King: I'm back~ Show of hands, who missed me? No one? Every one?! I have no idea! I can't see any of you! So... have a chapter! A whole... 2 to 3 days early. I can't stop writing if I try apparently...

Inspiration: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Movie

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King reappeared to a group of sullen faces. "Okay… maybe I should turn the filter back on…"

Ruby looked up toward the ball of magic, "Please do…"

King disappeared and fiddled with the screen. "Umm… Remember that filter I said I had…"

Pyrrha looked up toward the sphere, "What happened?"

"Yeah… Um… It kind of… broke."

Mercury scoffed, "Aren't you supposed to be a god here? Just will it fixed."

King flew into Mercury's face, speaking through telepathy only to Mercury, "You really want to try to tell me how to do my job? Keep being snarky peg-leg. See what happens!" This got Mercury to shut up long enough that King regained himself before addressing everyone. "Okay… the filter is broken and can't be fixed given the effects of multidimensional visual systems… Point is, this stuff is complicated and will take time to fix. I'll just play the next one and we'll go from there…"

The screen started to form again. It was dark. Darker than the night… A sudden flash of lightning gave form to the world in a moment. They saw a young blonde man standing on some kind of outcropping, standing in profile to the screen. He wore a long, dark purple coat. His boots were a dark steel and his deep sapphire eyes gazed off into the future. Everything about the man exuded power and confidence. Even the might of nature could not bend his will.

Yang let out an impressed whistle, "Damn! How many versions of Vomit Boy are good looking? Seriously? It's got to be the majority of these at this point."

Pyrrha and Velvet couldn't help but feel a little smug with a sense of 'I-told-you-so.'

They heard someone walking up behind him. The camera angled to show the area just over his left shoulder. Mercury Black had walked up behind him, "We're approaching Beacon. Our decent is in 10."

Jaune didn't move from his position.

"Um… So, are you going to just stand there or…" A crackling aura surrounded Jaune a moment, spooking Mercury. "Right! You do you! I'll get everyone ready!" Mercury ran off and away from Jaune.

Mercury grumbled in his seat, "As if I'd ever be afraid of that twig…"

The camera pulled away, never showing Jaune from the front. It moved off to show he was standing on the observation zone atop a massive military zeppelin. The dark purple zeppelin as accented by a blood red mask design. Another bolt of lightning pulled them out of the scene and into a new realm with a clear blue sky. A massive colosseum floated along in the sky with food vendors about the plaza. This was the Vytal Festival.

Ruby started to shake her partner and sister in excitement, "That's so cool!"

Yang was used to Ruby's excitement. Weiss still had trouble, "Ruby! Cease that please!"

"Oh! Sorry Weiss. It's just… it's so cool!"

"Clearly…"

Yang chuckled as Weiss's reaction.

Glynda watched on from the office at the top of the tallest tower of the castle atop the hill. It was her best effort to make sure things went off smoothly. Granted, she couldn't take all the credit. Raven and Amber helped immensely.

Raven looked up toward the screen in disbelief. Cinder looked up in shock. No one was sure why she acted like that save for Emerald or Mercury. Amber, the Fall Maiden… This could be a problem if things go south.

The sound of footsteps made her turn to see Raven dressed in light armor with a deep red moon theme. Next to her was Amber, dressed in more formal clothing than her counterpart.

Ruby tilted her head slightly, "Who's that?"

Ozpin took in a breath, "A friend of mine…"

"Oh. Okay." She didn't think anything of what Ozpin had said.

Raven crossed her arms and placed her weight to her right side. She smirked as she spoke, "You wouldn't believe what your student just asked us."

Glynda sighed with a smile, "Try me." Glynda was dressed in a flowing white dress with golden accenting. Her hair seemed to glow slightly.

"She asked if we could use our magic to help with the closing ceremony." Amber laughed a little.

Glynda rolled her eyes, "I could believe that. Ruby's always been the overachieving type."

Qrow just nodded his head in understanding. "Sounds about right."

Weiss looked toward the seasoned huntsman like he'd said the sky was pink and grass was yellow in earnest, "You can't be serious."

