Reacting: Reign of Steel

by Helghy

A reaction/reading fic of MahinaFable's Reign of Steel. Make sure to check out the original as well as their other great stories over on their page.

3. Chapter 3

Welcome back folks, happy to be here with another update. Especially for this chapter, gotta love it. Let's just dive right in, that is after you make sure to head over to MahinaFable's channel and check out both the original for this story and several others.

A quick note, someone a bit unexpected is joining in on this chapter. Reign of Steel easily has the best version of the character that I have read so he had to show up eventually.

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As the group settled in with thoughts about how their abilities came with a not so small dose of responsibility a new figure appeared among them with a loud snap.

Cardin Winchester stared blankly ahead for a moment while blinking before shaking his head to look at the others in stunned silence.

None of the audience knew quite how to react, or really if they even should bother acknowledging the boy. Most of them were not exactly on friendly terms with him. Luckily the Host had things under control.

"Cardin has been given knowledge of what you have all witnessed so far." The host said calmly.

"I have?" Cardin asked for a moment before blinking again. "Wait, yeah I have, what the actual f-"

"Just make sure you are not disruptive, Mister Winchester. While we are not currently at Beacon I will treat any improper actions as grounds for discipline just as I would if we were in class." Glynda said sharply.

The boy coughed and nodded his head before turning to look at the center of the room along with the rest of the audience.

While there were rigorous periods of physical training scheduled during the week, to ensure that Beacon's pilots remained fit - or, as Nora put it, "to keep them from getting too 'chonk' to fit inside a cockpit" - there was also free time allotted, between simulator practice and lunch, for the pilots to engage in whatever light exercise they wanted. Director Ozpin claimed that it was important for the pilots, moreso for their mental health than their physical fitness, a way to release the stress and wariness that their vocation entailed. For Dragon Lance, each had their own preferred method of workout; Cardin pumped iron, usually in friendly competition with Nora. Blake enjoyed gymnastics. Yang and Pyrrha shared an enthusiasm for kickboxing drills, switching off between which young woman was holding the pad and which was throwing kicks or punches. Ordinarily, Ruby would go for long jogs around the Beacon grounds, but recently, Yang had roped her little sister into joining her kickboxing sessions with Pyrrha, citing that she may need to know how to throw a punch, in case any guys got any ideas.

"You know you could use some work on your hand to hand, sis. Even if it's just the basics." Yang said seriously.

"I'd be happy to help as well, Ruby." Pyrrha suggested.

"I guess, I dunno, I mean I have-" Ruby began.

"I think it's a great idea." Summer interjected getting a betrayed look from Ruby though Summer simply smiled back. She wasn't about to let one of her girls neglect an aspect of their personal defense. Though she doubted Yang and Pyrrha would be very strict with the training so she might put Tai to work in that regard too.

Ruby had only agreed to try if Yang would agree that their lessons would be private. After all, how would anyone take her seriously if they saw her flailing about like a doofus? So Yang, as well as Pyrrha, the only other one that Ruby would trust to see her like that, would meet her for her kickboxing lessons and abscond into a private exercise room in Beacon's gymnasium. Ruby always felt a little awkward outside of a flightsuit, but Yang assured her that her red tanktop, black leggings, and sneakers were perfectly fine. Still, she couldn't wait to get this over with so she could get back to normal, go meet her mom for lunch in town, and then get cracking on Crocea Mors.

"I don't see why you would be embarrassed, Ruby. You look good in that outfit." Weiss pointed out. Before grinning ever so slightly. "Don't you think so, Jaune?"

Jaune paused for a moment before shooting a small look toward Ruby who was staring at him now. "Yeah, it fits you."

Pyrrha looked a bit crestfallen though Ruby wasn't exactly pleased by his word choice either as Weiss simply sighed.

Her hopes of a reasonably quick workout were dashed when she saw Blake, in her violet leotard, peeking into their usual exercise room, with muffled music emanating from the crack in the door.

"Uh, Blake?" Yang asked, causing the cat Faunus to quickly turn and shush them, a grin on her face.

"Oh? I wonder what she could be spying on." Glynda asked.

Curious, the sisters and Pyrrha shared a look before peering through the door with Blake. Inside, Jaune was alone, his Scroll against the far wall playing some kind of symphonic piece, and he was...dancing. Moreso than the dancing was what Jaune was wearing. He had a tight white t-shirt, with a deep v-cut that exposed a broad expanse of his chest, which was glistening with a slight sheen of sweat. He was also wearing some kind of specialized dancing shoes, but those weren't the main problem.

Cardin broke out into raucous laughter causing Jaune to sink into his seat a little bit and most of the others to glare at the meathead. Ruby however simply blushed at the images appearing on the screen before her and Summer and Taiyang were both very aware of that fact. One of which was quite happy, while the other was much less so.

The tights were.

The stretchy grey garments hugged his skin, emphasizing the cut musculature of his lithe build. Worse, Ruby could see the muscles of his calves and thighs work to propel him into a sort of spinning jump, flexing as he landed gracefully on one foot. A couple of quick steps took him into another leap, this one with him bending his torso backwards as one leg stretched before him, and the other behind.

"Can you dance like that as well, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as the attention turned back toward him.

"Uh, well my mom made all of her kids take lessons, so kinda I guess." He bashfully replied.

"Do you have that outfit?" Ruby snapped out a question before blushing as some shot her knowing looks.

"Er, yeah."

Cardin ruined the moment as he snorted in laughter once again. Glynda simply sighed. It wouldn't be proper to punish the boy for simply laughing, he hadn't said anything disparaging yet afterall.

And speaking of behinds….

"Oh my gods, Ruby!" Yang cackled, causing her sister to whine for her to shut up.

Ruby swallowed, hard. When did boys have butts?! Why did they have butts, anyway? Butts were good for exactly three things; a cushion to sit on, poopin', and a punchline for jokes. So why was it that as she watched Jaune dance - oh gods, his butt flexed again - did Ruby want to go and grab herself a big ol' handful of boy butt, one cheek for each hand? She just….she just wanted to touch the butt. She really wanted to touch the butt, and for the life of her, Ruby couldn't understand why. Looking at Jaune like that, seeing his body work in tandem like a masterfully-crafted machine, was making Ruby feel….strange. Almost nauseous, but without the pukey bits, and like she had a sort of cramp. Not intense, like the painful cramps she got when her period hit, but it was still a very persistent feeling, and Ruby felt an urge to go somewhere and try to massage it out of herself, as if that was the only way to get relief.

"I need to talk with our girls soon I think." Summer sighed as Ruby practically melted in her seat and tried to cover her face, though she left clear gaps between her fingers to keep watching the images before them.

Cardin had stopped laughing at this point as he realized the reaction to Jaune's dancing and attire wasn't going to be what he expected. Actually looking around the room he realized it was going to be the exact opposite.

Jaune for his part was doing his best not to look in Ruby's general direction. His face felt as though it was on fire and he wasn't sure he could bear accidentally locking eyes with his fellow team leader.

Unfortunately in order to avoid eye contact with Ruby he instead caught eyes with her parents. Summer seemed far too amused for his liking, but Ruby's father was blank faced and his eyes were locked onto Jaune almost emotionlessly. He wasn't sure why that was worse than a glare or something else as a shiver ran down his spine.

The music came to an end and Jaune spun down to a kneel, with his head back and one arm raised out to the side, the other behind his back. Then the women of Dragon Lance - most of them, anyway, as Nora was keeping close to the hangars with Ren, in case of a Grimm sighting - burst into applause. Jaune was so startled that he nearly fell over, only catching himself from falling at the last minute.

Jaune's classmates all applauded, though Cardin simply rolled his eyes.

"It's not really worth all that." Jaune tried to reign his friends in.

"Actually it is quite impressive, Mister Arc. That flexibility and coordination can help in fighting as well. I will set up a time to meet with you and try to show you how to apply that into combat." Glynda told him as she adjusted her glasses.

"Really?"

"Of course. You might find that such things are very useful in combat." Glynda replied.

"You'd be surprised, both Qrow and Tai are pretty gifted on the dance floor too, translates right into dancing with Grimm or criminals too." Summer said happily.

"Heh, we might be a bit rusty these days, Summer." Tai awkwardly said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Uh, hi?" he said, back to his same, slightly dorky self as he rose to his feet. "Were you all watching?"

And then he turned to face them all, and good gods, Ruby was in trouble. She thought the view from behind was getting her all worked up! Her cheeks felt aflame and she raised her fists to them….though she couldn't quite bring herself to obscure her vision, silver eyes peeking out between red bangs.

Several of the others shot looks at the poor girl. She had it bad for the older boy in that other universe but it was also becoming quite clear that she wasn't all that far behind in this one as well.

Pyrrha stared between her partner and her younger friend. This alternate reality was truly going to push her in ways she was uncomfortable with. Especially being friends with Ruby and Jaune.

Pyrrha just smiled at Jaune, seemingly unphased. Oh, right. Secret sister. She wasn't looking at him like a plate of meat to be devoured the way the rest of them were. Besides, according to Yang, Pyrrha wouldn't have been into him anyway.

"So, wait, are you into girls in our world too?" Jaune asked Pyrrha getting some rather more focused looks than the champion wanted from her friends.

"Uh, well. I suppose I'm not against such a thing, or boys." She finished quickly making sure her stance towards men was known. Her door wasn't closed just yet with her partner even if she felt like witnessing this reality would hamper any chances she could have.

"That was beautiful, Jaune!" she congratulated her secret brother. "Was that Mantle ballet?"

"Er, yeah," Jaune said, sheepishly. He turned back around to gather up his Scroll and a towel, bending over to retrieve the items.

Ruby damn near fainted.

Ruby whimpered a bit as Jaune coughed awkwardly.

"What the hell even is this?" Cardin wondered aloud at the odd position of Jaune being considered the object of girls' fantasies suddenly. No one answered him of course. Far more intent on the reality playing out before them.

"My mom was originally from Mantle, and ballet dancing was one of the skills she insisted I learn. I just kept up with it over the years. All of the focus on my balance helps me keep from getting overwhelmed with, you know, everything that's changed for me over the last two days."

Ruby actually whimpered as he peeled off his shirt. Jaune didn't seem to notice, and chuckled in self deprecation as he toweled off the sweat that he'd worked up. "My mom said that it would make me a more attractive marriage prospect to women, which I don't get at all. I mean, it's not the most manly of pursuits, after all, but hey, I enjoy it."

