Chapter 17 – Three Is The Loneliest Number

In which Jaune Arc's interests are piqued and his status quo remains unchanging.

Self-unlocking aura. That literally sounded like the most amazing, perfect, hand-tailored, problem-solving solution that could conceivably exist. The honeyed words were music played by the sweetest harpsichord, tenderly bouncing off of Jaune's delicate ears.

Unlocking his aura by himself. Where had Penny been all his life? He had half a mind to kiss the adorable robot.

Aura unlocked by none other than Jaune Arc. Perfection.

"So, what exactly is that?" he asked, not at all understanding.

"Not gonna lie, I'm just as unfamiliar," said Amber. "I was unlocked the usual way, and I've only ever had to unlock someone's aura twice the same way. Honestly, from what I know of aura, it doesn't sound possible."

"It most certainly is, friends. Self-unlocking is a method by which a strong emotional response to external stimuli forces one's aura to unlock. It is currently believed that the process occurs when the mental state of the individual in question becomes so turbulent that the soul's internal stress cannot be contained within the body and is expelled outwards. It has been documented in several cases. I can provide you with each instance's specifics if needed."

"No need," said Jaune, wiping the drool off his chin. "How do I do it?"

"Simple," said Penny. "You must enter a straight of heightened emotions."

"K. How do I do that?"

"In most recorded examples of self-unlocking, it transpires during Grimm attacks. Any emotion may trigger self-unlocking, but the negative emotions tend to be more frequent sources. The immense stress, fear, anger, and pain of the life-and-death scenario is enough to forcibly draw out one's aura. This is not a surefire method, however. Were it, Grimm attacks would frequently end in failure, and there would be far more aura-users on Remnant. There have been other instances of people unlocking their aura during car crashes or airship engine failures. A young boy once unlocked it during a college exam of particularly high significance to his academic career. One woman is said to have unlocked it out of joy during her wedding ceremony, though this is unverified."

So, it was usually a dangerous or death-defying scenario, huh? That was both good and bad. Good because Jaune found himself in harm's way almost every other weekend, and he was certainly he could find it in himself feel the mix of negative emotions with the strength that Penny described. Bad because it hadn't unlocked already, after everything he'd been through.

That means it hasn't been dangerous enough. I need to put myself through some ordeal that's even more frightening, even more harrowing, even more emotionally staggering, enough that it has to unlock my aura.

"Jau– Y-Yang," Amber snarled. "I can see the look on your face, and I'm pretty sure I can follow your thought process. Please don't take up skydiving or throw yourself into a Deathstalker den just to unlock your aura. You'll probably just end up dying first."

"I could finally have aura."

"Yang."

"No more relying on others, no more suits of armor."

"Yang."

"It's the only way, at this point. Don't worry – look, I'll work my way up to the skydiving into Deathstalker nests."

"YANG!"

"Fine. How does this sound? I'll start small. I can go out to the forests around Beacon and hunt some simple Grimm with the team. If that doesn't work, I can try slightly bigger Grimm, then going out alone. We can think of things from there. Maybe I'll try volunteering to fight, uh, Blake's partner in Goodwitch's class. That ought to scare my aura to the surface."

"It's your life. And I mean that in two ways – in that it's your life on the line here, and that's not worth risking for any aura. On the other hand, it's your life to live, and your choice on whether or not to risk it."

"I promise I'll be safe and won't do anything crazy. Don't worry about it, Am– Jaune."

"All I ask is that you think about – DEEP-DEEP-DEEP."

Well, that was rude. Amber had gone and hung up on Jaune. Maybe she didn't think it was a good idea, but that wasn't an excuse to just start shutting him out.

"Jaune! Penny!" Ruby came running out of the store with a book in her hand. "I'm done looking for clues!"

Penny's eyes shot to Amber, then back to Ruby. "Jaune? You know about Yang's scroll, Ruby?"

Ruby's forehead briefly scrunched up in confusion, then it released. "Oh, yeah, because I forgot my own at the…yeah. I know."

Jaune pocketed Amber and tried to direct the conversation away from her, lest Penny accidentally spill the beans. "Did you find anything good in there, Ruby?"

