Chapter 8:
A Knight to Remember

Pyrrha Nikos was bouncing. The redhead just felt so happy. It was only two nights ago when Jaune asked her to train him. Ever since then he showed so much improvement. He killed grimm, he beat Cardin and Dove in Combat Class, and he's also doing well in his academics. He told their teammates the truth and even managed to get the both of them to train with him too. And now they are training again after dinner on the rooftop of their dorm.

Ever since Pyrrha saw Jaune's footwork in his spar against Cardin, she realized something about Jaune's potential. Jaune wasn't weak, he wasn't talentless, the reason why he was lacking combat abilities before was because he was trying to move his body in ways that it wasn't trained to when it was already trained to move in a certain way.

The weird reaction times, stiff movements, uncertain swings of his sword, all of it unfamiliar with a body that already knows how to flow. Him, using dancing as a base for his footwork was genius on his part. But it was only the start, his footwork might be fluid but his swings and blocks were clunky from her perspective. He compensated for it with his reflexes but then can only take him so far.

That leads them to focusing on his whole body, eliminating the excessive flair from dancing and replacing them with sharp steps that would lead him to deal the most damage. After making sure Jaune has the footwork down, Pyrrha shows him how to move his whole body efficiently.

She shows the best way to move first while Jaune tries to follow. She adjusts his body with her own when needed, palms pushing his legs apart wider for balance, hands moving across his shoulders to his biceps… Well, maybe she adjusts his body more than needed. Anyway, the point is Jaune is doing well, well enough that he can spar with Pyrrha

Crocea Mors slashing through the air, shield raised to block stabs, feet moving to avoid unblockable slashes, Jaune Arc dances his own style, a battle dance all on his own.

And Pyrrha meets him with her own dance. Crocea Mors clashing with Milo and Akuou, steel singing against steel, Jaune and Pyrrha fought on the rooftops of Beacon basked in the light of a broken moon.

Overall, Pyrrha Nikos was so happy for her crush and partner and the overall state of their team. Right now, that happiness caused her to be too excited and that excitement led her to smack Jaune right in the face with her shield as they spar.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologizes as she knocks down Jaune.

"Ow…. It's ok Pyrrha, it's part of the training right? Again?" Jaune asks her while already standing up. Thank the Brothers for aura, else they wouldn't be able to go this long and not have a battered body.

"Hmmm, I think we should end it for tonight Jaune. We've been doing this for almost two hours now. Time to let our bodies cool down and rest. While we're doing that we can talk about which areas you can improve on."

"I guess you're right, Pyrrha. Thanks partner, I wouldn't know what to do without you. I'd probably work myself to the bone doing the wrong thing and be set back more than before if it weren't for you."

"Nonsense Jaune, you've already improved so much. I'm sure you would have been able to do it right without me."

"I'm not sure about that. But thanks for having faith in me."

"Jaune, it was only two nights ago since we started training and you've already beaten Cardin and Dove. I think that says a lot about your own abilities."

"I only beat Dove through luck though. I couldn't even touch him for most of the match."

"You're right but that was only because of his range. I'm sure we could find something useful that would give you some range."

"Do you think dust would help?"

"Just dust? Not a gun?"

"Yeah, just dust."

"Hmmm, I don't know Jaune. I don't get much chance to work with raw dust. I mainly use them for my bullets. Fire dust is useful when you need the extra firepower. Why don't you want to use a gun anyway?"

"It's not that I don't want to use a gun, it's more of dust is just easier to carry you know?"

"Ah. I get why that would be one of your concerns. Maybe we should see what's available first before deciding what to get you. It's something you should really think about. Expanding your repertoire of skills and equipment is a big decision."

While thinking about ways she can help Jaune expand his repertoire, Pyrrha doesn't expect what he asks next of her.

"Then… Do you want to go out with me this weekend to Vale?" Jaune asks her out of nowhere.

"What?!"

Is this really happening?! Is he asking me out here?! Right now?! When we're both sweaty and in our combat attire?! I mean the mood is okay, it's nighttime and the moon is shining down on us…. But that doesn't mean it's okay to just ask a girl out when you're both sweaty from training!

"I mean I'd like to see what I could get my hands on, but I wouldn't actually know where to start. I mean I would ask Ruby–"

"YES! I mean.. cough… I'd love to go out with you." Pyrrha responds, blushing at how excited she replied. She feels both relief and disappointment that Jaune didn't really ask her out on a date right now.

