Jaune and Robert met up the next morning, Saturday, bright and early, for Jaunes first training session with his powers. Today they would focus on tier one powers, Sonido, Hierro and Pesquisa. First was Pesquisa.

"When using any of these abilities," Robert announced, "it's like using a muscle. When you are a young baby, you can't walk, mostly because you haven't built up the muscles for it. Now, though, you get up and walk without even thinking about it. It is the same with the Pesquisa. Now to begin, I want you to focus on sensing your own Aura. First, focus on engaging your Aura, surrounding yourself with it. Then, try to feel your aura surrounding you, every bit of it. Its strength, every subtle aspect of it."

Jaune focused, slowing his breathing and focusing his mind to the very core of his being, the way Pyrrha had been teaching him ever since she had unlocked his aura back during initiation. He carefully brought forth his Aura, a bright white light surrounding his body like it always had before, only this time it was tinged with green, the color of Ulquiorra's Aura.

"Very good. Now I want you to focus on how you Aura feels to you. How do you perceive it in your mind? You might not get to the next stage today or even this week, but this is the core of your Pesquisa, as well as Hierro and Sonido. Once you have a good idea of the feel of your aura, I want you to focus your Aura to your forehead, as if your Aura were forming a third eye in the center of your forehead. This 'Aura Eye' will be the means you use for your Pesquisa to 'see' others auras."

Once he was sure Jaune understood, Robert left his son to practice while he reviewed the notes he had been given for his class he was to teach: Adaptive Combat Strategies. It was a course that had been taken off of the roster because it typically required a teacher that was well-traveled, and had fought in many different types of terrains. Since most Hunters tended to stay in one region, and get familiar with that region alone, it could be difficult to find such a teacher that wasn't an active Hunter and would be willing to deal with a bunch of kids.

Things went slowly for the next few days, with Jaune either practicing his aura control, his swordsmanship (with the help of Pyrrha), or attending his classes. Robert had had his initial class session with some of Beacon's fourth year students. While much like the regular Combat Strategies class, this one focused on ways you could use the environment, compared to teamwork-based strategies.

It was the Wednesday of the next week when Jaune finally managed to form his Aura Eye. He had gotten used to feeling his aura on that Monday, and with some pointers from Ulquiorra he had quickly gotten the hang of gathering his aura to his forehead. The hard part was projecting the eye outward so it would "open."

The next Saturday, Jaune began working on his Hierro. "Imagine your Hierro like a second skin." Robert coached. "Use the slightest bit of your Aura, and start by circulating it around your hand. Don't let it disperse, just keep it circulating. If you do it right, your Aura levels will stay steady, but your ability to take a hit will increase exponentially. The circulating aura will help to disperse the force of impacts, and will cause less Aura to be consumed for the same hit."

Jaune, who was deep in thought, looked at his father. "If all it takes is circulating our Aura, couldn't Pyrrha and the rest of my friends learn this technique? Couldn't you teach it to them as well?"

"I'm afraid not. The main reason these techniques are available to us is because they layer our Aura AND that of our Arrancar over ourselves. A single persons' Aura would not be sufficient to pull this off. Now, once you get used to circulating your Aura around your hand, only then will you spread it to your arms, then your legs, chest, and head, in that order. If you spread it too fast, you'll have the worst ache ever. Got it?"

Jaune nodded, then set to work on feeling his aura, preparing to gather it in his hand for his practice. Meanwhile Robert headed back to his office to prepare for his next lesson. As he left, he happened to bump into a certain student he had been searching for.

Cardin Winchester, upon learning he had been out for nearly 24 hours because of Jaunes' attack, had been shaken to his core. Whatever Jaune had done to him, it made him realize that he had been messing with the wrong person. Ever since then, he had been carefully avoiding Jaune, afraid of what would happen if there were no one there to prevent it.

So, when Cardin saw a man that looked like a grown-up Jaune walking towards him in the hall, he realized it was Jaunes' father and started to turn around to go the other direction, only to be stopped when Robert called him over.

As Cardin slowly made his way over to the new teacher, he prepared himself to get a detention or some other form of punishment.