"Yeah!" She eagerly passed him the book she held in both hands. "This. Open it up, open it up!"

Jaune looked at the cover.

Faunus Heat: Tales of Fur and Shame

He didn't need to open up the cover to know exactly was this kind of book was. The cover-art alone was borderline pornographic, with the two scantily clad Faunus men in a…

Jaune averted his eyes from as his face reddened.

…passionate embrace.

She reached out to take it back from him, but he pulled it back. There was absolutely zero reason Ruby should be interested in these sorts of things at her age.

Although she's actually not a virgin, and I am. Maybe it's her who should be keeping it out of my reach.

"Is this a gift for Friend Blake, Ruby?" Penny inquired. "I recall she is interested in such novels."

"No, this isn't one of Blake's esoteric books, or whatever it is she calls those," said Ruby. "Jaune, you have to open it up!"

"I'd rather not."

"The payoff is so worth it. C'mon, flip the cover and have a look at the goods."

"I really don't want to."

"Jaune, it literally shows us everything we've been looking for on the first page. I came immediately when I saw it."

"Uhhhh…what?"

"I came back to show you, silly! Because we're dicks! You and me, a pair of dicks."

"WHAT?"

"Private dicks! We're detective partners, investigating Roman together. Here, I've gotcha covered, partner." Ruby reached over and flipped the front cover of the book, revealing something written in pencil on the first page. Jaune leaned in to read the words.

Mercury and Emerald shot me. They're the ones you're looking for. Here are photos of them both.

-Tukson

Ruby handed him a pair of pictures. "These were tucked inside. I think it's our perps."

Jaune inspected the photos. The scowling profile mugshot of a silver haired, wiry boy was in one, and the other contained a picture of what Jaune could best describe as a green haired ball of simmering unruliness. Both screamed 'Here Comes Trouble.' Had Jaune seen either one of them on the streets, he would have patted his scroll, wallet, and keys to make sure he hadn't lost them, then turned and walked the other way.

"Are you sure it is them for whom you are searching?" asked Penny. "It would be a rather embarrassing mistake to wrongly accuse this duo, should they prove innocent."

"Penny, a man was murdered in this bookstore not three days ago. The police only just reopened the area up after searching it."

"How come they didn't find this?" said Jaune. It seemed like the kind of clue that they would be very interested in.

"It was in the one place the cops would never look – right on top of the front counter."

"Ah, hidden in plain sight."

Ruby shook her head. "Nah, the crime scene investigators in Vale just suck."

Penny took the photos and stared at them for ten seconds each, blinking at the end. Jaune was fairly certain he heard a shutter click when she did.

"I have alerted my father and several Atlesian officials of the identities of these individuals. We can expect a search to be organized by approximately 1100 tomorrow morning at the latest. That is when Atlesian military forces finish their extended, extra-long breakfast break periods."

So she can take photos with her eyes and forward images with her brain. It must be nice, being a robot. Amber's just a scroll, so I guess she can do that stuff too, but she doesn't have legs or anything. I guess in that regard, Penny's just a bigger, more ambulatory version of–

The weight of the obvious solution to one of his problems that had been staring him in the face hit him like Cardin's mace.

How did I miss that? I was so concerned about my own aura that I didn't even realize that a mobile, humanoid aura user was standing right in front of me! If Penny can be built, it stands to reason that another Penny can be built, and Amber could be transferred into that!

Jaune nearly opened his mouth to ask if Penny there was any way to upload Penny to a robotic body like her own, then stopped for two reasons.

First of all, Penny had respected his secret, so blowing her cover in front of Ruby would be a real jerk move.

Second of all, Penny worked for Ozpin. The less she knew about Amber, the better. If her father or inventor or guardian or whoever it was that built her was asked to design a robotic body capable of holding a person's disembodied aura, they might start to ask questions that Jaune and Amber couldn't excuse. Penny was naïve and trusting, but her father and this James fellow might see right through Jaune and figure out the truth.

