Concrete and glass littered the streets. Each step was echoed by the crunching of debris beneath their feet, but the air around the group was positive. Rebuilding efforts had already begun around the city, and teams RWBY and JNPR had been hard at work doing their best to contribute.

The attack, now dubbed the Battle of Beacon, had mostly centered on Beacon itself. Yet the Grimm cared not for the borders of the school, the city had been beset upon by the Grimm, and it showed in the shattered glass fronts of the stores they were walking by. But the people of the city proved hardier than a Grimm invasion. Already several shops had started reopening, tarps and boarded windows were painted with all kinds of messages and well wishes.

A daycare center showed child sized had prints around it's exterior, with more than a few misspelled messages asking for a Mrs. Rouge to get well soon. A cafe had people crowded around their outside seating, showing up to enjoy their favorite drink with whatever furniture survived the attack. More than a few walls even had murals of the Grimm dragon being slain, with a near mythical looking armored knight holding aloft a glowing blade.

Everywhere the two teams looked, life was reclaiming the city. They pointed towards places where they left their own messages, towards favorite hang outs with signs declaring their reopening. Nora elbowed Yang, pointing towards a bar proclaiming a discount for all Hunters, in training or otherwise. Ren dragged her away, drawing her attention to a pancake house with the same message.

They laughed and joked on their way to Beacon Academy. The group had decided to stay down in Vale proper while they helped with rebuilding efforts. The main reason was due to Beacon losing a good part of their dorms in the attack, and the group deciding to give up their rooms to the injured. But it soon became apparent that even if they were staying in their dorms, they wouldn't of been able to make the trek back to Beacon, so tired were they after helping out.

Now, the time had come to return. Their rooms had been emptied, much of the dorms repaired, and Beacon set to reopen in two days. It seemed strange to return to school when so much was still left to do, but such was life. It would continue on despite the tragedy that occurred. That wasn't to say Beacon was neglecting helping out. The newly appointed Headmistress Goodwitch would be implementing a sort of extra credit to those who helped rebuilding. Combat class would be canceled for a short time, and would be replaced with the students choosing between self study, or rebuilding.

Both teams already knew that they would be down in the thick of it, helping out where ever possible. So for now, they kept their spirits up, chatting about anything and everything to distract each other from the devastation around. Noticeably, one student was quieter than the rest, although that could easily be attributed to being unaccustomed to the devastation around.

They were easily the newest to being a Hunter in training, after all. It could be believed that they were uneducated on the true horrors of what it means to be a Hunter. If it wasn't for the way their eyes held onto the mural of the dragon slaying, that is. Or they way they shied away from every mention of the two mysterious saviors who came from no where, and ended the majority of the attacks by themselves.

Even now, Jaune Arc remained silent as Yang described the scene that the blindfolded woman saved her from.

Yang was walking backwards, hands gesturing wildly as she continued on. "And there I was! Surrounded by Grimm and terrorists on every side!" The inspiration from one of Nora's stories was apparent, even as the woman herself leaned in, rapt attention on her face.

"I was fresh out of shells, the last one saving me from a ground flattering attack by an ursa. Little did I know, its buddy was right behind me. Ready to bear me to the ground!" She wiggled her eyebrows at the pun. "When a flash of light saved me! It illuminated the very sky, as the blindfolded woman descended from the top of Ozpin's tower. She stopped the ursa's attack, and slew it before I even registered I was alive!"

"She stepped off of her platform right beside me, her foot hitting the ground at the same time as all the Grimm around us started dying in droves. Blue light flashing again and again, like it was a fireworks display! Yet she did not look around, she simply held my cheek in her hand, telling me how brave I was to fight for so long in a motherly voice. And then she healed me! With her Aura! It was like nothing I'd ever felt before!"

Their group was enraptured, Nora and Ruby oohing at each turn. She continued on, telling about how she had followed the woman as she went around the entirety of Beacon saving the students as she went. By this point, Pyrrha had taken notice of Jaune's unusual behavior. She slid beside the blonde boy and spoke low to him.

"Hey, Jaune. Everything okay?"

