"Moooooooommmmmm!" He ran excitedly into the living room.

She turned to her son with a bright smile on her face. "Yes sweetie?"

The small boy took out a very old piece of cardboard and showed it to her. "You're on a cereal box!"

The mother chuckled softly. "Yes that was even before your father and I met. I was famous even when I was young," Then a thought crossed her mind. "Jared, where did you get this?"

"Dad's stuff." Jared answered honestly.

"Your father?" The mom sounded curious.

"Uh huh. He said that one of the reasons he like that cereals was because of a really pretty girl!"

The mother didn't know that. A blush came at the thought of her husband thinking she was pretty even before they had met.

"Then he said it's too bad the girl in the picture wasn't as pretty in real life!"

Now her embarrassment turned into rage.

"You don't say?" She repeated while hiding killing intent from her oblivious son.

Jared nodded his head like a bobble head.

The mother stood up from her seat. "Excuse me, sweetie. Mom has to have a 'little' talk with your dad."

"Kay." Jared waved lightly to his mother as she went towards to where Dad was.

However, what the mother didn't know was that there was more to what Jared had said.

"It's too bad the girl in the picture wasn't as pretty in real life," His father actually said. "She was even prettier in real life! Haha! Don't tell your mom I said that though, OK?"

Unfortunately for the dad, Jared thought that meant it was OK to tell her everything but the last part.

Jared innocently played with the cardboard as he remembered the actual words. He also ignored the yelps of panic coming from his parents' room.

Jared was waking up for his first day with Team JNPR.

At five A.M. in the morning.

It was part of his daily routine, early morning jogs. He always enjoyed the peace and quiet along with how the sun always seemed to rise in certain areas as he was in the middle of his run. His classes would be around… seven to eight… so he had a good thirty minutes to start his light jogs.

Still, he was probably the only one in his team that would wake up so early. Yep, he just checked, even Pyrrha looked asleep.

Jared quietly slipped into his jogging clothes, downloaded some songs and audio books in his Scroll then quietly left his team dorm.

Jared's run was simple enough: one lap around all of Beacon. The campus was large enough for what Jared believed would allow him a full thirty minutes or so in running. What was really cool as he planned this route was how he would pass by the sea area, and spot the sun rising up from the horizon of the ocean. The body of water would sparkle under the rising sun, and depending on what clouds would be there, they would act cast a large shadow in certain areas that didn't match at all their true size.

Then Jared would pass by the edges that viewed the Emerald Forest. Despite being infested with Grimm, taking in the entire view of the mysterious forest was refreshing as well especially when the morning sun would hit it, almost like unveiling a dark cloak over the forest.

This run also allowed Jared some time to think. He couldn't believe his dad just stood up for him like that and offered him to be a part of Team JNPR. Speaking of which, Jared noted how even though he was a part of JNPR from now on, the team would still be called JNPR. Mostly due to the fact that adding another letter after careful consideration of team naming on Ozpin's part proved to be rather taxing. Worst case, 'Resh' would be interchangeable with Ren if needed to work out formal issues.

Now there was also the fact that while Jared was happy the two teams remained the same, there was the glaring fact that he was now a part of Team JNPR. Something his father clearly expressed never happened.

Simply existing at this time period should have, at least by television standards, caused catastrophic changes in his life. His memories would violently change, or worse in that he would never exist. However, the only thing that has happened so far was the fact that he forgot his mother and had received six different sets of memories.

What was even weirder was the message he received on being his father's wingman. Was there someone trying to… make him stay here?

However, this also meant that there were people who knew what the bloody freak was going on here. And Jared smiled at this simply because he had an idea of how to trace these mysterious people.

Jared noticed he was finally reaching familiar territory, the school dorms. Checking his scroll, he decided to end early for today and headed back in.

When Jared reached for his team door, his scroll went off.

"Hello?"

"Resh, where are you? I woke up to find you gone!"

"Oh," Jared checked his pockets for the dorm keys. "Sorry about that Sir. I went out for my morning jog. Didn't mean to startle you."

"Yeah well I was wondering if you got yourself lost again like you did in the forest. Don't want another repeat of that."

"I didn't get lost, something weird happened."

"Right… well now I'm wide awake. I blame you."

Jared quietly opened the door only to see Jaune awake and getting ready for the showers and Pyrrha slowly waking up.

