Violet, or Vi as her family calls her looked at her brother, he was breathing heavily, his face slightly pale and his gait shorter and shorter, if not because she was making sure to match his pace he would be left behind.

This was normal for her and her siblings, Jaune was always the weakest of them…

"Give me that," Violet said, taking the backpack from Jaune and hanging it from her right shoulder "Do you want me to carry you again Jaune?" she teased with a mischievous smirk.

Her brother furrowed his eyebrow, lips pulled into a frown, and shook his head "I can do this Vi, I don't want to be a burden"

Weakest, but the strongest-willed

Vi nodded but remained near him, the two watched ahead as one of their siblings tripped the other

"Saffron!" a girl with a high ponytail with a blue bow and blue bracelets yelled in anger

"Catch me if you can Aqua!" another girl with short neck-length hair taunted, running far ahead, her sister right behind her.

That left the last of their merry band, who was reading a book and wore green framed glasses. Vi called out to her "Hey! Jeanne! Come here and help your poor little brother"

Jaune looked at her indignantly "By 2 minutes Vi, by 2 minutes"

Jeanne slowed down and walked beside the two "Still older baby bro" Jeanne had a small smile as she spoke.

Jaune grumbled

"They said no again, did they?" Jeanne asked side-eyeing her twin

"Well, it wasn't an outright 'no' this time, so progress?" Jaune answered his back a little straighter this time.

The two-sister looked at one another before Vi spoke: "You sure you wanna be a huntsman still Jaune?"

Jaune shook his head "Yes, but more than anything I want to be a knight"

Vi hummed "If you ask me I don't want you to be anywhere near Grimm or criminals"

Jaune opened his mouth but a hand patted him on the head, he looked at his eldest sister, and she wore a bright smile "But then again I'd be a hypocrite, won't I? After all, I'm going to Sanctum next year"

Jeanne and Jaune looked at Vi "Listen, it's natural for us older to worry, I get mom and pops, your weak Jaune, plain and simple" Jaune looked down, a pang in his heart "But don't confuse physical weakness for lack of strength, the weak-willed runs at the first sight of battle, fearing what is in front of them, someone with a strong will fights for they fear what is behind them"

The trio stopped, near a tree beside a lake they always passed by on the way to school. "Never think you're weak Jaune, you aren't" Vi picked up two rocks, one she gave to Jaune, and the other she threw, it skipped the surface of the water 21 times before it plunged deep into the lake, just shy of making it to the other side.

Vi turned to Jaune "You try"

Jaune looked at the rock, then at his eldest sister, he pulled his arm back and let the rock fly, it only skipped 4 times, not even making it to the center, Jaune sighed and was about to speak when Vi slapped him on the back.

She smiled at Jaune "Good job, it made it farther than the last time"

Jaune's eyes grew wide and he looked back at the lake "I saw you always training when no one's around you know? Trying to make up for having a weak body, every time you collapse, you kept getting back up"


A younger Vi peeked behind a door and saw her little brother try and fail to stand, to walk, falling every time, and yet, she saw his face scrunched up and annoyed, but not deterred in the slightest, and tried again. Then she heard her mother call out "Jaune! My goodness look at you!" her mother dusted off Jaune's clothes and carried him away.

Vi continued to watch over Jaune, and little by little she saw him improve, grow stronger and stronger until he was able to walk on his own.

Then he was able to run in short bursts, then he was allowed to go to school albeit with one of his sisters with him at all times, but even so, the family continued to cheer him on and praise Jaune for every little action he took, actions that are glossed over by some others his age as simple or monotonous, but to Jaune, these actions were straining and difficult for him.

Even so, he smiled every time he accomplished them, either with help or his own

And Vi smiled when he did, a sister, a sibling, relishing in the joy that their brother is far from sorrow and continues to walk forward.


Vi looked at Jeanne "Remember when he was 5 and he can't even walk still? Now he's 10 and can walk to and from school only collapsing once"

Vi looked at Jaune again "That there is your strength Jaune, that refusal and stubborn drive to be better. No one can take that away from you, that's why I know" hHergrin was ear to ear "You'll be a great huntsman, and a knight in the future"

Jaune had tears falling down his cheeks, he wiped his nose and hugged his sister, whispering "Thank you…" over and over again.

Vi just patted his head "Of course I'll be The greatest Huntress there ever was, so you'll have a long, long way to go"

That enlisted a snort from Jeanne and a chuckle from Jaune.

Adjusting her bag and Jaune's she beckoned the twins to move along "Let's go, brothers, know what Saffron got Aqua to do accidentally this time"

As if on cue, they heard an indignant screech followed by uncontrollable laughter off towards their school.

"Too late big sis, I bet Saf tripped her again and made her fall in someone's paint bucket, again," Jeanne said, back to reading her book, a small smile on her lips.

Vi sighed but happy that her family was happy, and she'll do everything to make sure that stays.

XXX

It was raining, grey and monochrome, dull, with no luster nor ounce of joy, a silent throbbing in his heart, muted in its agony.

'Why? It isn't fair...'

