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?

26. A Ways to Go

Look who's back? NeoShadows! Here despite the new scar running over his lip to his nose. Stitches be a bitch.

Sorry for the delay, again. This chapter that I thought would only be 20k+ turned out to go on further then I had originally thought. You all know my crippling over writing affliction. So, I decided to split it in half! That's right, not only do I have one chapter, but I got a second one ready to go for next week! Ain't that nice? Which means I am currently now working on the last chapter of the Volume. One last bang before we go on break!

And on another note, this also took longer to finish do to having to go to the hospital two weeks ago. Let's just say I learned a lesson I won't forget and leave it at that. Now I got scar from the top left of my lip reaching to my nose. The damn thing was split and hanging!

But enough of my newest scar, lets get some reviews out of the way!

Remval Von Enili: Oh, that's a secret. It's a unique power granted to him because of what he is. And that's only scratching the surface of what The Will of The Gamer can do. I'm going to have fun with this.

Ssjzohan: I love that girl to death, best waifu in my opinion. I can't believe I'm admitting that. Eh, its the internet. I haven't got to play NG+ just yet. Got to finish up writing before I can divulge in that game again.

Benthino: Ah, Roman. He was my favorite to write. And his reasons are well hidden along with his past. I've drizzled hints here and there. Let's see who can find them first. Oh, don't think we're done with DLC just yet. No, I got something special in store that I can't reveal just yet. Just you wait, it's a big one.

That Guy: Yup, its confirmed. It's secretly been written and halfway done with its first chapter. Wait till it comes out later this summer, my friend. Oh, and I love what you wrote about the titles. Can't confirm anything though, but it's insightful. But Roman's reasons are hidden. And it does have to do with Freedom in a way.

EiNyx: Eh, I've never been much for a white knight either. I've always like the morally gray characters that knew both right and wrong. You mustn't forget that this is still Jaune's first life. Do you think everyone else was just dropped into The Game as they are now? Don't worry, you'll see some character progression. We've only just begun. After all, the more white a person is, the more you can see the stains on them.

Saint Danielle: Eh, we'll eventually get others to notice. Slowly, but surely. For the moment, it's up to the fans to spread the message of this story! Because I have no idea how to do that. Oh, just you wait. Eventually you'll see bits of their past lives in The Game that made them what they are. As for the Gamer Files idea, it's not a bad idea. Something to mull over another. And you'll get some insight on Helios this chapter before the final chapter of the Arc. He definitely has his reasons that go beyond pride and arrogance.

Azalmega: Criticism is simply insight. Got carried away on the fight with the mechanical ice boar, which honestly wasn't needed other then for fun and some interaction. As for Roman's character, boy was he fun to write. He represents what typical Gamers are, in it for the fun and caring very little for the Story. All he wants to do is play his way. And remember, Roman is the one who has been around the longest, so of course he would come prepared to deal with just about every situation. He's a thief, he doesn't play fair and is a master of trump cards. And Roman's not exactly evil, or good. He simply cares about himself and his own fun. Of course I wouldn't be done with Ann, she's one of my favorite characters that I created. And your critisms are welcomed, they help out as writer. I ain't a professional you know? As for the multi type thing, eh, I can only try.

Keyblademaster65: Long comment indeed. Kinda hard to follow with the improper sentence structure, but I got the jest of it. Jaune's character is flawed, that's a no brainier. I can't say if he's going to stay with the same mentality, due to spoilers. But trust me, I know what I'm doing. Gotta trust your shadow. As for his view of black and white with The Game, what would you expect out of him? It's his first life. Even the other Gamers had similar views before The Game eventually got to them. And the melodrama is something I can't say much on right now. I write out the story as I see it in my head, so I don't really know what else to change if it feels right. But I do got my Beta to help point out things that seem too cliché or don't fit, so don't worry. Your criticism is welcomed, so don't worry.

TouchMyFluffy: Originally, Ch.27 was going to be the finale chapter of this volume. But now its been moved up to 28 which I'm currently working on. After that, I have a surprise in store that won't be revealed for a few weeks after the final chapter of the volume. Then I will go on hiatus with Multiplayer until Volume 5 of RWBY is released, which I'm hoping is around October again. But I will have another story or two published after my two month break on writing. I'm happy you loved the story. Hope to keep you around.

L337 M4n: RWBY Chibi. Well, some bits I suppose. It's actually what inspired Jaune's chibi character of the friends he's unlocked on his scroll. As for DLC, I got something planned.

PhantomStranger: Good to have ya back. I had hinted towards Roman being the last of the four Players, so it wasn't too surprising for most. And even with his countless lifetimes of experience, we've learned that doesn't exactly make him out as invincible. Arrogance can be a weakness too. And losing Crocea Mors shield was a nasty punch. But it leaves a chance at evolution. I already got the new design in mind, but I like the names you created. Just might use them for future weapons if the opportunity arises. I still haven't updated what DLC's are canon, have I? Gonna need to fix that some time. Oh, and you'll learn more about Tsuki this chapter and the next.

SonicFanFlame: I promise Fucking nothing!

---

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY, they belong to RoosterTeeth. I've been on pills the last week though to deal with the stitched lip, so I might have believed so. God damn purple dragon, you'll think you'll catch it every fucking time, but it just giggles and eggs you on! And here I thought only Heroin Hero could make me see that fucker. This is what I get for listening to that Gamestop employee's video game suggestions. I just wanted to play Guitar Hero and reach Superstardom, damn it!

---

Chapter 26: A Ways to Go.

With a groan and a grimace, Roman once again broke his right arm before his aura coated his arm. With his bones carefully fixed back to their proper place his aura could finally resume fixing his arm. Too bad it would be a slow process right now. Laying back in the back seat of the airship, he glanced out the window to the police activity scrambling to find his whereabouts from below. They wouldn't find any sign of him now, he had an illusion hiding them away as they made their escape into the night sky.

'Dust or Bust, Failed! The Time limit has been overstepped, causing an automatic failure! Robberies in Vale will now become more difficult even at night! Cinder's trust in you has fallen! No rewards will be granted upon failure of the mission.'

Roman swiped the unseen message away with a grunt. That's right, he almost forgot about the penalties for the mission he was on. How long had it been since he failed Dust or Bust? It was an easy mission especially at his current level. Fighting Jaune had taken up so much of his attention that he had forgot about securing the pay load of Dust. Well at least he had one airship of the natural magic in cargo. From the seat next to him, the empty space glistened before shattering like glass to reveal the pink and brown-haired girl responsible for his escape.

"You done good, Neo, you done good." he chuckled as he patted the small girl's head. Neo gave him a thumb's up and a grin before reaching out her open hand. Knowing what she wanted, Roman dropped the girl's favorite treat, a cone of neopolitan ice cream, into her hand from his Inventory. It paid to keep a large supply of the frozen custard on hand when working with his favorite little assistant.

Neo took the treat with glee and immediately began licking the cone as Roman turned his attention to the pilot of their aircraft.

"So, how did the test drive go, Perry?" he asked with a teasing smirk.

Perry grumbled under his breath as he rubbed the bruises over his face. It was only thanks to Neo that he had escaped capture when all eyes fell on Roman. The second he was awoken with several slaps to the face he had gone to get an airship ready with her help.

"My beautiful Arctic Warthog was blow to smithereens! All that time, effort, Lien, down the drain! All because of some no-good brats." Perry wallowed in the despair of his war machine's demise. And he just bought an awesome design for the paint job he had in mind!

"Eh, you shouldn't worry too much about it. We can always snag us some more Atlesian tech when we want." Roman said nonchalantly as he waved off the faunus's troubles.

"But I even lost my guiding program, La! She was my everything!"

'Not this again.' The dog boy had a weird obsession for his virtual assistants. Roman was sure Neo had a word for them, Waifu if he remembered right. Perry was always an odd one. But he was smart and knew how to make a dangerous weapon.

"Forget about your pretend wifey and focus on getting us out of here. We only have a few crates of Dust on us, but it's better than nothing."

Perry nodded as he decided to lament another time. It was pretty late and after today's events he could use a long nap. He could always work on programming another assistant some other time. Oh! Maybe he could have her with pink swirls this time?

A yawn escaped Roman's mouth as he settled back into his seat. It had been a while since he felt this tired after a mission. Even though he hadn't used even a quarter of his full power, the fight with Jaune had actually drained him a bit. Despite Jaune's lack of experience, he had proved himself capable of lasting longer than he had thought.

'Jaune Arc, The Heart. Is he the reason for the odd Perk?' Bringing up his Menu screen, Roman searched for the Perk that had suddenly popped up and locked itself to his status.

'Star Stillness. A unique Perk granted to all four Players in the game. From now on, all Players are permanently locked with The Gamer's abilities and powers till one reaches the True End. Killing another Player is now impossible in PVP. It will now activate an automated revival upon death. Only in Special Events can Players kill one another. Death outside these means still count in Game Over. Have fun!'

Roman didn't use Perks. His Quirk revolved around exploiting the mechanics of the world in his favor as Cheats. This was the first time he had ever received a Perk. Now with Star Stillness in place, all four of the current Players were locked with The Gamer until they reached the True End. Why? Why now of all times did The Game decided to lock them with The Gamer? It didn't make any sense.

Thinking about it now wouldn't do him much good. He still had a broken arm to take care of. By now, he was used to pain of all kinds, so he wasn't suffering much. It still hurt, but he could ignore it during his fight. And sadly, he didn't level up his Medic Class enough to evolve it into Surgeon to fix his arm back like that. After all this was over with he was going to have to take some time to level that class up.

With one last glance back at the docks, Roman shut his eyes for a small moment of rest.

The Game was changing. It had been a long time since such a thing happened. But nothing would change. Life was a game. And he would continue to play it his way. Why try ending his immortal life for a stupid wish?

For a split second, Roman's mind went hazy. It was like a static image was playing, too corrupted to properly process what he was seeing. He could make out what sounded like two voices call out to him before the image died away as quickly as it came. He paid it no mind, chalking it up to his weariness.

---

A Day later.

The first thing to hit Jaune's senses when he finally awoke to the familiar sight of the hospital ceiling was the dry, ashy taste in his mouth. Then came the soreness of his entire body aching.

"W-What happened?" Jaune groaned weakly as he sat up from his hospital bed. For some reason, his head was killing him, like he had just woken up from a hangover. Funny, he didn't even know what that felt like but it was the first thing to come to mind. A sharp pain suddenly hit his stomach, causing him to groan and bend over as he held his abdomen. Pulling up his hospital gown, he found the area of his stomach bandaged up, no doubt due to the colossal blow courtesy of Roman.

'Roman!' Spinning his head around in alarm, Jaune tried to locate the deadly trickster only to groan as his body once again ached.

"Don't strain yourself, there's nothing to worry about right now. The Event's over and Roman's escaped."

