I have my planned dates for the Christmas period finalised now, so there'll be no updates for them. My last update of the year will be Thursday 19th, and I shall return Saturday 4th January. I will be sure to mark dates accurately on the bottom of the last chapters.

Next update for this fic will be 5th January.

Cover Art: Solace O'Autumn

Chapter 52

Pyrrha was only too happy to help him practice with his new gloves, doing push-ups and sit-ups in his hotel room with gusto while he tapped out a simple beat. It wasn't the state-of-the-art facility she had in Argus, but he couldn't afford to leave Mistral without ticking off Lil Miss Malachite.

They made do with what they had.

"I can definitely feel your music making me stronger," said Pyrrha. "Though it's only noticeable because I know to look for it."

Cinder had said the same and he agreed; Sun hadn't realised the music was buffing him, and neither had the other people he'd used it on. It might have been more how unrealistic the idea was that held people back from realising it, more than the sensation being subtle.

"I want to try something, though," she said. "I want to see if you can buff me when I can't hear your music. Do you have some earphones I can use?"

"Sure."

They went through another quick round, Pyrrha showing off just how athletic she was, but she eventually shook her head and took the earphones off.

"It didn't work. I don't think your Semblance can work unless the person hears the music. That could be a problem with Chae-young."

It would be. His plan had been to subtly help her along by tapping out a beat while she played; he hadn't planned for her to know, and certainly not for anyone else to notice. That wouldn't work now since Chae-young wouldn't be able to benefit from his Motivational Song unless it was audible enough for her to hear.

"Then the gloves are useless. I feel bad for Cinder wasting her time."

"They're not useless. The gloves will mean you always have a means of using your Semblance on you – your music, I mean. Your real Semblance is always active. But you won't always have an instrument to hand."

"Hm. True."

"It'll also be good for hiding your songs," she said, smiling. "Imagine if I had to help you fight these criminals. If you loudly play a guitar and it's obvious I'm getting stronger, they'll figure it out and focus on you. But if you're quietly snapping your fingers then they won't realise you're doing this. I'm the only one who would have to hear your music, and I could focus on staying close enough to do so."

"That's a good point." Jaune grinned, getting into it a little more. "I wonder if we could use an earpiece to transmit my music, too." Given his music had travelled over the internet before, it should work. "I could be in another room entirely and helping you."

"That's the spirit! Now, how are we going to help Chae-young? I don't think they'll let you give her an earpiece, and they'll probably make you sit and watch her play."

Jaune's good mood vanished in an instant. They'd absolutely do that, if only to make things even worse for Chae and force her to give up on her passion. "Maybe I could tell her to focus on me when she plays?" he offered. "I could tell her it's a trick, so she doesn't get nervous about the crowd. Have her focus on the beat of my fingers on the table to match her tempo to."

"That'd work if you're close enough for her to hear the sounds your fingers make, but will you be? Can you guarantee it?"

He couldn't.

"How about sound below what a human can hear? Would that still carry my Semblance?"

Pyrrha looked away helplessly. "Maybe? It probably should, but how would you make sound at that level?"

"Good point. I was thinking a dog whistle, but I'd have to learn to play music with it, and there's no way they'll let me loudly blow and play on something when this is meant to be her moment on stage." Jaune growled and punched the mattress. "Damn it! I've no idea how I'm meant to help her. Maybe I'm not supposed to…"

"Let's not give up yet. Have you tried using your Motivational Song to buff her learning of the guitar?"

"Learning…? You mean, in lessons?"

"Yes. If it makes people better at things, can it make her better at learning guitar. Speed up her lessons or make them more efficient somehow."

It was an idea, that's for sure. The wording on the skill was just vague enough that it might work, and one could argue that an ability to boost the learning rate of someone was almost more valuable than the direct buffs. He was fairly sure he'd seen a cartoon about a boy who did that – someone who used a special skill to learn things at a rate far beyond what a normal person could, and soon became all-powerful.

"I'll give that a shot with her today."

"Tell me how it goes?"

"Of course. But you have school tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah…" Pyrrha sighed miserably. She'd spent practically the whole weekend with him, in the hours between when he was teaching Chae. "Ugh. Haven is so boring compared to this."

"But it is important. And what will your sponsors say if they hear you're skipping?"

"True. They'd be up in arms."

Jaune laughed and walked her to the door. Working out a hotel room, there wasn't much to do in terms of being polite, but he offered Pyrrha her coat and opened the door for her. He stepped out as well, ready to begin his own lesson with Chae. They took an elevator down together and walked through the lobby talking animatedly.