The teen huffed, his eyes tracing the ground as he spoke to his partner. "I'm fine Pyrrha. Just… thinking."

Her eyebrows creased. She placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. Their group continued on, too caught up in Yang's story to notice the two members leaving.

"It's okay, Jaune. I'm here to listen to whatever you have to say. Is it about your mom?" His eyes shot to hers, but she continued before he could ask how she knew. "After she rescued me on the tower, she told me about how she had only came looking for her son, or my partner as she phrased it."

Pyrrha's face grew a touch red, likely at the way in which his mom had said partner. Jaune gently lowed Pyrrha's hand from his shoulder, a grimace crossing his face.

"Forget whatever she said. She's likely just assuming too much. But that's not what's making me think. Do you know what is?"

Pyrrha's face scrunched up in confusion, eyes jumping around as she debated what to respond with.

Jaune's face darkened, the words spilling past his lips with fury. "It's that you sent me away, just so you could go and play the Hero and die to someone too much for you!"

"Jau-"

"No, Pyrrha. You knew damn well you were going to die in Ozpin's office. Otherwise you wouldn't of said goodbye like you did! You knew that she was strong enough to kill Ozpin, a fully grown Hunter with years of experience totaling more than your life, and yet you still went alone anyways!"

Red streaked his face, eyes narrowed and breath heavy. "Why did you even have to go! There was literally no reason to fight her other than your own fucking pride! She already had what she came for!"

Pyrrha looked lost, her eyes darted around, looking for any way out of their conversation. She realized she was stuck, and her head hung down. Yet Jaune continued.

"Did you seriously fall that much into your own hype? Thinking that just because people called you the Invincible girl that you somehow were? Well newsflash Pyrrha, you're not! You are as human as the rest of us!" His voice dropped, a weak chuckle escaping him. "Do you really think that you're so far above us that you don't need our help? Or would we of just weighed you down during your fight?"

He stepped away, eyes watching his own feet as he left Pyrrha with his final thoughts. "We care about you. We would much rather lose out on whatever the hell she stole, than lose you."

Jaune continued onward, his posture stiff, while all Pyrrha could do was stand there. A thousand words came to mind, a million ways to counter everything he said. Yet all she could do was hold out her hand pleadingly, asking for him to turn around. Her vision blurred, eyes following his black hoodie until it disappeared around the corner.

Her hand fell. Her voice echoed off of the brick buildings. Yet no answer came forth reguarding her actions.

Jaune had finished calming back down on his walk back towards the dorms. His face was schooled, cheeks wiped dry, even as his insides churned and his mind tried to force him back to his partner. Every part of him felt split. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to scream more. He wanted to cry out his heart. He wanted to ask about the kiss she left him with.

But he did none of that.

He rejoined his friends, waiting for the next shuttle to Beacon. They joked and ribbed at him and Pyrrha disappearing for an extended period of time, Yang in particular with more than a few eyebrow wiggles. He laughed it off, turning it right back on Yang by bringing up the time he saw her pull Blake into an abandoned classroom. The sputtering from Yang lifted his mood, and the light blush from Blake had him giggling. The short flight and shorter walk across the campus involved him more than the entire walk across Vale. Pyrrha hadn't rejoined the group as they made it onto Beacon proper.

The grounds had been cleared of any obvious signs of the battle that took place less than a week ago, most than likely by Mrs. Goodwitch's semblance. Smaller cracks and craters still dotted the landscape, but Beacon was well on it's way to healing.

The two groups bid farewell outside their respective dorms, plenty of yawns and good nights. Only for team RWBY to immediately rush back outside after hearing a yell from JNPR's dorm. Yang was the first through the door, shotgun gauntlets raised, only to freeze at the sight she busted into.

Team JNPR's dorm was a mess, broken wood and tossed sheets littered the floor. Dents had been busted into the walls and the room had a strange aroma. Ren and Nora were staring ahead slack faced, cheeks starting to color. Jaune himself had his head in his hands with his back to the rest of the room. The cause of the disturbance was immediately obvious. A man and a woman sat undressed on the last remaining bed, sheets bunched up to cover the important bits.