Turning his head over to the side, Jaune was surprised to find Ren laying back in a hospital bed as well. Unlike Jaune though, Ren wasn't wearing a gown, instead he was left bare chested with bandages wrapped around the upper area of his chest. The silent Player had his eyes shut, trying to enjoy the rare moment of solace and peace before his leader decided to join him.

"Please don't say something cliché like 'Ren, what's going on?' or 'Ren! Are you alright?'. My head's already killing me as it is, I don't feel like dealing with your crap right now." Ren said a grunt.

Jaune opened his mouth to protest, before rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. That was exactly what he was going to say. Sometimes it sucked having a friend who literally knew everything about you down to a T. Who would have thought Ren had some snark in him? Taking another look around the hospital room they shared, Jaune finally noticed that the clock above had yet to move any of its hands. It looked like Ren had called a Pause the moment he noticed he was waking up.

"Then can you tell me what happened after the docks? How long have we been sleeping?" Jaune asked as he fell back to his bed.

Fully opening his own eyes with a sigh, Ren sat up carefully as he answered his leader's question, "I don't exactly know the details of what happened after I was KO'd by Roman's attack. I woke up in the early morning and the nurses were quick to make me lay back down and get more rest. It's only been three hours since then."

Hearing that, Jaune did take notice that the frozen clock read 8:13 a.m.

"Besides, shouldn't you know what went down? You were still standing last I saw." he said curiously before Jaune laughed weakly.

"When I saw you go down, the last of my patience went out and I was ready to charge in, sword blazing. But Ciel must have not liked that seeing as everything went dark with a karate chop to the neck. Did you know that actually works?"

Ren smacked his forehead at that, "Yes, Jaune, we've already been over this once. Not everything you see in movies is fake." he said tiredly before deciding to follow his friend and lay back. His chest was still sore, so he really shouldn't be sitting up right now, "And to answer your second question, it's Tuesday. Since last Sunday night, we've been sleeping for an entire day and missed out on school. I can't remember the last time I ever missed a day of school this early in the game." he grumbled to himself.

Well, that answered both of his questions. But it still wasn't enough to settle Jaune down as he thought back to the night's events.

"What about the others? Are. . .are they okay?" Jaune said softly, almost too afraid to even ask.

Ren stiffened, looking down at his hands as he thought back to their fight with Roman.

"I don't know. I tried asking the nurse about the rest, but she said she had no idea to their conditions. I don't even know if they're in room across from us being treated for their wounds. For all we know, Roman could have killed one of them before leaving."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Jaune shouted angrily as he banged the railing of his bed with his fist. The metal bent horribly with a groan as his breathing became ragged, his blue eyes shaking with anxiety as he tried to calm down. The very thought of one of their friends killed because they weren't strong enough to protect them tore at his heart. How could Ren say something so calmly?

Ren didn't pay the outburst any mind, sighing tiredly as he shook his head.

"Don't go losing your cool again. It's a possibility, but not a strong one. Roman does whatever he wants, he doesn't believe in rules and literally plays The Game as a game. If he wanted to kill any of us, he would have done so. But he knows the drawbacks to killing any of us. If he killed Weiss, the SDC and all of Atlas would hunt him down, if he killed Blake, Adam would turn on him and focus this world on making him suffer, if he killed Ruby, he would have to worry about her father and uncle coming for him, same as Yang." Ren explained as he thought back to the risks that came to hurting those particular NPC's, "Roman loves fighting, but he isn't like Adam in wanting that much of a challenge. I'm positive that they're alright and not as wounded as us." At least he hoped.

Jaune didn't like the answer. He didn't want to sit around until they could finally be told what happened to their friends, it would kill him. Reaching for his scroll, he quickly opened up the Bonds menu and sighed in relief. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, and Tsuki were still alive. Unfortunately, he hadn't unlocked Sun, Ciel, or Penny's friendships yet, so he had no way of knowing their status. He could only trust that they made it out of the mess just fine. Out of curiosity, he opened each girl's status to check up on them.

'Ruby Rose. Friendship: Lvl 9. Affection: Locked. Status: Bored, worried, wishing for class to be over with. Soul Link: Locked.' A small chibi Ruby sat in class along with a small version of Weiss, resting her head on the desk as she listened to another one of Professor Port's lectures in boredom. A small little thought cloud hovered over her head, revealing worried thoughts of Jaune and even Yang. Seeing that, Jaune scrolled over for Yang's status to see how she was doing.

'Yang Xiao Long. Friendship: Lvl 9. Affection. Locked. Status: Bored, aggravated, hungry, and frustrated. She really wants to punch a certain someone. Soul Link: Locked.'

Jaune didn't know what to say as he watched chibi Yang butt heads with a chibi version of Tsuki, both in hospital gowns as they slapped each other like children. Well, she seemed alright. But that only meant that she was still being treated for her own wounds like the two of them. Suddenly, Tsuki's eyes turned away from Yang as she back handed the girl out of her bed and stared back at his own. The chibi raven didn't say anything, choosing instead to take out a whiteboard slab and write something down with a sharpie. Finished with what she wanted to say, she turned the cardboard over to reveal her message with little emotion.

'Let's bang.'

'There's something seriously wrong with that girl.' Jaune thought with a slacked jaw. Was that what Tsuki was really thinking right now? What the hell did he do to gain that sort of attention from someone as cool and beautiful as her? This was The Game's doing, it just had to be.

"Do I want to know what's up with your face right now?" Ren asked as it looked like the color in Jaune's face drained.

"Just. . .more of The Game's crap is all." Jaune replied back with some strain. He gripped his white blanket in frustration as some bitterness seeped out of his voice.

Ren knew that tone all too well, "It seems a lot more went down during your two-day absence."

Jaune nodded back stiffly, "Yeah, a lot more than I was prepared for. It looks like I got more than a wound from my past haunting me since I was brought back." he said tiredly, his eyes growing dark as he remembered what he left behind, "Did you know that my dad's in a coma, constantly waking and falling back into a deep sleep from a severe injury that his aura can't heal completely?"

Hearing that, Ren was taken back by surprise. He knew of the father of the Arc household, having met the powerful man in his many lifetimes. To hear that Alexander Arc was in such a condition was shocking.

"When did this happen?" he couldn't help but ask before Jaune let out a weak chuckle and met his eyes with a bitter smile.

"Don't know. Apparently, during the whole process of granting my soul The Gamer's Heart, parts of my earlier memories were lost. Looking back even my first day in Beacon is kind of hazy. Isn't that a pleasant surprise?" he said dryly.

"That doesn't make any sense. Something such as memory loss has never happened to any of the past Players in The Game."

"Well, I guess I'm a special case. It shouldn't be much of a surprise when I think about it. Since waking up in the Emerald Forest after dying to the White Fang Lieutenant, my powers and body haven't been right. I've been 'patched' or nerfed as Husk says twice now. And let's not forget about my old buddy here." Jaune gestured to his chest where his death scar laid with weariness, "I have the scar of that day which shouldn't be possible if what you were saying is right. Compared to you, Adam, and Roman, I'm the odd man out."

'But why?' When Ren looked back to all the problems Jaune faced as a Player, he realized that what Jaune was saying was right; Jaune was the odd one out. No one who had attained The Gamer had ever had to deal with any of Jaune's problems. Did it have to do with the way Jaune's soul had gained The Gamer?

"When an NPC is given the powers of The Gamer, they gain it because they willingly gave up their souls to The Will for various reasons. Then one of two things happen. One, The Will plants the soul of the NPC with The Gamer in the next Reset and waits for the power to manifest itself during an event. And two, The Will steals the soul of the NPC when it dies after giving them its soul and overwrites the NPC's soul in the reset while granting it The Gamer." Ren began to explain as he crossed his arms in thought, "The first method is the simplest way to grant The Gamer. But the second method is to give the Player some experience if they're lacking any. I know Adam was born with The Gamer, but I guess you could say that my method wasn't normal. Apparently, I missed my chance to sprout my powers of The Gamer and had The Will and Remnant turn back time to the event I should have gained them. That's actually when I met Roman."

"You recalled your previous life, so you fall under the second method. But I can't see any reason why you would have your level set back to 1, your abilities and bits of Player information missing, or your lack of memories along with your scar. Up until now I never thought such things were possible." Ren said with his own frustration. Up until now, The Game was simple and had little errors. So, why were things not making any sense now?

Despite how the errors had been eating away at his thoughts, Jaune shrugged his shoulders. He knew there wasn't anything he could do to restore his memories right now or fix what was wrong with his body. He already knew that sulking about it wouldn't get him anywhere good, just into a deeper hole.

"Well thinking about it won't do me much. If anything, it only further drives me to end Will's game. That little bastard is the reason why I'm in this mess to begin with." Jaune bit out with a growl. He could already picture the flame ball grinning widely with glee at his frustration.

"True, it is The Will's fault for your shoddy programming seeing as it's in charge of the Players functions and potential. But you have yourself to blame for becoming a Player." Ren chuckled before grimacing lightly as the action strained his chest.

"What did I do?" Jaune asked with a frown.

Staring back up at the ceiling, Ren became wistful as he recalled how he had gained The Gamer, "I don't exactly know what I did to give up my soul to The Will in the past life before being born with The Gamer, but I know I promised myself that I would never let what happened to my home happen to anyone else. I was done being afraid, of being weak, and charged into a village suffering the same tragedy as my home's downfall. That act of bravery bore my Title as The Mind and I accepted it."

'Just a bit more! I DON'T CARE IF THIS POWER COMES WITH A PRICE! I'LL GIVE YOU MY SOUL, JUST LET ME PROTECT WEISS A LITTLE LONGER! SO, PLEASE STAY!'

Jaune's eyes went distant as he gazed down at his hand. So, this was the price he had to pay for the power that allowed him to protect Weiss that day? It was The Will who had heard his plea and collected the debt, which in turn revived him with The Gamer's Heart. Did that mean if he didn't sacrifice his life to save her, he wouldn't have had to live this cursed life?

"Do you regret it? The price you paid for that power?"

Jaune made a noise of surprise as he was brought out of his thoughts. He turned his eyes back to Ren, finding the raven-haired boy staring intently at him. The question came back to mind as he went back to staring at his hand. The image of his own blood painted over his skin, the feeling of his breath dying with each passing second, the sensation of his intestines, stomach, and lungs being sawed by furious metal chained teeth, and the fear as his heart slowed came back at that moment. He shut his eyes to rid the memory of that painful time of his final moments.

Icy blue eyes suddenly stared back at him, the life in those orbs easing his anxiety and doubts.

