Limited Shield Works

by beefnpotataz

He was meant to be the warrior. The huntsman. The hero. It all slipped through rusted fingers. But now he has a chance to right mistakes decades in the making...whatever it takes.

2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2

---

General of the Atlesian Military and Headmaster of Atlas Academy, the dark eyes of the statuesque James Ironwood glared unblinkingly at the small piece of hardware held in his hand. It remained…soiled, after its recovery from Cinder Fall's corpse, but that didn't stop the large man from studying its misshapen frame intently.

This was Atlas technology. Not something he was familiar with, but the general form and appearance were reminiscent of something his R&D would cook up in their labs.

A flare of anger untouched by his semblance's tempering quality settled within James' chest and the metallic disc creaked beneath his prosthetic fingers.

"How did this travesty even happen in the first place?!" he snarled into the open air. The security of Vale was his prerogative! Grand airships hovered in the skies above the city to let the citizens know they were safe! His automatons patrolled the streets, ensuring every crime was swiftly dealt with! The Vytal Festival was one of the most important events on Remnant and, while most might call it a show of force, James wholeheartedly believed it was for the good of all who lived within Vale to know their foreign neighbor and ally were ready and willing to defend foreign soil.

And Beacon itself should have been the most secure location out of anyplace within the Kingdom of Vale!

Growling, he spun and slammed his hands upon Ozpin's desk, scattering the knickknacks and toppling a stack of papers.

Brown eyes behind thin-framed glasses narrowed at the sight but Ozpin ultimately sighed with a pinched expression. "That…is something we are piecing together as we speak."

"A semblance? Some sort of teleportation? Winter swears he appeared within her sister's summoning glyph! He recognized them! Admittedly, they are Schnee, but he spoke with familiarity!"

The pair had memorized the security footage of room T-02. Out of thin air the trespasser appeared, tinny words recited through the office's speakers spoken with a closeness neither of the girls could equate. He then treated Winter like she was made of cardboard and pushed through her guard, trampling the experienced warrior underfoot in his escape. Winter's scream of pain, even as her aura just barely managed to hang on, caused James' hackles to rise even further. She said his strength was unreal, above anything she had ever seen. And though the possibility was slim Oobleck was tasked with ensuring the feed wasn't tampered with in any way.

Various imaging and social media posts roughly marked the path taken by the knight as he marched unchallenged through the halls. Most of the students were out on the town taking advantage of the weekend but those still about the campus had quickly zeroed in on the anomaly.

Ozpin's Scroll had buzzed incessantly with a deluge of alerts as the buildings' sensors logged various damages over multiple levels. They rushed to the position. Such immediate and widespread destruction; the knight was the only possibility. And there, the teachers found…well, the girl's remains were currently in the morgue attached to the medical wing. Death was a high possibility in their line of work, even among the students, and lamentably more often than not there was at least one casualty a year.

The intruder was cooling his heels inside James' flagship under heavy guard stripped of his weapons and helmet, the rest of his things too damaged to safely remove without industrial tools given their melted state. According to James he refused to speak but Ozpin knew better; the knight's mental trauma was so great he just shut down. But that was another can of worms Ozpin was blatantly disregarding until the motive was first established.

The headmaster's coffee mug had long run dry but for once, his focus was solely on the screen of his computer. "Again, James, our people are working on it."

"A murder—a murder in broad daylight! This was no random act of psychosis, but a premeditated assassination born of cruelty!" As the broad general returned to his heavy pacing Ozpin was sure if James clenched his jaw any harder he would crack a tooth or three under the strain. He refrained from commenting though. "What about the victim's teammates? Have they any idea why Cinder Fall was attacked?"

Ozpin's fingers danced along the keys and he initiated receptors built within his desk. Several holographic screens blipped to life before the oaken table filled with the student IDs of the four members of Team CSMM along with the small amount of information present in Haven's files. Ironwood studied the faint background material while Ozpin tented his fingers. Everything looked satisfactory at a glance. Anyone parsing the files wouldn't find anything out of place. But it was too bare bones. Hometowns. Skills. Weaponry. Brief instructor notes about their fighting styles. It was too…simple. But it was enough to pass inspection. Had Oz never been put in this situation he would never have taken a second glance at CSMM's dossier given how many students he and Glynda were forced to keep an eye on.

"Cinder Fall. Emerald Sustrai. Mercury Black. Julep Mint. All four came highly approved by Leonardo, near the top percentages in their year at Haven Academy."

The Vale native flicked his hand and Julep's image took center stage. The small girl with black wavy pigtails and green eyes smirked into the camera. "Julep Mint. Currently missing. Was last seen before the incident, status unknown." Next was vivid green hair and tanned skin—Vacuo origins? "Emerald Sustrai. Similarly missing. Ah, but Mr. Black is currently under surveillance with Paisley Peach. He was found in the cafeteria and eyewitnesses state he was placed there some minutes before the time of the attack. When the news of his teammate was delivered, he…well, didn't seem all that affected by her passing."

James bent slightly at the waist and peered intently at the grey-haired boy's leer. "He's hiding something. Do you have a visual?"

The static image shrunk to the corner of the screen and a live feed of the lunchroom took the stage. Only two people were present: Paisley and her wild pink hair, and Mercury Black. The teen looked positively bored, reclined along a lunch table's seat with his hands folded behind his head, gently kicking an ankle along to an unknown beat.

"He's been rather agreeable towards Paisley's orders to stay put. He mentioned there is something he wishes to say on the matter but will only speak to me about it."

James hummed and stood fully. "Allow me to be there when you question him."

"It will not be an interrogation, James."

"Of course not. If Black has nothing to hide then I don't foresee any problems. But tell me honestly: that's not someone processing the death of a teammate. That's the look of someone that couldn't give a damn."

"No…I suppose it isn't. Regardless I—oh. Oh dear. James we have a problem. Order your soldiers to search for Emerald Sustrai around the grounds. Now. But they are not to engage if possible. It seems we've been given an answer to one of our burning questions."

His trust in Ozpin was apparent that the general followed his instructions almost immediately, speaking into his Scroll with the sharp rapport of a seasoned leader. But the moment it was done he turned back to his friend with a frown. "Oz. Explain."

Another video was brought to the fore instead. One of the many cameras planted around the rooftop edges of Beacon's multiple buildings. The downward angle showed the grassy exterior outside one of the dormitories. Static laced the edges as the footage fast-forwarded until Ozpin found his desired position and resumed the film. Seconds passed as the grass swayed gently under the afternoon breeze before one of the first floor windows just within frame blasted open, ejecting a speeding body trailed by ash, wood chips, and chunks of glass and brick. Emerald Sustrai tumbled precariously along the ground and came to an abrupt stop when her shoulder snagged in a rough divot formed by her body's trajectory. The silence born of the visual-only recording showed the young woman's distant form tremble and curl in on herself while the tan-brown sheen of her aura tempered the damage. Even without the camera having the ability to zoom closer, against the flare of her soul both men could just see the ragged indent of a fist upon her exposed stomach.

And then Emerald convulsed, and brownish flames bled from the corners of her red eyes. Just as quickly as they appeared the tap was sealed and Emerald fell flat against the dirt and grass without any visual reminder of what just occurred. James watched in shock before Emerald's mouth opened wide and she screamed silently into the void.

Clawing at the earth with a look of pure rage mixed with pain Emerald rose on shaky legs and swiftly hobbled out of sight.

"There has been no change to Amber's status aside from the general decline one would expect. So unless Ms. Fall was in possession of one of the other three Maiden powers…then our hypothesis about transferring a split appears to be off…"

"That—that was—!"

"…and I do believe I know what Mr. Black wishes to speak about."

James growled wordlessly but couldn't disagree.

---

Cinder was dead.

Why did he exist?

Why was he still alive?

What was his purpose anymore?

After all this…Jaune Arc couldn't understand.

Barely acknowledging the outside world he'd trapped himself in his own mind trying to unravel his complex emotions. And with that internal debate, his joy had tempered, then fallen, the vanished as Jaune struggled to think. Through the haze of unnatural anger that seemed to plague him, his mind fought to keep itself straight.

Of course, the man held little knowledge surrounding the concept of time travel beyond all the fictitious lore found in video games and books. He…he remembered Weiss was capable of…what did she call it? Time dilation. Not true time travel as Jaune assumed, but an enhancement which increased speed thanks to her semblance and Dust.

Cinder was dead.

She was the driving force behind all his suffering. Without her to fuck up Jaune's life, none of the tragedies would come to pass. So shouldn't he have…oh, ceased to exist or something? Been replaced by a happier, less cynical version of himself? Or did those old films lie to him and changing the past didn't alter anything in the original future?

Cinder was dead.

So why wasn't he?

Winter stood guard outside the isolation chamber with a small number of armed soldiers, studiously watching the prisoner strapped inside for any sign of escape. She felt her vigilance necessary give their prior meeting and it rankled the specialist something fierce how easily he pierced her defenses when he wasn't even trying! A small part of her shuddered, thankful she was not the man's target given the…example left behind in Beacon. Her aura was still recovering after his (literal) tender mercies.

But once he finished tearing Cinder Fall to pieces the knight just…stopped. Hearsay stated they found him laughing over the corpse and then promptly collapsed when Glynda Goodwitch apprehended him. Since that moment he reacted to nothing. Like one of their Atlesian robots sitting in storage. No purpose. No direction. No life.

A hollow existence.

A junior officer marched into view, one of several onboard soldiers stationed at the helm of the airship. He saluted her—despite technically being outside the purview of normal military hierarchy she still outranked him in every way—which she quickly returned. "Ma'am! Word from General Ironwood during our last routine status update. He and Headmaster Ozpin are about to begin their questioning of the suspect, so any change in status must be sent through administrative channels."

"Understood. Neither have done anything of note so far."

"Hey! I've done plenty of note!"

Winter exhaled sharply through her nose as the smarmy voice of their second detainee rang out from his cell.

"Please log that everything is under control."

The young man saluted again and left just as quickly as he appeared.

"Is it though? I mean, even with the almighty Atlas fleet polluting Vale's skies you're still picking up criminals left and right. I wouldn't call that 'under control', princess snowflake." Winter ignored the taunting voice even as she imagined tossing its owner out of the airlock. "Anyways…what's up with my neighbor, eh? Strong and silent type? Or one too many hits to the dome? I've got a friend who's just as chatty as he is—I swear, the conversation between them would be one for the ages."