The idea did give Jaune pause, though. He hadn't really put much thought into switching Amber back into something more mobile. His best idea before this had been to study robotics in his exceedingly rare free time and build her a little bomb-squad style Rover-bot that could drive around, then plug her scroll body directly into that to grant her control and some minor mobility – maybe giving it a claw so she could interact with the rest of the world. One thing that he hadn't considered was somehow transferring the aura out of the scroll the way he'd gotten it into it.

Jaune knew the code to the CCT's elevator, so as long as Ozpin didn't change it, he could freely access the sub-chamber and the aura transfer machine stored within. As soon as he could find a body, he could in theory have her talk him through how to use the machine (assuming she knew), and presto-chango-Amberisbacko.

The hard part, of course, would be finding a body. He was lucky that scrolls were apparently able to contain aura and that they weren't just unfeeling, unthinking bricks. Amber could call him or others, access the CCT network, browse the web, and do plenty of other things like this. If he were to switch her into another vessel, it would need to be something better, with more features. Otherwise, it wouldn't warrant the risk of changing. That pretty much limited her new body to functional, aura-compatible robots like Penny, or…cadavers? Jaune wasn't sure he wanted to think about that.

I should ask her what she thinks about that sort of thing.

"Jaune? Your scroll?"

"W-What? Nothing! What about it?!"

Ruby wasn't even looking at him, instead flipping through the pages of the porny book she'd stolen. "Can you call the others? We've found enough of what we're looking for, and I think it's time to call it in and meet up back at Beacon."

"Oh. R-Right. Yeah, I'll do it right now." Jaune pulled out the scroll and found that it was already starting a group call with Team WBY. That was nice of Amber to do for him.

Blake picked up first, and her face looked ragged and tired. There was almost no light illuminating her, and Jaune had to hold the screen up close to his eyes just to make her out.

"Kind of in the middle of something!" Her line disconnected almost immediately.

Weiss' face showed up on the screen next, her appearance far less dire-seeming. "Hello?"

"Ruby wants me to let you know that we're done. She found the names of two people who might be working with Roman scribbled down in some sexy book."

Yang appeared on the screen. "All I heard was 'in some sexy book,' so I assume Jaune and Ruby's date went well?"

Weiss' pleasant, neutral look crumbled, and a ferocious intensity replaced it. "That's not something you should joke about."

"Oh, I'm sure Jaune Arc, ever the ladies' man, was putting all the moves on my sister dearest. I think I heard something about how he made sweet, sweet love to Blake after oil wrestling Roman Torchwick into submission, so it wouldn't surprise me to learn that he'd set his sights on Ruby next. Gotta score all four, Loverboy, complete the team and whatnot, eh?"

Jaune frantically shook his head, desperately trying to convey that he hadn't put any of the moves on Weiss'…girlfriend? Lover? Partner? Her partner, that was the one.

"I was nothing but a gentleman," said Jaune. "Absolutely no untoward advances whatsoever. And besides, I'm with Nora…I think?"

Both girls' faces fell at that.

"I-I'm sorry, Jaune," apologized Yang. "I shouldn't joke about who you're dating, not when things on your team are so up in the air."

"Wow, this is really hot stuff!" said Ruby. Jaune away from the scroll to see her turning the book sideways and flipping out a centerfold. "Now that's a katana!"

"Jaune," Weiss intoned sweetly. "Please tilt the camera downwards."

"W-Why?"

"I would like to verify that your pants are on."

"They most certainly are, I assure you. It is not me Ruby is referencing."

"Nonetheless, I would like to be sure. And if you are lying, I would like to commit that image to memory so I can know what I'm going to be severing when next we meet."

"RUBY!" Jaune announced, louder than necessary. "I just checked, all bullheads to Beacon are delayed. We're not going to be meeting with your team at Beacon."

"Aw, poop. For how long?"

"Forever. All of the bullheads crashed and died. We're never going to see Wei– your team, ever again."

"That's okay! Just have them meet us at Tukson's Book Trade! It's right on the corner of–"

Amber wisely did Jaune the favor of hanging up on his behalf, but it was too late. The video on Weiss' side had shown her dropping the scroll and breaking into a dead sprint when the call ended.