But all Robert said was, "Jaune is out practicing in the courtyard, and he had been wanting to talk to you. Would you please go talk to him? He has some things to get off his chest towards you."

Nervously, Cardin nodded, and, resigning himself to his fate, made his way to the courtyard. There he saw Jaune sitting on a bench staring intently off into space. Collecting his wits and steeling his nerves, Cardin made his way over. As he got closer Jaune blinked and seemed to notice him, before looking a little nervous, almost as if he were uncertain about what was to come. Then Jaune scooted over on the bench, an obvious invitation for Cardin to sit next to him.

"Your dad said you wanted to talk?" Cardin said as he sat down.

"Yeah… About what happened in Combat class last week, I'm sorry." Jaune said, causing Cardin to jolt in surprise, and stare at Jaune confusedly.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Cardin asked. "I was the one being an ass, saying things I shouldn't have been saying."

"Yeah, but I hit you with what could have been a… lethal strike." Jaune fidgeted nervously. "At the time, the limiters in the arena were what saved your life, and that scared even me, after my initial anger went away. No matter what you did to me, if I had killed you, I never would have gotten rid of the guilt. So, I wanted to propose something to you. I want us to be friends at some point, and though I am not forgiving you for everything you did, like insulting Ruby, I'm willing to leave most of it in the past, if you'll meet me halfway and stop bullying people. What do you say?"

Cardin stared incredulously at the hand Jaune was offering to him to shake. He found it hard to believe that he wasn't getting his head smashed in, let alone being (mostly) forgiven for what he had done to Jaune. He looked away in shame, then let out a small laugh.

"You're being way too nice to a stuck-up brat like me, Jauney-boy. First you knock me off my high horse and teach me that I'm not the big, bad wolf I thought I was. Then you apologize where it should be me apologizing. On top of it all, you ask to be friends somewhere down the line. I'd say that's the best offer I've gotten in my life so far." Cardin turned back to Jaune with a small sheepish smile on his face. "I'd be honored to have a friend like you, Jaune." He reached out and took Jaunes hand in a firm handshake. "And yes, I'll do my best to stop with the bullying… Heh, I'd really rather not get put in another mini-coma from someone who is stronger than I think they are."

Jaune chuckled at that. "Yeah, who knows what people have hidden inside them. You just never know…." He trailed off, nodding slightly to himself, then he stood and started walking towards the dorms. "See you around, Cardin." Jaune waved over his shoulder as he walked away.

It was later that afternoon that Jaune got a message on his scroll. Looking at the message he was surprised to see Ozpin's name as the sender.

"Mr. Arc, could you please come to my office as soon as you get this message. There is some one here asking for you and saying it is very important that they speak to 'the recently awakened'. I have your father here as well and he has decided it is safe to meet this individual."

Jaune quickly messaged back that he was on his way, and slipped out of the Library where he had been studying, hurrying to the elevator to Ozpins' office. On the ride up in the elevator, he had a quick discussion with Ulquiorra in his head.

'So what do you think this is about?' Jaune pondered

'It might be that the other high-levelled Arrancars are able to sense that another of us has been contracted. They would, with enough training, be able to sense about where that it occurred, and may have come looking for the source.'

When Jaune arrived, he saw a male Faunus sitting across from Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch and his father. The large, curled black horns on his head stood out starkly against his sea blue hair, and his green eyes seemed to drill into Jaune's as he made his way to the desk. Nodding politely to the visitor, Jaune moved to stand next to his father off to the right of the desk.

"Mr. Arc, this is Cyris Cerluene**, he found your father in Vale and apparently recognized him in some way-" Ozpin was cut off by Cyris raising his hand, before standing and turning to Jaune to introduce himself.

"Yeah, it wasn't me who recognized him, it was my Contractor. She's always had a knack for recognizing other Contractees, be they Arrancar or Shinigami." He stepped towards Jaune, extending his hand for a shake, while carefully keeping the claws on his hand away from Jaunes' hand as they shook. "So, I have to ask… who's your contract with? I can tell it's an Espada, but I can't tell if it is one of the last generation, or a Privaron Espada. Tell me, and I'll tell you who my contractor is, deal?"