Several receptionists stared at the Pyrrha Nikos leaving a hotel with a young man, her skin flushed and sweaty, her hair dishevelled.

A few scrolls flashed surreptitious shots as they went by.

/-/

Pyrrha's plan to boost Chae-young's learning rate was working.

Masking his playing as a simple beat to help her keep to tempo was simple – and he tapped his new gloves on a low table. A simple beat of the very song she was learning, as if he were the drummer. Jaune's Charisma flowed through the room, taking the oblivious girl completely by surprise.

Two hours into their lesson and not a single argument, not a single complaint, and while she still missed notes here and there, it was nowhere near as much as normal. Even Chae-young could tell she was doing better, and the small girl beamed as she played. It made the lesson go even more smoothly.

.

Through constant use of a skill, your CHARISMA has increased by 1.

.

And it looked like two solid hours of playing his Motivational Song had done something for himself as well. Although, there was no telling how close he'd been before he started or whether his online videos hadn't accrued hundreds of video-hours in the last two physical hours as well.

The true power-farming method remained online videos, and he kept getting updates and increases every day, usually only one a day at best, but enough that his Charisma was still growing.

"That was excellent," Jaune said, pausing his drumming as she finished the song. "You did a great job. How did that feel?"

"Amazing!" she gasped. "I just… I felt like I could feel the music running through me!"

A very apt description. At least she was attributing the good feelings to her own progress and not him, so that should prevent any of the addiction Willow felt. If anything, Chae-young might end up getting addicted to the sensation of personal progress, and there were certainly worse vices to have.

"I want to hear you play it again," he told her. "Let's master that song."

Normally, she'd have argued that she wanted to move on, but she was in such a good mood that she nodded and went back to it. Jaune began to beat, and he noticed a few of the security staff who always kept an eye on him around the girl tapping their feet along. He was sure her progress would make it back to someone – he just hoped it wasn't Ha-rin, and that she wouldn't take it out on him.

Chae-young belted out the song for a second time, stumbling only during the complicated solo but even then managing to make it recognisable.

"Good. Really good. It's just a matter of practicing that solo now."

"Hmm!" Chae-young nodded. "I wish I could practice on my own at night, but mother doesn't want me disturbing anyone's rest with music." Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she said the last part, suggesting they were Ha-rin's own words. "She just doesn't want me to succeed!"

"Why is that?" Jaune dared to ask.

Normally, Chae-young wouldn't answer. She hadn't in the past cases. This wasn't a normal situation. Whether it was lingering cheer from her success or the effects of his Charisma still upon her, the small girl answered.

"Mom wants me to be a proper lady, whatever that means. Tea ceremonies, fancy dresses, hair care, floral arrangements. A lady is to be seen and admired, but not heard – that's what she says." Chae-young looked desperately up at him. "But that's old-fashioned. Isn't it? That's not right!"

"It is old-fashioned," he agreed. "And I'm not personally a fan of it."

He didn't dare condemn it here, though. Not when the people around them might report it back. Thankfully, they didn't look interesting in doing so. They were keeping an eye on him in the sense of not trusting an important young girl alone with him, but the men never bothered to listen in.

"The worst thing is mom used to push music lessons on me," she grumbled. "Piano, violin, the harp." She counted them off. "And I liked the piano, but she took that away as well. When I asked why, she said a lady should have some skills to show off, but that the point of the lessons wasn't to make me learn the piano." She threw her hands up. "Then what was the point of them?"

"Good question. I don't know."

"Ugh. That's how it always is. I'm supposed to know how to arrange flowers but the one time I tried to do some gardening outside, you'd think I was drowning kittens from how she reacted. A lady should not be dirtying herself in the mud, she said. And when she had me learn gymnastics, she was all for it until my trainer said I could try for the regionals, so I asked mom." Chae-young grunted. "But no. Girls who do that in public are indecent, and no daughter of hers is going to be that."

"Seriously? You'd have thought she would be proud of you for that."

"Yeah." Chae-young sighed. "But no. What mom wants is for me to become a perfect lady and marry some important man and give him babies. Ugh. I want to do my own thing. Anything."

Jaune rubbed her back as she groaned into her hands. Security didn't seem to mind him doing it. He was sure Pyrrha would have wrapped her up in a hug if she were here; this was worse than even she had feared. It was hard to tell if Ha-rin was intentionally moving the goalposts out of dislike for her daughter, or if she genuinely thought she was working in her best interests.

Either way, he wanted to help her.