Welp, I'm scared stiff and about to die. How long until my aura self-unlocks?

Ruby somehow managed to clarify her offhanded comments before Weiss took her rapier and made Jaune sing an octave higher. The five of them had met back up and discussed the fruits of their efforts on the bullhead flight over, but only after waiting a significant amount of time for Blake, the last of the pack, to return at their rendezvous point.

Their searches had each resulted in varying degrees of usefulness. Yang's contact had provided her with absolutely nothing to go off of, which meant that he trip to the city had been a colossal waste of time. Jaune himself wasn't entirely convinced that she hadn't just gone to some club and pretended she was out 'gathering intel.'

Weiss had discovered that Dust was being stolen from her family company in alarming quantities, but Team RWBY had pretty much already known that. Jaune supposed it was probably useful nonetheless. He had no idea what normal Dust theft in Vale looked like, and while Roman Torchwick's operations might have seemed large to an outsider like him, it could have just easily been a normal weekend in the shady parts of Vale. Putting some concrete numbers to the rise in scale of this theft was beneficial as validation of their fears.

Blake still refused to share her results with Jaune present.

Jaune, Ruby, and Penny (and Amber, though she couldn't be mentioned) had discovered the identity of two possible agents of Torchwick's crime organization, so that was probably the most useful of the people (those willing to share their results, at least, as Blake implied she'd struck gold). Jaune was hoping that the duo would be found as quickly as possible, both because of his strong sense of justice and because he was quite possibly on the assassin's hit list after the docks.

The crew had promised Jaune that they would keep him appraised if they made any further developments. Earlier today, he would have rejected this offer vehemently, but now that he knew about self-unlocking…

If I go into dangerous situations with a fully trained team of huntresses at my back, I'll feel the stress but probably won't die. It's unlikely that they'll find anything soon, though. All four of them just dug around and pulled out all the stops to investigate Roman and the White Fang, and the best we got was a list of SDC spreadsheets and two photographs. I won't turn down the offer, but I'll try plenty of other stuff first. Combat class, Grimm culling in the Emerald Forest – the works.

And all that was assuming that the stress of the conversation that was awaiting him in his room in Beacon wouldn't be enough to seal the deal and make Jaune a real huntsman. It was something he both dreaded and knew was long overdue.

"Hiya, Ren. Ol' Renny, ol' pal."

The man in question sat cross-legged on the floor in the center of their dorm room, his eyes closed and his arms interlocked like a jagged pretzel. Jaune wasn't familiar with any yoga pose that resembled what Ren was doing with his body.

"I'm meditating," Ren commented. "Please leave me for now. We may speak later."

Jaune easily could do that. The door was right there. It would be so simple for Jaune to just pop right out, join Perry and Nora in their arm wrestling tournament going on at the table outside, bet a fiver or two (on Nora, obviously), and just try again later with Ren. All he had to do was comply with the Mistrilian boy's expressed wishes.

"Can't do that, teammate," Jaune said. "See, I get the feeling that if we put this off now, we'll just keep putting it off later. It'll be best for everyone if we just swallow our discomfort and hash things out."

"Very well." Ren's eyes opened, his legs uncrossed, and his arms disentangled. He motioned for Jaune to take the seat on the floor in front of him and retrieved a bottled water from a knitted basket near the foot of his bead. "If you wish to speak, speak."

"Alright, I'll cut right to the chase. Do you want me to break up with Nora?"

Ren nodded curtly. "I do."

Well, that answered that. "Um. Okay. So, I don't know for sure that I'm going to be able to do that."

Neutral pink eyes narrowed into annoyed slits. "Then why even offer?" Ren hissed fiercely.

"I…"

Jaune couldn't think of an answer. It had seemed like the right starting point for this talk, but where it was supposed to go from here was anyone's guess.

"I may appear calm, but I do feel. Do not mistake my lack of emoting for a lack of emotion. I am furious with you, and rather upset with Nora as well. Did you even consider how I felt about her when you so tactlessly approached my partner?"

"What happened to 'not together-together?'"