"Good morning, Resh. I didn't know that you get up so early." Pyrrha greeted

"Thank you mam, my dad's training always started early. My body just got used to waking up before the sun did."

"Please, call me Pyrrha." She said.

Nora snored.

Ren was covering his head with his pillow to drown out the noise.

Jared decided to take this time to get ready for class. It was the first day, and he didn't want to be late.

Team JNPR plus one arrived a little early for class. Mostly due to the fact Jared's early rising woke everyone earlier up than it should have.

Jaune sighed as he waited with Pyrrha on one side and Resh on the other. Both of them seemed to be reading the syllabus for this class. Jaune felt weird being between two obviously well organized students and being between the two of them made him feel rather unwelcome. Then he remembered that he got into Beacon by cheating which meant he really didn't deserve to be here. Still, he had to somehow get stronger.

If it wasn't for his team, and team RWBY, he didn't want to imagine what would have happened if he was alone with a Deathstalker and Nevermore.

But Resh dealt with a Tauren and an Omega Beowolf. Alone! Sure they came one after another, but the way he handled both of them was amazing, especially his main weapon being a full body armor and increase in all physical abilities.

There was also the little voice in the back of his head that couldn't help but blame himself for Resh's near expulsion. Maybe if he didn't snap at Resh, the two might have been partners. Not that he didn't dislike being with Pyrrha, but maybe if Resh wasn't so distracted thinking over their little spat, he wouldn't have been injured and forced to fight Grimm alone. Heck, the only reason why Resh survived was because of his insanely cool and powerful weapon that increased his own physical prowess tenfold.

Then the thought of Resh dying alone really got into Jaune's mind especially if he was one of the causes for it. It was one thing to actually be here by cheating, but it was a completely different thing to accidentally cause someone else that probably earned and worked hard to be here to die.

He was totally screwed! With many smart and powerful people around him, at this rate people might start to question how he even got to Beacon, and they might ultimately find out what he had done.

Sure he would get kicked out, but what would his team think? Resh, his partner Pyrrha, Nora and Ren?

He really shouldn't be here.

But now he was, and he just made a show to Ozpin and the others when helping Resh. Maybe people would expect more of him now, and he can't even do half of those things that even Ruby could do, and she's two years younger than him!

Jaune promised there that he needed to change and fast, but he had no idea how to do that.

Jaune briefly remembered this morning when Resh told him he went out jogging. Maybe he could join him. Sure, he would lose some precious sleep, but if he did that he'll probably build up on actually being physically fit. Heck, maybe Jaune could even train with Resh and give some pointers. They were close enough and Jaune was confident he wouldn't say no.

Jared looked out the window in the hallway as if he was unsure what to do. "I don't know sir…"

Well at least it wasn't the 'no' he thought it would be.

Jaune prodded him a bit. "Come on, Resh, we could do a little sparring, and you could teach me some of your martial combat. Pyrrha commented you've got a really fluid form of martial arts."

Jared, on the other hand, didn't know how to respond. According to his dad's stories, it was Pyrrha who trained him early on after the event in Forever Falls. But now Jaune wanted him to train him? Sure the two bonded much easier, but he didn't expect his dad to be so active early on. It was hard enough already being part of team JNPR, now he had to completely change how his dad fought?

"Why don't you ask Pyrrha for help? I'm sure she would love to help." Jared asked.

Jaune shot down the idea and honestly said, "But I don't want to bother her."

Jared lifted a brow at that. "Yet you can bother me?"

"Yep."

'Jerk.'

Unfortunately for Jared, he knew how stubborn his dad could be. Telling him no wasn't an option, considering what he did with Weiss. So his best chance was to do this. "I have a condition."

"What is it?"

"If you're going to learn my martial arts, it's better to pick up training from everyone else on the team. Ask them for help as well or you won't get my help."

Jaune considered the condition. "… Alright. I'll probably work in some team training too…" He admitted.

Jared blinked. His curiosity got the better of him and he asked, "Sir? … If you don't mind me asking, why the sudden interest in becoming better?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "I… have a lot to live up to."

Jared instinctively recalled about his life hearing how great his dad was. "Yeah… I know that feeling. Sometimes the gap just seems impossible huh?" Jared automatically said before realizing what just escaped his lips.