"Your mother is wise." Blake simply stated as she and the others drank in Jaune's form before them.

"Wait, does Vomit Boy actually look like that under the baggy clothes and armor?" Yang asked.

"Yes." Pyrrha replied with a grin that would have been more fitting on a hyena, or perhaps a lioness that had caught its prey.

"Well, I think that there's something attractive about a man who's secure enough that he doesn't worry about that," purred Yang. "Don't you think, Ruby?"

It was a classic wingwoman setup, giving Ruby the chance to express her appreciation for him, but unfortunately, all Ruby could do was make an odd whining sound, like steam escaping from a tea kettle.

Yang sighed as her sister wilted beside her. Jaune frowned a bit at how badly everything was affecting her. This was almost cruel to watch.

"I feel like we are kind of invading Ruby's privacy with this. I mean-" Jaune began only for Nora to roll her eyes and lean forward in her seat to cover her leader's mouth.

Ren nodded happily. He might be rooting for Pyrrha, but he could tell that Jaune and Ruby had plenty of chemistry as well and if it meant Jaune would be happy, he could help Pyrrha recover.

Jaune just canted her head at her. "Huh?"

Realizing the situation, Yang rushed to her sister's rescue. "Oh, you know Rubes, she's probably off thinking of super-genius ways to make your AC better. She's got a million ideas racing around that noggin' of hers right now."

Summer leaned forward to whisper to her eldest daughter. "You're a great big sister, sweetie."

Followed by a peck on the crown of her head that had Yang trying to hide the small smile on her face. After all she didn't want Ruby to think she was making fun of her at the moment.

Well. Yang was right about part of that at least.

"That makes sense," agreed Jaune. "I can't wait to see what we can come up with for Crocea Mors."

"So, Jaune…." Blake interjected, calling his attention to her. "You mentioned ballet as one of the skills that your mother insisted that you learn. What were the others?"

Jaune chuckled sheepishly. "Well, nothing too exciting. She made me learn how to sew, both for fixing clothing and treating wounds. I'm pretty comfortable in the kitchen, making both standard Vale dishes and some of her old recipes from Mantle. I've done some basics in women's haircare, but not enough for me to say I'd be comfortable doing it on a professional basis. I give a pretty good foot massage, if I say so myself. Oh, and I learned all about taking care of children, feeding babies, changing diapers and the like."

Cardin snorted in laughter until he saw literally all of the girls staring at Jaune. In fact even Miss Goodwitch seemed to glance toward the blond boy appreciatively.

"Seriously, what the hell?" He mumbled in exasperation.

The three women who were not Jaune's secret sister shared a look, one that seemed to announce 'Game On.' Pyrrha could only sigh, both at how obvious they were being and how utterly oblivious Jaune was to all of it.

The Pyrrha viewing didn't sigh, no instead she was very much in the running with the other girls in shooting competitive glances at one another. Even Weiss seemed more interested than she ever entertained the idea of being in the past.

Blake turned her most charming smile at him. "Have you ever done gymnastics before? It's not so different from ballet, and I could use a partner for my own workouts. They can get quite….vigorous."

Ruby and Pyrrha shot the faunus betrayed and somewhat threatening looks that caused her to simply shrug. All was fair as the saying went.

Ruby gasped, and then glared at the cat Faunus girl through squinted silver eyes. How dare she? She also didn't miss the way that Blake had none-too-subtly pushed her chest forward, practically heaving her bazoombas at him. No fair! Ruby whined to herself as she made a mental note to drink more milk.

"This is legitimately painful." Taiyang said as he took in that information. At least Jaune seemed like a decent boy and Summer was here to provide some comfort. Even as he was certain a part of his heart was breaking off and shriveling up as both his daughters seemed to weigh the pros and cons of pursuing their classmate before his eyes.

"I've done some stuff on the rings and the pommel horse, but I won't be trying that today," he said, with an apologetic shrug towards Blake. "I've kind of worked up a sweat here, and before I get some chow, I want to make sure that I'm not stinking up the place when I meet with Ruby to collaborate."

"Damn." Blake said with a small shrug.

Ruby felt her heart skip as Jaune practically ignored Blake in favor of mentioning how he was making sure to be considerate to her. Then her brain went static as he gently pushed past the cat Faunus pilot to stand in front of her, all shirtless and lithe, and oh Maidens, she was in trouble.

Ruby swallowed harshly while Yang patted her on the shoulder. Summer was very pleased while another redhead looked like the wind had just been ripped from her sails.

"I'll see you later, then, Ruby. I'll try not to slow you down with how dumb I am," he said, with a self-deprecating chuckle.

A handful of people made mental notes to work on that little flaw in the Arc boy.

"Okay!" Ruby was just able to squeak out, still blushing furiously.

"Great! I'm going to go get cleaned up."

When Jaune was gone, the women immediately got with the important business at hand.

"Oh. My. Gods." Yang fanned herself.

"Sorry," Blake shrugged sheepishly towards Ruby. "I kinda had to give it a shot, you know?"

"Can't really blame you for that," agreed Yang. "If I didn't know that Ruby here was crushing on him, I would've made a move myself."

"Wait really?" Jaune asked in surprise.

"Oh you poor oblivious child." Ozpin said with a small smile.

Pyrrha just stared at both of them, appalled. "Did you have to act like that around him? It was like you were ready to jump on him like a pack of starving wolves!"

"Yes, it was very-" Pyrrha began only to pause at the unamused looks shot toward her by her fellow women.

"A whole pack of wolves." Ozpin muttered into his mug at the looks the girls were sending one another suddenly. Dear brothers, it reminded him far too much of when Tai was at Beacon. He glanced between the two blond males in the room. That was a bad omen in his opinion.

Blake just rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Pyrrha. Just because you've hung a 'Girls Only' sign on your front door, that doesn't mean the rest of us can't enjoy the show. Unless you're jealous?" she added, with a meaningful glance in Yang's direction.

The taller redhead blushed. "It isn't like that!"

Pyrrha blushed brightly and tried to avoid looking at Yang, though the blonde was intent to catch the other girl's eye at some point. After all, she wasn't one to refuse what could only be a good time.

"Well, what do you think, Ruby?" Blake asked, turning to the younger sister. She paused as she saw the younger girl wringing her hands nervously. "Ruby?"

"I need to go!" she blurted, before running from the room.

"...Was it something I said?" asked Blake, bewildered.

[/]

Jaune was feeling much better as he entered Beacon Tower's messhall, having freshly showered and changed into a clean flightsuit. His workout had really helped him clear his head and get to terms with the drastic changes that his life had taken. He really was an AC pilot, and he really was working for Beacon itself. He'd helped protect Vale, and he'd be able to do so again - and in a suped-up rework of Crocea Mors, no less.

Life was looking good. Too bad the same couldn't be said about the food. Oh, it was filling, nutritious, and plentiful, but gods, was it bland. Lean chicken breast, steamed carrots, mashed potatoes which were no doubt freshly-shucked by one Cardin Winchester...all tragically-lacking in seasoning. Alas, there wasn't much that Jaune could do about it, save adding pepper.

"That's a bummer but compared to being able to drive giant robots, easy trade." Nora said seriously.

"Yep. That's the look of a man who just tasted the food for the first time."

Jaune looked up to see Cardin, with a tray of food in hand, nod in greeting as the larger man sat across from him at the table. He tried not to salivate as his fellow pilot produced a canister of mixed seasonings and sprinkled it over his food. Cardin rolled his eyes as he handed it over to the rookie, who practically leapt in joy.

"Huh, a nice Cardin." Jaune commented. The larger boy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Hard to argue with free food, but goddamn, is it bland. Of all the things to stock up on when you get a day off, spices are at the top."

Jaune moaned in satisfaction, the spices making his meal much more palatable. "Thanksh," he said, passing the spices back to his Lance mate. After swallowing his mouthful, he asked "So, any other things I should pick up when I get the chance?"

Cardin dug into his own food. "Most of us like to get some of our own sports drinks and keep a bottle or two in the cockpit when we go out. Depending on what goes down, this can be sweaty work, and you gotta replace fluids, salts, all that junk." The big man ripped off a chunk of chicken breast with his teeth, chewing swiftly before swallowing it down. "I mean, they kinda have something like that they issue out, but it only comes in orange. And like, chalky. A chalky orange." He shuddered in horror at the memory. "Yeah, electrolyte drinks." He chuckled as he saw Pyrrha wave at the rookie. "And maybe some condoms too, eh?"

"Oof, it's going to be so weird until the rest of us learn you two are siblings. Seriously." Cardin groaned at his other's comment.

"Jaune had thought the same thing, so it's not that big of a deal." Nora said with a shrug ignoring the visible shiver that ran down Jaune's spine at thinking that way about a sister.

"Still awkward, Nora." Pyrrha pointed out.

Jaune shrugged as he returned Pyrrha's wave. "Uh...maybe not so much that last one, chief."

"What're you, gay?" Cardin scoffed as he playfully leaned back away from Jaune. "Go hit on Ren if that's your thing, dude."

Both Ren and Jaune shot withering looks at Cardin who huffed and flipped both of the thinner boys the bird.

"I don't know, I bet you share your spices with all the new boys that come in."

"Yeah, yeah, fuck you, dude."

"I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Oh my god we're bonding." Jaune said in mild horror.

"Hey, why the hell is that so bad?" Cardin demanded.

"This Cardin is so much better than ours already." Yang laughed.

"Pfft. Whatever." Cardin cocked an eyebrow as he saw that Pyrrha, having grabbed her food, was making a beeline towards them. "Damn, dude. What'd you do to get her so interested? Here I was thinking that she was queen of the carpet munchers."

Cardin again frowned at his other's self. That was gunna tweak at his nerves until his other found out the truth, honestly.

Jaune frowned, especially as Pyrrha had heard that comment and recoiled at it. "Hey, watch it," he warned the larger man. "My sister's gay, and I don't put up with that kind of talk."

Pyrrha's eyes widened as she heard Jaune's declaration. Had he somehow known about her?

"Woah, that's two big bombs, like Pyrrha for sure confirming she bats for the same team and Jaune…is one of your sister's gay?" Yang asked.

"Well yeah, so? My older sister Saphron is married to another woman, they even have a little boy." Jaune said proudly.

"She even married a radar tech and moved with her up to Argus. They're expecting their first kid any day now. The point is, the entire Arc family looks after its own, so drop the slurs, or we're gonna have a problem."