Ren raised his eyebrows. "You mean to say that every instance that cursed phrase was uttered, when Nora blushed and nervously denied her affection or me, or when I had to calm my breathing and fold my arms to prevent my hands from fidgeting, you saw nothing? No part of that strange ceremony, performed ad nauseum in your presence, grabbed your attention and struck you as odd?"

"No! I mean, yes! I mean, I didn't think it was odd."

"Verily?" Ren raised an eyebrow. "Then what did you think it was?"

"You two, being you two! You're Ren and Nora – you don't make any sense! Nora's crazy, and not in a bad way, but in a wacky-zany-impossible-to-understand-for-mere-mortal-minds way. And you, Ren, you make it sound like it was so obvious, but from what I've come to understand about the way you live your life, there's no subtext or secret meanings to anything. You never break out euphemisms, and when other people do you patently ignore them. Every time we've spoken, you've flat out stated how you feel in that weirdly stoic, neutral, Renny way. How was I supposed to know that this was the one time when I was meant to read deeper and try and draw the inverse conclusion of what you said? Can you really blame me for trusting my teammates at their word, especially when they so strenuously repeated that they were not together?"

Jaune's outburst did not elicit any shocked response from Ren, but he was quiet for a few minutes, presumably digesting his leader's words. His hardened eyes studied the blond boy, and some of the rage was replaced with curiosity.

"You're not lying, are you? You truly didn't see it."

"I mean, I figured there was something there and didn't know what to make about the whole thing, but I wanted to believe that we were a team, and if you felt a certain way, you'd just tell me. No games, no nothing. Was I wrong?"

"Yes," said Ren, without missing a beat.

"But –"

Ren cut him off. "You were indeed wrong about my relationship with Nora. I do wish to be involved with her in a manner beyond platonic. However, I suppose I cannot blame you for doing the same, especially when our stated messages on the nature of our partnership were contrary to the truth."

Jaune breathed out a sigh of relief and rubbed the back of his neck. "So, we cool?"

"No."

Jaune waited a second for Ren to launch into some sort of justification for the monosyllabic answer, but none came.

"Ummm…like, is this, uhhhh, supposed to be…you and I are 'not cool-cool' or something?" Jaune shrugged. "Cuz if it is, you gotta tell me. I'm so lost on the bluffs and double bluffs and triple bluffs that I don't think I can understand any on my own."

"You are seeking to date my partner, who I am in love with." Ren frowned. "Do not expect me to simply ignore this."

Jaune bit down his uneasiness. So close to the finish line, only to trip on a twig and faceplant and swallow the twig and choke on it and die. It would be easy enough to remedy this situation by rescinding his prom invite to Nora, hastily apologizing to Ren, and pretending this whole thing had never happened, but he knew that the wrong choice to make. Not just because he kind of liked the idea of taking a cute girl like Nora to the prom, but because her love life was not the kind of thing to be pre-arranged in a peace treaty between Jaune and Ren that lacked her presence altogether.

Maybe that was what would sway Ren. Jaune decided to voice the sentiment. "Should it be, you know, Nora's call? If you and I decide who she dates for her, that robs her of any choice in the matter. And to me, that just seems unfair."

Ren rose to his feet. "She and I have been together since our childhood. You have known her for approximately one month. I am sure that she shares my feelings. At present, I have reason to believe that she is not genuinely interested in you and is solely upset with me for not actively pursuing her. You are not a rebound, Arc; you are there to make me jealous, and it is working swimmingly. However, if this is how Nora wishes to proceed, I have no qualms with compliance. When I apologize for this misstep and present my case, I have no doubt that this error shall be rectified."

Ren stepped out the door. Jaune could probably have stopped him if he tried, but he intuitively knew that this was as far as his role in this went. Ren would go to Nora, and it wasn't his place to tell them how to Renora. If Ren was wrong, the partners would somehow have to make this work, for the sake of Team Juniper. If Ren was right…Jaune didn't like to think about that, but it would probably be easier. If Nora ended their five-minute-marriage, Jaune would let it go, again, for the sake of the team.

Either way, Jaune had said his piece, and he could do nothing more. The rest was up to them.

"Jaune. We need to talk."