It was true that Jared loved his father and wanted to be like him, but the fact remained that… Jaune Arc of the future was a well renowned and famed Hunter. He had lead teams, saved hundreds if not thousands of lives, defeated countless Grimm, and has lead incursions into Grimm territory and cleared them all off for the Human race. Needless to say, the son had much to live up to.

Jaune looked surprised. That was exactly how he felt. "Wow, you also have some big shoes to fill?" Jaune chuckled.

"Yeah, but I want to fill them…" Jared said mildly.

"Ha, I go back to that statement in us being lost brothers, are you sure our parents didn't mix us up?" Jaune asked.

"I'm sure my parents did a wise choice in choosing me over you." Jared sly commented with a smirk.

"Wisecracker," Jaune insulted pitifully. One day, he truly was going to win one of these conversations. "Well that's one down. Now I gotta buy books at town later today."

Jared blinked and seemed interested in this topic. "You too? When I went to the school bookstore, they ran out of the text books already."

"I know right? Maybe we could find a bookstore to get out texts from."

A small idea came to Jared's mind. "Why don't we ask Blake? She has a lot of books and I recall her reading a book the first night at the ballroom. Maybe she knows a good bookstore in Vale."

"Huh, good idea. I think she went off to the library. We'll ask her there." The two agreed before heading to their destination.

However, two girls wearing the same uniform as the boys spotted them leave.

"That one, the blonde one, he's The Descendant of Dagarud."

"I heard them. They're both going to Vale… out of Beacon's protection… out of their protection… do we strike?"

"… Tempting but no. Rumors are floating around the supposed fifth member's weapon. The Descendant must be alone."

"You're going to let a rumor stop us?"

"Caution, my friend, you're sounding like Ephesto."

"We were warned about him. The longer we wait…"

"I am aware of our enemies. The more so we should proceed with caution."

Jared and Jaune entered into the library.

"Wow… look at all these books…" Jared cooed as he took in how grand the school library was. Jared recalled how in some of his memories, specifically involving Blake as his mother, he would always visit grand libraries when he was young. Still, Beacon's library was something to behold.

"Yeah, got nothing like this back home," Jaune commented as he glanced around. "So… how do we find her?"

'Look for anything made by R.K. Jenora, AKA the creator of Ninja's Of Love.' Jared told himself silently remembering everything about the books when he was the child of Blake… funny enough she and her father really played keep away with her 'favorite series' whenever Jared would stumble on to the books before he was… 'ready'.

"We could ask the librarian if she saw a black haired girl with a bow." Jared voiced out, moving over to said librarian right now.

"Hi, miss? Have you seen a black haired girl that wore a bow? We need her help with something." Jared asked.

"Oh. Yes, I remember her. She asked where to find books written by R.K. Jenora." 'You don't say?'

"R.K. Jenora!?" Jaune cried out in surprise also surprising Jared with his reaction.

Jared was baffled at how his father knew her before meeting Blake. "How do you know her?"

Jaune glanced around worryingly. "Er… *cough* Well, I have seven sisters… and one of them… introduced her work to me… yeah… let's go with that." In reality, Jaune accidentally stumbled onto one his sister's books written by the famed writer, and much to his dismay, was engrossed with the story of the book. It became his guilty pleasure after learning that her stories involved more… adult themes…

The Librarian didn't know her works and simply told them where she had sent Blake. The two boys silently made their way towards her.

"Ah wait!" The librarian called out, stopping the two boys. "I forgot to mention to her, but since you also seem to be a fan of her work, I received an email from Stables and Royals bookstore in Vale that R.K. Jenora will be there personally this afternoon signing books."

"Oh my gosh!? Really!?" Jaune gaped then coughed and tried to regain his composure in front of Resh, who of which just stared blankly at his leader/future father.

"Let me write down the address, be sure to tell her that as well." The librarian handed them a piece of paper before saying her goodbyes.

"… You know her?" Jared asked as they left earshot of the librarian.

"Y-yeah?"

"Doesn't she write smut?"

"It's not smut!" Jaune calmed down as he remembered being in a library. "She handles her stories in a mature fashion that ties in together with some great characters and compelling situations that involve clever twists and turns." He explained.

"Those must be some twists and turns then."

Jaune leered pitifully at his new teammate in a sad attempt in intimidation. "Hush you, we're in a library."