Why, oh why couldn't the detainment cells be fully soundproofed? If only the one, to save Winter the hassle of being subjected to Roman Torchwick's incessant voice. Winter's eye twitched but she otherwise remained at attention, eyes burrowing through the translucent dome into her preferred prison. The man without his face covered was…not what she expected of such a disturbingly powerful individual: long messy blond hair tied in a low ponytail and streaked with white, a short but full beard, and a few wrinkles marking his otherwise youthful face. But the man's eyes were glassy and blank. As dead as the corpse he left in his wake. Blue orbs that stared without seeing.

He otherwise looked so normal. Hell, if she deigned to even allow her thoughts to go in that direction, he almost reminded her of Nicholas Schnee. Allow him to clean himself up and trim the growth to something more sophisticated—!

Preposterous. Winter quickly shook those thoughts away.

Unknown and uncaring of his captor's sudden intrusive thoughts, Jaune continued to plod along through his existential crisis.

Why hadn't he awoken yet? Dream or nightmare, his pain-wracked body still felt the fallen Maiden's fiery touch. It should have been enough to shock him awake. Hell…the Paper Pleasers or Juniper would have tried to rouse him from his sleep if he was thrashing about enough. It wouldn't have been the first time.

So removing the threat did nothing.

An altered state of consciousness looked more and more like the wrong answer.

So…was this his eternal torture? To be around ghosts that could finally break his fragile little hold on his sanity with just a look? There was no going back apparently. Against his better judgement Jaune assumed he was stuck.

And Cinder Fall was dead.

It was…far easier to kill her than he ever imagined. And that just raised even more questions.

Jaune blinked dry, itchy eyes as someone screamed after however much time passed in his lonely little cell. Actually there were a lot of screams, and gunfire, and he mechanically lifted his head to make use of his rather limited vision beyond the restraints. A soldier flew past the door with a yelp. Lucidity rapidly returned, and years of existing in the twisted world of the Ever After saw the knight's adrenaline surge in response to potential conflict.

Winter shouted and the telltale sounds of metal scraping metal met Jaune's ears. Someone was giving the Schnee quite the battle. He heard Roman laugh after a time and then suddenly, the door to his own chamber hissed as hydraulics compressed and opened.

The gentleman thief himself leaned into view, a bit ruffled from his time in confinement as he readjusted his bowler hat. "Well, well. Not what I was expecting but that's life for ya. So can you talk or do I need to start grunting and drawing crude pictures on the airship walls?"

"Roman Torchwick," Jaune rasped. The criminal gasped dramatically and raised a hand to his chest, stepping fully into view.

"So you're not a caveman! It's a miracle! And given what you went through I mean that literally," he added slyly, eyeing the clear signs of Jaune's clash with Cinder. "Anyways, you did me a solid so I figure I'd return the favor. A thief I may be, but Roman Torchwick always pays his debts. You set me free and so, I say unto you be free in turn."

A much smaller figure slipped before Roman. Neopolitan in all her glory, bereft of her Beacon disguise. She looked pristine in her white-pink jacket and wiggled her fingers in greeting before skipping into the cell with a rectangular object clasped in one hand. It looked to be made of the same material as the screen of a Scroll, half the size of a normal ruler, with a strip of matte black substance along one side.

"Now Neo here told me of your little warning back in the school but methinks this is a bit of a gray area. She's only following orders after all, and you just so happen to be here too while she busts me out. Don't you worry my good man, in a few minutes we will be well and truly out of your messy hair forever. She even left our entourage alive—can't add extensive murder to our rap sheets and really bring everyone down on our heads."

Jaune blinked slowly as Neo touched the strange item to the thick bindings around his forearms and ankles. It slotted in somewhere he couldn't see, and lights he never noticed lining its exterior beeped and glowed before the shackles slowly started to open up.

She darted back to Roman, and blew Jaune a kiss.

"Seriously though, guy. You have my respect. Cinder was a bitch but she could more than back up the attitude. She had my balls in a vice—I'm a rogue, not a warrior—and those fire powers of hers really had me bent over the barrel. But now she's dead!" Roman laughed gaily with his arms spread wide. "You made it painful. You showed her she wasn't invincible. Gods, I wish I could have seen her face before you turned it into spaghetti."

"It needed to be done."

"Oh on that we can agree. But I'm missing the 'why' in such an equation. There was any number of reasons to take her out but this was personal. So…why?"

His leggings popped first. For the first time in hours Jaune was able to spread his knees, rolling his ankles with a sigh of relief. The cuffs fell loudly to the floor.

"I don't belong here," Jaune ultimately said. His voice was low and weighed with the experience of countless horrors. "I don't know how, or why, but I do know Cinder Fall was the source of all my pain. Killing her was my only goal and I was given the chance to do so."

"I see. Revenge then."

"No." In the Ever After Jaune had so my time to think and reflect. Years of isolation and all the odd characters whose thought processes were inhuman meant he spent more time speaking in his head than speaking aloud. And he finally reached an epiphany one day. If ever given the chance he would finally do as he always dreamed of. Not out of revenge…it would never fix the tragedies born from her insatiable need for power…but simply because Remnant would be a better place without the likes of Cinder Fall running around. Though he'd gotten a bit zealous in the heat of the moment and…yeah. Completely fucking lost it. And whether he realized it or not, this was the first proper conversation with a real person he had since Alyx and Lewis and it made Jaune unusually chatty. "She just needed to die. Without her around, things….there are things that would have happened, that now won't."

"Riiiiiiight," Roman drawled. Neo twirled a finger near her temple and giggled daintily behind her gloved hand.

"Who's going to lead the attack on the Vytal Festival now? You?" Jaune asked frigidly, face darkening as he tilted his chin downward. It was a very effective glare, doubled in potency by the traces of blood still on his body. Roman's visible eye opened wide before he licked his lips. The cuffs around the knight's arms finally cracked open and Jaune rubbed his wrists.

Roman wisely stepped back with his hands raised in surrender. That was strictly need-to-know information but this fellow somehow knew. "Nope. No sir. Neo and I are off to greener pastures."

Jaune stood and cracked his back, now free from his seat. "Good."

"An-ny-ways…I think you'll be happy to know your effects are in that room over there. Can't look tall, dark, and incredibly foreboding without the rest of your things. Better hurry, it won't be long before more guards show up to throw us back in our cells." Jaune grunted, and his hooded gaze passed over Roman then Neo before sliding to the intended bulkhead. He nodded slowly.

"Good. Now get this illusion out of my face."

"And that is our cue! Good luck with your second chance, hero! Say goodbye Neo!"

The petite woman winked before the pair shattered into particles and another door down the hall slammed shut. Jaune marched through the glittering dust as it fell to the floor, past the downed bodies of Atlesian personnel and Winter who seemed unconscious but who Jaune kept one eye trained on anyways. Like Roman said, the bits of his armor taken from him were left in the adjacent storage room until they could find a proper place for them. But as he shrugged on the ruined helmet and strapped Crocea Mors and its warped sheathe to his back, Jaune failed to think of what to do next.

He was no hero.

Cinder Fall was dead.

So where did that leave him?

His mind, so very tired. Fractured but still whole. It was the mind of a man at the end of his rope that failed to see the noose was tight and he was one step away from falling. There were no happy thoughts. Not for a long time.

He could die now.

Finally give up.

He could be with Pyrrha.

He deserved it for Penny.

Slowly he drew the jagged remains of his family's sword, his faint reflection still visible even through the wear and tear dirtying the blade. A life wasted to reach this point. In the grand scheme of things how much of a difference had Jaune Arc truly made?

Watching schoolchildren march safely across the street was surely meant to be immortalized in song.

Pyrrha would have found another partner. One worthy of her, that didn't drag her down, one that could have returned the time and effort she put into him. Someone…s-someone strong and able to safeguard the feelings she so foolishly wasted on him.

And Weiss! Oh, Weiss would never have been put at death's door. His need to make Cinder pay at Haven put all his friends in her sights, and to make him suffer she extended that cruelty onto the nearest target. It helped him finally learn of his semblance but it was because his rage pushed Weiss to the brink in the first place. What joy was there to be found in its discovery when his friend nearly died, and the occasion was forever marked by a scar?

And Penny…

Jaune heaved a breath, and tore his hand away from the front of his visor where his digits threatened to crack the metal.

Always last. Always the weakest. Unable to truly save anyone he cared for. What good was a tactical mind when the body couldn't keep up. Since leaving Beacon he was the only one that needed to upgrade damn near everything just to try and remain on equal footing with RWBY and the remains of JNPR. Their training and experience dwarfed what little exercise Jaune ever tried at home. Too absorbed in his games and comics, living the life of a civilian thinking he could hack it as a huntsman without putting in the effort.

"Dad was right," Jaune whispered. He never had the moxie to be a huntsman. Always relying on others, never the reliable one. His semblance was more suited for a non-combatant—they were shaped by the soul of the person, and the soul didn't lie. If Jaune Arc was truly meant to be out and about fighting the darkness then his aura would have given him a gift meant for fighting.

NO! He wasn't a hero! Heroes weren't cold-blooded murderers. And who's to say this changed anything anyways? Someone else would fill the void left behind by Cinder. Salem had those other monsters under her thumb, and any one of them could slip in and finish what she started in their own way.

Cinder was a symptom, not the problem…

The travesties would continue with or without him. Jaune could end it all right now, and nothing would change. His part was already done, his existence here a fleeting vision. Jaune Arc would push on alongside Team JNPR and, no matter how much the older Jaune meddled, his younger self would ultimately wind up drawn into the conflict between Ozpin and Salem because his naivety would blind him to the concept of a 'hero' and want to help until it was too late otherwise.

Like now.

At this point it was months into the next semester…too late to change teams, too late to never grow close to Team RWBY and Ozpin's interest in their leader's eyes, too late to keep Pyrrha away from the breathing cadaver in the secret basement because her selfless nature demanded she step up and take the woman's place. Even now Jaune knew if his old (younger, so much younger) friends came up to him and asked for his help he'd say yes in a heartbeat.

Forever locked in a cycle of suffering and moments of false hope, that was the essence of Jaune Arc.

Jaune's eyes widened behind his mask. A thought struck him, and as he tried to banish it the idea refused to be crushed beneath the despair and loneliness and pain which normally permeated his brain. It would ludicrous, and impossible, and utterly insane. But he hadn't been mentally sound in a long time and the idea started looking more and more plausible.

For the first time in a long time, Jaune Arc truly smiled genuinely.

The next moment he gasped and vanish in a localized wave of pressure and light that rattled the shelves.

An indeterminate amount of time later Winter awoke, groaning and holding a hand to her aching temple as bridge personnel roused her to consciousness. With a jolt she remembered, and looked about wildly before snarling under her breath. Both pods were open and empty. That little trollop had appeared out of nowhere and treated Winter like a toddler, like the whole fight was decided from the very beginning and both were just actresses playing their parts for the audience.