"Huh same and same, well sorta, Terra works on the CCT substation in Argus I think. Not on radars." Jaune said.

"I dunno if that world even uses the CCT system or something else. We haven't seen any dust use either." Weiss realized.

"It's honestly amazing how different that world is while still being so similar." Chimed in Glynda.

Oh. Of course. He must have been referring to another sister. Still, Pyrrha was still cheered up, both by the knowledge that she definitely had another sibling to meet, and that, no matter what other issues her existence would raise, at least her orientation wouldn't be the problem.

"Hey, Pyrrha I would accept you no matter what your orientation." Jaune told his partner with a smile.

"Thanks, Jaune." Pyrrha said a bit sadly. At least she could rely on him as a friend no matter what.

"All right, all right," Cardin relented, holding up his hands in supplication. "Didn't mean nothin' by it. Hell, as a fellow connoisseur of the wonders of the puss, I'm sure we'd have a lot in common."

"I don't like you, kid." Qrow said after a sip from his flask.

"I don't even know who you are." Cardin replied.

"That should worry you, probably." Tai chimed in, sharing grins with his best friend.

Pyrrha rolled her eyes as she set her tray down next to Jaune. "You're a pig," she told Winchester. "The fact that heterosexual women still exist while you're around is proof that orientation isn't a choice." She dismissed him with a sniff before turning her attention to her brother. "Anyways, your sister sounds lovely, Jaune. I'm glad that you stand up for her - and for people like her."

"Well, like the Captain once said, 'I'm not a pack of dicks,'" replied Jaune, imitating Taiyang's dude-bro mannerisms.

"Glynda, we must keep Mister Arc apart from Tai before we have a remix of team STRQ's peculiar flavor of meltdown." Ozpin whispered to his right hand.

Glynda seemed to think about it for a moment before glancing between Summer and Tai and Ruby and Jaune.

"I think I actually prefer it this way. Close bonds are the foundation for Hunter teams after all." She replied almost mockingly.

Ozpin sighed. Just like in the past, it seemed that Glynda 'shipped' the young Rose and the blond boy together. She had never liked Raven anyway.

"So, if you're the gay, why are you coming on so hard to Arc here?" Cardin asked.

Pyrrha almost fell over in her shock. "What? You thought I was - Jaune," she turned back to him, slightly panicked. "You didn't think I've been….making a pass at you, did you?"

Jaune was suddenly very interested in his potatoes.

While several of the audience members laughed at the humorous though very awkward situation, Jaune mimicked his other self as he found his hands suddenly incredibly enthralling.

"Oh dear gods!" Pyrrha wailed. Her long-lost brother had thought she'd wanted to...to do the kissing with him! She was, hands-down, the worst sister. Ever. She resolved that, as soon as she was done there, she was going to go to Captain Xiao Long with the results of her paternity test. He would know the best way to break the news to him. Gods, she feared she would simply melt from horror and humiliation.

"Well, it's not like he asked you out or nothin', so no harm done," said Cardin. "So obviously not Nikos, then," he said, addressing Jaune. "Still, lots of other choice babes here at Beacon." The large man frowned as he saw Blake passing by. "And then there's the Fang whore."

"There's the Cardin we know." Blake snapped.

"Wait, Fang whore? Are you White Fang?" Cardin asked in shock.

"No!" Several of the others shouted, a bit too quickly.

Cardin eyed the cat faunus but said nothing more. He wasn't sure what could be said, after all it seemed like literally everyone else in the room had known that not-so-little tidbit of information.

"All right, what the hell have you got against her?" asked Jaune.

"She knows what she did!" Cardin called out, making sure that the cat girl heard her.

Jaune shook his head. "But I don't. The Captain -"

"I heard what the Captain said!" snapped Cardin. "That doesn't change the fact that that Faunus bitch killed my friends!"

"Woah what?" Yang asked, voicing the surprise from the rest of the group.

"I told you before, Winchester," Blake said, standing next to the table and shaking her head at the outraged human. "I never killed anyone."

"Yeah that seems more likely." Yang said, a bit relieved.

"Except she evidently is or at least was a part of the Fang here too." Cardin said, clearly a bit more guarded than before.

"Would someone please just tell me what's going on?" Jaune asked, while Pyrrha just patted his back in sympathy.

"Go ahead. Tell him what you did," sneered Cardin. "I'll fact check."

"Finally some context." Jaune groaned.

"This oughta be good." Cardin sneered.

"Yeah, it's about to make you look like more of an ass." Yang bit out matching the boy's glare easily.

Blake just sighed. "Look, I….I used to be part of the White Fang," she admitted. "And...I'm part of the reason why the White Fang has Armored Cores."

Blake frowned deeply at that. The Armored Cores were incredibly powerful weapons, the idea that she had helped the Fang get them didn't sit right with her.

Jaune blinked. That was...not what he was expecting from the quiet, unassuming young woman.

The cat Faunus held her arm. "I was partnered up with Adam Taurus, the Atlas defector. He taught me how to pilot an AC, and together, we made to steal the schematics for the mass-produced AC units."

"And because you did that, the White Fang has Armored Cores," sneered Cardin. "And because they have Armored Cores, Russel, Dove, and Sky are all dead!"

Cardin took a deep breath and tried to release his clenched fists. It was not quite so possible.

"...I never meant for that to happen," she said, tonelessly.

"Meant…" Cardin practically spit out.

"Yeah, will it did, and if it were up to me, you'd - hey!" Cardin slammed his hands on the surface of the table and shot to his feet after Blake had turned to walk away. "I'm talking at you! Captain says you get to fight with us instead of having you hanged. Fine. But the least you can do is look me in the fuckin' face and have the guts to tell me why? Why did you do it?"

They all leaned forward in interest.

Blake was quiet for a long moment. Then she sighed, turned around, and took out a Scroll. She placed it on the table and fired it up, projecting a map that showed a large island continent south of Mistral. "This is Menagerie," she said, in case the humans didn't know. "Many of my people live there, and...it's my home. But Menagerie doesn't have any Armored Cores. Not one. An oversight, I'm sure," she added, with bitter sarcasm. "As a result, we live just as humans did a century ago. We're always on the run, always trying to stay one step ahead of the Grimm, never able to stop running. Not for long. These green areas here," she indicated broad tracts of land close to the southern coast, "they would be suitable for farming, but we can't build a settlement resilient enough to stand up to the Grimm. This harbor here would make for an excellent port, but no town that we build lasts more than a year, two at the most, before the Grimm destroy it. We live in caravans, eking out a living in the desert, going from oasis to oasis and only occasionally daring to fish the coasts."

"Of course." Summer said quietly as she realized what the other Blake was leading up to.

She sighed again. "The plan was to come here, to Vale, steal Armored Core schematics, and as many of the actual units that we could get our hands on. We were supposed to use them to hold off the Grimm long enough to actually build a real city for our people, a port around that southern harbor. We were going to name it Kuo Kuana, and we would be safe, even prosperous. But Director Ozpin - and you - put a stop to our plan. Our transport ship was destroyed, and with no option to get the ACs we stole to Menagerie, Adam decided that if we couldn't have safety, then we could have vengeance. We could kill the people who killed us. I...couldn't do that. I parted ways with the Fang, and came here. I made a deal with the Director. When my term of enlistment is up, I will have legal ownership of Gambol Shroud, transport to Menagerie, and authority to operate in defense of it. I can do for my people what Gil Arc did for yours."

"It seems another in my long line of mistakes rears its ugly head. Though perhaps if…nevermind." Ozpin muttered just loud enough for others to notice though he silenced himself when others looked his way.

"Just as committed to the fight for your people as here. Should have figured." Yang said proudly toward her partner who had still yet to meet the eyes of her friends as she stared up at her alternate self intently.

She wasn't the only one either. Cardin Winchester stared blankly at the image of the faunus before him. Occasional twists and twitches on his face revealing only a hint of the roiling confusion and conflicted opinions in his head.

The table was silent as Blake switched off her Scroll. "Blake...why didn't you tell us any of this?" Pyrrha asked.

"No one thought to just ask me," answered Blake. She smiled sadly at Cardin. "All I ever wanted was for my people to have a place in the sun."

With that the large boy looked down at his feet, no longer able to keep his eyes locked on the images before them.

Some of the others were no better. While it was different in their world, there were still a myriad of issues that existed between humanity and faunus peoples. Something they had honestly done little to help heal, looking back.

And with that, she was gone.

Cardin slowly sank into his seat, letting out a heavy breath.

"Fuck."

"You know," Pyrrha began, her tone soft. "Sky probably would have agreed with her plan."

"...Yeah," Cardin eventually agreed.

"He was sweet on that Velvet girl," she continued.

"At least he isn't in our world." Nora joked.

"Shut up." Cardin said softly. These people didn't know his team. They didn't know anything about what they actually thought or felt.

"Fuckin' Sky...probably would have got the rest on board too, the fuckin' nut."

Pyrrha gingerly reached out and put a hand on Cardin's hand. "When was the last time you thought of your friends without getting angry?"

Cardin just grunted and slid out of the booth. "See you around, Arc," he muttered before shuffling off, his hulking shoulders hunched over.

Jaune watched him go, unsure what he could even begin to say to that entire exchange. He just looked over to Pyrrha, who could only shrug helplessly.

"Go, team," she deadpanned.

Several viewers blew out a sigh as the scene drew to an end. Among them, Cardin finally looked at his fellow audience members. Glancing from face to face, he stopped as he and Jaune locked eyes.

None of the others knew what passed between them in the small moment but Cardin couldn't help but nod slowly toward his fellow team leader.

A second later it was over and the other students were confused by the interaction but unwilling to pry for an answer. Cardin himself seemed to sink in on himself a bit, though it wasn't exactly as if he was sullen. More thoughtful, or perhaps regretful.

[/]

Ruby was pretty sure that she was going to die from sheer embarrassment. What had originally been meant to be a quick shower had turned into a much longer affair. On the one hand, Yang had totally run interference for her with their dad, making up a story about her spilling some kind of sticky coolant on herself to explain why she was in the shower for a half an hour. On the other hand, Yang had guessed why she had been in the shower for a half an hour, and had insisted that she talk with their mother after their lunch.

"Why?!" Ruby practically wailed as she tried to bury herself into her seat.

Tai was practically twitching with discomfort.