Jared chuckled, but was still surprised about that. He never knew his father secretly loved books that had sm-well written adult stories. In fact, besides bits of his past at Beacon, what exactly did Jared know about his dad back at his time? He didn't actually know that much really. Most of the time spent was either training with his dad, or being left alone doing hunter duties.

Maybe being in the past did have his ups…

"Oh there she is. Blake!" Jaune called out normally.

Jared noticed her twitch at the sound of her name and quickly put a book she was reading away before turning to them with a casual look. "Jaune? Resh?"

"Hey Blake, we were going to ask you if you knew any good bookstore in vale we could buy our books from since you… seem to like books." Jaune started off.

"I do. And yes, I have a few recommendations—wait, 'were'?" Blake noted the tenses used in that previous sentence.

Jaune seemed to struggle a bit on what to say and seemed a bit flushed on the topic. However, Resh took the blunt approach, "We were told by the librarian that R.K. Jenora is doing a book signing in Vale's Stables and Royals later today. And this guy here wants to go there." He pointed to his leader.

"I was getting to that!" Jaune frantically half shouted at Jared.

At the name of her favorite author, Blake's amber eyes widened to show her astonishment. "R.K. Jenora is doing a book signing? Here? In Vale?"

"Yeah!" Jaune excitedly admitted. "The librarian told us to tell you. Want to come?"

Blake's gaze locked on Jaune. "You know R.K. Jenora's works?"

"What say you then?" Jaune responded in some kind of odd voice, probably referring to one of her works.

"Godsend!" Blake passionately responded.

Jared just looked at the two. "… Oum, what have I gotten myself into?"

Later that same day in Vale...

"… Oum, what the freak have I gotten myself into?"

"Hush, Resh, you'll give us away." Jaune—sorry, Juan told Resh to be quiet.

Yes, Jaune and Blake, were wearing a disguise and lining up in a surprisingly long line for R.K. Jenora's signing. Much like how Jaune and Jared had much to talk about in comics, Blake and Juane had surprisingly a lot to talk about R.K Jenora's works. Well… sorta… during the plane ride back to Vale, Jaune's motion sickness came back up, forcing the trip to be more on making sure Vomit Boy's tale would grow in legend.

What bothered Jared most of all was the secrecy of all this. They had simply told their teams that they would be buying books and Blake was going to show the two members of JNPR to her personal favorite bookstore. They all bought it, but Jaune and Blake refused to be seen by others about their… tastes in books…

Now here he was normally dressed in the bookstore, ready to buy books for two people while Jaune was wearing a black wig and a completely different set of clothes while wearing designer shades and baseball cap. Blake seemed to have a blonde wig on standby or something and was jeans with a thick jacket, making her almost look like a guy.

It briefly occurred to Jared that Blake was rather good at disguises.

"Sir, it amazes me how much respect for you I'm losing after knowing you more." Jared monotonously replied as he held the text book list in his hands.

"Just go buy our books." Jaune lightly snapped.

Jared rolled his eyes and left the two in line as he went off looking for what his curriculum demanded, leaving the two people in line with a surprising amount of people wearing rather thick clothing and heavy face accessories.

"I swear, one of these days I will one up him in our banter war…" Jaune stated with mock passion as he shook his fist. Blake giggled at the interaction between the two boys. They almost sounded like a sitcom duo.

"Jaune," Blake started. "I never knew you read R.K.'s works. How did you get hooked?"

Jaune blushed. "W-well, to be honest, my sister was a fan of her work, and one day she dropped one of her books, Stars of Hope, on the floor and I sort of… read it."

"I enjoyed that book. It was one of her tragedy stories though." Blake commented.

"Yeah, I was tearing up when the Shia's husband died from suicide…" Jaune admitted before the two returned to silence in waiting for a signing.

…

…

"S-so…" Jaune tried to start the conversation again. "What got you interested in her books, or actually why do you like books so much?"

Jaune paled as he saw her amber eyes widen.

"Just like you, I stumbled on to her works when a… friend… recommended it to me. But as for why I like books in general… that's a bit personal." Blake answered.

"Right. Sorry for asking." Jaune quickly dismissed.

