I couldn't wait another week to update. A/N at the end

Jaune was pretty sure he was in big trouble. Rather, much more than he was this morning. He wasn't even sure what happened to dump him here. One minute he was chatting with the two foxy twins, and the next thing he knew he was grabbed and then dumped into another room onto his back. Was he teleported? Did the girl sitting on him have something to do with that?

More importantly, couldn't they have waited a few more seconds? Miltia was about to give him her scroll number. He hoped she didn't think he bounced on her.

"Well, kid?" the man with the cigar said. "You want a forgery or not? I have a lot of important things to do so don't waste my time looking like an idiot at me." He poked his cane into the side of Jaune's face.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a forgery." Jaune swatted at the cane, but it danced away from his hands and poked him in the chest. "Can I get up?" The man waved his hand and the girl hopped off of him. "Do you treat all your customers like this?"

"Just the ones we can score big on. Most don't even make a face to face meeting."

Jaune had a sinking feeling he messed up, but it was too late to turn back now. He couldn't even see an exit, much less probably reach one if he tried to run. "Wow, I feel so honored," he deadpanned.

But the man ignored him. "You should. Cops would kill to get a chance to meet me." He posed, gesturing at his own glory.

"Uh huh. So, who are you?"

The question poked a hole into the man's ego, his posture deflating, and unhelped at all by the girl's silent giggling. Was she mute? The man smacked Jaune's head with his cane.

"Roman Torchwick, you uncultured ass! The Gentleman Thief of Vale! Have you been living under a rock?!"

Jaune rubbed the growing welt on his head. "More like on a ship, really. I live outside of Vale. Only important news we get are weather updates and Grimm reports." Most of the news was handled by his parents anyways.

Roman facepalmed. Neo clutched her sides in silent laughter.

"Just…" Roman hissed out, "what kind of forgery do you want, kid?"

"Transcripts. Good enough to get into Beacon." A part of Jaune felt bad for lying to get into school, but it was drowned out by necessity. Homeschooling didn't exactly come with transcripts.

Roman raised an eyebrow. "Beacon, huh? That's a high bar to get in, kid. Sure you don't want to try for an easier school, like Shade or Haven?"

Jaune shook his head. It had to be Beacon. The best school put out the best heroes.

Roman smirked. "Suit yourself, but it's gonna be extra. On top of getting it turned in before the closing date…. I hope you got the money for it."

"I saved up."

Roman told him the price.

Jaune did not save nearly enough for this.

His mouth felt dry as he asked, "I don't suppose you're open to negotiation?" Was it just him or did Roman look more shark-like?

"I'm so glad you asked," Roman said, swinging his cane around. The crook of it came around Jaune's neck and pulled him forward towards Roman, who wrapped an arm around Jaune's shoulders. "Why don't we get down to brass tacks then? I could take your money, and then rake you over the coals for the rest with incredible interest, but I do that to just about any random Joe on the streets that wants something. No, you have something way more valuable that I want."

Jaune's eyes widened. "My sword? But I need that!"

Roman opened his mouth, but then he looked down at Jaune's waist. "Not quite what I was going to say, but now you have my attention. Very fancy, too."

"Wait, hold on- augh!" Jaune tried to pull away, but quickly found his arms twisted and pinned to his back by the girl. He tried to struggle out of her grip but it only ended up in worse pain. How was someone so small this strong? Jaune was pretty sure he could bench press her.

"Thank you, Neo," Roman said as his hands went for the sword. "Nothing personal, kid. I just can't resist the sight of-" his words cut off with a yelp and a crash as he was suddenly pulled to the floor.

Jaune saw Roman now bent over in a heap at his feet. The sword and scabbard would lay flat on the floor were it not for Roman's hands beneath them. Said hands he was now trying to pull out from beneath them but to no avail. It looked almost ridiculous to watch, not that Jaune would say that out loud. "You okay?"

Roman glared up at him, but the effect was lost partly to him needing to crane his head back to do it. "Peachy. Neo, give me a hand here."

Jaune felt his arms be released and was pushed aside as the girl crouched down to grab the hilt. She pulled and pulled, but the sword did not budge from atop Roman's hands. Even a minute of work went in vain, but curiously, Roman's fingers weren't crushed despite the supposed weight to it.

"What the hell is this thing made out of?" Roman panted out.