As part of her watch over Forever Fall, Summer Rose had settled in in an apartment not far from the Arc residence, where she had temporarily stowed Shooting Star in their AC hangar. The girls and their father had met Summer in a nearby cafe for a celebratory meal, taking great joy in recounting their heroic deeds in their first live-fire mission. Afterwards, Yang had been pretty slick about making sure that she and Summer got some private time to talk, pretty much manhandling their father out of Summer's living room for a while.

"Well done, sweetheart." Summer told Yang.

"Happy to help." The blonde replied with a mock salute.

Ruby had had The Talk before, of course - she was fifteen, not five - but there was a big difference between intellectually understanding where babies came from and actually dealing with raging hormones and wanting to grab boy's butts, and give boys kisses on their dumb boy lips. The good news was that her mother assured her that her urges were normal and natural. The bad news was that there wasn't actually much that she could actually do about them, save for endure them as best she could. It didn't help that Summer had confirmed that, while the urges would settle down and become less intense with age, the urge to touch the butt would never truly go away, especially when she met the special butt that she would grab well into her old age.

"What is your thing with boys…b-butts?" Weiss asked, struggling to say something so crass as she blushed brightly.

Ruby whimpered but Summer came to her daughter's rescue. Well, in her own way.

"There's nothing wrong with claiming that special butt for yourself. I'm sure you'll find one you like one day." Summer said sweetly causing both Weiss and Ruby to blush even brighter.

Tai flinched slightly as he felt a pair of slender fingers pinch him on the side of his rear. Summer was having far too much fun with this whole thing.

She could have done without that particular mental image, to be frank.

Of course, she also could have done without her mother snatching her up and overdramatically wailing about "her little rosebud starting to bloom," complete with crocodile tears. It was like her mom existed to provide equal parts guidance and embarrassment. Still, between her shower and her talk with her mom, Ruby did feel better.

"True that, other me." Ruby mumbled.

"Oh, when you and Jaune have your own little ones you'll be the exact same." Summer said slyly, enjoying the bright red blushes on both her daughter and on Jaune's faces.

"Hey, Ruby. How was your lunch?"

Jaune was back to looking normal. Innocuous. Dare she say it, friend-shaped. Still, Ruby kept her mind under tight control, as she knew that underneath that flightsuit laid trouble. Be that as it may, it wasn't his fault that he had a butt what needed touching, so she resolved to treat him with friendly professionalism.

"Thanks I think?" Jaune said awkwardly.

Ruby shot him a thumbs up but didn't trust herself to speak.

"It was good! Nice to get out there every once in a while, you know? Mom's settling into her new watch, so you don't have to worry about Forever Fall. Are you going to visit your dad tonight?"

"That's the plan," agreed Jaune. "I've already got a lot to tell him. Not that he's, you know, awake to hear it, but the thought counts, right?"

"I'm sure it'll make him feel better." Ruby gave him a reassuring smile, which he returned.

Oh no. Tummy flutters again.

"This is just unfair to her." Glynda sighed.

"Maybe but perhaps it will be good for them all in the long run. Both Ruby and Jaune are having their private thoughts put on display here, and we're all seeing exactly who they are. Including the teams they will be expected to lead into the future, as well as one another." Ozpin replied.

"And that means their romantic lives should be paraded in front of all their friends and family?" Glynda asked a bit sharply.

"You don't see it yet do you Glynda. There is something about both of those young leaders that is simply intangible. This opportunity will keep them human in their friend's eyes. Remind them that they aren't infallible and they will need their support." Ozpin said as if it was obvious.

"I still fail to see how that means their thoughts about one another need to be put on display."

"Maybe you will once we see more. I have an idea of why it might be so important already. The things those two might accomplish together…Besides you're the one that 'ships' them just like Taiyang and Summer back in the day." Ozpin sank into his thoughts as their attention turned back to the display before them. Though Glynda did grumble a bit at the way Ozpin threw her opinions regarding the students back at her. She'd been a student when the children's parents started at Beacon. Of course she had opinions on which of her juniors made cute couples.

"So," she quickly said. "Are you ready to get to work?"

Her mother had told her to be careful and be controlled, but she also told her that she should enjoy the experience of being young. But above all else, she told her to just be Ruby Rose. And while Ruby Rose may or may not have been a nefarious butt-toucher in the making, she was also one of the finest young up-and-coming engineers of Armored Cores in her generation, and she knew all there was to know about what went into the giant war machines. She grinned as she grabbed Jaune's hand - forgetting her bashfulness in the face of her excitement over getting to go over Crocea Mors with a fine-toothed comb - and dragged him over to the console set to the side at the base of Jaune's AC.

"Nefarious butt-toucher in the making?" Weiss asked her partner with a mix of amusement and embarrassment.

"And up and coming engineer!" Ruby shot back a bit too rapidly.

"This is where the magic happens!" she proclaimed, with a dramatic flourish of her arms and a broad, toothy grin. "All right, so what happens first is, you need to enter your credentials into the system, so it knows it's you."

"Sounds easy enough." Jaune shrugged, then stepped forwards to type his name and password into the console. After a moment, the system acknowledged him as the authorized pilot of Crocea Mors, and then rendered a three-dimensional image of the old Armored Core, slowly rotating in place next to a selection of menus.

"Oh this is so cool. Everyone shut up and watch." Ruby declared having forgotten her embarrassment from a moment earlier. Her team and friends chuckled as Ruby sat forward to absorb whatever she could see. Ozpin and her parents and uncle doing the same.

"Right. So this is the base status screen," explained Ruby. "Here, you can double-check to make sure everything's good to go before you head out on a mission. You know, check the fluids, make sure you didn't leave the headlights on," she joked.

"...You know, I didn't see any nightvision options when I took Crocea Mors out," Jaune pointed out. "Does it have headlights?"

Ruby blinked. "Aw crap, do you? Here, scooch," she used her hip and bodily bumped Jaune out of the way to take control of the console herself. Jaune looked at her with a forlorn gaze.

"So pushy for someone so small." Nora chuckled.

Ren stared at her.

"What?"

The boy said nothing, simply lifting an eyebrow in response.

"I have been scooched," he said mournfully. "Scooched over by a little nerd girl. My little sisters will never let me live this down."

Ruby stuck her tongue out at the boy who only chuckled in response. Ruby was definitely unique but he didn't think anyone would want her any other way.

"Let's see…" Ruby's fingers flew over the keyboard, highlighting and selecting first an 'Assembly' menu and then bypassing the submenus for various component parts of an Armored Core before reaching the head. "Okay, here, look at this," she said.

Jaune leaned over her, catching the scent of strawberry shampoo on her dark red hair as he peered at the screen. Sure enough, there was the ol' noggin' of Crocea Mors, isolated from the rest of the AC and slowly rotating. Also on the screen was a truly bewildering set of different colored bars, and myriad numbers and acronyms were strewn about the display.

Sitting side by side with the girl in question, Jaune attempted to subtly catch any scent from Ruby's hair. As he leaned over a bit though, his eyes locked with that of her parents, both of whom were watching him uncomfortably closely. Having already been caught though, the boy shrugged and took in the smell of his friend's shampoo.

Strawberries fit her perfectly.

"Erm, I don't think even other me has any idea what we're looking at there, Ruby." Jaune said.

"It is a lot of complex stuff, but I think I get some of it." Ruby said not noticing as her hand patted him on the knee reassuringly.

"What...what am I looking at?" he asked Ruby, feeling overwhelmed.

Ruby, a light flush rising to her cheeks as she realized how close his face was to hers, let a small smile quirk her lips before redoubling her focus on the display. "So, here's where you can see everything to evaluate an Armored Core part's capabilities and statistics," she told him. For the head specifically, we're looking at the depth of field for the camera array, the presence of a radar - you don't have one - a biosenser - you don't have one - Electronic Countermeasures - it's, uh, yeah - and specialized optics. Guess what?"

"I don't have those?" ventured Jaune.

"Nope. I guess you got lucky that the moon was pretty full last night. Or maybe there really are headlights on it, but if there are, you'd have to go looking. Just don't go, you know, flipping any random switches while you're still in the hangar. That would be...bad."

"Oof, the fact you were doing as well as you did is even more impressive now." Qrow said in genuine surprise with the kid.

"Imagine when you get trained up in some of that upgraded tech. You'll be a nightmare for the grimm. Oh I can't wait!" Nora excitedly shook in her seat.

"It will be impressive to watch." Pyrrha agreed.

"Splodey-go-boom?"

"Splodey-go-boom," confirmed Ruby, nodding with grave seriousness.

"Well, we can't have that."

"Nope."

"No wonder you two get along so well." Weiss rolled her eyes though she was smiling slightly at the interaction.

Jaune shook his head. "So, what does that head have?"

"Well, it has an FCS - Fire Control System - that's older than I am." Ruby peered at the statistics for it, then quickly typed in a few commands to pull up the FCS part specifically. "With the FCS, you're looking at how much energy it draws from the generator to work, as well as the weight, believe it or not. They can be surprisingly hefty. But the real important stats are here," she said, pointing out a series of numbers. "This is the maximum number of targets that you can lock onto at once, and the lock time is how long it takes for your FCS to calculate the trajectory for your missiles. Each FCS model is classified by the characteristics for it's lock-on. Yours is pretty balanced, which makes sense for your generalist loadout. Yang's is wide, but shallow, which makes sense for her because she fights up close and needs to switch targets pretty quickly when she's in their face like that. Nora's is focused on locking on from a good ways away, because she has a ladyboner for explosions, and she needs to be far enough away that she doesn't mess herself up in the process."

"That's a lot of good information in a short span of time." Ozpin noted.

"It makes a lot of sense too. Not only does each AC fight differently but they possess different weapons and capabilities. It stands to reason that even something like their targeting system would need to be tuned to their style of combat." Glynda said.

Jaune quirked an eyebrow at her. "Ladyboner?" he echoed.

"We need to work on your language." Tai began to say to his youngest daughter only for Summer to nudge him.

"Don't be an old hag, Tai. She's growing up. Plus you have quite the mouth on you when you want to and 'ladyboner' is hardly that bad." Summer reminded him.

The man sighed but said no more.

"Yeah," Ruby said, caught up in checking the specs on Jaune's Fire Control System. "She really likes the high-powered ordinance."

"That's not the part I was asking about."

A couple of the audience snorted at that.