These were the words he'd been expecting to hear from several people – Nora, to break up with him; Ren, to insist he break up with Nora; Penny, to discuss 'Jaune;' Ozpin, to expel him.

The last person he expected to be saying them was Blake Belladonna.

Jaune had just come out of the washroom after brushing his teeth before bed. He hadn't seen Ren since their little heart-to-heart, and Nora and Perry were both still avoiding their dorm room. Jaune idly wondered what popular hang-out haunt everyone was frequenting, since the common areas were empty and the library couldn't be entertaining enough to hold Nora's attention for more than an hour. Maybe they're training? I should just ask, if I want to know.

"Jaune. Stop spacing out. This is important."

"Blake, my team's imploding six ways to Solitas. I'm trying to manage three different crises right now, and I'm starting to worry that I might have to compromise one of them if I'm going to salvage the other two. I have more important things to do than hear you tell me I'm not at the right clearance level to join your team."

"I…" Blake sucked in a deep breath. "…wanted to apologize."

Jaune's eyes widened.

"But only because Ruby ordered me to me to!"

There it was.

"Then it's not really much of an…actually, never mind. I accept. Now, if that's all, can I go back to my room?"

"There's more."

Jaune rolled his eyes and set down his toothbrush. "Don't leave me hanging," he said sarcastically. "My interest has been whetted. I am whet, Blake."

"It's about the White Fang. I was able to find out a time and location for their next recruitment drive when we were out the other day. I'm planning to sneak my way in, and I want you to come with me."

"M-Me? Why me?"

"Roman Torchwick could be there. Regardless of how much I distrust you, you have experience with the man. And Ruby…she…Ruby says you were a great help to her investigation. Apparently, you told her where to look for the clue she found. If…If she can trust you, I guess I can too."

I told Ruby that she should look for clues, not where. And that was just to give me and Penny some privacy. Blake's barking up the wrong tree. I'd be no use to her there. I should just tell her that I don't want any part of these dangerous shenanigans.

B̶u̶t̶...

No. I promised Amber. Start small, see if that works.

W̶h̶e̶n̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶r̶t̶u̶n̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶c̶k̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶a̶u̶r̶a̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶n̶n̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶?̶

I can't. It would be suicide. There's no way I can fight my way past Roman Torchwick and the entire White Fang.

T̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶u̶n̶l̶o̶c̶k̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶a̶u̶r̶a̶.̶

"When is it going to be?" he asked.

Jaune could still get through this without betraying Amber's trust or needlessly endangering himself. All he had to do was start small and speedrun defying death before the White Fang meeting.

"Tomorrow," breathed Blake. "It's going to be in Vale, though I can't say exactly where. The location isn't set until the night of the event. The Fang will set up a series of breadcrumbs that only Faunus can follow and will lead them right to the safehouse in which it'll be held. It's standard White Fang procedure to prevent police from infiltrating. Jaune, if you're coming, I need an answer now. Otherwise, I'll need to start asking favors from my other friends."

The choice was obvious. Jaune would have to decline. Accidentally running into the White Fang's clutches the first time was one thing, but to willingly seek them out was bonkers. The second something went wrong and Jaune was revealed, they would start shooting, and he would turn into Swisstrilian cheese. He didn't have aura – heck, he still didn't even have a sword! Going in there would be no different than placing Myrtenaster at his throat and telling Weiss he'd seduced and bedded Ruby.

It is just too dangerous.

…except too dangerous was what he needed.

No. I promised Amber.

…promised her that he'd start at the bottom and work his way up, even though he'd already fought Boarbatusks and Garrials and Torchwicks and stared down armed White Fang agents and nearly died tens of times since school began. If those hadn't unlocked his aura, how could starting small do it? Why waste time going up against Beowolves or Ursai or whatever small potatoes Grimm he could find when he knew for a fact that it wasn't worth the effort? Why not just skip straight to the surefire cure-all to the biggest problem that had plagued him since he got to Beacon?

No. No way. What would my team do if I died?