The two didn't appear to suffer the same state of embarrassment that the rest of them were feeling, the man's face had a look of resigned patience, and the woman only smiled faintly as she looked around the room.

Jaune groaned into his hands, muttering something to himself before he spoke up. "Three days. I was busy rebuilding the city for three days, and you've already destroyed a good part of my teams dorm." He spun around to face them. "Why?! God damn it, it feels like I'm back home already!"

The woman chuckled, her smile growing wider as she responded. "Um, oops? We didn't know it was your room? The Headmistress kinda gave us temporary use of this room as a thank you for helping out with the attack. If we had known it was yours we would of gone somewhere else."

Jaune rubbed his temples, "Okay. I understand that part. But why did you have to destroy the whole room?!"

The man coughed, his eyes darting off to the side. "Well. I mean. Surely you know how your mom's semblance works. And well. She can loose control of it from time to time when… well. I'm sure you can catch what I mean."

Jaune's face blanked for a few seconds as he thought over the older man's words. His face faintly turned green as the hidden meaning hit him. "Gross! Ew, ew, ew! I don't need to know that!"

He hunched over in the corner, gagging as he tried to purge that information from his brain. Surprisingly Blake walked over to rub his back, whispering about how it was okay, and how she understood his plight. Ren took this moment to speak up.

"I can assume from this conversation that you are our leader's parents?"

The woman gasped, hand raising to cover her mouth as she spoke. "Oh where are my manners! My name is Ailana, and this is my husband, Siegfried." Siegfried gave a small wave. "You are correct young man, we are Jaune's parents."

Ren nodded, "Okay then. May I ask why you decided to stay in Beacon, rather than rent a room down in Vale?"

"Well spoken too! We've been going down to Vale to assist, but stayed here hoping to find Jaune to talk to him. It's been quite a while since we've spoken, not even a call to your poor old mother!"

Jaune stood up straight facing the two. "You two didn't want me attending Beacon! Why would I let you know I was here! Just so you could drag me out and back home where it's safe!"

Siegfried tsked, "Jaune, we just wanted you to be safe. And without possessing the family semblance, how could you be?"

"Uh, I dunno. Maybe by actually training me! Not waiting until the literal year before prep school starts to tell me that I couldn't! You built up this dream of mine for literal years! And then just said no when I turned thirteen!"

"We've been over this. The world is too dangerous to be without power to back you up. All the sword skills in the world won't matter when you're surrounded on all sides by Grimm. Or going up against the truly dangerous ones. A building sized Goliath won't care for a two foot sword."

"And? Maybe I would have had a different semblance that could let me kill a Goliath! Or I could use Dust! Or any number of solutions to fight against something a sword can't handle!" Jaune shook his head. "That's not the point! Neither of you did anything to train me! Instead you trained my sisters, you let them follow their dreams, even when it didn't involve being a Hunter!"

Jaune sagged, his arms dropping and face slackening. He sighed, "I… I don't know why I'm even bothering. You didn't care before I left, why would you care now." He walked through the open door, brushing by his friends with hardly a look. "I'm going to go and train, don't wait up."

Ruby looked back and forth between the retreating teen and the grimacing parents, before speeding off after Jaune in a rush of roses. The remaining three fourths of team RWBY shared a look, already planning on retreating back to their dorm when Ailana spoke.

"Dear?"

"Yes, honey?"

"You're an idiot, dear."

He sighed, "I know."

She lightly pushed him towards the door, "Go find Jaune and apologize."

Siegfried nodded, pulling on his discarded pants behind a now floating bed sheet. "I will dear, do you know where my shirt went?"

The garment floated by, blue hand made of light holding it by the collar. "Thanks sweetie. I'll be back soon," He leaned down to peck her on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too! Oh, and one last thing dear!" A glowing blue hand poked Siegfried before he could leave, turning his face back to his wife. "No yelling. I know you, dear. And I know how emotional you can get. But none of that. Go and talk with a clear head, and actually listen to him."

Siegfried sent a grin her way, "I'll do my best."

