"He's been out for two days.." An eye-patched Arc stood at the side of the bed, where her baby-brother laid still unconscious from the battle of Grimm that took part when she went to check on the Xiao-Long-Rose Siblings to assure their safety at the grave-sight of the late Summer-Rose, only to be met with dread and shock. Ruby, who was the one that spoke, sat on the opposite side. She just had a blank stare that was held at the blonde-male who saved her despite everything that transpired in that horrible hoard. From his willingness to sacrifice himself so she could live, to that very moment when something broke and he turned into some sort of monster.. but between the former and latter, she was much more upset about the former.

To him, it did not matter if he had perished in that time.. as long as one person managed to escape, and that person. Was her, Ruby Rose... In the frame of events, he chose her life over his. But she wasn't the only one who has been affected by the state of the Arc. Another, blonde unrelated to the two blonde siblings was also there looking from the door-way. Her expression was unreadable but her internal struggles were collapsing her already bruised mind, the one-sided argument they had on the day before the incident, to her not wanting to go and see Summer. She felt the anger at her own lack of responsibility, not only to Ruby but her friend.. it made her wish she had gone with them, then maybe..maybe he would be okay..?

If only she was there. Perhaps it would've altered slightly.

Yang looked towards her teacher, she too held an expression that could not be deciphered, but judging from her sclera, and the obvious dark circles around her face. The woman hasn't been sleeping much, too busy tending to Jaune to even remotely take care of her well-being. And to be fair, Yang wouldn't say much about it, because she herself knew if Ruby was on that bed laying down instead, she'd be the one to make sure she was okay at every moment and opportunity possible.

Ruby told Yang, Sincere, and her father what went down in the lead-up to the Grimm-Hoard. Tai albeit relieved his daughter wasn't harmed, felt guilt eating at his heart, that it cost the boy who he was beginning to warm up to as each passing day goes, to the very edge of his limits to save his pride and joy.. and Tai now knowing the length Jaune was willing to go for his family In spite of his own well-being? While he may not be very happy about it, but he sure as hell damn respects the dedication, he took the protection to heart and even when all hope was lost... He didn't forget his promise, to return Ruby back home, grateful was an understatement for Tai as he felt near indebted to the young boy.

But the story shifted, and the atmosphere altered in the living-room because the story, changed. Gone was the dread and macabre, and now came concern and confusion.

Sincere ran her fingers through her brother's blonde-locks, her vestige may not show her unease. But her single-iris reveals the lament that rocked her core.

"I don't know what happened.. but Jaune changed.." Ruby elicits out, her voice was hollow and barely hearable if it weren't for how close everyone was. She was exhausted from the day.

"What do you mean he changed?" Yang was the first to ask the first conundrum of her reiteration of what happened down at Summer's grieving-area.

"I.. I don't know.. I just knew, he wasn't himself by that point.. he changed, and he felt.. very different. There was no warmth, all I felt..." Ruby paused, they look at the small reaper, her eyes stationed at her legs.

"It was almost like he became a Grimm."

That, unsettled everybody. A human turning into the monsters they swore to rid of from the world of Remnant? Becoming the creatures of hatred and repulsion.. that is, quite an impossible and comedic thought.. but Ruby did not elaborate more and just turned herself in for the night, nobody protested or snooped for information as she clearly wasn't comfortable talking about it, and they did not want to force her unless she herself was willing to consent to it.

But the premise was already said, what Ruby saw and what saved them. Was Jaune unbecoming of himself, becoming almost Grimm to ensure Ruby saw tomorrow, which.. doesn't make sense when you put it in the perspective of the actual creature. They were hollow, hateful and malice incarnate, they couldn't care about anything much less anyone. So that meant.. Jaunes anger, was because he could not uphold his piece to Ruby, and in that moment of realization.

He snapped.

Sincere pieced together what she knew and learned of the Soul and Aura, and with the knowledge she has.. she doesn't know if hatred could shift the Aura into becoming something different, or was it an entirely deviating mystery? Sigh.. she seriously wished she was Ozpin or Qrow right about now... Actually, on the thought of that drunken feather, he might be the only person that is not Ozpin that might just know what it is that changed her brother, even if it was some clue or hypothetical latch.. at the very least its something they could lead off from.

