of his visits included being visited by an Atlas specialist. Did not want to be around when that happened.

Turning her back to Jaune, the pink haired nurse made her way towards the door, leaving him to mess with his scroll. She suddenly stopped, her fingers gripping the side of the door as Jaune paused what he was doing to look at her with confusion.

"You know, before Ozpin found me, I was retired from the practice of medicine and patching bodies together. Do you know why?"

Jaune shook his head with a light frown, wondering what the nurse was trying to say, "No, why did you retire? You seem to be a great doctor, you fixed my arm and saved my life. Even brought me out of my funk. Why would you retire with such a gift?"

"Because of idiots like yourself. Throwing your bodies to the grinder for some 'noble' cause, not caring about how much the people you fight for suffer at the mauled corpse you leave behind. I was tired of stitching your half dead bodies together, a person could only stomach so much gore before losing their emotions to save their sanity. I retired from the Atlas Military four years ago because I had lost someone dearly close to my heart stopping a wave of Grimm from invading a village along with many soldiers and was content simply working as a simple waitress instead of being elbow deep in blood. When Ozpin came to me with the offer of being a nurse at his school, I thought, what the hell? Paid really well and came with benefits. All I had to do was take care of a few bruises and an occasional broken bone. Until you came along." Her eyes looked back to Jaune, her face somber as her eyes saw through all the bandages and gauze to the ugly trauma beneath.

"Another 'hero' content with throwing away his life saving others, not caring about how much he suffers even while training. You remind me so much of 'him'. Seems no matter where I run, I will always find idiots such as yourself putting your lives on the line. Hmph, guess that's not much of a bad thing, we can at least trust in the faith we put in you. Just. . .try and take care of yourself from now on. You're the type of person who's death would leave behind a pile of broken hearts."

'Congratulations! You've unlocked Artemis Spriggan's Friendship! You've unlocked a Perk! Fairies Grace, Unlocked!'

As the door shut behind Nurse Spriggan, Jaune smiled softly as the door clicked, staring at the new Friendship he had unlocked on his scroll. Guess his mother was right, there were friends all around him. The more he had, the stronger he became.

'That's how I'll do it. I'll become stronger then every Player in this Game by the bonds created with every friend I encounter.' he thought in determination, gripping his scroll tightly. The Game rewarded a boost in EXP with every kill, making it easier to rise in Level then simply defeating their opponents, but that wasn't the path he would follow. It wasn't the only way he could become stronger, his friends would push him forward to break the limits of his abilities and achieve his own power, stronger then even Adam's. Even Ren, he would prove to him the strength of bonds. As long as he had them, Jaune would continue to fight and survive.

Reset after reset wouldn't fall onto him. He was finishing this game and stopping whatever being was playing puppet master with their lives. The Will, he had caught the snippet from both Husk and Adam, connecting it to his abilities almost like some Game Master. A being that decided what he was capable of, sounded like a god of some sort.

To kill a god? Jaune chuckled at the thought. There was so much he still didn't know about The Game. Just what was responsible for granting him and the other three Players these powers? Was it The Will he was hearing about? Or something beyond his imagination? Such thoughts were beginning to tire him out. Then again, he was coming down from multiple drugs sedating him. Looking around the hospital room he was stuck within for the moment, he caught eye of a few comfy chairs lined against the end of the wall in front of him, a small hologram screen beside him for watching movies from what he could guess, and white fluffy curtains of the window to his right. He quirked his eyebrow suddenly as he finally noticed all the bright flowers and balloons by his right, decorated neatly with stuffed animals and gift baskets. Reaching out for one of the many cards clipped to the flowers, plushies, and baskets, Jaune flipped it open.

'Hope you get better soon, Jaune! Don't worry, as your fellow team leader and BFF, I'll copy down an extra set of notes in class for you! And I'll even bake you some of my famous double, NO! Triple chocolate chip cookies with strawberry filling! How I get the filling in is a secret. I can't thank you enough for saving Blake and Velvet. . . . .Thank you. You're my hero.

Ruby Rose.'

A single tear ran down his face just as he reached for another.

'Don't believe what Ruby tells you. Knowing her, whatever notes she copies will be a jumble mess of mistakes. I'll take care of your notes for you, and stop her from sending you back to the hospital from sugar poisoning. And expect a scolding once you regain the ability to think properly! Running into the fray like that, do you wanna die so young? . . .Thank you though, for saving Blake and Velvet. Words can not express the gratitude we have for what you've done. Guess you're more then just a doofus.

Weiss Schnee.'

'Yo, Vomit boy! Better watch out when you get out of bed next you see me, cause I'm going to break your back with the biggest hug you've ever felt! A hero like you deserves even a little smooch for saving my partner, wink, wink. But don't expect me to go easy on you when we go back to working on your hand to hand, it's obvious from how fucked up you looked that you need to work on it. I don't want to see you so messed up ever again, so expect to have your ass handed to you!

XiaoLong from your very sexy buddy, Yang! Eh, eh, get it?'

Even in letter form, her puns were terrible. Jaune laughed hoarsely as more tears ran down his face. He continued to read every letter, each one thanking him from the bottom of each writers hearts. For saving their leader, their best friend, their partner, their teammate, even wishing him well from the other students he hadn't even gone to know. His teachers even wrote to him, hoping for a fast recovery. Though Professor Antheia should have been watched over while she was writing, some of the things she had written down were burning his cheeks. Using wordplay and hidden meanings did not make it any less obvious what she was implying. It was official, his teacher had the hots for him. How the hell did it take him this long to realize that? Intelligence was both a boon and a bane.

And in each letter, he could feel how much he meant to each one of them. Despite the blood on his hands, they cared for him all the same. Wiping the tears off his face with the back of his hand, Jaune put down the last of the letters feeling a lot lighter then he did when he woke up. As long as he had his friends, he wouldn't lose his way, not with such words keeping him from falling into a deep hole of despair.

'I wonder what they're doing?' he thought out of curiosity and boredom. He did have a way to see. Focusing his powers into his scroll, Jaune brought out the Game Menu before going into Bonds and checking the status of his friends. Finding Ruby at the top, he clicked onto her to see what the little reaper was doing. Huh, seemed her status was connected to Weiss's too. Must both be hanging out with another.

Jaune stared blankly at the screen, watching as a chibi Ruby laid on the kitchen table of the dorms, her leg propped up and twitching as she dumped a bag of chocolates into her mouth with a goofy look on her face. Chibi Weiss was running circles around her, flailing her arms in the air with a shut eyed panic look on her cute face as the small oven near them bellowed black smoke. Tiny text bubble hung over their chibi forms just like the time he had checked Pyrrha's status.

'Chocolate~! Nomonom.'

'Fire! Run away from the fire! Save yourselves!'

Were they baking? Someone needed to call 911. A sudden cough of fire blew out of the mini oven, stopping chibi Ruby from her gorging to stare in in alarm at the now growing fire and cause chibi Weiss to jump on top of the table with her. '. . . .I'm sure they'll be fine. Snow Angel can just freeze the fire if it becomes too much. I'm sure they've got it all under control.' Hopefully.

Time to see what the others where up to.

Chibi Yang was smiling happily with a hum in her dorm room along with Blake as they busied themselves packing some things in a basket, Chibi Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were walking somewhere, Cardin seemed to be doing the same along with Russel, Nurse Spriggan was smoking outside with a content smile, and Professor Antheia was watering plants happily. Almost forgot that he could check on them with his powers. With that out of the way, Jaune opened up his Quest and Special Events option. Trials by Fire was completed, time to see what he got out of it.

'Trials by Fire, Completed! By defeating the Main Boss of the Event, you've Unlocked the Title 'Hero in Training', giving you a +10 in Charisma and trust of the Vale City Police. You've also been rewarded an HP Boost, Tectonic Devastation, and 7,500Lien! Congratulations on completing your first Special Event!

Special Event, Hospital Visits, Activated! This Event is Noncombat related. While this Event is active, EXP in Friendship and Affection is boosted. New Events may even pop up in the future on the outcome of each dialogue with each Character. Good Luck, there's more then one way to earn a broken bone other then combat.'

Jaune gulped at the notification. Getting some visits from his friends sounded good, it would break the boredom of simply waiting to be cleared of the hospital. But The Game always found a way to screw with him. The rewards were pretty good though. An HP Boost would come in handy after the beating he suffered. At least it provided a chance to level up his Frienship with everyone.

A frown made its way to Jaune's face as he noticed something. Of all the Friendships he had unlocked, the only one he hadn't unlocked was Ann's. After everything they've been through, he would have thought that he had gained her trust. Then again, he did kill Holt in front of her eyes. Not unlocking her Friendship made sense after what he'd done. He groaned, wondering what he could do to make things right. What happened to her after he was taken away? If Officer Church stopped by, and hopefully he did, he would have to ask him if she was in good hands.

For now, Jaune would simply have to wait. His body was still sore and he was starting to feel a slight pain from his broken arm now that the drugs were beginning to wear off. Now would be a good time to rest before he was bombarded with questions from his team and team RWBY. Shutting his eyes, Jaune shut off his scroll before taking a nap.

---

Jaune's little nap time lasted a good hour before his hospital room door was kicked wide open courtesy of an orange blur of pink and white. Blinking sluggishly, Jaune didn't have much time to think about the identity of his intruder before his face was smothered by the heavenly firm, yet bouncy, bosom of the one and only sobbing Nora Valkyrie. Said girl sobbed hysterically as she hugged her favorite, and only, leader tighter, rubbing her snot running face into his blonde mat of hair. If this was a cartoon, he was sure there would be a waterfall of tears springing of her eyes.

"Jaaaauuunnneee-Jaaaauuuunnneee!" Nora bawled, blowing her nose into his now sticky hair. Shower, he was going to need a shower after this.

Wait, how was he going to shower? He could barely fight with one hand, let alone bathe. Did that mean the nurses would give him a sponge bath? He couldn't help but blush at the thought, and the flesh pillows smothering his face. Was breathing optional at this point?

Walking into the room of his so called leader, Ren sighed at the sight of his partner suffocating the recovering blonde. Blue was not a good color for Jaune's face.

"Nora, please give Jaune some room to breath. We want him living, not dead." Ren lightly scolded. Well, they wanted him living. He himself was still on the fence about not driving his fangs into the naive blonde's skull.

Gasping for a breath of air as Nora reluctantly released her hold on her leader, Jaune nodded his head in thanks to Ren. Dying of suffocation by breasts was not on his list of deaths. He wasn't some masochist, dammit.

Sniffing back her tears, Nora laughed in embarrassment as she scratched her head. Got a little carried away there. It was just relieving to see Jaune up after how they had found him days ago. "Sorry, Jaune-Jaune! I'm just happy to see you awake! We. . .we were really worried about you, you know?" she said softly as she looked down her feet.

Guilt, thy old friend was back. It wasn't often that you would see such a look on bubbly Nora's face, it was as rare as a comet shooting across the night skies. Only it was a sight that you wished you didn't see. Jaune rubbed the back of his head as he smiled back at the orange haired hammer girl.

"It's alright, Nora. And I'm sorry that you had to see me like that. I know it must have been hard on everyone." he replied with a guilt stricken face.

Nora snapped her head to his guilty expression in confusion before smacking her cheeks and shaking her face off of her own depression, "No! You don't have to apologize for that. But you should apologize for not asking for our help before you ran off to play hero." she huffed, her cheeks puffing as she glared at her sheepish leader. Who did he think he was? One of the heroes in his comic books?

"I had my reasons." Jaune sighed as he laid back on his bed, "First, where is Pyrrha? I thought she'd be with you guys?" he asked, his eyes searching behind his teammates for his partner.

At that, Nora laughed nervously, "Yeah, see, the thing is, Pyrrha's kinda ticked off with you right now. She's actually behind the door right now."

"She is? Why won't she come in?"

"It's like Nora said, she's upset with you." Ren answered as he laid his back against said door. He shut his eyes, his senses picking up on the red aura of the spartan girl.

"You went off on some secret mission with the Vale City Police and didn't think twice about talking to us about it? And look where that got you, sitting in bed with a newly repaired arm after hours of surgery and blood transfusions. Something like that does tend to tick off your partner."

"And she's a girl! We tend to feel pretty emotional about these kind of things. We're ticking time bombs of raging emotions that can't be contained!"

"What she said." Ren motioned flatly to his grinning partner.

'But I told you about it!' Jaune thought in annoyance, only to get a deadpanned stare in return. Almost as if he was saying he had nothing to do for his state of wear. And throwing him under the bus alongside him wouldn't do him any good.