Jaune shrugged. "Steel, I think?" He reached down and picked it up, sending Roman rolling back from the sudden lack of resistance. Yep, same weight as always. He buckled it back to his belt.

Roman rubbed his fingers as he stood up. "Cute trick, kid," he grumbled out. "You could've at least mentioned you needed a super strength semblance to pick it up."

'What the heck is a semblance?' Jaune wondered as he smiled nervously back. "Yeah, my semblance is picking up heavy swords. You got me. Ha ha."

Roman stared at him. "I guess when you hit maximum realization, you'll be able to carry buildings huh?"

Jaune felt a mix of panic and joy. He had no idea what Roman was saying, but hearing that Huntsmen powers could grow that strong? He couldn't help but get excited. "I'll probably just carry bigger swords or something."

Roman's eyes deadpanned at him. "Cut the crap, kid. None of that was true. You don't know the first thing about semblances, do you?"

Jaune sighed and hung his head. "No. No I don't."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but do you even know what aura is?"

Jaune said nothing, but in doing so, it said everything.

Roman facepalmed. "Of course you don't."

Jaune threw his hands up in defense. "I was homeschooled! No one ever mentioned anything about aura or semblances." Plenty of things about history, sailing, and other subjects. Jaune racked his brain for any memory of the words, but came up short. "Why? Is it important?"

"Important?" Roman chuckled at first but it quickly went into full blown laughter. When he managed to calm himself down enough, he said, "Kid, you wouldn't last five minutes at Beacon without your aura unlocked."

Oh. That….that was a problem.

"Then, can you unlock it for me?" Jaune asked, almost begging.

Roman swung up his cane to push Jaune back out of his personal space. "Hey now, I don't do charity work, and you're still going to have to pay for the forgeries before that. So how about I cut you a deal? I'm willing to give you the forgeries at a discounted price for something only you can provide." He poked Jaune's chest with his cane.

"Do you still want my sword?" Jaune's hand grasped the scabbard tightly.

"Keep it. No one's going to pay for something like that." Roman scowled. "No, what I wanted from you originally was a favor."

Jaune blinked. "Just that? What, you need someone to change the tires of your getaway car or something?" Awfully small thing to ask in return, but who was he to complain for good fortune?

Roman just smiled. "Sure. Let's call it something like that. I just want to be able to call in said favor whenever I need it."

Jaune narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to do anything illegal for you."

"Kid, you're already doing something illegal, what's a bit more on top?"

"I mean nothing that involves hurting other people." Fraud was one thing, but assault? Not on his life.

Roman waved his hand. "Please, hurting people is Neo's job." The aforementioned girl smiled and twirled her umbrella. "Hate to break it to you, but I doubt you could pull the trigger of a water gun on a bush fire."

Jaune wasn't sure if he should have felt offended or relieved. "What about the aura unlocking? How much will that cost?"

"Your soul."

The way he said it so nonchalantly made Jaune wonder if he heard him right. "Say what now?"

Roman nodded. "You heard me. Had you known about it, you'd know that whoever unlocks your aura owns it forever."

Jaune's eyes went wide. Was this something that every huntsman did? And here he was about to give it to Roman of all people? What was he- Jaune's eyes refocused as a wheezing sound reached his ears. Upon seeing the source, his initial panic was replaced with a mix of shame and embarrassment. "Ha ha, very funny."

Roman was nearly bent over double, shaking with laughter while Neo leaned on him for support, wiping a tear from her eye. "I can't believe you fell for that! You really know nothing about aura. Oh man, I needed that after this week."

Jaune waited until the laughing was over before asking, "So what does it really cost?"

"Not much. Just someone with aura to give you a pat on the back, say some magic words, and use a bit of their aura to open yours. But since you won't have enough money after those forgeries, let's chalk this one up to another favor, hmm?" His smug grin was getting more punchable by the second, not that Jaune thought he could get away with it, but it was nice to imagine.

"Sure, why not?" The sooner he was out of here, the better.

"Great! Neo, if you wouldn't mind?"

The multi-colored short stack skipped up to Jaune, grabbed his collar, and pulled him down with surprising strength before placing a hand on his chest. She began to mouth out words and her palm began to glow. Jaune tried to lip read some of the words, but Neo spoke too quickly for him to grasp anything.

After what seemed like a few sentences, her hand stopped glowing, but Jaune felt no different except for feeling a bit chilled and his mouth tasting like sugar.

"Was that it?" he asked.