Ailana sighed, a smile rising on her face, "I know you will, dear. Now go." The hand moved around to his back, pushing him out the door. "Jaune just left my range, so try the furthest training rooms."

Ailana sighed as his footsteps receded into the distance, "Sorry you had to see that, kids. As you can tell, we have some… issue we need to resove, I apologize for getting you all involved in our family issues."

Nora stepped forward, her normal bubbly personality rising to try and fight through the palpable tension in the air. "It's no trouble at all, ma'am! We're his team, that means his family problems are ours too!"

The older woman giggled, letting the floating sheet drop as she finished getting dressed herself. She had traded out her huntress outfit for a more normal set of clothing. Instead of the flowing robes and habit, she wore a simple pair of light blue leggings and a dark blue long sleeve shirt.

"It's good to know that our son has such caring teammates. But I'm sure you all have some questions. You three can feel free to come in as well, if how quickly you came when my son yelled shows anything, then you are clearly close as well."

Yang poked her head through the door, and embarrassed expression on her face. "If it's too personal, we don't have to be here. I mean, yeah, we are friends, sister teams and all that, but it's really none of our business."

Ailana waved her hand, "Non sense dear. I saw the expression on the red girls face, she clearly cares for my son. No one would be that conflicted for a mere friend."

"That's just Ruby for you, she always has to help. But Jaune is her first friend, she's more emotionally invested than us."

Ailana's smile grew a touch wider at Yang's words. "Oh? Quite close then, how long have they been dating?"

Yang's face froze, "They aren't."

"Dang it, I always did appreciate a friend to dating angle." She pouted, before her face snapped to Nora and Ren. "You two made a face. He's dating someone else, isn't he?"

The partners glanced between one another, Ren shaking his head while Nora sighed explosively. "Nope, he's not dating anyone. But!" Nora raised her finger, "There is someone interested in him!"

Ailana squealed, her eyes jumping around the present group. "Wait, wait, wait. Let me guess!" She pointed to Weiss, "Rich girl fell for the sheltered country boy with a heart of gold who taught her to appreciate her friends and open her heart!"

Weiss face crossed, her mouth opening to respond, likely with an angry tirade. Yang interjected before she could.

"Nope. He did have a crush on Weiss cream here for a while, but I'll have you know it was all team RWBY that thawed her frozen walls."

"Aw, that's so heartwarming!" She glanced around the group again, "Okay, then you." She pointed to Yang. "It's clear that you must feel some responsibility for the red girl, your face was too incensed at the idea of her dating to mean anything else. Perhaps because she's the youngest on your team? So you probably have a big importance placed on family. You two bonded over shared sibling stories and found yourself opening up more and more as time went on until the lines between friends and dating blurred into nothing!"

Yang laughed, "Wrong again, ma'am. Well, right for the first half. We've talked about our younger siblings a bit. The 'red girl' is actually my younger sister. But we are no where that close."

The older woman groaned, "Ugh, so many amazing possibilities and not one realized!" She glanced over at Ren and Nora. "Well, judging by how you two first reacted, I can imagine it's someone on his team. You dear," she pointed at Nora, "were just a bit too quick to point out someone liked him to his parents, so I don't think it's you. But, you were just a bit too quick in that head shake, young man."

She pointed at Ren. "Evidently, you two first bonded over being the only men in a group of six women. As you two continued interacting with each other, you realized the first budding feelings of a crush. However, you are too self conscious about bringing up your crush to my son, expecting either a backlash due to homophobia or expecting it to change the nature of your friendship if my son is straight. Don't worry about the first, our eldest daughter is gay and we love her all the same. As for the second." She leaned in conspiratorially. "I did find some magazines stuffed under his mattress after he left home. More than a few had men in them." She sent a wink Ren's way, sitting down on the bed satisfied.

Ren raised an eyebrow, ignoring the giggling from Yang and Nora. "A valid theory, and enlightening towards the pictures hanging in his gym locker, but I am not looking for a relationship at the moment."

Nora slung an arm around Ren's shoulder, speaking in a firm voice, "Yeah! Besides, there's no way my bestest and longest friend in the whole world wouldn't tell me he's harboring a secret crush without telling me!"