"So, she won't talk to me, huh?" Jaune groaned. Great, just what he needed after waking up and realizing he was a killer. A pissed off girl friend. Not good.

"She will, after we're done visiting you. Says she wants some alone time with you." Nora grinned brightly.

"Good luck with that. She was going hard against the training drones the other day."

"Yeesh, must have destroyed her training partners."

"Training partners? Jaune, how long do you think you've been asleep?" Ren asked with an amused smirk.

Jaune frowned in thought, "I don't know? A day?" Didn't feel that long.

"Try three. It's Monday."

"THREE days?" Jaune stressed, whistling at the number. Man, was he out. Then again, he did nearly die, again and again. His body needed all the rest it could take. "What did I miss?"

"Not much, just a whole lot of worrying over your well being, making get well cards and pancakes, missing out on day of class, studying for the test we missed for tomorrow, and trying to wrap our heads around Cardin not being as big of a jerk as we thought." Nora said brightly.

"Other then guilt, and fear of said test, what's this about Cardin not being a jerk?" Jaune asked as he crossed his hands over his chest, "I thought you wanted to break his legs?" he said with a teasing grin.

"Break his legs? When did I ever say that?" Nora frowned.

Jaune winced at the slip of tongue. That's right, in this new timeline he wasn't bullied by Cardin, so Nora had never threatened to break his legs for messing with him all the time. He really had to be careful of what he said.

"I mean, I've thought about it whenever I saw him messing with faunus, but I've never said it out loud, you know?" Nora said before gasping dramatically, "Unless you're some kind of psychic! Quick, make me a balloon animal! Preferably a sloth."

"That's a clown, not a psychic."

"They both wear funny outfits and creep me out, so I beg to differ."

Moving on from that, "So, what's this about Cardin? What made you guys realize he wasn't such a bad guy?"

"Oh! Well, Velvet and Blake explained that Cardin was actually part of your hidden investigation. He was skipping school to gather information and when he found out that they were both kidnapped, he fought back to protect them. But the big boss was too strong and broke his arm until you showed up and saved the day!" Nora cheered as she threw her hands up, "I was actually surprised that Cardin's a good guy. He's still a racist, but at least he's willing to put that all aside to protect someone, even if they're a faunus. Didn't think he had it in him."

Ren nodded his head, his eyes still shut as he thought about said mace wielder. In every timeline he had passed, Cardin's personality had pretty much been the same. Racist, arrogant, prideful, had very little care about peoples opinion on him. Down the road he would sometimes turn over a new leaf, usually after the Fall of Beacon, or he would fall further down, eventually turning into an enemy that would block their way. But for him to change his personality so early, it was actually shocking. And it had been some time since Ren had been shocked by an NPC. Cardin seemed more tempered then ever before, as if he had some heavy weight lifted from his shoulders after years of enduring.

No doubt about it, whatever change had come over Cardin had to be the result of Jaune's actions somehow. That was the thing about Players, even the smallest actions by them could drastically change even the thought process of an NPC. Sometimes. There were certain NPC's hardwired to follow a certain pattern in personality, so even their actions were null to change their ways. It was why Cinder was never anything more then an Antagonist with every Reset, The Game refused to make her anything more.

'Even when you're not trying to, you still seem to find a way to change people for the better.' Ren thought in a moment of fondness. Even as an NPC, Jaune had been capable of such a unique thing.

Still didn't change his thoughts on his leader. If he truly wished to prove to him he had what it takes to even try to beat The Game, he would have to show him he was ready for the grind. He had already gone through one step, a step all Players had to pass even NPC's. Their First Kill.

"How are Blake and Velvet doing anyways?" Jaune couldn't help but ask as the two girls popped into his head.

Nora waved her hand dismissively at the worried look on Jaune's face, "They're fine! Blake suffered a few sprained ribs and bruises, and Velvet suffered two lightly sprained ankles along with some ouchies. Hell, everyone came out fresh as daises compared to you." she frowned as she marched over to his bedside. She stared into his nervous eyes unflinchingly as she raised a single finger in the air, giving him a flat look before poking his heavily cast arm.

"Boop."

"OOOOOOWWWWWW! CHRIST, HOW STRONG IS YOUR FINGER?!" Jaune shouted in pain as he nearly jumped out of his bed. Why did that hurt so much? It was under layers of bandages for gods sake!

"And that's what you get for charging in like an idiot. The pain you're feeling now is nothing compared to the hurt we suffered when we found you." Nora glared as she sat down on the seat pulled next to his bed. The memory of his near beaten, bloody body flashed before her eyes, causing her to grip onto the railing of his bed tightly to the point of bending the steel, "You know we all thought you were dead when we found you lying in a dried puddle of blood next to some strange girl and a dead man. Yang had been the first among us to break out of shock and check for your pulse. It was so weak, but the professors said that your aura was keeping you alive despite how horribly wounded you were. If you didn't have it up. . .we wouldn't be talking right now." A slim tear ran down Nora's cheek, dropping onto Jaune's pearly white sheets to stain.

People always assumed that Nora was just a goofy, hyperactive, pancake obsessed, sloth loving huntress in training, that nothing could ever get her down. Well, they were wrong. Even she couldn't smile when her friend had nearly been killed doing something stupid he could have gone to his friends, his teammates, for help with. Jaune was their leader, their friend, yet he couldn't trust them to have his back? What was the point of being in a team if they couldn't even protect each other from something like this happening to one of them? It pissed Nora off that he had left them in the dark for who knows how long, but in the end, she was simply happy he was still alive with them.

If her leader died, Nora wasn't sure she'd ever be able to smile honestly ever again.

Cleaning of the stray smudge off her tear, Nora gently ran her hands along Jaune's broken arm, "We're your friends, Jaune. Knowing you were fighting off some insane maniac hell bent of humanizing an entire species of people by yourself tends to make us worried for your safety. It really hurts, knowing you didn't trust us enough to even have your back. Makes me feel like it was our fault." she said in guilt.

"IT'S NOT!"

Snapping out of her depressed mood, Nora was taken by surprise as she found Jaune's left hand grabbing onto her wrist as he shouted loudly. Ren's eyes flew open at the sudden rise in volume and anger, quirking a brow at the fierce look on Jaune's face.

Jaune shook his head as he stared directly into Nora's seafoam green eyes, "Nora, what happened to me wasn't anyones fault but my own. And it's not like I didn't think about telling you guys about all the undercover stuff. For the last month, all these secrets have been eating away at my soul, I've barely gotten a good nights rest with all the things I've kept from you guys keeping me up. But I had to leave you all in the dark, I had to do this on my own. Otherwise, what kind of leader would I be for leading my team into danger and risking their lives because of what I wanted?"

Saving Ann from Holt's shadowy reach had nothing to do with his team. Look at what fighting their leader did to him, he had nearly died. There was no way in hell that he would take a chance on any of them suffering the same as he did. The burden would fall on him and him alone. God knows the amount of crushing guilt he would suffer if any of them had so much as broken a finger.

"Now that I think back on it, all this started because I wasn't telling the truth. Hell, I'm still lying now. A guy like me should have died fighting a man like Holt with the lack of training I have."

"Lack of training? Jaune, I don't know if you know this, but you were accepted into Beacon because you're so strong. How else would you have gotten accepted?" Nora asked with a small grin.

And there was the origin of every mess he had gotten into. Lie Number One. The one that should have been discovered ages ago, yet had surprisingly enough had never been found by anyone other then Pyrrha and Cardin. Did no one ever question how a loser like him got accepted into Beacon with zero wins under his belt in combat class? Or was that some unspoken rule?

"Try fake transcripts." Jaune sighed as he scratched his cheek with a look of shame, "I. . .wasn't exactly accepted into Beacon because of my awesome grades or even recommendations. I bought some fake transcripts and I lied. I never went to a combat school, just a regular civilian school where I learned normal stuff that didn't involve hunting monsters. I'm not strong like you and Yang, I'm not fast like Ruby and Ren, I'm not gifted with some awesome semblance like Pyrrha and Weiss, I'm not even agile or sneaky like Blake. I'm just a regular guy who wanted to become something more, a warrior like my father, and his father, and his father before, all the way to my great great grandfather who fought in the Great War. I don't belong here in Beacon, not like you guys, I'm just a fake trying to play hero." he admitted in regret.

How hard did everyone have to work for their spot here in Beacon? How many times had they hurt themselves, trained from day to night, studied hours after hours, and slaved over the mechanics of their weapons, to get where they are now? And here he had strut in with zero experience and training acting like he belonged alongside them. A nobody like him had no right to call himself a huntsman in training.

"That's a load of bull."

"Eh?" Jaune asked in confusion as he suddenly found Nora's finger poking his forehead.

Nora nodded her head firmly, "So what if you lied your way in? That doesn't change the fact that you do deserve to be here with us. I don't know where all this low self-esteem is coming from, but it needs to stop. You may not believe this, but you're strong, really strong. You've been doing a decent job in combat class, you're passing the rest of your classes just fine until you started this undercover stuff, and you saved a whole bunch of people by stopping some boss of a terrorist organization. I bet, that if you were to take the entrance exam right now, sans the broken arm, you'd pass with flying colors."

"Aren't you at all surprised by my fake transcripts?" Jaune asked, a little stunned by the orange haired girls words.

"If I am surprised at all, it's that you think you had to lie to get into Beacon Academy. Even if you don't trust us, we still think you're a great leader. And friend." Nora grinned happily.

Ren shrugged his shoulders from the door of the room, "What she says." Wasn't at all surprising seeing as he had known about the transcripts for many years.

Jaune was speechless. Telling them about what had been his darkest secret had always been a fear of his until he had told Pyrrha that night on the rooftop in a fit of anger. And after what had happened with Cardin in Forever Fall, he had been scared to death telling the rest of his team about it. Only for them to react the same way. He smiled.

Some things never changed.

Lifting himself to sit up right, Jaune suddenly brought Nora into a one armed hug, taking the girl by surprise at the new action. In all the time they had known each other, Nora was always the one to initiate the hug, having him do it first was new.

"I do trust you guys, I'm sorry I made you doubt otherwise. Next time I'm dragged into some undercover mission to stop some maniac, I'll be sure to let you all know first. We're a team after all, we stick together no matter."

It was Nora's turn to remain speechless in the warm embrace by the normally goofy knight. Here she was chewing him out, and now she couldn't think of a word to say. She couldn't help but grin as she hugged back lightly, careful not to aggravate any of his wounds.

For some weird reason, her soul felt. . .relieved at the feeling of his beating heart. Like it had missed its rhythmic beat after so long. Weird.

'Nora Valkyrie's Friendship has gone up! You've Unlocked Thunder Strike! You've Unlocked a Perk! Valkyrie's Blessing, Unlocked!'

No ship like Friendship.

Releasing their embrace, Nora affectionately ruffled Jaune's hair as she stepped back with a blush. Thinking back to the first day she had met the awkward blonde, she never had her doubts about him, especially with how he handled himself in their first fight with the Deathstalker. Yet he still doubted himself, never believing he was good enough. Looked like it would be up to them to make him see how great he was.

"Good to know, I don't like being left out of city saving adventures. I crave action! . . .And pancakes. Ren?" Nora grinned hopefully as she set her eyes on her passive partner.

Ren sighed, chuckling to himself softly, "I suppose I can whip up another batch once we go back to Beacon. We just have to wait for Pyrrha to finish talking to Jaune."

"Oohhh." Nora winced, "Should I just say my final words to him then? Because Pyrrha's going to tear him a new one."

"I suddenly feel very unsafe in this hospital."

"Sounds about right." Ren said smugly as he stepped off the door. "We should really give them the room to themselves. They have a lot to talk about." Did not want to be around when Pyrrha chewed into him, as fun as that sounded. Nora nodded her cheerfully before getting off her chair and skipping towards her friend. Reaching for the doorknob, Ren was ready to exit the room and wait for the spartan to finish her talk with their leader only to sigh as a famaliar sensation fall over the world.

Should have seen that coming.

"What is that you want now?" Ren asked with some annoyance as he turned back to the bedridden blonde knight. Jaune frowned at him, his fingers digging into his covers tightly.

"Who's Adam?"

Ren scowled deeply, returning to laying back against the door as he crossed his arms.

"I take it you met him? I thought the wound across your back looked familiar. He's known to deal a clean slice with that chokuto of his, I've felt his blade against my skin many times before as well." he acknowledged with a grunt. Seeing Jaune continue to frown at him, Ren decided to continue.