Neo's face turned to bewilderment, and then into a frown. She cast a glare at her hand and then began silently chanting again. Her hand glowed once more, but nothing happened.

"Am I supposed to feel something from this?"

Roman looked up at the two of them from his scroll. "Neo, what's taking you so long?"

Neo turned back and began making gestures.

"What do you mean it's too heavy? Aura doesn't have weight."

More gestures, a few of which didn't look like they meant anything.

"Look, if you don't want to admit you don't know how to unlock someone's aura, that's fine." A few rude-looking gestures were swiftly made. "Hey, language! Just for that, you can forget getting another pint of that limited edition ice cream you wanted."

Neo's face blanched like she was told her parents were killed. She waggled her arms pleadingly, but Roman stayed stalwart.

"Unlock his aura first, then we can discuss it. Now shoo. I got forgeries to make." Roman went back to tapping at his scroll.

Neo stamped her foot, almost on Jaune's, but she took Jaune's collar and clicked her heels together. The room vanished and was replaced with the room he was originally taken from, exactly as he left it, including the twins still sitting on the couch.

"Look who's back," Miltia said with a grin. "Did you miss me?"

"Oh hey, you survived," Melanie said, only glancing up from her scroll.

Jaune waved back. "Hey, I don't suppose you two know anything about how to unlock aura, do you?"

The twins did know how to unlock it as they had an aura of their own. However, unlocking his proved to be another challenge. When Jaune explained the situation, Miltia stepped up and gave it a shot.

"For it is together that we thrive. Two sides of a coin, both with their task. Through this we tighten our bond and make ourselves stronger. I release your soul, and make you complete."

While the chant itself was nice, Jaune still felt no different. Well, he did feel warmer as Miltia pressed herself close for her chant, but no aura unlocked. So Melanie gave it a shot after a comment of being the better twin. It didn't work either. After breaking up their squabble, Neo got the idea to use multiple people.

"So why didn't it work?" Jaune asked the girls as they dug into their bowls of ice cream. After all the effort they had put in, he seemed it was only fair to treat them. Neo certainly appreciated it after getting an extra scoop out of him. Plus, it wasn't long before the twins had to work.

Neo just shrugged and kept eating, while sneaking bites out of all the others when she could.

"Beats me," Melanie said. "Can't say I've ever met someone who's aura felt like yours."

"But what does that even mean?" It seemed so simple, but why was unlocking his so complicated?

"What she's trying to say is," Miltia piped up, after licking her spoon, "everyone's auras are different, just like their semblances. When we pushed our auras into yours to try to draw it out, what did they feel like?"

Jaune racked his memories over the chanting moments. They were right, he had felt something, but it didn't quite register at the time. "I felt cold and sweet." He pointed at Neo. "Warm and energetic." Miltia. "Cool and calm" Melanie. "So what did mine feel like?"

"Big," said Miltia.

"Hard," said Melanie.

Neo made a motion like lifting something heavy.

Jaune blinked. "We're still talking about my aura, right?"

Miltia smirked. "Maybe. Why? Do you have something else that's big?" She took another bite of her ice cream but slowly licked it off the spoon. How did she make something so cold look so hot?

Melanie glowered at him and smacked her boot against his leg. "Don't encourage her."

Jaune felt himself blush and he shook his head. "I wasn't!" He tried to divert the conversation by taking another bite of his ice cream, but found his spoon hitting the table. "What?" He looked down to see his bowl gone, taken by the two-toned troublemaker next to him, gazing back at him with false, smug innocence.

She worked for a thief. Why was he even surprised?

There were a lot of papers covering the desk, many of which needed to be read and filed soon, but the only thing North Carolina could focus on was the scroll in front of her. Her fingers drummed the desk as she glared at the device, daring it to make a sound. It'd been over a day since Jaune ran off and so far she only received three calls: one from Spruce, the mayor of Ansel, inviting her to a community potluck; the other two from spam callers asking about her car insurance. She didn't even own a car!

A knock rapped on the door.

"Enter."

The door swung open and Sheffield entered, carrying a tray with a large mug of tea.

"No response, my lady?" She set the tray on the edge of the desk and put the mug in front of North Carolina.

"No," she said curtly. Her eyes flashed with realization. "Sorry, Sheffield. It's just been a long day." The aroma of citrus from the tea soothed some of Carolina's nerves. Perhaps a drink would be a good idea.

