A/N: Another Chapter Yay!

... er I don't think I've forgotten to reply to anyone...

Tell me if y'all think this way of writing is a little weird, shifting back and forth between present and past like this.

Enjoy :)

Jaune sat together with Yang, Ruby, and Weiss, holding up a hand of cards while in deep concentration.

Team RWBY and JNPR had invaded the roof of Beacon and were hanging out around there. Ren and Blake were to the side, one with a book in hand while the other was ritualistically cleaning out his guns. Nora and Pyrrha, who was surprisingly good at dealing with the juvenile valkyrie, were chatting amicably about something that Jaune couldn't really hear much, as they were hanging at the edge of the rails. The rest of them were in a loose circle, trying to duke it out and see who would be the reigning ruler of Remnant.

"I play the uh, horde of Grimm." Jaune said, placing it down and sliding it up to the edge of his borders. Yang nodded sagely.

"Ah very good, trying to reinforce your borders I see. Always a good move. However, I'd like to ask why you put them so close to my kingdom?" She asked. Jaune's brow furrowed in confusion.

"So close to—what're you talking about Yang? I'm literally on the other side of the map." Jaune shot back. Yang gave a smug grin, waving a finger back and forth.

"Ah, ah, ah. You are correct. It's a map. But the world is round! And that means that you are the closest to my kingdom." Yang said seriously. Jaune sputtered a response.

"Wha—but Ruby's been gearing all of her forces towards you for the last six turns!" Jaune protested.

"I am not!" Ruby cried out. "I am simply making sure Yang doesn't get aggressive, and I never beat Yang…" Ruby mumbled out the last part behind her cards. Yang heard that and turned her grin to Ruby.

"That's 'cause you don't know strategizin' like I do, Rubes." Yang drawled out.

"I am a team leader! I know how to strategize!" Ruby tried to slam the table in defiance, but only ended in making a muted thump that sounded about as cute as she looked. Yang just shook her head sadly.

"I'm sorry Ruby. You just aren't ruler material." Yang said before grinning. "I guess you just can't measure up to the job!"

Dead silence.

Jaune sighed before laying down his cards. "I think my turn's done." Ruby nodded, shuffling through her cards.

"Really guys? Nothing?" Yang asked around. "I tried really hard on that one."

Ruby placed another one of her cards down, before placing two of them face down and nodding to Weiss, who looked completely confused at what she had in her hand.

"Come on guys! At least a little chuckle!" Yang looked at Jaune, who just raised an eyebrow at her. "No?" Yang slumped down into her chair, cheeks puffing out glumly. "fine."

"Is something wrong Weiss? You've been looking at your cards for the last two minutes now." Jaune said, determined not to give an inch to the melodramatic Yang. Weiss just shrugged a little helplessly.

"I have no idea what's going on." Weiss admitted before laying down her cards. "Ruby's basically been playing for me since the beginning of the game." Ruby grabbed her cards.

"Well come on then! If you don't pay attention then you're never going to let me win—I mean win the game!" Ruby said hurriedly, before crying out happily.

"Ah ha! I—I mean, Weiss plays Sandstorm on Yang, which disables all of your ground forces! Now I can send my—Weiss's giant Nevermore in to ravage your kingdom!" Ruby said, intent on winning the game… for Weiss, of course.

Yang however, seemed unflappable, even a little bored. She turned a card that was face down on the board over.

"Thunderstorm." Yang said calmly. Ruby whimpered.

"No! That'll disable my Sandstorm and reduce the effectiveness of my Giant Nevermore by half!" Ruby said.

"And my turrets will shoot the rest of them down, thank you very much." Yang said happily. Ruby cried out and plopped back into her seat dejectedly. Weiss just looked at Ruby with a raised eyebrow, before placing her dropped cards onto the table delicately.

"I'll assume that I'm finished with my turn." Weiss said. Yang grinned.

"You bet your frilly little skirt that you are." Yang said, ignoring the cry of 'battle skirt!'. "And I'll gather all of my forces and attack… Vale!" Yang moved her armies to encroach on Ruby's lands.

"What? No! Why would you do this to your own sister?!" Ruby wailed.

"That's what you get for attacking me." Yang countered.

"But that was Weiss, not me!"

Yang just raised an eyebrow, making Ruby cross her arms and turn her head to the side. At that moment, Ruby looked like a complete mirror of an irritated Weiss. Jaune smiled at the image. It seems that as they spent hours and hours with their partners, the students here can't help but take on some characteristics of their other half. Jaune glanced at Pyrrha, who was still talking to Nora about something with a kind smile and a spark in her eye.

Yeah, Jaune guessed that he could still learn to act a little more like Pyrrha. Jaune put his hand of cards down.

"I think we're done for today." Jaune said humorously. The other three players set down their cards as well, deciding to use that time to jab at each other back and forth.

Jaune stood up and turned around before heading towards where Blake and Ren were, settling beside them.