"It's fine." Blake couldn't help but recall the reason why she loved books. Back when she was young, her father was a librarian of a small town, so whenever it was bed time, he would pick some of the best books to read as her fairytales. She loved the stories of how the good guys always win and the bad guys never do.

But she hated how one day, the Grimm attacked her village and ended up destroying her home and her father's library. The two of them moved to one of the major Kingdoms where things only got worse. Blake's father couldn't find proper work due to the fact he was a Faunus, no one wanted him and he could only get a dead end factory job that paid little and cared even less about safety working conditions.

She wasn't able to hear her father tell her stories anymore; he had to work the night shift now. She would read whatever books her father could get his hands on, wondering where exactly where the heroes that would help her and her father.

She kept wondering about them more and more as her father started to become ill, but still had to work.

She stopped believing in them when her father didn't come home one morning.

Still, she read, to remember something from her father.

"Blake?"

The Faunus realized that she was starting to tear up in remembrance of her father, but she didn't actually cry. She quickly composed herself and said, "I'm fine." It was unlike her to show emotions now of all times. It was supposed to be a happy time, hanging out with a friend and talking about hobbies, of all the times for her past to haunt her, it had to choose now didn't it? Blake silently hated how her past was now haunting her to this extent. It was bad enough she would sometimes have nightmares of the mistakes she did, but to be reminded again when she was enjoying and sharing her hobbies with someone nice? It was like a slap in the face saying that she would never find happiness wherever she went.

But if that meant that she could change the world and make it a better place for everyone, she would gladly sacrifice her own joy.

Jaune, seeing Blake's mood drop, wordlessly took out his scroll and typed a message to Resh.

Jared posing as Resh was in the middle of laughing at the thirty year old issues and knowing all the plot spoilers. He received the text, but didn't see it. He subconsciously rubbed his head, and without him noticing, his eyes flashed black.

Later, Jared came down to see Blake and Jaune seemingly talking in the café corner of the book store. He hid for a second and studied the situation. Blake and Jaune were talking, bonding… so basically he accidentally started the Blake route? NO! Jared must not treat his potential mothers like some kind of heroine to a fantasy game of story series. They are human beings capable of a wide array of emotions and knowledge that somehow got together with his father and made him.

He wasn't going to ship his own dad! … Even though if he didn't he wouldn't live.

'Son of a Grimm. I have to ship my dad with someone to live?' Jared paled in horror as he had become what he had feared most: an internet shipper, the worst kinds of living beings.

Jared, after seeing a kid point at him weirdly for hiding behind a comic book shelf, decided to walk towards them.

Blake noticed him approaching first. "Resh, are you done with the shopping?"

"No thanks to my leader. I waited fifteen minutes in a long line, just to remember as it finally came to my turn that my own leader didn't give me any cash for his books!" Jared stated.

"Oops. Heh, my bad?"

"You owe me 1337.69," Jared leered. "And yes, I am now aware of what I just said out loud."

"You have got to be kidding me." Jaune gaped at the price.

Jared just gave an un-amused look on his face that told Jaune his unknown son from the future was telling the truth.

Jared sighed and fished inside one of the plastics. "By the way, Sir, why did you have me buy this?" He took out a book that looked to have some poorly drawn comic on the cover.

"Oh sweet! Thanks Resh!" Jaune got the book. It was titled, 'Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)' written by someone named Mindy Kaling. He then gave the book to Blake. "Uh… Here."

"Huh?" Blake asked in surprise as she received the book. "What is this?"

"It's one of my favorite comedy books!" Jaune jubilantly answered her before calming down a bit with a flushed face. "I… sorta felt bad for bringing up a bad memory, so I thought I'd make it up to you by getting you one of the best comedy books of the decade!"

Blake seemed curious, no one had ever gotten her a book before simply as an apology for making her feel bad—well no one has ever made someone else buy a book for them to give to her before, but details are weird like that. Anyway, she thought it was unnecessary, but also kind of sweet. She took a peek at the book and read the first few paragraphs.

And it was amazingly witty and hilarious. "Psh—FwaHAHAHA! *Snort*"

Blake suddenly blushed at what she just did. She looked up at Jaune and Resh, only to see them both staring at her as if she had suddenly grew another head from her head.

Jaune was the first to speak among the bewildered two. Pointing at Blake he said, "You just…"

"D-Don't say it!" Blake yelled, completely embarrassed.