"Adam is known as the 'leader' of the White Fang. He's also the second one of us to be granted the power of The Gamer, he's Player Two. And the only one to still be playing against The Game. Compared to the rest of us, you could say he's the strongest among us, and that's only because the first one to be granted this curse doesn't care for the games we play."

"Leader of the White Fang, huh?" Jaune whispered as he held where the stab wound Adam had inflicted on him laid. So, Blake had worked with him once before, with a monster like him? He could still remember the heavy aura surrounding the redheaded man. No wonder she had left. Even worse, he was part of The Game.

'You should really thank me for pushing you into your first kill, now it will only get easier.'

Hate seeped into Jaune's being at the memory of his sword cutting through Holt and the man who was responsible for his first kill. Adam had played him the entire time, setting him up as he dodged his power strike with his incredible speed. What made it worse was the fact he hadn't been planning on him killing the leader of the humanizers, his original target had been Ann. If Holt hadn't regained consciousness and switched places with the blue haired girl then it would be Ann's blood haunting him.

Jaune didn't want to say it, but he was relieved that Holt had taken Ann's place. Killing her would have been more traumatic then his death.

"If he's so strong, why did he leave me alive? What good does that do him?" Jaune couldn't help but ask his fellow Player. Ren had known the guy from the sounds of it, maybe he understood how he thought.

"I'm guessing it's because you pose an ongoing challenge, you possess potential." Ren didn't want to admit it, but Jaune was actually powerful in his own right. Once he understood what he was capable of he would grow into a fine leader and strategist. With how bored Adam usually became after several runs, the bull faunus most likely saw an opportunity for a conflicting force to entertain him. Sparring Jaune had planted hate into him, "Adam sees you as an obstacle, one that will won't quite until you've stopped him from achieving his wish. He's playing on your hero complex to oppose him in the long run of this game. Leaving you alive must have planted some negative emotions, he could have killed you then and there but chose to spare you because he could. And knowing the kind of person you are," he scoffed amusingly as he caught the blonde dig his finger's into his blanket in frustration, "You're pride has taken a hit. He made you feel weak, took away your control, and it upsets you."

"Course it does. What Adam did was completely different to the times I was bullied by Cardin." Jaune nodded his head stiffly, "Every fight I've been through so far has been against opponents levels above me, literally. But I've come out of each one by trying my hardest and using my head. I was already on my last leg when Adam had shown up and took both me and Holt out like it wasn't even worth the effort. Even if the both of us had been at full health, I'm sure Adam wouldn't drop a sweat to kill us."

"He's been playing The Game longer then I can remember. Even if he was lvl1, he could still take out even the most well trained huntsman on his skill alone."

"He could have killed me, Ren." Jaune shut his eyes, his body trembling with emotion as he thought back to the redheaded Player grinding his heel onto his head like he was dirt, "All the progress that I've struggled to earn would have been for nothing if he killed me. And I would have had to start all over again, losing the friends I've found. Someone with that kind of power is a Player, and he wants the genocide of humanity? I can't let him go through with that."

Ren shrugged his shoulders, "Why not? He's been close to accomplishing his plans many times before. But The Game always Resets before he could take his first steps to bringing about such a world. Until this game ends, we don't have to worry about such genocides. Everyone he kills will simply be brought back to life on the next world."

"Well, I'm not like you. I can't easily ignore the loss of human or faunus life. Guess my hearts too big to let me not care about people." Jaune smiled sadly as he stared up the white ceiling.

At first, Jaune had planned on beating The Game simply to prove to Ren that it was possible, and that if they worked together they could stop whatever force was manipulating them. He wanted to set his friend free of his burden. Now, he really had no choice in the matter. If Adam was planning on reaching The End by leaving behind a trail of bloody corpses in his path, then Jaune would simply stop him with whatever power he could gain. All this was about saving the lives around him, not the glory or the prize of some ultimate risk free wish.

Ren continued to stare at his leader. Why did he think that convincing Jaune of all people to abandon what awaited him would work? A hero was a hero for a reason, their selfless attitudes and heart would always push them to never give up. Even if said hero had a weak spine and acted like a dork most of the time. Sighing tiredly, Ren nodded his head. It wasn't as if he was heartless, just tired of it all. And why worry about the lives of billions when they would resurrect in the next Reset to live their lives all over again? He understand Jaune's reasoning, as futile as it was.

"You at least have some understanding of what awaits you now after going through your first event. You'll come close to death many more times after today, and you'll be forced to kill again if you want to save even an NPC." Seeing the startled look on Jaune's face, Ren nodded, "I saw Crocea Mors blade, it was painted with an excess of blood, connecting that to the dead boss close by wasn't difficult. Whether you like it or not, you'll be forced to do it again." Before Jaune had become a Player, he had crossed that line time after time to protect the people he cherished. There was no escaping it now that he had killed his first.

Jaune scowled but chose not to say anything now. Ren would just call him naive for believing he didn't have to kill anyone to progress.

"And as much as I cherish these conversations of ours," Ren said sarcastically as he turned back for the door, "I have to head back to prepare lunch for later. So, if you don't have anymore questions to waste my time with?"

Shaking his head, Jaune sat back with a tired grin, "Nope, not right now. I do need all the rest I need for Friday."

"Friday?"

"The trip to Forever Fall. Where I'm going to prove to you just how strong I am, and that it's not too late to still try and beat this game we're trapped in."

"It's not just about strength, Jaune." Ren frowned, "There is more to it then that. I doubt you'll understand, but I guess I'll have to humor you if it means beating you will make you stop bugging me."

Not giving Jaune a chance to say anymore, Ren ended the pause with a snap of his finger. Opening the door, he stepped out, pausing for a moment outside the door. Pyrrha's hesitant green eyes gazed back at him, the spartan girl standing right next to the open door to her partner's room in her uniform. She had skipped out on changing out of it to see her partner as quick as possible.

"He's all yours." Ren smiled gently as he patted her shoulder, "Just don't break him anymore then he is now. He's our beloved leader after all."

Pyrrha blushed in embarrassment as she nodded her, steeling her features soon after. Her partner had a lot to answer for.

"I'll try not to make him feel worse then he already does, but I can't make any promises." she joked before stepping into the room.

With the shut of the door behind her, Ren went along his way to find his own partner. Probably harassing the hospital kitchen staff for their crappy cooking and lack of buttermilk pancakes. Better to find her quick before the hospital sent their team a bill on damages.

Sweat ran down Jaune's face as Pyrrha entered the room, her face not so pleased in the state he was left in after the events of the last few days. She drummed her fingers against her crossed chest, her frown deep as she walked to his bedside. No words were said as silence fell upon the room.

Did it just get chilly? Next time Jaune saw the nurse, he was asking for more blankets because he was freezing up in here. Swore he could see his own breath.

Taking a seat, Pyrrha's gazed stayed on her partner till they fell upon his broken arm. The memory of blood and even bone poking out of the appendage sprang up, causing her to flinch and run her fingers across the cast.

"What were you thinking, Jaune?" Pyrrha whispered, her voice heavy with sorrow.

Jaune opened his mouth to speak, failing to find the right words to ease his partner's thoughts as he looked down in shame.

Tears pricked Pyrrha's eyes in response to the blonde knight's silence, "Jaune, speak to me. We're more then just partners, we're friends. And I'm tired of all these secrets you've been keeping from me. Why would you not tell me about working with the police to bring down a group of criminals, about the girl you've been hanging around with, or the fake transcripts that allowed you into Beacon?"

"You. . .know about the transcripts? And Ann?" Jaune asked in surprise. Seemed officer Church had covered for him with his business with the FoF, but he hadn't said anything about faking his way in or Ann. How did she know?

"The hospital doors aren't exactly thick, you know?" Pyrrha chuckled softly as she rubbed her eyes of any tears, getting a nod of understanding from Jaune, "As for Annabel, I actually had a chance to talk to her before one of the officers escorted her away. She was being treated for her wounds and after convincing an officer by the name of Kris to let me talk to her, she explained everything to me. I told her I was your partner and she felt it was only right to give me the uncensored version of what you've been up to for almost a month." The frown returned to Pyrrha's face, growing deeper as she recalled everything the blue haired girl had revealed to her. Underground blood sports, sneaking into a hive of criminal activity, running back top secret information which if caught would spell his death, and even betting his own life against the creatures of Grimm with only a hunter's knife at his disposal? It sounded ridiculous, but it did explain Jaune's weary state the last few weeks and the bruises and scratches on his face when he came back from his trips to Vale.

The fake transcripts weren't even an issue for Pyrrha. If anything, it confused her that Jaune would think the only way he could get into Beacon with his schools was to fake his way in. He was plenty strong as it was, the only thing he was lacking was confidence. That, and intelligence. Going on such a secret undercover mission with no one behind him proved that he wasn't exactly smart.

But what hurt the most, was that he wouldn't trust her of all people. They were partners, teammates, for the rest of their stay in Beacon they needed to protect one another and help each other. Not since the day she had met him during Initiation did they even have a chance to really hang out with another. How were they suppose to trust another if they didn't even spend time together? Where had the awkward blonde with a dorky yet charming smile go?

"I'll ask you again, what were you thinking when you agreed to all of this? Look where it's left you! Laying in bed with a broken arm, numerous wounds and bruises, weak from blood loss, and is that a bullet scar on your forehead?" she moved closer to his face, not caring about the closeness as she parted his hair back a bit to see the almost gash like scar from the impact of a bullet. Just another scar that panged her heart.

"I was thinking about saving a friend from from all this mess." Jaune admitted, holding back a blush as he got a good look into Pyrrha's eyes. Were they always so green like emeralds? Shaking off the slight daze, he continued, "When I had first gone off on my own to Vale, I met this girl who didn't have enough money to pay for her breakfast, naturally I paid for it without any thought of getting anything in return. But she was adamant in paying me back the five Lien, giving me her number just so we could meet up again to pay be back with interest." Jaune couldn't help but laugh a little. Come to think of it, this whole series of events had started with five simple Lien. The smallest things could change so much. "After a few days had gone by, she messaged me to met up in Vale. We met up and went out for some food, but she was so stingy with her money that I paid for both our meals. Which lead to her telling me of a way to make more money as a payback. After seeing her off, I was going to head back to Beacon before the police following her took me in for questioning."

"That's why you had been locked up for night?" Pyrrha asked, getting a nod in response.

"Yeah, they weren't exactly gentle about it back then." Jaune laughed sheepishly. Still had nightmares about Barbie's belt whipping. "From there, one thing lead to another, and suddenly I found myself working along with the police to bring down the Friends of Faunus. All I asked for in return was that they reduced whatever punishment was in store for Ann. She may have been a criminal, but all I could see was someone who simply needed a friend to watch out for her." his eyes turned to blue steel as he spoke, reflecting his lack of regret in what he had done. Pyrrha was actually taken back by such a look, the determination in his eyes speaking volumes of his actions.

"I'm sorry, for everything. For worrying you whenever I came back beat up, for lying to you about what I was doing, and for nearly dying on all of you. I understand why you're so upset with me, and I don't blame you or being angry. But I won't regret saving my friend."

Pyrrha shut her eyes as she collected her thoughts. Past the determination she could make out how sorry he felt about his actions. But he didn't regret what he had to do to save his friend. It lessened her anger a bit. Still, she sighed as she opened her eyes to glare at the blonde. He wasn't getting off that easy.

"I can understand your reasoning, but I'm still upset with you. We're your team, if you can't trust us, then how will we be able to work together? How can I trust someone who I don't even know? Half the time I feel like you're a stranger, I don't even know your favorite color." she smiled sadly.

'But you do! At least, you did.' Jaune ground his teeth in frustration. That's when it hit him, the realization of his lack of actions.

Back in the first timeline, Pyrrha had unlocked his aura and trained him to fight. She was his mentor, they use to hang out with each other every night as they trained. They had spent so many nights talking with another, learning about their favorite food, colors, music, and so on. Like Nora and Ren, they had become best friends, trusting each other with whatever problems that plagued their minds. The beautiful green eyes gazing at him sadly were different though. They lacked the trust they once had. He had no one else to blame but himself.

Jaune wasn't the same blonde that needed her help when they had first met. No longer did he need her to train him every night, with his new growth and past experience he could finally stand his ground in a fight. He wasn't a burden to her any longer, he wasn't the damsel in distress. But because of that, they no longer hung out as mush as they did. Their bond was lost in the Reset and he hadn't done anything to make it as strong as it once was.

Compared to his first life, they were simply two people working as partners, not as best friends. That special bond was no longer there. And the thought of that made Jaune's eyes tear up as he looked into those hurt green eyes that no longer held the same memories of their times together.