He heard someone beside him sob, as he gazed at the coffin, slowly lowering into the earth, a violet eagle emblazoned on it, wings spread as if taking off, into the heavens themselves…

Slowly, however, ever so painfully, the soaring eagle was buried in dirt… and the sobs of anguish were heard, louder than ever.

"It's raining hard today, huh Jeanne?" Jaune said eyes like cloudy sapphire.

A hand, warm and assuring took his own.

Jeanne beside him looked up, but nodded "Yeah, it's…*sniff* pouring hard…"

The setting sun disappeared into the horizon, casting a soft orange and Violet of scattered light over the heavens.

And as night came, the coldness of loss ebbed away, and sadness and sorrow took its place. He walked the silent hallways, illuminated by the broken moon. Jaune stood before a door, he entered the room, and before him a long corridor.

At each side was a mural, of golden-haired people, wearing armor, wielding swords, spears, bows, and arrows. He walked further and further, and the mural changed from wielders of archaic weapons to guns that shift into other weapons.

The further he walked the further the muted agony in his heart he felt.

Finally, at the end of the corridor, a wide open space sparsely painted here and there, surrounding a marble obelisk, inscribed by names written in golden ink by the dozens, with room yet still for hundreds more stood imposing.

But Jaune paid no mind to the obelisk at first, choosing to approach a portion of the wall.

There, her hair done in a single braid, wearing a single pouldron on her right arm and lightweight armor with violet accents and wielding two short axes, one with the image of an eagle, and the other, a double crescent. beheading a lupine monster with horns that protruded from where eyes should have been, with claws that looked sharp enough to slice solid stone as if it were bread.

A painting depicting a heroic facade…

'she died, there's nothing… heroic about it. She left her family behind, is this where stories of heroes end? The mourning of the ones they love…'

Jaune touched the smooth stone, feeling the cold that seeped into it like a sponge.

"Why?" he asked, body shaking and tears flowing free from his eyes like a dam bursting from the pressure.

"you promised…" he banged his fist onto the stone "You promised to unlock my aura when you came back…" his shoulders sagged, and knelt before the image of Violet Arc "…you promised…"

Deep in his sorrow Jaune did not take note of someone kneeling beside him until she spoke "And we'll make sure to remind her once we see her again, Jaune"

Startled Jaune flinched and looked beside him, Aqua, his second eldest, now… eldest sister, kneeling beside him looking at the mural of their sister same as him.

But as Jaune's eyes are a cloudy sapphire, hiding its luster and beauty from the world, Aqua's were a dead calm ocean, still, as if waiting for a storm to brew and let the world see how terrifying it can get.

"Stupid big sis, always so eager getting into fights… didn't even think twice about accepting Headmaster Lionhearts' request to aid a settlement under siege…" Aqua looked down, hands gripped, fingers digging into her skin, as a soft blue aura came over them.

"Everyone else said it was hopeless to help, the settlement was too far away and the Grimm too many… but she and her team went anyway." Aqua closed her eyes "I tried to stop her, that was my first mistake, the second was fighting her, that was the first time my semblance broke…"

She opened her eyes and a semi-transparent shield manifested, Jaune looked at it with some awe, as the shield was decorated with the iconography of castles and forts "One swing, it took one swing of her axe to utterly destroy my ultimate shield and shatter my aura"

She breathed in deeply "That was the last time I saw her alive, I'm sorry Jaune, if I just did something different, convinced her team instead, or just went with her, better than being stuck in the academy as my aura healed, I could have…" Aqua chucked back tears "I could have saved her… her team and everyone else that didn't make it"

A humorless chuckle came out of her "I prided myself as the ultimate shield, nothing can bypass it, the greatest defense-oriented huntress in the world… but when it counted, when I needed to be that shield… I broke, I'm so, so, sorry, Jaune, Vi…"

"I utterly failed…" Aqua wept for the loss of her dear sister, but also the uselessness she felt at preventing it.

Jaune approached and hugged her side, Aqua latched onto him like she was outside in the middle of a blizzard and finally found a cottage to feel warmth again.

The two siblings knelt, tears and grief laid bare before the image of their dear sister, taken before her time.

It was then, that neither saw nor noticed the white obelisk shift ever so slightly.

XXX

Far, where the shadows fall, towering ominously the dark tower stood, over barren lands and pools of darkness.

Where monsters spawn and prowl, where the light goes and dies, sat upon her cold throne, a witch opens her blackened red eyes. Looking to the far east, a miasma of shadow brewed beneath her throne, her alabaster face, marred by red pulsing veins near her eyes set into a confused frown.

An image of a blond-haired, blue-eyed youth, smiling below her with pear-white teeth, beckoning her to follow him to a modest house, with 4 others waving them over.

For a brief moment, the darkness and shadow around her pulled back but returned quickly and forcefully.

"What is this? Another ploy Ozma?" she hummed and stood from her throne "No matter" she murmured and walked out of the throne room. and into another further deep in her tower.

She came upon a sight that would strike horror in the hearts of men.

Dangling above the ground, bonded with writhing black tentacles, thick and sinewy. What looked to be a woman, trashing in silent agony, mouth open…

And silver eyes flickering... from white to dark purple...

A/N And that's a wrap, comments? Suggestions? Until next time peace!