"But anyways, while a generalist FCS isn't a bad thing - Pyrrha's got something similar - these lock times are just too long. And we're going to need to upgrade the number of missile locks they can handle if we're gonna get you throwing more boom at the bad guys. Thing is, this old thing is older than me. Actually, I gotta look up the model number to be sure, but I think this FCS is almost as old as my dad."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Dude, your FCS is ancient. Like, it's older than the dirt. You cut a hill apart to make a road, and you'll see it in the layers. There's the plants, there's the dirt, and then there's your creaky old Armored Core, in the pre-dirt strata. It's going to be a problem to try and find working electronics compatible with the AC's main computer. Think of the FCS as, like, a mini-brain that handles the guns, while the main computer makes everything else work. They need to talk to each other, and while your head part and your FCS are good enough for normal Grimm work, they're just not going to cut it in modern combat. Problem is, your Armored Core is a first-gen. It's the first of the first gens, and the parts that are compatible with it went out of production decades ago."

"You really know your stuff there. I mean you really know your stuff when it comes to weapons here too." Jaune complimented.

"It's nothing really." Ruby said with the falsest sense of humility he'd heard from her.

"Actually would you give me a hand with something after all this? Miss Goodwitch pointed out that I seem more comfortable with a two handed blade, and I was thinking with some adjustments maybe Crocea Mors could be a little bit…"

"Crocea More?" Yang interjected.

"Ignoring Yang, yes! I can definitely help you out. I already have so many ideas we can talk about!" Ruby excitedly said.

"So, what if I just get a new head, one that can talk to a new FCS?" Jaune asked.

Ruby bit her lower lip. "That's probably what we're gonna have to do, but there's another problem. In order to make the new head work with the Core and the rest of the component parts, we're going to have to strip out the old wiring and put new fiber-optic cables in, since those were introduced after the first-gen. Not a bad upgrade - you'll find Crocea Mors to be more responsive, a little less 'stiff' in the controls - but it's a real pain in the butt to do. And if we're doing that, then we might as well see about getting you a better generator."

"What's wrong with my generator?"

"Probably the same as everything else with your AC. It's old and obsolete. Why your old man didn't upgrade it ever beats me. Man had a deathwish or something." Qrow shook his head.

She looked up at him, which was probably a mistake on her part, as he was just right there, being all cute and stuff. Ruthlessly, she squashed down the awkward feels, and focused on her work. "It's not that there's anything wrong with Crocea Mors, just that it could be better. And we're gonna need it to be better." The girl backed out of the FCS view with a pair of quick keystrokes. "Let's back up," she said, as the screen returned to the spinning render of Crocea Mors as a whole. "So, there's a lot to go over here, but two of the most important stats when assembling or upgrading an Armored Core are these," she pointed out two numbers, which were placed at the bottom of a pair of bars, one of which was around two-thirds full, and the other was very nearly full.

"This is your weight capacity," she said, specifying the first bar. "That's how much weight your loadout bears, opposed to the total capacity of legs to, you know, actually carry. If you put more weight than the legs were meant to bear, then they'll start to break. Which, you know, would be bad. Also, it's generally considered wise to give yourself a good margin between loadout and total capacity. Not only is it easier on the machine, but it makes the unit faster and more agile. Next, we have energy capacity. This is where you're kind of hosed. See, every part of the AC draws power from the generator to work. The legs gotta leg, the arms have to hold up the guns, the head needs to do the thinking, so on. What those parts don't passively draw goes to the energy reserves - the bar you see on your HUD."

"Ah." Jaune frowned as he saw how close the bar was to capacity.

"Makes sense." Ruby and Weiss said at the same time.

"Jinx!" Ruby cheered while jabbing a finger at her partner who rolled her eyes.

"Please grow up."

"'Ah' is right. Your dad's generator was pretty good for back in the day, but, like I said, we can do better. It isn't completely used up, which is why your reserves do refill, but the reserves could be larger, and the refill faster. I mean, if you were able to keep up a sustained assault on Pyrrha with your plasma blade, her Mirror would have drained enough power from her generator that it would have taken her Karasawa out of play for a while."

"Mirror?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, that's the specific name of the energy shield that Argo is packing on its left arm. It can tank a lot of punishment, but it's pretty brutal on the generator. She switched out her old plasma blade for it since the giant blasts of plasma from her Karasawa kinda make her a huge target for other ACs."

Pyrrha was thoughtful at that but nodded. It made sense. Plus she kind of enjoyed the fact that her alternate had a similar style to herself despite using a giant mech. The Karasawa and the Mirror Shield reminded her of her own weapons.

"Yeah, I can see that," agreed Jaune, shaking his head ruefully at the memory of the incandescent fireball of simulated plasma that Pyrrha had hurled at him earlier. If he were up against an enemy with a Karasawa, he'd make disabling that Armored Core a priority too.

"With something as scary as that, you would be foolish not to." Blake pointed out.

Ruby tapped her index finger against her chin as she contemplated the problem at hand. "Let's check what kind of budget you're working with." A moment after she navigated to the 'Funds' folder, a box displaying a seven-figure sum of lien.

Jaune's jaw dropped. "Whoa! That's the kinda money we're talking about here?!"

The girl was unphased, giving a shrug. "Yepper. Mom and Dad must like you; they made sure you got a pretty good starting sum from the Director. Then there's what you got paid for your first mission - since Ozpin messed with it to make it a legal mission, they had to pay you. Of course, they take out what they need for repairs and ammunition from the mission pay."

"I do like him." Summer said happily.

Tai didn't say as much but internally, well it was hard to exactly dislike the boy, yet. He'd wait and see.

"What?"

Ruby nodded. "Yep. It's not that bad, but it's mostly there to make sure that if we make dumb mistakes, we remember them."

"Like Yang and the Armadons?"

"Aw, so I got yelled at and had to pay up? That sucks." Yang whined, getting a flick to the forehead from her partner when she tried to lean into her side.

"Like Yang and the Armadons," she agreed. "It's considered pretty rude to gripe about it though, since what doesn't directly cover the material costs goes to the technicians and mechanics. We'd be screwed without them, so putting a little extra money in their pockets when they bust their butts to keep us fighting helps isn't that big a deal." Ruby looked back at Jaune and gave a little shrug. "Dad - I mean, Captain Xiao Long - he says that we shouldn't lose sight that this money comes from the people of Vale pooling together, and we need to be responsible with it. Oh, and the ACs that we pilot."

"Very respectable outlook." Glynda nodded.

Tai chuckled and nodded. "Sounds like a good lesson. One we should recall as hunters too, there is a lot of support that the people of Vale give us to be able to do what we do."

"I'm sure that your dad appreciates you listening to him."

"I do." He grinned at his little girl.

"I try my best," said Ruby. "I mean, it helps that I have, like, the coolest parents. Ever. I mean, how many people can say that their Mom brings a Karasawa to work? Just two - me and Yang."

"Heh, better believe it." Summer said cheerily.

"How'd she get one?" Jaune asked. "I mean, Karasawa doesn't just make one of his rifles for anyone."

The audience leaned forward for the story there. They'd seen how powerful one was, and so Summer must have done something impressive to get one.

"Oh, this is the coolest story!" replied Ruby, her silver eyes shining. She spun the chair around to give Jaune her full attention. "Okay, so," she began, her hands open to frame the scene. "Back when I was really, really little -"

"You're really, really little now," Jaune interrupted, with a teasing smile. He laughed as she smacked him with her tiny hand. "All right, all right, I'm sorry."

Ruby pouted at the boy who held up his hands as if to say it wasn't him.

"You're a butt," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "So anyway, I was just a baby, and Yang was just a toddler. Mister Karasawa had come to look at Beacon, and while he was on tour, the Grimm alarm went off. Mom was on duty that day, so she handed us off to our uncle Qrow and went up to her Core. I guess I cried or something - 'cuz, you know, baby - and Mom just got a sad look on her face before climbing into the cockpit. When Mister Karasawa saw that, I guess he had one of his artistic inspirations, and held off going back to Mistral for a few weeks, and basically commandeered one of the local workshops. When he was done, he had created Mom's plasma rifle and had it brought to her."

"Wow. That's a pretty cool story."

"That really is." Jaune agreed with himself.

"It also speaks to this Mister Karasawa's character. To arm a mother better so that she can return to her children…" Ozpin pointed out to the others.

"I know right! I've got just the coolest Mom ever!"

"Hey!" objected Jaune. "My mom might not go around packing a plasma rifle, but she can make a pretty mean stroganoff. Besides, she raised eight kids while Dad was going around saving the world, so that's gotta be a draw, at least."

"My mom is pretty awesome." Jaune said before frowning. "I really should call her."

Ruby and Pyrrha both put a hand on his knee or shoulder to give him a bit of comfort, knowing that he was hesitant to talk with his family since he had run off to join Beacon.

Ruby blinked, her eyes wide. "...Did you say eight kids?"

"Yeah, that's the normal response. It's me and my seven sisters, one big...big, happy family."

"So, I have a new respect for you." Cardin muttered with wide eyes at the reveal of just how many sisters Jaune had.

"You have sisters?" Jaune asked.

Cardin winced. "Lets just watch the thing, man."

Ruby's head spun trying to imagine trying to raise eight children. Just...wow. She 'eeped' as another thought occurred to her. Pyrrha was ecstatic even learning that she just had the one brother. She'd probably explode when she found out that she had seven half-sisters as well.

"And that's the second reaction," Jaune remarked, his tone wry as he misunderstood the source of Ruby's little gasp. "Yes, my parents have a very loving marriage."

Literally all of the audience winced at that.

"Things might get a little rough as this story goes on." Jaune ran a hand through his hair as he spoke.

"It will work out though. I know it will." Ruby reassured him.

Oh, crapbaskets. If Pyrrha was right - and Ruby had no reason to think her friend was wrong about something that big - well, maybe it wasn't such a loving marriage as Jaune thought. Her heart ached for her new friend, and she hoped that things would work out with his family. She couldn't imagine what she would do if she found out that she had an illegitimate half-sibling from her Dad...she shook her head. The very idea of it was...unthinkable. Then again, she supposed that it was unthinkable that Gil Arc, the Hero of Vale, would've done something so...sleazy as to cheat on his wife.

Ruby and Yang glanced at tehri father.

"I haven't even tried dating since…I couldn't bring myself to think of anyone else after your mom." Tai said to his girls as he pulled Summer in close to him.

"I'm back now, so it all works out in the end." Summer said quietly before pressing a kiss to her husband's cheek.