Rising, she retrieved her replacement Scroll and dialed the emergency number she knew by heart. This was far beyond anything 'administrative'.

"General!"

---

"So…what do they do?"

Weiss moved her hand, allowing the strange markings against her skin to better capture the light from the dorm room. Ruby had nearly tore her partner's hand off in the attempt to study them herself. Blake looked curious. Yang had made a crude joke about teenage rebellion.

"For the last time Ruby! I don't know! They just appeared when that…thing did!"

"Is that normal for your family's semblance?"

Finally! A good question!

Weiss shook her head, ponytail swaying with the motion. "No. Neither Winter, my grandfather, or even my mother have ever spoken about such things. Winter assuredly would have told me by this point in our lives. She was just as surprised to see them when I showed her."

"…soooooo…" Blue eyes narrowed and Ruby Rose wisely stepped back. "Calm down! I was just gonna say they look like Jaune's emblem."

"Yes. That is just one more mystery to add to this fiasco."

Yang threw her arms behind her head and shrugged. "Maybe it's like…I don't know. Maybe there's an Arc somewhere in your family tree? And for some reason your summoning went wonky and your glyph drew out the symbol?"

"It doesn't work like that Yang."

"Hey, I'm the only one actually trying to come up with something here," Yang snarked back.

"Have you shown Jaune?" Blake added and Weiss cringed back. The boy had gotten much better since the dance—his dressing down of Neptune towards the girl had endeared him somewhat to the heiress—but to reveal his mark was on her skin? Yeah, no. Her expression said it well enough.

"Does it hurt?"

"No Ruby. In fact it's more like…my aura is concentrating there? It's hard to explain. I…actually haven't told anyone this yet but," Weiss bit her lip, "but there's some sort of connection between myself and that thing. There's a give and take between our auras but it feels like it draws on my own more than I'd like. The fact a summon even has its own aura is unheard of."

"Like before when you nearly fainted?"

"I didn't 'nearly faint' Yang!"

"Oh right. Atlas. You swooned. Sorry."

"Going by the time mentioned, Weiss' collapse was around the time of…the incident." Blake looked away, bow twitching as the ears hidden beneath them tried to fall flat against her head. There was no keeping that under lock and key after the destruction of two separate dorm rooms. Ozpin and Ironwood did their best to hide the gritty details but the students weren't just here to hone their fighting skills—analysis and investigation also came into play out in the field and the academies made sure to refine those skills as well. Some had managed to take pictures of everything once the dust settled, and there was no mistaking a body bag being wheeled through the campus even as Atlas soldiers cordoned off the area. Students already in Vale were messaged en masse by the administration to remain in the city until the situation was resolved. Plus the mysterious person cosplaying as the Rusted Knight wasn't exactly subtle.

Three-fourths of Team CSMM were missing, and Mercury was playing coy until Professor Peach all but dragged him out of the cafeteria and he mentioned aloud that their team leader probably had an accident.

Again, not hard to put two and two together.

No one wisely mentioned that the Schnee sisters were inadvertently responsible, but that information was only known by a select few and the rest of RWBY weren't so callous.

"So, still spitballin' here but maybe Jaune has an idea about your tattoos?"

"And how could he possibly know that?"

"Because Jaune's emblem is a family thing too! He told me Crocea Mors is an heirloom passed down through the Arcs, so that means a bunch of others have used that symbol too and maybe it's like, I don't know, a family semblance like yours?"

"But he doesn't know his semblance yet. And wouldn't he know if his family had something passed down the line like that?

Ruby hemmed and hawed before shrugging. Yang gave the younger girl a dull look. "Nice answer, sis."

Weiss groaned and refocused on the red markings and their odd siphon effect they created. She wasn't lying when she said they drew on her aura. A passive effect she'd call it when the two weren't near one another to share, not enough to truly cause an issue so long as Weiss didn't strain herself…but when the knight…fought…it quickly turned into the same effect as a container with a hole in the bottom. A constant draw until she was all but exhausted. Mercifully it stopped just before her aura emptied completely but the side effects were obvious.

"So can you control it?"

"What do you mean Ruby?"

"It's your summon, right? Or through some accident a person was called instead. But—does that mean you can still control them with your glyphs?"

"I've tried. It's nothing like Winter described. I have a vague sense of it, but none of my commands are followed."

"Maybe you just didn't try hard enough."

"Xiao-Long, I swear—!"

"I'm serious! Things aren't following the script she expected so maybe Weiss needs to be more forceful about it." Yang shrugged and crossed her arms. "Don't tell it to move, demand that it move. Stuff like that. It's got a mind of its own so just have the stronger willpower between you two. You're the master so what you say, goes. We had to do something similar when we had to train Zwei."

Huh. Good advice.

"That's rather insightful Yang."

Long blonde hair was brushed over a shoulder dramatically. "I'm more than just a pretty face."

"Eh," Ruby added and then immediately had to fend off her sister. Despite the argument Weiss took her teammate's advice to heart. It made sense. She was the one in control here, providing the energy and unwillingly keeping everything going. Therefore, Weiss Schnee should have the only say in how everything went.

It was still on the loose right? The professors would have told everyone by now if they had captured that monster.

She raised her fist and focused on the feeling between them. As she had closed her eyes, the young heiress failed to notice the markings on her hand suddenly shine with an inner scarlet light. Blake, Ruby, and Yang all stopped and watched with wide eyes as their friend seemed to do something and they waited with bated breath for the results.

All her irritation, her stress, her desire to set things right and be in control were channeled into the connection as much as Weiss could possibly focus. The girl needed answers. She needed to understand! Her soul was put into her yearning, and something reacted.

"You're either my summon or someone that managed to steal the results but either way I don't care! You ruined my time with my sister and made me complicit with the death of a foreign student! I don't know what is going on but you will explain yourself to me one way or another, darn it! Listen to me! I'm the one in charge and you will do as I say!"

A strange energy filled the air, growing stronger the longer Weiss spoke until she herself seemed to struggle to keep her arm steady. The crimson marks shone brightly, shimmering against her pale skin before one suddenly vanished. A faint red smudge remained in its place and left the symbol with only one crescent.

It was then that a sudden great pressure pressed upon Team RWBY, as though a cache of gravity Dust was trying to draw them towards the center of the room before a miniature sun bloomed to life within their dorm. The ball of whitish energy rapidly grew and turned golden before rupturing outwards in a halo of light, exposing a figure kneeling against their wooden floor.

The rust-covered goliath stood slowly with streams of stardust drifting off its body and Weiss swallowed nervously. Her eyes snapped between the knight and the back of her hand. Yang had jumped from her bed with a weary expression, Ruby had stars in her eyes, and Blake looked dumbstruck by the intrusion.

"Is, is that the Rusted Knight?" the faunus asked with mounting interest. Weiss had mentioned how the being looked like the character from the old story, but it was clear the knight had been put through the wringer. And then Blake promptly remembered why.

Their unexpected guest stiffened and turned towards Weiss prompting the girls to jump nervously, none Moreso than Yang who stood protectively in front of the others. "I don't know why I'm here, how I'm here, or how you're involved," it stated with a deep masculine voice in the young heiress' direction, almost robotically. There was a man in there. Then suddenly the spell was broken and the knight stepped back, shaking his head. He jabbed a finger at the lot of them and the huntresses could feel his burning gaze from within the malformed helmet. "Do. Not. Interfere."

With a final growl the man turned and opened the door. He paused for barely a second, looking back, before the hall took him and Team RWBY was alone once more.

The girls just stared before the room exploded with activity.

"Ex-cuse me?!" Weiss shouted, popping to her feet. Ruby and Blake grabbed their Scrolls in a sudden need to take pictures. But Yang threw out her hand to stop the rest of her team from giving chase.

"What the hell are you doing? That thing's dangerous!"

"But Yang—"

"NO! It fought and killed Cinder! Emerald and that short teammate of theirs is missing! We are not getting involved!" She pulled out her own Scroll and expanded the grips. "We call the teachers."

"…I'm surprised, Yang. I thought you of all people would want to go after the Rusted Knight."

The boxer snorted at the idea. "I'm all for a good fight but that thing's far worse than any Grimm. Look at the armor! I don't mind a challenge but I don't have a death wish! It brushed off whatever Cinder threw at it and it's still walking around! Plus it affects Weiss! No, we'll wind up being another—"

Yang's growing head of steam was stifled by something exploding outside their room. Her finger quickly swiped through her contacts. Weiss felt a new tug on her aura and groaned into her pillow with an arm shielding her eyes.

"Urg, he's doing it again…"

Yang only dialed faster.

---

Jaune swallowed heavily as he stared at the door, a few beads of sweat trailing down his forehead. It was the door. A simple wooden door, one of many identical doors made by some company and ordered by Beacon during its construction, installed for every room in the hall. For all intents and purposes it was an unassuming thing and showed nothing of interest at a glance. But it was what stood behind the door that petrified Jaune.

Because it was Team JNPR's door and it housed enough phantoms to finally push the blond over that precarious edge.

His knuckles hovered over the dark wood refusing to move, but it was time Jaune couldn't afford to waste. Not as a wanted man whose location was now known.

Jerkily he knocked his gauntlet against the door and waited. It was only a few seconds (hours, days, years in his mind) before the doorknob jiggled and the barrier cracked open. Jaune forgot how to breath as red hair and bronze armor filled his vision.

"Hello? Is the lockdown over?"

Pyrrha Nikos blinked at the figure looming in doorway before her green eyes widened in shock and she slammed the door closed. Even after preparing himself Jaune was so stunned by the sight of his partner alive and well that he failed to respond before the champion locked him out.

It took a few extra moments for him to reboot and blink away the tears in his eyes before he removed Crocea Mors and expanded the shield.

"We need to leave now!"

"Pyrrha what's wrong?"

Lie Ren sat up from where he reclined on his bed. Nora Valkyrie's head snapped up from its place resting against her desk, textbook long forgotten and used as a makeshift pillow. Jaune Arc (the younger) looked up from his comic book alert and confused by Pyrrha's tone. The Mistral native looked, well, not scared…but very worried.

"Out the window!" she ordered. Yet none of her team moved.

"Uh, why?" Jaune asked stupidly and Pyrrha felt herself ready to tear out her hair. It wouldn't take much time for their rocket lockers to reach their location but how long could any of them realistically fight emptyhanded against that monster? He slaughtered an upperclassman! The whole campus was confined in their rooms until further notice! And while Pyrrha didn't know why the knight was here, given what they did know, it couldn't be anything good!

Even she didn't want to take her chances in a fight.

Her hands flared with black static as she activated her semblance and Jaune was dragged to his feet by his chest armor with a cry of surprise.