'I'll be damned if let that continue any longer! Just because the memories are lost, doesn't mean we can't make new ones just as special!'

Sniffing lightly, Pyrrha reached her hand back, only to be startled as she found Jaune's bandaged hand grabbing onto her wrist. The action brought a blush to her face, growing deeper as his expression became sterner. Damn his boy pretty features! How could she keep up her composure when he was so close with a face like that?

"White."

Pyrrha blinked in confusion, "What?"

Jaune grinned brightly at her, "That's my favorite color, white. My favorite thing to eat is dinosaur chicken nuggets with mash potatoes and gravy, and I love to eat Pumpkin Pete's cereal for breakfast every morning. I also love to read Xray and Vav, play Grimm Hunters, I still sleep in my onesie, and I think I'm allergic to tree sap."

Still looking at the blonde in confusion, it finally hit Pyrrha as a smile broke out on her face, She giggled, already knowing most of what he said from living with him. His favorite color though, that was new. Matched his aura, what a coincidence. The redhead girl shook her head, rubbing her eyes of any tears as she grinned back.

What was she thinking? She knew plenty about him, just because they didn't hang out as much as others didn't mean their bond wasn't as strong. What they had was special. Odd as it was, it felt like she had known him her entire life, her soul could feel it, just how special he was to her. Seeing him so wounded had made her upset, making her say such untrue things. Now she felt guilty.

"How can you think you're allergic? It's either you are, or you aren't?" she asked with a teasing smirk.

"If a doctor hasn't said anything about an allergic reaction when I was born, then I can't be sure that it's responsible for my puffy face and difficult breathing."

"Right." Pyrrha drawled. Noticing that he was still gripping onto her wrist, she coughed awkwardly as she gave it a little tug. Jaune sputtered as he let go, blushing as he apologized. The two laughed at the situation, the heavy air between them vanishing as everything returned to normal.

Just another new memory to add to their bond. One he wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon.

'Pyrrha Niko's Affection and Friendship has risen! A new Skill has been unlocked! Victory Rush, Unlocked!'

For the moment, Jaune ignored the newest notification as he smiled softly at his friend, "When I'm all better and ready to leave this place, we should all go out. Head to the arcade or something, maybe stop by for some pizza?"

Pyrrha nodded her head happily, "Sounds grand! I'd love nothing more then for all of us to spend time together." Though a small part of her would have loved it more if just the two of them went out. Like a date. Well, for now she would simply have to play her cards right and hope to get through that thick headed skull of his.

Maybe she should just throw it all out the window and buy a giant sign declaring her affections for the dense blonde?

---

"It's Weiss's fault! She had one job! ONE JOB!"

"I wasn't trained for this kind of thing! Back home, I had a butler who did these kind of things for me. How was I suppose to know that cookies can randomly detonate into an inferno?"

"You bring shame upon this school dorm, SHAME!"

"And what of yourself? All you were doing was stuffing yourself silly with chocolate chips! It's not my fault you weren't watching the oven. And who replaces the school issued fire extinguisher with whip cream?"

"Someone who's willing to put her whole team in danger for a quick laugh! Yang?"

"I regret nothing! Only that I wasn't there to see it all go down."

Jaune watched the little scene between team RWBY with a quirked brow as he busied himself eating a nice plate of shrimp fried rice courtesy of the blonde of the female team. Surprisingly, it was pretty tasty. Who knew Yang had it in her? Or that she could sneak a basket full of warm home cooked food past the hospital staff.

After Pyrrha had left with a promise to visit again soon, Jaune had a good half hour to himself to read over his new skill. Victory Rush was an ability that increased his Strength by 5% with every victory for a limited time. A pretty useful skill whenever he was locked in a battle against multiple opponents. Once he was settled back into his bed, his stomach began to let itself be known as it growled. When was the last time he ate again? Feeling the ache of hunger set upon him, Jaune was ready to press the call button to get some food sent up when the girls of RWBY barged into his room. And with them they brought the answer to his aching stomach. Sweet food.

His eyes gazed at the plate of charcoal black remains of what he was told were once cookies, still lightly smoking by the small table by his bed. Desert wasn't an option it seemed.

Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss sat around his bed with plates placed onto tv tray tables. Where they got them from, he had no idea. He was still trying to figure out how they got the food in here unnoticed. Smiling at their company, Jaune dug back into his food, licking his lips as he brought another spoonful of the delicious rice to his mouth.

"Shit!" he suddenly flinched, a sharp pain splitting against his hand causing him to drop his spoon. A small mess of veggies, shrimp, and rice fell onto him as he stretched his hand to relive the pain.

Blake rolled her eyes as she set down her plate. Seeing as she sat on his right, she quickly cleaned up the mess before taking his spoon from him. "What did we say about taking it easy? As if eating with your less dominant hand wasn't easy enough, the doctors said that your left hand was also sprained. If you're having trouble eating, all you have to do is ask for help." she sighed in the face of his sheepish grin. Looked like she was just going to feed him herself.

"Awww, look, Rubes." Yang cooed with a grin at the sight of Blake feeding Jaune, "Our little bookworm is getting friendly with Vomit Boy. Gotta thank her hero somehow I suppose. I honestly think a kiss is much more rewarding though, don't ya think?" she wiggled her brows teasingly at the blushing pair.

"It's fine, Blake. Just a little sting." Jaune smiled weakly as he waved the spoon of rice away from his face, "I can feed myself."

"No, you can't. You've only just woken up after hours of surgery and rest, you're still unfit to even walk, let alone feed yourself." Blake argued before shoving it into his mouth.

Weiss nodded as she wiped her mouth with a napkin, "She's right. I'm still surprised you're even awake. They said it would take five days before you regained conscience. Seems you're just full of surprised, aren't you?"

Swallowing his food, Jaune gave Weiss a charming smile, "Well, I couldn't stay asleep with the thought of my Snow Angle waiting for me."

"Really? You come back from nearly dying, and the first thing on your mind is flirting with me?"

"The heart wants what the heart wants-Ow!" Jaune winced suddenly as Blake missed his mouth and stabbed her spoon onto his sore cheek. A flat stare looked back at him in response.

"Oops, I missed." she replied dryly.

"Ignoring our little Blake's new found jealousy, you were still in the middle of telling us about what you were doing in the hideout of the FoF." Yang prodded, ignoring the indignant glare on her partner's face. He was getting to the good part.

At the mention of his storytelling of the events that went down days ago, Jaune nodded his head before going into thought of where he left off. Parts of the story had to be left out of course, couldn't have them discovering he could use magic, one of the big no-no's Ren had warned him about., "Right, well I had just broken my arm shattering Holt's chain clever when he threw one of its shards at me to fight with. He said that one of us wasn't making it out of there alive, and he was more then fine with leaving himself." he sighed somberly, the memory refusing to leave him.

"So, what did you do?" Ruby couldn't help but ask softly. It was one of the questions they were afraid to ask once they had calmed down after saving him. Beside him had been a dead body, from the very man who had kidnapped Blake and Velvet, in a dried pool of his own blood. And in Jaune's hand was Crocea Mors, its metal blade painted dark red.

Jaune struggled to speak for a moment, scowling sadly as he spoke, "I was going to knock him out, I wasn't going to stoop to his level. But Ann had stopped us before we could continue fighting again. And for a moment, I thought she had gotten though to him, he was hesitating for a second. But that changed when the leader of the White Fang barged in and stabbed Ann through the back." he growled, his fingers balling into his sheets.

Rice fell onto his lap again suddenly as Blake lost her grip on his spoon in shock. Her eyes trembled, her heart stopping. 'Adam?'

"Blake, are you alright?" Weiss asked in worry as everyone noticed the quite girl's frozen demeanor.

Shaking off the shock, Blake smiled in apology as she got to cleaning the mess she made, "No, sorry. I just remembered I forgot my special copy of Ninja's of Love back at our dorm room. I was going to let Jaune borrow it while he was resting." she replied quickly, making up an excuse on the spot. Inwardly she was smacking her head.

Yang quirked a brow, "You were going to lend him your porn while he stayed in the hospital? He only has a one hand, and it's not his dominant. Kinda hard to enjoy 'em, unless you plan on sticking around to help him out?" she said with a husky grin.

"I don't get it." Ruby plainly blurted as Weiss hid her blushing face, "All he's doing is reading, how could she help him? No, wait." she smiled brightly as she smacked her head, "He can't turn the pages with one hand. I see why he might need help with that."

Innocence, what a beautiful thing. Also hilarious in its own way.

"Right." Jaune coughed into his fist as he fought the hot blush on his face. That image wouldn't be leaving him soon, "Moving on. The leader of the White Fang came out of no where and attacked us, knocking away Holt before setting his sights on Ann. I tried to protect her, but he was too strong. And when he broke her wrist, I lost control." he grudgingly sighed, losing his appetite as he fell back and stared at his hand, "I ran to stop him, putting everything into my next strike. But he vanished, dodging my swing so that I would cut down Ann instead. But, Holt used the last of his aura and energy to switch places with her, taking the blow instead. I lost control of myself after that, attacking the leader in a blind rage before he ran me through with his blade. I passed out from my injuries moments later" A sad smile made its way to his face.

"Heh, when I think about it, despite everything he had done, he still had a heart. He would rather throw away his life after everything he's done to fulfill his ideals then let her die. Guess even bad guy's have families they care about."

You could call Holt what you may, but you couldn't say he didn't love his foster daughter. The best he could do is remember the man the way Ann saw him instead of the sociopath that attacked Vale.

"So, you killed him?" Weiss said slowly, getting a slow pained nod as he looked down mutely.

"I. . .I didn't mean too. I couldn't stop my sword in time before it. . ." he couldn't say anymore, growing silent as his eyes went distant.

What else could be said in the face of a murderer? Blood stained his hands and he was responsible for his death. Wouldn't be surprised if they all left him after hearing about what he had done.

"It's not your fault, so stop dragging yourself in a funk."

"Hmm?" Jaune moved his head up in surprise, finding his beloved Snow Angel's icy blue eyes glaring back at him. Why wasn't she looking at him in horror or disgust? He did kill a man. Stuff like that tends to turn people away.

Rolling her eyes, Weiss nodded her head, "While the thought of you killing another human being is shocking, you had no other choice in the matter. You can't change what you've done in the last few days, but you can choose to move past it. We're huntsman, it's our job to protect the people from threats, even human. And while there may have been another way to settle things, you're hand was manipulated. In the end, what you did still saved lives. Poor Velvet would have been amputated if you hadn't stepped in, and god only knows what they had planned with Blake."

'Guess she found some way to hide her ears when they found her.' Not surprising seeing as Blake was still sensitive about revealing her secret to her team. Which didn't make much sense when Cardin of all people came to accept her. A little. Tolerating another sounded much better.

"Weiss's is right." Yang nodded with a small grin.

"Aren't I always?"

"Quiet you. It's a bad rap that you killed the guy, but you didn't mean to do it. You aren't a killer like the rest of those assholes, you're Jaune. The dork who vomits whenever he step foots on a moving vehicle."

"I keep telling you! It's a much more common problem then you think!"

"Right." Yang nodded along sarcastically, "Point is, what happened, happened. As long as you continue to act like the same lovable idiot we've come to love, then we have nothing to worry about. So you shouldn't be feeling down about it, especially when you have four very attractive ladies surrounding you." she leaned forward provocatively, pushing out her chest with a seductive smile.

'Yang Xiao Long's Friendship has risen! You've Unlocked a new Ability! Temper Surge, Unlocked!'

"Love is a strong word. Tolerate sounds much more acceptable in this case." Weiss nodded as she crossed her arms. Jaune wasn't the type to go crazy with blood lust after his first kill, he was the type who would fall into a pit of his own despair for years, never to come out due to the blood on his hands. And while he wasn't her favorite of friends in Beacon, he was still one she wasn't comfortable seeing in such a state. Loath she was to admit, but he was much more himself when he was flirting with her shamelessly whenever they passed another. He was a bumbling goof of a hick who didn't know his place or status and nothing more.

No one in the world would ever hear her say it out loud, not even if they were to threaten to slit her throat on the spot, but. . .that's how she preferred him. To always be stumbling over himself with a bright smile at the sight of her, not her name as a Schnee. She wouldn't have it any other way.

'Weiss Schnee's Friendship has risen! You've Unlocked a new Skill. Angel's Radiance, Unlocked!'