Like everyone else, Ruby had grown up seeing Gil Arc as a pioneering hero and a role model. It wasn't that him cheating on his wife invalidated the things that he'd done, the battles he'd fought, and the security that he'd helped bring to Vale, and the other Kingdoms as well. It just seemed so...small. Like it was beneath someone of his stature.

"That's because it should be." Jaune bit out before blowing out a sigh. It wasn't really his dad. He needed to keep his mind on that fact.

No matter what, Pyrrha was her friend, and now, so was Jaune as well. Friends were there for each other, and for Ruby Rose, that meant making their AC's as kickass as they could possibly be.

"So, I'm thinking we start with an overhaul to the electrics and a new head part. Well, new-er. You've got some weight margin in case the new generator we slap in there is a bit chonk. The good news is that the new noggin' will have a full sensor suite, so we can ditch that radar on the back, and that makes room for another shoulder weapon. Maybe another missile? Or ooh, what are your thoughts on chain guns?"

"Okay, I know we're all thinking this, but it's totally unfair to have the little red hood tricking out your gear and not ours." Cardin said.

"Them's the breaks?" Jaune said with an awkward shrug.

"I'm actually with Cardin on this one…Ew I can't believe I said that." Weiss added in.

"Well damn, even a Schnee can say that. I have a serious PR problem." Cardin muttered.

Jaune could only shake his head in bemusement as the young girl practically flew through virtual representations of assorted weapons and parts, offering what insights he could as she went around piecing together concepts for Crocea Mors. Man, he'd really lucked out when he'd made friends with the Xiao Long - Rose family.

"Don't suppose you could whip me up a Karasawa of my own, could you?" he asked hopefully.

"Pfft, you're dumb," she laughed, lightly punching his arm.

"So mean." Jaune joked getting a playful punch to his own arm from the girl.

"No, seriously. I mean, it wouldn't have the name, but I'm sure your mother let you study hers. Did Pyrrha let you work on hers as well?"

"Yeah...the techs kind of fight to get to work on them when Mom or Pyrrha need to take theirs in for servicing. Mom let me dig around through hers, and Pyrrha did the same after she got one too. It's...really something. There's just something...else to it. Something that isn't just engineering. I learned a lot messing with them, and I couldn't have made Crescent Rose without that. Still, I sometimes feel like there's some secret just out of my grasp, like it's at the tip of my fingers…."

"Interesting." Ozpin said thoughtfully.

Jaune watched as she gazed into space, lost in the mystery of the finest Armored Core weapons ever made. "Uh, Rubes? You okay?"

She snapped out of it, fixing him with a surprised look. "You...you called me Rubes?"

Both Jaune and Ruby blushed slightly at that while Summer seemed to be nodding to a silent conversation happening in her head.

"Right on track." She muttered causing her husband to sigh as he heard her.

"Oh, uh, Yang mentioned it as a nickname of yours. Sorry if it's, you know, a family nickname or something."

"N-no!" stammered Ruby. "I mean...you can call me Rubes if you want."

"Okay. Anyways, I just wanted to thank you, you know. Meeting you and your family has been the best thing to come out of all of this."

Uh-oh. He was just looking at her, being all innocuous and dorky, with his dumb dork face, and the tummy flutters were stronger than ever.

"Jeez, Rubes. You got it real, real bad, don't you?" Yang said with a smirk.

"Shut up, Yang." Ruby whined.

"Hey it's okay, I mean, alternate universe and everything." Jaune defended her.

"Right." Ruby said before shooting a glare at her sister that could curdle milk.

Summer leaned forward to Yang's ear so only she could hear her. "You're going to be working hard from now on to get those two to open up to one another. Right?"

Yang nodded as she felt a cold sweat trickle down her spine while Tai tried to reign his mildly crazy wife in.

"Let's talk about pulse cannons!" she blurted.

"Uh...okay?" Jaune shrugged, a little puzzled by the abrupt change of subject.

Ruby turned back to the console, hoping that she hadn't come off as too weird. Boys were new and foreign to her. Meanwhile rapid-fire laser cannons that burned through armor and Grimm with superheated flash-evaporating bursts of searing light?

She knew that like the back of her hand.

[/]

Cardin sat alone on the old comfy couch in the rec room, staring at his palms as though they'd betrayed him. For the past...damn, it was nearly a year...whenever he wasn't actively using them, his hands would clench into fists of their own accord. Now, though, the fury, the righteous anger that had driven him ever since he'd lost his friends, one-by-one...it had abandoned him. The raging nuclear furnace in his heart had finally burned itself out, and all that was left was...ash.

The viewers threw a few glances toward the boy but were silent as they watched his alternate self struggle with his bottled anger. The young man mirrored his counterpart as he clenched his fists and stared at the screen before him.

She had done this. It wasn't enough that she'd gone and killed his friends...or at least got them killed. No, that wasn't enough for her. She had to go and make it all jumbled up.

Blake rolled her eyes but said nothing. Why waste her breath?

It'd been easy to understand before. His friends were dead. Why? Because the White Fang killed them. Why? Because they had Armored Cores. Why? Because Belladonna, that bitch, had stolen them for them. Why? Because they were dumb fuckin' animals who went to go pick a fight with humans while the Grimm were still runnin' around, fuckin' shit up.

Only, it wasn't that simple, not anymore.

Cardin hated it. He hated that Belladonna had had a point, or at least, some reason that wasn't 'kill all the humanz because furries rule, LOL.' He didn't want to see things from their point of view. He didn't want it to be nuanced, and complicated. But it was like a switch had been flipped, and since it had, he couldn't flip it back off.

"So I'm glad you're seeing sense now, but furries…really?" Blake asked flatly.

"Listen, let a man think in peace, alright?" He bit out at her.

"Whatever." Blake replied with another roll of her eyes.

Yes, they had stolen Armored Cores, and AC schematics? Why? Because they were a bunch of sand-sucking backcountry shitkickers, who needed them to un-fuck themselves and live like normal people. Gods only knew they couldn't afford to buy them, like civilized people. They probably only traded in beads, or shrunken heads or something.

"Really?" Blake asked.

"Shut up. I'm trying…he's trying? Shut up!" Cardin barked out at her only for the girl to make it a third time that she rolled her eyes.

"I think if you keep doing that they might get stuck you know." Yang teased.

"Shut up." Blake bit out.

"Oh, now you sound like Cardin." She pushed a bit more.

Blake rolled her eyes again before blushing with a scowl on her face as Yang broke out in laughter.

And the kicker? The real cherry on top of the ol' shit sundae?

Blowing up the White Fang transport ship to prevent them from getting away with the ACs was Cardin's first live-fire mission as an AC pilot. If he hadn't done that, they would have just gone back to their garbage island, and that particular threat would have never materialized.

His friends hadn't just died. They'd died for no good reason at all.

Several of the viewers winced at that. The older generation looked at the alternate version of the young man with far more pity than before.

Cardin was used to rage. He was used to his fists clenching, to his lip curling into a sneer, to holding that burning fury in his heart and stoking it, holding it close, letting it warm him with the purity of hate.

But he couldn't anymore.

"Anger is easy, Mister Winchester, and it can be pushed forward against anyone, even those that don't deserve it." Ozpin said to his student.

The leader of team CRDL scowled at his hands but didn't answer. What would he even say to that anyway?

He couldn't hate Belladonna, no matter how he wanted to. If he were in her position, and the rest of the Kingdoms were being a pack of dicks to Vale, just stealing some of the damn things would look pretty damn tempting. And when that plan went tits-up - because of him! - and the rest of them opted to start some shit, she had instead gone to Ozpin, cutting a deal instead of taking shots at them and putting Vale's security at risk.

"You did something similar, huh?" Cardin asked Blake directly.

The cat faunus blew out a breath. "Yeah. When they became okay with killing innocents I couldn't stay with them. I just wanted people like you to understand what it felt like to be a victim for a change, not that I am happy I thought that way, but I left when it went further."

"I..I can understand that." Cardin begrudgingly admitted.

Ironically, he was too tired of being angry to get pissed off over his inability to get pissed off at Blake Belladonna.

He was just...numb. He couldn't feel anything anymore.

And then he did feel something. He felt a pair of strong, slender arms wrap around his neck, and then a single, small hand run up his cheek. Then he felt soft lips on his cheek, kissing him, working towards his own, as her weight settled into his lap.

"Was it that bad?" he murmured.

"You were staring at your hands for twenty minutes," said Nora. She reached up higher to tease his hair, and just smiled sadly at him. She didn't say anything, just fixing her large, turquoise eyes to his, waiting for him to be ready to tell her what was on his mind. Sometimes he did, and sometimes he didn't. Sometimes, he didn't need to.

"What?" Ren asked, shell shocked.

"Huh, this is really weird, but I guess I could see it if he wasn't such an asshole." Nora said with a shrug as she stared at the boy.

"You aren't half bad when you aren't wrecking stuff either." Cardin shot back.

"No. Nope, stop." Jaune said as he pressed his hands to his ears to block out sound getting Nora to cackle at the act while Cardin frowned.

He was a dick, sure but he wasn't that bad was he?

Nora just held onto him, nuzzling against his broad chest, the pair sitting together in silence.

Sometimes, silence was enough.

Ren struggled with what he was watching but thankfully it was short lived.

Unfortunately, the silence wouldn't last, as the familiar blatting sound of the Grimm alarm emanated from Nora's Scroll.

Cardin groaned at the interruption. "Really? Another one so soon?"

"It's okay," Nora said, booping him on the nose as she stood up. "I'll go stomp it flat, and then we can pick things up where we left off."

"Sure thing." As Nora began to turn to the door, Cardin reached for her hand. "Nora...thank you."

Cardin looked intrigued, though not exactly entertaining the thought of pursuing her. Not like how Jaune and Ruby were now dancing around one another. If that was what that could be called.

"You'll be okay, big guy." She smiled broadly and left the room, meeting Lie Ren, in his emerald green flightsuit, just outside the door.

He simply nodded in acknowledgement, and the pair fell in step as they entered the main hangar.

"He's not so bad," she said.

"I didn't say anything?" protested her long-time partner.

"You don't have to." Nora said simply.

"You didn't have to." She grinned broadly up at him. "You just did your Ren thing, where your silences speak louder than your words. I know you're worried, but he isn't going to hurt me."

Nora jabbed a finger up toward the screen as if to say "See!" to Ren.