…what would they do if he died on their first mission because he didn't have aura? Was it not better to resolve this now? Come to think of it, this was probably safer. It was just a simple infiltration mission – his heart would probably pound its way right out of his chest, but there was very little real danger unless the Faunus terrorists realized who he was. And he would have Blake, an expert on them due to her former association with said association, to prevent them from realizing. If Jaune were being honest, it would be outright irresponsible to turn down this golden opportunity. He'd walk in, his aura would self-unlock, he'd walk out with a White Fang pamphlet in hand, and that would be that.

No. It's wrong.

…except that he'd already decided, and he was now just trying to convince himself.

"Jaune? What's your answer?"

Amber knew. She didn't say anything when he came into the room, but her screen seemed angrier than usual, and her silent charging felt like the silent treatment.

The two of them were alone in the room. Jaune tapped her screen to rouse her. She responded by ringing, and he answered the call.

"D-Did you hear?" he asked.

"Hm? Hear what?"

She knew. She just had to know.

Jaune felt despicable. This was how he treated the woman he'd absolutely screwed over by stopping the heartbeat on her real body and trapping her possibly forever in a scroll – adding insult to injury by lying to her. Amber was supposed to be a part of the team, an honorary Juniper. After going on and on to Ren about why teammates should place their trust in one another, he'd gone and taken a steaming crap all over that sentiment.

If anything goes wrong, she'll be all alone. So much of her safety, so much of her continued existence depends on me, and here I am throwing my life away just so I can chase a fanciful dream of being some hero huntsman like the Arcs of old. I bet that if the Arcs of old knew what a sniveling loser I was, they'd curse my name from beyond the grave. If I had any spine, I'd march right over to Team RWBY's dorm, kick open the door, and tell Blake that if she wants to drag someone into a terrorist tea party, she can take her own partner, because I made a promise that I'm too much of a self-centered coward to keep.

But he didn't. He couldn't. This quest to bring out Jaune's inner strength had made him weaker than ever.

"Amber…I messed up." Jaune's voice cracked from the shame of what he had done, and more importantly, what he was unable or unwilling to undo. Still, he had to tell her. That much was indisputable. "I messed up really badly."

"Jaune, what's wrong?" Panic crept into Amber's voice. "Are you okay? Did someone else find out about your aura? D-Did someone find out about me?"

Her first consideration was of my safety, before she even thought of herself. This is the woman I made a promise to that didn't even last for a full evening.

Jaune's voice carried on, without any input or permission from his brain. "There's a White Fang rally tomorrow. Blake asked me to come with her."

"Ah, I see." Amber's tone immediately turned much more pleasant, the fear leaving it. "You turned her down flat, and now that sassy cat's even more mad at you than she already was. Well, don't'cha worry, Jaune – your old auntie Amber will tell you how to get back on her good side. Now, the secret to making any woman happy is to–"

"I accepted."

Silence fell between the two in the aftermath of Jaune's confession. Jaune held his breath and nervously swallowed. Amber didn't have a face, so he couldn't see her stunned look, but he had a good idea what expression she would have had.

Shock. Anger. Disappointment. Disgust.

"Because of what Penny said? About that self-unlocking nonsense?"

Jaune nodded. He couldn't bear to admit it out loud.

The call hung up.

tl;dr Jaune out here bein' a lil b!$#%

Next Chapter: Just Me, Myself, and Lies

In which Jaune Arc's tiny penis and balls save the universe, for real.

Author's Notes

You think I'm joking about the next chapter with that summary, don't you? Well, you'd be wrong. Jaune's micro-member will finally be making an appearance, and it won't disappoint.

Sadly for Jaune, it's going to have to get worse before it gets better. A lot worse. If I'm being honest, this point – between Jaune awkwardly courting Nora in spite of Ren's diehard Renora ship, Jaune becoming obsessed with self-unlocking, and Jaune breaking his promise to Amber – is really the lowest point he sinks in this story. (To clarify, this isn't the worst trouble he gets in, but these are easily the worst choices he makes).

Sadly, Mercury and Emerald will not be making their appearances in this fic. Now that Atlas has been made aware of their transgressions, the passionate pursuit from Jimmy 'The Scales of Justice' Ironwood will be enough to take care of them.

Happy rats, and don't do crime!