But no quest.

Nothing.

Come on, Semblance. Give me some idea on how I can help her. I don't care if there aren't any rewards, just give me something.

Not a peep. But that didn't mean he couldn't help her. Screw his Semblance; he'd been making his own decisions before it showed up, and he'd make his own decisions here as well.

"Tell me about this concert thing. How is it going down and what do you have to do?"

"It's happening next weekend, and I have to play one song. It's to all the… uh…" Chae-young looked at him, wincing. "I'm not sure I can say. It's the big people in the organisation."

"The lieutenants?"

"Sure. That's close enough. They're all big deals from other branches. There's a meeting and a dinner, and then they're going to retire for the entertainment. A lot of that is… um… you know…" Chae-young blushed and looked away.

"More adult than you?"

"Y… Yeah… Girls and dancing and drugs and stuff." It should have been a concern for her to even know about that, but this was the daughter of a crime lord. "But I'm going on before that as a warmup. And I'm not staying after. But I'm going to be judged by all those people."

"What's the criteria for judging? How do you win? How do you lose?"

"Um. I… I don't know…?"

He wasn't surprised. This sounded like something Chae-young had begged for and been goaded into by her mother; something she was meant to fail. With so little time to prepare, Chae had thrown herself into trying to learn guitar rather than ask questions. And she was still a very young girl just entering her teens. It wasn't unusual for her to make that mistake.

"We need to know how you win or lose so we can prepare," he told her. Chae listened intently. "The last thing we want is for you to give it your all, earn applause, but then find out you failed because your mother set some weird condition like having to make people sing along. We can't prepare if we don't know how to win."

"Mm! Mmhm!" Chae-young nodded quickly. "I'll ask tonight," she promised. "At dinner with dad, so she can't avoid it! I'll tell you tomorrow what the condition is."

"Perfect." Jaune smiled, and she grinned back. It was obvious he was on her side, and she responded well to it. "We'll find a way for you to win this, Chae. I promise. In the meantime, let's keep practicing so you have the song down. Maybe we'll ask the security agents tomorrow to line up like an audience so you can practice playing to a crowd."

Jaune said that loudly, enough for the few men and women to hear. One or two nodded back to show they'd agree to that. There was more to performing than just learning the music, and Chae was bound to be nervous because of what was at stake. Adding nerves at facing a crowd in the main event would make it even worse.

Chae-young played for another two hours – most of that with the accompaniment of his Motivational Song, but he stopped on the penultimate performance. He wanted to see how she did without it, and whether it was worse. Unfortunately, it was. Not a lot – and it was obvious she was better today than the day before, but there was a notable dip in quality that had her panicking.

So, he drummed along for the last and made sure she did a great job on that one, so she wouldn't leave the lesson with her spirits crushed. Chae-young recovered both her performance and her mood, breathing a sigh of relief when that song came out better than the last.

"You'll always scuff the occasional one," he told her. "Don't worry about hat. Everyone has an off-day or a bum song. The important thing is that you don't let it drag you down. Move on, recover, and keep playing. Don't let a missed note force you off a stage."

"Hmm. I'll do my best, Jaune!"

It was time. On the minute – and, Jaune suspected, on the very second – Ha-rin knocked on the door and entered. Jaune stood, bowed, and Chae-young did the same as she put away her instrument. They had it down to a fine art and for all that Ha-rin want her daughter to fail, she was polite toward him.

"You have flower arrangement practice now, daughter. One of your teachers has had to move her lesson later due to an incident in the family. Run along now."

Chae-young faked an excited smile. "Yes mother. I'll see you tomorrow, teacher!"

"Good luck, Chae-young," he said, as always.

In front of Ha-rin, she never used his name, but she wasn't afraid to do so in private. Security had certainly noticed, but the fact Ha-rin never brought it up showed they hadn't ratted on her. Maybe they had their own code of honour, or maybe it was that they had been assigned to protect her, and not to spy on her. They might have been more loyal to Chae-young than Ha-rin for all he knew.

"Walk with me, teacher," said the lady of the household. "I would speak with you."

Uh-oh. Jaune smiled and nodded, following her out the house and into the garden. No Bon-hwa today, so she must have told him she would be escorting him out the household. Jaune kept to silence, knowing it wasn't his place to speak.

"My daughter's attendance during her lessons has improved drastically," she began. "Her other instructors have nothing but praise for her attention since your lessons began. This is pleasing for me to hear."

"I cannot take any praise for that, lady Ha-rin," he said, diplomatically. "It is your own deal with Chae-young that has led her to put so much effort in."