"No, I don't. Not as long as Weiss could live with the rest of her friends and family. What's going on with my body, and my memories, sucks. It really sucks." his voice trembled as his heart clenched, but he fought his tears as he looked back at Ren firmly with a small smile, "But I would never take back what I did that day. For one moment, I was a hero and I saved a life. If this is the price I have to pay for saving her life, then I just have to grit my teeth and bare it!" he said strongly.

Jaune's answer brought a smirk to Ren's lips. Typical Jaune answer. But not a one he could really hate. That was the one thing he could say he liked about his leader. As cliché as the blond knight could be, his heart was always in the right place and he never went back on his actions.

"Good to hear. Because we still have a long way to go in this game. I can't have you sulking during this playthrough." Ren chuckled.

"Yeah, we can't have two Ren's here. Pretty sure Nora would go nuts with glee at that." Jaune replied flatly. Ren gave the blond a small glare for the jab.

"Seeing as that drama's done with, is there anything else you might want to know before I call off the Pause? I'd like to get the morning over with and I'm actually hungry after going the day without food." Some breakfast sounded really good right now, even if it was hospital brand.

"A lot actually." Jaune chuckled weakly. There was still the subject of Roman he wanted to talk about after all. But Jaune was in the same boat as Ren, tired, exhausted, and more importantly, hungry. Matters such as that could wait for now. "But for now, we can save all that for another time. I just want to relax after all the excitement."

Glad that Jaune wasn't pushing for anything, Ren ended the Pause. The world's flow resumed, bringing with it the life of the monitors reading their vitals and the soft tick of the clock above their heads. A faint feminine yell of frustration reached their ears which was quickly followed by the sounds of breaking objects.

"Guess Yang's feeling better." Jaune said dully, recognizing the familiar shout of fury before another crashing sound reached his ears. From what he could put together from her status, she was sharing a room with Tsuki. What was it about the dark-haired girl that rubbed Yang the wrong way?

"Is it wrong that some part of me wishes they were still knocked out?"

Opening the door to Jaune and Ren's hospital room, the familiar bubblegum pink ponytail of Ms. Sprig met the two with an exhausted sigh. As always dark bags could be seen around her eyes from lack of sleep. She fought a yawn as she greeted the two boys with a lazy wave.

"Good morning, Mr. Lie. It's good to see you finally awake. Seems your aura did most of our work for us, it doesn't appear like that wound has left any lasting damage." Ms. Sprig said with a small smile. Walking over to the raven-haired boy, she began to inspect the area of the electrical stab wound. "Tell me, do you feel any pain when I put pressure here?"

Ren shook his head with a small grunt, "No, just some soreness and stiffness."

"Well your aura has mended the gaping hole in your chest just fine. You're lucky the guy who did this to you didn't aim the attack a few inches to the right or we would have had a pierced lung to work on. Even your aura can't fix that without some help." she said with some mirth before writing down her findings on her clipboard.

'If Roman wanted me dead, I wouldn't be here at all.' Roman knew more powerful and deadly spells that could kill with one hit alone, he was lucky the trickster was simply playing around.

Finished with her report, Ms. Sprig gave Ren a gentle pat on the back before turning for the door, "Your body will be a bit sluggish for the rest of the day, sadly there's no medicine to fix that other than some coffee maybe. But other than that, you should be fine to leave as soon as tonight after a few little check-ups. And I'll be sure to let your team know that it's fine to come by and visit once school's over with. It's actually about time I head back to campus, the Headmaster only wanted me to make sure his students were being taken care of properly by one of his own on staff."

Jaune blinked, not knowing what to do as it became clear that the pink haired nurse was ignoring him. He coughed into his fist, hoping to get her to turn her attention to him.

"Uh, Ms. Sprig? You didn't check on me." he said sheepishly.

Ms. Sprig turned her blue eyes back to Ren, her eyes dull as she blatantly ignored the blond, "I'm sorry, but did you hear something? I could have sworn I heard the sound of dry drift wood."

"What would that even sound like?!"

"There it is again. I must really have my ears checked on. Such a sound is quite annoying."

Jaune hung his head with a sigh.

'Just. . .try and take care of yourself from now on.'

For some reason those words he had heard from the unmotivated nurse came to mind. Jaune bit his lip as he held his healing stomach, bandaged after nearly gutted through by a colossal blow. Idly, his eyes glanced back at the nurse's hands, clenched tightly with specks of dried blood on her gloves.

Those hands had been bloodied again.

"I'm sorry!"

Hand pausing before it could turn the knob, Ms. Sprig glanced back to the blond boy whose face was shadowed as he looked down in shame. His brow was furrowed deeply as he sucked in a breath and stared back at her with shame and a weak chuckle.

"You patched me up again, didn't you? It seems that whenever I'm hurt, you're always the one to come running in to fix me up. Even when it's some bruises or something as simple as feeling ill, you're always there to make me feel better. You even go as far as listening to my troubles when you're treating me. And all that you've ever asked of me is to take better care of myself, only to keep hurting myself to degrees such as this." he said with guilt, recalling all the times Ms. Sprig had healed him.

From his first day in Beacon when she treated him from Professor Pitho's ice balls, to his fight with Cardin, to training with Yang, and saving his life after his fight with Holt and Adam, she had been there for him. Even if Nurse Sprig acted like she didn't care and liked to groan about her duty, it was obvious to at least himself that she cared greatly for her patients. But to see someone she had treated constantly coming back wounded like him must have been vexing. It was like he was just throwing all that goodwill away.

Once again, she had bloodied her hands treating his wounds. She must have finally lost her patience with him seeing a wound as grievous as his fight with the FoF. And she had every right for growing fed up at his injuries. The bandages in his hand were nearly torn through by his grip.

Ms. Sprig was a kind person despite her attitude. Jaune didn't want to disappoint someone who had spent so much time and effort in bringing him back from his weakest.

"I know you don't like seeing idiots like me hurting themselves while playing hero. If there's one thing I've learned about you, it's that you hate those kinds of people. Heroes who throw away their lives and never think about the people they leave behind. But it's because of those people that I'm willing to put me life on the line like that!" Jaune said fiercely with conviction, surprising the pink haired nurse as her eyes went wide.

"I can't lie to you and say that this will be the last time you'll see me like this. Hell, I'm pretty sure there will be more times I come close to death doing something stupid in the future. So, all I can promise is to grit my teeth through whatever pain I'm in until you can fix me up again. Because I refuse to die a hero!"

'Not again. I won't die leaving behind the people I care about again!'

Ms. Sprig continued to glance at Jaune, her face blank as he looked at her with those stubborn blue eyes of his. Finally, she moved, walking over to his bedside without saying a thing before moving his hand away from his abdomen. Her callous fingers ran over the bandages, moving them away to inspect the healing tissue with scrutiny.

". . .Does it hurt?"

With a strained smile, Jaune shook his head, "No, not really."

"Don't lie, you idiot." she scoffed before pulling back her hand and fixing Jaune's bandages back into place, "Your organs were bruised heavily by whatever attack nearly ran you through. A bit more force and you'd have to fake your death instead of pain. Aura is great in healing open wounds, but things such as internal bleeding, broken bones, and damaged organs are lot more complex to mend. I've treated what I could with the help of the medical staff, but you'll still be sore and sensitive around your abdomen for a couple of days. Don't strain yourself when you're out, and that also means that you're barred from combat related activities as well." she said with a small glare as she stood back to stand over the blond's bedside with her hands on her waist.

"I've already sent the Headmaster a note from the head doctor in the hospital along with my own excusing you from practice. So, don't think you can ignore the doctor's orders."

Jaune nodded nervously as he scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah, I'll be sure to listen. I don't want to go seeing you too soon."

"Right." Ms. Sprig drawled before turning to Ren, "You're his teammate, correct? Make sure your leader actually listens. I can't be nagging him every waking second of the day."

"I'll do my best in making sure he takes it easy." Ren answered with a mirthful chuckle.

Trusting the raven, the pink haired nurse turned back for the door while speaking, "The doctor has prescribed some medicine to ease the pain, enough for a week which is enough for your wound to heal. You're also free to leave tonight along with Mr. Lie. So, you can go back to playing the dumb hero again, it's what you're good at. And don't worry about food, someone's already heading over to deliver breakfast."

Once again, Ms. Sprig found herself pausing at the door. She couldn't help but laugh. She was always doing that with the blond boy before she could leave. How cliché.

"I can only heal so much. I'm not a miracle worker, you know? So, please don't go going back on your word, okay?" she said softly before leaving the room.

'Artemis Spriggan's Friendship has risen by 1! A Special Gift has been rewarded! Would you like to Download it now?'

Shrugging his shoulders, Jaune tapped yes on the screen and proceeded to download the gift. Ren watched as a decorative treasure box softly fell onto Jaune's lap from digital code before the blond tapped it open.

'You Received Regen Ring!'

'Regen Ring [Accessory]: A silver metal ring with a healthy luminescent red band of energy running along the ring. Allows HP regeneration even in battle but at a small rate. The energy within beats like a rhythmic heart.'

The new Accessory suddenly caused Jaune to smack his head like an idiot, "Aww, man! I completely forgot about equipping Accessories before fighting Roman! I could have really used the extra boost when I had a chance." he groaned. Not wanting to make the mistake again, Jaune immediately went to equipping the newest item on his person. It was very useful gift; no way was he forgetting to equip it.

Ren wasn't going to dignify his fellow Player with a response. Instead he decided to go back to getting some rest before their food arrived. His stomach was growling with the need to feed.

---

Grunting as he moved his heavy feet step by step, Jaune made his way to the room Yang and Tsuki were currently resting at. At the moment, he could only move about with crutches due to a combination of exhaustion and pain, not to mention he was stuck in his hospital gown until he went home. Ren had decided to stay back, using the rare chance to rest up and catch up on some light reading from a book in his Inventory. Finding the busty huntresses hospital room wasn't too difficult, even if Ms. Sprig hadn't stopped by again with the doctor on staff to hand him their room number. He could make out their squabbling from his own room. Though now it seemed like they had finally calmed down as he found their room without any more noise bouncing off the door.

Jaune's memory after Roman's God Strike was hazy. At the time, he could only make out blurred images and distorted voices until Ren had brought him out of the red and stabilized his HP. Once he had shaken away death, he could clearly remember standing by helplessly as his friends fought the monstrous trickster, watching as they were each easily dealt with. Yang and Tsuki though had suffered the worst of Roman's brunt of attacks, that he could remember clearly. It was because of him that they were held up in the hospital, wounded facing an enemy that was leagues above them all together.

The least he could do now was check up on them. Give them some company to stave off the boredom. He might as well, seeing as breakfast hadn't arrived yet.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune raised his knuckle to the door and gave it a few raps to let them know they had a visitor. It wasn't long until someone had answered the door and pair of fox eyes greeted him back with confusion.

"Jaune? Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" Rue, Tsuki's teammate smiled, instantly recognizing the blond boy at the door. Without another word, he let the leader of JNPR into the room.