"She's right, well, Yang is." Ruby brightly smiled as she jumped onto Jaune's lap. Ignoring his indignant cry of pain from her action, she patted his gauze cheek cheerfully as she got comfortable.

"Nothing you could do can ever change the way we see you. You're my first friend in Beacon, I know you would never turn into some bad guy. I'd stake an entire life's supply of cookies on it!"

'Ruby Rose's Friendship has risen! You've Unlocked a new Ability! Sure-Shot, Unlocked!'

"You're better then that." Blake agreed as she laid her hand on his own. Her grip on his own tightened as the image of the awkward smiling blonde was replaced with the haunting image of Adam's masked face for a second.

Long ago, she had witnessed Adam make the same 'mistakes' and held her tongue. Body after body eventually began to pile up, the worse case leading to the Canterbury Bombings. Still, she said nothings, choosing to trust him instead and follow his lead. It was all for a better tomorrow. How ignorant she had once been. If only she had spoken up when it had all started, as slim of a chance she may have had she could have saved him from himself.

'This time, this time will be different.' Blake smiled firmly. Jaune wouldn't fall into the same path as Adam, she would lead him into the brighter path, one where he wouldn't have to resort to spilling blood as he did ever again. Someone like him couldn't be lost to his own darkness. 'You really are better then that, Jaune. I can see it in your eyes, what I wished I had seen in Adam's long ago. Regret. I swear, you won't stray into such a dark path as long as I'm here. I won't lose you as I did Adam.'

'Blake's Friendship has risen! A special Bond has been created with Blake Belladona. Soul Link, KS, Unlocked!'

"It's not going to be easy, but we'll help you through it. You're our friend, so don't be afraid asking for help."

No more crying! Jaune rubbed his eyes of the tears furiously, doing his best to stop his sniffling in the face of the girls in front of him. Seemed all he had been doing was turning on the waterworks today. With such kind words and looks, he couldn't help himself. His mother always said he was a big softy. When she was right, she was right.

"Thanks, it really means a lot to me. I was really worried that you would all see me as some kind of monster."

"Monster?" Weiss scoffed, "I hardly see anything about you that would send chills down my spine."

"What about chills of ecstasy? Have I shown you my guitar?"

"Yes, and I'm not impressed."

"Well I think its impressive, Vomit-boy." Yang grinned as she patted the pouting blonde's back, "You don't see many guys who know how to play a guitar that you don't have to plug into an amp. Next thing you know, you're going to tell us that you can dance."

"Well I do have seven sisters, didn't have much of choice in those lessons." So many sore ankles and bruised toes. Was it worth it? Kinda. Helped in dodging attacks from Grimm, footwork was footwork.

"Really?" Yang blinked in surprise, getting a nod in return. He was only a few steps away from the perfect package. "You'll have to show us some time, been looking for a dance partner who knows his steps." she winked.

"That will have to wait till they let me out. When are they clearing me?" Jaune asked curiously as he patted Ruby's head. Didn't look like she was going anywhere as she laid back on his chest happily. The girl liked to snuggle it seems.

"Two more days. They want to make sure you don't suffer any permanent damage once you're back to full health again." Blake answered as she watched Ruby sigh in content at Jaune's ministrations. Times like this she wondered if she was secretly a dog faunus.

"Permanent damage? It wasn't that bad." Jaune smiled as scratched his cheek.

A deadpanned stare looked back at Jaune from all four girls before Blake spoke up again, "You nearly died of blood loss, shattered the bones in your right arm, suffered multiple lacerations, stab wounds, burns, and gunshot wounds. Didn't you promise me you wouldn't end up in such a state again when you created an opening for us to leave?" she glared at the now sheepish blonde.

"Wait, wha?" Ruby frowned as she turned to Blake.

"Believe it or not, but he was injured worse then when we found him, practically scratching at death's door before Velvet saved him somehow. He looked like a mangled corpse when the leader of the FoF sent him crashing onto the coliseum. I. . .actually thought he was dead." The memory wasn't pleasant to recall as Blake rubbed her arms.

Jaune winced as he remembered what he had said to Blake before sending her away. Right, he did promise her that, didn't he? He just couldn't stop lying, "Blake, I'm sorry I lied to you-OWW! RUBY, WHY?!" he wailed in pain as he found the smaller dark redheaded girl continuously poke his broken arm. Could no one understand that it was not okay to touch it?

"Bad Jaune, that's a very bad Jaune!"

"Are we going to stop her?" Weiss asked Yang as the watched their leader aggravate the knight with a fussy pout on her face.

"Eh, give her a minute. Jaune deserves some punishment for playing a thickheaded hero."

Biting his lip to stop the whimper of pain from leaving his mouth, Jaune was ready to kick the small girl off his lap, only to flinch as her finger poked his nose. Her silver eyes glared at him, pouting in a way that made him gulp. How could a pout be intimidating?

"No more."

"No more?" Jaune repeated slowly as she nodded firmly.

"You're not going off on your own anymore. I know you want to be a hero, we have the same dream, but you can't run into danger by yourself like this. Look at what's happened to you." she sadly gestured to his patched up state. Hesitantly, her small hand pressed against his chest, shutting her eyes as she listened to his steady heartbeat. If Jaune had died being a hero, she wasn't sure she would be able to go on. Not after losing her mother the same way. The thought of Jaune dying gripped her heart in a vice, nearly robbing her of her breath as her fingers gripped his hospital gown.

Jaune had a special place in her heart, even if he didn't know it. He meant too much to her to see him like this.

"Pyrrha would agree with me, she's your partner and seeing you like this must hurt her just as much. And I know she wouldn't know what to do with herself if you died when she could have been there to save you, like me." Ruby murmured softly as she laid her forehead on his chest.

"She's right, Jaune. You got to think about how we would all feel if you had died. You may not think much about your own life, but we do." Yang scowled sternly. She had frozen deathly still when they had found him bloodied and beaten. Something inside her had snapped her out of it before the rest, a part of her that couldn't stand around and do nothing. Her feet moved before she could think, stopping to reach her fellow blonde and take him in her arms.

Questions arose on how he had even gotten down below and found Blake and Velvet, but all she cared about was his safety. His heart was still beating, as light as its beat had been. Careful to worsen his wounds she had ran out for the exit, not caring to see if the others had followed her.

"I ain't going to drag your sorry ass out of another near death again. Remember this, Jaune, everybody gets one." She wasn't going to go through that hell again. Once he was all healed up, their training sessions were going to be upped. The next time he was alone in a fight with no help in sight, he would at least have her training to keep him up on his feet and win.

"Noted. But, if I may, are you guys done making me feel bad." Jaune sighed tiredly, "I can only go through so much on one day. I wonder if all my visits are going to end up like this."

"Take it as punishment. If we had to suffer then you do too." Ruby nodded.

Jaune grumbled, "Fine. But can I finish eating? I haven't eaten in days."

"Don't worry, I got more stuff to keep you stuffed, eh, eh?"

"Bad Yang!" Ruby shooed as she took off her shoe to lob at her sister's head, knocking her off her seat, "Jaune's hurting enough, he doesn't need to suffer anymore with your puns. Cruel and unusual punishment is illegal."

"Make the bad lady go away." Jaune quivered as Ruby held his face against her chest. He blushed at the contact as she soothingly combed his hair.

"Don't worry, she can't hurt you anymore."

As second visits went, this was too bad. Was it criminal to enjoy the embrace of a fifteen year old girl with a modest chest? The sentence alone made him hear sirens in his head.

---

"I think the bastard did you a favor."

Velvet frowned, lightly smacking her leader's shoulder as their team gathered around her hero. She didn't have to be so crass.

Coco Adel, leader of the lustrous team CFVY, rose a single brow at the bunny girl, "What? You saw what remained of his huntsman attire. I thought I'd never seen such lousy combat gear until now." she shook her head incredulously.

It had taken so long for them to discover the disappearance of their teammate. They had already begun worrying about her when she hadn't answered any of their calls. Before they could even step foot on a bullhead to Vale to find her in the chaos, Velvet had answered them, messaging them that she was now fine and that she would explain to them what had gone down.

Kidnapped by a psychopath hell bent on cutting off her ears to make her human? What kind of mess did she get herself into, she was suppose to be going out for breakfast for helping the blonde leader of JNPR with his studies! Once they made their way to their teammates location they were surprised to see her in such a worn out state and with Cardin Winchester of all people helping her stand. The hell happened in the last twenty four hours for the guy to not look at her in disgust? Maybe she had been drinking too much coffee again? Damn Ozpin for getting her hooked on the junk.

Once Velvet was all healed up and settled back at their dorm room, their teammate begun to tell the tale of her little adventure. It was a bit rattling that Velvet wouldn't even be there to tell them about her kidnapping if it hadn't been for the blonde freshman kid, Jaune. For saving her cute bunny girl's life they were in his debt. A debt she had a good idea on how to repay.

"My gear wasn't that bad." Jaune grumbled. It was the best he could buy once he had learned he had been accepted into Beacon. The blacksmith he had bought his armor straps from had assured him that the metal was of good quality for what he had paid. And his hoodie had cost him fifty Pumpkin Pete box tops. Kept him protected this for, that was something.

"If you weren't so injured, I'd be slapping you across the face for uttering such words." Coco sighed as she pinched the bridge of her brows, "What was going through your head when you were designing your gear? All you had was a flimsy chest plate and spaulders on your arms. That's it, nothing else to protect you against any other type of harm. How are you even alive with such horror of a combat gear?"

"I'd like to think I'm very stubborn."

"Clearly."

"Please forgive Coco, she means well." Yatsuhashi chuckled as he laid his big hand on Jaune's shoulder, giving it a good shake, "We are very grateful for protecting our teammate, and my partner. You have my eternal thanks, Jaune." he smiled gratefully.

Standing by the door, Fox nodded his head, his white eyes shut and silent as ever. Was he blind? Even when Jaune had met the team in his first life, he had never gotten an answer, the guy hardly spoke. Reminded him of Ren, didn't know if that was a good or bad.

"Yeah, yeah." Coco smirked as she ruffled Jaune's blonde locks, pulling her hands away as she felt some odd hardened goop in his hair. Did not want to know, "You did us a hell of a solid there, Freshy. Taking down a criminal organization and playing knight in shining armor to our girl? Seems you new kids are going to be making this year one hell of a riot. I like that." she grinned widely. God knows she could use more excitement other then the Grimm extermination missions they took in their second year.

"I really am grateful for all that you've done, Jaune." Velvet smiled cheerfully, the sight of her undamaged after everything that had gone done relieving him of any fragments of worry. All in all, the only injuries she had left over were her sore ankles which would be fine in another day or so.

"It was nothing, I couldn't just turn my back on you guys even when I was half dead myself. Trust me, even in death it would haunt me." Literally, dying didn't mean much to him anymore.

Velvet's cheeks grew a light red at the smile aimed at her. What an odd man. She was happy to have met him that day in the lunchroom when he defended her. He was like nothing she had ever seen. Like he had come out of some story book of knights and dragons.

"You aren't much for taking a compliment, are you?" she giggled into her hand.

"With clothes like that, I can understand why."

"Coco, be nice."

"What? How you fell for him is anyone's guess." the fashionista sighed with a playful grin.

Velvet pouted as she smacked her leader's arm, "Shut up. He's my friend is all. And what about you? You don't have any armor on you to protect you."

"Aura's a wonderful thing, isn't it? At least I look good when I take hits. Don't you think?" Coco grinned saucily at Jaune as she cocked her hip.

"Uhhhhhhh."

"Thought so." she nodded smugly, patting the blushing blonde's cheek, "Don't worry, seeing as you lost your gear and armor in the fight the least I could do for saving our girl is design you some new threads. A hero like yourself can't be seen in Beacon with such poor taste. I can't have any friend of mine embarrassing me like that."

Friend? "We're friends?" Jaune asked, getting a soft smile in return as Coco leaned closer to his face. Her sunglasses slid down her nose a bit, revealing her dark brown eyes.

"Course. Any friend of Velvet is a friend of mine. Especially when you went out of your way to save her. I bet I can teach you a thing or two about style too, clearly you've been dressed by your mother or sisters until you left for Beacon." she teased with a smirk.

Was she psychic? Because as much as he didn't want to admit it she was right on that front. A buzzing from his scroll alerted him to a few new messages.

'Congratulations! You've Unlocked Coco Adel's Friendship! You've Unlocked Yatsuhashi Daichi's Friendship! You've Unlocked a Skill! You've Unlocked an Ability! Ammo+, Unlocked! Mountain Feller, Unlocked!'