"Indeed. My daughter is easily bribed, as all young children are. That is how even the commoners do it, I understand. Threaten to take away free time if they do not behave or dangle some candied treat over their heads for good performance." She frowned, suddenly. "Such pedestrian methods."

They were her methods, though. Jaune didn't say it, but he was tempted. After a moment, she spoke up again.

"Would that she could see the value and invest her time without such, that would be best, but it is not your concern that she cannot. You have performed admirably. More so than I or my lord husband anticipated given where you come from and who loaned your services to us."

Jaune remained silent.

"Naturally, a background check was performed on you. Does that concern you?"

"No, lady Ha-rin. I've little to hide."

"That much is true as far as we see it. Interestingly, your background would have at few points given you time to join the Spiders." She clicked her tongue, and he could tell she was disgusted at the immaturity of the name. "Madam Malachite—" Her real title was similarly juvenile, too much so for Ha-rin to say. "—claimed you are one of hers, but we find this doubtful. Tell me how you came to serve her."

"By force, lady Ha-rin. I was forced to leave Vacuo in a hurry and accidentally ended up on a vessel her group were using to smuggle drugs. It sank, and I was rescued by Menagerie. On returning from there, I was somehow blamed for the loss of narcotics and forced into her gang against my will."

"Hmm. That sounds more plausible than our own theories. And it does sound like her to blame someone else for her losses." They were close to the gate now. "Good service should be rewarded, I feel, so perhaps I could look to speaking with my lord husband and convincing him to place pressure on Madam Malachite to end your unfair employment." The woman stopped and let him walk ahead alone. Two suited men opened the gate for him. "I trust you understand what it is I'm saying, teacher. Good evening and goodnight."

.

New Quest!: Familial Duty

Lady Ha-rin wishes for her rebellious and unruly daughter to follow in the family's time-honoured traditions. Assist her by sabotaging her daughter's efforts to become a musician and help Lady Ha-rin control her daughter once more.

Success: +Exp. +Freedom from Lil Miss Malachite. -Rep Malachites. +Rep Criminals. +lien. +Rep Ha-rin. +Allies: East Dragon Family. +Title: Honoured Member. +Resolves prior quest.

Failure: +Rep Chae-young.

.

Jaune's hand tightened into a fist.

"Fuck you, Semblance," he whispered. "Fuck you so much."

/-/

"Ozpin."

"Qrow."

Qrow Branwen climbed into the headmaster's office through the open window and helped himself to his favourite spot by the wall. He always preferred to stand, and not out of some misplaced sense of machismo. It was because his legs always felt stiff after a flight and transformation from a bird, and they'd go to sleep if he sat down.

"What do you have for me?" Ozpin asked.

"A lot of confusing reports honestly. I'm trying to make heads or tails of what Salem is up to, but nothing is making sense. It's like she's gone nuts."

"Oh?"

"The Grimm have attacked a convoy shipping goods from Atlas to Vale – Beowolves and Ursa making off with cargo. Horrible as it sounds, it's probably a good thing the crew were killed as otherwise this would be all over the news and people would be wondering what the hell is going on. Tracks were clear, though. The Grimm came, killed, and then actively took the cargo. Carried it away – dragged in some cases."

"Dust? Weapons? Military technology?"

"Musical instruments."

Ozpin steepled his fingers. "I see."

"Do you?" asked Qrow. "Because, if so, then I'd love for you to share it with the class."

Ozpin maintained his pose.

"You have no idea…"

"I have one," Ozpin said. "But you're going to think it ridiculous."

"No more ridiculous than Grimm ambushing a truck to steal instruments, Oz. Throw your theory at me."

"Guitar Cutie."

Qrow groaned and slapped a hand into his face. "No."

"Hear me out—"

"No, no, no. You have no idea how much I hear of her at Signal. It's all the time. Kids wearing branded clothes, talking about her, playing her music – singing her music. The music club at Signal went from obscure to so busy we've had to hire two new teachers just for that."

"I'm aware of her fame, Qrow, and I'm not suggesting she is working for Salem. Calm yourself." Ozpin took a sip of his coffee while Qrow recovered. "What I am suggesting is that Salem may have taken notice of her meteoric fame and influence and may think she can control that in some way to her benefit."

Qrow grunted. That sounded a little less insane, thankfully. The Grimm – and by extension Salem – thrived off fear and misery, so it could be argued that Guitar Cutie was a problem to her. It was a bit of a wild argument, but it was there. Not to mention brutally killing such a famous and beloved musician would cast a pall over the whole of Remnant.

