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Official Supporters:

SleeplessShippings Emperor King Perby

Shadie DigiDemonLord

If you want your name on the lists of my stories and videos, head over to P a t. R e . o n and search for the Temple Walkers. Just let us know you're from Fanfiction, alright? There's a thousand of you, so a dollar a piece would really add up and help me a lot! Once I reach five hundred Supporters of any value over a dollar, I will make a concerted effort to put out a chapter of something once every three days at the very slowest.

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So I haven't ever done this, but I'm in a bad situation now and don't have much of a choice any more. So I have to.

See, I have been out of work for a while and unable to find anything to replace it where I live and still write at all on here, which is very important to me. Only work I ever got was a seventy hour a week gig that I wouldn't have been able to write on. At all. Ten hour days with a half hour lunch and one fifteen minute break.

Needless to say, that wasn't going to allow me to do this at all, and I love you guys and this too much to ever let something stop it. Then the loss of the studio came, and we lost all our recording abilities and more. So while members of the channel has been willing to help run this as part of it, that money is stretched thinner than ever. This situation has been the cause of delays thus far as well.

As a result, in the next week or two, I'm either going to need more of you guys Supporting or I'll have to slow down my chapters to an extreme. As in, one every other week might be the best I can manage. Even a dollar or two would help immensely, and I'm sorry to be asking for it. But without that, I can't help it.

So please, if you can, I have to ask that you give me a hand. There's well almost three hundred of you, two bucks from that would solve the issue entirely.

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"Are you entirely certain, Master?" "Fighting at my fullest, I could hurt you quite badly." Cinder asked hesitantly, the two standing outside the Atlesian ship and to the side, where the droids had busied themselves through the entire day before while he had met with his father and the night following, as well as the morning following. The small palisade only went about twenty feet along the forest's edge, and was more than far enough from the fields closer to the wall, built on a protocol of perimeter defence that no one had even considered disabling until it had been built. "And besides won't us… Fighting draw the ire of your friends and your family?"

"They'll be fine." Jaune dismissed, stretching in his damaged breastplate, sword arm over his chest and shield arm pulling on it gently to limber it. "As long as you don't, you know, kill me. Or burn something down, ya know? Just a spar."

"B-But, Master, I-"

"Cinder." Jaune growled, letting his arms droop and fixing the nervous woman with a hard look. She flinched, eyes searching his face and hands clutching at her chest, like a frightened girl rather than a woman, and he sighed. His eyes slid closed in irritation and he cocked a hip, hand resting on it the same way Cinder tended to do when she was irritated. "I need to train, Cinder. You're the strongest fighter here aside from Pyrrha and Neo, and Neo is too hurt to risk it."

"Then couldn't Pyrrha-"

"And Pyrrha," Jaune growled, returning his glare to her and ignoring it when she flinched back this time, "doesn't know how to use the Maiden's power. She needs more time before she can fight me and not kill me with it. I need to train, we have no idea what's coming, and you're all I have. I need your help, Cinder."

She flushed at that, swallowing nervously and nodding, just as Roman strolled down the ramp with a lit cigar to enjoy the early morning coolness, Jaune nodding at him in greeting and Roman waved, strolling over as Cinder rolled her shoulders in preparation. "Mornin', what are you two up to?"

"Master wishes to spar, as part of his training." "Regardless of my opinion…" "I am preparing." She said, pressing her hips forward with her hands until her back popped mutedly, glaring at Roman's roaming eyes, the posture and dress she wore putting on quite a show to the man's opinion and Jaune's irritation. "I did not get up this early to give you a show, Roman."

"No, no, but if the show is here…" He tipped his hat, whistling quietly when she eased her posture and turned to glare at him. "I mean, I ain't gonna pass on somethin' good and free, after all." "And damn if that wasn't a nice show…"

"Roman." Jaune snapped, the irritation echoing from Cinder matching and amplifying his own as his voice raised, "If you have anything useful to add, then feel free, but you will not practically undress Cinder when she is trying to do as I asked her to. Now, Cinder, are you ready?"