The amount of abilities and skills he was unlocking today was crazy. Then again he was in the middle of an Event that boosted the EXP in his relationships. Jaune hid a frown as the only friendship he hadn't unlocked had been Fox's. From the corner of his eye, he peeked at the silent dark skinned huntsman leaning back with shut eyes. Didn't look like he cared much about the visit.

Just to be safe, Jaune scanned Fox's status for any signs of the huntsman being another Player.

'Fox Alistar, The Silent Fist. 15,000HP/15,000HP.'

Good, Jaune sighed inwardly. Didn't want to deal with another Player trying to kill him. Adam and Ren were enough.

"Are we done here? We still have things to do." Speak of the devil and he will speak. Fox opened one of his eyes to look back at his team passively, not sparing the blonde a glance as he uncrossed his arms.

Yatsuhashi frowned at his teammates rude behavior but nodded, "We do have a mission to prepare for tomorrow. We're scheduled to depart for Misenwood, they've had an alarming rate of Grimm creeping their borders."

"Which sucks. Velv's still healing and they expect us to head off first thing tomorrow?" Coco scoffed. The Headmaster could be cold sometimes.

"It is because of our skills and record that the Headmaster has requested our help. You could have said no."

"Yeah, but Velvet insisted that her injuries shouldn't hold us back. Said she'd be fine by the time we left."

"And I will. Just sore ankles now, you get those from running around too much on your heels." Velvet pouted. She turned back to Jaune with an apologetic expression on her face, "Sorry, Jaune. They are right, we have a mission to get ready for. I really wish I could stick around a bit more." she laid her hand on his cast, a pang of guilt striking her heart.

Seeing the guilt written on her face, Jaune smiled warmly at her as he laid his good hand on top of hers, "Don't worry, Velvet. Just knowing you're okay is more then enough. We can always talk when you come back."

"Right." Velvet said happily, going shy for a moment as leaned back and forth on her feet, "We can even go out for lunch and talk about my mission. You do owe me for worrying me so." she mumbled with a cute pout.

Couldn't argue with that. Jaune was going to have to make it up to a lot of his friends for lying and nearly dying on them. Least he could do is take Velvet out for food when she got back. Gave him time to build their Friendship.

"Sounds like a plan to me." he grinned widely, earning a bright smile from the brunette bunny girl, "I know a great noodle stand in Vale."

"Aww, how sweet. Our little bunny's found her a pretty boy. Wish I had one." Coco pouted, ignoring the slaps to her arm from the madly blushing faunus. Nodding her head to her team, she motioned them to start heading out the door. Fox was the first to leave, not saying a word as Yatsuhashi followed after him. Waving her hand at the blonde knight, Velvet soon left, leaving Coco and Jaune by themselves. Turning for the door, the well dressed brunette paused her hand on the door handle.

"We really do appreciate you saving Velvet, Jaune. I don't know what we would have done if that bastard had gone through with his sick plan. You really are a hero."

Hero, huh? That word was being thrown around a lot today. Jaune rested back into his bed with a tired smile. Doing what was right shouldn't be considered being heroic, it should be something everyone is capable of. It did feel nice to finally be seen as something more then a lovable dork who couldn't fight.

"I'm just another guy willing to do whatever it takes to protect his friends. Honestly, all this praise is a little uncomfortable. I ain't use to being called a hero." he chuckled weakly as he scratched the back of his head.

Coco smiled. So, that's what Velvet had seen in the kid. Just a regular guy capable of some amazing things. What a breath of fresh air.

"Careful there, Freshy. If you continue to act so oblivious and wear that heart on your sleeve, you just might attract some attention that's not afraid of getting what she wants."

Opening the door, Coco walked out, shutting it with a click as Jaune looked on in confusion. Interesting kid, she would have to keep an eye out for him. No telling what awaited a guy like that.

"I don't trust him."

Coco quirked a brow as Fox waited for her in the hall, the rest of their team further down. His face was set in a deep frown, white eyes narrowed as they pierced through her to the blonde huntsman laying back in his bed. She rolled her eyes at her partner.

"Really? Is this because he's attracted the attention of the girls in your team? Afraid he might steal us away from you?" she teased.

Fox's flat stare didn't think it was funny, "No. There's something off about him. And my eye's don't lie." he said sternly.

Right, the odd ability of his. Coco still couldn't understand if it was part of his semblance, the ability to sense and see the aura of others. An aura spoke loudly of a person's personality, moving around to the rhythm of their souls. Just by looking at a person, he could read their intentions. It was kinda creepy.

Still, Jaune had saved Velvet and he seemed like a nice guy. Sometimes you had to go with your gut. And her gut had nothing wrong with the cute blonde.

"Usually I trust that little trick of yours, but I gotta argue with you about this one. Jaune's a good guy, doesn't really scream threatening to me." the blonde kid looked as threatening as a milk man.

Heading after the rest of her team, Coco patted the normally silent huntsman arm as she dropped the matter.

"Come on, we got so preparations to make. Those Grimm aren't going to kill themselves. And I wanna see what kind of shops they got in Misenwood, heard they opened up a few after our last visit."

Fox scowled but chose to remain silent. While he trusted his eyes, he trusted his leader's faith more. Still, he looked back at where he could see through the walls to Jaune. He would have to keep his own eyes on him.

That black wild speck of aura within Jaune's white aura unsettled him. It felt malicious and twisted, almost like it was alive. And it was centered in the center of that ugly scar on his chest. Sent chills down his spine.

---

With a groan, Jaune stretched his arms out. It was tiring being copped up in his bed all day. Reminded him of the times his mother would shut him in his room when he was sick. Good thing he had his scroll and a few games he downloaded to entertain him. Maybe he should consider paying that monthly subscription to stream shows and movies on it. Would really help in killing time.

Looking at the time on his scroll, he was mildly surprised to see that it was past eight already. All those visits really helped in passing the time. 'I wonder if Cardin and his team are going to visit me. Guess not, visiting hours are basically over.' Dinner was right around the corner. Too bad there wasn't any of Yang's cooking leftover. Hospital food could never compare to a home cooked meal.

With a grumble, Jaune reached for the service button to order his dinner. 'Maybe they can give me some more pain medication. My arms starting to throb real bad.'

The turning of his door room's handle startled him from pressing the button, catching his attention as the door began to open. Who could that be? Must be one of the nice nurses, Nurse Sprig already headed back for Beacon once the head doctor had assured her he would be fine. A familiar set of icy cold blue eyes greeted him as the door opened, widening his eyes at the breath taking visitor.

"Hello, Jaune Arc?" the white haired stranger greeted, closing the door behind her. From her attire, she looked to be from Atlas, dressed almost similar to General Ironwood. In her hands, she held a fancy looking tablet, adorned with the same crest Weiss adorned on her back. Just looking at her reminded him of his Snow Angel. Did his heart just skip a beat?

Jaune gulped nervously at the woman, she really was breath taking.

"Yeah, I mean, Yes!" he corrected himself quickly. If she was similar to Weiss, then he would have to speak formally. The woman had a noble air about her.

The beautiful woman smiled politely, laying her hand on her chest as she stopped by his bedside.

"My name is Winter Schnee, and my employer would like to have a word with you."

---

DLC #6: Locks of Gold.

Night had finally come and Jaune couldn't have been happier. So much had happened today, exhausting him of all his energy. Got some pretty awesome abilities out of the Event, unlocked new Friendships, and got to enjoy a nice lunch courtesy of Yang. Not to mention the fact he had learned about Weiss's big sister. Chills ran down his body at the memory of their conversation. What a woman.

Only problem was that he couldn't sleep. As tired as he was, his eyes wouldn't keep shut. He groaned as he turned in his bed, finally fed up of the idea of getting any sleep as he sat up. Running his hand down his face, his baggy eyes looked around for something to help ease him to sleep. Couldn't call the nurses for any sleeping medicine after taking his medication, against the labeled rules. His eyes suddenly caught sight of a familiar worn out leather book set atop the small counter by his bedside.

Before team RWBY had left, Ruby had left him the double edged sword that was Lost Fairy Tales. Nora had passed it along to hand it to her leader after she had forgotten to leave it behind. Believed that some reading material would help in any boredom.

Jaune sighed tiredly as he reached the old book, wondering why it appeared dusty every time he found it, "Every time I read you, I end up in some crazy world that robs me of my memory of the last hour. But you've really saved my ass, especially in my fight with Holt. So, you can't be all bad. Just wish I knew what those girls did to me when I blank out." Was he still a virgin at this point? Why was that even a question that needed to be answered? At this point he didn't know if he wanted the answer.

Some light reading would help him sleep, every time he finished reading the book he would find himself sleeping. And he could use another life saving reward. Never know when he would find himself in another mess. Only problem was that he still had one functioning arm to work with. Hopefully whatever world he was warped into would momentarily remedy that.

Cleaning off the dust, Jaune sucked in a deep breath before bracing himself for whatever awaited him within the book. 'Please, no cabins. I don't think I can handle another sexy psycho jumping me again. Two's enough.'

Bright light flashed before Jaune's eyes, blinding him as the familiar sensation of his entire body being sucked within came again.

---

"Why is it always a forest? Every time I open my eyes, all I see is green and green. For once, I'd like to find myself in a village or something. There's something menacing about forests and woods now."

As always, Jaune found himself opening his eyes to the sight of trees in the middle of the woods. Again his clothing had been switched out for a cotton shirt and leather vest, brown pants, and white socks and sandles. He spun his head around, searching for crazy dwarfs, sleeping sadistic princesses, wolf killing riding hoods, or cabins. Was not going through that shit again if he could help it.

On a good note, it seemed his right arm was fixed. Jaune flexed the muscles of his fingers in awe, not a scar on the skin. It was as if he had never shattered it in the first place. Pretty neat if he did say so himself.

Parting through some of the foliage in front of him, Jaune prayed to whatever force controlled this world to not come upon another cabin. Luck smiled upon as he came upon what looked like an old tavern. Wasn't exactly comforting, then again it wasn't a lonely cabin in the woods leading to sexy yet scary things. A nice drink did sound nice after roaming through bushes and trees for what felt like hours. And they could give him directions out of the damn place, did not want to repeat his last visits.

Walking over, Jaune was surprised to see several motorcycles parked by, each one decorated after the bikes owned by biker gangs. Note to self, do not touch. If the owners where anything like Yang and her motorbike, Bumblebee, then he'd be waking up with another broken arm. He slightly grimaced as he caught the whiff of alcohol in the air and smoke. From the smell alone he could guess he stumbled onto a dive bar. Did not meet many helpful folks in places like this.

"Don't have much of a choice." Jaune grumbled, sucking in a deep breath as he pushed open the worn oak door. In situations like this, he was expecting to walk into a packed bar full of colorful bandits, cons, mercenaries, and other riff raff that walked on the wrong side of the law, their eyes glaring into his soul as all activity paused to check out the new guy. Just like in the movies. Instead, he was greeted to a dining room and bar devoid of energy except the few drinkers calmly going about their business. Everything was tidy, sparkling like diamonds. It look like a cozy little family diner despite its outside appearance.

By the bar, a red pig tailed woman in a white cotton shirt, green vest and tie, smiled at him cheerfully as she cleaned a few mugs. Her cheerful mood didn't seem to be dampened by the drunk bikers on the verge of passing out in their own drool and beer. She even had cute freckles.

"Welcome to The Three Brother's Tavern! Where drink, food, and lodgings are just right!" the woman winked, her yellow eyes sparkling as Jaune walked over to the bar. "Name's Scarlet, what can I do for you, handsome?" she smiled happily.

Taking a seat by a stall not close to the drunks, Jaune smiled back, "I'm actually new around here, so I don't know where I am. I was hoping for directions to he nearest town or village near by."

"Oooooh~! A newbie! I love entertaining newbies passing by Evergrow woods." Scarlet clapped, her smile growing wider as she jumped in excitement. Always loved hearing about new people in the area. Especially with the company she always had to deal with.

"Evergrow woods? Is that where I am?" Jaune asked as Scarlet handed him a menu. Wonder if his Lien worked in this fairy world.

Scarlet nodded, "Yup! Evergrow is a large woodland area that touches every major kingdom in Fae. You must be sailor from another continent if you don't know about this place. Surprised you found our little tavern out here without any knowledge of the place, it's really easy to get lost and wind up in some unpleasant company." she warned as she waved her finger at Jaune .

Didn't have tell him twice, already too late for that to be of any help. Did that mean he was always dropped into the same world and woods every time? What a terrifying thought, god only knows if that was true and he would run the chance of meeting with Red or Snow again.