No, that can wait. She needed to comfort the mentally-unwell Rose next to her.

"Ruby?" Sincere called out to the girl, her voice was not hardened with malice, she knew better than to be bitter at an innocent girl who her brother himself decided to shield even if it meant putting himself in harms way.

"Y-Yes?" She stuttered out, she was nervous and its to nobodies surprise. She expected to be chewed and scolded for putting the older woman's brother into a state of comatose, yet Sincere only showed compassion and care despite everything.

Sincere rounded the bed, and wrapped her arms around the reaper who squirmed slightly at the act. "I know you feel like this was your fault, and we all know you will not take no for an answer on this, but Jaune chose what he did for you." She tried reasoning with the blachette.

"He had no choice.." Ruby whimpered, remembering the desperation in his eyes and when he wailed, the scream he bellowed at her to run.. it was haunting, and if that wasn't enough, he charged straight into the pit of Grimm.

Sincere was quiet, her thoughts jumbling together.. before a thin smile spread across her lips while her eye went to the resting features of her sweet baby brother.. she knew she was falling into that territory of babying again, but how could she not? She is his eldest sister, one that is meant to protect and guide him.. and she hasn't been doing that job very well as of this moment, maybe she has been horrible at it since the beginning.. and of course it bothers her, she may act callous and uncaring at times even strict and stubborn.. but...

"You know. That's kinda been his life." Sincere went and sat beside the Reaper who turned to the eye-patch warrior.

"W-What do you mean?" That caught her attention and curiosity, good. Sincere didn't want the girl to dive into depression from the guilt.

Yang who till now was in her own head, had her attention taken by what Sincere said. And she listened while also leaning against the door-frame.

"Jaune was never meant to be here, and I don't mean just here on Patch.. I meant from his training to fighting, originally. We wanted to secure him from that life, we thought we were protecting him. But, you mentioned he had no choice, I'm ashamed to admit.. I was part of the reason why he didn't have choices, simply put we didn't trust him enough. Mix in with the fact he was the youngest of our sibling circle, you can imagine.. we babied him, and to this day I still do, because I love my little brother, he will forever be that to me. Someone I held since they were an infant, of course.. I wanted to steer him away from this life, and what made it cruel was the fact he wanted this, he begged, he pleaded, he cried.. and he was denied, over and over. Despite his plea, we believed we knew best.. we were wrong, I was wrong." Sincere confessed, her expression melancholic. "He proved that to me, to my mother, and to my father. In his choiceless and controlled world, he broke it by finding his voice. On his birthday, I remembered that I wasn't there.. but I called to wish him, what I got instead was well, the news of defiance. At first I felt uneasy, I felt scared. He didn't want anything but this path, he forced our hand. And we couldn't really do much about it, much that wouldn't have him pushing us away.." Sincere sighed.

Ruby who has been silent, thought that this was quite unexpected, the roller coaster Sincere was unveiling.. she was now trying to picture having not met Jaune even if their friendship hadn't been that long, and to be frankly honest.. she hated every moment of those thoughts. And purged them with glee.

Yang was as invested as her little-sister, her eyes wandered to the incapacitated Arc and she couldn't help but feel that fiery respect in her chest. She still looks back on their duel, even... If it was only last month. But when she dueled him, it wasn't like anyone she's ever sparred with, don't get her wrong at Signal there are some potentially stronger students then Jaune, mostly because of Aura and longer time honing themselves but she digresses on that. What seperate's Jaune to those at Signal is the way he fights, and obviously without context that would be the stupidest statement made, but specifically his fighting-ethos.

His genuine will, his combusting determination to win, and even when he was cornered at one point. He pulled through because he refused to lose without showing his resiliency.. his feelings were raw and the best term she preferably puts it as, a punch to the face, and she likes that about him.

Yang paused abruptly.

As a friend.. right. She likes her friend for his antics.

The lioness shook her head, she didn't know why, but for one split second.. Jaune endeared her differently. Unknown to her however was that her face was slightly red.

"He at first trained all by himself, because that was what he said he would do. So we let him, but we didn't plan on training him, as he said it himself. He will do it all on his own." Ruby frowned at how callous that was, and even hollow at the fact they wouldn't help him, even if the state of the family at the time was messy that didn't excuse how cruel that sounded.

