Jet settled into his own bed in LIJN's dorm room. He'd met Lilac and Izzet, who'd seemed marginally more cheerful, and had apologised. Nouvelle, according to Lilac, had gone with Blake and Yang, and he had groaned inwardly at the news.

From experience, Nouvelle had a massive tolerance for alcohol, but the hangover she suffered following a boozing night normally turned her into a moody, stuck-up brat. He'd learned to put up with it, but it had not been easy.

His own tolerance was admittedly pathetic in comparison. While, yes, Jet could handle a couple of drinks, any more and he knew he'd end up flat on his face, or completely insane. Now was a time when he could ill afford to be drunk like that, for many reasons. There again, he WAS underage.

Still though, Jet sighed contentedly. Ruby had gotten her wish. He'd taken her purity, and she'd taken his. Granted, they were still illegal, but Jet knew that it was hard to detect unless someone actually poked their hand in there and felt. He was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen.

There was only one other danger that Jet cared about.

Pregnancy.

Jet smiled to himself. He already had a safeguard for that. Though the thought of that safeguard also brought tears to his eyes once more. It would be painful when he implemented it.

His thoughts began to slacken, and after getting into a more comfortable position, Jet drifted off to sleep.

The first week of the third semester passed without incident. Jet, for the most part, copied Ruby in her demeanour, trying hard to stay awake through Port's lectures, actually paying attention during Goodwitch's training, and more. It seemed as though the rest of his team took Weiss' point of view on the lectures, however, with Jet seemingly the sole one not hurriedly scribbling things down.

When the weekend arrived, Ruby expected Jet to back down on his challenge. He did not, however, and the four of them decided to ask the aid of Team JNPR, scheduling the brawl for next weekend.

Ruby wondered why such a show of force was necessary, but the upcoming match had attracted attention. Many other students had heard of Jet's prowess in combat, and upon hearing his challenge, started muttering to each other about it in the corridors. Some, like Ruby, thought that he was undefeatable, while others found the idea of a single trainee defeating eight ludicrous.

None knew, however, about what he was.

What Ruby was.

They were both connected to their worst enemy; the Grimm. She and Jet shared a bond with the dark god presiding over them, a bond that made them anathema to the humans that surrounded them. Ruby knew what would happen should they find out. They'd be shunned and feared, excluded from society, banished to the realms of the Grimm, in the no-man's-land between the four kingdoms, and Theyl Nocturne.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Ruby brought herself back to reality to find Weiss right in front of her face. They were sitting in the library, and Ruby's thoughts of the homework she'd received from Professor Port had completely disintegrated. Attempting to focus, Ruby missed the next thing Weiss said, and was about to ask her to repeat it when she felt herself being shaken from behind by the shoulders.

Snapping to attention, she found Blake to be the culprit.

"I'm awake, Blake." she groaned. It had been a typical ritual: whenever her and her team had studied in the library, Blake had rapidly become point guard for her or Yang falling asleep, and would always shake them awake.

Except, Ruby had been wide awake this time.

"Pay attention to me then, dolt!" Weiss shouted, causing Ruby to jump and several students to glare at her from the computer section of the library. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Ruby said, looking down at the open book in front of her on Grimm studies.

"Bullshit." came Yang's muffled voice to her left, and she looked to discover she had her head on the desk, though her right hand was pointing upwards. Her sister looked up into her eyes, and Ruby recognised the red welts on her cheeks as the book she'd had her head pushed against. "You're not bouncing around like Zwei and you haven't been eating as many cookies."

"How is Zwei?" Ruby asked, trying to change the subject.

"He's fine. Back with Qrow. Now what's wrong?" Blake replied. Now all eyes were on Ruby, and she looked down again. If only she had Jet's way with his words, then she could probably pass it off.

But this was a secret she had to keep. Or they'd lose it all.

"I'm worried about the fight against Jet." Ruby lied, looking at each of her teammates in turn.

"Scared we're gonna beat him up too badly?" Yang grinned. Good. At least she bought it.

"I think it'll be the other way around." Ruby replied.

"How?" her sister pressed. "It's eight against one."

"He's definitely got some new moves." Weiss mused. "You saw when he took Myrtenaster from me and defeated me in one hit." She blushed a little at that. "I'm not that fragile!" she hissed at Yang, who was trying her best to hide her giggles.

"I know what it is." Ruby said, drawing the attention back to her. "It's some kind of shield semblance."

"Go on." Blake encouraged.

"It's this purple fire that surrounds him." Ruby explained. "It's like a second aura that surrounds him, but it allows his attacks to act as if he has low aura, which is why they're so powerful."

"That makes sense, actually." Blake commented, and all eyes turned to her. "If all his attacks are based on his primary source of aura, then they'd be that strong because he's poured most of it into this 'shield' that's protecting him. It probably explains why he's considered invulnerable," she tilted her head to Weiss, "because his original aura can't decrease while those flames are up and taking the damage for him. Do you know how tough this shield is to break?"

"Very." Ruby replied, amazed that this had shaken her teammates off. "I fought against him once, and I hit those flames loads of times." She pouted a little. "I couldn't tell if I was doing any damage, but it felt like I was hitting a rock every time.

"Leave it to Jet to be both intimidating in battle and powerful too." Weiss muttered.

"Can't we just hold him down and whale on him?" Yang suggested.

"Red Pulse." Ruby replied almost immediately. "Close range shock-wave that now takes Weiss down in one hit."

"And probably would do the same to you." Weiss added. Yang lowered her head, now thinking.

"Is there any way to beat this guy?" she asked herself.

Ruby knew the answer to that question. His victory was guaranteed.