"Rue? You're already visiting Tsuki? Shouldn't you be in school instead?" Jaune asked as he entered the room. As soon as he stepped in, three sets of eyes spun back to him. One of lilac purple, blood red, and bright blue.

Rue waved off the concern with a laugh as he went back to Tsuki's bedside, "We're second years, class time is cut back to make room for missions which teach us more than sitting in class. We were all supposed to head out to a Patrol mission yesterday, but seeing as our sweet raven-haired buddy was hurt from some late-night partying, we couldn't head out. So, until she's recovered, we have the next week off!" he said cheerfully.

"You don't have to sound so happy about that." Hera said with a frustrated sigh. She rubbed her head of all the mess as she sagged further into her seat with her stuffed Griffon beside her partner's bedside, "I love free time away from hunters work as much as anyone, but it didn't have to come at the cost of my friend's health." she said bitterly, petting her plushie's head for comfort.

"You worry too much, Hera! The doc's said that Tsuki only had a few second degree burns and a gaping hole near her shoulder. She's fine."

"How is that fine!?"

Walking over to the two girls, Jaune decided to greet them both with a nervous wave and grin. Like Ren, they weren't wearing gowns. Instead their upper bodies were wrapped by bandages with gauze centered around their spear wounds.

"Hey. How are you two doing?" he said weakly.

Yawning tiredly, Yang waved back as she settled back into her bed, "Not too bad after being speared by lightning. That flamboyant bastard with the bowler was actually stronger than he looked. I couldn't move a muscle after the lightning stopped crawling over my skin, so all I could do was watch as the guy beat up everyone else." she said with frustration. Reaching for her food by the bedside, Yang bit down roughly on her toast with a grumble, "Once all the fighting was done and the guy escaped, I was hulled off to the hospital with our edgy friend over here to be treated for the damage. Whoever had the bright idea to stick us together in the same room must not have got the memo that we don't exactly get along." she grumbled through a mouth full of food.

Sipping serenely from her hot cup of tea, Tsuki paid the blonde girl no mind as she focused her attention on the object of her affections, "My wounds mean very little compared to the state I had found you in that night." she said coldly with narrowed eyes.

Jaune shivered under the stare, gulping as even Yang followed along and glared at him. The day had only begun and he was already in hot water. If this was how they were going to act, then he shuddered to think how Pyrrha was going to be once she visited.

"It's not as bad as it looks! Just some flesh wounds and bruising is all." he said nervously.

"Internal bruising, I bet." Rue whispered to Hera's ear.

"You looked like you were going to kick the bucket, again." Yang scoffed, "Wasn't all my training so that you would no longer have your ass handed to you? This is the second time that we find you in some mess that a hunter shouldn't be involved in. For some reason, you and Blakey can't help yourselves but find yourselves in trouble. And look where it gets you? Back in the hospital!"

"You could have died if it wasn't for your teammate bringing you out of the brink of death's doors." Tsuki said stoically, her red eyes growing darker with her silent fury, "You are a strong man, but you let your emotions get in your way. Whatever trouble you found that night, you should have ignored it. Despite your strength, the man we all faced was on a plane of strength I cannot measure. He treated us all like a gluttoned beast full on its meal simply toying with its food out of sheer enjoyment. If he wanted to, he could have killed you without much thought."

"Where were you anyways? You've been gone for two days without a word to your teammates! Blake, I could understand with everything that's been going on with her. But you? Don't tell me you decided to play hero again and tried to stop some crime without letting your friends know again. Shit like that should be left to the cops, not some greenhorn!"

"You're trained to fight monsters, not humans. If you wished to stop such crimes, you should have enrolled in the law enforcement. And leaving your comrades in the dark is not tolerable. A team leader should always speak to his teammates about the situation and never leave them behind. Your actions have caused not only yourself, but your comrades trouble."

Jaune was finding it hard to say something back under the scolding of the two strong huntresses. They were making a lot of good points. All he had been doing lately was causing everyone trouble. He couldn't blame his status as The Gamer on that, he had always been doing that before his death.

Done with her piece of the rant, Yang sighed loudly as she tried her best from pulling at her lovely hair. All this stress was not good for her. She was going to lose a hair like this, and that meant someone was going to die. And she was looking at a certain blue eyed, blond knight for that.

"Seriously, Jaune. Do you even understand how worried we all were?" Yang said softly as she rubbed her shoulder around the area of her wound, "You can't keep doing crap like this and expect us all to greet you with smiles and grins. From the start of your disappearance, I tried to calm everyone down and say that you were out doing guy stuff or whatever. But I had a hunch you were probably getting into some trouble again. Woman's intuition, you know?"

For a kindhearted goofball who didn't know how to properly flirt with girls, Jaune acted selfishly. No matter how strong he may have become since their initiation, he wasn't superman. He couldn't do everything by himself with will and power alone. If they hadn't arrived at the docks when they did, she shuddered to wonder what might have happened to him.

Jaune knew that what he had done was selfish, incredibly selfish. But he had needed some time to himself after the bomb of his father's condition had been dropped. Helping Blake with her problem had been due to his resolve to continue on his path as a huntsman and not give in to The Game's hurdles. Besides, he already knew that they would be on their way and had been hoping to explain everything once the fighting had finished. Sadly, Roman had derailed said plans by turning his sights red with rage. Now was as good as any to try and explain himself.

"I'm sorry for worrying everyone, but I was going through some. . .hardships from home. At the time, I just wanted to be by myself to sort through my feelings. I know that isn't much of an excuse for ignoring everyone who were looking for me, but I wasn't acting like myself at the time." he explained with regret in his eyes.

"That would be because of your memory loss and your father's condition, correct?"

Jaune blinked, stumped as he turned to Tsuki. How the hell did she hit the mark? Seeing his confusion, Yang decided to intervene with a sigh.

"Truth is, Blake already explained everything to us yesterday. Weiss and she had finally hashed out their differences before she decided to let us know about why you had been acting by yourself. Apparently, it was all a coincidence that you both had run off that night."

"But if you knew about all that already, why did ask me about it?" Jaune said with some annoyance. Why make him repeat what they already knew?

"Because I wanted to hear it from your mouth, not hers. That still doesn't excuse going all vigilante. Don't think I didn't scold Blake either, she's in the same boat as you."

"It's like watching a mother scold her son." Rue muttered as he watched the verbal lashing of the leader of team JNPR. Funny how the guy who was praised as one of the strongest huntsman in the first year was being talked down to. His comment earned him a smack from his bedside teammate.

"As much as it pains me to agree with the blonde bimbo, she's right. What you did nearly got you killed. What you're feeling now is only a small payback for all that you've put us through."

"The fuck did she call me!?"

Tsuki caught the pillow thrown her way and swiftly threw it back with enough force to nearly knock Yang off her bed before her attention fell back to the blond knight on crotches. Seeing him in such a state did not please her.

"My wounds mean very little to me, I have suffered worst in my life. But I do not wish to see you in such a state ever again. Don't make me believe that your strength is nothing more than luck. As my chosen, I expect you to live up to your purpose." she said sternly.

"Chosen?" Jaune said slowly as Tsuki suddenly found all eyes turned to her as she nodded simply. Why did that send warning bells off in his head?

"Of course. Though I do believe that you simple folk call it. . .What was it again?" she frowned before reaching for her bedside nightstand. Picking up one of the few books she had her team deliver to her, she quickly skimmed through the pages for what she was looking for. Finding the word she was looking for, she explained the meaning as seriously as she could.

"Baby Daddy."

You could hear a pin hit the floor with how quiet the room had gotten.

"There's something seriously wrong with this chick." Yang gaped in disbelief. How could any right-minded girl say something like that with that kind of expression?

"Yeah, Tsuki's not what you would call a 'normal' girl." Rue chuckled brightly as he patted his confused dark-haired teammates shoulders. It looked as if she didn't understand why they were all looking at her like she was out of her mind. Such naivety was cute, "Believe it or not, she grew up around bandits that praised strength. She's not really adept in the norm as you can tell. When we all first gathered as a team, she had left Beacon grounds to hunt down some game to celebrate and challenged Hera for position of leader. I had to teach the girl how to act remotely normal, even how to cook. Her idea of spice and pizzazz was salt." he said flatly, his expression never losing its smile.

Rue's explanation did little to calm Jaune's beating heart. His face was bright with a blush at the red eyed huntress's words. So, this was what Tsuki's Affection entitled. He should have guessed it was something like that seeing as he hadn't even unlocked her Friendship, just like Ms. Antheia.

"So, you want to marry the guy?" Hera asked her partner, finding it hard to believe what she heard. Jaune was okay, she supposed. But someone like Tsuki could do better with looks like hers.

Surprisingly, Tsuki shook her head negatively, only further confusing those within the room.

"I simply wish to have his offspring for. . .reasons. Of course, I do not wish for that to happen now. I'm willing to wait until Jaune has matured into a strong and powerful huntsman, and for us to graduate. Then I will return to my tribe and give birth. That is all." she explained simply with almost no real emotion.

'Yup, something's really wrong with this chick.' Yang thought dully.

'She's directly confessing to me that she simply wants to have sex with me for a kid. . . . I don't know how the hell to respond to that.' Jaune felt a bit of himself die and rejoice at the same time.

"But what if he doesn't want to. . .bed you." Rue struggled to say. Even he was reeling from that.

To that, Tsuki reached for another book and proudly displayed it for them all to see.

"'How to Make a Man Fall for You'?" Hera read the title of the book aloud slowly, rubbing her eyes at what she was seeing. "I thought you didn't want to marry him? Why would you try to make him fall in love with you?"

"From what I've learned observing my prey, he is not the type to, how do you say? Hit it and quit it?"

"I think I taste blood. And it has a distinct purple hint to it." Jaune said dully as his spirit tried to escape his body. That only confirmed the odd feeling of someone always watching him the last few months since meeting the girl.

"So, in order to obtain my goal, I have begun reading up on how to ensnare him into my bedside when the time is right. Jaune is a virtuous man, so he would only have intercourse with me if he has feelings for me. After that, it would be his choice if he wishes to join my tribe. He can run off with another woman if he so pleases, as long as I bear a strong child."

"And if that doesn't work out? He can fall in love with another girl you know?" Rue said with a waning smile.

Tsuki gave the forest green haired boy a stoic stare, "Then I suppose alcohol will do just fine. I've read many stories of men sleeping with woman while in relationships due to intoxication."

"Honey. . .that's a no-no."

"I think you may have killed Jaune." Hera said as she poked at the frozen blond leader. He wasn't showing much of a response after that. His eyes looked kind of glassy. It was honestly surprising to see him still standing. Growing annoyed at the dumb face he was making, Hera snapped her fingers in front of his face.