"That doesn't mean you couldn't help him, that sounds so terrible Sincere.." Ruby mumbles. The cyclops Arc sighed, that was understatement in her opinion. "I know... I know, look we aren't proud of it okay, pride got in our way and I'm sure to an extent it was resentment for his unwillingness to cooperate or listen to us.. I'm not happy, that at first all I wanted was for him to fail and realise that this wasn't meant to be, you think I wake up now look back at that with some demented smile? No, I... I failed as a sibling then.. to be honest maybe even now." Sincere exhaled, she was quick to snuff her rising temper, she knew Ruby meant well.. and she was right too, it was terrible, ridiculous, stupid of them. But she prefers to call it, unforgiving. They wanted nothing more but for him to fail so that he wouldn't have to suffer in their eyes thinking it was to protect him while not even considering how cruel and unfair it was to Jaune himself, in reality if he had failed, he would only pull himself further into his suffering because he wanted to succeed. What would've happened then? What state would he be in- she cut off that thought. It doesn't matter now, Sincere swore to her heart and soul that she will guide Jaune to achieves his dream. And she will do so, by making everything human about him super.

Sincere continues, finding some peace with herself for the time being. "But Karma, was not gonna just allow prejudice unpunished." She said it with such, animosity that it made Ruby uncomfortable. "We got schooled, and to be honest. It opened our eyes and for my mother.. it was an epiphany, this was.. weeks before we arrived at Patch. The family, not including me was out, I'm gonna skip most of the unimportant things, but it was the typical family get together days we Arc's would have. Jaune was apparently training deeper into the woods. And sometime later, the family minus... The youngest of the girls, went back home to gather more supplies or something like that. Meaning my sister Joan, was guarding the area. And I guess the family weren't expecting what was about to transpire next." Sincere grimly paused, making Ruby lean in closer to her with anticipation, Yang meanwhile... Felt like this was Deja vu.

"An Ursa, none Major. Was out and about, trotting and coincidentally made it to the camp area, this was what I was told by Joan, but Jaune arrived in style.. and style I mean Joan wouldn't be here today if it weren't for him. But I think, the most interesting part of the story has just begun, because Jaune stopped it with only, a wooden sword, And to boot with that, he doesn't have Aura either." Sincere said it as if it was something common to be thrown around, which was not.

"What!?" Ruby shouts in utter amazement and shock, gone was the frown and gloom.

Sincere snorts. "Yep, my initial reaction to that. But that wasn't what changed our minds." As much as she would love to move the amusement train, she needed this to get towards the core of the tale.

"It wasn't really even what happened in the woods, because our father saved Jaune in time.. also for the record he was holding the bear back with his hands when it had him pinned, that was what my parents said." Well... Another amusement burst wouldn't hurt, and boy did Ruby deliver on it.

"Even people with Aura struggle to hold Grimm off with strength alone and Jaune did so-Wait... Wait a minute." It clicked for the red-hood, and she hated that it took her this long to even conlude to it, it was all there. From their first meeting, to the stampede of Grimm they had to fight. Jaune always needed to be patched up by Sincere if he had been hurt, he bruised and bled. And while originally that could've been chalked up to his Aura being shattered at the time.. this made more sense, he couldn't heal by what everyone would consider second nature, their Aura. Because he doesn't have it.

That only made her realize more, that Jaune. He was more defenseless than she was in that forest incident, yet despite that, he wanted to protect her regardless..

Ruby felt her heart in her ears blaring, and her face heat up tremendously.. she knew that she liked him, but what she did not expect.

Was liking him even more.

"By the face you are making, I take it you just came to conclusion of what I will say is correct, Jaune does not have his Aura-Barrier broken yet." Sincere stated, but she held her hand up as she saw Ruby about to question the reason. "This is silly saying it out loud, but due to the Arc tradition we don't really unlock one another's Aura." And that only added the pile of questions for Ruby. "But the dangers of fighting Grimm.." Ruby was seriously trying her damnedest to find this reasonable. If Jaune had his Aura then.. maybe he wouldn't be in this predicament.