"Call your weapons! GO!"

Ren was the first to move after assessing his teammate's panic, darting towards the large window and unlatching it. As he pushed it open he was joined by Nora who looked around for a means of descent. "Looks like we're jumping!" she yelled with one foot on the sill. Jaune looked decidedly less enthusiastic.

"What?!"

"NO TIME!"

And then she swung her arm and a concentrated burst of polarity flung Jaune out the window. At the same moment the entire door frame smashed inward while the door itself split into great speeding chunks as an aura-infused foot smashed its way through. Nora shrieked and jumped backwards, and inadvertently right out of the dormitory. Ren went a second after and Pyrrha followed up the rear. She landed in a roll and sprang to her feet. Only Jaune was struggling to rise, the boy's aura protecting him from the fall but with a landing strategy still in need of work.

Pyrrha leapt forward and spun, looking upward. The hunter was halfway out the window and aiming to fall right on top of them with his weapons out: a sword and shield of his own though in less than desirable condition. He impacted the ground as Team JNPR scattered, and much to their dismay the rusty knight honed in on Jaune.

The boy screamed shrilly as the freight of tarnished metal bore down upon him. Pyrrha snapped to action and pulled at the armored being with all her might, her semblance's expression of use crawling all the way up her forearms as she grabbed at the intruder. It slowed him just enough for Jaune to run out of the way at the last second but the champion groaned and grunted as he somehow fought against her power.

A pale yellow glow grew over the swordsman's body and Pyrrha found her semblance grew even harder to control. He was bleeding aura like a sieve and yet it was enough to give the murderous man an edge in strength.

Her arms were shaking uncontrollably as she tried to keep the knight in one spot. To her joy, four weapon lockers slammed into the grass and her friends swiftly armed themselves. Magnhild unfolded and Nora rushed the interloper with a furious yell. He struggled to lift his shield but it was like pushing through molasses, and the Valkyrie had no trouble swinging inside his guard.

Pyrrha finally let go as contact was made. Nora's expression was especially vicious as she swung the large hammer like a baseball bat dead center of mass and watched in satisfaction as she hit a home run. "Is everyone all right?" the redhead asked with a hitch in her voice as she retrieved Miló and Akoúo̱ from her own locker. Ren nodded though his eyes were rather wide and Nora slung her maul over her shoulders with a happy little snort.

But Jaune was shaking in his sneakers and looked ready to live up to his nickname.

"W-w-why is a f-fictional c-c-c-character a-after m-me?" Jaune stammered. Pyrrha was instantly at his side, hand on his shoulder in a sign of comfort.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Nora added. Ren shook his head slowly and held Stormflower at the ready.

"There's no way that's the Rusted Knight."

"I mean it looks like a knight…pretty rusty…well, more melty…"

"Not! Helping!" Jaune whined.

"How does one get a fictional character angry at them anyways?"

"I don't know Ren! I just don't know!"

"Heeeeey! Please tell me no one was hurt?" JNPR looked up to find RWBY hanging out their window, Weiss supported by Blake. Yang was the one to call out to them from the second story. "I've already called Goodwitch!"

Jaune threw his arms wide with a look of pure turmoil. "What the heck is going on?!"

"Ask Weiss!"

"You will not pin this on me!" the Schnee added to the mix though her voice was questionably weaker than before.

"Her semblance didn't work right and now she's connected to the Rusted Knight!"

"Ruby!"

"They deserve to know; you did something weird and now it's attacking Team JNPR!"

"At least explain it properly!"

"No time!"

A fifth locker descended and Ruby jumped before blurring and reappearing at the crash site in a flurry of scattering rose petals. Yang shouted after her sister, scowling. She shared a look with Blake and the other girl gave a short nod. Yang growled and typed another code into her Scroll before hopping the barrier as Ember Celica joined the other lockers in the courtyard. As she dropped the boxer dismissed how for a second they looked like graves. A graveyard born from summoned weapons…how silly. Or maybe it was fitting given their choice in a profession.

"You are in so much trouble!" Yang yelled at her sister as she strapped on her bracers. The youngest huntress present just grinned wanly before pointing off into the distance. Yang grimaced at the sight. "He's coming back!"

And so he was.

Metal and muscle sprinted through the empty campus, the large frame growing larger and larger at a disturbingly fast clip. Dust rounds streaked through the air, and not even Ruby's sniper shots or Nora's explosions seemed to slow the attacker down. Even as his speed he managed to deflect or even stay just outside the danger zone of the detonations. The students wound up tearing up the lawn but, well, they had a pretty dire reason. A glowing monster that seemed to brush off every hit as he sped towards them all.

And then Pyrrha finally spotted something even more incredulous.

Beneath the rust and half-melted edges was the very same symbol imprinted upon Jaune's family shield. The shock was enough for her to seize up in the moment, her muscles slackening in surprise as her jaw dropped. It was the first time she had faltered in battle since she started the circuit as a beginner and had to overcome her nerves. But this? This was…madness. The Rusted Knight was an Arc? And he was trying to kill his own family?

"PYRRHA!"

The redhead snapped to awareness, ashamed at committing such a rookie mistake in the heat of battle, only to find her friends scattered and dazed with Jaune all alone. Afraid of hitting the younger knight, most refrained from firing their guns and accidentally helping the attacker further. Ruby desperately tried to reload Crescent Rose as the Rusted Knight slammed his blade into Jaune's before tearing the boy's shield from the other arm, causing the blond to cry out in pain as his aura flared from the heavy treatment.

But both men, as their weapons connected, had a flash of aura crawl up their arms. Mirror images of pale yellow. The armored being seemed unaffected but Jaune…

Instead of seeing the attacker rear back to finish the job, he instead saw unfamiliar events play out he had never witnessed before. Like a badly damaged movie reel it flickered with static as the memories flashed through Jaune's brain.

Static. Jaune walked alongside Ruby, Nora, and Ren, all three of his friends wearing different outfits and clearly traveling somewhere. The trail they walked along was lined by forest on both sides. Their words were unclear through the buzzing but the joking nature between them was clear. Jaune inhaled a lungful of clean countryside Mistralian air and rested his hand on Crocea Mors hilt. Another day of motion meant another day of making progress towards reaching Haven Academy.

…

Static. Jaune's eyes were blurry as Weiss was on her back sprawled along the floor. Her hand covered a bloody wound pierced through the kidney area of her luxurious blue dress. His hands shone with concentrated aura while his mouth muttered quiet demands for Weiss to stay with him. He couldn't lose her. Not again, not another friend he loved dying because he was too weak. But as the energy flowed from his palms to her petite body, before his eyes she began to stir while her aura swiftly returned. The wound closed and color returned to her cheeks. Weiss groaned, eyes fluttering, and utter joy bloomed in Jaune's heart at the sight. He couldn't look away as the girl somehow recovered, even as his other friends yelled and fought around them inside Haven's spacious hall.

But through the happiness of finally discovering his semblance, his soul was tainted by enough negativity to summon an army of Grimm. If he hadn't tried to take on Cinder out of grief, she never would have targeted his friend. Just to spite him. Hurt him. To watch another friend of his die by her hand, personally this time. And with the blood staining the floor, it marked the spot where Weiss had nearly perished even as she shakily rose to her feet, harmed but still alive.

A grim reminder of how weak he still was.

It had to stop.

…

Static. Ruby's strange friend Penny Polendina lied on the floor before Jaune. Her hair was longer, clothes different, and he was using his semblance on her prone form. Penny gently reached out and pushed Jaune's hand away, lips mouthing words too muffled for Jaune to hear otherwise. Jaune suddenly leaned back, nervous, vision darting between Penny and his own sword as she convinced him to do…something.

Weiss was fighting Cinder in the background. Both women wore unfamiliar outfits and were clearly trying to impale one another. Jaune grew progressively more uncomfortable but, robotically, he pulled Crocea Mors from where it was sheathed against his arm. The blade had changed; bronze additions lined its handle. He could see his own reflection in the shining steel.

He was terrified.

Tears were already beginning to distort his vision once more. Yet he could still make out Penny with a small smile on her face as she stared up at him with sad and tired eyes.

Weiss fell. Her aura was low, and Cinder approached with a strange glowing sword poised to strike.

Not again.

Jaune screamed and suddenly thrust his weapon through Penny's chest.

Another piece of his heart shattered and died along with the young girl who willingly asked Jaune to kill her for a reason he didn't understand.

Droplets of water and blood dripped to the floor as Jaune cried for both Penny and the last bit of innocence he had held onto until that point.

…

Jaune fell back to the dirt with peculiarly blank eyes, sword arm shaking so badly he could barely point it at the man looming over him. The broken edge of the Rusted Knight's sword was aimed for Jaune's chest as the larger male held it aloft, preparing to drive it down and through his target with both hands until aura was no longer a problem.

Just like with Cinder.

The Mistralian champion's heart seized and a cold fear settled through her limbs. She panicked, and even as a part of her brain idly noticed the two even shared the exact same aura color, she went to flare her own power only for someone else to beat her to the punch.

Weiss' voice was shrill and absolutely terrified as she screamed to the sky.

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

Multiple voices cried out in alarm to match the heiress' demand but hers was the only one to make a difference. The second curved line on the back of her hand wiped away, and the knight's arms froze instantly. Every limb struggled and shook but no matter how much he tried they wouldn't budge further. It was just enough to allow Jaune to regain his senses and scramble away while Pyrrha took the initiative. Flaring her own aura further than she had ever done so before she dropped her weapons and slammed her palms towards the ground with a scream of effort.

The air visibly twisted as the magnetism crushed at the knight. His legs buckled and both knees slammed into the dirt followed by his palms desperately trying to keep himself upright as gravity attempted to smash his armor into the ground. Aura fought aura, pale gold versus crimson, while the intruder managed to just turn his head enough and stare at Pyrrha trying to flatten him.

Nora roared. Yang answered. Both girls fired their weapons as the fallen knight began to glow again through the blooming detonations with a guttural roar of defiance that terrified all within hearing range. In JNPR's room Weiss immediately grew nauseous and fell to the carpet, body trembling as her energy was unwillingly stolen to help feed the monster's defenses in the courtyard. She was doing her best to keep it from vanishing but the success was minimal. Like…like someone attempting to use a straw to draw back in water escaping a leaking dam. Blake crouched and allowed her body to take the brunt of her teammate's fall as she guided Weiss to the floor, frowning worriedly at how pale Weiss had become. Not her normal flawless tone but a sickly, off-white color that made the blood in her cheeks all the more apparent. Shaking her head in denial, the faunus stood up and yelled at her friends. "HEY! You need to stop! Weiss isn't doing well again!"