"Think about it. If she puts her mind into things, the little squirt could do damn near anything."

Ruby grinned, "Yeah!"

"Too bad she only ever puts all that toward sweets and guns."

"Hey!"

The camera flowed down the tower toward Ruby, walking along on ground level. "Man… Okay… Just need to rethink the plan. Just need to go over the idea with the others… "Maybe Yang has a solution for the lighting…" She sighed. "No… best to ask Weiss. That's more her field… But what about…"

Weiss did actually recognize this version of Ruby. It was how she acted with her weapon, talking to herself about how to best optimize its abilities. She didn't have a choice but to admit that Ruby could be quite determined in other fields if she put herself into it.

She was caught off guard when she heard the boom of thunder in the sky. Ruby's eye twitched and she sped off toward the plaza square. A pair of bright red auric wings spread out from her back and she took off into the sky. They seemed as if they were angelic in form with rose petals in the place of feathers.

"Woah! Now I have that wings!" Ruby was over the moon to see that. She was fast, but she always wanted to fly.

Yang wasn't so happy to see that. This was the same kind of ability she had in the world where she abandoned Jaune, despite being his sister in that reality. She calmed a bit by putting some pieces together. This wasn't the same world. She wasn't the princess that gave up on her brother. That gave her some room to breathe, at least.

Ruby flew off toward her group of friends, landing with a thud. "Still not used to that…" She quickly brushed herself off and looked up toward the darkening cloud, "Yang… I swear, if you…"

"If I what?"

Ruby spun around in surprise toward her sister. She was dressed in attire similar to what the viewers were used to, but had shorter hair, a clean inch shorter than Ruby's.

Yang had a mini heart attack. The idea of her hair being that short felt like a personal attack. It was simply inconceivable!

"You alright Ruby?"

Ruby took a breath to calm her nerves. "Yang… You remember I was put in charge of the closing event, and I asked for clear skies."

Yang grinned, "Yep! Taken care of!" She flexed and tapped her muscle.

Ruby pointed up toward the cloud, which had gotten larger, "Then what is that?!"

Yang was surprised to see the cloud, "Oh! I can take care of that!" A pair of auric wings extended from her back. Yang's wings, however, were more streamlined and less detailed than Ruby's.

Yang clutched her chair a little harder. Was this the same world as before, just sooner? Later? I don't know…

Yang was about to take off when a white glyph grabbed her leg and forced her back down to the ground. "Ow…"

Weiss walked up from behind her. To call Weiss elegant would be a disservice in that moment. She was the very definition of regality, to the point where her face was void of the familiar scar over her eye. Which was pretty funny, given the circumstances. She looked more like a princess than Ruby ever could.

Weiss felt her eye twitch a little. The very notion of Ruby being a princess was laughable. But something about it all was more than a little iffy to her for some reason.

Weiss stepped over to help Yang back up, "Sorry about that. But I thought it best to stop you on the ground. That's not a cloud…"

Ruby looked back up toward the cloud. Sure enough, it wasn't a condensation of water. This was a mass of smoke and fire. A pair of glowing eye-like designs seemed to rise out from the smog.

"Oh… that's not good…" Sun nervously chuckled.

A puff of smoke from the zeppelin was followed by a large hook embedding into the ground not far from their conversation site. The hook and chain started to pull the blimp down toward the ground. The slow decent allowed Glynda, Raven, and Amber to fly down from the tower with their auric wings.

Glynda couldn't help but feel amazed by the aura sprouting out from her back. They flowed out like the wind but seemed to hold a form like that a river, forever in motion.

The zeppelin lowered a large ramp to the ground. After a second, Mercury started to walk down the metal ramp carrying a large device. The clang accompanying each of his artificial steps seemed to echo out over the area. Once he reached the bottom of the ramp, he dropped the device, allowing it to open into a speaker system.

Emerald rubbed her temples in annoyance, "God damn it…"

Mercury cleared his throat and tapped the microphone. "Good Aurics of Beacon! We come to you all under the banner of the fearsome! The mighty…" A banner unfolded from the side of the zeppelin, showing a portrait of Salem looking down upon them all, "The Storm Queen!"