Jaune thought for a second, before holding up a finger in a '1 second' gesture, and sent a thought to Ulquiorra. 'what do you think?'

'I think it couldn't hurt. From what has already been said, I've narrowed his contractor down to one of 2 different Espadas, both of whom were ranked Third among the last generation: Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck and Tier Hallibel. Nelliel was much more peaceful than Tier, though Tier was the rank 3 Espada among the last of the last generation, so she was likely more powerful. But either of them would be trustworthy, and I feel this man here is too.'

Nodding internally, Jaune lowered his hand and looked at Cyris. "My Contractor's name is Ulquiorra Cifer, the fourth Espada of the last generation. And yours?"

"Ulquiorra, huh. My contractor is Tier Hallibel, the third Espada of the same generation as yours. On the way to Vale from Vacuo, Tier gave me a run-down of the history of the Espadas and what happened after their war, so I know some about Ulquiorra. Tier looks up to him, actually, because of how he gathered the remaining Arrancars under him and helped save them from destruction when the world barriers collapsed, despite her being ranked higher than Ulquiorra." Cyris nodded as he finished, and cocked his head to the side, carefully studying Jaune with his eyes. In his head, Jaune heard Ulquiorra sigh as he shook his head, saying something about Tier really taking her duty seriously.

Jaune nodded thoughtfully, but it was Robert who was the next to speak. "If you don't mind my asking, for what purpose did you come here? I can't believe simple curiosity would have brought you all the way from Vacuo. Especially considering how difficult travel is as of late."

Cyris smiled a somewhat cocky smile. "It was actually Tier who convinced me to come. She told me that she hadn't felt an awakening this strong in the last few generations, not since the Great War, at the very least." He looked to Jaune. "That's high praise, coming from her." Jaune blushed slightly at that.

Now Ozpin cleared his throat, gaining the room's attention. "Mr. Cerluene, I understand that each Espada used to have an 'aspect of death' associated with them, correct? May I ask what Ms. Hallibel, was it, represented? Above all, I wish to make sure that my students are safe, and that your abilities won't adversely affect them."

"Tier represented Sacrifice, Professor. And I assure you, the Espadas' Aspects rarely manifest through their Contracts in noticeable ways." Cyris paused, tilting his head to the side as if listening to something. "Tier says that the most common manifestation of the Aspects is the Madness aspect, as anyone could go nuts with Szayelaporro yapping away inside their head."

"I see." Ozpin said, nodding slowly. "Thank you for explaining that."

"It's no problem, Headmaster. Now, I understand that when our Contractors become bound to us, they usually have some sort of condition they set for the use of their power. Mine, for example, was to protect others whenever possible. What were the conditions for you two?" Cyris asked, gesturing to Jaune and Robert.

The two Arcs looked at each other, and shrugged. Robert went first. "Gatenbainne Mosqueda, who had the aspect of Despair, wanted me to bring hope to those who had none, so as to prevent despair. Hence why I became a huntsman."

Cyris nodded. "Sounds about right. What about you, Jaune?"

Jaune nervously shifted a little where he stood. Before he could say anything, Ulquiorra spoke in his head. Jaune listened, and thought, before saying out loud, "That would probably be better. Umm… Ulquiorra would like to speak to you all himself, and he says I can either bring you all into my mindscape or he can use me as a medium. If it's ok, I'd like to bring you all into my mindscape, because he says that would be easier on my mind, since I'm not too used to channeling his powers yet. Is that ok with everyone?" At everyone's agreement, Jaune held out his hand, and asked that they place their hands on top of his. As he then flared his Aura, everyone then felt a tug on the backs of their minds, and they were whisked away to Hueco Mundo.

Jaune's Mindscape

Ulquiorra and Jaune were waiting when the others opened their eyes to see the expansive desert that was the representation of Hueco Mundo in Jaune's mind. As Ulquiorra waved his hand to create some high-backed chairs for them to sit on, Ozpin noticed something about the number of chairs he summoned. There were two extra chairs. He proceeded to ask about that, and Ulquiorra smiled.