"As I will ever be, Master." She answered, sliding her right leg back a bit and clapping her hands together. As she extended them she turned so the palms were horizontal, a long shaft of dark glass extending for a couple feet until a short blade tapered, her fingers trailing along the blade's edge elegantly until her index finger rested against its tip and her palm held the base of the staff, holding the weapon over her head with a confident smirk, "The question, Master, is if you are ready."

Jaune drew his sword, flexing his fingers along the grip and grimacing at the dented surface of his shield, dozens of small impacts and scratches marring the sturdy shield's once pristine surface. Flexing his muscles in a last minute prep, he felt the familiar pangs of a fight coming on. The adrenaline, his nervousness, Cinder's nerves, Roman's interest in the fight. Flexing his Aura, he felt the range extend as his eyes closed, and he felt more, in more detail.

Pyrrha, in the mess hall, sleepily gnawing on food and musing about the day to come, wondering where Jaune was as she tended to. Obsessive, with that echo of Amber in the back of her mind that plagued Jaune. Neo, asleep in their room, relaxed and safe feeling, dreaming. Of what he couldn't tell without delving into her more purposefully. This even now was only him brushing by, sort of treading water close enough to her to feel her feet kick and arms paddle in the water without actually touching her. Even the droids, milling about, their tiny, echoey minds surrounding him, sparking with directives and goals. Purpose, simple, pure and without anything behind it. Cinder's anxiety, Roman's curiosity, Neo's comfort, Pyrrha's desire and Amber's echo. All bounced off him, leaving their impressions, like handprints in wet sand.

All this bounced off of him and went through his mind, and he reigned it all in and forced the effects under his control, in under ten seconds before he took a deep breath and raised his shield, locking it against his chest protectively. "I'm ready."

Without a word, Cinder lunged, crossing the distance in two long strides and lunging for his throat with the blade of her spear. He deflected it with the rim of his shield, pushing it up and away in the same motion and slashing at her hand at the midpoint of the pole. She released it, spinning the pear over her head and lashing it out rapidly for his head, over and again, forcing him back as he ducked away to avoid the rapid strikes for several seconds.

Biding his time, he waited until he found the right timing, counting out beats mentally and reading her physical cues. Both the ones he felt from her and the ones he could observe, from the way her arms and legs moved and experience. She stepped forward, the muscles in her legs flexing as she strained to reach and follow him, as well as keeping her momentum up at the same time. Seizing the moment, he ducked down to a kneeling stance as her slash followed through, and he leapt up and towards her as the spear passed over her head and he sensed her surprise.

His shoulder slammed into her stomach and he slammed up with his hand on his other arm, slamming it into her polearm's shaft hard enough to shatter it and looping his right arm under her, shoulder pressed against milky thigh as he lifted her high into the air and, releasing his sword and letting it thud into the dirt so he could grab at soft, milky thighs, he flung her to the ground hard enough to drive the air from her lungs.

Grabbing his sword, he stood over her and pointed it down at her, frowning, "You held back. You can't hold back, Cinder, or I won't learn. I need to fight, to learn, before someone powerful comes along who wants to kill me."

"But, Master, I just don't want to-"

"I know, Cinder." Jaune interrupted, sighing and sheathing Crocea Mors. Offering her his hand as she propped herself up, she gave it a glance, and he added, "I get it, Cinder. But I need to train, and I need to train well. If you can't do that, then… It's fine, I guess. I'll just… Have to find a work around."

"I'm sorry, Master." She said, taking his hand and letting him pull her up before stepping away and looking to the ground almost like she'd been chastised, like a child. "I just… Everything I try to attack you, I feel this… Constriction in my chest, and can't. Even if you have ordered it."

At just the thought of hurting him, now that he could focus on her mind and ignore her body's intended movements, he could sense a strange anxiety, a conflict in her mind at the mere notion of attacking him. Painful, even, and he sighed sadly at it. What he'd done to her had been imperfect, because of his lack of practice and his lack of time to spend actually working on changing her mind more slowly.

But how had he done it? How did it work? He still didn't know these things, he only knew that basic commands didn't seem to have to heavy and effect on people. But what he'd done to Cinder had been different, more radical and in depth. The soldier who he'd ordered to contact Ironwood had been differently entirely, where what he'd done then had been like brushing his hands along an ocean's surface, barely breaking the water's normal and flat appearance.