"Aurics?" Ruby blinked, "What's that?"

All she got was shrugs from those around her.

Mercury continued, "And now! To deliver the evil, evil message…"

Ozpin couldn't help but chuckle, "At least she's self-aware in this one…"

"Put your hands together for Commander Jaune Arc!"

Blake raised an eyebrow, "So, Jaune works for the bad guy in this one?"

Nora deflated slightly, "Aw man…"

Jaune walked up to the top of the ramp. Now fully visible, they could see his right eye was covered by a patch, a nasty scar jutting out from either end told them all they needed to know there.

Yang winced seeing that, "Shit… that looks like it was pretty bad."

Glynda stepped forward, "So… Jaune was it? What exactly do you want with us?"

Jaune feigned an exaggerated gratitude, "Oh I'm so glad you asked," His tone dropped into a deathly serious form, "How about we start with your complete and total surrender."

Ruby walked up next to the other princesses meekly, still not used to being on the same pedestal. "Um… Hi. I'm sure if we can all sit down and talk we can get through this without anything crazy."

Ozpin nodded, "A mark of a good leader is at least attempting to diffuse a situation without violence. Excellent work, Miss Rose."

Jaune saw Ruby's approach, "Oh good, your all in one place…" Jaune started to walk down the ramp as he spoke, "Listen up ladies! I need your magic. Hand it over quietly, and no one has to get hurt."

Raven scoffed at his ultimatum. "Ridiculous. Unless you haven't noticed, there's only one of you." She snapped her fingers and a large mass of guards moved in from the crowd, led by James Ironwood.

A crackling energy surrounded Jaune for a moment, "I'm more than enough… But I've come very much prepared." More blimps started to leave the cloud of smoke created before. They were purposefully hidden away within the smog.

Ironwood hated to say it, but it was a good strategy. Keep focus on the lead ship and lull the enemy to not be ready for the main force following behind, hidden by your own smoke.

Each air ship dropped a series of troops in black and white armor, reminiscent of the creatures of Grimm. As they lined up alongside Jaune he smirked, "Sic 'em." At the command, the soldiers charged the Auric gaurds with weapons drawn. Jaune grabbed a small item from his belt and tossed it in the air. An orb no more the size of a marble grew into form about the size of his head. As the orb fell, he kicked the sphere off toward the stunned princesses. It was no more than two seconds.

The orb slammed into Amber and sent her flying backward. A sickly green smoke surrounded her body. Her skin tightened, and her voice seemed to die in her throat as she screamed out. When the smoke cleared she was a crystalline statue, her expression frozen in fear and pain.

"Oh my gods!" Ruby scrambled in her seat.

The idea of petrification was horrible to many of the viewing audience. The only solace being the possibility that it was a suspended animation rather than straight up death. It was the little hope they had after seeing that.

Raven, now fully aware of her situation, drew her sword to defend herself. Another orb flew her way and she sliced it in half. Unfortunately, that simply released the smoke around her anyway. Raven petrified with her blade in hand and a look of confused anger across her face.

Jaune tossed another orb toward Ruby. The world seemed to slow as Glynda reached toward her and dragged her away. The older monarch tossed her protégé to the side and took the brunt of the orb's effects. Ruby rolled across the ground and looked up in shock. Her teacher, the woman that trained her both in magic and to rule, was frozen in dark crystals.

Glynda clenched her hand into her seat. She knew if she was in that situation, she'd have done the same the same thing. Her students, whether they believed it or not, were like her own children. She'd do everything in her power to keep them safe.

Ruby snapped her head toward Jaune, seeing him ready another orb. She scrambled off to a waiting Yang and Weiss. The trio ran off, barely avoiding the attack. Jaune motioned toward Mercury to give chase. Mercury and a few of Jaune's soldiers ran off after Ruby while Jaune saw to the frozen princesses. He needed all four for his plan to work. His soldiers could handle one little run away. For now, he had to move a few statues.

The next thing they saw was a massive throne room with the three frozen princesses arranged. Jaune walked by and checked his reflection in the crystalline form of Raven. "All this power… and they waste it on a party…"

Raven groaned. "Just you wait boy… When I'm free again, I'll slice you in half!"