He propped open L'alchimie and continued to decipher the book, already four-fifths of the way finished.

It was surprising to say the least that all of his friends were quick to accept something as crazy as Alchemy into their lives. Then again, in a world where very little seems to be impossible, Jaune guessed that adding another impossibility wasn't that much of a stretch.

Jaune recalled their conversation from a few weeks back.

Around two weeks ago

"What?" Weiss recoiled backwards after Jaune had finished describing his lost art. "That's impossible. I've never even heard of a thing called alchemy." Her tone of voice made it sound as if because she didn't know anything about it, no one should have.

Jaune raised an eyebrow and was quick to point that out.

"Just because you've never heard of it before doesn't really mean it doesn't exist. I mean, that would just be narcissistic now wouldn't it?" Jaune said with a hint of mockery in his voice. Weiss shook in outrage, ready to lambast Jaune to crisp for even considering something like that, but was quickly controlled by Ruby.

"I think the big question right now is can anybody use alchemy?" Ren asked calmly. Jaune nodded.

"Yes. But it's not easy. There's a lot of studying and chemistry involved before you can even start to try a simple transmutation—that's what performing alchemy is called, by the way." Jaune said. Nora was the one who asked the next question.

"So then, what's your semblance?" Nora asked curiously. Everyone else nodded along with her question. That's right. If alchemy wasn't a semblance, and Jaune had his aura unlocked, doesn't that mean that Jaune had a separate semblance to play off of?

Jaune could understand everybody's reasoning, and knew the answer, but was reluctant to tell them. Jaune wasn't sure he could relive his mistakes.

"Jaune?"

Jaune turned to Blake, who was looking at him.

"Is something wrong Jaune?" Blake asked. Jaune gave a soft smile, shaking his head softly.

"No, I'm just thinking about some things is all." Jaune said.

"Actually, I have a question, if that's alright with you." Ren said. Jaune nodded as a go ahead.

"You can transmutate anything, correct?"

"Almost everything. There are some things that have no equivalent exchange, or what is required to transmutate it would cost more than you could offer." Jaune corrected. Ren nodded.

"What are the examples of things you can't transmutate?" Blake asked.

Jaune shrugged.

"Generally the human body is hard to transmutate. There's always problems with doing anything related to that. And you guys know what happens when you try and make a human… well, you know." Jaune finished awkwardly, looking away from the two of them.

Two weeks back

"I don't have a semblance anymore." Jaune started out saying. "I lost mine years ago… as a price."

No one understood what Jaune was trying to say.

"Price? Price for what?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune turned to look at her, his eyes dark.

"The price I paid… for trying to resurrect the dead." Jaune whispered.

Ren and Blake nodded in sympathy. Jaune didn't pause for too long, and continued to talk.

"Generally, alchemy can be used effectively against anything that's physical. If it's something more abstract… well, there's always something more that needs to be paid before the transmutation can be put into effect." Jaune explained. Ren and Blake nodded once again, their attention focused on Jaune.

"But why did you want to know Ren?" Jaune asked.

"Well, do you think there's a way to transmutate your aura?" Ren asked, straight to the point. Jaune blinked thoughtfully.

That didn't seem as far-fetched as one would think of it as. After all, if Jaune could transmute his semblance, couldn't that mean that Jaune could influence his aura as well?

Two weeks back

"When I tried to bring back my grandfather, I was blasted with this light and brought in front of this huge gate." Jaune explained, gesturing a little vaguely in hopes of trying to mold the air into the shape of a gate.

"Next to me was a voice that kept laughing and laughing… saying something about how I tried to play God, and asking me if I had anything that could be traded for my grandfather's human soul." Jaune looked at his left hand, conflicted, before grabbing the glove and pulling it away, revealing his automail hand. Quiet gasps echoed around the room before they stared at the appendage.

"I lost my hand… my eye…" Jaune raised his hand up to touch his biotic eye. "And my semblance."

Eyes wide, Ruby asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"How did you know?" Ruby whispered. Jaune looked sadly at his friends, recalling that day.

"Because I saw the Truth…. And the truth was…." Jaune shut his eyes tight, trying to hold back his emotions. "The voice told me that he would take away the things that would make me whole."

"That I would never be a true hunter after this."

"Hey." Blake said, drawing Jaune's attention again. Her voice was soft, and a little hesitant, as if she was scared of stepping over a line somehow. Jaune smiled reassuringly at Blake, happy to turn his attention away from a depressing memory. Blake rested a hand on Jaune's.

"You are a true hunter. Remember that Jaune." Blake said. Jaune didn't bother to say anything, instead covering her hand with his as a silent way of saying thanks.

"Aw, this is really sweet." Yang gushed, standing in front of them, practically cooing at the scene. Blake frowned at Yang, pulling back but maturely making sure that she wouldn't blush. Jaune didn't have any problem with that, seeing as how he wasn't really used to being in the center of attention, and blushed like an adolescent school girl.