With Cinder, he'd shoved his arms in up to his shoulders, and Dust knows the deeper ramifications of demanding her absolute loyalty. The affection she felt, her inability to harm him even in a spar on some deeper mental level, her absolute desire to be of some use to him, no matter how demeaning or inconsequential it might become…

"Lien for your thoughts, kid?" Jaune blinked, looking to his side where Roman had approached, eyebrow raised with Cinder on his other side, radiating concern. "Been like… A minute and a half, you been staring at the ground. You thinkin' bout something' important?" "Cuz you looked like your brain was turned off…"

"I was just thinking, that's all." Jaune dismissed, taking a breath and turning to Roman, "I was thinking about what we need to do next. I doubt Salem will let me go for terribly long, she probably has G-... Eyes, on me. Right now. And I am not strong enough to fight her, and since the only people who could train me are hurt, untrained themselves or simply can't do the training. So, I need a work around. We need a work around, I guess."

"So, Roman, I want you to try and get in contact with some of your friends." Roman gave him a look, both eyebrows shooting up and smirking with a slight tilt to his head, and Jaune sighed, "Associates, fine. Just, you know… People you trust who are useful and don't require us to do anything... You know, horribly evil or something, to work for them. My father knows damn well we need a hauler heading to Atlas, so start there."

"I thought he was gonna ask around?" Roman asked, more curious than anything else, as his mind raced with ideas, possibilities, names and faces Jaune didn't know with emotional contexts that confused them in his mind. Jaune tried to ignore them as best he could as Roman continued, "Or is this more of your mind mumbo jumbo, telling you a touch more than the average Jaune oughta know?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Jaune admitted frankly, Roman simply nodding as he thought for a moment.

"I'll make some calls, you good with smuggling?" He asked, Jaune nodding after a second's thought. "Good, that'll make it easier. Have to make trips to Mistral too though to do it, already know that. You good goin' to Vale?" Unless you're worried 'bout people startin' shit…"

Another nod, the blonde letting Roman work as the man took a few steps away, crossing an arm over his chest and resting the elbow of his other on it while he scratched at his chin and thought, "Good, good, that opens up a lot of possibilities. Don't want to touch drugs, shits too damn hot on a good day… Maybe weapons, not to anyone bad I promise, kid." "Well, bad is kind of subjective here…" "Mostly bouncers, merc companies, stuff to outsource to settlements, that sorta stuff. Maybe people?"

"I'm not okay with human trafficking." Jaune said simply, Roman rolling his eyes.

"It's not a friggin' slave trade, Jaune, wouldn't do it otherwise. It's people that are… Looking for a new life, guess you could say." He explained, gesturing at Cinder, "Cindy here and her little team got moved by one of these services. So have I, and Neo too of course. Your little friend Blake did too, when she left the White Fang. Woulda had to, can't get into a big walled city like Vale without." "Unless someone high enough up the old greasy pole steps in to give you some keys, of course."

"As long as I know who we're moving and why, it's fine." Jaune agreed, grimacing slightly. Who knew he'd end up a criminal, even given the circumstances. "But no one who is, you know, running from the authorities, or anything like that. And you make it clear, I have qualms about someone-"

"You'll kill the deal." Roman finished breezily, nodding with a strange, knowing smirk. "Same here, kid. I wouldn't even suggest anything outright illegal anyways. Technically speaking, what we're doing is just a… quiet airline service for private people, and private shipping. No laws broken, no drama, no problems." "Be nice operating without heat for a while… The friggin' demon queen notwithstanding."

"Just… The ship will be yours to take, try not to get shot down or arrested?" Roman tipped his hat almost mockingly and Jaune sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose frustratedly. "Now can you… go? Not to sound, like, mean or anything, but I need to talk to Cinder. Alone."

"Sure, sure, I'll go make some calls." "Leave you two to your alone time." Roman smirked at Jaune's glare, hurrying away and chuckling to himself.

"Master?" Cinder asked after a few moments, when Roman vanished up the ramp and into the ship. Jaune could still sense the man, his excitement peaking and mind racing with plans, schemes, ideas… The man had to be excited to be returning to his preferred field. When Jaune turned to the woman, she swallowed nervously, "You… wished to speak?" "He must still be angry with me… Blast." "I-I'm sorry I failed you, Master, I-"

"Stop, Cinder." He almost snapped, sighing as he said it instead. "I'm not angry with you, the problems you're having here are… Probably my fault, honestly. So forget it, okay?"