Yang couldn't help but smile, "Yeah… keep telling yourself that…" She spoke low enough that Raven didn't hear, but her friends could pick up her voice.

Jaune turned as a pair of his soldiers approached a bowl set up between them with a glowing bottle. The bottle was giving off a sound similar to a scroll's ringtone. Jaune just looked between the two, "Well? Answer it!"

Weiss had to take a moment to just let all of that sink in. "The hell?"

Yang and Ruby were laughing in their seats. It was just that ridiculous.

The guard holding the potion poured it into the bowl and stepped away. A bright blue fire shot up from the cauldron complete with mystic lightning effect.

"Here it is…" Ozpin's tone got Yang and Ruby to stop laughing.

Roman nodded, "The Big Bad… This ought to be good."

"Where am I supposed to be looking?" The Salem on screen was way off. She was too high to the left and not even close to understanding the spell, "I never understood this stupid spell… Arc!"

This got Ruby and Yang to crack up again. Ozpin couldn't hold it back either. Seeing her like that was hilarious to headmaster.

Jaune, to his credit, was very patient. "Over here, your majesty."

"Where?"

"Here. To the right."

"My right?" Salem finally looked into the fire/screen. "Oh. There you are."

Nora had joined the laugh fest at this point. The big villain wasn't exactly very intimidating.

"Alright, Arc… I'm going through a big rebrand. 'The Storm Queen' is tracking as well… intensely intimidating. You know what I need to back it up? A STORM!" She seemed to jump through the spell as she let out her outburst. "That'd be great!"

This got the laughter to halt again.

"You told me you give me the power to control the very elements, and I'm stuck with… what is this? A twig. A blah…"

Jaune stepped forward, "That's the Staff of Sarconis, your majesty. It will allow you to channel and control the power of the four rulers of this land. Soon, you have the power of a hundred armies. Give me three days, and I'll have everything ready for your arrival."

Few in the audience believed such a thing was possible. But from what they'd seen from Yang and Jaune in the other possible version of this reality, they figured four of the same type of auras could equal a hundred armies.

Salem's tone fell to a serious visage, "Remember Arc. I'm the only one that can make you whole again. Make this twig work, and you'll have your reward. Fail me… and your hands won't be the only thing that's broken."

Ruby shrunk away a bit.

Velvet went so far as to hide behind Coco for that moment.

Jaune clenched his fists. "It won't be a problem…"

Salem suddenly backed away again and smiled. "Great! I'll be the biggest, baddest b-" The fire started to distort, and her voice cracked away and faded with the flame.

Mercury was standing behind the spell's effect, "Sorry. Bad spell service…"

Weiss glared toward Yang, "Not a word Xiao Long."

Yang froze before she could let out a pun.

"…want me call her back?"

Jaune stepped around the cauldron, "Did you capture the princess?"

"Yeah… um… see, here's the thing… She kind of, maybe, sort of… got away. A little."

Jaune's eye twitched a little hearing that.

As did Cinder's. Was this Mercury completely incompetent?!

Jaune took a short breath, "Did you at least send a squad after them?"

"I'm not allowed to give the guys orders after that one time with the…"

He was cut off when Jaune grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against the wall. Now they could all see his hands, broken and scarred beyond repair. As his aura flowed though his wrists, it sparked at each scar like a broken wire. Jaune's calm voice falling away in rage, "That little brat is not going to get between me and getting my magic back!" Jaune tossed Mercury to the ground, "Prepare my ship!"

Mercury scrambled and ran off to prepare for flight.

Jaune took in a very deep breath to calm himself back down, "Please… How far could one little girl get on her own?"

As it turned out, not only was she not alone, but they covered a lot of ground. Jaune found himself searching a port town beyond the Badlands.

Ruby wasn't sure why, but she couldn't quite root for either side. Something about this Jaune just didn't seem like a bad guy. I mean… he is the bad guy in this, but I don't he's a bad guy… Does that make sense?