"Great! It's a date then!" Jaune says before realizing what he just said. Eyes widen as he tries to backtrack, he doesn't notice Pyrrha blush so engrossed he is on his blunder.

"I mean! It's not a date! NOT that I wouldn't want to date you! Because I would! But I like Weiss! And this is just a friendly outing! Because that's what we are! Friends! Yes! Partners! Going on an outing. Just an outing ha. ha. ha. And…. I'm gonna shut up now." Embarrassed, Jaune just shuts up and closes his eyes.

"... I know what you are trying to say Jaune." Pyrrha replies, thankful that Jaune has his eyes closed so he doesn't notice her expression. Happy at first, then hurt because of his feelings for Weiss, and resigned to being delegated as a friend.

"Oh thank the Gods, I wouldn't know what to do if I made you uncomfortable." Jaune says with a relieved breath.

"...Yeah, that….. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to go change now." Pyrrha says with a resigned tone.

"Hmm? Yeah sure, come on let's head down." Jaune says as he leads the way downstairs back to their dorm room. Not noticing Pyrrha trailing back a bit, sighing to herself.

Sigh… Oh Jaune, why won't you notice me. I wouldn't mind dating you too… Wait what? Too?

"Not that I wouldn't want to date you! Because I would!"

Recalling back Jaune's exact wording, Pyrrha Nikos realizes something very important.

He sees me! He sees me as a woman! He would want to date me! Oh Gods! Oh Gods! I have a chance!

With that realization, Pyrrha puts a smile on her face and walks besides Jaune.

"Oh, by the way Jaune. I wouldn't mind either." Pyrrha says to Jaune with a tender smile on her face.

"Hmm? Wouldn't mind what Pyrrha?" Jaune replies with a confused smile.

"...You'll see, one day you'll see." Pyrrha answers with a laugh.

With that cryptic last word, Pyrrha rushes forward to get to their dorm room first while laughing at Jaunes questions of what she meant by that.

—

Lie Ren was a simple man. He likes peace and quiet. He likes keeping Nora safe. He likes his team. And right now, sitting in the shade on one of Beacon's trees outdoors, Lie Ren would like nothing more than to clobber his leader in the head for not focusing on their Aura Control training early in the morning.

"...I just don't understand Ren. What does she mean by she wouldn't mind either? She wouldn't mind what? And that last comment last night! One day you'll see…. She sounded like one of my sisters planning to play a prank on me!" Jaune complains to Ren, still confused about Pyrrha's comments last night.

Lie Ren sighs internally to himself. He thinks back to what he would do if Nora tells him "One day Ren, one day you'll see."... He shivers to himself. Not wanting to think about it. And not wanting to get between his leader's relationship with Pyrrha. He falls back to the easy answer he gives to himself ever since he and Nora reached puberty.

"Girls are weird, Jaune. It's better not to think about it. You should know, you have sisters."

"Hmm, I guess you're right Ren. My sisters did play pranks on me but it didn't really hurt our relationship."

"Good, now with that out of the way, let's go back to our training. You remember what Aura is."

"Right, Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It acts like a force field around us that protects us from harm."

"Correct, that's the basics of it. But it is also deeper than that. You know that it is the manifestation of our soul, then it also means that since we have different souls then we have different auras. This manifests in different colors, different amounts, and different semblances.

"You said different colors, do colors mean anything to a person?"

"There has been no evidence that different colors affect a person, yet some people feel that the colors of their aura represent facets of their own personalities. Despite that, I do not recommend dwelling in it too much Jaune, regardless of what color your aura is, you are still you.

"Right, don't dwell on it. Got it. What about amounts though? I know that huntsmen older than us would generally have stronger or bigger aura, but doesn't it mean that everyone in our age group should be in a similar range?

"You would think that wouldn't you? But it's more complicated than that. While there is a general trend in the age demographic that the older you are the greater amount of aura you have access to, it also varies per individual, not to mention the amount decreases once you reach a certain threshold at a certain which also varies per person. What this means is we will still have outliers in our generation that have a lot of aura like you.

"Wait, what do you mean a lot? How large of a gap are we talking about here?"