"Yes, Master." "So he's not angry, thank the Brothers…" She bowed her head and smiled thinly before blinking and looking back up at him, her hands resting at her side where she had stood on Roman's other side, "Then what is it you wanted of me?"

"Emerald and Mercury." Jaune said simply, turning towards the ship as he thought and Cinder's mind began to race. "Tell me about them both. What do they want? How can I convince them to come to my side?" Cinder had a thought and he growled, "Without doing what I did to you, Cinder."

"Very well," Cinder sighed weakly, gesturing at the ship, "Would you like to go inside and have a seat, Master? The story of how I met them is a long one." "And I am rather hungry, besides."

Chuckling, Jaune nodded and turned to head towards the ship himself, Cinder following close behind at a respectful distance just behind his steps, "Sure, we'll grab some food and you can tell me all about this. Start with where they must have gone after they left my ship?"

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Emerald stretched out, sighing under the shade in her alley. Well, not hers technically, technically it belonged to the Kingdom of Vale since the factory and warehouse had closed down and been taken under the Kingdom's ownership. Originally, it had had two large central alleyways with chainlink gates on each side for trucks and transport, and a single more private access point through a wooden fence. Once they'd gone under and Vale had taken over the property, they'd used wooden panels to close up the gates on both sides, nailed through the chainlink itself. Which had the added benefit of some privacy, making it a nicely sheltered area once she picked the lock to the private entrance, a simple enough padlock that only took her a few minutes in the dark of night. Catwalks high above that crossed over the space didn't do very much to stop rain whenever it fell, but the private entrance was roofed in between the two close buildings, and wide enough for her and Mercury to toss a couple mattresses on the ground there, propped up on some old cinder blocks.

Nothing like a feather bed, but better than the ground…

They'd talked about breaking into the buildings themselves, but a quick look around had shown them several alarm systems wired up. Most people didn't mind squatters in an alleyway, after all, but they did tend to have problems with them being in a building. So it was better out here, especially given the warm temperatures.

"Honey, I'm home." Mercury grumbled, barbing at her as he pushed open the dark wooden fence door in the private entrance. He held up a couple pizzas in pale yellow boxes with a smiling Faunus holding a trident on the front and smirking, "Popped by a pizza place, idiot left these on his scooter outside. Score for us."

"And I got about three hundred Lien today using my Semblance to beg." She said back, holding up the tin for him to take, trading a pizza box to her for it. "Not bad, but I have to get things sit for a while."

"Yeah, don't wanna get any attention on us we don't want." Mercury grunted, plopping onto his mattress and opening his, smile widening, "Sweet! Peppers!"

"Nice." She sighed and rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her pepperoni, enjoying the delicious taste and savoring it with each bite. Such a treat was rare, and it being free was even rarer. After a few seconds of chewing, staring at the ground, she spoke, "What are we going to do, Mercury?"

"Survive." He answered frankly, shrugging when she gave him a look, eyebrow raised and mouth working in an annoyed line. "What? It's true. We keep ourselves fed and sheltered, well enough to stay alive at least, and somethin' will come along. When it does, we take it. Simple as that."

"Keep moving forward? That's the best plan you have? We're in an alley in Vale, eating stolen pizza and begging for money with my Semblance, and that's all you can think of?" She asked, the silver haired assassin shrugging in response. "Ugh! We can't do that, Mercury. We have to help Cinder, whatever thet blonde son of a Grimm did to her, we have to fix it."

"Do you have a better idea, Em?" Mercury asked hotly, tossing a half-eaten slice of pizza back into its box. "Because from where I'm sitting, we have no money, no contacts, and no transport. And between you and me, my legs need maintenance run on them soon, so we can't do any fighting. They'll give out, and we haven't go the Lien in us to even start trying to get it taken care of. So, no contacts means no light jobs, no working maintenance places for me means I can't fight either. That leaves our Semblances, and mine is next to useless outside of a fight. And yours will get Cinder and her new boss on our tail, or worse."