The sound was enough to snap Jaune out of his blank state. He groaned as he held his aching head, "I think my grandfather just kicked me out of heaven." he said dizzily. Weird how he could actually feel the pain of the boot knocking him out of the golden gates. Wasn't his Gamer's body supposed to be able to handle such strain?

"Ignoring everything we've just heard for now." Yang said with a twitching brow, hoping to steer the conversation back on track, "You're still in trouble. If I remembered correctly, Professor Goodwitch wasn't thrilled about our involvement in the SDC raid. I even heard word that someone from the VPD was going to visit to question you about what went down. We may understand all the trouble you're going through right now, we even forgive you for worrying us," she said gently, easing Jaune's guilt before frowning sternly, "but you you've got a lot of explaining to do later. Things like this can get you expelled."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Jaune smiled. Luckily, he was on good terms with the VPD, so all he had to do was explain the situation. Goodwitch on the other hand was another matter. He winced, just thinking of the punishment she had in mind.

Besides, the bigger hurdle ahead was Pyrrha. She was going to be tricky to deal with. She had already been upset with his venture in the FoF. No telling how angry she was with him now.

'Maybe I can promise to buy her that limited edition Jaune-Cena action figure she's had her eyes on?'

"Alright, I got your drags like you asked for them, your highness!"

The sound of the room door being kicked wide open snapped Jaune out of his plan to find the last member of team HRTH barging in. Helios grumbled under his breath as he held several articles of clothing belonging to Tsuki.

'Damn barbarian woman. Doc said she's fine enough to walk, couldn't she get her shit herself?' Better to keep those thoughts to himself. For a girl, she could hit like a Goliath. Biting back a foul curse, he turned his yellow eyes back for his teammate, only to widen as he caught eye of blue and yellow. Helios snarled suddenly, dropping the clothing to floor before charging at Jaune.

"YOU!" he barked angrily, grabbing a fistful of Jaune's gown. The crutches in Jaune's arms fell to the floor as he found himself picked up by the angry musician. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE, BASTARD!?"

"Helios, what are you doing!" Hera shouted as the rest of them moved to intervene. Yang and Tsuki grunted as they found themselves unable to get up from the pain.

"The hell do you mean, what am I doing?! It's because of this asshole that Tsuki's here in the first place!" he shouted angrily, never taking his furious yellow eyes off the grimacing blond.

Rue sighed at his teammates behavior as he got off his seat. Leave it to Helios to blow up the situation. The redhead was too emotional sometimes.

"Calm down, Helios. You know that what happened to Tsuki wasn't Jaune's fault. Now, let the kid down gently." Rue said soothingly as he patted Helios shoulder comfortingly. Helios gritted his teeth, showing signs that he was fighting his own desire to shove off his friend's advice before reigning in his anger with a scoff. He pushed Jaune back, watching the knight stumble a bit as he tried to gain his balance without his crutches.

"Of course, it's his fault. Look what playing hero got him, fucked up along with the people following after him. Tch, you must think you're some kind of bigshot just because your naturally stronger than most." Helios said scathingly with a glare.

"Naturally stronger?" Jaune grunted as his wound acted up.

"The blood of warriors runs through your veins, right? It makes sense how a scrawny, simple minded, idiot like you can fight like he's always been fighting. Power like that is probably the reason why he thought he could go out at night and stop a bunch of terrorist." Helios anger was only growing the longer he talked. Arrogant, the damn first year was showing him up and taking the spotlight for himself. And of course, Jaune would, someone who was naturally talented and born into a family of warriors would want to play hero so they would praise his name.

A name that was already well known.

Fighting back the pain in her shoulders, Yang grew confused at a certain something Helios had said, "Blood of warriors? What are you talking about?" she asked.

Jaune was in the same boat. He already knew that his family came from a long line of warriors, dating all the way back to the first Arc to take the blade during the Great War. But how did Helios of all people know that? The Arc name was no longer famous, just another bloodline of warriors that had fought in the war along with others. The only way to discover that would be to research into the families that had fought in the great battle and trace his name back to him.

Seeing the confusion on Jaune's face only further drove his anger to rise. He didn't know?

"You don't even know of your own lineage, do you?" Helios chuckled bitterly, "Of the stories relating to your name? Or of Genos?" he said seething.

'Ma, I want to read this one! Please, please~!"

'Helios, you've already read The Tale of The Lone Knight dozens of times already? Don't you want to read a new one?'

'No! It's my favorite and it's Ma's favorite too! That makes it even better!'

A warm, loving chuckle from Helios's memories tickled his ear, the sound cracking his knuckles as he fought a snarl of rage.

'Fine, one more before bed. Genos was always my favorite hero. I'm just happy you feel the same.'

Jaune frowned deeply. Genos? For some reason, the name sounded familiar.

"It's easy for you to grab the spotlight, huh?"

Turning back to Helios, Jaune was taken back as something odd appeared in his vision.

Helios's aura was out in the open but no one seemed to notice as if they were blind to it. But something wasn't right about the sight. At the center of the musician's heart, a black speck wriggled violently, sending chills down Jaune's spine. A beady red light stared back at him from the center of the small toxic mass, seeming to notice the knight's eyes on it as it blinked. As soon as it appeared it vanished.

Shoulders shacking with barely controlled anger, Helios glared back at Jaune with wide eyes of hate. Seeing such a strong emotion on the huntsman took Jaune back. The two of them never really interacted in school, they never even had the opportunity to fight another in class. So, how could Helios produce such an emotion without ever really knowing anything about him?

"All the first years, even the second and third years, talk about the upstarts already making names for themselves. Fighting the Friends of Faunus, taking control of the outbreak of Grimm during the first-year field trip as it begun, and even stopping the White Fang in one of their operations. But in all the chatter, your name always comes up!" he shouted furiously, swinging his arms just inches away from connecting with Jaune. "Arc, Arc, Arc! That's all I ever hear! They make you out as some kind of bigshot, a hero in the making! And it pisses me off!"

'Did you hear? Apparently, the White Fang was in Vale last night! They were probably planting some kind of bomb, but I heard that some hunters from school stopped them.'

'Yeah, wasn't it that Arc kid's team that stopped them? Didn't he also help evacuate all the first-year teams during the sudden spike of Grimm in Forever Falls? I heard he held a large mob of them off by himself! Sheesh, first years these days.'

'He also helped stop the Friend of Faunus a few months ago. Man, that Arc kid's already making names! Talk about a hero.'

'The Rookie Hero, has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?'

'I could have sworn I heard about the Arc name before in some old textbook on the war. Guess he's just destined to be a warrior.'

Naturally born with talent. From a bloodline of heroes going as far back as the greatest war on Remnant. Someone who could shine without even trying. People who were born with such natural skill and power. . .like Jaune. . .he. . .

"It's people like you, I hate the most!" Helios shouted in frustration, breathing heavily as his emotions took over his common sense. He didn't care that they were staring at him with worry and slight fear, he was high on his own rage.

"Unlike the rest of us who have to work to the bone to get where we are, you can just pick up a sword and instinctively know how to swing it after a few tries! You were just a sub-par huntsman when you first started, one I could wipe the floor with a single swing of my axe, but now your known as one of the strongest first years in only a few months! Because it's all in your blood, because you were born to be a damned hero from the start!"

Jaune found himself scowling at all that Helios was saying. Was that what it looked like to others? That he was just naturally talented because of his name? The Arc name wasn't even that well known, you'd have to be a scholar like Professor Oobleck to recognize it. If only they knew of the cost he had paid for the strength he now attained.

"Helios, it's not lik-"

"DON'T GET COCKY!" Helios interrupted loudly. He got right in Jaune's face, glaring deeply into the knight's blue eyes with shadows gathered under his face, "This school doesn't need a hero like you, one that would put the people around him in danger because he wanted to show off how strong he was. I swear, your name will remain forgotten and the people will cheer the true star of the show! The world will know of the Lyre name." he said firmly with conviction.

'My dream was to become a hero too. Just like the ones in the story books we've read. I wanted the world to remember the Lyre name as the name of a hero, not another aristocrat. I wish. . .I got to live out that dream.'

A woman with light pink hair and fading yellow eyes came to mind, laying back in a wooden chair with a weak constitution. An old weathered book filled to the brim with tales of heroes of old was held deathly tight in her arms just as she gave him a weak, but happy smile.

That was right. No matter what, he would make the world know the Lyre name, the name of a hero!

Swiftly turning his back to Jaune, Helios made his way for the door. He didn't need to say anymore, he was already close to throwing a fist. He already made a fool of himself by losing his temper, it was better that he left now before his anger consumed him. He had enough of a clear mind to know when to stop. Besides, he made his piece and revealed his intention. It was more than enough.

Idly, Helios gazed down to the floor, finding the clothing he had brought his injured teammate. Without a word, he gently picked them back, fixed them and brought them over to Tsuki. His team starred at him, showing their own signs of worry.

"I'm heading back. I need some time to cool off." Helios grunted before heading for the door. Swinging it open he took a single step out before glancing back at the blue eyes watching his back. His yellow eyes narrowed, finding himself growing furious again at what he saw within those eyes.

Worry. Concern. The damn blond, looking at him as if he was weak. In need of help.

That wasn't Helios. He wasn't a weak boy who didn't know how to fight anymore. He didn't need help.

"One day, I'll take you down in front of everyone and prove to them who the real star is. They'll cheer my name in victory, not yours. So, enjoy the limelight while it lasts, Arc."

The door shut behind Helios with a click. Leaving the room silent. After a short bout of silence, Hera was the first one to talk.

"I'm sorry about Helios, Jaune." Hera sighed, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly for her teammates behavior. "He's normally not so hot headed like that. It's just that lately he's been going through some. . .issues."

Rue nodded to that, smiling in apology to the blond boy, "Yeah, my old music buddy may act like an asshole, but he's actually a big old softie inside. But when it comes to his ideals of being a hero, he gets really passionate. He's obsessed with becoming a rising star in Beacon, for others to know his name. I guess he just sees you as a rival of some sort." he shrugged nonchalantly.

"Really? Sounds more like he wants to beat the ever-loving shit out of Vomit-boy." Yang said flatly. Helios did say he hated Jaune. Cardin was a rival, the strong leader of team CRDL had said it before during a match between the two. He even acted like one. But Helios was different. What he showed was something beyond rivalry.

Life was never easy for Jaune. He understood that by now. There were bound to be a few people who hated the sight of him. He just never heard it spoken verbally like that before.

"It's alright, I'm sure he has his reasons." Jaune said with a faint smile. The things Helios had been saying, about natural talent and being destined as a great warrior, they were still plaguing him. None of that was true. But telling the red ponytailed rocker that wouldn't solve the problem. That kind of anger wasn't easily erased.