"Since it is so rare for us to invite others into our contractees' minds, few know of this, but when one contractee enters anothers' mindscape, someone else can be invited as well." Ulquiorra then raised his voice slightly. "TIER, GATENBAINNE, GET OUT HERE, PLEASE!" As if teleporting, two figures suddenly appeared next to Robert and Cyris.

The man next to Robert was tall, maybe 200 cm, and, like Ulquiorra, wore an almost pure white outfit, only his was open in a very deep v-neck and with punch daggers almost identical to Roberts' folded back against his forearms. His most distinctive trait, though, had to be the large orange afro atop his head. The remains of his hollow mask took the form of a vizor on his forehead. This was Gatenbainne Mosqueda, Robert Arc's Contractor.

The woman next to Cyris was an olive-skinned beauty, who wore a white cut-off shirt that revealed her abdomen, as well as the Hollow hole in her lower stomach, but covered her lower face. She had long blonde hair, and aqua colored eyes. Her sword was in a wide, horizontal sheath on her upper back. Though you couldn't see her mouth due to her shirt covering it, one could tell she was smiling with her eyes as she looked at Ulquiorra. This was Tier Hallibel, Cyris Cerluene's contractor.

The two contractors politely greeted Ulquiorra, before introducing themselves all around.

"Greetings," Ulquiorra said to the assembled group. "I am Ulquiorra Cifer, and in this generation, I am Jaune's contractor. In previous generations I have been contracted to two different Arcs, but that is unimportant to what I have to say.

"I have high hopes for what we can do for remnant with the group assembled here, and others. Once, in the era of 'Earth' we were the enemies of humanity, the ones that preyed on pure souls to satiate our own hunger. But after the Aizen war, we are a peaceful race, the vast majority of whom try to help humanity to atone for our sins of the previous era.

"Cyris, you asked what my request was for Jaune in exchange for my power. It is only right that you should know, as it involves you. I asked that he attempt to assemble the Arrancars' Contractors, especially the Espadas, and unite them against the evils that threaten us all. And so," Ulquiorra stood and walked over to Cyris, before kneeling before him. "I must ask you, will you join us? You and Tier would be a great help to our attempts."

Cyris looked at Tier and they shared a look before they both looked back to Ulquiorra. Cyris grinned. "Well, since you asked so nicely, I would be more than happy to help you out. But I would like to say this:" Here he looked at Jaune. "If you ever try to force someone to do something they are not comfortable with, I will end you. I have had bad experiences with that sort of thing."

While the end of his statement raised a few eyebrows among the rest of the group, Ulquiorra and Jaune didn't even bat an eye. Jaune replied, "I would never even try to force people into uncomfortable situations. I became a huntsman to protect people, not throw my power around."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Please do."

The two young men then grinned at each other, and each could already tell they were going to be good friends for a long time. But there was more to be discussed, so Ulquiorra returned to his seat and looked to Robert. "Mr. Arc," he began. "I would ask something of you as well, if you don't object. Should we find another Contractor who has not received training, would you consider training them alongside Jaune?"

"I see no problem with that." Robert nodded. Gatenbainne nodded at Robert, seemingly pleased with his response.

Ulquiorra nodded his thanks to Robert, before finally turning to Professor Ozpin. "Lastly, Headmaster, I wish to assure you that we, the Arrancars and our contractors who join us, will be more than willing to fight against the Grimm, as they are a threat to not only you, but to us as well. If you don't mind, I would also like a private word with you after this meeting, regarding sensitive information.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, but replied, "Very well. And your assistance will be most welcome."

Ulquiorra nodded, before ejecting everyone but Ozpin from Jaune's mindscape, whereupon everyone began to go about their business. Then Ulquiorra turned to Ozpin. "Now, about Salem…"

A/N: CLIFFHANGER! Welp, I hope you all liked this chapter! After all, it was really hard to write, and I'll probably have to edit things here later on down the road. I hope to see you all next chapter! Till then, Gajeel out!

**OC Cyris Cerluene was graciously loaned to me by Toshiro of the Eternal Dream, along with 3 other OC's. Thank you so much, Toshiro! I was so excited by your contribution that I just HAD to put one of them in this chapter!