Jared opened his mouth.

"Just so you know," Blake started off darkly, but her threatening tone was diminished greatly by the fact she was still flustered and blushing. "I still have Gambol Shroud with me and you two are unarmed. Do you really want to go there?"

The two boys looked at each other. They seemed to come to an unspoken agreement from the few seconds their opposing eye colors met. They nodded firmly once and faced Blake.

"Resh, options!" Jaune stared without taking his eyes off Blake.

"We could either enjoy ourselves now and be pay for it dearly, or silence or emotions and never speak of this again." Jared stated with deadly seriousness, earning a confused look from Blake.

"… It is decided then. Do… what we have been destined to do." Jaune responded with great authority in his voice, earning a solemn nod of repsect from Jared.

The two boys inhaled in perfect synch…

Then started laughing like Saturday morning cartoon villains.

They got three seconds in before Blake flew into a furious rage with Gambol Shroud.

"I can't believe you two got us kicked out of Stables and Royals!" Blake huffed as she carried a plastic of her new books ahead of the two battered boys.

In reality, it was mostly Blake's fault for having them being kicked out. Since she was the one who tied up both Jared and Jaune then proceeded to 'slap them silly' in public. "In hindsight that probably wasn't the best idea." Jaune noted while rubbing his cheek delicately.

"Says you, sir, I think it's worth it." Jared, limping slightly, felt rather energized for some reason.

Blake leered back at the two.

"Sorry Blake," Jaune told her sincerely. "I guess we probably shouldn't have laughed at that."

Blake's glared died down instantly, she turned her head back but said, "N-no. I'm sorry for overreacting the way I did to a joke. I was simply…" She flushed as she remembered throwing Jaune into the Ironic Comedy Section. "Not in the best state of minds…" She can't believe she did that. Perhaps it was the way that both boys decided to react to her little action that drove her a bit closer to the edge. But then she realized that both boys did not do much to defend themselves from her onslaught which only made her feel ashamed for not holding back.

Who knew it could turn out so wrong so quickly? It's true she didn't have much of a normal social life her entire life, but she wasn't expecting this to happen.

"Still, it was kind of cute when Blake snorted." Jared noted out loud, causing Blake to twitch.

"OK that I'll have to admit," Jaune agreed with Jared, making Blake feel even more embarrassed than she already was. It was such a good thing that she was ahead of the two or else they would have spotted her blushing. "But it was still fun. We should all hang out again like this later."

That shocked Blake as she suddenly stopped and turned back to the two. "R-Really? You would still hang out with me after what I did?"

The two boys blinked. "What did you do?" They both said in synch, which weird them out.

She was surprised that both of them didn't seem to even consider that little episode. "I over reacted and… you know…" Blake said softly.

Jaune scoffed. "Pssh! Blake, we were just kidding around. Even though you threw Resh into the Time Traveling Science Fiction Section—" Jared glanced away. "We knew you didn't mean any harm. Besides, the rest of the day was still pretty fun, right Resh?"

"Yes sir. Next time we should invite everyone though. Maybe you two can also get the others hooked on the not-smut."

"It's not smut!" This time, both Jaune and Blake yelled at the same time.

The two looked at each other before laughing, Jared joining in the laughter a second later.

Jared took one second to look at Blake's bow as he laughed, it was moving a lot more than she or Jaune realized.

I just want you guys to know something VERY important.

The chapter above does NOT mean that Blake fancies Jaune already. At most, she seems him now as a friend, nothing more.

I always promised myself that I would do one thing if I ever did romance, and that was to make sure the characters grow and stay true to themselves as much as possible. I believe Blake is not actively searching for a relationship and Jaune wasn't seeking out her courtship. (Still Jaune still believes that Blake looks hot, but hey.) So the two are friends as of now, more so than what Canon shows anyway.

Why did I choose Blake first to work on? … It just came to me. Plus all of my favorite stories here in FF seem to have The JaunexBlake pairing. For some blasted reason, it just works so well! How do they do that?

Another thing is that book I had Jaune give Blake is a real book. It's one of my favorite comedy books and really lifts me up when I'm feeling down.

This chapter hopefully reflects a bit on how I want the story to go. A bit slow, but it builds.

Thanks for reading.

Next time: Second day, Jaune's New Training begins! History behind Jared's weapon!