"I know. You've hardly eaten, my lady."

Had she? She remembered having lun- wait, no that was when the Mayor called. Well, her breakfast was hearty. If one counted a couple of eggs and toast as hearty.

Her stomach disagreed. Loudly.

Blushing, Carolina said, "Well, I think I have some-"

"If you say 'rations', then by God and Belfast, I will drag you to the mess hall and shove food down your throat." Sheffield's eyes flashed dangerously.

"-chips. I was going to say chips." Carolina leaned away from the maid's intense gaze. "I'm not Enterprise."

"I'll have Suffolk make you a sandwich." Sheffield's tone brooked no argument. Carolina may run the base, but Sheffield commanded the home.

One sandwich later, Sheffield took up the plate and cup onto her tray. "What do you plan to do?"

Carolina sighed. "I don't know. I still can't reach him. He hasn't called or responded to anything. Every second longer he's out there, he could get hurt or worse. Samuel's right, Jaune needs to grow, but he doesn't need to be a huntsman to do that."

"Might I make a suggestion, my lady?" At Carolina's nod, Sheffield continued, "Samuel's idea is not without merit. We may not be at war now, but it would not hurt to have Jaune go out and experience the world. How many people outside of the base does he really know?"

Carolina tried to answer that, but nothing really came up. He was more or less confined to the base, barring vacations. His sisters got out more than he did. One was already off and married with a stepchild.

"However, you are also right," Sheffield said. "Jaune is too important to the base to get hurt. I propose sending a reconnaissance team to sortie and make sure he stays out of trouble. Bring him home if necessary."

Ah, surveillance. If Jaune was going to be stubborn about leaving home, then there was no harm in her being stubborn about keeping an eye on him. "I assume you want to lead this sortie?"

"Yes, my lady."

Carolina raised an eyebrow. "Because of what he did to Duke of York?"

Sheffield had enough shame to blush a bit. "I do have a few choice words to share with Master Jaune about that."

Carolina knew she shouldn't, but Sheffield was the best at discretion, and Jaune did need a bit of scolding. "Do you even know where to start looking?"

"I already looked into the airfield matter. Jaune left for Vale. I have some contacts there to keep an eye out for him."

Carolina's eyes widened. "Vale?" Carolina jumped out of her seat and pulled a small journal off of one of the bookshelves lining the wall. She flipped through the pages until she reached a certain one and read its contents. She cursed to herself. Peacetime had made her sloppy. "Change of plans. You leave immediately. Take whoever you need to bring Jaune home. If he's still adamant on becoming a huntsman, then make sure he doesn't go to Beacon. Ozpin must not get his hands on him, much less find out Jaune is looking to be a Huntsman."

Though the city slept, a man in his tower stared at the screen in front of him.

He sipped at his coffee, reading the files of the latest applicant. This one had appeared mere minutes before the closing time. Procrastination was not a good quality when it came to prospective huntsmen. But, it was another young soul ready to face the constant threat of the Grimm so Ozpin figured he might at least see if he was Beacon quality.

Besides, sleep was for mortals and coffee was his divine ambrosia.

The transcripts looked fine. High scores across the board, enough to warrant a recruiter's attention. No semblance, but not everyone finds theirs before Beacon so that was little issue. Sword and Shield were a classic style not seen often nowadays with most weapons having a ranged option. It was strong in the right situations. Overall, it looked perfect.

A shame it was a fake.

Whoever forged this was good, but they couldn't have known that the name tipped Ozpin off.

A smile danced on Ozpin's lips while his fingers danced on the keyboard. Within seconds, a large, green 'APPROVED' covered the file.

"Welcome to Beacon, Jaune Arc."

Sorry if the last chapter was a mess. I forgot FFnet eats my asterisk breaks. Couple things i want to answer from last chapter's reviews. Yes, there will be more factions available, at least the main 4 (5 if you count both French fleets separately), and there are so, SO many shenanigans i have in place. They are not nearly as idle in Remnant as they are in the game. I'm sure many of you are wondering about the shipping (shut up, Yang) because of both fandoms, and all I will say is don't expect "Hurr durr OP Jaune x Every girl", but do expect some ship pairings like Cleveland and Helena should they show up. We'll get to the relationships eventually.

Please leave comments. I love to read them!

Malachite Twin's aura chant is by fellow Neo fan, Vin. It's a chant both the twins use.