Jaune walked into the main bazaar. "Attention! A group of Aurics made their way through here. Tell us where they are…"

Mercury popped in from the side, "Or something real bad is going to happen."

A large man with blue hair loomed over the both of them, clearly a larger version of Neptune, "I don't know what scam you and your friends are pulling with that chick Belladonna… But I'm not falling for it again."

Jaune raised an eyebrow, "Friends?" He said it as if the concept was completely foreign to him.

Ruby frowned. This simply just didn't work for Jaune. Mr. 'strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.' It didn't suit him as far as she was concerned.

Blake caught her name from the Neptune stand in. "Why would he single me out from that?"

Neptune stepped forward, "But it stops now!"

Jaune ducked a punch and kicked Neptune's legs out from under him. In one fluid motion, he lifted Neptune off the ground by his leg and slammed him into the dirt.

Mercury laughed, "Ha! Blue boy just got dropped!"

Neptune groaned, "Really?! I didn't last five seconds?"

This wasn't too surprising. Neptune wasn't an Auric. Meanwhile, Jaune had such magical abilities. Jaune placed his boot on Neptune's back and leaned in next to him. His hand was placed to the side, sparks flying out from his scars. "Now… about this Belladonna…"

Weiss's eyes narrowed. "Okay… I think I get the idea of the Aurics now."

Ruby turned to the heiress, "What's that?"

"Certain people in this seem to have an aura. It's likely a reference to the group that live in the region we see. They all have some form of magical ability, channeled through said aura."

"So, why doesn't Jaune have his, then?"

"He has it… but it can't quite work. Think of it like a circuit. Jaune has the power source, but the wire was cut at his hands. That creates the sparking effect. He can't really use the power the same way as others."

Ruby frowned. "That stinks…"

Jaune learned about Blake Belladonna, the city's resident sweet talker and con artist.

Blake just blinked in surprise. "Not what I was expecting."

He made his way to the faunas's home. Only to have the princess escape by the skin of her teeth. Jaune had Blake dragged before him, fully prepared to interrogate her. "Now… where, are they going?" He let his power spark as a threat.

Blake just raised her hands. "Hey! Hey… No need for violence. They're headed…" She paused in thought, but it was difficult to tell what about. "They're headed east. To Skull Island."

Jaune raised an eyebrow, not quite sure if he could believe her.

"So… I'll just be on my way and…" the guards that brought her there crossed their spears, causing Blake to cry out like a cat.

Yang tapped her chin, "I wonder if…"

Blake stopped her in her tracks, "Don't even think about it."

"When I get the princess…" He smirked, "Until then, your fate is… up in the air." Jaune turned around and walked up the ramp. The guards behind Blake making it clear she was supposed to follow him onto the ship.

Yang chuckled, "I get it…"

The process of traveling was the most tedious part of the search. Tedious enough that Blake tried to entertain herself by asking questions. "So… why do you need that princess so much anyway? She break your heart or something?"

Jaune said nothing to her. He saw no reason to care.

Blake just rolled her eyes, "Fine. Be like that." Blake wanted to just ignore him. Just stay in silence. But boredom was too strong. "Look… I'm just trying to get why you're after that girl. She seemed harmless, happy to a fault."

Yang placed an arm around her sister's shoulders. "Sounds about right~!"

Ruby stopped bothering to try to free herself from her sister's power.

Jaune never turned toward her, "Doesn't matter. I made my choice…" A shockwave shook the air ship and a loud boom pulled his sight away.

"Aw! Check that out!" Mercury was at the wheel and pointing toward the northern side. He was pointing to a bright golden fire in the sky. It was the most powerful and beautiful thing they had ever seen. "That's so cool!"

Jaune grinned, "Yeah… Of them to alert us. Funny though…" He glanced toward Blake out of the side of his eyes, "They don't seem to be heading for Skull Island."

Blake chuckled nervously, "Really? Well… that's a bit…"

Jaune stormed over to the wheel and tossed Mercury from it, causing the ship to spin around. The ship the princess and her friends hopped was a former pirate ship turned Storm Queen shipping crew. The pirates Ren, Nora, Sun, and Captain Nikos were forced under the Storm Queen's heel. All looked very stereotypically pirate. Even though they were supposed be in uniform while on the job.