Ailana giggled, "Ah, I see. My apologizes then, dears. I tend to get a bit overzealous when it comes to relationships. It's a habit I've had since I was young. I was quite the matchmaker when I was your age." Her smile turned wistful, remembering younger days.

Ren waited a few seconds before clearing his throat, breaking the older woman from her ruminations. "As fun as this has been, I would like to know more when it comes to our team leaders current problems, ma'am."

"Team leader?" She shook her head, "My how he's grown. But alright. I don't mind sharing. Go ahead and grab a seat, it's a bit of a tale." The woman groaned as she realized her mistake. "My apologizes, I forgot we had ruined most of the furniture. Is there a preferred location you would like to talk at?"

Jaune groaned, semblance slipping as a training bot snuck an attack through his guard, cutting his concentration to his ability. The robots backed off, they were set to a first strike setting. His current training mostly involved keeping his semblance active while he fought, something that was ruined by the thoughts still swimming through his head.

Just as he felt his frustrations mounting, the door to the training room swished open, the electronic lock clanking as it reconnected. Jaune spun around, curse already on his lips for his parents that entered, only for his anger to slip at the person that entered.

Ruby stood there, her hands hesitantly playing with the hem of her hood as she looked at him. Jaune felt all of his frustrations flee at the sight of his friend looking anxious.

"Ruby? Is everything okay?"

She bit her lip, eyes jumping around as she considered her words. "Well. You sounded upset, and looked broken up. I actually wanted to check if you were okay."

Jaune's face soured, anger threatening to return as he remembered what had just occurred. "I'm sorry if I made it awkward. My dad just makes me so angry sometimes."

He sighed, walking over to slump against a bench. Ruby made her way over, setting next to his slumped form, but on the bench itself. "It's okay, Jaune. Family makes us angry sometimes, I know I've been angry at my own dad before, but what's important is we talk it out. Otherwise how will we ever move past it."

His hand raised to rub his face, groan slipping out between his fingers. "I know, I know. It's just." He threw his hands up. "He never actually listens to me, no matter how hard I try. I tell him my issues, my problems with his decisions, and he just repeats the same lines again and again. It's infuriating!"

Ruby leaned over to rub circles on his back, letting Jaune vent out his frustrations.

"He pretends like it's impossible to fight if you don't have an all powerful semblance! He forgets that even he wasn't as strong as he is now. It's like he forgets that there are Hunters with weak semblances, or even no semblance! He thinks that just because he can carve up mountains, that if we can't then we shouldn't even consider being a Hunter!"

Jaune plopped his head against the metal bench, eyes tracing the crisscrossing metal beams above. "Did you know that my semblance is hereditary?" Ruby shook her head. "Yeah. I used to think that being an Arc made me special. Believed that we were destined to become Heroes. I didn't even know that other people could have hereditary semblances, like Weiss. I thought that I could become a Hero. But you know what's even funnier?"

"I used to gorge myself on books, I absolutely loved stores involving saving they day. The Underdog Hero, rising from nothing to triumph over evil! My dad had figured out how to pseudo-test if we actually had the semblance, it's skipped generations in the past before. He kinda super charges our Aura using his own, and after a few minutes, our semblance would naturally take over, super charging the super charge he gave us and unlocking our Aura. And so, at thirteen, he tested me. And nothing happened. But instead of being distraught, I was ecstatic. Like I said, I love the underdog story. I thought that I would be that underdog. That I would face adversity without the all powerful semblance and beat the odds to win."

"Instead I was bared from ever even considering being a Hunter. No training. No unlocking my Aura. No nothing. I was enrolled in a traditional school, and all of a sudden everything changed. No longer did I hear how I would be the best Huntsman from my mom. My dad stopped calling me little knight. Instead I was told I would be the best doctor. Where before my dad would return from hunting trips with armor pieces and practice swords, he returned with a guitar for me. He hoped I would pick up a new dream with music. I almost smashed the instrument then and there."