"It just makes me wanna push you guys together and make you kiss." Yang teased, her hands on her hips, her smirk enormous. Blake crossed her arms at the statement, and raised an eyebrow, as if asking Yang if that was the best that she could do. Jaune simply buried his face in his hands, not sure how to deal with teasing, his snark not equipped to deal with this.

"Heck, maybe I should take everyone back to their rooms so that you two have some time alone to—"

"Yang! Stop teasing Jaune and Blake!" Ruby said, grabbing Yang by the ear and dragging her away. "Sorry about that guys! You know how Yang is. I'll take her down to cool off."

"Aw come on Ruby—ow, that hurts." Yang said, stumbling towards the rooftop exit. "I'll see you lovebirds later! Make sure to spend some time building your love nest and—Ow, Ruby that one really hurt!" Yang said, before the doors closed and all that could be heard of Yang were some pained yelps as she was dragged back to her room for a lecturing.

"Well, now that the party seems to be over, I think I'll take my leave." Weiss said politely, standing up. Pyrrha nodded and grabbed Nora, hefting her upwards. "We'll take our leave as well."

And one by one, Jaune's friends filed out and left, chatting amongst themselves. The only people that were left was Ren, Jaune, and Blake. This was soon to change as Ren stood up as well.

"I think I will leave as well. Thank you for the recommendation Blake, I'll be sure to try the book out. And Jaune, could you please tell me sometime later if it would be possible?" Ren asked politely. Jaune nodded, his mind whirring at Ren's question.

As Ren left, Jaune turned to the person who seemed to be quickly becoming his closest friend.

And then there were two.

"So what do you think of Ren's question?" Blake asked. Jaune keep his gaze fixed at Blake, not really looking at her, but so focused on the question that Jaune didn't bother moving at all, letting all of his energy pour into his mind and turn the question over and over until he could find an adequate answer. Jaune sighed.

"I don't know." Jaune finally admitted. "I can't really think of—well. I mean." Jaune made a noise of frustration, brushing his hair to the side.

"Alchemy is a science, and deals with the physical world. Solid evidence and methodology is what rules the art, and it has a set of rigid rules that has to be obeyed because it's literally impossible to break them. And aura is… the furthest thing from scientific I can think of." Jaune said. "There's nothing tangible for me to observe, and there isn't really a sample that I can experiment with. I mean, I could use a person's aura to test out some theories, but if I make a mistake, I could render the person's aura useless—or worse. And the testing…" Jaune winced at the thought of the ways to yield results for something as vague as aura manipulation. "The testing would be inhumane."

Blake nodded, understanding the implications. With every word that Jaune said about alchemy, Blake grew more and more fearful about what would happen if it ever fell into the wrong hands. And the White Fang were far from the best hands.

"Another reason why alchemy is kept a secret then." Blake said. And a reason to investigate further into the White Fang, Blake thought to herself.

"Exactly." Jaune agreed, nodding. "The potential of transmutating aura, something so intangible yet powerful would be… amazing. But the risk would be unbelievable." Jaune stared at his ungloved hands, one metal, the other flesh.

"It would take a certain kind of monster to explore the relationship of Aura and Alchemy."

Cinder sat in her makeshift office, reading over a few files and reports of how the Dust operations were going. A knock rang out on her door.

"Come in." She said loudly, shuffling the papers around carefully. Emerald entered through the door.

"Did you find anything on our mysterious-semblance boy, Emerald?" Cinder asked genially. Emerald stayed at the door, giving a little smile.

"Actually, yes." Emerald answered. Cinder raised a surprised eyebrow. She didn't expect her initial scouting to really yield results, seeing as how all Cinder had told Emerald and Mercury to do was ask around about Jaune and unusual happenstances.

"Really now? And what have you learned about him?" Cinder said.

"That he knows of alchemy." Emerald said, straight to the point. A stunned silence reigned in the room. Usually Cinder was happy to accept any information Emerald and Mercury gathered at face value, but the likeliness that anyone who knew anything about Jaune or alchemy would expose Jaune was…. Very unlikely at the best.

"Oh?" Cinder said carefully, setting aside the sheaf of papers, pulling out a pen. "And how did you come to this conclusion?"

Emerald's smile only grew sharper at the question.

"Actually, I thought you might want to hear it in person, so I brought him along." Emerald said airily, before grabbing someone waiting outside the door and pulling him into the sight of Cinder.

Cinder's smile grew deadly, and her shoulders relaxed, her body turning more and more sensual.

"Ah. You seem like just the type of person I was looking for." Cinder purred. "Maybe we could spend some time… talking?" With that, Emerald melted out of view and the boy nodded eagerly.

"I'd love to talk." Cardin said, happy that someone was paying the attention he deserved.

Cinder could only chuckle in happiness at her fortune.