"It's not part of the plan for him to fight them sis, I'm sure they are just training him to prepare for them.. but not actually go into the field and hunt them down. The incident with you and him in the forest was expected, and I meant the Grimm part as mom's grave area is infested with them, however the stampede you faced was definitely not normal since we've never encountered anything like that before." Yang with the information she had gained, simplified the matter for her younger sister. Her and Ruby had encountered Grimm when going to see Summer, but definitely not like the one Jaune and Ruby fought through, at least from their experience together.

"Wait, you know about this Yang?" Ruby looked at her big-sister incredulous, at her lack of surprise at this revelation that just came to, Yang just sheepishly grinned and shrugged in a half-ass apology.

"Don't be mad about this Rubes, but like. The entirety of Signal knows and so does Father." Yang said meekly.

Ruby zoned out, "Eh..?" The reaper was going through some sort of whiplash at the fact she had not only been left out of the knowledge, but it took her this long to obtain it herself.

Sincere titters. "Look don't worry about not knowing at first, of course you would think he had his Aura because well he was training, so I feel like it's just common sense to assume he unlocked it. Though... I guess I can see why you are not so happy about it, as... You basically always witness us patching him up." The cyclops grinned weakly at the blank-slate Ruby who had lost all color with her mouth agape.

"What was the change of heart that made you train Jaune now?" Yang progressed this with the question that holds the most merit of it all, why the change of heart now? When it was clear from the beginning that none supported him, (To her knowledge) and even admitting to the fact that they wanted him to meet his dead-end when he was all by his lonesome, what replaced their hearts with hope for him now?

"I wanted to save people."

Sincere, Ruby, and Yang. All turned and saw that he had awoken, his eyes gazed the ceiling. The languid in them expressed his exhaustion.

"I wanted to save people. I wanted to be the hero, I.. I don't care about fame, or titles, or legacy.. if I could just, help someone. Anybody.. I'm okay with that being my story.." He sighed tiredly.

"J-Jaune..!" Ruby was the first to acknowledge and recover from her stupor, she went to hug him but she hesitated. But the smile Jaune offered her, reassured her to go for it. Once she clung to his torso, he put his hand on her hair.. softly combing them. "Sorry for worrying you." He murmurs. "Y-You better." She sniffled and quipped at him.

He was then hugged by Sincere, then is followed suit by Yang. It seemed he was being cramped together by beautiful women, truly the heroes dream.

"I... I knew you'd be fine, but I guess I was still scared." Sincere lethargically chuckled.

"You had us worried you goof.. I'm sorry, that I was selfish that day..." Yang was more held together than the two, but she was still shaken.

"Don't be sorry Yang." Jaune sighed. "I said I would take over for you right? So don't blame yourself over it, I took it upon myself to do so.." He reasoned.

"Easy for you to say! You could've died..!" Yang angerily retorted.

"Unless ghosts can be physically touched, I'm right here." He smiles, isn't it funny? A smile, almost anybody could do and it isn't even difficult.. yet, for Yang. That reassuring expression made her face lit up slightly, and she knew it wasn't her Semblance.

"Did you just wake up or when you did you couldn't move or talk?" Sincere was assimilating him over.

"I just woke up Sincere." He reaffirms.

Ruby was still left clinging to him, but her head shot up. "Wait, you trained him because you learned he wanted to save people?" That.. was kind of anticlimactic, don't get her wrong it was still quite intriguing from how it was Jaune against his entire family. He defied them to fight for his dreams, but the ending was left to be desired..

"When he saved Joan, we realised our own idiocy nearly had him killed. If he had been trained, he would've fared better. But there he was against an Ursa, no combat training, no combat knowledge and not even Grimm studies. Yet he was willing to charge forward so he could save someone.. but the needle that moved this entire journey was also our mothers decision that night." Sincere grinned at seeing Jaune get flustered for being the center of attention.

"She came to an acceptance?" Yang tilts her head.

"Well.. she did say that, but I would put salt all over it." Sincere snorted, if there was one thing Carmilla was, is always a mother.

Worrywart.

Ruby giggled, before she looked at Jaune with fondness in her eyes.

"Hey Jaune?"

"Yeah Rubes."

"Welcome Back."

Fin