Shivering slightly, Jaune shoved the thoughts to the back of his mind, "I'm more of traveler then a sailor. Finding this place really was a stroke of luck, thought I'd be lost forever."

"Well you're here now, handsome. I'm sure I got traveler's map laying around here somewhere, but it'll cost you. The bosses won't be happy if I go giving even a cap of water away without pay."

Jaune frowned lightly, looking at his hands in thought. Game mechanics still worked if his little fight with Charming was anything to go by. Time to see if he could use his Lien. With a bit of magic coursing through his fingers, Jaune summoned some Lien from his inventory. The cards shimmered in his hand, magically transforming into glimmering gems of ruby, sapphire, and emerald. Huh, guess The Game took care of everything.

Dropping the gems onto the counter, Jaune pushed them forward with a sheepish smile, "Will these do?"

Scarlet grinned brightly as she pulled the currency forward, "Yup, yup! Even got plenty leftover for a king's buffet and crown! I'd be more then happy to get you anything else for a haul like this!" Just looking at all the gems made Scarlet's eyes sparkle.

"I'll just have a mug of grape juice. You're more then free to keep the change for yourself." Jaune chuckled, happy to see such a look of joy on the pretty girl's face. Looked like she had stars in her eyes.

Scarlet held herself back from a squealing in delight. She could pay her rent for the next three months with all these gems and not worry about food to boot! What a guy! Nodding her head feverishly, Scarlet dropped a sapphire into her register before moving the rest into her tip jar. Good thing the bosses weren't around, did not want them sticking their fingers in her tips again.

"Coming right up! I'll make sure it's the cleanest mug we got and the freshest grapes in stock. Just give me a minute to run back and fetch your juice." The grin on her face just wouldn't leave, she was so happy. Glaring at the passed out drunks around the dining area and counter in warning, the happy pigtailed woman skipped to the back of the tavern for his order and map. Leaving him behind to await her return.

'What a nice girl. Wish I could met more of her type in this world instead of the crazy and sadistic. Surprised to see someone like her working here.' Jaune thought as reached for some peanuts by a snoring drunk. Must be the reason why the place was so spotless.

Cracking the nut with his fingers, Jaune popped the nutty treat into his mouth, munching on it without a care and unaware of the loud commotion outside the tavern. As he reached for a few more, his little peace of mind was broken by the loud sound of the wooden door being violently swung open. The sound startled him, causing him to choke on his peanut, going blue as he pounded on his chest and fell back on his stool. Too caught up in not dying by choking to death, Jaune missed the terrified looks on the patrons of the place before they ran out of the place, even the drunkest of them stumbling out as quickly as he could.

"Hurry up, Noir! We ain't got much time before the drug wears off! It was hard enough slipping the herbs into her breakfast without her noticing, don't make it go to waste!"

A heavy object was suddenly flung across the entrance, slamming into the back of the bar where it slumped to the ground as the bottles shattered and fell around it. Gagging slightly, Jaune spat out the remains of the peanut with bile. He coughed hoarsely, panting from the exertion as he tried to regain his breath. The hell was going on? Could he not even enjoy a peanut without something going wrong?

Heavy footsteps walked over to him, the owners feet stopping close to his feet as he weakly looked up. Three muscled bound men looked back at him, puzzled to find a scrawny boy still in the tavern.

"What do we got here, boys?" the dark skin toned man of the three grinned maliciously as he cracked his neck. His head was bald and covered in scars, one stretching over to his right eye and blinding it. He wore a studded biker's jacket, leather pants, and boots. A shotgun rifle was holstered across his back, his red eyes leering down at Jaune, almost begging him to make a move.

"A witness from the looks of it, Noir. Seems some people don't know when to mind their manners and scram." Standing next to Noir, a pale white man scoffed as he tapped the hilt of his odachi. Unlike his brother, he wore a clean white tuxedo, black undershirt, checkered tie, and fancy dress shoes. The man had pale blue eyes with dark bags under his eyes and spoke with an odd accent. His black hair was combed back neatly, his whole image giving off an air of sophistication.

Walking past his brothers, an unruly brown haired man jumped over the counter top. He wore a red and black checkered shirt, dirty brown overalls, brown leather boots, and a fuzzy beard. The man grinned proudly at whatever he tossed back, turning his olive green eyes back to Jaune. He was ready to say something, only to whistle as his eyes fell onto the tip jar by the register.

"Blanc, Noir, look at what our little Scarlet has gotten in her jar! Wonder how much skin that girl had to show to bag herself such a haul?" the man bellowed with laughter, reaching his muscled fingers into the jar of gems. He bounced the glittering rocks in his palms, impressed at how much he was counting.

Blanc sighed, turning back to his brother as Noir poked the barrel of his shotgun to Jaune's forehead, "Marron, don't you think you should leave the girl at least a ruby? We hardly pay her enough as it is for running the place by herself." No one else was crazy enough to stick around under their employment. Well, no one living.

Marron scoffed as he played around with the redheaded girl's tips, "The girl works for us! Paying her is enough as it is, she's lucky we pay her at all! Besides, what's a girl with no family or friends going to do about it? If she has a complaint, she'll just have to take it up with my baby." he chuckled darkly as he unclipped the deadly chainsaw from his back.

"Bastards!"

Noir blinked, digging his barrel harder against the blonde kid's temple as he leaned his ear closer to the boy's mouth.

"I'm sorry, but did you say something, brat? My ears are a little hard of hearing from the screams of the last sucker who thought he had something to say to me." Noir said innocently, grinning to his ear when he was met with silence.

"Bah, tie the boy up, Noir. We can hold him for ransom if he behaves. If not, well the trees do need some more of our 'special mulch', I'm sure he would do wonders." The grizzly man chuckled as he went back to their other visitor.

Picking Jaune up by the scruff of his shirt, the blonde knight was finally able to see what the men had thrown to the back of the bar. What he saw made his eyes go wide with horror, making his fists tighten in anger and rage.

Laid against the alcohol stained wall and shards of bottles on the ground, was a gorgeous blonde curled girl, hands tied against her back and mouth tied by a dirty cloth. She wore a black velvet satin ruffled dress, gold hooded cape, and black ribbons tied in her hair. Her dress was torn open around her chest, revealing a fair amount of her cleavage as her blue eyes gazed at them weakly and lidded. Blood ran down the side of her head from a heavy blow to her bruised temple.

Marron couldn't help but lick his lips as he leaned over the golden lock haired girl, squishing her face as his dirty fingers grabbed her cheeks. Such fair skin.

"Look where we are now, Goldi? You know, we could have settled things in a more civilized manner, but you just had to make things difficult, didn't you? And now you're powerless to stop us from getting what we want." his yellow stained teeth grinned hungrily as ran his fingers across her cheek to her neck, stopping dangerously close to the skin of her chest. No, he shook his head as he moved his hands back. That would be too easy, he wanted her to suffer. Had all day to mess around if he wanted.

The golden haired girl's lidded eyes trembled as Marron roughly ran his filthy fingers through her hair, the action bringing tears to slide down her face as he pulled her up by her hair.

"Boys, don't you think Goldi's in need of a nice little haircut? Just look at all that hair, she could trip over it and break her skull." he smirked, earning grins from his brother's as he heaved his chainsaw above the girl's head. Mad revving filled the air, flinging bits of wood and dirt from the teeth of his weapon onto Goldi as he edged closer to her silky hair.

"How about we start cutting? We'll know when to stop when blood starts splattering onto the floor!"

"Gale Speed!"

Eh? Marron stopped his chainsaw at the loud shout, confused as he turned back to his brothers. What the hell was that?

A weathered gray blade fell onto the grizzly man, causing him to grit his teeth as he blocked the attack with his chainsaw. Teeth fought to shred the sword to scrap, sending sparks flying around the large man as he glared into the furious blue eyes of the blonde boy. How the hell did the kid move so quickly? Marron turned to Noir, his dark skinned brother just as confused as he looked at his empty hand in surprise.

Dropping his attack, Jaune moved away from the tearing chained teeth as it fell to the wooden floor. His hand blurred, grabbing a fistful of Marron's checkered shirt before releasing a breath and picking the muscled bound man up. Jaune yelled as his body released his aura for all to see before he swung the man around, flinging him across the room and into several tables.

'Marron, The Grizzled Bear. 7,700HP/9,000HP.'

Flexing his fingers, Jaune thanked Yang for the new ability, Temper Surge. Before it would have been impossible for him to toss a man as heavy as Marron around like that. Moving back to where Goldi laid, Jaune's anger only grew as her chest rose rapidly, tears still running down her face as she fell back with her dress only ripped further down.

He had enough just standing around as these creeps did what they wanted. His stomach was growing sick watching them steal Scarlet's tips and lay their hands on a woman that reminded him of Yang. She looked so helpless, unable to do more then cry. Grabbing that drink and map would have to wait, he had some asses to beat down.

"DAMN! You got knocked the fuck out!" Noir roared with laughter, snorting as his brother stood back up with beer running down his face.

Marron growled, hocking a loogie as he heaved his chainsaw up, "Don't just stare like a couple of bitches! Kill the fucker!"

Blanc nodded as he unsheathed his odachi, its blade white as the purest of snow.

"My blade has been itching for the taste of blood."

'Blanc, The Chilled Bear. 7,000HP/7,000HP.'

"Man, I was hoping we could just play with the girl. Guess this brat will do." Noir grinned cruelly as he loaded several shells into his shotgun.

'Noir, The Cruel Bear. 6,000HP/6,000HP.'

Three against one? Jaune never liked those odds, but he would have to suck it up. Compared to the monsters he had faced days ago, the three large men were nothing more then obstacles. Ones he was more then capable off knocking down.

'Warning! Boss incoming, The Three Bears, Brother's of the Dark. Get Ready!'

Jumping over the counter, Jaune readied his sword against the three larger men. Time to see just how strong he had become since his first day.

'Fight!'

Charging forward, Blanc swept his long blade for Jaune's head. Jaune deflected the swing, spinning on his feet to ram his elbow into the large man's chest. The blow sent him stumbling back with a gasp before a downward slash tore open his tux. Blood stained its white fabric as he grimaced and fell to his knee.

The sound of a gun pumping alerted Jaune to jump back, missing the powerful shells whizzing by and exploding the seats in their way. He raised his shield up, charging through the barrage of shotgun fire as he withstood the damped damage to ram into Noir. Said man snarled, moving back from the charge and aiming for Jaune's back as he missed.

"Reflect!" Shells fought against Jaune's pixel shield, falling under its power before reflecting back to their owners. Noir shouted as he was kicked off his feet by his shells smacking into his chest.

"Magic? That's just cheating!" Dragging his chainsaw against the ground, Marron swung it around madly at Jaune. The blonde knight dodged the swings, blocking any strikes too close to comfort. While they were strong enough to create a gust, they lacked any real speed to them.

Cheating? Coming from a guy that was abusing a helpless girl and stealing from his own employee? The man was just asking to get his ass kicked. Catching swing of Marron's chainsaw with his shield, Jaune pushed it back before throwing his open palm at the stumbling man, "Ember!" His palm glowed orange, firing a baseball sized ball of flames from his hand to smack into the man's chest. Marron's clothes were soon lite by fire, eating away at him as he rolled around to snuff them out.

"Blanc! Use that magic of your to cool me down, you bastard!"

Mending his wound, Blanc raised himself back up before flinging a chilled blast of air at his brother. With that taken care of, the nicely dressed man dashed after Jaune. The two locked blades, falling into a blitz of steel attacking and countering another. Using only one hand to lock his blade with Jaune again, Blanc raised his other hand up high in the air as it glowed with snowy magic.

"Avalanche!"

Shit, Jaune cursed as he looked up to find blocks of snow and ice slip out of what looked like portals above him. He tried to move away, only for Noir appear behind him and fire his shotgun to his back. The attack dropped his health by two hundred, dropping even further as the avalanche of ice crashed onto him.

Patting the remains of the flames off of him, Marron grinned madly as he ran towards the bellowing cloud of snow engulfing Jaune, intent on ending the boy where he stood.

"Die!"

"Round Table!"

A lashing shock wave of spiraling blades parted the snow, sending both Blanc and Noir flying back. Seeing Marron ready to saw him in half, Jaune channeled his anger into his sword, "Temper Surge!" Jaune's Strength doubled for a second, fueled by the image of Goldi's wounded state. The increase of strength ran through this muscles as he met Marron's chainsaw head on with Crocea Mors, slamming the man's own weapon into his chest and sending him flying off his feet.