Jaune closed his eyes, face scrunching up as he relived the memory. "Even then, I still held out hope. I still wanted to be a Hero. Even as I watched my younger sister attend a prep school. Even as my older sister applied to Mistral. Even as both of my parents trained the rest of my family, leaving me on the sidelines to watch. Every time I objected, every time I raised my voice, they would just bring up my oldest sister."

"They would tell me, 'Well, look at Saphron. Even through she has the semblance, she chose to not become a Hunter, and she's happy! She's found someone to love. She's got a successful job.' I have nothing against my sister, she's free to do whatever she wants. But I can't do anything I want to!"

"Thirteen years of constant stories of my parents hunts. Thirteen years of gentle pushing towards the career. Thirteen years of tales from our ancestors. And all it took was thirteen minutes of applying Aura to a teen for all of that to come crumbling down."

Jaune sighed, his voice loosing it's previous volume as the energy left him. "I'm sorry for bothering you with this, Ruby. Just me with my pointless problems."

Ruby drew in a sharp inhale, Jaune opening his eyes to catch the hardening of her eyes. "Jaune. Stop that. It's not pointless problems. You're my friend. Of course I'd listen to your legitimate issues."

He chuckled, "That's not what I meant. I meant more that I've proved them wrong. I didn't have the semblance, but I still was able to make it as a Hunter. I might've been weak, still weak now I meant weaker, but I was able to make it into Beacon. That counts for something."

Ruby leaned over him, staring hard into his eyes. "That counts for everything. You've done so much, especially for someone who came from nothing. For someone who's first Grimm was a bus sized deathstalker in initiation! From what you've told me, you had Aura for a total of, like fifteen minutes! That's insane!"

Jaune's face stretched into a smile, "You're right. That's damn impressive, isn't it."

She booped him on the nose, "Curse word."

He chuckled, his voice taking on a faux regal tone, "My apologizes, I didn't realize ma'am had such sensitive ears."

"You know, the training rooms aren't the place to make out, right?"

The both of them choked. Ruby's face taking on a scarlet hue for the thousandth of a second where she was still above him, a scattering of rose petals quickly taking her place. Jaune then choked some more on the apparently corporeal petals, spitting out a bouquet as he flipped to his knees. His eyes rose to take in the form of his wildly grinning dad, leaning too casually against the door to the room.

"Wha-" He coughed out a few more. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, the plan was to talk with you, try to reach an accord and all that. But I now have a different plan." He raised a scroll in his off hand as he walked closer to the rising teen. "I want to make a deal. You have a civil conversation with me, no yelling, no sulking, and actually taking the time to think through each others words, and I don't send this to Ailana."

He flicked open the scroll. Jaune's face rapidly paled as he caught sight of a picture from him and Ruby talking. A picture taken right after she leaned over to hammer her point in. The way her cloak had fallen around her hid just enough of their faces to hint at more than a talk.

Jaune grit his teeth, letting out a hiss as he responded. "Fine. But that gets deleted immediately."

Siegfried smirked. "What, don't want your mom to hound your for baby names so soon?"

Ruby squeaked back from a bench a few rows up, "More like so Yang doesn't beat Jaune's face in for kissing me."

Siegfried blinked, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were dating anyone else, otherwise I wouldn't of teased you like that."

Ruby's face scrunched up for the few seconds it took her to piece out what Siegfried meant. Then it rapidly turned green. "Gross, gross, gross! Yang's my sister! She's just too protective!"

"Ah, I'm sorry again then."

"Um, ah. It's fine, sir. Just please delete it. She's got a mean right. And a mean left. And a mean straight. And that's before she asks any questions. Jaune would probably end up with a broken Aura before she'd realize we weren't doing anything. And even then, we'd be teased about it for weeks!"

He chuckled, "Fine, fine. I'll delete it. But if you could please leave, miss Ruby. We have an important conversation coming up."

Ruby squeaked again. "Right! I'm sorry!"

And with that final word, she sped out the door. Jaune kept an eye on the falling petals, dodging one of the evil leaves before it could get too close to his windpipe again.