"Then what can we do?!" Ruby shouted back. Ren had moved in and managed to pry the sword from between the Rusted Knight's unwilling fingers and the dirt while Nora picked up his fallen shield, though the girl's wide teal eyes were locked on the front of the rusty object. Her gaze shifted between her leader and the man that tried to take him away from her and, disregarding the calls for her to stay back, Nora Valkyrie scowled and moved to shove the twin crescents back into the immobilized knight's face.

"Why do you have this?" she demanded, the localized atmosphere courtesy of Pyrrha making Nora's teeth rattle slightly in her jaw.

The Rusted Knight snarled. Then his head jerked back as a bullet slammed against his temple, tilting the helmet and causing it to lift askew. Yellow hair peeked from beneath the lip, and just like before a purple haze settled upon his prone body as Glynda appeared in Pyrrha's periphery. With a gasp of effort she released the burden and it was thanks to her partner she didn't tilt completely backwards and fall.

"Good job Pyrrha," he said quietly into her ear. She could feel the tremors in his arms from his own experience with the monster. "And thanks." Pyrrha said nothing but took advantage of the moment and snuggled into Jaune's hold under the guise of exhaustion.

Ironwood marched past them both with a drawn revolver and a hard look in his eyes, smoke curling from the end of the barrel.

"Excellent work children. And I apologize that we couldn't arrive sooner—Glynda and I were preoccupied in a rather important meeting." The Atlesian moved forward and crouched, ripping the helmet completely off and tossing it to the side. "And you…you've made a mockery of this institution and everything that it stands for!" James spat through clenched teeth. "Glynda. Stand him up."

From between the sweaty strands of yellow hair a single blue eye could be seen glaring up at the general as the knight's body jerked upright with his hands forced behind his back. Several gasps ensued as the group finally got an unobstructed view of the man that had haunted Beacon's halls for less than a day, before every eye save for those of the Rusted Knight turned and stared at Jaune.

"W-what?"

"His shield's like yours Jaune!" Nora held out the damaged object—lo and behold, it did possess the exact same emblem as the shield Jaune himself held aloft.

"But that's impossible! I'm the only boy in my family and dad was an only child! This weapon is one of a kind! I—there's no—I mean—!"

Ren slowly scratched his head. "So does that mean the Rusted Knight was an Arc all along?"

Yang blew a tired raspberry, the fight drained from her body the moment Ironwood stepped in. "It's a fairy tale."

"So? All stories have some basis in reality."

"But that story's really old. How could he even be here then? And why would he attack people?" Ruby added quietly, silver eyes focused on the bound man and his interrogator. James was attempting to get information out of the prisoner but it wasn't going so well. The madness that had befallen him had receded but in its place was a rather intimidating cold anger.

"Speak! Make it easier on yourself! If you truly think you are the Rusted Knight then act as he would! He was a man of strength and honor, not some vicious thug that attacks schoolchildren!"

Ironwood's eyes narrowed as the blond snorted and then promptly burst into mocking laughter that again made him the center of attention. "Honor?" he managed to say once the fit had passed. His voice was surprisingly low and smooth without the helmet distorting everything. "Go fuck yourself you genocidal piece of shit."

James reared back as though struck and his expression was one of pained confusion. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

The older blond's face was quite vindictive even if he didn't look particularly happy. "And if my hands were free I'd make sure you never do. At least I don't delude myself—I know I'm not, I'm not right in the head anymore but at least I'm not one step away murdering an entire kingdom out of paranoia and calling it justified!"

James lost his composure, sputtering in denial. The knight just spat at Ironwood's feet before turning his burning gaze to Jaune. Glynda had to tighten her semblance as the man prodded at his telekinetic bindings. Her fingers tightened around her riding crop as she pointed it at the prisoner. A noise split her attention for a second; Winter approached now supporting her sister with Blake at their side. The specialist's face was particularly frigid at having been one-upped by the intruder twice in one day.

"I might be able to help," the younger heiress stated upon her arrival.

James shook his head. "Thank you but we have it handled Ms. Schnee. You need to rest and recover from…whatever has befallen you."

Winter pointedly cleared her throat and a sharp look from her superior prompted the specialist to speak. "Sir, with all due respect this has been a Schnee family problem since the beginning. I was the one who wished to see Weiss' progress with her summoning and provided the heirloom that potentially caused the issue. Weiss has said they share a connection; in this moment I would defer to her on the matter."

The eyes of the general narrowed in thought before he holstered his gun and waved his arm towards the armored knight. "Very well. If your sister can help shed some light on this troubling time then I'll allow it. Ms. Schnee?"

With Winter sharing her weight, she and the younger huntress moved cautiously closer. The Rusted Knight's gaze flickered to Weiss for a moment and his expression softened before he looked away.

"Ahem," Weiss stated audibly when he failed to acknowledge her further and she frowned. Her infamous temper was already peaked and this certainly didn't help. "All right, that is it! You have been a thorn in my side since you first appeared! You show up out of nowhere, order us not to get involved, steal my aura and start an international incident! What is your problem?!"

His head snapped up, alarmed. "What? No I'm not!...am I? It's not on purpose I swear!"

"Twice now you've nearly drained me dry!"

"I…I guess…I have felt stronger than usual…but if anything I should be boosting you…"

"Wh—no! You don't get to change the topic! Quit acting so mysterious and explain yourself! Or I'll make you," Weiss finished vindictively. She lifted her fist and pointed at the snowflake and red smudges against her hand. "It seems when I use my aura and order you to do something, one of these marks vanish. You teleported into our dorm room and, admittedly, gave a lackluster explanation as to what you were doing after I grew angry enough to curse you out. And then you just froze when I demanded you stop. I have one left. Tell us the truth or you will regardless, do not test me on this!"

Weiss was panting after her little outburst, the exhaustion of the day creeping into every part of her body. The Rusted Knight finally deigned to look at her carefully. His eyes shimmered with unshed tears and he shot her an equally watery, if miniscule, grin.

"I never thought I'd miss hearing you berate me Snow Angel," he whispered under his breath. His tone was deathly quiet and not meant for her but Weiss just barely managed to hear it anyways. A gasp tore itself from her throat and Weiss took an involuntary step back into Winter. Her head whipped towards Jaune before spinning back to the knight.

"…Jaune?" she tested. The Rusted Knight simply bowed his head as he again refused to look at her. While it wasn't a confirmation, the silence was telling enough. Others made the connection as her question and responses hung in the air. Ruby broke first. Nora wasn't far behind.

"WHAAAAAT?"

"NO WAY!"

"Impossible!"

"He looks so—"

"Mature," Weiss cut in softly before hurriedly pursing her lips together, pretending she hadn't said a word even as Winter's blue eyes and Blake's gold drilled into the younger Schnee's head. Both had clearly heard her but Weiss wouldn't accept it and acted as such.

Younger Jaune fared little better. "How is this possible?!" he exclaimed, unable to look away from his apparent counterpart while the rest of the group burst into chatter. But then the teen remembered the strange thoughts that weren't his own bursting into his mind after the two had clashed; it was clearly him…but it was clearly not him.

Then Jaune's jaw dropped in shock, and then his stomach rolled. He had—would—kill someone. Twice. Someone close to his best buddy from Team RWBY and then today…Pyrrha mistook his nausea as he vomited into the grass as being too overcome with the impossibilities of the day. She rubbed his back beneath the plate armor consolingly, unaware of the distress steamrolling through his being.

Glynda found herself gaping at the image of one of her worst students now years in the making. He may have been older than she was! It was difficult to tell…while this older Jaune still looked relatively young, he held the image of a warrior who spent too much time on the front lines and ultimately aged faster than his years. The whitish locks of hair, and the wrinkles, and the clear denial of self-care. The deputy headmistress of Beacon didn't know whether to be proud of the strength exuded by the man Jaune Arc would become or pity him for becoming just another statistic regarding the stress-induced lifestyle of a huntsman.

But Glynda Goodwitch had always been a logical, rational woman. And to truly believe this was some sort of…time-displaced Jaune Arc made absolutely no sense and went against her better judgment.

"I simply cannot accept the reality of this claim. It's too farfetched." she stated. Older Jaune immediately answered her.

"Is it?" he said lowly. "Is it really? Even I can barely understand what's going on and yet we've got a magical girl dying in Beacon's hidden basement and a guy that can turn into a bird hanging out with an old wizard that takes over bodies when he dies. Lots of impossibilities seem to be around."

A chill ran through Glynda's spine as she clammed up. Ironwood looked ready to do something drastic once more. Though the words were casually vague, both members of Ozpin's inner circle were quite aware of what the swordsman was alluding to while everyone else just looked confused.

"But as to how I'm here in the past…I don't know. One moment I was at the Market and the next I was next to a younger Weiss."

The calm, dead tone the knight spoke with was off-putting, and then the one person in attendance the older Jaune couldn't deal with moved closer to him with a rare look of outrage warping her otherwise beautiful features.

Pyrrha stomped forward with her fists clenched and for a moment some of the watchers thought she might try to crush him again.

"How?...what happened to make you like this? You…killed Cinder and attacked our Jaune! Why?! If, if you're really my partner...answer me!" The redhead's voice cracked and future Jaune flinched at every word said. He looked everywhere but the champion, up until the redhead grabbed his whiskered cheeks with her gloved hands and forced his head still. The knight looked ready to cry again and a dark, miniscule part of Pyrrha believed that in itself somehow proved everything true. Only Jaune was so emotional at the drop of a hat and she found it endearing how he always cared so much.

But not right now.

Blue eyes were glassy and trembled in their sockets but they finally refused to look away from Pyrrha's focused green. He sniffed and his head went slack in her grip. The ragged Jaune forced himself to speak, even as he looked like he was ready to bite his own lip to stop himself from talking.

But talk he did.

"Because I couldn't let you die again."

Nora shrieked and jumped at her teammate, causing the Mistralian to let go of Jaune as she stumbled away with an extra weight clamped to her side. "WHAT? NO WAY! PYRRHA'S GONNA LIVE FOREVER!"

"You know, I actually hated you for a time," Older Jaune carried on neutrally, still staring at the girl while he spoke almost conversationally. Pyrrha flinched as though she'd just taken a sucker punch to the gut without aura. "You just had to be the hero. Had to be so strong, and selfless, and just…you. You left me because I was weak. At the most dangerous time in your life you couldn't trust your own partner, and you sent me away against my will. Then you died all alone trying to stop Cinder after she already won. You could've left with the rest of us but instead you got yourself KILLED! Cinder didn't even leave a body! You know what we found? A broken weapon, a busted shield, and a circlet left in a pile of ashes! Some funeral, huh? Everything that went wrong was due to Cinder Fall! Every death and every mistake of ours she took advantage of—all because she wanted power—put Remnant one step closer to the end, and whatever slipup that dragged me back to this time I couldn't let it go! There was nothing worth saving with that woman! She was a monster! A butcher that would build a tower of corpses so long as it let her stand above everyone else! AND SHE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!"