"Hmmm, if we will quantify it with yours being 100, the second largest aura is Yang's and Nora's at 60 to 65 with the average student in our year being about 40 to 50, take in mind though that this is not an accurate reading. You would need specialized equipment to truly measure your aura quantitatively, and as far as I know only Atlas has that technology. I can only infer from what I'm sensing on you and our classmates and even then it's not something you should trust completely."

"You can sense Aura? How does that work?"

"Sensing Aura is a high level technique, I doubt you would understand if I explain it to you now. Even I'm not that good at it. That's another thing about Aura. You can do a lot of things with it, you know that it can protect us from harm and heal us, but you can also use it to enhance your strength, speed, endurance, and senses. Like a muscle though, you need to train it to get your Aura to be better at all those things."

"Great! That's why we're training isn't it? To be better. What about semblances though?

"You're right, that's what this training is for. As for semblances… If Aura is the manifestation of our soul, then our Semblance is the more tangible projection of our Aura. It is the manifestation of our own innate and personal power. It's usually unique to an individual, but with the amount of people with unlocked auras, it is inevitable that you will find people with similar semblances."

"Semblances. Cool. How do you unlock them?"

"..(Chuckles)… Like I said, it's unique to an individual so I can't give you a surefire way of unlocking yours, Jaune. But if you want an example, my semblance, Tranquility which allows me to hide negative emotions making me invisible to grimm, was unlocked when I was a kid and wanted to hide from the grimm…." Ren explains, remembering that frightful day in Kuroyuri.

"...Oh. I'm sorry Ren, if I asked something insensitive." Jaune apologizes with a small cringe.

"...It's fine, Jaune. It's been years already, and you only asked how to unlock them, I'm the one who volunteered the information." Ren smiles somberly, willing to revisit the memory just to help his leader grow.

"Still, I'm sorry about what happened, whatever it is."

"...Thank you Jaune, maybe one day I'll tell you everything about it."

"Right, anytime brother. Now, you were talking about semblances?"

"..Yes. All I could give you would be that knowing yourself and extreme emotions might push you to unlock your semblance."

"So it's not something you can train. Hey, what types of semblance do people manifest?"

"Like I said, it's unique. It could range from Ruby's super speed, Nora's strength, Weiss' hereditary semblance, or even Blake's clones. There's a lot of possibilities out there, as many as there are people I guess.

"What about dreams then? Can someone have a dream semblance?"

"Dreams? You mean someone hopping into someone else's dream? I've never heard of a semblance like that. But I doubt if there was someone out there with that semblance, he or she would want anyone else to know for fear of persecution. So I would say it's certainly possible but not as common as semblances enhancing speed or strength to the extremes."

"Cool cool, but I was thinking more about dreaming about the past or future."

"...I remember my mother telling me a story about one of my ancestors dreaming about memories of his own great-great-grandfather. He used his dream to find out hidden treasures or knowledge at the time. It's just a story, but stories do have a grain of truth in them, maybe my ancestor did have a semblance like that but people at the time didn't know it yet."

"So it is possible to dream about the past or future."

"That story was only for the past Jaune, as for the future…. I'm a firm believer that we make our own future. Imagine we were back on Initiation, we just met and none of us passed or maybe only one of us passed. Both of those situations were certainly possible at the time, but also improbable. And yet both situations could be their own realities if they did happen. Realities independent of our own. Now imagine, if the you from Initiation saw in your dream that you passed and got to this point in our time, would it have changed you doing your best at Initiation? Sure you might be partnered with different people then or not pass at all, it doesn't matter because that Jaune's reality is now independent of our own reality."

"...Ren…. you're hurting my head Ren."

"You're the one who asked the question Jaune. I just gave you the answer."

"Yes! But can't you make it simpler? Pleaseeeee?"

" (Sigh)…..I don't think it matters whether you dream about the past or the future."

"Okay, I get that about the past, that it can't be changed. But what about the future? What if I can change it for the better?"

"Do you? Do you really know you can change it for the better?"

"Uhhh. Yes?"

"Then change it."

"Ooookay? That simple?"

"What? Did you expect me to have a philosophical answer?"

"Uhhh, yeah? Kinda?"

"It's your semblance Jaune. It's up to you to decide how to use it. I know you're a good person so I know you will use it responsibly. Now here's my question for you. Are you having dreams of the future?"