"I know you think that, but...the man is crass. Crude. Prone to act...impulse...ively," Ren trailed off, as it occurred to him that the pair may have had more personality traits in common than he'd thought at first glance. He shook his head at the disturbing realization. "Still, we promised we would keep each other safe, remember?"

"And we have! Besides, Cardin saved your bacon at Patch Island, remember?"

"I never said I never trusted the man with my life. But yours is worth more to me."

"Oh that is smooth." Qrow drawled out following a whistle.

"And true." Ren said simply. He then eyed their Cardin. He wasn't so sure it was true that he trusted his life to the other boy in their world actually.

"D'aww," Nora punched his shoulder. "Y'know, if you said sweet things like that to Yang, you might actually have a chance with her. Instead, you go around bragging about fingerblasting her. For shame," she said, shaking her head in disappointment.

Ren whipped his head to the side to stare at her incredulously. "You're the one that -"

The audience all laughed at that as Ren sent his partner a flat look.

"And now you're blaming lil' ol' me for your shortcomings. Not enough love poetry in the world to make that a good look to her, Lie Ren."

He paled. "You found it?"

"Yep. Think Dragon Lance would enjoy a dramatic poetry reading over the intercom? I bet Yang would find that interesting."

"You wrote me love poetry?" Yang said in shock before a blush spread across her cheeks.

"No. Well I could if you'd like me too." Ren replied.

"I-I couldn't ask you to do something like that." Yang tried to say while refusing to look his way.

Ren instead glanced at her sister who mouthed 'please and thank you' at him. He nodded. What could it hurt. If Yang had a soft spot for poetry he could write something for her. Besides she was someone he actually liked, like literally the entirety of their two teams.

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

"You shouldn't!"

"I should!"

Ren gave her a flat look. "You're a menace."

"I know."

"You two are pretty much an adorable overload. Like siblings!" Summer chirped happily.

"That…fits." Ren agreed smiling at his best friend who grinned broadly back.

They came to a stop at the base of their ACs, their quarrels forgotten, and without looking, fist-bumped, as they had before every mission since they'd begun piloting Armored Cores in live action two years previously. Nora grinned broadly at her partner.

"Hey, Ren. Let's go be big, stinkin' heroes. Again."

"Copy that."

[/]

Behind his desk, Captain Xiao Long tried not to fidget anxiously. He would have preferred to go out there himself, but between Oobleck holding the Leviathans' attention and the sheer firepower that Valkyrie could bring to the field, sending out the Sun Dragon as well would be overkill. Besides, at nineteen, Ren and Valkyrie were downright veterans compared to his own daughters, or the rookie Arc. Taiyang shook his head. His Lance was in a bad state when three nineteen-year olds, Ren, Valkyrie, and Winchester, were his old hands. While Valkyrie could be...excitable, she was out with Ren, who was one of, if not the most stabilizing influences among the wild and sometimes rowdy Armored Core pilots in his Lance.

"Teenagers being considered veterans just drives how bad the situation for Beacon's pilots is." Ozpin commented.

"I can see where your other was coming from with Arc, but the underhanded tactics won't help in the long run." Tai responded.

He heard a knock at his office door. "Come in!" he called. The door opened, and in walked one of the other stabilizing influences among his pilots, Pyrrha Nikos. The girl looked nervous, carrying an envelope in one hand and anxiously adjusting her braid with the other. "Afternoon, Nikos. What can I do for you?"

Pyrrha took a deep breath, as though to steady herself. "Right. Um, hello, Captain. I have an issue, a serious issue, one that could affect unit cohesion, and I was hoping that you would best know what I should do."

The audience's eyes widened. This was going to be big for their alternate selves.

Taiyang relaxed as he heard her. "Look, I appreciate you going all old-school and coming to me first, but Yang's a big girl, and it's her call who she dates. I'm not going to lie - this hasn't been the safest profession in the last few years, so my advice is to go for it. Just keep the teenage drama out of the cockpit, and it won't be any of my business. Well, as your Captain, at least. As her father, I'll destroy you if you do something dumb and break her heart beyond the normal trevails of young love -"

"Oh gods!" Pyrrha blushed brightly.

"Heh, oops? Just so you know, if you two wanted, I have absolutely no-" Tai began before Yang practically hurled herself at her father to cover his mouth.

"It's not that, sir!" Pyrrha, her cheeks as red as her hair, blurted out. Then she considered. "Well, not this time. I'll file this away for later." She shook her head. "Not the point. I...um.." she took a deep breath again. "I have evidence that Gil Arc is my biological father."

"See, Yang she'll file it away for later, now let your father go." Summer said.

"I wonder what evidence she has. I imagine it isn't that hard to run the test or keep it quiet but getting the subjects DNA to run it without them knowing…" Weiss pointed out.

"Even just some hair would be enough I think. Most people aren't paranoid enough to keep track of all the traces that they leave everywhere." Blake shrugged.

"Actually that's a good point, you leave a trace pretty much everywhere you go. And We know other Jaune's dad has been injured in battle before so his DNA is probably already in the system for Beacon." Ruby added in.

"So Pyrrha would just need some of her own hair to run a test?" Jaune asked.

"I imagine it's that easy, or if not she could probably get some of your dad's hair at any time. Like Blake said, people leave behind a trace all the time without knowing it." Ruby answered.

There was a pause as Taiyang stared at her for a moment.

"Uh...could you...repeat that?" he finally asked.

"Yeah, I'd be pretty shocked too." Tai commented as he pushed his eldest girl back into her seat.

Pyrrha sighed. "I know it sounds...absolutely ridiculous. Slanderous, even. But my mother swore it was true. And more than that...she ran a paternity test." She walked up to Taiyang's desk and put the envelope onto it. "Please...please be careful with that," she asked him. "It's the only link I have to prove that I'm not lying, or crazy."

Jaune grimaced at the way his partner on the screen was talking. How fragile she seemed at the moment. He gripped her shoulder gently just to try and remind her she wasn't alone. He wasn't the only one as Ruby and Nora both reached out to grab her hands and squeeze them tightly.

For her part Pyrrha appreciated the gestures but she felt a bit awkward. Her parents were in a loving marriage and honestly doted on her. She couldn't imagine the struggle her alternate self had gone through.

Well, Taiyang had come to know the young woman fairly well over the past year, and he didn't think that she was crazy, nor was she the type to lie, especially not about something like this. Gingerly, he opened the envelope - it hadn't been sealed - and pulled out a yellowed sheet of paper from it. It was from Atlas General Hospital, and it was an infant paternity test, dated seventeen years previous...and sure enough, it stated that Gil Arc was the father of the infant girl named Pyrrha Nikos.

Tai blinked, then blinked again, rubbing his eyes. Sure enough, the conclusion was still there on the paper. Carefully, he folded the paper back up, placed it back in the envelope, and slid it across his desk. He took a deep breath. "Well...if nothing else, this explains why you were so interested in him. This is actually much less creepy. The old man had a lot of...fan...girls," he trailed off, embarrassed as he realized that that could have very well explained Pyrrha's origins. He cleared his throat, feeling terribly awkward. "So...what do you want to do with this information?"

Tai grimaced at that as did Pyrrha. The thought of how that situation exactly came about was a bit uncomfortable to say the least.

Pyrrha shifted. "I...I never worked up the nerve to bring this to him. And then, with his heart attack, I thought I might have lost the chance for good." She held her arm across her chest. "I...I wouldn't want to hurt his family. If I brought this to him, and he...rejected me, I would go my own way. But then there was Jaune, and...I want him to have the choice. To decide if he wants to be my brother or not."

"You couldn't stop me if you tried." Jaune joked with a grin.

Pyrrha returned his grin though to all but Jaune it was incredibly fake looking.

Taiyang leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. "Okay," he said. "We took a blood sample when he enlisted, so we'll run his DNA against yours. It should have a sibling match. Well, unless Missus Arc was philandering too, in which case, all bets are off. We'll have the lab run the test, get the results, and if they match, we'll call in Jaune and...well, I guess we'll break it to him."

"Oof, please leave at just one parent stepping out." Jaune groaned not wanting to entertain the thought of his parent both sleeping around. He didn't want to think about his parents and the subject of intercourse in the first place.

"Okay." She smiled sadly. "Do you think I'm doing the right thing, Captain?"

He shrugged. "How should I know? My job is to blow up Grimm and keep you kids from ripping each other apart. But for what it's worth, I think you are. I think I'd want to know about something like this, even if it hurt." Tai's smile was bitter. "Besides, we need to own up to the consequences of our actions. Gil himself told me that."

"Funny how that works." Summer said calmly.

[/]

"Antiquity, this is StormFlower and Magnhild, ready to provide assistance. Congratulations on a successful holding action, sir." Ren readied his AC for combat as he and Nora were airdropped from massive carrier helicopters, to get them into the fight more quickly.

"Ah, excellent!" Bartholomew Oobleck's voice was rapid and excited as his AC zipped between the hulking reptilian Grimm that were seeking to wade ashore. Oobleck's Armored Core was one of the rare models to employ hover-type 'legs,' an experimental form from the second generation of ACs. While they were the absolute fastest type of leg available, they could carry the least amount of armor and equipment, and furthermore, their passive energy drain was simply horrendous. As a result, they were considered to be rather niche, were not commercially successful, and were phased out after the second generation. Now Bart Oobleck was one of the few who still ran a hover platform.

Hovering above the surface of the water, the older pilot focused on knocking the Grimm off-balance with the powerful handgun in the AC's right hand, before scorching their heads and torsos with flaming napalm from the flamethrower in his right. It was a very unconventional build, but it was working, as hovering over the water enabled Oobleck to put his superior piloting experience to use in nimbly avoiding the Grimms' long talons and snapping jaws.

"That's fitting for Bart. It seems effective as well." Glynda commented at the sight of Oobleck's Armored Core.

It wasn't that dissimilar to Ren's own strategy, though where Antiquity was built to whittle down over time, StormFlower was built to harass and lure enemies into a trap. The great advantage of StormFlower's reverse-legged build came from the great, powerful leaps that could carry him far through the air without triggering his boosters, enabling him to make boost-hops that other ACs could only dream of. It was a strategy that he put to use in closing the distance with one of the Leviathans, making a grand leap towards it.