Right now, it was better to leave the matter alone. His body wasn't ready to deal with more trouble. Reaching down for his crutches, he decided now was as good as time to head back to his hospital room. Breakfast was probably already on its way and a warm meal, even if it was hospital cooked, would do him some good.

"Well, I better head back to my room. Ren's probably bored laying there with no one to talk." he chuckled. Knowing Ren, he was probably reading a book from his Inventory. It must have been nice being able to gain Stats, Skills, and Abilities just by reading a book.

"As much as I don't want to be left with ebony titties over here," Yang gestured her thumb to Tsuki, earning a cold glare back in response, "You should head back to bed. Out of all of us, you were the one most heavily wounded. I think Pyrrha and Nora were the only ones to go unscathed."

'Something I'm thankful for.' Jaune inwardly sighed with relief. It made him hate Roman less. Just a little bit.

"I'll see you guys later. Sorry for making things awkward." Jaune apologized, thanking Rue as the polite older boy held the door for him.

"Oh, stop feeling sorry! I swear, you white knight types are so emotional." Rue laughed, waving away Jaune's apology.

"Wait."

Jaune stopped as he stood outside the door, turning his head back to meet Tsuki's red gaze. He gulped, feeling even more nervous after everything the stoic girl had said.

"Y-Yeah?" he stuttered nervously, cursing himself for the action.

"You owe me."

"I... owe you?"

Tsuki nodded firmly, crossing her arms over her bandaged breast. The action caused her chest to jiggle slightly, making it hard for Jaune to keep his eyes from straying. Sometimes he wondered if girls like her and Yang did that on purpose.

"Saturday, eight o'clock, at Vale. Dress nicely and don't be late." she said threateningly before turning back to her books. She made it clear she wasn't hearing word on the matter anymore.

Jaune gawked at the raven-haired girl before sighing in defeat. Well, it looked like he had a date. With a girl who saw him as her future baby daddy. There was something wrong with her, no doubt about it. But she had gotten hurt trying to look for him, he owed it to her for a night out. Maybe he could understand her better while he was at it.

Waving good-bye to the room, Jaune headed out. He was hungry, so he could at least resolve that matter.

---

Hours had passed since Jaune and Ren had decided to take another nap seeing as breakfast was taking longer than promised. With how tired and weak they were feeling as their auras worked on damage control, it didn't take long before they were out cold and drifting through their dreams.

"RENNY, JAUNE-JAUNE!"

While it lasted.

Jaune's eyes shot wide open as he was woken up by a human cannonball dropping onto his already damaged stomach. He croaked under the force, his face turning blue as he found a set of arms wrapping around his neck and choking him with their embrace. Why did his bed have to be the closest one to the door?

Hearing the all too familiar cry, Ren woke up to the sight of Nora hugging the last dredge of life out of Jaune while bawling her eyes out. He gulped fearfully as her crying paused, her watery seafoam green eyes spinning back to his with a sniffle. He shook his head, hoping to stop her from acting on her emotions.

"RENNY~!"

'Oum damn it.'

Closing the door behind her with a soft click, Pyrrha stepped into the room to the sight of her team leader's body twitching as the color slowly returned to his face and to Nora turning her wrath of love to Ren. The quiet raven's eyes pleaded for release from the deathly grip of her hugs to no avail. Pyrrha couldn't but giggle at the scene.

"Alright, Nora, I think they're already in enough pain at the moment. The doctor did say to take it easy on them after all." Pyrrha said with mirth as she stepped in between the beds of her wounded teammates. Reluctantly, Nora eased up on her hug before stepping back from her partner. Ren fell back to his bed with a gasp, gulping down all the air his lungs could take.

Nora wiped the tears from her face with a small sniffle, feeling guilty for bringing them more pain. She was just so happy to see them awake again after that night. The sight of them bandaged up, unable to open their eyes under the medicine healing them, gripped her heart in a vice.

"I'm sorry!" Nora apologized with a cry, her body trembling as she surprised the two boys with a bow. Such a gesture was completely out of character from the silly, cheerful Valkyrie they knew.

"It's because of me that you're both in here! I didn't take Jaune's disappearance seriously, and I couldn't even stay awake to protect the rest of you during our fight with Roman! If I had simply gone out to find Jaune sooner, if I had simply fought Roman's weird trick, you both wouldn't be here right now! And, and, and-"

Ren gestured his hand for Nora to calm down as Jaune sighed. Both boys felt bad for their bubbly teammates sobbing babbling, knowing that none of what happened that night was her fault.

"It's alright, Nora. Don't blame yourself for something that you couldn't control." Jaune laughed lightly as he got off his bed. He grimaced at the action, but forwent the discomfort to lay his hand gently on top of the sniffing orange haired girl's head. Ren followed along, ruffling his best friends locks as she paused her crying to stare confusingly at the two calmly smiling boys. Weren't they angry, upset? She wasn't there when they needed her, she'd been sleeping while some bad guy had been beating their friends around. Shouldn't they be blaming it all on her?

Jaune scratched his cheek with a small blush as he also found Pyrrha's eyes on him. She wasn't showing it, but she was angry with him after ignoring her for so long. Now was as good as time as any to start apologizing for worrying them all.

"If anyone's at fault, it's me. I was going through some personal troubles that I probably should have went to my team for instead of running away to deal with it myself. I got you all caught up in something because I wasn't communicating with you guys. I guess I still have a lot of things to learn as a leader, huh?" he said softly.

"And you wouldn't have been able to fight Roman's tricks. The man is wanted across Remnant for his crimes. Even someone as strong as you would have trouble keeping up with him." Ren chuckled as Nora's big green eyes stared back at him with guilt, "If anything, I'm glad he only put you to sleep. He could have done worse." A lot worse.

Walking up to her teammates, Pyrrha smiled at the two boys trying to cheer up Nora. Personally, she was feeling guilty herself as well. Out of everyone that night, only herself, Nora, and the girl named Ciel had come out of the mess with no scratches. But she understood she couldn't have done anything at the moment, sadly. She was just happy that everyone made it out with no lethal wounds. Even Jaune's wounds hadn't been too serious thanks to his aura still being intact.

Nora on the other hand had been feeling guilty since waking up after being brought to the hospital and discovering the conditions of her friends. She blamed it on herself. She was the powerhouse, the one on their team who could take just about any foe with her crazy strength. And she hadn't been there to protect her friends when they needed her. The poor bubbly girl hadn't been much of herself since then.

It wasn't Nora's fault. They had been facing a foe leagues above them. Even Pyrrha found herself with doubts on whether she could have taken Roman on. As much as they all tried to reassure her it wasn't her fault, she wouldn't listen to them. The only ones who had any chance of relieving her of her guilt would be her two friends standing before her with smiles.

"See, Nora? They don't hate you, nor blame you for their conditions. I don't think they could ever bring themselves to do such a thing. So, don't you feel silly thinking so?" Pyrrha giggled.

Tears paused their trickling. Nora stared at three people in front of her, feeling slightly stunned. For a second, her mind went back to her childhood, a haze of lost memories that only cleared the day she had stumbled onto Kuroyuri and met her bestest friend in the world. Alone, she had been alone for so long. With no one to care for her or remember her. All she could ever make out before then was a hazy image of two adult figures, their visage corrupted like static before fading away.

Once again, tears fell out of her eyes, this time accompanied by a big smile.

Now, she had a new family. One that wouldn't abandon her, or hate her for being herself. It had grown from Ren, to Jaune and Pyrrha, and even team RWBY and so much more. She wasn't alone anymore.

"Oh no, I know that look in her eyes." Ren said nervously as Nora's body began to tremble with emotions. His body wasn't ready! It was still sore!

Jaune slowly eased back from the bubbly hammer girl with a nervous grin. No amount of godly powers granted by the gods to withstand fatal blows could ease what would follow next.

Pyrrha blinked at her teammates expressions. Why did they look so worried for? Weren't they happy that Nora was out of her depression? Why would they-

"My spine!"

"My third vertebra!"

"My EVERYTHING!"

With no more delay, Nora suddenly took her whole team in for a big bone crushing hug as she wailed again in happiness. She didn't seem to notice her team's faces of distress or the color being drained from them as their life was slowly smothered, instead too blinded by her happiness as she increased the intensity of her affection. Something snapped.

But that was family for you. Putting up with another and their strange habits and signs of affection because you loved another. Even if it got a little out of hand at times.

---

"So, you're all not mad?" Jaune said in disbelief.

Having somehow survived that love that was Nora and her monster hugs, things had calmed down enough for them all to talk about what had went down the night of the docks. Team RWBY had stopped by after grabbing Yang seeing as she was now free to leave and had stuck around as Jaune went on to explain his situation. As Yang had explained, they already knew of his condition thanks to Blake. Still, he would have thought that Pyrrha would at least scold him again as she did after the FoF event.

"I wouldn't say that." Pyrrha sighed as she drummed her fingers against her arms. She understood why he had run off like he did. Losing your memories was something serious, it should have been picked up on by the doctors when they had been working on him before. It must have been terrifying. Especially with the bit he had just shared.

"I'm still upset that you had run off like that, but after hearing about your father's condition, it only cements how grave the situation must have been for you." she said sadly.

Ruby nodded her head alongside the champion girl. Faintly she recalled an old memory. Well, not so old. From the first day she had arrived at Beacon and met the stumbling knight with a nervous smile and fake confidence.

'It's. . .a gift. Something my father had given me before leaving home to fight. A weapon from my great, great, great grandfather who fought in the war. It's all I really have left of him.'

A sullen air had replaced Jaune's confidence when she had asked about his weapon. Jaune seemed to struggle as he talked about Crocea Mors, talking with a sad yet happy tone. She had wondered what he meant by it being the last he left of him. At first, she had thought he was talking about his great, great, great grandfather. Now she understood its true meaning. Crocea Mors was all he had left of his father before he was bedridden.

Speaking of Crocea Mors, Ruby reached for the back of her waist. Carefully she placed a leather brown pouch on Jaune's lap. Whatever was within made a clanging metal sound.

"I'm sorry, but that was all that was left of it." Ruby said solemnly. Jaune frowned in confusion before reaching into the pouch. His finger met the cold shard remains of a metal object. His breath hitched.

Fully parting open the pouch, Jaune shifted through the shards until he picked up a large piece to gaze at. The white shard was designed with a partial yellow crescent, "Crocea Mors." Jaune said with a sad wistful tone.

'You've received Shards of Crocea Mors[Sheath]!'

His ancestor's shield, once a brilliant white with two crescent arcs that held his sword as a sheath, was now a pile of shattered metal. It had taken a fatal hit for him while fighting Roman, saving him from falling into the Critical threshold that would had him Reset back to his Reset point. Funny, he had always thought that it was indestructible, made out of some mystical material that could repel any force. The shard in his hand was cold and dull, only now making him realize how warm it had felt in his hand.