In the face of unfettered rage only Ironwood stood against the tide of hatred and pain. His decades of discipline and the power of his semblance kept the Atlesian from withering beneath the force of Jaune's frenzy. He clicked his tongue and stared down the raging knight with all the might of the determined leader of the united Atlas forces.

One man lost to his emotions would never cause James Ironwood to completely buckle.

"And that gave you the right to take her life? If she was truly a criminal she would have stood for the crimes she had already committed. We possess a justice system for a reason, and the only executioner she required should be one designated by a jury of her peers if found guilty enough to deserve one!"

Jaune growled like a man possessed and tried to lunge at the dark-haired general—Glynda's purplish aura flared about him as she struggled to keep him contained. But then he suddenly froze, eyes wide as unexpected contact touched him in a way he hadn't experienced since…Jaune couldn't even remember. Strong arms in a surprisingly soft embrace curled around his neck while the nostalgic scent of syrup tickled his nose. Pink and white and hints of orange pushed through the yellow curtain of hair falling into Jaune's eyes.

"…N-Nora?"

The girl breathed in his ear and only hugged him tighter. "It's been hard for you hasn't it Jauney?" He tried to answer her but it came out a choked sob. The knight shoved his face further into her warmth as the tears he'd held back finally fell, and she allowed her leader to finally let it all out.

Ren approached cautiously as Jaune's body was allowed to softly fall to his knees though still locked by the professor's telekinesis. His partner and childhood friend had always been a wild card but sometimes…sometimes Nora's softer side would rear itself. She might not have been the 'girliest' out of their peers but Ren knew otherwise. However…he hadn't been expecting to see it now.

"Nora? Are you sure about this?"

"You heard him Renny. He's all alone."

And as she glanced out of the corner of her eye at the boy she was together but not together-together with, it was with an expression he hadn't witnessed in some time either. Ren pursed his lips but ultimately sighed. He knew exactly what she was referencing and banished the memory of a terrified little ginger hiding in the wreckage of Kuroyuri, abandoned and living on the street and desperately in need of someone, anyone, to be there for her as the village fell to the Grimm. The young man kneeled and reached his arm out hesitantly before setting his hand upon the older Jaune's shoulder.

"Not anymore."

Nora felt her (bigger) leader bark a small laugh against her neck and slowly shake his head. He regretfully pulled away, sniffing, as silent tear tracks dripped into his (awesome) beard.

"I'm sorry," he breathed. Nora booped his nose and he smiled. "I just…I'm desperate."

"Desperate enough to try and kill yourself?" Winter demanded. The fleeting happiness on Jaune's face slipped away, leaving a hard expression and the beginnings of another moment of anger. Nora glared at the older woman for ruining the moment.

"Yes."

"But why? What did I ever do to you?! Er, me? Y-you know what I mean!"

Jaune turned his head to Jaune after nudging Nora away, and pinned by his stare the younger of the two counterparts felt like he was up against his first Grimm again: absolutely terrified beneath the eyes of a predator and ready to bolt as the fear overcame him.

"Because we're just as bad. Cinder wasn't the whole problem—it was us too. We had to be the hero. We tricked ourselves into thinking we could live the storybook life, save the day, kill the monsters, and watch everything turn up fine. Look at dad! At Grandpa, and everyone else down the line! They were the knights in shining armor that protected everyone from the darkness and we had to have that too! We were obsessed with keeping the Arc streak of warriors going! But we never put in the effort, did we? Noooooooo…and when the time came we stole the family sword and some armor pieces collecting dust in the attic and ran away from home. We're weak. We've always been weak. Even after we started working for it, it was never enough. We were miles behind everyone else and it always showed. And then on the final day of the Vytal Festival we lost our partner. Because we're so gods-damned weak! If Pyrrha actually had a teammate she could rely on she wouldn't have fought Cinder alone! We could have killed more Grimm! Saved more lives when everything went to shit! Been the hero!" he hissed with finality. "Well look at me! LOOK AT ME! Congratulation Jaune Arc! You get to be the hero in the future and all it cost you your partner, your team, your friends, several kingdoms, and your sanity! You even get to be one of the main characters of a fairy tale, isn't that great? How awesome is it to know the Rusted Knight is you? You got to live all those adventures, and in the end it saw us poisoned and betrayed by that little bitch! You want to know where we end up? What all our good deeds earns us? What it looks like to finally reach the end of the road? Congratu-fucking-lations!" The Rusted Knight lurched forward, pupils constricted and sclera bloodshot as he glared fiercely at his trembling counterpart. "I'm living the dream. And all it cost us is everything we ever cherished. Death would be a kindness compared to putting us through all that again."

"That's enough!" Pyrrha demanded.

"It will never be enough!"

"BOTH OF YOU STOP!"

Pyrrha couldn't believe her ears as her partner, the current one, jumped between them with his arms outstretched to try and hold them back. Something had hardened within him in that moment and it showed on his face.

"But Jaune!"

"Pyrrha, thank you for always standing up for me but…but this is something I need to do myself!" He then turned and flinched back at the harsh eyes burning into him from beneath the mop of yellow hair even worse off than his own. "A-ah…and, I saw some of your memories you know, or at least I think they were…when you attacked me. It was…pretty bad." The older Jaune said nothing and just continued to stare. The younger awkwardly scratched his hair and a faint part of him wondered if he should try growing a beard of his own soon. "Me. Ruby. Ren and Nora. All walking alone down a path. No one else was there. Then, Weiss was hurt badly. But we did something with our aura and she healed. And then, um." He trailed off. The Rusted Knight made a sound of mounting annoyance.

"Do not say it."

Jaune yelped at the tone and his knees shook. But the phantom of the man that kneeled before him reared itself within the younger of the two and he chose to stand his ground, even as the primal fear of death commanded he run away.

"Y-y-y-you're wr-wrong!"

"What?"

The Beacon student cleared his throat nervously. "Y-you're, uh, wrong. I…get what you're saying, and I can't even imagine what happened to put you in those situations…but I can't accept it. How many lives have you saved? How many people would have died had you not been there?" And with aura flowing through his hands once more he reached out and touched his strange contemporary's face. Memories flowed involuntarily, born of the Rusted Knight's mind subconsciously reacting to his younger self's words. They were clearer than before as this time it was expected, but still partially unfocused and riddled with crackling edges.

…

Jaune and Ren crouched over Weiss, Jaune's hands covering her wound. She moaned quietly and Jaune couldn't believe he was about to lose another friend. His forearms glowed as he tried to jumpstart her aura, only for the energy to bleed off of him and into Weiss. Pale yellow changed to white, and she gasped in shock, writhing and moaning as her innate forcefield regained its strength. Time crawled by and Weiss eventually grew peaceful.

His semblance was finally known. Without it, Jaune would have lost Weiss.

He would train it diligently from then on.

…

The Argus Limited was under attack by Grimm. They had gained a momentary respite as the train passed through a mountain tunnel but it was only a matter of time before they were back in the open. Already a huntsman had fallen, one of the warriors assigned to protecting the vehicle as it drove through Mistral, and the fear emanating from the civilian passengers was nothing but a target for the Grimm.

Something had to be done.

A plan was formed but the group had to split up. While Team RWBY, Oscar, and Qrow stayed behind to draw off the Grimm, Team JNPR would escort the civilians to Argus. The train cars were separated and Ren's boosted semblance drained the emotion from their entire section of locomotive. Team JNPR and their charges made it to the oceanside city without a hitch.

…

A massive mech swung an arm as large as the Argus Limited at Nora. Jaune started sprinting the moment the construct reared back and only just tackled his teammate, wrapping her in his arms as he both flared his own aura and amplified hers. The metal struck them like a speeding truck; a single hit nearly shattered their auras but thanks to Jaune's quick thinking, neither of the two were gravely injured.

Jaune had protected Nora from being crushed even as consciousness fled him after crashing into a boulder.

…

General James Ironwood spoke from a televised casting station in the streets of Mantle as citizens fled for their lives. The Grimm had breached the earthbound city due to subterfuge and now all hands were on deck to save as many lives as possible. But in Jaune's ears the words were background static—all he wanted was to get these people to safety.

It was getting difficult as a whole horde of Ice Sabyrs filled the streets right in the direction everyone was running. Suddenly long glowing tentacles vaguely shaped like arms shot forth from a man in a specialized Atlesian uniform and spread outwards, slamming all the Grimm into the nearby buildings and pinning them. Taking advantage of the lull Jaune's leadership skill was put on full display as he ordered everyone to form a line and march while the route was clear. Aided by the combination of Jaune and Ren's semblance, the citizens were able to reach the shelter.

…

Both men gasped as reality righted itself before their eyes. "Stop doing that!" the older of the pair yelled, while the younger rapidly shook his head to clear the fresh clutter jumbling about in his brain.

"Weiss! Nora! All those people! They made it because of you!"

"You don't think I know that? I was there! I had to do something!"

"Then you're proving my point!" The younger Jaune inhaled sharply and then, belatedly, released it all slowly. "Helping others. It's a beautiful goal. It's why I'm here—we're here—so we can do just that."

"It's a sacrifice that drags you towards a bad ending. Most wouldn't have been in those situations if not for me."

"I don't care!" Jaune screamed at his older, bitter mirror image. "What makes us so special? Why does it matter that Jaune Arc can't go out and fight evil monsters and save people in need? How many others went out and did the exact same thing before us? How many will after us? They were heroes, every one of them, and most probably never saw any recognition for it! It's not about the awards! It's never has been! It's about being someone that others can look to and feel hope! A hero is a symbol, and sometimes we have to deal with the bad things that come with it! You need to remember that; remember why we came to Beacon in the first place Mr. Rusted Knight! So what if we want to be a hero? It's not just to make the family lineage proud…my dream, our dream, is to help! Nothing more and nothing less! If one more sword on the battlefield saves just one life then that's good enough!" Jaune threw an arm forward and pointed angrily at the armored man. "My dream is not a mistake!"

"…damn, Jaune."

Someone said it. Yang thought it might have been herself, but she was so into the moment she wasn't too sure.

"You're the Rusted Knight. You're probably the reason half the huntsman out there picked up a weapon in the first place. You…you said you've lost a lot and yet you're still here. You're still fighting. I don't get it. If it's so bad then why haven't you stopped?"