"You wanna know something funny? Aura is the manifestation of our souls, literally the sum of everything that makes us us. So much so that you could relate Aura to another part of our body, much like how one would attribute our voice to part of us. Everyone has little quirks that make their voice unique, such as accents, lisps, and the like. It's one of the reasons people talk about how semblances are a manifestation of our inner thoughts and feelings."

Jaune groaned. "Do you have a point, or are you just trying to give me a reason to make you send that photo to mom? I'm sure your pelvis would thank you for the break, you know, before it breaks."

"Smart ass. I'm sorry you walked in on us having sex, again."

Jaune shivered, "Me too."

"But I did have a point. Now, can I continue, or do you have any other smart ass points to make?" He waited a few seconds before continuing. "Smart choice. Now then, where was I? Semblances are as much apart of us as our foot or arm is, correct? So you could come to one particular conclusion."

Siegfried's grin grew well past shit eating all the way to attending a manure buffet. "When Ruby sped away, you choked on several of her semblance created petals. How does it feel to realize you just ate out for the first time in your life?"

Siegfried's laughter would reach several training rooms over. Of course no one would hear it, on account of the ear piercing shriek of 'Dad!' that reached even further.

Ailana sipped a glass of water, wetting her parched throat. She had just finished letting the assembled teens in on their familiar problem. As she had expected, most of the teens had problems with her telling. It was only fair, she supposed, they were friends of Jaune's first and foremost. It's only right that they take his side on such a delicate issue.

She let them ask their questions, answering dutifully when she could, until Nora jumped in with an unrelated issue.

Nora had raised her had, as if waiting for the teacher to point her out in a classroom. Ailana played along, pointing towards the young woman to allow her to speak.

"Is it true that Jaune-Jaune has seven sisters? I always thought that it was something he made up to seem more interesting!" At the looks from her friends, she continued indignantly. "What? It's true! Everyone here has some measure of back story ranging from sad to holy shit, what the fuck. I figured he'd just made something up. Especially now after seeing Ms. Arc. You could grate stone on that stomach."

Ailana giggled, "Thank you dear, I take pride in my appearance. And to answer your question, yes. We have eight children, the oldest is Saphron at twenty seven. Twenty eight in a few months, which reminds me, Adrian, her son, turns two a few days before her birthday, I need to remember to go shopping later."

Nora looked down with a confused expression on her face, silently counting on her fingers as she thought through whatever was on her mind. Internally, Ailana smirked, she knew what was coming next.

Nora looked up, eyes scanning the older woman's face. "Okay, okay, wait! You said Saphron is twenty seven, right? So that means you're at least forty eight!"

Ailana giggled, hiding the rising smile behind her hand. "A little older than that, deary. I spent a few years Hunting alone and with my team before I met my husband. Remind me later and I'll tell you that story."

Nora's face scrunched up. "You look amazing for over fifty! What the hell is your secret! Is it time travel? Blood of the innocent? Secret pact with the Grimm?"

She giggled. "No dear. It's simple. Moisturizer and Aura. I'm sure you all have noticed that Aura tends to slow the aging process by a fair amount. Well, that and the active lifestyle. But what you may not know is there is a few processes involved that can make it a bit more random for the individual. Such as the size of the Aura pool, the regenerative properties, and some other factors that I'm sure you could ask a dermatologist for."

She leaned in, whispering conspiratorially. "But regardless of what they tell you, the size of your Aura really makes all the difference. And what you all may not know is that the Arc family semblance can do a whole lot. One of the things it can do is add Aura to buff a target. But what do you think happens if, say, a target is constantly buffed passed their previous levels repeatedly, for over twenty years?"

Weiss' eyes widened, her mouth falling open as she picked up what the older woman was saying. "You clearly get it dear. Much like any other muscle, constant use can increase it's strength. Typically, the size difference is negligible at best. You're not draining your Aura every second of the day after all. But with such a difference, it starts to increase. First just a couple of percentage points. Then couple more. Then you can very literally survive a building falling on you with barely a nudge in your pool."

She leaned back, giggling at the shocked expressions on their faces. Weiss spoke up, breaking from her mystification first. "Should that not have massive effects on your Aura besides just increasing the total amount?"