Nora was suddenly in the pirate beard from before, "PIRATES!"

She even made Ren wear an eyepatch as he groaned a little at it all.

Jaune stepped onto the ship, glaring daggers toward the Captain, "Where is the princess?"

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, "Princess?" She picked up her ship's manifest form. "Princess… princess… Nope. All we've got is Storm Queen goods and cargo."

Sun and Neptune held up merchandise, a pennant and a bobble head, branded with Salem's visage.

This got a few chuckles, especially the bobble head of Salem. But the situation was still too tense to crack up.

Jaune cracked his fingers on one hand in front of them, sparks crackling out from his scars. "You realize, that if you were holding them and didn't inform me… The Storm Queen would be quite upset with you…" The words were benign, the meaning far from. When the Storm Queen was 'upset' she destroyed everything in her path.

A loud metallic sound snapped underneath them. Jaune glared toward Mercury, who moved toward the lower deck in a scramble. After a while, he returned with a parchment. "They're not there. I found this though."

Jaune took the paper and revealed a map with a location circled, "Seems they're headed to Mistral…" He wrapped the paper up again and handed it to one of his soldiers. "Now…" He turned to the pirates and the con artist. "About your betrayals…" The sparks from his hands erupted like lightning, ripping the ship apart and sending it toward the ground level.

"Oh man…" Nora took her fake beard off, "That's just harsh…"

Cinder, however, mentally applauded the young man. Best to cull the herd of those not willing to fall in line.

Jaune returned to his ship and let the pirate's disgrace of a zeppelin sink into the sea below. "Mercury… Make for the northern territories."

Mercury scratched his neck, "Um… See, we need to make a repair to the wheel and turbines. Your… outburst shocked the system and it all… kind of… melted?"

Jaune took a deep breath. "Then fix it and get us moving."

"Okay. But the guys have been working non-stop for a while and…"

"NOW!"

Mercury scrambled down the lower deck to get the soldiers working.

Jaune simply didn't have the patience when his target was within his grasp three times in the past days and just escaped each time. He needed the princess to slow down for just a moment. He just needed her to trip…

In the end, she tripped at the finish line.

"You can't be serious!" Ruby was a little mad. She hated the idea of having tripped. Given her superhuman speed, she had to train herself not to so as to prevent face planting the ground at 100 miles per hour. Granted, it wasn't a literal phrase in this case, but it was the principle. She also didn't like the idea that she somehow broke down at the end of the run.

Ruby was in a suspended cage. She formed her auric wings and let some of her magic flow into her hands. She tried to punch the cage. The shockwave flowed up her arm and down her spine. She pulled her hand away and winced, "Ow…"

"Pathetic." Jaune walked down a set of stairs to the side of the cage and was walking up to her.

Ruby was on edge as he approached. "Why are you doing this? Why do need to do this?!"

"I don't expect you to understand my motivations. But if you really want to know… I've made a choice. A choice to get my life back from a past that broke me."

Ruby glanced down at the scars on his hands. "What happened?"

Jaune slammed his fist into the cage, causing it to rock and making Ruby fall to a sitting position. The anger settled, and he was back to himself, "Doesn't matter…" He turned and started to leave.

Ruby frowned. "I'm thinking it does…"

Weiss nodded. "That much is clear."

Ruby stood back up. "You'll forgive me if I don't believe that. Whatever it is, it must have been terrible. I… have magical abilities. I could heal your scars!" This got Jaune to stop. "I could…"

Jaune spun around and grabbed the cage, spinning it fast enough to make Ruby far too dizzy to stand. Jaune glared down at her, "You can't do anything! You think I haven't tried to fix them on my own?! You think you can just fix them?! That I would be here if I had the choice?!" Jaune caught his words and shook himself back to calm. "You can't heal scars. My magic was robbed from me when I was a child. Every time I try to use my natural powers as a Mystic-type Auric, my magic flares and sparks before I can give it form. Now… I have a way to fix it. To get my powers back… I made my choice. That's why you're in that cage, and I'm not." He turned and walked off. They would land at Beacon again soon. He had to prepare for Salem's arrival.