'It's a hand-me-done from my great, great, great grandfather.'

"At least you made it out of the fight in once piece." Blake said weakly.

'Yeah, just at the price of my family's shield. What a way to treat the weapon that's saved my butt countless times since I first stepped foot onto Beacon.'

"Don't worry, Jaune! With my help, we can use what's leftover of your shield to make it all new!" Ruby said cheerfully. That got Jaune's attention as he looked back at the young dark red-haired reaper.

"You mean, you can fix it?" he said in disbelief.

Ruby nodded confidently with a grin, "Of course I can! Maybe. You're talking to a girl who made a high caliber sniper rifle scythe for crying out loud! Though as simple as your shield was, we might not be able to completely bring it back to its glory. I think I know just the guy who can help us with reforging it to something similar. We're going to need the materials and some advice from him anyways."

Faintly the person who Ruby was alluding to came to mind. Well, he did say he would be willing to teach Jaune a thing or two. Maybe he could find him later after he was back on his feet.

In her typical Yang fashion, Yang broke the tension in the room while patting Jaune's back with a wide grin, "Let's put a pin on that for now! We're all back on our feet, this calls for celebration! I say, we go out for a party after the night we've had. My legs are feeling numb and nothing gets the blood pumping back like some dancing!"

"Yeah, no." Weiss immediately shot down with a scowl, "Don't think that our little escapades went without punishment. Ms. Goodwitch has basically grounded us all to our rooms for the next five days. We are not to step foot off of Beacon until the end of the school week. Consider such a punishment a blessing seeing as our repercussions could have been worse." she said tersely.

"It's only thanks to the police chief that we weren't charged for destruction of property, vigilantism, and disturbance of the peace." Blake added on. Being an ex-What Fang agent didn't help, but because of the Headmaster she was safe.

"But I want to celebrate!" Yang whined with a pout. She needed to drink irresponsibly after the night she had. She took a bullet for crying out loud! Sure, it was actually a lightning spear, but they both hurt the same, just with an added electrocuting kick. In fact, that gave her even more of a reason to drink.

"Well, we can always celebrate when our suspensions over. It's only four days, even you can hold out for that long." Blake chuckled as she met her blonde partner's grumbling face.

"Have you met me?"

"I'm just happy that all this drama is finally over with." Weiss sighed in relief, "Between Blake and I's issues with our past, Jaune and his problems at home and his loss of memory, and not to mention our drawing end of semester exam, I'm completely drained. At least we can go back to being regular old students again." She was done with the trouble they had been involved with lately. What first years fought White Fang agents and radical humanizers before their second term?

The mention of said exams brought a wave of groaning from the usual suspects.

"Way to bring me down, Weiss." Yang moaned as she flopped back to one of the extra beds, "The last thing I want to hear about now is tests."

"Well it's coming, so once you're done healing it's studying for you and your sister."

"Hey! I do good!"

"Anyone who responds with 'I do good' is doomed to fail at life."

"Weiss is correct." Pyrrha nodded as she patted Jaune's hair as he became dejected. Like them, he wasn't all that prepared it seemed. That's what happens when you spend most of your days playing video games. "We don't want to fall behind on our studies after making it this far."

'Or in my case, get expelled for entering with false transcripts.' Stupid stubborn pride. If he had just kept his mouth shut on the matter of his transcripts to Ozpin, then Jaune would only have to worry about the exam itself and a bad grade. If he failed whatever tests the Headmaster had in store, he wouldn't just be smacked with a bad grade, he'd wind up on the next bullhead out of school. 'It shouldn't be too hard, right? I'm stronger than I ever was before dying on my second semester. I should be able to pass an exam testing my skills. How hard could it be?'

Somehow Jaune forgot about the simple little fact that his life was no longer normal.

"But the exams are still another month away." Blake said to the relief of those dreading the exams, "It wouldn't hurt to celebrate once our punishment has been lifted. I even heard that Vale's holding a special festival in town on Saturday."

Pyrrha perked up visibly at the mention of that with a joyful smile, "Akai Shukuten!"

"Akky-wha?" Jaune, Ruby, and Yang muttered in confusion.

"Akai Shukuten, otherwise known as The Red Celebration." Ren decided to elaborate with a sigh, "In the months after The Great War, the city of Mistral held its first celebration since the ban on arts was lifted with a festival that brought back their favorite color, Red. They would decorate the outside of homes with red lanterns, dye pastries red, and wear kimonos in various shades of red. The festivities grew so large at the time that eventually the entirety of Anima joined in. Since then, around this time of year before the coming winter the continent celebrates with Akai Shukuten, it's like their own form of New Years."

"Correct!" Pyrrha said happily before turning to Ren in surprise, "Though, I'm surprised you knew of such an event. Not even the classes in Beacon have gone over it."

"That's because I was born in Anima. Safe to say, it's also a favorite holiday of mine." Ren said with a wistful smile. "It looks like Vale wants to join in the fun seeing as students from the continent are visiting for the tournament."

The cloud of haze that once corrupted his memories had been lifted thanks to Jaune, allowing him to fondly recall the happy times he once shared with his family. It had been a long time since he could smile fondly at the holiday.

"Well there you have it peeps! Once our lockup time is done with, we're celebrating Akai-whatever!" Yang cheered with gusto. Any reason to party and have fun was alright with her. It was instrumental to her health.

Jaune shrugged. Fine with him, he could use some fun after the weeks' events. And no sooner did Yang announce their plans did The Game do the same.

'The Red Festival Event has been announced! A special celebration has come to Vale thanks to the people of Anima visiting for the tournament, bringing with them good times and a whole lot of red! The event is not mandatory, but will provide chances of earning special gifts not found on Sanus! An EXP Boost in Friendship and Affection will be provided with those you go out with that are Anima born, so remember to seek them out for some one-on-one time! Enjoy the colors of Red! You'll grow all too acquainted with it in the coming time.'

Ignoring The Will's usual negative at the end of a normally cheery text, Jaune was happy to see the benefits to the event. He could always use some new Abilities, Skills, and Items. And it gave him even more reason to hang out with his friends. 'Anima born, huh? Guess I should hang out with Pyrrha on Saturday.' Pyrrha's Friendship and Affection were tied at Lvl 9 since last month. Leveling her up took a lot of time now just as anyone else who's Lvls were close to Lvl 8. He'd be stupid to turn away an opportunity to gain another level.

"Then its settled. At the end of the school week, we'll all go out to the Akai Shukuten. One last little bit of fun before we begin studying for the end of the semester exams." Jaune announced with a grin.

"I have no problems with that." Blake smiled before appearing sheepish, "Though we should expect some company. Since the docks, Sun's been pestering me to hang out with me and he's been waiting for you to come to. He said he wanted to say something to you as well." she said with a bit of confusion.

"And Penny!" Ruby smiled, "She wanted to meet you after that night, but had some business to take care of with her partner, Ciel. I bet when they come back, they can come along too!" As weird and quirky as Penny could be, she wasn't bad at all. She reminded Ruby of herself in a way. And no harm in adding another friend to her growing circle.

"As long as we all start taking studying seriously once it's over with, I suppose we can go." Weiss relented. She herself though was trying to hide a small smile. Hey, even she couldn't say no to spending the day out with her friends.

Nodding along, Pyrrha pushed herself up her seat and smiled warmly at Jaune and Ren, "Since our plans have been set, we should all be going now. We'll stop by again later in the day to pick you two up and head back to our dorms. So, rest up until then. You both need to recover your strength before you can attend class again."

As happy as Jaune was that their plans were set, he couldn't help but frown, "Wait, aren't you going to scold me or anything for how I treated you during all that mess?"

Pyrrha shook her head, her eyes shut with an all too nice perky smile, "Nope! We can save that for Saturday morning! You and I are going to have a long talk about your behavior and you'll also be buying me whatever I like while we stroll through the festival, no complaints!"

'Well, I guess I don't need to ask her out now.' Jaune thought sheepishly, gulping under the underlining hostility from his partner. Couldn't say no to that.

Done with their visits, the girls of RWBY and JNPR said their good-byes before leaving the room. With them gone, Jaune released a heavy sigh. He was honestly expecting this hospital visit to be a repeat of his aftermath against Holt. It was nice that it was just a normal visit this time. No drama was good.

But at the thought of the Black and White Event, Jaune blinked as he recalled something important.

"Did we ever clear The Blake and White Event?" Jaune asked Ren with a confused frown. He never got a notification that they ever failed or passed. Then again, he had been knocked out before the night was even finished.

Ren was in the same boat as he shrugged, not really caring about the matter. Knowing Jaune, the knight had said some words and helped Blake gain some courage to talk to her teammate about her past. It wasn't that difficult a mission other than some trouble from a certain orange haired Player.

"Check your Menu and open up the Missions setting. It should tell you all you need to know." he suggested as he did the same. Due to their link working together as a team, they shared status on certain missions. The Black and White Event was one Ren had found himself participating once Jaune had accepted it. Maybe he got some rewards for simply sharing the mission?

'Black and White Event, Complete! For supporting Blake, you have been rewarded 2,300L! You've been rewarded an Igni Symbol! You've received Strength Boost! Blake's Friendship and Affection has Leveled up! Sun Wukong's Friendship has been Unlocked! Penny Polendina's Friendship has been Unlocked!'

+47,000EXP!

Jaune whistled at the list of rewards. It was nice to know all his pain and troubles could at least be rewarded. And he even unlocked Sun and Penny's friendship earlier than before.

'Black and White Event, Complete! For Supporting Weiss, you have been rewarded 2,300L! You've been rewarded an Ability Book, Sky Sickles! You've received Speed Boost! A new Reaction has been Unlocked! Tranquil Tundra [Weiss], Unlocked! You've received Glacial Spear!'

+47,000EXP!

Ren was speechless as he read over his own share of rewards. He actually wasn't expecting anything for the mission seeing as he didn't do anything at all. But then he recalled his conversation with Weiss. Seemed his words had really helped her come to her own terms. Funny, this was the first time he had ever done anything to help her out.

For some reason, Ren found himself smiling.

A sharp knock to their door brought the two Players out of their loot gazing as they turned for the door. One of the nurses watching over them poked her head in with a sheepish smile as she greeted the two.

"Sorry for interrupting you two boys, but breakfast is coming! Hope you like scrambled eggs, ham, and hash browns~!" she sang cheerfully before her face broke out in realization, "Oh! And I almost forgot. Mr. Arc, you have a visitor from the Vale Police force here to see you, something about talking about what happened in the docks. She said that she would personally deliver your food as well! She said she was an old friend of yours too." she giggled before shutting the door.

Jaune found himself frowning in confusion. An old friend from the VCP? A female one too? Suddenly he found himself gulping nervously for some odd reason. Why did his heart just skip a beat?