"Because Mr. Arc, when a person becomes inured to a certain lifestyle they find it highly difficult to do anything else. Stories of retired or discharged soldiers who have done nothing but fight for years take some time to reacclimate to a civilian lifestyle, and plenty never do. They find enemies around every corner and find it impossible to relax."

Older Jaune grunted and stared at the approaching headmaster. "Never thought I'd see that face again." Said face was solemn, and he stopped next to Ironwood, leaning against his cane with eyes far too old watching the bound knight. "And you're wrong. This isn't a novel. I'm not some… veteran fighting after everyone else has fallen, if that's what you're thinking. It's more like everyone lost me and I've been by myself ever since."

"But you said Cinder took everything from you. It's not that hard to draw such a conclusion."

He glanced at Weiss, and then slowly shook his head, warrior's wolf tail brushing against the distorted plates around his neck. "She did. Because of her, I…I'm stuck in a place away from everyone. You all could be dead for all I know. It's been years since I've last seen a living person and all I can do is wait."

"He's not making sense again," Ruby stage whispered to her sister. The time-displaced man worked his jaw in thought before turning his head to look between Ozpin and Glynda. James was promptly ignored.

"If you release me I promise I won't attack anymore."

"Out of the question!"

"James!" Ozpin barked. "Thank you for your consideration of my school's safety but again, this is my school. I am quite capable of deliberating and making decisions on its behalf. And Mr. Arc the Senior...why?"

"Well for one my arms are numb. But…if I'm going to tell you all everything I can remember from now until my own time so you can avoid all the mistakes I had to deal with, it'll be easier to do if all my blood is flowing correctly."

Everyone spoke up at once, most directed at Ozpin, a cloud of jumbled chatter where one out of four words could be properly heard. The deputy headmistress did not look particularly happy but a solemn nod from her superior made the woman sigh harshly and drop the forcefield.

Jaune grunted and nearly fell on his face as the purplish force disappeared and no longer propped him in place. Rolling his shoulders and flexing his hands, he ignored how most of his friends took a step back as he rose to his feet. With one more quick glare out of the corner of his eye at Ironwood, who returned the gesture with his hand on his gun, the man then paused a moment and looked again at Ozpin.

"Do you have an extra Scroll? I'd rather record it so you have a reference."

"That's a good idea Mr. Arc. Here. You may use mine."

"Actually I'd rather have a new one that hasn't connected to the CCT yet. Trust me on that."

The wizard quirked an eyebrow before ultimately nodding, curious. "We should relocate to my office. We have got enough curious eyes upon us already from the dormitories and there are several spares I keep for emergencies in my desk."

"And you all need to return to your rooms," Glynda added to the students with a bit of a bite in her words. She was not angry at them, per se, as they did not willingly choose to become involved for inane reasons. But had things gone differently she could have lost more children under her care, and that she could not accept.

"Wait. We need everyone here. And Qrow."

"More things to trust you on?"

"More like your fault Ozma," Jaune casually dropped, and the way the headmaster's jaw dropped was a sight to behold. "You got Pyrrha involved. You got Ruby involved. That pushed our teams to join them because we couldn't leave them to deal with it all alone. They all need to know what's on the horizon because I refuse to leave them in the dark like some people."

"…very well. As Mr. Arc has just said, we should move this conversation to my office."

---

It was an odd procession. Two Beacon teams, several members of faculty, and the criminal loose on their campus all marching towards the clock tower in the center of the grounds. Nora had returned her alternate leader's shield with a smile but Ren still held onto the damaged blade…just for insurance. Jaune understood. He still wanted to mangle Ironwood's face until he stopped moving, so it was a good idea to keep him away from Crocea Mors.

No matter how good it would feel to drop the tyrannical soldier before he inevitably doomed two cities to their death again.

But as the group began their ascent to the clockwork office, Jaune held back with another request to Ozpin that nearly saw James start yelling about martial law and inciting potential war with a neighboring kingdom.

He explained his semblance while the younger Jaune ate up every word. Aura amp. A name that explained it all. The Jaunes could transfer their own aura to literally amplify someone else's soul, boosting its strength, potency, and recharge rate. So long as the person lived he could boost their aura even if it was shattered and its owner on the verge of death and increase the rate at which the soul recovered and healed the body. Not only that but he could also empower another's semblance too, increasing its ability. The knight mentioned that Ren could hide himself and maybe one or two others with some effort, but with the power of aura amp the pair had masked several train cars full of frantic civilians while being chased by Grimm as an example. The younger Jaune now understood the memory he had seen and everyone around him was staring at the dorky blond in a new light.

Pyrrha was so damn proud.

Then he had to go and mention he could even boost his own aura and recharge it with some effort.

I mean, was he serious? Jaune Arc of all people was literally a walking tank capable of buffs and auto-healing. The longhaired warrior smirked at the awe surrounding the teenagers, but it grew melancholy as he watched his old team surround his younger self and congratulate him with such happiness.

But the reason for it all? Jaune felt he could help the woman in the basement who once died without a chance at recovering.

Ironwood watched him like a hawk with Due Process drawn and hammered, aimed at the knight while the general waited for him to make one wrong move. But as the aura flowed from Jaune's hands into the scarred brunette in the pod, not much changed. Amber's dwindling aura supply rose a bit but at the most Jaune just tacked on a few extra days to whatever time Amber had left. Ozpin thanked him regardless and made plans to see if continuous boosts could potentially stabilize the poor woman whenever her reserves got too low or at least draw out the inevitability until Emerald Sustrai was found.

It was a band-aid over a gaping wound but at least they had something.

"Wow. Are you sure it's not the booze making me see double?"

Jaune threw a flat stare at Qrow as the stragglers finally entered Ozpin's office. Back to drinking, back to being the man who was ruled by his semblance. The last time the man had seen Qrow was before everything went to shit in Atlas and they heard he was arrested. Again, he didn't know if the huntsman that he'd come to respect had survived. "Good to see you too Qrow."

The huntsman tipped his flask and took another swig before slipping it inside his jacket. "Peter and Bart are with the kid. I don't think he'll bolt but, just in case. Anyways let's do…whatever it is we're doing here."

Ozpin powered on one of his black-cased Scrolls and set it to charge while in use, making doubly sure it would not be able to automatically attempt to connect to the network. He then gestured towards the object propped up on his desk and Jaune pulled one of the nearby chairs closer, to allow himself to lean towards the video device without awkwardly hunching over.

With one last look around at the faces of ghosts, the elder Jaune Arc pressed the recording button and began to speak. "Don't interrupt me. Save your questions for the end so I don't lose track."

It took hours for him to go through everything as thoroughly as he could. All specks of knowledge he could remember, from Beacon to Mistral to Argus to Mantle and Atlas. And then…the fall.

"Time is strange in the Ever After. I was the last to fall off the pathway made by the Relic of Creation, so Team RWBY was technically already there before me, but then that damn fruit rewound time. It didn't seem like a large amount but clearly I'm wrong about that. It's been a decade or less…maybe, since Alyx and Lewis came around and yet those stories were written well before the Great War ever happened. I'm not that old. The passage of time in both worlds doesn't add up, and I'm still waiting for Team RWBY to show in the Ever After. I…don't actually know how old I am anymore but I'd say maybe late 30s? Early 40s?"

Jaune paused to take another sip of water from the bottle most graciously given to him by Ozpin. He'd stopped the recording after the final explanation of Penny's sacrifice and the dissolution of the magical trail allowing the citizens of both Atlas and Mantle the chance to flee to Vacuo through the space between realms. His life in the Ever After wasn't exactly necessary to the plot but, admittedly, it felt kind of nice to finally let it all out.

Unbeknownst to Jaune he'd started to relax the more he spoke. The others would say it was like a weight had lifted from his shoulders.

The schadenfreude of watching Ironwood shut down upon learning how he lost his mind and likely died by himself in the destruction of his kingdom was admittedly cruel, but the Rusted Knight really didn't care. The general was all by himself and not even Winter stepped up to his defense. The man just stared at his own hands with a look of horror that had yet to vanish.

Jaune sighed internally, unable to fully commit to his hatred now that everything was out in the open. James Ironwood was a good man who inevitably went mad fighting an unwinnable war. He hated the man Ironwood would become…but right now, he had yet to commit such grievous things.

Still didn't like him though. That wouldn't change.

The listeners were lost in thought, either shocked into silence or deeply worried as Jaune continued to push further and further into his memories. It was…so much to take in. Pyrrha's death, of course, as well as Penny (twice). Magic was genuine but basically extinct. The Brother Gods were real and made Remnant, and would return one day if their mythical relics were reunited, and would most likely kill everyone if they did. The Grimm, made by the God of Darkness, were now led by a woman named Salem who was both immortal and wanted to either rule the world or destroy it, and she and Ozpin were responsible for the way the world was today as they both sniped at one another over the centuries like some extremely long chess game. Oh, and they were once in a relationship which didn't help the animosity. Humanity went extinct once, and the faunus were just…here, appearing out of nowhere after humanity's second emergence. And of course, General Ironwood pushed to the brink of his sanity and becoming the dictator he had never hoped to become while in his position.

And yet there was so, so much more. Ozpin was already making plans for the (re)construction of the Amity relay to work around the CCT's glaring weakness Salem's forces took advantage of in another time. None of Salem's underlings ever dared to go into one of the heavily populated kingdoms and destroy a tower to disrupt communications since they relied on them as well, which was why they were built there in the first place.

Now he knew better.

"Holy hell Jaune, how are you still sane?"

"I live with origami starfish and ride around on a jackalope the size of a horse so…it's hard to tell."

"I for one think he's been very brave," Pyrrha stated quietly. It took some time for her to reconcile the two images of her leader, but as the time wore on and the more she learned, her animosity towards the older bitter version of Jaune turned to sympathy. The younger Jaune turned his head just so to glance at his partner before returning to look at the poor vision of his future. He then nodded very slowly while deep in thought smooshed between Nora, a teary-eyed Ruby, and a red-faced Weiss, the girl flustered with the close proximity to everyone while her sister was present. Both teams of students had drawn in close the more the memories unfolded until the heartfelt Argus memorial of the Invincible Girl and Jaune's acceptance of her sacrifice turned them into a tight ball of bodies, hoping to provide comfort to one another with their closeness.

Funny enough Blake and Yang were on opposite ends of the pile unable to look at one another, coming to terms with how they would apparently enter a relationship sometime after killing Blake's obsessive ex in self-defense.

Well, everyone was reeling from the revelations, but they all were the most expressive.

The older Jaune looked away from them all and crushed the envy in his heart. He'd had enough negativity today and was trying to stay positive for once. He'd recounted as much as he possibly could and now felt completely drained. A good emptiness if that made any sense, but still emotionally exhausted.