Ailana rolled her hand, "Eh. Not really? It does have some side effects, but nothing I'm complaining about! The biggest one is how long it takes my Aura to naturally recharge. I'm sure you all recharge in half a day from empty? Well, if I completely ran out and didn't have my sweet nearby to recharge, it would take over a week to come back to full."

Their shocked expression grew at that. "Calm down dears. That's not to say I'm out of Aura for a week or so. It's still there. Here's a decent metaphor. Let's say to recharge your Aura is like filling a bathtub with a faucet. For some, they have sinks to fill with Aura, so it takes them less time for less of a total amount to draw from. For others, they have a large bathtub, they kind that you can lay back in with the jets in it. So now instead of a minute or so, they can take ten or more minutes to fill. Following me so far?"

She waited for everyone to nod before continuing. "But just because it takes ten times the amount of time to fill the large bathtub, that doesn't mean you can't put your hands in the water. Now, compared to me, I have sized up from a large bathtub without being able to change the size of the faucet. Don't get me wrong, the faucet grew a bit as well, changing to maybe a garden hose or something similar. But… hmm, what would be a good comparison for my Aura pool."

The woman snapped, her face brightening as she responded. "It's like trying to use a normal garden hose to fill a ten foot deep pool at a water park."

She barely held back her laughter at the dumbstruck faces of her son's friends. "Well, the only other side effect I've noticed is that my Aura is more naturally inclined to healing. Not so much as to impact the shield it gives me, but enough to where my regeneration is much higher than average. But once again, that's only after multiple years of constant Aura boosting. When Jaune finally realizes how to do so, it shouldn't cause any lasting effects."

Her smile gained a devious edge. "I wouldn't expect the effects to show until several months of boosting, at the very least. After all, nothing says he can only boost when you're in the middle of battle."

Ailana sat back, her piece said. She let the teens in front of her swap glances and talk between themselves. Externally, she was calm, watching them talk about just how versatile the Arc semblance was. Internally, she was cackling madly as she erected a whiteboard. Hundreds of little Ailana's spawned in her mind, placing bets on which of his little friends would be the first to fall for her son.

There was one other little fact about the Arc semblance she may have neglected to mention. Although everything she had said was true, what she didn't mention was the way it made you feel. Aura typically feels like nothing to graduated Hunters. They get used to the warm feeling it gives them. But boosted Aura is a whole different beast. Even after all her years of feeling it, it always feels amazing to the older woman.

It feels like the warmest safest hug from your favorite person in the whole world. Like sitting on a grassy hill during a pleasant spring day. Yet also like you are brimming with power. Like you yourself are a firework, ready to go off at any second.

She didn't expect any of the young women, or Ren, to get addicted to the feeling. Ailana wasn't nefarious enough to want to metaphorically drug his friends into liking her son. But she wasn't above a touch of mental manipulation. Like say, giving her son a reason to be touching them for extended periods of time while also giving them feelings of safety and comfort. Long periods of time where they can also talk and connect on levels more than just the physical. Further reinforcing the warm and safe feelings.

And then the grand babies would come.

Ailana cackled internally.

Pyrrha trudged towards her dorm room. After Jaune had confronted her back in Vale, she had spent the day wandering around, confronting her thoughts to find a way to fix their fractured friendship. Pyrrha cursed the fact that none of her fans had appeared, if only to give her a break from the constant depressing thoughts.

Each solution was met with doubt. Each imagined conversation ended in yelling. Pyrrha sighed for the nth time that day. Her mind constantly drawing up the worst of the worst thoughts the entire time.

Mindlessly, she waved her scroll before the reader, opening their dorm door with a near silent hiss. She took a final deep breath, steadying herself for the coming conversation. Her head raised and the breath left her.

"What the fuck happened to our room?!"

And done! Man, I'm actually more satisfied with this chapter than I thought I would be. It was right about the part where the teams returned to their room that I hit a groove with this chapter. My hands just flew across the keyboard.

Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed. And for those who may be worried, this won't become an Angst fic. The characters have some problems to work through yes, but they can work through it.

Have a pleasant day, y'all!

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