"Assuming they're looking." Emerald grumbled quietly, though she had to agree. "But… We still have to do something, right? We can't get to Cinder though, so… You're right, Mercury. We just have to get by for now."

"Wait, wait, say that again." Mercury teased, smiling from his mattress at Emerald. She glared and he wiggled his eyebrows, "Come on, Em, lemme hear it again."

"No, jackass." She snapped, setting her pizza aside for later and hoping it would hold. Mercury just chuckled and returned to his food, while Emerald started thinking. Looking up at the high ceiling of their little living space, she sighed, "What would Cinder do?"

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"Emerald is… Hard to explain, master." Cinder started when they sat down, Pyrrha on his other side causing the older woman some slight irritation. Pyrrha… didn't like sharing the time, apparently. "I mean, she's simple in a lot of ways. She'll steal, fight, lie, even kill people if she needs to." "Or if I asked her, of course." "But she's a good person, deep down, I think."

"Maybe." He agreed, sighing tiredly. Honestly, he'd never done more than a surface, cursory examination of Emerald's mind. Her wants, desires, opinions on what was being done. And besides, she'd probably have thought whatever Cinder wanted the good thing to do, so it doesn't matter really. He wouldn't be able to accurately judge things anyways. "How did you meet?"

"I found her, stealing in Vacuo. Using her semblance to do it, and it was a powerful one. I tracked her for a while, until I could guess her Semblance or… Approximate it, at the very least. Then I followed her until she was alone, and I confronted her." Jaune saw an image, an alleyway with a younger Emerald, thinner and dirty. Alone, frightened, counting Lien for a few seconds excitedly before turning on Cinder, practically trembling in terror. "We talked, I explained what I could offer, and she agreed to follow me for awhile. To make me prove it. When I did… She changed." "She became fanatical in her devotion."

"She became like you then, right, Cinder?" "A weak, pathetic puppet on a string…" Pyrrha barbed lightly, smirking at the ex-villain. Cinder sighed, eyes closing slowly as she fought back the urge to snap back a return, and Jaune gave the Mistralian Champion a hard look. She balked, hands folded on the table and face downcast, "I'm sorry… I-I forgot about how you felt about it."

He sighed and decided to ignore the slight squabbling, even if what she'd said had bothered him. Emerald just wanted a way to survive, to get by, according to Cinder… She'd become fanatically devoted to the half-Maiden, just for having a decent life. All Jaune would reasonably have to do is provide the same for her, and if he added access to Cinder, then she'd follow him. Probably, at least. "And Mercury? How did you meet him?"

"I had heard of an assassin, in Vacuo as well, who was rather famous. Well, his alias was at least, and that had enough for me to make headway with his contacts. All I had to do was feign that I held a contract, and a big one at that. The right bribes with the greedy ones, intimidation with the cowardly ones, and they told me where to go." She grimaced at the prospects, but otherwise seemed unburdened by them. He could feel some qualms, but he felt a connection to himself in them.

She continued before he could think any further on it, "When I arrived, Mercury had killed his father. I never… I never considered asking why, it was never important. Regardless, he was wounded badly enough that we couldn't save his legs. We were too far from any major settlements to even try, so I contacted an… acquaintance, I suppose, who was adept at surgery. Watts provided the prosthetics, and when they arrived, I gave them to Mercury and offered him what I offered Emerald. After that, he was… loyal enough, so long as he received money and had some 'fun' along the way." "Which usually meant a good fight."

"So he's like Emerald, just trying to get by. Plus a bit of greed." Jaune observed, raising an eyebrow in question at Cinder. She nodded and he sighed, "Well, I mean, I want them to make money and stuff, but would that work? Convince them, I mean?"

"You could just use your Semblance." "Even though I know you hate it." She added, taking a drink of her water on the table. He grimaced and scowled, face twisting enough that both women sparked in anxiety, and Pyrrha immediately added, "N-Never mind, that's a bad idea. I'm s-sorry, jaune, I didn't want to-"

"It's fine. Just… forget it, it was a suggestion. That's all. The point of this is the suggestions, after all." He interrupted, sighing as a droid approached from the door with a sleepy looking Neo behind it in without her jacket, just wearing her black unitard and pants, the automoton carrying a small letter and seemingly leading the woman. "What?"