Weiss couldn't help but brush a hand against her own scar. The line about scars not healing got to her a little. She didn't care about her own scar enough for it to get to her on its own. But seeing this Jaune's scars… She wasn't sure why, but it got to her.

Jaune led Ruby, who was still caged and placed onto a cart, through the streets of Beacon. Once they reached the throne room, Ruby couldn't help but shed a tear or two seeing her teacher and friends frozen like that again. She had tried to find help, only to be brought back by force and empty handed.

Jaune had her cage placed in position and glared down toward her. "Now… Soon everyone will see exactly what I can do."

"Really?" A voice called out from the inner section of the room. Salem stepped through the door, showing off her armored dress. "What exactly can you do?"

Mercury, who followed behind Jaune on Salem's orders, cowered before the unholy queen of power, "Your bidding! Oh, glorious one!"

Emerald rolled her eyes, "Nice cover…"

"Bidding's good. I like bidding…" Salem passed by Ruby's cage and raised a brow. "And what is this supposed to be?"

Ruby stood defiantly, "I am Ruby Rose! A Princess of Beacon!"

Salem chuckled, "Right, of course…" Salem leaned toward Jaune, speaking through her teeth, "Why is this one still moving?!"

Jaune looked toward Ruby. "She attempted to escape. But she won't be a problem anymore."

Something about what he said didn't sit with Pyrrha. She knew Jaune. Granted, not necessarily this Jaune, but it was something in how and what he said. Even the Jaune she knew would take a big risk if he didn't have to. If he had the power to freeze her like the others, and she was as powerful as them, why wouldn't he?

Salem sighed and rolled her eyes, "Fine. Whatever. Now, to business. You need to get this twig to work now."

Jaune gestured toward the center of the arranged princesses, which was outfitted with a small pedestal. "Simply place it on the pedestal and it will drain the power of the princesses and you can harness their magic at your will."

Salem smiled, "Good. Let's get this going!" She slammed the staff into the pedestal. The auras of the princesses started to glow and drain out of them and into the staff. When Jaune saw Ruby's struggle to hold onto her magic, he turned away.

The gears in Pyrrha's mind turned and clicked into place. She suddenly had a giant grin.

Nora leaned toward her friend, "Pyrrha? You okay?"

"Fine. Why?"

"It's just… Jaune's basically responsible for hurting Ruby in this one. But… you're smiling?"

"Am I?"

Salem took the staff from the center as it glowed with power. "Glorious! A surge of power shot out and sent Ruby flying from her cage and through a wall. Salem stepped through the hole in the wall, grinning toward the staff. "No that's what I'm talking about! Now, how about this?!" She moved the staff, expecting Ruby to be sent flying. However, it was suddenly night. She swung the staff the other way and it was day. She gasped, "No way! I can move the sun?!" She had both Glynda and Raven's powers sealing the staff, allowing her to control the Sun and Moon, respectively.

Yang nodded hearing about that. So, in this version, her mother was the nightmare sister to Professor Goodwitch. She felt her heart calm a bit, happy to know she wouldn't have to see her abandoning her family again.

Ozpin was trying, and failing, to hold his laughter. Salem was acting like a child with a new toy. The very image was hilarious to the man that had lived many lifetimes trying to stop her ambition of human destruction.

"What else can it do?"

Jaune ran up behind her, "Your majesty? My magic…"

"Yeah. Yeah. Give me a minute." Salem proceeded to use the staff like a toy for her amusement.

Ozpin had fallen out of his seat and proceeded to engage in a fit of laughter.

Jaune just watched on. A part of him knew what was coming. But he had no other choice. He had to hold onto what hope he had. Time passed as Salem started to calm. Though, not in the same way one would think. She created a storm. Finally, a real storm to her name. A wild tornado of destruction. She laughed out at the sight.

Jaune tried to get her back to the deal, "Yes! Your majesty! It's all very amazing! But about my magic! Use the power to heal my scars and I will gladly wield that power for your…"

Salem turned to Jaune as he was speaking. "Yeah… no." She slammed the staff into his gut and forced him to collapse.