The more Qrow thought about it, the more sense it made.

"Shit. If she kills Guitar Cutie…"

"Yes." Ozpin nodded. "The fallout would be bad. Not catastrophic, not on the levels of Mountain Glenn, but it'd certainly cause problems for a lot of small villages and towns. The girl is doing much to raise spirits around the world – not to mention her charitable work in Vacuo." Ozpin smiled. "Such a selfless soul is reminding people of how much we can achieve when we work together, and I can see Salem feeling threatened by that."

"It sounds ridiculous, like we're saying Salem is going to be bested by music, but I do see what you mean. Killing Cutie would be low effort, high reward for her. But why steal all those instruments?"

"Perhaps Salem wishes to replace her with someone else, someone loyal to her, and who would be willing to subtly deliver her message. Bands and celebrities always have more influence than they should. Rock and roll sparked a lot of rebellion, and some suggest the Colour Revolution in Atlas was caused in no small part by rock and roll."

"Are those `some` who argued it all old farts who believe rock and roll is evil?" Qrow asked, sarcastically.

"I shall remind you I'm one of those old farts, Qrow. But no. Music itself is not inherently one thing or the other but people do use it as a rallying point. If Cutie died, and if Salem could have influence over the next version of her, she might use it to twist Guitar Cutie's current message of kindness and charity to one of selfishness and greed."

"Hmmm…"

It sounded a little much for Qrow, but he had to accept that Grimm had stolen musical instruments. Unless they were literally about to have an orchestra run by Grimm introduced to them, he was out of ideas. And the killing Guitar Cutie angle made a lot more sense than he cared to admit.

Ruby and Yang would be heartbroken if she died, too. Damn it all.

"We have to find her, then," Qrow said. "Find and protect."

"Indeed."

"Ugh. This is going to suck. My job, I assume…?"

"Yes. I fear if I express interest too openly, Salem will act. Not to mention I have the Vytal Festival coming up next year."

"Yeah, that's fair. Gah. And I hate her music, too. It's just rip-offs of what was good in my time."

"And your good music is rip-offs of mine," Ozpin remarked. "All culture and art repeats eventually."

"Yeah, but Ruby and Yang are into it as well and I've had it up to my eyeballs with that. Yang is tone deaf and Ruby is trying to mod a guitar into her scythe." He massaged his temples. "The worst part is Taiyang. He's so damn supportive that he keeps inviting me to concerts his daughters are holding, and I have to go or I'm a bad uncle."

"It's the same here in Beacon," Ozpin lamented. "The janitors are complaining about broken guitar strings being left everywhere, and we've had to invest in soundproofing for the common rooms. Glynda has even petitioned me for a musical curfew to stop people playing loud music in their dorms at night."

A whole boarding school of Guitar Cutie obsessed teenagers. Qrow shuddered.

"Are we sure she's not Salem's agent send to distract the next generation from becoming huntsmen…?"

"I wish it were so, Qrow. I truly do. Instead, she may just be our best bet against Salem, hence why we need to find, protect, and support her in her efforts. I trust I can leave that to you."

"Regrettably, yeah." Qrow moved to the window. "I'll head off now. Wish me luck."

"Good luck."

Ozpin sighed as Qrow flew out. Though he made a meal of it, and though Beacon had become a travesty of late due to all the badly played music, he did appreciate what the girl was doing. Her songs were inspiring, her spirit filled with cheer, and he had personally shed a tear at the charitable work she had done in Vacuo. If the world had more people like her, then perhaps Salem would not be such a threat.

His intercom buzzed.

"Ozpin, we need your help!" Oobleck gasped. "The cafeteria has been taken over and turned into a battle of the bands again!"

"Tell me it's not Team CFVY."

"It's them! And Miss Adel still hasn't realised her guitar is out of tune!"

"Brothers help us…" Ozpin grabbed his cane. "I'll be there, Bart. Hold the line. Be brave."

"Hurry! Peter can't hold Glynda back for much longer – and… oh no. Oh no. Not Miss Scarlatina on vocals. They should know better! They should—"

The communications ended in a strangled shriek as Beacon's quietest and most shy faunus reminded the systems – and much of the school – of her ability to hit a monstrously high peak with her voice. The window next to Ozpin's head cracked as the sound washed over him.

"Guitar Cutie may be the greatest weapon against the Grimm of this generation," he whispered, as he entered the elevator. "But at what cost?"

Next Chapter: 5th January

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