A faint image came back to him from the night of the event. Of a familiar voice that he had almost forgotten since he had last seen her. The voice of an old friend tickled his conscience and a familiar touch ghosted his skin.

It couldn't be, could it?

Footsteps could be heard drawing closer to the door of Jaune and Ren's shared room. The closer they drew, the faster Jaune's heartbeat thumped. He watched anxiously as the handle of the door twitched, slowly turning over as the door creaked open.

"Wassup?"

Whatever anxiety and hope Jaune had been feeling had cruelly died as the door swung open with a kick, revealing a familiar set of honey brown eyes. The woman's strawberry blonde hair fell over her shoulders and her police uniform was dirtied with crumbs and food stains courtesy of the platter of breakfast she was delivering by trolley. A third of a toasted bread slice was stuffed in her mouth as she saluted the blonde knight.

Barbie Mattel winked at Jaune, gulping the food in her mouth in one motion before licking her lips with a sadistic glint in her eyes.

"Hi~!"

Ren felt a shiver run down his back at the sight of the woman. Something about her screamed 'Run away'. Looking to Jaune for answers on the identity of the police officer, Ren found his leader's face frozen like statue, his eyes empty yet still displaying horror. A second later, his ears perked up as the sound of snapping leather cracked the air and a lustful giggle escaped the woman's lips.

'. . .Is she aware that her pants have fallen?'

Whatever peace they had been hoping for had been beaten and thrown out the window with a noose around its neck. The hospital room was filled with feminine screams and moans of delight a second later.

---

Whoever thought leaving Barbie of all people to question an already wounded Jaune was a good idea, clearly wasn't thinking for his sake. With a groan, Jaune pressed the ice pack against his forehead a little firmer as he glared back at the sheepish strawberry blonde officer sitting at the end of his bed. Did she have to eat his breakfast too? It was bad enough she had whipped him with her belt again.

"Sorry, Jaune! I just couldn't help myself, it's been so long since I last heard your girlish screams of pain and fear. Oh, how I've missed them." Barbie moaned, biting her lip as Jaune backed further against his bed.

Jaune's glare did not leave with an apology like that, gaining an annoyed twitch as he thumbed towards his friend's bedside, "Me, I can understand with your weird ass fetish. But did you have to drag Ren into your sadists swings?" he muttered in annoyance as he gestured to Ren's knocked out form. Not that his friend could fool him. Jaune knew that a small whipping like that wouldn't be enough to knock him out cold. He was just playing dead to avoid whatever the sadistic officer wanted out of Jaune.

Lazy bastard.

Thanks to aura, Barbie's light belt whipping had been healed in a matter of seconds. He could take whatever the girl could dish out, which was bad seeing as she understood that. And here he had thought he had finally escaped her odd sense of fun. And pleasure.

Sighing as the last of the bruises faded away like that, Jaune went back to the sadistic woman still munching on the leftovers of what would have been his breakfast, "So, I'm guessing you're here about what happened at the docks Sunday night?" he asked, getting a nod from Barbie.

"Pretty much. As one of the lead interrogators at the precinct, they sent me over to get the details!"

"They didn't have to do that! You guys already know that you don't have to interrogate me like some criminal and send someone like you over!"

"But then I wouldn't have my fun."

"And I wouldn't have more bruises to deal with." Seriously, he was sure he had enough hijinks for quite a while. "All you had to do is ask. I really don't have any reason not to cooperate with you guys this time. I can tell you all that you need to know." Jaune said with an easy smile.

Barbie pouted, drawing a circle onto his bed sheets as she mumbled disappointingly, "Really? Because I was hoping you would put up a fight. I was so close!" she whined.

"Close to what!?" What the hell was she close to? And why was she blushing. Never mind that, "I just want to get this over with, Barbs. The sooner I tell you what I know, the sooner I can reorder my breakfast." His stomach growled to that.

"Fine, spoilsport." Barbie grumbled before taking out a notepad and pen for documentation. She did have a job to do after all.

Recounting the night in question, Jaune was careful not to say anything involving The Game. His talk with Roman had also been tweaked to not mention anything sensitive that would get him under The Game's lightning striking radar. At the end, he had said all he could as Barbie finished jotting down the last thing he could remember.

"The last thing I remember was getting ready to charge after Roman before my friend Ciel had knocked me out." Jaune sheepishly smiled as he rubbed his neck from the phantom pain. For a small stature girl, she could hit.

Barbie snickered, "You really are bullheaded. Even when you're fucked up and bloody, you just can't help yourself but run into the action. Just like the FoF." she said lowly with a pained look.

She remembered seeing the funny screaming boy's condition as he was escorted to the nearest hospital. How he was alive after losing that much blood and suffering that many deep wounds was a miracle. She had actually been worried that he wouldn't make it. It was no wonder Annabel had been on pins and needles since he had arrived at the hospital again. Jaune always seemed to find himself in these high-risk situations.

Well he was alright from the looks of it. The little red-haired secretary was going to be happy to hear that.

Done with her part, Barbie added in her own notes as she put away her notebook.

"That's all I needed to hear really. The Chief only wanted to know why you of all people were there. He was pretty sure you were done playing undercover after your last venture."

Jaune shrugged. With how his life was now, he was bound to be dragged into these sorts of events against his will. All to make him out as a hero to save the world. Just like in the many rpg's he had played before his death.

With a crack of her back as she stood up from her seat, Barbie made her way towards the door.

"Wait, you're done already?" Jaune stopped her with a confused frown. He was pretty sure she was going to take off her belt again and put him through the ringer.

Glancing back at her fellow blond, Barbie nodded cheerfully, "Yup! I got to get back to station, I still got five more perps to interrogate." she giggled sadistically with a growing blush on her cheeks, "Again, all I needed was your word on why you were there. The police trust you after all, we would never believe that you were involved in anything suspicious. Which sucks for me, I wanted to lay into you like the bad boy you are." she pouted with puffed cheeks.

"Don't be so disappointed." Jaune deadpanned.

Barbie stuck her tongue out in response, "I'll just have to etch what girlish screams I got out of you into my memory. Hopefully they'll be enough to satisfy me."

Ready to step out the door, Barbie was suddenly stopped by Jaune.

"Wait! There's still something I want to ask you." Jaune said urgently as the officer turned back to him in confusion.

"What's up? I can't hang around all day, sadly. I got assholes in need of a whipping!"

Those poor bastards, "That night, as I was knocked out, I could faintly recall being conscious for a few minutes before I was out. And in that blurry time, I could have sworn I heard a familiar voice." he said with a grimace as he held his head.

A blurry image came back to him, of someone standing over him and gently grazing his bullet scar over his forehead. From what he could make out, the person had red hair. And that was it. His memory of that night ended there before he woke up.

"Do you know who that was?" Jaune couldn't help but ask. The identity of that person was nagging at him for some reason. Like he had met them before. As weird as it sounded, their touch was familiar.

Barbie tapped her lips in thought, shrugging in the end as she threw up her arms, "Nah, sorry Jaune. Don't know who was there that night. I had my own hands busy in that mess. For now, it's just going to have to be a mystery." she said with a weak smile.

Jaune frowned at the woman before turning his head to the left side of the room where the door was. His eyes softened, smiling sadly in the end as he closed his eyes and sighed.

You couldn't hide from someone with a map HUD. It wasn't as detailed as Ren's, but it was more than enough.

"I guess that's just how it's going to be. I'll just have to wait for that person to spoil the mystery when she's ready." he grinned, his eyes still shut as Barbie faltered for a moment.

"Jaune. . .ac-"

"You better hurry back, Barbs. I know you're just itching to start your interrogations."

Nodding back, Barbie decided it would be best if she just went on her way. She was running late at this point.

"Hope to see ya again, Jaune."

"Yeah, see ya later."

Shutting the door behind her, Barbie sighed before turning her eyes to right of the door.

"You could have said 'Hi', Ann."

Resting against the wall, Annabel gave the bubbly sadist an irritated glare. She crossed her arms over her chest and let a heavy breath go as she kicked off the wall. Like her newest friend, she was dressed in her officer wear.

"Now's. . .not a good time. He needs time to recover, not time to catch up with a street rat. Besides, I still haven't redeemed myself just yet." she said stoically with a sad hint to her green eyes. She turned for the halls and began making her way out as Barbie fell beside her in step.

Barbie blew a raspberry to that as she threw her arms behind her waist, "Sounds like pointless drama to me. Even I can tell that you really miss the kid." she smirked knowingly.

Ann scoffed, refusing to dignify her friend with eye contact, "Shut up. He's got better friends to talk to than me. Besides, I still haven't grown enough as a person to talk to him as a real friend. Not yet."

The time wasn't right. When Ann met Jaune again, she wanted him to be unable to recognize her. To see her as a new person. So that they could start over again. Smiling, Ann was at least happy to know that Jaune was alright. The knucklehead could get his ass beat up as many times as he liked. Just as long as he continued to get back up.

"Next time I see him, it won't be in the middle of some crime, in the hospital, or when he's covered in blood. We'll see each other again on my terms, and no one else's."

Until that day, she was just going to have to work harder as a person to make up for all her crimes. Because she had found a new reason to live with the life she had once cursed. To live for the few people that still cared for a rat like her.

Back in the hospital room, Jaune stopped his hand from messaging a new order of breakfast as his scroll vibrated. Looking at its contents, he smiled fondly as he chuckled.

'Annabel Wargray's Friendship has risen! Friendship Lvl2! A new Skill has been unlocked! Kindle, Unlocked!'

What a troublesome girl.

---

Let's celebrate one last time. Color has returned to our lives, so why not enjoy a day out in a sea of festive red?

A fire is brimming after all. Even Stars can collapse on themselves and destroy everything in sight. Just what kind of Hero do you want to be?

Cheers can be so intoxicating.

Don't worry, Chapter 27 is definitely complete! I'll be sending it over to my Beta after making sure I've added anything I've missed. Expect it next Monday night. Hopefully I'll be done with the end to this volume by then. It's a big one, that's for sure.

The Journal for Multiplayer has been worked on in my spare time. I'll be working on the Forum for it on this sight when I'm done with this Volume, so expect that before Volume 2 of Multiplayer is out. And I got a special announcement for fans of Lost Fairy Tale's DLC!

Chapter 29 will be a DLC centered piece within the world of Fey! For good reason. There's more to the silly old book then meets the eye. I won't say much on what will go on, but expect some familiar faces showing up again. That special chapter will be released a month after the final chapter of volume 1, so expect that before this story goes quiet for a while.

People, we're nearly at a thousand reviews! Can't believe I'm actually close to a number like that. This story has only been up for year. And it's all thanks to you. So keep doing what you're doing, and I'll be sure to do the same!

Remember, Read and Review! It's common courtesy.

NeoShadows fading in and out.