"Y'know, I get why people go to therapy now. Speaking about everything does feel like it helped in a way."

Qrow grunted, his own eyes far away from the present before they suddenly sharpened and jerked towards the guest. "So what will you do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've given us a hell of a gift and for that I'm real grateful. Things to prepare and look out for even if you've already gone and changed something major. But where does that leave you now?"

"I…don't know. Haven't thought about staying. I hoped I might vanish after Cinder was gone but that didn't happen." Jaune scratched at his beard, growing uncomfortable. "I wasn't thinking straight until recently. For the first time in forever I felt some hope that things could change when Cinder died but then I was still here. Solitary didn't help," he added with a side-eye to Winter who pursed her lips. While she no longer held any sort of grudge, the Rusted Knight's farcical win over her and then slipping out of her grasp a second time still stung her pride. "All I could do on the airship was think, and all I could think about was why I was here. And…I was stuck. Desperate. If Cinder's death didn't change me then maybe nothing here affects me personally. Or maybe…she wasn't the whole problem. I got it in my head that I had to save myself from becoming me, if that makes any sense."

"No it doesn't! You tried to kill your past self! That doesn't help anyone!"

"Yeah," Jaune finished morosely.

Ozpin sat a little straighter in his own chair and placed his hands flat upon the gear-laden desk. "Forced into an isolation no others can comprehend changes a person. Mr. Arc believed he had found a way to shift his fate into something more desirable. But just as I too have come to accept, eventually all you can do is keep pushing onward."

"Yeah, I see that now. I know this is incredibly weird but sorry for trying to kill you."

"J-just, uh, don't try it again," his younger counterpart responded flately.

"Yeah yeah, we're all friends now but you didn't answer the question: where do you go from here?" Qrow butt in.

"We could use another agent against Salem now that you've thrown a wrench in her plans for the Maidens. Perhaps if we word our questions correctly Jinn can provide more insight into our problems. I was too specific last time…perhaps I personally am unable to destroy Salem, but that does not mean others cannot."

"Yeaaaaah but that means getting Raven to agree to help, Oz."

"If strength is what she requires then perhaps Mr. Arc can speak her language."

"No."

Even Qrow was taken aback by the sudden concise response. "Huh?"

"I might hurt Weiss. I can't control this connection we have, we don't know anything about how it works, and your sister won't go down easily. We don't know if Weiss and I have to stay within a certain distance of one another. The longer it goes on the weaker Weiss'll get and we also don't know if it might damage her soul if she runs out of aura while I'm taking it all. I won't put that on her."

"Without the Spring Maiden we cannot reach Jinn and the Relic of Knowledge may potentially tell you how to return to your time."

"I already said no."

Weiss was touched by Jaune's defense of her and once again was reminded of the blond's big heart. Pushing aside his own happiness to knock some sense into Neptune, and now (even if it was a different version of the same boy) he was giving up an avenue for fixing his own issues just so she remained well. But while all the mind-blowing revelations had taken all the girl's attention, the talk of sharing a connection quickly reminded Weiss of her burden.

Despite her cramped location she raised her hand as if in class, but made sure the snowflake brightening her skin was fully visible.

"Perhaps this can help? If he was pulled from another reality entirely then theoretically he can return. These marks teleported Jaune to our room so…maybe it can teleport him back to where he needs to be?"

"I'm not so sure Weiss. You would somehow have to completely inverse the summoning aspect of our glyphs and…draw him in, I suppose. But this isn't something as simple as moving across the campus. It would require so much energy..."

"Or maybe if her aura is boosted and she puts all that energy into the mark it might work?" Ruby said aloud and then pulled back somewhat into the comfort of her hood as all eyes turned to her. "Just, you know, a suggestion? Heh heh…heh…"

"It could work. It could not. I suppose we have no other choice but to try," Ozpin said rising from his seat. "While I regret the loss of such a valuable ally—"

Jaune smacked his fist against the desk with a resounding crash that rattled the headmaster's ornaments yet again before he jabbed a finger at the man. "Don't even start Ozpin. I don't belong here. There can't be two Jaune Arcs running around. It's better than me being stuck in a time period I've already lived through."

"…what if it doesn't work then?"

Jaune sighed and then rose to his feet in one fluid motion, turning to a despondent Nora. While the ball of students had finally filtered apart, they were still shoulder to shoulder. He accepted his sword from Ren who was finally willing to part with it and slipped it across his back. Its edges scraped along the sheathe, always slightly harder to move around due to the rust. "I don't know. But if it fails I won't use my name anymore."

Ruby suddenly looked ready to cry herself. "But you're still Jaune! Even if you're older and lived through all those bad things that doesn't change who you are!"

"…we'll cross that bridge if we get to it. I'm technically a criminal and I won't let that taint the Arc family."

Ironwood was still pale and even seemed nauseous. His head darted up as Jaune directed his words towards the Atlesian, eyes strained, and he slowly shook his head before dipping his chin in self-disgust. Hopefully the shock of his future and Jaune's own impressions would be brutal enough to keep him in line. That, and now everyone knew how low he was willing to go when backed into a corner.

Plus, you know, Salem being unable to die.

"What about your helmet? It's…oh, it's still near the dorms."

Jaune shrugged at Blake's question and moved towards the center of the spacious office. "Keep it. I'll get a new one. Cinder mangled it and I barely got it on last time."

"Your armor's just as bad."

"I'll figure it out. Weiss?" The heiress jumped and then trotted quickly towards the Rusted Knight, only for him to point off to the side. "Not me. I don't want you near me in case something goes wrong."

"But how will you boost me then?"

"Try again—Jaune!"

Stupidly the blond teen pointed at himself. To be fair there were multiple Jaunes in the room but it was the other one who was speaking to him so the action was rather redundant. "Wha—but I can't use my semblance yet."

"Of course you can. Semblances are always a part of us, and unlocking our aura just gives us the means of letting it out. They're shaped by who we are. You've always been able to do it…you just never knew what it could do before."

"Until now," the current Jaune breathed in wonder. Blue eyes lifted from his gloved hands as he gently flared his aura before settling on Weiss, who watched him expectantly.

"I suppose I can give him the benefit of the doubt." Weiss' tone was snarky but she was smiling at him, and Jaune felt his heart soar at the beautiful sight. The Arc nodded and turned to Ren.

"Can I try first…?"

His best male friend's lips thinned before he ultimately gave his approval. "I trust you despite using me as your guinea pig."

"D'awwww thanks Ren!"

It took two attempts of Jaune pushing his aura through his hands before Lie Ren felt something click, as his skin flared up with goosebumps. From where Jaune touched his arm the sensation of static spread outward until his entire body tingled pleasantly and his own pinkish aura activated without consent. Ren breathed out while his flesh warmed and pale gold energy transmuted into pink. He felt strong. He felt wide awake. He stepped away and knelt to place his hand upon the floor, focusing. A wide circle of the floor and everyone standing within that radius quickly desaturated in color before Ren dismissed his own semblance as quickly as he initiated it.

All the young Mistralian could say was, "Wow."

"Good job. Now amp Weiss as much as she can handle, and then she can do whatever she needs to."

Jaune's grin stretched from ear to ear before the petite huntress allowed him to set his hands upon her shoulders. She groaned in surprise at the sudden increase in her rather limited reserves, and as gold changed into white Weiss Schnee felt invincible. But as the minutes stretched she began to grit her teeth as the energy buffing her soul started to grow uncomfortable. "That's enough," she managed through grit teeth, and Jaune immediately pulled away, worried at her tone.

Weiss likened the feeling to having consumed far too much caffeine. Her energy levels had never been higher and the sensation of needing to work it off was growing stronger and stronger. She exhaled and focused on her aura, trying to bring it under control as the starkly-colored sheen bursting from her body threatened to go wild.

"Okay…I'm…ready."

"Me too."

"Wait! Jaune!" The two counterparts locked eyes, and the less armored of the two slapped on a smile. "You'll see them again," he finished resolutely. The older copy blinked owlishly before returning the expression, if small and wry and not all that believing.

"Thanks. Watch over your team."

"So long as you watch over yours."

Jaune waved off Jaune as Weiss' narrowed eyes grew frosty and the reddish light lifting off her hand started to increase in intensity until it was near blinding. "May I continue? Thank you!" Clearing her throat Weiss shoved her fist in the air and the pressure, an unwantedly familiar feeling to Team RWBY, descended upon the inhabitants of Ozpin's office. "Jaune Arc. With this power I command you to return to the point from where I first summoned you! Return to your own time! LISTEN TO ME AND GO BACK TO YOUR WORLD!"

The snowflake flashed and vanished. The back of Weiss' hand lost all their marks, even the smudges, leaving perfectly bare skin. She smiled happily at the sight, believing the power was working as intended given the last few examples while the connection between the pair snapped.

It swiftly turned to horror mirrored by all as Jaune Arc, the Rusted Knight of legend, lowered his aura, pulled free Crocea Mors from his back and swung the corroded but perfectly sharp blade into the unprotected flesh of his throat.

---

Damn. And things were going so well too. I guess I lied. Things got worse before they got better, and then they got worse again.

One more chapter to go. An epilogue to wrap things up.

This chapter actually stumped me for far too long for some reason. Ch. 1? Easy. Ch. 3? I wrote it while I was stuck on Ch. 2 and then edited things as this chapter finally crawled along. As you can plainly tell by now the summoning was modeled after the Fate series, and the trouble between the Jaunes was supposed to mirror Shirou and Archer. Like I first said—aspects but not a full crossover. Both are young men aspiring to be heroes, and their older jaded selves that reached that dream in some regard.

It got a bit out of hand and became double the length of the first chapter but I didn't see a good spot to split it up.

ALSO

This leads to something I started cooking up as a random thought. RWBY characters as Fate classes. I'm sure it's been done before but…here's mine.

I mean, this Jaune is basically Berserker. But he could also be Rider and Saber. Maybe even Avenger or Shielder if you leave the main classes. And that leads to this little list. Enjoy.

(Anyone with a long range aspect could potentially be an Archer but it would likely be a very low chance. If I actually wrote it in the list then their guns are a major aspect of their style)

Ruby: Lancer, Archer, Rider if you somehow count shooting around on Crescent Rose as a mount

Weiss: Saber, Caster

Blake: Saber, Assassin

Yang: Berserker, Rider

Jaune: Saber, Rider, Berserker

Nora: Berserker, Rider—same as Ruby with Magnhild's upgrade allowing her to 'fly'

Pyrrha: Saber, Lancer, Archer

Ren: Assassin

That's just my interpretation though. If you think otherwise, let me know.