Cinder smiled. This was the Salem she knew. Emerald and Mercury, however, couldn't help but feel to be in Jaune's shoes here. How long until they were cast aside?

Jaune looked up toward her, "I don't understand… I upheld the bargain! I gave you the power!"

"Yes. And I used you like a pawn to get it. You are nothing. But you could be. If I could heal those scars, you'd easily be a threat to me. But no one can heal scars like that. Your wounds have always been too deep. I just gave you enough hope to get you to do what I need of you."

Jaune's very soul seemed to shatter a little. It was his only hope… The only chance he had left to fix his magical abilities. His whole body shook. His eyes fueled with pure rage. He tried to rise up and unleash his lightning of magic toward her for betraying him like that, only to be met with a bolt of magic into his chest.

Nora's mental gears clicked here. "Oh! I got it now!"

Pyrrha simply smiled.

This got Ruby to look at them like they had two heads, "What are you talking about?"

Ruby grabbed a piece of rubble and threw it at Salem. As she turned, Jaune's magic flared and slammed a bolt into the Queen's back. The shockwave sent him flying into the railing. The storm around him threatening to take him off into the sky. He clutched onto the rail for dear life. Unlike the Winged auras, Jaune couldn't fly. So, if he flew off, it wouldn't end favorably.

The rail broke and the world seemed to slow. A hand reached out and grabbed him. Ruby had caught him before he flew off. This caught him off guard. "Why… Why would you help me?"

Ruby grinned a bit, "That's kind of my thing. As far as I'm concerned, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet, and I help my friends every time!"

The gears of thought now clicked for all involved. This Jaune may not have been a good guy at the start, but that didn't mean he was a bad person. He was used and given hope that was a lie.

Ruby pulled him back to the ground. She looked over defiantly toward Salem. The Queen was standing again with rage painted across her face. "I will fucking murder you!" She pointed the staff toward them, only to be met with a flying fist.

Yang and Weiss had flowed through the storm to try to help Ruby. They had help from the pirates and from Blake to get back to Beacon to save her.

Yang grinned, "Go us!"

Weiss couldn't help but smile either.

Salem had lost the staff in the hit. The staff was tossed onto a pile of rubble. But the winds were picking up and threatening to take the staff away in the cyclone. Everyone rushed to grab to the staff. A scarred hand grabbed the staff first and slammed it into the ground, knocking everyone else back. Salem looked up to find her underling with the staff pointed at her throat.

The Storm Queen chuckled nervously, "Hey now, Jaune. There's still a way to do things. A way to heal those scars. I may have used you, but that doesn't mean I don't know it. I can still fix you!"

Jaune's hand tightened on the staff. "You can't heal scars…" A bright flash of light erupted from the tower and Salem was pushed off into the wind. Jaune tossed a spare orb into the storm. He meant the orb for Ruby, but this seemed poetic now. Salem fell to the ground as her body crystallized. On impact, she shattered into pieces.

Yang went wide eyed seeing that. "Woah… That's insane."

Jaune turned toward Ruby and her friends, Blake and the pirates had run into the throne room and were ready for a fight as well. Jaune simply placed the staff on the pedestal and the magic flowed back out toward the princesses.

This shocked everyone on screen.

The people not on screen celebrated. This Jaune was a good guy after all!

Ruby smiled, seeing Jaune's actions. "Thank you."

Jaune sighed and started to walk away.

"You don't have to leave, you know." Glynda, now freed from the crystals…

Earning a sigh of relief from those concerned for the princesses' safety.

…walked up toward Jaune. "We may have been frozen, but we were very much aware. A lie to fill you with hope… By no means are you to be let off without a punishment of some form, but at least we can give you a second chance."

Jaune looked downward. "Maybe in time. But right now, I need to think. I'll accept punishment if it will give me time away from everything."

Glynda nodded. "I can have that arranged."

Before Jaune was led away, Ruby ran up in front of him. "I just want to say thank you. For making things right."

Jaune couldn't look her in the eyes. Not yet. "It's like you said, right? Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet…"