The machine handed him the message while Neo tugged on his sleeve until he slid the chair back, reading it while she crawled into his lap, resting her hips on his and wrapping her legs around his waist. "Better." She murmured, tucking her face into the crook of his neck and relaxing, "Warm."

The paper he was holding was a series of names, locations, settlements, quantities and more, with dates scribbled next to each. He couldn't understand it, not well enough to know what to do with it, so he held it out to Cinder, "It's a list, looks like. But I never studied business or, I guess, shipping? I can't make heads or tails of it."

"That's why you have servants, Master." She said as she took the list, looking it over for a few moments, "The lists are amounts of items and the items themselves, as well as who is requesting them. Apparently, it's common for traders to leave items here for other ships to ferry to smaller settlements." She looked up at him, "We can't really handle all of it, but I can speak to Roman if you wish, and we'll formulate a plan."

"Do it." He ordered simply, the woman rising and heading out of the room quickly to do as he'd told her. He looked at Pyrrha, eyeing Neo jealously, and sighed, "Can you stop glaring a hole in Neo's back?"

"I just… Don't understand how you can be so intimate with her. After what she did to me, to you." "The poison, the cutting…" "The kidnapping goes without mentioning." Neo turned in his lap to glare at Pyrrha, even if she was half asleep, shifting in her position on his lap so she hung of his side a little so she could glare at the Mistralian. "Don't give me that look, I have every right to say what I am."

"I did what I had to." Jaune translated over, Pyrrha scoffing at the implication. "If I hadn't, then Cinder would have hurt Roman. And Emerald would have done it anyways."

"You enjoyed it, though. I would forgive it were it merely something forced on you, something not of your desire. But you enjoyed it, the way you smiled as you cut into me." Pyrrha argued, voice low and hot as she rose on the other side of the table, leaning over it meaningfully and purposefully showing off her cleavage under her chestpiece. Jaune spared the barely hiddens orbs a glance that Pyrrha caught, "All yours, Jaune, you just have to ask." "And now, we're safe enough to have our confrontation without any untoward consequences. I want to have this argument." "And fight for what is mine."

"Pyrrha-"

"No, Jaune." She snapped, glaring at him for a moment before her gaze softened slightly. "Jaune, I… We could have had so much, and she took it away from me. Poisoned me, cut me, shamed me… And then took you away." "And when I found you again, she was your lover…"

"I'm not going to apologize for that, and neither is she." Jaune snapped, Neo hopping off him as he rose to stare the Msitralian down. "It was a bad situation, one either of us could die in at any time. We were stressed, alone, frightened… All we had was each other, and we leaned on that."

"That doesn't excuse sleeping with her." Pyrrha argued, straightening and looking down on the woman. "A coward who didn't dare to fight me head on, injecting me with poison and cutting me like it was a game to play… She has no place at your side, Jaune, or under my protection as you are."

"Who I care about is my business, not yours, Pyrrha." Jaune dismissed, crossing his arms and sighing when Neo ducked behind him, pressing against his back and trembling frightenedly and angrily. Neo didn't handle this kind of thing very well... "You weren't there, she was, and you weren't under the same threat we were. Maybe how we got together is strange, and yeah, Neo's a sadist. But I literally took over another person's min, and rewrote her into a slave. I guess you hold that against me too?"

"N-No, I-"

"You don't like Neo." Jaune finished for her simply, "But I love her. And I will protect her, so you can either respect and accept that or-"

"You don't understand!" Pyrrha shouted suddenly, a gentle hum escaping as she tapped the metal table and flung it to the side with her Semblance, weakened as it was. The table slammed on its top a foot to the side, Pyrrha closing the distance and prodding his chest with a finger, chest heaving and eyes watery as her emotions raced in her mind and out, into him. "You have what you want, but what about everyone else? Nora and Ren lost half their team, Yang lost her arm, Cinder lost her mind as little as I care about that… And I lost you!"

"I am right here, Pyrrha. Just… tell me what I can do for you, please!" Jaune assured her gently, reaching out to touch her mind, to see what he needed to say to calm her.

"I don't know!" She cried, staggering back as though struck, wrapping her arms around herself and taking a shaky breath. Neo peaked around him curiously and nervously, trying to figure the other woman out. Pyrrha straightened suddenly, eyes glowing with the Maiden's power, "You were supposed to be mine! Not hers!"