The Finger machine gun on his right arm was his most powerful weapon, firing five shot bursts in blisteringly-rapid procession, but there was only so much ammunition that he could carry for it. On his left arm was a pulse gun, a scaled-down version of the rapid-fire lasers that Ruby had contemplated for Crocea Mors. It was, frankly, an absurd little thing to behold, looking more like an oversized hairdryer than an advanced implement of mechanized warfare, but Ren didn't care. All that mattered to him was its performance, and the (comparatively) little energy weapon could dish out punishment surprisingly quickly, and had a generous allotment of shots fired before it needed its components repaired. Rounding out StormFlower's conventional weaponry was a pair of launchers mounted to the shoulders, which fired small, unguided rockets. Ren used those as a nasty surprise for enemies that tried to straight-line rush, or as more powerful hits to rock an enemy AC from behind or the sides, to further disorient them.

"A good fit for me I think. Light and mobile but capable of putting out a rapid amount of damage." Ren nodded to his other's choices.

StormFlower's weapon loadout, while light, could deal shocking damage in bursts, especially if Ren could get a flank locked in on an opponent. But what made the AC truly dangerous was the experimental stealth unit which took up both of the AC's back slots. Packed with radar scramblers, sensor jammers, and the Phantom Light Diffuser, the stealth unit could, for short times, hide the AC from thermal imaging, radar, EM scans, and even the naked eye. It was hell on his energy reserves, so Ren quickly figured that its most effective use was as a way to momentarily disappear from the enemy after breaking line of sight with a series of sharply-angled jumps. It was a strategy that he'd used to devastating effect against Yang Xiao Long, her temper only making his efforts to throw her off balance easier.

"Even more fitting. Mister Ninja." Nora said with a laugh.

If he had to, he had no doubt of his ability to dispatch the three Leviathans that had made to attack the city. But that would be slow, expensive, and inefficient.

Plus, Nora would be annoyed if she went on a mission and didn't blow something up.

"You bet your ass I would be." Nora chirped somehow sounding both sweet and innocent and like a deranged person at the same time.

The sudden appearance of a red triangle on his HUD's radar display further drove that point home, and Ren suddenly found it prudent to be elsewhere. With one last burst of blinding laser fire from his pulse gun into the crocodilian face of the Leviathan that he'd been drawing in towards Nora, Ren activated his Core's overboost, zipping away from his foe in a gout of green flame.

He had bailed just in time, as Nora had fired a multi-missile at the Grimm. The sides of her missile popped open, revealing a cylindrical array of other, smaller missiles that launched from their host. One missile became ten, shrieking towards their target with unerring accuracy.

"Excellent teamwork you two." Glynda commented.

"Seems like you guys make as good of a match up there as you do here." Jaune added in.

"Naturally." Nora said in an arrogant facade.

"Scratch one bandit," Ren commented over the radio, as the Grimm was engulfed in hellfire.

"Go get me another!" demanded Nora, playing up her impatience for comedic effect. "I've got things to do!"

Ren shuddered.

"Shut up." Nora scowled at her friend.

"Shut up, Ren."

"Yeah what she said." Nora pointed at her other self.

"I didn't say anything." Ren replied.

"I didn't say anything!"

Ren swept a hand slowly toward the screen while Nora clicked her teeth together and rolled her eyes.

[/]

As the commanding officer of both pilots, it was easy for Taiyang to order a DNA test done, and the results sent to his office. Within the hour, a much newer envelope was on Taiyang's desk, as the Captain perused the results that had been enclosed within.

"Congratulations," he finally said. "Looks like you've got a brother." He replaced the paper and sighed. "All right, Nikos. Give the word, and I'll call him here and tell him the news. Or if not, I'll give you this and pretend we never had the conversation. It's your call."

Pyrrha stared at the envelope. "Call him in," she finally said. "He deserves to know the truth."

"It's going to be okay, Pyr." Jaune said as he gently patted at her shoulder.

"I know. You're still Jaune no matter the universe I imagine." Pyrrha said with a small smile.

Jaune blinked but shrugged, deciding to take that as the compliment it likely was.

"All right." Tai took out his Scroll, and placed a call to Arc. "Arc. There's a matter that's come up that you need to know about. How soon can you be in my office? No, it's not an attack, but it is important. Okay, good. See you soon." He ended the call and put away his Scroll. "He was just wrapping things up with Ruby, and he'll be here in ten," he told Pyrrha. "So, what do you think about him?"

Pyrrha smiled genuinely at the young man that she had met. "When faced with a losing battle, he chose to go out shooting. If I knew nothing else about him, that would be enough. Still, even in just a few hours, he's made quite the impression. He was gracious in his defeat earlier. He stood up for his sister - I have a sister! - when Cardin made inappropriate remarks about lesbian women. Oh, and his mother went through great efforts to make him an appealing marriage prospect for young ladies - I know your daughters were quite taken by his ballet performance."

"Daughters?" Taiyang asked, surprised. "As in, both girls?"

Tai frowned deeply, until Summer started jabbing him in the side forcing him to snatch up both of her hands in his own. She wouldn't even let him play the part of papa bear. It wasn't fair.

"Er...yes?"

"Are you telling me that Ruby's already started noticing boys?"

Pyrrha shifted awkwardly. "Well, more like one specific boy."

"This universe hates me and wants me to suffer, just like you do." Ruby whined while pointing at the host.

"Possibly." The being simply remarked causing her to whine once more.

Tai rubbed his forehead. "I mean, easy come, easy go, right? You didn't have a brother for that long that you wouldn't mind if I killed him a little."

Several of the viewers laughed, though Jaune's became awkward as he glanced at the older blond who was staring him down rather than watching the viewing.

"Captain, I must ask you to please refrain from murdering my long-lost brother."

He sighed with great dramatics. "Fine, fine." He shook his head ruefully. "Gods, I'm getting old. One day, your little girl is toddling around in her little strawberry costume, the next she's piloting an AC into live combat and looking at boys. Where does the time go?"

"Little strawberry costume?" Weiss asked.

"Oh my gods it is the cutest thing you've ever seen." Yang said.

"You-You wouldn't happen to have pictures would you?" Blake asked with Weiss suddenly very interested.

"Yang, no!" Ruby cried.

"Yang, yes! Everyone will see how adorable you were as a little girl, and you'll never stop it!" Yang cackled almost villainously.

"Mom!" Ruby tried to call in reinforcements.

"If you think I don't plan on showing off how cute my little strawberry was you have another thing coming sweety." Summer said with a placid smile on her face.

"No! Jaune, you can't look. You won't look right?" She practically begged.

"O-Of course not, Rubes." He said before locking eyes with Yang who nodded and winked, promising to show him later.

After all, who could refuse looking at pictures of little Ruby all dressed up like a little strawberry?

"Forward, sir."

"Wow, that's a very Pyrrha line." Jaune commented.

"Thank you?" She asked more than said.

"You have the natural badass charm Pyr, just embrace it." Nora said.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "That was either extremely profound or extremely literal, Nikos, and the fact that I can't tell which one it is concerns me."

She smiled. "I'm pleased that that is so."

"Yeah, I bet you are."

A knock at the door put an end to their banter. Tai nodded to Pyrrha before calling "come in!"

Jaune entered the office. If he was surprised to see Pyrrha there, he didn't show it. "Hello, Captain, Pyrrha. So, what's up?"

"You should sit down for this," Taiyang told the teenager. He stood and picked up the two envelopes. "Son, there's no easy way to tell you this, so I'll just be frank. There is evidence, from two separate DNA tests, that proves that Gil Arc is the biological father of Pyrrha Nikos." He handed them to Jaune, who opened first one and then the other, and read their contents.

Jaune blinked, then looked at the nervous Pyrrha, before laughing. "Sorry, but the timeline doesn't line up. Pyrrha's around my age, and there wasn't time enough for another pregnancy between myself and my next younger sister, Rouge. I mean, I know my mom got pregnant a lot, but even she couldn't keep up that kind of pace. Besides, she'd never abandon one of her kids, and if one was kidnapped, she'd scorch whole Kingdoms to the ground to get them back. So, sorry, Pyrrha, but it -"

"Oh, this might be harder than I expected." Jaune winced as his other was in complete denial.

"It works if my mother isn't your mother." Pyrrha interrupted him. The dawning comprehension in his eyes broke her heart.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said quickly.

"For what? You didn't do anything wrong here or there. My dad…my other's dad did something wrong and he's the only one in that situation as far as I'm, concerned." Jaune told his partner seriously.

"But...he was married!" protested Jaune, looking back and forth from Pyrrha to Taiyang. "He...he wouldn't ever...cheat on my mother! At their wedding, he promised his fidelity to her, and an Arc never goes back on their word!"

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said, her emerald eyes soft and sympathetic. "I struggled with whether or not to tell you. I thought that, if nothing else, you should know the truth. Now that you do, I can't tell you what to do with it. I can't tell you whether or not you should confront our father with this when he recovers, or if you should tell your mother, or your - our - sister."

Jaune just sat numbly for a moment. Then he huffed, which turned into chuckling, before he had a full-on laughing fit. Pyrrha shared a concerned glance with the Captain before reaching out to him. "Jaune? Are you okay?"

The audience was just as concerned as they were. Tension filled them as they waited for Jaune to calm down and respond.

"Of course you were another girl," he eventually said. He wiped a tear from his eye. "Eight. I now have eight sisters."

Pyrrha blinked. "I'm sorry, are you saying that you have seven sisters?!"

"Nope." He stood, shakily, and embraced her. "We have seven sisters."

"Well I'll be damned. Kid just rolls with it. Good for you two." Qrow chimed in.

"Jaune is Jaune, no matter the world." Pyrrha said with a contented sigh before gently squeezing her partner's hand.

She stood there for a long moment, absorbing what he had told her, before wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight against her.

"You're not angry?" she asked.

"Oh, I want to murder my dad with a tire iron for cheating on my mom. But that isn't your fault. None of this is your fault, understand?"

"This guy gets it." Jaune joked causing the others to lighten up a bit from the serious atmosphere.

"...Okay…"

Forgotten in the meeting of long-lost siblings, Taiyang made a note to take the girls to their mother's tonight. He felt a strong urge to go and be a good husband and father just then.

"Yeah, I feel the same other me." Tai said with a shake of his head.

---

That is a wrap for this chapter I hope you enjoyed it. Definitely a big one as far as reveals for our characters. Not just the major bomb of Pyrrha's paternity but also Blake's involvement with that world's White Fang as well as Ruby suddenly realizing she is in fact a Nefarious Butt Toucher in the making.

Like mother like daughter though.

Anyway

Till Next Time