Noir gasped as he held his chest, three lacerations bleeding out against his fingers. The hell was the kid? Someone that scrawny shouldn't be able to hit like that! Loading another shell into his weapon, Noir was ready to shove the barrel down the blonde's throat. He cracked his neck and shouted a war cry as he swung his head to met the boy. Twin golden arcs met his face before his vision went dark.

'Noir, The Cruel Bear, defeated!' +5,200EXP!

One down, two to go. Jaune turned back to the remaining brothers, meeting the sight of several blades of ice flying after him. Blanc's odachi was coated with frost as he rapidly swung his blade, tearing apart everything in sight to cut the annoying blonde down. Shivering slightly as the temperature dropped, Jaune brought up his inventory, scrolling through his items till he found his Dust. A Fire Dust crystal fell into his hand before he slammed it into the metal of his blade, infusing it with the elements properties.

Each blade of ice that shot at him was melted by the swings of his heated sword, sizzling against the metal as Jaune ran at Blanc. An avalanche of ice bombarded the area around the blonde, leaving him to weave by the falling ice. With the pale man stuck casting his magic, Blanc was left open as Jaune fell into his guard.

"Crescent Blade!" A flaming arc of fire cut through Blanc's body, the intensity of the pain rolling his eyes to the back of his skull as he lost conscience and fell back with a thud.

'Blanc, The Chilled Bear, defeated!' +8,000EXP!

The heat in Crocea Mors cooled down as Jaune walked over to Marron as he knelt, broken furniture laying around him as he slowly rose up with the support of his chainsaw. His face was bruised and cut after being tossed around, it was becoming difficult to stand!

"You stupid little shit! Do you even know what you've done?!" Marron panted tiredly, struggling to raise his weapon back up and start it. Seeing the blue eyes glaring at him not respond, he chuckled weakly before spitting a wad of blood and snot across the floor, "We're not simple men, we're leaders of some of the strongest gangs in Everwood! Only one person is capable of stopping us, but that ain't you! Our men will hunt you down, day and night, not stopping till they drown your mangled body in a metal canister of acid! Do you still want to go through with what you're doing?" he mocked with a bloody grin.

"Trust me when I say they'll never find me." Jaune said flatly before rearing his fist back. One Power Strike later and the huge man fell back with teeth flying around.

'Marron, The Grizzly Bear, defeated!' +9,000EXP!

'Congratulations! You defeated The Three Bears! You've Unlocked a Special Gift! Stardew Fruit, Unlocked!'

Special Gift? Like the one Velvet had given him weeks ago? Nice, if it hadn't been for her muffin he would have died during his fight with Holt. With that mess out of the way, Jaune headed for the bar counter top, jumping over it to run back to Goldi. Stopping in front of her, he helped her sit up as her eyes began to blink, shaking her head around as whatever drug they had slipped seemed to wear off.

"Okay! I got your mug of grape juice and a map of Everwood ready to go, handsome! If you need anything else, just let me kno-WHAT THE SHIT?!"

Jaune winced as said items fell to the ground as Scarlet yelled in shock at the state of the tavern. Her jaw was dropped to the floor, too stunned to utter a word as she tried to understand what had happened in the span of five minutes. Picking up her jaw, the pig tailed redhead nearly fainted, finding the bleeding knocked out bodies of her boss in the dining area. Seriously, the fuck happened? Was she seeing snow and ice?

Scarlet slapped her face, cursing as the pain insured her this was no dream. She was as good as dead once they woke up. Turning over to the only customer left in the mess, Scarlet was ready to demand what had happened, only to stop as a familiar set of blue eyes looked back at her.

Oh, no.

"Sorry, Scarlet. I may have knocked out your bosses after they threatened to hurt this girl over here. And the brown haired guy stole your tip! I couldn't stand by and let the bastards get away with it." Jaune apologized as he worked on undoing the golden curled girl's ropes. Poor thing, why did they have to tie them so tight? The ropes were close to cutting her skin. What reason would they have for that?

Scarlet trembled, wishing her legs would listen to her to runaway. They were all dead at this point.

"I think this girl's name is Goldi. Do you mind handing me some alcohol to clean the wounds? I'll pay for it and the damages if that's oka-!" As Jaune undid the last of the ropes and loosened the cloth tied around Goldi's mouth, he was suddenly knocked back on the floor with hungry lips prying his own open. His breath was robbed of him as the beautiful girl of golden locks ravaged his lips, clouding his mind with pleasure as her fingers ran though his hair. Her ass ground against his crotch, raising his member to scrap against his zipper painfully.

Pulling back from the hot kiss, Goldi sucked in deep breath as she grinned hotly at the hero she sat atop of.

"I have no fucking idea who the hell you are, bub, but you've just stolen my heart! I've never seen a man such as yourself take out the head of three criminal gangs so easily, my hearts still pounding." she gasped as she clutched at her chest. It was pounding so rapidly, it felt like it was about to burst! Seeing the blonde boy in a daze, Goldi smirked seductively as her fingers fell onto the buckle of his belt.

Caught up in his daze, Jaune was quickly brought out as a shiver ran down his spine. Something was in his pants, taking a tight grip of his stiffness, and it didn't look like it was going to let go anytime soon.

"Wait, wait, wait! You don't have to do this! Saving your life's enough, I'm still a virgin!" Maybe. Again that question was still up in the air at this point.

"Bub, do you know who I am?" Goldi purred, licking her lips as she pumped the 'sword' in her hand.

"Names Goldi, Goldi Locks, leader of the Purple Dragon's, one of the most notorious gangs in Everwood. And I always get what I want. Seems I want a hubby now, and you'll do more then nicely." she licked her lips again, tearing off her ruined dress. Her melon sized perky breasts greeted Jaune as she slipped his pants off effortlessly, his member slapping against her navel with its freedom.

Not again! Why?! Why?! Why does this kind of thing always happen?

Standing aside from the arousing sight, Scarlet gulped as she began to slowly inch her self away from the graphic scene. Didn't look like she needed to stick around.

A hand suddenly grabbed her ankle, causing her to slowly turn her head to the seductive leer of the naked golden haired crime boss staring her down like meat.

"Where do you think you're going? I aim to make this fuck memorable, and three is always better then two."

Scarlet whimpered as she was dragged into the action, the strong hands easily sliding down her black skirt. Seemed she just found a new employer.

---

And so, Jaune had fallen asleep after everything went white. Again. It was starting to grate on his nerves. If he couldn't remember having sex, nor prove he did, how could he say he was still a virgin? Maybe he could bug Ren about it. The silent Player was the only one he could speak to about these kind of things and believe him.

At least he was rewarded another Ability out of the mess. Dragon's Blaze seemed like a cool ability to try out when he had the chance. If only he could remember what went down after Goldi ripped off Scarlet's uniform french kissed the redhead.

Back in the world of Fae, Goldi hummed happily to her self as she changed into a spare blouse Scarlet had in the back. Good girl, she was definitely bringing her in. Needed a second in command after losing her last one to The Three Bears of Everwood. How as she suppose to know that one of the warehouses she busted into belonged to those creeps?

"Boss, what should we do about them?" Finished cleaning the last of the mess, Scarlet pointed to the pile that was her bosses, still knocked out even during the hot action that had just gone down. She blushed as she could still feel the touches, nibbles, smacks, and thrusts of earlier. Wasn't living that one down anytime soon. Nope.

Cracking her neck, Goldi jumped over the counter, quirking her brow as she picked Noir's shotgun. Nice, the guy was known for modding his weapons. Looked like these were capable of explosive fire. Keeping it~!

"Kill 'em. Left alive they're more of a pain. Plus, with them dead, we gain ownership of their tavern. You can run the place however you like it and not have to deal with drunks anymore. How's that sound?" Goldi grinned widely as she kicked the last of Marron's teeth out. Damn bastard had the gall to touch her hair. Only her husband was allowed such a privilege! And her new lover.

Goldi blinked in realization as Scarlet sighed at the new task handed to her. Well, at least she could live out every disgruntled employee's dream and shoot her bastards of a bosses in the back of their heads. Should have stayed back in her mother's cottage where it was safe all those years ago.

"Hey, Scarlet." Goldi called out to her new right hand just as the girl was ready to drag them to the back and finish the deed. Catching her attention, the golden haired gang leader frowned, "Did you ever catch the name of my husband? I don't think he ever told me."Huh, should have asked him that before fucking the life out of him.

Scarlet frowned back, tapping her lips in thought as she thought back to their earlier conversation. Yeah, no, she didn't know either. Where did the blonde knight disappear anyway? When they had woken up after the threesome, he was no where in sight. It was like he vanished into thin air.

"Sorry, boss. I never got it either. Kinda hard to talk when you're shoving my face into your breasts as you rode the guy like a horse." she deadpanned as Goldi scratched her head sheepishly.

Damn, well, she shrugged as she nodded to Scarlet to continue her business. She now controlled a larger part of Everwood. Surely she could find one blonde haired knight in the vast greenlands?

If not, then Goldi would simply call in a favor from her best friend, Snow. The girl still owed her after helping her take down her evil step mother. Hopefully she wasn't too busy to lend a hand while she was searching for her own husband who had vanished. Same thing happened to her friend, Red.

Weird.

---

Abilities, Skills, and Perks List:

Tectonic Devastation[20AP]: An immense surge of the Earth's aura overflows the Player, creating three golden bands that encircle their arm. They are then able to deliver an earth breaking attack with their fist, completely shattering the airspace around them. The Player's Attack is raised by 40%, breaks any form of guard, and Stuns. Deals Earth damage. MP Cost: 50MP. Level Requirement: Lvl23.

Fairies Grace: Ups the healing rate of healing items by 15%. Capable of evolving.

Valkyrie's Blessing: Grants the Player Lightning Affinity automatically. Critical Hits deal Lightning damage and gives the Player a 15% chance to inflict Paralysis with every physical hit.

Thunder Strike[7AP]: Only usable if the Player is equipped with a Lightning Affinity. Summons a bolt of Lighting magic to strike the Player's sword before slamming their weapon down, unleashing a shockwave of lightning damage to strike surrounding targets. Has a 10% chance of inflicting Paralysis.

Victory Rush[10SP]: Increases the Player's Strength by 1 every time they defeat an opponent.

Angels Radiance[SP12]: Envelops the Player in a chilling aura of snow, speeding up aura regeneration and adds Ice damage to Physical damage.

Sure-Shot[10AP]: Only usable with a Firearm equipped. Fires a locked on shot with a 100% Accuracy. Has a Critical Hit Ratio of 5%.

Temper Flare[10AP]: Raises the Player's Strength based on their anger. The Percentage rate varies on temper; From 1%-100%. Effects last only a minute.

Ammo+[5SP]: Adds extra ammunition to the Player's Firearm.

Mountain Feller[15AP]: Usable only with a Sword, Greatsword, or Scythe. Gathering all their strength, the Player delivers a monstrous bladed slash capable of cleanly slicing by the hardest of metals. Said to have rend the top of mountains. Strength increases by 30% and inflicts Defense Down and Stun. Must have a Strength stat of over 60 to equip.

Dragon's Blaze[15AP]: Only usable with a Fire Affinity equipped. Must also have Ninja Wires and alcohol with a 50 percent or more alcohol level in their inventory. Firing several sharp tipped wires soaked in alcohol wrapped around their fingers, the Player takes a deep breath before blowing a stream of blazing orange red fire from their flame lit thumb to run along their wires. Inflicts Burn and Fire damage. The wires can also be swung around to deal cutting damage.

---

I seriously have to stop myself half way through when writing DLC like this as my fingers stray to write the graphic scenes of love making. I ain't the Spookiest of Noodles or Maxaro! Writing smut is a talent, one don't believe I'm ready to perfect!

. . .How do I go from writing plot to porn so quickly? Eh, called stress relief for a reason I suppose.

Anyway, we begin our new Arc, Verification! This one should last six chapters. Maybe. I like to say so, but it's all up to these hands of mine. They're the boss, not me. I'm just the rugged face, here for looks and nothing more. Already up to a 1-2,000 words so far on the next chapter, I'll do my best to have it ready by Thursday. Work has been draining me of energy and time, so it's been a bit of a chore to write. But your reviews and kind words are keeping me going strong still! We still got much more to go. Hopefully I'll have time to finish that other DLC involving the return of summons. Been itching to get to that.

I'm tired. Time for sleep to take me in. Got work in the morning and coffee to chug. And I also have to finish that Writer's Blog piece on how to write fight scenes. Just about done and ready to upload next week.

Read and Review. It's common courtesy.

NeoShadows fading in and out.