He could sense it, her obsession and the affection underlying it… If he'd been there, at Beacon with her, then maybe things would have progressed more healthily, but the addition of the trauma from Amber's mind echoing through her had warped it. Turned it dark, and when Jaune looked at the woman he understood. The way her emotions felt, the echo of it, the taste of it and the color in his mind when he took it into himself to look at it…

"I understand." Jaune said simply, relaxing and taking a step back as Pyrrha's eyes narrowed. Jaune hated manipulating her feelings like this, but… He had the information and using it would make her happier. "You did so much for me, because of your… Your obsession. And I'm with Neo… And that's how it will stay. I'm sorry. If you want to be with me, accept that you will as a friend. My closest, most trusted friend. And nothing more."

Pyrrha stared at him for a few seconds, before the power vanished from her eyes and she sighed, "Fine… As long as-as you know, and understand, I'll…" Her voice shook and she turned towards the door, shoulders sagging, "I am going into the forest for a while to train." "And blow off steam as well."

He let her go, sighing irritatedly, and Neo pouted up at him apologetically, "Sorry…"

"Don't be. It's in the past, and… Everyone s adjusting to how things are now, I guess." He turned around, pulling Neo into a hug and kissing the crown of her head. Inhaling her familiar scent, he relaxed somewhat, "Now let's get some food? I'm starving."

She nodded, leaning up to peck a kiss on his chin, "Okay and… I l-love you too."

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Winter had taken a private ship from the Atlesian fleet as soon as she'd received her orders and traveled overnight to the Atlesian base closest to Ansel, stepping out in the mid-day sun as the ship shut down and Atlesian crewmen moved in to unload its weapons and move it to a safe place for storage. Winter ducked past the busy soldiers, pulling the brim of her hat lower over her head and tucking the dark scarf around her neck tighter to hide her hair and face as best she could.

"Ma'am." One started, the Schnee turning to her with a raised eyebrow. The soldier, a young woman with hard, dark eyes and long raven hair over pale skin, saluted crisply and Winter returned it. "I'm the officer in charge of monitoring this region, ma'am. Here to report, if you'll follow me to a more private location."

Winter nodded, following the woman through the fairly standard Atlesian same style that the Arc boy had been to to report an incident, according to her reports. She took a seat in one of the chairs in a small, dark briefing room with a dark wooden table dominating the center and a dark leather couch against the back wall, and the officer handed her a folder, with pictures of the ship in question as it had come in to land and when it had already landed, taken from high up as through a Bullhead had flown over.

"And the ship has been positively identified?" Winter asked simply, the officer nodding. "Then I need to get closer, identify him as being there and get a tracking device on that ship before it moves again."

"I can prepare everything you need, ma'am. You should be able to deploy tonight, if you wish." Winter nodded, and the soldier added, "Would you like some drones or myself to accompany you?"

"Do you know the topography of the region well?" The officer shook her head, and Winter sighed. "Then no, thank you. I will require some dark fatigues, a helmet to hide my hair, and a topographical map of the region downloaded onto a disposable Scroll. Can you secure that for me by tonight?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Very well." She said simply, sliding her coat off and laying it on the table in the middle of the room as she stood and moved to the couch against the back wall. Kicking off her shoes, she continued, "I have to keep as low a profile as possible, so I won't be leaving the room again. I will need a meal delivered in four hours time, but until then, I am going to sleep here. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am." She saluted as Winter laid down, closing her eyes and letting out a breath. "I will do as ordered. Good luck in your mission."

"Dismissed, Observer." She said simply, the woman nodding and turning to leave, flicking the light off as she went and throwing the Schnee into a comfortable darkness.

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Killkill123100 :

Yeah, the tension is high. As you can tell here. Issues have built up due to circumstance that need to be resolved.

Cat Poster :

You have no idea.

Zenith Tempest :

I plead the fifth.

Spudy Potato :

Yeeeeeah I meant to fix that before uploading, but it didn't take from the phone I used. I corrected it after though.

The Wizardrous Magicman :

Yeah, it amuses me to write when its innocent. Things had to get heated here though, and I hope the reasons made sense.