—-

"Now here's my question for you. Are you having dreams of the future?"

Crap. How do I explain this to Ren?

Trusting his instincts and his brother from another mother, he tells the truth. The truth about where he had a dream that he was the only who passed Beacon. Where he trained for hours and hours, met new people, and won the Vytal Festival singlehandedly. And how he used his knowledge from that dream to get better at his academics and footwork for Combat Class.

"...So let me get this straight, you had a dream where you were the only one that passed?"

"Yes."

"And you trained and studied for a whole year."

"I won the Vytal Festival too"

"...You won the Vytal Festival too, of course. And in your dream, you ended up as a second year giving the welcoming speech for new initiates, which is us, your friends and other people."

"That's pretty much it, yeah."

Waiting for Ren to process what he just said, Jaune sees him take a deep breath and looks him in the eye.

"Jaune… You're crazy."

Jaune's shoulders drop and he gives out a resigned sigh.

"Yeah, I kno-"

"Wait, let me finish. You're crazy if you thought this would change anything major between us. I've lived with Nora for most of my life, I am not a stranger to weird dreams."

"But this isn't anything like Nora's!"

"I know, yours is too detailed and you actually met new people in your dream. From what I know, the people you meet in your dreams are people you have already met or a combination of them. Some people in your dreams are definitely strangers without connection to most of the people we know."

"That's right! So it could be real?"

"Whether or not it's real, this is already a different reality. You remember what I said before?"

"Yeah, that this reality is independent of my dream."

"Correct, your dream self passed alone and had no team. You have a team, we are here with you Jaune. Don't forget that. While your dream self became a powerful warrior, I believe you could also become a powerful warrior, and add to that a great leader as well." Ren tells him with a confident smile.

Damn Ren, do you wanna make me cry?

"...Thanks Ren, that means a lot to me. You know my family never believed in me, you know?" Jaune says while keeping his head down with some wetness in his eyes.

"...This is the first time I am hearing it." Ren replies quietly.

"Yeah, so this is a big deal for me. So thank you Ren, really." Jaune confirms with some quiet sniffles.

"...Anytime…Brother." Ren answers back, thanking his leader in his heart for trusting him with this.

"..Now about that dream, what about the future though?" Jaune asks, bringing the topic back to something less heavy, not willing to make this topic about his family yet.

"What about it? We're still gonna do our best to win the Vytal Tournament, aren't we?" Ren asks back with a smile.

"Damn straight we are!" Jaune answers back with a grin, glad to back to something less heavy.

"But if you're referring to the type of semblance your dream self unlocked, then it's certainly possible. Aura Amplification you called it?"

"Right, it made me stronger, faster, and more durable in the dream. It also healed my injuries by the way."

"That's a pretty strong semblance, and you unlocked it by wanting to win against your opponent?"

"Yup."

"Hmmm, a vague activation condition, if it was that easy then you should have already unlocked it in Combat Class."

"You're right! I wanted to win badly back then too!"

"Then it needs a more stressful situation and an intense emotional reaction to unlock it."

"So, just like you said before."

"Yes, but at least, we know what type your semblance is, an enhancement type. If you meet people today that you met in your dream then we might as well have a sure way to confirm what your semblance is."

"So we just wait until we meet someone like Penny?"

"No, we could already confirm it later today. Winter Schnee, Weiss' older sister, you met her in your dream, if Weiss confirms Winter's existence then your dream is real. As real as your dream is, we have no explanation for how you had it. It is quite frankly magical. I suggest we don't think about it for now and focus on your training."

"You're right! We could confirm it later with Weiss, I almost forgot we were here to train Aura."

"Yes, as amazing as Aura is, it has limits. Tell me Jaune, despite still having aura, you still felt Cardin's strikes against your shield right?"

"Yeah, it still felt painful, that's why I dodged most of it"

"Right, despite protecting us from harm it has its limits. Pain, heat, cold, electricity, and other sensations, we still feel these things, albeit at a lower intensity. That's one of the main reasons why huntsmen train their Aura Control. The better control they have, the stronger the shield, the lesser the damage, the lesser the pain. Another reason is the increased enhancements it gives us, more speed, more strength, better healing, elemental resistance…."

And so Jaune Arc continues his day at Beacon starting it with a long lecture and training on Aura Control.